News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. At the opening of a new terminal in Tanjung Priok last week, Widodo noted that at the country's main gateway, average dwell time has come down to 3.7 days from 4.7 days, while the dwell time at many other ports, including Belawan and Tanjung Perak, ranges from six to eight days. Local media reported that Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi held a flurry of weekend meetings with state-owned port operators Pelindo I and Pelindo III, which oversee Belawan and Tanjung Perak, respectively, as well as the Finance Ministrys customs and excise director general, to meet the president's demands. Widodo has made lowering logistics costs through improving port dwell times a centrepiece of his transportation policy. We expect the major ports to operate 24 hours a day with more competitive fees. There should also be a more effective and efficient tracking mechanism, Budi reiterated. Meanwhile customs and excise director-general Heru Pambudi said his department planned to accelerate the development of a hub-and-spoke logisitics model within Indonesia by increasing the number of bonded logistics centres (PLB) to 50 from current 22 by the end of this year. "By diluting the cumulation at the major ports and switching it into the spokes at the PLB, we hope to cut the dwell time, Heru said. Pelindo III president-director Orias Moedak pointed out that it had prepared additional land at the Mirah and Nilam port terminals near Tanjung Perak to move containers from the inner ring of the port. This was however slammed by Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) head Yukki Nugrahawan Hanafi who said, if they just move the goods from the first ring to the second ring of the port, that does not reduce the dwell time. It merely reduces the YOR [Yard Occupancy Ratio]". Hanafi pointed out that the Ministry needed to ensure that the customs office and banks were also open 24 hours at the port to facilitate the efficient import of goods. Separately, Tanjung Priok Port has been hailed as an example to follow, with the average dwell time currently standing at 3 to 3.2 days. This has been achieved through the simplification of permit procedures at the ports one-stop integrated service office over the last two years and other ports have been urged to follow suit. We want major ports, such as North Sumatras Belawan Port, East Javas Perak Port and Soekarno-Hatta Port in South Sulawesi to follow the system of Tanjung Priok Port to cut dwell times, Budi said. He also urged the four state-owned port operators, Pelindo I, Pelindo II, Pelindo III and Pelindo IV, to speed up services while also procuring more cranes and providing 24-hour services to shorten dwell times at major ports and meet the president's target of no more than 2.5 days. A human skeleton dating to 2,000 years ago has just been found on the wreck of an ancient Greek merchant ship buried in pottery shards and sand, according to a news story published in Nature. Usually sharks or other fish eat the bodies of shipwreck victims, or the remains are swept away and completely decay. This is why the skeleton of this victim, a young man, is incredibly rare and may become the first of its kind to yield DNA. The shipwreck victim might have been a tech wizard of his time, as he was found with what is by far the most technologically sophisticated artifact to survive from antiquity: a clockwork device known as the Antikythera mechanism. The device modeled the motions of the sun, moon and planets with surprising accuracy. Such information clearly was not enough to save the man and his other ship mates, who went down in a storm off the small Greek island of Antikythera after their ship struck rocks. The men were likely transporting luxury goods from the eastern Mediterranean to rich Roman buyers when the ship sunk. Prior excavations at the site of the wreck have unearthed a well preserved bronze head from a statue, wine jars, glassware, two bronze spears from statues, gold jewelry, table jugs used by the crew and more. Also found were exceptionally large anchors and a "war dolphin," which was a weapon used to damage attacking vessels. Foley suggested that the victims of the wreck -- probably 20 or so in total, based on the ship's size -- drowned to death a/la the Titanic, but even worse. RELATED: 16th Century Shipwrecks Found in Rocket Debris "We think it was such a violent wrecking event, people got trapped below decks," he said. It is also possible that the young man was a slave, underwater archaeologist Mark Dunkley from the organization Historic England said. He explained, "The crew would be able to get off relatively fast. Those shackled would have no opportunity to escape." RELATED: More Treasures Recovered from Antikythera Wreck Supporting his theory is the fact that corroded iron objects were found surrounding the bones. Additional research is needed to determine if the objects were indeed shackles. Very few human remains have been found on shipwrecks. Two others include a skull found in a Roman soldier's helmet near Sardinia and a skeleton discovered inside of a sunken sarcophagus near the Greek island of Syrna. SEE PHOTOS: 22 Shipwrecks Found in Greek Expedition style="text-align: left;">A joint Greek-American archaeological expedition has discovered 22 shipwrecks around the small Greek archipelago of Fourni, revealing what may be the ancient shipwreck capital of the world. Read the article about the discovery . style="text-align: left;">Hailed as one of the top archaeological finds of 2015, the discovery added 12 percent to the total of known ancient shipwrecks in Greek territorial waters in just 10 diving days. style="text-align: left;">17th-Century Caribbean Shipwreck Explored: Photos style="text-align: left;">Shipwrecks were found literally everywhere. Over half of the wrecks date to the Late Roman Period (circa 300-600 A.D.). Overall, the shipwrecks span from the Archaic Period (700-480 B.C.) to the Classical (480-323 B.C.) and Hellenistic (323-31 B.C.) through the Late Medieval Period (16th century). Eerie, Beautiful Shipwreck Photos style="text-align: left;">The cargoes revealed long distance trades between the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt in all those periods. At least three ships carried amphoras, or jars, that have not been found previously on shipwrecks. Near-Intact Roman Ship Holds Jars of Food style="text-align: left;">The archaeologists mapped each shipwreck using photogrammetry to create 3D site plans. Representative artifacts were raised from each wreck site for scientific analysis. Wreck Yields Treasures of Ancient Greece's '1 Percent style="text-align: left;">Amphoras may go on displays in museums once conservation work is over. style="text-align: left;">Biggest Shipwreck Finds in History Interesting news from Hong Kong: Five pro-independence candidates recently won seats in the legislature, prompting China to issue official warnings to its own semi-autonomous territory. If you're a little fuzzy on the relationship between China and Hong Kong, don't worry. It's an inherently fuzzy situation. Jules Suzdaltsev explains in today's Seeker Daily report. First off, Hong Kong is indeed part of China. In fact, lest citizens forget, the territory is officially named the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. The main reason that Hong Kong gets special treatment is that, for many years, it was a British-occupied colony. Hong Kong was among the spoils of war, really, from the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, following the First Opium War. But in 1997, after years of negotiations, Britain finally handed Hong Kong back to China. As part of the deal, Hong Kong would operate under a form of autonomy referred to as "One Country, Two Systems." RELATED: Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Bans Shark Fin Cargo So while the territory is now technically a part of China, Hong Kong is relatively autonomous. It has its own government, with independent executive, judicial, and legislative branches. It also runs its own law enforcement system and sets immigration policy. Hong Kong even has its own currency. In return, Hong Kong cedes control to China in other matters, most importantly those that concern the military. In fact, China has its own specific military division devoted to the territory. This arrangement has left many Hong Kong residents with divided loyalties. A 2014 survey found that less than 10 percent of the population identify as strictly Chinese; around 25 percent identify as Hongkongers; and most feel a dual loyalty to both Hong Kong and China. China is particularly worried about a growing youth movement -- fueled by student protests and social media -- that supports full independence for Hong Kong. A poll from 2016 found that roughly 17 percent of Hongkongers support independence by 2050, but among those aged 15-24, that number is up around 40 percent. Clearly, Hong Kong and China have a complicated relationship -- and recent developments suggest things aren't likely to clear up anytime soon. -- Glenn McDonald Learn More: The Guardian: China Warns New Hong Kong Politicians Not to Back Independence CNN: Hong Kong to Chinese Shoppers: 'Go Home' Britannica: Opium Wars Our species caused 322 animal extinctions over the past 500 years, with two-thirds of those occurring in the last two centuries, according to a paper published in a special issue of the journal Science this week. Many animals are threatened with human-caused extinction now, with researchers expressing particular concern over amphibian and invertebrate (creatures without a backbone) losses. Numbers of the latter group have nearly halved as our population doubled in size over the past 35 years. Ecologists, zoologists and other scientists believe that, without urgent steps to stem the losses, we are facing global scale tipping points from which we may never look back or recover. Could These 10 Animals Be Resurrected? "Indeed, if current rates (of human population growth) were to continue unchecked, population size would be, by 2100, about 27 billion persons -- clearly an unthinkable and unsustainable option," co-author Rodolfo Dirzo, professor of environmental sciences at Stanford University, told Discovery News. Dirzo and his colleagues call for "decreasing the per capita human footprint," by developing and implementing carbon-neutral technologies, producing food and goods more efficiently, consuming less and wasting less. They also say it is essential that we ensure lower human population growth projections are the "ones that prevail." Haldre Rogers and Josh Tewksbury, authors of another paper in the same issue, believe that, "animals do matter to people, but on balance, they matter less than food, jobs, energy, money, and development." They continued, "As long as we continue to view animals in ecosystems as irrelevant to these basic demands, animals will lose." World's Sixth Mass Extinction May Be Underway Keeping animals alive and ecosystems healthy translate to big bucks on a global scale. Tewksbury, director of the Luc Hoffmann Institute of the World Wide Fund for Nature, pointed out that Southeast Asia's Mekong River Basin, through its fisheries, supports 60 million people. Rogers, a researcher in Rice University's Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, added that 73 percent of visitors to Namibia are nature-based tourists, with their money accounting for 14.2 percent of that nation's economic growth. "Whale watching in Latin America alone generates over 275 million dollars a year," Tewksbury said. "Multiple studies have demonstrated how turtles are worth more alive than dead." In the United States, he added, shark-watching results in $314 million per year, directly supporting 10,000 jobs. He and the other researchers point out that human health, pollination, pest control, water quality, food availability and other critical factors are also dependent on ecosystem stability. In the United States, he added, shark-watching results in $314 million per year, directly supporting 10,000 jobs. He and the other researchers say that human health, pollination, pest control, water quality, food availability and other critical factors are also dependent upon ecosystem stability. Yet another paper in the latest issue of Science outlines controversial measures, beyond basic conservation efforts, to improve the current situation. These include re-wilding, meaning placement of underrepresented species back into the wild; human removal of invasive species; and, perhaps most controversial of all, de-extinction: bringing already extinct species back to life. Secret to Surviving Extinction? Don't Be a Picky Eater "People are currently grappling with the implications of de-extinction, including how to select the best candidate species," co-author Philip Seddon, a zoologist at the University of Otago, told Discovery News. Rogers said that restoration and re-introduction have shown progress. "The return of the bald eagle and the California condor to the skies and the wild turkey to the lands of the U.S. are great success stories," she said. She and Tewksbury are also working on the island of Guam, where the invasive brown tree snake has rid the island of birds, causing the forests there to be without seed dispersers for 30 years. This, in turn, has contributed to financial challenges for locals. Secret Grizzly Bear Feeding Site Discovered It's a mistake, though, to limit the value of non-human animals to their economic value, the researchers believe. "From the cave paintings that represent the dawn of art to the icons of culture and sport around the world today, wild animals are a part of our fabric, and in a very real, evolutionary sense, these animals have made us who we are," said Tewksbury. "The loss of these animals from landscapes around the world is thus a loss for all of humanity." Large mammals, such as the tapir, are the first to disappear in human-modified ecosystems. New technologies could make it possible to bring extinct species back to life, concludes a paper published on April 4 in the journal Science. These advances include back-breeding (assembling or reassembling an extinct species' genes), cloning and genetic engineering. Woolly Mammoth A leading candidate for de-extinction is the woolly mammoth. Russian scientist Semyon Grigoriev, of the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum, plans to replace the nuclei of an elephant egg with nuclei extracted from woolly mammoth bone marrow. The elephant would theoretically become a surrogate mother to a baby mammoth. Tasmanian Tiger Tasmanian tigers died out in 1936, in part because they had little genetic diversity which translates to "bad news for a species," said Katherine Belov, professor of comparative genomics at the University of Sydney. "Species are less able to adapt to change." Even if Tasmanian tigers -- or other animals -- are resurrected, it will take some time to build up diversity again. Passenger Pigeon Experts believe billions of these birds populated the Americas when Europeans arrived. Loss of habitat and commercial exploitation of the birds for their meat are thought to have killed them all off. Efforts are now underway to revive the species by extracting DNA fragments from preserved specimens, and later, using band-tailed pigeons as surrogate parents. Pyrenean Ibex The Pyrenean ibex, a horned mammal once common in Europe, was one of the first subspecies targeted for de-extinction. Scientists began the attempts in late 1990s, when the last female Pyrenean ibex was still alive. Even if researchers could successfully clone that individual, there would be no males for her to breed with. Instead, genetic engineering might be required. Saber-toothed Cat Since saber-toothed cat bodies are sometimes found frozen, it might be possible to extract preserved DNA and clone the animal. About 5 years ago, scientists did just that with a mouse that was dead and frozen for 16 years. Woolly mammoth remains are also sometimes found in a well-preserved, frozen state. Dodo Bird The dodo, a flightless bird, proved to be a tasty meal for humans and other predators. In 2007, scientists found a remarkably well-preserved dodo in a cave. Dodo DNA could be used to resurrect this avian species. Ground Sloth Ground sloths, relatively slow, lumbering animals, were easy targets for prehistoric big-game hunters. Scientists have found remains that still bear soft tissue. As with woolly mammoths, there's a chance extracted DNA could be used to back-breed or clone the large sloths. Irish Elk The Irish elk has been extinct for 11,000 years. Like the woolly mammoth, it inhabited colder regions. As a result, bodies are sometimes found frozen and in relatively good condition, making them candidates for DNA extraction. Neanderthal Earlier this year, Harvard geneticist George Church -- with tongue in cheek -- said that he was seeing an "adventurous female human" to be a surrogate mother to a cloned Neanderthal. While Church was really just theorizing about what it would take to bring a Neanderthal back to life, the possibility could be a reality, should any scientist undertake such a controversial project. An international team of researchers has identified hundreds of proteins in skin and muscle samples from 4,200-year-old Egyptian mummies, finding signs of diseases that may have caused their death. Published in the journal Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society A, the groundbreaking study shows that proteins isolated from ancient mummified tissue can reveal inflammation, immune response and possibly cancer. The researchers collected four skin samples and one muscle biopsy from three mummies stored in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy. RELATED: Oldest Case of Heart Failure Found in Ancient Mummy Dating back to the First Intermediate period (about 21812055 B.C.), the mummies were excavated in cemeteries at Assiut and Gebelein between 1911 and 1920 by an Italian archaeological mission led by Ernesto Schiaparelli. The Assiut mummies, a female known as Khepeshet and a male known as Idi, came from elite burials and were interred, with grave goods, in sealed and decorated wooden coffins. In contrast, the mummy from Gebelein, an unknown adult individual, was buried in a coffin made out of a hollowed out tree trunk. "All these mummies are in poor condition, but that is what made them perfect for retrieving biopsies without causing further damage," Jana Jones, from the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University, Australia, told Discovery News. WATCH VIDEO:How Does Mummification Work? Analysis showed that all five samples contained large numbers of collagens and keratins, confirming previous studies that identified these proteins as very long-lived. Overall, the researchers identified more than 230 proteins in the 4,200-year-old samples, finding evidence for inflammation, infection and possible cancer. Jones and colleagues Paul Haynes and others from the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Raffaella Bianucci, at the Legal Medicine Section of the University of Turin, Italy and Dong Hoon Shin, at the National University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, estimate that any proteins observed at higher abundance in mummified samples of that age must have been expressed at relatively high levels in the original tissue. RELATED: Mummy Shows Ancient Egyptians Bleached Their Skin "Using that approach, we have been able to show that many of the proteins still present in these samples are linked to inflammation and immune response," the researchers wrote. Analysis of skin tissue from the mummy known as Khepeshet identified a protein signature indicative of a severe immune response. "A subset of those proteins were strongly linked to bacterial infection in the lungs," Paul Haynes said. He noted there is a strong possibility that Khepeshet was suffering from a bacterial pulmonary infection, such as tuberculosis. "This is something you could point to as a possible cause of death," Haynes said. RELATED: Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Found in Mummy Most likely, the mummy known as Idi was also suffering from a life-threatening disease. Analysis of both skin and muscle samples identified numerous proteins associated with inflammation and severe immune response. In the muscle sample in particular, the researchers found two proteins, DMBT-1, which functions as a tumor suppressor, and transglutaminase. Haynes explained that increased abundance of both DMBT-1 and transglutaminase is generally correlated with pancreatic cancer progression. "This allows us to speculate that Idi may also have been suffering from pancreatic, or some other cancer," Haynes said. Few proteins were identified for the third mummy, so the researchers were unable to find details about the cause of death. "The remains were interred in a hollowed out log rather than a sealed coffin. The mummy would have been exposed to the elements over time and this may have caused protein degradation," Jones said. RELATED: Kidney Spotted For First Time in Egyptian Mummy She noted the First Intermediate period was Egypt's first "Dark Age." "It was marked by political unrest, changed economic conditions, mega drought and famine," Jones said. Although little is known about the health of the population in this period, it is no mystery that food and water shortages weaken the immune system, paving the way to infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, visceral leishmaniasis and other parasitic intestinal infections. Groups affected by these chronic conditions are at increased risk of contracting cholera, typhoid fever and acute respiratory infections. "Our study provides a historical context for medical conditions that are still found in the modern world," Jones said. SEE PHOTOS: Mystery Mummies: Who Are They? style="text-align: left;">Discovered in 1881 in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and unwrapped by Gaston Maspero in 1886, this mummy, known as CG 61066, was badly damaged by grave robbers in antiquity. The left arm was broken off at the shoulder, the right arm cut off at the elbow and the right leg severed from the body. style="text-align: left;"> The mummy's name remains uncertain. It was identified as that of King Thutmosis II (reign c. 14931479BC) thanks to a wrongly spelled label. However, the inscription appear to have overwritten an earlier sign referring to Thutmosis I. This could indicate the inscription had been changed from Thutmosis I to Thutmosis II, suggesting that the royal mummy CG 61066 is that of Thutmosis I rather than his likely son Thutmosis II. Photos: Mummies' Faces, Hairdos, Revealed in 3D style="text-align: left;">Badly damaged by ancient robbers, this mummy had fallen into pieces, the well preserved head broken off, all four limbs detached and the feet severed. The mummy has been identified as that of Thutmosis III, the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty (reign about 14791425 BC) and shares a striking resemblance with Thutmosis II (mummy CG 61066), his purported father. style="text-align: left;"> The identification is based on the fact that when it was unearthed, the mummy was lying in a coffin bearing in its interior traces of inscriptions made for Thutmosis III. A linen shroud with a funerary book which certainly belonged to Thutmosis III, was possibly placed there by the embalmers. Photos: Signs of Incest in Famous Mummies style="text-align: left;">French excavator Victor Loret found the mummy CG61069 in 1898 in the KV35 tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The mummy was lying in a wooden coffin placed into a stone sarcophagus with inscriptions naming Amenhotep II, the seventh pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, who ruled between 1428 and 1397BC. A simple label on the mummy's shroud presented the identity of Amenhotep II. style="text-align: left;"> Some doubt however remains. The coffin did not give a name and was too large for the mummy. Moreover, the faded hieratic ink inscription could have been easily misread. "With reservations the mummy CG 61069 should be considered as Amenhotep II until proven otherwise," Ruhli and colleagues concluded. style="text-align: left;">Kidney Spotted For First Time in Egyptian Mummy style="text-align: left;">Found in 1898 in the KV 35 tomb, this damaged mummy -- both feet are broken off and the right leg was ripped off at the knee joint -- shows the face of an extremely emaciated man. The body has been identified as Thutmosis IV, the 8th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty who ruled between 1397 and 1387 BC, thanks to inscriptions on the chest and coffin correctly spelled and clearly visible. According to the researchers, the identification should be considered reliable. style="text-align: left;">When it was unwrapped in 1905, this mummy revealed a body in rather bad condition. The head was broken off, most of the soft tissue from the face gone, the right leg was cut away from the trunk, and part of the foot missing. The embalmers taped the mummy together in the attempt to restore a lifelike appearance. Bird bones, a human big toe, and parts of an arm were found inside the body cavity. The genetic profiling determined the mummy was the consort of Queen Tjye and as the genetic father of the mummy from tomb KV 55, thus identifying the body as Amenhotep III. Ancient Egyptian Mummy Wearing Jewels Found style="text-align: left;">The identity of these exceptionally well-preserved mummies is certain, since the coffins and funerary objects bear their names and status. Genetic testing recognized Yuya and Thuya as King Tut's great-grandparents. style="text-align: left;">This nameless and naked mummy was found in 1898 in the cachette KV 35 together with the so-called Younger Lady and a teenage boy. The regal quality of mummification and her bent arm recognized her as a queen; speculations were made to identify her as of Tjye, Nefertiti, or Hatshepsut. In view of the genetic test, where she was proved to be the daughter of Yuya and Thuya, the identification as Tjye, wife of King Amenhotep III, appears the most realistic one. style="text-align: left;">This body, consisting of a completely disarticulated skeleton with few missing part and a damaged skull, was identified as Akhenaton although some argued he could have been the elusive pharaoh Smenkhkare. In the Tutankhamun Family Project he was proved with molecular genetics to be a direct descendant of the "Elder Lady" (Queen Tiye) and mummy CG 61074, commonly regarded as "Amenhotep III," and this would indicate that he was the heretic king Akhenaton. style="text-align: left;"> The KV 55 mummy was also determined to be the genetic father of Tutankhamun. Inscriptions support the genetics. Not only the body found in KV55 bore golden bands with the name Akhenaton, but inscriptions from Tell el-Amarna, the city of the heretic king, describe King Tut as the son of Akhenaton. POE TO ENSURE EFFICIENT, TIMELY PLAN TO SOLVE TRAFFIC Sen. Grace Poe said today that emergency powers will only be used to untie the traffic gridlock crippling Metro Manila and other urban areas, assuring that enough safeguards will be in place to prevent possible abuses. Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services tackling the proposed emergency powers seeking to address the traffic crisis, stressed such when asked about its necessary limits in the light of the Duterte administration's current undertakings. "Malinaw sa akin ang saklaw nito ay solusyon sa trapiko. At sabi ko nga, tututukan iyan ng bantay na kasama sa oversight. Sa tingin ko we have enough safeguards," the senator said. "Kampi ako sa ating mga kababayan na dapat solusyunan na agad ang problema sa trapiko. Hindi ako papayag na abusuhin ang emergency powers," Poe added, assuring proposals in solving traffic woes will be put into closer scrutiny by the Senate. Poe said contracts and transactions entered into by government must be transparent. "Kapag nakita nating hindi naayon ang kanilang ginagawa, pwede nating suspindihin ang emergency powers na yan," the senator said, "Sabi ko nga lahat naman tayo ay nagmamadali na ukol dito pero ipakita nila na hindi aabusuhin at sila ay seryoso." The Senate is set to resume its hearing on Sept. 22 on the emergency powers sought by the administration to resolve the transportation crisis. Local government units and various transport agencies involved in traffic management will be invited in the hearing, Poe said. The proposed emergency powers bill seeks to address the traffic crisis by expediting procurement processes for transportation projects and establishing a single traffic authority, among others. The expected duration of the emergency powers that may be granted to the President could be for a period of at least two years, depending on the plans and programs needed to be carried out to address the traffic mess, unless sooner withdrawn by congress. A congressional oversight committee will be established to be composed of five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives. Poe has earlier said that any extra powers to be granted to the administration shall be FOI (Freedom of Information)-compliant, fiscally responsible and well-defined with deadlines. Press Release September 19, 2016 Hontiveros wants September declared as month for national truth-telling on Martial Law Two days before the country commemorates the declaration of Martial Law, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a joint resolution calling on the government to declare the month of September of every year as a time for national truth-telling, reflection, and reconciliation. Hontiveros, who was joined by student council leaders from Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle University (DLSU) and Adamson University, said that there is a strong need to tell the truth about Martial Law and protect the country's history from revisionists who want to paint a rosy picture of the dictatorship and absolve the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos of his crimes against the people. "Don't let Marcoses steal again" "Huwag natin hayaan na pagnakawan tayong muli ng mga Marcoses. Huwag natin payagan na nakawin nila ang ating kasaysayan at katotohanan," Hontiveros said. ("We must not allow the Marcoses to steal from us again. We must not allow them to rob us of our truth and sense of history.") Hontiveros' resolution, whose counterpart in the House of Representatives is authored by Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin, urges all schools and other educational institutions to conduct month-long educational activities to commemorate the declaration of Martial Law and educate the youth of the democratic values and practices the nation adheres to and experiences today in contrast to the dictatorial regime installed by Marcos more than 40 years ago. The first-term Senator explained that her proposal for a "truth-telling month" is consistent with the provision of Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, which authorizes the government to implement the mandatory teaching of Martial Law history at all levels of education. She however lamented that three years have already passed since the passage of the law, the government's educational institutions have not yet included the teaching of Martial Law history in the basic, secondary, and tertiary education. Hontiveros also renewed her opposition to the government's plan to bury the remains of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. She said the proposal is "the ultimate act of airbrushing history in favor of the Marcoses." "I call on the Duterte administration to implement the mandatory teaching of Martial Law history to students as provided for by RA 10368 and abandon its plan to give Marcos a hero's burial," Hontiveros said. Press Release September 19, 2016 SEN. GRACE POE'S OPENING STATEMENT FOI Hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media Good morning. Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat. The hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, will now come to order. The committee's main concern in today's hearing is the need to pass a Freedom of Information Act in order to institutionalize the constitutional right of the people to information on matters of public concern, and the State's mandate to implement a policy of full public disclosure of all matters involving public interest, subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law. This is a very popular measure in the Senate so we have several bills. The bills on implementing the people's right to information have been primarily referred to our committee. These include the following: Senate Bill No. 24 by Senator Honasan Senate Bill No. 54 by Senator Pangilinan Senate Bill No. 72 by Senator Cayetano Senate Bill No. 82 by Senator Escudero Senate Bill No. 94 by Senator Trillanes Senate Bill No. 149 by Senator Ejercito Senate Bill No. 159 by Senator Poe Senate Bill No. 248 by Senator Legarda Senate Bill No. 306 by Senator Zubiri Senate Bill No. 315 by Senator Angara Senate Bill No. 534 by Senator Trillanes Senate Bill No. 708 by Senator Aquino Senate Bill No. 1014 by Senator Villanueva In 2014, there were 94 nations that had already enacted their own FOI legislation while another 53 countries were in the process of ratifying their own FOI laws. In the previous Congress, March 2014 the Senate passed our own version of the FOI bill on 3rd reading with 22 senators supporting the bill. However the house of representatives were not able to pass the FOI kung kaya't hindi pa natin naisasabatas ngayon. Our new president however in an unprecedented move, issued Executive Order No. 2 operationalizing the people's right to information within the executive branch. However laudable there's still an urgent need to pass the freedom of information law for five reasons. First, the scope of the executive order only covers the executive department and agencies. Executive orders are administrative in nature and do not pass beyond the limits in which they are directed or in which they are published and therefore create no rights in third person. Second, the right to information in it's substantive and procedural aspects needs to be clarified and defined. In the bills filed, there is a procedure laid down which is uniform for all offices. Third, a law compared to an EO, can impose well-defined exceptions to the right to information. Fourth, the EO does not provide the funding but we can provide appropriations through our law. We need to institutionalize the FOI program so that it will not be removed or underfunded depending on the whims of the next president. Fifth, an executive order can provide for administrative penalties but a law can provide for both administrative and criminal liability. Fear of criminal sanctions would improve effectivity. Kahit na ilang beses nang napagusapan sa Kongreso at sa media kung bakit natin kailangan ang FOI, may mga nagtatanong pa rin kung ano ang agarang makukuha nila sa pagsasabatas nito. Kumbaga, ang tanong talaga ng mga mamamayan natin, lalo na ang mga mahihirap nating mga kababayan ay: "Bakit ko kailangan ito?" Isang halimbawa ay ang nangyari sa Thailand, kung saan hindi nakapasok ang isang bata sa inaplayan niyang public school dahil bumagsak daw siya sa entrance exam. Dahil hindi naniwala ang kaniyang nanay, hiningi niya, sa pamamagitan ng FOI law nila, ang lahat ng test results ng mga estudyante na nagexam. Doon niya nakita na one third ng mga nakapasok ay hindi naman pala pumasa ng entrance exam. At itong mga estudyante na ito ay galing sa mga mayayaman o pulitikal na pamilya. Sa halimbawang ito, makikita natin na ang ordinaryong mamamayan ay maaaring makinabang sa FOI. Maaari ring gamitin ang FOI para matuklasan kung saan nga ba dinadala ang pera ng gobyerno. Siguro kung may FOI tayo noon, hindi na siguro nangyari pa ang PDAF at DAP. Hindi na natin kailangang umasa parati sa whistleblower para matuklasan ang ganitong mga kababalaghan dahil andoon na lahat published sa website kasama dito yung mga malalaking transaksyon ng gobyerno. Kung totoo nga po na gusto natin ng malinis at matinong gobyerno; kung totoo nga po na ayaw natin sa corrupt na mga pamamaraan; dapat lang na isabatas natin ang FOI bill. Because openness is fundamental to the democratic life of the country, access to information should be a key feature of our government. People should be able to understand and process such information meaningfully and expeditiously. would I would therefore, like to add that our proposed law is not just about transparency and accountability, it is also about creating an enabling environment for social participation. Those who have been traditionally excluded from formal decision-making processes, such as those belonging to marginalized sectors, will now have the opportunity to engage in political participation, not just as a voter or candidate, but in all important aspects of public affairs. Although we have already tackled the FOI law in the previous Congress, it is necessary to conduct committee hearings on the bills that have been referred to our committee. We shall however adopt the proceedings from the hearings conducted in the last Congress. In today's hearing, we have invited the representatives from civil society and media. You are the sectors who should be enabled to make full use of this law in your pursuit of transparency and accountability in public service. Hence, we have invited you to this hearing because we value your opinion on what features and provisions are crucial to the FOI bill. Having said this, we shall now commence our public hearing. Press Release September 19, 2016 SEN. GRACE POE'S CLOSING STATEMENT FOI Hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media In this maiden hearing of the Senate committee on public information and mass media on various proposals to enact a Freedom of Information Law and fully implement a constitutional provision of the people's right to information on matters of public concern, we sought from various groups their comments and proposals on how to improve the FOI bill. The committee wishes to extend its appreciation to members of the media, various media organizations, concerned advocacy groups and the business community for apprising the committee on the need to pass an FOI law considering that the Philippines is considered the longest running democracy in the region. To sum up the hearing, the committee tackled 13 Senate bills filed by various senators. The FOI advocate, former Congressman Erin Tanada, Atty. Irene Aguila of the Right to Know, Right Now Coalition and National Press Club President Paul Gutierrez expressed a bit of apprehension on the 166 exemptions cited in the FOI executive order. So I, in turn, am asking you for specifics on those exceptions that you feel need to be clarified in our version of the bill. It was also mentioned by Congressman Tanada that perhaps it has to be included in our bill, that we need to be able to specify which of the exceptions in the EO will not be included in our version of the bill. The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, represented by its chairman, Herman Basbano, for its part, said personal files or records that form part of public records such as marriage, birth and death certificates should be made available and accessible to the media, but not necessarily medical records of public officials. Media should not be required to comply with the "prior written request" for them to relay news to the public. Archiving and record-keeping should be upgraded as these are crucial in accessing government records. There is a need to revisit Memorandum Circular No. 78 of 1964 promulgating rules governing security of classified matters in government offices should not be used as a blanket authority for non-disclosure of important information. Further, executive issuances and departmental notices should not add to the exemptions of non-disclosure provided by the constitution, law and jurisprudence. There must be a well-defined and efficient mechanism to declassify "classified" documents. Interaksyon Editor-in-Chief Roby Alampay pointed out the usability of information and standardization of formats of information. An FOI Law is long overdue. Public disclosure of information encourages greater care on the part of the government. Information released should be fully understandable and free of technical jargon that even ordinary citizens would be able to access it. It is also mentioned by Mr. Basbano that not everyone has internet access and I think that an ordinary farmer.. That's why I filed the Plain Writing bill, it should be easily understood. The FOI desk officer should make an effort to explain to those that need assistance. Having been the longest pending bill in Congress as the first known FOI bill was filed by the late Sen. Raul Roco, we see the need to finally enact an FOI Law as the administration also fully espouses transparency and accountability in the bureaucracy. I would like to thank the senators who attended today's hearing and contributed to our discussions. This hearing is hereby suspended until the next hearing on September 29 at 10 a.m. and we will be having representatives from government to give their comments because they will be directly affected by this and of course you are certainly welcome to attend. Thank you. Press Release September 19, 2016 SENATE SEEN TO OVERRIDE EXEMPTIONS IN FOI EO--POE The Senate is poised to override unwarranted exemptions listed by the Executive department in the Freedom of Information (FOI) executive order, Senator Grace Poe announced today, as she noted a strong FOI law crafted by legislators is needed to stamp out corruption and ensure transparency and accountability in the bureaucracy. Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public information and mass media that held its maiden public hearing on the anti-corruption measure, said while FOI advocates an open government, 166 exceptions for non-disclosure is just too stringent and may be subject to certain abuses. "Imbes na pintasan natin ang exemptions, hinihingi ko sa bawat resource person ang maaaring sabihin na apprehensions ukol sa specfic exemptions, kasi 166 nga iyon. May mga iba naman doon na legitimate exemptions pero may mga iba din na sa tingin ko ay hindi naman natin kailangang isama pa. Kaya nga kailangan ding pag-aralang mabuti itong mga exemptions na ito kasi we have to make specific mentions of those in the new law so that these will override the executive order," Poe told reporters after the hearing. Poe assured that the Senate panel will fully scrutinize the exceptions in Executive Order No. 2 covering the Executive branch earlier issued by Malacanang to guarantee that said exceptions shall not be used to cover up a crime, wrongdoing, graft or corruption. "Palagi naming sinasabing kung ang dahilan ay para pagtakpan ang isang mali, hindi pwedeng gamitin ang Freedom of Information," the senator added, pointing out that the long overdue FOI will cover the entire bureaucracy. Under Senate Bill No. 159 or An Act Implementing the People's Right to Information and the Constitutional Policies of Full Public Disclosure and Honesty in the Public Service filed by Poe, the public would be granted access to records or information that are under the control of government. The bill listed 13 major exceptions and the information may be withheld if the information requested would jeopardize national security, foreign relations, law enforcement operations, trade and economic secrets, individual's right to privacy, privileged information as considered in judicial proceedings or information made in executive sessions of Congress and those that are covered by presidential communications privilege. These exceptions in the Senate bill were included in the FOI EO, but the Executive deemed it necessary to include a roster of exceptions for non-disclosure, with resource persons in the hearing expressing apprehension on such. Usability of information available to the public and easy access would also be considered by the lawmakers in the final draft of the measure, Poe said. "Kahit na may FOI, kung napakahirap naman ng format nito at tatambakan ka ng impormasyon na hindi naman importante, so balewala rin. Sa usability, automatic uploading sa website in a format that is technologically relevant kasi you have to keep updating your system. We have to keep with the times to make sure that access to information is easy," said Poe. "Having been the longest pending bill in Congress, as the first known FOI bill was filed by the late Sen. Raul Roco, we see the need to finally enact an FOI law as the administration also fully espouses transparency and accountability in the bureaucracy," said Poe. The next public hearing is set on Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. at the Philippine Senate. Press Release September 19, 2016 VILLANUEVA'S SPONSORSHIP SPEECH ON SENATE BILL 1014: PEOPLE'S FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT Senate Bill 1014 AN ACT PROMOTING AND ENFORCING THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO INFORMATION ON MATTERS OF PUBLIC CONCERN, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Friends, my dear colleagues, goodmorning. I joined politics wayback in 2001 as party list representative. Twelfth Congress po noon na kung saan ako naging "Benjamin of the House" o pinakabatang miyembro ng Kamara. Twenty-five years old lang po ako noon. Some of my initial bills were the Freedom of Information or FOI Bill and the Frontline Services Information Bill. The latter became the Anti-Red Tape Act or Republic Act 9485. The FOI Bill is one of the pet legislative proposals of Citizens' Battle Against Corruption Party List or CIBAC which I represented from 12th, 13th, and 14th Congresses. Madam Chair, from the 12th to 14th Congresses, I have witnessed the circuitous journey of the FOI Bill in the House of Representatives. Para po itong title ng isang kanta, "ikot-ikot lang" Let me share that during the adjournment sine die of Congress in June 2010, I even called for the arrest of lawmakers to gather a quorum so that the House could act on the FOI Bill. My motion "to arrest house members" was seconded by then Akbayan Representative and now Senator Risa Hontiveros. Our motion was ignored. At that time, we needed 135 warm bodies but only 128 showed up. Sadly, when the FOI bill was about to be taken up on the floor, there was one Congressman who objected and moved for a roll call. Ayun na nga po ang nangyari, walang quorum, pinatay po ang FOI. Tapos binuhay po ito noong 15th at 16th Congresses at salamat po sa Komiteng ito dahil talagang ipinaglaban po ang FOI para lalo itong maunawaan ng ating mga kababayan. Ngayon po ay 17th Congress na. Obviously, hindi na po ako ang pinakabatang mambabatas pero hanggang ngayon, hindi pa rin po batas ang FOI. Ipinapanukala pa rin po ito ng CIBAC sa mababang kapulungan at maging ng representasyong ito sa pamamagitan ng Senate Bill 1014. We are still here fiighting for the FOI because every Filipino has the constitutional right to know. We need the FOI so that the state policy of full disclosure of transactions involving public interest will be operable. We need a disclosure policy to facilitate doing business in the country, boost private sector investments, and advance our economic efficiency and competitiveness. Ang takot ko po, Madam Chair, ay baka maging isa na ako sa pinakamatandang miyembro ng Kongreso ay hindi pa rin batas ang FOI. Huwag naman po sana. Let us hasten our progress by making sure that the FOI Bill will be prioritized by the Senate and the House of Representatives and more importantly, certified as urgent by the President. Thank you and God bless us all. VILLANUEVA RALLIES BEHIND LABOR GROUPS' CALL TO END 'ENDO' On Monday, Senator Joel Villanueva has expressed his support to the call of labor groups to end contractualization and outsourcing, and ensure security of tenure. Under the scorching heat, Senator Villanueva talked with the leaders of Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Partido Manggagawa and other labor groups to discuss their plight. "Importante po na tayong lahat magkaisa dito. Importante po na marinig ang boses ang tinig ng mga manggagawang Pilipino," Villanueva said in front of the rallyists. He further cited Senate Bill 1116, a measure which strengthens the right to security of tenure. The said bill is one of the first measures he filed at the start of his term as a senator. Meanwhile, PALEA members have also urged the senator as the Chairman of the Committee on Labor to investigate and resolve the Philippine Airline's (PAL) outsourcing scheme in 2011. The country's major airline has yet to implement the 2013 Settlement Agreement with PALEA that will re-employ the remaining PALEA members who fought against the outsourcing scheme. The outsourcing scheme is where a company taps a service provider or an agency for the supply of workers on a project basis. Other issues which have been brought into light are the unfair and abusive practices of contractualized work and the controversial end-of-contract or "endo" scheme. These workers who have been victims of the evils of contractualization are not hired as regulars, do not receive full benefits such as leave credits, 13th month pay as well as retirement, social security and health insurance plans, among others. "Narito po tayo para ipakita ang solidarity sa bawat isa. At nais ko pong sabihin sa inyo ang Committee on Labor ay open na open at makikinig at bibigyan kayo ng oras at panahon para marinig ang inyong tinig at masiguro na maprotektahan natin ang mangggagawang Pilipino," the senator stressed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The smell of sunscreen filled the air as the 200 partially clad participants of the 25th annual Leather Walk gathered under cloudless skies in the Castro neighborhood Sunday to celebrate community and kinky fetishes. The event kicked off Leather Week in San Francisco, which will culminate with the Folsom Street Fair on Sunday. This is an opportunity for the leather community to come together outside a bar setting, said Demetri Moshoyannis, executive director of Folsom Street Events, which sponsors the Leather Walk, the fair and other events over the next week. Moshoyannis declared the weather perfect for the event, with temperatures well into the 80s by early afternoon, ideal for those baring shoulders, chests and buttocks. People will leave with harness tan lines today, he said. The event celebrates the leather community, which includes a wide range of personal choices in attire and sexual activities, said Edwin Morales, 35. While leather in the form of vests, pants, hats, harnesses, straps and G-strings was the most popular choice, there was also neoprene, denim and fur. Its men and women and everything in between, Morales said. For Vicente Montoya, 37, who wore imitation leather shorts over a pleather wrestling singlet, the event offered a space to let your freak flag fly, whatever that is. David Hyman was among the few wearing latex. A member of the Rubber Men of San Francisco club, he chose a full catsuit, with see-through sections on his chest, back and legs. Wasnt it hot in there, like really hot? Being a little sweaty is part of the fun, he said. While fun was the order of the day, the annual event is also a fundraiser for the AIDS Emergency Fund and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. Organizers expected to raise at least $20,000 this year. Supervisor Scott Wiener stopped by to say hello to the crowd, looking out of place in a lavender button-up shirt, slacks and dress shoes. He had two speaking events at churches, he said by way of explanation. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. This event, Leather Week, means a lot, he said. The leather community is at the heart of the LGBT community, a group of people deeply affected by the AIDS epidemic. It was and is a key part of fighting this epidemic. As the participants started to line up for the walk, Wiener smiled. Church this week, he said. Full leather attire next week. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Millennium Tower, a leading symbol of San Franciscos new high-rise and high-end living, is sinking setting the stage for what could be one of the most contentious and costly real estate legal battles the city has ever seen. Rated by Worth magazine as one of the top 10 residential buildings in the world, the Millennium at 301 Mission St. is home to such A-listers as Joe Montana and Hunter Pence. Until his recent death, its where venture capitalist Tom Perkins owned a penthouse. Condos sell for anywhere from $1.6 million to north of $10 million. However, since its completion in 2008, the 58-story building has sunk 16 inches, according to an independent consultant hired to monitor the problem. It has also tilted 2 inches to the northwest. Thats significant ... and of concern, said Professor Greg Deierlein, director of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center at Stanford University, who has been called in to evaluate the designs of a couple of San Franciscos newer downtown high-rises. Deierlein noted that the 88-story Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia which were the worlds tallest buildings when they opened in 1998 have sunk less than 3 inches. Their tilt, or differential settlement, is less than half an inch. This isnt just an issue for the Millenniums owners and wealthy inhabitants: It could be a headache for taxpayers as well. There are potentially big public dollars at stake, with the owners alleging that the massive hole dug next door for the new Transbay Transit Center is to blame for the buildings issues. The problem first came to light in 2010 when the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, the public agency constructing the transit center, hired the consulting firm Arup to gauge how the excavation could affect the tower. According to the consultants initial report, by the time excavation began two years after the $350 million Millennium was completed the tower had already settled 10 inches. That was 4 inches more than its builders had predicted for the life of the high-rise. Since then, the building has continued to settle vertically, now 16 inches, representatives of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority said in a statement in response to questions from The Chronicle. At the same time, geotechnical reports show that since 2009, the settling has been uneven resulting in the 2-inch tilt. And while Stanfords Deierlein doesnt consider the sink or tilt a safety issue, he did say, I would be concerned for my investment. Thats because a shifting building can cause walls to crack, elevators to malfunction and all manner of other annoyances. P.J. Johnston, spokesman for tower builder Millennium Partners and its principal owner, Sean Jeffries, said a nine-month, independent structural safety review in 2014 determined the settlement has not significantly affected the seismic performance of the building, and does not represent a safety risk. An attorney for the Millennium homeowners associations board, John Gill, recently sent a confidential letter to some of the more than 400 residents saying the board was actively engaged in negotiations with Millennium Partners to resolve building settlement issues. The letter also said the association was sensitive to the concerns of everyone about any issue which could impact the value of their units. In a statement Friday, homeowner representatives said they had retained a number of engineering consultants to investigate the causes and long-term impact of these settlement conditions and were evaluating their legal options. They cited any number of parties that could be held legally accountable including the developer, the high-rises designers, the contractors and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which is run by San Francisco, AC Transit, Caltrans and the agency that operates Caltrain. For his part, Millennium spokesman Johnston wasted no time blaming the transit center authority. He insisted that the towers settling had been within normal range until excavation began on the bus and rail center next door. They built a half-mile tunnel 60 feet underground and next to our building, and they were supposed to (protect the Millennium) and they didnt, Johnston said. The authority also signed an agreement with the Millennium developer in 2008 to repair, at its own cost and expense ... any damage to the development substantially caused by TJPAs construction activities, according a copy of the agreement on file at San Francisco City Hall. Records show the Transbay Joint Powers Authority pumped more than $58 million into an underground buttressing system to shore up the Millennium before beginning excavation in 2010. Thats one of the many reasons for the new transit centers spiraling costs, which are now at $2.4 billion and counting. In its statement, the transit center authority said it bears no responsibility for the tilt and excessive settlement. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Unlike some downtown high-rises, the Millennium isnt steel-framed. Instead, the developer chose a concrete design more common to residential buildings. It relies on huge columns, shear walls and beams, and its much heavier than steel. Whats more, the building is located on unstable mud-fill, just off the bays original shoreline. The Millenniums engineers anchored the building over a thick concrete slab with piles driven roughly 80 feet into dense sand. To cut costs, Millennium did not drill piles to bedrock, or 200 feet down, the transit center authority said in its statement. Had it done so, the agency said, the tower would not be tilting today. Johnston countered that virtually all other buildings in that part of the city have their foundations at the same subterranean level, citing skyscrapers that include the St. Regis and Intercontinental hotels. He added that the Millenniums design was state of the art for residential buildings and that concrete can be preferable to steel for several reasons, including sound insulation. In any case, this was not a cost-saving decision, but the preferred design, Johnston said. While there have been reports of cracks appearing in the Millenniums underground garage, theres no word of residents complaining about damage to their condos. Instead, the shifting and sinking of the concrete platform beneath the building has necessitated what Johnston called minor repairs to sidewalks and connections at the ground level. Experts tell us its uncertain exactly what, if anything, can be done to fix the problem or straighten the tower. There has been talk of pumping cement underneath the base and drilling new piles complicated and expensive undertakings. An assessment, no doubt, that offers little comfort to those living in the building. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross As news of Chinatown power broker Rose Paks death spread Sunday morning by text message and phone call, family, friends and political elite rushed to her second-floor apartment on Jackson Street. Paks death came as a shock to the Chinatown community and her political allies. Though she had long struggled with health issues, a recent kidney transplant in China seemed to have helped, friends say. Pak, 68, died of natural causes in her apartment Sunday morning, a family spokesman said. Former Mayor Willie Brown and Supervisor Aaron Peskin stood near Paks apartment in the alley named after her Rose Paks Way, as in, its her way or the highway. Some things had changed since its dedication, like the recently paved concrete walkway and the lucky street number 888, which Peskin had changed from 000. But the biggest difference was Paks absence. We did that, Brown said, tearing up. We did that together. This is a loss never previously felt by this community, Brown added. Nobody was more devoted than Rose Pak. Chinatown community members gathered up and down the sidewalk. Some were in tears, while others snapped photos of the apartment building with their iPhones. Family and police moved up and down the narrow stairs leading to Paks apartment until her body was removed around 4:45 p.m. A noticeably shaken Supervisor Jane Kim wore bright pink flip-flops and sobbed onto the shoulder of journalist Portia Li. Pak was a major supporter for Kims state Senate race. It was a complete surprise to me, said Supervisor Norman Yee. She looked a lot better. The last time I saw her, she looked fine. I mean, she wasnt doing jumping jacks, but she did look better. Im really surprised. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Sandy Weng, 60, who owns a flower shop near Paks home, stood in the doorway as the crowd dispersed. She held a single red rose in her hands for Pak, which she was saving to place on her doorstep. Pak would often stop by the shop to buy orchids, she said. We will love her forever, Weng said. Every morning, she would say good morning and stop by. She is a really nice lady. She did a lot for the community. We lost a lot here today. Mayor Ed Lee, who was in Napa with friends, said that Pak will never be forgotten. There will never be another Rose, he said. Shes one of a kind. Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LizzieJohnsonnn As San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin prepares to hold hearings this week on why city building officials allowed the developer of the now-sinking Millennium Tower to avoid anchoring the condominium high-rise to bedrock, City Hall insiders are raising questions about Peskins own role in approving the deal. Peskin joined a majority of the Board of Supervisors back in September 2003 during his first tour on the board in approving the environmental impact report for the 58-story condo tower downtown. He was also on hand nine months later when the board voted unanimously to approve the environmental documents for the neighboring Transbay Transit Center, the bus and rail hub whose construction the Millennium developer has alleged contributed to the high-rises sinking. Although the environmental report for the Millennium didnt spell out how the project should be built, it did warn that it would be in an area of liquefaction potential. In fact, the report said, a building that used to occupy that spot on the 300 block of Mission Street had to be demolished because of the damage it sustained in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. John King/The Chronicle Lets be clear, Peskin tells us. I have consistently supported high-rise residential development where its appropriate in San Francisco ... and I am in no way saying we shouldnt have a 400-unit housing project (downtown). But when you are approving the environmental report, you are not approving the foundation structure. And if we are going to continue to build large structures on landfill, we need to make sure all the requirements for foundation systems in seismically challenged areas are of the highest standards, Peskin said. Bottom line, he said: I am not opposed to development Im opposed to buildings that sink. Incidentally, at a news conference last week, Peskin highlighted a letter that the city building staff sent to the Millenniums designers in February 2009 raising questions about the high-rises settlement. That was two months before the building department signed off on allowing people to move in. Now, one of the firms that worked on the project, DeSimone Consulting Engineers, has furnished us with copies of three letters its building team sent in reply including an acknowledgment that the Millennium had sunk 8.3 inches by then and could sink an additional 2 to 4 inches. In fact, the building has now sunk nearly an additional 8 inches, to 16 inches total, and a geotechnical engineer hired by Millennium homeowners warned in May that its still dropping. Its worth noting that Handel Architects, which designed the project, said after the sinking had started they modified the design in anticipation of things getting worse including installing adjustable handrails to sloped walkways and adding utility lines with flexible connections. Parker pot push: Former Facebook President and Napster co-founder Sean Parker has dropped an additional $4 million in support of Proposition 64, bringing the tech titans total for backing recreational marijuana to $7.5 million. The money arrives just as new polling shows the initiative clearing the 50 percent plus one needed for passage Nov. 8. However, just how big that margin is varies depending on the poll. A recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times survey has Prop. 64 with 58 percent support, while a KPIX-Survey USA poll shows the race much tighter, with backing at 52 percent. Proposition 64 funders view marijuana decriminalization as a giant step forward for social justice ... and are committed to ensuring that every voter understands that, said yes campaign spokesman Jason Kinney. Andrew Acosta, spokesman for law enforcement groups opposing the measure, called Parkers mega-donation a desperation move in face of falling poll numbers. Voters are just now focusing on the details of Prop. 64 and are rejecting it, Acosta said. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The no side picked up $400,000 in donations last week. One of law enforcements biggest objections to marijuana legalization is that, unlike for drunken driving, theres no good test for telling whether a motorist is stoned. Whether crashes and deaths have increased in states that have legalized weed is a matter of fierce debate, but the cops say theres no point taking chances. The other side may have money and momentum, said Emeryville Police Chief Jennifer Tejada, a Prop. 64 opponent. But we have common sense. Art of the deal: We have another sign that talks are about to heat up between the city and Academy of Art University over the schools longtime flouting of San Franciscos building and zoning codes. The city Planning Department said Friday it is delaying a hearing scheduled for next week to consider the fate of seven of the schools residential properties. Planning staff had recommended that just two of them be legalized by the city a move that could force scores of students to seek housing elsewhere. A Planning Department insider tells us the two-month delay is intended to give City Attorney Dennis Herrera time to try to work out a settlement of his suit accusing the academy of illegally converting more than half its 40 buildings in the city. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross Rose Pak had been dealing with health problems for some months before her death Sunday, but she wasnt exactly mellowing. We had lunch together a few weeks back, and she was in vintage form. Wed no sooner sat down than she called a local politician an idiot. And then she went on a riff about the mayors baldies, which was her nickname for follicle-challenged Steve Kawa and Tony Winnicker, advisers to Ed Lee. It was profane and merciless. It was also Pak at her hilarious best. We met at the R&G Lounge, which is the power nexus for Chinatown movers and shakers. I walked in and got a quick, polite nod from the hostess, who pointed me to a barstool. Then Pak came through the door, and everything started happening at once. We were whisked to a corner table in the back room, where two waiters were assigned to our needs. After all, this had been Paks usual place since the 1980s, and Rose Pak was not a person to be treated lightly. She said she was sitting right here at this table in 1989, when then-Mayor Art Agnos came in to sketch out his plan to take down the Embarcadero Freeway, which had been damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Pak, it would be safe to say, was not a fan of the plan. You dont just come in here and scribble on a placemat, she snorted. Schedule a goddamn meeting. When the food came, I picked up my chopsticks, hoping to avoid dropping too much food in my lap. Pak immediately grabbed a fork. She didnt really order food just began to appear, plate after plate. There was far more than we could eat, so Pak asked a waiter to bring a box because she wanted to give the leftovers to a homeless guy she knew would be on the corner. A check never appeared. Probably an oversight. When we were done, Pak said, Come with me. Were going for coffee and you can talk to me more there. She probably didnt know every single person we met on the sidewalk, but thats how it seemed. We walked a couple of blocks, then stepped into a small bakery where she was again the center of attention. Pak told long, stem-winding stories and even a couple of jokes like the one about the Chinese cook at a railway camp who, when told the workers were not going to play mean tricks on him anymore, said that in that case, he would stop peeing in their soup. She was the kind of person who would slap the table when she hit the punchline. She remembered names, dates, and details of past campaigns and political dust-ups. She ended up losing the Embarcadero Freeway battle it was torn down in 1991 but no one who was around then forgot the fight she put up. Pak says she mobilized the owners of hundreds of Chinatown businesses, who shut down for a day and marched on City Hall for the Board of Supervisors vote. She said only four business owners declined to participate, and at the end of the year, all four were shut down. You didnt want to cross Rose Pak in Chinatown. For years, Paks appearance at the Chinese New Year Parade was a not-so-guilty pleasure for political junkies. Somehow it became a tradition for Pak to pace along the reviewing stand with a microphone and comment on politicians as they rolled by in their cars. No one in City Hall wanted to skip the parade, but if you were on the outs with Pak, you had to be ready for the abuse. One year, angry at District Attorney George Gascon, Pak suggested that we light some firecrackers under the D.A.s crotch. You had to go through the gantlet, Agnos said this week. And they got skewered. You always knew what their standing was by what she said as they passed by. Her running commentary was better than any poll in Chinatown. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Calling Pak an advocate for the Chinatown community was an understatement. Another lunch story involved the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Pak got a tour of the place before it opened in 1976 and found that there was only a small plaque to commemorate the Chinese workers who did much of the construction on the Transcontinental Railroad. Pak pitched an enormous fit. I stormed out of there and drove right to the Assembly offices, she said. I said, You guys have a lot of f nerve. Thousands of our people died, and all you have to honor them is this little piece of paper? Pak says the upshot was that the opening was delayed six months, funds were collected and a much more representative display was installed. That was Rose Pak. Unafraid to speak her mind in the most blunt terms, she was above all smart and savvy. She got a certain amount of criticism, but she was well aware of how influential she was. As she said just before lunch ended, Im not a goddamn moron. Agreed. C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwnevius WASHINGTON Water is almost a prism for the presidential race, illuminating the wildly different approaches Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump seemingly take to any gnarly issue. Since the California primary in June, when Clinton cautiously sidestepped questions on the states five-year drought, she has laid out detailed policy positions on Western water issues that have surprised experts with their nuance but have gone almost completely unnoticed. The same holds true on renewable energy, climate change, public lands and other environmental issues. Water is a classic example. Clintons plan describes the dimensions of the problem that the federal government will face during the next presidency, noting that the Colorado River Basin on which the Wests big cities, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas and to some degree Los Angeles, depend is in its 16th year of drought. To address this, Clinton calls for a big push on water conservation and reuse, along with habitat restoration and similar measures. She adds a special focus on water technology, calling for a new national Water Innovation Laboratory, modeled on the national energy labs such as Lawrence Livermore. The labs mission would emphasize basic water research, an area that has been neglected for decades. DAMON WINTER/NYT Clinton would direct billions of dollars in federal investment to repair and replace the Wests aging water infrastructure, noting that California cities lose enough water each year in leaks alone to supply all of Los Angeles. Its a remarkably well-written, comprehensive, thoughtful plan, said Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute think tank and a resource scientist. I hadnt seen it before, Im embarrassed to say ... but I thought it was really spot-on. Trump has shown no such nuance. He bluntly told a huge rally in Fresno in May, There is no drought, something he said he had learned at a private meeting that morning with farmers, organized by an official of the Westlands Water District, a politically powerful group of irrigators. You have a water problem that is so insane, it is so ridiculous, where theyre taking the water and shoving it out to sea, Trump told the Selland Arena crowd. He said no one, not even environmentalists, understands why farmers are not getting water. The solution, he said, is very simple. He would turn on the taps for San Joaquin Valley growers. Were going to get it done quick; dont even think about it, he said. Since then, the Trump campaign has issued no policy positions on water or on the environment generally. The campaign has no environmental plan on its website, the standard place candidates inform voters of their positions. The Trump campaign referred a reporter to Aubrey Bettencourt, executive director of California Water Alliance, a small, farm-backed nonprofit that calls for building more reservoirs, using regulatory flexibility to get more water to farms and Southern California cities from Northern California. The group also wants to review the Endangered Species Act, the main federal law that protects native California fish. The law requires that some water be left in rivers to prevent the extinction of fish and other wildlife. Bettencourt said in a phone interview that neither she nor her organization are part of the Trump campaign, and that her organization is not taking a position in the presidential race. She said she was contacted by various GOP presidential campaigns for advice on water policy after serving as a delegate to the GOP convention. My name was in the loop, and it had more to do with my background in water and agriculture than it did anything else, Bettencourt said. Trumps policies on other environmental issues are just as thin as his water policy. His most specific proposal is a call to halt President Obamas efforts to slow climate change, by pulling out of the Paris climate accord and ending Obamas rule to require power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the past, Trump has called for slashing the Environmental Protection Agency, and in a television interview last fall, he said, Well be fine with the environment. We can leave a little bit, but you cant destroy business. My environmental standard is very simple: I want clean air and clean water, he said in his Fresno speech in May. The Clinton water plan is part of a broader conservation platform on her campaign website. It includes a tenfold increase in renewable energy production on public lands and a new American Parks Trust Fund that would double investment in public lands, ranging from national parks to city parks. Among other detailed proposals, Clinton would seek to restore federal forest land and rule out energy development, whether renewable or fossil fuel, on fragile lands, including the Arctic. This is in addition to an extensive climate change agenda more ambitious than Obamas. Clinton promises to make a much higher priority of water in the federal government, where it has received little attention since the Wests massive post-World War II dam-building era that opened California and the West to development. She would focus on conservation and collaborative stewardship that would use federal money to help local governments and private actors to pursue environmental objectives. Clinton makes water an integral part of her ambitious $275 billion infrastructure plan, calling for updating the Wests aging water system of dams, canals and pumps, now nearing the end of its engineered life. She calls for repairing and updating water infrastructure, but makes no mention of building new dams or even desalination plants, focusing instead on conservation and reuse. In omitting specific calls for new dams and desalination plants, as well as efforts to squeeze more water out of rivers to send to farms and cities, the Clinton plan is to the left of legislation by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is a close Clinton friend and supporter. Rep. Jared Huffman, a San Rafael Democrat who frequently battles San Joaquin Valley Republicans on water, called Clintons plan a very thoughtful framework. I wouldnt pretend to have directly influenced it, but cant help but notice it appears to be in complete sync with my own water bill. Huffman said he especially liked the idea of a national water lab. Water currently gets very little research money, especially compared with energy. Shes talking about creating a new national water innovation lab, like Livermore for energy, Huffman said. Its a great idea. He also said Clinton carefully avoids hot-button proposals that would antagonize any of the parties in Californias famous water wars, focusing on practical steps instead. Clearly shes done her homework, Huffman said. Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynlochhead Truth Box Statement: Trump told a rally in Fresno in May, There is no drought. Truth: California is in its fifth year of the worst drought in recorded history. Statement: Trump said the reason farmers dont have water is that theyre taking the water and shoving it out to sea, and that the solution is to redirect water to farms. Were going to get it done quick, dont even think about it, he said. Truth: Rivers naturally flow to the sea and go dry if their waters are completely diverted to human use, killing the wildlife that depend on them. Diverting the water beyond current levels would violate the Endangered Species Act and surely set off a court battle. Clinton has an extensive water policy outline on her website, which leans heavily toward conservation and recycling to increase supplies, rather than diverting more water from rivers. She also calls for a federal research effort on new water technology modeled on the federal push on renewable energy. It was the end of a chapter, but not the end of the story. The Chronicles front page from Sept. 19, 1975, covers the capture of kidnapping victim Patty Hearst and three others after a long ordeal. Hearst, the fugitive newspaper heiress who 19 months ago was kidnapped and then somehow converted into a revolutionary by the Symbionese Liberation Army, was quietly taken into custody yesterday in San Francisco, the story read. It was a capture with minimal drama and no violence. It took place in the early afternoon in an upstairs apartment (on) Morse Street in the Outer Mission District where Miss Hearst, 21, and a fellow fugitive, Wendy Yoshimura, had been living for less than two weeks. Hearst granddaughter of media magnate William Randolph Hearst and daughter of San Francisco Examiner executive Randolph A. Hearst had been kidnapped from her Berkeley apartment at gunpoint in February 1974. The leaders of the SLA were killed in a Los Angeles shootout and fire in May of that year. Hearst was on the run for nearly 16 months before her apprehension in the Outer Mission. Upon being booked into a San Francisco jail, she noted her occupation as urban guerrilla. She would later refute the SLA and detail how she was brainwashed into committing crimes. One of the nations most sensationalized trials ever would begin in January 1976. Top O the Top of the News: The rock group Labelle has made it from the chitlin circuit all the way up to the big time with a hot sex image. Page 20. Hot sex images will get you a lot of places. Top O the Top of the News, No. 2: A high government council attacked the steel industrys plans to raise prices. Page 58. How high were they? See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspapers history. More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond. Chronicle Covers highlights one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken and producers Kimberly Chua, Michelle Devera and Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim O'Rourke is the executive producer of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke (Click to enlarge) CHP / / Lucas Valley Road in San Rafael was shut down east of Nicasio in Marin County after a semi-truck failed to negotiate a turn, leaving the trailer dangling over a hillside, officials said. The truck got into the bind around 10 a.m., as the driver made a sweeping right turn along the roadway near Westgate Drive, California Highway Patrol officials said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Rose Pak, a Chinatown dynamo who died Sunday at the age of 68, hated being called a power broker. If I was white, theyd call me a civic leader, she would rasp, with absolutely no sign she was joking. A spokesman said Ms. Pak died of natural causes in her home Sunday morning. Friends and family said she seemed healthy after recently spending several months in China after a kidney transplant. Calling Ms. Pak, a native of Hunan, China, who moved to San Francisco in 1967, an activist or community advocate doesnt begin to describe her decades-long role in turning Chinatown and the citys fast-growing Asian American population into a political power in the city. Ms. Pak never held an elective office or sat on a city commission, but she helped change the political face of San Francisco, largely by recognizing it was changing. As the citys Asian American population exploded, she worked to involve her community more directly in city politics. She was strong and fearless, said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who ordered city flags flown at half-staff in honor of Ms. Pak. Whether she was right or wrong, she grounded herself in representing the community. She really wanted to make sure Chinatown as a whole was respected. Ms. Pak rose to prominence in an era when men held most of the political clout and women, especially Asian American women, were expected to be soft-spoken and self-effacing. She was anything but. Occasionally bawdy, often profane and always outspoken, she was a fighter for her causes, unafraid to mix it up with anyone who got in her way. You cant be so afraid of offending anyone that you dont do anything, Ms. Pak told The Chronicle in 2010. If people take positions I dont agree with, am I just going to roll over and pretend to be dead? No, Im going to fight. Born in 1948, Ms. Pak, her mother and sisters fled Communist China to British Hong Kong in the early 1950s. She was educated at Catholic boarding schools there and in Portuguese Macao before coming to California on a scholarship to study communications at the San Francisco College for Women. After receiving her masters degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City, Ms. Pak returned to San Francisco in 1974 to work as a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle and immerse herself in the citys Asian community. As the newspapers only Cantonese-speaking reporter, Ms. Pak found herself on the never-too-well-defined Chinatown beat, covering everything from the Chinese New Year Parade and local business stories to tales of crime and gang warfare. She made her own news as a 24-year-old reporter when a local lawyer was in court on battery charges in 1972 after throwing a punch at Ms. Pak during an interview at her home. Ms. Pak is an extremely pushy person, the attorney said during his misdemeanor trial. That wasnt the way she saw it, however. I was trained to be persistent, Ms. Pak said on the witness stand. That persistence stayed with her as she moved from writing about the news to making it. Rose Pak was willing and eager to work, and a fun and funny person, said Carl Nolte, a Chronicle reporter who worked with Ms. Pak. But she started going her own way and moved away from the newspaper. Unlike many Bay Area activists, Ms. Paks concerns were less about specific issues than about a specific area, her adopted home of Chinatown. Whether it was housing, development, the local economy or city politics, she came to it all with a single filter: Whats best for Chinatown and the people who live there? In the late 1970s, she was in the middle of the efforts to save Chinese Hospital, a small, underfunded medical center that served the poor, Cantonese-speaking people in and around Chinatown with physicians and medical professionals who spoke their language and knew their community. A few years back, when there was a desperate need to find more than $100 million to rebuild the aging facility, Ms. Pak took over the fundraising effort. I dont know if Im the best person, but someone had to do it, she said. Workers are now putting the finishing touches on the hospitals new eight-story, $180 million building called the Patient Tower, which is set to officially open this month. Even when she moved a bit farther afield, Chinatown was on her mind. Her support for the Embarcaderos controversial 8 Washington condominium project, for example, might have had something to do with her friendship with developer Simon Snellgrove, but probably had much more to do with millions of dollars the project could have provided for affordable housing being built on Stockton Street by the nonprofit Chinatown Community Development Center, a longtime ally. Ms. Paks time as a reporter gave her an inside look at how San Francisco really worked. It wasnt the polite give-and-take between thoughtful politicians and deserving local interests that good-government types like to see, but a raucous back-and-forth struggle between groups that wanted something from the city and politicians who wanted to know why they should give it. From her perch as the decades-long consultant to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Pak helped make Chinatown an ever-stronger player in San Franciscos political world. She raised money for her preferred politicians, gave them introductions into the fast-growing Asian community and provided them with support and campaign workers, all the time reminding them of the work she wanted to see done. She built a network of political and social connections over decades and was never shy about calling on them. She was a fierce opponent in empowering people in the various commissions that effect public policy, and the way she did it was a classic political strategy, former Mayor Art Agnos said. She was a classic gatekeeper, but she did it for the good of her community. She backed Agnos and Willie Brown in their runs for mayor and was more than willing to tell who should and who shouldnt be in their administrations. She pushed to have Ed Lee, whom she had known since his days in the 1980s as a young Asian Law Caucus attorney in Chinatown, appointed interim mayor to replace Gavin Newsom in 2011. Then she started the Run, Ed, Run campaign, successfully persuading Lee to give up his pledge to be a short-time placeholder and run for a full four-year term. If Ed Lee did not seize that opportunity, it might be years or decades before we have such an opportune time to have a Chinese American in there, Ms. Pak said in a 2013 KQED radio interview. Of course everything in this city is political, I would be remiss if I saw this opportunity and did not seize it. It wasnt until 1977 that San Francisco elected its first Asian American supervisor, and Gordon Lau was ousted in another election just two years later. But today, the mayor is Asian American, as are four of the citys 11 supervisors, both assemblymen and the local member of the state Board of Equalization. Politics was a bloodsport to Ms. Pak, but she liked the sport part a lot. When shed hold court at Chinatown hotels and restaurants with friends, allies, reporters and others, shed gleefully gossip about the citys political figures, often in language that could never be used in a family newspaper. And her allies werent spared her sharp tongue. When Lee appointed Julie Christensen, a Nob Hill community activist, to the supervisorial seat for Chinatown over Ms. Paks choice, Planning Commissioner Cindy Wu, Ms. Pak had some harsh words for her decades-long friend. You might want to take a bathroom break before you hear what I have to say, she said at a fundraiser for the mayors re-election campaign, then proceeded to slam him for the appointment. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Of course she also delivered more than $200,000 in $500 checks to the mayor at the same event, because thats politics, too. Ms. Pak then helped engineer the return of San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin with an aggressive ground game throughout Chinatown that ultimately tilted the board to a 6-5 progressive majority. Obviously we dont see eye to eye on a number things, Lee said from Napa on Sunday. But right up to the last moment I saw her often, and we worked together. While we suffer a loss, our community has been strengthened by her. Ms. Pak seldom let personal battles get in the way of her political wars. She fought with Agnos over the mayors efforts to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway, arguing that its loss would be a transportation and economic disaster for Chinatown merchants. But when the freeway came down, Ms. Pak quickly worked to persuade city officials to sign off on construction of the Central Subway, extending the Third Street light rail from the Caltrain station at Fourth and King underground to Chinatown. While opponents of the plan called the 1.7-mile project too expensive and an unneeded political giveaway to Chinatown interests, Ms. Pak helped keep the project moving. Its now set to open in 2019. In her final showing of political might, Ms. Pak blasted an effort by Union Square merchants to make part of Stockton Street into a permanent pedestrian space once the subway is complete. In a letter to Municipal Transportation Agency head Ed Reskin, Ms. Pak argued the street is a vital link to Chinatown and pledged an all-out fight if plans continued. Ms. Pak always shrugged off claims that she was a City Hall power broker, a woman who could give thumbs-up and thumbs-down on city projects or politicians. Power is an illusion, she said in an interview. If people think you have it, you have it. Ms. Pak was single her entire life and had no children. She lived modestly and said that she never even had health insurance until she was in her 50s. This is a loss never previously felt by this community, Brown said. Nobody was more devoted than Rose Pak. She took no prisoners when it came to her devotion. I dont know how she can be replaced. Brown was joined by other top city political figures, including Peskin and fellow supervisor Jane Kim, both of whom were tearful while paying respects at what the family said was Ms. Paks Chinatown home Sunday on Jackson Street near an alley renamed this year in her honor. People give me more power than I really have, she said in a 2013 Chronicle interview, and half of the crap Im not even remotely interested in. All Im interested in is advancing my community. Funeral services are pending. Chronicle staff writers Lizzie Johnson and Evan Sernoffsky contributed to this report. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth Gov. Jerry Brown has begun to sign some of the bills that have piled up on his desk following the end of the state legislative session. Both the bills hes signed and the ones hes rejected offer a unique window into where California is making progress and where the state is falling short. One of the most contested bills this year was AB1066, which extends Californias overtime pay rights to farmworkers. Brown signed AB1066, which was authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, last week. The bill just squeezed out of the Legislature, thanks to heavy industry lobbying. It will raise overtime wages for farmworkers over several years, ultimately resulting in time-and-a-half pay for farmworkers who work more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Currently, farmworkers earn overtime if they work more than 10 hours in a day, or 60 hours in a week. AB1066 is similar to a bill that was vetoed by previous Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. This has been a long fight. Certainly, its hard to argue with the concept of fair overtime pay for farm work. Its still tedious, back-breaking labor done by low-income, vulnerable people. Its hard to believe, for example, the business line that farmworkers will lose money because all farms will simply slash hours. Food cant be left in the fields during harvest, so some workers will surely benefit from the new law. On the other hand, experts have noted that we dont have much data about who works how many hours so its impossible to say that most workers will benefit. If the consequences of AB1066 may not be clear for some time, the consequences of Californias unbalanced tax policy have been clear for decades. Eight years after the financial crisis decimated Californias budget leading to a four-year crisis California still has a tax structure thats profoundly unstable, and therefore unfair. The general fund depends heavily on income taxes from Californias wealthiest residents. The state takes in a relatively low amount of property tax revenue, thanks to Proposition 13. Its other major source of income is sales tax, which has declined as a share of revenue as more Californians spend their money on services which are mostly untaxed. A budget that relies overwhelmingly on income taxes from the wealthy is going to be subject to boom-and-bust cycles, along with the stock market. Thats unfair to the Californians who depend on the state for their medical care, their disability services and their pensions. Brown has offered some ideas for rebalancing the budget, like extending the sales tax to some services, but fixing Californias broken revenue system hasnt been a focus for his administration. The hesitation is understandable. Doing so will be an enormous undertaking. This is also a mission thats likely to have politically unpopular solutions. Yet remaking Californias tax structure would be a fitting legacy for Brown in his final term. It might also sort out some of the confusing messages he sent to Californians with his tax bill signings. One of the bills Brown vetoed, for example, would have given tax forgiveness to homeowners who managed to get write-downs on their underwater mortgages. Struggling homeowners fight hard to get those write-downs, which can make the difference for people trying to keep their homes. Denying them a tax break might make more sense if all California homeowners paid their fair share of taxes. Thats progress California hasnt made yet. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Gary Johnson and Bill Weld the former GOP governors of New Mexico and Massachusetts who now head the Libertarian Party presidential ticket should embrace their failure to qualify for the first debate. Commission on Presidential Debates rules set the bar too high for third-party candidates to own a podium at Hofstra University on Sept. 26: To qualify, nominees had to be constitutionally eligible to serve, appear on enough state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College and show at least 15 percent support in five national polls. With 8.4 percent support in polls selected by the panel, Johnson didnt make the cut. The Johnson-Weld campaign has posted an online petition that calls on the debate panel to let the Libertarians debate. With more than 875,000 online signatures, the campaign likely will meet its goal of 1 million. I think thats the wrong tactic. Sure, you can argue that the panel is rigged, as Johnson said, with too many major party former big shots. If the panel wanted to accommodate third-party candidates, then it could have stuck to its first two criteria. Or it could have had different rules for one of the debates to accommodate outsiders. But that didnt happen, and it never looks good to ask the folks who control the field to lower their standards so that you can play. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Politics has come full circle for Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Twenty years ago, the Orange County resident began her political career with a shocking win over Rep. Bob Dornan, an ultraconservative Republican. But now shes depending on GOP voters to carry her to an upset victory in Novembers U.S. Senate race. Sanchez, who in the June primary finished a distant second behind another Democrat, state Attorney General Kamala Harris, doesnt have much of a choice. With the election less than two months away, shes running well behind Harris in both polls and campaign cash. Harris, the former San Francisco district attorney, also has the backing of almost the entire Democratic Party establishment, from President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Democratic Party. Swinging to the right is an interesting tack, said Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Orange Countys Fullerton College. At this point, she has nothing to lose, since the poll numbers just wont move for her. Barbara Davidson/TNS But an all-out appeal to Republicans can be a dangerous tactic in a state so blue that the GOP couldnt even scare up enough votes to make one of its candidates a top-two finisher in the Senate race. Its a narrow and slippery path for Sanchez. On the one hand, she needs to convince Republicans that she will represent or at least not ignore their concerns. But she also has to remind Democrats that she has always been there for the party and its programs. To get Republican votes, she has to come across as a moderate willing to reach across the aisle and work on problems that affect the state, said Frank Schubert, a GOP consultant. Its a very steep mountain to victory, but some Republicans will look at her as the lesser of two evils. Not surprisingly, Sanchezs team sees her growing effort to appeal to Republicans as a feature of her campaign and not a bug. CQ Roll Call, a news and media service aimed at Washington insiders, last year listed Sanchez as one of the 25 most influential women in Congress, calling her one of the top five debate shapers and swing votes. She knows how to work with her colleagues and local elected officials, said Luis Vizcaino, a campaign spokesman. She can do what Kamala Harris cannot, which is build coalitions with the left, right and center. For Sanchez, that means capitalizing on her years of service on the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security to argue that she has the military, security and foreign policy background that Harris, whose political experience is all in California, lacks. She hasnt been shy about making that point, using words not often heard from Democratic candidates. When people take a look at me on the issues, they will realize I have the courage to confront and speak out against the threat of Islamic extremists, she said last month on a conservative San Diego radio program. Im strong on veterans issues, Im strong on national defense, on counterterrorism, on homeland security. Thats scored some points with the GOP. After joining a high-profile, TV-friendly congressional visit to Southern California military bases earlier this month, she received the endorsement of San Diego County Rep. Darrell Issa, a conservative Republican. Sanchezs work on national security probably tips the scale for a lot of us, he said in a statement. Ive had the chance to work with her on a number of issues facing our military and know she supports efforts to keep the country safe. Sanchez also received the nod from retired Rep. Buck McKeon, former GOP head of the Armed Services Committee, who cited her ability to put partisanship aside and work with Democrats and Republicans to help move policies forward that better protect our troops and the homeland. She also has endorsements from Republicans like former Los Angeles Mayor Dick Riordan and conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who wrote in a tweet last week th at Of course Im supporting @LorettaSanchez in CA Sen race: ... Shes the much better of the 2 Ds on ballot. Very much so. But those fond words from well-known Republicans are much less endearing to Democrats, especially when they come from someone like Hewitt, a Donald Trump supporter who argues that Democrat Hillary Clinton is a leftist who is thoroughly compromised by the Russians or Issa, who has called Obama one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times. Issas long history of attacking immigrants, womens health and President Obama stands in sharp contrast to our values, Juan Rodriguez, Harris campaign spokesman, said in a statement last week. To stand with Issa means standing with Donald Trump. And thats the problem Sanchez faces with her GOP offensive, said Jeff Flint, a Republican consultant. Larry Lunchbucket Republican in California doesnt think about politics all the time, he said. To him, Sanchez and Harris are indistinguishable, since neither has an R after their name. To change that perception, he said, Sanchez would have to do something so viscerally Republican that it would alienate Democrats. Think a Trump presidential endorsement, for example. But Sanchez already has endorsed Clinton and regularly stands with Democrats on hot-button partisan issues. Just last week, for example, she called on Senate Republicans to approve the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland, which they have vowed not to do. Sanchezs lifetime voting record on Planned Parenthood issues is 100 percent, and her 13 percent rating by the conservative Heritage Action group is actually slightly lower than that of such well-known Democratic liberals as Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland and Rep. Mike Honda of San Jose. And no, her staff says Sanchez has no intention of endorsing Issa. Loretta is a loyal Democrat, pro-choice, pro-labor, 100 percent on the environment, said Vizcaino. Shes not doing anything different from what Hillary Clinton is doing, promising to be a senator for all Californians. Thats not a statement likely to create the surge of GOP support Sanchez will need in November. Recent polls have shown Harris with a lead over Sanchez among voters of every partisan stripe, Democrats, independents and Republicans. Even more important, those polls suggest there are plenty of GOP voters who would rather not cast a ballot in the Senate race than choose between two Democrats. From what Ive seen, most Republicans will sit it out, said Flint, who is working on a trio of ballot measure races. The vast majority is going to look and say, Theres nothing here for me, and move on to the rest of the ballot. Still, the chance to fill an open Senate seat doesnt come often in California. Both Boxer, who is retiring, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein were first elected in 1992. Either Harris, who is 51, or Sanchez, age 56, could spend 20 years or more in the Senate with a victory in November. That could persuade Republicans to pick someone, even if it means selecting a woman they feel is the least bad choice. As the election gets closer, a lot of people likely will reassess the race, said Schubert. Its one thing to throw up your hands in September, but its another to do it the first week of November. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth A chain of 35 nursing homes, including three in the Bay Area, and its executives will pay $30 million to settle claims that they billed the government for therapy that their patients didnt need. The Justice Department announced the settlement Monday with North American Health Care, headquartered in Dana Point (Orange County). Most of the companys nursing homes are in California, including Petaluma Post-Acute Rehab, Apple Valley Post-Acute Rehab in Sebastopol and Linda Mar Care Center in Pacifica. There arent many writers who can keep surprising us decades into a career thats already produced multiple tours de force, including Amsterdam, Atonement and Saturday, but Ian McEwan has done it again. While not as substantial as his very best, Nutshell, his 17th book, offers a delightful twist on Hamlet. Its at once a cunning crime caper and a lively meditation on the question To be or not to be in a world rife with evil but also rich in complex red wines, pain-free dentistry, electric light ... [and] the best music the world has known. A master of the miniature powerhouse, McEwan pulls all this off in under 200 compact pages that span two momentous days. Thanks to its unusual narrator, Nutshell is fantastically entertaining and frequently hilarious. His opening is one for the ages: So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms patiently crossed, waiting, waiting and wondering who Im in, what Im in for. Whats this? In place of Shakespeares moody young Dane out to avenge the murder of his father, McEwans hero is an unborn baby boy, two weeks from term, reeling off the walls of my castle, the bouncy castle that is my home. Hes alarmed by pillow talk of deadly intent that he overhears between his blond-haired, green-eyed, 28-year-old mother, Trudy (standing in for Shakespeares Queen Gertrude), and her priapic lover, Claude (Hamlets nefarious Uncle Claudius). Sight unseen (of course), he detests this whistling, dull-brained yokel who batters him with every sexual thrust and has usurped his fathers rightful place in the dilapidated but still highly marketable Cairncross family mansion in St. Johns Wood. If you think the point of view from in utero might be too limiting, think again. Not only do we get a prenatal infants alarming perspective on sex and childbirth, this is a fetus who hears everything and understands most of it. Nurtured on a steady stream of talk radio and podcasts, hes extraordinarily well informed about world of self-loving nationalism, global warming, the urinous tsunami of the burgeoning old and the less than united kingdom ruled by an esteemed elderly queen into which hes about to be born, a world in which teenagers phone in with problems that would stump a Plato or a Kant. Out of the mouth of this hyper-articulate babe comes more perspicacity than from many a seasoned editorialist. Unlike Shakespeares depressive Prince of Denmark, McEwans not-so-innocent prenatal princeling is wired for optimism: Ive heard enough of such talks to have learned to summon the counterarguments. Pessimism is too easy, even delicious, the badge and plume of intellectuals everywhere. It absolves the thinking classes of solutions. McEwan clearly has fun putting these characters through the paces of a murder plot that hinges on a toxic smoothie, of all things. The babys father, John Cairncross, is a financially strapped poet and small-press publisher who has bored his wife with one too many recitations. I dont want to hear another poem for the rest of my life, she says. Her star passenger reports with perfect comic timing: You wont, my father says affably. Not with Claude. Well before adolescence, McEwans little prince struggles with a love-hate relationship with his mother and his own complicity in her vile enterprise. To get her attention, he periodically lands strategically timed kicks. Beyond its bounded in a nutshell ... king of infinite space epigram from Shakespeare, McEwans clever novel is seeded with sly references to Hamlet, including Danish takeout (theres a concept) and even a clock ticking in thoughtful iambs. His prose trills with riffs on the relationship between sex and crime, guilt, grief, remorse and art, repeatedly reaching Bard-inspired heights of eloquence. True, his gestating genius has a mature soul, vintage circa 1948, like McEwan, but thats part of his charm, reminding us of Shakespeares old man ... twice a child in Hamlet, Act 2. He waxes rhapsodic over Pinot Noir (Oh, to be alive while such a grape exists!) and rails at the curiosity-free mindscape of the modern English peasantry in which children are raised bookless on computer toys, sugar, fat and smacks to the head the sort of doleful existence he fears if hes given up for adoption. Like Hamlet, McEwans tiny hero suffers dark thoughts that lead him to contemplate his own death. This is one philosophical tot: Its already clear to me how much of life is forgotten even as it happens, he says. Most of it. The unregarded present spooling away from us, the soft tumble of unremarkable thoughts, the long-neglected miracle of existence. But, sight unseen, hes in love with a world full of wonders. He already understands that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in his philosophy. In the to be or not to be debate, he lands firmly on the side of life. His will to live is strong and innate: Thats the ride for me the Wall of Life. I want to go. I want to become. Put another way, theres a book I want to read, not yet published, not yet written, though a starts been made. Hear, hear. McEwans playful tragicomedy is one more smart reason for not shuffling off this mortal coil just yet despite the unending stream of distressing news. In addition to The Chronicle, Heller McAlpin reviews books regularly for NPR, the Los Angeles Times, Barnes & Noble Review and the Washington Post. Email: books@sfchronicle.com Nutshell By Ian McEwan (Doubleday; 197 pages; $24.95) UC Berkeley reinstated a student-led course on Palestine on Monday, after faculty members and students accused the university of interfering with academic freedom to appease pro-Israel activists. I fully support and defend the principles and policies of our campus that protect the academic freedom of all members of our community, Carla Hesse, dean of the College of Letters and Science, wrote to faculty members Monday in a letter announcing the reinstatement less than a week after she suspended Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis. The one-credit course with 26 students is taught Tuesday evenings by an undergraduate, Paul Hadweh. It examines the history of Palestine from the 1880s to the present, through the lens of settler colonialism, according to its syllabus. Settler colonialism is generally described as the takeover of a region by outsiders. Hesse took the rare step of suspending the course after 43 Jewish groups complained to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks that the student instructor offered only a single political viewpoint. The groups pointed to a UC regents policy prohibiting using courses for political indoctrination. Without mentioning those groups, Hesses letter said she had suspended the class because neither she nor the chair of the ethnic studies department, which offered the course, had seen its syllabus. The suspension angered a number of faculty members and students, who wrote petitions and letters urging reinstatement. Several pointed out that the course had been approved by the Academic Senates Committee on Courses and Instruction. In her letter, Hesse said she and the department chair met over the weekend with Hadweh and his faculty sponsor, Hatem Bazian, a lecturer in the department of Near Eastern studies. She said she had asked them to assess whether the course promoted a political agenda and whether its objective, to explore the possibilities of a decolonized Palestine which Jewish groups interpreted as calling for an end to the state of Israel violated the regents policy. As dean, Hesse said, she has no power to revise course content. The Palestine course is among 194 student-taught classes this semester at UC Berkeley. Although they carry credits, they may not be used to satisfy requirements for majors, said Wendy Brown, a political science professor who was active in trying to reinstate the course. Brown said many of the courses are taught by students who feel passionately about an issue. Im sponsoring one now in political science called Women in Politics, Brown said. The student instructors are not going to be teaching this from a balanced, cautious perspective theyre impassioned, she said. Its as if I were to say, Lets consider U.S. history through the perspective of Native American genocide, Brown said. There are people whod say, What about George Washington? Well, they can teach that course, too. Ultimately, the reinstated course on Palestine contains small changes to its description but no changes to its syllabus, book list or speakers. Among the changes is the addition of the sentence, It is crucial that our classroom remains a place for open scholarly inquiry and debate, and that we respectfully engage in diverse points of view. The new version now goes to the Academic Senates course committee for consideration. Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate With San Francisco's reputation as being both tech- and food-centric, the city has a number of perfect dining options for sealing business deals over a plate of food. What makes for a great power lunch option? Perbacco proprietor, Umberto Gibin, has a few ideas. The California Street restaurant came up repeatedly on best lunch lists for the downtown area, and Gibin said there are a number of reasons why certain restaurants are perfect for wheeling and dealing during the business day. "Location and convenience is really number one," Gibin said, noting that many of the restaurant's customers come to their doors by foot, rather than cars or taxis. "Everybody is walking from wherever they're working: the captain of industries, the managers, all the big brokers, attorneys. So we offer a perfect spot for them to conduct business." Next on the list of what makes for a good power lunch: Food and ambience, according to Gibin. Diners are looking for "a place where they feel comfortable and private enough, that they can discuss their own business and they can have some good food," Gibin said. Gone, however, are the martini lunches or glasses of scotch that went with what some picture as a true "power lunch." A restaurant lacking a full bar is no longer a dealbreaker. Gibin said imbibing during a business lunch largely depends on the day of the week. "Monday to Wednesday, it is iced tea, coke and water," Gibin said of his diners. "Thursday, you see the libation go a little bit more. It could be a glass of wine, maybe the occasional beer, but I don't see hard liquor much going out. "Friday's a little bit different," Gibin added. "Friday you may feel a little bit more [like ordering] a cocktail because it's the end of the week. But on Friday, the place is already kind of more leisure and not so much business." Despite the common belief that using a corporate credit card is the perfect excuse for an expensive meal, Gibin also said he believes pricing does play into the restaurant of choice. "Believe it or not, the prices have something to do with it," Gibin said. "They're not looking for the cheapest place, but they're looking for something where they are not spending an arm and a leg." Gibin added of business diners, "They are wealthy and have money, but they're not inclined to spend $60 to $70 for lunch." Looking for the perfect place to take a special client to, or negotiate that next contract over a meal? Click through the slideshow above to see some of the best power lunch places in San Francisco. Editor's note: This story originally appeared on Hoodline.com. It has been updated from the original version to reflect information provided by the SFMTA. The city's first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, along Van Ness Avenue from Mission to Lombard streets, is set to break ground this year, consisting of transportation upgrades aimed to improve congestion, safety and beautify the two-mile long stretch. But among several other utility upgrades included in the project is a plan to replace the current streetlamps with brighter, more efficient streetlights. And that has San Francisco Heritage, as well as District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, rushing to find a way to protect the lamps which they say are 102 years old. Update, 4:45pm: Paul Rose of the SFMTA clarified some of the details pertaining to the history of the streetlamps and the BRT project, stating that the earliest lighting features on the existing lightpoles date to 1936, making them no older than 80 years. The 259 224 trolley poles and streetlamps that line Van Ness were originally installed in preparation for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. And while they were moved in 1936 for a Works Progress Administration (WPA) road widening project and to inaugurate the Golden Gate Bridge, the lamps were reinstalled and have since been referred to as the "Ribbon of Light," a geographic marker for the two-mile stretch of Route 101 that leads to the mouth of the iconic bridge. SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose told us that the Historic Preservation Commission is only considering rehabilitation of four poles in the Civic Center Historic District. And while a 1982 architectural study conducted by San Francisco Heritage rated the trolley poles and streetlamps as "Level B" or of "major importance," a 2009 study by the Department of Public Works (DPW) concluded that they were not eligible for historic status in part because the concrete poles "lacked sufficient historic and structural integrity." But that doesn't mean that the lighting can't still be saved, reused or even replicated with the new BRT project moving forward. SFMTA said that the Historic Preservation Commission is currently studying the feasibility of rehabilitation, but also noted that, "SF Arts Commission and Historic Preservation Commission both rejected the concept of replication of the poles when approvals were received from both bodies for the project." In a resolution presented to the Board of Supervisors by Peskin, he writes that while the streetlamps and trolley poles are not officially considered historic by DPW, the SFMTA San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) did not sufficiently state its plans for the removal of the lamps in the presentation of the Agency's Environmental Impact Report to the public. However Rose said that "[SFCTA] included extensive information regarding the removal of the pole, including in the 2009 Department of Public Works report." Peskin, along with a group formed called the Coalition to Save the Historic Streetlamps of Van Ness Avenue, with the backing of San Francisco Heritage, San Francisco Beautiful, and the Victorian Alliance of San Francisco, hopes to find a solution that would either keep the existing lamps, or find a way to replicate them in order to maintain the historical character of the corridor. Mike Buhler, a representative from San Francisco Heritage, wrote in a letter to the Board of Supervisors that he is seeking that the SFMTA, "Make every effort to avoid their removal. With the installation of new landscaping and BRT stations, retention and reuse of the Historic Streetlamps of Van Ness would provide the architectural framework and historical continuity for new development along the entire Van Ness corridor, and celebrate civic pride to unite old and new San Francisco." Unless the Board of Supervisors responds to the resolution and and looks at an alternative to the proposed plans, demolition of the streetlamps should commence sometime later this next year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Kevin Winter/Getty Images for CBS Radio Inc. Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Kevin Winter/Getty Images for CBS Radio Inc. Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Garbage, the band that ruled the tail end of the 90s with blazing electronic pop hits like Stupid Girl and Only Happy When It Rains, spent last year celebrating the 20th anniversary of its eponymous 1995 debut, which sold 4 million copies. Now the group, led by Shirley Manson and featuring Nirvana/Foo Fighters producer Butch Vig, has a new release its sixth studio album, Strange Little Birds and is eager to bring some gloom back to the charts. I feel like the musical landscape of late has been incredibly happy and shiny and poppy, Manson says. Everybodys fronting all the time, dancing as fast as they can, smiling as hard as they can, working on their brand. Nobody ever says, Actually, Im lost and I dont have a f clue what Im doing with the rest of my life and Im frightened. JOEY JOHNSON/Associated Press TULSA, Okla. An unarmed black man fatally shot by a white Tulsa officer responding to a stalled vehicle last week can be seen in police dash cam video walking toward his sport utility vehicle with his hands up and officers following behind him before hes shocked with a stun gun and then fatally shot. Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan announced Monday before the department released the footage that 40-year-old Terence Crutcher had no weapon on him or in his SUV. Police said local and federal investigators are looking into Fridays shooting to determine whether there should be criminal charges or if Crutchers civil rights were violated. NEWARK, N.J. A federal prosecutor told jurors Monday that a witness will testify that Republican Gov. Chris Christie was told about the closure of traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge as the shutdown was happening, a claim he has contested for years. The trial comes three years after gridlock paralyzed a town next to the busy bridge connecting New Jersey to New York City for four days. Prosecutors said Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, two former Christie allies, had sought political revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who had declined to endorse Christies re-election. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Kelly was Christies former chief of staff. Argh you in the mood for a free donut? Krispy Kreme is celebrating "Talk Like A Pirate Day" with free donuts for people who act like pirates. "Talk Like A Pirate Day" is an official and real thing, which would be kinda weird if it didn't provide free baked goods. Participating shops in the United States and Canada are celebrating Monday, September 19th with a free glazed donut for anyone who enters the store and "talks like a pirate." Shenzhen seizes 400 iPhone 7 smuggled from Hong Kong in one day Updated: 2016-09-19 10:12 (Ecns.cn) Customs officials in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen seized more than 400 new iPhone 7 smuggled into the mainland from Hong Kong on the day of their release, reported Southern Metropolis Daily. IPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus smartphones were seized in more than 60 cases when smugglers tried to sneak them through two checkpoints into the mainland, where Apple handsets fetch a higher price. The first case happened at 1 p.m. on Friday when a passenger attempted to bring five brand-new iPhone 7s through the customs checkpoint of Futian in Shenzhen. At 4 p.m., mainland and Hong Kong customs authorities announced a joint campaign against iPhone smuggling as 10 suspects were placed under close supervision and 44 iPhone 7s were seized. From 6:30 to 7 p.m., the Futian checkpoint reported finding seven more smugglers who taped 190 iPhone 7s to their bodies. One said he earned about 300 yuan ($45) for smuggling some 20 handsets. The seized iPhone 7s have a market price of 3 million yuan and will be put up for public auction, with the income turned over to the state treasury, said a customs official. New York bombing suspect captured in New Jersey Updated: 2016-09-19 23:44 (Agencies) Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in New York City, is seen in this image released by the New Jersey State Police on Sept 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - An Afghanistan-born American sought in connection with a bombing that wounded more than two dozen people in New York City and could be linked to other bombs found in New York and New Jersey was taken into custody on Monday after a shootout, a New Jersey mayor said. Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was taken into custody after firing at police officer in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles outside New York, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two US officials told Reuters. The New York Police Department had released a photo of Rahami, 28, and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion that wounded 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. Globalists readying themselves to rig election, expedite social collapse George Soros and his globalist companions want Hillary Clinton to get into the White House. Her election is key in their plans for societal collapse, and the destruction of America as we know it. All News Pipeline states that the globalists whove been raping American are preparing now for the final steal of our country and our liberty. Their plan is to win the election by any means necessary, including blaming hacking on the Russians as an excuse to federalize your local voting booth. All for your safety and security, of course. Newsgov.com reports Jeh Johnson, Czar of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has suggested that voting and election systems could be classified as official U.S. critical infrastructure, just like the power grid. Johnson has already made phone calls to state election officials offering them DHS services that can inspect voting systems for bugs and other hacker entryways. Brian Kemp, Georgias Secretary of State, doesnt agree with the DHSs plans and questions their motives. Kemp stated, The question remains whether the federal government will subvert the Constitution to achieve the goal of federalizing elections under the guise of security. Clearly, since Trump is not a globalist, his defeat is one of their primary goals. Even if Hillary is not fit to hold office, she could be easily replaced after winning; by then the globalist foothold in the White House will have been secured and the dirty work can simply transferred to a new puppet. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, Clintons VP choice, would be next in line if she should falter. Kaine wants background checks for gun sales and loves big data bases like the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This is the agency that that collects data on all firearm owners. Conservativehq.com also reports that Kaine, like Huma and Hillary, has documented ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist front groups [and that this] amounts to national suicide. The social engineering methodologies employed to create the economic and social collapse of America has only taken three or four generations. In the last hundred years, weve been feeble-minded and sick, been put into bondage by federal dependency and debt, lost critical thinking skills, a work ethic, and subjected to an agenda that only serves to create division and unrest. Massive social chaos amidst the death and destruction across the United States of America is part of the globalist agenda. But they havent stolen the election yet. And right now were still free to buy seeds, supplies and share truthful information. The good news is that there are a whole lotta folks waking up. And Hillarys health problems are not getting any better. Maybe during the debates, shell experience a brain freeze and melt down with millions watching. Let CNN try to spin that while the whole world discerns the globalist house of cards. Sources: AllNewsPipeline.com Nextgov.com Kaine.Senate.gov Conservativehq.com Mohammed Syeedy has been convicted of murdering an imam who he and friend believed practised 'black magic' A British ISIS supporter has been jailed for life for stalking and murdering an imam who had his head caved in with a hammer. Mohammed Syeedy, 21, was consumed by hatred of Jalal Uddin, 71, because he practised a form of Islamic healing in Rochdale's Bangladeshi community which the terror group consider 'black magic'. Former Manchester United steward Syeedy acted as getaway driver for another man, Mohammed Kadir, 24, who bludgeoned Mr Uddin to death in a children's play area on the early evening of February 18. Syeedy was today handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 24 years. Kadir fled the UK three days after the killing and it is thought he may now be in Syria. The pair developed a hatred of Mr Uddin because he used a form of healing involving amulets, known as taweez, which are said to bring good fortune. They stalked Mr Uddin for six months and called him 'Voldemort',the evil wizard in Harry Potter, because they saw his faith healing as 'black magic', the trial heard. British ISIS supporter Syeedy (left) was found guilty of stalking and murdering Imam Jalal Uddin (right) who had his head caved in with a hammer +15 Evidence: Photographs show Syeedy posting with a flag of the Shahada - the Muslim profession of faith - draped over road signs in Rochdale (shown above) Their intention turned to murder after they saw a photograph of the former imam who they regarded as a 'magician' - with Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk at the end of last year. Mr Uddin, who was 71 at the time of his death, was bludgeoned in a park in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in a horrific attack with a hammer because they believed that he was practicing 'black magic' and needed to be 'punished'. The jury of six men and six women today found the defendant guilty of murder after four hours of deliberations. Jailing Syeedy today, judge Sir David Maddison told him: 'You and your co accused considered [taweez] to be a form of black magic that could not be tolerated in Islam. 'You were involved in a number of plots. The first plot was to get Jalal Uddin deported, the second was to report him to the mosque committee. The final plot was either kill him or to cause extremely serious harm to him. The judge added: 'It seems to me this was a case of two members of the Muslim faith killing another member of the Muslim faith solely because they disagreed with a particular act undertaken by that person.' Syeedy held his hands to his face in shock after the foreman delivered the verdict after about four hours of jury deliberations. He later shook his head several times with his face covered as he sat down. As part of his defence, Syeedy claimed that he had been personally affected by the acts of ISIS, after the death of taxi driver Alan Henning who was his older brother's good friend, branding them as 'disgusting' in his evidence. He also travelled as part of an aid convoy, Rochdale to Syria, in 2013, where the defence suppose that he was radicalised. The pair were said to have sympathised with the ISIS ideology that Taweez are 'black magic' and the magicians practicing it should be killed. They and their associates carried out secret surveillance to establish where Mr Uddin was living and in August 2015 raided the mosque where he kept his books of 'spells' and other precious religious materials. On September 6 'covertly-recorded' footage of Mr Uddin was sent to Syeedy's phone, and showed the victim, wearing a white head scarf, walking past the window. Syeedy and Kadir initially plotted to report Mr Uddin to immigration authorities in the hope he would be deported back to Bangladesh for overstaying his visa. +15 A photograph found on Mohammed Hussain Syeedy's mobile phone shows him posing with a flag in Rochdale and performing what prosecutors claim is an 'ISIS-salute' alongside a friend He was supported by members of the community, moving from property to property in fear for being discovered by the immigration authorities. However the plan to get Mr Uddin deported was cast aside after he was pictured with Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, leading them to believe that deportation would be difficult. A WhatsApp message sent to Syeedy's phone along with the photograph of the victim with the MP read: 'Oh c**p Voldemort never gonna be busted by immigration now'. Believing that getting Mr Uddin deported would be difficult, the pair plotted to kill him. On February 18 this year, the pair met up and travelled to the Jalalia Mosque where they saw Mr Uddin. They then stalked him to a property on South Street in Syeedy's black Astra, with the lights turned off so Mr Uddin wouldn't recognise them. +15 Manchester Crown Court heard how Syeedy travelled in a convoy to Syria in December 2013, shortly after his elder brother left with Alan Henning, 47, pictured, on a similar mission Just after 8.30pm Mr Uddin left the property, and entered a park further up the road. Syeedy dropped Kadir off, and the pair were separated for less than two minutes before Kadir was back in his car. The prosecution say that this was to allow Kadir to 'attack at speed'. Mr Uddin suffered severe head injuries, with his dentures being broken in half inside his mouth and having the imprint of a hammer head on his forehead. Syeedy, who pleaded not guilty to both murder and manslaughter, denies the fact that he is an ISIS supporter, despite extremist material being found on his mobile phone. Among these were photographs of Syeedy and his associates raising index figure salutes, which are said to signify an allegiance to ISIS, it is claimed. Kadir travelled to Instanbul after the killing and is believed to had fled to Syria three days after killing Mr Uddin. He has a history of posting ISIS-related material online. In February 2015, he updated his profile picture on a social network with an image containing a quote about armies carrying black flags. He also posted a photograph of a lounge with a television in the background showing an image of an ISIS flag. He also posted an English-language nasheed produced by ISIS with the chorus: "We are the soldiers that fight in the day and the night." Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press JERUSALEM Two Palestinians were killed Monday as they tried to stab Israeli police in the West Bank city of Hebron while a third Palestinian was shot and wounded after stabbing and wounding two Israeli police officers in Jerusalem, police said. The two attacks followed a bloody weekend in which four Palestinians were killed while attacking Israelis, according to Israeli authorities, raising fears of a return to the near-daily Palestinian attacks seen at times over the past year. SIMPLICITY KIWISAVER CALLS FOR INDUSTRY TRANSPARENCY New nonprofit KiwiSaver scheme Simplicity today called on the Kiwisaver industry to address widespread deficiencies in their disclosure regimes and start being honest with their customers. Alarming reports of widespread misleading fee disclosure practices is an opportunity for the entire Kiwisaver industry to come clean and commit to full transparency and disclosure, said Simplicity Managing Director, Sam Stubbs. "New Zealand can become a world leader in disclosure and transparency of fees if we learn from this experience, Mr Stubbs said. Mr Stubbs said that one of Simplicity Kiwisavers founding principles was to be totally transparent about fees charged to customers. Fortunately, there are some Kiwisaver providers that are setting a good example. However there are too many providers who are deliberately obfuscating the true picture in terms of fees they are charging their Kiwisaver customers, and its time they fronted up and told the entire truth, Mr Stubbs said. Mr Stubbs said it was inevitable that the lack of transparency demonstrated by some Kiwisaver funds would mean the introduction of regulation on fees disclosure. Given the widespread misleading practices on fees disclosure from some kiwisaver providers, the regulators really have no choice but to ensure that every KiwiSaver knows exactly what they pay in fees," he said. Our power, phone, and rates bills all tell us the exact cost we are being charged in dollars and cents, and KiwiSaver schemes should be the same, he said. It's a relief to see that some KiwiSaver providers are doing the right thing by disclosing their entire fees, and they are to be applauded for their integrity, he said. "This is the reason we chose a nonprofit model for Simplicity, to give the returns back to Kiwis and be 100% transparent. It is too tempting to be lean with the truth when the profits from poor transparency are so high" said Mr Stubbs. Simplicity highlighted recently that lifetime fees for the average KiwiSaver member will be $54,700, higher than for their lifetime bills for power ($37,200) or their mobile phones ($35,900). "These are amongst the highest fees in the world, said Mr Stubbs. Mr Stubbs pointed out that KiwiSavers can now switch schemes online in less than 2 minutes. "If your KiwiSaver provider has been charging you fees they havent told you about, you can switch providers without telling them. With Simplicity, this takes less than two minutes, he said. Because of its nonprofit and 100% online business model, Simplicity charges the lowest fees of any KiwiSaver scheme, including all default funds. It also shows all charges in dollars and cents, from the day the member joins. For further information please contact Sam Stubbs, 021-491547 Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update Arvida Group plans to raise $41.8 million selling shares at a 12 percent discount to help fund the acquisition of three new retirement villages in Tauranga and the Waikato. The Auckland-based retirement village operator will sell shares at $1.05 apiece in a one-for-seven renounceable rights issue fully underwritten by Forsyth Barr to help fund a $66 million purchase of two villages in Tauranga and one in Cambridge, it said in a statement. That's a discount to the $1.19 price the shares last traded at. The villages are expected to add an additional $4.4 million of underlying profit to Arvida's earnings, a 28 percent boost to its 2016 result which was better than the company forecast when listing in December 2014. "These acquisitions are on strategy and provide us with a presence in two key New Zealand regions experiencing high growth in aged care and retirement living," chairman Peter Wilson said. "We continue to actively consider opportunities that meet our strict criteria in terms of location, quality of assets and current management, potential for development earnings accretion." Arvida was created through the merger of 17 retirement villages and aged care facilities and has added to that with several acquisitions since listing. The latest purchases will increase Arvida's portfolio to 25 villages with 1,384 care beds and 1,248 units, and adds $11 million of land available for brownfields development. Arvida increased its banking facility with ANZ Bank New Zealand to $80 million to provide headroom for more acquisitions, and will have net debt of $42 million once the deal is settled. The rights will be tradable on the NZX from Sept. 27 until Oct. 12, and the offer closes on Oct. 18, with a shortfall bookbuild scheduled for Oct. 21. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update I'm not sure why, but I have a growing fascination with the letter thorn. Maybe it comes from the fact that we have sounds in the En... NEW DELHI: Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will decide on 15 foreign investment proposals, including that of Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services and Sharekhan, on September 26. The 240th meeting of the FIPB, to be chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, will have 15 items on the agenda. These include investment applications of Limpkin Telecom, Perrigo API India, Flag Telecom Singapore, IBM India, BT Global Communication (Mauritius), Morgan Stanley India Primary Dealer, and BNP Paribas Asset Management India. India allows foreign direct investment (FDI) in most sectors through the automatic route, but in certain segments considered sensitive for the economy and security, the proposals have to be first cleared by the FIPB. The government has taken a slew of measures in the recent past to boost foreign direct investment into the country. On June 20, the government had "radically liberalised" the FDI regime with the objective of providing major impetus to employment generation in India. This was the second big reform after some major changes announced in November 2015. The government has said that measures undertaken by it has resulted in increased FDI inflows at $55.46 billion in 2015-16, as against $36.04 billion in 2013-14. Read Also: Electronics Products Industry To Touch $75 Bn By 2017: Study Godrej Appliances Eyes 4K Cr Revenue In FY'17 MUMBAI: Mauritian companies have invested around USD 300 million in the country during January 2003 and July 2016, a Mauritian Minister said today. Mauritius is the largest single investor in India. "Indigenous Mauritian companies have invested close to USD 300 million during January 2003 and July 2016 - a truly amazing figure," CII quoted Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mauritius, as saying. He said smart cities and port development are the current focus areas in Mauritius. The minister also invited Indian companies to take advantage of new industrial parks in his country. India has also made significant investments in Mauritius with eight Indian public sector enterprises currently functioning in the country, CII said. Read Also: Amazon To Be No. 2 In Indian E-Commerce Market By 2019 Volvo Expresses Intention To Set Up Unit In Bengal United Shipping Corp Keen to Set up Facility in Andhra Pradesh NEW DELHI: Cab hailing app Uber is betting big on its enterprise offering Uber for Business (U4B) to drive its growth in the country. In the nine months of operations, Uber for Business has seen a 50 pct month-on-month growth and the company is looking at scaling the offering further. Using U4B, companies can enable travel for employees through Uber. They can monitor the trip activity and employees can use a central payment account or request reimbursement for trips related to business. U4B was developed to provide an enhanced experience to companies, and employees, wanting to use Ubers global network for work travel. The U4B platform also includes a versatile and powerful travel dashboard that business administrators can use to manage budgets, enforce ride policies, and monitor usage and spends, Uber Asia Pacific Head (Uber for Business) Arjun Nohwar told PTI. He added that U4B is up to 60 pct cheaper than traditional options. Uber for Business also allows corporates to automate uploading of employee lists and information that ensures only authorised employees have access to the companys U4B account. The US-based company, which is locked in an intense battle in the Indian market with domestic player Ola, has been aggressively ramping up its operations in the country. It has committed multi-million dollars in investments towards India, which is its second largest market in terms of number of trips taken, after its home market. Uber for Business was launched in the US, the UK, France and Canada in July 2014. It was launched in India in December last after a three-month pilot that started in October last year. Uber for Business as a product has been growing at an incredible pace worldwide. In India, some of the largest Indian corporates have adopted it for their employee travel. We have over 50,000 companies across the world using Uber for Business, he said. Nohwar added that Uber for Business has seen a 50 pct month-on-month growth in the last nine months since its launch in India. Some of its clients in India include Cognizant, Bain & Company, Airtel, AT Kearney, Dr Reddys Group, Godrej Group, NDTV, Reliance ADA Group, Tata Steel, Welspun, Quikr, Mindtree, Stayglad and Treebo. Ubers rival, Ola has a similar offering for the enterprise segment Ola Corporate. Read Also: Amazon To Be No. 2 In Indian E-Commerce Market By 2019 Volvo Expresses Intention To Set Up Unit In Bengal JAIPUR: Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh today claimed that the country will be ranked after Japan and America in steel production in December this year as a result of the Prime Minister's various initiatives like Skill India, Startup India and Make in India. "The country will be at the top in the word in industrial production on low cost due to these initiatives," he claimed. Speaking at a seminar on power and environment during Industrial Fair here, the Union Steel Minister said, these initiatives will not only generate employment opportunities, but will also strengthen the economy. Small industrial units should be promoted so that a large number of job opportunities are created and production cost can be brought down, Singh said. Rajasthan Energy Minister Pushpendra Singh said the state government is trying to improve the conditions of power DISCOMs and the state will have surplus power by 2018. Read Also: Committed To Strong Partnership With India On Terrorism: U.S. 'China Willing To Enhance Cooperation With Maharashtra' KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda today said his first overseas visit to India was successful and focused on creating an "environment of trust" and effectively implement bilateral projects for Nepal's benefit. After returning to Kathmandu following the four-day visit, Prachanda said the visit helped the nations strengthen ties. He said the visit was "successful" and has taken India-Nepal ties to "a new height". "The visit was more focused on creating an environment of trust with a good intention and effectively implementing the projects for Nepal's benefits at the earliest as agreed earlier rather than raising many issues," he told reporters at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport. He, however, said closeness with India would not hamper Nepal's relationship with China. "Nepal's relationships with the two neighbours had distinct dimensions," he said. During Prachanda's visit to India, the two countries signed a 25-point joint communique. He had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In New Delhi yesterday, he had said "dil se baat hui, khul ke baat Hui (we talked with an open heart) and both the countries found new grounds to move forward." Earlier today, he was welcomed at the airport by Speaker Onsari Gharti, and Deputy Prime Ministers Bimalendra Nidhi and Krishna Bahadur Mahara. Prachanda's visit came in the backdrop of a previously strained India-Nepal ties following the months-long blockade of border trade points by Madhesis - who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians - over the new Constitution. The Madhesi people allege that the Constitution is discriminatory to their interest and marginalise them politically. Read Also: U.S. Welcomes $1 Billion Indian Aid Pledge To Afghanistan Samsung Vice-Chairman Meets Modi STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The FBI and the NYPD identified Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, of New Jersey, as the suspect in connection with a bombing in Seaside, N.J., on Saturday and another in Manhattan Saturday night. Rahami was arrested late Monday morning. Here is what we know about him, according to information released by FBI and NYPD: Name Ahmad Khan Rahami DOB Jan. 23, 1988 Description FBI officials described Rahami about 5' 6" tall and approximately 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair. Home Elizabeth, N.J Personal Info Rahami was born in Afghanistan, but become a naturalized American citizen after he arrived in the country in 1995 as an asylum seeker, according to NBC. One official told CNN that Rahami traveled several times to Afghanistan and was questioned many times as part of standard procedure. There is, however, no evidence of radicalization at this time, officials said during a press conference in Manhattan. Education Rahami attended Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey, from 2010 to 2012 majoring in criminal justice, but did not graduate, according to CNN. Occupation Rahami was employed at First American Fried Chicken, a family restaurant located in Elizabeth, N.J., Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said in a news conference. Rahami's father, Muhammad, opened the restaurant about a decade ago and employed his sons, Bollwage said. The family business was a source of conflict with the government, according to a New York Times report. What he is suspected of Rahami is "directly linked" to a bombing that occurred in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Saturday night and a bombing that took place on Saturday in Seaside Park, N.J., during a five-kilometer run and charity event, an FBI official said. They also believe he is connected to an unexploded device found in Manhattan early Sunday morning. When and where Rahami was arrested Rahami was arrested at around 11 a.m. on Monday in New Jersey after a resident recognized him sleeping in the doorway of a bar, officials said. Once he realized he was facing police, Rahami shot one police officer in the torso, but a bullet-proof vest stopped the bullet, authorities said. During the confrontation, another police officer was injured in the face by flying glass, NJ.com reported. Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park told NJ.com Rahami was shot in the leg and was undergoing surgery. How they found him A law enforcement official said fingerprints and surveillance video helped investigators identify the suspect. The official said Rahami is seen in surveillance footage "clear as day" at the scene of the Saturday night bombing in Manhattan. The official says investigators were also able to recover his fingerprints from the scene. Three bombs found in New York and New Jersey over the weekend had one component in common: a flip-style cellphone. AhmadRahami The FBI seeks tips from the public in locating Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, who last lived in Elizabeth, N.J. He is sought for questioning in connection with the bombing in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. (Courtesy of FBI) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The FBI is asking for the public's help in locating a 28-year-old man sought for questioning in connection with the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, whose last known address was in Elizabeth, N.J., is the subject of a wanted flier put out by the FBI on its official Twitter feed. Rahami, a United States citizen who was born in Afghanistan, is sought for questioning in connection with the explosion on Saturday at about 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street. A total of 29 people were injured in that blast. He is about 5' 6" tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair, according to the FBI. The FBI warned that Rahami should be considered as "armed and dangerous." Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage confirmed that the FBI raided a building in his community on Monday morning that could be connected to the blast in Manhattan and/or bombs found in Elizabeth. "The FBI is executing a search warrant," Bollwage said in a taped interview on CNN. "They will be there for the next few hours, going through this location to find any evidence possible whether it's in relation to this incident or the Chelsea incident." Bollwage said that the raid is near Elmora and Linden avenues. Public records indicate that Rahami previously lived on Elmora Avenue and multiple media outlets are reporting that the raid is in a building where he resided. Sunday night, the FBI conducted a traffic stop on a "vehicle of interest" on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. The vehicle had just crossed over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island, according to media reports. The FBI continues to question five people in the car, but no charges have been filed at this time. The people in the car were found with a weapons stash, according to a New York Daily News report. Also Sunday night, five bombs also were found in a backpack on a trash can near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. One of the bombs exploded as authorities used a robot in an attempt to disable the device and nobody was harmed in that incident. On Saturday morning, a pipe bomb exploded inside a plastic garbage can in New Jersey's Seaside Park near the route of a Marine Corps charity run. No injuries were reported in that blast. Authorities have not linked Rahami to the bombs discovered in New Jersey at this time. People who have any information concerning this case should contact the FBI's Toll-Free Tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), the local FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Thousands of Staten Islanders turned out for the inaugural "Italian Festival at the Mount" this weekend at Mount Loretto in Pleasant Plains. The event was hosted by the Catholic Charities of Staten Island and was presented by ShopRite. It ran from 5-11 p.m. Friday, 3-11 p.m. Saturday and 2-9 p.m. Sunday at 6450 Hylan Blvd. "It was a great display for Catholic Charities and a great way for the Staten Island community to come together for an event," said Anthony Rapacciuolo, who owns PRcision which coordinates events at Mount Loretto. Rapacciuolo was thrilled with the overwhelming turnout at the event. "We'd like to thank the more than 15,000 people who turned out this weekend at the Mount to support our first annual Italian festival," he said. The event featured more than 40 vendors, food, carnival rides and games, a DJ and live music. A cannoli-eating contest was sponsored by Alfonso's Bakery. Vendors at the event included: Food Network star Chef Dom Tesoriero's Mac Truck, Soda City, John's Catering, Beansie Cakes, Montalbano's of Rosebank, Peter Botros' Stone House, Giovanni's Trattoria, Uncle Louie G's, Daiquiri on Wheels, Orange Theory, Pinot's Palette and Vincent's Zeppoles. An Italian-style, outdoor cafe served espressos, sangria and Italian beers. The event included more than 10 trailer-style games, mechanical rides and live musical performances throughout all three days. Admission to the festival was free, but parking was $5 which will be donated to the Catholic Charities organization. By MAURA GRUNLUND, EDDIE D'ANNA KYLE LAWSON and PAUL LIOTTA STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Federal authorities and local law enforcement are investigating a series of explosive devices discovered in New York and New Jersey over the last few days. On Monday, authorities identified Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, a U.S. citizen from Afghanistan, who is being sought. He was taken into custody after a shootout in Linden, N.J., according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. Here is the latest on this developing story: 3:51 p.m. -- Suspect undergoing surgery Rahami was shot in the leg during his shootout with police and is undergoing surgery, Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park told NJ.com. 2:45 p.m. -- No sign of radicalization Now that their suspect is in custody, authorities are working to determine a motive for the explosions. There is no evidence of radicalization evident at this point in the suspect, authorities said. 1:33 p.m. -- No arrests in Verrazano car stop There have been no charges filed against the individuals inside a car that was pulled over on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn Sunday night in connection with the investigation, officials said Monday. "That vehicle had been observed by [Joint Terrorism Task Force] personnel at a location associated with Rahami," William Sweeney Jr., FBI assistant director, said at a press conference. "No one in that car is under arrest." They are no longer in custody, he said. Sweeney said there is no indication of a terrorist cell operating in the area, although the investigation will continue. "We have directly linked Rahami to devices from New York and from Saturday in New Jersey," he said. He was not able to provide a motive for the incidents. 1:13 p.m. -- Cuomo: Quick arrest 'extraordinary' Gov. Andrew Cuomo applauded law enforcement officials for quickly apprehending Rahami. "The fact that Rahami is now in custody in such a short period of time is really extraordinary, when you think about it," he said in an interview on NY1. He said the investigation will now shift to see whether the suspect was working alone or whether he had co-conspirators. "Was this a lone wolf? Were there co-conspirators? Was there a foreign connection?" he said. 12:55 p.m. -- Additional details emerge Two police officers were injured in a gunfire exchange with Rahami, authorities said. One officer was shot in the bullet-proof vest and was not seriously injured, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. A second police officer was shot in the hand, he said. Rahami was found sleeping in a bar hallway by the business' owner, who called police and recognized him, according to NJ.com. Officers who went to investigate recognized the man, and he then shot one cop in the vest and fled, with officers in pursuit, NJ.com reported. 11:42 a.m. -- Photo shows bloodied suspect ABC Eyewitness News posted a photo of a bloodied individual on a stretcher it identified as Rahami being loaded into an ambulance after a shooting. Rahami is alive but injured, according to the report. Ahmad Khan Rahami alive but injured, loaded into ambulance in Linden https://t.co/aMCNYxwFnH pic.twitter.com/JJlFhPLYSu Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) September 19, 2016 11:32 a.m. -- Obama says briefings to follow Law enforcement will be releasing details on the investigation, President Obama said in a brief address on the bombings, asking the media to not get ahead of the facts. "You'll be getting briefings and details from the FBI," he said. He did not refer to reports of Rahami being taken into custody. He said officials see no connection between the stabbings in Minnesota and explosive devices planted in New York and New Jersey. 11:19 a.m. -- Rahami in custody, source says Rahami was taken into custody by police in Linden, N.J., according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. He he was captured after a shootout with police, according to multiple reports. At least one officer was shot in the chest but was not badly wounded because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Photos from the scene show the suspect lying on the sidewalk with his hands cuffed behind his back and his shirt lifted up, exposing his stomach. 11:12 a.m. -- Reports of 'active shooter' in Linden There are reports of a police-involved shooting in Linden, N.J. While the town is located near Elizabeth, it is not immediately clear if it incident is related in any way to the search for a bombing suspect. Linden NJ Active Shooter 500 East Elizabeth Ave 1 perp in custody and they just found a suspicious package req Bomb Sq & K-9 to the scene SBA (@SBANYPD) September 19, 2016 11 a.m. -- Press conference planned Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner James O'Neill, FBI Assistant Director James Sweeney Jr. and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara will be holding a press conference to discuss the case at 12:30 p.m. 9:58 a.m. -- Additional photos released The New Jersey State Police released addition photos of Rahami on their Facebook page, including a surveillance shot, and images showing him with a clean-shaven face and with a shaved head. The State Police post says Rahami is being sought not only for the explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea section Saturday night, but for an explosion near a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside, N.J. Saturday morning. The original FBI release only indicated Rahami was sought for the Manhattan incident. 8 a.m. -- Ferry commuters unfazed Morning commuters at the St. George Ferry Terminal seemed unfazed admit the wave of bombings. They went about their business and no visible added police and security detail could be observed, save for uniformed U.S. Coast Guard security walking around with their dogs. 7:55 a.m. -- FBI releases name of man sought The FBI released the name and photo of Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old man sought for questioning in connection with an explosion on Saturday at about 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street. A total of 29 people were injured in that blast. The FBI warned that Rahami should be considered as "armed and dangerous." Seen him? https://t.co/IvaT8sZs5n Seeking to find Ahmad Rahami Call 1800Call-FBI or https://t.co/vylOlg95dq pic.twitter.com/Xd2SXytZmD FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) September 19, 2016 10:15 p.m. -- Traffic stop near Verrazano; 5 questioned Federal authorities and the NYPD pulled over "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, according to the FBI on Twitter. The near was pulled over near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and, according to several media reports, the vehicle had just crossed the span from Staten Island. There have been no charges filed at this time, but the FBI continues to question five individuals found in the car. The people in the car were found with a weapons stash, according to a New York Daily News report. We did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in the investigation. No one has been charged with any crime. The investigation is continuing FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) September 19, 2016 9 p.m. -- Explosives found in N.J. A backpack containing five explosive devices was found near a train staton in Midtown Elizabeth, N.J., according to social media posts by Mayor Chris Bollwage. One explosive blew up Monday morning when a robot used by authorities attempted to disarm the device. No injuries were reported. Authorities have released additional photos of the man sought for questioning in connection with explosions in Seaside, N.J., and Manhattan. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New Jersey State Police have posted additional photos of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the 28-year-old man sought for questioning in connection with a bombing in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Saturday night. Just after 7 a.m. Monday, the FBI released Rahami's name and photo, and identified him as a man sought for questioning in connection with the Manhattan bombing Saturday night. A few hours later, the New Jersey State Police posted additional photos on their Facebook page showing Rahami clean-shaven and with a shaved head and face. They also released a surveillance photo of him. The State Police Facebook post identifies the man as an individual sought for questioning in connection with the Chelsea incident at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street which injured 29, as well as an explosion that occurred Saturday morning near Ocean Avenue in Seaside Park, N.J., not far from the route of a Marine Corps charity run. No injuries were reported in that blast. The original FBI release only said Rahami was sought for the Chelsea incident. Rahami is a a United States citizen who was born in Afghanistan, and his last known address was in Elizabeth, N.J. He is about 5' 6" tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair, according to the FBI. The FBI warned that Rahami should be considered as "armed and dangerous." obama.jpg President Obama addressed the nation Monday in regard to explosions in New York that injured 29 people, an explosion in New Jersey and a stabbing that injured eight over the weekend. (Staten Island Advance/Whitehouse.gov) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- President Obama said Monday law enforcement officials see no connection between the mass stabbing Minnesota and explosive devices planted in New York and New Jersey. Obama's address to the nation did not include news that Ahmad Khan Rahami, a person of interest in explosions in New York and New Jersey, was taken into custody. News of the arrest came within minutes of the speech. An attack in Minnesota was carried out by a man dressed as a security guard, who stabbed nine people and according to an ISIS-linked news agency was a "soldier of the Islamic state." Twenty-nine people were injured in the explosion Saturday night Chelsea, but there were no deaths reported in either incident. Obama said that in speaking with Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, he's confident the assumed objective of inflicting terror on U.S. citizens will not hold in the New York City area. He said officials assured him, "'(New Yorkers) are tough, they're resilient and they go about their business every day.'" "That's the kind of strength that makes me proud to be an American," Obama said. NWS EDDREAM Laura Timoney will sreve as Borough President James Oddo's deputy director of education, while Miguel Rodriguez will serve as Oddo's representative to the Community Education Council. Both are long-time parent advocates. (Staten Island Advance) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Two well-known Staten Island education advocates, both parents, will be bringing their expertise to Borough Hall this year. Borough President James Oddo has named Laura Timoney his deputy director of education, and Miguel Rodriguez as his appointee to the Community Education Council (CEC). They will join director of education Rose Kerr, retired principal of the Staten Island School for Civic Leadership, to comprise what Oddo calls an "education dream team" for Staten Island. Timoney, a parent of two, and an outspoken advocate for special-needs children, will be vacating her current seat on the CEC to accept the position, while Rodriguez, who currently serves as president of the Staten Island Federation of PTAs, will fill her seat on the panel. His CEC term will run through 2017. Oddo said Timoney will bring a parent's perspective to the borough's education issues, complementing Kerr's experience as an educator and administrator. "I am thrilled to welcome Laura to our team at Borough Hall. She has done a wonderful job helping Staten Island's students at the CEC and as an advocate for special needs students, and I believe she will be able to do even more in her new role in our office," noted Oddo. "I am happy to say that with the addition of Laura we now have an education 'Dream Team' at Borough Hall, he said. "Being a special education parent and working on Community Education Council 31 has given me a tremendous amount of experience working with parents, schools, teachers and the DOE to advocate for all children. I look forward to continuing this work for the borough president," said Timoney. Of Rodriguez, Oddo said his work with the Staten Island Federation of PTAs, "makes him an ideal candidate to serve on the CEC, which plays an important part in making decisions on educational policies," Rodriguez, meanwhile, said he hoped to hit the ground running on the CEC, whose first meeting is Monday night. "I look forward to working with the CEC and the Borough President's Office in helping to promote the progress of our schools and community," said Rodriguez. The borough president's other CEC appointee, Monique Hall, was appointed earlier this year. In addition to these appointments, Oddo announced that Kamillah Hanks has resigned from her position as Staten Islnd appointee to the citywide Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), effective Thursday. She said she wants to devote more time to "the revitalization of the Stapleton community, and the demands of the work Historic Tappen Park is doing" with youth in the community. Oddo said he is currently engaged in a search for a replacement for Hanks on the panel. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The New Jersey and New York devices that were detonated may have been made by the same person, a law enforcement source told Fox News on Sunday. Officials had not publicly confirmed a common link between the bombing incidents as of the press conference held Sunday afternoon. At approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, twenty-nine people were injured after a large explosion occurred in front of 131 W. 23rd St. in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. Earlier on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded inside a plastic garbage can in New Jersey's Seaside Park at 9:30 a.m. Mayor de Blasio urged New Yorkers to remain "vigilant," but to go about their normal routines. The mayor said that the motivation for the incident was not yet determined and the investigation would take time. An increased police presence will be evident throughout the city, the mayor said, due to the events throughout the weekend as well as the upcoming United Nations General Assembly week. Mayor de Blasio, along with other city officials, urged anyone with information about the explosion to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-8477 (TIPS), submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers' website or by text their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Luigi Cangiano, a 2-year-old Shih Tzu, isn't just any dog. He comes from a long line of award-winning show dogs. And his owners, Traci and Vinny Cangiano, know so because they purchased him directly from a breeder in Saratoga, N.Y. "Even his grandparents were show dogs," said Traci Cangiano, a real estate broker who owns Cangiano Estates in Great Kills. "My kids wanted a dog and the year after I was president of SIBOR (Staten Island Board of Realtors) I agreed," she added. But Cangiano wanted a dog that didn't shed and had a good temperament. At the direction of her vet, she looked up breeders of Shih Tzus. That's when she found Luigi. "When I got to the breeder, I immediately locked eyes with Luigi and he's been in my shadow ever since," said Cangiano, noting he's her real estate office mascot. But he wasn't cheap; Cangiano paid $850 for her in January 2014. And every penny was well-spent, she said. "I don't mind the cost because I have such love for this dog," she said. HIGH COST OF ADOPTING A FULL BREED And she's not alone. People pay from $500 to $1 million for purebred dogs -- with the average being about $2,500. According to Purebreed.com, some of the most expensive dog breeds are: Tibetan Mastiff: $5,000 - more than $1 million Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: $4,000 - $11,000 English Bulldog: $2,500 - $9,000 Rottweiler: $2,000 - $8,000 French Bulldog: $1,400 - $3,000 WHY IS THE COST SO HIGH? Joan Markowitz, owner of Light N' Lively Poodle, who has been breeding miniature poodles for the last 45 years in Tottenville, said the cost is high because of all the testing and medical expenses the breeder does before you take your new puppy home. "If you come to me for a dog I do all kinds of genetic testing before I breed two dogs of my own. I have them checked for everything that is known to affect miniature poodles," said Markowitz. "I have their eyes checked for Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA). We also have testing for hip dysplasia, knees, heart, elbows. Once you're involved in something like that you have thousands of dollars invested in your own stock," she added. Also, breeders take care of many of the health concerns for dogs, such as shots, prior to the adoption. "Every dog that walks out of here has been micro-chipped, has his or her first shots, has been groomed since 5 weeks old and he/she gets a bath every single week," said Markowitz. ADVANTAGES OF ADOPTING A FULL BREED While many people opt to adopt rescue dogs or mixed breeds, there's advantages to adopting a purebred dog, including knowing more about the health and genetics of the animal. "When you buy a full breed dog from a reputable breeder you know the genetics of the dog; you know the line and you know the health of the dog. If you buy from a pet shop or buy a mixed breed, even a Labradoodle, you have no idea what you're going to come up with," said Markowitz. "I have been breeding for 45 years, so let's say I've been breeding 15 generations of this line. I know every single dog that I've bred to or bred myself. So I know the background of all of these dogs. I know what could come up, and what couldn't come up," she added. DISADVANTAGES OF ADOPTING A FULL BREED However, sometimes full-breed dogs are prone to particular medical issues. After paying $1,500 for a French bulldog nine-and-a-half years ago from an Oklahoma breeder they found online, Huguenot residents Tracie and Joey Giardina soon found the breed was susceptible to herniated disks When Shea was just 3 years old, he suddenly stopped walking up and down the stairs. "He stopped jumping; he stopped eating and then he was just panting excessively. He just collapsed on the floor, like he was just dead," she said. "They did testing and found he had no feeling at all in his legs and feet. We rushed him to a hospital in New Jersey and they did emergency surgery. It was a 50/50 chance whether he would walk again. He was there for a week recovering and we had to crate him for two months to heal," said Giardina. Exactly two years later, there was another disc out of place. And the surgery had to be repeated. Each surgery cost $7,000. FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK In Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (in 2007), the US Supreme Court held that the Clean Air Act gives the EPA the authority to regulate tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases. Two years after the Supreme Court ruling, in 2009 the EPA issued an endangerment finding concluding that Greenhouse gases including COunquestionably fit the Clean Air Act's broad definition of "air pollutants," and must be listed and regulated by the EPA if it can be determined that they endanger public heath and/or welfare. "the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form." Thus legally in the USA, CO 2 is an air pollutant which must be regulated if it may endanger public health or welfare. And according to the encyclopedic definition, CO 2 is a pollutant unless our emissions can be stored "harmlessly." Is Increasing CO 2 Dangerous or Harmless? Humans are Increasing Atmospheric CO 2 Concentrations Humans have increased the amount of CO 2 in the atmosphere by 40% over the past 150 years, primarily through the combustion of fossil fuels. Figure 1: CO 2 levels (parts per million) over the past 10,000 years. Blue line from Taylor Dome ice cores (NOAA). Green line from Law Dome ice core (CDIAC). Red line from direct measurements at Mauna Loa, Hawaii (NOAA). We know that the increase in atmospheric CO 2 is anthropogenic from a number of lines of evidence. Atmospheric oxygen is decreasing at approximately the same rate as the atmospheric CO 2 increase, which tells us that the source of the change is from a release of carbon combining with atmospheric oxygen rather than a natural release of CO 2 . We also know that the 30 billion tonnes of CO 2 released by human activity must go somewhere, and in fact atmospheric CO 2 is only increasing by about 16 billion tonnes per year (the rest is going into the oceans). CO 2 produced from burning fossil fuels or burning forests also has quite a different isotopic composition from CO 2 in the atmosphere, because plants have a preference for the lighter isotopes (12C vs. 13C); thus they have lower 13C/12C ratios. And indeed we've observed this ratio decline in the atmosphere. Figure 2: Atmospheric 13C ratio as measured at Mauna Loa (CDIAC) The Increasing CO 2 is Causing Global Warming Thus we know that human emissions are increasing the amount of CO 2 in the atmosphere, which as a greenhouse gas, in turn increases the greenhouse effect. This increases the amount of energy (in the form of longwave infrared radiation) reaching the Earth's surface. We've observed this increase through spectroscopy, which measures changes in the electromagnetic spectrum. Climate scientists have also quantified the amount of warming we expect to see from the energy imbalance caused by this increased downward radiation, and it matches well with observations. Given the amount of CO 2 humans have added to the atmosphere already, once the planet reaches a new equilibrium state, it will have warmed approximately 1.4C from pre-industrial levels. Additionally, we have observed numerous key 'fingerprints' of anthropogenic global warming which confirm that the warming we've experienced is due to an increased greenhouse effect. How Much Warming is Dangerous? Quantifying exactly at what point global warming will become dangerous is a difficult task. However, based on the research and recommendations of climate scientists, more than 100 countries have adopted a global warming limit of 2C or below (relative to pre-industrial levels) as a guiding principle for mitigation efforts to reduce climate change risks, impacts, and damages. This 2C warming level is considered the "danger limit". During the last interglacial period when the average global temperature was approximately 2C hotter than today, sea levels were 6.6 to 9.4 meters higher than current sea levels. Large parts of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melted, with the southern part of Greenland having little or no ice. As discussed above, the CO 2 we've already emitted has committed us to about 1.4C warming above pre-industrial levels. Given a climate sensitivity to a doubling of atmospheric CO 2 of 2-4.5C and the fact that on our current path we're headed for a CO 2 doubling by mid-to-late 21st century, we're fast-approaching the danger limit. How Soon Will we Reach Dangerous Warming? Meinshausen et al. (2009) found that if we limit cumulative CO 2 emissions from 2000-2050 to 1,000 Gt (approximately an 80% cut in global emissions), there is a 25% probability of warming exceeding the 2C limit, and 1,440 Gt CO 2 over that period (an 80% cut in developed country emissions) yields a 50% chance of 2C warming by the year 2100. If we maintain current emissions levels, there is an approximately 67% chance that we will exceed 2C warming by 2100. Figure 3: Probability of exceeding 2C warming by 2100 in various emissions scenarios in gigatonnes of carbon (RealClimate) Sheldon Solomon Sheldon Solomon Psychology professor Sheldon Solomonan expert on humans' deep, embedded terrors about mortalitywill discuss fear and voting at a Skidmore regional event for alumni and others in New York City. The talk, "Election 2016: Fatal Attraction," takes place this Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the New York Society for Ethical Culture; tickets can be reserved here. Donald Trump's candidacy is making the 2016 presidential race one of the most spirited and intense in decades. In examining Trump's campaign rhetoric, Solomon will draw on Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death, Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom, Eric Hoffer's The True Believer, and Marshall McLuhan's notion that "the medium is the message." Solomon himself is the co-author of In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. A campus favorite for his engaging and dynamic speaking style, he was also featured in the award-winning documentary Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality. He has earned awards from the American Psychological Association, International Society for Self and Identity, and other groups. Watch Solomon's lecture from Reunion 2016 on how fear influences voting: By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. 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"People should not be given a certificate of occupancy on a property if it is yet to be hooked up to power and water," Mr Barr's spokesman said. Mr Barr's spokesman said on Monday night he would also to look to change regulations after the election to ensure such a situation never happened again. Chief Minister Andrew Barr will ask ActewAGL to prioritise electricity connections to the Ivy apartment block after residents moved in last week without power. On Monday, Actew changed its tune, saying given the inconvenience and the "extenuating circumstances", it was "endeavouring to provide connections within five to 10 business days". Alistair Nitz bought an apartment at the Ivy as an investment. An accident this year has left him in a wheelchair and with his sick leave running out, Mr Nitz said the property would be a "huge burden" while he made loan repayments without rental income. After being told by the builder six weeks ago that he must organise his own meter, Mr Nitz called ActewAGL to arrange the connection and thought it was in hand until he read about the impasse facing other owners on the weekend. He called Actew back on Monday to learn there was no meter and he must now wait, like others. "I don't know how we're in a situation where a builder has washed his hands of it, and ActewAGL which is half owned by the government is not doing anything either, and we have an election coming and the government is not doing anything any either," he said. Mr Nitz is just one of a number of owners unable to move in or living without power. The building has 125 apartments, some of which are owned by the developer. Those do have power and have been rented for some weeks. Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes is headed back to Canberra, but this time he won't be on stage. He's coming to Harry Hartog in Woden to support the release of his autobiography Working Class Boy, which is released on September 19. Jimmy Barnes has just released his autobiography, Working Class Boy. The book tells of his traumatic childhood, filled with teenage sex, drugs and violence, and his journey to Cold Chisel and beyond. He'll be signing books at Westfield Woden's centre court on Friday September 23 from 12.30pm to 2pm. A petition on change.org to save the cafe attracted almost 2400 signatures and many more were collected on hard-copy signatures. The cafe owners, the Stavrakis family, had been told to vacate the space by July 3 but its customers were having none of that. Customers at Sakeena's Cafe at Cooleman Court celebrate news it will not be closing down with Maria Stavrakis (front left) who has run the business with her family, including parents Despina and Minas for more than 15 years. Credit:Rohan Thomson Mirvac Retail, the owner of the Weston Creek shopping centre, confirmed this week that Sakeena's would continue to trade there, with a new lease signed, understood to be for another seven years. The cafe and Mirvac had been in negotiations since then, including in the courts, but an agreement had now been reached. A statement from Mirvac Retail to The Canberra Times read: "Cooleman Court and Sakeena's Cafe have been working together to negotiate a new tenancy agreement in response to community feedback and both parties are excited to announce that Sakeena's will remain a tenant within the centre. Sakeena's Cafe and centre management look forward to continuing their longstanding partnership at Cooleman Court". It was cause for celebration in the cafe with customers relieved and happy the family-run cafe would not be replaced by a franchised outlet. Sakeena's has been part of Cooleman Court for 16 years but owner, Minas Stavrakis has a more than 30-year association with Cooleman Court, having also owned the local fruit shop for 18 years before selling it to his brother. Weston Creek resident Ruth Carter said she was a regular customer of the cafe, often with her mother Joan Plunkett. "It was very closely followed by The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar in the same style." She Stoops to Conquer, Turner says, was and remains popular because it contains many of the elements comedies have long made use of, including mistaken identities, the class system and the relationships between servants and masters. "This particular play seems to crystallise all of that," Turner says. In She Stoops to Conquer, Charles Marlow (played by George Pulley) and his friend George Hastings (Teig Sadhana) are travelling to meet Kate Hardcastle (Zoe Priest), whom it is intended Charles will marry. But Charles is so ill at ease among high-class ladies he cannot speak to them, though he has no such problem with servant women; when the well-bred Kate discovers this she decides to pose as a maid, "stooping to conquer" her man. But that's not the only deception in the play: early on, at an alehouse, Charles and George encounter Kate's stepbrother, Tony Lumpkin (Adam Salter), who plays a joke on them by telling them they are a long way from the Hardcastle home and will have to spend the night at an inn. "He's a rogue and devil, the clown of the play," Turner says of Lumpkin. "He's the low comedy; he does a lot of manipulating." A former Marist College Canberra headmaster is facing child abuse allegations relating to his time at a Sydney school in the 1970s. Brother Christopher Wade, 80, also known as William Henry Wade, was the headmaster of Marist College Canberra from 1993 to 2000, when he retired. Brother Christopher Wade was the headmaster of Marist College Canberra from 1993 to 2000, when he retired. He is currently facing child abuse charges in the NSW District Court. Brother Christopher is currently facing charges in the NSW District Court, but has pleaded not guilty, and is expected to face trial in May. The indecent assault charges stem from his time at Marist College Kogarah in the late 1970s, well before he arrived in Canberra. A man threatened to kill an officer and was hit with a baton and sprayed with capsicum spray but these had "minimal effect", police say. ACT Policing said they arrested a 37-year-old Gowrie man after he at first refused to stop his motorcycle, then twice tried to run away from them on Sunday afternoon. Police say the baton and capsicum spray had "minimal effect" on the man. Credit:Paul Rovere They said an officer recognised the man about 2pm and believed there was a warrant out for his arrest. "The man failed to comply with the police officer's requested to stop the motorcycle he was riding. The [man] dumped the motorcycle he was riding and a short foot pursuit ensued," police said in a statement. The board of James Packer's casino operator, Crown Resorts, are on great odds to receive shareholder backing for a 50 per cent pay rise this year and a near doubling in the directors' fee pool to $2.5 million. Working in favour of the board which includes chairman Rob Rankin, deputy John Alexander and former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is the departure of Packer as a director in December last year. It means he can vote his 49 per cent stake in favour of the resolution which assures it will pass at the upcoming shareholder meeting. It also means a safer passage for Crown's remuneration report - which might come in handy given CEO Rowan Craigie has technically more than tripled his pay to $6.24 million. Many portfolio managers chose to just stay away from the market. "Either open the whole bloody thing or nothing at all." Delayed opening The stock market headed lower once trading began at 11.30am, with all sectors initially dipping into the red. Transactions made within a 43-second window ahead of the delayed start were cancelled and the staggered market open meant the entire bourse was inaccessible until 1pm and then again shortly after 2pm. The ASX then announced the entire market would close early just after 3.30pm. "Please be advised all ASX Trade markets will not re-open for trading for trade date 19 September," said Matthew Gibbs, a spokesman for the ASX Group in Sydney. We just backed right away and will begin trading again once there's some reliable market volatility. Karl Siegling, portfolio manager at Cadence Capital. "ASX will advise the process for determining closing prices, remaining session states and status of orders." The Australian Securities and Investments Commission was alerted of the issue early on Monday morning and kept informed throughout the day. Glitch was near miss Many investors saw Monday's glitches as a "near miss" as volumes were particularly light and most were just looking to position themselves ahead of the Bank of Japan central bank meeting on Wednesday and the US Federal Reserve meeting on Thursday. Only $169 million worth of trades were recorded for the top 200 stocks, against a 90-day average of around $600 million. However, those who use various trading strategies index arbitrage, high frequency traders and those with program trades found it difficult to execute their strategies with only some stocks accessible. "I've never seen a situation where only some of the market opens," said David Klinger, chief executive of block-trading platform Block Event and former head of Asia Pacific execution at Credit Suisse. "Those who need to be trading their whole basket of stocks at the same time will be having a rough time of it." Some traders took to social media to vent their frustrations. Chi-X Australia, a rival stock exchange, was also forced to delay its opening although it was able to transact for most of Monday. Bonds and futures also trade on the exchange, and their trading was not disrupted by the glitch. "Imagine if the Bank of Japan had moved today, this technical problem would have exasperated traders," said Chris Weston, chief market analyst at IG Markets. "All the big money managers would have had to look at other markets." Staying away Many portfolio managers chose to just stay away from the market once they heard of the exchanges' troubles. "We just backed right away and will begin trading again once there's some reliable market volatility," said Karl Siegling, portfolio manager at Cadence Capital. Speaking at a press conference after releasing a new statement on the conduct of monetary policy, Treasurer Scott Morrison was asked about the ASX glitch, which follows the technical problems experienced during the Census night in early August. "We are more reliant on these systems than we ever have been," he said. "It's important we have the redundancy and capacity and procedures for responding to the events when they occur though I think it's difficult to say, in this area, that things can never be ruled out from occurring. Art classes provided the only bright spot in prison life for Jayde Farrell. "Nothing great comes out of prison. It's a place of hopelessness," he says. Jayde Farrell in his studio space. Credit:Simone De Peak "Art calmed me down and gave me a focus, because I was fairly lost. "When I first started I was doing pretty dark work. The teacher directed me to lighten up a bit and do lighter work." Women are on track to occupy 30 per cent of boardroom seats by the end of 2018, new modelling suggests. But 22 companies listed on the ASX200 remain complete female-free zones, according to the latest quarterly Diversity Report by the Australian Institute of Company Directors released on Tuesday. Two companies joined the all-male club in the quarter. Travel company Flight Centre's only female board member headed for the departure lounge in August. Newly listed plumbing parts manufacturer, Reliance Worldwide, has an all-male board. Success inside China's most-valuable public company sometimes requires a bit of cannibalisation. Tencent Holdings' ubiquitous WeChat service emerged after founder Ma Huateng encouraged employees to compete against each other to create a mobile messaging business. WeChat now has more than 805 million users, who turn to the service not just for texting but also for playing games, paying bills and buying money-market funds. Tencent Holdings's ubiquitous WeChat service emerged after employees were encouraged to compete against each other to create a mobile messaging business. Credit:Bloomberg That blockbuster helped propel Tencent's growth into the biggest publicly traded company in China with a market value of $HK1.97 trillion ($338 billion). Ma now wants to repeat that success as Tencent moves into live-streaming video, letting at least six divisions compete for eyeballs in a market expected to mushroom nine-fold in value to almost $US13 billion ($17 billion) by decade's end. "Tencent's culture is like a shark womb," said Andy Mok, managing director for recruiter Red Pagoda Resources in Beijing, referring to how some unborn sharks cannibalise siblings in the womb to ensure their own survival. While Tony Abbott was able to win a significant election victory in 2013 by telling the voters he was neither Julia Gillard nor Kevin Rudd, that is an option that is just not open to Jeremy Hanson and the ACT Liberals at next month's Territory poll. It is not enough for the opposition to say it will can Labor's plans for the light rail project nor, as it did on the weekend, to announce it would dismantle the rather mysterious, and definitely very costly, City to the Lake program. Before trashing somebody else's vision for the future it is a good idea to have one of your own to take its place. With the exception of a hospital plan, itself more a knee-jerk attempt to wedge the Barr government by telling voters they can have good health services or a tram but not both than a reasoned response to well-documented healthcare data, most of what we have seen from the Liberals thus far is a catalogue of what they won't be doing. Dastyari was outrageous. He'd declared that the South China Sea was an "internal matter" for the Beijing government though its claims clash with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan and straddle the world's busiest trade route. Dastyari's position contradicted Labor's and the government's, too. Julie Bishop, on the contrary, has been steely with China. Unrelentingly. "I have very robust discussions with the Chinese," she tells me. "The Chinese tell me that ANZUS is a relic of the Cold War. "I tell them it has its genesis in World War II when the US, Australia and China were all on the same side in resisting Japanese aggression." She clashed notably with Beijing in 2013 when the Chinese government made a unilateral grab for international airspace. Beijing's claimed Air Defence Identification Zone was a direct challenge to the airspace of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Beijing said it reserved the right to shoot down undeclared foreign military aircraft in the zone. Bishop openly criticised the claim as "unhelpful" to stability. For this, she was ambushed and publicly lectured in front of live Chinese TV by Beijing's foreign affairs minister, Wang Yi. It was, said a senior Australian diplomat, Peter Rowe, who was present, the rudest thing he'd seen in 30 years. In Australia, a chorus of China apologists cried woe and predicted dreadful Chinese retaliation. The outcome, of course, is that Bishop was right; the Chinese have never tried to enforce their claimed ADIZ. And the dreadful retaliation? Trade and investment has boomed, China agreed to sweeping concessions in the China Australia Free Trade Agreement, and Beijing has, for the first time, joined military exercises with Australia. We see the same pattern playing out with China's unilateral grab of 90 per cent of the South China Sea. Australia has been firm and principled, and its stance has been vindicated by the independent arbitration panel in The Hague, which found that there was "no legal basis" to Beijing's claims. The Chinese have nonetheless kept up the bluster; Wang Yi criticised Bishop for daring to call on Beijing to respect the decision of The Hague panel. In an exchange that has not been reported previously, Wang told the Australian minister for foreign affairs in a meeting during the ASEAN Regional Forum in July that it had been "unhelpful" for her, in a joint statement with the US and Japan, to call for a de-escalation of tensions in the South China Sea. Bishop replied to Wang that the statement was "entirely consistent with our view about the need to uphold the international rules-based order", she tells me. "It's not a question of being soft or tough on China," she elaborates. "It's a matter of trying to influence China's rise so it's a respected power that's committed to a rules-based international order, the order that's served our region so well for 70 years and has benefited everyone including China." Undaunted by China, Bishop is this week taking blunt truths to the US, and to Donald Trump in particular. Trump represents, potentially, a historic disruption to the stability of the Asia-Pacific. He's said that he's prepared to walk away from the long-standing US alliances with Japan and South Korea, unless they pay more for the US troops based on their soil. Bishop is meeting several of Trump's senior advisers this week to explain why this is a dangerous idea: "If the US were to withdraw from the region," Bishop tells me, "strategic competition would come into play" as countries jostled for advantage as they sought a new order. This would raise the risk of hostilities and war. She mentions China and Japan as leading candidates, but also India, Indonesia, Singapore. The Sound Of Music star Charmian Carr has died at the age of 73. The actress's spokesman said she died on Saturday in Los Angeles, of complications from a rare form of dementia. Charmain Carr attends a screening of The Sound Of Music in Beverly Hills in 2012. Credit:Getty Images Carr was best known for portraying Liesl von Trapp in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1965 film, in which she performed the song Sixteen Going On Seventeen. She was a college student when she auditioned for the film, which also starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Australia's involvement in the liberation of East Timor, a mission launched on September 20, 1999, was the most decisive demonstration of Australian influence in the region since World War II, and the nation's largest military deployment since the Vietnam War. Australian diplomacy and leadership shaped the events that led to the birth of Asia's newest nation. But was it destined to be a success? And have we learnt the right lessons? The East Timor crisis tested Australia's ability to respond to a regional incident like no other event before or since then. For the first time, Australia was expected to lead in forming a 22-nation coalition and in conducting a delicate and complex mission in the face of a resentful and emotionally charged residual Indonesian force and associated militia elements that remained in East Timor. Things could have gone horribly wrong with the insertion of troops. Indonesian children burn a mock Australian flag in 1999 in protest against Australia's intervention in East Timor. Australian military planners braced themselves for the prospects of hundreds of casualties and Prime Minister John Howard, sensing the gravity of the situation and yet the desperate circumstances, sent Australian forces into East Timor knowing that the risk was a real one. He knew, despite the UN endorsement and the international backing for the intervention, that "rogue" militia elements or acts of ostensibly plausible deniability could be launched against the force, particularly in the early hours of the insertion, when it was most vulnerable as it was being assembled in and around the small air and sea ports of Dili. The fact that the operation went as smoothly as it did has led many to think it was always going to work out that way. Counterfactuals can be controversial, but there are strong indications the operation could have proven far less successful. After being brought to Nauru we spent almost 24 months in detention, before we were finally found to be genuine refugees. Since then I have not slept even one night without having recurring nightmares of those endless months living in a hot, mouldy tent. We became so alienated from our humanity, we were thoroughly transformed into a bunch of animals after years of living in the most appalling conditions possible. But in fact after some time we were divided into two groups, and one lucky group was detained in Christmas Island and eventually resettled in Australia. We were in the other group, and we were told we would be sent offshore for three months to process our refugee claims, after which we would be resettled in a third country. We simply trusted what they told us. Yet over three years later we are still trapped in Nauru, like rare animals living in an Australian-made zoo. By a seven-year-old girl who was in the centre on Nauru. "That is Nauru. All the people sad... That is me dead. I died". Credit:Australian Human Rights Commission report I am writing to you from Nauru to share with you one remaining fragment of our humanity and dignity, as you gather to meet and discuss the suffering of refugees around the world. I travelled by boat to Australia in July 2013 with my family, seeking protection after escaping persecution in Iran. When we arrived in Christmas Island, everyone was caught by the Australian authorities and we were told we would never be resettled in Australia. Australia and Nauru made a big cage with many white tents in a slightly depressed area of the island (they deliberately selected this location because it is hottest part of Nauru). They called it a regional processing centre but we called it a Slaughter Camp. They treated us like dangerous criminals, with two zoo keepers assigned for every three animals, as well as cameras recording our every movement. The zoo keepers were allowed to carry out every kind of behaviour which they desired. Except there was to be no compassion shown towards cubs and female animals, in fact some zoo keepers even raped these helpless trapped animals and abused the children (as revealed in the leaked incident reports published by The Guardian). In many cases the female animals were sexually harassed in exchange for having three minutes longer in the shower. Suicides and abuse and self-harm are all part of this processing regime, an inevitable part. My family was lucky, we got the chance about a year ago to come out and live in the bigger zoo (all 21 sq. km of Nauru). About 920 other animals have also been assessed as refugees and most now have better accommodation living in the Nauruan community (while 410 animals remain in the decrepit tents, still waiting for their claims to be assessed). To this day we are still like walking ghosts, utterly broken and hopeless. We are hollowed out and devoid of any enthusiasm for life, and we are stuck in animalistic state of existence because that is what we have become. Or even worse, myself and some others are basically just plants or vegetables, withdrawn in our pots for fear of the other animals. We absorb nutrients, sleep and breed, just like plants (ironically back in Iran I was an expert on plant life cycles as an agricultural engineer but that feels like ancient history now). Some of these animals are very useful for digging and moving rocks, so they are exploited by the Nauruan government to rehabilitate the island, which has been severely depleted and poisoned after decades of phosphate mining, with soil concentrations of cadmium over 460 times the normal level in some locations. VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - September 19, 2016) - Astur Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: AST) (CDC.F) ("Astur" or the "Company") Brian Wesson releases the following letter on behalf of the Board of Directors. Dear Shareholders, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, provide a corporate update and outline the immediate path forward for the Company. Over the past 12 months, Lionsbridge (the Company's new management team) has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Company with a view to understanding the issues of the past and the potential to unlock shareholders' value. Based on this review, it is evident to Lionsbridge that Astur holds significant value and that the challenges facing the Company could be resolved by a new management team and philosophy. As a result, in August 2016, Lionsbridge was pleased to take over management and join the Board of Directors of the Company. We are excited by the prospect of developing the Salave project and look forward to growing the Company and shareholder wealth through the ensuing years. Corporate Update Recently, there have been some significant developments for both the Company and the Salave project. Notably, the Supreme Court of Spain handed down a decision confirming the the decision of the Mining Department of Asturias in 2014 that mining concessions of EMC (wholly-owned subsidiary of Astur) are in good standing. The decision was made in response to an administrative challenge to the Mining Department's decision not to investigate a claim that the concessions were at risk. It is important to note that the Company currently holds mining concessions giving the Company the right to develop the resources located within the concessions. The Company is currently in the process of applying for the Administrative Mining Project Authorisation as supported by an Environmental Impact Declaration ('EID'). The EID is in turn supported by assessments by relevant government departments. The water authority assessment being the only negative assessment in the EID and therefore being the final hurdle before achieving the Administrative Mining Project Authorisation. Story continues We have retained Herbert Smith Freehills ('HSF') in Madrid to assist us in the permitting process. HSF has a distinguished history of working closely and collaboratively with government departments and all stakeholders to ensure that all the requirements of the stakeholders are met with a view to creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the Company and the community it is forming part of. We align very closely with this philosophy and believe the project will benefit greatly from our team, HSF and stakeholders working together. We have decided to change the name of Astur's wholly-owned Spanish subsidiary, which owns the Salave property, to Fenix Oro. We believe it is appropriate to change the name in line with the new management and philosophy of the team. We have engaged Mine Development Associates to update the NI 43-101 report produced in 2014 so as to ensure our technical disclosure and mineral resources are current. The NI 43-101 report will ensure the investors and shareholders have the most current information and will flow into the feasibility study to be completed as soon as practicable. We have called an Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on 11 October 2016. We look forward to introducing ourselves to the shareholders personally and explaining our longer term plans for the Salave project. Path Forward The intrinsic value of Astur is the Salave project and our focus is therefore firmly on bringing it to production in the near term by working closely and collaboratively with the relevant stakeholders. The immediate focus of the Company will be threefold: Re-engaging with Stakeholders; Recapitalising the Company; and Completing the Feasibility Study Re-engaging with Stakeholders Our first priority is to re-engage with the Salave project's stakeholders, working closely with the local government, regulatory authorities, landholders and communities with a view to building a project that benefits all those involved and satisfies the environmental and public policy concerns of all parties. We intend to do what is necessary to de-escalate the relationships with the relevant stakeholders and re-engage with the interested parties with a clean slate, constructively and collaboratively. We will only progress the project with the support of the community in which we operate. As part of the process of re-engaging with stakeholders, we have identified various options for the process plant and mine that we believe will address the concerns of the stakeholders. Over the following weeks we intend to further develop and expand on these options in conjunction with the relevant authorities and communities. Recapitalise the Company As part of entering into the Services Agreement, incoming management raised seed working capital from our investors to ensure the Company was sufficiently capitalised to carry out the initial stages of the Company's refresh. To complete the process and progress towards the exercise of the option ('Option' as announced July 12, 2016) and the completion of the feasibility study, a second tranche of funds will be raised ('Second Tranche') by Lionsbridge. The Second Tranche will ensure the Company is sufficiently capitalised to reach project financing and complete all those items that require funding in the interim. The Second Tranche is expected to be finalized shortly. The Option is a significant opportunity for the Company to resolve the balance sheet issues which have been restraining its ability to make progress on the ground in Spain. We are pleased to have received the support of RMBAH, who have provided significant support to the project over an extended period of time. We look forward to working with them to exercise the Option as soon as practicable. Complete the Feasibility Study Significant work has been completed towards the production of a bankable feasibility study. We will prioritise, working closely with TetraTech to collate and update the feasibility data base, produce reports still required and draft the final feasibility study for publishing as soon as practicable. We expect the feasibility study can be completed within 6 months. About Lionsbridge and Westech Lionsbridge is a global firm offering its clients a full suite of both financial and corporate solutions, servicing the natural resources and energy sectors exclusively. Lionsbridge offers its clients services ranging from brand promotion and financing to the full suite of corporate management including C-suite management, legal and regulatory management and technical management on both a corporate and project level. Our core business is taking on significant undervalued assets and deploying our experience and expertise to resolve the issues so as to unlock the value of the underlying assets. Westech International is focused on the development, design and engineering of innovative solutions for natural resource projects. Westech International offers its clients the full suite of technical solutions from feasibility studies to process optimization and process design, development, construction, fabrication and management. As a group we are able to offer natural resource projects the complete suite of both technical and corporate solutions required to unlock an assets intrinsic value throughout its lifecycle. Further information regarding the companies can be found at www.lionsbridge.com.au and www.westech.com.au. I would like to reiterate, on behalf of the Board and management, that we are excited by the opportunity that the Salave project and Astur presents. We look forward to working closely with shareholders, investors and stakeholders to progress the Company towards production and cash flow with a view to unlocking shareholder value. We encourage you to participate in your Company. Signed "Brian Wesson" President and Chief Executive Officer Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. This document contains certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays and uncertainties not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or expectation implied by these forward looking statements. About Astur Astur Gold (TSX VENTURE: AST) owns 100% of the Salave gold project in the Asturias region of Spain. Salave is a technically robust project being one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Europe and situated in a highly prospective region. ACT Health has told the managers at Canberra Hospital that they have to save $96 million over the next three years starting this year. Clearly they want to save money, but at what cost? Is the plan that services should be reduced or is it that staff should "simply" do more with less? Front-line staff are already stretched something as simple but vital as recording patient medications requires endless duplication as patients move from one speciality area to another. Front-line staff are already stretched but ACT Health is considering saving money by reducing or terminating the attraction and retention incentives that brought many senior medical staff to Canberra. Credit:Graham Gall Millions have been spent on an increasing number of electronic record systems. But, despite gold plated prices, these systems often fail to communicate with each other or even be available to doctors outside a particular specialty. This siloing of information wastes time and risks vital information not reaching doctors as they treat patients. With the increasing levels of documentation staff are removed from patient care frequently during the day to attend pointless paper-shuffling meetings, is it any wonder less time is spent treating patients? And yet, while seemingly happy to spend vast sums on ineffective computer systems, ACT Health is considering saving money by reducing or terminating the attraction and retention incentives that brought many senior medical staff to Canberra. Affected staff have been given no guarantees of a fair hearing or appeal process if decisions are unfavourable. This morale-sapping process risks major effects on staff retention and performance. ABC, 8.40pm The charismatic Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) is about to be tried for allegedly inciting a riot and encouraging the looting of a shipwreck as season two of the third TV adaptation of Winston Graham's 12-volume series of novels set in 18th century Cornwall opens. It's all lies, of course, and the slimy arriviste George Warleggan (Jack Farthing) is behind them. He's published a defamatory pamphlet that describes our man who looks spookily like a Shilo-era Neil Diamond of being "a known Jacobin and revolutionary" who has "bedded and wedded his scullery maid upon whom he got his latest brat". As with the best slander, there's some truth amongst the lies, and things look so bad that all around him are urging Poldark to cop a plea and beg for mercy. Things moves at rather too stately a pace at times, but this is an uncommonly sharp-edged and politically charged petticoat drama. What with all the political intrigue, sexual tension and social climbing, if you ignored the clothes you could almost imagine you were watching Dallas or Dynasty. Well worth tuning in for. Karl Quinn Policing the Police SBS, 10.50pm Malcolm Turnbull has turned up the heat on increasingly protectionist US legislators, pleading with them to ratify the Obama-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade liberalisation agreement and to do it before the looming presidential change-over. With both the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees opposed to ratification of the TPP because they say it is a bad deal for American workers code for politically unpopular with blue-collar constituents in a tight election race Mr Turnbull last night used a speech to the Australian American Association in New York to ratchet up the moral case for trade depicting it as the best answer to the alleviation of poverty and as the antidote to declining strategic power. It is one of two key messages Mr Turnbull is pushing in New York this week, with the other being his call for more orderly regulation of international refugee flows to ensure the highest number of displaced persons can be helped without endangering domestic political stability and therefor crucial public support for much-needed humanitarian action. On trade, Mr Turnbull told the influential AAA grouping that democracies had been built and strengthened on "shared values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law" and that its corollaries were extensive trade, foreign investment, and constant technological and commercial innovation. The show is about the historic move for constitutional recognition of Indigenous people. But the stars themselves, and how they interacted with each other, were always going to attract a fair amount of the spotlight. A perfectly odd couple, Labor politician and Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney and outspoken conservative commentator Andrew Bolt were recruited by the ABC to represent two strongly-held sides of the debate in Recognition: Yes or No? Ms Burney has long been a prominent voice for substantive change - removing and replacing the constitution's "race power" and recognising the history of Indigenous people in Australia - while Bolt prefers either the status quo or strictly the elimination of any racial references. Throughout the course of their trip around Australia and to New Zealand meeting with conservative and progressive voices, neither of them budged substantially on their views although both agree that wasn't the point and that it was never going to happen. An Australian company that provides welfare services for refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru has told the Turnbull government it no longer wants to do its work on the island. In a step that will increase pressure on the government to find a solution for refugees held indefinitely in Australia's offshore detention regime, Connect Settlement Services has indicated it will not re-apply once its contract lapses in December. The company, which has about 100 staff on the island at any given time, provides health and education services and helps refugees look for work in the Nauru community. Its announcement means all major service providers working on Nauru are planning to leave. Malcolm Turnbull is right. Australia does have the world's best border protection policy, if the principal measure of success is that no one gets in without an invitation. No other country combines our potent mix of turning back boats, arbitrarily and indefinitely detaining those who manage to get here on poor, remote foreign islands, including children, and ignoring multiple reports citing serious violations of international law on human rights. But the Prime Minister should be very careful about urging other countries to copy what is undoubtedly the harshest policy on asylum seekers by any developed country. If they did, the likely result would be the collapse of the international protection framework Australia committed itself to when it signed the United Nations Refugee Convention. A generation of young women is discovering a new way to get buzzed no illicit substances required. Instead, all that's needed is a good pair of clippers and some nerve. "Ever since I shaved my head, I really bloomed," said Alana Derksen, a 22-year-old Toronto resident, whose buzz cut frequently draws admiring comments from her more than 21,000 Instagram followers. "It's given me this confidence I never had." Alana Derksen, 22: "Ever since I shaved my head, I really bloomed." Credit:Erin Baiano/The New York Times Derksen had wanted to shave her head for years but refrained out of fear of how her "conservative" family would react. Then, late one night last summer during a tense trip home, she finally gave in to the impulse, cutting off her hair in her parents' bathroom and using a Bic razor to finish the job. Now, she said, she's so used to her bald head, which she maintains with electric clippers, she has nightmares about her hair growing back. Even her parents have come around on the shorn 'do. Islamic State militants who have enslaved, murdered and raped Yazidi women and children must be brought to justice, no matter the price, international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney said on Monday. Clooney, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, is on a mission to prosecute the Islamist group through the International Criminal Court for their crimes against the Yazidi community. Amal Clooney: "I cannot feel free while thousands of other girls like me are still captive." Credit:Getty Images She announced in June she would represent Yazidi women in Iraq who have been victims of sexual slavery, rape and genocide by Islamic State militants, also known as ISIS. "It's been harrowing to hear the testimony of girls as young as 11 and 12 talk about what's happened to them. And still we haven't been able to do anything about it," she said in an interview with US television broadcaster NBC on Monday. The University of Sydney has become the second major NSW university to fully disclose its admissions scores after Fairfax Media revealed the practice of admitting students below the advertised cut-off was rife throughout the sector. The move towards transparency from the nation's oldest tertiary institution follows rival UNSW's decision to do the same in June. It comes as thousands of future students prepare to submit their applications to the Universities Admissions Centre for this year's intake. The University of Sydney's new admissions website, released on Monday, shows all minimum, median and top Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranks [ATAR] for its courses. The data will allow students who previously felt they may have missed out after receiving an ATAR lower than the advertised cut-off to see if they have a chance of making it into their desired course. The information also discloses alternative entry pathways for students. The sister of a man who died at the home of former Health Services Union secretary Kathy Jackson has demanded she return his belongings, including his Bible. Ms Jackson appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday after she was last month charged with 70 offences - 52 counts of obtaining property by deception and 18 of theft. Kathy Jackson (centre) arrives at Melbourne Magistrates Court. Credit:Vince Caligiuri Outside the hearing, the former union powerbroker was confronted by the sister of Sean Fisher, who died this year in the home Ms Jackson and partner Michael Lawler share in Wombarra, south of Sydney. Sister Jacqueline Fisher later told media Ms Jackson still had a mobile phone, laptop and Bible that belonged to her brother. Ahmad Khan Rahami The man the FBI sought in connection with this weekend's bombings in New Jersey and New York has been taken into custody after a shootout with the police in Linden, New Jersey, officials said Monday. The suspect, 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, was born in Afghanistan and is a naturalized US citizen, according to the FBI. He was not on any US terror watchlist, officials said. Rahami was shot in the standoff with the police, and a witness told The New York Times a police officer might have been shot as well. He is believed to have connections to three incidents this past weekend, according to law-enforcement agencies: A bombing along the route of a New Jersey charity race Saturday morning; A bombing Saturday night in New York City; And additional devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Sunday night. The mayor of Linden told ABC 7 in New York that an officer found Rahami when responding to a report of a person sleeping in the hallway of a bar. ABC News reported that Rahami was taken to a hospital after he was apprehended: Video shows bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami in custody in Linden, New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/NrVJCPNAkC Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) September 19, 2016 Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the FBI turned its investigation Monday morning after a backpack full of bombs was secured by authorities near an Elizabeth train station late Sunday night. Five bombs were found in the backpack; one of them exploded while Union County's bomb squad tried to defuse it with a robot. Two restaurant patrons first saw the backpack on top of a trash can outside Hector's Place restaurant, thought it might contain valuables, and tried to carry it through the parking lot, according to The New York Times. When the bag got too heavy, they dropped it. They then discovered that it contained wires and a pipe, and they called the police. Rahami is also believed to have connections to the New York City bombing on Saturday night. Authorities believe he appeared in surveillance video that evening from 23rd Street and 27th Street, where one bomb exploded and another was found, according to NBC News. Story continues The bomb that exploded on 23rd Street injured 29 people, all of whom have been released from hospitals. FBI agents stopped "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" Sunday evening. chelsea new york explosion bomb Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York had warned that Rahami could be "armed and dangerous," and he instructed anyone who spotted him to call 911 immediately. Area residents received an emergency alert about Rahami on Monday morning on their phones. So far, the police have not identified any additional suspects. But law-enforcement sources say two others were seen on surveillance tape handling the bomb in New York on Saturday, and the police questioned five people who were in the vehicle pulled over Sunday night in connection to the investigation. Authorities appear to be changing their initial assessment that the bombs found in New York and New Jersey weren't connected and that the incidents didn't appear to be related to international terrorism. Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York told CNN on Monday morning that he "would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act." Here's the FBI's poster on Rahami: ahmad khan rahami cropped And here are the additional photos from the New Jersey State Police: Rahami Rahami More From Business Insider Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's agriculture department has already contracted real estate agents to secure office space in Armidale for 175 public servants relocating from Canberra. The transfer of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Mr Joyce's own electorate of New England continues despite a refusal to release a $272,000 cost-benefit analysis. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's department has already planned Armidale move. Credit:Eddie Jim Tender documents reveal JLL Corporate Solutions will facilitate the move with public servants set to arrive in Armidale by late 2018. The 2500 square metre office must have a minimum 30 parking spaces access to 100 more. The appointment has been made despite Treasurer Scott Morrison revealing the relocation was still being considered by cabinet, including the findings of the cost benefit analysis. The split in the NSW Greens has intensified with the establishment of a breakaway secret Facebook group that has banned members deemed to be "nasty". The NSW Greens Supporters (No Nastiness) group was set up in early September by Jack Gough, a staff member of Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham. It follows ongoing hostility between Greens members on an existing group, including after the bitter contest to select a successor in the upper house to Greens MLC John Kaye, who died of cancer in May. The contest came down to one between Justin Field supported by Mr Buckingham and candidates aligned with Dr Kaye and Senator Lee Rhiannon - sometimes referred to as the "eastern bloc". A paedophile priest told a bishop children "enjoyed" sexual activity and asked the Catholic Church for a $25,000 loan at the same time he was being blackmailed by one of his victims, according to documents tendered in evidence to a royal commission. John Joseph Farrell, who was jailed in May after pleading guilty over a string of sexual offences against youngsters, "never expressed any regret for his actions" according to former Parramatta bishop Kevin Manning. John Joseph Farrell, who was jailed in May 2016. Credit:Barry Smith A 2005 letter from Bishop Manning, tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, recounts a meeting with Farrell in which he confronted the priest about "widespread sexual activity with children". "When confronted with facts [Farrell] said: 'I don't know what you are on about, these kids came looking for it, they enjoyed it'," Bishop Manning wrote. Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward after a car was rammed south-west of Sydney last week, causing it to crash, in an incident which was caught on video. A 51-year-old man was driving his red Mazda on Picton Road in Wilton at about 8am on September 12 with a Holden Commodore following behind him. Police allege the Commodore, described as a silver station wagon or similar, drove behind the Mazda "at high speed" before ramming into the back of it without warning. The impact caused the Mazda to crash off the road, activating the airbags as it tipped sideways. Its driver, from Albion Park, escaped with minor injuries. A white supremacist from Sydney's south-west has been charged with setting fire to a Pentecostal church on the NSW mid-north coast. Ricky White appeared in Taree Local Court on Monday accused of deliberately starting the fire at the Destiny Church at 1:30am on Sunday. Charged: Ricky White Credit:Facebook Fire and Rescue NSW were able to save the church structure but it still sustained an estimated $200,000 worth of damage. Mr White, who lives in Ingleburn, was arrested by police on Sunday afternoon on two outstanding warrants and then also charged over the church fire. A circus that features lions, monkeys and camels has set up in Redbank, bypassing the Ipswich City Council's longstanding ban on circus performances featuring exotic animals. Lennon Bros. Circus opened its show to audiences last Friday on a block of land opposite Redbank Plaza off Collingwood Drive at Redbank. Lennon Brothers Circus features lions, monkeys and camels. While a spokesman for Lennon Bros. Circus said they were granted approval to set up on what they claim is private property, an Ipswich City Council spokesperson was adamant the land was state government-owned road reserve. "Ipswich City Council had no involvement in approving the use of the land for a circus," the spokesperson said. Brisbane law firm Bosscher Lawyers was raided on Monday afternoon by the Crime and Corruption Commission. The raid, executed at the George Street address, comes just weeks after a former lawyer at the firm, Tim Meehan, had his assets frozen following allegations he siphoned more than $160,000 in funds from the high-profile firm. Defence lawyer Tim Meehan. Credit:Michelle Smith The prominent lawyer, who represented Daniel Morcombe's murderer Brett Peter Cowan, is accused of having his law clerk, Xanthe Larcombe-Weate, help him put clients' money into his own bank accounts. The Crime and Corruption Commission confirmed it executed a search warrant at a Brisbane CBD business on Monday. Body cameras are being rolled out to healthcare workers as part of a range of measures following recommendations from the Palaszczuk government's Occupational Violence Taskforce. The initiatives, announced on Monday, include upgrading CCTV cameras at the Princess Alexandra and Logan hospitals and body-worn cameras across the Metro South Hospital and Health Service area. Health Minister Cameron Dick, paramedics Julz Raven and Brad Johnson and RBWH nurse Lita Olsson launch a $1.35 million public awareness campaign to reduce assaults on health workers. Credit:Jorge Branco Measures being introduced also include "Code Black" procedures across the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service - for situations involving threats or violence - and a new Code Black Taskforce at Logan Hospital. Other measures include three more security officers in the Caboolture Hospital emergency department, extra after-hours security support at Ipswich Health Plaza, two extra fire safety and security officers at Rockhampton Hospital, training courses at the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service and extra CCTV cameras at Toowoomba Hospital and the Ridley Unit at the Baillie Henderson Hospital in Toowoomba. A whale has been freed after a rescue mission in Moreton Bay on Tuesday morning. One boat could be seen trying to help the large animal at Shorncliffe, which was reportedly trapped in a net. A media spokeswoman said either the Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing or Environment and Heritage Protection was working to help the whale. About 8.30am, the animal was freed, making its way out to sea, according to traffic reporter Dave Andrews. The National Museum of Computing, hidden away in H Block on the grounds of Bletchley Park. Credit:Adam Turner The story of what went on at Bletchley Park during the war is much more complicated than most people realise and the film The Imitation Game is such an over-simplification that it's not much help when prepping for a visit. Rather than diving straight into The National Museum of Computing as I did, it's perhaps best to go on a general tour of Bletchley Park and the B Block museum first so you understand what you're looking at. Enigma and Lorenz An Enigma machine used by German units in the field to encode and decode morse code messages. Credit:Adam Turner If you do head to The National Museum of Computing first, it's important to appreciate that the Germans relied on two completely separate encryption methods during the war; Enigma and Lorenz. The Enigma machine was invented at the end of the First World War and underwent several improvements before the Germans started using it during the Second World War to send orders to units in the field. Enigma machines relied on three wheels to encode messages before they were sent via morse code. There were many variations of the Enigma machine, which was also used by the Italians and Japanese during the war. The 12-wheel Lorenz machine used to encode Hitler's communications with high command - one of only four known to have survived the war. Credit:Adam Turner As the war progressed Hitler wanted a more secure way to exchange messages with the German high command, which saw the introduction of the more powerful Lorenz machines which relied on 12 wheels to encode messages before they were sent between teleprinters. Tunny and Colossus Intercepted Lorenz teleprinter transmissions, converted to message tape by hand before being sent to Bletchley Park. Credit:Adam Turner The National Museum of Computing has little to do with Enigma, instead it takes you step-by-step through the process of intercepting and deciphering Hitler's Lorenz radio messages using a rebuilt Tunny machine and Colossus computer. If you walk in not understanding the difference between Enigma and Lorenz then you're in for a steep learning curve. In an incredible feat of reverse engineering, British codebreaker and mathematician Bill Tutte determined the design of the 12-wheel Lorenz machine without ever having laid eyes on one. Tutte's work is considered by some to be the greatest individual intellectual achievement of the war and it helped the British build the room-sized Tunny machine at Bletchley Park to emulate the typewriter-sized Lorenz machine. Bill Tutte's schematic of the Lorenz machine, deduced from studying radio transmissions, which help build the Tunny machine. Credit:Adam Turner The team at Bletchley Park later built Colossus regarded as the world's first programmable electronic computer to help calculate the correct settings for the Tunny machine, which sped up the process of reading Lorenz messages between Hitler and his generals. Alan Turing's work contributed to Colossus' design, but there's little about Turing here you'll learn more about him elsewhere at Bletchley Park. Crack the secrets The Tunny machine, which mimicked the Lorenz machines used by German high command, was designed by the Post Office Research Station based on work by Bill Tutte. Credit:Adam Turner The Tunny and Colossus Galleries are open every day and there is always a guide to show you through, but if you're keen on technical detail then it's worth a visit on Mondays when the engineers tend to be around. If you're keen to really come to grips with what's on display then allow an hour to look through the two galleries (maybe less if you already know about Lorenz) plus another hour or so if the rest of the museum is open. Colossus, one of the world's first programmable computers, which calculated the starting positions for the wheels in order for the Tunny machine to decode Lorenz messages. Credit:Adam Turner Housed in sheds in a run-down corner of Bletchley Park, the Museum has a delightfully British feel about it what it lacks in polish it more than makes up for in charm and enthusiasm. The Tunny and Colossus Galleries feel a bit like a railway museum which hasn't had a makeover since the 1970s and is manned by passionate, bearded train lovers happy to share their knowledge with those keen to listen. Unfortunately the rest of The National Museum of Computing is only open on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons (although this is expanded during the school holidays). There are also guided tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but you need to book in advance. The computer museum's Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), built by the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in the 1950s. Credit:Adam Turner To be honest if you're only interested in wartime code breaking then a visit to the Tunny and Colossus Galleries will suffice, but if you're passionate about tech then the rest of The National Museum of Computing has plenty to offer from the earliest British computers like EDSAC and the Harwell Dekatron 'WITCH' through to the personal computer revolution and early gaming. Think of it as the British equivalent of the awesome Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Bletchley Park A Bryant Model-2 disc from the 1960s, holding 4 megabytes per side, with a 3.5-inch floppy disk resting on it to give a sense of scale in the computer museum. Credit:Adam Turner Meanwhile the rest of Bletchley Park is open every day, with several 1-hour outdoor guided tours. It's best to book your guided tour in the Visitor Centre as soon as you arrive, plus pick up an audio guide. After a look around the Visitor Centre, the outdoor guided tour is a good starting point to get your bearings around the grounds and appreciate the history and purpose of Bletchley Park without going into too much technical detail. The computer museum's Commodore Pet and Apple II, which championed the personal computing revolution of the 1970s. Credit:Adam Turner Once again there's not too much of a focus on Turing, instead you learn about lots of people who contributed to Bletchley Park's success including a trio of Polish cryptographers who had already done a lot of the groundwork on cracking Enigma. The last guided tour of the day is at 2pm but I'd jump on an earlier tour to leave yourself more time to grab an audio guide and head to the B Block museum before working your way through the huts and then perhaps heading to the computing museum. The Bombe on display in the B Block museum, designed by Alan Turing to help crack Enigma. Credit:Adam Turner In the B Block museum you'll see the electromechanical Bombe machine which Turing designed to help decode Enigma. There are staff on hand to offer a detailed explanation as to how it worked along with the basics of code breaking. You'll see a few eyes glaze over at this point and you'll need to decide how much you and your companions really want to know about the technicalities of Bletchley Park. There's enough to quench the thirst of the most inquisitive minds but also plenty of interesting things to see even if you don't want to get too bogged down in the technical detail, such as displays about life in wartime England. A Bombe operator during the war. One wall in B Block has a detailed timeline of the German encryption advancements and Bletchley Park's efforts to keep up, plus there's a great collection of Enigma machines on display along with a rare Lorenz machine upstairs. There's a fantastic interactive touchscreen on the wall which lets you play with a virtual Enigma machine and even pull it apart to see what makes it tick. In B Block you'll learn about the difference between Enigma and Lorenz, bringing the uninitiated up to speed before a trip to the Tunny and Colossus Galleries down the road at The National Museum of Computing. A touchscreen virtual Enigma which lets you come to grips with how the Germans encoded messages. Credit:Adam Turner Alan Turing The B Block museum also dedicates an extensive section to Alan Turing, detailing his achievements during and after the war as well as his struggles. In the 1950s Turing was persecuted for his homosexuality and eventually took his own life. On the wall you'll find a copy of Turing's 2013 royal pardon along with a formal apology from Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. A notebook of British mathematician and pioneer in computer science Alan Turing in front of a photo of him during an auction preview. Credit:Reuters After you've finished exploring the B Block museum it's time to visit the various huts to see where the German messages were decoded, translated and analysed. The huts have been restored to their wartime state with projections, audio recordings and short written explanations to help recreate the atmosphere. You can also visit the cramped sheds where the hot and noisy Bombe machines operated day and night, tended to by the "Wrens" (Women's Royal Naval Service). Bletchley Park works hard to emphasise the important role played by the women during the war, not just tending to the computers but also cracking codes and analysing data. The Team in Hut 3 at Bletchley Park, translating and interpreting German messages. Credit:SSPL/Getty Images Rather than just glamourising the work at Bletchley Park, the huts also give a sense of the isolation staff worked in with everything compartmentalised so tightly that they might not even know what happened in the next room. Such was the secrecy, both during and after the war, that there are stories of husbands and wives not discovering until decades later that they both worked at Bletchley Park. If you're mathematically minded then be sure to pay a visit to Alan Turing's cramped office in Hut 8, one of the holy sites of mathematics, computing and artificial intelligence. From this very spot he helped turn the tide of the war, and lay the foundations of modern computing, although a trip through Bletchley Park makes it clear that many others also deserve the credit for its wartime success. - By Sydnee Gatewood Spanish mutual fund azValor Iberia FI (Trades, Portfolio) acquired five new holdings in the second quarter. Among them are Nos SGPS SA (NOS.LS), Viscofan SA (VIS.MC) and Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios SA (HIS.MC). AzValor Iberia is part of azValor Asset Management. The firm invests in undervalued equities with a long-term approach in both the Spanish and Portuguese markets. The firm's two founding partners, Fernando Bernard and Beltran Parages, formerly worked at Spain's Bestinver. Parages is azValor's head of business development. Bernard serves as a portfolio manager along with Alvaro Guzman de Lazaro, another former employee of Bestinver. The firm was founded in 2015. Nos SGPS In Nos, the fund purchased 441,284 shares for an average price of 6.15 euros ($6.87) per share. The transaction had an impact of 4.5% on the portfolio and is the fund's largest acquisition of the quarter. Nos is a Portuguese media holding company. Its main assets include a satellite, a cable operator, an ISP, a mobile phone operator and a movie distributor. It also provides cable television services, cable Internet and VOIP. The company is a spinoff of Portugal Telecom. The company has a market cap of 3.1 billion euros with an enterprise value of 4.23 billion euros. It has a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 35.1, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 2.8 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 2.1. GuruFocus ranked Nos's financial strength 5 of 10. It has a Piotroski F-Score of 5, indicating a stable financial condition. Its Altman Z-Score is 1.5, placing it in the distress zone, which implies the possibility of bankruptcy in the near future. The company's Beneish M-Score of -2.3 implies the company does not manipulate its financial records. GuruFocus ranked the company's profitability and growth 7 of 10. Its operating margin is 7.5% and its net margin is 5.7%. It has a return on equity (ROE) of 7.9% and a return on assets (ROA) of 2.8%, ranking above 54% of other companies in the industry. Story continues The DCF Calculator gives the stock a fair value of 1.82 euros; it was trading at 5.96 euros on Monday. The fund is the only investor among the gurus as Bestinfond (Trades, Portfolio) sold out in the first quarter of 2015. Viscofan In Viscofan, the fund purchased 33,609 shares for an average price of 49.57 euros per share. The transaction had an impact of 3.1% on the portfolio. Viscofan is a Spanish company that manufactures casings and equipment for the meat production industry. It has a market cap of 2.3 billion euros with an enterprise value of 2.3 billion euros. It has a P/E of 18.6 with a forward P/E of 17.01. It has a P/B of 3.4 and a P/S of 3.05. 1474296514022.png GuruFocus ranked the company's financial strength 8 of 10. Its Piotroski F-Score is 5, indicating a stable financial condition. Its Altman Z-Score is 8.5, placing it in the safe zone. Viscofan's cash to debt ratio is 0.8, above the industry median of 0.64. GuruFocus ranked Viscofan's profitability and growth 7 of 10. Its operating margin is 21.4%, and its net margin is 16.4%. It has a ROE of 18.8% and a ROA of 14.1%, ranking above 81% and 90% of other companies in the industry. The DCF Calculator gives the stock a fair value of 64.1 euros; it was trading at 47.64 euros on Monday. The fund is the only shareholder among the gurus. Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios In Activos Inmobiliarios, the fund purchased 136,286 shares for an average price of 11.62 euros per share. The transaction had an impact of 2.7% on the portfolio. The company is a Spanish company that invests in real estate properties. It has a market cap of 1.3 billion euros with an enterprise value of 1.5 billion euros. It has a P/E of 5.9, a P/B of 1.03 and a P/S of 13.7. 1474297799438.png GuruFocus ranked the company's financial strength 6 of 10. Its Piotroski F-Score is 4, indicating a stable financial condition. Its Altman Z-Score is 1.5, placing it in the distress zone, which implies the possibility of bankruptcy in the near future. The company's cash to debt ratio is 0.7,above the industry median of 0.35. GuruFocus ranked their profitability and growth 7 of 10. It has an operating margin of 284.13% and a net margin of 231.9%. Its ROE is 17.9% and its ROA is 11.03%, ranking above 83% and 92% of other companies in the industry. The DCF Calculator gives the stock a fair value of 21.5 euros; it was trading at 11.93 euros on Monday. AzValor is the sole investor among the gurus. The remaining new holdings for the fund are Altri SGPS SA (ALTR.LS) and Deoleo SA (OLE.MC). Disclosure: I do not own stock in any companies mentioned in the article. Start a free 7-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Waterlogged parts of Victoria are bracing for more wet weather with a fresh onslaught of heavy rain predicted from late on Tuesday. Last week an elderly farmer was swept to his death when rain hammered the state, and while many flood waters were receding by Monday evening, the threat had not yet completely passed. Flood waters were yet to peak between Horsham and Quantong and emergency services warned four property owners along the Wimmera River that they could be impacted. People in another 10 properties around Dimboola, north of Horsham, were told that they could be isolated by rising flood waters. Families unable to afford state school fees have been publicly shamed and their children excluded from extracurricular activities, a report has revealed. The independent review, ordered by Education Minister James Merlino, revealed the department received 705 complaints relating to school payments within just eight months. The Victorian education department quietly released the document after the Victorian Auditor-General exposed a severe lack of transparency around parent payments, and a lack of "checks and balances" to supervise school practices. The review, compiled by PTR Consulting, found parents claimed they were being "singled out publicly" for not paying fees, and raised concerns about the high costs of Victoria's state school education. Glance once at Teisha Rose; you'll see a dark-haired woman walking alongside the glossy, silvered expanse of the bay, a little terrier on a lead. Look twice, and you might notice the slim black cane she uses for support on longer walks, or when she's having a tough day. Twenty years ago, Rose was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition of the central nervous system that interferes with nerve impulses. During her relapses Rose has been bedridden in hospital, or in a wheelchair, with little mobility. But aside from a short stint on the disability pension as a student years ago, Rose did not receive any disability support until the National Disability Insurance Scheme trial started in her area in 2014. Victorian waterfalls are booming after sustained heavy rainfall, with large crowds flocking to drawcards such as Trentham Falls near Daylesford. Trentham Falls is putting on a spectacular natural display, making "a deafening sound" and virtually creating "its own weather" because of the force of the water, said Des Peters, district operations co-ordinator with Parks Victoria. The torrent of water at Trentham Falls which plummets 32 metres and is known as the largest single-drop waterfall in Victoria is expected to continue until at least November. "It's looking spectacular. There's a large volume of water coming over it," Mr Peters said. A band of foster parents, already volunteering to care for Perth's most vulnerable children, have banded together to face the loss of a vital donations service and they need help. The 'one-stop-shop' of donated clothing and other basic supplies foster carers turn to in their hours of need has lost its venue after the state association had to move to smaller premises. The store took donations such as clothes, nappies, toys and books, and some larger items such as cots and prams, that foster carers could turn to in a pinch. "We don't always get money for setup, cars, prams basically you have to provide everything," said one single foster mum, who could not be named to protect the identities of her foster children. A tourist show shooting industrial-strength laser beams into a stretch of cliffs in the Northern Territory is an act of animal cruelty that will inflict distress, and potentially physical damage, on endangered wallabies, a local scientist says. Government-funded Parrtjima: A Festival In Light, billed as the country's biggest light installation, will illuminate 2.5 kilometres of the MacDonnell Ranges, outside Alice Springs, for ten nights. Mark Carter, a zoologist and local wildlife tour operator, said the World Heritage-nominated stretch of land is home not only a colony of threatened black-footed rock wallabies, but also nesting birds of prey including peregrine falcons and wedge-tailed eagles. He has made a Facebook page and a 1200-signature petition while urging locals to boycott the event with his own version of its poster advertising "ANIMAL CRUELTY - WITH LASERS". "I'm just a simple person." That was the response from a man being praised for withdrawing enough money from an ATM to allow a homeless stranger to buy herself a plane ticket home to her family in New Zealand. Footage of the random act of kindness, which occurred in Northbridge on Saturday night, has been watched more than 20,000 times since homeless advocate, Siham Carollisen, uploaded the video to her Brothers & Sisters Perth Facebook page. "Tonight on our weekly run through Perth, we were sat with our homeless friend Jess," Ms Carollisen posted. Murray-Wellington MP Murray Cowper says he would 'absolutely' support a spill motion against the Premier during Tuesday's party-room meeting and the government was "bleeding out" while Colin Barnett remained in office. He called on Mr Barnett to step down graciously as leader of the WA Liberal party, but said the leadership issue must be brought to a head if the Premier refused to stand aside. Murray-Wellington MP Murray Cowper is calling on Premier Colin Barnett to step aside graciously. Credit:Richard Polden Mr Cowper said he met with the Premier some months ago to tell him he had lost the confidence of the people of Murray-Wellington. "At the moment we are bleeding out slowly to such an extent that as every day goes past more and more people are losing belief in the government," he said. The slides. The monkey bars. The swings and the roundabouts. Most of us had a favourite part of the playground when we were kids: but for children with physical and intellectual disabilities or restrictions, playgrounds can often be places they can't access or embrace. Pia's Place will have large, easy to access swings let all children play with their friends. Credit:Touched By Olivia To change this, there's a growing trend for modern playgrounds to be inclusive spaces where everyone can have fun and enjoy every part of it. This broader thinking is the foundation of Pia's Place, a new project to build a specially designed inclusive playground in Perth's Whiteman Park, a recreation and conservation reserve near the Swan Valley. Soon after the statement was released, Syrian activists reported renewed shelling in rebel-held eastern Aleppo and helicopters overhead. The ceasefire lasted seven days and was meant to allow aid to reach Syrian civilians. But a 40-truck convoy remained stalled at the Turkish border on Monday. At the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary of State John Kerry did not directly address the Syrian army's statement. Two of the RAAF's planes returning to base after striking a Islamic State Armoured Personnel Carrier in Syria. . Credit:SGT Pete "We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods," he told reporters who shouted out a question before he went into a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. "I think it's, as I said yesterday, time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods that are necessary for access," he said. Damaged buildings and rubble line a street in the Syrian city of Homs on Monday. Credit:AP The United Nations said Monday that two convoys from multiple aid agencies reached areas in Homs and Aleppo provinces, bringing food and other supplies to roughly 150,000 people. The convoys originated inside Syria and did not go to the rebel-held part of Aleppo, which has been under siege for more than a month, the UN said. US Secretary of State John Kerry did not directly address the Syrian army's statement. Credit:AP "This would be a very troubling development, if true," David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said of the Syrian military's statement. The humanitarian community "has worked hard to reach people in east Aleppo and other besieged and hard-to reach areas," he said. The delay in aid had frustrated the US-backed opposition, which has criticized the UN for seeking approval from the Syrian government for deliveries. As many as 275,000 people are cut-off from food, water and electricity in eastern Aleppo, UN officials say. The government's move to end the truce, which reduced violence over the past week, confirms "there is no seriousness on the part of the [Syrian government] to commit to the cease-fire," the rebel group Noureddine al-Zinki said in a statement. "They worked on damaging it through violations over the last week, and the prevention of aid from entering Aleppo," the statement said. Brita Haji Hasan, head of the opposition council in Aleppo, said the cease-fire "was born dead." "It was never committed to by Russian forces or [President Bashar al-Assad's] regime," he said. "And this is not the first time a cease-fire has been attempted, only to fail." The UN aid chief decried the logjam over aid, complaining that the Syrian government has not given permission and safety guarantees for the humanitarian mission. "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo," the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O'Brien, said in a statement. Failure also would undercut an effort by Washington and Moscow to find some common ground in Syria after being on opposing sides of the conflict. The cease-fire had included provisions for possible US-Russia coordination against militant factions not covered by the pact, including a former al-Qaida group and the Islamic State. Russia backs the Assad government, while the United States supports rebels seeking to oust Assad's regime. At the same time, a US-led military coalition has waged airstrikes against Islamic State strongholds. On Saturday, jets from the alliance, including from Australia, were involved in air strikes which mistakenly fired on Syrian troops in the eastern part of the country, killing more than 80 people and raising tensions with Russia. The Australian Defense Ministry, which is among those contributing to the effort, acknowledged in a statement Sunday that its warplanes had participated in a strike Saturday in Deir al-Zour, the eastern Syrian city where the attack occurred, on a shifting front line between the Syrian army and the Islamic State. Denmark's military has also said that two of its F-16 fighters were involved in the raid. The US-led coalition comprises 67 countries, more than a dozen of which carry out airstrikes against the militants. Berlin Chancellor Angela Merkel's party suffered the latest in a string of defeats in German state elections on Sunday, when her Christian Democratic Union was ousted from power in Berlin after its worst showing in the capital since World War II, according to exit polls. Voters in Berlin turned out in higher numbers than in previous years, many responding to voter mobilisation calls from the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The anti-immigrant party is now poised to enter the city-state's legislature for the first time, although its share of the vote, about 12 per cent, was less than it was two weeks ago in Merkel's home state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where it placed second, ahead of the chancellor's conservative party. Merkel's party won about 18 per cent of the vote in Berlin, not enough to allow it to continue as the junior partner in a governing coalition with the Social Democrats. New York: Agents with the FBI have pulled over a car on a highway in Brooklyn and were questioning the vehicle's occupants in connection with the investigation into Saturday's New York City bombing that injured 29 people, authorities have said. Agents stopped "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" at 8.45pm on Sunday, FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser said. She would not provide further details, but a government official and a law-enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation said five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in lower Manhattan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak about the investigation. No one has been charged with any crime and the investigation is continuing, Ms Langmesser said. Earlier, the FBI denied US news reports that five people were arrested over the bombing. ABC News in the US, citing unidentified sources, had reported that five people had been arrested. The bomb injured 29 people in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan on Saturday, while another failed to detonate. Both were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights that set off a powerful explosive compound, law-enforcement officials said on Sunday. London: The criminal investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has pinpointed the exact launch site of the missile that brought it down, a source close to the investigation says. The Joint Investigation Team, including experts from Australia, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, has gathered evidence of the launch site of a standard that could be presented in a potential criminal trial. The results of their investigation will be made public next Tuesday, first of all to the families and loved ones of the 298 people killed in the July 2014 crash, then in a media conference. The investigators are also expected to identify the weapon used to shoot down the plane - however they are not expected to identify who launched the missile. Athens: Thousands of people fled from a fire at a migrant camp on Lesbos on Monday night, a police official on the Greek island said, noting that there had been noticeable tension among residents earlier in the evening, before the blaze started. The fire brigade was investigating the cause of the fire, the official said. Frontex police escort migrants being deported from Lesbos on Monday. Greek authorities say they do not have enough resources to continue operations. Credit:Getty Images "There is a big fire at the hot spot [migrant camp]. Almost all the migrants evacuated," said the official, who declined to be named. "There was tension in the evening. Our main concern is the safety of the people. The fire is quite big." Rahami being taken into custody. Credit:AP The FBI and state police executed a search warrant at a business in Elizabeth called First American Fried Chicken, which is owned by Rahami's family. It is not confirmed whether he lived with them above the shop. Suspect apprehended after gunfight FBI agents outside a New Jersey business owned by Rahami's family. Credit:AP Linden police chief James Sarnicki said the officer who found Rahami had demanded the suspect put up his hands when he woke up. "The suspect had his hand on the side... he pulled out a handgun and fired a shot at the officer, striking him in his bullet-proof vest in his abdomen." Ahmad Khan Rahami. Credit:FBI/AP The officer returned fire, Mr Sarnicki said, but the suspect got up and began walking away, allegedly firing his handgun indiscriminately as he walked away down the street. "As some point our officers responded more, returned fire, and we were able to actually take him down." A second officer was reportedly injured in the shootout by flying debris. Neither officer sustained injuries that are life-threatening. Rahami was also shot several times. Footage from Linden showed Rahami lying on the ground in a suburban street, and then being taken on a gurney into an ambulance, surrounded by police. He was conscious in the footage but appeared to have a bloody wound on his right upper arm. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed the capture at a press conference several hours later. While he did not speak to a possible motive, he said the bombings were being considered an act of terror. "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," he said. The blast in Chelsea, which occurred about 8.30pm on Saturday, left 29 people injured, shattered glass and damaged cars, but thankfully did not cause any loss of life. The bomb had been placed either next to or inside a large dumpster, which appeared to absorb much of the impact. The blast came on the same day as a pipe bomb exploded in a garbage bin in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on the route of a planned charity race. The start time of the race had been delayed and no one was injured. At around 11pm on Saturday, a modified pressure cooker was also discovered Chelsea, four blocks from the location of the blast. It was removed by a police robot and rendered safe in police custody. The following evening, a backpack was discovered near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey - Rahami's hometown - containing several explosive devices. Men who opened bag 'saved lives' The backpack containing the devices - including one pipe bomb - was discovered in a garbage bin by two men who may have been homeless, who opened it to see what was inside, the mayor of Elizabeth, Christian Bollwage, said in a press conference. The men saw the devices and wiring and reported their discovery to the police, he said. "Those two gentlemen who picked up that backpack did a great service to the community, telling the police very quickly and efficiently what was inside," he said. He said the devices did not have timers on them, and the local police's suspicion was the bag had been hastily dumped in the bin by someone. The mayor later said the men probably "saved hundreds of lives". "They were walking with angels," he was quoted as saying on nj.com. Police were dispatched to examine the devices. One bomb exploded when a police robot attempted to disarm it, damaging the robot. Police have not yet linked the backpack to the suspect but are exploring its connection to the other incidents. No indication of terror cell An investigation into Rahami's social networks and connections is still underway, authorities said, though no other individuals are being sought over the bombings. However, other sources said investigators believed there were other people involved. "[There's] no indication that there is cell operating in the area or the city," William Sweeney, FBI special agent for New York said. Mr Sweeney said there is no indication Rahami was on their "radar" for links to terror groups, though he had been reported to police over domestic violence in the past, he said. The domestic violence allegation was later recanted, he said. US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seized on the arrest to attack his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and suggested it showed some flaw in the "system" - though whether he meant the immigration or general law enforcement was not clear. He then wrote in a Facebook post: Loading Speaking to the media before the arrest was made, Mrs Clinton said Mr Trump's rhetoric was being seized on by terrorists looking to create the impression of a war on Islam, as opposed to a war against jihadists or terrorists. Before we get to Russia, the angry "stunt" in New York, and the US (and Australian) warplanes bombing during a supposed truce in Syria, take a moment to pause and remember the massacre at Srebrenica. Why bother to rewind more than a decade, to the wars of the 1990s, when the conflict of today is so savage and great powers are standing toe-to-toe with ever more harsh words? Islamic State fighters in Raqqa, Syria. Credit:AP After all, Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has just accused the regime of Syria's Bashar al-Assad of "routinely" using chemical weapons against its own people, and what could be worse than that? But remember Srebrenica because the sorrowful lessons of history are a warning that as tense as events seem right now, there is ever danger of matters quickly becoming far worse. Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police in New Jersey. Credit:AP Trump's "we'll-nail-the-bastards'-assholes-to-a-wall" rhetoric has more appeal to Americans who are angry and afraid, than Clinton's "we'll-get-the-guys-from-Silicon-Valley" to help in strategising. Trump talks about doing something. Clinton talks about talking about doing something. Hillary Clinton says the US must reject Donald Trump's approach to terrorism Credit:Bloomberg It remains to be seen which of them can reassure. In a recent poll for ABC News and The Washington Post, Clinton came out on top 50-36 as better trusted to deal with terrorist attacks. Similarly her sober response to the June massacre in Orlando was much preferred 46-28. Respondents to the poll judged Clinton to have the better temperament for the job and expressed greater confidence in her strategies to counter terrorism even if 66 per cent had "little or no confidence" that government can prevent such attacks. Donald Trump during a event with The Remembrance Project, on Saturday. Credit:AP Trump is impetuous. He thinks it's smart to call an issue before the experts do but as president he likely would formulate a response and reaction to domestic and global events with similar snap judgments. But "looks like a duck, must be a duck," is a dangerous basis for decision-making in the Oval Office. At the same time, attempting to parse the difference between homegrown or "lone-wolf" attacks and those that are orchestrated and managed from abroad for a skittish electorate is challenging. A police officer stands guard over an injured Ahmad Khan Rahami before he was taken away from the scene of a shootout with police on Monday. Credit:Boston Herald/AP Investigators will take time to piece together a narrative that explains the New York bombs. But Trump continues to jump to conclusions such as on an international connection, on which he then resorts Facebook and Twitter to amp up his mantra attacks on "them" and "the other". "I think there is, I think there's many foreign connections," he told Fox News on Monday morning. "This is one group, but you have many, many groups because we are allowing these people to come into our country and destroy our country and make it unsafe for people. We're allowing these people to come in. We don't want to do any profiling." On Twitter: "Once again someone we were told is ok turns out to be a terrorist who wants to destroy our country & its people - how did he get thru system?" Then this on Facebook: "Hillary Clinton's weakness while she was Secretary of State, has emboldened terrorists all over the world to attack the US, even on our own soil. They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes President - so that they can continue their savagery and murder." Despite the remarkable and speedy success in capturing the New York suspect, Trump insisted in the Fox News interview: "If somebody looks like he's got a massive bomb on his back, we don't go up to the person and say, 'I'm sorry' because if he looks like he comes from that part of the world. We're not allowed to profile. Give me a break." That's not what the New York cops did they got the guy's fingerprints, they identified him, they chased him down and when he ran, they shot him. And questioned on Fox News about his call that the New York explosion was "a bomb," before investigators had ruled out leaking gas or other possibilities, Trump was unabashed - "I should be a newscaster," he said. "I called it before the news". That any of his premature calls have been wrong is long forgotten a man who rushed the stage during one of his rallies in Ohio was not linked to ISIS, as he claimed; his claim that neighbours saw the San Bernardino killers assembling bombs was unfounded; nobody else saw the thousands of Muslims he claimed celebrated the September 11 attacks; and there is still no proof for his claim that Egypt Air Flight 804 "was blown out of the sky". Clinton, on the other hand, opted for steady, steely determination, appealing for Americans to show "courage and vigilance," to not to demonise Muslims or Americans of foreign origin. "I am the only candidate in this race who has been at the heart of decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield," she told reporters in New York. And she lectured Trump on his dangerous rhetoric. "We know a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam," she said. The Trump's argument that she and President Barack Obama were responsible for the proliferation of such attacks were, she said, "like so much else he's said, not grounded in fact, but meant to make some kind of demagogic point." And with New York's crisis weekend still a hot news topic, she added: "We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion." Also in New York, where he is to speak at the United Nations, Obama warned of the price of Trump's demand that the US go on lock-down, with all Muslims as suspect -"[terrorist movements] are trying to disrupt the way we live. [but] showing the entire world that as Americans we do not, and never will give in to fear, is going to be the most important ingredient to defeating those who would carry out attacks against us". In a recent op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, former Defence Secretary and CIA chief Robert Gates, faulted both Trump and Clinton on foreign policy and security, saying that neither had done much to inspire confidence. He criticised Clinton's record in Libya and her overall vagueness. Describing Trump as "in a league of his own" Gates slammed his "record of insults to servicemen, their families and the military;" his demeaning of Senator John McCain for being taken as a prisoner of war; his contempt for the Muslim Gold Star parents who spoke at the Democratic convention; and is advocacy of fighting terror organisations by targeting their families. Clinton took it all in her stride. Trump lashed out like a petulant bully who had been slighted: "We had a clown today, an absolute clown, Robert Gates. He's supposed to be an expert. He's been there forever and he goes out and he says negative things about me. I never met him. I never talked to him. Believe me, I am so much better at what he's doing than he is." Here's one of Clinton's problems it's hard to be the responsible adult in the room, when all eyes are on the noisy upstart who just came through the door. Here's another she has yet to prove herself as a winner in the era of campaigning by tweet. London: The creator of Transparent called Donald Trump an "inheritor to Hitler" after winning an Emmy Award for the hit Amazon series. Jill Soloway, who was honoured for comedy directing at the ceremony in Los Angeles, described the Republican presidential candidate as "the most dangerous monster to ever approach our lifetimes". Jill Soloway speaks at the Television Industry Advocacy Awards in Hollywood. Credit:AP Speaking backstage, she told reporters: "Jews were otherised in Nazi Germany to gain political power for Hitler. Right now Donald Trump is doing the same thing. He's otherising people. "He calls women pigs if they don't look like beauty pageant contestants. He blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems. He makes fun of disabled people. Britain has the right to control its own borders, Theresa May will tell world leaders this week as she warns that hundreds of thousands of "economic migrants" are posing as refugees to gain access to Western countries. At the UN General Assembly this week, the Prime Minister will criticise the global response to "unmanaged migration", warning that they are simply "treating the symptoms of this crisis". She will say that all countries have a responsibility to manage their borders to reduce illegal and uncontrolled migration. The failure to differentiate between refugees and economic migrants is encouraging more people to pay criminal gangs to smuggle them into Europe where they can then attempt to claim asylum, she will warn. Mrs May will also call on UN leaders to adopt a "first safe country" policy, under which refugees would claim asylum in the first country they reach, to stop the "onward movement" by people traffickers, which has led to so many migrant deaths. Interactive session for high school students and party representatives ~ Cul de Sac-- St. Maarten Academys academic campus has taken the initiative to host a panel discussion with the representatives of the various political parties and high school students in the run-up to Parliamentary Elections. The event, which takes place on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 under the theme, "Generation Hope; Our Future Leaders", will see an interactive discussion among the party representatives and students from the host school, Charlotte Brookson Academy, MAC Comprehensive High School, St. Dominic High, Milton Peters College and Sundial. Panelists confirmed for the event are Ms. Marinka Gumbs of the Democratic Party (DP), Mrs. Mercedes van der Waals-Wyatt Leader of Helping Our People Excel (HOPE), Mr. Cedric Peterson of the National Alliance (NA), Mr. Benjamin Bell of Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP), Mr. Terrance Frederick of St. Maarten Development Party (SDM), Ms. Tatiana Arrindell of United Peoples (UP) party, and Mr. Romain Laville, of United St. Maarten Party (US Party). According to coordinator Mrs. Kim Lucas-Felix, the panel discussion is aimed at engaging students in matters that affect them. Since the target population is senior high school students (Forms 4 6), they will also be discussing topics that are covered in their Social Sciences curriculum both at the CSEC and CAPE levels. These include education, health care, employment, the brain-drain, crime, and economic diversification, to name a few. As educators, we have a civic responsibility in shaping an educated electorate, our future leaders. Additionally, our youth should not be passive participants in matters that affect them. The two-hour session, which runs from 12:00pm 2:00pm at Academys academic campus, will be moderated by Distinguished Toastmaster Mrs. Amanda Bedminister-Vital. Seismic Sponsoring Clear Path Analysis Fund Technology & Data, North America 2016 BOSTON, MA (Marketwired) 09/19/16 , the leading end-to-end sales enablement solution, today announced that they have sponsored Fund Technology & Data, North America 2016, published by Clear Path Analysis. Now in its fourth year, the report is among the most influential of annual publications examining the impact of data and technology on fund management operations. Clear Paths annual report has become essential reading for fund management executives, said Craig Dunham, vice president of financial services at Seismic. From in-depth examinations on the state of regulations to the ever-growing impact data is having on client relations and communications, Seismic is honored to sponsor with such a high-quality and valuable publication. Fund Technology & Data, North America 2016 includes thought leadership white papers and interviews with C-level executives and analysts representing firms including Verus Investments, Peak Capital, and the TABB Group. The impact of the DOL fiduciary rule, organizational restructuring due to technology disruption, and data management are among the focal topics covered in this years report. Specific interviews and white papers include: How sales enablement can mitigate the effects of regulations like the DOL fiduciary rule by Craig Dunham, vice president of financial services at Seismic The potential of new technologies to ensure they meet business expectations and satisfy regulatory realities by Lisa Shea, senior product manager at Northern Trust The potential of new technologies to ensure they meet business expectations and satisfy regulatory realities, and interview with Noel Hillmann, managing director at Clear Path Analysis and Michael Herskovitz, senior vice president and partner, AB Seismics enterprise-grade sales enablement solution is currently serving more than 200 customers worldwide, more than half of which have annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. Half of the companys customers are financial services institutions and includes ten out of the top 25 asset management firms in the United States. Seismic is currently a finalist in both the WealthManagement.com Awards for Best Document Management Tool and for Most Innovative Technology Provider in the US Mutual Fund Service Awards. (Winner will be announced September 29 and October 6, respectively.) Additional sponsors of this years report include Northern Trust and SimCorp. Savvy Investor, TSAM Boston and ATMonitor have signed on as media partners. For a report snapshot focusing on sales enablement and the DOL fiduciary rule, visit Seismics website . Visit for the full report. Seismic is the leading end-to-end sales enablement solution for institutional financial services firms worldwide. Seismics platform gives asset and wealth management firms and business banks the ability to deliver the right client content at the right time, facilitating a world-class client experience. With Seismic, marketing teams are automating the personalization of client-facing materials via Seimsics award-winning LiveDocs technology, which are then automatically accessed by distribution teams at any time, on any device, and always fully compliant, allowing them to spend more time developing and nurturing client relationships. Headquartered in San Diego and with 210 employees across the globe, Seismic is privately held by its founding executive team and investment firms General Atlantic, JMI Equity, and Jackson Square Ventures. For more information about Seismics end-to-end sales enablement solution, please visit . Jason Fidler Seismic 978-505-9148 Aryaka to Present on Global Application Performance at the SD-WAN Summit in Paris MILPITAS, CA (Marketwired) 09/19/16 , the leading global SD-WAN provider, announced today that Ashwath Nagaraj, Founder and CTO, Aryaka Networks, will be speaking at the on September 21, 2016. Nagarajs session, , will focus on why smarter and more agile network infrastructures are necessary for delivering fast, consistent and predictable application performance with todays global businesses. With increasing globalization and cloud adoption, application performance is at risk, said Nagaraj, a high-tech veteran who has been responsible for building Aryakas vision and technology since its inception. Application performance should be a major consideration when enterprises are looking to deploy global SD-WAN, and this is a topic that needs to be addressed. The session will go in-depth as to why application performance needs to be the central theme around a global organizations network strategy. As enterprise applications move from the data center to the cloud, optimizing performance becomes a critical component that CIOs and IT leaders need to address. Substandard application performance can be detrimental to employee productivity and customer satisfaction, adversely impacting an organizations business and reputation. Aryaka is also a Silver sponsor of the conference. The companys representatives will be available at in the Exhibition area from September 20-22, 2016. To learn more or attend the session at SD-WAN Summit in Paris, visit the for more information. Aryakas global SD-WAN solution provides optimized, software-defined network connectivity and application acceleration to globally distributed enterprises. Aryakas services have over 10 million users across more than 4,000 sites. Leading brands such as Skullcandy, Air China, Freescale Semiconductor, and ThoughtWorks, as well as partners such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, Intelisys, and SK Broadband, have all chosen Aryaka for their enterprise-grade networking needs. To learn more, visit . Follow us on , , and . Shehzad Karkhanawala Public Relations Manager Aryaka 408-273-8420 Altify Introduces Call Planner: Software to End Ineffective Sales Calls DUBLIN, IRELAND and SEATTLE, WA (Marketwired) 09/19/16 Altify,, today announced the release of Altify Call Planner, the worlds first mobile application to help sales professionals achieve the best outcome from every sales call. Altify Call Planner is the only app in the Salesforce1, iOS or Android application ecosystem that delivers best practice call planning methodology to guide sales teams to collaborate and strategize on sales calls. According to Forrester Research, only 25 percent of sales calls with executives result in a follow up call, while our own research, the , reports that the cost of these dead-end sales meeting is $38,635 per salesperson per year. Altify Call Planner makes every sales call matter. It combines the latest cloud and mobile technology with world-class sales methodology incorporating 30 years sales experience, to make sales calls with customers more valuable for both buyers and sellers. .@AltifyInc brings deep sales expertise and collaboration to mobile call planning with Altify Call Planner Getting a meeting with a customer is increasingly difficult for todays sellers. When they get the meeting, it is critical that they can make it count, said Donal Daly, CEO of Altify. Sellers can really only control two things; who they call on, and what they say when the get to the meeting. Now, with Call Planner on the phone, the sellers can ensure that they are optimizing the result from every sales call, making sure they are fully prepared and that the meeting is most productive for them and their customer. Everyone wins. Call Planner enables sellers to plan, capture and track call plans across all accounts and opportunities, easily deliver a clear meeting outline and agenda to both customers and team members, and ensure better preparation to execute calls flawlessly. Participants can capture outcomes on the fly with responsive contextual notes. Action items dont fall through the cracks and effective strategies can be documented and repeated. : Altify Call Planner inspires team collaboration by inviting the whole team to work together to chart out the call, delineate roles and define next steps. Managers can empower whole teams with a proven call plan structure that delivers repeatable and consistent call plans. Improve CRM engagement by making it even easier to enter opportunity data. Altify Call Planner is 100 percent native on Salesforce, and works in both Lightning and Classic. Altify Call Planner automatically integrates with all other Altify products to bring industry-leading sales knowledge to every stage of the sales process. Pull the deeper opportunity or account context into view while building a call plan, know the status of the opportunity, gain insight from the buyer relationship map, understand the present dynamics in the account to quickly determine the right objectives, understand the customers perspective and be prepared to handle their objections. Anyone can download Altify Call Planner and try it free for 30 days to experience the benefits of the platform firsthand. Altify Call Planner is available now. You can learn more about Altify Call Planner and other products from Altify by visiting For progressive B2B sales organizations, Altify helps sales teams make their customers more successful, so they win the deals that matter, increase wallet share in existing customers and manage overall sales team performance. With applied knowledge and insight we make it easy for your customer to buy from you, making it easy for salespeople, managers and executives to accelerate revenue growth consistently. Customers include: Autodesk, BMC, BT, GE, HP Enterprise, Johnson Controls, Optum, Salesforce, Virgin Media Business and more. Shauna Roberts BOCA Communications +1 415-298-1486 Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER Kauf und Ubertragung einfach und sicher Uns vertrauen Kunden weltweit 5 seats up for election on St. Joseph County Council, majority at stake Five of the nine seats on the St. Joseph County Council are up for election Wall Street is kicking off the day with a rally after a bout of volatility last week. All three major averages (^GPSC, ^DJI, ^IXIC) were higher across the board as investors gear up for central bank meetings in the US and Japan. A rise in oil is helping lend support to the stocks. Crude futures (CL=F) rose in early trading following last weeks slide after Venezuela said oil producers were close to a deal to stabilize the market and as military clashes in Libya put the countrys crude exports in jeopardy. Stocks to watch Merck (MRK) shares are in focus after French rival Sanofi filed a lawsuit claiming the US drug company infringed as many as 10 of its patents, including ones for its blockbuster diabetes treatment Lantus and its insulin delivery device soloSTAR. US-listed shares of Sanofi (SNY) rose on the news. General Motors (GM) shares were higher in early trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal-weight and raised the price target by $8 to $37 a share. Separately, the head of Canadas auto workers union says thousands of factory workers will strike at two General Motors plants if the two sides are not able to negotiate a new contract by the Monday night deadline. A strike would disrupt supply of engines that go into GMs sport utility vehicles, including the Chevrolet Suburban and Cadillac Escalade. Googles parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) could be hit with a tax bill of more than $400 million for last year alone if the Indonesian government finds it avoided tax payments, according to Reuters. Avnet (AVT) shares were higher in early trading following news that its selling its IT business to Tech Data (TECD) for about $2.6 billion in cash and stock. Trust your gut New research shows that financial traders who trust their guts have more success and last longer in their careers. A Cambridge-led study of 18 high-frequency traders reveals that the better a trader was at sensing his own heart rate, the more successful he was at high-frequency trading. But should you trust your gut? Story continues Samsungs troubles spread Samsung says that batteries are not to blame for phones that caught fire in China. Its the latest development in the recall of millions of Samsungs Note 7 smartphones with faulty batteries. Reports on social media over the weekend said two phones caught fire in China. How can Samsung recover? Cutting Clintons chances Analysts at Citicorp say Donald Trumps chances of winning the White House are rising. Citi cut the probability of Hillary Clinton winning to 60%, down from 65%. That, of course, puts Trumps shot at victory at 40%. What does this mean for investors? Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea Researchers used images from NASA's STEREO spacecraft (left) to track the faint solar wind, revealing its flow through computer processing (right) by removing bright stars and dust. The solar wind's evolution is finally coming to light, thanks to new analysis of observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). The twin spacecraft (known as STEREO-A and STEREO-B) studied the sun's edge to see how the constant flow of charged particles known as the solar wind originates. Since solar storms containing these particles can damage satellites and power lines, understanding how these particles are generated is key to improving safety on Earth, NASA officials said in a statement. A new video explains the transition of the particles from the sun's outer atmosphere to solar wind. We've known about the solar wind since the 1950s, but its evolution has been hard to figure out. Prior to that time, scientists knew that the sun and its atmosphere are made of plasma, which are charged particles that separate at extremely high temperatures. [How the Sun's Magnetic Field Works (Infographic)] An animation showing the sun's corona and solar wind. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Lisa Poje) These positively and negatively charged particles stream out from the corona (the sun's outer atmosphere) and fill the solar system, stretching well beyond Pluto. The new analysis shows that the plasma undergoes changes as it moves farther from the sun. "As you go farther from the sun, the magnetic field strength drops faster than the pressure of the material does," Craig DeForest, lead author of the paper and a solar physicist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said in the statement. "Eventually, the material starts to act more like a gas, and less like a magnetically structured plasma." The solar wind, as captured by NASA's STEREO spacecraft, before (left) and after (right) processing, revealing the transition from the sun's corona, where the smooth flow of plasma breaks off into a coarser spray. (Image credit: data from Craig DeForest, SwRI) While scientists have previously believed that magnetic forces are dominant at the corona's edge, this is the first time that they have actually seen it. The effect is very hard to catch on camera, because the plasma is tenuous and scatters sunlight. To observe the effect, scientists processed the images to take out light sources more than 100 times brighter than the plasma itself. Examples of light sources include dust in the inner solar system, light from the sun and stars in the background. An image from computer-processed data of the solar wind leaving the sun. (Image credit: data from Craig DeForest, SwRI) STEREO's work will help scientists better understand the observations of NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission, which is expected to launch in 2018, according to the agency. Solar Probe Plus will zoom into the sun's corona to get even more information about how the solar wind comes to be, and changes. The new analysis of STEREO data was recently published in The Astrophysical Journal. The data was obtained in December 2008, when both spacecraft were fully functional. Nearly two years ago, STEREO-B lost communication with Earth during a planned reset. Controllers regained contact with the spacecraft late last month, and are checking to see how healthy it is. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Artist's illustration of China's 8-ton Tiangong-1 space lab, which is expected to fall to Earth late next year, unless it's boosted to a higher altitude. China's first-ever space lab will die a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere toward the end of next year, Chinese officials said. The 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons) Tiangong-1 spacecraft is currently intact and orbiting Earth at an altitude of 230 miles (370 kilometers), according to Wu Ping, deputy director of China's Manned Space Engineering office. That's a bit lower than the International Space Station, which usually stays about 250 miles (400 km) above the planet's surface. Tiangong-1 will likely fall back to Earth in the second half of 2017, and its demise shouldn't cause problems here on the ground, Wu said. [Gallery: Tiangong 1, China's First Space Laboratory] "Based on our calculation and analysis, most parts of the space lab will burn up during falling," she said during a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 14), according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. China is monitoring Tiangong-1 (whose name means "Heavenly Palace" in Mandarin) closely and will issue the appropriate warnings if the space lab threatens to hit a satellite, Wu added. She said that China will release a forecast of Tiangong-1's fall to Earth "if necessary," according to Xinhua. The update from Wu seems to confirm speculation that China is no longer in control of the 34-foot-long (10.3 meters) Tiangong-1, which launched in September 2011 to test out docking technologies and other skills that China will need to build its planned space station in the early 2020s. After all, if operators were still controlling the space lab, they could steer it to a guided re-entry over an empty stretch of ocean at a specified time. Three spacecraft docked with Tiagong-1 during its operational life Shenzhou-8 in November 2011, Shenzhou-9 in June 2012 and Shenzhou-10 in June 2013. The latter two missions were crewed, each carrying three Chinese "taikonauts" up to the space lab. Tiangong-1 stopped sending data back to Earth in March 2016, officially ending the space lab's mission. But its successor is now aloft: Tiangong-2 launched atop a Long March 2F rocket on Sept. 15 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. Two taikonauts are scheduled to arrive at Tiangong-2 in mid- to late October for a 30-day stay, Chinese officials have said. (The Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 crews spent eight and 12 days aboard Tiangong-1, respectively.) China is not part of the multinational consortium, led by the United States and Russia, that operates the 440-ton (400 metric ton) International Space Station. China aims to have its own 60-ton (54 metric tons) space station up and running in Earth orbit by 2022 or so. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Anyone who watched Bugs Bunny cartoons or read Life Magazine in the 1950s could already imagine space, even though we hadn't visited it yet. Artists had nifty visualizations of planets near and far, based on observations we picked up on telescopes from the time. Zoom forward a couple of generations, and everything has changed. NASA has flown by every planet in our solar system and several smaller bodies besides. One major milestone was achieved last year when Pluto (a former planet) was finally visited by New Horizons, more than 80 years after it was discovered. RELATED: Exquisite Exoplanetary Art But one of our greatest achievements is how planetary scientists and space artists make these new worlds seem somewhat familiar to us, argues Lisa Messeri in her new book, "Placing Outer Space." Curiosity's "selfies" from Mars show the planet from an observer, even if it's not a human one yet. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) The science and technology anthropologist, who is based at the University of Virginia, went all over the world to learn more about this phenomenon. She watched people pretending to be Martian astronauts at Utah's Mars Desert Research Station. She visited the famed European Southern Observatory's telescopes in Chile's Atacama Desert, which are uncovering evidence of worlds far beyond our solar system. And she even talked about the importance of Mars to a small group of Silicon Valley folks in the space field. "The way we visualize other planets absolutely influences how we think about what a place is," Messeri told Discovery News. RELATED: Psychedelic Dwarf: Why Pluto Was Turned Into Pop Art In the early days, space artist Chesley Bonestell wanted a new way of presenting Saturn in space, so he did one famous piece of art from the point of view of a rocky moon (pictured top). Today we are now seeing exoplanet art done in the same fashion, Messeri added. And now some of our dream worlds are becoming reality. In 2015, the first pictures of Pluto flowed in and began a new phase of exploring this dwarf planet. Messeri said that as new pictures or data comes in on distant worlds, it changes our anthropological perception of what these worlds are. Pluto was an enigmatic world for more than 80 years, until the New Horizons spacecraft zoomed by in 2015. (Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI) "It certainly means we've sent some element of ourselves, this technology, far into the solar system," she said. "Because of my working with astronomers, I do believe that they now imagine Pluto in a more profound or more specific way and can conjure a more robust imagination as a planetary sense." Messeri's favorite part of the book is the search for an Earth-like exoplanet, which has particularly consumed astronomers on NASA's Kepler space telescope mission, as well as the aforementioned astronomers in Chile. Over the years, many rocky planets have been identified in the habitable zones of their stars. RELATED: Space Invaders Take Over California Messeri spent time in Chile discovering just how hard astronomers must work to learn more about these worlds. "The act of observing is more mundane," she said with a laugh. "I am not a night person, so having to do an all-nighter was in fact incredibly uncomfortable. I loved the astronomers I was there with, and excited to stay up each night chatting, but I also wanted so badly to be asleep." As a next project, Messeri plans to look at the burgeoning world of virtual reality and how it helps astronomers better learn about other worlds. She added that astronomy changes so rapidly that it's worth revisiting certain topics every five to 10 years to see what developments have happened since. "That change is worth talking about and trying to understand," she said. Originally published on Discovery News. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. By James Oliphant PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Republican Donald Trump of aiding Islamic State recruitment, while Trump said she had helped weaken national security as bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey resonated on the U.S. presidential trail. Both candidates for the Nov. 8 election tried to use the weekend attacks to flex their credentials to protect America as world leaders gathered in security-heightened New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Clinton said Trump's rhetoric against what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism" was helping Islamic State recruit more fighters. "We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists," she told reporters in White Plains, New York. ISIS is an acronym used for Islamic State. Trump fired back by saying Clinton bore some responsibility for the violence by not persuading President Barack Obama to leave a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq when she was his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Obama and the Iraqi government failed to reach agreement at the end of 2011 on extending a U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, and most American troops were withdrawn. Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration. "Her attacks on me are all meant to deflect from her record of unleashing this monster," Trump told a large crowd in Fort Myers, Florida. The campaigns weighed in after the bomb incidents and a stabbing attack at a mall in central Minnesota. In the most serious incident, a bomb went off in New York City's Chelsea neighbourhood on Saturday, injuring 29 people. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found nearby. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb went off in Seaside Park, New Jersey. On Monday, an Afghanistan-born American suspected in some of the incidents was arrested in nearby Linden, New Jersey, after a gunbattle with police. Authorities had said earlier they wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, about the Chelsea and Seaside Park bombings. The incidents, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, put the United States' most populous city on edge. Trump, who has in the past talked of the need for a resumption of harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding for terrorism suspects, said authorities need to "get information" from the bombing suspect "before it comes no longer timely," but that instead he would probably be coddled. "Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And he'll probably even have room service knowing the way our country is," he said. 'COMMANDER IN CHIEF TEST' At a speech in Philadelphia on Monday, Clinton called for vigilance. "This is a fast-moving situation and a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world," she said. Trump seized on a government report that said 858 immigrants from countries with which the United States has national security concerns who were pegged for deportation were mistakenly granted citizenship. He said the report showed the need for tighter control over who gets into the United States. "Immigration security is national security," Trump said in Fort Myers. Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who worked on the National Security Council under Republican President George W. Bush, said Clinton was trying to argue Trump did not pass the commander in chief test. When bad news happens, she wants to be able to say, this is why you need a steady hand on the tiller," Feaver said. The renewed focus on terrorism came as Clinton and Trump prepared for their first debate next Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, east of the city. With world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. conclave, Clinton was expected to meet leaders of Japan, Egypt and Ukraine later on Monday, while Trump was expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting Islamic State mainly through air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Trump, who has based much of his campaign message on arguing that the United States is no longer safe and that he alone can protect the nation, told Fox News on Monday morning that he expected more attacks. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," he said. (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson, Alana Wise and Emily Stephenson in Washington, and Emily Flitter in Fort Myers, Fla.; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney) A closer look at the results in Berlin, in fact, may indicate that Merkel's chances aren't too bad next year. Consider the following six reasons that she could very well end up being elected for a fourth term in the Chancellery next fall. Why Merkel Could Win 1. Her support base is surprisingly stable. Despite the brutal results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Sunday's ugly total in Berlin and Merkel's ongoing slide in the public opinion polls, there isn't really anybody who is threatening to overtake her. She is still eight to 10 points ahead of the SPD, which would seem to indicate that a sizable group of Merkel fans haven't turned their backs on the beleaguered chancellor. There is (for now, at least) little indication that they will abandon her in the next 12 months. A pair of fish hooks found in a cave in Okinawa, Japan claimed the title of the oldest hooks ever unearthed. Last week, researchers, who have been digging in the Sakitari cave located on the Okinawa Island, found hooks that looked like ancient jewelry. The researchers are from various Japanese institutes and universities and have been excavating in the Sakitari cave since 2009. Further analysis of the objects by the experts led to the confirmation that they are fishing hooks. The researchers said that pieces of charcoal discovered in the same layer as the fishhooks helped determined that they were between 22,380 and 22,770 years old. The scientists are not that surprised by how old the hooks are. They were found on the small Okinawa Island, which is located between Japan and Taiwan, where early modern humans are said to have lived nearly 30,000 years ago. Previously, experts believed that the oldest fish hooks were found in Papua New Guinea dating back 18,000 years. Moreover, in Timor, an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia they found fishing hooks that were about 16,000 years old. According to the paper published in the PNAS journal, the scientists discovered hooks that were carved and others that were unfinished. All of the hooks were made from sea snail shells. Along with the old fish hooks, researchers also unearthed beads and tools. They also found charred frogs, birds, and eels, which served as delicacies for the humans of that era. The ancient relics suggest the following: That these early modern humans were more advanced with maritime technology than previously thought, and that they were capable of thriving on small, geographically isolated islands. The findings also revealed that our ancestors have been consuming freshwater crabs and freshwater snails earlier than previously thought. Masaki Fujita, study co-author and curator at Okinawa Prefectural and Art Museum, explained that ancient anglers tools were instrumental in humans being able to disperse and survive across the world. Fujita said: Humans are believed to have first crossed into Australia some 50,000 years ago, but that, until now, evidence of human maritime adaptation was only reported from Australia to Wallacea a group of mainly Indonesian islands. He added: Our findings suggest that Paleolithic people had adapted their maritime technologies to live not only in Wallacea and Australia, but a much wider geographic zone. We found fish and human bones that dated back some 30,000 to 35,000 years. We dont know what kind of tools were used to catch these fish, but were hoping to find some even older fishing tools. The researchers are currently working on several remains found in the cave. Munichs Oktoberfest has tighter security than previous years, but thus far, the festivities are going smooth, according to officials. Oktoberfest 2016 opened its doors on Saturday in the Bavarian city of Munich in Germany and will run through October 3. About half a million people flooded into the 14 tents at the fairground to drink beers, party, and discover new tastes. The event opened under heavy clouds of rain and the fear of terrorist attacks. There have been many deadly attacks in Germany, France, and Belgium in the past months. While a majority of the Syrian refugees, who were welcomed into Germany by Chancellor Angela Markel, have been quietly living their lives, going to work, and sending their children to school, few others have been perpetrating ISIS-inspired attacks. In July, a teenager massacred nine people in a shooting rampage in Munich, and two other attacks by sympathizers of the terrorist group followed. Another 15 people were killed during a suicide bombing in Ansbach. In response to these horrific events, officials in Munich have tightened the security around the event to make sure all goes as planned. Organizers have hired more security guards, at least 450 of them, ensuring safety at the Oktoberfest, last year there were only 250. They have also erected a metal fence, banned large bags, and installed more surveillance cameras. This years visitors must go through security checks to enter the festival grounds. The July 14 attack in Nice, France has prompted Germans to install electronically controlled bollards to prevent trucks and cars from entering the festival ground. The security comes at a high price; it is estimated that officials will spend over 3.6 million euros to keep the event safe. Josef Schmid, Munichs deputy mayor and managing director of the Oktoberfest, said: Security is our highest priority. Munich would not allow anything to put a dampener on their festival. Next year the prices at the festival will skyrocket. A spokesman for the beer-sellers Roiderer stated: The Oktoberfest can not be done on the cheap, that much is obvious. All additional costs will be reflected in the product price. For instance, a beer, served in one-liter jugs, will this cost between 10.40 and 10.70 euros. While there are no real threats on the Oktoberfest, many have canceled their reservation to the event. According to reports: Hotels say bookings have declined; Oktoberfest table reservations are being canceled; clubs are pulling out of taking part in the Oktoberfest procession and invited celebrities are backing off: the fear of terror attacks has taken hold of Munichs Oktoberfest. Those at the festival said they would not have missed it for the world. Nico Baunbach, a 34-year-old exhibition manager from Munich, said he will not let the terrorists win. He told local media: Personally, nothing that has happened has changed my opinion about coming to the Oktoberfest. Germans are starting to voice their opposition to Merkels immigration plans. Brussels, September 19, 2016 (SPS) The MEP of the United Left, Paloma Lopez, has expressed satisfaction with the conclusions of the Attorney General of the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), Melchior Wathelet, recognizing that the Western Sahara is not part of Morocco and therefore "none of EU-Morocco trade agreements is applicable to it". "Wathelet was in charge of analyzing the appeal presented by the EU Council against CJEU decision in December canceling the agricultural agreement between Brussels and Rabat for the inclusion of occupied Western Sahara. In its conclusions," the general attorney asserted that "Western Sahara is not part of Morocco or under its sovereignty," declared a press release of the United Left. Ms. Lopez stated evidently that the Council's action has no basis in international law and the CJEU is expected to confirm the cancellation of the agricultural agreement with Morocco. "Wathelet himself confirmed that international law does not extend the scope of a bilateral treaty to a territory that is a third party with respect to the parties to the treaty," she recalled. MEP and vice-president of the Intergroup of Solidarity with Western Sahara, expressed concern with specific aspects of the analysis of the general attorney, emphasizing that one should not "minimize the seriousness of looting Western Sahara resources under trade agreements with the EU ", in particular, criticizing" the economic interests of European multinationals involved in the looting. " She also reiterated the legitimacy of the appeal of the Polisario Front. "The Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people recognized by the international community, has the right to appeal to the Court of Justice as the EU remains complicit in the looting of fishery resources, agriculture and mining in Western Sahara". (SPS) 062/090/TRA Margarita (Venezuela), September 19, 2016 (SPS) - The 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement has reaffirmed support for all resolutions of the UN General Assembly and Security Council on Western Sahara, calling for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and resolution 1514 of 14 December 1960. In its final statement, the Non-Aligned Movement reiterated its support to the efforts of the UN Secretary General and his Personal Envoy to achieve a mutually acceptable political solution guaranteeing self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. The NAM Heads of State and Government affirmed that all options for self-determination is legitimate as long as they comply with the will of the peoples concerned to freely determine their future and in accordance with the principles clearly defined in resolutions of the UN General Assembly. They also called on both sides to continue to show political will and work in a propitious atmosphere for dialogue to enter into a more intensive phase of negotiations to ensure the implementation of Security Council resolutions. The summit discussed several issues including ways to achieve peace and security, including the fight against terrorism, the right to self-determination, sustainable development, cooperation on development, disarmament, situation in Middle East, climate effects, migration, and UN reform. The heads of state and government also expressed their support for the Republic of Cuba against the blockade as well as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. (SPS) 062/090/TRA WASHINGTON The New York and New Jersey bomb explosions killed no one and police captured the suspected bomber Monday, but none of that stopped the presidential candidates from using the scare as campaign fodder for an electoral battle in which national security issues are looming large. Hillary Clintons weakness while she was secretary of state, has emboldened terrorists all over the world to attack the U.S., GOP candidate Donald Trump wrote on social media. They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes President so that they can continue their savagery and murder. Addressing reporters at the airport in White Plains, N.Y., Clinton, the Democratic nominee, accused Trump of playing into terrorists hands by making the Islamic State conflict in Iraq and Syria appear to be a war on Islam, not on misguided Jihadists. Trump is a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists, said Clinton, also former first lady and senator from N.Y. Let us be vigilant, but not afraid. The explosions in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, Seaside Park, N.J., and Elizabeth, N.J., did not result in fatalities. And police in Linden, N.J., took the alleged bomber, Ahmad Khan Rahami, a U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, into custody after a gun battle. Whether the incidents have staying power on the campaign trail is open to speculation, although they are unlikely at this point to alter the political landscape in Connecticut that favors Clinton. But fear can be a palpable force in presidential politics. A fearful electorate oftentimes gravitates to candidates who present themselves as strong and forceful while framing their opponents as weak and incapable. Both Trump and Clinton tried to seize the high ground on Monday, although Trump arguably had an advantage by feeding perceptions that after eight years in the White House, the Obama administration has been ineffective against ISIS-inspired terrorism even if the charge is arguably untrue. Donald Trump takes the security and safety of this country far more seriously than she does, period, said Jim Campbell, a Greenwich real estate executive and former chairman of the towns Republican Party. Its one of the reasons why Trump will win the election. Trump has surged in recent polls as Clinton faltered over her case of pneumonia and her comment that half of Trumps supporters are deplorables, a remark she later took back. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Clinton supporter, countered that Clinton is second to none in her determination to defeat ISIS on the battlefield, as well as the terrorism metastasizing in Europe and the United States as it the organization loses more and more ground. She helped oversee the bin Laden raid and she was engaged in other forceful actions by the U.S. to preserve our security, he said. These illusory aspersions by (Trump) should gain no traction or credibility. Fear has played a role in previous presidential races. In 2004, with U.S. forces engaged in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and an electorate still coming to grips with post-9/11 reality, voters re-preferred President George W. Bush over the Democratic challenger, then Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. But a candidate playing the insecurity card is not automatically successful, even in fearful times. In 1964, conservative Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater played on Cold War insecurity, but LBJ made people more afraid of Goldwater, said UConn political science professor Ronald Schurin. He was referring to President Lyndon B. Johnson, who swamped Goldwater that year and won his first and only full term in office. Candidates who have capitalized on a climate of fear were those who promised security, not new adventures, said Schurin. Trump is promising Im going to bomb the (expletive) out of them. That doesnt create a sense of security, but I guess we will see in November. dan@hearstdc.com Matthew Brown / For Hearst Connecticut Media STAMFORD The fourth annual St. Francis Miles for a Mission Road Race has a new mission for this years event. Families and friends will hit the pavement Sunday morning to raise funds to fight homelessness. St. Francis Episcopal Churchs outreach program is joining forces with local nonprofit Inspirica - From Homeless to Home and its One Step Closer to Home Walk-A-Thon. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD Two city residents were recognized Monday for stopping the sexual assault of an intoxicated woman at a downtown apartment. Kerilyn Whitehead, 27, and Jessica Feighan, 36, received citations at the offices of The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education from elected officials, members of the Stamford Police Department and community leaders. I wanted to congratulate and thank Jessica and Kerilyn for your heroism and courage, and on behalf of the Stamford delegation, with two state citations, state Rep. Caroline Simmons said. The incident occurred during the early-morning hours of Dec. 19, 2014 when Whitehead and Feighan were stopped at a traffic light at North and Summer streets and saw two men trying to help a stumbling woman cross the street to Dairy Queen, police said. Whitehead, who has since applied to become a police officer and began working earlier this year as an aide in the Stamford Police Department, pulled into the DQ parking lot and asked the men if they needed help. But the men looked away and refused to respond to her, police said. So I knew something was weird they wouldnt answer me, she said. Whitehead called police and then followed the two men as they nearly carried the woman to a multifamily home on Dolsen Place, police said. When officers arrived, they found Ruben Enio Sandoval sexually assaulting the woman, who was passed out on a mattress, police said at the time. Sandoval, 37, and Augusto Carreras, 55, were each charged with sexually assaulting someone who is physically helpless. Carreras was also charged with conspiracy at sexual assault and kidnapping. Sandoval was also charged with unlawful restraint. The two have been held on court appearance bonds since their arrest. They rejected a plea agreement last year that would have sent them to jail for 15 years. Supervisory Senior Assistant States Attorney James Bernardi said the case is expected to either settle or go to trial in the next six months. We really did feel like it was just something that needed to be done. We didnt really think twice about helping this girl, Feighan said. She obviously needed someones help and we were there. I wish more people would do it. Whitehead and Feighan have also received civilian commendations from the Stamford Police Association. It is a very rare action what these women did, said Sean Boeger, president of the police union who was assigned to the case with Sgt. Chris DiCarlo. They probably did save this womans life. jnickerson@scni.com; I n a small workshop on an innocuous-looking street in east London, a close-knit band of design and tech pioneers are plotting the future. The low-key site is home to Technology Will Save Us, a cutting-edge toy company that makes DIY kits for kids to build, code and create customised toys and devices. The eye-catching kits have won a string of awards, and a tie-up with the BBC has seen one of their products, the Micro:bit, handed out to more than a million schoolchildren across the country. Its a new way for tech-savvy kids to play a 21st-century outlet for a generation seemingly born with their fingers glued to a touchscreen device. The company was founded in 2012 by chief executive Bethany Koby and her husband Daniel Hirschmann. They called it Technology Will Save Us because of their unabashed optimism in the role digital will play in the lives of children growing up today. Theres a quote I like to use that 65% of kids in primary school today will have jobs that dont exist yet how do you raise them? Koby says, as she drinks coffee in the firms brick-walled offices a stones throw from Broadway Market in Hackney. The solution to the digital skills gap is not a generation of programmers, its a generation of highly creative, super-competent kids with tech. Today their kits, which are aimed at four- to 12-year-olds, are stocked in High Street stalwarts such as John Lewis, but their first big commercial break came from indie record store chain Rough Trade. Its not surprising, given the cool, design-led focus of the brand. Koby was a director at brand consultancy Wolff Olins while Hirschmann created art installations for companies such as Nike. The founders, who met at Benettons Fabrica research centre in Treviso, Italy, had been holding demonstration workshops with children and parents in their spare time away from work. The first one they did was at the Kinetica Art Fair in Westminster. We had hundreds and hundreds of kids and parents there. You could see this amazing experience with a six-year-old sitting next to her dad and realising that her dad was actually good at stuff, and the parent being really excited that their kid has this amazing aptitude for tech, in a way that just playing with a phone you would never see, says Koby, who was born in Los Angeles and worked in New York before moving to London. One of the founders of Rough Trade heard about the demos and contacted the duo to say he loved what they were doing, and that it reminded him of the DIY ethos and creativity of the early punk and indie music movements. The pair were given a small retail space at the front of Rough Trade East, the labels flagship store which attracts thousands of music fans every week, and started selling their first toy kit, a small musical instrument made up of 15 components that made sound by reacting to interruptions to light-dependent resistors. In the early days before the company was a full-time job, all its kits were assembled by hand around the couples kitchen table. Koby had her first son, who is now four, and left her job in mid-2013 to work on the project full-time. She and Hirschmann moved into their first studio in Mare Street, and took on their first employee. A year later, they hired a sales manager and expanded to three products. They also moved to new premises, which included a workshop. Since then, the kits have caught the imagination of mums and dads keen to help their youngsters tap into the burgeoning world of tech skills but unsure how to go about it. We see this as a real opportunity to demystify and make opportunities for kids and parents to really see this as something they can do themselves. Kids need to have skills around this. Its fundamental to their success as they grow, Koby says. About 65% of their kits are bought for girls and the company is conscious of creating a gender-neutral business. We dont lead with gender, she adds. The group launched its seventh product this year, a design kit called The Mover, which started on crowdfunding site Kickstarter and now features in places like Selfridges. It will be stocked at John Lewis this Christmas, and the company plans to launch more products next year. We want to build a toy business for the creator generation, to put tech at the centre, says Koby. Thats a really different model for a really different generation. S o often, its the statements powerful men make when theyre leaving office that have most impact. I hope thats the case with O2s outgoing chief executive. Ronan Dunne on Monday declared Britains sluggish thinking on building mobile telecoms infrastructure risked leaving us way behind as the big technology firms switched to digital. Our outdated planning laws make building new mobile phone masts nigh on impossible, even with the changes at present trundling through parliament, he declared. Around 500,000 mini-masts will be needed in London alone to bring us 5G an impossible dream. This issues not just about getting better coverage for our smartphones. The whole broadband world is shifting from cable to mobile, be that at your home or on the bus. Googles infrastructure division in the US is already scaling back on laying cables, thinking it can provide broadband wirelessly to homes and businesses faster and cheaper. Sergey Brin and Larry Page are no fools: we should take note. Yet what is the Governments response to Dunne? We are already among the most digitally connected countries. Who are they trying to kid? Central London has more black spots than Treasure Island. A survey last year found one in six residents in the capital have no high-speed internet, including nearly half in Westminster. UK broadband lags Switzerland, Sweden, Romania, Norway, Holland and the Czech Republic. Monopoly monolith BT leaves us woefully badly served on the final mile of cable, yet regulators seem terrified of doing anything meaningful about it. Given that, perhaps wireless is the answer. But, as Dunne declares, it wont be if we wont put up enough masts. Sadly, hes quit Britain to run Verizons wireless arm, but we should heed his words as he says farewell. Getting drenched After decades of Britains freewheeling approach to foreign ownership of UK assets, our water companies are pretty much all owned by billionaires or investment funds abroad. Our infrastructure has benefited from their dollars, dinars and yuan, and theyve enjoyed long-term, reliable returns. They like UK assets because, once invited to sup at our table, we dont keep moving the cutlery around. Contracts remain stable and reliable. Surely, if Ofwats changes to competition prove as revolutionary as it hopes, foreigners will be less happy to invest. Is it worth the upheaval for a lousy eight quid per customer? Macquarie, the Aussie owner trying to find a buyer for Thames Water, cant be best pleased. H ouseholds could save almost 3 billion in a new era of competition where switching water companies is as easy as changing gas and electricity suppliers, industry regulator Ofwat said on Monday. The watchdog has been investigating the case for opening up the industrys regional monopoly on retail customers since last year at the behest of former Chancellor George Osborne. Ofwat today claimed water customers are being left behind in an age of retail revolution. It says households could save 2.9 billion in total over the next 30 years equivalent to 8 a year per customer if the changes are adopted, which could see the likes of banks and supermarkets pitch for customers. The regulators chief executive Cathryn Ross said: The service offers from water companies can feel behind the curve compared to the innovation customers benefit from when buying other goods. The uncomfortable truth is that, when it comes to retail offers, water companies provide an analogue service in a digital age. Customers tell us they think they should have the freedom to choose and dont understand why water is the only retail market in which there isnt some form of competition. The water industry competes for business customers but competition for retail customers could herald the biggest sea-change in the sector since privatisation in 1989. It is understood that the wholesale market would remain under regulatory control to guarantee investment. The regulator admits customer savings are likely to be small in the short term, but added that competition could improve innovation as well as the bundling of products such as energy and telecoms with water. Ross added: It will be important to ensure customers are treated fairly in a competitive market and that vulnerable customers are protected. Industry sources were sceptical over whether competition would help customers such as those in the South-West, whose bills are higher due to more widely-spread households. This could be an extra layer of complication which drives up costs rather than down. The savings wont be that great because you still have to have the same level of infrastructure investment, said one. Alex Neill, Which? director of policy and campaigns, added: Giving people a choice over who supplies their water could lead to a better experience for consumers but any plan to open up the water market must learn the lessons of other utility markets. The Government will weigh up Ofwats report before deciding its next move. A Defra spokesperson said: Introducing competition to the household water market is clearly a complex issue and something that needs careful consideration. R oss Bailey was born to be an entrepreneur. When he was 12 years old, he was already running his own dog walking business. In 2013, at the ripe old age of 21, he launched a technology company called Appear Here, which has since raised $10 million from investors, and is one of the fastest-growing startups in London right now. But whats really special about Bailey isnt just the fact that hes so damned good at business. Hes one of the leaders of a revolution that has the potential to shape the world around us. The movement is known as prop-tech short for property technology and its all about harnessing new technologies to make our cities more human, liveable and affordable. How does Baileys company Appear Here do that? It takes derelict spaces such as empty shops and uses technology to make it easy for anyone to create a pop-up retail space there. Right now, Appear Here has more than 3,000 spots where a temporary shop can be set up, in every corner of the capital. So not only is the company injecting new life into abandoned places, its giving small businesses a cheap way to test retail ideas without having to sign a long lease. Its a wonderful mission, and just one of many examples of prop-tech innovation in our city. Look at Property Partner, for instance, which is trying to open up property investment to everyone, not just people who can afford a big deposit. Or check out HouseSimple, a start-up turning the estate agency market on its head by making it easy to sell your house without an agent. Right now prop-tech entrepreneurs across London are working on everything from technologies that make buildings more energy efficient through to software thats slashing waste in the construction industry. As youd expect, international investors are piling in to back these businesses, and London has fast become the prop-tech capital of Europe. The secret to this success is that unlike anywhere else in Europe were home to a world-class technology cluster as well as a global property industry. So when these two worlds collide, as theyre doing in east Londons Tech City, we have the expertise and talent in one place to make anything possible. Its the same reason that London leads the world at so-called fin-tech the intersection of technology and finance as well as areas such as fashion technology and advertising technology. In all these cases, London is the place where technology is colliding with other industries and giving rise to vastly valuable new businesses. Another factor behind Londons prop-tech boom is the way big property companies here have embraced innovation. Cushman & Wakefield and other top real estate players have been investing heavily in prop-tech companies, and like the smartest American corporations, theyre also buying tech start-ups to bring in fresh talent and stay ahead of the curve. All in all, its a hugely exciting moment. Prop-tech is fast emerging as yet another area of technology where were leading the world, thanks to the underlying strengths of our city: our diversity, attractiveness to global talent and openness to new ideas. Whatever Brexit may bring, those historic characteristics will surely abide. That bodes incredibly well for the future, and who knows which industry will be transformed next by Londons boundless entrepreneurial energy? R ichard Turner is Londons main man when it comes to meat. Hes in charge of a top butchers, the capitals favourite steak restaurant, a chop house and a barbecue joint and thats just for starters. Turner is director of no fewer than four companies: the butchers Turner & George, barbecue restaurants Pitt Cue Co and Little Pitt, Alphabeta Brewery and brewpub housed within Pitt Cue Co, and the annual meat event Meatopia. As well as that he is a shareholder at both Soho chop house Blacklock and street food company London Union. Then theres the small matter of being the group executive chef for both Hawksmoor and Foxlow. And hes got a bit of a writing habit, too both recipe books (Hog has just been released) and a regular column for Foodism magazine. I have an issue with not being able to say no, he confesses. If I have an idea, or someone around me does, and I like it then I cant stop myself from saying lets do it. Thats good in a way, but it can be a problem Im reaching capacity, Im over-stretched. Im in the process of finishing my next book, he continues. And after that I think I might stop with the writing for a while and concentrate on all the other things Im doing. He pauses, then oh, wait, actually I just signed up to do another one. Yes man has struck again. Festival of flesh: Richard Turner at Meatopia / Tom Gold So, how does he manage to stay on top of everything? Firstly I have a rule of thumb that people need to diarise my time at least a week in advance, he says. I have an issue with not being able to say no... it can be a problem" Other than that it seems long days are the answer: I get up around 6.30am and write for a couple of hours most mornings before getting on with the day. If Im finishing off a book Ill often work until ten or 11 at night, and I only have very few days off. Its so varied that it doesnt feel like actual work though, which is how I can manage. I go into the Hawksmoor head office twice a week and then I conduct all my other meetings in the restaurants I work with. That enables me to multi-task, so while Im meeting people I am also checking the food quality and Ill pop into the kitchen and check everything is running smoothly. Given all that eating out, perhaps it is not that surprising that he fits time for a personal trainer twice a week into his schedule. Or that when hes off duty he gives meat a wide berth. Im a closet vegetarian, he declares before hastily confirming that he is joking. Seriously though, I am always looking at less meat-heavy dishes and when Im at home I try not to eat much of it. In fact, I never buy it. I do get sent meat to try for Turner & George and for the restaurants, so I do eat it but as little as possible. And its more than just a personal choice, either. Turner reckons Londoners will soon be following suit. It is becoming harder and harder to find quality meat at a good price and I think that will mean we start to see restaurants serve smaller amounts of meat and more vegetables. Before long the prices will rise to the point that it becomes unaffordable for diners to order big hunks of meat. Brexit could well make that worse as well. It seems like there is the chance that farmers will be negatively affected, and that could have a knock-on effect for restaurants. The restaurants I work with all buy British meat, though, so we wont be directly affected. "we have been stupid enough to vote for Brexit and we have made a fool of ourselves" It is staffing which is a bigger concern where leaving the EU is concerned: If we lost European chefs and front-of-house we would lose more than 40% of our workforce. And other restaurants would be in the same boat. The industry couldnt take that and I am sure there would be an uprising. As a nation we have been stupid enough to vote for Brexit and we have made a fool of ourselves. Now we need to stop being stupid about it and realise we need Europeans in this country. Aside from the UK and Europe, its America which Turner is focusing much of his time on at the moment. Hawksmoor will launch its first international restaurant in New York at the end of next year, and Turner has been tasked with sourcing the meat. Raising the steaks: Hawksmoor has become London's favourite steak restaurant We will be using entirely US beef because it would be ridiculous to fly in British meat. But it wasnt easy to find what we wanted. Along with Hawksmoors owners Will Beckett and Huw Gott, Turner has gone on record in the past criticising American beef, which is mainly grain-fed and has a softer texture compared to Britains grass-fed cattle. The herds we have found are mainly grass-fed, with maybe just a little grain feeding at the end of the animals lives. And most importantly, they are happy, ethical animals. Hawksmoor will be ahead of the curve in New York, where a movement towards grass-fed animals is in the earliest of stages, but it might also prove a hard sell with customers used to the American style of meat. It might be a challenge, but it certainly wont be a compromise, he says confidently. We were worried about the meat at first, but now we know the New York restaurant will be as good as the London restaurants in fact, theres a chance that it might even be our finest hour. Hawksmoor fans will have to wait more than a year and book a flight in order to see for themselves, but Turner has also been working on a new addition for restaurants closer to home. Having spent August in both Manila and Tagaytay in the Philippines, he has created a limited edition Filipino burger which will be available at Hawksmoor Seven Dials and Spitalfields Bar throughout September and October. It features a grilled pork patty topped with a traditional pork adobo and buffalo mozzarella, encased in a brioche bun with onions, little gem, mayonnaise and banana ketchup. It comes with pork scratchings (chicharrones) and coconut vinegar. London's best burgers 1 /5 London's best burgers 30burgermain2070.jpg Coming right up: one of Shake Shacks smokeshack burgers AN23254248atmosphere_tray-b.jpg Tray bake: more Shake Shack burgers AN23861731BUN.jpg Hot hirata: an Asian steamed bun of the sort Flesh and Buns and Rock Lobsta will offer AN23247970Roasted salmon bu.jpg Fillet o' fish: The Happenstance's roasted teriyaki salmon bun Hawksmoor doesnt do food from around the world, so introducing a burger with foreign influences is a great way of being able to play around with different flavours, he explains. And if he ever finds time to play around with yet more new concepts, Turner already has a couple in mind. Id like to create a product range of sauces and rubs, and Ive always liked the idea of getting into magazine publishing too. Perhaps someone should suggest a partnership. After all, it seems likely that hell say yes. Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout Ever since setting up the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award 25 years ago, luxury accessories brand Montblanc has annually honored the outstanding efforts of some of the most influential art patrons in the creative industries. To celebrate the silver anniversary of the award, the company awarded Sir John CBE and Lady Frances Sorrell OBE in recognition of the priceless work of their arts charity, the Sorrell Foundation. The visionary scheme aims to inspire creativity in young people, and offers teens aged 13-16 the opportunity to explore subjects they love at their local college, university or museum on Saturdays, for free. The ceremony took place at Somerset House, with guests including ITV Chairman Sir Peter Bazalguette, artist Mona Hatoum and Ben Evans, the Director of the London Design Festival. Sir John and Lady Sorrell said: We are honoured and delighted to be recognised with this prestigious award. Its been our great privilege, since establishing the Sorrell Foundation in 1999, to have worked with over 10,000 young people as they discover their talents, develop new skills and start to think about the many opportunities open to them, in particular in the UKs thriving creative industries. This award is also a recognition of the hard work and dedication of the many education and creative industry professionals with whom we have collaborated over the past 17 years. 10 exhibitions not to miss in 2016 1 /13 10 exhibitions not to miss in 2016 Women: New Portraits from Annie Leibovitz Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, January 16 - February 7 This exhibition will update the collaboration between Leibovitz and Susan Sontag that first emerged more than 15 years ago. A series of extraordinary photographs taken by the incomparable Annie Leibovitz looks at the role of women in the world today. ubs.com Annie Lebovitz, from WOMEN: New Portraits Visions of our Solar System Natural History Museum, January 22 - May 15 Dramatic photographs from Michael Benson are paired with an original score from Brian Eno in an exploration of our solar system, showing it in all its stunning glory. nhm.ac.uk NASA SDO/GSFC/Michael Benson, Kinetikon Pictures/Natural History Museum Electronic Superhighway Whitechapel Gallery, January 29 May 15 More than 100 artworks feature in this exploration of how the computers and the internet have impacted artists over the last 50 or so years. Work comes from the likes of Cory Arcangel, Jeremy Bailey, James Bridle and Constant Dullaart. whitechapelgallery.org Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Surface Tension (1992) Courtesy the artist and Carroll/Fletcher, London. Installation photograph by Maxime Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse Royal Academy of Arts, January 30 - April 20 From the 1860s to the 1920s, gardens served as a heavy influence on artists across the world, especially in the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Avant-Garde movements. This exhibition will detail how, with a stunning collection of works from the likes of Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Pissarro, Manet, Sargent, Kandinsky, Van Gogh, Matisse, Klimt and Klee. royalacademy.org.uk Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1914-15/Royal Academy Vogue 100 - A Century of Style National Portrait Gallery, February 11 May 22 Iconic magazine Vogue will be showcasing the best of its British publication in this exhibition, which promises to be little short of stunning. It's part of Vogue's centenary celebrations. It will feature 280 prints from the Conde Nast archive, revealing the extent of the magazine's substantial influence on fashion, taste, and culture at large. npg.org.uk Vogue/Vogue 100/National Portrait Gallery The Clangers, Bagpuss & Co The V&A Museum of Childhood, March 19 - October 9 Oliver Postgate's voice and Peter Firmin's puppets, which include Bagpuss, The Clangers and Ivor the Engine had a dramatic hand in shaping the childhood of millions of children in Britain and across the world. This display will tell the story of the puppets, of Smallfilms and Four Corners books, and of how Postgate and Firmin developed their signature stop-animation process. vam.ac.uk Smallfilms & Four Corners books/V&A Museum of Childhood Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Saatchi Gallery, April 5 - September 4 The Saatchi Gallery will be taken over by never-before-seen Stones memorabilia, rare instruments, iconic costumes, album artwork and even the band's personal diaries. This exhibition will reveal their story from 60s blues band to the world's greatest rock n' roll band. saatchigallery.com Stones Archive/Gerry Images This Is A Voice Wellcome Collection, April 14 July 31 An exhibition for the ears: This Is A Voice explores how voices work, how we emotions are carried in our tone, pitch and rhythm of speech, and looks at non-verbal forms of communication, too. Paintings, manuscripts and illustrations compliment an acoustic journey featuring work from artists and vocalists including Joan La Barbara, Marcus Coates, Matthew Herbert and Imogen Stidworthy. wellcomecollection.org Enrico David, courtesy Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London Undressed: A brief history of underwear The V&A, April 16 March 12 2017 Worth going to for the pun-tastic title alone, this exhibition explores all things lingerie, from its practical use to its place in the world of high fashion and, of course, how its developed and shaped our attitudes towards sensuality and sexuality. vam.ac.uk Photographer Sebastian Faena, Model Eniko Mihalik Painters Painting: Van Dyck to Freud National Gallery, June 22 - September 4 Ever wondered what painters hang on their walls? On display here will be works owned by the likes of Lucian Freud, Matisse, Degas, Lawrence, Reynolds, and Van Dyck. It will explore why painters were interested in the work of others, and their reasons for building a collection, from personal interest to artistic inspiration. It should be a fascinating insight into what made some of our greatest artists tick. nationalgallery.org.uk Detail from Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Italian Woman, about 1870 And its especially fitting to receive with this award because Montblanc shares our interest in craftsmanship and our passion for quality design, both of which we hope the young people on our programmes will discover. Read more about the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award here. Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle T heres an old Zen proverb: You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes every day unless youre too busy. Then you should sit for an hour. But, cmon, who actually has a full hour? Even 20 minutes is as rare and precious as an undelayed Southern rail service. We all know that meditation is good for us, that mindfulness techniques can ease our over-boiling anxiety, enhance our attention, develop our inner resilience etc. But we cant all be Zen monks, pausing to consider families of snails as they cross our paths. It was a conversation with one such monk in Thailand that encouraged London entrepreneur Rohan Gunatillake to retool meditation techniques specifically for the demands of the 21st century. The monk told him not to practise meditation as if he lived in the forest. It was every bit as valid to find an approach that worked in the city. The result is buddhify (3.99), a meditation app for people who are already doing other stuff. Gunatillake insists that the app does not make a travesty of the Buddhas teachings. If you are a dedicated spiritual practitioner and are working towards something such as classical Zen enlightenment then 10-20 minutes is probably not enough, he admits. But thats not where most of us are. Most of us are just interested in reducing our stress, managing our difficult emotions and being a bit more calm. And if thats the case then 10-20 minutes a day can be really effective. So you need to find ways to make meditation work within your own environment. In Gunatillakes recent book, This is Happening (Macmillan, 12.99), he makes a case for mobile mindfulness. Instead of guilt-tripping you about how long you spend online, he argues that technology can assist your path to inner calm by responding to your environment. The best apps for Londoners 1 /16 The best apps for Londoners Zip car Join, reserve, unlock and drive it really is that simple. The capitals preferred car clubs app gives 24/7 access to cars and vans in your neighbourhood and lets you extend or cancel reservations on the go. Free Uncover Sick of being stuck on waiting lists? You need Uncover, which redistributes cancelled reservations at some of the capitals top restaurants, including The River Cafe and Nobu. Not for planning freaks, though tables typically become free at 40 minutes notice. Free Uber So popular its become a verb, this private driver service has revolutionised travel in the capital. Its speedy and affordable, making it a welcome alternative to the night bus. Free Santander Cycles Launched this summer, the official app for Boris fifth child can be used to search for nearby docking stations and check bike availability. Theres also a journey planner featuring easy, moderate and fast routes to satisfy all cycling tribes. Free Plume Air Report This new app has been downloaded by 3,000 Londoners. Sensors gathering air pollution data submit updates every hour, resulting in a scale that ranges from fresh to extremely polluted. Free Nightcapp Heres an app that will have booze hounds raising their glasses. NightCapp is a map that pinpoints more than 1,500 London watering holes that stay open past 11.30pm. It also shows users when a bar is about to close by highlighting it in orange. Better get moving. Free Money Dashboard An award-winning budget planner, this helps you keep track of personal spending across multiple accounts, pay off credit cards and even makes suggestions on how to manage your finances better. Free Her Promising to introduce women to a lesbian that hasnt slept with any of your friends, this revamped dating app includes queer-themed news and blogs, upcoming event notices and an improved algorithm-matching system. Free FoodMood This new startup, which reckons its Tinder for food, pledges to narrow down your choice of lunchbreak destinations. Hit yum or yuk on photos of dishes in your area. Juvenile, but strangely addictive. Free Daily Yoga This offers more than 50 yoga sessions, as well as a database of 500 yoga poses. Suitable for all levels, programmes include yoga aimed at specific areas of the body and weight loss. Namaste to that. Free Coffee Meets Bagel Billed as the anti-Tinder, this new kid on the block delivers just a single match to users once a day. Coffee Meets Bagel uses Facebook profile information to recommend suitors based on friends of friends. Neither coffee nor bagels are included. Free. Bristlr Do you have a beard? Perhaps youd like to stroke one on a regular basis? This can be arranged. Unlike other dating apps, Bristlr is unashamedly all about hooking up the hairy with the hairless. Theres even a beard-rating option for aficionados. Free Buddhifys interface asks What are you doing? to which you can respond with a whole range of options, from being with your family to just waiting for a friend. Other products tend to put you on a linear route through their meditation whereas we prefer to be more personalised, Gunatillake says. But can we really find serenity in these scraps of time? In those weird minutes between putting the kids to bed and teeing up a half-decent film on Netflix? Well, Lynne Goldberg, the creator of the app OMG I Can Meditate (free to download but a monthly membership of 9.99), reckons you can. Studies have shown that the benefits of meditation can be experienced by simply practising regularly for about 10 minutes a day, she says. Regular frequency is more important than duration. So 10 minutes a day is better than sitting for an hour once a week. In one study conducted at Harvard, meditators actually changed their brains physically by practising for just 20 minutes for eight weeks. Goldberg was a high-flying, type-A stresshead who took up meditation after struggling to deal with infertility, adoption, a miscarriage, divorce and the loss of her career. Her experience inspired her to develop an app with hundreds of meditations and visualisations all voiced by her to help break destructive thinking or cycles of behaviour. She likens her approach to exercise. It helps us to first train our attention muscle and then progressively guide us to notice what repetitive dramas we torture ourselves with. Within just a week or two, the difference can be felt. Many of the sessions are related to specific situations: My family drives me mad or My boss is a jerk. Here, Goldbergs soothing Canadian voice advises you to step back from the conflict and feel the powerful flow of breath working its magic through both your mind and your body, easing away all tension. Best books on mindfulness 1 /14 Best books on mindfulness Find your inner peace with our pick of the best mindfulness and meditation books... Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world This bestseller will get you in the right frame of mind for 2016. Based on Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) a successful form of brief meditation this book's success relies on the way in which authors Mark Williams and Danny Penman optimistically focus on adding joy to your life as opposed to ridding it of unhappiness. 10.50, Amazon, Buy it now Anti-Stress Dot-to-Dot Always thought that dot-to-dots were an activity for children? Apprently you're wrong be wrong the pictures in this book, featuring elegant buildings and nature scenes, will relax and focus your mind in a way you never thought a dot-to-dot book could. 5, Amazon, Buy it now I Am Here Now This will help enhance both your observation and creativity; with an audio track (featuring musings from mindfulness teacher Tara Brach) and a field notes page for recording purposes, I Am Here Now will enable your thoughts and emotions to take on a new lease of life. 7, Amazon, Buy it now The Mindful Workplace What better time to deploy the theories of mindfulness than at work? This book, filled with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques, provides an eight-week training course to keep your workplace attitude at its peak. 30.50, Amazon, Buy it now Get some headspace This book from Andy Puddicombe, founder of popular digital health platform Headspace, attempts to get people to take ten minutes out of their day for meditation purposes. Once the technique's been learned, these skills will stay with you for the rest of your life. 10, Amazon, Buy it now The Mindfulness Colouring Book Much like the dot-to-dot book above, this pocket-sized adult colouring book is the perfect activity for a 10-minute breather. Consider your stress and anxiety soothed. 4, Amazon, Buy it now The Little Book of Mindfulness In this day and age, it's more important to be in the moment than ever this book will help you with that. From Dr Patrizia Collard, these brief practices will rid your day of stress and have you feeling more optimistic. 4, Amazon, Buy it now Body Calm The saying mind over matter derives from the idea that our minds have the power to control our bodies if we really want them to. Equally, mental stress can have a damaging effect on our bodies. Newbigging teaches us a new self-healing meditation technique to help keep our bodies healthy and to understand the source of common stress and anxiety triggers. 11, Amazon, Buy it now The Power of Now The Power of Now has become one of the most famous mindfulness books out there. Helping us to tap into our innermost Being, Tolle guides us through various techniques to help us understand that the present moment is all that really matters. 8, Amazon, Buy it now A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled An ambassador for mental health awareness, Ruby Wax OBE has helped to make mindfulness accessible to all. Having suffered from depression herself, in this book she explores how modern living is causing us more stress and anxiety than ever as we know and see too much. Included are mindfulness exercises and tips for everyone from babies to adults; all with sound underlying scientific reasoning. 4, Amazon, Buy it now If it saves us from boring our friends with these dramas over seven glasses of chardonnay, it seems worth a try. Another favourite of the harassed professional is American psychologist and meditation teacher Tara Brach, who has a huge global following and offers sessions in downloadable podcasts (tarabrach.com) that last anything from one minute to half an hour. She also offers thoughtful lectures through her YouTube channel on everything from Living with Uncertainty to How Rain Can Enable Intimacy. Though with all of these apps and podcasts, be careful not to oversubscribe or youll receive a panic-attack inducing level of emails and phone alerts. Which is just sooo un-zen. Follow Johanna Thomas-Corr on Twitter: @JohannaTC B ack in school, lunch was always a pretty great time. The canteen might have only served cardboard-flavored pizza, but at least you got a break from classes and the chance to talk to your friends. In the working world, however, this midday meal often takes a backseat. In fact, lunch breaks are becoming increasingly endangered. One study discovered that 42% of respondents either rarely or only occasionally take a lunch break, while 39% of participants eat at their desks, according to U.S. News & World Report. That's not good. In fact, successful people tend to use their lunch breaks to boost their productivity. Unsuccessful folks sabotage themselves by misusing their allotted midday breaks. Here are nine things successful people rarely do during lunch: 1. Eat at their desks I'm a total hypocrite. I'm writing this article as I'm eating a falafel bowl at my desk. Still, it's probably a good idea to break out of your "desk lunch" routine. The reality is, eating at your desk deprives you of the benefits of a midday break. You might feel more productive, but taking a break is actually a good thing for your creativity and efficiency. 2. Work right through lunch The most successful people take a break. Working straight through lunch may provide you with more time, but it does nothing for the quality of your work. "We know that creativity and innovation happen when people change their environment, and especially when they expose themselves to a nature-like environment, to a natural environment," workplace psychology expert and University of California professor Kimberly Elsbach told NPR. And when you do go to lunch, don't check email the whole time. 3. Forget about lunch altogether Successful people don't forget about lunch. They schedule it into their day and actually take the break. 4. Make unhealthy choices Fast food is tempting for a whole number of reasons. It's delicious. It's cheap. Perhaps most importantly, it's fast. When you're trying to rush through your lunch break, it sounds like the perfect option, right? Successful people don't wreck their health for the sake of convenience. 5. Spend lots of money eating out Eating out constantly isn't cheap, especially if you live in a city. Start packing your own lunches. 6. Eat alone every day Humans are social beings we're not meant to sit around for hours without interacting with others. You don't even have to hang out with anyone from your office. Make lunch plans with a friend. 7. Take a break, but don't eat anything If you starve yourself throughout the day, you risk binging later in the afternoon or evening. If you're not super hungry around lunchtime, consider a small, healthy snack to tide you over. 8. Stay inside (when the weather is nice) Successful people know how important it is to get some fresh air. Lunchtime is most likely your one major opportunity to spend some time in the sun during the week. Don't let it go to waste. Even if you're not looking to have a huge meal, try taking a walk around the block. Just get outside. 9. Take a two-hour lunch Taking a break in the middle of the day is a great way to get yourself on track. It'll allow you to tackle the afternoon with gusto. That being said, you shouldn't leave the office for an extended period of time, unless you talk to your boss and they approve it. W oman X says she can pinpoint the exact moment fight mode kicks in. Monday comes with fresh resolve and a new calm; she has been in me mode all weekend, recovering from the previous weeks onslaught of mammoth meetings and truculent colleagues with opposing agendas. Then, four hours into the working week, an impossibly irrational obstacle emerges and her mood switches. All the positivity of the weekend dissipates and is replaced by hot anger that she cant shake off. Look at any London office and there will be at least one person fuelled by fight mode, cortisol coursing through their system. Its a mind and body takeover, and it happens when youre faced with a situation that appears unfair, or perhaps a series of injustices that might seem innocuous in isolation but create a potent cocktail of rage when they accumulate. Dr Michael Sinclair, author of The Little ACT Workbook, says he comes across a lot of high-achievers in fight mode through his work as a psychologist in the City: London workplaces have a competitive culture. The stakes are high, which means people can feel vulnerable about performance. As we enter a potential battlefield where we feel exposed we can put our defences up and get into fight mode. If you are stopped in pursuing a project you get a rush of testosterone and adrenaline, wondering how you can solve the problem and that is fight mode. Woman X, who works in television, says this weeks fight mode was triggered by a senior producer losing some footage she had spent weeks on. All she could do was suck up her frustration and start again. This came after she had been refused a pay rise the month before. Her family and friends are also following the saga, because people in fight mode take their battles home and rant on well into the evening until everyone they know hates their colleagues too. But is there a way to win the fight? Sinclair warns that fight mode can lead to a spiral of distracting negative thoughts. You have to channel it carefully. Resist the urge to hold forth about your enemies and instead target your feelings constructively. He explains: Fight mode can be a manifestation of passion so uncover what is behind it and work at it, rather than going off on autopilot. You want to be more cool Gillian Anderson in The Fall, which starts again on September 29, cutting yourself off from superiors who will stamp out your creative streak, than Jo Brand in her new social worker comedy Damned, where we find her in full fight, as she puts it, swimming against a tide of bureaucracy and pedantry, and contending with the absurdities and irrationalities of life in a county council office. Steely: channel your fight mode like Gillian Anderson's Stella Gibson in The Fall / BBC/The Fall S2/Helen Sloan Are women particularly vulnerable to fight mode? Sinclair says: There is something in the historic treatment of women. If there is a prevailing culture of them not being listened to or demeaned at work then they can be in fight mode automatically because they want to change that culture. Journalist Jessica Bennett, who is a contributing editor for Sheryl Sandbergs womens non-profit LeanIn.org, has founded a Fight Club. In her new book, Feminist Fight Club, she writes about a group of her female friends in their twenties and thirties who gather over wine and pasta to talk, or rather bitch about their jobs. A recurring theme is men repeating your ideas with the vocal authority of a 6ft 2in 42-year-old white man. She is positive about gender equality and says that by 2018 wives will outearn husbands but says we need weapons for the mundane subtle bullshit that confronts us on a daily basis. Bennett says that taken individually, the affronts dont seem like a big deal. But over time, and collectively, they are fatal. Theres the brilliantly funny writer passed over for promotion and the ad agency project manager who is always asked by male colleagues to grab coffee for the group. Bennett writes: She does it but returns with a coffee stain down her blouse and daggers shooting from her eyes. Or the documentary film maker whose idea was handed to a man to produce and she didnt say anything because she didnt want to be viewed as emotional or a poor team player. She also mentions a collective called VAGINA (Very Angry Girls in New York Media Associations). Bolster your fight by taking the White House as your lead. Yes, fight mode is even necessary when you are working with Barack Obama. This month a former aide to the US President said her female colleagues had to adopt a process called amplification, whereby if one woman spoke, another would repeat it, crediting its author. It worked. Now women feel they are called on more in meetings and treated more equally. Sometimes getting angry is the right course of action. In Hell Week, by former paratrooper Erik Bertrand Larssen, he identifies modes that work for certain types of people. Larssen thrives when in a rage: I like to get primal, thumping my chest with my fist and screaming come on! Ill even assume the battle position and imagine the scene thats about to play out. But if thats not your optimal performance mode you can learn how to survive the fight. Sinclair says its important to recognise worry or rumination. Whether its a sense of rejection, being held back, or failure, your mind gets to work on resolving injustice. Instead notice those thoughts and stand back from them. If youre thinking that nothing goes your way, repeat it with a prefix Im having a thought that to create space and distance between that impulse and work. Inspiring British women on Instagram 1 /28 Inspiring British women on Instagram 1. Adwoa Aboah Model and founder of GURLS TALK @adwoaaboah "My story starts in London. I was born there. Ive spent most of my life there. It is my home. Instagram has helped me connect to girls all over the world, it has given me a platform to share my story, speak my truths and give other girls the opportunity to do the same." @adwoaaboah 2. Lucille Clerc Illustrator @lucille_clerc "My story reflects my experience as an illustrator between two cultures, being French and living in London. Its a door to my sketchbook, my personal research and techniques, and a way to raise attention on topics that matter to me." @lucille_clerc 3. Mabel McVey Musician @mabelmcvey "Strong female role models have always been very important to me and my story. When looking at a camera, it isnt about a man being on the other end, its about me. Its about feeling positive about myself and I want other young women to feel confident about themselves too." @mabelmcvey 4. Glacier Girl Activist @glacier996girl "My story is about raising awareness for climate change and adapting the aesthetic of eco-friendly to appeal to the iGeneration." @glacier996girl 5. Gill Button Artist @buttonfruit "Im a compulsive painter of faces. I seek to portray the confidence and power that people gain through self-adornment, but I always aim to show a hint of inner vulnerability. Instagram is the perfect environment to post my paintings and drawings. Its fantastic to get an instant reaction to new paintings Ive been working on, and it spurs me on to keep creating. The community of artists Im lucky enough to be part of is the most inspirational and supportive Ive known since leaving art college. It is also amazing that so many international clients find me on Instagram which has given my career a brand new lease of life." @buttonfruit 6. Iska Lawrence Model @iamiskra "My story is about showing the world that you can stand up for yourself when trolls or online bullies try and attack you and bring you down. Instagram has completely changed my life, opening up opportunities in my career and allowing me to find my voice. When I began posting honest and un-retouched photos on Instagram, I received hundreds and eventually thousands of supportive messages and comments. I felt more confident about my body and most importantly found a platform I could use to help others who struggle with body image and self-esteem." @iamiskra 7. Becky Jane Brown Vlogger and artist @BeckieJBrown "My story is that I battle depression and trichotillomania, where Im compelled to tear out all my hair. I strive to create more awareness for my disorder, whilst trying to bring hope to other sufferers around the world. I mainly use Instagram to document small but important moments from each day of my life, a combination of sad and uplifting experiences but all important regardless. My main focus is to show others that no matter what conditions or disorders we have, we can have normal lives and be happy." @BeckieJBrown 8. Nicky Baker Shepherdess @therunningshepherdess "My story is about a woman working in a predominantly male environment. I hope that it shows that although I may not be as physically strong as the men working on the farm, I am just as capable." @therunningshepherdess 9. Rachel Siegfried Flower farmer @gandgorgeousflowers "My story captures a life in flowers on our flower farm in Oxfordshire. I strive to show the changing seasons through palette of flowers and foliage that I grow which I use to inspire and create my floral designs. Instagram has helped me to champion British cut flowers and share how we sustainable grow them to produce naturally beautiful and stylish designs which reflect our gardens and landscape." @gandgorgeousflowers 10. Jools Walker Cyclist @ladyvelo "My stories is a narrative of my life on two wheels. Through my combination of positive images and words, I aim to redefine what the stereotype of cycling is and use my voice to encourage other women to do the same. Instagram has given me a platform to show diversity in cycling does exist. It allows me to reach other to other everyday women and inspire them to get out there and ride, smash stereotypes along the way and encourage them to share their stories." @ladyvelo 11. Carrie Anne Roberts Entrepreneur @mre.soeur "My story is about life as a single mother and small business owner. I believe in the power of sisterhood and the importance of sharing stories so I try to stay extremely candid with my posts, exposing the struggles and triumphs of motherhood and the early stages of a creative brand. Im passionate about forming real connections, celebrating women and throwing out waves of positivity and self-acceptance in order to build a sense of community." @mre.soeur 12. Olivia Bradbury Student @mathsbiochem "My story captures the changing attitudes towards teenage girls taking traditionally male-dominated subjects in school; showing them that subjects dont come with a gender." @mathsbiochem 13. Viviana Gomez Morales Skateboarder @ViviGomez12 "My story captures the strength and versatility of female skaters. In the world of skateboarding its common for a guy to say hes never seen a girl skateboarder. I hope that my photographs shine a light on the amazing ladies who are out there ripping the streets and encourage other women to get involved." @ViviGomez12 14. Sisters Uncut Activists @sistersuncut "Sisters Uncut is an intersectional feminist direct-action group that campaigns against cuts to domestic violence services in the UK. We often post photos of our actions on Instagram because its a way for us to share our demands amongst a wide audience. The further we can spread our message the more we can build a movement and reach people who might not have heard about us otherwise. Its important that we show our Sisters that we are fighting for and alongside them, and by capturing our actions and sharing them on Instagram people can connect with what we are doing online. There are many women and non-binary people on Instagram who inspire and encourage us." @sistersuncut 15. Munroe Bergdorf Activist and DJ @munroebergdorf "My story is one of self-empowerment and self-belief. Growing up, there werent any aspirational trans women of colour in the media I could relate to, so hopefully through documenting my achievements and experiences I can show younger trans girls and boys that their gender isnt something that should stand in the way of what they want to accomplish in life." @munroebergdorf 16. Helen Downie Artist @Unskilledworker "My story is about me waking up to painting at the age of 48 and committing and being disciplined to the action. I have learned more about myself through this process than in any other experience in my life. I post my work to Instagram and I consider it finished. At this point I am able to see the work outside of the environment it was created and in doing so, I gain a new perspective. Instagram has cut out the traditional gatekeepers which allows for my work to be seen by a wider audience." @Unskilledworker 17. Molly Gunn Entrepreneur @SelfishMother "My story is since 2011. The year I had my firstborn, Rafferty. The year I was a mixed-up new mum. The year I discovered sanity lay in my sense of self. The year my blogzine and brand Selfish Mother was born. Instagram is a window to Selfish Mother. A way to connect with our likeminded tribe." @SelfishMother 18. Dina Torika Designer and Vlogger @dinatokio "My story is all about inspiring women through style, in particular the Muslim modest dresser that loves expressing her individuality. Deconstructing the stereotype that the woman in a hijab is oppressed and reinventing what it means to be a British Muslim woman in todays society." @dinatokio 19. Davorka Andjelic Artist @tilly2milly "I use Instagram as a platform to connect with inspiring and creative people around the world. My main theme is paper dolls, which I make using magazines and newspapers. For me they represent a connection with raw emotion to which only children are privileged. They express my emotions of joy, sadness, hope and fear. Because of Instagram I started taking them on my travels and it is truly wonderful to find little corners of the world where they look at home." @tilly2milly 20. Jaz OHara Activist @theworldwidetribe "My story demonstrates how love and compassion come out on top. Despite the most difficult circumstances, humanity will prevail. My story took me on a journey from working in fashion in London, to living in a refugee camp in Calais, France after a post I wrote about my first visit there went viral. My story is about encouraging and inspiring responsibility and power within each of us to stand up for what we believe and create positive change." @theworldwidetribe 22. Amber Kirk-Ford Blogger @themilelongbookshelf "My story is about the importance of literature and how reading the right book can change your life. My aim is to show how fun and brilliant books can be and that theyre not boring, dusty tomes you might remember with dread from school." @themilelongbookshelf Fight mode can put you in a pattern where you are primed to see the negative in others, continues Sinclair. The more you engage in those thoughts that come home with you, you talk about them there and exacerbate feelings of stress, frustration and being trapped. He recommends writing them down instead. Notice them as something separate to you, make room for that pain. Its a strong word, but feelings of being stuck, rejection and failure its part of the deal at work. If you want to go to work and collaborate with people you will have feelings of basic needs not being met. You need to be willing to have discomfort because you cant have satisfaction without it. The urge to moan at home is powerful. But recognise its just another way of trying to fix a pain which you cant fix. Doing an activity or exercising can be a good distraction but wont get rid of the underlying problems. You must carry on doing what matters, working conscientiously. If your struggle is focused on a particular person, be careful. However tempting it is to hold forth and tell anecdotes about the living Beelzebub in your office, Sinclair warns: We become caught up in singling out enemies and painting a caricature of them in our minds as ogres but it doesnt help. Its important to bring a sense of compassion to others, and notice how they are struggling too. This isnt for them but for our benefit. If we remember emotions even with people who are difficult it helps moderate our stress response. Woman X grudgingly admits that she likes her job despite the constant low-level anger. Her fight mode is a way of making a change in the organisation. Its time to fight the power. Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter T here was something peculiarly appealing about Sudan. Big and burly, with craggy features and strangely hairy ears, he barely acknowledged me when I first met him but within 10 minutes I found myself stroking his face, his skin all dusty and as tough as a tyre. Closing his eyes contentedly, he slowly rolled over. He wants you to stroke his other side now, Jacob whispered. Stunned by Sudans responsiveness, I felt shivers down my spine its not every day you get to touch a rhino, and certainly not one as special as this. Sudan is the last male northern white rhino in the world, being cared for by Jacob and a team of rangers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenyas Laikipia County. Aged 42, hes approaching the end of his days and the reality that we might never see his like again is incredibly sad. Northern whites have been decimated not by natural evolutionary causes but by human greed, through poaching and conflicts in their war-torn homelands including Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Thursday, World Rhino Day will raise awareness about the plight of all species of rhino. The only two remaining northern white females, Sudans daughter Najin and grand-daughter Fatu, also live in Ol Pejeta along with 29 southern white rhinos and 107 black rhinos. A winner of awards for its conservation work, the 400sq km conservancy is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa. Campfire at Ol Pejeta But Ol Pejeta is more than that. In a region fast rivalling Maasai Mara as a wildlife destination, the conservancys rolling plains and acacia forests in the shadows of Mount Kenya are home to the other members of the Big Five too elephant, leopard, lion and buffalo. Around 200 species of birds, myriad antelopes, rare Grevys zebras and Jacksons hartebeest also live here, along with 37 rescued chimps in the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. On game drives we saw elephants frolicking in marshy green waters and elegant elands relaxing on the plains. We were mesmerised by more than 20 giraffes looking like giants as they dwarfed the acacias at sunset. And we watched lions dozing in the shade, tracking them with researchers using telemetry devices. Unsurprisingly, though, Ol Pejetas flagship species is the rhino. In 16 years of travelling in Africa, Id never seen so many as I did on my first day here. Black and white, mums and babies, lone bulls, all grazing on the plains, browsing in thickets or wallowing in mud. Grevys zebras But OPCs rhino cemetery was a poignant reminder of their plight. Fourteen black tombstones stand on the golden plain, their epitaphs describing painful deaths from poaching. Sudan, Najin and Fatu live within the Endangered Species Enclosure, where I also met a blind black rhino called Baraka. All rhinos are in fact grey: the moniker white derives from the Afrikaans word weit, meaning wide, distinguishing their broad square mouths needed for grazing. Black rhinos, labelled hot-tempered and grumpy by Jacob, are smaller, with hooked lips for nibbling shrubs and thickets. Even the northern and southern whites are different, the former being smaller with shorter legs and those weird hairy ears. A cattle ranch dating back to the 1930s, Ol Pejeta became a rhino sanctuary in the mid-Nineties, pioneering an integrated conservation system that embraces wildlife and tourism alongside its cattle. At that time there were just 250 black rhinos in Kenya but after the Kenya Wildlife Service decided to protect them in secure areas such as this the country is home to 680 of them. OPC ploughs its profits into conservation and community development benefiting the 55,000 people living around the conservancy. Those profits, however, are being swallowed by the costs of protecting the rhinos, amounting to US$1.5 million last year. More valuable than gold, rhino horn sells for up to US$90,000 per kilo in Asia for use in ornamental carvings and traditional medicine. Accomodation at the camp Rhinos can be bloody anti-social animals, Alex Hunter, owner of Ol Pejeta Bush Camp, told me. But they need our help. Alex has been running safaris for more than 30 years and 10 years ago opened Ol Pejeta Bush Camp, a recent addition to safari operator Asilia Africas portfolio. A warm and humorous host, Alex has made this camp his home. It feels welcoming, with easy chatter around the campfire or the huge dining table in the mess tent overlooking the Ewaso Nyiro River. Although the camp is discreetly fenced (a reluctant consequence of Alex having been speared twice by buffaloes), youre still immersed in nature: I heard a lion roaring deep in the night and hippos chomping grass nearby. Seeing Sudan is like seeing a dodo, Alex said, speaking of the northern whites imminent extinction. But a project led by OPC and Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, Sudans former home, is providing a glimmer of hope. It involves IVF and stem cell technology, using deceased rhinos frozen sperm and eggs from Najin and Fatu. Because they are both incapable of carrying a baby, a southern white would act as surrogate mother. Critics have slated the project as a waste of money on a near-impossible attempt at saving a subspecies but Richard Vigne, CEO of OPC, disagrees: Forget whether theyre species or sub-species, were protecting their genetic traits. Whats happening to northern whites is happening to thousands of species across the world because of human exploitation. They can be ambassadors for others. And Sudan is a superb ambassador. Id been cynical about the project too but meeting him made me think twice. Seeing his calm dignity and peculiar beauty, it seemed unconscionable that we should let his kind simply die out. Details: Kenya Sue Watt travelled with Yellow Zebra Safaris (020 3199 8111; yellowzebrasafaris.com), which offers a five-night trip to Ol Pejeta Conservancy (olpejetaconservancy.org) from 2,453 per person. This includes four nights at Ol Pejeta Bush Camp (asiliaafrica.com), one nights B&B at House of Waine Boutique Hotel in Nairobi (houseofwaine.com), and transfers. Flights extra, Heathrow to Nairobi with Kenya Airways (kenya-airways.com), around 600 return. magicalkenya.com A 7/7 police officer and former soldier who crashed his car into a telegraph pole whilst drunk has been dismissed. PC Spencer Garland was more than double the drink-drive limit when he crashed his car in Kent in February. He was convicted of drink driving, fined and handed an 18-month ban and has now been dismissed from the Metropolitan Police force for discreditable conduct. PC Garland, who worked in Redbridge, was reportedly first on the scene of one of the 7/7 bombings in London. He also served in Bosnia, Kosova and Northern Ireland and, according to the Police Oracle, had recently been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression. Police Oracle reported that, during the hearing, he apologised for the embarrassment caused to my family, the Metropolitan Police Service and myself. He added: "I was very unwell at the time I have since sought treatment and I am recovering well." PC Garland was represented by fellow Redbridge officer PC Michael Neill, who said he had been traumatised by the things he witness during his time in the army and as a police officer. PC Neill said: "PC Garland self-declared his problem with alcohol in December 2015 and it is believed to be linked to his PTSD and depression. "The PTSD is thought to have been caused by the horrific sights he was exposed during his time in the armed forces having witnessed various genocides. "He was also one of the first on the scene of the Tavistock Square bombing during the 7/7 attacks and attended to the dead and dying. "In the run up to the offence his wife was diagnosed with cancer for the second time and his six-year-old son was also very unwell and needed surgery. "These factors combined caused him to start drinking, he was in a very bad place mentally." Assistant Commissioner Helen King, who chaired the hearing, said: "I have huge personal sympathy for PC Garland's medical and personal circumstances but my conclusion is that he is to be dismissed immediately without notice. "Drink driving brings discredit on the police service as a whole because public confidence depends on police officers demonstrating the highest standards of personal and professional behaviour." F irearms officers swooped in on a car containing two armed men in front of shocked rush-hour drivers in east London. The roads were blocked off as police stopped traffic and searched the car in Hackney, retrieving two handguns. Two men, aged 21 and 26, were arrested arrested on suspicion of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life. The car was stopped at around 6pm on the A12 in after an "intelligence led" police operation. Two lanes were blocked as specialist officers searched the vehicle and took the men into custody, causing traffic to build up around the Eastway Tunnel. The lanes reopened a couple of hours later. A police spokesman said: "Two suspected firearms have been recovered and two men arrested following a proactive operation this evening, Monday 19 September. "Officers from the Specialist Firearms Command, working with detectives from the Trident and Area Crime Command carried out an intelligence led stop on a car on A12, near the junction with Trego Road, E9. "Two suspected firearms - both handguns - were recovered and two men in the car were arrested on suspicion of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life. Both have been taken into custody. "Enquiries by Trident detectives continue." C entral Brixton was cordoned off last night after a man in his 20s was stabbed in front of horrified onlookers. Emergency services were called to Brixton Road shortly before midnight last night to reports of a man suffering from stab injuries. The victim, a 25 year-old man, is believed to have been attacked near Windrush Square before collapsing at a bus stop near KFC. The man was taken to a south London hospital where he remains in a stable condition. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Leading the investigation, detective constable Nick Perry said: "A large number of people gathered around the victim following this attack which occurred next to a busy KFC restaurant. "My team are keen to hear from anyone who was there or has information about what took place." A suspect, a young male wearing dark clothing, is beliebed to have run off towards Rushcroft Road following the incident. Police are studying CCTV footage of the incident and a number of enquiries are being made. No arrests have currently been made. There were also reports of two other stabbings in Lambeth last night, but these have not been confirmed by police. Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A mother of two today appeared in court charged with the murder of her partner at their west London home. Elizabeth Hart-Browne, 27, is accused of killing Stephen Rayner at their flat in Hanwell. He suffered a fatal wound at Baker House, Nightingale Road, at 11pm on Saturday. The jewellery designers children, a two-year-old who is Mr Rayners son and a seven-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, were asleep in their bedrooms at the ground-floor flat. Mr Rayner, 25, who worked in a call centre for a telesales firm, was taken to a north London hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11.54pm. Friends and relatives of Mr Rayner today told of their devastation. His cousin Shanna Mallett wrote on Facebook: Heaven has stolen a beautiful person from my family. My heart goes out to his beautiful little boy. "Im in such shock. I cant believe it, such a cruel world, rest in peace our angel, love you and remember you always. A card left near the couples flat said: Im so sorry your life had to end this way. You were a good person and we will remember you with a smile. Youll live on through your son and he will know what a doting dad you were. Another from a close friend said: I cant believe youre gone. Im absolutely devastated. Friends like you are one in a million. Love you mate. The two children are believed to be being cared for by Hart-Brownes mother, who lives in Chiswick. A relative at the house today told the Standard: We dont want to talk about it. Weve nothing to say. A neighbour said: The children in the flat were asleep the whole time. They were only woken when the police went inside later. The little girl was calm but the boy was screaming. Its so tragic. They went away with their grandmother. Hart-Browne, wearing a beige jacket and blue top, spoke only to confirm her name, age and address during the five-minute hearing at Ealing magistrates court. She was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. T he New York and New Jersey bombings suspect will be charged with five counts of attempted murder, a law official has said. Afghan-born American, Ahmed Khan Rahami, was arrested earlier today in connection with a bomb attack in Manhattan that injured 29 people. The official also said Rahami, 28, faces two gun charges after firing at police officers in New Jersey. He was injured in the police shootout prior to his arrest and is being treated for gunshot wounds in hospital. Police shootout: A man believed to be the suspect was injured after shooting at police / @BuffingActions The FBI released images of his face earlier today, saying they wanted to speak with him in connection with the bombings and warning he could be armed and dangerous. Hours later, he was spotted by the owner of a bar in Lindon, New Jersey, who saw him sleeping in the doorway of his premises. Attempted murder: Rahami is facing five counts of attempted murder and two gun charges / NYPD When police officers arrived Rahami pulled out a gun and shot two officers in the torso who were wearing bullet proof jackets. The two officers were injured during the shootout but are okay and safe. One person was seriously hurt when a homemade bomb exploded in a rubbish bin outside a home for the blind in New York on Saturday night, while around 28 others are believed to have suffered minor injuries. An unexploded pressure cooker bomb was also found blocks away, and a pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town before a charity race. No one was injured there. Home-made bomb: The explosion went off in the Chelsea district / Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images On Sunday, five more explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. The New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the officials have every reason to suspect the explosion were an act of terror. Loading.... FBI officials said in a press conference that detectives had found evidence linking Mr Rahami to the devices discovered in both New Jersey and New York. Local residents in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Mr Rahami worked at the family's fried chicken restaurant, said the family were ordinary and "Americanised". "He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary," said Ryan McCann. A man and a woman were violently attacked by thugs on a DLR train when they asked a woman to stop smoking on board the carriage. The pair were returning from a night out as they travelled on a train towards All Saints station, near Poplar, when the assault took place. A group of people also on board the train launched a violent attack when one woman was asked to put out her cigarette. British Transport Police (BTP) said neither of the pair suffered serious injuries. The assault took place just after midnight. The BTP said they believe the group boarded the DLR at Devons Road and left at All Saints station. A CCTV still has now been released of people police want to trace over the August 27 incident. Detective Sergeant Fin Egan said: Both victims were innocently returning from a night out. They simply requested the woman put out her cigarette, no one could imagine they would suddenly become violent. "Thankfully, their injuries were not serious, however I am determined to trace this group and make sure they are brought to justice." I am very keen to hear from anyone who might information that will assist my enquiries, please get in touch. Anyone with any information is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 310 of 05/09/2016. Alternatively, information can be passed anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers A Polish Brexit supporter has admitted stealing Eddie Izzard's pink beret during a pro-EU rally - but claimed he did not recognise the comedian. David Czerwonko, 26, admitted snatching the pink hat off the comedian's head during the march down Whitehall on September 3. Izzard was caught on camera giving chase in high heels after Czerwonko, a chef who has lived in the UK for two and a half years, seized the beret. As officers pinned the man to the floor, Izzard retrieved the colourful headwear and replaced it on his head. It was later taken away by police as evidence. Recovered: Izzard managed to retrieve his beret / PA Prosecutor Amanda McCabe said the pink beret, which had UK and EU badges pinned to it, was of unknown but personal value to Izzard. She said: "The march was well-attended, there were thousands of other people taking part. Voting in: Eddie Izzard / Nigel Howard "Mr Izzard was at the head of the march. A group of four masked men stood in front of the march with a large banner supporting the Brexit campaign." The banner halted the march, blocking their path as they approached the cenotaph in Whitehall, she added. Priceless: Izzard's lawyer could not put a value on his beret / PA Referring to the four men, the prosecutor said Mr Izzard said: "This is the face of Brexit: masked and dangerous." Speaking of Czerwonko, whose face was half-concealed by a bandanna, she continued. "He approached Mr Izzard, reached out to him and grabbed at the pink beret he was wearing at the time." Masked and dangerous: Izzard hit out at protesters / Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Wearing faded denim jeans, a black Puma T-shirt and a full beard, Czerwonko pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday. Tobi Olu-Iyiola, defending, said the 26-year-old did not know that the man with the pink beret was Izzard, and did not attend the march with the intention of causing trouble. She said: "He saw a gentlemen who he did not know, he did not know who Eddie Izzard was, he just noticed a pink beret and grabbed it and ran off with it. "He said it was an instinctive and silly reaction ... something he won't be repeating again." The event was one of a series of 'March for Europe' rallies across the country on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, demanding a pause in the Brexit process. Chair of the bench Robin Westlake acknowledged that "there was not a great deal of planning, it was a fairly spontaneous reaction and the beret was recovered". Czerwonko, of Clitheroe Road, Brentford, was fined 185, and ordered to pay a 30 victim surcharge and 85 court costs. B elow is the first-ever league table ranking the top 10 supermarkets according to the proportion of surplus food they donate to charity for human consumption. It has taken months of probing and clarifying to get the raw data from the supermarkets and is the most forensic picture of retail food waste ever published in the UK. Not only has Sainsburys released its UK-wide food waste data for the first time, three years after Tesco, but eight of the top 10 supermarkets responded to our survey by disclosing UK-wide food donation data that most have never put into the public domain. For the first time we can reveal and compare the tonnage of surplus food they have donated to charities as well as how many or rather how few of their London stores have set up food donation partnerships with charities. The results make fascinating reading. They show Sainsburys leading the way, with 7.6 per cent of its surplus food donated to charities, followed by Tesco on 4.5 per cent and Waitrose and Asda on 3.3 per cent. Viewed through a different lens the number of London stores that have forged food donation partnerships with charities Sainsburys again sets the pace with a 57 per cent success rate, followed by Marks & Spencer on 50 per cent. Tescos ambitious roll-out plans will see sharp increases from its current base of 11 per cent. The question arises: what is a reasonable food donation target? Wrap says that taking into account spoilage, 55 per cent of surplus food is practically avoidable and could be donated to charities for human consumption. Our grading system has ranked the supermarkets based on tonnes of food they donate to charity as a proportion of their total surplus. Only Sainsburys and Tesco have supplied their actual surplus, so we have had to estimate the figure for others. We have done this by applying their market share to the 240,000-tonne surplus reported by Wrap for the retail sector as a whole. Some supermarkets may quibble at this method, insisting they are less wasteful than their competitors, but unless they agree to reveal their actual surplus, estimates will have to suffice. Using Tesco as a control, our method stands up well its 25.1 per cent food and drink market share yields an estimated food surplus of 60,240 tonnes, which turns out to be within 97 per cent accuracy of its actual food surplus. We are indebted to the supermarkets on whose honesty this table relies. Their donation figures are self-reported and have not been independently verified. We hope that, like Tesco and Sainsburys, they will go further and respond to our call for full transparency. Yet this is a valuable start. It reveals the state of play beyond the hype, in which even our top-ranked retailer, Sainsburys, wastes more than 90 per cent of its fresh surplus food by sending it to anaerobic digestion (to make methane gas and fertiliser) or to become animal feed. It also shows how patchy performance is, with Sainsburys 15 times more effective in donating its unsold food compared with seventh-ranked Aldi. For people living in food poverty, this matters. Our survey shows that, taken together, the supermarkets are donating only 3.2 per cent 7,806 tonnes of the total retail food surplus. What a waste! Every 1,000 tonnes of surplus food diverted to charity amounts to another 2.4 million meals. Our supermarkets have made a start. They have a long way to go. Stores ranked by percentage of surplus food they donate to charities 1) SAINSBURYS 7.6% Food surplus: 38,767 tonnes Food donated: 2,935 tonnes Wasted food: 35,832 tonnes (of which 8,922 tonnes sent to animal feed and 26,910 tonnes for anaerobic digestion) London stores with food donation partnerships: 57% (208 of 365 stores) They say: We were co-founder of food redistribution charity FareShare in 1994 and have been working ever since to donate surplus food to charities, longer than any other supermarket. In the past year we sent 425 tonnes to FareShare and about 2,510 tonnes was donated from 931 of our 1,383 stores nationwide that have partnerships with charities, including 208 of our 365 London stores. Our aim is for all stores to have at least one food donation partner by 2020. 2) TESCO 4.5% Food surplus: 62,200 tonnes Food donated: 2,800 tonnes Wasted food: 59,400 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: 11% (53 of 487) They say: We think 30,000 tonnes of our food waste is avoidable. Our commitment is for 100 per cent of that to be offered to charities by the end of 2017. We currently redistribute mainly from our depots via FareShare. We have also started a project called Community Food Connection to donate surplus food from stores. This uses an app, FareShare FoodCloud, to alert local charities to surplus food available from stores. We aim to roll this out to all London stores by the end of 2017. 3) WAITROSE 3.3% Food surplus: 12,960 tonnes (estimate based on 5.4% market share) Food donated: 431 tonnes (estimate derived from reported 862,000 food donations and using a metric of 2,000 to one tonne) Wasted food estimate: 12,529 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: 20% (20 of 100) They say: We first began donating surplus food to charities in 2012. Our aim is to not send any edible food for anaerobic digestion. We are working hard to link up more branches with local charities and would like all our shops to have such a partnership. It is worth noting that many London branches report very little surplus. 4) ASDA 3.3% Food surplus: 33,120 tonnes (estimate based on 13.8% market share) Food donated: 1,100 tonnes Wasted food estimate: 32,020 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: Not disclosed They say: We are committed to cutting food waste and use complex algorithms to mark down goods that are reduced to clear on the day. Since 2013, we have worked with FareShare to redistribute food over-delivered to our depots. We are the only retailer to hold a dedicated food waste conference with our suppliers. There is work to be done to reach our zero waste target. 5) CO-OP 2.4% Food surplus: 12,720 tonnes (estimate based on 5.3% market share) Food donated: 309 tonnes Wasted food estimate: 12,411 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: Not disclosed They say: We have rolled out a programme to distribute surplus food from our nine distribution centres and anticipate donating 500 tonnes to FareShare in 2016 more than one million meals. This is a big rise from 2014 when we donated just 84 tonnes. Our ambition is that no food fit for human consumption goes to waste and we are looking to roll out schemes across the 2,800 stores in our estate. 6) MARKS AND SPENCER 1.6% Food surplus: 10,320 tonnes (estimate based on 4.3% market share) Food donated: 168 tonnes Wasted food estimate: 10,152 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: 50% (69 of 139) They say: Since October 2015 we have been rolling out our unsold food redistribution scheme and of 139 owned and franchised stores in London, 69 now donate food to 43 charity partners. We are also piloting a project that will allow us to freeze chilled prepared meals nearing their use-by date and so vastly expand the type of food we donate. We work with Neighbourly.com, a network that connects community projects to our stores. We have seen good results with unsold food donated rising from 60 tonnes in 2014/15 to 168 tonnes in 2015/16. This is set to continue as more stores come on stream. 7) ALDI 0.5% Food surplus: 13,440 tonnes (estimate based on 5.6% market share) Food donated: 63 tonnes Wasted food estimate: 13,377 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: Not tracked They say: We have two regional distribution centres from which last year we donated the equivalent of 149,000 meals to FareShare, a rise of 94% in the last three years. At least two of our 28 London stores have ad hoc relationships with charities but at the moment this is at the whim of individual stores and is not centrally co-ordinated. This is an area we need to improve and we are considering a more integrated approach. 8) MORRISONS Not disclosed Food surplus: 24,720 tonnes (estimate based on 10.3% market share) Food donated: Not disclosed Wasted food: Unknown London stores with food donation partnerships: Not disclosed They say: Last summer we launched a food redistribution trial in 100 stores across the North-East and have begun to roll this out, including to our 36 stores in London. To date we have donated one million products to charities, but we dont measure tonnage. In London we partner with charity City Harvest who collect from some stores. A key commitment is to ensure edible food never goes to waste but we have a way to go. 9) LIDL Not disclosed Food surplus: 10,320 tonnes (estimate based on 4.3% market share) Food donated: Not disclosed Wasted food: Unknown London stores with food donation partnerships: Not disclosed They say: We are rolling out pilot redistribution programmes from warehouses in a third of our regions, though not yet in London. Some edible food surpluses are being collected directly from the back of stores by charities such as The Salvation Army. We are very much at the start of a journey that will see us transform individual store-led activity into a centrally managed operation. 10) ICELAND 0% Food surplus: 2,080 tonnes (estimate based on one-third of its 2.6% market share, reduced due to its unique high frozen content) Food donated: None Wasted food estimate: 2,080 tonnes London stores with food donation partnerships: 0% (none out of 205) They say: Our waste is well below the industry average reflecting our higher participation in frozen food. We have 205 stores within the M25 but do not have any partnerships with frontline charities for redistribution of surplus food, though we are looking to undertake a trial in the North-West. We only have small amounts of surplus food at store level. All our food waste currently goes to anaerobic digestion. Key calculations: 1) % food donated = (food donated / food surplus) x 100 2) Food surplus food donated = wasted food Note: UK grocer market shares are for food and drink only, from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Take this letter to YOUR local food supplier asking: Are you donating your unsold surplus to charity? Fill in the name of your food supplier and sign the letter. A junior doctor today admitted she was terrified that new shift patterns would leave her so tired that she makes an error that harms a child. The admission from the medic who works in one of Londons busiest paediatric units comes as the High Court today began hearing a bid to declare new junior doctor contracts illegal. A two-day hearing brought by the Justice for Health group is seeking to prevent Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt from imposing the new conditions next month under plans for a seven-day NHS. The junior doctor, who asked not to be identified, said: Im scared that working this rota will make me unwell and miserable. Im terrified that because of this shift pattern I could be so tired at work that I make a mistake that harms a child. Her hospital has just issued a new 10-week rota. Compared to the same period last year, junior doctors are being required to work more days without a break. One stretch involves three 12.5-hour days followed by three night shifts. Another is of 85 hours over nine consecutive days. Bosses admitted that staff shortages and the difficulty of finding locum doctors had resulted in an increased demand on junior medics. No doctor can make safe, rational decisions when they are that overtired, and I wouldnt want my child looked after by someone who has been forced to work such draining shift patterns, she said. I have got no issue with tough [shifts]. I dont mind tough. I do mind unsafe. Engie's operating profit was hit by a drop in hydroelectric output in France (AFP Photo/MIGUEL MEDINA) Brussels (AFP) - The EU launched an in-depth probe Monday into alleged sweetheart tax deals between French gas group Engie and Luxembourg, taking on a major European multinational after similar high-profile investigations into US giants. The probe into a company owned in part by the French state comes days after the Commission angered Washington by ruling that US tech icon Apple had received favourable tax terms and ordered it to repay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back-taxes to Ireland. "The Commission has concerns that several tax rulings issued by Luxembourg may have given GDF Suez (now Engie) an unfair advantage over other companies, in breach of EU state aid rules," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement. The investigation into one of France's biggest and most strategic companies opens on the same day as a visit by EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to Washington, where she is to meet top US officials amid continued complaints over her Apple decision. "We will look carefully at tax rulings issued by Luxembourg to GDF Suez," Vestager said in the Commission statement. "They seem to contradict national taxation rules and allow GDF Suez to pay less tax than other companies," she added. The Commission said Luxembourg is suspected of having afforded Engie subsidiaries different tax treatments on the same transactions, lowering the company's overall tax exposure significantly. Luxembourg's tax authorities "appear to treat the same financial transaction between companies of GDF Suez in an inconsistent way," the Commission said. This resulted in tax breaks "which are not available to other companies subject to the same national taxation rules in Luxembourg," it added. - LuxLeaks fallout - The Luxembourg government rejected the charge but said it would cooperate fully with the probe and stressed that an investigation in no way presumed guilt. Story continues "Luxembourg believes that no special tax treatment was accorded to Engie companies in the country," the finance ministry said in a short statement. Engie also said it would cooperate with the probe. Luxembourg has been under intense scrutiny since the LuxLeaks revelations in 2014 showed that current European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave companies huge tax breaks, known as tax rulings, while he was prime minister of the tiny country. Documents leaked to journalists by former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees revealed tax breaks that Luxembourg offered to huge international firms including Apple, IKEA and Pepsi. The revelations, along with the Panama Papers scandal this year, ended up forcing the EU to take urgent steps to stop global firms avoiding tax in Europe, including inquiries into firms like Apple, McDonald's and Amazon. In addition to the historic decision against Apple, the Commission has already decided against Fiat in Luxembourg, and Starbucks in the Netherlands, ordering them to repay up to 30 million euros. Decisions are still awaited against Amazon and McDonalds as well as on a special tax set-up given by Belgium to a number of multinationals, including brewing giant AB Inbev. The Engie cases cited by the Commission on Monday date back to 2008 when Juncker was at the helm in Luxembourg. GDF Suez, Engie since 2015, is a French electric utility company of which the French state owns about 33 percent. During her three-day visit to the US, Vestager is set to meet Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, in addition to key lawmakers and regulators. A Commission spokesman rejected criticism that the decision against Engie was taken to assure Washington that US companies are not under attack in Brussels. "We take decisions as soon as we are ready to take them, there's nothing else to add to that," European Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso told a news briefing. T he number of obese people rescued by firefighters because they are too large to move themselves has risen by over a third in three years. In some cases fire brigades were forced to remove windows, walls and banisters as they rescued more than 900 overweight people in the last year an average of more than two a day across Britain. The reports included firefighters helping the ambulance service to move an extremely large patient who had been stuck on the sofa for days and carrying a 40-stone man from the upstairs of a pub. The figures, obtained by the BBC, show the London Fire Brigade had the fifth highest number of bariatric rescues in the UK with 38 in the last year. Across the UK, 944 incidents were recorded in 2015-16, up from 709 in 2012-13. 2012 was the first year a new category for these type of incidents had been created. Firefighters often have to use special slings and lifting equipment to help move severely obese people, who are often stuck in their homes. Severe obesity was a worsening problem, the National Obesity Forum said. A number of incidents involved helping moving obese people who had died from their home to an undertakers ambulance. The highest number of bariatric rescues recorded was with the South Wales Fire and Rescue service. Chris Jones, a watch manager with the fire service, said some of the rescues were very complicated. "If we are doing what we call an external rescue where we're taking the patient out through a window, quite commonly we'll remove the window frame itself and we will actually sometimes drop courses of brickwork down to create that space, he said. "Internally we might have to take doors off, move furniture, we may even have to put supporting systems into the house to make sure everything's structurally sound as well." Head of clinical operations at the Welsh Ambulance Service, Greg Lloyd, said: "The fact of the matter is with this type of rescue we might not be able to get patients to hospital as quickly as we'd like." Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Tam Fry from the charity National Obesity Forum, said the figures do not show more people are becoming obese - but the overweight are becoming larger. He said: "This is not about more people being obese. This is about those who are already obese now getting to a size where they now need assistance." "Senior doctors I speak to say there are many people who don't leave their homes so they don't even put themselves in a position where they may need to be rescued. "They are scared of being seen in public." A cockroach-infested curry house in north-east London has been ordered to shut its doors after it was discovered crawling with insects, including in chef hats. South Indian and Sri Lankan restaurant Palii Maamala in Hoe Street, Walthamstow, was closed following fears it risked customers health. Food safety inspectors uncovered an infestation of cockroaches and nymphs inside the filthy kitchen with droppings found on shelves containing open food and dinner plates. Insects were also seen living in a box of paper hats worn by the chefs while the cooker was thick with grease in conditions described as disgusting. Shut down: Waltham Forest Council serve a hygiene order to close the business unless drastic improvements are made / Waltham Forest Council Containers were encrusted with old food with the filth witnessed across the entire building including an upstairs function room where cockroaches were also found. Waltham Forest Council issued an immediate hygiene order for the curry house to shut following an inspection on Monday, September 12 over a number of food safety breaches. Scene: Palii Maamala is based in Hoe Street, Walthamstow / Waltham Forest Council The order was received at Stratford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday September 14, confirming the closure. The restaurant owner has been issued with a list of work requirements before the business could reopen. The council added it would apply for the owner to cover its court costs. Cllr Clyde Loakes, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment said: Restaurants that put the health of their customers at risk by operating in such disgusting conditions have no place in Waltham Forest. Cockroach-infested: Insects were seen crawling in the kitchen following an inspection / Waltham Forest Council It is frankly unbelievable that the owners thought it was acceptable to operate a food business in such an unhygienic environment. Im glad that the court agreed with the verdict of our officers and this premises will be staying shut until we are satisfied that the owners have got their act together. In a separate action, nearly 600 packs of cheese and yoghurts were discovered on sale at room temperature when inspectors visited a supermarket for a routine inspection. The council said failure to store the product in a fridge could have resulted in food poisoning. The business owner surrendered the produce to safety officers who destroyed it. Investigations are ongoing. A person has died after being hit by a tube train at Bethnal Green station. Police were called to the scene where the victim was pronounced dead shortly after 1pm. London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade and the British Transport Police were all in attendance at Bethnal Green on the Central line. The station was put on a full lockdown but reopened at 2pm. A British Transport Police spokesman said: "We have been called to Bethnal Green station after reports that a train has struck a person. Police were alerted just after 1pm. "Officers have attended alongside the London Ambulance Service but a person has sadly been pronounced dead at the scene. "We are now working to identify the person and inform their family. "We are not treating this incident as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner." The Central line was temporarily suspended between Liverpool Street and Leytonstone but is now back up and running with severe delays. A London Fire Brigade spokesperson told the Standard: "We were called at 1.06pm to Bethnal Green station after reports of a person under the train. "We sent two fire engines and a fire rescue unit." T he arrival of "middle class" sandwich chain Pret A Manger in Wood Green has divided shoppers and residents and sparked a debate about gentrifiication. The branch opened in recent weeks to the delight of some residents. But others blasted it as a "loss of culture" and hit out at the price of food. Some suggested the new branch near the Wood Green shopping centre indicates the area could become too expensive for local people. Meg Hanking, 18, who lives nearby, said of the new high street branch: I have been in the area my whole life, I grew up there. Its such a deprived area. Our family lived there and its weird to see this happening. Most of the people who actually live there and people who have lived there for the past decade couldnt afford that kind of food. Most people who are working there are on minimum wage. This is for the middle classes. Ms Hanking said she lives in nearby Winchmore Hill which has already shown the first signs of gentrification with farmers' markets but said this is a sign Wood Green might be next. She added: I have eaten in Pret before, and I quite like their food. And its good because its going to bring jobs. But its going to lead to more loss of culture. Its just weird because I have gone down the high street almost every week my whole life and you see more coffee shops popping up. Its quite a big statement, I think its massive. Others on social media agree it could mean the start of a new gentrified Wood Green. But others reacted with delight at the new Wood Green branch with some calling it long overdue. Will Orr, who lives in Wood Green, said: If there was ever an area that needed reviving it is Wood Green. Crime and antisocial behaviour is high and since we've lived here M&S and BHS have been lost from the high street. There haven't been many places to get good food so we're very happy Pret has opened and hoping it brings in more businesses that aren't betting shops. Things are hopefully changing with investment coming in the area from the council and Crossrail 2 planned. Labour councillor for Noel Park and cabinet member for the environment in Haringey, Peray Ahmet, said on Twitter: "Good to see a Pret a Manger coming soon to Wood Green High Rd." Responding to criticism that another chain would add to the destruction of independent businesses in the area, she said: "I trust you're familiar with Wood Green High Road? It's dominated by chains and also has one of the highest footfalls in London." Matthew Turnbull wrote on Twitter: Wood Green is getting a Pret. There is a god! Brandon Allen wrote: Big news in Wood GreenPret a Manger has landedoh how my priorities have shiftedeasily pleased. Hana Stewart added: Pret could be the best thing ever to happen to Wood Green! Earlier this year the Standard reported a new arts hotel was set to shake up the area, with the entrepreneur behind the scheme talking about the fine line between regeneration and gentrification. The trend is often accused of pushing up house prices as professionals settle in pockets of London and price out those who have lived there for years. S adiq Khan boosted his credentials as Labour leader-in-waiting today as he shared a stage with former US President Bill Clinton at a major international summit. As his North American tour drew to a close, he joined the global statesman to discuss issues including Brexit, tackling inequality, affordable housing and air quality. The Mayor was joined by two other world leaders Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri at the Clinton Global Initiative gathering in New York. He rubbed shoulders with a host of other international politicians, Hollywood stars, business tycoons and philanthropists as well as Chelsea Clinton. He was not expected to meet Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, who his predecessor Boris Johnson held talks with last year, as she is out campaigning in the race for the White House. It concludes a six-day visit which has taken in Montreal, where he met Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Chicago and New York, where he held talks with city leaders Rahm Emanuel and Bill de Blasio. City Hall insiders believe the high-level meetings, culminating in his discussion with President Clinton today, not only underlines Londons significance as a global player, but also Mr Khans status as a potential future leader himself. He has gradually built up an effective Labour operation at City Hall which many MPs view as an alternative power base while the national party struggles on under Jeremy Corbyn. Mr Khan is always careful to say he has the best job in politics and has no desire to look further ahead, but his political allies are already discussing how he might be able to lead his party in future. Honour: Sadiq Khan was invited to pitch the first ball at New York Mets game during visit / PA He became a powerful symbol of hope and diversity after he won the London mayoral race in May, receiving plaudits for taking on Republican Donald Trump in a row about Muslims entering the US. The Mayor, who has not spoken to Mr Corbyn since before the Brexit vote, had not informed him of his travel plans, nor does he expect to update him when he returns home. However, ahead of the visit he met Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who was also in New York today for the UN general assembly along with Theresa May. Mr Khan was originally supposed to be hosted by Chelsea Clinton at the summit but was bumped up to the former Presidents event several days ago, putting him into the major league. Much of the 45-minute discussion was expected to centre around Brexit, with President Clinton asking how London can expect to remain a hub of prosperity after leaving the European Union. T wo police forces have stepped up armed patrols at potential hotspots like major shopping centres as part of efforts to counter the terror threat against Britain. Residents in Essex and Kent were advised they are likely to see a more visible police presence around the counties, including shopping centres like Bluewater and Lakeside. The announcement came after London's Met Police deployed 600 new armed officers on to the capital's streets last month. Both forces stressed there was no specific intelligence or information to suggest a direct threat in their areas. Kent Police said firearms and Taser patrols will be increased around key locations such as Canterbury Cathedral, the Port of Dover and Bluewater shopping centre. In Essex, armed officers are to be deployed at sites including Lakeside shopping centre and London Southend Airport. Countries including the US, France and Germany have been hit by attacks in recent months. In the UK, the official threat level for international terrorism currently stands at severe - meaning an attack is seen as highly likely. The assessment has remained at severe - the second highest out of five categories - for more than two years. Kent Deputy Chief Constable Paul Brandon said: "We continue to regularly review the threat levels in the county in consultation with the Home Office to ensure we provide the most appropriate protection for the people of Kent. "While we are not expecting a direct threat to the county, we do want to make sure that should circumstances change quickly, we are adequately prepared. "Some of the locations extra patrols will visit include Canterbury city centre, including the cathedral, the Port of Dover and Bluewater, and we want the public to know what we're doing to protect them and not to panic if they see officers with firearms or Tasers on patrol." Assistant Chief Constable Carl O'Malley, of Essex Police, said officers are "working around the clock across the county to protect people from harm", adding: "That work includes countering the threat posed by terrorism." He said there is no "specific intelligence about a direct threat in Essex and no cause for alarm", with the patrols aiming to reassure people as well as disrupt or detect crime. Mr O'Malley said: "There is no cause for anyone to change their plans or how they go about their lawful business, and if you see the patrols it does not mean there is a cause to worry or panic." A drive to boost Britain's armed policing resources was launched in the wake of the Paris attacks in November, with forces around the country training hundreds of extra personnel. Additional reporting by the Press Association. T he FBI has identified a suspect wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in the Chelsea area of New York on Saturday. An image of Ahmad Khan Rahami has been released by the FBI, which has warned that he should considered as armed and dangerous". Rahami, 28, was born in Afghanistan and is a naturalised American living in New Jersey. Investigators said: "Rahami is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion that occurred on September 17, 2016, at approximately 8:30 pm in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street, New York, New York. New York Bomb Explosions 1 /12 New York Bomb Explosions Blast: Crime scene investigators work at the scene of Saturday's explosion Craig Ruttle/AP New York: Firefighters at the scene Rashid Umar Abbasi/Reuters Reaction: Firefighters arrive in West 23rd Street Andres Kudacki/AP Help: A police officer escorts an injured man away from the scene Nico Maounis/AP Emergency: Police and firefighters work near the scene of an apparent explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Andres Kudacki/AP Explosion: Police arrive on the scene of an explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, in New York Andres Kudacki/AP New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (centre) stand in front of a mangled dumpster while touring the site of an explosion that occurred on Saturday night Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images FBI Assistant Director in Charge of New York Bill Sweeney, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill, New York City Mayor Bll de Blasio and New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro take questions during a press conference regarding Saturday night's explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan Drew Angerer/Getty Images People stand behind police lines as firefighters, emergency workers and police gather at the scene of an explosion in Manhattan Spencer Platt/Getty Images Around 29 people were wounded when a homemade bomb exploded in a rubbish bin outside a home for the blind on Saturday night. One person was seriously hurt in the blast, while other are believed to have suffered minor injuries. Sadiq Khan warns against speculation in the wake of the New York city bombing A second device was also found four blocks from the first bomb and taken away. Five suspects are being questioned by the FBI in connection with the exploson after stopping their car in Brooklyn last night. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has reiterated his belief that the bombs were a "terrorist act". Loading.... He told CBS This Morning: "You set up two bombs in New York City, thats terrorism, with an intent to cause damage and danger and intimidate a civilian population. "What we didnt know yesterday, we dont know yet, is anyone taking credit for it and is it linked to international terrorism. A backpack was also found in neighbouring in New Jersey last night, which exploded as the FBI attempted to disarm it with a robot. The FBI was attempting to disarm one of five suspicious devices found in the bag discovered in a rubbish bin near Elizabeth train station. Officials are investigating whether the New York and New Jersey incidents are linked. R AF drones were involved in the air strike which killed Syrian government troops and threatened the fragile truce in the wartorn country, it emerged today. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that British forces were part of the operation. Reaper drones are understood to have been involved. The British military is co-operating fully with an investigation by the US-led Coalition into the incident which led to dozens of Syrian government soldiers being killed, according to reports. Some estimates put the death toll at more than 60. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: We can confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition air strike in Syria, south of Dayr az Zawr on Saturday, and we are fully cooperating with the coalition investigation. The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. The air raid by the US-led alliance led to a harsh verbal attack on Washington by Damascus and Moscow. The US military says it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria. Syrias week-long ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russia, was in growing doubt today amid claims of repeated violations by both sides. No aid deliveries have yet reached the besieged rebel-held part of the northern city of Aleppo, a key point in the agreement. These districts were targeted in aerial attacks for the first time since the truce went into effect, leaving a woman dead and several people wounded, according to opposition activists. A helicopter attack on the southern village of Dael killed at least eight people, activists said. It was not clear who carried out the attacks. Rebels reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone. Unless theres a quick and drastic turn for the better in Syria, the US may reach its moment of truth with Russia. If Washington is simply unable or unwilling to work with Moscow to resolve the conflict, its likely that our much-worsened relations with Russia will be irreparable for the foreseeable future. This would be the very worst of the many undesirable legacies President Obama passes on to his successor come November. Related: Aid for Syria Stuck with Rising Violence Undermining Truce What happened between the ceasefire in Syria Secretary of State Kerry agreed on just 10 days ago with Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, and now? A week into the deal, it appears the agreement has done nothing but push the conflict to the very edge of chaos. Once again, nobody trusts anybody and everybody accuses everybody of violating terms of the ceasefire. The biggest blow to the prospects of success came Saturday when jets from the USled coalition bombed a Syrian army base in Deir Ezzor, a city under siege by the Islamic State. The Syrian government reported 62 Syrian army casualties and 100 wounded, which Russian officials appear to confirm, This is hardly what Washington and Moscow want to present at the UN as the General Assembly opens this week in New York City. But the implications here run far deeper than poor cosmetics on a passing occasion. Related: Russia Says US Refuses to Share Syria Truce Deal With UN Council Several other failures in the offing hang off that one: Is the US proving impotent in the fight against the Islamic State? Making common cause with Russia, whose commitment to defeating ISIS is beyond question given the threat of Islamic extremism seeping across it borders, is the only plausible way to get the job done. If this is off the table, theres no obvious next move. While Russias relations with Iran extend back centuries, Syria now shapes up as a catalyst for a rare closeness between Tehran and Moscow. This was signaled last month when Russian bombers launched sorties into Syria from an Iranian airfield. The supreme irony here: The Obama administration has long seen the Syria conflict as a chance to deprive Russia of its No. 1 ally in the regionhence its preoccupation with ousting the Assad government in Damascus even after ISIS suddenly emerged as a serious threat in mid2014. Story continues Washingtons longstanding strategic ties with Turkey and Saudi Arabia are badly frayed due to differences over the right goals in Syria and how to achieve them. (Both are now making nice with Russia, to make matters worse.) If drift turns to rift in US relations with these two countries, the Obama administrations clumsiness over the past several years will leave Moscows influence in the Middle East waxing as Washingtons wanes. Related: Aligned With Russia In Syria, Pentagon Awkwardly Treads On New Terrain Doubts about the KerryLavrov deal were widespread even as it was announced. What we have now are the worst of the worries coming to pass. At the moment, the US and Russia both appear to have failed to discipline their various local allies, as they are pledged to do. The London Daily Telegraph had a disturbing report Friday asserting (and showing with video) that USbacked militias had chased off just-dispatched American Special Forces amid a hail of throaty antiAmerican chants to the effect that all Muslims must unite against the Wests latest crusade. But the truth as to whats happening on the ground has never been murkier. Most reports of ceasefire violationsand there are dozens a dayare countered with contradicting reports. Example: Washington and the local militias it supports say the Syrian Arab Army, Assads force, hasnt withdrawn from the road into Aleppo to allow relief convoys safe passage. Damascus and Moscow assert that this is because rebel militias refuse to retreat from their positions, as required in the KerryLavrov agreement. Maybe the two sides cant bring the local forces they back into line and maybe they simply wont. It isnt going to matter if this ceasefire flops: The new reality will be that as Obama exits, relations between Moscow and Washington are too poisoned for them to partner even in the face of whats now the worst crisis since the Cold Wars end. Related: Moscow Says Strikes on Syria Army Threaten US-Russia Ceasefire Plan As to the last Saturdays bombing of the Syrian base, we cant listen to the Assad government, which asserts it was intentional. The US says it was an accident, while the Russians have requested an emergency Security Council meeting and are so far withholding judgment. Regardless of how this shakes out, Washington just took a very big hit. On the ground, suspicions that the US has all along backed ISIS in its determination to overthrow Assad have spread like a California fire. Closer to home, we cant flinch from a question thats bitter enough to pose, never mind the answer. Fridays bombing also feeds the conspiracy that the now-public breach between State and Defense (and specifically Secretary Kerry and Secretary Carter) is playing out on the ground. Was the attack, in other words, intended to scuttle Kerrys arduous diplomatic efforts? If anything like this proves true, it will mark a new low of disunity in Obamas ever-fractious foreign policy. Heres a question to ask already: Why has this president insisted on remaining ivory-tower aloof from so many pressing foreign policy matterssignally failing, in this case, to determine a clear, achievable Syria policy and then set it in motion? The flashpoint peril Syria has now become lies at the doorstep of the White House. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: As Colombia's FARC rebels prepare to sign a historic peace deal with the government, dissident guerrillas are reportedly clinging to their guns deep in the Amazon rainforest, targeting its gold (AFP Photo/Luis Acosta) Santa Sofia (Colombia) (AFP) - As Colombia's FARC rebels prepare to sign a historic peace deal with the government, dissident guerrillas are reportedly clinging to their guns deep in the Amazon rainforest, targeting its gold. In the past few months, as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government have wrapped up a deal to end 52 years of conflict, a faction of fighters from the rebels' First Front has come out in opposition to the peace process. According to a local official, at least 40 of them have taken up positions inside the Yaigoje Apaporis National Park in southeastern Colombia, a remote expanse of lush rainforest on the Brazilian border. The park's more than one million hectares (2.5 million acres) are home to isolated indigenous groups and also hold sizeable reserves of gold. Five renegade guerrillas have already approached indigenous leaders there and warned they must "submit to their conditions," according to the local official, Paulo Estrada, a rights ombudsman for the state of Amazonas. "Their 'conditions' are basically that the indigenous peoples refuse to work with international aid groups, reject the presence of the state and submit their leaders and resources to (the fighters') orders," he said. He raised concern about the wellbeing of the local indigenous populations, which have had little contact with the outside world and may not be immune to its diseases. "The indigenous peoples who live here are very vulnerable to any outside presence," he said. - Gold, not politics - A faction of First Front rebels declared their rejection of the nearly four-year-old peace process in early July, vowing to continue the armed struggle the Marxist guerrilla group launched in 1964. The FARC, which is due to ratify the final peace accord at a national conference this week, responded that it would brook no dissent. If Colombians vote in favor of the accord in a decisive referendum on October 2, FARC members are supposed to leave their mountain and jungle hideouts and turn in their arms at 28 demobilization sites. Story continues But estimates by the government and private analysts predict around 10 percent of the FARC's 7,500 fighters may refuse. It is one of several complications facing both sides as they seek to wind down a war that has drawn in multiple left- and right-wing armed groups and criminal gangs across the decades, leaving 260,000 people dead and 45,000 missing. The government is still fighting a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN) -- which has an estimated 2,500 fighters -- as well as drug gangs. Colombia is the world's largest cocaine producer, and narcotics have been a key funding source for various armed groups involved in the conflict, including the FARC. Illegal mining has also been a lucrative funding source. Analysts say that, rather than politics, is likely behind the renegade First Front movement. - 'Abandoned by the state' - The Yaigoje Apaporis park is known for its large gold deposits, and "some speculate" it also has oil and uranium, said Alvaro Pardo, director of a mining studies center called Colombia Punto Medio. "It's an area with a lot of gold," and "it appears there's a large hydrocarbon field that extends to Ecuador and Venezuela," he said. Those aren't the region's only riches: it is also home to 362 species of birds, 152 species of reptiles and amphibians and around 400 species of butterflies, according to the national parks service. The presence of renegade rebels planning to plunder the park's gold and other resources is causing concern for the environment. But the guerrillas appear determined. "They told us they're going to keep fighting to the day they die," a local community leader told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. There is little local officials can do. Community authorities' demands to leave the zone have come to nothing, despite two meetings with the rebels. Park director Diego Munoz said four rebels showed up at one of his offices on June 22 demanding a boat and fuel. When staff refused, they took them anyway. He worries his rangers may have to quit the area. The rebels "say this is a zone that's been abandoned by the state. That they have won," he said. A mosquito control inspector sprays pesticide to kill mosquitos as part of the US fight to control the Zika virus outbreak in Miami, Florida in August 2016 (AFP Photo/Joe Raedle) Miami (AFP) - Health authorities Monday lifted a travel warning for the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood -- site of the United States' first local Zika outbreak -- after the governor declared no evidence of active transmission of the virus there in the last 45 days. However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still urged pregnant women to consider postponing all non-essential travel to south Florida's Miami-Dade County as a precaution. The threat posed by Zika is far from over in the United States. On Friday, Florida officials tripled the size of the area of Miami Beach where Zika is actively spreading locally. Florida has counted more than 835 cases of Zika, which can cause devastating birth defects, including microcephaly, when an infant's brain and skull are abnormally small and malformed. The United States and its territories have tallied 20,870, according to the CDC. But on a small scale, the news was positive in Wynwood, the popular arts district that was the first area in the country to report evidence that Zika was spreading locally in a section about one-square mile (2.5 square kilometers) in size. "No new cases of locally transmitted Zika have been reported in the Wynwood-designated area since early August," said the CDC in a statement. "And low numbers of mosquitoes have been found in traps there for the past several weeks since aerial application of the larvicide Bti and the adulticide Naled." Therefore the federal agency modified its August 1 warning which urged women who want to become pregnant or who are pregnant to avoid travel to the Wynwood neighborhood, north of downtown Miami. - 'Fight not over' - Wynwood was considered an area of active Zika virus transmission from June 15 to September 18, 2016. Anyone who traveled to the area in that period "should wait at least eight weeks before trying to get pregnant," said the CDC. Even though the travel warning has been lifted, the CDC continued to urge pregnant women and their partners who live in or travel to the area to take steps to avoid mosquito bites. Story continues "Pregnant women and partners of pregnant women who are concerned about potential Zika virus exposure may also consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade County," added the CDC. "While today's news is great, the fight is not over," said a statement by Florida Governor Rick Scott. "We have more than 93 cases of locally acquired Zika in Florida and on Friday, we extended the Miami Beach Zika zone to an area of about 4.5 miles." Eighteen babies in the United States have been born with Zika-related birth defects. Scott also lamented the government's inability to agree on a funding package for Zika. "Florida may have been the first location to have locally transmitted Zika, but we will not be the last," he said. "I expect Congress to immediately pass a funding bill." US President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in emergency funding in February. Lawmakers have been unable to agree on a smaller, $1.1 billion measure to pay for preventive measures, research into vaccines and to assist women whose fetuses are infected during pregnancy. Zika can be spread by the bite of a mosquito or via sexual contact. There is no vaccine to prevent it. Often, the symptoms are mild and include body pain, red eyes and a rash. Four out of five people report no symptoms at all, making the infection particularly difficult to prevent. This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. 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But choosing stocks based on cash flows can be far more rewarding. This is because, even a profit-making company can face cash troubles and end up filing bankruptcy. But a company with solid cash flow can endure any market mayhem. In fact, cash indicates a companys true financial health. It holds the key to its existence, development and success. It offers the flexibility to make decisions, the means to make potential investments and the fuel to run its growth engine. Moreover, cash indicates that profits are being channelized in the right direction. Cash moves in and out of any business, but it is net cash flow that explains how much money the company is actually making. A positive cash flow indicates an increase in the companys liquid assets, which provide the means to meet debt obligations, shell out for expenses, reinvest in business, endure downturns and finally return wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, a negative cash flow indicates a decline in the companys liquidity and in turn lowers its flexibility to support these moves. Yet, positive cash flow alone is not sufficient to predict a companys future growth. A company can consistently grow only when this positive cash flow is rising. Because, increasing cash flow helps management to efficiently handle finance, operations and investing activities. Screening Parameters: To find out stocks that have seen increasing cash flow over time, we ran the screen for those whose cash flow in the latest reported quarter was at least equal to or greater than the 5-year average cash flow per common share. This implies a positive trend and increasing cash over a period of time. In addition to this, we chose: Zacks Rank 1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven history of outperformance. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Average Broker Rating 1: This indicates that brokers are also highly hopeful about the companys future performance. Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This sieves out low-priced stocks. VGM Score of B or better: This score is also of great assistance in selecting stocks. Importantly, this scoring system helps in picking the winning stocks in their individual industry categories. Here are five of the eight stocks that made it through the screen: Stamps.com Inc. STMP, based in El Segundo, CA, provides Internet-based services for mailing or shipping letters, packages or parcels anywhere in the U.S. The stock has a VGM score of B. With a decent earnings surprise history, the company remains a solid pick. It exceeded estimates in each of the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 61.42%. Ducommun Inc. DCO, headquartered in Carson, CA, manufactures components and assemblies principally for domestic and foreign commercial and military aircraft, and space programs. The company came up with an earnings surprise of 21.43% in the second quarter ended Jul 2, 2016 and has experienced a rise in estimates over the past two months. Ducommun has a VGM score of A. Argan, Inc. AGX, headquartered in Rockville, MD, through its subsidiaries, offers a full range of services to the power industry including the engineering, procurement and construction, commissioning, operations management, maintenance, project development and consulting services. Also, the company provides telecommunications infrastructure services, integrated fabrication, construction and plant services through its subsidiaries. Argan has a VGM score of A. It came up with an earnings surprise of 84.29% in the fiscal second quarter ended Jul 31, 2016 and its estimates for the current fiscal year has moved north. Gibraltar Industries, Inc. ROCK , with a VGM score of B, is a leading manufacturer, processor and distributor of metals and other engineered materials for building products, vehicular and other industrial markets. The company is headquartered in Buffalo, NY. With a decent earnings surprise history, the company remains a solid pick. It exceeded estimates in each of the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 74.53%. Hallador Energy Company HNRG, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Sunrise Coal, LLC, is engaged in the production of coal in the Illinois Basin for the electric power generation industry. The company is headquartered in Denver, CO and has a VGM score of A. Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and backtesting software. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today. Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance. Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: In addition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report STAMPS.COM INC (STMP): Free Stock Analysis Report DUCOMMUN INC DE (DCO): Free Stock Analysis Report ARGAN INC (AGX): Free Stock Analysis Report HALLADOR ENERGY (HNRG): Free Stock Analysis Report GIBRALTAR INDUS (ROCK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Raleigh-- Report gas prices that seem unreasonably high, Attorney General Roy Cooper urged North Carolina consumers today. North Carolinas law against price gouging is currently in effect due to limited supplies of gasoline caused by a leak in a pipeline that carries gas from the Gulf Coast to North Carolina and other southeastern states. As of 11 am on Monday, more than 400 consumers had filed complaints online or via a toll-free hotline to report potential gas price gouging to Coopers Consumer Protection Division. Consumers are our eyes and ears on the ground and we want to know if you spot potential gas price gouging, Cooper said. What is price gouging? Price gougingor charging too much in times of crisisis against North Carolina law when a disaster, an emergency or an abnormal market disruption for critical goods and services is declared or proclaimed by the Governor. The law applies to all levels of the supply chain from the manufacturer to the distributor to the retailer. The price gouging law is currently in effect due to a market disruption for gasoline declared late Friday. How does the law define price gouging? North Carolina law (Chapter 75-38) defines price gouging as charging a price that is unreasonably excessive under the circumstances. There is no set price or percentage increase defined in the law so the law can apply to different products and services in times of crisis. In this case, the law has in effect specifically to prevent gas price gouging. If a gas price looks excessive, report it and we will look into it. How can I report price gouging? You can report price gouging three ways: File a complaint online at ncdoj.gov. Mail us a complaint to: Consumer Protection Division Attorney General's Office Mail Service Center 9001 Raleigh, NC 27699-9001 Call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM (toll-free within North Carolina) or 919-716-6000. What should I report? Its helpful if you can provide receipts if you purchased gas, or photos of gas station price signs you spot. How do we investigate price gouging? Our Consumer Protection Division follows up on complaints of potential price gouging to determine if the law has been violated. We use information provided by consumers, including first-hand reports, receipts, and photos of gas station price signs. We contact gas stations about reports we get and also look at the costs gas stations are charged by their suppliers. What happens to price gougers? Price gougers can face fines of up to $5,000 for each violation under North Carolina law. According to our state Constitution, all fines go to support the public schools. We also try to win refunds for consumers whenever possible. In 2008, North Carolina faced a similar gas crisis when Gulf Coast refineries shut down. With the price gouging law in effect, Cooper took action and won $71,000 in consumer refunds, energy assistance and fines from 14 gas stations. At the first Full Bloom Film Festival in 2015, organizers had to supplement the film schedule with offerings from a distribution company. This year, that wasnt necessary. For 2016, a committee narrowed down 216 entries to the final festival run of 94 films representing 20 different countries, according to Programming Director Cait Gordon. The number of screenings this year is nearly double last year's offerings. The festival is already making a name for itself among filmmakers, and organizers hope the event can help make Statesville a destination. You get the chance to see films you cant see anywhere else, said festival Director John Kopplemeyer. Were really working create a unique experience for people to share. The festival starts Thursday and ends Saturday, and special events, including special red carpet screenings. Parties are also planned for each night. Here are a few things to know about the 2016 Full Bloom Film Festival: There are six competition categories this year: Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Animation and Best of Fest. Showings are held at several locations throughout downtown Statesville: The Iredell Arts Council, Twisted Oak American Bar & Grill, Shearer Hall and New South Gallery. Parties will be held each night. Several short film sessions are planned. These sessions feature different themes, such as Bitter, Sweet and In Between, which features films that revolve around moments that change us, whether in relationships, new experiences or everyday interactions. Femme Dimensions feature female protagonists, while Natural Selection offers films that explore the human relationships with natureboth wild and domesticated. Childrens films will also be part of the festival. A Statesville residents film will be on display. The Life of an Average Housefly, directed by Sally Vacca, is about a woman who, after receiving a mysterious bouquet of flowers, is drawn back into the life of her estranged father who asks her to kill him using a bizarre machine of his own design. Theres a showing of top picks from the Charlotte 48-hour Film Project. The 48-Hour Film Project assigns filmmakers a genre, a character, a prop and a line of dialogue and they have 48 hours to complete their film. Several of the best from Charlottes project will be shown during Full Bloom. For more information and a complete schedule, visit fullbloomfilmfestival.com. Here's are the narrative and documentary films being shown at the 2016 Full Bloom Film Festival: NARRATIVE FEATURE FILMS "Commencement" 94min / USA / 2014 / PG-13 Directed by Steve Albrezzi (NC filmmaker) "Christa Richmond is at the top of her class. After she delivers the valedictory speech at her university commencement, she heads home to celebrate and conquer the rest of the universe only to discover that the next 24 hours is the beginning of her real education." "Game Changers" 88mins / USA / 2015 / R Directed by Rob Imbs "As lifelong friends Brian and Scott begin to feel the responsibilities of adulthood sinking in, they take one last shot at reclaiming their status as pro gamers." "Homeless" 93mins / USA / 2015 / PG-13 Directed by Clay Riley Hassler (NC filmmaker) "Following the death of his grandmother, teenager Gosh (Josh) tries to regain his footing amidst the bleak routine of life in a homeless shelter." Filmed in an actual homeless shelter, and based on a true story. "Mango Dreams" (*Red Carpet Film on Saturday 9/24) 93min / USA / 2016 / R Directed by John Upchurch (NC filmmaker) "A Hindu doctor with dementia and a Muslim auto rickshaw driver form an unlikely friendship as they journey a thousand miles across India in a rickshaw." "The Rainbow Kid" 92mins / Canada / 2015 / PG-13 Directed by Kire Paputts "Eugene, a young man with Down syndrome, sets out on a life altering journey to find the end of the rainbow." DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS "An Unfinished Film, for My Daughter Somayeh" (*Red Carpet Film on Friday 9/23) 90mins / Iran / 2015 / R Directed by Morteza Payeshenas "The Mohammadi family struggles to repatriate their daughter Somayeh back to Canada after years of captivity--sometimes voluntary--in a political cult compound in Iraq." "Boxing for Freedom" 75mins / Spain / 2015 / PG-13 Directed by Silvia Venegas Venegas & Juan Antonio Moreno Amador "Sadaf Rahimi is the best female boxer in Afghanistan, but she must deal with her countrys traditions, fear and her own fate in order to be a free woman." "Daddy Don't Go" 88mins / USA / 2015 / PG-13 Directed by Emily Abt "This intimate, cinema verite film is a tough but tender journey that aims to illuminate the everyday struggles of disadvantaged fathers." "Legs: A Big Issue in a Small Town" (part of "Small Town Life" session) 77mins / USA / 2015 / PG-13 Directed by Beatrice Alda & Jennifer Brooke "When a very large and controversial piece of art gets publicly displayed in a small town, opinions start flying and feisty people take legal action." "Liberty & Slavery: The Paradox of America's Founding Fathers" 85mins / USA / 2016 / PG-13 Directed by A. Troy Thomas "Our Founding Fathers were yearning for a nation of individual liberty. But, the origins of America were already overflowing with a deep-seeded paradox; our Founding Fathers were rallying the colonists to liberty, while simultaneously owning slaves." "The Way We Talk" 80mins / USA / 2015 / PG Directed by Michael Turner "Michael Turner goes on personal journey to explore the social and scientific implications of the way we talk--namely, for those with a stutter--transforming into a meditation on how our deepest vulnerabilities shape us into who we are." UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies has announced that it will supply a new reversing cold rolling mill to Mexican long steel producer Talleres y Aceros (Tyasa) for its production plant in Ixtaczoquitlan as part of the companys strategy to extend its portfolio to include flat products. The cold rolling mill is designed for an annual production of 200,000 metric tons of low-carbon and high-strength steel grades. The mill is designed to handle a wide range of end products, and is particularly suitable for small batches. The project is due for completion by early 2018. Monday, 19 September 2016 16:41:45 (GMT+3) | Istanbul The Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has announced that Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has approved the bill to increase export duties on scrap from 10/mt to 30/mt for one year. The bill will officially enter into force after its publication in the countrys official gazette. In May this year, the Ukrainian president vetoed the draft law to increase Ukraine s export duty on scrap to 30/mt from 10/mt for three years. According to the statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), the unemployment rate in Turkey increased by 0.6 percentage point year on year to 10.2 percent in June this year, also rising by 0.8 percentage point from the 9.4 percent recorded in May. Monday, 19 September 2016 23:53:22 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Exports of wire rod from Brazil are currently limited to ArcelorMittal and Gerdau, as the Votorantim Group made its last export of the product in April 2016, while CSN actually has kept its line of long products dedicated to the domestic market, since its start-up in 2013. The smaller producer Sinobras, in the northern state of Para, is also dedicated to the domestic market. Sources linked to the steel producers said that low prices remain the main hurdle for exports of steel products from Brazil , as in the more rewarding domestic market, wire rod is sold at the equivalent to $695/mt for the mesh grade and $778/mt for the drawing grade, both ex-works conditions, no taxes included. The most recent deals for the export of the mesh grade are closed at $524/mt, while the drawing grade is exported at $540/mt, both FOB conditions. In August, for price deals probably closed in June, the mesh grade was exported in a range of $420/mt to $449/mt, while the drawing grade was exported at $480/mt, both FOB conditions. Monday, 19 September 2016 11:59:22 (GMT+3) | Istanbul SteelOrbis has been informed that Turkish producer Icdas 12-32 mm rebar prices in Turkey 's Marmara region are now at TRY 1,161/mt ($397/mt) + VAT ex-works, while its rebar prices in Biga, Canakkale in northwestern Turkey are at TRY 1,144/mt ($391/mt) + VAT ex-works. The mills list prices have moved down by TRY 51/mt + VAT as compared to its previous price list issued on July 20, while due to currency fluctuations prices have decreased by $3/mt on US dollar basis. $1 = TRY 2.93 According to market sources, Chinese offers to the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) for 4"-12" grade B seamless pipes, which ranged at $500-510/mt CFR during the past three weeks, have decreased by $30/mt week on week to $470-480/mt CFR, due to the downtrend of prices in Chinese domestic market. Meanwhile, ex-South Korea offers to the UAE for 8"-24" water and gas ERW pipes have remained unchanged in the same period at $560-635/mt CFR, while Japanese offers to the UAE for 2"-16" seamless pipes of grade B have also remained stable during the past two weeks at $1,050-1,200/mt CFR. 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Ciolos reminded that a year ago, the Cabinet he is heading started its mandate in a moment when 'confidence in the political environment, in the state authorities was weak.' "The people were expecting a new way to managing the public interest in a more transparent, more responsible, more predictable, open to dialogue way. Integrity was one of the values assumed at both the governmental team's level and at the level of those we are coordinating. And we have then focused on regaining the trust of citizens in the state, on assuring a legal, institutional more predictable environment favourable to investments, with a great target - to stimulate investments," said the Prime Minister. Ciolos emphasized that one should insist on transferring the good economic growth to the job creation: "We have also assumed a better, more transparent and efficient management of the public money, a channeling of the resources towards infrastructure, towards investments. (...) Even if the budget for 2016 was a limited scope one, we have assumed to administrate it wisely, so that we could ensure a good balance between revenue and expenditure. We have asked for data on the real economic situation of the country," said Ciolos, according to Agerpres. Romania's Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos will be leaving this afternoon for New York to attend the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly. The Government says in a press statement that on Tuesday morning, Ciolos will attend a welcome reception extended by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in honour of the attending delegation chiefs, and then he will participate in an event to mark the first anniversary of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Also on Tuesday, Ciolos is scheduled to attend the opening of the high level segment of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly, a high-level lunch extended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in honour of the delegation chiefs, as well as the Summit for Refugees and Migrants, an event jointly organised by the US, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden. On the side-lines of the session, Ciolos on Tuesday will have private meetings with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; Egypt's President Abdel Al-Sisi; Finland's President Sauli Niinisto, and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Erik Solheim. Tuesday will continue with Ciolos attending the ''Open Government Partnership: Five Year Celebration'' event at the UN headquarters, co-chaired by the presidents of South Africa and France. In the evening, the prime minister will take part in a reception party to be extended by the European Union, and another one extended by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in honour of delegation chiefs. Ciolos will also be attending a reception for the delegation chiefs to be extended by Finland's President Sauli Niinisto and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to celebrate the anniversary of the HeForShe initiative. On Wednesday, Ciolos is expected to meet leaders of the main Jewish organisations of the US; Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thompson. In the evening, he will attend the general debate of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly and deliver Romania's national speech. At the end of the day, he will meet the local Romanian community. Ciolos is also scheduled to meet Secretary General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jose Graziano da Silva; his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, and to take part in a lunch with US investors in Romania on Thursday, according to Agerpres. Mamaia, Agigea, Eforie, Costinesti, Olimp, Neptun, Mangalia, 2 Mai seaside resorts, alongside other areas will benefit from works to reduce the coastal erosion, based on a project worth 3.4 billion lei, approved on Monday by the Government, a press release of the Executive informs. It's about a project in which all the technical and economic indicators were approved for this investment objective, that is due to be finished in 36 months, in two steps. "In the first stage, that is worth over 1 billion lei, works will be done at Stavilare (Edighiol, Periboina), Mamaia, Tomis, Agigea and Eforie. In the second stage works will be done in Costinesti, Olimp, Jupiter-Neptun, the Mangalia-Venus-Aurora pool, Mangalia-Saturn and 2 Mai," the Government release adds. The quoted source mentions that the financing for the first stage of the project will be provided by the Cohesion Fund through the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme 2014-2020, from the state budget, but also from other legal sources. Legal funding sources are to be identified for the second stage of the project. "Through the implementation of the project, the Black Sea coastline will be protected (...) from the coastal erosion effects, due to the development of a specialized working program that takes into account the rehabilitation and the protection of the shoreline, the adjacent fields and the land and sea ecosystems. Also, the economic infrastructure and social objectives endangered by the marine erosion processes will be protected. Moreover, an integrated program for monitoring the coastal area will be implemented, in order to support the operations and the maintenance works, on medium and long (30 years) term," the release points out, according to Agerpres. A group of Ukrainian children's rights experts are on a five-day visit to Romania to exchange good practices with their Romanian counterparts, according to a press release issued by the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE). The exchange of experience is funded by RoAid, Romania's development assistance and cooperation program, and it includes a series of visits and meetings with central and local officials of institutions such as the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption (ANPDCA), the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and the Elderly, the Bacau County Directorate for Child Protection, as well as children's rights NGOs, such as World Vision Romania, the Federation of Child Protection NGOs and the Center For Juridical Resources. The Ukrainian experts will also visit one of the most important social inclusion programs implemented by UNICEF in Romania and they will be able to test an integrated social service model. The Ukrainian experts' visit takes place under an exchange of experience program organized by ANPDCA and World Vision Romania, facilitated by the Mobility Fund for Governmental Experts, an instrument of the Foreign Affairs Ministry meant to transfer Romanian expertise to partner states in areas where Romania has recognized experience, according to Agerpres. A wide-ranging four-day military exercise gathering troops from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine has started in Romania's north-eastern county of Satu Mare. The official opening of the "Blonde Avalanche 16" took place in front of the Administration Palace of Satu Mare City; Commander of the 10th Lower Danube Brigade Gheorghe Soare declared the exercise open after a welcoming message delivered by Satu Mare Prefect Radu Bud and Satu Mare City Mayor Kereskenyi Gabor. "This exercise is designed for joint training of the multinational military engineering battalion in disaster-specific missions in cooperation with other local public administration institutions and/or organisations acting in support of the population in emergency situations," organisers say in a press statement on Monday. The schedule includes a command and deployment exercises conducted at the training camp near Martinesti. Soldiers from the Romanian Land Forces Staff and soldiers from Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine are attending the excercise, according to Agerpres. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Sep 19, 2016) - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, today announced an investment of over $39.6 million in 14 innovative clean technology projects across Canada. The projects, which are being carried out in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, span several sectors, including waste management; energy, exploration and production; power generation; energy utilization; and agriculture. Minister Bains also announced $5.5 million in new funding for three previously funded Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) projects. The announcement was made at DarkVision Technologies Inc., which will receive $3 million in SDTC funding for the development of oil and gas well imaging technology. Projects are funded through SDTC's SD Tech Fund. This investment is part of the Government of Canada's support of clean technology to diversify Canada's economy, open access to new international markets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create well-paying middle-class jobs for Canadians.The Government of Canada has allocated a total of $915 million for the fund to invest in pre-commercial Canadian clean technology projects that have the potential to meet market demand and to achieve Canada's environmental and economic goals in priority areas. Quotes "Through today's investments, we hope to reinvigorate energy innovation in this country. We want to see all industries, all sectors, indeed all Canadians, including the middle class, benefit from this country's amazing potential for long-term growth and success. We imagine a Canada leading the world out of this period of slow growth." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "The investments announced today by Minister Bains demonstrate clean technology's ability to deliver tremendous economic and environmental opportunities to Canadians. SDTC works to bring economically viable innovations to market. The goal is to support globally competitive Canadian companies that produce tangible environmental benefits that also make Canada's economy more competitive." Story continues - Leah Lawrence, President and CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada "DarkVision is pleased to receive this level of SDTC funding and support for the rollout of our downhole imaging technology. Our product helps oil and gas operators resolve critical problems in their wells that create inefficiencies. We are excited to work with both SDTC and our consortium partners in bringing this technology to market and helping the oil and gas industry in Canada lower its costs, become more competitive and reduce its environmental footprint." - Stephen Robinson, CEO, DarkVision Technologies Inc. Quick facts Budget 2016 provides for an additional $50 million over four years, beginning in 2017-18, to Sustainable Development Technology Canada for the SD Tech Fund. SDTC is an arm's-length foundation created by the Government of Canada to promote sustainable development and support projects that develop and demonstrate new technologies to address issues related to climate change, air quality, and clean water and soil. SDTC invests in Canadian companies that, through their innovative technologies, contribute positively to Canada by creating quality jobs, driving economic growth and protecting the environment. As of December 2015, SDTC had approved investments of over $840 million in clean technology companies across the country. DarkVision has won numerous awards, including first prize in the 2014 BCIC-New Ventures Competition for the B.C. high-tech start-up with the most potential. Associated links Follow Minister Bains on social media. Twitter: @MinisterISED BACKGROUNDER Sustainable Development Technology Canada approved projects British Columbia Axine Water Technologies Inc. Sector: Waste Management Project Title: Electrochemical Treatment of Recalcitrant Industrial Wastewaters Funding: $2,000,000 DarkVision Technologies Inc. Sector: Energy, Exploration and Production Project Title: Downhole Imaging System for Alberta In-Situ Oil Sands Wells Funding: $3,000,000 Illusense Inc. Sector: Energy, Exploration and Production Project Title: Laser-based Technology for Inspection of Oil and Gas Pipelines Funding: $1,600,000 Saltworks Technologies Inc. Sector: Waste Management Project Title: Removal and Destruction of Ammonia from Wastewaters Funding: $4,000,000 Schneider Electric - Solar Sector: Power Generation Project Title: SmartESS Inverter Funding: $1,803,186 Sepro Mineral Systems Corp. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Sepro Continuous Gravity Concentration Technology Funding: $440,000 Ontario Advonex International Corporation Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Bio-derived Base Oil for Automotive and Industrial Lubricants Funding: $4,250,960 e-Zn Inc. Sector: Power Generation Project Title: Long Duration Energy Storage Technology for Solar Energy Funding: $700,000 Hatch Ltd. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Blast Furnace Dry Slag Atomization and Recovery Funding: $561,200 Rockport Networks Inc. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Energy-Efficient Photonic Networking Funding: $4,635,000 Opus One Solutions Energy Corporation Sector: Power Generation Project Title: Transactive Energy Network Funding: $5,353,500 Quebec Aeponyx Inc. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Development of an Optical Circuit Switch for Telecommunication Applications Funding: $1,900,000 Group NanoXplore Inc. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Reducing the Footprint of Electric-Motor-Driven Systems, by using Graphene-Enhanced Engineering Plastics Funding: $3,300,000 Manitoba Farmers Edge Inc. Sector: Agriculture Project Title: Automated Decision Support System for Precision Agriculture Funding: $6,107,563 Additional SDTC investments for previously announced projects Theres an unexpected benefit to buying a house in St. Louis County: Eight out of 10 buyers get a property tax break. Their homes are appraised for taxes at less than they paid for them. Whether that ought to be true and whether its fair to other taxpayers is a matter of some dispute. The Post-Dispatch analyzed records for the 2015 assessment, the latest one. Of 10,171 homes that sold in 2014, 8,137 were appraised for taxes at less than what they sold for. Of those, 3,305 were valued at 90 percent or less of the sale price. Of the rest, 1,562 were appraised for more than the sale amount, and 447 were appraised at the sale amount. That might be surprising, because tax appraisals are supposed to reflect the market value of the home, and home prices in St. Louis were rising in 2014. The Federal Housing Finance Agency put that years rise at 4.4 percent in the metro area. Among the more unusual cases is a five-bedroom mansion in Clayton sold for $1.24 million in June 2014, and appraised for taxes at $991,000 as of January 2015. There were some large discrepancies on smaller homes, such as a three-bedroom home in Creve Coeur, sold for $399,000 in July 2014 and appraised at $192,000 five months later. The result disturbs Edward Lawrence, a professor of finance at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He ran across the phenomenon when appealing the assessment on his own house in Creve Coeur. He noticed that houses that had sold recently were appraised at less than the sale price, but the actual sale prices were used as comps comparable properties to set the assessments for neighboring homes. Its unfair, said Lawrence, who teaches home appraisal techniques as part of classes on real estate. The buyer is getting a tax break, but people blocks away can feel the brunt of the sale price in their own tax bills. People should be cringing when a house down the street is sold, because their taxes are going to go up, Lawrence said. That can be doubly unfair, he said, because the purchased house probably was fixed up for sale painted, repaired, flowers planted. The price of that house is then used to assess homes that havent had a spruce-up. County assessor Jake Zimmerman calls Lawrence a disgruntled taxpayer who sued us and says the professor is wrong about valuing houses. Lawrence appealed his assessment to the Missouri State Tax Commission, and lost. Zimmerman, who is in charge of tax appraisals, says he uses the same system for valuing newly sold houses and houses that havent sold in decades, so all get the same treatment. When in doubt, he says, he errs on the low side. He says the Post-Dispatch analysis actually shows that hes doing a good job. Im very happy to see those numbers. I see a tight cluster around market value, he said. Lawrence, however, sees a huge deviation from true value with nearly a third of newly sold homes being valued at discounts of 10 percent or more. The Post-Dispatch analysis couldnt account for things that can take place between the sale and the tax appraisal, such as a tear-down or a major fix-up of a home. Unequal assessments mean that some taxpayers are paying more than their share for government, while others pay less, Lawrence notes. Underpayments by one group of taxpayers can mean leaner schools and public services, and increase pressure for tax increases. Valuing property Assessors are supposed to set property values by estimating what the property would bring if sold on the assessment date, in this case January 2015. The Missouri State Tax Commission describes a proper appraisal as the price the property would bring when offered for sale by a person who is willing but not obligated to sell it, and is bought by a person who is willing to purchase it but who is not forced to do so. Assessors generally agree that the best evidence for a particular house is the price it sold for recently. But thats not the only factor used. With tens of thousands of properties to value, St. Louis County uses a computer system. The system looks at the actual sale price. But it also searches for other sales of similar homes in the surrounding area in the past two years. As described by the assessors office, the system then adjusts for differences in square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, garages and the like. Houses most like the home being assessed get the greatest weight in the mix. Out comes a number thats usually lower than what a particular house actually sold for recently. In the case of the mansion on Hillcrest Avenue in Clayton, the assessor used the sale $1.24 million price plus five comparables, most in the $900,000 range. That resulted in the $991,000 tax value. Sometimes the computer cant find any similar properties nearby. The assessor then uses a formula estimating the value of the land and what it would cost to build a similar house, minus a factor for aging. Thats how a home on Rocky Drive in Creve Coeur ended up assessed at $192,400 after being sold for $399,500 five months earlier. Why not just use the recent sale price as the tax appraisal? That would be sales chasing and a very, very bad practice, Zimmerman said. If he simply grabbed the recent sale price, hed be treating recent purchasers differently than other homeowners, and the newcomers would probably be taxed higher than neighbors, Zimmerman said. So, he uses the same appraisal system for both. Some buyers do overpay, he noted. Bidding wars sometimes drive prices above what a homeowner is asking, and a buyer in a big hurry might pay up to get into a house quickly. That gets back to Lawrences point. The actual sale price is used to assess other houses, although the assessors own system would indicate that the sale price is too high. That sale price shows up on the comp sheet other homeowners see with their assessment notice. If you assume that the sale price does not reflect market value, it should not be used as a comp, said Larry Clark, director of strategic initiatives at the International Association of Assessing Officers. Zimmerman said it all balanced out because the same system was used for all houses. Automatic discount? Steve Weber, a certified appraiser, used to work in an assessors office before switching to the opposition. Now he is is with Property Assessment Review, one of the largest firms representing owners in assessment appeals. After years of such work, hes convinced that the assessor applies an automatic 5 percent discount to sales prices for newly sold houses. The theory is that the sales price was inflated by a pre-sale spruce-up. Zimmerman denies theres an automatic discount. But a fix-up factor does get considered, as the value of a paint job and flowers can fade. He compared it to the way a new car loses value as it is driven from the dealers lot. Real estate is a little bit the same way. Assessing is always prone to error, said Clark, whose organization represents assessors and property tax administrators. Assessors are using past sales to estimate present prices, and thats hard to do when markets are changing. An assessor doing a good job on average is still going to value many homes too high or too low. Zimmerman says he leans low. Its also my job to see that no one is stuck with an overly high tax bill, he said. My default is that, if Im going to miss, I always try to miss a little low rather than a little high. Updated at 3:50 p.m. WASHINGTON Accounting firm Ernst & Young will pay $9.3 million to settle charges that two of its former auditors got "too close to clients on a personal level" and broke rules aimed at ensuring reviews were impartial, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday. The agency said the two former Ernst & Young partners also settled SEC charges that they lacked independence when auditing the clients' companies. Another partner and a client's chief accounting officer also settled SEC charges that they engaged in unprofessional conduct. All agreed to penalties and suspensions from doing any accounting work relating to SEC matters. Neither Ernst & Young nor the individuals charged admitted or denied any wrongdoing in settling the charges, the SEC said. The SEC said these cases marked its first enforcement actions against auditors who failed to remain independent due to "close personal relationships" with clients' employees. It said that in both situations, Ernst & Young ignored red flags that signaled their partners' inappropriate conduct. Auditors are independent, outside accountants who examine a public company's financial statements and certify their accuracy. The process, required by the SEC, is designed to give investors assurances beyond the company that they can rely on the statements. The SEC said it found that Gregory Bednar, a former senior partner on the audit team for a New York-based public company, had "maintained an improperly close friendship" with its chief financial officer. The SEC did not name the company. The SEC said that Pamela Hartford, a former partner on another audit team, had been "romantically involved" with Robert Brehl, a different client's former chief accounting officer, between 2013 and 2014. The SEC did not identify Brehl's former employer. It said a third former partner, Michael Kamienski, had information that should have caused him to inquire about a possible romantic relationship between Hartford and Brehl. Kamienski's lawyer declined to comment. Lawyers for the other individuals did not return calls for comment. The SEC said Ernst & Young, during the periods of the relationships, violated SEC rules by representing that it was independent in auditing the companies when it was not. "The individuals at the center of these matters violated multiple EY policies, hid their conduct and behaved in a way that was antithetical to EY's Global Code of Conduct, culture, values, policies, and training," Ernst & Young spokeswoman Amy Call Well said in a statement. In 2014, real estate investment trust Ventas, Inc., said in a statement that it had "dismissed Ernst & Young as its public accounting firm effective July 5, 2014 due to E&Y's determination that it was not independent solely as a result of an inappropriate personal relationship between an E&Y partner and Ventas's former Chief Accounting Officer and Controller." In the statement, Ventas announced "the separation of Robert J. Brehl from his position as Ventas's Chief Accounting Officer and Controller in relation to these matters." On Monday, a Ventas spokesman did not return a call for comment. The SEC said that two of Kamienski's colleagues told him of their concerns that Hartford and Brehl were romantically involved. One of those colleagues later filed a whistleblower complaint, the SEC said. The SEC said on Monday that Kamienski had authorized releasing a Ventas auditing report despite knowing information that suggested the relationship between Hartford and Brehl. It said Kamienski left Ernst & Young last April. Ventas said in the 2014 statement that it had withdrawn its 2012 and 2013 audit reports by Ernst & Young. In the other case, former Ernst & Young partner Gregory Bednar was tasked with mending a client relationship. The SEC said he developed a close friendship with that client's chief financial officer and that Ernst & Young did not act on Bednar's more than $100,000 in entertainment expenses for the client, including sporting events. Community Health Systems Inc., a troubled U.S. hospital chain with a market value of about $1.4 billion, said its exploring a variety of options with its financial advisers. The discussions are at a very preliminary stage and theres no timeline for the review, the company said Monday in a statement. Community Health said that there is no certainty of a deal and it wont make further public comment while the process is underway. The Franklin, Tenn.-based chain owns or operates 160 hospitals, including four in Missouri: Moberly Regional Medical Center in Moberly, Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville, Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, and Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett. The stock fell by $1.20 to close at $11.09 on Monday, after jumping 16 percent Friday following a Bloomberg News report that the company was exploring a possible sale. Community Healths high level of long-term debt about $15 billion as of June combined with operational issues facing the company, could limit the number of potential buyers, a person familiar with the talks said last week. Another hurdle might be that many of Community Healths hospitals are struggling with low or negative margins and may have trouble finding a buyer among other hospital chains, according to Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with Mizuho Securities. Community Health might get sold in whole or in part, and the entire hospital chain would likely bring a price of about $9.61 a share in a non-distressed sale, the analyst wrote in a note to investors Sunday. Last month, Community Health posted a second-quarter net loss of $1.43 billion after writing down the value of its hospital assets. The company said at the time that it had overestimated the long-term fair value of its hospitals. While the Affordable Care Act has expanded health coverage, its effects have waned for hospitals over the past year, and Community Health spun off 38 hospitals as Quorum Health Corp. in April as it worked to improve financial performance. Gateway Regional Medical Center in Granite City and Red Bud Regional Hospital in Red Bud were among nine Illinois hospitals affected by the Quorum spinoff. The others are Union County Hospital in Anna, Metro South Medical Center in Blue Island, Galesburg Cottage Hospital in Galesburg, Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Crossroads Community Hospital in Mt. Vernon, Vista Medical Center in Waukegan, and Vista Medical Center in West Waukegan. Community Health has said its considering selling more. Bloomberg and the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Services are set for Dalton Prager, who died of cystic fibrosis on Saturday before getting to see his wife who is dying of the same disease. Visitation is from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Pitman Funeral Home, 1545 Wentzville Parkway in Wentzville. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Burial is private. Prager, 25, was in intensive care on a ventilator at Barnes-Jewish Hospital when he died Saturday. The plan was for Prager to get healthy enough to travel to Kentucky to see his wife Katie, who is in hospice care there. The Pragers were featured in a story in the Post-Dispatch last week about their fight to be together. They were born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that attacks the lungs and also affects the digestive system and multiple other organs. They met through a mutual friend were married five years ago. Both received lung transplants but developed complications including lymphoma. Katie Prager, 26, recently went on hospice care in her home in Kentucky. She longed for a final visit with Dalton, who had moved back to the St. Louis area near his parents for care. "Our situation hasn't been ideal, and it hasn't been the easiest, but the one thing I want people to know is that we still have each other even if it is long-distance," she told the Post-Dispatch last week. "Even if I don't get to see him again." On Saturday, Daltons mother, Renee Strauser, wrote: "You may Breathe Easy now my son. You are my true hero." Memorial contributions may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in care of Pitman Funeral Home, P.O. Box 248, Wentzville, MO 63385. Dalton and Katie Prager also have fundraising pages for their medical and funeral expenses. On Monday mornings the staff at SouthSide Early Childhood Center typically saw diaper need firsthand when some of the infants and toddlers arrived after the weekend with diaper rash. On other mornings staff sometimes greeted a child wearing a full diaper and would notice it was the same one the child had worn leaving care the afternoon before. The staff at SouthSide in St. Louis knew these families well, said Mary Clare Monahan, a social worker at the child care center. These parents, many of them new immigrants, were trying their best. Its not a neglect issue, Monahan said. They just really dont have the resources at home to be changing those diapers often enough. That changed with the help of the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, a nonprofit that didnt exist two years ago and now is distributing nearly 30,000 diapers a month to groups that assist young children and families. Last April the diaper bank partnered with SouthSide. The child care center was already providing free diapers through its federally supported Early Head Start program. But now, about 60 families were able to take home at least one, sometimes two, packages of 25 diapers every month to help tide them over on weekends and weeknights. The parents were really excited, and they also seemed relieved, Monahan said. Jessica Adams, executive director of the diaper bank, said the partnership showed how something as simple as a diaper could make a difference to families and organizations dealing with the chronic and multiple stresses of poverty. If we can take away that particular big stress for parents, they can better focus on getting other supports and making things better for themselves and their children, she said. The diaper bank is now gearing up for a regional diaper drive in honor of Diaper Need Awareness Week, Sept. 26-Oct. 2. The bank hopes to collect enough diapers and cash donations to increase its stock by 100,0000. During the week, Schnucks Markets Inc. will offer a buy-one-get-one-free deal for its store-brand diapers and encourage customers to donate diapers or cash in its stores. Other events in the area offer chances for donors to drop off diapers, including a Fill the Truck Day in Brentwood and a fundraiser at a local brewery. Founded as a nonprofit in 2014 in response to tremendous diaper need in the region, the diaper bank raises money to buy diapers in bulk at deep discount. It distributes them through 10 partners that work directly with children and families. It encourages schools, civic and church groups to conduct diaper drives to stock the bank. In the year to come, it hopes to expand its reach with new partnerships, particularly with child care centers such as SouthSide. So far this year, the diaper bank purchased 150,000 diapers at a bulk-rate discount. The bank expanded so rapidly that it outgrew its donated warehouse space and will be moving to midtown St. Louis after an anonymous donor pledged $12,000 in annual rent for a 1,200 square-foot facility. Adams attributes the expansion to the regions growing understanding of the impact of chronic or toxic stress on parents living in or near poverty. That stress is profound for parents who cannot afford clean diapers, while caring for a fussy, uncomfortable baby. Studies suggest diaper need is not only a health issue for children but can lead to maternal depression, further putting a child at risk for future developmental and behavioral problems. Diaper need grew so relevant this year that it reached the Legislature. Missouri lawmakers approved $100,000 to help the states three regional diaper banks. That budget item, however, was withheld by Gov. Jay Nixon along with numerous others because of an unanticipated shortfall in state revenue. Adams said the partnerships that developed with the diaper bank over the past year were varied. One of them is with Hancock Place/Bayless Parents as Teachers, which sends parent educators into homes and conducts school-based parenting support groups. Erika Anderson, coordinator of that Parents as Teachers group, said parent educators now brought packs of diapers on their visits. She said they were a welcome incentive for busy parents sometimes working multiple jobs to keep their appointments. If were able to make those visits and keep those visits and do those screenings and show those parents positive learning activities and build that parent partnership, then it helps the children, she said. Diaper need is still dire in the St. Louis region, said Aimee Travers of Bethany Christian Services, which partnered with the diaper bank earlier this year. The organization runs a Free Diaper Friday the first Friday of every month at its headquarters, 1300 Hampton Avenue. The walk-in program enables anyone to get a pack of diapers for each of their children or grandchildren a service that Adams said the diaper bank would like to replicate in another area of need in St. Louis County. Until Bethany partnered with the diaper bank, Travers said, the organization was spending about $2,000 a month from its operating budget on diapers, and leaders knew they could not sustain that. Now, it can serve more than double the walk-ins. Bethany distributes about 8,500 diapers every month and could increase that to 10,000. Travers said it was not uncommon for about 20 parents and grandparents to show up an hour before the doors open at 8 a.m. Some come from as far as Jefferson County and north St. Louis County, she said. Ninety five percent of the diapers are gone by 11 or 11:30 in the morning, she said. At that point, theyll take any size they can get even if it doesnt fit, just to have something for their children. The Madison County Sheriff's Department is searching for a 13-year-old girl and her 2-week-old son whom they believe are traveling with the teen's stepfather after they vanished Sunday morning. Katherine Elizabeth Derleth and her infant son, Christopher Ray Derleth, went missing from a guardian's home, authorities said. Sheriff's officials believe they may be with Katherine's stepfather, Christopher M. Derleth. Authorities issued an endangered missing person advisory for Katherine and her son on Sunday afternoon but did not give further details of the situation. They may be traveling to West Virginia in a green 1997 Mercury Villager minivan with Illinois license plate E833210, authorities said. Authorities described the elder Derleth as an avid camper and said he and the children may be at a rural camp ground or motel. Katherine is described as a 4-foot-8 inches tall, 95 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has three birthmarks on her right knee. Her father is 6-foot-1 and weighs 160 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information regarding where they can be found is asked to call the Madison County Sheriff Department at 618-692-4433 or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477. ST. LOUIS A man who broke into a Central West End home, raped a woman and threatened to kill her, was linked to the crime through DNA evidence, according to court records. He was arrested Friday at his workplace, at a building next door to the victim's home, police say. Jared Hurst, 26, of the 8700 block of College Avenue, was charged Saturday with two counts of rape, kidnapping, sodomy, burglary and theft. He was held without bail. Court documents available Monday say Hurst entered the woman's home on North Boyle Avenue through a window before 2 a.m. on Sept. 10. The victim told police she awoke to find a stranger on top of her. The man raped her and threatened to kill her when she screamed, according to court documents. He later held a pillow over her face to prevent her from screaming, and the victim had trouble breathing. Before leaving he threatened to kill her if she left the bedroom, and he took her cellphone, police say. The woman used a computer to send an email summoning help. DNA at the scene identified Hurst as a suspect, according to court records. Court records say Hurst has a criminal history including assault, domestic assault, assault on a correctional officer and sexual misconduct. UPDATED at 9:45 a.m. Monday with mugshot of Hurst A man has been charged in St. Louis with the rape of a woman in the Central West End on Sept. 10. Jared Hurst, 26, of the 8700 block of College Avenue, was charged with two counts of rape, kidnapping, sodomy, burglary and theft. He was held without bail. St. Louis Police said a man entered the first floor window of a home on North Boyle Avenue at 1:47 a.m. where the resident was sleeping in her bedroom. The man implied that he had a weapon, then sexually assaulted the woman. He fled the area. UPDATED Tuesday morning with sighting of minivan Sunday, but not since. EDWARDSVILLE A Metro East man has been charged in the abduction of his 13-year-old stepdaughter and her infant son, who disappeared from a guardians home over the weekend. Christopher M. Derleth, 39, was charged Monday with aggravated kidnapping and child abduction, authorities said at a press conference Monday afternoon. Madison County Sheriff John Lakin and States Attorney Tom Gibbons gave a few more details in the disappearance of Katherine Elizabeth Derleth, 13, and her 19-day-old son, but left many questions unanswered. Katherine had lived with Christopher M. Derleth at some point but was staying recently with a guardian in the Edwardsville area. She and her son, Christopher Ray Derleth, were last seen at the guardians home about 9 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. They were discovered missing Sunday morning. A sheriff's department spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Derleth's green 1997 Mercury Villager minivan may have been spotted on an interstate near Charleston, W.Va., Sunday everning. At the Monday press conference, Lakin said "good police work" led investigators to believe they may be in West Virginia. Lakin asked the West Virginia State Police to issue an Amber Alert, which it did Monday afternoon. There have been no more sightings of the minivan, the spokesman said Tuesday. Madison County authorities believe the girl and baby are with the elder Derleth despite an order of protection barring him from having contact with his stepdaughter. Lakin and Gibbons did not elaborate on what had prompted the order of protection. The protection order was issued Aug. 16 in Bond County, where the elder Derleth has an address. Bond County States Attorney Chris Bauer said he was the subject of two criminal investigations there but had not been charged. Bauer declined to give more information. Authorities would not say who is the father of the baby or describe more about the situation. They gave a previous name for Katherine as Anna E. Adams but would not explain. They said Katherines family members were cooperating with police, but again declined to give further details. There will be a lot more here, Gibbons said, referring to details that will come out. This is a very complex case. For now, he said, the focus should be on finding the children. Gibbons and Lakin said they were concerned for the health of Katherine and her baby, born Sept. 1. There are two young people someplace in the United States unknown to their caregivers without medical treatment, Lakin said. A 19-day-old child needs medical care that a 13-year-old is not prepared to deliver. Lakin said investigators have not learned of a family tie or other link between Derleth and West Virginia. They said he is an avid camper. The minivan has an Illinois license plate E833210. They gave addresses for Derleth in the 300 block of North Fourth Street in Greenville, where the protection order was filed, and in the 2500 block of Grand Avenue in Granite City. An at-large warrant was issued Monday for Derleth. Bail was set at $200,000. The aggravated kidnapping charge carries a maximum 30-year sentence, while the child abduction charge carries a maximum of three years in prison. PULASKI COUNTY One of two inmates who escaped the Pulaski County jail in south-central Missouri Sunday morning was arrested in an area home Monday night. James R. Sherrell, 32, was arrested without incident in a house off Highway U about five miles west of Crocker, Mo., according to the Pulaski County Sheriff's office. Officials did not say if the house was otherwise occupied. Sherrell was being held in the jail in Waynesville, Mo., on suspicion of drug possession and interfering with an arrest. The Springfield News-Leader reports Sherell and Dustin Richardson, 27, escaped from the jail early Sunday. Richardson was being held on suspicion of first-degree child molestation. Sheriff Ron Long said in a release that the inmates requested a medical check, then stole the jailer's keys and fled. The jailer was not injured. Police were searching Monday night for Richardson and a woman accused of helping the two men escape. Marlee N. Davy, 21, of Lebanon, Mo., led a sheriff's deputy on a high-speed chase Sunday after Sherell and Richardson were seen in her car, Long said in a release. The deputy pursued Davy for about fifteen minutes until his tire blew out. The pursuit started in Crocker and ended in south Miller County. Davy and the two men made numerous attempts to injure the pursuing deputy during the pursuit, according to Long. Davy and Richardson were last seen north of Richland, Mo., in a red Chevy Suburban SUV. The Missouri Highway Patrol was assisting Pulaski deputies in the search Monday night. Officials ask anyone with information on the whereabouts of Davy and Richardson to call 911 or contact the Pulaski County Sheriff's office at 573-774-6196. Meanwhile Monday, a Pulaski County jailer was accused of having a sexual relationship with Richardson. The Springfield News-Leader reports that Angelica Black, 22, was charged Sunday with sexual contact with a prisoner by a jail employee. Authorities say Black was working at the Pulaski County lockup when she had a relationship with Richardson. Black as of Monday had not been accused of assisting in the escape. Online court records did not show whether she has an attorney. ST. LOUIS Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer on Monday set a March 27 trial date for a civil lawsuit in which a Lincoln County teenager and her family accused St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson of knowing a priest was a danger to children before the cleric was charged with molesting the teen in 2012. The lawsuit was filed the following year in Lincoln County by the girls parents against Carlson and the Archdiocese of St. Louis after she told police the Rev. Xiu Hui Joseph Jiang, then an associate pastor at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica in the Central West End, had molested her at her home in Old Monroe. Jiang was added as a defendant in the lawsuit last year. The alleged victim was 16 at the time of the alleged abuse. Jiang was in his late 20s. Charges of child endangerment and witness tampering Jiang had been accused of leaving a $20,000 check and an apology on a familys car as hush money were dismissed in 2013. At a hearing Monday in Ohmers courtroom, Kenneth Chackes, a lawyer for the alleged victim, described a letter sent to Carlson from a man whose family became close to him after helping him emigrate to the United States from China. The letter was sent before Jiang was ordained in 2010 warning Carlson that Jiang was a threat to children because he suffered deep psychological problems, faked a relationship of intimacy with his family and lacked maturity. Jiangs lawyers denied those claims Monday and sought dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing the alleged acts did not occur on archdiocesan property and were not intended to inflict emotional distress. Chackes said two of the alleged victims sisters observed Jiang molesting her at their Old Monroe home and another time kissing her on the mouth and touching her buttocks in the church rectory parking lot. He said Jiang also sent emails and text messages from an archdiocese-issued cellphone and computer telling her how much he loved her and how much he wanted to be with her. After the lawsuit was filed in Lincoln County, it was sealed from public view before being transferred to Ohmer in St. Louis Circuit Court. It is unclear why the case is confidential. Ohmer on Monday further sealed psychological exams of the alleged victim and ordered the archdiocese to provide other records to the plaintiff under seal. Despite the secrecy surrounding the case, the judge set three more open court hearings in St. Louis on the case before the two-week trial begins in March: those dates are Nov. 28, Jan. 3 and Feb. 27. The archdiocese and its newspaper, The St. Louis Review, have said Jiang is a native of Shandong, China, and later attended St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He served his supervised ministry at St. John the Baptist Parish in St. Paul. According to the lawsuit, Jiang was a deacon in Saginaw, Mich., when Carlson was bishop there, before he moved to St. Louis. ST. LOUIS COUNTY Tiffany Outlaw, who knew activist Darren Seals Jr. from the Michael Brown protest movement, listened in a pew at Greater St. Mark Family Church as he was eulogized Saturday. I was telling my mom that now I know what it felt like when Martin Luther King was killed, said Outlaw, 32, of St. Louis. Its the same feeling. Outlaw was among several hundred people at the funeral for Seals, 29, of north St. Louis County, who was found fatally shot inside a burned car in Riverview on Sept. 6. Its terrible, she said, wiping away tears. Seals had been active in protests in Ferguson after the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. Among the speakers at the funeral Saturday was Browns father, Michael Brown Sr. He showed my family love, he said. He went real hard for my family. I cant do nothing but show some love and respect for his, too. Also speaking was Seals father, Darren Seals Sr. I miss my son, I miss him a lot, he said. I forgive the person who killed him, because Im a Christian. God is going to deal with you. He said he was overwhelmed by the love displayed for his son in news accounts and on social media. He asked those attending to stop blaming the police for everything. We are killing each other, he said. We got to step up. Lewis Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, presented the family with a resolution from the board. Reed said that when people read about the Brown protest movement, they will be able to look into the records of St. Louis and read about Darren (and) that he made a difference in his life. Reed said Seals had been focused on moving for positive change. That needs to remain as the focus, he said. Go out, shake it up and make it happen. St. Louis County police continue to investigate Seals death. A police spokesman, Officer Benjamin Granda, said the public has played a crucial role in trying to find Seals killer. We have been sitting down with activists and having an open dialogue, Granda said. He added that police want to continue to build bridges since Ferguson, because we are all working toward the same goal. We all want justice for Mr. Seals and his family. Christine Byers of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. ST. LOUIS Eugene Dokes, a businessman, real estate broker, author and former Republican official in St. Charles County, was sentenced Monday to five years probation for falsely claiming to be disabled to reap $48,000 in disability benefits, prosecutors said. Dokes, 33, was also ordered to repay $45,835.60. Dokes claimed to be disabled in 2007, and said that he had been unable to work since 2003, prosecutors said. He and his wife said that he did not engage in any social activities and had lost any interest in family and friends. But Social Security Administration special agents discovered that Dokes was a real estate broker, had started seven companies, published two books and got his bachelor's and master's degrees, prosecutors said. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Missouri House and the St. Louis County Council, led the St. Charles County Republican Committee and the St. Charles County Republican Caucus and served on the Missouri Advisory Board for United States Commission on Civil Rights. Dokes, 33, pleaded guilty in June to four counts of theft of government funds. COLLINSVILLE Local authorities say they do not believe a student injured on the stairs at Collinsville High School was hurt on purpose by another person. The Collinsville Police Department is conducting an investigation involving a student injured on the stairs at the high school Monday around 12:30 p.m. High School spokeswoman Kim Collins said the student received emergency treatment at the school and was later airlifted to a St. Louis-area hospital. There are no details yet on the kind of the injuries the student suffered. Assistant police chief Brett Boerm said a student may have accidentally nudged another student on the banister. "We do not believe there was any intent to harm the student," he said. The school released a statement on its Facebook page Monday announcing a student had been seriously injured. "The student and the student's family are in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time," the statement reads. Collins said the school released a statement on social media and on the school website to keep parents informed. She said any further updates would also be posted to the page. JEFFERSON CITY A Cole County Circuit Court judge is expected to decide this week if a proposal to legalize medical marijuana can go before voters in November. Backed by the nonprofit New Approach Missouri, the measure would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat patients with certain conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimers and post-traumatic stress disorder. Election authorities in a district encompassing Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties invalidated 10,700 signatures collected for the petition, leaving the campaign 2,000 shy of the required 32,337 they needed for that district. Supporters of the effort say the sheer number of signatures tossed out was cause for concern, questioning if overworked or inexperienced staffers made a mistake. The first day of court proceedings centered largely around the process for getting a citizen initiative on the ballot, which involves gathering a required number of signatures for a petition that will allow voters to weigh in on changes to the state constitution. Theyre often a last resort for citizens who are frustrated with political leaders or for those who support causes they cant get lawmakers to support. In this case, GOP supermajorities in the state legislature have largely rejected attempts to decriminalize marijuana or legalize it for medicinal purposes. For example, a much stricter effort failed in the Missouri House last session, when lawmakers rejected a plan that would have allowed terminally ill patients to use the drug to relieve pain. Signatures must come from registered voters, who fill out forms based on what county in Missouri theyre registered to vote in. Local election authorities are tasked with matching up the signatures on petitions with signatures in their own records. Witnesses who helped gather or verify signatures on behalf of New Approach testified Monday that voters often dont know what county theyre registered in. Sometimes, they argued, errors are made simply because supporters dont understand the process of a ballot initiative. But that doesn't always mean those signatures should be tossed. Theres not a huge level of knowledge about this among the voting public, said New Approach campaign manager John Payne, who testified Monday that backers estimate more than 2,000 signatures were not counted but should have been. Attorneys from both sides questioned Payne about individual signatures and the logistics of gathering them. Payne explained other reasons why a signature on a petition might not match the Secretary of States records inclement weather could have caused a voter to rush while signing, for example. And many supporters of medical marijuana have nervous and muscular degenerative diseases that may make signing their names more difficult, he said. The issue must be resolved by September 27 if the proposal has a chance to get on the ballot for the general election on Nov. 8. Supporters speaking outside the courthouse before the trial began included war veterans, cancer survivors, and the mother of a boy with epilepsy and cerebral palsy, all of whom said the drug could provide relief for millions of Missourians. New Approach President Lee Winters pointed to polling that showed wide support of the initiative, saying state prosecutors were wrong to try to keep it off the ballot. It is significant and far overreach for an elected public official to be using public funds to disenfranchise Missouri voters on this issue, Winters said. New Approach Missouri also argues that taxing marijuana at 4 percent under the proposal would generate $20 million to be put toward Missouri veterans health care. Should a court rule in the group's favor and the measure wins enough votes Nov. 8, Missouri could become the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana. WASHINGTON Looking at it conventionally, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committees decision last week to spend at least $3.5 million to help Secretary of State Jason Kander win the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri was a classic case of a fundraiser shifting priorities when opportunities elsewhere faded. But the fluid Senate map in 2016 also touches a unique complexity in Missouri, where outsider-vs.-insider arguments have historically played out more fiercely than in other states and where an independent voter streak can make party-line appeals moot. As Democratic Senate candidates chances have faded in other states most significantly Florida and Ohio, where the DSCC has cut support Democrats are looking for ways to expand the map in a quest to gain five seats and win the Senate. Hence, announcements last week that the DSCC would spend another $3.5 million on Kanders behalf in his battle to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Roy Blunt. The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee responded with a $270,000 initial pro-Blunt TV ad buy in the St. Louis media market, with more to follow, an NRSC spokesman confirmed Monday. Kanders fundraising and poll showings had long made him an attractive dark horse. But he emerged from the shadows when incumbent Republican Sens. Rob Portman in Ohio and Marco Rubio in Florida surged to poll leads. At the same time it made its Missouri announcement, the DSCC also said it would spend significantly to defeat Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who faces former state Rep. Deborah Ross. The same kinds of anti-incumbent, anti-status quo impulses that are propelling Kanders challenge of Blunt are the basis of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps appeal in Missouri, and elsewhere. But in many other states where Republican-held Senate seats are in the balance, Trump does not appear to be doing as well. And in many cases, the Republican incumbent senators face opponents who, unlike Kander, are long-term political insiders with household names. In that way, Missouri is both an outlier in the conventional fight for the Senate and also a good example of the complicated cross-currents of this election season as a whole. If polling so far holds, the prospects of some Missourians voting for Trump and Kander is real. Such a split-ticket vote reflects little fealty to any policy positions. In this construct, both Blunt and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton are the insiders with long Washington pedigrees, even though they are on different ideological planets, and Blunt has vigorously tried to tie Kander to Clinton, and both to President Barack Obama. This calculus also hinges on the reality that for more than a year, Trump has attacked the Republican status quo hence the extraordinary number of establishment Republicans who say they cant vote for him as much as he has any Democrat with the possible exception of Clinton. Missouri has a history of anti-Washington bomb throwers exceeding their national performances. In both 1992 and 1996, independent presidential candidate Ross Perot did better in Missouri than he did nationally. That independent streak may again be emerging 2016. Some Trump voters also kind of like Bernie Sanders, said David Robertson, head of the political scientist department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The policy positions you can hardly find a match there. But that outsider, that sort of angry outsider feeling of (Trump and Sanders) really speaks to a lot of people who are very frustrated with the American government right now. Robertson said that Blunt is really a part of the Republican establishment. I am not sure how many voters in Missouri perceive that, but those that do can see Blunt having a harder time defending himself against these kinds of winds of change that are blowing across the nation. Kander is young, he is energetic, he has the military background, and I think that all of those really are helpful to Kander in this race, he continued. Blunt and Kander are in a virtual clinch, according to polls taken over the past several months, with Kander for the first time taking a slight, within-the-margin lead in the latest one released last week. A RealClearPolitics average of polls on Monday still gave Blunt an advantage of 3.8 percentage points. But the same Emerson College poll that showed Kander with a 2-point lead over Blunt also showed Trump up 13 points over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Missouri. Robertson said hed have to see more polling to consider that a decisive trend, but he also said he believed Trumps national poll surge is reflected in Missouri. In Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and other states where Republican senators also face stiff challenges, Trump either trails Clinton or has a much narrower lead than he appears to have in Missouri. Many of these pivotal Senate races do not have an outsider Democratic challenger like Kander, in his first term as Missouri secretary of state. In Wisconsin, current Republican Sen. Ron Johnson trails former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold by about 9 points in recent poll averages, while Clintons average poll lead has hovered around 5 percentage points. In New Hampshire, two well-known political heavyweights, incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, are in a virtual tie, while Trump trails Clinton by an average of 5 percentage points, according to RealClear Politics. And in Ohio, the Republican Portman has surged to a double-digit lead over former Gov. Ted Strickland, not a new face. Missouri is one of the rare exceptions where Trump appears to be doing at least as well or better than a Republican senator facing stiff re-election headwinds. The effect of this counter dynamic in Missouri was illustrated recently when Blunt, who long has favored free trade agreements, announced that he was rethinking whether or not to support the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership pact forged by Obama. Trump has attacked the agreement as a sellout of American workers. Clinton herself has pulled back support after once describing it as a gold standard of global trade agreements. Thats opened her to charges she is flip-flopping, the same ones that Kander is leveling at Blunt. Kander, who opposes the TPP, recently was asked whether he was trying to ride the same anti-Washington wave as Trump. He cited Blunts position on TPP as evidence that it was his opponent who was worried about that wave. All I know is that Sen. Blunt has never seen a bad trade deal, Kander said. Is Blunt using trade to catch a bigger Trump wave in Missouri? You would have to ask him, Kander said. I think that Sen. Blunt is concerned about keeping his job. Blunt, on the campaign trail and through surrogates, argues that he is the true outsider because he would prevent Missouri from having Kander as a rubber stamp for a Clinton presidency. The status quo in Washington is represented by Hillary Clinton and Jason Kander who want to double down on the failed policies of President Obama and liberals in Congress, said Andy Blunt, Sen. Blunts son and campaign manager. Kander, Andy Blunt said, cant be a rubber stamp for President Obama and Hillary Clinton and then claim to be a change agent. JEFFERSON CITY After multiple legal roadblocks had kept it off previous ballots, Missouri voters will get the chance in November to weigh in on a plan to rein in huge campaign contributions. On Monday, the states highest court denied an appeal of two lower court rulings that had said the ballot initiative should move forward. Were very excited that it is going to be on the ballot, said Todd Jones, spokesman for Returning Government to the People, which is bankrolling the referendum. The initiative will ask voters in November whether they want to limit contributions to individual candidates to $2,600 and limit contributions to a political party to $25,000. The caps would go into effect next year. The courts decision comes at a time when candidates are raking in massive campaign contributions in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election. In September alone, there have been more than a dozen contributions of over $100,000, each of which is helping fuel spending on advertising, consultants, polls and yard signs. Republican candidate for attorney general Josh Hawley, for example, received a $1 million contribution from the Republican Attorney Generals Association as he goes up against Democrat Teresa Hensley. On Thursday, GOP candidate for governor Eric Greitens received a $100,000 check from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy Republican businessman. And, Democratic candidate for governor Chris Koster last week received $100,000 from the United Food & Commercial Workers union. The effort to bring those mega donations to an end is backed by Clayton businessman Fred Sauer, who made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2012. Opponents said the proposal unfairly limits some classes of businesses and associations from giving money to campaigns. In particular, Jefferson City attorney Chuck Hatfield argued some classifications of banks and member-owned organizations such as the Association of Missouri Electrical Cooperatives would be barred from contributing to their own political action committee. The two lower court decisions noted that the challenge to the proposal is too early, meaning voters first should get a chance to weigh in before the potentially affected groups can try to stop it again. Missouri had campaign limits until the Legislature removed them in 2008. Koster was a member of the state Senate when the issue was before lawmakers and supported removing the caps, but he now says he regrets that. A funeral with military honors was held Monday morning for Daniel Madden, a longtime roofer who was critically burned Aug. 6 by falling into a vat of hot tar. Madden, 66, of Overland, died Wednesday (Sept. 14, 2016) in the burn unit at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur, where he had been in an induced coma since the accident. He suffered third-degree burns from his waist up. "He never came out of coma," said Pat King, his wife. Riders with the Patriot Guard escorted the funeral procession from Ortmann Funeral Home in Overland to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Madden was an Army veteran who served in the Rangers in South Vietnam's Central Highlands in 1968-69. He also was a motorcycle enthusiast. He was burned after he slipped from the edge of a one-story roof on Olive Street in University City that he been mopping with tar. He fell into a four-wheel tar kettle that can hold 450 gallons of tar, which is kept at nearly 600 degrees. His son, Aaron Madden of Breckenridge Hills, and a co-worker pulled him from the tar and doused him with water. An ambulance rushed him to Mercy Hospital. In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by a daughter, Danielle Swofford of Troy, Mo., and four grandchildren. A body lies baking in the sun, with no one allowed to touch it. The laws the law, and it must not be challenged. For a play written 2,500 years ago, the similarities between the Greek tragedy Antigone and modern-day Ferguson are surprisingly stark. Thats part of the reason why three staged readings at Normandy High School and the Wellspring Church in Ferguson on Saturday drew crowds rich in racial, age and cultural diversity. Antigones theme resonated in the packed auditorium at the high school where Michael Brown graduated weeks before he was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer in 2014. Browns body remained in the street for four hours after the shooting. In Sophocles Antigone, King Creon, the ruler of Thebes, decrees that the body of the traitor Polyneices is not to be buried or mourned. The dead mans sister, Antigone, refuses blind submission to the kings rule and buries the body, declaring that love, common sense and compassion must reign supreme. We will never know whether racial violence would have erupted if Browns body had not been left in the street while tensions escalated. Browns mother, Lezley McSpadden, cried for his body to be taken away. Police, firefighters and canine units were dispatched nearly three hours into the ordeal to help with crowd control. There were logical reasons to leave Browns body in place. It was a Saturday afternoon, with fewer investigators available to process the scene. The county medical examiner could not take custody until police finished their work. Still, the display provoked reactions of bitterness and anger. One area resident contended Browns body was left as an example to show this could be you. The Rev. Al Sharpton said at Browns funeral that it was as if his life didnt matter. An author wrote in a national magazine that, Dictators leave bodies in the street. Warlords leave bodies in the street (not) an advanced society. Many believe those hours caused the fury to grow into riots that rocked the region and touched off a wave of protests across the nation about police treatment of African-American citizens. In Saturdays staged readings, well-known television actors such as Reg E. Cathey and Gloria Reuben were joined by a chorus that included police officers. Discussions afterward included a man who graduated with Brown and queer women of color. The experience underscored the distance many community members have traveled. Where expressions of outrage might previously have dominated such a discussion, this time the exchange was heartfelt, cordial and included multiple audience salutes to the police. Browns death sparked examinations of municipal courts, law enforcement and community police. The relationship between authority and citizens clinging to the social and economic fringe remain at the heart of it all. A fake tattoo parlor in St. Louis set up down the street from the Boys and Girls Club, and use of a confidential informer with a troubled criminal history, help explain how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives placed some of the citys most vulnerable residents at risk and seriously undermined its own integrity in the process. St. Louis was part of the ATFs Operation Hustle City, in which agents and police set up the Ink Pimp tattoo parlor at 2806 North Grand Boulevard in January 2013. Agents posed as outlaw bikers looking to buy guns to ship to California or Mexico, and serve as drug cash couriers. All this occurred in the same area where hundreds of kids regularly attended classes and events on a campus that promised a safe environment. What were ATF agents and their bosses thinking? This appalling example of disregard deals another blow to citizen confidence in law enforcement at a time when federal agencies should be helping to restore public trust. The Justice Department released a highly critical report last week of undercover ATF storefront operations aimed at getting illegal guns and drugs off the streets in St. Louis and four other cities. The report criticized the operations for inadequate oversight, accountability, training and planning, but did not recommend ending them. The report said ATF should consolidate its expertise in running storefront operations and not proceed with such stings until agency directors agree they are properly designed and executed. An agency that has existed in one form or another since 1886 shouldnt need to be told to properly design and execute operations, especially ones that endanger the very lives of citizens they are supposed to protect. Having issued new directives to the ATF, the Justice Department will need to monitor for implementation. ATF is no newcomer to controversy. Its fast and furious gun-running sting operation created significant diplomatic problems with Mexico when arms found their way into the hands of major drug cartels. Other sting operations have resulted in lawsuits, lengthy jail sentences for people convicted of fake crimes or worse, got people killed. Critics said some of the operations targeted people with mental problems and low IQs. The DOJ report found no evidence ATF targeted disabled people but said it was among several federal law enforcement agencies that had no policy prohibiting such targeting. For all the snazzy operation names and sexy elements of such stings, they failed to capture major criminals. The Post-Dispatchs Robert Patrick reported that agents did arrest 159 men and women in the area, including in Metro East. All St. Louis residents benefit when fewer illegal guns and drugs are on the streets. The fumbling ATF effort suggests the agency isnt learning from its past mistakes. Free-standing chain-link fencing can be put up in a very short amount of time at very little cost, and we all should commit to this solution until the killings in our schools stop. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Want Stoke-on-Trent news emailed to you direct from our journalists? Sign up to our newsletter Relatives of a 30-year-old man found collapsed in his prison cell are demanding a full inquiry after medics told them he is now 'severely brain damaged'. Ryan Taylor, from Berryhill, had been at Featherstone Prison where he was serving a 55-month sentence when he became seriously ill. According to his family, he is now 'trapped in his own body' and unable to properly communicate or walk. Now calls have been made for the prison authorities to establish what caused his rapid decline. Mum Karen Taylor says she was informed her son had suffered a heart attack allegedly days after an incident had occurred. The mother-of-three, from Berryhill, said: I was told that he had suffered a heart attack on April 29, but didn't receive the call until May 4." She added: I have been told three different accounts and still don't know what has happened to him." Karen, who works as a psychiatric nurse, said: I was told he was found unresponsive in his cell, but nobody has been able to tell me how he came to be that way or how long he had been there for." She fears Ryan had been set upon by other prisoners. He was taken to Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital, where he was in intensive care for more than three weeks. Karen added: The doctors have told us that he is severely brain damaged. He has been left as a vegetable. He will never walk again and won't be able to do anything for himself." Ryan was serving time after pleading guilty to burglary, false imprisonment, wounding and affray. He was no angel, but he doesn't deserve this," said his mum. I had been to see him on the Tuesday prior to this and he was looking really well and had been working out. He went into prison fit and healthy and now he is like this." The family does not believe Ryan's condition will improve and say he will remain unable to properly communicate or ever look after himself. Grandmother Susan Palmer wants to see Ryan transferred back to the Potteries from Wolverhampton to make it easier for relatives and friends to visit him. The 81-year-old, from Fenpark, said: We want to get him home. I have contacted the hospital and I just want someone to help us. At the moment, it's like he is wasting away before our eyes. We don't know what exactly happened, we have just been told he had a heart attack." The mother-of-three, who has 12 grandchildren, added: I don't think he will be able to speak again. He's got no quality of life. There are a lot of questions that we want answers to." The Prison Service says police are investigating the incident, which resulted in Ryan being found in his cell. A Prison Service spokesman said: The new Justice Secretary has been clear that safety in prisons is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system and a vital part of our reform plans. There are a number of factors that need to be tackled. We are determined to make sure our prisons are safe and places of rehabilitation. The police are investigating this incident, so it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage." Some 3,000 to 4,000 migrants have been evacuated from the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos after a large fire destroyed tents and prefabricated homes.Social media images showed huge flames. No injuries have been reported.Police are investigating whether the fire was started deliberately.According to the UN Refugee Agency, some 5,600 refugees currently live on Lesbos, but the island only has capacity for 3,600.According to Greek state news agency ANA, a brawl started on Monday after a rumour that refugees would be deported to Turkey en masse.One official, investigating the cause of the fire said: "There was tension in the evening. Our main concern is the safety of the people. The fire is quite big."Image copyrightUGCImage captionThe fire apparently started after rumours of mass deportationsMany on the island are afraid of being returned to Turkey or their home countries, correspondents say.The situation on Lesbos is exacerbated as many refugees land here and are held on the island until their asylum claim is fully processed.Those granted asylum are permitted to journey to the Greek mainland, while others are turned back.The procedure is part of the EU-Turkey deal brokered in March, in which the EU pledged to work towards visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to Europe's Schengen zone in exchange for Ankara's assistance in curbing migrants crossing to the Greek islands. Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. (NYSE: BXE) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with InPlay Oil Corp. ("InPlay") to sell certain non-core Cardium focused assets in the greater Pembina area of Alberta (the "Pembina asset sale") for total consideration of $47 million. Total consideration is comprised of $42 million cash, and 16,666,666 shares of InPlay with a deemed value of $5 million ($0.30 per share). InPlay is currently a private exploration and production company, but concurrently with the announcement of the Pembina asset sale, it has announced a proposed reverse takeover transaction which among other things, would provide for a public listing for its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Pembina asset sale consists of Cardium oil weighted production of approximately 930 boe/d and formation rights in the Cardium only. As part of the transaction, Bellatrix has retained formation rights above and below the Cardium on the Pembina acreage, including the Notikewin, Falher and Wilrich members of the Spirit River formation. Cash proceeds from the Pembina asset sale are expected to be used to repay existing bank indebtedness, including repayment in full of the remaining $12.9 million balance outstanding on the Company's non-revolving term facility, and a reduction of the amount outstanding under the Company's syndicated revolving facility. Bellatrix estimates that its current outstanding bank indebtedness, including the assumed application of net proceeds from the Pembina asset sale, to be approximately $78 million, representing a reduction of approximately $236 million from June 30, 2016. The Pembina asset sale details include: Total consideration(1) $47 million Estimated current production(2) 930 boe/d (74% oil and liquids) Proved reserves(3) 5.4 mmboe Proved plus Probable reserves(3) 7.9 mmboe Divestiture metrics include: Production $50,538/boe/d Proved reserves $8.67/boe Proved plus probable reserves $5.98/boe Notes (1) Before customary closing adjustments. (2) Estimated average production based on June 2016 field estimates. (3) Reserves at December 31, 2015 as estimated by Sproule Associates Limited. Reserves refer to "Working interest" meaning Bellatrix's working interest (operated or non-operated) share before deduction of royalties. Also referred to as "Gross" reserves under National Instrument 51-101 Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities. The estimates of reserves for individual properties may not reflect the same confidence level as estimates of reserves and future net revenue for all properties, due to the effects of aggregation. Closing of the Pembina asset sale is expected to occur prior to November 11, 2016, with an effective date of June 1, 2016, and is subject to a number of conditions. For further information relating to the conditions relating to the Pembina asset sale see the advisory relating to Forward-Looking Statements below. UPDATED GUIDANCE Bellatrix has updated its full year 2016 guidance forecasts to incorporate the impact of the disposition which is anticipated to have a minor impact on full year guidance estimates. Updated Guidance September 19, 2016 Prior Guidance dated August 10, 2016 Average daily production (boe/d) Full year 2016 average (+/- 500 boe/d) 36,000 36,250 December month average (+/- 500 boe/d) 35,500 36,500 Natural gas weighting 73% 73% Net capital spending ($ millions) (1) $77 $77 Production expenses(2) ($/boe) $8.50 $8.50 Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) announced that the Company, with the assistance of advisors, is exploring a variety of options with financial sponsors, as well as other potential alternatives. The discussions are at a very preliminary stage and there is no timeline established for this review. There can be no certainty that the exploration will result in any kind of transaction. The Company does not expect to make further public comment regarding these matters while the exploration process takes place. Community Health Systems primary focus continues to be on delivering high-quality health services in the communities where we operate, said Wayne T. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Community Health Systems, Inc. Our management team is completely committed to efforts that advance clinical excellence, operational and financial performance and growth strategies that will benefit our organization and the customers we serve. Unilever announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Seventh Generation, Inc., the North American home and personal care products company. Based in Vermont, Seventh Generation is a pioneer in corporate responsibility and sustainable product innovations, including plant-based detergents and household cleaners. The companys turnover exceeded US $200m in 2015 and it has seen double digit compounded annual growth over the last 10 years. Seventh Generation has a comprehensive product portfolio and a distribution network covering the natural category in grocery, mass merchandise and e-commerce channels. Nitin Paranjpe, President of Unilevers Home Care business said: Seventh Generation has long been a disruptor in the US marketplace, leading the industry in sustainable innovation while attracting new generations of conscious consumers. This addition to Unilevers product portfolio will help us meet rising demand for high-quality products with a purpose. Kees Kruythoff, President of Unilever North America, added: Were thrilled to add Seventh Generation to our brand portfolio, providing us with the opportunity to accelerate growth with our retail partners and connect in new ways with consumers. Adding Seventh Generation to Unilevers portfolio of purpose-driven brands like Ben & Jerrys and Dove demonstrates our continued commitment to the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. Seventh Generation CEO John Replogle said: For 28 years, Seventh Generation has been creating products that are not only effective but also designed with environmental and human health in mind while demonstrating that business can have a greater purpose, serving not just profit but people and the planet as well. Today marks the next chapter and were proud to join Unilever and its shared vision for purpose-led business on a global scale. Working together we are confident we can have a positive impact on the health of billions of people around the world, truly fulfilling our mission of nurturing the next seven generations while transforming global commerce. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. AHF invites China to pledge the final $100 million needed to reach the $13 billion target MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AHF today applauded the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and donor countries for reaching the fundraising target of $13 billion for the Fifth Replenishment Round, which will fund lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for millions of people around the world through 2019. At the conclusion of the replenishment meeting in Montreal, $12.9 billion USD had been formally pledged, although contributions from outstanding countries that had not yet committed will still be accepted and strongly encouraged. Despite many competing social and development priorities vying for funding, which in recent years has become scarce, increases in GFATM pledges from large donors like the European Commission, Germany, Japan, France, the UK and the United States demonstrate that the global AIDS, TB and malaria responses remain a leading development priority that demands continued funding. The pledges also serve as a vote of confidence for the effectiveness and impact of programs funded by the GFATM. In 2015, AHF rolled out a global advocacy campaign called Fund the Fund with the chief aim of ensuring the success of the Fifth Replenishment Round, and specifically urging large donors such as Germany, Japan and China to increase their contributions. The long-running advocacy effort included grassroots demonstrations in front of embassies in over 20 countries, a letter writing campaign, advertising campaigns and meetings with embassy officials and high-level decision makers around the world. We are very proud of having played a role in helping the Global Fund reach its funding target of $13 billion. This was a truly global effort for AHF that ran the gamut from a procession of tuk-tuks wrapped in Fund the Fund banners going from embassy to embassy in Phnom Penh to a large demonstration and march in Berlin in front of the Parliament, to meetings with embassies of donor governments in Kathmandu, Lima, Pretoria, and much, much more, said Loretta Wong, AHF Senior Director of Global Advocacy and Policy. While we were only a part of a much larger global movement working on replenishment advocacy, successes like a larger contribution from Germany which increased its contribution from Euro 600 million to Euro 800 millionshow that concerted advocacy indeed works. On the eve of Germanys increased pledge, AHF ran an ad in the German newspaper Allgauer Zeitung urging the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Muller to increase Germany's contribution to 800 million. Earlier that same month, AHF country program directors from over a dozen countries sent appeals to Germany, urging it to contribute more. AHF Europe Bureau Chief Zoya Shabarova was excited to hear about Germanys decision to up its contribution. "This is excellent! I think AHF's voice was heard in the EU through AHF advocacy meetings at German Embassies globally, lobbying in Den Haag at the Ministry and at Parliament," she said. This is a very significant victory for AHF and our Fund the Fund campaign. The donors have declared that getting AIDS, TB and malaria under control is still very much a priority, but our advocacy doesnt end here, said Michael Weinstein, AHF President. We laud the United States, European Commission, France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and others who have either increased or maintained their contributions, but one donor remains conspicuously absent despite being the second largest economy in the world and thats China. We will continue advocating until China contributes its fair share to the Global Fund. The Replenishment may be over, but countries can still make contributions afterward; also its critically important that down the road pledges translate into actual contributions and that all commitments are fully met, so our advocacy will continue. We also now call on the Global Fund to ensure the most efficient and effective use of these critical new resources and that these funds are directed to efforts to end or fully control these three diseases and not succumb to pressure from some donors to possibly divert resources to other uses when the evidence of the favorable health impact of Global Fund funding on AIDS, TB and Malaria is overwhelming, added Dr. Jorge Saavedra, AHFs Global Public Health Ambassador and former Head of the National AIDS Program of Mexico (SENSIDA). Lastly, we invite China to be a hero in this Global Fund replenishment cycle by contributing and covering the $100 million gap to bring this replenishment up to $13 billion. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 600,000 individuals in 37 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160918005049/en/ AHF Denys Nazarov, Associate Director of Global Policy +1-323-308-1829 work +1-323-219-1091 mobile [email protected] or Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications +1-323-308-1833 work +1-323-791-5526 mobile [email protected] Source: AIDS Healthcare Foundation SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Valero Energy Partners LP (NYSE: VLP) today announced that it will host a conference call on October 27, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss third quarter earnings results, which will be released earlier that day, and provide an update on partnership operations. Persons interested in listening to the presentation live via the internet may log on to Valero Energy Partners web site at www.valeroenergypartners.com. About Valero Energy Partners LPValero Energy Partners LP is a fee-based master limited partnership formed by Valero Energy Corporation to own, operate, develop and acquire crude oil and refined products pipelines, terminals, and other transportation and logistics assets. With headquarters in San Antonio, the Partnerships assets include crude oil and refined petroleum products pipeline and terminal systems in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent regions of the United States that are integral to the operations of 10 of Valeros refineries. Please visit www.valeroenergypartners.com for more information. ContactsInvestors: John Locke, Vice President Investor Relations, 210-345-3077Karen Ngo, Manager Investor Relations, 210-345-4574Media: Lillian Riojas, Director Media and Communications, 210-345-5002 Source: Valero Energy Partners LP By Nicole Mordant DENVER (Reuters) - Barrick Gold's Veladero gold mine in Argentina, one of its five core mines, could resume operations in the next two weeks, Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky said in an interview on Monday. "I am hopeful that it could be up and going in that kind of two-week window depending on how the reparation work goes," Dushnisky said. Barrick Gold said on Thursday that mine operations were temporarily suspended by the government after a "small quantity" of processing solution containing cyanide leaked outside a processing area. This is the second cyanide spill in just over a year at Veladero. Barrick was fined nearly $10 million by authorities in the Argentinian province of San Juan for last year's leak, which was caused by a defective valve. In the most recent leak, the solution flowed over a berm, or raised bank, surrounding the leach pad where gold is processed, after a pipe was damaged on Sept. 8 by a large block of ice that rolled down a valley slope. As part of the repair work, Barrick, the world's biggest gold producer, will raise the height of the berm, Dushnisky said on the sidelines of the Denver Gold Forum. The restart will be subject to the provincial government inspecting the work. The government has been "very responsive" in the past, Dushnisky said. Barrick has not publicly released figures on the volume of the latest spill. Presuming the repair work is finished within two weeks, "we don't anticipate any material impact to the project guidance," he said. Barrick forecasts Veladero will produce between 580,000 ounces and 640,000 ounces of gold this year. Barrick has had no discussions with regulators yet about any fines for the latest spill. Veladero's executive general manager Rick Baker has stepped down since the spill but is still employed by Barrick. Barrick's shares ended Monday's session down 0.74 percent at C$22.71, while the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index was up 0.76 percent. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Denver; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Phil Berlowitz) The logo of French gas and power group Engie is seen on the company tower at La Defense business and financial district in Courbevoie near Paris, France, March 2, 2016. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators opened a probe on Monday into tax deals granted by Luxembourg to French power utility Engie, stepping up the EU's campaign against tax avoidance by multinationals. The European Commission said it had concerns the tax rulings granted by Luxembourg since 2008 appeared to treat the same financial transaction as both debt and equity, leading to double non-taxation of companies in the GDF Suez group, as Engie was formerly known. That may have given GDF Suez an unfair advantage over other companies in breach of EU state aid rules, the Commission said. "Financial transactions can be taxed differently depending on the type of transaction, equity or debt - but a single company cannot have the best of two worlds for one and the same transaction," Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Engie said the company took note of the decision and would cooperate fully with the Commission to answer its questions. Engie has been present in Luxembourg since 1933 and employs about 300 people, she said. Luxembourg also said it would provide the Commission with all the necessary information. The government said it believed no particular fiscal treatment or selective advantage had been granted to the Engie companies. Only last month Vestager made headlines by ordering Apple to pay Ireland up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in unpaid taxes, angering both Washington and Dublin. Vestager will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in a trip to the United States this week, where she has been criticized for allegedly targeted U.S. companies, something the EU denies. A Commission spokesman said it was a coincidence the investigation into Engie, a French company, was opened the same week. The financial transactions are loans granted in 2009 and 2011 between four companies in the GDF Suez group that can be converted into equity and bear zero interest for the lender. "The final result seems to be that a significant proportion of the profits recorded by GDF Suez in Luxembourg through the two arrangements are not taxed at all," the Commission said. The borrower companies - GDF Suez Treasury Management and GDF Suez LNG Supply - were able to significantly reduce their taxable profits in Luxembourg by deducting the provisioned interest payments, which are tax deductible expenses, it said. The lender companies - LNG Luxembourg and Electrabel Invest Luxembourg - avoided paying any tax on the profits from the transaction because Luxembourg tax rules exempt income from equity investments from taxation, the Commission said. A Commission spokesman said it was too early to say how much tax Engie may have to pay if it is found to have breached state aid rules. The EU has already launched investigations into tax deals granted by Luxembourg to other multinationals such as McDonald's and Amazon. In December last year the Commission ordered carmaker Fiat to pay back up to 30 million euros to Luxembourg. (Additional reporting by Benjamin Mallet in Paris; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Mark Potter) The BlackRock logo is seen outside of its offices in New York January 18, 2012. B REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK AHEAD PACKAGE - SEARCH "BUSINESS WEEK AHEAD JULY 11" FOR ALL IMAGES LIMA (Reuters) - Peru is in talks with BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK), the world's largest asset manager, about obtaining infrastructure financing, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said Monday after meeting with the company's chief executive officer Larry Fink. In comments by phone to local TV channel Latina, Kuczynski said he was taking advantage of his stay in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly this week to promote infrastructure projects that his government wants to push out. "Right now I'm sitting with Mr. Fink, the head of BlackRock," Kuczynski said. "They're interested in doing financing in Peru on infrastructure, and I'm in talks with them about that." Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former Wall Street banker who narrowly won June's presidential election, did not mention any project in particular and stressed that contracts would be awarded through competitive auctions. BlackRock representatives had no immediate comment. The New York-based company has about $5 trillion under management and has said it is eager to grow in places like Peru. Kuczynski's comments come as his government aims to halve the country's $69 billion infrastructure funding shortfall by the end of his five-year term and BlackRock prepares to launch a private equity infrastructure fund in Latin America this year. BlackRock reported $752 billion in assets under management for Latin America infrastructure equity investments and had 26 dedicated employees to the effort as of March 31. Global mineral exporter Peru is one of Latin America's fastest-growing economies, with gross domestic product expected to expand by about 4 percent this year. But roads, sewage treatment plants and other basic infrastructure are lacking in scores of districts. Kuczynski's centrist government wants to increase private investments in infrastructure to 6 percent of gross domestic product by 2021 from the current 4.5 percent, Finance Minister Alfredo Thorne said last week. Kuczynski has pledged to ensure that every town in Peru has running water. He also has been promoting a commuter railway for Peru's central coast to connect districts in metropolitan Lima, as well as new refineries and ports to bolster the country's exports of copper, gold and zinc. (Reporting by Marco Aquino and Mitra Taj in Lima; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) joe seales Joe Seales was a stay-at-home dad between jobs. Then he started watching Donald Trump's speeches. Seales is the CEO of Right Side Broadcasting Network, a website best known for its YouTube channel, which has hosted feeds of almost every single Trump rally, town hall, or public appearance since July 2015. With broadcasting experience working with right-leaning figures like Glenn Beck, the RSBN CEO and his business partner Adam Taxin, a former reporter, decided they could easily broadcast Trump events, which were getting wall-to-wall coverage on cable networks but were difficult to find online. They flew to Phoenix on July 11 for Trump's rally, turned on the live-stream, and immediately found an audience. "We covered that speech and did that live, we got a million views on that speech within the first few months," Seales told Business Insider during an interview in September. "That's when I knew: 'Let's run with this.'" Right Side Broadcasting Network has emerged as a tool for many Trump fans along with journalists and campaign operatives. Seales said Trump appreciated that the network showed the size of his crowds at rallies, adding that the real-estate magnate "watches the network a lot" on his plane, though Business Insider could not confirm this. The Trump campaign has publicly supported the network, tweeting out links, while even some members of Hillary Clinton's campaign staff acknowledge privately that they watch the feeds of speeches on RSBN out of convenience. The formula for the organization's success is simple. The cable networks often carried Trump's speeches, which eschewed policy detail and rote stump-speech regurgitation for off-the-cuff zingers and audience participation. But Seales recognized that while the networks chopped up the speeches and posted bits on social media for news value, thousands of Trump supporters online wanted to tune in for large chunks or view the entire spectacle. Story continues And it's been successful. RSBN has over 186,000 subscribers on YouTube. MSNBC, by comparison, has 173,000 subscribers. RSBN's most popular video a clip of Secret Service agents surrounding Trump when a fan tried to charge the stage has over 2.3 million views, while several videos of entire Trump events have over a million views. Though Seales said he initially funded the operation out of pocket, he told Business Insider that RSBN had become donations-based, with donations averaging "roughly" $25 each. The RSBN website specifically touts the channel's status as a donations-based operation. "I've been approached by some venture capitalists and things like that, but we're hesitant to go down that route because we don't want to give up ownership of the content," Seales said. "We want to be in control of what we can and can't say on the network. So this is sort of a different kind of we're experimenting a little bit, seeing how far we can go without having to take that route." Lack of money obviously restrains the scale of operations that RSBN can accomplish. The cash from the donations funds about 10 employees, including two full-time crews: one to cover West Coast events and one for the Midwest and the east. Seales, who has no graphic-design experience, designed all the lower-third graphics on each stream himself. RSBN doesn't have the cash to afford a satellite truck, and it instead negotiates with venues and advanced staff to get a hardwire internet connection to broadcast its streams. Its blog is primarily populated with links to Trump live-streams and posts directly from the far-right site Breitbart News. Joe Seales Adam Taxin Still, Seales has big plans for the operation. Over the next several months, RSBN wants to roll out additional shows on its YouTube channel with the eventual goal of moving toward a 24-hour programming network. Seales said he was in talks with "pretty big-name people" from conservative media circles about future shows on the network, which he hopes will help bolster the channel's credibility outside its Trump streams. He envisions a network similar to Glenn Beck's multiplatform conservative media organization TheBlaze, with original blog posts and programmed shows. Earlier last summer, Seales signed deals with conservative media personalities Wayne Dupree and Pastor Mark Burns, who independently reached out to the RSBN chief about simulcasting shows on the network. Dupree approached RSBN in June about starting a show. After several shows, Burns reached out to the channel interested in launching his own show. Burns was a natural fit for the channel. A pastor with a tiny worship center in South Carolina, Burns became known for his televangelism, and he was noticed by Corey Lewandowski, who was then Trump's campaign manager, last fall, garnering a spot introducing Trump at his rallies. His warm-ups were so popular that RSBN began posting clips of just the Burns intros. mark burns But growing from a skeleton crew broadcasting speeches to a legitimate media organization has also presented obvious challenges. It's unclear that the simulcasts with RSBN's personalities, for one, are particularly popular beyond a core group of RSBN viewers. Dupree's shows generally garner far fewer views than live-streams from rallies or even any of the on-the-ground reporting that RSBN dubs "pregame coverage." And earlier this month, Burns was forced to apologize for exaggerating his credentials after a CNN profile revealed that the pastor had lied about being a part of a fraternity and serving in the US Army Reserve. RSBN defended Burns on its website, saying the pastor's fabrications were mistakes like those anyone else would make. "Pastor Burns, we still love you, bro," Seales wrote on the site. Burns did not respond to Business Insider's repeated request for comment for this article. The pro-Trump nature of the feed also attracts some of the real-estate magnate's uglier followers. RSBN streams often fill up with comments on the sidebar, which often include language that is racially, religiously, and sexually charged. Seales said he recognized criticism of the RSBN comments feed and told Business Insider he paid staff members to comb back through comments and block users posting offensive material. With less than two months until the election, Seales is starting to play for a future he did not envision a year ago. "Our goal is to be relevant after the election when there are no more Trump speeches," Seales said. Still, Seals acknowledged that "life will be pretty good for us if he gets in." The network plans to open an office in Washington, DC, if Trump is elected and will attempt to get White House press credentials. A Clinton win could present more challenges. "If that happens, I don't know what to expect," Seales said. "But we want to continue with programming either way and see how that goes." NOW WATCH: 'My friend died': Watch this emotional exchange between Joe Biden and a protester More From Business Insider A Bay of Plenty woman has been sentenced to 75 hours community work for illegally selling minced paua and kina on the black market. June Faulkner pleaded guilty in the Whakatane District Court on Wednesday of one charge under the Fisheries Act of illegally selling 16kg of minced paua and three litres of kina roe. Each year the prestigious event seems to get bigger and better and this year is no different, with several notable additions to the programme, including a new prestige car exhibition zone called the Car Deck featuring ten stunning supercars. For many years, major automobile manufacturers have indirectly participated in the Monaco Yacht Show by chauffering its VIP visitors and the private clients of exhibiting companies. The launch of the Car Deck reflects the desire of these brands to associate themselves with the show. It is also designed to meet the needs of yachting companies by attracting a new wealthy clientele on the quays of the marina. Of course, the show itself may represent Monacos beating heart for four days, but there is also a huge amount to see and do around the principality itself that will appeal to the discerning visitors to the event. Below we give you our top tips for how to spend your time in Monaco. SHOP TILL YOU DROP Monaco is indisputably one of the worlds luxury capitals and the leading names in fashion can all be found here, including the most prestigious labels in haute couture, perfumes and jewellery.In the heart of Monaco is the famous Cercle dOr where numerous elegant shops are located, filled with luxury goods and prestigious brands. Then there are the alleys of the old town where street merchants display typical souvenirs, and the galleries of the Metropole shopping centre, the Allees Lumieres, or the Fontvielle Shopping Centre, with their window displays showcasing ready-to-wear, decorations, leather goods and gifts. In short, you can find everything your heart desires here. DINE IN STYLE Synonymous with hedonism, excess and unadulterated opulence, it is little surprise that Monaco has some of the finest restaurants in the world. Among some of the finest are Restaurant Joel Robuchon Monte-Carlo, featuring a Teppanyaki-style kitchen that allows you to watch your food being adeptly cooked; Le Vistama, which offers one of the best views in Monte Carlo, and Le Louis XV Alain Ducasse, which transports you into a fantastical world of elegant grandeur and culinary perfection. WHERE TO PARTY Monaco houses a number of glamourous and extravagant clubs, and theres none more famous than Jimmyz. The nightclub is partly outdoors, giving it a unique vibe and is often buzzing with Monte-Carlo's heirs and socialities dressed to the nines. And then there is Amber Summer Monaco, a luxury After Beach chill-out lounge in Monte Carlo that comes from the same people behind Amber Lounge, the famous pop-up party destination that follows the Grand Prix circuit around the world. Located at Le Meridien Beach Plaza in front of Monacos most beautiful beach, Amber Summer exudes the brands signature nightlife experience, offering unparalleled service, chill-out cabanas, shisha pipes, smooth DJ vibes and an Asian-style menu. SOMETHING EXTRA If you really need to kick back and relax, a day at the Monte Carlo Beach Club will be just the ticket. Pitch yourself up in one of their luxury cabanas and enjoy the idyllic view over the sea. Once it gets a little later in the day, head for the Sea Lounge Monte-Carlo, a chic outdoor shisha bar with an extensive list of cocktails and champagnes. This is one place you'll certainly want to see and be seen. The 2016 Monaco Yacht Show runs from 28 September 1 October. Big names from the world of Spanish popular music performed on El Playazo beach until the early hours of Sunday morning Music fans at the Chanquete World Music Festival. :: E. C. More than 13,000 people attended the first Chanquete World Music festival on Saturday night in Nerja. The gates opened at 5pm and performances went on well into the early hours of Sunday morning. The event attracted young people as well as families, Spanish and foreign residents who live in the area. El Playazo beach, to the west of the town, hosted the festival, which saw well-known Spanish acts including Chambao, Macaco and La Mala RodrIguez, along with names from the world of reggae, ska and hip-hop, including relative newcomers and local band, Proyecto Mandarina, who opened the festival. Headliners, Chambao and Macaco were on at 10pm and 1am respectively and Tote King & Shotta followed by DJs Holy Boyz and Danny Boy ended a spectacular first Chanquete World Music festival as the sun started to rise over Nerja. Although the Nerja event was on a much smaller scale than neighbouring Torre del Mars Weekend Beach, the first Chanquete World Music pulled big names in the world of Spanish pop music. This was the last of the Axarquia areas summer festivals, with plans already in place to start thinking about summer 2017s live music offering. The Community Foundation of the New River Valley recently announced its decision to award a $10,000 Community Impact Grant to Plenty!, for its Food Matters project. Plenty! is a non-profit community organization that addresses hunger and food insecurity in Floyd County by encouraging neighbors to grow and share food. The Food Matters project is a collaboration between Plenty!, NRV CARES, NRV Head Start, NRV Community Services, Healthy Floyd, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Tri-Area Community Health, and Floyd County Department of Social Services. The project will be focused on teaching local families how to prepare healthy meals. Cooking classes will be offered at Plenty! and will be incorporated into existing parenting/education classes offered by NRV CARES, NRV Head Start and NRV Community Services. NRV CARES Executive Director, Laura Guilliams, says she is looking forward to working on this project and is thrilled to partner with Plenty! to bring much needed education and services to children and families in Floyd. The project will support work that is already being done in Floyd County to support better health and wellness among county residents. Healthy Floyds 95210 initiative encourages everyone to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day and according to Director, Meredith Dean, planning and cooking your own meals is a great way to make that happen, so we are excited to be a part of the Food Matters home cooking project. Jonathan Vandergrift, Plenty!s Executive Director, has expressed great excitement for the project which will begin offering classes in early 2017. Vandergrift, who took over the helm of Plenty! after co-founders Karen Day and McCabe Coolidge stepped down last year, is excited about the project. We are really grateful for the support of other community agencies as we move forward with offering cooking classes for our neighbors, Vandergrift said. Its a wonderful opportunity for us to work together to create better health in our community. Four separate cooking curriculums will be offered twice over the three years of the grant and part of the grant money will be used to conduct research about the projects effectiveness. Driver Middle School.JPG Students were sent home early from the C.S. Driver Middle School in Marcellus, above, on Monday due to an area power outage. Students also were sent home early from Marcellus High School and K.C. Heffernan Elementary School. (Google Maps screenshot) Camillus, N.Y. A power outage that affected more than 7,000 customers of two utility companies and forced the Marcellus Central School District to send students home early was caused by equipment failure at an electrical substation. Virginia Limmiatis, a spokeswoman for National Grid, said switchgear at the company's substation on Newport Road in Camillus failed between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Monday. The failure knocked out electrical service to about 3,000 National Grid customers in the Camillus, Marcellus and Skaneateles areas. It also cut power to 4,376 customers of New York State Electric & Gas. Limmiatis said NYSEG customers were affected because the substation also provides power to NYSEG. National Grid crews rerouted power to alternative lines, restoring service to affected customers by 12:30 p.m., she said. The outage affected the Marcellus Central School District campus off North Street in Marcellus. School officials sent students home early because they were unable to serve lunch and the schools had only limited phone service during the outage. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - September 19, 2016) - Speaking at the 2016 Our Ocean Conference, Moroccan Minister Delegate in Charge of the Environment Dr. Hakima El Haite called for a "world partnership to establish a real vision and strategy to address oceans," noting that oceans both sustain life and are essential to the economies of coastal countries like Morocco. Addressing a panel on "Ocean and the Environment," Dr. El Haite said, "Morocco understands the impact of climate change on oceans every day." "The oceans are not just part of an environmental agenda," she added, "but an economic agenda and human agenda." To address these environmental and economic challenges posed by climate change, the Kingdom has undertaken a number of initiatives to protect its oceans, including adopting laws against illegal fishing, promoting the monitoring of fishing fleets, and creating protected zones along the coastlines. Morocco, which will host the next Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 22) in Marrakesh this November, will place oceans at the heart of its COP 22 agenda. Dr. El Haite stressed the importance of linking the aims of the Our Ocean conference to the implementation of the COP 21 Paris Agreement. On the sidelines of the event, Minister El Haite told ClimateWire that oceans should be "put in the heart of the development and human rights agenda" of Paris, and that "Including oceans in NDCs [nationally determined contributions] would be a clear political signal and commitment and would encourage more programs and initiatives from the private sector, the financial community and all the non-state actors." At the conference, Morocco also announced a partnership with France and the Principality of Monaco to ensure better protection of the biodiversity and richness of Mediterranean Sea against climate change. Segolene Royal, French President of COP 21, said the partnership will strengthen the fight against pollution, noting that the goal is to set "rules of sustainable development" and "to protect the cradle of the Mediterranean, that links Europe and Africa." Story continues Morocco is frequently lauded as a leader in climate change policy. The 2016 Climate Performance Index ranked Morocco among the top ten countries making the most progress in addressing climate change and number one among "newly industrialized countries," citing the country as one that shows "the potential of developing countries to move forward." "Morocco understands well the necessity of being a careful steward of the planet," said former US Ambassador Edward Gabriel, "which is why the country has for years led the way in sustainability and environmental protection in the Middle East and North Africa." The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials, and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. 2013-06-18-db-Vote1.JPG People preparing to vote at the North Syracuse District Offices in this file photo. ( Dick Blume | dblume@syracuse.com) Last week, Onondaga County held a primary for 16 voters. Six of them voted. In November, the candidates chosen by those six voters will appear on their own ballot line for county court judge, thanks to a wacky piece of New York election law. Those 16 voters are members of the county's Reform Party -- the smallest of Onondaga County's nine recognized parties. To be clear, the primary wasn't held for just those 16 voters, since the Conservative Party also primaried for the judges' seats. If the Conservatives didn't need a primary, however, polls still would have opened just for the Reformers. What is the Reform Party? The Reform Party began during the 2014 gubernatorial race and was originally called the "Stop Common Core Party." It was (and is) part of a statewide strategy by two candidates to attract independent voters. Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino gathered petition signatures to create the Stop Common Core ballot line while running against Andrew Cuomo for governor. In order to create a new party line on a ballot, a candidate must generate 15,000 independent signature statewide, including a certain number from each Congressional district. To get on the governor's line, a candidate needs 50,000 signatures. Astorino got 51,294. That was enough to make the party a permanent ballot line until the next governor's race in four years. After the election, which Astorino lost, the party changed its name to the Reform Party, which is allowed under state election law. Cuomo made a similar move during the election, establishing the Women's Equality Party. At the time, he was trying to garner support for his proposed Women's Equality Act. "By having that low 50,000-vote threshold to get on the ballot it's created a situation where you see these major parties creating these false lines, which are basically cross endorsement lines for the major parties," said Dustin Czarny, an Onondaga County Board of Elections commissioner. "The Reform Party is endorsing mostly Republicans and Women's Equality is mostly Democrats." Those parties -- formed specifically around issues central to the 2014 governor's race -- could begin registering members after the election. In Onondaga County, there are 16 registered members of the Reform Party and 35 members of the Women's Equality Party. Onondaga County Party Enrollment Party Membership (as of 9/14/16) Democrat 102,355 Republican 81,766 Independence 14,341 Conservative 4,798 Working Families 1,266 Green 947 Libertarian 280 Women's Equality 35 Reform 16 Non-enrolled 71,082 Total 276,886 In all, six members of the Reform Party cast ballots for judicial candidates last Tuesday. Matt Doran received five votes, Robert Coville received three and Stephen Dougherty received two. Doran and Coville will now appear on the Reform Party line on the ballot. Some candidates tend to believe they're more likely to get votes if they appear on the ballot more often, Czarny said. "You see this mad dash by major candidates to have their name appear on the ballot more than their opponents appear because they think it helps them at the ballot box," he said. In the county judicial race, the Conservative Party also held a primary last week for its 4,700 members. The primary, then, was open for those nearly 5,000 voters. But even if there was no Conservative Party primary, polls still would have had to open for the Reform Party alone. "Not only would we have to hold a primary for 16 voters, we'd have to open the same number of polling places as we would otherwise," Czarny said. "We'd have to open a polling place in every town and 5 in the city for 16 voters." Last week's primary cost the county an estimated $68,000, according to Czarny. The parties could both disappear after the next gubernatorial election in 2018. If a party line fails to get 50,000 votes, it is removed from future ballots. Burgard High School.JPG Burgard High School in Buffalo, NY. (Google Streetview) New York State is being sued for withholding millions of dollars in funding for nine of its lowest-performing schools, including three in Buffalo. The lawsuit, filed in Albany by a group of parents, is related to the state's controversial receivership law, which passed in 2015 and gave superintendents of 20 underperforming schools unprecedented powers to turn them around. Lawmakers also agreed to provide them a total of $75 million in aid over two years. But nine of those schools - which include Buffalo Elementary School of Technology on South Division Street, Burgard High School on Kensington Avenue and South Park High School on Southside Parkway - showed academic improvement and were taken off the receivership list over the summer. The question for the court is whether those schools should still receive the money allocated to them for this year. At the time, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo - who championed the legislation - criticized the state Education Department for removing the schools from the receivership list after just one year. Cuomo, according to the lawsuit, instructed the Division of Budget not to release the second year of funding for those nine that made progress. But the state law is clear that the funding must be provided for a full, two-year period, the lawsuit contends. "It is a violation of the law to withhold these funds and hinders their continued improvement," said Marina Marcou-O'Malley, operations and policy director for the Alliance for Quality Education. The amount in question totals roughly $13 million, she said. The Alliance for Quality Education, an Albany-based education coalition, organized the four parents who filed the lawsuit and are being represented by the Education Law Center, a nonprofit firm. The lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court in Albany at the beginning of September and names as defendants the state Division of Budget and state Education Department, along with Budget Director Robert Mujica and Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. When asked for comment on the lawsuit, a state Education Department spokeswoman did little to defend the withholding of the funds by the state. "We all know that fragile schools, even those moving in a positive direction, continue to require critical funding and appropriate monitoring so they can continue the important work of supporting students," said Emily DeSantis, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department. "Despite the progress these schools have made, they still need a great deal of oversight and support as they still have much work to do." Court proceedings are scheduled for Friday, the coalition said. Buffalo was due a total of $9 million in receivership money for B.E.S.T., Burgard and South Park, according to figures provided in the lawsuit. Burgard was to receive $2.4 million; B.E.S.T., $2.7 million; and South Park, $3.8 million. The three were slated to get more than half the money this year. Still in question, but not specifically addressed in the lawsuit, is what happens to the pot of money that was unspent by the three during the last school year. The receivership money from the state was rolled out to schools late and the three in Buffalo didn't receive all that was promised last year, said Assemblyman Michael P. Kearns, D-Buffalo. B.E.S.T. is still owed nearly $369,000; Burgard, $422,000; and South Park, more than $1.1 million, according to records from the assemblyman's office. "It has been conveyed to me that it's in a holding pattern," Kearns said. In fact, of the $9 million earmarked for B.E.S.T., Burgard and South Park, the three have received only 20 percent of the funding. Kearns, a critic of the receivership law, has been trying to get Albany to at least release the money the schools are still owed for last year. "I believe any funding that was promised should be allocated to those schools," Kearns said. "These are high-need schools. There were reasons why we budgeted this money for these schools. It's almost like pulling the rug out from under them. They deserve that funding to continue their growth." It's just the latest drama surrounding the receivership law, which was meant to finally turn around schools that had been struggling for as long as a decade, but has been met with questions since its inception. Its rollout was bumpy, as schools in the first round had one year to come up with turnaround plans and show progress under the control of the superintendent or face takeover by an outside entity. The teachers union filed a suit challenging the receivership law's implementation and the right of the superintendent to impose new contract terms on teachers working at the receivership schools. --- Jay Rey, The Buffalo News, N.Y. A former SUNY Potsdam student was indicted today on hate crimes accused him of sending death threats and homophobic and racist notes to a professor at the college, according to the state's attorney general. Amjad Hussain, a former student at the State University of New York at Potsdam, is accused of delivering two messages that also contained threats against the professor's family and racist pictures, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Hussain, 23, of Elmira, was charged with two felony counts of second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime and one count of fourth-degree criminal solicitation. The threats were made in April 2015, according to Schneiderman's office. Hussain today pleaded not guilty to the charges in an arraignment. "Nobody should be made to feel unsafe or subject to harassment in their workplace, least of all our state's hardworking, dedicated teachers," Schneiderman said in a news release. "This indictment sends the message, loud and clear, that racist and homophobic threats will be treated with the utmost concern, and those responsible for such harassment will be held accountable." Hussain is also charged with soliciting another individual to deliver a third threatening note to the professor. Hussain faces up to four years in state prison on each felony count if convicted. He was arraigned today in St. Lawrence County Court. His next court date is Oct. 11. Richard Matt and David Sweat's escape from the Dannemora prison last summer put Upstate New York on high alert for weeks while they were on the run. How did they evade authorities for so long? The two convicted killers broke out of Clinton Correctional Facility on June 5, 2015, by cutting through cell walls with a hacksaw with help from tailor shop worker Joyce Mitchell. Matt was shot and killed June 26 in the woods 30 miles west of the prison; Sweat was captured two days after that, heading for the Canadian border. New details released in a Freedom of Information Act request by The New York Times reveal just how they survived in the woods for so long. In the 500 pages of transcripts, Sweat told investigators that they used black pepper to throw dogs off their scene and carried a shaver to avoid looking like bearded fugitives. Some nights were spent cold, wet and shivering on the ground, but they also found refuge in hunting platforms in the trees and at cabins owned by correctional officers. They found food, alcohol and marijuana. "We got high as hell for like two nights. So you know we'd drink, get high and hang out because there ain't nobody coming up here during the week," Sweat, 36, said. "We'd turn the heaters on and we'd cook... We made pasta and everything else because they had pasta there, because we didn't care -- it was the CO's." In other cabins they found a shotgun, beer and a radio. "It was actually kind of a running joke between him and me because on the radio they're like, 'Oh they're not woodsmen, this and that,'" Sweat told investigators. "And we'd laugh about it. It's funny... we're not woodsmen and we've been in the woods for weeks." According to the Daily Mail, though, their "Shawshank Redemption"-like escape took longer because Mitchell, who allegedly had sex with Matt in the prison, didn't show up with a getaway car the night they broke out. And Sweat said traversing the Adirondacks became difficult as Matt continued drinking while they were on the lam. "I'm like, 'Dude, you can't be drunk when we're moving; you've got to be sober,'" Sweat said, before eventually parting ways. "I said, you know what, I hate to do it to him, but I kept my part of the deal, I got him out and I bolted on him." Matt was killed by United States Border Patrol tactical unit when he allegedly pointed a shotgun at an officer. Two days later, Sweat was stopped by New York State Police trooper who recognized him. Sweat ran for a tree line and was shot twice before being taken into custody. Sweat, already serving life without parole, was sentenced to an additional 3 1/2 to 7 years in connection with the prison escape and ordered to pay nearly $80,000 in restitution for the three-week manhunt. He was previously convicted of killing a Broome County sheriff's deputy in 2002. According to the Times, he is currently serving his time in the Special Housing Unit at Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, N.Y. Ahmad Khan Rahami, restaurant Ahmad Khan Rahami, left, lived above and worked in his father's restaurant First American Fried Chicken in Elizabeth, N.J. Rahami has been taken into custody in connection with bombings in New York and Jew Jersey. (AP; Google Maps screenshot) Who is Ahmad Khan Rahami? The Afghan immigrant suspected in New York and New Jersey bombings has been captured after a gun battle when he was discovered sleeping in the doorway of a N.J. bar. The Washington Post reports Rahami, 28, was taken into custody after the owner of a bar in Linden, N.J., reported a man sleeping in his doorway. Police called to the scene recognized him as the man wanted for questioning in attacks that left 29 people injured in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, a pipe bomb that exploded before a charity race and five explosive devices in a trash can at an Elizabeth, N.J. train station. Another five men have been detained for questioning. According to the Associated Press, Rahami pulled a gun when approached by an officer Monday morning and shot him in his bulletproof vest. Another officer was shot in the hand; neither is believed to be seriously hurt. WABC-TV footage showed Rahami on a stretcher, conscious and bloodied, being loaded on an ambulance. His hands were cuffed and his eyes were open. It's unclear what role Rahami may have had in the attacks, which are now believed to be related acts of terrorism with a foreign connection. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said as investigators found "certain commonalities among the bombs," leading authorities to believe "that there was a common group behind the bombs." Rahami is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, according to the FBI. Officials told the Post he's being investigated for possible influences from international militant groups, but NBC reports he was not on federal or NYPD terror watch lists. NJ.com reports Rahami does not appear to have any prior convictions. Rahami lived in an apartment in Elizabeth over a restaurant owned by his father, Mohammad R. Mohami, called First American Fried Chicken. The Rahami family sued the city, local police and a neighbor for alleged anti-Muslim discrimination, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said Monday. Bollwage told The New York Times that the restaurant, previously open 24 hours a day, was "such a persistent neighborhood nuisance that the city forced it to close early." The owner's brothers Mohammad K. Rahami Jr. and Mohammad Q. Rahami were both arrested during a confrontation over alleged noise complaints; a neighbor also claimed people were loitering in his yard and urinating in his driveway. Slate reports Mohammad R. Mohami pleaded guilt to operating outside of licensed hours in 2011, and was fined $200 plus $33 in court costs. His family then filed a lawsuit alleging they were discriminated against on "the basis of race, religion and national origin," claiming they were told "Muslims don't belong here." The suit was dismissed as "baseless and without probable cause," Breitbart reported. The restaurant was searched Monday morning by officials. It's unclear if any evidence was find linking Ahmad Rahami to the bombings, but witnesses say he worked in the fried chicken eatery. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," Elizabeth resident Ryan McCann, who told the AP he often ate at the restaurant, said. As of Monday afternoon, Yelp reviews of the First American Fried Chicken business were being flooded with negative comments. "The Chicken here is EXPLOSIVELY good! The Flavor is the BOMB," one user wrote. Yelp updated the page with a warning message that comments may be removed due to the news coverage surrounding the business. "While we don't take a stand one way or the other when it comes to these news events, we do work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer's personal consumer experience with the business," the review site said. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. The Indonesian National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) is Set to Investigate into Alleged Investment Fraud Involving Indonesian Businessman Harun Abidin and Investment Company Cedrus Investment Ltd in Hong Kong: Mutual Legal Assistance Requests Have Been Filed in Hong Kong and Switzerland JAKARTA, INDONESIA / ACCESSWIRE / September 18, 2016 / The Indonesian National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) is set to trace evidence in Hong Kong and Switzerland in an investigation into alleged investment fraud involving Indonesian businessman Harun Abidin and investment company Cedrus Investment Ltd. The investigation was prompted by Harun's recent report against Hong Kong-based Cedrus Investment Ltd. and its owner, Swiss citizen Rani Jarkas, to Bareskrim for alleged investment fraud in May. "We have filed mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests to both countries," National Police spokesman Inspector General Boy Rafli Amar told The Jakarta Post, Indonesia's most trusted English newspaper, in a recent interview. Source: http://www.hongkongherald.com/index.php/nav/newsr/7418 In the MLA request letters sent at the end of July, the police asked the Swiss and Hong Kong governments to provide information on Rani Jarkas' identity and legal files on Cedrus Investment Ltd. Apart from Hong Kong, Cedrus Investment Ltd. has branch offices in the Cayman Island and China. The lawyer of Cedrus Investment Ltd has refuted a police report filed by businessman Harun Abidin who claims to have suffered financial losses over alleged investment fraud committed by the company. The lawyer explained that Harun Abidin is as debtor of Cedrus Investment Ltd. In response to uncertain insinuations towards his person, Harun Abidin, as an investor at Cedrus Investment Ltd with a share stake of over $22 million and cash in multiple currencies, answers questions regarding the alleged debt to Cedrus with his lawyer Hendra Kusuma Jaya. Story continues The relationship between Harun Abidin and Cedrus Investment is not that of a debtor and a creditor. Rani Jarkas, a chairman of Cedrus Investment, once again emphasized Cedrus role as an advisor, "They are paid as financial advisors, we gave them the money, which amounts to 350.000 USD, to manage Harun Abidin's stocks." Hendra Kusuma Jaya explained. In addition, many Indonesian investors including Mr. Harun Abidin had planted their money on foreign investment firms, whose climate is very hard to follow. "Not merely to invite investors, tax amnesty is being done by the government to allow capital inflow. The Republic Indonesia Police have to realize this issue." Said Heri Gunawan, a member of DPR Komisi XI. Source: http://www.hongkongherald.com/index.php/nav/newsr/7520 For more information, please visit http://www.hongkongherald.com Contact Info: Name: Axel Parker Organization: Hongkong Herald SOURCE: Hongkong Herald Astronomers have found signs of a new planet growing around TW Hydrae, a young star that lies 176 light-years away from Earth. The discovery was made with the help of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the most expensive ground-based telescope currently in operation. The distance and distribution of the dust grains from the star suggest that the budding exoplanet is an icy giant, just like the solar system's Neptune and Uranus. Scientists have discovered several extrasolar planets over the past two decades but there are still questions that remain unanswered about these worlds. Scientists, for instance, are still uncertain how icy giant planets form. Earlier observations revealed that TW Hydrae is surrounded by a disk of tiny dust particles and ALMA observations showed multiple gaps in this disk. The gaps were posited as evidence of a forming planet. "TW Hydrae is quite special. It is the nearest known protoplanetary disc to Earth and it may closely resemble the solar system when it was only 10 million years old," said David Wilner, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who is part of the team that conducted an earlier study of the young star and its protoplanetary disk. In a new study to be reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Takashi Tsukagoshi, from the Ibaraki University in Japan, and colleagues observed the young star TW Hydrae. At about 10 million years old, the star is among the youngest stars that reside near the Earth, making it a favorable target for studying planet formation. Using ALMA, Tsukagoshi and colleagues observed the disk around TW Hydrae to estimate the size of dust grains and found that the smaller dust particles dominate the bigger ones. The most prominent gap was likewise marked by the absence of larger dust particles. Observations of smaller dust particles being selectively located in the gap match theoretical predictions that a gap in the disk is produced by a massive planet, and that friction and gravitational forces between the dust particles and gas push the bigger dust out, leaving the smaller particles in the gap. Based on the depth and width of the gap, researchers said the new planet is likely a little more massive than Neptune. The researchers plan to conduct more observations to shed more light on how planets form. Part of this plan is to observe the polarization of radio waves, which can more precisely estimate the size of the dust grains. They also plan to measure the amount of gas in the disk to have a better idea of the mass of the forming planet. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A sewage spill has taken place at the Bogue Chitto River, according to the St. Tammany Parish government. The sewage water is in fact 6 million gallons of storm water, and it was released into the East Branch of the river via Brookhaven, Mississippi. Residents are urged not to swim in the water or go near it, as there might be issues in terms of bacteria and other problems that could affect citizens. A water quality test has been done, and the parish council members will monitor this test to come to a conclusion on what to do. "Because of this release of raw sewage into the river, we are advising citizens that contact with the water could present a health risk," according to state health officer, Dr. Jimmy Guidry. "Although all waterways will have some level of contamination, this sewage release has the possibility of elevating the levels of bacteria. People should take precautions to lessen their chance of getting sick from exposure to the water." To prove how much of an issue this could be, the state Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality issued a warning for the entire length of the river in Louisiana due to possible dangerous contamination. According to a report from The Advocate, the city of Brookhaven sewage plant suffered a levee breach, which gave way to the leak. The infected water is expected to hit the Louisiana section of the river by Sunday. Right now, the good news is the fact that the leak is under control, so it shouldn't spread a lot farther down. Bear in mind that swallowing the water could lead to throat problems, stomach cramps, diarrhea or even worse. Citizens have been asked to watch over the children and the elderly since they might be more likely to come in contact with the sewage water. Due to a weaker immune system, the water could be deadly for them, especially if they have other sickness that might react badly to the bacteria in the water. Earlier this year, Seal Beach and Long Beach in California were both closed due to sewage leakage after a line was damaged, spilling 2.4 million gallons of untreated waste into the Los Angeles River. However, it didn't take long for Seal Beach to become operational again, but Long Beach had to wait a while before citizens and tourists alike were permitted to resume using it. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Rumor has it that Google will launch Google Allo, a new instant messaging mobile application, in the Play Store any time this week. This was the app announced alongside Duo during the company's three-day I/O Developer conference last May. For those wondering why Google will release another messaging app when it already has Hangouts and Duo, here are some unique features. First, Allo is described as a smart messaging system that features a Google assistant function. The app can purportedly answer questions and find information in addition to its messaging capability. This could be powered by the technology behind Google's voice search that can be triggered by saying "OK, Google" in Android devices. Google Allo is also distinguished by what it seemed to be an ability to respond to a conversation without the need to type words. The application can offer a range of replies for the user to choose from through the app's capability to learn user response style. This will work on messages that include either text message or media content such as photos. Google said that the idea is to keep the conversation going. Google Allo also aims to introduce changes in the way instant messaging transpires. Rather than the use of all caps to indicate shouting, for instance, users could "whisper" or "shout" messages by expressing them in small or large font sizes with a quick swipe. Finally, users can reportedly rely on its Incognito mode to hold secure conversations and expiring messages. This is powered by an end-to-end encryption feature similar to the ones seen in the Telegram and Signal messaging apps. There is also a feature called private notifications, which helps users "to hide chats from shoulder surfers." Popular features seen in other mobile messaging platforms will also make their appearances. These include sticker support. Google has said that the app has exclusive stickers created by independent artists around the world. While Allo is not yet available, it has already gained 4.8 rating in the Play Store. This is due to the app's availability for pre-registration, which allows users to leave reviews without using the app. Ratings could fall when the application starts rolling out. The rumors about the exact Allo launch is still sketchy. The Twitter post of noted mobile tech leaker Evan Blass referring to this week's launch, for example, has been filled with numerous speculations from the public. Some of these cite a potential Sept. 20 release. Hello, Allo (launches this week). Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 18, 2016 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Youngsters spending excessive time on the internet are more likely to suffer from mental health problems including anxiety, inattention, depression, executive functioning issues, impulsiveness and ADHD. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada included 254 students for their study on the effects of internet and social media use in university-age individuals. For the purpose of the study, the investigators used the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) developed and used since 1998 and also a new testing scale they designed on their own. "We found that those screening positive on the IAT as well as on our scale, had significantly more trouble dealing with their day to day activities, including life at home, at work, school and in social settings," said Chief Researcher Michael Van Ameringen, a professor at McMaster University. Out of 254 students, 33 were found to be suffering from internet addiction according to the criteria set by the IAT. About 55.8 percent of students found it difficult to control their practice of video streaming, 47.9 percent couldn't stay away from using social media and 28.5 percent were obsessed with instant messaging tools. On the other hand, the new screening tool developed by the researchers showed that three times as many youngsters met the criteria for internet addiction. Van Ameringen said that internet use has changed over the past 18 years with the advent of social media, online jobs, video streaming and the like. The researcher noted that the IAT, which was created before smartphone use became widespread, may not be reliable in the present scenario since it may produce false positive results in differentiating people simply using the internet from those addicted to it. On the other hand, the new tool is designed to screen current internet use. With it, the researchers found that 42.1 percent of the surveyed students had mental health issues due to excessive reliance on the internet. Van Ameringen said this leads to questions on whether the prevalence of addiction to the internet has been extremely underestimated and whether other mental health issues are a cause or effect of being too dependent on the technology. With these concerns in mind, Van Ameringen noted how the study may have practical implications for how mental health care providers address problematic internet use. "If you are trying to treat someone for an addiction when in fact they are anxious or depressed, then you may be going down the wrong route," he cautioned. Van Ameringen added that to achieve a better understanding of the problem and come up with a solution, large-scale studies should be conducted among a bigger and more diverse group of people. The study is set to be presented at the 29th annual European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Vienna, Austria. According to the Illinois Institute of Addiction Recovery, the warning signs of internet addiction include preoccupation with and prolonged use of the internet, unsuccessful attempts to cut down internet use and using the technology to escape real-life problems and feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, depression and guilt. Photo: Pabak Sarkar | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Elecciones presidenciales El pais mas grande de la region elige este domingo a su proximo mandatario. Tras no lograr hacerse con la mayoria de los votos en los comicios del 2 de octubre, Luis Inacio "Lula" Da Silva y Jair Bolsonaro se disputan la Presidencia en una balotaje que enfrenta tendencias y valores contrapuestas. Con equipos en el terreno, Telam presenta una cobertura exclusiva con noticias, analisis, opinion, fotos y mas. With notoriously forced smiles and no crowd to cheer him on, the far-right politician Bolsonar walked in and out of the polling place in Rio de Janeiro. | Read More Thai low-cost airlines will see a chance to grow because of a number of supporting factors including the economic growth of region and increasingly liberalised skies across Asean, according to Kasikorn Research Center. Despite fierce competition in their home market, Thai budget airlines have been able to adjust their marketing strategies to adapt and expand both domestic and international routes to maintain business growth, even in the face of the slowdown in the global economy, said K-Research. Given their steady growth, these airlines are well positioned to benefit from the emergence of an Asean Single Aviation Market under the Asean Economic Community (AEC). In the 12 months to Sept 30, 2012, Thai low-cost airlines carried 20.3 million passengers, an increase of 15.3% from the previous 12 month according to K-Research data. Low-cost domestic and international routes increased by 15.1% in the same period. The centre attributed the growth to various factors including stronger tourism, increasing urbanisation in various regions of the country, a shift of consumers preferences toward low-cost air travel, and the economic development of Asean. The sector will also be stimulated by the creation of the Asean Single Aviation Market, which will further liberalise air travel among Southeast Asian countries. To prepare for the single market, Asean members are hastening to develop their infrastructure to support air travel. Thailand took a major step in this direction when it reopened Don Mueang airport on Oct 1, 2012, moving low-cost carriers there from overcrowded Suvarnabhumi to allow them to service more passengers. K-Research expects Thai low-cost carriers to see growth of 15-18% to 23-24 million passengers in 2013. By 2015, people travelling on budget airlines may account for about 35% of all airline passengers. via Low-cost carriers expected to fly higher under AEC | Bangkok Post: business. There was cautious optimism in Vietnam last month when a trial HIV vaccine in Thailand appeared to provide some protection against the deadly virus. Vietnam country director of UNAIDS Eamonn Murphy said he and his Vietnamese colleagues were confident that a fully effective vaccine could be developed in the future. However, he qualified that optimism: "I do not see an end in sight." Released on September 24, the results of the three year trial found that the chances of catching HIV, a retrovirus that causes AIDS, were 31.2 percent less for those who had taken the vaccine. Among the heterosexual Thai volunteers, 74 people who did not get the vaccine were infected, compared to 51 percent of the vaccinated group infected. "Ultimately we still need to rely on comprehensive HIV prevention," Murphy said. Improvements The trial was the first time in the virus's 28 year history that a potential vaccine had shown any efficacy but the call for celebration was only momentary, as the limited effectiveness of the vaccine was a sobering reminder of the need for vigilance. The numbers are small and the difference may have been due to chance, but this finding is the first positive news in the AIDS vaccine field for a decade, said Dr. Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet medical journal in a BBC report. Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said governments and stakeholders should "prepare today for tomorrow" when a vaccine becomes available. "We must not allow cost to deter people from access to a vaccine." Sidibe also asked civil society to keep breaking down the social barriers to vaccine uptake. Murphy added that it was too early to talk about introducing a vaccine and many more studies needed to be done. "We have seen improvement in prevention in Vietnam and that's what we need to focus on." There were major challenges ahead, Sidibe said in a statement, adding that less than half the people who need treatment have access and a lot has to be done to strengthen HIV health services and make antiviral drugs and a vaccine when it comes affordable for everyone. Talking of those challenges, Murphy said there was a long way to go reducing stigma and discrimination in Vietnam before high risk individuals would access a vaccine. He added that governments should provide more funding to find a vaccine. Epidemic figures Murphy said official figures showed that at the end of March 2009, more than 42,000 people "that we are aware of" had died in Vietnam from HIV or AIDS related illnesses. "But this figure is probably too low because many people would not want to identify that their family members have died of AIDS due to the stigma and discrimination associated with this," he said. "The challenge in Vietnam is that the epidemic is concentrated among groups like injecting drug users, sex workers and their partners and men who have sex with men (MSM) and you can not identify people easily in communities who may be at risk." UNAIDS figures on the epidemic show that 30,996 people are currently living with AIDS in Vietnam and 243,000 have HIV. Every province is affected with concentrations in high risk groups in the cities. One rehab for drug addicts in HCMC reported that two-thirds of their clients were positive for the virus while an NGO working in the central provinces said one third of injecting drug users there tested positive. Between 2003 and 2006 more than 16,000 Thais from the provinces of Chonburi and Rayong volunteered to take part in the trial, which was run jointly by the Thai government and US military. The researchers tried a combination of two vaccines, ALVAC and AIDSVAX, each of which on their own had previously not worked. With the US election fast approaching on November 4, the US Consulate and Americans in Ho Chi Minh City are encouraging thousands of their compatriots in Vietnam to vote. Its hard for us to work out, but to the best of our knowledge theres about 20,000 [US citizens in Vietnam] at any given moment. Its a ball park figure, Chief of the US Consular Section Chuck Bennett said in his office at the consulate in HCMC. He added that presumably most of them were eligible voters but there was no way of knowing how many people actually voted here. Consul Chief of US Citizen Services Martin L. Oppus has been working closely with US citizens concerning the election. Theres definitely been a lot of interest in the election, Oppus said. Our main role is to facilitate their voting in their respective states. Mainly at this stage we are moving registration forms back to the states. Voting and registering to vote is done mainly by mail as the embassy and consulate dont provide polling booths for voters here. Some states allow registration online, by email or by fax. Oppus and Bennett encouraged voters to send their registration and absentee ballot requests and ballots through the Consulates diplomatic bag. Oppus said they had been sending out letters to the 1,000 or so US citizens who had registered with the consulate as being in Vietnam. Seventy-five-80 percent of US citizens in Vietnam live down here in the HCMC area, he said. There are three main deadlines in each state for voters to be mindful of: registration, ballot request and ballot return. The deadlines and procedures vary state by state and Bennett said it is important for overseas citizens to check their own states requirements. For instance, according to the 2008 Voting Assistance Guide, registration in Puerto Rico already closed on September 4 but registration in North Carolina wont close until November 3. Oppus said the information is very specific for each voter depending where exactly their last place of residence in the US was. Theres not even a single mailing address per state, all letters must be sent to the auditor in individual counties. Theres been a stream throughout history of states independence in these things, Bennett said, adding that it can be frustrating. The Republicans Abroad and Democrats Abroad are two other organizations active in encouraging absentee voting here. Sesto Vecchi, managing lawyer at law firm Russin and Vecchi, is the chair of Republicans Abroad Vietnam. He said the political group took off in Vietnam in the 1996 election. The Vietnam veteran from the US, who has lived here since 1993, said the mailing list of Republicans Abroad in the country was 150 strong a group of hardcore politically minded people who always had and always will vote Republican. The question they face is how to reach out to other Republican voters every four years to get them to register for the election, he said. He said the Republican voters here are a pretty amorphous group with many, particularly government workers, not wanting their name associated with any political group. Its almost a phobia for some of them, he said. Democrats Abroad Vietnam HCMC Chapter Chair Tim Crowley said, What is interesting this time around is Obamas very strong interest in the overseas vote. Since August, weve had a guy in Jakarta with the Obama campaign whose portfolio is the Southeast Asian countries. Crowley, who has been in HCMC since July 2007 and works for a global enterprise software company, said Obama is paying more attention to overseas voters as a part of his overall strategy. The Democrat presidential candidate is using the Democrats National Committee Chair Howard Deans 50 State Strategy to motivate Democrats to vote, Crowley said. It is a part of Obamas strong sense to make people feel they are a part of the campaign, said the chapter chair. He said Democrats Abroad Vietnam is holding events and advertising in a Vietnamese newspaper every Monday in a bipartisan way to push people towards the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) to get them to vote. Both Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad Vietnam said they had no accurate figures on the number of US citizens here or how many voted. Vecchi said that on the Republican side, Theres probably not a lot of attention given to overseas voters. Of the 6,000,000 US citizens living overseas, Vecchi said, Republican Abroad trackers estimated 65 percent of them voted Republican. It is a bit skewed, he said, because the figure includes members of the military who were more likely to be Republican voters. McCain has a strong connection to Vietnam, said Vecchi. At least hell be a president who is fairly well informed on Vietnam. His wife was here a few weeks ago doing some charity work. According to Crowley, the figures on voting in Vietnam dont exist. It is hard to keep track of numbers here because people vote in their state and states dont keep track of where the votes are from. The Democrats group is doing most of their work by capturing the stream, ensuring that their members vote, he said. Theres a fair amount from the big states of California and New York, including the key battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Virginia and Iowa, said Crowly. He said Democrats Abroad Vietnam had a policy not to reveal their membership numbers but said that membership had doubled since they became an official part of the Democratic Party in April. Democrats Abroad Country Chair Thinh Nguyen said the group started informally in the 2004 general election. He said he wanted people to apply for their absentee ballot now. I think he [Obama] is going to win. There is a real desire for change and hes doing that, while McCains just doing more of the same, Crowley said. Vecchi said McCain would be good as he was his own man on many issues, supportive of decisions his own party doesnt support. Vecchi stated that one of his groups achievements was that three of the votes in the crucial final count in Florida that decided the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore were from Vietnam. He added that Republican lobbyists in Vietnam were making more contributions in this election than at the last election, but he couldnt give figures. Theres a limit of US$2,300 on donations to candidates but no limit on donations for issues, which are usually party specific such as immigration and capital gains tax, he said. Democrats Abroad said overseas voters could send in their ballots for free by using FedEx and DHL logistics services as well as the consulates diplomatic bag. Ballots can be sent in as soon as they are received from the different states, which will be in the next week or two. The consulate encouraged people to vote early. Bennett said, Every vote counts the same and every vote is important so every vote from Vietnam is important. Democrats and Republicans abroad in Vietnam speak to Thanh Nien Daily about their respective campaigns and their final impressions a week before the election. The world is scrutinizing the campaigns leading up to the November 4 US election with unprecedented interest. As the world watches the global economic crisis unfold alongside two US-led wars and tense American relations with Russia, North Korea, and Iran, expats in Vietnam are waiting anxiously to see whether the next US president will be Democrat candidate Barack Obama or Republican John McCain. I havent seen this kind of excitement about a US election in a long time. It is the biggest in my lifetime, said Democrats Abroad country chair Thinh Nguyen in Ho Chi Minh City. I think we are doing OK but theres nothing sure we have to work very hard till the very last day. It will be a very close election, he said. The Democrat campaigner said that voters in Vietnam were well informed about the campaign and issues back home. We have spent a lot of time reading all the articles about the election. We are leading in the battleground states like Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Sesto Vecchi, managing lawyer of law firm Russin and Vecchi in Ho Chi Minh City and chair of Republicans Abroad Vietnam, said in an email Sunday that most American voters in Vietnam, including Republicans, had already voted. Therefore, campaigning, electoral surprises, and the like will have almost no impact among voters in Vietnam, he said. But Nguyen said some Democrats Abroad members had yet to vote, adding that the group was having an event this week to make sure they send in their absentee ballots. Democrats Abroad Vietnam is definitely making an impact, also lobbying our friends and relatives back in the states, he said. I sent an article in Vietnamese [aimed at convincing Vietnamese Americans to vote for Obama] to the BBC and they posted it on their website and broadcast the interview [with me about our campaign in Vietnam] on the radio in Vietnamese. Vecchi said Republicans Abroad had made an important impact. Theres some collateral impact people talking about the candidates with Americans, foreigners and Vietnamese It has been a very open public debate with an insufferable amount of overseas coverage in the last year. He said in a phone interview Wednesday there was a certain amount of remoteness for voters here making them less involved with the campaign and issues than people in the US. Voters here had not been in touch with the US financial crisis like their counterparts at home, Vecchi said. The impact is going to be on how the crisis will impact on their businesses here, he said adding he didnt see the totally different philosophies of the candidates having a very direct impact in the short term in Vietnam. The Republican campaigner said he was hopeful despite McCain lagging in the opinion polls. I do recall the election where Reagan beat Carter there was a larger gap but it didnt seem to matter. He said the negative publicity about McCains running mate, Sarah Palin, was mostly noise. I think she is an asset, not anything that weakens the ticket. She has political strengths that are beneficial for her party. He also said that McCain had made his mark with a history of working not on party lines but on practical lines. Nguyen said the election would impact US citizens in Vietnam and everyone outside the US for three main reasons. The last few years, US world relations have not gone so well that will improve with the Democrats. Obama is better at handling the economy making a better chance at economic recovery worldwide. And he has different views on war Democrats Abroad supported an event last week and raised about US$15,000 for the campaign and on November 5 they will meet at a pub to watch the vote count, Nguyen said. He said he expected about 40 or 50 members to come. Republicans Abroad in Vietnam held a fund-raising breakfast to watch the last debate, Vecchi said. He would not disclose how much money they raised but said It was a pretty good sum. In the end, and whatever the outcome, I hope that Americans will put behind them the very long and often testy campaign, and work toward dealing with the issues that the country faces, Vecchi said. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Attorney General Jeff Landry asked Gov. John Bel Edwards for a meeting Monday. And if Monday doesnt work, then Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday with an hours notice would do for the political rivals to sit down and talk about budget needs for the state Department of Justice. Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo texted Monday afternoon that the governor "is looking forward to a meeting as soon as possible." The governor is proposing a meeting for next Tuesday Landry last week had tried to appeal the Edwards administrations refusal for a request for money in between legislative sessions. Landry wants to expand the Attorney General's office to root out more fraud from the Medicaid expansion and to hire more lawyers to handle a legal challenge to new laws that further restrict access to abortions. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said the requests werent timely made and essentially asked a committee charged with adjusting the state budget when the Legislature is not in session to appropriate money that lawmakers had not approved. Besides, the state doesnt have the money. Dardenne doesnt have time to meet with Landry until Wednesday afternoon, Landry wrote. Members of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget scolded Landry and Dardenne when they learned that the two had not met to discuss the issues. We have three and half more years to deal with each other. Do we really need legislators like me to come to the room and be referees? Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, told them. Landry, a Republican who employs several former staffers of Gov. Bobby Jindal, is considered by some to be the leading GOP challenger to the 2019 reelection of Edwards, a Democrat. The two have been at odds almost since the two were inaugurated in January, arguing over budgets, hirings and executive orders. A key legislative panel Monday approved the state's plan to widen Interstate 10 from Highland Road in Baton Rouge to La. Hwy. 73 in suburban Ascension Parish. The project required a review by the Joint Transportation Committee because the state Department of Transportation and Development plans to employ an accelerated process to speed work and save money. The committee approved the $60 million proposal without objection. Work is set to start on the nearly seven-mile corridor by next September, and DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson said the construction is tentatively set to take between 2 and 2 years. About 80,000 motorists use that section of interstate daily. The upgrade will add a new lane in each direction, meaning there will be six lanes when the work is done. An environmental study has already been done, preliminary plans are complete and no right-of-way acquisition is needed. "The federal government is interested in funding projects ready to be built," Wilson told lawmakers. The work will mark the eighth time Louisiana has used a process called design/build. That means the project will be handled by a joint team of highway designers and builders, rather than having those steps handled separately. DOTD officials said using design/build means the work will begin about one year earlier than using traditional methods. The same formula was used for construction of the John J. Audubon Bridge that connects New Roads and St. Francisville and two I-12 widening projects. Wilson, citing a study done by a group called CRISIS, said adding a new lane in each direction on I-10 will save 15 minutes or so for a typical commute. Lawmakers took turns praising the widening plans, which were announced last week by Gov. John Bel Edwards. "This project is going to be very welcome to this area," said Sen. Dale Erdey, R-Livingston and a member of the Senate Transportation Committee. House Transportation Committee Chairman Kenny Havard, R-St. Francisville, agreed. "It is a great opportunity for us in the Capitol Region," Havard said. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, praised what he called the innovative approach behind the financing plans. How creative financing, new federal law freed up cash for I-10 widening project The bulk of the financing to widen Interstate 10 stems from a federal law that gives states Most major road and bridge projects in Louisiana are on hold amid the state's $12.7 billion backlog of transportation needs. However, the bulk of the $60 million for the I-10 widening stems from innovative financing maneuvers authorized by Congress in 2015. Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge and a candidate for major-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, pressed Wilson on how long it will take to add one new lane in each direction. Wilson said the number of days needed for the job will be one of the elements used by state officials when they rate the proposals. He said his guess is between 24-30 months. "It could be sooner," Wilson said. "It just depends." While the I-10 widening won easy approval, some north Louisiana lawmakers questioned the state's regional priorities, including Sen. Jim Fannin, R-Jonsesboro and Rep. Dorothy Sue Hill, D-Dry Creek. Wilson said plans to widen I-10 from the Mississippi River bridge to the I-10/12 split are undergoing an environmental study. "That is the bottleneck," he said. Adding a new lane in each direction on that stretch would cost about $350 million, Wilson said. A task force named by Edwards is studying how to finance costly road and bridge projects statewide. That report is due in January, and the issue is expected to be a major topic during the 2017 regular legislative session. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close As a long-unformed U.S. Senate contest enters the homestretch, its safe to say that this weve strayed a very, very long way from where U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, one of 24 candidates, hoped the conversation would be. If youre still trying to make a first impression on the voters statewide, lets just say that its not good thing when your name comes up in a new book about the suspicious deaths of eight prostitutes, released by a major publisher less than two months before Election Day. Its particularly not a good thing when that book is sensationally titled Murder in the Bayou, and it contains a chapter describing how one of your aides, who has since resigned, ran the southwest Louisiana inn where the prostitution ring was centered. And when, oh by the way, author Ethan Brown quotes unnamed sources alleging that you were a well-regarded client of prostitutes who were later killed, even as he acknowledges that theres no reason to connect you to any of their deaths. And its definitely not a good thing when the whole drama takes place in the midst of a campaign to replace someone whose reputation was permanently marred by his own prostitution scandal. So its important here to make one thing clear: Charles Boustany is not David Vitter. Their stories diverge in several key ways, but the biggest is this: With Vitter, we knew at least some of the accusations were true. Ever since his scandal broke in 2007, Vitter has been pushing back on specific reports involving New Orleans-based prostitutes. But from the day it came out that his phone number had appeared in the records of a Washington, D.C. call girl operation, it was undeniably clear that hed strayed. And indeed, Vitter refused to answer questions about his involvement, confessed only to having committed a serious sin and, legalities aside, declared it a private matter. But he never denied that he had been a client. He couldnt, after having been caught red-handed. Unlike Vitter, Boustany can dispute the allegations, which he adamantly does, and which other news outlets, including The Advocate, have not been able to independently confirm. In a recent conference call with reporters, he deemed the books contents despicable lies and complete tabloid nonsense, and sought to shift the spotlight to one of his main rivals, state treasurer and fellow Republican John Kennedy, by accusing Kennedy of spreading the allegations. Congressman Charles Boustany blames John Kennedy for spreading prostitute-involved claims U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany on Wednesday blamed State Treasurer John N. Kennedy one of his The upshot of all this for voters is that, unlike with Vitter, they may never know what's true and what's not. Its impossible to know at this point how many might feel uncomfortable with the allegations and choose another candidate, how many will simply ignore them and focus on other things, and how many may actually feel for the guy, since he has no real way to disprove them. As for Boustany, he now faces a doubly difficult task: He not only needs to explain how he'd do a good job in the Senate. He also needs to convince voters that he simply deserves the benefit of the doubt. Louisiana health officials and St. Tammany Parish leaders are urging residents and visitors to avoid the Bogue Chitto River after approximately 6 million gallons of stormwater-diluted sewage spilled into it upriver in Brookhaven, Mississippi. The Australian Federal Police says it will diligently monitor the Canberra Airport once international flights start to arrive on Wednesday. Superintendent Murray Ferguson said police officers had been training for months to ensure to safety of the airport and were well prepared for the challenge. AFP, Border Force and Agriculture officials prepare for international flights. Credit:Jamila Toderas "We wish to assure everyone that we are taking this seriously and the full combined power our operations, supported by our counter-terrorism function and forensics will be available," he said. "We have been actively preparing with the Australian Border Force, the Department of Agriculture and also the Canberra Airport and our security partners." The Big Shave By Frazer Bull-Clark. I haven't made the work yet but I'll be there a week beforehand which should be plenty of time by Jason Phu. # Inurtiacreeps by Byrd. Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 55 Ainslie Avenue, Braddon, Until October 1. The three exhibitions currently showing at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space are terrific examples of the reason that contemporary art spaces are integral to the ongoing vitality of contemporary visual arts practice in our town (and elsewhere) and a potent reminder to funding bodies of the importance of funding decisions being based on rational and considered decision-making. The exhibitions are "edgy", intelligent and questioning, and while some may not like them they cannot ignore them. Byrd, #Inurtiacreeps, 2016, work in progress detail at Canberra Contemporary Art Space Braddon. In Cube Space, Frazer Bull-Clark's The Big Shave (a reference to a film of the same name by Martin Scorsese) is a 9 minute 38 second compendium of images of men shaving or being shaved taken from a range of recent and vintage movies. The list of "stars" appearing under Bull-Clark's razor is long and includes Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Clint Eastwood and several manifestations of James Bond from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. It is an extraordinary gamut and while each star's appearance may only be momentary, the artist's skilful editing and choice of inclusions is embracing, sophisticated and captivating. I listed more than 30 with whom I was familiar and while the recognition game is certainly a part of this work it is also much more than that. The choice of excerpts is not only fun but challenging in its variety and in the different types of masculine personae included. The act of shaving may be innocuous in itself. Bull-Clark does not deny this but hints at a range of readings and meanings that are (often) at play in scenes where shaving or being shaved is involved. The intimacy of the activity in mostly private spaces speaks of the quotidian rituals of masculinity. When others become involved intimacy collides with vulnerability and there is an exquisite tension imbued in scenes where one is being shaved by the other. The notion of the voyeur also arises and the artist's clever and unexpected juxtapositions nicely play with this. The Big Shave offers a lot in its just over nine minutes. I left the room with an image of John Wayne gazing at Dean Martin shaving and any preconceptions left with me. A Canberra man has pleaded guilty to dousing a Weston restaurant with petrol and exploding a gas bottle at Braddon McDonald's in two separate incidents a year apart. Gyu Seon Park, 41, faced two charges of using an inflammable liquid in circumstances likely to endanger human life, or cause a person grievous bodily harm, in the ACT Supreme Court. Gyu Seon Park, 41, was charged with committing an act endangering life over the Braddon McDonald's explosion. Credit:Melissa Adams He initially pleaded not guilty due to mental impairment but Park, using a Korean interpreter, switched his pleas to guilty the morning a week-long trial for the offences was set to begin in court on Monday. The court heard prosecutors and Park's defence had yet to agree on the details of a statement of facts linked to the Braddon incident. A third charge of failing to appear was dropped by the prosecution. One of Canberra's largest shopping centres was evacuated on Monday night after a suspicious package was found. Shoppers and staff were evacuated from Westfield Belconnen as a precaution about 5.30pm. An ACT Policing bomb response team truck at Westfield Belconnen after a suspicious package forced the shopping centre's evacuation on Monday night. Credit:Elizabeth Bellamy The centre was reopened as of 7:30pm when ACT Policing confirmed there was no threat to public safety. "Investigations are ongoing and [the] Belconnen mall has resumed trading as usual," the police statement said. Clive Palmer has lost another legal bid to stall any future examination over the collapse of Queensland Nickel. The businessman's barrister Nicholas Ferrett appeared in the Federal Court in Brisbane on Monday seeking an adjournment of his summons. Clive Palmer has faced an examination over failed business QNI. Credit:Bradley Kanaris He told the court the orders were partially sought on the basis an application for a stay of proceedings had been filed in the High Court "about 20 minutes ago". It comes after a bid to the nation's highest court was also made last week to stop Mr Palmer having to return to give further evidence, with the matter to be heard in early November. Patricia Rosas has a second job as a cook on Saturdays to supplement her salary as an early childhood educator. She also does baby-sitting. Childcare educator Patricia Rosas with five-year-old Antonella Blanco at the ABC childcare centre in Ultimo. Credit:Louise Kennerley Ms Rosas, who works at an inner city early childhood centre in Ultimo, said having a second job was the only way she could afford to visit her family in Chile. "I have a 14-year-old son and need a second job to save some money," she said. Trump Classic isn't given the free rein he once was allowed, but he pops up now and again in early morning Twitter screeds and unscripted asides in his speeches. At a rally last week he suggested Clinton's protective team should be disarmed. "Take their guns away, let's see what happens to her." It was a dangerous statement built on a broader lie, that Clinton plans to abolish the Second Amendment. No normal politician could pull off this sort of bizarre campaigning. The charges of flip-flopping and lying would damage rather than bolster a traditional candidate. But for Trump, the lying and evasion is part of the appeal. He cares so little about the norms of politics or the norms of human relations that he'll lie directly to your face then laugh at you for believing him. For Trump supporters, such open hostility to the truth becomes "telling it like it is," a fetish for authenticity that has nothing to do with honesty and everything to do with revolting against politics-as-usual. At least, that's why supporters of Trump Classic put up with his double-sided campaign. For those who prefer New Trump, the appeal is more subtle. These voters are part of the more than 70 per cent who find Clinton untrustworthy. Driven away by Trump Classic, they are hungry for a reason to vote for him with a clear conscience. Enter New Trump. He allows them to point to his retreat from conspiracies about Barack Obama's birthplace as evidence that he isn't racist, or to his canned policy speeches as evidence that he can be presidential. By running his dual campaigns, Trump has become a choose-your-own-adventure candidate: pick the policies and rhetoric you like and pretend that that pastiche is an accurate portrayal of how Trump would govern. It requires a lot of wishful thinking and wilful ignorance. Minority voters are unwilling to do that. There's too much directly at stake for them to believe Trump is just kidding when he talks about deportation or promotes white supremacists. But white voters may still play along with the con. If they do, Trump's two-Trump strategy could still carry the day in November. Nicole Hemmer is a Fairfax columnist and a research affiliate at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Defence Minister Marise Payne has vowed there will be no pause in Australian air strikes against the so-called Islamic State as an investigation is carried out into the accidental bombing of at least 60 Syrian soldiers. "We will continue in an appropriate, measured way with the international coalition, to do what is required, but there has been no hold as such put on Australia activity," Senator Payne said on Monday. Senator Payne declined to give any detail as to the nature of the RAAF's involvement in the coalition mission that mistakenly targeted Syrian soldiers instead of Islamic State fighters as intended during a bombing raid in north-west Syria at the weekend. The percentage of HSC students studying mathematics has fallen to its lowest level since the state-wide exam was established 50 years ago, while the number of students studying at least one Vocational Educational and Training course is at its highest. Of the 69,350 students on track to complete their HSC this year, 77.6 per cent are studying at least one maths subject. That is a significant fall from nearly 95 per cent of students who studied maths in 1986, figures from the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW show. Maths has consistently been the most popular elective course since the HSC was established in 1967, with total enrolments across the five maths subjects second only to English, which is compulsory. Three men stuck on Uluru were rescued on Tuesday morning after delicate 11 hour operation. The three Australian men, all aged 23, first got into trouble about midday on Monday, when they veered off the designated pathway into a restricted zone and became stuck in a crevice. By about 9.30pm, volunteers from the Northern Territory Emergency Service's specialist vertical rescue team had reached the men via helicopter and were preparing to abseil them to safety, after many hours working to secure abseiling anchors. Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services announced the men had "safely landed" about 3.30am on Tuesday, on Twitter. Police, nurses and paramedics have criticised moves by the Turnbull government to include volunteers in workplace negotiations for paid emergency service staff, warning it will affect the level of service provided to the community. The concerns from the Police Federation of Australia, the ambulance union and nurses' federation have been raised to a Senate committee examining the Coalition's bill to change the Fair Work Act to give volunteers a voice in workplace agreements. Paid Victorian CFA firefighters have told the committee about the need for seven paid firefighters to be deployed to any fire, citing cases where volunteers were slow to respond and in which having just four firefighters was inadequate. In January, Hoppers Crossing paid staff were sent to a house fire in which a man suffered burns to 90 per cent of his body and a mother and a baby were trapped inside. A 56-year-old man has fronted court after being charged with murdering a man whose body was found dumped outside a preschool. A passerby found the body lying next to a fence in the car park of Upper Ferntree Gully Preschool on Rollings Road just after 3pm on Saturday. Cameron Harris was found dead behind a preschool in Upper Ferntree Gully on September 17. Credit:Paul Jeffers The body has since been identified as 39-year-old Noble Park man Cameron Harris. Homicide squad detectives set up a crime scene at at the car park on Saturday evening. A man accused of stabbing another man to death refused to call an ambulance for him, saying he was convinced that he would not die, a court has heard. The man - who cannot be named for legal reasons - allegedly stabbed his victim in the face and neck in a Melbourne hotel room last year. A group of Ambulance Victoria paramedics were misusing the powerful painkiller fentanyl. Credit:Paul Rovere He appeared in the Supreme Court on Monday for the first day of his murder trial before Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth. Prosecutor Fran Dalziel said that the victim had become enraged when he found his alleged attacker in his hotel room with a woman he was interested in, and was particularly angry with the mess in his room. Bomb squad personnel at the scene of an explosion in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Credit:Jessica Remo/AP The five new devices were found in the city of Elizabeth, about 40 minutes away from New York City. Two men had just left a restaurant on North Broad Street at around 8.30pm local time, the New York Times reported, when they saw a backpack sitting in a rubbish bin and opened it up. The scene where the suspicious devices were found. Credit:Jessica Remo/AP Christian Bollwage, the Mayor of Elizabeth, said the men saw wires and a pipe in the bag and dropped it on the street before they sought help. Police and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) responded, bringing two bomb robots to inspect the devices. One robot cut a wire on one of the devices, which caused it to explode. Ahmad Khan Rahami. Credit:FBI/AP "The robots that were going in to disarm it cut a wire and it exploded," Mr Bollwage told CNN. "I don't know the technological aspect of that. I know there are other devices, I don't know what they're made up of, but they're going to have to be removed. All of the fragments of the other piece are going to have to be picked up so the FBI can investigate this fully." An emergency alert sent to mobile phones in the New York area on Monday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to the surrounding area. One robot was destroyed and another was damaged in the explosion. One witness told the Times there was screaming and confusion after the device exploded. "People were screaming, a woman yelled, 'what the hell was that'," Dean Fage said. "I felt it in my chest. I thought when they find bombs they take them and detonate them somewhere else." The other four devices will be seized and inspected by the FBI. It is thought the immediate area surrounding where the devices were found will remain closed for 24 hours Trains in the area were suspended early on Monday between the international Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth. Amtrak trains heading to New Jersey were being held at New York Penn Station, officials said, while New York-bound Amtrak trains were being held in Trenton, around an hour to the south-west of Elizabeth. Train passengers reported being stuck on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains for hours on Sunday night, while some trains moved in reverse to let passengers off at other stations. Amtrak said 2400 passengers were affected and trains were being brought into other stations for people to get other transportation. The discovery of the suspicious package comes a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. Also on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity run. Officials said it didn't appear that those two incidents were connected, though they weren't ruling anything out. Mr Bollwage said he wasn't willing to say that Elizabeth had become a target, and that it was possible someone was trying to get rid of the package by throwing it away. "I'm extremely concerned for the residents of the community, but more importantly extremely concerned for everyone in the state and country where someone can just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it with no timers and then you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt,'' Mr Bollwage said. Killer haze from forest fires that raged across Indonesia last year may have caused more than 100,000 premature deaths in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, according to a new report that suggests a drastically higher death toll than Indonesian government figures. Harvard and Columbia University researchers used air pollution readings to calculate exposure to the deadly smoke. Indonesians were the worst affected with an estimated 91,600 excess deaths, the report found. Credit:Getty Images "We estimate that haze in 2015 resulted in 100,300 excess deaths across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore," says the report, which was published in Environmental Research Letters journal on September 19. It says this is more than double the estimated number of deaths as a result of haze in 2006, with much of the increase due to fires in Indonesia's South Sumatra province. 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Read More Its been a wild ride for stocks to start the week as traders brace themselves for big central bank decisions ahead. Catch The Final Round at 4p ET with Alexis Christoforous and markets correspondent Nicole Sinclair. Winners and losers Stocks starting the week in the red include WebMD as the medical advice site announced the departure of its CEO David Schlanger; MGT Capital as it revealed it received a subpoena from the SEC requesting certain information (the company says it does not believe it is or will be subject to any enforcement proceedings); and Community Health Systems, with shares slipping after the hospital operator confirmed it was exploring a sale of its business. Shares surged on Friday when reports originally surfaced. Stocks in the green today include General Motors as Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock citing bullish trends from an auto market in transition; GoPro as the action camera maker revealed four new products, including a foldable drone; and Sarepta Therapeutics the roller coaster for Sarepta shares rolls, spiking today after the FDA approved its Duchenne M-S drug. Shares had previously spiked then dipped on speculation surrounding whether a critic of Sareptas MS drug had left the FDA. Jim Rogers on the Fed, markets Legendary investor Jim Rogers is here. What are his thoughts on the Fed, and where investors should turn to next? Well find out. Looking ahead The only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity. And so Jimmy Kimmel opened the Emmy Awards , offering a tongue-in-cheek critique on how self-congratulatory the television industry has become for its well-timed rewarding of a diverse slate of performers and creators. Airing a little more than half a year after the Oscars, which famously embarrassed Hollywood while exposing our cultures institutionalized racial biases, failed to nominate a single actor of color for the second year in a row, the Emmy Awards arrived Sunday night with a record number of diverse nominees. Eighteen of the nominees for acting awards this year were people of color, and for the first time in the shows 68-year history, performers of color were nominated in every leading acting category. The Emmys are so diverse this year, the Oscars are now telling people we are one of their closest friends, Kimmel continued to joke, taking the piss out of the otherwise very serious conversation thats lit up the zeitgeist over the deplorable state of diversity in media over the last few years. Whatever the word you preferdiversity, normalization (Shondas favorite), inclusivity (Ava DuVernays preference), or representation (my pick)the fact that were even at a stage where a white guy in a suit is poking fun at the debate insinuates how important the discussion is. Should we be past the point where we chart progress in awards milestones? That is, the firsts, the records, the groundbreaking achievements? Yes. But in acknowledging them and celebrating them, hopefuly we make room for progress. And Sunday night at the Emmys? Progress was made. Sure, it was funny when Kimmel, during his opening monologue, had nominees of color reach out to a white nominee to thank them for their bravery. (Its hard to nail this tone of joke, and we must give Kimmel credit for getting it right on the head.) But it was funny and important when Alan Yang, from Tawainese parents, alongside Aziz Ansari, whose parents are from India, accepted their award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series. Theres 17 million Asian Americans in this country and theres 17 million Italian Americans. They have The Godfather, Goodfellas, Rocky, The Sopranos. We got Long Duk Dong, Yang said, shaming all of our opportunity blindspots and institutionalized cultural (even if unintended) reductivism and, yes, racism in only five seconds. Weve got a long way to go, Yang said, with one final plea: Asian parents out there, do me a favor, just a couple of you. Give your kids cameras instead of violins. Its worth noting that the Master of None episode that Yang and Ansari won for, Parents, deals with how our current generation embraces our roots and histories, acknowledges our cultural failings, and reckons with how to do better both for the people before us and ourselves. Yangs is a searing, spot-on joke that packages that entire conversation in one self-aware, pleadingly progressive sound byte. The speech was so effective that Kimmel, again excelling in his role, joked, Now theres almost too much diversity in this show. Hes kidding, of course. But in more ways than one, this was the most diverse Emmy Awards I can remember. We can easily point to Regina Kings win for American Crimeher second consecutive victory, in addition to her career as an in-demand TV director being spotlighted for her work as the announcer narrating her journey to the podiumand certainly to Courtney B. Vance, Sterling K. Brown, and the rousing success of The People v. O.J. Simpson teams night at the Emmys. But it wasnt just racial diversity that was being celebrated. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, the People v. O.J. Simpson episode that shocked us into reevaluating our gender biases and sexist attitudes, won for writing. Sarah Paulson also won for playing Marcia Clark on the series. It took home valuable, important time out of her speech to personally apologize to Clark for being superficial and careless in my judgment of her, a person whose crusade for justice was reduced to a perm, romance rumors, and misogynistic digs about the roles of working mothers. Paulsons speech was, in a way, an attempt at absolution on behalf of all of us. Its certainly worth noting, too, that the first two directing awards handed out during the ceremony went to female directorsJill Soloway for Transparent and Susanne Bier for The Night Managerat a time when it was just revealed that only 17 percent of TV episodes in the last season were directed by women (and only 19 percent helmed by ethnic minorities, male or female). It requires actionactive action (you might call it activism)to remedy that disparity in opportunity. Ava DuVernay, who holds our lightning rod for inclusivity in Hollywood , is attempting to solve the problem in her own, individual way by giving all of the directing gigs on her series, Queen Sugar, to women. (She says, too, that after those breaks theyre all highly in demand now.) But giving trophies to the women doing great work is certainly a helluva a way to accomplish this active action, too. In that same vein, we might consider Jill Soloways speech for her Transparent win as active action. (OK, activism.) Topple the patriarchy! Soloway commanded, concluding a stirring speech about the importance of giving opportunity to voices that have long been silenced. Suffice it to say its the first time thats been chanted at the Emmy Awards. Certainly its the first time thats been a hashtag. Jeffrey Tambor, who won his second Emmy for playing trans character Maura Pfefferman on Transparent, ended his speech with a call to creators to hire trans actors. Its a call that was echoed later in the night by Laverne Cox, the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for an acting Emmy. Give them auditions. Give them a story, Tambor said, concluding, I would not be unhappy if I was the last cisgender male to pay a transgender character on television. His statement comes as that very action is causing a stir in the LGBT community. Mark Ruffalo, producing a film about a trans woman, has hired actor Matt Bomer as the star, to much controversy, and as such has great power. The films voices and stories that won on Sunday night, though they may not necessarily champion diversity, won too. The only thing that separates women of color from everyone else is opportunity, Viola Davis beautifully said last year when she became the first black actress to win the Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for How to Get Away With Murder. In baby steps, opportunity is coming and so is recognition. And with recognition, hopefully more opportunity. The recognition came in the form of a standing ovation for Sterling K. Brown, and in bombastic enthusiasm we all whooped along to as Courtney B. Vance thanked his wife, Angela Bassett, during his acceptance speech. In came in the reward for The People v. O.J. Simpson, which brought mass-appeal nuance to a cultural and racial debate that lacked any nuance two decades ago. Hell, Fargo pulled off won the finest second season of a show in recent memory but still lost to People v. O.J. Simpson because of how viscerally the series hit on a cultural moment. And the categories that lacked this sort of vitality, this diversity, seemed to be genuinely embarrassed by that fact, as Kimmel joked while mocking the whiteness of the Variety Series nominees, of which he was one. We celebrate the milestones, yes. Like Rami Malek, breaking a 16-year streak of white actors winning Best Actor in a Drama Series. Are we giving ourselves a bit too much of a pat on the back? Perhaps. I mean, is there anything whiter than Grease Live! beating Beyonces Lemonade for an Emmy Award? But lets face it, a good pat on the back is as good as a pat on the rear on the way to progress. Self-congratulation is a necessary stop on the path to normalization. A 1400-word story about diversity at the Emmy Awards is a stepping stone on the way to a TV reporter not taking copious notes during an awards telecast every time a person of color wins. Because, soon, it shouldnt be news. That, we should say, is the biggest victory of Sunday nights Emmy telecast. The daughter of one of Britains most notorious aristocrats, Tony, the 3rd Lord Moynihan, has been found shot dead on a Philippines street, making her one of the most high-profile victims of President Rodrigo Dutertes extra-judicial war on drugs which has now seen up to 2,000 alleged dealers and users assassinated. Aurora Moynihans body was found dumped in a Manila street last weekend, with a hand-written cardboard sign on which were scrawled the words, drug pusher to the celebrities you are next, in the local language. CCTV footage released by police shows the moments before she was shot as she got out of her Toyota SUV at the corner of Temple Drive and Giraffe Street in Barangay Ugong Norte. The Philippines Star newspaper, which published graphic images of the dead body, described her as an alleged drug pusher to celebrities. The report added that the victims bag contained sachets of methamphetamine and drugs parephanelia, including four pieces of aluminium foil and two improvised glass smoking tubes. Moynihans father, Tony, was known in the U.K. as the runaway peer for his habit of fleeing tricky situations back home. He made a break for the Philippines in late 1960s when facing a string of fraud allegations in the U.K. After his death in 1991, his obituary described him as a bongo-drummer, confidence trickster, brothel-keeper, drug-smuggler and police informer. His office in Manila bore a brass plaque with the legend, Of the 36 ways of avoiding disaster, running away is the best. Moynihan was widely known to be involved in the Manila drug trade. In 1980 he was named by an Australian Royal Commission as part of a syndicate importing heroin from Manila. He enjoyed the protection of President Ferdinand Marcos whom he referred to as, my drinking chum. Scotland Yard and the DEA used Moynihan to entrap Howard Marks, an Oxford University graduate who was one of the worlds biggest marijuana dealers. Moynihan wore a wire during meetings with Marks in return for his own immunity and was chief witness for the prosecution of his old friend. Marks described Moynihan, who died of a heart attack at age 55, as a first-class bastard. Maritoni Fernandez said in a statement published in Filipino media: In the early hours of September 10th, we lost my sister Aurora Moynihan. We as a family have one priority and truth at this point in time and that is to protect her children from further pain and suffering so that they, and we as a family may take this time to grieve, mourn but most of all celebrate the life of this exceptional human being I will forever have the privilege of calling my sister, she said. Thank you for your understanding. We live in an almost stupefying world of proliferating choices and options that reflect and express our most important and our most banal impulses. On Facebook, we can choose from 50-something gender identities, and on the Internet we can produce and consume any media we choose. Astroglide offers 10 flavors of personal lubricant and Pop-Tarts come in more than three-dozen varieties that are constantly changing. Starbucks literally offers an almost infinite number of excrutiatingly personalized coffee drinks. And yet when the first presidential debate takes place next Monday, the only people on the stage will be the two most reviled nominees in modern memory, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. A third candidate, former two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, will not be on the stage despite being on the ballot in all 50 states and polling at double digits in 42 states. In 15 states, hes at 15 percent or better. But tough luck. If you care about expanding choices and discussion when it comes to politics (and you should), the only proper reaction is outrage. But this glaringly shriveled choice is a feature not a bug of American politics. Democrats and Republicans may disagree when it comes to abortion, spending, and taxes, but they are thick as thieves when it comes to maintaining an electoral duopoly (go check out your states ballot-access laws sometime). Nowhere is this collusion more flagrant than in the machinations of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), the nonpartisan nonprofit that operates the debates and was created 29 years ago by the Democratic and Republican Parties with the goal of excluding third-party candidates. By jointly sponsoring these debates, reads the 1987 press release (PDF) announcing the formation of the CPD, we will better fulfill our party responsibilities to inform and educate the electorate, strengthen the role of political parties in the electoral process and, most important of all, we can institutionalize the debates, making them an integral and permanent part of the presidential debate process. I spoke by phone with one of the authors of that press release, former Democratic National Committee press secretary Terry Michael, to get a stronger sense of how the CPD was conceived and how it was, in his words, a power play to confine the debates to a conversation between Republicans and Democrats. Once a true believer in the two-party system, Michael is now a senior media advisor to Gary Johnsons campaign, so you can take his analysis with as much or as little salt as your blood pressure allows (full disclosure: Michael, who defines himself as a libertarian Democrat, has written for Reason.com, the website I edit). I also called the longtime head of the CPD, Janet Brown, but neither she nor anyone at her group was willing to speak on the record. Although we take presidential debates for granted, there was a long stretches when they didnt happen and were marred by technical screw-ups or obstinate participants. The first televised debate was held in 1960, but four years later Lyndon Johnson saw no reason to appear with lost-cause challenger Barry Goldwater. The next debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, didnt take place until 1976, between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. It was denounced by media theorist Marshall McLuhan as the most stupid arrangement of any debate in the history of debating, and resulted in some of the most memorable dead air in TV history. In 1980, President Carter refused to participate in the first debate of the election because independent candidate John Anderson was on the stage. That surprisingly sketchy history laid the groundwork for the CPD, says Michael, who adds that political journalists had great disdain for the League of Women Voters, which was seen as school-marmish and prissy in the way it organized and operated the debates. As important, he says, Democratic and Republican party chairs didnt want their candidates sullied by the inclusion of third-party candidates. So the duopoly booted the League and took the debates in-house. If they could have kept Ross Perot out in 1992, they would have, says Michael, but the Texas tycoon was actually leading the polls in the middle of 1992 before unexpectedly and temporarily dropping out in mid-July (Perot bizarrely suggested that the Republican operatives were planning to disrupt his daughters wedding). Perot did get into the race in October and was invited to participate in the debates despite polling at 8 percent. The CPD couldnt deny Perot because, says Michael, even a crazy person should get on the stage if they had led in the polls. Yet the commission would ignore Perot four years later, denying him a podium despite his winning 19 percent of the popular vote in 1992. In 2000, with Green Party candidate Ralph Nader polling as high as 6 percent as late as June, the CPD announced for the first time that debate participants must garner at least 15 percent in five national polls selected by the commission. That rule remains in place and in 2016, its been supplemented with a requirement that a candidate appear on enough state ballots to theoretically win enough electoral votes to become president. On its site, the CPD says the 15 percent threshold comes from its analysis of the results of presidential elections over the modern era, is consistent with the precedents set by the League of Women Voters and found by the FEC and the courts to comply with federal election law. In 2012, John Anderson offered a different take, telling CBS News that the debates are designed to lock in the maintenance of a two-party system. George Farah, author of No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates, called the 15 percent number absurdly high, noting that candidates qualify for federal matching funds at 5 percent. Unsurprisingly, Terry Michael concurs with such sentiments and offers up his own set of arguments for why Gary Johnson should join the stage with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. For starters, he stresses that the former governor is on every voters ballot. That in itself should be the case. Beyond that, he says the electorate is becoming increasingly restive, pointing to polls showing that independents are now the single largest bloc of voters. Michael says that the choice to include a given candidate cant always be reduced to simple metrics. They should consider who has developed enough of a following to merit being on the same stage with the Democrat and the Republican, he says, adding that Johnson has clearly done that. To be sure, Johnson didnt cover himself in glory with his What is Aleppo? gaffe, but if spacing out during a morning talk show is a disqualifying offense, the debate stage would be emptier than a Lincoln Chafee meet-and-greet. Certainly the point that Johnson is on the ballot (either as a Libertarian or an independent) in every state is worth lingering over. That means that the former two-term governors name will be in front of all of us who vote. Green Party candidate Jill Stein will be a choice for voters in 48 states, more than enough places to have real impact on electoral votes. It simply beggars credulity that any commission that claims its function is to inform and educate the electorate would keep such options off the stage. Interestingly, Johnson is currently polling at 8.6 percent in Real Clear Politics aggregated results of seven national polls. Stein is at 3.1 percent, which may seem low until you realize that the spread between Clinton and Trump is 0.7 percent. Back in October 1992, when Ross Perot re-entered the race and was invited to join the debate with George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, he was at just 8 percent in the polls. But that was then and this is nowwhen 60 percent of Americans keep telling pollsters that the Republican and Democratic partiesdo such a poor job [of representing the American people] that a third major party is needed. It seems the last thing the two major parties and their Commission on Presidential Debates would want to see is a flowering of political options that approach the number of choices we take for granted in far less-important parts of our life. Donald Trump likes to eat fast food because at least you know what theyre putting in it. Katherine Purgatorio-Howard wishes her father knew what was in the mousse he ate at Trumps Castle in October 1989, three months before he died. It was six figures, she told The Daily Beast of the settlement her mother reached with the Atlantic City property over the mousse, which New Jersey health officials identified as the source of a salmonella outbreak. But it didnt make my father un-dead. Last Thursday, the Trump campaign issuedand then quickly deleteda rant against the FDA food police, listing it as one of several specific regulations to be eliminated in his new economic plan. Among other things, the campaign whined about the Food and Drug Administrations standards for farm and food production hygiene, safe cooking temperatures, and even dog food. But these are the exact safety measures that help prevent foodborne illness outbreaks like the one that affected the Purgatorio family in 1989. In fact, the Trump business empire has a long and illustrious history of food poisoning cases and safety violations. According to a 1991 Associated Press report, Kathleen and Thomas Purgatorio, then in their sixties, ate the salmonella-tainted mousse at a restaurant called Buffet by the Sea in Trumps Castle Hotel and Casino on Oct. 16, 1989. Kathleen felt sick afterwards, Purgatorio-Howard recalls, but nowhere near as ill as her father who she told The Daily Beast went from walking into the hospital to being in intensive care on a ventilator in a coma. He was in critical care from October to December, Purgatorio-Howard recalled. We brought him home. We kept him in the living room in a hospital bed. He was in distress the whole time and then, in January, he went back to the hospital and died. The following July, according to the AP, the newly-widowed Kathleen and three other plaintiffs sued Trumps Castle for nearly $11 million over the mousse, which the New Jersey Department of Health said in a report had sickened over 100 peopleincluding the Purgatoriosover the span of four days in October 1989. Hers was one of six food poisoning lawsuits filed over the mousse around the same time, the AP reported. That same July, Trump told the New York Daily News that the Purgatorio lawsuit was "ridiculous" and refuted any link between Thomas Purgatorio's death and the chocolate mousse. "If you write that story, there will never be a dime of money spent by my casinos in the Daily News again," Daily News staff writer Salvatore Arena recorded Trump as saying in a phone interview. "And you can print that." Alan Kaplan, an attorney for Trump at the time, told the AP that Thomas Purgatorios death was due to a pre-existing heart condition. Purgatorio-Howard, now a New Jersey nursing instructor, told The Daily Beast that her father had previously had a heart attack sometime before the trip to Trumps Castle but maintained that his symptoms and his organ failure came from the overwhelming salmonella infection. Kaplan also told the AP that the salmonella at Trumps Castle was due to bad eggs from a vendor. If thats the case, perhaps stricter adherence to FDA farm and food production hygiene standards could have prevented the eggs from ever reaching the restaurant. People have to be protected, Purgatorio-Howard told The Daily Beast. You really cant have less regulation. The case file for Kathleen Purgatorios lawsuit was ultimately disposed, according to court records. Purgatorio-Howard told The Daily Beast that the case was settled out of court for hundreds of thousands of dollars but could not recall the figure. Attempts to reach attorneys for both parties in order to confirm her estimate were unsuccessful. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a detailed request for comment and the Trump Organization did not have comment at press time. The Atlantic City Licensing and Inspection Department told The Daily Beast that records from this time are no longer available. But newspaper reports indicate that Trumps food-related woes only continued in Atlantic City. In 1992, the AP reported that Donald Trumps properties have the worst track record for food-related health problems among Atlantic Citys 12 casinos, citing statements made by city health officials. Between 1984 and that time, the AP noted, there were five salmonella outbreaks at Trump properties, resulting in several temporary closures. We find it highly unusual that most of our problems in Atlantic City have been associated with the Trump properties, then-Atlantic City health department official Denise Nelson told the AP. The physical part of the [establishments] is top-of-the-line but it all boils down to extremely poor food handling. The AP report states that Sharon Pearce, a spokeswoman for the Trump Taj Mahal, disagreed with [Nelsons] assessment, but refused to elaborate. In his now-retracted anti-FDA screed, Trump complained about inspection overkill but restaurant inspections like these can prevent deadly salmonella outbreaks. The CDC estimates that 19,000 people are hospitalized and 380 people die due to salmonella every year. A total of 3,000 Americans die from foodborne illness each year. As Trumps business empire grew, so did the list of food safety violations. In November 2012, the DJT restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas received a staggering 51 violations including month-old caviar and expired yogurt, according to another AP report. Public records from the Southern Nevada Health District show that DJT was indeed closed on Nov. 2 of that year with 51 violations during a routine inspection, reopening later that day with only 6 violations. But the sudden closure and reopening did not escape the notice of local news station KTNV, which bestowed the dubious honor of a Dirty Dining award on the resaurant. The DJT restaurant in the Trump hotel is described on its website as elegant and in a class by itself, KTNV investigative reporter Darcy Spears announced in her expose. It is indeed in a class by itself this week, receiving the highest number of demerits of all restaurants health inspectors visited. Spears went on to list the many expired foods that health inspectors found at the DJT restaurant, including veal stock, tomato sauce, caviar, cranberry juice, duck, yogurt, peanut dressing, and black bean chili. Spears further reported that inspectors found eggs, cream, cut tomatoes, potatoes, and sausage were being kept at unsafe temperatures. As the AP noted, they also found no measures to destroy parasites in undercooked halibut and salmon. In last weeks anti-FDA rant, the Trump campaign specifically highlighted required food temperatures as an example of potential over-regulation. DJT ultimately provided KTNV with a statement that said, We take these situations very seriously and all adjustments were made immediately. DJT opened within a few hours that same evening. We greatly value our guests, and delivering an exceptional experience to them is our top priority. A business in the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City even fell directly afoul of the FDA in October 2013. The agency sent a warning letter to the Trump Times Newsstand notifying the business that a minor was able to buy a box of cigarettes from the newsstand around 1:30 p.m. on a weekday without showing ID. The letter threatened regulatory action without further notice if the situation was not immediately remedied. The FDA food police, it seems, doubles as the cigarette police, too. But one of the worst brushes with health inspectors hit Trump even closer to home. As The Daily Beast has previously reported, public New York City health department records show that the Trump Cafe and Grill in Trump tower received 45 violations during an ungraded inspection in October 2015. Thats counting five critical violations including unapproved shellfish, a lack of appropriate metal stem-type thermometers to check cooking temperatures, and unsanitary wiping cloths. Two months later, the Trump Cafe and Grill scored only 12 violations and received an A grade. But this May, another ungraded inspection found live roaches present in [the] facilitys food and/or non-food areas of the Trump Cafe and Grill and determined that the restaurant was not vermin proof, meaning that there were conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist. One week prior to that inspection, Trump had tweeted a picture of himself eating a taco bowl prepared in that restaurant. Yum. By the time of its most recent inspection in June 2016, the Trump Cafe and Grill appears to have resolved its roach and rodent issues. It has maintained its A grade. But depending on the outcome of the presidential electionand on how serious the Trump campaign was about curtailing the FDA food policerestaurants might not have to struggle so much with food safety come 2017. Judging from history, that could be good news for at least one hotel magnate turned politician. with additional reporting by Brandy Zadrozny Update 9/19/16 10:40 AM: This piece was updated to include a comment Trump provided to The New York Daily News regarding the Purgatorio lawsuit. Hillary Clinton held a brief press conference Monday morning to make clear she had the resolve, temperament, and plan to deal with terrorist attacks like those in New Jersey and Minnesota over the weekend. I'm the only candidate...who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield, she said. Speaking in an airplane hangar with her waiting campaign plane in the background, Clinton reacted to the reports that the suspect in the bombing in New Yorks Chelsea neighborhood was of Afghan descent and that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attacks in St. Cloud, Minnesota, by reminding Americans that one group of people or religion cannot be held responsible for the actions of a few radicalized individuals. [L]et us remember, there are millions and millions of naturalized citizens in America from all over the world. There are millions of law-abiding peaceful Muslim Americans, Clinton said. She then, in a calm, deliberate voice, outlined her plan for dealing with the lone wolf threat, including more open partnerships with Silicon Valley in order to thwart ISIS recruiting online. [T]he recruiters for ISIS and these other terrorist groups look for people who online demonstrate the mental profile, the level of paranoia, the level of delusion, the level of disappointment that then is exploited by quite able terrorist recruiter, so we've got to do a much more intensive effort. She said Silicon Valley could help in this effort not only to take down terrorist propaganda, but to do everything we can to intercept and prevent radicalization and recruitment. I think we are at the beginning of that, but there is much more we need to do, Clinton said. The government cannot do this without the close participation of tech companies and experts online who can give us the tools and lead us to those who are attempting to promote attacks like we have seen. Clintons comments, demeanor, and attention to detail stood in stark relief to Republican candidate Donald Trumps remarks early Monday morning. As Clinton was honing a we are going to keep you safe measured message with her statement, Trump opted for a less subtle everything is on fire and they are promising to keep you safe?! emotional reaction. When asked by the anchors of Fox and Friends what he would do, he launched into a version of his stump speech, slamming Clinton for refusing to say the words radical Islamic terrorism, and called for racial profiling. You have to hit them much harder over there, he said. You know, our police are amazing. Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are, they are afraid to do anything about it, because they don't want to be accused of profilinglook what's going on. Do we really have a choice? We're trying to be so politically correct in our country and this is only going to get worse. this isn't going to get better. Clinton repeated her warning that Trumps comments not only hurt relations with Muslim communities in the United States, but they are also used to recruit more terrorists. We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam, she said. People who number in the tens of thousands, not the tens of millions, they want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning it into a religious conflict. Asked whether she was worried that Trumps more visceral approach would attract voters who agree that the government just isnt keeping them safe, Clinton dismissed his remarks as demagoguery. You don't hear a plan from him. He keeps saying he has a secret plan, she said. The secret is he has no plan. PHILADELPHIA Amid a shaky political climateunderscored by the apprehension of an accused bomber in New Jersey this morningHillary Clinton presented herself as a steady and even personable option to a group of students at Temple University in Philadelphia, hoping to inspire the same excitement as her former rival Bernie Sanders, just 50 days out from the election. And, in a tacit acknowledgement that her earlier approach was not entirely working, she tried something new: being positive. In fact, a big part of the 30-minute address billed unambiguously as Millennial outreach, was devoted to telling her story, pulling away from the campaigns summer strategy of just assailing Donald Trump at every given opportunity. Now, I know that with so much negativity out there, it is really easy to get cynicalespecially about our politics, Clinton said at one point, seeming to acknowledge that she is the second-least-liked candidate of all time (Trump wins the honor of first). I remember wrestling with that challenge when I was a student during the Vietnam War. It can be tempting to think that no one will tell you the truth and nothings ever going to change. But youre here today because you refuse to accept cynicism. It was this kind of reflection, combined with hat-tips to Sanders and an emphasis on her personal experience that seemed to garner some earnest support from the few hundred students in attendance. Im going to close my campaign the way I started my career: fighting for kids and young families, Clinton said to the attendees at Temples Mitten Hall. She urged that students give all the candidates a fair hearing before deciding who they should choose and perhaps in a moment of commiseration said that the current election can be downright depressing sometimes. Rehashing a political career of activism, (beginning with a job at the Childrens Defense Fund) Clintons speech served as a kind of introduction to some of the college students in attendance who were born during the latter half of her husbands administration. Still, she did her best to relate, much like Sanders, to the struggles that these students face. As you know better than most, tuition is going through the roof. And debt is piling up. Clinton said to big cheers as she discussed a college plan inspired by Sanders in which public colleges would be free for the children of families making less than $125,000 a year. The Clinton campaign is making no secret that Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, another progressive Democratic darling, are integral to their strategy of wooing away a younger generation of voters who are wary of the former secretary of State. Some of the students in the crowd admittedly said they first backed Sanders in the Democratic primary but emerged with a clearer picture of Clinton. Over the weekend in various appearances throughout Ohio, Sanders urged his supporters not to support the third-party options available in this election as Clinton has seen her numbers among young voters get peeled away by Libertarian Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party. This is not the time for a protest vote, in terms of a presidential campaign, Sanders told The Washington Post. I ran as a third-party candidate. Im the longest-serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. I know more about third-party politics than anyone else in the Congress, OK? This new urgency reflects a trend in recent surveys where Clinton garnered below 40 percent among millennials, a far cry from the 60 percent President Obama earned in 2012. Shes still besting Trump in this cohort but not by enough to swing what is shaping up to be a close election, one in which many people are voting against someone rather than for them. And the issue isnt defections to the Republican candidate but rather a lack of enthusiasm for Clinton as an option and third-party candidates gaining solid ground, perhaps partially fueled by a dearth of information about her plans and overall identity. Even if you are totally opposed to Donald Trump, you may still have some questions about me. I get that, Clinton said acknowledging the trend. For some in attendance, simply hearing her in person started to make the difference. My main reason for coming here was to become more informed because I feel like I dont really know a whole lot about her, Audrey Bristol-Evans, a linguistic major at Temple University, told The Daily Beast. She previously voted for Sanders in the primary but said that shed be backing Clinton now. I looked up some of their policies and there are some things I like about them, Bristol-Evans said of Johnson and Stein. But overall, the fact that [Clinton] is the Democratic nominee, and also her general policies, is a much better option for America." Bristol-Evans, like Mike McDermott, a 20-year-old economics and Spanish double major, seemed to feel confident about Clinton after hearing actual policies. I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary, McDermott said. I jumped right to Hillary when she got the nomination. And hearing her proposals in person was important for him to put in perspective against what he characterized as Trumps incoherent solutions. I think Hillarys really knowledgeable and thats going to give her a huge, huge edge when she actually goes against Trump head to head. The wonky, policy-oriented Clinton, who admits that shes not great at campaigning, actually came off as appealing to some voters in attendance who prioritized their choice based on specific issues rather than media narratives and rhetoric. Bobby Guerrieri, a freshman at Temple, who previously supported Sanders, said that Clinton represented herself as the most qualified individual in the race and the stakes are too high to look for other options. Electing more progressive third-party candidates down-ballot absolutely, Guerrieri said, echoing a line from Sanders. But not as president. Ephraim Burgess, a 23-year-old information technology major at Lincoln University said that the visit helped him solidify his decision in the election. Before this event, I had an idea that she was the better candidate, Burgess said. After today, getting to see her character face to face, getting a great handshake, looking into her eyes and feeling the warmth of her heart, I definitely feel that she is the best candidate. He only had one piece of advice for Clintons continued outreach. Come to Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, 1570 Baltimore Pike, Oxford County, PA, Burgess said. Thats what I would tell her to do. Putting the lie to the creaky old notion that women dont make whiskey, Marianne Barnes has just fired up the stills at Kentuckys new Castle & Key distillery. In doing so, shes the bourbon-obessed states first female master distiller, since at least before Prohibition. This, of course, flies in the face of the idea that making spirits is a mans job. There are still relatively few women in the distilling business. Historically, in the United States, women have been more prominent in the fight against the consumption of alcohol than in the making of it. The prohibitionist legacy of Carrie Nation, Frances Willard, and their hatchet-swinging followers may have something to do with why whiskey-making in America has been, even into the 21st century, largely a boys club. There have been notable exceptions. Peggy Noe Stevens rose to master taster at Brown-Forman (the spirits conglomerate that makes whiskies including Woodford Reserve, Old Forester and Jack Daniels). And Allisa Henley worked as a distiller at Tennessees George Dickel (which she just left for the newish Popcorn Sutton distillery where she will be master blender. But it is a notable breakthrough that Barnes, who worked her way up through the ranks at Old Forester to become a master taster, has graduated to the rarified job of master distiller for Castle & Key, a start-up poised to be a large-scale bourbon producer. Despite the industrys old boy network, Barnes has been given opportunities and her success has been widely embraced. Ive received nothing but great support from the other master distillers, she says. Castle & Key is a new brand, but not a new distillery. In 1887, American whiskey pioneer Colonel E.H. Taylor, built a sort of limestone fortress in Frankfort, Kentucky, complete with crenellated battlements. Save for during Prohibition, the castle made bourbon, under various owners, until 1972. During the last 40 odd years it has slowly and charmingly moldered, becoming a relic of bourbons first golden age. Its a ruin no more. An investment group rescued the old distillery from the relentless advance of kudzu vines and over the last couple of years has put millions into rebuilding the facility, retaining vintage equipment where possible, and modernizing where it makes sense. Revived and restored, the Old Taylor Distillery wont go by that name. When the distillery fell into disuse and neglect, the Taylor name did notit was just sold off. The Old Taylor and E.H. Taylor Jr. brands are now owned by Sazerac. Barnes plans to make a variety of whiskies, including, of course, bourbon, rye, an American single malt whiskey and a wheated bourbon. Barnes and company will also produce a vodka and gin using the unaged bourbon as a base and flavored with locally sourced botanicals. That attributes give them a Kentucky story to tell, but more important gives them a product that can be sold right away. The bottled-in-bond bourbon that will be Castle & Keys signature spirit will, by law, have to age at least four years. Barnes says they will not take the short cut so common in the industry of buying and bottling off-the-rickhouse-rack whiskey from another producer. Were going to make our own and wait for it, she explains. To help find a house style, Barnes has sought out vintage bottles of pre-Prohibition, castle-produced Old Taylor whiskey. Its very sweet, she says. It has some complexity, but isnt spicy or floral. Col. Taylor preferred using white corn in his mash, Barnes says, which she will do, too. She has also sought out heirloom strains of yeast she thinks will help capture the original Taylor style, which she hopes to update for sophisticated modern palates. Were shooting for classic with a little more complexity. How will she achieve that goal? She thinks woman, if anything, have certain natural advantages in the world of whiskey. Women do have a more sensitive palate, she notes. Women should be able to create more nuanced spirits. An undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Louisville suggests that Barnes is not without technical bona fides. But it was at Brown-Forman that she learned how to develop flavors during the brewing process, coax them out with the still and refine them in the barrel. These are skills that involve chemistry, but cant be executed in the lab alone. Right out of college, I could have built an efficient ethanol plant, Barnes says, but it wouldnt have tasted very good. Those in Donald Trumps orbit appear to be nervous about the swirling scandal around the Trump Foundationand they should be: The stakes are incredibly high. The allegations of a quid pro quo between Trump and Florida Attorney General, improper use of the charity for personal benefit, and employment of the charity for political purposes have serious penalties beyond mere campaign opticsthe possible consequences range from hefty fines to jail time. The last seven days has been all bad news on the Trump Foundation front: House Democrats have publicly sought a Justice Department investigation into the charity, while left-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleged that Trump appeared to have bribed Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi by giving her a $25,000 contribution so that she would not join a lawsuit against Trump University. And a New York Times investigation this past week showed that Trump had personally signed the check that constituted the illegal campaign contribution from his charity to Bondi. Add this to a dose of personal animosity: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told CNN this week that we have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure its complying with the laws governing charities in New York. The Trump camp already despises Schneiderman due to his legal crusade on the controversial Trump University business. This reaches above a distraction for them due to the legal implications of it and long litigation possibility, a former senior aide to Trump said. Look, Donald signed those checks hes on there. Hes liable. The Trump campaign appears spooked by these developments: An interview between Donald Trump Jr., who is listed as a director for the Trump Foundation, and a Pennsylvania TV station was abruptly cut off after he was asked about the charity. I dont know anything about that, Trump Jr. said. There are a number of serious allegations against the Trump Foundation, including his use of the charity to further his campaign by handing out Trump Foundation checks to veterans charities at campaign rallies; and accusations of self-dealing, such as using the charitys funds to buy a $20,000, 6-foot-tall portrait of himself. But the most damaging allegation (at least so far) surrounds an illegal $25,000 contribution that the Trump Foundation provided to a political action committee linked to Bondi. On Sept. 13, 2013, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Bondis office was reviewing the legal action initiated by the state of New York against Trump University to see if Florida should join the case. Four days later, on Sept. 17. 2013, the Trump Foundation made a $25,000 contribution to a political committee associated with Bondi. Trump would also hold an extravagant fundraiser for Bondi six months later. Soon after the $25,000 contribution to a Bondi-linked PAC, the attorney general decided not to pursue legal action against the controversial Trump University, which many participants have likened to a scam. Bondis office has acknowledged that the attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Trump in the week surrounding her offices internal deliberations over whether to join the Trump University lawsuit. A New York Times investigation partly undercut the timeline by showing that the check from Trump had been signed four days before the Orlando Sentinel article appeared. But, the article continues, the checks date does not rule out that Trump was trying to influence Bondithe businessman has frequently bragged that he made campaign contributions to politicians in order to curry favor and gain an edge in business dealings. Trump has already paid the IRS a $2,500 penalty this year for violating tax laws by giving a political contribution to Bondis PAC through his charity. The Trump Foundation had not listed the political donation in records filed to the IRS. Instead, it listed a donation to a Kansas charity with a similar-sounding name. Trumps organization said that this had been an innocent mistake. This was simply a clerical error as has been widely reported. Mr. Trump voluntarily took corrective action, consistent with IRS procedures. He caused the Foundation to immediately file a Form 4720 and reimbursed the Foundation for the $25,000 payment and paid the full $2,500 excise tax due, said Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. That the Trump Campaign is engaging on this issue at all can be interpreted as a sign that they take the allegations very seriously. This Daily Beast reporter has reached out to Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks nearly two dozen times this calendar year on varying topics, and has received no response on any issueeven issues that may reflect well on Trumpexcept twice this week on the relationship between the Trump Foundation and Pam Bondi. Hicks also recommended an article from LawNewz.com, a blog run by legal commentator Dan Abrams. The blog post is titled, Sorry Democrats, New Docs Pretty Much Collapse Entire Trump/Bondi (Non) Bribery Scandal. Over the years, Mr. Trump has made many contributions to politicians, but never quid pro quo, Hicks added. But not everyone is ready to drop the issue quite yet, least of all CREW, the left-leaning watchdog group, which has been leading the charge to investigate the Trump charitys contribution to Bondi and has alleged that bribery apparently occurred. These are serious potential violations of the law. In the worst-case scenario for Trump and the Foundation, the IRS could take away the Foundations non-profit statuseffectively ending itand charge tax penalties for the political and private benefit of its actions for Trump. Trump and Bondi could face federal felony charges from the Department of Justice, the highest charges carrying up to 10 years in prison, said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for CREW, which filed a bribery complaint to the Justice Department last week. Willfully making false statements on a tax return is punishable by up to five years in prison, while bribery carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Charging Trump or other individuals with criminal activity is the most extreme scenario, but one with an obviously catastrophic result. It could take years of legal action, and the Justice Department and IRS have not yet shown any willingness to take these steps. [The Justice Department] is hesitant to press bribery charges without concrete evidence of a quid pro quo, such as provided by a sting operation. The timing of a campaign contribution and Bondis decision not to investigate the charity is usually considered insufficient evidence, said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at the left-leaning consumer rights group Public Citizen. Nevertheless, the timing is bolstered by Trumps own words that he often uses money to buy political favors from politicians. Trump not only brags about corruption, in this case, he appears to show us how it is done. But another entity that is empowered to act is the New York state attorney generals office. If the feds dont pursue further penalties against Trumps charity and those associated with it, its possible that Attorney General Schneidermans office may do so. The New York Attorney Generals Charities Bureau is currently undertaking an investigation into the Trump Foundation, and has reportedly been corresponding with the Trump Foundation since June. The Trump campaign has shot back by calling Schneiderman a partisan hack and pointing out that he has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. Theyre going to be absolutely furious that Schneiderman has opened up the investigation. Hes not public enemy number one, but hes not well liked in the Trump orbit. Theyre thinking hes using the office for political purposes, said a former senior aide to Trump. Hell litigate this to the end with Schneiderman. Hes not going to give an inch. The charity bureaus investigative tools include the power to subpoena bank records, financial files, communications and individuals for interview, an official with the bureau explained, and its tools for punishing violations of rules include dissolving the charity, forcing reforms at the foundation, or in the most serious, rare cases, can charge individuals with filing false records, a misdemeanor that carries up to a year in jail. The NY AG may force governance changes and may well seek to remove Trump and his family members from the board or require a majority of independent board members. The AG may also uncover other issues, said Marcus Owens, a lawyer who once served as the director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Divisions, which oversees the nations charities and foundations. Ultimately, even if criminal charges are not brought, the Trump Foundation has become something of a case studyon how not to run a charity. The charges are very serious. This is a real abuse of philanthropy for personal and political gain, said Aaron Dorfman, the president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy. And thats not what a private foundation is supposed to be for. Gather all the most famous faces in television together in one room for a night of self-congratulation and pomp and circumstance, and whats the one question youre most eager to know? What do they think of Trump, of course. Its perhaps natural for our obsession with celebrity commentary on our polarizing presidential nominee to fester more potently at the Emmy Awards. This is, after all, an awards group that made him an Emmy nominee, back in the days when he was still a reality TV host and producer with NBCs The Apprentice. The series was nominated for a total of nine Emmy Awards during its run, including twice for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, for which Trump himself counted as a nominee for his executive producing role. And so Sunday night was, in a way, a more natural examination of Trumps public roots than even the Republican National Convention was earlier this year. As suchand fittingly considering the weeks exhausting headlineshost Jimmy Kimmel mocked the person responsible for birthing that public persona, that mid-2000s surge in celebrity. Who is responsible for Trump's rise, Kimmel asked. Ill tell you, because hes sitting right there, he said, pointing to British-born producer Mark Burnett, the man to credit for Survivor, Shark Tank, The Apprentice, and, yes, Donald Trump. Thanks to Mark, we dont have to watch reality shows anymore, because were living in one, Kimmel said. Thank you for coming all the way from England to tear us apart with your intricate plot. It worked, you sneaky little crumpet muncher. Im going on the record: hes responsible if Donald Trump gets elected, and if he builds that wall, the first person were throwing over it is Mark Burnett. Burnett, for the record, was none too pleased about this, scowling during the bit and then tossing off a mumbled, miscalculated retort as he accepted his award for producing The Voice, this years winner in The Donalds former category. He also used his speech to plug the new Miley Cyrus-starring seasonsomething no other winners didso maybe his one-time boardroom star has taught him a thing or two about shamelessness. Sure, it was a given that Trump would be on the tip of the tongue during Sunday nights awards. Kimmel went right in immediately, joking, Television brings people together, but television can also tear us apart. If it wasnt for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? No. He would be at home right now, quietly rubbing up against his wife, Malaria, while she pretends to be asleep. But outside of the monologue, where the cheap shots were expectedand fired off crisply by Kimmelthe question was how often his name would be invoked by our increasingly political brood of beloved pretty famous people. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, channeling the pitch-perfect satirists on Veep, nailed the difficult tone of a good political joke the best, echoing Kimmels ribbing but with slightly more class and sharpness because, you know, its Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Id like to take the opportunity to apologize for the current political climate, Louis-Dreyfus said, accepting her record sixth Best Actress Emmy Award for Veep. I think Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire, but now it feels more like a sobering documentary. So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it. If the mic wasnt on a mic stand, shed have dropped it. Other presenters made reference to the Orange One. Aziz Ansari joked that he decided that he was team Trump now, and would like to express his support by ordering all Muslims and Hispanics out of the ceremony, including America Ferrera andhis parents. (Ansari won an Emmy earlier that night for co-writing an episode of Master of None titled Parents, about the immigrant experience in America and co-starring, yep, his real-life parents.) Ferrera herself made a crack about Trumps reality TV past, joking that wed next be supporting Tim Gunn 2020, referring to the wry Project Runway host. It was an obvious media reaction to tally the Trump mentions during Sunday nights ceremony, but its worth noting that Hillary Clinton got her fair share of shout-outsthough those for her were almost uniformly positive, and rarely joking. When Kate McKinnon, who spoofs the Democratic presidential nominee on Saturday Night Live, won Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, she offered a hearty, Thank you Ellen DeGeneres, thank you Hillary Clinton Clinton responded in kind with a tweet congratulating the SNL star on her win. Other winners, like The People v. O.J. Simpson victor Courtney B. Vance, minced no words when it came to his political inclinations: Obama out, Hillary in! he shouted at the end of his speech. But it was backstage where the political discourse was afforded more nuance, freed from the blinding lights and threat of an orchestra playing you off before you get to thank your mother. Jill Soloway, who won a directing award for her series Transparent, spoke about the significance of the episode she chose to helm, Man on Land, in the context of the current election and Trumps rhetoric. The episode was a story about a womens music festival in which, in relation to the shows central character, a trans woman, people were weighing in about whether or not Maura was really a woman. She tried to relate it, she said, to the Holocaust, when people were judicial about whether someone was a human being. Jews were otherized in Nazi Germany to gain political power for Hitler, and right now Donald Trump is doing the same thing, Soloway said backstage. Hes otherizing people. He calls women pigs if they dont look like beauty pageant contestants. He blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems. He makes fun of disabled people. This is otherizing with a capital O, and has been used in our history before to start and win wars, and he needs to be called out every chance he gets for being one of the most dangerous monsters to ever approach our lifetimes. Hes a complete dangerous monster and any moment that I have to call Trump out for being an inheritor to Hitler, I will. And, in a way keeping up with the theme that Kimmel started, Variety Series winner John Oliver was asked if he thought he was responsible at all for creating Donald Trumpan extension of the argument that the medias exhaustive, profitable coverage of his controversies is fueling his success. The short answer to that is no, Oliver said. And the longer answer to that is no, of course I fucking dont. While the answer elicited a fair amount of laughs, its worth noting that one of the splashiest segments to come out of Oliver's HBO show this year was one that dutifully eviscerated Trumps character, honesty, and viability as a candidate, culminating in the mocking hashtag #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain. Is Oliver responsible for Trump? On the contrary, as the trophy in his hands proves, hes being commended for trying to stop him. Does any of thiscelebrities cracking wise about politicsreally matter? No. But the same argument could technically be made about the entire awards show, too. And I dare you to try to tell me that Sarah Paulsons Emmy for playing Marcia Clark doesnt matter. Do it. I dare you. Try. China has just launched its second small Tiangong space station into orbit, more or less catching up to what the United States and Russias own space programs achieved starting in the 1970s. Riding atop a Long March rocket, the 34-foot-long, 10-ton Tiangong-2 blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sept. 15, aiming for an orbit 240 miles over Earths surface. While Beijings effort to establish a long-term human presence in orbit is impressive on a political level, on a technological level its decades behind the curve. In the United States and elsewhere, private companies are poised to establish a long-term presence in space that doesnt depend on big, government-run orbital structures. China is currently doing nothing in space that the U.S. hasnt done already, much sooner, and often with a much higher level of technological sophistication, Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and a space expert, told The Daily Beast. In the race to build orbital habitations, Russia actually beat the United States by a few years when it launched the first of several Salyut stations beginning in 1971. Americas first space station was Skylab, which lasted six years starting in 1973. Today Russia and the United States work together on the International Space Station, which began operation in 1998 and has expanded to include dozens of modules capable of supporting six crew in total, year-round. Compared to the International Space Station, the single-module Tiangong stations are tiny. The plan is for a pair of Chinese astronauts to visit Tiangong-2 in October and stay for a month or soan improvement over the Tiangong-1 station, which managed to support two crew for just eight days in 2012 and 12 days in 2013. Tiangong-1, Chinas first space station, launched in 2011 and decommissioned back in March amid rumors of a technical malfunction. Chances are the older station will plummet back to Earth sometime in 2017 as its orbit decays. Like its predecessor, Tiangong-2 is supposed to last just a few years. Its replacement could be a third Tiangong station that, like Tiangong-1 and -2, will be temporary. The Chinese space agency is planning to loft a fourth and much larger station in 2020 or later. Assuming the project succeeds, the fourth craft could become the basis of a large, long-lasting space station similar in scale to the International Space Station. But dont hold your breath. The Chinese have quite a bit more work to do before they are ready to start assembling their space station, Gregory Kulacki, a space expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told The Daily Beast. It is possible they could complete that work by 2020, but my guess is that they will need more time. In any event, its possible the Chinese could have a large, sustainable space station up and running by the time International Space Station finally reaches the end of the line in the mid- to late 2020s. At that point, prolonging the International Space Stations useful life would take a sizable injection of expensive new technology requiring significant political will. With NASAs budgets flattening and U.S.-Russian relations at a low point, the space station could begin to look like a pricey liability in Washington and Moscow. And thats where China holds an advantage. Sure, the Tiangong stations are small and somewhat archaicand the larger station theyre meant to support will merely duplicate what the International Space Station achieved in 1998. Whats impressive is that Beijing has managed to plug away steadily at its space stations, year after year, calmly weathering economic crises and political turnover. Such stability is vital for space programs costing tens or hundreds of billions of dollars and requiring years or even decades of research and development. And in space the Chinese Communist Party has proved remarkably stable. As many members of the Chinese space community have told me, China is not in a hurry, Kulacki explained. They are not racing anyone, and safety is a higher priority than meeting an arbitrary deadline. Indeed, the enduring domestic political support for Chinas space stations could prove more important than the stations themselves for Chinas future as a space power. By contrast, the United Statesand, to a lesser extent, other spacefaring countriesis virtually assuming that political will for its own space program will collapse, and private companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic will fill the vacuum. Theres even a company building space stations. In April, Las Vegas space startup Bigelow Aerospace announced an ambitious plan to build at least two inflatable space stations and lob them into orbit starting in 2020. The B330 stationseach featuring its own power, life-support systems, and maneuvering thrusters arranged around a central metal framecould function as space hotels, orbital factories, and zero-gravity research labs. CEO Robert Bigelow said he wants to attach the first B330 to the International Space Station in order to expand the stations volume by as much as a third and, perhaps, help extend its usefulness beyond its planned mid-2020s decommissioning date. We are hoping we can get the permissions necessary from NASA to say, Yes, lets attach it, Bigelow said. But even if NASA says no, Bigelow said he will continue developing his inflatable stations. Theres plenty of incentive to do so. Asteroid- and moon-miningand the associated orbital manufacturingcould mean hefty profits for any company willing to make a big investment in space technology and assume a significant financial risk. The new space players such as Bigelow, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic are the future, Johnson-Freese told The Daily Beast. The new space players arent reliant on political will. They operate on business plans, a much sounder practice and one that will eventually normalize space as an area of industrial and geographic development. While China tinkers with old school, government-funded orbital stations, the United Statesvia private enterpriseis laying the foundation for a whole new approach to space exploration. The actor Bill Irwins friendship with Edward Albee began when Irwin appeared in The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? in 2002, opposite Sally Field; on Broadway in 2005 he played George in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opposite Kathleen Turner as Martha, and won that years Tony for Best Actor for his performance. Below, Irwin recalls their friendship, in the wake of the 88-year-old Albees death on Friday. The thing about Edward Albee was that he was one of the most erudite voices, Bill Irwin told The Daily Beast. Were speaking about him now in the past tense, but we should think of his voice as going on forever. I was a friend of Edwards, and he was a complicated man, said Irwin. The story seemed to be to me that he had much mellowed by the time I met him and got to know him. He was actually a simple and generous soul in his way. He was crusty and witty, but not the combative younger man that people had described him as. I asked what Albees bearing was like. He was an Alpha male of a certain sort, and he valued his acerbic-ness. Irwin retold a story that Bill Pullman (who played Martin in Goat, which Irwin later took on) told him. During the first day of rehearsalsand it hasnt played anywhere yet, let alone off-BroadwayBill said he said to assembled table, I cant believe Im here with Edward Al-bee. And Edward said, Its Awl-bee. This was done with a certain kind of wit, said Irwin. I asked if Albee was very much in his actors faces in rehearsals, an interventionist, or did he sit on the sidelines. Well, he was a huge presence when he was present, said Irwin. I think he would say he adapted the stance of being on the sidelines of letting you people get on with your work. But his very presence radiated, and he would say things that made you realize that you may have been on the wrong track. However, at one critical moment, Albee gave Irwin confidence in his abilities. During rehearsals for Whos Afraid?which follows the dark, deep relationship between a married couple, George and Martha, and the secrets, hidden rhythms, and currents at their unions heartthe producers had bought some journalists in to meet the company. One asked Irwin whether George was strong or weak. I said, Well, at the end of the play hes the last man standing. I saw that the corners of Edwards lips under his moustache curled slightly. And I thought, Oh well, I didnt say the worst thing I could have said at least. That gave me confidence, thinking about this struggle of the four characters within the play, that I may be on the right track. Irwin was never present around discussions of the genesis of the playwhether it was based on same-sex couples, for example, which I understand Edward didnt have much patience for. But the thing about Edwardand I asked him about this in the course of the years that I knew himwas that he was a gay man who really knew how to write women. The character of Martha at the center of this play is such an amazing creation that it all of a sudden takes precedence in peoples notion of the play. Once, Irwin interviewed Albee on stage in Nyack, NY, where Irwin, his wife, and son then lived. I had to swallow hard a couple of times. Edward was a crusty character who valued the notion of his cutting wit, and boy did he have it. I asked him, Do you feel as a gay man writing that you have a perceptive lens on heterosexual relationships that perhaps those of us who are heterosexual do not? And I again swallowed hard at the silence that fell there. Then he said, I think so, yes. So, I was glad I asked the question. Before Irwin and his fellow cast began work on Whos Afraid? he had seen the classic 1966 movie, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, just once on its original release with a date when he was 17, and I think wed had something to drink before we saw it. I dont think I watched it again till we had done the Broadway run in 2005. And I was so struck by how strong and detailed my memory of the movie had beenwithout my being fully conscious of it. It was huge in my work on the role, even though Id seen it only that once at 17. Edward enjoyed rolling his eyes about the film, said Irwin, but we knew it had made him a household name and a lot of money. For Albee, the movie had elevated Martha more than the playwright had intended in the balance of the original play, so, Irwin thinks, in subsequent theatrical productions, Albee encouraged a strong George, who takes on the appearance of being weak, who goes along to get along, but whos actually very strong at the core. One day, Albee addressed the Broadway cast to tell them who his original choices had been for the films leads. We were dumbstruckthere was other casting to the iconic casting of the movie? Irwin recalled. I wanted James Mason and Bette Davis in the roles, he said. We were all aghast. But it was very illuminating to me. Mason is a very intelligent, witty, centered presence as an actor. His way of speakingthat cadence of literary intelligencegave me a feeling that this is a man who in the early scenes is a bit of a milquetoast, but is that last man standing at the end of the play. As protective as he was of his work, Albee did not hold forth in rehearsals. He had that maddening approach of Its all there in the play, which is also very authentic and real. He would talk about the casting of the movie and productions where things had been out of balance but he didnt monopolize the room. I think he deeply trusted Anthony [Page, that productions director]. Playing George for between 3 and 400 performances was intense, Irwin said. Every time I opened that door at the beginning, I thought, Oh, here we go. Rounding the couch at the halfway point, I would think about hitting that halfway point. It was a big, enormous privilege on each outing, but not a show you took on lightly. The night that Irwin won the Tony, Albee was also honored with the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. I guess I should have said more about our director Anthony, Albee said to Irwin afterwards. Things were often oblique with Edward, said Irwin. He wouldnt just say, That was good great job tonight. What seemed to mellow him, one huge chapter, a huge event, in Edwards life, was the loss of his longtime partner Jonathan [Thomas, a sculptor], said Irwin. Jonathan was ill while we were rehearsing Whos Afraid? Edward said more than once he had would have been there more had it not been such a crucial time in Jonathans illness. By the time we did the show in London, Edward had lost Jonathan. Thomas died of bladder cancer, aged 59, in May 2005. Their relationship was both grounding and transformative for Albee, said Irwin, before saying he was hesitating how to tell the following story because he wanted it to be read, and taken, in the right way. One night, at supper, Albee was talking about a food tour he had done; Thomas was interjecting with barbs as only a partner can. At one point Edward said to Jonathan, Shut up. I thought he was joking, recalled Irwin. I smiled. He wasnt joking, but at the same time it wasnt like someone else saying [a harsher] Shut up. It gave me such an insight into the characters who make up that great play, Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, where they say things to each otherShut upwhich dont mean This is it for us. It just means, Im as tough as you are. I realized something about Edward and Jonathan: they played for keeps in their games-playing, and I also realized how deeply they loved each other. Thomass death affected Edward very greatly. Its inadequate to give it an adjective, it was so huge. It was one of those cases where you felt, Im not sure this guy will survive his partners death. Then you watched him over the course of time toughening himself up. He did a show of all Jonathans artwork. He gave each person who came something they asked forI have a piece. It was all part of honoring Jonathan and all part of moving on, which he did do. Irwin last saw Albee sometime in the last yearhe cant be precise on whenin Albees kitchen with James (Jim) Houghton, founder of the Signature Theatre, who himself died of stomach cancer, aged 57, last month. I was sitting with these two wonderful men, said Irwin. Jim had organized the visit. It was hard because Edward was frail, and it was hard to tell how much his mind or memory were compromised, or how much less interested he was in the world at large. Irwin sat there with both men who are gone now, he said. It was a great privilege, and I thank them for allowing me to have that last goodbye with Edward. Albee, Irwin said, really lit up when he asked Jim about his health regimen, and what he was doing after his own cancer diagnosis. Jim was very candid, and that got Edward really energized: Youre doing this kind of chemo? OK, OK. That day, Albee seemed frail and his presence was not as strong as I remembered from earlier times, but he was still Edward Albee. Did Irwin know he was saying farewell to Albee for a final time? I thought I might be, and like most Irish people I just didnt mention it. As for Albees legacy, Irwin thinks that the playwrights use of language and stance towards language is like no-one elses, therefore it is a voice that will be like no-one elses. There was a courage and conviction about the way he wanted to go about things. Albee would have no problem telling someone that any cuts to his work were unacceptable, and yet would be fine with other cuts. He could also, said Irwin, be a tough son-of-a-bitch, and then be gentle and generous. He was about as mysterious a creature as youre ever going to find. There was an underlying tenderness to Albee, said Irwin. As you read his plays there is an immense sympathy for these characters at the same time as a tough love, and that extended to actors. Albee, Irwin recalled, was once flown to the Stockholm premiere of Whos Afraid? and noticed the curtain only came down once between acts (its written in three acts). Well, that only happened one night, Albee related in the retellingpresumably meaning the Swedish producers were told pretty emphatically the play came with a second interval between acts. There was a certain amount of tip-toeing around Edward, hoping you didnt invoke his famous wrath or ire, but he was a generous soul, said Irwin. Albee loved a plays length and intricate structure, added Irwin, noting he had appeared in both the three hours-plus (without cuts, and he performed in it with some trimming too) Whos Afraid? and the 85-minute The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Both are magnificent plays, Irwin said, and both are quintessentially Edward Albee in his voice. Now for my money, there are a few things he wrote in between that Im not crazy about and he may not have been either, but those two playsas different as they areis all he needs as a legacy for me. When I asked Irwin if there is anything else he would like to say about Albee, he paused and said, He prompts you to force yourself to be best. Talking about him is a challenge. You might toss something off glibly about somebody else, but you must be at your very best when talking about Edward Albee. Eileen Fulton, most famous for playing Lisa Grimaldi in As The World Turns, played Honey in the 1963 Broadway production of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Eileen Fulton doesnt remember Albee being present before her production of the show opened in rehearsals. But I certainly remember his presence after the show had opened. We had a Christmas party on the stage and he was sitting back from us and looking. Of course, I was so excited to finally see him. And I couldnt keep my mouth shut, and he glared at me and I couldnt stop. It was a terrible thing. Thats what I remember the most. I was saddened by it, I was shocked, Fulton told The Daily Beast of learning of Albees death. For me, he was always going to be here. He was a universal character. He drew from the world, and put us into these situations. Fulton loved the part of Honey: the latter was a preachers daughter, and so was Fulton, so I knew where she came from, or at least I felt I did. And I loved working with Elaine Stritch [who played Martha]. It was quite a wonderful cast. As for the play itself, Fulton feels, that its a very lonely play, and the characters were lonely and fascinating. People kept coming back to see it over and over again. I truly loved doing that part. Fulton was doing triple duty while in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf: at the same time she was also performing in the off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks and the TV role which made her most famous, as Lisa Grimaldi in As The World Turns, who she playedwith a few breaksfrom 1960 to the shows end in 2010. The show's producers assured Fulton, she said, that they would be compassionate in regards to all her demands, but I didnt trust them to be compassionate. And so she beetled by train between Whos Afraid? and As The World Turns, and then performed in The Fantasticks in the evening. She loved playing Honey, very much. When Elaine Stritch came off-stage one night, she said, Ive caught the sofa on fire. One of her cigarettes had fallen down into the cushions. Put it out the best way you can, she said, which I did with tea, which was a stage prop for the alcohol the characters were drinking. Once, in showbiz restaurant Sardis, Fulton heard someone disparaging Stritch. I went over, slammed my glass down on the table, broke it, and said, I will not stand for anyone saying anything against Elaine Stritch. She is one of my favorite people and a great, great performer. Then I was ushered out and someone paid for my dinner. Performing the plays emotional rollercoaster was draining, and we all got looped on drinking tea, Fulton recalled. It was really draining, and I thought, How am I going to do this? And I found out that it was a new experience every time we stepped on stage. It was a growing experience and I actually love that. The U.S. military currently is investigating whether the Syrian troops it supposedly bombed on Saturday were, in fact, former prisoners turned into makeshift conscript soldiers for Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Thats according to two U.S. defense officials who spoke with The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity. It is the first explanation the Pentagon has put forth for why coalition warplanes mistakenly attacked Syrian forces in a strike that was supposed to target the self-proclaimed Islamic State. But it is only one of several theories being examined as investigators try to find out why the strikes, which killed at least 62 people and injured 100 more, went awry. That is where we are right now, one of the officials explained to The Daily Beast. But that could change. The errant airstrikes do not seem to be the result of mistaken coordinates, officials believe. The U.S.-led coalition hit the intended target and it does not appear ISIS or anyone else misled the coalition toward that target site, the officials told The Daily Beast. We messed up, one of the officials concluded. But officials have yet to explain how they chose the purported ISIS target, particularly one so close to an airbase in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour long under Syrian regime control. Nor could they say why two days of watching the site did not alert them that ISIS was in fact not based there. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of U.S. operations in the Middle East, is expected to appoint a one-star general Monday to investigate the strike, two defense officials told The Daily Beast. Turning prisoners, teachers, and others into conscripts is a practice the Syrian regime has employed for at least two years as it has faced increasingly depleted forces. But this is the first time the U.S. military appeared to have mistaken them for ISIS militants. This is an actually a regular aspect of the Syrian regime fighting force. The actual Syrian Arab Army is so degraded it doesnt exist and depends on conscripts, Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based institute for the Study of War explained to The Daily Beast. I am not sure even the Russians know where all these irregular forces are based. Such forces would likely not being wearing regime uniforms or forming like a traditional military. Thats a difference American intelligence assets should have picked that up before the strike, U.S. officials concede. The U.S. military has repeatedly boasted about its precision inand cautionary approach towardlaunching strikes. The U.S. military was operating two A-10s that were part of Saturdays strike. In addition, Denmark and Australia, which have expressed remorse for the strike, were also part of the operation. The U.S.-coalition began the operation when Russians officials notified the coalition that it was striking regime forces, leading the coalition to halt the mission midway. The U.S. is very familiar with Deir el-Zour. It has conducted scores of precise strikes around city, targeting ISIS and should know the city well. The U.S. has conducted, on average, nearly 20 strikes a week around Deir el-Zour, a third defense official explained. All of those were valid ISIS targets, the official said. Most notably, the U.S. conducted a raid in May 2015 in the area that killed a top ISIS financier, Abu Sayyaf, and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf, who was believed to have held American hostage Kayla Mueller. ISIS has repeatedly tried to advance on Deir el-Zour and increasingly the Syrian regime forces stopping their advance have been on the defensive. The effects of the strike, which the Syrian regime has called a blatant aggression continued Monday as an already fragile week-long ceasefire all but collapsed. Rebels told Reuters Monday that the ceasefire never really took hold and its fighters plan to resume operations. Meanwhile, the Syrian Army declared Monday that the pause in hostilities was over, saying in a statement according to the state-owned SANA that armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared ceasefire. Julia Roberts Says MLK Jr. Paid Hospital Bill For Her Birth YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT The actress said her parents were friends with King and his wife, and the couple helped out when they couldn't afford the bill. Westons creates hop cider for new collection Following the successful launch of Caple Rd cider, the UK's first cider in a can, premium English cider producer Westons has launched a collection of canned craft ciders. The collection of lightly sparkling ciders is now available and comprises Caple Rd No. 5, the latest Caple Rd variant, which is double-filtered from fresh English apple juice to give a crisp, dry and complex taste with a powerful tart finish. Complementing the challenging dryness of Caple Rd No. 5, Westons is also launching two cloudy flavoured ciders under the Rosies Pig brand. Rosies Pig Handbrake Cloudy Cider with Damson is a slowly matured, medium-sweet cider which has hints of cherry and hedgerow fruits and a sharp finish. Rosies Pig Flat Tyre Cloudy Cider with Rhubarb is made from freshly pressed apples paired with a refreshing infusion of rhubarb juice to provide a fruity taste and tart finish. The final launch in the collection is the result of a collaboration between Westons Cider and Purity Brewing Company to create a hopped cider Pure Hopped which is a blend of English cider made from apple juice from Herefordshire and a dash of the finest hops from Worcestershire. Pure Hopped is a beautifully balanced and smooth cider, with subtle citrus flavours. All of the ciders are packaged in 330ml cans. Caple Rd No. 5 and the Rosies Pig Cloudy Ciders were introduced to the on-trade market in the spring and are now available to the off-trade for the first time. Pure Hopped is launching in the on and off-trade markets now for the first time. The new collection comes amidst a growth opportunity for both craft beer and cider, with followers looking increasingly towards premium drinks which have a point of difference, traceability of ingredients, and artisanship. Tessa Holden, brand manager for the craft collection, says: We are extremely excited to be launching our new collection of craft ciders. The new ciders will help attract more drinkers to the cider category as a whole, where Westons is leading the way in driving a genuine craft offer. The launch follows the highly successful introduction of the UKs first craft cider in a can, Caple Rd Cider, to the market, two years ago. Our category insight showed that craft cider is the second biggest trend in the on-trade at the moment and following the successful launch of our Rhubarb and Damson flavoured cloudy ciders under our Rosies Pig brand in the on-trade market we have now launched them in the timely format of the 330ml can. When looking at innovation, growing the cider category is a priority for Westons and its also high on our customers agendas. Pure Hopped is the result of a chance meeting on a visit to Worcestershire-based fruit and hop farm, Stocks Farm, which brought together Westons head cider maker Guy Lawrence and Puritys founder Paul Halsey. As they meandered though hop bines and orchards at Ali Cappers Stocks Farm an idea struck them both. They shared a cursory look and both thought what if Enjoying a drink at the end of the walk, looking out over the rows of hops and apple orchards, Guy told Paul to bring his finest hops to the cider mill where they would combine them with a unique blend of 100% cider apples. Two weeks later they poured two glasses straight from the tap." 19 September 2016 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorial assistant ABOUT US The Ecologist is an environmental news and analysis website with a focus on environmental, social and economic justice. Our aim is to educate and inform as many people as possible about the wonders of nature, the crisis we face and the best solutions and methods in managing that crisis. Find out about our mission, and our team, here. The website is owned and published by The Resurgence Trust, an educational charity. To receive the magazine, become a member now. The views expressed in the articles published on this site may not necessarily reflect those of the trust, its trustees or its staff. The impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff, coup or not, represents a fundamental realigning of modern Brazil. For some in the country, the crisis is an opportunity. These politicians and businessmen are now exploiting the upheaval to roll-back environmental laws and get their hands on the vast natural resources found in protected regions of the Amazon. The new government led by Michel Temer faces a budget deficit of 10%, an unemployment rate of 10.9% and strong calls for austerity. It looks set to terminate a number of successful social policies, and proposes to weaken worker rights by redefining slavery to exclude "degrading conditions" and "exhausting shifts". Nonetheless, Temer will want to maintain Brazil's international brand of a nation committed to the environment. After all, climate change was put centre stage at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics and a clear message was beamed into billions of homes across the planet: Brazil is green. Yet these environmental credentials are questionable. Under president Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula, deforestation returned, large-scale mining and agriculture was expanded, and more dams were built. Temer has appointed a number of environmentalist politicians to prominent positions such as the Green Party's Jose Sarney Filho, now environment minister, and Jose Serra, the foreign minister. But economic rejuvenation at all costs will inevitably overshadow policies aimed at conservation. Weakening environmental assessment Earlier this year, Temer published a document titled 'A bridge to the future', which outlined his plans for the future of Brazil and its economy. The environment, the Amazon and climate change were not mentioned. In particular, campaigners fear the new, pro-business government will fast-track dams, mines and other damaging schemes by weakening environmental impact assessments. A proposed bill, if passed, would allow for infrastructure projects to continue regardless of potential impacts on the environment and indigenous lands. Franklin County public schools have received $55,200 from the School Security Equipment Grants program to help protect students and educators. We are very appreciative for the grant to help us upgrade and maintain security for our children, said Superintendent Mark Church. The money will be divided between Burnt Chimney Elementary, Callaway Elementary, Dudley Elementary, Ferrum Elementary, Henry Elementary, Benjamin Franklin Middle School (East and West Halls) and Franklin County High School. The grants will pay for video monitoring systems, metal detectors, electronic-access controls, visitor-identification systems, direct communications links between schools and law enforcement agencies, and other security upgrades. The grant is part of $6 million recently awarded to 434 schools and instructional facilities across Virginia. The School Security Equipment Grant program was established by the 2013 General Assembly in the aftermath of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. The grant criteria prioritizes schools most in need of modern security equipment, schools with relatively high numbers of offenses, and schools in divisions least able to afford security upgrades. School safety is a fundamental element of offering every Virginia student a world class education in an environment where they can learn, grow and thrive, said Gov. Terry McAuliffe. These grants will give our administrators the resources they need to keep students and educators safe so they can focus on preparing for success in the new Virginia economy. This fourth round of awards brings the total number of school security projects receiving state funding through the program to 1,782. Parents rightfully expect that public schools will provide safe and orderly environments in which all students can focus on learning, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples. The enhancements and systems supported by these grants will help schools meet this basic expectation. School divisions and regional educational programs were invited in June to apply for the 2016 grants. The largest grant a school division may receive under the program is $100,000. A local match of 25-percent is required of most divisions. Richard Long of Ferrum has joined STEP Inc. (Solutions That Empower People) as director of LIFES Academy. In that capacity, he will direct the day-to-day operations of LIFES Academy (Lessons in Fundamental and Essential Skills), which provides an alternative setting for students with special needs. The program is designed to help students shape appropriate attitudes, behaviors and life skills to realize their fullest potential, both academically and socially. Longs professional experience includes nine years experience teaching special education and serving as case manager in public schools with Henry County and Roanoke City. He also served as an instructor of recreation and leisure, coordinator of Ferrum Outdoors and director of student activities and leadership at Ferrum College. Long also served as a recreation program coordinator for James City County Division of Parks & Recreation. We are delighted to have someone of Richards caliber on our staff to lead the program t LIFES Academy, said STEPs Executive Director Marc Crouse. Long graduated with a bachelors degree from Ferrum College in 1992 and earned a masters degree in education from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He holds postgraduate professional teacher licensure from Old Dominion University and is an active member of Virginia Professional Educators. LIFES Academy is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Education and is an accredited member of the Virginia Association of Independent Specialized Education Facilities (VAISEF). Students are referred to LIFES Academy through their schools special education department in cooperation with the locality's Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) and Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT). Dr. Menah Pratt-Clarke, vice president for strategic affairs and vice provost for inclusion and diversity at Virginia Tech, is the featured speaker for the sixth annual Freedom Fund Luncheon. The Franklin County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will host the luncheon, which is set for Saturday, Sept. 24 at 12 p.m. at the Pigg River Community Center. The theme of this years luncheon is Lift Every Voice. A professor of education with the school of education in the college of liberal arts and human sciences, Pratt-Clarke is also affiliated with the department of sociology, Africana studies and womens and gender studies at Tech. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, she served as associate chancellor for strategic affairs and associate provost for diversity at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for nine years. She was also the university compliance officer, assistant secretary of the university, and university counsel at Vanderbilt University for eight years. With over 20 years of administrative, academic and legal experience, her areas of focus include leadership and management of campus-wide offices at private and public higher education institutions; drafting, designing, developing, and implementing policies and programs through communication, training, and education initiatives; and executing and coordinating large-scale strategic initiatives in higher education. As a scholar-administrator, Pratt-Clarke believes in the importance of praxis and using scholarship to inform and guide diversity work in the academy. Pratt-Clarke received bachelors and masters degrees in literary studies from the University of Iowa. She also received a J.D., as well as a M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Vanderbilt University. In addition, she taught at Fisk University and American Baptist College in the English and African-American studies departments. Her scholarship includes critical race theory, critical race feminism, and black feminism. Her first book, Critical Race Feminism and Education: A Social Justice Model, examines issues of race, class and gender in the public school system. Her second book, Journeys of Social Justice: Women of Color Presidents in the Academy, examines the complicated and difficult journeys of women of color administrators in the academy. Committed to social engagement and community outreach, Pratt-Clarke has served on boards and participated in projects involving K-12 education, workforce development, the arts and sports. Also participating in the NAACP program are Sheila Witcher of Holy Trinity Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Imam James Shabazz of the Islamic Center of Martinsville-Henry County, Delegate Sam Rasoul (Va. 11th District), Girl Scout Troop 46 of Roanoke, Kyle Dunnings of Troop 456 in Rocky Mount, Pastor Jeffrey Hairston of Tabernacle of Praise Church in Rocky Mount, Mary Helm of the Freedom Fund Luncheon Committee and Rev. Cyrus Taylor, president of the Franklin County branch of the NAACP. Television reporter Neesey Payne will serve as emcee and Chelsea Claytor will give the history of James Weldon Johnson's Lift Every Voice and Sing, which became the Negro National Anthem. The Pigg River Community Center is located at 2410 South Main Street in Rocky Mount. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students. For more information, contact Glenna Moore (483-9469), Josephine Edwards (483-7151), Clara Taylor (483-1842) or Mary Helm (483-9635). (Adds EBRD official quote, background) KIEV, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Ukraine on Monday cancelled a decision to transfer control of the gas transport arm of state energy firm Naftogaz to the economy ministry after a warning from international creditors that the move undermined investor confidence. Ukraine's international lenders have long called for reform of Naftogaz to improve transparency but a government decision this month to put the Ukrtransgaz transportation business under the ministry without consultation came as a surprise. The government said it had rethought the move after meeting officials on Monday from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and World Bank, which loaned Naftogaz $800 million last year to buy gas from Europe for the winter. "We agreed to cancel the decision," the government said in a statement, adding that a new working group including World Bank and EBRD representatives would decide on steps needed to unbundle Naftogaz's production, transport and sales businesses. Francis Malige, the EBRD's managing director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, welcomed the move and said the government had been "extraordinarily open" in Monday's talks. "There was a rapid decision that was considered to be urgent last week, which was not as well thought through as it should have been," he told Reuters by phone. The EBRD is one of the biggest investors in Ukraine, financing projects worth about 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 bln) in 2014 and 2015 combined, but a political impasse in the first five months of this year has slowed the process. (Reporting by Alessandra Prentice and Natalia Zinets; editing by Susan Fenton and David Clarke) California is a shinning example of the way forward. This states bold climate actions are meant to help us extricate ourselves from the world we have created. Rather than herald this great states accomplishments, the oil industry is using their ill-begotten wealth to sow doubt and they are sicking their conservative attack drones in the state legislature to undermine Californias green economy. They are trying to tear asunder the fabric of states world-leading low carbon efforts. They do not seem to notice that the California is being disproportionately impacted by climate change and they seem oblivious to the states four year long drought. Nor do they appear to be moved by the recent fossil fuel leaks including the large oil spill in Santa Barbara in May 2015 and the massive Porter Ranch methane leak towards the end of last year. Leadership California is leading US states in terms of their renewable portfolio standards in the nation, requiring 25 percent of electricity to come from renewables by 2016, and 33 percent by 2020. In August California, the worlds sixth largest economy set some of the most ambitious carbon reduction targets in the world. The new law would see the states emissions slashed by 40 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. The law had widespread support including from businesses and investors. After the vote, the states governor Jerry Brown lashed out at resistance from big oil and their minions in the Republican party. (it should be noted that there was one lone Republican, Assemblywoman Catherine Baker who voted for the emissions reductions). Yesterday, big oil bought a full-page ad in the capital citys newspaper of record to halt action on climate, said Brown. Today, the assembly speaker, most Democrats and one brave Republican passed SB 32, rejecting the brazen deception of the oil lobby and their Trump-inspired allies who deny science and fight every reasonable effort to curb global warming. The self-serving bastards in the the oil industry and Republicans rallied against the law saying that it will kill jobs and harm the economy. Economists say it will keep growing the economy, encourage investments in clean energy and bolster the states cap and trade system. History This is but the latest in a long line of climate legislation that has positioned California as an industrialized leader. In 2015 the California Senate tabled 12 bills to address climate change including increasing the emissions reduction target to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. These new laws applied to everything from agriculture to public utilities mitigation to adaptation and resilience. Specific measures included cutting the use of gasoline on state roads by half, a 50 percent increase in energy efficiency and an energy goal focused on securing half of Californias energy from renewable sources. Other measures passed in 2015 include bolstering public transportation infrastructure and divesting public pensions from coal. Other aspects of these climate laws include studying the states rivers and protecting the coasts. They even put forward a Green Assistance Program that would provide technical assistance to small businesses and others. Brown has also signed environmental and climate agreements with others including Mexico and cities around the world. Even in 2006 under then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger state policy on climate change was being informed by science rather than politics. The Global Warming Solutions Act or AB 32 commits the state to a 25 percent reduction in GHGs by 2020 based on 1990 levels making California the first to impose a statewide mandate in the US. Schwarzenegger subsequently committing California to obtaining 33% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. A number of other states have followed Californias lead. In 2007 Schwarzenegger established the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). Although it was working well the states old energy economy launched a legal challenge against LCFS but its bid failed in the US Supreme Court in 2014. Despite protests from the usual suspects, California led the Western Climate Initiative, which spawned a number of GHG accords that now encompass more than half of the US and Canada. Schwarzenegger was also a supporter of international agreements like the one that was signed in Paris at COP21. Since leaving office the former governor has railed against Republican climate denial. However, then as now Californias climate action is threatened by Republicans, the oil industry, and some other corporate interests. In 2010 Dr. Carl Safina, one of the worlds leading marine researchers, wrote the following in The Washington Post December 21st, 2010: As several writers including myself have pointed out, U.S. leadership on climate change and energy innovation is also very much about national security, patriotism and rebuilding the economy. The nation that owns the energy future will own the futurebut the United States has to decide it wants to lead. California is doing something right. In 2012 the state was the 12th largest emitter of carbon in the world now it has fallen to the 20th. The new carbon reduction targets will ensure that emissions in the state continue their dramatic decline. Oil and the GOP are the big losers The states existing mandate will see a ten percent cut in the carbon content of fuel by 2020. This will push 20 percent of conventional combustion engine vehicles off of California roads. The new emissions reduction targets will take that even further. This is a victory for citizens, the renewable energy industry and environmental groups. Where there are winners there are often losers and in this case the big losers are the most hated industry in America, the fossil fuel industry followed closely by the GOP. Despite spending millions of dollars to misinform and manipulate, big oil fell flat on its face in California. In an EcoWatch article titled, Big Oils Nightmare Comes True, Adrienne Alvord of the Union of Concerned Scientists said, This was retail politics and oil lost. Simply put, market forces are killing fossil fuels while the declining cost of storage are buoying renewables. This is underscored by the fact that in 2016 solar became the least expensive readily available source of energy in the world. History will record that it was popular support for renewables and resistance to fossil fuels that made California the first state to bring big oil to its knees. The oil industry will not accept their slow demise, nor will they accept a tertiary role in the economy. They are going for broke but they are destined to lose. Lest anyone feel tempted to empathize with this evil death star they should remember that this is the same industry that concealed information about their industrys role as a leading cause of climate change. Most Americans want clean air and clean water but these aspirations are being tamped down by sinister forces in the old energy economy and the GOP. Most Californians want to move forward on clean energy and climate, this includes a majority of Republican voters. However, big oil and members of the state legislature work hard to scare voters with misinformation. Republicans have succeeded in making many voters worry that they have to choose between the economy and the environment. Deniers know that belief in climate change is tied to the economy, so this is their preferred weapon of mass disinformation. They ignore the plethora of research that shows this is a false choice, we can have both. If such fear mongering would be scrutinized in a rigorous and scientific fashion these fears would be put to rest. Reason, science, and scrutiny are an existential threat to climate deniers. These self-serving planet killers know that belief in global warming is tied to the economy so they fan the flames of fear and exclude a reasonable review of the facts. Related Heartland Institutes Fear Mongering in Climate Friendly California Around Burlington: Why 800 hunters descended upon Danville in 1921 It was 1921, and the threat of grey wolves preying on livestock drew hundreds of hunters to the town of Danville, but biologists say there may not have been any wolves at all. Where is Ron Burgundy when we need him? Someone has to tell Matt Damon that he needs to take a timeout Some are bound, some are spiral, but all the books on this second-floor hallway shelf contain more than 20 years of visual inspiration for Jennifer Paganelli, an artist and textile designer who reaches into the past to find success in the p resent. As she points out the books, she lets a guest in on a secret. I thought someone was going to discover me and want to do a fashion line with me, and that never happened, she says, laughing, on a recent afternoon. So now I have to do it on my own. Best known for quilting fabrics with FreeSpirit (sold at Christies Quilting Boutique in Norwalk and at Jo-Ann Fabric stores), vintage style remains a touchstone for the Wilton-based entrepreneur, who has run her company, Sis Boom, since 1995. Throughout her career, she has reimagined and refashioned her designs with an eye toward a modern sensibility through bright florals, colors and patterns that filled her senses as an adolescent and is an amalgam of where shes lived. Paganelli leads the way to her home workshop, where her ready-to-wear line lies in its infancy, a collection of casual pants, tunics, wraps and other pieces manifested in sketches on a wall. She expects the clothing, inspired by resort living, to debut next year. I have been doing quilting fabrics for so long and then we did patterns, so it got people to think about clothing and people would come to the shows (held in December at her home) over the years and ask, Why dont you do a clothing line?, says Paganelli, who intends to hew to the vibrant colors and strong patterns that mark her brand. I love layering. I love florals and I love geometrics. I gravitate toward bold. I want to know that when you walk into a room, people know you are wearing a Sis Boom. In her work, she is largely guided by a wall of fabric dominating her studio gathered over the past 25 years from places such as the Elephants Trunk Flea Market in New Milford. These vintage materials, known as documents, are 50 to 100 years old. At first, she used them for the craft items that launched her business pillows, covered lampshades, tote bags, sachets and other home decor items. As Paganelli transitioned to fabric design, she began reaching for these remnants to serve as inspiration or a starting point for updated color and modern design elements. In her design, she is never all that far from her original love fashion. As a preteen some 40 years ago, she would pore over glossy magazines before visiting fabric stores, where she would pore some more over exotic colors and design techniques. Paganellis childhood had a definitive influence on her aesthetic those fabric stores were on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, where she lived with her family from the age of 12 through adolescence. (She spent the first part of her childhood in upstate New York, where she learned to appreciate vintage after going to garage sales with her mother.) I went from very dark, traditional colors to those big geometrics, those happy colors, she says. There was a woman importing things from Java, these wax batiks that were nothing like I had ever seen before. I would just collect them and collect them. Also, Lilly Pulitzer in the 1970s was a big, big icon for me, as was Marimekko. I tend to migrate toward bright and happy. Her bold take on quilting fabrics transcends their original purpose. People have used them for clothing and for home projects, including many she has suggested in one of her books, Happy Home. In the months to come, she will move nimbly between her nascent fashion collection and the release of her latest fabric line, Hotel Frederiksted, named for the hotel her father owned and ran on St. Croix. Inspired by memories, it evokes the sometimes loud and garish outfits worn by tourists, the deep ocean blues and the pink and orange sunsets. I use vintage documents to begin the process and then I add my own flourishes, she says. I have found a nice niche. chennessy@hearstmedia.com; Twitter: @xtinahennessy NORWALK The after-school program of The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk that supports STEM learning and college prep for high-school students is being celebrated as one of the top educational efforts of any zoo and aquarium in America. The Aquariums TeMPEST program was honored with a 2016 Education Award by the prestigious Association of Zoos & Aquariums during the AZAs annual national conference Sept. 7-11 in San Diego. Only three institutions received the honor, out of 231 accredited member zoos and aquariums. NORWALK The Maritime Aquariums STEM-based after-school program has won national recognition. The aquariums TeMPEST (Teen Maritime Programs Emphasizing Science and Technology) program, which has local high school students flying drones and building underwater exploration vehicles, received a 2016 Education Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It enrolls up to 80 students in once-a-week classes. The program was one of only three zoos and aquariums to win the award out of the 231 nationwide. This award provides well-deserved national recognition for the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalks TeMPEST program, said Keith Winsten, director of the Brevard Zoo and chair of AZAs Honors and Awards Committee, in a statement. By engaging program participants in immersive, hands-on science opportunities, the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is helping to build and inspire the next generation of conservationists. Judges assessed programs on their ability to promote conservation knowledge, attitudes and behavior, show innovation and measure success. The aquariums TeMPEST program works by splitting students up according to their grade level. This years freshman and sophomore classes will focus on marine technology and animal and population studies, said Bridget Cervero, an education supervisor at the aquarium. The marine technology group will work in teams to ultimately construct a remotely operated vehicle, while the population ecology group will explore the Long Island Sound ecosystem using a drone and ultimately build one of their one, Cervero said. The aquarium is currently recruiting freshmen and sophomore students in Norwalk and Stamford. The idea is to have students start during their freshmen year and attend all the way through high school, Cervero said. Junior year is more focused on life after high school, Cervero said. Those students will build resumes through participation in citizen science projects. Students are also introduced to the college selection process through workshops, fairs and a college trip. Senior students, who successfully complete two years of TeMPEST, can apply for a paid Maritime Aquarium internship. The classes are free thanks to funding from various area donors, but all interested students must apply online. Courses start in mid-October and run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through mid-May, Cervero said. Applications are available at maritimeaquarium.org at the link under the Fun & Learning tab. KSchultz@thehour.com; 203- 354-1049; @kevinedschultz The recent fight among Apple, Ireland, and the European Union has once again shined a spotlight on the growing trend of US companies storing cash overseas to avoid taxes. In fact, the amount of cash held by US-based companies in foreign countries hit a record $2.5 trillion in 2015, which is roughly 14% of the US's total GDP, according to Andrew Hunter, an economist at Capital Economics, who described the increase as companies "hoarding" cash overseas. Hunter notes that many firms are keeping the cash abroad to avoid the US's 35% corporate tax rate (though to be fair, companies are paying much less than that), which is the highest among developed market countries. Not all US firms are taking part in the shift, however, as the foreign cash is concentrated, for the most part, in a small group of firms in a small group of sectors. Here's Hunter (emphasis added): "Holdings of foreign cash are increasingly concentrated among a few large firms. Although Apple now has $91.5bn of earnings permanently reinvested overseas, it is not the biggest holder General Electric and Microsoft have more than $100 billion each. "In addition, a disproportionate share of the total is still accounted for by firms in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Pharmaceutical firms now hold around 27% of the total, while the share accounted for by IT firms has risen to almost 40%, up from just 12% back in 2002." foreign cash COTD According to Hunter, if this cash were brought back to the US and invested by firms, it could be a significant economic boost. Unfortunately, despite some suggestions of one-time exemptions, tax rates as they stand now are too big of a discouragement in bringing back this cash though there may be some possibility of a change after the presidential election in November. Additionally, the repatriation of cash has previously not brought about investments that would boost the economy and have instead been an indirect boost at best. Story continues In Hunter's opinion, the large domestic cash stockpiles show that companies are generally unwilling to invest in long-term projects, thus the repatriated cash probably wouldn't boost investment significantly. "Instead, evidence from a previous tax holiday in 2004 suggests that repatriated earnings would probably be returned to shareholders," Hunter wrote. "This would, however, provide an indirect boost to the economy, if shareholders then used the funds to increase consumption and the government spent its extra tax revenue." NOW WATCH: Paul Krugman weighs in on the Apple tax debate More From Business Insider NORWALK For the first time, Norwalk youth are the focus of grant funding intended to prevent underage drinking and prescription drug use. Connecticuts Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has announced that Positive Directions, the Center for Prevention and Counseling has received a five-year grant totaling $686,000 for the initiative. It marks the first time DMHAS has specifically targeted Norwalk to educate teenagers about prescription drug abuse and underage drinking, said Positive Directions Executive Director Basil Hero. This funding will help save lives, Hero said. Giovanna Pisani, director of the Mid-Fairfield Substance Abuse Coalition, said the grant is a breakthrough for Norwalk that will reinvigorate the citys Community Prevention Task Force, which includes health and social services organizations, schools, parents, businesses and law enforcement. The funds are part of an $8.2 million grant awarded to the state by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The money was divided among eight communities in the state to be disbursed over five years. The funding was distributed to community-level agencies in medium and large-sized urban areas that demonstrate a need for reducing youth alcohol and prescription drug use rates. The eight communities were selected through a competitive process based on their ability to address youth alcohol and prescription drug abuse, and include Norwalk, East Hampton, Norwich, New Britain, Manchester, Vernon, West Hartford and Norfolk. The awardees will receive training and technical assistance from existing state resources to strengthen their prevention services Positive Directions is a Westport-based mental health and prevention services provider that works in Westport, Weston, Wilton and Fairfield to lower substance abuse among adolescents. The organization is known for its student/parent drug survey. More Information The following community agencies will receive funding each year over the next five years: Positive Directions, Norwalk - $137,102 Town of East Hampton - $150,000 City of Norwich, Human Services - $138,094 Klingberg Family Centers, New Britain - $183,004 Town of Manchester - $149,616 The Village for Families & Children, Vernon - $149,849 Institute for Community Research, West Hartford - $152,335 McCall, Colebrook, New Hartford, Barkhamsted, Norfolk, Winsted - $150,000 See More Collapse Connecticut Governor Daniel P. Malloy addressed the funding as an opportunity for prevention across the state. By partnering with communities, we can broaden our efforts to educate youths about the dangers of underage drinking and prescription drug abuse, save the lives of those who may be suffering from addiction, and even prevent it before it has the opportunity to take hold, Malloy said. KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt WILTON Growing up, it didnt take Ashley Li very long to realize that there was an integral difference between her and the other people in her computer courses. Since middle school, Li recognized an insatiable interest in computer sciences taking ahold of her. Li was enamored with computers and everything about them, but when she looked around her classroom for another girl to share her interests with, she was only met with the sight of boys, boys and more boys. It could feel a little isolating, because when every one else is different than you, you can get very self-conscious of the fact that youre the only girl in the room and it can make you a little more intimidated, said Li, who recently started her first year at Johns Hopkins University. It wasnt until Li joined an all-girl coding camp, sponsored by the nationwide organization Girls Who Code, in the summer of 2015 that she truly felt welcome in the coding community. Li felt such a connection to the program that when she got home to Wilton the first thing she did was put out feelers for any organizations around town who would like to sponsor such a club. Thats where the Wilton Library stepped in. I remember going through the same things in high school, said Susan Lauricella, the manager of Teen Services for the library. I remember being in this math class and thinking that I probably knew more than most of boys there, but I would just clam up in class and would let them take over because I just felt outnumbered. Lauricella noted not much has changed these days, which is why when Li presented her with the idea for the Girls Who Code Club she jumped on it immediately. I think its important that they (girls) shouldnt feel that this is something that they cant succeed in. Things might be better nowadays than how it was when I was growing up, but I still think that we have some ways to go, Lauricella said. According to the Girls Who Code website, the gender gap in computing has actually been getting worse since the 1980s. In 1984, 37 percent of all computer science graduates were women. Now, that number has actually fallen to 18 percent. By 2020, there will be 1.4 million jobs available in computing related fields. U.S. graduates are on track to fill 29 percent of those jobs. Women are on track to fill just 3 percent. However, the Girls Who Code clubs around the nation are doing their part to integrate an otherwise homogenous field. Since its inception in 2012, Girls Who Code has gone from 20 girls in New York to 10,000 girls nationwide. After only a year of existence, Wiltons girls-only coding club has shown signs of growth as well. Twelve girls signed up for the librarys the first iteration of program, and interest has been growing solidly since. This years program has 18 girls enrolled as well as a burgeoning waiting list. Wilton Librarys Girls Who Code Club caters to girls from sixth to 12th grade and it runs for nearly the entirety of the school year. The program happens every Sunday, running from 1-3 p.m. in the librarys computer lab. Under the guidance of trained volunteers, students are taught the basics of Python, JavaScript and HTML. To learn more about the Girls Who Code Club at the Wilton Library, log on to the librarys website at wiltonlibrary.org and click on the teen tab. ptomlinson@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1046; Tomlinson_PE Astros strike back to win Game 2 vs. Phillies, evening up World Series The Houston Astros won Game 2 on Saturday night to send the World Series back to Philadelphia at 1-1. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Abidah Billah Setyowati (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 As a celebration of social forestry initiatives in Indonesia, a festival showcasing stories of community-managed forests around the archipelago was held in Jakarta last week by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). The event took place more than a year after the launch of the Indonesian governments ambitious program targeted at allocating 12.7 million hectares of forests to be managed by communities through social forestry schemes, which includes hutan kemasyarakatan (community forestry), hutan desa (village forests), hutan tanaman rakyat (community plantation forests) and hutan adat (customary forests), as well as forming partnerships for collaborative forest management. The target has been part of the governments five year plan (2015-2019), which means that there should be more than 2.5 million hectares of forests allocated for communities each year. Long advocated by communities and environmental activists, social forestry was initiated in Indonesia in the early 1990s. The governments more concerted and measurable efforts to ensure communities secured access to forests has been widely praised. Expectations have been high for social forestry initiatives not only to clarify forest tenure arrangementhence solving longstanding forest tenure conflicts but also as a means to alleviate poverty. In this regard, this commitment in forestry management has been related to President Joko Jokowi Widodos Nawacita Agenda 7: to achieve economic independence by focusing on strategic domestic economic sectors. Moreover, in the context of Indonesias target to mitigate climate change, this commitment has been promoted as an inclusive pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many researchers have noted that clear forest tenure arrangements are a necessary requirement to ensure the success of climate mitigation initiatives, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Now, more than a year since the target was launched, it is time to reflect back on the programs progress and what challenges still persist to achieve the goal by 2019. Based on data from forest tenure working groups in April 2016, the government, in cooperation with civil society groups, has identified the location of around 13 million hectares of forest areas that can potentially be allocated to community management. Nevertheless, communities will still need to go through long arduous bureaucratic procedures before they can actually manage the forest; this could take several years. Oftentimes, the bureaucracy and varied interests across different levels of government also have a strong influence on permit issuance. Therefore, it is not surprising that from 2007-2014, the governments target to allocate around 1.4 million ha of forest for communities fell short, achieving a mere 22 percent success rate resulting in the allocation of only 308,451 hectares of forest area for communities. There are several important notes that need to be taken into consideration to push forward the social forestry agenda in Indonesia. First, simplify the bureaucratic procedures to obtain permits. Currently, the MoEF is preparing a new regulation to speed up the permit process. However, until the regulation is issued and takes effect, it will not be an easy task to achieve such an ambitious target in the next four years. In addition, incentive/disincentive structures and coordination among different government levels needs to be established and improved to stimulate the progress of social forestry initiatives. Oftentimes, different priorities and political agendas, particularly at the district and provincial level, have hampered the process of obtaining permits. Second, with regards to poverty alleviation, a study carried out by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 2014 shows several case studies in which social forestry initiatives have significantly contributed to local economic development. For instance, community members in Kalibiru, Kulon Progo district have benefited from an ecotourism initiative over their community forests that generate a shared income of around Rp 2.4 billion per year. Unfortunately, such findings are not evident across the board. In some cases, communities still have difficulty obtaining tangible benefits from forest resources. Third, getting a social forestry permit is not the end in itself. Rather, it needs to be positioned as an entry point for broader community empowerment in forest management. To the date, most efforts, be it from government, NGOs or donor communities, have focused on enabling the communities to get the formal permits. Nevertheless, research shows that the ability of communities to get benefits from natural resources is also determined by a range of other factors, such as access to information, market, decision-making process or even networks. Therefore, more holistic support is needed for the communities once they obtain their permits, to enable fuller benefits from the social forestry initiative. Finally, social and gender safeguards need to be taken into account when implementing social forestry initiatives. My previous assessments on community forestry initiatives in several provinces in Indonesia show that forest management institutions at the local level are still dominated by male community members, and womens participation in all phases of forest management and decision-making processes remains minimal. It is important to note that communities are not homogenous entities. There are different social, economic and gender groups within communities that influence the ability to access resources from the forest. Without careful social and gender safeguards, such social forestry initiatives might benefit the elite and further marginalize some groups in the communities, especially woman. *** Abidah B. Setyowati, PhD is a human geographer with specialization in Political Ecology. She currently works as a biodiversity conservation and co-management advisor at USAID LESTARI. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Mon, September 19, 2016 We live in a world beyond borders. Our ability to work is no longer limited by geography, but only by our ambition. The ease of international travel alongside the vast opportunity of our digital landscape provides a connected world of global collaboration. A breakfast meeting in Malaysia turns into a conference call with London, then a day ended with a face-to-face meeting with clients in Indonesia. Its not just big companies exploring the value of these opportunities. Increasingly smaller businesses are reaping the rewards of our connected world. Navigating this landscape requires a crucial new understanding of intelligence. It is no longer enough to simply be business smart, or rely on outdated concepts of IQ. In this connected world the business environment is a shifting platform of culture, belief and nationality. Navigating this new landscape requires an intelligence that can adapt. This is the landscape of cultural intelligence, or CQ. What is cultural intelligence? Cultural intelligence is not an attribute that can be measured. There is no standardized test by which we can assess a persons position on a pre-defined scale. Instead, think of CQ as a form of cultural empathy, an ability of a person to understand and appreciate a diversity of views. There are numerous examples of cultural attitudes which can impact our business dealings. In parts of Asia, a bow is a traditional greeting rather than a handshake. Shaking with the wrong hand in certain areas of the world is a terrible insult. And offering the thumbs up as a sign of approval will most certainly not be met with approval in some areas of the Middle East. But cultural intelligence is not just understanding the points of views of others, but having a deeper understanding of yourself. What are the values which are intrinsic to who you are, and which are those you are willing to adapt to work across different cultures? Common Purpose, a UK-based NGO, have been championing cultural intelligence for years. They define this self-appraisal through the concept of our core and flex. Our core covers those principles and ideas that are at the heart of who we are, and how we live. Those are the elements we will not bend. Our flex are instead those elements of our identity that we do not consider unbending, and can adapt to new cultural circumstances. CQ is about understanding ourselves and understanding others. Only by doing so will we have the intelligence to operate successfully in an increasingly globalized world. The value of cultural intelligence As a global company, the value of cultural intelligence is something GE are keen to advocate. We work across a diverse range of countries, each offering their own unique challenges and opportunities. Indeed, there is perhaps nowhere that diversity of opportunity is more pronounced than right here in ASEAN. It is for that very reason that GE is proud to sponsor Common Purpose in their inaugural ASEAN Leaders Programme, helping to develop cultural intelligence in our regions leaders of tomorrow. Of course in understanding diversity, providing diverse perspectives is equally key. The ASEAN Leaders Programme is heavily engaged with leaders from nations throughout ASEAN, meaning business, government, NGOs, academia, and leaders from a wide range of sectors can come together to meet, work together and nurture their own CQ. This business value of cultural intelligence is not just an abstract concept. The value of diversity in business is well documented. A US study showed that companies ranking in the top 25 percent of diversity on their boards displayed over 50 percent higher return on equity than those which ranked in the bottom quartile. Much like CQ itself, it is hard to quantify the direct value of diversity, but the evidence is clear that it delivers real value for business. A separate study was undertaken by Harvard Business Review to further assess the value of diversity in leadership. The study looked at those with multiple traits of both inherent diversity, i.e. a diverse background, and acquired diversity, essentially the diversity acquired through interacting with other backgrounds or cultures. The results showed that those companies with leaders displaying both these traits, what is described as 2-D diversity, were 45 percent more likely to grow market share and 70 percent more likely to report successfully entering a new market with their business. This element of CQ ensures a leadership that not only understands how to capitalize on opportunity, but can also engage diverse stakeholders to deliver success. CQ delivers opportunity It is no surprise that leadership and diversity are areas which together can drive the most change. Decision makers enjoy a unique position to capitalize on the significant benefits that diverse perspectives can offer. Diversity itself is, of course, a vital goal and it has been shown time and again that both racial and gender diversity at senior levels in an organization can have significant positive impact on business results. But diversity itself is not all that is needed, as appreciating and understanding how to act on the views of those diverse perspectives is where the greatest benefits lie. That is the value of cultural intelligence. That is the principle at the core of the ASEAN Leaders Programme. Cultural intelligence may not provide a handy scale by which we can measure it, but it does provide us the framework for effective leadership in our increasingly global world. CQ is not a talent one must be born with or live without, but a skill which we can acquire through an open-mind and a willingness to interact with other cultures. In doing so, we not only provide ourselves with a valuable lesson in how to live, but acquire an invaluable understanding of how to successfully conduct business in a world beyond borders. Thanks to Common Purpose and the ASEAN Leaders Programme, our wonderfully diverse region is better equipped to enjoy those benefits than ever before. Kerry Washington, always a red carpet favorite, won the Emmys red carpet Sunday, showing off her huge baby bump in a black custom Brandon Maxwell strapless gown with daring cutouts, her hair long, loose and curly. "She was dressing for two and got the proportions just right," said Rickie De Sole, fashion market director for W magazine. "It was sexy but not overtly sexy. That's why she's so successful on the red carpet. It was unexpected and fun," De Sole added. Kerry Washington arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss) Also earning raves: Sarah Paulson in an emerald green, low-cut encrusted Prada gown as she walked the carpet with Marcia Clark, the prosecutor she played on FX's "People vs. O.J. Simpson. "It felt very unexpected, very red carpet but modern in its silhouette," Do Sole said. Kristen Bell went with a low-cut champagne-colored chiffon ballgown with just enough sparkle running through its floral print at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Sarah Paulson, left, and Marcia Clark arrive at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss) Tori Kelly touted Old Hollywood waves, feeling fall in a black-as-night strapless velvet mermaid gown for TV's biggest night. Bell's crystal-flecked gown from Zuhair Murad matched her wheat-colored locks, worn loose and wavy. Pryanka Chopra, meanwhile, smoothed her dark locks back and went for red from Jason Wu with side cutouts, twirling her princess skirt wearing a lip shade that perfectly matched the gown. "I loved the fit, the one shoulder and the way it cinched her waist," Beverly Hills fashion stylist Joseph Katz said of Chopra's princess moment. "It just popped on the red carpet. And the twirl. That's what it's all about, showing the flow and movement. She nailed it." Kristen Bell arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss) Ariel Winter sparkled in silver that hugged her curves and Sarah Hyland wore bold, black cigarette pants with a white embroidered floral strapless top. It had a split back and two long sections as a train, from Monique Lhuillier. Kelly, with her sweetheart neckline, was on trend with her velvet look, after several designers rolled out velvet at New York Fashion Week. So was Kathryn Hahn in emerald green velvet with a deep V-neck and metallic lace detailing. "I chose it because I just love, like, no bra, just kind of after two children, just a saggy boob in the heat," Hahn joked. "That's what kind of sold it for me. I thought it had a bit of a Scarlett O'Hara, whipped-it-up-with-the-curtains kind of feel." Ariel Winter arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.(Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss) Kelly's designer was Paule Ka. Hahn wore Wai Ming. Both kept their jewelry to a minimum, with Kelly in elegant drop diamond earrings. Hahn's look crossed at the back, lending some pizzazz. Hyland's gown sported an icicle motif and celebrated her curves as she spoke about the importance of body positivity. "Everybody's bodies are beautiful," she said. (Read also: Metallics reigned on Met Gala red carpet) Ellie Kemper, meanwhile, celebrated in a bright, citrus yellow Jenny Packham that cinched at the waist, just a few weeks after having a baby. Her hair was smooth as silk and swept to the side as she smiled for photographers. Her jewels were from Neil Lane, including dainty diamond and gold drop earrings. "It's life changing," Kemper told E! of the birth of her son in early August. Sarah Hyland arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in Los Angeles.(Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss) Angela Bassett stood out in lemon yellow with cape sleeves and a full train. Another standout: Shiri Appleby in an optimistic sky blue sparkler. Not all the fashionistas were full grown. Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin, the bite-size kid trio from "Stranger Things," had a ball at the Microsoft Theater, soaking up their red carpet moment together in fancy duds. Wearing green ruffles with her black eyeglasses was the little star from "Blackish," Marsai Martin. Tracee Ellis Ross was in the white-dress camp, flinging a train around the carpet in a one-shoulder cream silk gown from the Ralph Lauren Collection. It wasn't the best fit, sagging at a crucial cutout at the waist, but she wore a killer pair of huge diamond earrings that helped deflect the problem. In standout white was Anika Noni Rose, a Tadashi Shoji chiffon Grecian gown with just enough embellishment at the neck. The waist pulled in, lending even more dramatic fullness to the skirt. Rami Malek arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.(Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss) The guys had a few moments of their own. Terrence Howard of "Empire" wore a black-and-white check dinner jacket with a patterned bow tie. His lapels were solid black, like his trousers and pocket square. Rami Malek, who stars in "Mr. Robot," went for a white dinner jacket, his big blue eyes lending all the color he needed. Fred Armisen camped it up in a black tuxedo with Frankenstein bolts on his neck. In the "we're-not-so-sure department," Gwendoline Christie sported a huge butt bow and more big, busy embellishment at the front. Also Anna Chlumsky from "Veep" in a sacklike look with awkward off-the-shoulder bits and a clunky train. "That, um, yeah, it wasn't flattering," Katz said of Chlumsky. "The color was pretty. She definitely took a risk." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Son Ji-hyoung (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Mon, September 19, 2016 Actor Lee Jong-suk described his role in the drama W as a turning point in a recent interview with fashion magazine InStyle Korea. He had taken a yearlong hiatus as an actor after the SBS series Pinocchio, and during this time had missed acting. The thirst I had for acting was perfectly quenched, he told InStyle Korea. (Read also: What does W stand for? answers Korean drama 'W' author) While acting in W, my worries about the way I act settled down. I also discovered another side of myself. It was a turning point. Meanwhile, in a photo shoot for the magazine, Lee showcased autumn fashion, donning various sweatshirts. The pictures will be published in the October issue of InStyle Korea. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Associated Press) Cambridge, Massachusetts Mon, September 19, 2016 Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee) has been honored as the 2016 humanitarian of the year by students and faculty at the Harvard Foundation. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate gained international prominence as the General Secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy in Myanmar in 1990. She became one of the world's most well-known political prisoners during her 15 years of house arrest for participating in anti-government protests. Her country later supported her, and she was appointed to the newly created position of state counselor, which is similar to prime minister. (Read also: JK Rowling honored by PEN for literary and humanitarian work) The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Committee praised her for her "non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights." She received the foundation's Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award during a ceremony Saturday. HOUSTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A woman was found dead on Monday morning in the administration building at Exxon Mobil Corp's Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery, said the coroner for East Baton Rouge Parish. "There is no suspicion of foul play," said Dr. William Clark, the parish coroner. "It appears to be due to natural causes." The woman, who has not been identified pending notification of her family, was not found near any of the production equipment at the refinery, Clark said. Exxon spokesman Todd Spitler confirmed the body's discovery. "The cause of death has not been determined, and an investigation is currently being conducted," Spitler said. "Our thoughts are with the individual's family during this difficult time." (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sohn Ji-young (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Seoul Mon, September 19, 2016 Samsung Electronics will begin rolling out replacements of the Galaxy Note 7 in South Korea and the US this week, moving fast to restore consumer trust hurt by faulty batteries prone to potential explosions. The new Galaxy Note 7 replacement devices, equipped with new batteries, will become available in Korea from Monday and in the US from Wednesday, according to Samsungs latest announcement. The ongoing recall affects Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones released in 10 nations last month, including some 400,000 units sold in Korea and some 1 million units sold in the US. Koreas three telecom companies said Sunday that Galaxy Note 7 owners can exchange their devices for new ones by visiting the stores where they purchased the smartphones, from Monday until the end of the month. From October, Samsung Electronics service centers will handle the replacement procedures, according to SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus. Customers can also choose to exchange their affected devices with a new Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge, or receive a full refund. Those seeking refunds must visit the store of their purchase and complete the refund process by Monday. In the US, Samsung, in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, also announced a voluntary recall and exchange program for all Galaxy Note 7 devices sold in the country before last Thursday. The new replacement devices will become available in the US no later than Sept. 21, Samsung Electronics US unit said in a statement last Thursday. Since the affected devices can overheat and pose a safety risk, if you own a Galaxy Note7, it is extremely important to stop using your device, power it down and immediately exchange it using our US Note 7 Exchange Program, the company said. (Read also: Indonesian buyers undeterred by exploding Samsung smartphones) Samsung already began its recall process in Singapore last Friday, offering customers an apology letter, a cash voucher, a screen protection film and a bag of snacks. Around half of its Singaporean customers exchanged their phones on the first day, the Korean tech firm said. The current recall deals a costly blow to Samsung, which had been betting on the Galaxy Note 7 to bolster its sales against competitors such as Apple and its recently released iPhone 7 and iPhone Plus. Given Samsung Electronics tarnished brand image and the financial costs of the recall, local analysts remain uncertain over whether the companys operating profit this year can surpass the 30 trillion won ($26.7 billion) mark as hoped. In light of the Note 7 debacle, most local analysts lowered their forecasts for Samsung Electronics third-quarter operating profit last week. However, their projections for the companys annual operating profit continued to hover at around 30 trillion won. As of Sept. 12, local financial information provider FnGuide had set the market consensus of Samsung Electronics 2016 operating profit at 30.55 trillion won, which is similar to its forecast of 30.58 trillion won made on Aug. 11 before the Note 7s official launch. The same day, HI Investment & Securities analyst Song Myung-sup lowered his forecast for Samsung Electronics annual operating profit to 31.36 trillion, reflecting a decline in expectations for the firms third-quarter operating profit from 8.8 trillion won to 7.9 trillion won. At the same time, Song raised the possibility that the replaced Note 7 devices could cause additional problems. Samsung Electronics would suffer a long-term decline in sales and its brand image, further taking down its yearly profit, he said. KB Investment & Securities analyst Kim Sang-pyo also echoed such concerns. Even as Samsung Electronics resumes its sales of the Galaxy Note 7, the firms smartphone business could suffer a severe crisis in the case that additional defects are found, Kim wrote in a report released on Sept. 13. Given this, Galaxy Note 7 sales for the latter half of this year are likely to significantly decline compared to the same period last year, he said, suggesting a grim outlook for Samsungs premium smartphone business. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has blamed the Karet Kuningan subdistrict head for flooding at a housing complex for ministers and high ranking officials on Jl. Denpasar in Karet Kuningan subdistrict, Setiabudi district, South Jakarta. In this case, the subdistrict [head] did not do his job properly. The subdistrict head is an estate manager. He has to know which areas are inundated when the rain falls, said Ahok at City Hall on Monday, adding that the flood was caused by garbage that had blocked the drain on Jl. Denpasar. Ahok said he had warned the subdistrict head when water inundated Jl. Gatot Subroto in the area last week. Kompas.com reported that inundation of the housing complex occurred on Saturday night after the drain could no longer accommodate the heavy rainfall after less than one hour from when it started. Flooding has affected a number of areas in the capital since the rainy season started in recent weeks. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) estimates that rains will fall on Monday in both Jakarta and the upper areas Depok and Bogor. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The ASEAN Secretariat is striving to develop an integrated education system for youth from countries across Southeast Asia in an effort to achieve a unified ASEAN identity. It is hoped this effort can help marry the ASEAN Vision 2025 with the UNs 2030 Agenda, a top ASEAN Secretariat official has said. "[The ASEAN community's] integration process is not only an economic and political-security one, but also a people-to-people form of integration and connectivity. So, we have to enhance education," ASEAN deputy secretary general for the ASEAN socio-cultural community Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee told The Jakarta Post. He was speaking on the sidelines of a symposium on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat, the Chinese Mission to ASEAN and the UNDP in Jakarta on Monday. Arthakaivalvatee emphasized the importance of education in realizing youth engagement and encouraging tolerance across the region. He said the secretariat envisioned a framework that set benchmarks for education and student mobility across member nations. "We recognize that the next generation is crucial, perhaps indispensable, in building the foundation for ASEAN integration," Arthakaivalvatee said. He further said the blueprint for ASEAN Vision 2025 complimented the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Arthakaivalvatee said China had performed admirably in achieving the UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. As one of the blocs dialogue partners, China will play a crucial role in exchanging lessons learned, he went on to say. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara Mon, September 19, 2016 The Australian government has allocated A$48 million worth of grants through its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to finance the Innovation for Indonesian Schoolchildren (INOVASI), a four-year education program in six regencies across West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). We have prepared A$12 million per year for the INOVASI program. The program will run from 2016-2019 and can be extended for four years more, the Australian Embassys development cooperation counselor, Sarah Lendon, said on Monday. She was speaking after discussing which six regencies would be the beneficiaries of the INOVASI program at the West Nusa Tenggara Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda) in Mataram. Lendon said the INOVASI program aimed to increase the quality of education, especially numerical and literacy skills, among elementary and junior high school students. The INOVASI programs in NTB was a pilot project conducted under cooperation with the Culture and Education Ministry and the provincial administration, she explained. The program was launched in the middle of June by NTB Governor M.Zainul Majdi and the ministrys officials. Lendon explained the INOVASI program was committed to identifying education problems and their solutions in their partner regencies. We are very happy that the six regencies have demonstrated interest in partnering with INOVASI. Through this program, we will support the Indonesian governments efforts to improve education by directly supporting learning activities in classes, including pilot activities and the replication of successful lessons from other schools and regencies, Lendon said. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Businessman-cum-politician Murdaya Poo has become the latest of several conglomerate business owners to have filed for tax amnesty, submitting his application with the South Jakarta Tax Office on Monday. Murdaya is owner of the Central Cipta Murdaya Group, a holding company consisting of Jakarta Fair organizer PT Jakarta International Expo (JI Expo), former supplier of US-based shoemaker Nike, PT Hardaya Aneka Shoe Industry (HASI) and oil palm plantation PT Hardaya Inti Plantation, to name a few. He refused to disclose the size of his wealth that he declared to tax authorities. According to forbes.com, Murdaya ranks 13th among Indonesian richest people with his wealth worth US$1.85 billion. I have been waiting for the amnesty for years. The tax amnesty will ease the burden of my children who will inherit my fortunes and people who work for our firms, he told journalists. Murdaya called on fellow businesspeople to follow suit, assuring them tax officials were helpful. Murdaya claimed he would repatriate all his offshore assets and declare them all. However, he was quiet on the extent of his assets. Previously, a number of tycoons have requested amnesty, such as Hutomo Mandala Putrabetter known as Tommy, son of late president Soeharto, former Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi, property magnate James Riady, Triputra Group founder TP Rachmat and media mogul Erick Thohir. (rez) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Prima Wirayani and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Indonesias state budget deficit is set to soar to its highest level in decades and almost reach the legally allowed limit due to massive revenue shortfalls, including that from the governments flagship tax amnesty program. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati increased once again the nations fiscal deficit target to 2.7 percent of Indonesias gross domestic product by year-end, due to higher revenue shortfall. The figure is just short of the legally allowed limit of 3 percent and will be the highest deficit in decades. Since assuming office at the end of July, Sri Mulyani has risen the deficit target twice, from an initial forecast of 2.35 percent in the 2016 revised state budget, due to a multibillion dollar tax revenue shortfall that has left the budget short of cash for expansion. The aim [of widening the fiscal deficit] is to maintain the momentum of the governments priority programs so that they will not be disrupted [by further budget cuts], she said after a limited Cabinet meeting with President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Friday evening. The fact that budget deficit has been increased without any spending cuts means the government remains committed to spending to boost growth in a time of need, even if it did not have enough cash, economists said. The government continues to push for economic growth through a higher budget deficit and without further spending cuts, Gadjah Mada University economist A. Tony Prasentiantono said on Sunday. Japanese investment bank Nomura even expected the deficit to reach 2.9 percent, but said: This underscores our long-held view that fiscal policy will remain supportive of growth and that weaker-than-budgeted tax collections are unlikely to result in sharp declines in infrastructure spending for the government to meet the fiscal deficit limit of 3 percent of GDP this year. Along with monetary policy easing and continued economic reforms, we believe this should sustain the domestic demand-led recovery, wrote Singapore-based Nomura analysts Euben Paracuelles and Lavanya Venkateswaran in a report published Friday. In its attempt to boost economic growth from a six-year low of 4.79 percent last year, the government is facing the issue of a cash-strapped state budget due to target overshoot and a weak economy. The Finance Ministrys fiscal policy agency head Suahasil Nazara said the widening deficit had been planned considering state revenue risks that have emerged amid an acceleration in state spending. [The revenue risks] come from overall taxation revenue, including that from the tax amnesty, he told The Jakarta Post. The government expected a Rp 219 trillion (US$16.65 billion) revenue shortfall this year, causing state spending to be cut by Rp 137 trillion just weeks after Sri Mulyani took the helm of the Finance Ministry. As of early August, state revenues had only reached 46.1 percent of the target in the revised state budget of Rp 1.79 quadrillion, according to the latest data from the ministry. Meanwhile, state revenue from the governments tax amnesty program only reached Rp 25.8 trillion as of Sunday, 15.6 percent of the Rp 165 trillion target due next December. Exacerbating the outlook is higher-than-budgeted state spending for cost recovery, a scheme that reimburses oil companies for exploration and production costs, which also means that non-tax state revenues from natural resources will decline, Sri Mulyani said. In addition, some ministries are likely to absorb their budgets faster due to better planning since early this year and presidential instruction to accelerate infrastructure-related spending, she went on. Government spending disbursement is expected to reach 97.1 percent, from the previous expectation of 95 percent. Bank Mandiri senior economist Andry Asmoro suggested that the government issue Rp 24 trillion bonds to plug the higher fiscal deficit, which is considered to still be at a normal level. The risks would not be too big for the state budget, he added. We have forecast that the deficit will widen because the governments budget disbursement has been much better. The problem is on the tax revenue side. _______________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Djemi Amnifu (The Jakarta Post) Waingapu, East Nusa Tenggara Mon, September 19, 2016 East Sumba regent Gidion Mbilijora has blamed excessive blast fishing for destroying parts of the Sawu Sea National Park (TNP) in East Nusa Tenggara, leading to a rapid decline in fish populations. We want the central government to pay closer attention to this matter. The interests of fishermen living in the area should not be neglected, he told journalists on Friday. The regent added that he fully supported the governments decision to name the TNP Sawu Sea a conservation area in a bid to sustain its ecosystem. Therefore, tighter security and monitoring are needed to protect the TNP Sawu Sea, so it will not be damaged, Gidion said. Blast fishing, sometimes called fish bombing, has grown rapidly in East Sumba, particularly in Tanjung Sasar, Saluran and Manggudu waters and in Napu. The fish bombing is committed by people from outside [the area], namely from Sumbawa [in West Nusa Tenggara], said Gidion. He said traditional communities living in 15 districts across East Sumba regency, which has 443 kilometers of coastline, were fully aware of the importance to conserve maritime and coastal areas. Apart from working as fishermen, they also depended on seaweed farming for their livelihoods. They truly understand that catching fish with bombs and potassium will kill small fish and destroy coral reefs, said Gidion. We cannot do anything to prevent destructive fishing in our area, because we dont have the necessary supporting facilities and infrastructure. We dont have vessels [for sea patrols], for instance. We have put in a request with the Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry but received no response yet, he said. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 Former Catholic priest cum social activist Sandyawan Sumardi was one of many defenders of the urban poor who pinned their hopes for change on Joko Jokowi Widodo and Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama when the two out-of-towners ran for the top spots in Jakarta in 2012. Sandyawan, better known as Romo (Father) Sandy from his days as a Catholic priest, said he vividly recalled the moment when Jokowi and Ahok walked into a house that he used as a place for marginalized people on the banks of Ciliwung River to meet and organize programs, called the Ciliwung Merdeka Foundation. Then hailed as the peoples candidates against incumbent Fauzi Bowo, the Jokowi-Ahok campaign team visited the house located in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, as part of their electioneering. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Imanuddin Razak (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Irrespective of all the nomination and selection processes at the legislative body, the appointment of a police general as head of the countrys top intelligence body is nothing new in Indonesia. Gen. Budi Gunawan, formerly a deputy National Police chief, assumes the position of National Intelligence Agency (BIN) director, just as former National Police chief Sutanto, did seven years ago. Still, Budis promotion to the strategic post has drawn mixed reactions from the public, particularly from people in security/defense and intelligence circles. While the House of Representatives unanimously threw its weight behind Budi, a number of security and intelligence analysts have expressed doubts about his capacity to lead the national intelligence agency. Most previous BIN directors came from the military, including Budis predecessor Sutiyoso, who took over from another military general, Marciano Norman. The skeptics are apparently referring to the era of Sutantos leadership of BIN in 2009 to 2011 and drawing conclusions from that period about Budis capacity to lead the agency. Although they fail to point out specific weaknesses or failures of Sutanto, they are of the opinion that Sutantos achievement was below expectations. Speaking about their individual capacity to lead an important institution like BIN, both Sutanto and Budi are seemingly on par. They both were the best graduates in their respective class: Sutanto was the recipient of the Adhi Makayasa Award as the best graduate of the Police Academy in 1973, while Budi received the same accolade in 1983. Both Sutanto and Budi once served as adjutant to a ruling president a post largely perceived as a determinant factor for a future career in the military or police. Sutanto was an adjutant to then president Soeharto from 1995 until 1998, while Budi was an adjutant to then president Megawati Soekarnoputri from 2001 until 2004. In practice here, a president usually picks four adjutants, one each from the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the police. On the other hand, it is a fact that both Sutanto and Budi lacked experience in the intelligence field. Sutanto, however, secured the blessing of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the intelligence chief post, as they both belonged to the 1973 class in their respective academies Yudhoyono was a graduate of the military academy, while Sutanto was a graduate of the police academy. Such a connection was a significant factor that contributed to the relatively warm welcome Sutanto received from his intelligence peer groups, particularly from the military. Unlike Sutanto, Budi enjoys a double benefit. Not only is he a close confidant of Megawati, who is chairwoman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and chief patron of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, but Budi also hails from Surakarta, the hometown of Jokowi, which plays an important role in the nomination for key government posts in the country. Jokowi nominated Budi as the sole candidate for the BIN top post over a year after he failed to install Budi as the National Police chief due to the latters implication in a graft case. Eventually the court declared wrong the Corruption Eradication Commissions procedure of naming Budi a suspect. The appointment of a police general as the intelligence chief apparently has something to do with the nature of the polices main task of ensuring domestic security. In performing his new responsibilities, Budi will very likely get support from a number of police generals who President Jokowi has recruited into his security and intelligence circles. They include National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, Budis junior, and Comr. Gen. (ret) Gories Mere, a former chief of the polices counterterrorism squad Densus 88, who is now an advisor to the President on intelligence and security affairs. Another domain of experience that Budi may be lacking is external or international intelligence, again due to his police background. But, he can close the gap by closely working with Gories, who has ample experience in international security networking. After all, being the director of BIN, which is tasked by law with a coordinating role among Indonesian intelligence units, Budi will have to cooperate closely with intelligence units of the Foreign Ministry and the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) of the Indonesian Military, both of which have intelligence arms abroad. The President has picked a police general to provide him with analysis on security matters. Only time will tell whether the President has made the right choice. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kundhavi Kadiresan (The Jakarta Post) Bangkok Mon, September 19 2016 Like many, I remember the warnings of parents and teachers to never count your chickens before they have hatched, and to never keep all your eggs in one basket. But moving beyond the cliches have you ever stopped to wonder just how many chickens there are in Asia or the world? And how many eggs must hens lay each day to feed us all? These lighthearted questions in fact carry a serious message. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Liza Yosephine Indonesia is experiencing major challenges in consolidating national plans at provincial and regional levels in order to achieve the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the ASEAN Vision 2025, an official has said. Regional decentralization has spurred the rise of independent regional administrations, presenting the challenge of synchronizing development across the regional authorities amid uneven capacity levels, Pungkas Bahjuri Ali, a director at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), said on Monday. Every district and every province has its own authority, including in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Pungkas said, adding that each region varied in its policies and capabilities. As an example, he noted the wide gap between regions such as Papua, East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku in comparison to Java and Sumatra. "The challenge is each region then must have its own strategy, because each is very different in terms of achievement and in terms of the capability of each administration," Pungkas said. Pungkas was speaking at a symposium hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, in collaboration with its affiliates, to address the challenges in implementing the UN 2030 Agenda and ASEAN Vision 2025. Adopted unanimously by 193 countries, the 2030 Agenda calls on the international community to achieve 17 SDGs by 2030. Similarly, the ASEAN Vision 2025 calls on member states to build an ASEAN Community that is inclusive, sustainable, resilient and dynamic, in line with the SDGs. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Deepening of the national financial market is critical for Indonesia to accelerate economic growth amid global weakness, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has said. Given the low degree of financial market participation in Indonesia, many financial institutions had revised down their growth projections due to the current economic situation, the Minister said. "Compared to the region, our financial penetration is shockingly low, only slightly better than that of Vietnam," Sri Mulyani said during an international seminar on Financial Market Deepening 2016: The Way Forward for Indonesia held at Bank Indonesias headquarters in Jakarta on Monday. Indonesia, Sri Mulyani said, was faring better with regard to economic growth, with an annual increase of 5.18 percent achieved in the second quarter. However, the growth rate was not high enough to support social welfare, as a high poverty rate and inequality ratio were persistently troubling the country. To address these issues, the government was continuing efforts to create more balanced and inclusive growth, among other measures through the financial sector, which contributed 4.2 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, up from last years share of 3.9 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, the banking industry had become more saturated than other financial sector industries. Higher growth should be expected from non-bank financial institutions, Sri Mulyani said. "That is why it is very critical to diversify the financial sector and its instruments," she reiterated. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Four political parties grouped in the New Axis Coalition will meet on Tuesday to decide their candidate pair in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election. The four parties the United Development Party (PPP), the National Wakening Party (PKB), the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) split from the Kinship Coalition after the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) proposed its own Jakarta deputy gubernatorial candidate to be paired with the Gerindra Partys Sandiaga Uno. Tomorrow, we will finalize our alternative candidate with three other political parties that have not decided their stances [on the gubernatorial candidates], said PPP secretary general Arsul Sani in Jakarta on Monday as reported by tribunnews.com. After their split from the Kinship Coalition the PPP, PKB and PAN had proposed former law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra for their candidate, but the decision has not been finalized. Currently, only incumbent Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has secured a gubernatorial ticket with support from the Golkar Party, the NasDem Party and the Hanura Party. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is considering whether it will support Ahok or nominate one of its own members. Democratic Party spokeswoman Imelda Sari said her party was intensifying its communication with other parties before making a decision. With the current situation, there could be four gubernatorial candidates in the election on Feb. 15 Ahok, Sandiaga, Yusril and perhaps Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini if she is nominated by the PDI-P. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has insisted that tech giant Google comply with national tax regulations. Earlier, the tax office stated its intention to investigate Google for suspected unpaid taxes on billions of dollars of advertising revenue, following the companys refusal to cooperate after a letter had been sent to the company in April with a request to examine its tax reports. According to Sri Mulyani, the measure taken by the Directorate General of Taxation was based on the legal basis that all business transactions in Indonesia, including online business transactions, were subject to taxation. "Of course, they have their own argument, but this is Indonesia, and we have our taxation law [...]. All activities in Indonesia must have a permanent establishment [BUT], making their business activity subject to taxation," she said after a limited Cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Friday. She acknowledged that online-based business transactions had long been a complicated issue for many countries. However, Sri Mulyani reiterated that the government would continue to enforce the rules and regulations of the country. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The Agricultural Ministry has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indonesian Feed Millers Association (GPMT) to absorb 8.62 million tons of local corn at a competitive price for the next 12 months. According to the MoU, 41 private feed mills will buy the corn at the government's fixed price of Rp 3,150 per kilogram. Every month, they will have to absorb 718,000 tons of local corn. "My officers will keep an eye on this. If you are not buying them at the administered price, you will be expelled from the list," said Agricultural Minister Amran Sulaiman during the MoU signing at the ministrys office in Jakarta on Monday. The cooperation will be implemented in 29 administered provinces, in which each province will have one big company as the coordinator. Giant feed producers Charoen Pokphand and Japfa Comfeed Indonesia are the main coordinators in many regions. GPMT secretary general Desianto Budi said the association was ready to support the program, especially while the government was halting corn imports, forcing them to rely on local corn for the production of animal feed. "The association sets the production target of animal feed at 16.5 million tons for this year, of which 95 percent is poultry feed. Corn makes 55 percent of the ingredients for poultry feed," he said. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The Agriculture Ministry has allocated Rp 3.3 trillion (US$250 million) for its corn development program, an increase of Rp 1.2 trillion from last years budget, in a bid to achieve zero percent imports in 2017. Since 2015, the government has launched programs aimed at reducing agriculture imports, including the allocation of 1 million hectares (ha) of new land for corn, machinery aid and price controls. Corn imports during January to July 2016 amounted to 800,000 tons, a 60 percent drop compared to the 2 million tons imported in the same period last year. "We will add another 1 million ha, 724,000 ha are available this year, and the remainder will be ready next year. It will be enough to eliminate corn imports in 2017," Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said at his office after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indonesian Feed Millers Association (GPMT) in Jakarta on Monday. The additional 724,000 ha are projected to increase local corn production by 3.5 million tons. The production will be absorbed by the feed producers following the MoU. "They don't have to import anymore. With this system, business will get supply and farmers can sell their harvests within the administered price," Amran said. As a result of imports, the corn price fell to Rp 1,650 (12.5 US cents) per kilogram in March 2015, much lower than the government's administered price of Rp 3,150 per kg. Amran said Indonesia produced 20 million tons of corn last year but sustained Rp 20 billion in losses because of imports. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The Transportation Ministry has pledged to step up efforts to slash the dwell time at major ports, such as East Javas Tanjung Perak and North Sumatras Belawan, in response to President Joko Jokowi Widodos recent criticism on the performance of the two seaports. Last week, the President expressed his disappointment after learning that ongoing reforms in the logistics sector only showed positive results at Jakartas Tanjung Priok port, where the average dwell time has come down to 3.7 days from 4.7 days. The dwell time at many other ports, including Belawan and Tanjung Perak, meanwhile, ranges from six to eight days. Dwell time refers to the time elapsing from when cargo arrives at the port until the goods leave the port after all permits and clearances have been obtained. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi held weekend meetings with state-owned port operators Pelindo I and Pelindo III, which oversee Belawan and Tanjung Perak, respectively, as well as the Finance Ministrys customs and excise director general, to improve the performance of major ports and get them on par with Tanjung Priok. We expect the major ports to operate 24 hours a day with more competitive fees. There should also be a more effective and efficient tracking mechanism, he demanded. President Jokowi has intensified efforts to bring down Indonesias stubbornly high logistics costs by issuing a series of policy packages aimed at reducing port dwell times. Logistics costs account for 26 percent of Indonesias gross domestic product (GDP), twice as much as in Singapore and Malaysia. The country slipped 10 places in the World Banks Logistics Performance Index (LPI) this year to 63rd of 160 countries surveyed. The effort to cut the dwell time has mainly focused on Tanjung Priok, and Jokowi said last Tuesday that he aimed for the port, which shoulders more than 70 percent of incoming and outgoing goods, to further slash the dwell time to 2.2 to 2.5 days. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Minister Budi on Sunday, customs and excise director general Heru Pambudi said his side planned to speed up the implementation of a hub-and-spoke model, in which several Indonesian large ports would act as hubs, strategic centers of the networks, and the spokes would radiate out to connect remote points throughout the country. Therefore, the government is preparing to increase the number of bonded logistics centers (PLB) to 50 from current 22 by the end of this year to ease the flow of basic materials in and out of the country. According to a 2015 Finance Ministry regulation, a PLB can be used to store goods for up to three years and will be temporarily exempted from import duty and import-related taxes during that period. By diluting the cumulation at the major ports and switching it into the spokes at the PLB, we hope to cut the dwell time, Heru said. Contacted separately, Pelindo III president director Orias P. Moedak said the company had prepared additional land at the Mirah and Nilam port terminals near Tanjung Perak to move containers from the inner ring of the port. Since we just control the flow of goods, our role is probably just to move out the goods, he said. He added that the Tanjung Perak container stacking fee was still low, starting at Rp 24,000 (US$1.82) per 20 feet container per day for the first three days, and only increased by 200 percent on the fourth day. However, he was waiting for a ministry decree on the container stacking fee change. Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) head Yukki Nugrahawan Hanafi, meanwhile, lambasted Pelindo IIIs strategy to merely move the goods out of the ports inner ring. If they just move the goods from the first ring to the second ring of the port, that does not reduce the dwell time. It merely reduces the YOR [Yard Occupancy Ratio], he said. He urged the ministry to ensure that the customs office and banks were also open 24 hours at the port to facilitate the importers. (vps) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The government will appoint several cooperatives to act as lenders in the micro credit program (KUR) in addition to the 28 existing banks and multi-finance firms, a top official said on Monday. Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said previously cooperatives had assisted banks in the loan program. In the future, cooperatives will be able to channel loans directly to debtors. We have approved one of the 15 cooperatives recommended by the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry, Darmin told reporters in Jakarta, without mentioning the appointed cooperative. Darmin added that as of August, the number of channeled KUR loans reached 65.2 percent of the Rp 100 trillion (US $7.6 billion) target, of which 68 percent went to the trade sector. Darmin hoped that in the future, the micro loans could be given to other sectors, especially farmers, fishermen and food producers. (dmr) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 A 45-year-old man has been accused of raping his daughter, a junior high school student, at his rented house in Mampang, South Jakarta. The man, identified only as S, was allegedly caught by another one of his children committing the sexual abuse last Tuesday. The man has married three times and has seven children in total. The alleged victim is his child with his first wife, whom he has divorced, while the alleged bystander is his child with his second wife, who has passed away. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Traditional markets are finding it difficult to sell recently imported sugar and buffalo despite affordable prices presenting a big challenge for the government to market the commodities. The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has distributed imported sugar and buffalo meat to 41 traditional markets in Greater Jakarta to help stabilize commodity prices. However, Barjudin, a staple food seller at Grogol market, said the price of Rp 12,500 (95 US cent) per kilogram sugar was still not popular with customers as it was not as sweet as the unbranded sugar that he sold at Rp 15,000 per kg. He said he only sold 5 kg per day on average of the whitish Bulog sugar since it arrived at the market on Friday, which compared to daily average sales of 25 kg of the normal, yellowish sugar. Only a few people bought [the new type of sugar], because it is not as sweet as normal sugar. It is good for cookies and cakes sellers, if they want to bake less sweet food, but normal customers dont usually opt for it, he said. Similar to sugar, frozen buffalo meat imported from disease-free regions in India, also saw lukewarm demand on its first days of sale, even though at Rp 65,000 per kg it is cheaper than fresh beef at Rp 90,000 to Rp 120,000 per kg. Arifin Ipong Nasmawi, a meat seller at Grogol market, said he sold 50 kg of buffalo meat, compared to 400 kg of beef on Friday. I think not many people will buy buffalo meat, because Jakartans are still not used to eating buffalo, but today is okay, because fortunately one customer bought in bulk for a wedding party. He bought some 50 kg of it, he said. Nevertheless, Arief Nasrudin, the president director of PD Pasar Jaya, which runs many of Jakartas traditional markets, said he was optimistic that both new products would receive a warmer welcome from the public as time goes by and with the help of good marketing. Earlier this month, Bulog held a buffalo meat cooking event, where people found that the meat tasted just like beef, albeit with a thicker texture. Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said the Trade Ministry was also looking to partner with market operators outside Jakarta to buy staples from Bulog to stabilize prices. The government has imported 10,000 tons of buffalo meat from India and will import 70,000 tons more from there by year-end to reduce beef import dependency on Australia and New Zealand. The ministry is also looking to diversify sugar imports, which currently come mostly from Thailand, and to improve local sugar production through advanced technology and by easing land procurement for new plantations. We cannot depend for imports only on one country, otherwise they dictate the price. We have considered opening imports from other countries, like Brazil, which is experiencing sugar oversupply now, so they can come with a more competitive price, he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 Indonesia has stressed the importance of internally reforming the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to face challenges in the 21st century. Vice President Jusuf Kalla, head of the Indonesian delegation at the NAM Summit, said on Saturday that the challenges NAM faced were no longer related to the Cold War, when the grouping was founded. He said the current challenges were inequalities and development gaps as well as internal conflicts and conflicts between NAM member states. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Bandung Mon, September 19 2016 The Cikidung River broke its banks amid heavy rains in the south of Tasikmalaya regency, West Java, on Saturday. The huge volume of water flowing along the river could not be contained and engulfed Tanjungsari village, Sukaresik district, Tasikmalaya. The flooding engulfed the entire village, Tasikmalaya Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Kundang Sodikin said by phone on Sunday. He added, however, that the floodwater had receded in less than a day. There were no fatalities and no displaced residents, said Kundang. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 Jakarta has teamed up with the Netherlands to build what an official says will be the largest integrated seaport in Southeast Asia. Both parties are now conducting a feasibility study to assess how much the port, which is part of the controversial Jakarta Bay reclamation project, will be beneficial for the country and particularly for the city. We have met with officials from the Dutch government and embassy. The point is that we will receive a grant from them to conduct a feasibility study for the Port of Jakarta, said Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati recently. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Jessica Kumala Wongso defense team Otto Hasibuan has slammed several lawyers from the Indonesian Young Advocates Alliance (AAMI), saying that they had interfered in the ongoing trial by reporting the judges to the Judicial Commission on Monday. AAMI chairman Rizky Sianipar said the three judges handling Jessicas case -- Kisworo, Binsar Gultom and Partahi Tulus Hutapea had violated the judicial code of ethics in their handling of Jessica's case. The judges failed to respect the presumption of innocence toward a defendant during the trial, Rizky said as quoted by kompas.com. Otto said that Jessicas camp regretted AAMIs action. We dont know who those people are. We are so annoyed. We think that the judges have been very wise in this case and we are proud of the judicial panel, Otto said during the trial, adding that he assumed some people were trying to pit judges and lawyers against each other. Otto said his camp was ready to testify for the Judicial Commission if it was necessary. He also hoped that the judges would not be perturbed by the report. Meanwhile, Judge Binsar Gultom expressed hope that the public would not disrupt the trial process any further. We suggest that members of the public do not arbitrarily report judges so we can ensure a fair trial. Were scared that such interference will lead to contempt of court, he said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu, Central Sulawesi Mon, September 19, 2016 A suspected member of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terrorist group was shot dead by Operation Tinombala Task Force personnel in Tombua plantation area in South Poso Pesisir district, Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, on Monday morning. An intelligence report indicates that the man, suspected to be Sobron, a senior MIT figure, was killed instantly after he was shot in the head. Operation Tinombala commander Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said among the physical characteristics of the suspected terrorist that would be used to confirm the identity would be the suspects height, which was around 164 centimeters, his shoulder-length hair and his fair complexion. His physical appearance is just like Sobron, who escaped during the arrest of Basri, alias Bagong recently, said Rudy. The shooting began when patrol Charlie 16 personnel led by Chief Brig. Ristoka surprised a man walking in the plantation area at around 8:30 a.m. local time, on Monday. He was ordered to raise his hands but as he instead attempted to throw a grenade at the security forces personnel they shot him. Following the incident two grenades, two machetes, a backpack and a sleeping bag were seized. The suspected terrorists body has been sent to the Central Sulawesi Polices Bhayangkara Hospital in Palu. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nurni Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra Mon, September 19, 2016 North Sumatra Taekwondo Indonesia (TI) officials have set a gold medal target for the 2016 National Games (PON) in Bandung, West Java. We have dispatched four athletes. We expect them to get medals at this years PON, targeting one gold medal at minimum just as we did during the PON 2012 in Riau, said TI's North Sumatra chairman Meherban Shah during the sending off of the provinces Taekwondo contingent on Sunday. The four athletes are Basuki Nugroho for the mens under 87 kilograms (kg) category, Arya Hamdani for mens over 87 kg, Hardiyona H for mens under 54 kg and Ana Nurjanah Umi for womens under 46 kg. Of those athletes, Basuki is the most experienced and has the highest chance to win a gold medal. He won a gold medal for Indonesia during the 2011 SEA Games and presented a gold medal for North Sumatra at the PON in Riau. Basuki and the three other athletes are accompanied by eight officials, including trainers M. Husni and Zulhamdani and manager H.M. Syafei. TI North Sumatra also gets a quota of sending two referees for several Taekwondo matches at the event. H.M. Rezeki Karo Sekali and M. Adlan will be its representatives. During the introductory ceremony, Meher promised an additional bonus worth Rp 20 million (US$1,520.05) for any athlete who could earn a gold medal for the province. Medan mayor Dzulmi Eldin, local consultative forum (Muspida) members and TI North Sumatra officials also attended the event. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The government has no plans to change the negative investment list (DNI) in the near future, Economic Coordinating Minister Darmin Nasution said on Monday, in spite of recent requests from US investors. On Thursday, The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) called for the government to relax the list. Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chief Thomas Trikasih Lembong promised he would talk to other ministries regarding further revisions of the list. He said the government held open the possibility of a second, third or even fourth revision to the list. Previously in May, President Joko Jokowi Widodo signed the first revision of the DNI during his administration. "But not in the short term, theres no plan to change the list right now," Darmin told The Jakarta Post in his office on Friday. The DNI is usually revised every two years through a government regulation. The 2016 revision focused on the pharmaceutical and creative industries, while in the 2014 revision more flexibility was provided for power plant and electricity distribution, to support the government's electricity plans. Lawmaker Azam Azman Natawijana, the deputy chairman of Commission VI at the House of Representatives, said Indonesia could add more flexibility to the DNI. However it is not possible to abolish it. "The DNI was created to protect Indonesias vital resources as well as local small players. If the investors want to enter restricted investment areas, we suggest they work with local partners," he said. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will hold a meeting on Tuesday to decide on its governor and deputy governor candidates for the Jakarta gubernatorial election. Just a day later, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) will register the candidates for the election to be held next year. On Sept. 20, the PDI-P executive board will hold a special meeting to decide candidates for a number of regions, including Jakarta, Djarot Saiful Hidjayat, PDI-Ps deputy chairman for organization and cadre recruitment, said in Jakarta on Monday, as reported by kompas.com. PDI-P is the only party that has a Jakarta gubernatorial ticket without establishing a coalition with other parties. The authority to decide the candidates is in the hands of the central executive board, but in practice it depends on its chairwoman, Megawati Soekarnoputri. Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama still hopes that the PDI-P will support him, although he has already secured backing from the Golkar Party, the NasDem Party and the Hanura Party. Meanwhile, a number of politicians have expressed their support for Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini for the Jakarta gubernatorial candidate. During the meeting, the party will decide whether it will support Ahok-Djarot or another pair, said Djarot (bbn). Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 When popular Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama announced his now-canceled independent bid for the citys upcoming gubernatorial election, analysts asked if the end was nigh for political parties. Megawati Soekarnoputri, leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the nations largest party, was alarmed by Ahoks move, and ordered her partys rank and file to fight deparpolisasi, a term referring to efforts to minimize or eliminate the roles of political parties in democracy. Megawati was not being paranoid. The rise of Ahok came after the country elected Joko Jokowi Widodo as president. Jokowi was an obscure PDI-P member from Surakarta who many believe has become more powerful than his own party and whose popularity has inspired the creation of volunteer groups across the country. Moreover, the party now has little control over Jokowi as its own member, even after Megawati called him a party officer. The PDI-P and other political parties have been maneuvering to regain their supremacy. The parties, for example, managed to insert provisions into the newly passed Regional Elections Law that force the election organizer and monitoring body to bow to whatever they say about election rules. Article 9 of the law stipulates that the General Elections Commission (KPU) is obliged to consult with the House of Representatives through a hearing in drafting KPU regulations and guidelines (PKPU). The hearing result is final and binding for the commission. Meanwhile, Article 22 requires the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to do the same in drafting its regulations. The KPU and Bawaslu have claimed they were not informed about the two articles during deliberations of the law, enacted on June 2. Critics say the provisions could undermine the election bodies independency, and could lead to the issuance of election regulations that disadvantage voters. The House, for instance, recently agreed to a PKPU stating that convicts placed in probation are allowed to run in regional elections. The lawmakers ignored the KPUs argument during hearings that the 2016 Regional Elections Law clearly prohibits all convicts from running in elections. But the same law also says the KPU cannot challenge the Houses decision. The House also ignored the KPUs recommendation that people who have yet to register for electronic identification cards (e-KTP) should still be allowed to vote in the 2017 regional elections. As the e-KTP project has been plagued with glitches, the Houses move could leave millions of people disenfranchised. Now that the government is set to submit the much-awaited election bill, political parties are looking to have a stronger grip on the countrys political system. The government, supported by the majority of parties at the House, has proposed that the current electoral system be changed from the open-list proportional system to an open-limited system, which grants political parties the final say over who will get a seat in the House after the legislative election. The system is closer to the closed-list proportional representation system. Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) executive director Titi Anggraini said political parties maneuvers showed they were not ready to hold clean and democratic elections. Political parties seem to feel threatened by the independence of election organizers like the KPU and Bawaslu. They may also see that the cadres voted for by the people are those who cant promote the interest of the parties, so they need to intervene in the determination of elected candidates, Titi said. PDI-P faction deputy chairman Hendrawan Soepratikno, however, argued that as election participants were political parties, the parties sovereignty must be set out first. In the legislative election, he said, voters should vote for parties only, because parties knew best about which candidates were qualified. ______________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has expressed his concern over faded Indonesian values among the countrys young generation and instructed the Culture and Education Ministry to instill worthy values through the controversial full-day-school pilot project. The president said Indonesian values, namely national identity, manners, politeness, ethics, and religious values were very important to hand down to the generations to come. "You see yourselves on social media, how people badmouth each other, mock, insult and make fun of the others. Are those Indonesian values? I say, no, he said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday. He said he sometimes read the comments sections of online news articles. I feel sad seeing people insult each other in the comments section. They use swear words that Im sure are not part of our values. There are other values that have infiltrated without our awareness. Those are the things that erode our character and self-identity as the Indonesian nation, the President went on. Thus, he instructed the Education and Culture Ministry to devote a larger portion of the primary and secondary education curriculum to ethics and proper conduct. The President made the remarks at a ceremony to mark the 90th anniversary of the Darussalam modern Islamic boarding school in Gontor, Ponorogo, East Java, on Monday. "The full-day school trial in several provinces will instill these values [in youths]. Without such values our identity will be lost. And when I speak with other government heads they highly praise Indonesia because we remain strong despite our differences," Jokowi said. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Hopes were high for South Korean technology giant Samsung earlier this year after it released some of the most sophisticated and critically acclaimed pieces of mobile technology. One of them was poised to be the years shining star in the gadget world. Samsungs hopes for a successful year, however, are in jeopardy as numerous reports have emerged that suggest one of its latest smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, is prone to exploding at random times during charging or when it is simply on. Earlier this month, the worlds top smartphone maker decided to recall some 2.5 million Note 7s already in circulation, which it project would cause a loss of billions of dollars. Samsungs stock market valuation even dropped significantly as share prices fell. But despite this predicament, it seems that Samsung has not suffered critical damage but has been saved by the trust and curiosity its consumers have for the brand. The situation is no different in Indonesia, where the popular smartphone brand is seen by many as a formidable alternative to Apples iPhone range, which has been Samsungs top competitor in recent years. Some consumers believe that Samsungs smartphones are not necessarily a lot cheaper than an iPhone, they have a signature aesthetic that makes their products distinctive and reliable. News of the Note 7 incidents did not necessarily faze all prospective buyers. Im interested in trying out a Samsung phone, as its products are top notch. Before, I had no plans to purchase a Note 7 but was interested in its features. However, the incidents [with the Note 7] still came as a shock, said Jakarta resident Ferdi, who was browsing at a Samsung booth in South Jakartas Ambassador Mall over the weekend. Advertisements for the Note 7 are still strewn all over Ambassador Mall, known as one of the citys busiest gadget and electronics shopping centers. However, there were no Note 7s on display anywhere at the numerous Samsung dealers in the mall. The product itself never officially made it into Indonesia but pre-orders were sold out three days after it was first announced in late August. Pre-order prices started at Rp 10.7 million (US$813.20). However, some vendors say that it is still possible for one to buy a Note 7 in Indonesia, but prospective buyers need to ask at the counter. Its still possible to buy a Galaxy Note 7 that has an overseas warranty here, but I personally do not recommend it because if anything happens with the device, it will be very hard to find spare parts or even return it, Samsung vendor Adit, who mans a smartphone booth on the third floor of ITC Kuningan shopping mall, another gadget haven in the capital. Adit added that some customers had approached him asking to buy a Note 7, which would require the store owners to go to their distribution centers to get the special product. Even through this process, buyers would still have to wait days to get their hands on the device itself. -(Gartner/-) Data from US-based research firm Gartner shows that Samsung managed to sell 320.2 million smartphones last year, up by 4.1 percent from 307.5 million in 2014. The same data shows that Samsung controlled a 22.5 percent market share, followed by Apple and Huawei with 15.9 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. PT Erajaya Group, a major distributor for Samsung smartphones in Indonesia, claimed that despite the Note 7s worldwide recall, it had not seen any decrease in local demand from retailers or consumers for Samsungs products. From what we have seen, the publics enthusiasm toward Samsung products is still high, as shown by the interest at our Erafone outlet stores. During the Erajaya Expo early in September, we saw high Samsung sales numbers, thus affirming the publics confidence, CEO Hasan Aula commented on Sunday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 Hopes were high for South Korean technology giant Samsung earlier this year after it released some of the most sophisticated and critically acclaimed pieces of mobile technology. One of them was poised to be the years shining star in the gadget world. Samsungs hopes for a successful year, however, are in jeopardy as numerous reports have emerged that suggest one of its latest smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, is prone to exploding at random times during charging or when it is simply on. Earlier this month, the worlds top smartphone maker decided to recall some 2.5 million Note 7s already in circulation, which it project would cause a loss of billions of dollars. Samsungs stock market valuation even dropped significantly as share prices fell. But despite this predicament, it seems that Samsung has not suffered critical damage but has been saved by the trust and curiosity its consumers have for the brand. The situation is no different in Indonesia, where the popular smartphone brand is seen by many as a formidable alternative to Apples iPhone range, which has been Samsungs top competitor in recent years. Some consumers believe that Samsungs smartphones are not necessarily a lot cheaper than an iPhone, they have a signature aesthetic that makes their products distinctive and reliable. News of the Note 7 incidents did not necessarily faze all prospective buyers. Im interested in trying out a Samsung phone, as its products are top notch. Before, I had no plans to purchase a Note 7 but was interested in its features. However, the incidents [with the Note 7] still came as a shock, said Jakarta resident Ferdi, who was browsing at a Samsung booth in South Jakartas Ambassador Mall over the weekend. Advertisements for the Note 7 are still strewn all over Ambassador Mall, known as one of the citys busiest gadget and electronics shopping centers. However, there were no Note 7s on display anywhere at the numerous Samsung dealers in the mall. The product itself never officially made it into Indonesia but pre-orders were sold out three days after it was first announced in late August. Pre-order prices started at Rp 10.7 million (US$813.20). However, some vendors say that it is still possible for one to buy a Note 7 in Indonesia, but prospective buyers need to ask at the counter. Its still possible to buy a Galaxy Note 7 that has an overseas warranty here, but I personally do not recommend it because if anything happens with the device, it will be very hard to find spare parts or even return it, Samsung vendor Adit, who mans a smartphone booth on the third floor of ITC Kuningan shopping mall, another gadget haven in the capital. Adit added that some customers had approached him asking to buy a Note 7, which would require the store owners to go to their distribution centers to get the special product. Even through this process, buyers would still have to wait days to get their hands on the device itself. Data from US-based research firm Gartner shows that Samsung managed to sell 320.2 million smartphones last year, up by 4.1 percent from 307.5 million in 2014. The same data shows that Samsung controlled a 22.5 percent market share, followed by Apple and Huawei with 15.9 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. PT Erajaya Group, a major distributor for Samsung smartphones in Indonesia, claimed that despite the Note 7s worldwide recall, it had not seen any decrease in local demand from retailers or consumers for Samsungs products. From what we have seen, the publics enthusiasm toward Samsung products is still high, as shown by the interest at our Erafone outlet stores. During the Erajaya Expo early in September, we saw high Samsung sales numbers, thus affirming the publics confidence, CEO Hasan Aula commented on Sunday. -------------- to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar, Bali Mon, September 19, 2016 Bali security authorities arrested a Singaporean national for allegedly trying to pick up mail packages containing methamphetamine and cocaine sent through a post office and are in pursuit of a Briton allegedly related to the case. Muhammad Faliq Bin Nordin, 32, was arrested on Sept. 10 by a joint team of the Denpasar Customs Office, Bali and Nusa Tenggara Customs and Bali Police. The suspect was arrested at Renon Post Office in Denpasar where he allegedly wanted to take two mail packages sent from the Netherlands containing 100.2 grams of methamphetamine, locally know as sabu-sabu, and 30.3 grams of cocaine, Bali and Nusa Tenggara Customs Office head Syarif Hidayat said in press conference on Monday. As a trick, the drugs were placed in ceramic pottery covered in candle wax, Syarif explained, adding that both mail packages were sent to the same address in the Sanur area. Both the name, Koba Raum, and the address were written on the packages. Faliq allegedly came to the post office by himself while bringing a letter showing that Kobu Raum had given him the authority to take the packages, Syarif said. Narcotics division director of Bali Police Sr. Comr. Franky H. Parapat said from further investigations that police found Kobu Raum to be a British citizen and they are still looking for his whereabouts. "We suspect that he is the owner of the drugs," he said. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Jakarta Health Agency head Koesmedi Priharto said Monday there were no legal chiropractors operating in Jakarta following the closure of dozens of chiropractic clinics across the city in January because his office had issued no permits ever since. Clinic closures were preceded by news of alleged malpractice that led to the death of Allya Siska Nadya after being treated by American chiropractor Dr. Randal Cafferty at the Chiropractor First Clinic, Pondok Indah Branch, on Aug. 7, 2015. "No chiropractic clinic will open in Jakarta because the chiropractic profession is not legal. Chiropractor is a massage practitioner, not a doctor," Koesmedi told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that should Jakartans find any chiropractic clinics operating in Jakarta, it should be reported to their nearest health subagency. Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine popular in the US and later in Indonesia. Many people with back pain have testified that chiropractic treatment improved their condition. Despite the positive testimonies, chiropractic has been a controversial subject in the US. Following Allyas death, in January the Jakarta Police arrested two Australians, Anthony and Thomas Dawsons, who owned six chiropractic clinics in Bali and Jakarta. The police said the Dawsons ran illegal clinics and they were fake doctors. Sydney Morning Herald reported that both Dawsons were registered with the Chiropractic Board of Australia. The Australian newspaper quoted Anthony Dawsons friend, Mark Barlow, who said both men tried to follow the regulations in Indonesia and called the arrest a witch hunt. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Zamboanga, Philippine Mon, September 19, 2016 "From day to day in their captivity, it felt like we were just waiting for our time to be beheaded," Theodorus Kopong Koten recalls his captivity by the Abu Sayyaf group. For 75 days he had been a hostage of the notorious militants in the Sulu islands region of the southern Philippines. He is one of three Indonesian sailors released by the Abu Sayyaf group on Sunday in Zamboanga. "It was very scary. There was no life there. I cannot say thank you enough for the release, and it is only God who could respond to the efforts by Indonesian and Philippine authorities to make the release possible," Theodorus said on Sunday. The other two sailors are Lorens Koten and Emmanuel. The three crewmen were on board a Malaysian-flagged fishing boat when kidnapped by the militants on July 9 in Lahat Datu waters in Malaysia. Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, who came to Zamboanga to witness the handover of the hostages from the Philippine military to Indonesian officials, said a fourth Indonesian sailor was expected to be released on Monday. He refused to give details on the fourth Indonesian, but said all four released hostages would return to Indonesia on Tuesday. Indonesia thanked the Philippine military for achieving the release, with help from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Ryamizard denied speculation that the government had paid a ransom for their release. However, he said he did not know whether the hostages families or employers paid a ransom. Abu Sayyaf is notorious for taking hostages and threatening to behead them for ransom. "We, Indonesia and the Philippines, do not want to be extorted. We did not and never will pay a single penny," Ryamizard said told a press briefing in Zamboanga on Sunday. Once the fourth hostage is finally released, the group will still be holding another five Indonesians. At least 18 Indonesians have been kidnapped in separate incidents since May, including two who reportedly escaped on their own in August. The Indonesian government had been pushing for negotiations in the hostage crisis, Ryamirzard said, noting that securing the release of the three sailors had been a tough process. Yet he expressed optimism that the remaining five hostages would soon be freed, following a Philippine military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf gunmen. Philippine forces have deployed 22,000 personnel to corner the militants in the Sulu islands following orders from President Rodrigo Duterte. The commander of the Western Mindanao Command, Mayoralgo de la Cruz, said the Philippine government had cooperated with the MNLF, as the latter was familiar with the Sulu Island area and its members had a broad network in the region. "We will be much happier once we receive all the remaining Indonesian hostages from Abu Sayyaf. President Duterte has ordered us to go after the group," Cruz said. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Michael Astor (Associated Press) United Nations Mon, September 19, 2016 The issue of what to do about the world's 65.3 million displaced people takes center stage at the United Nations General Assembly Monday when leaders from around the globe converge on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, leaders and diplomats are expected to approve a document aimed at unifying the UN's 193 member states behind a more coordinated approach that protects the human rights of refugees and migrants. "It's very interesting because if we are able to translate that paper into a response in which many actors are going to participate, we will solve a lot of problems in emergency responses and in long-term refugee situations like the Syrian situation," Fillipo Grandi, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees told The Associated Press. That may prove an uphill struggle, however, as the document is not legally binding and comes at a time that refugees and migrants have become a divisive issue in Europe and the United States. A number of countries rejected an earlier draft of the agreement that called on nations to resettle 10 percent of the refugee population each year, something that has led a number of human rights groups to criticize the document as a missed opportunity. The US and a number of other countries also objected to language in the original draft that said children should never be detained, so the agreement now says children should seldom, if ever, be detained. "Instead of sharing responsibility, world leaders shirked it. The UN summit has been sabotaged by states acting in self-interest, leaving millions of refugees in dire situations around the world on the edge of a precipice," Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement. Shetty said the agreement merely kicks the can down the road by calling for separate global compacts for refugees and migrants to be adopted within two years. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose report on refugees and migrants laid the basis for the summit document, said he was aware of the criticism from non-governmental groups. "While we all wish it could be a stronger outcome document ... all 193 member states had to agree on their commitment. As you will see, my report was a strong one," Ban said. "I hope that, as the two compacts are adopted over the coming year and a half, some stronger language and commitment and elements from the report will reappear in the course of this negotiation." More concrete progress is expected at a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that are in line with US goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for one million youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced. "You hear all around the world the UN hasn't handled the refugee crisis. The way the UN. will handle the refugee crisis is if all of us countries within the UN step up and dig deep and face those political headwinds that we all face, to do more, to give more, to take on a greater share of the resettlement challenge," said Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN. Power said prior to the pledging summit with world leaders, Obama will host a meeting with top executives from 50 companies to discuss what the private sector can do to help address the problem. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an "unprecedented" 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from a year earlier. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants. According to the UN. Refugee Agency, refugees are people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants chose to move in search of a better life. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Matthew Lee (Associated Press) New York Mon, September 19, 2016 The United States, Japan and South Korea on Sunday roundly condemned North Korea's recent nuclear test and called for tough new measures to further isolate the communist state. Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, US. Secretary of State John Kerry and the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers said the North Korean test earlier this month would not go unanswered. The test was North Korea's fifth and, along with recent ballistic missile launches, has been widely criticized as destabilizing to regional and international security. Kerry said the US remained deeply committed to its mutual defense obligations with Japan and South Korea and would not shirk in "rolling back the provocative, reckless behavior of" North Korea. He said the US, Japan, South Korea and others would "make it clear to a reckless dictator that all he is doing through his actions is isolating his country, isolating his people and depriving his people of genuine economic opportunity." "The global community will not be intimidated and will not pull back from our obligations," Kerry said. He called for North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un to freeze Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs immediately and return to denuclearization talks. The South Korean foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, echoed Kerry's comments, calling North Korea's missile and nuclear tests a "ticking time bomb" and a threat to world safety. "What we see is a looming perfect storm that may not only pounce on Northeast Asia but sweep over the entire world," he said. The Obama administration has been nudging allies Japan and South Korea to set aside historical differences and cooperate more closely in diplomacy and security as the threat posed by North Korea intensifies. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said that the US alliances and a "forward-looking" relationship between Japan and South Korea were needed for regional peace and stability in Asia's "tough" security environment. "We must make North Korea understand that repeated provocations will isolate them from the international community and that there can be no bright future for them at all," Kishida said. In a joint statement, three governments said they "explored ways to work together" to ensure countries fully implement existing UN sanctions on North Korea. They also discussed work in the Security Council to tighten the sanctions and the possibility of taking measures of their own to restrict revenue sources for the North's missile and nuclear programs. Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19, 2016 Several rooms at Jakarta City Hall office complex on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, were inundated on Monday after an hour of heavy rain. Civil servants were busy lifting documents off the floor in their offices, such as a dentist's clinic, journalist room and an office of Jakarta administrations overseas cooperation division. Head of Jakarta administration general affairs bureau Agustino Darmawan said the flooding was caused by debris that blocked the drain at City Hall. The debris came from a construction site erecting a new facility near City Hall. We will remove debris from the drains in order to make the water drainage system usable, Agustino said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 19 2016 Two former state leaders told Indonesian youth to help bring about world peace, considering the countrys huge number of young people, at a conference on Saturday. Former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono encouraged youth to become diplomats and help to establish peace. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post) Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara Mon, September 19, 2016 West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is slated to host the country's first international halal travel fair at the Lombok Raya Hotel in Mataram on Sept. 21-22 in a bid to attract more Muslim travelers from Asian and Middle Eastern countries. "This event aims to strengthen NTB's brand as a halal tourist destination," NTB Culture and Tourism Agency head Lalu Mohammad Faozal told The Jakarta Post on Monday in Mataram. (Read also: Lombok named best halal tourism destination) In addition to halal destinations in Lombok and Sumbawa, the event will also showcase creative industry products like culinary products and craftwork. As of Monday afternoon, around 32 foreign buyers, including buyers from Malaysia, Singapore, India and the Middle East, and 250 domestic buyers from all over the country, have registered to attend the event. "This year's travel fair will also host a series national working meetings (rakernas) with the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (Asita)," said NTB Regional Development Planning Agency deputy head Affan Ahmad. (kes) The Museum at Eldridge debuted their brand new gallery space, the Michael Weinstein Gallery, with an inaugural exhibition by artist Mark Podwal last night. Podwal became known for his New York Times Op Ed illustrations and went on to write and illustrate numerous books. His art is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fogg Art Museum and the Library of Congress. Podwals cycle, All this has come upon usforty-two paintings and drawings, disturbing reminders of how Europes extensive history of Jew-hatred laid the groundwork for the Holocaust, was featured at the Terezin Ghetto Museum in 2014. They have been published as archival pigment print portfolios. The show, Kaddish for Dabrowa Bialostocka, features eighteen new works in acrylic and colored pencil. They were inspired by Podwals recent visit to Dabrowa Biaostocka, the town in Poland where his mother was born; he describes the works as a visual diary of my journey to Dabrowa. The museum writes: Though at one time Jews made up 78% of the towns population, today none remainThe drawings are based on what he saw in town and what he heard from elderly residents as they reminisced about their former Jewish neighbors. Along with the exhibition, a documentary film about Dabrowa by Tomasz Wisniewski will be screened every day at 2 pm. The September 18 opening also celebrates the publication of Podwals new book, Reimagined: 45 Years of Jewish Art. The show is on exhibit through Thursday, Dec. 1st, 2016. The gallery hours and admission are in conjunction with the Museum Hours & Admission (be sure to check holiday closures): Sunday Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., closed every Saturday. Other shows slated for the space include: The Jewish Ghetto in Postcards: From Eastern Europe to the Lower East Side, an exhibition of postcards from the Blavatnik Archive (December 15-February 23); postcards of Eastern European synagogues from a private collector (March/April), and artwork inspired by student visitors to the Museum (May/June). Following a successful Edinburgh Fringe, Smoking Apples Theatre Company have embarked on a tour of the UK showcasing their latest work In Our Hands. The story follows Alf, a fisherman who is down on his luck and in an awful lot of debt. We see him reunite with his son in order to hatch a plan to regain his status as a brilliant fisherman. (Theres also a seagull who pops up a lot and the poor thing is pretty awful at finding, and keeping, food). Alf and his son are created by puppetry, as is the seagull. The ensemble of five are seamless. No dialogue is used, apart from what is heard from the telephone answer machine, yet they can evoke emotion and make the audience really care through beautiful use of props, puppetry and sound. The story, is simple yet Smoking Apples really have thought of every little detail that can be used to bring it together. Every sound, every head turn, every sigh it really is a beautifully crafted piece of theatre. It may seem hard to believe that you can really begin to care about a head on the end of someones hand and a character who only has one hand and no body but the talent and seamlessness of Smoking Apples delivery means that you do. Alf didnt need to talk in order for us to understand him as a person; he didnt need a body for us to understand how he would move. Although we believe Alf exists and lives and breathes, answerphones are used to move the narrative along. Clever idea, however it did become a little unbelievable that no one in this world ever actually answered their phones Visually, Smoking Apples deliver a treat. The show is innovative, witty and unique. They deliver clever and mesmerising work that would be even better if applied to a more complex narrative. Racism in the workplace is never ok but with recent research suggesting that black, Asian and ethnic minority workers are a third more likely than white workers to be underemployed, it's clear that things aren't quite as fair as they should be in 2016. Here are eight things you need to know about BAME rights in the workplace. What is the law on workplace equality? The Equality Act 2010 states that if you are treated less favourably than another employee because of your race, colour, nationality or ethnic origins, it is racial discrimination and you have grounds for a claim. This is the law, and it's there to protect you. What counts as 'discrimination'? Racial discrimination is when you are denied opportunities or treated unfairly because of your race, in relation to a colleague whose circumstances are like yours. For example, a co-worker is given a promotion ahead of you because they are of a race which your manager perceives to be more favourable than your own, despite you both being relatively similar in terms of your performance. What about harassment? Harassment in any form is also classed as discrimination this includes any behaviour which could be deemed intimidating or hostile, again based on the grounds of your race. What about if it's not intentional? Discrimination doesn't have to be intentional to be real. If an employer imposes new rules or criteria which put a particular racial group at a disadvantage, it is also discrimination. For example, if a new dress code was to be introduced, or a new working schedule implemented, which made it more difficult for a particular group to work, it would be unlawful. When am I protected by the law? You are protected against all of these forms of discrimination at every stage of employment, right from when you are first recruited to the when you eventually leave the job. What if it's not me being discriminated against? If you are being asked to discriminate against someone else based on their race, there are grounds for you to also file a claim. No one should feel pressurised or bullied at work, and no one should be made to feel like they are discriminating against colleagues. So, what can I do if I'm being discriminated against? Depending on who the perpetrator of the offence is, there are a number of different people you can talk to about your situation if you think you're being discriminated against. You could speak to your employer, a trade union representative, someone from your company's HR department, or, if none of those are viable, your local branch of Citizens' Advice. How can I protect myself if I'm making a claim? Whilst you're pursuing a claim you're protected against victimisation from the offending party - so if this occurs also, bring it to the attention of one of the above. Employers who focus on equality, diversity and inclusion: With the Toronto International Film Festival 2016 in full swing, awards season this year is looking to be one of the most diverse in years. The festival, which has a reputation for showcasing films which go on to be Oscar favourites, is showcasing a number of films exploring racial themes - a huge contrast to last years #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Among the world premieres at TFF is A United Kingdom, starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. The film centres around the relationship between Londoner Ruth Williams, and Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana, which caused international uproar when the two marry in the late 1940s. The film is also set to be the opening film at the 60th BFI London Film Festival. David Oyelowo features in not just one but two films at TFF, playing Robert in Disneys Queen of Katwe, which follows Phiona (Madina Nalwanga), a Ugandan chess prodigy who lives in rural Uganda. Also starring in the film is Lupita Nyongo, who found fame after her supporting actress Oscar win for 12 Years a Slave. Other notable screenings include Loving, Jeff Nichols film about an interracial couple from Virginia, who in 1958 are sentenced to prison for their marriage, and Moonlight, the story of an African-American man who lives in Miami in the heart of the War on Drugs, who struggles to find himself and his sexuality. Among the other Oscar hopefuls are Theodore Melfi with his film Hidden Figures, which tells the story of a team of African-American women who provide NASA with mathematical data needed to launch to a crucial mission in the heart of the Space Race. Adding to this impressive list is The Birth of a Nation in which Nat (Nate Parker) organises a slave uprising to lead the slaves to freedom. When the Toronto Film Festival programme was announced in July, Cameron Bailey, the festivals artistic director, said it contained "global voice, transformative stories and diverse perspectives". The absence of black nominees in all of the major categories last year caused uproar about the lack of diversity in The Academy and in their recognition of talent. Last year boycotters of the Oscars ceremony included Ava DuVernay, Spike Lee, Michael Moore and Will Smith. With black members of the Academy in 2014 making up just 2% of the voters, actions have since been taken to support diversity in both membership and in award categories. With the amount of black talent being showcased in the festival run, maybe this year we will see an Oscars that isnt dominated by white actors. Luke Cage is the latest Marvel character to receive his own television series, courtesy of Netflix. The series hits our televisions/computer screens at the end of September and, if the trailers are anything to go by, is shaping up to be a very intense and gritty adventure. The titles that have already been released, namely Daredevil and Jessica Jones, have definitely not been disappointing. The current endeavours from Marvel achieved a more adult and mature feel towards characters, involving graphic violence, sex and a much more intense and emotional layer that is left out from the current stream of films. Luke Cage of course has already been briefly introduced on Jessica Jones as Jessicas love interest, and having already been fantastic there, it feels like a real treat to be able to see a full 13 episodes on Mr Cage (played by Mike Colter). After two seasons of Daredevil and one season of Jessica Jones, the Marvel/Netflix universe will also be bringing in Iron Fist (who could make an appearance in Luke Cage) and The Punisher and a Defenders series, which brings all of the previously introduced characters into a group similar to the Avengers - on a much smaller, but no-less badass scale. But before all that, Luke Cage will be making his origins known - and if you're unclear on what they are, please allow us to give you a brief history... Comics The first appearance from Luke Cage was in Hero for Hire in 1972 (which later became Power Man after 16 issues), written by Archie Goodwin and John Romita Sr. Hero For Hire was created due to the popularity of blaxploitation films at the time, with some of the comics artwork looking fairly reminiscent of posters released for those sort of films. Since his creation and past the point where the popularity of the genre was seen as almost exploitative and racist, there has been a lot of love for the character, who is often seen as a symbol for diversity throughout Marvel comics, especially since Luke actually grew up in poor parts of Harlem, with a very realistic upbringing. Cage also shared a lot of comics with Iron Fist (Danny Rand), an excellent martial arts expert from an alternate reality. The relationship evolves into a deep bond between the two, with a lot of dynamic between them, as well as an interesting background clash, since Rand comes from an extremely fortunate and wealthy home. It will be interesting to see a relationship develop between the two on screen in future series. Origins Through certain circumstances, which will no doubt be explored further in the upcoming series, Luke Cage is imprisoned after being prosecuted with fake drug charges when his best friend, Willis Stryker, accuses him. During his time in prison, he is recruited for scientific experimentation by mysterious forces seeking to recreate the Super Soldier serum that was given to Captain America. Of course, this doesnt go to plan and Luke is left with super-human strength and impenetrable skin. However, despite his seemingly bulletproof exterior, Cage isnt invincible and hopefully the TV series will explore more of the ways and situations that he may be more vulnerable to, like the tragic ending of his marriage that was alluded to in Jessica Jones. Adaptations Cage has also has a weird and failed history of trying to be adapted for the big screen. Most notably Quentin Tarantino took an interest in the project in the early 90s, but passed due to his commitments with Pulp Fiction. There have also been attempts at making a film version with the likes of Idris Elba, Tyrese Gibson and Isaiah Mustafa suggested to play Luke, but again, they never got past the conception stage. Luke Cage is definitely shaping up to be a very interesting character, with a very rich history. Im sure showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker will be able to craft something amazing - which will hopefully lead into more and more amazing television from Marvel's Netflix division. Also, Fun Fact: Nicolas Cage named himself after Luke Cage. Im not sure if thats a good thing, but its definitely something. Marvel's Luke Cage is available to stream on Netflix from September 30th. 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Details of the other two victims were not known. Late yesterday evening, waiting family members of the boat passengers said many of those aboard had not been accounted for. Rescue workers struggled to get the passengers, all of whom are Thai Muslims, to safety. Vice Ayutthaya Governor Rewat Prasong, said it was believed more than 150 passengers were on board when the collision occurred at 3:15pm. After more than 12 hours of search operations, 15 people were confirmed drowned after the boat loaded with Muslim tourists sank in the Chao Phraya River. The wooden boat hit a concrete pillar at the river embankment at Wat Sanam Chai in Ayutthayas Muang district Sunday afternoon. Sombat Mongkolchai Tabtim, the two-level tourist boat, was 27 metres long and, according to Marine Department authorities, was registered in 1967 to carry a maximum passenger load of 50. A group of Thai Muslims from Talat Kwan community in Nonthaburi was on board the boat on the Chao Phraya River to attend an annual religious ceremony at a local mosque in Ayutthaya before the ferry hit the barrier during their journey back. At 4:10pm, Kris Thianmitraphap, secretary to the Ayutthaya mayor, ordered rescue boats and fire boats to rescue passengers who were on board the stricken boat. The Marine Department brought a large ship to bring the sunken tourist boat back to the surface. The lower level of the boat was about two metres below the river surface; the upper level was partially protruding, Mr Rewat said. Mr Rewat said river currents in front of Wat Sanam Chai are usually strong. The tourist boat tried to avoid another boat on the river, causing it to veer away and hit an embankment at the temple. Alarmed, more than 100 passengers suddenly stood up, causing the boat to list, take on water and sink, Mr Rewat said. Marine Department director-general Sorasak Saensombat also said the strong river currents were partially to blame for the incident. The boats captain was unable to control the boat, causing it to hit the embankment. Authorities believed some passengers were trapped in the lower level of the boat, he said. Mr Sorasak also said safety equipment on the boat may not have been sufficient for the passengers. The boats captain, identified as Wirat Chaisirikul, 68, is still missing, he added. Annop Kudiphan, 50, who was among the passengers on board, said the ferry was carrying members of an annual religious ceremony to pay homage to Muslim religious teachers. Passengers were on their way to attend the religious event at Takia Yokin mosque in tambon Khlong Takhian in Ayutthyas Muang district. On the journey back to Nonthaburi, Mr Annop said the boat dropped off passengers at various piers. While the boat was heading to a pier at the Ayutthaya Hospital, another vessel forced the tourist boats captain to veer away and hit a concrete pole of the river embankment at Wat Sanamchai, causing the boat to begin to sink, Mr Annop said. Local residents also said a similar boat sinking also occurred about five to six years ago because of overcrowding. Read original story here. AirAsia launches direct daily Phuket-Siem Reap flights PHUKET: AirAsia will launch a new route from its Phuket flight base in November with daily direct flights to Siem Reap of Cambodia, becoming the first airline to offer the connection. tourismtransport By Press Release Monday 19 September 2016, 05:50PM The Phuket-Siem Reap direct daily flights are to take off in November. Photo: AirAsia The airline is confident that international travellers will take up the opportunity to fly between the two popular destinations. Phuket and Siem Reap are both world renowned destinations, especially among Americans, European and Asian travellers, with each offering its own unique potential, explained Tassapon Bijleveld, Chief Executive Officer of Thai AirAsia. By becoming the first airline to offer a Phuket-Siem Reap route, AirAsia believes it can stimulate tourism at both locations and bring Asean ever closer together, he noted. AirAsias intention is to create the most extensive flight network and to open up new opportunities in Asean. The Phuket-Siem Reap route perfectly encompasses all of our goals, Mr Tassapon said. The latest flight allows everyone in Phuket to travel to the World Heritage City that is Siem Reap to experience the awe-inspiring Angkor Wat and the equally impressive Bayon, not to mention Siem Reaps one-of-a-kind nightlife, he added. At the same time, the route is sure to draw travellers from Siem Reap to Phuket. Thai AirAsia currently operates the most flights within Asean, flying 15 routes to seven countries. The airlines three daily direct flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap maintain an 85-90% load factor year-round and are among AirAsias most popular routes in Asean. To launch the new route, AirAsia is offering bookings starting at B1,490 per person each way. The promotion, available today (Sept 19) through October 2, is for travel between November 7, 2016 and October 28, 2017. Mug-throwing teacher says he meant no harm NAKHON RATCHISIMA: The 58-year-old Nakhon Ratchasima teacher who threw a mug at a 17-year-old schoolgirl and caused nerve damage to her face yesterday (Sept 18) insisted he did not mean to hurt her and still cared about her. accidentscrimehealthpoliceviolence By Yutthawat Lekmak By Bangkok Post Monday 19 September 2016, 10:11AM Paithoon, I meant no harm. In his first interview since the high-profile mugthrowing incident on Aug 8, Paithoon Klaengkratok, a physical education teacher at Chokchai Samakkee School in Chok Chai district, refused to comment on the actual incident, saying he did not want any further consequences for student Narudee Jodsanthia. Let the legal process take its course about what happened. Im a teacher. I have love and bonds with every one of my students including Nong Sai (Ms Narudee), the father of three children said. I definitely never meant to harm anyone. I still love and care about Nong Sai. Mr Paithoon has been transferred to Boonwattana School in Muang district pending an investigation. A fact-finding committee has concluded Mr Paithoon did throw a mug at his students, but did not intend to hit Ms Narudee, a Mathayom 5 student, who suffered a severe facial injury. Classmates of Ms Narudee said the incident was an accident. The teacher threw the mug at the glass pane window near Ms Narudee and 6-7 students but it bounced off and hit Ms Narudee in the head. He did so to warn the class to stop chatting and ordered some, including Ms Narudee, who had stood up and left their spot to avoid the sun, to return to their places. However, Ms Narudee insisted that her teacher intentionally threw the mug at her when she gave statements about the attack at the Nakhon Ratchasima prosecution office on Thursday (Sept 15). Chukiat Wisetsena, director of the Secondary Educational Service Area Office 31, said the teacher would face a disciplinary investigation starting today (Sept 19). A panel will question both sides and Ms Narudee can present evidence to back her claim that the teacher had intended to hurt her, Mr Chukiat said. Mr Paithoon has also been charged by police with physical assault causing injury to a student. Capt Karn Singchangchai of Chok Chai Police Station, who is supervising the case, said he would call nine classmates of Ms Narudee for questioning as witnesses. He expects to forward a report to prosecutors by next week. Office of Basic Education Commission secretary-general Karoon Sakulpradit said on Saturday (Sept 17) that if a similar incident occurred at any Obec school, the executives of that school must be the first persons to take responsibility and they must report to their educational service area office immediately. He will instruct Obec school executives about the new policy next week. We must quickly look into these matters, not prolong them. Dragging them out can create doubt and distrust among parents and society, Mr Karoon said. Read original story here. Three deaths in under 12 hours on Phukets roads PHUKET: Three people died on Phukets roads in the space of 12 hours over the weekend, with two deaths occurring where work is being carried out on the Bang Khu underpass. accidentsdeathconstructionpolicetourism By Eakkapop Thongtub Monday 19 September 2016, 11:29AM Cables have been left in the raod while work is being carried out to move pylons. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub In the third incident, wrapped around the the motorbikes back wheel, engine and exhaust where cables believed to have been left in the road while pylons are being moved in the area. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The first death, that of a Burmese national, happened at 6:30 pm on Saturday (Sept 17) when 31-year-old Mr Kyaw Soe was hit by a pickup truck while crossing Thepkrasattri Rd in Thalang. Witnesses to the incident told police that Mr Kyaw was running across the road in front of the Naikan Mosque when he was struck by a white Isuzu pickup. The man ran across the road and the vehicle could not stop in time to avoid him, one witness said. The second and third incidents both happened on Thepkrasattri Rd in Koh Kaew close to where work in being carried out on the Bang Khu underpass. At 2:30am yesterday (Sept 18), Maj Noojaree Longkeaw, an investigator from Phuket City Police Station, received information that a motorbike had smashed into the back of a pickup truck in front of the Krung Thai Bank on Thepkrasattri Rd northbound in Koh Kaew. Upon arrival at the scene he found the body of an unidentified woman, believed to be aged between 25 and 30, lying on the ground. Maj Noojaree said, She died instantly after crashing into the back of a pickup truck at high speed. Investigations into the incident are ongoing. Two hours later, Capt Suchart Meelampong, another inspector from Phuket City Police Station, received details of another accident, this time on Thepkrasattri Rd southbound in Koh Kaew. When he arrived at the scene Capt Suchart found a badly damaged motorbike and the body of an unidentified man lying in the road. He believed the man was also aged between and 25 and 30. Wrapped around the the motorbikes back wheel, engine and exhaust where cables believed to have been left in the road while pylons are being moved in the area. Capt Suchart explained that he believed the cables got caught in the wheel and caused the motorbike to crash. However, CCTV footage from the area will be checked to confirm that exact cause. 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(Photo by Peter Goldberg) Deeply hurt by the attack on its camp in Uri on Sunday, the army said it had the "desired capability" to respond to such acts of violence by Pakistan and that it reserved the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of its choosing. Addressing a press brief in the South Block, the Director General, Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh stated that the army had displayed a considerable restraint while handling the situation at the Line of Control (LoC) and hinterland. "We have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us. We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of own choosing," he said. India has held Pakistan squarely responsible for the attack which is the worst of its kind in the last few decades as 18 soldiers died after they were burnt alive by four Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. Singh said the operations in Uri sector had been called off after conducting a detailed search of the area in and around the military complex. "The total recoveries from the slain terrorists include four AK 47 rifles, four under barrel grenade launchers, 39 UBGL grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPSs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings," he said. The DGMO praised the army formations in Uri sector saying the 12th infantry brigade had eliminated four terrorists recently who were trying to infiltrate into Indian territory. "In 2016, Indian army eliminated 17 infiltration bids along the LoC. Of the 110 terrorists eliminated in Jammu and Kashmir, 31 were killed while they were trying to cross the LoC. The last two infiltration attemptson September 11 at Punch and on September 18 at Urihave been successfully thwarted by the army by killing four terrorists each in both the operations," the officer said. India is set to raise the deadly Uri attack in which 17 Army soldiers were killed, at the 71st United Nations General Assembly and highlight Pakistans involvement into the deadly terror strike. According to sources, India will raise the matter in the UN General Assembly and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasise on Pakistans involvement in her speech. Sources also state that no decision has been taken as yet on the prime ministers participation at the SAARC summit meet in Islamabad. Following the terror strike on the Army base in Uri, India lashed out at Pakistan holding it responsible for the attack. Branding Pakistan a terrorist state and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. I am deeply disappointed with Pakistans continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups, he said in a series of tweets. Meanwhile, condemning the terror attack as well, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the nation that those behind the despicable attack will not go unpunished. We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families, the prime minister said in a series of tweets. Hinting at the Jaish-e-Mohammads role behind the Uri attack, Indias Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh also asserted that the evil designs would get a befitting reply. However, Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in Uri terror attack, saying that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. US condemns Uri attack, reiterates commitment to combating terrorism The United States has condemned the terrorist attack in Uri and said it is committed to support New Delhi in combating terrorism. In a statement, US Department Spokesperson John Kirby said, the United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Kashmir during the early morning of September 18. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism. On Sunday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack. His spokesman said in a statement, The Secretary-General condemns today's militant attack in Uri, India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. He expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and to the Government of India. He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice. A day after Swathi murder accused P. Ramkumar allegedly killed himself inside the high security Puzhal prison in Chennai, the Madras High Court has ruled out a CBI probe in this case as sought by his family and opposition parties in Tamil Nadu. It has also directed the postmortem to be conducted by a team of four doctors- Dr Balasubramanium of Stanley hospital in Chennai, Dr Manikandan, Dr Sellakumar and Dr Vinod of Royapettah government hospital in Chennai. A probe team headed by Magistrate Thamilselvi visited the spot in Puzhal prison where Ramkumar allegedly committed suicide by biting a live wire at the kitchen inside the prison. The State Human Rights Commission, taking suo motu cognizance of the suicide, has directed the police officials involved in the case to submit their report on Ramkumars death within two weeks. While the legal actions and enquiries after the suicide are taking its own course, the suspicions about Ramkumars death, as whether if it was a suicide or a planned murder, still remain. Apparently, Ramkumar, who was arrested on July 1 from his village Senkottai near Tirunelveli, would automatically be entitled for bail if the charge sheet is not filed before October 1. So the suspicion of foul play gains momentum, said a senior lawyer in Madras High Court. Ramkumars family, while raising suspicions about his death, said, We dont believe in the suicide theory. According to his father Paramasivam, it was a carefully planned murder. If he wanted to commit suicide why did he do it now? He would have done it on the very first day itself, he said. Alleging that his safety was at peril from day one, Paramasivam maintained that his son was actually framed and now murdered in this case. In fact, his lawyer Ramrajs phone call to the prison authorities a few minutes after the news of his suicide broke does nothing to allay the confusion and growing suspicions over the entire incident. In an audio recording of the telephonic conversation released by Ramraj, between himself and an official at the Puzhal prison, the former asks if the news about Ramkumars suicide is true. He had stomach disorder and is being taken to Royapettah hospital for a check up. There is nothing else. I have informed his mother, the prison official on the other side of the phone says. According to the accident register at the Royapettah hospital, Ramkumar suffered injuries in his neck and chest. According to the report submitted by the police on Monday, he bit a live wire in the kitchen and died by electrocution. Apparently, Ramkumars lawyer was about to move the court for his bail plea on Monday, as the chargesheet was yet to be filed 81 days after the arrest. In fact Puzhal being a high security prison, doubts as to how a detainee could get access to a live wire remains an unanswered question. Meanwhile, environmental activist Piyush Manushs Facebook post commenting on Ramkumar's death has added fuel to the growing suspicions. Ramkumar, accused of killing Swathi in broad daylight in Chennai, is dead while under judicial custody at Puzhal prison. Believe me.. it is just not possible to have access to a live wire with the wiring system being near perfect in all jails (in terms of wiring within walls or reach or the fuse detection systems). Inside cells there is no way one could touch a wire. If outside near to the dispensary as claimed in this case... there is no possibility of having the time and being alone to engage in the task and that for a prisoner like Ramkumar. It just does not work this way at all. Manush was reportedly thrashed inside the Salem jail, a month ago for his social activities taking on the ruling class. Prisons have become torture chambers for the TN police with jail personnel acting at the behest of vested interests. I had a narrow escape from the Salem central prison and justice seems so elusive. This case will die a slow death after a while and the murder mystery of Swathi and now Ramkumar will be buried forever, he further noted in his Facebook post. In fact, there was no clarity in the investigation into the brutal murder of 24-year old Swathi, the Chennai-based techie who was murdered on a railway platform in Chennai. The Chennai city police released a CCTV footage and the image of the accused only after two days. Ramkumar was picked up from his village on July 1, saying it was a one-sided love affair which led to the murder. But on August 17, Ramkumar filed a petition in the Madras High court saying he did not kill Swathi. His parents sought a CBI probe in this case which was rejected by the court on September 2. Now with the death of Ramkumar, the investigation in the Swathi murder case has hit a road block. Though the police claim that they have enough evidence to prove that Ramkumar was the killer, the case has now turned the other way. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said he has asked Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh to take action against those responsible for the attack on the Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri town that left 17 soldiers dead. "Reviewed situation in Kashmir following Uri attack with Army Chief and Commanders. Instructed to take firm action against those responsible," Parrikar said in a tweet. "The supreme sacrifice of 17 brave Soldiers will not go in vain. My salute to them," he said in another tweet. Parrikar was in Srinagar following the attack in which 17 soldiers lost their lives, and was briefed by the Army chief who visited the operation site in Uri. An Army statement later said terrorists were "eliminated within the initial fifteen minutes of establishing contact". Top officials including Northern Army commander Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda and Chinar Corps commander Lt Gen Satish Dua briefed the defence minister and the Army chief. The defence minister was briefed about the security grid along the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland also covering the deployment of the additional forces that have been recently inducted into the valley, the release said. "The need for heightened vigil both on the LoC and hinterland and to remain prepared for any eventuality was stressed upon," the statement said. "There have been a number of infiltration attempts that the Army has foiled recently. It may be recalled that in the last one week itself, three such attempts were foiled in Kupwara Sector when four terrorists were killed and another group of four terrorists was eliminated in Poonch," it added. Parrikar later visited the 92 Base Hospital at the Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar and interacted with the injured soldiers. Home Secretary Mehrishi to visit Srinagar Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will visit Srinagar on Monday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with the top police and civil officials under the state government, an official source said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh blamed Pakistan for the attack and said Islamabad should be isolated. The home secretary will also call on the state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Governor N.N. Vohra. Mehrishi is expected to attend a series of meetings with officials of the state government, Army, police and paramilitary forces, the source added. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. In the third case of drunk driving in past one month, one person was killed and 10 others were injured as a 22-year-old drunk professional racer crashed his Porsche into 12 parked autos. A professional racer, Vikas had won the premier title in MRF Formula 1600 category recently The incident occurred at 3.30 am on Monday morning. About 10 auto drivers were sleeping inside the parked autos on the Dr Radhakrishnan Salai in Chennai. One auto driver was killed and 10 others were injured after the Porsche rammed into the parked auto rickshaws. Vikas Vijayanand, 22, son of Supreme Court lawyer Vijayanand, is said to have been drunk and was driving home with his friend Charankumar, son of a leading industrialist in Chennai, after a party to celebrate the victory of Tuti patriot during the Tamil Nadu Premier League. Both have been arrested. A professional racer, Vikas had won the premier title in MRF Formula 1600 category recently. Vikas, according to police, was heavily inebriated and lost control of the vehicle. Apparently, the duo did not even realise that their Porsche had rammed into the autorickshaws, policemen said. They were unharmed as the airbags in the car deployed after they hit a curb and crashed into the autos. But both were unconscious. Arumugam, 49, died at the Royapettah government hospital in Chennai. Barathan, 54, from Thiruverkadu near Chennai, was seriously injured and has been shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi multi speciality hospital in Chennai for further treatment. The other injured auto drivers, Mohideen, 43, Aadhikeasavan, 39, Sheikh Mohammed, 44, Deivaraj, 37, Mohideen, 39, Boopalan, 50, Sundar, 52 have been treated and discharged, police sources informed. The Adyar Traffic police in Chennai have registered a case and investigation is on. This is the third case of drunk driving in Chennai in last one month. Earlier, a young girl had run over a 54-year-old man, who was waiting for a bus on a platform in Chennais IT corridor, in her Audi. Actor Arun Vijay had reportedly rammed his car on a police jeep and had gone underground, only to surrendered the next day. Vikas's is the third case of an expensive car involved in an accident under the influence of alcohol. This incident brought to memory the case of Shaji Purushothaman, who had ploughed his speeding Mercedes Benz into a pavement in Egmore killing 13-year-old Muniraj in May 2013. Scion of distilleries baron MP Purushothaman, Shaji went absconding and was later arrested after the Madras High Court intervened. The terror attack on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri base which killed 18 soldiers, has drawn condemnation from around the world, including Russia and the UN. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the perpetrators of the Uri attack will be brought to justice and all stakeholders in the region will meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability. The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the Uri attack and said it is "concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base was attacked from Pakistani territory". It called for the "criminal act" to be investigated properly and that "its organisers and perpetrators be held accountable". "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack against an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of September 18, which killed 17 and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured," the Russian statement said. While condemning the terror act, China said it was concerned over the "rising temperatures" in its aftermath. Beijing also asked India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue. "China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding the Kashmir situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. France condemned the Uri terror attack and called for "decisive action" against terror groups targetting India, especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. In a statement, the deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development said that nothing can justify terrorism and that Paris remains "at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". He said after the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base, "this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". "We call for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen." "Nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combatted everywhere with the same determination," the spokesperson said. Canada strongly condemned the attack and said it stands with India in the fight against terrorism. In a statement, Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said his country was appalled by these attacks. Neighbours Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka also condemned the terrorist attack. In his message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said he was of the firm belief that the perpetrators behind this heinous act will be brought to justice at the earliest. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said the country has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades and resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism. Bhutan said it is "deeply concerned" at the "despicable" terror attack on Uri in India and called for the need to step up global cooperation to combat terrorism. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali, condemning the attack, told a TV channel that the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan will remain in the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka. "As a freedom fighter of 1971, we fought alongside the Indians during our war of liberation, I want the spirit of 1971 to remain in our relations," Ali said. On Sunday, the US expressed strong condemnation of the terror attack. "The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the UK "stands shoulder to shoulder with India in defeating terrorism and in bringing the perpetrators to justice". Last week, Israels National Mine Action Authority (INMAA), under the Ministry of Defense, hosted a delegation from Colombia for a week of instructional sessions on mine-clearing procedure and practices. The group consisted of eight members, both military and civilian, and was invited as part of Israels participation in the Global Demining Initiative to clear Colombia from landmines over the next five years. Most of the landmines in Colombia are the result of decades of conflict between the military and armed groups and organizations. The number of victims of mines in Colombia is among the highest in the world, second only to Afghanistan. From 1990-2015, over 11,400 people have been killed or injured by mines or unexploded ordinance. The delegation participated in the tailor-made Spanish-language workshop focusing on: land release process, strategies and national efficiency in mine action; quality and results-based management; and technology and information management in mine action. The workshop sessions held by INMAA took place over five days, and included theoretical lessons, practical field activities, tours of current mine-clearance sites in the Golan Heights and the Arava, as well as presentations from various technology suppliers. About INMAA: Developed in 2011, INMAA was established with the goal of strategically clearing Israels minefields no longer deemed necessary by the IDF, in order to reduce risks posed to the surrounding civilian populations. It organizes the countrys demining priorities, sets the national demining vision and cooperates with the IDF and other government authorities. Since its founding, INMAA has cleared tens of thousands of different types of mines scattered across thousands of acres of land all throughout Israel. The released lands are turned into tourist parks, nature reserves, agricultural lands and more. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The Israel Innovation Authoritys program to return academics, in its effort to bring high quality human capital back to Israel, recently launched a new program intended to help Israeli entrepreneurs and academics abroad return to Israel and reacclimatize to Israels industry and academia. Called the mentor program, it brings together academics who wish to return to Israel with mentors representatives of companies working with the Israel Innovation Authority and academics who returned to Israel over the years with the help of the program. The latter share from their own experience returning home and settling into the workforce and research environments. According to Dr. Nurit Eyal, director of the program to return academics: Every year, hundreds from academia and industry return to Israel, fulfilling a desire to come back home and find employment appropriate to their education and skills. We help many return and contribute their knowhow and skills to the Israeli economy and society. This has had a growing impact on Israels scientific leadership in the world. In addition to the guidance from mentors, the program also opened a Facebook group, entitled Returning to Israel a friend brings a friend to jobs in the industry, intended to enable the community of veteran returnees to help recent arrivals find work, and to help the companies where they work absorb more high quality employees returning from abroad. This, in addition to the group Returning to Israel Questions and Answers, that has been highly successful helping returnees with their day-to-day questions related to returning to Israel, is creating a community, and more. The program to return academics also offers other benefits like personal guidance, help with job searches in conjunction with more than 340 companies and guidance in areas such as resume building, career guidance workshops, and more. According to Eyal, director of the program to return academics: Less than a week after the Israel Innovation Authoritys call for cooperation, dozens volunteered for the mentor program. We set up a database of entrepreneurs, scientists and academics who accompany those returning to Israel and their families until they integrate into industry and academia. We are aware of the need for guidance and a sympathetic ear, both for senior-level expats as well as those who have lost their connections over the years. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Life between the chareidi and secular residents in Ashdod was uneventful for the most part, at least until last year when the Big shopping center began operating on the holy day. This led to protests by chareidim as well as threats of a boycott against the shopping center during the week by chareidim. Now, tensions are increasing in some areas between the frum and the non-religious with both sides accusing the other of breaking the religious status-quo. This follows a recent initiative to disrupt Shabbos in Bnei Brak, part of a Facebook campaign against the frum community in the Torah city, reportedly in retaliation for chareidi efforts to prevent Israel Railways from carrying out construction on Shabbos. Railway officials explain the work is pikuach nefesh and if conducted on weekdays, the delays and interruptions of service would be huge in addition to incurring significant financial loss. That event was met with many secularists opposing the idea, feeling it was not an appropriate response. The event was to have taken place this past Shabbos and there are no reports that it did. An initiative to hold a similar Shabbos party event in Ashdod has 334 persons agreeing to attend in Ashdod. Some respondents point out that in the Zayin area of the city, the chareidim have shut everything down on Shabbos and it has become like a ghetto. Every week it is the same thing shouts of Shabbos. We are tired of it another writes, a resident of area Gimmel, who states for years we lived side-by-side and now this has changed. During the summer months, tensions increased as secular residents filled area parks on Shabbos and some expressed opposition to chareidim walking around in those areas on Shabbos. They explain that despite it being public areas, they were bothered by the chareidi presence. There were some protests and harsh exchanges of words during the summer, and at times, even demanding police involvement. One organizer of the Shabbos event reports police has asked her to call it off. When she refused, she was told she will require a police permit for the event in addition to barriers and an ambulance standing by as well as complying with fire department regulations and more. Ashdod Councilman (Shas) Avi Amsellem insists the planned event on Shabbos is strictly a provocation and has no merit. He adds there are signed documents that both sides agree to certain Shabbos street closures and there is no justification for making this an issue at present. Yesh Atid party activist in the city, David Kakon, has been working to prevent radicalization on either side, hoping there can still be dialogue towards mutual agreement. He hopes to set up a panel discussion, inviting all sides, adding the current increase in tensions serves as a red light for him that something needs to be done before the situation deteriorates. Ashdod City Hall officials explain the city is one of tolerance and mutual respect and in the past, all sides recognize the sensibilities of others and acting within the framework of the law. Protest is legitimate if done within the confines of the law. Of course, that said, preserving the fabric of relationships within the community is a hallmark of civic responsibility and we expect the public in Ashdod, all sectors, to abide by the law and exhibit responsible behavior. Police add Any event held outdoors requires a permit, including this one (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Recently, there have been numerous protests at the home of Kiryat Gat Chief Rabbi Moshe Havlin Shlita for being among the Chabad rabbonim signed on an agreement with state officials by which Chabad Talmidim will serve in the IDF. There is opposition to the agreement both from within and outside the Chabad community. Among the opposition in Chabad are Rabbi Zalman Gopin Shlita of the main Chabad Yeshiva in Kfar Chabad and HaGaon HaRav Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau of Bnei Brak Shlita, who explains the Rebbe ZTL ZYA was adamantly against IDF service and that no Chabad rav has the authorization to make such an agreement. In this past Erev Shabbos edition of The Eida, the Eida Chareidis in the cover story speaks out against ongoing government efforts to bring chareidim into the military. It speaks about the new unit of paratroopers for chareidim only, citing the photo RL shows persons with peyos and beards, entering the IDF of the Zionist state. The Eida also comes out against those trying to silence the voice of opposition against those protesting outside Rabbi Havlins home. The magazine writes Jewish blood and neshomos arent hefker and the Eida will not tolerate those trying to silence the protests against the deal signed between Chabad and IDF authorities. The Eida comes out officially supporting the protests outside Rabbi Havlins home, citing Rabbi Havlin is a prominent rov in the Chabad community in Eretz Yisrael. The Friday article praises the protestors, who traveled to Kiryat Gat to protest against a deal that should not have been signed. The Eida also calls for supporting the protests as well as giving a chizuk to those arrested and being held without bail pending trial for their actions when breaking into Rabbi Havlins home during one of the protests. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The Jerusalem Municipality announced during the summer it was looking to borrow money to build badly-needed classrooms in the city amid a report there is a need for an additional 3,000 regulation classrooms. What began as a petition against Jerusalem City Hall to benefit the Arab sector will also be bringing some relief to the chareidi sector. A PTA in the capital took the city to court; to the High Court of Justice, explaining there is a shortage of 2,000 classrooms in eastern Jerusalem, primarily in the Arab sector, as well as a shortage of 1,600 classrooms in the western capital, primarily in the chareidi sector. The dire shortage results in opening illegal classrooms in apartments and other structures, classrooms that fail to meet basic criteria and compelling students to deal with severe overcrowding and substandard conditions. In the citys response to the High Court it stated there is a plan to build 2,200 classrooms at a cost of NIS 2.2 bullion and this week, the citys Finance Committee established a credit line with banks in the amount of NIS 350 million to move the project forward. The money will be used to build classrooms that have already been approved with the understanding the city will be reimbursed by the national government in the future. Whatever will occur between the Jerusalem and national government, it does appear that the city will finally be moving ahead towards significantly resolving the critical shortage of regulation classrooms in these two sectors. No timetable for the construction has been announced at this time. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The Arab Balad (Hebrew acronym for the National Democratic Assembly) party is under investigation for alleged fraud and other white collar crimes connected to the Balad party. Police on Sunday 15 Elul detained over 20 people around the country, including an accountant and attorneys for their suspected involvement in monetary crimes connected to the party. The police investigation began with the okay from the State Prosecutor based on evidence presented in the case. It is alleged that senior party officials, including at least one attorney and CPA, during recent years built a fictitious database pertaining to the source of millions of shekels received by the party by defrauding state agencies and the State Comptroller. Millions of shekels were reportedly to have been from sources inside and outside the country were reported to have come from inside Israel. The party appears to have allegedly regularly hidden the source of income and committed crimes by doing so including fraud, submitted fabricated documentation, money laundering, as well as violating election laws and laws governing political parties. Police on Sunday searched private homes and offices as well as a number of offices held by the party. Balad officials decried the arrests, adding This emphasizes the dangerous escalation of political persecution against the Arab minority in general and the political parties in particular. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) As thousands of commercial drones take to the skies under new Federal Aviation Administration rules, some small operators are pursuing a coveted exemption that would allow them to fly their drones where they cant be seen by the pilot. The companies who want them say the so-called line-of-sight exemptions are essential to someday use drones for such tasks as cleanup and repair after storm damage and monitoring widespread crop conditions. But thus far, the FAA has only given exemptions to three companies that participated in a year-long FAA pilot program: CNN, BNSF Railway and the drone data company PrecisionHawk. Although some small commercial drone operators say the new rules are too restrictive, the agency says it drafted them in a way that will save lives, minimize damage on the ground and address the concerns of commercial airline pilots. Matt Dunlevy, whose Grand Forks-based SkySkopes is pursuing an exemption to help provide services such as infrastructure inspections, said its extremely important to expand the waiver program. That is the silver bullet thats really going to unlock the potential in our industry, he said. The FAA expects there will be 600,000 commercial drone aircraft operating in the U.S. within the year, with ultimate plans to have them inspect bridges and rail and transmission lines, assist firefighters, shoot movie footage, gather news, and deliver products, among other uses. PrecisionHawk, which is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, represents customers in the agriculture, mining, forestry, insurance and telecommunications industries, among others. One of their clients, DuPont Pioneer, is researching the use of drones for improving crop efficiency and practices for growers. First and foremost, safety is the top priority, said Lia Riech, PrecisionHawks vice president of marketing. We also want to continue pushing the boundaries. Obviously its important for us to cover the acreage that is representative of our clients. Its difficult to know which companies are pursuing exemptions, as the FAA wont identify applicants. Dunlevy, the SkySkopes chief executive, estimates that fewer than 50 companies would qualify. At least one other company operating in North Dakota Sharper Shape, which manufactures the Sharper A6 drone is seeking permission. Its drone is being tested by SkySkopes pilots in an Xcel Energy project in North Dakota to see if unmanned aircraft can be used after storms and other natural disasters to help the company move crews, materials and equipment. The project also includes a larger Hermes 450 drone that can cover 62 square miles (160 sq. kilometers) in an hour and fly up to 17 hours before refueling. The maneuverability of the A6 can help pinpoint a specific area to restore and repair damage, Xcel spokesman Mark Nisbet said. Were excited to explore a variety of unmanned aircraft systems because they have the potential to help Xcel Energy assess damage more quickly, Nisbet said. This capability can lead to more efficient outage response times, save money, bring value to our customers and enhance employee and public safety. The Sharper A6 drone stretches 6 feet (1.8 meters) from propeller to propeller and weighs about 20 pounds (9 kilograms). Sharper Shape CEO Tero Heinonen says the drone is the first one designed specifically to perform utility asset inspections. It uses four redundant cellular networks to make it virtually impossible for the drone to lose communication with ground control operators, he said. The company has been flying the aircraft beyond line of sight since 2014 in Finland, where Heinonen founded the company before moving his operations to California and North Dakota. It is commercially proven, Heinonen said. This is something that opens such a huge market that will simply help any American company using drones. (AP) 07:43AM IL: [PHOTOS & VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] A stabbing attack occurred a few moments ago at the Herods Gate (Shar Perachim) to Jerusalems Old City. A number of people have been injured. the terrorist has been neutralized. More to follow. 7:53AM IL: UNITED HATZALAH: A female policeperson is in serious condition and her male partner is in moderate condition. They both sustained knife wounds to their upper torso and neck areas. 7:57AM IL: MAGEN DAVID ADOM: A male in his 40s and a female are both listed in serious condition with stab wounds to their upper bodies. 8:00AM IL: MDA SPOKESMAN ZAKI HELLER: Paramedics and EMTS are transporting the victims to the trauma unit of Shaare Zedek Hospital. One of them, a female about 19, is listed in serious condition. The second, a male about 45, is listed in moderate condition. They both sustained stab and knife wounds to their upper bodies. It is reported the victims are regular police (blue uniforms) as opposed to border police (green uniforms) or Yassam commandos (grey uniforms). The terrorist was shot and in serious condition. 8:12AM IL: POLICE SPOKESMAN SHABTAI GEVERCHIK: The terrorist followed the two officers on routine patrol from the Shar Shechem area to the Shar Perachim area, then attacking them from behind. They managed to draw their weapons and fire at him, wounding him seriously. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos: Media Resource Group) New Yorks governor now says it looks like the Manhattan bombing could be an act of terrorism with a foreign connection. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the statement Monday after the New York Police Department said authorities were searching for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the bombing. He is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan. Cuomo says: Todays information suggests it may be foreign related, but well see where it goes. On Sunday, Cuomo had effectively ruled out a link to international terrorism, saying there was no evidence to suggest that. The bomb went off Saturday in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. All have been released from a hospital. Authorities are still investigating whether that bombing is linked to explosive devices found nearby in Manhattan and in two sites in New Jersey. (AP) Samsungs smartphone problems expanded Monday to Chinas populous market, where the South Korean tech giant was looking into reports two Galaxy Note 7 handsets exploded in a country where it earlier said its units were safe and didnt need to be included in a global recall. The reports in the biggest mobile phone market were a new setback for Samsung Electronics, which is struggling to restore consumer trust after dozens of reports of batteries that overheated or caught fire in other nations. In the latest incidents, two people posted accounts on Chinese social media saying their Galaxy Note 7 handsets exploded over the weekend. Samsung has faced criticism it has failed to coordinate with American and other safety regulators and failed to give clear information to consumers. U.S. regulators ordered a recall on Thursday. Aviation authorities in the United States, Australia and Europe have urged passengers not to use or charge Note 7s while flying and not to put them in checked baggage. The Note 7 debuted to rave reviews in August thanks to its speed, new software features and longer time between charges, which requires a more powerful battery. Users report phones have caught fire or exploded, in one case causing a blaze that destroyed an SUV. Samsung had earlier excluded China from its global Note 7 recall. It said handsets sold in China were safe because they used different batteries from those linked to problems elsewhere. The Chinese battery supplier for Note 7 phones sold in China said Monday fires there appeared to be different from cases in other countries, where Samsung has blamed a manufacturing error in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. In the United States, there have been 92 reports of Galaxy Note 7 battery fires. Amperex Technology Ltd., which supplies lithium polymer batteries, said the fires in China appeared to be caused by unspecified factors outside the battery. We believe the heat problem comes from outside the battery. A very large likelihood exists that other factors gave rise to the heat problem, it said in a statement. ATL gave no indication of what may have caused the problems. Samsung did not respond to questions. In the first incident reported in China, a social media user posted messages Sunday saying a friends Galaxy Note 7 caught fire over the weekend. It included photos of the damaged phone. The user, contacted by phone, told The Associated Press the Note 7 was bought Sept. 1 through the JD.com e-commerce site. The man, who asked not to be identified by name, said the phone started to heat up and vibrate late Saturday night, then exploded and emitted black smoke. A second report on a separate social media account said an owners phone exploded Sunday while the person was playing a game on it. That account gave no contact information for the user or details of where the person lives but showed photos of the damaged phone and its serial number. The incidents, widely reported in Chinese media, are a big blow to Samsung in China, where consumers expect global brands to be better quality, said Nicole Peng of research firm Canalys. This is a very big incident that Samsung will find hard to defend, said Peng. Previously, they promised the China unit was fine and was using a different battery, she said. So it seems like this is causing more trust issues and hurting consumer confidence in their brand. The incidents could set back Samsungs effort to stage a comeback in China, where it has slipped to No. 6 in a crowded market behind ambitious local brands, Peng said. Samsung accounted for 8 percent of smartphone sales in China in the three months ending June 30, down slightly from the previous quarters 9 percent, according to Canalys. Huawei was in first place in both quarters with 16 percent, followed by Vivo and Xiaomi at 13 percent. This will make it difficult to make it back to the top, Peng said. Samsung Electronics launched the Note 7 phone in China on Sept. 1 amid a growing number of reports of the phones catching fire in other nations. The following day, Samsung announced it would stop sales and recall 2.5 million Note 7 phones in 10 countries, but not in China. Samsungs mobile president, Koh Dong-jin, said at the time sales in China would continue because Note 7 phones sold there used a different battery. Analysts believe Samsung SDI supplied most of the faulty batteries while Note 7 phones in China use batteries made by Amperex, which reportedly also is a main supplier of batteries for Apples iPhone. Last week, Samsung recalled 1,858 Note 7 phones in China from a different batch that had been distributed before general sales began. The company said the two units involved in the reports of fires were not from that batch. In its global recall on Sept. 2, Samsung did not say whether consumers could continue to use the Note 7 phones without danger. A few days later, it urged them to immediately turn off the phones. And last week, Samsung said it is rolling out a software update to the Note 7 phones that will limit the battery charge to 60 percent but didnt say whether all phones would automatically receive it. This week, the company began shipping new Note 7 phones to replace the defective ones. In South Korea, mobile carriers said Note 7 owners can begin exchanging their phones starting Monday, but there were few people doing so at a Samsung service center. South Koreas government has not issued an official recall like its counterparts in the U.S. and Canada. Monday is the deadline for consumers in South Korea to get a full refund. (AP) An Afghan official says at least eight Afghan police officers have been killed in two U.S. airstrikes in southern Uruzgan province in what was apparently a friendly-fire incident. Rahimullah Khan, a provincial operational commander, says the first airstrike killed one policeman at a checkpoint outside the provincial capital of Tirin Kot, while the second, which struck the same area, killed seven others. Khan says the airstrikes took place on Sunday afternoon around Tirin Kot. The Taliban have been advancing on the city in recent weeks. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed that U.S. forces carried out an airstrike, saying they sought to assist Afghan troops who were fired on by the Taliban. Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland says he doesnt have any further information on who the casualties may have been. (AP) Doctors at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv treating former President Shimon Peres, who suffered a stroke, report there has not been new intracranial bleeding or swelling. Hence, they are going to slowly bring him out of the medically induced coma and remove respiratory assistance he is receiving. Doctors are using terms such as cautious optimism in regarding to the condition of the 93-year-old former Presidents condition. There have also been reports that Mr. Peres has responded by squeezing the hand of visitors. HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Dovid Grossman was among the visitors to Peres hospital bed, calling on the Tzibur to be Mispallel for Shimon ben Sara bsoch kol cholei am yisrael. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Authorities believe the three bombing incidents this weekend in Seaside Park, New Jersey, New York City, and Elizabeth, New Jersey, are related, as officials released photos of a person of interest. An alert sent shortly before 8 a.m. today says police are seeking a man in connection with the Saturday night bombing in New York City, identified by authorities as 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami. Rahami is believed to be the man seen in surveillance video at both the scene of the explosion and the scene on West 27th St. where the unexploded device was found, a police source said. New Jersey State Police also said this morning that they are looking to question Rahami in connection with the Saturday morning explosion in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Rahami is a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent. He is considered armed and dangerous. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The address of a home being searched by FBI agents in Elizabeth this morning is linked to a person with a similar name. Rahami is believed to be driving a 2003 blue Honda Civic with New Jersey license plate number D63EYB. While officials said the events had not been linked to international terrorism, the security threat put residents, police and security personnel on high alert as three explosions took place over the weekend but did not cause any fatalities. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, while speaking on Good Morning America today, praised the NYPDs response to the threat, and said the department had the largest anti-terror force of any police force in the country. The bomb devices one exploding in an oceanfront town on the New Jersey shore, one in Manhattan and another in a town bordering Newark International Airport just beyond the citys borders initially left authorities struggling to respond to multiple possible terrorist incidents and searching for any link among them. A device exploded early Monday after police recovered five possible homemade pipe bombs in a backpack taken from the trash in the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The municipality directly borders one of the busiest airports in the country and sits just across a narrow body of water from the New York City border. The device detonated as a police robot attempted to disarm it. No one was injured. The FBIs Newark office tweeted that its bomb technicians had responded to the scene, along with investigators from Union County and the State Police of New Jersey. Amtrak shut down service on its Northeast corridor between New York and Trenton, New Jersey, because of the police activity. Hours prior to the incident in Elizabeth, officials announced the detention of up to five individuals in connection with Saturdays explosion in Manhattan that injured 29. The FBIs New York field office confirmed a traffic stop had been conducted, but added that no charges had been made. The individuals were taken to an FBI building in lower Manhattan to be questioned, The Associated Press reported. The Manhattan blast took place on West 23rd Street around 8:30 p.m. Saturday in an area frequented by shoppers and diners. All of those injured have been released from hospitals, Mayor de Blasio said. In the block-by-block search after Saturdays explosion, two former state troopers found a possible secondary device a few blocks away on 27th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, said James ONeill, the citys police commissioner. The second device, a pressure cooker, was in a white plastic bag with tape, wiring and a cellphone or other electronic device. Earlier on Saturday, an apparent improvised explosive device was set off in Seaside Park, New Jersey, along the route of a planned 5K charity race to benefit U.S. Marines and sailors. Because of delays to the start of the run, the explosion occurred in an area without many people in it. Authorities have not said publicly that they have determined any link between the incidents, or a possible motive. New Jersey Transit officials warned that the police activity and heightened security concerns could create transportation disruptions on Monday, advising customers to plan for delays. As the investigations continue, New York City, the nations largest city, gets ready to host heads of state from around the world at the annual United Nations General Assembly this week in Manhattan. President Obama is among the speakers. (AP) An Israel Prison Authority parole board on Monday 16 Elul has decided to grant a request for early release for Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto based on his difficult medical condition. The rabbi will be released from prison on Sunday, 22 Elul after completing seven months of his one-year prison term. The rabbi asked to be released on good behavior, which entails forgiving a third of his term, a standard practice in the prison system. It was first indicated he would not be released since he signed a plea bargain agreement to serve one year. However, due to his battle with cancer and regular chemotherapy treatments, the decision was made to grant his request. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) An Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was taken into custody Monday after a shootout with police in New Jersey, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. WABC-TV footage showed a man believed to be 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher in Linden, New Jersey. He appeared to be conscious and looking around. The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said two officers were shot in the gun battle. The arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Authorities said the blasts were looking increasingly like an act of terrorism with a foreign connection. Police did not disclose how they zeroed in on Rahami but were known to be poring over surveillance video. At the same time, five people who were pulled over in a vehicle Sunday night were being questioned by the FBI, officials said. The shootout came after a weekend of fear and dread in New York and New Jersey. In addition to the blast that injured 29 people in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, an unexploded pressure cooker bomb was found blocks away, and a pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town before a charity race. No one was injured there. On Sunday, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Also on Saturday, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Authorities have not drawn any connection between the violence in Minnesota and the bombings in the New York area. Citing the FBI, New Jersey State Police said Monday that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said as investigators gathered information, they learned there were certain commonalities among the bombs, leading authorities to believe that there was a common group behind the bombs. Before Rahamis capture, Cuomo said investigators have no reason to believe there are further threats, but the public should be on constant guard. Early Monday, FBI agents swarmed an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth that is tied to Rahami. The Rahami family lives in the apartment. The restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, is owned by Rahamis father and has also employed some of his brothers, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said. He said Rahamis father and two brothers sued the city after it passed an ordinance requiring the restaurant to close early because of complaints from neighbors about it being a late-night nuisance. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Rahami working there more. Hes always in there. Hes a very friendly guy, thats whats so scary. Its hard when its home, McCann said. In the immediate aftermath of the New York bombing, de New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo were careful to say there was no evidence of a link to international terrorism. Both said Monday that appeared to be changing. The more we learn with each passing hour is it looks more like terrorism, de Blasio said in an interview on NY1 News. Cuomo said on MSNBC: Todays information suggests it may be foreign-related, but well see where it goes. On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped a vehicle of interest in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She wouldnt provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the investigation. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. Cellphones were discovered at the site of both the New York and New Jersey bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasnt authorized to comment on the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The pipe bomb that exploded Saturday in Seaside Park went off before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was canceled. One of the five devices found at the Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. No one was hurt. (AP) Teetering on the verge of financial meltdown earlier this year, Gulf Keystone Petroleum is seemingly close to pulling off Mission Improbable. On Friday the Kurdistan-focused oiler announced investors had fully backed a $25million cash call that puts some money in the bank. It paves the way for a $500million financial restructuring that will see existing shareholders diluted down to around 10 per cent. The debt-forequity swap, which will still leave GKP with around $100million of borrowings, will be voted on later this week. Gulf narrowing: On Friday, Kurdistan-focused oiler Gulf Keystone announced investors had fully backed a $25million cash call that puts some money in the bank Those close to GKP wouldnt comment, but the market seems hopeful the restructuring will be given the green light. With a clean slate, the focus from here will be on the development of the companys main asset, the Shaikan heavy oil field, one of the biggest in northern Iraq. One hopes that success on the ground will be reflected in the share price, which has reversed by from a 52-week high of 37p to just 2.16p on Monday (the all-time low of 1.8p was set earlier this month). The formal ratification of the debt deal still pending, the business is currently worth $27.4million. In July Norways DNO lobbed in a $300million takeover offer that was contingent on the restructuring being approved. DNO, an ambitious oiler, is one of the biggest operators in the volatile region of Northern Iraq, owning 55 per cent of the Tawke Field, which produces 120,000 barrels of crude a day. Analysts see value in the business over and above the sum offered by DNO with GKPs assets worth as much as $600-700million. And you suspect certain savvy investors do too particularly those who vacuumed up stock at the deeply discounted price of 0.8314p in the open offer that refilled GKPs coffers. Capital Group, a US-based fund manager, led the charge. So there is still some appetite for the story. The management, directed by chief executive Jon Ferrier, is now grappling with how to get the best from the business. It has a near 60 per cent stake in Shaikan, which could be a world class field and currently produces some 40,000 barrels a day. But there are some challenges. GKPs is heavy oil that is less sought after than lighter crudes, and also requires blending. Adding to the complications, output is trucked out of Shaikan to Fish Khabur, where it enters the export pipeline. This process of trucking is costly and probably unsustainable long term. Then there is the problem of actually getting paid for oil exports. Payments come directly from the Kurdistan government and they have been sporadic. DNO has deep pockets, and at the time of the bid approach its executive chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani saw some obvious synergies in taking on GKP. Gulf Keystone at a Glance Ticker: GKP Value: 73million Current price: 2.16p Year-high: 37.4p Low: 1.8p 'We understand Shaikan's challenges and opportunities and we are well positioned to focus financial, technical, commercial and logistical support to maintain and then grow production at this field to the benefit of both Kurdistan and our investors,' he said. DNOs ambitions for Shaikan are not huge in the first instance it will focus on understanding the field and delivering stable and profitable production at around 50,000 barrels a day. It will also look develop an alternative export route for the heavy crude. Broker JP Morgan last month said DNO is pushing the bond and note holders for a definitive indication of whether the offer is likely to succeed. Nobody knows just which way they will jump. You suspect the new owners, debt investors who are now left holding equity, are probably keen to get out. The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. 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Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. 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Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited. Read More China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited, an investment holding company, provides cellular and fixed-line voice, and related value-added services in the People's Republic of China. It also provides broadband and other Internet-related, information communications technology, and business and data communications services. In addition, the company offers communications technology training, technical, and Internet information and value-added telecommunications services; telecommunications network construction, planning, and technical consulting services; and consultancy, survey, design, and contract services relating to information and construction projects. Further, it provides customer, project design consultation and management, property management, e-payment, venture capital investment, communications technology development and promotion, auto informatisation, financial, data processing, and tourism and information services; advertising design, production, agency, and publication services; technology development, transfer, and consulting services; and technology promotion service of intelligent transportation system's products. Additionally, the company offers technology development and consultation, and other services; technology research and development, consultation, and services of TV video and mobile video; internet of things technology, and online data processing and transaction services; and big data, and cloud computation and infrastructure services. It also provides online video and reading materials; network music; financing leasing services; and data analysis and application services, as well as sells handsets and telecommunication equipment. As of December 31, 2019, it had approximately 254 million 4G subscribers, 83 million fixed-line broadband subscribers, and 54 million fixed-line local access subscribers. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is based in Central, Hong Kong. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited is a subsidiary of China Unicom (BVI) Limited. FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. provides digital payment solutions for businesses to control purchases and make payments. It offers corporate payments solutions, such as accounts payable automation; Virtual Card, which provides a single-use card number for a specific amount usable within a defined timeframe; Cross-Border that is used by its customers to pay international vendors, foreign office and personnel expenses, capital expenditures, and profit repatriation and dividends; and purchasing cards and travel and entertainment cards for its customers to analyze and manage their corporate spending. The company also provides employee expense management solutions, including fuel solutions to businesses and government entities that operate vehicle fleets, as well as to oil and leasing companies, and fuel marketers; lodging solutions to businesses that have employees who travel overnight for work purposes, as well as to airlines and cruise lines to accommodate traveling crews and stranded passengers; and electronic toll payments solutions to businesses and consumers in the form of radio frequency identification tags affixed to vehicles' windshields. In addition, it offers gift card program management and processing services in plastic and digital forms that include card design, production and packaging, delivery and fulfillment, card and account management, transaction processing, promotion development and management, website design and hosting, program analytics, and card distribution channel management. Further, it provides other products consisting of payroll cards, vehicle maintenance service solution, long-haul transportation solution, prepaid food vouchers or cards, and prepaid transportation cards and vouchers. The company serves business, merchant, consumer, and payment network customers in North America, Brazil, and Internationally. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Why is Sadiq Khan giving Americans his views on the US election? 19 September 2016The SpectatorIts important for those of us who are foreigners to stay out of the US elections. So said the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, with due propriety during his visit to America last week. Unfortunately he then added: I hope that the best candidate wins and I hope she does win with a stomping majority.Given the febrile state of US politics, Im sure that this cringe-worthy endorsement is precisely the sort of intervention that Clinton needs in order to get her faltering campaign back on track. And perhaps the lord mayor of, say, Wandsworth could polish his chain of office and head to Paris to advise the French on how to cast their votes in next years presidential campaign? It would do about as much good and a lot less harm.For a start regardless of what floating voters in the US might think about Sadiq Khan, if they think anything my experience of Americans is that they like being told what to do by foreigners about as much as we do. How many more Leave votes did President Obamas clumsy intervention in the EU referendum generate this summer? Did it not have precisely the opposite effect from that which he intended? And that was President Obama, a man who has spent eight years as the leader of the free world, having come to power after a landslide and who, lets not forget, has enjoyed moments of being able to walk on political water. And not in other words Sadiq Khan, who was elected to City Hall after second preference votes were counted, following one of the most forgettable elections in the entire history of democracy.So if nothing else Khans American intervention and barrage against Donald Trump does invite questions about his political judgement. If he is a sincere supporter of Hillarys, which we have no reason to doubt, then why on earth does he think sharing his views on the matter will help her one iota. He must know better than most that it will do the reverse. Perversely, she would be far better off receiving the endorsement of Nigel Farage.Which means that the London mayor is basically calculating and probably rightly so that since hardly anyone knows who he is in the United States anyway, and of those that do fewer still will care, his comments will largely disappear without trace. Except where they really count, which is over here.After all, Khan doubtlessly looks with keen interest at his predecessor Boris Johnsons elevation from the glass testicle overlooking the Thames to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Whitehall and has similar if not grander designs for himself. And why not? Given the state of the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn, its probably a dream worth having.However, Im sure most Londoners would much rather have their mayor back in London, doing his job of running the city, rather than irritating Americans with his voter recommendations. Londoners would much rather that Khan was filling the potholes that riddle Londons roads personally with a shovel if needs be or building affordable houses, than getting cuddles from Justin Trudeau, the hipster prime minister of Canada, on a six-day tour of North America at the taxpayers expense.Khan says his trip is about letting Americans know that post-Brexit London is open for business: but they know that already. The US is already one of the biggest investors in London business and property, and their tourists arent slackening either. If anything, Khans intervention in the US presidential race is a sure-fire way to annoy Americans. Unless, of course, his real intention is to help Trump get elected, in which case hes going about it the right way. The Foreign Press Centers (FPC) issue its own press credential that is recognized by various organizations in the area and allows access to FPC facilities and services in Washington, DC and New York, NY. The FPC credential is typically valid for three years and renewable at the end of that period for members of the media on continuing assignment in the United States. Credentialing Air Asia X Flights at 50% Discount Fly to Beijing, Sydney, Osaka, Shanghai, Gold Coast, Mauritius, Xian, Perth, Hangzhou from as low as 12,500 AirAsia BIG points. Enjoy up to 50% OFF AirAsia BIG Fixed Points when you redeem AirAsia X flights exclusively for AirAsia BIG members only! Redemption period is available from 19 25 September 2016, travel from 22 September 31 October 2016. Pack your bags and get ready to fly now. Terms and conditions apply. Limited promo seats available, while stock last. **Terms and conditions apply** ~Click here for more information~ ~Click here for AirAsiaGo Promotion~ Air Asia Asias leading airline was established with the dream of making flying possible for everyone. Since 2001, AirAsia has swiftly broken travel norms around the globe and has risen to become the worlds best. 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Another crude bomb was found on West 27th Street along with a cache of pipe bombs in New Jersey after the explosion in Chelsea Saturday night. Federal agents detained three men and two women for questioning on the Belt Parkway about 9:30 p.m. Sunday night as they traveled in a car that was traced to Rahami, the New York Post reported. He was captured about 11 a.m. Monday after a wild shoot-out with police in Linden, N.J. Rahamis brother and sister were in the car, the paper said, quoting unnamed sources. The Post also said at least one member of the Rahami family had a passport and a plane ticket, suggesting that the car was headed to Kennedy Airport so that the relative could leave the country. The suspects sister cooperated with the FBI during questioning, according to the paper. Update from the NYPD: About an hour ago, the FBI took several individuals into custody on the Belt Parkway in the area underneath the Verrazano Bridge, with a possible connection to the bombing last night in Chelsea, state Sen. Martin Golden (RBay Ridge) wrote on Instagram at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. The five were released after authorities concluded they had no role in the bombings, the Daily News reported. A pipe bomb exploded in a trash can in Seaside Park, N.J., but there were no casualties. Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been charged with the attempted murder of five police officers after the gun battle in Linden and was being held on $5.2 million in bail, the New York Times reported. Two officers and Rahami were injured by gunfire. The suspect lived in Elizabeth, N.J., above a fried chicken joint run by his family. Vladimir Putin\s political allies won a landslide victory in a parliamentary election in Russia, near final results showed on Monday, paving the way for Putin to run for a fourth term as president in 18 months if, as expected, he chooses to do so. The ruling United Russia party, founded by Putin almost 16 years ago after he first became president, was on track to win 343 seats or 76 percent of 450 available seats in Russia\s Duma, the lower house of parliament, the Central Election Commission said, after 93 percent of ballots had been counted. That is up from 238 seats in the last parliamentary election, in 2011, and would allow United Russia to change the constitution, although Putin can run again under the existing one as he was prime minister between his second and third terms. Liberal opposition parties failed to win any seats, after holding just one before. Not everything went Putin\s way though. Near complete results showed turnout was around 48 percent, down from nearly 60 percent in 2011, suggesting apathy among some Russians and a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite. Putin, speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed on Sunday night, said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine. "We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it\s won," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party\s leader. Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3 percent, Putin said: "We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result." Putin\s aides are likely to use the result as a springboard for his own re-election campaign, though he has not yet confirmed he will seek another term. Other parties trailed far behind United Russia. According to the near complete official vote count, the Communists were on track to come second with 42 seats, the populist LDPR party third with 41, and the left-of-center Just Russia party fourth with 21 seats. All three of those parties tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues in parliament and avoid direct criticism of Putin. Sergei Neverov, secretary of United Russia\s General Council, hailed the result on Monday as an endorsement of Putin and his policies. "We are grateful to our people for supporting United Russia, a party founded by Vladimir Putin, for backing a course that is being implemented today by our president," Neverov told a news conference. Dmitry Peskov, Putin\s spokesman, told reporters the "overwhelming majority" of voters had come out for Putin, handing him what he called "an impressive vote of confidence." There were some reports of voting irregularities. Reuters reporters at one polling station in the Mordovia region of central Russia witnessed several people casting their ballot, then coming back later and voting again. Election chiefs said were was so far no evidence of large-scale cheating. After the last election, in 2011, anger at ballot-rigging prompted large protests in Moscow, and the Kremlin will be anxious to avoid a repetition of that. Election officials said on Monday that turnout was nearly 48 percent, substantially lower than the 60 percent turnout at the last parliamentary election. There was some evidence of voter apathy during the day on Sunday as people went to polling stations across Russia\s 11 times zones, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea. A taxi driver in Ufa, just over 1,350 km (840 miles) east of Moscow, told a Reuters reporter that voting "was like urinating into a blocked toilet." "Why bother?," said the man, who gave his first name as Ilysh. Commenting on the turnout, Putin, at the United Russia campaign HQ, said it was "not as high as we saw in previous election campaigns, but it is high." The return of an old voting system, under which half, rather than all, deputies were drawn from party lists with the other half decided by people voting for individuals, appeared to benefit United Russia. Near final results showed it won 140 votes under the list system and 203 seats from the constituency system. United Russia benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, consistently wins an approval rating of around 80 percent in opinion polls. Most voters do not see any viable alternative to Putin and his allies, and they fear a return to the chaos and instability of the 1990s, the period immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, if his rule ends. Many voters are also persuaded by the Kremlin narrative, frequently repeated on state TV, of the West using sanctions to try to wreck the economy in revenge for Moscow\s seizure of Crimea, the Ukrainian region it annexed in 2014. Yevgeny Korsak, a 65-year-old pensioner in the city of Saransk, 600 km (375 miles) south-east of Moscow, said he had voted for United Russia "because it is strong and powerful." Putin has said it is too early to say if he will go for what would be a fourth presidential term in 2018. If he did and won, he would be in power until 2024, longer than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the longest-serving Soviet leader aside from Joseph Stalin. Liberal opposition politicians, the only group openly critical of Putin, failed to get over the five percent threshold needed for party representation in the Duma, near final results showed. They also failed to break through in constituency races. SOURCE: REUTERS Hopewell Community Park remains a 'labor of love' for local community The lush green park is a product of the combined efforts of the Hopewell Township community and a symbol of decades of conservation efforts in Beaver County. Lori Gill wanted to practice law on a federal level. Schlandolyn Williams was seeking a way to pay for her education. Both chose a career path that landed them to the Air Force. My passion is to serve the military, serve the citizens of the United States and be able to help our commanders with a fit and disciplined force, Lt. Col. Gill told Midland University students on Friday during a program in honor of Constitution Day. Gill leads the 33-person staff of the Law Office for the 55th Air Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska. SMSgt. Williams is one of the lead paralegals in the office. While she is in the military, Gill understands control of the armed forces is in the hand of civilians. Civil control of the military is guaranteed in the Constitution, she said. Specifically, the Constitution gives Congress the power to provide funds for the military, and gives the president the authority as Commander in Chief. The Founding Fathers didnt want a standing military to have so much power, Gill said. They were afraid of that. You kind of see the remnants of (that fear) in Turkey when the military overthrew the government. The United States doesnt have that because the United States is run by civilians. They wrote into the Constitution all those checks and balances. They all check and balance each other so the military doesnt have that sort of power. That system has served the United States well for the past 229 years, in part because the military doesnt serve any singular person. Were not swearing in to a particular party or a particular Commander in Chief or a cabinet member, Gill said of oath members of the armed forces take. Were swearing in to protect and defend the Constitution. Defending the Constitution has been Gills duty for the past 15 years. I got in, and I just loved it, Gill said. We practice environmental, labor, contracts, operations law, criminal law, civil law, domestic, tax law. We do all of it. If youre looking for variety, thats this place. And then you get to go travel all over the world, so who wouldnt love that. You never know who you might meet at a church potluck. I just met Nathan. He designs fonts. Nathan was the hit at our table. Everybody had something to ask him or tell him or both. It was our last chance. Newcomer Nathan was leaving the next day for England to study typeface design at the University of Reading. Our level of enthusiasm and our appreciation for his field of study might have surprised him a bit. It was as if he'd suddenly acquired groupies to applaud his genius and cheer him on to greater success. He took it well. No surprisingly, he was dressed sort of like Steve Jobs, except in gray instead of black. (As you may know, Jobs was the quintessential font man.) Creative people often dress simply, letting their work express who they are. When you pour energy into how you look, you've done a good thing, but when you are your own work of art, it's hard to take the next step and pour yourself into work that also requires creativity. My theory. Take bank tellers. They all look good, even the guys. Nobody wants to deal with a crummy-looking teller. The other side of the coin is that they shouldn't get creative with the numbers. But why would you want to if you've already dedicated your creativity to looking good enough to do your job? It works out. Back to Nathan. Lest you think he's into far-out fonts and splashy graphics, he isn't. His area of interest is the printed page. Creativity is still required just in a different way. What subtle skill it must take to make all letters look good and read nicely, lining up like good soldiers who march in perfect lines! Now that computers are our typesetters, new frontiers exist in every direction for typographers. Nathan told us he was thinking of India, where 75 million people speak and read a dialect that requires various diacritical markings and nobody has really helped them out that much font-wise. Something like that. Don't quote me. Nope, not everything is as simple as making our plain old 26 letters look good. For that matter, one of the potluck group, Carolyn by name, complained to Nathan that she wasn't happy with the epsilon in the Greek font she's stuck with for one of her current undertakings (probably the editing of one of her husband's books; I didn't ask). She said it just wasn't pretty enough. I guess an ugly epsilon is OK if the rest of the font is ugly, but Carolyn seemed convinced her particular epsilon was a misfit. Everyone commiserated, including Nathan. My kind of people. I nearly quit a job once over a font disagreement with a woman who was calling the shots. She said nobody paid attention to fonts. I ended up working for nothing but hamburgers for a man who let me choose the fonts for all his posters. Fonts matter. If you can read this page, thank a font. File - Marc Rylander, a spokesman from the Texas Attorney General's Office, speaks to reporters outside a federal courthouse in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, following a hearing in the state's lawsuit against the U.S. Departament of Education and U.S. Department of Justice in regards to the Obama administration's executive order on transgender bathrooms. Texas filed the lawsuit with 12 other states and the Harrold Indepdenent School District in May. Christopher Collins/Times Record News By Christopher Collins of the Times Record News A transgender rights group, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought against the federal government by the state of Texas and two physicians' groups. River City Gender Alliance and the ACLU asked a federal judge late Friday to allow them entrance as defendants in Franciscan Alliance Inc. v. Burwell, in which three conservative physicians' groups have argued they shouldn't be forced to perform sex-change operations. Plaintiffs Franciscan Alliance Inc., Specialty Physicians of Illinois LLC and Christian Medical & Dental Associations are joined in the litigation by the states and Texas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kentucky and the governor of Kansas. Plaintiffs "eagerly provide comprehensive care to society's most vulnerable populations, but their religious beliefs will not allow them to perform medical transition procedures that can be deeply harmful to their patients," their attorneys wrote in the lawsuit's complaint. "Tragically, the (Health and Human Services) regulation would force them to violate those religious beliefs and perform harmful medical transition procedures or else suffer massive financial liability." The regulation referenced in the complaint is a provision of the Affordable Care Act that redefines the term "sex" to apply to a person's gender identity, biological sex notwithstanding. The lawsuit initially was filed Aug. 23 in the Northern District Court of Texas in Wichita Falls. Now, according to River City Gender Alliance and the ACLU, transgender people are being discriminated against in public and Catholic hospitals. The Gender Alliance, an Omaha-based nonprofit, reportedly has 150 members among them are transgender people who claim they have been denied various medical services. One member, a Nebraska state employee receiving healthcare coverage from an employee healthcare plan, has been denied coverage for a hysterectomy and hormone therapy. Another member works at a Catholic hospital and receives healthcare benefits from the hospital; others receive primary care at religious and secular hospitals. "If plaintiffs succeed in striking down the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (regulation), River City Gender Alliance fears that its members will be discriminated against in healthcare based on their gender identity," the motion reads. As of Monday, Plaintiffs had not filed a response to the groups' motion to intervene in the case. Judge Reed O'Connor could rule to award a preliminary injunction against the federal government to plaintiffs, as he did in the related case State of Texas v. United States of America. In that suit, filed in Wichita Falls, O'Connor temporarily blocked the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education from enforcing bathroom guidelines for transgender students. Schenectady Two area high school students will be chosen to represent the Capital Region next summer at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards in New York City under a new program co-sponsored by Proctors and the Times Union. Called the High School Musical Theatre Awards for the Capital Region, the honors will be presented in May during a ceremony at Proctors. Awards will be given in 10 categories, including Best Ensemble, Best Student Orchestra, Best Supporting Actor and Actress and Best Actor and Actress. The winners of the latter two will receive all-expenses-paid trips in June to the national event, where they will receive training from professionals and compete with students from more than 30 regional programs nationally for the title of Best National High School Actor and Actress. Full details are available at timesunion.com/musicals High School Musical Theatre Awards will be a partnership, Albany Times Union Editor Rex Smith and Proctors CEO Philip Morris are announcing today. Posted by Albany Times Union on Monday, September 19, 2016 "The Capital Region has a vibrant artistic community visual arts, music, dance, theater, writing and more," said Times Union Editor Rex Smith in a statement, "which can thrive and grow only if we encourage the next generation of artists. The Times Union views part of its mission as one of education, so we're delighted to partner with Proctors in this ambitious program. We're going to spotlight some great young stars in the making, and it's going to be a lot of fun." Smith and Proctors CEO Philip Morris announced the new program Monday morning in a Facebook Live broadcast that included the pair singing "Anything You Can Do" from "Annie Get Your Gun." "I'm ecstatic about this," Morris said in a statement. "We have such talent in our community, and now that talent will be recognized nationwide." School applications will be accepted by Proctors from Friday through Oct. 21. The first 15 schools that submit completed applications and meet all criteria will be guaranteed participation, with a maximum of 20 to 22 schools allowed, according to Proctors. A panel of approximately 50 judges will review productions at registered schools and submit nominations. The budget for the first year of the local awards is $50,000 to $100,000, Proctors spokesman Michael Eck said, with the funds coming from underwriting and sponsorships. The High School Musical Theatre Awards for the Capital Region are presented by the Times Union, the Broadway League and Proctors' education program, called the School of Performing Arts at Proctors. The program's multiple components, including classes, a summer camp, student performance at Proctors and Capital Repertory Theatre and Capital Rep's On the Go touring productions, reach 45,000 students annually at 380 schools in 14 counties. The national awards, also known as the Jimmys, in honor of the late theater owner and producer James M. Nederlander, who died in July at age 94, were established in 2009 to "elevate the importance of theater-arts education in schools and to reward excellence in student performance," according to promotional material. The program involves more than 50,000 students annually, who participate in high school musical-theater competitions sponsored by professional theaters across the United States. The Capital Region awards bring the total number of regional competitions to 32; others in the state are in Buffalo, Rochester and New York City. sbarnes@timesunion.com 518-454-5489 @Tablehopping http://facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic Midcentury modern design mania isn't losing momentum. The style revival is more popular now than a few years ago, when it began to be seen in store showrooms and magazine spreads. Some real estate agents are amplifying the movement by specializing in selling homes built in the 1950s and '60s, and by playing up their retro architectural features. Think low ceilings, stone facades and sunken living rooms. ALBANY A traffic stop led city police to the man they say robbed two people one of whom he allegedly shot in the leg in West Hill last week. Oshapha Murray, 33, was found possessing a loaded 9mm handgun, heroin and ecstasy when Albany police stopped his car on the 100 block of Myrtle Avenue about 8:45 p.m. Friday, police said. Glenmont A two-car crash resulted in the arrest of a Ravena man after Bethlehem Police discovered he had an active warrant in Colorado. Leigh Pavone, 29, was charged with being a fugitive from justice as well as aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended registration, Bethlehem Police Department said Monday. He also was issued two traffic citations. Police learned that Pavone had an active arrest warrant issued by the Teller County Sheriff's Department in Cripple Creek, Colorado, after responding to the crash on Route 9W in Glenmont on Friday. Pavone was wanted on a charge of criminal contempt for failing to comply with the terms of a probation sentence. Pavone was arraigned in Bethlehem Town Court and remanded to Albany County Jail without bail. He is scheduled to appear in court again at 4 p.m. Tuesday. afries@timesunion.com 518-454-5353 @mandy_fries Schenectady Greg Carlin, CEO of Rush Street Gaming, the owner of the Rivers Casino & Resort being built in Schenectady, will be the keynote speaker at the Center for Economic Growth's annual member meeting Oct. 20 at Proctors. The Rivers Casino, set to open in early 2017, projects 1,000 new jobs for the Capital Region. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Lake George An Albany woman charged in the Log Bay Day crash that killed an 8-year-old girl on Lake George was arrested Saturday on charges of drug-impaired driving and possession of heroin. Police said Cara Mia Canale, 27, possessed the opioid and medication not prescribed to her when she was stopped while driving a 2009 Hyundai Elantra on Montcalm Street about 2:50 p.m, Canale was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, drug possession, possession of a hypodermic instrument, reckless driving, failure to keep right and failure to stop at a red light. Warren County sheriff's deputies stopped Canale while responding to reports of an erratic driver on routes 9 and 9L. Canale already faces charges of hindering prosecution and filing a false instrument in connection with the July 25 crash that killed Charlotte McCue, 8, of Carlsbad, Calif., and injured her mother, Courtney, about 9:30 p.m. near Cramer Point on Lake George. Canale was a passenger on the boat in the alleged hit-and-run crash that took place on the night of Log Bay Day, an annual party on the lake. More for you Five charged after fatal Lake George boat crash Warren County Sheriff Bud York has said drugs were involved in the boat crash, which was captured on video. The driver of the boat, Alexander M. West, 24, of Lake George, had two prescription drugs and one illegal drug in his blood, York said. Canale told investigators, "I didn't see the other boat. There were no lights." "I don't think Alex was intoxicated. I don't know if he drank or smoked." emasters@timesunion.com 518-454-5467 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate New York Army National Guard Lt. Col. Todd Bookless of Greenwich, an Iraq war veteran, took command of the 642nd Aviation Support Battalion during a ceremony at Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania. He leads the 450-member battalion, which has elements in Rochester, Dunkirk, Olean, Ronkonkoma and Brooklyn. His personnel provide maintenance and logistics support to the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade, headquartered in Latham. Bookless, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, replaced Lt. Col. Michael Charnley who had commanded the battalion since 2014. Bookless has served in the Army since 1994 and joined the New York Army National Guard in 2002. Along with serving in Iraq in 2005 on the staff of the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade, he deployed to Kuwait in 2012 and 2013 with the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. As a civilian, Bookless is a vice president at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He is qualified to fly UH-1 "Huey" helicopters and the OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. While in the army he served as a platoon leader in the 24th Infantry Division and an assistant operations officer in the 3rd Infantry Division. He also was a logistics officer and helicopter cavalry troop commander in the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. In 2015-16 he served as the officer in charge of a team from the 42nd Infantry Division, which deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to assist the Joint Task Force responsible for the detention facilities there. Bookless served as the deputy director of the task force's joint operations section. A graduate of the Army's Combined Arms & Services Staff School, the Command and General Staff College, he earned a Meritorious Service Medal, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, an Air Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, a Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, the Army Aviator Badge, the Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge. New lieutenant colonel Chris Kellerman of Loudonville has been promoted to lieutenant colonel during a ceremony at the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs Headquarters in Latham. Kellerman, an Afghanistan war veteran, works in logistics in Latham. His military service began in 1988 when he enlisted in the Idaho Army National Guard. He was commissioned as an officer from the Army ROTC program in 1993 and transferred to the New York Army National Guard in 1995. Kellerman has served in a variety of positions including commander of the 29th Personnel Services Detachment, truck platoon leader, personnel and logistics staff officer at the brigade and battalion level, logistics plans and policy officer for the New York National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters and logistics plans officer for the 42nd Infantry Division. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 and 2013 where he served as senior adviser to the Afghan National Army's Support Operations officers and as the logistics training and advisory team officer in charge for the Afghan National Army and Afghan police in nine provinces. Kellerman earned a bachelor of science degree from the University at Buffalo and is a graduate of the Command and General Staff Officers School. He has earned a Joint Service Commendation Medal and an Army Achievement Medal. Future leader Cadet Benjamin Steven Schiher of Burnt Hills has completed six weeks of Cadet Basic Training at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Schiher entered West Point on June 27. The initial military training program provides cadets with basic skills to instill discipline, pride, cohesion, confidence and a sense of duty to prepare them for entry into the Corps of Cadets. The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School graduate expects to graduate from West Point in 2020 and be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. News of your troops and units can be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or brownt@timesunion.com. COLONIE One wall wasn't enough for this Donald Trump supporter. Prominent Capital region home builder Robert Marini has again constructed a set of security measures on his property to protect one of the Republican presidential nominee's campaign signs after he had three of them swiped from his yard on top of the five stolen earlier in the summer. This marks the second time Marini has beefed up security in an effort to protect his show of political support. The Times Union reported last month that Marini, who lives on East Hills Boulevard, put up barbed wire and warning signs cautioning that trespassers would be prosecuted after five signs were taken from his yard. The security was short-lived: Marini had to take down the measures because they violated Colonie zoning law. A variance is required to install barbed wire fencing and political signs are allowed without a sign permit only if they are affixed to a removable stick in the ground (the last fenced-in sign was fastened in concrete), he said. When Marini went back to the more typical way of planting a political sign in the ground, the thefts began again. The latest barricade is chicken-wire fencing, with the same warning sign bellowing: "DO NOT Touch The Sign. If you are reading this, you are TRESPASSING. You WILL BE PROSECUTED To The Fullest Extent Of The Law." In a photo sent by Marini, it appears that small floodlights are within the barricade to illuminate the "Trump, Make America Great Again" placard. A small American flag rests just outside the fencing. Marini in an email Saturday said he is "just trying to protect my right to support a candidate for president." The circus-like atmosphere of 2016 has generated other Trump sign thefts, though the phenomenon of sign swiping is far from new on multiple political levels. Police said longtime Tennessee state representative stole the signs of his primary rival (in a bizarre twist, the opponent paid the incumbent's bail, according to the Washington Post). Here in the Capital Region, then Assemblyman Tim Gordon fessed up to discarding the signs of his rival, Republican Steve McLaughlin (who ultimately won), though Gordon said a neighbor asked him to take down the signs. There even are some states with laws explicitly prohibiting the theft, destruction or defacing of political signs. South Carolina, for example, makes it a misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine and up to 30 days in jail. In New Hampshire, stealing a sign could lead to a maximum $1,000 fine. New York State Police said last month that getting caught stealing a lawn sign could lead to misdemeanor larceny charges. A sign snatcher, if convicted, would likely face a fine. Marini did record a thief on video earlier this summer, but the grainy quality made it impossible to identify the person. Still, he has declined to seek assistance from Colonie police. "Our police department in the town of Colonie has greater causes than a missing $20 sign," he said. mhamilton@timesunion.com 518-454-5449 @matt_hamilton10 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Beirut Syria's fragile cease-fire started to unravel on Sunday with the first aerial attacks on rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo and a southern village that killed at least eight people, violations that came as tensions between the American and Russian brokers of the deal worsened following a deadly U.S. strike on Syrian government forces. The air raid by the U.S.-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers and led to a harsh verbal attack on Washington by Damascus and Moscow. The U.S. military says it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria on Saturday. The seven-day cease-fire was supposed to end at midnight Sunday, according to a Syrian army statement issued last week. The U.S. and Russia have said that if it holds for seven days, it should be followed by the establishment of a Joint Implementation Center for both countries to coordinate the identification of targets against the Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked militants. Despite largely holding, the cease-fire has been repeatedly violated by both sides, and aid convoys have not reached besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and one-time commercial center that has been the center of violence in recent months. The arrival of aid convoys to Aleppo is part of the U.S.-Russia cease-fire deal. Earlier this month, Syrian government forces and their allies captured areas they lost south of the city, re-imposing a siege on its opposition-held eastern neighborhoods. More than 2,000 people were killed in 40 days of fighting in the city, including 700 civilians among them 160 children, according to a Syrian activist group. Syrian state TV reported Sunday that dozens of residents had left rebel-held areas in Aleppo and were taken to shelters in the government-controlled part of the city. Also Sunday, Aleppo's governor, Hussein Diab, called on insurgents in the eastern neighborhoods to turn themselves in and hand over their weapons. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Toby Talbot Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Sue Ogrocki Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Pain Care Forum members gave $2.6 million to New York representatives in Washington during 2006-2015, according to data compiled by the Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity. Asked about the effect of these contributions on their policymaking, U.S. senators from New York and the Capital Region's congressional representatives defended their records in attempting to limit opioid abuse. Washington President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to lift all remaining sanctions against Myanmar, seeking to reward the country's recent moves toward democracy after decades of brutal military rule. The White House issued the announcement during a visit by Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's leader, whose victory in democratic elections last year was viewed by the Obama administration as a triumph in the president's strategy of engaging with countries the United States had long shunned. "In part because of the progress that we've seen over the last several months," Obama said in the Oval Office, seated beside Suu Kyi, "the United States is now prepared to lift sanctions that we have imposed on Burma for quite some time. "It is the right thing to do in order to ensure that the people of Burma see rewards from a new way of doing business and a new government," the president said. "Congratulations on the progress that has been made," he told Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest as a political prisoner when Obama was elected president. "It is not complete, and I think Daw Suu is the first one to indicate that a lot of work remains to be done, but it's on the right track." But the move was quickly criticized by leaders of some human rights groups, who said they worried that eliminating sanctions was premature given the slow pace of change in Myanmar, also known as Burma, where the military still controls a large portion of parliamentary seats and important government ministries. "If the issue was growing Burma's economy, there are plenty of other ways to do that without pulling off all of these important restrictions, which have given Suu Kyi much-needed leverage over the military, with whom she still has battles ahead," said John Sifton, the deputy Washington director of Human Rights Watch. "If the issue is leverage, the decision today makes almost no sense: Obama and Suu Kyi just took important tools out of their collective tool kit for dealing with the Burmese military, and threw them into the garbage." It remained unclear exactly when the remaining sanctions would be lifted; they apply to trade in jade and precious stones, and to doing business with some of Myanmar's military officials or their affiliates. Restrictions imposed by Congress, including sanctions related to North Korea and those governing arms sales and military cooperation, will remain unless lawmakers vote to lift them. Obama had moved in May to ease a broad array of sanctions that barred American citizens and companies from doing business with Myanmar, loosening restrictions on state-owned banks and entities. But, at that time, he left in place an official government finding of a state of emergency related to Myanmar, which calls the country an "extraordinary threat." Earlier on Wednesday, Obama sent Congress official notice that he was restoring trade benefits to Myanmar that were revoked in 1989 because of concerns over worker rights, allowing it to qualify for a program that allows poor countries to export thousands of products duty-free to the United States. The decision to go a step further, and scrap the sanctions entirely, reflects Obama's belief in using diplomacy paired with sanctions relief to prod former foreign adversaries toward greater openness. That principle was at the heart of Obama's agreement last year with Iran to relax sanctions in exchange for restraints on the country's nuclear program, and has been the driving force behind the opening of a dialogue with Cuba. Since taking power six months ago, Suu Kyi has moved to heal ethnic conflicts that have long plagued Myanmar. She invited a team led by Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general, to begin investigating the plight of the Rohingya, a group of about 1 million Muslims living in dire conditions in western Myanmar. Yet Suu Kyi had declined to use the term "Rohingya" to describe the persecuted Muslim population that has lived in Myanmar for generations, angering rights activists who had hoped she would reverse discriminatory policies that have marginalized the Rohingya and prompted many to flee. And crucial political changes have yet to be made, like amending Myanmar's Constitution to remove the military's control over 25 percent of parliamentary seats, its ability to dissolve parliament in times of national emergency and its control over the nation's security, defense and border ministries. Suu Kyi said she was grateful to the United States for enacting sanctions that pressured Myanmar to restore human rights, but added that the time had come for the restrictions to be lifted. She also said she was eager to draw foreign visitors and investment to her country. Saying her first priority was "national reconciliation and peace," Suu Kyi also conceded that she had to do more to shift the government toward civilian rule. "We have a constitution that is not very democratic, because it gives the military a special place in politics," she said. Obama administration officials have argued that freeing Myanmar from economic sanctions need not wait until the country liberalizes entirely, and that doing so will improve the chances that democracy will take hold there. St. Cloud, Minn. A man in a private security uniform stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall, reportedly asking a victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer fatally shot him in an attack the Islamic State group claimed as its own. None of the nine people who were stabbed in Saturday night's attack received life-threatening wounds, St. Cloud police Chief Blair Anderson said. He said it doesn't appear that anyone else was involved in the attack at the Crossroads Center in St. Cloud, which began at around 8 p.m. and was over within minutes. At a news conference Sunday, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton said the attack was being investigated as a possible act of terrorism and that agents were still digging into the attacker's background and possible motives. An Islamic State-run news agency, Rasd, claimed Sunday that the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. It was not immediately clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand. IS has encouraged so-called "lone wolf" attacks. It has also claimed past attacks that are not believed to have been planned by its central leadership. Authorities didn't identify the attacker, but the Star Tribune of Minneapolis said the man's father identified him as Dahir A. Adan, 22. Speaking to the newspaper through an interpreter, Ahmed Adan, whose family is Somali, said his son was born in Africa and had lived in the U.S. for 15 years. A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student there, but has not been enrolled since the spring semester. He said police told him at around 9 p.m. Saturday that his son had died at the mall, and that police had raided the family's apartment, seizing photos and other materials. He said police said nothing to him about the mall attack, and that he had "no suspicion" that his son had been involved in terrorist activity, the newspaper reported. Anderson said police had had three previous encounters with the attacker, mostly for minor traffic violations. According to Anderson, the attacker, dressed in a security uniform and wielding what appeared to be a kitchen knife, began attacking people right after entering the mall, stabbing people in several spots inside the building, including corridors, businesses and common areas. Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon, shot and killed the attacker. Anderson said Falconer fired as the attacker was lunging at him with the knife, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. "He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life," Anderson said. "Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place." Anderson earlier said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if they were Muslim before attacking. Leaders of the Somali community in central Minnesota united to condemn the stabbings. They said the suspect does not represent the larger Somali community, and they expressed fear about backlash over the attack. Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali community, with census numbers placing the population at about 40,000, but community activists say the population most of it in the Minneapolis area is much higher. The immigrant community has been a target for terror recruiters in recent years. More than 20 young men have left the state since 2007 to join al-Shabab in Somalia, and roughly a dozen people have left in recent years to join militants in Syria. RTE programme Scannal will feature the case of Tipp man Harry Gleeson who was hanged in the wrong for the murder of Moll McCarthy. He received the first ever posthumous pardon from President Michael D Higgins recently. SCANNAL - Making Harry a Murderer RTE One Monday 19th September @ 19.30 In recent years miscarriages of justice have captivated international fascination with the likes of podcast The Serialand the Netflix hit Making a Murderer. Here in Ireland we are no strangers to wrongful convictions. But the case that gave rise to the first ever posthumous Presidential pardon is extraordinarily shocking and horrific. SCANNAL recalls the 1940 murder of Moll McCarthy in Marlhill, New Inn, Co. Tipperary. The mother of six children was brutally killed with a shotgun blast to her neck. Forensic reports indicate her body was then dressed and moved to where she was found in a field, where a second shot blasted away her face almost entirely. Her neighbour Harry Gleeson, who was originally from Holycross, was charged, tried, convicted, lost all his appeals, was refused any clemency and then Hanged - all in the space of 5 months. In 2015 - 75 years later - The Irish State granted Harry Gleeson a posthumous pardon, finally admitting a terrible miscarriage of justice had taken place to an innocent man that our justice system had wrongly made into a murderer. The Presidential pardon leaves Harry Gleeson an innocent man - hanged in the wrong. But it also leaves so many questions unanswered. If Harry didn't, then who did murder Moll McCarthy? If Harry Gleeson was innocent how did this all happen? and why did it take so long to set to right? Some answers lie in the fact that the murder of Moll McCarthy is inextricably linked with powerful forces in our society - sex, religion, politics and how we deal with outsiders; qualities that make for tightly knit communities but also have a very dark side. Moll McCarthy was a single mother of six children by six different fathers and stood out in conservative 1940s rural Ireland, not least because she kept her children and lived an independent if meagre life. The people I spoke to who remembered her ... spoke about a lively bright and also very good looking woman. She wasn't a pushover. She just made some money the best way she could and she looked after her children - she was a good mother. KIERAN FAGAN Author, The Framing of Harry Gleeson Moll had survived attempts to burn her out and have her children taken off her. She was largely ostracised by the local community. Her immediate neighbours were not locals. John Ceasar & his second wife Brigid; an elderly childless couple with a 75 acre farm, which John had bought at a public auction. Theyd more or less adopted Johns nephew to work the farm on the understanding that hed inherit. Harry Gleeson was that nephew. A single hardworking man who liked hurling, playing music and training greyhounds. An unlikely cast for a murder mystery but when you add in wartime IRA active units, compromised Gardai, together with conflicting medical evidence, evidence withheld and an injudicious Judge youve got the perfect storm. ....it was a hanging judge and it became a hanging jury. KIERAN FAGAN It has taken 75 years and the dedicated efforts of the Justice for Harry Gleeson Group together with the Irish Innocence Project to have this wrong righted. Harry's good name has been restored....poor Moll hasn't been as fortunate. But I think it was hugely significant when the Minister, on the day of the presentation of the pardon, referred to Molls Murder and declared it an unsolved murder. SEAN DELANEY, Justice for Harry Gleeson Group In a shameful chapter of our judicial history perhaps the biggest scandal is that the whole truth has never come out. To this day, information about the case is being withheld. Moll McCarthy has never received Justice. Her killers never officially identified. Reporter: SINEAD Ni CHURNAIN Exec. Producer & Director: KEVIN CUMMINS Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. It only took about an hour for the remnants of Tropical Depression Cindy to cause flooding in the Titusville area, particularly along the regu Abney to Lead Rockhill Insurance Group Environmental Underwriting Unit Rockhill Insurance Group, a member of the State Auto Insurance Group, announced today that Jack Abney will lead its environmental underwriting unit as vice president - environmental. Abney has worked in Rockhill's general binding and business development units, and will continue to work with Rockhill trading partners and work with the entire Rockhill team to develop new products and product enhancements. "Given Jack's history with National Environmental Coverage Corporation (NECC), his expertise in environmental products and underwriting, and his excellent relationships with all of our wholesale brokers, he was a natural fit to lead this dynamic team," said State Auto Senior Vice President/Director of Commercial and Specialty Lnes Jessica Clark. State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, is a super-regional property and casualty insurance holding company and is proud to be a Trusted Choice company partner. State Auto Mutual is part of the State Auto Group, which markets its insurance products through independent insurance agencies, including retail agents and wholesale brokers. The State Auto Group is rated A- (Excellent) by the A.M. Best Company and includes State Automobile Mutual, State Auto Property & Casualty, State Auto Ohio, State Auto Wisconsin, Milbank, Meridian Security, Patrons Mutual, Rockhill Insurance, Plaza Insurance, American Compensation and Bloomington Compensation. Additional information is available at http://www.StateAuto.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919006439/en/ [September 18, 2016] AHF Lauds Donors for Pledging $13 billion to the Global Fund AHF today applauded the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and donor countries for reaching the fundraising target of $13 billion for the Fifth Replenishment Round, which will fund lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for millions of people around the world through 2019. At the conclusion of the replenishment meeting in Montreal, $12.9 billion USD had been formally pledged, although contributions from outstanding countries that had not yet committed will still be accepted and strongly encouraged. Despite many competing social and development priorities vying for funding, which in recent years has become scarce, increases in GFATM pledges from large donors like the European Commission, Germany, Japan, France, the UK and the United States demonstrate that the global AIDS, TB and malaria responses remain a leading development priority that demands continued funding. The pledges also serve as a vote of confidence for the effectiveness and impact of programs funded by the GFATM. In 2015, AHF rolled out a global advocacy campaign called "Fund the Fund" with the chief aim of ensuring the success of the Fifth Replenishment Round, and specifically urging large donors such as Germany, Japan and China to increase their contributions. The long-running advocacy effort included grassroots demonstrations in front of embassies in over 20 countries, a letter writing campaign, advertising campaigns and meetings with embassy officials and high-level decision makers around the world. "We are very proud of having played a role in helping the Global Fund reach its funding target of $13 billion. Thi was a truly global effort for AHF that ran the gamut from a procession of tuk-tuks wrapped in 'Fund the Fund' banners going from embassy to embassy in Phnom Penh to a large demonstration and march in Berlin in front of the Parliament, to meetings with embassies of donor governments in Kathmandu, Lima, Pretoria, and much, much more," said Loretta Wong, AHF Senior Director of Global Advocacy and Policy. "While we were only a part of a much larger global movement working on replenishment advocacy, successes like a larger contribution from Germany- which increased its contribution from Euro 600 million to Euro 800 million-show that concerted advocacy indeed works." On the eve of Germany's increased pledge, AHF ran an ad in the German newspaper Allgauer Zeitung urging the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Muller to increase Germany's contribution to 800 million. Earlier that same month, AHF country program directors from over a dozen countries sent appeals to Germany, urging it to contribute more. AHF Europe Bureau Chief Zoya Shabarova was excited to hear about Germany's decision to up its contribution. "This is excellent! I think AHF's voice was heard in the EU through AHF advocacy meetings at German Embassies globally, lobbying in Den Haag at the Ministry and at Parliament," she said. "This is a very significant victory for AHF and our Fund the Fund campaign. The donors have declared that getting AIDS, TB and malaria under control is still very much a priority, but our advocacy doesn't end here," said Michael Weinstein, AHF President. "We laud the United States, European Commission, France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and others who have either increased or maintained their contributions, but one donor remains conspicuously absent despite being the second largest economy in the world and that's China. We will continue advocating until China contributes its fair share to the Global Fund. The Replenishment may be over, but countries can still make contributions afterward; also it's critically important that down the road pledges translate into actual contributions and that all commitments are fully met, so our advocacy will continue." "We also now call on the Global Fund to ensure the most efficient and effective use of these critical new resources and that these funds are directed to efforts to end or fully control these three diseases and not succumb to pressure from some donors to possibly divert resources to other uses when the evidence of the favorable health impact of Global Fund funding on AIDS, TB and Malaria is overwhelming," added Dr. Jorge Saavedra, AHF's Global Public Health Ambassador and former Head of the National AIDS Program of Mexico (SENSIDA). "Lastly, we invite China to be a hero in this Global Fund replenishment cycle by contributing and covering the $100 million gap to bring this replenishment up to $13 billion." AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 600,000 individuals in 37 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook (News - Alert): www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160918005049/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] BioTalent Canada to Assist Ontario Biotech Companies with Accessibility-Compliance Reporting BioTalent Canada today announced the launch of an employer-awareness campaign. In support of the Government of Ontario's EnAbling Change Program, BioTalent Canada's EnAbling Change campaign aims to educate and prepare biotechnology companies in Ontario for the province's 2017 accessibility-compliance reporting deadline. Funded in part by the Government of Ontario, the EnAbling Change Program aims to reach and educate employers to comply with the regulations of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Through this project, BioTalent Canada will also help biotech companies in Ontario understand and comply with the requirements of the Government of Ontario's Accessible Employment Standard. In 2017, businesses and non-profits with 20 or more employees, and public sector organizations must file an accessibility compliance report with the Government of Ontario. Through the EnAbling Change campaign, BioTalent Canada will promote and distribute existing tools and resources to help obligated organizations within Ontario's bio-economy comply with accessibility standards. The AODA is designed with the aim to improve the lives of persons with disabilities in Ontario by establishing standards in key areas of daily life, including customer service, employment, information and communications, transportation and the design of public spaces. As a national non-profit HR association for the Canadian biotech industry, BioTalent Canada periodically conducts labour market research. The organization's report, Sequencing the Data, stated that only 7.6% of bio-economy companies had persons with disabilities on staff, a figure well below other industries. For BioTalent Canada, the EnAbling Change Program is a timely initiative that complements its ongoing project, the Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities, a federally-funded initiative meant to address the low employment of persons with disabilities in biotech by introducing a wage subsidy to off-set the start-up costs of orientation, integration and skills development. "Canadians with disabilities represent a strategically valuable labour market, one which is under-represented in Ontario's bio-economy," said Rob Henderson, BioTalent Canada's President and CEO. "We are pleased to support this progressive legislation that will help biotech companies improve their own HR programs so that they can tap into this rich source of talent." Along with providing tools and resources to help companies comply with Ontario's accessibility standards, BioTalent Canada is partnering with provincial industry-associations, Life Sciences Ontario and the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization, to host events across the province to educate and train employers. For more information about EnAbling Change, bio-economy companies are encouraged to visit BioTalent Canada's website, biotalent.ca/EnAblingChange About BioTalent Canada BioTalent Canada is the HR partner of Canada's bio-economy. As an HR expert and national non-profit organization, BioTalent Canada focuses on building partnerships and skills for Canada's bio-economy to ensure the industry has access to job-ready people. Through projects, research and product development BioTalent Canada connects employers with job seekers, delivers human resource information and skills development tools so the industry can focus on strengthening Canada's biotech business. For more information, please visit biotalent.ca. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005173/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Canada Cares to Recognize Exceptional Caregivers with a $10,000 Award There are only 12 days left to nominate someone in your community for the chance to win $10,000. Canada Cares (www.canadacares.org) Awards campaign recognizes family, friend and professional caregivers for the great things they do to help others. Canadian residents are encouraged to nominate someone for one of these prestigious awards, and explain what the caregiver would do with our $10,000 prize. Why should you care? According to a profile of family caregivers released by the Change Foundation, 2.5 million caregivers report that they balance caregiving with paid employment. 84% of caregivers are providing care for a family member, while another 13% are caring for a friend, neighbor or coworker. Additionally, 31% report feeling that they had no choice but to take on caregiving duties. Ten awards are available to recognize five outstanding family and friends and five deserving professional caregivers in Western, Central, Atlantic and Northern Canada. An additional recipient will be selected to win the $10,000 Canada Cares OneWish Award, sponsored by CBI Health Group. Canada Cares is also seeking public nominations for communities and employers who have supported caregivers and their families. The Caregiver-Friendly Workplace Award and the Caring Communities Award will be presented to one community and one business or organization nationally. Launched in 2013, the annual Canada Cares Awards program has generated extensive, positive public response and coast-to-coast coverage. In the four years since it's inception fifty awards have been presented. Award winners are selected by a national committee based on such criteria as caregiving activities, commitment to care, community involvement and compassion. The Canada Cares One Wish Award will be evaluated on the creativity of the request and the level of need. The Caregiver-Friendly Workplace and Caring Communities Awards are assessed based on support for individuals in need, innovation, accommodation and excellence. Nominations will be accepted until September 30th, with winners announced in November. Visit www.canadacares.org. Interviews are available with Canada Cares Founder Caroline Tapp-McDougall and Chelsea Russell, previous Canada Cares Award Recipient. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005265/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] CSC Names Ian McConnel to Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Corporation Service Company (CSC) names Ian McConnel chief risk and compliance officer, responsible for overseeing the company's international risk management and regulatory compliance. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005194/en/ Corporation Service Company's Ian McConnel (Photo: Business Wire) McConnel joined CSC (News - Alert) in 2014 as assistant general counsel and director of Government Affairs. During his tenure, he has managed and developed CSC's government relations efforts and provided legal guidance to the comany's business units. In addition, Ian has helped the organization implement more robust and comprehensive crisis and risk management protocols and increased compliance and anti-fraud measures across the organization. "As CSC has expanded our operations in the United States and abroad, we maintain a heightened focus on compliance with changing and complex regulations and laws. We are committed to our strong reputation and leading role in the industry. Ian's background and experience make him uniquely suited to carry out this mission, and we are pleased that he'll be overseeing our international risk and compliance," says George Massih, chief legal officer and general counsel for CSC. McConnel began his legal career as an associate at the Wilmington, Delaware, law firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnel. He then served at the Delaware Department of Justice in a number of senior leadership roles, including director of the Consumer Protection and Fraud Division, state solicitor, and ultimately, chief deputy attorney general for Attorney General Beau Biden. McConnel has a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies with a concentration in Japanese from Middlebury College, and holds a Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School. McConnel was commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed overseas as the executive officer of troops aboard the USS Ashland. He is admitted to the Delaware bar. About CSC Corporation Service Company (CSC) is a dynamic, high-growth company headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. We provide matter management, corporate compliance, and trustee services for companies and law firms worldwide; digital brand services for top global brands; and due diligence and transactional services for the world's largest financial institutions. Founded more than a century ago, our company is dedicated to making your business easier, less risky, and more profitable, wherever it's done. To learn more about CSC, visit www.cscglobal.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005194/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Former General Electric General Counsel Brackett Denniston Returns to Goodwin Global 50 law firm Goodwin announced today that Brackett B. Denniston III, who led General Electric's renowned legal organization for more than a decade, has returned to Goodwin, where he began his legal practice as an associate and, later, was named partner. Denniston rejoins Goodwin as senior counsel, based in the firm's Boston office. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005847/en/ Brackett B. Denniston III (Photo: Business Wire) "Brackett is one of the most highly regarded GCs of his generation and we are thrilled to welcome him back to Goodwin," said David M. Hashmall, Goodwin's Chairman. "His longstanding commitments to client service, pro bono and diversity align with Goodwin's culture and values, and his extensive senior leadership experience, in both the public and private sectors, will be of enormous value to our clients." "I am delighted to return to Goodwin, a place that was instrumental in teaching me how to lawyer and which I loved," said Denniston. "I look forward to working on the issues about which I have been deeply passionate throughout my career." Denniston joined General Electric in 1996 as VicePresident and Senior Counsel of Litigation and Legal Policy. He was named General Counsel in 2004 and Senior Vice President in 2005, and served in these roles for more than a decade, leading a global legal, environmental and safety, and government affairs team of more than 3,000 professionals worldwide. His tenure leading GE's legal operations has been widely praised, especially his team's work in the areas of compliance, corporate governance, IP protection, dispute resolution, government affairs, pro bono and diversity. During his time at GE, it was named best legal department by Corporate Counsel magazine and he was named among the most influential lawyers by the National Law Journal. Prior to joining GE, Denniston served as Chief Legal Counsel for Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld for three years. His public sector work also includes service from 1982-1986 as Chief of the Major Frauds Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, where he led prosecutions relating to securities and financial fraud. He was awarded the Department of Justice's Director's Award for Superior Performance for his role overseeing numerous successful prosecutions. Denniston was a partner at Goodwin from 1986-1993, and also practiced as an associate at the firm from 1974-1982, where he focused on complex civil litigation, securities matters and white collar crime cases. He began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Herbert Y. C. Choy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Kenyon College. Denniston is Chair of the Board of Kenyon College, Chair of the Institute for Legal Reform of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Chamber's board and Executive Committee, and a board member of Transparency International (US), Equal Justice Rights and the Pro Bono Partnership. He may be reached at 617-570-1520 or [email protected]. About Goodwin At Goodwin, we use law to achieve unprecedented results for our clients. Our 900 plus lawyers across the United States, Europe, and Asia excel at complex transactions, high-stakes litigations and world-class advisory services in the financial, life sciences, private equity, real estate, and technology industries. We partner with our clients to practice law with integrity, ingenuity, agility and ambition. To learn more, visit us at www.goodwinlaw.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @goodwinlaw and on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005847/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Four Winners Receive Total of $20,000 in NEST 529 College Savings Contributions First National Bank of Omaha and Nebraska State Treasurer Don Stenberg today announced the winners of the Big Dreams $20K Giveaway. Winners were randomly selected, and each will receive a $5,000 contribution to a NEST 529 College Savings Plan account. This is the first Big Dreams Giveaway to take place in 2016. The second giveaway, in which another four winners will each receive a $5,000 contribution, will start October 1 and end December 31. "Thank you to all who participated and congratulations to the winners in the first Big Dreams Giveaway. We received more than 3,000 entries from 42 states, sending a loud and clear message that saving for college is a shared goal among families," said Nebraska Treasurer Stenberg, Trustee of NEST. "We're thrilled to lend a helping hand to these four individuals so that beneficiaries of their choice who are ten years old or younger can save for their future education." The first four 2016 NEST College Savings Big Dreams $20K Giveaway winners are Christine Neal, Sidney, Neb. Garrett Coleman, LaVista, Neb. Jeff Koehler, Johnson, Neb. John McGargill, Elkhorn, Neb. "We are pleased that so many found the $20K Giveaway to be a great opportunity to learn more about saving for college and realize the importance of saving for a loved one's future," said Deborah Goodkin, Managing Director, Savings Plans, First National Bank of Omaha. "We are happy that we can jump starting saving for young students to help them reach their college savings goals." Since its inception last year, more tan $30,000 has been given away to families saving for college through the Big Dreams Giveaway. Opening an account is easy. To find out more, visit NEST529.com, NEST529Advisor.com or treasurer.nebraska.gov. About NEST NEST is a tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan and provides four plans to help make saving for college simple and affordable: NEST Direct College Savings Plan, the NEST Advisor College Savings Plan, the TD Ameritrade 529 College Savings Plan, and the State Farm College Savings Plan. The Nebraska State Treasurer serves as Program Trustee. First National Bank of Omaha serves as Program Manager, and all investments are approved by the Nebraska Investment Council. Families nationwide are saving for college using Nebraska's 529 College Savings Plans, which have more than 251,000 accounts, including 73,000 in Nebraska. Visit NEST529.com, NEST529Advisor.com and treasurer.nebraska.gov for more information. About First National Bank of Omaha First National Bank of Omaha is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska. First National of Nebraska is the largest privately owned banking company in the United States. First National and its affiliates have $20 billion in managed assets and 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas. Investments Are Not FDIC Insured* No Bank, State or Federal Guarantee May Lose Value *Except the Bank Savings Individual Investment Option View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005096/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Jiyo, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Launch New UC Wellbeing Channel on UCTV Today, New York Times best-selling author and wellness expert Deepak Chopra, M.D. announces a partnership between Jiyo, his new holistic wellness platform, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and The Chopra Center for Wellbeing to launch the UC Wellbeing Channel. The new channel will offer curated health and wellness content from highly acclaimed University of California faculty and thought leaders and will be freely accessible through Jiyo and UCTV, the broadcast and online television network of the University of California. "The University of California San Diego School of Medicine is highly acclaimed for contributing some of the most cutting-edge research in the health and wellness discipline," said Dr. Chopra, who is a UC San Diego clinical professor of family medicine and public health. "Enabling access to the knowledge of these renowned experts through freely accessible platforms such as Jiyo and UCTV will continue to underscore our mission to democratize wellbeing and impact one billion lives around the world." The UC Wellbeing Channel, hosted online at uctv.tv/wellbeing, will bring viewers the latest groundbreaking and intellectually credible research from internationally renowned UC San Diego experts including Dr. Rob Knight, professor and co-founder of the American Gut Project; Dr. Larry Smarr, a leader in the field of microbiomes and founding director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology; and Dr. Bill Mobley, chair of the neurosciences department at UC San Diego. The channel includes content from numerous other UC faculty, including UC San Francisco and UCLA. In addition, the channel will feature leading mind-body healing content from the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, as well as Jiyo's distinguished network of wellness experts across disciplines. Recently launched, Jiyo is a wellbeing platform intended to be a companion to enable personal transformation, focusing on five pillars of wellness including personal growth, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and relationships and offering insights from leading global experts including Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, Kimberly Snyder, Eddie Stern and Tara Stiles. As part of the launch of the UC Wellbeing Channel, Jiyo will offer a dedicated channel with UC Wellbeing content within the platform. Additionally, all University of California students will be offered free access to a premium subscription to Jiyo, which offers meditations and other wellbeing approaches specifically targeted toward students to reduce stress and anxiety, for one year. Paul J Mills, a UC San Diego professor of family medicine and public health and director of the Center of Excellence for Research and Training in Integrative Health, will erve as the faculty director for the new channel. "For over fifteen years, UCTV has been drawing on the vast educational resources of UC system, the nation's premier educational research university. The new UC Wellbeing Channel will curate and deliver all existing UC content relevant to wellbeing as well as partner with other institutions and experts for content to offer viewers an unparalleled resource of knowledge and inspiration to support their own wellbeing." Mary Walshok, associate vice chancellor of public programs and dean of UC San Diego Extension, oversees UCTV and the UC Wellbeing Channel. "This partnership delivers on the promised mission of research universities to extend their knowledge and resources to the larger global community," Walshok said. "Together we are enabling free and unlimited access to the latest and most innovative information on one of the most important topics - health and wellbeing." About JIYO Jiyo is a comprehensive digital platform that allows users to engage, learn, and interact with a diverse range of information, articles, videos and reminders that help them to be their best selves. Jiyo's intuitive technology tracks users' behavior and then offers insights and suggestions based on their habits. This kind of 360-degree wellness covers exercise, meditation, relationships, finances, and finding purpose in the everyday. Besides useful content and encouraging reminders, Jiyo is also committed to fostering community, connecting users to world leaders and experts on wellbeing and allowing them to create bonds with like-minded people who use the platform. Jiyo's aim is to make users more aware, identify their unique sets of strengths, and create a pathway to making every moment of life count. About The Chopra Center The Chopra Center for Wellbeing was founded by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and David Simon (News - Alert), M.D. in 1996. Located in Carlsbad, California, the Center offers a wide variety of programs, retreats, and teacher training programs that integrate the healing arts of the East with the best in modern Western medicine. The Chopra Center has helped millions of people around the world find peace of mind, physical balance, and emotional healing. The website www.chopra.com is your starting point on the path to wellbeing. About UCTV Founded in 2000, UCTV is a public-serving media organization featuring programming from throughout the University of California, the nation's premier research university system made up of ten campuses, three national labs and several affiliated institutions. UCTV embraces the core missions of the University of California -- teaching, research, and public service - by sharing high quality, in-depth content generated across multiple disciplines. Reaching the public through cable, online, YouTube, iTunes, Roku, and mobile apps, UCTV transports knowledge far beyond the campus borders and into the homes and lives of inquisitive viewers around the world. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005920/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Kapsch TrafficCom Prolongs Operation of Traffic Management Center Kansas City Scout Kapsch TrafficCom (Kapsch), announced today that the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission and the Kansas Department of Transportation have jointly selected Kapsch to continue providing staff, consulting, and operational support to the Kansas and Missouri bi-state traffic management system known as Kansas City Scout. Under its recently-acquired transportation division, Kapsch TrafficCom Transportation, which began managing the project as Schneider Electric (News - Alert) in 2011, Kapsch continues its leadership in Traffic Management Center (TMC) operational excellence in the Heartland region by extending its longstanding partnerships with the Kansas and Missouri Departments of Transportation (KDOT and MoDOT). Kansas City Scout helps motorists in the Kansas City metropolitan area navigate their trips along optimal routes by providing real-time transportation information and coordinating regional incident management. Kansas City Scout manages approximately 125 miles of continuous highways in the Kansas City metropolitan area by using cameras to observe live traffic, sensors to gauge traffic flow, and electronic message boards along the roadway to send notices to drivers. Together these components cmprise a system that can streamline traffic by optimizing rush-hour speeds, improve emergency response to traffic incidents, and decrease congestion by improving traffic flow. "Diminished funding for transportation is driving the need for technology and innovative solutions, and Scout is helping to lead the way during an age of rapid technological change," claimed Randy Johnson, Traffic Center Manager for Kansas City Scout. Alfredo Escriba, Senior Vice President NAM & Tolling at Kapsch TrafficCom North America, added: "We are proud of this contract extension with Kansas City Scout because it demonstrates our TMC (News - Alert) operations expertise and the excellence of our day-to-day services provided to both the Kansas and Missouri Departments of Transportation." Kapsch TrafficCom Transportation provides TMC operations management and world-class ITS solutions complementary to existing Kapsch solutions and products in the traffic and tolling industry. The comprehensive solution portfolio strengthens Kapsch's market position as a leading ITS provider by ultimately enabling drivers to arrive at their destination comfortably, on time, efficiently, and with minimal environmental impact. Kapsch TrafficCom is a provider of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in the segments of toll collection, traffic management, safety and security, smart urban mobility and connected cars. The end-to-end solutions of Kapsch TrafficCom cover the entire value creation chain of its customers as a one-stop shop, from components and design to the installation and operation of systems. The core business comprises the development, installation and operation of electronic toll collection and traffic management systems. References in 44 countries on all continents have made Kapsch TrafficCom a globally recognized ITS provider. As part of the Kapsch Group, an Austrian family-owned technology group founded in 1892, Kapsch TrafficCom is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and has subsidiaries and branches in 30 countries. It has been listed since 2007 on the Vienna Stock Exchange (KTCG) and generated revenues of EUR 526 million in the fiscal year 2015/16 with over 3,700 employees. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): twitter.com/kapschnet View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005009/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Koch Acquires EFT Energy, a Leading SaaS and Solutions Provider for Predictive Analytics and Energy Management Koch Technology and Optimization, LLC and Koch Minerals, LLC, both subsidiaries of Koch Industries, Inc., announced the acquisition of EFT Energy, a leading software as a service and solutions provider in the fields of industrial and manufacturing predictive analytics, process optimization, and industrial and commercial energy management. EFT's groundbreaking analytics platform and intuitive visual interface allow engineers to optimize industrial processes, detect root causes of unforeseen events, and identify sources of energy savings. With a drag-and-drop graphical user interface built on a powerful analytics engine, EFT's software helps engineers and citizen data scientists rapidly make new insights into their systems and processes, without requiring advanced training in programming or statistics. EFT's cloud-based software platform imports, aggregates, and validates data from various sources, including Microsoft (News - Alert) tools; relational databases; and real-time data from industrial machinery, sensors, control systems, and power-consumption monitors. Users create data models using EFT's visual interface, and results can be monitored in realtime through a visual dashboard or returned to a facility's process control system. Through machine learning each model becomes more intelligent over time. "Koch Industries has utilized EFT solutions at numerous facilities across our diverse portfolio of industrial operations, both for energy-management and for predictive-analytics applications," said Brent Youngers, the new president of EFT. "We are impressed by the dedication of EFT's world-class team, the quality of results we get from EFT, and the ease with which we are able to leverage thes insights." "When our team looked for a partner to help expand our business, we realized quickly that Koch was an ideal partner for us," said Craig Ennis, EFT's founder and chief technology officer. "Koch's dedication to creating value through innovative technologies aligns perfectly with EFT's vision of helping companies improve their industrial processes and optimize their energy consumption, and we are excited about growing this company together." To support development and commercialization of innovative technology companies such as EFT, Koch Minerals, LLC has launched a new subsidiary, Koch Technology and Optimization, LLC, to focus resources in industrial technology markets. EFT, with offices in New York City, NY, Dublin, Ireland, and Wichita, KS, provides predictive analytics, process optimization, and energy management solutions for over 100 clients in North America and Europe. EFT was founded by CTO Craig Ennis in Dublin, Ireland, in 1998 and commenced US operations in 2009. For more information about EFT's analytics offerings, visit http://www.eftanalytics.com. For more information on EFT's energy services, visit http://www.eft-energy.com. Based in Wichita, Kan., Koch Industries, Inc. is one of the largest private companies in America with estimated annual revenues as high as $100 billion, according to Forbes. It owns a diverse group of companies involved in refining, chemicals, biofuels and ingredients; forest and consumer products; fertilizers; polymers and fibers; process and pollution control equipment and technologies; electronic components; commodity trading; minerals; energy; ranching; glass; and investments. Since 2003, Koch companies have invested about $80 billion in acquisitions and other capital expenditures. With a presence in more than 60 countries, Koch companies employ more than 100,000 people worldwide, with about 60,000 of those in the United States. From January 2009 to present, Koch companies have earned more than 1,000 awards for safety, environmental excellence, community stewardship, innovation, and customer service. Baird served as transaction advisor to EFT. For more information, visit www.rwbaird.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005403/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] MACOM Announces a Chip-Set Solution for 100Gbps Onboard Optics Applications MACOM Technology Solutions (News - Alert) Inc. ("MACOM"), a leading supplier of high-performance RF, microwave, millimeterwave and photonic semiconductor products, today announced the MALD-37345, a quad 28G VCSEL driver with input equalizer, and the MATA-37344, a quad 28G transimpedance amplifier. This complete transmit/receive solution is targeted for short reach, VCSEL based 100Gbps onboard optics, but also suited for optical modules and active optical cable applications. This chipset addition to MACOM's portfolio of short reach VCSEL drivers and TIAs is a next generation evolution of currently shipping MALD-37045 and MATA-37044, with the new chipset eliminating the need for Clock Data Recovery (CDR). This new chipset is backwards pin compatible with MACOM's industry leading MALD-37045 and MATA-37044 devices, enabling customers with the ability to mix and match parts to include or not include a CDR for extreme flexibility. "We extended our existing portfolio of VCSEL drivers and TIAs with the additions of the MALD-37345 and MATA-37344. These devices, while optimized primarily for on-board optics, are still able to support active optical cables and optical modules," said Marek Tlalka, Director of Product Marketing at MACOM. "By eliminating the need for the clock and data recovery circuitry present in its predecessors, this chipset enables our customers to deliver ultra-low power and low cost transceivers that can be placed close to host ASICs for intra system optical connectivity. Additionally, with its compatibility to our existing MALD-37045 and MATA-37044 devices including CDR, the new chipset is a truly versatile solution for customers." The VCSEL driver of the MALD-37345 includes programmable eye-shaping features and an input equalizer. The high-sensitivity TIA (News - Alert) of the MATA-37344 features selectable bandwidth to support up to 28.05Gbps and lower speed legacy data rates, as well as an output driver with programmable output swing and 2-tap de-emphasis. Both devices are available in 2 mm x 3 mm die form, supplied in waffle packs, whole wafers or quartered wafers. "Increasing data rates on the PCBs creates signal integrity and thermal constraints due to concentration on the optical IO at the front panel," said Simon Stanley, Founder and Principal Consultant at Earlswood Marketing Ltd, and Analyst at Large with Heavy Reading. "By placing a transceiver close to the host ASIC, these constraints are alleviated. MACOM's chip-set is enabling the deployment of 100Gbps onboard optical transceivers." MACOM's portfolio of VCSEL drivers and TIAs will be shown at ECOC 2016, ooth #645, September 19th-21st at the Congress Center in Dusseldorf, Germany. To make an appointment, contact your local sales representative. For more information on MACOM's broad optical and photonic portfolio visit: www.macom.com. ABOUT MACOM MACOM enables a better-connected and safer world by delivering breakthrough semiconductor technologies for optical, wireless and satellite networks that satisfy society's insatiable demand for information. Today, MACOM powers the infrastructure that millions of lives and livelihoods depend on every minute to communicate, transact business, travel, stay informed and be entertained. Our technology increases the speed and coverage of the mobile Internet and enables fiber optic networks to carry previously unimaginable volumes of traffic to businesses, homes and datacenters. Keeping us all safe, MACOM technology enables next-generation radars for air traffic control and weather forecasting, as well as mission success on the modern networked battlefield. MACOM is the partner of choice to the world's leading communications infrastructure, aerospace and defense companies, helping solve their most complex challenges in areas including network capacity, signal coverage, energy efficiency and field reliability, through its best-in-class team and broad portfolio of analog RF, microwave, millimeterwave and photonic semiconductor products. MACOM is a pillar of the semiconductor industry, thriving for more than 60 years of daring to change the world for the better, through bold technological strokes that deliver true competitive advantage to customers and superior value to investors. Headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, MACOM is certified to the ISO9001 international quality standard and ISO14001 environmental management standard. MACOM has design centers and sales offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. MACOM, M/A-COM, M/A-COM Technology Solutions, M/A-COM Tech, Partners in RF & Microwave, and related logos are trademarks of MACOM. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information about MACOM, please visit www.macom.com follow @MACOMtweets on Twitter (News - Alert), join MACOM on LinkedIn, or visit the MACOM YouTube Channel. DISCLAIMER FOR NEW PRODUCTS: Any express or implied statements in MACOM product announcements are not meant as warranties or warrantable specifications of any kind. The only warranty MACOM may offer with respect to any product sale is one contained in a written purchase agreement between MACOM and the purchaser concerning such sale and signed by a duly authorized MACOM employee, or, to the extent MACOM's purchase order acknowledgment so indicates, the limited warranty contained in MACOM's standard Terms and Conditions for Quotation or Sale, a copy of which may be found at: http://www.macom.com/purchases MACOM SALES INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: North Americas -- Phone (News - Alert): 800.366.2266 Europe -- Phone: +353.21.244.6400 India -- Phone: +91.80.43537383 China - Phone: +86.21.2407.1588 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005662/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Orchid Underwriters Expands Its Commercial Lines Programs into North Carolina and South Carolina Orchid Underwriters ("Orchid"), a leading specialty underwriter of excess & surplus ("E&S") insurance focusing on coastal properties, today announced that it is expanding its Commercial Lines products into two new states, North Carolina and South Carolina. This is in addition to the current states of Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Texas. Orchid's Commercial Lines division specializes in Business Owner Policies (BOP) and Monoline Property Policies with coastal wind exposure, including a variety of coverage options serving small and medium sized commercial risks. Orchid's VP of Commercial Lines, Bryan Schofield, said, "We are proud of the rapid growth of our Commercial Lines business. North Carolina and South Carolina are key states for us as we seekto enhance the Company's market leadership position. We look forward to providing our agent partners and business owners with comprehensive risk management solutions." About Orchid Founded in 1998 and based in Vero Beach, FL, Orchid specializes in providing specialty insurance products for homeowners and small businesses throughout the United States and the Caribbean. The Company's comprehensive product offering provides customers with a single, comprehensive solution for homeowners and condominium property insurance, including wind and wind only, general and excess flood, earthquake, builder's risk and others. Orchid aims to be agents' first choice by offering superior process, policy and pricing options, high quality system technologies, expertise in the E&S market with coastally-exposed risks; and extensive knowledge of coastal CAT-exposed market areas in the East and Gulf Coast states. Orchid only represents well-known A.M. Best A-rated insurance carriers. In November 2014, private equity firm Gryphon Investors made a majority investment in Orchid. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005239/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] PPG Begins COLORFUL COMMUNITIES Project at Jahn Ferenc Hospital in Budapest PPG (NYSE: PPG) today announced that it has begun a COLORFUL COMMUNITIES project in Budapest to revitalize the maternity department at the Jahn Ferenc Hospital. The Colorful Communities program provides PPG volunteers and products along with financial contributions to bring color and vitality to communities where the company operates around the world, such as in Budapest, which is home to the PPG Trilak architectural coatings plant. The project kickoff last weekend brought together more than 30 PPG volunteers, who spent a day revitalizing a hallway in the hospital's maternity department. PPG is providing $20,000, including new Hera Clean waterborne, washable interior paint and Trinat Aqua trim paint, to help repaint the entire maternity ward by the end of this year. The Jahn Ferenc Hospital maternity department has 81 beds, sees more than 5,000 patients each year and includes more than 43,000 square feet (more than 4,000 square meters) of walls that will be repainted as part of the PPG project. So far, the hallway and waiting room have been brightened with colorful designs to welcome mothers-to-be and their families. "As Hungary's leading paint factory, it is important to us at PPG Trilak to help those in need and demonstrate our corporate social responsibility," said Istvan Miavecz, PPG Trilak managing director, architectural coatings, Hungary. "We are excited to start our first Colorful Communities project for PPG in Hungary, and we hope to plan more local charitable projects in the future." The Colrful Communities program is PPG's signature initiative for community engagement efforts, with the aim to protect and beautify the neighborhoods where PPG operates around the world. The program increases PPG's commitment to invest in communities by adding $10 million to support efforts made during a 10-year period. It supports projects that transform community assets, providing PPG volunteers and donated PPG products. PPG completed 11 Colorful Communities projects in 2015, and it expects to complete about 30 more this year. PPG and the PPG Foundation aim to bring color and brightness to PPG communities around the world. We donated more than $7.8 million in 2015 to hundreds of community organizations across 20 countries. By investing in educational opportunities, we help grow today's skilled workforce and develop tomorrow's innovators in industries related to coatings and specialty materials. Plus, we empower PPG employees to make an impact for causes that are important to them by supporting their volunteer efforts and charitable giving. Learn more at www.ppgcommunities.com and follow @PPG_Communities on Twitter (News - Alert). PPG: WE PROTECT AND BEAUTIFY THE WORLD At PPG (NYSE:PPG), we work every day to develop and deliver the paints, coatings and materials that our customers have trusted for more than 130 years. Through dedication and creativity, we solve our customers' biggest challenges, collaborating closely to find the right path forward. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, we operate and innovate in more than 70 countries and reported net sales of $15.3 billion in 2015. We serve customers in construction, consumer products, industrial and transportation markets and aftermarkets. To learn more, visit www.ppg.com. We protect and beautify the world and Colorful Communities are trademarks and the PPG Logo is a registered trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005898/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] SalutarisMD Honored with AZBio Fast Lane Award As It Ramps Up for Commercialization of Sight-saving Treatment As it prepares for its commercial product launch in Europe and new clinical studies in the United States, SalutarisMD (Salutaris Medical Devices, Inc. and Salutaris Medical Devices, Ltd.) will be in the spotlight at the 2016 AZBio Awards on September 21, 2016 as they are honored with the AZBio Fast Lane Award. The following day, on September 22, 2016, Dr. Laurence Marsteller, SalutarisMD CEO will provide further updates to investors from across the United States at the White Hat Life Science Investor Conference. Wet AMD (News - Alert) is the leading cause of blindness worldwide and there is an urgent and compelling need for new therapies that improve visual outcomes and lower the burden of care. SalutarisMD is a pre-revenue medical device company developing an investigational ophthalmic treatment for Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (Wet AMD). SalutarisMD's patented technology incorporates a minimally invasive single-use brachytherapy procedure that can be performed in an outpatient setting in approximately 15 minutes. The patented and patent pending technology delivers a single-use brachytherapy procedure. SalutarisMD's technology is being engineered to deliver improved outcomes for Wet AMD. LIFE in the Fast Lane SalutarisMD, an Arizona founded and grown company, is poised for success! On September 8, 2016, SalutarisMD introduced its new generation, commercial ready, episcleral brachytherapy applicator system at the Ophthalmology Futures European Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The presentation by Dr. Laurence Marsteller, CEO, shared how the new SalutarisMD system (SMD-DA) is designed to deliver improved dosimetry to wet AMD lesions and improved ease of use for retinal surgeons. ISO audits for certification and CE application are underway and the Company expects to receive ISO 13485 certification and the CE Mark on the commercial product by year end. The Company also recently received US regulatory approval for an upcoming clinical study utilizing the new and improved device. The company has successfully completed a previous study with a first generation clinical device. While that study was not intended to be extrapolated for statistical significance, individual subject results were tracked. In three of the four treatment-naive patients and one of the two chronically treated wet AMD patients, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved at two years following SMD-1 treatment (range: +4 to +25 ETDRS letters). In addition, two treatment-naive patients did not require any further anti-VEGF injections during the following two years. In June of 2016, SalutarisMD was selected as a winner in the Arizona Innovation Challenge. The company won the maximum award of $250,000. The AIC, funded by the Arizona Commerce Authority, awards the most money in the country for a technology commercialization challenge. A panel of expert judges evaluates applications and assesses each on a set of criteria including technology potential, marketing strategy, quality of management team and economic impact. This business plan competition awards capital to talented, innovative start-up and early stage companies to grow their business. "It is exciting to see Arizona's entrepreneurial ecosystem continue to grow and produce impressive startup companies, and the ACA is proud to support them," ACA President and CEO Sandra Watson said in a statement. "Our rigorous selection process ensures that the best and brightest startups thrive in Arizona - and their success continues to showcase Arizona as a leader in innovation." "Winning this prestigious award has accelerated our efforts to treat those suffering with the debilitating disease of wet age-related macular degeneration with our minimally invasive device. We are using the AIC award funds in our efforts towards manufacturing and export distribution," remarked Dr. Laurence Marsteller, SalutarisMD CEO. In March 2015, SalutarisMD received a strategic investment from HOYA Corporation of Japan, a major multi-national interventional ophthalmology company with a $15.6 billion market cap. That investment has been a driving force behind our recent successes and has enabled the company to grow internally and prepare for commercialization. Over the past 18 months, SalutarisMD has received a 510(k) on its first device, hired an in house engineering team to develop its commercial device, completed a clinical trial in London, UK at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and implemented an ISO 13485 quality system. SalutarisMD was recently recommended for ISO 13485 certification by the notified body BSI. The Arizona Bioindustry Association created the AZBio Fast Lane Award in 2011 to recognize companies that have achieved outstanding milestones in the past 18 months. Significant progress can be measured by clinical results, regulatory approvals, certifications, collaborations, funding awards, product launches, job growth or product sales milestones. "We believe that it takes more than just a great idea to create a great company," said Joan Koerber-Walker, president & CEO of AZBio. "It takes a team that knows how to map the course, execute on a plan, and get results. We are happy to welcome SalutarisMD to the Fast Lane where they join a cadre of successful life science companies that are moving forward faster and working to make life better for patients." "This progress towards commercialization is a testament to the dedicated work of our team and the ongoing support of our investors," stated Dr. Marsteller. "Our new commercial ready applicator system is a significant marker of SalutarisMD's continued progress and we are looking forward to positively affecting patient outcomes." SalutarisMD will be honored during the 11th Annual AZBio Awards at the Phoenix Convention Center on September 21, 2016, in front of an audience of local, national, and international leaders. For registration and more information, go to www.azbioawards.com For more information on Arizona Bioscience Week, visit www.AZBio.org/AzBW About AZBio A key component in Arizona's life science ecosystem, the Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio) is the only statewide organization exclusively focused on Arizona's bioscience industry. AZBio membership includes patient advocacy organizations, life science innovators, educators, healthcare partners and leading business organizations. AZBio is the statewide affiliate of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and works in partnership with AdvaMed, MDMA, and PhRMA to advance innovation and to ensure that the value delivered from life-changing and life-saving innovation benefits people in Arizona and around the world. For more information visit www.AZBio.org and www.AZBio.TV About SalutarisMD SalutarisMD (Salutaris Medical Devices, Inc. and Salutaris Medical Devices, Ltd.) is a pre-revenue medical device company developing an investigational ophthalmic treatment for wet age-related Macular Degeneration (wet AMD). The SalutarisMD patented technology incorporates a minimally invasive single-use brachytherapy procedure that can be performed in an outpatient setting in approximately 15 minutes. This method delivers localized tissue irradiation that is performed under the direct care and expertise of a retina specialist. For more information visit www.SalutarisMD.com or www.SalutarisMD.co.uk. Caution: Investigational Device. Limited by Federal Law to Investigational Use in the United States. Salutaris Medical Devices, Inc. 4340 N. Campbell Ave. Suite 266 Tucson, AZ 85718 +1 520-638-7518 www.SalutarisMD.com Salutaris Medical Devices, Ltd. Level 1, Bessemer Building Imperial College London SW72AZ +44 (0) 203 282 7166 www.SalutarisMD.co.uk Photos available upon request. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005880/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] SentabTV Launched to Connect the Generation that Technology Forgot SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sentab, a unique platform that lets users connect in real time with their friends and loved ones, today announced the release of its SentabTV digital media player. The launch comes just in time for the holidays, on the heels of the company's newly-available iOS and Android apps and web program. SentabTV seeks to enable unlimited cross-device connectivity, and remove the technological barriers that prevent senior citizens from enjoying the social aspects of the Internet. "The desire to help people all over the world connect, capture and share their precious moments with loved ones is what led us to develop SentabTV," said Tarmo Pihl, Founder and CEO of Sentab. "By blending the simplicity of the TV platform with the immediacy of live-recorded video via mobile devices and computers, SentabTV will help make the user experience more authentic." According the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people ages 65 and older will reach 82.3 million by 2040. SentabTV can provide key benefits to this growing, often overlooked population. The easy-to-use, integrated platform will help them combat loneliness, communicate more effectively with family members and care providers within senior living communities all via their TV. The technology has been well-received by reputable leaders within the industry. Brookdale Snior Living, for example, has agreed to a residency program where they will trial SentabTV within their communities. "A frequent complaint made by seniors and their relatives stems from the limited availability of health care providers/physicians and poor communication overall." said Dr. Aniket Chakrabarti, an Internal Medicine/Geriatric Specialist based in Pembroke, Massachusetts. "SentabTV will enable patients to connect with their healthcare providers/physicians directly through a secure telemedicine portal at their convenience, remedying all those aforementioned stigmas associated with geriatric care, as well as unnecessary hospital visits and prolonged ER stays." SentabTV was designed to cater to the needs of elderly users. The large TV display and remote control navigation are perfect for those with aging eyes and dexterity problems. Users of all ages, however, can appreciate the capabilities offered by the set top box. Video chatting, engaging over social media, and displaying photos and videos was never more seamless. The SentabTV set top box costs $149.00 and is available for purchase via Amazon. It offers users the following capabilities via a $9.99/mo. subscription fee: Audio and video calls right from the TV to mobile or web Photo and video sharing Games targeting cognitive retention Newsfeed Online communities and marketplace For more information on SentabTV visit https://www.sentab.com/. About Sentab Established in 2014, Sentab seeks to remove the technological barriers that prevent senior citizens from enjoying the social aspects of the Internet. Sentab is a FREE service and currently available via iOS and Android device applications. For more information on Sentab, visit https://www.sentab.com/. Media Contact: North 6th Agency, Inc. (For Sentab) 212-334-9753, [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sentabtv-launched-to-connect-the-generation-that-technology-forgot-300329851.html SOURCE Sentab [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] SINET Announces 16 Most Innovative Cybersecurity Technologies of 2016 SINET, an organization focused on advancing Cybersecurity innovation through global public-private collaboration, announced today the winners of its annual SINET 16 competition. The companies, which were selected from a pool of 82 applicants and nine different countries, including Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, represent a range of solution providers who are identifying cutting-edge technologies to address Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. The selected companies will share their work with buyers, builders, investors and researchers during the SINET Showcase on Nov. 2 - 3, 2016 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The competition requires that revenues be under $15 million and this year's applicant pool of early stage and emerging technology companies was the most competitive since SINET began this initiative seven years ago. The entries were evaluated in a two-stage process by the SINET Showcase Steering Committee, which was comprised of 100 Cybersecurity professionals, including chief security information officers from leading organizations worldwide, experts in government intelligence and defense agencies and distinguished venture capital firms specializing in security. 2016 SINET 16 INNOVATORS The following companies were selected as the 2016 SINET 16 Innovators: BlackRidge Technology: BlackRidge provides an identity-based network and cyber security solution that authenticates identity and applies policy on the first packet of network sessions. This provides a new level of real-time protection that cloaks and protects servers, segments networks, and provides identity attribution. Contrast Security, Inc: Contrast Security provides continuous protection of enterprise applications and services against both vulnerabilities and attacks. Contrast uses "deep security instrumentation" for unprecedented speed, accuracy, coverage, & scalability without experts or SLC changes. Think "New Relic for Security." CyberX: CyberX secures the Industrial Internet, providing real-time detection and deep insight into control systems' vulnerabilities while ensuring business and operational continuity. With field-proven technology and accredited research, CyberX protects dozens of major industrial sites worldwide. DataVisor: DataVisor is the only online fraud detection service utilizing unsupervised big data analytics to identify attack campaigns before they conduct any damage to consumer-facing online services. Digital Shadows: Digital Shadows provides cyber situational awareness, through our SearchLight platform, which provides truly relevant, contextual intelligence and protects organizations against cyber attacks, loss of intellectual property, and loss of brand integrity by providing them an "attacker's eye view." Interset: Interset providesan intelligent, accurate threat-detection solution. Interset detects threats through machine learning and advanced analytics running on a big-data platform, either on premise or in the cloud. Menlo Security: Menlo Security protects organizations from cyber attacks by eliminating the threat of malware from Web and email with its patented Isolation Platform that easily scales for any size organization and requires no end point software, making it simple and cost effective to deploy. Ntrepid Corporation (Passages): Passages provides a secure virtual browser that protects enterprises from all web-based attacks. By isolating browsing activity from the local computer and network, users can access any website and follow any link without the risk of infecting their machines or company infrastructure. Phantom Cyber Corp.: Phantom is a security automation & orchestration platform that integrates existing security products to provide a layer of "connective tissue" between them. Phantom executes digital playbooks to achieve in seconds what may take hours to accomplish with the horde of products enterprises use daily. Post-Quantum: Post-Quantum (News - Alert) is a science-driven UK company with a mission to protect the world's data by deploying secure and innovative authentication, communications, encryption and access technologies. Our modules are ready for use today, but will remain strong in the future, even with quantum computer threats. Elastic/Prelert: Prelert provides behavioral analytics for IT security, IT operations and business operations teams. It analyzes massive amounts of log data, finds anomalies, links them together and lets the data tell the story behind advanced security threats, IT performance issues and business disruptions. ProtectWise: ProtectWise is disrupting the security industry with its network security platform, that captures high fidelity network traffic, creates a lasting memory for the network, and delivers real time and retrospective alerting and analysis in a rich, innovative visualizer. RiskSense: RiskSense is the leader in cyber risk management. We enable organizations to reveal cyber risk, quickly orchestrate remediation, and monitor the results. This is done by contextualizing internal security intelligence, external threat data, and business criticality across a growing attack surface. SafeBreach: SafeBreach is a pioneer in continuous security validation. Our groundbreaking platform simulates breach methods with an extensive and growing Hacker's Playbook of research and real-world investigative data to provide a "hacker's view" of an enterprise's security posture. ThreatQuotient Inc: ThreatQuotient provides ThreatQ, a threat intelligence platform that centrally correlates unlimited external sources with internal security solutions for contextual, operationalized intelligence in one easy to comprehend view to help customers tailor indicators of compromise to their industry. Vera: Vera is an enterprise data security and information rights management company that allows IT to secure, track and audit any type of digital information. With Vera, security and policy travels with the data, so enterprises can maintain visibility and control over who can access sensitive information. "With the dramatic increase in attacks, we must be relentless in identifying and supporting innovative solutions. The SINET Showcase provides an excellent opportunity to highlight advanced technologies in order to stay ahead of our global adversaries," says Robert Rodriguez, Chairman and Founder of SINET. "This year's SINET 16 process was our most competitive yet, with many of the winners scoring just hundredths of a point ahead of other candidates." ABOUT SINET SHOWCASE SINET Showcase provides a platform for the business of Cybersecurity to take place as emerging technology companies are able to present their solutions and connect with a select audience of nearly 400 venture capitalists, investment bankers as well as industry and government buyers. The program, which is supported by the Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate, also features commentary on the latest investment and Cybersecurity trends from the industry's foremost experts. The program includes educational workshops, panel sessions, an interactive luncheon hour and a networking reception. To register for SINET Showcase and to see a complete list of speakers and a program agenda, see here. ABOUT SINET SINET is a Super-connector that accelerates Cybersecurity innovation into the global marketplace by providing trusted platforms for the business of Cyber to take place between investors, entrepreneurs and industry and government buyers. SINET events, membership program and strategic advisory services have delivered unsurpassed value within the ecosystem of the entrepreneur: academia, science, private industry, investment banking, system integration, policy, innovators, venture capital and the Federal Government including civilian, military and intelligence agencies. Our programs consistently attract the highest level of international industry and government executives, and take place in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Sydney and Washington DC. Learn more at www.security-innovation.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919006353/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Southern Glazer's Donates $67,000 and 3,000 Backpacks to Children's Home Society of Florida Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits ("Southern Glazer's") - the largest North American wine and spirits distribution company - today announced that it has donated $67,000 and 3,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to Children's Home Society of Florida (CHS). The backpack drive was sponsored by Southern Glazer's Florida-based VolunCheers organization comprised of employees who held packing events at company facilities in Miramar, Lakeland, Tampa, Orlando and Palm Beach. The financial donation was made possible by generous contributions from Southern Glazer's valuable suppliers and employees. Backpacks and school supplies were donated by JanSport and Walgreen's respectively. Kicking-off the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, the backpacks were distributed to children served by CHS in 20 counties across the state of Florida. This is the third year that Southern Glazer's has participated in a back-to-school initiative supporting Children's Home Society of Florida. "We're thankful for Southern Glazer's dedication to our mission not only during the back-to-school season, but throughout the year," said Michael Shaver, CEO of Children's Home Society of Florida. "Many of the things we and our own children take for granted, such as a backpack, can make a remarkable difference in the lives of Florida's most vulnerable children." "Giving back to those in need is part of our DNA at Southern Glazer's," said Gene Sullivan, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Florida for Southern Glazer's. "I'm continually moved by our employees who support all o our VolunCheers initiatives. Year after year, they are willing to go above and beyond to contribute their time and efforts to this meaningful cause. I'm also thankful to our generous supplier partners for their financial support, which will go a long way to help thousands of at-risk children in Florida." Added John Wittig, Southern Glazer's East Regional President, "Every day our Southern Glazer's teams demonstrate leadership, both in our industry and in the communities where we work and live. I'm proud to have been a part of this incredible effort supporting an organization like Children's Home Society that does such important work to ensure that children have the tools they need to succeed." CHS serves more than 50,000 children and families throughout the state of Florida each year. To learn more, visit www.chsfl.org. VolunCheers is a unique Southern Glazer's volunteer program created to encourage employees to donate their time, resources, and talent in support of local non-profit organizations, schools and community based programs. About Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits is North America's largest wine and spirits distributor, and the preeminent data insights company for alcoholic beverages. The Company has operations in 44 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Canada, and the Caribbean, and employs more than 20,000 team members. Southern Glazer's urges all retail customers and adult consumers to market, sell, serve, and enjoy its products responsibly. For more information visit www.southernglazers.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @sgwinespirits and on Facebook at Facebook (News - Alert).com/SouthernGlazers. About Children's Home Society of Florida On the front lines since 1902, Children's Home Society of Florida is the oldest and largest statewide organization devoted to helping children and families. Children's Home Society of Florida offers services that help break the cycles of abuse in more families, heal the pain for traumatized children, guide teens to successfully transition into adulthood and create strong, loving families. Children's Home Society of Florida serves more than 50,000 children and family members each year. More: www.chsfl.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005046/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Tektronix Enhances Optical Modulation Analyzer Software BEAVERTON, Ore., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tektronix, a leading worldwide provider of measurement solutions, today announced a series of enhancements to its optical modulation analyzer (OMA) software. The latest release provides optical research engineers with the ability to evaluate multi-channel coherent modulation schemes with confidence using a single measurement system. Engineers can now calibrate and control multiple OMA's to easily acquire and analyze simultaneous data from multiple channels such as different wavelengths or fiber cores. "This release of our OMA software will improve the multi-channel test experience for researchers developing advanced coherent optical communication and networking technologies such as QAM or DP-QPSK," said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. "We are reducing the cost of setting up multiple OMA systems and we're reducing the time between receiving multiple OMA hardware systems and getting calibrated, synchronized data from those systems." Included in this release is a new visual OMA setup tool that facilitates reconfigurtion of the oscilloscopes and coherent receiver front-ends so that the same hardware can be used for many different applications like PAM4 research or increased channel count in DP-QPSK testing. The need for multi-channel coherent research is growing with the use of spatial (or modal) division multiplexing that requires an OMA to down convert and digitize data for each channel. Multi-carrier communication applications also require one OMA per wavelength channel when the wavelength separation is more than the OMA bandwidth. Pricing and availability The new software will be available for download by the end of 2016. For details on the full range of Tektronix Coherent Optical Solutions, go to: http://www.tek.com/application/tektronix-coherent-optical-solutions. Wondering what else Tektronix is up to? Check out the Tektronix Bandwidth Banter blog and stay up to date on the latest news from Tektronix on Twitter and Facebook. About Tektronix Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix delivers innovative, precise and easy-to-operate test, measurement and monitoring solutions that solve problems, unlock insights and drive discovery. Tektronix has been at the forefront of the digital age for over 70 years. Join us on the journey of innovation at TEK.COM. Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160125/325847LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tektronix-enhances-optical-modulation-analyzer-software-300329135.html SOURCE Tektronix, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Top 3 Emerging Trends Impacting the English Language Training Market in China From 2016-2020: Technavio Technavio's latest report on the English language training (ELT) market in China provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2016-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. By 2020, it is estimated that the number of English speakers in China will outnumber the native English speakers in the rest of the world. Currently, China is the world largest market for English language services, which is valued at around USD 65 billion. The English language training market in China is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 19% during the forecast period. The growth will come from individual learners in the Pre-K-12 segment who are enrolling in these courses to prepare themselves for higher education in other countries such as the US, the UK, and Australia. Consequently, many English language training institutions are offering training courses for entrance examinations for graduate schools, including training for IELTS and TOEFL. Students also enroll in English language training programs to enhance their skills in line with international standards therefore, language training centers offer professional courses for corporate entities, as well as regular language learning classes. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=52332 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. The top three emerging trends driving the English language training market in China according to Technavio education research analysts are: Increasing use of new technologies by vendors Rising globalization of business Emphasis on development of human capital Increasing use of new technologies by vendors According to Jhansi Mary, a lead analyst at Technavio for K12 and higher education research, "Vendors are ensuring that they incorporate more visualization and virtual interaction in their education products and services to attract as well as retain students and increase the effectiveness of their courses." As the market gains traction, increasing number of English language training providers will use new technologies such as adaptive learning, gamification and learning analytics, especially in their online offerings. Vendors such as Hujiang, Super Class, and 17zuoye are already adopting these technologies in their language training courses. For instance, the Air Class platform by China Online Education Group allows English learners in China to get in touch with foreign teachers in other parts of the world for live interactive lessons. Through their 51Talk mobile app students can manage lessons, access material for lessons, and book locations of their choice. "Apart from using analytics to assess student needs and performance, vendors are also using these tools to select and train their staff, analyze teaching aptitudes, and attain feedback about their teaching methods. Based on the availability of teachers, the schedules of teachers are prepared using analytical software solutions," says Jhansi. Rising globalization of business China has emerged as a prominent economy. Proficiency in English language is essential for conducting various business activities. The high urbanization rate and growing awareness pertaining to the type of qualifications and certifications, which are essential for a lucrative career in a globalized economy have positively influenced the Chinese education market. As the majority of Mandarin-speaking population in the country is already struggling with English language, the demand for English language training is likely to flourish in the light of these developments. Wall Street English is among the leading players that provide internationally recognized training to Fortune 500 companies with around 1,000 clients globally. In China, the company has provided training to over 300 companies such as Bank of China, Lenovo (News - Alert), Roche, Bayer, HUAWEI, and Air China. As more global companies with headquarters in China emerge, the demand for specialized courses will increase further. Emphasis on development of human capital There are over 400 million English language learners (ELLs) in China. English language training institutions are flourishing in the country because of the lack of focus on English language training in the state education system. In addition, the government has planned skill development programs for more than five million workers in the IT, manufacturing, tourism, environmental protection, and agriculture sectors by 2020. The market will also grow due to the emergence of several foreign companies in China as a result of the growth in foreign trade. To collaborate with or work in these companies will require individuals to be competent in the English language. International MNCs are expanding their market base in the country and they offer several incentives to employees who can demonstrate English proficiency. This encourages employees to enroll in English language training programs. Therefore, investment in these programs has increased at both the corporate and individual levels. Moreover, many international events organized in China have triggered individuals to acquire knowledge of English language. For instance, English language training institutions were entrusted with the responsibility of training volunteers and vehicle drivers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Browse Related Reports: Pre-School or Child Care Market in China 2016-2020 Test Preparation Market in China 2016-2020 ELT Market in Europe 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005722/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Zenni Optical Hits the Road with U.S. College Tour Thanks to top online eyewear brand Zenni Optical, college students in the western United States will experience how easy and affordable it is to accessorize with eyeglasses and sunglasses. Zenni today announced "Zenni Road Trip," a college tour that will travel between campuses offering students free vision tests to help them kick off the school year seeing clearly. Keeping things playful and fun, Zenni will also show students how their personal style can be reflected through eyewear of all shapes, styles and colors. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005353/en/ (Graphic: Business Wire) Zenni has customized an RV and loaded it up with hundreds of pairs of eyeglasses and sunglasses chosen by Los Angeles-based celebrity fashion stylist Lindsay Albanese. Students are invited to stop by and try on as many frames as they wish, receive a free vision evaluation, meet surprise guests, and have a chance to win a ton of cool prizes. Zenni Road Trip will include stops in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas and Washington state from September to October 2016. "Price and insurance constraints are often barriers for people when it comes to having the prescription eyeglasses they want to express their personal style every day," said Mark Brutten, director of brand marketing at Zenni Optical. "With Zenni Road Trip, we're giving people permission to alternate eyewear styles the same way they do with other iems in their wardrobe. This multi-city tour directly connects us with college students to show them that affordable, premium prescription eyewear exists for under $50." Along the tour route, students will be able to interact with a Zenni brand ambassador who is heading out in search of inspiration for future eyewear designs. Zenni's social channels will have stories of these roadside adventures, clues on how to win free stuff, and invitations to followers for informal meetups during the tour. Zenni Road Trip will include stops at the following locations: September 19, Auraria Campus, Metropolitan State University, Denver September 20, University of Colorado, Boulder September 23, Arizona State, Tempe September 28, University of California, Los Angeles October 4, City College of San Francisco October 5-6, San Francisco State University October 10-11, University of Oregon, Eugene October 13, Gonzaga University October 18-19, Texas Tech University October 24, Texas A&M University To follow the tour, people can visit the Zenni Optical Facebook (News - Alert) page and click on the Zenni Road Trip tab. This page will feature #ZenniRoadTrip Zelfies, host a map of tour stops and dates, and have a link to download the brand's Spotify (News - Alert) playlist for the tour. Additional updates can be viewed with Zenni's Stories on Snapchat (@ZenniOptical), via Instagram (@ZenniOptical), or by following the hashtag #ZenniRoadTrip. About Zenni Optical Zenni Optical pioneered the online eyewear business in 2003 and makes premium eyewear affordable. Based in Marin County, California, Zenni gives men, women and kids the freedom to express their mood, personal style and individuality through great-looking prescription glasses and sunglasses. With its curated collections and thousands of frames, Zenni offers the most eyewear options. For more information, please visit www.zennioptical.com, like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/zennioptical or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at www.twitter.com/zennioptical, Instagram at www.instagram.com/zennioptical or Snapchat (@ZenniOptical). View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005353/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 18, 2016] FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT AT IGEM 2016 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia 2016 (IGEM 2016), ASEAN's largest green technology business and innovation platform, scheduled for 5th to 8th October at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, will for the first time host a dedicated Green Car Pavilion that is set to feature automotive manufacturers from around the world showcasing ground-breaking advances in the field of sustainable mobility. Organised by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Malaysia (KeTTHA) and co-organised by Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia), IGEM's Green Car Pavilion aims to spread awareness and understanding on the importance and urgency to transition to green transport, featuring automotive innovations from Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Tesla, Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi, Perodua, CMS Consortium (COMOS) and Sync R&D alongside the ChargEV network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Speaking on the introduction of the dedicated Green Car Pavilion, Ir. Ahmad Hadri Haris, Group Chief Executive Officer of GreenTech Malaysia said, "With over 1 billion vehicles in the world emitting hazardous carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, the transport sector is a leading contributor to global warming and climate change. Governments and automotive manufacturers from around the world have committed to transforming the way we travel, leading to substantial developments in the global EV market with dozens of new models introduced each year to an expanding customer base." "IGEM has always been at the forefront of green technology showcase and this year we are proud to be hosting a dedicated zone for sustainable transport that will highlight the immense potential of these technologies to usher in a new era of sustainable transport. I thank the participating exhibitors and welcome all automotive players to participate in this unique opportunity, be this as an exhibitor or trade visitor," he added. While countries such as Norwary, Germany, the Netherlands and the US have been leading the sustainable transport agenda, countries across Asia and ASEAN are fast catching speed with the introduction of government-driven policies and public projects to facilitate the mass transition to greener transport. Several countries have developed roadmaps that set targets and action plans to grow their respective green transport sectors, and have further supported these directives by introducing financial incentives that make the purchasing of green vehicles more affordale for individuals. As one such country in the forefront, Malaysia has established enabling policies and foundational initiatives to catalyse the growth of the nation's green transport sector. In the last decade, Malaysia has exempted import and excise duties for the purchase of hybrids and EVs which has seen the number of green vehicles increase by over 50-fold to over 20,000 now. The electrification of public transport has also taken priority with electric buses, trains and car-sharing programmes now widely available and popular. This strong-foundation has seen the variety in models of green vehicles in the country continue to climb with recent exciting introductions such as the locally produced Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid and GLC250 4MATIC, the recently introduced Mercedes-Benz C350e Plug in Hybrid, as well as the Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe and Renault Twizy; all of which will be on the ground at IGEM 2016 for visitors to get up-close-and-personal with. Commenting on their green ambitions and participation in IGEM 2016, Mr Mark Raine, Vice President, Sales & Marketing of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia said, "As the inventor of the automobile, we are driven by our commitment to set new standards. Mercedes-Benz has for decades been at the forefront of developing vehicular engine technologies that have minimal environmental impact, and we have made it our ambition to combine environmental sustainability with everyday practicality. Mercedes-Benz Malaysia is steadfast in continuing its legacy of bringing ground breaking vehicular technology to our discerning Malaysian customers, and we will continue to strengthen our leadership position by pushing the boundaries of innovation to deliver the cars of the future today." "We commend the organisers of IGEM for recognising this growing market and playing a crucial role in its popularity by establishing the Green Car Pavilion at this year's exhibition. We look forward to being a part of this one-of-a-kind showcase that provides visitors a glimpse into the future of sustainable transport," he added. Alongside the global automotive players, Malaysia's Sync R&D will showcase the country's first locally manufactured electric bus, Electric Bus Innovation Malaysia (EBIM), which was developed over the course of four years and measures 12 meters in length with an electric driving range of 200km. Also on display will be GreenTech Malaysia's EV charging network, ChargEV which is Malaysia's largest EV charging network. With over 55 charging stations all across the nation, the network offers Malaysia's growing number of green vehicle drivers greater convenience and confidence when driving their EVs and plug-in hybrids. Themed Green Business for Sustainability, IGEM 2016 will focus on promoting green businesses in Malaysia and across the ASEAN region, targeting RM1.5 billion in business leads with over 400 booths from 30 countries. It will also showcase the latest technologies from the energy, building, waste and water management sectors with a dedicated solar energy zone and a Solar PV conference taking place alongside the exhibition. In its six-year history, IGEM has generated RM8 billion in business leads, with 2015 recording the highest at RM1.98 billion. Overall, IGEM has attracted over 300,000 visitors from 50 countries including delegates, dignitaries and corporations from China, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. To find out more about IGEM 2016, visit www.igem.my. About the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (MEGTW) (Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air KeTTHA) was established on 9 April 2009. KeTTHA is responsible for formulating policies, establishing legal frameworks and regulating development project in the Energy, Green Technology and Water sectors which are under the purview of the Ministry. About GreenTech Malaysia Malaysian Green Technology Corporation or GreenTech Malaysia is an organisation under the purview of the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia (KeTTHA), charged with the development and promotion of green technology as a strategic engine for socio-economic growth in Malaysia. For media enquiries, please contact: GreenTech Malaysia Tel: +60-03-8921 0870 Fax: +60-03-8921 0801 Syuhida Silmi Email: [email protected] Mobile: +60-011-11841165 Chimera Brand Relations Dave Prem Email: [email protected] Mobile: +60-010-366 1216 Lim Hwee Nee Email: [email protected] Mobile: +60-012-412 0117 Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160918/8521605909 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 18, 2016] 100 Israeli Hi-tech And Startup Companies To Participate At GoforIsrael In China SHANGHAI, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 100 Israeli hi-tech and startup companies will participate at GoforIsrael, the Israeli investments conference in Shanghai, China, organized by Cukierman & Co. Investment House and Catalyst Funds. Over 30 selected companies will give elevator pitches, to briefly introduce their products and solutions to the Chinese investors at the event, to be held on September 20th at the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai. For the Conference Agenda: GoforIsrael The event is expected to welcome 1000 Chinese investors and 100 innovative Israeli companies, including Mobileye, Kaminario, Xjet, Tufin, Zerto, Wework, Satixfy, ReWalk Robotics, Juganu and many more startups in the fields of life sciences, media, telecom, internet and green tech. Following the Shanghai event, on September 22th, the Hubei province is welcoming the continuation of the Conference in its capital Wuhan, with the participation of the Israeli companies and 800 additional investors. Amongst the senior Chinese investors are groups such as: Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Lenovo and leading financial corporates such as Fosun, PingAn, China Everbright, SAIF Partners, Sinopec, CYND, Sailing Capital, GTJA, GF Xinde are expected to join the event. One of the events' partners is the 'China-Israel Changzhou Innovation Park' (CIP), which has become a home for large Israeli high-tech companies including Lycored, Growponics and Tuttnauer. Chief among the Israeli companies presenting at the conference are: Life Science: Upright - Upright is a small and clever device that teaches the user to stay up straight. The device is attached to the back of the user with a unique pad that vibrates every time the user is bent over, and connects to the phone through an app. One of the more renowned users of the device is Rio Olympics' medalist Oleg Verniaiev, which used it throughout his practice and won the medal for gymnastics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YXj6Rr48TM HeraMed - developed an application for monitoring the fetus's health through measurement of pulse. With connection o Cloud, the users can consult doctors and nurses regarding the data transmitted. https://vimeo.com/93751890 Real Imaging - developed a machine for early stage diagnosis of breast cancer through pinpointing temperature change around the tumor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nhcQARlvno Additional companies in this field: BioView, CheckCap, Cortex Dental, RDD Pharma, Nano-Textile, PerfAction, Real View Imaging, Biolight, Pilltracker TMT (Technologies, Media and Telecommunications): Kaminario - Start-up that develops groundbreaking solutions in the field of storage, based on memory components of Flash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxbk4nbCi3s Ripples - the company's software allows for printing on coffee or other foamed beverage. The printing is done through a combination of 3D printing and ink injection using natural coffee extract. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6LNBlHpLRs Continuse - I o T start-up that develops a sensor for biometrical measurement without requiring human touch. The sensor fits a variety of fields, including health and life quality, entrance surveillance and maintenance, smart home applications, digital devices and more. Additional companies in the field: Sqream, Tevva Motors, Mobilicom, Pzartech, Intuitive Robotics. Green Tech: Pentalum - developer and manufacturer of measurement systems based on laser beams for speed and direction of the wind. With the system one can map the wind required to make electricity of the wind's energy and improve efficiency of wind turbines, by installing the system to the turbine itself and connecting it to the control panel. Growponics - an expert on growing leafy vegetables and herbs in hydronic methods (grown with the use of water). The company is the owner of many greenhouses in Israel , China and ROW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1QXCnC-2h4 Additional companies in the field: Galileo Wheel, Emefcy, Utilight, Amiad Water Systems, Energy Europe Additional companies are: Mobileye, SatixFy, Lamina Technologies (Cutting tools technology), Xjet (3D printing on metal), StoreDot (rapid-charging battery) and Juganu (LED lighting for smart cities). Cukierman & Co. Investment House is the leading Israeli cross-border focused investment house, with a strong global network including many leading corporations, investors and financial institutions in key markets such as China, Europe, and beyond. Headquartered in Israel, the company provides a full array of investment banking services including M&A, Private Placements, Public Offerings, Consulting and Family Office services to Israeli and European companies. With over US$5.5 billion in transactions, Cukierman & Co. is among the largest Corporate Finance teams in Israel with dedicated experts in the Life Sciences, Technologies, Media & Telecom (TMT), Green Technologies and Real Estate industries. Catalyst is a top performing Israeli based private equity multi-fund firm founded in 1999.With over US$200 million under management, Catalyst 4th fund supports capital and long-term growth of innovative Israeli middle-market companies in global markets. Catalyst assists portfolio companies in reaching their targets by leveraging on the partners' vast Israeli and global network. Catalysthas invested in innovative companies and has a diversified portfolio. Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160919/0861609565 Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160919/0861609565LOGO [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] ColorChip Shipping 100G QSFP28 10Km Transceivers DUSSELDORF, Germany, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ColorChip Ltd., a leading provider of Hyper-Scale Single-Mode Optical Connectivity Solutions, has stepped into production of 100G QSFP28 10Km transceivers. The offering is based on the emerging 4WDM multi-source agreement (MSA) (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-4wdm-msa-group-driving-development-of-10-20-and-40-km-low-cost-100g-optical-specifications-targeting-modern-data-centers-593934591.html), supporting large data centers and mobile backhaul applications. The transceiver is interoperable with 100G CWDM4 and CLR4 2Km transceivers as it is identical in the hardware design, and likewise offers a cost effective solution in a small QSFP28 form factor. The 100Gbps 4WDM 10Km and CWDM4 2Km transceivers will be demonstrated in ECOC 2016. ColorChip's 100Gbps CWDM4/CLR4 QSFP28 2Km solution is presently shipping in volumes of tens of thousands to tier-1 datacenters, system vendors and telecom operators. Similar to the 2Km offerings, ColorChip's 100G 10Km 4WDM transceiver is characterized by high density, low power consumption (~2.5W) and robust performance with an extended link margin that supports a 10Km reach with a 6.3 dB Link Budget when FEC is enabled. The 100G 10Km transceiver leverages ColorChip's core strengths of optical head to PCB integration, as well as the volume mnufacturing efficiencies achieved by the company's unique industrialized optics production approach. ColorChip's optical head is based on the pioneering SystemOnGlass integrated optical technology. SystemOnGlass is a proprietary waveguide-in-glass PLC-based optical platform coupled with fully automated photonic integration of active and passive optical elements creating a dense, multi-lane optical head. This approach eliminates the need of free-space optics and allows ColorChip to deliver an optical head characterized by nested multiplexing, low optical losses, and high coupling efficiencies resulting in reliable, low cost solution. ColorChip's SystemOnGlass photonic integration know-how is based on wafer-scale PLC manufacturing and automated optical head assembly, enabled by ColorChip industrialized optical manufacturing approach that stands at the heart of ColorChip's family of high speed transceiver products. Yigal Ezra, ColorChip CEO stated that "the latest $45M round of financing the company completed in the last 12 months, is intended to fuel the company with sufficient means to quickly address the growing market demand for top of rack, hyper scale applications. ColorChip has been making tens of millions of dollars investments to expand the company production capacity of the SystemOnGlass based optical head manufacturing as well as building off-shore production lines that will facilitate high volume, low cost Transceiver integration and testing." Demonstration at ECOC 2016 ColorChip will demonstrate the 100G QSFP28 10Km 4WDM Transceiver Module during ECOC, September 19th 21st. The demonstration will take place in the ColorChip booth (#717) at the CCD Congress Center in Dusseldorf, Germany. The demo is scheduled by invitation at [email protected]. For more information on ColorChip, please visit www.color-chip.com. About ColorChip ColorChip (http://www.color-chip.com) is a pioneer and a world leading innovator in the fields of integrated optical components and sub-systems, enabling reliable, scalable and robust high speed networking and communications solutions. Founded in 2001, ColorChip is dedicated to the development of advanced Application Specific Photonic Integrated Circuits (ASPIC). ColorChip delivers industry leading optical high-speed transceivers to the Datacom/Telecom markets and passive optical splitters to the FTTx markets. ColorChip's robust PLC, waveguide-in-glass technology and the revolutionary SystemOnGlass platform have enabled the company to address critical technological obstacles to deliver groundbreaking solutions for the Datacom/Telecom customers worldwide. Media Coverage Noa Kotok Manager, Sales & Marketing +972.50.337.7716 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160918/409040 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/colorchip-shipping-100g-qsfp28-10km-transceivers-300329957.html SOURCE ColorChip Ltd. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Ingram Micro Announces Distribution Agreement with Cradlepoint to Expand Channel Across Europe MUNICH, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingram Micro today announced a strategic channel alliance with Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. As a premier distribution partner, Ingram Micro will help to accelerate the rapid growth that Cradlepoint has achieved and extend their regional market share in Europe. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406411LOGO ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406410LOGO ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT. Mark Chlebek, Senior Director Advanced Solutions EMEA, Ingram Micro, said: "Cradlepoint's world-class networking technology complements our solutions portfolio perfectly. By leveraging our combined technical capabilities and expertise across verticals that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability such as retail, hospitality, publc sector and transportation, we will continue to lead the market for value-added solutions." George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "Ingram Micro's dedicated excellence in serving the channel has set the pace for a great partnership and Cradlepoint's further geographic expansion." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "We are looking forward to driving new business opportunities alongside Ingram Micro for our mutual vendor partners." About Ingram Micro Ingram Micro helps businesses Realize the Promise of Technology. It delivers a full spectrum of global technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Deep expertise in technology solutions, mobility, cloud, and supply chain solutions enables its business partners to operate efficiently and successfully in the markets they serve. Unrivalled agility, deep market insights and the trust and dependability that come from decades of proven relationships set Ingram Micro apart and ahead. More at http://www.ingrammicro.com. Alex Brown [email protected] About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places, and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedised M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile, and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security, and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organisations around the world - including 75 percent of the world's top retailers - rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. More at http://www.cradlepoint.com. Hubert Da Costa [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] INTRALOT Successfully Prices 250 Million 6.750% Senior Notes Offering ATHENS, Greece, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- INTRALOT S.A. Integrated Lottery Systems and Services today announced the successful pricing of an offering of 250 million 6.750% Senior Notes due 2021 (the "Notes"), to be issued by its indirect subsidiary INTRALOT Capital Luxembourg S.A., a public limited liability company (societe anonyme) organized under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. International investors and funds from Europe and North America participated in the Offering. The Notes were offered at an issue price of 100.000%; and guaranteed by INTRALOT S.A. (the "Parent Guarantor"), INTRALOT Global Securities B.V. (the direct parent company of the Issuer) and certain indirect subsidiaries of INTRALOT S.A. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352016LOGO ) The Notes are expected to be admitted to trading on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange's Euro MTF market. Following the release of proceeds from escrow upon satisfaction of certain financing conditions, the proceeds will be used, together with cash on the balance sheet, to pay the tender price for the 276.7 million outstanding 9.750% senior notes due 2018 (the "2018 Notes"). The settlement of the tender offer is expected to occur on September 23, 2016 (unless extended), and any 2018 Notes that remain outstanding following the closing of the tender offer will be fully redeemed under the redemption provisions of the related indenture. Mr. Antonios Kerastaris, INTRALOT Group Chief Executive Officer, stated: "The warm reception of our senior bond notes offering today is a strong endorsement by international markets of INTRALOT's achievements and potential. We succeeded in issuing a 250 million bond priced at a 6.750% coupon to refinance an existing 9.750% coupon bond therefore dramatically reducing the debt servicing burden and we re-affirmed INTRALOT's credit ratings by international agencies. I am extremely pleased by the high caliber of investors who signed up today and thank them for their pledge of confidence in our company. These developments will offer a significant boost towards successfully implementing our two-pronged strategy for growth based on an enhanced products and services portfolio as well as a series of new strategic partnerships around the globe." Important Regulatory Notice This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any Notes, nor will there be any offer or sale of Notes referred to in this announcement, in any jurisdiction, including the United States , in which such offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted. The Notes have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. This announcement is being distributed only to, and is directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom, (ii) persons in the United Kingdom falling within the definition of investment professionals (as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Financial Promotion Order")), (iii) persons who are within Article 43 of the Financial Promotion Order or (iv) any other persons to whom it may otherwise lawfully be made under the Financial Promotion Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The investments to which this announcement relates are available only to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such investments will be available only to or will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents. This announcement is directed only at relevant persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. In member states of the European Economic Area, this announcement is directed only at persons who are "qualified investors" within the meaning of article 2(1)(e) of Directive 2003/71/EC (such directive, as amended, the "Prospectus Directive"). This announcement is an advertisement for the purposes of applicable measures implementing the Prospectus Directive. Neither the content of INTRALOT S.A.'s website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks on INTRALOT S.A.'s website is incorporated in, or forms part of, this announcement. The distribution of this announcement into certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. In relation to the offering of the Notes: (i) no public offer, as defined in L. 3401/2005, art. 10 of L. 876/1979, article 8a of Codified L. 2190/1920 and L. 3461/2006 (all, as amended and in force), shall take place; and (ii) no advertisement, notice, statement or other action has been or shall be reviewed, approved or authorized by the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission under L. 3401/2005, art. 10 of L. 876/1979, article 8a of Codified L. 2190/1920 and L. 3461/2006 (all, as amended and in force), in, from or otherwise involving the Hellenic Republic. No offering document of the Notes has been approved by the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission. About INTRALOT: INTRALOT, a public listed company established in 1992, is a leading gaming solutions supplier and operator active in 54 regulated jurisdictions around the globe. With 1.91 billion turnover and a global workforce of approximately 5,100 employees in 2015, INTRALOT is an innovation - driven corporation focusing its product development on the customer experience. The company is uniquely positioned to offer to lottery and gaming organizations across geographies market-tested solutions and retail operational expertise. Through the use of a dynamic and omni-channel approach, INTRALOT offers an integrated portfolio of best-in-class gaming systems and product solutions & services addressing all gaming verticals (Lottery, Betting, Interactive, VLT). Players can enjoy a seamless and personalized experience through exciting games and premium content across multiple delivery channels, both retail and interactive. INTRALOT has been awarded with the prestigious WLA Responsible Gaming Framework Certification by the World Lottery Association (WLA) for its global lottery operations. For more info: Ms. Dimitra Tzimou, Corporate Relations Manager, Phone: +30-210 6156000, Fax: +30-210 6106800, email: [email protected] - http://www.intralot.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Sandvine and ClearSky Technologies Power Policy Control for Over a Dozen Mobile Operators in the United States The Majority of Total Traffic Manager Deployments are Now Enabled by NFV WATERLOO, ON, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - Sandvine, (TSX:SVC) a leading provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, today announced that ClearSky Technologies' Total Traffic Manager service, a solution in-part powered by Sandvine's Network Policy Control platform, is in use by more than a dozen mobile carriers in the United States. ClearSky's Total Traffic Manager enables carriers to manage exponential growth in data traffic while simultaneously increasing revenue from data plans. Total Traffic Manager leverages Sandvine's Business Intelligence and Traffic Optimization solutions to provide communications service providers (CSPs) with real-time visibility into the types of data traffic running on their networks, and allows them to manage that traffic and create new services to increase revenue. Because ClearSky's Total Traffic Manager architecture combines Sandvine's Network Policy Control platform with their own IP, operators have tremendous deployment flexibility to configure the solution in a manner that enables them to meet their business objectives. The solution can be hosted remotely within ClearSky's data center, or hosted locally within the CSP's network using either a physical Policy Traffic Switch (PTS) or leveraging network functions virtualization (NFV) to enable it as an elastically-scalable virtual network function (VNF) using Sandvine's Virtual Series. NFV is a carrier-led effort to move away from proprietary hardware, motivated by the desire to dramatically increase agility, enable faster service launches, and dramatically reduce the cost of deployment. In 2014, ClearSky was among the first of Sandvine's customers to embrace NFV, and thir early adoption of this technology has resulted in the majority of their current Total Traffic Manager deployments being enabled through virtualization. "To compete effectively in today's mobile marketplace, it is critical that operators have access to the same advanced technology as major operators," said Frank Danielson, Chief Technology Officer for ClearSky. "The deployment flexibility Sandvine provides our Total Traffic Manager solution ensures that operators interested in rolling out new services to increase data revenue, and manage rapid data growth can do so in a manner that suits their technology requirements." To learn more, visit ClearSky (booth #1101) and Sandvine (booth #1009) at the Competitive Carriers Association's annual convention in Seattle from September 20-22. ABOUT CLEARSKY TECHNOLOGIES For more than a decade, ClearSky Technologies has been a leader in providing hosted infrastructure to mobile operators. ClearSky's powerful array of products and services includes RF network analysis, design and optimization, traffic and policy management, small cell as a service, hosted MMS, LTE and mobile Internet access. Headquartered in Orlando, ClearSky currently provides mobile data services to more than 50 wireless operators across the Americas. For more information, visit www.clearskytechnologies.com. ABOUT SANDVINE Sandvine's network policy control solutions add intelligence to fixed, mobile and converged communications service provider networks, to increase revenue, reduce network costs and improve subscriber quality of experience. Our networking solutions perform end-to-end policy control functions, including traffic classification, policy decision and enforcement. Deployed as virtualized network functions or on Sandvine's purpose built hardware, the products provide actionable business insight, and the ability to deploy new consumer and business subscriber services, optimize and secure network traffic, and engage with subscribers. Sandvine's network policy control solutions are deployed in more than 300 networks in over 100 countries, serving hundreds of millions of data subscribers worldwide. www.sandvine.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this release which are not historical facts constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements") and are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of such laws. Statements related to the scope of deployment of Sandvine's products by a specific customer, the potential revenue opportunity with any particular customer or in any market segment, the benefits of Sandvine's products and services to be realized by customers, Sandvine's market position, future opportunities, product development plans and demand for Sandvine's products and services are forward looking statements, as are any statements relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Sandvine to differ materially from the results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, changes in internal deployment strategies or plans by specific customers; the growth of broadband internet usage and levels of capital spending on broadband network management systems; the timing of orders and manufacturing lead times; changes in customer order patterns or customer mix; insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; increased competition in the broadband network equipment industry; dependence on the timely development and market acceptance of new product offerings and standards; rapid technological and market change; manufacturing and sourcing risks including dependence on key suppliers and key technologies; dependence upon indirect channel sales and resellers; factors such as business and economic conditions and growth trends in the broadband network equipment industry and in various geographic regions; global economic conditions and uncertainties in the geopolitical environment including the impact of regulation related to the internet and the delivery of internet services. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions, and Sandvine does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change, except to the extent required by applicable law. SOURCE Sandvine [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Ashland University Partners with JPay to Institute Second Chance Pell Grants for More than 1,000 Inmates ASHLAND, Ohio, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today marks the beginning of the journey for more than 840 incarcerated students aiming to earn an Associate of Arts or Bachelor's Degree through Ashland University's distance-learning program. Ashland University (AU) is one of 67 colleges and universities selected out of 300 applications to participate in the new Second Chance Pell Grant pilot program, giving inmates the opportunity to earn postsecondary degrees to enhance their chances of success upon release. Through a partnership with JPay's Lantern a free tablet-driven education program featuring a comprehensive Learning Management System (LMS) AU professors can deploy coursework and converse with students remotely, allowing inmates to learn at their own pace on their prison-grade JP5 tablets. Serving one of the largest student populations in the Second Chance Pell Grant pilot program 840 inmates enrolling today, 1,040 in total AU will offer over 400 courses between now and the end of 2019, with each incarcerated student required to complete 10 semesters to receive an undergraduate degree. Focusing efforts in Ohio, Louisiana and West Virginia facilities, Ashland and JPay expect to help inmates earn more than 112,300 college credits through the federal government grant. "We are privileged to continue to offer the hope and promise of education to inmates thanks to this program," said Dr. Carlos Campo, Ashland University President. "Ashland University is grateful for a technology partner like JPay, because we can achieve far more together. We look forward to continued collaboration and innovation that improves outcomes for these students and our communities as well." Ashland University, which offers the longest operating post-secondary correctional program in the nation, is one of the only distance-based learning program selected for the Second Chance Pell Grants. The University will rely heavily on Lantern's technology to facilitate instruction and allow inmates to interact with their teachers outside of the classroom. Instructors simply log into the LMS to upload, edit and deploy coursework, as well as grade assignments and message with students. The inmates use the JPay kiosk to communicate with professors and sync their JP5 tablets to send and receive coursework, which is completed on their devices. "We partnered with Ashland University two years ago on a mission to make free inmate education a reality, and today our technology is making it possible for numerous inmates to use their time served to earn a college education bettering their lives and impact on the community," said Annette Chambers-Smith, Chief Operating Officer of JPay. "All the work we put into Lantern is worth it, now it's up to the inmates to do the work and earn their degrees." More than 2,500 inmates applied for the 1,040 Pell Grants allocated to AU. Enrolled students with a GED were selected based on set criteria, such as good behavior, self interest, income level, and sentence terms. The Obama administration expanded the Pell Grant program to create the Second Chance Pell Grant pilot for inmates; funds were not reallocated from another education initiative. Ashland University also offers a re-entry program for students enabling them to complete their degree online for one year after release. This re-entry course is modelled after the principles of The Only Person U Cheat is U (TOPUCU) curriculum. TOPUCU is evidence-based with a 63.4% reduction in criminal thinking, see http://www.topucucorrections.com. About JPay JPay, a Securus Technologies Company, designs, builds and deploys its technology to prisons and jails across the country, establishing correspondence to help educate and rehabilitate offenders. Serving more than 1.9 million offenders and parolees in 34 states, JPay makes the corrections process more convenient for offenders and their loved ones, while modernizing processes and increasing intelligence capabilities for corrections facilities. Products include money transfer services, tablets, email and video communications, education, games, music and more. About Ashland University Ashland University, ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report's National Universities category for 2016, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408793 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ashland-university-partners-with-jpay-to-institute-second-chance-pell-grants-for-more-than-1000-inmates-300329765.html SOURCE JPay [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] SurveyGizmo is voted #1 for Survey Software Satisfaction BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, online survey software company SurveyGizmo has been voted #1 in satisfaction in the 2016 G2 Crowd Fall Survey Grid Report. Users attribute their satisfaction to friendly customer service, excellent user interface, and powerful software at a great price. SurveyGizmo received top marks in "likely to recommend," "product going in the right direction," "meets requirements," "ease of administration," "ease of doing business," "quality of support," "ease of setup," and "ease of use." The report recognizes SurveyGizmo as a leader in the survey industry for innovation, service, and value. With customers in over 205 countres, SurveyGizmo's software helps create more than 50,000 new surveys and collects 7.5 million responses every week. CEO and co-founder Christian Vanek says,"We're incredibly grateful and proud to be #1 in customer satisfaction. Naturally, we won't rest on our laurels. Our customers are always providing us with feedback we can use to improve our software and services!" The Boulder, Colorado-based company celebrates its ten-year anniversary this year, and now includes this G2 Crowd review as another reason to celebrate. G2 Crowd is a business software review platform which helps users make better purchasing decisions. They host over 100,000 user reviews and provide competition grids amongst products to make the deliberation process simple. About SurveyGizmo: SurveyGizmo was founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2006 by Christian Vanek and Scott McDaniel. The company has 78 employees and is still headquartered in Boulder, with additional offices in Seattle, WA. Follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook or LinkedIn. Contact: Heidi Haskell [email protected] 4888 Pearl East Circle Suite 100 West Boulder, Colorado 80301 Phone: 720-496-2990 x739 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150416/199228LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/surveygizmo-is-voted-1-for-survey-software-satisfaction-300329695.html SOURCE SurveyGizmo [September 19, 2016] Peregrine Semiconductor to Discuss Reliable Urban Communications at European Microwave Week 2016 SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, announces technical marketing manager Andrew Christie will speak at European Microwave Week (EuMW) 2016 at ExCeL, London. In a Wednesday, Oct. 5 session at the Defence, Security and Space Forum, Christie will share how Peregrine's UltraCMOS technology platform and intelligent integration address communication challenges in complex urban environments. Christie's presentation will be part of a special Microwave Journal industry panel session from 14:20 to 16:00. In his presentation, Christie will describe some of the options for reliably steering RF signals, such as beamforming arrays and multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The ability to flexibly steer RF signals brings many benefits to urban communications, including reduced interference and power consumption and increased data rates and bandwidth per user. He will also provide examples of how Peregrine's UltraCMOS technology and intelligent integration enable single-die solutions that address sstem, performance and calibration challenges. Bringing industry and academia together, EuMW 2016 is a five-day event that includes three cutting-edge conferences and an exciting trade and technology exhibition. For more information on EuMW or the Defence, Security and Space Forum, visit http://www.eumweek.com/. ABOUT PEREGRINE SEMICONDUCTOR Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a Murata company, is the founder of RF silicon on insulator (SOI) and is a leading fabless provider of high-performance, integrated RF solutions. Since 1988 Peregrine and its founding team have been perfecting UltraCMOS technologya patented, advanced form of SOIto deliver the performance edge needed to solve the RF market's biggest challenges, such as linearity. By delivering best-in-class performance and monolithic integration, Peregrine's product portfolio is the trusted choice for market leaders in automotive, broadband, industrial, Internet of Things, mobile devices, smartphones, space, test-and-measurement equipment and wireless infrastructure. A Murata company since December 2014, Peregrine holds more than 280 issued and pending patents and has shipped over 3.5 billion UltraCMOS units. For more information, visit http://www.psemi.com. The Peregrine Semiconductor name, logo, and UltraCMOS are registered trademarks of Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation in the U.S.A., and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Editorial Contact: Elizabeth Brown Peregrine Semiconductor Phone: 619.993.4648 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160918/409093-INFO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140818/136921 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/peregrine-semiconductor-to-discuss-reliable-urban-communications-at-european-microwave-week-2016-300329949.html SOURCE Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] NEB improves access to pipeline approval condition information CALGARY, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - The National Energy Board (NEB) continues to make strides toward increased regulatory transparency with the launch of a condition compliance web page that enables Canadians to track company compliance with pipeline approval conditions. More than 3,200 approval conditions and their respective completion status (in progress or completed) are now available to all Canadians in a simplified and searchable format. The NEB has always tracked, monitored, and conducted enforcement action following project approval, and all records have been retained and updated as compliance measures or enforcement is conducted. Making this information more accessible to Canadians is consistent with the NEB's continued response to the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Developed (CESD) Fall 2015 Audit. Lifecycle oversight of pipelines and associated infrastructure is a core function of the NEB. From application to abandonment, the NEB conducts stric oversight to ensure companies adhere to all regulatory requirements and conditions placed upon a project as part of an approval. Company compliance with conditions is monitored through the following means: Field Inspections Company audits Compliance meetings Emergency response exercise evaluation Emergency procedure manual review Quick Facts: Over the past year, the NEB has increased information available online including the addition of: Field inspection reports; Emergency response exercise evaluations.; and Company emergency procedures manuals will be online by Sept. 30, 2016 Quotes "It is the NEB's firm belief that Canadians deserve to have increased access to regulatory information. We have made significant strides toward increased transparency and we will continue to seek new and innovative ways to increase our foundation of openness." Peter Watson, NEB Chair and CEO. Related Products Searchable Condition Compliance web page The National Energy Board is an independent federal regulator of several parts of Canada's energy industry with the safety of Canadians and protection of the environment as its top priority. Its purpose is to regulate pipelines, energy development and trade in the Canadian public interest. For more information on the NEB and its mandate, please visit www.neb-one.gc.ca. SOURCE National Energy Board [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Bouvet Stockholm Announces Acquisition of Ciber Sweden OSLO, Norway, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bouvet Stockholm AB, a service provider of information technology, digital communication and enterprise management, today announced an agreement with Ciber, Inc. (NYSE: CBR), a leading global information technology consulting, services and outsourcing company, to acquire its business in Sweden. Ciber Sweden includes 31 employees that will transition to Bouvet upon closing, which pending regulatory consideration, is expected to occur in September 2016. "I am happy to welcome Ciber Sweden to Bouvet. Together Ciber and Bouvet have a strong client base and have matching competencies and culture. This will strengthen our delivery capacity for development of digital solutions in Stockholm," said Bouvet Sverige Chief Executive Officer Jonna Norden. The acquisition of Ciber Sweden further strengthens Bouvet's focused regional model. As a turnkey supplier for clients with local operations, the company maintains a strong presence in Norway and Sweden, where it has 14 local offices. "This acquisition is highly complementary to our regional model and represents a strong fit for our strategy to expand in the attractive Swedish market," said Bouvet Chief Executive Officer Sverre Hurum. "Bouvet is building expertise in Scandinavia and emphasizes our strong local presence including a deep understanding of our customers' language, culture and business." "We are continuing to execute our strategy of streamlining operations and focusing on core strengths," said Ciber President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Boustridge. "We are confident that Bouvet's deep roots in the market will help provide our valued Ciber Sweden customers and employees with a seamless transition." About Bouvet ASA Bouvet is a Scandinavian consultancy with 1030 employees, which delivers advisory, and development services withn the field of information technology and digital communications. Bouvet is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.bouvet.no/www.bouvet.se About Ciber, Inc. Ciber is a global IT consulting company with approximately 5,500 employees in North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. Ciber partners with organizations to develop technology strategies and solutions that deliver tangible business value. Founded in 1974, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CBR). For more information, visit www.ciber.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus and our blog. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 relating to Ciber's operations, results of operations and other matters that are based on Ciber's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. Words, such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "may," "opportunity," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "project," "should," and "will" and similar expressions, are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. For a more detailed discussion of these risks, see the information under the "Risk Factors" heading in Ciber's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and Ciber's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2016, and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other than as required by law, Ciber undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Contact Sverre Hurum Bouvet ASA, CEO Tel: +47 91 35 00 47 E-mail: [email protected] Jonna Norden Bouvet Sverige AB, CEO Tel: +46 70-943 14 50 E-mail: [email protected] Scott Kozak Ciber, Global Communications, Investor and Industry Relations Tel: 303-967-1379 E-mail: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150708/234002LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409345LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bouvet-stockholm-announces-acquisition-of-ciber-sweden-300330291.html SOURCE Ciber, Inc.; Bouvet ASA [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Briggs: Elkharts RV workers are only essential until a recession RV sales are great for job security in Elkhart, yet horrible for human bodies. How to clean headphones and improve the sound quality Want to know how to clean headphones? Here, we breakdown what you need to do step-by-step, so you can get them sounding like new again. Bluesfest is just around the corner, with a huge line up including the likes of Zac Brown Band, Patti Smith and The Lumineers to name just a few. With tickets to the festival not far off selling out, the crew are announcing sideshows for those fans who cant quite make it out to Byron Bay next Easter. Organisers have announced a slew of sideshows along the East Coast for some of Bluesfests biggest names, a boon for fans looking for a more personal time with the likes of Patti Smith and her band, The Lumineers, and Bonnie Raitt amongst others. Check the list of all the currently announced Bluesfest 2017 sideshows below, and keep checking in for more updates, with more dates no doubt soon to be announced. Patti Smith And Her Band Perform Horses State Theatre, Sydney Nsw Sun 9 April 2017 Hamer Hall, Melbourne Vic Sun 16 April 2017 The Lumineers Sydney Opera House, Sydney Nsw Mon 17 + Tues 18 April 2017 State Theatre, Melbourne Vic Wed 19 April 2017 Metro City, Perth Wa Sat 22 April 2017 Bonnie Raitt State Theatre, Sydney Nsw Fri 7 April 2017 Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Act Sat 8 April 2017 Hamer Hall, Melbourne Vic Mon 10 April 2017 Snarky Puppy Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne VIC Sat 8 April 2017 *Two Shows Announced* 4pm + 7.30pm Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW Mon 10 April 2017 Andrew Bird Sydney Opera House, Sydney NSW Sat 15 April 2017 Melbourne Recital Hall, Melbourne VIC Tues 18 April 2017 Some of the Australian music worlds biggest names often leave doors of opportunity ajar, just waiting for the right kind of professional music fan to come knocking. Our regular Music Jobs column is the place where well help you grab the proverbial handle and walk on through, as we take the pain out of scrolling through endless (and sometimes shady) job listings to provide you a selection of killer career opps in the music world. No free work or internships here, just authentic chances to break into the music industry. So update your CV, brush up your cover letter writing chops, stop dreaming, and start doing what you love for a living. Recorded Music Manager at Unified Full-time / Melbourne, VIC UNIFIED is the soundtrack of good people working together to achieve extraordinary results. We exist as an artist services company; giving choice and freedom back to our artists on how they manage their career and music. One such way we achieve this is by creating artist owned and led record labels. The newly created position of Recorded Music Manager will oversee our artist led labels including ONETWO (Illys label), NLV Records (Nina Las Vegas label) and House of Beige (Remis label) as well as the other labels in our group Hopeless Records and UNFD. More info can be found here. Touring Coordinator at Unify Presents Full-time / Melbourne, VIC UNIFIEDs newly created Touring Department, UNIFY Presents, was launched in 2016 and already boasts successful tours by artists like Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot, The Amity Affliction, A Day To Remember, Northlane and many more. As the department expands, UNIFIED is looking to hire a co-ordinator to help operate its tours and build the brand awareness and social media strategy. More info can be found here. Ecommerce Manager at Universal Music Australia Full-time / Sydney, NSW As part of the wider eCommerce function, the eCommerce Manager champions an innovative and inclusive culture that seeks out new opportunities to develop digital marketing strategies to grow an engaged audience/fan base to maximise engagement. Plan, develop and deliver new online revenue generating opportunities across bespoke store plays along with ensuring existing online stores revenue/product development is maximized. More info can be found here. Project Coordinator at Melbourne Uni (VCA & MCM) Full-time / Melbourne, VIC The Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (VCA & MCM) offers programs in music, visual arts, performing arts and film to emerging artistic practitioners in the midst of one of the worlds most vibrant arts precincts at Southbank. You will be responsible for identifying and leading a program of key projects and business improvement initiatives across the Faculty to deliver process and system improvements in priority areas. You will be the Faculty expert in process improvement and liaise with the Universitys Continuous Improvement Centre to adopt and train staff across the Faculty in Agile and Lean Six Sigma solutions. You will also act as the Executive Assistant to the Faculty Executive Director. More info can be found here. Director of Instrumental Music at Brisbane Girls Grammar School Full-time / Brisbane, NSW Brisbane Girls Grammar School is a leading secondary school for young women in Australia. Established in 1875, it is one of the original Grammar Schools in Queensland with an outstanding reputation and enjoys a proud tradition of womens achievements. The Instrumental music programme at Brisbane Girls Grammar School aspires to promote music education of the highest quality. It aims to balance traditional concepts with innovative musical experiences to instil a sense of purpose for the relevance of music education. Reporting to the Dean of Co-Curriculum the Director of Instrumental Music is responsible for developing and delivering a contemporary and innovative Instrumental Music programme supported by specialist Instrumental Music and Choral Teachers committed to producing high quality performances and standards. More info can be found here. Head of Choral and Vocal Studies at Lauriston Girls School Contract / Melbourne, VIC We are seeking a passionate musician and teaching professional to lead our choral department. Working closely with the Director of Music you will be responsible for the overall management and direction of our choral and vocal studies program. It is imperative the successful applicant will have a strong interest in developing opportunities for our students to perform with other schools and at Victorian, national and international choral events. More info can be found here. Digital Strategy Manager at Southern Cross Austereo Full-time / Sydney, NSW Southern Cross Austereo, one of Australias most exciting and innovative media companies is on the lookout for a passionate and committed person to join our Digital Sales team in the role of Digital Strategy Manager. Reporting directly to the National Digital Sales Manager, you will be responsible for the growth of strategic thinking within the digital team. The Digital Strategy Manager will be primarily responsible for interpreting client briefs and developing strategic direction that delivers the best outcome for clients investment delivered across SCAs digital audience and assets. This role facilitates higher quality outcomes for Account Management and SCAs integration unit, Studio. More info can be found here. Country Finance Manager at SONOS Full-time / Melbourne, VIC Our band is large. And while theres plenty of room for all kinds of personalities and skill sets to succeed, there are certain qualities that will help you thrive here. Like a never-accept-less work ethic. An exceptionally low ego-to-talent ratio (none of the first, tons of the latter). A relentless craving to push past your limits and try new things. The smarts and the humble confidence to take on big challenges, make mistakes fast and early, embrace tough feedback, then recover quickly with fresh, startlingly perfect solutions. A fearless willingness to defend great work. And a tendency to totally geek out on music. More info can be found here. Regional Drive Presenter at ABC Contract / Brisbane, QLD ABC Regional provides a national voice for the one third of Australians who live outside our capital cities. At a time when the regional presence of commercial media is shrinking, the ABCs role is more important than ever. ABC Regionals more than 400 staff prepare and present almost 1,000 hours of live local programming every week, while linking the stories, people and conversations of regional communities to local, national and international audiences through broadcast, online and mobile services. ABC Regional in Queensland has a vacancy for a highly motivated content maker with the ability to thrive in a time critical environment. Working with the Regional Editor you will create engaging cross-media content for the audiences in six regional Queensland locations, and present the Regional Drive program but may be required to create content elsewhere. More info can be found here. Regional Drive Producer at ABC Contract / Brisbane, QLD Queensland Regional Radio has a vacancy for a highly motivated content maker to produce the Regional Drive program based at the ABCs South Bank headquarters in Brisbane. Reporting to the Regional Editor, you must be able to create engaging cross-media content in a time-critical environment for a statewide audience. The successful applicant will be working initially on the regional Drive program but may be required to create content elsewhere. You will have a great news sense, enjoy creating innovative content and be able to thrive in a time critical environment. More info can be found here. Campaign Manager at Pandora Full-time / Sydney, NSW We are on the lookout for a passionate individual to provide seamless digital campaign execution while maintaining a high-level of client service support for assigned Advertisers and Agencies. Our ideal candidate will be a key contributor in the Advertising Operations team and will be responsible for planning, implementing, maintaining and enhancing digital and audio buys. Partnering with the assigned Sales Executives, this role will involve both pre and post-sale support of campaigns, including but not limited to pulling available inventory, developing and formulating media plans according to appropriate market metrics, providing advertising creative deadlines, technical specifications, reporting; and tracking and optimising campaign delivery. More info can be found here. Digital Designer at Pandora Full-time / Sydney, NSW The Creative Services function works closely with marketing, sales and the sales support teams to provide professional creative to a variety of advertising clients. Based in Sydney, Australia, the Digital Designer will report to the Head of Digital Design, and play a key role in growing the business in Australia and New Zealand. Our ideal candidate has a passion for designing effective creative that drives results and finds satisfaction in solving difficult visual problems in a fast-paced and high-volume environment. More info can be found here. Industry Relations at Pandora Full-time / Sydney, NSW The Music Maker Group is responsible for delivering on Pandoras promise to strengthen the bonds between artists and their fans. Teams spanning Industry Relations, Custom Content, Events, Promotions, and Analytics work collaboratively to identify, source, and deliver compelling artist programs with their fans on Pandora. As a member of the Industry Relations team, you will be responsible for the campaigns and initiatives for major labels and Pandora. You will nurture professional relationships and constantly be on the lookout for new opportunities for Pandora to engage with labels. You will work in coordination with labels and other internal teams to ensure the seamless execution of artist-driven events, promotion, and custom content programs. More info can be found here. Some 30 years after their initial disbanding, Aussie post-punk legends The Sunnyboys are getting back together again. The band reformed recently for sold out shows along the East Coast in 2013 and 2014, with a full scale 2015 tour proving fans are still hungry for more. 2017 will see the band reform again, but this time they will be playing their 1981 self-titled debut album in its entirety. What a thrill it will be to play our 1st album from start to finish, says bassist Peter Oxley. We have never ever done this before. Looking forward to I Cant Talk to You (reprise)!' As if that wasnt enough for die-hard Sunnyboys fans, Sydney will also be treated to a rare showing of The Flaming Hands and The Shy Impostors as support, the first time all three acts have been on one bill together. When Peter Oxley called with the proposition of reforming the Flaming Hands for a gig with the Sunnyboys I jumped at the opportunity, said Julie Mostyn of The Flaming Hands. The two bands have a shared history both as friends and as contemporaries that played together in what was a golden era of Australian music. Interstate fans wont be missing out either, as the legendary X will be joining the band in Melbourne, while The Celibate Rifles and Ed Kuepper with Mark Dawson will be playing support in Queensland. Check out the dates to what will no doubt be the feel good tour of the summer below. Image credit: Kaye Harrison Sunnyboys 2017 Tour Dates February 3rd Gold Coast, The Nightquarter (only Queensland show) Special guests: The Celibate Rifles and Ed Kuepper with Mark Dawson. February 4th Sydney, Enmore Theatre Special guests: Flaming Hands & Shy Impostors February 10th Melbourne, The Croxton Special guests: X. Rio de Janeiro bid farewell to the 2016 Paralympics on September 18 with a closing ceremony that honored an Iranian cyclist who was killed in a tragic crash. The glittering musical celebration, which featured an unscripted conga line of dancing athletes, paused for a minutes silence to remember cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad and his fatal crash during a road race on September 17. Philip Craven, the International Paralympic Committee president, said in his closing ceremony speech that Golbarnezhads death had left the Paralympic movement united in grief. The medals table during the 11 days of competition was dominated by China with 239 medals, including 107 golds. Britain, the nearest rival, won 147 medals including 64 golds. Ukraine was third on the medals table with a total of 117, followed by the United States with 115. Based on reporting by AFP and AP Henry Rollins, Australian music connoisseur, has teamed up with English punk rockers Ruts DC on the title track from their forthcoming album Music Must Destroy. This is not the first time Rollins has appeared alongside Ruts DC; back in 2007 Rollins sang onstage with the band in London at a benefit gig for their late guitarist Paul Fox. In between visits to his favourite Australian record stores, Rollins found time to get in to the studio with the band, despite stating numerous times that his music career is behind him. Talking to Team Rock, he said It is a great honour to not only be a part of the new Ruts DC album but also in the video for Music Must Destroy, growling away with my worthy constituent, Mr. Segs! While reactions to the track on Henry Rollins own Facebook page have been mixed to say the least, we can all agree that its promising to see Rollins back in the studio making music, even if its only a once off. Contrary to what their name may lead you believe, The New Yorks are a four-piece indie rock band from Adelaide, making self-assured angular rock inspired by the likes of The Strokes and The Cure. Having already supported the likes of Chet Faker and San Cisco, their upcoming debut EP is just around the corner, and theyve just released the video for single I Hope He Knows. Featuring what looks like the best party this side of Adelaide, the group come out the end a little worse for wear and a little more colourful than when they went in. Give the video a watch below and keep an eye on the groups Facebook page for news on their upcoming EP Heads Of Tales. Brisbane reggae stalwarts Kingfisha are back with their second album Offered It Up, having kept us waiting a long time since their 2012 self-titled debut record put them squarely on the map. After such a long interval thats seen the band touring internationally, its good to have them back and the band are glad to have the album out after a lengthy recording process. We tried some different approaches from our first album, the band say of the new record. We worked with some new people and the production feels a step up. It wasnt the easiest of processes, but to hear it as one piece of work, were all really happy with how its come together. For a few more tidbits, theyve also given us their thoughts on each of the tracks, below. You can listen to Offered It Up below, and catch it live as Kingfisha head out on tour at the end of the month, dates below. The album is available now on ABC Music. Hold On This is one of our few political tunes. It started out as a really slow one drop, then we changed the beat added horns and revamped it heaps in the rehearsal room Dirty Man The descending vocal melody had been an ear worm for a few months and wasnt really going anywhere until I was on a flight to Hobart with an old acquaintance and the lyrics and theme became quite apparent. Upon returning to Brisbane we spent a few hours in the studio and Dirty Man was complete. Left It Incorporating both our strong loves, electronic and roots music. Left it was originally conceived at a sunny afternoon bbq. Lyrically the song is about one of those rare relationships that ends amicably. The Gold The verse melody came from our sound guy yawning. From there their was no turning back. Offered it up This track is heavily inspired by one of our favourite and widely unknown reggae bands Midnite. Its one of the slower jams in our repertoire. Position Steppers This song took along time to get right in the studio. Feels like we got there in the end. Its our take on UK Steppers. In a memory The melodies and chords came to life the morning after an amazing night we all shared in Reunion Island drinking rum and watching Manu Chao. The lyrics and the rest of the song was finished in a farmhouse in southern France. Too many words Was built from the rhythm up. We spent a weekend in the northern rivers swimming, eating and playing music. This rhythm really seemed to stick. It was the last tune completed for the album. Water Running This is one of our favourite live tunes. Its all revolved around the bass line. Aftermath The only song on the album that was completed start to finish in the studio. Was a blast having a completely different approach. Kingfisha Tour Dates 30 Sept The Jack , Cairns QLD 1 Oct Wallaby Creek Festival QLD 7 Oct Torquay Hotel, VIC 8 Oct Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC 15 Oct Newtown Social Club, NSW 21 Oct Transit Bar Canberra ACT 22 Oct Dragon Dreaming Festival, ACT 23 Oct Swagger Festival, VIC 5 Nov Imperial Hotel, Sunshine Coast QLD 11 Nov The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba QLD 12 Nov The Shark Bar, Gold Coast QLD 18 Nov Settlers Inn, Margaret River WA 19 Nov Indi Bar, Scarborough, WA 20 Nov Mojos, Fremantle WA 3 Dec The Triffid, Brisbane QLD 4 Dec Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads NSW Chastain's last stand: Activist says this is his final light-rail bid Chastain, who has used initiative petitions to get several light-rail proposals on ballots during the past 20-plus years, outlined his latest during a public forum Monday that attracted a crowd of only 10 people to a meeting room at the Kansas City Public Library's Country Club Plaza branch. "If they vote for it, we're going for it," Chastain said. "But if it's voted down, I'll consider the light-rail issue in Kansas City dead." With respect and more than a bit of admiration for this transit activist, let's not forget that he has made this promise before ....Money line...Still, if this doesn't get voters to the polls, nothing will as KCMO will consider the nearly 3 BILLION DOLLAR PLAN on November 8th.Developing .... Lots of good stuff out there and we'll focus on more politics, crime and local culture for the morning but for right now a recent death defying motorcycle chase with Kansas City police piques our interest.Local media took orders to tone down street racing coverage so not to inspire copycat amateurs who had yet to fill out organ donor cards but this Summer seemed exceptionally active if all of the clips posted to the local Internets are any indication.More later . . . LOOKING FORWARD . . . The problem is, the streetcar and the city have hidden these costs from the taxpayers. The costs are in your monthly utility bills but you will not see them in any prospectus for the original streetcar nor the expansion. These utility costs amount to hundreds of millions of dollars and since they will be paid by all KCMO taxpayers (voters), shouldnt all taxpayers and voters be able to vote on this expansion project? THE KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR EXTENSION LOOKS TO PUSH BACK THEIR TIMELINE ACCORDING TO INSIDERS IN A TACIT ADMISSION THAT SUPPORT FROM THE COUNCIL OR VOTERS ISN'T APPARENT!!! After courtroom testimony confrontation . . . Kansas City still waits for a decision from a judge but advocates against higher local taxes are noticing very little voter based support for the new streetcar extension plan.The unspoken reality in Kansas City is that nearly all of the streetcar cheerleaders are on the payroll of the operation in one way or another.Here's some highlights from a recent statement . . ."Thanks to those of you who took the time to show up in court on Thursday to help explain why we think this proposed TDD to extend the streetcar is not worthy of consideration. While we were outnumbered, your testimonies were based in fact and well presented. Those trying to sell the streetcar spewed the same rhetoric weve been hearing for months now about a million riders, a trillion dollars worth of development and millions of tourists flocking to KC to ride the streetcar."We testified we believe the the petition is vague and ambiguous and there are many examples in the petition. All you have to do is read it. It also contains a lot of mis-information and a dishonest estimate of the total costs."The pro streetcar people will tell you these water and sewer line repairs would have to be made with or without the streetcar being built.The fact proponents state these water / sewer line repairs and relocations would have to be done anyway.. proves our point. We are all paying for the streetcar whether you live in the TDD or not. The fact that the water department spent an estimated $18,500,000 (average of the information we have) per mile tells us that either: 1.) they did way more work on these lines than they will do on the lines in the rest of the city; or 2.) some of the money spent went for something else??"If we spend at this rate ($18,500,000 per mile) on the 2800 miles of water and sewer lines to be repaired in the city, we will spend $51,800,000,000 .. yes, thats billion to fix the sewers and water lines in the city?"All along the proponents have stated that only those in the TDD will pay the costs but now they admit we are all paying through higher utility costs. In addition, testimony was presented the City owns 40 plus properties in the original TDD. It has not been mentioned how many properties the City owns in the new TDD. Interesting to note, these properties are not exempt from assessments or increased property taxes. The City gets their money from tax collections (voters), therefore the voters are all paying these assessments and higher property taxes for the streetcar, not just those living in the TDD or the proposed TDD."######################Moreover . . .Let's not forget that a similar tax scheme supporting the Streetcar starter line was calledand votersrejected an extension two years ago.Developing . . . Its a rallying cry for progressives across America. Fight for $15. The dream of combating poverty by raising the minimum wage to $15 everywhere. Already, cities such as Seattle and Syracuse, NY, have begun phasing in or have already implemented a $15 minimum as law. And, so far, the prognosis is good. No wonder people want it implemented everywhere, huh? Well, we decided to look into what might happen if the minimum wage was raised to $15 across the world. The results were intriguing, to say the least. While realistically, the idea of a global $15 minimum wage is as likely as flying pigs farting unicorn rainbows, its still interesting to imagine what the outcome would be. The answer is: insanity. 10. The Rise of the Machines Forget Terminator. Forget The Matrix. The real cause of the machine revolution lies not in military programs, but in the battle for a higher minimum wage. According to The Economist, theres only one likely outcome to a yuge minimum wage hike: mass automation. Right now, machines and computers are capable of doing a heck of a lot that low-skilled humans can, such as driving trucks and manning checkouts. The reason that they dont isnt due to some fancy-pants robot-workers union, but because they simply cost too much. Its way more cost-effective for an employer to keep you working at the checkout for $7.50 an hour than it is for them to buy a machine to do your job, so they dont. But when that $15 wage hike comes in, suddenly the robots are looking a lot more attractive. The outcome? Jobs will disappear faster than you can say Skynet. Nationally, millions would be out of work. Globally, billions. That would mean completely restructuring our economies to deal with permanent mass-unemployment; a shift which wouldnt come easy. 9. The Poor Would Still be Poor Its important to note that robots still suck at certain jobs. Cleaning, for example, is better being done by humans. Mass-automation wouldnt really affect such sectors. So that means a minimum wage hike would still lift some out of poverty, right? Sure. But far, far fewer than youd think. Most supporters of the $15 minimum want to reduce poverty. But the minimum wage rarely affects those who are truly poor. Only 12.7% of US minimum wage workers come from poor households. Just under half are secondary-income earners from households with earnings three times higher than the poverty line. In other words, theyre teenagers starting their first job, or parents who took time out for raising kids and now want a bit of part-time work to fill the empty hours. The result would be a boost to these peoples finances, for sure. But the vast majority of American poor either already make $15 but dont get enough hours, or simply dont work at all. A mass-applied $15 minimum wouldnt affect this cohort one bit. 8. Mass Migration In the 1980s, well-meaning legislators accidentally screwed-over Puerto Rico. As a US Territory, the island became subject to the US Minimum Wage. Hooray for Puerto Rico, huh? Not so fast. The knock-on effect of this wage increase was to drive a huge chunk of the islands residents to migrate to mainland USA. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it makes perfect sense. Puerto Rico is poor. There was simply no way employers could afford the mainland minimum wage. With automation in 1983 being a pipedream, they simply laid off workers and sent unemployment skyrocketing. Something similar would happen with a global minimum wage. Rich cities and countries that could afford the $15 hit would suddenly become Meccas for those from poor areas which couldnt afford it. The jobless poor would flood in from territories and rural areas that couldnt pay, leading to perhaps the greatest wave of human migration in history. And as we all know, mass-migration doesnt always go completely smoothly 7. Rampant Xenophobia During the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of Americans were forced to leave Dustbowl States to look for work. Oklahoma alone lost nearly half a million of its population to more-prosperous states like California. How did the residents of richer states react to this sudden influx of poor, depressed and unemployed people? They freakin hated their guts. Okies were the subject of extreme discrimination from locals who thought they were stealing jobs, bringing crime, undercutting wages and just generally stinking up Sunny California with their Okie ways. Never mind that most of the Okies were family folk who just wanted to do some honest work and contribute to California, they were still hugely unpopular. Its not hard to imagine something similar happening if a $15 minimum wage drove people from poor, rural areas into rich, urban ones. On a national scale, it would be uncomfortable. If it was global, then throw in racism and culture clash and youre potentially sitting on a powder keg. 6. Poor Countries Would Become Poorer Everyone reading this can probably agree that paying Bangladeshi workers $0.50 per hour to toil in a sweatshop is morally ugly. Unfortunately, its also the way the world works. Poor countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Haiti are chronically in need of investment. To ensure companies want to set up shop there, they have to offer something the West cant. Sadly, that something is extremely low-wage employees. Create a world where everyone from a trucker in Arizona to a garment-maker in Dhaka is worth $15 an hour, and you destroy the only competitive advantage these countries have. For a company in the US, it suddenly makes no sense at all for them to set up a factory in Asia when it costs the same as setting one up in America. So they wont. Unless poor countries sacrifice something else in return for investment, that investment will simply dry up. Bangladeshi jobs will vanish, money will disappear, and poor countries will get even poorer. 5. The End of Outsourcing On the other hand, this would mean the end of outsourcing; a practice generally considered to be so mercenary it probably counts as one of the 7 Deadly Sins. While this is extremely bad news for those living in poorer countries, it could be pretty good for those living elsewhere. Right now, a lot of jobs that used to be done by Americans are being done abroad for a fraction of the cost. Take away those cost incentives to move abroad, and those jobs will probably stay in America (provided the government did other stuff like cut corporation tax). For those industries that cant be automated, it could result in a glut of work available at home. It would be the same thing both Trump and Bernie Sanders like to talk about: American jobs for American workers. The downside is there are other ways countries could attract multinationals even with a global $15 minimum wage, such as low corporation tax, an unregulated market or removing certain labor restrictions. In practice, then, a global minimum wage of $15 might not end outsourcing. Instead it might trigger a race to the bottom in an entirely different area. 4. A Gigantic Small Business Crash Theres a reason campaigns like Fight for $15 stir so much moral fury. The idea that a multi-billion-dollar empire like Walmart can get away with paying its employees $7.20 per hour makes any reasonable persons blood boil. The reality is that plenty of minimum wage employees arent slaving away in Walmart. Theyre working for small businesses. And asking those small businesses to double their employees wages is like asking them to start handing out blocks of gold to all of their customers. Around a third of minimum wage employees are working at businesses that employ fewer than 50 people. Force a $15 minimum on these places, and theyre gonna go under or lay off staff or (more likely) both. That means a collapse of small businesses across the board, something thats not exactly thrilling for stuff like innovation, the economy, or just having a few more choices of coffee place beyond Starbucks. Most of us value small businesses and independent Mom-and-Pop stores. We also value the idea of workers being paid a good minimum wage. Sadly, these two things can often be mutually-exclusive. 3. The Rise of Freelance Contract Work One of the big flaws with the minimum wage is that there are quite a few ways around it. Most of you reading this probably work in an industry that utilizes one or more of them. For example, your place might take on unpaid interns over summer. Or maybe those looking for a promotion can take part in a scheme that temporarily increases their responsibilities while not affecting their pay scale. In many industries, the get around comes from freelance contract work. This is especially prevalent in the world of online writing which surprise! we happen to know a great deal about. The basic set-up is that the website will pay you per article, not per hour worked. If youre a dashingly-handsome internet-writer with chiselled abs this isnt a problem, as youre capable of writing a $15 article in way under an hour. But for someone without those skills or looks well, then you got a problem. In a world where the $15 is everywhere, plenty of companies are gonna avail themselves of freelance contracts. This means people who arent suited to them languishing away, taking hours and hours and hours to complete a task which will net them only paltry sums. So how about we get rid of these contracts altogether? Well, then youre stuck with plenty of businesses going bust and all those same workers now making nothing at all. 2. An Explosion of Spending By now, we suspect some Fight for $15 fans are more than a little upset with the direction this article has taken. Hey, thems the breaks. We just go where our research leads us. And for this entry, it has led us to a potential light at the end of this dark and mold-infested tunnel. Theres a chance a $15 minimum could spark an economy-reviving spending spree. This comes courtesy of Bloomberg, an outfit not exactly known for its leftish politics. The argument is pretty straightforward. A capitalist economy relies upon workers using their wages to buy stuff they want but dont really need. This is the engine that drives growth. Whisk away that extra part of their paycheck marked conspicuous consumption and the economy falters. Conversely, inflate that part wildly with a $15 minimum wage, and sit back and watch as the economy goes into overdrive. The theory is that people who earn the extra money would spend and spend like lunatics. Goods would be flying off shelves. Vacations would be booked en masse. Services would be purchased, money would go flying through the economy, and everyone would wind up being a winner. It could be a boom to rival the 2008 bust, the sort of massive boost we havent seen in ages. 1. Everything or Nothing At the end of all that, we have a confession to make. We dont know what would happen if the minimum wage went to $15 everywhere. Thats not us being uninformed: literally no-one knows. While there have been plenty of studies done on minimum wage hikes, there has never been one done on a hike as enormous as the $15 one would be. It simply hasnt happened before over a large enough area, or in enough places, for anyone to draw any firm conclusions. As a result, its easy to find respected economics writers claiming that a national $15 minimum would be the best thing ever; just as its easy to find respected writers claiming that such a hike would trigger the apocalypse. What weve done above is drawn on what a plurality of economists seem to think, and what theories seem to suggest, to try and draw conclusions. The reality is, no-one knows for sure what would happen applying the $15 minimum on a national scale, let alone an international one. The only certainty is that the effect would be enormous, and possibly world-changing. Whether for the better or the worse is something wed simply have to wait to find out. 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RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Conde Nast Traveller recommends the Greek island of Folegandros as a destination that can replace Santorini Conde Nast Traveller recommends the Greek island of Folegandros as a destination that can replace Santorini. The leading travel magazine presents "7 Popular Travel Destinations (And Where to Go Instead)" and notes: "Is it possible for a place to be loved too much? While some cities and countries remain stars year after year and rely on tourism to make money, others are reconsidering their approach to hosting guests and, in some cases, cutting back significantly. As popular destinations like Barcelona, Santorini, and Bhutan move to limit the number of tourists able to visit, we recommend a few equally-great alternatives where you're less likely to be charged a "tourist tax." 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RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report International construction consultancy Bruce Shaw said it has changed its name to Linesight. The company, which is one of the most respected and trusted in the industry, has a wide range of multinational clients across the world as well as a portfolio of high-profile projects across the GCC. New brand Linesight will continue to work on flagship projects such as the Alef Residence on Dubais Palm Jumeirah Island, King Abdullah University in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi International Airport. The move supports a strategic vision for the company, as it expands further into and across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. Bruce Shaw International has operated in the Middle East for eight years and has regional offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. On the rebranding, Niall Greene, the managing director, Middle East, said: "This is an exciting time for the company as we evolve and move purposefully to become a firm more focused on global expansion into markets like the Mena, providing market-specific expertise designed to serve the needs of an ever-evolving client base." "We are - and will continue to be - a business built on the foundations of partnership building, resourcefulness, integrity and a dedicated client focus," stated Greene. "However, as we move forward through 2016 we will bring a greater service offering to our current clients in the provision of best value and high quality consultancy and leverage our assets for future clients alike," he added. The GCCs construction sector is set to see significant growth over the coming years thanks to mega events such as Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup and Dubai Expo 2020. The UAE alone is set to account for the largest value of projects at an estimated at $525.6 billion. In addition, Kuwait and Oman are also investing heavily in infrastructure and construction projects to showcase themselves as growing tourist and investor destinations in the Middle East. Linesight now operates in over 40 markets worldwide in multiple sectors including data centres, life sciences, commercial, high-tech industrial, hospitality, healthcare, education, residential and retail. The firms rebrand allows its global assets and projects to be consolidated under a single brand, it added.-TradeArabia News Service More than 700 healthcare construction projects, with a combined estimated value of $65 billion, are currently being developed in the GCC region, said a report. Of these, 133 projects are worth more than $100 million each, stated the latest BNC Report on the GCC Healthcare commissioned by The Big 5 Kuwait 2016, the largest building and construction event in the country, to be held from September 25 to 27 at the Kuwait International Fair. According to the report, the healthcare economy in the GCC is expected to register a strong growth in the coming years. Medical treatment, hospital activities and allied human health activities in the Gulf are likely to reach $71 billion by 2020, a 76 per cent increase from $40.3 billion in 2015. A growing population, aging demographics, medical tourism and government-led initiatives to provide quality healthcare services are considered key drivers of this growth, it added. Event organisers dmg said Kuwait makes up around 11 per cent of the value of all healthcare projects in the GCC. Dr Mussaad M Al Razouki, the chief business development officer of Kuwait Life Sciences Company (KLSC) and speaker at The Big 5 Kuwait 2016, said: "The coming years will witness a rapid growth in the healthcare sector, reflecting heavy investments in the countrys healthcare infrastructure." "This will create a lot of opportunities for both local and international organisations operating in the construction of healthcare facilities," he noted. "The private healthcare market is estimated to grow by 15 to 20 per cent in the coming years as several new private hospitals will open in Kuwait, adding 1,800 hospital beds," he stated. Also, over 20 large-scale mega healthcare projects are currently in the pipeline. Worth KD3.5 billion ($12 billion), these will add approximately 11,200 hospital beds to those already available in Kuwait, he added. Dr Al Razouki will give a presentation on Trends, Challenges and Opportunities in the Kuwait Healthcare Sector at the upcoming event with a focus on sustainable construction. "All structures, especially socially-oriented ones such as hospitals and clinics, must be designed and developed to have a positive environmental impact over their entire lifetime, while providing a high level of comfort, durability and functionality for both the clinicians and the patients. Needless to mention, sustainable structures minimise the use of water, raw materials, energy and land," he added. The theme of healthcare construction will be further developed at the event by Dr Angela Burke, the associate director (healthcare) at SSH. On the opening day, Dr Burke will navigate the audience through the unique complexities of designing healthcare facilities, offering an overview of standards and regulations governing the design of these structures around the region. The Big 5 Kuwait is expected to welcome 6,000 participants, hosting over 150 local and international exhibitors across 3,500 sq m of space.-TradeArabia News Service The sale of Australia's biggest general cargo terminal, Port of Melbourne, was awarded to a group led by QIC Private Capital for about A$9.7 billion ($7.29 billion), the Victorian state government said on Monday. "We believe this investment brings significant diversification benefits for our clients as a landlord port with a well defined regulatory regime in a globally scarce infrastructure subsector," QIC Global Infrastructure Head Ross Israel said in a statement released by the Victorian government. QIC is part of the Lonsdale Consortium, which won the 50-year lease of the port. The group also includes the investment arm of the Queensland state government, Australia's sovereign Future Fund, New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners, Canada's Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement System and the California Public Employees' Retirement System. The consortium was advised by Gresham Partners and Credit Suisse with Herbert Smith Freehills as legal adviser. The transaction is due to close on Oct. 31. The other bidder was IFM Investors Pty Ltd, Australia's biggest pension fund investor, with Macquarie Group's Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Dutch pension fund manager APG Asset Management NV. The sell-off is part of Australia's more than A$100 billion privatization program, where state and federal governments are trying to cut debt and bankroll capital works by selling "mature" infrastructure assets. Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison last month rejected bids for electricity distributor Ausgrid from Chinese state-owned group State Grid and privately run Hong Kong group Cheung Kong Infrastructure (1038.HK), citing national security concerns. Reuters LafargeHolcim, the world's largest cement group, is considering withdrawing from several markets as part of its efforts to make last year's mega-merger a success, chairman Beat Hess told weekly Sonntagszeitung. "We will be present in less countries for sure," Hess was quoted as saying. The sale of operations in several countries was an option, he said. The world's largest cement group, created by a merger between France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim, generates 80 per cent of its operational earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortisation in 25 countries, the paper quoted Hess as saying. He said there was "much potential for improvement" in another 25 countries. "Either we succeed in strengthening these operations through targeted investments or we have to see whether other owners could do better," he noted. For the remaining 40 countries the Switzerland-based firm operates in, the question was how to reach the target to earn its capital costs in the foreseeable future and "whether it would not be better to invest elsewhere the proceeds coming from a sale". The company has already exceeded its 2016 goal of making divestments worth 3.5 billion francs ($3.57 billion) and said in August it had extended the programme to 5 billion francs ($5.09 billion) by the end of next year. LafargeHolcim had last week announced plans to cut 250 jobs as part of a reorganisation of global functions at the cement and building supplies company. In addition, the group will cut more jobs in its country organisations and could close more plants, the paper quoted the chairman as saying. "In big markets, where both Lafarge and Holcim were present, we still have to adjust structures," the chairman said. LafargeHolcim, which boasts 100,000 employees around the world, had a combined net sales of 29.5 billion Swiss francs ($30.33 billion) in 2015.-Reuters India stepped up patrols along its de facto border with Pakistan on Monday after gunmen killed 17 soldiers at a nearby army base, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration weighed its response to an attack India blames on its neighbour. The assault, in which four commando-style gunmen burst into the brigade headquarters in Uri at 5.30 am (midnight GMT) on Sunday, was among the deadliest in Kashmir and has sharply ratcheted up tension between the nuclear-armed rivals. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday called Pakistan "a terrorist state" and Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said troops were "ready to give a befitting response", without elaborating. Pakistan denies any role and accused India of apportioning blame before it had properly investigated. Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, is at the heart of the rivalry between the neighbours. Two of their three wars since independence from Britain have been fought over the region. India's options to hit back at Pakistan appeared limited, as they carry the risk of escalation. India held back from military retaliation when a Pakistan-based group killed 166 people in a 2008 rampage through Mumbai for fear of igniting a broader conflict and opted instead for a diplomatic offensive to isolate Islamabad. An attack on another Indian base near the border in January also drew a measured response, but the casualty toll was lower than in Sunday's raid. The concern is that Modi's government has several times signalled a lower threshold for retaliating against attacks from Pakistan than the previous Congress government, which adopted a policy of "strategic restraint". Modi held talks with leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a cabinet meeting to discuss security lapses and how to respond. "Our first priority is to fortify every defence base and it is shocking that one of our strategic locations was hit," a senior aide told Reuters. "It has exposed the flaws and the weakness of our security infrastructure and an immediate overhaul is the first job on hand." Indian troops searched three ravines that cut across the border in mountainous terrain near Uri, which a senior army official said they believe the militants sneaked across. Reinforcements were also sent to patrol one of the world's most heavily militarised frontiers, where Indian and Pakistani forces in places stand eyeball to eyeball and sometimes exchange fire, the army official said. As well as the 17 confirmed dead, army officials said three of the critically wounded had been flown to an army hospital in New Delhi. Most of dead and wounded suffered severe burns after their tents and temporary shelters caught fire from incendiary ammunition while they were sleeping. KASHMIR UNDER LOCKDOWN India was ranked fifth in the world in terms of military strength, according to a 2015 assessment by Credit Suisse based on data from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, compared to 11th for Pakistan. Pakistan has an estimated 120 nuclear warheads against India's 110, according to the Arms Control Association. Sunday's assault came as India's portion of Kashmir has been under a major security lockdown during more than two months of protests sparked by the July 8 killing of a commander of another Pakistan-based separatist group. India has long blamed Pakistan for a role in the 27-year long insurgency against its rule in its only Muslim-majority state. India's General Ranbir Singh said Sunday's assault bore the hallmarks of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Led by Islamist hardliner Maulana Masood Azhar from Pakistan's Punjab province, Jaish-e-Mohammed was blamed for the January air base raid as well as a 2001 attack on India's parliament that nearly led to war. No one has yet claimed responsibility and Pakistan denies sending fighters into Indian-administered Kashmir. "Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modi's government," the foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan's prime minister said in a statement late on Sunday. Recent unrest in Kashmir has been led largely by local young men angry at the heavy military presence. Eighty-two civilians have been killed and more than 7,000 wounded. Two policemen have also been killed in clashes. Pakistan has called on the UN and the international community to investigate atrocities it alleges have been committed by Indian security forces in Kashmir. The UN is preparing to hold its annual general assembly in New York, where Kashmir is likely to be on the agenda. -Reuters Zain Group, a top mobile operator in the region, has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Facebook to provide free, open and high-speed wi-fi Internet to refugees in Jordan for five years. The announcement was made at the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development meeting in New York held on September 18. This life-empowering service is being provided to refugees and surrounding local communities in key areas identified by the UNHCR, and forms part of its Connectivity for Refugees initiative. More than 724,000 refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Jordan, originating mainly from neighbouring Iraq and Syria, two countries facing ongoing internal unrest that has resulted in the massive displacement of large populations. The connectivity project backed by Zain Group, UNHCR and Facebook will offer unlimited, 24/7 outdoor and indoor Wi-Fi access points through Zain Jordans high-speed 4G mobile network, initially in four primary locations across the Kingdom, namely the Princess Basma Center in Sahab in greater Amman; the Al Khaledeya Center in Mafraq; the Princess Basma Center in Tafileh and the Princess Basma Center in Karak. Scott Gegenheimer, Zain Group CEO and a broadband commissioner said: As a regional telecommunications provider that has a history of operating in and helping communities in conflict zones, we are well aware of the transformational power connectivity plays in improving the quality of life of people. In addition to staying in touch with loved ones, this initiative will enable refugees in Jordan to stay informed with news concerning their circumstances as well as empowering them to utilize the power of the internet to enhance their economic livelihoods, bringing some peace of mind and dignity to their dire situation. Alan Vernon, lead for UNHCRs Connectivity for Refugees Programme, said: UNHCR is very pleased to partner and with Facebook and Zain to bring internet access to refugees in Jordan. Not only does internet access directly improve the well-being of refugees, but it also enables UNHCR and its partners to communicate more effectively with refugees and deliver improved support to their communities. Kevin Martin, Facebooks vice president of Mobile and Global Access Policy, and a broadband commissioner said: Everyone in the world including the millions of refugees who have been displaced from their homes - deserve access to the opportunities of the internet. Our hope is that by collaborating with the UNHCR and Zain Group, refugee communities in Jordan will now be able to connect with their families and friends, share information, and become part of the global digital community. This multi-stakeholder collaboration addresses several of the 17 ambitious Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted one year ago by 193 world leaders at the United Nations meeting in September 2015 aimed at ending poverty, protecting the planet, and ensuring the prosperity for all in the coming 15 years. This latest partnership touches on several of the SDGs, namely Goal 17, which addresses technology, capacity building and multi-stakeholder partnership targets as well as Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, and the promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all. TradeArabia News Service Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia Company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu for long-term cooperation in the field of 'Smart City' technologies and support the kingdom's industrialisation process. This agreement aims to support the Saudi Vision 2030 roadmap of transforming the kingdom to be a pioneering and successful global model of excellence on all fronts, a statement said. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's visit to China recently. Aimed at supporting the industrialisation process of Saudi Arabia, both parties will collaborate to support the development of the local ICT industry, and the employment of qualified Saudi resources in strategic areas, it said. Huawei will leverage its technologies to serve the Saudi people, in an effort to resolve the challenges associated with the continuing urbanisation of the kingdom and sense of happiness and safety, while increasing the countrys competitiveness, it added. The agreement includes the implementation of Smart City technologies, with an aim to interconnect every component in the several cities. This is done through initiatives like a joint strategy and masterplan design, smart city competency centre, technology innovation and building a smart city reference site together through collaboration, innovation and technology. The parties promise to interconnect every component of the city, drive innovation through human and machine, becoming more efficient at managing energy use, resources, mobility, intelligent living with comfort and security, and sustainable development to overcome the limitations of traditional urban development. Representing the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu was Dr Alaa Nassif, chief executive officer and Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia Company was represented by Ramadan Ding, chief executive officer. Huawei, as a global leading information technology and telecommunication leader, has created a specialised centre of excellence around Smart City practice with capabilities that are spanning over a wide range of services, products and partners. The company recently received the first commercial licence in the field of ICT in the kingdom, and will be running its business in the kingdom with a 100 per cent ownership privilege. Huawei has a mandate to build effective partnerships with local distributors and enhancing local content, focusing on future achievements and transforming ideas into reality using the latest innovations and the confidence of customers to support the kingdom's Vision 2030, the statement said. - TradeArabia News Service Careem, a leading car booking app in the region, has unveiled its new brand identity to mark the companys four-year anniversary. The rebranding initiative will see Careem undergo a complete makeover, with a new company symbol featuring a green wink and the implementation of a revamped strategy across all verticals from product messaging and advertising to community outreach and company culture. The goal of the rebranding effort is to give Careem an offline presence as effective as its online presence an image that captures the beauty and simplicity of technology and the positive impact it is creating in the region. The rebrand represents more than just a brand overhaul, said Mudassir Sheikha co-founder of Careem. This new branding changes the whole identity and manifestation of Careem. The logo is bold, positive, playful and differentiating. We wanted our brand to reflect how proud we are of being local. We also did some serious work to see how the logo plays across various cultures in the countries we operate in and the response was indisputably positive. Our mission is to move our region towards better living; and to achieve that, we had to create a regionally recognized brand symbol synonymous with what we stand for. Careem is bold, local and relevant to all, and the new identity represents these attributes perfectly. With the new identity, we wanted to not only focus on the practical element of what the company is doing, but also the why aspect of the Careem story and the new logo gives people reasons to believe in it, added Sheikha. TradeArabia News Service Bahrain's Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) has revealed that 581,840 travellers crossed the King Fahad Causeway into the kingdom during the three-day Eid Al-Adha holiday, said a report. According to a report in BNA, The third day of Eid registered the highest number of travellers arriving to Bahrain, recording 53,260 visitors. Meanwhile, the number of departures reached 275,259 and arrivers 306,581 during the three days. The passport department at the Bahrain International Airport processed the paperwork of 136,453 travellers; 87,182 arrivers and 49,261 departures. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Iran has reduced the number of planes it plans to buy from Airbus by six units following delays in US regulatory approvals needed to import the jets, an Iranian official told Reuters. Iran announced plans in January to buy 118 jets worth $27 billion at list prices from the European planemaker but has voiced concern at the amount of time it is taking to receive US export licences, which are required to complete the deal due to the large number of US parts in the Airbus jets. The country's deputy transport minister told a conference on Monday that there were signs the US would release licences by the end of this month. But speaking at the same event on Tuesday, he stepped up criticism of what Iran sees as improper delays in unblocking the nine-month-old deal, which is part of a landmark diplomatic pact between Tehran and world powers to lift most Western sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran's nuclear activities. "There are six fewer aircraft. These are the ones that were due to be delivered in 2016," the Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on the sidelines of the CAPA Iran Aviation Finance Summit. The deal to be finalised in coming weeks could therefore be for 112 aircraft instead of 118, he said. On paper, these include 12 A380 superjumbos but Iran has not yet decided whether to take the double-decker jets, and has an option to convert them to smaller models, he said. Reuters first reported in June that Iran was having second thoughts about taking the world's largest passenger plane partly for political reasons. - Reuters Heidelberg, Germany September 19, 2016 Training hundreds of customers around the world can put the brakes on an otherwise rapid rollout of a new software service. SITA found the solution to this challenge by adopting a new approach to knowledge transfer and creating e-learning objects with tt knowledge force. By the end of the project SITA calculated that it will have cut the time-to-market by more than a year, enabling customers to take advantage of the new software sooner and realizing significant cost savings for customers and SITA. Moreover, customer staff reported high levels of satisfaction and acceptance, and the long-term burden of user support was significantly reduced. When you fly with virtually any airline around the world, it is SITAs information and communications technology that makes your trip possible. One of the most important SITA applications used by over 100 customers (airlines and ground handlers) worldwide is load planning. Load planning ensures that the weight distribution within an aircraft is optimal for safe take-off and landing plus it has a significant impact on fuel efficiency. When SITA decided to replace its legacy load planning system, it soon identified that training delivery lead-times were going to be the limiting factor in project implementation. It needed a strategy to transition customers to the new Horizon Weight&Balance application in a timely and effective manner, using a model that could also be used as other new applications are released in future. For many years, SITA had used classroom training on a train-the-trainer basis, one customer at a time. SITA sought a new approach to create the vast amounts of training materials required to support the Horizon development and release plan. The company proposed a flipped classroom model in which students conduct most of their learning outside the classroom, using e-learning modules, at their own pace, before attending a classroom session focused on real-life scenarios. The classroom session is then followed by an additional knowledge check and finally students obtain their completion certificate. Classroom times are reduced for students and the level of knowledge retention has proved to be far higher. SITA selected tt knowledge force because it best suited the companys demanding criteria, such as easy content creation and editing, integration with the companys learning management system (LMS) via the SCORM standard, easy re-recording of screens and adaptability to multiple roles and multiple languages. SITA analyzed Horizon Weight&Balance and broke it down into 133 learning objects, which were arranged into nine training modules and mapped onto three roles. Using tt knowledge force, SITA built all 133 learning objects over the course of three months with a simple workflow, together with training manuals and SCORM e-learning packs, which were loaded into the SITA University LMS. Creating learning modules in tt knowledge force was fast and flexible: It enabled us to train employees at multiple customer organizations in parallel, rather than sequentially using the old train-the-trainer method, according to Peg Wyse, Project Manager & Training Administrator, SITA. As a result our new Horizon load planning application was up and running very quickly. Moreover, the solution is transferrable to all Horizon applications that we release in future. tts Managing Director Hermann Ude commented, Internationally active organizations like SITA are rethinking their approach to training and knowledge transfer to reduce costs and accelerate speed to market as they introduce new processes and technologies. It often makes far more sense to take the training to the user, rather than the user to the trainer, and follow this with performance support at the workplace. We are delighted that SITA has achieved such a high return on its investment in blended learning with the help of tts. tt knowledge force and innovative training delivery methods reduced implementation time for the new load planning application from more than three to less than two years, enabling customers to benefit from the new product sooner and increasing return on investment. About SITA With more than 4,600 permanent employees, SITA is the world leader in air transport communications and information technology. 95% of all international destinations are covered by the SITA network. Around the world, nearly every passenger flight relies on SITA technology and almost every airport and airline does business with SITA. Find out more at www.sita.aero About tts tts is a leading global learning provider. With innovative learning technologies, tts supports its customers in turning knowledge into workplace performance. The portfolio covers the tts software tt performance suite (e-learning authoring and documentation plus performance support) together with talent management (SAP Human Capital Management and SAP SuccessFactors) and corporate learning (training and e-learning). With its corporate HQ in Heidelberg, tts has nine offices around the world to serve its global clients. Find out more at www.tt-s.com/en/ DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad says he trusts that fellow Republican Donald Trump will keep Iowas precinct caucuses first in the nation, but the same is not true for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who the governor insists has an Iowa problem based on less-than-stellar performances in the state. However, officials in the Clinton campaign and Iowa Democratic Party were quick to refute Branstads contentions as off base and purely political during Mondays exchange. Branstad told reporters during his weekly news conference the GOP presidential nominee gave assurances during a campaign stop in Des Moines last month that he supports keeping Iowa first in the nations presidential nominating process, although he likes primary elections better than caucuses. The Iowa Republican governor said he felt comfortable Trump who finished second to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowas Feb. 1 precinct caucuses will support Iowas lead-off position, but by contrast he said Clinton has not made similar commitments and he would not trust her even if she did. She has not made it clear that she supports keeping the Iowa caucuses first, said Branstad, who speculated it was rooted in her third-place finish in Iowa in 2008 and her razor-thin win in 2016 over Bernie Sanders, when many experts believed she would put him away early and she did not. Iowa has embarrassed her and Iowa has been a problem for her again and again and again, he said. Its obvious I think that shes got an Iowa problem. Branstad noted that Trump has made more campaign appearances in Iowa since Julys national nominating conventions. He pointed to recent public-opinion poll numbers showing Trump ahead in the race for Iowas six key swing-state electoral votes as evidence of that Iowa problem. Kate Waters, Iowa press secretary for Hillary for America, shrugged aside Branstads claims, saying Hillary Clinton has and will continue to support Iowas first-in-the-nation status, while Ben Foecke, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, said: Gov. Branstads ridiculous assumptions are pure partisan games Hillary Clinton continues to support Iowas first in the nation status, period. It appears that our governor has decided to join Donald Trump by embracing conspiracy theories that have no basis. We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best productslearn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. While attachments are a more basic option, bidet seats are the next step up with luxuries like warm water sprayers, heated seats, self-cleaning, and even air dryers. Bidet seats can provide similar trendy features that more expensive, stand-alone bidet units offer (like touch-screen remotes and LED nightlights), but at a fraction of the cost. Not only do bidets help reduce paper consumption , but they can also offer benefits to personal hygiene . Not to mention, they're especially useful during toilet paper shortages . Now, its easier than ever for consumers to convert their existing toilets into bidets, thanks to affordable bidet attachments (mounted to the toilet) and bidet seats (which replace the existing seat). Americans rely heavily on toilet paper to clean their backsides, bogging down sewage systems and leading to a host of environmental issues like energy waste and deforestation. However, theres a bathroom revolution taking place as innovative bidets attempt to overthrow toilet paper and stake claim to the porcelain throne. Best Overall: TOTO SW3074#01 WASHLET C2 Electronic Bidet Toilet Seat 5 Amazon View On Amazon View On Wayfair View On Home Depot I Splurged on This Toilet Seat and Why You Should Too After spending 40 years perfecting bidets, Toto has thought of everything when it comes to bathroom hygiene. The companys first Washlet model came out in 1980, and todays Washlets are turning the mundane call of duty into an experience in itself. With plenty of features, the C2 is a middle-of-the-road option (in terms of pricing), with warm water sprays, a deodorizer, a heated seat, and an air dryereliminating the need for a washcloth or any toilet paper in order to dry off. Plus, the Washlet has several remote-controlled cleansing spray patterns and various pressures, so you dont need to scoot up or down on the seat to rinse the right spot, making it our top overall pick. "The visible controls are straightforward; a front and rear wash, and a dryer button. There is also a pressure adjustment and an oscillator button to shake it up a bit." ~ Treehugger Design Editor Lloyd Alter The 8 Best Bidet Attachments of 2022 Best Budget: Alpha Bidet iX Hybrid Bidet Toilet Seat Wayfair View On Amazon View On Wayfair View On Home Depot For a bidet seat with an abundance of extras yet a surprisingly affordable price, consider the Alpha Bidet iX Hybrid Bidet Toilet Seat. The remote-controlled seat has a ceramic core heating system that allows for warm water when you want it, plus stainless-steel nozzles with a self-cleaning mechanism and a power-saving setting. Not to mention there are four wash modes: a rear wash, a front feminine wash, a child wash, and a rear plus wash that has a narrow, targeted spray for when a spot needs more attention. The glowing blue nightlight helps guide youand guests in your hometo the bathroom during those sleepy midnight trips. Best Splurge: Kohler C3-230 Electric Bidet Seat for Elongated Toilets Kohler View On Amazon View On Home Depot View On Kohler.com With so many luxurious features and extra attention to sanitation, the C3-230 Electric Bidet Seat by Kohler makes trips to the toilet something to look forward to. An LED nightlight guides the way to the heated seat thats ergonomically designed for extra comfort. Kohler goes the extra mile to keep the bidet clean with a UV light that automatically sanitizes the sprayers, antimicrobial agents to keep mildew at bay, and a carbon filter for odor reduction. The touchscreen remote makes it easy to adjust water temperatures and pressures, plus theres an energy-saving mode and a warm air dryer. The company even addressed the toilet lid, by adding a quiet-close concept to prevent it from slamming shut. Best Non-Electric: Brondell Swash Non-Electric Bidet Toilet Seat Amazon View On Amazon View On Lowe's The Brondell Swash EcoSeat S102 is an excellent way to begin using bidet seats without too many bells and whistles, and it's ideal for those who lack an extra electrical outlet in their bathroom. The non-electric design costs about the same as a bidet attachment, but it avoids the awkward spacing between the seat and the rim that attachments can often create. The EcoSeat S102 is easy to install, has rear and front spray options with pressure controls, a self-cleaning nozzle, and temperature adjustments for ambient or warm water (but connection to a hot water source is required). Although it doesnt have electric remotes, heated seats, or nightlights, the Swash is affordable, durable, and effective. Best Self-Cleaning: Coway Bidetmega 400E Elongated-Electronic Bidet Seat Amazon View On Amazon View On Cowaymega.com View On Home Depot Many bidet seats offer a self-cleaning function, but the feature is often limited to nozzle sanitation. The Coway Bidetmega 400 extends this concept with a three-stage cleaning care system that automatically cleanses the bowl, water path, and nozzle to reduce any bacteria buildupallowing even better hygiene. The sprayer generates a multiple-stage wash, with nozzles that move back and forth to ensure a complete cleanse, plus the heated dryer will leave you with that fresh feeling. The wireless remote even features braille control buttons, with options to adjust the temperature, set the child wash or power-saving mode, or turn on the nightlight. Best Built-in Panel: Bio Bidet Slim Series Electric Smart Bidet Seat Home Depot View On Home Depot Most of the newest bidet seats have luxurious features that are controlled by a remote, but if you prefer a built-in control panel, Bio Bidets Slim One is an excellent option. The roster of added conveniences includes a nightlight, a three-in-one wash nozzle (front, posterior, and turbo wash), and a power saverall adjusted by a control panel thats attached to the side. Theres also a child setting that automatically disperses a lower water temperature. Bio Bidet also has a number of green initiatives underway such as committing its headquarters to solar power, using recyclable packaging for products (including the Slim One), and joining forces with Random Acts of Green. The 5 Best Composting Toilets of 2022 A roundup of state government and Iowa Capitol news items of interest for Monday, Sept. 19, 2016: CROP REPORT: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said Monday that more than half of the states corn crop is mature but field conditions are too wet for much harvest activities to begin. Farmers will be anxious to start harvesting when conditions allow, Northey said. Statewide, there were 3.3 days suitable for fieldwork last week, but farmers in east central and southeast Iowa had over five suitable days, he said. Activities for the week included chopping corn for silage, seed corn harvest, manure application and cutting hay. A total of 95 percent of the corn crop has reached the dent stage or beyond, which was three days ahead of the five-year average. Crops are maturing rapidly with 52 percent of corn at the mature stage, and Northey said there were scattered reports of corn for grain being harvested. Corn condition rated 83 percent good to excellent, while 81 percent of the soybean crop condition was rated good to excellent, he said. Up to 82 percent of soybeans were turning color and 46 percent of soybeans were dropping leaves both ahead of last years harvest. PRESIDENTIAL DISASTER DECLARATION SOUGHT: Gov. Terry Branstad sent a letter Monday to President Obama requesting a Presidential Disaster Declaration for eight Iowa counties where significant damage was sustained from severe storms and flooding last month. The counties included in this request for the period from Aug. 23-27 were Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell, and Winneshiek counties. The governor requested funding under the Federal Emergency Management Agencys Public Assistance Program, which is used to rebuild damaged infrastructure that may include roads, bridges, culverts and other public facilities, or to cover costs of emergency work during, and debris removal after, the storms. A joint federal, state, and local preliminary damage assessment of the eight counties found the severe weather caused an estimated $4.8 million worth of damage that could be eligible under the Public Assistance Program. The governor also requested funding to conduct hazard mitigation activities for the entire state. HARVEST WEIGHT CHANGE: Gov. Terry Branstad signed a proclamation Monday to allow the transportation of overweight loads of soybeans, corn, hay, straw, silage and stover on Iowa roadways. The proclamation takes effect Tuesday and expires after 60 days. Branstad said the change should allow Iowa farmers to move their crop yields in an effective and efficient manner while weather conditions are favorable. The action is intended to allow loads transported on all highways within Iowa, excluding the interstate system, and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight or are within other guidelines. The Iowa Department of Transportation is directed to monitor the operation of this proclamation to assure the publics safety and facilitate the movement of the trucks involved, according to the governors office. AMES | Tim Kaine said he thinks millennials are altruistic, global thinkers who embrace diversity. And he said those young people will be critical in choosing the nations next president. Kaine, the Democratic nominee for vice president and running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, spoke Monday at a rally on the Iowa State University campus as the campaign made an appeal to young voters. Millennials are critical to this race. Young voters are critical to this race, said Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia. Some people look at the millennial generation, and they find reasons to gripe about them. I look at the millennial generation, and I see embracing diversity, I see altruistic and patriotic and thinking globally. Democrats are hoping millennials turn out in the November election, which was 50 days from Monday, and support Clinton. In an August poll by USA Today, millennial likely voters overwhelmingly supported Clinton over Trump, 56 percent to 20 percent. Jeff Kaufmann, the Republican Party of Iowa chairman and a history and psychology professor at Muscatine Community College, said in a conference call Monday that Republicans have not written off millennial voters, but he cast doubt on Clintons ability to improve her standing with the group. Ive been teaching and interacting with this group of individuals for more than a quarter of a century. Ive got a pretty good handle on this group, certainly a better handle than Hillary Clinton or Tim Kaine could hope to have, Kaufmann said. I can tell you that is a fluid vote. That is a vote that is focused on very specific issues. I can tell you a few of those issues are definitely privacy rights, individualism, cost of education. I can also tell you this group is pretty discerning, and they are not going to be captured by ridiculous claims that somehow theyre going to have a free college education. En route to Ames, Kaine stopped into Mars Cafe coffee shop near the Drake University campus. Among the people he greeted was a trio of Drake students who said they were pleasantly surprised to get a chance to meet Kaine. One of the students Kaine greeted was Shea Sieff, a junior from suburban Chicago. Sieff said she supported Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses, but Clinton was her second choice, and she is supporting Clinton in the general election. Right now, the election is between Trump and Hillary, and who are we going to pick thats going to make America a country that we want to live in and not a country fueled by hate or racism? Sieff said, adding she thinks Clinton is working to help minorities. I think shes the right choice. Sieff said she thinks people her age are getting more involved in the political process during this election. I think were seeing now more millennials and my generation getting involved in the political system, she said. I feel like this election has been a turn for that. At the Iowa State rally, Kaine spoke about issues he thinks are important to young voters: LGBT equality, addressing climate change, womens choice in health care, immigration reform and voting rights. He also criticized Trump on numerous fronts, including his view of the country. Kaine held up a copy of Trumps book, Crippled America, and contrasted it with the book written by the Clinton-Kaine campaign, Stronger Together. I dont recognize crippled America. I dont recognize this anywhere I go, Kaine said. Thats what this race is about: fundamentally who we are. Most polls on the presidential race in Iowa have shown a close race between Clinton and Trump, although a Monmouth University Poll published last week showed Trump with a lead of 8 percentage points. GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 18 A Germany citizen, Holger Erik Misch (44), who was left high and dry following registration of a criminal case against him, now sees a ray of hope in Amritsar. A local advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba has offered him free-of-cost legal aid. Apart from this, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has also extended its helping hand to the German. Misch came to India on a tourist visa valid for 180 days. He went to Kullu and Manali little knowing that bitter experience of Indian policing was in store for him. He had a tiff with a group of youth at the rural area in Manikaran (Himachal Pradesh) two months ago. Though he, too, was left with broken ribs, the Himachal Pradesh (HP) police allegedly booked him in a one sided affair under Section 324, IPC. Though, he managed to procure bail despite being penniless, his passport and relevant documents were seized by the police. He claimed that the police manipulated evidence and managed to conceal facts of his medical report to oblige known local youth. Then onwards, he has been moving from one city to the other for his survival with broken ribs and negligible money in his pocket. Advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba is using her legal contacts in Kullu to pursue his case. First, I will try to get the case registered against Misch under Section 324, IPC, quashed through Kullu district court to procure his passport from the HP police. We are also trying to establish contact with German Embassy, she said. Misch reached Amritsar a few days ago with just Rs 12 in his pocket. He said, I was attacked. I defended myself, but the police investigation showed the other way round that I was the attacker, but not the victim. I was broken after the German Embassy, too, showed no inclination to help me out. Then, at New Delhi railway station a Sikh gentleman, after listening to my plight, advised me to visit the Golden Temple. I had an idea about this famous Sikh shrine. I took a chance and reached Amritsar without ticket. I spent Rs 11 on me, but saved a one-rupee coin to offer at the Golden Temple. I prayed to the Lord to help me. It seems that my voice was heard, he added. He said, I express my deepest gratitude to the Sikh community, who gave me food and shelter in these times of hardship. Misch did not try to approach officials of the SGPC due to discouraging response he received from the management of Gurdwara Rakabh Ganj in Delhi, earlier. When contacted, SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh said, If he comes to us, we will definitely try to help him out. Meanwhile, Misch was on a lookout for a place as a temporary shelter. That is how he reached Gurdwara Sri Amanatsar Sahib in Beas. Priest Daya Singh readily offered him food and accommodation for as many days. This is Guru Ghar where every human being is welcome. This German devotee is rather a helping hand to us. As he is an electric engineer, he mended and streamlined our power arrangements at the gurdwara, besides assisting in our daily chores, he said. Despite communication gap, Misch and Daya Singh understand each other through gestures and signs. The priest sought help of one of his friends Prabhjit Singh Bhullar, director of a pharma firm, who raised money from his acquaintance and also arranged legal aid for Misch. Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 19 Sculpture artist from Bangladesh Sam David opened his first solo show in India at KT Kala Kendra today. The 29-year-old artist, who works with concrete and metal, displayed 12 works created by him over a span of 10 days and has been inspired by the social and political atmosphere of Punjab. Inaugurating his show, David said he is glad that his first international exhibit is in India. I have visited Kolkata and stayed there for a few weeks for an art-orientation programme. But coming to Punjab with my first solo show feels good. The city has a niche but good audience for art, he said. His works displayed at the show are based on Indo-Bangladesh theme, with each addressing a social issue. Over my stay in the city, I had observed that female feoticide, road rage and general resentment against economic disparity are a few of the issues that common man suffers from. Back home, we too have the same issues prevailing and it was easy for me to translate that into my work, he said. Stand-out sculptures included the ones on road rage, created by using everyday material like rubber, plastic, metal and concrete; a figurative sculpture of a woman depicting her struggle with social typecasts; a progressive sculpture on Digital India, with books placed inside a metal cage as a showpiece. His sculptures on relationships, depicting couples in various forms and stages of a relationship, are what he enjoys doing the most. In my art work, I express my perception, male and female forms, their emotions and sensuality through motifs, forms and figures. I try to bring in certain symbolism into it, making them three- dimensional, he said. His representation on feoticide, which he says is prevalent in Bangladesh as well, was the highlight for some. The exhibition has been sponsored by KT Kala Kendra and will remain open till September 21. Lt Gen OP Kaushik (retd) THE fidayeen attack in Uri has, once again, highlighted the need to immediately adopt an active and a sustained strategy to eliminate terrorism from J&K. The strategy should include an integrated approach at all levels administration, political, social, religious, psychological, diplomatic and military. A broad outline of the important features of the proposed strategy are discussed below. Firmness by the state police and administration in maintaining law and order situation is the most urgent requirement. The situation has aggravated because of the poor response by the administrative services that stand almost paralysed under the present circumstances. We need to review whether we should, for the time being, introduce Frontier Administrative Service, comprising selected best officers with pronounced national feelings from the military, civil services, paramilitary forces, police and any other field. This service provided yeomans service in NEFA during the 1950s and 60s, and was mainly responsible for the efficient administration of the area which led to its integration with the country. It is a fact that an administration which can be paralysed by a stone-pelting crowd cannot be expected to fight terrorism. The ruling party in the state as well as the opposition have adopted a soft and permissive attitude towards people collaborating with terrorism. The government must adopt a professional and strict approach in dealing with collaborators. Militancy has survived and, in fact, prospered because of the help it has received from its background supporters. Action must be initiated against such supporters. This will help in breaking ideological motivation and drying up resources which the terrorists enjoy among the local people. Strict checks must be imposed on money, weapons and other resources coming from abroad. The State has become a big market for the illegal sale of arms, and since this trade fetches a lot of money, many unemployed youths are getting drawn to this business. A substantial part of the aid provided by the Centre is being funnelled to militant organisations. Very stringent checks and audit as well as accountability must be imposed on the state government. The centralised control of CPOs, deployed in the State, should be given to the Army under the concept of unified command for their optimum utilisation. There is tremendous infighting among security organisations. Mere lip service has been provided in harmonising their combined efforts. What we have in the State is an ad hoc creation called unified command. It is presided over by the Chief Minister who is naive and has no experience of handling counter-terrorist operations. On account of her anti-Army attitude, the Army has no faith in her and does not consider her worthy of confidence. Historical experience nationally and internationally provides clear evidence that all security forces must work under the command and control of a Unified Commander from the Army. Efficiency of the state police should be reinforced by drawing from other state police forces on a temporary basis. The J&K Police today is thoroughly compromised and is most reluctant to register cases against terrorists. It is primarily due to this reason that the law and order situation in the State is worsening every day. The identification and removal of subversive elements from government and semi-government organisations is next. These elements, in a covert manner, are terrorising the loyal section of the population. The flow of government money to militants is also taking place through these elements. Sustained psychological operations, through all forms of media, must be undertaken on a daily basis to disenchant the population with militants and develop a feeling of national integration. Media contribution in tackling terrorism has been negligible so far. At the same time, a planned and deliberate denial of media support to the militants should be ensured. We must prepare the population mentally to reject terrorism. It should be achieved through psychological warfare based on posters, newspapers, television, radio and books put together for this specific purpose by professionals and made available free, or at very cheap rates, to the public. The Army must be given clear directions to deal firmly with external forces aiding and sheltering terrorists. This will demand engagement of Pakistani posts across the LoC, where terrorists are assembled to be infiltrated into the Valley. Effective sealing of the borders and strict vigilance along the LoC, achieved by a policy of shoot to kill anybody crossing the border illegally, must be implemented. The more aggressive use must be made of our commando units in flushing out and liquidating terrorists. They should also be utilised for organising raids on militants camps in the PoK. Pakistan has ignored our numerous demands to shut down these camps. We should now take initiative on our own to plan and launch commando strikes on terrorist camps. Terrorists must be forced to feel unsafe, wherever their hideouts are in the Valley or PoK. Terrorists need to be terrorised by active and continuous operations against them day and night, in all seasons and all places. More Rashtriya Rifles units should be raised, based on local recruitment from J&K and permanently locating these in terrorist-affected areas. These units should have elements of Kashmiri Pandits and surrenderees as identifiers. The Rashtriya Rifles must be so well organised, equipped, trained and officered that in the event of Army units and the headquarters pulled out of the State, they can manage the internal situation in J&K on its own. Our strategy should concentrate on aggressive action to liquidate terrorism and to isolate the local population from their influence. It should also emphasise on active domination of our borders to deny any possibility of infiltration. A more aggressive and active posture against Pakistan should be adopted, considering its role in keeping the pot boiling in the Valley at all times. The writer has served in the Valley and is a former IG (Operations), Black Cat Commando Units Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 19 Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was attacked with ink today while he was speaking to the media outside Lt Governor Najeeb Jungs residence. The attacker was arrested and identified as 35-year-old Brijesh Shukla. A self-proclaimed founder of one Swaraj Janata Party, Shukla said he attacked Sisodia as he was angry with his trip to Finland while the city is in the grip of vector-borne diseases. Sisodia had gone abroad at the expense of public money while people of Delhi are suffering, Shukla said while shouting that he was an angry citizen of Delhi. In response to questions on his meeting with the LG, Sisodia slammed the rival political parties saying, We are committed to working on the improvements in health and education sectors, but the Opposition is working on ink only. This is the dirty politics by the BJP and the Congress. Defending his tour, Sisodia said he had gone to study the education system of Finland and saw nothing wrong in it. He said that he briefed the LG on the salient points of the education system in Finland. The Lt Governor last Friday had asked Sisodia to return to Delhi immediately in the wake of sudden spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases. The fax sent by Jungs office triggered a fresh war of words between him and the AAP government. Almost the entire Cabinet, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who was in Bengaluru until yesterday for a throat surgery, was missing from action in the national Capital. While Health Minister Satyendra Jain was in Goa to oversee the party campaigning work, the Health Secretary remained on leave for 10 days. The Lt Governor too was away from Delhi around that time. Newly appointed Nepalese Prime Minister Prachandas just concluded visit to India was aimed at restoring mutual trust so as to put the soured bilateral relationship back on track. Relations between the two neighbours have witnessed a severe low in recent times, although some effort was made to reset the ties during Prachandas predecessor KP Olis visit last February. At the heart of the current tension is Nepals recently drafted Constitution which has diluted the rights and representation of the Madhesis who share a close cultural and familial bond with people across the border in India. Protests by the Madhesis had led to considerable internal instability that had manifested into a de facto economic blockade of the landlocked country last year. In his address to the Nepalese community while in New Delhi, Prachanda conceded that without taking the Janjatis, the Tharus and the Madhesis into confidence, the right atmospherics for implementation of the Constitution could not be created. An inclusive Nepalese Constitution and a development agenda are key to the security and stability in the Himalayan region. India hopes that the new Nepalese government would implement the Constitution through inclusive dialogue and by accommodating the aspirations of all sections of the diverse society. New Delhi, wisely, has dropped its minatory tone. On his part, Prachanda gave the impression that Nepal was mindful of the need of creating a sense of partnership and participation among all sections of society. India cannot be oblivious to Beijings attempts to deepen relations with Kathmandu with which they have signed a transit agreement that will give the Himalayan kingdom access to the Chinese seaport of Tianjin. China is also keen to establish a One-Belt One-Road economic corridor on the lines of CPEC. It now remains to be seen whether and how early Prime Minister Prachanda and his government amicably resolve the issue. It is in the interest of both India and Nepal, which share an open border and have a historical and cultural binding. Prachandas visit is just a beginning. N Kalia Jind, September 19 Panic gripped Dalamwala villagers in the district when a murder accused barged into Government Senior Secondary School today morning, searching for the principal. When he did not find him, he fled. Villagers claimed the accused had two pistols and he threatened to kill the principal in the presence of the staff if he did not get the money. A few days ago, they claimed, Punit alias Kadwa (20) had made an extortion call to principal Surinder Kumar Verma, demanding Rs1 lakh. Irked, villagers locked the school gate today; classes were suspended. It was the second time in a week that villagers locked the gate. They did so on Saturday as well in protest against the polices failure to arrest the accused. A day before that, Kadwa had entered the school, looking for Verma. Teachers said the principal had not been coming to the school for several days. They claimed the authorities had been apprised of the situation, but to no avail. Kadwa had cleared Class X from the school in 2012, teachers said. Officiating school in charge Satyawan said the police were informed immediately on leaning about todays incident. Village sarpanch Jagdish Singh said: A PCR van is deployed outside the school, but the accused managed to escape. Villagers have lost faith in the police. So, we have decided to provide security to teachers and students. The panchayat, he said, had handed over a list of 15 villagers to the administration. They will provide security to staff and students. Rohtash Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, refuted the charge of negligence by the police. The accused entered the school from back by scaling the boundary wall. He escaped from the same route in the absence of police. The police will beef up security. Verma has been provided with a gunman, he said, adding the police of Pillu Khera, Alewa, Jind Sadar and two teams of the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) were searching for Kadwa. The police have released Kadwas picture and announced appropriate reward for leads on him. Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, September 19 The controversy over the government takeover of the Lord Raghunath Temple in Kullu has reached the Raj Bhawan with the head of the erstwhile royal family Maheshwar Singh today seeking the intervention and protection of the Governor to enable him to perform his ritual duty during the Dasehra festivity. Maheshwar also skipped the state level meeting of the International Kullu Dasehra held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Being the main custodian of Lord Raghunath, Maheshwar urged the Governor to intervene in the matter so that he can perform the religious ceremonies that his ancestors have been performing, which marks the beginning of the Dasehra celebrations. With less than a month left for the Kullu Dasehra and the government takeover of the Raghunath temple being challenged in the High Court by Maheshwar, there are apprehensions that he might not be allowed to perform the puja and lead the processions and the palanquin of Lord Raghunath. This year the Dasehra festival commences on October 11 and ends on October 17. Considering the recent utterances of the Chief Minister, I today met Governor Acharya Devvrat and sought his protection. Since the matter is in the court and the status quo has been maintained, I want that the rituals should be performed as per the century-old traditions, said Maheshwar. It was about a months back that Maheshwar who had won on the Assembly election from Kullu on from his own party, the Himachal Lokhit Party, joined the BJP. I have requested the Governor to come and see for himself if the temple is in a garage. Moreover, if it is in a garage then it means it is a private temple and not public temple, remarked Maheshswar. He also questioned the plea taken by Karan Singh, his younger brother and a Cabinet minister in the Virbhadra government that he has joint ownership in the temple. I want to ask him and the state government that if he is staking co-ownership then it is but obvious that it is a private temple of the Kullu royal family and not a public or government temple, he said. He warned that no attempt should be made by the government to disturb the religious rituals associated with the Dasehra as the religious sentiments of the people of the town are associated with it. In his letter to the Governor he has mentioned that even the DB Lal Commission, appointed in 1972, had clearly pointed out that the head of the ruling family of Kullu is the main custodian of Lord Raghunath an d he leads the processions with the deity in the palanquin. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, September 18 Four Jaish-e-Mohammed militants stormed an Army base barely 50 metres from the Brigade Headquarters in Uri sector, 6 km from the Line of Control (LoC), killing 17 soldiers and wounding 23, nine of them critically, at 4.30 am today. It is the highest casualty suffered by the Army in a single attack in Kashmir in the past over two decades. The four fidayeen involved in the attack were killed. The terror attack took place despite state Intelligence officials forewarning the Army. The well-trained, heavily-armed militants are believed to have crossed the LoC hours before the attack. They breached the 7-foot-high rear wall by cutting the barbed wire at about 4.30 am and sneaked into the Army base that houses an infantry battalion of the 12th Brigade. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) As they lobbed grenades, opened fire and set ablaze the barracks and temporary shelters, there was utter chaos inside where 10 Dogra Regiment was in the process of moving out, making space for 6 Bihar Regiment. Of the 17 soldiers killed, 15 were from 6th battalion of the Bihar Regiment and two from 10 Dogra Regiment. It is suspected that the attackers knew about the operational handover though replacement of troops along the LoC is kept a guarded secret. Most casualties were primarily because of tents and temporary shelters catching fire. At the initial stage, soldiers of both the regiments were asleep inside. At least 10 of them were killed, an Army official said. He said the militants, who belonged to the Jaish group, carried items with Pakistani marking. The 12th Brigade is one of two brigades guarding the LoC in Uri sector, which is heavily forested. Sources said the militants may have infiltrated through Sokar sector and made their way through the dense cover. The Army air-dropped special forces to zero in on the militants. After almost five hours of fierce fighting, all of them were killed. The Army had a tough time shifting the injured to the Army Base Hospital. The state government rushed doctors from the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences to the 92 Base Hospital in Badamibagh for assistance. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who reached Srinagar following the strike, said he had asked Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh to take firm action against those responsible for the attack. Samaan Lateef Tribune News Service Srinagar September 19 A day after a terror attack in Uri, the Karvan-e-Aman (cross-LoC peace bus) between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar resumed service on schedule on Monday morning. Eight passengers boarded the bus from Srinagar around 6 am and reached the Salamabad transit point in Uri at 9.30 am. Of the eight passengers, five were residents of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir who had come here to visit their relatives, and three Kashmiris, officials said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The bus will cross over to the PoK as per schedule. We have no objection to the resumption of bus service at this point of time, Showkat Ahmad, Sub-District Magistrate, Uri, told The Tribune. Ahmad is nodal officer for the facilitation of bus service between the two countries. Ahmad said security officials are frisking passengers and checking their luggage. After the security check, the bus will cross over to PoK in half an hour, he said. The Karvan-e-Aman, a weekly bus service between India and Pakistan, was started in April 2005. At least 17 soldiers were killed and 19 others injured after a group of four militants attacked the 12th Brigade of Army on Sunday morning. The attack created public outrage across the country. As peace-building initiatives between two countries, the bus service was followed by bilateral trade conducted from Tuesday to Friday every week along the LoC in Uri in 2008. Trade worth billions of rupees has also been done through this cross-LoC route by the traders of PoK and Jammu and Kashmir. Officials said the cross-LoC trade will also continue from Tuesday after remaining suspended for over two months due to lack of security. Cross-LoC trade is most likely to resume from Tuesday because we have no objection to the trade with PoK, the general manager, Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre, Farooq Ahmad Shah, said. The cross-LoC trade in Uri is suspended for the past two months due to lack of security. The CRPF personnel, who accompany the trucks to the Kaman Sethu bridge, are busy with law and order situation, Shah said. He said a meeting of civil and security officials is taking place today to arrange the security for the tucks. DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he is encouraged by the state Board of Regents two-year approach to budgeting, but expressed concern over a two-tiered tuition idea floated at Iowa State University that might hurt students who spend the first two years at community colleges to keep costs down. Branstad told his weekly news conference he believes the state has made progress in restoring stability and predictability for students and families considering the cost of attending a state university but he said student debt remains high although it has come down in recent years relative to other states. However, Iowa State University President Steven Leath last week cited a growing reliance on tuition over state appropriations for funding state universities in proposing that his school implement a two-tier tuition structure that eventually would charge more in tuition for juniors and seniors than for freshmen and sophomores. He said the phased-in change would help finance high-quality educational offerings. On Monday, Branstad said he generally is supportive of a two-year budget request by the regents to increase state funding by 2 percent in exchange for limiting tuition increases to 2 percent for resident undergraduate student, but he raised concerns about the ISU idea of a two-tiered tuition system saying, Id want to study that very, very carefully. My concern is that a lot of our students are starting out at the community colleges because they cant afford to go to the state universities, the governor told reporters. So, we dont want to penalize them by having a higher tuition for them in their junior and senior years. Branstad said college tuition is competitive in Iowa while other states have seen outlandish increases, but he noted that how much taxpayer funding he and state legislators will be able to offer state universities will depend on the state revenue forecast that gets issued in December. He said it is his intent to unveil a two-year spending proposal in January when he delivers his Condition of the State message to lawmakers. College funding was the focus of Branstads weekly news conference where he drew attention to a GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) college access and career readiness program that provides low-income students and their families with planning resources. The federally funded program administered by the Iowa College Student Aid Commission currently serves more than 7,000 students in 26 high schools in 12 districts, including Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Columbus Junction, Davenport, Denison, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Perry, Sioux City and Storm Lake. With a $22 million grant and another $22 million in in-kind matches from partners, GEAR UP Iowa provides services to help students and families create a college-going culture to prepare students to enroll and succeed in college and careers: campus visits, job shadowing and career fairs, financial aid advice, tutoring and mentoring, said commission Executive Director Karen Misjak. These students might be the first in their families to go to college or plan their career path, said Misjak. GEAR UP Iowa helps them achieve education or training beyond high school by providing knowledge and resources to the entire family. About half of the Iowa students involved in the GEAR UP program in 2008 wound up going to college in 2014 and of those about 70 percent are still enrolled in college, she noted. Jaqueline Guardado, a ninth-grader at Perry High School who was among a group of GEAR UP class students who attended Mondays event at the Statehouse, said the program was giving her an opportunity to attend college that neither her parents had. Im very grateful for this, she said. I hope one day that Ill get to have a job that I love and is something worthwhile. Tribune News Service Srinagar/Anantnag, September 19 Curfew was clamped in Pulwama and Shopian towns of south Kashmir today in view of the separatists call for a protest march. Old Srinagar city also remained under curfew. The separatists had called for a protest march in Baramulla, Srinagar and Pulwama districts. Nearly 50 persons were injured today in clashes in various parts of the Valley. In south Kashmirs Shopian district, clashes erupted between locals and security forces when the police did not allow a rally in Vihil village. The police and the CRPF used force to disperse the protesters. The police fired tear-smoke shells and pellet guns to disperse the people triggering day-long clashes in the area, a local said. According to Health Department officials, over 50 injured were treated at various health facilities across Shopian district while two of the critically injured protesters were shifted to a Srinagar hospital. A girl, Khushboo, 19, died of cardiac arrest in Vihil village. Residents alleged that she had suffered a heart attack during police action. However, the police denied the allegation. The home of the girl is about 7 km from Vihil village, where the miscreants set on fire a school and also indulged in stone-throwing. As per the hospital authorities, the girl died in all likelihood because of a cardiac arrest. The death of the girl is no way related to the incident that happened at Vihil village. In the neighbouring Pulwama town, the Army conducted a flag march as things remained under control throughout the day. In Kulgam, barricades were erected by security forces outside all security forces camps to prevent any movement throughout the day. The barricades were removed in the evening, following which clashes erupted at several places. Meanwhile, the police, in a statement, said that barring stray stone-pelting incidents in Sopore and Shopian, the overall situation remained under control across the Valley today. Increased vehicular traffic and movement of people was observed on roads between various districts and towns of the Valley, including Srinagar city, a police spokesman said in the statement. The spokesman said restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPC remained in force in the Valley today, where normal life remained disrupted for the 73rd consecutive day. Meanwhile, following an improvement in the situation, the authorities have decided to allow post-paid mobile Internet services in the Valley from Tuesday. Tribune News Service Jammu, September 19 A day after the terror attack on the Uri Army base that claimed the lives of 18 soldiers, anger spilled onto streets across Jammu today with protesting groups demanding a stern and befitting reply against Pakistan for sponsoring terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. The protesters also castigated the policies of the BJP-led NDA government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in dealing with terrorists and anti-nationals in the state. Work in all courts, including the High Court and sub-ordinate courts, remained affected on a call given by J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu. The protesting lawyers suspended work and paid tributes to the bravehearts killed at Uri. Condolence meetings were held in the High Court and district courts to pay homage to the martyred soldiers. The lawyers, in one voice, while condemning the dastardly act of terrorists demanded a stern action against the perpetrators of terrorism. They said, Only lip service and mere statements would not suffice to address the problem. We are with the family of bravehearts who made supreme sacrifice for the nation, said Pranab Kohli, a senior lawyer. Students of various institutions, including Jammu University, Government MAM Post Graduate College and Government SPMR College of Commerce, boycotted their classes and held demonstrations against Pakistan for fomenting trouble in the state. Jammu University students, under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), organised a Tiranga Rally from the campus up to Bikram Chowk. Around 500 students of Jammu University took part in the rally. They urged the Central and state governments to give a strong reply to anti-national forces. The students also took out a candle march to show their solidarity with the Army men. Similarly, students of other degree colleges held demonstrations demanding attack on terror camps operating in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Young students of various private schools also held prayers and paid tributes to the martyred soldiers. On the political front, activists of various mainstream parties condemned the attack and demanded a direct attack on terror camps operating in PoK. Dubbing Pakistan as a threat to peace in South Asia, Panthers Party activists staged a protest. Led by Harsh Dev Singh, chairman JKNPP, and Yash Paul Kundal, state president Young Panthers, the protesters accused Pakistan of pushing fidayeen to carry out terror attacks on security personnel besides endorsing support to the secessionists in Kashmir. They raised anti-Pak slogans at Exhibition Ground here. J&K Pradesh Congress Committee leaders expressed solidarity with the families of martyred jawans and extended heartfelt condolences to them. Kathua district also saw protests with activists of several parties burning flags and effigies of Pakistan. The District Congress Committee, under the leadership of Subash Gupta, staged a protest at Mukherjee Chowk in Kathua town and burnt an effigy of Pakistan. Shiv Sena and Dogra Front activists also burnt a Pakistani flag and held demonstrations in front of the Deputy Commissioners office. The Bar Association also suspended work. In Billawer and Hiranagar tehsils, protests were reported at different places. The Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM) also staged a protest and demanded that a free hand should be given to the armed forces to deal with terror state like Pakistan effectively. Condemning the outrageous and cowardly attack by terrorists, office-bearers and senior members of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Jammu, termed it was an attack on the unity and integrity of the nation. They said in this hour of challenge, the entire nation was behind the security forces to defeat the nefarious designs of the enemy. The chamber requested the Bazaar Associations to arrange condolence meetings to condole the deaths of the brave soldiers by lighting candles in their respective areas. The Beopar Mandal Vijaypur also staged a protest and demanded a direct attack on Pakistan to end the terrorism on the Indian soil. Sumit Hakhoo tribune news service Jammu, September 19 As the terrorist attack on an Army camp in Uri, close to Line of Control (LoC) in Baramulla district, on Sunday added another chapter to the 27-year-long insurgency in J&K, its also a brutal reminder of the sacrifices of hundreds of soldiers from the Jammu region who fought and died in the proxy war since 1989-90. While local lore revolves around tales of war and valour about soldiers who were martyred in the line of duty to defeat terrorism supported by Pakistan and its proxy radical Islamic groups operating from across the Line of Control (LoC) dividing J&K, hundreds of families have lost their sons and fathers due to indecisive approach of successive governments towards militants and their supporters in the state. Agriculture has been the main occupation, but dusty hamlets have produced brave soldiers. Moving along the highway and interior villages in Rajouri, RS Pura, Akhnoor, Samba, Kathua, Vijaypur and Hiranagar, the countryside is dotted with memorials (shaheedi samaraks) for the fallen soldiers, price being paid by ordinary people to fight terrorism. Though villages have tried to outwit each other while building war memorials by installing the statues of martyrs or creating huge gates depicting the pictures of soldiers at the entrance of their hamlets, but resentment against the government is growing for not doing enough to strike on terror sponsors. My brother is serving in the Army and destruction caused by Pakistan during shelling on our village was the main motivation for him to join armed forces. Every village has a martyr in this belt, said Shamsher Singh from RS Pura, close to the international border. It had been a tradition of a sort for villagers as families have served the armed forces for generations. Right from the time of Maharaja Gulab Singh, founder of the J&K state, plains of Jammu have been the breeding ground of warriors who fought in Hunza, Gilgit and Tibet to consolidate the Dogra rule in J&K and other war theatres during WW I and WW II. Since 1947, when Pakistan imposed a war on India to occupy Kashmir, people of Jammu have thwarted its efforts. Valour and honour is in our blood, but sacrifices of our youth should not go vain. How much sacrifice the countrys leadership want before they wake up and take a decisive action? said Gurdeep Singh, a farmer from Samba, whose son is serving in the Army. During the last two decades, people living along the international border and LoC have suffered heavily due to cross-border shelling and militants who infiltrate from Pakistan. However peasants have become part of the Village Defence Committees to track the movement of terrorists and have successfully succeeded in killing several groups of militants on several occasions. People act as eyes and ears for security forces in the hinterland. Amir Karim Tantray Tribune News Service Sarwa (Vijaypur), September 19 Thousands of people and Army men bid a tearful adieu to Havaldar Ravi Paul and Subedar Karnail Singh, two of the 18 soldiers killed in the Uri attack on Sunday, at their native villages in Samba and Jammu districts, respectively. Mortal remains of both soldiers were brought to the Jammu technical airport on Monday afternoon in an Army helicopter and from there they were taken to their respective villages Sarwa in the Vijaypur area of Samba district and Shibu Chak in the Bishnah area of Jammu district. In Sarwa village, since morning all roads led to the house of Havaldar Ravi Paul (42), who is survived by wife and two sons, Vansh Salotra (10) and Sudhansheesh Salotra (7). This village is situated a few kilometres away from the international border in the Ramgarh sector. Around 50-60 people of the village are working with the Army. Ravi Paul, youngest of six siblings, was in 10 Dogra Regiment while his two elder brothers have also worked in the Army. His children want to continue the tradition by joining the Army. My father wanted me to become a doctor and I will fulfil this by becoming a doctor in the Army, Vansh Salotra told The Tribune. His younger brother Sudhansheesh also thinks on similar lines. Vansh said it was routine that his father used to call them early in the morning to wake them up so that they could get ready for school. On Sunday also, we got a call from my father at around 5 am and our talk was about routine things, he said, adding, I know why people have gathered today here. Because my father has died and they are waiting for his mortal remains to reach the village. Ravi Pauls elder brother, Mohan Lal, who is working with Defence Service Corps (DSC) at Ludhiana after taking retirement from the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI) Battalion, said they used to take leave at the same time and visit the family. We spent good time together. We also used to talk over phone regularly. The last time we talked was on September 17, he said. Once the mortal remains of Ravi Paul reached his home, people raised slogans in favour of the Army and against Pakistan. Paul was cremated with full military honours as a galaxy of people including state minister Chander Prakash Ganga, Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore, Rajya Sabha member Shamher Singh Manhas, the Jammu IG, Army officers and people from all walks of life were present. While on the one hand people felt proud of the sacrifice of the son of the soil, on the other hand there was anger among them over the death of soldiers while they were sleeping. We dont want our soldiers to die in sleep. If they have to die, let them die in a battlefield but not inside tents. It is the time to shun rhetoric and do something concrete, said Roop Lal, naib sarpanch of the village. Meanwhile, thousands of people also attended the last rites of Subedar Karnail Singh at his native village Shibu Chak in the Bishnah area of Jammu district. He was cremated with full military honours. Samba (J&K), September 19 Ten-year-old Vansh, the eldest of the two sons of Havildar Ravi Paul Salotra, is aware that his father was martyred in the Uri terror attack but that has only strengthened his resolve to don the olive greens to serve the nation and avenge the killing. Ravi Paul of 10 Dogra Regiment was one of the 18 brave soldiers who lost their lives while fighting the four terrorists who attacked the Army Brigade Headquarters in Uri sector of Baramulla district yesterday. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) He had served the army for 23 years. Besides Vansh, 42-year-old Ravi Paul is survived by his wife Geeta Rani and another son Sudansheesh (7) and 80-year old mother. Because of Ravi Paul's death, a pall of gloom has descended on his native Sarwa village in Ramgarh sub-sector of Samba district. My father used to call early in the morning. Yesterday, he called us and we spoke in length on various issues. He asked me to concentrate on my studies so that I could fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor in the Indian Army, said Vansh, a class 6th student. When asked whether he was aware of what tragedy has befallen on the family, Vansh, carrying two plastic tricolours, said his father laid down his life for the sanctity of the national flag. "Yes I know that my father laid down his life for the Tricolour and I will fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor in the Army so as to avenge the killing of my father, he said. Ravi Paul's two brothers have also served in the Army. In this sleepy Sarwa village of over 120 families, there are many who have donned the olive green uniform at one stage of their life. Majority of the people in our village are either serving in the Army or have served at one stage of their life. Out of six brothers, my three brothers were in Army and Ravi Paul was the youngest to join the Army," said Joginder Lal Salotra, elder brother of Ravi Paul. He described Ravi Paul as a very jolly and friendly person who used to mingle with everybody in the village. Whenever he used to come on leave, people used to meet him as he always narrated the stories about his tenure in the Army, Lal said. He said Ravi Paul used to make sure that he calls his family every day. Mohan Lal Salotra, another brother of the martyred soldier, said he has not only lost a younger brother but a friend who used to share every secret of life with him. I also served in the Army and after retirement I joined Defence Security Corps (DSE) and I am currently posted in Ludhiana. Though I was elder to Ravi, we were like good friends who used to talk each other daily. "September 17 was the last time we spoke and yesterday when I tried to call him, the line could not go through. Later in the afternoon, somebody called me to inform that my brother has made the supreme sacrifice for the nation, Mohan Lal said. He said his brother wanted both of his sons to become doctors and join the Indian Army to serve the nation, Now it is our duty to make sure that the dream of our brother is fulfilled. Since the news of the martyrdom of Ravi Paul spread, thousands of villagers and relatives started pouring in to the house of the martyr soldier to express their solidarity with the bereaved family. PTI Manika Ahuja They are starting a new innings of their life in the enchanting alleys of Bollywood, but how exactly are they doing it? Well, by holding up a mirror to...the new innings of fresh-out-of-school students as they enter the warm embrace of college life! That phase of life when, you can both kill and die for your friends, beam actors Nimisha Mehta, Sanchay Goswami and Ansh Bagri, in Chandigarh to spread the word about their upcoming comedy film Days of Tafree In Class; Out of Class (slated to release on September 23). The film, as the name suggests, draws upon the blissful days of college life. It traces the ups and downs of a group of seven college buddies. The movie is an adaptation of the highest-grossing Gujarati film Chhello Divas A New Beginning, which was released last year. So, is it an exact replication? The basic storyline is the same, but while Chhello had elements relating to Gujarat at its fulcrum, the Bollywood version has a Delhi twist to it. There are other subtle differences as well, responds Ansh, a self-taught artiste, with no formal training in acting. Evoking nostalgia Is the film just targeting college students then? Nimisha Mehta, who was earlier seen in TV mini-series Aisha my virtual girlfriend, replies, It would be a hasty conclusion to term it as a movie catering to the young brigade alone. Of course it will strike a chord with the college-goers for obvious reasons, but I can assure you that their parents and grandparents will enjoy it too. Universal appeal When someone devoid of a Godfather ventures into the realm of cinema, it is indeed tough! While for Nimisha, it was the great reach of cinema and its power to function as a life-changer by stirring peoples consciousness that acted as a strong force, Sanchay reveals that it was his association with theatre as part of National School of Drama, Delhi (NSD), and his pure love for movies that governed his choice. As for their style icon, Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor emerges as a unanimous choice. Three cheers! Jitendra K Shrivastava Tribune News Service Patna, September 19 Death toll in a bus accident in Bihar's Madhubani has climbed to 35, an official said on Monday, as rescuers continued to look for passengers. The bus, overcrowded with more than 50 passengers, fell into a pond in Madhubani's Benipatti on Monday morning. "So far, 35 bodies have been found and the bus was pulled out of the water. But search for missing passengers is still on," a district official said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The incident sparked protests in the area. Protesters blocked the road from Madhubani to Sitamarhi and set vehicles on fire. District officials along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were engaged in rescue and search of other passengers feared drowned, an official said. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed his condolences and has sent two ministers to visit the spot of the accident. The chief minister has also announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the bereaved families. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has expressed grief over the incident. With agency inputs Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 19 An initial internal assessment by the Northern Command identified five core lapses that could have led to the terrorist attack. Top sources confirmed that killing of 18 personnel was not possible without lapses in following the standard operating procedures at locations close to the Line of Control. Firstly, militants crossed the double barbed wire fence, supposed to be patrolled 24x7. Secondly, they breached the perimeter fencing of the military camp. Thirdly, soldiers who were part of an advance party of the 6 Bihar Regiment were not staying inside a built-up area which was available, but putting up in tents in the open. Fourthly, the tents were too close to the fuel dump of the Uri brigade. Fifthly, ample men were not on guard duty or only a few had weapons in ready-to-fire mode. The Army assessment accepted that the initial burst usually had some casualties. But, it was inexplicable to lose 14 men when tents caught fire after grenades were lobbed. Of the 18 deaths, 14 occurred due to fire in the tents. Those who escaped the fire were gunned down. It was being suspected that the terrorists hid inside the military camp for a few hours before launching the attack and were aware of the personnel putting up in tents. "Having seen the Army closely, I feel, it needs to be analysed as to what happened there...It needs to be investigated how the incident took place and what were the lacunas... from the Army's side, alertness is required. The Kashmir situation needs to be thought about. Action has to be taken without getting influenced by emotions, anger. It has to be taken coolly and with proper planning." V K Singh, Union Minister and former Army Chief "One has to accept that the situation today is worse than what was during the Congress regime. At a time when pro-Pakistan sloganeering is on in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan flags are being hoisted there, the Centre should dissolve the state government and impose 'martial law' there as President's (Governor's) rule wouldnt suffice." Shiv Sena in Saamana Editorial Canberra, September 19 Australia's prestigious art gallery today returned to India two sculptures, including a third century rock carving, worth US$ 840,000 bought from an illegal Indian art dealer in 2005. Australian Arts Minister Mitch Fifield handed over a 900-year-old stone statue of Goddess Pratyangira and a third century rock carving of worshippers of the Buddha to Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at Canberra-based National Gallery of Australia (NGA). (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The ceremony was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri. The ceremony took place in the gallery, which houses almost 5,000 pieces of Asian art. The NGA had bought the two pieces from disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor in 2005. Kapoor is currently lodged in Trichy Central Prison. Last year, the NGA research team examined new photographic evidence from the French Institute of Pondicherry that indicated a sculpture of Goddess Pratyangira, which was bought for US$ 247,500, was in India in 1974. This contradicts the dealer-supplied provenance, suggesting the NGA was supplied with false documentation and it was likely to have been illegally exported from India. It is believed that the work has now been reported missing to the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police, NGA said. The Buddha carving was bought for US$ 595,000 and the NGA was provided with and had verified new photographic evidence that indicates the sculpture was in India as late as the 1990s. "This new evidence means the NGA cannot legally or ethically retain these works, and returning them to India is unquestionably the right thing to do," Gerard Vaughan, NGA Director said, adding "We have been working closely with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian High Commissioner in Australia to find the best outcome". Sharma said that the gesture of returning art pieces has taken the relationship to a new level as the artworks carried an emotional value for India. Sharma will be taking another piece of artwork called 'seated Buddha." He thanked the Australian government for the gesture and lauded the role of Suri on working towards building the bilateral relation. Sharma said the artworks will now be placed in National Museum in India. The Australian minister said that the important decision to remove the artworks from the gallery was taken after the findings of the NGA. Fifield said there were at least seven more objects in questions, which the NGA is currently investigating. In 2014, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi two antique statues of Hindu deities, which were stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu, before being bought by art galleries in Australia. PTI CHARLES CITY A Britt woman police say refused to pay for eight bulldog puppies has been charged with theft. Patti Jo Noethe, 68, has been charged with felony first-degree theft. Noethe, of Oleo Acres Kennels, agreed to buy eight bulldog puppies worth $12,000 from a Floyd County resident, but never paid for the dogs, according to court documents. An investigator wrote in the documents that Noethe told him she wasn't going to pay for the dogs, which were worth $1,500 each and have already been re-sold. Noethe is free on bond. When reached by phone Sunday night, Noethe she is hiring an attorney and had no comment on the case. The date of her next court hearing wasn't available Sunday night. Molly Montag Geneva, September 19 An exiled Baloch leader who has been at the forefront of the Balochistan freedom movement has said he would soon seek political asylum in India. Brahamdagh Bugti, grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed by Pakistan forces 10 years ago said on Monday: We have decided to formally file asylum papers to Indian Government soon. We will follow the legal process for the application. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Bugti, who is currently living in exile in Switzerland, said his party the Baloch Republican Party would approach the International Criminal Court against Pakistans army generals. The party will also take China to the International Court of Justice and will seek India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh for help, he said. Bugti had thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the latters Independence Day speech. Modi mentioned rights abuses in Pakistans restive Balochistan in his speech on Independence Day, a mention that drew the neighbours criticism. Agencies Mukesh Ranjan Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 19 Indias reaction to the attack by Pakistan-based terrorists on a military establishment in Uri on Sunday will be a well thought-out strategy rather than a knee-jerk reaction driven by emotions. Indications to this effect were given after a high-level security review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. During the meeting, the Prime Minister discussed with his senior Cabinet colleagues and top security officials all options available to India for a response to the attack in Uri. After two rounds of high-level meetings through the day, the Prime Minister also met President Pranab Mukherjee. According to sources, the Prime Minister was also likely to call an all-party meeting to build a consensus on Indias response. Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh, who is a former Army chief, told the media that a well thought-out strategy was being worked out, and Indias response to the attack would not be driven by emotions. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, besides other senior officials, attended the meeting. The top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in the Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri in which 17 soldiers were killed, official sources said. Earlier on Monday, the Home Minister, too, chaired a high-level meeting attended by the Defence Minister and top security brass of the country to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief had visited Kashmir after the terror attack yesterday. Heavily armed militants, suspected to be from the Pakistan-based JeM, had yesterday stormed an Army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with the Prime Minister strongly condemning it. We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished, Modi had said. The Home Minister, who had yesterday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a terrorist state and should be isolated, while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that for one tooth, the complete jaw should be the policy after the attack. Army presents options to Modi The Army has presented a clutch of military options to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is an action plan in place. Designated spots across the Line of Control (LoC) have been war gamed for possible action in view of the Sunday morning attack on a military camp at Uri in northern Kashmir. Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag briefed the Prime Minister while the Director General Millitary Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh was at the meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. War gaming is an act that militaries do to assess enemy positions and tactics. The action, if any, is being kept under wraps. The DGMO has been asked to tell his Pakistan counterpart about the details of Pakistan-made equipment and weapons that were used by the terrorists. With PTI and TNS inputs Also read Tribune News Service Srinagar, September 19 The warning was terse when Masood Azhar, a fiery orator and founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, spoke of revenge on a wintry day in January 2014 in a ground in Muzaffarabad, a city across the Line of Control. The rally was organised by the banned militant outfit to release a book, penned by Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru before he was hanged at New Delhis Tihar Jail. Azhar made his intentions clear as he extolled Guru and warned that 313 fidayeen (suicide attackers) were present in the gathering. Revenge has begun and it will reach where you cannot even imagine, the militant leader said. Since then, the signature of the Jaish was found on attacks on the Army bases at Mohra and Tangdhar in north Kashmir, at Kathua and Samba in the Jammu region, and at the Pathankot airbase in Punjab. The comeback was lethal after the outfit had almost faded away years ago. On Sunday, the Army blamed the Jaish for the attack on its base in north Kashmirs Uri sector. Mumbai, September 19 The Bombay High Court on Monday observed that businessman Vijay Mallya aptly named his company Kingfisher, as like the bird he, too, flew away without bothering about boundaries. The remark was made by a division bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and BP Colabawala while hearing an appeal filed by the Service Tax department and also another petition filed by the department seeking to recall the auction sale of Mallyas private aircraft. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Does anyone know why he (Mallya) came up with the name Kingfisher for his entity? In history no one could have come up with a more apt name for this entity. Because Kingfisher is a bird that can fly away...it knows no boundaries...no boundaries can stop it. Just like how no one could stop him (Mallya), Justice Dharmadhikari said. The court admitted the appeal filed by the Service Tax department which challenged an order passed by the Debt Recovery Tribunal in 2014, and posted it for hearing at a later stage. According to the departments plea in the HC, Mallya owes Rs 32.68 crore as service tax from the tickets sold to passengers of Kingfisher Airlines between April 2011 and September 2012. The total unpaid dues that Mallya owes to the department stand at Rs 532 crore. In the second petition, the department sought to recall the auction sale of Mallyas personal jet as the highest bidder had bid only 80 per cent of the planes cost. The court has posted this petition for hearing on September 26. Mallyas Jet Airbus 319 that can carry 25 passengers and six crew members had been attached by the department. In May this year, the department had issued a notice advertising the auction and described the airbus as designed exclusively for exotic and luxurious use. It has conference halls, meeting rooms and a bedroom with an attached bath. Mallya, chairman of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is facing action after defaulting on over Rs 9,000-crore loan from 17 banks. He had left the country in March and is currently said to be in the UK. PTI New York, September 19 Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry here, urging Washington to play a role in the resolution of the dispute. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry & PM of New Zealand, Pakistans envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir, she said. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion. Prime Ministers Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif will address the UN General Assemblys high-level summit on refugees and migrants today and address the General Debate on September 21. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. PTI New Delhi, September 19 With Masood Azhar-led JeM suspected to be behind the Uri attack, Congress leader Digvijay Singh today sought to put the National Democratic Alliance government in the dock, suggesting the earlier NDA regime had "compromised" with national security by releasing the terrorist following the 1999 Indian airlines hijack. In a series of tweets, he also made a strong pitch for building strong international pressure to isolate Pakistan in the wake of the terror strike and also stressed on looking into the "failure" of the Army to protect its camp near the LoC. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "We compromised to let Masood Azhar go after Indian Airlines hijack. Lesson? Never compromise with National Security," the Congress General Secretary said. "Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammad behind the attack. Of course with full connivance of Pakistan Establishment." "Should also look at the failure of the Army to protect its Army Camp near the LOC," he said. "Pay homage to the Martyrs in Uri. GOI must strongly build International pressure to isolate Pakistan", the Congress leader added. Flight IC 814, which was en route from Nepal to Delhi, was hijacked on December 24, 1999 with 176 passengers onboard. Three terrorists, including Masood Azhar, were released by the Indian government in exchange for the safe release of passengers and the crew. PTI Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, September 19 Even as one Army jawan succumbed to his injuries today, taking the toll in the Uri attack to 18, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team inspected the site of the gunfight close to Line of Control (LoC). Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra, who was shifted to the R&R Hospital in New Delhi, succumbed to his injuries today, an Army spokesman said. The case was likely to be handed over to the NIA. Its team led by an officer of the rank of Inspector General inspected the attack site and interacted with officers for a first-hand account. The Army blamed the Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. Questions had been raised about possible security lapses as there was specific input about a fidayeen attack in the sector, which was shared by the police with the Army a few days ago. Sources said the police and Army were checking whether there were only four militants in the forest area. Searches were carried out in some areas of Uri today. The investigators were trying to find whether the four militants had conducted reconnaissance before carrying out the attack as they were aware about the handover of the battalion in process. They attacked from the rear and it seemed that they were well prepared for the attack, said a senior police officer in Srinagar. The sources said investigators would look into the recent Poonch attack. The sectors of Uri and Poonch are interconnected through Haji Pir Pass on the LoC. They said the GPS recovered from the slain militants was being analysed to find the exact point of entry and routes they used. The sample of gunpowder used by militants to set tents ablaze was sent to the defence laboratory in Jodhpur. A team of forensic experts was analysing it. Though the case has not been officially handed over to the NIA, its team collected samples from the Army base and also asked for the DNA samples of the slain militants. The NIA had probed the Pathankot attack which was also carried out by the Jaish. New Delhi, September 19 A committee on Monday ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu a day between September 21 and 30. The Cauvery Supervisory Committee met on Monday to decide how much water Karnataka should release to Tamil Nadu and other states. The supervisory committee had met on September 12 the day the Supreme Court modified its previous order and failed to arrive at any decision. The development days after the Supreme Court modified its previous order directing Karnataka to release 15,000 cusec of water to 12,000 cusecs until September 20. On September 5, the Supreme Court had ordered Karnataka to approach the committee. Karnataka has argued that Tamil Nadu uses not more that 1,000 cusecs a day and stores the rest. Both Supreme Court orders the first on September 5 and the second on September 12 met with violent protests in Karnataka, even leading to a persons death in police firing. Agencies MASON CITY | Waldo Smeby, adviser for the Jan Again Foundation, has announced $68,000 in grants to North Iowa organizations this year. This year's recipients are: Blue Zones of Mason City, $25,000; Francis Lauer Youth Services, $20,000; Trinity Lutheran Church Faith and Wellness Outreach, $10,000; NAMI of North Iowa, $7,500; NAMI Iowa, $3,000; and North Iowa Youth for Christ, $2,500. The foundation was set up in 1999 in honor of Smeby's wife, Jan, who suffered from depression and took her own life. The foundation supports mental health initiatives and provides education for those vulnerable to depression, families supporting loved ones with mental illness and the medical community to better understand patient and family needs. A sculpture commissioned by Smeby was placed in Central Park in August as a reminder of mental health issues and that help is available. Organizations can apply for grants each January by contacting Smeby at wallysmeabs@gmail.com. John Skipper Sandeep Dikshit Tribune News Service Frankfurt, September 19 The Uri attack on soldiers was totally unacceptable and this kind of tactics will lead to considerable unpleasantness, Vice President Hamid Ansari has warned. Ansari was speaking to journalists while returning from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Venezuela. The violence in the Kashmir Valley led to verbal fireworks between India and Pakistan much against the NAMs charter of eschewing bilateral differences. The neighbours are slated to clash again at the United Nations General Assembly, currently underway in New York. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Asked if such sneak tactics were testing Indias restraint, Ansari said there was no question of holding back on terrorism. We shall respond according to our judgement, he replied while the quantum of the response would be calibrated by the authorities concerned. There is no restraint on terrorism. The whole issue is that innocent civilians are targeted. One of us can be a victim, he observed. At the NAM summit, Pakistan deviated from the norm by highlighting the alleged Indian highhandedness in Jammu and Kashmir. As there is no right to reply, India shot off an informal communication to the NAM Chair accusing Pakistan of using terror as an instrument of state policy to achieve political objectives. At the UN General Assembly, India will get to speak first and will highlight Pakistans reliance on terror tactics. Though Pakistan is allowed to respond, India will level the score by exercising its right of reply. The Vice President expressed satisfaction over the NAMs emphasis on terrorism. The tenor of the resolution on the subject corresponded closely with Ansaris conversation with NAM Chair and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Simran Sodhi Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 19 With the Uri attack taking place just as the United Nations General Assembly gets underway in New York, India and Pakistan have been forced to reconsider their strategies. To counter Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raising the issue of Kashmir, India had raised the Balochistan issue with the idea that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would up the rhetoric at the session. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) With Uri, the focus shifts back to terror. India now finds itself pushed into a corner with demands of retaliatory action against Pakistan. If India takes any such action in haste, it would provide Pakistan the opportunity to show the global community its lack of restraint. PM Narendra Modi today gave his nod to a long-term strategy of isolating Pakistan globally by raising the issue of the menace of terrorism emanating from Pakistan at every international fora. Certain sections feel that India should recall its High Commissioner, but the counter-argument is that apart from sending a strong signal, it would not amount to much. Meanwhile, India today moved quickly to implement its strategy of isolating Pakistan globally. In its reply to Pakistan raising the Kashmir issue at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, New Delhi hit out at Islamabad for promoting cross-border terrorism and sponsoring human rights violations in Balochistan. It urged Pakistan to fulfil its obligation to vacate the illegal occupation of PoK. Taking the debate to a higher level, India said there were human rights violations not only in Balochistan but the entire nation with victims being the minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Shias, Ahmaddiyas and Ismailis. Sandeep Dikshit In Margarita Island (Venezuela) Yoga, surprisingly, is an essential ingredient that has helped Venezuelan beauty queens cruise to 21 global titles, a record for any nation. Some aspiring beauty queens are even known to have made the 15,000-km trip to India for picking up the finer points of this ancient Indian art from leading yoga masters, say those in the know. The addiction to yoga may perhaps be the most savoury aspect of the manner in which an assembly line prepares Venezuelan girls for appraisal by talent scouts of four international beauty contests. Indias winners Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra, among others, might never have known the extremes which this Latin American countrys girls are subjected to from the age of five. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Yoga-induced mental relaxation does offset the trauma of surgery to shorten intestines so that they eat less and the immense psychological pressure of competitions. But in Venezuela, for reasons none can satisfactorily explain, yoga is a rage. Public parks every morning in the national capital Caracas are full of yoga enthusiasts. It says something for its popularity that yoga flourishes despite just 50 Indians living in Venezuela, although four of them run successful yoga institutes. How and why did yoga gain popularity in this distant land where Indians generally stand for the indigenous people, now reduced to a minority? Some speculate that yoga might have diffused from Surinam or Guyana, both bordering Venezuela, where people from Bihar and UP brought as indentured labour comprise 25 and 40 per cent of the population, respectively. Others feel its popularity ratcheted with the advent of Indian spiritualism. The ISKCON temple in Caracas has a large following while the death of Sai Baba of Puttaparthi saw the Venezuelan Parliament passing a unanimous resolution hailing him as one of the greatest Mahatmas. Taking the cue, Sri Sri Ravishankar visited the country to a rapturous reception and the Brahmakumaris are also treated with respect. Prime Minister Narendra Modis emphasis on yoga has seen the setting up of two Chairs in Venezuelan universities. However, despite the Modi hard sell, the second International Day of Yoga on June 19 this year did not get the anticipated traction. It is said the date clashed with Fathers Day, proclaimed in the US by then President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. The cultural influence of the Yankees evidently is hard to trump in this part of the world despite the prevailing anti-western political orientation. Our Correspondent Jaipur, September 19 The body of a soldier who died in Sundays terror strike at a military camp in north Kashmirs Uri was brought home to a village Rajasthans Rajsamand district on Monday. Havaldar Chef NS Rawat was among the 18 who died in the attack on Sunday. His family, an army unit and the district administration received his body on Monday evening. After a wreath-laying ceremony, the body was taken in an army vehicle Rawats village, Rajawa, in Rajsamands Bhim tehsil. His funeral rites will be held with state honours on Tuesday, a defence spokesperson, Lt Col Manish Ojha, said. Rajasthan PHED Minister Kiran Maheshwari cancelled her tour to Dausa and is now on her way to the district to offer her condolences to Rawats bereaved family. Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, Sept 19 A day after Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the worst Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in 20 years, the opposition Congress lashed out at the ruling BJP blaming its warped foreign policy for Indias vulnerability. In charge of Congresss communication cell, Randeep Singh Surjewala, while speaking on behalf of his party, said the Uri attack had exploded the myth that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a muscleman, and sought accountability of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Surjewala stopped short of demanding Parrikars resignation. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) In the past two years, the foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan has been used to promote PM Modis image as a muscleman. The Uri attack explodes that myth, said the Kaithal MLA, asking the government to impose sanctions against Pakistan and in the process isolate nations which stood with terror. The Congress blamed the martyrdom of 17 Indian soldiers in Uri on the failure of political leadership and asked the PM to spell out his Pakistan policy. The principal opposition party did not, however, comment on what Indias response should be to the Uri attack. Our soldiers were martyred because of the failure of the political leadership. What is the Modi governments Pakistan policy? Why is India being repeatedly targeted? The decision to invite the ISI to investigate the Pathankot terror attack had earlier exposed the confusion in the governments Pakistan policy, Surjewala said in a stinging attack of the BJP-ruled Centre. The Congress said Indias borders and national security had been under siege for the past two years, adding that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar be held responsible. The Defence Minister must be held accountable. He is busy threatening fellow Indians like Aamir Khan. Then the Uri attack happens. Warped priorities, said Surjewala. He also asked why External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was conspicuous by her absence on foreign policy. Isnt PM Modi singularly responsible for the complete disarray? he questioned, advising the government to ask the international community for sanctions against Pakistan. This will be a test for all nations who oppose terror and stand with India, the Congresss chief spokesman said. New Delhi, September 19 Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and top security brass of the country on Monday met to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas, in the wake of the terror attack in Uri. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed the meeting on the latest situation in Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control, official sources said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Parrikar and General Suhag had visited Kashmir yesterday in the aftermath of the terror attack in Uri where 17 soldiers were killed. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed in the meeting, the sources said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who has postponed his visit to Srinagar, also attended the meeting. The Home Minister, Defence Minister and the top officials also reviewed the security situation across the country, particular along the western border - from Punjab to Gujarat, the sources said. Meanwhile, a team of National Investigation Agency is expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the terror attack site. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. The Home Minister, who had yesterday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that "for one tooth, the complete jaw" should be the policy after the attack. PTI Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 19 Even as the government has been holding strategy-planning meetings on dealing with yesterdays attack on a military camp at Uri, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh today said the Army had the desired capability and it reserved the right to respond at a time and place of its own choice. The DGMO held a second media briefing in as many days this evening at the South Block. His words indicated that the Army was evaluating its options and if military action was opted for, it would be sudden and precise. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) We have the desired capability to respond to such acts of aggression and violence, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said. We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our own choosing, he added. The DGMOs words are a re-run of the statements made in January 2013 after Lance Naik Hem Raj was beheaded by Pakistan army regulars along the Line of Control in J&K. The then Army Chief, Gen Bikram Singh, had said: I have given very categorical directions to the Northern Command. When we are provoked, we shall respond immediately. We will retaliate to Pakistan's attack at a place and time of our choosing. In July 2014, on the day he was demitting office, General Singh, on being asked if India had responded to the beheading, said, It has been done (the response) when we use force, (it) is from tactical to operational to strategic levels. The DGMO said the Army had displayed considerable restraint while handling the terror situation along the LoC and in hinterland. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said infiltration attempts had shown a marked increase in comparison to the past three-four years. In 2016, 17 infiltration bids were thwarted along the LoC. Of the 110 terrorists eliminated in Jammu and Kashmir, 31 were killed while attempting to cross the LoC. It indicates a desperate attempt to infiltrate more terrorists with a view to create disturbance, he added. Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 19 The Punjab Government has issued a recovery certificate of Rs 115 crore against seven private sugar mills in the state, all owned by senior politicians cutting across political lines. In the wake of a tough stand taken by farmer organisations over the non-payment of their dues by sugar mills, the deputy commissioners of districts where these mills are located have been asked to recover the amount from them. Official sources told The Tribune that the recovery certificate was issued by the Cane Commissioner, Department of Agriculture. The deputy commissioners of Kapurthala, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Amritsar have already declared the amount due from these sugar mills as arrears of land revenue under The Land Revenue Act, 1887, and asked the naib tehsildars concerned to issue notices for recovery. The sugar mills are owned by Jarnail Singh Wahid (chairman of Markfed and Akali leader), Kamal Oswal (industrial adviser to CM), family of Rana Gurjit Singh (Congress MLA), family of deceased liquor baron Ponty Chadha, and Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav. Officials say the process to serve notices to the mills has been initiated and if a private mill fails to pay its dues, its assets can be auctioned to recover the amount. The mill owners claim no dues are to be recovered from them. We have already paid the dues to cane growers at the rate of Rs 245 per quintal (against the state agreed price of Rs 295 per quintal). Official letters had been issued to us by the Cane Commissioner, saying that the subsidy of Rs 50 per quintal will be given to the farmers by the government. They even paid this subsidy for November-February, amounting to Rs 125 crore and then they stopped the payment. It is the governments obligation to pay this, said a private sugar mill owner, requesting anonymity. The Tribune had highlighted how these sugar mills were making huge profits with the soaring sugar prices as well as the government subsidy of (Rs 35-Rs 50 per quintal), which was announced for these mils at the time of low prices. Sushil Goyal Tribune News Service Sangrur, September 19 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Delhi Naresh Yadav today accused the Badal government of hatching a political and criminal conspiracy against him and AAP by adding sedition charges in the Quran desecration case. Yadav and three other persons were arrested in the case registered under Sections 295-A and 120-B of the IPC at Malerkotla on June 25. Yadav today appeared in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate. The court committed the case to the Sessions Court, Sangrur, for further hearing after the addition of Section 124-A (sedition charges) of the IPC in the challan. Yadav claimed he was innocent and the police had falsely implicated him in the case merely on the statement of the main accused, Vijay Kumar, and others. He said it was shocking that sedition charges were added in a case of sacrilege of Quran. Yadav alleged that the Badals wanted to defame AAP to get political mileage in the Assembly elections. He said they were misusing the police to crush their opponents. But the people of Punjab understood their tactics and they would not vote for them and instead vote AAP to power, he claimed. Harpal Singh Cheema, counsel for Yadav, said the next date of hearing was October 1. He said Yadav furnished a bail bond of Rs 40,000 due to the added charges in the case. MASON CITY Indiana Gov. Mike Pence spoke about security and health care among other topics at The Music Man Square in Mason City Monday. The Republican candidate for vice president said he was humbled to be part of the campaign and to be on the ticket with Donald Trump. He called Trump the kind of people youd love to live next door to. More than 200 people filled the squares streetscape to listen to Pence and other Republican leaders and candidates. Iowa Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, and county GOP Chairwoman Barb Hovland, a candidate for the Iowa House, spoke ahead of Pence, denouncing Obamacare and Common Core curriculum in schools. Upmeyer said Trump and Pence would bring the change we need in the country. Pence opened his speech talking about security, referencing attacks over the weekend in Minnesota, New York and New Jersey. A man wounded nine people at Crossroads Center Mall in Minnesota on a stabbing rampage Saturday. The attacker was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer. Authorities are treating the stabbings as a possible act of terrorism. President Barack Obama said the event in Minnesota had no apparent connection to weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey. A shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb exploded in New Yorks Chelsea area, wounding 29 people Saturday evening. An unexploded pressure cooker was found blocks away. Earlier Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded with no injuries in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race. Our hearts and prayers go out to the injured, Pence said. Pence said that weakness in the countrys leadership arouses evil, acts of radical Islamic terrorism. Im not sure Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama know were at war, Pence said, calling Clintons leadership a narrative of denial. Pence also addressed Trumps policy on the Second Amendment, ending the war on coal and strengthening the American economy. Pence took several questions from the audience including about the rising cost of pharmaceuticals and what Trump plans to do to address the issue. We will unleash the power of the free market, Pence said. Were just going to repeal Obamacare. After having a prosperous film career of over four-and-a-half decades and around 150 movies, Bollywoods veteran Rishi Kapoor is now prepping for his autobiography. The actor will be seen talking about his life peppered with numerous anecdotes in the book. Along with the story narration, there is going to a one-and-a-half-hour gig where the acting doyen will regale audiences with funny, bitter and sweet instances of his life. Now only time will tell us, if Chintu Ji will tell it all when he pens down his book! WE are painfully aware of the fact that it has become fashionable to combat diseases with drugging the victims rather than by adopting sanitary and other preventive remedies. The result is that while the chemist prospers and doctors flourish, the death rate is steadily increasing and the joys of life are vanishing. Whenever we hear of the so-called quininisation of school children and the people exposed to malaria we are painfully reminded of the fashionable folly of preferring drugging to sanitation in order to combat diseases. In nine cases out of ten primary schools are situated in insanitary quarters with foul damp air where children are obliged to spend the best hours of the day. The dwelling quarters of those exposed to malaria and other disease are worse still. Tribune News Service Dehradun, September 19 Shiksha Mitras took out a protest rally, demanding salary hike and perks here today. They said the state government should fulfil their demands that had been pending for long. The protesters, under the aegis of the Shiksha Mitra Krantikari Mahasang, gathered at the Raipur bus stand. They also burnt an effigy of terrorism. Later, they marched towards the Secretariat to mark their protest. The police placed barricades and stopped them at Kanak Chowk, They said the salary of the Shiksha Mitras should be increased from Rs 13,000 to Rs 25,000 per month and it should be credited on the first day of every month. Besides, they also sought an accidental insurance scheme for Shiksha Mitras. They said memoranda had been given to the officials concerned and public representatives, but to no avail. Poorna Singh Rana, state president of the Shiksha Mitra Krantikari Mahasang, said Chief Minister Harish Rawat had assured them that their demands would be fulfilled soon but the state government was yet to do the needful. The protest would be intensified in case the state government didnt come up with a solution at the earliest, he added. Primary school teachers strike work in 95 blocks The teaching work was adversely affected in primary and junior high school as teachers commenced their strike in support of their 21 pending demands here today. The agitated teachers held demonstration at 95 blocks to express resentment against the Congress-led state government. The agitated teachers under the aegis of Uttarakhand Junior High School Teachers Association gathered at the Chief Education Officers office and raised slogans against the government. They said the government should fill vacant posts of teachers in primary and junior high schools in Garhwal and Kumaon divisions. They also demanded upgradation of government primary schools. Subhash Singh Chauhan, state president, Uttarakhand Junior High School Teachers Association, while speaking on the occasion, said the government should draft a blueprint to remove pay anomaly of teachers. Chauhan demanded that the state government should make a committee to amend Service Rule-2012 for teachers. He said experienced and most deserving teachers should be promoted to principal. The protesters demanded minimum three promotions during service. Kinshasa, September 19 At least 17 people were killed today when heavy clashes erupted in Kinshasa ahead of an opposition rally, a Congolese minister said, calling the toll "provisional". Among the dead were 14 civilians and three police officers, Interior Minister Evariste Boshab told a press conference in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, describing the clashes as an attempted "uprising". "By midday (1100 GMT), the sad and painful provisional toll from these barbaric and savage acts... (stood at) 17 dead, among them three police officers, one of whom was burnt alive, and 14 civilians who were involved in looting," he said. It was the worst violence in the capital since January 2015, when security forces cracked down on rioters after another opposition demonstration spiralled out of control, in violence which left several dozen people dead. "Kinshasa just experienced an uprising which ended in failure," the minister said, accusing demonstrators of "deliberately choosing" to ignore a schedule which had been agreed with the authorities The main opposition parties had called for a nationwide demonstration today to "give notice" to President Joseph Kabila some three months before his mandate expires on December 20 and to demand that presidential elections be held. The demonstration in Kinshasa had been due to start at 1:00 pm, but during the morning, scuffles broke out between stone-throwing youths and anti-riot police which deteriorated into clashes. Officials said there had been a spate of looting and that attempts to set fire to the offices of several mainstream political parties. Private security officials also said there had been several looting incidents in the south of Kinshasa which targeted banks or Chinese-run shops. AFP NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, September 19 US authorities were searching on Monday for an Afghanistan-born American in connection with a New York City bombing that left dozens injured and could be linked to pipe bombs found in New Jersey. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two US officials said. The New York Police Department released a photo of 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to question him about a Saturday night explosion that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN that Rahami might be armed and dangerous. The attacks came as world leaders prepared to gather at the United Nations in New York for the annual General Assembly. The Chelsea bombing, coming just days after the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, put the most populous US city on edge. "We're going to have more security personnel than ever assembled over this next week during the UN General Assembly," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on CNN. "The evidence might suggest a foreign connection," Cuomo said in television interviews on Monday morning. Federal authorities now believe that the explosion in Chelsea, where another explosive device was found nearby, was linked to as many as six explosive devices found just outside New York in Elizabeth, Homeland Security officials said. No one was injured in the Saturday morning explosion along the route of a running race in Seaside Park, about 60 miles south of Manhattan, New Jersey State Police said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in television interviews that President Barack Obama, who is already in New York, was being briefed on the case. The two US presidential candidates weighed in on the New York bombing. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," Republican nominee Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said on Monday: "The threat is real, but so is our resolve." In a news conference, she said the United Stated needed to work with its allies to combat global terrorism and that the country should launch an "intelligence surge" to detect attacks before they are carried out. Searching New Jersey home A Federal Bureau of Investigation poster says Rahami was a resident of Elizabeth, where agents were executing a search warrant on Monday morning after explosive devices were found at a train station in that city, Mayor Christian Bollwage told CNN. Rahami was not listed on US counterterrorism databases, several US officials said. A group of men were stopped and questioned in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday night in connection with the explosions, but their current status was unclear, other national security sources said. Cuomo said that, while the bombs discovered in Manhattan and New Jersey were not identical, there were "certain commonalities" among the chemicals and technologies used. The raid in Elizabeth came hours after an explosive device left near a train station there blew up when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, the mayor said. It was one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site. No one was injured in the blast from the device, which had been left in a backpack placed in a trashcan near the station and a bar, Bollwage told reporters earlier. As many as five potential explosive devices tumbled out of the backpack when it was emptied, Bollwage said. After cordoning off the area, a bomb squad used a robot to cut a wire to try to disable the device but inadvertently set off an explosion, he said. In a press briefing on Monday, Obama said he was monitoring investigations into the explosions closely. Incidents show people have to contact local law enforcement about suspicious activity, he said, leaving the FBI to provide details of their investigations. Agencies New York, September 19 Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry here, urging Washington to "play a role" in the resolution of the dispute. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry & PM of New Zealand," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. "PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir," she said. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif will address the UN General Assembly's high-level summit on refugees and migrants today and address the General Debate on September 21. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers at an army camp Uri in Kashmir. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four militants killed in the Uri attack were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group. PTI New York, September 19 With Kashmir high on his agenda, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly where he would enunciate Islamabad's position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New York's Kennedy International Airport by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, the Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's delegation includes Tariq Fatemi Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule, including addressing the 193-member Assembly on September 21, and meeting at least 10 world leaders among other activities. He said the Prime Minister would specifically focus on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir particularly the "continuing grave violations of human rights" taking place there. The Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister would call on the international community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, Prime Ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon. US Secretary of State John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. IANS The Tulsa police officer who is on paid administrative leave after fatally shooting Terence Crutcher has not had any disciplinary action resulting in suspension or loss of pay since joining the department in 2011, an official said Monday. Officer Betty Jo Shelby, 42, was hired in December 2011 and is assigned to the Tulsa Police Departments Gilcrease Division, working in some of the northernmost parts of Tulsa, Sgt. Shane Tuell said. Tuell did not say whether Shelby has received commendations or awards but said she has not been sanctioned in her nearly five years on the force. Records provided to the Tulsa World on Monday show that Shelby got her start in law enforcement with the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office, becoming the first female member of the offices Underwater Investigation Unit. Shelby, who was born in Poteau, was hired by the Sheriffs Office on June 1, 2007. The Underwater Investigation Unit selected her in 2009 as its first female member, according to a Sheriffs Office annual report. That unit primarily was used to conduct evidence recovery but also could assist in water rescues. The World has also requested a copy of Shelbys Tulsa police application, but a records custodian said it wouldnt be available Monday because the person in charge of turning over such records was out of the office. Shelbys Sheriffs Office application indicates that she had a six-month stint in the Oklahoma Air National Guard in 2000. She wrote that the National Guard discharged her after she sprained her knee during basic training. A 2004 Tulsa World article detailed her participation in a Pro America Rally in Tulsa in which she led the Pledge of Allegiance and spoke about her husband, David Shelby, who at the time was serving in Iraq for the Army. She was a full-time student at Tulsa Community College at that time and also attended Oklahoma State University and Northeastern State University in Broken Arrow, where she received a bachelors degree in biology during the spring 2007 semester. Records show that in 2010 Shelby received a recognition award from the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association. The Sheriffs Office honored her for meritorious service in 2009 and a letter of commendation in 2008. She left her position Nov. 30, 2011, and joined the Tulsa Police Department on Dec. 1, 2011. Tulsa World archives indicate that she graduated from the Tulsa Police Academy on June 1, 2012. Her Sheriffs Office resignation letter, also provided to the World, called the Sheriffs Office a premier law enforcement agency whose personnel consistently demonstrate a high level of professionalism, ethics and integrity. My experiences with the department have been very fulfilling, and, should the opportunity arise, I would be honored and grateful for the opportunity to once again serve as a Tulsa County Deputy Sheriff, Shelby wrote. The Tulsa Police Department wrote a complimentary Facebook post about Shelby on Aug. 28, when a family who had been the victims of a burglary surprised her at work to thank her for her assistance with their case. The Joneses were victims of a burglary and Officer Shelby had responded to gather information on the crime and take the report, the post states. Through information that she received, Officer Shelby was able to locate the stolen property and return it to the Joneses. To thank her, the Joneses surprised Officer Shelby with flowers. Well done, Officer Shelby and thanks to the Joneses for making her day. State Question 790 has been sold as an effort toward religious liberty, but opponents of the ballot initiative believe it could do harm to churches and religious organizations. There are already a lot of protections that churches and religious organizations enjoy that I think would be threatened if this were to pass, said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, an advocacy group out of Washington, D.C. Placed on the Nov. 8 ballot by the Legislature, SQ 790 emerged in response to the state Supreme Courts ruling that the Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol violated the Oklahoma Constitutions prohibition of using state funds for religious purposes. Read the rest of this story on Newsok.com. A subscription may be required. A debate about Marriage Equality is nothing new for Q&A but last night television personality Magda made it personal, when she asked Deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash Do you think Im equal to you? Of course I do, Nash replied. If I was your daughter, and being gay, would you think I should have the right to be married? Szubanski continued. Nash told her, Ive been asked this question a lot over the last 12 months and my response was that my view is still the traditional view of marriage. I love my children regardless of what they ever brought home for me would make absolutely no difference at all. I completely respect your view and your desire to see that as equality. But you wont give me my rights? For Szubanski, who came out publicly in 2012, the answer wasnt enough. Thanks for nothing. Screen NSW has launched a new program to create opportunities in the screen industries for people with disabilities. Screenability NSW is a partnership between Screen NSW, Ai-Media, AFTRS, Carriageworks and Bus Stop Films offering up to eight paid internships with production companies, broadcasters and streaming services. The program will create opportunities for people in the technical and creative areas of screen production, including set building, art dept, camera and sound depts, make up and wardrobe, along with writing, producing, admin and production roles, plus editing, sound design, VFX, composing and many more. There will also be opportunities in the programming, scheduling and commissioning departments of partners including Foxtel, Stan and iView. Prior to starting their internship, each of the eight individuals matched with a production will be provided with bespoke training through the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, developed in consultation with Bus Stop Films. Tim Ferguson will host a forum at Carriageworks with participants following the internship program. Confirmed partners include: Eurovision (Blink TV/SBS TV) The NRL Footy Show (Nine Network) Playschool (ABC TV) The New Years Eve live broadcast (ABC TV) The Mardi Gras Parade broadcast (Golden Duck/SBS TV) Animal Logic (World-leading animation and VFX co) See-Saw Films (Lion, Top of the Lake, The Kings Speech) Goalpost Pictures Australia (Cleverman, The Sapphires, Holding The Man) Proxi VR Guerilla Films (Wyrmwood) Playmaker (The Code, Love Child) Matchbox Pictures (Barracuda, Real Housewives, The Slap, Wanted) Screentime (Janet King, Anh Dos Brush with Fame) CJZ (Gruen, The Checkout, House of Hancock, Bond) Jungle (No Activity, Here Come the Habibs) Foxtel Stan ABC iView As well as delivering positive outcomes to all the interns, this internship program has the potential to change attitudes in the workplace towards disability, and foster the growth of inclusive practices on a professional basis, said Screen NSW Development and Production Executive Sofya Gollan. A smart and dynamic initiative Screenability NSW will encourage and enable new thinking and, best of all, opportunities in the media industries, writer / performer Tim Ferguson said. We know from our work over the past ten months targeting gender imbalance in the screen sector, the key to creating a diverse industry, delivering richer content and ongoing cultural change, is getting people into paid positions, putting people from under-represented groups on set and into production offices, said Screen NSW Chief Executive Courtney Gibson. What we find is that the production sector is very keen to embrace diversity; its programs like Screenability NSW which enable them to do so. Applications close Friday October 21st. Upcoming Screenability NSW activities include: An annual film festival at Carriageworks A short film-making initiative to finance and deliver films for premiere at the festival, for travelling around Australia and the world, and for screening online A long-term job placement scheme Ai-Media CEO, Tony Abrahams, said: Were committed to creating innovative access solutions addressing the social, educational and vocational exclusion faced by millions of Australians affected by disability. We are delighted to participate in Screenability NSW, a program aimed at providing an accessible and inclusive work experience for people with disabilities within the screen sector. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the SNSW team and partners, who have shown strong vision and commitment with this initiative. Australian producer of the Eurovision broadcast for SBS, Blink TVs Paul Clarke: Eurovision is a symbol for many people of being who you want to be, proclaiming your individuality with a sense of great enjoyment and passion. Im sure this initiative will allow someone to expand their opportunities to be themselves, and to hopefully find their place in the film and TV industry. Glenn Pallister, executive producer of The NRL Footy Show said: What a great initiative by Screen NSW and one that we at The Footy Show are thrilled to be a part of. I didnt think twice when asked to participate. Paul Nunnari, disability advocate and performer, said: People with disability continue to breakdown many barriers and redefine the meaning of disability across a number of dimensions within our community. Screenability will assist in removing barriers to the film and television industry for people with disability and open up a range of opportunities. Just like orange is the new black, disability will become the new normal in the industry. Screen Australias recent milestone study Seeing Ourselves: Reflections on Diversity in TV Drama, revealed that the percentage of Australians with disabilities is more than four times the percentage of characters with disabilities on TV. It noted that Australians with disabilities have lacked opportunities to be involved with behind-the-scenes decision making, such as a presence in writers rooms or on-set, which in turn can flow on to a lack of diversity on screens. On-screen representation doesnt change in a meaningful and authentic way unless things change off-screen, and Screenability NSW will be a catalyst for change, with the intention of creating opportunities in the long term for committed screen practitioners with disability, Sofya Gollan said. On Foreign Correspondent this week Barbara Miller reports on Wild Things as endangered animals are being reintroduced to wild places as part of a radical and controversial idea called re-wilding. Creatures great and small are returning to the wilder reaches of Europe, centuries after they were hunted to extinction or driven from their natural homes. Some are brought back by human hand; others make their own way back as original habitats are restored. Its known as re-wilding, a push-back by scientists and conservationists against a creeping loss of biodiversity. Itll be like the dodo, itll be gone, warns scientist and wildlife warrior Dr Paul ODonoghue, whose mission is to rescue the critically endangered Scottish wildcat. Reporter Barbara Miller joins Dr ODonoghue on a search for the wildcat so elusive its called the ghost cat in the dramatic scenery of the Scottish highlands. Thousands once thrived in the UK. Now there are about 50, a population smashed by past hunting and interbreeding with feral cats. This is our secret weapon, says Dr ODonoghue, as he sets baits of stinking, oily, tinned mackerel to lure wildcats to his camera traps. His dream is to create a vast reserve starting with at least 250 wildcats. Most locals back his wildcat aspiration, but his next project taking bigger, fiercer lynx from the wild in Romania and freeing them in Englands north is hitting opposition. It was 1300 years ago around when the Vikings first invaded Britain that lynx last lived there. But Dr ODonoghue insists that the transplanted lynx will adapt quickly, while keeping fox and deer numbers down in an ecology of fear, and have minimal impact on farmers. But for ODonoghues local adversary, sheep farmer Greg Dalton, theres no going back. No one is going to be putting up with sheep being eaten by a lynx, he says. They will get to a point where they will sell up and move away and the land will be left for the mess of re-wilding god knows what it will end up looking like. Farmer Dalton calls the re-wilding push slightly delusional. Surprisingly its a sentiment shared by re-wilder ODonoghue about the most ambitious re-wilding plan afoot bringing elephants to Denmark. I think thats a ridiculous idea, says ODonoghue, arguing that it will bring re-wilding into disrepute. Yet proponents include respected scientists who note that elephants were in Europe for millions of years before disappearing relatively recently, about 12,000 years ago. To these re-wilders, Europe is an ark for threatened elephants in Asia and Africa and theres a moral imperative to act. Were really seeing massive losses of biodiversity at the moment and it we look to the future we see dark skies, says Danish ecology professor Jens-Christian Svenning. Its an obligation for scientists to work on helping us to overcome this. If Professor Svenning is right, we could see elephant herds grazing the wilds of Denmark within a decade. 9.30pm on Tuesday September 20 on ABC. Peter Garrett, former Labor MP and Midnight Oil frontman, is the guest on Who Do You Think You Are? tonight. Season Eight, Episode Two: Peter Garrett In one of Sydneys great convict buildings, Peter Garrett discovers an ancestor at the forefront of social welfare in the colony. Hell also unearth the secret life of his grandmother who worked in a forgotten area of First Contact the Lock Hospitals in Western Australia. More than a century later, Peter follows his grandmother to remote Bernier Island, where Indigenous Australians suspected of having venereal disease were taken by force. 7:30pm tonight on SBS. Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it. I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends. More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it. The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity. About me: I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS. Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line). Age: 42 Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed. I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it). Militants launched 18 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas over the past day. This is reported by the ATO Headquarters press center. In particular, terrorists violated ceasefire six times in Donetsk direction. The militants shelled Avdiyivka (18km north of Donetsk), using grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Three ceasefire violations were recorded in Luhansk direction. The terrorists shelled Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk), using small arms. In Mariupol direction, nine ceasefire violations were spotted. The militants used grenade launchers and small arms to Marinka (35 km south-west of Donetsk). ish No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, one soldier was wounded in eastern Ukraine over the past day. Spokesman for the Presidential Administration on the ATO, Colonel Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, but one soldier was wounded and one soldier was shell-shocked in eastern Ukraine over the past day, Lysenko said. ish President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with representatives of the Ukrainian community of the United States in the Ukrainian institute of America in New York. This has been reported by the press service of the Head of State. The President noted that the meeting was attended by the Crimean Tatars representatives. According to him, Chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov informed that Crimean Tatars hadnt participated in todays elections in Crimea. Petro Poroshenko congratulated the attendees on the 25th anniversary of restoration of the Ukrainian independence and noted that the given event had been overshadowed by the black cloud of war for the third year in a row. The President emphasized that we had managed to revive the Ukrainian Armed Forces jointly, inter alia, with the assistance of Ukrainians from the United States. The Head of State stressed that it was very important to continue sanctions against Russia. Human rights violations in the occupied territories, inter alia, against the Crimean Tatars requires the introduction of additional sectoral sanctions, the Head of State said calling for the development of the plan of actions jointly and working in that direction. ish Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has met with business representatives in New York, the presidents press service reports. He stressed that regardless of Russia's ongoing aggression, Ukraine continues to work on strengthening economy and defense, and fighting against corruption. My mission, as President, is the fight against corruption. My main priority it to assist Ukraine in getting rid of corrupt schemes, practices and culture, President Poroshenko said. According to him, investors are discovering the Ukrainian market and using the existing opportunities to develop their production in Ukraine. In particular, he recalled the launch of the industrial cargo complex of US company Bunge in Ukraine. "We are now beginning the implementation of a large-scale privatization program, President Poroshenko. "Its the right time and place to invest in Ukraine, he stressed. iy facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published September 19, 2016 MONROE, La. The famous Australian rapper, Amethyst Amelia Kelly, better known by her stage name, Iggy Azalea, will perform at the University of Louisiana Monroe's Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Thursday, October 13 at 8 p.m. Iggys performance was secured by ULMs Campus Activities Board, which organized the concert as a part of ULM's Homecoming week. In 2006, as a 16 year-old, Iggy left Australia and flew to the United States to pursue her dream. Her professional career started in 2011 with the release of her first full-length mix-tape project titled Ignorant Art. In 2014, she released her debut album, The New Classic, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales topping 52,000 across the United States. Iggy has collaborated with many well-known artists throughout her career. The most notable ones include Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. She was the first woman and the first non-American rapper to be featured in XXL Magazines Top 10 Freshman List in 2012. Iggys most notable songs include Fancy, Black Widow, Work and Team. Early bird ticket prices are as follows: Tickets for ULM students cost $20 for general admission, and $25 for floor seats. Tickets for the general public cost $30 for general admission, and $35 for floor seats. Ticket prices will increase by $5 on September 29, and remain the same until the beginning of the concert. Tickets are available at www.ulm.edu/concert. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi addresses the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants at the UN General Assembly in New York. UN Photo/Cia Pak NEW YORK At a high-level UN Summit in New York today, the governments of 193 countries adopted key commitments to enhance protection for millions of people who have been forcibly displaced and are otherwise on the move around the world. Amidst record levels of displacement worldwide, the Summit brought together government and UN leaders and representatives of civil society to better safeguard the rights of refugees and migrants and share responsibility on a global scale. Refugees and migrants are not to be seen as a burden; they offer great potential, if only we unlock it, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an opening address to the Summit. We must place the human rights of all refugees and migrants at the heart of our commitments. Refugees and migrants are not to be seen as a burden - they offer great potential, if only we unlock it. The UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants met at the opening session of the UN General Assembly. Once the forum adopted the key commitments, they became known as the New York Declaration. The Declaration calls on countries which can resettle or reunite many more refugees to do so. It also calls for those in the richer part of the world to recognize their responsibility to provide timely and dependable humanitarian funding, while robustly investing in communities that host large numbers of refugees. UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants. Host countries are called upon to increase opportunities for refugee adults to work and for children to go to school. The Declaration commits governments to better address the drivers and triggers causing the record numbers of forcibly displaced in todays world. The Declaration also tasks UNHCR to develop a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, setting out a blueprint for a stronger system with more reliable funding and early engagement of development actors to help those forced to flee their homes and the communities hosting them. Today we have an extraordinary opportunity to change gear, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in remarks to the Summit on Monday (September 19). Grandi said the Declaration marks a political commitment of unprecedented force and resonance. It fills what has been a perennial gap in the international refugee protection system that of truly sharing responsibility for refugees. It fills what has been a perennial gap in the international refugee protection system that of truly sharing responsibility for refugees, in the spirit of the UN Charter. Grandi pledged to work with world leaders to manage forced displacement in a principled manner, and resolve it with courage and vision. He called on governments to provide political engagement, funding and concrete acts of solidarity in support of host countries and pursuit of solutions for refugees. The world shocked by images of people fleeing in huge numbers and dying at sea does not want our intentions to remain on paper. It demands practical action and results. With the Declaration, the International Organization for Migration was formally brought into the United Nations system on Monday. The commitments in the Declaration were agreed last month , and will serve as the basis for future compacts. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, believes the Declaration will mark a significant milestone in refugee and migrant protection. Todays adoption of the New York Declaration will be followed on Tuesday by a Leaders Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis, convened by U.S. President Barack Obama. Here, participants are expected to make concrete pledges in the form of additional funding, new resettlement places or more opportunities for refugees in host communities. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has welcomed the historic adoption of the New York Declaration by 193 governments at todays United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, during the first-ever UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. Amidst unprecedented levels of people on the move, the Summit brings together government and UN leaders and representatives of civil society to better safeguard the rights of refugees and migrants and share responsibility on a global scale. Today we have an extraordinary opportunity to change gear, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, speaking at the opening of the UNGA today. Grandi said the Declaration marks a political commitment of unprecedented force and resonance. It fills what has been a perennial gap in the international refugee protection system that of truly sharing responsibility for refugees, in the spirit of the UN Charter. The New York Declaration calls on countries which can resettle or reunite many more refugees to do so. It also calls for those in the richer part of the world to recognize their responsibility to provide timely and dependable humanitarian funding, while robustly investing in communities that host large numbers of refugees. Host countries are called upon to increase opportunities for refugee adults to work and for children to go to school. The Declaration commits governments to better address the drivers and triggers causing the record numbers of forcibly displaced in todays world. The Declaration also tasks UNHCR to develop a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, setting out a blueprint for a stronger system with more reliable funding and early engagement of development actors to help those forced to flee their homes and the communities hosting them. Grandi pledged to work with world leaders to manage forced displacement in a principled manner, and resolve it with courage and vision. He called on governments to provide political engagement, funding and concrete acts of solidarity in support of host countries and pursuit of solutions for refugees. The world shocked by images of people fleeing in huge numbers and dying at sea does not want our intentions to remain on paper. It demands practical action and results. Todays adoption of the New York Declaration will be followed on Tuesday by a Leaders Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis, convened by U.S. President Barack Obama. Here, participants are expected to make concrete pledges in the form of additional funding, new resettlement places or more opportunities for refugees in host communities. Read Mr Grandis full remarks to the UNGA. Media contacts Ariane Rummery in Geneva, +41 79 200 7617, [email protected] Jenifer Fenton in New York, +1 646 255 3054, [email protected] Melissa Fleming in New York, +41 79 557 9122, [email protected] Nairobi, Kenya, September 17, 2016 UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, takes note of the report published this week by Human Rights Watch on the repatriation programme for Somali refugees living in Dadaab, and shares some of the concerns raised by the organisation. We recognise the challenges that Kenya, a country that has generously hosted refugees for decades, has expressed with regard to the Somali refugee situation, one of the most protracted in the world, as well as the challenges faced by Somalia in ensuring the returnees sustainable reintegration. As the lead UN agency mandated to protect and assist refugees, UNHCR works closely with the Government of Kenya to ensure that refugees rights are upheld and that solutions are found, enabling them to live in peace and security, including voluntary repatriation in conditions of safety and dignity. The complex Somali refugee situation requires a comprehensive approach to solutions, which includes continued protection for those who remain in need of asylum, adequate support for those who choose to return voluntarily, as well as other alternatives such as third-country resettlement, notes Raouf Mazou, UNHCRs Representative in Kenya. Central to any refugee return process is the principle of voluntariness. In all of our engagements with Government officials (both bilaterally and within the framework established under the Tripartite Agreement of 2013), refugees and other stakeholders, we have consistently stressed that repatriation must be voluntary and cannot, therefore, be time-bound. In line with the principle of voluntariness, UNHCR is committed to ensure that all refugees receive adequate information about conditions in the country of origin and are able to make an informed decision regarding return. We regularly meet with refugees and broadcast radio messages in English and Somali, emphasising that returns must be voluntary and based on an informed decision. We are also strengthening our Return Help Desks in Dadaab and Kakuma, working closely with colleagues and partners in Somalia to provide the most up-to-date information. Prior to the decision of the Government of Kenya to close the Dadaab camps, several thousand refugees had already registered their intention to return, many of whom have since voluntarily returned to Somalia. Over the past five years, the Somali refugee population in Dadaab has reduced by some 160,000 individuals, attributed to both supported and ongoing spontaneous returns to Somalia, as well as the recently concluded population fixing/verification exercise. To facilitate sustainable returns, it is important that the returnees receive the necessary support, including financial assistance and basic relief items. However, the sustainable reintegration of Somali refugees willing to return to their home country goes beyond individual return packages: continued commitment from the international community to strengthening the infrastructure and services inside Somalia remains crucial. END Media contacts: In Geneva, Nora Sturm, [email protected], +41 79 200 76 18 In Nairobi, Duke Mwancha, [email protected], +254 722 207 863 UNICEF Executive Board The Executive Board is the governing body of UNICEF, providing intergovernmental support and oversight to the organization, in accordance with the overall policy guidance of the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. We're sorry, you encountered a page that doesn't exist. UNICEF/UN020011/Gilbertson VII Photo NEW YORK, 19 September 2016 "The New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants represents a first step in addressing the unprecedented level of human mobility the world is facing. "The Declaration outlines a more comprehensive, predictable and sustainable response to forced displacement, and a system of governance for international migration. Its emphasis on the need for Member States to comply with their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a crucial step toward securing the rights of all children on the move. "The Declaration underscores the acute risks faced by refugee and migrant children, particularly those traveling on their own, and the need to provide them with specialized protection. It includes, crucially, a commitment to making sure they can quickly go back to school once they have reached their destination countries, and outlines measures to keep families together and counter xenophobia. "Over the next two years, UNICEF will work with Member States, United Nations partners, civil society, and children, to spell out specific and measurable actions to protect all children uprooted from their homes. UNICEF calls on the international community to focus on six specific actions to help displaced, refugee and migrant children: Protect child refugees and migrants, particularly unaccompanied children, from exploitation and violence. End the detention of children seeking refugee status or migrating by introducing a range of practical alternatives. Keep families together as the best way to protect children and give children legal status. Keep refugee and migrant children learning and giving them access to health and other quality services. Press for action on the underlying causes of large-scale movements of refugees and migrants. Promote measures to combat xenophobia, discrimination and marginalization." # # # Download multimedia resources: http://uni.cf/1Ob9UKV For more information, please contact: Najwa Mekki, UNICEF New York, +1 917 209 1804, nmekki@unicef.org Chris Tidey, UNICEF New York, +1 917 340 3017, ctidey@unicef.org Canada condemns terror attack on Uri Army camp New Delhi, Sep 19 (UNI) Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton today strongly condemned the terror attack on the Indian Army camp at Jammu and Kashmir's Uri yesterday, leading to the death of several soldiers. In a statement issued here, he said Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. "We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism," the statement said. Shivpal axe 7 close confidants of Akhilesh: Fight in the SP clan in UP intensify Lucknow, Sep 19 (UNI) The fight within the Samajwadi Party has intensified as there is no let up in the retaliatory action when today on the second day of his new term as the state-president, Shivpal Singh Yadav expelled seven youth leaders including 3 MLCs, who are close to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. SP state-president today expelled MLCs Anand Bhadauria, Sunil Yadav Sajan and Sanjay Lathar along with Samajwadi Youth Brigade national president Gauravf Dubey and its state president Mohammad Ebad, Yuvjan Sabha state president Brajesh Yadav and Chatra Sabha state president Digvijay Singh Deo for anti-party activities. All the seven expelled youth leaders are close to Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and they had led the protest on Saturday last to return back the post of the state president of the party to Akhilesh Yadav. They also gheraoed the house of Mulayam Singh Yadav and raised slogans against him. This would be the ninth expulsion within two days of the leaders close to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav. Yesterday on day one of his office, Shivpal had expelled Ram Gopal Yadav's nephew and MLC Arvind Pratap Singh and former pradhan of Saifai Akhilesh Kumar Yadav alias Chandgiram for anti-party activities. Surprisingly, the letter of the expulsion letter, copy of which was sent to party's general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav for further action but it was not sent to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav even after he is the legislature party leader and four MLCs have been expelled by the party. Shivpal Singh Yadav talking to mediapersons here today said that he would not allow anyone to indulge in indiscipline and they will have to be punished for insulting the party's national president. " Even if the member of our family will do wrong , they also will not be spared," he warned, with giving clear message that Mulayam Singh Yadav have given a clear verdict to his younger brother against his son Akhilesh. Earlier, Shivpal had removed the state spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury, who is also the state minister and one of the closest leader of the CM from the post and MLC Ambika Choudhury was made the new spokesperson. Similarly, state minister Arvind Singh Gope was also removed from the state general secretary. A truce between Akhilesh and his Shivpal was made on Saturday last on a cup of tea with CM returning all the departments except for PWD to his uncle while Akhilesh was made the chairman of the state parliamentary board. Talking to media after the truce, CM had said that he is the national head of all the youth wings of the party but today's action shows that he had been ignored totally. But it seems that the truce was just temporary and the real fight for power has begun within the first family. UNI MB JW AS1410 Danish English Frederikssund, 19 September 2016 COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT No 36/16 CANCELLATION OF EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING CONVENED TO BE HELD ON 20 SEPTEMBER 2016 On 29 August 2016, the Company convened an extraordinary general meeting to be held on 20 September 2016. The notice convening that general meeting was, due to an error, not published in the IT system of the Danish Business Authority, cf section 95(3) of the Danish Companies Act. As a result, the notice convening the meeting is withdrawn and no extraordinary general meeting will be held on 20 September 2016. A new extraordinary general meeting will be convened, by separate notice, to deal with the business specified. Please direct any questions concerning this stock exchange announcement to info@cemat.dk. Cemat A/S Jens Borelli-Kjr Chairman of the Board This announcement has been prepared in a Danish-language and an English-language version. In case of doubt, the Danish version prevails. Unsubscribe announcements: investor@cemat.dk Recent studies have revealed that children of immigrants are more likely to get a higher education than their native-born counterparts. The statistics are especially true in the case of UK immigrants. In a study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD, 58 percent of people between the ages of 25 - 44 with immigrant parents has pursued higher education compared to 46 percent of those who have British-born parents. The statistics are the same in Northern Ireland where 53 percent of those who have non-native parents within the 25 - 44 age spectrum receive higher education compared to their native counterparts who are only 38 percent. These statistics show that the assumption that children of immigrant backgrounds have a greater risk of downward social mobility is not true. In fact, it is the other way around. "Many people suspect for immigrants they are going to be more likely to be at the lower end of the performance spectrum. That's not actually true," Andreas Schleicher, OECD director, said. He was quick to say, however, that these statistics do not necessarily apply to other countries. He explained that one reason for this can be educational motivation where immigrants coming into another country think that the only way to move up the ladder is through education. Another reason for this could be the fact that the system is more permeable where you are given an opportunity to enhance your education if you have those skills. Another reason Schleicher sees is that British schools are non-selective in accepting students compared to its other European counterparts. For example, some European countries select their students based on their social background instead of basing it on the academic potential of the student. With this results, Schleicher further proposed that the English school system should be more meritocratic where information of a child's academic potential is acquired from extensive data gathered throughout their school life rather than in a one-time test like the 11 - plus. He said that this is the answer to foster high performance, not in building more schools. Brown University has reinstated its Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. This comes years after it dissolved the program due to protests against the Vietnam War. Fox News reported that Brown University is reinstating its ROTC program after dissolving it nearly half a century ago. Opposition to the programs was dissolved by 2011 with repeal of the policy that banned gays from serving openly in the military. According to the school's official website, three incoming students will be the first since 1969 to serve their country through Naval and Air Force ROTC programs. First-year students Ben Chiacchia, Luc Langlois and Melia Okura joined University President Christina Paxson, Franklin R. Parker, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, and Steven Garland, brigadier general of the Air Force as they formally restored Brown University's participation in the service branches' ROTC programs. "Without question, what all Brown men and women who have served, are serving and will serve in the United States Armed Forces share is a deep desire to make this country - and by extension, the world - a safer, more secure place for all of us," Paxson said. "As the first Air Force cadets and Navy midshipmen since the Vietnam War begin their studies on College Hill, I could not be prouder of the strengthened ties between Brown University and the Armed Forces." Brown Navy and Marine Corps ROTC midshipmen will be joining the Naval ROTC unit at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Brown Air Force ROTC cadets will join Detachment 340 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. "This is a great partnership for the Department of the Navy and for Brown University," Parker noted. "The Naval ROTC program will enrich the Brown experience, and the gifted students from Brown's ROTC program will make our military and nation stronger." Brown University's faculty members voted to limit the role of the program on campus in 1969, in the context of the Vietnam War. It ultimately resulted to the dissolution of the campus-based programs with the Navy, the Marines and the Air Force. Florida State University is being plagued by an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease. More than a dozen students have been infected this week alone. In a post on its official website, FSU announced that it has already set up preventive actions on campus after a lot of students were infected by the disease. Lesley Sacher, director of the FSU Health and Wellness Center, admitted that they are already aware of "more than a dozen cases so far." The school has notified the Leon County Health Department. FSU officials are reportedly working diligently to educate the members of the university community to prevent further transmission. The hand, foot and mouth disease is noted to last for about five days. There is no medicine to treat it. The disease is characterized by blisters that form on a patient's hands, feet and mouth with mild fever or sore throat. The school has advised all community living facilities, such as University Housing, fraternity and sorority houses as well as scholarship houses, to sanitize their residences thoroughly and to provide bottles of hand sanitizer in each residence. FSU has also confirmed that it will continue its sanitation protocols for all public spaces on campus. "Students should take the necessary precautions to sanitize their living and communal spaces including bathrooms," Tom Jacobson, director of Environmental Health & Safety, said. The school will also partner with establishments in the community, such as local bars and restaurants, to sanitize their premises. According to The Tallahassee Democrat, several campus social events were canceled on Tuesday night to prevent the disease's further exposure to students. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted that the hand, foot and mouth disease is highly-contagious and can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with unwashed hands, by coughing and sneezing or contact with blister fluid or surfaces contaminated with infected feces. While it is more common in infants and children, adults can also be infected without showing symptoms but still pass the virus to others. LISLE, Ill., Sept. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eckrich, the makers of naturally hardwood smoked sausage and savory deli meats, partnered with Associated Food Stores and Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families, to honor a Salt Lake City military family on Saturday night. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ee527ac9-116b-4c97-bdea-c85f2062b388 Joining them for the surprise event was a special guest, platinum-selling country music star Randy Houser. Eckrich and Houser invited the Wick family backstage before his performance and surprised them with a gift of $5,000 in free groceries at Associated Food Stores. Eckrich and Houser have partnered to honor U.S. military families since 2014. Houser is known for top hits including his four No. 1 singles How Country Feels, Runnin Outta Moonlight, Goodnight Kiss and We Went as well as the Top 5 smash Like A Cowboy. He recently released his fourth studio album, Fired Up, via Stoney Creek Records. The 17-song project follows Housers breakthrough album, How Country Feels, and features his latest No. 1 hit We Went and new single, Chasing Down a Good Time. It was great to have the Wick family join me backstage and the chance to personally thank them for their service and sacrifice, said Houser. Im grateful to be a part of this campaign. I hope this gift of free groceries will show the Wick family how much we appreciate the sacrifices they have made. Staff Sergeant Anthony Wick served honorably for more than a decade in the United States Army. Wick completed multiple tours overseas including two deployments to Iraq. Anthony and his wife Tiffany have been married for 10 years. They have five children. What an amazing surprise, said Anthony Wick. It really caught us off guard. There are a lot of people to thank, but especially to Eckrich, Operation Homefront and Associated Food Stores for this generous gift. Its good to see the smiles on our kids face when they met Randy (Houser). Its simply incredible and we are both honored and humbled. The event is part of the ongoing campaign by Eckrich to honor, thank and support military families through its partnership with Operation Homefront. The Wick family is supported by Operation Homefronts Hearts of Valor program, a network of nearly 3,000 caregivers for wounded, ill or injured service members. Operation Homefront supports these caregivers through annual retreats, support groups and online communities. Eckrich, in its fifth year of partnership with Operation Homefront, has donated more than $2.5 million to the organization since 2012. Eckrich is proud to support military families, said Jennifer Zmrhal, Senior Director, Marketing, Smithfield Foods. Our partnership with Randy Houser allows us to honor, thank and support military families in a special way. Tonight, we were proud to surprise the Wick family with $5,000 in free groceries to Associated Food Stores to show our appreciation. For more information about Eckrich, please visit www.eckrich.com. Eckrich is a brand of Smithfield Foods. About Eckrich Founded by Peter Eckrich in 1894, Eckrich has a rich heritage starting from a small meat market in Fort Wayne, Ind. Through it all, Eckrich meats have been recognized for their great taste and supreme quality, craftsmanship, care and pride. For more information, visit www.eckrich.com. About Smithfield Foods Smithfield Foods is a $14 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, Farmland, Armour, John Morrell, Cook's, Kretschmar, Gwaltney, Curly's, Margherita, Carando, Healthy Ones, Krakus, Morliny, and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com. About Operation Homefront A national nonprofit, Operation Homefront builds strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. With more than 3,200 volunteers nationwide, Operation Homefront has provided assistance to tens of thousands of military families since its inception shortly after 9/11. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 92 percent of Operation Homefronts expenditures go directly to programs that provide support to our military families. For more information, go to www.OperationHomefront.net. About Randy Houser With an inimitable voice the New York Times describes as wholly different, thicker and more throbbing, a caldron bubbling over, Randy Houser racked up three consecutive No. 1 hits and more than four million in singles sales to date with his Stoney Creek Records album, How Country Feels. He topped the charts with the title track, Runnin Outta Moonlight and Goodnight Kiss (also his first No. 1 as a songwriter) and earned critical acclaim for his powerful delivery of the Top 5 smash and CMA Song of the Year-nominated "Like A Cowboy." Houser added a fourth No. 1 to his catalogue with We Went from his latest album, Fired Up, and recently released a new single, Chasing Down A Good Time. He is currently on the Somewhere On A Beach Tour with Dierks Bentley. For more information, visit www.RandyHouser.com or follow on Twitter @RandyHouser and www.Facebook.com/RandyHouser. The Kansas State University Foundation has earned a patent for antiviral development. This would be most helpful for travelers who are exposed to common viruses and can carry diseases back home with them. It is also helpful in the fight against possible bioterrorism threats. Healio reported that the Kansas State University Research Foundation received a patent for the broad-spectrum antivirals that researchers at the school and Wichita State University have developed. Kyeong-Ok Chang, DVM, MS, PhD, associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, Kansas State University; Yunjeong Kim, DVM, PhD, researcher assistant and associate professor of chemistry and pathobiology, Kansas State University; and William C. Groutas, PhD, distinguished professor of chemistry, Wichita State University developed the antivirals. These antivirals are macrocyclic compounds that do not easily disintegrate in a patient's bloodstream. Their aim is to lessen the incidence of common infections, such as norovirus and rhinovirus as well as any virus that poses a bioterrorism threat among travelers, students and military personnel. According to Kansas State University's official website, the research is federally funded by the National Institutes of Health. Kim noted that antivirals are "therapeutic tools" but can be used as a preventive measure to virus exposure. "Macrocyclic compounds are kind of a big trend in antivirals or any drug development because of their highly stable nature in the body," Chang said. These compounds are spiral-shaped structures that are highly stable in the patient's bloodstream. Moreover, the compounds need to internalize inside target cells where viruses multiply in order to inhibit viral growth. KSU Research Foundation's patented compounds inactivate the viral enzyme produced during active replication in the cells. It is still expected to undergo several years of testing before these compounds are made available to consumers. "Like any drug development, potential compounds need to satisfy many additional requirements, including cell safety and stability, and eventual antiviral efficacy in the body," Chang added. "That's why it takes years to develop antivirals." A study led by Stanford University on today's marine life has revealed that humans are the primary culprits behind the risk of extinction of larger marine animals. Apparently, they are being targeted first for consumption. In a post on Stanford University's official website, there is a trend in today's oceans that "selectively targets" larger marine animals over the smaller ones. This pattern of extinction is found to be likely driven by human fishing. "We've found that extinction threat in the modern oceans is very strongly associated with larger body size," Jonathan Payne, a paleobiologist at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, said. "This is most likely due to people targeting larger species for consumption first." The Stanford-led study examined the association between extinction threat level and ecological traits, like body size, for two major groups of marine animals, the mollusks and vertebrates over the past 500 years. The data is then compared to the ancient past, as far back as 445 million years ago. The study will be published in the Sep. 16 issue of the journal "Science." The research is done by Payne and colleagues Noel Heim, a postdoctoral researcher in Payne's lab, Matthew Knope, a former postdoc in Payne's lab who is now an assistant professor of biology at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, as well as Andrew Bush of the University of Connecticut and Doug McCauley of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "We used the fossil record to show, in a concrete, convincing way, that what is happening in the modern oceans is really different from what has happened in the past," Heim said. It was noted that for every factor of 10 increase in an animal's body mass, the risk of extinction goes up by about a factor of 13 or so. Boris Worm, a top marine scientist at Dalhousie University in Canada, praised the study. "[It] shows us how unusual this crisis of biodiversity we have right now," he told CBS San Francisco. KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TMG Health, the leading national provider of Business Process Outsourcing solutions to the Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and Managed Medicaid markets, announces the appointment of James Kolata as Vice President of Corporate Development. Kolata will oversee all new client implementations and is responsible for the development and negotiation of client contracts and pricing proposals. To that end, he will work closely with the company's Product Management, Information Technology, Sales, Legal, Enterprise Project Management Office and Account Management teams. "We are pleased to announce the promotion of Jim Kolata to the position of Vice President of Corporate Development," said William Haggett, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at TMG Health. "Jim's proven track record spearheading strategic corporate initiatives will be a valuable asset as we continue to expand our services and footprint in the Medicare and Medicaid markets." Kolata joined TMG Health in 2005 and has since held numerous positions in the organization. Most recently, he served as Director of Corporate Development and Sales Support, and led the company's efforts to develop a new, streamlined approach to implementations. He has also held the positions of Director of Sales Support, Project Manager, Account Executive and Operations Liaison and Lead. He holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. About TMG Health TMG Health is the leading national provider of Business Process Outsourcing solutions for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and Managed Medicaid plans. With more than 18 years of experience in providing technology-enabled services to the government market exclusively, our knowledge of health plan processes, regulatory requirements, and the daily challenges plans face within the government market is second to none. Our expertise, coupled with a strong commitment to our Clients' success, positions us as a trusted partner who can help solve the challenges of today and prepare for those of tomorrow. A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41450 Laramie Student Semifinalist for Broadcom MASTERS Science Fair Arundathai Nair Laramie student Arundathai Nair is among 300 semifinalists selected from 2,343 applicants nationwide in the national Broadcom Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars (MASTERS) competition. Broadcom MASTERS is the premier national science and engineering research competition for students in grades 6-8. Students who exhibited exceptional original science and engineering research projects at last springs Wyoming State Science Fair at the University of Wyoming were nominated to enter Broadcom MASTERS. The 30 finalists will be selected later this fall for an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. Nair was a Laramie Junior High School eighth-grader when she competed in last springs State Science Fair. She currently is a Laramie High School freshman. Erin Stoesz, Wyoming State Science Fair coordinator and lecturer with UWs Science and Mathematics Teaching Center, says there is no better way to learn about science or engineering research than by doing it, and the science fair provides that opportunity. Being able to nominate students from our fair for national- and international-level competitions really ups the level of competition and gives the students external motivation to put out their best work, Stoesz adds. It also helps us reward students in a big way. Nair is the fourth Wyoming student to be honored as a semifinalist in the Broadcom MASTERS competition. Past Broadcom MASTERS semifinalists from Wyoming are Mercedes Dimsey (2013, Cody Middle School), Mary McGuire (2015, St. Anthonys Tri-Parish Catholic School in Casper) and Sean White (2015, Wind River Middle School, Pavillion). Nair invented a prototype portable pedal designed to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT is a condition that affects millions of Americans each year, and for which long-term immobility, such as long-haul air travel, is a common risk factor. Her portable pedal, which can be used at a desk or in an airplane seat, is designed to stimulate activity of the leg muscle that is comparable to the muscle activity observed when an average adult walks. Nairs research was supported by mentoring from Boyi Dai, UW assistant professor of kinesiology and health; Paul Dellenback, UW associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Doug Brenneman, Laramie Junior High School industrial arts teacher. Nair was among eight students nominated for the national competition from the recent Wyoming State Science Fair. Other nominees were Megan Anspach, Pinedale Middle School; Jakobi Hibbert, Big Piney Middle School; Ahlena Islam, Laramie Junior High School; Loren Mann and Todd Paisley, both from Wheatland Middle School; Bryce Salzman, Meeteetse School; and Chloe Smith, Newcastle Middle School. These students all conducted science and engineering research that was innovative, executed well and presented with genuine passion, Stoesz says. For more information about the Wyoming State Science Fair, email Stoesz at wyostatefair@gmail.com, or visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/sciencefair/. talk2pk wrote: Because of the recent transformation of the market. Quore, Inc., must increase productivity, 10 percent over the course of the next two years, or it will certainly go bankrupt. In fact, however, Quores production structure is such that if a 10 percent productivity increase is possible, then a 20 percent increase is attainable. If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them also be true? (A) It is only Quores production structure that makes it possible for Quore to survive the transformation of the market. (B) Quore will not go bankrupt if it achieves a productivity increase of 20 percent over the next two years. (C) If the market had not been transformed, Quore would have required no productivity increase in order to avoid bankruptcy. (D) Because of the transformation of the market, Quore will achieve a productivity increase of 10 percent over the next two years. (E) If a 20 percent productivity increase is unattainable for Quore, then it must go bankrupt. Owner of Angles and Arguments Check out my Blog Posts here: Blog For Individual GMAT Study Modules, check For Private Tutoring, check KarishmaOwner of Angles and ArgumentsFor Individual GMAT Study Modules, check Study Modules For Private Tutoring, check Private Tutoring Signature Read More Two conditional statements given to us:If 10% productivity increase does not happen, Quore will go bankrupt.If a 10 percent productivity increase is possible, then a 20 percent increase is attainable.Which one of the following is implied too:(A) It is only Quores production structure that makes it possible for Quore to survive the transformation of the market.We don't know whether Quore's production structure makes it possible for it to survive. All we know is that its production structure is such that if 10% increase is possible, then 20% is attainable too. But is the 10% increase possible, we don't know.(B) Quore will not go bankrupt if it achieves a productivity increase of 20 percent over the next two years.All we know is that if 10% productivity increase does not happen Quore will go bankrupt. But if it does achieve the 10% productivity increase (or even 20%), can we say it will not go bankrupt? Unfortunately we can't. The 10% productivity increase is a necessary condition for not going bankrupt. It is not sufficient.If you have doubts on the validity of this, see here first:Note the if-then statement: If 10% productivity increase does not happen, Quore will go bankrupt.If A (no 10% increase), B (go bankrupt)A implies BNot B implies Not ABut "Not A" does not imply "Not B".Not A is "10% (or higher) increase happens"Not B is "Quore does not go bankrupt"So 10% or higher increase does not imply Quore will not go bankrupt.(C) If the market had not been transformed, Quore would have required no productivity increase in order to avoid bankruptcy.We don't know this for sure. May be something else could have led to a requirement of increase in productivity to avoid bankruptcy.(D) Because of the transformation of the market, Quore will achieve a productivity increase of 10 percent over the next two years.We don't know whether Quore will achieve the increase or not.(E) If a 20 percent productivity increase is unattainable for Quore, then it must go bankrupt.If a 20% increase is unattainable, it means 10% increase is not possible.If 10% increase is not possible, Quore will go bankrupt.This is correct.Answer (E)_________________ Wow, what a night! Joining in on the celebration of the D Casino Hotels 5th year, the Goo Goo Dolls brought their highly-anticipated summer tour to the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center (Pictured: Goo Goo Dolls Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel). Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel. The D Casino Hotel owner Derek Stevens and his wife Nicole greeted the bands backstage before hopping on stage to welcome the crowd to the star-studded night. The duo, along with invited guests, family, and friends all watched the show from the VIP section. Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel. Curtis Young, the talented son of hip-hop legend, Dr. Dre, along with Miss Nevada USA Emelina Adams were also in attendance and swarmed for photos and autographs! Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel. To kick off the night, the up and coming rockers, Tribe Society, had the crowd dancing along with Kings and 1979 from their newly released debut album. What a way to shine! Hit-makers Collective Soul were next to take the stage and had everybody on their feet singing to their popular anthems, The World I Know and December. Their energetic performance was an amazing way to lead into tour headliners, Goo Goo Dolls. Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel. If you loved 90s rock, chances are you know the hits that made Goo Goo Dolls chart-topping sensations. After an impressive tour around the US, the band finished up their tour Vegas style! They blew the crowd away at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center with performances of classic hits such as Slide and Iris. Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel. Now thats how you throw a party! We all know the D Casino Hotel is known for their fun and cool atmosphere, but Friday night they truly reigned supreme in downtown Vegas. Beginning Sept. 19, the Neon Museum will offer a brand-new tour option allowing visitors the chance to get up-close-and-personal with part of its iconic neon sign collection at their leisure. The new, self-guided tour option takes place in the museums North Gallery, which is home to 60 signs, including iconic examples of Las Vegas signature art form from Lady Luck, Golden Nugget, Binions and many other historic venues. Were pleased to introduce a tour experience that will enable us to welcome many more visitors to the Neon Museum than ever before, explained Rob McCoy, president and CEO, Neon Museum. Now, visitors who come to the museum will have another attractive option if guided tours are completely sold out. In addition to marking the debut of the new self-guided North Gallery tours, on Sept. 19, the Neon Museums guided Boneyard tours will be offered according to the following schedule: Neon Boneyard Guided Day Tours 10 a.m. 4 p.m.: tours depart on the hour and half-hour, with the last day tour departing at 4 p.m.Cost: $19 general admission; $15 for Nevada residents, seniors age 65 and older, students, active military and veterans. Valid ID is required for each discounted ticket and must be shown upon arrival. Neon Boneyard Guided Night Tours 6:30 p.m. 9 p.m.: tours depart on the hour and half-hour, with the last night tour departing at 9 p.m.Cost: $25 for general admission; $22 for Nevada residents, seniors age 65 and older, students, active military and veterans. Valid ID is required for each discounted ticket and must be shown upon arrival. To book a Neon Boneyard guided tour at the Neon Museum, click here, or call (702) 387-6366. Tickets for the self-guided North Gallery tours, which are available from 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, cost $10 as an add-on to the Neon Boneyard tour or $19 as a standalone tour. Visitors may tour the North Gallery for as long as they like, take photographs and learn about the signs on display. The museum visitor center provides all guests with a printed rack card containing information about the signs on view and docents are also on hand to answer questions. Guests may book North Gallery tours in the museums visitor center upon arrival. Both the Neon Boneyard and the La Concha Visitors Center are located at 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North in Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.NeonMuseum.org. Estimados amigos, Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia. Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro. Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras. There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen. You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out. No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca. Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt. Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos. Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. According to information published on Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corporation (HoSE: KBC)s website, on September 14, KBC and JA Solar signed an agreement to jointly develop the solar cell plant. The agreement was made during the visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and a Vietnamese business delegation to China. Earlier in July, the two parties signed a land lease contract handing over an 88-hectare land area in Bac Giang provinces Quang Chau Industrial Park to JA Solar to implement the project with a total investment of over $1 billion. According to the latest agreement, the construction will be divided into numerous phases. The first phase will cover an area of 40 hectares with a total investment capital of $450 million. Established in 2005, JA Solar is the fourth largest solar cell producer in the world. It currently has eight plants in Europe, the Latin America, and Japan. In 2015, the group earned $2.15 billion in revenue. JA Solars project has a large-scale, however, it has raised concerns over its feasibility in the context of numerous foreign investors empty promises in this sector. In January 2011, Ho Chi Minh City Industrial and Export Processing Zones Management Authority (Hepza) granted an investment certificate to First Solar Vietnam Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of US-based First Solar Technology Group, to develop a factory producing thin-film solar power panels and semi-finished products. The 44.2-hectare factory has a total investment capital of $1.2 billion, with a designed capacity of up to 1,080MW per year. The operational time of the whole project is 50 years. The first phases construction was kicked off in March 2011 and is expected to be completed within 19 months. However, the construction was suspended after a mere eight months due to the supply-demand imbalance on the world solar market. In July 2012, First Solar Group announced plans to sell its factory and leave Vietnam. Earlier in February 2012, the American company completed the evaluation and approved a set of initiatives to increase manufacturing capacity, among others, primarily intended to adjust its previously planned expansions and global manufacturing footprint. In April, a representative of Hepza said that a new investor may put forward at least $500 million to the project. However, the name of the new investor and the projects date have yet to be disclosed. Along with First Solars project, in January 2013, Global Sphere and WorldTech Transfer Investment held the ground-breaking ceremony of their $300-million solar cell production plant in Phong Dien Industrial Park in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue province. The construction was be divided into two phases. It was scheduled to start in late 2013 and to start production in May 2015. However, in October 2015, Global Sphere announced to withdraw from the project. Another example of a failed solar cell project is the $390 million investment of IC Energy in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Nam. The construction, which was kicked off in May 2011, was expected to go live with its first 30MW manufacturing line in late 2011. The project would then become fully operational by the end of 2015. In 2012, the investor proposed the authorities to extend the deadline due to difficulties in product consumption. As of now, the construction has yet to be resumed. The Japanese consortium building the VND11.85 trillion ($541 million) Tan Vu-Lach Huyen expressway a major component of VND25 trillion ($1.14 billion) Lach Huyen international gateway port in the northern port city of Haiphong is on track to hit construction speed and capital disbursement targets assigned to them by the Ministry of Transport (MoT) earlier in the year. According to Project Management Unit 2 (PMU2), which represents the MoT in overseeing the projects implementation, about VND6.51 trillion ($297.3 million) out of VND7.63 trillion ($348.4 million) equal to 85 per cent of the contract value had been realised by the end of last month. In addition, PMU2 had disbursed VND1.28 trillion ($58.7 million) out of VND1.3 trillion ($59.3 million) of the official development assistance (ODA) capital volume the government and the MoT assigned them in 2016. The consortium consists of Japanese contractor Sumitomo Mitsui and local contractors Truong Son Construction Corporation and Civil Engineering Construction Corporation 4 (Cienco 4). The Tan Vu-Lach Huyen expressway project entails 15.6 kilometres of road-building, including a 5.6km sea-crossing bridge. The projects managing director Bui Huy Kiem said that, once being allocated more capital, the target of disbursing more than VND3 trillion ($137 million) of counter-funding capital from the Vietnamese side before years end is within reach. The project, which is on schedule to be completed in first-quarter 2017, could provide a big impetus for northern key economic zone development. A string of other ODA-funded transport infrastructure projects under MoT management have also seen accelerated progress after a standstill. Once listed among the 17 ODA-funded infrastructure projects facing capital disbursement problems in mid-June 2016, the construction and disbursement pace on the mammoth $1.4-billion Danang-Quang Ngai expressway project has seen marked improvements lately. By the end of August 2016, the project had completed 55 per cent of construction volume, through disbursing more than VND10 trillion ($456 million) of total investment capital. Construction started in May 2013. The state-owned Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) has been spearheading the effort. VEC has imposed sanctions on slow-paced contractors, such as reducing their work assignment, and advanced more than VND1.13 trillion ($51.8 million) raised from toll collection to ensure land acquisition progress, instead of just waiting for government counter-funding. VEC is confident it can beat the set target of opening the Danang-Tam Ky section to traffic in early 2017, as earlier proposed. Positive signs from Tan Vu-Lach Huyen, Danang-Quang Ngai, and other expressways have contributed to softening the tension over counter-funding capital allocation. MoTs recent figures show that by the end of last month, more than VND36.35 trillion ($1.65 billion) of total investment capital earmarked to state-funded construction projects under its management was disbursed, reaching 47.3 per cent of the projection. All Triton pick-up trucks manufactured from 2009 to 2015 are under the Mitsubishi Vietnam's front airbag replacement programme. - Photo danhgiaxe.com The recall is in connection with the replacement of front airbags, which may harm passengers when deployed. Some 3,539 units, imported from Thailand, have been recalled. The recall programme began in September 15 this year and will end on September 14, 2017. Earlier in June, the firm recalled 2,581 Zinger units with a similar defect. At the ceremony, the Thai ethnic minority members in Nghia Lo Town were honoured with the National Recognition of Intangible Cultural Heritage for their Han Khuong traditional performance. The Muong Lo Culture and Tourism Week 2016 started on September 15 and will run through September 20, with the participation of over 1,000 amateur and professional artists. Organized by the Yen Bai provincial Peoples Committee, the week is part of ongoing co-operation between the locality and seven other northwestern provinces in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Nghia Lo Town. The provinces also hope to attract more visitors to Yen Bai and to increase public awareness around preserving cultural values. Various activities will take place during the week, including competitions and performances of traditional sports, a cultural festival of Thai ethnic folk arts, street performances entitled Colorful Northwest region , ritual ceremonies and traditional performances. In addition, visitors will be introduced to the traditional cultures of the local ethnic minorities, through chances to observe locals picking and drying tea leaves, to sample Shan Tuyet tea and steamed sticky rice two local specialties, and to witness on-site tour guide competitions and photo exhibitions at the Memorial to President Ho Chi Minh. FBI agents review the crime scene of remnants of bomb debris on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP) Heavily-armed police and National Guard soldiers deployed throughout New York as the city of 8.4 million prepared to welcome world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Monday. The attack happened late Saturday in Chelsea, one of Manhattan's most fashionable districts packed with bars, restaurants and luxury residential buildings. Police discovered a second bomb planted four blocks away, which was safely defused and is currently being analysed, officers said. The bombing came as a militant-linked news agency claimed that an Islamic State group "soldier" carried out a stabbing attack in a US mall that left eight people injured late Saturday in the state of Minnesota. Local police said the attacker "made some references to Allah," but the motive was unclear. The attacker was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. There was no suggestion it was linked to the New York bombing. "A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but it's not linked to international terrorism," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters on Sunday as he visited the crime scene. "In other words, we find no ISIS connection, etcetera," said Cuomo in reference to IS, which is based in Iraq and Syria. MOTIVE UNKNOWN New York police chief James O'Neill said no individual or group had yet claimed responsibility. O'Neill said he could not say with a "100 per cent degree of certainty" where the blast originated. US media reported that it was planted in a dumpster on 23rd Street where major construction work is taking place. A hot line has been set up for tips. Police have a video of the bombing and were searching for anyone seen in the area before the explosion. "We know it's a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this," Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. "Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation. What was it? We do not know that yet," he added, calling on residents to be vigilant. FBI official William Sweeney said federal investigators would be pouring through online traffic, individuals and organisations. "We will look at everything," he told the news conference. "We'll look at social networks, at all the incoming tips and leads. Everything that comes in gets a look. We don't discard anything." New York will see a stepped up security presence, with an additional nearly 1,000 state police and National Guard deployed to airports, bus terminals and subway stations, officials said. The explosion on 23rd Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, caused "significant" damage, shattering glass and shrapnel across the street, but there is no structural damage to any buildings. EXTRA POLICE While the two devices planted in Manhattan appear to be similar, they seem to be different than a pipe bomb that exploded in the neighboring state of New Jersey on Saturday causing no injuries, officials said. Of the 29 people who sustained injuries in New York, 24 were taken to hospital with various degrees of scrapes and abrasions from glass and metal. All have since been released, officials confirmed Sunday. New York lauds itself as the safest big city in America. Violent crime is rare in Manhattan and police say they have foiled 20 terror plots since the 2001 Al-Qaeda hijackings destroyed the Twin Towers. New York Congressman Peter King said the fact that officials had not yet determined a known terrorist link was not necessarily conclusive. "In many of these cases we don't know until two, three or four days later whether or not there is a terrorist link," he told CBS. "The fact there is no evidence right now doesn't mean much," he added. Police have sealed off northern Chelsea around the crime scene and dozens of officers were out in force on Sunday. An AFP photographer said there was lots of debris, including rubble and glass on 23rd Street. "Today there special events occurring throughout the city. Actually in all five boroughs. We've increased our police presence in each of these events," said senior New York police officer Carlos Gomez. "We've also added more counter-terrorism officers as well as heavy weapons teams at some of these events. Teams from the strategic response group as well as the critical response command," he said. The public auctions of both Habeco and Sabeco will take place after these firms make their debuts on the stock market, a step which must soon be implemented by the breweries under the prime ministers recent instructions. With respect to the auction starting price, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) the management authority in charge of Habeco and Sabeco proposed hiring experienced independent consulting units, which would include foreign consultants, to work on evaluating the breweries share value. If the breweries are listed on the stock market, the price that shares trade at will serve as a reference in setting start prices at auction. What has merited new attention is that the bidding is now open to all investors, irrespective of their business fields. In the past, one of the conditions in selecting a strategic partner for Sabeco was a prohibition on foreign brewer interest. It was thought that this would help avoid direct competition with the local partners business fields. Stock listing, public auction, and no restrictions in investor criteria will help ensure the deal transparency while bringing maximum benefits to the state budget, said a source from a foreign brewer who was once interested in acquiring a Sabeco stake. The Vietnamese prime ministers recent decision on the continued sale of state capital at Sabeco and Habeco was reported to our parent company in its host country. We cannot make further comment at this time because the decision is fresh and no official plan on the deal is currently available, the source added. MoIT was reported to be waiting for the governments final decision on their restructuring plans before taking the next steps. According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, due to different capital sizes of the breweries, their divestment plans will also be different. For Hanoi-based Habeco, MoIT has proposed selling the entire remaining state-owned stake of 81.79 per cent within the year. In the case of Ho Chi Minh City-based Sabeco, due to its sizable capital volume the capital divestment plan will comprise two rounds. About 53.59 per cent of the companys chartered capital is proposed for sale in the first round, slated to take place within the year. The remaining 36 per cent will be sold in the second round, proposed for 2017. With respect to Habeco and Sabecos future public auctions, the prime minister also said the land use rights of the breweries should be separately calculated when selling their stock. Nguyen Duy Hung, chairman of Saigon Securities Inc., a leading financial institution in Vietnam, said that the market has long waited for the official decision on Sabeco and Habeco. The insider take is that the capital divestment plan would be good for all market players, with the exception of certain beneficiary groups. This decision helps prevent hand-shake [agreements] between certain beneficiary groups, which may cause losses to state assets and capital through imposing restrictions to investor selection criteria based on the subjective mindset of some people directly implementing the deal, Hung said. The decision also helps maximise the deal proceeds. Besides, the transparent operation of listed firms will help the breweries boost business efficiency and increase contribution to state coffers through tax payments. The initial public offerings for both Habeco and Sabeco took place in early 2008. At present, 15.77 per cent of Habecos chartered capital is held by Danish brewery Carlsberg. At Sabeco, of a total 10.41 per cent in chartered capital currently retained by foreign investors, 5 per cent belongs to Dutch brewing giant Heineken. At the start of a series of transactions that has seen Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada become sole shareholder in the joint venture PVI Sun Life, local partner PVI Holdings owned 51 per cent of stock in the joint venture while Sun Life Assurance had 49 per cent. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada is a subsidiary of Sun Life Financial Inc., a leading Canada-based international financial services company. Nine months ago, the foreign partner acquired 26 percent of PVI Holdings once commanding stake; in late-August Sun Life Assurance acquired PVI Holdings remaining 25 percent. PVI Holdings, a unit under direct control of state-owned oil and gas conglomerate PetroVietnam, manages three insurance businesses: PVI Sun Life, PVI, and PVI Re. In addition to insurance, financial services are within its scope. PVI Holdings chairman Nguyen Anh Tuan said that the capital divestment from life insurance was a strategic step, coinciding with the companys business restructuring commitment. The move frees up PVI Holdings to concentrate on its two core insurance segments non-life insurance and reinsurance as well as its financial investments. Life insurance services like those offered by PVI Sun Life are a long-term investment. They may take over five years to begin generating profits, which could affect the business efficiency of the whole PVI system. Tuan said, Since its launch in 2013, PVI Sun Life has established itself as the countrys sixth-largest life insurance provider and a market leader and industry pioneer in pensions. That explains why Sun Life has willingly paid 2.5 times more than the original investment. For PVI, the proceeds from the stake sale [about $46 million from both deals] will help the whole PVI system, particularly our member units currently operating in the insurance business PVI and PVI Re become healthier. According to Tuan, as a latecomer in the life insurance market, it wasnt easy for PVI Sun Life to compete head-on with established brands like Prudential Vietnam, Bao Viet Life Insurance, and Manulife. Due to this crowded field, profitability may have come later than expected. However, we did not pull out from life insurance operation due to these difficulties. In contrast, this capital divestment is a win-win for both sides development, Tuan said. About the stake acquisition, Kevin Strain, president of Sun Life Financial Asia, said, We have enjoyed a successful partnership with PVI since establishing the business together and look forward to continuing a close working relationship with them as our distribution partner. We have great momentum in Vietnam and remain committed to helping our Vietnamese clients achieve lifetime financial security, by offering a strong suite of insurance and wealth management products. In the eyes of Sun Life, Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing economies in Asia in recent years. The life insurance and pensions industry is expected to continue experiencing strong growth in the years to come. The police on Sunday proposed that the municipal Peoples Procuracy begin legal proceedings against two South Korean citizens -- Cho In Soo, 37, and Her Min Chul, 37, -- for alleged smuggling and Vietnamese citizen Duong Minh Thi, 31, living in District 7, HCMC, for allged smuggling across the border. According to police investigation, Cho In-Soo and Ha Min Chul had bought used mobile phones in South Korea to resell in VN. On the afternoon of April 22, 2016, the HCM City division of economic and corruption crime investigation (PC46), in collaboration with the Customs Branch of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, caught the two subjects red-handed illegally smuggling 96 used mobile phones (all South Korean brands - Samsung, LG, Luna, and Vega) without customs declaration while they were being processed for entry into VN. The suspects told the police that they planned to sell these phones to a South Korean currently residing in Phu My Hung (District 7, HCMC), but did not know the name and address of the person. For each phone sold, they would make some VN100,000-150,000 in profit. As per the valuation results, these 96 phones have a total value of VN342 million (VAT excluded). The Consulate General of the South Korea Republic in HCM City has confirmed that Cho In Soo and Her Min Chul, have a record of breaking the law several times back in their home country. Duong Minh Thi was on the same flight from South Korea to Viet Nam with two South Korean nationals. The two cases are, however, unrelated. The authorities discovered 24 mobile phones (Samsung, LG and Luna brands), 240 mobile phone batteries, four rice cookers, 739 lipsticks, and 191 brimmed hats inside her baggage, all without customs declaration. Thi allegedly told police that she bought the 240 mobile phone batteries and planned to sell them to mobile phone stores in VN. However, with regard to the rest, she said she was hired to smuggle them from South Korea into VN. She was told she would receive payment of US$13 for each phone she carried, VN70,000 for each hat, VN120,000 for a lipstick and VN40,000 for each rice cooker. The estimated total value of the smuggled goods in this case stands at VN437 million (VAT excluded). Bloomberg on September 8 quoted Le Hong Xanh, Sabecos general director, as reporting that Dutch Heineken, Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller as well as Japanese Asahi and Kirin Holdings are among the seven foreign conglomerates which have expressed their wish to buy Sabecos shares. Prior to that, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the state plans to sell 89.59% of Sabecos stakes, worth US$1.8 billion, and 82% of Habecos stakes, worth US$404 million. In 2016, it would sell 53.59% of stakes, while the remaining would be sold in 2017. Sabeco does not care if the buyers are foreign or Vietnamese. What we care is who pays the highest prices, Xanh told Bloomberg at its head office in Ho Chi Minh City Singha and Thai Beverage, the two drink manufacturers from Thailand, have also registered to buy Sabecos stake. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Saigon Securities Incorporated (SSI) is listed as potential investor. Sabeco will list its shares on the bourse before the share auction is organized, because the government decided that the share selling prices will be determined by the market. Analysts said that it is not a surprise that foreign investors want to acquire Sabecos shares. Sabeco holds more than 45% of the market share with 333 and Bia Sai Gon brands. Acquiring Sabecos shares will allow foreign investors to join the Vietnamese market immediately while there will be no need to spend time and money to penetrate the market. If holding Sabecos shares, they will have the opportunity to own 20 breweries which churn out 1.8 billion liters of beer a year. Analysts say only it would be difficult to find Vietnamese investors who have good experience and strong financial capability to buy Sabeco. Meanwhile, SSI does not operate in the field. Sources affirmed that the State would prioritize to sell Vinamilks shares to investors to bid the highest prices, but it does not necessarily want to choose Vietnamese investors. Frazer & Neave in November 2015 sent word intimating that it wanted to buy the states Vinamilk shares at US$4 billion. However, analysts said if F&N wants Vinamilk stakes, it would have to pay more now because it would have to compete with many foreign investors. The share price has increased rapidly, especially after Vinamilk received approval to raise the ceiling foreign ownership ratio in it to 100%. Vinamilk share price has increased by 35% this year. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. About 30 minutes drive from one of the worlds top universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the city of Lowell, home to more than 30,000 Cambodians. Almost a fifth of Cambodians in the United States finish high school and about one in ten gain a bachelors degree or higher, but in Lowell those who manage to get through school often have to avoid the lure of drugs, gangs and the violence that comes with the territory. Kiana Nem, 16, says her parents, who were first generation Cambodian-Americans, worked hard to keep her in school. My parents, they support me a lot for school. I try to look for a job now, but they say I should try to focus on school, she said. Similarly, 17-year-old high schooler Visaka In is looking forward to graduating and going to college. My mother definitely wants me to finish school, especially since I was the youngest child. So she definitely wants me to succeed like my siblings, In said. William Chan, 16, says the fact that his parents did not finish school has motivated him to try harder. They want me to be more capable of doing things and having more opportunities since I had an opportunity to be born here, Chan said. Parents in Lowell see education as a way for their children to not repeat the same mistakes as their parents, says Rithy Uong, a Cambodian American educator and a guidance counselor at Lowell High School. Most Cambodian students here are doing well. In the past 10 years, we had several Cambodian students graduating from the top of their classes, and some receiving scholarships to go to Stanford [University] and MIT, he said. Almost a third of the 4,000 students at the school are of Cambodian origin. Their parents today understand the importance of education, and they try to keep their children in school, and many students succeeded, said Uong. Some are now lawyers and pharmacists and many are owning small businesses. However, he continues, gang violence and substance abuse continues to be a problem for the youth in Lowell currently one of the lowest income cities in Massachusetts. Inter-generational In the 1990s, Tatyana Pheara Tuy, 37, and Sochenda Uch, 32, the children of Cambodian refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge regime, saw the explosion of gang-related violence in the city. Tuy was a hard-working student and her parents did their best to keep her engaged with her studies. What they wanted to see was that you were not skipping school. You were not involved in gang violence. You were not pregnant, she said. Born in Battambang towards the end of the Khmer Rouge reign, Tuy arrived in the United States with her parents when she was four after living in the Cambodian-Thai refugee camps. Uch was 12 when the wave of gang violence hit Lowell, in 1995. When I was growing up, there were a lot of gangs, he said. All around me, the neighborhood, there were always bad things happening. Uch, a coordinator at Teen BLOCK, a project set up to empower young people in the community to be part of positive change, says it was tough coming to terms with the two cultures. I saw some of my friends pulled away from being good and joined gangs, and that affected their life to this day, because they made different decisions than I did. Organized by the Lowell Community Health Center, youth programs such as Teen BLOCK, have helped teaching many young people a valuable set of skills, such as leadership and entrepreneurship. We want to tell young people that there are different things that you can do, rather than drug or being part of gang, and even if you were part of the gang, how we can help you get out of that, Uch said. Predecessors struggles Many of the parents of these Cambodian-Americans have jobs, yet many more live on welfare and food stamps, or take more than one low-paid job to make ends meet. Pheng Ang, a father of five, arrived in Lowell in 1987 with his wife. Born in Srey Santhor district of Cambodias Kompong Cham province, Ang chose to work at a local bank, counting money, and his wife worked at a factory that produced plastic utensils, in order to support their kids in school. As refugees coming to a new land, living off the welfare, it took very hard work for us as parents, you know, to help guide the kids out of the gangs and stay in school, he said. Gangs and teenage pregnancy were big problems by the time Angs children started to grow up. My wife worked on the morning shift, and I worked on the afternoon shift. We did so because we didnt want to leave the children all by themselves, because gangs were everywhere, he said. Today Ang, now 71, is a happy father. His eldest son is an engineer, another son a police officer, and a third a medical doctor. But most are not so fortunate or came to the United States with English skills, as Ang did. For Tatyana Phearea Tuys parents, they had to pick up trash cans for a living in the past 20 years, she said. Back then it was very tough for parents and their children, said Uong. Few speak proper English, while trying to make the ends meet, and facing security concerns due to gangs and robbery, he added. Every Sunday, African immigrants fill the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RHEMA International Assembly, in Huntsville, Texas, to hear some fervent preaching and spirited singing. During the two-hour service, some worshippers may come and go, depending on their work shifts at nearby prisons. Almost all of the nearly 300 Africans in Huntsville came to this town around 100 kilometers north of Houston for jobs in the state prison system, which is under the Huntsville-based Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the only state agency that has its headquarters outside the capital of Austin. The church preacher, Nigerian immigrant John Okperuvwe, known to all as Pastor John, and his wife, Ofuoma, both work at a nearby prison during the week. He says many African immigrants to the United States end up living in crowded cities with high crime rates, where the cost of living is high and good jobs are hard to get. The prison jobs in Texas, while potentially dangerous, offer good benefits and pay, and the cost of living is much lower than it is in New York or Los Angeles. You will not get rich, says Okperuvwe, "but you will be comfortable. Wearing her colorful African head wrap, Nigerian Blessing Prince may not look like someone who works in a prison, but she told VOA she has developed strong bonds with her American-born co-workers. African workers find friendship When you are in the work place, your co-worker is the family you have at that point, because if anything goes wrong, he or she will come to your rescue, she said. She said many American correctional officers, especially African-Americans, are curious about her culture. I have had certain co-workers come to me and say, I want to learn Ibo; can you teach me to speak Ibo?" Prince recounted. "And I say, Sure, I can! Pan-Africanism in Texas The majority of African-born people living in Huntsville are Nigerians, but there are increasing numbers of people coming from other countries as well. At the church services on Sunday many congregants wear traditional clothes, like Ghanaian Peter Nyanor, swathed in a yellow robe. Sunday has been a day that we use to remind ourselves that we still have a rich culture back home, he said. Seeing your fellow people put on their attire, it reminds you of where you come from. He said people from various African nations come together here to recognize what they have in common, with little focus on differences. In the same spirit, they support an African food store in a strip mall on Huntsvilles main drag. There they can buy fufu flour, dried fish and yams from Africa and some packaged products. Religious bonds and civic cooperation In a T-shirt shop next door to the African store, Pastor John visits the man who helped him find a location for his church. Store owner Nathan Smith is also a part-time preacher who shares the same evangelical Christian faith with his African friend. I am glad God led us together. Once we met it was an instant connection, he said. Smith has designed T-shirts for the U.S. Olympic Womens Gymnastics Team, which trained in a facility near Huntsville. He said the town of just under 40,000 people is a bit more cosmopolitan, thanks to the presence of Sam Houston State University, which has students from all over the world. But Smith said the religious connection he feels with the Africans is something special. I have met people from Africa before, he said, but I never witnessed an African church before and I have been over there and experienced the service and they are real humble and down to earth and they love God. Africans at home in Huntsville For his part, Pastor John encourages integration into the community at large through charity efforts and civic projects. Volunteers from his church worked on a highway cleanup project, and one portion of a local road was named for them. The church provides special help for newly arrived Africans who need help getting settled, but Pastor John also participates in projects with other Christian ministers in the community to assist the poor and needy. The church also welcomes non-Africans, with frequent attendance by white people as well as African-Americans. As workers, as parents with children in local schools and as customers in local stores and restaurants, the Africans have developed a strong presence in Huntsville. This feeling is perhaps even stronger among their children, who sometimes remember little or nothing of Africa, and act and sound just like other American kids. When Pastor John strolls around Huntsvilles picturesque town square, he greets merchants and friends, who recognize him as someone who has contributed to their community and with whom they share an interest in keeping Huntsville a good place to live. German Chancellor Angela Merkel took some responsibility Monday for her partys loss in Berlin vote, pledging there would be no repeat of last year's "chaotic" border opening to refugees. Although she defended the "political and ethical" decision to open Germanys borders for one million asylum seekers in attempts to avert a potential humanitarian catastrophe last year, Merkel admitted mistakes that she would avoid in future. She said the government was "rather unprepared for the late summer of 2015." Merkel's Christian Democratic Union came in second in Berlin, with 17.6 percent of the vote, its worst ever showing in the capital. The Social Democrats won 22 percent of the vote. But due to losses for both parties in the Berlin vote they do not have enough support for a coalition government. Second loss The ruling CDU also lost support in elections two weeks ago in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, while the heavily anti-immigration AfD won nearly 21 percent of the vote. The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained from a popular backlash over Merkel's decision a year ago to keep German borders open for refugees. While finishing in fifth place, AfD won 14 percent of the votes, allowing the three-year-old party to enter its 10th regional assembly among Germany's 16 states. Encouraged by its success in state elections, AfD said Monday it aims to enter the German parliament in federal elections next year. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported the gains by AfD indicates the party "doesn't just benefit from discontent in rural areas, but can establish itself ... in a city of millions that is known for its open lifestyle." Merkel faces voters in national elections next September. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Australia has expressed deep regret for its part in a botched airstrike in Syria that killed scores of Syrian government soldiers and endangered the fragile ceasefire in the region. The attack was led by the U.S. military that said the coalition believed it was targeting positions of the so-called Islamic State. The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he regretted the loss of life and injury but will not speculate about why the air strike in eastern Syria went so badly wrong. It is reported that up to 90 Syrian government soldiers were mistakenly killed during the raid near a military airport. Australian defense officials have said the coalition operation was targeting what was thought to have been an Islamic State fighting unit it had been tracking for some time. Speaking in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General assembly, Turnbull told reporters the airstrikes were aborted as soon as the mistake came to light. There were Australian aircraft involved in the operation. As soon as the commanders were advised that there were Syrian government forces affected the operation was discontinued and we regret the loss of life, said Turnbull. The strikes, which were abandoned when Russian forces notified the Americans, have increased tensions in a complex conflict. Analysts believe the botched raid will strain relations between Washington and Moscow, which have vastly different agendas in Syria. Canberra has deployed six warplanes to the U.S.-led mission in Iraq and Syria, where it began bombing militant positions a year ago. Official defense department figures show Australian fighter jets have carried out 1,689 missions over Iraq and 42 over Syria. Australia's Air Task Group also includes an early warning aircraft and a transporter. U.S. authorities have detained a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent in connection with Saturday's bombing in New York that injured 29 people - and another explosion in New Jersey. Monday's arrest came as investigators look for more clues to determine whether the bombings are linked to international terrorism. VOA's Chris Simkins has more on the story. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is threatening to ratchet-up his crackdown on rising anti-government sentiment on the opposition, warning anyone who made a mistake, please do not continue with the mistake. If not, it will bring a bad result for you. It was a vintage Hun Sen response to potential anti-government demonstrations, but analysts are warning this heavy handed approach is unlikely to help the prime minister where it matters most at the ballot box. Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) was returned to power at the 2013 polls, but with a substantially reduced majority after the opposition tapped a reservoir of resentment over corruption, a yawning wealth gap and land grabbing. That anger does not appear to have subsided and the prime minister's pursuit of the opposition backed by the flexing of military muscle has dominated headlines and social media across the Kingdom and been condemned by a chorus of foreign governments and civil society groups. It's a situation not helped by controversy surrounding Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) amid reports by the Financial Times of secret deals between Hun Sen's cronies and senior Chinese business figures with ties to Beijing, such as Fu Xianting, also known as Big Brother Fu. Land grabbing and the July killing of independent analyst Kim Ley also have the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which is considering allegations that land grabbing by Cambodias 'ruling elite' amounted to crimes against humanity. Chances the ICC will launch a formal investigation into those claims took a step forward last week when the court ruled company executives could be put on trial alongside war criminals and dictators for land grabbing and environmental destruction. I think the ICC, that it is very good, it should be implemented, Vann Sopath, Land Reform Project Coordinator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said. If it fits and it corresponds with the facts that have happened in Cambodia, especially land grabbing, then it should be very useful. Highways to an election Big Brother Fu, local businessmen like Ly Yong Phat and members of Hun Sen's family, -- whose assets were partially valued at a minimum $200 million in a Global Witness report in July -- have become enormously wealthy off the back of land deals. But public irritation with their wealth and a potential ICC probe are just two political headaches confronting Hun Sen, Asia's longest serving leader with 31 years at the helm, in the lead-up to commune elections in June and general elections in mid-2018. Perhaps the most important issues are the economy and changing demographics. At least 65 percent of the population is under the age of 30 and they rallied behind the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) en-masse three years ago. The youth vote has little experience with war or the prime minister's mantra, that he ended three decades of conflict and that it was his authoritarian rule that guaranteed security, enabling an era of unparalleled economic growth. There was a time when election campaigning meant trips to remote villages accompanied by handouts that included bags of rice and cartons of cigarettes, said one analyst, who declined to be named because of concerns of repercussions by the government. Everything has changed. Cambodian youth want smart phones, fashion accessories and jobs that can pay for life's luxuries and they're challenging the old guard because Hun Sen's warnings of a return to conflict, if he and the CPP lose, sounds tired and old and good jobs are hard to find. Speculation about garment factory closures is mounting and the slowdown in China has sharply reduced the regional economic outlook and cast doubts over Beijing's ability to maintain its funding of Cambodia, estimated at around $15 billion over the last two decades. Importantly, prices for agricultural products like rice have fallen sharply and the World Bank is forecasting economic growth of 6.9 percent in 2016, down from an average of around 8.0 percent in the previous decade, and barely enough to provide jobs for the nation's young and growing workforce. It's a perfect political storm, the independent analyst said. Hun Sen is being challenged by the youth, the economy and potentially by the international courts and he's lashing out and targeting those who want his job, the opposition. A winter of discontent beckons William Conklin, country director for the U.S.-based labor rights group Solidarity Center, said the government would struggle to win back lost political ground with human rights looming as a major election issue. They're going to be major, especially when connected with land rights, labor rights -- other types of civil rights that have been basically curtailed or undermined in the past, in the proceeding years. This is what people care about, Conklin said. Senior opposition sources said they expect the prime minister to continue his crackdown and say he would like to see convictions registered against CNRP leaders, as this could provide a legal premise to prevent Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha from contesting general elections. VOA was unable to reach government officials for comment on this story. Police in China's southern Guangdong province are detaining citizens for posting information and news reports about a government crackdown on protesters in the small fishing village of Wukan. Huang Meijuan, the mother of a 5-year-old boy, was summoned to a police station in neighboring Shenzhen on September 14 for having forwarded reports published by Voice of America about Wukan. The Mandarin language VOA report covers eyewitness accounts of police raids that occurred early September 13, in which sources told VOA that large numbers of armed police stormed the village, searching peoples homes and arresting more than a dozen residents. The raid triggered a series of protests in which, villagers say, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring dozens. Upon arriving at Shenzhen police station, Huang was informed that she would be detained for 10 days for spreading rumors via WeChat, according to her husband, Wu Bin, who has since granted interviews with both Voice of America and its sister agency, Radio Free Asia. WeChat is Chinas most popular social media platform with more than 800 million active users. She is innocent," Wu told VOA on Sunday, emphasizing that neither he nor his wife had spread rumors. "She only forwarded a report from VOA. Other netizens said the report is from VOA, so she forwarded [it], and said, Please forward. For these two words, she is being detained for 10 days." Wu learned of his wife's detention only after she failed to return home from the police station, prompting him to go to the station. Wu subsequently posted news of her detention on social media, culminating in requests for news-media interviews, which he granted. "Police began harassing me after that; they came to my home after 6 p.m. and summoned me to the police station, where they also accused him of spreading rumors and warned him against discussing Wukan or accepting foreign media interviews. "They said I had violated the law, but 'we will spare you this time because you have to take care of your child,'" he said. "'If you do it again, you will be detained.'" Ongoing protests Protesters in Wukan are angry about last weeks sentencing of their elected village chief, Lin Zulian, who was placed on trial for bribery after demanding compensation for land seized by Communist Party officials. Demonstrators have pledged to keep protesting until he is released from jail. The southern coastal village gained global notice in 2011 when Lin led protests against corruption, which resulted in direct village-wide elections. Lin had organized the 2011 demonstrations against government-backed development plans that were widely believed to have short-changed villagers. Since last week's sentencing, Chinese security officials have blocked foreign media from entering the area and detained at least four other netizens for spreading rumors after they posted information about the protests online. On Wednesday, several Hong Kong-based journalists were beaten and detained by Chinese police while attempting to cover the violence. In online footage of the protests, Chinese riot police armed with rubber bullets, shields and tear gas are seen attacking demonstrators, and some reports say the violence has resulted in dozens of injuries. Municipal authorities in the area say several protest leaders have been arrested on suspicion of illegal assembly and disruption of public order. Chinese state media news reports have quoted local business owners in Wukan who say the village is now peaceful, and that "villagers feel at ease; one can do business safely. Reports by independent Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao, however, say the main road into the village remains blocked and that villagers are allowed to go out but not enter, and that some fishmongers who had left the region to sell their fish were blocked from going home. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Mandarin service. China and Russia have just held their first round of joint exercises in the South China Sea, including an island-seizing and island landing drill as well as anti-submarine and air defense maneuvers. In China, the exercises have been hailed as a key milestone in ever closer ties between the two countries, but analysts cautioned while Moscow and Beijing are seeing their interests converge and opportunities for cooperation, the relationship is still far from being a strategic alliance, even if China would like to package it that way. Passing ships in the night The joint naval training between China and Russia was held nearly two months after an international tribunal ruled against Beijings claims to most of the disputed and resource-rich waterway. One key aim was sending a signal to the United States and others. [This is] clearly a demonstration of new strategic interests and that Russia and China, and both together if need be, will be stakeholders of the South China Sea, said Alexander Neill, a Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore. This year's exercises in Asia were the fourth the two navies have held. Last year, the two conducted joint maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea, part of what China sees as a regularized effort to forge cooperation between the two militaries. While Chinas President Xi Jinping and Russias Vladimir Putin may see eye-to-eye on regional security environment, be it challenging the U.S. role in the South China Sea or opposing South Koreas deployment of the U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD missile system, their convergence of interests is more like ships passing in the night, Neill said. "As Russia strategically declined in its comprehensive national power, China has arrived strategically on the globe and there is a sort of a crossing point, a period of time where there will be shared mutual interests, he said. Regional footprint Russia has been shifting its attention more to the Pacific and to Southeast Asia in recent years, as the sting of sanctions has started to have an impact on Moscow. Its decision to participate in the drills in the South China Sea is but the latest highlight of that shift. Russia has been beginning to build up its presence in the Far East during the past few years and they want to have a footprint somewhere in the South China Sea, said Alexander Huang, an assistant professor at Taiwans Tamkang University. It may be a gesture, may not militarily meaningful, but that is definitely [aimed at sending] a signal to the United States. That common interest in challenging the United States does not necessarily mean that Moscow wants to cooperate solely with Beijing. Huang noted that while Russia agreed to participate in this years joint exercises in the South China Sea, the drills were held away from more contentious hot spots, perhaps in a bid or in part not to antagonize the Philippines or Vietnam, which have competing claims in the area. Also, when you move forces far away from the coastline or land-based projection area, then you would need [aircraft] carriers, Huang said. And that is more complicated. So, probably they were not comfortable with doing that this year. Aligned, but not Chinese analysts argue the relationship will only become stronger and it is U.S. containment that is drawing the two closer. A commentary in China's party-backed Global Times Monday said the joint exercise highlighted how China and Russia can cooperate on core interests. Russia was met with economic sanctions for annexing Crimea, and only China can alleviate Moscows burdens. China was contained by the United States and Japan in the East and South China Seas, and only Russia is strong enough to ease Chinas pressure, the commentary said. The article also said the drills highlighted how the China-Russia strategic collaboration was more than just an alliance, adding that bilateral cooperation and mutual political trust have developed to a high level. Just as state media focus on the opportunities both sides have to grow relations, analysts note the relationship has always been plagued with mistrust and undercurrents, and continues to be, regardless of whether it is Chinas expansion into Central Asia or Russias arms sales to Beijing. It suits China to play up the degree to which Russia is aligned with them in the South China Sea at this point in time; but, that doesnt mean that they are aligned, said Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Research Center at the University of Sydney. Townshend said the alignment in interests the two are seeing is more of a diplomatic one. If Russia was seen as an alliance partner with China in the region, that would hurt its defense interests in the region, he adds. Russia sells sophisticated, not just any old weapons, sophisticated weapons to the Vietnamese who are obviously on the other side of the South China Sea disputes with China, and so Russia certainly doesn't want, as well as others in the region, to come down too strongly on Chinas side of the dispute, he said. Election observers have weighed in on Russia's parliamentary election, saying the vote fell short of being free and fair. The election observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Europe's rights and security watchdog, said Sunday's election for seats in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, was "transparently administered," but that "challenges to democratic commitments remain." Ilkka Kanerva, a Finnish parliamentarian who headed the OSCE's election monitoring mission, told reporters in Moscow on Monday that election day "generally proceeded in an orderly manner," but that "numerous procedural irregularities were noted during counting." Russia's electoral environment, he added, was "negatively affected by restrictions to fundamental freedoms and political rights, firmly controlled media and a tightening grip on civil society." "The improved transparency and trust we have seen in the election administration are important steps, yet legal restrictions on basic rights continue to be a problem," Kanerva said. Election results With more than 99 percent of the ballots from Sunday's election counted, President Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party has more than 54 percent of the vote, with the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation trailing with about 13 percent each, and A Just Russia with 6 percent. Voter turnout was slightly less than 48 percent. Reported problems Russia's only independent grass-roots election monitoring group, Golos, said in a report released Monday that the State Duma election showed, among other things, that the procedure for forming the country's regional election commissions "did not ensure their independence," that government officials routinely interfered in the work of the election commissions, and that "the fundamental principle of equality" was violated throughout the election campaign. Golos also said it had received reports of ballot stuffing on election day from 19 different Russian regions, along with numerous reports from Moscow of violations involving absentee ballots. The voting watchdog concluded that this year's State Duma election was "far from what can be called truly free and fair." Videos said to show instances of ballot stuffing during Sunday's voting have been posted on various social media and websites. Putin praised the results of the State Duma election, saying Monday that they showed "how our citizens reacted to attempts at external pressure on Russia, threats of sanctions, attempts to destabilize the situation in our country from within." The U.S. decision to lift trade sanctions against Myanmar has been welcomed by local economists and businessmen, who say it will remove a major constraint on international trade with the impoverished country and boost growth across its economy. Political analysts and activists said the decision also puts a greater responsibility on the National League for Democracy (NLD) government to make sure crony businessmen improve their practices, which have often involved allegations of corruption, land grabs, illegal logging, and the drug trade. After consulting State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi during her U.S. visit last week, President Barack Obama announced he would soon end executive sanctions. This will remove more than 100 businessmen tied to the former military regime from a U.S. Treasury blacklist and lift restrictions on Myanmars jade and gemstone industry. The decision also ends the State Departments special reporting requirements for American investors. Additionally, the U.S. granted Myanmar greater access to its market by listing the country in the General System of Preferences. The 20-year-old sanctions prevented American firms and foreign investors using U.S. financial services from having any dealings with the tycoons, whose conglomerates dominate Myanmars economy through trade, banking, extractive industries, agro-farming, tourism and airlines. The legal hurdles deterred many potential foreign investors from entering Asias last frontier market, while also tainting Myanmar exports to America. Pwint San, a businessman and former deputy minister of commerce, said these issues will soon belong to the past. If the sanctions are lifted totally, our economy can move more freely, he told VOA. We can export effectively and they (U.S. firms) can invest in Myanmar. Maung Maung, an economist with the Ministry of Commerce, said the decision would help all sorts of exporters access the American market and end difficulties for local businesses trying to use international financial services. The $1.65-billion garment industry is one labor-intensive sector that could benefit, he said, adding, If we develop the garment sector we can create a lot of employment. The industry is growing rapidly, but U.S. exports make up less than 10 percentdown from 65 percent before sanctions hit. Encouraging good FDI Sean Turnell, an economics professor at Sydney's Macquarie University and an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, said the end of sanctions opens the door to more U.S. investors with high standards in business operations and corporate responsibility. Good FDI will hopefully be encouraged by this, he told VOA in an email. But he added that for sustained economic growth, broader structural change is the real job at hand, and that will only be brought about by good economic policy-making locally. Sanctions have already eased some in recent years, but U.S.-Myanmar trade remains small at a reported $225 million last year, while U.S. investment was a mere 0.2 percent of $9.4 billion in foreign direct investment, according to Commerce Ministry figures. Japanese, Singaporean and South Korean investment has meanwhile surged ahead. China has long been Myanmars dominant investor and trade partner. Can the NLD reform cronies? U.S. sanctions were meant to pressure the military and its business associates into supporting Myanmars democratic and economic reforms, but the NLD government now says lifting sanctions will help spread the transitions economic development benefits across society. Human Rights Watch, nonetheless, slammed the decision, saying it removed political leverage over the still-powerful army while reforms remain incomplete. Political analyst Yan Myo Htein said local tycoons would greatly benefit from the decision, adding that the NLD government should find a strategy to limit their control over the economy and improve their businesses, but might struggle to do so. Myanmar is not ready to accommodate the total lifting of sanctions. Cronyism in business here is very high, thats why if the U.S. government lifts all the sanctions that will only benefit the cronies, he said. Turnell, the NLD advisor, acknowledged the government will have to meet this challenge. Obviously there are still issues to do with previous-sanctioned entities and individuals, for which, again, local policies can and will be crafted to deal with, he said. Losing a tool to clean up jade mining Also open for U.S. business is the murky jade industry in conflict-torn Kachin State - estimated to be worth up to $31 billion in 2014, almost half of Myanmars GDP. Control over the mines is a root cause for the Kachin rebellion, as relatives of former junta leader Than Shwe, other ex-generals and cronies, and an ethnic Wa drug lord secretly run much of the sector and locals see no benefits, according to a Global Witness investigation. The London-based resource corruption watchdog said removing sanctions on jade meant the NLD government will lose an important tool to push for reforms. In July, the government started reform attempts by imposing a mining license moratorium until new legislation on jade is passed. Instead of treating sanctions as a giant on-off switch, the U.S. should have linked the removal of sanctions to benchmarks on transparency and reform being met, Juman Kubba, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, told VOA. On Sept. 1, half a dozen Hamas security officials called at the home of Mohammed Othman, a young journalist in Gaza who had written several probing articles. They seized two laptops, two mobile phones and took Othman away for questioning. Twenty-four hours later, after what he described as an intense interrogation, the 29-year-old was released, but not before he had been asked to sign a document promising not to criticize Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, or its security services. Othman says he refused. "They were telling me things trying to scare me and influence me," he told Reuters the day after his release, describing being slapped around during the detention. "I discovered the reality is worse than I thought." The Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza said Othman was detained by internal security on a warrant issued by the prosecutor's office, and denied he was mistreated. "We have great respect for the rights of journalists to work freely and write everything," the head of the office, Salama Maarouf, told Reuters. "The general policy is to allow journalists to work freely and not to touch their rights." Despite that, media monitoring and human rights groups say press freedom is under threat in the West Bank and Gaza, with both Hamas and Fatah, the Western-backed party that runs the West Bank, increasingly wary of journalists and bloggers who write critically or seek to expose wrongdoing. "(They) are arresting, abusing and criminally charging journalists and activists who express peaceful criticism of the authorities," Human Rights Watch said in a report in August. "Both Palestinian governments, operating independently, have apparently arrived at similar methods of harassment, intimidation and physical abuse of anyone who dares criticize." The Independent Commission for Human Rights reported that 24 people in the West Bank and 21 in Gaza were arrested in 2015 for criticizing Palestinian authorities or writing about forbidden topics. Media clampdown Veteran Palestinian journalists say the situation is worsening. For years their biggest fear was the Israeli military, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in the past year has shut down two radio stations in Hebron. But now it is just as often the Palestinian authorities clamping down. "There was a great hope that under Palestinian rule media freedom would flourish," said Emad Saada, 50, who has worked for the Palestinian daily newspaper al-Quds for 25 years. "But violations and restrictions against the freedom of the press continued in one way or another and the media has begun to suffer from a dual threat: the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian authority." The result, journalists say, is an increasing amount of self-censorship. With reporters and bloggers being detained for weeks and in some cases suffering physical harm, others are thinking twice about how probing they want to be. "The factor of self-censorship has turned into a security man sitting inside the minds of journalists, telling them what to write and what not to write," said Fathy Sabbah, the Gaza correspondent for London-based Al-Hayyat newspaper. "There is caution among many journalists and bloggers," he said, adding that, conversely, there was also more risk-taking among some who are determined not to back down. In Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt for nearly a decade, journalists say Hamas has grown steadily more uncomfortable with criticism since it seized full control of the territory in 2007. In the West Bank, rights groups say the number of cases of journalists being harassed is higher. Ragheed Tbeisa, a 23-year-old reporter for the Al-Quds news network and Palestine Post, was detained for 18 days last month, shortly after publishing a report about electricity shortages in Qalqiliya. He said he was held in a cell alone for nearly the whole time, with just three hours of interrogation. Asked how it would affect his work he said: "The influence may be that someone will stop writing, or the opposite, it would give someone a motive to continue to write what he believes." Asked about the detention of journalists in the West Bank, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's security services said there was no new effort to curtail criticism. "We do not have a policy to chase or crack down on the freedom of the media," said Adnan al-Dmairi, adding that journalists should complain if they felt restricted. "When a violation occurs ... the journalist should file a complaint either against the security service where he was detained or personally against the security man who violated his rights," he said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with senior ministers and defense officials on Monday to craft his country's response to a militant strike on an Indian army base in Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers. Many in the country, including some politicians, demand a hard-hitting reaction. Senior officials in New Delhi have blamed the assault, one of the deadliest on an Indian army base in Kashmir, on Pakistan-based militants. Four heavily armed gunmen lobbed grenades and opened fire on an army camp close to the border with Pakistan early Sunday. The attack has triggered some tough rhetoric in India. Lieutenant General Balbir Singh said on Monday we have the capacity to react to such blatant acts of aggression and violence. He told reporters we reserve the right to response to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called Pakistan a terrorist state and said it should be identified and isolated as such. Pakistan's government strongly rejected the accusations and expressed concern at what it called the vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements from Indias civil and military leadership. That did not placate New Delhi. Dismissing Islamabads denial of involvement, Junior Defense Minister, Subhash Bhamre said India would give a fitting response. We know Pakistan is behind this, he said. The army has said Sunday's assault bore the trademark of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. It said weapons and other equipment at the site had Pakistani markings. No group has claimed responsibility for the strike. Nine months ago, India accused the group of mounting a terror strike on an air base in Pathankot. However, many other Indian officials have cautioned against any knee-jerk reaction. Junior foreign minister, V.K. Singh, who is a former army chief, said Indias response must not be emotional but logical. To do anything, we must think with a cool mind, consider it properly and work according to a strategy, he said. Many agree that Indias response must be measured. Defense analyst Rahul Bedi in New Delhi said that Modi is under pressure to do something demonstrable because his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party has always advocated a tough stand against Pakistan. But Bedi pointed out that military options are not only restricted, I think they are virtually non-existent. India says it will launch a diplomatic offensive against Islamabad and step up pressure to isolate Pakistan at international gatherings. Likely scenarios As a first step, New Delhi is likely to raise the issue at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Kashmir is likely to come up on the agenda. Pakistan has also called for a U.N. investigation into alleged human rights abuses by Indian security forces in Kashmir, which has been wracked with street protests that have killed nearly 80 people in the past two months. Anti-India sentiment has flared in Kashmir since the security forces killed a local militant leader in July. Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan, is one of the worlds most heavily militarized regions. In the aftermath of Sundays attack, the Indian army has beefed up security along the line of control that divides the region. A man sought by police in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey on Saturday is in custody following what has been described as a shootout with police. Law enforcement officials said Ahmad Rahami, 28, was detained in Linden, New Jersey, late Monday morning. WATCH: Related video report by Chris Simkins New York and New Jersey Bombs: What We Know So Far New York and New Jersey Bombs: What We Know So Far A 28-year old man wanted in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey has been taken into custody following what reports described as a shootout in Linden, New Jersey. The FBI said Ahmad Khan Rahami was wanted for questioning in the blast that injured 29 people in the neighborhood of Chelsea around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Police say Rahami was also being sought for questioning in another bombing hours before the Manhattan explosion, about 135 kilometers south of New York City. Explosives detonated in a trash bin in Seaside Park just before a 5-kilometer foot race began. No one was hurt in that blast. Police say Rahami, a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent, was last known to live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, about 6 km from where he was detained in Linden. His family ran a restaurant there on the first floor of their home, according to local media reports. CNN showed video of a man it said was Rahami, conscious and on a stretcher with what appeared to be a bloodied right shoulder, being loaded into an ambulance. Authorities later said he was undergoing surgery for a leg injury. Two police officers and Rahami sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the shootout, local authorities said. Police were searching for anyone linked to four explosives-related incidents in the last three days, including a blast Saturday night that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Rahami is the sole person believed to be involved in the New Jersey and New York explosions. "There is no other individual we are looking for at this time," he told reporters at a news conference after Rahami was detained. As local officials have publicly debated for two days how to label the bombings, de Blasio said Monday: "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror." Local and federal police announced their search for Rahami early Monday. Police say Rahami, a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent, was last known to live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, about 6 km from where he was detained in Linden. Local media reports say his family ran a restaurant there on the first floor of their home. The FBI said Rahami is wanted for questioning in the Chelsea explosion, which happened around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, as well as in another bombing hours earlier in Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 135 kilometers south of New York City. Explosives detonated in a trash bin there just before the start of a 5-kilometer foot race. No one was hurt in that blast. The FBI and police in New York have also been searching for possible links between the Saturday blast in Chelsea and another explosive device found a few blocks away that did not detonate. The second device, recovered a short time after the first went off, involved a pressure cooker with a cellphone attached to it. Police safely removed it from the area and said Sunday they blew it up in a controlled explosion. Yet more devices were found late Sunday in a backpack in a trash can at a train station in Elizabeth, located just outside New York. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said one of the devices exploded as police tried to disarm it with a robot. The incident briefly disrupted train service throughout the region, along one of the country's busiest rail corridors. President Obama speaks about attacks in NY, NJ Speaking from New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, President Barack Obama said investigators have not established any connection between the New York and New Jersey blasts and a mass stabbing in Minnesota on Saturday that injured 9 people. The suspect in that incident was fatally shot by police officers at the scene. Chelsea blast On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated that the Chelsea bombing was an "act for terrorism," and said there may be a "foreign link," despite his claim Sunday that were was no connection to "international terrorism." Authorities stopped a "vehicle of interest" on a highway in the Brooklyn section of New York late Sunday, and the FBI said it questioned five people inside, but no one had been charged with any crime. All 29 people wounded in the Chelsea blast have been released from the hospital. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump tweeted about the attacks Monday. FBI technicians are examining evidence from both of the New York bombs at a lab near Washington. Tom Sanderson, director of the Transnational Threats Program at the Washington-based Centers for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told VOA he expects investigators will learn a good amount from those tests. "Someone's DNA is going to be on some component of that pressure cooker bomb," Sanderson said. Many questions remain New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio cautioned Sunday a lot of work remains to figure out the motivation behind the bombing. "Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation, what was it? We do not know that yet," he told reporters. New York Governor Cuomo said an extra 1,000 police and National Guard troops would patrol the New York subway system as a precaution during a week that is especially busy for New York, with hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries visiting this week for the U.N. General Assembly. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told VOA that officials assess security needs inside the U.N. complex on a daily basis. "Outside of the gates, we are in the hands of the host country, at the federal and local levels, he said. We appreciate their work and, no doubt, they are doing their utmost to keep everyone safe, he added. VOA reporter Victor Beattie and United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report from New York. A recent exchange of prisoners between Iran and Afghanistan may signal Tehrans willingness to repair strained relations between the two countries over the regimes internal treatment of Afghans, analysts say. Kabul has lodged several protests in recent months over Irans conduct toward Afghans inside Iran, including its caging of several Afghan prisoners in a city square and sending thousands of Afghans to fight on the front lines of the Syrian war. Around 200 chained Afghan prisoners arrived Thursday on Iranian buses at the Islam Qala checkpoint in western Herat province. The transfer occurred after Kabul handed over approximately two dozen Iranian nationals who had been serving jail terms in Afghanistan. "Tehran expedited this exchange ... to divert attention from the previous events and news of its systematic mistreatment of Afghan citizens, said Mostafa Hazareh, a Kabul-based Afghan journalist who follows Iranian affairs. The two countries agreed to a prisoner exchange in 2012, but only two have occurred since then. Sixteen Afghan prisoners were transferred in 2014. Roughly 3 million Afghans live in Iran, with most settling there after fleeing war and conflict in their homeland. But many lack basic rights and live without citizenship or residency status. About 950,000 Afghans in Iran are classified as refugees. Iran has sent thousands of Afghan refugees, mainly ethnic Shi'ite Hazaras, to Syria to fight alongside forces of Hezbollah and Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard forces in support of the Syrian regime. Dozens of Afghans have died in the Syrian war. Iran's treatment of Afghans has stirred up diplomatic tension between the two capitals. Hundreds of Afghans last week protested in front of the Iranian consulate in Herat city to condemn the caging of Afghan detainees in Irans Shiraz city. Economic and infrastructure initiatives Analysts see the prisoner exchange as an attempt by Iran to repair ties as several economic initiatives and the implementation of power and water management projects kick off in Afghanistan. A new rail corridor, under construction between Iran and Afghanistan, will greatly expand the flow of materials from Asia to Iran through Afghanistan. The port will provide an alternative for trade between Afghanistan and India. "Iran is looking forward to the transit of goods from its southeastern Chabahar seaport to Afghanistan and Central Asian states," said Wadir Safi, a Kabul University professor of law and political science. The port will provide Tehran with a strategic advantage and links with central Asian states through Afghanistan. "Iran is looking for regional and international connectivity after years of sanctions," analyst Safi said, referring to international trade bans imposed over Irans controversial nuclear program. Water issues Iranian authorities also have been hunting for a larger share of water supplies from Afghanistan. It has voiced concerns that Herat province's new Indian-funded hydroelectric and irrigation Salma Dam, recently renamed as the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, may reduce the flow of water into Iran. "Irans efforts to revive the Hamoun wetlands on the Iran-Afghanistan border are intensifying," economic analyst Fatemeh Aman told VOA. The Afghan government has downplayed Iranian concerns and said the dam will not affect the amount of water flowing into Iran. "And if Iran wants more water, it should revert to international laws governing water resources," law professor Safi said, adding that Iran could consider buying additional water from Afghanistan, beyond the amount agreed in the 1973 water-sharing treaty between the two countries. Iran sees increasing trade with Afghanistan as vital to reviving its economy. Strengthening our regional cooperation with Afghanistan is a priority and a major pathway to consolidate peace and economic in the region," Gholamali Khoshroo, Irans ambassador to the United Nations, said last week. Complaints over conditions But even as trade between the countries increases, whether the prisoner exchange results in softened treatment for Afghans inside Iran remains in doubt, analysts say. "Afghan prisoners receive mistreatment in Iranian prisons. They live in poor conditions, said Shamsoddin Rahnama, An afghan activist in Khorasan province which borders Afghanistan. Human rights groups estimate that roughly 5,000 Afghans are imprisoned in Iran. Activists accuse the Iranian judiciary of bias; many Afghans say they have not received due process. Human rights groups have also expressed concerns over how Afghan refugees are treated in Iran. "The estimated 2.5 to 3 million Afghan refugees and migrant workers in Iran face barriers to receiving social services. They are at higher risk than the general population of being arbitrarily questioned and sometimes detained by authorities, with little recourse to the law when abused by government officials or private parties," Human Rights Watch said earlier this year. Rafiuallah Baidar, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, told VOA the commission "expects that Iranian authorities would treat Afghan refugees with dignity and in accordance with the international Refugee laws. Their human rights must not be violated." The Iranian regime says it is improving life for Afghans inside Iran. "We continue our support to hundred thousands of Afghan refugees, especially in fields of education and medical services," said Khoshroo, the Iranian envoy to the United Nations. Afghan analysts say the Iranian regime will continue to use Afghans inside the country as a political bargaining asset with Kabul. Although Iran publicly denounces militant insurgency in Afghanistan, Tehran has reportedly been in communication with the Taliban battling the Afghan government. The groups supreme leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, died in a U.S. drone strike after holding meetings in Iran. In Turkey, questions are being raised about the makeup of the Free Syrian Army rebels fighting with Turkish forces in Syria. Opposition deputies accuse the forces of being composed of jihadists, which threatens to have wider regional consequences. A recently published video shows U.S. Special Forces being forced out of a Syrian town captured by the Free Syrian Army not long ago, to the chants of Death to America and No to U.S. imperialism. The FSA forces are part of the Turkish-backed intervention into Syria, aimed at removing Islamic State. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking Monday before leaving for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, downplayed the incident. Erdogan said it was rebel anger toward Washington over what he called its "failed Syria policy." Opposition parties in Turkey say it is further evidence of the Ankara-backed forces' links to radical Jihadist groups. Ankara has dismissed such concerns, saying all the groups it is backing belong to the moderate opposition. Well-founded concerns Political columnist Kadri Gursel of Turkeys Cumhuriyet newspaper says such concerns are well-founded, even though the groups involved are linked to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. These are eight to 10 groups equipped, armed and trained by Qatari and Saudi money organized by Turkey and also helped by the CIA. I do not subscribe to this moderate presentation; they are jihadists, all of them are jihadists and jihadists do cannibalize each other. And we can see former ISIS militants turn to moderate Islamists overnight. Ankara has been reluctant to give detailed information on the makeup of the FSA elements it is supporting in Syria. Critics point out that understanding the rebel forces is complicated by the tendency of fighters to rename their organizations or simply join another group. With FSA forces securing increasing territory, most notably the border town of Jarablus, how they behave will be a key test, says Turkish columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor website. They now have Jarablus under their control, and Turkey says that it will not be Turkey running the place, but the people themselves, and their army, the Free Syrian Army. Now how they behave there, and what kind of restrictions or liberties or freedoms they allow, this will also determine also how the West and Russia look on some of Turkeys allies, said Idiz. Analysts say Moscow and Tehran have given tacit approval of Turkeys military incursion into Syria, offering only mild criticism. That could change with Erdogan announcing Turkish-backed rebel forces may expand their operation to control as much as 5,000 square kilometers of Syria. Such an expansion would take Turkish armed forces and the Free Syrian Army elements it is supporting close to the Syrian regime and Iranian-backed forces. Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served extensively in the region, warns a deepening Turkish military role carries serious risks for Ankara. In the worst case scenario, this military operation inside Syria can spiral out of control. There can be all sides in military conflict around this small area, al- Bab Manbij, said Selcen. Analysts warn Ankara may then find it more difficult to control the Free Syrian Armed forces. Somali community leaders in St. Cloud, Minnesota say they are shocked at the news that a Somali-American man allegedly stabbed nine people at a shopping mall on Saturday evening. A community elder, Jama Alimad, told VOA Somali that the community is worried of the impact of this incident. This is a very serious matter, that this community is the target of an investigation into terrorism is a serious matter, he said. Alimad said the community fears some kind of retaliation. Im a Somali, Im a refugee, Im black, and I am Muslim. All the Somali community here are the same. We dont know what will happen, he said. They are afraid, they are shocked, and they dont know what will happen. There is a lot of worry and fear. Alimad, who is also a friend of the family, is one of the community elders who has visited the family of the 22-year-old suspect Dahir Adan. Adan is accused of stabbing nine people before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud. We visited them, we consoled them. In the same way we expressed our sympathy to the victims. We see that its important that we give them privacy and respect in that they are grieving, Alimad said. Their feeling is that of parents who just, suddenly, lost a child, they are human beings. We have to give the time they need to bury their child. We have to be careful in the way we are treating them. The suspect Alimad knew the suspect, Adan, from an early age. He says that as an elder and a parent, he used to see Adan in various places, including schools and in boys and girls clubs. He was a young man who came here when he was about three or four months old. He finished his elementary education here and he was in his third year in [St. Cloud State] university, he said. He was a calm person, level headed, we have never heard complaints or problems about him in school. Alimad also says he knows the family of the suspect very well. His father is a nice man, he is one of the towns community elders who believes in unity, he is someone who did a lot of good things that community needs. They are a good family who have lots of children, good children. Adan had also worked as a security guard on a part-time basis. Alimad says he last saw the suspect recently and had a brief conversation. The last time I saw him was recently, we greeted each other. I asked him are you doing ok? Are you going to university? He said yes. I asked him are you still working? He said he does. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the stabbings as a potential act of terrorism. Police Chief William Blair Anderson said the assailant made references to Allah during the knife attack at the Crossroads Center, and even asked if one person was a Muslim. Alimad said he saw Adan in a different picture. The picture I have about him does not reflect what he is being accused of, he said. Incomplete picture Another community activist, Abdul Kulane, told VOA that Adan was known to the community, and was a smart and reliable person. Kulane said he did not know the motives or the full picture behind the attack. He said he thought the stabbings had no links with terrorism, despite a claim by an Islamic-run news agency that the attack was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State. Adan's father, Ahmed Adan, told the Star Tribune newspaper that police informed him Saturday night that his son, Dahir, had died at the mall. He said police didn't mention the attack, but they seized photos and other materials from the family's apartment. Minnesota is home to the United States largest concentration of Somali immigrants and refugees. St. Cloud is about 110 kilometers northwest of Minneapolis, the state's largest city. A top United Nations relief official says a joint U.N. and Syrian Red Crescent convoy was bombed Monday west of the Syrian city of Aleppo, with many humanitarian workers killed or wounded. Special U.N. advisor Jan Egeland, speaking in New York late in the day, said the convoy carried emergency relief to nearly 80,000 people, but he could not provide immediate details on casualties. Opposition-linked Syrian activists said at least 12 aid workers and truck drivers were killed in the attack, which came just hours after the Syrian army declared an end to a weeklong cease-fire. It remains unclear whose aircraft struck the convoy. But a Pentagon statement late Monday quickly disavowed U.S.-led coalition involvement. The truce was called to allow food and medicines to reach hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians cut off from outside aid by government troops. However, monitors and humanitarian aid workers say no aid was disbursed in the first six days of the truce, while blaming the government of President Bashar al-Assad for refusing to honor its agreement to facilitate the deliveries. Earlier Monday, U.S. officials said envoys from the 19-nation International Syria Support Group will hold an emergency session Tuesday at U.N. headquarters to assess conditions on the ground in that war-ravaged country. The cease-fire did not require Syria and its Russian ally or U.S. backed rebels to halt attacks on Islamic State extremists seeking to overrun the country. Earlier Monday, the Syrian military command accused rebel groups seeking to topple the Assad government of undermining the truce by using the lull to rearm and fortify their positions. However, monitors, rebels and United Nations humanitarian personnel seeking to deliver the aid countered those accusations, saying government troops had themselves obstructed relief efforts while repeatedly violating the cease-fire. By midday, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington was prepared to extend and strengthen the truce, and will rely on Russia's influence with the Assad government to meet those objectives. U.S., U.N.: No Relief Reaches Aleppo During Truce Hours before the first reports of the bombed relief convoy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said humanitarian aid deliveries were expected to reach civilians in the besieged city of Aleppo and seven other locations in Syria. Kerry earlier accused the Assad government of blocking the aid and said Russia must do more to put pressure on the embattled Syrian leader to cooperate. Kerry also called on Sunday for Assad to support a U.S.-Russian military plan to coordinate military actions. In doing so, he reiterated U.S. regrets for an errant bombing run that is said to have killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria on Saturday. For his part, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien, in a statement earlier Monday, said he was "pained and disappointed" that relief convoys have not reached Aleppo, where as many as 275,000 people are in need of food, water and medical aid. "The people of Syria have suffered long enough," O'Brien said. "Millions of Syrian civilians continue to face horrific deprivation and violence, especially those trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas," he added. Assad, Russia Question U.S. Commitment to Truce Assad is quoted in Syrian state media as saying U.S.-led coalition airstrikes that hit Syrian army positions near Deir Ezzor Saturday were a "flagrant aggression." He also said the incident showed an "increase in support for terrorists by countries opposing Syria." Russia's defense ministry said rebel violations made it "pointless" for government troops to uphold the truce. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault - set to attend the ISSG meeting Tuesday - said the U.S.-Russian cease-fire deal remains the only hope to resolve the conflict." A dozen political parties in Liberia are joining forces to take on the ruling Liberty Party in the 2017 presidential election, Senator Prince Johnson told VOA Daybreak Africa. We want continue our peace that we celebrated some time ago. We do not want to see violence. So we all met to discuss the issue how to collaborate and move our country forward. A technical team or committee was set up by the convention to draw up the modalities for the collaboration, Johnson said. The Constitution bars President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from seeking a third term, but her vice president Joseph Boakai is expected to run. It is not clear who this new opposition coalition would put forward for president. So far, the signatories of the deal have agreed to not badmouth each other, Johnson said. More details on how the coalition will work are expected in sixty days. Other leading members include politician Charles Brumskine, Senator George Weah and businessmen Benoni Urey and Alexander Cummings. Johnson said Sirleaf's government has not done enough to fight corruption. Vice President Boakai is part and parcel of the regime that has the corruptionso when Madame Sirleaf is going, he has to go. If he remains, we will vote him out, Johnson said. Addressing lawmakers last year, President Sirleaf said the government has made progress, including creating several anti-grant agencies. She called for speedier trials from the judiciary. The U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator said Monday he is "pained and disappointed" that convoys have yet to be allowed into Aleppo where as many as 275,000 people are in need of food, water and medical aid. Humanitarian deliveries to Aleppo were one prong of a cease-fire deal reached between the United States and Russia that was due to end late Sunday. There was no official declaration of its fate by early Monday, but with deadly airstrikes on rebel positions in Aleppo Sunday and one by the U.S.-led coalition Saturday that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers, the pact appeared to be unraveling. U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien reiterated the world body's demands that it be allowed unimpeded access to deliver supplies and evacuate those in need of critical medical attention. "The people of Syria have suffered long enough. Millions of Syrian civilians continue to face horrific deprivation and violence, especially those trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas," O'Brien said in a statement. The U.S. and Russia have influence on the conflict from their support of competing sides, and in recent days tensions between them have risen as the cease-fire appeared shaky. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government for blocking aid deliveries and said Russia must do more to put pressure on him. "So let me just say this clearly: Russia signed up to a cessation of hostilities. Assad said he would live by it," Kerry said. "Then he needs to stop and let the joint implementation center get set up so Russia and the United States can coordinate in order to avoid the kind of terrible thing that happened yesterday that we all acknowledge and regret." The U.S. military said it may have unintentionally hit the Syrian soldiers while targeting Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry said U.S. jets killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in the city of Deir al-Zor in four air strikes by two F16 and two A10 fighter jets coming from the direction of Iraq. Moscow called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to address the strikes. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said Moscow's request for the special meeting was a "stunt," while her Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin accused the U.S. of violating agreements that it would not target army positions. Churkin called the strike a "bad omen" for the U.S.-Russia deal to halt Syria's war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people since it erupted in 2011. Officials in Afghanistan said Monday an American air attack has killed at least eight policemen in a volatile central province. The police personnel were guarding a security outpost on a main highway outside Tarin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan, on Sunday evening, regional Highway Police Commander Samunwal Rahimullah Khan told VOA. An airstrike killed one police officer and when seven others returned to the security post, foreign aircraft carried out another raid, killing all of them, he said. The Afghan commander denounced the attack and asserted there were Taliban posts in nearby areas with the white insurgent flag raised on them, but we are unable to understand why Americans targeted our policemen. A U.S. military spokesman has confirmed an airstrike was conducted in Tarin Kot on September 18, saying it targeted individuals firing on Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF forces. U.S., Coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense, and in this case were responding to an immediate threat, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland told VOA. Tarin Kot is among several Afghan provincial capitals that have faced serious Taliban attacks lately. The insurgents earlier this month fought their way into the besieged city, but were not able to hold their ground when Afghan forces staged a counteroffensive with the help of U.S. air power. U.S. President Barack Obama in June gave authorization to the U.S. military in Afghanistan to mobilize its air and ground support when needed to assist Afghan partners in preventing key urban centers from falling to the Taliban. Airstrikes causing civilian casualties and sometimes mistakenly hitting Afghan forces have long caused friction between Kabul and Washington. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a long-time critic of U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan, warned last week the new authorization was a further erosion of the country's sovereignty. "How could the U.S. president authorize U.S. troops to launch attacks on their own in Afghanistan?, Karzai asked while speaking to Reuters. "Don't we have a government here? Aren't we a sovereign country? But Karzai's successor, President Ashraf Ghani, has welcomed the new U.S. permissions and officials in Washington say they were agreed to by the Kabul government. U.S.-backed allies in northern Syria appear set for a major clash even as they both race to liberate a strategic town from Islamic State (IS) terror group. Both Kurdish-dominated militias and Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, who are backed by Turkey, are targeting the town of al-Bab, northeast of the besieged city of Aleppo. This complicates already testy relations between Washington and Ankara, and adds stress to an already unstable anti-IS alliance featuring an array of proxies and partners who are bitter foes. Neither side the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), nor FSA factions and their Islamist allies are ready to give way to each other. Both have announced the start of campaigns to capture al-Bab, the only major town currently held by the jihadists in Aleppo province. They arent the only ones eager to overrun the town, which before the Syrian war had a population of 70,000, predominantly Arabs. Syrian regime forces are closer to al-Bab than either the SDF or FSA and if they manage to seize the town first, it would help the government starve out the encircled rebel-held eastern part of Aleppo city. Despite the danger posed by Syrian regime forces, the SDF and FSA are holding no negotiations to avoid a major clash. U.S. military officials are seeking to persuade their proxies to stop fighting each other. But those efforts may be forlorn, warn diplomatic observers, given that FSA militias are suspicious of U.S. intentions and the YPG is determined to expand territory it controls in northern Syria. Converging on al-Bab The depth of FSA suspicion was displayed dramatically last week when FSA fighters chased a group of U.S. commandos from the Syrian border village of al-Rai after threatening to kill them and accusing them of being infidels. The U.S. Special Forces team was allowed to return later after the intervention of Turkish officers. Rebel commanders later said they were tired of Washington trying to play all sides in Syria a reference to U.S. support of the YPG, which has been one of the most effective forces against IS. Their frustration was echoed Monday when Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference: "Unfortunately, the behavior of U.S. officials has pushed the FSA to this point in apparent reference to U.S. support for the YPG. Speaking in Istanbul before departing for New York where he was due to address the United Nations' General Assembly, Erdogan said FSA rebels and his own military are likely to extend their zone of control in northern Syria by targeting al-Bab. A rebel commander confirmed to VOA al-Bab was now clearly in sight. We will be pushing on al-Bab, Zakaria Malahefji, an official with an Aleppo-based FSA militia. An offensive is coming, We are definitely headed to al-Bab, he added. But the SDF has no intention of backing down. Our troops will advance toward al-Bab, Ahmed Sultan, deputy commander of the Army of Revolutionaries, an affiliate of the SDF, told the Al Monitor website. This will be our next military target. We want to completely liberate this city. We will not allow the regime to advance, and we will also prevent the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army factions from taking part in the liberation of al-Bab and its countryside," he said. Heading off a clash Clashes have occurred often before between the Syrian Kurd-dominated forces, which also include some Arab and Turkmen militias, and FSA and Islamist rebels. During a blistering Russian-backed offensive by the Assad regime in February in northern Syria, YPG militiamen snatched several Arab villages from the FSA. The raids prompted angry FSA accusations that the YPG was coordinating operations with Damascus. This was denied by Syrian Kurdish leaders, who claimed they were merely ensuring the villages didnt fall into the hands of President Bashar al-Assads forces. And since August when the Turkish military launched its Operation Euphrates Shield intervention in northern Syria ostensibly aimed at helping the FSA clear IS from border villages, the bitter foes have skirmished repeatedly in northeast Aleppo Province, prompting U.S. exasperation and alarm. U.S. officials have said repeatedly that clashes between their two allies is unacceptable. To try to calm tensions, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on a trip to Istanbul last month warned that the SDF risked losing Washingtons support if it failed to withdraw its forces east of the Euphrates. His warning came after the SDF seized from IS the town of Manbij, an ethnically mixed town 30 kilometers west of the river. Both Turkish officials and rebel commanders say they have complained about the SDF flouting Washingtons instruction. Turkey and FSA rebels fear that the YPG, the armed wing of the Syrian sister party of Turkeys outlawed Kurdish separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, is determined to carve out a mini state along the border with Turkey and unite four Kurdish-majority cantons. Part of the purpose of Turkeys Operation Euphrates Shield is to deny YPG territory. As Arab-Kurdish tensions mount in northern Syria, all may not be well within the SDF. A senior-ranking defector from the alliance, Abdul Karim al-Obaid, who was a field officer with an Arab militia Liwa al-Tahrir, told Al Jazeera Television on Saturday that he expects a wave of Arab factions from the alliance in the coming days and weeks. He says that the SDF is totally dominated by the YPG and is not a real partnership between the Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. The Arab factions have no impact on the decisions taken, he said, adding, "The YPG has complete control. The other [ethnic] factions are used for media purposes; they are just a symbolic representation." The U.S. Congress has fewer than two weeks to extend federal spending authority or face a partial government shutdown when the fiscal year ends September 30. While many Americans are focused on the presidential contest, Washington is careening towards a funding deadline that could become a major distraction for both political parties if non-essential government services grind to a halt weeks before the November elections. It is something we must deal with. And we will, predicted Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas. Washington usually is spared protracted fiscal fights during election years, but 2016 is proving to be different as even unanimously-backed goals, like fighting the Zika virus, are mired in partisan bickering. It is not the time for political games, said Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, where Zika is believed to be spreading. Not only has Congress failed to pass yearlong spending bills, Republicans and Democrats have yet to agree on the specifics of a temporary extension of current funding levels to avoid a shutdown. Both sides point fingers. Cornyn placed the blame on Democratic obstruction." This year our Democratic colleagues stopped the regular orderly process of passing appropriations bills, and you might ask for what purpose, the senator said. Its pretty obvious that their purpose was to make sure that they had maximum leverage in order to force the federal government to spend more money. Democrats beg to differ. The process fell apart across the [Capitol] Rotunda, with the House Republicans, said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. The two parties differ on fiscal priorities. Six times, six times this body has been blocked by Senate Democrats from considering legislation to fund the Department of Defense, funding necessary for our troops to accomplish their missions, said Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota. If you want to increase defense spending, I will vote for that, you also have to increase non-defense spending in a similar fashion, Durbin said. Why would we want to increase non-defense spending? Education ... making sure that hungry families across America have enough to eat, making certain that the FBI is adequately funded. Bipartisan negotiations continue behind closed doors with no indication a breakthrough is near. Anti-Zika efforts are among urgent priorities hanging in the balance. "We are in the midst of a public health crisis, and it should be treated like the emergency that it is," Nelson said. There is one powerful force working in favor of a spending deal: the desire of lawmakers to adjourn and focus on their states and districts in the final weeks before the election. We are working fewer days in Washington than we have in 60 years, said Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. I showed this calendar to people at home. They thought I was kidding. For now, no one can make any firm predictions. When we reach an agreement, we will let you know, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. A Utah state senator who traveled to Iran last week has set off a firestorm there, where hard-liners accuse him of being part of a major Western project to infiltrate'' the country as authorities imprison others with ties abroad. And that was even before knowing that Sen. Jim Dabakis is gay a crime in Iran that can carry the death penalty. For his part, the Salt Lake City-based art dealer said such cross-cultural exchanges will help relations between Iran and the U.S., which have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. You don't make peace with your friends, Dabakis told The Associated Press on Monday. Rather than rubbing up against each other in the Strait of Hormuz and having tension because of domestic political affairs in both countries ... let there be this people-to-people beginning of understanding.'' Dabakis said he and his partner traveled to Tehran and Isfahan for six days after being invited by the Iranian travel industry. He said he got a visa through the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, which handles Iranian affairs. He added that he listed his occupation on the application as both an art dealer and a state lawmaker in Utah's part-time legislature. Sometimes diplomacy is too important to be left up to the diplomats, Dabakis said. Accusations of infiltration But things have grown rather undiplomatic since Dabakis returned home and gave an interview about his trip to local Salt Lake City television station KUTV. The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard, seized on the interview. It quoted a hard-line lawmaker on Sunday who described Dabakis' visit as part of a major Western project to infiltrate into the country. On Monday, the pro-reform newspaper Arman quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, as saying his committee was not told of Dabakis' visit. Responding to Dabakis' description of being welcomed by average Iranians on his trip, Boroujerdi offered this: Iranians' main slogan is Down with the USA, and it shows Iranians do not love Americans. Dabakis said that since he traveled as a private individual, he didn't feel like he needed to inform the Ministry of Anything, though he said he felt bad about the growing mess his visit caused. He said a previous visit he made in 2010 caused no problem and he hoped a planned trip in May would still happen. U.S., Iran relations Iran, a nation of 80 million people governed by a democracy overseen by Shiite clerics, isn't a monolith. Many Iranians enjoy aspects of Western culture, seen through illegal satellite dishes or over internet connections that subvert government censorship. But many are still waiting to see any of the benefits of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers including the U.S. trickle down to them. A majority of Iranians believe relations with America have not improved since the deal and nearly three-fourths of Iranians hold very unfavorable views of the U.S. government, according to poll results released in July by the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies. Meanwhile, tense encounters have increased between Iranian forces and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. Iran's security services also have arrested dual nationals in the country, accusing them of spying based on secret evidence. Asked about his own chances of being detained on the trip, Dabakis said a person would have to be an idiot not to recognize there is some risk. He also said gay rights issues did not come up on his trip and were not on the agenda. But he stressed his own experience moving to the Soviet Union and brokering art deals and culture exchanges during the fall of Communism. Asked how he'd respond to those who'd consider him naive for entering the realm of tense international diplomacy, Dabakis offered this: Remember, it was pingpong that broke that wall of tension with the Chinese. The international community has pledged to improve its response to the global refugee and migration crisis, though some question whether the plan goes far enough. At a high-level summit Monday at the United Nations, member states agreed to protect the rights of refugees and migrants and to share responsibility for large movements of people on a global scale. "Refugees and migrants are not to be seen a burden; they offer great potential, if only we unlock it," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the assembly. "We must place the human rights of all refugees and migrants at the heart of our commitments." An unprecedented 65 million people have been forcibly displaced across the planet, some by conflict or persecution, others by extreme poverty, and many by natural disasters. The declaration adopted in New York seeks to increase support to countries most affected by the crisis, to help displaced children get access to education and to boost humanitarian funding and the resettlement of refugees. A plan to ask governments to resettle 10 percent of the worlds refugees each year was dropped and the final declaration has no requirement that countries take specific numbers of people, which has led to criticisms, especially from NGOs. Human Rights Watch said the declaration is a missed opportunity to widen the scope of refugee and migrant protections, asserting it "limits expectations for concrete, new commitments." Nobel laureate and youth advocate Malala Yousafzai also expressed skepticism that the summit would make any tangible progress for refugees, especially displaced children. Let's not be fooled by what we heard at the United Nations today; focus on what we did not hear, she said in a statement. The declaration does not include any new, substantive commitments for refugees. She said the worlds refugee children were hoping for more. They deserve more. Unwelcome From the time I arrived in the Netherlands I saw how even Europe is struggling, Syrian refugee Mohammed Badran told the assembly. As young refugees we face this anger and fear every day. Doors are closed to us, higher education is denied to us. We are often dismissed, not taken seriously and underestimated, he said. The U.N. is placing more emphasis on fighting discrimination and xenophobia relating to refugees and migrants as countries close their borders to the growing human exodus. U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Zeid al-Hussein was especially forceful, telling leaders that in too many countries positive voices are being replaced by race-baiting bigots, who seek to gain, or retain, power by wielding prejudice and deceit, at the expense of those most vulnerable and, ultimately, even those who support them initially. He warned that some of the bigots and deceivers who oppose greater responsibility-sharing and promote divisions may well be in this hall. If you are here, we say to you: We will continue to name you publicly. You may soon walk away from this hall. But not from the broader judgement of "we the people", all the world's people not from us. US to Host Second Summit U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Leaders summit that President Barack Obama is chairing Tuesday on the sidelines of the General Assembly seeks to complement and reinforce the U.N. meeting. The world knows what it must do to respond effectively to the massive challenge that we face, Kerry said. But we have to apply knowledge systematically, and we need the resources to do it before it is too late. Tuesdays conference will focus on increasing refugee financing, doubling the global number of resettled refugees through legal channels, and expanding work and education opportunities for them. A pledge is required for governments to participate in the meeting. Kerry noted that the United States remains the worlds largest donor of humanitarian assistance and refugee relief and has resettled more refugees through the United Nations refugee agency resettlement program than all other nations combined. We are determined to work with all you to create more opportunities for refugees, he said. IOM joins UN system In an effort to make the U.N. response to the refugee and migration crisis more effective, the International Organization for Migration officially joined the U.N. family on Monday. The agency, which has more than 10,000 staffers working on five continents, will bring its expertise to the crisis. Migration is inevitable in this century, IOM chief William Lacy Swing said. [It is] necessary if our economies and societies are to flourish, and highly desirable if we have responsible and humane migration polices. He said the toxic public narrative on migration must be changed. Zimbabwes Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi, who is eyeing the post of secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), is expected on Tuesday to attend U.S president Barack Obamas Bloomberg Foundation and U.S. Department of Commerces CEO Forum in New York. According to his personal assistant, Dr. Darlington Muzeza, Mzembi is set to share his thoughts on various issues in a panel titled Developing Tourism Industry. Dr. Muzeza said Mzembi is also expected to attend the African Investment Forum on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. President Robert Mugabe is attending the U.N General Assembly. On Monday, Mzembi was a panelist in the 11th Annual Presidential Forum on Africa Tourism, which brought together high profile tourism leaders from Africa to spotlight the critical role tourism plays in driving socio-economic growth and development. New York University Africa House hosted the event in collaboration with the Africa Travel Association, an appendage of the Corporate Council on Africa. Some of the people who attended the event included Erastus Mwencha, deputy chairperson of the Africa Union Commission, Seirra Leones Tourism Minister Sidi Yahya, Nina Walett Intallou, and Francis Gatare of the Rwanda Development Board, among several other delegates. Mzembi has already been endorsed as Africas candidate for the United Nations World Tourism Organization secretary generals post. His candidature was endorsed a few months ago by the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. In his website, Mzembi says, My Vision is for a UNWTO which is responsive to Member States aspirations for a global tourism that is inclusive, integrative, tolerant, responsible, empowering, equitable, sustainable, and an effective tool for public diplomacy. The post falls vacant in May 2017 when incumbent Dr. Taleb Rifais term expires. Mzembi was appointed Zimbabwes tourism minister in 2009 and has found his way into the UNWTO executive council, which plays a critical role in developing tourism worldwide. Since its inception in 1975, no African has held the position of secretary general of the UNWTO. The secretary general is the chief administrative officer of the organization. The UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. It promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. In its website, the organization says it generates market knowledge, promotes competitive and sustainable tourism policies and instruments, fosters tourism education and training, and works to make tourism an effective tool for development through technical assistance projects in over 100 countries around the world. UNWTOs membership includes 157 countries, six associate members and 500 affiliate members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities. Meanwhile, Bloomberg.org reports that Bloomberg Philanthropies and the U.S. Department of Commerce will this week also co-host the second U.S.-Africa Business Forum, a day focused on increased trade and investment between the U.S. and African nations. The U.S.-Africa Business Forum will build on the progress of the inaugural Forum, held during the 2014 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit with the participation of nearly 50 heads of state or government and more than 150 global CEOs to further develop trade and business opportunities between the United States and Africa. Marion Louise Dahlke, 86, died on October 23rd at Grace Pointe Crossing in Cambridge, MN. Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Friday, October 28th at Anderson Funeral Home. Good evening, everybody. We are still gathering information at this time, but we have been able to confirm that, earlier today, the United States struck what we believed to be an ISIL target. We halted the attack when we were informed by Russia that it was possible that we were striking Syrian regime military personnel and vehicles. We are investigating the incident. If we determine that we did indeed strike Syrian military personnel, that was not our intention, and we, of course, regret the loss of life. This said, even by Russias standards, tonights stunt a stunt replete with moralism and grandstanding is uniquely cynical and hypocritical. Since 2011, the Assad regime has been intentionally striking civilian targets with horrifying, predictable regularity. They have besieged civilian areas, prevented life-saving humanitarian aid from reaching people who are starving to death and dying of illnesses that could be treated with basic medicine which is ripped out of trucks and pocketed by Syrian regime forces. The Syrian government has patented the practice of double-tap strikes hitting a civilian target, waiting for heroically brave individuals to run into collapsing buildings burning buildings and then striking again so they can hit the rescue personnel. The regime has routinely used chemical weapons against its own people. It has tortured tens of thousands of people in its prisons, which now double as torture chambers. And indeed, in those prisons, it documents systematically what its doing to the people in its custody: serial numbers, written notes carefully documenting the torture of people with such savagery meticulous detail. And yet, in the face of none of these atrocities has Russia expressed outrage, nor has it demanded investigations, nor has it ever called for a Saturday night emergency consultation in the Security Council or a Monday day; or a Tuesday day; or a Wednesday day; Thursday day; Friday day, Saturday, Sunday you name it. If theres a day of the week, they have never called an emergency consultation on any of these practices. These are some of the most systematic atrocities that we have seen in a generation. And not only are they not interested in seeing these crimes investigated, theyve used their veto on the Security Council to block meaningful action, even though this is the most obvious threat to international peace and security that weve seen in a very long time. And a year ago, at the UN General Assembly, Russia decided to join the Assad regime, escalating the conflict, and perhaps worst of all itself adopting some of the regimes worst practices: hitting hospitals, hitting refugee camps, hitting markets without a single public expression of remorse. Seriously? Theyre calling this emergency meeting? Really? Now, because of a single airstrike a strike that, if it struck regime forces, did so in error; a strike that we have swiftly acknowledged and committed to investigating again, none of which the Assad regime or Russia have done in their airstrikes on innocent civilians. Now, of all times, Russia calls the entire UN Security Council to convene urgently so that it can stand up here and express outrage. Imagine how often this Council would be meeting if we were to gather every time the regime or Russia struck a hospital, or a school, or a bread line. Imagine if we gathered every time they blocked vital aid from reaching children who are eating leaves leaves so that they do not starve to death, or who block medicine from reaching people who are dying every single day because they are forced to drink foul water and because they have no antibiotics. There is so much to be justifiably outraged by in Syria so much civilian suffering, civilian suffering civilian suffering that could be prevented lives that could have been saved, if only the real perpetrators were made to stop. So, if we could, this Saturday night and every day and night henceforth if we could focus out outrage on that, that would be appropriate. We also are trying to focus on the present, and the future on the desperate need for peace in Syria. And let me just state for the record that we believe that Russia should be convening an emergency meeting this evening; an emergency meeting with the Assad regime, which is bombing in defiance of the Cessation of Hostilities, which is continuing its practice of death by a thousand paper cuts, and starving Syrias civilians. The regime has to stop bombing those who have signed up for the Cessation of Hostilities. And Russia has to deliver the Assad regime, as in the course of the negotiations it assured us it would. Russia is not delivering on its end of the deal that we spent months negotiating in extremely technical detail. The United States is extremely serious about making this agreement work. In the last 36 hours, Secretary Kerry has spoken with UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura, the foreign ministers of Turkey, of Qatar, Saudi Arabia. Of course, he has spoken also with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, including today. And Secretary Kerry told Foreign Minister Lavrov that the regime is bombing groups who are party to the Cessation of Hostilities. Even though violence is down in many parts of Syria, the regime is acting against groups that want to be part of this peace process. Secretary Kerry made clear that the aid is not flowing even though we were assured again and again that permissions would be forthcoming; even though UN trucks have been idling filled with precious food, as mothers cant feed their kids. So Secretary Kerry shared all of this with Mr. Lavrov, but he didnt have to, because Russia is fighting alongside the Assad regime. Russia knows exactly what is happening in Syria. They know exactly which groups are terrorists and which groups are opposition groups who want to be part of a political transition and who want a multiconfessional, pluralistic Syrian society on the backend. They know the difference. So why are we having this meeting tonight? Its a diversion from what is happening on the ground in Syria. When you dont like the facts, you try to create attention somewhere else. Its the classic magicians sleight of hand. Get the world and the media to focus here, so they will take their eye a little bit off what is happening over there. Whats happening over there is so important. It is jeopardizing something that gives the Syrian people a chance. So again, we encourage the Russian Federation to call emergency meetings with the Assad regime and to deliver the Assad regime to this agreement that we so want to work. I want to make one last point before I head into the consultations. Russia has billed itself as the worlds defender against terrorism. And part of what it is alleging tonight is that somehow the United States is undermining the fight against ISIL. Indeed, the Russian spokesperson, I believe, came out and thought somehow that we were complicit and that we were even trying to protect ISIL. Really? American citizens have been beheaded by this group. We are leading a 67-country coalition to destroy this group. ISIL has lost 40 percent of its territory. This is serious for us; it is not a game. And that spokesperson who suggested complicity really should be embarrassed. We are trying to be serious about ensuring that Syrians can wake up in the morning and imagine that they can also go to sleep at the end of the day; that there can be a political transition so this war ends and everything that goes along with it. Syria the Syrian government, which also bills itself as a fighter against terrorists, allows ISIL to grow and grow and grow. Its busy hitting markets and refugee camps displaced camps, using chemical weapons that ISIL took root and prospered, right beside the Syrian regime. The best way to contribute to the fight against ISIL and against al-Nusrah as Russia says it wants is to stop bombing civilians and opposition groups who have signed up to the Cessation of Hostilities and deliver the Assad regime to implement what has been agreed. Assads antics his tactics, his strategy have been a gift to terrorists in Syria and well beyond. And these are terrorists who threaten us all. On that we agree. There is a better way forward but Russia really needs to stop the cheap point-scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts and focus on what matters, which is implementation of something that we negotiated in good faith with them which has shown it can reduce violence, and shown it can save lives. But it needs to be implemented. And a meeting like this a stunt like this isnt helping anybody. Thank you. Three months after the decision by the British electorate to leave the European Union, the heads of state and government with the exception of the British Prime Minister - met in Bratislava to give new life to the EU. We were hoping for some serious reflection on the reasons that led to the Brexit and what was necessary for the Union. This was not the case. The 27 settled for saying things that could accelerate the dissolution of the EU, while discussing terrorism without understanding that the danger is within, while Germany and France once again raised the project for a common European army, and while Jean-Claude Juncker spoke in defence of the interests of the Luxembourg bankers. During Brexit, we explained that Buckingham Palace and an influential part of the British ruling class wanted to distance itself from Washington, and to move closer, economically, to China, and militarily, to Russia [1]. However, Downing Street played none of these cards, and kept its intentions secret until the opening of the negotiations for its exit from the Union. And yet, in international politics, London made two important moves. First of all the report of the Chilcot commission concerning the war on Iraq, and secondly that of the House of Commons concerning the war on Libya. The first, drawn up in 2009-10, had been sleeping in a drawer for years. The second was launched during the summer. Both of them criticised Downing Streets alignement with the White House, both under the Labour leader, Tony Blair, and the Conservative leader, David Cameron. In a very British style, the authors noted the stupidity of these wars, and revealed the lies that had been used to justify them. But not a word on the secret agreements between London and Washington, nor on the role of MI6 in the fabrication of these lies. What is secret must remain so. In any case, these reports put an end to the current version of the special relationship between the UK and the USA. The heads of state and goverment of the European Union had not read these reports, and therefore had not asked themselves what London might be preparing. Some of them even confirmed that the British would not leave the EU if they were met with determined opposition during the Brexit negotiations. All of them warned Angela Merkel about the organisation of a second wave of migrants, and re-affirmed their will to implement the measures that have already been set up to prevent it. In any event, no-one asked the question whether the first wave of migrants would be enough to solve Germanys demographic problem, or if Berlin felt obliged to play a second set, as it had announced. In truth, the threats of the 26 against Germany will not be materialised if Germany reiterates the operation. The Luxembourg Prime Minister in other words, Jean-Claude Junkers replacement at this post proposed the exclusion of Hungary, which has refused to admit its part of the refugees. No doubt a method for preventing the dissolution of the Union. Three projects were envisaged [2] : First of all, concerning the fight against terrorism, to make sure to avoid allowing unvetted migrants to enter Europe. This is obviously necessary, but in no way solves the problem, since the majority of terrorists are European. The Union still does not have an opinion either on mass terrorism, as observed in the Greater Middle East, nor on the few terrorist actions which have touched them directly. No-one has read the strategic plans of Daesh, such as The Management of Barbarism, and have consequently failed to observe that the current method of fighting terrorism is exactly what the terrorists want the Union to apply. Secondly, the project for a common European army will be discussed at the summit in December. It resembles the project of the European Defence Community (EDC) which was intended to unite France, West Germany and Benelux during the 1950s. At that time in other words, in the context of the Korean war - Paris opposed the rearmament of West Germany, but was favourable to the integration of a West German army into a common army. The project never saw the light of day, because it was rejected in Paris by an alliance of Gaullists and Communists. Today, the German army has reformed, and is deployed in certain peace-keeping operations, without opposition from Paris. In the current context, that of the wars in Syria and the Donbass, the European Union pretends to believe that there is a threat of Russian invasion. Eighteen months ago, the EU set up the East StratCom Task, which is a discreet office of anti-Russian propaganda which feeds thousands of journalists with its information. Just as in 1954, it is clear that this project is a US craze intended to drag the Europeans into the next round of wars, and it is no surprise that this time, the post-Brexit United Kingdom is against it. Finally, the European Fund for Strategic Investments should be developed in 2017. This fund is known as the Juncker plan. In reality, it is an old project of the European Investment Bank (EIB), an institution which is also based in the tax haven of Luxembourg. The Fund has done nothing more than expand the power of the EIB and its bureaucracy. It has boosted investments in Europe only marginally, and paradoxically, has also increased its imbalance for example, it did almost nothing for Greece, the country which needed it most, but this is of no interest to the bankers, who see this country as a debtor. In the end, the Brastivala summit demonstrated the will of the 27 to change nothing in the Union. According to them, everything can keep going the way it has been, so long as Germany doesnt let in more immigrants. Consequently, we can keep fighting terrorism while we watch it develop, prepare ourselves to join with the United States in their next war, and let our bankers make the decisions concerning our investments. An off-duty state court officer fatally shot a man who allegedly tried to mug him outside of a Dunkin' Donuts in Queens Sunday night. According to police, the 50-year-old officer was en route to his second job as a security guard when he was approached by an unidentified man near the corner of Merrick Boulevard and Liberty Avenue in Jamaica. After the assailant allegedly brandished a gun and attempted to rob him, the court officer drew his service weapon and opened fire, striking the man in the torso, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed. Sources told the Daily News the officer's gun was clearly visible in its holster, and the officer had been walking to his car as the man approached. The tabloid also reports the would-be robber was in his 20s and had allegedly demanded the officer give up his gun. Emergency responders rushed the injured man to Jamaica hospital, where he later passed away. The court officer was taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset where he was treated for chest pains and later listed in stable condition. According to the police, the incident is being investigated by the Queens District Attorney's office. Photo: Getty Images Here in Hollywood, the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity, Jimmy Kimmel said early in his hosting stint at the Emmy awards last night, a remark that nodded at the way television has been celebrated as a haven for people telling stories that arent about sad white men, especially when compared to the film work Hollywood celebrates. Last night, as Rami Malek, Courtney B. Vance, Regina King, and Sterling K. Brown all won major acting awards, Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari picked up recognition for their writing, and Key & Peele won for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, the inclusiveness of the ceremony really did seem worth celebrating. But how diverse were this years winners, really? And how did they compare to years before? 1. The major acting categories have become significantly more diverse. Historically, only 5.61 percent of the major acting Emmys (for lead or supporting roles in dramas, miniseries, or comedies) have gone to people of color. Last night, Maleks, Vances, Kings, and Browns wins meant that a full third of the major winners were people of color. Thats up from last year, which was heralded as a turning point for the ceremony, when the trio of Regina King, Uzo Aduba, and Viola Davis took home a quarter of the acting Emmys. 2. Those seven wins are a recent trend. In the last two years, actors of color have won as many Emmys in major categories as they had won in the decade before. From 2005 to 2014, six non-white actors won only seven major awards: Archie Panjabi, Tony Shalhoub (twice), America Ferrera, Andre Braugher, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. 3. As usual, the miniseries category is the most diverse. Regina King is the first black actress to win an Emmy two years in a row in a major category (Uzo Aduba earned two Emmys for Orange Is the New Black as a guest actress, and then as a supporting actress in 2014 and 2015). Vances and Browns wins for The People v. O.J. Simpson are the first in their categories since 2006 and 2004, respectively, when Andre Braugher and Jeffrey Wright won trophies. 4. Rami Maleks win is pretty major. Malek, the first Egyptian-American actor to win a drama Emmy, or any major acting Emmy, broke an 18-year streak of (mostly sad, difficult) male leads when he won Outstanding Actor in a Drama. Hes the fourth person of color to ever win the award, after Andre Braugher, James Earl Jones, and Bill Cosby. 5. While comedy remains exceedingly white in the major acting categories, it has diversified elsewhere. Aziz Ansari and Alan Yangs writing Emmy for Master of Nones Parents broke an eight-year streak. The last two writers of color to win for Outstanding Comedy Writing were Greg Garcia for My Name Is Earl in 2006 and Larry Wilmore for The Bernie Mac Show in 2002. Master of None is also the first comedy with Asian-American leads to win a writing Emmy, full stop. 6. Key & Peele won the second-ever Outstanding Variety Sketch Series Emmy. Previously, the Television Academy grouped sketch nominees together with talk shows under Outstanding Variety Series, and the last shows with predominantly nonwhite casts to score nominations were Chappelles Show in 2004, and The Chris Rock Show in 2010. In Living Color was the last show with a predominantly nonwhite cast to win that category, back in 1990. At this point, a numerical analysis of the category would be pretty silly, but it does mean that half of the Variety Sketch awards have gone to shows with predominantly nonwhite casts. 7. Half the directing Emmys went to women this year. Making a Murderers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos won for Outstanding Directing for a Nonfiction Program, Transparents Jill Soloway for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, and The Night Managers Susanne Bier for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series. 8. Openly queer women had a moment in the spotlight. Nina Jacobson won as a producer for The People v. O.J. Simpson, Kate McKinnon thanked Ellen DeGeneres, Sarah Paulson declared her love for Holland Taylor, and Jill Soloway encouraged everyone to topple the patriarchy. Kate McKinnon, SNLs first openly lesbian castmember, is the second actress in her category to win the award while being openly gay, after Jane Lynch, who won in 2010, and the first female SNL castmember to win the award (Gilda Radner also won in 1978, but that was when SNL castmembers competed in a Variety category). Since sexuality is often a matter of personal privacy, data is hard to verify, but Cherry Joness 2009 win for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama seems to be the first acting award to go to a woman known to be openly gay at the time of her win. Paulson, who would rather not be defined by her sexuality, is certainly the first actress to declare her love for Holland Taylor (another Emmy winner, for The Practice in 1999) during a speech, which deserves some recognition on its own. Rami Maleks turn as Elliot Alderson in USAs Mr. Robot has been praised time and again since the show premiered last summer (Vulture named him the best actor of the year). And tonight he became the first Egyptian-American to win the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (or an Emmy acting award, period). Malek joined the lineup of stars who were genuinely, charmingly, taken aback by their victories at tonights ceremony, including queen JLD herself. Photo by via Mayor's Flickr We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today As part of national Child Passenger Safety Week, the Texas Department of Transportation will have free child car seat demonstrations from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Waco-McLennan County Library Central Branch, 1717 Austin Ave. TxDOT representatives and safety seat technicians will have a demo van on site along with how-to displays illustrating proper child safety seat instructions. A representative from KWTX will be on hand to read the childrens book Bernard in the Backseat. Free food distribution Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and The Shepherds Heart will have a free food-distribution event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of Texas State Technical Colleges Industrial Technology Center at the corner of Crest and Airline drives. Participants will receive a variety of fresh food, including meat, beans, canned vegetables and fruit, soup, cereal, potatoes, rice, pasta and more. Clients must provide a box, basket or container to carry their food. For more information, call 799-8810 or 716-7064. Friends of Peace The Waco Friends of Peace/Climate will screen a documentary, Climate Change and Weather: The Latest Science, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Poppa Rollos Pizza, 703 N. Valley Mills Drive. Vegetarian pizza and salad will be provided. For more information, visit www.friendsofpeace.org. DAV meeting The Frank F. Simpson Chapter 3 of Disabled American Veterans will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6008, 725 Sun Valley Blvd. in Hewitt. The group meets on the third Monday of the month, from September through June. For more information, call 548-2668 or 715-6648. Hewitt story time The Hewitt Public Library, 200 Patriot Court in Hewitt, will present Learn About Numbers story times for toddlers, ages 12 to 36 months, and preschoolers, ages 3 to 5, Tuesday and Wednesday. The session for toddlers will be at 9:30 a.m. each day, and the session for preschoolers will be at 10:30 a.m. each day. For more information, call 666-2442. Lane closures The Texas Department of Transportation will temporarily close lanes in the Farm-to-Market Road 1637 construction project area from 7 p.m. Monday to 7 a.m. Tuesday. The closures, at the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 3434, also known as Pioneer Parkway, and F.M. 1637, also known as China Spring Highway, will allow contractors to install storm sewer drainage. Motorists can expect to encounter flaggers and temporary delays during the closure. Senior lunch program Lake Shore United Methodist Church, 3311 Park Lake Drive, will host a free lunch-speaker program for senior citizens at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Eva Hanes, from Texas Home Health, will speak about services that are available to people in need, including home care, hospice and personal care. Reservations are required by noon Tuesday. For reservations, call 772-2506 or 754-7333. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr., the subject of a renewed investigation into allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward women in his chambers, ended his 32-year tenure as federal judge Monday. Federal sources say Smith announced when he came to work Monday that he was officially retired as of last Wednesday. He and his wife started cleaning out his chambers Monday, the sources said. No one answered the phone or came to the door in Smiths chambers Monday afternoon. In a letter to President Barack Obama sent Monday and obtained by the Tribune-Herald, Smith announces his intent to retire, effective Sept. 14. I understand that, upon my retirement, I will receive, during the remainder of my lifetime, an annuity equal to the salary I was receiving at the time of retirement, Smiths letter states. Smiths salary is $203,100. Federal judges receive lifetime appointments from the president. The Judicial Council of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals formally reprimanded the 75-year-old Smith in December after finding he made inappropriate and unwanted physical and nonphysical advances toward a female courthouse staff member in his court chambers in 1998. Smith, a federal judge since 1984 and a former chief judge of the Western District of Texas, also was suspended for one year from hearing any new criminal or civil cases filed after Dec. 3. While his workload dwindled in the past few months to a handful of cases, Smith continued to draw his full salary. Smith did not return phone messages Monday, leaving it unclear publicly why he chose to retire and fueling speculation that the move may be sparked by the ongoing investigation and reports that at least one other woman has given a statement about his inappropriate sexual advances toward her. An aide in U.S. Sen. John Cornyns office said Cornyn and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz have established the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, a bipartisan panel of leading attorneys in Texas, to identify the most qualified candidates to help fill judicial vacancies. This panel reviews applications, interviews candidates and makes recommendations to the senators. The senators then send the recommendations along to the White House for the presidents consideration, the aide said. With a change coming in the White House, it is unclear how long it could take for a replacement to be named, officials said. In the meantime, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, of Austin, who has been filling in during Smiths suspension of new cases, will continue to take on that additional load, federal officials said. Former Texas attorney Ty Clevenger, who filed the initial complaint against Smith, said he still thinks Smith should be impeached for his actions. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is good riddance, Clevenger said Monday. It is just unfortunate it took this long and so much effort to get him to do the right thing. The 5th Circuit should have recommended impeachment the first time. A federal judicial conduct committee ruled in July that the reprimand and sanctions imposed last year against Smith may not have gone far enough and that additional investigation into whether the judge engaged in a pattern and practice of making unwanted sexual advances toward women is needed. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Council failed to adequately address certain allegations made by Clevenger in Clevengers complaint against the judge. The 5th Circuit judicial council found there was evidence to support claims that Smith made inappropriate, unwanted physical and nonphysical sexual advances toward a court employee in 1998 and reprimanded the judge. It also required him to undergo sensitivity training. Far too lenient Clevenger, who faces possible disbarment in a U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, appealed the order to the Committee on Judicial Conduct in January, charging that the punishment was far too lenient and urging the judicial council to recommend that Smith be impeached. Clevenger supplemented his initial appeal by submitting the names of witnesses to other alleged incidents in which Smith reportedly sexually harassed other women in the courthouse. His appeal alleged the assault of the court employee was not an isolated incident. The 5th Circuit council did not address or issue any findings related to the additional allegations, the Committee on Judicial Conduct said. Besides finding that Smith made unwanted advances toward the former court employee, the 5th Circuit judicial council also said Smith does not understand the gravity of such inappropriate behavior and the serious effect that it has on the operations of the courts and that the judge allowed false factual assertions to be made in response to the complaint, which, together with the lateness of his admissions, contributed greatly to the duration and cost of the investigation. The order states that because Clevengers appeal included the names of individuals who allegedly witnessed other instances of the judges reported sexual harassment of women in the courthouse, it raises the question whether there was a pattern and practice of such behavior. Because we believe that additional findings are essential to the consideration of the petition for review, we are unable to complete our review of the Circuit Judicial Councils order, the order says. The committee remanded the case back to the council with instructions to undertake additional investigation and make additional findings where appropriate and reconsider the appropriate sanction if there are additional findings. The committee also directed the council to provide additional findings and recommendations concerning the finding that Smith allowed false factual assertions to be made in his response to the complaint and to determine the manner in which Judge Smiths conduct adversely impacted or interfered with the inquiry, if at all. That reopened investigation remains pending. Smith also was reprimanded because he failed to properly disclose that the attorney who represented Smith against Clevengers allegations had cases pending in Smiths court. Clevenger filed a grievance against Waco attorney Greg White, and the State Bar of Texas is pursuing a disciplinary case against White. White responded to the State Bar charges leveled by Clevenger, and Clevenger made Whites responses public. Numerous complaints Clevenger faces legal problems, as well. Over the years, he has filed numerous complaints against judges and attorneys. Most recently, he filed a complaint against Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Obamas choice to succeed Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Clevengers blog, LawFlog, and his website, dirtyrottenjudges.com, bash the judiciary and highlight misconduct by judges. Clevenger currently is under fire from a Washington, D.C., judge who sanctioned Clevenger $120,000 in December and initiated disbarment proceedings against Clevenger. He has said he expects to be disbarred when those proceedings resume in October. About seven years ago, Smith sanctioned Clevenger and fined him $25,000 for filing what the Waco federal judge deemed a frivolous lawsuit in his court. Whites answer to Clevengers complaint acknowledged that an attorney from Florida who was unhappy with Smiths rulings in the case questioned White about his relationship with the judge. White told him he was representing the judge, and the attorney immediately filed a motion to recuse Smith from the case, which Smith granted. Frankly, I had assumed three things, White wrote in his answer. First, I thought my role was so limited that my representation made no difference to anyone. Second, I though that Tammy (Hooks, Smiths career law clerk) was calling people in my cases (to inform opposing parties of White and Smiths attorney-client relationship). Third, I knew that I was bound by confidentiality both by rule, and by my clients instruction not to volunteer that Judge Smith was the subject of a judicial conduct complaint or that I was his lawyer. White prepared a draft and said the judge asked him to sign the motion as his attorney. One statement in the motion to dismiss bears mention, Whites memo says. After talking to Judge Smith, I was under the impression that he believed that the young lady involved might have acted in a way to suggest her willingness to participate in a personal relationship that she was the aggressor. I wrote that in the motion to dismiss characterizing it as Judge Smiths memory. His memory came from a lawyer-friend of Judge Smiths while Judge Smiths divorce was pending. During the divorce, there were apparently threats to make this womans complaint a public matter, Whites memo says. The lawyer, whom White did not identify, suggested that they could respond to the threatened publicity by suggesting that the woman approached the judge romantically in an attempt to gain favorable treatment for her husband, who was part of a group considering litigation in Smiths court. That suggestion to Judge Smith (from his lawyer-friend) stuck with him, and he suggested it to me, White wrote. After the motion to dismiss was filed, a more careful examination of the docket revealed the suggestion that the woman approached the judge in such a manner to help her husband was not true, since the lawsuit involving her husband was not filed until long after the incident in Smiths chambers. During the council probe, the investigator told White that the investigator knew that version was not true. I acknowledged to the investigator that we had misstated that, and wished to correct it, Whites memo says. Sometimes I'm tempted by the thought that a major economic reform would be for the Business Council of Australia to disband, so the nation's big business chiefs had to spend more time doing their knitting. For them to spend less time attending committee meetings to decide what the government should be doing to make life easier for them and their business, and more time working on ways to improve their company's performance. Business Council of Australia president Catherine Livingstone. Credit:Peter Rae It always surprises me that economist upholders of free markets and business defenders of private enterprise so easily fall into the view that the fate of our largely private-sector economy rests on the actions of politicians. Econocrats are susceptible to that misconception because their model's assumption that business decisions are always rational leads them to conclude any inadequacy in businesses performance must arise from perverse incentives created by misguided government intervention. Korean nationals working in Australia are being ripped off so often that the workplace ombudsman has enlisted community groups to help end the exploitative practices. The Fair Work Ombudsman has written to bodies including the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Melbourne, the NSW Australian Korean Welfare Association and the Korean consulate-general, after it ruled on more than two dozen cases involving Korean workers being underpaid in the past 18 months. Natalie James: It is important for business people operating here to understand and apply Australian laws. Credit:Arsineh Houspian Ombudsman Natalie James said a number of exploited workers had told her office the Korean-run businesses were ignoring minimum rates and instead paying a "going rate" for migrant workers. "While I understand there are cultural challenges and vastly different laws in other parts of the world, it is important for business people operating here to understand and apply Australian laws," Ms James said. The Port of Melbourne will be sold to a consortium led by QIC Ltd for $9.7 billion. The Victorian government announced the decision on Monday, calling the 50-year lease a "vote of confidence" in the state's economy. The Victorian government announced the decision on Monday, calling the 50-year lease a "vote of confidence" in the state's economy. Credit:Craig Abraham The consortium, led by QIC, Australia's second-largest wholesale funds manager, and including The Future Fund and Global Infrastructure Partners, out-bid another group led by IFM Investors. Sources involved in the sale said the contest was "very close", with QIC's Lonsdale Consortium's operational plan for the port, rather than a significantly higher bid, the decisive factor. The RAAF carries out two basic types of air-strike missions. The first are "deliberate" targets, which are carefully prepared for, such as permanent structures housing Islamic State fighters or weapons. The target is formed by fusing intelligence from drones, satellites, informants on the ground, and signals from devices such as mobile phones, into a picture that forms sometimes over weeks. A "joint target working group" chaired by a two-star general assesses it as a target. A separate "joint target co-ordination board" then prioritises it against other possible targets with a number from 1 to 100. The Turnbull government is set to embark on a major independent review of the nation's intelligence agencies as Australia faces an unprecedented array of security challenges ranging from terrorism to the rise of China and cyber-spying. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's department has confirmed that it is putting in place arrangements for the first major intelligence review since 2011 and the third since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, which prompted a reshaping of intelligence efforts in Australia and among its allies. The review is expected to tackle the unprecedented need for the nation's six intelligence agencies to balance immediate security intelligence requirements to combat terrorism including "lone wolves" with longer-term considerations about geo-strategic changes flowing from the shift in power and wealth to the Indo-Pacific region. A spokeswoman for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which is setting up the review, told Fairfax Media: "We are working through a proposal for a periodic review and the details involved. It is expected that these considerations will take at least several weeks." NEW YORK: Malcolm Turnbull has acknowledged Australian warplanes were part of an ill-directed airstrike that went wrong in Syria on Saturday killing a claimed 60 Syrian government troops instead of the intended Islamic State fighters, while also threatening a delicate ceasefire in that war-torn country. But though a circumspect Mr Turnbull expressed regret for the deaths during the action in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, he also hinted that there were blatant "contradictions" behind Russia's UN grandstanding on the bungled sorties by US-led coalition countries. "I can confirm that Australian aircraft were involved in the sortie that's been the subject of the recent news reporting," he said during a Central Park press conference ahead of this week's UN General Assembly and global refugee talks. "I can say that as soon as the coalition commanders were advised by the Russian command in the region that Syrian forces had been affected, that sortie was discontinued. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has defended Nauru and Manus Island detention centres by saying they are much better than the sprawling, makeshift refugee camps that fringe war-torn Syria. His comments came as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull lauded Australia's border protection system as the "best in the world" ahead of a major United Nations summit in New York that will be dominated by the issue of refugees. Peter Dutton says Australia is in "discussions" in a bid to resettle people found to be refugees. Mr Dutton, speaking on ABC's Insiders program, suggested that Nauru and Manus could be favourably measured against camps such as Zaatari in Jordan where an estimated 80,000 Syrian refugees are living. "I've been to Zaatari in Jordan and I've seen the devastation coming out of Syria and I've been to Lebanon seeing the situation there with many people who are living in desperate, desperate situations having been displaced," Mr Dutton said. Pauly's attorney, well-known Election Law Attorney Chad D. Morgan, filed the case named. on September 2, 2016 after Pauly's loss in the O.C. Superior Court. In her original case Pauly tried to replace the ballot argument against OUSD's Measure S Facilities Bond on the November ballot. (for more information click on). What causes us distress may not be what we expect. Take our health, for example. "You would think overall health would affect our overall wellbeing more than it does," Weinberg says. "People adjust very well to physical health conditions." She describes a study she was involved with several years ago on people receiving dialysis for "end-stage kidney disease". While their satisfaction with their health was lower than the rest of population, as we might expect, their health wasn't the primary factor affecting their wellbeing. Rather, it was the absence of a sense of meaning. "They were spending a lot of time managing their condition and sitting in a dialysis ward so they didn't feel like they were actually doing anything with their lives," Weinberg explains. "It's very easy when you think of someone with a health condition to think 'oh they must be miserable' ... but for them, that's often what they're used to that's their life and they adjust to that in most cases." Similarly, Weinberg says we often consider that "those who have the most money in the world would have the best lives, but you hear stories of their troubles as well". Rather, one thing that causes us distress is the quality of our relationships and connection with others. "Loneliness has a bigger effect on wellbeing than stress or anxiety," says Weinberg, noting that our sense of social support has a significant effect on our sense of wellbeing. "Even just feeling a little bit lonely has a big impact on our wellbeing." Ongoing loneliness, distress and a lack of meaning throw our wellbeing thermostat way out, but "negative" feelings are not something to fear. In fact, allowing ourselves to feel the natural range of emotions when life throws us curve balls is healthy. "We don't always have to change and go from sad to happy all of a sudden sometimes we feel down and sometimes that's OK," Weinberg says. "There's a lot of research that says that there are some good reasons why we don't always feel happy all the time. "There are some benefits to being in what's called a mildly negative mood sometime we shouldn't feel pressured to always be happy, but if we find that we try things and they don't work and we notice that we really haven't been happy for some time, then it's time to seek help and reach out." Weinberg says that the overarching research has highlighted how strong we tend to be. "What we have learned from this project is that we are as humans inherently resilient," she says. "When bad things happen we do have this internal process that acts to try and help us get better. The analogy is that if your body temp drops, you will start to shiver which is its attempt to restore itself, but sometimes that shivering isn't enough, sometimes you might need to put on a layer of clothing and if it gets really bad, you might need to seek help." What is wellbeing? Wellbeing is not Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch in a crazed state of ecstasy, Weinberg explains. "If you imagine that we have a set point, where we're meant to be and that's in this positive, mildly alert state it's a happiness, but not a joyful, over-the-top happiness it's more a state of contentment," she says. "If you think of our anchor that's where we're trying to be yes, there are times when we might feel lonely, yes, there are times when we might feel sad, but our body's actually always trying to bring us back to that set point of happiness." How's your wellbeing? "The simplest and best way to measure subjective wellbeing is a single question 'when you think about your life in general, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?' " Weinberg says. "It's a question about satisfaction. Then we break that down further by asking about the different domains of life that contribute to your overall life satisfaction." These domains include relationships, what you're achieving in life (work/family/volunteering etc) and health. Who is struggling the most? "We did a big project a couple of years ago where we explored the subjective wellbeing of informal carers," says Weinberg, explaining that informal means unpaid carers. The 4000 people studied, who generally became carers because a family member or friend had experienced a severe health condition and needed care, had the lowest measure of wellbeing of any group, including the person they were caring for, including people who earn a very low income, or people who were unemployed. "Usually, in a carer's situation, there are two ways out of it one is that you leave the person and the other is that the person dies and neither is a good outcome," Weinberg explains. "People think that caring is a really altruistic thing to do, but caring is really taxing on a person, it's really really hard work and we really need people to care for the carers." How do the Wellbeing Index findings help us? Three men are stuck on Uluru after ignoring pleas by the site's traditional owners not to climb the Australian landmark. Late on Monday night, a delicate rescue operation was underway to winch the stranded climbers off the rock. The three men, aged 23, first got into trouble around midday when they veered off the designated pathway into a restricted zone and became stuck in a crevice. By about 10.30pm, volunteers from the Northern Territory Emergency Service's specialist vertical rescue team had reached the men and were preparing to abseil them to safety, after many hours working to secure abseiling anchors. The Turnbull government has set itself the goal for the CSIRO to become the "world's premier public research organisation" within 10 years. Speaking on Monday night at a CSIRO gala dinner in Melbourne, the Minister for Science, Greg Hunt, said: "This is an ambitious goal, but it is achievable over the coming decade. "It's about pursuing pure public good research as a foundation stone for our knowledge and capabilities," Mr Hunt said. In language that one CSIRO employee said was a big shift from a narrow focus on commercialisation, Mr Hunt said: "[This is also] about emphasising the importance of long-term climate science from our unique place in the southern hemisphere." Every parent has been there. Trying to concentrate on driving while your kids are playing up in the back of the car. But after two near-accidents, and a four-year-old daughter who was making a habit of getting out of her seat mid-travel, one desperate Perth mother sought help from an unlikely source - her local police station, Mundaring Police. "I brought my daughter [Alison into the station] on a day when we'd been to Canning Vale and back going down Roe Highway and she had some toys with her and she was throwing them at me and she was punching her brother... I almost had an accident twice on the way there and the way back," mother Amanda Lawes said. Mundaring police senior constable Andrew Baker admitted having Alison come into the station was a bit of an unusual 'job', but that officers were more than happy to help. The decline has accelerated since Clinton's reckless "basket of deplorables" speech on September 9 and her seeming collapse in public on September 11, when she got knocked by a bout of pneumonia. Her polls are falling off a cliff, as Donald Trump-wary Republicans gradually shift from the "undecided" column to back a candidate who fills them with dread. The election will dominate the market's attention this week, but there's plenty of local action as AGM season hits is peak and Westpac and CBA report. Credit:Leigh Henningham Trump, by contrast is on a roll. Since the days after the Republican convention in July, he has risen almost steadily in the polls - chipping an incredible six points off Clinton's lead in averages of the polls, and seemingly immune in the minds of some voters to his shocking/appalling/inept/dumb utterances that analysts and pundits rate as political suicide. It's as though, in the minds of voters, some other force - not Trump - is responsible for the verbiage that he sprouts. And in the face of a backlash, he doubles down, refusing to apologise and/or blaming others. This is an incredible moment in modern American history. It is not overstating the case to say that both candidates are hated, but at this stage Republicans could be forgiven for resorting to that all-purpose adage in which those who invoke it insert their epithet of choice - which in this case would be something like: "he might be a f--- wit, but he's our f--- wit." In another time and with another candidate, Trump's bizarre "Obama is not/is an American" nonsense and his reckless return on Friday to language that seems to invite a gun nut to go for Clinton would have sealed the deal for a runaway Democratic win. Writing about anything and everything "Green Acres" it ain't, but we love owning and visiting the Hawksbill Cabin, near Stanley and Luray, Virginia, and a wealth of outdoor activities, including: the "World Famous" Shenandoah River, Shenandoah National Park, Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns, and Massanutten Resort. From time to time we'll post about other stuff, too. As the number of blog posts grows, we've added a few navigation tools in the right column to facilitate getting around the site. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Mostly cloudy skies. High 72F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 18, 2016 | 04:39 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY A man was sent to the hospital Saturday night after he was struck by a vehicle in McCracken County. According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, the collision happened at around 8:15 pm at the 4900 block of Mayfield Road. Deputies said Terry and Lisa Ballard of McCracken County were traveling south on Mayfield Road when a pedestrian, identified as 22-year-old Montana Otey of Ballard County, stepped out into the road directly in front of the Ballards vehicle. A witness at the scene told police that Otey appeared to intentionally step from the shoulder of the road into the center of the south bound lane and directly in front of the Ballards vehicle. Police said Ballard swerved to the left trying to avoid a collision but the right front of the vehicle struck Otey. Otey was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 18, 2016 | 10:19 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY A Ballard County man was killed Sunday afternoon when his motorcycle was struck by a car in McCracken County. According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, the crash happened at around 5 pm on Blandville Road, west of Hines Road. Deputies said 55-year-old James Duncan, of Kevil, was eastbound on his motorcycle when he was struck by a westbound car, driven by 24-year-old Andrew Davidson, of Wickliffe. Davidson told deputies he fell asleep while driving and crossed the center line. Duncan was thrown from his motorcycle and came to rest on the south shoulder of the road. Duncan was transported to Baptist Health Paducah, where he died Sunday night. Davidson was not injured in the crash. Blandville Road in the area of the collision was shut down for approximately one hour for investigation and clean up. MISSOULA -- John Craighead liked to quote fellow legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold, who once said we should think like a mountain. The philosophy of following natures cues and looking at the fundamentals of things guided Craigheads pioneering work in American conservation, its wild rivers and seminal studies of grizzly bears. I have listened to the voice of the mountain for most of my life, said Craighead upon receiving The Wildlife Societys Aldo Leopold Memorial Award in 1998. The mountains still talk, but they lost one of their most avid listeners Sunday morning when John Craighead died in his sleep at his home of more than 60 years in southwest Missoula. Craighead turned 100 on Aug. 14 and had been ailing for years, though his children said it wasn't until last year that he was unable to frequent the tepee in his yard in all seasons. It was unexpected, but expected, said son Johnny, who lives next door to and has been the primary caregiver for his father and mother, Margaret, 96. When he went to sleep Saturday night, we didnt expect it to happen, but we expected it to happen sometime soon, the younger Craighead said. He was going, and weve been grieving, for a long time. No formal services will be held. The family plans to spread his ashes in the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, area, where Craighead and his twin brother, Frank, settled when they first came West as young naturalists and husbands, building look-alike cabins near Moose. Johnny Craigheads older siblings, Karen Haynam and Derek Craighead, still live in the area. The breadth of Craigheads experience and expertise in the natural world -- with Frank and apart from him -- is legendary. In 1998, the same year John received the Aldo Leopold Award, the twins were named among America's top scientists of the 20th century by the Audubon Society. I dont think his impact on the wildlife profession can be overestimated, said Dan Pletscher, who retired in 2013 as director of the University of Montanas wildlife biology program that Craighead helped establish as one of the best in the nation. The Craighead brothers were born in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 14, 1916. Intrigued by falconry and birds, they attended Penn State University and, at age 20, published their first of many articles for National Geographic Society. It was titled Adventures with Birds of Prey. The U.S. Navy tapped their outdoors prowess for the war effort. The Craigheads developed a survival school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, during World War II that provided physical conditioning and outdoors confidence to Navy pilots in the expedited training program. In 1943 they wrote a survival guide called How to Survive on Land and Sea, and as the war wound down they taught survival tactics to agents of the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. Both Craigheads received doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan in 1949. John moved into the academic world in the early 1950s when he accepted a position with UM, where he led the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit for 25 years. He and Margaret raised their three conservation- and science-mind children in Missoula. John and Frank Craighead wrote much of the text for the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that was passed by Congress in 1968, even as they conducted a 12-year study of grizzly bears in Yellowstone. The study is credited with helping save the bears from extinction. The Craigheads' writings and film work with National Geographic caught the imagination of many a budding outdoorsmen, including Jim Solomon of Missoula. Everything I did in the outdoors, John was the start of it, Solomon said Monday. It was his National Geographic TV show on Yellowstone grizzlies that made me decide I was going to move to Montana to work for him. That was in 1975. Solomon, who grew up in Arizona and later returned there to host a popular outdoors radio show in Phoenix, said he arrived in Montana on July 4. Two days later he was hired by Craigheads Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit. The following year Craighead encouraged Solomon to apply for an assistants position for a study of grizzlies in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Solomon said he spent six weeks and 270 miles on Craigheads team accruing ground-truth data for what proved to be highly accurate satellite imagery. He made it happen for me, Solomon said. Craighead was pushing 90 in 2005 when UM endowed the John J. Craighead Chair in Wildlife Biology. Im just so happy we got that done while John was alive, said Pletscher. The private dollars raised and placed in an endowment allows the school to attract people to the school that you might not be able to attract, Pletscher said. A name like John Craighead attracts people because everyone know that name, knows that legacy and knows what John meant to wildlife and conservation in general. Frank Craighead was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1987. He died in 2001 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the age of 85. His brother's death on Sunday marked the second passing of a giant in the world of grizzly bear study this year. Charles Jonkel, dubbed the "father of bear biology," passed away in April in Missoula at age 85. In addition to his wife Margaret, John Craighead is survived by children Karen, Derek and Johnny. Liverpools official Twitter account produced a rather scintillating one-word riposte to a jibe from a Man Utd fan account on Sunday, with the Merseysiders response coming after their Mancunian rivals had lost 3-1 away to Watford. The United Stand account originally Tweeted about Liverpool on Friday after Jurgen Klopps side had beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, cheekily belittling the Reds title hopes Big thanks to Liverpool for beating one of our title rivals. Another three points towards your battle for 6th#MUFC The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) September 16, 2016 However, after Jose Mourinhos side produced a limp, losing display at Vicarage Road on Sunday afternoon, the Liverpool social media team were quick to hit back, with this minimalist, but cutting reply Liverpool currently find themselves in 6th place in the Premier League tabel, one place and one point above United. And while its very, very early days, its the Merseysiders who are starting to look more like genuine title contenders than the Red Devils. Whatever happens, lets hope this kind of social media jousting continues for the rest of the season! This year, Founders Day at the Historic Saint Marys Mission in Stevensville will be of particular note, marking 175 years since missionaries arrived in response to the invitation of tribal leaders. The historic arrival of Black Robes missionaries began a long tradition of Christian faith in the Bitterroot Valley, continuing to this day. The September 24th celebration will truly be a day to rejoice not only because of what happened 175 years ago, but also because of what has been happening to this day. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The David Foster Foundations Miracle Gala and Concert is only a few days away and the list of performers for the event is growing clearer. The Saturday night gala has added Canadian artist Carly Rae Jepsen, whose latest album Emotion was up for a Polaris Music Prize on Monday night, to a bill that already includes Seal, Michael Bolton and the Tenors, among others. Jepsen is best known for her 2011 hit Call Me Maybe, which was the best-selling single worldwide in 2012 with sales of over 12 million. RICHARD SHOTWELL / THE CANADIAN PRESS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS / INVISION FILES Carly Rae Jepsen joins the cast of performers at the 2016 David Foster Foundation Miracle Gala and Concert. The event will help raise money to cover all of the non-medical costs for the families of children in need of a major organ transplant, including transportation, lodging, food and other basic necessities when living away from home. Previous years have seen the likes of Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, and based on statements made by David Foster himself in an interview with the Free Press, it seems Winnipeg should be prepared for a few surprises in the days leading up to the event. If you look at our track record, and you look at the last event, we had Stevie Wonder and the year before that, Steven Tyler from Aerosmith weve had everybody, says the Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter, and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee. I work really hard to try and put a good show together. Its not all I do, but its something I work hard at. Were pounding the pavement to try and put together the best show possible for Winnipeg, to give them a blowout like theyve never seen. While the star-studded musical lineup is certainly a large incentive to attend the gala, it shouldnt overshadow the point of the gala the annual event acts as the main fundraiser for the David Foster Foundation, an organization that covers all of the non-medical costs for the families of children in need of a major organ transplant, including transportation, lodging, food and other basic necessities when living away from home. The average cost per family hovers around the $10,000 mark, and in the 28 years since the foundations inception, it has managed to help more than 1,000 families nationwide. But the financial help, while important, is just a vehicle for the real intention behind the foundation to keep families intact when an unforeseen and traumatic circumstance pulls them apart. Foster was inspired to tackle this cause specifically after a phone call from his mother sent him to a hospital in Los Angeles to visit a five-year-old girl from his hometown of Victoria, B.C., who was there for a transplant operation. He asked if there was anything he could do for the child, and she said she missed her sister, so Foster flew her in. From then, he says he was hooked on the idea of helping families stick together during the difficult experience of having a child in need of a transplant. They are torn apart one parent has to stay back home, one has to travel to a foreign city, they have to get a new apartment, a new car, a new job, its pretty crazy, he says. Every day were just so lucky that our own kids are healthy, and this thing that happens to these families, it just drops them to their knees nothing is real anymore, everything is just suspended reality, he says. Were that bright light, I think, on the day when they get the worst news your three year old needs a heart transplant, your five year old needs a lung on that day, we are the bright spot, were going to try and get them through this, to help financially so they dont have to sell the house or sell the car. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster is bringing his David Foster Foundation Miracle Gala and Concert to the MTS Centre on Saturday. Foster said it is fitting to bring the event to the province after discovering Manitoba's number of registered organ donors is less than two per cent. As for the event itself, its the first time the gala has made a stop in Manitoba after fundraisers in Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax, among others. Foster says he and the foundations board, which includes Gail Stephens, chief operating officer for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, thought Winnipeg made the most sense as the next host. We feel that its the responsibility of us to cover the entire country and spread the word and raise as much money as we can in every province, because were helping people in every province, and Winnipeg seemed like a logical, great choice, says Foster. Im just genuinely so appreciative to the city theyve opened their arms to us and its our responsibility to really deliver, he adds. Another incentive to bring the gala to Winnipeg is the shockingly low number of registered organ donors in Manitoba less than two per cent of the provinces population. Nationally, Canada sits at 14 per cent, a number that, while better than two per cent, is still too low for Foster, who says unlike illnesses such as cancer or heart disease, needing an organ transplant is a fixable problem. I mean, the number that really surprises me more than the two per cent in Manitoba is the 14 per cent for the country. When you talk to people, they go, Yeah, I wouldnt mind being an organ donor, but they dont really pull the trigger on it, he says. Organ-donor awareness is always on the front burner for us, but its a giant mountain to climb, trying to get from two per cent to 100 per cent within Manitoba. erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @NireRabel If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more. Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The citys first self-identified indigenous school board chairperson has demanded the federal government start funding First Nations education adequately before more generations of children are lost. The federal government is nowhere to be found, newly elected Winnipeg School Division board chairwoman Sherri Rollins said. Maybe we need a national department of education. When children from First Nations without a high school come to Winnipeg to study, theyre so far behind that they need far more resources than other children, she said. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg School Division chairwoman Sherri Rollins is the first self-identified indigenous school board chairperson in Winnipeg. She says the Liberals are underfunding aboriginal students from reserves who come to Winnipeg to study. Because of chronic federal underfunding, she charged, When that child comes to my schools below grade level, thats a $25,000 child, not an $11,000 child, Rollins said, referring to per-student spending. I want the feds to step up on this. Theyre going to lose another generation. Rollins, the only indigenous trustee in Winnipeg, said its decades overdue for city school divisions to have an indigenous board chairperson. When she ran in the divisions south end in 2014, It was a priority for me to indigenize WSD. I set up the indigenous advisory council so I wouldnt be alone. I want all the bands, from Brokenhead to Grand Rapids to Red Sucker Lake to South Indian Lake, to know theyve got a home in the division when they come to the city. Rollins cited the role the divisions new elder, Myra Laramee, a retired principal and unsuccessful board candidate, will play in promoting indigenous academic achievement and support programs in the division. Rollins is also the first of the class of 2014, the rookies who won six of the nine board seats, to become board chairwoman. WSD has just launched Ojibwa and Cree bilingual programs, which Rollins is confident will expand in both grades and the number of schools in which theyre offered. It is hard to get bilingual teachers of any sort, and indigenous languages lack curricular material, Rollins said. Shes determined to continue encouraging mothers to get involved in inner-city and North End schools, even if they lack education: Educational assistants, they may not have high school within 10 to 15 years, theyre teaching in our schools, she said. Im Huron, and Im non-status, said Rollins, a 41-year-old provincial civil servant who grew up in Ottawa and whose ancestors came from the Windsor, Ont., area. In Ottawa, you met a lot of people like (former national chiefs) Ovide Mercredi, Phil Fontaine. As a kid, I was so excited to meet them, she said. Rollins said city school boards should have had indigenous board chairpersons and more trustees years ago. I watched Linda Ballantyne get blanketed at the legislature as she was honoured as the indigenous board chairwoman of Frontier School Division, Rollins said. You go to the legislature, you see white man, white man, white man. Rollins was in Ottawa after being elected to the WSD board, and met the wife of the late aboriginal leader Elijah Harper credited with helping to kill the Meech Lake Accord in 1990) who is now a school trustee in Ottawa. I told some executives of the Manitoba School Boards Association that, and they had no idea who I was talking about, Rollins lamented. Rollins said she encourages indigenous residents of the division to contest the Nov. 5 byelection in Ward 7 including Point Douglas and Elmwood left vacant when Allan Beach moved out of the division. The list of potential candidates Rollins is trying to recruit includes Kevin Settee, an unsuccessful 2014 trustee candidate whos now president of the University of Winnipeg Students Association, she said. Meanwhile, Rollins said, acting with board approval, Im going to take over the Ward 7 duties Point Douglas and Elmwood cant not be represented. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Helena voters, especially those in HD84, are fortunate again to have the opportunity to send Mary Ann Dunwell back to the Montana Legislature to work for us. Mary Ann distinguished herself in the 64th Montana Legislative Assembly and deserves to be re-elected to a second term. Mary Ann comes from a strong worker background. She has the endorsement of worker organizations including the MEA/MFT, the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen because of her proud, steadfast and consistent support of worker issues. Her work ethic is incomparable both as a campaigner and as a legislator. Mary Ann is tirelessly knocking on the doors of every voter in HD84, where she intently listens to the concerns of every voter in her district. She is a good listener who will take your thoughts and ideas under serious consideration. As a retiree, I hope you please join me in supporting Marry Ann Dunwell for re-election to HD84. James W. "Jim" Murry Helena Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Plans for a new ultra-low-cost airline with a maintenance hub in Winnipeg are in jeopardy as the federal government stalls on a decision about lifting foreign investment limits to let the airline get off the ground. Transport Minister Marc Garneau refused to say Monday when he would make a decision about the exemption requested by Canada Jetlines Ltd. in May. Jetlines, based in Richmond, B.C., wants an exemption to the 25 per cent foreign ownership investment in Canadian airlines, with the limit being raised to 49 per cent in its case. The airline has investors lined up to raise the required capital to obtain an operating license but many of them are in Europe and the United States and bring the foreign ownership level beyond 25 per cent. CANADA JETLINES / FACEBOOK Transport Canada is consulting to determine if the exemption is in the public interest. Another start-up ultra-low cost carrier, Calgary-based Enerjet, applied for a similar exemption in August. Late last week, Jetlines CEO requested an update from Garneaus office and was told only that a decision was not forthcoming. As you can imagine, our team was quite frustrated at the news, Scott wrote in a memo to stakeholders on Monday. The memo was obtained by the Winnipeg Free Press. Scott indicated in the memo if a decision doesnt come soon, the airline project will be abandoned. However, unless an exemption order is granted and a clear timeline provided by the minister in the coming weeks, this opportunity will simply be lost, he wrote. Neither Jetlines nor its investment partners are in a position to wait for an overall policy change. In order to operate, Jetlines requires a federal airline license, something it can only get by showing financing in place to cover 90 days of operations. In Jetlines case, the Canadian Transportation Agency says that is $27 million. Last February, a review of Canadas transportation system by former Industry Minister David Emerson recommended Ottawa lift the foreign-investment in airlines limit from 25 per cent to 49 per cent for everyone. Garneau said earlier this year his department was studying the impact that would have. Air Canada officials back the overall change but oppose the government giving an exemption to airlines like Jetlines and Enerjet, as does Westjet. Both major airlines would face competition from the no-frills carriers. Garneau would put no timeline for when his consultation on the ownership rules would be complete, nor would he say whether he would make a decision about the exemption requests first. We are doing our homework right now, he said in a scrum with reporters outside the House of Commons Monday. I can tell you it is an issue we are looking at. Scott is urging stakeholders to push federal MPs and contacts to put pressure on Garneau. Jetlines business plan is to fly up to 64 domestic and international routes within eight years. Twelve of those routes would be out of Winnipeg, which would also have a maintenance and crew hub bringing up to 250 new jobs to the city. Jetlines would also compete with Winnipeg-based NewLeaf Travel, which began flying between 12 Canadian cities July 25 after a delayed start to sort out regulatory issues. NewLeaf contracts with B.C.-based Flair Air for planes and pilots and is considered by Transport Canada to be a ticket reseller rather than an airline. As such, NewLeaf isnt subject to the foreign-investment limit, nor did it have to acquire an airline licence. mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Drivers voluntarily taking part in a Manitoba Public Insurance breathalyzer and saliva test research project this month will be offered free gas if they agree to take part. Prairie Research Associates partner Nicholas Borodenko said police will tell drivers whove just gone through a checkstop will to talk to a nearby MPI supervisor. Those drivers will also get $10 in gas if they agree to the voluntary testing. We try to ensure people understand we are not the police, Borodenko said. Weve never asked anyone why they participate. The police presence, does it increase compliance? WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Prairie Research Associates will survey1,200 drivers in five Manitoba cities over a four-night period this month, who will consent to voluntary interviews, breathalyzer tests, and to providing saliva samples, after passing through a police checkstop. It could be we havent actually asked anyone why they do it. It could well be, said Borodenko. That gift card is a big driver of your compliance: 10 bucks for five minutes of your time. MPI is spending $150,000 to hire Prairie Research Associates to survey 1,200 drivers in five Manitoba cities over a four-night period this month, who will consent to voluntary interviews, breathalyzer tests, and to providing saliva samples, after passing through a police Checkstop. All of it is done anonymously. MPI says that it is establishing a baseline for drivers using drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, in anticipation of marijuanas becoming legal. The saliva test does not test for DNA, MPI says, and cannot measure impairment. This is methodology designed by Transport Canada, which has been used in Ontario and British Columbia, Borodenko said. They have feedback from academics and consultants. The saliva tests will show the level of drugs in a drivers system, though impairment is not yet defined, Borodenko said. Drivers co-operate because People are interested in the outcomes, he said. Borodenko said that one person in five declines to take part, usually citing being in a hurry to get somewhere. The project has come under fire for its research methods. Probe Research president Scott MacKay called it bad social science. We couldnt imagine how this could possibly generate scientifically valid or in any way meaningful results, to say nothing of the overly intrusive nature of this driver intercept approach. Echoing University of Manitoba ethicist Prof. Arthur Schafer in an interview last week, MacKay said that the only people willing to give an honest answer on drug use with police nearby will be drivers who have not consumed anything that evening. That will skew the data, he said. Sometimes, they can point you in the wrong direction. These things can be worse than doing nothing. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/09/2016 (2233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BRANDON WestJet no longer offers flights between Brandon and Toronto, according to a press release from the City of Brandon. Its disappointing and I know that a lot of Westman residents will be disappointed, but these things come down to business decisions and that flight wasnt performing to the expectations of WestJet, city manager Scott Hildebrand said. The flight from Brandon to Toronto, which had been taking off four times a week since the end of June, was originally billed as a seasonal opportunity set to end on Sept. 5. The tail of a WestJet plane dwarfs the Calgary skyline before the airline's annual meeting in Calgary, Tuesday, May 3, 2016. A review has found some shortcomings in WestJet's protocols for handling cases of workplace harassment. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh However, in July, WestJet spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the company decided to extend the route into the winter despite a slow start. Instead, the company changed course and as a result WestJets last flight left Brandon earlier this month. Hildebrand said the summer trial was always going to be a tough time of the year to test the flight. He hopes WestJet gives the flight another test run in the winter months when travellers are shopping for vacations to sun destinations. With the route cancelled prior to its planned start, individuals who have booked flights on the Brandon-Toronto route will be contacted by WestJet directly to make alternate arrangements, either by means of rerouting or refunding, according to the release. Hildebrand said WestJet indicated it remains committed to the partnership it shares with the City of Brandon and the company will continue to operate a midday Brandon-Calgary flight seven days a week. In addition, WestJet will return an early morning departure/late night return option for the Brandon-Calgary route three times a week, beginning October 23rd. The city will continue to make investments at the airport, according to Hildebrand, such as the current renovations in the hope of attracting additional flights in the future. We still believe that a regional airport is of vital importance to the economy, Hildebrand said. And we want to be prepared if something opens up in the future. Renovations at the airport should be completed in early 2017. Calls to WestJet were not returned. Brandon Sun ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed A 13-year-old boy was killed over the weekend while driving his go-cart onto a rural highway in Buffalo County. The Buffalo County Sheriffs Office said Michael L. McCarty, 13, of Arkansaw, Wis., was struck by a pickup truck Saturday afternoon on county Highway B in the town of Canton. The pickup was driven by 16-year-old Jon R. Koller of Mondovi, Wis. The Wisconsin State Patrol is assisting with the investigation. The Sheriffs Office said Tuesday afternoon it is still putting together details of the incident and working on a press release. A Winona County woman has been charged with eight felony criminal sexual-conduct charges stemming from sexually abusing a boy, according to court documents. Annette Marie Vieth, 47, has been charged in Winona County District Court with four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim between 13 and 15 years old from a position of authority, and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct having a significant relationship with a victim under 16, according to court documents. According to the criminal complaint, Vieth is accused of sexually assaulting the victim five times between fall of 2015 and January 2016, starting on a camping trip in Wisconsin in fall 2015 and then at a residence in rural Winona County. The complaint said investigators were able to review a recorded conversation between Vieth and the victim, in which the victim accuses Vieth of sexual assault, and Vieth verifies the last four incidents in the conversation, including dates, times, locations and circumstances. Vieths first court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 6 in front of District Court Judge Mary Leahy. Vieth previously worked for the Winona County Community Services department, as initially noted in other media coverage, but has not worked for the County for some time, according to county administrator Ken Fritz; the complaint does not explicitly state any connection between her work and the criminal charges, only that she was in a position of authority over the victim. Fritz said Monday the county, because of data-privacy laws, could not disclose more information about her specific role in the department. What does it say about the state of the Department of Veterans Affairs when the agency cant even be trusted to tell the truth to the president of the United States? Thats precisely the situation at the Little Rock, Ark., VA medical center. There, VA employees lied about patient wait times, then lied to federal investigators about doing so, and Little Rock VA leaders refused to fire those responsible. But apparently VA officials were too ashamed to admit no one would lose their job over the hospitals fraudulent wait times. Instead, they tried to hide the truth from veterans, the public and even the president of the United States, falsely telling federal Office of Special Counsel investigators, who were preparing a report for President Obama, they planned to fire one of the responsible employees. Similar instances of dishonesty and incompetence continue to play out at VA health care facilities across the nation, with little to no consequences for the responsible employees. Thats because dysfunctional federal personnel rules are forcing the VA to keep bad workers on the payroll, doing a disservice to the many hardworking and honest VA employees, the taxpayers that fund the department, and the veterans VA is charged with serving. Indeed, nearly every day the VA is engulfed in a new crisis or scandal, yet the department is unable to discipline the employees responsible. At the San Diego VA medical center, an inspector general investigation found that a veteran attempted suicide after the facility repeatedly canceled his mental health appointments. The same investigation revealed employees had instructed hospital schedulers to falsify wait times, potentially affecting hundreds of veterans mental health appointments. Still, no one was fired. The tragic human toll of this broken status quo is evident in the stories of delayed and bungled health care procedures that routinely emanate from the VA. But this grim reality is also costing taxpayers. In fact, VAs incompetence has cost taxpayers $848 million in legal settlements many of which were associated with medical malpractice in the last five years alone. Enough is enough. If the VA is ever going to change its culture, we have to give its leaders the ability to hold their worst employees accountable. Thats exactly what the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 would do. It would provide VA leaders with the tools they need finally to reform the department into an organization truly responsive to the veterans it is charged with serving. That includes delivering swift responses to disability claim appeals. For years disability claim appeals have languished in the VA because of an antiquated appeals process. This backlog has been greatly exacerbated by mismanagement. In the words of VAs former top benefits executive, a complex maze of bureaucratic red tape makes it almost impossible to discipline problematic employees. Thats why the VA is forced to keep sex offenders and armed-robbery participants on the departments payroll, no matter how egregious their behavior. And on the off chance the VA is able successfully to discipline an employee, the process can take years to complete because the standard of evidence the VA must meet is similar to whats required to convict a criminal in a court of law. The VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 would replace this madness with common sense, while protecting the due-process rights of employees. The bill would shorten the firing/demotion/appeals process for rank-and-file VA employees from more than a year on average to no more than 77 days. It would provide VA whistleblowers with a means to solve problems at the lowest level possible, while offering them protection from reprisals and mandating strict accountability for those who reprise against them. It would give the VA secretary the authority to recoup bonuses and relocation expenses from misbehaving employees and reduce the pensions of senior executives convicted of felonies that influenced their job performance. For too long, VA bureaucrats who cant or wont do their jobs have used every trick in the book to keep themselves firmly entrenched in the agencys bureaucracy. The VA measure gets rid of these loopholes, which have been unfairly forcing veterans and the many good VA workers to deal with deadwood employees for years. Its a common-sense solution to an obvious problem that provides a better way of doing business at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Americas veterans and taxpayers deserve no less. If the VA is ever going to change its culture, we have to give its leaders the ability to hold their worst employees accountable. Joan Simon of Reedsburg is no stranger to the difficulties of Alzheimers disease, which she describes as often painful, often unforgiving. When her husband fell ill, she quickly learned that she needed help. And it was the Alzheimers & Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin that helped Simon and her family move forward as effective caretakers. You need to know that there are people available to help you with this process, Simon said during Saturdays 2016 Sauk County Alzheimers Walk at Mary Rountree Evans Park in Baraboo. The more you can learn from these people that know what theyre doing, the better off you are. Simon was this years family chair at the annual event, and she credited the Alliance with helping her family make it through the long days and nights caring for her late husband. Saturdays walk was the 16th to take place in Baraboo. It helps raise money for the Alliance, which provides free resources for families impacted by Alzheimers disease. It also helps secure funding for research, and Paul Rusk, the organizations executive director, said there is plenty to be excited about on that front. Newly released federal funds have boosted research through the University of Wisconsins Alzheimers Disease Research Center. Rusk said the Alliances goal is to secure $400 million more in research funding and ensure that the first person cured of Alzheimers disease will be involved in a Wisconsin-based clinical trial. Researchers currently are in need of study participants with mild cognitive impairment, as well as males age 45 to 65 who do not have Alzheimers in their family. The healthy men will serve as a control group. If you are fortunate enough to be on the side of your family that doesnt have Alzheimers in its history, you can help the side that does by signing up to be a healthy control, Rusk said. The Alliance helped 25,000 people last year, Rusk said, adding that the organization can provide assistance to anyone touched by the disease, regardless of their location or income. He said a new program recently approved for the Baraboo area will help train personnel at businesses and other organizations on how to handle situations that involve people with dementia. We think that will make a big difference here in Sauk County, Rusk said. The walks medical chair, Natalie Westegard, whose late father suffered from the disease, told those in attendance she has high hopes for the future. One day, she said, she would like to see the annual walk led by people who have survived Alzheimers. Duck hunters are legally required to purchase and sign only one federal stamp before they can take to the fields. So why do many hunters purchase an extra copy, which they save instead of sign? The answer to that question should become clear to those who visit the Flyways Waterfowl Museum in Baraboo later this month. On weekends from Saturday to Oct. 2, the museum, located south of the city along State Highway 159, will host a free exhibit featuring the finalists from last years Federal Duck Stamp Contest. Artists nationwide submit entries into the annual competition, and a panel of judges selects the winning piece, which is then featured on the face of the following years federal duck stamp. Flyways Waterfowl Museum Director Nichol Swenson said the artwork highlights the beauty and importance of conservation. The museum also features prints of winning federal entries from prior years, as well as youth contest entries. People come in and say I cant believe a kid did that, Swenson said of some of the paintings. Habitat conservation is really one of the most critical issues were facing today. The federal art exhibit that will make a stop in Baraboo later this week features finalists from the competition that took place in 2015, and is unique in the history of the annual competition. Thats because the top three finalists were brothers who have collectively won 11 of the federal contests, which started in 1949. The first federal duck stamp was designed by Jay N. Ding Darling in 1934. Sales in that year generated $635,000 for habitat conservation and restoring wetlands. And back in that day, they were only a dollar, said Craig Swenson, the museums cofounder. These days he buys two of the $25 federal stamps. He signs one copy for hunting, and saves another for his collection. Duck stamp program earnings peaked at $26 million in 2000, and the art contest has continued to grow in popularity. A documentary about the contest premiered Wednesday on the Animal Planet cable television station. The Million Dollar Duck highlights the unique contestants who participate each year, and explores the history and ongoing challenges that the federal program faces. This years duck stamp contest took place earlier this month at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The winner was James Hautman, of Chaska, Minnesota., one of the famous brothers known for dominating the competition. His acrylic painting of Canada geese will be featured on next years federal Duck Stamp. Sauk County is so rich in its conservation heritage and also has a very vibrant arts culture, so we feel that bringing the exhibit to Flyways Waterfowl Museum is a beautiful fit with our countys identity, Nichol Swenson said, adding that contributions from the Greater Sauk County Community Foundation and Don-Rick Insurance helped bring the exhibit to Baraboo. Of every dollar generated by stamp sales, 98 cents helps purchase or lease wetland habitat for national wildlife refuges and wetland management districts. Wisconsin has nine of them. The $800 million raised since the program began has helped protect more than 5.7 million acres of habitat across the country to conserve fish and wildlife resources. Nichol Swenson also noted that the stamps, which become available at post offices each July, are not only for hunters. They provide free admission to any wildlife refuge that charges an entrance fee. Gianforte's campaign ads that equate refugees with terrorists are dishonest and yet another example of how he just isn't qualified to be Montana's governor. Actual facts, instead of junk mail rhetoric, show that refugees are not a threat to our security. Refugees receive the highest level of scrutiny of anyone who comes to America, including months of interviews, biometric data collection, and extensive background checks. It is literally the most difficult way to get into the United States. The families who go through the refugee resettlement process do so because they have been forced from their homes by war, violence and torture. The millions of women, men, and (mostly) children fleeing Syria and other conflict zones are escaping violence, not spreading it. We have a moral responsibility to help people in need, not vilify them for political points. Data also show that we ultimately benefit from refugee resettlement, as newcomers adopt American values and jump into our workforce. Immigration is a complicated issue, and people can respectfully have different opinions. Greg Gianforte's inaccurate rhetoric and his ignorance of the facts of refugee resettlement suggest yet again that he is just not qualified for the job of governor. Dave Chadwick Helena Items are listed under the day of the event only, running as space permits prior to the event. To submit items, call 745-3511, email jcutsforth@capitalnewspapers.com or visit www.portagedailyregister.com . Include name and phone number. TODAY Auditions: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Christmas Gift written and directed by Dr. Tom McEvilly, Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Prepare a short song. Callbacks will be scheduled on an as-needed basis. Auditions are open to youth actors ages 10 to 16; limited adult roles may also be available. Cast size can range from 10 to 20 characters. Casting, especially lead and supporting roles, will be based on auditions and availability to rehearse starting in October. For more information, call 608-742-5655, email portagecenterforthearts@frontier.com or visit www.portagecenterforthearts.com . Clinic: 8 a.m. to noon, Columbia County Public Health Walk-In Clinic, Columbia County Health Department, 2652 Murphy Road, Portage. Use door 4. Bring childs immunization record. Visit www.co.columbia.wi.us for more information. Biking: 6 p.m. Portage Pedalers Monday night ride, meet at Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Wear a helmet and bikers under 18 must ride with a parent. Library event: 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. Curiosity Day Curious George party, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Open to children in pre-kindergarten programs (including preschool, home school and Head Start) through second grade only (please, no younger or older siblings). Games, activities and crafts that feature Curious George the monkey, and the man in the yellow hat. Registration is not required. For more information, call 742-4959, ext. 211 or check the Portage Public Library: Childrens Department Facebook page. Seniors Bowling Social: 2 p.m. Fireball Lanes, 817 E. Wisconsin St., Portage. Cost is $6 and includes three games of bowling and shoe rental. TUESDAY, SEPT. 20 Library event: 10 a.m. Preschool Story Time, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Open to children ages 3 to 5. Story time feature books, rhymes, songs and activities (siblings are welcomed). A parent or guardian must stay with the preschooler during story time and registration is recommended. Registration can be done in person at the library, by calling 742-4959, ext. 211 or visiting www.portagelibrary.us. Prayer time: 8 to 8:30 a.m. First Presbyterian Church, 105 S. Main St., Pardeeville. The church will be open for quiet, personal time for reflection, thought and prayer. There is no planned service or leader. For more information, call 608-429-2646. Portage Family Skate Park public meeting: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Gerstenkorn Administration Building, 305 E. Slifer St., Portage. All interested people are welcome to attend. If the Portage Schools are closed or released early the PFSP meeting will be canceled and announced on our Facebook page with a new meeting location as soon as possible. Zumba Toning: 4:30 p.m. Woodridge Primary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 Bingo: 5:30 p.m. 131 Restaurant, North Main Street, Pardeeville. Bingo will be played every Wednesday, except the first one of the month. Clinic: 8 a.m. to noon, Columbia County Public Health Walk-In Clinic, Columbia County Health Department, 2652 Murphy Road, Portage. Use door 4. Bring childs immunization record. Visit Cooking class: 6 p.m. free healthy cooking class, Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2100 Highway 33 East, Portage. This class features Luscious Lunches, with samples and recipes. All welcome. Free clinic: 9 a.m. to noon, St. Vincent de Paul free medical clinic, Wilz Drugs lower level, 140 E. Cook St., Portage. No appointments needed. Information needed is name, date of birth and a contact number. A chiropractor is available from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays. A foot clinic is available every week. The clinic can do exams and prescribe medications. Physical therapist available. Discounted medications are available at Wilz and Wal-Mart. Call Bonny Oestreich, RN, at 608-234-0159 for information. Card party: 6:30 p.m. Texas Hold em card tournament, VFW Hall, 215 W. Collins St., Portage. Register at 6 p.m. Entry fee is $20. One hundred percent payout. Open to the public. For information, call the VFW Hall at 742-5350. Library event: 10 a.m. Preschool Story Time, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Open to children ages 3 to 5. Story time feature books, rhymes, songs and activities (siblings are welcomed). A parent or guardian must stay with the preschooler during story time and registration is recommended. Registration can be done in person at the library, by calling 742-4959, ext. 211 or visiting Zumba/Zumba Toning: 5 p.m. Montello. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 Anniversary: 11 a.m. Petro Travel Plaza 30th anniversary, Portage. Ribbon cutting with cake, food and prizes. Bingo: 6:30 p.m. Endeavor Lions Club Bingo, Endeavor-Moundville Fire Department, Endeavor. Blood drive: 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Portage Red Cross blood drive, Portage United Methodist Church, 1804 New Pinery Road, Portage. Download the American Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit www. redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767 to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required. Brown Bag Lunch Series: noon, Brown Bag Lunch Series at Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. The Writers at the Portage will celebrate its 50th anniversary with readings from its recent writing contest, along with a presentation of awards. Cost is $5 at the door. Bring a lunch if desired. Prayer time: 4:30 to 5 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 105 S. Main St., Pardeeville. The church will be open for quiet, personal time for reflection, thought and prayer. There is no planned service or leader. For more information, call 608-429-2646. Clinic: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Marquette County Immunization Clinic, Marquette County Health and Human Services Building, 428 Underwood Ave., Montello. Bring childs immunization record. Museum: 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Museum at the Portage, 804 MacFarlane Road, Portage. Admission is free. Card party: 7 p.m. Open Texas Hold em, Sport Club 22, Pardeeville. For information, call 566-9655. Museum: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Portage World War II Museum, 119 E. Cook St., Portage. Free tours for veterans every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The tours take 2 1/2 hours. For information, call 608-697-3690. Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. West Pleasant Street: Eric A. Scheriger was arrested Sept. 8 on a warrant after he was found walking behind the police department garage during a shift change. Jefferson/East Pleasant streets: Alex John Murray was cited Sept. 9 for first-offense OWI after police stopped his vehicle for defective exhaust and no vehicle registration. Murray was reported to be falling asleep while talking to the officer. He submitted to a blood test and was released to a responsible party. West Howard Street: Andre R. Parker, 37, was arrested Sept. 9 for second-offense possession of THC after police responded to a welfare check. Parker was found to be highly intoxicated and had facial injuries from an apparent fight. Armstrong Street: Jordan A. Denman, 24, Pardeeville, was cited Sept. 9 for operating a vehicle after license suspension, fifth offense, and no insurance. Winnebago Avenue: Rebecca Dennman, 27, Madison, was cited Sept. 10 for operating a vehicle after license suspension, fifth offense. Albert Street: Nicholas R. Thompson, 24, Madison, was cited Sept. 10 for criminal operating a vehicle after license suspension, second offense. Interstate 39: Billy Mateske, 30, Portage, was cited Sept. 10 for sixth-offense operating a vehicle after license suspension. Village Road/Northridge Drive: Eric J. Roeker, 47, Endeavor, was arrested Sept. 10 for third-offense OWI after police stopped his vehicle for a defective brake light. DeWitt/East Pleasant streets: Sterling Jiran, 20, Lodi, was arrested Sept. 10 on a charge of second-offense OWI after police stopped his vehicle for a defective brake light and possible possession of THC, second offense. West Wisconsin/Dunn streets: Maureen K. Doody, 46, Pardeeville, was arrested Sept. 10 on a charge of first-offense OWI after police stopped her vehicle for expired registration. Doody was also cited for open intoxicants behind the drivers seat and was released to a responsible party. Brooks Street: Jasper Gray, 18, Portage, was cited for disorderly conduct Sept. 11 after police responded to an altercation. MacFarlane Road: Joshua Norton, 29, was cited Sept. 12 for operating a vehicle after license suspension, second offense, and no insurance. Northridge Drive/New Pinery Road: Trista Rodriguez, 28, Montello, was cited Sept. 12 for operating a vehicle after license suspension, eighth offense, after police stopped her vehicle for failing to stop at a stop sign. New Pinery Road: Donald Yeadon, 19, Portage, was arrested Wednesday 14 on a charge of retail theft of less than $500 and misdemeanor bail jumping. Yeadon is accused of stealing headphones from Wal-Mart. BILLINGS -- Every aspect of Ernest Hemingways colorful life has been scrutinized and analyzed since his suicide in 1961, yet Billings natives Robert K. Elder and Aaron Vetch, discovered a trove of unexamined objects including a poem to a lost love when they visited his archives in Oak Park, Illinois. Three years ago, Elder made the pitch to Vetch to collaborate on a book focused on the Hemingway archives, an intimate look into the hundreds of objects the famous author left behind. The result is the 230-page book Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park, published last month by Kent State University Press. The two have been friends since meeting in French class at Lewis and Clark Middle School. "It's nice to work with your best friend," Elder said. "I've been his best man twice, and he's the godfather of one of my twins." Elder, a newspaperman and author of six previous books, lives in Oak Park, where Hemingway grew up. At one time, Elder was editor-in-chief of Oak Leaves, a newspaper that Hemingway delivered as a boy. And one final coincidence is that Elder was born at St. Vincent Healthcare where Hemingway was treated for a broken arm. More into Vonnegut Yet Elder never appreciated Hemingways work until he started this project. The more he looked into Hemingways life, the more Elder gained respect for his work ethic and interest in his short stories. I was more into Kurt Vonnegut, John Steinbeck and Harlan Ellison. This was a project born out of civic pride. But you do the work, and in the process you become a fan, Elder said. Vetch, who lives in Seattle, has worked as a copy editor for some of Elders previous books. He, too, gained an appreciation for Hemingway through the project. He first read Hemingway's short story "Indian Camp" in Mrs. Smith's English class at Senior High. The story is a stark reflection on death that, taken in the context of Hemingway's life with his father, Ed, committing suicide and two of his siblings, becomes even sadder, Vetch said. Visiting the four archives located in Oak Park, Elder and Vetch discovered a love poem Hemingway wrote as a teenager with the lines, I would gladly walk thru hell with you/or give my life. Elder tracked down the family of Annette DeVoe, the poems intended recipient, and the family confirmed that Hemingway had a crush on Annette. This changed Hemingways biography because it has always been written that Hemingway's first love was Agnes von Kurowsky, the nurse who treated him in Italy during World War I. Catherine Barkley from A Farewell to Arms is based on von Kurowsky. Even his classmates said he was more interested in hunting and fishing," Elder said. "But we found out that Annette was this woman who had this clandestine relationship with Hemingway." Lost love Elder said there was evidence that the infatuation was a bit one-sided, and DeVoes family quoted Annette as saying Hemingway was a kook. Von Kurowskys break-up letter is also included in the book. A previously unpublished photo of Hemingway wearing a World War I uniform and pointing a pistol toward the camera reveals Hemingway's fibs to make himself more heroic. Although Hemingway was an ambulance driver in World War I, he liked to embellish his stories by implying he was a soldier. Hemingway was badly wounded in the war by a mortar round while delivering chocolates and cigarettes to the troops, and his leg had hundreds of holes in it. Vetch said he was struck by the fact that Hemingway felt compelled to stretch the truth about his service in the war. It was a big enough deal that he was so badly wounded serving the troops, but Hemingway wanted to pass himself off a war hero. He was just a kid, a teenager, when he was wounded. I dont agree with him on so many things, but I look up to Hemingway. He never stopped working, Vetch said. Many of the photographs of Hemingway show him looking macho, posing with a gun, a fish or a dead animal, but Vetch was drawn to a photograph of Hemingway hamming with his friend, Morris Musselman, in 1916 when they were teens. This picture shows Hemingway unguarded, Vetch said. It reminded me of some of the road trips Rob and I would take. I remember breaking down on the side of the road on our way to Yellowtail Dam and staging scenes in the middle of the road to pass the time. The archives also revealed a sad beginning to Hemingways life when his mother, Grace, used to dress Hemingway as a girl to pretend that he and his older sister Marcelline, were twins. She held Marcelline back from kindergarten so the two could start school together to further her attempt to pass them off as twins. 'Twinning' One photo from 1901 shows the siblings dressed in frilly dresses with fancy hats and holding flowers. It was found in a family scrapbook with the caption, Two summer girls with their peonies. Grace was still trying to pass the siblings off as twins when they were second-graders. One particularly sad photo in the book shows Marcelline wearing a baby bonnet sitting beside Hemingway, who is wearing boys clothes. The photo depicts Marcellines punishment for having a friend cut her hair short to stop Graces twinning. Grace made Marcelline wear the baby bonnet to school for two weeks before a teacher intervened. Elder described Hemingway as a packrat because he kept every piece of paper that touched his hand. That made the digging all the more complicated. What we tried to do is tell his life story through objects, Elder said. If there was something that was interesting but didnt help tell the story, we left it out. Kent State University Press agreed to publish the book, but wanted the authors to work with Hemingway scholar Mark Cirino. Cirino is associate professor of English at the University of Evansville. Vetch said Cirinos expertise and guidance on the project were invaluable. Elder is the director of digital product development and strategy at Crain Communications , and Vetch is a copy editor and writer who worked with Elder on Last Words of the Executed and The Best Film Youve Never Seen. HFF, Inc. provides commercial real estate and capital market services to the consumers and providers of capital in the commercial real estate industry in the United States. The company offers debt placement services, such as construction and construction/mini-permanent loans, adjustable and fixed rate mortgages, bridge loans, entity level and mezzanine debts, forward delivery loans, and tax exempt and sale/leaseback financing to the owners of various properties comprising office, retail, industrial, hotel, multi-housing, student housing, self-storage, nursing homes, condominiums and condominium conversions, mixed-use properties, and land, as well as senior, independent, and assisted living facilities. It also provides investment advisory services to commercial real estate owners; and equity placement, as well as assists clients in the sale of their commercial real estate debt note portfolios. In addition, the company offers private equity, investment banking, and advisory services, including equity capital to establish joint ventures relating to identified properties or properties to be acquired by a fund sponsor; structured finance; institutional marketing and fund-raising services for public and private commercial real estate fund sponsors; advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, sales and divestitures, management buyouts, and recapitalizations and restructurings; and private placements of preferred securities. Further, it provides loan sales and commercial loan servicing to life insurance companies. The company was founded in 1982 and is based in Dallas, Texas. The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V.. Read More Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. no longer investing. It is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in expansion financings, growth capital, management buyouts, recapitalizations, industry consolidations, corporate spinouts, growth stage, and early stage financings. It initially invests in a Series A-C round and opportunistically in a seed round. The firm prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology, financial services, and healthcare sector. Within the technology sector, it invests in software as a service, adtech / digital media, Internet of Everything, enhanced security, predictive analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, enterprise software, technology enabled services, internet/new media, financial technology, cloud, mobile, social, big data, in memory, and selected business services with capital requirements of up to $25 million. Within healthcare sector, the firm invests in molecular and point-of-care diagnostics, medical devices, regenerative medicine, medical technology, digital health, healthcare technology, specialty pharmaceuticals, and selected healthcare services. It invests throughout the United States with a focus on Mid-Atlantic region, and Southeastern Canada. The firm primarily invests between $5 million and $25 million in growth equity financing and between $5 million and $10 million in early-stage financing. It typically invests in the capital structures including owner financed and bootstrapped companies, corporate division or business unit, and venture capital-backed seeking a growth partner. The firm prefers to be the largest shareholder in its portfolio companies, with ownership in the range of 20 percent to 50 percent. However, it may occasionally take a majority or smaller stake in its portfolio companies. It prefers to invest in companies having proprietary technology and intellectual property. The firm prefers to take a Board seat in its portfolio companies. The company was founded in 1953 as Lancaster Corporation and changed its name to Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. in 1981. Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania with additional office in Weston, Massachusetts. Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, a technology company, focuses in the areas of automation and digitalization in Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. It operates through Digital Industries, Smart Infrastructure, Mobility, Siemens Healthineers, and Siemens Financial Services segments. The Digital Industries segment offers automation systems and software for factories, numerical control systems, motors, drives and inverters, and integrated automation systems for machine tools and production machines; process control systems, machine-to-machine communication products, sensors and radio frequency identification systems; software for production and product lifecycle management, and simulation and testing of mechatronic systems; and cloud-based industrial Internet of Things operating systems. The Smart Infrastructure segment offers products, systems, solutions, services, and software to support sustainable transition in energy generation from fossil and renewable sources; sustainable buildings and communities; and buildings, electrification, and electrical products. The Mobility segment provides passenger and freight transportation, such as vehicles, trams and light rail, and commuter trains, as well as trains and passenger coaches; locomotives for freight or passenger transport and solutions for automated transportation; products and solutions for rail automation; electrification products; and intermodal solutions. The Siemens Healthineers segment develops, manufactures, and sells various diagnostic and therapeutic products and services; and provides clinical consulting services. The Siemens Financial Services segment offers debt and equity investments; leasing, lending, and working capital financing solutions; and equipment, project, and structured financing solutions. Siemens Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Everest Re Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Bermuda, and internationally. The company operates through Reinsurance Operations and Insurance Operations segments. The Reinsurance Operations segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Insurance Operations segment writes property and casualty insurance directly, as well as through brokers, surplus lines brokers, and general agents in Bermuda, Canada, Europe, South America, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The company also provides treaty and facultative reinsurance products; admitted and non-admitted insurance products; and property and casualty reinsurance and insurance coverages, including marine, aviation, surety, errors and omissions liability, directors' and officers' liability, medical malpractice, mortgage reinsurance, other specialty lines, accident and health, and workers' compensation products. In addition, it offers commercial property and casualty insurance products through wholesale and retail brokers, surplus lines brokers, and program administrators. Everest Re Group, Ltd. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Standex International Corporation, together with subsidiaries, manufactures and sells various products and services for commercial and industrial markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through five segments: Electronics, Engraving, Scientific, Engineering Technologies, and Specialty Solutions. The Electronics segment offers reed relays, fluid level, proximity, motion, flow, HVAC condensate, and custom electronics sensors; and current sense and advanced planar transformer technologies, value added assemblies, and mechanical packaging, as well as custom wound transformers and inductors for low and high frequency applications. The Engraving segment provides mold texturizing, slush molding tools, roll engraving, hygiene product tooling, and low observation vents, as well as project management and design services for stealth aircraft; and process machinery for various industries. The Scientific segment offers temperature controlled equipment for the medical, scientific, pharmaceutical, biotech, and industrial markets. The Engineering Technologies segment offers net and near net formed single-source customized solutions that are used in the manufacture of engineered components for the aviation, aerospace, defense, energy, industrial, medical, marine, oil and gas, and manned and unmanned space markets. The Specialty Solutions segment manufactures and sells refrigerated, heated and dry merchandizing display cases, custom fluid pump solutions, single and double acting telescopic, and piston rod hydraulic cylinders. Standex International Corporation was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Salem, New Hampshire. Warren heads to Europe with Fulbright Fellowship to create tools for peace Fulbright Fellowship As 2016-17 Fulbright-Schuman Chair at the European University Institute, Professor Christie Warren will conduct research that helps peacebuilding efforts around the world. Courtesy Photo Photo - of - Hide Caption Christie Warrens expertise in comparative and international law has taken her to more than 50 developing and post-conflict countries over the past two decades. Beginning this September, it will take her to Florence, Italy, where she will serve as the 2016-17 Fulbright-Schuman Chair at the European University Institute. Warren is Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and Founding Director of the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at William & Mary Law School. Were delighted that Professor Warren has been honored with this Fulbright Fellowship, said Davison M. Douglas, dean and Arthur B. Hanson Professor of Law at William & Mary Law School. Her work in the field of post-conflict reconstruction has contributed greatly to peacebuilding efforts around the world, and the expertise she will bring back to the classroom will be of great benefit to our students. The Fulbright-Schuman program, jointly sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission, supports research and teaching in the fields of European Union policy and US-EU relations. Over the course of the next year, Warren will research improved US-EU collaborations during post-conflict constitutional processes, advocating a problem-solving approach to constitution building that transcends limitations in specific legal systems and better addresses root causes of conflict. Constitutional advisors lack of familiarity with other legal systems, coupled with turf battles, too often get in the way of providing sound legal advice that would more successfully benefit the countries in which we work, Warren stated. Rigorous comparative strategies during post-conflict constitutional processes are much more successful in addressing root causes of conflict than advice based on parochial preferences for one legal system over another. There is a great need for concrete, practical information that is useable in countries recovering from conflict, and I am interested in conducting research that results in ideas that can be applied in the field and do not solely exist in articles and books. The European University Institute, housed in 14 historic buildings spread over the Tuscan hillside overlooking Florence, was established 40 years ago by the six founding members of the then European Communities. Since then, it has earned a reputation as a leading international academic research institution. The Institutes Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, where the Fulbright-Schuman Fellowship is located, focuses on interdisciplinary, comparative and policy research. EUIs interdisciplinary comparative approach is a natural fit for Warren. Among her areas of expertise are comparative law, comparative constitutional systems, public international law, post-conflict justice, international human rights law, civil code systems and Islamic law. She is also a graduate of the Harvard Mediation Program. Warren has designed, implemented, and evaluated constitutional, judicial, legal, and academic programs throughout Africa, Central and East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Newly Independent States, the Balkans and East Timor. She was named a 1998-99 Supreme Court fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States and served as the 2010-11 senior expert in constitutional issues on the United Nations Department of Political Affairs Mediation Support Unit Standby Team. She has also served as senior technical advisor to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistances Constitution Building Processes Program at the Hague and has advised on constitutional issues and processes in Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Somalia, Sudan and Ukraine and served as a legal advisor to the Darfur Peace Talks. Last spring, she chaired the academic accreditation committee assessing the first law school in Saudi Arabia considered for full accreditation. Over the course of her fellowship, Warren plans to engage with the Venice Commission, the European Court of Justice, the University of Helsinki Conflict Management Institute and the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. She expects that these relationships will benefit her students in the classroom and strengthen collaborative relationships between the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and European institutions. This fellowship is a tremendous honor, Warren said. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of conflict in our world, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to delve deeply into studying root causes of conflict and ways that constitutional and legal frameworks can help solve them. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page by Elizabeth C. Goldsmith (Regular Contributor) Two hundred years ago, in July 1816, a French Navy frigate named La Meduse was wrecked off the coast of Mauritania. On board were passengers headed for Africa for an array of reasons soldiers in the colonial army on a mission to reconquer Senegal, settlers, scientists, adventurers. Its captain was an inexperienced naval officer who had been appointed to the post as a political favor. His poor judgment resulted in the ships foundering on a sandbar. It was the age of shipwrecks. But this one became notorious almost immediately. It was a political scandal for the newly restored French monarchy because of the inexperienced captain and his crew. Survivors recounted chaos on board, undisciplined evacuation, sailors boarding the lifeboats and leaving passengers behind. But the worst part of the story was the tale of the hastily built wooden raft that was put into the water with 146 men and one woman on board, It was initially towed by one of the smaller boats, but then cut adrift when the job became too difficult for the oarsmen. On the raft, there followed savage episodes of mutiny, murder, and cannibalism. After two weeks, what remained of the raft was plucked out of the water by a passing ship. There were 15 survivors on board. For the French, the events of the Medusa shipwreck became emblematic of a disintegration of the values of discipline, honor, and simple humanity in a culture already crushed by the Napoleonic wars. The painter Theodore Gericault produced an enormous painting of the raft. To those who viewed it as it was shown in Paris and London, the monumental work seemed to symbolize a battered humanity, reaching desperately for a distant hope represented by the tiny ship on the horizon. Gericault was not interested in producing a realistic representation of the disaster, but he was obsessed by the event and the published narrative that had been written by two survivors, Alexandre Correard and Henri Savigny. He closed himself up in his studio for months and made numerous studies of human bodies thrown together, using live models but also cadavers and body parts that he acquired from the morgue. He interviewed Correard and Savigny. The resulting painting had a huge impact and was immediately controversial. Some considered it almost treasonously humiliating as a representation of the French. Every one of the passengers who had the misfortune of being put on the raft had a story. But the one story that may have been the most painful emblem of the breakdown of French civilization was one that remained anonymous. It was the story of the lone woman on the raft. Her history, if not her name, had been told by Correard and Savigny, but somehow it remained an unspoken detail in the public discussions of the disaster. A detail perhaps almost too horrible to be repeated. To this day, it is a detail that has been forgotten. She was not to be one of the survivors. But she fought for her life. She was traveling with her husband, and had served 20 years with the French armies as a cantiniere, a woman who carried supplies and prepared food for the soldiers. We can assume she was physically strong. She was reported to have argued for her own survival on the basis of her strength and potential usefulness in support of her fellow passengers. But she was thrown off the raft along with others deemed too weak to last not once, not twice, but three times over a 12-day period. The last time, she had fractured her leg when it was caught between two boards. We know that Gericault thought about depicting a female figure on his raft, if only, possibly, a dead one. He included studies of female bodies in his preliminary sketches. And he knew the story, having read and interviewed Correard and Savigny. To me, one of his preliminary versions of the painting is very suggestive of the story of the doomed cantiniere and her husband. It shows a man collapsed in the center of the raft grasping a long piece of fabric that trails off into the water. In the final version of the painting, this fabric has become a transparent covering of a body whose head is below the surface of the water, hidden from view. Could this body be female? It looks muscular, but also somehow feminine at least one art critic (Michael Glover) has commented that he thinks it is a woman. The body is trapped, half on, half off the raft by one leg , caught between two boards. Look closely. What do you think? Did Gericault want to suggest the story of the unfortunate cantiniere? Westinghouse balances new and existing fleet needs 19 September 2016 Share Two Westinghouse AP1000s are likely to start up within a year, with hot functional tests at the first-of-a-kind reactor at Sanmen in China on course to finish next month, interim president and CEO Jose Emeterio Gutierrez told delegates at the World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium held in London last week. Fuel loading at Sanmen is expected to take place before the end of the year. Jose Emeterio Gutierrez (L) at the Annual Symposium (Image: World Nuclear Association) Hot functional testing is also under way at the second AP1000, Haiyang 1, and is making faster progress thanks to the experience and lessons learned at Sanmen 1. Two units are under construction at each site. "Hopefully, very soon we will have four AP1000s connected to the grid in China," Gutierrez said. Lessons learned from the Chinese AP1000 projects are also being applied to the AP1000s under construction in the USA. These units, at VC Summer and Vogtle, are about two years behind the Chinese plants, Gutierrez said. Summer 2 passed a major milestone recently with the installation of its reactor pressure vessel, and Gutierrez said a similar milestone would be reached at Vogtle 3 "within weeks". Westinghouse is "very optimistic", he said, about the prospect of AP1000 construction in India: "There is strong commitment from the government of India, specifically from Prime Minister Modi, to grow nuclear in India." He cited Modi's public statement, made during a visit to Washington DC earlier this year, that he was "minded to support" Westinghouse's project. Working with Indian partners, this would see construction of six AP1000s with a commitment to having an EPC contract in place by June 2017. A site has already been allocated, and negotiations are ongoing with customers and partners in India, Gutierrez said. "Hopefully by this time next year, we will be talking about a real project, and a project under construction," he said. Westinghouse's global reach has enabled it to transfer and share both resources and experience between its projects in China, the USA, India and the UK, he said. The AP1000 design is approaching the end of the UK regulatory generic design assessment (GDA) process, which it is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2017. SMR excitement As well as the AP1000 - which NuGen plans to build at Moorside in West Cumbria - Westinghouse has also proposed its small modular reactor (SMR) for use in the UK. The UK government earlier this year announced a competition to identify the best value SMR for possible future deployment in the country. Completion of the AP1000 GDA would be a "very important milestone" and Westinghouse is "very excited" about its SMR, Gutierrez said. The Westinghouse SMR would benefit from the company's experience of licensing a reactor in the UK, he added. It incorporates many of the passive safety features from the AP1000 which have already been licensed, and the reactor is therefore not entirely a first-of-a-kind design using new technology, he said. He also noted that Westinghouse has a large footprint in the UK, with fuel production facilities at Springfields that have already been qualified to manufacture SMR fuel, and an established supply chain. These and other considerations make development and deployment of SMR technology in the UK a "real opportunity" in the short term, he said. While working with customers to maximise localisation in their nuclear supply chain, Westinghouse's global reach and flexibility could further leverage opportunities for increased efficiencies, Gutierrez said. This could be achieved by combining resources and bringing in global experience and ready-qualified suppliers, where appropriate. Existing fleet While new build was "wonderful," Guiterrez said Westinghouse remained focused on providing support and services to keep the world's existing nuclear fleet in operation. "We cannot forget that we have more than 400 reactors in operation today [] Those reactors must continue operating safely and economically," he said. He confirmed that Westinghouse is looking to invest in technologies and "new ideas" in the decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) area. "Unfortunately, the D&D business is growing," he said, referencing recent nuclear power plant closures. He said it was "important to recognise" that the nuclear industry is expected to restore and clean its retired facilities and sites, to protect the environment and to "take care" of all of its waste. "There are technologies, there are solutions, and Westinghouse is working on them," he said. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics UK new nuclear developers pay tribute to EDF 19 September 2016 Share The UK government's approval of EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C project has "blazed the trail" for other nuclear new build developers at home and abroad, delegates at the World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium heard last week. EDF Energys de Rivaz (Image: World Nuclear Association) The French company plans to build two EPR reactors at the site in Somerset, with China General Nuclear (CGN) owning a 33.5% stake in the project. The two companies also plan to develop projects to build new plants at Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex, the latter using Chinese reactor technology. Referring to the UK government's decision last week, Vincent de Rivaz, EDF Energy CEO, told the Symposium in London: "It is truly an historic moment. It marks the relaunch of nuclear in Europe and it will transform the prospects for our industry. It is excellent news for British consumers. Just as it is for British and French industry. And by reconfirming the role of nuclear in the battle against climate change, it has global implications." Political risk EDF Energy and its Chinese partner "understood" why the new government under Prime Minister Theresa May "took the time to review the project", de Rivaz said, even though the Hinkley project had received a long-awaited and positive final investment decision (FID) from the EDF board on 28 July. He told the Symposium: "This process has strengthened UK industrial strategy and governance. These elements are good for this industry. They provide stability and clarity, which is precisely what investors need. We should all welcome the new legal framework for British critical infrastructure. It is entirely consistent with our views and it will benefit the projects under our partnership with CGN, as set out in the Strategic Investment Agreement signed last year in October 2015, including Sizewell C and Bradwell B." NuGens Samson (Image: World Nuclear Association) Unlike state-owned EDF Energy and CGN, the other UK new nuclear developers - Horizon Nuclear Power and NuGeneration - are private investor vehicles. But approval of Hinkley provides the confidence in the UK market that potential investors need, their chief executives said. Duncan Hawthorne, CEO of Horizon Nuclear Power, which plans to deploy the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) at two sites - Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury-on-Severn - said: "If you're in the nuclear business, you're in a political business, so getting a positive decision means that the policy and support for nuclear is still there, which is good. And obviously Hinkley, to be fair, they have blazed the trail on this. The government had an idea of new build, but it really only comes to fruition when you negotiate conditions and EDF had to take the blows for a lot of us that are coming in behind them." Established in 2009 and acquired by Hitachi in November 2012, Horizon aims to provide at least 5.4 GWe of new capacity, expecting the first unit at Wylfa Newydd, on the Isle of Anglesey, to be operating in the first half of the 2020s. On the potential impact of the UK's referendum vote in June to leave the European Union, Hawthorne said free trade deals, foreign exchange rates and import tariffs "will be factored in" to new build projects "but not right now". He added: "These plants are a 60-year proposition, so you have to be able to withstand lots of twists and turns. Ultimately, if you've built a good project and you've got a good contract, you should be able to withstand those things." Tom Samson, NuGen CEO, referred to the importance of the Contract-for-Difference (CfD) mechanism the government under the previous prime minister, David Cameron, had already agreed for Hinkley, as well as of the new government's decision that Hinkley would not be permitted to change ownership without its agreement. May's government has left unchanged the CfD strike price of 92.50 per megawatt hour. Samson said: "Discussion of the golden share for the UK government stake in these projects going forward - this is welcome. It further improves our 'financability' chances [and is] a natural evolution." NuGen, the UK joint venture between Japan's Toshiba and France's Engie, plans to build a nuclear power plant of up to 3.8 GWe gross capacity at Moorside, in West Cumbria, using AP1000 nuclear reactor technology provided by Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba. Record to build on Hawthorne, who was executive director of British Energy prior to joining AmerGen in the USA and then Bruce Power in Canada, as their respective CEOs, applauded EDF Energy's record with the UK's existing advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) fleet. Horizons Hawthorne (Image: World Nuclear Association) He said: "It was 1996 when I left the UK and at that time it became obvious that we had to replace the existing nuclear plants, but we couldn't get a [government] decision taken then, so I thought I was leaving for three years and then I'd be back and it ended up being 20 years. There's still that very obvious gap to be filled and I have to say that we are all very fortunate that EDF has managed to extend the life of the existing fleet because I can tell you that, when I left, I thought all of the existing AGRs would be gone by 2012, so it's to their great credit that they've created this opportunity for us to respond." As well as the government's go-ahead for Hinkley, de Rivaz was also able to announce the world record - 940 days of continuous operation that has been achieved at EDF Energy's Heysham 2 AGR. He said this is "just one example of the outstanding performance" of EDF Energy's 15 nuclear reactors in the UK. "Since the acquisition of the UK fleet in 2009 we have increased safety performance by 51%. We have increased output by 50% - a personal best we plan to beat in 2016. And we have safely extended the lives of our AGRs by 25% - eight years on average. The majority of our existing nuclear capacity will now still be operating in 2025 as Hinkley Point C comes online." The two EPRs that EDF Energy and its Chinese partner will build at Hinkley Point C will be the fifth and sixth EPRs in the world. De Rivaz said they "already integrate all the lessons learnt" from its EPR projects under construction at Flamanville, in France, and Taishan, in China. Flamanville "is now on track" and Taishan "is a success". The testing program for the Taishan EPR is "running smoothly", he added, with cold testing complete and preparations for hot testing underway. Four Chinese AP1000s are scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2017. Sanmen unit 1 is expected to be the first AP1000 to begin operating, followed by Haiyang 1. And four AP1000 reactors are being built in the USA - two each at Vogtle and Summer. The ABWR design was developed jointly by GE, Hitachi and Toshiba, prior to the merger of GE and Hitachi, and is derived from GE's BWR concept. Four units - Kashiwazaki Kariwa units 6 and 7, Hamaoka 5 and Shika 2 - have been built and operated commercially in Japan. ABWRs are now offered in slightly different versions by GE-Hitachi, Hitachi-GE and Toshiba. Funding strategy The CfD element of new energy projects in the UK helps to provide a "level playing field" for nuclear, is aimed at "correcting the broken markets that exist" and its 35-year tenure "provides for stability" amid market volatility, Samson said. The strategy of deploying the AP1000 in the UK and Toshiba's majority stake in NuGen is a "bold move" and reflects the Japanese company's confidence in the UK market as a place to invest, he said. NuGen is exploring "multiple options" on funding, which include export credit based lending "that can help provide a low cost of capital to allow these projects to go forward", he said. "We're definitely looking to add to that portfolio of investors and lenders and other equity providers in due course." Samson joined NuGen from Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation based in Abu Dhabi where, as chief operating officer, he helped develop the company delivering new nuclear units at Barakah, which will supply up to 25% of the Emirate's electricity by 2020. To attract investors, new build developers need to demonstrate that projects will be delivered on time and to budget, Hawthorne said. Other parts of the funding equation include regulatory assessment of a reactor design. UK regulators said in July they expect to complete the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process for the Westinghouse AP1000 and Hitachi-GE's UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) in March and December of 2017, respectively. Completing the GDA process is "a kind of kitemark that you can take to other parts of the world because it is a good regulatory regime", Hawthorne said. Horizon expects to have all the required licences and permissions in place for the Wylfa Newydd project by 2018. National and local The three CEOs stressed the importance of their projects to the UK supply chain as well as to the specific regions where their projects are based. De Rivaz said: "We have worked with people and organisations across the South West for years to ensure they benefit, whether in terms of the local community, skills, education, jobs, the supply chain and the regional economy as a whole. We are on track to create 1000 apprenticeships during construction. We have awarded South West contracts with combined contract values of more than 435 million, creating 650 jobs. "More than 2000 companies across the UK have registered an interest in supplying the project alongside the Somerset companies who have registered. They are now part of the nuclear supply chain and are winning contracts. Like Express Reinforcements from Swansea, preferred bidder to supply 200,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel. That's 25 times more steel than was used in London's Olympic stadium. Or Harris Pye from Cowbridge, winning a contract for steel tanks - their first nuclear contract for many years. The success of companies like this is the key objective for us. And today I can reconfirm that we expect 64% of the construction spend to go to UK companies." Even though Hinkley Point C will be the first nuclear power plant to be built in the UK for a generation, Hawthorne said he is confident about the country's ability to provide the skilled workforce required for all future new build projects. "I have no doubt that the supply chain will respond," he said. "People originally thought we would struggle to find the quality of stainless steel welders in the UK and I say: 'Well, have you seen the oil and gas industry, which is where those skills sets are?' If the oil and gas industry was in boom times and we were also doing our projects, well, that's not the case here. People will move where the work is." The 10,000 workers that are expected to be needed during peak construction at Wylfa Newydd "is a figure that has been bandied around, but it depends," he said. "We might decide to build our reactors in component form and move them to the area, so there are lots of ways to do it as part of the plan that were looking at now." With the Moorside site located near Sellafield - home to the UK's long-standing nuclear industry - NuGen will be able to draw on a skilled workforce "along the North West corridor", Samson said. NuGen plans to make a site licence application for Moorside "in the coming months", he added. Similarly, the local community at Wylfa Newydd is mostly pre-disposed to nuclear power because it has experience of it already, Hawthorne said. Wylfa unit 1 - the world's last operating Magnox reactor - closed in December last year. The two units at Wylfa were both scheduled to shut down at the end of 2012, but Magnox Ltd - which manages and operates the plant on behalf of its owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - decided to shut down unit 2 in April 2012 so that unit 1 could continue operating in order to fully utilize existing stocks of fuel, which is no longer being manufactured. Having led Canada's Bruce Power since its creation 15 years before, Hawthorne said he was familiar with establishing good relations with "first nation groups". Horizon is in the middle of the second stage of its public consultation at Wylfa Newydd. "In my view there is nothing more important than the social licence. We're going to play a very active role in the community for decades to come, so it's entirely appropriate that you focus on the community you're going to impact most. You're going to build a big industrial facility generally in a rural community, so you're going to have a very impactful social, environmental and economic thing. If you look at the Welsh context, of course Angelsey are concerned about maintaining language and culture, but coming from Canada, I can tell you that first nation groups feel exactly the same, so there's nothing new to me in that," he said. "The thing that people want here is that you're going to create economic opportunities in the community and be thoughtful to their environment and culture. I don't think people are really that concerned about nuclear safety because Wylfa has had a plant for a long time there and people have understood the high regulatory standards. It's more about bringing thousands of people into a community that is native Welsh speaking, and we have to be very mindful of that." Legacy Samson also noted the importance of respecting the natural environment - Moorside is on the edge of the Lake District, a national park that attracts thousands of tourists from the UK and overseas every year. "With a project of this scale and with the lasting benefits it brings from climate change and security of supply perspectives, the quantum of the investment and the opportunity to create jobs is huge," he said. "But we've got to look beyond that and think how we can impact society and communities [] in a way that's sensitive to a beautiful area." Noting the architectural status of Battersea Power Station in London, Samson said, "It's incumbent on us to create something iconic". Hawthorne, who had announced his retirement in March, prior to taking his new role with Horizon, said he felt a debt to the UK's nuclear engineering forebears for the 45-year long career he has enjoyed. Stressing the importance of their legacy in creating an industry that has for decades provided reliable and low-carbon electricity, he said: "We owe it to them to keep that market share and to deliver that same future, whether or not we get full recognition for it. We're not going to get unanimous consent; that's never happened. But we can all sleep at night knowing that we made a difference. So when I finish it will be on the basis of the fact this industry will outlive me and my grandchildren. That's what success looks like." Written and researched by World Nuclear News Related topics The US is divided into 50 states which are further divided into several counties. The term county is used to refer to the geographical and political subdivision of the state with governmental authorities. Texas has the highest number of counties (254) while Delaware has the least number (3). Counties also play economic roles in the country and are headquarters to some of the biggest companies in the world. The counties can be ranked according to their population size, land area, the size of GDP, and the household income. Some of the richest counties in the US include; The Five Richest Counties In The US Loudoun County Loudoun County is located in the Commonwealth Virginia with a population of 375,000 people. The countys seat of Loudoun is in the Leesburg where the majority of the administration activities take place. Loudoun County is the wealthiest county in the US with as estimated household median income of $117,876. The county has a full-fledged service economy and is headquarters to some of the Internet-related and high-tech companies. Loudoun Countys economy has also benefited from Washington Dulles International Airport, the growing wine industry, and the vast wheat producing estate. The county is the second largest employer in the US. Fairfax County Fairfax County is also located in the Commonwealth Virginia with a population of 1.2 million people. The county seat is in the City of Fairfax and host several intelligence agencies including CIA, NGIA, NRO, NCC, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. With a median household income of $112,436, Fairfax County is the second richest county in the US. The economy of the county revolves around professional service and technology with the majority of the employees working with the government. Fairfax County also has some of the biggest employers including Volkswagen Group of America, SAIC, Northrop Grumman, Capital One, and SRA International. The county also headquarters to seven of the Fortune 500 Companies. The economy is also supported by Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. Howard County Howard County is located in the central part of the US of Maryland with a population of 300,000 people. One of the richest counties in the US, it is popular for its influence, the quality of life and the excellent education with a median household income is $108,844. The development in the county has been promoted by the media and the employment market in the Washington DC. Hunterdon County Hunterdon County is located in the US state of New Jersey and has a population of 125,488 people. The county is noted for having the lowest level of child poverty in the US. Hunterdon County has a median household income of $105,186 with agriculture contributing significantly to the household income. The county is also a major fishing and hunting ground in the New Jersey. The wild game and management areas provide income to the most households. Arlington County Arlington County ranks fifth among the richest counties in the US. It is located in the Commonwealth Virginia with the lowest unemployment rate. The County has a household median of $100,474 with 200,000 estimated jobs. Some of the major employers include the federal government, local government, technical, food, and services. In 2008 the Business Week named Arlington as one of the safest cities to withstand recession. Iran is a country in the Middle East that borders seven countries, including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan. It also borders the Gulf of Oman, the Caspian Sea, and Persian Sea. The country is mainly arid or semi-arid and experiences subtropical climate particularly along the Caspian coast. The country has a mean elevation of 1,035 meters, and the highest point is Kuh-e Damavand with an elevation of 5,670 meters while the lowest point is in the Caspian Sea with an elevation of 28 meters below the sea level. Iran has an area of 1,648,195 square kilometers and is one of the worlds most mountainous countries. The Iranian Plateau covers an extensive area in the country. The Caucasus, Zagros, and Elburz Mountain Ranges house some of the highest mountains in Iran. Damavand Mount Damavand stands at 18,410 feet. The volcanic mountain is in the middle of the Elburz Range. Elburz mountain range runs from west to east of Iran along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The Elburz mountain range provides a natural barrier between the arid plateaus in central Iran and the moist slopes on the Caspian coast. Mount Damavand is integral to Persian mythology. According to a popular legend, a three-head dragon was chained to the mountain to stay there until the end times. The mountain is so significant that it is printed on Iranian 10,000 Rial banknote. Mount Damavand is also believed to have magical powers. The hot springs found on the sides of the mountain indicate volcanic activity beneath the surface. The mountain has a wealth of wildlife that includes wild goats and sheep, bears, and leopards. Multiple bird species are also found on the mountain. Wildflowers such as Mountain Tulips can be found all over Damavand. A group of mountaineers has proposed to have Mount Damavand declared a national heritage site. An ancient festivity known as Tabari Nowruz is set to be named after the Mountain. Alam-Kuh Mount Alam-Kuh is the second highest mountain in Iran at the height of 15.906 feet. It is also part of the Elburz Mountain Range in northern Iran. The northern slopes facing the Caspian Sea are humid and covered with vegetation while the southern slopes facing Iranian desert are dry and barren. The mountain top is covered with snow throughout the year. Sabalan Mount Sabalan is an inactive volcano, also in the Elburz mountain range. It stands at 15,748 feet and is the third highest mountain in Iran. The mountain is endowed with magnificent scenes. The mountain has a lake at the top which is frozen for the most of the year. Mineral springs said to have healing properties run down the mountain slopes. The mountain has a majestic Eagle Statue carved out by nature. The mountain is a famous tourist attraction in Iran. Additionally, it has religious significance for people who practice Zoroastrianism. These people believe that Zoroaster, founder of Zoroastrianism, meditated on Mount Sabalan. Azad-Kuh Mount Azud Kuh is among the highest mountains in Iran, standing at a height of 14,288 feet. Azud Kuh means free mountain in Persian. Iranian natives gave it the name due to its prominent peak that stands alone. The mountain has beautiful vegetation comprising of meadows. Mount Azud Kuh is often visited by mountain climbers due to its unique landscapes. Geopolitical Significance of Iran's Mountains Half of Irans landscape is covered by mountain ranges. The Elburz and Zagros are the two most significant of these mountain ranges. The mountain ranges provide enormous benefits to Iran. The mountains form natural barriers to the central region in Iran. Spring water that runs down the mountains is said to have healing properties. Nomadic communities graze on the mountain slopes. Also, ardent mountain climbers who flock Iran contribute to the countrys ecotourism sector. Iran has protested Afghans limiting flow of water on Helmand River because of the dammed river tributaries, particularly during the dry seasons. A lack of a maritime boundary of Iraq with Iran has created some jurisdiction disputes between the two countries that go beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf. On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates and Iran have been disputing the Abu Musa Island and Tunb Islands. The Caspian Sea has been the center of a dispute between some countries, including Azerbaijan, Russia, and Kazakhstan, who have ratified the Caspian seabed delimitation treaty based on the equidistant proximity of each country, though Iran insists on a one-fifth share of the sea. Kiwi (illustration) By: Chan Yuan A man was arrested on a charge of possessing a knife in a public place after being accused of running on the street while holding two knives, according to police in the United Kingdom. Peterborough police said that they have arrested 40-year-old Piotr Oleksy, after being accused of running into the Park Medical Centre armed with two knives while suffering hallucinations. In court, Oleksy pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a knife in a public place. He was sentenced to a 12 month community order and ordered to perform 60 hours of community service. Oleksy will have to pay 85 pounds ($110) in court costs and an 85 pound victim surcharge. The court was told that Oleksy suffered from hallucinations after overdosing on kiwi and taking a lot of vitamins. Oleksy told investigators that on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 p.m., he took a lot of vitamin C and amino acid supplements as well as a pound of kiwi. After a few minutes, he began hallucinating and believed that people were chasing after him. He grabbed two knives and ran out into the street. Oleksy was disarmed after running into the Park Medical Centre. When police officers arrived at the scene, he told them that people broke into his home, but when they went to Oleksyas apartment, nobody was there. Ambulance (illustration) By: Wayne Morin A man was humiliated when he had to be rushed to a hospital after suffering injuries during drunken sex. The motorist of Austria, was taken to a hospital with a lot of pain after he swerved to avoid a deer while enjoying a sexual act as he was driving. The mans girlfriend was sitting in the passenger seat and was pleasuring him orally as they were driving in Waldviertel. The man said that a deer suddenly came onto the road, forcing the man to swerve and brake quickly. The incident caused the girlfriend to accidentally bite into his private parts. An ambulance rushed to the scene and the couple was taken to a hospital, where the man, who was in agony, underwent a minor operation on his private parts. Surgeons said the man will recover. However, they advised him not to engage in sexual activity while driving. New Co-op Proposed For Rossett While Spar Announces Its Closure This article is old - Published: Monday, Sep 19th, 2016 A former public house in a Wrexham village is to be converted into a Cooperative shop however just around the corner the local Spar has announced its closure. The Butchers Arms on Chester Road Rossett is to be converted into a small convenience store to help reactivate the currently disused site. Back in May Wrexham.com reported that the pub had closed to make way for alternative use. Initially it was thought that the pub would be converted for residential use. Earlier this year the Co-op announced to some media in Cardiff their plans to open a branch in Rossett and other locations in Wales, however it had not been confirmed which exact location they would occupy. Local residents have pointed out the discrepancy in the organisation talking with national media rather than local communities, who they say were notified only in the last few weeks. Owners Langdale Taverns have since confirmed that it has reached an agreement to revitalise the vacant site of the former Butchers Arms, Rossett with the buildings former use as a pub seen as not viable. The proposals would see the Co-op open a small convenience store following a major investment by the sites owners to sensitively refurbish and extend the property. This will be the second Coop in the area to have opened in the past twelve months, with the company recently opening a new store just a few minutes up the road in Marford. A spokesman for the pubs owners, Langdale Taverns, said: It became clear that it was not viable to operate the site as a pub. Working with the Co-op will enable us to invest in refurbishing the building in order to re-activate the site, creating temporary construction jobs and permanent retail jobs for local people we believe that a new Co-op store would become an asset for the community. John Hillman, Regional Acquisition Manager for the Co-op, added: The Co-op is investing to transform and grow its convenience business, and it is moving forward with a clear purpose and momentum. We are looking forward to having the opportunity to serve the Rossett community. This site will support our focus on convenience store retailing that is delivering a compelling, convenient and co-operative shopping experience in local communities. However it has also been announced that the Rossett Spar and Post Office on Station Road is to close after 44 years of trading in the village. A sign in the Spar window reads: It is with great regret and sadness that after 44 years of serving the community the Rowlands family wish to announce the closure of the Spar and Post Office on Station Road, Rossett. It is not a decision the family have taken lightly but after careful consideration we feel that we have to option but to close the business down. Due to economic climate over recent years, changes in the post office policies and increased local competition is has become unviable to remain open. The sign adds: We would like to take this opportunity to THANK all our customers for their loyalty and support over the last 38 years in our current place. We hope to see you over the coming weeks and will continue to serve you to the best of our abilities until October 9th. In a letter leaked to the Financial Times last week, retiring General Sir Richard Barrons makes clear that the British military must prepare for a major war. Writing to Defence Minister Michael Fallon, Barrons delivered a shopping list of military and intelligence hardware, capabilities and personnel necessary to prosecute an extended air, land and sea confrontation against heavily armed state opponents, particularly Russia. Barrons recently retired as head of the Joint Force Command, the unit set up by the British government in 2012 to integrate procurement, planning, international coordination and political intelligence for all three armed forces. His comments undoubtedly reflect the thinking of the top echelons of the British armed forces and are unusually frank in laying out the nature of the conflicts envisioned. His remarks came in the midst of US-led NATO moves towards confrontation with Russia, German rearmament, European Union moves towards a European army, and confusion over the role to be played by Britains large military during and after the UKs departure from the EU. To offset the loss of political influence in the EU caused by Brexit, and to maintain its role as the most reliable bagman and enforcer for US imperialism, the British military intends to take a more leading role in new and terrible crimes. Writing in June this year, Malcolm Chalmers of the military think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, noted that in the event of Brexit, Britain would come under considerable pressure to retain, and perhaps even increase, its commitment to NATO collective defence in Europe. Chalmers continued, The UK might find that the extent of its commitment to European defence would be one of its few bargaining chips as it entered a period of tough negotiations on the terms of its future economic engagement with its EU neighbours. Barrons letter is consistent with this strategic goal. Translated into military hardware, he envisages Britain playing a leading role in a NATO war with Russia that would involve massed tank battles and air warfare, including over Britain itself. To prepare for this, a vast rearmament is necessary. Barrons complains, UK air defence now consists of the ... Type 45 [destroyers], enough ground based air defence to protect roughly Whitehall [the site of government] only, and RAF fast jets. He goes on to say that neither the UK homeland nor a deployed forcelet alone both concurrentlycould be protected from a concerted Russian air effort. As to why a concerted Russian air effort would be directed against Britain, neither Barron nor the FT article, by defence correspondent Sam Jones, makes any mention of the provocative role being played by UK forces as part of NATOs drive to isolate and encircle Russia. Nor do they mention the US and European backing for the 2014 fascist-led coup in Ukraine, which precipitated the Russian governments seizure of the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. In June, the British government announced that a battalion of 500 British soldiers will be deployed to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This is part of NATOs trip wire in the region through which any Russian incursion could trigger full-scale war between NATO and Russia. Between April and August, four British and four Portuguese Typhoon fast jets were based at Amari airbase in Estonia, 160 miles from Russian territory. Over the course of the deployment, the British Typhoons were scrambled 19 times against Russian planes, many of which came from the highly militarised exclave of Kalingrad, base of the Russian Baltic Sea fleet. French and German jets are now on rotation. Kaliningrad, like Russias Tartus Mediterranean base in Syria, and the Crimean peninsula, is strategically crucial to the Russian military and is particularly vulnerable. In the Soviet period, Kaliningrad, located between Poland and Lithuania, was far within Warsaw Pact territory. Now the exclave, with a population of 430,000, is encircled on land and sea by NATO, with only a rail link across Lithuania to Russian soil. Particularly since Lithuania joined NATO, repeated Baltic war games, numerous provocations and scenarios have focused on Kaliningrad and the strategic conundrum it poses for US and European imperialist efforts to roll back and subordinate Russia to their interests. This is the context of Barrons furious complaint regarding the hardware available to the British Army. The current army has grown used to operating from safe bases ... against opponents who do not manoeuvre at scale, have no protected mobility, no air defence, no substantial artillery, no electronic warfare capability norespeciallyan air force or recourse to conventional ballistic or cruise missiles. In other words, the Russian military is a more problematic opponent than the Taliban militias in Afghanistan or the outdated and outnumbered conscript military mobilised in 2003 by Saddam Husseins government in defence of Iraq. The FT article enrolled military pundits to amplify Barrons comments. Ben Barry of the International Institute of Strategic Studies complained that it is not clear at all that the UKs conventional capability is being rebuilt nearly enough. The British Army was outgunned by its Russian rivals, with two or three artillery battalions compared with one British artillery battalion. The article warned that upgraded British Challenger tanks were inferior to the new Russian Armata tank. Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute noted that Britain is buying 48 Lockheed F-35 fighter jets, primarily to be based on its two new aircraft carriers. But, according to Bronk, on a long-term sustainable basis you might be able to deploy six of them ... at a high tempo for a short duration, you might be able to deploy 12. Early warning planes were in equally short supply, according to Bronk, with Britains six AWACS aircraft unable to give you a 24 hour presence ... let alone the ability to field more than one at a time in two or more different theatres. Neither, according to IHS Janes Navy International editor Lee Willett, does the British Navy have enough ships. Having the 4 billion spend on the aircraft carriers, the largest British warships ever built, there are not enough air defence destroyers to protect them. Likewise, despite the billions spent on them, the Type 45 air defence destroyers are unreliable. Making clear that British military objectives should include China, the FT author considered it unlikely the UKs two new aircraft carriers, which cost 2bn each, will ever be sent within 300km of the Chinese coast. Complaining of a lack of pilots and trained personnel, Barrons wrote, It is not necessary to shoot down all the UKs Joint Strike Fighters, only to know how to murder in their beds the 40 or so people who can fly them. Behind the backs of the population, new and unimaginably terrible wars, including within Europe itself, are in advanced levels of preparation. Barrons remarks were picked up and recycled by all the British press. To the extent any comment was made, it was entirely sympathetic. The BBC wheeled out a retired major general, Tim Cross, to insist Barrons was an extremely capable operator and his remarks were speaking truth into power and its a normal thing to be doing. As the presidential candidate of the Socialist Equality Party, I denounce the decision of the US Commission on Presidential Debates to exclude Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein from the first presidential debate scheduled for September 25 at Hofstra University in New York. Regardless of our political differences with the Libertarians and Greens, we unequivocally support the right of their candidates to participate in the debates. All candidates in these elections, including my running-mate Niles Niemuth and I, should be able to debate the critical issues facing the population of the United States. Recent polls show Johnson and Steinwho first had to overcome onerous ballot access laws to get on the ballot in a majority of stateswould receive 8 percent and 4 percent of the national vote, respectively, in a four-way race with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. If the US had a European-style parliamentary system, this would be enough to assure the two parties a significant number of seats. The latest New York Times /CBS News poll showed 36 percent of voters under 30 planned to vote Johnson, Stein or another third-party candidate. A recent USA Today poll, moreover, showed that 76 percent of respondents want third party candidates to be included in national debates. The United States government often postures as the proponent of free and democratic elections when it comes to preparing military violence or some other provocation against a geopolitical foe. In reality, the United States has one of the most anti-democratic election systems in the world, which is designed to uphold the monopoly to two right-wing, militarist and big business parties. Impossible hurdles are placed on third parties and independent candidates to even get on the ballot, often requiring tens of thousands of signatures of registered voters. This is accompanied by a virtual blackout by the corporate media of opponents of the Democrats and Republicans. In particular, there has been a blackout of the SEP presidential campaign, which alone has fought to expose the danger of a vast expansion of US military violence, whether Trump or Clinton wins. The US Commission on Presidential Debates is not a neutral body. It was founded in 1987 by the two chairmen of the Republican and Democratic national committees and is today co-chaired by Mike McCurry, President Bill Clintons former press secretary, and Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Its board of directors includes former Republican US Senators John Danforth and Olympia Snowe; former US Congresswoman Jane Harman, a leading war hawk; Howard Graham Buffett, the son of billionaire Warren Buffett; and Richard Parsons, former chairman of Citigroup and Time Warner. Leon Panetta, Obamas former CIA director and Secretary of Defense, recently retired from the commissions board. The alleged reason for excluding Johnson and Stein from the debates is that they did not reach the 15 percent threshold in the national polls used by the commission. The Green Party has pointed out that not all of the polls used by the commission even include the Greens as an option. More significantly, however, is the thoroughly anti-democratic and self-serving argument used to exclude any challenge to the two-party system. Third parties, they claim, do not have enough popular support to merit media attention or to participate in the debates with the major parties. Of course, if the public had access to oppositional views, in particular from socialists, such ideas would be far more popular. Moreover, such arguments only show the contempt of the two parties for the most elementary precepts of democracy, i.e., that the people should decide whose policies and ideas most closely align with their interests. The degeneration of the electoral process and steady decay of democracy is the result of the enormous growth of social inequality in America. The US is a plutocracy ruled by a corporate-financial aristocracy that is siphoning off trillions from society to further enrich itself. The ruling class is well aware that there is broad opposition to endless wars, police killings, government spying and other forms of state repression, and the relentless attack on working-class living standards, and does not want any further interference from the masses in the elections. Regardless of which one of these hated candidates wins the electionClinton or Trumpthe next administration will face a rising tide of social opposition. The Socialist Equality Party is fighting to build a mass political and socialist movement of the working class for the struggles against war, repression and inequality that will follow. The aim of such a movement is to end the economic and political dictatorship of the super-rich through the establishment of a workers government and the collective and democratic ownership of societys wealth and productive resources by the working class. At least sixty-two Syrian troops died and 100 were wounded on Saturday when US jets bombed a Syrian government base on Al-Tharda mountain near Deir ez-Zor. Remarkably, the US Central Command has still not apologized for the attack, even though its bombing allowed the Islamic State (IS) militia to storm and capture the base shortly afterwards. This massacre is a flagrant act of war that threatens to escalate the Syrian conflict into an all-out war pitting the US-led NATO alliance against Syria and its allies, including Russia. Everything suggests that the attack, coming in the initial days of a US-Russian ceasefire in Syria openly criticized last week by the US army brass, was deliberately committed by forces inside the US government hostile to the ceasefire. The US militarys refusal to formally apologize for the massacre is staggeringly reckless. Syrian troops fighting US-backed Islamist opposition militias are being aided on the ground by units from Iran, China, and Russia. The Pentagon is signaling to these countrieswhich not only have powerful forces in Syria but, in the case of China and Russia, nuclear weaponsthat their own troops may end up as targets of US military action, as they operate alongside Syrian forces. Syrian and Russian officials denounced the bombing as US aid to IS, while Russian officials called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to demand explanations from Washington. The Syrian Foreign Ministry declared, At 05:00 pm, on September 17th, 2016, five US aircraft launched a fierce airstrike on Syrian Army positions on al-Tharda Mountain in the surroundings of Deir ez-Zor Airport. The attack lasted for an hour. It accused Washington of complicity with IS: The attack launched by the ISIS terrorists on the same site, taking control over it...highlights the coordination between this terrorist organization and the US. What emerged from the contradictory accounts of the bombing provided by the feuding factions of the US military-intelligence machine is a picture of a massacre prepared and executed in cold blood. The Obama administration relayed regrets via Moscow to Damascus for the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces, anonymous senior US officials told the press. However, the US Central Command (Centcom), responsible for the Pentagons operations in the Middle East, issued a perfunctory statement making no apology to the Syrian military for its losses. The coalition air strike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military, it declared, blandly adding: Syria is a complex situation with various military forces and militias in close proximity, but coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit, officials said. The coalition will review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned. Such claims that US fighters were unaware of who they were bombing are simply not credible, and are flatly contradicted by other accounts in the media. An anonymous Centcom official told the New York Times that US surveillance aircraft tracked the Syrian army units for several days before US fighters attacked them. The attack went on for about 20 minutes, with the planes destroying the vehicles and gunning down dozens of people in the open desert, the official said. Shortly after this, an urgent call came into the American military command center in Qatar The call was from a Russian official who said that the American planes were bombing Syrian troops and that the strike should be immediately called off. Nevertheless, the US jets continued to bomb the Syrian base for several minutes before ending the attack, according to the Centcom officials account. The attack at Deir ez-Zor shows that Washington and its allies are not seeking a cease-fire and de-escalation, let alone peace. They are pursuing the same strategy adopted by the NATO powers in Syria ever since 2011: pursuing regime change by backing Islamist militias like IS or the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime. The latest attack has shown that, even after IS mounted repeated terror attacks in Europe and the United States, a definite collaboration still exists between US and IS forces to escalate the war. After Saturdays attack, US think tank operatives quickly came forward in the media to do political damage control. Aaron David Miller of the Wilson Center warned the Times that the air strikes would feed conspiracy theories that Washington is in league with IS and allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to blast the US on the eve of the UN General Assembly. This is cynical propaganda. As they backed Syrian opposition militias, top US officials and journalists were fully aware of their terrorist character. Times journalist C. J. Chivers dedicated a friendly 2012 video to the Lions of Tawhid militia, which set off truck bombs in Syrian cities. This was only one of dozens of US-backed opposition militias that carried out atrocities across Syria, including IS, whose operations in Syria only began to be targeted last year after it carried out repeated terror attacks in Europe. The dominant factions of the US government want war, and Moscows strategynegotiating truces with Washington, and backing Assad while accommodating US military operations in Syriais totally bankrupt. Hostile to and afraid of appealing to antiwar sentiment in the working class, particularly in the United States, the Kremlin has sought to deal with the US war drive through talks with the US government. This strategy has failed, as Russian officials were all but forced to admit, in the face of US military opposition to the cease-fire. After the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called by Moscow, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin charged that the US attack was a deliberate attempt to derail the joint US-Russian-brokered ceasefire, pointing to the highly suspicious timing of the attack. It was quite significant and not accidental that it happened just two days before the Russian-American arrangements were supposed to come into full force, he said. The beginning of work of the Joint Implementation Group was supposed to be September 19. So if the US wanted to conduct an effective strike on Al Nusra or ISIS, in Deir ez-Zor or anywhere else, they could wait two more days and coordinate with our military and be sure that they are striking the right people Instead they chose to conduct this reckless operation. One has to conclude that the airstrike has been conducted in order to derail the operation of the Joint Implementation Group and actually prevent it from being set in motion, Churkin added. This assessment was echoed by the DEBKA File publication, which has close ties to Israeli intelligence. The Pentagon and US army are not following the orders of their Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama in the execution of the military cooperation accord in Syria concluded by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Sept. 12, it wrote. It cited concerns by top US defense officials that the terms of the cease-fire give Russia too much of an opportunity to study the combat methods and tactics practiced by the US Navy and Air force in real battlefield conditions. For this reason, the Pentagon is opposing it even after it was agreed to by Kerry: Washington sources report that Defense Secretary Carter maintains that he cant act against a law enacted by Congress. He was referring to the law that prohibits all military-to-military relations with Russia as a result of Moscows annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine. The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) announced last week that a tentative contract was ratified by a majority of the membership, claiming a nearly 60 percent approval. The DFT made the decision to abandon the traditional vote at a mass membership meeting instead providing ballots at schools, so there would be no mechanism for rank-and-file verification of vote totals. Even so, at least 40 percent of teachers voted to reject the sellout. Educators greeted the agreement with anger, skepticism and a dose of resignation in the face of the concerted attempts by the DFT and its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), to derail their struggles over the course of the last year. The deal included paltry one-time bonuses, limited to less than $2,000 for most teachers, and failed to restore the Termination Incentive Programs mandatory interest-free loans, amounting to close to $10,000 each, which teachers were forced to provide to the Detroit Public Schools (DPS). The union also accepted the districts demand for a financial punishment of militant teachers who participated in the sickouts last year by agreeing to a bonus for educators with three less days off last year. Shame on our bargaining team to even allow a divisive bonus to be included that in essence rewards the teachers who didnt participate in the sickouts! Shame on them, posted an angry DFT member on Facebook. In the past, union leadership had worked hard to ensure members were not punished by strikes or similar work stoppagesEither our current leadership is on the take or too dumb to see the disingenuous nature of awarding the teachers who never sicked out, he pointed out. According to teachers, much of the bonus money, including a $1,000 merit award, is federal money and does not come from the district, leaving educators wondering why they are included in the contract highlights except as part of the cover-up for the lack of a pay raise. Teachers were particularly outraged that the contract failed to include healthcare. DFT interim President Ivy Bailey told teachers there would be further increases in co-pays and deductibles when the union concluded a separate agreement by the end of the month. Detroits Financial Control Review Commission, which has final oversight over all of the Detroit Public School Community Districts (DPSCD) monetary policies, approved the contract on Fridaya clear indication that the financial industry will continue to extract its pound of flesh from educators in the form of low wages and minimal benefits. DPSCD Emergency Manager Judge Steven Rhodesthe state-appointed hatchet man of the Detroit municipal bankruptcy and the point man in the reorganization of the school districtindicated his approval of the role of the union. I'd like to commend the DFT leadership team for their commitment to good faith bargaining. This is another key indicator that our new district, Detroit Public Schools Community District, is moving in the right direction and one step closer to restoring local control to the citizens of Detroit. This fraudulent mantra of local control was also the focus of Baileys comments on the ratification vote. Recognizing the deep opposition to the contractincluding by those who voted for itshe emphasized that the contract was far from perfect but said the union would now concentrate on the local school board elections, campaigning for Democrats to win seats in the Michigan House, supporting a regressive Wayne County millage vote andlast but not leasta chance for members to vote for her as president of the union. A veteran educator told the World Socialist Web Site Teacher Newsletter, The contract gives a few dollars and is a setup for whats to come next year when the elected board takes over in January 2017. Where are the funds going to come from to finish out the year? The state already wants to close failing schools before 2019, she said, referring to the potential closure of as many as 47 of the existing 100 schools in the DPSCD. Believe me, the fight is still going on! I dont trust any of them [the union], Ivy [Bailey] and Randi [Weingarten] and the rest the State eitherThe corporations are stealing from hard workers, with leaders like Ivy and [former DFT President] Keith Johnson helping them. They are working on having just two classes: very rich and working poor. The contract was prematurely pushed through for a membership vote without an agreement on healthcare, despite the fact that the district last year attempted to hike deductibles to as high as $8,000 for families. The overriding concern of the DFT/AFT hierarchy was to get the contract out of the way in order get on with their real concern: hustling votes for Hillary Clinton and local Democrats to ensure their seat at the table and well-paid positions in the bureaucracy. A significant role in the passage of the contract may have Michigans ramped up antistrike laws and the role of the courtsin tandem with the unionin suppressing the sickouts. At the height of the sickouts, two dozen rank-and-file teachers were sued and threatened with fines and/or jail time for their protest. Since that time, the state legislature has strengthened Michigans antistrike provisions. The defiance of Detroit teachers, in the aftermath of autoworker contract rejections, portended a wider offensive by the working class and was a direct rebuff to the Obama administration, which had touted Detroit as ground zero in education reform nationally. The repressive state measures were therefore welcomed by the DFT/AFT bureaucracy as a means of disciplining the ranks and preventing further struggles that could lead to a direct political confrontation with the Democratic Party. Meanwhile teachers have returned to the classrooms, now under the DPSCD, to find conditions as dismally underfunded as within the DPS, despite claims by the district to the contrary. Droves of DPSCD teachers have retired or left the profession due to years of givebacks and unsafe working conditions. The district faces about 300 vacancies, making classrooms more crowded this year than ever and learning conditions as bad or worse than during last years sickouts. My daughter, on her first day of school, came home and said, There are 60 kids in my classroom, a Mackenzie Elementary-Middle School parent told WXYZ news. The parent, Dominique Hister, explained, I thought she was exaggerating. But visiting the school, she found children sitting on counters, chairs, on the table by the teacher. The mother went to other overcrowded classrooms and saw children sitting on milk crates. After being contacted by the media, the district arrogantly dismissed such concerns, saying, [I]t should be noted that exceeding classroom sizes and schools near capacity is a positive indicator that the community is hopeful about our fresh start The new union-imposed contract acquiesces to these impossible learning conditions. It recognizes class size maximumsnot by insisting that educators have manageable classesbut by providing a small cash incentive to educators forced to teach under these impossible circumstances. This scandalous state of affairs has been imposed by Democratic and Republican politicians at the behest of the financial elite and for-profit edubusinesses, and facilitated by the policies of the DFT/AFT over years. From former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to Barack Obama, state and federal governments have defunded public education and driven school districts into the hands of the financial industry. The well-heeled hierarchy within the DFT/AFT has worked to straitjacket educators and corral them behind appeals to the courts and the reactionary politics of race and phony local control. Geo-political tensions between India and its northern neighbor China are growing ever sharper under conditions where India has integrated itself more deeply into the USs anti-China Pivot and, bolstered by Washingtons support, is seeking to assert itself as South Asias regional hegemon and an Indian Ocean power. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a testy meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month when he visited China for the G-20 summit in Hangzhow. In the run up to that visit, Modis government took a series of provocative moves against Beijing. It increased Indias military presence on the border with China, reiterated its support for the US campaign against China over the South China Sea, and in late August signed an agreement with Washington that allows the US military to use Indian bases for refueling, resupply, and relaxation. At his meeting with Xi, Modi raised, as the Indian media was keen to emphasize, a series of complaints about Beijings policies. Most significantly, he amplified Indias opposition to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by tying it to the issue of anti-India terrorism emerging from areas that are traversed by the CPEC, specifically Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK). Previously, New Delhi had made the public focus of its opposition to the CPECa network of pipelines, and rail and road links connecting Pakistans Arabian Sea port of Gwadar with western China the fact that it will run through POK, territory India claims is rightfully hers. In recent weeks, New Delhi has forcefully reiterated its claim to all of Kashmir, which came to be divided between India and Pakistan through the 1947 communal Partition of the subcontinent and the 1947-48 Indo-Pakistani war. However, short of an all-out war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, there is no way New Delhi will ever be able to assert its claim to sovereignty over POK. Its principal concerns are otherwise. The CPEC and the $46 billion that China is investing in Pakistan to build it constitute a major shot-in-the-arm for Pakistans beleaguered economy. The CPEC also has major strategic implications. It strengthens the decades-old and increasingly close ties between Islamabad and Beijing and, if actualized, would provide China with a means of partially circumventing US plans to blockade Chinas economy by seizing Indian Ocean and South China Sea chokepoints in the event of a war or war crisis. In his meeting with Xi, Modi also reportedly took China to task for failing to do enough to curb Islamabads support for terrorism. Taking direct aim at the relations between China and Pakistan, Modi reputedly told Xi, Our response to terrorism must not be motivated by political considerations. New Delhi has repeatedly denounced China for blocking its attempt to add Maulana Masooh Azhar, the head of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, an Islamist Kashmir separatist organization, to the United Nations international terrorist blacklist. Although he did not outright confirm it, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup hinted that Modi also raised with Xi the issue of Indias membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). When asked directly about the NSG issue, Swarup made reference to a statement earlier attributed to Modi about how India and China must respect each others aspirations, concerns and strategic interests. As a strategic favour to India, the US has been pressing for its speedy admittance to the NSG. This would facilitate New Delhis access to dual-application advanced technology. China and nearly a dozen other countries have objected, because Indias accession would violate the rule that the NSG members must be signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under Modi and his Hindu supremacist BJP, India has dramatically escalated its strategic cooperation with the US. Yet Beijings response has thus far been cautious and low-key, in marked contrast to its sharp criticisms of Japan and increasingly shrill warnings to Australia, the USs principal treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific region. Clearly Beijing still hopes it can forestall India becoming a frontline state in the US drive to strategically isolate, encircle and prepare for war on China, and calculates that a more aggressive response would only push India even deeper into the USs embrace. China, Xi told Modi, will work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance cooperation. But the reality is the Indian elite is more and more wedded to its military-strategic partnership with the US, gambling that an alliance with the world principals imperialist power will give it a desperately needed leg-up under conditions of world economic crisis and ever-sharpening global geo-political tensions. India is collaborating with the US to limit Chinese economic and strategic influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean island-states, while drawing on US support to pursue its own great power ambitions, particularly its reactionary and incendiary rivalry with Pakistan. India assisted the US-sponsored regime change operation that resulted in Mahinda Rajapakse being ousted by the pro-US Maithripala Sirisena in Sri Lankas January 2015 presidential election. Rajapakse had irked Washington and New Delhi by expanding Sri Lankas economic ties with China and allowing a Chinese submarine to visit the island in September 2014. In Nepal, India has taken the lead in countering Chinese influence. From September 2015 to February 2016, it imposed a months-long economic blockade on landlocked Nepal in an effort to compel changes to the countrys new constitution which it deemed would give it greater leverage within Nepali affairs. And, with its behind-the-scenes support, Nepals pro-China Prime Minister, K.P. Oli, was replaced last month by one deemed more friendly to India. Washington has also successfully encouraged India to strengthen strategic bilateral and trilateral ties with Japan and Australia, and supported the expansion of its economic and military ties with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On his way to China, Modi visited Vietnam, whose ties with China are increasingly strained by its US-encouraged dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea and its rapprochement with Washington. In May, US President Obama visited Hanoi. In recent years India has developed significant economic and military relations with Vietnam, including accepting Vietnamese offers of oil exploration projects in areas of the South China Sea that are also claimed by China. Modi met with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and signed twelve agreements covering defence, cybersecurity and trade. These included an Indian offer to provide Vietnam a $500 million loan for military purchases, a fivefold increase on a similar $100 million loan it made to Hanoi in 2014. India is reportedly ready to sell to Vietnam one or more versions of the BrahMos, a supersonic cruise missile it co-developed with Russia. At the conclusion of their talks, Modi and Phuc announced plans to upgrade our strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership, a clear message to China that India is ready to play a significant role in the region. India is also bolstering its military presence on its border with China. In July it was revealed that the Indian Army is in the process of deploying 100 tanks to the Indian frontline in eastern Ladakh, a strategic highland region which overlooks western Tibet. Because of the areas isolation and inclement weather (temperatures can fall to minus 45 Celsius, making it difficult to keep tanks operational), India has reportedly only ever before deployed tanks to this part of Ladkh in 1962 during its border war with China. In an interview with the Hindu, an Indian military spokesman defended the tank deployment, as well as the construction of military infrastructure in Ladakh, including roads, bridges and artillery installations, as necessary to match Chinas efforts to modernize its own military infrastructure across the Line of Actual Control. In another move that is exacerbating tensions with China, the Modi government approved in early August an allocation of 4300 crore rupees (almost US $630 million) to fund a new regiment to be deployed to Arunachal Pradesh and armed with a version of the BrahMos cruise missile specially adapted for mountain warfare. Located in Indias northeast, Arunachal Pradeshor in Chinese parlance southern Tibetis claimed by Beijing. In mid-August, the Chinese armys official mouthpiece, the Peoples Liberation Army Daily, strongly criticized the impending deployment of supersonic missiles on Chinas border, saying it exceeds Indias own needs for self-defense and poses a serious threat to Chinas Tibet and Yunnan provinces. Deploying BrahMos missiles, continued the PLA Daily, is bound to increase competitiveness and confrontation in Sino-Indian relations and bring a negative influence to stability of the region. The 12-day Long Island University (LIU) lockout of the schools faculty on the Brooklyn campus ended September 15 without resolving any of the contractual issues in dispute. Instead, the current contract is extended until May 31, 2017. Long Island University and the union, the Long Island University Faculty Federation (LIUFF), affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which represents about 400 tenured and adjunct professors in Brooklyn, also agreed to mediation in future negotiations for a settlement. Although the LIUFF issued a statement calling the end of the lockout a victory, this is far from the case. The union pledged that it would not call a strike, thereby granting LIU one of its major goals in this unprecedented lockout of faculty by an American college. The university was demanding a host of concessions from the teachers. Adjunct professors would see their teaching load reduced from 12 credits to nine, amounting to a 25 percent pay cut, and an increase in class sizes. LIU was also seeking to impose a two-tier wage system that would pay new hires less. In addition, the university hopes to stop funding the Adjunct Benefits Trust Fund, which helps some adjunct professors to buy health insurance. LIU wants to increase librarians workload, lower pension benefits, and restrict academic freedom by establishing a post-tenure review process, which would give administrators greater control over classroom teaching. One of the major issues in the conflict was the fact that the Brooklyn campus professors earn significantly less than their counterparts on LIUs Long Island C.W. Post campus. LIUs proposed wage offer of a 13 percent raise over five years would do nothing at all to close that gap. The universitys lockout was part of a nationwide drive to sacrifice the quality of education for a more corporation-like business model. Part of that model involves charging students astronomical tuition. Young people have been forced to pay these ever-increasing tuition costs, accumulating mountains of debt in the hope of obtaining a degree that will make it possible for them to make a decent living. That is why, with each passing day of the lockout, opposition grew among LIU students, who complained that they were paying about $36,000 per year for tuition, not including room and board, only to find that their classes and laboratories were either empty or being taught by totally unqualified personnel. Jennifer, a second-year occupational therapy student, said, In the class they held during the lockout, we had an occupational therapist who is the chair of the department to teach us. She was very upset and told the students that she could not cover for all of the faculty. Gabriel commented, The professors union was not given a choice. They were just forced out. They found out they had no democracy. Sarah, an undergraduate pre-nursing student, remarked, I went to three classes and had only substitutes, not the teachers that we signed up for. I went to lab and the classroom was empty. This is costing me $18,000 a semester. The school only cares about money. Chris, a student studying health science, added, I went to three health science classes and there was only one real teacher. There was chemistry class. So, three out of four classes were not available. The students should come before money. While the students support for their professors undoubtedly played a role in the decision of the administration to work out a deal with the union to call off the lockout, the settlement does not represent a step forward for either teachers or students. The teachers are back to square one in terms of a new agreement. The administration will use the unions pledge not to strike and instead work with a mediator to collaborate with the AFT behind the scenes in securing concessions. The lockout was an attempt to blackmail the teachers into accepting the concession demands. It represents an attack not only on education, but on the working class as a whole. The LIU professors have walked out on strike in five out of the last six contract deadlines. The strategy of the university was a preemptive one, to break the routine of a strike, as an administration spokesperson said, and foreclose the possibility that such an action could have galvanized further support among workers in other unions, other campuses, and among New York Citys large population of students. In this the administration had willing collaborators in the AFT. That unions rotten agreement with LIU is part of the suppression of workers struggles over the last year. It includes the UAWs maintenance of a three-tier wage system among autoworkers last fall, and the shutting down of the Verizon strike by the CWA in the spring. Faculty at LIUs C.W. Post campus on Long Island are represented by a separate union local with a different negotiation schedule. These professors were not locked out and their union did not call for solidarity walkout. While isolating the LIU faculty, the AFT sought to limit the demonstrations on campus against the lockout to protesting the role of LIU President Kimberly Cline. This was designed to obscure the fact that the conflict is part of wider offensive by the ruling class against education. Indeed, Cline was selected by LIU precisely for her history of cutting the quality of education for students and reducing the compensation of teachers. The AFT, like the rest of the unions, is more than prepared to agree to concessions on real wages and to more onerous working conditions for its membership. Its actions are driven by the privileged and upper middle class character of the trade union bureaucracy and its political alliance with the Democratic Party. The reactionary nature of the AFT is most clearly revealed by the fact that it is backing Hillary Clinton, the instrument of Wall Street and CIA, and the Pentagons candidate of choice, in the November election. The crisis in education is part of an overall crisis of capitalism and can only be resolved with the struggle of both youth and workers, independent of the pro-capitalist unions, against the profit system as a whole. LIU faculty and students must draw the necessary conclusion of the last two weeks of struggle. They should use the coming months to prepare a genuine struggle to defend wages and benefits, teaching conditions, and access to a decent education, which requires a break from the unions and the whole big business political establishment. The World Socialist Web Site urges all LIU faculty and students to come to hear the Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate Jerry White speak in New York on September 27. The most important issue in the US presidential election is the one neither of the two main capitalist candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, is talking about: the increasing likelihood that the next US president will order direct military action against Russia, China or North Korea, all countries that possess nuclear weapons. The mounting danger of such a war was underscored by the US bombing of a Syrian government military post on Saturday, killing dozens of Syrian army soldiers. The US claim that this was done accidentallyagainst a major, well-known Syrian military installation, the Deir ez-Zor Air Basehas no credibility. A similar US mistake could easily lead to the death of Russian soldiers and escalate into a full-scale military confrontation between the two powers that control 93 percent of the worlds nuclear weapons. The corporate-controlled American media is complicit in maintaining a blackout on the mounting danger of war. While US forces conduct almost daily dress rehearsals on the Russian border with Eastern Europe, in the coastal waters adjacent to China, and on the Korean peninsula, the media diverts public attention to such comparatively trivial questions as Clintons bout with pneumonia, Trumps brazen lying about his role in the anti-Obama birther campaign, and endless speculation on which candidate is gaining an edge in their mutual mudslinging. One of the few exceptions to the silence on the question of war was an op-ed column by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gateswho held the position under both George W. Bush and Barack Obamapublished in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, under the headline, Sizing Up the Next Commander-in-Chief. Gates criticizes Clinton for (purely verbal) concessions she has made to popular anti-war sentiment, mainly her statement during a September 7 forum in New York City ruling out putting US ground forces into Syria and Iraq, which he calls a politically driven categorical declaration of a sort no president (or candidate) should make He warns Clinton to speak beyond generalities about how she would deal with China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, the Middle East in order to earn his support. He is far harsher, however, towards Trump, flatly declaring him beyond repair. He is stubbornly uninformed about the world and how to lead our country and government and temperamentally unsuited to lead our men and women in uniform. He is unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief. In this assessment, Gates reflects the consensus within the military-intelligence apparatus, which views Trump as unreliable on Russia, given his flattering references to President Vladimir Putin, and regards Trumps militaristic bluster against ISIS as more bark than bite. Clinton, on the other hand, has been tested over a protracted period of time and gave her backing to a whole series of military actions, including US wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Libya, as well as the ongoing intervention in Syria. But the most important element of the Gates column is his basic premise that the United States is heading inexorably towards war. He writes: You wouldnt know it from the presidential campaigns, but the first serious crisis to face our new president most likely will be international. The list of possibilities is longlonger than it was eight years ago. He then ticks off a list of potential military crises: with China in the East and South China Sea, with Russia in Ukraine, the Baltic states or Syria, with North Korea and Iran, and with a Middle East in flames, including Syria, Iraq and Libya. Each of these challenges may require the use of the American military, the most powerful the world has ever seen, the former Pentagon chief writes. In other words, Gates envisions the next president ordering US military action against either Russia or China, the nuclear powers with the worlds second- and fourth-largest arsenals. Beyond that, there is potential for US military action against North Korea, which possesses nuclear weapons, and against Iran, a country of 70 million people, more than the size of Iraq and Syria combined. Here Gates gives a glimpse of the discussions that are taking place throughout the US military and foreign policy establishment. It is largely taken for granted in these circles that US forces will soon be engaged in large-scale military operations, not guerrilla warfare or counterterrorism, involving some combination of land, sea, air, cyberwarfare and even nuclear forces. These discussions are taking an increasingly reckless form, expressed in another commentary published this weekend, on the web site of Newsweek magazine, under the attention-grabbing headline, Should we nuke Kim Jung Un before he nukes us? The author, Michael OHanlon, is a longtime foreign policy operative at the Brookings Institution, a major think tank for the Democratic Party. OHanlon supported the Iraq war and now backs Hillary Clinton. He notes that when the Obama White House briefly considered announcing a no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons, it was opposed by those at Brookings who argue that Northeast Asia might be a special case, given North Korean nuclear weapons. While OHanlon himself professes to oppose a US first-strike with nuclear weapons against North Koreapurely on the grounds of expediency, because of the superiority of US and South Korean forces in conventional armamentsthe very fact that such a debate is taking place within the US national security establishment is significant. Not one in a thousand Americans is aware that those who direct US foreign policy, in both the Democratic and Republican parties, are actively discussing nuclear war, not hypothetically, but as a practical question, arising out of escalating confrontations with Russia and China. This is the inexorable result of the development of American imperialism over the past quarter century, when it has been engaged in nearly continuous warfare. As the World Socialist Web Site has continually explained, the war danger arises out of the very nature of capitalism as a world system. US imperialism is the most dangerous force on the planet, as it seeks to offset its declining position in the world economy by using its military superiority. The only force which can avert a catastrophe for humanity is the international working class, fighting on the basis of a socialist program. It is to advance the struggle for such a program that the Socialist Equality Party is running our candidates in the 2016 US elections, Jerry White for President and Niles Niemuth for Vice President. The SEP has called an emergency conference November 5 in Detroit, under the heading Socialism vs. Capitalism and War. We urge all our readers to support and donate to the SEP campaign, attend election meetings being held throughout the country, and make plans to attend the conference in Detroit. Relations between Manila and Washington continued to sour as Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay told a gathering at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on September 15 that the Philippines would no longer be the United States little brown brother. With Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attempting to rehabilitate diplomatic and trade relations with Beijing, downplaying the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, Washington has begun using his murderous drug war, which the US initially funded, as a means of pressuring his administration back into line with the interests of US imperialism. Duterte has responded by using nationalist rhetoric to defend his criminal policies. While he continues to insist that he supports the basing of US forces in the country under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), his conciliatory moves toward China and his demagogic opposition to the United States have resulted in tense relations between Manila and Washington. Last week, US President Barack Obama canceled a scheduled meeting with Duterte at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos in a display of Washingtons displeasure. Yasays visit to Washington was meant to patch things up. During the question and answer period after his speech at the CSIS, the first question was asked by Amy Searight, senior resident Southeast Asian specialist and former deputy assistant secretary of the US Defense Department. She pointedly questioned Dutertes human rights record, citing the mounting number of extra-judicial killings. Yasay responded: You dont go to the Philippines telling us, I will give you something, I will help you grow, but here is the checklist you have to comply with and we will lecture you on human rights We cannot forever be the little brown brothers of America. Yasay announced that the Philippines would send a formal special envoy to China to negotiate trade and diplomatic deals with China. He said the topic of the South China Sea would initially be excluded in order to facilitate discussion. He added, however, that the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) regarding the territorial dispute was, for the Philippines, an essential precondition to discussion on the South China Sea. The same day, a Philippine Senate inquiry into the extra-judicial killings launched under the Duterte administration heard testimony from a witness, Edgar Matobato, who claimed to be a leading hit man in the Davao death squads that operated for years under then Davao Mayor Duterte. Matobato claimed that, on Dutertes direct orders, he carried out fifty executions from 1988 to 2003 in Davao and was witness to many more. He claimed Duterte personally executed people with an Uzi and that on occasion they had fed the victims corpses to crocodiles. We killed people on an almost daily basis, he told the Senate. Washington latched onto this testimony. US State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner stated: These are serious allegations and we take them seriously, we will look into them. US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for a UN investigation. President Duterte cant be expected to investigate himself, so it is crucial that the United Nations is called in to lead such an effort, Brad Adams, HRWs Asia director, said in a statement on September 16. This is sheer hypocrisy. Aside from lurid details about crocodiles and Uzis, there was nothing particularly new in Matobatos testimony. Duterte himself has repeatedly affirmed in public statements that he headed Davaos death squads. He told the press earlier this year that he oversaw nearly 1,500 killings in Davao during his terms as mayor. Washington has known for decades that Duterte is a murderer. A confidential State Department cable from January 2005 published by WikiLeaks, reveals that Washington was fully aware that the Davao death squads were run by Duterte. Duterte took office as president on June 30, explicitly sanctioning state murder and launching police and vigilante killings that have thus far resulted in a death toll over 3,500 in the space of two and half months. On July 30, as the body count crossed 500, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Duterte in Manila and committed $32 million to fund the new administrations so-called anti-drug crusade. As the death toll continued to mount, the international press, particularly the New York Times, was pointedly silent on the question of human rights. The Senate revelations in Manila have changed nothing. The growing stream of negative press about extra-judicial killings in the Philippines is in large part an expression of the machinations of Washington, which will happily tolerate and fund murder if it furthers the geopolitical interests of US imperialism. Duterte is not sufficiently serving the interests of the US drive to war against China and so Washington invokes its concern for human rights. Washington claims that it is shocked to discover that this self-avowed head of death squads is, in fact, the head of death squads. Manila has responded to this pressure by moving further away from Washington. Speaking on September 16 at the Philippine embassy in Washington, Yasay announced that Manila was looking to hold bilateral talks with China over the South China Sea dispute without any preconditions. This further escalates tensions between Manila and Washington, as the phrase without any preconditions means that Manila would agree to refrain from mentioning the PCA ruling in its talks with Beijing. The international media has claimed repeatedly that Dutertes killing spree enjoys mass popular support, often claiming that 90 percent of the population endorses these policies. No evidence is offered for what amounts to a slanderous accusation against the entire population. The police and vigilante killings, as well as Dutertes declaration of a nationwide state of emergency authorizing military checkpoints and warrantless arrests, does enjoy the support of the majority of the ruling class and large sections of the petty bourgeoisie, who have come to serve as his vulgar cheer squads on the Internet. A majority of members of the Senate committee investigating the extra-judicial killings, dismissed Matobatos testimony as irrelevant and refused to provide him with state protection. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, launched an investigation, not into the death squads but into the alleged crimes of the leading political figure investigating the killings in the Senate, Senator Leila de Lima. Senator Koko Pimentel embodied the gross hypocrisy of ruling class support for Duterte when he stated: We dont know who is behind the killings. In speech after speech, Duterte has called for the murder of alleged drug criminals and granted immunity to the killers, yet the Senate is flummoxed as to who is responsible. As Washingtons displeasure with Manila grows, a section of the Philippines ruling class could emerge to stage Dutertes ouster. Duterte is carefully cultivating his control over the military to secure his hold over state power. He meets with and addresses troops on virtually a daily basis and has directly incorporated the military into his campaign of state murder. Duterte declared on Monday that his anti-drug campaign had become a war of the government against the government. Sections of the legislature, judiciary and local governance were part of the drug trade, he stated, and he would turn his forces against them. He previously declared that Senator de Lima is a key figure in the drug crime syndicates. Duterte announced that due to the influence of drugs he would postpone the upcoming local government elections indefinitely. Preparations for martial law in the Philippines are far advanced. The military and police kill with impunity; arrests are carried out without warrant; elections have been postponed; and there is a bill in the Senate authorizing the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Significantly, Duterte is proposing to formally rehabilitate former dictator Ferdinand Marcos by giving him a state burial in October. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders made two appearances at university campuses in Ohio, a key swing state in the presidential elections, on Saturday to stump for Hillary Clinton and seek to arrest her declining poll numbers among youth. The former Clinton challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination spoke at the University of Akron and at Kent State University. His efforts were assisted by fellow progressive Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who spoke on Saturday at Ohio State University and Sunday at Cleveland State. The embrace of the Hillary Clinton campaign, which Sanders has portrayed since the primaries as the continuation of the political revolution he claims to advocate, has provoked disgust and outrage among his former supporters. This was reflected in the poor attendance at both of his rallies, which collectively attracted about 800 people, according to press reports, in contrast to the thousands of people who routinely turned out to his rallies during the primaries. Those who were attracted to Sanders because of his denunciations of social inequality and Wall Street criminality were obviously in no mood to see him shill for a candidate who personifies both the money-grubbing and the arrogance of the ruling class. Clinton has seen her considerable post-convention lead in the polls over her Republican challenger Donald Trump all but evaporate over a month which she largely devoted to fundraising among her multi-millionaire supporters on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, while making speeches touting her militaristic credentials as a potential commander-in-chief. The general election campaign has seen Clinton repeatedly attempt to outflank Trump from the right, basing her appeal to sections of the military and the Republican Party opposed to Trump on the basis that he is too erratic to be trusted to oversee an escalation of American militarism, directed above all against Russia. Clintons support among young people has declined drastically. A national Quinnipiac poll found that Clintons lead over Trump among voters aged 18 to 34 has collapsed from 24 points to 5 points since early August. This decline has not been reflected in any rise in support for Trump, who remains extremely unpopular among young people. Instead, much of this support has gone towards third-party candidates, such as the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson or the Green Partys Jill Stein. As much as one-third of people under 30 are planning to vote against the two main capitalist parties, according to the same Quinnipiac poll. The collapse in Clintons support among younger voters has caused particular concern within her campaign, which dispatched Sanders and Warren to Ohio to appeal for support on college campuses, making the claim that Clinton will support a major program of debt relief for overburdened students. Clinton herself is to speak on that topic at Temple University in Philadelphia on Monday. In the appearances by Sanders and Warren in Ohio, the two Democratic Party operatives used the threat of a Trump presidency as a cudgel to bludgeon young people into supporting Hillary Clinton. We cant in 2016 accept bigotry as the cornerstone of any campaign, Sanders declared at Kent State. Warren denounced Trump as a racist and a man with a dark and ugly soul. Sanders also attempted to use Clintons insincere pledge to enact tuition-free college education to convince debt-burdened and economically insecure college students to back her campaign. When you talk to your friends and they say, Im not going to vote, everybodys horrible, ask them how much theyre going to leave school in debt, Sanders said. At a rally on Friday in New York, Sanders also denounced the growing support for third party candidates (although he postured for two decades as an independent in his campaigns for Congress and US Senate). When were talking about president of the United States, in my own personal view, this is not the time for a protest vote, Sanders said. This is [the] time to elect Hillary Clinton and then work after the election to mobilize millions of people to make sure she can be the most progressive president she can be. Unsurprisingly, attacks on social inequality were completely absent from the weekends speeches. Both Sanders and Warren framed the Trump campaign, which has capitalized upon widespread economic distress in order to cultivate a far-right political movement, in entirely racial terms. The root of Trumps campaign is bigotry, Sanders claimed during an interview Friday on CNN. This is in line with the Clinton campaigns attempts to deny the existence of the economic grievances which have found a right-wing expression in the Trump campaign. Despite the focus in his public appearances on the danger of a Trump presidency, Sanders shares the concern of the whole US political establishment over the mounting popular opposition to the whole two-party system, which has found reflection in the massive unpopularity of both major candidates. From the beginning, his presidential campaign was aimed at using his populist and even socialist veneer to channel social and political opposition back behind the Democratic Party. Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada declared last week that the countrys military would step up its activity in the South China Seacomments that have already provoked criticism from the state-owned media in China amid rising tensions over the disputed waters. Speaking in Washington at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Inada said: Japan on its part will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self-Defence Force [Japans navy] joint training exercises with the US navy, bilateral and multi-lateral exercises with regional navies, as well as providing capacity building assistance for coast nations. Inada specifically targeted China, stating: Coercive attempts to change the facts on the ground and upend the prevailing norms do not serve anybodys interest. Unfortunately, what China has been doing recently in the East China Sea and South China Sea is just that, and it is raising serious concern in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. Inadas remarks came before a meeting with US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter at which they agreed the two countries would work together to counter grave threats to the national security of both Japan and the United States. The two specifically upheld the ruling in July of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in favour of a US-backed Philippine challenge to Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea. While joint naval patrols and exercises are set to go ahead, Japan has ruled out, to date, participating in the Pentagons so-called freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs)that is, provocative naval intrusions within the 12-nautical mile territorial limits surrounding Chinese-controlled islets. The US has conducted three such operations over the past year, most recently in May. Inada, who became defence minister in early August, is well known for her right-wing militarist views and is closely aligned with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She has been a frequent visitor to the Yasukuni Shrine that is notorious as a symbol of Japanese militarism and she has a long history of defending the crimes of the Japanese army during the 1930s and 1940s. In his meeting with Inada, Carter reaffirmed that the US nuclear umbrella would continue to cover Japan. He also restated that the US would come to Japans aid in the event of war with China over the disputed islets in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Since taking office in 2012, the Abe government has emphatically ruled out negotiations with China over the issue, leading to a further escalation of tensions between the two countries. An editorial on Saturday in Chinas state-owned Global Times declared that China should resolutely begin military deployment on its expanded Nansha [Spratly] Islands to balance the situation. The hawkish newspaper condemned the joint US-Japanese patrols as the gunboat policy of the 21st century against China and suggested that, if such operations intensified, China could declare an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the area. The Japan Times revealed last month that the Chinese ambassador warned a high-level Japanese official in June that Japan would cross a red line if it joined a freedom of navigation operation with the US in Chinese-claimed waters. He reportedly said China will not concede on sovereignty issues and is not afraid of military provocations. While Washington and Tokyo both blame Chinese expansionism for the tense situation in the South China Sea, the US bears primary responsibility for transforming low-key regional disputes into a dangerous international flashpoint. After US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared in 2010 that the US had a national interest in the sea, Washington has encouraged South East Asian countries to aggressively pursue their own claims against China, greatly heightening tensions. Japan has no territorial claims in the South China Sea but, like the US, is exploiting the disputes to further its own interests in South East Asia. Since becoming prime minister, Abe has travelled extensively in South East Asia, visiting all members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Earlier this month, Abe met with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and struck a deal to provide the Philippines with two large patrol vessels and loan the use of five TC-90 surveillance planes. The two 90 metre-class ships are similar to the largest vessels in Japans own coast guard. The Abe government previously agreed to provide the Philippines with 10 smaller vessels, the first of which was delivered in August. India, which has a strategic partnership with the US, is also strengthening its presence in South East Asia. It recently reached a $100 million agreement to supply fast patrol vessels to Vietnam. Both Vietnam and the Philippines are engaged in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. China is currently holding joint naval exercises in the South China Sea with Russia. Announcing their start last week, the Chinese defence ministry said that Joint Sea-2016 war games would involve warships, submarines, ship-borne helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, along with marines and amphibious armoured vehicles. The drills would include rescue and anti-submarine exercises, as well as the simulated seizure of an island. During a visit to Beijing last month, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Scott Swift, criticised the joint Chinese-Russian drills, saying: There are other places those exercises could have been conducted. He warned that such actions are not increasing stability within the region. While condemning aggressive Chinese moves, the Pentagon has been steadily ramping up the US military presence in the Pacific as part of the Obama administrations pivot to Asia directed against China. By 2020, 60 percent of US naval and air assets are due to be stationed in the Asia Pacific. The buildup has included increased patrols and exercises by the American navy either in or near the South China Sea, which the US regards as strategically crucial to its plans for war against China. 25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago 25 years ago: US stages new provocation against Iraq On September 24, 1991, the United States dispatched a Patriot missile team from Germany to Saudi Arabia in a new threat to Iraq. The force was comprised of some 24 launchers, 100 missiles and 1,300 soldiers to operate the systems. Little more than six months after the United States ended its bombing of civilians and massacre of retreating Iraqi soldiers, the Bush administration stage-managed a provocation for the purpose of justifying a new war. A team of United Nations inspectors, armed with intelligence supplied by the United States and headed by a former State Department official, seized documents with the names and addresses of Iraqi government employees and nuclear scientists and refused to supply copies to the Iraqis, or even a list of what they had taken. When the Iraqi authorities refused to allow them to leave without showing them what they had grabbed, the US provided the inspectors with a supply of food and satellite telephones so that they could broadcast to the media their accusations of hostage-taking and their claims that Saddam Hussein was building nuclear weapons. This incident followed two months of provocations. At the end of August, Kuwait fabricated an alleged Iraqi incursion onto Bubiyan Island. The previous week, Bush and the UN Security Council threatened military action to enforce their demand for unrestricted helicopter flights over Iraqi territory. Finally, the Bush administration decided to stage the latest stunt and exploit the bogus issue of nuclear weapons to more effectively manipulate public opinion. The New York Times on Thursday, September 26, virtually acknowledged the orchestrated character of the crisis. Was the United States deliberately trying to increase tensions with Mr. Hussein as a way of provoking a military confrontation and giving it an excuse to resume the war, this time with more ambitious objectives? the Times asked. It went on to cite an unnamed government official as saying, Mr. Bush is driven by complex political pressures, including his desire to hold together the anti-Iraq coalition, to maintain the United States role as the enforcer of the peace in the Mideast as he seeks to drag the regions fractious people into a peace conference, and to maintain a strong American military presence as the agreement to keep a rapid-deployment force in southern Turkey nears its Sept. 30 expiration date. [top] 50 year ago: North Vietnam rejects US surrender demand On September 23, 1966, the government of North Vietnam rejected a US proposal for a halt to the American bombing campaign against North Vietnamese targets and a gradual troop withdrawal in exchange for an end to North Vietnamese support for the war of national liberation against the US puppet government in Saigon. Speaking before the United Nations, US ambassador Arthur Goldberg called for the establishment of an international peacekeeping force to oversee a disengagement of forces. He denounced the Stalinist government of China for allegedly promoting revolution and subversion throughout the world and declared that the US would continue to oppose its seating in the UN. In a ranting anticommunist tirade, Goldberg called the Vietnamese liberation forces subversives and terrorists who were acting as pawns of North Vietnam and China. North Vietnam denounced the US proposal as hypocritical and a cover for the continued expansion of imperialist intervention in the face of growing international opposition to the war. An official statement declared that Goldbergs speech was slanderous and aimed at whitewashing U.S. aggression. It demanded that Washington recognize the National Liberation Front as the sole genuine representative of the South Vietnamese people. The Soviet Union simultaneously rejected the US proposal as false, demagogic and hypocritical. Both the Canadian and British governments applauded the shift by the United States to the use of the United Nations as a screen for imperialist intervention in Vietnam. In the initial phase of the troop build-up, President Johnson had decided against seeking a UN cover for the war. The increasingly frequent peace maneuvers by the Johnson administration reflected fear of the growing opposition to the war by the working class internationally and in the US. [top] 75 years ago: Nazi forces complete capture of Kiev On September 19, 1941, the Soviet city of Kiev, capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, fell to German military forces. The Battle of Kiev was over by September 25 and the Soviet southwest front was totally destroyed. The Nazi victory paved the way for the occupation of Ukraine, much of the Crimea, and the Donets basin, with further enormous losses for the Red Army. Kievs defenses had fallen once the pincer movement at Lokhvytsia by two Panzer groups had trapped hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops. Kievs southwestern front collapsed when, fighting until the last man, General Kirponos along with 2,000 troops were destroyed by the Third Panzer Division. The German Sixth Army marched into the bombed-out remains of the city. The Soviet civilians left behind in Kiev were left to starvation and the Jews of the city systematically killed by firing squads. The astonishing 665,000 Red Army soldiers caught in the Wehrmachts encirclement of the Ukrainian city would mostly die of disease or starvation in Nazi prisoner camps. The captured military material included 884 tanks and over 3,000 artillery pieces. Prescient warnings made by General Georgy Zhukov in late July, that Kiev risked encirclement by German advances and should be abandoned, were ignored by Stalin. Hitler, however, appreciated the crucial nature of the raw materials and agricultural base of the Ukraine and Black Sea region for war economy. Such a move would also serve to protect German oil supplies in Romania. The Kiev Kesselschlacht, or battle of encirclement, was the largest in military history. Viewing newsreel footage of the Battle of Kiev, Hitler exclaimed, I am immensely happy to have experienced the war in this way. Believing the Soviet Union virtually defeated on September 23, Hitler told Goebbels, The spell is broken. More sober analysts in the German high command, however, believed that the stubborn resistance of Soviet soldiers and the delay in launching Operation Typhoon, the conquest of Moscow, into the fall made the outcome of the war on the Eastern Front more and more problematic. [top] 100 years ago: German Social Democrats hold last united conference On September 21, 1916, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) held its last united national conference, amid irreconcilable divisions between different factions over Germanys role in World War I. Dominant at the congress was the right-wing party leadership, which fully supported German war aims and had adopted a policy of suppressing class conflict during the war. Another tendency, led by Hugo Haase and Georg Ledebour, made some criticisms of the party leadership, but held the same nationalist and opportunist orientation. The third tendency, the International Group (Spartacists), which defended the principles of socialist internationalism and opposed the imperialist world war, was led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Both were in prison for their antiwar activities. The SPD Executive Committee, which was to force through a split in early 1917, allowed all of the factions to address the conference, because the outcome of its proceedings was already rigged in favor of the right wing. Kate Duncker spoke on behalf of the International Group. She stated that the Second International, in which the SPD had played a leading role, had collapsed irretrievably when its national sections supported the war aims of their own governments, betraying previous commitments to oppose any imperialist conflict. We are striving for an international that stands above national parties, she declared. Duncker exposed the varying pretexts used to justify the war, stating, Between the big imperialist states there are no longer any defensive wars. The claim that one goes to war to preserve borders and national sovereignty is today an outright swindle of the people. When one pirate ship attacks another to take away its loot, we do not talk about justified self-defense. The imperialist powers always aim for expansion and plunder and, from the outset, their wars are wars of conquest. It makes absolutely no difference on whose territory the war is fought. She concluded by declaring, We must openly renounce obedience to the policy of the party establishment. We must break with the politics of half-measures and abandon the illusion that the crisis begins and ends with the purely parliamentary question of granting or rejecting war credits. It means summoning the masses to a mighty struggle against imperialism and war. [top] The Socialist Equality Partys candidate for West Virginia House of Delegates District 16, Naomi Spencer, was informed by the West Virginia Secretary of State late last week that her name is being removed from the ballot. Spencer is currently pursuing legal action to reverse this decision and have her name restored. She issued the following statement. At 6:50 p.m. on Friday, September 16, I received an email from the West Virginia Secretary of States assistant counsel Timothy Leach informing me that the state was decertifying my candidacy for House of Delegates and removing my name from the ballot. This decision was made despite the fact that our campaign completed all requirements outlined by the Secretary of State and its web site, and I had been approved to appear on the ballot as a candidate of the Socialist Equality Party. The move to strike me from the ballot is a violation of my constitutional rights and those of other candidates being removed. It violates the constitutional rights of the hundreds of voters who signed my petitions, and the rights of all West Virginians who want an alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties. This action, which affects numerous independent campaigns around the state, follows a ruling earlier last week in the state Supreme Court of Appeals that barred Erik Wells from appearing on the ballot as an independent candidate. On September 12, the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a Kanawha Circuit Court ruling barring Wells from running on the grounds that he was still registered as a Democrat and had no right to seek office as an independent. In its full opinion released on September 15, the court went further. The majority opinion stated that Wells along with other independent candidates were disqualified for the ballot if they did not file a certificate of announcement of their candidacy before the last Saturday in January of the election year. This requirementspelled out in West Virginia Code 3-5-7, relevant to candidates in major parties facing primary election racesis the grounds now being used to strip me of my ballot status. Previous court rulings held that the language containing the January deadline only applied to candidates in primary races, not the general election. In any case, to retroactively remove candidates from the ballot who completed all requirements as outlined by the state itself is outrageous. On the Secretary of States web site, the published deadline applying to independent and unaffiliated candidates is August 1, when petitions must be filed. One can find no mention of the January 30 filing deadline, nor even a reference to the Code 3-5-7 cited by the court ruling, in any of the material for independent candidates. Instead, the SOS lists Your first step for candidates as obtaining official credentials from the county clerks office. The SOS resources for no party candidates cite only West Virginia Code 3-5-23 and 3-5-24, which likewise say nothing of a January deadline. Moreover, according to legal expert Richard Winger, who publishes Ballot Access News, a January filing deadline for independent or minor party presidential candidates is clearly unconstitutional. Winger notes that the US Fourth District Court, whose jurisdiction includes West Virginia, previously struck down a March filing deadline in Maryland for independent presidential candidates. The US Supreme Court and 55 court opinions around the country have struck down similar early deadlines for independent candidates. In its ruling, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals declares that the states election law seeks to prevent candidates from engaging in chicanery regarding their political affiliations, if any, designed to inure entirely to their individual political benefit and mislead the electorate. The only chicanery at work here is the retroactive application of a new interpretation of election law upon candidates who met all published requirements for ballot status and were certified to run. The Young Euro Classic music festival, which took place from August 17 to September 3, was held in Berlin for the seventeenth time and attracted an audience of 26,000 to the concert hall at the Gendarmenmarkt. During the 18 days of the festival there were 24 events with 1,500 musicians from 25 different countries. The central theme of the festival, to take a stance in support of a unified and peaceful Europe, collided with the current hard realities. The Young Euro Classic this year took place in the shadow of the crisis of the European Union (EU) and growing national and military tensions. The opening concert, August 17, by the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO), conducted by Vasily Petrenko, is a case in point. In May, the EU cut off funding for this prestigious orchestra, which is celebrating its fortieth year in 2016. The announcement produced a storm of protest. The orchestra and various conductors and organisations, including Simon Rattle and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, expressed their indignation, and music students demonstrated in front of EU offices with their instruments. In June, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reversed the decision and promised to come up with a solution for next year as well. The EUYOs programme this year, which included Mozarts Piano Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat Major K. 365 (316a) (1779) and Gustav Mahlers Symphony No. 1 in D Major (1885-88), seemed to respond to this political crisis. Mozart's piece, which he composed to perform with his sister Nannerl, suggests the Enlightenment, a time of revolution and the beginning of a rich collaborative musical culture in bourgeois Europe. The Mahler symphony of 1885 was composed on the eve of the 20th century with its threats of war, crises and the decline of bourgeois culture. It is a shame that the two soloists, Katia and Marielle Labeque, played Mozart's lively piano dialogue in such a detached way with subdued orchestral accompaniment. The musicians were much more engaged in their performance of the Mahler symphony, with its dramatic shifts between soaringly cheerful and deathly mournful, its fascination with the secrets of nature and waltzing Vienna decadence, its rejoicing chords and apocalyptic strains. Emphasis on the Russian musical tradition An emphasis of the Young Euro Classic Festival was, once again, Eastern Europe, including the Baltic states and Russia. The Orchestra of the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, with the Osokins brothers, gave brilliant and rousing renditions of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C-Minor Op. 18 (1901) and No. 3 in D-Minor Op. 30 (1909). On September 1, the young Estonian composer Liisa Hirsch received the European Composer Award for her composition Mechanics of Flying, which the jury called a picture of perpetual motion, of a sound that does not want to end. The Bulgarian Pioneer Youth Philharmonic, which performed for the first time, played Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E-Minor Op. 95 From the New World (1893), as well as works from the 1920s by Bulgarian composers Pantscho Vladigerov and Petko Staynov, who are not well-known in Germany. Staynovs Thracian Dance (1925-26) was a genuine surprise and provoked considerable applause. The Symphony Orchestra of the National University of the Arts of Kazakhstan presented the efforts of modern Kazakh composers, including pieces by Alkuat Kasakbaev that involved the kobyz, a traditional string instrument that resembles a lute. Unfortunately, national-romantic nostalgia dominated in this post-Soviet music. Performances by the Symphony Orchestra of the Ural Mussorgsky Conservatory, which performed for the first time and was conducted by Anton Shaburov, proved very popular. The orchestra played with enormous precision and musicality and brought the great Russian musical tradition to life once again. The student orchestra, which traveled 3,500 kilometers by bus from Yekaterinburg to Berlin, presented an entirely Russian program with works by Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Yuri Abdokov (first performance) and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B-Minor Op. 74 Pathetique (1893). The young Russian musicians movingly interpreted the last movement of the Pathetique, the deeply sad and dramatic Adagio lamentoso, which so shook the audience at the very first performance of this symphony in St. Petersburg in 1893. Tchaikovsky died a week later. Standing ovations for Arab musicians The most politically charged performance at the event was the performance by the Arab Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra, founded by Egyptian music professor Fawzy El-Shamy, assembled for the first time in 2006 in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where it prepared its first concert under the direction of German conductor Walter Mik. At that time, Damascus was a cultural center. Today, war and destruction are raging, schools and cultural institutions are closed, and concerts have become impossible. Millions have fled Syria and hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. The Arab ensemble performed for the first time three years ago at the Young Euro Classic music festival. At that time, the orchestra was made up of a hundred musicians. In the face of great difficulties and due to the personal efforts of the conductor, Heiner Buhlmann, 65 musicians, including many young women, came together this year from eight different Arab countriesEgypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. One musician who fled to Germany a year ago reported to the Deutsche Welle [Germanys international public broadcaster] how university education in Syria has collapsed and many music professors have left the country. It has become impossible to rehearse together in Syria or in neighbouring countries. Consequently, the orchestra rehearsed for one week in a high school in Berlin. It is no wonder, therefore, that Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D-Major Op. 73 (1877) did not sound perfect. This is true as well for the compositions of the two contemporary Arab composers (Amir Khalaf and Ali Osman), where the cues and rhythm were not always correct. However, the orchestra's sensitive and professional accompaniment of arias from Georges Bizet's Carmen and Camille Saint-Saens Samson and Delilah, sung by the vivacious Egyptian mezzo soprano Gala El Hadidi, who is an ensemble member at the Semperoper opera house in Dresden, showed the potential of the orchestraif there were no war. Unlike last year's Young Euro Classic music festival, there was no personal appearance by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier this year. While the young Arab musicians were rehearsing in Grunewald, German tornado combat aircraft were flying over Syria. Hosting the Arab concert instead was Constantin Schreiber, who uttered a few platitudes about the thousand-year relationship between East and West. Schreiber is an Arabic-speaking German television journalist, who teaches German values to refugees on the television program MarhabaArrival in Germany. He previously worked for the foreign office and wrote the books Germany Sold Out: How Foreign Investors are Taking Over Our Country and 1000 Lashes. In April, he appeared on the talk show Hard but Fair and claimed that terrorism was a part of Islam. The audiences reaction stood in contrast to Schreibers remarks and presence. Many audience members clearly saw the Arab youth concert as an opportunity to take a stand against war and to express solidarity with the young Arab musicians. Their performance was met with a long, standing ovation, which was repeated after a traditional Arabic song was performed as an encore. The musicians were visibly moved. Festival ends in a minor key In her summing up of the festival on its last night, director Gabriele Minz expressed an almost melancholy regret that this year's Young Euro Classic was over. She referred to the financial and political difficulties and, in an emotional appeal to the public, advocated pulling together for the future of the festival. Particularly in these chaotic times, when stifling nationalism is on the rise once again, Minz said, it is important to take a stand for a peaceful path to the unification of Europe. It was a festival that ended in a minor key, also musically speaking. According to the commentary in the program notes, the concert of the French Youth Orchestra, directed by David Zinman, underscored the colours of the late Romantic era: mysterious, melancholy, nervous. After Claude Debussy's Marche ecossaise (Scottish March, 1891/1908), the orchestra performed the cello concerto of Henri Dutilleux, called Tout un monde lointain (An entire world far away), which was first played in 1970. The cellist Gautier Capucon performed it brilliantly with tender strokes of the bow. Based on Charles Baudelaire's poem cycle, Les fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), first published in 1857, the composition is full of harmonic breaks and dissonance. It is mysterious and occasionally mystical and gloomy, as though Dutilleux (1916-2013) wanted to paint the turmoil and tragedy of the twentieth century in all available tonal colors. Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3 in A minor (1935-36), with which the concert ended, is full of sadness and melancholy. The theme of the Latin requiem Dies Irae is quoted in the last movement. However, the composer does not end on a dark note, but with vital and major chords, as if he wanted to defy the gloomy times that pursued him in his Swiss exile. Some of the performances of the Young Euro Classic music festival from August 28 to September 3 were recorded live and are available at http://concert.arte.tv/de for 30 days after performance. DECATUR Randy Goodrich is armed with a lot of ingrained skills when it comes to cleaning things. The owner of Randy's Exper-Clean, a Decatur firm that can spruce up anything from your home's air ducts to its carpets and furniture knows what cleaning and polishing products work best, and where to use them. That's why he lavishes a lot of Lemon Pledge wood polish on his 1948 Pontiac Silver Streak station wagon Woody hot rod. After all, when three-quarters of the bodywork of your treasured chariot is crafted from mahogany and ash, you go with the flow. Goodrich explains that 68 years ago, Pontiac didn't actually make a station wagon. They built an already magnificent Silver Streak sedan and then shipped very few of them the Woodys are as rare as hen's teeth off to the Ionia Mfg. Co. in Michigan, which did the station wagon bodywork in wood. Seriously. And we're not talking exotic lumber as applied luxury decoration. The sumptuously paneled wood on this vehicle forms much of the bodywork, doors and all of the roof which looks like an upturned boat viewed from the interior. The whole effect is pleasingly quaint and kind of historic, almost Elizabethan. If William Shakespeare had driven a car to and from the Globe Theater, it would have been a Silver Streak Woody. Goodrich says that all that fancy woodwork made the station wagon, priced at some $2,500, the most expensive in the Pontiac line up for 1948. Resorts would buy them to haul guests around, he adds. But wooden cars didn't prove a such great choice for much of the New World climate. Not that many Woodys were made to begin with, and by the time woodworm, dry rot and the ravages of the weather were done, very few survived the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Goodrich, who loves cool cars and knows the rarity of this one, stumbled across his pride and joy at a local auction in 2002. Covered in grunge, a bit rotten and stored in a barn since 1960, he had set a bid limit of $15,000 to buy it and ended up spending $19,500. Love knows no price restraint, and it soon turned out he wasn't barking up the wrong tree, anyway. The very next weekend, I could have made a $5,000 profit when somebody else wanted to buy it from me, he says. Over the intervening years, he's sunk many more thousands of dollars and countless hours of sweat equity into his timber ride. Much of the wagon has been restored to just how it should look, but the car also features enhanced motivation, thanks to a more potent engine transplant along with improved mechanics and essential luxuries such as added air-conditioning. Goodrich and his partner, Thea Westbay, have seen the vehicle win a forest of awards at shows and say it is the ultimate head-turner. Most people are like 'Oh, wow,' Westbay says. This car is just something you don't typically see going down the road. Some owners fortunate enough to possess such a cellulose gem would be tempted to mollycoddle it and only haul it around on trailers. That goes against the grain for Goodrich, who says the joy of owning a rolling piece of history is the sheer fun of driving it. With my Pontiac, if it's on a trailer, it's because it's broke, he says. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. It was a historian's idea: carve gigantic sculptures into the granite pinnacles of the Black Hills of South Dakota, significant Western figures such as Lewis and Clark, Buffalo Bill Cody, Fremont, Red Cloud and Sacagawea. "In the vicinity of Harney Peak ... are opportunities for heroic sculpture of unusual character," South Dakota Department of History Superintendent Doane Robinson wrote to a sculptor in Georgia in 1924. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, redefined the project entirely. Using jackhammers and dynamite, he began in 1927, first carving President George Washington, then Thomas Jefferson, followed by Abraham Lincoln and finally Theodore Roosevelt. Next month, Mount Rushmore National Memorial marks 75 years of public pervasiveness, ending up in movies and comics and on quarter-dollar coins. "Borglum told Robinson, 'You are not thinking big enough. Western figures? That's not going to attract enough people. You need to think bigger,' " said Maureen McGee-Ballinger, the memorial's chief of interpretation and education. Robinson was looking for ways to promote the state, particularly the Black Hills, McGee-Ballinger said. Plan B surely has served that purpose, with about 3 million people visiting every year. "For the state, and the nation, Mount Rushmore is quite iconic," South Dakota State Historical Society Director Jay Vogt said. "It definitely put South Dakota on the map as a destination ... Because these are elected individuals on the mountain, who worked hard to preserve a nation whose creation was unique in and of itself, it really speaks to the idea that we are a country of free people." Along the way, it has also found a place in pop culture. A chase scene in "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, included a death-defying scramble over the presidents' faces. "Alfred Hitchcock says he expects to realize his long ambition filming a chase over the Mt. Rushmore Monument," The Associated Press reported in 1958. "He may be spoofing, but you never can tell with Hitchcock." Some scenes were filmed at the memorial, but the climbing of the faces were studio shots that used models of the mountain. A 1983 special anniversary issue of the comic "Wonder Woman" features her face next to the stone Lincoln. T-shirts with the faces of superheroes instead of the presidents are available at Target and elsewhere. The memorial is a never-ending muse for political cartoonists, and in 2016, there's been no shortage of memes. The memorial has also been featured in multiple coins, including a quarter issued by the U.S. Mint in 2013 that shows men adding the finishing details to Jefferson's face. The four faces have also been highlighted in postage stamps, and they are in the background of South Dakota's license plates. To celebrate the milestone, the National Park Service held events during the summer in connection with its own 100th birthday. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. Dear Dr. Roach: Like most women, I was raised to avoid letting any part of my body touch the seat of a public toilet. As I age, I find it more and more difficult to maintain "the stance." Just how dangerous is that toilet seat? What awful diseases are we chancing by giving in to our quivering thighs and sitting down? Millions of women want to know! B.G. A: Toilet seats are comparatively very clean and free from unhealthy bacteria. I say "comparatively" since the 50 bacteria per inch on a toilet seat compares to 10 million per square inch on a typical kitchen sponge. Your kitchen counter and cutting board are likely to have many more bacteria than a toilet seat. If your skin is healthy and intact, you can sit down on a toilet seat and be reassured that you have low risk. It is possible, however, unlikely, to catch a disease from a toilet seat. If the last person who used it had a contagious gastrointestinal illness (Norovirus and Shigella are the main ones), it's possible you could pick it up. You are much more likely to get a contagious disease via your hands, by touching other people or what they have touched. That's why washing your hands remains your best defense, especially after using the bathroom. If you are in an outbreak of a contagious illness (cruise ships have historically been associated with Norovirus), you could consider using an antiseptic wipe on the toilet seat, which reduces bacteria count by 98 percent. Also, during an outbreak or in high-risk situations (such as if you have or are taking care of someone with a compromised immune system), after washing your hands, use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and to touch the door handle. Neck popping Dear Dr. Roach: I am a 73-year-old male in good health. I recently have developed a cracking, popping sound when turning my neck. It is not painful, although sometimes my neck is a little sore. Can you shed a little light on what may be going on? D.P. A: A popping sound in the neck usually comes from one of the tendons (which attach muscles to the bones they move) rubbing across a bony prominence. (A similar sound can be heard by "cracking" knuckles or other joints, which is when nitrogen bubbles come out of solution). We tend to creak and crack more as we get older, which may be due to some arthritic changes making those bony prominences more prominent. However, popping sounds are common and do not usually represent something wrong. Flight concerns? Dear Dr. Roach: My husband just had his appendix taken out by laparoscopic surgery. Is it safe for him to fly? If so, are there any precautions he should take? D.G. A: There are two issues involved here. The first is that air introduced by surgery into the body will expand while at altitude, at least to a small extent, even in a modern pressurized cabin. That means you'll need to wait up to a week after major abdominal surgery. Chest surgery might mean a wait of up to two weeks. For laparoscopic surgery, two days is probably sufficient. Ask his surgeon to be sure. The second issue is blood clots. After any surgery, there is a propensity for blood clots for as long as four weeks. For those flying after surgery, it's particularly important to take precautions, such as flexing your leg muscles while seated and getting up and moving in the cabin as frequently as possible. Only his surgeon may recommend aspirin or other treatment to reduce clot risk, if appropriate. Aspirin can be risky after surgery. The military aid agreement signed by Israel and the United States last week is not a historic achievement but a strategic missed opportunity. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The agreement preserves the extent of America's support for Israel in a similar or slightly lower manner than the American support in the past decade. Considering the long-term challenges and the strategic reality created by the nuclear agreement with Iran, Israel could have obtained a much larger aid package. Both Obama and Netanyahu tried to present a significant increase in military aid, but the mathematical truth is that there is no such increase (Photo: Reuters) The significance the number $3.8 billion represents is not as important as the actual failure to obtain long-term strategic agreements between Israel and the US, or the failure to reach a "parallel agreement" which would allow Israel to deal with the long-term ramifications of the Iran deal. Both US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to present (the deal as) a significant increase in aid, but the truth is that there is no such increase. Last summer, Israel faced a very problematic nuclear agreement signed with Iran. While it was not a "new Holocaust," as believed in Jerusalem, it was not a "positive historic agreement," as believed in Washington either. A thorough examination of the agreement indicates that it reduces the Iranian nuclear threat in the short run, but conceals many dangers to Israel in the long run. In the agreement, Iran received legitimacy for unlimited nuclear abilities, which would allow it to get very close to a bomb. The agreement is very problematic in the conventional arena as well, as Iran receives additional resources and legitimacy to build its power and grow stronger. And if that were not enough, the compensation received by Arab states in the form of advanced weapons worth hundreds of billions of dollars has a potential component of threatening Israel's qualitative advantage. Netanyahu's letter to Kerry pledging not to receive additional funding from Congress. A responsible and far-reaching policy would have adopted the recommendation of the Institute for National Security Studies in the summer of 2015 and accepted the American president's invitation to enter a thorough strategic discourse. As part of such a discourse, Israel would have pointed at the agreement's problems while preparing to deal with its risks. Such a discourse would have yielded not only a more generous aid agreement, but also strategic understandings on the ongoing reinforcement of the intelligence activity, on preparing diplomatic and military options in case the agreement fails, on supplying unique systems to Israel, amongst other issues. But Jerusalem chose a different policy, a policy of breaking off contact with the administration and intervening in American politics through a Congressional address , which eventually did not change anything in the agreement with Iran and was simply a failed alternative to a dialogue and agreements which could have greatly bolstered Israel's security. The final chord of the aid agreement is represented by a somewhat absurd and humiliating letter, which Netanyahu was asked to sign. In the letter, he pledges to return additional funds allotted to Israel beyond the agreement. The letter represents the state of relations with the US which Netanyahu has led Israel too, and it appears that the Obama Administration could not help itself and had to mock the three bodies which declared a political war on the administration in the summer of 2015 the prime minister (who promises to return funds), Congress (whose funds will be returned if allotted) and the AIPAC lobby (which remains jobless). A little over a year since the construction of the Tel Aviv light rail began, 13 prominent businesses in the city have filed a lawsuit against the State of Israel, the NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System and the Tel Aviv municipality, claiming financial damages caused by the construction. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The 13 businesses, mostly restaurants and cafes in the Carlebach-Allenby area, are suing for NIS 7.8 million. Among the plaintiffs are the Tachtit cafe on Lincoln Street, a 4Chef branch and the restaurant Olive on Carlebach Street, and the restaurant Mi Vami on Menachem Begin Street. The restaurants 'Dabush' and 'Olive' (Photo: Yaron Brener) "This lawsuit has been filed by businesses that have suffered severe damages as a result of the construction that has been done, and continues to be done, to build a light rail line in Tel Aviv, from August 2015 to August 2016. During these months, extensive construction work was carried out close to the businesses of the plaintiffs. The construction work has been and continues to be carried out while seriously, and at time severely, damaging the countless businesses along the route of the planned light rail," the suit alleges. According to the suit, the construction of the light rail in Tel Aviv entails extensive digging along the planned route, significant reducation of public transportation in the area, blocking of entrances to the businesses, and limited access to private vehicles. In addition, the plaintiffs claim dirt and dust also affected their businesses, asking "Who wants to sit and eat in the mess and dust of a construction site?" The construction work also caused a significant reduction in foot traffic in the area, leading to less customers visiting their businesses, the suit alleges. The restaurant Olive claims cumulative damages amounting to some NIS 1.4 million; the Tachtit cafe claims cumulative damages amounting to some NIS 540,000; Mi Vami claims cumulative damages amounting to some NIS 339,000; and Coffee Organization,"a company that markets coffee and is located on Mikveh Israel Street, claims cumulative damages amounting to some NIS 1.6 million. Businesses on Carlebach Street (Photo: Yaron Brener) The plaintiffs claim the respondents did not create mechanisms that would enable carrying out the construction work without causing damages to the businesses in the area. The business owners are also seeking financial damages over municipal taxes, which they claim they had to pay despite not receiving basic municipal services during that time. The business owners state in the suit that they also reserve the right to sue again in the future for any additional damages they will suffer starting September 2016. Statements of the defense have not been filed yet. The Tel Aviv municipality said in response: "The lawsuit was recently received. The municipality is studying it and will respond to it in court." NTA said in response: "NTA, as a government company, is committed to facilitating the daily business operations in the area of construction as much as possible, and works as much as possible to allow easy accss to drivers, public transportation commuters and pedestrians. The decision regarding compensation to the businesses is made by the appropriate government ministries." Amongst the plethora of get-well cards sent to Sheba Medical Center for former President Shimon Peres, one card brought out the family's and the staff's emotions like none other. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter That message was written by international superstar Barbra Streisand, who sent a very meaningful, personal message. Message from Barbra Streisand Peres underwent a CT scan on Sunday, the results of which were encouraging, showing no worsening of his condition. The doctors then began a gradual process of reducing the amount of anesthesia the former president is under. However, Peres still remains on a respirator. Peres and Streisand have a special relationship which reached its peak when she performed at his 90th birthday party. Streisand came to Israel especially for him and sang the song "Avinu Malkenu" for himthe song which he chose. A letter from children wishing Shimon Peres a speedy recovery Dalia Rabin, daughter of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, also came to Sheba Medical Center to visit Peres and meet with his family. Meanwhile, waves of support continue to come in from the public. Hardly a day goes by without a principal or school teacher arriving with a folder of pictures and notes from children wishing the former president a speedy recovery. Peres's family, especially his son Nehemia Peres, have been touched by the songs and well wishes, and issued a statement saying, "The well wishes and songs of the children of Israel are what strengthens our family at this difficult time. To all the friends of Shimon Peres in Israel and abroad, we would like to thank you for the waves of love and support, which strengthen us and give us optimism. May we get good news." According to the latest reports on Monday, Peres managed to raise his hands and was responsive to instructions from the doctors. PORLAMAR, Venezuela - Member states of the Non-Aligned Movement called on Sunday for the United Nations to give more influence to developing countries. As the Cold War-era group wrapped up its 17th summit, its members said the UN should open the Security Council to more states and put more value on the self-determination of emerging powers. The 120-nation group's meeting was held on the Venezuelan resort island of Margarita. Few heads of state chose to attend as a crisis wracks this South American country, leading to widespread shortages and runaway crime. Venezuelan President Maduro said the UN should not only be reformed, it should be re-founded, with all nations on more equal footing. "This movement has the force, the leadership and the votes to decisively advance this transformation," he said. Maduro has often spoken out against sanctions and other measures that he calls attempts to interfere with the sovereignty of countries in the developing world. NEW YORK - Hillary Clinton is condemning what she calls "apparent terrorist attacks" in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota. Officials in New York said Sunday they were still trying to determine who was behind an explosion that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood and what the motivation was. New Jersey law enforcement would not say if a pipe bomb that exploded at a seaside community was terror-related. Officials said an attack at a Minnesota mall in which a man stabbed nine people was being investigated as a possible act of terrorism; an ISIS-run news agency called the attacker a "soldier of the Islamic State." In a statement Sunday, the Democratic presidential candidate said law enforcement officials in New York and New Jersey need support as they investigate. Clinton said of the Minnesota attack, "this should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS." VENEZUELA Non-Aligned Movement calls for inclusive U.N. PORLAMAR Members of the Non-Aligned Movement are calling for the United Nations to give more influence to developing countries. As the Cold War-era group wrapped up its 17th summit on Sunday, member nations called on the U.N. to open the Security Council to more states and place more value on the sovereignty of emerging powers. The summit of the 120-nation group was held on the Venezuelan resort island of Margarita. Few heads of state chose to attend as a crisis wracks the South American country, leading to widespread shortages and runaway crime. KENYA Photographing tourist killed by elephant NAIROBI A police official says an elephant killed an Italian tourist in Kenya's coastal region after he moved closer to get a better photo. Malindi Police Chief Muchangi Mutava said the 66-year-old man saw the elephant at a watering hole Sunday at the Swara Camp in Kulalu ranch and went to take photographs, but provoked the elephant which charged toward him. Kulalu Ranch is a tourist draw because it has a wide range of wildlife. Mutava says the tourist sustained serious injuries to his left leg and died at the camp. The police chief says the man was having breakfast with his wife in their tent when he left to photograph the elephant. HAITI Another insect-borne virus in Haiti Infectious disease specialists say they have confirmed the Mayaro virus in a patient in Haiti. The virus is closely related to the chikungunya virus but researchers say they do not yet know if its caused by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito thats been linked to chikungunya and the Zika virus. Many different mosquitoes can carry the same virus, said Dr. John Lednicky, a University of Florida associate professor in the environmental and global health department of the College of Public Health and Health Professions. Lednicky, who runs the universitys laboratory in Haiti, said the Mayaro virus first was found in Trinidad and Tobago in 1954, and has been causing illnesses in South America, mainly in the Amazon region. It causes similar symptoms to chikungunya: fever, joint and muscle pain, rashes and abdominal pain. Whether the confirmed case signals the start of a new outbreak in the Caribbean region, researchers do not know, Lednicky said. Nor do they know if the virus is going to be widespread in Haiti where the Zika virus has been difficult to track because of the countrys weak health system. Police detonated a suspicious package early on Monday near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, following concerns that it might contain a live explosive device, the city's mayor said. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The incident came after the United States was shaken by three attacks over the weekend, including a Saturday night bombing that injured 29 in Manhattan and a stabbing incident at a Minnesota shopping mall that wounded nine In Elizabeth, a city south of Newark, New Jersey, two men scavenging trash near the train station on Sunday evening found a suspicious package containing what could have been a live bomb in a trash can, Mayor Christian Bollwage said. Improvised explosive device found in New Jersey The men reported the package to police after they "saw wires and a pipe," Bollwage told reporters. A Union County bomb squad drone determined the package "could be a live bomb" and an FBI bomb squad went to the site. A large explosion was heard early on Monday near the transit station, NBC News reported. On social media network Twitter, Bollwage confirmed that police had detonated the suspicious package. In a subsequent tweet, he confirmed that the explosion followed a police bomb robot's attempt to disarm the device. An FBI spokesman in Newark, Mike Whitaker, said agents were aware of the situation in Elizabeth. "We are responding with our local law enforcement partners," he added, but declined to give further details. Investigators didn't immediately comment on whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to either of the two blasts. Bollwage said that he wasn't willing to say that Elizabeth had become a target, and that it was possible that someone worried about the authorities was trying to get rid of the package. "I'm extremely concerned for the residents of the community, but more importantly extremely concerned for everyone in the state and country where someone can just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it with no timers and then you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt," Bollwage said. New Jersey Transit Corp and Amtrak halted train services to the Elizabeth station as investigations continued, authorities said. A powerful explosion rocked Manhattan's popular Chelsea neighborhood late on Saturday after a pressure-cooker bomb packed with shrapnel detonated. A similar unexploded device was found a few blocks away later that night. The Chelsea blast followed a pipe bomb explosion on Saturday morning along the route of a running race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No one was injured in that blast, which is being investigated. Police in Union County, New Jersey, declined to comment. AMMAN, Jordan Jordan's parliament election on Tuesday is being touted as proof that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms despite regional turmoil and security threats. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Officials point to new rules of voting and the participation of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood for the first time in almost a decade. But critics argue that this year's electoral reformostensibly meant to strengthen political partieshas fallen short and that the revised system continues to favor King Abdullah II's traditional tribal supporters. They expect the parliament being chosen Tuesday to be similar to the outgoing onelargely an assembly of individuals with competing narrow interests, widely dismissed by Jordanians as ineffective in dealing with endemic unemployment and other crises. Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman (Photo: AP) The new election rules are "a step forward, but it is not yet enough to create a serious breakthrough on the reform track," said analyst Oraib al-Rantawi. The rules replace the "one man, one vote" system that was introduced in 1993 and weakened political parties. In Tuesday's election, Jordanians will choose 130 members of parliament, with 15 seats reserved for women, nine for Christians and three for minority Chechens and Circassians. More than 4 million Jordanians over the age of 17 are eligible to vote, more than twice the number in the 2013 election, when voters had to pre-register. Under the new rules, the country is divided into 23 districts, and voters choose candidates from competing lists in their district. In all, 1,252 candidates are running on 226 district lists. Voters can select one or more candidates on a list. Only six percent of the lists are affiliated with a specific political party, 11 percent have some party representatives, 39 percent are independent and 43 percent are based on tribal affiliations, according to the International Republican Institute, a US-based non-partisan group that seeks to promote democracy. Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman (Photo: AP) "The majority of voters base their voting habits on tribal affiliations, community roots and identity rather than approaches to policy," the group said. The most organized party is the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, a veteran opposition movement linked to the regional organization of the same name. The IAF competed in 2007, but boycotted parliament elections in 2010 and 2013, arguing the electoral system was unfair. The Brotherhood has suffered setbacks in the region and in Jordan in recent years, in part because of a backlash of various governments to the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. In Jordan, ideological arguments split the group into rival factions, with one recognized by the government as the official Brotherhood. The original group has been outlawed in Jordan, but its political arm, the IAF, remains legal. Al-Rantawi said he believes the IAF is running in this electiondespite misgivings about the systemto avoid becoming irrelevant. The mood among supporters was subdued at an IAF election rally over the weekend in Sweileh, a neighborhood in the capital, Amman. The outdoor gathering on a sandy lot drew a few hundred people, but several back rows of plastic chairs remained empty. IAF spokesman Murad Adayleh said his party would push for economic and educational reform. "Our role will be to uncover the government's wrong policies and address any mistakes," he said, dismissing suggestions that a vocal, but small IAF faction could inadvertently serve as democratic window dressing. Adayleh, who is also a candidate, said he expects his party will win between one-fourth and one-third of the seats. Al-Rantawi said he believes about 30 seats are in play for political parties, including about 20 for the IAF, and that the remaining 100 seats would be split among individuals. Other parties are less well known nationally, including leftists, centrists and conservatives. A debate among candidates from nine parties, held over the weekend at a hotel in Amman, rarely got beyond generalities, such as calls for lowering unemployment. One of the newcomers on the scene, the Maan List, campaigned for separation of religion and state, still a relatively provocative idea in the conservative, overwhelmingly Muslim kingdom. Candidate Mohammed Numan, a pediatrician, called for ending what he described as a culture of shaming those not considered devout enough. Growing voter apathy may be a key factor this year. In an IRI poll in April, 87 percent of 1,000 respondents said the outgoing parliament didn't accomplish anything worthwhile and more than half said they were somewhat or very unlikely to vote. The survey had an error margin of 3.5 percentage points. Voter turnout in 2013 was 56 percent, said analyst Ayoub Al-Nmour of Al-Hayat, a civil society group that monitors elections. This year, the percentage of those casting ballots will likely be lower because the pool of eligible voters nearly doubled, though turnout could be higher in absolute terms, he said. Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman (Photo: AP) Some voters are discouraged by unequal representation. For example, the urban district of Zarqa, with 1.8 million people, including large numbers of Jordanians of Palestinian origin, gets 11 seats in parliament, the same number as the tribal Karak district, with just 300,000 residents, said Al-Nmour. Mohammed Momani, the government spokesman, said the new voting system is a significant step toward political reform. "The fact that Jordan is actually holding elections ...in a region that is full of blood and fight and weaponsthat in itself is important," he said. "It shows the strength of this country, and the credibility of its institutions and the reform process." US-based analyst David Schenker said Jordan invests in regular elections in part to polish its image in the eyes of Western military and financial backers. "We know that the West has a special regard for Jordan, and we know that Jordan, because of this high regard ... is able to charge very high rent," said Schenker, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank. "It costs money to do these elections and there are some risks involved, but for Jordan it's important to display that the kingdom is different from other Arab states," he said. The Elor Azaria affair is still making headlines. Last week, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that even if it turns out that the soldier made a mistake when he shot an already-neutralized Palestinian terrorist to death in Hebron, he should be backed. What is backing, who should be backed, how will the backing be expressed and what does backing have to do with avoiding prosecution? Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Israel Defense Forces is supposed to operate under four principles. First, a soldier will not be prosecuted for an operational error, regardless of the gravity of its results. That does not mean that he will be backed. There have been many cases in which officers were dismissed following a serious operational failure. They were not backed but they were not prosecuted either, as their mistake was not caused by a criminal intention or a desire to violate orders. Avoiding prosecution and backing are, therefore, not the same thing. Azaria cannot argue that what he did was what he thought his commanders would have expected him to do, as his commander was right there (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Second, despite what I wrote in my previous piece, the army should be as patient as possible towards good officers or soldiers who were responsible for an operational failure. Too many dismissals following operational failures are a mistake and could negatively affect morale in the army and could even cause commanders to be afraid to take initiative. Moreover, many mistakes have been the result of complacency. Someone who has already experienced a failure personally will avoid repeating the mistake, as compared to others. This was well understood by one of the greatest military leaders of the 20th century, and one of the toughest, Georgy Zhukov. This man, who was responsible for most of the Russians' great victories in World War II, confronted Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in November 1941. Stalin wanted to dismiss and even execute General Konev for his failure to defend the Moscow front. Zhukov wanted Konev to be his deputy, and managed to convince Stalin by saying that it would be better to have a person who had already learned from his mistakes in the senior position than someone else who would repeat them. Third, regardless of a command procedure (dismissal or no dismissal), a soldier is not prosecuted if he made a judgment error or read the situation wrong and acted accordingly as long as the operational investigation finds that the soldier did not have any ulterior motives. Fourth, a soldier is not prosecuted just because he acted against orders. Moreover, we even expect a soldier to act against orders under certain circumstances. Here's a trivial example: A soldier is sent with a vehicle from the base to deliver equipment to a unit engaged in a training session. He is given explicit orders to drive straight, not to make any stops and to reach his destination by 12 pm. On his way, he witnesses a serious road accident, sees a vehicle lying on its roof at the side of the road and hears people screaming inside. The soldier looks at his watch and realizes that if he stops to help the passengers, he will both violate the order he received (not to make any stops) and arrive late. Nonetheless, he is expected to act against the orders and help rescue the injured. The fundamental justification for deviating from an explicit order and acting against it is based on one consideration: The soldier must ask himself whether, according to his best judgment, the commander who gave him the mission would have allowed him to rescue the injured or stuck to the initial mission had he been present at the scene of the accident. If it seems reasonable to him that his commander would have changed his orders in that case, then it is not just his right to violate the order, but his duty, and he will clearly not be prosecuted. That is one of the weak points in Elor Azaria's arguments. He cannot argue that what he did was what he thought his commanders would have expected him to do, as his commander had been present during the incident. He had the option of asking him, but refrained from doing so. Major-General (res.) Giora Eiland is a former head of Israel's National Security Council. Dozens of right-wing activists began a staged demonstration Monday afternoon in the northern Israeli village of Ara outside the home belonging to the parents of Nashat Melhem, who carried out a deadly shooting terror attack on New Years Day. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Melhem opened fire on the popular Dizengoff street in Tel Aviv last January killing Alon Bakal , 26, who was the manager of the Simta bar at which the attack took place, and Shimon Ruimi, 30, from Ofakim and Amin Shaban, a taxi driver. Nashat Melhem killed 3 in Tel Aviv shooting attack A desmonstration is also expected to take place in the neighborhood in Arara where Melhem was eventually killed by security forces following a protracted manhunt. Local residents announced that counter-demonstrations against the activists will also be simultaneously staged and that they will seek to prevent activists entry into the village. The Monitoring Committee of Arab citizens of Israel called on Arab residents to join the counter-demonstrations. Given the potential friction which risks sparking violent clashes, the police have announced that a heavy security presence will be stationed at the demonstration locations to avoid the disruption of public order. Right-wing activist and lawyer, Itamar Ben-Gvir, explained the reasoning behind the protest. We are going to the home of the parents of the terrorist to say to whoever supported him and gave him assistance that the time has come to stop this lawlessness, said Ben-Gvir. The State of Israel cannot tolerate all kinds of disloyal elements, especially such as those who assist and support a terrorists and his criminal acts of murder. Nashat Melhem The demonstration is open to the village residents who oppose terrorists and anyone loyal to the state, Ben-Gvir added. Local residents however, posit that the real targets of the demonstration are not terrorists or their sympathizers but the Arab community as a whole. The right wants to highlight the story of Nashat Melhem a year after the attack with the aim of undermining the quiet in the village.That is why it was decided that we will also demonstrate, and prevent their visit, said a social activist and Ara resident, Loius Kativ. The parents of the terrorist are normal people who were forced to pay the price despite having no connection with the arrest, Kativ added in reference to the fact that Melhems father was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack, and subsequently released. Police block a road in Arara during search for Melhem's father The demonstration would only foment further anger in the village, Kativ warned. We did not see the State of Israel apologize for the (Duma) arson (attack) on the Dawabsheh family . I am surprised that the justice system has allowed these people to protest in our village. The target of the protest is not Nashat Melhem but the (desire) to blame the whole Arab population and brand them as terrorists, he argued. Unfortunately, the courts are abandoning the Palestinian Arabs. We will stage our own protest...and try to prevent them from coming into the village. We know that the police always arrest the Palestinian-Arab side. Despite all the threats from the police that will not be tolerant, we are all prepared to pay the price. Tomorrow, we will be by the home of Nashat Melhem and the point where he was killed, Kativ said. Itamar Ben-Gvir (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum) Samar, another resident from Ara, who will also be participating in the counter-demonstration added, We will not allow the right-wingers to enter here. They have no place in the village. We will do all in order to oust the racists who come to provoke us and to convey message of hate and racism. Like Kativ, Samar also promised that the residents would do all they could to block the activists entry no matter what the price. The police will not intimidate us. Abed al-Aziz Meri, who purchased the knife used by terrorist Muhannad Halabi to stab two Israelis to death in Jerusalem last October, has reached a deal with the State Attorney according to which he will plea guilty to aiding the murder and serve 35 years in prison. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Halabi murdered Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and Rabbi Aharon Banita-Bennett near the Lions Gate in the Old City and wounded Bennett's wife and child. He was shot dead at the scene of the stabbing by Border Police officers. In the original indictment, Meri was charged with murder of the two men and with the attempted murder of Adele, Banita-Bennett's widow, who was seriously wounded in the attack. The victims: Rabbi Aharon Banita-Bennett and Rabbi Nehemia Lavi. According to the updated indictment, Meri, a 22-year-old Hamas operative and student at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, encouraged Halabi to carry out the attack on the eve of Sukkot last year. On the day of the attack, Meri and Halabi arrived at the al-Aqsa mosque to pray. On their way there, they encountered Israeli police officers who prevented them from entering the compound. Halabi later told Meri that he wanted "to slap" the police officer, and the latter responded that he should not settle for that but rather do "something worthwhile." Meri purchased a butcher knife for Halabi, took a photo with him, and told him he needs to die "a martyr's death" in the attack so he can become a "shahid." Shortly after the two went on their separate ways near the Damascus Gate in the Old City, Halabi attacked the Banita-Bennett couple, who were walking down Hagai Street with their two young children on their way back from the Western Wall. Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, who lived on that street, heard their cries for help and left his home to aid them. He too became a victim to Halabi's attack. In addition to being charged with accessory to murder, Meri was also indicted for illegal entry into Israel and the possession of a knife. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court will also discuss on Monday the punishment for Hamis Salaymeh of Wadi Joz, who aided the three terrorists who carried out the attack in which Border Policewoman Hadar Cohen by transporting them illegally into Israel. Indicting an illegal-immigrant smuggler for involuntary manslaughter is unusual, and this is one of the few cases that included this charge in the indictment in the recent wave of terror attacks. While most of the terrorists have so far been residents of Israel, the State Attorney's Office sought to convey a deterrent to illegal-immigrant smugglers that they carry some responsibility for the actions of those they bring into the country. In Salaymeh's instance, he was driving three men who claimed they were going to work but were dressed up, which should have caused him to suspect their intentions and inquire where the three were heading. By failing to do so, he was negligent. The decline in security throughout the world has raised awareness of the need for new technological developments in homeland security and cyberspace. Homeland security and cyber defense are the Israels newest and hottest branches of export. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Israel Export Institute and the Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy, together with the National Cyber Bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Security Aid and Exports Department at the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Israel Airports Authority, are hard at work putting together the November 14-17 International Conference on Homeland Security and Cyber. Among the guests expected to attend are dozens of homeland security ministers, police commissioners, intelligence agency chiefs, cyber security directors at government institutions, banks, and corporations, CEOs and key personnel from leading companies in homeland security and cyber defense. : X For the first time ever, the conference will deal with the interface between cyberspace and homeland security, and focus on four main topics: intelligence and terrorism; defending essential infrastructure (transportation and aviation, electricity, gas, oil); the smart global world; and incident management and emergency preparedness. Guests will hold previously scheduled business meetings with Israeli companies and tour the professional exposition open concurrently with the conference, presenting the innovative solutions offered by some 160 Israeli companies. Among the participants in the expo are Elbit Systems, the Mer Group, SuperCom, Rafael, Magal, the Rayzone Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and many more. We went to check out some of the new products and found several particularly innovative and promising companies: Jamming hostile drone communications Phantom Technologies Ltd. manufactures equipment that blocks and exposes drones. The moment a drone is detected, the system operates an automatic blocker that prevents the drone from entering the protected area. This system doesnt broadcast anything; it simply detects communications from the drone to the ground, says company CEO Roee Itzhakov. The moment communications are sensed, the system identifies the drones presence, determines it is a threat, and deploys a blocker that jams the drones communications systems. A thermal camera on your cell phone Therm-App is a thermal camera based on the Androids operating system. It represents something truly innovative in thermal imaging because its the first open-source-based system in the world, says Roy Israely, director of marketing at Opgal Optronic Industries Ltd. The thermal technology detects electromagnetic radiationor, in other words, heat. The camera is enabled to detect the unique heat pattern of specific objects and create a virtual picture of them. The camera is not light-sensitive and can therefore operate under conditions of absolute dark and in fog and can pick out human targets at 400-500 meter ranges. Intelligence gathering KELA Israeli Intelligence Ltd. provides ad hoc intelligence solutions to companies and organizations around the world. We gather all intelligence connected to a company anywhere on the web, says M., representing KELA. We gather and analyze, and through the analysis discover if the party is facing any particular risk or threat. The moment we discover one, we analyze it and warn the relevant party. Motion detection from afar Agent Vi is a leading global provider of open architecture video analytics solutions, using cameras, CCTV, and video. If someone crosses a virtual line, we can see him and send a warning or alarm to the relevant security personnel, says Saul Gold, director of marketing for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Agent Vi. We also run a search of every video running hours, days, and even months, through smart filters we apply. Magus Ltd. is intent on revolutionizing the security market. The idea is to take radar technology, which has till now only be available to clients such as armies, border patrols, and other institutions with massive budgets, and bring it to civilian industries, says Gadi Bar-Ner, vice president for marketing at Magus. We want to be able to allow the electric company, oil companies, and other members of the essential infrastructure industry to use it for perimeter security and connect it to cameras to create a comprehensive solution to entire issue of onsite security. According to him, radar istechnologically speakingthe best detection measure known to man. It works in any weather, by day or night nothing fazes it. It can detect a human body at a distance of 400-500 meters and can cover 120 of a sector; radar knows the exact location of any intruding object, puts it on the map, and sends out a simple civilian camera that follows the object continuously. The article was prepared with help from the Israel Export Institute. Over the weekend, two Israelis were arrested abroadone in India and one at the Taba Crossing into Egyptfor having rifle bullets in their bags. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "R." was flying to India via Moscow and was detained at the New Delhi airport on her way to Dharamshala. She was going though the security check before her connecting flight when a bullet was found that she had apparently forgotten about from her IDF service. Taba Crossing (Photo: Yair Sagi) Her father contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' situation room for Israelis abroad, and they contacted the Israeli consul in New Delhi, Ziv Bilaus, and he managed to prevent an indictment being filed against her. Though R. avoided arrest, she was required to remain in New Delhi for a time until the completion of the legal proceedings, at which time she continued on to Dharamshala. Another young Israeli who had recently completed his IDF service was detained at the Taba Crossing in similar circumstances. Generally, the Egyptian authorities consider carrying ammunition to be serious, but the intervention of the Israeli consul in Cairo, Yehuda Golan, led to his release after a few days of detention and paying a small fee, all on account of one M-16 bullet that he had forgotten in his bag. Two terrorists attempted to stab Border Police officers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Monday afternoon. They were shot and very seriously injured before they could harm anyone. One attacker was declared dead at the scene, while th second was pronounced dead in hospital. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Scene of the attack (Photo: Midabrim Communications) According to the police, the two attackers are Hebron residents who came to the site intending to carry out an attack on the Border Police forces there. On pulling out their knives, the Border Police at the scene shot at the attackers. This was the second stabbing attack of Monday, with an east Jerusalem resident stabbing two Israel Police officers in the morning before one of them managed to draw his weapon and shoot their attacker. Dozens of right-wing activists staged a demonstration Monday afternoon in the northern Israeli village of Ara outside the home belonging to the parents of Nashat Melhem, who carried out a deadly shooting terror attack on New Years Day. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter As demonstrators waved the Israeli flag, the residents blocked the road leading to Melhems home. Police reinforcements were stationed at the scene to ensure the maintenance of public order. However, skirmishes eventually broke out with the police at whom some of the residents began to hurl rocks. Two were eventually arrested. Clashes break out in Arara nearthe home of Nashat Belhem Melhem opened fire on the popular Dizengoff street in Tel Aviv in January 2016 killing Alon Bakal, 26, who was the manager of the Simta bar at which the attack took place, and Shimon Ruimi, 30, from Ofakim. l and Amin Shaban, a taxi driver. Right-wing activist and lawyer, Itamar Ben-Gvir, explained the reasoning behind the protest. We are going to the home of the parents of the terrorist to say to whoever supported him and gave him assistance that the time has come to stop this lawlessness, said Ben-Gvir. The State of Israel cannot tolerate all kinds of disloyal elements, especially such as those who assist and support a terrorists and his criminal acts of murder. Arab residents blck the road to Melhem's house Local residents however, posit that the real targets of the demonstration are not terrorists or their sympathizers but the Arab community as a whole. The right wants to highlight the story of Nashat Melhem a year after the attack with the aim of undermining the quiet in the village.That is why it was decided that we will also demonstrate, and prevent their visit, said a social activist and Ara resident, Loius Kativ. The parents of the terrorist are normal people who were forced to pay the price despite having no connection with the arrest, Kativ added in reference to the fact that Melhems father was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack, and subsequently released. Border Police stationed at the protest Joint Arab List MK Yousef Jabareen condemned the march orchestrated by the activists: This is a provocative march by a group of fascists, whose entire aim is to slander all the residents of Wadi Ara and to incite against them. Both the local council and the residents in the area strongly condemned the attack in Dizengoff which is why it is obvious that the aim of the protest is to arouse hatred and strife against the Arab public, he said. This is a continuation of the rights effort to delegitimize Arab civilians and to portray them as enemies, continued Jabareen, who is also a resident of the area. In a last-ditch effort to prevent the evacuation of their outpost, the residents of Amona sent a letter of protest to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, urging him to legalize their homes. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "Amona has become a symbol of the settlement enterprise. Then again, we have nothing to lose," they wrote. "Any alternative that is not Amona is out of the question. We won't be bought with futile promises, budgets or other inducements." The settlers noted that they intend to mount a "public popular struggle, respectable and difficult, that would unite all of our supporters, both within the outpost and without. This will be the fight of our lives for our home." Residents of Amona (Photo: Tal Shahar) At present, there is one alternative solution on the table: A proposal to move the Amona homes to 11 nearby plots belonging to absentee Palestinian owners, over which the Palestinians did not submit any reservations. But the letter indicates that the settlers have a clear preference to the legislative option. "The Israeli public is no longer willing to tolerate sights of destruction and evacuation. If we fought against the demolition of nine houses during Olmert's tenure, we are most certainly going to fight when the entire outpost is at risk of demolition," the settlers wrote. However, they stressed that "We will not raise a hand, heaven forbid, but we will fight with determination. We'll stand in our thousands and defend our homes." The settlers also reminded Netanyahu of his past promise, "In several months, the Likud government under your leadership is expected to demolish our homes and throw our families out to the street, in contradiction to your famous statement: 'We did not evacuate, and we will not evacuate.'" The settlers finish their letter with a plea, "50 years after the people of Israel returned to the wide open spaces of their homeland, it is time to decide. We call on you, out of a historic sense of missionpass the bill (that would legalize Amona). Save Amona and the settlement enterprise." In the past, the Netanyahu government has torpedoed previous attempts to legalize the outpost in Amona, and it appears the prime minister still opposes such a move, particularly in light of the legal complications it entails. By Hermineh Virabyan More than twenty police have descended on the Aragatzotn village of Tzaghkahovit, where one of the four candidates running for mayor is Arayik Khantoyan, a member of the Sasna Dzrer group that seized a Yerevan police building in July. Khantoyan, a village resident, is now in jail awaiting trial for the armed takeover. When this reporter asked the police why they had arrived, they advised me to ask the public affairs division of the police. The police at first said they would look into the report and soon afterwards claimed that all was in order and that voting was proceeding normally. The official I talked to said a beefed-up police presence had been ordered, but that nothing out of the ordinary was taking place in Tzaghkahovit The special anti-terrorism unit of the Latvian police carried out a hostage-situation simulation at the Israeli Embassy in Riga on Saturday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In the drill, the special unit acted to free hostages from the embassy's consular section. Similar exercises have been carried out at the Israeli embassies in Ukraine and Romania. The drill simulated all of the potential stages of the imagined scenario: the taking hostage, the negotiation with the terrorists, breaking into the building and the sounds of explosions and gunfire. The exercise was overseen by the embassy's security officer and the commander of the Latvian police's special anti-terrorism unit. Several senior officers from the Latvian national police were also present. Israel's ambassador to Latvia, Lironne Bar-Sadeh, commented, "Everybody was saved. The cooperation was really excellent." LASHKAR GAH- A US air strike killed as many as eight Afghan policemen outside the embattled provincial capital of Uruzgan province, Afghan officials said on Monday, as security forces, supported by U.S. strikes, battle resurgent Taliban militants. An initial air strike late on Sunday killed one policeman, while a follow up strike targeted first responders, killing at least seven, said Rahimullah Khan, commander of the reserve police unit in Uruzgan. Another official, Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammed Qawi Omari, put the death toll at six but also reported the police were killed by a foreign air strike. The trial of Sgt. Elor Azariawho was indicted for manslaughter after he was captured on camera shooting an already neutralized Palestinian terrorist, Abed al Fatah al-Sharif, in Hebroncontinued Monday afternoon at a special military court in Jaffa. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Two IDF reserve generalsformer Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan and head of the IDF Technological and Logistics Directorate Ret. Maj. Gen. Dan Bitonprovided testimony for the defense team in which they propounded that Azarias actions were justified. Only moments elapsed before an argument broke out between Dayanwho took to the witness stand firstand Prosecutor Lt. Col. Nadav Weisman and defense attorney Illan Katz. Sgt. Elor Azaria shoots neutralized terrorist (: . ) X Dayan, the most senior officer to have testified in the trial thus far, began by calling into question the expertise and experience of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), stating that it was unfit to investigate such trials. The CID doesnt have, in my opinion, the experience or the authority to investigate operational incidents, said Dayan, triggering an instant rebuttal from Weisman who cited questionable instances investigated by the CID which occurred under his command. Photo: Motti Kimchi The reference prompted attorney Katz to thump the table and shout, Dayan in not a criminal, before Dayan himself said, I have just as much experience as you in security incidents. After a series of back-and-forths, the focus returned to Azaria. I am sufficiently knowledgeable on the criminal law to wonder about his guilt. If we are talking about malice, then there needs to be a murder indictment, said Dayan. Manslaughter is... unclear. I dont know whether Azaria did wrong or not. His right to innocence has been mowed down. He was judged on Facebook. I submitted my opinion and concerns about the influence of this on soldiers in the field. Every day of the trial damages the IDF and influences soldiers. Left to Right: Dan Biton, Uzi Dayan, Shmuel Zakai At one point during his testimony, Dayan grew impatient with the prosecutors questions. I have given orders to kill terrorists with no connection to the question in the same moment about whether there was danger. Terrorists need to die. The fate of terrorists is to die. Even if you dont know whether the person is a terrorist or not, you have an obligation to protect your life and that of others, Dayan exclaimed. At the end of the investigation, a number of questions were put before Dayan, who offered his take on the rules of engagement. The rules of engagement do not outweigh the mission or the orders received in the field. If the objective is to kill a terrorist in a cab in Gaza, I dont operate according to the rules of engagement. If you are walking at night in Hebron and identify a terrorist carrying a weapon ... as a rule, you have to kill them. If you just report it instead, then he will be able to carry out an attack. He might be carrying a guitar and not a Kalashnikov, in which case the level of experience one has is extremely important. When it comes to terrorists, let their blood be on their own responsibility. It's a good result if they're dead." Dan Biton then provided his testimony offering his expert opinion for the defense. Prosecutor Weisman immediately set about taking Biton to task for the fact that his opinion was almost identical to that of Brig. Gen. Shmuel Zakai, who was discharged from the army 12 years ago after then Chief-of-Staff Yaalon accused him of leaking military information to the political echelon. Biton responded, That is reasonable in my view. He didnt know if there was an explosive device on the terrorist or not. A quick movement by the terrorist is enough to (justify) shooting even if no other commander or soldier senses danger as determined by the instructions of the Operations Directorate. You are a military court and you are obliged to stick to military orders. It isnt black or white. Because of you, the prosecutor, every military operationeven during warwill be put on trial, and that should not be the case. said Biton. Sgt. Elor Azaria's father, Charlie Aaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi) He went on to accuse the commanders of shirking responsibility. The commanders escaped from the their responsibility. Azaria did not participate in the military investigation. The commanders ran straight to the courts. You cant latch on to things said by a soldier a minute or an hour after the shooting. It isnt important what a 19-year-old soldier says when he is agitated, Biton said. The feeling that you are in life-threatening danger at the scene and the pressure makes you act. I was in situations like that. If the soldier killed for no reason then he should sit in prison. In this instance I disagree with the prosecutor who is (creating a climate in which) every soldier would have to go to battle with a lawyer, Biton concluded before leveling the accusation at Weisman, You are castrating the army. After weeks of absence from the court proceedings due to a stroke, Sgt. Azarias father, Charlie Azaria, who was supported by those around him, arrived at the trial. Charlie hugged his son and cried during the court proceedings. At the sessions conclusion, Charlie hugged General Bitton and said, I rise and I salute the generals who come here. We are a strong family and we will not be broken. Ahead of breast cancer awareness month, which will be taking place in October, the Tel Aviv Culture Palace and its surrounding grounds will be lit in pink. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Culture Palace thus joins about 200 other sites in the world that will shine in bubblegum colors, including the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House, the Tokyo Tower, Schonborn Castle in Prague, and more. The TA Culture Palace in pink. (Photo: Lance Productions) The statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (PR Photo) The Sydney Opera House. (PR Photo) Niagara Falls, Canada. (PR Photo) Empire State Building, NYC. (PR Photo) The illumination of the Culture Palace is part of a joint campaign by the Israel Cancer Association and the Estee Lauder company. NEW YORK -- The Syrian ceasefire is holding but fragile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday amid reports that fighting had picked up after a week of reduced violence and humanitarian aid was still not getting to besieged areas in Aleppo. "The basic ceasefire is holding but (is) fragile," Kerry said as he met his Vatican counterpart in New York. "We're waiting to get the full download from our team that is meeting now with the Russians in Geneva." He said humanitarian assistance should reach eight locations on Monday, a key part of the ceasefire negotiated between him and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov more than a week ago. Terrorists are likely to try to carry out terror attacks over The High Holy Days. The Counter Terrorism Bureau of the Prime Minister's Office said that although there is no concrete evidence of a potential terror attack, it is a favored time for terrorists to try and commit attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Israel and abroad. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Bureau is asking that the public increase its awareness and maintain its vigilance in public places outside of Israel where ISIS attacks are known to happen, such as stadiums, sporting events, cultural centers, nightclubs, malls, hotels, airports, and major public transportation hubs. ISIS is expected to continue to carry out attacks worldwide, especially in light of its heavy losses of territory in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Terror attack in Istanbul (Reuters) The Bureau also re-issued a severe travel warning to Turkey despite the reconciliation agreement between Turkey and Israel. The Bureau recommends that Israelis mitigate travel to the country due to the continuing attacks occurring there. However, a high ranking official in the Bureau said that there is no specific warning against connecting flights in Istanbul, as long as the passengers stay inside the sterile airport area. There is also a serious travel warning against going to the Sinai Peninsula. "Due to the security situation in the area and the ongoing acts of terror there, especially in the areas of Sinai controlled by ISIS, it is recommended mitigate all travel to the region." The Bureau official said "the situation in Sinai is really bad. The area is a terror front." There is also a threat to Western interests in Africa in general, along with Israeli sites and interests, specifically businesspeople, companies, and malls. Several jihadist groups operate on the continent, including; al-Shabab based in Somalia; Boko Haram based in Nigeria, Niger. Chad, and Cameroon; and ISIS and al-Qaida in North Africa, especially in Tunisia and Morocco. Other warning which are still in place include in south Thailand, Kashmir in India, and Mindinao Island in the Philippines due to political unrest. Overall, there are travel warnings against 34 countries including six countries which are illegal to enter (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran). With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, world leaders and foreign ministers from 193 countries have approved a wide-ranging document aimed at providing a more humane and coordinated response to the refugee crisis. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The 22-page "New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants," is not legally binding and lacks concrete commitments but calls on countries to protect refugees' human rights, boost humanitarian aid and increase resettlement of refugees. The highest number or refugees since World War 2. (Photo: AP) The issue of what to do about the world's 65.3 million displaced people took center stage at the General Assembly with leaders converging on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. "If we are able to translate that paper into a response in which many actors are going to participate, we will solve a lot of problems in emergency responses and in long-term refugee situations like the Syrian situation," Fillipo Grandi, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees told AP. The agreement seeks to standardize responses to refugee situations and provide better education and jobs to refugees. It also encourages resettlement and includes plans for a campaign to combat xenophobia. A number of countries rejected an earlier draft of the agreement that called on nations to resettle 10 percent of the refugee population each year, something that has led several human rights groups to criticize the document as a missed opportunity. The US and a number of other countries also objected to language in the original draft that said children should never be detained, so the agreement now says children should seldom, if ever, be detained. "Instead of sharing responsibility, world leaders shirked it. The UN summit has been sabotaged by states acting in self-interest, leaving millions of refugees in dire situations around the world on the edge of a precipice," Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement. Shetty said the agreement merely kicks the can down the road by calling for separate global compacts for refugees and migrants to be adopted within two years. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose report on refugees and migrants laid the basis for the summit document, said he was aware of the criticism from non-governmental groups. "While we all wish it could be a stronger outcome document ... all 193 member states had to agree on their commitment. As you will see, my report was a strong one," Ban said. "I hope that, as the two compacts are adopted over the coming year and a half, some stronger language and commitment and elements from the report will reappear in the course of this negotiation." UN Secretary-General Ban. "As you will see, my report was a strong one." (Photo: Getty Images) More concrete progress is expected at a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that are in line with US goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for 1 million youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced. "You hear all around the world the UN hasn't handled the refugee crisis. The way the UN will handle the refugee crisis is if all of us countries within the UN step up and dig deep and face those political headwinds that we all face, to do more, to give more, to take on a greater share of the resettlement challenge," said Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN. Prior to the pledging summit with world leaders, Obama will host a meeting with top executives from 50 companies to discuss what the private sector can do to help address the problem, Power said. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an "unprecedented" 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from a year earlier. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants. According to the UN Refugee Agency, refugees are people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants chose to move in search of a better life. ST. CLOUD- Authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a potential act of terrorism, a finding that would realize long-held fears of an attack in the immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including ISIS. A young Somali man dressed as a private security guard entered the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud over the weekend wielding what appeared to be a kitchen knife. The city's police chief said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. The rampage ended when the man was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. None of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds. The motive of Saturday's attack is still unclear, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton has said it is being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism." The Islamic State claimed responsibility, but it wasn't clear whether the attacker was radicalized. Authorities were digging into his background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts and electronic devices and talking to his associates, Thornton said. The attack in St. Cloud, a city of about 65,000 people, began shortly after an explosion in a crowded New York City neighborhood injured 29 people. Hours before that, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a 5K race. But President Barack Obama said Monday that authorities see no connection between the New York area explosions and the Minnesota stabbing. BEIRUT- Syria's military declared a week-long ceasefire over on Monday and vowed to continue fighting, even as officials from the United States and Russia met behind closed doors in Geneva to try to extend it. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter What is likely to be the final attempt by the US administration of President Barack Obama to find a negotiated solution to the five year old civil war appeared close to collapse. US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was too early to call the ceasefire finished, and the United Nations said that only Washington and Moscow could declare it over, as they were the ones who had originally agreed it. US Sec. of Defense John Kerry and Russian FM Sergei Lavrov (Photo: AP) But both the Syrian army and the rebels spoke openly of returning to the battlefield. Syria's army said the seven day truce period had ended. It accused "terrorist groups", a term the government uses for all insurgents, of exploiting the calm to rearm while violating the ceasefire 300 times, and vowed to "continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability". Asked about the army's statement, Kerry told reporters in New York that the seven days of calm and the delivery of aid envisaged in the truce had not yet taken place. "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this," Kerry said. "We just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods, and let's see where we are. We're happy to have a conversation with them." Aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province on Monday, the Red Cross said, for the first time since July. The convoy brought in food, water and hygiene supplies for up to 84,000 people, it said. But most aid shipments envisioned under the truce have yet to go in, especially a convoy destined for rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo, where some 275,000 civilians are believed trapped without access to food or medical supplies. UN aid trapped on the Turkish border with Syria "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo," the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien said in a statement. The United Nations said it had received government approval to reach nearly all the besieged and hard-to-reach areas where it sought to bring aid, but access to many areas was still constrained by fighting, insecurity and administrative delays. Already widely violated since it took effect, the ceasefire came under added strain at the weekend when Russia said jets from the US-led coalition against ISIS killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called that incident "flagrant aggression". Washington has called it a mistake. KERRY'S GAMBLE The ceasefire is the second negotiated by Washington and Moscow since Russia joined the war. But while it led to a significant reduction in fighting at the outset, violence has increased in recent days and aid has mostly failed to arrive. Plans to evacuate several hundred rebels from the last opposition-held district of Homs city have also overshadowed the agreement, with rebels saying it would amount to the government declaring the ceasefire over. The Homs governor said the plan had been postponed from Monday to Tuesday. If the truce were to collapse, it could doom any chance of the Obama administration negotiating a Syria breakthrough before it leaves office in January. Kerry overcame skepticism of other administration officials to hammer out the deal, gambling on cooperation with Russia despite the deepest mistrust in decades between the Cold War-era superpower foes. Washington and Moscow back opposite sides in the war between Assad's government and the insurgents, while both oppose the Islamic State jihadist group. Russia joined the war a year ago on Assad's side, tipping it firmly in his favour. Smoke rises from a bomb in Aleppo (Photo: AP) The politburo chief of one prominent Aleppo rebel group, Fastaqim, said the agreement had "practically failed and has ended", adding that it remained to be seen if anything could be done "in theory" to save it. Zakaria Malahifji, speaking to Reuters from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, also indicated rebel groups were preparing for combat: "I imagine in the near future there will be action by the factions". Abu al-Baraa al-Hamawi, commander of a group fighting in the Jaish al-Fatah Islamist alliance, said it was time for a new attempt "to break the siege on thousands of civilians in Aleppo after the false promises of aid deliveries from the United Nations". Monitors reported clashes in and around Aleppo on Monday. The government blamed some of the violence on what it said was an insurgent assault, but another rebel official denied they had yet launched new attacks. Destroyed buildings in Homs (Photo: AFP) The opposition High Negotiations Committee spokesman Riad Nassan Agha said the government side had never committed to the truce: "Air raids by Russian and Syrian warplanes, which haven't stopped, suggest the truce never started in the first place." CHALLENGES The US-Russian deal, whose details are still secret, calls for the eventual joint US-Russian targeting of jihadists including ISIS and the former Syrian branch of al Qaeda. That would mean the former superpower enemies fighting together for the first time since World War Two, a measure even more remarkable for the distrust between them since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and the United States and Europe responded by imposing financial sanctions. But the peace initiative has faced enormous challenges from the outset, including how to disentangle nationalist rebels backed by the West from jihadists not covered by the truce. There has been no sign of compromise on the issue at the heart of the war: the future of Assad, who enjoys firm Iranian and Russian military backing that is buttressing his strongest military position in years. The dispute over his fate has made a mockery of all previous diplomatic efforts to end the fighting. The air strike on a Syrian army position by the US-led coalition on Saturday triggered a fierce war of words between Washington and Moscow, with Russia saying it put the agreement under threat. US Special Forces on the ground in Syria (Photo: AFP) A US official said the US military believed reports that about 60 Syrian troops were killed. Two Danish F-16 fighter jets and Australian aircraft took part in the raid. The United States relayed "regret" about the unintentional loss of life. The Danish defense minister said on Monday "more credible sources" than just the Russian account were needed before he could draw conclusions. Assad said the strikes were an act of "flagrant aggression" and showed that the United States and other countries opposing him were "increasing support for terrorists" and seeking to fuel the war. A planned evacuation of several hundred rebels from the last opposition-held district of Homs, al-Waer, has also endangered the deal. Rebels said that plan would amount to the government declaring the truce over. The Homs governor Talal Barazi said the evacuation had been postponed due to "logistical obstacles", and negotiating committees were completing the preparations, state TV reported. He told journalists it would take place on Tuesday morning. Barazi said on Sunday that 250-300 rebels were due to be evacuated from Waer, on Monday. The opposition says such evacuations are part of a government strategy to forcibly displace its opponents after years of siege and bombardment. There were four terror attacks carried out throughout Israel on Monday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In the latest, a bus driver was lightly wounded in a stone throwing attack on Monday evening as it was travelling through the Arab Wadi al-Joz neighborhood in east Jerusalem. Magen David Adom paramedics arrived on the scene and treated the driver, while the Israel Police have begun a search for the stone throwers. The subject of the stone throwing attack in Wadi al-Joz (Photo: EE911 Reports) Meanwhile, only moments before, a Palestinian man tried to stab IDF soldiers who were combing the area in the Abu Snina neighborhood of Hebron. The soldiers arrested the terrorist without firing a shot, and took him in for questioning. The US State Department issued a travel warning to east Jerusalem following Mondays terror incidents. The warning stated that the reason for this is recent terror events in Jerusalems Old City, and said that civilians should avoid visiting areas in which there is a heavy police presence. American citizens were specifically warned to avoid going to the Old Citys gates - particularly the Lions Gate, Damascus Gate, and Herods Gate. Earlier in the evening, Jerusalem District Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner Yoram Halevy, addressed the recent wave of attacks and said that police will continue to close streets and stores after attacks. "We will close stores in any sector after an attack takes place so that we can sterilize the area." Shattered glass on the bus attacked in east Jerusalem (Photo: EE911 Reports) Halevy was referring to the fact that during the day, after terrorist attacks in Herod's Gate, east Jerusalem Police closed the Sultan Suleiman street shops. Police stressed that the decision was based on "operational considerations in order to establish information and complete the investigation of the attack." After several hours and an official police assessment, police decided to reopen the route and shops. Two terrorists attempted to stab Border Police officers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron earlier on Monday afternoon. They were shot and very seriously injured before they could harm anyone. One attacker was declared dead at the scene, while the second was pronounced dead in hospital. Stabbing attack at Herod's Gate (: ) X Also, a 38-year-old policewoman and a 47-year-old policeman were wounded in a stabbing attack at Herod's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Monday morning; Magen David Adom (MDA) reported that the two were left in critical and serious condition respectively. The attack took place shortly after 7:30am. The terrorist apparently approached from the direction of Damascus Gate when he spotted the two members of the police. He followed them and stabbed them multiple times with a knife. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that the policewoman was stabbed in the neck. On September 18, political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran were held in Tehran. The Armenian and Iranian delegations were headed by Shavarsh Kocharyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, and Ebrahim Rahimpour, Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour of Iran, respectively. A wide range of issues aimed at the further development of the Armenian-Iranian relations was discussed. The sides emphasized the importance to maintain security and stability in the region. A special attention was attached to the implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic projects. Issues related to the cooperation in the legal field, in cultural and humanitarian areas, as well as within international organizations were discussed. Shavarsh Kocharyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, also had a meeting with Morteza Sarmadi, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran. During the meeting the sides summarized the negotiations on the issues of mutual interest and outlined the future steps. ABUJA- Suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed six people in an attack on a commercial convoy being escorted by the army in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, the military said on Monday. Boko Haram has killed more than 15,000 people and displaced 2.4 million across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating a state based on a radical interpretation of Islamic law. Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said suspected elements of the group who were foraging for food had ambushed troops escorting the commercial vehicles from Damboa to Maiduguri, a journey of around 50 miles (80 km). This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun ARF member Nairi Kirakosyan was elected mayor of Udjan, a village in Armenias Aragatzotn Province, yesterday by a vote of 869 to 622. Kirakosyan beat Republican Party candidate Arakel Haroyan, who had been mayor since 2008. A Yerevan judge today extended the pre-trial detention of Garo Yegnukian, a member of the opposition Founding Parliament who has already spent two months in detention on charges of aiding and abetting in the July seizure of a Yerevan police station and the taking of hostages, by another two months. Yegnukians lawyer, Tigran Hayrapetyan, told Hetq that the state investigator in the case told the court on several occasions that no incriminating evidence against Yegnukian had been presented due to pre-investigation secrecy. Hayrapetyan described the statement as ludicrous. It turns out that during the two months of Yegnukians detention no such investigation has even been carried out. Yegnukian, a father of five, told his lawyer that he still hopes that one day common sense would win out and that a fair trial would be possible in Armenia. Yegnukian said that he was being persecuted for his political beliefs and was ready to face the challenge. Dobra, k. Szczecina 900 m2 40 miejsc parkingowych Atut: Dodatkowe dochody z paczkomatow InPostu, a juz niedugo i z myjni samoobsugowej. Tradycyjny zakup nieruchomosci, mozliwosc wykupienia uzytkowania wieczystego. On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I want to extend my congratulations to the people of Armenia as you celebrate the 25th anniversary of your nations independence on September 21. The United States deeply values its warm friendship with Armenia and with all of you. In the past quarter century, Armenia has made great progress, and my government looks forward to continuing to work closely with you in support of shared prosperity, strong democratic institutions, the rule of law, and regional peace. We appreciate Armenias consistent support for effective international peacekeeping operations and its leading role in responding to the Syrian refugee crisis. We are also grateful for the presence in the United States of a vibrant and highly-accomplished Armenian-American community. On this special day, I offer best wishes to all Armenians for a peaceful and prosperous year to come. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History believes our planet is in a world of environmental trouble, facing what could be the end of life as we know it, unless man-made climate change is acknowledged and sustainability efforts are stepped up immediately. Kolberts book was chosen as Villanova Universitys 2016 One Book Villanova program selection. In The Sixth Extinction, Kolbertwho will visit the University Thursday, Sept. 22sounds a clarion call warning that a massive annihilation of 20-50 percent of all living species on Earth could occur by the end of the 21st century unless the public experiences an environmental epiphany and initiates radical ecological change. The authors visit, which coincides with the opening of the Universitys annual St. Thomas of Villanova Celebrationan event which honors the Universitys patron saint known for his great charity to the poor and marginalizedwill begin with a book signing from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at Falvey Memorial Librarys Speakers Corner. A One Book Community Dinner honoring the author, and featuring cuisine inspired by the book, will be held from 4:15-7 p.m. in Dougherty Hall. A limited number of tickets are available online at villanovatix for $10. The culminating event, Kolberts presentation, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Villanova Room of the Connelly Center. Doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets are not required. All One Book author visit events are open to the public. The topic of sustainability has generated much interest and energy among our students. It seems that beyond the usual issues of the economy, war, and social unrest, young people today are also worried about their continued existence on the planet, said Terry Nance, Ph.D., Associate Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Chief Diversity Officer, and One Book Villanova committee co-chair. Elizabeth Kolberts Sixth Extinction provides readers with a fascinating look at parts of our world that are rapidly disappearing and the reasons why. Most important, the book has stimulated conversations among people who might just begin to impact the problems. In The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert, a New Yorker science writer, explains that the world has undergone five mass extinctions over the last half-billion years, each resulting in an abrupt and radical loss of biodiversity. Scientists worldwide are currently monitoring what they believe to be the sixth extinction. Kolbert reasons that how it plays out is mankinds choice. The Sixth Extinction allows Villanova students, faculty, and staff to think about ways we directly impact our environment, said Jeffrey Brown, Director of Student Involvement and One Book Villanova committee co-chair. Elizabeth Kolbert shows the importance of taking care of our common home so that future generations have a sustainable world to live in. Climate change does not affect some far off land; but, as our One Book author demonstrates, it is happening right before our eyes. Kolberts appearance as featured speaker of The St. Thomas of Villanova Lecture kicks off the Universitys 11th annual St. Thomas of Villanova Celebration, which includes a full slate of events throughout the weekend the capstone of which is the Universitys St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service on Sept. 24. One Book Villanova is a distinctive educational program that engages all segments of the campus community students, staff and faculty in activities presented throughout the academic year which explore dominant themes presented in a selected book. Discussion groups, public readings and special events will enliven and extend the campus communitys examination of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. The selection of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is one more indicator of Villanovas strong commitment to sustainability. The University continues to be recognized as one of the nations greenest colleges. Villanova has received national recognition for its commitment to sustainability by both Sierra Magazine and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The University recycles and composts up to 41% of its waste, sending all of its trash to Covanta, an energy-from-waste facility that burns the trash for electricity. Villanova has installed 20 hydration stations on campus to make it more convenient to fill up reusable water bottles. The initiative has already saved the equivalent of more than 1.5 million water bottles. The University also incorporates its commitment to the environment into its community service initiatives. Villanova was named the Green Apple Day of Service Champions by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2014. To learn more about Villanovas commitment to environmental sustainability, click here. Details about the authors visit, the One Book Villanova program, and additional future events open to the public are available on the Universitys One Book Villanova Website. Other selections featured since the One Book Villanova program began in 2005 include The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni; Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson; Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza; The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls; Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji; The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney; Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford; Little Princes: One Mans Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan; Good Kings, Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum; The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore; and The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna Grande. Since 1842, Villanova Universitys Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six colleges the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. As students grow intellectually, Villanova prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu. LIVE-2 Inning |30-34 INDIA VS SOUTH AFRICA IND 133/9 VS 115/4 SA South Africa need 19 runs in 17 balls at 6.70 rpo My sole motivation behind letting myself into that abominable prison house called school was the little white stick that my mother allowed me to grab and lick after the classes were over. I used to look with wishful eyes the attractive white box of ice cream walla who also had other varieties-the red tangy one that came in twenty five paisa, the slightly yellow one that came in fifty paisa and the expensive white creamy one that came in full one rupee. My mother had warned me against eating the orange one as she said it contained worms that came out if you sprinkled salt on it! So my childhood remained deprived of that one single taste that so often contented the appetite of my not-so-affluent friends.

When I went to college I read about globalisation, about the invasion of markets by foreign goods and of absolute wiping out of the local economy by organized production houses. But I could not understand these things till one day while crossing from near my school my eyes failed to spot that old ice cream walla whose presence had become such an inseparable part of the entire set up. It came as a rude shock to me that his place was now taken by three four colourful wheeled vans endorsing attractive logos and pictures of branded ice cream.

That changes are always for better or worse is like putting an emotion into plain black and white. I may have in my own personal way some attachment with the white stick ice cream or with the more expensive soapy, frothy softie of my school days but the accessibility, taste and variety that the present day ice cream industry is offering is no doubt incomparable.

Who would have thought barely a decade ago of eating ice creams made of real fresh fruits- a la Gelato Vittorio or a cool creamy liquid fried in hot boiling oil or what is called today the fried ice cream.

In India the ice cream industry took sometimes to catch the global cue because the country has an indigenous rich and well developed dessert market. What ice cream would stand in competition against Indian sweets? But no you cant say so just because you are born in the land of Kulfi. You will have the authority only when you taste Baked Alaska (an ice-cream sponge cake dish topped with meringue), Arctic roll (British dessert made of vanilla and flour), Adzuki (Japanese red bean ice cream) and Dondruma( a Turkish ice made of salep and mastic resin).

We Indians who generally go gaga over a handful of varieties that Baskin Robbins offers are unaware of the fact that the company actually makes 1000 flavours! What we get in India generally as branded ice cream is nothing but milk and corn flour seasoned with a few chemicals and packed in attractive cones, cups and cornettos. Our knowledge of Ice cream is so poor that we do not even know what cornetto is! Most of us think it is the name of an ice cream that Kwality offers. Update your dictionary- it is actually the registered name of an improved variety of waffle cone that does not become soggy and that was invented and patented by an Italian firm called Spica in 1960!

The world offers so much in shape of that delicate, cool, tender delight called ice cream that I being a lover of it feel choked with emotion at my own minisculeness and misfortune of not having tasted even a fraction of that tremendous, rich and inexhaustible treasure. What is thy life O mortal, my heart cries out, if thou hast not known the glories of the Australian Giant Sandwich Monster, the Manoco Bar, the Irish Scottish Sliders, the Argentine Helado, the Greek Kimaki and the Japanese Macha!

Sometimes I wonder whether there is an intricate connection between the survival of a race and its appetite for ice cream! Otherwise why would the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese and the Persians survive the ravages of time and the Glorious Harappan civilization fade into oblivion? And let us be pragmatic and not blame some harmless ecology or innocent river for their decline. The reason I am sure was hidden in their food habits-they having failed to secure the divine blessings of the Gods. Yes, thats precisely what the ancient Greeks called ice cream! Imagine what foodies they must have been that nearly 4000 years ago they got for themselves ice houses constructed at the banks of Euphrates and as early as 5th century BC they began its marketing by selling ice cones mixed with fruit and honey. A honey flavoured cornetto.!

Roman emperor Nero (62 AD) was fond of fruit ice cream and hence sent his servants to fetch ice from mountains! The Falooda that we eat today is actually a Persian dish Faloodeh made from starch and has its origin around 400BC. The Chinese who claim to be the pioneers in almost everything -be it the first currency notes, the first stint with silk or the first to flood the markets of neighbours with cheap plastic goods-were not far behind in making ice cream too. They are credited to have invented a device that made quick ice using salt peter (no, it was not imported from Bihar, China had enough of it).

The unfortunate Charles I whom the world knows as an autocrat, a despot, a tyrant, an enemy of democracy and parliament was also a lover of ice cream! It is said that he made his chef keep the formula a secret so that it remained a royal prerogative.

Our great Mughals, we should not forget were the die hard lovers of food and all that is rich and luxurious in the modern Indian cuisine has a Mughal origin. So they too loved ice cream and they too enjoyed it in royal feasts and ceremonies. When they could get choicest fruits from Farghana and Samarquand and the best wines from Persia, why couldnt they send relays of horsemen to bring ice from Hindukush for their aromatic fruit sherbets?

But were sending horsemen to run and fetch ice or storing ice in underground icehouses near rivers, the only way of making ice creams in those days? Sadly, yes. And thats why the common man remained deprived of and unknown to its delectable taste. But lets thank Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia who first got the patent for a small hand run ice cream freezer. Gradually with the coming of electricity there also came a revolution in ice cream making. Thereafter Giant corporates like Howard Johnson, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, Gelato Vittorio, Ben and Jerrys, Haagen Dazs and Carvel changed the concept of ice cream in the world. Soft serves, Sundaes and super premiums began to be offered by shops next door.

Thanks to globalisation, the world has really become a small place to live in. Today I can access any ice cream from the world over in my local confectionary shop. but among the confused tastes of multitudinous flavours I some how always try to find that one singular taste of the white stick ice-cream which trickled through my fingers and ran into my nursery uniformspoiling it but leaving an imprint on my memory which has failed to faint in all these years. Ajith Vijay Kumar A bomb goes off in downtown Baghdad leaving scores dead Thats news. If it happens in our country, like in Jaipur, thats a tragedy. And when 15,000 people are uprooted from their homes everyday (80% being women and children) and forced to live as nomads; no food, no shelterno nothing! People left to degenerate and die everyday in bits & partsask yourself does it move youmove me? Welcome to a world where even the simplest joys of being alive are at most times out of boundswelcome to Darfur, the very place where at least 200,000 people have been killed and two million forced out from their homes in the last five years. Imagine your life, as you know it, disappearing in an instant and you are forced to watch helplessly. Fear for your familys safety precipitated by war, violence, hatred, massacre, and genocide force you to flee your home, your soil, your land. Shoving you onto a torturous journey spanning hours or even days in search of a sheltersomewhere where your child can sleep in peace. You are dependent on handouts of food; possibly have no clean drinking water or access to health care. Not a pretty picture, right? But the fact is that millions of people all across the world, in countries rich and poor have been living in such desolate and precarious conditions for years. These people are called refugees. This is their story. Darfur is now famous (Hopefully more aid is pouring in) thanks to celebrity activists like Don Cheadle, his friend George Clooney and Steven Spielberg as they step up and speak out in attempts to galvanize governments and ordinary people to try and help. Spielberg even went to the extent of pulling out of the Beijing Olympics committee accusing China of not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the "continuing human suffering" in the region. But the misfortune of the world we live in is that Darfur is not alone, many more regions and countries are at the brink of a humanitarian crisis; thats in one word CATASTROPHIC. According to the 2006 World Refugee survey conducted by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a staggering 33 million people worldwide are currently uprooted from their homes. USCRI says that Iraqis are currently the fastest growing refugee and IDP crisis group in the world with nearly 2 million people having fled the country, and 1.7 million internally displaced. In Sudan, more than 5.3 million people left their homes. And the on-going armed conflict in Colombia internally displaced 2.9 million people. These are however, just three in a long list of countries and regions impacted by this human tragedy. USCRI statistics show that there are 26 conflict-ridden nations, predominantly in Africa and the Middle East. Even in the best of conditions, humanitarian aid agencies are able to provide only the basics: food, clean drinking water, and elementary health care. But sometimes, local political climate ensures that weeks could go by before help arrives. All this happening in midst of a flickering hope of once gain revisiting those happy days when their children didnt cry out of hunger, days that were bliss. Somalia, Chad, Algeria, Zimbabwe; the dark continent and even large swathes of the so called peaceful world are full of such hell holes where entire generations are being lost in the unending search for a loaf of bread, a pitcher of water but who cares? Do youdo I? I discern that misery is subjective, what can move me to edges may not mean anything to you. Thats human fallacy at its bestsomething we all are good at. What doesnt affect me directly is not happening at all; thats the motto for most of us. On World Refugee Day let us not forget that we are lucky.She calls out to the man on the street Sir, can you help me? Its cold and Ive nowhere to sleep, Is there somewhere you can tell me? He walks on, doesnt look back He pretends he cant hear her Starts to whistle as he crosses the street Seems embarrassed to be there Oh think twice, its another day for You and me in paradise Oh think twice, its just another day for you, You and me in paradise Just another day in paradise * Single from Phil Collins` album, But Seriously (1989) Minnesota: A man who stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead is a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group`s news agency said on Sunday, as the FBI investigated the attack as a potential act of terrorism. The man, who was wearing a private security uniform, made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he assaulted them at the Crossroads Center mall in St Cloud on Saturday, the city`s Police Chief William Blair Anderson told reporters. Authorities declined to identify the suspect, who was killed by an off-duty policeman, because the investigation was under way. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the incident a "potential act of terrorism," Richard Thornton, FBI special agent in charge of the agency`s Minneapolis division, told a news conference on Sunday. He said the investigation was in its early stages and it was not known if the man had discussed his plan with others. Authorities said earlier there were eight stabbing victims. One injured person transported himself to a hospital and was not initially counted, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis told the news conference. Three victims remained hospitalized as of Sunday but none had life-threatening injuries, Kleis said. Kleis said Jason Falconer, the off-duty officer from the Avon Police Department, a jurisdiction outside of St. Cloud, "clearly prevented additional injuries and loss of life" by shooting the man. Amaq, the news agency affiliated with the Islamic State group, issued a statement on Sunday saying, "The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition." Reuters was not immediately able to verify the Amaq claim. Somali community leaders in St. Cloud, about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, condemned the attack and expressed concern about a possible backlash. "The news of the St. Cloud mall was shocking to the friends, relatives and community of the deceased ... We do not know the motive of that stabbing incident," said Mohamoud Mohamed of the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization. "We are afraid of the consequences of this incident. We would like to say loud that our community in central Minnesota has no relationship with ISIS or any other Islamic terrorist group," he added. Dozens of people from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, many of them young Somali-American men, have traveled or attempted to travel overseas to support Islamic State or al Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant group, since 2007, according to U.S. prosecutors. The attack in St. Cloud occurred the same evening that an explosion rocked New York City`s bustling Chelsea district on Saturday, injuring 29 people in what authorities described as a deliberate criminal act. But both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there was no indication it was linked to international terrorism. A pipe bomb also exploded in a New Jersey beach town on Saturday along the route of a charity race to benefit military veterans but no injuries were reported in what investigators also were treating as a possible act of terrorism. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said she strongly condemned "the apparent terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York" and said Islamic State`s claim of responsibility for the St. Cloud attack should "steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups." Investigators are looking for possible connections among the Saturday attacks but so far have not found any links. In St. Cloud, the attacker entered the mall in the evening as it was busy with shoppers, Anderson said. He attacked his victims at several sites in the shopping center, which will remain closed on Sunday as police investigate, the police chief said. The victims were male and female, Kleis said, and ranged in age from mid-50s to a 15-year-old girl. Police officials said they were still interviewing witnesses hours after the attack. Phnom Penh: Cambodia`s strongman premier vowed Monday to "eliminate" his opponents if they push ahead with plans for nationwide protests against an ongoing government crackdown that has sparked international alarm. The latest rhetoric, some of Prime Minister Hun Sen`s strongest in recent months, ratchets up worsening political tensions in the kingdom, which will hold national elections in 2018. Rights groups have accused long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen`s administration of arresting scores of critics and tying up other opponents in legal cases. The main opposition party`s deputy leader Kem Sokha has been holed up for weeks in his office, sleeping on a makeshift bed. He was handed a jail sentence earlier this month for refusing to appear in court over an alleged sex scandal prosecution that the opposition say is politically motivated. His party has threatened to hold nationwide demonstrations if moves are made to arrest him or if the crackdown continues. "Don`t threaten (me) with demonstrations in exchange for talks. No way, youngest brother!," Hun Sen said at a university graduation ceremony Monday, in a characteristically lengthy speech. "This is not just a warning, it is more serious than a warning because it is an order to eliminate those who destroy security and social order," he said, adding that foreign countries had no right to criticise his administration. Last week a group of 36 states -- including the European Union and the United States -- issued a joint statement saying they were "deeply concerned" about escalating political tensions in Cambodia. Hun Sen, a former army commander who defected from the Khmer Rouge, has dominated Cambodian politics for the past 31 years. His administration claims it has brought much needed peace and stability to a nation ravaged by civil war. But opposition groups have gained ground in recent years amid growing disillusionment with endemic corruption, rights abuses and political repression. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) accuses Hun Sen of denying it a majority by rigging the 2013 election in his favour, a charge the premier denies. CNRP`s top leader and Hun Sen`s chief rival, Sam Rainsy, has spent nearly one year in self-imposed exile to avoid arrest warrants he claims are politically-motivated. More than a dozen of opposition figures, including two MPs, are currently in prison facing charges, while more than 20 political activists and rights workers have faced legal action over the past year. Four land activists were sentenced on Monday to six months in jail each for allegedly insulting public officials during a protest in 2011. Peshawar: Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush in Peshawar city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province yesterday in an attack, for which both the Islamic State and Jamaatul Ahrar, a Pakistani Taliban faction, have claimed responsibility. Senior police officer Shaukat Khan said the gunmen struck in Garhi Sohbat Khan on the outskirts of Peshawar, attacking a private vehicle carrying the three soldiers, reports the New York Times. The Pakistan army often uses unmarked vehicles for transportation of soldiers and other employees in volatile areas around Peshawar to avoid being identified and attacked.Jamaatul Ahrar spokesman said in a statement that the three soldiers were targeted by the group to avenge the "military`s animosity with mosques. "Islamic militants have been involved in multiple such attacks in and around Peshawar that is surrounded by lawless tribal regions.The Mohmand tribal region had been a long time hotbed for Islamic militants and the Pakistani army has carried out several operations to eliminate militant hideouts but the militants have repeatedly struck back. Jamaat-ur-Ahrar at one time also swore fealty to the Islamic State`s Middle East leadership, but later switched back to the Taliban.Earlier both the groups had also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a hospital in the Pakistani city of Quetta that killed 74 people last month. Tel Aviv: A Palestinian stabbed two Israeli police officers outside Jerusalem`s Old City Monday before being shot, authorities said, as a new surge in violence raised concerns ahead of upcoming Jewish holidays. It was the sixth such incident since Friday, coming after Palestinians wrapped up Eid al-Adha celebrations and as Israel tightened security ahead of Jewish high holidays in October. The upsurge has shattered several weeks of relative calm. After Monday`s incident, a 38-year-old policewoman was in serious condition from a stab wound to her neck, the Shaare Tzedek hospital said. A policeman in his mid-40s was being treated for moderate stab wounds, and the Palestinian attacker was in serious condition after being shot in the head and limbs, the Hadassah hospital said. Police identified the perpetrator as a Palestinian in his 20s from east Jerusalem and said he had followed the officers before attacking them. He was shot by the policeman he stabbed, a statement said. The attack happened by the Herod`s Gate entrance to the Old City in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a short distance from the Damascus Gate where a Jordanian was shot dead on Friday after trying to stab a police officer. Amman has disputed the Israeli account of Friday`s incident, calling the shooting of 28-year-old Saeed Amro "premeditated" and a "barbaric act". However, Israeli police released video footage of the incident in which Amro is seen approaching two officers holding a knife in each hand with his arms raised before being shot. A police spokeswoman said he was yelling "Allahu Akbar" -- God is greatest. Amro`s body was handed over to Jordan on Sunday, police said.Monday`s was the sixth attack on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday, according to Israeli authorities. The army called the recent escalation "further testament to the ongoing influence of incitement on the Palestinian street and social media networks". An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also noted the possibility of a "copycat effect" of one attack influencing another. The official said tensions may be increasing because of the "online incitement" of Palestinians regarding Jewish visits to the Old City and Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The compound is the third holiest site for Muslims and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. The Jewish holidays see an increase in Jewish visitors to the site in east Jerusalem. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his nearly year-long order barring members of parliament and ministers from visiting the volatile site. He "instructed that a response team be established to refute disinformation about Israeli policy on the Temple Mount", his office said. Clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa compound last year during the Jewish high holidays amid Muslim fears that Israel was planning to change rules governing the site, claims Netanyahu vehemently denied. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid stoking tensions. The site is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it. Far-right members of Netanyahu`s coalition have called for Jewish prayer rights at the compound, while hardline groups favour construction of a third Jewish temple there. A legend has been told around Pelham for eons. It dates to ancient times when Native Americans populated the region. Famed American author Washington Irving referenced the legend in his book he published in 1824 entitled "Tales of a Traveller." Although the legend seems dark and foreboding, it is actually a story of triumph over the darkest evil spirit that ever has existed in Pelham: the devil. The legend has many, many versions, some involving Connecticut which is nowhere near The Devil's Stepping Stones area south of City Island, once part of the Town of Pelham. Only one version of the legend makes sense, geographically, circumstantially, and otherwise. Only one version can possibly be true based on all the evidence. That version, of course, is the Pelham version of the legend of The Devil's Stepping Stones, recounted here. All other versions, most certainly, are corrupted versions of the "true" story. Long, long ago when Native Americans roamed our region, things turned bad for them; very, very bad. Local Native Americans suffered many misfortunes including failed crops, poor fishing, brutal snows, and raging storms. It was time for action. The Native Americans knew that the wicked giant devil, known as Habboamoko, long had roamed the region including today's Pelham Bay Park, Westchester County, and portions of southeastern Connecticut. His giant footprints may still be found in some of the rock outcroppings in places throughout Westchester County and Connecticut. The giant devil was known to create mayhem and to bring periodic misfortune on the Native peoples. Concluding that Habboamoko was, once again, the source of their misfortune, warriors gathered from throughout the region to use strength, medicine, and magic to chase Habboamoko out of the region across the Long Island Sound onto Long Island where he would be left to torment others. The warriors located and rousted Habboamoko and began to battle him. Because Habboamoko was a giant, the battle was difficult and raged for a long time. Slowly, though, the warriors gained the upper hand. As the Habboamoko began his retreat, he gathered every glacial boulder he could find in the countryside, loading his long, menacing arms with many such boulders. He retreated to Pelham Neck and then onto City Island. When he reached the southern tip of City Island with the Native American warriors in pursuit, however, he was not big enough to hop across the waters to the shores of Long Island (where today's Steppingstone Park stands). Though Habboamoko was a giant, Long Island Sound was deep. This the giant devil knew. As the warriors closed in, Habboamoko began tossing the boulders he had collected into the Sound, using them as stepping stones to make his escape across the deep waters. Once he had crossed the deep waters, he stood on the shores of Long Island and looked back. Native American warriors lined the shores of today's City Island, Pelham Bay Park and Pelham laughing and taunting him. Angrily, Habboamoko took every last boulder still cradled in his arms and, one at a time, threw them across Long Island Sound at the warriors. The giant boulders thrown by Habboamoko landed throughout the countryside, though each missed the warriors. Occasionally Habboamoko threw the boulders with such anger that he flung them great distances, covering much of today's Pelham Bay Park, Westchester County, and lower Connecticut. One giant boulder flung by Habboamoko broke in half when it landed. We know that boulder today as the famous Pelham landmark "Split Rock." Many others of the boulders likewise have become famous. They became known as Glover's Rock, the Kemble House Rocking Stone, the Priory Rocking Stone, The Grey Mare, and Mishow, to name a few. Many of the boulders were never given names. Nevertheless, they still stand throughout the countryside as silent reminders of the blind anger of the giant devil as he vengefully tried one last time to bring more misery on the Native American lands in and around what later became Pelham. The many boulders that the Habboamoko threw into Long Island Sound to use as stepping stones to make his escape became known as "The Devil's Stepping Stones." As the centuries passed, The Devil's Stepping Stones became the bane of mariners who navigated Long Island Sound. Countless ships were lost trying unsuccessfully to maneuver around these rocky reefs that skipped across Long Island Sound. During the 1850s, the Army Corps of Engineers began blasting away many of The Devil's Stepping Stones. Not all were removed, however. Thus, the area remained treacherous for mariners. In 1876 and 1877, authorities built the Stepping Stones Light on one of the few remaining Devil's Stepping Stones. The square-shaped Second Empire-style lighthouse is built of red brick and is one-and-a-half stories high. The lighthouse continues to operate and stands many hundreds of yards off the southern tip of City Island. It is operated by the United States Coast Guard and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Thankfully the Army Corps of Engineers blasted away most of The Devil's Stepping Stones beginning in the 1850s with a second wave of blasting beginning in 1885. As a consequence, Habboamoko can never return to Pelham. Instead, the devil has had to remain on Long Island ever since. This likely explains a lot about Long Island, including its hellish traffic. . . . . . . . The Stepping Stones Light on September in Wikipedia -- The Free Encyclopedia (visited Aug. 27, 2016). NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge. * * * * * "In fact, the whole of this neighborhood [the neighborhood of Hell Gate and beyond], was like the straits of Pelorus of yore, a region of fable and romance to me. From the strait to the Manhattoes, the borders of the Sound are greatly diversified, being broken and indented by rocky nooks overhung with trees, which give them a wild and romantic look. In the time of my boyhood, they abounded with traditions about pirates, ghosts, smugglers, and buried money which had a wonderful effect upon the young minds of my companions and myself. As I grew to more mature years, I made diligent research after the truth of these strange traditions; for I have always been a curious investigator of the valuable but obscure branches of the history of my native province. I found infinite difficulty, however, in arriving at any precise information. In seeking to dig up one fact, it is incredible the number of fables that I unearthed. I will say nothing of the devil's stepping-stones, by which the arch-fiend made his retreat from Connecticut [sic] to Long Island, across the Sound; seeing the subject is likely to be learnedly treated by a worthy friend and contemporary historian, whom I have furnished with particulars thereof.* [Footnote "*" reads as follows: "* For a very interesting and authentic account of the devil and his stepping-stones, see the valuable Memoir read before the New York Historical Society, since the death of Mr. Knickerbocker, by his friend, an eminent jurist of the place." "THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES When the devil set a claim to the fair lands at the north of Long Island Sound, his claim was disputed by the Indians, who prepared to fight for their homes should he attempt to serve his writ of ejectment. Parley resulted in nothing, so the bad one tried force, but he was routed in open fight and found it desirable to get away from the scene of action as soon as possible. He retreated across the Sound near the head of East River. The tide was out, so he stepped from island to island, without trouble, and those reefs and islands are to this day the Devil's Stepping-Stones. On reaching Throgg's Neck he sat down in a despairing attitude and brooded on his defeat, until, roused to a frenzy at the thought of it, he resolved to renew the war on terms advantageous entirely to himself. In that day Connecticut was free from rocks, but Long Island was covered with them; so he gathered all he could lay his hands on and tossed them at the Indians that he could see across the Sound near Cold Spring until the supply had given out. The red men who last inhabited Connecticut used to show white men where the missiles landed and where the devil struck his heel into the ground as he sprang from the shore in his haste to reach Long Island. At Cold Spring other footprints and one of his toes are shown. Establishing himself at Coram, he troubled the people of the country for many years, so that between the devil on the west and the Montauks on the east they were plagued indeed; for though their guard at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and other places often apprised them of the coming of the Montauks, they never knew which way to look for the devil." "STEPPING STONES LIGHTHOUSE An old Native American legend tells of how the Siwanoy Indians duked it out with Habboamoko, the devil, for possession of Connecticut [sic; as has always been said, Stepping Stones were south of City Island, far from Connecticut]. While Habboamoko had many tricks, the Siwanoy, through their own potions and wizardry were able to back the old devil up against Long Island Sound. Things looked rather bleak for Habboamoko, when he happened to look over his shoulder at low tide toward Long Island and noticed a trail of stepping stones. He danced across the rocks and fled to Long Island. So angry at the Siwanoy was he, that he flung every boulder he could find back across the sound. His aim was not true, but his power was strong and the boulders were flung as far as Maine, littering New England with rock formations. Perhaps due to the legend, or the deadly nor'easters which sneak up on the sound, Colonial maps of the area named Long Island Sound, Devils Belt, and the reefs skipping across it, Devils Stepping Stones. During the 1860s, shipping commerce through Long Island Sound greatly increased, and with it, the need for a lighthouse to define a clear channel. Congress appropriated $6,000 in 1866 for a light station to replace a buoy on Hart Island, about 1 mile north of Stepping Stones. Difficulties arose in obtaining land on Hart Island, and in 1874, the Lighthouse Board opted instead to build the light station at Stepping Stones, which lies about 1600 yards offshore. Construction of the Second Empire style lighthouse, a sister to the Hudson-Athens lighthouse on the Hudson River, began in 1875. Under the direction of A. D. Cook, the Stepping Stones Lighthouse was constructed by Irish bargemen and stonemasons from Throggs Neck. The red brick keeper's dwelling is topped by a mansard roof and attached to a square tower. Every outside corner of the structure is decorated with quoins. 900 tons of boulders were barged to the site to form the foundation on the reef, which lies just below the water's surface. The riprap foundation, encased in rough-hewn blocks, has a base diameter of 48 feet, and the lighthouse rises to a height of 49 feet above sea level. On March 1, 1877, Findlay Fraser lit the fifth-order Fresnel lens for the first time. The original characteristic of the light was fixed red, an appropriate choice for the Devil's Stepping Stones. In 1932, the light was changed to a fourth order-Fresnel lens with a fixed green light. A modern optic, which produces a flashing green light, was placed in the lantern room when the lighthouse was automated in 1964. A ship approaching New York Citys East River can take a clear channel by keeping south of the Great Captain Island and Execution Rocks lighthouses and then staying north of Stepping Stones Lighthouse. A couple of notable keepers served at the Stepping Stones Lighthouse over the years. Ernest Bloom, who started his service at the station on April 20, 1910, was awarded the Lighthouse Service's efficiency pennant for the meticulous manner in which he maintained the lighthouse. The pennant was flown next to the Stars and Stripes at the lighthouse to honor Bloom. Keeper Stephen Holm served at Stepping Stones in the early 1920s and during his time rescued several unfortunate mariners. One example of his lifesaving skills occurred on July 18, 1923 when two men ran the sailboat Mistral onto the rocks just east of the lighthouse. Holm hurried to rescue the two men, and later towed their damaged boat to Long Island. Devils Belt has a tricky way of stirring up unexpected storms. On the morning of February 9, 1934, the mercury at Stepping Stones Lighthouse hit 14 degrees below zero. With the Sound frozen, Keeper Charles A. Rogers, could not row ashore for supplies. The weather only got worse. On February 20, the wind blew in a blizzard, which dumped 17 inches of snow overnight, the worst storm since 1888. Trapped and with only two days worth of food for his small family, Rogers hung the flag upside down on March 1 hoping someone would notice the distress signal. Captain Sioss of the tug Muxpet spotted the signal and gradually broke the Muxpet through the ice to the lighthouse. The captain offered Rogers food, but Rogers refused stating that it was the Lighthouse Services responsibility, and asked that the depot at St. George, Staten Island be notified of the situation. Shortly after being apprised of the situation, the depot dispatched the lighthouse tender Hickory to the station with supplies. Today, wicked storms still race across the Sound and mariners continue to be safely guided through a clear channel, past the hidden reef, by the faithful beam of the lighthouse. In 2006, the lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit corporations, and educational organizations. The Town of North Hempstead submitted a letter of interest along with five non-profit organizations: Asian Americans for Equality in Manhattan; Beacon Preservation Inc. of Ansonia, Conn.; Crabber Cup of Greenwich, Conn.; Historic Preservation Society of America of Washington, D.C.; and Korstad Marine Preservation Society of Brooking, Conn. Eventually all suitors save North Hempstead withdrew their applications, deciding it was too big an undertaking. The the National Park Service has yet to announce if the town will gain ownership of the lighthouse. References 1. Lights & Legends, A Historical Guide to Lighthouses of Long Island Sound, Fishers Island Sound, and Block Island Sound, Harlan Hamilton, 1987. 2. Northeast Lights: Lighthouses and Lightships, Rhode Island to Cape Mary, New Jersey, Robert Bachand, 1989. 3. Lighthouses of New York, Greater New York Harbor, Hudson River & Long Island, Jim Cowley, 2000." Source: United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, " Stepping Stones Lighthouse " in ANT NY Lighthouses (visited Aug. 27, 2016). Labels: 1824, Devil, Ghost, Ghost Story, Habboamoko, Legend, Lighthouse, Native Americans, Siwanoys, Stepping Stones Light, The Devil's Stepping Stones Moscow: Russia`s ruling United Russia party has cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls that could pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to glide to a fourth term in 2018 elections, partial results showed. Sunday`s ballot for the 450-seat State Duma was smooth sailing for authorities desperate to avoid a repeat of mass protests last time round and eager to increase their dominance as Russia faces the longest economic crisis of Putin`s rule. But a low turnout suggested that many Russians may have been turned off by a system in which the Kremlin wields near-total power, which could raise questions over legitimacy. "We can announce already with certainty that the party secured a good result, that it won," Putin said after polls closed. "The situation is tough and difficult but the people still voted for United Russia," he said on state television. With 90 percent of the votes counted, the United Russia party had 54.3 percent of votes, securing it at least 338 seats in the 450-member parliament, up from 238 previously, according to results announced early Monday. It was followed by the Communists and the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, on 13.5 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, and A Just Russia, which received 6.2 percent, results published by the election commission showed. Those four parties -- which made up the last parliament and all back the Kremlin -- were the only ones to clear the five percent threshold needed to claim a share of the one-half of seats up for grabs. The vote comes as Putin`s approval ratings remain high at around 80 percent and authorities appear to be banking on trouble-free presidential elections in two years. Results indicated that liberal opposition groups would not make it into parliament, with neither the Yabloko party, nor the Parnas party, headed by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, having secured enough votes to win a seat. The other half of the deputies are being elected on a constituency basis after a change to the election law. With only a fraction of the votes counted, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev confidently said that his party would end up with an "absolute majority" in the Duma. Though the overall tally for United Russia was higher than the 49 percent it claimed in 2011, participation was low, particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Only 47.8 of voters cast their ballots, against 60 percent in 2011, electoral officials said. Sunday`s election follows a tumultuous few years that have seen Russia seize the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, plunge into its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War and start a military campaign in Syria. But the Kremlin exerts almost complete control over the media and public discourse, and this year`s election campaign was dubbed the dullest in recent memory. Looming large was the spectre of mass protests over vote rigging that followed the last legislative polls five years ago and grew into the biggest challenge to Putin since he took charge in 2000. Since then the Kremlin has cracked down on the right to protest while making a show of stamping out electoral manipulation. The former scandal-tainted election chief was removed in favour of a human rights advocate who allowed more genuine opposition candidates to take part. Despite the authorities pledging to crack down on vote-rigging, observers around the country made claims of violations including "cruise-voting" -- where people are bussed to vote at multiple polling stations -- and ballot stuffing. Electoral Commission chief Ella Pamfilova admitted that there had been problems in certain regions but officials said the number of violations was way down on the last vote. "In any case there already is full confidence that the elections are nonetheless quite legitimate," Pamfilova said. "And we did a lot for that." For the first time since Moscow seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014, residents there voted for Russia`s parliament, in a poll slammed by Ukraine as illegal. Voters in some areas of the vast country were also electing regional leaders. In the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, strongman Ramzan Kadyrov looked set to win the first electoral test of his rule after rights groups said that criticism was ruthlessly silenced during the campaign. Ankara: At least 27 men of the US Special Operations Forces were removed from northern Syria as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) does not want American interference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. "The Free Syrian Army does not want interference from the US, because the behaviour of US officials heightened the problem to that level," the President said prior to his departure for New York for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, reports Xinhua news agency. Washington announced last Friday that the deployment of some three dozen Special Operations Forces troops in northern Syria to work with Turkish troops in fighting the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and its Special Operations Forces into the region on August 24 in a launch of what it called Operation Euphrates Shield to fight both the IS and Syrian Kurdish militants. The operation that offers support to the FSA on the ground is progressing well as of now, the President said. Erdogan said that an area of 5,000 sq km in northern Syria should be "appraised as security zone" so that more Syrian refugees could return to their towns without fear of terror. "Up to now 900 sq km of area have been cleared of terror elements as part of Turkey`s operation," he said. "We are heading further south...more Syrians will return when the area is cleared of terror elements," he said. Turkey is sheltering some three million Syrian refugees on its soil. New York: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday evaded questions over the Uri terror attack and said he did not to comment on the issue. In a video released by ANI, Sharif, who is currently in New York for a bilateral meeting, is seen walking away, not ready to talk on the issue. Nawaz Sharif's advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also refused to take any questions from the media on the issue. Sharif met US Secretary of State John Kerry and raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting, urging Washington to play a role in the resolution of the dispute. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry & PM of New Zealand," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. "PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir," she said. Melbourne: An Australian Muslim woman who wore a burkini to a French beach said she was asked to leave despite a ban on the controversial full-bodied swimsuit recently being overturned. Sydney-born Zeynab Alshelh, a 23-year-old medical student, told Australia`s Channel 7 that she travelled to Europe to show solidarity with French Muslims by wearing a burkini -- invented by an Australian designer -- on the beach. Footage broadcast Sunday evening showed local bathers make disparaging gestures towards Alshelh, who is sitting burkini-clad on the sand in Villeneuve-Loubet with her mother. "We were threatened by locals to leave the beach and if we didn`t they were going to call the police," Alshelh said. "Even though it was on the beach that the burkini ban was overturned but the locals were not happy." Nice and about 30 other French towns banned the Islamic swimsuit after a July terror attack in which a man ploughed his truck into crowds gathered for Bastille Day fireworks killing 86 people. In August, France`s highest court suspended the burkini bans declaring the swimsuit`s prohibition an "illegal violation of fundamental freedoms". Aheda Zanetti, the Australian woman who designed the burkini, recently expressed surprise at the furore over her creation, saying it was meant to be a symbol of inclusion and allow Muslim women to take part in beach culture. But the seemingly innocuous item of clothing has continued to prove an emotive topic and opinion polls in fiercely secular France show burkini bans have the support of a majority of the public. "It starts off at the beach and God knows where it ends," Zeynab added to Channel 7, saying that while there was racism in Australia there were no bans on clothing. Australia is grappling with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment after a series of attacks by radicalised youth and last week anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson called for an end to Muslim immigration and a ban on the burqa. Bengaluru: C Bhagya, arrested for setting fire to buses and trucks with Tamil Nadu registration number plate in Bengaluru on September 12, was allegedly offered Rs 100 and a plate of mutton biryani to join the protests over Cauvery water sharing. The 22-year-old woman allegedly instigated the arson attack on 42 buses last week, said a report in The Times of India. C Bhagya, alias Bhaghyasri, a native of Yadagir district (North Karnataka), is one of 11 people arrested on Thursday night for setting ablaze vehicles belonging to Tamil Nadu-based private travel firm, KPN, at D'souza Nagar. The day labourer was arrested on the basis of a CCTV footage recorded in the vicinity of the incident. Bhagya's mother Yellamma has told the media that her daughter's friends had offered Rs 100 and a plate of mutton biryani to join the protests. "Bhagya had just returned home around noon (on September 12) when some men known to her came over and asked her to join the protests. They promised to give her biryani and Rs 100 at the end of the day," Yellamma said. The New Indian Express, however, said her family claimed Bhagya was only one of the onlookers, not an active participant. As per preliminary enquiry and CCTV footage, Bhagya was seen supplying diesel and petrol to the accused and throwing it on the buses. Bhagya is the only woman among the 400-odd people arrested in connection with the Cauvery protests. She has been booked for attempt to murder (IPC 307), unlawful assembly (IPC 143), rioting (IPC 147), rioting with deadly weapon (IPC 148), voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (IPC 324), causing damage (IPC 427), damage by fire or explosive substance (IPC 435) and Column 2 of Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Property Act of 1981, reported Bangalore Mirror. Widespread violence erupted last week in Bengaluru and some other parts of Karnataka while sporadic trouble was witnessed in Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery water sharing dispute arising out of Supreme Court's verdict. Soon after the apex court gave its amended order, directing Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu till September 20, violence and arson flared up in Bengaluru. Patna: The headless bodies of three men and a woman were found on Monday in Bihar`s Begusarai district, police said. The district police said the bodies were recovered from near Sanha Halt under Sahebpur Kamal by local residents who informed the police. A case was registered and police have started investigations. However, "it is difficult to say anything right now," he said. Hundreds of people gathered at the scene after news spread of the incident. Patna: A 50-seater bus fell into a deep pond in Bihar`s Madhubani district on Monday, officials said. The accident took place near Basakha Chowk in Benapatti area, about 250 km from here. Officials said none of the passengers have been found and the bus too had not been pulled out of the water. The bus was on its way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani. The administration has started search and rescue operations. New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Monday take up for hearing a plea seeking cancellation of the bail granted to former RJD MP Mohamed Shahabuddin in connection with a murder case. Filed by a Siwan resident Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose son was allegedly murdered by Sahabuddin, the petition argues that the strongman-turned-politician's bail should be canceled as he would misuse his liberty to derail the trial in the murder of his son. Chandrakeshwar Prasad alleged that his own life was in danger with the release of Shahabuddin, who is also allegedly involved in the murder of Prasad's two other sons. The Patna High Court had released Shahabuddin as the trial in the case of the murder of Prasad's third son has not yet commenced. The petition by Chandrakeshwar Prasad has been filed by lawyer Prashant Bhushan. The Bihar government has also moved the apex court with its appeal against the High Court order, saying the state was not properly heard and the history-sheeter granted relief keeping all previous concerns of the court about security and safety of witnesses at bay. Prasad, in his petition, said that Shahabuddin, a four- time Member of Parliament from Siwan, has been apparently booked in at least 58 criminal cases, of which in at least 8, he has been convicted and awarded life sentence in two of them and despite that he has been allowed to walk free out of jail. Separately, Bihar government standing counsel Gopal Singh elaborated the grounds and said the High Court had failed to follow its own order of February asking the trial court to preferably complete the trial of the Rajiv Roshan murder case within nine months. The state government also said the High Court ignored the crucial aspect brought by it earlier that key witnesses did not turn up to depose in these cases due to fear and the clout wielded by the dreaded gangster, who before pronouncement of judgement in the murder case of Prasad's two sons, allegedly conspired from the jail to eliminate his third son, Rajiv Roshan, the prime witness in the case. The state government contended that the High Court overlooked the apex court judgement which had held as correct its decision to conduct the trial of cases against Shahabuddin from jail itself considering the threat to witnesses, the counsel said. Singh said the High Court had neither properly heard the state, nor did it seek any report from it regarding the criminal trials pending against Shahabuddin before granting him relief. New Delhi: An unidentified person on Monday threw ink at Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who returned to the city from Finland on Sunday. The incident took place outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's house when Sisodia was addressing the media. When Sisodia was about to get into his car after talking to media persons, Brijesh Shukla threw ink at Sisodia which splattered across his arms and on a portion of his forehead. Sisodia said the ink attack on him was a reflection of the "dirty politics of Congress and BJP". Shukla, a resident of northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar, has been detained by police. He said he was angry with the Deputy Chief Minister for visiting Finland at a time when the city was grappling with rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. Reacting to the attack, Sisodia said, "The Delhi government is committed to working on health and education. But Congress and BJP are working on ink. They have nothing to do with Delhiites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is the dirty politics of BJP and Congress." He also challenged the BJP-ruled civic bodies to clear the "filth across the city" and hit out at Congress for "ruining" the city's education and health sector during its term. "This is merely a diversionary tactic adopted by them since we are focusing on development," he said. The Aam Aadmi Party has been facing criticism from all the opposition parties as most of its ministers were out of the city at the time of the outbreak of chikungunya and dengue in Delhi. Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had on September 16 asked Sisodia to cut short his trip to Finland and immediately return to Delhi. However, Sisodia returned to the city from Finland yesterday as scheduled. Sisodia, who also hold the education portfolio, had flown to Finland on September 12 along with his officers, to study the education system of that country. New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, who had asked him to return to Delhi from Finland in the wake of an outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in the capital. Sisodia had gone to Finland last week to study the Nordic country's education system. A row erupted after the opposition BJP and Congress targeted him for "abandoning" the city at a time it was reeling under the outbreak of the vector-borne diseases. Talking to reporters outside the LG house, Sisodia took a jibe at Jung, saying he could have called him instead of writing a letter "if there was an emergency". "I met the LG and told him about the education system in Finland. I told him that we can also do well in education and health in Delhi and no compromise should be accepted on these areas," he said. Soon after, a man threw ink at him resulting in a commotion. There were ink stains on Sisodia's arms, near his eyes and also on his official vehicle. This was the first meeting between an AAP minister and the LG after the two sides traded barbs after Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra failed to meet Jung last Saturday. The LG's office had said the ministers did not seek prior appointment and accused the AAP government of politicising the issue when the city was grappling with a health crisis. Dengue and chikungunya complications have claimed at least 33 lives this season and affected over 2,800 people in the national capital. Copenhagen: Denmark edged closer to an early general election as a political row over tax cuts for the wealthy escalated over the weekend, threatening to bring down the minority Liberal government that took office just 15 months ago. The Danish People`s Party (DF), one of several that props up the centre-right government by voting with it in parliament, rejected a demand by another one, the Liberal Alliance (LA), to cut the top rate of income tax by 5 percentage points. "Are you ready for a general election?," DF leader Kristian Thulesen-Dahl asked delegates in his opening speech to the party`s annual conference on Saturday. LA leader Anders Samuelsen has said several times in recent weeks that his party is ready to bring down the government with a no confidence vote if Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen fails to include the tax cut in the 2017 budget. Rasmussen said there was not enough backing for the tax cut and urged the two parties to negotiate in order to avoid an election that is likely to be won by the left. "That would be a very high price to pay, just because one couldn`t have their political wishes fulfilled 100 percent," Rasmussen said on Saturday. Rasmussen`s one-party government holds 34 of 179 seats in parliament, making it the narrowest Danish government for decades. It can stay in power only as long as it is supported by DF, LA and the Conservative Party. Rasmussen won the last election by just one seat in June 2015. A weighted poll from several pollsters gathered by political website Politiko on Sept. 11, showed the socialist opposition would win an election by one seat. Patna: At least 35 people were killed on Monday when a 50-seater bus fell into a deep pond in Bihar's Madhubani district, officials said. "So far, 35 bodies have been found and the bus was pulled out of the water. But search for missing passengers is still on," a district official said. The accident took place near Basakha Chowk in Benapatti area, about 250 km from here. The bus was on its way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani. District officials along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were engaged in rescue and search of other passengers feared drowned, an official said. According to police, more than 5,000 people from neighbouring villages gathered at the accident site. Angry over the alleged delay on the part of local administration to start rescue operations, a group of people staged protest and pelted stones at district officials, including the vehicle of the District Magistrate. The state government has announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each victim. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the incident. September: The founder of Ahimisa Vishwa Bharti and eminent Jain Acharya, Dr Lokesh Muni ji, recently met United States Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in California and held a round of talks with her, on US elections, India US relations and Modi Government development policies in detail. During the meeting, the two agreed that India can play a prominent role in global affairs in the years to come. Hillary Clinton said that spiritual leaders can also play an important role in this. Clinton, while appreciating Acharya Dr. Lokesh Munis Peace and Harmony Tour to USA, said that terrorism, violence, poverty and illiteracy are the major global problems. Political, Spiritual, Social and Business leaders of America and India can work together to solve these global problems. On his turn, Acharya Lokesh said that not only India and America but different parts of the world are affected by terrorism. America and India should together fight against terrorism. He said that India and US need to work together to find solutions for the menace of poverty and illiteracy in other parts of the world. Acharya Lokesh Muni told Clinton during this meeting that Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi is laying a strong foundation for the development of India. One should realize that it takes time to fix things. His government is moving in the right direction. Its results in the coming days would be visible. There have been no major corruption cases in this government. What added to the glory of the nation and Jain community is the aspect that the meeting was highlighted worldwide by Mrs. Clintons office. Acharya Lokesh invited Clinton for Jaina Convention 2017 to be held in New Jersy from 30 June to 4 July in which around 7000 representatives from 70 Jain Centres in America and from India, Canada, Britain also from other parts of the world will take part. United Nations: Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar will attend several meetings at the UN, including a high-level summit on refugees and migrants aimed at addressing the unprecedented crisis. Akbar will attend various summits being organised at the high-level segment of the 71st UN General Assembly that opens today. He will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts of different nations on the sidelines of the session. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive here on September 24 to address the General Debate on September 26. Akbar, who arrived here from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Venezuela, will address the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, which will kick off the high-level week. The India-US-Afghanistan trilateral will also be convened in New York later this week. The summit is the first time that the General Assembly has called for a meeting at the Heads of State and Government level on the topic and "it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response", the world body said. World leaders are expected to adopt a political declaration as an outcome document at the summit, during which the UN will see a new addition to its family, a dedicated migration agency. Leaders of the UN and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will sign an agreement to officially make IOM a related agency of the UN system. Akbar is also expected to attend other high-level summits and meetings during the week. On September 21, the Assembly will hold a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, which has become one of the biggest threats to global health and endangers other major priorities, such as human development. On the same day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will make a pitch for an early entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change by convening a special event at which countries can deposit their ratification instruments with him. On September 22, there will be a high-level segment of the General Assembly to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. A total of 195 leaders including 86 Heads of State, a Crown Prince, five vice presidents and 51 ministers will address the General Debate. Canberra: Australia's prestigious art gallery today returned to India two sculptures, including a third century rock carving, worth USD 840,000 bought from an illegal Indian art dealer in 2005. Australian Arts Minister Mitch Fifield handed over a 900-year-old stone statue of Goddess Pratyangira and a third century rock carving of worshippers of the Buddha to Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at Canberra-based National Gallery of Australia (NGA). The ceremony was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri. The ceremony took place in the gallery which houses almost 5,000 pieces of Asian art. The NGA had bought the two pieces from disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor in 2005. Kapoor is currently lodged in Trichy Central Prison. Last year, the NGA research team examined new photographic evidence from the French Institute of Pondicherry that indicated a sculpture of Goddess Pratyangira which was bought for USD 247,500 was in India in 1974. This contradicts the dealer-supplied provenance, suggesting the NGA was supplied with false documentation and it was likely to have been illegally exported from India. It is believed that the work has now been reported missing to the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police, NGA said. The Buddha carving was bought for USD 595,000 and the NGA was provided with and had verified new photographic evidence that indicates the sculpture was in India as late as the 1990s. "This new evidence means the NGA cannot legally or ethically retain these works, and returning them to India is unquestionably the right thing to do," Gerard Vaughan, NGA Director said, adding "We have been working closely with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian High Commissioner in Australia to find the best outcome". Sharma said that the gesture of returning art pieces has taken the relationship to a new level as the artworks carried an emotional value for India. Sharma will be taking another piece of artwork called 'seated Buddha." He thanked the Australian government for the gesture and lauded the role of Suri on working towards building the bilateral relation. Sharma said the artworks will now be placed in National Museum in India. The Australian minister said that the important decision to remove the artworks from the gallery was taken after the findings of the NGA. Fifield said there were at least seven more objects in questions which the NGA is currently investigating. In 2014, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi two antique statues of Hindu deities which were stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu before being bought by art galleries in Australia. Geneva/New Delhi: In a huge blow to Pakistan, exiled Baloch leader Brahumdagh Bugti on Monday announced his decision to file papers for asylum in India. The news comes at a time Pakistan is being cornered by India for its involvement in terrorist attacks, including yesterday's terror strike in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, the Baloch Republican Party has decided to file a case against China at International Court of Justice and to do it, the party will approach India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh for help. The Baloch leader said the BRP has also decided to approach the ICJ against Pakistani Army generals. Bugti, the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed by Pakistan forces 10 years ago, said he will file the asylum application to the Indian government through the country's embassy here soon. "We have decided to formally file asylum papers to the Indian government soon. We will follow the legal process for the application," he told reporters here. Bugti is currently living in exile in Switzerland. Earlier, Brahumdagh Bugti told CNN News 18 that people of Balochistan were living in "very terrible conditions" and that the Baloch issue got more attention after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the rights abuses there. "After Modi's speech (on India's Independence Day) people have started talking about Balochistan," Brahumdagh Bugti said. Notably, India and Pakistan continued to trade diplomatic barbs on Saturday over Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Council, with Islamabad raising the issue of "unceasing oppression" even as New Delhi hit back, saying "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is administered by a "deep state" and also raked up alleged human rights violations in Balochistan. Paris/New Delhi: France has condemned the "terrible terrorist" attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said Paris remains on New Delhi`s side in the fight against terrorism. France also said it "recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir". In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: "France most firmly condemns the terrible terrorist attack perpetrated on 18 September against an Indian army camp in the region of Kashmir. It conveys its condolences to the families of the 17 Indian soldiers killed in this attack. "France remains at India`s side in the combat against terrorism. It calls on every State to fight effectively against terrorist groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries. "France also recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir." At least 17 Indian army soldiers were killed in a fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday morning. Panaji: Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudhir Dhavalikar on Monday said his party and BJP are firm to enter into an alliance for the Goa Assembly polls, slated next year. MGP, however, did not divulge the number of seats that would be bargained with BJP during the pre-poll alliance talks. The party also refused to join hands with Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch saying it (BBSM) should think twice before venturing into politics. "We had an alliance with BJP during the 2012 polls, due to which they won on 21 seats and we (MGP) on three. Though we lost in a few constituencies, we have continued working in those areas which were given to us as a part of the 2012 pre-poll pact," Dhavailkar, who is also Goa Transport Minister, told reporters here. He said the people in those areas (where MGP lost in the 2012 elections) are insisting that we should once again opt for an alliance and fight the election. "The talks of alliance will begin on October 4. Both the parties are firm to have a pre-poll alliance," Dhavalikar added. "We hail the work of BBSM. We should protect our mother tongue. We are with them in their fight but when it comes to politics, BBSM should think twice," he said. "BBSM is yet to form their political party, so the issue of having talks with them does not arise," quipped the MGP leader. Patna: The headless bodies of three men and a woman were found on Monday in Bihar's Begusarai district, police said. The district police said the bodies were recovered from near Sanha Halt under Sahebpur Kamal by local residents who informed the police. A case was registered and police have started investigations. However, "it is difficult to say anything right now," he said. Hundreds of people gathered at the scene after news spread of the incident. Porlamar: India has raised with Venezuelan leadership the issue of "flagrant misuse" of NAM plenary by Pakistan to make "unwarranted and unacceptable" comments on Kashmir, saying South Asia suffers from Pakistan's "dangerous use" of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. In a strongly-worded letter to the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, External Affairs Minister for State MJ Akbar said the South Asia continues to face Pakistan's "dangerous use" of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. He also said that Pakistan has continued to provide safe havens to internationally designated terrorists and terror outfits. Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, in his NAM address as the Pakistan delegation head, had said, "peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council". Meanwhile, Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has condemned the Uri attack and expressed solidarity with Indian people. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. In his message, Maduro said, "we are committed along with our brotherly people of the world to get into the depth of this problem that generated proliferation of terrorist movement, which does not respect life and the need for co- existence of people." New Delhi: With Masood Azhar-led JeM suspected to be behind the Uri attack, Congress leader Digvijay Singh today sought to put the National Democratic Alliance government in the dock, suggesting the earlier NDA regime had "compromised" with national security by releasing the terrorist following the 1999 Indian airlines hijack. In a series of tweets, he also made a strong pitch for building strong international pressure to isolate Pakistan in the wake of the terror strike and also stressed on looking into the "failure" of the Army to protect its camp near the LoC. "We compromised to let Masood Azhar go after Indian Airlines hijack. Lesson - Never compromise with National Security," the Congress General Secretary said. "Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammad behind the attack. Of course with full connivance of Pakistan Establishment." "Should also look at the failure of the Army to protect its Army Camp near the LOC," he said. "Pay homage to the Martyrs in Uri. GOI must strongly build International pressure to isolate Pakistan", the Congress leader added. Flight IC 814, which was en route from Nepal to Delhi, was hijacked on December 24, 1999 with 176 passengers onboard. T hree terrorists, including Masood Azhar, were released by the Indian government in exchange for the safe release of passengers and the crew. Delhi: Pakistan's chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has hit out at some political parties of the country for endorsing terrorism. As per India Today, Justice Jamali told a Pakistani TV channel, "It is disappointing to see some political parties supporting terrorists for their own interest." He added that terrorists were targeting courts in Pakistan to instill fear among lawyers and judges and pointed out that terrorism was flourishing in Pakistan due to internal patronization. At the same time, Justice Jamali urged that various institutions of governance must function properly so that Pakistan could be stable. "The constitution allows all faiths to practice their religion without fear of being persecuted," he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and top security brass of the country on Monday met to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas, in the wake of the terror attack in Uri. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed the meeting on the latest situation in Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control, official sources said. Parrikar and General Suhag had visited Kashmir yesterday in the aftermath of the terror attack in Uri where 17 soldiers were killed. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed in the meeting, the sources said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who has postponed his visit to Srinagar, also attended the meeting. The Home Minister, Defence Minister and the top officials also reviewed the security situation across the country, particular along the western border - from Punjab to Gujarat, the sources said. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," PM Modi had said. The HM, who had yesterday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that "for one tooth, the complete jaw" should be the policy after the attack. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Launching a barrage on the Centre over the Uri attack and accusing it of having a failed policy with Pakistan, the Congress on Monday asserted that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar must be held accountable as India`s borders and the national security has been under siege for the last two years. Hitting out at the Centre`s policy with Pakistan, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala stated that India lost 17 soldiers yesterday in the terror attack because of political leadership failure and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking why is India being repeatedly targeted. "Decision to invite ISI to investigate Pathankot terror attack manifested two glaring flaws in #ModiGovt`s Pak policy-confused and confused. India`s borders & National Security has been under siege for last 2 years. Def Min. should be held accountable. In last 2 years, foreign policy viz a viz Pak has been used to promote ModiJi`s image as a `muscular` man. #UriAttack explodes that myth," Surjewala said in a series of tweets. Calling on the Centre to ask the International Community to impose sanctions against Pakistan, he further stated that this is a test for all nations who oppose terror and stand with India.Stating that he Prime Minister Modi-led government has destroyed the matrix of India`s strategic and diplomatic advantage over Pakistan in two years, Surjewala added that the Uri terror attack serves as a final wakeup call to the Centre. "Pak is a renegade pariah Nation protecting global terror. How does PM Modi propose to `punish` & protect India`s interests?," he said.Asking if the Prime Minister will act against Parrikar and those responsible in his own command for the attack, the Congress leaders further stated that the terror strike was carried out due to the lack of preparedness on the Indian side."Will PM Modi concede that #UriAttack happened on account of a massive intelligence failure?Despite Poonch incident, why were we unprepared? PM Modi says #UriAttack `won`t go unpunished`. Will he traverse the distance from rhetoric to reality by firm & appropriate response?," Surjewala said.Earlier, condemning the terror attack in Uri Prime Minister Modi assured the nation that those behind the `despicable` attack will not go unpunished. "We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has hit out at Pakistan branding it as a `terrorist state`, adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad`s continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups.Branding Pakistan as a `terrorist state` and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, the Home Minister added that there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan`s continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. However, Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi`s claims of Islamabad`s involvement in Uri terror attack, stating that said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack."Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted.In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir`s Uri, belonged to Pakistan`s banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).During his briefing to media persons, Singh said that four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers and other war like stores have been recovered from the militants. New Delhi: The Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Monday ordered the Karnataka government to release 3,000 cusecs of river water daily to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and 30, a senior officer said. The committee handles matters related to the river water dispute. "The order was passed after a meeting attended by officials of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala failed to evolve a concensus," Shashi Shekhar, Committee Chairman and Union Water Resources Secretary, told reporters. He said: "Karnataka has not agreed to the order, which is otherwise binding." Shekhar said the supervisory committee will meet every month after February next year till September. Another decision taken by the panel was to ensure transparency in data on water reservoirs and building an online system. The cost of such online transparent data system will be borne by all four states proportionately. Shekhar said these two decisions were taken unanimously. The committee had earlier failed to take any decision on September 12 and sought information on water usage and rainfall from the Cauvery basin states by September 15, and deferred its meeting to September 19. New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday said India should launch "surgical bombardment" on terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to retaliate against the attack on the Army base in Uri. Swamy, who met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier in the day, said the terror attack and the killing of jawans at "Pakistan's behest" represents a paradigm change in the "reckless disregard and audacity" of Pakistan which requires a "sharp retaliatory response" most urgently. He told Parrikar that a "surgical bombardment" of terrorist training camps in PoK is one such step and essential to meet Indian people's expectation from a strong government for which the people had voted in 2014, a statement by Swamy said. He also sought immediate withdrawal of unilateral most-favoured nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan for trade. Swamy said Pakistan's embassy should be immediately downgraded and the ambassador be sent back. He also suggested that China and Israel should be taken into confidence and persuaded to support India's retaliatory actions against Pakistan. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based JeM had yesterday stormed an Army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. Colombo: Sri Lanka on Monday condemned the terror attack on an Indian military base in Kashmir and reaffirmed the "urgent need for sustained" regional and global cooperation to eliminate terrorism. "In the hour of grief, the Government of Sri Lanka offers its condolences to the families of the victims of the attack," a foreign ministry statement said. "Sri Lanka, as a country, that has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism," it said. Sri Lanka reiterates the urgent need for sustained regional and global cooperation to eliminate the menace of terrorism, the statement added. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel. All four terrorists were neutralised. Another jawan today succumbed to his injuries. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday took up the cause of a sick Indian sailor on board a chemical tanker near Yemen and got him immediate help. She tweeted that Devendra Singh, an Indian national, on board chemical tanker ship Nu Shi Nalini required emergency medical help, and tagged Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Indian Navy and the Defence Ministry spokesperson in her tweets. "Indian national Devendra Singh on board Nu Shi Nalini of Elektrans Shipping +870773934314 presently near Port of Hodeidah Yemen requires emergency medical help," she tweeted. The Navy soon responded that the matter had been taken up with the shipping company and that a doctor was in touch with the ship. "Matter taken up thru DG Shipping with shipping company. Officers condition has improved & all assistance being provided by company," the navy spokesperson @indiannavy responded on Twitter. "Company doctor in touch with ship. DG Shipping also monitoring the situation. Ship presently at Al Houdeydah port & officer recuperating onboard," the Navy said, adding that the ship was also in touch with the officer's wife and providing her updates. Mumbai: Five days after offering help to a stranded British couple in Mumbai, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked the UK government when they would issue the passport for their infant daughter of about five-months. In the meantime, she assured that the Indian government would extend the visas of Chris Newman and his wife Michele, which are due to expire on October 7 as they ran from pillar to post for getting a passport for their daughter Lily. "When will Britain give Lily a passport? We are prepared to extend parents` visa till then," Sushma said in a tweet on Sunday. The development came four days after the Newmans` plight was first highlighted in the Indian media by IANS (September 14), about the Britons who are living in a small rented flat in Mumbai and fast running out of resources. They faced hassles in taking their surrogate daughter Lily to the UK as her British passport was not yet ready. Apparently moved by the plight of the Newmans of Epsom in Surrey, Sushma on September 14 gave a heart-warming tweet: "We will help (you) with extension for your visa. Pl(ease) give your details." The problems were compounded by the fact that the Newmans` Indian visas would expire on October 7 - leaving them with the only option of keeping Lily in an orphanage till her passport was issued. However, after the latest assurance tweeted by Sushma - to extend their visas till Britain issues Lily`s passport - would prove to be a big relief for the Newmans, who are now in their 40s. In fact, they had applied on June 3 for a British passport for Lily who was born in May. But processing delays with the international checks at the UK Passport Office has effectively left them stuck in India. Frustrated by the delays, they put up a petition a few weeks back, on social media site, Change.org saying: "We are proud new parents to our amazing daughter Lily, who was born in Mumbai through surrogacy in May 2016. We travelled to Mumbai for Lily`s birth and to bring her home to Epsom in Surrey." "However, we have been left stranded because of delays due to UK Passport Office (HMPO) checks and may have to leave our three-and-a-half-month-old daughter with a complete stranger as we are forced to leave by the Indian government," the Newmans expressed their apprehensions. Living in a one-bedroom flat in Mumbai, they described how they were unable to venture out with Lily because of the monsoon rains or extreme heat coupled with poor local surroundings. "We have now run out of money to live on due to the weakened pound from the Brexit (Britain voting to exit the European Union) vote and having to keep up our mortgage payments on our UK home," they said. They said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had twice asked them to be prepared to "leave Lily" in India. "Lily is now starting to laugh and giggle like all babies her age, but little does she know that her safe, secure and nurtured world she lives in with her mum and dad could be turned upside down in less than 27 days," they said. After the British media highlighted the Newmans` plight, Sushma Swaraj defended India`s Surrogacy (Regular) Bill, 2016 in a series of sharp tweets. "...Will the advocates of commercial surrogacy suggest a solution and help this baby? Commercial surrogacy is banned in Britain... Will British government give a British passport to this surrogate baby? ...Should orphanage be the destiny of a surrogate baby?" the minister asked. But on a more humane note, she advised the Newmans to acquire a British passport for their child as "Orphanage is not an option for baby Lily". Bill Berry: Remembering an ecologist who was ahead of his time New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to criminal-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin on a plea challenging grant of bail to him in a murder case. The bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy also issued notice on a plea seeking stay of the Patna High Court order granting bail to Shahabuddin. While asking the Bihar government to serve notice on him, the bench directed the next hearing on the matter for the coming Monday (September 26). The court order came on a plea by Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were allegedly killed by a henchman Shahabuddin, and the Bihar government challenging the High Court order granting bail. The Bihar government had also sought issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. New York: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attack on the Indian Army base in Uri which killed 17 soldiers yesterday. A statement from the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said, "The Secretary-General condemns today`s militant attack in Uri, India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. He expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and to the Government of India. He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice. "The statement said that the UN is closely following the developments in the case and shares the concerns of people living in the region for peace."The Secretary-General hopes that all involved will prioritize the re-establishment of stability and prevent any further loss of life. He encourages all stakeholders to meet their respective responsibilities to maintain peace and stability," the statement added. 17 Indian Army soldiers were killed yesterday in an encounter with the terrorists at the Army Brigade headquarters in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. This is the highest casualty the army has suffered in a single attack in years. All four terrorists involved in the attack were killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. New Delhi: The government is likely to look into "lapses", including those in intelligence gathering, leading to the terror attack at the army camp in Uri town that left 18 soldiers dead, informed sources said. Sources said that the issue figured at the high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday morning to formulate an appropriate response in the wake of the terror attack. They said that the government is expected to fix responsibility for any lapses in intelligence gathering at civil or military level and take action. "There have been failure of intelligence both civil and military. Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Pakistan establishment must have planned it for weeks, if not months. But there was no clue. This was a case of lapse," said a key source in the government privy to the deliberations at the high-level meeting. "We are very serious this time...some heads could and should roll," the source added. They said that the issue of "intelligence gathering" came up at the meeting and both the Prime Minister and Home Minister Rajnath Singh referred to it. Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on Sunday had said that terror attack was orchestrated by "foreign terrorists" belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit. India is angry again. India wants revenge for the cowardly fidayeen attack on the Army camp in Uri that has left 18 brave soldiers dead. After Gurdaspur and Pathankot, Uri is the third major terror strike since Prime Minister Narendra Modi rode to power - promising that he will give befitting reply to Pakistan on the issue of terrorism, and not offer biryani. In this context, many are wondering whether Narendra Modi, after becoming PM, has understood the reality that the nuclear-tipped eyeball to eyeball confrontation is a challenge that can't be neutralised with rhetoric. He is in the hot seat and Modi is answerable to the nation. He has to deliver but is war even as limited one - really an option? More than Pakistan, can India afford a war at this juncture of its growth story? Consider this: Pakistan is a failed state an oxymoronic creation of the two-nation hurry that is getting eaten from within. The only elixir that is binding it together is the Army-fuelled anti-India sentiment. With mullahs and jihadis having a free run in the country, Pakistanis decided to surrender and sleep with them and postulated the idea of state and non-state actors. The terrorists who get funded, armed and feted in PoK before crossing over to India on their way to Jannat presents Islamabad a perfect alibi to needle India without taking the blame for it. Aaah! So convenient... On the other hand, India has no state-sponsored travel package to heaven and thus the state is the only actor. In effect, what that means is that India will have to stand up and take onus for even a limited strike inside PoK a land that was and remains rightfully ours. The Indian Army has the capability to do it but can the political establishment afford it at this juncture needs closer scrutiny. More importantly, the common man in India may be angry and want revenge for the killing of our soldiers but can the poor and the middle class afford the economic cost of war? Also, given the reality, that Pakistan is not bound by any no first use policy on nuclear weapons as is the case - self-imposed restriction - with India, even a limited war may end up turning into a full-blown war. And, given the geo-politics of the south-east Asia theatre, calculating the cost of such a war on a growing India may well go out of the calculator. War with Pakistan may help Modi win elections but is it actually in the common good of the nation that has set its eyes high? But does all this mean that we should continue to bear the insult and not value the blood of our soldiers? With Composite Dialogue and Confidence Building losing weight as instruments of India's policy towards its troublesome neighbour and war remaining a risky proposition, is there a third option to tackle Pakistan? Modi has blown the Balochistan trumpet is there a hidden message in the buzz? Modi is not going anywhere soon and the message may be just after the bend on the road to Muzaffarabad, that has now started to become visible.... New Delhi: The last rites of soldiers who died fighting terrorists during an attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir were performed on Monday. The last rites of Havildar Ravi Paul and Subedar Karnail Singh were performed today. The attack also claimed lives of Sepoy Javra Munda, who belonged to Khunti, while Sepoy Naiman Kujur was from Chainpur district of Jharkhand.Sepoy Rakesh Singh belonged to Kaimur, Naik S.K. Vidarthi was from Gaya, while Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh was from Bhojpur district of Bihar. Sepoy Rajesh Kumar Singh belonged to Jaunpur, Sepoy Harinder Yadav was from Ghazipur, Lance Naik R.K. Yadav belonged to Ballia, while Sepoy Ganesh Shankar was from Ghoorapalli district of Uttar Pradesh. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has lashed out at Pakistan branding it as a "terrorist state", adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. According to sources, India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) residence in the national capital. In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 18 soldiers lost their lives and 20 others got injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). New Delhi: Dubbing the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir`s Uri town as the failure of the political leadership, the Congress on Monday said the Narendra Modi-led government`s Pakistan policy was "confused". "Our soldiers were martyred because of political leadership failure. What is Modi sarkar`s (government`s) Pakistan policy? Why is India being repeatedly targeted," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala asked in a series of tweets. "Decision to invite ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) to investigate Pathankot terror attack manifested two glaring flaws in Modi government`s Pakistan policy -- confused and confused," he said in another tweet. "India`s borders and national security has been under siege for last two years. Defence Minister should be held accountable," Surjewala added. The Congress leader`s remarks come in the wake of Sunday`s terror attack which was one of the biggest targeting the Indian Army in recent years that resulted in the death of 17 soldiers and caused substantial damage to military property just a few kilometres from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Taking a pot shot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Surjewala said: "In last two years, foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan has been used to promote Modi`s image as a `muscular` man. Uri attack explodes that myth." He also took a jibe at Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, saying: "Parrikar is busy threatening fellow Indians like Aamir Khan to being a `Swayamsevak`. Then Uri attack happens. Warped priorities!" The Congress leader also lambasted Modi for sidelining External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and said: "Sushmaji is conspicuous by her absence on foreign policy. Isn`t PM Modi singularly responsible for the complete disarray?" He also said that "Modi government should ask International community to impose sanctions against Pakistan. Test for all Nation`s who oppose terror and stand with India". Targeting Prime Minister, Surjewala said: "Modiji counsels UPA (United Progressive Alliance) to not write `love letters to Pakistan`. Post Udhampur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Pampore and Uri attacks, what is the Modi government doing?" He also accused the Prime Minister of destroying the strategic and diplomatic advantage over Pakistan and said: "Modi government has destroyed the entire matrix of our strategic and diplomatic advantage over Pakistan in two years. Hope Uri attack is a final wake up call." "Pakistan is a renegade pariah nation protecting global terror. How does PM Modi propose to `punish` and protect India`s interests," he wondered. "Will PM Modi concede that Uri attack happened on account of a massive intelligence failure? Despite Poonch incident, why were we unprepared," he asked in another tweet. "Will Modi government tell who leaked info of troop movement and change over? Why were jawans in tents and not in two empty buildings," he asked. "Will PM Modi show the courage of conviction by acting against those responsible in his own command and control structure including his Defence Minister," he wondered. New Delhi: The terror attack on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri base which killed 18 soldiers, has drawn condemnation from around the world, including Russia and the UN. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the perpetrators of the Uri attack will be brought to justice and all stakeholders in the region will meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability. The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the Uri attack and said it is "concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base was attacked from Pakistani territory". It called for the "criminal act" to be investigated properly and that "its organisers and perpetrators be held accountable". "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack against an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of September 18, which killed 17 and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured," the Russian statement said. While condemning the terror act, China said it was concerned over the "rising temperatures" in its aftermath. Beijing also asked India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue. "China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding the Kashmir situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. France condemned the Uri terror attack and called for "decisive action" against terror groups targetting India, especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. In a statement, the deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development said that nothing can justify terrorism and that Paris remains "at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". He said after the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base, "this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". "We call for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen." "Nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combatted everywhere with the same determination," the spokesperson said. Canada strongly condemned the attack and said it stands with India in the fight against terrorism. In a statement, Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said his country was appalled by these attacks. Neighbours Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka also condemned the terrorist attack. In his message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said he was of the firm belief that the perpetrators behind this heinous act will be brought to justice at the earliest. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said the country has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades and resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism. Bhutan said it is "deeply concerned" at the "despicable" terror attack on Uri in India and called for the need to step up global cooperation to combat terrorism. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali, condemning the attack, told CNN-News18 news channel that the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan will remain in the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka. "As a freedom fighter of 1971, we fought alongside the Indians during our war of liberation, I want the spirit of 1971 to remain in our relations," Ali said. On Sunday, the US expressed strong condemnation of the terror attack. "The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the UK "stands shoulder to shoulder with India in defeating terrorism and in bringing the perpetrators to justice". Delhi: Even as India on Monday weighed its options against Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack with Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoning a meeting of senior ministers and military and security advisers, the Army said it reserved the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing even as various options were discussed in a flurry of high-level meetings. Determined to use a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response to Uri attack, India is likely to expose Pakistan before the world community by furnishing it with actionable evidence regarding its sponsoring of terrorism and press for isolating the nation. India is also planning to hand over to Pakistan evidence of the four terrorists using Pakistani-marked weapons, food, energy drinks and GPS trackers which they carried to enter Jammu and Kashmir from across the Line of Control. PM Modi chairs high-level meeting, briefs President Indications in this regard came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a nearly two-hour meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and other top officials to discuss India's response. Top brass of the government is convinced that India has to launch a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response and expose Pakistan in international forums like the UN, whose General Assembly is in session, official sources said, as per PTI. As part of the plans, the Director General of Military Operations will hand over all the evidence linking Pakistan's involvement in Uri attack to his Pakistani counterpart shortly. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief, who visited Kashmir after the terror attack yesterday, also apprised the Prime Minister about their observations. The meeting also discussed PM Modi's proposed visit to Pakistan in November for a SAARC summit. The option of the Islamabad trip was left open as any decision would be taken on the basis of the bilateral situation then, the sources said, as per IANS. In the evening, PM Modi called on President Pranab Mukherjee and briefed him about the high-level meeting attended. India will respond at a time, place of its choosing: Army On the other hand, the Army today said it reserves the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing even as various options were discussed in a flurry of high-level meetings. "The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us," Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh told reporters. "We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing," he added. The total recoveries from the four slain terrorists was four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, 39 Under Barrel Grenade Launcher grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPSs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings, he said. India diverting attention from Kashmir: Pakistan Meanwhile, Pakistan continued to be in a denial mode and today accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its 'reign of terror' in Kashmir by a spate of 'vitriolic' and 'unsubstantiated' statements following the terror attack in Uri. "Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterday's attack" in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in PM Modi's government. "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation" in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, Aziz added. He further said that the situation in Kashmir is not of Pakistan's making but a direct consequence of "illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100 thousand deaths". Reacting to Rajnath Singh's statement that Pakistan was a 'terrorist state' and should be isolated, Aziz said that it was deplorable that the Indian minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. In New Delhi, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters that India was not concerned about Pakistani denials. "Everything is in front of the people. We must not give much attention to Pakistan's reaction. We will take our steps carefully," Rijiju said. How Uri attack happened Heavily-armed terrorists, believed to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed (JeM), had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir in wee hours, killing 18 jawans. All the four terrorists were eliminated. India reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir with the PM strongly condemning it. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. The death toll today rose to 18 with Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan, who was airlifted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in the national capital after being critically injured, succumbing to injuries. Of the 17 killed yesterday, eight were from the administrative section which included seven cooks. Uri is a small town located 103 km north of Srinagar. Patrols on the borders were increased and frontier districts in various states were put on a high alert. India and Pakistan are currently observing a 2003 ceasefire along the borders and the LoC, which has largely stayed despite violations. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: With India-Pakistan ties facing continued turbulence after the deadly terror strike in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 17 Indian soldiers were killed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s presence in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad this November remains doubtful. According to sources, no decision has been taken as yet on the Prime Minister`s participation at the SAARC summit meet in Islamabad. Following the terror strike on the Army base in Uri, India lashed out at Pakistan holding it responsible for the attack. Branding Pakistan a `terrorist state` and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday said there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan`s continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. Meanwhile, condemning the terror attack as well, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the nation that those behind the `despicable` attack will not go unpunished. "We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets. Hinting at the Jaish-e-Mohammad`s role behind the Uri attack, India`s Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh also asserted that the evil designs would get a befitting reply. However, Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi`s claims of Islamabad`s involvement in Uri terror attack, stating that said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past, many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. At least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 19 others injured post the terror strike on an Army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven Army men were killed. Srinagar: Curfew was on Monday clamped in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Kashmir, while it remained in force in some other areas of the Valley including in parts of Srinagar, in view of the separatists call for a protest march to the three districts. Normal life also remained disrupted in the Valley for the 73rd straight day. A police official said that curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and Baramulla districts today, while it remains in force in Shopian and five police station areas of downtown (interior city) along with Batamaloo in uptown Srinagar. He said the curbs have been imposed to maintain law and order in view of the separatists call for a march to the three districts of Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar. The official said restrictions on the assembly of people continued to remain in force in the rest of the Valley. The separatists, in the weekly protest programme, have called for a march to the three districts Baramulla (in north Kashmir), Srinagar (in central Kashmir) and Pulwama (in south Kashmir) today. They have asked the people of north Kashmir districts of Bandipora and Kupwara to march towards Baramulla, people of south Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag to march to Pulwama and people of Central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam to march towards Srinagar. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain paralysed in Kashmir for the 73rd consecutive day due to restrictions and separatist sponsored strike. The separatists, who are spearheading the current agitation in the Valley, have extended the protest programme till September 22. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut, while public transport was off the roads. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain shut. Mobile telephony, except the postpaid connections of BSNL, and the mobile Internet services continued to remain snapped across the Valley. As many as 81 people, including two cops, have been killed in the unrest that broke out a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in South Kashmir on July 8. Every three years, Madison gets to witness the artwork of some of Wisconsins most exuberantly creative minds. The 2016 edition of the Wisconsin Triennial, opening next weekend at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, will feature the work of 40 artists and artist-teams handpicked to show some of the innovation happening in art studios throughout the state. One of those is glass artist Helen Lee, for whom the timing of the 2016 Triennial has a lot of significance. It marks three years since Lee moved to the Midwest, after a lifetime on the East and West Coasts, and settled here to become head of the esteemed glass program at UW-Madison. The 2013 Triennial was freshly mounted on the walls of MMOCA when Lee arrived in town, she said. So having a work in the 2016 Triennial seems like a very formal marking of my time here. Lee, 38, is among 14 artists and collaborative teams from Madison in this years Triennial, which will take over most of MMOCAs vast building adjacent to the Overture Center at 227 State St. Those whose work has been seen in past Triennials include UW-Madison faculty Stephen Hilyard (video installation), John Hitchcock (printmaking), T.L. Solien (painting), Laurie Beth Clark and Michael Peterson (of the performance art duo Spatula&Barcode) and Derrick Buisch (painting; his work was also seen in the 2013, 2010 and 2007 Triennials). Madison newcomers to the exhibition include Lee (glass), Emily Arthur (printmaking), Victor Castro aka TetraPAKMAN Man (social sculpture), Helen Hawley (multimedia installation), Romano Johnson (painting), Meg Mitchell (sound installation), Christopher Rowley (painting), SAYLER + SCHAAG (performance) and Gregory Vershbow (photography). The monumental, cut-paper artwork titled Brave New World by UW-Whitewater art faculty member Xiaohong Zhang, of Fort Atkinson, also will be featured, along with new works from artists based in Milwaukee, La Crosse, Sussex, Forestville, Sheboygan, Shorewood, Appleton, Green Bay and elsewhere across the state. Those artists were selected from among more than 600 who applied for this years show. As part of the selection process, MMOCA curators visited artists studios to talk with them and to see their current work. All the pieces in the Triennial have been created in the past three years. Two notable themes that emerged in 2016 are the state of the environment and storytelling, marked by an exploration of personal identity, said MMOCA senior curator Richard Axsom. All of modern and contemporary art is first-person singular. So its personal from the get-go, Axsom said. What distinguishes this moment in storytelling is the aspect of narrative sometimes not linear, sometimes not chronological, but nonetheless a story being told. What we saw emerging (in the studio visits) was here is another artist who is concerned personally with the environment, or with cultural identity, ethnic identity, political identity, he said. It seemed to step forward. Lees work in the show, for example, is a glass sculpture more than 5 feet tall, pulsating in pink neon. Titled OMG, the work depicts three Mandarin Chinese characters that vertically spell out My Day!, or the equivalent of the ubiquitous American expression OMG! Lee, who grew up learning Chinese from elder relatives and today speaks the language like a 5-year-old, she quipped, became fascinated with the My Day expression on a trip to Taiwan. It both surprised and amused her that an expression seemingly so American was a part of everyday Chinese vernacular as well. Lee, 38, whose background is in blown glass, didnt really start experimenting with neon until she came to teach at UW-Madison another reason that having OMG in the Triennial is meaningful for her, she said. Lee found it interesting (to translate) it into this language that she associates with her ancestry, and the crossover and confused meanings that go along with that, said MMOCA associate curator Leah Kolb, who along with Axsom, education curator Sheri Castelnuovo and MMOCA director Stephen Fleischman participated in the studio visits. She sees it very much as part of her identity, which shes now passing along to her daughter. Its an interesting way of using neon to address that very kind of personal relationship with language and heritage. Kolb and Axsom point out the range of ways that Wisconsin artists in the Triennial tell their own visual stories about identity. Theres an almost Rembrandt-like self-portrait by Daniel ONeal of Stevens Point, painted in oil in his art studio with a magical and yet almost photographic realism. And theres the video Pacel Galvu by Ted Brusubardis of Milwaukee, inspired by the Latvian folk songs of his ancestors. Milwaukee video artist Portia Cobb created a piece for her series Performing Grace showing her 94-year-old mother shelling cowpeas, a ritual from her youth in the South, as the two women tenderly explore the meaning of grace. Sky Hopinka of Milwaukee also used video and recollections from his father to explore his identity as a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation in his work Jaaji Approx. About a third of the artists in the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial identify as Native American, African American, Asian American or Latino, according to the museum. Diversity in medium, artistic style, geography and artists backgrounds was a stated goal of this years show. A MMOCA Nights reception held from 6-9 p.m. Friday will kick off the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial. The show opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 8. Admission to the museum is free. Srinagar: India stepped up patrols along its de facto border with Pakistan on Monday after gunmen killed 17 soldiers at a nearby army base, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s administration weighed its response to an attack India blames on its neighbour. The assault, in which four commando-style gunmen burst into the brigade headquarters in Uri at 5.30 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Sunday, was among the deadliest in Kashmir and has sharply ratcheted up tension between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals. Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday called Pakistan "a terrorist state" and Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said troops were "ready to give a befitting response", without elaborating. Pakistan denies any role and accused India of apportioning blame before it had properly investigated. Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, is at the heart of the rivalry between the neighbours. Two of their three wars since independence from Britain have been fought over the region. Indian troops searched three ravines that cut across the border in mountainous terrain near Uri, which a senior army official said they believe the militants sneaked across. Reinforcements were also sent to patrol one of the world`s most heavily militarized frontiers, where Indian and Pakistani forces in places stand eyeball to eyeball and sometimes exchange fire, the army official said. Modi is expected to meet senior leaders from his party at a cabinet meeting in New Delhi at noon on Monday, where politicians are set to discuss how to respond as well as the security lapses. "Our first priority is to fortify every defence base and it is shocking that one of our strategic locations was hit," a senior aide to Modi told Reuters. "It has exposed the flaws and the weakness of our security infrastructure and an immediate overhaul is the first job on hand." As well as the 17 confirmed dead, army officials said three of the critically wounded had been flown to an army hospital in New Delhi. Most of dead and wounded suffered severe burns after their army tents and temporary shelters caught fire from incendiary ammunition while they were sleeping. The assault came as India`s portion of Kashmir has been under a major security lockdown during more than two months of protests sparked by the July 8 killing of a commander of another Pakistan-based separatist group. India has long blamed Pakistan for a role in the 27-year long insurgency against its rule in its only Muslim-majority state. General Ranbir Singh said Sunday`s assault bore the hallmarks of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Pakistan denies sending fighters into Indian-administered Kashmir. "Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modis government," the foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan`s prime minister said in a statement late on Sunday. Recent unrest in Kashmir has been led largely by local young men angry at the heavy military presence in the region. Eighty-two civilians have been killed and more than 7,000 wounded as a daily curfew paralyses life. Two policemen have also been killed in clashes. Pakistan has called on the United Nations and the international community to investigate atrocities it alleges have been committed by Indian security forces in Kashmir. The UN is preparing to hold its annual general assembly in New York, where Kashmir is likely to be on the agenda. Srinagar: The Kashmir Valley on Monday remained shut for the 73rd consecutive day with authorities imposing curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar city, Pulwama and Baramulla districts to prevent separatist called protest rallies. On Sunday night, guerrillas snatched four weapons from the residential guards of a ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) district president in Anantnag. All educational institutions, main markets, public transport and other businesses have remained suspended. Eighty-nine people -- 86 civilians and three policemen -- have died since the ongoing unrest began on July 9. Over 11,500 people have also been injured in this period. New Delhi: A 20-year-old soldier injured in the Uri terror attack died of injuries in a Delhi hospital on Monday, taking the toll to 18, officials said. The soldier, identified as KV Janardan, died at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, a hospital official told IANS over phone. "He lost his battle with life at 11.30 am this morning," the official said. Janardan was among three soldiers flown to Delhi for treatment following injuries sustained in Sunday`s fidayeen attack in an Army base camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 17 soldiers were martyred in Kashmir in the Sunday morning attack. New Delhi: A day after seventeen brave jawans were killed in the dastardly attack carried out allegedly by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants in an Army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, reports now point to major lapses in the security arrangements which enabled the four terrorists to sneak inside and unleash mayhem. According to a ToI reports, the security agencies are now probing two-point breach in the security to determine how terrorists got inside the army camp and opened fire at soldiers who were sleeping at the time of attack. As per the report, the agencies suspect that the first breech in security occurred at the Line of Control (LoC) at Uri, and the second at the perimeter of the Army base that saw the fencing wire being cut. The two lapses, the security agencies believes, helped the suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad fidayeen access the heavily-guarded camp and execute one of the deadliest suicide attacks in J&K. While the investigators point to the role of a 'mole' in helping the Uri attack mastermind, they have reasons to believe that the attackers were fully aware of the camp's layout and knew their way around. One of the initial findings the sentry on duty were not sufficiently alert - is believed to have been discussed during the review meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. During the meeting, those who attended it have unanimously considered it a serious lapse in view of the lesson from Pathankot where a fidayeen squad of Jaish infiltrated the strategically crucial air base, and because of Pakistan's attempt to cause upheaval in J&K. The report also quoted intelligence sources as saying that JeM hand in the attack was identified after its representative called up a local journalist in Kashmir to claim responsibility for the Uri carnage. Incidentally, Jaish is also believed to be behind the Pathankot attack but it did not claim responsibility for the same them. Primary investigations into the Uri attack point to the involvement of Jaish terrorists, who seem to have followed their usual modus operandi of infiltrating from across Pakistan the night before the attack and heading straight for the target. Agencies suspect that the four Jaish fidayeen crossed the LoC at Uri, which lies not too far from the Army base, late on Saturday night and waited there for an early morning strike. Agencies have also pointed to the involvment of a mole or an overground worker who could have possibly alerted the Jaish masterminds about troop positions within the camp, thus helping them maximise casualties. "A recce was done. The terrorists were aware of the layout of the camp and knew their way around. They had possibly identified the stretches where the fence was not properly manned and accordingly found a safe spot to cut the perimeter wire,"an intelligence officer was quoted as saying. "All possible lapses on part of the Army, which was in charge of guarding both the LoC and base perimeter, are subjects of a detailed enquiry," he added. Bengaluru: Even as the Cauvery Supervisory Committee is scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Monday to decide on the quantum of river water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states, anxiety prevails in Karnataka over its outcome. Security has been beefed up in Mandya, Chamrajnagar, Mysuru, Bengaluru and other parts of the state ahead of the meeting, police said. "The police, ahead of crucial Cauvery Supervisory Committee meeting On Monday, have taken necessary security steps to check any untoward incident," IGP (Central Range) Seemanth Kumar told reporters here. Supreme Court on September 15 had taken Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments to task for failing to check violence following its order on the Cauvery dispute, asserting that its verdict "has to be complied with" and violent agitation would serve no purpose as those aggrieved were free to take legal recourse. The apex court also had directed both states to ensure that there is no violence, agitation, destruction and damage to property following its order and asked them to maintain peace, calm and dignity for law. Property worth several crore has been damaged in violence in the two states after the Supreme Court order. Kumar said RAF and BSF platoons will be deployed in Bengaluru Rural and Kolar districts which share borders with Tamil Nadu. Police would be deployed on national highways to check traffic disruptions likely to be made by pro-Kannada outfits in next two days. Kannada Okkuta Leader Vatal Nagaraj on Saturday had threatened to disrupt vehicles at Attibele near Hosur, which falls in Tamil Nadu, tomorrow and the day after. Mumbai: People of four villages in Maharashtra turned up in large number to share the grief of the families of four bravehearts from the state, who were among the 18 jawans martyred in the Uri terror attack. Sandip Somnath Thok (24) from Nashik district, Chandrakant Shankar Galande from Satara, Vikas Janardhan Kulmethe (27) from Yavatmal district and Panjab alias Vikas Janrao Uike (26) from Amravati, lost their lives in yesterday's attack. Villagers of Jashi in Mann tehsil of Satara district made a beeline to the house of Galande ever since the news of his killing reached the village. Galande's brothers Manjya Bapu and Keshav are also in the armed forces. The family has a home on the outskirts of the village, where the slain soldier's wife and two children live. Now, villagers are waiting for the mortal remains to reach Jashi by road, after being flown to Pune. At Khandagali village in Nashik district, the family of armyman Sandip Somnath Thok, killed in the Uri attack, is mourning for the soldier, who was a bachelor. Sandip is survived by parents, elder brother Yogesh and two married sisters. Somnath, father of the 25-year old, is an onion farmer. Sandip had joined the Army in 2014, after repeated attempts to join the armed forces. Ten youths from the village are serving in the armed forces. Villagers are awaiting the arrival of the martyr's mortal remains for the last rites. Mathura: A one-member judicial commission probing the violence at Jawahar Bagh will arrive here on Tuesday to record the statement of the prime witnesses in the case. According to an official statement, the one-member judicial commission headed by Justice (Retd) Mirza Imtiaz Murtaza will arrive here tomorrow to record the statement of prime witnesses in the case. Twenty-nine people including City Superintendent of Police Mukul Dwivedi and Farah police station officer Santosh Yadav were killed in clashes during a drive to evict illegal occupants of Jawahar Bag in Mathura by activists, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik on June 2. Akhilesh Yadav government had on June 7 constituted the one-member judicial commission to inquire into aspects related to the clash between the police and the encroachers. Apart from looking into the reasons and circumstances that led to the incident, the commission will go through the information gathered by the intelligence unit, the role played by the district administration and police officers, and also the role of the supervising police and administrative officers. Lucknow: After assuming charge as Samajwadi Party Uttar Pradesh unit president, Shivpal Yadav on Sunday expelled a close relative of senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and another leader for their alleged involvement in land grabbing, a move that could once again fuel a war in the family. In his first decision after taking charge as SP UP president, Shivpal Yadav expelled party MLC Arvind Pratap Yadav, who is nephew of Ram Gopal Yadav and former village head in Etawah Akhilesh Kumar Yadav for their alleged involvement in land grabbing and other such activities. According to sources, there were a lot of complaints related to land grabbing and others against these two. "Arvind has been expelled for making derogatory and indecent comments against party supremo Mulayam and his involvement in anti-party activities," SP state secretary SRS Yadav said. Earlier, before reaching the office, Shivpal met Mulayam Singh Yadav at the airport before he left for Delhi. The expulsion could fuel another war in the family as both of them were close to Ram Gopal. The feud in Uttar Pradesh's first family had ended yesterday after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav restored all but one portfolios of Shivpal Yadav and promised to support him as SP's state unit president, a post from which he was himself removed three days back triggering the power tussle with his uncle. Addressing party workers, Shivpal said that as elections are near, everyone should gear up to strengthen the party to form majority government. He also warned workers against groupism saying "there is no place of groupism in the party and those indulging in it will be treated strictly". "If you all want to shout slogans, it should be first in favour of party, then Netaji (Mulayam) and then Chief Minister," he told workers. On Mayawati's comment against the party, Shvipal said, "She should first take care of her party before commenting on others. Her party is going to be finished in next elections". Mau: In a shocking incident, a 35-year- old woman was allegedly raped in a moving train and pushed out of it resulting in loss of her right leg in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. The woman alleged that she was going home in Shahganj area in adjoining Jaunpur district by Tamsa passenger train last night when two men allegedly raped her and threw her out of the moving train. The villagers brought her to Khurhat railway station for treatment at the district hospital here, but since her condition was serious she was referred to Varanasi. Photographs of the woman went viral on news channels and social media. Though the rape was yet to be confirmed, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official said the woman fell from the running train and lost her right leg in the mishap. "We are looking into the matter and the guilty will not be spared," GRP official Sudhir Singh said today. The woman, who was screaming in pain, was noticed by villagers this morning near Khazakhurd railway station under Sarai Lakhansi police station. She was lying without clothes, indicating that she might have been raped before being tossed out of the compartment, they said. Earlier this month, a college girl received serious head injuries after being pushed out of a moving train by a man attempting to snatch her purse in Bareilly. The incident occurred near Abhaypura railway station on the Lucknow-Lalkuan section when the girl was going to college with her sister. Another woman passenger was robbed and thrown off a Lucknow-bound express train by unidentified persons near Chitbaragaon railway station on Chappra-Varanasi section in Ballia district last month. As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, there has been a 52 per cent rise in registered crimes on railways - from 25,737 in 2011 to 39,239 in 2015. State-wise, the highest number of crimes in railways has been registered in Maharashtra followed by Uttar Pradesh. Prevention of crime, registration of cases and maintenance of law and order over station premises and trains is the statutory responsibility of states, which is being discharged by them through Government Railway Police (GRP). On an average, 2,000 trains are escorted by RPF personnel daily. Aligarh: A Kashmiri student was on Monday expelled from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for posting "objectionable" comments on Facebook over the terror attack on the Army base in Uri. AMU Vice Chancellor Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah took a "very serious view" of the issue and expelled the student, who was pursuing M.Sc in Organic Chemistry, after personally probing the matter, university spokesman Rahat Abrar said. "Lt Gen Shah said that there is no scope whatsoever at AMU for tolerating any incident which smacks of anti-national sentiments," the spokesman said. The student, Mudassar Yusuf from Srinagar, had offered his apologies to the Vice Chancellor yesterday for posting the comments stating that he was "carried away by sentiments", according to university sources. However, the university authorities decided to go ahead with his expulsion keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter, the sources said. BJP Lok Sabha Member from Aligarh, Satish Kumar Gautam had also written to the Vice Chancellor demanding stringent action against the student for his Facebook post. Heavily-armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an Army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. Nearly four years after three correctional officers were fired from their jobs at Oakhill Correctional Institution following the suicide of a co-worker, courts are now hearing cases involving the status of their jobs. Two of the three continue to seek reinstatement to their jobs, while in the case of the third, who was reinstated, the state Department of Corrections is challenging the authority of another state agency to tell it where the officer has to be assigned. Rachel Koester, who was an officer at Oakhill, and Justyn Witscheber, who was a sergeant there, along with another sergeant, Matthew Seiler, were fired in October 2012 after the suicide of co-worker Philip Otto earlier that year. The guards were accused of calling Otto gay and making other sexually oriented comments toward and about him. Two other correctional employees were also accused. A captain was fired and then reinstated, and a sergeant retired early. Dismissals of Koester and Witscheber were upheld in March by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, but WERC reinstated Seiler, saying that his actions instead deserved a 10-day suspension because DOC had failed to prove all but one of the allegations against him, that he had been dishonest during the investigation. In filings in Dane County Circuit Court, Koester and Witscheber continue to press for reinstatement, claiming that their firings violated their rights and were not supported by the evidence in the matter. Decisions by Circuit Judge Richard Niess are not expected for several months. In Seilers case, DOC filed a lawsuit last month challenging WERCs authority to tell DOC where Seiler should be assigned, and to what position. According to DOCs lawsuit, after reinstating Seiler, DOC assigned him as a correctional sergeant to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage. Seiler objected, and in a motion for clarification to WERC in March said that he should have been reinstated to his former job as lobby sergeant at Oakhill. WERC mostly agreed, ordering him returned to Oakhill but as a correctional sergeant. It denied DOCs motion for reconsideration in April. DOCs lawsuit states that DOC is aggrieved by WERCs decision because it infringes upon the DOCs right to transfer and assign employees to different institutions. The decision, DOC states, adversely affects DOCs substantial interests in managing its workforce and in providing all employees a safe working environment. WERC and lawyers for Seiler responded in court filings earlier this month that DOCs lawsuit should be dismissed. Mathura: A youth was on Monday critically injured in an acid attack by unidentified miscreants here, police said. The victim has been referred to Delhi as his condition was stated to be serious, they added. According to SP (city) Aloke Priyadarshi, Balbir (19), son of Fateh Singh and a resident of Vikas Nagar here, used to work at a machinery store on Saunkh Road. At around 8 pm, he was on his way home along with his cousin Ganesh Gola after the day's work when the miscreants threw acid at him, the SP said. Balbir was immediately rushed to a local hospital from where, he was referred to Delhi. Police have launched a hunt to nab the miscreants, the SP said. Kinshasa: At least 17 people, including three policemen, were killed when Congolese police and anti-government protesters clashed in the capital Kinshasa on Monday during a march against President Joseph Kabila and what the protesters see as his bid to extend his mandate. The protest, attended by thousands, came at a time of growing local and international pressure on Kabila to step down when his term of office legally ends in December. The opposition accuses him of plotting to extend his tenure by delaying elections that were supposed to be held in November until at least next year. His supporters deny this. "Officially, we have 17 dead in Kinshasa: three police and 14 civilians," said Interior Ministry spokesman Claude Pero Luwara. Earlier, a Reuters witness saw a crowd burning the body of a police officer in the Kinshasa suburb of Limete in an apparent act of retaliation for police gunfire. Angry crowds tore down photographs of Kabila, chanting in French: "it`s over for you" and "we don`t want you". Georges Kapiamba, director of the Congolese Association For Access to Justice, a local non-governmental organisation, said that security forces shot dead twenty-five protesters. Rights groups reported dozens of arrests of protesters and journalists in the capital as well as in Goma and Kisangani, where anti-government marches also took place. A government spokesman confirmed the detention of opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who suffered a head injury during the march. By mid-afternoon, most protesters had been dispersed and the streets in the normally bustling city centre were quiet. New York: President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will strategize about the upcoming offensive to take back the northern city of Mosul when they meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Increasingly, and not without irony, Iraq has become the bright spot in Obama's campaign against the Islamic State group, though profound challenges remain. In neighboring Syria, the chaotic civil war continues to plague efforts to defeat IS extremists, but in Iraq, cooperation with Abadi's forces has helped the US-led coalition wrest back half the territory that IS once held, according to the US. "As we take away more of their territory, it exposes ISIL as the failed cause that it is," Obama said today, using another acronym for the extremist group. "And it helps to undermine their ideology, which over time will make it harder for them to recruit and inspire people to violence." Yet a key city remains under IS control: Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the extremist group's stronghold in the country. An intensely difficult urban fight to oust IS from Mosul is expected to ramp up in the next two to three months, following recent victories in reclaiming other Iraqi cities including Fallujah and Ramadi. Some 1 million people could be displaced by the battle in Mosul, US and UN officials say. Washington considers the Iraqi government's handling of the displacement to be a major test case for reconciliation in Iraq, given the blend of sectarian groups with an interest in the northern city's future. "We've always believed that progress on the battlefield needs to be accompanied by continued political progress among Iraq's different communities," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said ahead of the meeting scheduled for today. He said that Obama and Abadi planned to discuss preparation for an "effective and sustainable campaign to liberate Mosul." The session comes at a critical time for Obama, who has just a few months left in office to make progress against IS before passing on the conflict to his successor. The Obama administration considers Abadi to be a major improvement over the sectarian approach of his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, though Abadi has faced serious domestic political challenges in recent months. Obama's meeting with the Iraqi leader marks the start of a hectic week of diplomacy as he makes his final appearance as president at the annual UN gathering. The president also met today with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and raised money in private for Senate Democrats, a day after holding another fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential nominee was holding her own program of meetings with foreign leaders attending the UN summit as she works to portray herself as more presidential than Republican Donald Trump. Washington: The Syria and ISIS policy of President Barack Obama is working as the terrorist outfit is shrinking in its occupied space, Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine said. "We have dramatically improved in the last year. And the proof is in how much ground ISIS has lost," Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. A year ago, Kaine was highly critical of Obama's Syria policy and described it as a joke. It's no longer the case, he said. "A year ago, I think you remember, we had a small force that we were trying to put into Syria. And the opening of that was a dismal failure. But now we're taking the fight to ISIS to defeat and destroy them," he told CNN. "If you look at what's happened in the last year, ISIS' territory has dramatically shrunk because of a significant uptick in cooperation between the US, the Iraqi military, the Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq, the Kurds in Northern Syria and the Syrian opposition," Kaine said. Russia can demand that Syria stop its atrocities against its civilians. Russia has always had the ability to mandate a ceasefire, because they're there in Syria. They're Syria's chief backer, he said. At the same time, he hoped that Moscow will stick to the table, stick to the ceasefire agreement, because that's what's necessary to solve this humanitarian crisis. Responding to questions, Kaine acknowledged that situation has deteriorated in Iraq. "In Iraq, it spiraled downward. And then, in Syria, where we didn't have troops, it spiraled downward because of the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad. We can't make governments govern wisely," he said. "But what we need to do is, when terrorists pose a threat to allies or to the United States, we need to engage in punishing activity to destroy them. We are now on track to defeat ISIS on the battlefield. But we have got to be sharing intelligence with our allies, so that we can keep America and our allies safe," Kaine said. Geneva: Maintaining that Balochistan is an occupied territory by Pakistan, Mehran Marri, Baloch Representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), on Monday said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an "illegal" project. "I have started my talks basically on the legality of CPEC. CPEC is an illegal project. It should first and foremost be counted on legality. Balochistan is an occupied territory. It is an occupied nation by Pakistan," Marri told ANI. He further said any illegal construction in Balochistan should be objected by the international community. "China and Pakistan have no legal right to construct on the Baloch soil. Any construction goes on is illegal and international community should object to the construction," he added. Earlier, members of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) protested outside the UN office in Geneva to highlight the atrocities committed by Pakistan on Baloch people and against the CPEC project. The protesters also raised slogans such as, "China must leave Balochistan."The Baloch people have been protesting alleging Pakistan of being only concerned about the resources in Balochistan and not its people and exploiting the region`s resources and trading it to Beijing. Considered to be a part of China's One Belt, One Road initiative, the USD46 billion project covers Balochistan and Sindh provinces and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).India has formally opposed the CPEC because it runs through PoK. Attica: One of Greece`s main migrant camps on the island of Lesbos Monday suffered extensive damage in a fire apparently set on purpose, with thousands forced to flee to safety, police said. Tents at the camp of Moria were "almost entirely destroyed" and containers that provide additional accommodation and health and registration services were damaged, a police source in Athens told AFP. Firefighters were prevented from tackling the fire early on by clashes that broke out among rival nationalities in the camp, reports said. With the flames fanned by strong winds, up to 4,000 people are believed to have fled to the surrounding fields, the police source said. However, once inside the firefighters were able to bring the fire under control. Police were sent out after the migrants and were in the process of returning them to the camp, the officer added. He said there was "no doubt" that the fire had been set on purpose by those inside. Some 150 minors housed at the camp were evacuated to a children`s village on the island, the officer said. There are now over 60,000 refugees and migrants in Greece, most of them seeking to travel to Germany and other affluent EU countries. But they are unable to do so after several eastern European and Balkan states shut their borders earlier this year. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the condition of Greek migrant camps, pointing to overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions. The situation is particularly acute on Lesbos and other eastern Aegean islands facing Turkey, where most of the migrants land and are held for registration. Island residents have also staged protests to demand the transportation of the migrants to the mainland. The procedure is part of an EU-Turkey deal designed to limit the flow of refugees and migrants to Greece`s shores. According to government data, there are over 13,000 people on five islands in facilities built to house fewer than 8,000. Most of them are Syrian refugees fleeing civil war, in addition to Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis and others from the Indian subcontinent and north Africa considered to be economic migrants, and as such not automatically entitled to asylum in Europe. On Lesbos itself there are in excess of 5,600 people, over 2,000 more than the nominal capacity of the camps. Brawls are common, with many desperate to avoid being returned to Turkey or their home countries after spending a small fortune and risking their lives trying to escape poverty and persecution. Earlier on Monday, tension rose in Moria owing to a rumour that migrants were about to be deported en masse to Turkey, state agency ANA reported. But a strong police presence at the camp had initially calmed tempers, the officer said. Another two fires broke out in the olive groves near Moria but were brought under control before the third fire erupted at the camp. Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has maintained her lead over Republican rival Donald Trump in a four-way matchup, according to a latest national poll. Clinton is beating Trump 42 per cent to 40 per cent among likely voters, according to a Morning Consult poll. She leads Trump among registered voters by 1 percentage point, 39 per cent to 38 per cent, Politico reported on Sunday. Before her bout with pneumonia - and near collapse in public - Clinton was up 41-39. The new poll suggested that Clinton might be winning back voters from third-party candidate Gary Johnson, whose support has declined from 10 per cent to 8 per cent. Forty-three per cent of Republicans said that Trump was not the best pick to be the party`s nominee, while 41 per cent of Democrats suggested the same of Clinton, a stunning level of regret in the electorate with 51 days until Election Day. Half of Republicans said Trump was the party`s best pick, while 55 per cent of Democrats said the same of Clinton, Politico noted. According to the poll, over one-third of Clinton`s supporters say they are voting against Trump, and 44 per cent of Trump`s voters say they were voting against Clinton. Still, 47 per cent of those polled think Clinton will win in November, and 33 per cent said Trump will. Last month, 53 per cent thought Clinton would be the next president. The survey polled 1,639 likely voters and 1,861 registered voters online, on September 15 and 16. United Nation: Japan will provide $2.8 billion to help deal with the global refugee crisis over three years from 2016, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday. Abe made the new pledge at a United Nations summit on refugees on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly. He said the money would be for "humanitarian and self-reliance assistance" for refugees and migrants, and go to help host countries and communities. Abe said current refugee and migrant movements were unprecedented and amounted to "serious ongoing humanitarian crises." He said Japan wanted to collaborate closely with other countries. At last year's General Assembly, Abe said Japan would provide about $1.6 billion to assist Syrians and Iraqis displaced by war and for building peace across the Middle East and Africa. While Japan has been a major donor in helping deal with an international crisis presented by a record 21.3 million refugees globally, it has taken in only a tiny number of refugees itself. Abe said Japan had been providing assistance to Syrian refugees and host communities in various countries, including Turkey and Jordan. He said as part of its efforts to promote self reliance, it was providing vocational training in central Lebanon to Syrian refugees and Lebanese youth in cooperation with the U.N. refugee agency. It was also assisting the U.N. Development Program with irrigation projects, Abe said. New York: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry here, urging Washington to "play a role" in the resolution of the 'dispute'. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry and PM of New Zealand," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. "PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir," she said. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif will address the UN General Assembly's high-level summit on refugees and migrants today and address the General Debate on September 21. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. New York: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry here, urging Washington to "play a role" in the resolution of the dispute. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry & PM of New Zealand," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. "PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir," she said. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif will address the UN General Assembly's high-level summit on refugees and migrants today and address the General Debate on September 21. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. A 911 call by a very concerned citizen Friday night thought a kayaker was in distress on Lake Monona, but the beaver frolicking in the water probably wondered what all the fuss was about. The call came in at about 7:10 p.m. Friday from a woman reporting a capsized kayak, and possibly a body near the kayak, floating on Lake Monona near Lakeland Avenue. "Firefighters on Engine 3 were first to roll up to the scene and meet the 911 caller," said Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Cynthia Schuster. "She said it appeared a person was struggling to right the kayak or canoe that had overturned." The fire truck's powerful scene lights were used to illuminate the scene, with firefighters scanning the water to figure out what actually was going on. "It was, in fact, a large tree trunk, with a beaver of some sort swimming around it," the officer in charge said. The lake rescue team doesn't normally rescue beavers, so the team was told its services weren't needed. An "armed and dangerous" Afghan-born suspect wanted in the weekend bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey was wounded Monday in a shootout with police and taken into custody. The Saturday attacks and a separate stabbing carried out by a Somali-American with possible links to the Islamic State extremist group has put America on edge over terror fears less than 50 days before the presidential election. President Barack Obama, in New York on Monday attending the UN General Assembly with world leaders, called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" in his first remarks about the three attacks in the same 24-hour period. "Even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive both in preventing senseless acts of violence but also making sure that we find those who carry out such acts and bring them to justice, we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don`t succumb to that fear," he said. Obama stressed that investigators at this point saw "no connection" between the incidents on the East Coast and the Minnesota stabbing, where police said the attacker made "some references to Allah" in carrying out the attack. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was shown stretchered into an ambulance, sporting a bloodied bandage on his right arm and moving his head with his eyes open in the New Jersey town of Linden, according to ABC News footage. Two police officers were also shot and hurt in the exchange, said the mayor of the suspect`s neighboring hometown Elizabeth, adjacent to Newark International Airport. "Mr Rahami is currently under arrest," Mayor Chris Bollwage told CNN. "One police officer in the city of Linden was shot in the chest and one was shot in the hand. Mr Rahami also sustained shots," Bollwage added.His arrest came around four hours after the FBI released a mugshot of the brown-haired and bearded Rahami, calling him "armed and dangerous," in text message alerts sent to millions of people in the New York area. FBI officers late Sunday also found and defused a nest of bombs planted at the train station in Elizabeth. Police want to question Rahami in connection with Saturday night`s bombing in New York`s Chelsea neighborhood that injured 29 people and Saturday morning`s Seaside Park pipe bombing, which forced the cancellation of a US Marine race. The discovery of the nest of bombs in Elizabeth may also be linked to the two attacks in New Jersey and in Manhattan, where a pressure cooker bomb was also successfully defused. "From the bombs that were undetonated you can often get good evidence. You can get finger prints, DNA etc," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on CBS. "And the investigation is now targeting certain individuals who might suggest that this did have a foreign connection," he added. Little is known about Rahami, other than that his family ran a chicken restaurant and sued Elizabeth in 2011, accusing the city of discrimination stemming from complaints about keeping their business open beyond a curfew. Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials stress that lone-wolf attacks perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda are the greatest terror threat to the homeland. What was still unclear Monday was whether an individual or a wider group was responsible for the bomb attacks and the explosives planted in Elizabeth. Seaside Park is around 69 miles (100 kilometers) from Elizabeth, and 90 miles from Manhattan."We know a lot more than we did just 24 hours ago. It`s certainly leaning more in the direction that this was a specific act of terror," New York Mayor de Blasio told ABC. New York police have beefed up massively in the city, fanning out reinforcements to bus terminals, subway stations and airports. Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the Chelsea bombing or any of the bombs in New Jersey, a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS "soldier" carried out the Minnesota stabbings. A 22-year-old Somali-American injured nine people in a shopping mall in St Cloud on Saturday before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, whose lead over Donald Trump in the polls has dipped, said Monday that the United States needed to invest "more time and more resources" in confronting the lone-wolf threat. "The recruitment and radicalization that goes on online has to be much more vigorously intercepted and prevented," she said in White Plains, New York. Her Republican opponent predicted that there could be more attacks, slamming what he called America`s "weak" policies in opening the doors to "tens of thousands" of foreign immigrants. "We`re going to have to be very tough," he told Fox television. "I think this is something that maybe... will happen perhaps more and more all over the country," he said. Jerusalem: A Palestinian stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers in east Jerusalem near the Old City on Monday before being shot by forces at the scene, police said. Medics said a policewoman in her 20s was seriously wounded in the attack and a 45-year-old policeman was moderately wounded. A police spokeswoman said the perpetrator was a 20-year-old from east Jerusalem and believed to be in critical condition. Monday`s was the sixth attack on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday after a three-week lull in a nearly year-long wave of violence. The attack took place by the Herod`s Gate entrance to the Old City, a short distance from the Damascus Gate where on Friday a Jordanian was shot dead after attempting to stab a police officer. Since October, 227 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Jerusalem: A Palestinian stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers in east Jerusalem near the Old City today before being shot by forces at the scene, police said. Medics said a policewoman in her 20s was seriously wounded in the attack and a 45-year-old policeman was moderately wounded. A police spokeswoman said the perpetrator was a 20-year-old from east Jerusalem and believed to be in critical condition. Today was the sixth attack on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday after a three-week lull in a nearly year-long wave of violence. The attack took place by the Herod's Gate entrance to the Old City, a short distance from the Damascus Gate where on Friday a Jordanian was shot dead after attempting to stab a police officer. Since October, 227 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Seoul: South Korea and the US are slated to conduct a joint aerial exercise in October that will focus on striking North Korea's nuclear facilities, military officials said on Monday. The simulated strikes will be carried out during the advanced Red Flag exercise to be held at Eielson air force base in Alaska from October 3-21, Yonhap News Agency reported. The move is aimed at improving the South Korean air forces' combat capabilities amid evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. "The drill will be held with the scenario of a sudden missile attack from North Korea. It is also designed to practise striking the North's nuclear and other core military facilities," a military official said. South Korea plans to send six F-15Ks and two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to Red Flag this year. "F-15Ks are expected to carry out a mission to strike the North's nuclear facility in Yeongbyeon, more than 100 km north of the country's capital city of Pyongyang, with GBU-31JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) guided bombs," he said. Earlier this month, North Korea said it "successfully" conducted a nuclear test -- its fifth and the "most powerful" test so far. Pyongyang has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches since top North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave an order on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead "in a short time". North Korea is banned by UN sanctions from any tests of nuclear or missile technology. Since their inception in 1975, the Red Flag exercises have served as the pinnacle of air-to-air combat training for airmen. The purpose is to give pilots from the US, Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and other allies an opportunity to practise and refine their skills for real combat situations. Beirut: Syria`s military on Monday declared the seven-day initial period for a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia over, without indicating whether the truce would be reinstated. It said in a statement that "terrorist groups", a term the Syrian government uses to refer to all insurgents fighting against it, had failed to commit to any of the provisions of the deal, and had used the ceasefire to rearm whilst violating it 300 times. It vowed to "continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability". Each side has accused the other of violating the truce, which appears to be in tatters a week after taking effect. The United States said earlier on Monday the ceasefire was "holding but fragile". Beirut: Syria`s ceasefire appeared on the brink of collapse on Monday after a US-led coalition strike killed dozens of regime soldiers and Aleppo city was hit by its first air raids in nearly a week. The barrage of strikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo on Sunday risks reigniting battlefronts in the city and could be the most serious threat to the ceasefire so far. A halt to fighting around Aleppo and the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid were key components of the fragile deal that took effect last Monday evening. The ceasefire`s co-sponsors, Russia and the United States, have each blamed one another, with relations strained even further after the US-led raid killed scores of Syrian soldiers on Saturday. Syria accused the United States of sabotaging the ceasefire. "The objective of this US aggression is to bring about the failure of the truce," said Bashar Jaafari, Syria`s ambassador to the United Nations. Sunday was the deadliest day of the truce so far, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, with 11 civilians killed in areas where the ceasefire was supposed to have taken hold. Russia said Aleppo was "especially tense", blaming the instability on rebels. "The amount of shelling by rebel groups against positions of Syrian government troops and of residential areas is increasing," said defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad`s government of undermining the ceasefire.The evening strikes on Aleppo killed one woman and wounded others, said the Britain-based Observatory, which could not identify who carried them out. An AFP correspondent in Aleppo`s Karam al-Jabal district saw several wounded children after a raid. Ten people including a child were killed Sunday when a pair of barrel bombs hit an opposition-held town in the southern province of Daraa, the Observatory said. "Today was the highest death toll since the truce began," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. The deaths took the number of civilians killed across Syria on Sunday to 11, and up to 26 since the ceasefire began on Monday, he added. Tensions between the US and Russia escalated after the raid by the American-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers. A senior adviser to Assad said that Damascus believed the strike was "intentional". "None of the facts on the ground show that what happened was a mistake or a coincidence," Buthaina Shaaban told AFP. The Observatory said at least 90 soldiers were killed in the strike on a strategic hill near Deir Ezzor. Moscow put the death toll at 62. The Syrian army has been fighting off an Islamic State group offensive around the key Deir Ezzor airbase since last year. On Sunday, IS said it shot down a Syrian warplane near the city. State media confirmed a plane had been shot down and its pilot killed, but did not say who was responsible.Hours after the coalition strike, the Pentagon admitted US-led pilots may have hit Assad`s forces but said that they "believed they were striking a Daesh (IS) fighting position". Russia said it was "deeply concerned", warning that Washington would have to rein in rebels fighting Assad "otherwise, the realisation of Russia-US agreements... could be put in danger". "The actions of the pilots -- if they, as we hope, were not taken on orders from Washington -- fall between criminal negligence and direct pandering to IS terrorists," it said. An emergency UN Security Council meeting called by Moscow to discuss the attack saw an exchange between the US and Russia reminiscent of Cold War-era verbal jousting. The situation is likely to loom large at the annual UN General Assembly starting Tuesday as well as a UN summit on migration on Monday. US ambassador Samantha Power said Moscow`s request for Sunday`s emergency meeting was a "stunt", while her Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin accused the US of violating agreements that it would not target army positions. Churkin called the strike a "bad omen" for the US-Russia deal to halt Syria`s war, which has killed more than 300,000 people since it erupted in 2011. Amid the spike in tension, food aid reached the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyat al-Sham after a government deal granting amnesty to opposition fighters in the besieged town. Moadamiyat al-Sham mayor Bassam Karbuj said about 7,000 food parcels were distributed and that the army would take full control of the town once remaining rebels are bussed out "in the coming days". Istanbul: Turkish counter-terror police detained 40 foreign nationals in raids in Istanbul over their suspected links with Islamic State, Turkey`s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday. Police carried out simultaneous raids to 23 addresses in Istanbul`s conservative Fatih district detaining suspects from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, Anadolu said. Some suspects are identified as having gone to the conflict areas inside Syria several times, Anadolu said. Turkey has suffered a series of suicide bombings and attacks by Islamic State and Kurdish militants over the past year. It launched its first major military incursion into Syria last month to push jihadists away from its border and prevent Kurdish fighters from seizing territory as they retreated. Thousands of foreign fighters from countries including Turkey, Britain, Europe and the United States have joined the Islamist militants in their self-proclaimed caliphate in recent years, many of them passing through Turkey. Ankara has since launched a crackdown on the networks facilitating their passage. At least seven suspected suicide bombings across Turkey since July 2015, which have killed more than 250 people, have been blamed on Islamic State. A network of suspected Turkish Islamic State militants is responsible for at least two of the attacks, Turkish prosecutors have said in legal documents, while foreign members of the group were accused of being behind the suicide bombing at Istanbul Ataturk airport in June. Geneva: UN war crimes investigators called on Monday on European countries to let them interview more newly-arrived Syrian refugees to document fresh violations, saying it had become increasingly difficult. "We are appealing to countries inside Europe hosting newly arrived Syrian refugees to grant us access and remove any barriers to our work," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "Time is of the essence, particularly if the Commission is to continue preparing well-documented reports on the current situation in the country, rather than reports of a historical nature," he said. The independent panel, set up five years ago, says it has compiled a confidential list of suspects on all sides of the conflict that have carried out war crimes or crimes against humanity. Law enforcement agencies are advising that Dane County motorists use caution during rush hour as water recedes from a late afternoon deluge Monday. Madison police said a severe thunderstorm that passed through the metro area around 4 p.m. downed power lines and caused flash flooding as storm drains failed to keep up in some areas. Police and trained weather spotters reported hail ranging from 1 to 2 inches across the Madison area. The largest hail was spotted in Middleton, according to reports published on the National Weather Service's website for its Sullivan office. Most of the roadway flooding was concentrated on the city's South and West sides, said Sgt. Eugene Woehrly. The Madison Fire Department reported that three cars attempted to drive through flood waters at the intersection of University Avenue at Rose Place and firefighters assisted one victim out of her passenger window and onto dry land. Neither Madison police nor the Dane County Sheriff's Office reported any crashes resulting from the storm, however, both agencies said they were responding to reports of downed trees and power lines. Lt. Kerry Porter, of the sheriff's office, said a tree knocked down power lines and was blocking east bound lanes on Highway 19 near Highway F, east of Mazomanie. Porter said deputies were also responding to a series of alarms triggered by the storm. "For some reason storms always generates alarms, so we're running from one alarm to another right now," he said. Just before 5 p.m., an Madison Gas & Electric's map showed widespread outages on Madison's West and Southwest sides. The largest outage stretched north along the Verona Road corridor from Raymond Road past the Beltline and into neighborhoods bounded by Nakoma Road and Midvale Boulevard. Two other significant outages hit customers in Middleton and rural Cross Plains, while smaller isolated outages cropped up across the metro area. TOWN OF WEST POINTFormer Dane County Circuit Court Judge Steven D. Ebert, who retired after 12 years on the bench in 2009, was killed Saturday when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a van north of Lodi in southwestern Columbia County, authorities said. Ebert, 69, of Middleton, died at the scene despite life-saving measures by law enforcement and rescue personnel, the Columbia County Sheriffs Office said. A Madison native who graduated from East High School, Ebert earned his bachelors degree at UW-Madison and law degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Ebert had also worked as a reserve judge on a fill-in basis following his retirement through the end of 2015, according to District Court Administrator Theresa Owens. There was no pretension, no artifice about the guy, said retired Judge William Foust, who was appointed to the 17-member Dane County Circuit Court bench by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson the same day as Ebert in 1997. I loved him, Foust added. Its a tremendous loss, and such a shock. He was a gem. Fellow former Judge David Flanagan, who spent 10 years on the Dane County bench with Ebert, echoed Fousts impression of Ebert as a genuine, caring professional. Flanagan also worked with Ebert for 18 years in the state Department of Justice, where both worked as prosecutors of high-profile criminal cases before becoming judges. He was a real down-to-earth kind of guy, someone who could see the basic fairness in a case, Flanagan said. He could cut through the complications understood them, but cut through them to the basic fairness. He also had a sense of who the people were who were involved in the case, Flanagan added. He was very able to perceive the human aspect of the cases that were in front of them. The motorcycle-van crash occurred about 10 a.m. on Highway 113 near Highway V in the town of West Point, near Okee, when the van pulled out in front of the motorcycle, according to the sheriffs office. Ebert was wearing a helmet. The van driver and a passenger in the van were not injured. Ebert, a Navy veteran, loved to ride his motorcycle and put hundreds of miles on it on long rides, Foust said. He also was proud of his roots in Madisons East Side, where he grew up in the 1950s and 60s, Foust noted. He was a blue-collar kind of kid and a blue-collar kind of judge, Foust said of Ebert, who was the judge in the 2006 trial of former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen in the caucus scandal, which involved the use of state resources to illegally campaign for legislative candidates. (Ebert) had a heart of gold and really understood people and what motivated them, Foust said. Along with riding his motorcycle, Ebert liked to hunt deer and was a member of a target-shooting club using old-fashioned, black powder guns, said Flanagan, who spent some time riding motorcycles and hunting with Ebert. During his full-time career as a judge, Ebert spent 10 years handling criminal cases and two years in the juvenile division. He also worked for the Rock County District Attorneys Office as a prosecutor for a few years prior to joining the state Department of Justice. The crash remains under investigation by the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and the Wisconsin State Patrol. It was the 18th vehicular fatality in Columbia County in 2016, the sheriffs office said. Eberts survivors include his wife, Barbara, and grown children. A motorcycle driver was killed Sunday night when he struck a deer crossing a Dodge County highway, officials said. The crash was reported at about 11:35 p.m. on Highway C west of Highway 151 in the town of Trenton, the Sheriff's Office said. The 52-year-old man was driving east on Highway C when he hit the deer and was thrown from the motorcycle. Nobody else was on the motorcycle at the time of the crash. The identity of the victim was not released pending notification of family. The Beaver Dam EMS and Fire Departments, the Dodge County Emergency Response Team and the Dodge County Medical Examiner's Office assisted at the scene. A man holds his Corgi standing next to a woman wearing a Corgi t-shirt during the annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in the Manhattan borough of New York City, October 24, 2015. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith (REUTERS) There might not be any more concrete proof that Millennials are generation that grew up on the Internet and its wide array of cute animal videos than their preference for pets According to a survey released by research firm Mintel, which polled more than 2,000 adults, three-quarters of Americans in their 30s have dogs, and 51 per cent have cats. Thats significantly higher than the national average of 50 per cent and 35 per cent for dog and cat ownership respectively. Previous findings have suggested that Millennials are also far more likely to be living with their parents rather than a spouse or partner, in comparison to the youth of 50 years ago. Millennials are also postponing marriage, or eschewing it all together, and facing declining wages and weak job opportunities. All of these factors may be leading them to choose pets over parenthood. Pets are becoming a replacement for children, Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University told the Washington Post. Theyre less expensive. You can get one even if youre not ready to live with someone or get married, and they can still provide companionship. Interestingly, the results seem to break the stereotype of the ageing and lonely cat lady. The survey found that it was men who were more likely to look to pets for companionship, with 71 per cent of participants between the ages of 18 and 34 reporting they had dogs and 48 per cent saying they owned cats. In comparison, 62 per cent of women reported having dogs and 48 per cent said they had cats. Men are more willing to put in the time and effort of taking care of a pet, Rebecca Cullen, an analyst at Mintel, told the Washington Post. Women are more likely to feel they are away from home too much and that pets require too much work. And Millennials seem to be spending their paycheques on their pets as well. According to a study by Wakefield Research, 76 per cent of Millenials said they are more likely to splurge on their pets rather than themselves. Story continues This stands in contrast to 50 per cent of Baby Boomers. In particular, Millennials seem willing to shell out for stylish pet attire. According to the study, they were twice as likely to buy clothing for them than their Baby Boomer counterparts. Twiggy, an Italian greyhound in a pizza rat costume. (The Canadian Press) Nathan Richter, a partner at the market research firm, told the Washington Post that this is an opportunity for performance on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. Its increasingly about getting a digital stamp of approval, he said. Gunfire was reported early Monday morning on Madison's South Side, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage. Madison police said several residents called 911 to report the shots at about 1 a.m. on Todd Drive near the Beltline. "A private security guard told responding officers he saw a silver-colored sedan and a minivan speeding through the area at the time of the gun violence," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. Officers found a shell casing in the road. No description of suspects was given. DGAP-News: Stroer SE & Co. KGaA / Key word(s): Miscellaneous Stroer acquires Vitalsana and enters the OTC online pharmacy market (news with additional features) 19.09.2016 / 13:03 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE Stroer acquires Vitalsana and enters the OTC online pharmacy market - Optimal combination of Stroer's advertising media portfolio and target groups of online pharmacies - Stroer expands its own health & beauty vertical Cologne, 19 September 2016 Stroer has signed an agreement to acquire Vitalsana, an online pharmacy formerly belonging to Schlecker and based in Heerlen in the Netherlands. Vitalsana is a quality market leader and one of the most reputable brands in the online pharmacy market and has laid the foundation for further growth with its sophisticated logistics center. Given the regulation of the pharmacy market in Germany, Vitalsana's location in the Netherlands is an excellent basis for further organic and inorganic growth in this area. The company forecasts revenue of around EUR 30m in 2016. The purchase price is EUR 4.5m and is thus comparable with similar transactions involving online pharmacies. Vitalsana was founded in 2007 and was acquired by its current management in a management buyout in 2012. Vitalsana is clearly focused on prescription- free and pharmacy-only medicines (over-the-counter or OTC products) as well as personal care products, which generate more than 90% of its revenues. Its extensive product portfolio includes selected items from the drugstore market as well as a broad range of wellness products. Vitalsana has extensive pharmaceutical knowledge. Customers particularly value Vitalsana's competent advice, value for money and quick delivery, as reflected in the extremely high level of customer satisfaction with more than 95% positive ratings. "We are excited about acquiring Vitalsana, it fits very well into our health & beauty vertical. Vitalsana is a first mover and at the same time one of the quality market leaders in the online pharmacy market. Online pharmacies are strongly marketing-driven business models, so one of the key success factors for achieving an attractive margin is having direct access to the right media offerings that provide a wide reach to the core target groups. Given our media strength, we see significant opportunities for organic and inorganic growth. Vitalsana fits perfectly into Stroer's ecosystem," says Christian Schmalzl, COO of Stroer. "We expect significant synergies both on the media and product side, in particular for existing offerings in our health & beauty vertical, which now has an additional attractive sales channel. We will drive revenue in our new online pharmacy channel using our media, and our new online pharmacy channel will drive revenue for our health & beauty offerings such as Asam Beauty and BodyChange," sums up Christian Schmalzl. With out-of-home media, the Cologne-based group is in a position to comprehensively address the entire population - the basic target group for online pharmacies. In addition, mail-order pharmacies focus strongly on the target group of the over 40s, which is reached precisely via the German internet portals with the widest coverage, t-online.de and StayFriends. Europe's most trusted internet brand t-online.de is also the ideal platform for health and wellbeing products. The overall market for mail-order pharmacies in Germany is estimated to generate annual revenue of between EUR 1b and EUR 1.5b and annual revenue growth of 10%. The closing of the transaction is expected in the first half of October. About Stroer Stroer SE & Co. KGaA is a leading digital multi-channel media company and offers advertising customers individualized and fully integrated premium communications solutions. In the field of digital media, Stroer is setting forward-looking standards for innovation and quality in Europe and is opening up new opportunities for targeted customer contact for its advertisers. The Stroer Group commercializes and operates several thousand websites in German-speaking countries in particular and operates approximately 300,000 advertising media in the out-of-home segment. It has approximately 4,100 employees at over 70 locations. In fiscal year 2015, Stroer SE generated revenue of EUR 824m. Stroer SE & Co. KGaA is listed in Deutsche Borse's MDAX. For more information on the Company, please visit www.stroeer.com. Investor Relations Contact Dafne Sanac Stroer SE & Co. KGaA Head of Investor & Credit Relations Stroer-Allee 1 . 50999 Koln Telefon 0049 2236 96 45 - 356 Mobile 0049 173 542 51 59 Fax 0049 2236 96 45 - 6356 E-Mail dsanac@stroeer.de Press contact Marc Sausen Stroer SE & Co. KGaA Director Corporate Communications Stroer-Allee 1 50999 Cologne Phone: 02236 / 96 45-246 Fax: 02236 / 96 45-6246 Email: presse@stroeer.de Disclaimer This press release contains "forward looking statements" regarding Stroer SE & Co. KGaA ("Stroer") or the Stroer Group, including opinions, estimates and projections regarding Stroer's or the Stroer Group's financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management and future operations. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Stroer or the Stroer Group to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on numerous assumptions which may or may not prove to be correct. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made by Stroer with respect to the fairness, completeness, correctness, reasonableness or accuracy of any information and opinions contained herein. The information in this press release is subject to change without notice, it may be incomplete or condensed, and it may not contain all material information concerning Stroer or the Stroer Group. Stroer undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements or other information stated herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional features: Document: http://n.eqs.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=AMJKXUHYWH Document title: 2016_09_19_PM_Vitalsana_ENG --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19.09.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Stroer SE & Co. KGaA Stroer Allee 1 50999 Koln Germany Phone: +49 (0)2236.96 45 0 Fax: +49 (0)2236.96 45 299 E-mail: info@stroeer.com Internet: www.stroeer.de ISIN: DE0007493991 WKN: 749399 Indices: MDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 502817 19.09.2016 PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- iQ Media, the most powerful platform for achieving real-time media measurement and ROI for paid and earned media across television, online, and social, today announced they have been named as one of Pennsylvanias Best Places to Work. The awards program, created in 2000, is one of the first statewide programs of its kind in the country. The program is a public/private partnership between Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Pennsylvania State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Central Penn Business Journal. "We are incredibly proud to have been awarded this prestigious ranking. Our people are our biggest asset, and the key to long-term successso we feel it's essential to provide a collaborative, open and honest culture in which to foster and retain talent," said Kye Strance, CEO of iQ Media. I am incredibly excited to continue building this environment as we experience rapid growth. This survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Pennsylvania, who are benefiting the state's economy and its workforce. Employers are categorized based upon the total number of employees they have in the United States, 25 to 249 employees and 250 or more employees. Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the 100 Best Places to Work in PA. The first part of this process was evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophies, systems and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. iQ Media will be recognized at the Best Places to Work in PA awards banquet on Thursday, December 1, 2016, at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster, PA. Rankings will be revealed at the ceremony. This is the second time the company has earned a spot on this list, having been previously ranked in 2014. iQ Media, founded in 2010, provides in-depth earned and paid analytics which empowers brands to understand their TV, digital and social brand attribution in real-time. The company has helped hundreds of Fortune 1000 brands and their agencies to transform their once-static video advertising content into interactive, relevant and ROI-driving experiences. The company is backed by investors Edison Partners and GMH. For more information, please visit www.iq.media About iQ Media Through a single platform, iQ media empowers brands to achieve real-time media measurement and ROI, with real-time intelligence for paid, earned and owned media across television, online, brand sponsorships, and social media. We help marketers make smart, forward-thinking decisions about media spend, campaign optimization and marketing investment, while eliminating the lag time between brand exposure and reporting. For more information, please visit www.iq.media About Best Companies Group Best Companies Group (BCG) is dedicated to establishing "Best Places to Work," "Best Companies" and "Best Employers" programs to identify and recognize workplaces that nurture a superior level of employee satisfaction and engagement. BCG researches the dynamics and characteristics of employers in numerous geographic regions and industries, both nationally and internationally, and then produces annual "Best" lists of the organizations that are leading the way in defining the employee experience of the 21st century. ST. LOUIS, Sept. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa, the industry's largest community management firm, is proud to announce its expansion into Missouri and its partnership with Smith Management Group. Now operating as a branch office of Associa, Smith Management Group has been the leading community management company in the St. Louis area for more than 50 years. "We're excited to join forces with a company as established and successful as Smith Management Group," says Associa CEO and Chairman John Carona. "The Missouri market is one that we feel has great potential and with an experienced team already in place we feel this partnership will greatly benefit current and future clients." "We're honored to be able to work with Associa and introduce its global resources to our communities as an enhancement to the local service we provide," says Smith Management Group President Lanya Massman. "Our philosophes are the same; be responsive to clients, embody family spirit and provide unsurpassed service." Smith Management group was established in 1963 and specializes in management and maintenance serving the finest condominium, villas and homeowner associations throughout the St. Louis and St. Charles areas. The team of more than 40 employees will continue to be led by President Lanya Massman. To learn more about Associa's newest addition to the family, visit the website at www.smithmgmt.com. Building and managing successful communities for more than 37 years, Associa is the worldwide leader in community management with over 10,000 employees operating more than 180 branch offices in the United States, Mexico, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. Based in Dallas, Texas, our industry expertise, financial strength and innovation meet the unique needs of clients across the world with customized services and solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more about Associa and its charitable organization, Associa Cares, go to www.associaonline.com or www.associacares.com. Stay Connected: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa Twitter: https://twitter.com/associa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/associa/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/associamarketing Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Associaonline/ As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ A trombone player suffered a fat lip Sunday evening while performing at the Willy Street Fair, thanks to a cellphone allegedly thrown at him by a man in the audience. The incident happened at about 6:45 p.m. at the main stage of the annual street festival in the 900 block of Williamson Street. Mark Macaulay, 50, of Madison, was tentatively charged with battery, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and resisting/obstructing, Madison police said. One witness described the throw as an overhand fast pitch, said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. The thrown phone first struck the bell of the trombone, then the slide, then the 30-year-old Madison trombone players mouth, giving him the fat lip. The trombone player went to get some ice, while an audience member confronted the suspect, telling him he had to go, DeSpain said. The 62-year-old Madison man who told Macaulay to leave grabbed his arm, with both going to the ground, the suspect allegedly ripping the older mans Hawaiian shirt. Others stepped in, surrounded the suspect and held him until police arrived. He continued to struggle with police, and later with sheriffs deputies, as he went to jail, DeSpain said.The horn player told police hed have to replace his $2,800 trombone. The University of Wisconsin System has launched a new website connecting students with state businesses in a bid to keep more UW graduates in Wisconsin. Called Career Connect (wisconsin.edu/career-connect), the site is based on the idea that students are looking for professional experiences to launch their careers, and employers are seeking students to fill jobs and internships, UW officials say. The site aims to make it easier for businesses to work with UW campuses and find those students. It lists the contact information for career services offices at each UW System institution, as well as a calendar of events such as job fairs at campuses around the state. Career Connect is part of the UWs broader strategy for the coming years, called 2020FWD, one piece of which is a push to give every junior and senior in the System at least one professional experience with a Wisconsin business. Students who have those experiences are more likely to get permanent jobs with companies and stay in Wisconsin, UW System President Ray Cross said. We can efficiently and effectively connect employers with resources their organizations need while our students get valuable career experience, Cross said. A meaningful job experience can lead to more graduates staying in Wisconsin to raise their families, becoming an integral part of our workforce and economy. As Cross and other System officials seek to build support for their budget request, which seeks $42.5 million in new state funding for a range of new initiatives, they have emphasized the role of colleges and universities in stimulating Wisconsins economy. Edgewood opens new dorm Edgewood College showed off its newest residence hall in a grand opening ceremony last week. Students have been living in East Regina Hall, the $13 million new wing attached to another residence hall and cafeteria, since mid-August, but college donors and the public had their first chance to see the building on Thursday. The three-story, tan brick building, with a red roof to match many of the other structures on Edgewoods campus, has space for 123 students, college officials said. Edgewood College has six dorms, housing about 600 of its 1,450 students. I know you are, but what am I? Maybe you remember that one from the schoolyard. It was one of those unanswerable taunts Im rubber, youre glue was another widely favored by smart-alecky kids, a bit of verbal judo that took an attackers thrust and turned it back against her. I know you are, but what am I? Most of us outgrew the riposte about the same time we outgrew passing notes in class. Apparently, Donald Trump never did. Far from leaving it behind, he has honed it into a potent political tool perfect for this era of post-factual lassitude and cognitive dissonance. As Campaign 2016 grinds toward a reckoning, we are seeing that tool employed with breathtaking shamelessness. It works like this: Whatever Trump is called or accused of, he turns it back on the accuser. Did you ever see that scene in The Equalizer where a bad guy points a gun at Denzel Washington and, faster than the eye can follow, Denzel snatches the gun and points it back at him? Its something like that, except with words. So the man who claims that hes always opposed the Iraq War (even though he didnt), the man who said the election is rigged (even though it isnt), the man who told us Barack Obama founded ISIS (even though duh! he didnt), the man whose PolitiFact scorecard rules over 80 percent of his rated statements as half-truths and untruths that man complains that Hillary Clinton is a world-class liar. And the man whose idea of releasing medical information is a brief note from his doctor so loopy, imprecise and filled with wild, extravagant claims (Trump will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency) that one doctor dubs it medically illiterate that man tells us its the mysteries of Hillary Clintons health we ought to be concerned about. And the man who said a judge was unfit to judge because he is of Mexican heritage, the man who wants a ban on Muslim immigration, the man who retweets racists and anti-Semites, the man who is openly beloved by white supremacists to the point that former Klansman David Duke seems about ready to kiss him on the lips that man condemns Hillary Clinton as a bigot. Not to put too fine a point on it, but having Donald Trump lecture you about bigotry, transparency or truth is rather like having Kanye West tell you to stop behaving like a jackass. In psychology, they have this phenomenon called projection. The Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology defines it as a primitive defense mechanism that involves the unconscious warding off of negative experiences or emotions by denying an experience, perceiving it in another person and then seeing that negative experience as being directed back at the projector. Which sounds like what were seeing here, except there is nothing unconscious about it. No, this is calculated, born of a conviction that there really is a sucker born every minute and that an alarming proportion of them vote in American elections. So the challenge here is simple: What will we say in response? How will we answer this insult to intelligence? Or are we too sick of it all to care? One has a sense of an electorate pummeled into emotional submission. Which is hardly surprising. Its been a long, dispiriting campaign largely bereft of ideas, proposals and uplift. But it is important to remember that November will be a moment of truth in more ways than one. Indeed, November will answer a critical question. You say Trump is an ignorant narcissist unfit for the White House? Yes, we know he is. But what are we? : 9 2013 . 9 . . Temperatures right where they should be for late October today. Warming up for Friday. Find out how much temps will rise and when our next chance of rain is in our updated forecast. I am Kerry Burgess. This is what I think. Greetings, update readers. Assuming it is true that Chris Christie knew in advance about the bridge closing, and why it was closed, then his performance here shows jaw-dropping gall, and acting skill. I have to admit that at the time I totally believed him. His denial was so complete and unequivocal, without nuance or weasel room, that I believed him. But it wasn't just his apparent earnestness. It was that there'd be people who would know he was lying. What kind of cojones -- and shamelessness -- does it take to deliver this sort of performance when you know that 1) you can get caught; and, 2) several people KNOW you are lying? *** Donald Trump's latest outrage has got the left a little bit fractured over what he meant, and just how awful this was. So we'll ask you to be the deciding factor. TAKE THE POLL And now, two Trump-related questions from the last chat. EPA Settles with Syngenta Crop Protection "The repackaging, sale, and distribution of unregistered and misbranded pesticides is illegal and puts people and the environment at risk," said Anne Heard, acting regional administrator for the Southeast. "Users rely on accurate, up-to-date information about ingredients, directions for use, hazards, and safety precautions. This settlement sends a strong message to pesticide companies to maintain compliance with all federal environmental laws." EPA announced a multi-region settlement with Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC in Greensboro, N.C., for the company's alleged violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. It calls for Syngenta to pay $766,508 in civil penalties and spend $436,990 to perform a Supplemental Environmental Project. "The repackaging, sale, and distribution of unregistered and misbranded pesticides is illegal and puts people and the environment at risk," said Anne Heard, acting regional administrator for the Southeast. "Users rely on accurate, up-to-date information about ingredients, directions for use, hazards, and safety precautions. This settlement sends a strong message to pesticide companies to maintain compliance with all federal environmental laws." An investigation was conducted by EPA Regions 4, 5, 7, and 8 that began in August 2012 and ended in January 2015. EPA determined that Syngenta distributed and/or sold numerous pesticide products to refillers before having written repackaging agreements with the refillers and failed to maintain records of the repackaging agreements as required by the Pesticide Management and Disposal rule. According to EPA, Syngenta also violated FIFRA by selling and distributing misbranded pesticides, with many labels affixed to the pesticide products and/or containers being either outdated or not in conformance with the EPA accepted label. Some of the misbranded labels were of pesticides that were classified as restricted use. Syngenta also did not maintain records of study data submitted to the EPA for pesticide registration, according to the agency, which reported that Syngenta has agreed to implement an environmental compliance promotion SEP that will involve a four-year educational awareness training and campaign to educate the regulated community on FIFRA regulatory compliance requirements. The training will focus on the requirements relevant to bulk pesticide containers, containment, labels, storage, transportation, delivery, clean-out, repackaging agreements, and recordkeeping. The Consent Agreement and Final Order was filed Sept. 15 at EPA's regional office in Atlanta. Syngenta must pay the penalty to the U.S. Department of Treasury within 30 days. B. SATYA GOES TO THE NEAREST PHARMACY. Satya goes to the nearest pharmacy. Sometimes they have oral contraceptives, but they stocked out months ago, and dont know when they will receive the new stock. They give her condoms. She decides to go to the government clinic to explore additional options. GO TO THE GOVERMENT CLINIC C. SATYA GOES TO THE GOVERMENT CLINIC. Satya goes to the government clinic. Unfortunately, they stocked out of short-term methods like condoms and birth control pills. They offer to perform a sterilization, but Satya wants to have children one day, so she refuses. They give her some condoms. A. Supply of all forms of modern birth control options (oral and injectable contraceptives, IUD, etc.) is insufficient. YES! THIS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. BUT WHY? In fact, India is a major producer of modern family planning methods of all kinds. However, nearly 90 percent of family planning products are destined for export, and only a fraction end up supplying the Indian marketplace. Identifying the root cause: Various analyses identify government policies that capped the prices companies are allowed to charge for modern family planning methods. While the intention behind this policy was to make modern birth control methods more affordable, it had the unintended consequence of making it difficult for companies to make any money by selling family planning methods in India. Unable to make much profit domestically, companies focused instead on exporting to international markets. B. Health care providers dont have enough training on all available family planning methods. YES! THIS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. BUT WHY? In rural areas, healthcare providers include ASHA workers, alternative medicine providers, people who work at pharmacies, and trained doctors that work in private and government clinics and hospitals. The training of ASHA workers focuses on improving health outcomes rather than family planning methods. ASHA workers know about sterilization, but are not as educated on other modern family planning methods. Rural pharmacies might have oral contraceptives, but frequently stock out. And private health care providers are unlikely to offer them to women they consider uneducated, because of prevalent bias that uneducated women wont be able to remember to take oral pills on a regular basis. They tend to avoid prescribing injectable contraceptives because they believe the side effects are difficult to manage. Convincing patients to adopt IUD (the most hassle-free family planning methods) is difficult, and requires significant counseling. C. Government policies that create financial incentives for sterilization are distorting access to other modern birth control methods. YES! THIS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. BUT WHY? Sterilization remains Indias most prevalent family planning method. The government provides women who undergo sterilization with financial compensation. However, this can create unintended consequences: For example, in some cases women have been forced to undergo sterilization because they (or their husbands) felt they needed the money. Also, financial incentives for ASHA workers are only for sterilization, leading to overwhelming demand for sterilization, and shrinking the market for other methods. How do we address these market failures, so young women like Satya have access to a greater variety of modern family planning options? Addressing the root causes of these market failure requires a multi-pronged intervention, with each stakeholder (private companies, governments, non-governmental organizations and health care providers) doing their part. Government The government could reform domestic family planning policies, for example removing financial incentives for health care workers that favor sterilization over other forms of birth control, and creating more balanced family planning policies that uses consumer segmentation. Sterilization might be an appropriate solution for an older married woman who already has children, and doesnt want more. However, younger women like Satya should have more appropriate options. The government can also remove red tape limiting the private sector, for example, by not regulating the prices companies can charge for birth control methods so much that it becomes a disincentive for the private sector, and when appropriate, subsidize them so the price point works for both suppliers and consumers. Even so, the government cant fix this challenge by itself. Private sector The private sector also has an important role to play. Private companies are responsible for marketing, manufacturing, and distributing modern family planning methods. Now the government has changed their family planning policies and started subsidizing other family planning methods, theres an enabling environment for private manufacturers to produce more family planning options for the domestic market. The private sector will also have to invest in advertising and marketing, to help boost awareness of their products. This will boost demand, and help develop the market for a variety of modern family planning options. Even so, government and private sector intervention alone isnt sufficient. We still need the cooperation of other actors. Nongovernmental organizations Nongovernmental organizations can contribute to the solution, by training existing rural health care providers on+ all of the available family planning methods, and (in the case of injectable and IUDs) how to safely provide them. They can also train providers on the counseling techniques appropriate for women at different stages of life. Health care providers AFP News Ukraine's maritime grain exports were halted Sunday after Russia suspended its participation in a landmark agreement that allowed the vital shipments, blaming drone attacks on its ships in Crimea. The July deal to unlock grain exports signed between Russia and Ukraine and brokered by Turkey and the UN, is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict. The agreement had already allowed more than nine million tonnes of Ukrainian grain to be exported and was due to be renewed on November 19. On Saturday, Russia said it was halting its participation after its army accused Kyiv of a "massive" drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a "false pretext". US President Joe Biden called the move "purely outrageous" while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow was "weaponising food". The centre coordinating the logistics of the deal said in a statement that no traffic was planned for Sunday. "A joint agreement has not been reached at the JCC for the movement of inbound and outbound vessels on 30 October," it said. "There are more than ten vessels both outbound and inbound waiting to enter the corridor." Ukraine and the UN have urged that the agreement remains in force. "I call on all states to demand that Russia stop its hunger games and recommit to fulfilling its obligations," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Russian move "an absolutely transparent intention of Russia to return the threat of large-scale famine to Africa and Asia". "Just today, more than two million tons of food are in the sea. This means that access to food has actually worsened for more than seven million consumers," he said in his nightly address. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said: "It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort". - 'Peddling false claims' - Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea has been targeted several times in recent months and serves as the headquarters for the Black Sea fleet and a logistical hub for operations in Ukraine. The Russian army claimed to have "destroyed" nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones in an attack on the port early Saturday. "In light of the terrorist act carried out by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts against ships of the Black Sea fleet and civilian vessels involved in the security of grain corridors, Russia suspends its participation in the implementation of the agreement on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports," the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram. Moscow's forces alleged British "specialists", whom they said were based in the southern Ukrainian city of Ochakiv, had helped prepare and train Kyiv to carry out the strike. In a further singling out of the UK -- which Moscow sees as one of the most unfriendly Western countries -- Russia said the same British unit was involved in explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month. Britain strongly rebutted both claims, saying "the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale". Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday Moscow would raise the blasts and the alleged drone attack at the UN Security Council. Moscow's military said ships targeted at their Crimean base were involved in the grain deal. The United Nations Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Amir Abdulla, reported that Russia had notified him earlier Saturday of "its concerns about the safety of movements of merchant vessels" under the agreement. Russia had recently criticised the deal, saying its own grain exports have suffered due to Western sanctions. - 'Massive' attack - Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said Saturday's drone attack was the "most massive" the peninsula had seen. City authorities said the harbour was "temporarily" closed to boats and ferries and urged people "not to panic". Attacks on Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, have increased in recent weeks, as Kyiv presses a counter-offensive in the south to retake territory held by Moscow for months. Moscow-installed authorities in Kherson, just north of Crimea, have vowed to turn the city into a fortress, preparing for an inevitable assault. In early October, Moscow's bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland -- personally inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 -- was damaged by a blast that Putin blamed on Ukraine. The Russian fleet stationed in the port had also been attacked by a drone in August. Russia's allegations Saturday came as the Ukrainian army reported fighting in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions in the east, including near Bakhmut -- the only area where Moscow's forces have advanced in recent weeks. Pro-Russian separatists fighting alongside Moscow also announced a new prisoner exchange with Kyiv, saying 50 will return home from each side. bur-gw/bfm/caw/mca-yad/dva makan bus 26 August 2016 marks the launch of Makan Bus, a new novelty tour around Singapore that is centred around (Makan-ing. Youve guessed it right, eating!) hunting down the best local foods in the heartlands of Singapore. Unlike most guided tours, Makan Bus aims to introduce 10 carefully curated popular stops with up to 20 varieties of local delights. With a hop-on-hop-off concept to both Singaporeans and tourists, it aims to offer the tastes, sights and sounds of real Singapore. makan bus A fleet of specially chartered buses will arrive at the various stops at 20 minutes intervals, starting from the first bus that leaves Orchard Gateway at 11am, and the last bus leaving at 7.37pm. Using the map provided by Makan Bus, the route covers from Orchard Gateway, Balestier, Thomson, Sin Ming, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Toa Payoh, and back to Orchard Gateway. With tickets selling at S$28, youll get to tailor the tour to your own preference, so you can always alight the bus when a stop catches your eyes, and hop back on when the next bus comes by, for an unlimited amount of time within the same day that way, you dont have to waste time visiting stalls and places of attraction that youre not too interested in and you can choose to spend however much time you like at a certain stop without worrying about holding back a tour group. Apart from food places, the bus will also stop at local monuments and places of worships, like The Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery at Sin Mings stop, Sun Yat Sun Memorial Hall, Masjid Hajjah Rahimabi Kebun Limau, and many others. makan bus A friendly guide will be stationed in every bus, feel free to ask them questions or be entertained by the stories they tell of each place, along with the recommendations of the dishes available at each stop. Our guide was really energetic and enthusiastic, tempting us with the photos of foods and ingredients used to cook the dishes. Intrigued by a Malay dish called Mee Rebus Tarik, we alighted at the Jubilee/S11 bus stop at Ang Mo Kio (AMK). Mee Rebus is commonly heard of, but a Tarik (literally translates to pull, a common method used in frothing teas) is totally unheard of. We had to give it a try! Story continues makan bus Once youve alighted at Jubilee/S11 bus stop, walk towards block 724, and look out for Yunos N Family (#01-01), its where youll find the unique Mee Rebus Tarik. The stall is evidently popular with the residents of AMK, seeing a line of patrons waiting for their meal. makan bus Mee Rebus Tarik ($4.80) The bowl spots the same yellow noodles doused in thick gravy, along with the usual tau pok, egg, bean sprouts and fried shallots. The noticeable difference is the addition of a scoop of peanut sauce, used for dipping satays, garnished with cucumber slices and onions. makan bus When placing your orders, you can choose from chicken, mutton or beef satay. Before digging in, give the noodles a good mix, then go ahead and enjoy the rich, flavourful dish. The taste of the Mee Rebus Tarik is much stronger than the usual mee rebus, which flavours are accentuated with the additional peanut gravy. The satay meats lend a smoky character to the dish, while the cucumbers and onions give each bite a crunchy texture. I would definitely come back for this. makan bus And if youre looking for desserts, Four Seasons Ching Teng (#01-34) will do the job in refreshing you up with a bowl of sweet soup. You could choose between having it iced or warm, of which we had the latter to beat the heat. makan bus Generous in its ingredients, the Ching Teng ($2) was laden with an assortment of dried longans, gingko nuts, barley, lotus seeds, white fungus, and dried melons. A substantial amount of ingredients as compared to most stalls these days. makan bus While youre munching away, dont forget to grab a cup of sugar cane drink, which are usually freshly pressed and extracted upon ordering. An instant thirst-quencher from this sweltering heat, perking you up for more food adventures to come on the Makan Bus. Address: 724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6, Ang Mo Kio Market & Food Centre, S560724 | Opening hours: Daily 9am 9pm We ended our tour at Toa Payoh (TPY) by checking out the Moon Sun Restaurant, a small hawker centre conveniently located at TPY Town Centre, just in front of the Makan Bus stop. makan bus Naming itself Toa Payoh Lucky Pisang Raja, which translates to King of Bananas, the stall front is filled with bunches of bananas hanging from the ceiling. You can be assured that its banana fritters are freshly made every day. Address: 117 Toa Payoh Central, Moon Sun Restaurant, S310177 | Opening hours: Daily 1230pm 9pm We concluded our Makan Bus ride with our tummies satisfactorily filled. Makan Bus is an initiative of MeGuideU and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, priding itself to bring tourists and Singaporeans on a gastronomical tour into the heartlands of Singapore, to savour the best and underrated foods that the local hawkers can offer. If youre a tourist, Makan Bus has also partnered with info-communications provider StarHub to help travellers stay connected to friends and family as they explore our little red dot. Click on the link to purchase a Makan Bus ticket, or head to the ticketing booth at Orchard Gateway. Otherwise check with your hotel concierge if they are selling it. Do note that the S$28 ticket does not include foods and drinks, and itll be a self-guide tour upon hopping off the bus. Makan Bus (Ticketing Booth): Orchard Gateway 277 Orchard Road, Singapore 238858 | (Head Office) 138 Towner Road, Singapore 327822 | Tel: +65 6295 1815 | Operating Hours: 11am first bus at Orchard Gateway, 7:37pm last bus | Website The post Makan Bus: Tour Bus Brings You To Popular Food Places Around Singapore appeared first on SETHLUI.com. Sirus F Gahan is back with another rad edit in the form of Tulip, a London-centric hallucinatory shred-fest from a wide array of heads getting wild in the streets of the capital. Innovative editing and solid skating at some less-than-perfect spots make for an edit which will have you grabbing your board and heading out the door after watching Jake Martinelli presents Boroughs Episode 1 Waltham Forest Part 1 of a new series from London-based VX wielder Jake Martinelli where he and his... The skating is rad, Sam manages to make dayglo trousers into urban camouflage for a ride on grind and Jeremy makes friends with an old... Newsletter Terms & Conditions Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy. Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions. SIRTE (Libya), (Sputnik) The Libyan forces managed to surround Daesh terrorists in a 0.4-square-mile area in the city of Sirte seized by Daesh in 2015, spokesman of the military operation Brig. Gen. Mohamed Ghasri told Sputnik. "Our progress in Sirte is continuing, the forces are heading for the coastal district of Jizah to kill the last terrorists there and after that for the district 600 The zero hour is coming after the militants were surrounded in a small area, not larger than one square kilometer," Ghasri said. He refused to speak about the date of full liberation of the city noting that it would be announced only after de-mining the territory. The human cost is neither here nor there in the eyes of US hawks, Republican and Democrat. All that matters is that any state or government that dare refuse to bow to America's writ is toppled as it stumbles around the region like an out of control juggernaut laying waste to everything it comes into contact with. The United States and its allies has no place in Syria, never has had any place in Syria, and never will have any place in a country whose people have over the past five years heroically resisted a determined attempt to destroy one of the few surviving secular and non-sectarian states in the Arab world. It would not be the first time that the US has lined up on the same side as barbarism in its history. In Central America, Cambodia, and Afghanistan it has funded and armed groups and ideologies whose brutality and inhumanity has been medieval, even primeval, in its extremism. The Contras, the previously mentioned Khmer Rouge, and the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, which late morphed into al-Qaeda, each have benefited from US largesse. No Alternative In Syria, the government led by President Bashar al-Assad retains the support of the majority of Syrians, who understand that it his government all that stands between the country's survival and destruction. There is no mature democratic alternative waiting in the wings to take his place. The reality is that if he stood down as Syrian President at this juncture, Syria's state institutions would collapse and its army would follow suitunder the weight of the ensuing demoralization and anarchy. The result would be the massacre of the nation's minority communities without restraint. The result would be a refugee crisis to make the status quo seem like child's play by comparison. The Real Enemy By his own admission, Mogens Arlund helped his wife after several months of incessant pleads to help her end her life. Vibeke Arlund was left immobilized after a fall and asked her husband for help, being unable to end her life by herself. In April, Arlund recorded his wife's message which stated that she wanted to die. Subsequently, he granted her wish by giving her a lethal dose of 20 sleeping pills. Last week, Arlund was convicted of assisted suicide and was awarded a 50-day jail sentence. By his own admission, Arlund had no regrets, despite formally having broken the law. "The Danish society is wrong. It should not force me into feeling guilt-ridden for having to do what I have done," Mogens Arlund told Danish TV-program TV2 Lorry in front of the Court of Elsinore. According to Arlund, it should be society's job to take care of the terminally sick who want to end their suffering. Arlund contended that is was incorrect to not allow people die on their own terms. Sylvi Listhaug, who is known for her tough stance on migrant-related issues and has previously railroaded a significant toughening of immigration laws, unexpectedly opposed the proposed nation-wide burka ban, supported by her own Progress Party, and was instead content with advocating for "individual solutions," Norwegian newspaper Dagen reported. According to Listhaug, a nation-wide ban was not a goal for the government. This notorious U-turn sparked outrage on Listhaug's Facebook page followed by over 74,000 users. Many Progress Party supporters voiced their extreme disappointment and called the niqab "a symbol of oppression against women." Remarkably, the right-wing Progress Party has been advocating a ban on face-covering garments in schools for several years in a row. As late as August, an all-encompassing ban was suggested by Progress Party immigration spokesperson Mazyar Keshvari, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK reported. I was extremely busy as I was answering visitors' questions, giving out medical cards and answering phone calls of doctors and city calls. In order to get a normal pay, I had to clean the registry office as well. After four years I could not take it any longer. She further said, All people are different; some can be difficult to deal with. They came in and slayed me with their hatred and malice, you get that kind of money, you have to do this! they used to say. What money? What am I supposed to do? Olga recalls her days at the clinic. Despite the difficulties in the city Olga decided to pursue her hobbies. She became fascinated with yoga; she engaged in public work and she tried her hand at modeling as well. All my life parallel to my work, I used to take part in mass crowd filming. I used to run to various auditions on weekends. For a 12-hour working day we used to get about 500 1000 rubles, not much, but I really enjoyed it. She recalled that when she was younger she tried to come close to the TV lens, hoping to get noticed. It is thanks to the cinema that I got involved in modeling. Through film I met actress Albina Stanislavovna Evtushevsky and through her I met Igor Gavar, the model said. Olga was asked to be photographed by Igor Gavar, the founder of the first modeling agency for elderly called Oldushka. One thing that always motivated Olga was her love for dance. Since her younger days she used to love dancing and so for her photo shoots she asked for music so she could relax and get into the right mindset while dancing. Mostly, Olga takes part in photo shoots for various look books but sometimes she does runways too. This summer, she took part in the filming of a TV program called Fashion Prigavor. I was the peoples model in the show. It was scary because I am 71. I had to walk actively and in heels. The first time I was under a lot of stress but now I feel freer. My love for dance, Chinese gymnastics and my life experience helps me a lot, Olga said. In order to conquer her fears, Olga believes that, There is no need to be afraid of anything, one should just spread love and not fear. Her son, who is an actor himself, supports her work. Olgas husband however was a bit skeptical about his wifes work as a model but now he has come to terms with it and supports her. According to Olga her work helps her find harmony. Despite the difficulties, she believes that her work inspires and fatigue only occurs when a person is engaged in a business that doesnt suit them. If one is in the right place there is no fatigue. My main secret of beauty is the internal state of harmony, warmth, love and peace of mind. I have noticed that no matter how nicely they do my makeup, if I am a little worried about something; my eyes reflect fear and aggression. However, if all is well, that brings out the beauty in the person, Olga concluded. Arrg, it be talk like a pirate day! Ye be celebratin' in style by playin' me game Pirates Ninjas Robots & Zombies! https://t.co/y44Yotwn4v Grant Wilson (@grantswilson) 19 September 2016 "It's now celebrated worldwide, starts in Australia, as they wake up first, and goes round the world." Cap'n Slappy and his faithful crew have several key pirate expressions or phrases that they will use throughout the day. They call them "the five A's." These are: "Ahoy" (a phrase used to attract attention), "Avast" (this is a command that a pirate will give, meaning "stop"), "Aye" (an affirmation) and of course, "Argh" (an exclamation). Since its beginnings in 1995, "Talk Like a Pirate Day" has grown and is now recognized by major international companies. "When we first started in 1995, there were only five of us, so we would call our friends at work and yell 'Argh!' But as the years went on, people had parties, and some Krispy Kreme outlets even gave away donuts to people who dressed like pirate," Cap'n Slappy told Sputnik. 9/19: FREE glazed donut if you talk like a pirate. FREE dozen donut box if you dress like a pirate (KRISPY KREME) pic.twitter.com/hHLXbD79KJ Joel Franco (@OfficialJoelF) 18 September 2016 Our pirate friends also have first-hand experience of sailing a ship, well standing on one. "In real life I grew up in a family of people who fished off the Washington coastline, so I've been on a ship. I have also been on one of the ships used in the Pirates and the Caribbean movie," Cap'n Slappy told Sputnik. But the question that everyone wants to know is which side of the political debate do these pirates sit on? "We delicately step around politics when we do pirate stuff. There are pirates on both sides of the debate. Cap'n Slappy sits on the side of right-thinking people everywhere, so Hilary I guess," Cap'n Slappy added. All the way long, the Italian posted her trip photos on Facebook and kept an online blog. She posted funny stories as well as cultural and historical facts about the city and even invented a kind of a quiz: she published her photos next to various monuments and urged her readers to guess what they were. Commenting on her future plans, Sozzi said that she was going to come back to Russia and visit other places, maybe even next summer. "Next time, I would like to go to St. Petersburg (probably not on the bike, but with my family). There is also another crazy idea spinning in my mind: taking a bike trip along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Maybe next summer I will," the woman said. This summer, a team of young people from Russia and Canada also travelled on their bikes across Russia. The team started their trip in Moscow in late May and cycled almost 8,000 km, finishing their ride in one of the trip participants' hometown of Mirny, in Eastern Siberia, by September. BEIJING (Sputnik) According to the Xinhua news agency, the incident took place on Sunday at a cement production line belonging to Qinghai Salt Lake Haina Chemical Company. As many as 26 people were present at the site during the explosion. Two workers were killed immediately while 12 were injured, the media outlet reported. Four of those died later in the hospital, while eight are being treated for their injuries. According to the news agency, one worker is missing. The search is continuing and the incident is being investigated. A new Japanese agency will be created to support private sector for developing of agriculture in Russias Far East. It will seek to increase agricultural production and improve the quality of products using Japanese technology, the newspaper said. Japan reportedly hopes that this program will promote the settlement of its territorial issue with Russia. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The UN secretary-general expressed his support last week when a delegation of South Korean lawmakers was in the United States, Saenuris floor leader Chung Jin-suk said, as cited by the Yonhap news agency. Ban said that South Korean President Park Geun-hye made successful diplomatic efforts to respond to the North Koreas actions, Chung claimed. He also noted that China would play a key role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, according to Chung. BANGKOK (Sputnik) The double-decker boat was carrying over 150 Muslim tourists returning from a trip to the city of Ayutthaya on Sunday afternoon, when it hit a bridge on the Chao Praya River and partially submerged. According to the Bangkok Post newspaper, 15 deaths were confirmed on Sunday, and another three bodies found on Monday after the search operation has been resumed. The outlet cited Ayutthaya Governor Prayoon Rattanasenee as saying that there were six men, six women and a child among the dead, although the exact number of passengers was still to be determined. Details of other victims remain unknown. NEW DELHI (Sputnik) On Sunday, four militants reportedly attacked an army brigade headquarters in Kashmir's town of Uri at 5:30 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT). As many as 17 servicemen were killed. The Indian leadership, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, has condemned the attack and called for isolation of Pakistan on the ground of the country's alleged support of terrorism. "Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterday's attack on Indian occupation forces in the Uri sector of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi's Government," Aziz said in a Sunday statement, as quoted by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. . If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. According to Home Ministry sources, it was decided to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international forum. Further, India will also give the actionable evidence and proof of Pakistani involvement in the Uri terror attack to international bodies. The Indian army will provide information on the arms used by the terrorists at the meeting of the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the two countries. The army claims that they have recovered arms from the terrorists which bear Pakistani markings. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Four militants reportedly crossed from Pakistan into India-administered northern Kashmir territory early Sunday and attacked an Indian base in Uri, killing 18 servicemen. "Germany stands steadfastly at the side of Indias in the fight against terrorism," Steinmeier said in a statement. Indian Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh was quick to blame Pakistan for masterminding the attack, saying he was disappointed by its "direct support to terrorism." Pakistan denied its involvement. Following the incident, all three suspects were fined 2.2 million dollars each. On August 11, the three men decided to play with the emergency helicopter while being heavily intoxicated. Presumably, they found it hilarious to forcibly move the aircrafts tail rotor and climb on top of it. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the sources, the draft strategy outlines three stages of response to Pyongyang's nuclear threat. "Given that North Korea's nuclear capabilities are real and existential, we judge that (we) are currently at the stage in between the threat of a nuclear attack and imminent use of nuclear arms South Korea and the U.S. have shared the need to apply the three-stage tailored deterrence strategy to actual situations and earnestly operate it," a senior government official told Yonhap news agency. A verbal threat to use nuclear weapon will provoke deployment of US nuclear forces. If there is an imminent threat of nuclear strike, Seoul and Washington are prepared to launch a precision-guided preemptive strike to destroy North Korean arsenals. An actual nuclear strike will be answered with corresponding counterattack, the sources said. Yun agreed, calling Pyongyangs actions "a ticking time bomb" and expressed concern that North Koreas actions could have consequences outside the Korean peninsula."What we see is a looming perfect storm that may not only pounce on Northeast Asia but sweep over the entire world," he said. The US has been encouraging South Korea and Japan to improve their relationship over the last few months, hoping the two nations can look beyond past disagreements and focus on addressing the North Korean issue. During a global nuclear summit in Washington DC in April, US President Barack Obama stated the he, along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye had recommitted to working together to build pressure on the DPRK. "We are united in our efforts to deter and defend against North Korean provocationsWe have to work together to meet this challenge." he said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) An unknown number of militants attacked a police post in Langate town in India's Jammu and Kashmir state, local media reported on Monday. No casualties have been reported so far, the NDTV broadcaster said. The assault came just one day after a terrorist attack on the army brigade headquarters in the state which killed 18 servicemen. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which focuses on increased collaboration between the UNDP 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the One Belt, One Road initiative within a strategic framework, on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly, the UNDP said in a statement. "The Belt and Road Initiative represents a powerful platform for economic growth and regional co-operation, involving more than 4 billion people, many of whom live in developing countries It can serve as an important catalyst and accelerator for the sustainable development goals," UNDP Administrator Helen Clark was quoted as saying in the statement. The UNDP will help in coordinating all stakeholders in the initiative in order to push for poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and social development on the continent, she added. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang expressed deep disappointment, "to the point of despair," over Japan's decision to set up military patrols in the South China Sea. According to Lu, Japan deliberately acts to "confuse" the situation in the region, which China claims can only be resolved through negotiation. According to the spokesman, the parties to the disagreement which does not include Japan or the US have reached a consensus that all territorial disputes must only be resolved by peaceful means. "Let's have a look at the results of Japan's throwing things into disorder over this same time period trying to confuse the South China Sea situation under the pretense of [acting for] the international community," Lu stated during a briefing. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Expectations of growing sales, orders and profit fell from 38 percent in January to only 12 percent in September, the Business in Britain report said. The greatest 30-percent decrease in confidence was registered in services, the bank's survey showed. "The EU referendum vote has introduced a level of uncertainty for companies as the UK decides on the best model for its future relationship with the EU, and this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Whilst sentiment has fallen to a four-year low, it remains well above the lows reached during the global financial crisis of 2008-9," Tim Hinton, the managing director at Lloyds Bank, was quoted as saying in the report. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the Transnational Institutes updated report, the original version of which came out in November 2014, CETA poses a serious threat to governments efforts to protect citizens and the environment due to its Investment Court System (ICS) investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. [ICS] could unleash a corporate litigation boom against Canada, the EU and individual EU member states, and could dangerously thwart government efforts to protect citizens and the environment, the international research and advocacy institutes report said. TPP negotiations were finalized in October and must be ratified by all 12 signatories within the next two years. The parties to the TPP agreement are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, and comprise approximately 40 percent of world GDP. The move came as a disappointment for Barack Obamas administration since the TPP deal is regarded as one of his major achievements as president. This unusual demonstration was organized by the NGO Suomen Latu ("Finnish Quality"), who wanted to remind its fellow Finns about every person's right to nature by challenging them to sleep outside, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported. To enjoy the fresh air and the starry sky, thousands of Finns spent the night in the woods, on lake shores, in courtyards of their country houses, or even on the balconies in blocks of flats. "You sleep best outdoors, especially in the winter," television host and adventurer Tom Nylund told Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet prior to the event. RIGA (Sputnik) The voters were able to cast their ballots in six polling stations across the Baltic country. According to the embassy, no violations were registered. "According to preliminary data, around 14,000 people voted," a member of staff told RIA Novosti. More than 111 million eligible voters took part electing 450 lawmakers for the next five years on Sunday. According to preliminary results, the ruling United Russia party is set to win the vote. According to The Guardian newspaper, May will urge a different approach to the current situation. She will propose measures such as helping refugees apply for asylum in the first country of entry, countries being able to control their borders and a distinction between refugees and economic migrants, the media outlet reported. Over recent years, the world has experienced record levels of migration and forced displacement. Between 2005 and 2015, the world's war refugee population grew from 37 million to 65.3 million due to rising violence in the Middle East and North Africa, according to UN figures. Cross-border refugees numbered some 13.7 million in 2014, with the number projected to rise to 16.4 million by 2017, according the UN Refugee Agency. The Telegraph newspaper reported on Sunday that Cameron told Johnny Mercer, the chairman of a parliamentary defense committee, that his attempts to end the activities of the IHAT had been thwarted by Wright's position. Mercer had also met Wright, who had confirmed the position, the media outlet added. They refuse to accept [EU refugee quotas] and this is the main friction in the ongoing crisis over immigration. But it seems to me that the tone for the future is to harmonize the interests of all states and encourage them to fall in line for a continued European Union. There is really no indication of serious fallouts and of other countries prepared to leave the EU. The general tone against the British has been pretty harsh as [Jean-Claude] Junker and other leaders of the European Union have said quite clearly that the UK should not expect continued access to the market without a free movement of people, Professor Bergmann noted. There are all sorts of dividing lines the EU leaders need to mend, he added. When asked about the joint policies that are going to be to be worked out next year and how they could change the situation, he said that it was really impossible to say how the EU will evolve in the coming years. The EU is an apparatus that usually does not take big steps at a particular time. I dont think that the EU leaders have an ambition to set out a grand scheme for the future. Their aim is not to strengthen the European Union but rather to calm and outline a clear path to move along, Professor Bergmann said in conclusion. The leaders of 27 EU member states were meeting on Friday in the Slovakian capital Bratislava for an informal summit to push forward reforms within the bloc regarding the protection of external borders, the fight against terrorism, the migrant crisis and various economic and social issues. The summit was the first meeting of EU leaders without the United Kingdom in 43 years following Britain's decision to leave the bloc. UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) He pointed out that from his point of view migration was a "solution of the problems of the world" that requires a lot of political, cultural, economic and religious investment. "That is probably the biggest frustration I had when today you see that the European borders have been closing. And that has been a very negative signal to the rest of the world," Guterres said. "When I look to this policy, in which several countries in Europe are closing their borders namely invoking security reasons, they are to a certain extent paying the price of the fact that integration policies in the recent past were not sufficiently effective, that there was not enough investment in creating the conditions for societies that are all becoming multiethnic, multireligious, multicultural to be able to understand that, to live together," Guterres said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Human Rights Watch (HRW) together with the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders wrote a joint letter to the Montenegrin prime minister, demanding the release of journalist Jovo Martinovic, who is pending trial for almost a year on suspicion of participating in drug trafficking. According to the organization, no real evidence of the journalists engagement into a criminal activity were presented. "We urge the relevant authorities to release Martinovic immediately and to provide his attorney with all evidence against him If the prosecutor persists with the charges to trial, it is essential that the trial complies with international standards, including rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights," the letter says. Churchill's prophetic words eventually led to the formation of the Council of Europe, which remains to this day, but which is not a part of the European Union. It is comprised today of 47 member states including Russia and was founded in 1949, with the main aim of protecting human rights. It oversees the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the court. Although Britain voted to leave the EU, in a referendum on June 23, it did not vote on the issue of leaving the Council of Europe. Much was made, in the run-up to the referendum, of the need to reclaim powers over human rights, yet the vote was for leaving the EU and not the Council of Europe although a majority of the British public will not have understood the difference between the two separate organizations. 99% Ignored Govt EU Propaganda Leaflet: Cost 9million https://t.co/kTlBJ8mkaY turns out posting your post- truth politics failed #Brexit Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) September 19, 2016 Europe is now at a crossroads, with Britain expected to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, triggering the start of negotiations to exit the EU whatever that means. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has said many times "Brexit means Brexit," yet most people know that for Britain to remain a trading partner with the EU it will have to accept some degree of political integration with it. As the EU faces the biggest test in its history, Churchill's words will be ringing down the corridors of Brussels: "In this urgent work France and Germany must take the lead together. Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America and, I trust, Soviet Russia, for then indeed all would be well must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live. Therefore I say to you: Let Europe arise!" The ECB funding has failed to improve the economic situation in the country, with Italy being the only Eurozone country the economy of which has been in regression since 1999. "Italy urgently needs growth," the newspaper wrote. "Even Greece and Portugal managed to boost their economies a little after the establishment of the Eurozone." According to Die Welt, the Italian labor market has been hit by the economic crisis most of all. The unemployment rate in Italy (11.4%) is not the highest in the Eurozone. However, youth unemployment has reached 39.2%, which is the worst among all countries of the monetary union. The President of the EU, Jean-Claude Juncker said in March that NATO was not enough as not all members of the Transatlantic Alliance were in the EU. He also said that the creation of an EU army would send strong and powerful signals to the world. "A joint EU army would show the world that there would never again be a war between EU countries, such an army would also help us to form common foreign and security policies and allow Europe to take on responsibility in the world," President Juncker said in a recent interview. And even post-Brexit some other countries such as Ireland and Denmark would oppose an EU Army https://t.co/7LY6zvSJJ3 Mark Urban (@MarkUrban01) 17 September 2016 However, the UK Secretary of State for Defense, Michael Fallon, said that Britain would not be joining the EU army and would veto any attempt made to create one. Far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gained 11.5 percent of the vote, meanwhile Merkel's Christian Democrat's party (CDU) polled 17,5 percent of the vote with center left Social Democrats (SPD) won 23 percent of the votes. "From zero to double digits, that's a first for Berlin," Georg Pazdeski of the AfD party said following the obvious rise in popularity of the right-wing populist party and rejection of Angela Merkel's refugee policy allowing one million asylum seekers to settle in the country. Whether it's a rise in support for the far right, or a drop in support for Angela Merkel's migrant policy, it's becoming increasingly clear that the fall out from Merkel's million refugee policy is costing the Chancellor her popularity. In an interview with Svobodnaya Pressa online newspaper, Yuri Dolinsky, a Baltic-affairs expert in Moscow, said that with its strong military presence in Europe, the United States would hate to see an EU army coming along especially now that the blocs two main sponsors Germany and France may be willing to play a bigger role in European defense. Britain, meanwhile, said that as long as it remains in the Union, it will block the creation of a European army. We have always been concerned about unnecessarily duplicating what we already have in NATO, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said. When asked if the emergence of a European army would ratchet up tensions along the EUs border with Russia, which is exactly what the US wants, Yuri Dolinsky argued that this would simultaneously undermine the roles of NATO and the US on the continent. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen recently paid a visit to Lithuania where Germany is going to lead a NATO battalion to be deployed in this Baltic republic. Similar battalions will be stationed also in Latvia, Estonia and Poland. Lithuania is buying 386 million euros worth of 88 Boxer wheeled armored vehicles in Germany. Still, when Ursula von der Leyen pitched the idea of a joint European armed force, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said a flat no, and promised to block the idea, insisting that there should be no duplication of NATOs role in Europe, Yuri Dolinsky noted. The EU will outline its position on the proposed creation of a European army in December, but it is already clear now that the abovementioned countries opposition is well enough to block this whole idea, Yuri Dolinsky emphasized. Last week, in an interview with Die Welt, Luxembourgish Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn called for excluding Hungary from the bloc for systemic violations of the fundamental principles of the European Union. "[Those] who build fences against refugees like Hungary does, or who violate press freedom and judicial independence, should be excluded temporarily or forever from the EU," the politician said. Asselborns stance demonstrates a rift which appeared a year ago between the founding members of the bloc (France, Germany and the Benelux nations) and former members of the Soviet bloc, French scholar and defense analyst Cyrille Bret said. LONDON (Sputnik) The life jackets worn by migrants and refugees, who crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios, were laid around the statue of Winston Churchill by the charity International Rescue Committee to coincide with the UN Global Migration Summit in New York, The Scotsman newspaper reported. Many of the jackets were reportedly made by people smugglers from non-buoyant materials. On Saturday, UK citizens took to the streets of London to demonstrate their support for refugees ahead of the UN summit. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The voting procedure was held at the party's conference in Brighton, which kicked off on Saturday and will last up to Tuesday. "Failing to call a stop to Hinkley will prove a costly mistake. Not just the financial cost to consumers and the public purse, but the opportunity cost for renewables. The opportunity to pull the plug on Hinkley has been missed, and we will all pay for it from our pockets," Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat Energy spokeswoman, said in a statement published on the party's website. On September 15, the UK government approved the project of building a new $24 billion power station at Hinkley Point, which is co-financed by Chinese and French companies. Safeguarding children in #CalaisJungle must be a priority.Many vulnerable #refugee kids #sexabuse & physical abuse inside & outside of camp Humanitarian Watch (@HumanitarianGov) September 15, 2016 "French authorities have established investigations as a result, but have not yet been able to take legal action." The NCA report also includes details about female migrants selling sex to secure their entry into the UK and information taken from a previous UNICEF report, which warns that children work in "near slave-like conditions" and "sexual abuse appears to have been commonplace." Abuse in #CalaisJungle too, no one picking it up many kids, regular #sexabuse. I've video from kids explaining what happens @guardian Nusrat Latif (@nusratmedicine) September 19, 2016 Reports in British media which cite the leaked NCA report, insist that the full extent of the problem, which has been circulated to intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Defense and the police, is not yet known and the scale of the sexual abuse remains unclear. "There is an intelligence gap on the sexual exploitation of migrants including minors, particularly in the context of a reported increase in the numbers of unaccompanied minors on the migration routes. We are particularly looking for intelligence linking sexual exploitation to immigration OCGs (Organized Criminal Groups)." The leaked report was also sent to Prime Minister Theresa May when she was serving as the UK government's Home Secretary. Mrs. May is currently in New York for a United Nations leaders' summit on refugees and migrants. The exodus saw hundreds of thousands of people risk the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing from North Africa to Italy, as well as across the Aegean Sea to Greece. On the land-side, migrants poured through the West Balkan route, causing many countries to erect border controls and fences throwing the whole EU project into disarray. In an effort to assist Greece and Italy deal with the mass flow of migrants into their countries, the EU proposed a relocation scheme, whereby refugees given asylum in Greece and Italy would be relocated to other member states, according to a quota system, based on the member states' population and GDP. However, the system ran into immediate difficulties after many countries especially in eastern Europe refused to accept the quota system. As of September 16, 2016, only 4,946 out of the proposed 160,000 migrants have actually been relocated. The life jackets spread out across Parliament Square are a hugely moving reminder of what's going on in the world. pic.twitter.com/7jFeFX9MUy Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) September 19, 2016 Visiting incredibly moving sea of life jackets in Parliament Square, representing refugees who died #withrefugees pic.twitter.com/LRTaM9FWRM Jonathan Bartley (@jon_bartley) September 19, 2016 Dodgy Deal With Ankara Meanwhile, in an effort to stem the flow of migrants crossing from Turkey into Europe, the EU brokered a deal with Turkey under which the EU is due to pay Turkey initially US$3.95 billion to bolster its refugee camps and accept "irregular" migrants denied asylum in Greece in return on a one-for-one basis for Syrian refugees in Turkey being relocated in the EU. However, many NGOs including Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children and Red Cross have joined the UN refugee agency UNHCR as saying the EU-Turkey deal is either immoral or illegal as the 'hotspots' have become detention centers. They also say Turkey is not a 'safe country' for migrants to be returned to, under the Geneva Convention. As part of the deal, Turkey demanded that its citizens be given visa-free access to the EU Schengen zone and the acceleration of Turkey's accession into the EU. However, talks have stumbled over Turkey's human rights record and suppression of opposition to the Turkish Government. Common sense: safe and legal routes the only way to manage migration and displacement. #UN4RefugeesMigrants Marta Foresti (@martaforesti) September 19, 2016 "The question about whether Turkey is a safe country to return to was a controversy when the deal was first signed. The Greek government has passed a law that declared that Turkey was a 'safe country'. But the problem with the deal is that, politically, it is not likely to hold. The Turkish government is very clear that the key thing it want in return for the deal is visa-free travel for its citizens in Europe and that doesn't look likely after the coup," Foresti told Sputnik. MADRID (Sputnik) Homs is being accused, alongside several other Catalan officials, of co-organizing the 2014 referendum, as well as facing additional accusations of disobedience, public funds misappropriation and a perversion of justice. "We acted in accordance with Catalan parliament's mandate, within the bounds of law safeguarding civil participation, the freedom of expression and of ideology," Homs told the 24 Horas television channel after testifying in court and refusing to plead guilty. Homs, who is now a member of the Spanish parliament from the pro-independence Catalan Democratic Party, called the case politically motivated and aimed at obstructing Catalonia's independence. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Dozens of police officers were deployed to Les Halles neighborhood on Saturday after receiving a report of a hostage situation at a church via a special smartphone app. It turned out to be a hoax. "The Government will be a civil party [in a case] to obtain compensation for damages following a false alert on Saturday, September 17, in Paris," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement. A 16-year-old hacker was reportedly taken into police custody earlier in the day on suspicion of setting off the alarm after he bragged about it on Facebook and in an interview with local media. His accomplice may still be at large. According to the journalist, the military unit was deployed 80 km away from the front line. This move can be viewed as a provocation and might have serious consequences for regional security, and in particular, fuel conflict with Russia, Rozenek argued. "This is, of course, dangerous, especially if their presence is illegitimate. In this case, we can assume several scenarios. And I think that if someone is interested in fueling the conflict, adding fuel to the fire, then this is the right way to do it send out soldiers and cause trouble," Rozenek said. The information, as Rozenek said, is based on the statements of two sources made on the condition of anonymity. The Office of the Polish President has sent an official response to his request, saying that the soldiers were supposed to undergo military training in an international training camp located at the Ukrainian-Polish border, however, Rozenek is confident that the place was chosen not by accident. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The authorities of the UK south eastern county of Kent will deploy armed police officers to patrol the most crowded locations, including Canterbury Cathedral, Dover port and shopping centers, after summer terror attacks in Europe, local media reported on Monday. Armed police deployment is not a response to any alerts and aims to deter potential assailants and give immediate reaction in case of emergency, according to the BBC. "Tragically, what we have seen in France and other areas that it's in the first hour that there is large numbers of casualties," Paul Brandon, Kent deputy chief constable, said. France has again set an example of ecological responsibility by showing that it cares enough about the environment to give up some convenience. Having outlawed plastic bags in July to reduce the amount of garbage on the planet, the country has now set its sights on non-biodegradable plastic spoons, plates, forks and cups. Single-use non-biodegradable tableware will be prohibited in the European state beginning less than four years from now enough time for manufacturers to adjust. The new law, initiated by France's green EELV party, will allow single-use cutlery if it is made from biologically-sourced materials and quickly and naturally decompose after use. Not everybody in France has welcomed the noble environmental motives. Environment minister Segolene Royal earlier argued that the measure was "antisocial" as poor families cannot afford what he suggested was expensive cutlery, re-using disposable knives and forks instead. According to Press TV, the Syrian Army brought down a UAV that was spotted hovering over mountains in the Jabal Therdeh area in the east of the province. AMN new agency, presenting itself a source of news from the Arabian world, specified that shots were fired by the Syrian Arab Army's 137th Artillery Brigade of the 17th Tank Division, though noting that drone managed to leave the Syrian airspace. Before the US-led coalition attack on Saturday that killed at least 62 Syrian Army soldiers, the Syrian airspace was opened to American aircraft, but the situation has become more unstable following the incident. The Syrian army also regained control over the vast majority of territories that they lost to Daesh on Saturday, after the US-led coalition gave an upper hand to the extremists in their offensive by shelling positions of Syrian servicemen. The comments by the prime minister were on Saturday during his visit to the Turkish province of Agr, where Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked a village on September 10, killing ten people, including Turkish troops and law enforcement, Hurriyet Daily reported. Speaking with the families of those killed in the attack, Yildirim hinted that PKK backed by foreign nations looks to break up the country. They want to turn Turkey into Syria or Iraq via cooperating with foreign powers. However, they forget one thing: This is not Syria or Iraq. This is Anatolia, he said, adding that the government is aware of the plans of enemies of the Turkish state. They are feeding terror in order to divide Turkey. This is a dirty game. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The strikes by the coalition planes near the Deir ez-Zor airport were first reported by the Syrian army on Saturday. Later in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attack, saying they killed 62 servicemen and injured 100 more . The US Central Command said that Syrian forces were mistaken for Daesh fighters. The USA Today newspaper reported on Sunday, citing a US official that the attack was of "dynamic" nature, meaning that the operation was not pre-planned and was carried out against a target of opportunity. Military command approved the aircraft to attack the positions it considered to be held by the Daesh jihadist group, the media outlet added. ANKARA (Sputnik) Speaking with reporters ahead of flying to the UN General Assembly in New York, Erdogan said he planned to raise the issue of establishing a "safe zone" in northern Syria that he estimated would span 1,930 square miles. "I emphasize once again the contribution of the Euphrates Shield operation in northern Syria to resolving the refugee crisis. Currently, we are moving south," he said. Erdogan noted that residents of Jarablus and other northern Syrian towns reclaimed from the Daesh jihadist group began returning to their homes since the operation was launched August 24. MOSCOW (Sputnik) UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen OBrien on Monday expressed his disappointment over the fact that a convoy carrying humanitarian aid for people in eastern Aleppo, Syria, got stuck on the Turkish-Syrian border for a week now, and cannot reach the city. "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care," OBrien said in a press release. OBrien also stressed that humanitarian access should be provided elsewhere regardless political and military situation. ANKARA (Sputnik) The Turkish armed forces have led 30 US special forces members out of a potential conflict zone with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday. "The FSA does not want the US special forces assistance because of the US behavior in relation to the Syrian opposition. Our troops led out 30 US special forces soldiers [from the armed conflict zone with the FSA]," Erdogan told reporters before departing for the UN General Assembly. Online footage circulated over the weekend appeared to depict FSA fighters threatening US special forces ostensibly accompanying them to the town of al-Rai ahead of an offensive on al-Bab to clear of the Daesh jihadist group. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The number of locations to monitor adherence to the ceasefire in Syria has grown to four additional areas in and around Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday. "The Russian Defense Ministry increased the number of locations leading round-the-clock live video broadcasting in the city of Aleppo to increase the capacity of monitoring progress by the parties of the cessation of hostilities on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic," the ministry said. The added locations include Jabal Zarzur on the eastern outskirts of Aleppo, Khalidiya in the citys northwest, Khai-al-Ansari, and the Nayrab village in the southeast. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Syrian government's troops is the only force in Syria that is abiding by the ceasefire agreement, recently jeopardized by the US-led coalitions airstrikes against the countrys army, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. "The situation leaves much to be desired. You know, our military said that de facto the only party that is observing this ceasefire is the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic," Peskov told journalists. He added that the US-led coalitions airstrike against the Syrian troops was an awful incident, threatening the ceasefire regime. ALEPPO (Sputnik) A group of more than 100 civilians has been able to leave the eastern neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Aleppo in the past 24 hours despite threats from terrorists, a Syrian army source told RIA Novosti on Monday. "They are now here in Jibrin [camp for internally displaced people] and are included to the list of Russian and Belarusian [humanitarian] assistance," the army source said. Up to 300,000 civilians are estimated to live in eastern Aleppo neighborhoods captured by militants, who threaten to execute the local population that chooses to leave through arranged humanitarian corridors. The airstrikes by the coalition planes near the Deir ez-Zor airport were first reported by the Syrian army on Saturday. Later in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attacks, saying they killed 62 servicemen and injured 100 more. The US Central Command said that the Syrian forces were mistaken for Daesh terrorists. Australia and Denmark have also confirmed their air forces' participation in the airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor. "Increased state support for terrorists hostile to Syria has recently presented itself in the form of naked American aggression against one of the Syrian army positions in Deir ez-Zor in favor of the interests of the [Daesh jihadist group]," Assad said, as quoted by the Syrian presidencys Twitter account, hosting a senior Iranian diplomat. He added that "countries hostile to Syria increase their support for terrorism as Syria succeeds in liberating territories and signing ceasefire agreements." The security forces are said to have seized 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives, suicide belts and arms as well as 600,000 riyals (approximately $160,000) possessed by one of the cells. Reportedly, one of the dismantled cells harbored terrorists who were behind the explosion at Imam Rida Mosque in the town of Mahasen in January. BERLIN (Sputnik) The German Foreign Ministrys spokesman Martin Schaefer called the incident "one more tragedy," expressing regret over the loss of lives, irrespective of age, sex and profession of those killed. "That is a very sad mistake, it is a great pity that it happened," Flosdorff told journalists. Earlier on Monday, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that the government was concerned about the large number of victims in Syria in the past days despite the reached ceasefire deal. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The truce, agreed by Russia and the United States on September 9, required Washington to separate moderate opposition forces from jihadist groups and remove rebels from the Castello Road on Aleppos outskirts, which is a key route into the eastern part of the city. "We have to note extremely low activity of US colleagues in addressing our legitimate concern. For instance, we submitted to Americans a total of 16 information requests since the first day of the truce, September 12, 2016," Col. Alexander Zorin, the Defense Ministrys special envoy to Geneva said. The Russian military requested data on terrorist-controlled areas, US plans of pulling out armed groups from the Castello Road, proposals to set up a round-the-clock "hotline" between the Russian military case in Syrias western Latakia province and their US counterparts, as well as investigation of ceasefire violations by Syrian opposition forces. Syrian militants have breached the Moscow-Washington brokered truce more than 300 times, the Army said. The Syrian army reaffirmed commitment to fight against terror after the end of truce. "The ceasefire regime should have been a real chance to stop bloodshed, but units of terrorists did not abhere to any of the points of the agreement. The number of ceasefire violations suprassed 300," SANA news agency quoted the Syrian Army General Command as saying. According to the expert a particular difficulty lies in the fact that Russia and the US have diametrically opposed goals in Syria. It is important for Russia to end the civil war, to ensure fair elections, in which the legitimately elected president, Bashar al-Assad will be able to take part and the Syrian people will decide their own destiny, the analyst said. However, the primary purpose of the United States is to overthrow the elected government of Assad. Washington wants to establish a leadership in Damascus which will follow in the footsteps of the American foreign policy, according to the analyst. Therefore, to achieve comprehensive understanding between Moscow and Washington is pretty hard. We see how quickly such an agreement can turn questionable. We are already seeing doubts on part of Russia on how far is the US actually ready to follow contracts signed by them. In addition, the US has so far refused to disclose the contents of all the agreements signed with Russia. According to a political analyst from the Russian Friendship University, Yuri Pochta, The United States argues that it is fighting the terrorists. But since the majority of media in most countries of the world, to some extent, are controlled by the Americans, it will be announced that the incident was a tragic error, they will say that investigation is ongoing and thats all to it. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Moscow and Baghdad are coordinating their efforts to counter terrorism in the framework of a joint anti-Daesh information center in Baghdad, with Syria and Iran also participating in the center's work. The center is tasked with the collection and analysis of the data on the situation in the Middle East, particularly on the situation with jihadists in the region. "The sides exchanged views on crucial issues on the development of the situation in Iraq and Syria during the meeting. They particularly focused on the steps needed for a consolidated fight against Islamic State (IS) [Daesh] and other terrorist groups. A series of practical aspects of Russia-Iraq multifaceted cooperation have also been discussed," the statement reads. The Middle Eastern countries, notably Syria and Iraq, are struggling with jihadists' insurgency. An international US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been conducting anti-Daesh airstrikes in Syria and Iraq since 2014. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US-led coalition airstrike that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers was an accident and should not slow the US-Russian effort to cooperate against the Islamic State (Daesh), former US Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnasanice Lt. Gen. David Deptula told Sputnik on Monday. "It is a very complex environment and it is difficult to ascertain who is doing what, and so it was an accident and it is unfortunate but we shouldn't let that get in the way of working together to get rid of the Islamic State," Deptula said. On Saturday, aircraft of the anti-US coalition carried out four airstrikes against positions of the Syrian Army near Deir ez-Zor, leaving 62 personnel killed and some 100 wounded. The Pentagon said the airstrike was a mistake, with the intended target being Daesh forces in the area. "The second phase is the transitional period and that phase should last a year and a half," Hijab stated. The third phase is the establishment of a constitutional declaration to form a temporary government including a military council and a constitutional court. Hijab noted that the ultimate aim is to hold presidential, parliamentary and local elections to form an inclusive Syrian government. The declaration by the Syrian High Negotiating Committee reaffirms the commitments of the international community reached in 2015 to work toward a political transition in Syria after five years of civil war. Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the United States attended the meeting to endorse the vision put forth by the Syrian opposition. Syrian Arab Red Crescent spokesperson Stephen Ryan told Sputnik that the organization had received news that one of its structures in rural Aleppo had been attacked. The situation on the ground is very chaotic at present, and we are still getting details, Ryan stressed. According to media reports, the convoy was hit by airstrikes or mortar fire after offloading aid. The UN convoy was dispatched earlier in the day to deliver relief to the beleaguered provinces of Aleppo and Homs for over 160,000 people. Despite the US-Russia deal reached on September 9, fragile nationwide ceasefire in Syria in force since September 12 is undermined by numerous outbreaks of hostilities. Earlier on Monday, the Syrian army declared the end of ceasefire regime blaming militants for numerous violations that made the cessation of hostilities unreasonable. WASHINGTON0 (Sputnik) Saudi Arabia has ignored repeated US requests not to bomb targets that caused major civilian casualties in its air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, US Senator Christopher Murphy told a meeting at the Center for the National interest. "Much as we have been pressing the Saudis to get better they have not," Murphy said on Monday. "Even when we tell them not to bomb targets, they ignore we us and still bomb civilian facilities." Murphy noted that ordinary Yemenis blamed the United States for not restraining the Saudis and their coalition allies, and warned that this attitude was helping extreme Islamist groups win popularity in Yemen. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US officials are awaiting a response from Russia to a suggestion for extending the cessation of hostilities in Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday in New York. "We need to see what the Russians say," Kerry stated when asked if Moscow had responded to Washingtons request to extend the ceasefire. "We need to see where we are, and then well make a judgment. But we dont have all the facts at this point." Kerry spoke ahead of his meeting with Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. KIEV (Sputnik) The Ukrainian president met with the emir of Qatar to discuss the opportunities to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation, with particular emphasis on the energy sector, the Ukrainian presidential press service said on Monday. "Qatar and Ukraine are both interested in deepening the economic collaboration President Petro Poroshenko held a meeting with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly. The sides substantively discussed the prospects for boosting bilateral trade and economic cooperation, primarily in the energy sector," the press release said. The press service noted that special attention was devoted to bringing Ukrainian companies on board with Qatars large-scale infrastructure projects. The emir accepted the invitation of the Ukrainian president to visit Kiev. Tensions between Ankara and the PKK escalated in July 2015 when a ceasefire between the sides collapsed over a series of terror attacks allegedly committed by the PKK members. Turkish authorities have imposed several round-the-clock curfews in Kurdish-populated towns in country's southeast, preventing civilians from fleeing the regions where the military operations are taking place. An estimated 700 Turkish military forces and police have been killed in clashes with the PKK since last summer, with over six thousand deaths among the Kurds, according to the General Staff's figures. BRUSSELS (Sputnik) On September 26-27, an informal defense ministers' meeting will be held in Bratislava to discuss a number of security challenges the bloc is facing. "It is expected that the ministers would discuss the possibilities to unite their capabilities in the sphere of defense," the source said. ZHANJIANG (China), (Sputnik) Russian and Chinese warships carried out gun drills within the framework of the joint Naval Interaction-2016 military exercises, a spokesman for the headquarters of the drills said Monday. "Within the framework of the drills a practice fire with the use anti-submarine bombs and artillery was carried out against naval and air targets," apt. 1st Rank Vladimir Matveev told reporters. Pentagon sources speaking to Defense News claim that the cause has been traced to faulty voltage regulators. Repairs are expected to cost at least $37 million. This is the latest in a series of setbacks that has forced a delay in delivery of the USS Ford. "The current estimated delivery date is in November 2016," a spokesman for the Navy, Capt. Thurraya S. Kent, told Military.com in July. "If additional issues arise during the remaining shipboard testing, that date may need to be revised." Earlier problems involved the ships runway capabilities, munitions movement, and defense capabilities. A recently announced deal reached by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry paved the way for a ceasefire, prompting many to hope that a full-scale peace process could be relaunched if the secession of hostilities holds. "It's all up in the air now," Anderson noted. There were indications that "this time there was a greater level of collaboration going on and that seems to have been completely undermined by the US' actions in Deir ez-Zor." The analyst also added that "the diplomacy must be at breaking point now. It must be extremely stretched now." "It's true that Lavrov and Kerry seem to have a good relationship despite the obvious tensions, but it's very hard to see how you can return to talks in those sorts of circumstances. The US is the odd one out here. They've never had any legal basis for being in Syria at all. And yet the Syrians have been restrained, the Russians have been restrained. It's quite unknown as to what can happen now." On Saturday, two F-16 fighter jets and two A-10 ground attack aircraft that entered Syrian airspace from Iraq launched airstrikes against the SAA base in the city of Deir ez-Zor, leaving at least 62 Syrian servicemen killed and more than 100 wounded. The operation was ostensibly called off when Russian defense officials contacted their American counterparts to warn them that the US-led coalition planes were attacking the SAA. Meanwhile, relations between Washington and Ankara appear to be improving. At least, the US has backed Turkey's ground military operation in Syria, formally known as Operation Euphrates Shield. So much so that last week US special operations forces joined the Turkish military and their Syrian rebel allies to assist the Ankara-led operation aimed at freeing the border areas in northern Syrian from Daesh. The bilateral ties were exacerbated by the failed military coup that rocked Turkey on July 15 and the reserved response of US officials to those events. The Syrian Kurds have also been a major point of contention in the relationship, but "the US and Turkey seem to have reached a modus vivendi on the issue," the analyst observed. "I think that will bring more cooperation. The latest picture that we are seeing is that the US is supporting the Turkish effort. So I think there will be a certain rapprochement." BEIJING (Sputnik) On Sunday, the Russians cast their ballots to elect the State Duma, the lower house of the countrys parliament. "The elections to the State Duma are a significant event for Russia. China supports the way of Russia's development China considers that the elections reflect the [Russian] nation's choice and their results would make a contribution to the national development and economic progress [of Russia]," Lu said at a briefing. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian President Vladimir Putin does not have plans for a phone conversation with his US counterpart Barack Obama yet, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. No. Now there are no plans to hold the phone conversation, Peskov said, answering a question if phone talks with Obama on latest developments in Syria were on Putin's agenda. On September 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a new peace plan to address the five-year conflict in Syria. The ceasefire stipulated by the agreement came into force on September 12. The incoming Jerome E. Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security at the US Naval War College added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his team operated on this assumption. Although Russian and American diplomats reached the breakthrough agreement on Syria on September 9, many in the US have not been happy with the deal that, if fully implemented, will see an unprecedented level of military cooperation between Moscow and Washington. This is why when US-led coalition warplanes launched airstrikes against the Syrian Arab Army instead of Daesh in Deir ez-Zor, the Russians were "prepared to assume the worst," as Gvosdev put it. "Some suggest that it may be payback for Russian strikes earlier this year on Syrian opposition forces trained and equipped by the United States," the analyst noted. "Beyond that, however, it is interpreted by many on the Russian side as a loud-and-clear signal that the US still sees Assad as the principal problem and does not want his forces to be strengthened during the period of the ceasefire." TOKYO (Sputnik) According to the Kyodo news agency, citing sources in the Japanese diplomatic circles, the meeting will be held on Monday evening in one of New York's hotels, and will focus on the situation in the Asian region. In particular, the parties are expected to discuss North Korea's nuclear issue, as well as China's activities in the East China Sea. In addition, the issue of the recent policy, led by the Japanese government, to boost the role of women in society is expected to be on the agenda. The 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly is held on September 13-26, 2016 in New York. However, Hillary's readiness to use military power will be offset by public opinion and budget cuts. Recent polls show that Americans have grown tired of Washington's overseas adventures, with 57 percent of respondents saying that the US should focus on tackling challenges at home, a Pew Research Center survey showed. Only 37 percent of Americans think that the US should help other countries in solving their problems. "With a likely unfriendly Congress determined to push back against Obama's signature policy achievement in the region, last year's nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, Clinton would probably be a president locked in by the decisions of her predecessors and by an American public with little appetite for more costly foreign adventures in the Middle East," Sullivan observed. Hillary Clinton's foreign policy will also be dependent on her fiscal priorities. "She wants to expand domestic spending and entitlements in a way that would inevitably starve defense," the WSJ observed. As a result, "her likeliest path as president is continuing to retreat at a somewhat slower pace." TIP has been active in Syria, particularly in the provinces of Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia. It is part of the Army of Conquest (Jaish al-Fatah), an umbrella organization that was created in March 2015, with al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham forming the bulk of its forces. It is mainly active in the Idlib province, but has also carried out operations in the provinces of Latakia and Hama. At the same time, the TIP "had established a well-documented presence on the battlefield in Syria, with the group releasing a number of videos detailing its combat role fighting alongside" al-Nusra Front, the analysts detailed. "This threat from TIP in particular is one that is therefore becoming of much greater concern for Beijing. Yet it is not clear who is focused on fighting TIP on the ground in Syria. Western powers fighting in Syria are for the most part focused on ISIS and less focused on the groups fighting against the Assad regime, like TIP." One Belt, One Road, Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature initiative, is aimed at building an economic "silk road" linking Asia and Europe. The massive infrastructure and investment project is meant to enhance Beijing's influence in Eurasia. However, the Syrian conflict and the "current fracturing of the Middle East" that the years-long war has contributed to are the main obstacles to "China's ability to make this vision a reality," the analysts noted. Unlike Washington, "Russia has been firm in its commitment to root out what it calls the 'terrorist' threat there in support of the regime in Damascus, and Beijing has been impressed by the manner in which Russia's decisive moves have had an effect that years of attrition on the battlefield failed to achieve," they added. As a result, "Beijing may now have arrived at the conclusion that supporting Assad and taking sides with Russia is the most viable option to effectively combat the growth of TIP," they said. The Pentagon said the airstrike was a result of an "intelligence failure." Assuming that, this airstrike is a "damaging and embarrassing error," the article read. In addition, it proves how dangerous a bombing campaign could be amid a multilateral civil war, like now in Syria. The situation gets even more embarrassing because the airstrike was made against the Syrian Army which is fighting Daesh terrorists. In fact, Washingtons mistake benefited Daesh. KIEV (Sputnik) On Sunday, Russians all across the country, including in Crimea, cast their ballots to elect the State Duma members. The Ukrainian side has previously protested against the elections in its former region that reunified with Russia following a 2014 referendum. "Ukraine will give a list of people directly involved in the organization of the electoral farce in Crimea, as well as of those, who participated in the unlawful elections to all its international partners, so that to include them in the sanctions' lists," the statement said. The statement added that the elections held in Crimea challenged the legitimacy of the State Duma itself, because of the partially proportionate election system. Since a ceasefire came into force across Syria a week ago, the Russian Defense Ministry and the Syrian military have registered multiple violations of the regime by militants. Earlier in the day, the Syrian army declared that the ceasefire ended because of numerous violations by the rebels. Moscow said that the United States is not implementing its obligations from the agreement, especially on separating so-called moderate rebels from terrorists on the ground. Moreover, on Saturday, warplanes of a US-led coalition attacked positions of the Syrian Army near Deir ez-Zor, killing 62 personnel. MOSCOW (Sputnik) His words come after on Saturday, the United Stated carried out an airstrikes against Syrian army, killing 62 servicemen. The Syrian troops were allegedly mistaken for the Daesh terror group. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow was deeply concerned with the strike. "Harsh assessments given by the Russian Defense Ministry to actions (more precisely to inactivity) of the US in realization of the September 12 agreements on Syria have certain grounds. The US and US-backed groups have not yet done anything on affirming commitments reached in Geneva," Kosachev told RIA Novosti. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) On Saturday, US-led coalition airstrikes killed 62 Syrian servicemen and injured another 100 near the Deir ez-Zor airport. US Central Command said the Syrian troops had been mistaken for fighters belonging to Daesh terror group. "The quality of the actionable intelligence may be seriously flawed, that is what happened, I believe, on Saturday," Ford stated. "It should remind us all that just because the Americans and Russians might agree to work together does not mean they are actually going to be very effective militarily against Fateh al-Sham [Nusra Front] or the Islamic State [Daesh]." Military cooperation between Washington and Moscow is possible, Ford added, but the ground component is more important at the moment, which is up to Turkey and Iran with Russian air support. "We call for the establishment of a special representative of the UN secretary general for internally displaced persons," Kerry said. "The vast majority of people who were driven from their homes [stay] within their own countries." Kerry also noted that the challenges facing internally displaced people are not identical to those facing refugees. BRUSSELS (Sputnik) The European Union has refused to recognize Russia's parliamentary elections in Crimea, urging the Russian government to address challenges to democracy, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini's spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. "The European Union has not recognized the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and therefore does not recognize the holding of elections in the Crimean peninsula," the statement on the European External Action Service reads. It was noted in the statement that elections in Russia had been "transparently administered" but certain challenges remained, including "restrictions to fundamental freedoms and political rights." Todays main stories: International reaction to this year's visit to Cuba by US President, Barack Obama, was naturally viewed as a major step forward in finally laying to rest the remnants of the cold war. That could be about to be undone though, following comments by the Republican candidate for the US Presidency, Donald Trump, made over the weekend. We speak to Kenya C. Dworkin, associate professor of Hispanic Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, and Louis A Perez from the University of North Carolina. Courts in Egypt this week approved an asset freeze of five prominent human rights activists and three non-governmental organisations. This is the latest development in a case that has been ongoing for around five years. Egypt's crackdown on human rights activists and political protests has been widely condemned by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. We speak to Amnestys Egypt Researcher, Nicholas Piachaud. You can find previous editions of World in Focus here. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Yavlinsky unsuccessfully ran for president in 1996 and 2000, and attempted to take part in the 2012 elections, but his candidacy was refused by the Central Elections Committee. "We believe that our party will participate most actively in what will be called presidential elections. I am a presidential candidate from the Yabloko party," Yavlinsky told reporters. Grigory Yavlinsky intends to participate in the presidential elections of 2018 https://t.co/B5GuLPAjxk pic.twitter.com/QEzKwZu4yq #Russia Rus to En Fr Es News (@Rus_Eng_News) September 18, 2016 The Yabloko party failed to win the threshold of 5 percent of the votes in the Russian parliamentary elections which took place Sunday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) His statement comes a day after the parliamentary elections were held across Russia. With nearly 96 percent of the votes counted, the governing United Russia is leading all parties with 54.19 percent of the votes, or 140 mandates, added to 203 single-constituency candidates from the party. It is clear that the vast majority of the voters cast their votes de facto to support the president. Once again, the president received such an impressive vote of confidence from the people of the country," Peskov told reporters. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Sunday, the Russian citizens cast their ballots to elect the State Duma. "Numerous international observers attended Russia's election. Sixty three states located in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and Latin America have sent their representatives [to monitor the elections]. Kazakhstan had the largest representation of 102 representatives, 69 were from Belarus, 63 from the United States," Nikolai Levichev said. He added that Russia would keep a close eye on the representation of foreign observers at the upcoming presidential election in the United States. Members of the Mius Front search team came across rusted parts of the planes engine whose remaining number plates and manufacturers logo clearly indicated that the aircraft was built in the United States. Going through the wreckage of the plane that was apparently shot down in a dogfight, we found the remains of the pilot with a partially burned-out map holder by his side. We hope that well be able to identify him and learn the details of his heroic deed, a Mius Front representative told the newspaper. After examining the manufacturers seals and logo the team members determined that the propeller blades of the plane were built by Hamilton Standard Company and were usually installed on the engines of Boston medium bombers and Mustang fighter planes the United States supplied to the Soviet Union under the terms of the lend-lease agreement signed during WWII. This weekend, troubled actress Lindsay Lohan arrived to Moscow to talk about her difficult relationship with Egor Tarabasov, reports Life. However, Lohan never made it to the studio as she was drunk. It's a sunny day! Yay!! #tgif Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) 24 2016 3:23 PDT From the early morning, make-up artists, Lohans assistants, producers, and Andrey Malakhov sat in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton Hotel waiting for her but she refused to leave her hotel apartment. Lindsey Lohan claimed she needed time to sleep after her flight. My Russian family #peace #love #one #goalno8 @malakhov007 #onelifetolive #togetherness Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) 16 2016 8:19 PDT However, the real reason for her absence was drunk on Russian vodka and was not in good shape, as the shows organizers explained. Additionally, Lohan received a phone call from her ex-boyfriend and was forbidden to give any interviews or participate in the talk show. She was supposed to tell that Egor gave her a ring for 300 thousand euros. But she was injuncted from running the story. He called her and said that if she ever said a single word about him, he'd start messing with her life. And she decided to return home. Maybe she deliberately made up this provocative story, no one knows the truth, reports Frivolette magazine. My love #SevenWonders #t Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) 14 2016 6:29 PDT In addition to the scandalous arrival to Moscow, Lindsey Lohan demanded a list of unreasonable requests. According to Life, the stars supposed contract proposal demanded a one-off 860,000 dollar fee for Lohans appearance on Let's Talk." Also Russian Channel One received a request from the actress to provide effective security and to pay for her visit to Moscow. As a result, the Russian TV Channel paid Lohans stay in the Ritz Carlton Hotel and her flight to Moscow. Lindsey Lohan and Egor Tarabasov were together for nearly 10 months. However, after Lindsey Lohan was physically abused the lovers split up despite their engagement. Since @NASA want to add zodiac signs maybe ya can add a day between Saturday and Sunday!! BIRTHDAY GIRL (@x_Jasmineeeeee) September 17, 2016 I dont really believe in zodiac sign stuff but oh my god i am not a Capricorn, @NASA, it's just not happening. margaux (@angeliquefaithx) September 17, 2016 Surely the dates would all need to change and those who were previously deemed as a Scorpio or Leo would suddenly find themselves as actually being a Taurus or Gemini. @NASA please don't change the zodiac signs, bein a Gemini is unreal X dev (@laurendevenny_) July 13, 2016 Stop the press that could be akin to discovering your parents weren't your parents, or that everything we are taught to believe is in fact all a lie and we really are living inside some kind of complex real-life augmented reality game such as Pokemon Go! Or not! Another key question that arises from hearing about a possible change to the zodiac calendar is why are astronomy agency NASA now delving into the world of horoscopes? To which the obvious answer, "they surely never would" should have been the sensible response made on social media. FYI, NASA does NOT change star signs or deal with astrology. We do ASTRONOMY, people Leah Cheshier (@LeahAdAstra) September 16, 2016 The "comedy of errors" source for all the confusion seems to have stemmed from misinterpretations of references found on an educational page for kids online called Nasa Space Place on the website, NASA offers an explanation about the history of astronomy and how the zodiac chart was made over 3,000 years ago by the ancient Babylonians. In the thousands of years since the creation of horoscopes being linked to the constellations in the sky, what NASA's website for kids points out is that the position of those constellations could have moved slightly over time due to shifts in the Earth's axis. The scientific theory is therefore that those constellations may no longer be seen in the same spots now as they once may have been when the Babylonians were studying them. And that is all Me:*gets tattoo of my zodiac sign * NASA: " the signs are wrong and we're changing them,here's the correct ones" Me: pic.twitter.com/H7I7eIgAvH (@Cyberface_) June 27, 2016 Following the rumors on social media, the website now also explains the theory of the US-based space agency that "Astrology is not Astronomy." "Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in outer space. Astronomers and other scientists know that stars many light years' away have no effect on the ordinary activities of humans on Earth. Astrology is something else. It's not science," it states. So there you have it! NASA is not changing your horoscope and we are not living in some kind of complex, virtual-reality style computer software that controls everything we do and think. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Currently, all eligible South Korean men between 18 and 35 must serve in the military for about two years. The data compiled by Rep. Kim Joong-ro, a former army general from South Korea's second-largest opposition People's Party, show a total of 4,220 men in South Korea gave up their citizenship to avoid military service between January and July 2016, according to The Korea Times. Among them, 31 are said to be family members of high-ranking government officials, based on the data from the Military Manpower Administration (MMA). "In most cases, they were able to stay in foreign countries for a long time to study because they were financially supported by their rich parents," Kim said, as quoted by the newspaper. The report claimed that RT and Sputnik media "had been used to spread propaganda," and that the government spent between $600 million and $1 billion annually on outlets like RT. However, the figures were not based on any real evidence and surprised editor-in-chief of the Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster Margarita Simonyan. The Rossiya Segodnya international media group that includes Sputnik has a budget of approximately 6 billion rubles (about $93 million) after a 10-percent expenditure cut in all publicly-funded Russian entities. RT's budget for 2016 stands at 17 billion rubles (about $262 million). Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova assumed, following the inquiry, that the UK authorities had been using the government report about the alleged information war against the United Kingdom by Sputnik news agency and RT broadcaster as a means to obtain additional budgetary resources for defense projects. Information warfare In continuation of the policy of countering so-called propaganda, the Atlantic Council, a think tank linked to NATO, issued a report in July "Arming for Deterrence: How Poland and NATO Should Counter a Resurgent Russia." It advised Poland to draw up a list of Russian targets, including RT broadcaster, for potential cyberattacks. In August, The Times newspaper, based in the United Kingdom, made its contribution to the anti-Russian "information warfare." It published seven articles containing discrediting information about Russian media outlets, including Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster, in particular commenting on the opening of Sputnik's offices and Russkiy Mir Foundation in the United Kingdom, and the coverage of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. A number of Russian lawmakers from both chambers of the Russian parliament have said that The Times' articles were planned in advance as part of information war against Moscow. Developing pluralism and objectivity in the media remains an official Russias priority. Speaking at the "New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream" forum in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said "there can be no situations where certain authorities like certain information, protecting it and talking about press freedom, but when they don't like it, they dismiss it as propaganda serving the interests of some political groups or specific countries." The Russian Foreign Ministry's Human Rights Ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov said at the same event that the Western public was being "brainwashed" by local media, and strove for an alternative news coverage. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Saturday, a total of 29 people have been injured in the explosion that hit New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan on Saturday night. Another device was found in the region but it had failed to detonate. According to the New York Times newspapers Sunday report, senior law enforcement officials did not refer to the "person of interest" as a suspect. The pressure cookers from which the bombs were made were filled with "fragmentation materials" and seem to have been filled with the same materials. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) On Saturday, an explosion erupted overnight in Manhattan's busy Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. Later that day, a bomb exploded near a US Marine Corps charity race in the city of Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 82 miles south of New York City. "The Department of Homeland Security is actively monitoring and participating in the investigations of the explosions in New York and New Jersey yesterday Any area in New York City associated with UNGA will therefore be subject to an extraordinarily high level of surveillance and security," Johnson said in a statement on Sunday, as quoted by the Department of Homeland Security. According to Johnson, thousands of personnel will be deployed in New York. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Saturday, an explosion erupted overnight in Manhattan's busy Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. Later that day, a bomb exploded near a US Marine Corps charity race in the city of Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 82 miles south of New York City. Nobody was injured in the New Jersey attack. Also on Saturday an attacker off-duty police officer shot dead a suspected attacker who stabbed nine people inside a mall located in the US city of St. Cloud, Minnesota. "Under the leadership of Obama & Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook! Saturdays attacks show that failed Obama/Hillary Clinton polices wont keep us safe! I will Make America Safe Again! Terrible attacks in NY, NJ and MN this weekend. Thinking of victims, their families and all Americans! We need to be strong!" Trump said in a series of tweets late on Sunday. According to the NJ Advance Media, the explosion occurred when a bomb robot was examining the device and it was a controlled blast, the NBC News said citing authorities. Now immediate reports of any injuries have been issued. A possible explosive device was found near train tracks in Elizabeth, New Jersey, earlier, when a homeless man found a pipe and wires in a white bag while rummaging through garbage. The commuter train services were suspended and the area was evacuated. Thunderous explosion that seemed to startle many police + sent others running heard in Elizabeth, NJ train station pic.twitter.com/2asA2fa7rb Kevin Clamato (@KevinClamato) 19 2016 . According to the NBC News network, no damage was visible immediately after the powerful blast. Five people are being questioned, and other suspicious objects are being probed. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Saturday, an explosion erupted overnight in Manhattan's busy Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. Later that day, a bomb exploded near a US Marine Corps charity race in the city of Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 82 miles south of New York City. Nobody was injured in the New Jersey attack. Also on Saturday an off-duty police officer shot dead a suspected attacker who stabbed nine people inside a mall located in the US city of St. Cloud, Minnesota. "I think maybe we are going to see a big change over the next couple of days. I think this is something that maybe will happen, perhaps, more and more over the country," Trump told FOX News speaking about possible terror attacks across the United States. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Brennan said he cant remember a time when the United States faced so many complex and dangerous threats. "I think ISIS [Daesh]s capability to carry out attacks outside of the Syria-Iraq theater will continue and could increase in the short-term," Brennan told CBS News. On Sunday, the group claimed responsibility for an attack carried out by Dahir Adan, a 22-year old Somali-American man who stabbed eight people inside a mall in the US state of Minnesota the previous night. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) She noted that former CIA director Michael Hayden called Trump a "recruiting sergeant" for the terrorists. "Donald Trumps comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists," Clinton said in a press conference. Trump has sparked controversy in the United States with his comments on Muslims, women, and migration, including calls to build a wall with Mexico and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) On Saturday night, an explosion in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. A second device was discovered on nearby 23rd Street. "I have no indication that there is a cell operating in the area or in the city," Sweeney stated. A bomb exploded near a US Marine Corps charity race on Saturday morningi n the city of Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 80 miles south of New York. No one was hurt in the New Jersey incident. The restaurant has long been the subject of controversy, as it was open 24 hours a day. The City Council voted to force them to close at 10 PM, resulting in the Rahami family filing a lawsuit alleging Islamophobia. Despite their legal right to keep the restaurant open past 10 PM, defendants, each and every one of them, with reckless disregard and deliberate indifference to plaintiffs constitutional rights of liberty, due process, and equal protection embarked on a course of conduct to harass, humiliate, intimidate, retaliate against and force plaintiffs to close their business by 10 PM by filing complaints, tickets, summonses and charges relating to the subject ordinance, claiming that the business hours of the restaurant needed to be limited. The tickets summons and complaints were all baseless, unfounded and designed solely to intimidate and harass plaintiffs, the lawsuit read. The familys case was ultimately dismissed, but they nonetheless refused to comply with the order to close earlier. In one case, as they were breaking the closing curfew, officers arrived and an altercation with Ahmads brother ensued. Before having to appear in court, the brother fled to Afghanistan. There was lots of noise, it was open 24 hours, neighbors in this neighborhood complained, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage stated, while addressing the press outside the restaurant. The city of Elizabeth could not tolerate all of the hours they were open [the family was] disruptive in the neighborhood for many, many years. The restaurant, which previously held a 4.5-star Yelp rating, is now being bombarded with one star ratings, anti-Muslim commentary, and lots of bad bomb puns. Big let down. I had very high expectations as I had heard about the explosive flavors but found them to be severely lacking. Instead of taking my taste buds to paradise, the chicken waged a jihad on my insides! The Mecca of fried chicken, this is not. I don't want to sound like a martyr, but let my disappointing experience serve as a warning to you, a user wrote. MrBill San Diego (@MrBillSD) September 19, 2016 Another user wrote that the chicken is dry, disgusting, and seasoned with HATE. Phil Atchio (@MadCyclistNYC) September 19, 2016 This place missed the train on what good food is all about, they kept taking pot shots at it but missed the mark every time. I would run a 5K just to avoid eating here, a Long Branch, NJ, resident wrote. Currently, two former Christie administration officials, David Wildstein and Bill Baroni, are on trial over the September 9, 2013, closing of lanes at the main toll plaza for the bridge during morning rush hour. The lanes remained closed until September 13, despite Fort Lee declaring that the closure and resulting gridlock was a threat to public safety. It is alleged that the chaos was a planned action of retribution against Fort Lee's mayor Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christie in the latters 2013 gubernatorial election. On August 13, deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly sent an email to Wildstein stating simply, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee, to which the defendant replied, got it. Mondays statement marked the first time that Christie has been formally accused of having knowledge of the plot as it was happening, despite lawyers for the defense having previously asserted that it was so. MOSCOW (Sputnik) A million people have transited to Germany and beyond after Austria opened its borders to refugees fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East last year. Thousands vanished during the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. "The most shocking consequence is that our open door policy did not stop the drowning in the Mediterranean, it just motivated more and more people to start this dangerous journey," Sebastian Kurz said at the UN migration summit in New York. Kurz said some 100,000 had applied for asylum in Austria. Around 1.8 million out of 8 million in the country currently have a migration background. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Rahami is to be charged with five counts of attempted murder and two gun charges, CBS News said on Monday. US officials also said that Rahami recently travelled to Afghanistan, where the naturalized US citizen was born, according to CBS. Reports stated that with the 28-year-old suspect was in custody, federal law enforcement officials were working to complete an investigation that could include the filing of terrorism charges against Rahami. MOSCOW (Sputnik) US Secretary of State John Kerry, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday. "The Ministers noted that the DPRKs flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions expressly prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs requires even stronger international pressure on the regime. North Koreas provocative actions are further deepening its isolation and undermining the needs of its people, who suffer greatly at the hands of the regime," the statement said, as quoted by the US State Department. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Saturday, coalition planes hit the Syrian army positions near the Deir ez-Zor airport, killing 62 servicemen and injuring more than 100, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The attack was later confirmed by the US Central Command, which said that Syrian troops were mistaken for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. "As soon as the coalition commanders were advised by the Russian command in the region that Syrian forces had been affected, the sortie was discontinued We regret the loss of life, and injury to any Syrian personnel affected. That is all I can say about the incident at the moment," Turnbull said Sunday, as quoted by The Guardian newspaper. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Kerry called on Russia to use its pressure in the region to influence Syrian President Bashar Assad. "This started Monday night of last week this past week. And the humanitarian assistance is supposed to be flowing The regime, once again, is blocking it," Kerry told CNN on Sunday. "The UK strongly condemns this mornings terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. I offer my deepest condolences to the victims and their families and friends. The UK condemns all forms of terrorism, and stands shoulder to shoulder with India in the fight against terrorism, and in bringing the perpetrators to justice," Johnson said in a statement later Sunday, as quoted by the Foreign anc Commonwealth office. The region of Kashmir has been disputed by India and Pakistan since the dissolution of British India and the establishment of the two states in 1947. Some local residents, most of them Muslims, especially those residing in the Kashmir Valley, call for greater autonomy or even independence from India. Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraines southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup. In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between Ukraines conflicting sides in Minsk. Despite the fact that the deal stipulated a full ceasefire in Donbas, violations both on the part of Kiev forces and local militia have been reported. Policy Wyoming Department of Education Introduces Digital Learning Initiative Wyoming is the latest state to commit to using personalized, research-based digital learning strategies in its schools to prepare students for college and careers. The Wyoming Department of Education announced last week that it is joining Future Ready Schools (FRS), a national movement, by launching a statewide initiative of the same name. Joining FRS provides Wyomings school districts with practical resources that help teachers and students use technology to personalize students educational experiences. For example, joining provides access to the Future Ready Hub, a one-stop-shop for research-based digital learning and planning materials. District leadership teams can also attend one of the many summits, workshops, webinars, chats, as well as gain access to a number of state leadership programs scheduled year round. In addition, joining enables access to the FRS Interactive Planning Dashboard that consists of a 5-step collaborative planning process. Wyomings Future Ready Initiative, outlined in the Digital Learning Plan, is centered around the seven key components found in the FRS framework: Source: Future Ready Schools. Curriculum, instruction and assessment; Use of space and time; Robust infrastructure; Data and privacy; Community partnerships; Personalized professional learning; and Budget and resources. Currently, nine out of 48 of Wyomings districts have signed on to the initiative. Enrollment is not mandatory, but districts will need to sign up to use the FRS resources. The United States Department of Education and the Alliance for Excellent Education first launched FRS in 2014 with the goal of maximizing digital learning opportunities and helping school districts prepare students for college and beyond. Furthermore, FRS builds on the momentum of President Obamas ConnectED initiative to bring high-speed internet access to districts, with an end goal of reaching 99 percent of schools within five years. Since its launch, more than 2,300 districts have signed the Future Ready District Pledge. Wyoming is one of 17 states that have committed to the FRS, joining California, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland and others. The Wyoming Department of Education released the first draft of its Digital Learning Plan 2017-2021, and plans to release the final version on Oct. 1. Further information is available on the Wyoming Department of Education site. - Controversial economist and Newspaper columnist David Ndii has claimed that the new Jubilee Party headquarters belonged to criminal elements - Ndii in a series of tweets said the property was owned by a hardcore thug who was well-known during the late president Jomo Kenyatta's time - A source from Jubilee headquarters has dismissed the claims by Ndii and said they will launch a legal suit against him Renowned economist, David Ndii has sensationally claimed that the property that Jubilee acquired as its new party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi was once owned by unscrupulous individuals. Controversial economist and Newspaper columnist Dr. David Ndii has claimed that the new Jubilee Party headquarters belonged to criminal elements READ ALSO: Mike Sonkos message to ODM leaders during the Mathare rally (video) Ndii who is also a controversial newspaper columnist claimed in a series of tweets that the property belonged to Kiarie Muici (Kiarie the thief), who was regarded as an untouchable criminal during the Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's presidency. A source from Jubilee Party headquarters has dismissed the allegations by Ndii and said they will launch a legal case against him. The Jubilee Party source said the allegations by Ndii were malicious. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto at the new Jubilee Party headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi. Image: PSCU Ndii said Kiarie and another well-known former politician named Mugambi '3in1' Kibathi were hardcore thugs who run the city during senior Kenyatta's time. READ ALSO: Senator Mutula Kilonzos Mpango wa kando brags online Ndii who is also a controversial newspaper columnist claimed in a series of tweets that the property belonged to Kiarie Muici (Kiarie the thief) who was regarded as an untouchable criminal during the Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's presidency. READ ALSO: The real reason why Governor Alfred Mutua offered Kalonzo Musyoka a ride in his vehicle Ndii has courted controversy several times with his hard hitting articles. The economist once suggested that Kenya should be divided into ethnic states which should be free to secede from the republic. Ndii in April 2016 was named as one the academics and technocrats in opposition leader Raila Odinga's think tank for the 2017 general election. Ndii said Kiarie and another well-known former politician named Mugambi '3in1' Kibathi were hardcore thugs who run the city during senior Kenyatta's time. Deputy President William Ruto officially opened the offices on Friday, September 10 before inspecting the building. The building which is located along the Thika superhighway will be operational 24-hours a day, seven days a week and with operations carried out under strict rules. According to the Jubilee party, the building will serve as the party's nerve center as the 2017 general election approaches. Cover photo: PSCU Source: TUKO.co.ke -He is the best-paid manager in Kenya's corporate world earning more than President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto per month -At only 39, the Centum Investment CEO comes ahead of the likes of James Mwangi of Equity in the salary pecking order -His name is James Mworia, an alumnus of the Alliance High School At the age of 39, Centum Investment Chief Executive James Mworia tops Kenya's creme de la creme managers as the highest paid. Centum Investment board member and businessman Chris Kirubi and chief executive James Mworia. READ ALSO: Mworia, an alumnus of the Alliance High School monthly earnings are sufficient to settle both President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto's salaries. According to Centums latest annual report, Mworia takes home a clean Sh16.7 million inclusive of performance bonus. READ ALSO: Top 5 richest Kenyan kids that will make you regret where ... Mworia at a past corporate event Similar reports show that Equity boss James Mwangi receives an average pay of Sh15.9 million while BAT Kenya's chief executive Keith Gretton and CFO Philip Lopokoiyit cash in Sh13 million each. Hot on their heels is Safaricom's CEO Bob Collymore earning a monthly salary of Sh10.7 million. On the other hand, President Kenyattas monthly salary according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission is fixed at Ksh 1,750,000 per month while Ruto takes home Sh1,487,500. READ ALSO: As you gloat with fish and chips, this Kenyan lad has ... Centum's CEO at a past forum The rapid rise of Mworia is attributed to Centum's recent success posting Sh9.95 billion after-tax profit in the last financial year. Mworia enjoys his vacations overseas and was lucky to be safe during July's terror attack in Nice, France as he was spending at a hotel within the city at the time. Source: TUKO.co.ke You need a cool head and steady nerves to invest in Italian stocks: They are as volatile as Emerging European indexes. According to Morningstar data, over the past five years, the Morningstar Italy Indexs standard deviation was close to 20%. Only Greece, Turkey, Russia, Hungary, and Poland did worse than Italy. Over the same period, the volatility of the eurozone index was 14.31%, with France and Nordic countries among the closest to the mean. To find less volatile markets, you need to look outside the eurozone, in Switzerland or in the United Kingdom. From a global perspective, the five-year standard deviation of the Italian benchmark is similar to that of China and Peru and slightly higher than South Africa and Thailand. Poor Performance Despite its higher volatility, the Morningstar Italy Index did not perform better than other, less volatile markets. From 2011 to August 2016, the Morningstar Italy Index returned 5.12% annualised compared with the 10.49% annualised total return of the Morningstar Eurozone Index. In spite of that, the Italian benchmarks performance was still ahead of the other PIGS countries; Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. To explain the underperformance of Italian stocks relative to the eurozone, we have to look at the indexs basket. In recent years, the Morningstar Italy Index has been penalised by its large exposure to financials and energy sectors. A weak macroeconomic environment, the high amount of non-performing loans, a hefty exposure to Italian government bonds, as well as efficiency and profitability issues, all weighed on the banking sector, while the energy sector was affected by the collapse in oil prices as well as the resurgence of geopolitical risks. Indeed, Italy has had a hard time in the past five years. After spiking in May 2011, the Morningstar Italy Index lost 36.5% in the following months, touching its low one year later, at the end of May 2012. In 2011 and 2012, investors shed risky assets on fears of contagion of the Greek crisis, the threat of political instability, and lack of economic growth. The Italian index is very skewed towards cyclical stocks and has a heavy underweighting, relative to its European peers, in the defensive ones. Story continues As such, it is generally more vulnerable during bear markets. In fact, pharmaceutical and defensive consumer goods companies weigh just 3% of the index. 2008: the Turning Point Looking at the Italian indexs volatility levels, 2008 represents a turning point. Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, market volatility soared worldwide, and, as far as Italy is concerned, it never returned to its 2004 heights. Compared with other eurozone countries, such as France and Germany, volatility remained high even in 2013-14, because the benefits of the European Central Banks actions were delayed and did not immediately exert their full effect on peripheral countries. Moreover, the financial crisis increased stocks correlation: They were sold off regardless of sectors or fundamentals. Volatility and Risk Investors should remember that there is a difference between volatility and risk. For investors, risk is ultimately a permanent loss of capital rather than volatility itself. "Volatility can be seen as an opportunity, especially for those who invest for the long term," says Francesco Paganelli, analyst at Morningstar. "It tends to rise when markets dive and valuations start becoming more attractive. Even if a higher volatility requires cool head and steady nerves, its generally also the best time for investors with a long-term perspective to find the best investment opportunities. By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - It is hard to think of what more Angela Merkel could have done over the past weeks to nudge fellow European leaders towards a post-Brexit consensus. In the run-up to Friday's EU-27 summit (the bloc minus Britain) in Bratislava, the German chancellor met personally with 24 of her 26 counterparts. She travelled to Warsaw, to Tallinn, to Prague, to Paris and to the Italian island of Ventotene. In the end, all the careful consulting, the earnest effort to show everyone that Germany was not setting the agenda on its own, came to nothing. Bratislava was a flop. France's Francois Hollande and Slovak host Robert Fico played along, describing the rather thin summit conclusions, dubbed the "Bratislava Roadmap", as a step forward. But Italy's Matteo Renzi and Hungary's Viktor Orban began attacking the document before the ink was dry. "I don't know what Merkel is referring to when she talks about the 'spirit of Bratislava'," Renzi said at the weekend. "If things go on like this, instead of the spirit of Bratislava we'll be talking about the ghost of Europe." For nearly a decade, Merkel has been setting the direction in Europe. The bloc's response to the euro crisis was made in Berlin. So was the Minsk deal for eastern Ukraine, and last year's EU-Turkey pact to cut the migrant flow to Europe. But Bratislava showed that Merkel's deepening woes at home, underscored by the abysmal result for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a regional vote in Berlin on Sunday, is eroding her influence beyond German borders. "Merkel is discovering in the aftermath of the refugee crisis that she doesn't have too many friends in Europe. And she needs friends and allies on a lot of issues," said a former senior EU official who worked closely with the chancellor during the euro crisis. The official, who declined to be identified, said he saw no alternative to Merkel in the CDU, in Germany or in Europe. Still, he believes resistance to German leadership will only grow. Merkel is the face of German austerity and of open European borders -- the two policies that are energizing populist parties across the bloc, and, officials in some European capitals whisper, may have swung the British vote towards Brexit. WEAKENED FIGURE The chances of Merkel hunkering down and trying to win a fourth term in an election next year remain high despite a string of state election setbacks and a damaging spat with her Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), over her welcoming refugee policy. At an unusually self-critical news conference on Monday in which she acknowledged lingering divisions in Europe on refugees, she declined to say whether she would be a candidate. But if she does run and win, she will do so as a weakened figure at home and in Europe. That could have implications on a range of European fronts. Already, Berlin finds itself on the back foot on economic policy, forced to accept the toothlessness of EU budget rules in the case of deficit-violators Spain and Portugal, and the easy money policies of the European Central Bank. Merkel has also conceded defeat in her year-long quest to convince Berlin's EU partners to accept migrant quotas, agreeing in Bratislava to let eastern European states off the hook by embracing their proposal of "flexible solidarity" in the refugee crisis. Despite that, Orban felt the need to condemn her policies as "self-destructive and naive". Holding the EU together on sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis could be the next test of German influence. Despite another flurry of shuttle diplomacy by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German officials acknowledge in private that they are being forced to think about alternatives to the Minsk deal, to which the lifting of sanctions is tied. "The question is how you transform Minsk into something else," one official said. "It has become an increasingly frustrating exercise which has political costs for those involved." Renzi and Orban, who pushed back against Merkel in Bratislava, are among the biggest sceptics in the EU of the economic and financial sanctions imposed on Moscow two years ago for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and support for rebels in the east. Over the weekend, Slovakia's Fico called the sanctions "ineffective" and damaging to the EU. Russia, he told Reuters in an interview, had done more than Ukraine to meet its commitments under Minsk. FRENCH VOTE KEY The other big test for Merkel and the EU is Brexit, the elephant in the room in Bratislava. Her preference since Britain's referendum in June has been to seek a deal with London that keeps the British close. But here too, she faces powerful headwinds, particularly from the French, who are promising to make Brexit as painful as possible for the British. The Berlin-Paris relationship, for decades the driver of closer European integration, may hold the key for how the bloc copes with a new era of disintegration. It could also help determine whether Merkel continues to play an important role in shaping policy in Europe or becomes a weakened, more isolated figure. Hollande, who stood loyally by her in Bratislava, is widely expected to be pushed out of office in the spring. If he is replaced by Alain Juppe, the centrist former prime minister, then some see a chance for Merkel to reestablish a degree of consensus and direction for Europe. "In the best of all worlds, you will end next year with Chancellor Merkel and President Juppe. Then Germany and France could become the motor of more Europe again," said the former EU official. But if the winner of the French election is former President Nicolas Sarkozy, some fear that all bets are off. When they ruled together in Berlin and Paris between 2007 and 2012, Merkel and Sarkozy overcame a rocky start, gravitating towards each other over years of intense crisis-fighting. By the end, they were known by the collective moniker "Merkozy". But in recent months, Sarkozy positioned himself in opposition to Merkel on many of the big issues that count, from refugees and national identity, to Turkey, Russia, Brexit and even climate change. "The divide with Sarkozy has become vast," said one senior German official. "If he is elected it could be a huge problem for Merkel." Then, Bratislava may be looked back upon as the moment when Merkel lost Europe. (Reporting by Noah Barkin; editing by Peter Graff) Virginia Tech President Tim Sands and University of Florida President Kent Fuchs are longtime friends, former colleagues at Purdue, and now peers leading large, land-grant universities. During Sunday nights Beyond Boundaries Presidential Conversation, the two presidents shared ideas about how their institutions must evolve to meet the needs of society and prepare students to thrive in a globally connected world. They agree that 21st century land-grant research universities must be focused on solving problems that improve the human condition. You fund public universities because they are actually making a difference," said Sands. But just working to solve big problems isnt enough. Universities must engage with the public and communicate why their work is vital. All of us, whether we are presidents or faculty members, need to communicate why what we teach and what our scholarship is about is important," Fuchs said. President Paul Biya and Wife, Chantal arrived in New York, yesterday, September 18, 2016 to a hilarious welcome. President Paul Biya and Wife, Chantal entered Manhattan New York City, yesterday, September 18, 2016 amidst stringent security measures to attend the 71st United Nations General Assembly. As early as 2:00 p.m New York time, a delegation of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) living in and around New York had gathered along Park Avenue on the 53th East Street to hail the arrival of Cameroons First Couple. New York City Police force did everything to avoid any gathering around the Waldorf Astoria Hotel where President Paul Biya and Wife are lodged. But the enthusiastic group of CPDM members were able to gather three streets away from the hotel as they sang and danced to the rhythms of their fatherland. 237online.com Many onlookers did not just take pictures of them but also joined in dancing. Everybody was keen to know whom the delegation was expecting. From the banners carried by the CPDM supporters, one could read; CPDM New York sub-section welcomes President Paul Biya and Wife to New York. Through other messages, the militants expressed their joy not only to welcome the Presidential Couple but also to see them in New York after a long time. The CPDM Sub-Section President for the United States, Patience Tamfu said Cameroonians living in President Obamas country have made personal sacrifices to give President Biya and Wife a warm welcome. She noted that the Diaspora celebrates Cameroons First Couple with love. Members of the CPDM basic organs from Westchester, Jersey City, New York III, Northern Eastern, Washington DC among others proudly wore the party uniform and brandished messages of encouragement and support to the Head of State. We stand with you, His Excellency President Paul Biya Commander-in-chief for leading our troops against Boko-Haram to defeat terrorism in Northern Cameroon, one of the messages read. The militants also acknowledged the kind hearted actions of First Lady Chantal Biya. The climax of the First Couples arrival into Manhattan was about 5:00 p.m New York time (10:00 pm Cameroon time) as the motorcade bearing in its stead the Presidential Couple serenaded its way through the arcades of Park Avenue. At the lobby of Waldorf Astoria, two bouquets of flowers from two young Cameroonians were handed to Paul and Chantal Biya. On hand to welcome the First Couple was also a delegation from the Permanent Representation of Cameroon at the UN, officials from the Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC, as well as a delegation of CPDM militants. Brenda YUFEH NCHEWNANG-NGASSA, On Special Assignment in New York. A New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology class in Socorro has applied some persuasive communication techniques to a real-life social issue and, in turn, made a significant positive impact on a local charity. Students from a Spring 2016 technical communications class successfully secured five grants, totaling more than $20,000 for Puerto Seguro, the local drop-in day shelter for Socorros homeless. Another proposal was awarded $5,000 for the Cottonwood Valley Charter School in Socorro. Dr. Beth Kramer-Simpson said she was gratified to have her students reap such rewards. I was very surprised at how successful we were, she said. These students are interested in helping the homeless and disadvantaged. Its difficult to volunteer outside of school. So, they appreciate that they can combine their civic interest with their education. We were able to tap into their interest in helping out and its good to see the positive consequences. The class, TC 411, is open to all juniors and seniors who have taken TC 112. Students from any department are eligible to take the class. Kramer-Simpson said the goal of the class is to teach students to use the power of persuasion in written communications. The trick is finding a nuanced way to explain the need and show that the money will be used for worthy causes, Kramer-Simpson said. These upgrades are difficult to fund through the regular Puerto Seguro budget. Its hard to meet the needs of these extra expenses. The successful grants are: Frost Foundation $10,000; Wells Fargo Foundation $5,000; Epiphany Episcopal Diocese $2,000; Rice Bowl (Archdiocese of Santa Fe) $1,680; and New Mexico Community Foundation $1,700. This was a bumper year, Kramer-Simpson said. We received $14,000 over the previous two years. And now we got $20,000 in one year. This makes a huge impact because Puerto Seguros budget is $64,000 per year. Each of the grant proposals was for specific improvements to Puerto Seguro. The grants have funded all new appliances in the kitchen, shelving, new plumbing and showers, extended hours in the winter, new dining chairs and tables, wages for workers, utility and rent assistance, and temporary housing. Student groups have also helped with weekly meal preparation, donation sorting and other outreach efforts. Any student group interested in volunteering can call Puerto Seguro director Duane Baker at 835-2895 on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays. Annual picnic raises $1K for ABQ youth Wilson & Co. Inc., Engineers & Architects recently held its annual Picnic with a Purpose the companys yearly effort to remain involved in and give back to the community. This years picnic benefitted Running 505, an Albuquerque nonprofit that helps kids find healthy ways to balance school, friends, family and life in general. The youth of Albuquerque are the future of our community, and its our goal to help ensure they are happy, healthy and equipped to be a successful next generation, said Daniel Aguirre, managing partner. We think Running 505s work is so important that we held two fundraisers leading up to the Picnic with a Purpose and made the event itself a family-friendly community event. The Picnic with a Purpose followed the companys two previous fundraisers with food, fun, a silent auction and door prizes. Donors to the event included Delta Dental of New Mexico, and Marriott Residence Inn and Enterprise. Overall, Wilson & Co. raised $1,000 for Running 505. The donation will be used to further programs that pair local children (5th-8th grade) with adult mentors who encourage them to get active and learn tactics for facing life issues. Running 505 charges no fees to the participants and is community funded. For more information, visit www.running505.com. DEAR J.T. & DALE: My co-worker just turned 60. She is starting to forget things. I dont know if something is going on in her personal life, but the mistakes she keeps making are causing me anger. She also is getting confused by some new technology and processes. She has mentioned that she is worried about being too old for the workforce and fears shell be let go. How do I tell her that her performance is starting to affect her reputation at work? Or should I just leave it alone? Jon Dale: Lets assume that this is either normal aging or some temporary issue, rather than something more sinister. Even so, please dont let yourself be angry with her. No one wants to make mistakes, or feel he or she cant keep up. Nobody wants to have memory problems. To suddenly have holes in your memory is scary like, say, losing feeling in a leg. You wouldnt let yourself be angry with someone who has to use a cane when walking and this has parallels. J.T.: However, if her performance is affecting the team negatively, it is likely to come out. I suggest that you consult the companys HR policies with respect to your role in letting management know about such issues. On a separate note, it sounds like you sense that something isnt right in her life. Why not take her to coffee and have a chat? Perhaps it will shed some light on why she is being so forgetful and making more mistakes than usual. And, of course, if the conversation does turn to her concerns about losing her job, then that would be the opportune time for you to mention that youve noticed a slight uptick in her mistakes and have wondered if there is something you could do to help. Remember, we all go through ups and downs in our careers. It is the people who stick by us in those times that we remember the most! Dale: Well said. Your colleague has confided her fears in you, Jon, and that is a plea for help. Heres a chance to be a hero. Your sympathy and understanding could reduce the fear she feels; that alone could improve her performance. Further, many mistakes can be prevented with simple checklists. Or perhaps a realignment of responsibilities could help. If you believe in karma, heres a chance to bank some. Dear J.T. & Dale: I just got invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to Fiji. (My friend was supposed to go with her boyfriend, but they broke up.) I dont have any more vacation time available at my job. Do you think I could ask my company if I can take the time unpaid, or do you think theyll look at me poorly as an employee? Im trying to get a promotion right now, so I dont want to look like a slacker. Amanda J.T.: I would go to your manager and explain. Outline this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and ask if she feels taking unpaid time off would even be a possibility. If so, explain how you plan to cover your work in your absence and make up for the time missed. Do your best to convince her that taking this time off will only minimally affect the organization. However, you also must stress that your goal is to earn a promotion and that you would not want to go on this trip if it would sacrifice your ability to get promoted. Dale: Id lead with the promotion discussion. Ask your boss for advice on what you need to do to help your chances. Then, as that discussion unfolds, youll know if you can slip in the Fiji question. If all goes well, your boss will be happy for you and will urge you to go. J.T.: But remember to follow your instincts. If your boss gives you a verbal OK, but you sense that her body language and tone of voice are saying something different, then I wouldnt go on the trip. She may feel she should allow you to go, but secretly resent it, and you should be able to pick up on that. Jeanine J.T. Tanner ODonnell is a professional development specialist and the founder of the consulting firm jtodonnell. Dale Dauten resolves employment and other business disputes as a mediator with AgreementHouse.com. Please visit them at jtanddale.com, where you can send questions via email, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019. NEW YORK Autumn is an anxious time for many small and medium-sized business owners as they wait to learn whether their health insurance costs will go up for 2017 and, if so, by how much? Theres always a lump in your throat because you dont know what youre going to get, says Darren Ambler, a managing director at Insight Performance, a Dedham, Mass.-based human resources provider. Whether a business sees a minuscule rise, a double-digit percentage increase or even a decline depends on factors including the state where the company is located and how much its insurance carrier paid in claims over the past year. If the average age of a companys employees rose or fell significantly quite possible in a business with 10 or fewer employees that could also affect the outcome. Most of the increase in insurers costs is a result of rising prescription drug prices, Ambler says. While companies with 50 or more workers are required to offer affordable insurance to them and their dependents, many smaller businesses also do so because they believe its right or they want to attract and retain good employees. When their carriers hike the premiums, companies have to decide whether to absorb the costs, scale back their coverage or find other alternatives. Several medium-sized clients of The Megro Benefits Co., a consulting company, are facing 38 percent increases in their 2017 premium costs. Surges like that have owners thinking about whats called self-funding, says Cheryl Kiley, an adviser at Conshohocken, Pa.-based Megro. In self-funding, a business pays for all or part of employees medical costs and hires an insurance company to administer its health plan. Companies typically purchase special policies to reimburse them in the event of employees or dependents catastrophic illnesses. Insurance companies charge less to administer self-funded plans because they dont have any risk and employers also save because self-funded plans arent subject to a 6.5 percent federal tax on premiums. Although companies may be forced to find alternatives, Megro isnt seeing clients dropping insurance, President Bob Viola says. People wont come to work for them unless they have health insurance, he says. RizePoint, which makes software for the food, lodging and retail industries and has about 75 employees, is paying 16 percent more for premiums on a policy that renewed Sept. 1. Its already considering self-funding for next year. Its a little bit risky, says Peter Johnson, a vice president at the Salt Lake City-based company. But I dont want to see another 16 percent increase its nowhere near sustainable. Johnson had budgeted for a rise of 12 percent. When RizePoints carrier said premiums were going up more than that, Johnson searched unsuccessfully for a cheaper policy. Rocky Finseth had the opposite experience. His premiums fell 11 percent, although the policy was virtually unchanged from a year ago. I was surprised not only about the drop, but how large of a drop, says Finseth, owner of Carrara Nevada, a Las Vegas-based company that does lobbying on state and local issues in Nevada. His policy, which covers seven staffers, renews Oct. 1. Finseth didnt question why his premiums dropped. He decided to use the savings to add vision coverage for his employees. Some companies find that their policies have been discontinued. The plan we had was mysteriously canceled and we were slotted into what we were told was the same plan but, when you looked at it, it was a worse plan, says Joseph Nagle, marketing director at EverCharge, a maker of electric-vehicle charging stations. Among other things, the new plan had a higher deductible $6,000 versus $5,000. EverCharge, based in Emeryville, Calif., began researching other carriers and plans, chose three and asked its seven employees which they preferred. The company, which previously paid for all its staffers insurance, gave them an option of continuing to have fully funded coverage, paying about $10 per month for better coverage or $120 for another. They chose the middle option and EverCharge was able to keep its health care costs unchanged, Nagle says. Jason Anderson, owner of Datagame, a Kansas City, Mo.-based maker of software for online market research, hasnt received his renewal package yet. Anderson pays 100 percent of his three staffers premiums and 50 percent of their dependents premiums. He had a 5 percent increase for his 2016 premiums, an amount he doesnt see as significant. He says he can handle a 10 percent increase but, if hes facing a 20 percent hike, he might have to cut back on coverage for dependents. I keep waiting for the shoe to drop, says Anderson, who acknowledges that hed be angry at an increase in the 20 percent range. I dont see 10, 20, 30 percent improvements in what I am able to charge my clients, he says. The Huffmon tea team is ready to serve the Duke City. The trio Paola Huffmon, her mother-in-law Dana and sister-in-law Bailey are growing their Old Barrel Tea Co. with a new location in Albuquerques Old Town. Old Barrel Tea and Spice Co. opened in Ruidoso about two years ago. Albuquerque is store No. 2 and the owners have a third planned later this year in Cloudcroft. The shop carries more than 60 different loose leaf teas. Most of them are blends the owners create by mixing the leaves with fruits, extracts, flowers and other natural additions. There is, for example, the popular Horchata made with oolong tea, vanilla beans and cinnamon. Or Fire on the Mountain with honey bush tea and a list of ingredients that includes apple pieces, rose hips, orange peel and hazelnut flavor. Its nice to have us three (involved), says Paola, who is running the Albuquerque location. I have different tastebuds than my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Its nice that way; we can have a variety of tea to suit everyones needs. Paola Huffmon says her tea fixation stems from a former colleague who had lived in Taiwan and often brought tea leaves to work. She took to the idea of blending, which she says dovetailed perfectly with her passion for cooking. We all became kind of addicted to it, she says of her family. While blends dominate at Old Barrel, there is also a purist selection for those who prefer their leaves left alone. Those options vary in price, but all blends run $10 per tin (roughly 20 servings) or $35 per jar (approximately 100 servings). The store also stocks tea-making and drinking accessories, candles, and an array of spices and raw, unfiltered honey. While retail is the primary focus, Old Barrel hosts private tea parties after the store closes in the evenings. Attendees pay $10 each $5 of which can be applied toward a store purchase and get to sample seven different teas, with Huffmon on hand to discuss the ingredients and any associated health benefits. She says the idea is to make it an affordable, accessible experience. We just wanted to create a very casual atmosphere very friendly and inviting, Huffmon says. The Huffmons chose the Old Town area with hopes of reaching a diverse audience. We wanted to catch both tourists and locals, says Huffmon, who worked with broker Anne Apicella of Colliers International on the lease. Were really hoping our local market grows. Old Barrel Tea is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Its located at 2041 S. Plaza NW, Suite B, just east of Rio Grande. The phone number is 842-5722. And now coffee! By night, Kaktus in Nob Hill is pouring craft beer. But by day, its now a cafe. Kaktus Brewing Co. owner Dana Koller recently transformed part of the space at his Nob Hill taproom for his latest idea, World Traveler Cafe. The new spot specializes in espressos, lattes and what hes calling medicinal health shakes $8 smoothie-esque drinks with ingredients like ginko biloba and gensing. The cafe now occupies the western part of the building, while the taproom still dominates the other side. Koller says he sees a natural connection between the two concepts. When you look at the atmosphere of a cafe and of a brewery, the social aspect of it and that fun environment that encourages you to spend time with somebody else is similar, he says. We just think they complement each other very well. As an added bonus it drives customer traffic to the space all day long. The taproom does not open until 2 p.m. most days (11:30 a.m. Friday-Sunday). The cafe, meanwhile, has started caffeinating Albuquerque by 7 a.m. daily. World Traveler Cafe serves a light roast coffee from New Mexicos Iconik Coffee Roasters and uses a dark roast from Gavina Coffee in California. The options include a classic latte, cappuccino and macchiato. The menu also boasts the Turkish shot (espresso with cracked cardamom), the Naarangee mocha latte (with chocolate and orange zest) and other combinations. Kaktus and World Traveler Cafe are located at 2929 Monte Vista NE at Girard. Salad days are over on San Mateo Souper Salad has downsized in Albuquerque. The salad bar has only one Duke City location left now that franchisee Mark Davis shuttered his site at 3300 San Mateo NE. We just didnt have enough sales, so we shut down, he says. Fans can still find the buffet-style eatery at its remaining Albuquerque spot, 2225 Wyoming NE. Souper Salad had been part of the recent renaissance at the San Mateo Square shopping center. It was part of a wave of new businesses to join the center, including clothing retailers Melrose and dds Discounts. Real estate brokers Lia Armstrong and Jim Dountas of CBRE will be seeking a new tenant for the now-vacant restaurant space. Groceries without the store Wal-Mart this week will begin offering its grocery pickup service at four Albuquerque-area stores. The program enables customers to place online orders and schedule a pickup time. Staff will pack the groceries and load them into the customers car. The free service begins Wednesday at two Albuquerque stores (10224 Coors Bypass NW and 1820 Unser NW), and in Bernalillo (460 NM 528) and Rio Rancho (901 Unser SE). Customers who order before 10 a.m. can get same-day pickup as early as 4 p.m. Those planning ahead can place orders up to three weeks ahead of pickup. To register and get started, go online to grocery.walmart.com. Pizza time Peter Piper Pizza has opened its newest location in Albuquerque, planting its eatertainment concept at 4101 Central NW at Atrisco. Its the companys third Duke City restaurant and reflects an all-new design for the chain. The store is open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday. The phone number is 355-5389. If you have retail or restaurant news to share, contact me at jdyer@abqjournal.com or 823-3864. For more on Albuquerque shopping and dining news, visit my blog at abqjournal.com or follow @abqdyer on Twitter. I was alarmed to read of the Journals support for raising taxes on all alcohol in our state. Currently, the excise tax on wine is $1.70 per bottle, $6.06 per bottle on spirits and $.41 per gallon on beer. That makes us Number 5, 21 and 12, respectively, on those taxes in the country in a state whose GDP per capita ranks number 39 and whose economy ranks number 48 overall. Enacting the proposed $.25/drink tax would bring the tax on a bottle of wine to $2.95, the tax on a bottle of spirits to $12.06 thats double what it currently is and the tax on a gallon of beer to $3.08 per gallon. To put that into perspective, you are supporting raising the state tax on wine to the second highest in the country, liquor taxes to the fourth highest rate in the land and beer to the very highest rate in the country, 2.5 times the current holder of that title, Tennessee. Lets keep in perspective that breweries, wineries, distilleries and their respective wholesalers and retailers already pay corporate income tax at both the state and federal level. The owners and employees of these businesses pay payroll taxes and capital gains taxes at both the state and federal level. The retailers already pay a state and local sales tax on all sales. And the producers and wholesalers already pay excise taxes at both the state and federal level. Might I also add that the craft breweries, craft wineries and craft distilleries are some of the only sectors for job growth in this state? In the past 6 years, since my brewery opened, breweries have added over 3,400 jobs and over $127 million in wages per year to the states economy. Economic impact to the state will clear $450 million in 2016. You cannot tax state businesses into prosperity. Despite what MADD would have you believe, this is simply a neo-Prohibitionist proposal that is aimed at limiting peoples access to alcohol, and it will hurt the states breweries, wineries and distilleries most by making their products more expensive to the end consumer. You will take a local product that is viewed as an affordable luxury and make it unaffordable to our already cash-strapped residents. Instead of supporting local businesses, the consumer will be economically forced to support the very largest of producers who can afford to keep their prices and margins at rock bottom. As has been shown time and time again, this will not change the consumption of the heaviest drinkers, just which alcohol is purchased and therefore where that alcohol was produced. According to a study by Willard Manning et al. in 1995, moderate drinkers are far and away the most guided by the price of alcohol and will simply choose to not drink when prices become exorbitant. This proposal is a job killer to the three very industries that are actually currently growing in New Mexico. It is a shot in the foot of the states economy and employment. I would in no way ask our state to cut funding to schools, health or public safety, and I personally would not be completely opposed to a consumption tax proposal. That being said, the number of pet projects that are going on around the state that have not been earmarked for cuts is somewhat appalling and yet your editorial board sees it fit to raise the taxes on the few industries that are working. I wonder how the Journal and its employees would feel if the state proposed a rise on taxes for print advertising? The Journal is taxed at a far lower level than the liquor industry is. No better idea than to raise taxes on the only industries that are adding jobs. We definitely dont want anyone getting the idea that New Mexicos economy has any ray of hope left in it. SAN DIEGO Twenty-three years ago, over lunch in a Basque restaurant in Fresno, my longtime friend and mentor the great Mexican-American essayist Richard Rodriguez offered an interesting thought about what was driving the transformation of the United States into a Latino country. (That reminds me. I should let you know that the nations 54 million Latinos had a meeting and took a vote. The new country will be named Latino-landia. Youll get used to it.) Rodriguez talked about how he had recently interviewed a white supremacist who absolutely loved Mexican food. People always think that culture is going to arrive in an evening gown, he said. Its coming in a taco. As we say in Spanish, dicho y hecho. Said and done. In the 1940s, Mexican-American students who brought tacos to school for lunch would eat them in a corner so as not to be teased by classmates. Today, white parents in the suburbs fill their kids backpacks with prepacked lunch meals some of which contain chips, salsa and, yes, tacos. And we have a new paradox in this country: There are many Americans who dont like Mexicans but they love Mexican food. So you wouldnt expect these folks to get too worked up over the apocalyptic scenario envisioned by Marco Gutierrez, founder of Latinos for Trump. Really? Why not Chickens for Colonel Sanders? Having migrated to the United States from Mexico as a young man in 1991, Gutierrez fired up the cultural wars recently when during an appearance on MSNBCs All In With Chris Hayes he told guest host Joy Reid that uncontrolled immigration would lead to taco trucks [on] every corner. Many people laughed. Others pondered one of lifes big questions: beef or chicken? MSNBCs Joe Scarborough chuckled that a nation flooded with taco trucks sounds like an America that I want to live in. Shows how much the smarty-pants in the elite media know about the modern immigration debate, where the impact of food along with other aspects of culture such as language, ethnic holidays, the Mexican flag, etc. is no joke. What everyday people see, hear and taste drives much of the anxiety that non-Latinos (and even some Latinos) experience as a result of changing demographics. I saw the revolution up close in the late 1990s. While I was living in Phoenix and working as a metro columnist for the Arizona Republic, the nations fifth-largest city became embroiled in a messy food fight. City officials began fielding complaints from neighborhood groups about mobile food vendors in their midst. The response was an ordinance that included a 10 p.m. curfew and a musical-chairs requirement that vendors not remain in the same place for days at a time. Supposedly, the residents were concerned about litter, loud music, bright lights, late hours and an unsavory clientele. But it was no coincidence that the neighborhood groups were mostly white and the vendors were usually Mexican immigrants who spoke little or no English. The taco trucks were a proxy for something bigger. Fearing the new restrictions would put them out of business and leave them unable to feed their families, the taqueros (as they became known) fought back. Nearly a hundred of them organized, marched and with the help of an immigrant-rights organization convinced a prominent Yale-educated Mexican-American civil rights attorney to file an appeal against the ordinance. It worked. Eventually, the city relented. One of the images I remember most clearly from those days is that of a taco vendor named Jose Moreno, who worked 12-hour days in his sweltering truck to support his wife and three kids. As he marched in front of city hall wearing an apron and a sombrero, he had strong words for city officials. They want to take away our right to work, Moreno told me. Why dont they go after the drug dealers who do business in the same neighborhoods where we work? Why are they picking on us? Partly because they thought they could. And partly because taco trucks became for some people a frightening symbol of what Phoenix and the rest of America was becoming, and those people wanted to push back. In 2016, that fear lives on, and its helping to fuel the Trump campaign in all its hideousness. There is nothing funny about that. The state Supreme Court has cleared away clouds of confusion about what it takes to amend certain sections of the New Mexico Constitution. Voters had passed several amendments with simple majorities that had been thought not to be in effect, when in fact they were. The high court ruled last week that changes to the state Constitution that expand rights need only a simple majority to pass. However, changes that would curtail rights must get at least 75 percent of voters approval. This is the first time there have been constitutional amendments that were held up in the process, where the court then decided these are law, and have been law, said state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, a lawyer who represented the League of Women Voters of New Mexico which brought the case. The ruling means that majority votes in 2008 and 2014 to allow school elections to be held in conjunction with other nonpartisan elections were valid. School elections have been held separately since New Mexico became a state in 1912 because they were the only ones in which women were allowed to vote. Proponents of combining the elections, which still would require a change in state law, believe it will increase voter turnout and save the cost of separate elections. The courts ruling also clarified that another amendment passed in 2010 is legally in effect. It replaces the words idiots and insane persons as descriptions of people prohibited from voting. The same amendment also acknowledged that the Legislature, not just the governor, has the discretion to re-enfranchise people convicted of felonies. The Legislature passed laws in 2001 and 2007 authorizing restoration of voting rights to felons under certain conditions. The court agreed with the leagues argument that a separate constitutional provision added in 1996 made it clear that the three-fourths mandate applies only when rights are being restricted. This common sense ruling upholds the intent of the state Constitution, though in the future it could lead to intense arguments over whether a proposed amendment expands or curtails someones rights. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. New Mexicos exports to Mexico appear to be headed for a record year. The vast majority of that southbound commerce moves through the Port of Santa Teresa, headed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Port Director Ray Provencio. Provencio, who has roots in southern New Mexico, took the port reins in 2013. He has overseen a near doubling in commercial traffic through the crossing and has developed close ties with the business community in Santa Teresas fast-growing industrial area. Exports to Mexico jumped 17.4 percent in the first half of 2016, to $890 million from $758 million during the same period a year ago, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Sales to Mexico have been climbing steadily for the past six years and reached an all-time high of $1.68 billion in 2015. Inaugurated in 1997, the Santa Teresa port of entry is open to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, with a southbound lane open till midnight five nights a week, thanks to a reimbursable service agreement in which Dell pays overtime and other costs to CBP. Dell manufactures its computers at the huge Foxconn plant in San Jeronimo across the border for just-in-time delivery to consumers in the U.S. Provencio is also working on an innovative pilot program not yet launched in which CBP officers will work in Mexico at the Foxconn site to clear merchandise for import to the U.S. before it crosses the border. Provencio is an 18-year veteran of CBP and its predecessor, the U.S. Customs Service. He has worked at ports across West Texas, at the CBP training academy in Georgia and in administrative roles in D.C. Originally from El Paso, his family grows pecans in Anthony, N.M., and he considers southern New Mexico home. He spoke with the Journal about the growth in commercial traffic, the significance of the pilot program and about working closely with the business community. Here are excerpts from the Journal interview. Can you tell me where traffic figures are headed? I remember when I came in, wed process anywhere from 250 to 300 commercial conveyances a day. Right now. were currently processing up to 500 a day, which to me is significant growth. I think its also indicative of the plans and initiatives that the state of New Mexico and the stakeholders have implemented here in the region. Is traffic simply shifting from El Paso, or is it new traffic created by the development in Santa Teresa? I think its a little bit of both. El Paso is pretty much landlocked. A lot of their infrastructure was built way before CBP was even created in 2003 (and they) are restricted in their growth because of the city around them. The difference out here is that we have the ability to expand. There is a vision in the state of New Mexico and the stakeholders, which attracts new business, new growth. I think the challenge out here is there is a high demand and a limited supply; the warehousing is at capacity. And I think that is what right now may limit exponential growth. Is the infrastructure at the port of entry at Santa Teresa enough now to accommodate the pace of commercial growth? Were handling our workload right now. As far as projected growth, I think we should be OK. Im looking at the next three to five years. Weve also got to understand that this port of entry is one of 329 in the grand scheme of things. Everyone is having to address an increased workload. Were having to be more fiscally responsible, improving efficiencies. Were not the quickest at getting what we need. I think its great that Congress appropriated funding for an additional 2,000-plus frontline personnel and were doing our best to on-board them. Youve got to understand we dont want to be part of the problem. We want to be part of the solution. Any additional minute waiting in line, that can be an impact to the gross domestic product. For every officer that we add on primary (inspection) after a 30-minute wait or so, we contribute 33 jobs into the U.S. Our contribution to the gross domestic product in the U.S. is huge and I think Congress recognized that when they gave us the additional staff. Dell has been paying to keep the southbound lanes open until midnight five days a week under CBPs Reimbursable Services Program and has said other companies could take advantage of those hours. Are other companies using that time frame? The majority of commercial operators are from Dell or the Foxconn facility. We havent really seen too significant of a use from other carriers or other exporters, but others are using it. And those kinds of agreements can be put in place not only by a company, but also by another entity the state, for example? It could be by the state or by an organization. Is there critical mass yet for additional hours at the port? I think what is interesting about this (reimbursable services) program is it gives the agency an answer now for a request from stakeholders. Every port of entry is receiving continuous requests for additional services. Cant you do this? Cant you do that? In the past, this port has always received a lot of requests for additional hours. We need a 24-hour commercial facility. Now we have a mechanism. We cant always keep up with that demand but, if they are interested, they can submit their application and we can review it. I spoke with a logistics services provider in Santa Teresa about the port staying open later or 24 hours, but the provider expressed security concerns. On the Mexican side, there isnt much out there and you dont see a police presence. What would your concerns be if you did start opening later? A lot of the feedback from stakeholders was similar (to that logistics services provider). I do know on the other side that it is about a 12.6-mile highway from the edge of Juarez to here. There have been people expressing concern regarding the lighting and other security issues. However, I can tell you, once they get to our facility, it is very safe. Can you give an update on the pilot program to bring CBP inspections into the Foxconn plant in Mexico? The concept is, we have trade going south and it has to be inspected by Mexican customs, and you have trade going north and it has to be inspected by CBP. Why not combine those processes, so there is a one-stop shop? Mexican customs and CBP doing a simultaneous review to promote efficiency. We are still in the preliminary stages of the pilot. There still is some infrastructure that needs to be built. A road, some office space. It has been more of working out the higher-level agreements. It was a big change. We are going to have officers working in Mexico dressed the same way I am now. You mean with your weapon? Meaning with firearms. While we have authority in the U.S. to carry our firearm anywhere we are conducting our duties, this is an extension. It required Mexico to change their legislation and they did. Will that be a game-changer for this port of entry? I think its already a game-changer in that it gives recognition to this area of the importance of the port of Santa Teresa and how much we contribute to the U.S. Depending on the success of the pi lot, it might mean we change the way were doing business. We also may realize that not every idea is a good idea. You seem to be frequently engaged with the industrial base in Santa Teresa. Why? If you notice, were at every stakeholder meeting here. We have an open-door policy for any of the business community or stakeholders who have concerns. We want to address them appropriately and quickly. I said it earlier, but we definitely dont want to be part of the problem. If there is a way for us to be doing our job better, we will. Its a twofold mission. People tend to think of us, Oh theyre just holding the line there at the border. Well, we also have a responsibility to our economic security. People tend to forget we also have to foster legitimate trade and travel, and part of that is ensuring the free-flowing goods across the border while maintaining the security of the U.S. and the people were charged to protect. Ive seen a lot of news releases lately about drug busts at Santa Teresa. What have you seen in terms of an increase in illegal traffic? There is always going to be somebody trying to get through or identify a vulnerability that could further illicit activity. I think our officers and agents out there do a good job in making sure we interdict those and identify problems before they enter the U.S. As far as an overall increase, what I can tell you is that I believe that we are being pretty effective. Do I think we could be better? There is always room for improvement. How do you stay ahead of the creative ways people try to smuggle? Border Patrol uses the analogy of the cat and mouse. I like to say the needle in the haystack. We realize that 99 percent of the people coming across are law-abiding and are not coming to engage in illicit activity. But we have to be good about identifying that 1 percent and we cant have a bad day. We cant make a mistake. We have to keep up to date on the latest intelligence, the latest trends, the latest concealment techniques. Our officers are highly trained. They go through a rigorous academy. They have ongoing job training. They (the smugglers) adapt. We adapt. Anything you would like to add that I didnt ask about? Id like to compliment the state. It was great coming here because they have all sorts of plans. They have a binational plan, they have a local engagement plan, everything kind of mirrors up. Its great to come to a place where you can kind of see the vision of the state of New Mexico, and be a little bit more proactive and less reactive to the problems. WHY DO HIGHWAYS HAVE SAFETY CORRIDORS? Tom Hill asks that about the safety corridor from Los Alamos to Pojoaque. He wants to know has the NMDOT demonstrably shown that it has actually increased the safety, or is it just a scam to increase ticket revenues to the state and tribes? Public information officer Emilee Cantrell says, NMDOT implements safety corridors strictly in an effort to reduce crashes and save lives. I looked into it and this corridor was implemented in 2005. In 2015 the crashes had decreased by nearly 20 percent compared to 2004, the year before this safety corridor existed. In fact, Journal files show 11 sites were officially designated as safety corridors throughout the state in 2005, two in every district. Subsequent improvements to Interstate 40 prompted NMDOT to remove that one. BLINDED BY THE BRIGHT (BILLBOARD): Jon Bell emails: I am curious to know if anyone has ever complained about the degree of brightness of the digital billboard on Paseo del Norte west of Interstate 25 at night. It is blinding to me, and I fear will ultimately cause a serious accident one day. Are there any rules concerning this? There are. Melissa Perez, public information officer for Albuquerques Planning Department, says the General Sign Regulations and Comprehensive City Zoning Code regulations pertaining to electronic signs are accessible on the city website, cabq.gov. They say in short that for Signs in Nonresidential Zones No portion of an illuminated sign, apart from light bulbs used to indicate time or temperature, shall have a luminance greater than 320 footlamberts at night. Electronic signs shall include a photo cell to control brightness. In addition, there is a limit on brightness based on the size of the sign measured at a specific distance. Perez says that based on the citizens concerns, we will assign a Code Enforcement Inspector to go out and inspect the billboard for any possible violations of the code. If at any time a citizen sees possible violations like this one, they can also call 311 to report them and we can assign an inspector to take a look. WILL HOLBROOK EVER MEET PASEO? Marcosaroybal emails: my wife and I live in the Quintessence neighborhood and have never quite understood why Holbrook doesnt connect through to Paseo. I realize theres some sort of drainage in the area, but the area thats unpaved is very small, and given the amount of taxes the families in the neighborhood are paying yearly, this certainly seems like an easy fix. In addition people with larger vehicles tend to drive around the signage, as evidence by the tire tracks making this rather dangerous. Im hoping you can shed some light on the situation and firmly believe this will benefit many residents in the area. Melanie Martinez, program manager and public information officer for Albuquerques Department of Municipal Development, says, There are currently no plans to extend Holbrook road to Paseo del Norte. Paseo del Norte is a limited-access roadway, which limits the number of access points along to corridor to maintain the facility as a major thoroughfare. This area is also a major contributor to the South Domingo Baca Channel. GET THAT CAR SEAT CHECKED FOR FREE THIS WEEKEND: You can have trained technicians check your car seat for recalls as well as fit and proper installation from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday across the state, courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Transportation and Safer New Mexico Now. State law requires everyone under age 18 to be buckled in. Children under one year must be in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat (if the vehicle has one). All kids under 5 and all kids under 40 pounds must be in a car seat or booster seat. All kids age 5 and 6, and all kids under 60 pounds must be in a car seat or booster seat. And all kids 12 and younger must be in a car seat, booster seat, or bucked in with a seat belt. According to Safer, three out of four car seats are used incorrectly, placing the young passenger at risk in the event of a crash. Conversely, the use of a child safety seat reduces the risk of death among infants by about 71 percent and by 54 percent among older children. The child safety seat clinics are scheduled in: Alamogordo at the Alamogordo Police Department, 700 Virginia Avenue; Albuquerque at the Kohls at 6800 Holly NE and 3715 Ellison NW, and at the Home Depot at 200 Eubank SE; Artesia at the Wal-Mart at 604 North 26th Street; Las Cruces at the Kohls at 2500 North Triviz Dr., and Las Vegas at the Cornerstone Church at 2207 7th St. Because some of the sites require appointments, participants are asked to call (800) 231-6145 to see if they need to set one up. Bringing along the child who uses the seat is recommended. More information is at safernm.org. Assistant editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; or P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal As revelers around the city rang in the New Year in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, homicide detectives with the Albuquerque Police Department were already investigating their first murder of 2016. In the nine and a half months since, detectives have investigated 45 more homicides, reaching 46, the total for all of last year. Last year was already the deadliest year in Albuquerque since 2009, and if homicides continue at this rate the city will see more homicides by the end of the year than it has since 1996, when the number hit 70. The Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office did not provide the number of homicides it has investigated so far this year. An analysis by The New York Times found that about a quarter of the largest cities in the United States experienced spikes in 2015 over recent years. Mayor Richard Berry said he has been talking with politicians and leaders in other cities about how to address the problem. Many cities saw a spike, but theres not a lot of consensus nationally on what should be done, he said. Im working to engage in conversations nationally so we can learn lessons from other cities. Chicago has already passed 500 homicides this year, exceeding its total for last year. Baltimore has had 218 so far in 2016 and 344 in all of last year. El Paso, a similar-size city to Albuquerque, has seen only 12 murders this year and 17 all of last year. Berry and police blame violent career criminals for the spike in violence here. An analysis of online court records by the Journal shows nine of the 33 suspects charged with murder this year previously had been convicted of a violent felony in New Mexico. A couple others had faced violent felony charges but no convictions. A Journal analysis last year found similar percentages. The mother accused in a horrific and high-profile murder of her 10-year-old daughter had no criminal history in New Mexico. Fourteen of the 33 suspects arrested so far this year had no criminal history in the state or had only faced misdemeanor charges. APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza said it is often hard to predict when and where the violent crimes will occur. Violent crimes are crimes of passion and not something where trends are easily extrapolated, she said. Espinoza said because there is little that can be done to deter homicides outright, police have been working to curb property crime. Property crime, as well as other violent crimes, also rose last year. We do have multiple operations to target car thieves, burglars and other property crime offenders, especially in areas where we believe the likely associated suspects have a propensity for violence, she said. She said as of this year the homicide detectives are no longer tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings, freeing them up to focus on civilian homicides. A separate team of detectives has taken over investigating police use-of-force incidents, Espinoza said. City Councilor Pat Davis, who represents the high-crime area of Southeast Albuquerque, said after talking with detectives, officers and neighbors, he heard that a lot of the crimes stem from not having enough officers on the street to patrol the area proactively. He pointed to the three homicides at the intersection of Kathryn and San Mateo SE in the past 18 months. Davis, a former Albuquerque police officer, said although the homicides dont fit a single pattern, they may have been prevented if the officers in the area werent always behind on calls that had already come in. One was a straight-up robbery, one was a beating death of a homeless person, Davis said. Could APD have helped the homeless person before this? Could they have checked on (the suspects) earlier? He said Albuquerque has seen rising crime and a scarcity of officers for several years, but only recently has the mayor begun to address the problem. It was six years in before we saw a plan to address staffing issues, Davis said. That puts us six years behind to address these issues. In February, a 24-year-old Army veteran was shot and killed during an attempted robbery at an ATM. Five days later, police said, a hotel guest stabbed a man in front of him in line for no reason at all when he had what appeared to be mental health issue. Others were killed in fights over debts, drugs or perceived slights. There were several cases of domestic violence homicides, many ending with the suspect committing suicide: In March, a man fatally shot his wife and then himself in their apartment, and a month later an uncle shot and killed his two nephews and injured their father in a crowded Vietnamese restaurant before turning the gun on himself. Just last month police say another man shot and killed his 11-year-old stepdaughter and her mother before killing himself. Four children were killed by their parents or their parents partners. There were four double homicides so far this year. Of the 46 homicides so far this year, at least 29 have involved guns. The seven detectives on the APD homicide unit have cleared about 62 percent of the cases so far, compared to an 83 percent clearance rate last year. Espinoza said APD considers a case cleared when there are no outstanding offenders in a case. APD also solved at least one homicide from last year, one from the year before and one from the 1990s. Espinoza said that despite the citys homicide rate, detectives have a strong clearance rate. This far exceeds the national standard, and speaks to the diligence and talent of these detectives, she said. Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. recently celebrated the transformation of a unique local historic landmark, the old Trolley Building in town, into an $8 million state-of-the-art facility for its media arts and technology department. Weve preserved and restored an important part of Las Vegas history while giving our regionally and nationally recognized media arts program a spectacular new home. I see it as a jewel in the crown of our campus, Sam Minner, Highlands University president, said in a statement. The new 21,027-square-foot building at 12 Street and San Francisco in Las Vegas brings more opportunities for students to have a positive impact on cultural institutions in New Mexico through media arts one-of-a-kind AmeriCorps Cultural Technology program, he said. U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., who toured the building last month, said, It represents the best of preserving the culture and history of Las Vegas with a nod toward the future for the universitys students. The total cost of the project was $8.3 million, including construction, media arts equipment, furnishings and professional consultants such as architects, engineers and historical consultants. It was paid for with $6 million from general obligation higher education bonds and a $2.3 million legislative appropriation. Kerry Loewen, chair of the media arts and technology department, said the building was designed with the ability to adapt to changing technology. He said some building highlights include: Three classroom labs, each equipped with 17 computer workstations with the latest design and multimedia software. 3-D printers and a large-scale laser cutter. A modern television studio for creating video with special effects. Labs for studio photography and audio mixing. An electronics maker space. An extensive equipment library that gives students access to the latest digital photography and video equipment. A soaring two-story studio for graduate student work and research projects. A gallery space in the lobby for student and community art exhibits. Las Vegas, near the turn of the 20th century, was a bustling city that boasted one of only two electric trolley systems in the state, Highlands officials said. It operated until 1926. The Trolley Building was built in the classic Romanesque style in 1905. It is on both the state and national historic registries. Every standing exterior wall and window was preserved in the building. Some of the new architectural features include exposed sandstone walls and polished concrete floors inlaid with stainless steel rails to evoke the history of the trolley cars that rolled into the building. Original ironwork is exposed to add more historical flavor. PITTSBURGH Not a lot of people pay college tuition bills with a credit card. But some do whether for convenience or to get those nice rewards points. Colleges didnt always charge a convenience fee for people who pay their bills with credit cards. But in recent years the number of families using credit cards started to add up to a point where colleges say they can no longer afford to absorb the transaction cost. Now the majority colleges have begun to protect themselves against the fees that card processors charge them by requiring parents and students to pay an additional fee of about 2.62 percent for using a credit card. The University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University and Carnegie Mellon University all accept credit card payments and they all charge transaction fees, although officials at those schools discourage the practice of using credit cards for college expenses. They also say the universities make no profit from the transaction fees they charge. John Fedele, a spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh, said Pitt does not profit from convenience fees. The university does not directly accept credit cards as payment for tuition, room and board, and fees. A third-party vendor processes payments when made through PittPAY, the institutions online payment program. The vendor charges a 2.75 percent fee for its use. Pitt discourages the use of credit cards for these types of payments because the terms of credit card companies are usually less favorable to borrowers than traditional student loans, Fedele said. While we cant speak for other schools, absorbing the credit card fees can run into hundreds of dollars per student and colleges and universities across the nation are under pressure to keep costs down. Duquesne Universitys vendor is Nelnet Business Solutions, which charges a service fee of 2.55 percent when students or parents pay with a credit card online, according to Rose Ravasio, the universitys spokeswoman. She said at this point in the fiscal year, there have been 440 credit card transactions on tuition accounts. Last year at this time, there were 442. At Carnegie Mellon University, spokesman Ken Walters said credit card usage accounts for about 1.5 percent of all payments. There has been little change in usage since CMU began offering this option in 2013. We discourage the use of this service in general, but made it available after receiving consistent requests from our bill payers, Walters said. Fedele at the University of Pittsburgh said he was unable to provide information on parents and students who pay college costs at Pitt with credit cards. People who pay tuition bills with a credit card incur an average convenience fee of 2.62 percent, according to a new CreditCards.com report, which surveyed 300 of the largest U.S. public, private and community colleges. That translates to $262 for every $10,000 of tuition. Community colleges are the most fee-friendly. Out of the 100 largest community colleges surveyed, 97 percent accept credit cards for tuition payment and only 8 percent of them charge convenience fees. By contrast, 93 percent of public universities and 77 percent of private institutions that accept credit cards charge convenience fees. CreditCards.com, based in Austin, Texas, conducted a survey in 2014 and another one earlier this year which found the number of colleges accepting credit cards fell 260 to 255. However, the number of schools charging a convenience fee went up from 142 in 2014 to 145 this year. It doesnt surprise me more schools are charging the fees simply because they dont want to eat the cost of those credit card transactions, said Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. The number of schools not accepting credit cards probably stopped doing so because the population of students using cards was not high enough to make it worth while. He said the majority of community colleges dont charge a fee for credit card use because community college doesnt cost nearly as much as a big university public or private. The lower the tuition cost the more likely someone is to consider putting the cost on a credit card, he said. There is a big difference between putting $1,500 on a credit card than $15,000. Private student loan lender Sallie Mae released a report earlier this year showing the percentage of parents using credit cards to pay for college runs 2 percent to 3 percent. However a higher percentage of students use credit cards to pay college bills at 3 percent to 5 percent. Ben Woolsey, president and general manager of CreditCardForum.com., based in Austin, Texas, said retailers have always had to bear transaction fees for credit card purchases and they pass it on to consumers by increasing costs. Other entities also accept credit cards like state and local government, Woolsey said. Even the federal government allows taxpayers to use credit cards to pay taxes, but they also charge the consumer a convenience fee so they do not have to absorb that interchange fee. All of it is colleges protecting their bottom lines, he said. They are trying to make a profit and they dont want to accept less than 100 percent of the tuition they are owed. My guess is people who use credit cards to pay tuition already have the money in the bank, but they want to earn rewards. This removes the incentive to do so because the convenience fee is higher than any rewards they earn. Overall, credit cards are a terrible way to finance long-term debt, Woolsey said. Tuition is a long-term debt and student loans are probably a better way to pay for college in the long run. 2016 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ COLLEGE STATION, Texas An Austin-area man arrested in Fort Worth is charged with murder for the shooting death of a 21-year-old Texas A&M student killed at her off-campus apartment over the weekend, police said Monday. College Station police said Victor Manual Garcia-Loyo, 22, of Del Valle, had been dating Maricarmen Quiroz-Octaviano. Police were called Saturday night to her apartment complex not far from the A&M campus after reports of gunfire. They found the womans body inside her apartment. Police said detectives contacted Garcia-Loyo by phone and he agreed to come in and talk with them but never showed. Investigators were able to track him by his cellphone to Fort Worth, where police found him at a residence Sunday. He was carrying the drivers license of Qjuiroz-Octaviano and a 9mm handgun. He also had what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his hand. Authorities said Garcia-Loyo told College Station police who went to Fort Worth to interview him that he shot the woman during an argument and shot himself in the hand during the gunfire. He was returned to Brazos County where he was jailed Monday without bond on a murder charge. Police described the shooting an isolated incident of domestic violence and said the public was in no danger. A threatening email sent to Eisenhower Middle Schools principal and numerous law enforcement agencies early Monday morning led them to evacuate the school and cancel classes for the day, according to Albuquerque police. Spokesman Tanner Tixier said federal and local authorities received the email, which said that there may be an explosive device or an active shooter at the school, around 7 a.m. Police announced later Monday afternoon that the school had been cleared and nothing suspicious was found. The email came at a time when law enforcement has been on high alert because of an explosion in New York City on Saturday night and a stabbing attack in Minnesota for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. As we started analyzing the email, we determined the best course of action, especially with whats been happening in Minnesota and New York, was to go ahead and evacuate the school, Tixier said. As kids arrived at Eisenhower, they were kept in a field outside and full evacuations began around 7:40 a.m., Tixier said. Tixier said its possible the email came from a child, but police are still investigating. It reads as though it came from a student, but we dont know, he said. It came from an anonymous email address through a third-party server. Albuquerque Public Schools officials announced that classes were canceled around 8:30 a.m. Parents picked up their children at Bartonwood and Juan Tabo. Officers with rifles stood guard in front of the school and directed parents to their children as bomb squad members and police K9 units entered the school. Juan Tabo was closed in both directions in front of the school during the evacuations and remained closed as authorities investigated. Were going to do a complete and systematic search of the school, make sure that theres no devices, Tixier said outside the scene Monday. He said there were no reported threats to other schools. He said he didnt know if the incident has any connection to a bomb scare at Highland High School last week. Eisenhower was cleared by 10:30 a.m. and Tixier said APS police had taken over the investigation. FORT PIERRE, S.D. Henry Red Clouds recent trip to the Dakota Access pipeline protest camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation filled him with conviction, compelling the South Dakota Democratic candidate to dance, sing and campaign. The 56-year-old Oglala Sioux green energy entrepreneur hopes the vigor focused on defeating the $3.8 billion, four-state Dakota Access pipeline will help win his longshot bid for election to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, which regulates oil pipelines. Red Cloud, a direct descendent of famous Lakota warrior and leader Red Cloud, is applying a new approach among tribal members working to stop oil development: become a regulator instead of having to ask for their help. He is one of at least two Native Americans nationwide running for such a post. A whole lot of people are going to start voting here in the state of South Dakota, Red Cloud, who lives near Oglala, told The Associated Press. Im also bringing the awareness out on what the PUC regulates, and its all about currently whats happening in Standing Rock camp. Since April, theres been a tribal protest at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers in southern North Dakota, and it has grown considerably. Owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile project would carry nearly a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakotas oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, The Republican-controlled Public Utilities Commission, which approved the Dakota Access pipeline project last year, is leading South Dakota in a downward spiral rather than toward its huge potential for leadership in renewable energy, said Red Cloud, who is running as a Democrat. He is running on a green energy platform for a six-year term against Chris Nelson, a Republican former secretary of state who has served on the three-member commission since 2011. Nelson, 52, has been campaigning on keeping electricity rates low and expanding broadband internet access in rural areas. He said he has a record of making decisions absent a political agenda or personal whims. What I think of an oil pipeline is absolutely irrelevant in the job that I do as a Public Utilities commissioner, Nelson said, adding that he has to make judgments on each case based on the facts presented and the law that applies. It will be hard for Red Cloud to get elected in the strongly Republican state. The first-time candidate recently told a group of about 20 aging Democrats in Fort Pierre that hes looking for strong turnout by Native American voters. Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Minnesota-based Indigenous Environmental Network, said Red Clouds bid is exciting because pipeline opponents have spent so much time and energy struggling from the outside against the commission in the permitting process. It was the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and the efforts to thwart them before state regulators, that helped illuminate for many people the power the Public Utilities Commission holds, he said. Its nice to see Native folks get the motivation to run for office like this, but its the content of his character and the qualities that he brings that really send it over the top as far as my support for him, Goldtooth said. Red Cloud owns a solar air heating system company and co-manages the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, which offers green jobs training. He plans to return this month to deliver a mobile solar power plant to the North Dakota protest camp hundreds of miles from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member Marlo Hunte-Beaubrun said the protest south of her home in Bismarck, North Dakota, has propelled her Public Service Commission campaign into insanity. Hunte-Beaubrun, a Democrat, opposes the Dakota Access project, but shes taken a pragmatic position on pipelines in general, recognizing the role oil production plays in North Dakotas economy. Still, Hunte-Beaubrun wants to make sure that tribes in North Dakota are represented on the commission, so shes challenging Republican Julie Fedorchak. So far, voters have seemed receptive about her work, said Fedorchak, who was appointed in 2012 and elected in 2014. It is 2016, and there is no reason why we shouldnt have a room of speckled people instead of a solid sheet of paper, Hunte-Beaubrun said. ___ Follow James Nord on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Jvnord LUBBOCK, Texas The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has selected a Texas Tech University center to monitor retail meat. The Lubbock schools International Center for Food Industry Excellence is getting $700,000 to be a surveillance lab for the federal agencys National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. The federal money will be used to monitor beef, pork and poultry products for pathogens and antibiotic resistance as part of the FDAs retail meat surveillance program. The centers director, Mindy Brashears, says the centers experience in food safety and antibiotic resistance monitoring in the meat industry helped to attract the federal grant, which she says will have a long term impact on public health. The monitoring system works with state and local public health departments and federal agencies. Donald Trumps persistent unpopularity in suburban areas has allowed House Democrats to expand the map of competitive races. Their problem now is that the Republican-held congressional districts which Trump makes it easiest to pick off are in the most expensive media markets to air television commercials. It is a frustrating paradox for Democratic strategists, requiring difficult and constant tradeoffs. Like gerrymandering, it is also a major reason why few insiders believe the party will ultimately win the 30 seats necessary to seize the majority. The expense of the media markets in the suburban districts is a very real dynamic for the House races, said Kelly Ward, the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in an interview. Theyre all expensive. . . . Its harder to then carry a message and drive a narrative. Its so much more money. . . . Its the burden of my budget. Unlike the GOP presidential nominee, who can count on unlimited free media attention, House candidates are for the most part unknown and must spend heavily to both introduce themselves to voters and tie the incumbent to Trump. Democrats will gain seats in November; the question is how many. Only about 50 of the 435 districts are considered even remotely competitive. Most handicappers think Democrats will gain more than a dozen, and that their upside depends on whether or not the bottom falls out from underneath Trump. Thanks in part to Nancy Pelosis fundraising prowess, the DCCC continues to outraise the National Republican Congressional Committee. The committee raised $11 million in August, compared to the NRCCs $6.7 million. In July, the DCCC outraised the NRCC by almost $7.5 million. All told, the DCCC will announce today that it has $63.2 million cash on hand. Thats significantly more than the committee had at this point two and four years ago. But no matter their party, it is always difficult for individual challengers to outraise incumbents, who lobbyists want an audience with and who can do more favors for major donors. Individual candidates also get a discounted advertising rate from TV stations, so they do not need to pay as much as outside groups. Even though outside groups supporting House Republicans will spend more money, that dynamic nonetheless works to the GOPs advantage because they have more incumbents with tough reelection contests. Money really matters: The dozen or so media markets where the fight for the majority is playing out are really, really expensive. . . In one northern Virginia suburban district that Trump is certain to lose badly, for example, freshman GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock has kept her distance from the nominee. But to take her down, Democrats must advertise heavily in the expensive D.C. market. The estimated cost for 1,000 gross ratings points (GRP) the recommended level for message saturation is $1.2 million per week, according to an ad buyer. In New Jerseys 5th District, GOP Rep. Scott Garrett is very vulnerable. But 44 percent of his district is in the New York City television market, and the other 56 percent is in Philadelphias. A candidate must spend $2.6 million per week for message saturation in the Big Apple, which means that slow-burning cable is the only reasonable TV option. Democrats are running up against this same obstacle as they advertise against Lee Zeldin in NY-1 and Dan Donovan in NY-11. (Reps. Patrick Meehan and Ryan Costello are in the Philly market.) Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., looks vulnerable on paper with a suburban district that also has a sizable number of Latinos but conventional wisdom says he will ultimately survive because of how costly it is to run a credible campaign against him. Four-fifths of his constituents live in the San Diego market, which costs $388,000 per week for message saturation. The other fifth is in the Los Angeles market, where a candidate needs to pay $3.2 million per GRP. Issa also happens to be the richest member of Congress, and he can afford to spend as much as it takes to define and destroy his challenger. Minnesotas 3rd District, where Democrat Terri Bonoff is trying to topple Rep. Erik Paulsen, covers the suburbs west of the Twin Cities. It costs $375,000 per GRP for candidates and $525,000 for outside groups. Here are some other major media markets with battleground House districts (with the name of the Republican incumbent and how much a media buyer for an outside group said it currently costs to reserve 1000 GRPs): Miami (FL-26 Carlos Curbelo): $1.3 million Miami (FL-26 Carlos Curbelo): $1.3 million Boston/Manchester (NH-01 Frank Guinta): $1.2 million Boston/Manchester (NH-01 Frank Guinta): $1.2 million Chicago (IL-10 Bob Dold): $1.1 million Chicago (IL-10 Bob Dold): $1.1 million Tampa (FL-13 David Jolly): $1.02 million Tampa (FL-13 David Jolly): $1.02 million Orlando (FL-07 John Mica): $975,000 Orlando (FL-07 John Mica): $975,000 Denver (CO-6 Mike Coffman/CO-03 Scott Tipton): $875,000 Denver (CO-6 Mike Coffman/CO-03 Scott Tipton): $875,000 Sacramento (CA-10 Jeff Denham): $750,000 Sacramento (CA-10 Jeff Denham): $750,000 Las Vegas (NV-04 Cresent Hardy): $600,000 Las Vegas (NV-04 Cresent Hardy): $600,000 Several Republicans who Democrats would love to target represent places where it is not feasible to go on the air when there are more winnable districts. Sixty percent of Michigans 8th, represented by Mike Bishop, is in the Detroit market, for example, and almost all of Dave Reicherts district is in the Seattle market. If a wave materializes, it matters less who the incumbent is and more whether they have an R or a D after their name on the ballot. Recent consolidation of the Republican base, which has led to the tightening of the presidential polls, makes it harder for a wave to break late though, by no means, is it out of the question. The first debate, one week from today, could be a turning point. But because of the way the maps are drawn, even on a huge night for Democrats, it would be very hard to get to 30 seats. Why this is not 2010: Ward, who now runs the DCCC, was working on incumbent retention for the committee six years ago when Democrats lost 63 seats. In the aftermath of the Citizens United decision, Republicans got a jump on raising outside money. And many of the most vulnerable Democrats represented districts in particularly inexpensive media markets. For a million dollars they could launch a major attack against someone like John Spratt in South Carolina, or Ike Skelton in Missouri, or John Barrow in Georgia, because the markets were just cheap, because rural markets are cheaper, Ward recalls. Ward likes to say that, if she had an unlimited budget, she is certain that she could beat someone like Issa. But right now she has to pick and choose. The DCCC has pressed its ad makers to be more creative so that its commercials break through. In places where it is too expensive to run television, the committee invests extra money in digital efforts, direct mail, field programs and door-to-door voter contact. House Majority PAC, the main Democratic outside group, placed its first round of advertising reservations back in March. Strategists picked markets that they knew would also draw presidential spending and believe theyll save millions of dollars by booking early when rates were cheaper. Its never been our goal to match the other side dollar for dollar, but we work to make sure Democratic spending is competitive in key races and particularly that our spending is as efficient and effective as possible, said Jeb Fain, the groups communications director. A big part of that is reserving airtime early, so our dollars go further. To be sure: Democrats argue that the expensive media markets also make it harder for GOP incumbents to insulate themselves from Trump. Many people do not know much about their member of Congress, and split-ticket voting generally has been on the decline. If incumbents are not running ads to differentiate themselves from Trump, and hes losing their district badly, they are more likely to be caught up in a wave. There is a conversation happening in the Las Vegas media market right now, and it is helpful for us, Ward said. The conversation in New Hampshire is helpful for (Democrat) Carol Shea-Porter. That larger ecosystem of those expensive markets, I think will help us tell the story we need to tell. The Washington Posts Breanne Deppisch contrbuted to this report. house-analysis NEW YORK Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton warned Monday that anti-Muslim rhetoric by opponent Donald Trump is giving aid and comfort to the Islamic State as both candidates sought to position themselves as better qualified to combat terrorism in the aftermath of a spate of violence over the weekend. We know that a lot of the rhetoric that weve heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, including ISIS, because they are looking to make this a war against Islam, Clinton said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. She insisted that the United States is up to the challenge of combating terrorism on its shores and that only she has a detailed plan to meet that challenge. Trump said current anti-terrorism efforts are insufficient at home and abroad. He blamed President Barack Obama and Clinton, who served as Obamas first secretary of state, and he suggested that profiling may be necessary to counter the threat. We have to lead for a change. Because were not knocking them, Trump told Fox News Channel. Were hitting them once in a while. Were hitting them in certain places. Were being very gentle about it. Were going to have to be very tough. A week before Clinton and Trump are scheduled to face off in their first televised debate, bombings in New York and New Jersey and a mass stabbing in Minnesota have refocused the presidential race on concerns about domestic terrorism and national security. With the nation rattled Monday in the wake of the three attacks, both candidates made the case for why they are better prepared than the other to step into the Oval Office. The two candidates responses aptly reflected what each sees as a winning argument for Clinton, an appeal to steady leadership and presidential bearing, and for Trump, a get-tough message. At an airport news conference with her campaign plane as a backdrop, Clinton stood somberly at a lectern and repeatedly sought to encourage Americans to go about their lives, to not be deterred by fears of terrorism and to rest assured that the United States is well- positioned to address the threat at home and abroad. In his interview, Trump said the United States is too tentative in its efforts against terrorism overseas. The better approach would be to knock the hell out of them and possibly introduce profiling as a counterterrorism tactic, he added. Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are, Trump said in the Fox interview. They are afraid to do anything about it, because they dont want to be accused of profiling. And they dont want to be accused of all sorts of things. He concluded: Do we have a choice? Look whats going on. Do we really have a choice? Were trying to be so politically correct in our country. Its not the first time Trump has suggested that profiling could be an effective tactic. Later in the day, at the start of a campaign rally in Estero, Florida, Trump took sharp and repeated aim at Clinton, accusing her of embracing plans on immigration and refugees that are too lax. He blamed the attacks over the weekend in part on immigration laws he cast as too weak and linked them to radical Islam. Authorities have not confirmed any connection between the suspects and terrorist groups, although a news agency linked to the Islamic State claimed that the Minnesota attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State. There have been Islamic terrorist attacks in Minnesota and New York City and in New Jersey, Trump said. These attacks and many others were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system, which fails to properly vet and screen the individuals or families coming into our country. Trump also said the authorities should use whatever lawful methods are available to obtain information from the suspect. He called on Congress to pass measures ensuring foreign enemy combatants are treated as such. Trump has in the past voiced support for bringing back waterboarding as an interrogation tactic. Trump later added that Clinton talks tougher about my supporters than she does about Islamic terrorists, citing her controversial statement earlier this month that half of his backers come from a basket of deplorables. Clinton has said she regrets classifying half of Trumps supporters that way. The Republican nominee also lamented that the suspected New York and New Jersey bomber a U.S. citizen is likely to receive modern medical treatment and access to a lawyer. Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room, and hell probably even have room service, knowing the way our country is, Trump said. And on top of all of that, he will be represented by an outstanding lawyer. His case will go through the various court systems for years. And in the end, people will forget and his punishment will not be what it once would have been. What a sad situation. Later Monday, Trump and Clinton were scheduled to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi in New York for talks that were likely to include discussion of terrorism and prospects for peace in the Middle East. Sissi, a former military chief who seized power in the 2013 toppling of Mohamed Morsi, Egypts Muslim Brotherhood-backed president, is in the United States for the annual U.N. General Assembly. In addition, Clinton planned to use the gathering of world leaders to hold a session with Ukraines leader Monday. Ukraine and Russia are at odds, and skirmishing nearly daily, over Russias annexation of Crimea two years ago. Clintons meeting with Petro Poroshenko, which Ukrainian officials said was at the countrys invitation, is a finger in the eye of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the autocratic leader for whom Clinton has accused Trump of having a dangerous affinity. Ukraine said it also invited Trump to meet Poroshenko in New York. Clinton, who also served as a U.S. senator from New York, quickly pointed to her experience, in a direct contrast to that of Trump, the New York businessman who has never held elective office. Clinton sought to reassure Americans that law enforcement and other authorities are up to the task a clear message to voters worried about how the next administration will confront security challenges. Her comments came while a manhunt was underway for Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan who is a suspect in connection with bombings Saturday in Manhattan and in Seaside Park, New Jersey. He was taken into custody several hours after his name was made public. This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower. We will prevail, Clinton said. We will defend our country, and we will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists. Republicans have recently had an edge in voter trust when it comes to dealing with terrorism. But recent Washington Post-ABC News polls find that Clinton holds a three-point edge over Trump among registered voters on handling terrorism and a 24-point lead on handling an international crisis. I am the only candidate in this race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield, Clinton said. She added that she had laid out a comprehensive plan to meet the evolving nature of this threat and take the fight to ISIS everywhere they threaten us, including online. Trump, she insisted, has no real plan. Trump offered a vague strategy for combating the Islamic State and other terrorists overseas. Maybe were going to be seeing a big change over the last couple of days, Trump warned. I think this is something that maybe will get, you know, will happen perhaps more and more over the country. Clinton spoke at a hastily called news conference as she was headed to Philadelphia for a speech aimed at young voters, many of whom are cool toward her candidacy and are helping to buoy the third-party runs of libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The events of the past few days are a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world, she said at the start of that address. The emphasis on steadiness and calm, as well as experience, has been Clintons main national-security argument in a year in which voters have sought outsider candidates and a message of change. She is constrained somewhat by the imperatives to defend Obamas foreign policy as his designated successor and not alarm liberal Democrats still suspicious of her reputation as a hawk. In touting her credentials, Clinton pointed to the endorsements she has received from Republican national-security leaders who have voiced grave concerns about the prospect of Trump as commander in chief. On Saturday night, as initial reports about an explosion in Manhattan were still coming in and before authorities had announced the details, Trump told supporters at a rally that a bomb had gone off in New York. On Monday, he bragged about his choice of words. What I said is exactly correct, Trump said. I should be a newscaster, because I called it before the news. I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly whats going on, Trump said shortly after he left his plane at a rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday night. Law enforcement officials said they are investigating whether Rahami could have been influenced by international militant groups or the ongoing conflict in his homeland. Sullivan reported from Washington. Wagner reported from White Plains, New York. Emily Guskin in Washington contributed to this report. Embed code for video: campaign-terror-2ndld-writethru NEW YORK Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled Monday to try to salvage Syrias fractured week-old truce after the Syrian military announced it was over amid numerous violations, including an attack on an aid convoy, and apparent Russian unwillingness to press Damascus on the point. State Department spokesman John Kirby called the convoy attack an egregious violation of the cease-fire and said the U.S. will reassess the future prospects for cooperation with Russia. The destination of this convoy was known to the Syrian regime and the Russian federation and yet these aid workers were killed in their attempt to provide relief to the Syrian people, Kirby said in a statement Monday night. The latest developments placed added importance on a meeting Tuesday of the International Syria Support Group, or ISSG, which is comprised of countries with a stake in the conflict and endorsed the truce, to be led by Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Despite the setback, the State Department said it was prepared to extend the cease-fire window in the hopes that if it held, the U.S. and Russia could then turn to their planned military cooperation against the Islamic State militants and al-Qaida-linked groups in Syria. Well, the Syrians didnt make the deal, Kerry told reporters in New York. The Russians made the agreement. So we need to see what the Russians say; but the point, the important thing is the Russians need to control (Syrian President Bashar) Assad, who evidently is indiscriminately bombing, including of humanitarian convoys. So lets wait and see, collect the facts. We need to see where we are, and then well make a judgment. But we dont have all the facts at this point. An official with the Syrian Red Crescent said aid trucks operated by the group and destined for a rebel-held area in Aleppo province had been hit by an airstrike, as warplanes resumed their bombings in Aleppo province. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. is ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the cease-fire agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. But he added that Russia must clarify its position on the status of the truce. Russia took the side of the Syrian government, blaming the rebels for violating the truce. Russias Foreign Ministry said the failure of Syrian rebels to adhere to the truce threatens the cease-fire and U.S.-Russian agreements. The ministry statement came after the Russian military said that continuing rebel violations made it meaningless for the Syrian army to respect the deal. The Syrian military said earlier Monday that the cease-fire had expired. Kirby noted that the cease-fire arrangement was agreed to by the United States and Russia, which is responsible for the compliance of the Assad government. We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities, while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance, Kirbys statement said. We will be consulting with our Russian counterparts to continue to urge them to use their influence on Assad to these ends. While acknowledging numerous violations, Kirby said the truce, which took effect last Monday, had been responsible for a measure of reduced violence. However, he also repeated calls for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid to Aleppo and other besieged communities. Such deliveries began only on Monday and were available only in limited areas, he said. Frances foreign minister criticized both the United States and Russia for the cease-fire pact that excluded the international community, saying it must have wide support if its going to be implemented. However, the U.S. officials said details of the agreement were shared on Monday. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir pledged his countrys support for Syrias opposition forces, along with representatives of Qatar, Turkey and European nations, and stressed that Assad cannot remain in power, even though that issue has been delayed until the fighting wanes. Kerry expressed frustration with the touch-and-go cease-fire. We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods, Kerry said. Those seven days of calm and aid deliveries were required before the U.S. and Russia could embark on a plan to cooperate in targeting the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates working in Syria. The Syrian military said in a statement Monday that armed terrorist groups repeatedly violated the cease-fire and took advantage of the truce to mobilize and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas. The statement said the rebels wasted a real chance to stop the bloodshed. He said U.S. and Russian officials were meeting in Geneva to try to sort out aid deliveries to Aleppo and other besieged communities. American officials said, however, that conditions were still not right for U.S.-Russian military cooperation. A Syrian activist group said 92 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 29 children and teenagers were among those killed, as well as 17 women. The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the Observatory said Monday. A mistaken air raid by the U.S.-led coalition also killed 62 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on Sept. 12, and a senior Syrian opposition official declared the cease-fire clinically dead. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone. ___ Associated Press writers Edith Lederer and Maria Danilova contributed to this report. Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya, marked his landslide reelection this weekend in a manner that somehow seemed befitting. To no ones surprise, he was ahead with about 98 percent of the vote after a partial count of ballots from the Sunday election was announced. Rights groups accuse Kadyrov, in power since 2007, of ruling the Muslim-majority republic with an iron fist as a loyal lieutenant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2011 parliamentary elections, about 99.48 percent of Chechnyas vote went to Putins ruling United Russia party. Their relationship is not dissimilar to that of a feudal lord and his vassal. Maybe thats what Kadyrov had in mind when he showed up at a ceremony on the evening of the vote clad in a suit of medieval armor, with a conical helmet, a longsword strapped to his waist and a spear in his hand. The event was billed as a solemn reception in honor of Chechnyas women. In the video above, you can see Kadyrov strutting around in his chain-mail finery; he is conspicuously the only person in attendance dressed in armor. The Chechen strongman is known for his eccentric social media presence and extravagant antics, including his very public wooing of Western celebrities such as Steven Seagal and Elizabeth Hurley. He is also known for the harsh practices of the security forces under his watch, thought to carry out widespread torture, kidnappings and extrajudicial killings of political rivals and dissidents. chechnya The city of Santa Fe announced Monday that Finance Director Oscar Rodriguez is resigning his post to become chief financial officer for the New Mexico Finance Authority. Rodriguez was hired by the city in November 2014 and helped usher the administration through a budget cycle in which the city was faced with a $15 million deficit headed into the current fiscal year. Its been a wonderful and challenging experience over the last two years, Rodriguez said in a press release. Im proud that weve put the city on sound financial footing, and I feel good that this decision is coming at a time when the City is in good hands moving forward. City Manager Brian Snyder named Budget Director Adam Johnson as interim finance director. Were in a good place right now, Snyder said, thanks in large part to our efforts under Mr. Rodriguez, and were very appreciative of his work here. According to the citys website, Rodriguez previous served as assistant city manager in Austin, Texas, was director of the Center for innovation and Reform for the District of Columbia, and worked as an independent consultant on municipal affairs for such entities as the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program. He has a bachelors degree from Harvard University and a masters in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to coming to Santa Fe, Rodriguez spent two years as city manager in Taos. During that time he clashed with county officials over such matters as annexation of the Taos airport and negotiations over emergency dispatch and library fees for county residents. Rodriguez was making $117,000 per year with the city of Santa Fe. The Finance Authority did not immediately return a phone message seeking confirmation of the hire and the salary the job pays. In the past decade, two major movements for criminal justice reform have arisen: the push against mass incarceration and Black Lives Matters mobilization against police brutality. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has attacked both, arguing that the movements would touch off a new crime epidemic. Hes wrong. The research we have shows that we know how to fight crime without using more handcuffs and prison cells. We didnt always have the evidence we do now. When crime began to spike in the United States in the 1960s, experts were caught flat-footed. Most criminologists thought crime was driven by sociological factors, beyond the influence of the police. They had little to say about how prevention measures short of fundamental economic, educational and social reforms might curb the violence. This was hardly a message politicians could take to their voters. So legislators came up with their own, simple prescription: crack down, hard. Our nation declared war on drugs, significantly increased policing and quadrupled incarceration. Greater incarceration has played a genuine, albeit modest, role in the great crime drop that began in the 1990s. It also brought a terrible cost in human lives. And it has proved ironically self-defeating, undermining the legitimacy that the criminal justice system needs to function effectively. Scholars such as Tom Tyler and Tracey Meares have demonstrated the unique threat to that legitimacy posed by the experiences of African American and Latino men within our criminal justice system. What has worked? There are no miracle cures, but several approaches are helpful. The right kind of increased police presence in high-crime communities, not least based on evidence from the COPS program of the Clinton years is one element. Both right and left easily equate greater police presence with a more tough-minded approach to law enforcement. In fact, a larger police force is better-equipped to pursue the restrained, community-oriented strategies that are most needed in high-crime communities. We want officers to spend the time it takes to calm a teenager experiencing a mental health crisis. We want police departments to have sufficient manpower to properly supervise officers on patrol too. An overstretched police force in a high-crime community is hard-pressed to meet these challenges on a busy Saturday night, with sometimes tragic consequences. Another powerful tool we have: focusing cops time and energy in new ways. Scholars such as David Kennedy have demonstrated the effectiveness of focused deterrence models in partnership with communities to curb open-air drug markets and gang violence. Richard Rosenfeld, Daniel Webster, Jacqueline Cohen and Jens Ludwig have helped to build an evidence base for hot-spot policing and other strategies to reduce gun violence. Crisis intervention teams offer improved models for interacting with people experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis. Police are trained to avoid physical confrontation whenever possible, to play for time while keeping physical distance to minimize the risk of a tragedy. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has publicly embraced many of these strategies. Evidence-based prevention programs have taught us how to keep many young people from committing crimes in the first place. Chicagos Becoming a Man school-based counseling and the citys One Summer Plus youth employment programs substantially reduced violent offending among thousands of young people while addressing other developmental and economic challenges. These programs have become national models after being validated in big, randomized trials. Changes to sentencing policy and prison conditions that have bipartisan support can also make the country safer. As David Dagan and Steven Teles show in Prison Break, bright-red states have taken significant steps in recent years to reduce their prison populations and invest the savings in alternatives such as drug treatment or smarter probation and parole supervision. Their message all along has been that these measures are not just humane, but also better for public safety than simply pushing the tough button every time someone messes up. The evidence supports them, showing that many of the states that have reduced incarceration also have declining crime rates. Of course, the United States still has a terrible problem with violent crime. Many cities endure rates of violence that undermine our efforts to promote decent and successful community life. Major cities including Chicago, Milwaukee and Baltimore reported significant increases in homicide in 2015. Many are having a tough 2016, too. Chicago already has had 500 homicides. The annual toll was 422 only two years ago. Its hard to revitalize local economies when residents are afraid to shop at night. Its hard to improve urban schools when teachers and students fear random violence. Its hard to reduce child obesity when parents fear letting their children play right outside their front door. Its hard to establish stable neighborhoods and cities when community violence spurs middle-class flight. Were not going to solve those problems following the plan laid out by Trump. Criminal justice reformers cannot allow the polarization Trump seeks to inspire. A politics of division worsens crime by destroying the cooperation thats needed and possible today between Democrats and Republicans, between police and communities, across racial and ethnic lines. We can enact reforms that will really make streets safer without the collateral damage of mass incarceration and abusive policing. Trump wants us to ignore all we have learned since the 1990s and to turn our backs on the political progress that both liberals and conservatives have made in the past few years. Clinton, and the rest of us, cant let him get away with that. Dagan is a PhD student in political science at Johns Hopkins University. Pollack is a professor at the University of Chicago. Teles is associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and fellow at the New America Foundation. trump-crime-comment NEWARK, N.J. A federal prosecutor told jurors on Monday that a witness will testify that Republican Gov. Chris Christie was told about a plan to close traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge as part of a political vendetta while the shutdown was happening, a claim Christie has contested for years. The trial comes three years after gridlock paralyzed a town next to the busy bridge, which connects New Jersey and New York City, for four days. Prosecutors said two former Christie allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, had sought political revenge against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who didnt endorse Christie for re-election. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area bridges, tunnels and transit hubs. Kelly was Christies former deputy chief of staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna told jurors that another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in connection with the scandal last year, will testify he and Baroni made Christie aware of the plan during a Sept. 11 memorial in New York in 2013, three days after the gridlock started. The evidence will show that they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned, Khanna said. Christie has denied knowing about the scheme until well after it was carried out, and a taxpayer-funded report he commissioned absolved him of wrongdoing. He wasnt charged in the federal investigation. A message left at his office seeking comment wasnt immediately returned Monday. Christie, an unsuccessful candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, conceded last week that the bridge scandal was a factor in GOP nominee Donald Trumps not picking him as a running mate. Defense attorneys spent considerable time in their opening statements castigating Wildstein, a former political blogger and high school classmate of Christie who they called the governors hatchet man at the Port Authority. They characterized him as a vulgar, power-smitten opportunist aiming to ride Christies coattails to Washington, D.C., at a time when Christie, about to easily win re-election in his heavily Democratic state, was seen as a top presidential hopeful. Kellys attorney, Michael Critchley, called Wildstein and others in Christies inner circle cowards who were addicted to power and said Kelly, who had been deputy chief of staff for three months at the time of the lane closures, was a sacrificial lamb. The idea that Bridget Kelly is directing the affairs of the state of New Jersey is almost laughable, he said. They wanted to throw her, in some sense, under the presidential bus. Baronis lawyer, Michael Baldassare, called Wildstein a liar and a horrible person, a vindictive individual who would destroy your life. In the governments opening, Khanna described how crushing gridlock engulfed Fort Lee on four days beginning Sept. 9, 2013, and how the defendants ignored Sokolichs texts, emails and voicemails seeking help. Kellys Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee email to Wildstein was sent Aug. 13, 2013, a day after she was notified Sokolich wouldnt endorse Christie, Khanna said. He added that although the lane realignment was Wildsteins idea, Wildstein will also tell you Kelly instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it. And the three of them worked hand in hand. Critchley, Kellys attorney, said Kelly regretted sending the email but it was merely joking banter taken out of context. He told jurors Kelly believed Wildsteins proffer that the three access lanes from Fort Lee to the bridge were part of a corrupt political deal years ago and should be re-examined. Baroni and Kelly face counts of wire fraud, conspiracy, deprivation of civil rights and misusing an organization receiving federal funds, the Port Authority. The most serious charge in the indictment, wire fraud conspiracy, carries a maximum 20-year prison term upon conviction. Witness testimony is scheduled to begin Tuesday, with Fort Lees police chief. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Kelly was former deputy chief of staff, not chief of staff. Its important to acknowledge when youve been wrong, and Ive probably never been so wrong as I was in an op-ed published on April 13, 2010. At the time, I was stunned by a terrible tragedy: the crash of a plane that had carried the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski. He had been flying to the Russian city of Smolensk to visit the memorial at Katyn, where Stalin murdered 20,000 Polish officers in 1940. Several dozen senior military figures and politicians were also on the plane, many of them friends of mine and colleagues of my husband, who was then the Polish foreign minister. Among them was his deputy, Andrzej Kremer, a wonderful man and brilliant diplomat. In the sweep of emotion that followed the crash, comparing the event to Katyn, I wrote this sentence: This time around, nobody suspects a conspiracy. As an excuse, I offer the fact that the tragedy initially seemed to bring people together. Politicians of all parties, from right to left, had been on the plane. Widely attended funerals were held across the country. Even Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister, seemed moved. He arranged for the broadcast of Katyn an emotional and very anti-Soviet Polish film on Russian state television as a kind of memorial. Nothing like it has ever been shown so widely in Russia, before or since. But my optimism was premature. The presidents brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, then the unpopular leader of the parliamentary opposition, seems to have initially believed, as all the evidence has always shown, that the crash was an accident. Then he changed his mind. Perhaps he could not accept that his beloved twin had died randomly, in a pointless crash. Perhaps he was maddened by grief. Perhaps he felt guilty: He had helped plan the trip. Or perhaps, like Donald Trump, he saw that a conspiracy theory could help bring him to power. Much as Trump used birtherism to inspire his core voters, Kaczynski, in the years that followed, used the Smolensk crash to motivate his supporters, that minority of the Polish population that remains convinced that unnamed secret forces control the country, that the elite is manipulated by foreigners and that everything that has happened in the country since 1989 is part of a sinister plot. And it worked. Last year, thanks to flukes of the electoral system, less than 40 percent of the vote reflecting 18 percent of the adult population proved sufficient for his nationalist-populist party, Law and Justice, to win a slim parliamentary majority. Readers familiar with my recent op-eds will know that I am not shy about pointing out Russian plots when I see them. But there is just no evidence of one at Smolensk. Within hours of the crash, Polish forensic experts were on the ground. They immediately obtained the black boxes and transcribed them meticulously. The cockpit tape can be heard online, and it makes the circumstances painfully clear. The president was late; he had planned a live broadcast from Katyn. When Russian air traffic controllers wanted to divert the plane because of heavy fog, he did not agree. The chief of the air force sat in the cockpit during the final minutes of the flight and pushed the pilots to land: Be bold, youll make it, he told them. According to the official report, written by the countrys top aviation experts, the plane hit a tree, then the ground, and then broke up. In the wake of Trumps grudging renouncement of birtherism, the insidious, racist theory that gave rise to his political career, its worth pondering what happened when Law and Justice came to power. Within days of taking office, the new government removed the official report from its website. (Its still available online.) More recently, police and prosecutors entered the homes of the aviation experts who testified in the original investigation, interrogated them and confiscated their computers. A new (and well-paid) government commission was formed, containing a group of cranks and experts including an ethnomusicologist, a retired pilot, a psychologist and other people with no knowledge of air crashes. The defense minister, Antoni Macierewicz, who is obsessed with conspiracies of all kinds famously, he has given credence to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous, Czarist-era anti-Semitic forgery has floated multiple theories, many of which contradict one another. Sometimes the previous Polish government is blamed, sometimes Putin. Sometimes there has been an explosion, sometimes a deliberate controller error. Sometimes the government, which was of a different party than the president, is said to have sabotaged a trip that in fact was prepared by the presidents office. None of these theories has ever been accompanied by the slightest hint of genuine evidence. Because they have been unable to disprove the original report, the ruling party instead ordered the creation of a fake version of reality in the form of a film. Smolensk came out two weeks ago and purports to show the true story of the crash and the coverup. The conclusion it involves an onboard explosion is so preposterous that some viewers have howled with laughter. Nevertheless, the film has been declared true by Kaczynski, and the education minister has suggested that schoolchildren ought to see it. As in communist Poland, a fictionalized version of history, one that suits those in power, could eventually be on the curriculum. In due course, there may be other consequences. One of the first things Law and Justice officials did upon taking power was launch an open attack on Polands constitutional court, and to re-politicize the independent prosecutors office. At the same time, they have put all of the countrys secret services in the hands of a man who has been convicted of fabricating documents, and whom they then pardoned. They might have had many motives for making these changes. But if nothing else, they could use these tools to prove one of the ludicrous theories using faked evidence at public show trials, another communist innovation. That kind of drama might satisfy Kaczynski emotionally; he might also reckon it would help him politically. I realize that there is far more detail here about Poland than most non-Polish readers care to know. But Im offering it for a reason. Trump, like Kaczynski, pushed a patently false conspiracy theory hard for many years, despite the utter lack of evidence. Last week, he found it expedient to discard that theory, but once he is president, he might find it expedient to adopt it again or perhaps to push one of the many others he has championed. As president, he can then use the state the Justice Department, the security bureaucracy, the FBI to pursue them. A Trump administration could make birtherism the excuse for fake investigations, hearings and even trials that would do terrible and irreversible damage to U.S. politics and the rule of law. It all sounds unthinkable, of course. But if youd asked me five years ago, or even one year ago, I would have told you that the transformation of the Smolensk conspiracy theory into state ideology was unthinkable, too. And yet it has come to pass. applebaum DENVER Police say they found no evidence that shots were fired inside a Denver hospital complex that was locked down for hours amid reports of a man carrying a rifle on the grounds. Cmdr. Patrick Phelan said Monday that nurses thought they heard gunshots during the Friday afternoon lockdown at Rose Medical Center. But he says they most likely mistook the sound of doors shutting and locking for gunfire. Police found no shell casings. Officers with long guns surrounded the facility and did a room-by-room search of the complex that took several hours. Phelan says police are continuing to look for a man seen in grainy surveillance video carrying something outside the medical center, possibly a rifle or a BB gun. Hillary Clinton tells us she is recovering from a mild case of pneumonia, but less than half of American voters believe her belated explanation of why she appeared to faint leaving a 9/11 commemoration. If she wants to understand why, she can find the answer in a childrens poem. In his 1907 classic, Matilda Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death, Hilaire Belloc tells the story of a young girl who told such Dreadful Lies, It made one Gasp and Stretch ones Eyes. One day Matilda calls in a false alarm to Londons fire brigade, and as punishment is left home alone while her aunt goes to the theater: That Night a Fire did break out You should have heard Matilda Shout! You should have heard her Scream and Bawl, And throw the window up and call To People passing in the Street . . . but all in vain! For every time She shouted Fire! They only answered Little Liar! And therefore when her Aunt returned, Matilda, and the House, were Burned. Today, it is the American people who have been burned, time and again, by Hillary Clintons dreadful lies. Lets review just a few examples of her serial dishonesty: She lied repeatedly about her emails. She lied when she said she had turned over everything I was obligated to turn over (FBI Director James Comey said the FBI discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not among the group of 30,000 e-mails returned by Secretary Clinton to state in 2014). She lied when she said there was no classified material in her private emails . . . that there was nothing classified at the time . . . and that there was nothing marked classified in her private emails all of which the FBI director said were untrue. And, to top it all off, she lied about her lies declaring on national television that Director Comey said my answers were truthful, and what Ive said is consistent with what I have told the American people a claim The Posts Fact Checker gave Four Pinocchios. Clinton lied to the American people about Benghazi. At 10:08 p.m. the night of the attack, she issued a statement that blamed the attack on inflammatory material posted on the Internet with no mention of terrorism or al-Qaeda. But an hour later, at 11:12 p.m. she emailed her daughter, Chelsea: Two of our officers were killed in Benghazi by an Al Queda-like [sic] group. The next day in a phone call with the Egyptian prime minister, Clinton said: We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest. Yet two days later, as she welcomed the caskets of the fallen in Dover, Delaware, she blamed that attack on an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with. She lied about a trip she made to Bosnia, claiming that she and her team arrived under sniper fire, skipped the arrival ceremony and just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base. In fact, a video shows her being greeted on the tarmac by Bosnian officials and an 8-year-old Muslim girl, Emina Bicakcic, who read a poem in English and told Clinton, There is peace now. She lied about her family history. In 2015, she said she could relate to illegal immigrants because all my grandparents immigrated to the United States. When BuzzFeeds Andrew Kaczynski pointed out that three of Clintons four grandparents were born in the United States, a Clinton spokesman said her grandparents always spoke about the immigrant experience and, as a result she has always thought of them as immigrants. And her dishonesty stretches back decades. As the late, great William Safire pointed out in a 1996 New York Times column, she delivered a blizzard of lies as first lady about Whitewater, the firing of White House travel aides, her representation of a criminal enterprise known as the Madison S&L and how she made a 10,000 percent profit in 1979 commodity trading simply by studying the Wall Street Journal. Even back then, Safire concluded, Clinton was a congenital liar. Today, the American people agree. A recent NBC News poll found that just 11 percent of Americans say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. To put that in perspective, 14 percent of American voters believe in Bigfoot. In other words, more Americans believe that a large, hairy, hominoid creature inhabits the forest of North America than believe that Hillary Clinton tells the truth. So if Clinton wonders why so many believe she is lying about her health, it is because she has lied so many times, about so many things, that most Americans no longer believe a word she says even if shes telling the truth. When she opens her mouth, people look at her like Bellocs Matilda and say, Little Liar. Thiessen, a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute and former chief speechwriter to President George W. Bush, writes a weekly online column for The Post. clinton-comment After Alecia Schmuhl was fired from a prominent Virginia law firm in 2014, prosecutors said the attorney and her husband contemplated filing a lawsuit, before settling on a darker plan: Taking the firms partner and his wife hostage in their upscale McLean home. The plot unspooled on Nov. 9, 2014, when Andrew Schmuhl barged into the couples home wearing a fedora and flashing a novelty badge. He bound the pair and began a rambling interogation that prosecutors said appeared to be directed by Alecia Schmuhl, who remained outside. Andrew Schmuhl eventually slit Leo Fishers throat and stabbed Susan Duncan, leaving them for dead. Prosecutors said police caught up to the Schmuhls a short-time later on the Beltway and Alecia Schmuhl attempted to run the officers off the road before she and her husband were stopped. Andrew Schmuhl, also an attorney, was found in nothing but an adult diaper. Alecia Schmuhl, 32, of Springfield, Virginia, sobbed quietly Monday in a Fairfax County courtroom, answering yes five times as a judge asked her if she was guilty on each of five charges related to the scheme. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of between 10 and 45 years, less than the two life terms plus 98 years Andrew Schmuhl received last month following a nearly five-week trial in June. Casey Lingan, Chief Deputy Commonwealths Attorney for Fairfax County, said the plea deal would spare Fisher and Duncan, who have physical and psychic scars, from the pain of having to testify again. Both Alecia and Andrew Schmuhl are deeply culpable, Lingan said after the plea hearing. They brought that terror on Nov. 9. During the hearing, Alecia Schmuhls attorneys said they would save the explanation of their clients actions until the sentencing hearing on Jan. 18 and 19. They declined to comment afterward. Lingan spent much of his time in court detailing the painstaking preparations that went into the attack, which generated news across the country, and the couples attempts to cover their tracks. The Schmuhls assembled an abduction kit that included rope, plastic gloves and a knife, purchased disposable phones that are hard to trace, and paid for a Taser in cash. Alecia Schmuhl even acquired adult diapers that Andrew Schmuhl could wear during the three-hour long abduction. Prosecutors said the couple drove to Duncan and Fishers home on a quiet Sunday night. Andrew Schmuhl knocked on the door and then forced his way in, posing as a law enforcement officer from the Virginia SEC. Andrew Schmuhl Tasered Fisher, who crumpled to the floor, and then bound him with flexible cuffs. Duncan was bound by the hands and feet as well, after she came to investigate the commotion. Andrew Schmuhl bizarrely told them a cartel had placed a hit out on Fisher, who is the managing partner with the Arlington, Virginia, firm of Bean, Kinney & Korman and who had fired Alecia Schmuhl for poor performance two weeks earlier. Over the next three hours, the couple were forced onto the bed in their bedroom, where they were interrogated. At one point, Andrew Schmuhl took them to search Fishers work email, before they returned to the bed. As Andrew Schmuhl held the couple hostage, he communicated with someone he called his boss and partner via cell phone, Lingan said. Lingan said it appeared that person was Alecia Schmuhl. It was as if the intruder came back with a script of questions, Lingan said in court. The abduction ended with Andrew Schmuhl questioning Fisher about where he had money or stacks of gold, Lingan said. Lingan said Schmuhl had learned just before the attack he owed around $18,000 in back alimony. Suddenly, Andrew Schmuhl placed a pillow over Fishers head and slit his throat, Lingan said. Fisher managed to call out to Duncan that Schmuhl was killing him. Duncan charged into the room and Andrew Schmuhl opened fire on her with a handgun, Lingan said. The bullet grazed her head and then Andrew Schmuhl viciously stabbed Duncan in the back and neck until she played dead. Duncan eventually was able to trip a fire alarm, sending Schmuhl fleeing from the home. Ducan, who Lingan said lost 50 percent of the blood in his body, identified Schmuhl as the attacker to police when they arrived and was rushed to the hospital along with Duncan. Both testified forcefully at Andrew Schmuhls trial and sentencing, saying the attack had taken a toll on them. After the hearing Monday, they walked through the courthouse arm-in-arm. virginia-hostage A wrongful-death lawsuit filed Monday claims that actor Jim Carrey supplied his late girlfriend with the powerful prescription drugs she used to commit suicide. Cathriona White, 30, was found dead in a Sherman Oaks, California, residence in September 2015. The lawsuit, filed by her husband, Mark Burton, in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Carrey used a fake name and his immense wealth and celebrity status to illegally obtain and distribute highly addictive and, in this case deadly, controlled substances. Burton, through the lawsuit, also alleges Carrey supplied White with prescription drugs despite knowing she was prone to depression and had previous suicide attempts. Jim Carey said in a statement Monday he will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me or the woman I loved. It would be easy for me to get in a back room with this mans lawyer and make this go away, but there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world, Carrey said in a statement. Shortly after Whites death, reports emerged that White was still married but had been estranged from her husband. Burton attorney Michael Avenatti told The Washington Post that White and Burton had been married since January 2013, but the lawyer declined to comment on the nature of their relationship at the time of her death because it distracts from what this case is really about, which is Mr. Carreys conduct. The lawsuit alleges Carrey violated Californias Drug Dealer Liability Act, which allows people to file civil lawsuits against suppliers for harm caused by illegal drug use, and seeks unspecified damages. An autopsy showed White had taken her own life by overdosing on a lethal amount of prescription drugs, including Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet, all of which Carrey got using the alias Arthur King, according to the lawsuit. Shortly after Whites death, Carrey said in a statement that he was shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of my sweet Cathriona. She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled. The actor attended Whites funeral, and a photo published by People shows him helping to carry her casket. But the lawsuit, which seeks burial and funeral expenses, claims that Carrey offered to help pay for the funeral (a story line that surfaced in TMZ) and never did. White, an Irish makeup artist, had been romantically linked with Carrey on and off since 2012. Details from her autopsy were reported by various outlets this summer, including what drugs were found in her system and a note she had written to Carrey. At the time, the actor publicly lamented the release of her autopsy information. On Monday, Carrey said in a statement that Whites troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyones control. I really hope that some day soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace. carrey-1stld-writethru Modified On Sep 19, 2016 06:12 PM By Alshaar The challenge to meet BS VI emission norms by the year 2020 might be a little stiff but the industry is intent on achieving the set target, informed Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) president, Vinod Dasari on Monday. The target is very stiff but the auto industry has accepted the challenge in view of the rising concerns on vehicular pollution, especially in the urban metros, he said in a press release. Dasari pointed out that India has been the fastest in adopting new safety and emission norms but it could bear some repercussions too. This would not only entail a significant telescoping of long term investments into a much shorter timeframe of 3-4 years, but also deployment of a much larger technical resource drawn from world over to enable compression in the time taken for technical development, testing and validation of the vehicles in Indian conditions, he said. SIAM also hopes that the oil sector plays its part in the transition by making the required fuel available on a country-wide basis as per the new timeline and has testing fuel available a year sooner. The exemptions given to oil companies in some of the fuel specifications will make it even more difficult for the auto industry to meet other mandatory norms like fuel efficiency, Dasari expressed. READ: New emission norms in India For two-wheelers, the emission norms in the country have not yet been finalised. But they are expected to be even ahead of Europe, once they are put in place. Dasari also stated that the immediately next target for the industry would be to implement BS IV across the country by April 1, next year, given the fuel availability. When the officer ordered Rahami to show his hands, the suspect "pulled out a handgun and fired one shot at the officer, striking him in the abdomen," Sarnacki said. "Fortunately the officer had a bullet-proof vest on." When police arrived, one of the officers "tried to rouse him," Sarnacki said. "The gentleman on the ground picked up his head, and the officer saw that he had a beard and resembled the wanted person from the poster ... from the bombings." The search for Rahami ended after police got a call about a man sleeping in the doorway of a local bar, Sarnacki said. "When I was at the scene, initially, he was conscious and awake," Capt. James Sarnacki of the Linden Police Department said of the suspect. The injuries sustained by Rahami, who was being treated at a local hospital, and the officers did not appear to be life threatening, officials said. Ahmad Rahami was shot in the leg and managed to shoot one police officer in the hand and another in the bullet proof vest during the 10:30 a.m. confrontation in Linden, New Jersey, law enforcement sources said. The 28-year-old New Jersey man wanted in connection with a series of blasts that terrorized New York and New Jersey over the last three days was taken into custody Monday after he was shot in a gun battle with police officers. A local business owner told NBC News he heard what he thought at first were fireworks. "But then we took a peek and there were cops firing and the guy went down in front of the building," said the owner, who declined to give his name. Meanwhile, President Obama reassured a nervous nation that law enforcement was on the case. "Moments like this, I think it's important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do," said Obama. "They are trying to hurt innocent people and create fear in all of us, to disrupt the way we live." Obama went on to praise New Yorkers and New Jersey residents after their states were once again targeted by terror. "Folks around here, they don't get scared," he said. "They're tough. they're resilient. They go about their business every single day." Rahami, who lives in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was identified as a suspect after a fingerprint was found on one of the devices that failed to detonate, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News. They also found more information that pointed to Rahami on cell phones that were wired to the unexploded bombs, the official said. "He certainly seemed to do virtually nothing to cover his tracks," the official says. But the official downplayed any talk of Rahimi being part of a "cell" and said at this point have no idea whether anyone else was involved. Asked whether the bombings were ISIS-inspired or directed, the official said authorities have no idea: "We're a long way from that." Still, the FBI warned that Rahami should be considered armed and dangerous. And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials could not rule out international terrorism. "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," Cuomo said Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Rahami is the man seen in surveillance footage taken Saturday night in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, the site of an explosion that injured 29 people, a senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News. The source said there is other physical evidence linking Rahimi to the devices that went off or were found in New York and New Jersey. The development came hours after a backpack that appeared to contain pipe bombs exploded as a police robot examined it near a New Jersey train station. That blast happened shortly before 1 a.m. ET Monday. It was the second in New Jersey since Saturday morning. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters the bomb squad robot was "cutting into the device when it exploded" in his city. A spokesman for Bollwage had earlier described the blast as a controlled detonation. Officials familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News that heavily armed FBI agents spotted at a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth around 6 a.m. were involved in the tri-state bombs probe. Several law enforcement officials told NBC News that they are concerned that an active terrorism cell with multiple players could be at work in the New York-New Jersey area. Earlier, authorities stopped a "vehicle of interest" in the New York blast at about 8:45 p.m. ET Sunday near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York, the FBI said. Five people were being questioned by the FBI early Monday, they said. None of the five people had been charged, authorities told NBC News. Multiple senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that the suspicious device discovered Sunday night in Elizabeth looked similar in appearance to the one that exploded Saturday morning in Seaside Park, N.J. The latest package was a backpack, and it was found by two men in a garbage can about 300 feet from the front door of a crowded pub in Elizabeth, Bollwage said. When they saw wires and pipes, they dropped it and immediately went to police headquarters, he said. "We do not believe those two are involved," the mayor said. "We believe they did the right thing." FBI Newark tweet 1 FBI Newark tweet 2 Bollwage said he was "extremely concerned for the residents of the community" if "someone could just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it." New Jersey Transit suspended services between Newark Airport and the Elizabeth station, and Amtrak suspended service along parts of the Northeast Corridor. NJ Transit tweet The explosion Saturday night injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. Less than three hours later, a "possible secondary device" was found a few blocks away on 27th Street while officers were combing the area. Recently, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 5983, Chairman Jeb Hensarlings (R-Texas) plan to overhaul the current financial regulatory regime, including the Dodd-Frank Act, moving the controversial bill to the House floor. Here, CU Times Executive Editor Michael Ogden asks Washington correspondent David Baumann to explain what the passage means for credit union executives. Ogden: Interesting news coming out of the House Financial Services Committee. Weve seen some unexpected turns. Tell us what happened. Baumann: The House Financial Services Committee started its markup of Chairman Jeb Hensarlings financial services overhaul legislation. Normally for a 512-page bill, you would expect the markup to take several hours, if not a couple of days. What happened here is that Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said that the bill was so bad that Democrats didnt even want to try and save it or amend it, and instead, she moved to end debate and call the previous question, which brought the bill to a vote. With Washington, D.C., serving as the home of the federal government, credit union Hike the Hills offer a unique opportunity to present the credit union difference to legislators and regulators. This week, the Ohio Credit Union League (OCUL) was one of 6 leagues in Washington, D.C., and had a packed schedule that included congressional meetings, as well as meetings with the leadership of the NCUA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Advocacy is job one for the league/CUNA system, and we were proud to lead a group of 50 credit union leaders representing 30 credit unions to Washington to advocate for meaningful regulatory relief, said Patrick Harris, OCUL vice president for government affairs. Our message was infused with credit union philosophy, which allowed us to collectively differentiate ourselves from big banks and expose the flaws in the one-size-fits-all regulatory approach. On Tuesday, the group dined at Credit Union House, and flew in Ohio State Rep. Rob McColley for dinner. They discussed key races in the state of Ohio and ways to keep credit union priorities on legislators minds going forward. This daily digest focuses on Yuan rates, major Chinese economic data, market sentiment, new developments in Chinas foreign exchange policies, changes in financial market regulations, as well as market news typically available only in Chinese-language sources. - Yuans overnight borrowing cost in Hong Kong soared to the second-highest level on history after the offshore market reopened on Monday. - Chinas housing prices grew at a faster pace in August, elevating the risk of price bubbles. - Chinas Central Bank continued to sign bilateral currency deals with counterparts in the effort to promote Yuans global use. To receive reports from this analyst, sign up for Renee Mu distribution list. Yuan Rates - The overnight borrowing cost of the offshore Yuan in Hong Kong (HIBOR O/N) jumped from 7.9500% on last Thursday to 23.6830% on Monday, the second-highest level on record. Hong Kong had a three-day holiday beginning on last Friday. The HIBOR O/N has seen significant increases since last Thursday, which is not uncommon as banks demand in Yuan liquidity generally rises ahead of a major holiday. However, the tightened condition has not been eased after the offshore market opened on Monday; this is the third time in two weeks that Yuans borrowing cost soared in the largest Yuan offshore center. The unusual surges in HIBOR increase market speculation that Chinas Central Bank wants to squeeze Yuan shorts by increasing the borrowing cost of the currency. Data downloaded from Bloomberg; chart prepared by Renee Mu. At the same time, the PBOC issued the Yuan fix on Monday after a 4-day hiatus due to the same holiday and the weekend. The Yuan was set by +109 pips or +0.16% stronger against the U.S. Dollar to 6.6786. Yet, the reference rate is still weaker than levels that the offshore Yuan traded during the Chinese holiday. This indicates that the PBOC may remain cautious to guide the Yuan further stronger before the release of Fed rate decision on Wednesday. USD/CNH 2-Hour Prepared by Renee Mu. Another main theme that traders want to keep in mind is Yuans official inclusion in the SDR basket as a reserves currency on October 1. The following ten days is a critical period for Yuans entry, said by the Chinese media. Reduced volatility in Yuan rates may help to prepare the currency for a smooth entry to the SDR basket. Key Economic Indicators - Chinas total electricity consumption increased 8.3% in August from a year ago, according to the Statistics Bureau. The growth was 0.1% higher than the increase in July. Electricity consumption is one of the three leading indicators that the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang uses to forecast the countrys economic growth. In August, despite the increased growth in total electricity consumption, the electricity consumed by the secondary sector only grew 4.8%, slowing down from an increase of 6.9%. This indicates continued weakness in manufacturing industries. - Chinas housing prices continued to rise in August, with faster growth seen in medium- and large-sized cities. Among 70 cities in a survey conducted by the Statistics Bureau, 64 cities reported increases in new home prices on a monthly basis. The largest monthly growth was seen in Zhengzhou, a tier-two city, with an increase of 5.6%. Tier-one cities reported large increases as well: the housing prices rose 5.2% in Shanghai and increased 3.8% in Beijing. The fast growing housing prices have raised regulators concerns on the risk of price bubbles. PBOCs Chief Economist Ma Jun addressed on the importance of curbing housing prices last Monday. In addition to the soaring housing prices, home loans have taken up over 70% of the total new Yuan loans in August. Within such context, Chinas Central Bank is less likely to introduce easing measures, as they may cause more bubbles in the property sector. Market News Sina News: Chinas most important online media source, similar to CNN in the US. They also own a Chinese version of Twitter, called Weibo, with around 200 million active usersmonthly. - Chinas National Reform and Development Commission announced on Monday that the regulator has approved a series of construction projects on roads, railways and bridges, with a total investment of nearly 30 billion Yuan. The projects are expected to promote the local economy of mid-west areas that are less developed than the east-coast regions. This is seen as a move of proactive fiscal policy, which is to increase government spending in the effort of supporting the slowing economy. China Finance Information: a finance online media administrated by Xinhua Agency. - China Central Bank and Hungarian Central Bank signed a bilateral currency swap deal worth 10 billion Yuan, with a term of 3 years. As a method to promote the global use of the Yuan, Chinas Central Bank have been signing currency deals with numerous countries. Since 2016, the PBOC has reached deals with Singapore, Morocco, Serbia as well as Hungary, with a total value of 321.5 billion Yuan. -To receive reports from this analyst, sign up for Renee Mu distribution list. Visitors to last weeks Tillage-Live event were treated to another September scorcher as the mercury touched 30C at Monks Kirby, Warwickshire. Here Farmers Weeklys Machinery team presents some of the latest cultivators, drills and sprayers being demonstrated to potential shoppers in the hopes of getting them to crack open their wallets. Among the exciting new innovations on offer were Kvernelands U-Drill, Amazones Cayron-range update and the Cenius 3003 Super high-speed cultivator. Also competing to catch the farmers eye were Teagles Vario-S Cultivator, harder-wearing Carbi-Protect shares and new Mulchers discs for KRM Agrisems Maximulch cultivators. Kverneland reveal smaller and more agile U-Drill Norwegian outfit Kverneland has released 3m and 4m version of its U-Drill, aimed at growers with tight spots around the farm where extra manoeuvrability is required. The 3m U-Drill 3000 with a power requirement of 150-160hp was on show at Tillage-Live for the first time and has been selling well across the Channel on farms with about 400ha. See also: Tips for buying a 350hp Cat Challenger C-series on a 30,000 budget Two rows of 450mm discs work the soil, which is levelled off by a tine harrow and consolidated by easy-to-pull offset packer wheels ahead of disc coulters set at 12.5cm. Front-mounted packer wheels come as an optional extra and help maintain even seed placement, preventing the drill pitching forward and lifting coulters out of the ground if the tractor bites. A 3,000-litre tank available in grain only or grain-fertiliser options and electronic metering delivers seed to the coulters, while a 40 litre/min hydraulic pump has been replaced by a more efficient 28 litre/min unit to drive the fan, minimising reduced flow elsewhere. All adjustments to disc and seeding depth can be made from the cab via a simple control system, a while a fully programmable headland management system makes ins and outs a doddle. A Geo-Control option allows for variable rate seeding and section control and the company hopes to develop fully automatic headland management to further improve user friendliness. The U-Drill 3000 starts at 51,000, with the specced-up version on show is about 61,000. New Amazone plough negotiates rocky ground Amazone boldly stepped into the plough market in 2014 and recently expanded its five- to six-furrow vari-width Cayron range to include a hydraulic auto-reset option for growers with stony soils. The Cayron 200 and 200 V which comes with hydraulic furrow width adjustment maintains all other key features, including a 240hp headstock, 30-55cm furrow widths, 1m body to body clearance and 83cm frame height for stress-free trash management. On top of this, there is now an option to add S-Force, an auto-reset system that is run off a single-acting spool, with pressure adjusted by the operator from inside the cab. When an obstacle is hit, a hydraulic accumulator on each leg allows oil to be released from the ram, lifting it clear and once passed pressure quickly returns to get the furrow back in work smoothly. Lift height is up to 45cm and lateral movement is up to 20cm, so there is plenty of play to negotiate big stones without pulling them up or damaging the machine. A shearbolt system remains in place if movement exceeds these limits. The front leg has an 18% greater release force from a beefed-up ram for penetration on headlands and compacted furrow walls. Pressure can be set between 800-2,000kg to accommodate easy-going to unforgiving soils. A standard five furrow vari-width Cayron 200 will set you back 28,455, with the new Cayron 200 VS-Force on show at Tillage-Live priced at 34,145. Cenius cultivator If minimum-tillage is your preference, the firm was also showing off its 3m Cenius 3003 Super high-speed cultivator, first launched at Cereals but making its working debut at Monks Kirby. The Super uses a pressure spring overload device instead of the shearbolt system on the Special version and this sits up top to tidily keep it out the way of soil boil. A tougher breaking force of 600kg makes it more suited to heavy or stony ground and comes with the new DW 600 packer-roller at a costs of 20,650. Optional extras including hydraulic depth and disc control. Teagle brings drill and cultivator updates to Tillage-Live Teagle has added a new high speed disc (HSD) system to its list of coulter picks on 3m and 4m Polymat Profi-Line seed drills, broadening working capabilities in a range of conditions. The British-based company only offered double disc or Suffolk coulter options until now, with the manufacturers new HSD system offering improved seed placement and the ability to drill directly into stubbles. This is achieved by larger 300mm press wheels and a hydraulic torsion bar suspension system that can generate coulter pressures of 5kg-120kg and is adjusted from the comfort of the tractor cab. Buyers will pay a 6,470 premium on a 3m and 8,630 on a 4m Polymat over the Suffolk coulter option, which are listed at 14,635 and 17,985, respectively. Vario-S Cultivator Teagles Vario-S cultivator has also had some updates for this season, with greater clearance between discs and frame to ease trash flow where residues levels are high. The redesigned chassis also helps reduce load on the tractor, which can be trimmed further by a new optional hydraulic folding packer mechanism that shortens the overall length and shifts weight closer to the tractor for transport. The 3m version on show now comes with independent hydraulic deep-tine protection as standard. These can be lifted in and out of work from the cab, which is particularly useful if stubbles only need a light discing. Ripping legs can then be dropped in quickly and easily on the go for lifting out tight tramlines or compacted headlands. A basic 3m version costs 14,605, excluding the roller. Expect to pay between 1,800 and 4,000 on top, depending on your choice. KRM Agrisem boost options for Maximulch cultivators Harder-wearing Carbi-Protect shares and new Mulchers discs are now available to KRM Agrisems Maximulch cultivators. Standard ploughshares for the deep tines only had a carbide toenail on the point and wing, but the new Carbi-Protect has a more robust coating on all leading edges and extends life expectancy five to 10-fold, depending on soil conditions. Each share costs 195. A new Mulcher disc with a grooved profile costing about 145/m is also added to the wearing parts list and is said to improve chopping and mixing of residues and maintain its effectiveness as it wears compared with the scalloped version. Along with improvements to wearing parts, a more comfortable ride on the road can also be achieved on the 3m mounted version, with an optional hydraulic folding packer roller that lifts it up and over the frame. The company reckons it is the same as 300kg extra weight at the front of the tractor and adds 895 to the base price. Illinois Wesleyan to Host Shakespeares Four Humors Exhibit Sept. 13, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan Universitys Ames Library will host a national traveling exhibit And Theres the Humor of It: Shakespeare and the Four Humors. The 6-panel exhibit will be displayed Sept. 19-Oct. 29 on the ground floor of The Ames Library, 1 Ames Plaza, Bloomington. William Shakespeare created characters that are among the richest and most humanly recognizable in all of literature. Yet Shakespeare understood human personality in the terms available to his age that of the now-discarded theory of the four bodily humors blood, bile, melancholy and phlegm. In Shakespeares time, these four humors were understood to define peoples physical and mental health, and the humors determined their personalities, as well. Carried by the bloodstream, the four humors bred the core passions of anger, grief, hope and fear the emotions conveyed so powerfully in Shakespeares comedies and tragedies. The exhibition explores the role played by the four humors in several of Shakespeares most beloved plays through imagery and rare books from both the National Library of Medicine and the Folger Shakespeare Library. The exhibit also examines more modern interpretations of the four humors in contemporary medicine. The exhibition was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Illinois Wesleyan Associate Professor of English Mary Ann Bushman was instrumental in bringing the exhibit to The Ames Library. An opening reception is scheduled for Sept. 22 from 4 to 6 p.m. in The Ames Library Beckman Auditorium. Three faculty members and a student will present brief talks on aspects of the four humors. McFee Professor of Religion and Director of Womens and Gender Studies Carole Myscofski will present Witches Humors and Love Magic, and Byron S. Tucci Professor and Professor of Hispanic Studies Carolyn Nadeau will explore means by which health care providers in early modern Spain treated sensory ailments brought on by injury or illness. Chair and Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Roesner will discuss how imbalances of the four humors were invoked to describe peoples temperaments and explain a wide variety of physical ailments. And English-writing and theatre arts double major Jamie Kreppein 18 will discuss the role of women in Shakespeares works, specifically Hamlets Ophelia. The Ames Library is open daily. For more information on the exhibit, contact Mary Ann Bushman at 309-556-3244. 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Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. - National Youth Council of Nigeria said it had traced 1.558m (N825m) to a United Kingdom account allegedly owned by the embattled former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin - The group said documents it obtained from the UK revealed that Jibrin allegedly owns and operates the said account domiciled in ING Bank Channels Island, United Kingdom. - NYCN claimed that Jibrin withdrew the sum of 623.44 pounds within the one month period bringing the balance in the account to 1.376, 193.84 British pounds Abdulmumin Jibrin A group, the National Youth Council of Nigeria said it had traced 1.558m (N825m) to a United Kingdom account allegedly owned by the embattled former chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, Punch is reporting. According to the report, the Anti-corruption unit of the NYCN, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, said operation of the accounts contravened existing Nigerian laws on the conduct of elected and appointed public officers. READ ALSO: EXPOSED! Buhari spent 6m on ear infection treatment in the UK The group said documents it obtained from the UK revealed that Jibrin allegedly owns and operates the said account domiciled in ING Bank Channels Island, United Kingdom. The bank is located at Forum House, Grenville Street, St-Heller, Jersey JE2 4UF, Channels Island United Kingdom. Jibrin opened the account with his address at 453 Crank brook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW. Details of the account statement obtained by some lawyers in the UK show that Jibrin has a total 1.558m (approximately N825m) in the account between June 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016. It further claimed that Jibrin withdrew the sum of 623.44 pounds within the one month period bringing the balance in the account to 1.376, 193.84 British pounds. Jibrins ownership of foreign account contravenes the provisions of the 1999 Constitution which bars public officers from owning and operating foreign account, the group added. Paragraph 3, Part one of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, states: READ ALSO: President Buhari is Nigerias MAJOR problem Fayose The President, Vice-President members of the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly of states and such other public officers or persons shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria. Paragraph 18 of same Schedule provides to the effect that where the Code of Conduct Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravention of any provision of the code of conduct the punishments to be imposed include vacation of office or seat; disqualification from membership of a legislative house; seizure or forfeiture of assets or property being proceeds of such corruption; and prosecution in addition to the above sanctions; where the conduct constitutes a crime. Source: Legit.ng The Federal Civil Service has called for applications into new positions in the service, according to the statement signed by Hon. Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission Mustaphu L. Sulaiman. All application forms should be submitted in a sealed envelope clearly stating the Ministry, the post applied for. The vacancies announced in the in the following MDAs: 1. Federal Ministry of Education 2. Federal Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity READ ALSO: NBS says 4.58 Nigerians unemployed as at August 2016 3. Federal Ministry of Finance 4. Ministry of Foreign Afflairs 5. Federal Ministry of Information and Culture 6. Federal Minisfry of Power, Works and Housing 7. Federal Ministry of Sciencc and Technology 8. Federal Ministry f Transportation 9. Office of the Audiior-Gjeneral for the Federation 10. Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation 11. Bureau of Public Procurement Suitably civialilled candidates with character and integrity who are interested in making career in the Federal Civil Service are invited to complete and submil application on-line on FCSC website for any of the posts indicated in each of the MDAs. The site is www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng http://www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng/?p=3607 READ ALSO: Nigeria has officially entered into recession For avoidance of doubt, application form is free. Completed Application Forms must be submitted where collected on or not later than six (6) Weeks from the date of this Publication (Advertisement). In August the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has disclosed that in the second quarter of 2016, a total of 4.58 million Nigerians became unemployed. Statistics on NBS website shows that a total of 2.6m Nigerians entered the labour market as at the second quarter of 2016. The total figure of unemployed Nigerians now stand at 4,580,602 as at the second quarter of 2016. Source: Legit.ng President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently in the USA with working visit, has delivered an address at high level plenary meeting at the United Nations Headquarters, New York on September 16, Monday. During the first session of the 71st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Buhari and other world leaders would be discussing issues around migration and security, amongst others. READ ALSO: Buhari arrives in New York amid bomb scare (photos) NTA reports that in his speech Nigeria's president has warned the world leaders that unless their is collective resolve to develop more effective strategies in addressing large movements of refugees and migrants as well as humanitarian needs of IDPs in Nigeria, the world aspirations towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals may be obstructed. Buhari said humanity is better promoted and protected if leaders work for the joint good of all. Meanwhile, security has taken the shine off the meeting even before it kicked off formally following an explosion that rocked the city. READ ALSO: Buhari was embarrassed in New York Earlier today, President Buhari participated in high level meeting on refugees and migrants issue. He will also attend AU Peace and Security Council Meeting. Over 190 Heads of State and Governments attended the summit. Source: Legit.ng - The Boko Haram de-radicalization process is ongoing, President Buhari has said - Speaking with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Buhari said suicide bombing is becoming rare - He added that Nigeria was now safer than it used to be President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria is making progress in the Boko Haram de-radicalization process. In a statement signed by the presidents special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari noted that advances being made against Boko Haram insurgents go beyond degradation through just force of arms. President Buhari at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly Buhari noted that the security situation in Nigeria is now very much better and conducive, while assuring existing and potential investors in Nigeria of adequate protection of their lives, investments and property. READ ALSO: Nigerian students embrace Buhari's "change begins with me" The president made this known on Monday, September 19, at a bilateral meeting with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, in New York, on the sidelines of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). "The de-radicalization process is also going on, and we are achieving some measure of success. Even suicide bombing is becoming rare, as the local people are themselves rejecting indoctrination by the insurgents," he said. Buhari added that the nation was making efforts to diversify the economy. He also said Nigeria was willing to collaborate with South African businessmen especially in the areas of mining and agriculture, for the mutual benefit of the two countries. On his part, President Zuma said he was interested in the promotion of economic and trade partnerships between the two countries. READ ALSO: Buhari challenges world leaders at first UN meeting (Photos) Buhari had another bilateral meeting with President Macky Sall of Senegal. At the meeting, both presidents expressed happiness at the good cropping season being experienced in their countries as it portends bumper harvests. This will ultimately translate into an enhancement of the quality of lives of the people. Also, they concluded that political leaders in the country need to make sacrifices to guarantee peace and development of the country. President Buhari is currently in New York, United States for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Earlier in the day, he attended the opening of high level plenary meeting on addressing movements of refugees and migrants at the UN headquarters. Source: Legit.ng Yeah, he shouldn't have said the Clinton campaign started the birther shit. They just cynically winked at it, which is totally okay and good Albert Burneko (@AlbertBurneko) September 16, 2016 On Friday, Birtherism began trending on Twitter. Donald Trump had walked back the claims he'd been making for years that Barack Obama was not a natural-born U.S. citizen. In fact, the GOP candidate went further, denying he'd ever made such claims, and blaming Clinton for starting that line of inquiry in 2008, during her primary campaign. She was all in, Trump asserted. The Clinton teamboth campaign officials and friendly journalistsrushed in to the defense of the Democratic candidate. Politifact wrote a piece examining the claims. Citing an article from The Telegraph titled Birther row began with Hillary Clinton supporters, The Tampa Bay Times' fact checker determined that while questions about Obama's birth location did in fact begin on the Democratic side in 2008, there were no direct ties to Clinton or her campaign. It's an interesting bit of history that the birther movement appears to have begun with Democrats supporting Clinton and opposing Obama. But Trump, and others who have made this claim, neglect to mention that there is no direct tie to Clinton or her 2008 campaign. Charles M. Blow of The New York Times wrote an article titled Trump, Grand Wizard of Birtherism, in which he excoriated the subterranean candidate for lying about his own support for conspiracy theories, and citing Politifact dismissed the notion that Clinton had anything to do with birtherism. Donald Trump said Friday: Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. That was a lie. There is no evidence Hillary Clinton and her campaign either started or took part in the efforts to question the location of Barack Obama's birth. Even Michelle Obama got in on the action at a campaign stop in Fairfax, Virginia. But here again we see the trend of Clinton's line of attack backfiring. While her campaign might not have questioned Obama's birthplace, it did try to otherize America's first black president, during a racially-charged campaign that Clinton ran. From FactCheck.org: On March 19, 2007, then Clinton adviser Mark Penn wrote a strategy memo to Clinton that identified Obama's lack of American roots as something that could hold him back. That memo, which was part of campaign documents featured in a September 2008 article in TheAtlantic, cited Obama's boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii as life experiences that made his basic American values at best limited. ...It advised Clinton to contrast her life experiences in middle America without turning negative. This idea of Obama's otherness was a running theme in Clinton's campaign. Two Clinton aides allegedly sent a photograph of the now-president dressed as a Somali Elder to The Drudge Reporta move David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager called shameful offensive fear-mongering. On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election. This is part of a disturbing pattern that led her county chairs to resign in Iowa, her campaign chairman to resign in New Hampshire, and it's exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world. One of the incidents to which Plouffe was referring was when Judy Rose, the Clinton campaign's volunteer chair in Jones County, Iowa, was forced to resign after forwarding an email containing following: Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the U.S. from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!! Ultimately there was such a perception that her campaign was engaged in questioning Obama's faith, Clinton was forced to address the rumors in a 60 Minutes interview during the primary. When asked if she believed the then-front-runner was a Muslim, the then-New York Senator gave a noncommittal, ambivalent rejection of the idea laced with qualifications, stating Of course notthere is no basis for thatI take him on the basis of what he saysthere is no reason to doubt that. When pressed on her answer, Clinton gave the winking response that she did not believe Sen. Obama was a Muslim because there is nothing to base that on, as far as I know. What this whole birther controversy comes down to is that while Trump's questioning of Obama's birth certificate and birthplace were disgraceful examples of the long tradition of American racism, and race-baiting in politics, Clinton's innuendos about and narrative of the president's otherness in 2008 make her the perfect pot to Trump's kettle. And that's the biggest problem the veteran Democrat faces in this presidential race: She has almost no lines of attack against Trump that don't leave her vulnerable to the GOP candidate flipping the script. Earlier last week Hillary Clinton tweeted 20 questions to Donald Trump following her dip in the polls, and a story from Newsweek by Kurt Eichenwald, titled, How the Trump Organization's Foreign Business Ties Could Upend U.S. National Security. The article and Clinton's questions centered around the GOP candidate's business dealings with foreign nations like Russia. 7. To what extent would your foreign policy be dictated by potential financial benefits for your business partners? pic.twitter.com/4Nd9KSdTfi Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016 12. How can we be sure you'd be willing to be tough on any nation if necessary, if it would put your interests and profits at risk? Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016 15. To what extent are you and your family currently contractually tied to payments from foreign business partners, or governments? Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016 However, here too the attacks carry little weight thanks to what we know of the Clinton Foundation. Clinton, who is seen as the least transparent and least honest candidate running this year perceptions she has fed and nurtured with her own decisions to withhold information from the public, even when such information is benignhas also gone after Trump for not releasing his tax returns. Let's be clear: Nothingincluding an auditis preventing Trump from releasing his tax returns. https://t.co/mpGiRIaPgD Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 17, 2016 But these calls for greater transparency are unlikely to convince many voters given that two weeks ago, rather than revealing she had been diagnosed with pneumonia, the former Secretary hid her ailment, and collapsed at the 9/11 Memorial. Progressives, many of whom are considering third party candidates, also remember Clintons recalcitrance when called on by her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, to release the transcripts of her paid speeches to Wall Street and other special interest groups. The former Secretary told Chris Cuomo of CNN that she would release her transcripts if everybody does it, and that includes the RepublicansWhy is there one standard for me, and not for everybody else, Chris? The problem, of course, is that she was running a primary against a candidate who did not give such speeches. The bottom line here is that Hillary Clinton, given her record, is the worst possible candidate to run against Donald Trump. She is the kind of politician the billionaire businessman and TV star got popular contrasting himself with. And that does not bode well for November for Democrats. Australia doesnt yet have gay marriage. Yes, we are backward. We on the correct side of the debate here call it marriage equality, rather than gay marriage, to underscore that it is a human rights issue and discriminatory to think otherwise. As it turns out, more people appear to support it if you call it that. Clever marketing, eh? Besides, in todays landscape of gender fluidity etc, not everyone in a same-sex relationship identifies as gay. But I digress. Marriage equality has become a hot button issue over the past few years, particularly since everyone else in the western world, from very Catholic Ireland to yourselves in the US, seem to have achieved it without your countries exploding or sinking into a pit of molten lava. It has become such a hot button issue, in fact, that we have all become extremely sick of hearing about it all the bloody time. So, our previous conservative Prime Minister (before his colleagues sacked him in a party room coup) proposed that our government put it to the public in a national vote. If it goes ahead, the Australian people will be asked Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry? This type of vote is called a plebiscite, and it is like a referendum (which, like in the case of Irelands vote, is needed to change the constitution). But unlike a referendum, a plebiscite is non-binding. So all the extreme right-wingers in our government can simply ignore the vote if they dont like the result. Basically, it is a delaying tactic. Its currently scheduled for February next year. In the past, marriage in Australia wasnt strictly defined. However, in 2004, another conservative Prime Minister (and Ws bosom buddy), John Howard, changed the legislation in an act of parliament. The new wording was Marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others Pro-marriage equality activists are currently wondering, if the parliament could change the marriage act in 2004 to restrict it to being between a man and a woman, why cant they simply change it back again? Isnt that what politicians are for? Why do they need us? The plebiscite will cost the Australian taxpayers about AUD$170 million (about US$127 million) in a time where everyone is Chicken Little-ing about the state of our national budget (the sky is falling!). The government is also giving each side of the debate AUD$7.5 million to campaign. Church groups have already asked for hate speech legislation to be suspended so that they can put forward their views without fear of prosecution. You read that right, they want to suspend laws on hate speech so that they can run commercials. But it turns out that they dont need any laws suspended, because the Yes/No campaigns for the plebiscite will be treated as political advertising. This means that not only is the media forced to give equal time to both sides, but that any arguments made do not need to be factual. They can be completely made up, as long as they specify that someone approved the message at the end of the ad. It is interesting times in Australian politics for gay rights. The Prime Minister supports marriage equality. The leader of the opposition supports marriage equality. The majority of politicians support marriage equality, and 70% of the Australian public supports it. Unfortunately, a small section of very conservative politicians in the ruling party do not, and are using their power to hold their party leader, and therefore the entire country, hostage. It is now looking unlikely that the legislation required to hold a plebiscite will be passed. Too many socially liberal opposition and independent politicians are against holding it. They fear that the debate will get ugly. Already politicians are warning that they dont want the blood of suicided gay teenagers on their hands. They dont want the shredded self-esteem of kiddies with two mommies or daddies on their conscience either. If you think that theyre being dramatic, read the online comment threads of any article on marriage equality, and youll get a taste of how low the debate could sink. Remember that media outlets would be required to give equal time to both sides, and truth is no barrier to their arguments. Ugly doesnt even begin to describe it. In an unexpected turn of events, gay activists are celebrating the likely defeat of the plebiscite enabling legislation. They hope instead that the government will just sign marriage equality into law, as they do so many other things on a daily basis. Marriage equality is inevitable, that is the way our society is heading, so why not just pass it and get on with other stuff, like the economy, education and health? This is not just about gay rights, its about human rights and basic human dignity too. Asking the public to vote on whether or not a minority group should be extended legal equality is morally repugnant. Surprisingly, while 70% of Australians favour marriage equality, a majority want the plebiscite too. They want to have their say. Which is fine in theory, but it is an expensive, divisive and extremely hurtful opinion poll, which will NOT BE BINDING on the politicians anyway. Im sure we would like our say on a lot of things the parliament does every day, but that is not the way democracy is designed to work. Can you imagine if 1950s America were asked to vote yes or no on each piece of racial equality legislation? Im sure many people at the time would have liked to. Even if the results were progressive, the campaign surrounding it would be extremely damaging. And why should African Americans at the time have to ask for the majoritys permission to be considered equal humans? We didnt have a plebiscite to go to war in Iraq. We dont have plebiscites to decide economic policy, or health policy or education. So why have a plebiscite now? It is because our politicians are afraid to lead. They are instead outsourcing their responsibility to the people. I dont want our politicians to only do what is safe. I want them to do what is right. I want them to lead. I dont want them to ask me what I think, I voted for them because I trust their judgement. I want them to be smarter than me, because Im sure they know more than me about a lot of stuff that affects other Australians, both richer than me and poorer. With more education and less. With better jobs and those who are unemployed, etc etc. They should be leading for all of us, taking the tough decisions and explaining their reasoning when necessary. They shouldnt be asking me to do their job for them. Come on, politicians of Australia: Vote YES for marriage equality so I dont have to. Last week, on Sep. 11, The Onion ran a story with a typically brilliant headline: Nation Just Goes Ahead And Decides Freedom Prevails Over Hate Is Lesson Of 9/11 Like all of The Onions best headlines, this one resonated because of its uncomfortable proximity to truth. The events of September 11 were such a shock to usa country with very little recent experience being attacked on home soil, much less so dramaticallythat we reverted to a very human instinct, which was to seek some deeper spiritual meaning behind the nightmare. It did not seem acceptable to succumb to shock or nihilism, much less to wonder if America had some culpability in what had transpired. Instead, we told ourselves that we were rallying behind the flag, and that it would only strengthen Americas resolve. We told ourselves that what the terrorists hated was a system of values that could be contained within the word freedom, and that what the terrorists represented was a system of values that could be contained within the word hate. We told ourselves that America had never been more united, even as free speech was stifled, a terrible president was given carte blanche to start forever wars that would lead us deeper into the mire of foreign conflict and domestic terror, and America was torn apart at the seamsperhaps fatally. In other words, The Onion nailed itwe chose a simple story because we werent capable of dealing with complex truths in the aftermath of something so stunning, and weve paid for it. Now, 15 years later, when the reality of terror is not so shockingwhen its becoming almost ordinary, and may eventually become so ordinary that its mundane, like news of genocide in countries weve never cared aboutwe have to adjust how we react to terrorism. We need a total perspective shift, in fact, or we risk making the critical error of over-reacting, which always has the effect of putting power in the hands of the most reactionary peoplepeople like Donald Trumpwho respond in ways that temporarily satisfy our need for power and revenge, but who, in the long run, exacerbate an endless cycle of hatred and violence. By retaliating with the machismo that offers a balm to the wounded American ego, and promises to restore the myth of invincibility to which were so sadly, pathetically susceptible, a personality like Trump gives fuel to the enemy, whose subsequent attacks give fuel right back to the reactionaries, guaranteeing perpetual conflict and the death of even moderate centrism. We are standing, yet again, on the precipice of the Manichean worldview that says, youre either with us or against us. This is the path to self-destruction. As radical as it sounds in an era of propaganda, we need to stop believing in American exceptionalism. If we accept that loving our country means guaranteeing its survival in something like a respectable, democratic form, then we must stop insisting on its essential goodness. Most of all, we must stop reacting to every instance of terror as though our national character is at stake, and anything short of a furious response is admitting cowardice, or lending legitimacy to our enemies. To minimize terrorismsince defeating it is an impossibility that we should give up now, to preserve our sanitywe have to see it clearly. Poetry and spirituality and uplifting narrative, which are always used in the service of nationalism in these cases, are not helpful. They are, in fact, deeply damaging for how they alter our beliefs and create blind, myopic zealots who forfeit any desire except the urge to kill and to die. Combatting terrorism effectively means recognizing two essential components, and no others. Terrorism means death. Sometimes for the terrorists, almost always for at least one victim. Since 1995, there have been fewer than 4,000 deaths in the United States attributable to terrorism, with more than 3,000 of those coming in the September 11 attacks. What Im about to say is an uncomfortable thought, since weve been indoctrinated to believe that terrorism is a major national problem, and that were constantly under siege by radicals. The indoctrination is false: Terrorism is a small problem, with a low death toll, and it needs to be viewed in this context. Cars also kill 4,000 people in America, but cars do it in less than two months, not 20 years. Guns also kill 4,000 people in America, but guns do it in less than two months, not 20 years. Heart disease also kills 4,000 people in America, but heart disease does it in less than three days, not 20 years. Same with cancer. Your likelihood of getting killed by a terrorist in America, in the years since 9/11, is about equal to your likelihood of getting crushed to death by furniture. It represents a tiny, almost negligible risk, and the fact that the delivery mechanism of this death happens to be more dramatic than most should not change our understanding of its numerical smallness. There is personal tragedy in these cases, and personal tragedy can be exploited by politicians and the media for sensationalistic purposes, but its important to remember that these personal tragedies are no more tragic than the innocent life cut short in a car accident, or a suicide, or a U.S. drone strike that mistakenly impacts a civilian population. Terrorism in America is a problema minuscule problem, that deserves less hyperbole than we give it. It especially does not deserve the kind of attention that winds up radicalizing Americans and justifying unnecessary wars that turn into very big problems indeed. As an agent of death, terrorism is wildly inefficient. We have far bigger concerns that should occupy our thoughts. Terrorism is, at its heart, a political problem. We were not attacked on 9/11, or any time subsequently, because our enemies hate freedom or are cowards. The charge of cowardice is fundamentally stupid for reasons that are too obvious to explain, and the hating of freedom is worsea simplification, an irrelevance. These are the kinds of explanations you give to children, when you dont think theyre capable of understanding the complex mechanisms of our world. We, on the other hand, are adults, and the fact that were allowing our leaders to coddle us with this transparent bullshit is perhaps the saddest aspect of modern American life. Nobody gets attacked for no good reason. Sometimes, a mentally ill person succumbs to an attractive ideology and embarks on a vigilante quest for violence and death. Other times, a group of people conspire to strike a blow against a nation like America for political reasons. In both casesand this is a tough pill for the American exceptionalists to swallowwe need to admit our culpability. Its a foggy culpability in the case of mental illnesswhy are there more young men finding justification in extremist Islam or white supremacy or pure misogyny or just the death impulse to commit these heinous acts? Its difficult to answer the question of how weve failed them, but we indisputably have. The havoc they wreak, the death they cause, is a referendum on America, even if wed like to console ourselves with the fantasy that they are isolated agents, non-repeatable, whose native conditions have not been aggravated and mutated by the condition of modern life. Blood is on every hand. In the case of political terrorism, only a case of breathtaking naivete could credit the belief that our past actions have played no part in the attacks. (But of course, these cases of naivete are so common that theyre actually the norm.) A year after 9/11, Osama Bin Laden wrote a Letter to America outlining some of his justifications for the attack. Here they are summarized, via Wikipedia: Western support for attacking Muslims in Somalia, supporting Russian atrocities against Muslims in Chechnya, supporting the Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir, the Jewish aggression against Muslims in Lebanon, the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, US support of Israel, and sanctions against Iraq. My point is not to argue whether these complaints are legitimate, or whether their legitimacy would justify an act like 9/11. My point is that to Bin Laden and his followers, they were legitimate, and they did justify it. This is a far cry from the hating freedom bromide we feed ourselves in an attempt to divide the world into good and evil, and to erase all traces of our own responsibility. This is not the post where I dictate what Americas foreign policy should look like in the 21st century, or to take a full reckoning of its past failures. That information is eminently accessible for those who want to find it. Instead, I want to suggest that in order to understand political terrorism, we also have to understand the damage wrought by our past. We need to undergo a complete psychological transformation, and to grasp the unpleasant truth that to a certain undeniable extent, we are witnessing our own demons coming home to roost. And in order to slow the tide of these attacks in the future, we need to adjust. This doesnt mean conceding ideological ground to terrorists, or implying that the violence they commit is righteous. It means transforming America into a country that inflicts less pain throughout the world, and invites less pain onto itself. The sooner we understand the blame we bear, and the sooner we understand the actual scope of the problem, the sooner we can fix things in a measured, intelligent manner. But if we continue to approach this complex problem with childish wish-fulfillment, believing that America is the archetypal father who can do no wrong and who must always be worshipped and avenged, we will continue to suffer. We are mired in a logical adolescence, and rooted in arrested development by our own facile understanding of the world. We needso badly, and so urgentlyto grow the fuck up. According to a recent report, Samsung is facing its first lawsuit against them over the exploding Galaxy Note 7 handsets. Previously Galaxy Note 7 handsets started to burst into flames due to issues with the battery. This problem, unfortunately, is a huge one that can cause the phones to explode while they are charging. This has forced Samsung to issue a global recall of all 2.5 million handsets that are already shipped. Once the reports about exploding Note 7 started to appear, we all know we will be seeing lawsuits against Samsung. Interestingly, the allegedly first lawsuit was filed one day after Samsung recalled about 1 million Note 7 sold in the United States. The lawsuit is filed by Jonathan Strobel accuses Samsung for selling faulty Note 7 handsets. He claims that his Galaxy Note 7 had exploded and caused severe burns on his body. Strobel says that, he was keeping the phone in the front pants pocket when it exploded, burning directly through his pants and caused a deep second-degree burn. Strobel's lawyer Keith Pierro said that his client was severely burned on his thigh and his left thumb in an attempt to distance himself from the Note 7. He has a deep second-degree burn, roughly the size of the phone, on his right thigh. Unfortunately for my client the recall came too late. - Strobel's lawyer Keith Pierro According U.S. safety regulators, Samsung has received 92 reports of batteries overheating in the United States, including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage. Samsung has refused to comment on the lawsuit, but asked Note 7 owners to exchange their device for new ones. We don't comment on pending litigation. We are urging all Note 7 owners to power their device down and exchange it immediately. - Samsung spokeswoman Danielle Meister Cohen said in an email to Reuters. In the lawsuit Jonathan Strobel seeks unspecified damages for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other alleged injuries. It was filed in a Florida state court in Palm Beach County. Source Via INFINITI HR revealed Greece as the next destination for its top sales, service, consultants and national alliance partners. Click here or call 866-552-6360. End -- On September 13, 2016, The Leading Professional Employer Organization, INFINITI HR, hosted an intimate reception for select guests at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV to reveal the next destination of its world renowned President's Club. The INFINITI HR President's Club is reserved for its top sales leaders, national alliance partners, consultants, coordinators, service professionals, select franchisor and franchisee clients of INFINITI HR during the 2016 calendar year.Business leaders got their first glimpse into the next President's Club destination from INFINITI HR that will be held in Greece in July of 2017. INFINITI HR Division Vice President, Daniel Mormino, revealed the next President's Club destination. "All of us at INFINITI HR are proud to have to have some of our most respected national alliance partners by our side as we continue to expand our world-class PEO to clients big and small throughout all 50 states," INFINITI HR Division President Daniel Mormino said."Our INFINITI HR team members are the most consistent leaders of industry who perform with purpose and passion at every juncture, contributing to the growth and success of our clients and our firm. We will continue to empower your passion; We will continue to recognize the leaders who share in our core values through such exceptional experiences. Your epic adventure awaits." Mormino said.About INFINITI HRINFINITI HR is the leading professional employer organization for franchises (PEO) and premium supplier to the IFA, recognized for the most innovative and proactive human capital management infrastructure designed to mitigate employer risk and joint employer liability for franchisors, franchisees, suppliers and mid-size businesses throughout all 50 states. As one of the fastest growing companies in America by Inc. 5000, INFINITI HR is home to top talent leadership throughout the human resources industry and proud to be the leading PEO for some of the most recognized franchise brands throughout the world.Click the link for the latest press releases and up-to-date news on human resources outsourcing. To learn more about how you can mitigate employer liability, increase efficiency and your return on human capital, call the INFINITI HR Franchise Division at 623-455-6234 or email franchisedivision@infinitihr.com. Hydromodel Hosts groundwater management platform will provide a decision support system designed to ensure the sustainable exploitation of the aquifer. Contact Mikel irizar CEO, Hydromodel Host ***@hydromodelhost.com Mikel irizarCEO, Hydromodel Host End -- Hydromodel Host, a SUEZ participated company and technology leader for groundwater resources management, announces today that the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority has selected Hydromodel Host's integrated groundwater management platform as their decision support system to ensure the sustainable exploitation of the aquifer.With this implementation, the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority becomes an authority of reference in the management of groundwater resources. The key objective of this initiative lead by the President of the river basin, Mr. Manuel Romero Ortiz and managed by the Director of the Planning Office, Victor Cifuentes is optimizing the management of a strategic resource."Hydromodel Host's platform will allow us to manage in real time La Puebla aquifers' resources, evaluate and easily predict the impact of the planners, managers and users' decisions, and predict the impact of climate change on the resources" says Mr. Manuel Romero, President of the Guadalquivir River Basin."Groundwater management is complex, and the use of new technologies allows for sustainable exploitation of aquifers" says Mikel Irizar, CEO at Hydromodel Host. "We have a unique opportunity for river basins authorities around the globe to start managing proactively their groundwater resources and ensuring sustainability"Hydromodel Host, a SUEZ participated company, is the global leader in groundwater resources management solutions. We provide the first comprehensive and web based groundwater resources management solution designed for planners, managers, aquifer users and technical staff delivering real-time visibility and accurate predictability. Our solution integrates data management, aquifer resources management, sustainability management and collaboration capabilities. For more information, visit http://www.hydromodelhost.com Hotel developer assembles national team of design and construction experts. By: Midas Hospitality 9110 Harris Corners Parkway Contact Kurt Furlong ***@midashospitality.com Kurt Furlong End -- MJM Group, a leading Marriott developer based in Raleigh, NC, will develop a new 188-room dual-brand hotel that includes a 94-room Courtyard by Marriott and a 94-room Marriott Residence Inn. Construction is expected to begin this Sept., and the hotel is scheduled to be completed by March of 2018.The $45 million seven-story hotel will be built at 9110 Harris Corners Parkway in Charlotte, NC. The 130,000-square-foot hotel will feature a shared Courtyard and Residence Inn lobby, Courtyard's latest bistro concept, two patio areas with an outdoor swimming pool, an oversized exercise room, and meeting room space. In addition, the project will generate a portion of the hotel's power requirements through alternative energy technology. The company also plans to provide charging stations for electric cars.The hotel will be adjacent to the Harris Corners Corporate Park, within minutes from Northlake Mall, and located only eight miles north of downtown Charlotte. According to MJM Group's CEO Anuj N. Mittal, "the location, amenities, and the brand-mix make this a destination hotel for both corporate and leisure travelers." He added that "We at MJM Group, along with our team, are committed to providing a high quality hotel to all Marriott guests and valued customers."The project's design, construction, advisory and management team includes architect The Lawrence Group based in Charlotte, NC; interior design and architecture firm Gray Design based in St. Louis, MO, and; national hotel advisory firm Paramount Lodging Advisors based in Chicago, IL. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, a nationally recognized construction firm headquartered in Baltimore, MD, has been selected as the general contractor for the project. This flagship property will be managed by leading hotel management group Midas Hospitality based in St. Louis, MO. Financing for the project is provided by Live Oak Bank based in Wilmington, NC.Founded in 2004, MJM Group is also the developer of the dual-brand Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Charlotte Airport, which is expected to open this Oct. MJM Group's principals are Anuj and Vinita Mittal, and their company previously developed the 109-room Courtyard by Marriott at Triangle Town Center-North Raleigh, which won Marriott's Platinum Circle, Diamond Circle, and Gold Circle awards in consecutive years.MJM Group had previously begun construction of a 118-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel at this location in late 2012. Its development was stopped midway due to design and construction issues. The hotel's shell was ultimately demolished in 2015 to make way for this new dual-brand hotel."We look forward to working with some of the industry's most recognized leaders," said Kurt Furlong, Midas Hospitality's Principal and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "This dual-brand concept is perfect for the area's mix of corporate transient and extended stay clientele. The location's proximity to so many of Charlotte's corporate and leisure demand generators, focal points and highways will help us draw visitors from near and far."For more information, contact Midas Hospitality's Kurt Furlong at (314) 692-0100 ( tel:%28314%29% 20692-0100 ) or visit http://www.midashospitality.com FK Day's keynote speech will highlight how leveraging innovation, customer feedback and partnerships is critical to creating successful impact both in business and philanthropy Contact Brooke Slezak ***@brookeslezak.com Brooke Slezak End -- On September 27, FK Day, Co-Founder of leading bicycle component manufacturer SRAM Corporation and Co-Founder of World Bicycle Relief, will give the keynote address at Thomson Reuters' VANTAGE EMEA Regional Conference in London. Day's speech will highlight how SRAM and World Bicycle Relief have leveraged innovation, customer feedback and partnerships to build the world's second largest bicycle component company and a global non-profit mobilizing millions of people who have limited transportation options. Whether for a competitor in the Tour de France or a young girl in Zambia traveling to school, creative solutions are needed to help people overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.With well over 25 years of experience in the bicycle industry and ten years in philanthropy and social enterprise, Day has learned that listening to your end users is critical to creating successful impact."What we've discovered over the past ten years is that the single most important factor in the success of World Bicycle Relief is engaging directly and frequently with our end users. We have a saying at World Bicycle Relief, 'All answers are found in the field.' We continually measure, evaluate and seek feedback, then filter that information back to our engineers, suppliers and partners who use it as a spring board for innovation,"says Day.In rural developing areas where the terrain is challenging and there are very few transportation options, distance is a barrier that prevents entrepreneurs from accessing markets, children from attending school and patients from receiving health care. A sturdy, reliable bicycle can change all of that. Compared to walking, bicycles are able to reduce commute times by up to 75%. With the time saved by riding a bike, people are accomplishing much more. Entrepreneurs increase their productivity and profits. Students increase attendance by over 25% and academic performance by over 55%. And, healthcare workers visit 40% more patients per day."We are very excited to be launching this partnership and proud to be affiliated with such a worthwhile effort. World Bicycle Relief's mission of global empowerment truly resonates with our employees who selected World Bicycle Relief from a field of other well-respected organizations to support over the next 12-18 months," says Patrick Hurley, Vice President of Customer Advocacy at Thomson Reuters ELITE.Using bike industry research and testing labs on four continents, World Bicycle Relief designs high quality, sturdy bicycles that meet the end user's specific needs- providing a powerful transportation tool previously unavailable to individuals living in rural developing areas. With access to reliable, high quality transportation, individuals and communities in Africa, South East Asia and South America are dramatically improving their lives.Partnerships are essential to World Bicycle Relief's success. Corporate, Government, NGO and individual partners provide the ability to scale proven programming and to make an even greater impact for the individuals served. With this type of collaboration, World Bicycle Relief is able to deliver programs of excellence into multiple countries targeting the roots of poverty through education, healthcare and economic development.With rigorous data and analysis supporting the efficacy of bicycles to effectively fight poverty, World Bicycle Relief is poised to scale its programming. Globally, high quality bicycles have the power to lift hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty and into shared prosperity.Founded in 2005, World Bicycle Relief mobilizes people through The Power of Bicycles. World Bicycle Relief accomplishes its mission by distributing specially designed, high quality bicycles through philanthropic and social enterprise programs. These purpose designed bicycles are built to withstand the challenging terrain and conditions in rural, developing areas. Entrepreneurs use the bicycles to increase productivity and profits. Students attend class more regularly and their academic performances improve. And, health care workers visit more patients in less time, providing better, more consistent care. World Bicycle Relief also promotes local economies and long-term sustainability by assembling bicycles locally and training field mechanics to service the bicycles. To date, World Bicycle Relief has delivered over 300,000 bicycles and trained over 1,200 field mechanics in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. World Bicycle Relief is a registered nonprofit in USA, Canada, U.K. and Germany, and has assembly facilities in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Angola.For more information, please visit: http://worldbicyclerelief.org Follow us @PowerOfBicycles and Like us at facebook.com/worldbicyclereliefThomson Reuters Elite, a division of Thomson Reuters, is the leading global provider of an end-to-end enterprise business management solution, which allows law firms and professional services organizations to run all operational aspects of their firms, including business development, risk management, client and matter management, and financial management. For more information, visit Elite.comSRAM is a global manufacturer of high-end bicycle components founded in Chicago, Illinois in September of 1987 with the invention of Grip Shift. SRAM has focused on building its organic product development capability through road, urban and mountain, but also has completed strategic acquisitions focused on amplifying this capability. SRAM has acquired Sachs Bicycle Components, RockShox, Avid, Truvativ Zipp and Quarq power. SRAM is the second largest manufacturer of bicycle components in the world. With 3500+ employees, and offices and manufacturing in 15 countries, SRAM is a world-class leader in performance bike parts.For more information about SRAM, its products, and its brands, visit www.sram.comBrooke Slezakbrooke@brookeslezak.compress@worldbicyclerelief.orgMobile: 917.689.6024 BirthdayPak is pleased to recognize Betsy Pierre, owner of the BirthdayPak Franchise of Minnesota, as the focus of this Franchisee Spotlight. BirthdayPak of Minnesota End -- Betsy brings 15+ years experience as owner of Pierre Productions & Promotions, Inc., an advertising sales business, so one could say owning a BirthdayPak franchise fit right into her wheelhouse.Residing in a suburb of Minneapolis with her husband and three busy boys, Betsy was introduced to BirthdayPak by Becky Berman, a business development professional. Betsy claims Becky's call was "perfectly timed" as she had been looking to broaden her horizons. Even though Betsy never imagined she would purchase a franchise, when she learned about BirthdayPak, she said it was like nothing she had ever seen before. Betsy was enamored with the "super creative, new, and different" approach of the BirthdayPak marketing platform and the flexibility that being a BirthdayPak franchise owner provides to have more time with her family. Therefore, it was an easy decision for Betsy to become the next BirthdayPak franchise owner.Betsy recently launched her first BirthdayPak Marketing Zone (a designated hyper-local distribution area) in the Maple Grove/Champlin/Dayton suburbs of Minneapolis and is projecting to have five more zones open by the 2Quarter, 2017. Since the launch of her first hyperlocal marketing zone, Betsy and her clients have seen phenomenal resultsand if the number of positive comments on Facebook are any kind of indicator, then it is safe to say that the good people of Minnesota LOVE their BirthdayPak.One of Betsy's favorite things to do as a BirthdayPak franchise owner is to cold call on prospective clients, which she originally thought would be the biggest challenge. She said she really enjoys getting to meet new local business owners while exploring new businesses that she may not have otherwise frequented. Betsy is also grateful for the "team of people behind her" and said she couldn't do her job without the quick response, tools, and support she receives from BirthdayPak corporate."It's a fun ride and a pretty cool part of my life", Betsy stated. Her positive energy, dedication, and excitement are much appreciated and it's an honor to have Betsy as part of the growing family of BirthdayPak franchise owners. Best of luck to Betsy as she continues to expand her markets, connecting business owners with their best customers through the BirthdayPak Marketing Platform!BirthdayPak is an award-winning cooperative direct mail marketing program with cutting edge digital marketing techniques. BirthdayPak mails high-quality personalized birthday greeting cards to affluent consumers who are about to celebrate their birthdaya proven driver for consumer spending. The personalized greeting cards feature as many as 8 offers in the form of personalized Gift Cards from upscale businesses like restaurants, salons, and boutiques in the recipients community and provide instant and measurable results to the featured advertisers, while protecting their reputable brand and image. New and veteran food, wine and travel writers to meet for four days in San Diego, CA. By: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Assoc 1 2 3 Bay Terrace View Lobby Evening Views End -- The International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) 2016 San Diego area writers' conference will be held October 30 - Nov 3, 2016, at Loews Coronado Resort in San Diego, California.The conference is open to all new, professional and potential food, wine and travel writers. Participants attending the 2016 conference will attend seminars and be able to personally meet with a variety of CVB and PR reps from around the US through the Marketplace showcase. Attendees should bring their resume and deliver their best pitch for upcoming press trips.The 2016 IFWTWA Annual Professional Development Conference features four nights of professional development, networking with IFWTWA members, chefs, and tourism representatives. Participants will meet up to renew, relax and reboot in sunny Southern California. Onsite and offsite activities (press trips) are planned, a tourism marketplace, and educational seminars are planned. Post Fam trips are available to members of IFWTWA.Four-night room, activity and board packages available, as well as an unlimited amount of 4-day passes. Register for regular prices until September 30, 2016!For additional information, fees and registration, interested parties should visit http://ifwtwa.org/ 2016/04/2016- ifwtwa-annual- conference.html Sponsorships are available to all tourism and food, wine & travel related businesses.Marketplace booths (including speaker opportunities)are open to all tourism and food, wine and travel related businesses. By: Shutts & Bowen LLP End -- Aliette DelPozo Rodz, a partner in the Miami office of Shutts & Bowen LLP, and Chair of the law firm's Cuba Task Force, will speak at the Cuban American Bar Association's (CABA) Cuba Conference on Friday, September 23 at 3:15 pm at the Florida International University College of Law (11200 SW 8Street).The 90-minute panel discussion will address foreign investment in Cuba, with an emphasis on legal, economic and structural issues affecting foreign investors.Rodz represents international businesses with claims in the U.S. as well as American clients with claims abroad and regularly assists clients with their business prospects in Cuba based on the recent changes in U.S. regulations."When it comes to doing business in Cuba, we are treading in tenuous territory," said Rodz. "The situation is evolving rapidly and we are seeing positive developments. However, there is a misconception that you can jump on a flight and start a business tomorrow. That is not the case. U.S. Business owners need to understand the process and meet the requirements of both U.S. and Cuban laws and we are happy to help them navigate through these new waters."Rodz will analyze the opportunities, requirements and challenges facing businesses and entrepreneurs looking to do business in Cuba. Her partner, Olga Pina, who works in the firm's Tampa office, will also be a panelist on the U.S. legal and regulation developments in Cuba concerning commerce, travel and finance.The two-day conference, which runs from September 23 through September 24 will address a variety of topics including political, legal and economic conditions on the island. For information about attending the conference visit CABAonline.comEstablished in 1910, Shutts & Bowen is a full-service business law firm with more than 260 lawyers in seven offices throughout Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach. Learn more about Shutts & Bowen at www.shutts.com Regus has just signed a lease for 1,000 sq m in a re-modernized tenement house on Smolna 40 Street to host soon its tenth location in Warsaw. Experts from JLL advised Regus on the process of selecting the new location and negotiation of lease terms. The lease agreement in Smolna [] The company Tchibo Prague has introduced in Panattoni Park Cheb, during the Topping out Ceremony, the 1st part of the distribution centre, which will serve online customers from CEE region and South part of Germany. Currently, the total rentable area has reached 39 000 sqm which will be shortly extended [] It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search Economic research has shown that people are willing to pay more for local produce, which satisfies consumer demand for fresh food from their region and also helps farmers earn money to keep their land in farming and competitive with other uses. But a new University of Delaware study wanted to find out whether people would also be willing to pay a premium for produce specifically watermelons that came from preserved agricultural land. They found that consumers would, with study participants most willing to pay a premium for watermelons labeled as both local and from preserved farmland. The study, which was conducted over the summer and was the first of its kind to tease out the local premium versus the preserved land premium, was led by Josh Duke and John Bernard, professors in the Department of Applied Economics and Statistics (APEC), through a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP) grant. The two professors worked with Sara Albrecht and Greg Vitz, both masters degree students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), on the project. Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee and the state Department of Agriculture (DDA) also were involved with the project. advertisement Duke said it is important for local farms to market their products to their greatest advantage and that it is especially important in regions like Delaware, where development pressure makes it imperative that farms enhance their profitability. Dr. Bernard and I were interested in this local premium issue and we had a hypothesis that maybe people are also interested in produce that is grown on farms that have been legally preserved, said Duke. Delaware has one of the leading land preservation programs for agriculture with a quarter of the states agricultural land being permanently protected, which means that roughly one-tenth of the state is permanently preserved in agriculture. Because of this, Duke said the researchers felt that Delaware is the perfect laboratory to investigate if people were also willing to pay a premium for produce that comes from preserved land. Duke said that they decided to use watermelons for their research because we felt like it was a significant Delaware commodity. We wanted to make sure there was a big presence, and also it would be ripe at a perfect time in the summer season. The researchers used different labeling techniques on the watermelons to show experiment participants that they were local and from preserved farmland, with a local Watermelon Association label signifying that it was local and then a student-made preserved farmland label indicating that a watermelon came from a preserved farm. advertisement We had watermelons with no label, a label that signified it was grown on a farm in a watermelon association, a preserved farm label that we came up with for the project, and then we had both of those labels together, so there were four different categories, said Vitz. The researchers conducted their economic experiments in four different counties throughout Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, going to farmers markets and parks in New Castle and Sussex counties in Delaware, Cecil County in Maryland and Chester County in Pennsylvania. Bernard said, The different locations allowed us to see if preserved farmland has a value to consumers outside the state it is in and if farmers market consumers have higher premiums for local and preserved. Overall they had 326 participants and found that there was a statistically significant difference between the premiums participants were willing to pay for the preserved farm label and no label. The premiums in increasing order were no label, the local association label, the preserved farm label, and then the combination of the two of them was the one theyd be willing to pay the most for, said Albrecht. Hebrew University study suggests that desalination can dramatically increase the prevalence of inadequate iodine intake. An estimated 300 million people worldwide rely on over 17,000 desalination plants in 150 countries for water, and the numbers are likely to grow. "There is no doubt that desalination is a blessing. However, we need to be mindful of unintended consequences," says Dr. Aron Troen from the Hebrew University's Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, in the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. "Desalination removes minerals from the water and could conceivably diminish intake of minerals such as iodine that serve as essential micronutrients," he adds. His recent study, published on Public Health Nutrition, assessed the relationship between iodine intake and thyroid function in an area where drinking water is supplied from iodine-poor desalinated water. It found a surprisingly high prevalence of insufficient iodine intake and a strong association of thyroid dysfunction among adults with low intake of iodine. The study was conducted in the city of Ashkelon on the southern Mediterranean coast of Israel -- a country with the highest percentage of desalinated water consumption in the world, where five desalination plants produce about 50 percent of its water. In collaboration with Dr. Dov Gefel of Barzilai University Medical Center in Ashkelon and PhD student Yaniv Ovadia, the researchers used an Iodine Food Frequency Questionnaire to model the effect of depleting iodine content in drinking water on the distribution of iodine intake. Thyroid function was rigorously assessed by clinical examination, ultrasound and blood tests, including serum thyroglobulin (Tg) and autoimmune antibodies. "Our estimated intake data are supported by significant associations of intake with a diagnosis of iodine deficiency disorders and with elevated thyroglobulin, a putative biomarker of inadequate intake," says Dr. Troen. With surging population growth and water scarcity worldwide, seawater desalination is increasingly used to meet increased demand for water. "The increasing reliance on desalination could contribute to an increase in iodine deficiency disorders, which raises a nutritional and public health issue of a major global concern," says Dr. Troen. "This research supports the urgent need to probe the impact of desalinated water on thyroid health in Israel and elsewhere," concludes Dr. Troen. Iodine deficiency is the single most important cause of preventable mental and intellectual deficiency worldwide. "Luckily, any problems with iodine nutrition that might emerge from desalination can be easily and inexpensively remedied by the iodization of table salt," explains Dr. Troen. "Unlike magnesium, the solution is relatively straightforward -- to iodize salt, provided there is legislation for routine population surveillance for iodine intake to ensure that salt iodization does not lead to excessive intake." Rough calculation of the potential costs for treatment of children born in Israel if a quarter of the population is mildly deficient amounts to 1 billion shekel per year (265 million USD). This calculation is based on a paper by Monahan M. et al, in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology 2015. In a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology, Changwen Ke, Ph.D., of the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China and colleagues examined whether Zika virus (ZIKV) could be detected from conjunctival swab samples of laboratory-confirmed ZIKV cases. The clinical symptoms of ZIKV infection are mostly a mild and self-limited rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye). More than 80 percent of ZIKV infections are asymptomatic. Severe eye damage in infants with microcephaly was associated with ZIKV infection. However, it has not been clear whether the eye lesions are the result of microcephaly or directly ZIKV infection. Since February 12, 2016, 11 ZIKV infection cases (Chinese travelers) were imported from Venezuela in Guangdong, China. All the cases were confirmed to be ZIKV infection by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Serum and conjunctival swab samples were taken from 6 of 11 cases. The ZIKV RNA was detectable in serum no more than 5 days after symptom onset, but it was detected in conjunctival swab samples until day 7 in case 5. "Detection of ZIKV RNA is a gold standard of confirmation of ZIKV infection. In this study, we described the direct detection and isolation of ZIKV from conjunctival swab samples. Although isolation of ZIKV in cell culture from urine, semen, saliva, and breast milk has been described, to our knowledge, detection and isolation of ZIKV from conjunctiva has not been reported so far. These results, though, are not sufficient to recommend the use of conjunctival swabs as alternative samples for ZIKV diagnosis because of shorter persisting and shedding time of ZIKV in conjunctiva fluid (<7 days) compared with urine and saliva samples (<20 days)," the authors write. "It may have implications for transmission of ZIKV, e.g., through corneal graft donors, although this report does not provide direct evidence to support that indication. Nevertheless, epidemiological data and experimental studies are needed to assess the further significance of this finding because of increasing complications caused by ZIKV infection in neonates." An Iowa State University scientist is attempting to peal back centuries of adaptations in corn to gain a better understanding of how the plant adjusted to the diverse environments and elevations of the Americas. Matthew Hufford, an assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, said learning how corn adapted to grow beyond the environment of its origins in Mexico could yield clues to help plant breeders produce better performing crops. Hufford is a co-principal investigator on the project, which also includes personnel at the University of California at Davis, the University of Missouri and the National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity in Irapuato, Mexico. The National Science Foundation has funded the research with a five-year, $4 million grant, around $800,000 of which will support Hufford's laboratory at Iowa State. Corn originated roughly 10,000 years ago in the warm lowlands of southwest Mexico. In a relatively short time, the plant adapted to grow throughout the Americas in higher elevations and in different climates. But the genetic mechanisms that allowed for those adaptations to develop remain murky to scientists, Hufford said. "With this project, we hope to identify good candidates for genes that played key roles in helping maize adapt," he said. "You could use that new knowledge to design corn to deal with the environmental challenges of today, like climate change and other stresses." Comparing corn varieties adapted to low elevations with those adapted to high elevations reveals some striking differences, Hufford said. For instance, highland corn stems are a darker color and grow filamentous macrohairs to insulate the plant from cooler temperatures and higher ultraviolet radiation at high elevations. The research team will cross highland and lowland corn varieties and study the genetics of both the parents and offspring. Hufford's laboratory will construct de novo assemblies, or highly detailed series of correctly ordered gene sequences, of the parent varieties. Corn has adapted to a remarkable range of environments, Hufford said, making it a particularly useful species to study for plant adaptation. Corn is grown on multiple continents at elevations ranging from near sea level to elevations near 13,000 feet. Tonka, a Staffordshire terrier mix, first arrived at the Sacramento SPCA (SSPCA) in California in March. Sacramento SPCA Her owner was homeless and unable to care for her, and decided to give her up to the shelter. The goal, as it is with all shelter dogs, was to find her a new home - but that turned out to be tough, despite her sweet personality. "She had many 'strikes' against her: She's a pittie mix, older at 9 years and didn't 'show' well in the shelter ... She barked a lot while she was in her kennel, which was a turnoff to potential adopters," Sarah Varanini, foster care coordinator at the SSPCA, told The Dodo. Dodo Shows Soulmates Pig Loves To Launch Himself Onto His Dad's Lap Sacramento SPCA "We tried everything we could think of to highlight her. We took her to local television stations, highlighted her on Facebook and had her hang out at the front desk with our staff," she said. There was something else they still hadn't tried. Several other animals who had remained at the SSPCA for far too long had been adopted after they got their portraits painted - so Tonka was made into a work of art. Sacramento SPCA Nathan Cinder, who's worked at the SSPCA for 18 years, has spent the last few years using his personal time to paint portraits of dogs, like Tonka, who've had difficulty finding homes. These "paw-traits" are typically displayed out on the front counter area of the SSPCA - and when the painted pup gets adopted, his or her new family gets to take the artwork home. Sacramento SPCA In addition to her painting, on this past National Dog Day, on August 26, Tonka was treated to a special day out and about. Highlights included stopping by Starbucks for a Puppaccino, visiting historic locations in Sacramento, getting a bath at a local groomer before stopping by a salon for a "blow dry" and eating lunch at a vegan restaurant. Tonka after getting her special blow dry | Sacramento SPCA The day right after her day of adventures, a family came into the shelter, fell in love with her and decided that she was the one. Tonka had spent a total of 153 days at the SSPCA. Sacramento SPCA Tonka's victory exit from the SSPCA wouldn't have been complete without one last photo of her, standing proudly with her new family, and, of course, the portrait that helped seal the deal. Watch this video of Tonka's day outside of the shelter: The Sociological Review Foundation makes available 10,000 each year to fund the organisation of scholarly seminars on subjects within the publishing interests of The Sociological Review journal. We support research seminars and/or symposia that bring together established and new researchers to share and produce imaginative, cutting-edge work of cultural and social significance. We are seeking proposals for online or in-person projects that involve collaborations across institutions and disciplines, and we also welcome collaborative projects that connect to wider communities and to the arts. Sol Nayman was a 20-year-old McGill University student in 1955 when he snagged a summer job in the hardware department at Simpsons. The plan was for him to go back to night school, but that evaporated over time as he began rising through the ranks at what was then one of Canadas pre-eminent department stores. His employee number turned out to be prophetic: S50. The S stood for summer and 50 ended up being the number of years he worked for Simpsons, and its successor, The Bay. On Tuesday night, as the sun was setting over the city, Nayman and more than 70 other former Simpsons employees gathered at the Royal Canadian Military Institute on University Avenue to say goodbye to each other and an era. The managers, salesclerks, copywriters, buyers, merchandisers and maintenance men and women, who met working at Simpsons and became friends, got together for one last toast. They raised their glasses and shouted hurrah together, in the direction of the venerable old building where they worked. The building still stands, now occupied by Hudsons Bay Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue. Simpsons, which began life in Toronto on Yonge Street in 1872, was phased out as a brand in 1991 by Hudsons Bay Co., which had purchased the company in 1978. After meeting annually for decades, former Simpsons employees decided that it was time to put the tradition to rest in a way that would have meaning. The onward march of time has made it more difficult for them to meet. Naymans career path was not unusual for the time. After starting in hardware, he moved on to sporting goods, toys and confectionary, rising to become a vice-president in merchandising. The time he remembers most fondly was his tenure as general manager of the Queen Street flagship store during the 1970s. Prince Charles visited. Charlton Heston signed books in the furniture department of the store, which had been cleared for the event. Id like a bloody scotch, Heston said, when asked if he needed anything. I happened to have a bottle in my office because Id been forewarned, said Nayman. Sophia Loren visited the store for a promotional event, and so did Jacyln Smith, one of the original Charlies Angels. Naymans wife, Queenie, shopped there. It was like shopping at your neighbourhood store. Everybody cared. There were ample staff, said Queenie. I could call any department, they knew what I liked and wanted and it was delivered. The delivery man had a key to my house so he could deliver when I wasnt home. She still has the bedroom furniture solid wood, not particleboard and veneer she bought from Simpsons, paying what her parents thought was an astronomical sum at the time, $2,500. She is still using it 55 years later. At Simpsons on Queen Street, there was a book department on the ground floor and a Christmas choir over the holidays. Avon Galleries sold fine furniture, the Treasure House sold china, antique and unique collectibles and The Room was where Toronto women with an interest in high fashion shopped. Room buyers would travel to Europe with a little black book, filled with details of what customers wanted to wear to the Royal Winter Fair or an upcoming wedding. When I worked at the Room, all the shoes were from Italy and they were all leather, said Bridget Boggs, who worked there for 10 years. The Room had a steady clientele, by appointment. People would spend $10,000 to $15,000 at a time. People would come in from Bermuda to shop there. There were so many staff in there it was almost one-on-one. The Bay on Queen Street still sells special occasion wear in a section of the store called The Room. Rules were strictly adhered to, Boggs remembers. When pants for women first came in, if someone wore pants to work they were sent home and docked pay until they came in properly dressed. Women wore hosiery at all times. Sleeveless blouses were not allowed. Organizer Jamie Burton, whose father, grandfather and uncle led the company for decades, worked at Simpsons for 16 years at just about every job in the building. He attended couturier shows and met Coco Chanel, Andre Courreges and Yves Saint Laurent on buying trips. He remembers when department store buyers, not celebrities, got front-row seats at fashion shows. He remembers buying knitted wool sweaters that were actually knitted together, not sewn. Quality was very much a factor, he said. It was a very patriarchal society, but we were a very strong bunch of women in the ad department, said Jane McKinnon, who worked in advertising at Simpsons from 1969 to 1976. We made these strong friendships. It was in the old days when you could take a coffee break and enjoy your friends. It was like a family. Peter Hooker remembers sourcing clothing from Japan, which emerged from postwar reconstruction, eager for foreign contracts that helped build their fashion industry. Hooker was a navy man at 22 when he got a job selling socks at Simpsons, which offered management training courses eventually the company would send Hooker to Harvard for an advanced business management course. I had met someone who wanted to get married and I thought a naval life wasnt suitable for a family, said Hooker, who was general manager, stores, when he resigned from the company in 1978 to pursue other opportunities in retail. Theyre still married. They have three children, 11 grandchildren, and one great-grandson. Hooker spent 35 years at Simpsons, travelling the world in the early days to find the best materials, clothing and styles for Simpsons customers: knitwear and dresses in Rome, skiwear in Austria and Switzerland, cashmere in Scotland and everything in France. They were the halcyon days, said Hooker. It was getting to know your customer and buying for that customer, knowing the trends, which today I think that is lost. A lot of merchants seem to be buying, not for their customer theyre trying to buy for a group of people. Theres no question. We had the glory years. We had the very best of times. Correction - September 20, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Sophia Loren's surname. As well, the photo caption under the archive photo misspelled Yonge St. Read more about: SHARE: BRANDON, MAN.Starting next week, WestJet will no longer be offering direct service between Brandon, Man., and Toronto. The airline says as of Sept. 26, it will remove the run from its schedule because demand for seats has not met expectations. The four-times-a-week flights began at the end of June to test response to the route. WestJet then announced in July that it would offer the service on a year-round basis starting late next month. People who have booked flights on the route will be contacted by WestJet directly to make alternate travel arrangements or to offer refunds. Lauren Stewart, a WestJet spokeswoman, says the company remains committed to Brandon and has not ruled out resuming service to Toronto, but it will give it a rest for now to see if demand revives. Stewart says since the beginning of the run, fewer than five per cent of the seats were being sold. We really thought it would pick up. It was a route that had been asked for, but unfortunately the bookings just werent there. The City of Brandon said in a release that its disappointed with the loss of the eastern route. These things come down to business decisions and that flight wasnt performing to the expectations of WestJet, city manager Scott Hildebrand told the Brandon Sun newspaper. We still believe that a regional airport is of vital importance to the economy and we want to be prepared if something opens up in the future. The Brandon Municipal Airport is undergoing a renovation and expansion that is expected to be completed early next year. WestJet will continue to operate a midday Brandon-Calgary flight seven days a week. Its also bringing back an early morning departure and late-night return option for the route three times a week, beginning Oct. 23. Read more about: SHARE: At 18, Karin Charuz was fresh out of high school and adjusting to life as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces. Those two years were very stressful years, said the Israeli citizen, 35, reflecting back on her time in the military. All your freedom is basically gone at a very young age. During that difficult time, she turned to meditation finding that weekly classes helped her cope with the pressure. Its since become her way of life. Today, she works as a program director of teacher training at Yoga Tree Studios in Toronto and she also teaches one-on-one classes privately to clients, some who have illnesses such as cancer, or disabilities. But back in the late 1990s, Charuz was becoming increasingly disillusioned with her role in the army. As a born-and-bred Israeli, two years of military service was mandatory for her, as it is for all Israelis at age 18 though there are exceptions in certain cases, such as pregnancy. Men typically serve three years. She was working in military police investigations, investigating fellow soldiers who broke the law the details of which are still confidential, she said and at the same time, she was grappling with the loss of friends who died serving in the military. Its a period of time she still has difficulty talking about. She started contemplating a way out, wondering if she could rebel in some way, though she didnt have a real plan. Charuz confided in a friend: Listen, my mind is all over the place. I cant deal with it. I think Im going to fight my way out of the army and Im going to rebel . . . She said, Before you do that . . . let me take you with me this Friday to a meditation group. With no real sense of what meditation entailed, she went along with her friend to a strangers home in a town near Tel Aviv. The first meeting marked a turning point in her life. I fell in love with it, Charuz said. I think its what kept me sane. For Charuz, guided meditation and breathing exercises helped her focus on her problems, quiet her mind and work toward goals that ironically mirrored those set in military training: Crush your ego and be humble. She continued to attend the weekly gatherings of 10 people, which she said gave her strength to complete her service. In 2000, upon her release from military, Charuz travelled to New York City, a place she visited and fell in love with as a teenager. There, she started taking yoga classes and was amazed at how her body transformed once so inflexible she was thrown out of ballet school, she was now binding her arms behind her back. After two years in New York, she set out for India to deepen her yoga studies. She spent a year backpacking around the country, practising yoga and volunteering at ashrams until 2004, when she travelled to Canada. She never planned to stay in Toronto long term, but here, she reconnected with friends, met her now-husband and started taking yoga teacher training classes, finding that teaching gave her the same joy she felt when practising, particularly when working with ill or disabled patients. I was watching people letting go of fears, she said. I came to a realization that my work in this life is to guide people into balance. Just as meditation helped her come to terms with being a soldier, yoga instruction helped her overcome another challenge: public speaking. Charuz was born with a vocal chord impairment that left her voice weak and raspy, something she was self conscious about as a child, which manifested into a fear of public speaking as an adult. But teaching yoga classes forced her to project her voice, strengthening it and boosting her confidence in her public speaking abilities, she said. Today, one of her most devoted clients is Susan Charness, a 70-year-old Toronto resident who had polio as a child and uses a wheelchair part time. Phenomenal is how Charness describes Charuz. She has this calming presence that just makes me feel at peace. A chance meeting brought the two together in 2009. Charnesss husband, Monty, had fallen while entering their North York home. Charuz was walking her dog nearby when she saw the distressed couple on their doorstep and bounded over. Despite being just 104 pounds herself, Charuz picked up the 200-pound man and carried him inside. I was in shock, Charness said. I said, Please let me take you out for breakfast, dinner, lunch, anything. Please, please allow me to be your friend. The two have been meeting weekly, practising seated yoga breathing exercises and stretching at Charnesss home ever since. Charness, whose husband died in 2014, also credits Charuz with helping her deal with grief. She really was the catalyst that brought me back to life, Charness said. Charuz continues her dedication to yoga, often bringing her classes to office settings, where people welcome the physical release after a day spent hunched over keyboards, and regularly teaches students at Yoga Tree locations. Yoga has helped her get through difficult periods in her life since the military, including past breakups and the recent passing of her beloved 11-year-old German shepherd, Butch. Her hope is that by sharing her passion, others can also overcome the obstacles in their own lives. (Through yoga) youre able to open up deeply within yourself and become more trusting and loving, she said. The more you do yoga, the more you understand that whats happening to you externally in your body is actually happening to you inside of your heart. Its a self-love process. Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWAAnne Puckridge has two medals, earned during her service to Britain in the Second World War. The 91-year-old jokes that she is still fighting except now it is against the British government. Puckridge is one of about 150,000 British retirees who dont receive annual increases in their U.K. pension payments because they live in Canada. Successive British governments have refused to index their pensions to keep pace with the cost of living, despite decades of diplomatic overtures from Canadian officials. I served my country, we all of us, all of us frozen pensioners paid our National Insurance contributions every week on exactly the same term as everyone and we consider it theft, Puckridge said from her Calgary home. The government accepted our money for all those years and rather suddenly, reneged on paying out. Now those pensioners see a glimmer of hope with Brexit. As Britain negotiates its departure from the European Union, it will have to decide how to deal with the approximately 400,000 U.K. pensioners living in Europe who have received annual increases in their pensions. If the British government decides to upgrade those U.K. pensioners in Europe, it would give those frozen pensioners in Canada and elsewhere a strong argument to pressure the British government to give them annual increases, too. Those details will be likely be sorted out during exit negotiations with the EU. After that, Britain has signalled its intent to negotiate a free trade deal with Canada. David Morris, chairman of the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners said his group wants the Trudeau Liberals to play hardball with Britain in future free trade talks and make indexing their pensions a requirement for a new deal. Writing diplomatic letters or raising the issue with various British ministers doesnt work, he said. Britain has just said, thanks, but no thanks. It has to be a little stronger than that, Morris said. It has to be tied to some mutually beneficial agreement that may need to be signed because of Brexit. Canada is able to pay pensioners abroad and flow foreign pension benefits to expats through social security agreements with other countries. Those agreements also ensure workers dont have to pay into more than one public pension plan and exempt Canadian companies with workforces abroad from paying higher contribution rates for foreign pension schemes. The British government was willing at one time to index British pensions in Canada. In 1969, it signed such an agreement with the United States and turned north to Ottawa to amend the social security agreement first signed with Canada in 1959. Canadian legislation at the time didnt permit old age security payments outside of Canada, which prevented talks from starting. Canada amended the law in 1977, but Britain had decided its finances were stretched and stopped signing or amending social security agreements to allow for indexing of pensions abroad. Successive Canadian governments have raised the issue, but with no luck. Canadas efforts over the past 35 years show that there are likely no diplomatic measures that Canada can take which will lead the U.K. to change its position on the indexing issue, officials told Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos in a briefing note on the issue earlier this year. The March 21 briefing note suggested that indexing the pensions could decrease federal spending on income-tested benefits like the Guaranteed Income Supplement and increase federal tax revenues. The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the briefing note under the Access to Information Act. Puckridge said Canadian benefits help supplement her income. Im not starving because Canada now has given me the security pension, she said. But Ill fight until the day I die for (pension) rights. We earned our pensions and we paid for them in full. The chairman of the International Consortium of British Pensioners, Ottawa resident John Markham, raised the issue during a brief encounter with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this year. The two chatted briefly at a reception at the Canadian high commission in London. Markham outlined the problem; Trudeau was supportive as successive prime ministers have been and told Markham to write to cabinet ministers about the issue. Markham, chairman of the international group, said there are likely British citizens working in Canada today who may, like him, want to retire here. They too could see their pensions frozen when they decide to retire, meaning it is an issue for them as well: So its not just the current pensioners, it is future pensioners. A look at foreign pensioners in Canada, and payments abroad 1.24 million: British pensioners living outside the U.K. and receiving benefits. 560,000: British pensioners living outside the U.K. in countries where their pensions are not indexed. 150,000: The number of those frozen pensioners living in Canada. 500 million: What the U.K. government estimates annual cost-of-living increases to those retirees with frozen pensions would cost in British pounds. $865 million: Approximately how much the increases would cost the British government in Canadian dollars. $544 million: Foreign pensions paid into Canada on an annual basis 200,000: Foreign pensioners in receipt of that money (as of 2012) $169 million: OAS and CPP benefits paid to people living outside of Canada in 2015 $41 million: OAS and CPP benefits paid to 19,507 people living inside of Canada as a result of reciprocal social security agreements $50 million: Estimated amount Canadian companies save annually through those agreements that exempt them from paying higher contribution rates for foreign pension schemes (Source: Employment and Social Development Canada, U.K. House of Commons Library) SHARE: OTTAWABeverley McLachlins turquoise suede high heels click on the marble floor in a corridor leading into her corner chambers at the Supreme Court of Canada. The first woman to hold the job, she has led the countrys top court for nearly 17 years, longer than any other chief justice in Canadian history. Next to her office looking east to Parliament Hill is empty office space, awaiting its new occupant, once Prime Minister Justin Trudeau names a replacement for Thomas Cromwell, who has officially retired. Legal scholars will argue over labels to put on the McLachlin court, but one thing is clear: her influence over a generation of jurists is profound and will be felt for years to come. The reality is there is not one McLachlin court. There are multiple McLachlin courts. She has presided over a bench that has gone through several incarnations, outlasting 19 peers, including all those who were there when she first arrived, and several others who have come and gone since she was named to the top post. I think she has presided over, if not an expansion, an entrenchment of the role of the judiciary as a superlegislative body, says Howard Anglin, a lawyer who was a top legal adviser and deputy chief of staff to former prime minister Stephen Harper and is now with the Canadian Constitution Foundation. He points to rulings allowing supervised injection drug clinics, doctor-assisted suicide and the decriminalization of prostitution as examples of where McLachlin-led courts engaged in social-policy making. Anglin says McLachlin has normalized the idea that courts should be activist in Canada. There used to be more of an open debate in the academy and the legal establishment over the proper role of judges and the need for judicial restraint. But over the past 16 years of McLachlins tenure at the top, the number of those in Canadas legal community willing to publicly oppose judicial second-guessing of legislative decisions has shrunk, he says. What the court does becomes what the courts should do. Its a trend Anglin is uneasy with. He says when a legislature makes a bad policy decision, it can be revised quickly especially after an election. If the Supreme Court makes a policy decision that proves ineffectual or even harmful, however, we often have to wait until a future Supreme Court hears another case and overturns it, which could be decades, if ever. University of Ottawa law professor Adam Dodek, co-editor of a 2010 book on the first decade of the McLachlin court, says under her, it has been a dynamic court unafraid to reshape existing doctrines and craft new ones, such as the creation of the duty to consult in aboriginal law. McLachlin brought more collegiality to the court and coherence to its rulings, too, according to Dodek. I think when we look back at the 90s were going to see them as quite a tumultuous time at the Supreme Court and judges pulling in all different directions a function Dodek says of the enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and of the strong personalities on a bench then led by McLachlins predecessor, Antonio Lamer. Dodek was law clerk to another Supreme Court justice at the time and overlapped Lamers exit and McLachlins appointment as chief. He has worked for the U.S. Court of Appeals in California as well as the Supreme Court of Israel. To be a leader on a court, you need to be able to convince people to follow you in the direction you want to go, and/or you need to be able to make compromises for the larger clarity of the law or for the institutions integrity. And I think McLachlin did both and I think Lamer didnt always succeed in either. Dodek is struck by McLachlins focus on aboriginal law. In a 2014 speech, she identified the recognition of aboriginal rights as among the defining moments in Canadas constitutional evolution. For a judge from B.C. where many aboriginal law cases originate, the questions they raise are not abstract, he said. More challenges are certain to arise, and Dodek says it shows shes correctly taken the legal and constitutional pulse of the country. Though she is loath to discuss other recent cases, like doctor-assisted suicide, aboriginal law is the one area where McLachlin does venture to assess her work and the Supreme Courts impact. She called it enormously important and challenging judging that she finds personally satisfying. Up until 30 or 40 years ago, there was very little law to follow in areas of land title, fishing rights or other economic rights and cultural practices, she says. That meant the court had to do high-level judicial work in her words to craft the principles and remedies to decide competing claims in a Canada. Lets face it we are all here to stay, she says, quoting a 1997 ruling in the B.C. aboriginal land title case called Delgamuukw, written by Lamer, that she signed onto. And thats my vision. I am proud of the courts record. I think our decisions in this area are well regarded and are often looked to now around the world because so few other courts have done it in the depth we have. Will McLachlins vision prevail in that and other areas? Howard Anglin is watching what he says are interesting dissents in recent appeals. I think what the current court is, is actually in flux now, he says. There are a lot of different personalities who are finding their voice . . . I think it will be a couple of years before we know what this court, this iteration of the McLachlin court, is actually like. McLachlin turned 73 on Sept. 7. She still projects energy and passion for what is a gruelling job, and shes outlasted yet another judge. Cromwell retired Aug. 31. She says she has no plan to step down until close to the mandatory retirement age of 75 in September 2018, but will choose a date that will give the government time to replace her. Trudeau will then have an opportunity to put his stamp on the high court with a new chief justice. Asked what she wants to achieve in the next two years, McLachlin speaks of a few projects, including working with government to update legislation on judicial discipline. She has long advocated for an end to trial delays, swift filling of judicial vacancies and meaningful access to justice that is affordable. But her first answer is telling. I would just like to continue to strengthen the court as an institution. That is an ongoing project. We (will) have a new justice to integrate and Id like to make sure that goes smoothly and that the court is functioning very, very well. Thats always my first priority. SHARE: OTTAWACan a Canadian court curb Google search results worldwide if they advertise a Canadian companys counterfeiting competitor? Does Facebook violate your privacy rights when it uses your name and photo in ads to endorse products after you liked a website? Whats the proper test to release a convicted murderer on bail while he appeals a conviction? Theyre just some of the big questions among 29 appeals facing a short-handed Supreme Court of Canada as it starts a busy fall session next month. Six months after Thomas Cromwell announced his Aug. 31 retirement, no replacement has been chosen. The deadline for a shortlist of interested candidates to be submitted to the prime minister is the end of this week. But the high courts work cannot be put on hold. So, seven or eight judges will sit on panels through October and likely into November while the time-consuming vetting and consultation process for a new judge is completed. At the heart of the Google case is how far Canadian courts can go to uphold the public interest in this case the intellectual property rights of an industrial design company as defined and protected by Canadian statutes. The small Burnaby technology business sued a company called Datalink for stealing their company secrets and manufacturing a competing product. It also got an injunction against Google from displaying search results related to the company, which operates from an undisclosed location. Google said it has nothing to do with the lawsuit but was dragged into it, even though the offending website is still operating and available using readily available information location tools, such as other search engines and social networking sites. The effect of the Worldwide Order is that only Googles speech is restricted, as it is now prohibited from truthfully informing the global public (including users inside and outside Canada) about the existence of publicly and readily accessible webpages, argues Google. In another significant Internet law case, a B.C. womans class action lawsuit against Facebook seeks damages for violating Canadians privacy in online advertising. Facebook argues people consent to use of their name and image when they sign up, and the global giant disputes that Canadian courts have jurisdiction over these questions. In the B.C. Supreme Court, Deborah Douez won certification for her class action that claims Facebook harvested and sold the names and images of about 1.8 million B.C. residents for advertising purposes all without proper consent. She said it violates B.C.s Privacy Act. However, she lost at the Court of Appeal, which agreed with Facebooks contention that when people sign the lengthy terms of use agreements, they consent to a clause that establishes where disputes will be adjudicated California, not in a B.C. court. Other cases on courts fall agenda include: A challenge brought by Dennis Oland, convicted by a jury of killing his father, New Brunswick businessman Richard Oland. The son seeks release from jail pending his appeal of the second-degree murder conviction. Two big cases: one from Nunavut related to marine seismic testing in coastal waters, another to Enbridges proposed Line 9 project to expand and reverse a pipeline to carry bitumen oil from Sarnia, Ont., to Quebec. The appeals will probe whether, and to what extent, the National Energy Boards consultation process satisfies the Crowns duty to consult with aboriginal communities. Correction September 20, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the deadline for interested candidates to apply to replace retiring Supreme Court Judge Thomas Cromwell is the end of this week. Read more about: SHARE: One of Torontos premier craft shops is on the move. Yorkville has been home to Craft Ontarios retail shop since the neighbourhood was ground zero of the citys hippie movement in the 60s and 70s. But the laid-back era of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell playing tiny Cumberland St. cafes filled with pot smoke is long gone. So with yet another rent increase looming, Craft Ontario is moving on in search of the bohemian customer base thats sustained it for almost 85 years. Its no surprise the organization is headed for Queen St. W. On Queen, the whole community is just really culturally connected, said Craft Ontario CEO Emma Quin. Were trying to take crafting and make people see it in alignment with other values and aesthetics things like local food and craft beer, and away from the sort of mass-produced culture, she said. The audience on Queen seems to be one that would welcome that, she said. Quin said foot traffic and sales have been declining in Yorkville as the local community changes. I think there are a lot of people who live in Yorkville but dont spend a lot of time shopping in Yorkville, she said. Craft Ontario doesnt just sell the fruits of Ontario craft makers. The Inuit and Native art gallery that shares the space is the oldest in the city to carry famous Cape Dorset prints and Inuit stone carvings, according to gallery director Blandina Makkik. Popular artists include Cape Dorsets Toonoo Sharkie renowned for his stone inlay work and Rankin Inlets Laurent Pissuk, who creates delicate soapstone and bone combinations. Makkik who was born and raised in Igloolik, Nunavut said customers have been increasingly interested not only in the artwork, but also the culture behind the work. One woman came in, and said, I feel this work belongs to me as a Canadian. Its part of our identity and our history. Its not Inuit or Anishinaabe its Canadian, Makkik said. I was very proud of that. Its showing you that its not just a niche market. Its part of Canadian tradition, she said. Quin and ceramics artist Scott Barnim said the craft world is in the midst of an identity crisis of sorts, in part because the marketing world has co-opted a lot of their language. Weve been working really hard over the past few years to change perceptions around the word craft, Quin said. When you attach it to all kinds of things it immediately goes to quality. You could say craft beer to someone and they understand that craft means high quality, really good materiality, all those things. But when you put the word craft individually by itself people often go right to Popsicle sticks and glitter glue. Barnim agrees. Craft beer, craft cheese, craft bread its been co-opted by the food world. Twenty-five years ago there was almost a kind of shaming where you dropped craft from your banner, but then someone decided to dust off the word and start using it for marketing, he said. Both Barnim and Quin are hoping that the craft and art audience in the Queen and Ossington neighbourhood will be more receptive to the kind of handmade authenticity that Craft Ontario stands for. The shops new home will be 1106 Queen St. W. near Queen and Ossington. It will be open Oct. 1. SHARE: Congregants packed the pews of one of Torontos oldest churches Sunday, overflowing onto its balconies, to celebrate 200 years on the same site. With two centuries of history now behind them, the rector of St. Johns York Mills Anglican Church said the community is returning its focus to what lies ahead. Church people are not really supposed to exhibit pride, said Rev. Drew MacDonald. Its considered one of the deadly sins. But I think at the end of the day, a lot of people were feeling pride about our heritage. Founded in 1816, St. Johns claims to be the oldest Anglican parish church in Toronto and York Region, and is five decades older than Canada itself. Over the years, the church has borne witness to Torontos explosive transformation from a small community to a bustling, thriving city. The original building was made of timber cut from the same land it was built on, and lovingly constructed by those who planned to attend it. The graceful stone structure that stands today in the York Ridge neighbourhood, in Torontos northeast, replaced it 25 years later. But almost every aspect of life has changed since then, MacDonald said, and part of the churchs success has been changing with it. Its an issue he says he thinks about constantly. We didnt squander the legacy that has been handed to us, he said. To honour the past, let the past shape and form you. But dont live there. You have to move forward. Thats what weve done. In addition to traditional services, Rev. MacDonald said St. Johns is trying new things welcoming women into leadership roles, for example, and testing out different formats. At the same time, however, Rev. MacDonald said some core things about the church remain the same. People still seek connection there like they did 200 years ago, he said. We live in a society where people are so lonely, he said. Weve lost community People go, I need more than just watching television. Ontario Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell joined in the days celebrations Sunday. Also present for the 200th anniversary were the archbishop of Toronto, Colin Johnson, and MPP Rob Oliphant. The congregation celebrated Sunday with two services. For one, they recreated what the church would have been like in 1816 with costumes, period music, old prayer books and a town crier. It was a splendid day, Rev. MacDonald said. Its nice to be a part of something thats honouring the past and looking to the future. SHARE: The face of hunger in Toronto is growing older. Adults over age 45 are the fastest growing group of food bank users in the city, making up more than one-third of 905,970 visits in 2015-16, according to the Daily Bread Food Bank. A decade ago, older adults made up just over one-quarter of food bank users, but today they account for 35 per cent of those relying on free food hampers. Meanwhile, the opposite has happened for children under 18, who represented 34 per cent of food bank clients in 2006. That number has fallen to 29 per cent this year, says Whos Hungry, the food banks annual report. One of the biggest demographic shifts observed in those accessing food banks in Toronto is the reversal of age groups at opposite ends of the age spectrum, says the report being released today. While large strides have been made in the last 10 years in income support for children, there has been little done for a large cohort of older adults, especially single people, who have lost their jobs after the recession and are having a difficult time re-entering the labour market, the report says. Stagnant welfare rates mean those who have lost jobs or have become disabled are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of food and housing in the city, says the reports author, Richard Matern. The vast majority of these older adults 70 per cent had some sort of disability or serious illness. They were working in the last 10 years but they lost their jobs, and after that they were forced to rely on social assistance, he says. The rise in these older food bank users illustrates a fundamental gap in our social safety net, he adds. Former CN rail conductor Michael Moroz, 60, is one example. About 10 years ago, after two decades with CN, Moroz left and invested his pension in a Christmas tree business. But by 2007, the business was foundering and Moroz developed spinal stenosis, which left him in severe pain and unable to walk. Back surgery helped him regain his ability to walk, but the ongoing weakness and pain means he has been unable to work. In 2014, Moroz moved into a subsidized apartment in an Etobicoke seniors building. But the $770 in monthly benefits he receives from the Ontario Disability Support Program doesnt leave much for food after he pays his rent, utilities and outstanding debts. I always thought about the stigma around using a food bank and said it was not for me, he says. But after he began volunteering at Daily Breads Etobicoke warehouse, he realized he wasnt alone. I share the same emotions of most people here, he says. They are embarrassed, but grateful as hell. The education level of food bank users is also rising. A decade ago, just 22 per cent had post-secondary education, while today 36 per cent have college diplomas or university degrees. The jump in more educated food bank users may indicate that both foreign-trained and those who have received post-secondary education in Canada are having more difficulty getting their first job or re-entering the job market, the report notes. Food bank use in the city was up slightly over last year, largely due to a spike in early 2016 that coincided with rising food costs and Syrian newcomers moving out of hotels and into housing, says the report. In an ongoing trend, food bank use continues to shift from the citys rapidly gentrifying downtown and into the inner suburbs. Since 2008, food bank visits have dropped 16 per cent in the core but have spiked by 48 per cent in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. In the past year alone, Etobicoke saw a 15 per cent increase and Scarborough saw a 7 per cent increase, the report says. But with last falls federal election, the stars have aligned at the local, provincial and federal levels of government on poverty reduction, the report says. A new, more generous federal child benefit and a provincial commitment to develop a portable housing benefit have the potential to cut food bank use, says Matern. A provincial panel working on welfare reform and Ontarios planned basic income pilot project are also promising developments. Meanwhile, the citys commitment to a 10-year poverty reduction strategy to tackle affordable housing, child care and transit for low-income residents is providing leadership at the local level, the report says. The driving force behind the need for food banks a lack of income cannot be met with food alone, says the report, based on more than 1,000 interviews with clients between March 2015 and March 2016. The level of hunger faced in Canadas wealthiest city is unacceptable, and the governments outdated income support system needs a major overhaul. Across Canada, more than 850,000 adults and children rely on food banks every month, including about 360,000 in Ontario and 45,000 in Toronto, according to Food Banks Canada. SHARE: NEWS FLASH: Pacific Command about to sell Newton Legion Hall and land. Thanks to trouble maker Jauhal and his little band of followers. We hope you are satisfied Jauhal, you have done your dirty work, now, just shut up before you cause more trouble, or you may regret what you have done. Need we say more? Get the picture Mr. We have had it with you and your kind. By the time Pritam Singh Jauhal received this anonymous letter in 1994, he had been through months of stress related to his decision to fight the Royal Canadian Legions Newton branch in Surrey, B.C. The legion had refused to let him inside their lounge on Remembrance Day in 1993 because he was wearing a turban. Jauhal was thrust into the limelight with countless media interviews. He wrote letters to politicians and the Queen. He received letters of support and threatening phone calls. And, in the middle of all this, his wife of almost 60 years suffered a heart attack on Christmas Eve of that year and died 40 days later. Jauhal submitted this letter and nine others to the police. The writers were never caught and neither were the hateful callers, even though police monitored Jauhals phone line for three months. The 38-year veteran of the British and Indian armies was happy that his war of words with the legion educated Canadians about the symbolism and significance of the turban for Sikhs. But the entire experience was emotionally draining for him, said Ravina Jauhal, his daughter-in-law. Jauhal died on June 26 in Surrey. He was 95. He commanded a lot of respect in the community for taking a stand, said Gian Singh Sandhu, the international president of the World Sikh Organization at the time of the legion incident. Living in his son and daughter-in-laws home for the past 35 years, Jauhal was unassuming in his role as the family patriarch. He was a gentle presence in our house, said Ravina. While Jauhal became known in Canada as the Sikh man who fought discrimination in the legion, he also did a lot of work behind the scenes helping other Indian army veterans and their families deal with many problems in this country and in India. Lt. Col. Pritam Singh Jauhal was born in 1920 in a small village in rural Punjab, the eldest of four children. His parents were farmers who focused all their efforts on providing their family with food and shelter. Amid his familys constant struggle to make ends meet, Jauhals parents, especially his mother, wanted him to attend school so that he might end up with a well-paid government job rather than spending his life as a farmer. No member of previous generations of his family had ever received a formal education. When Jauhal was 12, he was engaged to a 9-year-old girl, Harjit, in a ceremony at his home. After the two-day wedding ceremony, held three years later, the bride continued living with her parents. The couples married life only started five years later, when Harjit moved into her in-laws house. She was 16 and he was 20. Until that point, they had not been allowed to meet or speak to each other. At age 18, after spending a year in New Delhi unsuccessfully looking for a job, Jauhal joined the Indian army, fulfilling a dream he had had for years. During the Second World War, serving with the Indian Signal Corps, Jauhal saw battle for two years in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya and elsewhere in North Africa. He served in several conflicts later, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He retired in 1976, having received 13 medals for bravery. His three kids had already moved to Canada by that time, and they persuaded him and his wife to join them in 1980. As a retiree in Surrey, Jauhal couldnt sit still. He started helping widows of Indian servicemen living in Canada who couldnt get their widows pensions due to endless red tape. One woman whose husband died in 1989 didnt receive her pension until 2003. Jauhal sent letters on these widows behalf to whoever needed convincing, including Indian army officials and the Indian finance ministry. A letter he sent to the Indian president elicited a request for more information, which Jauhal compiled in a 107-page binder. Jauhal helped resolve about 35 cases for widows or veterans. He also created the Indian Ex-Serviceman Society of B.C., an organization that helped veterans with Indian pensions, property, and legal matters as well as Canadian issues such as citizenship and employment insurance. The biggest fight of Jauhals life began on Nov. 11, 1993. A few weeks earlier, Jauhal saw an advertisement from the local legion in a neighbourhood newspaper inviting immigrant veterans to attend Remembrance Day ceremonies. He and four fellow turban-wearing veterans joined other veterans to march in the parade to the cenotaph. When the parade continued on to the legion, all five Sikhs were denied entry to a reception because any headdress was considered disrespectful. For a Sikh, the turban is not merely a headdress to be removed at will, it is a religious symbol, a sign of my identity and something I could never remove in public on demand, he wrote in his memoir. I never realized that after my 38 years of loyal service in the army, having suffered physically and emotionally in Africa, Vietnam, India and Pakistan, that the fight for my rights as a Sikh was to be the greatest battle of my life. He received an apology from the legions national headquarters the following day and from the Newton Legion branchs president in early December. In January 1994, the legions national headquarters proposed a bylaw to allow the turban and other religious headgear, but delegates at a national convention a few months later overwhelmingly defeated the bylaw. When the Newton Legion closed its doors due to financial difficulties in June 1994, Jauhal dropped his grievance against it with what was then the B.C. Council of Human Rights. The highlight of Jauhals life was meeting and chatting with the Queen during her visit to Canada in August 1994. If the Queen can talk to me with my turban on, it would support our case tremendously, he told The Canadian Press. I cant find words to express my joy today; I think Im the happiest man alive, Jauhal told the Star just after he spoke to the Queen at a tea party in Victoria. Jauhal leaves behind a daughter, a son, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. His eldest daughter predeceased him. SHARE: Do you want one of the most hated jobs in the world? Then the Toronto Police Service may have the perfect role for you: handing out parking tickets. The police are seeking feedback from third parties interested in operating all or some of the service's Parking Enforcement Unit. Its part of a plan to implement the 24 recommendations outlined in the Transformational Task Force Interim Report, which was released June 17 and aims to address a range of issues, including ways to curb the $1-billion-plus police budget and to foster public trust. Specifically, outsourcing might help address the 21st recommendation, which suggests assessing whether there are better alternatives to the current Parking Enforcement Unit that will lower operating costs." The Parking Enforcement Unit has 394 members, according to police spokesperson Meaghan Gray. All but eight members of the unit are civilian officers. The eight uniformed police officers are in administrative roles. Gray says the service wants to hear from outside agencies interested in providing some or all of the services currently handled by the unit. "Once we get that feedback we'll be able to research those options to see whether or not going forward would be the best thing for the service in order to get the same effective services, but perhaps done more efficiently," Gray said. Budget also plays a role, Gray said, as the service is "constantly under pressure for our operational budget." Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, says the union has examined how the Parking Enforcement Unit runs and "we believe it's the best system." "The officers are accountable, it's transparent, they're very efficient at getting traffic moving, and from a cost-benefit analysis it is a revenue-positive unit," he said. He also worries that trying to privatize something like the parking unit will lead to it being "driven by profit and driven by the bottom line." Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and Queens University, can see both pros and cons. He agrees that outsourcing parking enforcement could lead to an "incentive to maximize tickets" which could lead to "hundreds of calls from angry constituents" to the city council about why people are being ticketed so often. Either way, Leuprecht calls himself an "advocate for innovative policing services." He believes it's important for Toronto to "take the lead on these things" as one of Canada's largest police agencies. "We need Toronto to think innovatively to generate some of this conversation," he said. "The question is whether this is genuine innovation." SHARE: For two decades, Maher Qubbaj has worked in international development projects in Jordan, but the focus of his job quickly shifted to aiding Syrian refugees crashing the border over the past five years. These days, the program director with CARE International is occupied with the four centres he runs in Amman, helping refugees meet the most basic needs such as housing, food and medicine. Like the displaced refugees he serves and other burned-out aid workers in the region, Qubbaj will be watching from afar for the outcome of Mondays UN refugee summit, which many hope will be a game-changer in the global response to the refugee crisis. The people here are struggling to survive. Things are not getting any better. We just hope it is not going to get worse, Qubbaj told the Star from Jordan. We have Syrian children working 12-hour days in construction and vegetable markets, making $3 a day to help support their families. The refugees hopes are always there, that the destruction and war would be over, but they also have hesitation. We will be following the summit. With global tension brewing, casualties rising and xenophobia surging, all 193 member states of the United Nations are set to make a long-overdue commitment to show their will and solidarity in addressing the worst refugee crisis in history. On Monday, they are expected to endorse a declaration to facilitate border movements, improve marine safety, tackle xenophobia and resettle the worlds refugees among a framework of principles. Canada will play a key role and be responsible for a breakout session at the one-day summit to showcase its unique refugee resettlement system involving private sponsorship groups, highlighted in its recent Syrian resettlement effort. On Tuesday, Immigration Minister John McCallum will join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion at U.S. President Barack Obamas follow-up conference which aims to urge world leaders to commit to accepting more refugees and put up more money for humanitarian aid. The summits allow us to continue the important dialogue around migrants and refugees, forge collective solutions to their hardships, and find ways to maximize their positive contributions, said McCallum, who will also take part in Mondays UN summit. At a time when the world is witnessing large-scale movement of migrant populations, we have not only the responsibility, but the opportunity to respond by creating a more balanced global vision and stronger commitment to the worlds displaced. Johannes van der Klaauw, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees representative in Canada, said the summit will be an opportune moment for Canada to reassert its leadership in the international community in its support for the global refugee crisis. While the world community has responded in the past to various refugee crises in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Somalia among others, the summit is historic because it helps formalize a structured response to existing and future crises, he said. There is a comprehensive refugee response framework. Well have a plan from the onset of a crisis to the reception at the border and access to health and education for refugees, said van der Klaauw. We look at the summit as a significant and unique reaffirmation of the institution of asylum and the beginning of a process that helps us to implement our responses to refugee crises. However, many feel the prepared declaration doesnt go far enough. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons original plan would have started now by asking world governments to commit to welcoming 10 per cent of the worlds refugees annually. The UN had initially proposed an ambitious plan, but the European Union, Russia and China were among those who sacrificed refugees rights for national self-interest and missed a massive opportunity to back a global solution, said Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International. We desperately need a quick and decisive show of leadership from a core group of countries willing to take responsibility and immediately help by welcoming in some of the most vulnerable refugees and providing others with humanitarian, work and student visas. According to the UN, there are 21 million refugees globally, with only 14 per cent of them in the richest parts of the world. Ethiopia, Kenya, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey host a third of the worlds refugees. Each year, only 100,000 refugees or 1 per cent of those under the UN mandate are resettled, 90 per cent by five countries the U.S., Canada, Australia, Norway and the United Kingdom. With the Mediterranean crossing and refugee influx in Europe, there is a realization that immigrants and refugees are becoming a larger issue globally, said Brian Dyck of the Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Council, who is part of the Canadian delegation at the summits. If this is just talk, then it would be a disappointment. This is what we have and we will see where it goes. Lets hope it doesnt stop here. Read more about: SHARE: Ernest Hemingway has a special place in the heart of Torontonians. In the early 1920s he worked for the Toronto Star as a reporter, writing from post-WWI Europe and also Toronto. The brevity of his style and the ability to soak in detail, capture dialogue and explain character were elements he learned as a journalist and were brilliantly transferred to his fiction, as Lesley M.M. Blume describes in Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingways Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises. It was Hemingways first great novel, a roman a clef. I spoke to Blume from her home in Los Angeles; our conversation has been edited for length. Jennifer: You note, No one was a better promoter of Hemingway than Hemingway. Lesley: He had charisma; he was larger than life. He came to Europe at the age of 22 as a Midwesterner with a big outdoor lifestyle and a huge appetite for living. Writers didnt look like Hemingway. He is a guy who breathes the outdoors. He is sexy; he is handsome; he lives in Paris; and in a seemingly unintellectual way, he is exceedingly intellectual. He is reinventing modern language. It was an intoxicating formula to promoting Hemingway. Jennifer: Were proud of Hemingways tenure at the Toronto Star. As I reread The Sun Also Rises I could see the influence of journalism, the brevity, the lack of great swathes of description and subordinate clauses. But he complained about being a reporter. Lesley: He protested too much. He didnt hate being a reporter. He hated that it was taking away time from what he considered his real writing. He was terrified someone else would do what he was trying to do in prose and break through before he did. Hemingway was a really good reporter. He got huge assignments for a rookie reporter. He was 23 and interviewing Mussolini. The confidence of his dispatches, his knowledge of world events and his ability to encapsulate what was happening in Europe is incredible. Hemingways journalism did inform his style and gave him a huge amount of material to work with. All his short stories come from materials he accrued when ricocheting around Europe. Hemingway wasnt the only one who wanted to strip down Victorian frippery. But he was the first one to do it. He told one of his editors: There is nothing in my work that somebody without a high school education cant relate to. He also said the highbrow critics will get what I am up to. He was able to hit both the high note and the low note. Jennifer: He could turn on you. Think Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, his wives, all the people who supported him whom he pushed away. Lesley: Documenting this period in his life was trying to understand the nature of his charisma that would draw people to him even though he constantly turned on them. The Sun Also Rises was strong public evidence of Hemingways ability to turn on those who had helped him. The book was breathtakingly literal. The people he chose as characters were so shrewd and so cool and so accurately reported. Everything you told Hemingway became his property. As Nora Ephron later said: Everything is copy. He inspired slavish devotion, even though he was unable to maintain happy relationships. It was hard for me to understand how he could flip so dramatically; he became a dark, vengeful person. It was challenging to portray that while offsetting it with the enormity of his accomplishments and his ability to inspire. One of his editors asked: If you could do it over again would you be easier on these people? And Hemingway said: Hell no. Jennifer: Tell me about the term Lost Generation. Lesley: After Hemingway had written The Sun Also Rises, Gertrude Stein told him about an encounter she had with a local garage owner. She had been to the garage and the car wasnt repaired yet, and the car garage owner said: Half of you between the ages of 21 and 27 are lost. He originally considered calling The Sun Also Rises The Lost Generation. He planned a novel that looked at how the war swept away institutions, and young people had nothing to look forward to and no guidance anymore. He shortens the whole thing, he quotes Gertrude Stein You are all a lost generation. It was a really crafty move. The book is about a drunken, scandalous, sexually driven group of people, an elite group. Expressing the idea that these people are members of a lost generation cast it as a postwar commentary. He became the voice of his generation. It captured what everybody was feeling at that moment. Jennifer: Maybe this is a question I should have asked first: why write about The Sun Also Rises today? Most of us dont read Hemingway for pleasure anymore; we read him in English Lit classes. Lesley: It is the 90th anniversary this year of The Sun Also Rises and it seemed like an opportunity to look at the book and how it contributed to the Hemingway legend. Ive also been a Lost Generation obsessive. For my generation, and the one coming up behind me, I wanted to write about how Hemingway became Hemingway. I saw the opportunity to go back and look at this work of literature that has been given short shrift. It did bring modern literature to the commercial masses. When I interviewed the head of the Paris Review, he said many of the manuscripts that still cross his desk read like Hemingway. He is more influential than people may realize. You look at peoples fascination with Hemingways life: The Paris Wife, the novel by Paula McLain, Woody Allens film Midnight in Paris. From his reporting in the Toronto Star and from The Sun Also Rises you can see who Hemingway is going to become. You can see the shrewdness, the ambition, the development of the style. It offers a way to see how Hemingway became the writer he did. SHARE: NEW YORKDemocratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issued a statement Sunday saying she strongly condemns what she characterized as apparent terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey and New York. Law enforcement officials are working to identify who was behind the attacks in New York and New Jersey, and we should give them the support they need to finish the job and bring those responsible to justice, Clinton said, adding: We will not rest until that happens. The former secretary of state noted that Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had asserted responsibility for the stabbings of nine people Saturday inside a mall in St. Cloud, Minn., about 110 kilometres northwest of Minneapolis. This should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups, Clinton said. She added, I have laid out a comprehensive plan to do that. Clintons statement Sunday followed remarks to reporters on her campaign plane Saturday night in which she cautioned against rushing to conclusions about the attacks and criticized her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, for quickly telling an audience that an explosion in New York was a bomb that served as a reminder for the United States to get very tough. On Sunday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there was no evidence of an international terrorism connection to the incident in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan, where an intentional blast apparently was caused by an improvised explosive device on Saturday. But Cuomo said a bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism. Meanwhile, authorities said they had promising leads but still no suspects on Sunday as they continued investigating a pipe bomb that exploded in a Jersey Shore garbage can Saturday morning, shortly before hundreds of people were expected to run through the area in a charity race benefiting Marines and Navy sailors. In her statement, Clinton said her plan to combat terrorism includes launching an intelligence surge to help identify and thwart attacks before they can be carried out, and to spot lone-wolf attackers. We also need to work with Silicon Valley to counter propaganda and recruitment efforts online, she said. Americans have faced threats before, and our resilience in the face of them only makes us stronger. I am confident we will once again choose resolve over fear. Read more about: SHARE: With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, global leaders on Monday approved a declaration aimed at providing a more co-ordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis that has strained resources and stoked divisions from Africa to Europe. The issue of what to do about the worlds 65.3 million displaced people will take centre stage at the General Assembly with leaders from the United Nations 193-member states converging on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. Todays summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling on leaders to commit to upholding the rights and dignity of everyone force by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life. The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants contains no concrete commitments and is not legally binding but rather calls on countries to protect refugees human rights, boost humanitarian aid and increase resettlement of refugees. If we are able to translate that paper into a response in which many actors are going to participate, we will solve a lot of problems in emergency responses and in long-term refugee situations like the Syrian situation, Fillipo Grandi, the U.N.s High Commissioner for Refugees told The Associated Press. The declaration seeks to standardize responses to refugee situations and provide better education and jobs to refugees. It also encourages resettlement and includes plans for a campaign to combat xenophobia. That may prove an uphill struggle, however, as the declaration comes at a time that refugees and migrants have become a divisive issue in Europe and the United States. A number of countries rejected an earlier draft of the agreement that called on nations to resettle 10 per cent of the refugee population each year, something that has led several human rights groups to criticize the document as a missed opportunity. The U.S. and a number of other countries also objected to language in the original draft that said children should never be detained, so the agreement now says children should seldom, if ever, be detained. Instead of sharing responsibility, world leaders shirked it. The U.N. summit has been sabotaged by states acting in self-interest, leaving millions of refugees in dire situations around the world on the edge of a precipice, Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement. Shetty said the declaration merely kicks the can down the road by calling for separate global compacts for refugees and migrants to be adopted within two years. More concrete progress is expected at a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that are in line with U.S. goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for 1 million youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced. You hear all around the world the U.N. hasnt handled the refugee crisis. The way the U.N. will handle the refugee crisis is if all of us countries within the U.N. step up and dig deep and face those political headwinds that we all face, to do more, to give more, to take on a greater share of the resettlement challenge, said Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Prior to the pledging summit with world leaders, Obama will host a meeting with top executives from 50 companies to discuss what the private sector can do to help address the problem, Power said. According to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, an unprecedented 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from a year earlier. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, refugees are people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants choose to move in search of a better life. RELATED: Trudeau in New York for refugee summit SHARE: CHIOS, GREECENourhan Issos timing was bad. The Syrian student who fled Aleppo crossed the Aegean from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek island of Chios on March 20 with her mother, hoping they would quickly move on through Europe. But unbeknown to them, the date marked a turning point in Europes refugee crisis. Under an agreement between the European Union and Turkey, anyone arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey on or after March 20 would be held there and face being returned to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. Had they travelled a day earlier, their prospects might have been slightly brighter. They could have been among those sent to camps on the mainland, or perhaps one of the hundreds of thousands who managed to cross into central and northern Europe while Balkan borders were still open. Instead, 21-year-old Isso found herself among more than 13,000 people stranded on the Greek islands, facing an uncertain future. About 3,300 are on Chios, where there is provision for just 1,100 spots. They must apply for admissibility to the asylum system in a procedure that can take months, and some refugees there said their second interviews were not scheduled until January 2017. We dont know our future or our life in the future, said Isso, standing outside her tent in Souda camp, a collection of tents and prefabricated huts housing nearly 1,000 people in a moat outside the old city ramparts. If you dont have hope you cannot live. Its death. Isso and her mother, Havin Had Hannad, have applied for admissibility. Issos 23-year-old brother Ali had made it to Germany earlier and is living in Hamburg, but is sick. Hannad said she has been fast-tracked through the procedure because of her sick son and could travel to Athens and potentially even Germany, but she doesnt want to leave her daughter alone. Isso herself is waiting to hear back on her application after her interview about two months ago. When we go to ask what happens for my case, they say: you must wait, you must be patient. Its the same for Afghan teacher Javid Raoufi, who also arrived on Chios on March 20. It is very bad luck for me, said Raoufi, who has been teaching mathematics to refugee children in the camp. Had he arrived the previous day, he says, he could have left the island for Athens. And I dont know, maybe from Athens we can go ... to another country. It is the uncertainty of the waiting that weighs most on many of the refugees, and the camps are rife with rumours. Its like jail here, said Mohamoud Alou, a 29-year-old Syrian Kurd from Damascus who arrived on March 29 with his wife and daughter and has been living in Chios Vial camp ever since. Many people talk: maybe the border will open, maybe we will go, maybe we will stay here in Greece, maybe we will be returned to Turkey. But we dont know what happen to us. As a Kurd, the prospect of being returned to Turkey terrifies him. If I return to Turkey, theyd say I am terrorist, he said. A decades-long conflict between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey has claimed thousands of lives. Hostilities resumed last year after a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire. Yet the fate of those migrants who arrived in Greece before March 20 is not all that different. Despite promises by European countries to take in refugees from Greece, only a fraction of promised relocations have taken place. Balkan countries began restricting crossings of their borders in early 2016, and shut them completely in early March, stranding tens of thousands of people in Greece. The border closures also stranded others in various Balkan countries along the route. To date, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are stuck in Greece, housed in camps across the country as well as in apartments rented by charities or squats organized by volunteers. Plans for a binding EU quota system to share the responsibility of hosting refugees fairly has met resistance from several countries, most notably Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Under an emergency relocation program, nearly 3,000 people have been transferred from Greece to other European countries instead of the 33,000 that should have been relocated by now, said Giorgos Kyritsis, spokesman for the governments crisis committee on migration. In other words a tenth of the figure that was foreseen and for which the European countries and the European Union have committed, Kyritsis said. There are 7,000 people who are ready and waiting for their relocation, so it appears on this issue the other European countries and the entire EU that signed the agreement with Turkey have not fulfilled their obligations, whereas Greece has carried out all its obligations, he added. Ednan Varbori, an Iraqi Kurd, fled his home about eight months ago after it was attacked by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL. He crossed into Turkey and from there to Chios. After 25 days, he was transferred to Ritsona camp on the mainland as authorities emptied the island camps to make way for those who would arrive from March 20 onward. Services are basic in Ritsona, which consists mainly of tents. But authorities are gradually constructing more permanent wooden structures as winter approaches. And Varbori is grateful he is at least safe. Here we feel we live in peace because there is no terrorist here, he said. But life here is complicated. Varbori applied for asylum in Greece. If someone asks me why you dont want to go to Germany or France or another country, I say all Europe is the same, and if I be in Greece or another country, its no different, he said. I want to work and have a good life. But his application, like so many others, is dragging. I went to the interview and they were supposed to give me an answer but it has been delayed, Varbori said. Now all he can do is wait. Actually, Im grateful to everybody who has helped us, and the whole world knows the conditions that were living in. Read more about: SHARE: BEIRUTA United Nations humanitarian aid convoy inside Syria was hit by airstrikes Monday, UN officials said, as the Syrian military declared that the weeklong U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire had failed. With the truce apparently teetering, the U.S. brushed off Damascus assertions and said its prepared to extend the agreement, while Russia after blaming rebels for the violations suggested it could still be salvaged. UN officials said the UN and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. Initial estimates indicate that at least 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers. The Syrian Civil Defence, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid co-ordinator in the office of the UN envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was bombarded. Egeland added, It is outrageous that it was hit while off-loading at warehouses. UN Humanitarian Chief Stephen OBrien called on all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by international humanitarian law. The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province. The White Helmets first responder group posted images of a number of vehicles on fire in the dead of the night. A video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrive on the scene. A Red Crescent official in Syria confirmed the attack, but said no further information was available. Elsewhere at least 20 civilians, including a 1-year-old girl, were killed in fresh airstrikes on rebel-held Aleppo city and the surrounding areas, according to the Observatory. And Russia said government positions in southwestern Aleppo came under attack from militant groups, including a massive barrage of rockets. With the week old ceasefire in danger of unravelling, both Moscow and Washington have indicated a desire to try and salvage the agreement which had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country. In the wake of the Syrian military declaration, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the first stage of the truce which called for a week of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid to several besieged communities had never really come to fruition. Earlier in the day, Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that the truce was holding but fragile. The State Department said that it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Spokesman John Kirby said Russia, which is responsible for ensuring Syrias compliance, should clarify the Syrian position. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement late Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the ceasefire threatens to thwart the agreement. The ceasefire came into effect on Sept. 12. Under terms of the agreement, the successful completion of seven days of calm and humanitarian aid deliveries would be followed by an ambitious second-stage plan to set up a joint U.S.-Russian co-ordination centre to plan military strikes against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and a powerful Al Qaeda-linked militant faction. But from the start, the truce has been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations. Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The UN accused the government of obstructing the delivery while Russian officials said rebels opened fire at the delivery roads. Rebel forces and activists say government planes have bombed areas that are under the truce agreement, including rebel-held parts of Aleppo. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. The group said four civilians were killed in government-held areas. There were no independent reports of deaths of civilians on the government-side since the ceasefire came into effect. By Monday, both the Syrian government and prominent opposition activists were speaking of the truce as if it had already failed. George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid. Hundreds of thousands of people in Aleppo are waiting for this truce to allow aid to enter the city, he said, adding that there are aid trucks still waiting on the Turkey-Syria border. I believe that the truce is clinically dead. The Syrian military statement placed the blame on the rebel groups. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists. This step (ceasefire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed. But the armed terrorist groups didnt take it seriously and didnt commit to any of its articles, the military command statement said. The armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared truce system and mobilized terrorists and weapons and regrouped to continue its attacks on civilian and military areas. One of the major rebel groups in Syria, Nour el-Din el-Zinki, said soon after the Syrian military declaration that the government, Russia and Iran, another major ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, are responsible for the truces failure. The regime of Bashar Assad had no real intention to commit to the truce. Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo, the group said in a statement sent to reporters. Earlier Monday, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. With the rebels failing to fulfil conditions the ceasefire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless, Rudskoi said. Rudskoi said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started. The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour. Syria and Russia blasted Washington over the attack. The Saturday airstrikes involved Australian, British and Danish warplanes on Syrian army positions. The U.S. military said it would not intentionally hit Syrian troops, and that it came as it was conducting a raid on Daesh positions. Russias military has said that it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 injured. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes. Assad said Monday the airstrikes of the U.S.-led coalition against his troops was meant to support Daesh, calling the attack a blatant American aggression. Read more about: SHARE: I hate you. I hate you back. I hate your facial arrangements. I hate the moving parts of your throat. I hate the towel you used this morning. You canard, you berk, you bucket of discount Scottish steam, etc. I have been watching aghast as the British Labour Party publicly self-destructs, possibly permanently. Oh, the insults, the bitterness, the female MPs abused, the actual bricks thrown. A dog whistled, a Labour MP was murdered, a Jewish Labour MP abandoned. The hatred of each for each Labour (unelectable Extreme Left) vs. New Labour (discredited but thrice-elected Tony Blair Left) is so extreme that you assemble bandages as you watch the video. All political parties can learn from watching it. On a BBC panel last week, Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Blairs former communications chief Alastair Campbell a famously foul-mouthed Scot but effective had agreed to be personally polite. Campbell chafed. Ive come on here to be as nice to you as I possibly can and Ill tell you why: I really care about the Labour Party and I worry that you and yours are destroying it. And whats more, I actually worry you dont even care. McDonnell called this nauseating and the thing erupted. Post-broadcast, the two men allegedly nearly came to blows. The fighting has been called Lord of the Flies with activists being accused of using Labour as parasites use a host body, among other insect metaphors. But Campbells right. The party, as led by traditional extremist Jeremy Corbyn, expects to lose elections as it turns sharply back to the left, the plan being to destroy the party in order to save it. Labour MPs hate this. But Corbyn, about to win a leadership contest this month, absolutely will not leave. We live in teetering times. Aside from mad militarism, everything else about our age reminds me of the 1930s, storied centrist politician Paddy Ashdown told the Guardian this week. Did we ever think wed see the U.S. Republican Party taken over by extremism, nay, Trumpian lunacy? Surely it was already extreme enough. Did we ever think the nation that saved Europe from Nazi slavery would vote for Brexit and turn its back on the continent? In this era, anything is possible. A recent Forum opinion poll for the Star has suggested that two-thirds of Canadians approve of the fuzzy concept that prospective immigrants be screened for anti-Canadian values. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped in and advocated reason over passion. Canadians have always feared immigrants, he said, including Italian grandmothers who still dont speak English, and yet their children and grandchildren belong beautifully to this country. Dont be overly impatient, he said. It was a rational remark that suddenly made nonsense of Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitchs crude shout-out to the suspicious among us. It calmed things down. How foolish is Corbyns party to flail rather than reason. Yes, British life is still all about class warfare, which bedevils that country just as racism soaks the U.S. If enough Americans vote for Trump, they may wreck their nation. If Britain becomes a one-party nation with the Tories cosying up to racist U.K. Independence Party (Ukip), it faces shrinkage and ruin. None of this is necessary, which is what Campbell said. Labour was injured, but it need not split, it need not die. Post-Harper Conservatives, watch and learn. Dont let Doug Ford wedge his foot in the door, or Brad Trost, or Leitch for that matter. New Democrats, dont let Thomas Mulcair hang around like a wretched dinner guest. Stay normal and democracy will thrive. Ukip and Trump are waiting at the door. There is something really nasty here, Ashdown said in distress. I remember saying about three years ago, there is a monster below the placid surface of British politics, and it has bloody well emerged. SHARE: The federal government has successfully extricated one Canadian from a Chinese prison. Another remains. Amidst the euphoria surrounding Kevin Garratts release, the fate of Huseyin Celil, a Burlington imam who used to make his living delivering pizzas in the Hamilton region, has almost been forgotten. Garratt, an evangelical Christian from British Columbia was in jail for two years. Celil, a 47-year-old Muslim from Ontario, has been in prison for 10. Successive Conservative and Liberal governments have pressed for the release of both. Garratts case, however, was always more likely to meet with success. First, unlike Celil, Garratt is not a dual national. Beijing does not recognize dual nationality and has consistently refused to accept Ottawas assertion that Chinese-borne Celil, who obtained his Canadian citizenship in 2005, is indeed Canadian. For that reason, it has refused to let Canadian consular officials see Celil and has insisted, whenever the topic comes up between the two countries, that his case is none of Ottawas business. Second, unlike Garratt, Celil has run afoul of the Chinese state before. A member of the countrys Islamic Uighur minority, Celil was jailed in the mid-90s for allegedly undertaking illegal political activities in his home province of Xinjiang. Somehow, he escaped and made his way to Turkey. In 2001, Canada accepted him as a refugee. He settled in the Hamilton area. In 2006, a year after obtaining his Canadian citizenship, Celil and his family flew to Uzbekistan to visit in-laws. That turned out to be a mistake. The Chinese had not forgotten him. He was arrested by Uzbek authorities and extradited to China. There, he was summarily tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison as a Uighur separatist. Third, the Chinese are deadly serious about crushing Uighur separatism. Those who want Xinjiang, with its large Uighur minority, to become an independent country are treated as terrorists. Indeed, some may be. In recent years, there have been terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China. Beijing blames them all on Uighur separatists. As Amnesty International has noted, the Chinese authorities dont discriminate between peaceful separatists and those who use violence. This all portends badly for Celil. By comparison, the espionage charges laid against Garratt always had the look of political tit-for-tat. In 2014, Ottawa accused Chinese hackers of spying on sensitive government agencies. A short time later, Beijing arrested Garratt for allegedly spying on China. In fact, the Chinese may not have been enamoured of the missionarys activities, which involved working with a charity to deliver food aid to neighbouring North Korea. North Korea is a sensitive issue in China. But it is strangely coincidental that, after allowing Garratt and his family to live near the North Korean border unmolested for 30 years, Beijing brought down the hammer only after Canada had accused China of bad behaviour. None of this means that Celils cause is hopeless. Earlier this year, his sentence was reduced from life to 20 years. At the time, analysts speculated that this move, in conjunction with similar sentence reductions for 10 other convicted Uighurs, signalled China was taking a softer line on the separatist threat. Still, Ottawa will have to press hard if it wants Celil home. We dont yet know the full story of how Canada managed to get Garratt out of jail. Ottawa did apparently send Michel Coulombe, who heads the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, to China to convince Beijing that Garratt was not a spy. Its not clear why they would have believed Canadas spymaster on this particular topic, but maybe they did. More to the point, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made encouraging noises about opening up Canada and its resources even more to China. Thats the kind of thing Beijing likes to hear. Whatever the reason, Canadas efforts worked for Garratt. Lets hope Trudeau has enough goodies up his sleeve to spring the other wrongfully imprisoned Canadian too. Thomas Walkoms column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Read more about: SHARE: On the international stage, the Trudeau government has displayed admirable leadership on climate change. Still in its first year, it played a key role in negotiation of the landmark Paris Agreement and helped to broker a historic North American climate treaty. Unlike its predecessor, it seems to take seriously the existential threat posed by climate change, the heat waves, droughts and floods, melting ice caps and freakish weather that promise to wreak perilous havoc if the Earths warming is allowed to continue unchecked. But all that international leadership means little in the absence of policy progress at home. Nine months after the Paris climate conference, Canada is barely in a better position today to deliver on the commitments it made there. A March meeting of first ministers failed to produce a pan-Canadian framework for achieving even our existing, overly modest emissions goals, punting the decision instead into the fuzzy future. The comments of a few obstinate premiers have made clear that unanimity is unlikely. And the Liberals have been cautious about reentering the intergovernmental minefield since. So it was encouraging to hear Environment Minister Catherine McKenna say Canada will ratify the Paris Agreement this November and will not back down on a national carbon price, even absent intergovernmental unanimity. Ottawas affirmation of the Paris goals, and its clear statement that pricing carbon across the country is essential to meeting them, are reasons for optimism. How much optimism, however, depends entirely on the details of the plan the government has yet to provide. The difficulty in nailing down the specifics of a plan is unsurprising. To do so would require Ottawa to grapple publicly with tensions no government wishes to deal with: those between short-term economic goals and longer-term environmental ones; and between federal-provincial harmony and ambitious environmental targets. Up to now, Ottawa has been content to err on the side of the short-term and conflict-avoidance. These issues matter, of course, but if the Liberals are serious about their commitment to the Paris targets, now is the time for ambition and a longer view. Over the past decade, in the absence of federal leadership on climate policy, the provinces stepped in to fill the void. British Columbia adopted a revenue-neutral carbon tax. Quebec and Ontario embraced cap-and-trade. Alberta has a tax and emissions cap. But this patchwork of provincial policies, while certainly better than nothing, is insufficient to meet our climate goals and no doubt poses a real challenge for a federal government looking to reconcile these diverse approaches within a national plan. And a national plan is unquestionably needed. Not all provincial policies are equal. The laggardly governments of Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia, in particular, have done next to nothing to curb emissions. As Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence, wrote in the Star recently, The sum of provincial commitments doesnt equal whats needed to meet Canadas Paris pledge. If Canada is to do its part to keep global warming under 2 degrees C (or better) over the next century, Ottawa must set an ambitious carbon-cutting target, with the robust pricing to match. It will have to look beyond the Harper-era goals and twist provincial arms into putting a price on carbon high enough to change behaviour and invest in alternatives. Such leadership inevitably carries political risks. It will entail short-term costs and will raise the ire of certain provinces. But Canadas abject failure to uphold its Kyoto Accord commitments makes clear just how meaningless ratification without an ambitious plan can be. Signing deals is the easy part. The Liberal government has pointed the right direction; now it needs to do the hard work of closing the gap. SHARE: When the warden of Warkworth Institution in Campbellford, Ont., wanted to investigate reports of contraband in his prison, he wrote a memo to Correctional Services Canada asking the agency to provide a so-called IMSI catcher. The surveillance tool, sometimes called a stingray, records data from the cellphones of all those nearby. The prisoners would be surveilled, but because the tool is indiscriminate, so, too, would guards and visitors. The wardens memo, which came to light late last year, was the first apparent public confirmation of what privacy experts had long alleged: the government is collecting data from the cellphones of Canadians without their knowledge. Since the Warkworth revelation, several other instances of stingray use have been brought to public notice in court documents and media reports. Yet Ottawa will not say how frequently these invasive tools are being employed or what rules govern their use. Meanwhile, many police forces, including the Toronto Police Service, and other government agencies continue to deny they use them at all, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The secrecy around IMSI catchers and the regulatory vacuum in which they are used are cause for grave concern, according to a new report from two Canadian privacy scholars. The devices pose a particularly insidious threat to real-world anonymity, write Christopher Parsons and Tamir Israel, the reports authors, and government opacity on the issue is delaying important public debates. For years, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other security agencies have refused to answer questions from journalists and parliamentarians about the use of these tools on the grounds that doing so would compromise their ability to conduct criminal investigations. And yet, as the report points out, this position is based on the absurd premise that generalized knowledge of the very use of a surveillance tool will permit criminals to circumvent it. Germany, which publishes annual statistics on its use of IMSI catchers, clearly disagrees. As does the United States, which last year made public its new rules governing stingray surveillance. But secrecy is only part of the problem. The regulatory framework around IMSI catchers is grossly inadequate given the inevitable collateral damage done. In the U.S., the government is required to destroy within 48 hours any information obtained that is unrelated to an investigation. No such law exists here. In several countries, the state must apprise all citizens whose data have been incidentally dredged. Not in Canada, where, by the way, it seems to be unusually easy to obtain a warrant to use the device. The study has a special resonance this week as the federal government begins its public consultation on security issues, now being touted as the future basis for reform of Canadas anti-terror law. Such public engagement is all well and good, as long as citizens are sufficiently informed to make meaningful contributions. Yet in the discussion paper the government published to frame the conversation no mention is made of IMSI catchers. Canadians are unlikely to raise concerns about practices Ottawa has ensured they know nothing about. But the secrecy around these tools and the lack of constraints on their use should disturb all Canadians. The state should not be given free rein to invade our privacy indiscriminately. If the Trudeau government is sincere in its commitment to having a conversation with Canadians about the balance between security and civil liberties, it ought to start by telling the truth about stingrays. SHARE: Re: Flock sticks with atheist minister, Sept. 12 Flock sticks with atheist minister, Sept. 12 Gretta Vospers conflict with the United Church (where she is a minister) raises important questions that many people struggle with today. How important is it to believe literally in the Bibles stories? Does believing in a supernatural God or that Jesus rose from the dead make you a better person than someone who doesnt? According to the Bible, Jesus taught us that we should love one another and I think that statement alone should be the central message in Christianity and how we live our lives day to day. This philosophy is at the core of Ms Vospers ministry and despite people leaving their churches in droves her congregation is very loyal. Unfortunately the United Church has deemed her unsuitable because she has made her atheist views known. Arent honesty and courage values we also hold in high esteem in todays world? The Church is giving Ms Vosper an opportunity to appeal her defrocking and will allow her and her supporters to explain themselves. Lets hope the United Church can maintain its longstanding tradition of tolerance and acceptance in the face of this challenge. God has been flourishing in the 21st century for 16 years now. Its time for the Church to catch up. John Fraser, Toronto Indeed, it will be a sad day for the United Church of Canada if they let Gretta Vosper go. Gretta has brought all of us true spiritual enlightenment by teaching fairness, kindness, and love for our fellow man. Church members do everything they can for local Native teens. What could be more important? It looks as if our family could be churchless again. Pat and W.K. Lycett, Bowmanville The United Church may lose many ministers if they insist on belief that the Bible is the word of God. The ministers have all studied the history of religion and know that it all came from the minds of men influenced by the beliefs of all the neighbouring cultures and not by the angel of the lord dictating. The last change, caused by another culture, happened about 300 years after the death of Christ when Christianity was competing with Mithraism for adherents among the Roman legions. Mithraism had a virgin birth, so to compete Mary regained her virginity hundreds of years after its loss. I walked out of the United Church, in which I had been brought up, 69 years ago when they asked me to swear that I believed in: God the father. God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, blessed Trinity. Hugh Jones, Scarborough As a minister in a Christian church, Gretta Vosper is an absurdity and a pure oxymoron. I have no truck with the United Church or any church for that matter. But on this issue, I am in full accord. The United Church is known for having an open mind with latitude for different opinions even beliefs. But this is beyond the pale. Like in any industry, if you cannot toe the company line, you are fired. Unfortunately, the unemployment line is long for recalcitrant ministers. Sigmund Roseth, Mississauga Whether the Star recognizes it or not it has once again the opportunity to help the whole world by a thorough coverage of the Gretta Vosper case. She is in a position to be a catalyst for a huge change in the world of religion all religions. She admits that she does not believe in God. Most other orthodox ministers should come out of their closets and admit to the same thing. You cannot believe in something when you dont understand it. Blind faith is no faith. No sane person will argue that. The churches not necessarily the religions, abdicated their duties over a thousand years ago. One can only wonder what it is their colleges teach to those who wish to be ministers. Harold Rathlou, Mississauga Based on what I know, it is appropriate that Gretta Vosper be removed or suspended from the United Church ministry. Generally speaking, all groups have the right to set rules for membership. Being defrocked is much milder than excommunication, which exists in some denominations. Members of the United Church are not being prohibited from associating with her on a personal basis. Also, there is a difference between private belief or doubt and what one publicly advocates. For example, the Dalai Lama, perhaps the worlds most famous Buddhist, eats a small amount of meat for health reasons. As a non-Buddhist this does not bother me. However, if the Dalai Lama actively advocated meat eating or became a spokesperson for the beef or pork industries, I would be concerned. Similarly, it would not bother me if a United Church minister secretly became a Roman Catholic. However, if he or she actively tried to influence their congregation in that direction it would be appropriate that they be suspended from the ministry. I realize that Ms Vosper is being judged for her private beliefs but perhaps the United Church should make a distinction between public and private beliefs after one is ordained. Bruce Couchman, Ottawa At least Gretta Vosper is honest enough to speak her truth knowing she will be censured. Worse than that, by an institution that has insidiously held her beliefs since its inception. I do not share her world view, but I admire her courage. What is really sad about this day is that the United Church of Canada (as an institution) passes judgment on a member of its clergy for holding to the very belief system that has been part of its spiritual fabric since it was founded in 1925. Of course, that belief system was never written in the denominational manual, but the formation of the United Church of Canada emerged from the theological and philosophical underpinnings of the very belief system that Gretta Vosper preaches. The sadness and outrage of all this is that there has never been a day since 1925 when a significant number of the clergy in the UCC has not believed in their hearts what Gretta is being condemned for. Gretta has simply shouted out like the child in the Emperors New Clothes, Why he has no clothes on! Then everyone was embarrassed, especially the Emperor! Neil Douglas, Mississauga SHARE: Re: Health minister fails to deliver, Editorial Sept. 11 Health minister fails to deliver, Editorial Sept. 11 As medical advisor to this task force and author of some of the report, I wish to thank the Star for the coverage of this issue, especially in pointing out the discrepancy between the key recommendation and the ministers actions. I have been involved in this issue since the early 1990s when I was part of a deputation to the College of Physicians and Surgeons that convinced the college it was not recognizing the significant issue of physicians sexually abusing their patients. The period after the first task force was an exciting one. Stiff penalties were set up and enforced. The other 22 regulated health profession were included in the mandate to investigate and discipline violations against patients. I was frequently involved as an expert witness, explaining the harm done to patients, and an educator teaching about boundary violations. Then things began to fall apart. Despite follow-up reviews done by Marilou McPhedran that warned about the increasing leniency of discipline, no changes were made. The public only has to read this current report to see that, despite paying lip service to the need to protect vulnerable patients, even in the cases where intercourse took place, doctors were given as little as a six-month suspension. As a group, everyone involved in this task force was encouraged by Health Minister Eric Hoskins initial message to us that he wanted to put strong measures in place. While we appreciate the changes he has made, he has opted out of the most important one the establishment of a separate structure to investigate and discipline health care professionals accused of sexual violations. I hope the Star and the public will continue to ask why we should believe that the health care colleges will now independently make the necessary changes they have ignored for over 10 years. Dr. Gail Erlick Robinson, Toronto General Hospital, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto I am a physician and am skeptical of the ministry of health. Nevertheless, Minister Hoskins is correct in asking for more dialogue about Marilou McPhedran's task force report. This task force was supposed to have three members including former chief justice Roy McMurtry as co-chair. Once he departed the committee it was left with for McPhedran to chair alone. A report was then produced that is so slanderous that the government hesitates to release it. Despite all of that, we are supposed to actually heed its recommendation and gut the entire self-regulatory process. I am also skeptical of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario but have no doubt about the good intentions of my colleagues who sit on the discipline committee and the investigators and staff who support them. We may need to make adjustments to the system but it is worth preserving. Dr. Franklin Sheps, Thornhill The ongoing problem of sexual assaults committed by physicians has gone unabated primarily due to self-policing. Sexual assault is a crime and as such should be handled in a court of law and not be allowed to be treated by different standards no matter who the perpetrator may be. Harry J. Sultz, Thornhill What will it take to get Dr. Hoskins to take action? Perhaps if boys and men were being abused? I have solved the problem for myself; I go to a female physician. I would advise other women to do so if at all possible. I realize that Dr. Hoskins is concerned about the future of these doctors, but they have chosen to abuse and must suffer the consequences. They can always become trained in another field where the opportunity to abuse is not so apparent. They could become veterinarians or perhaps coal miners! There are many options. I am really concerned that there seems to be little or no concern about the harm that has been done, nest-ce pas, Dr. H.? Talk to us about this please! Katheryn Broughton, Thornhill When Kathleen Wynne was first elected premier I had high hopes, like many others, that Ontario would thrive under her leadership. Unfortunately she has fallen short on several issues. But to read this story leaves me absolutely flabbergasted, angry and frustrated. How dare she and the Liberal government procrastinate any longer on putting the recommendations of the task force to work. When I first heard the College of Physicians and Surgeons monitored doctors who commit sexual offences against their patients I was astonished and thought the old boys club was obviously still alive and well. For instance, how belittling to a survivor of sexual abuse is a six-month suspension in the case of Dr. Javad Peirovy after he was found to have groped four female patients at a Toronto walk-in clinic. One cannot call that even a tap on the wrist. What on earth is our government afraid of? Where is the courage of their convictions or do they even have convictions about the issue of sexual abuse? How many more centuries will we women have to endure such a lackadaisical response to something that causes so much damage and pain and diminishes us as human beings? It is to weep. JO Sorrill, Whitby SHARE: Re: School kids could use a lift, Sept. 9 School kids could use a lift, Sept. 9 Given that school bus driver is a seasonal, part-time, split-shift job paying little more than minimum wage, it should come as no surprise that there is an increasing shortage of school bus drivers in Toronto. In the past many school bus drivers were stay-at-home mothers, but now most families in Toronto require two full-time incomes just to survive. Today, the only people in Toronto I can imagine being interested in a job as a school bus driver are retirees looking to supplement their pension income. No one else could afford to live in Toronto on a school bus drivers wages, especially when the split-shifts make it difficult to hold a second job. We will soon be forced to choose between two options: either increase school bus driver wages (and increase taxes to pay for this), or restructure the school system to reduce the need to bus children to school. Scott Heaslip, Stouffville I read with interest Edward Keenans article about the shortage of busing, and in particular how this affected his family. From his description, it appears that they live approximately one mile from the school. It seems to me that one mile is not an extraordinary distance for children to walk. I understand that children with special needs and those who attend special classes may require busing, but average, healthy children would benefit from the exercise. Ray Bielawski, Toronto Are students paid more than their school bus driver? Starting Oct. 1, 2016, students working less than 28 hours get paid $10.70 an hour. A school bus driver is paid about $12 an hour. This is based on a fixed rate, computer generated route sheet, not on how long it takes to drive the route and complete pre-trip, post trip and other duties. I expect many drivers would calculate their pay is less than $10.70 hour. Mike McLean, Oakville If ever there was proof that we should unite all school under one board, we now have it. Why are we bussing children out of their neighbourhoods when there exist schools nearer their homes? All these schools are paid for by taxpayers. All those buses needlessly raise the costs of education. Lets unite all school boards and ensure kids can walk to their neighbourhood school. Kate Chung, Toronto The school bus problems we experienced at the beginning of this school year would have been greatly reduced if we did not have to support two large separate public school systems (plus the two smaller ones). With just one public system, many more students would be within easy walking distance of their local school. Young people would get more exercise and we would save money not having so many buses travelling around our residential streets. We might also have fewer parents driving their kids to school, and clogging up the local streets. Politicians say that the constitution requires a Catholic school board, but somehow Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador were able to get rid of provincially funded religious schools. Could we start with requiring all publicly funded schools to have to accept any student in their official catchment area, without requiring students take religious classes (except general survey classes on religions)? We could also require more cooperation between publicly funded school boards for such things as busing and special education. P. A. Reid, Toronto The school bus bungle that Edward Keenan writes about raises, once again, the whole issue of how children get to school. Is depending on a bus when the school is within reasonable walking distance really a good idea? If parents are concerned about safety, they could organize walking school buses or walk the children themselves. If the weather is unkind, there are umbrellas, rain gear and warm clothes. The point is that children learn to be independent only by being independent. The school bus mess is an opportunity, not a tragedy. Geoff Rytell, Toronto Perhaps if more parents encouraged (forced) more children to use the long dangling appendages below their sedentary midriffs theyre called legs by the way and the legs are attached to feet, both of which are formidable modes of transportation this non-issue would be just that, a non-issue. And, wed all breathe a little better, feel a little better, and spend a whole lot less money on obesity related health care, and the school buses that genuinely do need to get into the school parking lot, will be able to do so. Louis MacPherson, Bowmanville SHARE: Re: Chinese investors ditch Vancouver for Toronto, Sept. 15 Chinese investors ditch Vancouver for Toronto, Sept. 15 Why doesnt our illustrious municipal and provincial leadership take control of the housing crisis that has plagued Toronto for years? Foreign purchasers have destroyed the integrity of the Toronto market. Vancouver has finally responded to their own crisis, and has thus redirected disenchanted foreign investment to Toronto, creating an even more distorted market than we have previously endured. Time for John Tory and Kathleen Wynne to step up. Harry Kohn, Unionville The Ontario government should consider doubling the property taxes for all homes/buildings purchased by international investors. If they so desire to invest their money in our province, why not take full advantage of this by increasing the revenue for our municipalities? M. Kohek, Whitby Read more about: SHARE: Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) have been trapped in no man's land since the company announced the acquisition of Rite Aid (RAD) back in October. Can this stock get out of its own way? Back on Oct. 27, 2015, Walgreen's announced it had reached a deal to acquire Rite Aid in a $17.2 billion all-cash deal. Ride Aid shareholders will receive $9 per share in cash, a 48% premium to Rite Aid's closing price on Oct. 26. The transaction is expected to be accretive to Walgreens' earnings per share. The merged company expects to realize in excess $1 billion of "synergies" (cost savings). Just last week, management said it expects to divest of more than 500 stores, but fewer than 1,000. Most analyst estimates I've seen think the company will eventually sell as many as 800 stores. Last year, Walgreens completed its merger with Boot Alliance. Sales are expected to grow 14% in fiscal 2016 and another 10% in 2017. Comparable-store sales are likely to grow 3.5% in 2016 and about 4.5% (assuming the Rite Aid merger is completed). The Rite Aid acquisition helps expands Walgreens' territory in the Northeast and California. After the Boots Alliance merger, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margins are expanding as the company finds more cost savings, improves purchasing and is helped by a more favorable merchandise mix. EBITDA margins are forecast to expand from 6.9% in fiscal 2015 to almost 8% by 2017. Fiscal 2016 revenue is will be $118 billion, up 14%. EBITDA is forecast to be 7.3% and should end the year at $8.6 billion. Earnings will probably end the year at $4.52 per share, and $5.15 next year. As the company absorbs Rite Aid, revenue growth will slow in fiscal 2017 to just 3.2% to 3.5%, because running a retail pharmacy isn't much of a growth business. Earnings keep growing by double digits into fiscal 2018 as the company finds ways to expand margins. I don't think there is much upside to Walgreens stock. At $83, it is trading around 18 times fiscal 2016 estimates of $4.52 per share, and 16 times next years numbers. While that's below the company's five-year average multiple of 20, there's so much integration risk here I can't see investors giving this stock a premium multiple for some time. I think this stock is trapped in a range for the time being. I would stay on the sidelines. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Colonial Pipeline Co. said Sunday that it's building a temporary bypass line around a major leak on its system in Alabama that's sapping supply and raising gasoline prices across the southeast. Colonial's owners include privately held Koch Industries (28.09%), National Pension Service of Korea and KKR (KKR) (23.44%), Casse de depot et placement du Quebec (16.55%), Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A) (16.12%) and Industry funds Management (15.8%). A Pipeline spokesman said in an email Monday that Colonial doesn't know how the incident occurred, as it hasn't been able to "lay eyes on the assumed failure yet," but more information will be forthcoming. The pipeline said it began implementing its plan to construct the bypass on the system's Line 1, which supplies about 40% of the gasoline used in the eastern U.S. sourced from refineries along the Gulf Coast. It didn't say when it might be completed but noted that work on recovery efforts at the initial release site will continue along with bypass construction. Colonial said Monday to minimize supply disruptions, it gathered gasoline from Gulf Coast refiners to ship supplies on its distillate line to markets throughout the affected area. As a result, supplies of gasoline have been delivered and/or are in route to terminal locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, although it noted that delivery times vary and the supplies are at a "reduced capacity." "We continue to be in regular communication with our customers, who are also working on their own individual contingency plans to minimize supply disruptions," the pipeline said. "This includes trucking and barging fuel from other markets and refineries." It said under normal circumstances the Colonial Pipeline system transports 2.6 million barrels of refined products each day with Line 1 accounting for half of that volume. Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, said in a note that the difference between a Sept. 21 and a Sept. 25 restart could haunt the scores of racks, or loading areas, that are supplied by the pipeline and downstream sources aren't envisioning a return to normalcy until mid-October at latest. "Most veteran suppliers and distributors believe that 'the worst is yet to come' for southeastern supply, noting that little fuel will arrive in the next ten days and 'rolling outages' will worsen," he said. "Bagged pumps are still the exception, rather than the rule, but each additional station that runs out of fuel tends to provoke panic behavior from consumers, topping their tanks." The break was discovered Friday in rural Alabama south of Birmingham when a mining inspector detected a gasoline odor and alerted Colonial. The company shut down two of its pipelines in the area and later confirmed a release after a visual survey of the site. Colonial said monitoring of the nearly Cahaba River and a tributary, Peel Creek, continues daily but preliminary results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Colonial Pipeline environmental contractors have shown no impact to either as a result of the leak. The closure has caused supply problems in the southeast, with reports having some gas stations in the region out of fuel and others raising prices by 30 cents per gallon. KKR & Co. (KKR) bought its stake in 2010 for around $1 billion and Casse de depot et placement du Quebec bought its interest in 2011 from ConocoPhillips (COP) or $850 million. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) were higher in pre-market trade on Monday despite Indonesian tax authorities pursuing the company for five years of back taxes, Reuters reports. If convicted of avoiding payments, Alphabet could pay fines up to four times the amount owed. Muhammad Hanif, head of the special cases unit at the government's tax office, said the Mountain View, CA-based technology company could be charged $400 million for 2015 alone. Investigators are going to the company's local office today, Hanif told Reuters. Hanif noted that the company is arguing that it has done tax planning. "Tax planning is legal, but aggressive tax planning - to the extent that the country where the revenue is made does not get anything - is not legal," he added. Alphabet's Google arm's Asia Pacific unit logs most of the revenue for Indonesia, but refused an audit in June, Reuters notes. (Alphabet is a core holding of Jim Cramer's charitable trust Action Alerts PLUS. See all of his holding with a free trialhere.) Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of A. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance and reasonable valuation levels. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook. You can view the full analysis from the report here: GOOGL NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Crude oil (WTI) and Brent crude prices are rising on Monday morning following comments from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro suggesting OPEC and non-OPEC members are close to reaching a deal that will stabilize the oil market. "Could be just wishful thinking on behalf of the Venezuelans," Fox Business Network's Ashely Webster said on "Varney and Co" this morning. Oil prices have been under pressure since their June 2014 highs due to an excess of supply around the world. OPEC is holding an informal meeting in Algiers on September 27. Looking to gas prices, the cost per gallon to fill up in the U.S. today is $2.20, Webster added. That is the national average for regular gas. However, one part of the country is seeing a sudden rise in gas prices. Gas prices are creeping up in the South due to a pipeline leak at a main fuel passage in Alabama on September 9, FBN's Elizabeth McDonald said. About 250,000 gallons leaked out of this one section of the pipeline, the entire thing extends from Texas to New York. "[The pipeline] serves about 50 million people on the East Coast. So what you're seeing is gas price spikes up 16 cents in Georgia, 10 cents in Tennessee, they're trying to work really fast to get this thing fixed," McDonald said. Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) warned Monday that its planned $2.6 billion deal for SolarCity Corp. (SCTY) could be delayed in closing due to shareholder lawsuits objecting to the combination. The automaker in an amended regulatory filing said that four shareholder suits have been filed over the deal, which would combine two companies with significant board and management overlap and which both count Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a major shareholder. The suits, all filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, all allege that Tesla board members breached their fiduciary duties when considering the transaction. The court on Sept. 16 scheduled a hearing to consolidate the actions for Oct. 18, which means the deal is unlikely to close before that date. Tesla and SolarCity have not yet scheduled shareholder votes but are expected to hold special meetings in early October, meaning the deal could be delayed for a minimum of a few weeks. Tesla and SolarCity, mindful of the appearance of conflict, tried to mitigate risk by recusing a large number of board members from each company from deliberating on the deal and requiring approval of a majority of non-insider shareholders for the transaction to close. Tesla in the filing said it "believes that the actions are without merit." Even without the suits questions remain about whether Tesla will be able to complete the transaction, with SolarCity shares on Monday morning trading at a significant 24% discount to Tesla's all-stock offer price. With SolarCity bleeding cash and Tesla facing billions in capital expenditures in the quarters to come as it tries to finalize and bring to market its Model 3 sedan while also building out its retail and charging station networks, some Tesla holders have argued the company would be better off without the distraction and cash drain of a business with few links to its automotive core. But for SolarCity a deal failure would be a significant negative. The company is saddled with $2.8 billion in debt and has provided hints in recent quarters that debt markets are growing nervous about further lending to the company. The solar panel installation firm last month leaned on Musk and other insiders to buy $100 million worth of a $124 million bond offering despite the debt paying a far-above market rate of 6.5%, a potential sign of tepid interest. SolarCity can ill afford a protracted delay in closing the deal. The August merger agreement encourages SolarCity to delay paying its short-term accounts payable until after the deal closes, an effort to preserve cash until SolarCity is part of Tesla's larger balance sheet. A forced delay could require SolarCity to pay its bills prior to closing, potentially disrupting the company's cash flow projections. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- McDonald's (MCD) could be ordered to pay almost $500 million in back taxes to Luxembourg by the European Union, BloomebrgTV's Mark Barton reported on "Bloomberg Markets" today, citing the Financial Times. The Times came up with this figure following its analysis of an investigation by Brussels over state supported tax avoidance. Brussels is investigating the American fast food giant regarding a tax ruling relating to its European structure. The ruling allowed McDonald's to pay no corporation tax in either the U.S. or Luxembourg. McDonald's paid an average tax rate of 1.49% on the $1.8 billion in profit earned by its Luxembourg-based European headquarters, FT noted. If the standard Luxembourg tax rate of 29.2% were applied to those profits McDonald's would owe almost half a billion dollars in back taxes. Shares of McDonald's are up in mid-morning trading on Monday. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation: We rate MCDONALD'S CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and generally higher debt management risk. You can view the full analysis from the report here: MCD NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of United Parcel Service (UPS) were increasing in early-afternoon trading on Monday as the Atlanta-based package delivery company is expanding its 3D printing services to Asia with a new factory in Singapore. The factory will be run by its partner Fast Radius, a privately held manufacturing company based in Chamblee, GA. UPS owns an undisclosed stake in Fast Radius, Reuters reports. UPS rolled out a similar service in May in the U.S. that allows customers to have parts printed at the Fast Radius factory or at one of its 60 UPS stores with 3D printers. UPS then ships the parts to customers. The company said it also plans to build a 3D printing hub in Europe. UPS sees 3D printing as a possible threat to its manufacturing business, where it stores parts for manufacturers, Reuters added. The company is now incorporating the technology into its business model. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation: TheStreet Ratings team rates UPS as a Buy with a ratings score of A. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that it rates. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in stock price during the past year, growth in earnings per share, revenue growth, good cash flow from operations and notable return on equity. The team feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that it evaluated. You can view the full analysis from the report here: UPS UPS data by YCharts NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ford (F) CEO Mark Fields pushed back against Donald Trump's criticisms that the company would cut U.S. jobs in favor of building plants in Mexico. "They think they're going to get away with this and they fire all their employees in the United States and...move to Mexico. When that car comes back across the border into our country that now comes in free, we're gonna charge them a 35% tax. And you know what's gonna happen, they're never going to leave," Trump said last week. Ford, however, fired back at Mr. Trump saying its business in big trucks is up 59% after moving to an Ohio factory from one south of the border. "Ford CEO Mark Fields says the company is absolutely not cutting jobs to move small car operations south because the Michigan plant currently building them plans to manufacture other models," Bloomberg TV's David Gura reported on Monday afternoon's "Bloomberg Markets. Shares of Ford were lower during late-afternoon trading on Monday. (This stock is held in the Dividend Stock Advisor portfolio. See all of the holdings with afree trial.) Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of B-. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, attractive valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full analysis from the report here: F Dorothy Cann Hamilton founder of The International Culinary Center on the set of the 26-part Public Televison series Chef's Story in New York, New York. She is pictured with chef Tom Colicchio in 2006. (International Culinary Center) Before a trip to Paris in 1980, Dorothy Cann Hamiltons life was defined largely by the nuts and bolts of air conditioners and auto maintenance. She had succeeded her father as the director of Apex Technical School in Manhattan, one of the largest industrial trade schools in New York state, and was touring similar vocational programs in Europe when she was introduced to a Parisian culinary institute that upended her career. The academy taught teenagers to cook dishes that tasted nearly as refined as those served by betoqued professionals. Observing that no intensive, French-focused culinary program existed in the United States, Ms. Hamilton decided to start one on her own under the auspices of Apex. It was, she later acknowledged, a bit like Yale University opening a graduate school of lawn care. Yet the French Culinary Institute, which in 1984 enrolled its first students at a converted warehouse in Manhattans SoHo neighborhood and later became an independent company led by Ms. Hamilton, went on to achieve international renown for its top-drawer instructors and its focus on traditional French techniques. Now known as the International Culinary Center, the institute helped launch the careers of chefs such as Bobby Flay, the restaurateur and Food Network host; Dan Barber, of the Michelin-starred Blue Hill in Manhattan; and David Chang and Christina Tosi, of Momofuku Noodle Bar and its sister bakery, Milk Bar. Dorothy Cann Hamilton with chef Jacques Pepin in 2006. (International Culinary Center) Ms. Hamilton also served as a public television interview show host and as chairwoman of the James Beard Foundation, a leading culinary organization. She died Sept. 16 in a car crash in Melford, Nova Scotia, said Bruce McCann, a cousin and president of the International Culinary Centers campus in Campbell, Calif. She was 67. A statement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said her SUV collided with a truck pulling a camper trailer and that the two occupants of the truck were injured and taken to the hospital. Ms. Hamilton had been visiting her summer home in the coastal town of Fourchu and was on her way to a meeting with a Nova Scotia tourism board when the crash occurred, McCann said. She had been planning to discuss a new ICC project: a seafood institute, based out of a local community college, that drew on Nova Scotia fishing practices and cooking techniques. Although not an accomplished chef, Ms. Hamilton was a devotee of French cooking, and she brought a pragmatic, clear-eyed approach to culinary instruction. The discipline that goes into learning cooking, she told the New York Times in 1984, is the same as that for learning welding. I dont want to put down cooking in any way because, of course, it is very much a creative profession, she added. But at the same time it is a trade, and thats how you should learn it. Her view was informed by her years overseeing curriculum at Apex, and by a close study of the Ferrandi, the Paris school that inspired her vision. The school even provided the institutes first full-time instructor, Antoine Schaefers, formerly of the Michelin-starred Le Taillevent restaurant. In exchange for that loan, Ms. Hamilton helped the Ferrandi write and codify its curriculum for the first time. The ICCs teaching staff features some of the top names in haute cuisine. The French chef Jacques Pepin has taught since 1988 and currently serves as its dean of special programs; Andre Soltner (of the restaurant Lutece), Alain Sailhac (of Le Cirque) and the pastry chef Jacques Torres also work as deans. What she did with the school, its a little bit like what Julia Child did with television to bring French cooking into the front and make people understand the importance of French technique, Pepin said in a phone interview. She is the one who put it at the forefront of culinary education. In 2015, Pepin presented Ms. Hamilton with the Legion of Honor, Frances highest award, for her work in promoting the nations cuisine. Dorothy Cann was born in Manhattan on Aug. 25, 1949. Her father, John, founded Apex in Brooklyn in 1961. She graduated from Newcastle University in England and enlisted in the Peace Corps before turning to the family business and receiving an MBA from New York University. Since its founding, the ICC has remained largely unchanged in its essentials. The institute offers aspiring chefs or early-career chefs a six-month crash course in traditional French cooking techniques. Basic tuition, which began at $6,500 in 1984, is $39,900 for a six-month course; about 500 students go through its programs each year, McCann said. In 2014, a group of former students filed a lawsuit claiming that the institute was engaged in an ongoing fraudulent scheme that recruited students with the false promise of lucrative restaurant jobs. The suit was dismissed. Ms. Hamilton served as chairman of the James Beard Foundation from 2005 to 2007, helping to rebuild the foundation after a board scandal in which president Leonard Pickell pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1.1 million of the nonprofit organizations money. She also chaired the American Institute of Wine & Food and hosted the radio show and PBS television series Chefs Story, interviewing chefs about their life and work. In 2015, Ms. Hamilton headed the U.S. pavilion at the food-themed Milan Expo, organizing a 35,000-square-foot pavilion that featured what was described as the worlds largest vertical farm. A marriage to Douglas Hamilton, a venture capitalist who helped finance the French Culinary Institute in the early 1990s, ended in divorce. Survivors include a daughter, Olivia Hamilton of Tampa. Broadway sensation Cynthia Erivo is getting the chance to take her Tony-winning performance in The Color Purple global and its all courtesy of first lady Michelle Obama. On Monday afternoon, before an invited audience of schoolgirls from New York City and the spouses of heads of state from around the world, Erivo, who plays the lead role of Celie in the revival, will deliver a rendition of her inspirational solo from the show, Im Here. The song asserts Celies right to pursue the dream of a bountiful life, as she rises above desperate and seemingly hopeless circumstances. Its a number that likely will carry even wider emotional significance in the confines of the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where Obama and her White House staff members have organized a 4 p.m. concert and presentation to promote the messages of Let Girls Learn. Launched by President Obama and the first lady 18 months ago, the initiative seeks to reinforce the urgency, especially in underdeveloped countries, of creating and enhancing educational opportunities for a group under particular stress: teenage girls. To be part of something that encourages them to embrace their brilliance is paramount for the future of all the countries of the world, Erivo said of Mondays program. With the help of longtime Broadway producer and Obama supporter Margo Lion, the event has been arranged to also feature performances by cast members of three other Broadway musicals, Waitress, Wicked and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. All of them focus on the stories of women who overcome formidable obstacles and reach a more profound understanding of their self-worth. The program was assembled to coincide with the gathering of world leaders in New York for the opening of the 71st United Nations General Assembly. Tina Tchen, the first ladys chief of staff, said that Michelle Obama has created an event for the spouses of the visiting leaders about every other year during her husbands presidency. The Broadway community, many of whose leaders are enthusiastic Obama supporters, was deemed a natural conveyance for the aspirational efforts of Let Girls Learn. This is an opportunity to raise this issue up around the world, Tchen said, adding that the musicals reinforced the tenets of the program by showing strong women standing up for themselves. Its a great way through the music. . . . You can get a message out through culture, to use culture as a hook. The multifaceted Let Girls Learn initiative involves governments and corporations in raising money for and awareness of increasing educational training for adolescent girls, who in some countries are denied the access accorded to their male counterparts. The idea was hatched as a result of a 2013 meeting of the Obamas with Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani Nobel laureate and advocate for girls education, who was shot and seriously wounded by Taliban terrorists after she spoke out on the issue. At the announcement of Let Girls Learn on March 3, 2015, the president laid out the scale of the problem. Sixty-two million girls around the world who should be in school are not, he said. Thats not by accident. Since then, companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, JetBlue and Starwood Hotels have committed resources to the effort. The State Department, Peace Corps and U.S. Agency for International Development are among the governmental participants in the project. Last year, USAID announced, for instance, that it planned to provide $100 million in aid to Jordan for the construction of 25 schools, 70 percent of which would be for girls. Jordans Queen Rania al-Abdullah will address Mondays gathering, which will be emceed by Stephen Colbert. Gertrude Mutharika, the first lady of Malawi, in southern Africa, will also offer remarks, as will Michelle Obama. Aptly, too, three young women from Jordan, Malawi and Pakistan will speak about their personal educational experiences. One of them, 23-year-old Noor Abu Ghazaleh of Jordan, with a bachelors degree in accounting, worked with USAID, helping assess girls schooling needs in a Palestinian refugee camp. Ghazaleh described in an email interview what she learned through the focus groups she conducted in the Al Talbieh camp. It seems to me that access to a safe and friendly learning environment is one of the main obstacles teenage girls face, she wrote. In addition, there are some harmful traditions that persist in specific communities that dont value educating girls, so girls in these communities drop out at [an] early age. Extolling the value of coordinated international efforts like Let Girls Learn, she also noted that the event Monday would let her enjoy Broadway for the first time, ever. Carolyn Thompson Brown and her sister, Judith Thompson Hamer, stood in the Heritage Hall of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and listened as the museums founding director, Lonnie Bunch III, thanked them for what theyd done. You have turned this building into a museum, he told them. And this museum, thanks to you, can tell the unvarnished truth. What the Thompson sisters had done was offer up a few photos of their ancestors. Nearby was Shelia The Diva Lewis, one of the original Soul Train dancers, who had donated several outfits shed worn on the show. Then there was Bernice Cosey Pulley, who arrived two hours early to wait for the doors to open. She will turn 90 this week, and as the second black woman to graduate from the Yale Divinity School, she contributed an oral history. Al Ashley, 81, traveled from Little Rock to see his 1940 Booker T. Washington postage stamp on display. Danielle Spencer David, who played Dee on the 1970s sitcom Whats Happening!!, gave television scripts and cast photos. There were musicians and art collectors. Broadcasters, historians and great-great-grandsons. There were women in towering heels and men hunched over in wheelchairs. And each of them the more than 3,000 invited to Saturday nights preview had given something to help bring the museum into existence. This is the house you built, Bunch told them. Welcome home. And the first order of business for the Thompson sisters was to find their way around the house. It is a five-story, 400,000 square-foot building that displays 3,000 artifacts. Carolyn and Judith knew their photos would be in a gallery dealing with the great migration of blacks from the South to the Northeast, but thats all they knew. The history the Thompson sisters were concerned with was that of their great-great-grandfather, Philip Johnson. Hed been a slave in Virginia for 50 years before the Emancipation. But after the Civil War, he bought land with his wife, Maria, and they sat for a photograph wearing heavy clothes, faint smiles and the mantle of freedom. Their daughter married a Pullman porter from North Carolina and together the couple moved to New York City. They had a house and a rental property and a son named Frank, who would one day become father to Carolyn and Judith, the two women now looking for their past, newly enshrined in the annals of American history. This is not an elevator, a museum staffer said as the women prepared to head to the lower level. Its a time machine. Were going back to the year 1400. Carolyn and Judith and the husband and daughter they had in tow did not have time to look at the other exhibits. The slave cabin or the shackles that their great-great-grandfather might have known too well. The receipt of sales for a teenage slave. The advertisements for human auctions. The Thompson sisters wove their way through crowds of people who could be heard exclaiming, There it is! and Found it! of their donated artifacts. But it seemed Carolyn and Judith had gone too far. Or maybe not far enough. Or maybe their things didnt make it on display after all? It should be in here, the women said simultaneously. Nothing. Time to backtrack. And then: Theres the banner! Carolyn said. It was red with gold lettering and said Cornell. Their father had graduated from the university in 1925. When his daughters were little girls, he brought them to the school and wrote each of their names on a chalkboard with the year he expected them to graduate. And they both did, right on time. How about that, Carolyn said, staring into the illuminated glass case. You can see its a little moth-eaten, but hey thats all right. My father would be so happy. Hed be so proud of the museum, Judith added. And of its demonstration that Were really here. Were here to stay. We made contributions. Across the hall were framed photos of their grandparents, whose race nearly prevented them from buying property in Queens in the 1930s, just as it had for Judith in Connecticut in the 1970s. Staring at the face of her grandmother, which looks so much like own, Carolyn reflected, It makes you feel an obligation to the ancestors. Thats why she wants her children and grandchildren to come here to see the collective shoulders on which they stand. And to understand that its their duty, now, to thrive. After several more minutes of searching, they found it: a larger-than-life photo of their great-great-grandparents, who lived in bondage but died free. It seemed as if the couple were staring directly at Carolyn and Judith, who between them have two PhDs, five children and seven grandchildren. And who, in that moment, were standing three blocks from the White House, where a black man serves as president, in a gleaming new museum devoted to the history and culture of their people. Its wild, Carolyn said, staring back. You think, if only they could have known how the story would turn out. The vacant First Church of Christ, Scientist, on Columbia Road in Adams Morgan, photographed before construction began on an eight-story hotel that will encompass the 1912 building. (Jeffrey MacMillan/For The Washington Post) The deal was straightforward: In exchange for a multimillion-dollar D.C. tax break, a hotel developer in one of Washingtons best-known neighborhoods agreed to hire more than 300 construction workers, all of them city residents. Yet as work on the Adams Morgan hotel approaches completion, D.C. officials say that the developer has hired just 25 percent of the workers it promised to employ and is in danger of forfeiting the $46 million tax abatement. The District will make a final assessment of the developers hiring performance after The Line hotel opens early next year. But as of last week, with construction scheduled to be completed by Thanksgiving, the developer has hired 90 city residents, or about 26 percent of the 342 required under legislation enacted three years ago by the D.C. Council, according to city officials. Construction on the hotel began in March 2015. We are not playing on this, said Courtney Snowden, the city administrations deputy mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity. Our expectation is that every developer will meet the negotiated agreement and we will bring our full enforcement to bear. Jake Lamstein, the chief development officer for the Sydell Group, the projects developer, wrote in an email that we will meet and likely exceed the obligation required to obtain the tax abatement. However, Lamstein disputed that the developers obligation is to hire 342 city residents for construction jobs. Instead, he contended that the legislation requires the developer to fill 51 percent of the 342 jobs or 175 positions with D.C. residents. Please know that we are resoundingly committed to meeting this and all the other commitments we made as part of getting this project approved, Lamstein wrote. Asked about Lamsteins contention that his team had to hire only 175 residents, Faith Leach, Snowdens chief of staff, replied: We are holding the developer accountable for 342 positions. The Sydell Groups hiring record became an issue after Bryan Weaver, an Adams Morgan neighborhood leader who helped negotiate the jobs agreement, complained to city officials that the developer was nowhere near fulfilling its obligation. But Weaver also contends that the District government has not monitored the project closely enough. Its malfeasance by laziness, Weaver said. The community has been failed at every level by this project. The 220-room hotel, on Columbia Road at the center of Adams Morgan, is to encompass the stately 1912 building that housed the First Church of Christ, Scientist, as well as a new eight-story building in the rear. The hotel will feature a rooftop patio, indoor pool and two restaurants run by high-profile local chefs. Community leaders in Adams Morgan, a longtime hub for bars and restaurants, are hoping that the hotel will spur more daytime traffic in the neighborhood, creating demand for other types of businesses to diversify the commercial base. Six years ago, when the developer was seeking the tax abatement, Weaver was a member of Adams Morgans Advisory Neighborhood Commission. He said he was invited to a meeting with then-council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Brian Friedman, a developer on the project. Weaver said the men asked him what the community would need to support the tax break. He suggested construction jobs. I get a call every day from a young guy in the neighborhood looking for a job, Weaver said. Initially, the legislation that the D.C. Council passed required that city residents fill 765 construction jobs. A subsequent amendment reduced the number to 342. The legislation also requires that 51 percent of the permanent jobs in the hotel be filled by District residents, with half of those positions taken by residents of Ward 1, which includes Adams Morgan. Last April, a year after construction began, Weaver, in an email to the developer, contended that the Sydell group was playing fast and loose with its obligation to hire city residents to work on the project. You guys are not remotely on track, he wrote. What gives? Steve Harloe, a Sydell Group executive, responded that the developer had hired 32 District residents for construction jobs by that point, and that we are well positioned to exceed the minimum construction job requirements. Weaver also complained to council member Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), who succeeded Graham. At first, Nadeau believed that the developer was complying with the law. But Nadeau then learned from Weaver that she was mistaken, in part because she had reviewed a wrong draft of the legislation. Nadeau, in an interview, said the confusion resulted from Grahams office not leaving behind a detailed transition memo when he left the council at the end of 2014. Theres a developer taking advantage of a transition in government, she said.Its outrageous that the statute is not being properly enforced, but its equally outrageous that a developer would seek a $46 million tax abatement and make hardly any effort to fulfill its obligations to our community. Lamstein, in an email, said the developer is seeking to meet with District officials to align tracking and understanding of this obligation. We are not clear where the misalignment in information exists and hope to remedy this at our meeting, he wrote. Dozens are protesting how American University responds to incidents of race after bananas were allegedly thrown at black students on campus. (WUSA 9) Dozens are protesting how American University responds to incidents of race after bananas were allegedly thrown at black students on campus. (WUSA 9) Hundreds of American University students gathered on campus Monday to demand the suspension of two white students who were allegedly involved in throwing a banana at a black woman in a dorm earlier this month. Outside the universitys student center on a gray afternoon, students voiced their outrage about the allegedly racial incident, one in what black student leaders said was a series of recent racially tinged problems on campus. The banana assault, which happened at about 1:30 a.m. Sept. 8, came the same night as another black student on the same floor of the dorm found a rotten banana outside her room and an obscene drawing on the whiteboard attached to her door. [American University investigating after black student says banana was thrown at her] The universitys Black Student Alliance said in a statement last week that there have been racial tensions on campus for some time, including hate messages aimed at black students. On Monday, students spoke to the crowd via megaphone, saying these are not isolated concerns on the Northwest Washington campus and asking administrators to do more to protect students of color at the private university. Several students held signs, including one that read: Racism at AU is bananas. Students protest at American University on Monday, Sept. 19, following racist incidents at a student dorm, including one in which a banana was thrown at a black student. (Alejandra Matos/The Washington Post) Sophomore Maat Sargeant, one of the protests organizers, said the banana incidents are part of a pattern. She and others asked that AU hire more faculty of color in the office of student life and alert the campus when racially motivated issues arise. Nothing is ever done, no consequences, just town halls where we speak to deaf ears, she said. Racial issues on campuses nationwide have roiled students during the past year, setting off protests and in some cases forcing leadership and institutional changes as schools address their cultural climates. American University officials said they have been working to broaden the schools diversity and understanding among the community. American University President Cornelius M. Neil Kerwin released a statement ahead of Mondays protest calling the banana incident and another unspecified explicit racist incident in a residence hall unacceptable student behavior . . . that left our African-American students and others shaken, upset, and even feeling unsafe. University officials declined to offer more details about the second incident, citing an ongoing investigation. Such acts are reprehensible and are the antithesis of the values and standards we embrace as a university, Kerwin said. I share with many of you deep disappointment and frustration that these events have disrupted our community and challenged our efforts to build an inclusive campus culture. They simply have no place here. We will confront racist expressions with forceful condemnation and respond to discrimination with every tool at our disposal. The incident involving the thrown banana was investigated and those involved have been held accountable through the student conduct process, Kerwin said in the statement. Do not be discouraged, Kerwin said. We will not be dissuaded from our goal to create a more inclusive climate. Vice President Richard Nixon speaks during the nations first televised debate between him and Sen. John F. Kennedy in Chicago in 1960. (Anonymous/AP) I was coughing up blood by the time I went to see my doctor last week. He didnt compare me and my acute bronchitis to Hillary Clinton and her pneumonia. Instead, he invoked another presidential candidate who refused to stop campaigning when he was seriously ill: Richard M. Nixon. You dont listen to me about slowing down, scolded Raymond Scalettar. Just like Nixon. He read the question mark on my face and the rustle of that table tissue as I shifted uncomfortably in the exam room. Yes, I was Nixons doctor, and he didnt listen to me, either, Scalettar declared. This was an only-in-Washington moment nonpareil. And the start of a great story. I had no idea that my workaholic doctor hes 87 and finally retiring next month had treated Nixon when the vice president was running against Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1960. Hillary Clinton leaves her daughter's New York apartment building after she fell during a Sept. 11 commemoration. Shed been diagnosed with pnuemonia but ignored her doctors advice to rest. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) Washington is an epicenter of germ-infested workplaces, as Scalettar knows all too well. And its not just because were the capital of one of the few countries on Earth that cant get its act together on paid sick days, with many minimum-wage workers stiffed when they call in sick. Its because were also a city filled with hyper-ambitious, work-obsessed professionals who refuse to take time off when they are ill even if they get paid sick days for fear it would shatter the illusion that theyre indispensable. I was going on day six of a hacking cough as I powered my way through six columns, four public events, a TV interview, a radio talk show, reporting at two construction sites and a gala dinner. (All of this extremely essential, of course.) [Staying at the new Trump Hotel in D.C.? Youll pay a price beyond $700 a night.] Finally, I made an appointment to see Scalettar. Im usually a mess when I show up. And he shakes his head, because for decades, hes been telling his sick patients to rest. We rarely do. He was a young Army captain working at Walter Reed when his most famous patient ignored him. It was 1960, and Nixon was preparing for the nations first televised presidential debate. The debate became a case study in political image-making, with Kennedy looking healthy and vital while Nixon was waxen, sweaty and haggard. How long are the presidential debates going to be? Who chooses the moderators and the dates? Here is what you need to know. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) He was sick during the debate, Scalettar said. Only the doctor and Nixons advisers knew that Nixon was suffering from a serious infection the result of a knee injury on a campaign trip to Greensboro, N.C. Scalettar a highly decorated doctor to Washingtons power players for more than half a century disappeared into his office, then returned and handed me a piece of paper. Heres the article I wrote about it. In the June 1, 1984, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, my doctor wrote that Nixon smashed his left knee in a car door in August 1960, then showed up at Walter Reed, where then-Capt. Scalettar was rheumatic-disease chief. Nixon had a staph infection, which brought on septic (poisonous) arthritis. And he refused to take time off from the trail because he had promised to campaign in every state. Scalettar wrote that the illness, Nixons failure to rest and recuperate normally, his loss of time due to illness and his appearance seriously impaired his effectiveness as a campaigner. Hes convinced that Nixons medical secret contributed to his narrow loss to Kennedy by slightly more than 100,000 votes that November 56 years ago. Coming clean about how sick he was right before that debate may have severely altered the course of American history. Of course, we also later learned that Kennedy was hiding his own basket of medical secrets. That healthy tan glowing on television during that debate may have been a side effect of the Addisons disease he was also keeping secret. Scalettar was equally displeased this week with Hillary Clinton, not only for initially keeping the pneumonia a secret, but also for refusing to listen to her doctor. Scalettar kept quiet about his Nixon secret for decades he still bristles at the lack of transparency back then. He was ordered to hide the diagnosis, and it explains how exercised he is about the health machinations of both candidates. But what they did push through it is utterly American. Now, looking back, I know I should have followed my doctors orders to rest, but my instinct was to push through it, Clinton said Friday at the Black Womens Agenda Symposium in the District. Clinton said its also a woman thing. [She ditched her $400,000-a-year legal job after her womans card held her back] That is what women do every single day, she said. I felt no different. Life has shown us that we do have to work harder at the office while still bearing most of the responsibilities at home. That we always need to keep going because our families and our communities count on us. I get it. Every time Scalettar tells me I need to slow down, I ask him if he has a nanny hed like to lend me. History, however, has shown us that Republicans and Democrats men as well as women all do it. We push through it. Sometimes with spectacularly awful results. Who can forget the time President George H.W. Bush ignored his doctors advice in 1992? Instead of staying in bed, as his doctor ordered, Bush went to a state dinner with the prime minister of Japan and promptly puked in His Excellencys lap. Not good. Will you listen to me? my doctor wanted to know. You need to slow down. I promised him Id try. Except theres an event I want to cover this weekend and another interview and a project proposal and this play Im going to see and my sons lacrosse game and another sons class trip. He sighed. I thanked him, got my antibiotics from the pharmacy and went back to the office. Me and Nixon soul mates. Twitter: @petulad THE DISTRICT Man recently shot in Northwest dies A man who was shot a week ago in Northwest died of his wounds Sunday, police said. On Sept. 12 at about 12:25 a.m., officers responded to the 2300 block of 11th Street NW, near the Cardozo Education Campus, after a report of a shooting. They found 23-year-old Eric Garrett of Northwest suffering from gunshot wounds, D.C. police said in a statement. Garrett was transported to a hospital, where he died of his wounds Sunday, the statement said. Justin Wm. Moyer 2nd man arrested in trans womans death A second man was arrested Monday in the killing of a transgender woman in Northeast Washington in July, D.C. police said. Deeniqua Dodds, 22, born Gregory Dodds, was shot July 4 in the 200 block of Division Avenue NE. She died July 13. Last week, police announced the arrest of Shareem Hall, 22, of District Heights, Md., in Doddss killing. Jalonte Little, 26, of Southeast Washington, has been arrested and charged with first-degree felony murder while armed, D.C. police said. Two police officers are struck by vehicle Two D.C. police officers were hospitalized in serious condition after being hit by a vehicle Monday while helping the driver of another car in Southeast, authorities said. The officers, who were attending to the motorist on a ramp near Interstates 295 and 695, were flown to Medstar Washington Hospital Center, officials said. At a news conference Monday afternoon at the hospital, interim D.C. police chief Peter Newsham said the officers, the driver they tried to help and the driver of the vehicle that hit them all were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Although D.C. police initially reported that the driver of the vehicle the officers stopped to assist had experienced a medical emergency, it was not clear why the vehicle stopped and why the other vehicle struck the officers, according to Newsham. Justin Wm. Moyer and Clarence Williams VIRGINIA Dozens of cats removed from house About 80 cats were removed from a Falls Church mans home this weekend, Fairfax County police said Monday. Authorities said the cats were showing symptoms of illness when they were found in a 52-year-old mans home. Officers removed 82 cats on Saturday from the mans home in the 7200 block of Westmoreland Road, authorities said. They were taken to the animal shelter and treated by a veterinarian. Police also said five dead cats were found in the house. Victoria St. Martin A small crop-dusting airplane crashed and burned Sunday on Marylands Eastern Shore, but no serious injuries were reported. A description of the plane indicated that it was an updated version of the single engine biplane of the kind traditionally associated with crop-dusting. Maryland state police said the plane made an emergency landing Saturday on a farm in the Chestertown area of Kent County. After repairs there, the pilot tried to take off Sunday, the police said. However, the plane lost power and hit a car trailer and a piece of farm equipment before coming to rest upright on the ground, the police said. The pilot got out before the plane caught fire.They said the plane was damaged significantly but the pilot did not require transportation to a hospital. A photograph taken at the scene shows flames and a thick cloud of black smoke rising from the wreckage. A man who was shot a week ago in Northwest Washington died of his wounds Sunday, police said. On Sept. 12 at about 12:25 a.m., officers responded to the 2300 block of 11th Street NW, near the Cardozo Education Campus, for a reported shooting. They found 23-year-old Eric Garrett of Northwest Washington suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, D.C. police said in a statement. Garrett was transported to a hospital, where he died of his wounds Sunday, the statement said. [Man shot early Monday morning in Northwest Washington] Police ask anyone with information about the shooting to call 202-727-9099. Anonymous information may be submitted to the departments text tip line by text messaging 50411. After Alecia Schmuhl was fired from a prominent Virginia law firm in 2014, prosecutors said the lawyer and her husband contemplated filing a lawsuit before settling on a darker plan: taking the firms partner and his wife hostage in their home in McLean. The plot unspooled on Nov. 9, 2014, when Andrew Schmuhl barged into the couples home wearing a fedora and flashing a novelty badge. He bound the pair and began a rambling interrogation that prosecutors said appeared to be directed by Alecia Schmuhl, who remained outside. Andrew Schmuhl eventually slit Leo Fishers throat and stabbed Susan Duncan, leaving them for dead. Prosecutors said that police caught up to the Schmuhls a short time later on the Capital Beltway and that Alecia Schmuhl attempted to run the officers off the road before she and her husband were stopped. Andrew Schmuhl, also a lawyer, was found wearing nothing but an adult diaper. Alecia Schmuhl, 32, of Springfield, Va., sobbed quietly Monday in a Fairfax County courtroom, answering yes five times as a judge asked whether she was guilty on each of five charges related to the scheme. These arrest photos provided by the Fairfax County Police Department show Andrew Schmuhl and Alecia Schmuhl. (AP) The plea agreement with prosecutors calls for a prison sentence of 10 to 45 years, less than the two life terms plus 98 years that Andrew Schmuhl received last month after a nearly five-week trial in June. [Lawyer sentenced to life in revenge plot against law firm partner, wife] Casey Lingan, chief deputy commonwealths attorney for Fairfax County, said the plea deal would spare Fisher and Duncan, who have physical and psychological scars from their ordeal, the pain of having to testify again. Both Alecia and Andrew Schmuhl are deeply culpable, Lingan said after the plea hearing. They brought that terror on November 9. During the hearing, Alecia Schmuhls attorneys said they would save the explanation of their clients actions until the sentencing hearing Jan. 18 and 19. They declined to comment afterward. Lingan spent much of his time in court detailing the painstaking preparations that went into the attack, which generated news across the country, and the Schmuhls attempts to cover their tracks. The Schmuhls assembled an abduction kit that included rope, plastic gloves and a knife; purchased disposable phones that are difficult to trace; and paid cash for a Taser. Alecia Schmuhl acquired adult diapers that her husband could wear during the three-hour abduction. Prosecutors said the couple drove to Duncan and Fishers home on a quiet Sunday night. Andrew Schmuhl knocked on the door and then forced his way in, posing as a law enforcement officer from the Virginia SEC. Andrew Schmuhl used the Taser on Fisher, who crumpled to the floor, and then bound him with flexible restraints. Duncan was bound by the hands and feet as well after she came to investigate the commotion. Andrew Schmuhl told them that a cartel had placed a hit on Fisher, who is the managing partner at the Arlington law firm Bean Kinney & Korman and who had fired Alecia Schmuhl for poor performance two weeks earlier. Duncan and Fisher were forced onto the bed in their bedroom, where they were interrogated over the next three hours. At one point, Andrew Schmuhl took them to search Fishers work email before they returned to the bed. As Andrew Schmuhl held the couple hostage, he communicated with someone he called his boss and partner via cellphone, Lingan said. Lingan said it appeared that person was Alecia Schmuhl. It was as if the intruder came back with a script of questions, Lingan said in court. The abduction ended with Andrew Schmuhl questioning Fisher separately about where he had money or stacks of gold, said Lingan, who noted that Andrew Schmuhl had learned just before the attack that he owed about $18,000 in back alimony. Suddenly, Andrew Schmuhl placed a pillow over Fishers head and slit his throat, Lingan said. Fisher managed to call out to Duncan, who then charged into the room, Lingan said. Andrew Schmuhl opened fire on Duncan with a handgun, and the bullet grazed her head. He then stabbed her in the back and neck until she pretended to be dead. Duncan eventually was able to trip a fire alarm, sending Schmuhl fleeing from the house. Fisher, who Lingan said lost 50 percent of the blood in his body, identified the attacker when police arrived and was rushed to the hospital along with his wife. The couple testified forcefully at Andrew Schmuhls trial and sentencing, saying the attack had taken a heavy toll on them. After the hearing Monday, they walked through the courthouse arm in arm. Two D.C. police officers were hospitalized in serious condition after being hit by a vehicle Monday while helping the driver of another car in Southeast Washington, authorities said. The officers, who were attending to the motorist on a ramp near Interstates 295 and 695, were flown to Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser tweeted at about 1:45 p.m. At a press conference Monday afternoon at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officers, the driver they tried to help and the driver of the vehicle that hit them all were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Though D.C. police initially reported that the driver of the vehicle the officers stopped to assist had experienced a medical emergency, why the vehicle stopped and why the other vehicle struck the officers was still under investigation, according to Newsham. We dont know what caused the other vehicle to lose control, he said. Newsham added that the officers, veteran police officers with more than four years of service from D.C.s Third District, were not in their patrol area, but stopped to help nonetheless. We want to extend a sincere appreciation for what they did, he said. Christine Trankiem Wall, a physician at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, said the officers and the driver they stopped to help were being treated for serious injuries to their lower extremities and would stay at the hospital overnight. The driver of the car that struck the officers was being treated elsewhere, Newsham said, and it was not yet clear whether charges would be filed. Police detoured northbound I-295 traffic at the 11th Street SE and Martin Luther King Avenue exit. Two teens have been arrested in the slaying of a 20-year-old man whose body was found facedown in a creek bed Saturday in Adelphi. Hernan Sanchez-Vasquez, 19, of Silver Spring and Herminio Gonzalez-Sanchez, 17, of Hyattsville were charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Henry Lopez-Hernandez of Cincinnati, Prince Georges County police said. Maryland-National Capital Park Police officers responding to a call in the 8000 block of Riggs Road at 1:30 p.m. Saturday found Lopez-Hernandez suffering from upper-body trauma, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said they think that the three friends got into an argument and that Sanchez-Vasquez and Gonzalez-Sanchez attacked Lopez-Hernandez with fists, glass bottles and a rock, according to police and court documents. Relatives of Sanchez-Vasquez and Gonzalez-Sanchez said they received video and photos that showed the three together near the creek bed, the charging documents stated. Police said Sanchez-Vasquez and Gonzalez-Sanchez have acknowledged involvement in the case. Both were denied bail. The 21st century has become the era of addiction to prescription painkillers, including OxyContin. (Toby Talbot/Associated Press) The federal drug-testing program had its beginnings one cloudy January afternoon when two men shared a joint. At the time, they were operating three 130-ton locomotives. A few minutes later, after blowing through a railroad signal light just north of Baltimore, they collided with an Amtrak train packed with passengers, many of them college students heading back to school after their winter break. Three Amtrak passenger cars were destroyed, 16 people died and 174 were injured. When the drug tests proved positive, federal officials started a program to regularly test railroad workers. Less than four years later, in 1991, Congress decreed that in addition to railroad crews, airline workers who flew, people with commercial drivers licenses, transit employees and the U.S. Coast Guard also should be tested for five critical drugs. Twenty-five years later, the test remains the same, but illegal drug use has changed significantly. The 21st century has become the era of addiction to prescription painkillers drugs with familiar brand names such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Fentanyl and Valium. The federal program doesnt test for any of them, or for any of the other popular synthetic opioids. This is not a case, however, of federal officials missing the boat in updating their drug testing. Instead, it is a case study in the long and tedious process required to change a federal rule. [Teenagers: Its easier to buy illegal prescription drugs than to buy beer] At the turn of the century, deaths from illegal use of prescription drugs mirrored the number from cocaine, about 4,000. By 2013 they had nearly quadrupled, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was calling the abuse of prescription drugs an epidemic. From 2013 to 2014, the largest increase in the rate of drug overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids, the CDC said in a report. A record 28,647 people died from heroin and prescription opioid use in 2014. It was really around 2008, 2009 when we started to see a problem, said Ron Flegel, who heads the Division of Workplace Testing at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). If all goes according to schedule, the rule to allow testing of transportation workers for illegal prescription drugs will emerge in 2017. Changing rules, or creating new rules, in the federal government is a bit like herding cats and generates mountains of paperwork. The rule change being shepherded by SAMHSA will have gone through 14 steps, multiple agency reviews and a period for public comment before taking effect. Five years of work has been devoted to making two basic changes: One would allow testing for illegal prescription drugs, and the other would allow test labs to use saliva, in addition to urine, for testing. Federal lore abounds with examples of the ponderous and protracted rule-making process. A classic illustration is the rule to install back-up cameras in cars. In 2008, President George W. Bush signed a law that specified that the cameras be installed in new cars by 2011. But first, it fell to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to draft a formal rule to enforce the law. NHTSA proposed a rule to phase in camera use in 2012, with the goal that all new cars would have them by 2014. The proposal was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which recommended that NHTSA consider cheaper alternatives. After bouncing around among federal agencies and the OMB, the rule was finalized in 2014, the same year that a NHTSA study said an average of 232 people a year, including 95 children, were killed in back-overs that the cameras might have prevented. By next year, six years after Bush signed the law, 40 percent of new cars will be required to have back-up cameras. All new cars must have them by 2018, seven years later than Congress had intended. NHTSA found an artful way around the rule-making process when it came to driverless cars. Aware that the speed at which the technology was being developed probably would render any rule outdated by the time it was finalized, NHTSA plans to announce guidance for automakers and state officials. It wont be enforceable, but neither did it take so long to reach fruition, and it will allow the agency flexibility in dealing with emerging technology. [Experts cite rescription drug crackdowns effect on heroin use] There was no workaround for SAMHSA when the need arose to test for illegal prescription drugs. You have to make it scientifically supportable and forensically sound, Flegel said. It is a lengthy process, but a very necessary process to go through because youre proposing a rule. Since 1991, transportation workers have been tested for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, natural opiates and PCP. Although awareness of the prescription-drug problem began a few years earlier, changing the official rule to allow testing for it began in 2012, when the SAMHSA administrator received a recommendation from her Drug Testing Advisory Board. As Flegel recounts the timeline, the recommendation was passed on to the secretary for Health and Human Services, and the Behavioral Health Coordinating Committee for a two-month review. The surgeon general also was asked to have a look. Then a proposed rule was drawn up by the Division of Workplace Programs and sent to the SAMHSA administrator for review. That was about a year later, in 2013, Flegel said. After incorporating revisions received so far, the proposal was sent to the OMB, which looked it over and then distributed it to federal agencies to gather their comments. Theres multiple agencies that have rule-making that look at it specifically, Flegel said. Based on agency comments, SAMHSA revised the proposed rule once more. Then that process starts over, Flegel said. It goes back to HHS, back to OMB and, once approved by OMB, goes out for public comment. The window for public comment is open for three months. We pull those comments from the public and then revise the proposed mandatory guidelines accordingly, Flegel said. Right now, those revisions are under another round of reviews. We are now still in the process where it has been revised, it has gone through an HHS clearance and it has now been logged in so the public can see the website, Flegel said. The next steps to the process would be, once approved by OMB, it will go out as a federal register notice, and that federal register notice will be the final guidelines and it will have an implementation date. Asked when he expects the testing to begin, Flegel said, I cant really give an estimated date. But what we had sort of looked at was try to implement around the first of the year, so we can assume it will be 2017. [In 2005: Abuse of Prescription Drugs Widespread] What those tests may reveal was foreshadowed by post-accident testing of railroad workers this year. After a crash, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) conducts more exhaustive testing than for just the five drugs covered by the 1991 rule. We know that the country is struggling with an opioid epidemic and there is no reason why our industry would be immune from an epidemic affecting the entire country, FRA Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg said last week in remarks to the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee. In at least one of six post-accident tests that were positive for drug use, the worker was on OxyContin, internal federal records indicate. After the fatal 1987 collision between the Conrail locomotives and the Amtrak train, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that a shared marijuana joint was the probable cause. The Conrail brakeman, Butch Cromwell, agreed to testify against the engineer, Ricky Lynn Gates, in return for immunity from prosecution. Gates was charged with manslaughter by locomotive and served four years in prison. Ed Gillespie on election night in 2014, when he narrowly lost a bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Warner in Virginia. (Kate Patterson for The Washington Post) A Republican who worked in President George W. Bushs White House is favored to win next years GOP nomination for Virginia governor, while the candidate most closely aligned with Donald Trump is lagging, a new University of Mary Washington poll found. In a crowded Republican field, strategist Ed Gillespie has the support of 19 percent of Virginia adults compared with 6 percent for Corey Stewart, who is chairman of Trumps Virginia presidential campaign and the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Gillespies closest competitor is the latest entrant to the GOP race: state Sen. Frank W. Wagner (Virginia Beach), who announced his candidacy in late August and drew the support of 11 percent in the poll. U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman had 8 percent. [Republican state Sen. Frank Wagner will run for governor] None of the contenders are well known across the state. Gillespie, who was a counselor to Bush, has the highest profile after narrowly losing a 2014 bid to unseat Sen. Mark R. Warner (D), a former governor. But even his name recognition remains modest. The poll, conducted Sept. 6 to 12 for the university by Princeton Survey Research Associates, found that 40 percent of Virginians have no preferred candidate. It surveyed 1,006 adults via landlines and cellphones and has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points for results based on registered voters and 4.4 percentage points for results based on likely voters. Gillespie ran a statewide race two years ago, so right now he is somewhat better known around the state, said Stephen J. Farnsworth, a Mary Washington political-science professor and director of the universitys Center for Leadership and Media Studies, which sponsored the survey. But the challenge for Gillespie and for the other three Republican candidates is to become better known across the commonwealth before next years primary. The Republicans are vying for the chance to succeed the term-limited Terry McAuliffe (D), who leaves the governors office in January 2018. On the Democrats side, only Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam is in the race. Although Northam already holds statewide office, it is a relatively obscure one whose only constitutionally mandated role is to preside over the state Senate. Six percent of those surveyed said they had a positive opinion of Northam, a pediatric neurologist and former state senator from the Eastern Shore. Four percent have a negative one, and 86 percent said they did not know enough about Northam to express an opinion. By comparison, 16 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Gillespie, 10 percent had an unfavorable opinion and 71 percent said that they had not heard enough about him to offer an opinion. Nine percent had a favorable opinion of Wittman, whose District stretches from Prince William County to Hampton Roads. Four percent had an unfavorable opinion of him, and 84 percent did not know enough to offer an opinion. Eight percent had a favorable opinion of Wagner, with 5 percent saying they had an unfavorable view. Seven percent had a favorable opinion of Stewart, compared with 4 percent who had an unfavorable view. More than 80 percent did not know enough about either candidate to express an opinion. All four hypothetical general-election matchups between Northam and the four Republican candidates were within the surveys margin of error. No candidate in any of the head-to-head contests received more than 40 percent or less than 35 percent. Officials in Virginias largest jurisdiction said Monday that better voting equipment and a larger pool of volunteers should mean a smoother Election Day this year than four years ago, when long lines outside some polling stations kept voters waiting until about 10:30 p.m. to cast a ballot. About 80 percent of eligible voters are expected to turn out for the November presidential elections in Fairfax County, on par with the voter turnout in 2012, officials said. With about 650,000 active registered voters, the county will play a large role in the overall outcome in Virginia, a longtime swing state that appears to be leaning in favor of Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. [How did deeply red Virginia become such a challenge for the GOP?] The county lifted Democrat Barack Obama to victory in Virginia during both of his presidential elections. In 2004, Fairfax voters narrowly supported Democrat John Kerry over Republican President George W. Bush, who won the state with 54 percent of the overall vote. Fairfax officials said interest in this years election among county voters will again likely mean a higher turnout than the national average, which was roughly 53.6 percent in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. Requests for absentee ballots are up significantly, said Kate Hanley, secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board. The county expects about 100,000 absentee ballots to be cast this year, compared with 92,540 in 2012. [Democrats complain GOP contributed to long waits to vote in Fairfax] The 2012 problems stemmed from a lack of volunteer poll workers on election night. The long delays prompted the county Board of Supervisors to appoint a bipartisan election commission to recommend ways to improve the electoral process. Acting on a recommendation from the commission, the county purchased new voting machines in 2014 that record votes electronically and on paper ballots. The county also bought 1,200 computer tablets that electronically scan voter IDs and match them with county voter records, so voters can move more quickly, said Cameron Sasnett, general registrar of the county Office of Elections. In addition, the county has stepped up recruitment of Election Day volunteers and broadened that pool to include poll workers who are fluent in Spanish, Korean and other foreign languages. This year, officials said, they have 3,200 election day volunteers committed to working inside the countys 243 precincts when the polls are open between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Were going to be staffed to make Election Day as efficient and as effective and as fair as possible, Hanley said. Because its a big year. Donald Trump is reaching out to people who believe awful things and might take a pop at Hillary Clinton, Va. Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) said on a Fox News talk show over the weekend. (Family photo) In one breath, the Democratic lawmaker from Virginia was on national television, marveling at Donald Trumps penchant for inflammatory statements and inability to stay on script. In the next, he gave the Republican Party the chance to make some hay. I think Donald Trump is appealing to people who are mentally deficient, Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) said on a Fox News talk show over the weekend. I really do. Faster than you can say basket of deplorables, the Republican Party of Virginia slammed Levine, a syndicated radio host and freshman legislator. The contempt the Democrat Party has for hard-working Virginians who just want a better life for themselves and their children surfaces time and time again, John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said in a written statement. First Hillary Clinton said Trump supporters were from the basket of deplorables, now Delegate Levine says our Republican nominee is appealing to people who are mentally deficient. Millions of Virginians support Donald Trump and Mike Pence. The arrogance and elitism here is simply breathtaking. There is, however, a key difference between Levines remark and the deplorables comment for which Clinton eventually apologized. She said half of Trump supporters belonged in a basket of deplorables, whom she went on to describe as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic you name it. [Clinton: Half of Trumps supporters fit in basket of deplorables] Levine did not suggest that any sizable portion of Trumps fans were mentally deficient only that the real estate moguls rhetoric speaks to people who fit that description and could incite them to violence. Levine made the remark amid a discussion about Trumps recent suggestion that Clintons bodyguards should disarm because she supports gun control. [Trump: Clintons bodyguards should disarm immediately and See what happens to her] Take their guns away, Trump had said. She doesnt want guns. . . . Lets see what happens to her. Take their guns away, okay? It would be very dangerous. On Fox, Levine said that Trumps comment was dangerous, noting that presidents and presidential candidates have been shot in the past. I think Donald Trump is appealing to people who are mentally deficient, he said. I really do. I think hes reaching out to people who believe awful things and might take a pop at Hillary Clinton. Dangerous people follow this stuff. Levine did not consider his comment a gaffe, even if Republicans were playing it up on social media with headlines such as Clinton Surrogate Calls Trump Supporters Mentally Deficient. He posted the Fox video on his website, although under a substantially different headline: Donalds Loose Talk May Encourage Mentally Ill to Harm Hillary. I never said all Trump supporters are mentally deficient people, he told The Washington Post on Monday. What I said was, hes appealing to the kind of mentally deficient person who could take a potshot at Clinton. There are a lot of mentally dangerous people out there. It only takes one person, one mentally deficient person. U.S. Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle pets his dog Lily at work in Washington, D.C. Studies show that having pets can make you more emotionally and physically healthy. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Wayne Pacelle has a demanding job as president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States. This is one of the reasons he brings Lily, his beagle mix, to work with him. He is convinced that animals are a necessary ingredient in our emotional well-being, he says. I deal with many stressful issues, and I see terrible cruelty, he adds. But when Lily puts her head on my lap, it calms me. Pacelle cant scientifically document the positive effects he gains from his connection with Lily (and Zoe, his cat.) But his experience supports what researchers who study human/animal interaction have concluded: Pets, especially dogs, seem to be good for our health. Dogs make people feel good, says Brian Hare, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at Duke University, who points out that dogs are found now in some courtrooms, exam study halls, hospitals, nursing homes, hospice-care settings, classrooms, airports and elsewhere, and their only job is to help people in stressful situations feel better. Many people seem to respond to dogs in a positive way. [The death of a dog can hurt as much as the death of a relative] Scientists believe that the major source of peoples positive reactions to pets comes from oxytocin, a hormone whose many functions include stimulating social bonding, relaxation and trust, and easing stress. U.S. Humane Society employee Crystal Moreland brings her dog Andre to work. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Research has shown that when humans interact with dogs, oxytocin levels increase in both species. When parents look at their baby and their baby stares into their eyes, even though the baby cant talk, parents get an oxytocin boost just by eye contact, Hare says. Dogs have somehow hijacked this oxytocin bonding pathway, so that just by making eye contact, or [by] playing and hugging our dog, the oxytocin in both us and our dog goes up. This is why dogs are wonderful in any kind of stressful situation. Miho Nagasawa, a postdoctoral fellow at Jichi Medical University in Shimotsuke, Japan, has found that mutual gazing between humans and their dogs increases the owners oxytocin levels. This helps decrease anxiety and arousal levels, and slow the heart rate. The positive interaction between humans and dogs via mutual gazing may reduce stress activity for each other, she says. Historical support About 43 million American households have dogs and about 36 million households have cats, according to the 2012 U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, a publication of the American Veterinary Medical Association. [These therapy dogs help college students cope] History provides numerous stories some of them probably apocryphal of the therapeutic benefits of dogs, both physical and psychological. In ancient Egypt, for example, people believed that a dogs lick could heal sores or lesions (there may be a basis in fact for this, because dogs saliva contains antibacterial and antiviral substances, as well as growth factors); in 19th-century mental institutions in England, pets were used to calm residents; in 1880, former Civil War nurse Florence Nightingale wrote that a small pet is often an excellent companion for the sick, for long chronic cases especially. In modern times, science has stepped in to provide a clearer link. A 1980 study found that more heart-attack victims with pets survived beyond the one-year mark than those without, a finding that was reproduced 15 years later. Other studies have shown that pet ownership seems to decrease coronary-disease risk factors involving blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, among other things. A 2009 study, for example, looked at 4,435 people, more than half of them with cats, and found a significantly lower risk of heart-attack deaths for the cat owners. Another study, which looked at 240 married couples, found lower heart rates and blood pressure among those with pets than among those without. The pet owners also experienced milder stress responses and a faster recovery from stress when they were with their pets rather than with a spouse or friend. Denise Harris takes an afternoon nap with her Irish Wolfhounds, Farrhear (left) and Carrik (right), in Columbia, MD. When Harris is feeling ill, she likes to take a nap with her canine companions on the family room floor. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) As for staying healthy in general, its no surprise that having a dog can help you stay more active. One study involving more than 2,000 adults found that dog owners who regularly walked their dogs were more physically active and less likely to be obese than those who didnt own or walk a dog. Another, which looked at more than 2,500 people ages 71 to 82, found that regular dog walkers tended to walk faster and for longer periods each week than those who did not have dogs to walk. They also showed greater mobility inside their homes. Some research suggests that childhood exposure to dogs and cats can protect against developing allergies and asthma later in life, possibly because the contact with pet microbes occurs while the immune system is still developing. Canine caregivers Denise Harris of Columbia, Md., has had rheumatoid arthritis for 30 years; when shes feeling ill, she often naps with her Irish wolfhounds, Carrick and Fearghus. She says Fearghus mothers her when shes getting sick, sensing whats coming before she does and herding her to the bed or sofa. Sure enough, a couple of hours later, Im running a fever, she says. He then literally watches over me till the fever breaks. She calls Carrick her crutch. When I fell in the blizzard last winter, he ran to my side, stood over me until I could sit up, let me use him to pull myself up, then supported me, letting me lean against him all the way into the house and to the sofa. Of course the hounds are good for her health, she says. For one thing, she takes long walks with them. And I can always count on Fearghus for a hug when Im feeling down, she says. Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health are interested in the potential health value of having pets: NIH first raised the human/pet connection nearly 30 years ago, recommending that scientists take pets into account when conducting health research, and the agency has funded a number of studies into the impact of pet ownership. Pacelle also has a cat named Zoe. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Lori Kogan, an associate professor of clinical sciences at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and the editor of the Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, says that pets can be especially helpful for people facing emotional difficulties. Dogs have a positive impact on depression and anxiety, Kogan says. When someone loses a spouse or partner, for example, having a dog provides a reason to get up and be social, she says. For many older people, its the only relationship they have. [Loneliness can be depressing, but it may have helped humans survive] In one study, researchers concluded that women living alone were significantly more lonely than those who were living with pets, and noted that having a pet might compensate for the absence of human companionship. This may explain the value many people find in therapy dogs, which are trained to help people deal with worry, unhappiness and anxiety, and have been found to even reduce the perception of pain. While dogs are most frequently used for therapy purposes, says Mary Margaret Callahan of Pet Partners, the groups registry of available therapy animals also includes cats, horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, llamas, potbellied pigs, birds and domesticated rats. Therapy dogs are widely used to help veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and have been used to help calm autistic children. In June, therapy dogs were brought in to relax swimmers competing in the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha suffering from pre-race jitters. Therapy golden retrievers from Lutheran Church Charities were sent to Orlando in June to comfort survivors as well as those who lost loved ones in the Pulse nightclub shooting that left dozens dead. A New York funeral home provides mourners with a dog that even prays with them. [See sidebar.] Lulu accompanies her owner Matthew J. Fiorillo at the Ballard-Durand Funeral Home. (Courtesy of Matthew J. Fiorillo) A recently released study found that therapy pets can help first-year university students suffering from homesickness and possibly help in lowering college dropout rates. Of course, there are times when the emotional interaction with pets can be difficult. When they misbehave or are sick (or worse), we feel it. Dogs are just like kids: They can be the sources of enormous joy and enormous worry, says Hare, who has two children and two dogs. But overall, despite the worry and pain, most dog owners I know, including me, would say that there is overwhelming benefit. Read more: Theres a dog at this funeral home, ready to pray with you Its an astonishingly common dream. Many of us have it, with numerous reruns throughout our lives. I never went to class. I never did the work. I never studied. Final is tomorrow. Terrible anxiety, says Susie Drucker Hirshfield, 71, of Stockbridge, Mass., a friend from college. Or, Im a freshman. The campus is huge. Im lost. I cant find my classroom building. Seems like I walk around forever, and never find it. Or I find it, and the class is over. Ben Goldberg, 28, a lawyer who was an A student of mine in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, has his own version. I wake up the morning of a final and realize I am completely unprepared for the exam, he says. I spend the day frantically trying to learn the material, but still walk into the exam hopelessly unprepared. Or I wake on the day of the final and realize that Ive cut the class all year. (Since I dont give final exams in my classes, Im sure his dreams have not been about me.) Its a dream that apparently spans the generations and usually involves high school or college, sometimes both. And, oddly, it seems to haunt us decades after we last sat in a classroom. For most people, including me, it goes like this: Weve signed up for a course that we never attend, or we forget we enrolled in it. When final-exam day approaches, we are panic-stricken because we never went to any of the lectures, never took notes and never did the readings or assignments. (In one bizarre twist, some people report that they show up on final exam day naked perhaps feeling vulnerable?) For some, the course is one in which we did poorly in real life. Others dream of a subject in which they actually did well but had worried about failing. Ive had these dreams during and since college, Hirshfield says. I even have them when I am not anxious about anything. Its one of those universal dreams. I think everybody has them. I think shes right. But why is the dream so common? I couldnt find any research on the topic surprising, because the dream seems like natural fodder for psychologists. I talked to a few experts who also were unaware of studies examining this dream. In the absence of peer-reviewed findings, however, they were willing to offer a few thoughts, stressing that their ideas were nothing more than opinion and speculation. I think those who have it tend to be professional and were successful students, says Judy Willis, a neurologist and teacher who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., and who wrote about the dream in a 2009 Psychology Today blog post. These are people who have demanded a high performance from themselves. The recurrence of the dream correlates with times of stress and pressure, when people feel they have a challenge to achieve. Gemma Marangoni Ainslie, an Austin psychoanalyst, agrees. The final exam, she says, is likely representative of an occasion when the dreamer feels he or she will be tested or measured, and the anxiety is about not measuring up. The dreamers task in awake life is to translate the final exam to a situation he or she is facing that stirs up concerns about potential failure. But why school? Why dont we dream about current pressures grant proposals that are due, impending legal briefs or oral arguments, or newspaper deadlines? Emotional memories and impressions made during high-stress experiences are particularly strong, and are further strengthened each time they are recalled and become the place the brain goes when the emotion is evoked, Willis wrote in an email. Since each new stress in the current day is new, there is not a strong memory circuit that would hook to it in a dream. But there is that strong neural network of previous, similar achievement stress. Since tests are the highest stressors. . . [it] makes sense as the go-to memory when stressed about something equally high stakes in the now. Ainslie theorizes that most of us have these dreams as an attempt to disguise what its really about, she says. The part of yourself that is distressed wants to disguise it, and the easiest way to disguise it is to move backwards. Ainslie says the school dream is a common one, although its not the only one that reflects anxiety. Another common one is being in a car and not being able to put the brakes on, she says. This one isnt about not measuring up. Its about not being in control, a matter of not being the driver in your life. Alma Bond, a retired New York psychoanalyst and writer, describes the school dream as a response to an unconscious memory of an experience for which we were totally unprepared, adding that its possible we unconsciously remember a time when we did fail some test or other, and are afraid we will repeat the failure. My son, 26, is the only person I know who claims never to have had this dream, and he has a plausible explanation as to why. A serial class-cutter in high school, he says that skipping classes has always seemed normal to me. But those of us who are Type A personalities as well as anyone else with achievement-related stress may be fated to have this anxiety-producing dream over and over. Ed Hershey, 72, of Portland, Ore., who spent most of his career in academic communications, recently posted on Facebook of yet another vividly familiar, periodic, I-wont-graduate-from-high-school-on-time anxiety dream. He noted that it struck just a few weeks before his 55th high school reunion. Forty-seven friends responded, and a dozen of them posted examples of their own variations on the dream. I guess they [the dreams] never stop, do they? he says, adding: At least I know I am not alone. A police officer frantically gestures as firefighters, not pictured, try to extinguish a blaze that erupted at a wood market in Kabul on Sunday. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) GERMANY Merkels party suffers second state election blow Chancellor Angela Merkels party on Sunday endured a second setback in a state election in two weeks, as many voters turned to the left and right in Berlin, according to projections based on exit polls. The Social Democrats (SPD) and Merkels Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged from the Berlin state election as the strongest two parties but lost enough support that they will not be able to continue a coalition government, the projections show. The SPD won 21.6 percent of the vote, dropping 6.7 percent, while the CDU won 17.5 percent, down 5.8 percent, ARD public television reported. The anti-capitalist Left Party gained 4 percent to 15.7 percent overall, and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD, easily entered its 10th state parliament with 14.1 percent of the vote. The vote comes two weeks after Merkels CDU was beaten into third place in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by the AfD, and Sundays showing will keep up the pressure on the chancellor a year ahead of national elections. However, it was largely local issues that drove the vote in the city of 3.5 million. Without enough support for the governing SPD-CDU grand coalition to continue and with five parties with very similar strengths, a three-way coalition will almost certainly form the next government. Associated Press PHILIPPINES Leader seeks to extend bloody war on drugs The Philippine president said Sunday that he may need to extend a bloody anti-drug campaign that has left more than 3,000 people dead and been slammed by the United States and others. Acknowledging for the first time that he may not be able to keep his campaign promise to eradicate illegal drugs in no more than six months, President Rodrigo Duterte said in jest that with the huge number of people involved, even if I wanted to, I cannot kill them all. Duterte said at a news conference in the southern city of Davao that he was overwhelmed by the scale of the problem and may need to extend his self-imposed deadline by six months to end the scourge. He won the May 9 election on a promise to end corruption and crime, especially illegal drugs, in three to six months. More than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and traffickers have been killed since Duterte assumed the presidency in June, and 600,000 others, mostly drug users, have surrendered to authorities for fear they may be killed. An investigation, however, has turned up more names of people involved in the illegal drug trade, including many village leaders and mayors, Duterte said. I didnt realize how severe and how serious the problem of drug menace in this republic [was] until I became president, said Duterte, who was a mayor before he became president. President Obama, U.N. officials and human rights watchdogs have raised concerns about the killings, but Duterte has lashed out at them and other critics. Associated Press 13 reported killed in Thailand boat accident: At least 13 people were killed when a double-decker passenger boat carrying more than 100 people capsized in a river north of Bangkok, Thai media reported. More than 30 people were hospitalized with injuries, but an unknown number remain missing after the accident, which occurred when the boat was involved in a collision. Palestinian stabs Israeli officer amid new surge in violence: A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli army officer in the chest near a West Bank settlement, moderately wounding him before Israeli troops shot the attacker and apprehended him, the military said. The incident followed a weekend surge in Palestinian attacks that shattered weeks of relative calm. Four Palestinians were fatally shot over the weekend during assaults on Israelis, according to Israeli authorities. Suicide car bomber kills Somali general: A car bomb killed a Somali general and five of his bodyguards in Somalias capital, according to a police officer. Gen. Mohamed Roble Jimale Gobanle and his bodyguards were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle next to the generals car near the Defense Ministry compound in Mogadishu, Capt. Ali Nur said. Gobanle was the commander of the armys 3rd Brigade, a combat team fighting al-Shabab militants. Al-Shabab asserted responsibility for the attack. From news services Its important to acknowledge when youve been wrong, and Ive probably never been so wrong as I was in an op-ed published on April 13, 2010. At the time, I was stunned by a terrible tragedy: the crash of a plane that had carried the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski. He had been flying to the Russian city of Smolensk to visit the memorial at Katyn, where Stalin murdered 20,000 Polish officers in 1940. Several dozen senior military figures and politicians were also on the plane, many of them friends of mine and colleagues of my husband, who was then the Polish foreign minister. Among them was his deputy, Andrzej Kremer, a wonderful man and brilliant diplomat. In the sweep of emotion that followed the crash, comparing the event to Katyn, I wrote this sentence: This time around, nobody suspects a conspiracy. As an excuse, I offer the fact that the tragedy initially seemed to bring people together. Politicians of all parties, from right to left, had been on the plane. Widely attended funerals were held across the country. Even Vladimir Putin, then the Russian prime minister, seemed moved. He arranged for the broadcast of Katyn an emotional and very anti-Soviet Polish film on Russian state television as a kind of memorial. Nothing like it has ever been shown so widely in Russia, before or since. But my optimism was premature. The presidents brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, then the unpopular leader of the parliamentary opposition, seems to have initially believed, as all the evidence has always shown, that the crash was an accident. Then he changed his mind. Perhaps he could not accept that his beloved twin had died randomly, in a pointless crash. Perhaps he was maddened by grief. Perhaps he felt guilty: He had helped plan the trip. Or perhaps, like Donald Trump, he saw that a conspiracy theory could help bring him to power. Much as Trump used birtherism to inspire his core voters, Kaczynski, in the years that followed, used the Smolensk crash to motivate his supporters, that minority of the Polish population that remains convinced that unnamed secret forces control the country, that the elite is manipulated by foreigners and that everything that has happened in the country since 1989 is part of a sinister plot. And it worked. Last year, thanks to flukes of the electoral system, less than 40 percent of the vote reflecting 18 percent of the adult population proved sufficient for his nationalist-populist party, Law and Justice, to win a slim parliamentary majority. Readers familiar with my recent op-eds will know that I am not shy about pointing out Russian plots when I see them. But there is just no evidence of one at Smolensk. Within hours of the crash, Polish forensic experts were on the ground. They immediately obtained the black boxes and transcribed them meticulously. The cockpit tape can be heard online, and it makes the circumstances painfully clear. The president was late; he had planned a live broadcast from Katyn. When Russian air traffic controllers wanted to divert the plane because of heavy fog, he did not agree. The chief of the air force sat in the cockpit during the final minutes of the flight and pushed the pilots to land: Be bold, youll make it, he told them. According to the official report, written by the countrys top aviation experts, the plane hit a tree, then the ground, and then broke up. Donald Trumps campaign praises the Republican presidential nominee for ending the birther controversy while his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton says he must apologize to President Obama. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) In the wake of Trumps grudging renouncement of birtherism, the insidious, racist theory that gave rise to his political career, its worth pondering what happened when Law and Justice came to power. Within days of taking office, the new government removed the official report from its website. (Its still available online.) More recently, police and prosecutors entered the homes of the aviation experts who testified in the original investigation, interrogated them and confiscated their computers. A new (and well-paid) government commission was formed, containing a group of cranks and experts including an ethnomusicologist, a retired pilot, a psychologist and other people with no knowledge of air crashes. The defense minister, Antoni Macierewicz, who is obsessed with conspiracies of all kinds famously, he has given credence to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous, Czarist-era anti-Semitic forgery has floated multiple theories, many of which contradict one another. Sometimes the previous Polish government is blamed, sometimes Putin. Sometimes there has been an explosion, sometimes a deliberate controller error. Sometimes the government, which was of a different party than the president, is said to have sabotaged a trip that in fact was prepared by the presidents office. None of these theories has ever been accompanied by the slightest hint of genuine evidence. Because they have been unable to disprove the original report, the ruling party instead ordered the creation of a fake version of reality in the form of a film. Smolensk came out two weeks ago and purports to show the true story of the crash and the coverup. The conclusion it involves an onboard explosion is so preposterous that some viewers have howled with laughter. Nevertheless, the film has been declared true by Kaczynski, and the education minister has suggested that schoolchildren ought to see it. As in communist Poland, a fictionalized version of history, one that suits those in power, could eventually be on the curriculum. In due course, there may be other consequences. One of the first things Law and Justice officials did upon taking power was launch an open attack on Polands constitutional court, and to re-politicize the independent prosecutors office. At the same time, they have put all of the countrys secret services in the hands of a man who has been convicted of fabricating documents, and whom they then pardoned. They might have had many motives for making these changes. But if nothing else, they could use these tools to prove one of the ludicrous theories using faked evidence at public show trials, another communist innovation. That kind of drama might satisfy Kaczynski emotionally; he might also reckon it would help him politically. I realize that there is far more detail here about Poland than most non-Polish readers care to know. But Im offering it for a reason. Trump, like Kaczynski, pushed a patently false conspiracy theory hard for many years, despite the utter lack of evidence. Last week, he found it expedient to discard that theory, but once he is president, he might find it expedient to adopt it again or perhaps to push one of the many others he has championed. As president, he can then use the state the Justice Department, the security bureaucracy, the FBI to pursue them. A Trump administration could make birtherism the excuse for fake investigations, hearings and even trials that would do terrible and irreversible damage to U.S. politics and the rule of law. It all sounds unthinkable, of course. But if youd asked me five years ago, or even one year ago, I would have told you that the transformation of the Smolensk conspiracy theory into state ideology was unthinkable, too. And yet it has come to pass. Read more from Anne Applebaums archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. In the great American debate about Syria, there has been an intervention by Vladimir Putin and it has made Barack Obama the loser. Since 2012, Obama has been stubbornly arguing that there is no workable option for even a limited U.S. intervention in Syrias civil war. John F. Kerry, Hillary Clinton, David Petraeus and Leon E. Panetta, among others, pushed the president to use U.S. air power or stepped-up support for rebels to tilt the balance of the war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, thereby making possible a political settlement favorable to the United States and its allies. Obama repeatedly refused. There was no way to get involved, he said, without starting the U.S. military down a slippery slope that would lead to another quagmire, like Iraq or Afghanistan. Anyway, he said, U.S. intervention would only worsen the war, encourage extremism and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. All those bad things happened in the absence of American action. And now Putin has proved that the concept Obama rejected that a limited use of force could change the political outcome, without large costs was right all along. The difference, of course, is that the result has been a victory for Russia, Iran and the Assad regime, at the expense of the United States and its Arab, Israeli and Turkish friends. The deal that Kerry brokered with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this month offered Putin everything he sought in Syria. The Assad regime would be entrenched by a truce that leaves its forces in a commanding position around Aleppo, the countrys largest city. If it holds for seven days, U.S. commanders are mandated to join Russia in operations against anti-Assad forces deemed extremist, in Aleppo and elsewhere satisfying Putins long-standing demand that the West join him in fighting terrorists rather than Assad. The Pentagons fierce objections to this capitulation were overruled. The United States and Russia announced a new multi-step plan to bring Syria closer to a negotiated peace deal. (Jason Aldag,Karen DeYoung/The Washington Post) Even if the cease-fire fails, as seemed possible Sunday, Putin will have won U.S. endorsement of the principle that rebels, not the regime, are the prime problem in Syria. While Kerry portrayed the deal as opening the way to humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians, Assad is obstructing aid deliveries. If past is prologue, Kerry will respond to such violations by going back to Putin for a fix. Remember: Putin ordered Russias intervention just a year ago, after Irans chief foreign military commander, Qassem Soleimani, warned Moscow that the Assad regime faced defeat. When Russian bombers suddenly began appearing in Syria to the surprise of Washington Obama quickly declared the Russians were stepping into a quagmire. That was predictable: After all, that is what the president insisted would be the result of a U.S. air intervention. But there has been no quagmire for Russia. On the contrary, Putin, who made a show of withdrawing some of his planes six months ago, has suffered minimal losses. He turned the tide of the war in favor of Assad and as a result has gotten the political terms he wanted from the United States. Most remarkably, he has done so even while simultaneously staging an audacious and unprecedented intervention in the U.S. presidential campaign. As Kerry was parlaying with Lavrov, Russian intelligence was leaking hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee. No matter: Kerry pressed on to finish a deal on Moscows terms. His defenders are reduced to arguing that Russias military action, and Obamas refusal to commit the United States, left Kerry no alternative but to play a weak diplomatic hand. Putin must feel a particular satisfaction at having turned the geopolitical tables on Washington. During the 1990s, he and his former KGB colleagues watched in dismay as the Clinton administration launched military actions in areas once considered part of Russias sphere of influence such as Serbia and Bosnia then imposed political solutions of U.S. design. The Russian government of Boris Yeltsin was forced to swallow fiats such as the independence of Kosovo. All the while, from Putins point of view, the United States was meddling in Russias domestic politics by funding civil society groups advocating human rights and democracy. Now Putin is the one imposing political outcomes in regions the United States once dominated while brazenly seeking to disrupt the U.S. political system. The difference is that the United States, unlike Russia in the 1990s, is not weak; in fact it is far stronger than Putins Russia. U.S. fecklessness is a choice. Obama, of course, doesnt see it that way. His aides sometimes contrast his presidency with that of Bill Clintons: Those who served Clinton in foreign policy, they say, dont understand how much U.S. capacity to impose its will internationally has diminished in the past 20 years. Maybe they are right. But that doesnt explain Syria where Vladimir Putin has just accomplished that which Obama deemed impossible. Read more from Jackson Diehls archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Hillary Clinton tells us she is recovering from a mild case of pneumonia, but less than half of American voters believe her belated explanation of why she appeared to faint leaving a 9/11 commemoration. If she wants to understand why, she can find the answer in a childrens poem. In his 1907 classic, Matilda Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death, Hilaire Belloc tells the story of a young girl who told such Dreadful Lies, It made one Gasp and Stretch ones Eyes. One day Matilda calls in a false alarm to Londons fire brigade, and as punishment is left home alone while her aunt goes to the theater: That Night a Fire did break out-- You should have heard Matilda Shout! You should have heard her Scream and Bawl, 1 of 57 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The Democratic presidential nominee hits the road after her partys national convention. Caption Hillary Clinton loses to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Nov. 9, 2016 Hillary Clinton speaks in New York while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, applauds. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. And throw the window up and call To People passing in the Street . . . but all in vain! For every time She shouted Fire! They only answered Little Liar! And therefore when her Aunt returned, Matilda, and the House, were Burned. Today, it is the American people who have been burned, time and again, by Hillary Clintons dreadful lies. Lets review just a few examples of her serial dishonesty: She lied repeatedly about her emails. She lied when she said she had turned over everything I was obligated to turn over (FBI Director James Comey said the FBI discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not among the group of 30,000 e-mails returned by Secretary Clinton to state in 2014). She lied when she said there was no classified material in her private emails . . . that there was nothing classified at the time . . . and that there was nothing marked classified in her private emails all of which the FBI director said were untrue. And, to top it all off, she lied about her lies declaring on national television that Director Comey said my answers were truthful, and what Ive said is consistent with what I have told the American people a claim The Posts Fact Checker gave Four Pinocchios. [Hillary Clinton fails the ABCs of handling classified information] Clinton lied to the American people about Benghazi. At 10:08 p.m. the night of the attack, she issued a statement that blamed the attack on inflammatory material posted on the Internet with no mention of terrorism or al-Qaeda. But an hour later, at 11:12 p.m. she emailed her daughter, Chelsea: Two of our officers were killed in Benghazi by an Al Queda-like [sic] group. The next day in a phone call with the Egyptian prime minister, Clinton said: We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest. Yet two days later, as she welcomed the caskets of the fallen in Dover, Del., she blamed that attack on an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with. She lied about a trip she made to Bosnia, claiming that she and her team arrived under sniper fire, skipped the arrival ceremony and just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base. In fact, a video shows her being greeted on the tarmac by Bosnian officials and an 8-year-old Muslim girl, Emina Bicakcic, who read a poem in English and told Clinton, There is peace now. She lied about her family history. In 2015, she said she could relate to illegal immigrants because all my grandparents immigrated to the United States. When BuzzFeeds Andrew Kaczynski pointed out that three of Clintons four grandparents were born in the United States, a Clinton spokesman said her grandparents always spoke about the immigrant experience and, as a result she has always thought of them as immigrants. [Charles Krauthammer: Whats the case for Hillary Clinton?] And her dishonesty stretches back decades. As the late, great William Safire pointed out in a 1996 New York Times column, she delivered a blizzard of lies as first lady about Whitewater, the firing of White House travel aides, her representation of a criminal enterprise known as the Madison S&L and how she made a 10,000 percent profit in 1979 commodity trading simply by studying the Wall Street Journal. Even back then, Safire concluded, Clinton was a congenital liar. Today, the American people agree. A recent NBC News poll found that just 11 percent of Americans say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. To put that in perspective, 14 percent of American voters believe in Bigfoot. In other words, more Americans believe that a large, hairy, hominoid creature inhabits the forest of North America than believe that Hillary Clinton tells the truth. So if Clinton wonders why so many believe she is lying about her health, it is because she has lied so many times, about so many things, that most Americans no longer believe a word she says even if shes telling the truth. When she opens her mouth, people look at her like Bellocs Matilda and say, Little Liar. Read more from Marc Thiessens archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. In his Sept. 13 Washington Sketch column, Clinton wasnt wrong about Trumps deplorables, Dana Milbank wrote that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was right to characterize half of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps supporters as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic. How can a presidential candidate hope to lead a divided nation if she feels this way? In the absence of overt behavior that exhibits these characteristics, how would Ms. Clinton distinguish these deplorables from that other basket of people . . . who feel that the government has let them down, as Ms. Clinton put it. And if she cant answer that question, how does she know that half or a substantial number are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic? David Berry, Annandale So, Donald Trump thought hed have a little fun this weekend with the idea of Hillary Clinton being assassinated. The Republican presidential nominee suggested that, because Clinton favors restrictions on guns, her security detail should be disarmed. Take their guns away, he proposed. Lets see what happens to her. There was a time when fantasizing aloud about the murder of your opponent would have been beyond the pale but not anymore. Absolutely nonsense, Trumps running mate, Mike Pence, told ABC News when asked if such a message could incite violence. If Trumps lets see what happens to her suggestion were a one-off, there might be an argument for giving him the benefit of the doubt. The tendency to regard each Trump outrage in isolation is what allows him to become normalized. But look at the comprehensive output of Trump who freely admitted to The Washington Post that I bring rage out in people and theres no escaping the conclusion that he winks, and sometimes smiles, at political violence. Does Pence also find it nonsense to question why, on the very day he defended Trumps assassination talk, the Trump campaign posted on its YouTube channel a video featuring rocker Ted Nugent? Nugent earlier this year called for Clinton and President Obama to be tried for treason and hung, and he posted on his Facebook page a spoof video of Bernie Sanders gunning down Clinton. Did Pence think it poppycock to doubt Trumps intent when he suggested last month that gun owners could murder either Clinton or her judicial appointees? If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks, he said. Although, the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. Did Pence find it balderdash to question Trumps assertion that you would have riots and bad things would happen if Trump were denied the GOP nomination? No doubt Pence would think it hooey and hogwash to make anything of Trumps son Donald Jr. remarking last week about the media warming up the gas chamber, or key surrogates for Trump talking about murdering Clinton by hanging and firing line. But before long all this baloney and drivel reaches critical mass, and you realize that Trump regards violence as a legitimate political tool. He defended Vladimir Putin against accusations that the Russian dictator has killed journalists, saying that in all fairness, he hasnt seen proof. He said of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that youve got to give him credit for maintaining power. He saluted the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for being damn good at killing terrorists, and years ago he said the Chinese governments bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square shows you the power of strength. He said he would bring back waterboarding and much worse, figuring terrorism suspects deserve it even if it doesnt work. He said that he would bomb the s--- out of the Islamic State and that I love war, in a certain way, but only when we win. Some threats are vague: Were going to have to do something if Muslims in America dont turn over suspected terrorists, and were going to do things to end protests and division. He pretended to consider killing journalists before promising, I would never do that. His longtime confidant Roger Stone has talked about a bloodbath rhetorical, he insists if Trump loses, and Stone has suggested that Clinton should be executed. There have been a score of violent confrontations at Trump events, among supporters, opponents, journalists and staff. Shouts of hang the bitch are not uncommon at Trump rallies. Whats more troubling than what his backers do is how Trump backs them when they do it. He has said of protesters: Maybe he should have been roughed up and Id like to punch him in the face. He has promised to pay the legal fees of supporters who would knock the crap out of anybody getting ready to throw a tomato, and he has spoken fondly of the days when protesters would be carried out on a stretcher. He said it was very, very appropriate when his supporters hit back at a demonstrator, and he lamented that it takes a long time to eject protesters because nobody wants to hurt each other anymore. He has complained that there arent consequences for the demonstrators, saying we have to toughen up. After Trump proposed Friday evening that Clinton be denied armed protection, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd told CNN the next day that she had told Trump it was wrong that there was violence being incited at his rallies. Trump, in Dowds telling, disagreed and said he thought the violence added a frisson of excitement. Trump, in response, fired off tweets calling Dowd a neurotic dope. At least he didnt propose Second Amendment remedies. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Japans new defense minister, Tomomi Inada, is pushing her country to become a stronger, more independent actor on the world stage and trying to make herself prime minister in the process. But as she gets closer to both goals, shes finding that Japans success is more dependent than ever on deepening cooperation with its neighbors and the United States. Inada rose to prominence in Japan as a conservative firebrand who embraced controversial views, including questioning the facts surrounding Japans wartime atrocities. She once suggested that Japan should get its own nuclear weapons. She is often accused of being a revisionist a term for those who seek to partly rehabilitate Japans wartime history. But as was clear to me after an hour-long interview last week during her first trip to Washington in her new role, Inada is coming to terms with the fact that if she wants to lead Japan into the future, she needs to be a globalist first. I think we should have a more global viewpoint and make strategies in that sense, she said after meeting with Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter at the Pentagon. I think it is important to develop our own defense posture. But equally important is to enhance the U.S.-Japan alliance cooperation, and another important thing is to build up our relationships with other countries as well. In an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies before our interview, Inada repeatedly called for better Japanese relations with its regional partners, especially South Korea, but India and Australia as well. She told me that her call for Japan to have a global viewpoint is meant to apply to both security and economic issues. Inada knows that to be an effective advocate for Japan on the world stage, she must moderate her image as a nationalist hawk, an image that was born out of her previous work as a lawyer on cases that involved defending Japanese actions during World War II. Her comments on historical issues such as comfort women and her repeated visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine have riled Asian allies, many of whom are wary of her assuming leadership of Japans government. Due to her penchant for stylish eyewear and her meteoric rise through the ranks of Japans conservative Liberal Democratic Party, some have called her the Japanese version of Sarah Palin. But in her latest iteration, she more closely resembles a Japanese Hillary Clinton: tough on national security, progressive on social issues and committed to moving Japanese politics incrementally from inside the system, not as a disruptive outsider. Her explanation for her past work, including suing the media for the alleged defamation of two accused Japanese war criminals, may not satisfy her critics. From my lawyer days, due to cases I have been in charge of, people tend to call me a hawkish person, she told me. However, I dont see myself as hawkish; I just want to know what the truth is in history. If not for that controversial work, current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would never have plucked Inada from obscurity and encouraged her to run for parliament in 2005. Ever since, she has been groomed by Abe as his successor. She is not shy about her ambitions. I think every politician wants to be the prime minister, she said. Inadas potential appeal to younger Japanese is rooted in her domestic policies. She started an office inside the parliament to work on LGBT issues. Human rights should be accepted, and people should be able to live the way they want to live, she said, noting that she became involved after meeting a gay friend of her son. She is also trying to break Japans highest glass ceiling by becoming its first female head of government. In Japan, women in the workplace still face institutional and cultural disadvantages. When Inada became a lawyer, the only office that would hire her made her promise not to get married for at least five years. Inadas vision of a global Japan rooted in a strengthened U.S.-Japan alliance does not mesh with that of Donald Trump even though Inada, like Trump, once suggested that Japan might develop its own nuclear option. I dont agree with Donald Trump, Inada now says. Japan has not the intention nor the necessity to have a nuclear capability, as being the only country that has experienced a nuclear attack. Inadas evolution from conservative firebrand to moderate globalist is a tricky endeavor that may or may not work. But it shows that even Japanese nationalists know that Japans future success is dependent on its ability to work with the rest of the world. Read more from Josh Rogins archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. THE UNITED Nations General Assembly will hold its first high-level meeting Wednesday on the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance the tendency of bacteria to fight back against antibiotics. This is a rare example of the world body devoting time to a public-health issue, and though concrete results may be a long way off, the event itself suggests a stirring awareness that it is a global threat. Antibiotics were truly wonder drugs when created in the middle of the 20th century, and they became a pillar of modern medicine. But it has been known for decades that bacteria evolve to fight the drugs, and that overuse and abuse of antibiotics in human health and agriculture have stimulated resistance. Now the point has been reached where some antibiotics have lost their efficacy. Warnings of a looming post-antibiotic era, when a sore throat or a playground scratch could again lead to life-threatening infections, must be taken seriously. To make matters worse, the pipeline of new antibiotics has been running dry. The United States and Britain have focused high-level attention on the growing threat in the past few years, but the rise of antimicrobial resistance transcends any one country. Superbugs resistant to more than one antibiotic are leapfrogging around the world. Last year, Chinese researchers reported finding a major increase in resistance to the antibiotic colistin. The resistance mechanism is mobile and can be transferred from one bacterium to another. Soon it started showing up in other countries, too. The point is that what happens in China does not stay in China. While colistin has been used on farm animals in China, it has been a last-resort antibiotic for people in the United States and elsewhere. Losing it would leave another hole in the antibiotic armamentarium. China, the worlds largest consumer of antibiotics, has recently launched an action plan on resistance, and none too soon. Antimicrobial resistance is about more than human health. It also involves difficult questions that affect agriculture and the environment. The U.N. General Assembly, with heads of state present, seems like the right place to debate a more concerted and broad response. The session ought to impress world leaders on the need for better stewardship of antibiotics in human health and for farm animals; improved diagnostics to help determine when people really need them and when they dont; better surveillance of infectious diseases; and methods to stimulate the discovery and development of new antibiotics for all. Later, it will be important to set targets for action and provide funding to track them. As in climate change, this is a real problem that affects everyone in the long run but is too easy to ignore today. If the United Nations meeting raises awareness about the risks of not taking action, it will be a worthwhile start. OVER THE summer, we asked readers to submit topics on which they would like to see Post editorials. We got more than 1,000 submissions. We cut those down to 10 and asked readers to vote on them. The top vote-getter was the following: Whether young Americans should be required and/or incentivized to spend a period of time in a program of national service. Our answer: Required, no. Encouraged and enabled far more than they are now, absolutely. We can see why this topic got so much support. Civic spirit including trust in traditional institutions, such as the government and the mainstream media seems to be low and dropping. Over the past several decades, Americans have sorted themselves into warring camps that increasingly refuse to talk to one another. The nation is in the midst of a toxic presidential race based on identity and grievance rather than reason. The reasons for this state of affairs are many and varied, defying simple solutions. More than ever, the best investment the nation can make in its young people is in quality education. Reforming grade-school education and adjusting college loan policy so that payments tightly track income must be the top priorities. Yet there are many young Americans who want to supplement their classroom educations with a year of community service. Many cannot. Shirley Sagawa, president of the Service Year Alliance, reckons that there are about 15 qualified young Americans who want to serve for every one slot in service programs such as AmeriCorps. There are also no doubt many teenagers lacking clear ambitions who might find structure and values in national service, if given opportunity and encouragement. Proponents of universal or near-universal national service programs argue that young Americans and the nation at large would gain massively from skills developed and civic values instilled. It is possible that a very well-designed program would help downscale workers develop useful skills or interests during service years. Often not necessarily always young Americans would also perform useful tasks that the market does not value enough. But there also could be significant costs. Ms. Sagawa says that a scaled-up national service program would cost $20,000 per person per year, and her organization sets a goal of recruiting a million people a year. Others have challenged this math, but even on its face, $20 billion a year could pay a lot of college costs. Then there are the opportunity costs of deferring other work for a year, which could be huge to some Americans. Think of the aspiring athlete or entertainer who has only so many years in her prime, the talented coder who might have to pass up a big market opportunity or the young worker who cannot take a year off from helping to feed his family. The best justification for scaling up national service is to promote a commitment to volunteerism and community. Attempting to force these values on unwilling young people is likely to backfire. The government should instead cultivate them by supporting any qualified young American who wishes to spend a year in AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, Teach for America and similar organizations. It should also send every teenager a packet outlining the various options, and it should seek partnerships with employers and universities willing to build service into their operations. Human rights activists and people from the Muslim community at a demonstration last December in New York in solidarity with Syrian and Iraqi refugees. (Jewel Samad/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/Getty Images) THE OBAMA administrations goal of accepting 110,000 refugees in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 a nearly 30 percent increase from the current level and a nearly 60 percent jump from the three previous years is an amply justified response to the worlds worst refugee crisis since World War II, and it prompted predictable snarls from congressional Republicans. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said the presidents new target ignores the common sense concerns of the American people, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, said the influx of refugees, including from Syria, disregards how it will impact local communities. The Sessions-Goodlatte impulse fits a xenophobic historical pattern of U.S. antipathy toward foreigners especially those fleeing war and persecution that clashes with the cherished image of an open-hearted nation greeting the poor, huddled masses. One can well imagine with what warmth, or lack of it, Mr. Sessions and Mr. Goodlatte might have welcomed previous waves of unwashed and desperate refugees from, say, Hungary in 1958; Indochina in 1979; Cuba in 1980; or, for that matter, the European Jews who urgently sought refuge here in the late 1930s. Today, of course, they might celebrate those immigrants and their successful assimilation, yet when those refugees were knocking on this nations door, large majorities of Americans opposed their admission. Survey data gathered last year by the Pew Research Center provide a picture of Americans past hostility. In 1958, soon after the Soviet Union squashed a liberation movement in Hungary, 55 percent of Americans disapproved of a plan to admit 65,000 Hungarian refugees. In 1979, 62 percent of Americans disliked an initiative to absorb 14,000 refugees per month, double the existing number, from Indochina following the end of Americas military engagement there. And in 1980, more than 70 percent of Americans opposed the Mariel boatlift, when the Castro dictatorship in Havana allowed tens of thousands of Cubans to set off for Florida. In each case, refugees resettled in the United States in large numbers, defying predictions that their admission would trigger social upheaval and economic disaster, much as previous immigrants from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe overcame the antagonism of those who had preceded them to U.S. shores. The long history of fear and hatred directed toward refugees in the abstract tempered by the warm-hearted embrace with which many have been greeted in real life by their new American neighbors, churches and communities is often swept under the historical rug because it is so blatantly disgraceful. Politicians like Mr. Sessions and Mr. Goodlatte would no doubt decry Americas failure to rescue more Jews from Europe immediately before Hitler unleashed the Holocaust. Yet in 1938, on the eve of World War II, two-thirds of Americans opposed the admission of refugees, including children, from Germany and Austria. The current hostility of many Americans toward admitting Syrian Muslim refugees is based on ostensible concerns about terrorists mingling among the migrants. Yet it fits the pattern of historical nativism, justified by different arguments at different times. To his credit, Mr. Obama grasps the prejudice at the root of the opposition, and has the courage to disregard it. Regarding the Sept. 16 Style article Overturned by the court of public opinion?: Edward Snowden is accused of violating the Espionage Act of 1917, which does not distinguish between those who give information to journalists in the public interest and spies who sell it to a foreign power. Mr. Snowdens crime? Disclosing details of classified programs that have endangered national security. The National Security Agency was conducting massive, illegal surveillance of U.S. customers phone metadata. When asked about the extent of the government surveillance program prior to Mr. Snowdens revelation, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. lied at a congressional hearing by saying that the program was quite limited. Congress looked the other way for Mr. Clapper, but when it comes to former secretary of state Hillary Clintons congressional testimony on her emails, some want perjury charges. Could Mr. Snowden get an honest hearing in this great land of democracy? In Joseph Hellers novel Catch-22, American airmen risk their lives to defeat the Axis. Airman Snowden was hit by shrapnel; only after his flight suit was opened did he literally spill his guts before he died. Lets hope this new-age Snowden who also spilled his guts for this country is recognized for his patriotism. Edward McManus, Washington I was disappointed that Ann Hornaday, in her Sept. 9 Weekend review of the movie Sully, Soaring into fall awards season, was infuriat[ed] that anyone could second-guess pilot Chesley Sullenbergers performance. As National Transportation Safety Board director of public affairs during that investigation, I can assure you that no one at the board was second-guessing him. It is routine for the NTSB to pursue many avenues of inquiry from manufacturing standards to government regulation to training for pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers in every investigation. When Mr. Sullenberger finished his testimony at the NTSBs public hearing, one NTSB board member, a former airline pilot, thanked Mr. Sullenberger for his professionalism and for his performance that eventful day. While simulations were successfully conducted by pilots prepared for the circumstances of that flight, the NTSB concluded that it was unrealistic for any pilot to have successfully reached an airport, and its final report was laudatory of Mr. Sullenbergers performance. It is precisely this wide-ranging nature of NTSB investigations, assisted by the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline industry, that produces best practices incorporated in manufacturing and training in aviation. Although no industry can be made crash-proof, it is no accident that for the past 15 years we have been enjoying the safest period of airline travel in our nations history, and no fanciful Hollywood scriptwriting should obscure how we got there. Ted Lopatkiewicz, McLean Regarding the Sept. 14 PowerPost article Percentage of Americans lacking health coverage drops: In Virginia, nearly 250,000 more residents have policies that provide real protection. Its a life-changer for many. Yet hundreds of thousands of low-income Virginians are left out. While many people above the federal poverty level receive subsidies, those below that line who do not qualify for Medicaid must pay retail, a practical impossibility that leaves them without insurance and basic medical care, which can result in premature death or disability. They were supposed to be covered by Medicaid expansion, which the federal government would largely pay for. Our Republican-led General Assembly repeatedly blocked expansion. Virginia has lost more than $7 billion in federal funding. Weve sacrificed thousands of health-care jobs and hundreds of millions in annual state budget savings (costs federal Medicaid would have paid). The General Assembly should acknowledge the costs of our coverage gap and the benefits of closing it. The status quo has undermined Virginias ability to plan and fund vital community services and exacerbated its budget imbalance. It ignores the health-care needs of the uninsured and illogically denies the commonwealth the benefit of its residents federal taxes. If theres a better solution than Medicaid expansion, we need to hear it. James A. Lindsay Jr., Arlington The writer is a member of Virginia Organizing. With record numbers of people fleeing trouble in their homelands, the Obama administration is struggling to confront what Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Monday described as a global humanitarian crisis, in some places a catastrophe. The scale of that emergency has intensified dramatically over the past decade, with an estimated 65.3 million people forcibly displaced by war, sectarian conflict and persecution in 2015, up from 37.5 million in 2005, according to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. On Tuesday, President Obama will convene a special summit here on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly aimed at rallying global support for the victims of the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Obama is expected to announce new commitments from world leaders and business executives to help relocate and provide economic aid to refugees including a vow to welcome 110,000 into the United States next year, a 30 percent increase from 2016. But critics said the summit also highlights Obamas failings on the issue, including his refusal to use U.S. military power to carve out safe areas for those fleeing the Syrian governments barrel bombs and artillery attacks. The war between President Bashar al-Assads regime and an array of rebel forces, including the Islamic State, has produced an exodus of 4.8 million Syrians, many of whom have massed in Turkey and spread into Europe. The bitter truth is this summit was called because we have been largely failing failing the long-suffering people of Syria in not ending the war in its infancy, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, said Monday as world leaders gathered in New York. Images of injured and dead children have highlighted the humanitarian disaster in Syria, but rising strains of nationalism in Europe and the United States have blunted appeals from human rights advocates for the admittance of a greater number of refugees. The Obama administration announced in August that it had met its goal of welcoming 10,000 Syrians this year, a number that officials said is expected to rise in 2017. Yet Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has cited terrorism fears in his call for a temporary ban on Muslim refugees from Syria and elsewhere. Over the past year, Obama has tried with increasing urgency to counter Trump, lambasting his proposals as contrary to American values and counterproductive to fighting terror. This year, the United States had accepted 28,957 Muslim refugees through early August, the highest number since data on religious affiliation became available in 2002, according to an analysis from the Pew Research Center. But the bombing attacks that injured 29 in New York and New Jersey over the weekend underscored Obamas challenge in calming public anxiety. The initial police investigation focused on a 28-year-old Afghan immigrant, and the president urged the public not to succumb to that fear. Terrorists, Obama said in a brief public statement, want to inspire fear in all of us, and disrupt the way we live, to undermine our values. Human rights advocates praised the presidents summit, calling it a small first step in a process that will require sustained, long-term engagement from the United States and other nations. Of the worlds estimated 65 million refugees, 41 million have fled their homes but remained in their own nations, and 21 million have fled their countries, the U.N. report found. An additional 3 million are awaiting decisions on asylum. Obamas efforts are still just a tiny drop in the bucket, said Margaret Huang, interim executive director of Amnesty International. The United States does accept more refugees than any other country in the world, and there are reasons for this administration to be proud of its record. . . . But its not enough. The U.N. summit will seek to address a crisis that goes well beyond Syria and the broader Middle East. Most refugees today are trapped in camps in relatively poor nations such as Thailand, Jordan, Kenya and Pakistan. Burma and Congo have sent the most refugees to the United States this year, followed by Syria and Iraq. In all, eight countries host more than half the worlds refugees, and 75 percent of the U.N. budget for migrants and refugees comes from 10 nations, according to the world body. We need to give them basic succor, said Michel Gabaudan, president of Refugees International, an aid group based in Washington. And the money has not matched the rise in need. Nor has the political will. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkels decision to accept tens of thousands of Syrians last year prompted massive protests. On Sunday, her ruling coalition suffered major losses in the Berlin state election to the far-right opposition party that campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform. In Hungary, public polling has shown that voters are likely to reject a refugee quota mandated by the European Union in a national referendum early next month. People around the world are frightened by things they see happen, acts by extremists, but its very important to understand refugees are not the perpetrators of this kind of violence, said Chris Boian, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency. Theyre fleeing that same violence. In the United States, a bipartisan coalition in the House, including 47 Democrats, approved a bill in November that would require stringent new screening procedures for Syrian and Iraqi refugees. That same month, Obama toured a Malaysian refugee center during a trip to Asia, kneeling on the floor to chat with schoolchildren. The notion that somehow we would be fearful of them, that our politics would somehow leave us to turn our sights away from their plight, is not representative of the best of who we are, Obama said then. The House legislation, opposed by the White House, was defeated in the Senate. Yet human rights advocates have criticized the administration for not doing more to resettle the tens of thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America who have illegally crossed into the United States from Mexico in recent years. The Obama administration has said those migrants are subject to deportation if they fail to qualify for political asylum. Under pressure from advocates, the administration expanded a refugee program for the Central American minors in July, but only a few thousand have been granted refugee status. Its a massive failure on the Obama administrations part to not deal with this issue, Huang said. Nakamura reported from Washington. Carol Morello in New York contributed to this report. Activists of India's Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party carry an effigy of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a protest in New Delhi. (Tsering Topgyal/AP) Pakistans prime minister has been preparing for days to make a forceful appearance at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, hoping to burnish his international credentials with a ringing denunciation of Indian aggression in the disputed border region of Kashmir. But on Sunday, militants killed 17 Indian troops at an army base in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, the deadliest such attack in more than a decade. Another soldier died Monday, raising the death toll to 18. The assault instantly shifted the political scales with some officials in New Delhi reviving accusations of Pakistan supporting terrorist groups. By Monday, Islamabad was back on the offensive. Officials adamantly denied any involvement and excoriated India for making what they called unsubstantiated and premature charges. It adds up to a messy backdrop for Pakistans prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who planned to use the annual U.N. gathering to raise issues over Kashmir, where both nations have faced off for decades and which remains a major point of friction between the regional powers. Pakistani officials also expected Sharif to hold separate talks with President Obama in New York. The territorial dispute over the Himalayan region has long dominated the rivalry between Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars, and has persisted despite numerous failed attempts at negotiation. [Indias leader can spark conspiracy theories with just a mention of Pakistan] Since the 1990s, both civilian opposition and armed rebellion have repeatedly erupted in Indian Kashmir, with Muslim groups seeking various degrees of autonomy from the government of predominately Hindu India. India has long accused Pakistan of arming and sheltering the militants, while Pakistan has always insisted that it provides only moral support to their cause and has accused India of military repression. Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being leveled by Indian officials, Pakistans senior foreign policy adviser, Sartaj Aziz, said in a statement from New York. He said India was attempting to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir and to cover up Indias reign of terror. In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with military advisers and national security officials, planning what Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, director general of military operations, said would be a befitting reply to the attack. We have the desired capability to reply to such [a] blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us, Singh said in a news conference Monday, without giving further details. Options included shelling Pakistani posts near the de facto border with India or waging crackdowns on local militants, some analysts speculated. [Indian-controlled Kashmir clamps down on media] Diplomatic fallout, meanwhile, could include India cutting off all talks or refusing to attend a South Asian summit in Islamabad later this year. Much will depend on how much Modi wants to stake his entire political capital on this. My sense is the response will not be impulsive, said C. Uday Bhaskar, a military analyst and the director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi. But hes under enormous pressure to do something. Meanwhile in Srinagar, the Kashmir Valley city that has been a flash point for Muslim unrest, Indian officials held a ceremony placing wreaths on the flag-draped coffins of the soldiers killed Sunday after four militants armed with grenades and assault rifles allegedly attacked a military post in the town of Uri. Officials said several others remained hospitalized with burns and other injuries. The valley has been roiled by near-daily protests since early July, when Burhan Wani, a popular commander of the Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed in a confrontation with Indian forces. More than 70 people have since died in clashes between stone-pelting youths and Indian security forces, and hundreds more have been blinded or injured by military pellet guns. Pakistans army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, said in a statement that Pakistan had noted Indias hostile narrative of the incident and that the armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to the entire spectrum of direct and indirect threats. This single attack and this single day has tilted the balance in favor of India, said Amir Rana, a security analyst in Islamabad. Earlier, it was all talk about Indian human rights violations. Now it will be overshadowed by terrorism. Sharif, he said, wont have the confidence he had before the attack. This has weakened Pakistans moral and diplomatic position. Pakistani officials insisted Monday that they maintain an airtight lock of surveillance and barriers at the line of control separating the two sides. India said at least three of the Sunday attackers had crossed the line. Last month, when Secretary of State John F. Kerry made a high-profile visit to India, officials there complained to him about cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, including the 2008 rampage in Mumbai that killed 164 people and was carried out by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Kerry responded that Washington stands with India on all matters of terrorism, no matter where it comes from. . . . We cannot and will not distinguish between good terrorists and bad terrorists. Pakistan, in turn, has accused India of fomenting cross-border violence. In August, when suicide bombers killed 70 people in Quetta, a remote Pakistani city in Baluchistan province near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials charged that Indias intelligence agency was behind the attack, although it was claimed by two separate Islamist militant groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A week later, in a speech on Indias independence day, Modi referred to alleged Pakistani human rights abuses taking place in Baluchistan. Pakistan, a onetime Cold War ally of the United States, has maintained close security ties with Washington in the war against Islamist terrorism. But it is also alarmed by growing U.S. ties with India under Modi, a lifelong pro-Hindu activist, and about Indias deepening relationship with Afghanistan, whose U.S.-backed government has also accused Pakistan of harboring violent militant groups. Pakistan and India are back to the traditional war of words, and I cant see any chance of a resumption of peace talks between them in the near future, said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a defense analyst based in Lahore, Pakistan. As long as Prime Minister Modi is in power, it doesnt seem possible. Gowen reported from New Delhi. Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad contributed to this report. Read more: Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Volunteers working with the Israeli chapter of Republicans Abroad made phone calls to U.S. citizens living in Israel and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Sept. 5. (William Booth/The Washington Post) The rabbi hadnt voted in a U.S. election in 25 years. Didnt see the point, he said. Now Chaim Spring said he was all in for Republican nominee Donald Trump. The 80-year-old, whose sunny villa in a Jewish settlement was lined with religious tomes, described himself to reporters as a big Trump supporter who watches a lot of Fox News. He pronounced Trump good for America and good for Israel. The rabbi especially admired the Trump family vibe. You can tell he really loves his children, Spring told The Washington Post. That says a lot. Spring was born in New York and moved to Israel more than 40 years ago. As a U.S. citizen, he is eligible to register and vote. GOP activists in Israel say there are a lot more voters here like the rabbi as many as 400,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel today. Bumper stickers produced by Israeli supporters of Donald Trump are stacked on a table in newly opened offices in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron on Sept. 5. (Ruth Eglash/The Washington Post) Nobody knows the exact number, not even the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which declined to give an estimate. U.S. citizens are free to come and go to and from Israel and many other countries without a visa, and many do not register with their local embassies. A group named I Vote Israel says there are 200,000 possible voters. We have the same influence on this upcoming election as numerous states in the union, the organization states. Thats really something. Democrats here say the total number is probably less but still a lot. [U.S. and Israel reach agreement on an unprecedented amount of military aid] Polling experts say there may be enough American voters in Israel to matter in a tight race, especially in a swing state such as Florida, which is exactly where the Israeli Republicans are laser-beaming their focus. In many cases, a U.S. citizen living abroad even one who has not resided in the United States for years can register to vote in the last state in which they lived. Others who have never lived in the United States can register where their parents lived. Working off lists, several hundred GOP activists in Israel are phoning potential voters and knocking on doors, telling them that their votes count. Volunteers with the group Democrats Abroad in Israel register voters in Jerusalem's German colony neighborhood on Sept. 16, 2016. (William Booth/TWP) Their pitch: Remember the 2000 race between Al Gore and George W. Bush, which came down to 537 votes in Florida? Much of the 2000 recount action was centered in Palm Beach County, with its notorious butterfly ballot. Palm Beach also has one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States. Last week, the rabbis house became the fifth campaign office for the group Republicans Overseas Israel, as well as the first Trump headquarters in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. There was a big banner in the driveway in Hebrew that read Trump: In Israels Interest. The Israeli Republicans declined to say how much they are spending or who their top donors are. At a news conference, an organizer for the Republican effort, Tzvika Brot, said the decision to open an office in Karnei Shomron did not signal an appeal to supporters of Jewish settlements. Standing beside him, Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Abroad, said, Thats not entirely true. He also said he preferred not to call them settlements and disagreed that the Israeli army occupied the West Bank. Zell said it was very symbolic that the GOP was here. There are about 400,000 Jews living in more than 200 communities in the West Bank, and as many as 15 percent of them are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, according to researchers. The settlements are on the land that many Jews say is their biblical and historical home. It is also land the Palestinians want for a future state. The international community calls the Jewish settlements illegal; the United States considers them illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. Israel disputes this. Zell praised the Republican Party and Trump for endorsing a plank at the convention that gave full-throated endorsement to Israel. The platform eliminated any reference to Israel as an occupier, Zell said. That wasnt just a play on words; that was a real statement that coincides with Donald Trumps own statements recently that when it comes to building homes and synagogues and schools for Arabs and Jews in Judea and Samaria, this is an issue for the Israeli government to decide. Judea and Samaria are the historical and biblical names many Jews and Israel supporters use for the West Bank. Zell, who lives in a Jewish settlement, said that he has eight children, now all adults, and that all are registered to vote and ready to mail in their ballots for Trump. Earlier this month, Trump said Israel would be destroyed unless he is elected president. He said the Jewish state faced an existential threat from Iran and criticized the nuclear pact that President Obama and other world leaders signed. In comparison, Democrats on the left, led by public intellectual Cornel West, pushed hard for a convention plank to condemn the almost 50-year Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, a fight ultimately lost to Hillary Clinton supporters on the platform committee. But unlike the GOP platform, the Democratic one still calls for a two-state solution that would give the Palestinians a sovereign nation. [Israel to launch one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world, with U.S. help] The Democrats Abroad organization is mostly invisible in the 2016 campaigns in Israel. The Republicans are taking advantage of the fact that the Democrats have taken this time to reorganize in Israel, and the Republicans see an opening for them, said Sheldon Schorer, former spokesman for Democrats Abroad here. The Republicans are aware that in the last 30 years a very large proportion of Americans who have moved to Israel are Orthodox, and they are generally right-wing both in Israeli and American politics, said Jonathan Rynhold, a political scientist at Bar Ilan University in Israel. Whether the Republican campaigners here are right and there are enough American Israelis who can vote in the swing states remains to be seen, Rynhold said. Obviously, many Jews come from New York, and that is not a swing state, or they are from California, also not a swing state. I am not sure about New Jersey. But Florida? My sense is that maybe, if the election is very close, it could make a difference, he said. Recent studies by the Pew Research Center found that 68 percent of Jewish Americans are Democrats or lean that way. In Israel, many observers say the pattern is reversed. The group I Vote Israel released a poll during the 2012 race that found that 85 percent of the U.S. voters in Israel went for Mitt Romney. The survey was criticized as an unscientific snapshot taken at polling stations at Jewish religious schools packed with Republicans. Polling in Israel finds Obama unpopular here. Yet among Jewish Israelis who are not U.S. citizens, surveys say they are equally split over who theyd like to see in the White House. Haim Rosenfeld, 18, was one of the young volunteers making phone calls to possible voters from the dining-room table at the rabbis house. Rosenfeld was born in the United States but moved to Israel as a baby with his family. He now lives in the Jewish settlement of Tel Mond. I sit in an office and make lots of phone calls to Americans, he said. I tell those I speak to that Trump has a great staff, he has [vice-presidential candidate] Mike Pence, and they have every reason to vote for him. I tell them that he wants to make America great again and that he was successful in his field of business and is very successful in life. What else? I also say that Trump has a staff of advisers who are very experienced and will not let him do stupid things, he said. Read more: Ten years after last Lebanon war, Israel warns next one will be far worse Israel, Hamas and Egypt form unlikely alliance against Islamic State affiliate Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Traffic approaches the George Washington Bridge earlier this month. Two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are accused of intentionally causing gridlock in Fort Lee by shutting down lanes on the bridge during morning rush hour in 2013. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Prosecutors on Monday said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was told about a politically motivated scheme that shut down the nations busiest bridge as it was happening, the first time officials have alleged in court that Christie knew about the plot as it was going on. The assertion came during the Bridgegate trial of two of Christies former aides, whom prosecutors accuse of hatching a plan to create a mammoth traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christies reelection bid. During opening statements Monday in Newark, federal prosecutors said one of the former aides, William E. Baroni Jr., the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and a third Christie associate, David Wildstein, a former Port Authority executive, informed the governor about the traffic shutdowns during a Sept. 11 memorial service in 2013. The evidence will show that . . . they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned, Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said. [The Fix: Chris Christies 2016 just keeps getting worse and worse] In 2013, traffic gridlock paralyzed a town next to the George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey to New York City for four days. N.J. Gov. Chris Christie denies knowing abut any plans for wrongdoing. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post) Christies office did not comment on Mondays proceedings. It pointed to a 2014 interview with a New Jersey radio station, when Christie said he didnt know anything about the plans to close the lanes and first learned about it through media reports. Christie, a former U.S. attorney, is a prominent backer of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The allegation that he knew despite years of public proclamations to the contrary could cause a headache for the Trump campaign, which routinely deploys Christie as a campaign surrogate and has tasked him with managing a transition if Trump wins in November. Alan Zegas, Wildsteins attorney, wrote in a 2014 letter that there is evidence tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures as they were closed. Zegas did not return a call seeking comment. The trial comes just over three years after what first appeared to be a small-scale problem that people in New Jersey face every day: snarled traffic on one of the worlds busiest bridges. But this traffic jam was different, with people stranded for hours and Fort Lee rendered impassable for four straight days. The closings later exploded into a political scandal for Christie, who at the time was riding high and floated as a top contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The way federal prosecutors told it at the start of their trial, the two Christie allies Baroni and Bridget Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs wanted to punish Sokolich for refusing to support Christies gubernatorial reelection bid. Wildstein will allege that he and Baroni told Christie of the reason behind the traffic snarls. [The 9 things you need to know about Bridgegate] Together with Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify against Baroni and Kelly, the pair allegedly orchestrated shutting down the lanes and toll booths on the George Washington Bridge. On the first day of the school year in Fort Lee, without any advance notice to local officials, commuters found themselves stuck in serious backups, and Sokolichs calls for an explanation were ignored. Prosecutors alleged that those who created the jam then hatched a coverup scheme, claiming the lane closures were caused by a traffic study when their real aim was political: to punish Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Christie, a Republican. In an August 2013 email launching the plan, Kelly told Wildstein, Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee, according to prosecutors. During the Republican primaries, Trump had harsh words for Christie about the bridge scheme: He totally knew about it, Trump said last December. At a December 2013 news conference, Christie asserted that no one implemented the lane closures on his behalf, and that Bill Stepien, who managed Christies campaign, had assured him he had no knowledge of it. At the time, records would later show, two other aides mused in a text conversation that Christie was not being truthful. [Chris Christie is super bitter about not being Donald Trumps VP pick] Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Christina Genovese Renna wrote, according to a court filing from Baronis defense attorneys. Im listening, campaign staffer Peter Sheridan responded. Gov is doing fine. Holding his own up there. Yes. But he lied. And if emails are found . . . it could be bad, Renna wrote back. Baroni and Kelly are charged with conspiring to misuse Port Authority property by fraud and conspiring to deprive people of their civil rights. Their attorneys have asserted that prosecutors stretched to allege a crime where none existed and that, even if the allegations were true, Baroni and Kelly were acting within their legitimate authority. At its core, this case boils down to a simple issue: Can Ms. Kelly be charged with a federal crime for allegedly conspiring to cause traffic in Fort Lee to allegedly punish Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich for not endorsing Governor Christies reelection campaign? The answer is no for any number of reasons. Michael Critchley, an attorney for Kelly, wrote in a pretrial filing. Read more: Bridgegate is still a big problem for Chris Christie Christie looks to close book on Bridgegate as he runs for president On Bridgegate, Chris Christie sticks to old script At least a dozen humanitarian aid workers, and an unknown number of civilians, were killed Monday in an airstrike on a convoy delivering assistance west of Aleppo that the Obama administration said was likely launched by the Syrian government or Russia. We know it was an airstrike, and not one from the coalition. We dont know if it was Russia or the regime, the only others flying over Syria, a senior administration official said. In either case, the Russians have a responsibility certainly to avoid doing it themselves, but also to keep restraint on the regime. The attack, on a day when the Syrian government declared the end of a nationwide cease-fire and launched dozens of airstrikes in and around Aleppo, may spell the final end of the U.S.-Russia agreement. Begun just a week ago, it was intended to pause the fighting, allow aid to reach that city and other besieged areas of the country, and restart political negotiations to resolve the civil war. The deal also envisioned eventual coordination between Russia and the United States of counterterrorism airstrikes against the Islamic State and a former al-Qaeda affiliate. But the days events fundamentally call into question the viability of what were trying to achieve . . . given the severity and the outrageousness of what took place, the official said. We dont know if [the agreement] can be salvaged, said the official, one of two who briefed reporters here on the condition of anonymity, on the eve of President Obamas speech to the U.N. General Assembly. At this point, Russia has the burden of demonstrating very quickly their seriousness of purpose . . . otherwise, there will be nothing to salvage. Secretary of State John F. Kerry has scheduled a meeting early Tuesday of the international group of nations representing major actors in Syria. It includes the United States and its partners backing the Syrian rebels, and Russia and Iran, which back Syrian President Bashar al- Assad. Officials said Kerry would have a face-to-face meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also here for the General Assembly, as soon as possible. We need to see what the Russians say, Kerry said earlier in the day, as the first reports of heavy bombing began to emerge as the Syrian government declared that the cease-fire was over. The important thing is the Russians need to control Assad. U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura, speaking later in Geneva of the convoy bombing, said, Our outrage at this attack is enormous . . . the convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians. Details of the attack were still unclear, as was the number of casualties, as the bomb site continued to smoulder. Activists and humanitarian organizations variously put the number of dead aid workers between 12 and several dozens. Anna Nelson, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that several Syrian Red Crescent volunteers have been killed. The strike took place on the western side of Aleppo, where aid workers were unloading crates of assistance at a warehouse in an area known as Urem al-Kubra, operated by the Red Crescent, which has worked with the United Nations and the ICRC on aid operations inside Syria. In addition to the warehouse, at least seven to 10 trucks were also said to have been hit. Reports from workers on the scene said most of the dead were drivers. Activists said an inter-agency aid convoy by the United Nations and the Syria Red Crescent came under attack after it arrived at its destination in Sept. 19. (Twitter/OCHA_Syria) Earlier in the day, a spokesman for Russian forces based in Syria said that Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or the Front for the Conquest of Syria, which is the al-Qaeda group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, had launched a large-scale assault on Syrian forces in the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo. The attacks, the spokesman said, were preceded by massive artillery fire from tanks, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, targeting governmental troop positions and residential areas on the southwestern edge of Aleppo. Government forces, the spokesman said, are conducting fierce defensive battles in order to prevent the groups of terrorists from breaking into the central part of the city. In its statement saying the truce was over, Syrias military blamed rebel groups for violating it. Government forces immediately began shelling the rebel-held part of Aleppo, which has been under siege for more than a month. Airstrikes and barrel bombs pummeled the city. [Pentagon: Intelligence failure likely cause of misdirected airstrike] Tensions were already at a high between the United States and Russia. Over the weekend, coalition warplanes, apparently inadvertently, struck a camp of Syrian government troops in the eastern part of the country, killing what Syria said were more than 60 soldiers. The U.S. military quickly acknowledged the strike, saying it was targeting Islamic State positions. It offered its regret and said it was investigating what appeared to have been an intelligence failure. Russian and Syrian officials have suggested that the airstrike was intentional and that it proved the United States was secretly supporting the Islamic State as part of the U.S. effort to overthrow Assad. Rejecting any equivalence between the Saturday strikes and what happened outside Aleppo on Monday, the senior administration official said that what took place today unfortunately was a pattern and practice that we have seen going back a number of months and even years, in which the Syrian regime has taken strikes not only against civilians but also against opposition groups who have signed cease-fire agreements. The two incidents, the official said, were not in remotely the same category. Rebels said the government had repeatedly violated the truce in the past week, long before Mondays major barrage of airstrikes. Humanitarian workers said there were at least 35 strikes in Aleppo on Monday. Rescue workers were struggling to find the injured because power has been out in the city. As many as 275,000 people are cut off from food, water and electricity in eastern Aleppo, U.N. officials say. Earlier Monday, the United Nations said a separate, 40-truck aid convoy remained stalled at the Turkish border. On Saturday, Russia said that the Syrian government had issued the required permits to guarantee its safe passage, but the United Nations said no authorization had yet been received. The delay in aid deliveries has also frustrated the U.S.-backed opposition, which has criticized the United Nations for seeking approval from the Syrian government. Carol Morello in New York, Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul and Heba Habib in Berlin contributed to this report. Read more: Pentagon admits to mistakenly striking Syrian military positions U.S. Special Operations forces begin new role alongside Turkish troops in Syria Watch Russian officer dodge bullets live on TV while praising Syrias cease-fire Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world One year after former Prime Minister David Cameron promised to settle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, only 2,800 have arrived in Britain. This is just over half the rate of 4,000 a year needed to meet the paltry commitment, under conditions where there are more than 4.8 million refugees from the war-torn country. The British governments refusal to honour even its own pledge exposes its callous contempt for the millions of victims created by its participation, both overt and covert, in predatory US-led wars in Syria, Iraq and Libyawaged ostensibly to protect the people of the Middle East and North Africa from the brutality of Islamic State (ISIS) and similar Islamist forces. The civil war in Syria, with all its atrocities, is the product of the five-year long attempt by the US and its allies to topple President Bashar al-Assad via a constantly shifting coalition of armed proxies and to install a more pliant, pro-American regime. Its purpose was to ensure US control over the Middle East as part of a broader campaign to dominate the entire Eurasian landmass, where it confronts Russia and China. The Obama administration and its partners, including Saudi Arabia, the Gulf petro-monarchies and Turkey, turned to extreme right-wing Islamic fundamentalist forces, such as ISIS and various al-Qaeda-linked outfits, to carry out their objectives. Having played a key role in spawning such groups, the imperialist powers then exploited their existence to justify further military intervention in Iraq and Syria and attacks on democratic rights at home. Cameron refused to take part in a broader European Union programme to relocate refugees who reached Europe. Instead, he pledged to increase humanitarian funds to refugee camps in the Middle East in order to ensure that the refugees did not make the attempt. He grudgingly established a separate schemethe Vulnerable Persons Relocation Schemeto specifically take in Syrian refugees, ignoring the vast numbers of refugees from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq and elsewhere. Cameron announced Britains promise to accept 20,000 refugees over five years following the outpouring of public anger over the plight of Syrian refugees last summer, particularly after the heartrending image of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach. Britain should fulfil its moral responsibility to help those refugees, he said. The scheme was to be particularly targeted at helping women and girls, survivors of violence and torture, children and adolescents, refugees with medical needs and disabilities and those at risk due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposed number to be taken under the scheme exposed his promise as a fraud, and even this minuscule number was hedged with tight conditions. The programme would only be open to refugees registered in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey, not those already in Europe. It later emerged that the scheme would be funded by the Department of International Developments refugee aid budget, with only 20,530 per annum for each refugee over their five years on the programme being made available to local authorities for their housing and education needs. Furthermore, the implication of the five-year funding is that the programme will then be terminated. Instead of asylum and the right to residency, refugees are being offered a short term stay in a move clearly intended to evade Britains obligations under international law, not just in this case but more broadly. Most of the refugees have been dispersed across 118 Local Authorities, mainly in Scotland and northern England. Other Local Authorities explained that the main reason they have been unable to take part in the programme was a lack of suitable flats and houses, or childcare and school places. According to the parliamentary watchdog, the National Audit Office, an estimated 4,930 extra homes and 10,664 school places are needed for the refugees, putting the 20,000 target at risk. An even smaller number of people from countries other than Syriajust 652were brought to the UK as refugees under the Gateway Protection Programme in 2015. In another token gesture, Cameron also set up a Minister for Syrian Refugees, a special cross-Whitehall post that was promptly axed by his successor as prime minister, Theresa May, in July. Last May, at the height of criticism over his response to the plight of child refugees, Cameron promised to take in 3,000 vulnerable children and their carers, including unaccompanied minors, from the Middle East and North Africa, by 2020, approximately 700 a year. This would include a large number who had parents already in the UK. However, the children must have arrived in Europe before 31 March 2016 to qualifya restriction inserted to prevent parents sending their children to Britain. This is of a piece with the governments attitude towards highly vulnerable children separated from their parents. Most of these children are in the Jungle Camp in Calais. It is unknown how many children have entered the UK under this schemepresumably, none at allsince the government has so far refused to say how many unaccompanied child refugees it has taken in under that commitment, even refusing a Freedom of Information request to do so. Earlier this month, the Information Commissioner ordered the government to disclose the figures, but this has not been honoured as yet. More broadly, according to the Refugee Council, only 30 percent of children who arrived in Britain alone have been granted asylum so far this year. Typically, they are granted short term leave to remain that expires after two and a half years. The top two countries of origin for new applications in 2016 from unaccompanied children were Iran and Afghanistan. The Council reported that so far this year, the government has locked up 47 children in immigration detention, which only served to exacerbate their plight, despite promising six years ago to end the practice. The Government announced a few months ago that it was closing Cedars, the specialist family detention unit. Given the lack of specialist resources, this only means they will be held in facilities even less well equipped to care for them. Last year, there were 1.25 million first-time applications for asylum in EU countries, more than double the number in 2014--mostly by Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi nationals. The UK received just 38,370 first-time asylum applications in 2015--3.1 percent of the EU total. According to the Migration Observatory, asylum applicants and their dependents comprised a mere 7 percent of Britains net migration in 2014, down from 44 percent in 2002. Just 36 percent of first time asylum applicants were accepted in 2015, with 35 percent of those who appealed winning the right to stay. A recent Home Affairs Select Committee report on the migration crisis warned that the government was unlikely to fulfil its 20,000 target of Syrian refugees. It noted the horrendous situation facing asylum seekers in the refugee camp known as the Jungle in Calais, but called for Britain to accept just 157 unaccompanied children from it who had family in the UK. Its main concern was the need for greater border security and further steps to control migration. It noted that beefed up security at airports and major ports was displacing malevolent attention to smaller points of entry that lacked resources, and called for security to be tightened up at these entry points as a matter of urgency. Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed and at least 20 critically injured Sunday when fighters assaulted an Indian military base at Uri, near the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region The fighting lasted from approximately 5:30 to 8:30 AM and all four of the assailants were reportedly killed in the engagement. Indian authorities responded by heightening the already massive security presence in the Kashmir Valley. Coming amid escalating tensions in South Asia fueled by the US drive to make India a frontline state in its war drive against China, as well as escalating social and political unrest in Kashmir itself, yesterdays attack heightens the danger of a major war breaking out in Asia. Currently, no organization has claimed responsibility for the Uri attack. However, India immediately accused Pakistan of being responsible and vowed that the deaths of its soldiers will be avenged. Tensions between India and Pakistan have been on the boil for weeks. New Delhi has responded to the mass unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority state, and the strengthening of Pakistans already close ties with China by launching a diplomatic offensive targeting Pakistan for its brutal repression of an ethno-nationalist insurgency in Balochistan. Implicit in this campaign, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take to the floor of the United Nations General Assembly this week, is that India is ready to support the dismemberment of Pakistan. The Indian Army has accused the deceased Uri base assailants of belonging to the pro-Pakistan Kashmiri Islamist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). They claimed the JeM fighters had crossed over from the part of the disputed Kashmir region that is controlled by Pakistan and launched their attack on the military base from the side furthest from the Line of Control (LoC) and presumably least well-guarded. Initial reports indicate that the slain terrorists belong to Jaish-e-Muhammad tanzeem, said the Indian Armys Director General of Military Operations, Lt.-General Ranbir Singh. Four AK-47 rifles and four under barrel grenade launchers, along with a large number of war-like stores, were recovered from them. Indian government officials, active and retired military leaders, and the press have responded to the Uri attack with bellicose threats. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished, vowed Prime Minster Modi, while his Home Minister Rajnath Singh, tweeted, Pakistan is a terrorist state and should be identified and isolated as such. Numerous statements from establishment figures stressed that a turning point has been reached. While Modi and his top security officials conferred on their next steps, the General-Secretary of the ruling Hindu chauvinist BJP, Ram Madhav, said the Days of so-called strategic restraint are over. If terrorism is the instrument of the weak and coward, restraint in the face of repeated terror attacks betrays inefficiency and incompetence. His comments were echoed by Shekar Gupta, the former editor of the Indian Express: If Pakistan thinks [the] Uri attack will have the usual Indian non-response, its delusional. This India has moved on from old strategic restraint. Powerful elements within Indias military-security establishment, as well as the Hindu supremacist groups that constitute a key base of support for the BJP, have long advocated that India answer a Pakistan-based attack with a cross-border strike. Islamabad has signaled it will consider any such action as tantamount to an act of war, raising the prospect that Indian retaliation could quickly lead to all-out war between the rival nuclear-armed states. Amid the chorus of bellicose statements, Lt.-General Ranbir Singh said the military was prepared to give a befitting reply to any evil designs of the adversary. Though covert ties have long existed between Islamist anti-Indian Kashmiri groups, including the JeM, and factions of Pakistani intelligence, Pakistan rejected Indian charges that it was involved. India immediately puts blame on Pakistan without doing any investigation. We reject this, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria. A Pakistan army statement said that the allegations were unfounded and premature, reiterating Islamabads stance that Pakistan no longer allows anti-Indian Kashmiri insurgents to infiltrate India-controlled Kashmir from its side of the LoC. Washington issued a statement condemning the Uri attack and reaffirming its strategic partnership with India, while avoiding comment on New Delhis charge that the Pakistan was responsible. US State Department spokesman John Kirby said that Washington strongly condemned the attack. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States, added Kirby, is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism. The Uri attack underscores the reactionary role both of the various pro-Pakistani Islamist militias that exploit mass social anger in Kashmir with the Indian government, and the bellicose response of the Indian government. The resulting conflicts deepen communal-sectarian and regional tensions in the Indian subcontinent, and raise the danger of a war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India. Such a war could have cataclysmic consequences. Because of the growing military-strategic disparity between India and Pakistan, Islamabad has deployed tactical nuclear weapons. This has prompted New Delhi to signal that if Pakistan employs battlefield nuclear weapons it will consider the nuclear threshold to have been breached, i.e. India is prepared to reply with thermonuclear weapons. India and Pakistan first clashed over Kashmir in 1947-48 in the immediate aftermath of the communal Partition of the former British Indian Empire into a Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. Kashmir was also the central issue in the second of the three declared wars India and Pakistan fought and in their 1999 undeclared Kargil war. In recent years the region has been dubbed a nuclear flashpoint and even the worlds most dangerous nuclear flashpoint because of the toxic and explosive character of the rivalry between the Indian and Pakistan bourgeoisies, who have managed to equip themselves with nuclear weapons even as they fail to provide the vast majority of the people of South Asia with the basic necessities of life. Adding to the explosiveness of the Kashmir conflict is the regions growing importance to China. Beijing is building a pipeline and transportation corridor from western China through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar, Balochistan. For Beijing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has great strategic significance as it would allow it to partially circumvent US plans to impose an economic blockade against it in the event of a war or war crisis by seizing Indian Ocean and South China Sea chokepoints. Mass unrest in Kashmir The assault on the base in Uri came as Indian security forces violently repress mass protests against the Indian administration of Kashmir. Indian-administered Kashmir has been in the grip of deadly unrest for more than two months. There have been almost daily protests and clashes with security forces, in the regions worst violence since 2010. More than 85 people have been killed in almost daily anti-Indian protests and rolling curfews prompted by the July 8 killing by Indian security forces of Burhan Wani, a leader of the Islamist, pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen militia. On Saturday, thousands defied the curfew to attend the funeral of a schoolboy, eleven-year-old Nasir Shafi, whose body was found riddled with pellet wounds. Police reportedly fired tear gas at mourners. The Central Reserve Police Force, an Indian paramilitary unit, told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that it had fired 1.3 million pellets in 32 days. It is the first time I have seen so many pellet-injured people. Pellets were also used during the 2010 unrest, but this time they [government forces] are using them on a large scale, a Kashmiri doctor, who did not want to be named, told Al Jazeera. We get, almost every day, people injured with pellets and many of the patients lose their eyesight. Another doctor at a hospital in Indian-administered Kashmirs capital, Srinagar, said 756 people have been hit in the eyes by pellets over the past 72 days. In this fraught context, the attack on the base at Uri heightens military tensions in the region and internationally. As Washington aggressively confronts the Chinese regime in the South and East China Seas, it is also building up India as a counterweight against China in the Indian Ocean region. When Modi met US President Barack Obama in June they issued a joint statement promising to increase military cooperation across the Indian Ocean and Asian Pacific regions and in all domainsland, maritime, air, space and cyber space. Last month, India signed an agreement giving the US military routine access to its ports and military bases for resupply, repairs and rest. Washington, for its part, has recognized India as a Major Defense Partner, meaning it can now buy the advanced US weaponry made available to the Pentagons closest allies. Pakistan, in increasingly shrill language, has warned that the ever-burgeoning Indo-US alliance has overturned the balance of power in South Asia, thereby fueling an arms and nuclear weapons race and encouraging New Delhi to act more aggressively. But Washington has blithely ignored these concerns, while demanding that Pakistan do more to support the US occupation of Afghanistan and encouraging India, behind the scenes, to make the CPEC a major issue in its relations with Beijing on the grounds that the corridor project violates Indian sovereignty. New Delhi, like Islamabad, claims that all of Kashmir rightfully belongs to it. Confronted by the burgeoning Indo-US strategic alliance, Pakistan and China are drawing ever closer. The India-Pakistan conflict has thus become enmeshed with the US-China confrontation, adding to each a massive and highly explosive new charge. Nicholas Yong Xyza Bacanis works are partly a product of the isolation she felt while working as a domestic worker in Hong Kong. (Photo: Xyza Bacani) Singaporeans will soon be treated to an up-close look at the black-and-white works of Filipina photographer Xyza Bacani. She will be in Singapore next month for the Women In Film and Photography showcase, which features the work of 16 photographers. The month-long group exhibition, co-presented with the Magnum Foundation, will take place at Objectifs in Middle Road. The 29-year-olds work focuses on street shots taken in Hong Kong, which are partly a product of the isolation she felt while working as a domestic worker there. Unlike other domestic workers who were free on the weekends, Bacani had her days off on weekdays. Being alone gave me the opportunity to just roam around. When you have no one to talk to, you just go out and shoot everything thats happening. You become an observer, she explained to Yahoo Singapore over the phone from Hong Kong, where she worked for a decade. Its like the world of the lonely, but I realised that I liked being alone. Bacani began shooting in 2011 with a Nikon DSLR camera that she purchased with a loan from her employer. (Photo: Xyza Bacani) A change of vocation Bacani made headlines last year when she won a prestigious scholarship from the Magnum Foundation, which gave her the opportunity to take up an intensive, six-week-long programme at New York University. She first began shooting in 2011 with a Nikon DSLR camera she purchased with a loan from her employer. Since winning the Magnum scholarship, she has been living out of a suitcase, dividing her time between New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian locations for talks and exhibitions. Street photography is one of Bacanis key interests. In every city she travels to, she reaches out to migrant workers and survivors of human trafficking. In May, she put on a solo exhibition in Hong Kong entitled Modern Slavery, which focused on the survivors of human trafficking. Bacani won a scholarship from the Magnum Foundation last year, which allowed her to take up an intensive programme at New York University. (Photo: Xyza Bacani) Be your own hero Asked what she has to say to migrant workers who may be caught in a bad situation, Bacani acknowledged that they are often afraid to lose their jobs. I always say that they need to be their own hero. They need to take control of their own situation, even if they are in a situation of abuse or ill treatment. Bacani remains close to her former employer, whom she describes as a cool lady. My employer is a really good person who respected me. She treated me as a human being, and gave me dignity. Not everyone has that, and I was lucky, she said. Whenever she is back in Hong Kong, she even stays over at her former boss home to save on the cost of a hotel. Whenever Im here, I still help with the chores. Its good to remember your roots so that you can fly. I think my former employer taught me that, she said. Exhibition details: Location: Chapel Gallery, Objectifs, 155 Middle Road, Singapore 188977 Date: 19 Oct to 20 Nov 2016; Tue to Sat: 12pm to 7pm / Sun: 12pm to 4pm Opening Reception: 19 Oct (Wed), 7pm Artist Talk: 20 Oct (Thu), 7pm UPDATED: An explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City has injured at least 29 people, according to the New York Fire Department. The blast happened around Saturday night at 8:30pm local time at the intersection of West 23rd Street and 6th Avenue. The NYPD Counterterrorism Unit says one of the 29 injuries may be critical. Some of the injured were transferred to Bellevue Hospital. There are now 29 injuries being reported. One may be critical. We remain on the scene. #NYPD #Chelsea #Vigilant NYPDCounterterrorism (@NYPDCT) September 18, 2016 A law enforcement source told CNN that the preliminary cause of the explosion is an IED (improvised explosive device) in or near a trash dumpster, but the cause is still under investigation. Gas has been ruled out as a cause. Tonight New York City experienced a very serious incident, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference later on Saturday. There is no evidence of a terror connection to the incident. There is no significant or credible threat to New York City from any terror organization, he added. Early indications are this was an intentional act. As of this time, the exact cause of the explosion has not been determined, Police commissioner James ONeill said Saturday night. There have been 29 injuries reported. One of these injuries can be considered serious. The area has been closed off while law enforcement sweeps for any additional devices and removes debris. The local subway station has been closed as well. According to eyewitnesses, many car and building windows have been blown out. Bomb sniffing dogs are searching the neighborhood and beyond for additional devices. Story continues The NYC explosion follows another that happened in Seaside Park, New Jersey. A pipe bomb exploded in a trash can near a Marine Corp race. No one was injured. The FBI is investigating the New Jersey explosion. There does not appear to be a connection between the two explosions at this time. President Obama has been briefed on the explosion. Related stories Gwynnie Loves Her a Pink Pastel Keys and Beatz Close on Kravitz Penthouse Hair Honcho Sally Herschberger Lists Penthouse Pad Celebrities these days are making an extra effort in coming up with a unique and interesting name for their kids. Whether it is combining their names with their spouses/partners or coming up with a beautiful moniker which has a splendid meaning in a different language, these unique celebrity baby names give us inspiration to name our kids also uniquely. Here are top 10 interesting celebrity baby names in Bollywood. Misha: Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput: The newest celebrity baby on the block garnered a lot of attention right after birth. Shahid and Mira became proud parents to a beautiful daughter recently and just revealed her name Misha which is a combination of the names Shahid and Mira. Adira: Rani Mukherjee and Aditya Chopra: Actor Rani Mukherjee and director-producer husband Adi Chopra were blessed with a baby girl in December last year. They too combined their names Aditya and Rani to come up with Adira. Shahraan and Iqra Dutt: Sanjay Dutt and Maanyata: The names of twins Shahraan and Iqra were inspired from Persian and Hebrew languages. While the name Shahraan in Persian means a royal knight or a warrior, Iqra in Hebrew means to recite. Aaradhya Bachchan: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan People were waiting with bated breath to know the name of the first grandchild of the Bachchan family. Aaradhya, name of the daughter of Abhishek and Aishwarya, is a Sanskrit word meaning to be worshiped. Aarav and Nitara: Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna Akshays eldest is a big boy now. Aarav means peaceful. The little girl Nitara has a beautiful meaning someone who has deep roots. Imara: Imran Khan and Avantika Heres another example of a foreign-language inspired name. Imran and Avantika named their little princess Imara, which is a Swahili word for strong and resolute. Nysa and Yug: Ajay Devgn and Kajol Ajay Devgn and Kajol were inspired by the Greek with their first born. Nysa means a new beginning or ambition in Greek. Their second childs name Yug is the Indian (Hindi) word meaning an era. Story continues Aryan, Suhana and Abram: Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Shahrukh has unique inspirations for the names of all his children. While Aryan means a warrior, Suhana means charming. A lot of thought went into the name of his third child Abram which is a variation of Prophet Abraham and is something secular (with the word Ram in it). Akira and Shakya: Farhan Akhtar and Adhuna Bhabani Farhan and ex-wife Adhuna gave beautiful names to both their daughters. Akira is Japanese for intelligence, and is inspired from the name of Farhans favorite director Akira Kurusawa. Shakya means a circle of energy. Zeke Zidaan and Zene Zoe: Arshad Warsi and Maria Goretti Arshad and Maria take the cake for the most unconventional baby names in a list of celebrities. Elder son Zeke Zidaans name means a shooting star in Aramic, whereas daughter Zene Zoes name means beautiful in an African language. Also read: Priyanka Chopra looks stunning in red as she presents at Emmys with Tom Hiddleston Celebrity talk shows we cant wait to watch 5 moments from Bulleya that show Ranbir-Aishwaryas crackling chemistry Unless you're applying early decision, law school application deadlines are next year. However, because admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis, you have an advantage by submitting your application sooner rather than later. Ideally, you want to apply before Thanksgiving to get ahead of December LSAT test-takers. Here is a list of tasks you need to complete. Note that this calendar is designed for applicants who have already taken the LSAT or are sitting for the September exam. [Learn more about the law school admissions timeline.] Week 1: Request Transcripts -- Register for the Law School Admission Council's Credential Assembly Service -- it's how you will organize and submit all your application materials, including LSAT scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation and electronic applications. -- Submit your transcripts to LSAC, which uses its own algorithm to calculate your undergraduate grade-point average to make calculations uniform across all institutions. As such, it can take several weeks to process transcripts. Don't delay in making your transcript requests. -- Review the types of transcripts you may need to submit. LSAC requires transcripts from most academic institutions you attended following high school, including schools where you took college-level courses, even for high school credit, or summer school or evening courses as well as institutions that sponsored overseas study. -- Continue to study during this week if you are taking the September LSAT. Week 2: Brainstorm Topics for Your Personal Statement -- Clarify for yourself why you are interested in applying to law school. This will help you write your personal statement as well as make a stronger case when requesting letters of recommendation. -- Jot down a list of formative experiences in your life. Don't filter yourself -- just write what comes to mind. [Learn three ways a thesis strengthens a law school essay.] -- Circle the experiences that seem most important. Then reflect on how these key moments connect to each other and your interest in law. Story continues -- Keep your brainstorming notes. These will come in handy later. Week 3: Request Letters of Recommendation -- Use your letters of recommendation to complement your p ersonal statement without overlapping. Refer to your brainstorming notes to identify gaps in your personal statement that a recommendation letter can potentially address. -- Articulate to your recommenders why you want to go law school and how their letters can help you achieve your goals. Remind them of specific accomplishments that would be worth including in the letter. [Read about the anatomy of a law school recommendation letter.] Week 4: Create a List of Schools and Download Electronic Applications -- Conduct school-specific research to identify how you would contribute to the school and what each program has to offer you. -- Identify a spectrum of reach, target and safety programs to maximize your admissions results. -- Begin filling out electronic applications. This work is straightforward but at times tedious. Week 5: Draft Your Personal Statement -- Revisit your brainstorming notes. Begin to shape these initial ideas into a structured essay with a beginning, middle and end. -- Incorporate school-specific research into your personal statement. Week 6: Draft Your Diversity Statement and Addendum -- Use your diversity statement to highlight another facet of yourself. Read each prompt carefully, since they vary by program, and consider whether including a response would enhance your application. -- Consider submitting an addendum if your LSAT scores vary or your GPA is not within the median range of admitted applicants. I worked with an applicant who chose not to explain an improved LSAT score -- after she applied, schools requested the applicant submit an LSAT addendum accounting for the discrepancy. Week 7: Decide Whether to Submit Additional Optional Responses -- Consider answering optional short responses, which some programs include in addition to the diversity statement and addendum. For example, the Law School at University of Michigan--Ann Arbor offers eight essay prompts to choose from, including describing a failure or setback and how you overcame this. Writing another essay is more work, but it also demonstrates your commitment to the school. You might even be able to take advantage of shortcuts. -- Review your brainstorming notes. Is there an experience you listed that you didn't address? Can you repurpose an optional response you prepared for a different school? The more valuable information you give admissions committees, the better they can assess your candidacy. But don't submit an optional essay if you don't have anything meaningful to share. -- Follow-up with registrars and recommenders during this week. Were your transcripts and letters of recommendation successfully uploaded to your CAS account? Do you need to politely reminder to a recommender? Week 8: Understand the Importance of Revision -- Set aside an entire week for revision -- it is that important. And do not submit your first draft of any essay. Writing is fundamental to legal practice. As a lawyer, you will be expected to revise motions, briefs and contracts repeatedly. Develop this skill now. -- Reread your personal statement and all essays. Revise holistically and adjust your essays for formatting restrictions. Length requirements can vary from multiple pages to a single paragraph or word count. Week 9: Update Your Resume -- Save updating your resume for the end because you never know what new developments you'll need to accommodate. Working on your resume now also gives you an opportunity to take a break from essay writing so that you're ready to proofread with fresh eyes. -- Highlight your education history. Don't worry about repeating information that may be on the application. It's better to be thorough than exclude important information. Week 10: Complete a Final Proofread -- Reread your essays. Read out loud with deliberation to hear typos or awkward phrases that may be invisible to the eye. -- Make sure to review your electronic applications too. Don't rely on LSAC to autopopulate information without proofreading for yourself. Need help submitting your applications on time? You can reach me at lawadmissionslowdown@usnews.com. NBC Sports Philadelphia The big hit eluded the Phillies in Game 2 of the World Series against Astros lefty Framber Valdez, who was filthy. Was he, perhaps, too filthy? Here's what the Phils had to say about Valdez' curious mannerisms on the mound. By Corey Seidman mogadishu somalia Humanity as a whole may be enjoying the healthiest, most peaceful period it's ever seen, but that doesn't mean every city is in great shape. According to Robert Muggah, global security expert and research director at the think tank Igarape Institute, there are a total of 66 cities dealing with such rapid urbanization, high unemployment, and risk of natural disaster and violence that they're highly vulnerable to physical or economic collapse. Muggah calls this a city's "fragility." "All cities are fragile to some degree," he tells Business Insider. But what separates a city like New York from one like Mogadishu, Somalia is generally the extent to which local government delivers basic services to its citizens. Fragile cities don't offer equality, safety, affordable access to health care, or adequate resources during environmental disaster. Earlier this year, the Igarape Institute teamed up with the United Nations University, the World Economic Forum, and SecDev to analyze data related to these factors. They ended up with a picture of global fragility (and stability), which has since been assembled into an interactive map. Cities are ranked on a scale from 0-4, with 4 as the most fragile. Out of the 66 cities whose scores fall between 3-4, the 20 most fragile include: Mogadishu, Somalia 4 Kismaayo, Somalia 3.9 Merca, Somalia 3.9 Kabul, Afghanistan 3.7 Al-Mawsil (Mosul), Iraq 3.7 Aden, Yemen 3.6 Kirkuk, Iraq 3.5 Juba, Republic of South Sudan 3.5 Ibb, Yemen 3.5 Kunduz, Afghanistan 3.4 Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo 3.4 Al-Basrah (Basra), Iraq 3.4 Baaqoobah, Iraq 3.4 Hargeysa, Somalia 3.4 Al-Raqqah, Syrian Arab Republic 3.4 Sana'A, Yemen 3.4 Al-Mukalla, Yemen 3.4 Ta'Izz, Yemen 3.4 Herat, Afghanistan 3.3 Kandahar, Afghanistan 3.3 As the list indicates, many of the most fragile cities are located in Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and Southeast Asia. Unemployment in these regions can range from modestly high (6.8% in Bamako, Mali) to severe (66% in Mogadishu, Somalia). Story continues Other factors that the most fragile cities share are exposure to environmental risks like floods and droughts, high rates of urbanization often more than 4% population growth per year, Muggah says and extremely high rates of terrorism and murder. In a February report for the World Economic Forum, Muggah explains how fragility can fluctuate over time. Some cities may stay relatively stable or fragile, but most will naturally respond to social, economic, and environmental pressures, either falling or rising in the rankings. One factor seems to hold constant, however: small- to medium-sized cities are the most vulnerable in Muggah's model. Only three megacities (populations over 10 million) and three very large cities (5-10 million) are highly fragile. But there are dozens more between 250,000 people and 5 million that qualify (partly because there are more cities in that range overall). Cities can reduce their fragility score by strengthening the systems that help people stay safe and healthy. In war-torn areas or those at risk for hurricanes and earthquakes, that means ramping up security measures and offering access to shelter and first-aid. NOW WATCH: Here's what floating cities could look like in the future More From Business Insider In an era of increasingly civilized trucks, the limited-edition Mopar 16 Ram 1500 pickup strikes a moderately defiant note, announcing its presence with a basso profundo exhaust note thats subdued enough to be legal but an unmistakable reminder that yes, this thing has a Hemi. This merits some explanation. Theres a distinction between this Mopar-massaged Ram 1500 Rebel and the standard version. The standard engine in the Ram 1500 Rebel is Chryslers 305-hp 3.6-liter V-6. The 500 copies of the Mopar '16 Rebel package all include the 395-hp 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, reflected on the window sticker as an $1150 option that is also available without opting into all the Mopar business. The V-8 is paired with a $500 ZF eight-speed automatic (with a manual shift mode, but no paddles), the same transmission as in the regular Ram Rebel. The Mopar edition also includes the same satin black 17-inch wheels as the Rebel, wearing a set of semi-knobby Toyo A/T Open Country tires, sized 285/70. And four-wheel drive is standard. The Mopar Package While this test truck included nearly $8000 in non-Mopar options, the essence of the thing is the Mopar 16 Custom Shop package, which includes a blacked-out lower front fascia; Mopar hood- and side-panel graphics; black bolt-on wheel flares; and a powder-coated front-end skidplate. With the exception of the additional skidplate, none of this is actually functional but adds $2800 to the bottom line. A glance at those tires and the add-on flares suggests that the Mopar 16 is intended as a sort of desert runner, in the vein of the Ford F-150 Raptor. Standard ground clearance for the Ram 1500 Quad Cab is 9.2 inches, but the air springs add about an inch more and could handle desert whoop-de-dos at a modest pace. And those tall Toyos look like theyd be pretty capable in the rugged dirt and sand, the sort of desert environment where the Raptor made its reputation by virtue of suspension developments that go far deeper than adding another inch of ground clearance. Story continues But as with the previous Mopar specialsthere have been a half-dozen, one per year since 2010, Mopars 10 through 15, with the Rebel the first based on a Ram truckthe real point here is to showcase some of the goodies in Mopars vast warehouse. But the 2016 package doesnt do much for the Ram Rebel besides making it look even more macho. The only exception is Mopars cat-back exhaust system and cold-air intake, which are dealer-installed options beyond the 16 package. The exhaust makes the most of every power pulse from the 5.7-liter V-8, creating a seductive internal-combustion opera when the driver opens the throttle and a pleasant remote rumble in cruise mode. Surprisingly, for all its mellifluous exhaust note, this cat-back system is the essence of refinement at highway speed. Our test truck measured two decibels quieter than the standard Ram Rebel at a steady 70 mph. Deliberate Dynamics Other elements of the Mopar 16 Rebels performance are less compelling. Getting nearly three tons of truck to 60 mph in 7.0 seconds is impressive, but a V-8equipped standard Rebel we tested last year made that sprint in 6.6. That Rebel was also quicker in the quarter-mile run. Those gnarly Toyos didnt do much for either truck on pavement. The non-Mopar model held a slight edge at the skidpad, where both trucks were festivals of understeer, and that version also stopped 14 feet shorter from 70 mph. However, stopping distances in the vicinity of 200 feet are nothing to brag about. We werent able to exercise the Mopar 16 on the kind of surfaces it probably likes bestBaja-style outback. On pavement, the big Rebel is, predictably, deliberate in transient response. Generous suspension travel and a high center of gravity add up to lots of body motion and lazy directional changes. On the other hand, that suspension sops up everything poorly maintained Frost Belt roads and highways have to offer, delivering a creamy ride. And it's quiet, too, until the driver summons that seductive engine symphony. The comfort-convenience featuresa lengthy listinclude a very good nine-speaker Alpine sound system. But for V-8 power junkies, that Hemi backbeat may be all the audio thats needed. The dealer-installed exhaust system goes for $1175, and its probably all the additional equipment any Hemi-equipped Rebel really needs. Specifications > VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger 4-door truck PRICE AS TESTED: $59,606 (base price: $53,655) ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 16-valve V-8, iron block and aluminum heads, port fuel injection Displacement: 345 cu in, 5654 cc Power: 395 hp @ 5600 rpm Torque: 410 lb-ft @ 3950 rpm TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase: 140.5 in Length: 229.0 in Width: 79.4 in Height: 77.5 in Passenger volume: 125 cu ft Curb weight: 5925 lb C/D TEST RESULTS: Zero to 60 mph: 7.0 sec Zero to 100 mph: 20.2 sec Rolling start, 560 mph: 7.0 sec Top gear, 3050 mph: 3.4 sec Top gear, 5070 mph: 4.4 sec Standing -mile: 15.5 sec @ 88 mph Top speed (governor limited): 107 mph Braking, 700 mph: 213 ft Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.69 g FUEL ECONOMY: EPA city/highway driving: 15/21 mpg C/D observed: 14 mpg *stability-control-inhibited Many investors like to look for value in stocks, but this can be very tough to define. There is great debate regarding which metrics are the best to focus on in this regard, and which are not really quality indicators of future performance. Fortunately, with our new style score system we have identified the key statistics to pay close attention to and thus which stocks might be the best for value investors in the near term. This method discovered several great candidates for value-oriented investors, but today lets focus on SORL Auto Parts, Inc. SORL as this stock is looking especially impressive right now. And while there are numerous reasons why this is the case, we have highlighted three of the most vital reasons for SORLs status as a solid value stock below: Forward PE for SORL Auto Parts Easily one of the most popular readings for value investors, the forward PE ratio shows us the current price of a stock divided by the full year earnings. Generally speaking, value investors like to see this ratio below 20, though it can vary by industry. SORL AUTO PARTS PE Ratio (TTM) SORL AUTO PARTS PE Ratio (TTM) | SORL AUTO PARTS Quote Right now, SORL has a forward PE of just 5.07, which means that investors are paying $5.07 for each dollar in expected SORL Auto Parts earnings this year. Compared to the industry at large this is pretty favorable as the overall space has an average PE of 11.67 in comparison. Price to Forward Sales for SORL Auto Parts One of the most underrated ratios for value investors is the price/forward sales metric. This ratio shows investors how much they are paying for each dollar of revenues generated. In other words, a lower number is better here while a price to sales ratio of 1 means that you are paying one dollar for each dollar in sales. With a P/S ratio of 0.31, SORL investors are paying 31 cents in stock price for each dollar of revenue generated by the company. Compare this to the industry average of 0.59, and it is safe to say that SORL is undervalued compared to many of its peers on this important metric. Story continues SORL Earnings Estimate Revisions Moving in the Right Direction The solid value ratios outlined in the preceding paragraphs might be enough for some investors, but we should also note that the earnings estimate revisions have been trending in a positive direction as well. Analysts who follow SORL stock have been raising their estimates for the company lately, meaning that the EPS picture is looking a bit more favorably for SORL Auto Parts now. Over the past 30 days, 1 earnings estimates have gone higher compared to none lower for the full year, while we are also seeing that 1 estimate has move upwards with no downward revision for the next year time frame too. These revisions have helped to boost the consensus estimate as 30 days ago SORL was expected to post earnings of 61 cents per share for the full year though today it looks to have EPS of 75 cents for the full year. Bottom Line For the reasons detailed above, investors shouldnt be surprised to read that we have SORL as a stock with a Value Score of A and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. So if you are a value investor, definitely keep SORL on your short list as this looks to be a stock that is very well-positioned for gains in the near term. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Tale of the Tape, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SORL AUTO PARTS (SORL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Kinshasa (AFP) - More than 50 people were killed on Monday in clashes between protesters and security forces in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, opposition groups said, calling for further anti-government demonstrations. The government earlier said that at least 17 had died in the violence in Kinshasa ahead of a planned opposition rally, but had warned that the death toll could rise. "The coalition (of opposition groups) deplores the number of victims, more than 50 dead at this point, victims of the firing of real bullets by the police and the republican guard," it said in a statement. It also called on people to gather on Tuesday "to keep up without hesitation the demands made today." The rally, which the authorities cancelled, had been called to demand the resignation of President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001. Opponents fear he is planning to extend his rule unconstitutionally. The clashes Monday were the worst violence in the capital since January 2015 when a police crackdown on another opposition protest left several dozen people dead. Interior Minister Evariste Boshab described the violence as an attempted "uprising" and said the victims included three police officers. The main opposition parties had called for a nationwide demonstration to "give notice" to Kabila, whose mandate expires on December 20. Although Kabila is banned by the constitution from running again, he has not made any move to schedule elections, fuelling fears he will seek to extend his stay in office. In May, the Constitutional Court said Kabila could remain in office in a caretaker capacity until an election is held, triggering a wave of angry protests. - 'Not acceptable' - France on Monday described the unrest as "very dangerous and extremely worrying" and urged Kabila to lay out a clear timetable for a vote. "What matters is the date of elections," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Story continues "If they're delayed endlessly, that means that Kabila intends to stay in power," he said. "That's a situation that is not acceptable." Former colonial power Belgium called in a foreign ministry statement for "restraint" and urged all political groups to "quickly" organise elections. So far, there has been no move to schedule elections and at this stage, it appears practically impossible to organise a poll before the end of the year. A fringe opposition group has been meeting with the government in a bid to organise a schedule for elections, but veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi has refused to participate in the talks which are due to end on Saturday. Last week, Amnesty International accused Kinshasa of the "systematic repression" of those seeking Kabila's departure. - 'A failed uprising' - Monday's rally had been due to start in Kinshasa in the early afternoon, but during the morning, scuffles broke out between stone-throwing youths and anti-riot police. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of stone-throwers as they tried to march on parliament ahead of the demonstration, which was promptly cancelled by the authorities. "Kinshasa just experienced an uprising which ended in failure," Boshab said, accusing demonstrators of "deliberately" ignoring a schedule which had been agreed with the authorities. Government spokesman Lambert Mende had earlier told AFP that two policemen were killed in violence against the ruling party's offices in the volatile Limete district. A Catholic nun said one of the policemen had been "burnt alive". Government officials also accused the opposition of "targeted looting", while private security officials said there had been several looting incidents involving banks and Chinese-run shops in the south of the city, which is home to some 10 million people. - 'Kabila, get out!' - Earlier, youths were seen hurling stones at police on the city's main avenue as plumes of smoke rose into the air from burning tyres and from a car and a minibus that had been set alight. "Kabila, get out!" they shouted as they waved the blue-and-white flags of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which is headed by Tshisekedi, 83. Party spokesman Bruno Tshibala told AFP he had seen four bodies in the office of an allied party. Activists were also seen burning a giant poster of Kabila in which he appealed for the two sides to resolve the crisis through "dialogue". And a diplomatic source reported clashes in several places along the road to the capital's airport. An AFP photographer and a journalist working for French radio station RFI were briefly detained by the security forces while they covered the clashes. They were beaten several times and eventually released. However, the AFP photographer's confiscated memory cards were not returned. A group of 50 former government officials signed an open letter calling on Donald Trump to release information about his business dealings abroad. The letter was signed by Hillary Clinton supporters and prominent Republicans, all of whom say the next president will take office at a complex moment in world affairs. Because of that, the letter says, the next president of the U.S. should champion policies that are motivated exclusively by what is in Americas best interest, not by the financial interests of our president, the New York Times reports. Donald Trump still has not revealed to the American public his international business relationships, even as it becomes increasingly clear that his overseas ties could well constitute significant conflicts of interest when it comes to charting U.S. foreign policy, the letter says. The signatories of the letter also call on Trump to pledge to divest himself of his overseas business interests should he win the presidency. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has faced similar scrutiny for her work with the Clinton Foundation and donations it has received from foreign entities. Former president Bill Clinton has announced several steps the Clintons would take to curb concerns about conflict of interest should Hillary win the election. The New York Times says the letter was written after Newsweek reported on business dealings Trump had n China, India and Russia, as well as with the former dictator of Libya. The Trump campaign denounced at least one of the letters signatories, saying the inclusion of Wendy Sherman, who served as a key negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal, delegitimizes the letter. Read the whole letter at the New York Times. With the return of autumn comes blushing leaves, frothy mugs of pumpkin spice lattes and whimsical Halloween costumes. As we move forward into autumn, you may also notice some changes at your grocery store. Towers of watermelon are replaced by displays of pumpkin. Bags of summer squash and onions are swapped for stacks of sweet potatoes. Refreshing spices, such as cilantro and mint, are traded for warm flavors, such as ginger and garlic. Of course, modern refrigerated trucks and planes make it possible to eat virtually any food at any season. Still, there are plenty of worthwhile reasons to choose autumn produce. By favoring seasonal fruits and veggies, you'll find fresher, more eco-friendly options. When you eat native, you support your local farmers and farmers markets. And if you shop in-season foods rather than exotic imports, you'll can trim down your grocery bill. [Read: Cooking for One: Feeding Yourself Without Breaking the Bank.] To savor and save on seasonal foods, swap your summer standards with new fall favorites. Introduce autumn to your kitchen trying out these wallet-friendly fall recipes. PISTACHIO BEET SALAD Though impressive and imaginative, this sweet salad can be tossed in minutes. Blue cheese crumbles bring a touch of richness, while toasted pistachios add warmth. The salad can serve as a perfect light lunch or dinner starter. 2 medium beets 1/4 cup pistachios Crumbled blue cheese 1/2 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar Salt and pepper to taste Bake pistachios in the oven for 10 minutes. As they toast, peel and slice beets. Toss the beets, pistachios and blue cheese together in a medium bowl. Dress with a blend of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. CREAMY CARROT GINGER SOUP Rich and warming, creamy soups are a fall staple. Our carrot soup blends ginger, thyme and honey with yogurt -- a healthy alternative to traditional cream. 3 pounds carrots 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup yogurt 1 thick slice ginger Salt and fresh thyme to taste Story continues Simmer carrots, stock and thyme for one hour, then mix in a blender until smooth. Serve with a sprig of thyme as garnish. [See: 12 Ways to Be a More Mindful Spender.] PUMPKIN SPICE QUESADILLAS This creative quesadilla recipe pays homage to one of fall's most beloved flavors -- pumpkin spice. Combining sweet with salty, the pumpkin cinnamon quesadilla is a delicious spin on the Mexican favorite. The recipe can put leftover pumpkin from pies and other dishes to good use. 1/4 cup pumpkin puree 1/2 cup grated cheddar 1 dash cinnamon Salt and pepper to taste 2 medium tortillas 1/2 teaspoon of oil or butter Place a tortilla in the oil or butter-greased pan. Sprinkle on a layer of cheddar cheese, and heat, open-face, for one minute. As the tortilla heats, spread the second tortilla with a layer of pumpkin puree. Add salt, pepper and cinnamon. Lay the pumpkin-layered tortilla atop the cheesy one, then flip the over to heat the other side. Continue to flip and heat both sides until crispy. BUTTERNUT SQUASH CURRY Blending seasonal veggies and Greek yogurt, this curry is both hearty and healthy. The curry can be as mild or spicy as you please, depending on the flavor of curry paste. 1 diced butternut squash 4 cups chickpeas 1 diced red onion 4 chopped tomatoes 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt 2 tablespoons curry paste 1/2 cup vegetable stock 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 dash chopped coriander Cook the butternut squash in an oiled pan for three minutes. Add the onion and curry paste, then cook for an additional four minutes. Pour in the stock, cover the pan, and simmer for 20 minutes. Blend in chickpeas and tomatoes, then cook until the tomatoes are tender. Remove from the stove, then combine the mixture with yogurt and coriander in a bowl. [See: 8 Big Budgeting Blunders -- and How to Fix Them.] CRISPY KALE CHIPS When you're craving a salty snack, these crispy kale chips can be a nutritious and delicious alternative to junk food. Full disclaimer: They're totally addictive. 1 bunch kale cut into strips 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 dash of garlic powder Toss strips of kale with olive oil, salt and a dash of garlic powder. Spread leaves on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Every so often, stir up the leaves to keep the edges from burning. Remove chips when they are dry. Cool before eating. BANANA PECAN SUNDAES Bundled up in a toasty sweater, you can enjoy this cold, creamy concoction even when it's cold outside. Uniting gingersnap, pecan and caramel, this sundae embraces the flavors of fall. 2 scoops of butter pecan ice cream 1/2 sliced banana 2 crushed gingersnap cookies Drizzle of caramel sauce 1/2 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons sugar Whip the cream and sugar in a medium bowl until thick. Top the ice cream with slices of banana, crushed cookies and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Top with a dollop of whipped cream. Maria Lalonde honed her deal-hunting skills while traveling through South America and Southeast Asia, combing colorful local markets for unique finds. Her love of blogging and thirst for deals brought her to Offers.com, where she blogs about savings tips. More From US News & World Report Photo: Getty Images Some eight in 10 Singaporeans believe hosting the Formula 1 Grand Prix is still to Singapores benefit, according to a poll released on Monday (19 September). The Blackbox survey of some 963 Singaporeans and permanent residents showed that just under seven in 10 respondents also feel that the benefits of hosting the motor racing event outweigh the costs. The Republic hosted the night race in the Marina Bay area for the ninth time last weekend, drawing well-known F1 drivers such as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. When asked about the benefits of F1 for Singapore, almost half saw the boost to Singapores economy as the greatest benefit, followed by the increase in Singapores international profile. On the flip side, 46 per cent of respondents pointed to the disruption the race causes to public spaces, while 36 per cent did not like the high costs of hosting. And while more than half of all Singaporeans said that they would like to attend the race, only 11 per cent said they could actually afford to do so. According to Singapore GP, an average of 73,000 spectators attended for each of the three days of the race. This represents a significant drop from the 2015 race, which saw some 87,000 spectators daily. As Americas youngsters begin yet another school year, so too will surely begin again the annual debate over what those kids are eating. School lunches today are, to put it mildly, a source of much controversybut this has not always been the case. By 1900, 34 of the then 45 states had laws calling for compulsory education of all children under the age of 14. Well aware of the tremendous social inequality of this industrial era, reformers saw the need to improve the outcomes of all students drawn into the education system. If it is a matter of principle in democratic America that every child shall be given a certain amount of instruction, wrote reformer Robert Hunter in his heart-wrenching 1904 book Poverty, let us render it possible for them to receive it by making full and adequate provision for the physical needs of the children who come from the homes of poverty. Access to healthy food was one of these needs and schools were in a unique position to provide their pupils with nutritious meals. Philadelphia and Boston were the first two American cities to institute school lunch programs, starting at the end of the 19th century. These efforts were spearheaded largely by welfare organizations, such as the Womens Educational and Industrial Union in Boston and the Starr Center Association in Philadelphia, which began serving up hot meals for the price of a penny in high schools as early as 1894. The response these programs received was overwhelmingly positive. As one report submitted to The Journal of Home Economics in 1910 describes, the teachers [in Boston] are unanimous in the belief that the luncheons are helping the children both physically and mentally. These programs were shown to be not only providing growing bodies with nutritious foods, but they were also teaching children healthy eating habits and helping them learn to choose their food wisely. With such excellent results, school lunches readily expanded to more schools and more municipalities across the county. Story continues It wasnt until the Great Depression that the Federal government became involved in school food programs. In the early 1930s, farmers were facing financial ruin thanks to price collapses, laborers were having extreme difficulty finding work, and poor children were experiencing increasing malnutrition and hunger. School lunch programs emerged as the perfect solution to all three problems. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Using the many arms of President Roosevelts New Deal, the federal government purchased surplus crops from farmers and employed thousands of women to cook and serve these food items to hungry students. By 1941, federally supported school meals programs were operating in all States, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with 64,298 individuals serving over 2 million lunches daily. But the school lunch program was not a permanent mandate. When food supplies dwindled and labor became scarce during World War II, the number of school meals served declined precipitously. Recognizing the benefits of keeping children well fed and healthy, in 1946 Congress passed the National School Lunch Act: It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, as a measure of national security to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nations children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the States, through grant-in-aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of food and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance, operation, and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs. In the decades after, the programs expanded to feed more children in more ways. Eisenhower and Nixon both increased the budgets for school lunch programs while the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 added more subsidies for low-income children, as well as school milk and school breakfast programs. Things changed when Ronald Reagan took office. In 1981, as part of an attempt to curtail government waste, the Reagan Administration slashed Federal school lunch spending by $1.5 billion and attempted to make up for the reduced budget by shrinking lunch portions, reducing the number of poor children eligible for free or reduced-lunch, and famously declaring that ketchup was a vegetable in order to meet nutrition standards. With less federal support, school lunches in the 1980s and 1990s became increasingly privatized and nutrition standards often took a back seat to the bottom line. This same period saw childhood obesity rates in the United States skyrocket. School lunches were thrust to the forefront of the debate over healthy kids. The patchwork of regulation remaining regarding food safety and wholesomeness led TIME to declare that many school districts were flunking lunch. In 2010, in an attempt to return to the original intentions of school lunch programs, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which allows the Department of Agriculture to overhaul school meals to meet new nutrition standards. While no one can deny the importance of better eating for growing minds (or the enthusiasm of First Lady Michelle Obama), critics claim the program has produced unpalatable foods that lead to food waste, smaller earnings for school lunch programs, and even more kids going without lunch. Those in favor of the reforms claim simply that its working. A 2016 report declares that, in spite of the hubbub in cafeterias across the country, the new act is indeed providing kids with healthier food at school. Regardless of where one stands on the debate its worth remembering that school lunches were once uncontroversial. And surely we can all agree on the importance of their original role: a means to make sure children are well fed and healthy, so they can grow and learn and better the nation. Emelyn Rude is a food historian and the author of Tastes Like Chicken, available now. * Uber and others must register apps -official * Regulations would help control the market By Stanley Carvalho ABU DHABI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Ride-hailing services such as Uber and others will have to register their apps and heed new regulations to operate in Abu Dhabi, a top official at the Gulf emirate's taxi regulator said on Monday. U.S.-based Uber and regional rival Careem suspended services in the capital of the United Arab Emirates on Aug. 27 after many of their drivers were stopped by authorities over violations of regulations, sources told Reuters at the time. Careem has since resumed services in Abu Dhabi, although Uber has yet to do so as it awaits clarification on some issues. The new regulations are coming "very soon" and will include a provision requiring ride-hailing apps to register with The Centre for Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars (Transad), its general manager Mohamed Darwish al-Qamzi said. "This will help us to control the market easier by blocking any unregulated application with us," he told Reuters. Currently, ride-hailing services are not regulated in the UAE. Qamzi said companies such as Uber and Careem suspended their services after Abu Dhabi began enforcing tighter regulations to curb malpractices and a growing black market. "There was a black market, many illegal drivers doing part-time work, over-charging customers and not following regulations," he said. A spokesman for Careem denied any wrongdoing by the company and its drivers. An Uber spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment, although the company has previously said it complies with all existing regulations. According to the new Abu Dhabi regulations, ride-hailing apps must work only with luxury private hire companies and strictly follow their price structure. They must also send a list of drivers and cars to Transad, he said. At the moment, ride-hailing apps work with drivers who operate limousines as well as smaller cars that are not registered with Transad. Story continues Transad works with seven franchisee taxi companies with 7,645 registered taxis operating in Abu Dhabi. "We are not against the apps services," said Qamzi. "It is the choice of the people. But we need to make sure the cars are safe, drivers are genuine and the safety of customers is first." Uber, which launched services in Abu Dhabi in 2013, said last year that the Middle East and North Africa contained some of its fastest-growing markets and that it planned to invest $250 million to expand in the region. It said on June 1 that had raised $3.5 billion from an investment by Saudi Arabia's state-owned Public Investment Fund. (Editing by David French/Mark Heinrich) Hillary Clinton held a Monday press conference in which she addressed the recent bombs planted in New York City and New Jersey, telling reporters outside her campaign plane that the Islamic State terror group has seized and amplified Donald Trumps rhetoric. The press conference in White Plains, N.Y., came as authorities announced they are seeking a person of interest in the mostly unsuccessful bomb attacks: Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan. We choose resolve, not fear, Clinton said on the tarmac. A reporter asked Clinton whether she believed foreign terror groups could be trying to influence the U.S. election by plotting attacks that would shift support to Trump. I dont want to speculate, but heres what we know: We know that a lot of the rhetoric weve heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, Clinton said. Clinton said ISIS uses Trumps past statements to argue that the U.S. is waging a war against an entire religion instead of against a terror group. The GOP nominee once advocated stopping all Muslims from entering the U.S., but has since muddled his position. They want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning this into a religious conflict, she said. Thats why Ive been very clear: Were going after the bad guys, and were going to get them, but were not going after a religion. Secondly, we know that Donald Trumps comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists, Clinton continued, citing an analysis by former CIA Director Michael Hayden and Matt Olsen, the former head of the U.S. Counterterrorism Center. Clinton quoted Hayden calling Trump a recruiting sergeant for terrorists and Olsen saying Trumps rhetoric is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries. Clinton argued that she is the only candidate in the race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield, in the Situation Room. I know how to do this, she said. Story continues She also briefly outlined her own plan to stop terror attacks by convincing Silicon Valley tech companies to help law enforcement intercept online recruiting. Clinton also said she would give more resources to local law enforcement agencies and step up the air campaign against ISIS. She then slammed Trump for saying he was keeping his anti-ISIS strategy private to avoid tipping off the terror group. You dont hear a plan from him, she said of Trump. He keeps saying he has a secret plan. Well, the secret is he has no plan. After a reporter asked Clinton whether this latest security threat could cause Americans to support Trumps tough immigration stance, she warned the public not to get distracted and diverted by campaign rhetoric. I am absolutely in favor of and have long been an advocate for tough vetting, Clinton said. We need a better visa system. Lets remember what happened on 9/11. These were not refugees who got into airplanes and attacked our country and our city. For his part, Trump said Monday morning on Fox News that were going to have to be very tough against ISIS and knock the hell out of them. _____ Related slideshows: Slideshow: Explosive devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey >>> Slideshow: Substantial police presence in NYC following Chelsea explosion >>> Slideshow: Pipe bomb explodes at Jersey Shore >>> Slideshow: Explosion in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood >>> The foreign-born U.S. citizen sought by authorities in connection with bombs found in New York and New Jersey over the weekend has been taken into custody after a shootout with police. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is believed to have been seen near where an improvised explosive device injured 29 in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood and where a pressure cooker explosive device was subsequently removed by authorities. Rahami was arrested following a shootout in Linden, New Jersey, before noon Monday. Late Monday, Union County Prosecutor Grace Park announced Rahami had been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and second-degree counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. A state judge set bail at $5.2 million. According to reports, at least one officer was shot, but was saved by a bulletproof vest. Rahami was also shot. According to CBS New York, Linden police got a call about a man sleeping in the doorway of a bar Monday morning. When a responding officer approached the man, the man raised his head, and the officer recognized him as Rahami, Capt. James Sarnicki of the Linden Police Department said. Rahami then reportedly opened fire on the officer and two officers were wounded by the time shooting ended. Video footage taken following his arrest shows Rahami being wheeled into an ambulance. Read: Mayor Calls Manhattan Blast 'Intentional Act' After Exploding Dumpster Injures Dozens CBS News reports that investigators believe Rahami may be part of a terror cell. The suspect was found after New York and New Jersey residents were sent cell phone alerts to be on the lookout for Rahami, who is about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. Linden is about 40 minutes from Manhattan. Story continues Born in Afghanistan, Rahami is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was identified as a person of interest to authorities through information gathered from the undetonated pressure cooker bomb found blocks away from the Chelsea explosion. President Barack Obama addressed the Chelsea bombings as well as the explosives found in New Jersey in a speech he gave Monday morning from New York City. "They will never beat us," the president said, referring to terrorists. "As Americans, we do not and never will give in to fear. Thats going to be the most important ingredient in defeating those who want to carry out terrorist acts against us." On Sunday, five people with possible links to the devices were taken into custody following the discovery of multiple pipe bombs in a garbage can at a New Jersey rail station. No charges have been filed against the five, who were taken into custody after the SUV they were in was pulled over on the Verrazano Bridge while en route to Brooklyn from Staten Island. Authorities fear they may have been on their way to JFK Airport to flee the country. On Monday morning, authorities swarmed an Elizabeth, New Jersey home that is believed to be Rahami's last known address. All of the people injured in Saturday's Chelsea blast have been released from the hospital. Read: Explosive Device Detonates Along Marine Corps Charity Run Route An earlier incident in the Jersey Shore town of Seaside Park, in which a bomb exploded in a trash can along the route of a Marine Corps charity run, caused no injuries. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said: "There are certain commonalities on the way the bombs are constructed" in reference to those found in New Jersey and those in New York City. "You could have had a common mastermind in the construction of the bombs," Cuomo said. "Today I believe we're going to find out that it was influenced by foreign forces." Watch: New Yorkers Run From Explosion in Dumpster That Injured 29 Related Articles: Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa on Monday gave universities the go-ahead to raise student fees by up to eight percent, prompting protests on several campuses across the country. Student groups last year secured a zero percent fee increase after weeks of demonstrations rocked the government, and had demanded a freeze on all fees until a commission into university funding was complete. But Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande gave universities the green light to raise fees for the 2017 academic year. "Our universities face an extremely difficult financial situation," Nzimande said at a press conference in Pretoria. "The effects of last year's moratorium on fee adjustments have added to these challenges... Starving our universities of funding is not the way to go." Nzimande recommended universities raise their fees "not above eight percent". He added the government would cover the increase for students from families earning less than 600,000 rand a year ($42,600). Despite the cover for poorer families, students quickly rejected the minister's announcement, staging protests in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and elsewhere. "This will only strengthen our resolve... government is not playing ball," said University of Witwatersrand student Tshepo Mnguni in Johannesburg. "We have no choice but to fight. We are not doing this for ourselves, we are doing this for future students, the millions who won't be able to access education," the 22-year-old told AFP. Armed police blocked off all entrances into the university to prevent violence, as classes went on during the protest. "We need to unite again and put more pressure on government," said another student, 19-year-old Maria Gomez. She described the decision to hike fees "as an insult by an arrogant government." University of Cape Town (UCT) cancelled all classes Monday ahead of the announcement, while students at Stellenbosch University, Pretoria University and Tshwane University of Technology also protested. Story continues On September 6, the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban shut down for two weeks after unrest over fees, with students burning down several buildings and cars at its Westville campus. Violent protests erupted at many South African universities last year, with several campuses temporarily shut down and riot police clashing with students outside parliament. The issue of education fees ignited widespread frustration over a lack of opportunities for young South Africans, worsened by a weakening economy and high unemployment. UCT Vice-Chancellor Max Price said failing to increase fees would result in hundreds of jobs lost, and reduce financial aid to poor students. "Either we have to accept the decline in the kinds of universities we have and the funding for students, or we have to put up the fees to compensate," he told state broadcaster SABC. Authorities have named Ahmad Khan Rahami as a person of interest in the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City on Saturday. Authorities are seeking him out to talk about the explosion. The FBI say that Rahami, 28, was born in Afghanistan and is believed to be living in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In a press release from the FBI, Rahami, who is a U.S. citizen, should "be considered armed and dangerous." Anyone with information about Rahami should call the FBI's toll-free tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Authorities also pushed a cellphone emergency alert to New York-area residents urging them to call 911 if they see Rahami. A federal source confirms to PEOPLE that Rahami is considered separate from the five people who were detained by the FBI on Sunday night. Those individuals were taken in for questioning during a traffic stop at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the bridge that connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. The FBI states that no one has been charged with any crime as the investigation is ongoing. The federal official also confirms to PEOPLE that the same model flip-style cell phone was used as a detonator for the two bombs in Chelsea (a second device was discovered on Saturday night and disarmed by authorities) and the bomb that went off ahead of a charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey, which is about 85 miles south of Manhattan. Both bombings occurred within hours of each other on Saturday. No one was injured in the Seaside Park bombing. Twenty-nine people were injured in the Chelsea bombing but none of the injuries are considered to be life-threatening. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? A "Click to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Early Monday morning a police robot detonated a backpack full of pipe bombs in Elizabeth, which is about 20 miles from Manhattan. A federal source tells PEOPLE that it unclear if the same style of flip-phone was connected to the bombs found in Elizabeth. The source adds that investigators believe the five persons of interest detained are from Elizabeth, New Jersey, but have not yet confirmed any connection to the devices found there overnight. Authorities in New York had previously announced that they were beefing up security around the city after the explosion in Chelsea. The city had already been on high-alert as foreign diplomats have already begun defending on the city to prepare for the General Assembly at the United Nations, which will begin on Tuesday. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the 28-year-old suspect in the bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, was taken into custody after a shootout with police in Linden, N.J., on Monday morning, officials said. Two police officers were wounded during Rahamis arrest, but their injuries were not thought to be serious. ABCs New York affiliate captured images of Rahami as he was taken away from the scene in an ambulance. He appeared to have been shot in the right arm. LATEST: Ahmad Rahami, wanted in connection with NY, NJ bombings, taken into custody. https://t.co/iNsM2t4AqQ pic.twitter.com/C2NzLhZ0tf ABC News (@ABC) September 19, 2016 Here is everything we know about Rahami so far: Rahami, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen of Afghan descent, was born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, N.J., where five explosive devices were found at a train station on Sunday night. Rahami was being sought in connection with an explosion in Seaside Park, N.J., on Saturday morning and the blast that injured 29 people on West 23rd Street in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night. Rahamis family runs a restaurant in Elizabeth, First American Fried Chicken, where he and his brothers also worked. Rahamis father traveled to Pakistan in the summer of 2011, according to court records reviewed by Yahoo News. The Rahami family had filed a lawsuit that year accusing the City of Elizabeth of illegally shutting down the familys restaurant because of complaints from local residents who were biased against Muslims. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters that he had fielded noise complaints about the restaurant, which was open 24 hours a day, and that family had taken the city to court to try and keep those hours. But the court ruled in the citys favor, passing an ordinance in 2012 that forced the restaurant to close at 10 p.m., Bollwage said. Story continues Court records in the case show that the lawyer for the Rahami family, Shelley Stangler, asked the judge for a postponement of a settlement conference in the case in July 2011 because her client was in Pakistan. Stangler said she had been unable to meet or speak with her client because I am advised that he is in Pakistan, Stangler wrote in the July 19, 2011, letter. He was supposed to return by July 14, 2011, but is apparently is [sic] having trouble getting an available plane seat and ticket back to the United States. The letter provides no further information about the purpose of Mohammed Rahamis trip or whether other members of his family accompanied him. Ryan McCann, a patron who frequented the restaurant, described the younger Rahami as a very friendly guy who gave him free chicken on occasion. All he talked about was his cars, McCann said. About his fast Honda Civics. I wouldve never suspected this, McCann added. Earlier Monday, the FBI released a bulletin seeking the publics help in locating Rahami. Seen him? https://t.co/IvaT8sZs5n Seeking to find Ahmad Rahami Call 1800Call-FBI or https://t.co/vylOlg95dq pic.twitter.com/Xd2SXytZmD FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) September 19, 2016 The New Jersey State Police released additional photos of Rahami Monday morning. We want to get this guy in for questioning, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on CNN earlier Monday. I think were going to know a lot more in the course of the day. Things are moving very quickly. Investigators are trying to determine whether Rahami acted alone. On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped a vehicle of interest in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. According to the Associated Press, five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. They have not yet been charged. While authorities said initially there did not appear to be a connection between the explosions and international terrorism, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he wouldnt be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act. But at a press conference Monday afternoon, William F. Sweeney, assistant director for the FBIs New York City field office, said there no indication that a terror cell is operating here. Saturdays bombings occurred the same day a man wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in New York and New Jersey, President Obama said shortly after Rahami was captured. _____ Related slideshows: Ahmad Khan Rahami, suspect in New York City and New Jersey explosions, is captured >>> Explosive devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey >>> Substantial police presence in NYC following Chelsea explosion >>> Pipe bomb explodes at Jersey Shore >>> Explosion in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood >>> PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group (AIR.PA) confirmed on Monday it is planning cost cuts as it embarks on a project to introduce more digital methods into its operations, but denied a report it is working on new cuts as a result of cost overruns on its largest planes. The Financial Times newspaper reported earlier that Airbus was preparing a new restructuring and cost-cutting plan that would be unveiled next month in a drive to offset expensive delays in some of its programs. The newspaper said the plan was not yet finalised and could involve group-wide job cuts. A spokesman said Airbus was not working on a new program but was focused on the "digitalisation project to modernize Europe's largest aerospace group" announced in July. "As was announced by Tom Enders (in July), the envisaged cost-cutting aims at being a contribution to value creation and in particular to the digital transformation at Airbus Group." "It is misleading to interpret this being a reaction to any short term business issues," he said. Airbus has said it plans to introduce digital methods to overhaul the way it builds and delivers planes from design to production and product support. "And therefore we will look into the structural set-up of the group to overlap synergies further cost reductions, particularly between group of a corporate level and the divisional level," the spokesman said. He said this would set the groundwork to achieve the group's earnings and cashflow targets and growth potential "for 2017 and beyond." (Reporting by Paris bureau; Editing by Mark Potter) HANGZHOU, China, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, will hold another round of fundraising but it is hoping that money raised in March will be sufficient for a year to 18 months. In its first round of funding this year, Cainiao attracted investors such as Singapore's Temasek Holdings and GIC Pte Ltd, Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional Bhd, and China's Primavera Capital. Business news magazine Caixin reported that the value of the round was close to 50 billion yuan ($7.5 billion). "In the future we will definitely raise money again," Chief Executive Judy Tong told a news conference but added there was no timetable for the fundraising. "Cainiao is a very young company. It requires a lot of investment." Alibaba, which owns about 47 percent of Cainiao, wants to take a leading role in developing China's fragmented package delivery industry, as e-commerce spreads beyond urban hubs and requires a more robust logistics network. Cainiao manages a network of warehouses and crunches data to coordinate courier deliveries around China. Tong also said the company had not come under further pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is probing Alibaba's accounting, part of which is focused on its accounting for Cainiao. Alibaba has said it is cooperating with the investigation and has handed information to the SEC. "Since we handed over materials the SEC has not come to find us," Tong said. "We are not very nervous." ($1 = 6.6689 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by David Lin in HANGZHOU; Additional reporting and writing by John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, will hold another round of fundraising but it is hoping that money raised in March will be sufficient for a year to 18 months. In its first round of funding this year, Cainiao attracted investors such as Singapore's Temasek Holdings and GIC Pte Ltd, Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional Bhd, and China's Primavera Capital. Business news magazine Caixin reported that the value of the round was close to 50 billion yuan ($7.5 billion). "In the future we will definitely raise money again," Chief Executive Judy Tong told a news conference but added there was no timetable for the fundraising. "Cainiao is a very young company. It requires a lot of investment." Alibaba, which owns about 47 percent of Cainiao, wants to take a leading role in developing China's fragmented package delivery industry, as e-commerce spreads beyond urban hubs and requires a more robust logistics network. Cainiao manages a network of warehouses and crunches data to coordinate courier deliveries around China. Tong also said the company had not come under further pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is probing Alibaba's accounting, part of which is focused on its accounting for Cainiao. Alibaba has said it is cooperating with the investigation and has handed information to the SEC. "Since we handed over materials the SEC has not come to find us," Tong said. "We are not very nervous." ($1 = 6.6689 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by David Lin in HANGZHOU; Additional reporting and writing by John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) A homeless man was attacked Monday in Melbourne, Fla., while he was swimming in a creek, according to local authorities. The man, known as Ron Jon, suffered multiple deep wounds on his shoulder from his struggle with the alligator, according to USA Today. He was swimming in Melbournes Crane Creek, a popular homeless fishing spot underneath a highway overpass, when the gator attacked. A group of police officers were training in the area when they heard screams around 9 a.m. The officers heard the screaming and found him on the bank of the river with significant gashes on his shoulder. We found him there on the shore, said Commander Dan Lynch of the Melbourne police department. The man was rushed to the hospital, but his condition remains unknown. Several alligator attacks have been reported this year in Florida, including a June incident where a 2-year-old boy was dragged underwater and killed by an alligator during a stay at a Disney Resort. [USA Today] Lawyer and activist Amal Clooney is to unveil a proposal to put leaders of ISIS on trial for war crimes. Clooney and U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson are to reveal a plan on Monday at the U.N. to collect evidence of ISISs abhorrent crimes, the Independent reports. The object, Clooney explained to NBC Nightly News Cynthia McFadden, will be to expose the extremists hollow arguments in a court of law. They are brainwashing people and I think one of the way to take action against that is to expose their brutality and corruption and partly you can do that through trial she said. Responding to McFaddens question as to why ISIS should not be bombed out existence, the 38-year-old barrister and wife of actor George Clooney explained that an idea cant be ended in such a manner. That in itself can be used as propaganda for further recruitment, Clooney told McFadden. ISIS can just be reborn under a different name if you dont actually change the narrative and change peoples minds. roy price amazon studios As streaming services like Netflix and Amazon become bigger players in the TV business, it doesnt just change the way we watch shows, but also the way we value those shows. Since Netflix makes its shows available on-demand, and releases entire seasons at once, sitcoms where you can tune into any random episode lose some of their competitive advantage. But broadly, Amazon Studios boss Roy Price says that mid-level shows arent really useful anymore. The real competition is not to be broadly accepted, but to be truly exceptional, Price said on a recent Wall Street Journal Media Mix podcast. You need a show that people are going to demand. There is, for instance, no show at 8:30 that you can put in between your 8 oclock hit and your 9 oclock hit. You dont need a pretty good show that can retain audience. So those mid-level shows lose value, and its really about the competition for the top shows that get the most attention. That makes things like the Emmys very important to Amazon and Netflix. [The Emmys] are the only thing that seems to resonate with the general population [to signal quality], FX CEO John Landgraf told Bloomberg recently. Its how people know which shows are must-see TV, one reason networks spent a whopping $60 to $80 million just to promote their Emmy nominations. So how are streaming services stacking up? At the 2016 Emmys, Amazon snagged two primetime Emmys, barely behind Netflix, which got three. The top networks were HBO and FX, both with six. Here were the complete list of Emmy winners by network: network NOW WATCH: Netflix just dropped a new 'Luke Cage' trailer and it looks incredible More From Business Insider raider b21 NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland America's newest stealth bomber, the B-21, finally has a name: Raider. Announced at the annual Air Force Association's conference, Northrop Grumman's B-21 is named after famed World War II air commander Gen. James Doolittle's group. The name for the next-generation bomber was announced by retired Lt. Col. Richard Cole, the last surviving member of the "Doolittle raid," one of the most risky missions in US military history. The Air Force is set to buy 100 new bombers from Northrop Grumman, the same manufacturer of the iconic B-2 Spirit. Earlier this year, the Air Force received more than 4,600 entries during a naming contest for the aircraft. NOW WATCH: America's B-2 stealth bomber is unlike any military aircraft in the world More From Business Insider On Sunday afternoon (Sept. 18), Billboard boarded a yacht at Chelsea Piers 61 in Manhattan to join The Andrea Bocelli Foundation for a luncheon cruise to celebrate the 35 members of the Voices of Haiti choir, who made their debut during their week-long stay in New York City. JSSI - Jet Support Services Inc. - co-hosted the event, dubbed "Voices of Haiti Cruise," after partnering with the ABF to provide a round-trip flight on a Boeing Business Jet to bring the children and their teachers to the U.S., labeled the "Voices of Haiti Flight." The Voices of Haiti choir is part of ABF's Break The Barriers initiative, aimed at supporting and promoting projects to aid populations of developing countries, as well as to give help in those situations where "poverty, illness and complex social problems invalidate or reduce the quality of life." The choir members are Haitian children aged 9-15, and through the experience, ABF hopes that they will enhance their talent with highly specialized training, also benefiting a "wealth of educational, cultural and existential opportunities precious for their future." Andrea Bocelli & Latin Recording Academy Join Forces to Launch Best New Artist Winner in Europe The luncheon cruise, which brought the children for a spin around Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty alongside the Bocelli Family, ABF execs and the family of JSSI chairman Bob Book and CEO Neil Book, was just one of many events of their action-packed week of performances -- not only their international debut, but also their first trip outside of the island nation. During the visit, they performed with Andrea at the Lincoln Center Global Exchange Opening Ceremony and Tony Bennett's 90th Birthday (Sept. 15), the Childhood Foundation Conference at the UN and Gala (Sept. 16) and they're even set to sing at the 10th anniversary of the Clinton Global Citizen Awards on Monday night (Sept. 19). During the luncheon, special guest Martha Stewart created the menu and spoke to the children about her relationship with Haiti as well as how to make a new recipe - a jicama citrus salad - from her new book Vegetables, in an effort to impart the value of healthy and delicious nutrition. "Bienvenue children! I started to go to Haiti in the '60s for vacations and it was just so beautiful. I learned so much about tropical foods there," the entrepreneur told the crowd. "My last trip to Haiti was a less fortunate trip and that was right after the hideous earthquake. To be able to bring the voices of Haiti here today is so nice and I applaud Bob Book [chairman of JSSI] and his sons for working so hard with this amazing group, and of course the ABF." {"source":"Publicity","title":null,"title_text":null,"path_original":"\/files\/media\/01-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","path":"\/files\/media\/01-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","image_path_original":"\/files\/media\/01-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","file_uri":"public:\/\/media\/01-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","extension":"jpg","type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","file_size":956671,"width":1240,"height":827,"orientation":"landscape","caption":"","credit":null,"animated":false,"id":"628023"} After a lunch which consisted of tuna and egg salad sandwiches, salad-tinis (shaken in plastic martini shakers) and a "kids table" option of mini pizzas and quesadillas, the choir performed for the attendees, while the boat circled the Statue of Liberty. "We can't forget that the day we met [JSSI] was on top of a boat!" reflected Bocelli's wife Veronica, introducing the performance. "And if there's a destiny for everything, we're supposed to be here again, on top of a boat cruising in beautiful New York City, next to the Statue of Liberty, which is a sign for a lot of us - especially Italians - of freedom." "The choir is not only a choir. The trip is not only a beautiful trip to New York; it's a moment for us to show what we are doing in Haiti and it's a dream for the kids," Laura Biancalani, President of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, told Billboard. "The foundation was born five years ago, and the choir is only one of its projects. We have a music program for 2,500 kids every day because we have five schools on Haiti, in the most remote parts of the island. Every day we try through music to change the culture, and what is better than discovering the talent of your children, or the talent of your citizens? We try to involve through music the parents and the teachers, but the kids are the most important part. We try to teach that inside their children is the future." As the ship docked back at Chelsea Piers following the 3-hour cruise, the young children circled the ship's deck dancing, as they finished their dessert of gourmet cereal-and-ice cream popsicles, taking turns to hug Bocelli - his mission (and his presence) clearly resonating immensely with them. "This is the result of the choice that I made a long time ago -- the choice to be on the side of good, to see happiness and hope in people that don't have any," Bocelli told Billboard. "Of course this may sound banal, but music is part of me -- rhythm, harmony, melody are elements that are integral parts of me. And Music is an instrument in itself, it develops the soul, the spirit of each individual child. Music moves you. And hope is one of the most important things in life, and it goes hand in hand with faith. I think each one of us is called to do the best they can, and the rest God disposes." {"source":"Publicity","title":null,"title_text":null,"path_original":"\/files\/media\/02-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","path":"\/files\/media\/02-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","image_path_original":"\/files\/media\/02-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","file_uri":"public:\/\/media\/02-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","extension":"jpg","type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","file_size":880014,"width":1240,"height":827,"orientation":"landscape","caption":"","credit":null,"animated":false,"id":"628022"} As for the children, it's clear the trip is keeping their eyes fixed squarely on the future and the opportunities that await them. "I like the choir very much, I sang at a concert, a cathedral today, at many places. I love to sing. I was excited to sing with Andrea. He's a great artist and he's sung at all of the great places," choir member Djasmy Love Djina St. Fleur told Billboard via a translator. "I really enjoyed singing with him too," echoed Weenscheyster Lohv Nicolas. As for their hopes for the future? "I want to sing all around the world. I want to be an artist!" said Djasmy. "I want to sing around the world too," Weenscheyster added. {"source":"Publicity","title":null,"title_text":null,"path_original":"\/files\/media\/03-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","path":"\/files\/media\/03-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","image_path_original":"\/files\/media\/03-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","file_uri":"public:\/\/media\/03-voices-of-haiti-choir-2016-billboard-1240.jpg","extension":"jpg","type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","file_size":832594,"width":1240,"height":827,"orientation":"landscape","caption":"","credit":null,"animated":false,"id":"628021"} From Esquire The number of hate crimes against American Muslims has risen 78 percent during 2015, according to research from California State University, San Bernardino, the New York Times reports. While the recent terrorist attacks at home and abroad are partially to blame for the increase in violence against members of the Muslim the community, scholars also blame Republican candidate Donald Trump's rhetoric. Trump used to advocate for a ban on all Muslims entering the country, although he says he has since "softened" his stance. "We're seeing these stereotypes and derogative statements become part of the political discourse. The bottom line is we're talking about a significant increase in these types of hate crimes," Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino told the Times. Levin noted that rates of violence against Muslims even seemed to spike in the immediate aftermath of some of Trump's worst comments. "There is a lot of negative rhetoric," Levin added. "The negative rhetoric is causing the hate, and in turn the hate is causing the violent acts." Not only has the incidence of hate crimes increased against Muslim people, it has also increased against people who are perceived to be Arab or of Arab descent. In fact, crimes against those perceived as Arab rose even more steeply that crimes against Muslims. "We see criminal threats against mosques; harassment in schools; and reports of violence targeting Muslim-Americans, Sikhs, people of Arab or South-Asian descent and people perceived to be members of these groups," a Justice Department official, Vanita Gupta, told the Times. You Might Also Like Beats Electronics, alongside headphones entrepreneurs Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, must again contend with a lawsuit that claims former hedge-fund manager Steven Lamar has been shortchanged royalties. On Monday, a California appeals court reversed a decision that rejected the case on summary judgment. As a result, the music stars could be on their way to a trial. Long before Dre and Iovine sold Beats Electronics to Apple for a reported $3 billion, they embarked on a project to bring high-end headphones to consumers. The story of Beats' founding in 2006 is controversial - see here and here - but Lamar was on board at an early point and brought along Robert Brunner, a renowned industrial designer to develop the headphones' design and brand. Lamar's complaint contends that in 2006, Dre and Iovine made it clear that they did not want to invest their own money in the venture, and Lamar claims to have done work identifying a manufacturer as well as scouting for investors. That year, Dre and Iovine filed a lawsuit against Lamar and associated companies, accusing them of failing to perform under a contract and intending to come out with their own "Beats" headphones without Dre's involvement. A settlement followed that resolved the initial dispute. Dre and Iovine agreed to pay a four percent royalty on headphones. The present litigation, the one gathering a California appeals court's review, has to do with Lamar's claim that he is owed royalties for more than just the original version of Beats headphones. He is now demanding money for derivative versions. In June 2015, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected Lamar's claims with a finding that the royalty agreement extended only to the first headphone model. On Monday, California appeals court justice Roger Boren overturns that ruling by deeming the royalty agreement to be "ambiguous" enough that a jury must consider a factual conflict about the interpretation of the contract. Story continues Beats, Dre and Iovine provided extrinsic evidence that when the royalty agreement was signed in 2007, the headphones design was a work in progress and that they intended the royalty agreement to be a one-product deal covering only the headphone they were working at that time. They added that because it wasn't known then whether or not the product would become successful, the royalty agreement didn't contemplate subsequent headphone models. Lamar provided his own evidence that everyone was indeed thinking about more than one model of headphone in the company's early days. In support, he produced his PowerPoint presentations from a decade ago that discussed a noise-cancelling model, a non-noise-cancelling model and a Bluetooth wireless model. Lamar also pointed, among other things, to Dre's 2006 lawsuit, which described the parties' collaboration on a "line of headphones." In response, Beats, Dre and Iovine argued that Lamar wasn't a signatory to the royalty agreement and that his evidence was irrelevant. The trial court agreed, but Boren doesn't, pointing to Lamar's involvement in settlement discussions and the contention that he is at least a third-party beneficiary to the royalty agreement. "Based on the extrinsic evidence presented and the language of the contract, we find that it is equally, if not more, plausible that the parties contemplated the interpretation for which Lamar advocates," writes the appellate justice. "There is no language in the contract limiting the agreement to a single model or product. Instead, the focus of the agreement is on the patented design on which the parties collaborated. Lamar has presented evidence that other headphone models, such as the Solo, were protected by the same patent granted on the headphones design illustrated in Schedule I of the Royalty Agreement. He has also presented evidence that the parties, including Brunner, contemplated that a wireless model based on the headphones design would be covered by the Royalty Agreement. Thus, the agreement is certainly reasonably susceptible to an interpretation that it covers more than just the original, Studio, headphone model." Here's the full decision. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f215360%2fgettyimages-489916510 Apple says it is fixing a big hole in its clean energy strategy by partnering with its far-flung manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions from factories. The California tech giant already powers nearly all its data centers, offices and retail stores worldwide with renewable energy sources. But the third-party suppliers of Apple's iPhone glass covers, antennae bands and other key parts continue to rely on electricity from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal. SEE ALSO: How Apple is taking the tech worlds love affair with renewables to a new level Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, announced a handful of initiatives on Monday that will see Apple's manufacturers invest in wind and solar projects and energy-efficiency upgrades. "We are firm believers that everybody has a responsibility to address climate change," Jackson said in an address at the launch event for the 2016 Climate Week in New York City. "We're also bringing key suppliers along on this journey with us." About 77 percent of Apple's total carbon dioxide emissions come from the company's global supply chain, including mainly companies and manufacturing sites that Apple neither owns nor directly operates, said Jackson, who was head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2013. This reliance on other, dirtier operations to help supply Apple's products is one of the last major hurdles the company faces in its race to be completely-powered by renewable energy. Story continues "So Apple can say, if you're using iTunes, that's from 100 percent renewable electricity, but they can't necessarily say the same for your Macbook Air," Emily Farnworth of The Climate Group, the non-profit organization running Climate Week, told Mashable on the sidelines of the conference. Cleaning the supply chain The sun rises above Tata Steel's Scunthorpe Plant in England. Image: LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images Jackson said Apple is working with its global suppliers to install more than 4 gigawatts of new clean energy including 2 gigawatts in China by 2020. She also announced that Solvay Specialty Polymers, which makes the antenna bands used in iPhones, has committed to using 100 percent renewable energy to power its Apple-related operations by 2018. The new pledge involves 14 manufacturing facilities in eight countries: China, India, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and the United States. Catcher Technology, one of Apple's main suppliers for aluminum iPhone casings, similarly pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy for its Apple-related production within two years. Those announcements build on past commitments from other Apple suppliers like Foxconn, which recently agreed to install 400 megawatts of solar power to power its iPhone final production facility in Zhengzhou, China. -A Chinese employee walks past a billboard of Foxconn outside a building of Foxconn Technology Group in Shanghai, China, in July 2016. Image: Bai kelin/Imaginechina All told, Apple's supply chain is on track to use 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year of clean energy to manufacture Apple products by 2018, Jackson said. That amount of electricity is about the same that a million Chinese households consume in a year. "These acts of leadership by our suppliers are so important, because they demonstrate that the large manufacturers do value where their energy comes from and are increasingly demanding greater amounts of clean energy worldwide," Jackson said in the Climate Week address. For non-energy and mining companies like Apple, supply chain emissions can contribute four times the amount of emissions from direct operations, according to CDP, a climate advocacy group in London. The CDP is slated to launch a first-ever ranking in January that will measure how large global corporations manage climate change risks in their supply chains. Getting to 100 percent renewables Apple is also working toward an earlier goal to power 100 percent of its direct operations using renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. Last year, the Silicon Valley behemoth used about 93 percent solar, wind and other clean energy sources to power its data centers, retail stores and offices worldwide, Jackson said. SunPower Station in Sichuan province, southwest China, June 2015. The solar power station is among Apple's first major clean energy developments in China. Image: Jie Zhao/Corbis via Getty Images On Monday, Apple formally joined the RE100 campaign, an initiative led by the Climate Group to commit major companies to completely ditch fossil fuels in their operations. Other tech giants such as Google and Microsoft have already joined the campaign. Farnworth, who directs the RE100 campaign for The Climate Group, said Apple's participation also shows how the company is using its ubiquitous brand to influence global discussions on climate change policy. Apple's commitment on Monday signals to policymakers that "their actions are serious, and that companies really do want better, clean energy," Farnworth said. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Around 10 people have been killed in northern Mali in fighting between a pro-government militia and a rebel coalition dominated by ethnic Tuaregs, the deputy secretary general for the pro-government Gatia militia said on Sunday. The clash between Gatia and the Tuareg separatist Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) shows the fragility of a U.N.-backed deal signed last year between the government and northern armed groups meant to end a cycle of uprisings. "The clash took place around 80 km north east of Kidal. People from the CMA captured two members of Gatia. They were pursued as far as Intachdayte northeast of Kidal and there was an exchange of fire," said Haballa Ag Hamzata of Gatia. He said around 10 people from CMA died in the clashes, which took place on Friday and Saturday, while others were wounded including five from Gatia. Vehicles and guns were recovered, he said. Sidi Ould Ibrahim Sidat, of the CMA's peace committee said four people died, adding that this was not confirmed. Reuters could not reach other CMA leaders. Kidal is a stronghold of rebels claiming a Tuareg homeland they call Azawad, but the CMA and pro-government Gatia militia had peacefully shared control of Kidal since February. Islamist militant groups, some with links to al Qaeda, hijacked a Tuareg uprising in 2012 and seized northern Mali until a French-led intervention drove them back a year later. The peace deal was intended to ease long-standing tensions in the north and allow the army to concentrate on fighting jihadist groups. (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Damascus (AFP) - President Bashar al-Assad on Monday described the deadly US-led coalition raid on his forces in eastern Syria at the weekend as "flagrant American aggression". Speaking to Iran's deputy foreign minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Assad accused world powers of supporting "terrorist organisations" in Syria like the Islamic State jihadist group. "Every time the Syrian state makes tangible progress either on the ground or towards national reconciliation, anti-Syrian states increase their support of terrorist organisations," Assad said in comments published by state news agency SANA. "The latest example of this is the flagrant American aggression on one of the Syrian army's positions in Deir Ezzor to the benefit of Daesh" on Saturday, he added, using the Arabic acronym for IS. The US-led raid on Saturday evening hit a Syrian army post near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces have been fighting off IS jihadists since last year. At least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the strike. The Pentagon admitted it may have hit Syrian troops but said it had been tracking an IS position there. "Anti-Syrian forces are expending all their energy and capabilities to prolong the terrorist war against Syria," Assad said. The Syrian government has accused the US-led coalition -- which has been bombing IS in Syria for more than two years -- of carrying out an "intentional" strike to support IS in the area. In a phone interview from Damascus on Sunday, senior Assad adviser Buthaina Shaaban told AFP that the government "believes that the strike was intentional". "None of the facts on the ground show that what happened was a mistake or a coincidence," she said. AstraZeneca plc AZN announced positive results from a phase III combination trial evaluating the combination of its diabetes drugs Bydureon (exenatide extended-release) and Farxiga (dapagliflozin) for the treatment of patients with type II diabetes. Anti-diabetes medicine Bydureon is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, whereas Farxiga is an SGLT-2 inhibitor. The study achieved the primary endpoint, showing significant blood sugar reduction from baseline (as measured by HbA1c) in patients with type II diabetes, when treated with the combination of once-weekly exenatide and dapagliflozin, compared with the drugs alone in patients, who are inadequately controlled on metformin. Duration-8 is a phase III, randomized, multi-center, double-blind, active-controlled trial. It was conducted over a 28-week treatment period, with an extension of two years, and enrolled approximately 700 patients from six countries. Eligible participants in the trial included adults with type II diabetes, who had uncontrolled HbA1c. The trial achieved the secondary endpoints as well, leading to a significant reduction in bodyweight and systolic blood pressure for the combination drug. The combination of exenatide and dapagliflozin demonstrated similar rates of adverse events and serious events as the individual medicine treatment groups. The results were presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Munich, Germany, and were also published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. AstraZeneca has been making significant progress with its pipeline. Promising pipeline candidates at the company include brodalumab (moderate-to-severe psoriasis), benralizumab (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), tralokinumab (asthma), anifrolumab (systemic lupus erythematosus), roxadustat (anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease) and AZD3293 (Alzheimers disease, phase III). ASTRAZENECA PLC Price Story continues ASTRAZENECA PLC Price | ASTRAZENECA PLC Quote Zacks Rank & Key Picks AstraZeneca currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ANIP, Cambrex Corporation CBM and Johnson & Johnson JNJ. While both ANI Pharmaceuticals and Cambrex Corporation sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Johnson & Johnson carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ASTRAZENECA PLC (AZN): Free Stock Analysis Report JOHNSON & JOHNS (JNJ): Free Stock Analysis Report CAMBREX CORP (CBM): Free Stock Analysis Report ANI PHARMACEUT (ANIP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research An Australian-led consortium with Chinese investment won a 50-year-lease Monday on the nation's biggest container and cargo port for Aus$9.7 billion (US$7.3 billion), the latest maritime asset to be privatised. The Port of Melbourne, which deals with more than 3,000 ships annually, was snapped up by a consortium including Australia's second-largest wholesale funds manager the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) and multinational firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The Australian newspaper reported that GIP was acting partly on behalf of China's sovereign wealth fund CIC Capital, which it said had effectively secured 20 percent of the port. A source close to the consortium confirmed to AFP that CIC Capital was represented by GIP but would not reveal the size of its investment. The decision comes just months after the government introduced tougher rules for the sale of major Australian state-owned infrastructure to private foreign investors following concerns over a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin to China's Landbridge Group. The new rules, introduced in March this year, state that sales of crucial infrastructure to private foreign investors must be subject to a formal review by Australia's foreign investment advisory body. China was also part of an Australian-led consortium that secured an 98-year lease in 2014 for the world's biggest coal export port in Newcastle. That deal followed the long-term lease of Sydney's Port Botany and Port Kembla further south as a growing number of major Australian ports are privatised. "The Port of Melbourne is core infrastructure -- it is a critical and strategic piece of the Victorian and Australian logistics supply chain," said QIC Global Infrastructure chief Ross Israel. "Our consortium has developed a long-term vision and business plan. Leveraging our global port and regulated asset experience, QIC is focused on delivering long-term stewardship and improvements to the port and for its users." Story continues The price tag was well above expectations, with the Victorian state government initially seeking Aus$6 billion for one of Australasia's largest maritime hubs for containerised, automotive and general cargo. "The lease, worth in excess of $9.7 billion, reflects strong bidder interest and the ports value, as the biggest container and cargo port in the country," the state government said. Another consortium including Australian fund manager IFM Investors and Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management was also in the running. A large chunk of the proceeds of the sale, which has been approved by regulators, will be spent on regional and rural infrastructure projects. "Regional Victoria will be big winners from the lease, with significant funding to support projects they need, like better roads, and irrigation and energy projects," said state Treasurer Tim Pallas. "Leasing the port reinforces Victoria's position as the freight and logistics capital of Australia and will make a great port even better." By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - NASCAR was hit with a $500 million lawsuit accusing the auto racing body of racial discrimination for preventing black-owned teams and drivers from competing, including in the Sprint Cup Series. Terrance Cox and his company, Diversity Motorsports Racing LLC, filed a lawsuit late on Friday in U.S. district court in Manhattan against NASCAR, its parent company, International Speedway Corp, and 18 teams, according to court records. The plaintiffs are also seeking an injunction requiring the defendants to "fully integrate the African-American community." In a statement, NASCAR said the lawsuit has no merit. "Diversity both on and off the track continues to be a top priority for NASCAR and its stakeholders," the organization said. "We stand behind our actions, and will not let a publicity-seeking legal action deter us from our mission." The plaintiffs said they sued after NASCAR refused to let them field a team or join its Drive for Diversity program, and last year told them to cease contact. Citing NASCAR's website, the plaintiffs said none of the 48 drivers in the Sprint Cup, NASCAR's top racing series, is black, and only one of the 18 teams has partial African-American ownership. They also said only one driver in NASCAR's Xfinity Series circuit is black. "Motorsports remain the most racially segregated sport in the United States," the complaint said. "NASCAR and ISC have been complicit in, and supportive of, the racially discriminatory environment that virtually excludes African-Americans from meaningful participation." The lawsuit seeks $75 million in compensatory damages and $425 million in punitive damages. Ronald Paltrowitz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said any funds would go toward groups that the plaintiffs sponsor to boost minority participation in motorsports. Diversity Motorsports was founded by Cox, who is chief executive officer, and Bob Schacht of Bob Schacht Motorsports, and is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. NASCAR is based in Daytona Beach, Florida, and has a Manhattan office. The case is Cox et al v National Association for Stock Car Racing Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-07268. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) AutoZone, Inc. AZO is expected to report fourth-quarter (ended Aug 27, 2016) fiscal 2016 results on Sep 22, before the opening bell. In the last quarter, the companys earnings met the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, it managed to beat earnings in each of the three quarters prior to that, delivering a positive average surprise of 1.31% over the last four quarters. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors Influencing this Quarter AutoZones earnings per share have grown in double digits for 39 consecutive quarters. However, the company has been facing significant currency headwinds related to the Mexican peso. Its EBIT was affected by 1% in both the first and third quarters, and 2% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 due to currency headwinds. Management expects this pressure to continue until the peso drops from the elevated level. Also, AutoZone expects its capital and operating expenses to rise over the next three years, backed by its plans to open two to three new distribution centers over this time frame. Further, the company is increasing the frequency of deliveries to its stores to three or five times a week from once. This will lead to gross margin headwinds of around 2030 basis points every quarter until the completion of the roll-out. AUTOZONE INC Price and EPS Surprise AUTOZONE INC Price and EPS Surprise | AUTOZONE INC Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that AutoZone is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below: Zacks ESP: AutoZone has an Earnings ESP of -1.33%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate is $14.12, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $14.31. Zacks Rank: AutoZone carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Story continues Stocks to Consider Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Ferrari N.V. RACE, which will report third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 26, has an Earnings ESP of +1.75% and a Zacks Rank #2. Superior Industries International, Inc. SUP has an Earnings ESP of +10.00% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company will report third-quarter 2016 financial numbers on Nov 1. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Magna International Inc. MGA has an Earnings ESP of +0.83% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to release third-quarter 2016 results on Nov 3. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AUTOZONE INC (AZO): Free Stock Analysis Report SUPERIOR INDS (SUP): Free Stock Analysis Report MAGNA INTL CL A (MGA): Free Stock Analysis Report FERRARI NV (RACE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Aziz Ansari celebrated his Emmy win with the mother of his late comedy collaborator, Harris Wittels Aziz Ansari celebrated his Emmy win with the mother of his late comedy collaborator, Harris Wittels We are so thrilled that last night, Aziz Ansari won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, along with his Master Of None co-creator Alan Yang, for the episode, Parents. One of the most hilarious and moving episodes of the Netflix series, Parents dives into the sacrifices and worldviews of immigrant parents compared to their first-generation offspring. Yang and Ansaris win was a huge moment for Asian-American representation in Hollywood. 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Press Room The episode was especially beloved due to the flawless performances by Azizs real life parents in the episode his father was even nominated for an Emmy, too! Just wanted to thank these guys for giving me everything and more! #Emmy A photo posted by @azizansari on Sep 18, 2016 at 6:03pm PDT And there is something else you should remember about Master Of None. Yang and Ansari were originally developing the project along with Harris Wittels. 12th Annual AFI Awards - Reception Harris was one of the incredible writers on the Parks and Recreation staff, and he also portrayed one of the oblivious stoners who worked for Pawnees animal control department. Parks and Rec is where Aziz obviously starred as the desperately suave and social media-obsessed Tom Haverford, and Alan Yang was another important member of the writing staff. As Parks and Rec was finishing its last season, the three comedy masterminds began imagining a new project. harris Tragically, a few days before Parks and Rec aired its final episode, Harris died from a drug overdose at age 30. He had accomplished an unreal amount of success in his comedy career, and had so much left to achieve. Aziz and Alan celebrated Harris life and talent as they celebrated their Emmy win. A photo posted by @azizansari on Sep 18, 2016 at 9:43pm PDT On Instagram, Aziz posted a photo of he and Alan holding their Emmy awards with Maureen Wittels, Harris mother. The caption reads: Story continues With Maureen Wittels! Miss you Harris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aziz continued to pay tribute to his beloved comedy partner, who was unable to see the success of the show that they were developing together. My favorite comedy writer. Miss you Harris. A photo posted by @azizansari on Sep 18, 2016 at 10:40pm PDT We miss you too, Harris, and we are so happy to see a celebration of your legacy. The post Aziz Ansari celebrated his Emmy win with the mother of his late comedy collaborator, Harris Wittels appeared first on HelloGiggles. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Northrop Grumman Corp's B-21 long-range bomber will be called "Raider," U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James said on Monday. The estimated $80 billion program has been shrouded in secrecy since its inception for fear of revealing military secrets to potential enemies. The bomber was named after the Doolittle raiders, who early in World War Two carried out bombing missions over Japan, James said while speaking at a conference. Northrop won a contract in October to develop and build 100 of the new bombers. [nL1N12R2ES] The stealth B-21, the first new U.S. bomber of the 21st century, is part of an effort to replace the Air Force's aging B-52 and B-1 bombers, though it is not slated to be ready for combat use before 2025. Earlier this year, James unveiled the first image of the bomber and announced a contest to decide on a name. [nL2N1650WB] James and Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein chose the name after a panel narrowed down more than 2,000 submissions, an Air Force statement said. Sixteen bombers under the command of American aviator Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle bombed Tokyo and other places in Japan on April 18, 1942, when American spirits were at a low point, just four months after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. To boost public morale, President Franklin Roosevelt asked the armed forces to respond to Pearl Harbor, and Doolittle, already retired, returned to active duty and the plan for the raid was hatched. Over the years, the legend of their mission - the first U.S. raid to strike the Japanese home islands - has grown, spawning books and a movie and recognized by military and history buffs. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cole, who recently turned 101 years old and was Doolittle's co-pilot, was alongside James to announce the naming of the bomber. (Reporting by Idrees Ali) From Good Housekeeping Normally, having what you call a "big head" isn't considered a good thing. But according to new research using data from United Kingdom health resource UK Biobank, it just might be a great thing for your little ones. Babies born with larger craniums are actually likely to be smarter, according to findings reported in the Independent. The international scientists behind the study, which was published in the journal of Molecular Psychiatry, were searching for links between genes, IQ and overall health when they made this new discovery. They collected blood, urine and saliva samples - along with information on backgrounds and lifestyle - from more than 100,000 British people and analyzed the data for any signs of connections or correlations. During their analysis, the researchers found that people who were born with big heads were significantly more likely to earn a college degree and score higher on a verbal-numerical reasoning test. Meaning, babies born with a head circumference larger than the average of 13.514 inches were likely to exhibit greater intelligence later in their lives. That's not the only factor, of course. "The study [also] supports an existing theory which says that those with better overall health are likely to have higher levels of intelligence," said researcher Saskia Hagenaars. But when it comes to a baby's head, maybe size really does matter. [h/t Independent] You Might Also Like For many parents, the return to school means the end of freedom from stuffy noses, fevers, and 9 p.m. calls to the pediatrician: Your children are likely to bring home more than just homework once theyre back in close quarters with other kids. What can you do? Schedule an end-of-summer visit to the doctor to make sure your kids (even tweens and teens) have all the vaccinations they need. And follow the advice of Pamela Murray, MD, vice-chair of the department of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the West Virginia University School of Medicine: Put hand sanitizer on your back-to-school shopping list. A refresher course in frequent (after the bathroom and before all meals) and thorough (warm water, lots of lather, scrub long enough to silently sing Happy Birthday through twice) hand washing is also a good idea. Still, your kids are bound to come down with something, so heres our guide to spotting, treating, and preventing the most common childhood illnesses. The Common Cold What is it? A fact of life caused by a group of different rhinoviruses. Generally, the question is not Will my kid catch a cold this year? but How many colds will my kid catch this year? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number is eight, on average. Good grief. How do you catch it? By being near a sneezing, coughing cold sufferer or touching surfaces he or she has touched. What are the symptoms? Runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, and, sometimes, a sore throat, cough, headache, or low fever. How is it treated? With rest and plenty of fluids. While over-the-counter cold medications can help ease symptoms, they should not be given to children under the age of 6. How is it prevented? Hand washing, hand washing, hand washing, and/or the liberal use of hand sanitizer. When should a doctor be consulted? Most colds will go away in about a week, says Barbara Frankowski, professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and immediate past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health. People often feel better after five days. If, by then, your child is not on the mend, has had a fever for more than two days, or starts to develop ear or sinus pain, call the doc. She may have developed a bacterial infection in the ear canal or sinuses and could need antibiotics. Story continues Flu What is it? An upper respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses. How do you catch it? Same way as a cold. What are the symptoms? Fever, chills, sore throat, cough, runny or stuffy nose, headache or other body aches, fatigue, andin childrenvomiting or diarrhea. How is it treated? A viral illness, the flu should be treated with plenty of rest and fluids until it just runs its course. Kids who are more susceptible to complications from the flu (such as those under 5 or with asthma or diabetes) may need to be treated with antiviral medications. The CDC says children can return to school 24 hours after their fever has resolved. How is it prevented? The annual flu vaccinea shot with inactivated flu virus that prompts the body to mount a defense to the illnessis recommended for children over the age of 6 months. Its typically released in September. There is also a nasal flu vaccine with live virus, but it cannot be administered to children younger than 2. Even with vaccination, always practice good hand washing. When should a doctor be consulted? Anytime your child appears to be sicker than a run-of-the-mill cold, its a good idea to call. In addition, phone immediately if your child exhibits rapid breathing or has trouble breathing, or has a blue tinge to his skin. Other signs of trouble: Your child is not eating or drinking enough fluids; isnt interacting normally; develops a rash along with a fever; has a fever or cough that wanes, then returns; or generally does not seem to be improving. This article originally appeared on RealSimple.com. http://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/child-health (Adds Australia mine sale, third-quarter debt reduction plans) DENVER, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold expects to be able to reach its target of reducing debt by $2 billion by year-end even without selling any assets, company President Kelvin Dushnisky said on Monday. "We are confident we will get to our $2 billion mark with or without an asset sale ... presuming gold prices continue to cooperate," Dushnisky said in an interview on the sidelines of the Denver Gold Forum. Gold prices are up 24 percent this year to $1,313 an ounce, boosting miners' cash flow. Barrick, the world's biggest gold miner, has been selling non-core assets to help reduce its heavy debt and said in July it planned to sell its 50 percent stake in the Kalgoorlie mine in Australia. That sales process is "just underway" and could be done by year end but might run into next year, Dushnisky said. "We expect it will be a strong process. There is a lot of interest in the asset," he said. At end-June, Barrick had reduced its debt by $968 million so far this year. It also plans to retire another $273 million of debt in the third quarter, a process that is on track, Dushnisky said. That means the Toronto-based miner needs to cut another $759 million by year-end to meet its $2 billion target. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Denver; Editing by Chris Reese and Meredith Mazzilli) (Adds context, more details on spill) By Nicole Mordant DENVER, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold's Veladero gold mine in Argentina, one of its five core mines, could resume operations in the next two weeks, Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky said in an interview on Monday. "I am hopeful that it could be up and going in that kind of two-week window depending on how the reparation work goes," Dushnisky said. Barrick Gold said on Thursday that mine operations were temporarily suspended by the government after a "small quantity" of processing solution containing cyanide leaked outside a processing area. This is the second cyanide spill in just over a year at Veladero. Barrick was fined nearly $10 million by authorities in the Argentinian province of San Juan for last year's leak, which was caused by a defective valve. In the most recent leak, the solution flowed over a berm, or raised bank, surrounding the leach pad where gold is processed, after a pipe was damaged on Sept. 8 by a large block of ice that rolled down a valley slope. As part of the repair work, Barrick, the world's biggest gold producer, will raise the height of the berm, Dushnisky said on the sidelines of the Denver Gold Forum. The restart will be subject to the provincial government inspecting the work. The government has been "very responsive" in the past, Dushnisky said. Barrick has not publicly released figures on the volume of the latest spill. Presuming the repair work is finished within two weeks, "we don't anticipate any material impact to the project guidance," he said. Barrick forecasts Veladero will produce between 580,000 ounces and 640,000 ounces of gold this year. Barrick has had no discussions with regulators yet about any fines for the latest spill. Veladero's executive general manager Rick Baker has stepped down since the spill but is still employed by Barrick. Barrick's shares ended Monday's session down 0.74 percent at C$22.71, while the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index was up 0.76 percent. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Denver; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Phil Berlowitz) (Repeats SEPT. 16 story. No change to text.) * Rationale is to develop new product combinations * Such products could be years away; some farmers sceptical * Rival BASF says better to keep products separate By Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Bayer's $66 billion purchase of Monsanto amounts to a long-term bet that farmers will grow to trust combinations of seeds and pesticides rather than continue to pick from ranges of separate products. In the short term, the German drugs and chemicals firm hopes to benefit from a marketing and sales force that can promote combinations of the two groups' existing products. But Bayer has said the main reason for buying the world's biggest seeds company is to develop entirely new product combinations, such as weed killers and crops that resist them. Some farmers, though, are wary about a merger between two of the largest players in the agricultural supplies market, concerned they will have less choice and that product bundles will be expensive. "They sell you the seed and their special herbicide. I was offered one deal of that (by Monsanto) and I turned it down because it locked me into one supplier," said North Dakota corn, soy and grain grower Justin Sherlock. "You can't find it from a different company." The idea of integrating different farm products has been around for a while, but has a patchy record. Switzerland's Syngenta has pursued it since 2011, with some success in emerging markets in Asia and South America, but less in the all-important North American market. That depressed its share price to a point where it became a bid target - first for Monsanto and then, after that failed, ChemChina, which agreed a takeover deal last year. BIG BET Bayer, the world's No.2 crop chemicals firm behind Syngenta, argues better research tools such as gene editing mean compelling product combinations could only be a few years away. Chief Executive Werner Baumann, a collector of 1980s cars, explains his vision with a repair-and-paint shop analogy: "You can go and buy your own diluents (thinning agent), the first cover, the clear coat and so on and you're not sure how the different components interact with each other and you don't have the guarantee of an optimal surface. What you have with an integrated offering is the promise of an optimal outcome." Story continues It's a big bet. Bayer's bid for Monsanto is the largest ever all-cash takeover offer. Analysts at Deutsche Bank and Jefferies have warned the financial burden could drain funding from Bayer's pharmaceutical business, which is struggling to sustain the rate of past blockbuster drug launches. The German company is paying a hefty premium now for the promise of a business model that some say could be up to a decade away. That's in contrast to Dow Chemical and DuPont, whose shareholders will share future spoils and risks of a combined agribusiness in a merger of equals. What's more, Germany's BASF, the world's No.3 pesticides maker, thinks product bundles are a non-starter. "Farmers don't want to lock into any particular combination of seeds and crop chemical at an early stage," said Markus Heldt, the head of BASF's crop protection business. "You can sell the two in the bundle, but only if you happen to have the best product in each category. Not even the biggest companies could secure such a dominant position." 'BEHEMOTH' Combining products has long been a goal for Bayer, and its determination to agree a deal with Monsanto - which saw it raise its bid three times - was driven partly by concerns it could get left behind by a rival tie-up, sources close to the matter say. During Monsanto's pursuit of Syngenta last year, the head of Bayer's crop protection division Liam Condon branded the proposed combination in internal discussions as a "behemoth" in the making, according to people who spoke to him at the time. Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant agrees product bundles are the future, and said on Wednesday there was no longer any point developing new products with seeds and chemicals as separate businesses. "Consolidation in the industry is a prerequisite to further investment in R&D," he added. But according to one industry expert who has advised all the major global suppliers, it could take 7-10 years for newly developed product combinations to have an impact. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Complicating their quest for a new business model, Bayer and Monsanto have said digital services - a combination of data gathering, predictive software and precision farming gear - will have to serve as a "hub" in any product suite of farm supplies. Also, innovation is not just the preserve of established players, with independent, venture capital-backed start-ups looking to break into the market too. For the time being, though, farmers may take some convincing they should tie their fortunes to a product suite from a single supplier. "It might make sense in some cases, but in the end farmers should decide for themselves where to buy their crop protection and their seeds," said Bernhard Kruesken, secretary general of Germany's farmers association. (Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington, Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt and Ben Hirschler in London; Editing by Mark Potter) Well, this is going to be an easy review to write: That was the best Emmys broadcast Ive ever seen. Sunday nights awards ceremony succeeded on every level. It was super-funny, thanks in large part to host Jimmy Kimmel. It featured a number of exciting first-time winners. Some excellent speeches were made. There was more diversity among the winners than ever before. If only Fargo, The Americans, and black-ish had won a major trophy or two, Id say it was just about perfect. Related: The Complete List of 2016 Emmy Winners But nows not the time to complain. Not when Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, and Courtney B. Vance all won for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Not when Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth Emmy in a row and gave a speech that was as funny as it was moving. Not when the Lead Actor and Lead Actress Emmys for drama went to Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) and Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black). Not when Louie Anderson won for playing a variation on his mother in Baskets. I had previously written that this years Emmys would be a tussle between old pros and new blood, but it turned out to be a joyous new-bloodbath: So many first-timers, so many well-deserveds! I was thrilled to see Malek win his award, and even though his opening line was self-consciously self-mocking Please tell me youre seeing this too it still was a funny line. And Maslany was a real shocker: Genre shows like Orphan Black rarely get rewarded with Emmys, and I was convinced that if anyone new to this party would win, it would have been The Americans Keri Russell. My favorite speech of the night was probably from Courtney B. Vance, who began it with, Glory to God!, ended it with Obama out!, and in between, packed it with sincere emotion. Best presenters? My award goes to Andy Samberg and Kit Harington, who confirmed that Kyle Chandler is indeed very kissable. Kimmel got the night off to a great start with a taped bit about needing a ride to the Emmys that peaked with the return to the national stage of Jeb Bush, now a limo/Uber driver in the skit. Kimmel worked in his archnemesis, Matt Damon, after he lost the variety-talk award to John Oliver. Kimmel punctured comedy-directing-winner Jill (Transparent) Soloways gloriously pretentious speech (Topple the patriarchy!) by musing, Im trying to figure out whether Topple the patriarchy! is a good thing for me. Story continues Related: Emmys: Jimmy Kimmels Best Opening Monologue Jokes Kimmel was willing to tip over into poor taste at least three times, with a joke about the In Memoriam presentation, a suggestion that late O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran resides in hell, and by having the announcer say Bill Cosby was coming onstage just to see how youd react. He even risked offending the gluten-free industry by asking audience members to raise their hands if they had such an allergy: I just wanted America to see which of their favorite celebrities are the most annoying. (Some would say referring to Donald Trumps wife as Malaria also qualifies here, but the joke surrounding that sophomoric malapropism was so good, Im not ruling it Poor Taste.) Sure, you could say that the evening ended with a pair of HBO inevitables Veep and Game of Thrones taking best comedy and drama, respectively but those are very good shows working from the vantage point of what are arguably their best seasons. Plus, I loved the group hug the Veep cast gave David Mandel, who led the shows transition after the departure of creator Armando Iannucci. Again, I wish The Americans could have snagged that drama trophy, but well, next year, right? Still cant believe Im smiling at the memory of seeing Louie Anderson so gratefully winning that Baskets supporting-actor award. Oh, and if anyone read my two Who Should Win and Who Will Win columns sorry, I hope you went with my shoulds in your office pool: Turns out this year, most of the people who should have won really did win. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land After this years edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, its La La Lands world, and we just live in it. The Damien Chazelle-directed movie musical took home TIFFs coveted Audience Award, and appeared on many critics Best of the Fest lists. La La Land was one of our festival favorites as well, but, believe it or not, there are other films coming out this fall that are worthy of your time, attention, and dollars. Here, Yahoo Movies festival correspondents pick the 10 best movies from whats being called one of the best TIFFs in years. (Photo: Courtesy of TIFF) Barry Turns out a double helping of Young Obama is not a bad thing. While the comparisons to the indie sleeper Southside by You were inevitable, director Vikram Gandhi working from an insightful script by author Adam Mansbach has crafted a sweet, soulful, bittersweet, and funny coming-of-age tale about our presidents (as played by Australian newcomer Devon Terrell) formative days when he was a transfer student to New York Citys Columbia University struggling with racial identity and romance. Kevin Polowy Related: Read Our Full Report on Barry From Toronto (Photo: Lionsgate) Blair Witch I couldnt wait for this surprise sequel to the 1999 indie horror sensation The Blair Witch Project to end. Not because its bad but because the film climaxes with 30 minutes of pure, unrelenting nighttime horror in a sequence that perfectly caps a terrifying scarefest. Recapturing the essence of the first film while updating the found-footage approach with contemporary accessories, this ones good enough to make you forget all about that other sequel, the ill-advised cash-grab Book of Shadows. K.P. Related: Read Our Full Report on Blair Witch From Toronto (Photo: Summit) Deepwater Horizon Its like Poseidon meets The Towering Inferno, except this film is based on the tragic events aboard the titular oil rig that exploded into a fiery blaze in 2010, causing the worst spill in U.S. history. An eco-thriller this is not, though, as director Peter Berg chooses instead to focus on the blue collars (led by Mark Wahlbergs Mike Williams) fighting to escape. Deepwater Horizon provides a tense, emotionally powerful experience, with a pair of stellar standout supporting performances from John Malkovich and Kurt Russell. K.P. Story continues Related: Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson Recall the Movie Sets They Shared Before Costarring in Deepwater Horizon (Photo: Courtesy of TIFF) I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House I dont believe in ghosts, but Ive always been tickled by the notion that the living spaces we inhabit possess past lives, marked by the memories and mementos of those who came before. This Shirley Jackson-inspired chiller about a caretaker (Ruth Wilson) looking after an elderly novelist (Paula Prentiss) in a 19th century farmhouse with a phantom residing inside the walls taps into that spine-tingling idea better than any horror movie Ive seen in recent memory. Exquisitely directed by Osgood Perkins (son of Anthony), I Am the Pretty Thing employs hypnotic slow zooms, precise framing, and unnerving sound design to create an atmosphere of impending dread. Ive seen the film twice now, and each time Ive caught myself checking the dark corners of my home, looking for pretty things hidden in the shadows. Ethan Alter (Photo: Lionsgate) La La Land Love is the optimal word when summing up this highly lauded modern-day musical from Whiplash writer-director Damien Chazelle. This charming, comedic love story reunites Crazy. Stupid. Love.rs Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, both at the top of their game in a toe-tapping, jazzy love letter to the stylish song-and-dance fests of yesteryear, particularly The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. And La La Land is such a beautifully photographed love letter to Los Angeles that it even finds a way to romanticize the citys ills (like traffic congestion). Audiences and Oscar voters are going to absolutely love it. K.P. Related: Emma Stone on Reteaming With Ryan Gosling in La La Land and Her New Appreciation of Los Angeles (Photo: Courtesy of TIFF) Moonlight Give me a child until he is 7, and I will show you the man. That Jesuit maxim is explored to dramatic effect in Barry Jenkinss quietly devastating sophomore feature, which depicts the life of its central character, Chiron, a young African-American boy growing up in difficult circumstances, in three stages: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Like Richard Linklaters Boyhood, Moonlight is beautifully attuned to the distinct patterns that emerge in our lives after years and decades. By the time the movie arrives at its emotional conclusion, you clearly see the boy in the man and vice versa. E.A. (Photo: Focus Features) Nocturnal Animals Tom Fords overdue follow-up to A Single Man offers two provocative movies for the price of one. In the first story strand, a wealthy art gallerist (played to icy perfection by Amy Adams) confronts the end of her marriage, while the second follows a desperate father (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he tries to hunt down the thugs who killed his wife and daughter with the help of a rule-defying Southwest lawman (Michael Shannon, stepping right out of the pages of an Elmore Leonard novel). Although the latter narrative is supposedly unfolding inside the pages of a manuscript penned by Adamss ex-husband, the exact nature of the relationship between reality and fiction snaps into focus as the movie approaches its compellingly enigmatic conclusion. E.A. Related: Will This Finally Be Amy Adams Year? Actress Gives Pair of A-Grade Performances in Arrival and Animals Bryce Dallas Howard in Black Mirror (Credit: David Dettmann/Netflix) Nosedive Its not TV its Black Mirror. One of two episodes from the new season of Charlie Brookers dystopic sci-fi series that premiered at TIFF, the feature-length Nosedive unfolds in a near future where citizens are required to constantly assign each other Yelp-like ratings. And if you drop below a certain average, which is precisely what happens to poor Lacey (Bryce Dallas Howard, in a career-best performance), your rights are steadily stripped away until youre left a social pariah. Written by Rashida Jones and Mike Schur and directed by Joe Wright, Nosedive is arguably the funniest installment of Black Mirror to date, while still offering the same dark-hearted portrait of a technology-obsessed society that fans have to come to expect from the show. E.A. Related: Black Mirror: The Evolution in Season 3 (Photo: Disney) Queen of Katwe It would be easy to dismiss this Disney drama as yet another by-the-numbers inspirational drama. And while this true story from Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) has a Remember the Titans-on-a-chessboard-hook, it avoids genre tropes in making for a rich, rewarding, tearjerking journey that follows a girl from the slums of Uganda who goes on to greatness in an unlikely game. Lupita Nyongo and David Oyelowo continue to prove theyre two of the most intriguing young actors around with heartfelt supporting turns. K.P. (Photo: Courtesy of TIFF) Voyage of Time: The Imax Experience Truth be told, I prefer the longer cut of Terrence Malicks eon-spanning creation myth, Lifes Journey, but the shorter Imax Experience version is more accessible to viewers outside of the directors faithful fanbase. Malicks always-remarkable eye for nature photography is perfectly suited to plus-sized Imax screens, and the films F/X-assisted re-creations of the Big Bang and Earths evolution stirs the imaginations of viewers young and old. Decades in the making, Voyage of Time is a cinematic spectacle with timeless appeal. E.A. Related: Terrence Malicks Toronto Double Feature: Voyage of Time: Lifes Journey and Voyage of Time: The Imax Experience Paris (AFP) - Western governments need to tackle a growing anti-migrant backlash by helping newcomers integrate faster, the OECD said, following a sharp increase in immigration to its member states. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of mostly developed economies, said around 4.8 million people migrated to member countries in 2015 -- up 10 percent in a year. In a report to be presented to a UN summit on refugees and migrants opening later in New York, the OECD said the newcomers included a record 1.65 million registered new asylum seekers, nearly 1.3 million of them in Europe where the influx has fanned the rise of right-wing populist parties in France, Germany, Austria and elsewhere. Across the Atlantic, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has also campaigned heavily on immigration, vowing to build a wall along the Mexican border and deport large numbers of the undocumented. "The public is losing faith in the capacity of governments to manage migration," the OECD's International Migration Outlook report warned. While the medium and long-term effects of migration are "generally positive" for economies, "this message is not getting through," the OECD's director for employment, labour and social affairs, Stefano Scarpetta, wrote in his foreword. Citizens of host countries worry that migration is running out of control, that public services are overstretched, that immigration only benefits the rich and that migrants do not want to integrate, he said. "Countries must acknowledge and address the fact that the impact of migration is not the same for everyone," Scarpetta said. This includes recognising that large numbers of low-skilled migrants arriving in an area could damage the job prospects of low-skilled locals. Host countries need to ensure that employers do not use migrants to circumvent minimum wages and labour laws, the report said. Migrant arrivals in Europe have fallen dramatically since a March deal between the EU and Turkey to stem the tide of people crossing the Aegean Sea, even as others continue to set sail across the Mediterranean from Africa. Story continues "The big task, the big challenge now is integration," OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said at the launch of the report in Paris. - Swedish model - Host countries needed to speed up identification of migrants' qualifications and invest more in language training to help them access work, the report said. Currently, it takes about 20 years before a migrant's chance of employment in Europe becomes equal to that of a non-migrant. Gurria cited Sweden, which received more asylum seekers per capita than any other EU member last year, as an example of a country making strides in fast-tracking work initiatives for newcomers. "They don't wait for migrants to be able to speak Swedish and have qualifications in engineering or whatever. They put them to work and then start teaching them Swedish in the workplace." The OECD called for greater international cooperation on managing global migration and for destination countries to look at "alternative pathways" for refugees to reach safety without resorting to smuggler boats, by, for example, awarding more student and family migration visas. The organisation also suggested a form of "lottery" for refugees registered by the UN refugee agency, which would give "everyone the chance to use the legal route." After the summer release of 12 For 12, a series where he released 12 freestyles in 12 hours, Big K.R.I.T. revealed via Twitter that he was no longer signed to Def Jam Records. "I want to thank each and every one of you for following & supporting me through out my career up until this moment," he tweeted back in July. "And at this moment right now, I want to share with you, that I am no longer with Def Jam. It's officially MULTI til the Sun die." Since his announcement, the soulful Mississippi rapper has been lending his thorough bars to tracks like Kenneth Whalum's "Might Not Be Ok" and DJ Greg Street's "I Am Somebody." Before taking the stage at the taping for the BET Hip Hop Awards for a politically-charged performance on Saturday night (Sept. 17), Big K.R.I.T. hit the green carpet and spoke with Billboard about parting with his former label, and what his latest business venture entails. Big K.R.I.T. Reveals He's 'No Longer with Def Jam' "I've always had my creative control but people just grow apart. The business was also changing, and it just happened. It is was it is," he explained. "I'm not going to elaborate into the extreme. It's definitely a longer story but for the most part, it's no love lost." He continued by plugging his new production company, MULTI, which he says represents multi-talented people like himself. "I produce, I mix, I rap, I write, I sing. I'm bringing aboard a lot of people who can play more than one position," K.R.I.T. explained. "You've got Big Sant, a hip hop artist who writes and is also an actor. I've got other producers I'm working with as well, so it's amazing." woman on laptop People do all kinds of annoying things on email: they misspell words, fail to include a subject line, use far too many exclamation points, or ramble on and on ... just to name a few. And I know I, too, commit some of these faux pas from time to time. But there's one thing I see almost every day that I never do because I find it to be cunning and obnoxious. My biggest email pet peeve is when someone is writing to you to complain about something you've done (or didn't to), make a correction to your work, or criticize you in some other capacity, and they copy your boss on the email. Sure, in some situations it makes sense to cc someone's manager or CEO but usually it's not necessary, and it just makes the sender look like a scheming tattletale. In the working world, we're all adults. My feeling is, if you have feedback for me or an issue with something I've done, talk to me directly and we can try to sort it out on our own. Leave everyone else out of it. They have their own problems to deal with. If I'm not responsive or you think my reply is unreasonable or unfair, then sure, feel free to take it up with my boss. But there's no need to start there. Another sneaky thing you should stop doing: bcc'ing. Vicky Oliver, author of "301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions" and "301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions," previously told Business Insider: "I am not a big believer in blind copying people on emails. When I have been bcc'd, the first thing I think is, 'If she is bcc'ing me on this, who else has she bcc'd on other emails?'" Bcc'ing conveys distrust and secrecy, she said. For other email etiquette rules everyone should know, click here. NOW WATCH: 4 morning rituals that are hard to adopt but could really pay off More From Business Insider SHANGHAI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Excessive credit growth in China is signalling an increasing risk of a banking crisis in the next three years, a report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) says. An early warning of financial overheating - the credit-to-GDP gap - hit 30.1 in China in the first quarter of this year, the financial watchdog said in a review of international banking and financial markets published on Sunday. Any level above 10 signals a crisis "occurs in any of the three years ahead," the BIS said. China's indicator is way above the second highest level of 12.1 for Canada and the highest of the countries assessed by the BIS. Debt has played a key role in shoring up China's economic growth following the global financial crisis. Outstanding debt reached 255 percent of GDP in 2015, fuelled in large part by a surge in corporate borrowing, up from 220 percent just two years earlier. China's bank lending in August more than doubled from the previous month, with much of the gain down to strong mortgage demand. Indeed, China's top banks are lending more to homebuyers and developers than at any time since at least the global financial crisis. The credit-to-GDP gap takes into account the current credit-to-GDP and expected long-run trends. But a China strategist at an international hedge fund said international historical experience is not necessarily applicable to China. The strategist could not be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media. The BIS also said the estimated debt service ratio - which measures principal and interest payments relative to income - is at 5.4, which is a "potential concern." This underlines the default risk as borrowers struggle to repay loans. Some analysts argue a weakening in banks' capital strength raises the prospect that the government may have to inject more than $100 billion to shore them up. Despite the concerns surrounding China's debt, UBS analysts said in a report earlier this year that they do not expect an imminent banking crisis. Story continues A high domestic savings rate, underdeveloped capital markets, a relatively closed capital account and government ownership of banks and many large borrowers mean no one can easily "pull the plug" on its credit cycle, they said. Debt-to-GDP could reach 300 percent before 2020, UBS said. (Reporting by Engen Tham; Editing by Neil Fullick) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Bitcoin qualifies as money, a federal judge ruled on Monday, in a decision linked to a criminal case over hacking attacks against JPMorgan Chase & Co and other companies. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan rejected a bid by Anthony Murgio to dismiss two charges related to his alleged operation of Coin.mx, which prosecutors have called an unlicensed bitcoin exchange. Murgio had argued that bitcoin did not qualify as "funds" under the federal law prohibiting the operation of unlicensed money transmitting businesses. But the judge, like her colleague Jed Rakoff in an unrelated 2014 case, said the virtual currency met that definition. "Bitcoins are funds within the plain meaning of that term," Nathan wrote. "Bitcoins can be accepted as a payment for goods and services or bought directly from an exchange with a bank account. They therefore function as pecuniary resources and are used as a medium of exchange and a means of payment." The decision did not address six other criminal counts that Murgio faces, Nathan wrote. Lawyers for Murgio did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Prosecutors last year charged Murgio over the operation of Coin.mx, and in April charged his father Michael with participating in bribery aimed at supporting it. Authorities have said Coin.mx was owned by Gery Shalon, an Israeli man who, along with two others, was charged with running a sprawling computer hacking and fraud scheme targeting a dozen companies, including JPMorgan, and exposing personal data of more than 100 million people. That alleged scheme generated hundreds of millions of dollars of profit through pumping up stock prices, online casinos, money laundering and other illegal activity, prosecutors have said. Shalon has pleaded not guilty, and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He hired new lawyers last month and is seeking permission to replace lawyers who joined the case in June, a Monday court filing showed. The case is U.S. v Murgio et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-cr-00769. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin qualifies as money, a federal judge ruled on Monday, in a decision linked to a criminal case over hacking attacks against JPMorgan Chase & Co and other companies. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan rejected a bid by Anthony Murgio to dismiss two charges related to his alleged operation of Coin.mx, which prosecutors have called an unlicensed bitcoin exchange. Murgio had argued that bitcoin did not qualify as "funds" under the federal law prohibiting the operation of unlicensed money transmitting businesses. But the judge, like her colleague Jed Rakoff in an unrelated 2014 case, said the virtual currency met that definition. "Bitcoins are funds within the plain meaning of that term," Nathan wrote. "Bitcoins can be accepted as a payment for goods and services or bought directly from an exchange with a bank account. They therefore function as pecuniary resources and are used as a medium of exchange and a means of payment." The decision did not address six other criminal counts that Murgio faces, Nathan wrote. Lawyers for Murgio did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Prosecutors last year charged Murgio over the operation of Coin.mx, and in April charged his father Michael with participating in bribery aimed at supporting it. Authorities have said Coin.mx was owned by Gery Shalon, an Israeli man who, along with two others, was charged with running a sprawling computer hacking and fraud scheme targeting a dozen companies, including JPMorgan, and exposing personal data of more than 100 million people. That alleged scheme generated hundreds of millions of dollars of profit through pumping up stock prices, online casinos, money laundering and other illegal activity, prosecutors have said. Shalon has pleaded not guilty, and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He hired new lawyers last month and is seeking permission to replace lawyers who joined the case in June, a Monday court filing showed. The case is U.S. v Murgio et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-cr-00769. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio) New York (AFP) - Leaders of Syria's embattled opposition reacted with bitter scorn Monday, accusing the world of ignoring their people's plight as a week-long truce in their country's civil war collapsed. Addressing a political meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the head of the opposition umbrella group known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said the ceasefire had never been respected anyway. "Enough is enough," Riad Hijab told international diplomats. "The world is content to look on without reacting, when it should assume its responsibilities and put an end to the actions of this criminal regime." The 23-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) is to meet in New York on Tuesday to push for a negotiated end to the five-year-old war that has left more than 300,000 Syrians dead and driven millions from their homes. But already on Monday, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's military had announced an end to a week-old ceasefire that was negotiated between Washington, which backs the rebels, and Moscow, which favors the regime. "How many UN Security Council resolutions have been passed? They were in vain," Hijab declared. "Russia and Iran are spilling Syrian blood, the regime bombards hospitals and drops thousands of barrel bombs and other banned weapons. The world just looks on." US Secretary of State John Kerry said he is ready to reopen negotiations with Russia to salvage the truce and ensure the regime allows aid convoys into besieged towns, but HNC spokesman Monzer Makhous warned he could see "little chance" of a ceasefire succeeding again. NASCAR.com MARTINSVILLE, Va. Brandon Jones last-ditch bid for a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship race nearly had its Hail Mary moment Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. He had the lead in overtime, a fast car that started from the pole and seemingly friendly competition in teammate Ty Gibbs. By the time the checkered flag [] A new type of therapy that uses sound waves to "balance" people's brain activity might help lower blood pressure and reduce symptoms of migraines, early research suggests. The therapy is known as HIRREM, which stands for high-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring. For the treatment, patients place sensors which measure the brain's electrical activity, or brainwaves on their scalp. The sensors are used to detect whether there are imbalances in the brain's activity between the left and right sides of the brain. Such imbalances can reflect improper regulation of the autonomic nervous system the system that's responsible for controlling unconscious bodily functions, such as breathing and heart rate, the researchers said. A computer then identifies the dominant (or most prominent) brain frequencies, and a software program coverts these brain frequencies into auditory tones, which are played back in real time. Patients listen to these sounds through headphones. The researchers call these sounds a "reflection" of the brain's activity. They say that the brain can recognize that the tones reflect what is going on in the organ. Once a patient starts hearing the tones, "the electrical pattern tends to shift towards improved balance," study co-author Hossam Shaltout, an assistant professor in the Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina, said in a statement. In one small study, the researchers tested HIRREM on 10 men and women with high blood pressure. They underwent about 18 HIRREM sessions over 10 days, after which their average systolic blood pressure was reduced from 152 to 136 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), and their average diastolic pressure was reduced from 97 to 81 mmHg. (Systolic blood pressure is the "top" number in a blood pressure reading and diastolic pressure is the "bottom" number.) Story continues The participants' heart rate variability which is a measure of the variations in the interval between heartbeats increased, on average, from 43 to 57 milliseconds. This is a good outcome, because it means that the body has more flexibility to change heart rate in response to blood pressure, Shaltout said. In another study, 52 adults with migraines underwent about 16 HIRREM sessions over nine days. At the end of the study, participants reported improvements in their headache symptoms. Because the findings are preliminary and the studies are small, more research is needed to confirm the results, and to determine the ways in which the therapy could be working, the researchers said. Dr. Kevin Weber, a neurologist and headache specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, who was not involved in the studies, pointed out that neither of these studies included a control group, or a group that received a placebo or "dummy" treatment. The inclusion of a control group is important, because it's possible that the results were due to the placebo effect, Weber said. A placebo effect is one that results from people's belief that the treatment works, rather than from any physiological effect of the treatment. [11 Surprising Facts About Placebos] "I think it is a promising technology," Weber said. However, more research is needed "to make sure that it actually works, as opposed to just being a placebo effect," Weber said. In 2013, the same group of researchers did conduct a smaller migraine study that included a control group. In that study, which was presented at the 2013 International Headache Congress in Boston, 16 people received the HIRREM treatment and 14 people received a placebo treatment. For the placebo treatment, the participants heard randomly generated musical tones, as opposed to tones that reflected their brainwaves. The study showed that after the treatments, the likelihood of experiencing a headache was about the same in both groups. But this could have been because the study was too small to detect a meaningful difference between the groups, the researchers said. Migraines are thought to be caused by abnormalities in the electrical activity of the brain, so it's possible that a treatment like HIRREM, which alters the brain's electrical activity, could affect migraines, Weber said. And the brain and nervous system also play a role in the regulation of blood pressure, so it's possible that HIRREM could have an effect on blood pressure as well, he said. The researchers also noted that patients in the blood pressure study experienced reduced symptoms of insomnia and anxiety, which might also have an effect on blood pressure. The studies will be presented this week at the American Heart Association's Council on Hypertension 2016 Scientific Sessions in Orlando. The HIRREM technology is a product of the company Brain State Technologies, which is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have been evaluating HIRREM since 2011, with funding mainly from nonindustry sources. The two new studies were funded by The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. SAO PAULO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A Brazilian state appeals court postponed on Monday a vote on the legality of several aspects of Grupo OAS SA's restructuring plan for at least a couple of weeks, adding uncertainty to efforts by the debt-laden engineering conglomerate to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The appeals court in Sao Paulo agreed earlier in the day to reconvene as early as Oct. 3 to discuss the 19 challenges put forward by a number of local and foreign creditors. Some of the challenges include lengthy repayment timetables and Grupo OAS's use of asset sales to favor some creditors, court documents showed. The delay adds to uncertainty over Grupo OAS's emergence from a painful restructuring triggered by a harsh recession and the group's involvement in a sweeping corruption scandal. The ongoing delay in the plan has halted the surrender of OAS's stake in Invepar Investimentos e Participacoes em Infraestrutura SA to creditors, slowing the builder's recovery. Some creditors allege they were treated unfairly under terms of a restructuring plan approved late last year by a majority of lenders and the court overseeing Grupo OAS's bankruptcy protection proceedings, the documents showed. Under the original plan, OAS gave some lenders a 24.5 percent stake it owned in Invepar in lieu for some debts. Sao Paulo-based Grupo OAS filed for bankruptcy protection in March last year to restructure about 8 billion reais ($2.4 billion) in debt. One key challenge to the plan came from a group of local unsecured creditors led by Pentagono SA DTVM, which said the repayment terms they obtained from OAS in the restructuring plan were worse than those for foreign creditors such as U.S.-based Aurelius Investments LLC. One of the judges in the three-justice panel asked for a pause to the ruling, citing the need to further analyze evidence against the legality of the plan. Eduardo Munhoz, Grupo OAS's attorney, said the company remains optimistic that the panel will drop all the challenges - which might automatically trigger approval of the company's financial reorganization. ($1 = 3.2823 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Diane Craft) By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian airlines are up in arms over a decision by Brazil's tax authority to list Ireland as a tax haven, which means about 1 billion reais ($306 million) in new taxes on aircraft leases for carriers struggling to regain profitability. "The impact is brutal," said Eduardo Sanovicz, head of Brazilian airline association ABEAR, who will meet on Tuesday with tax authorities in Brasilia to try to reverse the surprise tax decision taken without consulting the airline industry. Sanovicz said 60 percent of the 520 aircraft flying commercially in Brazil are leased from companies registered in Ireland, where they enjoy favorable tax rules. Brazil's tax authority announced on Thursday it was adding Ireland, Austria, Curacao and Saint Martin to its list of countries denominated as tax havens. Companies based there will have to start paying a 25 percent tax rate on transactions with Brazilian companies, costing airlines about 1 billion reais ($306 million) on leasing contracts that are signed for up to 10 years, Sanovicz said by telephone. Shares of carrier Gol Linhas Aereas SA fell 12 percent last week on the decision. Brazilian airlines are reeling from high jet fuel costs and the drop in demand for air travel due to Brazil's two-year recession, and say they have no room to pass additional taxes along to ticket prices. The companies complain jet fuel accounts for 37 percent of airfares compared to an average 27 percent worldwide, mainly due to the ICMS sales tax collected by Brazilian states. The world's second largest mining company, Brazilian iron ore giant Vale SA, will also be affected by Brazil's listing of Austria as a tax haven, adding to its woes resulting from low iron prices that are down 50 percent since 2014. Vale owns Salzburg, Austria-based subsidiary Vale International Holdings GMBH, which is used as a holding company for various international assets. Vale and other Brazilian companies have used holding companies in countries such as Austria with low corporate taxes to reduce their tax burden on overseas assets and subsidiaries. Brazil's JBS SA, the world's largest meatpacker, is also considering a planned global reorganization, basing the headquarters of a new company in Ireland and listing its shares in New York. ($1 = 3.27 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Jeb Blount in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Paul Simao) From Esquire Update: 9/19/16-Police have identified Ahmad Khan Rahami as the suspect in Saturday night's attack and are urging people to call 911 with any information as to his whereabouts. Rahami is a 28-year-old U.S. Citizen of Afghan descent. Original post below. An explosion rocked a busy area of New York City on Saturday night, injuring at least 29 people, according to the Fire Department. None of the injuries are life threatening, but one is considered serious, authorities said. During a press conference on Saturday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the explosion an "intentional act," but said there's no evidence of a terror connection at this time. He also noted that there's no specific or credible threat against New York City. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that a second device that officers investigated four blocks from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a cellphone. The official, who was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. The device was removed with a robot and taken to a department firing range in the Bronx. The law enforcement official also said that the explosion that rocked a bustling Chelsea neighborhood appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. Photos from the scene show a twisted and crumpled black metal box. This is the device found at second location, near New York explosion, officials say. https://t.co/cpgJgDr4X5 pic.twitter.com/TZr07KwDra - CNN (@CNN) September 18, 2016 The blast occurred around 8:30 p.m. on West 23rd Street in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, a bustling area of bars, restaurants, shops, and apartments. The secondary device was found on 27th Street inside a plastic bag, according to police. Story continues The explosion blew out the glass windows of a 14-story residence for the blind, according to the New York Post. Eye witnesses told New York 1, a local news station, that the explosion, which shook the ground, was felt multiple blocks away. Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area. "We felt it. We heard it," Gonzalez said. "It wasn't like jolting or anything. Everyone just went quiet." Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at Vanity Nightclub at 21st Street and 6th Avenue, said he, at first, thought something large had fallen. "It was an extremely loud noise. Everything was shaking, the windows were shaking," he said. "It was extremely loud, almost like thunder but louder." Several hours after the explosion authorities had yet to say what caused the blast, but multiple reports have indicated it happened inside a dumpster. Authorities said during the Saturday night press conference that the explosion was not the result of natural gas. Huge explosion in Chelsea blew this dumpster ... pic.twitter.com/1lSIGjRyC8 - Chris Duffy (@voicehalf) September 18, 2016 TV networks were showing this video, which was widely shared on social media, that claims to show the moment of the blast. Video shows moment of IED Explosion at W 23 St & 6th Ave in Manhattan pic.twitter.com/O270bZWOzF - New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) September 18, 2016 FBI and federal Homeland Security officials were on the scene, in addition to New York City police. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is also investigating the incident, according to New York 1, which said White House officials briefed President Obama on the situation. Explosion in Chelsea near 23rd and 6th ave pic.twitter.com/Phnw3keWJg - Melissa J (@MJshoots) September 18, 2016 Police shut down vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the area hours after the explosion. Subway service in the area was also suspended for a time. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the nation needs to support its first responders and "pray for the victims." "We have to let this investigation unfold," she said. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a "bomb went off" before officials had released details. He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows what's going on," Trump said. He continued, "But boy we are living in a time - we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. It's a terrible thing that's going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant." A spokeswoman for Trump didn't respond to an email asking whether he was briefed about it before taking the stage. The reports of a possible blast comes hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners participated in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. Mayor de Blasio said there's no known link between the two explosions at this time. Also Saturday, at least eight people were injured at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in a stabbing attack. The suspect was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The police chief said the suspect asked at least one victim if he or she was Muslim. The investigation into the Manhattan explosion came as world leaders descend on the United Nations for a meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis and the Syrian conflict. The blast site is about 2 miles away. The Associated Press contributed to this report. You Might Also Like By Karen Freifeld and Joseph Ax (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie knew that two close associates were involved in shutting down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as a way to punish a mayor who would not support his re-election, federal prosecutors said on Monday. The assertion by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna was the first time the government has accused Christie of knowing about the alleged September 2013 scheme while it was taking place. It came during opening argument at the trial in Newark, New Jersey, federal court of Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Prosecutors have accused Kelly and Baroni of engineering the closures of the lanes, which lead to New York City, under the pretext they were needed for a traffic study. They said the real motive was to retaliate against Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who would not back the re-election of Christie, a Republican. The closures caused several days of gridlock and hurt local businesses. Christie, a campaign adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has not been charged over the lane closures and has denied knowledge of them. Khanna, however, told jurors that Baroni and former Port Authority official David Wildstein had boasted to Christie about the closures while they were underway as the men were attending a Sept. 11 memorial service. "The evidence will show that ... they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned," Khanna said. Wildstein has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the government. He has claimed there is evidence showing Christie was aware of the scheme. A spokesman for Christie declined to comment on Khanna's statement. The governor said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that he would have "no problem" if asked by either side to testify but added that "the fact is that I won't because I really don't have any knowledge of this incident at all." Story continues Michael Baldassare, a lawyer for Baroni, said in his opening statement that Wildstein was "vindictive" and a "habitual liar," who Christie had referred to as his "fixer," and who should not be trusted. "The evidence will show their case is David Wildstein," Baldassare told jurors. "The government made a deal with the devil and they're stuck with him." "Bridgegate" came to light in January 2014, shortly after Christie had easily won re-election. The scandal helped to erode his once-high approval ratings and was an issue in his unsuccessful run this year for the White House. Michael Critchley, Kelly's lawyer, told jurors in his opening statement that his client was being made a scapegoat for "Bridgegate" and its effect on Christie's presidential hopes."They're going to let no one, such as Bridget Kelly, or nothing, such as the truth, get in the way," he said. Prosecutors likely will introduce emails and text messages between Baroni, Kelly and Wildstein to show they arranged the closures. Baroni and Kelly have pleaded not guilty to wire fraud, civil rights deprivation and conspiracy charges. Testimony is expected to begin on Tuesday, with Sokolich, Fort Lee Police Chief Keith Bendul and Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye as potential witnesses. The trial before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton is scheduled to last approximately six weeks. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Trott, Toni Reinhold) By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is not expected to attend the trial this week of two former associates charged in the 2013 "Bridgegate" scandal, but the failed Republican presidential hopeful's shadow will loom over the proceedings. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly are charged with conspiracy and fraud in a nine-count indictment alleging they arranged lane closings that caused gridlock on the heavily traveled George Washington Bridge. The resulting traffic delayed commuters for hours and left emergency vehicles slow in responding to 911 calls. Prosecutors said the two defendants planned the lane closures to take revenge on a mayor who refused to endorse Christie for re-election. The governor, at one time a leading Republican presidential hopeful, has not been charged in the scandal that nevertheless helped torpedo his hopes for nomination to the White House in 2016. In the three years since the scandal broke, Christie has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the plan to disrupt traffic on the world's busiest road bridge, despite speculation to the contrary. The trial could finally provide a definitive answer to the question of whether he knew about the alleged plot, and if so, when. "Bridgegate" took place after Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich declined to endorse the governor's reelection campaign in 2013. Christie was seeking support from local mayors to demonstrate bipartisan backing for a Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state, part of an effort to position himself for a 2016 White House bid. Prosecutors say the lane closures were ordered in September 2013 by Kelly, Christie's then deputy chief of staff; Baroni, then deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and David Wildstein, another Christie ally at the Port Authority who has since pleaded guilty. The GW carries more than 250,000 vehicles a day across the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan. The trio concocted a cover story, saying the closure was part of a traffic study, prosecutors contend. The shutdown lasted four days, while Baroni and Wildstein ignored increasingly frantic messages from the mayor, according to prosecutors. The ruse fell apart under scrutiny from journalists and the Democratic-controlled state legislature. In January 2014, emails and text messages were publicly disclosed that showed the officials' involvement, including an Aug. 13, 2013, email in which Kelly told Wildstein: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein, who is expected to be a star government witness, has previously said there is evidence that Christie was aware of the lane closures when they occurred. Jurors also may hear from Kelly and Baroni, as lawyers for both defendants have said they plan to testify in their own defense. The defense has suggested it will point the finger at others, including Christie, in arguing that Kelly and Baroni would never have acted on their own. In a pretrial motion, a lawyer for Baroni revealed that a former Christie aide said in a text message that the governor "flat-out lied" when he said during a 2013 press conference that none of his senior staff were involved in the scandal. A spokesman for the governor has said the text message does not disprove Christie's contention that he was unaware of the plot. Since abandoning his own candidacy for president, Christie has become one of Republican nominee Donald Trump's most visible supporters. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone and David Gregorio) LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday it had taken part in a U.S-led air strikes in Syria over the weekend that Russia says killed Syrian soldiers. "We can confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition air strike in Syria ... on Saturday, and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation," the defense ministry said in a statement. "The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units," it added, declining to comment further. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday U.S. jets had killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in four air strikes by two F-16s and two A-10s coming from the direction of Iraq. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group with contacts across Syria, cited a military source as saying at least 90 Syrian soldiers had been killed in the strikes on the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor. The U.S, is investigating but Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN on Sunday the incident had been a "terrible thing ... that we all acknowledge and regret." Australia also participated in the strikes and the Australian Department of Defense offered its condolences to the families of Syrian soldiers killed or wounded in the incident. (Reporting by Stephen Addison; editing by Michael Holden) By Guy Faulconbridge NEW YORK (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May met business chiefs from firms including Goldman Sachs , IBM and Amazon.com on Monday in an attempt to reassure investors after her country's shock vote to leave the European Union. The June 23 vote took many investors and chief executives by surprise, triggering the deepest political and financial turmoil in Britain since World War Two and the biggest ever one-day fall in sterling against the dollar. "Every working day in the United Kingdom one million people wake up and go to work for an American company. And every day in the United States one million people wake up and go to work for a UK company," May told the business leaders. "So you see there is reciprocity," said May, who is in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. "The UK is going to be out there. We will be looking for business. And ladies and gentlemen, please feel free to invest in the UK." May said that she wanted to hear what issues business leaders wanted addressed in the Brexit negotiations, which she said would yield a good deal in the trade of goods and services with the EU. Chief executives from AECOM , Morgan Stanley , BlackRock , Merck & Co , Sony Pictures and United Technologies Corp also attended the meeting. The head of Thomson Reuters , the parent company of Reuters News, also attended. May first had a closed meeting with major investors and Wall Street banks before addressing dozens of other executives at a wider reception. Despite warnings before the vote that Brexit would shatter economic confidence, some positive economic data and SoftBank's $32 billion takeover of Britain's technology company ARM have stoked the perception that Britain could prosper outside the EU. Still, May and her ministers admit they need to reassure investors from the United States, Japan, China and India that the United Kingdom and London, the only financial capital to rival New York, are still good places to make money. Story continues The United States is the largest single inward investor into Britain, which currently attracts far more foreign direct investment than any other EU member. When asked what they wanted to hear from May, one business leader at the meeting who asked not to be named said: "Reassurance." "BREXIT MEANS BREXIT" Some investors have called for clarity about how much access foreign companies based or operating out of Britain will have to the European market, a concern for some U.S. banks and manufacturers which sell into the EU from Britain. Other issues include when and how Brexit will happen. May, who has repeatedly pledged that "Brexit means Brexit", has so far said only that she will not trigger the formal EU divorce process before the end of this year. "We will be getting the right deal for the United Kingdom and that is the right deal in terms of trade in goods and services because we recognize the importance of both," May said. "At the same time we want to scope out new deals around the world to further liberalize trade between the UK and other partners around the world," she added. U.S. President Barack Obama said this month that he wanted the Brexit process to be resolved in the least disruptive way possible, though both France and Germany face elections next year which could complicate the Brexit negotiations. Before the vote, some U.S. companies had warned that Brexit would complicate their lives and could cost jobs. Those included JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who has 16,000 staff based in Britain. British companies reduced their investment plans in the month after Britain voted to leave the EU, a survey by Lloyds Bank showed on Monday, a further sign the decision is likely to have a lasting impact on the economy. Last month, the Bank of England left its forecast for British growth this year steady at 2.0 percent but cautioned that there might be little growth in the second half and sharply downgraded its forecast for 2017 to just 0.8 percent from a previous estimate of 2.3 percent. "What I really wanted to talk to you about tonight is just very simply to say this: Britain is open for business," May said. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Grant McCool and Bill Rigby) Manila (AFP) - A daughter of the late British baron Lord Moynihan has been killed in the Philippines where the government is waging a deadly war on drugs, police said Monday. Maria Aurora Moynihan, 45, was shot by unknown attackers who left her by the side of a Manila street on September 10, authorities said. Her killers left a cardboard sign accusing Moynihan of being a "drug pusher for celebrities", Chief Inspector Tito Jay Cuden told AFP. The victim was on bail while facing charges of possession of illegal drugs following a February 2013 suburban Manila police raid. "Witnesses told us they heard a series of gunshots, then saw a vehicle leaving the area. They did not see its licence plates," Cuden said. CCTV footage aired on local television network ABS-CBN showed a vehicle stop and open its door on the deserted part of the street where the body was later found. "She's considered a drug personality," Cuden said. No arrests have been made and an investigation is continuing, he added. About 3,000 people have been killed since June 30 when Rodrigo Duterte began his presidency and proceeded to fulfil his campaign promise to kill 100,000 criminals and stop the country's slide to becoming a "narco-state". A third of them died at the hands of police, while the rest were considered "deaths under investigation". Cuden said the victim, who held dual British and Filipino nationality, is a daughter of the third Baron Moynihan of Leeds, who died in 1991 in Manila where he ran a string of brothels. Anthony Patrick Andrew Cairnes Berkeley Moynihan fled to the Philippines in the late 1960s while facing a string of fraud allegations in Britain. The British embassy in Manila told AFP it would issue a comment on the daughter's case later. A sister, film actress Maritoni Fernandez, issued a brief statement on ABS-CBN last week expressing the family's "deep shock" over the killing and pleading for privacy to mourn the death. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f214560%2f39fd9d4990964680b387d93b74d1f1a6 A new restaurant in Brisbane, Australia has been accused of racism on social media Monday. British Colonial Co. has been on the receiving end of criticism for its name and concept which appears to revel in the conquests and culture of the British Empire of old. SEE ALSO: 'Enjoy the tea!': Man confronts racist conversation with a nice pot of tea "Inspired by the stylish days of the empirical push into the developing cultures of the world, with the promise of adventure and modern, refinement in a safari style setting," the restaurant's website read. That description has since been altered on Monday afternoon, sans reference to the plundering of other cultures, somewhat. It now reads "A refined and modern dining experience with the adventure of east meets west in a plantation style, club setting." Nevertheless, the name of the restaurant and its celebration of British imperialism did not impress many on Twitter. I figured that British Colonial Co post doing the rounds could do with a touch of historical accuracy pic.twitter.com/5ZDNzlA0CL philip marrii (@mrphileasfrogg) September 19, 2016 Australia's history is an imperialist one, being a British colony with a strong slave trade, including domestic, missionary and agricultural slavery which tens of thousands of Indigenous peoples and South Sea Islanders were victims of. The restaurant has issued a statement via email, "upset" at articles that the British Colonial Co. brand was causing offence. "We are very proud of our brand, dining experience and the loyal clientele we have established since opening in July this year. British Colonial Co was founded on the principles of providing Brisbane foodies with relaxed, casual dining. my favourite part of that british colonial co dining place? the lifesize statue of george orwell beating an indian child with a rattan cane civil tweeter (@dannolan) September 19, 2016 "We believe that our decor and menu has great synergy with Brisbanes climate and the expansive palette of our clientele, who are looking for a melting pot of food and beverages to enjoy in a relaxed atmosphere," the statement says. Story continues Oh wonderful, Brisbane now has a colonialism themed restaurant. https://t.co/iqlaWEBQuh pic.twitter.com/AxNqnFG7Fo Hacklock (@hacklocked) September 18, 2016 "We are therefore upset and saddened by today's media reports that our brand is causing offence and distress to some members of the community. This certainly was not our intention. As a small local business, we strive to be the best we can, and we are committed to improving our service wherever possible." after the success of Uncle Ho and British Colonial Co. in Brisbane, pleased to announce i'm opening a Mussolini-inspired pizza joint next yr Vince Rugari (@VinceRugari) September 19, 2016 It's not the first time the name of a restaurant in the city of Brisbane has attracted controversy. Uncle Ho, an upmarket Vietnamese restaurant, attracted ire from the local Vietnamese community in April for its explicit reference to North Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Uncle Ho changed its name to Uncle Bia Hoi, then to Aunty Oh's Bia Hoi, before closing down in July. By Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's fund managers face calls to hold more emergency cash, potentially crimping their ability to pay dividends or expand. Banks and insurers have been set tough rules aimed at making them less likely to go bust if markets collapse, and regulators are now looking at the multi-trillion-pound asset management industry. First to feel the pinch last week was Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L), which was asked to raise the minimum amount of cash it holds by 140 million pounds, after a review by the Financial Conduct Authority. Funds can make profits in depressed markets because they collect annual fees on the assets they manage, but if clients quit en masse, a manager's revenue could disappear overnight. While most firms are cash-rich, any tightening in capital rules adds further stress with investors uneasy over fund charges in view of low average returns. "If you're asked to hold more capital, then that will constrain your opportunities elsewhere, which could include returning capital to shareholders, looking for new acquisitions, launching new products," said Julian Young, senior partner in the wealth and asset management business at consultants EY. The FCA's decision was driven by the removal of a capital credit for the insurance Aberdeen had put in place to cover losses and by the need for it to have more on hand for "unquantifiable" risks. Analysts were sanguine about the impact on Aberdeen's full-year dividend but noted that the demand has cut the amount of cash it holds on its balance sheet above the regulatory minimum to only 78 million pounds. "It may be that Aberdeen is the first to get this approach...and it will be coming to the others, but if it is, having spoken to a few of them, it's not something they have been made aware of or are necessarily expecting," said Shore Capital analyst Paul McGinnis. The FCA declined to comment. SELF ASSESSMENT Each firm currently assesses its own risks and capital requirements under the Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) at least yearly and regulators can check at any time and demand a change. Story continues "What the regulator is looking for is a much more dynamic process," EY's Young said. "Part of it is looking at macro risks, part of it is looking at liquidity and part of it is being very vigilant ... those risks could be because of geography, technology or they could be due to product," Young said. Investment bank Morgan Stanley said it expects investors to focus increasingly on the amount of capital held by asset managers and it therefore has an 'underweight' rating on Aberdeen, among others. Christian Edelmann, who oversees banking and wealth and asset management at consultants Oliver Wyman, co-authored the Morgan Stanley report. He said for many years capital had largely unmanaged and unmonitored. "This is mainly driven by the view that, in contrast to banks, asset managers act on a fiduciary and not on a principal risk-taking basis; hence capital levels vary hugely across asset managers. VALUATION IMPACT Markets are now wondering who may be next. Ashmore (ASHM.L), which like Aberdeen has taken an asset hit from emerging markets, declined to say if it was talking to the FCA, but in its full-year results it increased its regulatory capital by 5.5 million pounds to 100 million pounds and had total cash of nearly 591 million pounds. Schroders (SDR.L), Britain's biggest listed asset manager, said its capital position was "very strong" - 687 million pounds in regulatory capital against total capital of 2.9 billion pounds - and the firm was not in special talks with its regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, over capital. Henderson Group (HGGH.L), which was not required to hold a minimum capital buffer between 2009 and April 2016, as it digested several large takeovers, said it was expecting the FCA to review what it should put to one side by the end of the year. Ahead of that, it has assessed the minimum level to be 145 million pounds, under the ICAAP process, and has an extra 105 million pounds above that figure. A Jupiter (JUP.L) spokeswoman said it had an estimated requirement of 39 million pounds and an indicative surplus of 103 million pounds at the half-year. Aside from Aberdeen's reduced dividend cover, Shore Capital's McGinnis said the issue of regulatory capital was not a major concern as most firms had little debt and were well-capitalised already. (Editing by Sinead Cruise and Alexander Smith) TUNIS (Reuters) - British gas company Petrofac is threatening to leave Tunisia and end its investment if protests over jobs that have disrupted gas production for nine months are not stopped immediately, government officials said on Monday. Since January, Petrofac has been forced to disrupt gas production in Tunisia because of sit-ins by people seeking jobs. Violent protests erupted in January and the army intervened to protect the company in Kerkennah Island in southern Tunisia. "Petrofac officials told us they will be forced to declare force majeure and resort to international courts for their losses if the production will not return immediately," Energy Minister Hela Cheikrouhou told Express FM, a local radio station, on Monday. A Petrofac representative in Tunisia declined to comment. But another Petrofac official who asked not to be named confirmed the company was preparing to leave if the sit-ins continued. The threat by the company, which provides about 13 percent of Tunisia's natural gas needs, is another serious test for the government of new Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, who has vowed to take a tough line with protests that hit key sectors. Government officials say that importing gas from Algeria to make up for the shortfall caused by Petrofac's production disruptions has cost the government about $100 million (76.4 million) in the nine months of this year. Tunisia's state-run phosphate companies earlier this month announced an agreement to hire 2,800 new workers after protests over jobs halted production and threatened to stop exports. Disruptions in that industry have cost the government billions in losses in the last five years. (Reporting By Tarek Amara; editing by Patrick Markey) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May called Monday for greater scrutiny of migrants and defended each country's right to defend its borders as she made her first UN appearance. Addressing a UN summit on refugees, May highlighted Britain's commitment to international aid but called for a "more effective policy approach" toward massive migration from war-torn Syria and elsewhere. "We must also be clear that this crisis has been exacerbated by unprecedented levels of uncontrolled migration," May told the summit. "Because it is not only refugees who are moving in large numbers, it is also those seeking greater economic opportunities," she said. May called for all governments to enforce the principle that asylum seekers will apply in the first safe country where they step foot -- generally meaning, for those fleeing Syria, neighbors such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. "We need to be clear that all countries have the right to control their borders and protect their citizens and be equally clear that countries have a duty to manage their borders to reduce onward flows of illegal and uncontrolled migration," she said. May, a Conservative who took office in July after Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union, said there was "nothing wrong with the desire to migrate for a better life" but that the current system did not benefit asylum seekers themselves. May's predecessor David Cameron last year promised that Britain would accept 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. Germany by comparison took in one million asylum seekers last year alone as Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced hope of averting a humanitarian disaster. Rob Williams, chief executive of the British charity War Child, criticized May, saying: "Now is not the time to ask who is least deserving." Half of the people displaced by conflict are children, he said. "Rather than getting too distracted by complex definitions of refugees and migrants and focusing on who to exclude, the prime minister could make a real difference by spearheading a global action plan for children forced to flee," he said in a statement. Millions of residents in New York and New Jersey woke up to alerts on their phones for the suspect in multiple bombings in the area over the weekend, including two pressure cooker bombs in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. By Monday morning authorities had released a photo of the suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, apparently a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Afghanistan, while video of his last known address, above a fried chicken joint in Elizabeth, N.J. unspooled across TV news. On Fox & Friends, correspondent Leland Vittert stood across the street from Rahami's home and noted that two men found a backpack near the location. There were wires protruding, so they called police. The bomb in that backpack near the train station in Elizabeth, N.J., was the big development overnight on Sunday - as Los Angeles was celebrating the Emmy Awards. And it led authorities to suspend New Jersey Transit trains into New York's busy Pennsylvania Station. Morning TV - local and national broadcasts - dispatched correspondents to the busy commuter hub on a rainy Monday morning. Good Morning America's Amy Robach was there, and as pictures of an intensely heightened security presence played, she noted that she and the ABC News crew saw an armored military vehicle crossing 8th Ave, near Penn Station. "It was pretty alarming," said Robach. "[It's] something you expect to seen in a war zone, not on the streets of New York City. But it is certainly a sign of the times. This is not your average Monday." ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos Read more: NY, NJ Bomb Suspect Facing Attempted Murder Charges After Police Shootout and Capture Indeed, NBC News war correspondent Richard Engel, who resides in Istanbul, was dispatched to Chelsea for the latest developments. "It does seem that there is an active bomber or group of bombers on the loose in the New York tri-state area," Engel said on the Today show, while noting that it was nonetheless a fairly "amateur" attempt. Story continues On GMA, George Stephanopoulos had an interview with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio who talked up the "beefed up security" in and around New York City as the United Nations General Assembly gets underway on Monday with a raft of foreign dignitaries - including President Obama - in town. Both De Blasio and New York governor Andrew Cuomo declared on Sunday that the bombings did not appear to have an "international" component. But with the revelation of an Afghan-born suspect overnight on Sunday, they were both somewhat revising themselves in TV interviews on Monday morning. "You were reluctant to call this an act of terrorism," Stephanopolous put it to De Blasio. But with five people detained during a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge late Sunday, Stephanopoulos pressed: "Do you believe that there are more attacks possibly coming or do you believe the threat is contained?" The mayor did not answer the question directly, instead he talked up the New York Police Department, noting that it has "the largest anti-terror capacity of any police force in the country." And he added, "The situation is speeding up. I'm very confident we're going to find the individuals involved. A lot more information is coming in." ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos Read more: FBI Questioning Car's Occupants in Connection to New York Blast Meanwhile over on CNN, Cuomo told Alisyn Camerota: "I would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act." On the Today show, former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton, who coincidentally retired last Friday, appeared in the studio with Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer. Guthrie asked if the various incidents were connected. Noting that this is only the "second successful attack" since 9/11, Bratton said, "We have enough information to clearly indicate this was an act of terrorism." Lauer pressed if the NYPD had any specific suspect involved in this attack "under surveillance." Bratton answered that he "won't speak to that." Speaking to New York 1's Pat Kiernan, Cuomo added that the bombings were the "textbook definition of terrorism" but that authorities were working to determine if there was a foreign organizing component. And he added, in his distinct New York accent, that "New Yorkers will not be intimidated." Of course, the bombings have inevitably taken on a political angle. On CBS This Morning, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to lead a major western capital and an outspoken critic of Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric, told anchors Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell: "There are tens of thousands of proud Muslims who are proud Americans." Read more: Device Near New Jersey Train Station Explodes While FBI Investigates He added with regard to the U.S. presidential election that is less than two months away: "I hope the best candidate wins, and I'm sure she will." At about 11:20 a.m. in New York, authorities revealed that Khan had been taken into custody in Linden, N.J. after a shootout with police. Cable news and many broadcast networks broke into regularly scheduled programming to cover the latest developments. Trump is scheduled to talk to Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly on Monday night. Read more: Multiple People Injured in New York City Building Explosion DailyFX.com - Bias: Bullish USD/ZAR Stop Buy on Possible Fed Hawkishness Point to Establish Long Exposure: Daily Close > 100-DMA @ 14.5800 Spot: 14.0000 Target 1: 15.4700 (50% Retracement of 2016 Range) Target 2: 16.0079 (61.8% Retracement of 2016 Range) Invalidation Level: Close Below 61.8% Retracement of Aug-Sept. Range (13.7880) Fundamental Backdrop to Trade of Long USD/ZAR: Hunting for Yield has been a common theme in 2016. Central Banks are, pushing on a string, to quote Bridgewater CEO, Ray Dalio, as economies seem to be debt-heavy and growth light. However, as many astute traders and investors know, yield doesnt come without cost. The cost comes at the risk of the yield being matched with high-volatility, and when volatility does show up, those that were seeking yield begin to seek safety first. As September winds down, we have an environment where many traders are not looking to a possible Federal Reserve rate hike. Per data from Bloomberg, the probability of a rate hike from the Federal Reserve is priced in, which means a greater than 50% chance is seen by looking at the Fed Funds Futures market and deriving probabilities from the pricing of that market. Traders should note that last time the Federal Reserve hiked rates on December 17, emerging markets were offered aggressively over the following month, which led to the 2016 high in USD/ZAR in early January. The South African Reserve Bank or SARB will also meet on Thursday, and they are expected to leave the policy rate unchanged at 7%. Trade Setup: Bullish USD/ZAR Stop Buy on Possible Fed Hawkishness The first key point of the trade is that were interested in a buy stop order or entry order to enter this trade. The level that were looking to enter at should the market close above is the 100-DMA at 14.58, which also aligns with the higher-low of the September 2016 range. For those unfamiliar with a buy-stop order, a buy-stop order is an order to buy a currency (or any market traded asset), which is entered at a price above the current offering price or what is perceived to be a less favorable price. Should the market reach your preferred level, your trade will be triggered when the market price touches or goes through the buy-stop price. Story continues The reason why traders are interested in using a buy-stop order is that entering only when the market reaches a level youve predefined as worth entering at least shows that the market is beginning to move in your favor. While a profitable trade is not guaranteed, an entry being triggered helps show you that momentum is moving in your favor. The targets in focus should this trade get triggered are two key Fibonacci retracement levels of the 2016 range. First, the 15.4700 level is the 50% Retracement of 2016 Range, and it shows a shorter-term or swing target should price carry through the 100-DMA. The second target is at 16.0079, and it would have price reaching the 61.8% Retracement of 2016 Range should a Dollar breakout or EMFX breakdown emerge. Key Technical Levels: USD/ZAR Awaiting A Break-Away Move Above 14.5800 2nd Resistance: 14.5800, 100-DMA 1st Resistance: 14.2146, Opening Range High (Week of September 19, 2016) Spot: 14.0250 1st support: 13.972, September Closing Low 2nd support: 13.8315, September Intraday Low To receive Tylers analysis directly via email, please SIGN UP HERE original source DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets. Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM. SCOTTSDALE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / A unique funding platform for start-up businesses has launched in Scottsdale Arizona called New Business Funders. The company has successfully emerged from its beta stage of development and proven its business model to be repeatable. New Business Funders has recently taken office space in the premium Gainey Ranch Financial Center in Scottsdale to scale its growth. CEO of the company, Troy Bohlke, states that the small business owner to a great extent carries the US economy. "When I learned that up to 20,000 people per day start a business in America, I was blown away. Over 5M people per year start a business and virtually no one is helping these people get capital. It is my belief that this market is one the most underserved markets in existence. So we decided to get in the business of helping small business get their small businesses funding." The bleak truth, according to a January 16th, 2015 article in Forbes, is that about 90% of start-ups fail. These business might have been a roaring success had they had access to funding at start-up and/or during rapid growth stages. Often times, businesses grow too fast and that growth is not sustainable unless the small business owner has access to funding to facilitate its growth. Small Business Owners have a difficult time acquiring funding because the traditional US banking community does not commonly provide small businesses, particularly start-ups, with the capital they need. If a small business is fortunate enough to receive a bank or SBA loan it is because their business has demonstrated performance in sales, provided tax returns, has excellent credit, and supplied collateral, as well as a consistency in business bank statement balances. According to Bohlke, "Our mission is to provide access to funding solutions by matching the right capital without the common roadblocks. Our programs do not require collateral, bank statements or tax returns. However, we do require good FICO score of 700 or better. The New Business Funders program differs from traditional programs because it matches the Entrepreneur through a unique software platform with 0% interest Business Credit Lines for the first 6-12 months allowing the start-up business to begin building business credit. Once approved, generally our clients will have funding in 15-21 business days." Story continues The company is now launching a series of educational videos and blogs to educate start up business about the value of revolving credit and how to develop business and personal credit as well as how to avoid the pitfalls most commonly experienced in the first 12 months of opening a business. To learn more about this small business program, go to: www.newbusinessfunders.com. Or contact: Troy Bohlke 1-855-680-FICO ext. 101 Contact Information Media contact: 10 Day Media 480-584-2909 SOURCE: New Business Funders By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It was a repeat for HBO at television's Emmy awards on Sunday as the premium cable network's "Game of Thrones" and "Veep" won the night's top trophies, thwarting competition from deep-pocketed streaming services for the industry's highest honors. Perennial Emmy favorite HBO won 22 honors overall, the biggest haul for any single network. For the second year in a row, Emmy voters chose political satire "Veep" as best comedy and dragon-filled fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" as best drama. "Game of Thrones" writer D.B. Weiss thanked Time Warner-owned HBO on stage for "the support and resources to keep this giant lizard flying." Basic-cable channel FX, owned by 21st Century Fox, shared the spotlight with 18 awards. The network's true-crime mini-series "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" scored nine trophies, second to the 12 for "Game of Thrones." Emmy recognition can help bring in bigger audiences, and more advertising dollars, at networks like FX that run commercials. For pay cable or streaming services, the awards glow can help attract new customers. The competition escalated in recent years as newcomers like Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc poured money into programming, setting off a battle for top talent and the most buzz-worthy shows. Netflix says it will spend $5 billion on programming this year, more than double the roughly $2 billion spent by HBO. FX's programming budget is one-sixth the size of Netflix's, FX President John Landgraf told the Television Critics Association in August. Louie Anderson, winner for best supporting actor for comedy "Baskets," credited FX with worrying less than others about initial ratings. "On FX, the numbers didn't matter as much. After five episodes airing, they decided to keep us for another year," Anderson said backstage. Netflix won nine Emmys including best documentary for "Making a Murderer" and best comedy writing for "Master of None." "I think there's great stuff on network, on streaming, on cable," "Master of None" co-creator Alan Yang said backstage. "What's great about Netflix, for us, is that they gave us a lot of freedom and trusted us to pursue our personal stories, and that's why they're rewarded with stuff that feels fresh." Amazon landed six awards. Jeffrey Tambor, best comedy actor for "Transparent," thanked Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, "who took my hand last night and said 'call me Jeff Bezos,'" Tambor joked. Fox and Comcast Corp's NBC led broadcasters with six Emmys each. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary Milliken) (Repeats to widen distribution, no change to headline or text) By Robin Respaut Sept 19 (Reuters) - The United States' largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), forecast on Monday that benefits paid to retirees would outpace projected income by $9.2 billion within 15 years. The funding gap is projected to widen from about $1.2 billion this year, according to CalPERS. "This is really a sobering look at what's going on," Board Member Theresa Taylor said during a presentation. Such warnings have been echoed by public pension funds across the nation, where the costs of aging baby boomers and expensive retirement benefits are growing faster than contributions from current public workers and municipal governments. Last year, CalPERS' cash flow flipped negative, meaning retiree pension costs were larger than worker contributions and investment income. As a result, the public pension fund has been scrutinizing its investments with an eye toward reducing volatility. The forecast presented on Monday assumed a 7.5 percent return on investments, a goal that Chief Investment Officer Ted Eliopoulos has warned may not be possible for the $307 billion fund to achieve in coming years. "We are going to face challenges as a committee and as a staff," said Eliopoulos on Monday. "The path of returns is very consequential here, and we can't predict it." (Reporting by Robin Respaut; Editing by James Dalgleish) Cambodia's strongman premier vowed on Monday to "eliminate" his opponents if they push ahead with plans for nationwide protests against an ongoing government crackdown that has sparked international alarm. The latest rhetoric, some of Prime Minister Hun Sen's strongest in recent months, ratchets up worsening political tensions in the kingdom, which will hold national elections in 2018. Rights groups have accused long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration of arresting scores of critics and tying up other opponents in legal cases. The main opposition party's deputy leader Kem Sokha has been holed up for weeks in his office, sleeping on a makeshift bed. He was handed a jail sentence earlier this month for refusing to appear in court over an alleged sex scandal prosecution that the opposition say is politically motivated. His party has threatened to hold nationwide demonstrations if moves are made to arrest him or if the crackdown continues. "Don't threaten (me) with demonstrations in exchange for talks. No way, youngest brother!," Hun Sen said at a university graduation ceremony Monday, in a characteristically lengthy speech. "This is not just a warning, it is more serious than a warning because it is an order to eliminate those who destroy security and social order," he said, adding that foreign countries had no right to criticise his administration. Last week a group of 36 states -- including the European Union and the United States -- issued a joint statement saying they were "deeply concerned" about escalating political tensions in Cambodia. Hun Sen, a former army commander who defected from the Khmer Rouge, has dominated Cambodian politics for the past 31 years. His administration claims it has brought much needed peace and stability to a nation ravaged by civil war. But opposition groups have gained ground in recent years amid growing disillusionment with endemic corruption, rights abuses and political repression. Story continues The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) accuses Hun Sen of denying it a majority by rigging the 2013 election in his favour, a charge the premier denies. CNRP's top leader and Hun Sen's chief rival, Sam Rainsy, has spent nearly one year in self-imposed exile to avoid arrest warrants he claims are politically-motivated. More than a dozen of opposition figures, including two MPs, are currently in prison facing charges, while more than 20 political activists and rights workers have faced legal action over the past year. Four land activists were sentenced on Monday to six months in jail each for allegedly insulting public officials during a protest in 2011. PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Four women land rights activists were sentenced to six months in prison by a court in Cambodia on Monday for insulting and obstructing public officials during a 2011 violent land rights protest. Seizure of land for development is a major cause of protests in Cambodia and other countries in the region, including Laos. Last year was the deadliest on record for land rights campaigners, with more than three people killed each week protesting agribusiness firms, loggers, mining firms and hydro-electric dams, according to London-based NGO Global Witness. The court in the capital Phnom Penh found activists Tep Vanny, Heng Mom, Kong Chantha and Bo Chhorvy guilty following a three hour trial and sentenced them to six months in prison over a protest in November 2011 which turned violent. Suong Sophal, a lawyer for Phnom Penh Municipality told the court that the four women joined the protest in 2011, blocked roads, insulted and hit officials at the scene. Two security guards were injured, he said Following the verdict, the activists yelled "injustice! injustice! injustice!" Tep Vanny has been in pretrial detention since last month over a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen's house. The other three activists remain free. All four have a month to appeal the verdict. Activists Vanny and Chantha said they would appeal. "I did not commit the crime," Vanny said. Around 50 protesters gathered outside the court on Monday calling for the case to be dropped while hundreds of police deployed to keep the peace looked on. (Refiles to change dateline from BANGKOK TO PHNOM PENH) (Reporting by Phnom Penh newsroom; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Michael Perry) Ottawa (AFP) - Less economic growth, job losses, lower wages and tax revenues -- that's what a Canada-EU free trade on the verge of being ratified will bring, according to a new study. The Council of Canadians think tank, which opposes the proposed pact, on Monday highlighted the study by Tufts University researchers Pierre Kohler and Servaas Storm that says the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement "will lead not just to economic losses but also to rising unemployment and inequality." The CETA deal will have, the study added, "negative implications for social cohesion in an already complex and volatile political context." In a joint statement, Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom defended CETA, calling it "a progressive agreement that will set a new standard for international trade." While recognizing that "clarifications are needed to allay (some) concerns," they renewed a commitment to sign the pact, scheduled in October, and implement it in early 2017. The study was published on the eve of large demonstrations against trade liberalization held in Germany last Saturday. According to its authors, the macroeconomic consequences of the planned trade deal between Canada and the 28-nation European Union are significant. By 2023, they warned, CETA will lead to about 230,000 jobs lost, mostly in the EU. They also say CETA proponents have overemphasized the prospect of higher economic growth due to increased trade and investment, noting that those projections rely on full employment and no negative impact on income distribution. Providing alternative projections using the UN Global Policy Model (GPM), the authors suggest implementing CETA would lead to larger government deficits in every EU country as government revenues plunge. It would put downward pressure on wages in both Canada and the EU, resulting in foregone average annual earnings increases of $1,985 in Canada and between $353 and $1,488 in the EU depending on the country, according to the study. Story continues As well, it is expected to divert trade within the EU bloc, benefiting Germany, France and Italy to the detriment of other EU nations. In absolute terms, CETA would slash 0.5 percent off the EU's gross domestic product -- the broad measure of the output of the economy -- and 1.0 percent off Canada's GDP. Among EU nations, Germany's hit, a loss of 0.37 percent, would be relatively mild, compared with France (-0.65 percent) and Italy (-0.78 percent). "That's only the economic part," said Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow. "We haven't begun to quantify the damage to our laws, policies, and democracies through regulatory harmonization and corporate lawsuits challenging our environmental and social standards, not to mention attacks on farmers and municipalities." OTTAWA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The Canadian government's plan to expand the national pension plan will see the cap on earnings rise 14 percent by 2025, finance officials said on Monday, as the country looks to beef up its retirement plan amid worries workers aren't saving enough. The new Liberal government reached an agreement in principle with the provinces in June to improve the pension plan after the previous Conservative government had refused to consider changes. Starting in 2019, the pension plan's income replacement level will gradually be increased to one-third of eligible earnings, from the current one-quarter, officials said. The cap on eligible earnings will be increased by 14 percent to reach C$82,700 ($62,718) by full implementation in 2025. The higher contribution rate on earnings below the yearly maximum will be phased in over the first five years and is estimated to be 1 percentage point higher for both workers and companies by 2023. In 2024, a separate contribution rate expected to be 4 percent will kick in for earnings above the upper limit projected at the time. The government must still table legislation to make the changes. Once the legislation is passed federally, it will require approval from seven of the 10 provinces. Eight of the provinces signed on to the agreement in principle in June, while Manitoba has since come on board. Quebec, which has its own pension plan, did not sign on but expressed support. ($1 = $1.3186 Canadian) (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's foreign affairs ministry said Monday it was seeking confirmation of a kidnapping of one of its nationals in the south of conflict-torn Libya. "We are aware of the troubling, yet unconfirmed report of the abduction of a Canadian citizen in Libya," ministry spokesman Michael O'Shaughnessy told AFP. In Rome, the Italian foreign ministry confirmed that two of its nationals were abducted in the same region. Citing Libyan sources, the Italian press said the trio worked for a ground handling company at Ghat airport near the Algerian border. "We are diligently pursuing all appropriate channels," O'Shaughnessy said. The Italian government said it "has been informed of the situation and has been following up on developments from the moment it learnt of the case." Several Italian companies work in Libya, a former Italian colony, and their expatriate staff have fallen prey to kidnappers in recent years. Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's spy agency and federal police quietly cooperated with Syrian military intelligence in the post-9/11 torture of three Canadians, documents revealed by public broadcaster CBC showed Monday. The three men were arrested by Syrian military intelligence during trips abroad from 2001 to 2004, suspected of Al-Qaeda links. Each claimed upon return to Canada that he had been tortured, and that Canadian security officials had supplied their captors with intelligence and questions to pose to the detainees. All three men have also claimed their innocence. According to heavily redacted files obtained by CBC, it all started with a post-9/11 emergency meeting of the top brass of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to discuss terror threats. At the top of a list of suspects was Abdullah Almalki, a Syrian-born electrical engineer who ran an electronics exporting business. He was targeted because he had spent time in Afghanistan working for a charity linked to Ahmed Said Khadr -- a known associate of Osama bin Laden. Michel Cabana, who was in charge of covert surveillance and is now RCMP deputy chief, described Almalki in a memo as "a procurement officer for Bin Laden and the El Quaida (sic)." Although a case officer said he found nothing overtly suspicious about Almalki "other than the fact that he is an arab running around," documents showed Canada shared its concerns with Damascus. Cabana wrote that "it would be prudent... to begin the planning for a potential interview of Almalki by Syrian officials based on questions derived from the (RCMP task force)." Canada's ambassador to Damascus at the time, Franco Pillarella, arranged for questions to be hand-delivered to Syrian agents. Almalki told the CBC he falsely confessed under duress to belonging to Al-Qaeda and being the "left-hand man of Osama bin Laden." This was relayed back to the RCMP. Story continues Ahmad Elmaati, a truck driver, also came under scrutiny because he spent time in Afghanistan and because in 2001 US border officials found a map of nuclear and disease-control buildings in Ottawa. His supporters have said it was a delivery map. The documents showed that the RCMP worried that consular officials had discovered his 2001 arrest in Syria and might reveal the RCMP's covert surveillance. Two months later Elmaati was flown to Egypt where the torture continued for three more years. In the case of Muayyed Nureddin, a principal at an Islamic school in Toronto, CSIS issued a bulletin to foreign intelligence services requesting his arrest. A 2008 independent inquiry led by retired Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci concluded that Canada's spy agency and federal police force had been "indirectly" responsible for the three men's mistreatment. - Lawsuit pending - A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale declined to comment on this latest information in the case, citing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by the three men against Ottawa. Their case is scheduled to go to trial in 2017. The revelations come after Goodale said Canada continues to use foreign intelligence that may have been derived from the use of torture in some cases, if there is an "imminent security threat." Although CSIS was ordered to stop doing so in 2009 following a public outcry, the following year a ministerial directive made exceptions for "exceptional circumstances." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is reviewing those security protocols. (New throughout, adds comment from union president) By Allison Martell and Ethan Lou TORONTO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Canada's main autoworkers union remained far from a deal with General Motors Co on Monday evening though the automaker had made a contract proposal, the union's president said ahead of a midnight strike deadline. GM's Canadian arm and the union, Unifor, have been divided over union demands that GM commit to building new vehicle models at its Oshawa, Ontario, plant. "We have a long way to go, and we're running out of time, and I'm not in a great mood at this moment, to be perfectly candid," said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. "We're not where we need to be, let's put it that way." Dias said GM had made a proposal, but talks were not going as well as he had hoped. A strike would involve nearly 4,000 workers at two GM plants in the Ontario cities of Oshawa and St Catharines. A third GM plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, is excluded from talks because its 2,700 workers have a separate contract. GM Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Wright said in an email that the company was focused on working with Unifor to reach a "mutually beneficial and competitive new agreement." Canada has been struggling to get new investments from automakers in its once-thriving vehicle assembly industry, losing out to the southern United States and lower-cost Mexico. The union said separately that it had also been fighting over the past few days to hold onto more secure defined benefit pensions plans and seeking higher wages. Earlier on Monday, Dias said he was encouraged by the way talks were going and that "everything is on the table." Dias, however, reiterated his position that the union would not extend its strike deadline. Without a deal, GM members would have a legal right to strike at midnight (0400 GMT) on Tuesday. IMPACT UNCERTAIN The impact of a strike on GM's North American production is uncertain because the automaker has capacity outside Canada to build the same engines and transmissions produced at its St Catharines plant. Story continues What is not clear is whether the United Auto Workers, the U.S. labor union, which has said it supports Unifor, would be willing to boost production at unionized U.S. GM plants. A four-year contract covering the workers of GM, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor Co in Ontario expires on Monday. The union chose GM as its strike target for contract talks, and a GM deal would set the pattern the other manufacturers would be expected to follow. Contract talks could save 2,500 jobs at GM's Oshawa car assembly, or take the plant one step closer to closure. The automaker was already on the verge of shutting one of two assembly lines at its Oshawa plant. Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said a strike would be difficult for his Canadian members, but worthwhile if it means securing the future of GM's Oshawa plant. (Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Susan Taylor and Jeffrey Hodgson in Toronto; Editing by Peter Cooney, Dan Grebler and David Gregorio) CarMax Inc. KMX is set to report second-quarter (ended Aug 31, 2016) fiscal 2017 results on Sep 21, before the market opens. Last quarter, the company posted a negative earnings surprise of 2.17%. However, in the trailing four quarters, it has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 0.01%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors Influencing this Quarter CarMax pursues an aggressive store growth policy, driven by improvements in the sales environment in the U.S. New stores help the company penetrate into new markets, thereby boosting sales. In addition, CarMax places greater emphasis on the used-car market, which helps it to outperform other players in the industry. The company is among the strongest operators in its peer group. Also, CarMax consistently enhances shareholder value through share buybacks, which helps boost earnings per share. As of May 31, the company had $1.27 billion of authorization remaining under its share repurchase program. All these factors are likely to drive the companys second-quarter fiscal 2017 results. However, CarMax is facing challenges such as high competition and fragmentation in the used-car market in the U.S. Also, other sales and revenues are witnessing a decline. This may adversely impact the companys upcoming results. CARMAX GP (CC) Price and EPS Surprise CARMAX GP (CC) Price and EPS Surprise | CARMAX GP (CC) Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that CarMax is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below: Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate. CarMaxs Earnings ESP is -1.14% because the Most Accurate Estimate is 87 cents while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 88 cents. Story continues Zacks Rank: CarMax carries a Zacks Rank #2, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings surprise. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Ferrari N.V. RACE, which will report third-quarter 2016 results on Oct 26, has an Earnings ESP of +1.75% and a Zacks Rank #2. Superior Industries International, Inc. SUP has an Earnings ESP of +10.00% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company will report third-quarter 2016 financial numbers on Nov 1. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Magna International Inc. MGA has an Earnings ESP of +0.83% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to release third-quarter 2016 results on Nov 3. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CARMAX GP (CC) (KMX): Free Stock Analysis Report SUPERIOR INDS (SUP): Free Stock Analysis Report MAGNA INTL CL A (MGA): Free Stock Analysis Report FERRARI NV (RACE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research oil worker Crude oil prices may have rallied from their recent lows, but it's still a painful environment for producers. Since bottoming near $26 per barrel in February, West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the US benchmark, has gained nearly 70%. However, prices are still below what's needed for many oil producers to breakeven. The chart below via Citi, published in a note last week, shows the weighted averages of breakeven costs for production across major shale-oil plays. On Monday, WTI futures traded near $44 per barrel. And so, with the exception of the Wolfcamp formation, these players are still losing money by pumping oil. break The chart is a reminder that the industry is not yet out of its turmoil, even as optimism rises. As of last week Friday, the active-oil-rig count had gained in 11 out of the last 12 weeks, the longest stretch since early 2014, which was before the oil crash. Citi noted that Brent crude oil, the international benchmark of prices, has recently traded in a tight $45-$55 per barrel range. Oil remained stable even after the International Energy Agency said it expects the market to remain oversupplied for longer than it had thought. "In any case, compared to say a year ago, the supply overhang has come in a lot, and thus we still feel that sustained price undershoots are unlikely from here, wrote Citi's Jeremy Hale and his team. "On the flip side, large price overshoots will be limited by shale producers coming back online on higher prices. The $40-55/bbl oil range looks likely to hold in other words." NOW WATCH: KRUGMAN: There is an argument for doubling the Feds inflation target More From Business Insider UPDATE: 11:35 a.m. EDT -- Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, the suspect behind three bombings across New Jersey and New York over the weekend, was taken into custody Monday after a shootout in Lindon, New Jersey, according to media reports. Rahami's motive or role in the bombings has not been made public. He is a U.S. citizen and was not listed on U.S. counterterrorism databases, Reuters reported. Rahami was a student at Middlesex County College in New Jersey from 2010 to 2012, where he studied criminal justice, but he did not graduate, NBC News reported. His family owned a restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Bomb Blasts in New York City and New Jersey | Graphiq Original story: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, has been named as a suspect in a bombing in New York City over the weekend that injured dozens of people. Police announced Monday that Rahami could be armed and dangerous. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Rahami is a New Jersey resident and a naturalized U.S. citizen. A motive remained unknown. "Rahami is a 28-year-old United States citizen of Afghan descent born on Jan. 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is about 5 6 tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair," the FBI said in a statement. The bombing unfolded Saturday night at about 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. At least 29 people were injured in the explosion that came hours after a similar explosion Saturday morning in a garbage can in Seaside Park, New Jersey. That bomb went off minutes before a Marine Corps charity run was slated to start. The next day, police uncovered a failed bombing Sunday night in New Jersey near a train station in Elizabeth involving three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together. The Chelsea bomb was found under a metal trash container. Its unclear if the incidents were related, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday the bombs were similar, suggesting "there might have been a common linkage." Cuomo said he "wouldn't be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act." Story continues The explosive device in Seaside Park resembled a pipe bomb. There were no injuries and terrorism was suspected. "If it was just a matter of minutes, in terms of difference, there would have been a good number of people running past that explosive device," because of its location along the race route, Ocean County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Al Della Fave said. The FBI and New York Police Department took five people into custody Sunday night after they were stopped in a vehicle driving across the VerrazanoNarrows Bridge that links Brooklyn and Staten Island. They have not beem named as suspects. "I want New Yorkers to be confident when they go back to work on Monday that New York is up and running and we're doing everything that we need to do, Cuomo said Sunday. "We will find whoever did this or whatever group did this and they will be brought to justice, period. We will not allow these type of people and these type of threats to disrupt our life in New York. That's what they want to do. We are not going to let them do it. This is freedom. This is democracy, and we're not going to allow them to take that from us." Related Articles China is "disappointed to the point of despair" with Japan's conduct in the South China Sea, it said Monday, after Tokyo announced it may set up training patrols with the US in the contested region. China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital waters in the face of rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly turned reefs in the area into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. In a speech last week Japanese defence minister Tomomi Inada called China's actions a "deliberate attempt to unilaterally change the status quo, achieve a fait accompli, and undermine the prevailing norms", according to a transcript released by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Inada said Japan would increase its engagement in the South China Sea through joint training cruises with the US Navy, exercises with regional navies and capacity-building assistance to coastal nations. Japan's conduct in the South China Sea "makes one feel disappointed to the point of despair," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing Monday, before accusing Japan of meddling in a situation that ought to be resolved via "direct negotiation between involved parties". Japan was attempting to confuse the situation in the region Lu said, adding the island nation had "even resorted to deception in attempts to impose its own views" on the issue on other countries. Japan has a separate territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Last week, China sailed four coastguard vessels into that contested region, sparking complaints from Japan that the Asian giant was escalating tensions. Japan is a key US ally, and is boosting defence ties with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that have their own territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea. In recent months, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has criticised China for rejecting a July ruling by an international tribunal that found Beijing's extensive claims to the waters had no legal basis. But Lu warned: "China is unwavering in its determination to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests." China has unveiled a sparkling new hotel as part of its drive to get tens of millions more tourists to visit Tibet, even as critics say the push is slowly eroding the local culture. With a presidential suite that costs $1,000 a night and views over the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas, the luxury Artel hotel is a potent symbol of Chinese plans for the autonomous territory. Tourism officials are hoping to see visitor numbers increase by nearly 50 percent in the next four years, said Wang Songping, deputy director of the Tibet Tourism Development Commission. "Tibet attracted four million Chinese tourists in 2005. We hope we'll get 24 million this year and 35 million by 2020," he said. Critics say the influx will lead to more of China's dominant Han ethnic group settling in Tibet and eroding native Tibetan ways of life, and argue the majority of economic benefits of mass tourism will not go to locals. Official figures say that Tibetans currently make up 90 percent of the local population, but groups opposed to Chinese rule say the real figure is significantly lower. Beijing says it "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951 and insists it has brought development to a previously backward region where serfs were exploited. But many Tibetans accuse Beijing of repressing their religion, diluting their culture and exploiting natural resources to benefit the Han at the expense of locals and the environment. - Switzerland of the East - The 103-room Artel opened in mid-August in Lulang, a picturesque village situated at 3,700 metres (12,100 feet) in a southeastern forested area in the autonomous region of Tibet. It is part of a tourist complex built in an old part of town previously occupied mostly by government buildings and restaurants, that now boasts its own shopping street, a lake and an arts centre. Nicknamed the "Switzerland of the East", the village is seen by authorities as a flagship project for its ambitious plans for Tibet's tourist sector. Story continues Transport links are being developed to cater for the influx, including a motorway opening next year, and a high-speed rail line from the capital Lhasa, expected to open in 2021. Another high-speed rail line to Chengdu, capital of neighbouring Sichuan province, home to more than 80 million people, should be completed in 2022. Wang said the number of Chinese tourists, who currently make up 95 percent of visitors to Tibet, has increased by an average of 20 percent each year since the 2006 opening of the first railway linking Tibet to the rest of China. But while outside visitors can boost the local economy, mass tourism has down sides, said Tibet expert Francoise Robin. "Cultural performances shown to visitors are either favourable reinterpretations of Chinese history or Chinese versions of songs or dances," she said. "Tibetans themselves end up picking up these distorted versions." And while some Tibetans were developing responsible tourism initiatives and eco-tourism, such businesses could often not be developed on a large scale, she said. - 'Last in line to benefit' - The influx of tourists is expected to bring in billions of dollars but many are concerned that not everyone will benefit from the windfall. "Travel agents and other people who work in the tourism industry are mostly Han Chinese", said Robin. "The Tibetans... are among the last in line to benefit." At the Artel hotel, Baima Cicuo, a 17-year-old local trainee who works as a housekeeper, said she was happy in her job -- at least in front of her boss. "Before, I depended on my farmer parents. But now I earn 1,000 yuan a month and I learn a lot of things," she said in fluent Mandarin. The hotel, owned by Poly, a Chinese state-owned group, has invested 280 million yuan ($42 million) in the project, says commercial director Ray Peng. It currently has 40 employees, 15 of whom are Tibetan. Its guests are likely to be overwhelmingly Chinese. Less than five percent of visitors to Tibet are foreign tourists, who need to obtain an "entry letter" as well as a Chinese visa when travelling to the region, where they must join an authorised tour group. Despite the widespread perception that the restrictions are meant to stop the outside world from learning too much about the tensions between ethnic Tibetans and Han, officials insist that is not the case. "These restrictions are in place because we can't yet provide world class services for tourists", said Bianba Zhaxi, deputy governor of Tibet. "We will be open to tourists from across the world in a few years," he added. But Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, deputy speaker of Tibet's parliament in exile, said the restrictions serve to hide the truth about Tibet from the outside world. "If foreign tourists and media are able to travel freely in Tibet, without organised tours, and can collect the views of people, then I think tourism can have a good impact. "Otherwise, nobody will speak and share the problems of the Tibetan people." Sydney (AFP) - The owners of a Chinese ship that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 2010 agreed to pay Australia Aus$39.3 million (US$29.6 million) on Monday, in a settlement dismissed by conservationists as "woefully inadequate". The fully-laden coal carrier Shen Neng 1 hit a shoal in April 2010, leaking tonnes of heavy fuel oil and threatening an ecological disaster. While a catastrophe was avoided, the huge ship gouged a three-kilometre (1.8-mile) scar in the coral and was stranded for nine days before salvage workers refloated it. The ship's owner, Shenzhen Energy Transport Co Ltd, and its insurer refused for six years to accept responsibility to make restitution before striking Monday's out-of-court settlement. "Our ongoing actions to pursue funds to clean up the pollution sends an unambiguous signal that damage to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area is unacceptable," said Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg. He added that the settlement showed Australia would "use every available means to pursue ship owners who are negligent in causing damage to the reef". But Greenpeace Australia slammed the deal, calling it "woefully inadequate". "The government has said the full clean-up will cost more than Aus$140m so to settle for such a small figure is disappointing," said Greenpeace's Pacific reef campaigner Shani Tager. "While we welcome the end of this six-year saga, it has to serve as a reminder that accidents happen. It's clear that coal and the reef don't mix and the government needs to do more to protect this precious place." The funds will allow the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to remove toxic anti-fouling paint and rubble, which will allow the reef to be restored, the government said. But it will be a long haul, with the anti-fouling paint containing a highly toxic component which is now banned from use. "Impacts to marine life on the seafloor could potentially last for many decades if the toxic anti-fouling paint remains in place," Frydenberg said. Story continues The ship's owner had argued the reef was self-healing and the company should not have to pay the bill. An Australian investigation in 2011 blamed a tired chief mate for the accident. It also found the ship's safety management system did not contain procedures or guidance in relation to the proper use of passage plans, including electronic route plans. Conservationists said the incident highlighted the environmental risks to the Great Barrier Reef, particularly from shipping Australian exports to China. China slammed the European Union's parliament Monday for receiving the Dalai Lama, saying the move could damage relations between the EU and the world's second largest economy. In remarks at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Thursday, the Tibetan religious leader called on the EU to offer "constructive criticism" to China on the issue of Tibet. "China strongly opposes the European Parliament's mistaken actions," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters during a regular briefing, saying "we cannot be expected to do nothing." The Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, but is still deeply revered by many Tibetans in China. Beijing vigorously lobbies against foreign leaders meeting the Nobel Peace Prize laureate "in any form" and accuses him of being a "wolf in monk's robes" who seeks Tibetan independence through "spiritual terrorism". Lu said relations with the EU were developing rapidly and that there was good communication between both sides before adding: "But this time the leaders of the European Parliament insist obstinately on having their own way and adhering to the wrong position, undermining China's core interests and also seriously damaging the political basis for bilateral parliamentary exchanges." The Dalai Lama arrived in France last week, his first visit to the country in five years. He urged European politicians to offer China constructive criticism on Tibet "at a time when Chinese leaders, even hard-line partisans, are facing a kind of dilemma over how to deal with this problem". Though the trip focused on inter-faith dialogue, environmental issues and Tibetan culture, the religious leader did not meet with any French officials -- a notable side-step likely intended to avoid raising Beijing's ire. From Popular Mechanics The Chinese city of Yiwu, located south of Shanghai, is known worldwide for its market, where a psychedelic cornucopia of millions of mass produced consumer items are sold en masse for cheap. Photographers like Richard John Seymour have captured the colorful stalls of the giant market, many of which sell just one item, like rubber duckies or plastic flowers, in a kaleidoscope of colors and styles. A new documentary on the city and its marketplace, Bulkland, investigates the changing dynamics of Yiwu's economy. As China's fortunes change, the prices of the goods found in the city's market are rising, putting some vendors out of work. Director Dan Whelan called Yiwu "a microcosm of a changing China" in an interview on the podcast Sinica. "The government line is to go into high-tech goods, into information technology, into cars," he says. "and leave behind [China] as the 'cheap stuff factory of the world.'" The film is available to stream on YouTube now. Source: Journeyman VOD via CityLab You Might Also Like Your safety school should be the college or university on your short list that serves as a backup if your target and reach schools do not work out in your favor. It is still a safety school, though, so your choice hardly matters -- right? Perhaps not. Take Howard, for example, whose primary safety school was a large state university with affordable tuition. When his target schools failed to offer sufficient financial aid, this university became his only option. His target campuses had been small liberal arts colleges that complemented his innate shyness with class sizes that would ensure he met other students and spoke with his professors. At the large state university, Howard drifted for five years and struggled to make friends and select a major that he loved. He graduated, but college was hardly the transformative experience he had dreamed of. Howard's story highlights one of the downsides of attending a safety school -- it is only safe in terms of admission. A previous column addressed the disadvantages of attending a reach school, but there are real dangers in not choosing your safety school wisely. Here are key factors to consider when selecting a safety school. -- Intellectual engagement: You may have chosen your safety school because you were almost certain that you would be accepted based on your GPA and test scores. If so, you may quickly find that you are struggling because your classes are too simple for you. Remember that your goal in college is not only to earn a degree but also to gain an education. This is a subtle distinction; however, the difference lies in intellectual engagement. If your courses are not challenging or if they are taught in a format that does not suit you, you may find that your safety school is not so safe. In fact, boredom is one of the greatest barriers to success while in college. One way to avoid this is to identify those schools that meet your safety criteria but that also have honors programs, independent study options or strong undergraduate research opportunities. Story continues [Keep in mind these four tips for adding safety schools to your college short list.] -- Available majors: Another danger of attending a safety school occurs if your focus shifts. Many students ultimately choose different majors than the ones they imagined in high school. These individuals may later realize that their safety school has excellent programs in particular concentrations but that it struggles to provide an elite education across the full range of academic programs. If your safety school was strong in physics but you later discover a love of comparative linguistics, you may wish that you had chosen a college or university with stronger international programs. It can be hard to predict if -- or how -- your interests will change in college, and it is equally difficult to gain entry to schools that are excellent in all departments. However, do plan for scenarios where your interests change after a year of college. Is your safety school only acceptable for a narrow range of disciplines? If so, consider colleges with a greater number of reputable alternative majors. [Learn how to use out-of-school experiences to help choose a college major.] -- The intangibles: A third danger -- one that Howard discovered -- is that your safety school is a poor match in one or more categories. This may be school size, whether the campus is claustrophobically small or bewilderingly large. Or this may be the lack of, or the overwhelming presence of, a Greek system. Inoculate yourself against this outcome. Treat your safety school as a true option. Research its culture, majors, financial aid and academic rigor. It will not meet all of your criteria -- it would be a target school if it did -- but it should satisfy most of your requirements. Too often, students do not take safety schools seriously until it is too late. We are taught to never settle, but the reality is that nearly everyone has a plan B, C or even H. Do not become so focused on your target and reach schools that you simply select the nearest college as your safety option. Do choose a viable option that meets your minimum needs, and look into all the elements that can make or break your college experience. Ensure, in short, that you could thrive at your safety school if you were to land there. Brian Witte is a professional SAT tutor with Varsity Tutors. He earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Washington and holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. bill clinton The CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative is not pleased with how political coverage has supposedly warped the image of the Clinton Foundation's charitable work. In a telephone interview with Business Insider Monday morning, CEO Robert Harrison highlighted some of the metrics of CGI's philanthropic success, including billions of dollars donated toward health, education, and economic initiatives that have affected 430 million people, many of whom are underprivileged. Those metrics, he argued, were being overshadowed in the press by insinuation that former President Bill Clinton's foundation was involved in nudging State Department staff to grant top donors access to Hillary Clinton while she was serving as secretary of state. "I feel like I'm operating in two parallel universes," Harrison said. "The one I work in every day is where my staff and I work with our members to create commitments to address these global issues. Then there's the other universe I read about in the paper every once in a while where someone suggests without any basis paying for play or buying access as part of what CGI or the Clinton Foundation is all about." Harrison continued: "I have never seen, in the nine years that I have been chief executive, anyone behave that way. I don't believe that there's any evidence whatsoever that anyone at the State Department did anything because someone is a support of the Clinton Foundation or a member of CGI." During Monday's interview, Harrison also brushed off rumors that CGI would be less glamorous this year because of concerns about a meeting of wealthy top business executives hurting Hillary Clinton in a populist economic climate. "This annual meeting will be just like the other annual meetings that I've attended, which is every one," Harrison said. As Hillary Clinton launched a second presidential bid, the Clinton Foundation has found itself under increased scrutiny as Clinton's political foes have attempted to demonstrate that she gave special treatment to foundation donors, though no direct pay-for-play revelations have been exposed despite extensive reporting. Story continues Still, the allegations have been enough to keep some members from attending CGI. Bloomberg reported that financial industry giants Goldman Sachs and Barclays will not participate this year, while marquee speakers like President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton herself won't attend. Harrison noted that the guest list still includes a number of high-profile attendees, including celebrities like U2's Bono, business leaders like Unilever CEO Paul Polman, and foreign political leaders like Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. NOW WATCH: Clinton just released a brutal ad linking Trump to white supremacists More From Business Insider As she sought Monday to win over wary young voters in her pitch for the presidency, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton struck an unusually self-deprecating tone even as she tried to portray herself as a steady and seasoned stateswoman. The balancing act underscored Clintons challenge in convincing voters who pulled Democratic in 2008 and 2012 to come out for her. One of these key populations are millennials, a term typically referring to people born in the 1980s and 90s many too young to remember President Bill Clintons administration, or its controversies. Some recent polls indicate up to one-third of millennials plan to vote for a third-party candidate, and 57 percent of registered Democrats are less enthusiastic than usual about voting. At a speech in Philadelphia, Clinton recalled her own coming of age during the Vietnam War, and said she herself lost faith in public officials to tell the truth and in the possibility of progress. You know, the next 50 days will shape the next 50 years, Clinton said. You want something to vote for, not just against. Taking a jab at her Republican opponent, real estate magnate Donald Trump, who prides himself on his unpredictability and having never served in public office, Clinton continued, Its wrong to put a loose cannon in charge who could start another war. Just hours after authorities arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, following weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, Clinton told the crowd the case served as a sobering reminder we need steady leadership in a dangerous world. A week ahead of the first presidential debate, as Trump pulls neck-and-neck with Clinton in nationwide polls and claws back in key battleground states, her campaign emphasized it will focus more on what Clinton offers than getting down into the mud with Trump. Yet Clintons camp has received a steady trickle of bad polling news from swing states showing Democratic voter registration is lagging, and that she is underperforming with the coalition that helped launch President Barack Obamas historic victory in 2008, including with Democratic-leaning minority groups. Story continues The latest strategy shift to woo them isnt without risk. Clintons personal memory of mistrusting public officials also reminds voters of the skepticism that has dogged her campaign from the Clinton Foundations connections to foreign donors, to her use of a personal email server as secretary of state. Even her reference to Vietnam was a gamble: The U.S. has been at war in Afghanistan and Iraq for at least half as long as most millennials have been alive. Clinton played significant roles in authorizing and carrying out policies for both of those wars, first as a New York senator and then Obamas first secretary of state. That turned out to be a big vulnerability during her Democratic primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders, who successfully painted Clinton as too hawkish and trigger-happy. Clinton was to meet later Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly with leaders from Egypt, Ukraine, and Japan. She sought to contrast that with Trumps wrecking-ball diplomacy, though the reality TV host-turned-politician is also set to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Even if youre totally opposed to Donald Trump, you may still have some questions about me, she told the Philadelphia crowd. Still, she said, I dont enjoy some of the things that come naturally to most politicians, like talking about myself. I do spend a lot of time on on the details of policy, Clinton said. It should be a big deal for your president. Photo credit: Justin Sullivan / Staff Hillary Clinton said Monday the bombings in New York and New Jersey show the threat of terrorism is "real," and that Donald Trump's comments are being used as a terrorist recruiting tool. Authorities on Monday said they were searching for Ahmad Khan Rahami , a 28-year-old Afghan-born U.S. citizen, as a suspect in the bombings. On Saturday, a bomb exploded in the New Jersey shore town on Seaside Park, forcing the cancellation of a large charity race. Later in the day, a bombing in New York's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. Officers found a possible secondary device nearby. On Sunday, five additional explosive devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. "This threat is real, but so is our resolve," Clinton said at a morning news conference before a planned trip to campaign Philadelphia. "Americans will not cower. We will prevail." Regarding immigration, Clinton said she is in favor of tough vetting. "We need a better visa system," she added. "Let's not get distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric coming off from the other side," the Democratic presidential nominee said. She criticized her GOP rival's comments as providing fuel for terrorists. "We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam," she said. Clinton held the news conference in White Plains ahead of a planned trip Pennsylvania, an important swing state in the Nov. 8 election. Clinton will speak at Temple University as she vies for support from a key voting group: millennials. In polls, her support from this group has waned in recent weeks. For most parents, paying for college isn't easy; but some schools offer enough institutional dollars to students to offset expensive sticker prices. Many schools that report meeting the full financial need of students are private colleges and universities. For the 2015-2016 school year, only 66 colleges and universities out of 1,100 schools claimed to meet full financial need, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey. The amount given in financial need is usually decided by the information that a family provides on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. On the FAFSA, families submit financial information such as income, tax data, assets and household size. From this information, a family's estimated contribution is determined. [Discover what you need to know about FAFSA changes.] Financial awards from colleges and universities use a combination of loans, scholarships, grants and work-study to cover the gap between the total cost of attendance and the amount a family is expected to pay. A school that claims to meet 100 percent covers the gap entirely. For the most part, National Liberal Arts Colleges represent the bulk of these schools that meet full demonstrated need with 40 schools in total, followed by National Universities with 25. Only one Regional University made the list: Walla Walla University in Washington. [Discover the 2017 Best Value Schools.] More than half of the schools that make this list are need blind: a policy that judges students on their merits, not on their ability to pay tuition. Some of the schools with this policy include Amherst College in Massachusetts, Yale University in Connecticut and Stanford University in California -- to name a few. Only two public universities -- the University of Virginia and University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill -- that are also National Universities reported meeting 100 percent of financial need. Both schools also practice need-blind admissions. Story continues [Video: Finding a best value college.] Several schools that don't appear on the list were very close to meeting full need, including Johns Hopkins University in Maryland at 99.9 percent, SUNY Polytechnic Institute at 99 percent and the University of Florida at 99 percent. Below are the colleges and universities that claimed to meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates in fall 2015. School name (state) U.S. News rank and category Amherst College (MA) 2, National Liberal Arts Colleges Barnard College (NY) 27 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Bates College (ME) 27 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Boston College 31, National Universities Bowdoin College (ME) 6, National Liberal Arts Colleges Brown University (RI) 14, National Universities Bryn Mawr College (PA) 31, National Liberal Arts Colleges California Institute of Technology 12 (tie), National Universities Carleton College (MN) 7 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Claremont McKenna College (CA) 9 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Colby College (ME) 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Colgate University (NY) 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges College of the Holy Cross (MA) 32 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Colorado College 24 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Columbia University (NY) 5 (tie), National Universities Connecticut College 50, National Liberal Arts Colleges Cornell University (NY) 15 (tie), National Universities Dartmouth College (NH) 11, National Universities Davidson College (NC) 9 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Duke University (NC) 8 (tie), National Universities Franklin and Marshall College (PA) 47 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Georgetown University (DC) 20 (tie), National Universities Grinnell College (IA) 19 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Hamilton College (NY) 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Harvard University (MA) 2, National Universities Harvey Mudd College (CA) 21 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Haverford College (PA) 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Kenyon College (OH) 27 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Lafayette College (PA) 36 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Macalester College (MN) 24 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7, National Universities Middlebury College (VT) 4 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Mount Holyoke College (MA) 36 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Northwestern University (IL) 12 (tie), National Universities Oberlin College (OH) 24 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Occidental College (CA) 44 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Pomona College (CA) 7 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Princeton University (NJ) 1, National Universities Rice University (TX) 15 (tie), National Universities Salem College (NC) 122 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Scripps College (CA) 23, National Liberal Arts Colleges Smith College (MA) 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Soka University of America (CA) 41 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Stanford University (CA) 5 (tie), National Universities Swarthmore College (PA) 4 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Thomas Aquinas College (CA) 53 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Trinity College (CT) 38 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Tufts University (MA) 27 (tie), National Universities Union College (NY) 38 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges University of Chicago 3 (tie), National Universities University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill 30, National Universities University of Notre Dame (IN) 15 (tie), National Universities University of Pennsylvania 8 (tie), National Universities University of Richmond (VA) 27 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges University of Southern California 23, National Universities University of Virginia 24 (tie), National Universities Vanderbilt University (TN) 15 (tie), National Universities Vassar College (NY) 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Wake Forest University (NC) 27 (tie), National Universities Walla Walla University (WA) 52 (tie), Regional Universities (West) Washington and Lee University (VA) 11, National Liberal Arts Colleges Washington University in St. Louis 19, National Universities Wellesley College (MA) 3, National Liberal Arts Colleges Wesleyan University (CT) 21 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges Williams College (MA) 1, National Liberal Arts Colleges Yale University (CT) 3 (tie), National Universities The financial need data above are correct as of Sept. 19, 2016. For complete financial aid data, full rankings and much more, access the U.S. News College Compass. More From US News & World Report (John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own) * Chart 1: http://tmsnrt.rs/2cBLUlL * Chart 2: http://tmsnrt.rs/2cXCfsd By John Kemp LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Hedge funds have built their largest bullish position in U.S. natural gas for more than two years amid signs the gas glut is being eroded quickly and the market could tighten in 2017. Hedge funds and other money managers have amassed a net long position in the two main futures and options contracts on NYMEX and ICE equivalent to 2,293 billion cubic feet of gas (http://tmsnrt.rs/2cBLUlL). The net long position has almost quadrupled over the last four weeks, and is now at the highest level since June 2014, according to an analysis of data released on Friday by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Positioning has been shifting steadily from bearish to bullish since November 2015 but the pace of adjustmnet has accelerated sharply. The most recent weekly increase in the net long position was the third-largest since the start of 2010 (http://tmsnrt.rs/2cXCfsd). The majority of the adjustment has come from the short side of the market, where hedge funds with bearish short positions betting a fall in gas prices have scaled them back. Hedge fund short positions have declined by the equivalent of 1,127 billion cubic feet, or 40 percent, in the last four weeks. By contrast, long positions have risen just 544 billion cubic feet, or 16 percent. Hedge funds are reacting to signs the gas market is rapidly rebalancing from oversupply in 2015 towards a potential deficit in 2017 ("U.S. natural gas market rebalancing well underway", Reuters, Sep 16). Low gas prices have gradually eroded the excess supply by causing production growth to stall and go into reverse while encouraging record consumption by power producers. Rebalancing has been accelerated by unusually hot weather across the most populous parts of the United States this summer. Temperatures and airconditioning demand have been far above normal almost continuously since the end of May ("U.S. natural gas market rebalances on hot weather, low prices", Reuters, Aug 19). Story continues Working gas stocks have risen by just 1,022 billion cubic feet so far this injection season, compared with an average increase of 1,594 billion cubic feet at this point during the previous five years. Stocks have risen by just 160 billion cubic feet in the last four weeks compared with 309 billion cubic feet over the same period in 2015 and a five-year average of 266 billion cubic feet. LIQUIDATION RISK Winter 2016/17 is likely to be colder than the record warm winter of 2015/16 which should increase gas consumption. Looking to 2017, more gas-fired power plants are scheduled to come into service, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (U.S. power producers maximise gas burn at expense of coal", Reuters, Aug 31). Most of the new gas-fired generating capacity will be combined cycle power plants designed for baseloading rather than steam turbines or combustion turbines operating at peak times. The implied increase in gas consumption will tighten the market even further unless gas prices rise to stimulate more drilling and stimulate some shift from gas combustion back to coal in 2017. Hedge funds have already anticipated and likely accelerated the price rise by accumulating a large long position in futures and options. The calendar average futures price for gas delivered in 2017 has risen to $3.14 per million British thermal units from a low of $2.14 back in December 2015. The fundamental outlook for prices looks fairly strong at present, but the emergence of a large hedge-fund long position has increased the risk of a price reversal if position holders try to take some profits. The net long position amassed by hedge funds over recent weeks is large by the standard of the last five years, though below the peaks reported in 2013/14. So, while fundamentals should continue to support higher gas prices into 2017, liquidation risk has increased substantially and is a negative factor for prices in the short to medium term. (Editing by William Hardy) VALLEY CENTER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Concierge Technologies, Inc. (CNCG) (the "Company"), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Wainwright Holdings Inc. ("Wainwright") and certain shareholders of Wainwright to acquire shares of Wainwright representing approximately 97% of the issued and outstanding shares. Prior to the closing, the Company intends to make offers to acquire the remaining shares. If the Company acquires 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Wainwright, based on a valuation of $85 million and a per share price of Company common stock of $0.0845, the Company will issue 818,799,976 shares of Company common stock and 9,354,118.85 shares of Company preferred stock in exchange for the Wainwright shares. Wainwright was formed as the holding company of Ameristock Corporation, an investment adviser formed in 1995 by Nicholas Gerber, Andrew Ngim, and Robert Nguyen, as the adviser to The Ameristock Mutual Fund, a large cap equity fund. Wainwright owns United States Commodity Funds LLC ("USCF"), a Commodity Futures Commission registered commodity pool operator, and USCF Advisers LLC("Advisers"), a Securities and Exchange Commission registered investment advisor, who together have over $4.5 billion in assets under management spread across 12 exchange traded products and funds including United States Oil Fund (ticker USO), United States Natural Gas Fund (ticker UNG), United States Commodity Index Fund (ticker USCI), United States Natural Gas Fund, LP (UNG), United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP (USL), United States Gasoline Fund, LP (UGA), United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund, LP (UNL), United State Brent Oil Fund, LP (BNO), United States Short Oil Fund, LP (DNO), United States Diesel-Heating Oil Fund, LP (UHN), United States Copper Index Fund (CPER) and United States Agriculture Index Fund (USAG), and the Stock Split Index Fund (ticker TOFR). Nicholas Gerber, CEO and principal shareholder of Concierge Technologies and Wainwright commented, "I am exceptionally happy to finally bring together Wainwright and Concierge. It is a deal I have been dreaming about for some time that will align the overlapping interests of the principal shareholders of both Concierge and Wainwright all in one place for the first time ever. Once this is done, we can grow both companies by expanding our current businesses and by looking for other profitable established firms with management in place that have a need for ownership change. Actions speak louder than words. It is one thing to say Concierge is a good home for firms, it is another to show it by actually bringing Wainwright into it." Story continues The planned acquisition remains contingent upon various conditions being met before closing, including the receipt of an independent valuation and fairness opinion for the benefit of the Concierge shareholders, the approval by Concierge shareholders, and the receipt by the selling Wainwright shareholders of certain information from Concierge, as well as meeting regulatory requirements that are usual and customary for transactions of this nature. The steps required to close the transaction are expected to happen before the end of 2016. As a result of the transaction, current shareholders of Wainwright will become shareholders of Concierge. Mr. Gerber, along with certain family members and certain other Wainwright shareholders, currently own the majority of shares in Concierge as well as Wainwright. Following the closing of this transaction, he and those shareholders will continue to own the majority of Concierge voting shares. About Concierge Technologies, Inc. Concierge Technologies, Inc. operates through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Gourmet Foods, Ltd. in Tauranga, New Zealand, (acquired August 11, 2015) a commercial-scale manufacturer and distributor of New Zealand gourmet meat pies marketed under brand names "Pat's Pantry" and "Ponsonby Pies" throughout area supermarkets and convenience stores; Brigadier Security Systems, (acquired on June 2, 2016) an alarm installation and monitoring firm in Saskatoon Canada; and Kahnalytics, Inc. (launched in 2015) a US based provider of live streaming mobile video, vehicle tracking and driver behavior data Management is actively seeking the acquisition of established enterprises with a high likelihood of profitability to add to its growing, diverse portfolio of operating businesses. About Wainwright Holdings Inc. Wainwright was founded in March 2004 as the holding company or Ameristock Corporation, an investment adviser to The Ameristock Mutual Fund, Inc., a registered 1940 Act large cap value equity fund. Wainwright no longer owns Ameristock Corporation. In May 2005, USCF was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wainwright. USCF is a registered commodity pool operator with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a member of the National Futures Association. In June 2013, Advisers was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wainwright, and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Together USCF and Advisers manage 12 exchange trade products and funds. This release may contain "forward-looking statements" that include information relating to future events and future financial and operating performance. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting Concierge Technologies or its subsidiary companies, please refer to the Company's recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at the Company's website or at www.sec.gov. For more information about Concierge Technologies, Inc. and its subsidiaries: Concierge Technologies, Inc.: www.conciergetechnology.net Nicholas Gerber, CEO: ngerber@conciergetechnology.net David Neibert, CFO: dneibert@conciergetechnology.net Tel: 866.800.2978 ext. 3 For additional information regarding USCF and Advisers funds, write: ALPS Distributors, Inc. 1290 Broadway, Suite 1100, Denver, CO 80203, or call 1-800-920-0259 SOURCE: Concierge Technologies, Inc. KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congolese opposition activists blocked roads with burning tyres and security forces fired shots in the capital Kinshasa on Monday, witnesses said, amid mounting concerns that President Joseph Kabila plans to delay an election and hold on to power. Kabila's term as leader of Democratic Republic of Congo expires in December and he is barred by the constitution from seeking another term. He took power in 2001 after his father was assassinated and has since won two elections. But the opposition says he is plotting to stay in power, a suspicion boosted on Saturday by the election commission's decision to formally petition the constitutional court for a postponement of the presidential election. The commission says an overhaul of voter rolls is needed that will last until at least next July. Monday's protests, in the Ngaba and Yolo districts of Kinshasa, erupted ahead of a planned march to press for Kabila's resignation, the witnesses said. Dozens of people have died and many others were arrested in similar protests since last year. Last week the government held talks to set a new election timetable. Most opposition parties boycotted the negotiations and opposition figures who were involved rejected a proposal to push back the presidential vote until the end of 2018. Congo has never experienced a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. [nL8N1BR2AI] (Reporting by Amedee Mwarabu Kiboko; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Gareth Jones) The Hague (AFP) - Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda was Monday on the 12th day of an unprecedented hunger strike in his detention cell in The Netherlands, refusing to attend his war crimes trial. The once feared rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo has not appeared in the courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since September 7. He is the first defendant before the tribunal -- set up in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes -- to ever go on hunger strike and his protest is vexing judges who have ordered his trial must go on in his absence. "How long can this situation last? Is it the kind of justice we want before the International Criminal Court?" said his lawyer, Stephane Bourgon, in a statement sent early Monday. "We can't ignore the absence of the accused whose current state of health is rapidly deteriorating." Ntaganda, who has been held in the ICC's detention unit in the seaside suburb of Scheveningen since he surrendered in 2013, has also told his lawyers to stop acting for him. Once dubbed The Terminator, Ntaganda has denied 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out of savage ethnic attacks carried out in the DR Congo by his rebel Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) in 2002-2003. With Ntaganda again absent from the courtroom, Judge Robert Fremr said the detention centre's medical officer had reported early Monday that Ntaganda "shows fatigue, but no alarming physical or mental symptoms." The medical officer had concluded Ntaganda was fit to be transferred to the courtroom to attend in his trial. - 'Disruptive' actions - Fremr again denounced Ntaganda's actions as "disruptive", calling them "self-induced" and adding "the chamber sees no reasonable alternative but to continue the proceedings." Ntaganda is protesting the judges' refusal to ease restrictions on his visitors -- imposed due to fears about witness tampering. Story continues In a rambling statement read to the court last week, he said he had lost hope of ever seeing his wife and children again without the presence of court and security officials. The standoff has left the court in a quandary, although ICC officials told AFP they would not force feed him. "The court has an internal protocol that is being applied. Mr Ntaganda is being seen regularly by medical professionals and will not be force fed," the ICC said. Ntaganda's trial opened in September 2015 after he walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been mired for two decades in ethnically-charged wars, as rebels battle for control of its rich mineral resources. Prosecutors say Ntaganda played a central role in the Ituri conflict in the far northeast which rights groups believe alone has left some 60,000 dead since 1999. An Ohio man who owes his life to the cop who rescued him from drowning nearly 20 years ago surprised the officer as the two shared an emotional reunion Friday. Read: 'He Saved My Mommy's Life': 35 Survivors Reunite, Thank Sully for Risky Water Landing Office James Poole thought he was being invited to speak about his position for cadets at the Columbus Police Academy when he arrived at the facility with notes in hand. But he didn't expect an unfamiliar face to tap him on the shoulder partway through the on-camera interview. "Do you remember me?" the man asked Poole. "About 1997, you pulled a 5-year-old out of a swimming pool, saved his life." Immediately, the pair embraced, as if they had known each other forever. With tears streaming down his face, Chris Jones told Poole, "because of you, I'm still here," as Jones' own 5-year-old daughter watched." Jones told InsideEdition.com that although he was only 5 years old when it happened, he remembers his near-death experience as if it were yesterday. "There was like 20 of us. We went to some pool, either a hotel or apartment complex. There was no lifeguard," he recalled. Read: Safety Tips You Need To Know If You See Someone Drowning He said the pool was overcrowded, so he decided to jump into the other end of the pool, not realizing it was the deep end. "I kept going down, down, down," he said. "I finally hit the bottom. I look up, and I started to panic. I was flailing my arms trying to get back up, holding my breath." From then on, Jones said he came in and out of consciousness before waking up in a hospital room. Even at a young age, he knew clearly that he owed Officer Poole his life. Despite not being in touch with the officer in the years to come, Jones said he recently saw a Facebook post that featured a familiar name. Curious, Jones then commented: "I had an Officer Poole save me once when I drowned in 96/97. Wonder if that's him." Story continues Immediately, officers were in touch with him and conjured a plan for the two to meet. Read: Starbucks Worker Delivers Coffee and Pastries to New York Officers After Explosion "It was surreal," Jones said. "I was nervous. I really wanted to cry but I was trying my hardest not to cry. It took me 20 years. I never thought I'd meet this man." But now, Jones told InsideEdition.com that he's motivated to follow a career in law enforcement with the Columbus Police Department: "He's exactly the kind of officer I want to be, the ones that are doing good." Watch: Bystanders Save Man Knocked Out After Jumping Off 173-Foot Waterfall Related Articles: An Australian teen was reported missing this week, and when police appealed to the public for information on her whereabouts on Facebook, she cracked the case for them by saying she was in her room. Read: Twist of Date: Woman Fuming After Meeting Tinder Match on Yacht, Along With 5 Others Queensland Police posted about the missing teen Sunday, asking citizens on the social network to contact them if they had any information about the girl. Not long after her photo and information were posted, she commented: Guys I'm fine I'm not missing this is an overreaction to a fight I had with my sister, I'm legit just sitting in my bedroom. The slightly embarrassed police replied to her comment saying: I am glad that you're safe, but we can't take this down until you've been sighted by police and we've confirmed that you're okay. They asked her to call the station or come down to verify that she is fine and not missing so the search can officially end. Read: Bystanders Save Man Knocked Out After Jumping Off 173-Foot Waterfall A Queensland Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia that the teen was located safe and well shortly before the end of the day and the post was removed from their Facebook page. Watch: He Wasn't Nice Nice, Baby: Vanilla Ice Lashes Out in Airport After Missing Flight Related Articles: (Corrects to remove "monks" and replace with "general public" in paragraph 13.) By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Clad in black sweatpants, red jackets and white helmets, the hundreds of cyclists pedaling the treacherously steep, narrow mountain passes to India from Nepal could be mistaken for a Himalayan version of the Tour de France. The similarity, however, ends there. This journey is longer and tougher, the prize has no financial value or global recognition and the participants are not professional cyclists but Buddhist nuns from India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Five hundred nuns from the Buddhist sect known as the Drukpa Order, http://www.drukpa.org/index.php/en/ on Saturday complete a 4,000-km (2,485 mile) bicycle trek from Nepal's Kathmandu to the northern city of Leh in India to raise awareness about human trafficking in the remote region. "When we were doing relief work in Nepal after the earthquakes last year, we heard how girls from poor families were being sold because their parents could not afford to keep them anymore," 22-year-old nun Jigme Konchok Lhamo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We wanted to do something to change this attitude that girls are less than boys and that it's okay to sell them," she said, adding that the bicycle trek shows "women have power and strength like men." South Asia may boast women leaders and be home to cultures that revere motherhood and worship female deities, but many girls and women live with the threat of violence and without many basic rights. From honor killings in Pakistan to foeticide in India and child marriage in Nepal, women face a barrage of threats, although growing awareness, better laws and economic empowerment are bringing a slow change in attitudes. "KUNG FU" NUNS The bicycle trek, from Nepal into India, is nothing new for the Drukpa nuns. This is the fourth such journey they have made, meeting local people, government officials and religious leaders to spread messages of gender equality, peaceful co-existence and respect for the environment. They also deliver food to the poor, help villagers get medical care and are dubbed the "Kung Fu nuns" due to their training in martial arts. Led by the Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the Drukpa Order, the nuns raise eyebrows, especially among Buddhists for their unorthodox activities. "Traditionally Buddhist nuns are treated very differently from monks. They cook and clean and are not allowed to exercise. But his Holiness thought this was nonsense and decided to buck the trend," said Carrie Lee, president of Live to Love International, a charity which works with the Drukpa nuns to support marginalised Himalayan communities. http://www.livetolove.org/ "Among other things, he gave them leadership roles and even introduced Kung Fu classes for the nuns after they faced harassment and violence from the general public who were disturbed by the growing shift of power dynamics," she said. Over the last 12 years, the number of Drukpa nuns has grown to 500 from 30, said Lee, largely due to the progressive attitudes of the 53-year-old Gyalwang Drukpa, who was inspired by his mother to become an advocate for gender equality. The Gyalwang Drukpa also participates in the bicycle journeys, riding with the nuns as they pedal through treacherous terrain and hostile weather and camp out in the open. "PRAYING IS NOT ENOUGH" The Drukpa nuns say they believe they are helping to change attitudes. "Most of the people, when they see us on our bikes, think we are boys," said 18-year-old nun Jigme Wangchuk Lhamo. "Then they get shocked when we stop and tell them that not only are we girls, but we are also Buddhist nuns," she said. "I think this helps change their attitudes about women and maybe value them as equals." South Asia, with India at its centre, is also one of the fastest growing regions for human trafficking in the world. Gangs dupe impoverished villagers into bonded labour or rent them to work as slaves in urban homes, restaurants, shops and hotels. Many girls and women are sold into brothels. Experts say post-disaster trafficking has become common in South Asia as an increase in extreme events caused by global warming, as well as earthquakes, leave the poor more vulnerable. The breakdown of social institutions in devastated areas creates difficulties securing food and supplies, leaving women and children at risk of kidnapping, sexual exploitation and trafficking. Twin earthquakes that struck Nepal in April and May 2015, which killed almost 9,000 people, left hundreds of thousands of families homeless and many without any means of income, led to an increase in children and women being trafficked. More than 40,000 children lost their parents, were injured or were placed in precarious situations following the disaster, according to Nepali officials. The Drukpa nuns said the earthquakes were a turning point in their understanding of human trafficking and that they felt a need to do more than travel to disaster-hit mountain villages with rice on their backs. "People think that because we are nuns, we are supposed to stay in the temples and pray all the time. But praying is not enough," said Jigme Konchok Lhamo. "His Holiness teaches us that we have go out and act on the words that we pray. After all, actions speak louder than words," she said. (Reporting by Nita Bhalla, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, land rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) DailyFX.com - To receive Tylers analysis directly via email, please SIGN UP HERE Talking Points: Crude Oil Technical Strategy: Short Bias Remains As Falling Resistance Holds On Strengthening USD Supply and Demand Imbalance Fix At Algiers Could Trigger LT Bullish Head & Shoulders Pattern Contrarian Sentiment System Now Favors Further Downside Risk The prospects for higher Oil prices appear to be hanging by an increasingly thinner thread. A host of developments would need to arise for the Bull Market that began in Q1 to carry the price back toward ~$60/bbl. First, the US Dollar, which is inversely correlated to the price of Oil would need to move lower in a rather aggressive fashion. While such a move is possible, it would likely require the Federal Reserve to underwhelm the market over the coming meetings in 2016. Currently, a stronger Dollar seems to be the path of least resistance as the markets are pricing in one rate-hike in 2016. Such Dollar implied strength is also seen in the 3M LIBOR rate recently hitting 7-year highs. Should the first domino of a weaker US Dollar develop, we would also need to see the surge in supply reverse or become overtaken by the growth in demand. Naturally, growth in demand for Oil is what many want to see as it would indicator that the forces of economic production are up and running again. However, this has not been the case, and it would seem now that many positive developments would need to arise for this to be the case. Track short-term Crude Oil price levels and patterns with the GSI indicator! Lastly, a move higher appears unlikely if OPEC is unable to reach an agreement to cap production in Algiers next week. The market has been awarding OPEC for rumors of an accord to cap production at current levels, but as weve seen in the past if theyre unable to solidify an agreement, further selling pressure likely will arise. To see where the selling pressure may take us, lets look at the charts. Story continues TradingView D1 Crude Oil Price Chart: Head & Shoulders Bullish Pattern Still Validating Crude Oil Price Forecast: Clear Technical Focus Ahead of Algiers The chart above shows competing technical stories. As explained earlier, the fundamental pressure appears to be for a push lower, but a reversal of main themes and a price breakout should be on the mind of traders as it could signal a fresh opportunity. Currently, the price of Crude Oil is sitting on the support of a trendline drawn from the February & August low. In addition to the trend line, we see the price is sitting at the base of the Ichimoku Cloud and is at the 61.8% price retracement ( $42.91/bbl) of the August-September price range. If the price can hold the support mentioned above, and move above the higher low, which is the September opening range high at $47.71, we could be on the cusp of a renewed Bull Market. A failure for the price to break above $47.15 would keep us patiently on the bearish side of the Oil market with a keen focus on fundamental stories. Access Our Free Q3 Oil Outlook As Oil's Best Quarter Looks For Confirmation In the last note, we shared about the potential for the head and shoulders breakout, which is a classic bullish price pattern that fails to play out as often as newer traders would hope. The bullish pattern could align with a continuation of the move higher that developed after the extreme low in February. Since February 11, the Oil market has recovered aggressively and is now sitting close to long-term price channel resistance and sitting above the 200-DMA at $40.99/bbl. The 200-DMA also sits very close to the 100% Fibonacci Extention on the move lower, which is at $41.39/bbl. Many eyes are on these levels from an institutional side to see if buyers begin to pour into Crude long positions with stops likely at the August low of $39.17/bbl. Given the recent US Dollar strength, which is emerging against commodity FX like the Canadian Dollar and Emerging Market currencies like the Mexican Peso, we could continue to see a move toward the 200-DMA ($40.99/bbl). A supportive component of US Dollar strength appears to be USD Funding costs on the international interbank stage that are shown with 3M USD LIBOR currently at 7-year highs. Short-term support remains at the September opening range low at $43.02/bbl. A break below there would turn the focus to the 200-DMA. Short-term resistance favors the September opening range high at $47.71/bbl. From a Global Macro perspective, we may continue to see more stories favoring price moving towards support. Key Levels Over the Next 48-hrs of Trading As of Monday, September 19, 2016 Crude Oil Price Forecast: Clear Technical Focus Ahead of Algiers T.Y. original source DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets. Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Cruz Capital Corp (CUZ.V) (OTC Pink: BKTPF) (FSE:A2AG5M) is pleased to announce that the company has increased the property by 22 claim units to now comprise of approximately 900 acres. The Johnson Cobalt Prospect is one of 4 cobalt prospects in Ontario that the company controls. Management expects to commence operations in Ontario shortly utilizing the flow through funds on hand. The Johnson Cobalt Prospect consists of approximately 900 acres in the Kirkland Lake mining district of Ontario. According to file MDl31M05NE00120 from 1980, grab assays over 300 metres returned up to 10.5% cobalt, 69 g/t AG, 12% NI and .4% CU. The company plans to commence work to fully assess this property shortly. Cruz President, James Nelson, stated, "This is a very exciting time for Cruz management and shareholders. We are coming into a period of significant activity on our cobalt assets. We feel that cobalt is at the earliest stages of a bull market for cobalt prices. Cruz has established itself at the forefront in the junior cobalt space as we now currently have 8 separate projects in the politically safe jurisdiction of North America." To view an enhanced version, please visit: https://www.accesswire.com/uploads/Cruz_Capital_Corp_91916.jpg Cobalt prices have continued to show strength and once again closed at 6 month highs. Cruz is actively engaged in acquiring and developing Cobalt assets in North America. Cruz has acquired numerous high grade cobalt assets located in North America. Seven cobalt projects are in Canada and one in Idaho. The goal of the company is to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. Management feels that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and we are pleased to be positioning Cruz at the forefront of this cycle. The technical contents of this release were approved by Greg Thomson, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The property has not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 report. Story continues If you would like to be added to Cruz's email list please send an email to info@cruzcapitalcorp.com or twitter @CruzCapitalCorp James Nelson President 604.899.9150 www.cruzcapitalcorp.com twitter @CruzCapitalCorp SOURCE: Cruz Capital Corp GettyImages 519441890 Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday renewed calls for increasing restrictions on who can enter the country, saying in a statement that a spate of terror attacks on US soil over the weekend indicated we are moving into a new phase in the war with ISIS and Al Qaeda. Cruz said that a focused, aggressive military campaign against ISIS two years ago may have effectively destroyed the terrorist group," but additional measures must now be taken. The statement came after a series of weekend acts of terror in New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota that injured dozens of people but did not claim any lives. ISIS claimed responsibility for the mass stabbing at a Minnesota shopping mall, but no terror organization has taken credit for the East Coast bombings. Law enforcement was able to identify and apprehend on Monday a suspect wanted in connection to the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey. As we confront this new phase, we must avoid the trap of misconceiving these attacks as isolated incidents somehow disconnected from the larger ideological struggle against jihad, Cruz said. The Texas senator added: It is past time to take off the blinders and call the enemy what it is: radical Islamic terrorism engaged in a coordinated campaign designed to disrupt our very way of life. Cruz, a former top contender for the Republican presidential nomination, also called on a better working relationship with the Muslim community and for Congress to stop permitting refugees who live in hotbeds of terrorism from entering the country. We also desperately need the active participation of American Muslims who see the jihadis for what they are: the enemies of all who celebrate freedom and tolerance, he said. Congress should act to prevent Americans who have travelled abroad for training from returning here, and to stop the flow of refugees from hotbeds of terrorism in the Middle East that President Obama is determined to bring to our country. Story continues Cruz concluded: We cant overcome our enemies by pretending they dont exist, and undermining our first line of defenders. Only together, clear-eyed and determined, can we defeat this foe. NOW WATCH: Clinton just released a brutal ad linking Trump to white supremacists More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f214942%2fgettyimages-518791409 Think twice before you nuzzle your precious, fuzzy feline companion. Your health may depend on it. Cat lovers of the internet like to joke about how their favorite pets may harbor ill will towards them posting memes and sinister photos about how kitties may be plotting their untimely demises. Perhaps there's more truth to this idea than we thought. SEE ALSO: Dogs can understand what you're saying and how you say it According to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and appearing in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases , cuddling kittens increases the risk of cat-scratch disease, a preventable, mild illness that can become fatal if contracted with serious complications. The disease spreads when a cat licks a person's open wound, bites or scratches a person hard enough to break the skin. We all know how finicky cats can be during cuddle sessions they can turn ugly at a moment's notice. Symptoms involve fever, headache, poor appetite, swollen lymph nodes and exhaustion. If left unchecked, it can also cause brain swelling, heart complications and death. The study observed health insurance claims made between 2005 and 2013 and found that in over 12,000 claims diagnosed with cat-scratch disease, 500 of them were hospitalized. Despite fewer people contracting the disease over all, the number of people who have become seriously ill from the disease has "increased from 3.5% in 20052007 to 4.2% in 20112013" according to the study. The study also found that there was an unusually high rate of diagnoses of the disease in January. "One hypothesis to explain the January peak is that cats are adopted from shelters more often during the holiday season, for sentimental reasons or as gifts," it says it in the study. The authors also theorize that students coming home for holidays or increasing their time inside might also be a factor. However, if you're a healthy individual, you might need to steer clear of your cat all together. Story continues "Most of the people who get seriously sick from cat-scratch are immunocompromised. The classic example is patients with HIV," Dr. Aaron Glatt, chairman of medicine and hospital epidemiology of South Nassau Community Hospital in New York told NPR. Glatt was not involved in the study, but also mentioned to NPR that more people have suppressed immune systems today, which might attribute to the rise in serious cases. "Cat-scratch is preventable. If we can identify the populations at risk and the patterns of disease, we can focus the prevention efforts," he said. If you want to keep yourself safe, make sure you have good flea control, keep your cats indoors, and always wash your hands after your cuddle sessions, says the CDC. And don't squeeze them too hard. BONUS: 100 Years of Kitten Beauty On Sep 16, we issued an updated research report on fertilizer company CVR Partners UAN. . While CVR Partners should gain from its acquisition of Rentech Nitrogen Partners and capacity expansion actions, it remains exposed to pricing pressure stemming from lower nitrogen fertilizer prices. The company is seeing lower prices for urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as witnessed by a roughly 26% decline in the second quarter of 2016. Urea prices have been under pressure due to high levels of supply from Chinese producers. Ammonia prices also slipped around 24% in the second quarter. Global capacity expansion continues to exert pressure on urea and other nitrogen fertilizer prices. Nitrogen prices are expected to remain under pressure in the near term due to elevated supply. Abundant nitrogen supply (driven by new production capacity) is expected to affect global prices in the second half of 2016. As such, depressed nitrogen fertilizer prices may weigh on CVR Partners margins in the short haul. CVR Partners also faces pricing competition from other nitrogen fertilizer producers. Lower cost of natural gas, which is used as primary feedstock by most of its competitors, unfavorably impacts CVR Partners competitive position vis-a-vis other nitrogen fertilizer makers. The companys operations are also subject to the risks of production outages due to plant shutdowns. A major turnaround at the East Dubuque plant involving around $6.6 million expenses affected the companys distribution in second-quarter 2016. The full impact of the turnaround on its distribution for the quarter has been estimated at around $10 million. A prolonged plant shutdown, if any, could have an adverse impact on the companys results from operations and financial condition, moving ahead. CVR Partners has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). CVR PARTNERS LP Price and Consensus CVR PARTNERS LP Price and Consensus | CVR PARTNERS LP Quote Better-ranked companies in the basic materials space include Innophos Holdings Inc IPHS, Innospec Inc. IOSP and Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation MTLHY, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report INNOPHOS HLDGS (IPHS): Free Stock Analysis Report INNOSPEC INC (IOSP): Free Stock Analysis Report MITSUBISHI CHEM (MTLHY): Free Stock Analysis Report CVR PARTNERS LP (UAN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Reuters) - Britain's Dairy Crest Group Plc (DCG.L) said on Monday that it expects first-half profit to be ahead of last year, helped by higher sales volumes across its brands. The butters, spreads and cheese maker said it sees combined volumes for the six months ending Sept. 30 across brands like Cathedral City, Country Life and Clover ahead of last year. The company reported a pretax profit of 13.1 million pounds for the first half of 2015. Expectations for the full-year remain unchanged, it said. (Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair) Dalton Prager, one-half of the IRL Fault in our Stars couple, has passed away. We are crying. Dalton Prager, one-half of the IRL Fault in our Stars couple, has passed away. We are crying. The real life The Fault in our Stars couple, Dalton and Katie Prager, have had anything but a normal love story. However, its with our deepest regrets to report Dalton passed away Saturday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis at the mere age of 25 from an infection known as Burkholderia cepacia, a contagious infection contracted by those suffering from cystic fibrosis. Dalton and Katie met online when theyd both turned 18, though after falling head over heels, doctors warned Katie not to meet Dalton in person as she would be exposed to possible infection of the same bacteria. Those fears came to fruition and Katie contracted the infection, once the two ignored naysayers for the sake of love and met when Dalton traveled to Kentucky. Together in love, Katie and Dalton waited for transplants, though Dalton was the first recipient in November 2014 with Katie receiving hers in July 2015. The lone comment on the photo is from Katie, months before Daltons transplant. I love you more than youll ever know. Things seemed well after Daltons initial transplant, though, he would eventually develop lymphoma with a sub-set of pneumonia and a viral infection. Along with mounting medical bills, the struggle to be together seemed impossible to some but these two were fighters, if nothing else which is easily seen through all theyve overcome in their young lives. Katies body, on the other hand, never took to the transplant and there came a point when doctors focused on the quality of her life as opposed to finding a cure. Unfortunately, Katie didnt get to be with Dalton physically when he took his last breath as shed been placed in hospice care in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. However, thanks to the miracles of technology, the husband and wife were able to FaceTime while Dalton lay in ICU on a ventilator. Their dreams of having him flown to a Kentucky hospital, to be near Katie, never happened, nor did a final hug or kiss goodbye. Story continues She told him that she loved him. We dont know if he heard her, Katies mother, Debra said. Their 5th wedding anniversary, having married in 2011 at the age of 20, was the last the two would see one another in person, just over two months ago (back in July). You might wonder why two young individuals, with obvious health concerns would risk so much to be together but Katie has the perfect response in an interview with CNN. I told Dalton Id rather be happy like really, really happy for five years of my life and die sooner than be mediocre happy and live for 20 years. That was definitely something I had to think about, but when you have those feelings, you just know. We agree. Finding love like this is worth holding onto. She went on to say He was one of the greatest people Id ever met and not many people like Dalton come around so you got to get him while you can. Its clear Katie and Dalton were meant to find one another, despite all their setbacks. Daltons funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Missouri with all who loved him attending and with the medical and funeral expenses, a GoFundMe page has been created, originally for them to reunite, but now to ease the familys financial burden during this difficult time. Katie took to Facebook, a fitting location as it was the beginning of their relationship, to speak on her husband. Dalton fought a long hard battle with cystic fibrosis. He was a courageous fighter and give up wasnt in his vocabulary. She continues by adding It gave me some of the best years of my life. Id rather have five years of being in love and just really completely happy than 20 years of not having anybody. Such wisdom beyond her years, were sending Katie, and Daltons family and friends, all the sympathy and comfort in the world and in the famous words of John Green via The Fault in our Stars, I want to leave a mark. Forever in our hearts, we think you certainly have, Dalton and Katie. The post Dalton Prager, one-half of the IRL Fault in our Stars couple, has passed away. We are crying. appeared first on HelloGiggles. The daughter of runaway British aristocrat, Baron Tony Moynihan, the 3rd Lord Moynihan, has been shot dead in the Philippines amid the countrys increasingly bloody war on drugs. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aurora Moynihan was found dead in a Manila street on Sept. 9. Police say she was shot in a vehicle and then pushed out of the vehicle door. Moynihan, whose sister Maritoni Fernandez is a Philippine movie star, was found with a cardboard sign reading Drug Pusher to the Celebrities You Are Next. Her death came just hours after a local police chief announced the arrest of three suspects accused of supplying ecstasy to celebrity clientele. Baron Moynihan, who died in Manila in 1991, gained notoriety during the 1970s as an alleged associate of an Australian criminal gang that smuggled heroin from Manila to Australia, and, in the 1980s, for betraying notorious international pot smuggler Howard Marks, a.k.a. Mr. Nice, to the U.S. Drugs Enforcement Agency in a celebrated sting. According to his Telegraph obituary, Moynihan fled from Spain to the Philippines for fear of being extradited to the U.K. after fraud charges were leveled against him in 1970. We as a family have one priority and truth at this point in time, said Fernandez in a statement to local media after the announcement of Aurora Moynihans death, that is to protect her children from further pain and suffering so that they, and we as a family may take this time to grieve, mourn but most of all celebrate the life of this exceptional human being I will forever have the privilege of calling my sister. On Sep 19, we issued an updated research report on DaVita Inc. DVA. The Colorado-based company is one of the leading dialysis services providers in the U.S. However, the company has been continuously underperforming over last few quarters. The downward revision of the Zacks Consensus Estimates for both 20176 and 2017 is a clear indication of the same. Poor cost management amid intense competition pose further risks for the Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) company. The company has been recently rebranded from HealthCare Partners to the DaVita Medical Group and hence, its management expects to spend $5 million to $10 million in 2016. In addition, DaVita will need to accelerate the non-cash amortization of $110 million worth of existing trademark intangibles associated with the legacy HealthCare Partners brand. Also, DaVita anticipates its dialysis and related lab services general and administrative expenses to increase in the upcoming quarters. The companys plan to undertake initiatives to improve its information technology infrastructure would also result in higher costs. Investments to support regulatory compliance and legal matters and to tap new business opportunities are also likely to contribute to the increasing expenses. DaVitas in-year Medicare Advantage membership growth has been in line with broader enrollment trends and the geographies it operates in. The company also lowered its full-year 2016 guidance to a range of $110 million to $150 million due to lower-than-expected fee-for-service revenue growth, lesser membership growth in Medicare Advantage and charges related to rebranding from HealthCare Partners to the DaVita Medical Group. Most of DaVitas dialysis and related lab service revenues are generated from patients who have commercial payors as the primary payor. Hence, the companys top line is remains exposed to heavy risk in case people shift from commercial insurance schemes to government schemes due to the wide disparity in payment rates. Story continues Another headwind for DaVita is its dependence upon future borrowings for the repayment of current liquidity and liability needs. The rebranding of HealthCare Partners has substantially increased the companys outstanding debt level and is likely to result in the rise in borrowing costs and interest expenses going forward. The companys earnings and cash flow are also expected to be affected by this high leverage. Stocks to Consider Invesors can look at some better-ranked stocks from the medical sector like Almost Family Inc. AFAM, RadNet Inc. RDNT and US Physical Thearpy Inc. USPH. All of these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report DAVITA HEALTHCR (DVA): Free Stock Analysis Report RADNET INC (RDNT): Free Stock Analysis Report US PHYSICAL THR (USPH): Free Stock Analysis Report ALMOST FAMILY (AFAM): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a securities class action has been filed on behalf of those who purchased shares of Eaton Corporation plc ("Eaton" or the "Company") (ETN) and certain of its officers, during the period between November 13, 2013 and July 28, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). The Complaint alleges that Defendants issued false and misleading statements regarding Eaton's ability to divest its automobile-part manufacturing business. Eaton has primarily focused on vehicle component manufacturing, but as of 2008, Eaton has extended its electrical component businesses. In 2012 Eaton entered a merger with Cooper Industries plc, which reincorporated Eaton in Ireland. Following the Merger, Eaton's executives guaranteed its shareholders of the feasibility of divesting the automobile-part manufacturing business on a tax-free basis, thus artificially inflating Eaton's stock price. On July 29, 2014, Eaton's Chief Executive Officer, Alexander M. Cutler, informed investors that due to the merger with Cooper Industries plc and the associated tax-law restrictions, Eaton would not be able to divest its vehicle business until late. Cutler added the Eaton was "well aware" of these restrictions "all along." Following this news, Eaton stock dropped $6.24 per share, or 8.13%, to close at $70.51 on July 29, 2014. No Class has yet been certified in the above action. To discuss this action, or for any questions, please visit the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/#!etn/d4r9k or contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number. If you suffered a loss in Eaton, you have until September 23, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz 212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC The "Death Note" adaptation, headed for a 2017 release, is "the movie 'Heat,' except with teenagers, and one of those teenagers has superpowers,' one of its writers has said in a new interview. Screenwriter Jeremy Slater created this year's horror drama "The Exorcist" and was involved in the early stages of 2015 superhero movie "Fantastic Four"; he also provided the groundwork for Netflix's "Death Note," based on an acclaimed manga series of the same name, with another writer then brought in to complete the treatment. "I think [Death Note]'s going to be really special, not only because Adam Wingard is such a fabulously talented director, but I think we really found a cool, fun approach," he told Collider in the lead-up to a September 23 debut for "The Exorcist." "It's the movie 'Heat,' except with teenagers, and one of those teenagers has superpowers. It's much darker, much funnier, and much more exciting than I think people are anticipating." "We're also trying really hard to stay true to that great moral complexity of the source material," he also observed. Detective thriller "Death Note" was introduced in 2003 and follows an outstanding high school student who is gradually but unequivocably corrupted by the discovery of a notebook that grants him power over life or death. Interpol dispatches its own enigmatic prodigy to solve a series of mysterious murders and the two become entwined in a mortal game of cat and mouse. Nat Wolff, Keith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, and Willem Dafoe are principal cast members for Netflix' production, with Adam Wingard of "Blair Witch" and "The Guest" directing. DAKAR (Reuters) - Six people were killed last week in Central African Republic in fighting between rival armed groups, the country's U.N. peacekeeping mission and the government said on Monday, revising down an earlier toll. The violence on Friday pitted fighters from the mainly Muslim Seleka group against the Christian anti-Balaka militia in two northern towns, Ndomete and Kaga Bandoro. The anti-Balaka formed in 2013 in response to the toppling of then-president Francois Bozize by the Seleka. Presidential spokesman Albert Mokpeme initially put the death count at 26, but on Monday cut that figure to six, matching the U.N.'s toll. "MINUSCA (the U.N. mission) can only confirm at this stage a total of six deaths," its spokesman Herve Verhoosel said, adding that the clashes were being investigated. The country has been plagued since 2013 by inter-communal and inter-religious clashes, which have persisted since President Faustin-Archange Touadera was sworn in March after an election widely portrayed as a step towards reconciliation. (Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Tim Cocks and John Stonestreet) This Immigrant Doctor Is Reimagining Health in the American City A man is pulled over for a traffic violation. The police officer finds drugs and a gun in the vehicle. Hes charged with sale of a controlled substance while armed with an illegal weapon. A woman holds up a bodega with a squirt gun. Shes charged with armed robbery. A man beats up a drug dealer who stole his money. His charge: aggravated assault with intent to kill. Tell me if youre worried about aggravated assault with intent to kill. Of course you are. So am I, Todd Clear, a professor at Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, told TakePart. The term violence occupies space in all of our heads that is an extremely problematic space. But the things that people actually do to get that label do not always occupy that same space. The examples named above are all real crimes committed by students Clear works with in Rutgers Universitys prison-to-college program. All were convicted of violent crimes, putting them in a category of offender that is often regarded as too dangerous to consider when discussing prison reform. Theyre all doing well in college. Theyre all articulate. Their lives are lives you would want to invest in, Clear said of the students. They are not what society fears when society says we cannot have any reforms for violent criminals. RELATED: When a Policy Alone Is Not Enough Crimes such as murder, aggravated assault, and armed robbery are uniformly classified as violent, but across the country, criminal codes also include offenses that have an element of threat or a risk of force against either a person or a property, regardless of the actual conduct. Trying to define violence as having to involve actual injury seriously complicates things like emptying your gun at somebody but missing, said Adam Gelb, director of The Pew Charitable Trusts Public Safety Performance Project, which works to reduce state prison populations. Thats why a crime could be considered violent if committing it would lead to a reasonable expectation of a violent confrontation, Gelb explained. Story continues Determining what crimes contain a reasonable expectation of violence isnt black and white, as dozens of them exist in gray areas, and their classification as violent or nonviolent varies from state to state. Some of the offenses classified as violent in individual state penal codes include drug trafficking in Oklahoma, solicitation of a minor in Minnesota, and rioting in South Dakota. More than a dozen state criminal codes include unarmed burglary among their lists of violent crimes. We over-characterize nonviolent behavior as violent and sentence people who commit nonviolent conduct egregiously by denominating them violent offenders, said Joe Margulies, a law professor at Cornell University. The distinction between a violent and a nonviolent crime is significant. Being charged with a violent crime has immediate and long-lasting consequences, from dictating the plea deal offered to bail eligibility to length of prison sentence to establishing a history of violence if the offender commits another crime. Once they are called a violent offender we behave as though they will be that and they are that for all time, so we can let them rot in prison, Margulies said. Violent offenders make up roughly 53 percent of state prison populations, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. But BJS defines violent crime as murder, manslaughter, robbery, assault, and sexual assault. When folding in property crimes and public order crimes, as many states do, the percentage of inmates convicted of violent crimes in the state system climbs upwards of 70 percent, according to BJS figures. Although past prison reform policies have focused primarily on nonviolent offenders, there is a growing consensus that violent offenders must also be considered to significantly reduce Americas prison population. What were seeing now is a willingness to look at some of the offenses that have been deemed violentand view them in a different light, Gelb said. There is a bipartisan agreement that we can have less crime and incarceration. And we can do that by focusing prison space on truly violent and career criminals while shifting lower-level offenders into alternatives that work better and cost less. The Pew Charitable Trusts has recommended that states introduce presumptive probation rather than prison time for low-level criminals and increase access to earned time credits for good behavior or for participating in educational programs. Last year, the BJS reported a 1 percent decrease in the state and federal prison populations, much of which was thanks to policies that diverted nonviolent offenders. Yet many federal and state prisons are dangerously overcrowded and will stay that way until violent offenders are included in prison reform legislation. Take the Pledge: Dont Be Silent: Take the Pledge to Be an Ally for Racial Justice Related stories on TakePart: Rehabilitating Violent Offenders Is Possible. Why Arent We Doing It? Room for Forgiveness Locked Up Original article from TakePart To keep up with Democracy Lab in real time, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Christian Caryl mourns a noble democratic experiment in Syria that has just been crushed by Assad. Christian Davies and Paul Hansbury see signs that Belarus is coming in from the cold. Dalibor Rohac calls for a renewed effort to finally do something about the rise of populism. Nathaniel Heller critiques Senator Ben Cardins ambitious, if flawed, proposal for how the United States can tackle corruption overseas. And now for this weeks recommended reads: Thomas Carothers, Mark Freeman, Cale Salih, and Robert Templer have published a guide for the Carnegie Endowment to help recipients of Western development assistance understand who their donors are and what they really want. Also for Carnegie, Marc Lynch sums up the latest research about how authoritarian Arab regimes learned suppressive tactics from each other in the wake of the Arab Spring. Lynch also takes a critical look at Tunisias transitional justice process. In the New Yorker, Joshua Yaffa profiles two journalists-turned-politicians who are trying to dismantle Ukraines corrupt political system. For BloombergView, Tyler Cowen explains how the nature of globalization has changed. For the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Richard Gowan, Lawrence Woocher, and Daniel Solomon call for the United Nations next secretary-general to make preventing mass atrocities a priority. The Economist excoriates Egypts authoritarian government for its failure to deal with the countrys rising social and economic pressures. A gay Ugandan man publishes an open letter in NewsDeeply asking to be resettled to a safe country. Also in NewsDeeply, Flora Bagenal highlights some key findings from a major new survey about the prevalence of female genital mutilation. The New York Times Deborah Sontag uncovers how the United States coopted Colombias attempt to hold its drug warlords responsible for their crimes. In the photo, Egyptian photographer Mahmoud Abdel Shakour gestures from inside a soundproof glass dock during his trial on August 9. Photo credit: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images By Annabella PultzNielsen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark edged closer to an early general election as a political row over tax cuts for the wealthy escalated over the weekend, threatening to bring down the minority Liberal government that took office just 15 months ago. The Danish People's Party (DF), one of several that props up the center-right government by voting with it in parliament, rejected a demand by another one, the Liberal Alliance (LA), to cut the top rate of income tax by 5 percentage points. "Are you ready for a general election?," DF leader Kristian Thulesen-Dahl asked delegates in his opening speech to the party's annual conference on Saturday. LA leader Anders Samuelsen has said several times in recent weeks that his party is ready to bring down the government with a no confidence vote if Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen fails to include the tax cut in the 2017 budget. Rasmussen said there was not enough backing for the tax cut and urged the two parties to negotiate in order to avoid an election that is likely to be won by the left. "That would be a very high price to pay, just because one couldn't have their political wishes fulfilled 100 percent," Rasmussen said on Saturday. Rasmussen's one-party government holds 34 of 179 seats in parliament, making it the narrowest Danish government for decades. It can stay in power only as long as it is supported by DF, LA and the Conservative Party. Rasmussen won the last election by just one seat in June 2015. A weighted poll from several pollsters gathered by political website Politiko on Sept. 11, showed the socialist opposition would win an election by one seat. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy) By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Turning a blind eye to climate change will come at a price the world can no longer afford to pay, the director of a documentary produced by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio said on Monday. "We can no longer turn a blind eye to the issue of climate change. We are at a crucial moment where if we don't act now, we will forever pay the price," Fisher Stevens said in a statement. "My hope is that this film provides a global wakeup call about our inevitable fate should we fail to act." The film follows environmental activist DiCaprio and Stevens as they travel from Canada's oil sands to tiny Pacific islands, interviewing world leaders such as the Catholic Church's Pope Francis and U.S. President Barack Obama, climate scientists and academics. DiCaprio's interview subjects discuss and document the negative impacts of industrialisation and increasing consumption on the health of the planet. "The fact that we are still debating any of this is just utter insanity to me," DiCaprio told the audience after the film's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. Oscar-winning DiCaprio said he rushed to release his upcoming climate change documentary ahead of November's U.S. presidential elections to issue a clarion call to American voters in time to influence their decisions. "We cannot afford, at this critical moment in time, to have leaders in office that do not believe in the modern science of climate change," DiCaprio said. On Friday, U.N. officials said at least 20 countries had indicated they would join the Paris climate change agreement at a United Nations event on Sept. 21. This was in addition to the 27 that had already done so, raising hopes the deal will enter into force by the end of 2016. To take effect, the Paris climate agreement needs ratification by at least 55 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, representing at least 55 percent of global emissions. "Before the Flood" will premiere in Europe at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 15 and airs on National Geographic Channel globally on Oct. 30. DiCaprio, who won an Oscar this year for playing a fur trapper battling nature's elements in "The Revenant," was an executive producer on 2014 Oscar-nominated documentary "Virunga," about the threatened gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Reporting by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories) Disney may be breaking new ground with its upcoming film Moana, featuring its first Polynesian princess, but its also currently under fire for selling a questionable Halloween costume of one of the movies characters. Last weekend, a costume of Polynesian god Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson in the film, consisting of a brown bodysuit with tattoos, became available for sale at the Disney Store and online. Your little one will set off on adventures in this Maui costume featuring the demigods signature tattoos, rope necklace, and island-style skirt, reads the description. Plus, padded arms and legs for mighty stature! Many took to social media to say the costume was in poor taste; some even accused Disney of caricaturing Polynesian culture and appropriating Hawaiian culture, even calling it an example of brownface. The movie was the subject of controversy earlier this year as well for its depiction of Maui as what some considered overweight. As a Poly I support our folk involved in #MOANA. But this? NO.Our Brown Skin/Ink's NOT a costume. @DisneyMoana pic.twitter.com/X0pacppAqV TheBlackSheep.com (@LivinOffTheGrid) September 18, 2016 cosplaying things like moana is one thing cosplay shouldn't be limited to what ur race is. but literally wearing a brown skin costume? no hannah (@donnatroying) September 19, 2016 Disney, I love you and I love what i'm seeing of Moana so far but you screwed up with that Maui Costume. Lita (@LitaNZ) September 19, 2016 i love moana but delete that maui costume @Disney yikes emil side b (@holypizzaground) September 19, 2016 The costume, which also includes screen art skirt with leaf accents and photorealistic teeth art appliques, has also been criticized for appropriating sacred Hawaiian and Oceanic traditions. Story continues We are not a costume, says one twitter user. Say no to this #Moana. Others have defended the costume, refuting claims of appropriation, and saying the costume represents a character, not a culture. Maui is a symbol of Polynesian mythology and not an original Disney character. Disney didnt respond to requests for comment. 1. Its deadass brown skinas a costume?? 2. some islander tattoos are very sacred, this costume is literally mocking our traditions. cherry clit (@honeysdew) September 19, 2016 Related stories Bruce Rosenblum Joins Disney/ABC TV as President of Business Operations Disney's 'Moana' Trailer: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Auli'i Cravalho Embark on an Epic Adventure [VIDEO] Tanuj Garg Launches Ellipsis, Producer for Bollywood's New Era The 68th Annual Emmy Awards offered recognition for robust roles played by non-white actors on television. Rami Malek won Best Actor in a Drama for playing a detached hacker on Mr. Robot, becoming the first non-white actor to win the category in 18 years. By the end of the night, four non-white actors had won acting awards, a slight increase from last years three. This year, 24.6% of the acting nominations went to non-white actors, an increase from last years ceremony. (That still falls behind the approximately 28.3% of speaking characters on television who were black, Latino, Asian or Middle Eastern in 2015, according to a USC Annenberg report released in 2016.) The ceremony also gave airtime to presenters and winners like Orange Is the New Blacks Laverne Cox and Master of Nones Alan Yang, whose calls to action championed marginalized groups. Two shows that address race Master of None and Key and Peele took home trophies for Best Writing for a Comedy Series and Best Variety Sketch Show, respectively. As for the leading and supporting actors who won awards, here are five numbers that illustrate, through the prism of the industrys highest honors, the landscape of diversity on television today. 37 Years since a non-white actor won an Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. This year, half of the nominees were non-white, and ultimately, Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), and Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) lost to Louie Anderson, who won for his blend of humor and heartbreak as the mother on Baskets. 18 Years since a non-white dramatic lead actor won. Rami Malek (Elliot, Mr. Robot) is the first non-white winner since 1998 when Andre Braugher took home the trophy for his performance in Homicide: Life on the Street. 6 Years since a non-white actress won the award for Best Actress in a Comedy. Black-ishs Tracee Ellis Ross was the first non-white actress to be nominated in this category since 2008 when America Ferrera won her second consecutive Emmy for Ugly Betty. This year, the honor went to Julia Louis-Dreyfus for helming the Emmy favorite, Veep. The last black actress to win this category was Phylicia Rashad for playing Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show in 1986. 3 Non-white actors took home awards this year for their supporting roles in a miniseries. Half the nominees for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, often the most inclusive category, were non-white. Regina King won for her role as Terri Lacroix on American Crime, and she acknowledged the show for exploring mass incarceration in her speech; Sterling K. Brown won for his portrayal of attorney Christopher Darden on The People v. O.J. Simpson; and Courtney B. Vance won for his role as Johnnie Cochran on The People v. O.J. Simpson. 1 More non-white winners than last years three non-white winners. This year brought the total non-white leading and supporting actors up to four, compared to last years three: Viola Davis (repeat nominee), Uzo Aduba (left out this year) and Regina King (repeat winner.) Donald Trump called into Fox & Friends Monday morning to slam CNN for being disgusting and dishonest, as well as gloat over correctly calling an explosion in New York City a bombing before officials confirmed the attack. Trump complained that CNN, or Clinton News Network, reportedly edited the word bombing out of a video of the Democratic presidential nominee commenting on the incident. She used the words bombs also, by the way, thats true Trump said. I heard I was criticized for calling it correctly. What I said was exactly correct. I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news. Also Read: Police Seek Ahmad Khan Rahami for Questioning in New York City Bombing But what I said was exactly correct and everybody says While he was right, he called it too soon. Okay, give me a break, he added. Some media members criticized Trump for referring to the explosion as a bomb before officials had publicly confirmed details of the incident or what caused the explosion. Just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly whats going on, Trump said at a campaign rally on Saturday night. Also Read: At Least 29 Injured in Explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea Neighborhood Shortly after Trumps comments, it was confirmed that the explosion was a bomb. On Monday morning, the FBI announced it was searching for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami for questioning in connection to the bombing. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the naturalized citizen from Afghanistan could be armed and dangerous. An explosion in Manhattan on Saturday injured 29 people. A pressure cooker device was also found blocks away, but it didnt explode. Also Read: Emmys: Jill Soloway Slams Donald Trump as 'Inheritor to Hitler' A pipe bomb also exploded Saturday in New Jersey and five explosive devices were found near an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station. Watch the interview below. .@realDonaldTrump slams "dishonest" CNN for editing out Clinton reference to NYC explosion as 'bombing' pic.twitter.com/EG2Yy63B4y FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) September 19, 2016 Related stories from TheWrap: Police Seek Ahmad Khan Rahami for Questioning in New York City Bombing Jay Z Calls War on Drugs an 'Epic Fail' in New York Times Op-Ed (Video) At Least 29 Injured in Explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea Neighborhood Donald Trump patted himself on the back Monday morning for talking about the explosion in New York almost immediately after it happened, labeling it a "bomb" before details had been confirmed to the public by authorities. While doing a phone interview on Fox & Friends, the GOP presidential nominee pushed back against critics who said it was inappropriate for him to state as fact the Saturday night explosion in New York City was a "bomb," which he did that evening, shortly after arriving in Colorado for a stump speech. Few details were known about the explosion at the time when Trump made the declaration. "I heard I was criticized for calling it correctly, but I was actually correct," Trump told the Fox & Friends hosts. "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news." The explosion, which occurred in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, injured 29 people, but no one was killed. The suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was captured by police Monday after he was injured during a shootout with authorities. Rahami is also suspected of a planting a bomb in New Jersey. Read more: Emmys: Donald Trump an Early Target During Jimmy Kimmel's Monologue On Monday, Trump once again stated that the U.S., in his opinion, needs to be more stringent about who is allowed within its borders. "There are many, many groups because we are allowing these people to come into our country and destroy our country and make it unsafe for people," Trump said. "We don't want to do any profiling. If someone looks like they have got a massive bomb on his back, we won't go up to that person because the problem is if he looks like he comes from that part of the world, you're not allowed to profile. Give me a break." .@realDonaldTrump slams "dishonest" CNN for editing out Clinton reference to NYC explosion as 'bombing' pic.twitter.com/EG2Yy63B4y - FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) September 19, 2016 Story continues .@realDonaldTrump: There are many foreign connections; people making US unsafe because we're not allowed to profile pic.twitter.com/t3lkTPSJ0M - FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) September 19, 2016 An 83-year-old man kept the symptoms of a genetic disease at bay without even knowing he had it thanks to his years of donating blood, according to a recent report of his case. The disease, called hereditary haemochromatosis, causes the body to absorb too much iron from food, said Dr. Kohtaro Ooka, an internal medicine resident at Yale School of Medicine and the lead author of the case report. Too much iron in the body, also called iron overload, can have wide-ranging effects, Ooka told Live Science. [Here's a Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases We've Covered] The liver, where iron is stored, is particularly vulnerable to the effects of excess iron, Ooka said. A buildup of iron in the liver can lead to damage and scarring, he said. When the organ is severely scarred, it's called cirrhosis. Too much iron can also lead to joint pain and problems with the pancreas, including diabetes, Ooka said. But the man, who didn't find out he had the condition until he was 83, had none of these symptoms, Ooka added. Men with hereditary haemochromatosis generally start to show symptoms in their 40s or 50s, said Dr. Tamar Taddei, an associate professor of digestive diseases at Yale and the senior author of the report, which was published in August in the journal BMJ Case Reports. The symptoms take a long time to show up because it takes many years for the level of iron in the body to rise to the point that it causes these symptoms, she said. To treat the disease, doctors need to remove iron from the body. To do so, they draw blood, which is filled with iron, said Taddei, who is also a physician at the VA Connecticut Health System. In this case, it appears the man's decades of giving blood acted as a form of protection from the symptoms of the disease, Taddei said. Hereditary haemochromatosis is one of the few diseases that doctors still treat with bloodletting, which people used for centuries to treat many maladies, Taddei told Live Science. [10 'Barbaric' Medical Treatments That Are Still Used Today] Story continues Taddei added that women with hereditary haemochromatosis tend to develop symptoms much later than men do, normally in their 60s. Women are less likely to accumulate excess iron in their bodies, because of menstruation, which causes them to lose blood each month, she said. But getting too much iron is rarely an issue for most people, she added. Normally, the amount of iron that's absorbed from food is highly regulated by the body, Taddei said. The body usually does not absorb more than 2 milligrams of the mineral a day, and anything extra is excreted from the body, she said. Abnormal test results The doctors discovered that the man had the condition when he came to doctors because of "vague abdominal pain," according to the report. The pain turned out to be unrelated to the condition, but it led the doctors to run some tests, one of which revealed that the man had high levels of iron in his blood, Taddei said. Additional tests revealed that the man had a cancerous mass in his liver, and that his liver was filled with iron, Taddei said. Liver cancer is common in people who have hereditary haemochromatosis, but only if they also have cirrhosis, Taddei said. The type of cancer that the man had is "almost unheard of" in a person without cirrhosis, she added. The man told the doctors that starting in his 20s he donated blood regularly, and continued doing so for more than 20 years, according to the report. Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. By Alex Whiting ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - If drug-resistant infections in people and animals are allowed to spread unchecked, some 28 million people will fall into poverty by 2050, and a century of progress in health will be reversed, the World Bank said on Monday. By 2050, annual global GDP would fall by at least 1.1 percent, although the loss could be as much as 3.8 percent - the equivalent of the 2008 financial crisis - the Bank said in a report released ahead of a high-level meeting on the issue at the United Nations in New York this week. The rise of "superbugs" resistant to drugs has been caused partly by the increased use and misuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of people and in farming. "We cannot afford to lose the gains in the last century brought about by the antibiotic era," Tim Evans, the World Bank's senior director for health, nutrition and population, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "By any measure, the cost of inaction on antimicrobial resistance is too great, it needs to be addressed urgently and resolutely," he said. Greater quantities of antibiotics are used in farming than for treating people, and much of this is for promoting animal growth rather than treating sick animals, economist Jim O'Neill said in a report in May commissioned by the British government. The O'Neill report estimated that drug-resistant infections could kill more than 10 million people a year by 2050, up from half a million today, and the costs of treatment would soar. LIVESTOCK Farmers too will be greatly affected. The bank estimates that by 2050, global livestock production could fall by between 2.6 percent and 7.5 percent a year, if the problem of drug resistant superbugs is not curbed. "Investments are urgently needed to establish basic veterinary public health capacities in developing countries," Evans said. Improved disease surveillance, diagnostic laboratories to ensure a disease is identified quickly, inspections of farms and slaughterhouses, training of vets, and oversight over the use of antibiotics are also needed, he said. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates 60,000 tonnes of antimicrobials are used in livestock each year, a number set to rise with growing demand for animal products. One of the most important ways to curb the spread of drug resistant microbes in food is to promote good farming practices, said Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer of FAO. "I think this is where we can do most of our prevention better knowledge on hygiene, vaccination campaigns, so these animals do not get sick and need antimicrobials (drugs)," Lubroth said in an interview from Rome. Public demand for food that is uncontaminated, and better training of health professionals - doctors and vets - are also vital to help contain the problem, he added. Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies also need to do more to treat their waste, he said. The World Bank estimates that an investment of some $9 billion a year is needed in veterinary and human health to tackle the issue. "The expected return on this investment is estimated to be between $2 trillion and $5.4 trillion ... or at least 10 to 20 times the cost, which should help generate political will necessary to make these investments," Evans said. (Reporting by Alex Whiting, Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) On Sep 19, we issued an updated research report on Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. DNKN. Headquartered in Canton, MA, the company is a franchisor of quick service restaurants under the Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands. Dunkin Brands earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the past six quarters, backed by consistent year-over-year revenue growth. The companys licensing deals with Keurig Green Mountain and J.M. Smucker to sell Dunkin' K-Cup pods to retailers as well as online customers continue to expand Dunkins brand reach. Notably, given its growing popularity, the company is expanding its footprint in the emerging markets of Asia and the Middle East. Such expansion strategies should boost the companys top line. Moreover, various sales and digital initiatives undertaken by the company like product launches, introduction of loyalty program and mobile ordering service bode well. The company is particularly focused on improving the quality of its core menu, introducing more customization options and promotional offers, and adding further variations to the value and premium segments, which should boost comparable store sales (comps). Meanwhile, Dunkin' Brands operates mainly on a full-fledged franchise model. We believe re-franchising a large chunk of its system reduces the companys capital requirements, and facilitates earnings per share growth and ROE expansion. However, Dunkin' Brands international comps growth has suffered over the past two years at both its Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins divisions due to sluggish macroeconomic growth in South Korea and other emerging markets. Also, the company has been looking to grow in Europe where the economic/political conditions are expected to be challenging post Brexit. Moreover, the company is facing competition from larger fast casual companies like Panera Bread Company PNRA, which offer healthier menu options and are gaining popularity among consumers. Further, Dunkin' Brands coffee offerings face intense competition from Starbucks Corporation SBUX, which boasts a much larger scale of operations. Additionally, Dunkin' Brands generates a chunk of its revenues from the breakfast segment, which is gradually becoming more competitive. This is because bigger companies like McDonald's Corp. MCD are gaining traction with their breakfast platter, which in turn is denting Dunkin' Brands top line. Dunkin' Brands currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PANERA BREAD CO (PNRA): Free Stock Analysis Report STARBUCKS CORP (SBUX): Free Stock Analysis Report MCDONALDS CORP (MCD): Free Stock Analysis Report DUNKIN BRANDS (DNKN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The leading critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drug crime was ousted Monday as head of a Senate investigation into the campaign, which has cost thousands of lives. Senator Leila de Lima said her probe into the surge of killings since Duterte took office on June 30 had been derailed after his allies voted to remove her as head of the Senate justice committee. De Lima, a former justice secretary and human rights chief, had launched the Senate probe. It heard explosive allegations last week from a former hitman that Duterte ordered hundreds of killings when he was mayor of the southern city of Davao and even shot one victim himself. The government described the allegations as lies. On Monday pro-Duterte senators who control the legislative chamber charged that de Lima's investigation was ruining the country's image and voted to remove her as head of the justice committee. De Lima blamed Duterte for her ousting, telling ABS-CBN television: "I know I will continue to be crucified because the president himself wants that... ever since I initiated the inquiry into his extra-judicial killings." "I don't know what will happen now, whether this inquiry into the extra-judicial killings will at all be credible," she said, warning the other senators would try to conceal the president's culpability. On Sunday Duterte asked for a six-month extension for his war on drugs, saying there were too many people involved in the narcotics trade. He won May elections by a landslide, after vowing to kill 100,000 criminals and rid the country of illegal drugs in six months. - Street killings - "I did not realise how severe and how serious the drug menace was in this republic until I became president," Duterte, 71, told reporters late Sunday in Davao. Launching his crackdown was like letting "a worm out of the can" he said, adding that he wanted "a little extension of maybe another six months" to try and finish the job. Story continues "Even if I wanted to I cannot kill them all," Duterte said, adding a new police list of drug suspects would be unveiled. Among the apparent victims of the war of drugs was a daughter of the late British baron Lord Moynihan, police said Monday. Maria Aurora Moynihan, 45, was shot by unknown attackers who left her by the side of a Manila street on September 10. Her killers left a cardboard sign accusing Moynihan of being a "drug pusher for celebrities", Chief Inspector Tito Jay Cuden told AFP. The victim was on bail while facing charges of possession of illegal drugs following a February 2013 suburban Manila police raid. In a speech in Davao late Monday, Duterte brushed off any possible investigations into his crime war, which has attracted strong international criticism. "Whether there will be a thousand investigations or (UN chief) Ban Ki-moon comes here, I don't give a shit," he said. "I don't care whether there is a thousand hearings everywhere... I will not stop until the last pushers on the streets are fully exterminated," he said. "Congress can have their own show. Go ahead, be my guest," he said dismissively. Roman Catholic church bishops warned Monday that giving Duterte an extension would result in more summary killings. "In the campaign, he categorically said that the drug problem would be solved in six months or he will step down, But of course he is not a man of (his) word," Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo was quoted as saying on the bishops's website. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt is in talks with China to obtain $2 billion in financing, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kojak said, without giving further details. "All the details are with the central bank," he said. Egypt has reached a staff level agreement for a $12 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund and must secure around $6 billion in bilateral financing to obtain approval for the program. (Reporting by Abdelrahman Adel; writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Toby Chopra) Ellie debuted a cute new bob on the red carpet. (Photo by Getty Images) Ellie Kemper has made her name playing a naive character who mostly dresses like a tween in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. But when she stepped onto the red carpet for the 2016 Emmy Awards, at which shes nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy, she looked like a sophisticated woman. She cut her gorgeous red hair to a midlength bob, which could easily be more practical than stylish for the new mom. Except it didnt look boring or matronly in the least. It was swept over with a dramatic part and a swooping effect at the brow. Her left side was tucked behind her ear, and the whole look was smoothed out, with not a single hair out of place. Paired with a red lip and understated eye makeup, the effect was somewhere between 1940s Hollywood glam and futuristic bosslady. She wore a golden Jenny Packham gown that she told E!s Giuliana Rancic made her feel very princess-like. Photo Getty Images Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. HBO repeated the rare feat it accomplished for the first time last year tonight at the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning both Best Drama Series with Game Of Thrones and Comedy Series with Veep. This is only the fourth time in Emmy history that two shows from the same network have won both categories, with NBC the last to pull it off in 1983 and 1984 with Cheers and Hill Street Blues. And as far as I can tell, this is the first time one network has won for best drama, comedy and late-night series in the same year since the late-night talk shows entered the variety Emmy category. Emmys dominant player for more than a decade, HBO once again was the top network with 22 wins, but it faced a major challenge from FX, which shattered the previous basic cable record of eight wins with 18 Emmys this year more than all other basic cable, broadcast and streaming networks combined. In the main categories awarded during tonights telecast, FX tied HBO for most trophies with six each. Perpetual bridesmaid in the series field, FX has found great Emmy success in the limited series/miniseries arena with a genre it reintroduced to television, anthology drama series, with American Horror Story. The AHS follow-up, Fargo, netted FX an Emmy in the miniseries series category in 2014. And this year, AHS offshoot People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story dominated the main Emmy telecast with five wins, including Best Miniseries. HBOs Game Of Thrones was again the overall winner with 12 Emmys, including nine from the Creative Emmys, followed by People V. OJ Simpson in second with nine overall. It should be noted that FX owed some of its success with People V. OJ Simpson to sibling broadcast network Fox, which originally developed the project but eventually allowed FX to take over. Thus the frequent mentions of Fox chairman Dana Walden in the shows acceptance speeches tonight. Fox topped the broadcast networks this year with six wins. Story continues Still, FX again couldnt break into the Best Drama Series field, coming closer than ever with The Americans, which landed noms in all three top drama categories but left tonight empty-handed. Also not being able to convert its nominations in the top three comedy series categories was ABCs hot sophomore Black-ish, tipped for a possible breakthrough Emmy year. With best drama series, best comedy series and best comedy actor (Jeffrey Tambor) and actress (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) repeating from last year, it was the drama acting categories that opened up the door for new talent. Rami Malek of Mr. Robot delivered the first series Emmy for USA Network in his first shot, while Tatiana Maslany of BBC Americas Orphan Black finally landed the award that had eluded her, also giving her network a first major series Emmy win. For both Maslany and Bloodlines Ben Mendelsohn, their first Emmy trophies on their second nominations are bittersweet as they came just after announcements that both series will be ending after one more season. Two shows that already wrapped their runs Comedy Centrals Key & Peele and PBS Downton Abbey, got a nice sendoff. Key & Peele, which helped revive sketch comedy in primetime, won best sketch comedy series, while Downton Abbey, which made British costume dramas hip again, was recognized one last time for standout Maggie Smith. Broadcast TV was again not a real factor. It was able to hold onto the acting categories from last year, with Saturday Night Lives Kate McKinnon succeeding Moms Allison Janney in the supporting actress in a comedy series race, and American Crimes Regina King repeating as supporting actress in a movie or miniseries. McKinnons win was a surprise; she became the first SNL cast member to win a series acting Emmy. But, despite buzzy up-and-comers James Corden and Jimmy Fallon, the variety talk series category remained a cable domain, with HBOs Last Week Tonight, hosted by The Daily Show alum John Oliver, landing its first Emmy to position itself as a successor to Comedy Centrals The Daily Show and The Colbert Report which had dominated the category for more than a decade. The longform categories went the predictable route with The People V. O.J. Simpson sweeping most of the categories, with a dash of shocker when British import Sherlock upsetting front-runner All The Way. Related stories Emmy Winner Maggie Smith To Jimmy Kimmel: "Please Direct Me To The Lost & Found" Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo HBO, accustomed to being the undisputed Emmys champ in recent years, found itself in the unusual position of sharing the title Sunday night. FX Networks earned six awards at the Primetime Emmys, matching HBOs tally for the evening. FXs surge came largely on the back of anthology series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, the evenings most honored show. Counting last weekends Creative Arts Emmys, HBO held onto the top spot, thanks to another record-breaking haul for Game of Thrones. The best drama series winner passed Frasier as the most decorated scripted series in Emmy history, with 38 wins. With 12 Emmys this year, the show tied its record from 2015 for most wins by a show in a single season. The HBO-FX split was one of several surprises Sunday night, among them Rami Malek of USAs Mr. Robot winning the award for best actor his first nomination in the shows first season. Accepting the award, Malek said, Please tell me youre seeing this, too. Malek was followed by Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black, who won for her work on BBC Americas Orphan Black. Maslany is a longtime critical and fan favorite for her work on the BBC America sci-fi series, in which she has played more than half a dozen characters. She drew her first nomination last year for the shows third season. On the comedy side, change yielded to consistency, with Veep winning its second straight award for best comedy series, Julia Louis-Dreyfus winning her sixth straight best-actress award for her work on the show, and Jeffrey Tambor winning his second consecutive best-actor award for Transparent. Toward the end of the night, FX and HBO each missed out on opportunities to jump ahead of the other with losses in key dramatic acting categories. Game of Thrones came up empty-handed in supporting actor and actress categories, in which it had multiple nominees who likely cannibalized votes from one another. Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Maisie Williams lost out to third-time winner Maggie Smith of Downton Abbey. Peter Dinklage and Kit Harington lost to Ben Mendelsohn of Netflixs Bloodline, which was canceled last week. Story continues FXs The Americans, meanwhile, was shut out in the highest-profile drama-series categories. After not being nominated for its first three seasons, the show this year earned a nod for best series as well as for lead actress Keri Russell and lead actor Matthew Rhys. FXs big night began with a win for Louie Anderson for best supporting actor in a comedy series. Anderson won for his work playing the mother of Zach Galifianakis character on FXs Baskets. From the stage, Anderson thanked his mother, shouting Mom, we did it! Backstage, he explained that the character was based in large part on his mother. A string of victories for The People v. O.J. Simpson in the limited series and movie categories followed shortly thereafter. Sterling K. Brown won for best supporting actor, besting castmates John Travolta and David Schwimmer, and Courtney B. Vance won out over cast mate Cuba Gooding Jr. Sarah Paulson, who won for playing prosecutor Marcia Clark, brought her with her to the Emmys as a guest, and addressed her from the stage when accepting her award. She noted that her motivation in playing Clark was largely correcting a public perception about the prosecutor, who was treated harshly by the media at the time of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial in my judgment, and Im glad that Im able to stand here in front of everyone today and say, Im sorry, Paulson said. Her win was her first after being nominated for five previous Emmys. Politics took center stage with Jimmy Kimmel joking in his opening monologue about producer Mark Burnett, the creator of The Apprentice, being responsible for the political success of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Burnett, when accepting the award for best reality show, responded by joking that Kimmel and ABC had just given Trump five more minutes of free TV time. Julia Louis-Dreyfus when accepting the award for best actress in a comedy, deadpanned that Veep had taken down the wall between comedy and politics, then promised to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it. Sterling K. Brown, accepting his award for best supporting actor in a limited series or movie, joked about asking Melania Trump for speech advice. John Oliver, who has been arguably the most effective critic of Trump in late night during this election cycle, won the Emmy for variety-talk series for his HBO show Last Week Tonight. Comedy Centrals Key and Peele won the first-ever award for variety-sketch series. Fielding press questions backstage after accepting his shows award, Veep showrunner David Mandel expressed exasperation with being asked questions about the presidential election then took aim squarely at Trump. There are days when things we think of pale in comparison to that madman threatening Hillary Clinton not once but twice, Mandel said. If I wrote that, Id get fired by HBO. But the most scathing criticism of Trump came from Transparent creator Jill Soloway, who won the award for best director. Discussing her shows pushing of boundaries for transgender people backstage after accepting her award, Soloway likened Trumps rhetoric about minority groups to that which took place in Nazi Germany, where Jews were, as she put it otherized by Hitler. Right now Donald Trump is doing the same thing, Soloway said. Hes otherizing people; he calls women pigs if they dont look like beauty pageant contestants; he blames Muslim and Mexicans for our problems; he makes fun of disabled people, this is otherizing with a capital O. It has been used in our history before to start and win wars. The two wins for Amazons Transparent brought transgender rights front and center at the Emmys for the second straight year. Possibly referencing the recent controversy over Matt Bomer playing a transgender woman in director Mark Ruffalos upcoming feature film Anything, Tambor said in his acceptance speech, I would not be unhappy if I were the last cisgender male to play a transgender female on television. Appearing later in the show to present, Laverne Cox, transgender star of Netflixs Orange is the New Black, said I want to echo what Jeffrey Tambor said. Give trans talent a shot. Cox will become the first trans actress to be a series regular on broadcast television this season with the premiere of CBS Doubt. Related stories Tatiana Maslany, 'Game of Thrones' Wins Top Emmys Facebook Chatter Variety's TV Critics Dish on 2016's Emmy Winners: Did the TV Academy Get It Right? 'Mr. Robot' Star Rami Malek Hails Progress for Actors of Color Backstage at Emmys Los Angeles (AFP) - The biggest names in Hollywood were in top form in Los Angeles at the Emmys, television's equivalent of the Oscars. Below is a selection of 10 memorable quotes from the 68th Emmy Awards: Dragons and Broncos "If your show doesn't have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home right now." -- Emmys host Jimmy Kimmel, joking in his opening monologue about the dominance of "Game of Thrones" and "The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story" -- which became reality as the night proceeded. Jeb! "If you run a positive campaign, the voters ultimately will make the right choice. (...) Jimmy, that was a joke. Get out of the car." -- onetime Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, appearing in a comedy sketch as a limo driver for Kimmel, poking fun at his failed campaign. Tribute to Dad "I would like to dedicate this to my father, who passed away on Friday. And I'm so glad that he liked 'Veep,' because his opinion was the one that really mattered." -- a tearful Julia Louis-Dreyfus, accepting her fifth straight Emmy for best actress in a comedy for the HBO political satire. Cosby in the house? "Ladies and gentlemen, four-time Emmy award-winner, Dr Bill Cosby. (...) Don't worry. He's not really here. I just wanted to see what you guys would do." -- Kimmel, sparking furrowed brows with a joke about the veteran comic, who is to go on trial in Pennsylvania next year for sexual assault. Plea for equality "Please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story. Do that. (...) I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television. We have work to do." -- Jeffrey Tambor, after winning his second consecutive Emmy for best actor in a comedy for Amazon's "Transparent." Butt naked "Since you're good at keeping things safe, I have a job for you -- my Twitter account. Put that in the vault, please! You all are over here using your skills to protect best voiceover in a French sitcom. Meanwhile, I'm butt naked on CNN." Story continues -- "Saturday Night Live" star Leslie Jones, joking about the hack of her Twitter account and personal website that led to a leak of naked photos with the Emmy accountants from Ernst & Young. 'Inheritor to Hitler' "He is a complete dangerous monster and any time I can call out Trump for being an inheritor to Hitler, I will." -- Jill Soloway, who won an Emmy for outstanding directing for a comedy series for "Transparent," using strong words to describe the Republican White House hopeful. No-show "When Maggie Smith hears she's nominated for an Emmy, she has the same reaction that the rest of us have when we get those 20 percent off Bed Bath and Beyond coupons: right in the garbage." -- Kimmel calling out the British actress for never coming to the Emmys. Smith went on to win the award for supporting actress in a drama for her role as the Dowager Countess on "Downton Abbey." Righting a wrong "Playing a real person, you want to get it right for them. And the more I learned about Marcia Clark, who dedicated herself to righting an unconscionable wrong (...) I'm glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you, I'm sorry." -- Sarah Paulson, who won an Emmy for portraying Clark in "The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," apologizing to the prosecutor -- who she brought to the gala -- for misjudging her. Prison watch party "Wow. What a night for OJ so far, huh? I wonder if he's having a viewing party with the rest of the guys." -- Kimmel joking about the success of "The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" and the current home of the 69-year-old Simpson, who is in prison for a robbery and kidnapping incident in Las Vegas. The 68th Annual Emmy Awards ceremony wasnt exactly packed with Donald Trump supporters onstage, backstage and before the show even started, Hollywood took plenty of potshots at the Republican presidential nominee. The Emmys political theme began when Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who Trump mocked and vanquished during the primaries, made a surprise appearance at the start of the show, playing an Uber driver shuttling host Jimmy Kimmel to the awards ceremony. Bush (aka Jeb!) made fun of his own failed campaign, and even the exclamation point he used at the end of his name on bumper stickers. Also Read: Jeb Bush Cameos as Emmys Uber Driver (Video) Kimmel hammered Trump during his Emmys opening monologue, calling Trumps run for president an elaborate plot by Mark Burnett the creator of Trumps show The Apprentice to tear the country apart. Director Jill Soloway brought the fieriest condemnation of Trump, calling him a complete dangerous monster and an inheritor to Hitler backstage after her win for Best Director in a Comedy Series for Amazons Transparent. Jews were otherized in Nazi Germany to gain political power for Hitler and now Donald Trump is doing the same thing, she told reporters. Hes otherizing people. Also Read: Emmys: Jill Soloway Slams Donald Trump as 'Inheritor to Hitler' He calls women pigs if they dont look like beauty pageant contestants, she continued. He blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems. He makes fun of disabled people. This is otherizing with a capital O He needs to be called out at every chance he gets for being one of the most dangerous monsters to ever approach our lifetimes. When Burnett took to the stage to collect an Emmy for reality TV singing competition The Voice, he took the occasion to hit on a touchy political point for much of the audience: the free media given to Trump. Hillary Clinton called me in the last few minutes and said to personally thank Jimmy Kimmel for an extra free five minutes of ABC publicity for Donald Trump, Burnett said. Thanks, Jimmy. Story continues Burnett also joked that Voice judges Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys would soon become Supreme Court Justices. Also Read: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Holds Back Tears in Emmys Tribute to Father (Video) Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus also weighed in on the election when she accepted her sixth-consecutive Emmy for the political comedy show. Id also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate, she said. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire, but it now feels like a sobering documentary. So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it, Louis-Dreyfus added. Related stories from TheWrap: 'Game of Thrones' Breaks Record for Most Emmys Won by a Series Sarah Paulson Apologizes to Emmys Date Marcia Clark for 'Superficial Judgement' During OJ Simpson Trial (Video) Julia Louis-Dreyfus Holds Back Tears in Emmys Tribute to Father (Video) Diversity was celebrated throughout the Emmys on Sunday. Transparent's Jeffrey Tambor made a plea on behalf of transgender actors in his acceptance speech for best actor in a comedy series. "Please give transgender talent a chance," he said, addressing Hollywood. "Give them auditions, give them their stories." Laverne Cox cheered as Tambor continued. "I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television." Later on in the evening, Cox said she'd like to echo Tambor's words to give trans talent a chance. "I wouldn't be here if someone hadn't given me a chance," she said. In her acceptance speech for comedy directing, Transparent creator Jill Soloway said that putting women, people of color, trans people and queer people "at the center of the story" and treating them like subjects instead of objects can "change the world." She called for an end to the violence against transgender women and ended her speech by shouting, "Topple the patriarchy!" Read more: Emmy Awards 2016: The Red-Carpet Arrivals Earlier in the night, host Jimmy Kimmel's monologue reflected on how this year's nominees are the "most diverse ever." "The only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity," said Kimmel. "The Emmys are so diverse this year, the Oscars are now telling people we're one of their closest friends." He told people of color to "find a white person" and tell them, "Thanks for your bravery." Aziz Ansari stood up and hugged Ty Burrell as the crowd laughed. Read more: Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List When Ansari and Alan Yang won best writing for a comedy series for "Master of None," Yang's acceptance speech touched on diversity. He said Asian-Americans have "a long way to go" in terms of representation in Hollywood, but he believes they can get there. He addressed Asian parents saying that if a few of them could get their kids "cameras instead of violins" then "we'll be all good." Story continues Later, Ansari presented an award and joked that he'd be voting for Donald Trump. He suggested that all the Muslim and Hispanic nominees should leave. "Wow, this would be so much easier if we were at the Oscars," he joked. "America Ferrera, nice try changing your name to America," Ansari added. "You're not fooling anybody. You're out." var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the 2016 Emmys with help from The People v. O.J. Simpson, the gang of Modern Family fellow late-night host James Corden and Veep's presidential escort, driven by Jeb Bush. Beginning his journey to downtown Los Angeles in O.J. Simpson's famed white bronco, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host hopped out and hitchhiked with the cast of Modern Family, followed by Corden, Carpool Karaoke-style. The fellow late-night hosts recreated a rendition of Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" before Kimmel was again on the loose. He then flagged down Veep's Selina Meyer's (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) presidential escort, which was being driven by Bush. "I'm in between jobs right now," the former GOP presidential candidate turned Uber limo driver told Kimmel about his current employment. After the bit, Bush took to Twitter to offer Kimmel a 5-star rating, quoting Caddyshack. Hey, @jimmykimmel, I'm giving you 5 stars! How about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know? https://t.co/tsm5fZ1aDW- Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 19, 2016 Finally, Kimmel made it to the Microsoft Theater with the help of Game of Thrones' Khaleesi (Emilia Clarke) and her dragon, Dracarys, who breathed fire on Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet on his way. Kimmel then launched into his monologue for TV's biggest night, which included jabs at Donald Trump, NBC's Mark Burnett and Hollywood's practice of bragging about diversity. Here is a roundup of Kimmel's best jokes as the awards show unfolds on Sunday night. The 2016 show marks Kimmel's second time hosting the Emmys, serving as emcee of the show in 2012 when it last aired on ABC. The 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards airs live on Sunday, Sept. 18, at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) on ABC. Read more: Emmys: Donald Trump an Early Target During Jimmy Kimmel's Monologue "Alright, that saved us 22 minutes, what else?" - Kimmel after running an Emmy to Jeffrey Tambor Story continues "The winner of tonight's plus-one contest: Sarah Paulson who plays Marcia Clarke and who brought Marcia Clark with her. If you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark." "Are you rooting for O.J. to win this time?" - Kimmel to Marcia Clark "Television has the ability to make us laugh and cry - and, during certain key parts of Game of Thrones, masturbate." "Jon Snow: You're my freebie." - Kimmel to Kit Harrngton of Game of Thrones "Here in Hollywood, the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity." "If it wasn't for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? He would be at home right now rubbing up against his wife Malaria." "Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore, we're living one." - Kimmel on the NBC boss for The Apprentice "If Donald Trump gets elected and builds that wall, the first person we're throwing over it is Mark Burnett." Read more: Emmys Host Jimmy Kimmel Lets Loose on His Bizarre Diet, Penis Pics and Why He Has All of Letterman's Neckties "When Maggie Smith hears she's nominated for an Emmy, she has the same reaction we have when we get one of those Bed Bath & Beyond 20 percent-off coupons... She's Downton absent is what she is, for the ninth time." - Kimmel on "lame" Maggie Smith and starting "the Maggie Smith rule" on nominees being present when nominated "Now there's almost too much diversity in the show." - Kimmel after Master of None's Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang were played off the stage var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Host Jimmy Kimmel opened the 2016 Emmys with help from The People v. O.J. Simpson, the cast of Modern Family, fellow late-night host James Corden and Veep's presidential motorcade, which included driver Jeb Bush. Beginning his journey to downtown Los Angeles in O.J. Simpson's famed white Ford Bronco, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host hopped out and hitchhiked with the cast of Modern Family, followed by Corden, "Carpool Karaoke"-style. The fellow late-night hosts did a rendition of Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" before Kimmel was again cut loose. He then flagged down a presidential motorcade carrying Veep's Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who was being driven in her armored limo by Bush. "I'm in between jobs right now. You know you can make 12 dollars an hour driving for Uber?" the former GOP presidential candidate told Kimmel about his current employment. After the bit, Bush took to Twitter to offer Kimmel a 5-star rating, quoting Caddyshack. Hey, @jimmykimmel, I'm giving you 5 stars! How about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know? https://t.co/tsm5fZ1aDW- Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 19, 2016 Read more: Critic's Notebook: Lame Pre-Taped Intro Ate Into Jimmy Kimmel's Fine Emmys Monologue Finally, Kimmel made it to the Microsoft Theater with the help of Game of Thrones' Khaleesi (Emilia Clarke) and her dragon, Drogon, who interrupted Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet with some fire breath on his way to drop the host off. Kimmel then launched into his monologue for TV's biggest night, which included jabs at Donald Trump, producer Mark Burnett and Hollywood's practice of bragging about diversity. The 2016 show marks Kimmel's second time hosting the Emmys, having served as emcee in 2012 when it last aired on ABC. Ahead of the show, the host, who is also nominated for best variety series for Jimmy Kimmel Live, toldThe Hollywood Reporter, "I would rather get a laugh than the trophy." Story continues Here is a roundup of Kimmel's best jokes from Sunday night. (Head here to read his full opening monologue.) Read more: Emmys: Donald Trump an Early Target During Jimmy Kimmel's Monologue 23 Best Jokes: "All right, that saved us 22 minutes, what else?" - Kimmel after running an Emmy to Jeffrey Tambor right off the bat. "I would also like to acknowledge the winner of tonight's plus-one contest, Sarah Paulson, who played Marcia Clark and actually brought Marcia Clark with her tonight. That's a guest. Because everyone in L.A. knows, if you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark." "Are you rooting for O.J. to win this time?" - Kimmel to Marcia Clark. "Cuba Gooding Jr. was so good in The People v. O.J. Simpson. He played O.J. so well I now believe Cuba may have done it." "Television has the ability to make us laugh and cry - and, during certain key parts of Game of Thrones, masturbate." "Hi, Jon Snow: You're my freebie, you know." - Kimmel to Kit Harington of Game of Thrones. "Originally, they were going to cast a woman for the role, but it's very hard to find an actress over 50 who needs a part." - Kimmel on Louie Anderson playing Zach Galifianakis' mother on Baskets. "Here in Hollywood, the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity." "If it wasn't for television would Donald Trump be running for president? No, he would be at home right now quietly rubbing up against his wife, Malaria, while she pretends to be asleep." "Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore because we're living in one." - Kimmel to the creator of The Apprentice. "If Donald Trump gets elected and he builds that wall, the first person we're throwing over is Mark Burnett." Read more: Emmys Host Jimmy Kimmel Lets Loose on His Bizarre Diet, Penis Pics and Why He Has All of Letterman's Neckties "When Maggie Smith hears she's nominated for an Emmy, she has the same reaction the rest of us have when we get those 20 percent off Bed Bath & Beyond coupons in the mail. She's Downton Absent is what she is. For the ninth time." - Kimmel on "Lame" Maggie Smith and implementing "the Maggie Smith Rule," which says a nominee must be present to win an award. "Transparent was born a drama, but it identifies as a comedy." - Kimmel after creator Jill Soloway won best directing for a comedy. "Now there's almost too much diversity in the show." - Kimmel after Master of None's Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang were played off the stage. "Don't worry, he's not really here. I just wanted to see what you guys would do." - Kimmel after Dr. Bill Cosby was announced to the stage. "If you're allergic to peanuts then I guess this is goodbye because we can only afford one EpiPen." - Kimmel while introducing the kids of Stranger Things to pass out PB&J sandwiches, homemade by Kimmel's mom, to the audience. "Juice. Juice. Juice." - Kimmel handing multiple juice boxes to David Schwimmer, star of People v. O.J. Simpson. "Dear Cuba, loved you in Snow Dogs." - Kimmel's mom's note to Cuba Gooding Jr. in the audience sandwich notes. "I have to believe that Johnnie Cochran is somewhere smiling up at us tonight." "There's an afterparty?" - Kimmel asking Matt Damon after his faux rival called him a "big loser" for losing the best variety talk series category. "We're not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this it will be in the lost and found." - Kimmel after grabbing the supporting actress in a drama trophy for an absent Maggie Smith. "That in memoriam kicked ass. It's going to be tough to beat next year." "We hit 'em with the Hein." - Kimmel closed the show with a wink to the "Baba Booey" catchphrase that caught on with Howard Stern fans in the 1990s. The 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards aired live Sunday, Sept. 18, on ABC. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Perhaps conscious that he may have held the ceremony up with his pre-Emmy carpool shenanigans, Jimmy Kimmel tried to move the statue distribution along by giving repeat nominee Jeffrey Tambor who won the Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series trophy last year for Transparent his Emmy right off the top. That saved us 22 minutes, he joked, adding, The rest of you, if your show doesnt have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home now. Tambor wasnt able to keep his Kimmel-gifted statue though; while honoring his former co-star, the late Garry Shandling, he admitted that they took that Emmy back. (But dont worry he received it again about an hour later.) Related: Yahoo TVs Complete 2016 Emmy Coverage With two white Bronco jokes already on the board, Kimmel continued to poke fun at the multi-nominated FX series, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Pointing out that Sarah Paulson, nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress for portraying Marcia Clark, brought the real-life Clark to the ceremony, he asked Simpsons former nemesis: This must be very strange for you. Are you rooting for O.J. to win this time? Eventually, Kimmel remembered there were other shows besides American Crime Story under consideration, and he made sure to be an equal opportunity offender. Speaking of Louie Andersons acclaimed performance in FXs Baskets as Zach Galifianakiss mother, he pointed out: Its very hard to find an actress over 50 who needs a part, so they went to Louie. Related: Emmys 2016 Red Carpet Arrivals Diversity on television was Kimmels next target: The only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity. But he brought the crowd together when he asked, If you are a person of color in our audience right now, find a white person and take a moment to reach out and say, Thanks for your bravery. Aziz Ansari and Ty Burrell took his advice, exchanging a lingering hug in front of the stage. Story continues It was only a matter of time until the topic of Donald Trump raised its (orange) head, and Kimmel knew just who to blame for the countrys current state of affairs: Mark Burnett, who gave the real estate tycoon a major television platform in the form of The Apprentice. Thanks to Mark Burnett, we dont have to watch reality shows anymore were living one. If Donald Trump gets elected and he builds that wall, the first person were throwing over it is Mark Burnett. The tribe has spoken. Finally, Kimmel made his pitch for what hes calling the Maggie Smith Rule, which basically means that you have to be present at the Emmys to win an Emmy. Named for the Downton Abbey star, who has won three Emmys during her storied career and showed up to accept exactly none of them. Shes Downton Absent, Kimmel said with mock fury. I have a message for you: If you want an Emmy, you better hop on a plane right now and get your Dowager Count-ass over here. Carl E. Douglas is not pleased with a joke made Sunday night by host Jimmy Kimmel during the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. Douglas, a friend and protege to the late Johnnie Cochran, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that Kimmel crossed a line when he quipped: "I have to believe Johnnie Cochran is somewhere smiling up at us tonight." Kimmel made the joke after Courtney B. Vance won the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a limited series for his portrayal of O.J. Simpson's defense attorney in FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. "I understand it was a joke, I get it. But I have a right to be offended, particularly because Johnnie has done so much in his life separate from representing a former Heisman Trophy winner accused of a gruesome double murder," Douglas tells THR. "And for anyone to suggest that, on a moral level, that act, as a lawyer, could cause him to spend his afterlife in hell, offended me. And I am sure offended other fair-minded people across the country." Douglas' office is in Los Angeles. The lawyer specials in police misconduct cases. Read more: Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List Cochran died in 2005 at age 67. He was the lead attorney who helped get Simpson acquitted in 1994 of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. Douglas, who worked with Cochran for 12 years, was a member of that defense team. Douglas, calling Cochran his "mentor and hero," says he tweeted his displeasure during the live broadcast because he had to do something. "When I heard that joke, it hit me in my gut," he says. "It was visceral for me, so I had to use any platform I had available to express my outrage just so the record would be clear that not everyone agreed with the heinousness of that joke." Douglas is still in close contact with the Cochran family. "I am sure they are also offended by the very suggestion that this man who accomplished so much in his life could be anywhere other than smiling down on all of us, as opposed to the other way around," he says. Story continues As far as Vance's performance in The People v. O.J., Douglas says he was blown away. "I thought Courtney did a marvelous job reflecting Johnnie's spirit and his essence," he says. "I would close my eyes and hear the reflection of Johnnie Cochran coming through the television screen. It was eerie. His winning the Emmy award was much deserved." Read more: Emmys: Richard Dreyfuss Clarifies to Concerned Fans on Social Media That He's Not Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Late Father Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy series on Sunday night for her performance in Veep. The actress beat out Ellie Kemper in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Laurie Metcalf in Getting On, Tracee Ellis Ross in Black-ish, Amy Schumer in Inside Amy Schumer and Lily Tomlin in Grace and Frankie. The actress made a jab at Donald Trump during her acceptance speech, saying, "I'd like to apologize for the current political climate. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary." She jokingly vowed to "rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it." Read more: Emmys 2016: Winners List (Updating Live) Dreyfus, on a more serious note, ended her time at the podium by dedicating her award to her father, who passed away Friday. "I'm so glad that he liked Veep, because his opinion was the one that really mattered," she said through tears. Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, airing live on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. A complete list of winners can be found here. The winners for the Creative Arts Emmys, which were handed out last weekend over two nights, can be found here. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Comedy Central's Key & Peele won the Emmy for best variety sketch series on Sunday night. The show beat out IFC's Documentary Now!, Comedy Central's Drunk History, Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer, IFC's Portlandia and NBC's Saturday Night Live. Read more: Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele accepted the award and thanked the series' writing staff, producers and crew, even down to "crafts services." Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, airing live on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. A complete list of winners can be found here. The winners for the Creative Arts Emmys, which were handed out last weekend over two nights, can be found here. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Louie Anderson won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy series on Sunday night for his performance in Baskets. The actor beat out Andre Braugher in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ty Burrell in Modern Family, Tituss Burgess in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Tony Hale in Veep, Keegan-Michael Key in Key and Peele, and Matt Walsh in Veep. Black-ish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross were on hand to present the first award of the night. "Mom, we did it!" the actor jokingly said as he took the stage to accept the first award of the night and his very first Emmy. "I have not always been a very good man, but I play one hell of a woman." Backstage, Anderson was still somewhat in shock at his victory for playing Christine Baskets, the mother to Zach Galifianakis' character on the FX comedy Baskets. Read more: Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List "These are so much heavier than you think, but so am I!" he deadpanned. "I feel like I stole one from some really talented people. I watched every one of those episodes and thought I had a one out of four chance. I got lucky." The actor said he hoped his victory would bring more viewers to the little-watched FX comedy that was renewed after only five episodes. He dedicated the award to his mother, whom he said he really channels in his performance of Christine. "This is her award. I'm stealing every little nuance she did," he said, telling backstage press to embrace the fact that eventually everyone will take on their mother's characteristics. "Realize they won and there's nothing you can do about it." Read more: Emmys: Watch All The Winners' Acceptance Speeches Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, which aired live on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. A complete list of winners can be found here. The winners for the Creative Arts Emmys, which were handed out last weekend over two nights, can be found here. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> There were two lessons to be gleaned from Jimmy Kimmels pre-filmed opening sequence to the 68th Annual Emmy Awards: (1) There are diminishing returns to James Cordens Carpool Karaoke and (2) if you need to save a failing bit, include Julia Louis-Dreyfus. (In this instance, she breezily reprised her Veep character Selina Meyer while a tardy Kimmel tried to hitch a ride in her presidential limo, driven by a surprisingly game Jeb Jeb Exclamation Point Bush.) For the rest of the surprisingly brief, casual opening monologue, Kimmel leaned hard on O.J. Simpson jokes, diversity jokes, jokes about Maggie Smiths perennial absence at the Emmys, and blaming Apprentice producer Mark Burnett for the rise of Donald Trump. In keeping with a year in which most of the nominations were pleasant surprises (The Americans! UnReal!), the awards continued in the same vein right off the bat, handing Louie Anderson a trophy for his work as Zach Galifianakis mother on FXs Baskets, Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang for writing an episode of Master of None, and Kate McKinnon as the first cast member to win for Saturday Night Live. Also Read: Emmys 2016: The Complete Winners List But the biggest surprise might have been when Julia Louise-Dreyfus made history by winning lead actress in a comedy for the fifth year in a row and did not do one of the comedy bits that have made her repeated wins such pleasures. Instead, an emotional Louis-Dreyfus read from a sheet of paper and then closed her speech with a heartfelt tribute to her father, William, who had passed away two days before. The rest of the evening was a mix of insider jokes, tired awards-season cliches do we really need to keep handing out free sandwiches to people whose borrowed clothes cost more than most peoples monthly salaries? and awkward cutaways to cranky-looking attendees (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, why so dour?). As expected, FXs The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story swept up in the miniseries or TV movie category (Sarah Paulson finally left the Emmys a winner), Veep took home the comedy trophy, and Game of Thrones snagged the best drama prize. Story continues Less expected was the coronation of the new generation of TV stars with wins for Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and Rami Malek (Mr. Robot), both beating out heavy hitters in the lead drama acting categories. Also Read: Emmys: What You Didn't See on TV (Photos) Throughout the evening, Kimmel proved to be a smart, acidic host. I have to believe that Johnny Cochran is somewhere smiling up at us, he said after Courtney B. Vance won for playing assistant DA Christopher Darden in People v. O.J. Simpson. Calm and wry, Kimmel effortlessly poked fun at the proceedings, from Cuba Gooding Jr.s career low in Snow Dogs to the inclusion of winner Transparent in the comedy category. But his high point was celebrating a loss in the talk show host category by bringing out a smirking Matt Damon, munching on an apple, to heckle him. Also Read: 'Game of Thrones' Breaks Record for Most Emmys Won by a Series More importantly, Kimmel kept the show moving, proving that the Emmys are, in fact, just a very long awards show. There wasnt a lot of excess to be found, just a lot of awards, a lot of introductions, and yet another In Memoriam performance of Leonard Cohens Hallelujah. However, that doesnt really make for a memorable ceremony, and even with a huge number of first-time winners, there werent many gotta-watch-it-on-YouTube-later speeches. If there was a category for Efficient and Effective Awards Show, the 68th Annual Emmys would be a lock. Related stories from TheWrap: Emmys: What You Didn't See on TV (Photos) 'Game of Thrones' Breaks Record for Most Emmys Won by a Series Emmys 2016: The Complete Winners List "Sarah Paulson" isn't the only name on the 2016 Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie. This year's statuette also has "Marcia Clark" engraved on it, the name of the lead prosecutor in O.J. Simpson's murder trial, whom Paulson played in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and brought as her date to the ceremony on Sunday. Paulson sneaked Clark into the winner's circle with her, where the actress had both of their names emblazoned on the award, the Los Angeles Times reports. Paulson dedicated her award to Clark during her acceptance speech, and even apologized for being "superficial and careless" in the way she initially understood Clark's role in the trial. "The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark, not the two-dimensional cardboard cutout I saw on the news, but the complicated, whip-smart, giant-hearted mother of two who woke up every day, put both feet on the floor and dedicated herself to righting an unconscionable wrong - the loss of two innocents, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown - the more I had to recognize that I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial and careless in my judgment," the actress said. "And I'm glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you I'm sorry." Read more: Emmys: Sarah Paulson Wins Best Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie The Times reports that "the women laughed and giggled" as they watched their names being engraved on the trophy, then proudly displayed it to onlookers. The Television Academy and representatives for Paulson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sarah Paulson got security to let Marcia Clark join her as she got her Emmy engraved at Gov Ball. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/Ev584DoDGq - Yvonne Villarreal (@villarrealy) September 19, 2016 Sherlock: The Abominable Bride won the Emmy for best television movie on Sunday night. Director Douglas Mackinnon said he had many people to thank but wouldn't waste people's time since "they're all British." Speaking with the press backstage, showrunner Steven Moffat said the best adaptations of Sherlock Holmes are the ones that "strike out on their own." "You have to say, 'This is your version.' We've turned him into a modern-day detective. It's not being definitive; it's doing your own thing with it - of love for the original." "We're always communicating our own love and enthusiasm for it - that has always come to us like a security tag to a jacket, which you have recently purchased," Moffat said while displaying the security tag that is still attached to his Emmys suit. Read more: Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List The film beat out Netflix's A Very Murray Christmas, HBO's All the Way, HBO's Confirmation and BBC One's Luther. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, airing live on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. A complete list of winners can be found here. The winners for the Creative Arts Emmys, which were handed out last weekend over two nights, can be found here. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> The Night Manager's Susanne Bier won the Emmy for best directing for a limited series, movie or dramatic special on Sunday night. The AMC drama's helmer beat out HBO's All the Way, directed by Jay Roach; FX's Fargo, "Before the Law," directed by Noah Hawley; FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, "From the Ashes of Tragedy," directed by Ryan Murphy; The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, "Manna From Heaven," directed by Anthony Hemingway; and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, "The Race Card," directed by John Singleton. Read more: Emmy Awards: The Complete Winners List On top of thanking the crew, Bier also thanked her "wonderful, outrageously interesting cast." Priyanka Chopra of Quantico and Tom Hiddleston of The Night Manager presented the award. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, which aired live on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. A complete list of winners can be found here. The winners for the Creative Arts Emmys, which were handed out last weekend over two nights, can be found here. Read more: Emmys: Watch All The Winners' Acceptance Speeches var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> While many winners at this years Emmys left it all on the stage in their acceptance speeches, some saved their best quotes for afterward, in the press room. TheWrap recaps some of the funniest, most revealing, most heartbreaking quotes from the backstage area of the 2016 Emmy Awards. Read the quotes below. Also Read: Emmys 2016: The Complete Winners List Game of Thrones Producer Shows Frasier Some Love After Game of Thrones broke Frasiers record for most series Emmy wins with 38, D.B. Weiss had nothing but nice things to say about the classic sitcom. We love Frasier and he had a long run and were sure somebody will come along and take this from us, Weiss said. We just hope it doesnt happen until were all dead. Regina King and Sarah Paulson Are All Girl Power As Regina King was speaking to the press, fellow Emmys standout Sarah Paulson was on deck. After King joked she was glad there were no people from People v. OJ Simpson in [her] category, Paulson shouted out, I love you, Regina. The two then proceeded to joke back and forth across the room, reminiscing about a series they did in 2002 called Leap of Faith. Patton Oswalt s Wife Gave Him Everything Patton Oswalt not only paid tribute to his late wife during his acceptance speech, but also kept it up when he addressed reporters backstage. Also Read: 9 Best Jokes From Jimmy Kimmel's Emmys Monologue Every bit of growth that Ive had in my career and in my writing and performing is because I met Michelle McNamara, he said. I met this woman who was just so much wiser and self-actualized of life than I was. I had convinced myself that I was self actualized and mature, but then I met the real deal. Louie Anderson Dedicates His Win to the Outcasts After winning his first Emmy for playing an elderly woman on the FX comedy Baskets, Louie Anderson said that the unique nature of his role was meant to highlight those in society who feel left out. This show is all about not fitting in and then fitting in perfectly, he said. We live in a society of exclusion I always had a special place in my heart for being different. Story continues Also Read: Leslie Jones Jokes About Nude Photo Hack During Emmys Jill Soloway Tackles Trump Transparent creator Jill Soloway minced no words when it came to GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump, referring to him as a dangerous monster and an inheritor to Hitler during her backstage comments. Read her full quote here. John Oliver Credits His Comedy Skill to His Britishness John Oliver put his self-deprecating humor on full display when he explained why his British heritage makes him the ideal person to comment on America and American politics, leading to his latest win at the Emmys. I think comedians are usually outsider, so I think it helps that Im an outsider as soon as my face makes a sound, he said. The British accent is worth about 80 percent more authority than I actually have. In the days of the empire it was 100. See video: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Holds Back Tears in Emmys Tribute to Father Grease Live Producer Confirms Sandy Was Alive Despite a host of internet theories, the producer of Grease Live insists that Sandy was very much alive in their version of the classic musical. She was alive. She was very, very alive Thomas Kail said. All those internet theories were kicking around shortly after [Grease Live aired] and I will go on record and say I love the internet.' Also Read: 'Game of Thrones' Breaks Record for Most Emmys Won by a Series Courtney B. Vance Got Educated on the People v. OJ Simpson Set Courtney B. Vance said that he purposely avoided watching archival footage of Johnnie Cochran, whom he played in the FX limited series People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, and avoided following the real trial as he was an OJ fan once upon a time. But that gave him a chance to learn something new when he came to set. This was an opp to actually educate myself as to what actually happened It was an educational process for me every day when the scripts came in, he said. It was a thrilling ride. Related stories from TheWrap: Emmys: 9 Snubs and Surprises at the 2016 Awards (Photos) Emmys by the Numbers: FX Gives HBO a Run for Its Money Emmys Fixate on Politics, From Donald Trump to Jeb! BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments appointed on Monday British diplomat Julian King as the new EU commissioner in charge of security issues. The formal appointment follows the European Parliament's endorsement last week of the new British commissioner. King replaces Jonathan Hill, the former commissioner for financial services who quit after Britain's June 23 vote to leave the EU. "The appointment applies for the remainder of the current term of office of the Commission, which ends on 31 October 2019," the Council representing EU governments said in a statement. But King may quit before the conclusion of his term if Britain's divorce negotiations with EU partners ends sooner than that date. Those talks have not started yet and can last up to two years after having been kicked off. The decision for King's formal appointment was made by the Council, in accord with the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; editing by Robin Emmott) (Adds Luxembourg reaction) By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators opened a probe on Monday into tax deals granted by Luxembourg to French power utility Engie, stepping up the EU's campaign against tax avoidance by multinationals. The European Commission said it had concerns the tax rulings granted by Luxembourg since 2008 appeared to treat the same financial transaction as both debt and equity, leading to double non-taxation of companies in the GDF Suez group, as Engie was formerly known. That may have given GDF Suez an unfair advantage over other companies in breach of EU state aid rules, the Commission said. "Financial transactions can be taxed differently depending on the type of transaction, equity or debt - but a single company cannot have the best of two worlds for one and the same transaction," Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Engie said the company took note of the decision and would cooperate fully with the Commission to answer its questions. Engie has been present in Luxembourg since 1933 and employs about 300 people, she said. Luxembourg also said it would provide the Commission with all the necessary information. The government said it believed no particular fiscal treatment or selective advantage had been granted to the Engie companies. Only last month Vestager made headlines by ordering Apple to pay Ireland up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in unpaid taxes, angering both Washington and Dublin. Vestager will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in a trip to the United States this week, where she has been criticised for allegedly targeted U.S. companies, something the EU denies. A Commission spokesman said it was a coincidence the investigation into Engie, a French company, was opened the same week. The financial transactions are loans granted in 2009 and 2011 between four companies in the GDF Suez group that can be converted into equity and bear zero interest for the lender. Story continues "The final result seems to be that a significant proportion of the profits recorded by GDF Suez in Luxembourg through the two arrangements are not taxed at all," the Commission said. The borrower companies - GDF Suez Treasury Management and GDF Suez LNG Supply - were able to significantly reduce their taxable profits in Luxembourg by deducting the provisioned interest payments, which are tax deductible expenses, it said. The lender companies - LNG Luxembourg and Electrabel Invest Luxembourg - avoided paying any tax on the profits from the transaction because Luxembourg tax rules exempt income from equity investments from taxation, the Commission said. A Commission spokesman said it was too early to say how much tax Engie may have to pay if it is found to have breached state aid rules. The EU has already launched investigations into tax deals granted by Luxembourg to other multinationals such as McDonald's and Amazon. In December last year the Commission ordered carmaker Fiat to pay back up to 30 million euros to Luxembourg. ($1 = 0.8955 euros) (Additional reporting by Benjamin Mallet in Paris; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Mark Potter) NEW YORK (Reuters) - European nations will discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday. Asked if France wanted sanctions like those Washington has imposed for what it described as the violent suppression of opposition to President Joseph Kabila's government, Ayrault told reporters: "it's a question we will discuss (among) Europeans, but the situation is extremely worrying and very dangerous." (Reporting By John Irish) From Esquire Authorities have arrested 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami - who police believe is responsible for a bombing in New York City on Saturday night and another earlier bombing in New Jersey - following a shootout Monday morning in the town of Linden, N.J. Rahami's arrest unfolded quickly and dramatically around 10:30 a.m. The owner of a bar in Linden, N.J. noticed a man sleeping his doorway on Monday morning. He notified police, who showed up to investigate and recognized the sleeping man as Rahami. The officer, according to The New York Times, told Rahami to show in his hands. Instead he pulled out a gun and shot the officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, in the torso. The officer returned fire, the Times said, as Rahami fled on foot. The owner of a bowling-supply shop in the area said he saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand. As a police car pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him. A barrage of gunfire can be heard in amateur video taken at the time of the shootout. New video captures shootout between bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami and police in Linden, NJ. https://t.co/iNsM2t4AqQ pic.twitter.com/j7EXAcIjJB - ABC News (@ABC) September 19, 2016 By the time it was over, Rahami had been shot several times. A second police officer also suffered a gunshot wound. Both officers as well as Rahami are expected to survive. Images and video show a bandaged Rahami being loaded into an ambulance after the shootout with police. Ahmad Khan Rahami, suspect in NY & NJ bombings, seen being loaded into an ambulance https://t.co/xQKQoLv7XQ https://t.co/MvXSlYgc6T - CNN (@CNN) September 19, 2016 Prosecutors have so far charged Rahami with attempted murder over shootout with police, according to The Associated Press. Story continues What Officials Are Saying About the Bombings The arrest capped off an intense manhunt that started Saturday morning when a bomb exploded in a garbage can in Seaside Heights, N.J., where a 5K run to benefit U.S. military veterans was about to begin. No one was injured, and the race was called off. Later that night, around 8:30 p.m., a bomb exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, injuring 29 people. A short time later a second device, a pressure-cooker bomb like the one used in the Boston Marathon bombing, was discovered and taken away without incident. Then, on Sunday night, unexploded pipe bombs were found near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the arrest. Photo credit: Getty The bombings occurred on the same day that a man entered a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, a town more than hour outside Minneapolis, referred to Allah and stabbed nine people before an off-duty police officer shot him to death. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. No group has taken responsibility for the bombings, and authorities have not connected the stabbing rampage with what happened in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. Officials don't believe there are more suspects or bombs to find, though they cautioned that they were continuing to work to understand Rahami's connections. His motive remains unclear, New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill said. Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami, but they were questioned and released. The FBI's assistant director in New York, William Sweeney Jr., said Rahami was not on law enforcement's radar at the time of the bombings. Photo credit: Getty The search for Rahami intensified early Monday morning after police conducted a raid on the home where Rahami lives in Elizabeth, N.J. with his family above a chicken restaurant. Shortly before 8 a.m., mobile phones in the New York-New Jersey area rang out with an alert about Rahami. Those alerts are typically used for severe weather warnings and Amber alerts. Police would not say how they came to identify Rahami, a U.S. citizen who immigrated from Afghanistan, as the suspected bomber. According to CBS News, surveillance video placed Rahami at the scene of the bomb that exploded in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, as well as near the device that failed to explode blocks away. Photo credit: AP Although officials had earlier said there was no evidence to suggest a link to international terrorism, New York Gov Andrew Cuomo on Monday appeared to walk that back. "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," he said. Investigators said that they have "no indication" that Rahami is part of a broader terror cell, despite earlier reports that authorities were looking into this possibility. What We Know About Rahami Rahami lived with his Muslim family on a busy street a few miles from the Newark airport. His father, Mohammad, and two of Rahami's brothers sued the city in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring their restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, to close early because of complaints from neighbors that it was a late-night nuisance. The Rahamis charged in the lawsuit that they were targeted by neighbors because they are Muslims. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 after Mohammad Rahami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Photo credit: Getty Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing the younger Rahami working there more. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," McCann said. But, according to The New York Times, Rahami "disappeared for a while" around four years ago. It is believed that he went to Afghanistan, the country of his birth, and upon his return had a beard and was wearing traditional Muslim robes. He started praying in the back of the store, patrons said. "It's like he was a completely different person," Flee Jones, 27, who grew up with Rahami, told the Times. "He got serious and completely closed off." What the Candidates are Saying Today Both presidential candidates weighed in on the incident on Monday morning. Donald Trump took credit for predicting the explosion. The Republican presidential nominee told Fox and Friends that "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news." Trump also said he believes there's a foreign connection to the attack and that police need to start profiling people from the Muslim world. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton told reporters that the attacks are "a serious challenge" that the country can meet in "concert with our values," an apparent dig that Trump whose said the U.S. should restrict access to immigrants from countries with terror ties. Clinton also said she is the only candidate who "has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield" and is therefore qualified to fight terrorism. She also said Trump's rhetoric emboldens the Islamic State and provides them with recruiting material, referring to the Republican nominee as a "recruiting sergeant for the terrorists." The Associated Press contributed to this report. You Might Also Like By Gayatri Suroyo and Eveline Danubrata JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to pursue Alphabet Inc's Google for five years of back taxes, and the search giant could face a bill of more than $400 million for 2015 alone if it is found to have avoided payments, a senior tax official said. Muhammad Hanif, head of the tax office's special cases branch, told Reuters its investigators went to Google's local office in Indonesia on Monday. The tax office alleges PT Google Indonesia paid less than 0.1 percent of the total income and value-added taxes it owed last year. Asked to respond to Hanif's comments, Google Indonesia reiterated a statement made last week in which it said it continues to cooperate with local authorities and has paid all applicable taxes. If found guilty, Google could have to pay fines of up to four times the amount it owed, bringing the maximum tax bill to 5.5 trillion rupiah ($418 million) for 2015, Hanif said. He declined to provide an estimate for the five-year period. Most of the revenue generated in the country is booked at Google's Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Google Asia Pacific declined to be audited in June, prompting the tax office to escalate the case into a criminal one, Hanif said. "Google's argument is that they just did tax planning," Hanif said. "Tax planning is legal, but aggressive tax planning - to the extent that the country where the revenue is made does not get anything - is not legal." The tax office will summon directors from Google Indonesia who also hold positions at Google Asia Pacific, Hanif said, adding that it is working with the Indonesian police. Globally, it is rare for a state investigation of corporate tax structures to be escalated into a criminal case. It normally takes at least three years for an Indonesian court to make a decision on a tax criminal case, said Yustinus Prastowo, executive director of the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis. The tax office is planning to chase back taxes from other companies that deliver content through the internet (over-the-top service providers) in Indonesia, Hanif said. The Indonesian communication and information ministry is working on a new regulation for OTT providers, and the tax office has proposed that a company with a "network presence" in Indonesia should also be subject to taxation. Total advertising revenue for the industry is estimated at $830 million a year, with Google and Facebook Inc accounting for around 70 percent of that, according to Hanif. A joint study by Google and Singapore state investor Temasek released earlier this year, however, estimated the size of Indonesia's digital advertising market at $300 million for 2015. ($1 = 13,155.00 rupiah) Kristen Bell is one busy mama! The 36-year-old actress who stars in NBCs freshman series The Good Place, debuting Monday looked stunning as she hit the Emmys red carpet on Sunday, arriving solo while husband Dax Shepard stayed home to care for their two children. He doesnt like dressing up, so hes much more comfortable in his cut-off jeans and his tank top at home with the kids, she confessed to ETs Kevin Frazier. PICS: The 2016 Emmy Awards Red Carpet Arrivals! Bell adorably documented her pre-show glam session on Instagram, from her fresh-faced skin treatments to a head full of rollers and clips. READ: Kristen Bell and Ted Danson Open Up About Their Ideal Good Place' I got ready at a room around the corner actually, my kids like to pick sequins off of things and this would have been very dangerous, Bell said of her gorgeous Zuhair Murad gown, featuring a plunging neckline and full, flowing skirt. I love Zuhair Murad, I think hes such a talented designer and I wanted to do something more whimsical and this was perfect, she said of the dress, joking that it would have wound up in a giant yarn ball if her kids had been allowed near it. Getty Images Just last week, Bell took to social media to share sweet snaps from a family trip to Michigan. Now, with fall TV season upon us and The Good Place debuting on Monday, Bell got real about how she and Shepard balance career and family life with their daughters, Lincoln, 3, and Delta, 21 months. Only one of us works at a time, Bell said. We have a lot of great people that are our support system and we bring our kids everywhere my babies come to work every day, I have the luxury of doing that. Were very mindful about taking jobs that will not take us away from them too much. WATCH: Kristen Bell Shares First Photo of Courthouse Wedding to Dax Shepard Related Articles Sterling K. Brown may have won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series or movie for his portrayal of Christopher Darden in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, but according to the actor, he doesn't have any plans to call the lawyer and thank him for the inspiration. While talking to ET's Nancy O'Dell backstage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Brown explained that he has unsuccessfully tried to get in contact with Darden multiple times, and doesn't feel the need to reach out -- ever again. WATCH: Christopher Darden Opens Up About the Truth Behind 'The People v. OJ Simpson' "No, never, no," Brown said when asked if he had ever spoken to Darden. "I called him. I called him before, and he respectfully declined." "I don't think it would be right to call him again," he continued. "He's a grown man living his life. He's gotta go with God, Mr. Darden. He's gotta do what he feels like doing." That definitely didn't stop from Brown from enjoying his night, however. "I felt like I instantly began to float above the venue," Brown said of hearing his name being called as the winner. "It was surreal, because nothing like this has ever happened." "It feels really, really great," he added. "It felt great to hear the appreciation of the audience, I felt loved. Like they really liked the performance. I could hear it." WATCH: Sterling K. Brown Reaps the Rewards of 'American Crime Story' Although Brown has never spoken to Darden, he previously revealed he had been in contact with Darden's daughter, Jenee, "via Twitter and Facebook" during an interview with ET in August. "She's been very kind in terms of sharing her thoughts about the performance," he said at the time. "As for her dad, I guess if it hasn't happened it probably won't happen, and that's OK." Story continues Following Brown's win on Sunday, Darden's daughter took to Twitter to congratulate the actor. "I am in tears," she wrote. "Congrats to Sterling K. Brown! Much deserved." I am in tears. Congrats to Sterling K. Brown! Much deserved. #Emmys Jenee Darden (@CocoaFly) September 19, 2016 Earlier in the day, she tweeted that even though she wasn't the one up for an Emmy, she still felt "so nervous." WATCH: Sarah Paulson Uses Emmys Speech to Apologize to Marcia Clark "Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown's performances humanized my dad & Marcia Clark," another tweet read. "I'm proud & happy for them." I'm so nervous and I'm not even up for an Emmy! LOL #emmys #SterlingKBrown #ChristopherDarden Jenee Darden (@CocoaFly) September 19, 2016 Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown's performances humanized my dad & Marcia Clark. I'm proud & happy for them. #Emmys #ThePeoplevOJSimpson Jenee Darden (@CocoaFly) September 19, 2016 In addition to Darden avoiding any contact with Brown, he also revealed he had no intentions of even watching the hit FX series when ET spoke to him in March. "I can do without it," Darden said at the time. "Maybe in three years I can go back and read Twitter and not be offended. You know? Or angry. But you spend 20 years trying to get past something like that. You spend 20 years trying to move on with your life, and then it all catches up with you." Meanwhile, Brown's co-star, Courtney B. Vance, who won the best lead actor in a limited series or movie Emmy for his role as Johnnie Cochran, was beaming with joy when ET's Kevin Frazier interviewed him post-show. RELATED: Stories Behind the Emmy-Nominated Episodes You Need to Watch "I'm just grateful that, you know, we keep it real," he dished. "We keep it about what it's really about, and we keep it moving. If this didn't come to me, I would still be the same person. I'm still doing my thing." "It's something that happens to other people," he continued. "We watch it. All of us watch and say, 'Oh, one year, one show wins everything.' Well, that happens to other people. Doesn't happen to me." "It was surreal," Brown added. "It was surreal that we were actually a part of something that everyone was watching, and that everyone has embraced. It's a strange, amazing feeling." Although Vance was surrounded by his co-stars, celebrity friends and wife, Angela Bassett, in celebration, there were a few other people on his mind -- their 10-year-old twins, Bronwyn and Slater. During our interview, Brown explained he hadn't gotten a chance to call them yet. "They dragged me in here first," he joked. "I don't even have my phone! Angie has everything." NEWS: 2016 Emmys: The Complete Winners List Luckily, ET was able to help. Frazier let Brown use his cell phone, and his kids couldn't stop screaming when daddy told them they were "live on ET!" Hear the adorable conversation in the video below. Related Articles Suspicious devices found in a backpack exploded in New Jersey, as the FBI reveal they are questioning five people in connection with the New York City explosion that injured 29 people on Saturday, September 17. The latest blast happened in the early hours of Monday morning after five devices were reported to have been found near a train station in Elizabeth. PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths in 2016: Stars Weve Lost According to several news outlets, one of the devices exploded as FBI bomb squad robots attempted to disarm it, and local mayor Christian Bollwage confirmed details to reporters on the scene. This was an explosive device, he said. Based on the loudness, I think people could have been severely hurt or injured if they had been in the vicinity. He also documented details of the scene on social media. PHOTOS: Celebrity Activists! Authorities have not said whether they believed the backpack is linked to the bombs in Manhattan one of which was defused or an earlier pipe bomb at a military fun run in New Jersey on Saturday. However, a police source who spoke to the New York Post said an unidentified man had called them after the bombings over the weekend, warning there would be more. This blast came just hours after the FBI pulled over a vehicle of interest on a highway in Brooklyn on Sunday night and questioned the occupants. PHOTOS: Most Shocking Celebrity Deaths of All Time We did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in the investigation, the FBI tweeted. No one has been charged with any crime. The investigation is continuing. Related Content: By PTI: From Harinder Mishra Jerusalem, Sep 19 (PTI) A woman Israeli police officer was stabbed in her neck along with her male colleague today close to an 800-year-old Indian hospice in Jerusalems Old City, the sixth attack in four days in the holy city and its vicinity. The latest stabbing incident, which left the 20-year-old woman police officer critically injured, took place outside Herods Gate. Her 45-year-old male colleague sustained multiple stab wounds to the upper body, but was conscious, a relief worker said. advertisement The Palestinian attacker, who came up from behind and stabbed the two police officers repeatedly, was shot at and injured. "A female officer was brought to the trauma center with a stab wound in neck. She was in serious condition, unconscious and on a respirator," a hospital spokesperson said. In a separate incident in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian was shot dead and his accomplice injured by the police after they tried to stab Israeli border police officer. The two attackers were asked by the border policemen to step aside for inspection but they refused and one of them pulled a knife and attempted to stab the forces. The second suspect also pulled a knife and tried to stab officers. Policemen opened fire in which one attacker was killed while another injured severely. Over the weekend, there have been six attacks which include four stabbings, a car ramming and a rock throwing, catching Israelis by surprise as the violence seemed to have subsided after a series of stabbing attacks last year and early this year. The Indian hospice, a symbol of Indias heritage and presence in Jerusalem dating back to some 800 years, is located right opposite to the Herods gate where the incident took place. The hospice is a pilgrimage site for Indians visiting the holy land. Israel security forces are on heightened in light of a rise in violence against police officers, soldiers and civilians in recent days. PTI HM CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- UPDATED: Police have named an Afghan-American in connection with an explosion in Elizabeth, N.J., and the Saturday bombing in New York. The explosion in Elizabeth occurred in the early hours of Monday morning. It appears that a device detonated as a police robot was attempting to defuse it and cut a wire. The device was one of five discovered late Sunday night in a backpack stashed in a trashcan near the railway station. That was not a controlled explosion, Elizabeth mayor Christian Bollwage told local media. The FBI confirmed the discovery of devices and the explosion. The incident followed an explosion Saturday in New Yorks Chelsea district that injured 29 people and the discovery of a second device nearby. Three pipe bomb devices were also found later in another part of New Jersey. The devices in Elizabeth were discovered by two men scavenging for valuables in the bin. When they saw wires and pipes they left the bag and walked to a police station to report it, according to Bollwage. Police described the explosion on Saturday in New York and a stabbing attack in Minnesota as acts of terrorism. Police also said that they were unlikely to have been organized by an international group, despite a claim by Islamic State that it was responsible for the stabbing in Minnesota. It is unclear whether the Elizabeth explosion is connected. Later the police released the name of an Afghanistan-born American citizen, Ahmad Khan Rahami, they are seeking for questioning in connection with both the New York and New Jersey incidents. He is believed to be a New Jersey resident. There was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices this evening at the Elizabeth Train Station in NJ. #Elizabeth FBI Newark (@FBINewark) September 19, 2016 In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated. There are no injuries & law enforcement personnel are at the scene. FBI Newark (@FBINewark) September 19, 2016 Related stories Story continues MTV Latin America Launches 'Acapulco Shore' (EXCLUSIVE) New Jersey Advances Production Tax Credit Incentives Bill Bizzers Urge New Jersey to Boost Production Tax Incentives (Repeats story for wider distribution) By Dena Aubin and Karen Freifeld NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman faces an uphill climb in building a case against Exxon Mobil Corp for not writing down assets amid the oil-price slump because of the broad leeway that energy companies have enjoyed reporting under U.S. rules, accounting experts said. Schneiderman is investigating Exxon's accounting practices and why the oil giant has not taken writedowns even while oil prices have fallen, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The price drop of more than 60 percent since 2014 has forced many integrated oil producers around the world to write down the value of their wells, leases and equipment, and Exxon is the only major producer to hold off so far. Oil in many wells can no longer be profitably recovered, and failing to write them down could give a misleading picture of a company's financial health. But accounting experts said it was far from clear that Exxon's lack of writedowns signaled any wrongdoing. Accounting rules give companies a choice of methods for valuing and impairing their assets, and writedowns can vary sharply based on the method used and other factors, they said. "This is an extremely subjective area," said Tom Selling, author of The Accounting Onion blog. "Everyone will have a different pattern of writedowns depending on how old their fields are and how much they cost to develop." Doug Cohen, spokesman for the AG's office, declined comment. An Exxon spokesman on Friday told Reuters its accounting follows rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets reporting standards for U.S. public companies. The largest U.S. oil companies have historically not taken large charges to write down the value of their assets when commodity prices tumble, said Brian Youngberg, oil company analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis. Companies are reluctant to take writedowns because they reduce income and assets on the balance sheet, and once assets are written down, they cannot be written up, said Larry Crumbley, accounting professor emeritus at Louisiana State University. Story continues Accounting rules do not require companies to take impairments for a temporary drop in oil prices, but the rules do not define the timeframe of a temporary slump, said Terry Crain, accounting professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma. "Is it a month or two, or several years?" Crain said. "It falls in a gray area." Chevron Corp, which took $2.8 billion of impairments and other charges in the second quarter, may not look at the current slump as temporary, Crain said. But Robert McTamaney, a lawyer with Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, said if companies believe prices will soon rise again, taking an impairment is the wrong move. He also noted that Exxon, as one of the nation's oldest oil producers, may be already carrying many of its rigs and other equipment at much lower prices, making writedowns unnecessary. "From glancing at it, I think Exxon has substantial arguments that their accounting is correct," he said. New York attorneys generals have a powerful tool for fighting accounting misconduct with the Martin Act, the state's securities fraud statute. The act allows for both civil and criminal charges, and the attorney general does not have to prove an intent to deceive. Exxon is not the first company whose accounting has come under the scrutiny of the New York attorney general's office. Former American International Group chief executive officer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg went on trial in New York state court Sept. 13, in a case stemming from a probe of AIG's accounting practices. McTamaney, who has been critical of the use of the Martin Act by New York attorneys general over the last decade or so, said he wondered why Schneiderman is bringing a case that "if it belongs anywhere, should be with the SEC." The SEC in 2013 questioned why Exxon had not taken an impairment charge despite stating it was making "no money" on U.S. natural gas due to falling prices, according to a letter published on the commission's website. The SEC declined comment on Friday on whether it is still looking into Exxon's accounting. (Reporting By Dena Aubin and Karen Freifeld; Additional reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by Anthony Lin and Bernard Orr) Madrid (AFP) - Spanish police on Monday identified as Brazilian a couple and their two young sons found hacked to pieces in a house near Madrid, in a suspected revenge killing. Police said there was no evidence of a break-in at the house in the village of Pioz where the bodies were found on Sunday after neighbours reported a strong odour emanating from the building. "There was no sign that any door, any window was forced open," a police spokesman said. "We are still not sure about the motive. It seems like it was carried out by professionals," he added. The family were from Brazil and while their ages have yet to be confirmed, the two boys were "very young," born in 2015 and 2012, he added. Police suspect the bodies had been inside the house for about a month. "Everything indicates it could be a settling of scores," Jose Julian Gregorio, the central government's representative in the region of Castilla-La Mancha where Pioz is located, told reporters. Police said they could not give further details while the investigation was under way but Spanish media reported that the bodies were found in plastic bags that had been sealed shut with tape. "The way the bodies appeared indicates an intention to try not to leave clues and get rid (of the bodies)," Jose Garcia of the Spanish police's UCO unit which specialises in complex investigations, told radio COPE. "It gives the impression that they pulled out at a certain moment because it is not logical that the bodies were left there," he added. Neighbours interviewed on television said the family were renting the house and were rarely seen in the streets since they moved in at the end of July. The house, which has a pool, has been cordoned off by police. It is located in a residential development with 24-hour security. Pioz, with a population of around 4,000, will mark a minute of silence on Tuesday at noon in memory of the victims. The village was "devastated" by the discovery of the four bodies and has declared two days of mourning, Deputy Mayor Sandra Marin said. "We are very shocked. It is a quiet village," she said. Santa Sofia (Colombia) (AFP) - As Colombia's FARC rebels prepare to sign a historic peace deal with the government, dissident guerrillas are reportedly clinging to their guns deep in the Amazon rainforest, targeting its gold. In the past few months, as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government have wrapped up a deal to end 52 years of conflict, a faction of fighters from the rebels' First Front has come out in opposition to the peace process. According to a local official, at least 40 of them have taken up positions inside the Yaigoje Apaporis National Park in southeastern Colombia, a remote expanse of lush rainforest on the Brazilian border. The park's more than one million hectares (2.5 million acres) are home to isolated indigenous groups and also hold sizeable reserves of gold. Five renegade guerrillas have already approached indigenous leaders there and warned they must "submit to their conditions," according to the local official, Paulo Estrada, a rights ombudsman for the state of Amazonas. "Their 'conditions' are basically that the indigenous peoples refuse to work with international aid groups, reject the presence of the state and submit their leaders and resources to (the fighters') orders," he said. He raised concern about the wellbeing of the local indigenous populations, which have had little contact with the outside world and may not be immune to its diseases. "The indigenous peoples who live here are very vulnerable to any outside presence," he said. - Gold, not politics - A faction of First Front rebels declared their rejection of the nearly four-year-old peace process in early July, vowing to continue the armed struggle the Marxist guerrilla group launched in 1964. The FARC, which is due to ratify the final peace accord at a national conference this week, responded that it would brook no dissent. If Colombians vote in favor of the accord in a decisive referendum on October 2, FARC members are supposed to leave their mountain and jungle hideouts and turn in their arms at 28 demobilization sites. Story continues But estimates by the government and private analysts predict around 10 percent of the FARC's 7,500 fighters may refuse. It is one of several complications facing both sides as they seek to wind down a war that has drawn in multiple left- and right-wing armed groups and criminal gangs across the decades, leaving 260,000 people dead and 45,000 missing. The government is still fighting a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN) -- which has an estimated 2,500 fighters -- as well as drug gangs. Colombia is the world's largest cocaine producer, and narcotics have been a key funding source for various armed groups involved in the conflict, including the FARC. Illegal mining has also been a lucrative funding source. Analysts say that, rather than politics, is likely behind the renegade First Front movement. - 'Abandoned by the state' - The Yaigoje Apaporis park is known for its large gold deposits, and "some speculate" it also has oil and uranium, said Alvaro Pardo, director of a mining studies center called Colombia Punto Medio. "It's an area with a lot of gold," and "it appears there's a large hydrocarbon field that extends to Ecuador and Venezuela," he said. Those aren't the region's only riches: it is also home to 362 species of birds, 152 species of reptiles and amphibians and around 400 species of butterflies, according to the national parks service. The presence of renegade rebels planning to plunder the park's gold and other resources is causing concern for the environment. But the guerrillas appear determined. "They told us they're going to keep fighting to the day they die," a local community leader told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. There is little local officials can do. Community authorities' demands to leave the zone have come to nothing, despite two meetings with the rebels. Park director Diego Munoz said four rebels showed up at one of his offices on June 22 demanding a boat and fuel. When staff refused, they took them anyway. He worries his rangers may have to quit the area. The rebels "say this is a zone that's been abandoned by the state. That they have won," he said. Five people were arrested in possible connection with Saturday's explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, according to ABC News. The suspects were arrested during a traffic stop conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. A federal official confirmed to PEOPLE that a second device was found but that it was still being studied. Law enforcement officials told ABC News they are investigating the possibility that two explosions, the one in New York and one in New Jersey, were linked. The investigations remain "separate," FBI officials said. "Just because you have one thing in common, doesn't mean the devices are similar," one official said. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference on Saturday, saying the possibility of a connection will "continue to be considered" and that officials were not "taking any options off the table." "We know there was a bombing. We will be very careful and patient to get to the full truth here," de Blasio said. "Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation? What was it? We do not know that yet." The explosion happened on 23rd street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Chelsea a a popular nightlife area that is usually bustling on Saturday night. Twenty-nine people were injured. The FIA will investigate the incident during Sundays Singapore Grand Prix that saw a marshal remain on-track when the race resumed at Marina Bay. An early safety car period was called in Singapore following a crash for Nico Hulkenberg at the start, his Force India requiring removal by the marshals from the main straight. Race control confirmed that green flag running would resume on lap three, with Nico Rosberg leading the field away. However, TV footage showed a marshal running across the main straight just before the cars arrived at Turn 1, narrowly avoiding being caught out after getting out of the firing line. According to a report from Autosport, the marshal was given the call to head out on-track after the circuit had been declared clear three times. The FIA will now investigate the incident, saying it takes the matter seriously and that everything will be done to ensure this does not happen again. Rosberg was asked about the incident after his winning for the eighth time this year in Singapore, admitting that the green flag call came as a surprise. That was pretty hairy, for sure, Rosberg said. I think just as we didnt expect the restart, he didnt either, I think, because the restart was somehow pretty abrupt. But he got out of the way just about in time so it was OK. Of course we all had to drive a bit carefully through there. -MotorSportsTalk on NBCSports By PTI: Panaji, Sep 19 (PTI) Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudhir Dhavalikar today claimed that around 20 current and former Goa legislators are keen to join the party and have approached them. "There are at least 20 current and former legislators who have approached us. They want to leave their current political affiliation and be with MGP," he told reporters here. advertisement Dhavilkar, the Goa Transport Minister, said MGP has kept its door open for anyone who wants to work for the state. Assembly polls in Goa are slated for next year. To a question, Dhavalikar claimed that Congress legislator Pandurang Madkaikar and Independent MLA Naresh Sawal are in-talks with the party to switch over the sides ahead of the state Assembly elections. "Madkaikar was in MGP earlier and had left the party to join Congress. We are ready accept him. Similarly, Sawal has ideology similar to us," he said. Dhavalikar said MGP is the only political party in the coastal state which had an representative in the Assembly since 1963 (when first Assembly was formed post-liberation from Portuguese rule). "All other parties arrived on Goas political scene after 1980. That is why people identify themselves with MGP. People have seen how MGP governs. Goans want MGP," he said. In the 2012 Assembly polls, MGP, which had an alliance with the BJP, had bagged three seats. PTI RPS NRB KIS BAS --- ENDS --- A film about Obamas college years is headed to Netflix and were here for it A film about Obamas college years is headed to Netflix and were here for it Throughout his two terms in the Oval Office, President Obama has given us plenty of reasons to believe that hes always been a pretty hip guy. Now that Netflix has purchased a movie about Obamas college days, were eager to see precisely how the POTUS navigated life back before he met the first lady and started singing slow jams with Jimmy Fallon. Variety reports that the streaming service purchased the rights to Barry a week after its Toronto International Film Festival debut. If youre expecting a stuffy retelling of his political roots, this review by Owen Glieberman paints quite the opposite picture: Set in 1981, when Obama was a 20-year-old college student who moved to New York to transfer to Columbia University, the film is rooted in the murky, drifting, sleep-late-and-get-stoned-and-do-whatever nature of college life that the movies almost never get right. This one does, and thats one reason it feels bracingly authentic. Oh, snap. Who else expects this movie to be lit AF? steve harvey Odds are that whatever exploits revealed in Barry are going to embarrass the hell out of Sasha and Malia but please accept our sympathy and apologies in advance, first children. We absolutely need to see what went down during Obamas excuse us Barrys college days. Were pretty sure the presidents hype birthday parties didnt just begin in The White House were just sayin. All jokes aside, Barry is about a future president, so it addresses more serious issues like racial identity, politics and love, which just goes to show that some experiences in college in are universal, even if youre a seemingly ordinary guy whos on the brink of becoming the leader of the free world. The post A film about Obamas college years is headed to Netflix and were here for it appeared first on HelloGiggles. Athens (AFP) - Thousands of migrants were forced to flee to safety when their camp on the Greek island of Lesbos was badly damaged in a fire apparently set on purpose, police said. No casualties were reported but tents at the Moria camp were "almost entirely destroyed" and containers that provide additional accommodation and health and registration services were damaged, a police source in Athens told AFP. Firefighters were prevented from tackling the fire early on by clashes that broke out among rival nationalities in the camp, reports said. "Between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants fled the camp of Moria," to the surrounding fields, with strong winds fanning the flames also hampering firefighters, the police source said. However, once inside the firefighters were able to bring the fire under control. Police were sent out after the migrants and were in the process of returning them to the camp, the officer added. The officer said there was "no doubt" that the fire had been set on purpose by those inside. Some 150 minors housed at the camp were evacuated to a children's village on the island, the officer said. Earlier on Monday, tensions rose in Moria owing to a rumour that migrants were about to be deported en masse to Turkey, state agency ANA reported. But a strong police presence at the camp had initially calmed tempers, the officer said. Another two fires broke out in the olive groves near Moria but were brought under control before the third blaze erupted at the camp. There are now more than 60,000 refugees and migrants in Greece, most of them seeking to travel to Germany and other affluent EU countries. But they are unable to do so after several eastern European and Balkan states shut their borders earlier this year. - Overcrowding - Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the condition of Greek migrant camps, pointing to overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions. The situation is particularly acute on Lesbos and other eastern Aegean islands facing Turkey, where most of the migrants land and are held for registration. Story continues Island residents have also staged protests to demand the transportation of the migrants to the mainland. The procedure is part of an EU-Turkey deal designed to limit the flow of refugees and migrants to Greece's shores. According to government data, there are more than 13,000 people on five islands in facilities built to house fewer than 8,000. Most of them are Syrian refugees fleeing civil war, in addition to Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis and others from the Indian subcontinent and north Africa considered to be economic migrants, and as such not automatically entitled to asylum in Europe. On Lesbos itself there are in excess of 5,600 people, more than 2,000 more than the nominal capacity of the camps. Brawls are common, with many desperate to avoid being returned to Turkey or their home countries after spending a small fortune and risking their lives trying to escape poverty and persecution. The fire comes as UN member states Monday promised to try to improve the plight of millions of refugees around the world. Speaking at the first UN refugee summit in New York, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned that failure to confront the refugee crisis would unleash xenophobia. "If we fail to support this, the political repercussions will be felt not only in Greece but everywhere," he said. "We will give space to nationalistic, xenophobic forces to show their face for the first time since the Second World War." More than 850,000 migrants arrived on the Greek islands last year, many after risking their lives in unseaworthy boats and dinghies. On September 19, 1796, a Philadelphia newspaper published one of the greatest documents in American history: George Washingtons Farewell Address. Even today, some people in that other Washington could learn a few lessons from the first president. washington1795 Link: Read the entire Farewell Address Washingtons letter was significant in two ways: It signaled that he wasnt running for a third term in office, and it served as a warningand an inspirationfor future generations. No less a critic than Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall said the address spoke to precepts to which the American statesman can not too frequently recur. So what makes the Farewell Address such a great speech? Here are five lessons we can learn from the first president about communicating. 1. Use great speechwriters President Washington first considered a Farewell Address four years earlier, but the infighting between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson made Washington run for a second term, and he put the speech aside. At the time, Washington asked James Madison to write a draft Farewell Address for his consideration. Then, in 1796, Washington asked his longtime aide, Hamilton, to do an extensive rewrite based on Washingtons concepts. In the end, Washington stayed true to the points he felt were important, and he used elements of Madison and Hamiltons work, too. But Washington wrote out the speech in his own handwriting and he was its final editor. The University of Virginia has an excellent online analysis of all the drafts. 2. Get right to the point In the opening paragraph, Washington makes it clear by end of the first sentence that he isnt running for a third term of office. How often do you hear political speeches today where the major point is addressed immediately? 3. Make sure you thank everyone In his second paragraph, Washington thanked the American people for the opportunity to serveeven though he was a near unanimous choice for president in two elections. Story continues I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both, he says. 4. Make sure you unite your audience After Washington thanked everyone and made sure they understood his decision was best for the country, he reminded the audience that they neededto remain united, despite their many differences. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations, he says. He also added a reminder about the then nine-year-old Constitution. I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue, he says. 5. Offer advice in a thoughtful way Most of the address is an extended policy statement about Washingtons eight years in office, as well some extended statements intended to make a point. The two most famous statements in the Farewell Address are comments about political parties and foreign alliances. Washington didnt like the idea of political parties (which he called baneful) and made that clear in a concluding statement in a passage about factions. The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it, he said. The president also famously warned that the United States should stay steer clear of permanent Alliances with any portion of the foreign world. Washington didnt say that the young nation should be isolationist; in fact, he said that it should observe good faith and justice towards all nations. But his advice was that any permanent alliance should be considered greatly, even he wasnt a big believer in them. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them, he added. After the address was published in David C. Claypooles American Daily Advertiser and then republished in countless newspapers and pamphlets, it appeared to be well received by the public. However, it set off a frantic race to replace Washington that featured John Adams and Thomas Jefferson that helped to permanently create the political party system that Washington despised. In later years, the Farewell Address letter gained new importance. In 1825, both Jefferson and Madison recommended the Farewell Address to the University of Virginia, as one of the best guides possible to the ideals of American government. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln recommended its public reading as a reminder. And every year, a member of the U.S. Senate is asked to read the Farewell Address in public. Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center. During an interview on the FOX Business Networks Cavuto: Coast to Coast, former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez discussed the New York and New Jersey bombings and why hes against Trumps plan to build a wall. Secretary, the response you heard from officials tip-toeing over terror, maybe for good reason, maybe they are just afraid [of the] next level, but it looks like terrorism does it not? FBNs Neil Cavuto asked asked Gutierrez. I would call it terrorism. If you have a bomb going off and injuring more than 20 people and creating terror -- [then] what the heck is it?... Its interesting that people are tying this into building a wall Unless we realize that we have a black market for labor, were going to have no control whatsoever over who enters the country regardless of how high the wall is, Gutierrez told Cavuto. But we are not good at keeping track of that? You raised some eyebrows when you said you cant support Trump because of that, but weve since learned that more than 800 immigrants were mistakenly granted citizenship, so we are making mistakes with the existing system we have, right? asked Cavuto. And thats exactly the point, answered Gutierrez. Gutierrez added, We only started using finger prints in 2010. In 2006, in President Bushs bill, we recommended a biometric card for folks who had obtained legal status so that theyd have their finger prints on their biometric card. We are not using e-verify. We are not using technology, we are still using paper. So, it just shows we dont pay attention to our legal immigration system. We are paying attention to the politics of immigration. Related Articles With the 2016 presidential election fast approaching, former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham weighed in on who Donald Trump should consider as his potential Department of Energy Secretary. Well, I think thats up to Donald Trump if he is elected, but recently Gov. Christie made statements to large groups of major CEOs indicating that theyre looking for people from outside of Washington, from the CEO ranks, Abraham told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo. Abraham then named one potential contender for the position. That might mean somebody like Harold Hamm, whos been the top energy advisor to Donald Trump or somebody else in the CEO world of energy. Hamm, Chairman and CEO of Continental Resources, (NYSE:CLR) runs one of the largest independent oil companies in the U.S. The recent terror events in New York and New Jersey over the weekend may also boost the emphasis on national security, that includes oversight of the U.S. energy grid, Abraham noted. The Department of Energy overseas nuclear security and the security of the electricity grid and so on, so maybe youd start looking at somebody who has a kind of background in security that might be tapped for other posts like Homeland Security or whatever, Giuliani or somebody like Rudy for a position like this, not because theyre energy experts but because they can keep us safe and secure in the most important of areas, energy delivery he said. Related Articles Ford Motor Co. (ticker: F) isn't going to let Donald Trump have the last word on its production. It's fighting against recent lambasting from the Republican presidential nominee about its production shift to Mexico by discussing its big trucks manufacturing in Ohio, reports Bloomberg. This production headed to Ohio from Mexico in 2015. Ford says that in 2016 (including August), it's sold 10,160 F-650 and F-750 trucks. This marks the biggest sales number for these trucks since 1997 and is a 59 percent increase from 2015. Trump referred to Ford as "a disgrace" following CEO Mark Fields announcing to investors that small-car production would shift to Mexico. Trump's comments on Mexico have been widespread across his presidential campaign. "It's really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts," Fields told CNN. "And the facts are, Ford's investment in the U.S. and commitment to American jobs has never been stronger. I mean, we've created more than 28,000 jobs in the U.S. in the last five years." Bloomberg notes that according to Morgan Stanley, the bulk of Ford's profit resides in its F-Series trucks. Ford's stock is down about 13.9 percent on the year, though it remained steady in afternoon trading. 11 Stocks That Donald Trump Loves Car Companies and the Race to Profits See More Motor Vehicle Stocks David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com. By PTI: Madhubani/Patna, Sep 19 (PTI) At least 27 passengers were killed when a private bus fell into a roadside pond in Bihars Madhubani district today. "A total of 27 persons were killed in the bus accident. All the bodies have been fished out from the pond," Madhubani District Magistrate Giriwar Dayal Singh said. Many of the passengers, who had boarded the bus, swam to safety or might have jumped out of the bus to save themselves, the DM said. advertisement The accident took place at Basaitha chowk under Bennipatti police station in Madhubani district, about 50 km from the district headquarters. The private bus, carrying about 65 passengers, was on its way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when the mishap took place on the state highway. The bus was pulled out of the pond with the help of a crane. In Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed deep sorrow and said in a statement that reason of the accident was being looked into. He instructed officials to speed up relief and rescue operation. Kumar instructed Revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and Panchayati Raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident spot. Superintendent of police Deepak Kumar Barnwal and other policemen, who received stiff resistance from the villagers who were angry over delay in reaching of crane and pelted stones at them, managed to reach the spot after additional force came in. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) has reached the mishap site. The CM issued instruction to provide assistance to the victims. Besides, Kumar also directed for payment of ex-gratia to the family members of those killed in the incident. Apart from DM and SP, Darbhanga Divisional Commissioner R K Khandelwal, Darbhanga Inspector General Umashankar Sudhanshu and other senior police and civil officials of Madhubani and Sitamarhi were camping at the spot along with Benipatti MLA Bhavna Jha. PTI CORR AR PR RCB --- ENDS --- UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France on Monday condemned the attack on an aid convoy in Syria saying it showed the urgent need to impose a ceasefire in the country. "France strongly condemns the destruction of a humanitarian convoy in Syria and the death of all the personnel in it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said, citing remarks made by the foreign minister at the start of a closed meeting on Syria. "This destruction illustrates the urgency of a ceasefire." (Reporting by John Irish, editing by G Crosse) By Ingrid Melander FREJUS, France (Reuters) - In the southern French town of Frejus, National Front (FN) mayor David Rachline is performing a balancing act that epitomizes the far-right party's strategy -- trying to prove it can run things while retaining its anti-establishment image. The stakes are high for the FN, which won just under a dozen towns including Frejus in 2014 municipal elections, and wants to use its track record in those areas to support its quest for power at a nation level. Aged only 28 and a rising star in the FN, Rachline had a relatively low-key, business-as-usual, start to his tenure. But then he started pushing the party's trademark anti-migration agenda by cutting subsidies to an association helping migrant workers and trying to stop plans to build a mosque. As France's April 2017 presidential election draws nearer, the tension between providing basic city management and courting controversy is becoming more acute and scrutiny is certain to grow after Rachline became campaign director for FN chief Marine Le Pen at the weekend. Le Pen, seen by opinion polls as likely to make the second round of the presidential election but lose a run-off, gave a ringing endorsement of Rachline and stressed the significance of what he was doing when she launched her campaign in Frejus. "He represents success ... his success in managing his town is a way to silence those who have relentlessly said the National Front could not implement its program," she told reporters on Saturday.A resort town of 55,000 which hosts three to four times as many people over the summer, Frejus is the biggest constituency managed by the FN, making it an important test of the party. Rachline, who was one of a few dozen mayors who banned the full body burkini swimwear on the beach this summer -- an issue which underlined tensions with France's large Muslim population -- says he is the victim of unfair criticism by some media and political opponents because of his party allegiance. "I'm a democratically elected mayor who works for the good of the community," he told Reuters in an interview, when asked what being an FN mayor is about. Fixing the town's finances and ensuring its security were his priorities, he added. STIRRING CONTROVERSY Rachline, who joined the FN aged 14, does not shy away from controversy and staunchly defends some of the moves for which critics attack him -- including boycotting local journalists. "He is an FN mayor. By the very nature of the FN he needs clashes, this party cannot be only about going more mainstream or it would lose what makes it different," said Sylvain Crepon, a specialist on the FN at the French university of Tours. "He does that skillfully," he said of Rachline. Rachline has fallen out with local journalists, political opponents and activists in recent months. In June, his administration began boycotting regional newspaper Var-Matin, accusing it of talking down the town and political bias. At the same time, the mayor became involved in a public row with center-right city councillor Francoise Cauwel, prompting her to file a complaint with local police accusing Rachline of a sexist slur. Rachine says he does not recall using the disputed phrase and that it would not have been that bad even if he had said it. "Things are getting increasingly tense, more radical," Cauwel told Reuters. After articles on trees being cut down to make space for a concert by veteran rock star Johnny Hallyday, of whom Rachline is a huge fan, the municipality said it would not talk to Var-Matin's local reporting team any more. It also stopped providing the newspaper with routine information including birth and deaths in the town. The municipality's own monthly magazine, distributed to residents for free, devoted three pages in its September edition to complaining about the daily's coverage under the headline "Var-Matin is sullying our town." Eric Farel, the head of Var-Matin's Frejus team, says such a move is unprecedented. "My feeling is that as we're getting closer to the presidential election they don't want stories that would allow one to say the FN's management of a city is not fine." Some local activists also complain. "We're against the city's current policies and in an FN city when you're against them, you are the enemy, you are ostracized," said Jean-Paul Radigois, the head of an association of inhabitants of Frejus' beach area that opposes the mayor's development plans there. Rachline brushes this aside, saying his project is necessary to develop tourism and give city staff a better place to work. "Democracy is at the moment of elections, I don't know if they (activists) know about that. It's not about petitions," he said. NO MONEY FOR MIGRANTS As for the mosque, now built and operational in an under-privileged borough, Rachline insists his opposition to it is about building permits and not against having a mosque as such. The city and the association that built the mosque have been embroiled for years in legal proceedings that are still ongoing. "In the absence of a building permit, it (the mosque) must be destroyed -- like any building, I insist, that wouldn't have a building permit," Rachline said. He is much more blunt, however, about scrapping a subsidy to the ASTI association that gives support to migrant workers on issues including how to claim pensions. Asked to confirm the end to municipal subsidies to ASTI, Rachline said: "Well, obviously!" And added: "I don't give a cent to migrant workers or to migrants in general." In the streets of the old town of Frejus, with typical Provencal, pastel-colored houses, reactions are mixed. Restaurant owner Patrick Loidreau says things have never been better. "When we see how well Rachline and his team are managing Frejus, reducing the debt without raising taxes, if Marine Le Pen came to power, we would be saved," said Loidreau, an FN voter who agrees with the party's anti-immigration agenda. But others differed. "It's hard to be a political opponent in an FN city, we are constantly singled out," said Insaf Rezagui, a local Socialist party representative. The young woman of Algerian descent says her origins are one of the reasons why she's targeted. In April, Rachline commented on a tweet by a journalist who wrote Rezagui might be a candidate in general elections by asking if there were elections in Palestine. Rachline points out that the FN increased its share of the vote in regional polls that took place 18 months after his election, saying this is proof that residents back his policies. He says he's getting results. The municipality's website says the town's debt per inhabitant will have dropped from 2705 euros ($3,020) in 2014 to 2447 this year. "We've been told a lot that we wouldn't be able to manage local authorities ... I believe we are showing here that we are capable of this and that we are even more capable than others," he said. ($1 = 0.8954 euros) (Additional reporting by Michel Bernouin; Editing by Keith Weir) PARIS (Reuters) - France's financial prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into possible misinformation and deception related to French nuclear group Areva's 2013 employee shareholding programme in 2013, Le Parisien reported on Monday. Areva confirmed that a preliminary investigation, which follows a complaint by the CFE-CGC trade unions, was opened. "We understand that some employee shareholders express their disappointment," Areva spokeswoman told Reuters. "Nonetheless, Areva has always complied with the law in terms of financial communication," she added. Areva launched its first employee shareholding programme for approximately 1.2 percent of the firm's share capital in 2013, according to its annual report. Areva said 36 percent of the employees in France, the United States and Germany participated in this operation. At the end of 2014, the state-owned group said it would review its funding options and dropped its 2015-16 financial targets, blaming delays to its Olkiluoto reactor project in Finland, the slow restart of Japan's reactors and a lacklustre nuclear market. "During the period of subscription to the employee shareholding programme in 2013, employees were informed that there was a risk of capital loss, inherent to any purchase and holding of shares," Areva said. Le Parisien reported that investigators are trying to assess whether Areva management was aware of the upcoming problems as it invited employees to invest in the share purchase plan. (Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Maya Nikolaeva; Editing by Geert De Clercq) Paris (AFP) - A French woman who interviewed European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker claims she came under pressure from YouTube not to ask difficult questions. Laetitia Nadji, who is in her 30s and has 60,000 followers on her YouTube channel where she gives environmental tips, was chosen for a European version of a similar interview YouTube did with US President Barack Obama. She chose to ask about the tax policies of Juncker's native Luxembourg and how the EU member state dealt with the profits of multi-national companies. In an unedited version of the interview posted on YouTube, she asked Juncker if, as a former finance minister and premier of Luxembourg, he was best-placed to "put an end to this injustice". Nadji said YouTube was opposed to her asking the question and, in a video she posted Sunday, an employee of the Google-owned company tries to dissuade her ahead of the recording. With a pixellated face, the man is heard telling her: "It's an extremely difficult question for Mister Juncker to answer because you're getting into companies and lobbying. Also, you don't want to offend the European Commission and YouTube and all the people who believe in you. At least, if you want to have a long career on YouTube." Nadji said in a later post on YouTube: "At one point, I felt threatened." In the interview, she also asked Juncker what he thought of his predecessor Jose Manuel Barroso's decision to join US investment bank Goldman Sachs. Nadji said she was surprised that following the interview, she was summoned to Google's offices, only to be offered a one-year contract as one of its brand "ambassadors". Although it was her "dream", she said she turned it down because she did not want to be "manipulated". YouTube denied putting pressure on Nadji, saying only it had asked her to be "respectful" to Juncker. A spokesman said YouTube regretted that an "unfortunate sentence" from its employee was being interpreted as a warning. Story continues The European Commission denied it had requested to see the questions in advance. It said Juncker "has spent 25 years in public life taking questions from some of the most seasoned journalists of our time. He neither needs nor would he allow anyone to attempt to soften up questions for him." The Commission added in its statement that Juncker was "very pleased" with the interview. Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has fired his interior minister and replaced him with a military officer previously convicted of plotting a coup against him, in the latest unpredictable move from the west African strongman. A press release read over state television on Sunday night said longtime minister Ousman Sonko would be replaced "with immediate effect" by Momodou Alieu Bah, who helped mount a 2006 coup against Jammeh. Jammeh has fended off several attempted coups since coming to power in 1994 via the same method. Bah had previously served as finance director for the Gambia's armed forces, and hails from Lamin, a village close to the capital, Banjul. He was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2006 following the attempted overthrow but granted amnesty in 2010 after he testified during the trial of the chief of defence staff of the Gambia Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Lang Tombong Tamba. Bah's sacked predecessor Sonko was previously a member of the presidential guard and protected Jammeh when he was threatened with a separate coup attempt in 2000, rather than joining other guards mounting an insurrection. Sonko had served as interior minister since 2006 except for his brief 2012 appointment as ambassador to Spain -- a decision that Jammeh reversed one week later. Sonko's profile was still available to view on the Gambian government's website on Monday, but had disappeared by the evening. Last week the United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was "alarmed" by reports of violence against protesters, and the torture and unexplained deaths of detainees in the Gambia, warning of "serious repercussions of any further decline in the situation". Jammeh is expected to win a fifth term in a December election, and his regime is regularly accused by rights groups of arranging the forcible disappearance of opponents. Since independence from Britain in 1965, the Gambia has had just one other leader, Dawda Jawara, who served until the current president toppled him in a 1994 coup. GettyImages game of thrones emmy wins "Game of Thrones" and HBO have 39 reasons to be happy on Sunday night. Thirty-eight represents the number of Emmy Awards the show now tallies. The 39th reason would be the new record it has set for the number of Emmys won by an individual show. On Sunday, HBO surpassed the 37 awards won by NBC's "Frasier" to become the most-awarded show in Emmys history. That's huge in and of itself, but especially since the TV Academy has only in recent years begun to open itself up to voting for genre shows. Wins for drama series, writing, and directing on Sunday helped to nab the record. GettyImages emmys game of thrones This record-breaking accomplishment will have to hold the show over until 2018. The producers' decision to push the next season of the show into late summer means it won't be eligible for the 2017 Emmys. NOW WATCH: Kit Harington explains why he showed up to his 'Game of Thrones' audition with a black eye More From Business Insider We have the best cast that I think ever has been assembled, executive producer David Benioff said as Game Of Thrones took the Outstanding Drama Series for the second year in a row. The HBO blockbuster now is the most awarded scripted series in Emmy history with 38 wins. D.B Weiss Game of Thrones cast & crew Emmys 2016 Earlier Sunday, after snagging Writing and Directing Emmys, the multi-nominated show based on George R.R. Martins books matched the previous record hold of Frasier with 37 overall wins. This Best Drama win also now ties GoT with its Emmy haul of 2015, which saw trophies for Peter Dinklage in the Best Supporting category and more. We love Frasier, said exec producer D.B Weiss backstage. They had a long run. Were sure that somebody will come and take this from us. We just hope that it doesnt happen until were all dead. The big benchmark for the HBO blockbuster at the 68th Primetime Emmy capped an increasingly historic night that saw the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss-executive produced show also score an Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series for the EPs and and Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series for Miguel Sapochnik. In the latter category, GoT was nominated in two of the six slots. Already the top winning drama in Emmy history, Sundays victories makes GoT now the top winning scripted show ever from the TV Academy shindig. After nine Creative Arts Emmy wins last week and a total of 24 nominations this year, GoT was one nom down from 2015 but actually up in major categories from last year. Over its six season run so far, GoT has amassed an Emmy Iron Throne of its own with 106 nominations including last years genre shattering Drama Series win. This years 12 wins tie the series record that GoT got its hands on in 2015. It however did not top the all time single year Emmy record of 13 victories that the 2008 John Adams miniseries reeled in. However, math doesnt always work in the Peabody winning Game Of Thrones Emmy favor. Story continues Pushed back to a summer 2017 debut by HBO this July, Season 7 of the series based on George R.R. Martins novel will not be eligible for the Emmys next year. While that shortened 7-episode run will skip an Emmy ballot, no word yet if the eighth and final season will be out of immediate contention too which may give some drama competitors an extra breathe of relief. The ensemble fantasy drama was up against USA Networks Mr. Robot, AMCs Better Call Saul, FXs long overlooked The Americans, past winner Showtimes Homeland, the final season of Downton Abbey and multi-nominee House of Cards from Netflix for Outstanding Drama Series this year. With 45 Emmys total over its 41 seasons, Saturday Night Live has won the most any single show over the decades but its not on primetime and is a sketch show, so the King of the scripted hill is now clearly GoT. All hail the Kings! Related stories Emmy Winner Maggie Smith To Jimmy Kimmel: "Please Direct Me To The Lost & Found" Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo By PTI: Berhampur (Odisha), Sep 19 (PTI) With the arrest of three persons, Government railway police (GRP) today claimed to have busted a train robbery gang at Chhatrapur in Odishas Ganjam district. Those arrested in the operation conducted yesterday included Sibaram Patnaik (28), identified as the gang leader, who is involved in at least a dozen cases, police said. advertisement In the last year, GRP had arrested another three members of the gang after a train robbery committed on September 9, 2015. At least six miscreants looted cash and other valuables from passengers traveling in Bhubaneswar-Palasa DMU train between Narsinghpur and Jagannathpur near Berhampur railway station in Ganjam district in June. PTI COR SKN SUS SUS --- ENDS --- Telling his wife he was gay was never going to be easy. But Yu Hu never thought it would see him committed to a mental hospital and fed a cocktail of drugs to "cure" him. Yu's wife readily agreed to a divorce, but his own family were nowhere near as tolerant. They arranged for medical personnel to seize him, throw him into a van and strap him to a hospital bed. For 19 days, he was given a mix of unidentified medications, with staff threatening to beat him if he refused to take them, all in the name of "curing" him of his orientation. The 32-year-old was only released when his boyfriend and LGBT activists contacted police in Henan province. Now Yu is suing his captors, the latest in a series of legal battles aimed at banning supposed "gay conversion therapies". "They must be brought to justice, being gay is not a crime, but what they did to me is," Yu said. "This isn't only happening to me, and this must stop." Yu still has nightmares about the episode last October. His demands are simple: an apology from the hospital and an acknowledgement homosexuality is not a disease to be cured. The case is due to be heard on Wednesday. - 'We try to educate doctors' - Homosexuality is legal in China, but was only taken off the list of psychiatric disorders in 2001. While Chinese attitudes to homosexuality have become more accepting in recent years, especially in larger cities, discrimination is still rife. Government censors banned gay characters on television in March, with new guidelines decreeing: "No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on." Many Chinese are their parents' only children as a result of the country's often brutally enforced family planning policies, so parental expectations of marriage and grandchildren tend to exacerbate pressures on gay men and lesbians. Story continues Some enter into "cooperation marriages" with a knowing partner in order to satisfy their family's demands. People who undergo conversion treatments -- either voluntarily or after submitting to family pressure -- spend about 20,000 yuan ($3,000) on average, according to the Beijing LGBT Center, although some see their costs spiral upwards as doctors encourage more sessions. In Chongqing, fees are about 4,000 yuan for a course -- almost as much as the city's average monthly salary -- which can include solitary confinement and even chemical castration. But authorities are more interested in policing activists than clinics, said campaigner Sha Sheng, whose group has helped hundreds of gay men and lesbians after they found themselves in debt and trapped in Chongqing facilities. "Even though a court has said this is wrong, it's hard to fight against gay conversion therapy when the police are constantly shutting down our activities," said Sha. Other activists are trying to convert the medical providers. "We try to educate doctors, introduce them to homosexual people and show them its not an affliction to be gay," said Joelle Yao, an activist at the Beijing LGBT Center. "A lot" of doctors leave the sessions with a "completely different view on homosexuality" she said, adding that Chinese prejudice was more often born of ignorance rather than religious conviction, making it easier to address. But the task remains huge. "We can't reach everyone," she said. "China is just too big." By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta GAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - On Sept. 1, half a dozen Hamas security officials called at the home of Mohammed Othman, a young journalist in Gaza who had written several probing articles. They seized two laptops, two mobile phones and took Othman away for questioning. Twenty-four hours later, after what he described as an intense interrogation, the 29-year-old was released, but not before he had been asked to sign a document promising not to criticize Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, or its security services. Othman says he refused. "They were telling me things trying to scare me and influence me," he told Reuters the day after his release, describing being slapped around during the detention. "I discovered the reality is worse than I thought." The Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza said Othman was detained by internal security on a warrant issued by the prosecutor's office, and denied he was mistreated. "We have great respect for the rights of journalists to work freely and write everything," the head of the office, Salama Maarouf, told Reuters. "The general policy is to allow journalists to work freely and not to touch their rights." Despite that, media monitoring and human rights groups say press freedom is under threat in the West Bank and Gaza, with both Hamas and Fatah, the Western-backed party that runs the West Bank, increasingly wary of journalists and bloggers who write critically or seek to expose wrongdoing. "(They) are arresting, abusing and criminally charging journalists and activists who express peaceful criticism of the authorities," Human Rights Watch said in a report in August. "Both Palestinian governments, operating independently, have apparently arrived at similar methods of harassment, intimidation and physical abuse of anyone who dares criticize." The Independent Commission for Human Rights reported that 24 people in the West Bank and 21 in Gaza were arrested in 2015 for criticizing Palestinian authorities or writing about forbidden topics. MEDIA CLAMPDOWN Veteran Palestinian journalists say the situation is worsening. For years their biggest fear was the Israeli military, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in the past year has shut down two radio stations in Hebron. But now it is just as often the Palestinian authorities clamping down. "There was a great hope that under Palestinian rule media freedom would flourish," said Emad Saada, 50, who has worked for the Palestinian daily newspaper al-Quds for 25 years. "But violations and restrictions against the freedom of the press continued in one way or another and the media has begun to suffer from a dual threat: the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian authority." The result, journalists say, is an increasing amount of self-censorship. With reporters and bloggers being detained for weeks and in some cases suffering physical harm, others are thinking twice about how probing they want to be. "The factor of self-censorship has turned into a security man sitting inside the minds of journalists, telling them what to write and what not to write," said Fathy Sabbah, the Gaza correspondent for London-based Al-Hayyat newspaper. "There is caution among many journalists and bloggers," he said, adding that, conversely, there was also more risk-taking among some who are determined not to back down. In Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt for nearly a decade, journalists say Hamas has grown steadily more uncomfortable with criticism since it seized full control of the territory in 2007. In the West Bank, rights groups say the number of cases of journalists being harassed is higher. Ragheed Tbeisa, a 23-year-old reporter for the Al-Quds news network and Palestine Post, was detained for 18 days last month, shortly after publishing a report about electricity shortages in Qalqiliya. He said he was held in a cell alone for nearly the whole time, with just three hours of interrogation. Asked how it would affect his work he said: "The influence may be that someone will stop writing, or the opposite, it would give someone a motive to continue to write what he believes." Asked about the detention of journalists in the West Bank, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's security services said there was no new effort to curtail criticism. "We do not have a policy to chase or crack down on the freedom of the media," said Adnan al-Dmairi, adding that journalists should complain if they felt restricted. "When a violation occurs ... the journalist should file a complaint either against the security service where he was detained or personally against the security man who violated his rights," he said. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Writing by Luke Baker; Editing by Giles Elgood) By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - General Electric (GE.N) is digging deeper into biotechnology with plans to build four prefabricated drug factories in Ireland, bringing to Europe a low-cost manufacturing concept it first pioneered in China. The U.S. conglomerate, better known for making jet engines and turbines, said on Monday it would invest 150 million euros ($167 mln) in a biopharmaceutical campus in county Cork. The new factories on the site will be owned and run by GE customers. The GE BioPark Cork site is expected to create 500 jobs when fully operational, in a boost for Ireland, whose low tax rates have helped it attract hi-tech companies - also sparking an angry row with Brussels in the case of Apple (AAPL.O). Ireland has long been a major base for drug companies such as Pfizer (PFE.N) and it has recently seen a wave of new investments by firms making biotech medicines. "Ireland is a real hub for biopharmaceuticals, so it's logical to do it there," Kieran Murphy, chief executive for life sciences at GE Healthcare, told Reuters. "It's one of the key places people are going in the world, along with Singapore, Korea and China." GE reckons its off-the-shelf modular factories are 25 to 50 percent cheaper than the traditional plants needed for making complex biological medicines. They can also be constructed in just 18 months rather than the typical three years. The first such GE prefab factory was built for JHL Biotech in China, where it recently started operations. Pfizer has also a so-called KUBio unit going up in China. Both these factories are designed to produce cut-price biosimilars, or copies of expensive biotech drugs. Demand for such biosimilars is set to increase as patents expire on top-selling injectable medicines like AbbVie's (ABBV.N) Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and Roche's (ROG.S) breast cancer treatment Herceptin. KUBio factories offer GE a way to build up its presence in biotech medicine, which it sees as a central plank of its life sciences business. GE life sciences sales reached $4 billion in 2015, out of total GE Healthcare revenue of $18 billion. Story continues GE technology is already used to make leading antibody drugs and the company also aims to become a big supplier in the emerging field of cell therapy. GE is expected to start building the factories in Cork next year. The U.S. conglomerate has yet to line up buyers for the units but Murphy said: "I don't think it will take us very long to snag the first customer." The investment is a fillip for Ireland whose low tax regime has come under scrutiny. The Irish government is set to appeal against a 13-billion-euro back tax demand imposed by the European Commission on technology giant Apple, fearing it could undermine the country's long-established policy of attracting multinationals with low taxes. Ireland has been attracting drugmakers since the 1970s, helped more recently by its 12.5 percent corporate tax rate. Nine of the top 10 global drug companies today have an international base in Ireland. ($1 = 0.8965 euros) (Editing by Susan Fenton) By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - General Electric is digging deeper into biotechnology with plans to build four prefabricated drug factories in Ireland, bringing to Europe a low-cost manufacturing concept it first pioneered in China. The U.S. conglomerate, better known for making jet engines and turbines, said on Monday it would invest 150 million euros ($167 mln) in a biopharmaceutical campus in county Cork. The new factories on the site will be owned and run by GE customers. The GE BioPark Cork site is expected to create 500 jobs when fully operational, in a boost for Ireland, whose low tax rates have helped it attract hi-tech companies - also sparking an angry row with Brussels in the case of Apple . Ireland has long been a major base for drug companies such as Pfizer and it has recently seen a wave of new investments by firms making biotech medicines. "Ireland is a real hub for biopharmaceuticals, so it's logical to do it there," Kieran Murphy, chief executive for life sciences at GE Healthcare, told Reuters. "It's one of the key places people are going in the world, along with Singapore, Korea and China." GE reckons its off-the-shelf modular factories are 25 to 50 percent cheaper than the traditional plants needed for making complex biological medicines. They can also be constructed in just 18 months rather than the typical three years. The first such GE prefab factory was built for JHL Biotech <6540.TWO> in China, where it recently started operations. Pfizer has also a so-called KUBio unit going up in China. Both these factories are designed to produce cut-price biosimilars, or copies of expensive biotech drugs. Demand for such biosimilars is set to increase as patents expire on top-selling injectable medicines like AbbVie's Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and Roche's breast cancer treatment Herceptin. Story continues KUBio factories offer GE a way to build up its presence in biotech medicine, which it sees as a central plank of its life sciences business. GE life sciences sales reached $4 billion in 2015, out of total GE Healthcare revenue of $18 billion. GE technology is already used to make leading antibody drugs and the company also aims to become a big supplier in the emerging field of cell therapy. GE is expected to start building the factories in Cork next year. The U.S. conglomerate has yet to line up buyers for the units but Murphy said: "I don't think it will take us very long to snag the first customer." The investment is a fillip for Ireland whose low tax regime has come under scrutiny. The Irish government is set to appeal against a 13-billion-euro back tax demand imposed by the European Commission on technology giant Apple, fearing it could undermine the country's long-established policy of attracting multinationals with low taxes. Ireland has been attracting drugmakers since the 1970s, helped more recently by its 12.5 percent corporate tax rate. Nine of the top 10 global drug companies today have an international base in Ireland. ($1 = 0.8965 euros) (Editing by Susan Fenton) Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you today. Merck (MRK) shares are in focus after French rival Sanofi filed a lawsuit claiming the US drug company infringed as many as 10 of its patents, including ones for its blockbuster diabetes treatment Lantus and its insulin delivery device soloSTAR. US-listed shares of Sanofi (SNY) rose on the news. General Motors (GM) shares were higher in early trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal-weight and raised the price target by $8 to $37 a share. Separately, the head of Canadas auto workers union says thousands of factory workers will strike at two General Motors plants if the two sides are not able to negotiate a new contract by the Monday night deadline. A strike would disrupt supply of engines that go into GMs sport utility vehicles including the Chevrolet Suburban and Cadillac Escalade. Googles parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) could be hit with a tax bill of more than $400 million for last year alone if the Indonesian government finds it avoided tax payments, according to Reuters. Avnet (AVT) shares were higher in early trading following news that its selling its IT business to Tech Data (TECD) for about $2.6 billion in cash and stock. Geeks ruled tonight at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards as genre television dominated the drama categories with wins for sci-fi thrillers Orphan Black and Mr. Robot, and especially for HBOs fantasy juggernaut Game of Thrones. Judged strictly in terms of the genre grouping, Orphan Black picked up what might be the most significant such win, with star Tatiana Maslany landing Outstanding Lead Actress for the 11 separate characters she has portrayed over the BBC America shows run. The win came in only her second nomination, an accomplishment that feels even more significant thanks to the loud outcry two years ago from fans who blasted what they saw as a serious snub when Maslany wasnt nominated at all. USAs Mr. Robot, meanwhile, took home Oustanding Lead Actor for star Rami Malek. And as for Game of Thrones, HBOs flagship series landed Emmys for Outstanding Writing for showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss; Outstanding Directing for Miguel Sapochniks amazing work on the episode Battle of the Bastards; and the top prize of the evening, Outstanding Drama Series, for a second consecutive year. Over the long history of the Emmys, science fiction and fantasy fare typically has not fared as well as more traditional narratives in the main drama categories. There are exceptions, of course Lost is a recent example and genre shows usually clean up in the creative arts categories. But overall, its been slim pickings for nerd stuff. Is it a sea change? Probably not. Tastes change quickly in television, and it should be noted that neither of the supporting actor Emmys went to genre shows. More important, next year the drama category is going to be a whole lot more competitive thanks to the fact that Game of Thrones wont be eligible for consideration due to a later-than-normal start date. In other words, if youre curious whether this is the beginning of a trend, you might check back in 2018. Story continues Related stories Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings George R.R. Martin Teases 'Game Of Thrones' Prequel: Emmys Backstage Emmys Analysis: FX Challenges HBO As 'Game Of Thrones' & 'Veep' Repeat The GEO Group, Inc. GEO was a big mover last session, as the company saw its shares climb over 5% on the day. The upside came after a criminal justice overhaul bill, which would have reduced federal mandatory minimum sentences, was effectively dead in the U.S. Senate. The news led to far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This continues the recent uptrend for the company, as the stock is now up 17.7% since Sep 1. The company has not seen any estimate revision in the past one month and its Zacks Consensus Estimate has also remained unchanged. Fridays price action is encouraging though, so make sure to keep a close watch on this firm in the near future. The GEO Group currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) while its Earnings ESP is 0.00%. GEO GRP INC/THE Price GEO GRP INC/THE Price | GEO GRP INC/THE Quote A better-ranked stock in the miscellaneous real estate industry is InfraREIT, Inc. HIFR sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Is GEO going up? Or down? Predict to see what others think: Up or Down Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Tale of the Tape, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report GEO GRP INC/THE (GEO): Free Stock Analysis Report INFRAREIT INC (HIFR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research London (AFP) - British banks risk losing their automatic right to trade in EU states as the country leaves the European Union, Germany's central bank chief said in an interview out Monday. Jens Weidmann suggested that if Britain left the European Economic Area (EEA) -- a group of 31 European Union and other European states which allows them to be part of the single market -- it could mean financial services companies moving elsewhere. In banking, "passporting rights are tied to the single market and would automatically cease to apply if Great Britain is no longer at least part of the European Economic Area," Weidmann said. Boris Johnson, a prominent campaigner to leave the EU in the June referendum who is now foreign secretary, has said he expects Britain to retain its passporting rights, which allow financial companies to sell services around the bloc. But Weidmann warned that several businesses "will reconsider the location of their headquarters" from London, Europe's biggest financial centre. "As a significant financial centre and the seat of important regulatory and supervisory bodies, Frankfurt is attractive and will welcome newcomers," he said. "But I don't expect a mass exodus from London to Frankfurt." The comments came in an interview with a group of European newspapers including Britain's Guardian, France's Le Monde and Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung. Bond credit ratings business Moody's Investors Service said it expected global banks based in London to remain some access to the single market even if they lost full passporting rights. "The complexity of (quickly) unwinding the status quo and a desire to minimize the initial impact on European domiciled banks will likely lead to the preservation of most cross-border rights to undertake business," said Simon Ainsworth, senior vice president at Moody's. "The uncertainty around the outcome of any new arrangements mean that it is likely that some banks may choose to move some UK-based activities to the EU before the UK's withdrawal negotiations are complete." Story continues Britain has said it will not trigger Article 50, the formal process for negotiating exit from the EU, before the end of this year. Prime Minister Theresa May's government has also given little away about whether it intends to push for a so-called "hard" or "soft" Brexit. Under the former, favoured by many pro-Brexit campaigners, it would sever ties with EU institutions while under the latter, it would try to retain access to the single market. Saint Petersburg (AFP) - German teenager Alexander Zverev, ranked 27th in the world, on Monday cruised into the second round of the St Petersburg Open with a straight-set win over Russian wildcard Karen Khachanov. The 19-year-old fifth seed won his first ever meeting with Khachanov 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, as he targets his maiden ATP title. The German took the opening set in a tiebreak after 47 minutes before fighting back from 3-0 down in the second set to close out the match in one hour 25 minutes. The Monte Carlo resident will now face the winner of the clash between Russians Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Bublik for a place in the last eight. "I was really nervous at the beginning as I didn't play for three weeks after the US Open," Zverev said. "Luckily, I then managed to find my rhythm and everything went fine for me." Earlier, Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, 83rd in the ATP rankings, ousted Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (9/7), 3-6, 6-3 to set up a meeting with fourth seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. Mannarino produced a catalogue of errors from the start but forced his way back from a break down to force a tiebreak, which the 26-year-old Lithuanian won. In the second Berankis was 2-0 up with an early break but Mannarino broke back twice to level at one set all. The opponents traded breaks throughout the deciding set but Berankis edged it to claim the set and the match in two hours six minutes. "It wasn't that easy as my opponent performed a variety of shots making it difficult for me," Berankis said. "We were both up and down today but at the end I was a bit more lucky." Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic dropped serve twice but broke Argentina's Diego Schwartzman on five occasions in a 6-4, 6-4 win in 80 minutes. The 31-year-old will now meet top-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka, the freshly crowned US Open champion who enjoyed an opening-round bye. A number of Delhi BJP leaders, including North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar, are missing from Delhi, while the city reels under a massive outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. By Mail Today Bureau: The BJP, which mounted a severe attack on Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for his foreign trip, is now on the back foot for the same reason. DELHI BJP LEADERS MISSING A number of Delhi BJP leaders, including North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar, are missing from Delhi, while the city reels under a massive outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. BJP MP from Northeast Delhi Manoj Tiwari, who went for a photo-op with AAP leader Kapil Mishra during a fumigation drive, is also on a five-day visit to Singapore. advertisement Tiwari is likely to return on Monday. Taking a strict note following criticism, the Delhi BJP unit has decided to seek clarifications from its leaders who have been missing at this crucial time. Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar, who is reportedly in Venice, is likely to come back on Tuesday. Nayyar had gone to attend the Global Parliament of Mayors in The Hague from September 9 to 11. SENDING THE RIGHT MESSAGE Incidentally, the areas under North Delhi Municipal Corporation are worst hit by vector-borne diseases. "The Mayor will be asked to explain his prolonged absence from the city. It does not send across a right message when the Capital is facing a real crisis," Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta is also on a foreign visit with his family. An aide of Gupta said that he would be returning to the Capital on September 20. Gupta had left Delhi on September 10. Another BJP leader and South Delhi Mayor, Shyam Sharma had gone to Mehndi Balaji in Rajasthan on September 13, but was forced to cut short his visit and the return to Delhi the same day. AAP LEADERS HIT BACK AT BJP The developments assume significance as the BJP had fiercely criticised Sisodia for not cutting short his Finland visit. The party had termed this 'highly insensitive' and accused the AAP government for the acute crisis situation in Delhi. However, AAP leaders have hit back at the BJP saying that the three MCDs had completely failed to prevent the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. They also accused the BJP of indulging in petty politics over the issue. BJP leaders also questioned party MP Manjor Tiwari's absence from Delhi immediately after the controversial fumigation drive with Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra. Tiwari, a popular BJP face in Delhi, left for a five-day visit to Singapore to perform at a music concert to celebrate the legends of Bollywood and Mangeshkar sisters. Notably, Tiwari's constituency North East Delhi, is also badly hit by the disease and his absence has irked party leaders. ALSO READ: AAP calls for meeting of health ministers of all states neighbouring Delhi advertisement AAP ministers, LG trade charges as chikungunya toll rises to 15 in Delhi --- ENDS --- By Holger Hansen and Caroline Copley WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Germany appeared set on Monday to back an ambitious trade accord between the European Union and Canada after the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in the ruling coalition, overcame left-wing resistance to the deal within his party. The SPD decision paves the way for EU member states to approve the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) next month before Brussels signs the accord with Ottawa on Oct. 27. Left-wing SPD members had argued that CETA would undermine workers' rights and environmental standards, but party leader Sigmar Gabriel said it represented the EU's best chance to shape globalisation in the interests of ordinary people. "It's a really good day for the SPD but especially for the implementation of rules for globalisation," Gabriel told a news conference after two thirds of delegates at an SPD congress backed a compromise deal over CETA. "Until now globalisation only served economic interests. Now we are finally beginning to take the interests of people and citizens into consideration." Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor and economy minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-led coalition, has staked his political future on securing SPD backing for CETA. Failure at Monday's congress, held in the carmaking city of Wolfsburg in northern Germany, would have likely scuppered Gabriel's chances of standing as the SPD candidate for chancellor in national elections due in October 2017. This might have unleashed a damaging power struggle within the SPD at a time when it is badly trailing Merkel's conservatives in opinion polls. The coalition's popularity has also suffered following Merkel's decision last year to open Germany's borders to more than one million migrants. "CLARIFICATIONS" The compromise forged to win over left-wing critics in the SPD envisages allowing the European Parliament to launch a consultation process before a decision is taken on what parts of CETA should be applied provisionally. Story continues CETA aims to eliminate tariffs on 98 percent of goods immediately and also encompasses regulatory cooperation, shipping, sustainable development and access to government tenders. It will still require the approval of the European Parliament before taking effect, prior to ratifications by national parliaments which could take five years or more. In a joint statement, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Canada's Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said they were committed to making "formal clarifications" on parts of the accord where there are still concerns. This includes areas such as the delivery of public services, labour rights, environmental protection and an investment dispute settlement mechanism. SPD critics of CETA see it as a blueprint for a parallel trade deal the EU is trying to negotiate with the United States, which is known as TTIP. Around 180,000 people took part in rallies on Saturday in seven German cities against both trade deals, police said. (Reporting by Holger Hansen and Caroline Copley; Editing by Gareth Jones) Shah Rukh has never been shy to keep his emotions to himself and is regular with baring his heart out on social media. The 50-year-old actor recently took to Twitter and remembered one of the mantras by his late father Meer Taj Mohammad and said, I follow my Freedom Fighter fathers advice quieter u became the more u r able 2 hear.Good hes no more, hed be sad 2 hear wot sum ppl say. While we have no clue if the Dilwale star is referring to someone, in particular, he certainly seems grieved. Recommended Read: EXCLUSIVE: Raees trailer to be attached with Dear Zindagi! On the work front, SRK is currently busy with the shoot of The Ring in Amsterdam. Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the movie also stars Anushka Sharma in the role of a Gujarati girl. SRK, on the other hand, will portray the character of a Punjabi tourist guide. JaredCohen Google is doing its part to fight online harassment with new tools powered by artificial intelligence. A new piece from Wired's Andy Greenberg describes the technology, which was created by Google subsidiary Jigsaw. Jigsaw was previously Google's think-tank division and was spun out in February to focus on projects that use technology to solve geopolitical problems. Called Conversation AI, Jigsaw's new software is aimed at blocking vitriolic or harmful statements online. The software uses machine learning to automatically catch abusive language, giving it an "attack score" of 100 (with 100 being extremely harmful and 0 being not at all harmful). The technology will first be tested out in the comments sections within The New York Times, and Wikipedia also plans on using it, though the company hasn't said how, according to Wired. The technology will eventually be open-source, so websites or social media platforms could use it to catch abuse before it even hits its intended target. According to Wired, Conversation AI can "automatically flag insults, scold harassers, or even auto-delete toxic language." It's not clear how accurate the technology is quite yet Greenberg discovered some distinct flaws in the software in his own tests, but Google told Wired it has a 92% certainty and a 10% false-positive rate, and that it will continue to improve over time. NOW WATCH: These secret codes let you access hidden iPhone features More From Business Insider Over two thousand life jackets worn by refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe were on display outside the Houses of Parliament in London on Monday, to mark the United Nations Migration Summit taking place in New York. A traditional tourist spot, Parliament Square presented a different photo opportunity for visitors to the capital, and a double-take for those working in the local area. Organised by a coalition of charities including the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Vision, the one-day installation of 2,500 life vests reflected the lives of those who experienced the treacherous stretch of sea from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios. Sanj Srikanthan of the International Rescue Committee (U.K.) said 650 of the life jackets were used by children. You can see the Disney stickers on some of them, he told TIME. They represent a snapshot of what refugees go through and are an illusion of safety; many of them are not even seaworthy. For a day at least, we want to bring an image of what it is to be a refugee to the people of London. One of the volunteers who set up the installation was Ahmad al-Rashid, who survived this journey from his hometown of Aleppo and is about to start a masters degree. The last time I used a life jacket, I was crossing from Turkey to Greece, so its very close to my heart, he said. Now its become a global crisis it needs a global response. The U.N. estimates that a record 65.3 million people were either refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced at the end of 2015. Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who attended the opening of the installation, said this weeks summit at the UN General Assembly was a chance for action. The U.N. Summit ought to be an opportunity for countries to work together to tackle what is now the most serious humanitarian crisis since World War II, Cooper said. If countries dont work together, it is far harder to help refugees and Britain needs to do its bit as part of that. (This is a June 13, 2016 story that has been updated to improve picture quality) By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle BUKSEFJORD, Greenland (Reuters) - On top of the world, by a fjord in western Greenland, a remote hydro power plant is buzzing with extra water from the melt of ancient glaciers. This island at ground zero of global warming is seeking to be one of the few places on Earth to benefit. Outside the Buksefjord plant, the biggest of five hydro-electricity stations built in Greenland since 1993 in a push to move away from imported oil, cod that usually only thrive further south can be seen swimming in the clear water. And a worker at the facility is preparing to grow potatoes and turnips on land close to the Arctic Circle that is usually too cold for anything other than lichen and reindeer. The north Atlantic island "is in the midst of new thinking", Environment Minister Mala Hoy Kuko said, to capitalize on an alarming thaw that included a record early melt on the vast ice sheet in April 2016 before a cooler May. Hydro power "potential will grow even bigger with the warming of the climate", Kuko said in the capital Nuuk, which gets power from Buksefjord 56 km (35 miles) away. Above his desk is a 2-metre tusk of a narwhal, a whale known as the unicorn of the sea. Climate change, caused mainly by greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, is set to cause economic harm in almost all parts of the world by spurring ever more droughts, heat waves and floods, according a U.N. panel. Low-lying tropical island states from the Maldives to Tuvalu view Greenland's 3,000-metre (10,000 ft) thick ice sheet with foreboding since it contains enough ice to raise world sea levels by 6 meters if it ever all melted, over many centuries. But for the 56,000 inhabitants of Greenland, a giant island a quarter the size of the United States, the melt may be unlocking frozen assets and helping businesses including fishing, farming, mining, shipping and tourism. "Unfortunately I can't sit down and weep and say it (climate change) is bad because overall it's good for Greenland," said Henrik Leth, chairman of both Greenland's biggest private company, Polar Seafood, and the Greenland Business Association. His firm's pre-tax profit rose to 335 million Danish crowns ($51 million) in 2015 from 235 million in 2014 thanks to high prices for its main products, prawns and Greenland halibut. About 90 percent of the island's exports are fisheries, and many hunters and fishermen welcome shifts in currents, apparently linked to warming, that have brought cod to west Greenland for the first time in two decades, and mackerel to the east. HUNTERS Prime Minister Kim Kielsen, whose island has wide powers of self-rule within the kingdom of Denmark, cautioned that "there are pros and cons" to the melt. Arctic regions are warming at about twice the global average, partly because a melt of white ice and snow reveals darker ground and water that soaks up ever more heat. Most worryingly for Greenlanders, the melt threatens the livelihoods of indigenous hunters in the north who use dogsleds and rely on ice to hunt seals. And some buildings and airports standing on permafrost are at risk. Faced with such threats, the islanders are looking to extract as many benefits as possible from the changes. The ice melt could help the government meet its target of raising the share of its electricity that comes from hydro to 90 percent by 2030, from about two-thirds now. Officials say hydro plants that could draw directly from the ice sheet could power a proposed new aluminum smelter and iron ore mines such as for iron ore. Buksefjord gets water from a lake, fed mostly by rain and melting snow, with some from ancient glaciers, officials say. Climate change could also boost the island's hopes to develop minerals ranging from rare earths to oil and gas, even though low prices have put most plans on hold. Melting snow and ice makes prospecting less complicated and improves access to sites. "There will be more open water for shipping and it will be cheaper for companies to get out minerals," said Josephine Nymand, a scientist at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. The opening waterways could prove a boon for the tourism industry too, giving visitors better views of spectacular glaciers, such as at Ilulissat. This summer, Crystal Cruises LLC plans to send a first cruise ship through the Northwest Passage from Alaska to New York, calling at Greenland. Among other projects linked to the Greenland melt, scientists are also studying how to tap some of a billion tonnes of milky colored sediment that gets washed every year from the ice sheet into the sea. "It could be dredged up and shipped to tropical nations as nutrients" for farming, said Minik Rosing, a professor of geology at Copenhagen University. VIKINGS Economists say it is hard to pin down the net effects of climate change for Greenland, named by the Vikings about 1,000 years ago during a natural warm period. For farmers, for example, warmth and a longer growing season in the south have been offset by drought - some have hauled icebergs from the sea to help irrigation. Prime Minister Kielsen, pointing to the ceiling of his office, about 3 metres high, said that in the north: "Just 15 years ago the sea ice thickness could be compared to the height of this room." In some places, it was now too thin to walk on, he added. Showing the importance of ice for transport, Greenland's statistics bureau documents about 15,000 sled dogs on the island against just 4,033 cars, two motorbikes and "railways: 0 km". The pace of change this year has been disorientating, even though Greenlanders have adapted to sharp shifts in climate since people first arrived from North America 4,500 years ago. Many people in Nuuk, a town of 17,000, were shocked when organizers of the Arctic Winter Games in early March, usually a snowy month, had to generate artificial snow. Among the drawbacks of warming, rising temperatures are thawing permafrost such as at Kangerlussuaq on the Arctic Circle, the site of the island's main airport. And in 2012, a flood of melt water from the ice sheet washed away a bridge. "It was a disaster," said Kim Ernst, a former chef at the Roklubben restaurant that was cut off for three months. Many glaciers worldwide are shrinking because the summer melt exceeds the amount of snow that falls in winter and gets compressed into ice. In many nations, from the Andes to the Himalayas, this will disrupt hydro power and irrigation. But despite Greenland losing about a net 300 billion tonnes of ice a year, according to the Danish Meteorological Service, its store is almost inexhaustible. The CEO of government-owned energy company Nukissiorfiit, Michael Pedersen, said it was looking at building a new hydro project to provide power to the towns of Aasiaat and Qasigiannguit in the west. But like climate change itself, benefits can be unpredictable. Fishermen seeking the new arrivals, for example, are at the mercy of shifting currents that are often a mystery. "Three weeks ago I went out fishing and got a lot of cod," said Tnnes Berthelsen, deputy head of the KNAPK association of fishermen and hunters. "Yesterday I went fishing again but I didn't get even one." (Additional reporting by Katja Vahl; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Pravin Char) India must overhaul its antiquated laws and cumbersome legal system which are increasingly being misused to silence dissent in the Hindu majority country, a global writers group said in a report Monday. Hardline Hindu groups have been accused of fomenting intolerance of religious and other minorities since nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power at general elections in 2014. Pen International said a survey of authors, lawyers, activists and journalists this year found that this "culture of intolerance has taken root in India and has grown more menacing". Defamation, sedition and those laws pertaining to hate speech were being misused by "intolerant individuals and groups" to severely restrict freedom of expression, it said. "Their (those surveyed) accounts suggest that the unchecked abuse of India's vague and overbroad legislation, and its inefficient legal system, have helped to create a chill within Indian society and throughout its public sphere," the report, also by PEN Canada and the University of Toronto's law faculty, said. A student union leader at a prestigious New Delhi university was arrested and charged with sedition earlier this year for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans. The arrest brought thousands of students and teachers onto the streets in protest and fuelled mounting concern about freedom of speech. The British-era sedition law carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Prosecutions are rare but it has frequently been used against critics of the government of the day. Several authors last year returned a prestigious award in protest at what they called government inaction over the murder of atheist scholars and the lynching of a Muslim man suspected of eating beef. Those interviewed for the report also spoke of endless harassment and threats, particularly online, to silence criticism. The report said writers and journalists now faced frequent "implied and direct threats". "Some face more immediate violence from the groups and individuals who wish to silence them. These censors are seldom reprimanded, much less prosecuted," it said. Hagatna (Guam) (AFP) - A Vatican administrator has urged Rome to remove the head of the Catholic Church in Guam over child sex allegations, warning the scandal could bankrupt the church in the deeply religious Pacific territory. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai was sent to Guam three months ago to investigate the accusations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who denies any wrongdoing. In a statement read out at church services across the island on Sunday, Hon said he had asked the Holy See to dismiss Apuron after the cleric refused to stand down voluntarily. "I can assure you that the gravely serious allegations against Archbishop Apuron will continue to be dealt with... a canonical trial," the statement said. "His Holiness, Pope Francis, is monitoring the proceedings," he added. The allegations date back to the 1970s, with at least four former alter boys saying they were molested by Apuron, then a parish priest. Apuron, who has headed the Agana archdiocese since 1986, has not been charged with any crime. Hon's statement did not directly address the veracity of the allegations, instead expressing sorrow over the issue of clerical child abuse. "On behalf of the church, I want to apologise personally to the survivors of sexual abuse everywhere who have suffered so much at the hands of clergy," he said. "We cannot undo the betrayal of trust and faith and the horrendous acts that the clergy have committed against the youngest and the most innocent amongst us." In response to the scandal, Guam's legislature last week unanimously passed a bill allowing child sex abuse victims to take their cases to court, regardless of when the alleged crime was committed. "Victims often need many years to overcome the pain of their abuse and time to obtain the courage needed to speak out about the abuse that they have suffered," the bill's author Senator Frank Blas said. However, Hon said he would lobby Governor Eddie Calvo not to sign the bill into law, arguing it would have "damaging unintended consequences" for the church in Guam. Story continues He said a slew of lawsuits about allegations dating back decades would likely leave the archdiocese bankrupt, as happened to 13 dioceses in the mainland United States. "Bankruptcy will mean the forced sale of church properties that currently house our schools and social services," he said. "That will have a devastating effect on education and charitable work." Instead, Hon proposed a fund to provide financial compensation for victims and the establishment of a task force to ensure children were protected. "I submit that we can and must do these things without destroying all the good being done for our community by our church, both laity and clergy," he said. By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - All Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd <117930.KS> chartered vessels that have completed unloading their cargo have been told to cancel their charter agreements and return the ships to the shipowners, a South Korean judge said on Monday. Hanjin, the world's seventh-largest container line, filed for receivership last month, leaving more than 100 ships and their cargo at sea and threatening to snarl U.S. freight traffic as the year-end shopping season approaches. Dozens of Hanjin's ships have been blocked from docking with ports and lashing firms fearing they won't be paid. Some vessels have also been seized and some sold. The company had a total of 141 vessels, including 97 container ships as of early September. Out of the 97 container ships, 60 were chartered and 37 owned by Hanjin. The company returned three bulk carriers earlier this month, a Hanjin Shipping spokeswoman said on Monday. In addition, four container ships have been returned to the shipowners as of Sunday, while Hanjin has received shipowners' notifications to return 13 more container ships, another Hanjin spokeswoman said. Current delays in unloading cargo are incurring more than $2 million in charter fees daily, the judge in charge of liaising with media at Seoul Central District Court also told Reuters in a text message. Last week, Hanjin secured $45 million from its chairman and a former chairwoman to help unload an estimated $14 billion in cargo trapped on its ships but needs more money to pay port and trucking fees. Korean Air Lines Co Ltd <003490.KS>, the top shareholder of Hanjin Shipping, has been considering lending the shipper 60 billion won ($53.70 million) but the plan has run into resistance. Korean Air's board of directors met on Sunday to discuss the deal, including alternatives to Hanjin Shipping's Long Beach Terminal stake being provided as collateral, but did not reach a conclusion, a Korean Air spokesman said on Monday. Story continues Banks led by state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) withdrew backing for Hanjin late last month, saying a funding plan by its parent group was inadequate to tackle debt that stood at 6.1 trillion won as of end-June. South Korea has said no government or central bank money would be directly injected into the firms restructuring in the ailing shipping and shipbuilding industries, though it is helping small-to-medium sized businesses hit by the restructuring. ($1 = 1,117.4000 won) (Editing by Lincoln Feast) The Daily Beast Photo Illustrations by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, Emma Fraser, and Tourism IrelandIf you were visiting the West Coast of Ireland last fall and found yourself on either Inishmore in the Aran Islands or Achill, there is a good chance you wouldve seen Colin Farrell jogging to the Banshees of Inisherin set wearing mint green short shorts.Alas, I was a year too late, but I did experience other impressive sights, all of which feature in director-writer Martin McD By PTI: Imphal, Sep 19 (PTI) The All India Trinamool Congress will take legal action against four of its MLAs who had defected to Congress, the partys state unit Vice-president MI Khan said today. The four MLAs did not inform the matter about the resignation from the AITC Manipur state unit or to its central leadership before joining Congress yesterday, Khan told reporters here. advertisement Khan said at one stroke they could not defect from one party and join another as they were elected under the ticket of AITC and were liable to be punished under anti-defection law. Four AITC MLAs - Th Shyamkumar, who was also the president of the Manipur State AITC, I Ibohalbi, O Lukhoi and K Sarat - had joined the Indian National Congress yesterday. Earlier 7 MLAs of AITC were elected in the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly. Of them one M Kunjo expired and two others including Kh Joykishan and Th Bishwajit were disqualified under 10th Schedule of the Constitution and re-elected as BJP MLAs in the last by-elections. AITC Manipur state unit has no MLAs in the 60-member Manipur Legislative Assembly today. PTI COR PR AJR KKB --- ENDS --- SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP alerts investors in LifeVantage Corporation (LFVN) that a securities fraud class action has been filed and the time to apply to be a lead plaintiff is November 14, 2016. If you purchased or otherwise acquired securities of LFVN between November 4, 2015 and September 13, 2016 and suffered significant losses contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP. For more information visit: https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/LFVN or contact Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm's investigation, by calling 510-725-3000 or emailing LFVN@hbsslaw.com. The suit results from LifeVantage's September 13, 2016 announcement that it would not timely file its Annual Report on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company explained that "[f]ollowing an internal review by Company personnel of its policies and procedures, the Company is in the process of reviewing its sales into certain international markets and the revenue and income tax accruals associated with such sales." In addition, "[t]he review relates to sales of the Company's products in certain international markets and the determination of revenue and the deductibility of commission and incentive expenses associated with such sales[.]" The suit alleges that LifeVantage lacked effective internal controls and improperly recognized revenue and took improper tax accruals in international markets. In response to this news, LifeVantage's stock price dropped approximately 12.7% to close at $9.08 per share on September 14, 2016. "The accounting rules mandate when to recognize revenues and record expenses," said Hagens Berman partner Reed Kathrein. "Those are not judgment calls and LFVN investors are rightly concerned about the possible outcome of the internal review." Hagens Berman is continuing its investigation. Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding LifeVantage should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new SEC whistleblower program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000 or email. LFVN@hbsslaw.com. Story continues About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a national investor-rights law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices in 10 cities. The Firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the Firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Read the Firm's Securities Newsletter, and visit the blog. For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw. Contact: Reed Kathrein 510-725-3000 SOURCE: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP Ahmad Khan Rahami Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old Afghan-American man, has been taken into custody in connection with bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. Police arrested him after an exchange of gunfire in Linden, New Jersey, that left the suspect wounded. Details about Rahami are slowly starting to emerge. Here's everything we know about him so far: He's an American citizen. Rahami was born in Afghanistan in 1988, and according to The Daily Beast, he came to the United States as a child in 1995 as the son of an asylum seeker. The FBI described him as a naturalized US citizen whose last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was known as a class clown in high school, according to Maria, Rahami's high school sweetheart and the mother of his daughter. Maria told Fox News on Monday that Rahami often criticized American culture and American military, but she "never thought he would do something like this." But he became a "completely different person" after a trip to Afghanistan. Four years ago, he visited his native Afghanistan, and changed drastically upon returning to the US. According to the New York Times, after his trip, Rahami started growing a beard, wearing traditional Muslim clothing, and praying at work. He also became noticeably more serious. "Its like he was a completely different person," Flee Jones, who grew up with Rahami, told the Times. "He got serious and completely closed off." His father called him a terrorist in 2014. Rahami's father Mohammad told New Jersey police his son was a terrorist when his son was arrested in a domestic dispute, according to The New York Times. The comments prompted an FBI interview, but the father recanted his statement. He made multiple trips to Pakistan. One yearlong visit resulted in his marriage to a Pakistani woman, CNN reported. He's believed to have connections to three bomb incidents this weekend: One bomb exploded in New Jersey before the start of a charity race on Saturday morning; another exploded in New York City on Saturday night and injured 29 people; and additional unexploded devices were found in New Jersey on Sunday. Story continues Rahami is not believed to have a connection to a mass stabbing in Minnesota on Saturday, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility. There's no evidence he's connected to ISIS, Al Qaeda, or other foreign terror organizations. However, authorities are exploring a possible link to international terrorist groups. After initially insisting the New York bombings weren't linked to international terrorism, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday the attack appeared to be a "specific act of terror." New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he "would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act." Rahami's family had issues with their local government. Rahami's father's restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, in Elizabeth, was open 24 hours a day and drew complaints from neighbors about rowdy crowds and loitering, according to The New York Times. Rahami and his brothers worked at the restaurant. The Rahamis did not comply with a City Council ordinance to close the restaurant at 10 p.m., and one of Rahami's brothers was arrested after fighting a police officer who came to close the restaurant, but fled to Afghanistan before the case could be resolved. According to The Times, the Rahami family sued the city, the police department, and about 15 police officers, claiming they had been discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity. chelsea new york explosion bomb He's gotten in trouble with the law before. Rahami spent more than three months in jail on charges stemming from his 2014 domestic dispute, in which he was accused of stabbing his brother, according to The New York Times. Additionally, a New Jersey apartment complex filed a landlord-tenant civil action suit against Rahami in 2013, USA Today reported, although the outcome of the case is unknown. Rahami also lost $1,158 in a small claims judgment in 2012, according to USA Today. The devices found in New York City were made with pressure cookers, flip phones, and Christmas lights. The explosives were filled with "small bearings or metal BBs" to inflict as much damage as possible, according to The New York Times. Police found Rahami sleeping in a bar. A bar owner in Linden, New Jersey, called authorities about a man sleeping in the hallway of his bar. An officer recognized the man as Rahami, and a gunfight erupted between the two. The officer was hit in his bulletproof vest over his abdomen. Rahami fled the bar and was eventually shot multiple times by other officers. One other officer was injured in the gunfight. Linden, NJ mayor says Ahmad Rahami found sleeping in bar by owner; police recognized him. https://t.co/iNsM2t4AqQ pic.twitter.com/25oLZLXK1j ABC News (@ABC) September 19, 2016 When Rahami was arrested, he was holding a notebook with writings sympathetic to jihadist causes. In one section of the book, Rahami wrote about killing non-believers, according to The New York Times. The book was pierced by a bullethole and covered in blood following Rahami's shootout with police. NOW WATCH: Donald Trump is under fire for his comments about the Iraq War More From Business Insider When Stan McCubbin went to check on his cattle in Taylor County, Kentucky last Friday, he saw two new faces staring back at him. At first, he thought one of his cows had given birth to twins. Then he realized the two faces shared a body. Read: Holy Cow! A 6-Foot-4-Inch Bovine May Take the World Record for Tallest of Its Kind "'We've got a two-headed calf!'" he told his wife over the phone, she recounted to InsideEdition.com on Monday. "I was like, 'What?!'" The calf, who they've named Lucky, is unlike anything they've seen in their seven years of rearing cattle, Brandy McCubbin said. Lucky has one body and they think one brain. When the family bottle feeds her, her two mouths move at the same time. She has four eyes, but only the outer ones can see. "It looks like she has three eyes but she has two in one socket," McCubbin said. "They told us she was blind in these." The vision problems make it difficult for Lucky to walk easily. "She stands and goes in a 360," McCubbin said. "It's a balance issue as well her head is so heavy. She likes to stand up, but my husband has to hold her on her legs." Read: Good Samaritan Helps Pregnant Cow That Got Stuck in a Pond It means that Lucky has spent her first few days lying on the ground, with her mother standing nearby. The McCubbins, who have contacted a local university for help, hope they'll be able to build a contraption to help the calf stand, although they're not quite sure how to make it, or if Lucky will survive long enough to use it. "Her odds of living are not good," McCubbin said. "Right now she's fine. She's not suffering." The family read about a similar calf in Florida that lived for 40 days, and the McCubbin family hopes Lucky will get that far. "It's odd," she said of the cow. "It's miraculous that she's living, but it's sad, too. She's a sweet, old calf." Story continues Watch: Cow Sneaks Into House, Gets Comfortable in the Living Room Related Articles: Target E Commerce This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Target is focusing heavily on its omnichannel strategy to engage shoppers across mediums ahead of the holiday season, with a focus on click and collect. The company's e-commerce sales still make up a miniscule portion of its total business, but Target is looking to leverage its physical presence to engage shoppers digitally without relying only on home delivery orders. Omnichannel approaches could be key to driving sales growth for brick-and-mortars during this year's holiday shopping season as consumers turn to e-commerce. Target's new developments will likely help in-store staff handle increased traffic during the holiday season. Target is adding dedicated in-store space to click and collect. Target will be adding new customer service counters dedicated to click and collect orders in 70 stores over the next month, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. This will significantly remove friction from the click and collect experience, while increasing flexibility of its fulfillment options ahead of the busy holiday shopping season. Target is also looking to smaller-format stores to help with e-commerce. Target CEO Brian Cornell is hoping to open hundreds of smaller flex-format Target stores, with plans for 9 openings this year and at least 16 in 2017, reports Bloomberg. In addition to selling regionalized inventory, these stores also operate as collection points for click and collect, without the increased cost of investing in a larger building. Target's overall omnichannel push will be key during the holiday season. During Q2 2016, Target reported e-commerce sales growth in the "mid-teens," however, comparable sales dropped 1.1% year-over-year (YoY). However, as the holiday season approaches, many shoppers are likely planning on turning to e-commerce online sales during November and December are expected to grow just over 13% YoY, according to eMarketer. But because of weather disruptions and shopper deadlines for gift-giving, creating dedicated in-store sections and expanding the number of collection points for click and collect will serve as a boon for Target this holiday season. Looking forward, traditional retailers should focus on omnichannel strategies for the holidays in order to maximize in-store productivity while simultaneously supporting online shopping growth during this high-volume period. Story continues Click and collect a fulfillment option that lets shoppers place an online order and pick it up at a store is thriving in the UK. Over half of UK shoppers report having used this method in the past year, according to a survey from JDA & Centiro conducted in April 2016. However, the US is far behind on the click and collect trend, with just 27% of consumers using the service. This is largely due to slower growth in mobile commerce, and specifically, the hesitancy shoppers feel about using mobile retail apps. Retailers in the US can look to the growth drivers in the UK to help drive up their own click and collect sales. Most notably, mobile commerce and adoption by grocery chains are driving shoppers in the UK to use click and collect. Nancee Halpin, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on click and collect that breaks down the growth factors behind click and collect in the UK. It also discusses the retailers successfully implementing the fulfillment method, examines the of impact consumer behavior, and outlines some key steps that US retailers can take to replicate the UK's performance. Here are some key takeaways from the report: The UK's click and collect market is expected to grow 78% by 2020, to 8.2 billion ($10.6 billion). Meanwhile, it is expected to reach 5.3 billion ($6.8 billion) by the end of 2016. Click and collect is benefiting from consumer adoption of mobile commerce in the UK. Mobile is a fundamental driver because it affords consumers more flexibility in the purchasing process. As a result, many UK consumers are purchasing goods on their mobile phones, and then picking them up on the way home from work, the gym, appointments, etc. The service is particularly popular among grocery chains, with many of the UK's largest supermarkets offering click and collect. Since trips to the grocery store are made frequently and regularly, click and collect is a perfect fit for shoppers who want to avoid recurring issues like long checkout lines and crowded stores. To grow click and collect in the US, retailers need to invest in their mobile presence and dedicate in-store resources to click and collect shoppers. Merchants should do more than just recreate the desktop browser experience on a mobile app this includes employing tools like mobile loyalty programs, digital coupons, and social media integration. In full, the report: Sizes the market for click and collect in both the UK and the US. Identifies the key growth factors that are making click and collect successful in the UK. Discusses key players in the UK that are seeing success with click and collect. Presents some of the challenges the US faces in spurring adoption. Outlines future opportunities for US retailers to grow sales via click and collect. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, youve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of new e-commerce strategies. More From Business Insider Sounding more like a sitting President than a candidate for the office, Hillary Clinton on Monday said the United States will confront the threat of terror with resolve, not fear. The former Secretary of State briefly spoke with reporters before boarding her campaign jet in White Plains, N.Y., and urged Americans to stay strong in the face of bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. The moment was again a reminder of the choice Americans face between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, a blustery first-time candidate whose rhetoric often borders on belligerent. This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower. We will prevail, Clinton said, adopting a subdued tone more often shown at the White House than on the campaign trail. But Clinton also had barbs for her rival. As she has done in the past, she cited remarks from the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, who has said ISIS is rooting for a Trump victory, in part, because he is seen as a weaker opponent for Islamic extremists. Clinton said Trumps speeches against terror have played right into ISIS desire to turn Americas fight against terrorism into one against an entire religion. Read More: Why ISIS Supports Donald Trump The kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr. Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries, Clinton said. It was a subtle pointone she has made before with different wordsbut one that she wants to highlight as the countdown clock to Election Day turns to just 50 more news cycles. Trumps campaign seized on Clintons phrasing of aid and comfortlanguage used in the Constitution to describe treasonto call Clinton disgusting and an attempt to distract from her role as Secretary of State during Obamas first term. Hillary Clintons comments today accusing Mr. Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, its also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on ISIS, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement. Story continues Americans anxiety is high, and the bombs in New York are only likely to shift their focus away from the political skirmishes of Trumps taxes and Clintons health records and back toward one of the chief jobs of the President, national security. Polls show Americans divided on that question: Trump has the upper hand on fighting terrorism, while Clinton enjoys an advantage on questions of foreign policy, temperament and the ability to be Commander in Chief. Clinton was ready to remind voters that she has the experience in this real, initially as a First Lady who broke new ground and waded into foreign policy, then as a Senator from New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and then as the nations top diplomat. Read More: Transcript of Hillary Clintons Remarks on New York and New Jersey Bombings I wont get into classified information, but I have sat at that table in the Situation Room. Ive analyzed the threats. Ive contributed to actions that have neutralized our enemies. I know how to do this. I know how we dont want this to get even bigger than it already is, Clinton said. On the practical front, Clinton again called for an intelligence surge to prevent attacks before they happen, and continued awareness against potential threats. She called for both greater cooperation between local police and federal officialsa popular request from law enforcementand called for Americans not to target innocent Muslims. We are going after the bad guys and we are going to get them. But we are not going to go after an entire religion and give ISIS exactly what its wanting in order for them to enhance their position, Clinton said. As Clinton spoke, authorities were searching for a person of interest, an American of Afghan descent, in the dual attacks. Hillary Clinton congratulated this ONE Emmy winner and it was all around epic Hillary Clinton congratulated this ONE Emmy winner and it was all around epic Kate McKinnon, Ghostbusters breakout star and Saturday Night Live comedian known for being totes amaze at everything but particularly at impersonating Hillary Clinton, took home the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series on Sunday night. In her tear-filled, squeal-inducing speech (yes, we squealed, okay?) McKinnon thanked Hillary Clinton. She didnt expand upon the thanks, but we inferred that it involved gratitude for the opportunity to build some notoriety off of the politician, as well as for being such a persevering and hard-working woman in the public eye, as well as being such a good sport, and for being the first female presidential candidate, and possibly a slew of other reasons. Shortly after the thanks, Clinton took to Twitter to wish McKinnon congratulations. Congratulations on your Emmy, Kate! Big fan of yours, too. pic.twitter.com/w00QO1GwyH Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 19, 2016 YESS. Ladies who support one another. We LOVE. McKinnon also thanked SNL creator Lorne Michaels and the shows crew, cast and writers and Ellen DeGeneres her mother and sister and her late father who made her start watching SNL when she was twelve. The only person we wish she would have thanked is Justin Bieber, because: We are so excited to follow Kate McKinnons career for the rest of time. We know shes building a legacy of comedy that will last forever. The post Hillary Clinton congratulated this ONE Emmy winner and it was all around epic appeared first on HelloGiggles. The president of the College Democrats at Ohio University first realized there was a problem several weeks back during a back-to-school campus activity fair. Sam Miller had set up a table on the leafy College Green to help recruit new members on the liberal campus in the foothills of Appalachia. But then she noticed that the Republican table next to her was getting more interest than hers. They had a ton of people coming up to them, she recalls. It was an early warning sign. Even though Hillary Clinton has been leading in the polls, she has been trailing in her own goal to motivate and excite the young voters that formed the core of Barack Obamas winning coalition in 2008 and 2012. Obama won 60% of these voters under the age of 30 during the re-election campaign, according to 2012 exit polls. Clintons support stands at 48% in these ages, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll released Sept. 15. Among the same voters, Republican nominee Donald Trump trails at 29% support, and 21% of respondents said they would support another candidate or stay at home. Students on the campus of Ohio University, in a crucial swing state, have no problem explaining what is happening in the polls. No current candidate has won the hearts of college students, a fact that could prove most damaging to Clinton who was hoping to hold the Obama coalition together. Obama was so inspiring. He had this aura around him. Its a hard act to follow, says 20-year-old Clinton supporter Anthony Eliopoulos of Lorain, Ohio. She more quiet. Shes not as flashy. Of his fellow students, Eliopoulos explains the hesitation to get excited about the campaign. They agree with her policies, he says of his classmates. They dont trust her. All of the money thats been spent over the years against her, its easy to see why. Miller, the College Democrats leader, puts the problem more directly. So many people are turned off by the candidates, she explains of the challenge. Clintons campaign operation is responding with an aggressive show of force. During the past week, a slew of supporters have been busy pitching millennial voters across the country on Clintons candidacy. In just the past two weeks, this push has included speeches by President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Weve got to win them, Kaine told NBCs Meet the Press in an interview that aired Sunday. In sheer numbers, millennial voters outnumber baby boomers in the U.S. And, if national and state-level polls are to be believed, these millennials are sliding out of Clintons hands. A Quinnipiac University poll in August had Clinton ahead by 24 percentage points over Trump. Last week, that advantage narrowed to just 5 percentage points. Less extreme versions of the shift are seen in other surveys that have Clinton aides fretting. While acknowledging the enthusiasm gap, Kaine has laid out five areas where Clintons campaign saw opportunities to energize young voters: college costs, climate change, abortion rights, LGBT rights and immigration. Its on our shoulders to make the case. But on at least five litmus-test issues, the differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are vast, he told host Chuck Todd. Clintons old rival, Bernie Sanders, has also come out to campaign for Clinton, warning his supporters against the lure of either staying home or supporting a candidate from one of the nonmajor parties. Before you cast a protest vote, because either Clinton or Trump will become President, think hard about it, he told MSNBCs Morning Joe before heading to Ohio to campaign for Clinton on campuses in Akron and Columbus. Think about what the country looks like, and whether you are comfortable with four years as a Trump presidency. Clintons campaign appears to be moving on all fronts, with help from allies. Theyve hired an aide to handle millennial media, her allies at super PACs are spending $20 million to target female millennials in seven states, and an anti-climate-change super PAC is earmarking more than $6 million to get millennials to the polls in just Pennsylvania. Clinton has worked with aides to learn to take the perfect selfie, arm raised just above her head to deliver the most-flattering image for supporters social-media accounts, and has lined up young voters as validators across the country. On Sept. 15, she dialed into a millennial teleconference call to hear directly from young voters and her campaign has prepared state-by-state statistics about what her policies would mean for young people. Were going to make really aggressive pushes to get students to the polls, says Kunoor Ojha, a former Sanders aide who now heads national campus outreach for Clinton. Shes a candidate who cares about people whether or not they voted for her in the primary, she tells TIME. For Ojha, an Obama campaign alumna, she had no qualms about turning her support to Clinton after Sanders defeat. It was a no-brainer at the end of the day. They agree on 98% of the issues, Ojha said. It doesnt hurt that Clinton has shifted to the left and taken up many of Sanders ideas, especially on college debt. Clinton plans to renew the charge herself on Monday, with a speech at Philadelphias Temple University. Her speech, aides said, would focus on a campaign proposal to make community college free for all Americans and a public-university education debt-free for them. It follows Obamas visit to Philadelphia on Sept. 13, Warrens visit to the University of Pennsylvania on Sept. 9 and more than 1,000 grassroots events across the state this weekend. The X factor in this election will not just be the margin by which Clinton wins young voters, but the number of voters she can get to the polls. In 2008, when fresh-faced Barack Obama was running against 71-year-old John McCain, Obama prompted a record 51% of voters under 30 to show up. That fell off to 45% turnout in 2012. Clinton strategists say the campaign can win with a slightly smaller percentage of young voters showing up because there are more of them now, but any significant drop-off is compounded by the fact Clinton is unlikely to draw as loyal a turnout among African Americans as Obama, the nations first black President. Research from data-mapping powerhouse Esri finds millennials, defined by them as ages 18 to 37, make up 33% of the voting-age population in Ohio and Pennsylvania, 36% in Nevada, and 37% in Colorado all toss-up states where Clinton and her allies are making hard pushes. Do they realize they are the biggest voting bloc? Esri executive Jeff Peters asked rhetorically. The political arm of EMILYs List, a group that backs female candidates who support abortion rights, is partnered with Clintons biggest super PAC, Priorities USA, to reach young female voters in Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and New Hampshire. A lot of young women dont know Hillary Clinton and that her values are in line with what they care about, said Rachel Thomas of EMILYs List. And a lot of women never see how politics affects their lives. But its a tough lift. In interviews with 16 students here and another dozen in Columbus, Ohio, many said they liked the idea of a female President but didnt entirely understand the hype around it. They care more about the environment and LGBT rights than their parents, want a solution to the nations broken immigration system and abhor discrimination of all stripes. But they dont necessarily know Clintons record jibing with their views. After all, most are too young to remember the 1990s, when Clinton was a trailblazing First Lady. For them, shes always been around, but they arent sure why. Many have internalized many of Sanders criticism of her as an elitist from the bruising primary. The fact that these ideas are being circulated in Athens, Ohio, a bastion of liberalism in a conservative part of the state, is even more alarming for Clinton. The local Mexican restaurant operates as a worker-owned co-operative and specializes in vegan entrees. The university president faced conservative backlash for criticizing pro-Trump Build the Wall rhetoric on the communitys Graffiti Wall, a forum dating back to the 1930s for unsanctioned speech. Clinton visited Athens in May on her first swing-state bus trip, trying to repair damage after voters here broke for Sanders by a 2-to-1 margin in March. Esri data says 55% of the countys eligible voters are millennials, heavier than the national average of 35%. For Miller, the early struggle at that back-to-school afternoon only deepened her commitment to Clinton. Its getting better, she says. On a recent Monday night, Miller was busy welcoming new faces to a Democratic Party office just off-campus. There, she was talking up opportunities to sign up new voters, call their neighbors and evangelize for Clinton. Students filed into the storefront office and mingled among themselves as they listened to the soundtrack from Broadways Hamilton. While their classmates were participating in the first night of fraternity rush across the street, these students were waiting to get the how-to-volunteer lesson. When it seemed no more newcomers were coming, the campaign aide tasked with organizing students here asked the unthinkable. Can you turn off Hamilton? he asked sheepishly. Thats the only time youll hear me say that, he said to laughs. Music could wait. He had 20 students to pitch on joining the Clinton campaign as a supervolunteer, known as a fellow. As they wrapped up their motivational speech and snacked on Dominos pizza, Hamilton came back. Jazzmine Hardges wrote down her contact information on the way out the door so the campaign could follow up with her about volunteering and, if not that, at least remembering to vote. More an activist than a politico, she nevertheless was impressed with Clinton and surprised others in her cohort were not. She has all of this experience, said the 20-year-old studying communications and philosophy. The Kent, Ohio, native then added what Clintons team hopes will resonate if nothing else does: Any Democrat would be better than Trump, or Republicans in broad terms, for this country. For months journalists complained they couldnt get Hillary Clinton to answer questions from her traveling press entourage, while Donald Trump cavorted with reporters and appeared on television ad nauseam. Now the tables have turned. In the past two weeks, Clinton has taken informal and formal questions from traveling reporters on at least eight occasions, while Trump has not taken questions at a formal press conference for more than 50 days. Clinton welcomed reporters onto her plane on Labor Day, got chummy with the press photographers, spoke with reporters after recovering from pneumonia and most recently took questions twice in the two days after the bombing in New York City that injured 29 people. She has answered questions on a wide range of topics from handling ISIS, the structure of her family foundation, cybersecurity and about a television series she is watching, The Good Wife. At her recent appearances, she always appeared with a minder, the besuited press secretary Nick Merrill, and sometimes unexpectedly in the aisle at the back of her plane. She has taken a total of 63 questions, according to a tally provided by her campaign. Trump, meanwhile, spoke briefly with a handful of reporters on Labor Day Monday and took a few questions. But his more controlled campaign since the installation of image maven Kellyanne Conway has meant Trump sticks much closer to the script. Clinton has long had a frosty relationship with the press, nurtured by years of adversarial reporting in the 1990s and her personal preference for privacy. She has been criticized for giving scant interviews with print reporters this campaign cycle and carefully controlling her public image. Her opponent, Trump, has meanwhile refused to release his tax returns, breaking decades of precedent in shielding crucial information about his businesses from the public. He only recently released a scanty letter referencing his medical records. Still, Trump has sought media attention throughout his life, wherever he could get it. Story continues Clintons recent increasing contact with the press marks her teams drive to present her as more open and less averse to the public eye, and to help crowd Trump off the airwaves. Clintons team wants her to appear in public as many of her friends say they see her in private. Still, despite a more open relationship with her traveling press crew, Clinton does not have a protective press pool that travels with her at all times, as is tradition for presidential candidates seeking transparency. (Neither does Trump.) The end of Clintons more-than 270-day press-conference drought began with a deluge two weeks ago. When Clintons campaign rolled out her new plane on Labor Day, Clinton somewhere in flight between Westchester and Ohio ventured to the press cabin to tell reporters she was very happy to be traveling with them. Taking questions later, she blasted Trump for urging Russian hackers to continue targeting the Democratic Party. The next day she chatted with the photographers and posed for pictures, lamenting that greeting voters today is all about the selfie. She held a formal press conference on Wednesday, Sept. 8, on the tarmac in White Plains, and the next day after a national security meeting, discussing sanctions on North Korea and blasting Trump for appearing on Russian television. She journeyed back to the press cabin on the first day after recovering from pneumonia, telling reporters she was feeling better and mentioning her appreciation for the television series The Good Wife and Madame Secretary, both of which are loosely based on her. She later that day held a formal press conference and fielded more serious questions about Syria. On Sunday, the day after the bombing in New York in which 29 people were injured, Clinton spoke with reporters about confronting terrorism. The next day, on Monday, she held a formal press conference in an airplane hangar in Westchester before she and her press crew boarded a plane to Philadelphia for a campaign event. I have contributed to actions that have neutralized our enemies. I know how to do this, and I understand how we dont want this to get even bigger than it already is, she said, saying Trump has given aid and comfort to radical terrorists. The questions, like one about Clintons favorite television shows, are occasionally friendly. And there have been relatively few questions about the Clinton Foundation as that has passed out of the news. But some pointed questions have been more revealing. She declined to answer directly whether her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, knew about her pneumonia diagnosis. And she would not say whether Chelsea, her daughter, would continue to run the Clinton Foundation if she were elected. Trump informally spoke with reporters on his plane on Labor Day, and he has called in several times to Fox for phone interviews. Trump senior staff told multiple television outlets that the candidate would be holding a press conference in Washington, D.C., about his promotion of the false birther theory, but Trump instead used it as an opportunity to plug his new hotel and did not take questions from the press. On one occasion last week, Trump left his traveling press crew behind and then mocked them at a rally. They cant get here, Trump said as the crowd erupted in cheers. I love it. The bench headed by Justice TS Thakur, while questioning the flouting of norms in the appointment process of the Vice Chancellor, added that he was not questioning competence of bureaucrats or army officers. By Anusha Soni: Questioning the mode and method in which the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University has been appointed, the apex court asked how University Grants Commission rules could be ignored in the appointment process. The bench headed by Justice TS Thakur said that the university cannot modify or digress from the existing norms to suit itself. Ministry of Human Resources and Development and Aligarh Muslim University told the apex court that the position of Vice Chancellor is not of a 'teacher' hence the eligibility criteria and the number of years of teaching experience does not apply to that post. advertisement Shooting a pointed question, CJI TS Thakur questioned the AMU and the Central Government, "Why should a bureaucrat be brought as a Vice Chancellor? Why shouldn't it be an academician or a professor? They work hard." The court further clarified that the question is not the competence of bureaucrats or army officers but whether their appointment is well within the rules. The court was hearing a public interest litigation argued by Prashant Bhushan who told the apex court that all UGC norms have been flouted in the appointment process of Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah as the Vice Chancellor. He said that the earlier order of the Supreme Court had merely asked for a Vice Chancellor to be appointed under the existing rules. Salman Khurshid who represented Shah at the apex court said that AMU is a minority institution as the appointment of Shah was well within the rules. The apex court has kept the matter for detailed hearing on September 26. Also read: Aligarh Muslim University all set to lose its minority status, decision to spark political slugfest --- ENDS --- Netflix Originals This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Digital Media Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Movie executives think that Netflix's deep pockets and willingness to spend big on original series may be the early sign of a monopoly, according to an article by The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix's $6 billion annual content budge (compared with HBO and Amazon's reputed $2 billion), the companys massive war chest, and the growing successes of its original productions, has Hollywood worried about a world where Netflix owns the story. Netflix Originals go from zero to 30, quickly. This year, the company will release 30 original series and 600 hours of scripted content, up from one in 2013 when it released its first original show House of Cards. Netflix now produces more programming than any individual cable station or network. This wealth of Netflix productions has caused industry executives to point to a world in which Netflix has disproportionate control over "storytelling." Increasing cachet and accolades. Netflix scored 54 nominations at this summers Emmy Awards, placing it ahead of every other network but two: FX, with 56, and runaway leader HBO, with 94. More impressively, perhaps, Netflix posted the biggest percentage jump in the number of nominations among all networks. The 54 nominations marked a 59% increase for the competition, compared to Amazons 33% jump, and HBOs 25% decline. Inability to match up to Netflixs stature. With an estimated $6 billion content budget, and 83 million global subscribers, Netflix can bid high and promise wide audiences to content creators. The company isnt shy to spare change. Its reportedly paying Brad Pitt $20 million to star in The War Machine, and has committed $90 million to make Bright with Will Smith and directed by David Ayer, beating out two or three studios in the process. The TV industry dreads a future where they cant contest with Netflixs purchasing power. The alternative perspective is that Netflixs alacrity to spend on content has fueled more projects for content creators, and more viewing choices for consumers. One producer cited by the Hollywood Reporter says that Netflix is giving light to movies that would otherwise never exist. Its also rich that the TV industry is now alluding to Netflix as a potential monopolist given how quick they were to disregard Netflixs content plans initially, as noted by The Next Web. Over the last few years, theres been much talk about the death of TV. However, television is not dying so much as it's evolving: extending beyond the traditional television screen and broadening to include programming from new sources accessed in new ways. It's strikingly evident that more consumers are shifting their media time away from live TV, while opting for services that allow them to watch what they want, when they want. Indeed, we are seeing a migration toward original digital video such as YouTube Originals, SVOD services such as Netflix, and live streaming on social platforms. However, not all is lost for legacy media companies. Amid this rapidly shifting TV landscape, traditional media companies are making moves across a number of different fronts trying out new distribution channels, creating new types of programming aimed at a mobile-first audience, and partnering with innovate digital media companies. In addition, cable providers have begun offering alternatives for consumers who may no longer be willing to pay for a full TV package. Dylan Mortensen, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, has compiled a detailed report on the future of TV that looks at how TV viewer, subscriber, and advertising trends are shifting, and where and what audiences are watching as they turn away from traditional TV. Here are some key points from the report: Increased competition from digital services like Netflix and Hulu as well as new hardware to access content are shifting consumers' attention away from live TV programming. Across the board, the numbers for live TV are bad. US adults are watching traditional TV on average 18 minutes fewer per day versus two years ago, a drop of 6%. In keeping with this, cable subscriptions are down, and TV ad revenue is stagnant. People are consuming more media content than ever before, but how they're doing so is changing. Half of US TV households now subscribe to SVOD services, like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, and viewing of original digital video content is on the rise. Legacy TV companies are recognizing these shifts and beginning to pivot their business models to keep pace with the changes. They are launching branded apps and sites to move their programming beyond the TV glass, distributing on social platforms to reach massive, young audiences, and forming partnerships with digital media brands to create new content. The TV ad industry is also taking a cue from digital. Programmatic TV ad buying represented just 4% (or $2.5 billion) of US TV ad budgets in 2015 but is expected to grow to 17% ($10 billion) by 2019. Meanwhile, networks are also developing branded TV content, similar to publishers' push into sponsored content. In full, the report: Outlines the shift in consumer viewing habits, specifically the younger generation. Explores the rise of subscription streaming services and the importance of original digital video content. Breaks down ways in which legacy media companies are shifting their content and advertising strategies. And Discusses new technology that will more effectively measure audiences across screens and platforms. Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it: Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase & download the full report from our research store. BUY THE REPORT NOW WATCH: Here's everything you need to know about Azor Ahai the legendary savior on 'Game of Thrones' More From Business Insider The ongoing election at Teamsters Local 399 has taken a violent turn, according to a report filed with the Burbank Police Department, which is investigating an alleged election-related assault September 12 outside Warner Bros Studios. Retired Teamster Ray Holmgren told detectives he was handing out fliers outside the studio in support of Mitch Masoner, whos running for secretary-treasurer against incumbent Steve Dayan, when he was assaulted by Flint Hardman, who sometimes serves as an unofficial sergeant-at-arms at Local 399 membership meetings. Hardman could not be reached for comment, but a source at the local says that he flatly denies the allegation. He said he never touched the guy, a source told Deadline. Its not the first time, Masoner said, that Hardman has allegedly been involved in a physical altercation with another Teamster. In May 2014, Dayan posted a statement on the locals website ordering his members to stop fistfighting on movie sets. According to Masoner, Dayan was referring to an incident involving Hardman. He punched Randy Roberg and knocked him out, Masoner said. And then Steve made him his sergeant-at-arms at membership meetings. Hes Steves enforcer. No charges were ever brought against Hardman, with Masoner claiming that Roberg was coerced into not filing a complaint. Masoner, who has a long history of filing complaints against his local, says hes filed an election protest because Flints been threatening people on my side. Masoner says he called off a rally and fundraiser Sunday in Sylmar due to threats of violence. He said that five supporters who didnt receive the notice that the event had been canceled showed up anyway, and one subsequently received threatening phone call from Hardman. He was stalking the place, Masoner said. He knew who came to the event. He made threatening phone calls this morning, saying theyd better back off. The locals election turned ugly recently when someone spray-painted a scurrilous allegation about Dayan on a traffic control box near his home. An earlier report here that said that Dayans home had been vandalized turned out not to be true it was the traffic box that was vandalized. Story continues Dayan declined comment for this report, saying that he and his slate of running mates are determined to run a positive campaign based on their accomplishments, which includes signing more than 1,000 film, TV, commercial and new media productions to the unions contracts during the past three years. And as chairman of the California Film Commission, Dayan successfully lobbied for the tripling of Californias film tax incentives, which has helped keep or bring back thousands for jobs to the state, including hundreds of jobs for members of Local 399. The website for Dayans slate of candidates, called 399 Members First, also notes that the local has eliminated its $400,000 deficit and now has a positive balance for the first time in five years. Related stories Threats Of Violence Mar Hollywood Teamsters Local 399 Election Head Of Boston Film Office Suspended After Extortion Indictment Anatomy Of A Filming Accident: The Death of Amrik Singh Gill On 'Falling Skies' Set chelsea new york explosion bomb A bomb that injured 29 people in New York City on Saturday night was made with a pressure cooker, flip phone, and Christmas lights, and it was filled with "fragmentation materials" such as "small bearings or metal BBs," according to The New York Times. Another bomb found nearby that did not detonate was made from the same materials. The two homemade devices appeared to be designed to inflict maximum damage, The Times reported. Investigators have yet to determine the motive for the bombing, which occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday in Manhattan's bustling Chelsea neighborhood. But authorities said they had identified a "person of interest" in the case, The Times reported. According to ABC News, the police are looking to speak with a man who was spotted in surveillance footage near both bomb locations. Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York called the bombing "obviously an act of terrorism" but said it did not appear to be linked to international terrorist groups. Law-enforcement officials are exploring a possible connection between Saturday night's bombing in New York and an explosion that occurred earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, The Times reported. In that explosion, three pipe bombs were tied together, placed in a trash can, and controlled by a flip phone, officials said. Only one of the three bombs detonated, and no one was injured in the blast, which occurred shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5K to benefit US Marines and sailors. Read the full New York Times report here. NOW WATCH: 'Taco Trucks on every corner': Watch the stunning comments made by the leader of 'Latinos for Trump' More From Business Insider Buying a Honda Civic has always been a safe choice in terms of reliability, build quality and residual values -- but now with the latest-generation model, heading to the Paris motor show this October, that statement is also true in the literal sense. The 10th generation Civic hatchback will be one of the safest cars in its class when it goes on sale following its official Paris auto show reveal because its makers have decided to pack it with one of the most comprehensive selections of active driver safety technology systems currently available in the C-Segment car market. The Honda SENSING suite includes Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Assist, Collision Mitigation Braking, Road Sign Recognition, Adaptive Cruise Control, Cross Traffic Monitor and Blind Spot Monitoring systems. However, the package shouldn't come as a surprise as Honda has never invested so much time or money in developing an individual car as it has with this Civic. The goal was to create a car for Europe that exceeds European driver demands. And that's why it looks and should feel sporty to drive, too. The car has a lower center of gravity, a lower seating position for the driver, a tauter chassis, MacPherson struts for the front suspension and a multi-link system at the rear and when all of these elements come together, Honda is confident the Civic will offer class leading handling but will still be a comfortable, compliant everyday car. It boasts a premium interior, support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Wireless device charging is an option but storage spaces within the center console specifically designed for phones or standalone GPS units -- complete with innovative cable management system -- come as standard. The new Civic will be the first Honda arriving in Europe with a 1-liter turbocharged VTEC engine. There are no economy figures but despite having just three cylinders it should still make for a fun driving experience thanks to 200Nm of torque and 127bhp on tap. For those wanting a bit more, there will also be a 1.5-liter unit available at launch with 180bhp and 250Nm of torque. However, those looking for the ultimate hot hatch will need to wait at least another year before the Type R becomes a reality. The 2016 Paris Motor Show opens its doors to the public on October 1. Honda CEO with NSX For nearly three decades, the transmissions of choice were the four-speed automatic and the five-speed manual. However, over the past couple of years, the number of gears in transmissions have skyrocketed. Now, Honda has taken the madness to a whole new level with a patent for an 11-speed multi-clutch transmission, the Automotive News' Naoto Okamura reported. In addition to 11 gears, the patent also calls for three clutches one more than the industry standard for this type of transmission. According to the publication, Honda filed the patent in December of 2014, but its existence was only recently made public. In a emailed statement to Business Insider, Honda wrote: "Honda files many patent applications as we work on future technologies, but we will not speculate on if or in what form these ideas may be utilized in our future products. That being said, last year, Honda demonstrated a new, Honda-developed 10-speed automatic transmission that we will begin using in the near future, though it's too soon to provide any specific timing or model details." While the four- and five-speed transmissions offered solid, reliable performance, automakers have turned to higher gear counts as a strategy to achieve greater fuel economy without sacrificing potent acceleration. As recently as 2012, Honda's mainstream products sold with five-speed automatics. Currently Honda's mainstream offerings in the US use a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) to get its power to the road. However, its Acura premium brand deploys a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission on its RLX Sport Hybrid sedan while its ILX and TLX sedans get an eight-speed DCT. The brand's new flagship NSX supercar gets a nine-speed DCT. Honda isn't the only company bolting transmissions with sky high gears counts on their cars. All Fiat-Chrysler's cars come with nine-speed ZF automatics as do many Mercedes-Benz models. Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, and Lexus prefer an eight-speed automatic transmission. While Audi and Infiniti prefer seven-speeds. ; Story continues In addition, Ford and GM are both readying 10-speed automatic transmission for release in the near future. Venturing towards double digit gear counts is not without risk. Thus far, no manufacturer has been able to smooth out the the rough edges on any transmission with more than eight gears. In addition, more gears and more clutches also translates into greater levels of complexity. Recent history has shown that increased complexity has a direct correlation with lower levels of reliability at least for the first few years the transmission is in production. NOW WATCH: Heres what you get for $4.5 million the Honda Civic of jets More From Business Insider U.S. home builders have become more optimistic about the single-family housing industry, as the Housing Market Index (HMI) rose to 65 points for September. The index tracks how confident homebuilders are about the market for single family homes, and it can range from 0 to 100 points. A score of 50 or higher is associated with the notion that builders view conditions for the single family market as good. The reading for August was originally 60, but it has since been revised down to 59. This means that the index climbed 6 points in September. The last time the reading was at a level this high was in October of last year. Before then, the index hadnt reached the 65 point threshold since 2005. Such strong momentum suggests that activity is building up within the single-family home building space. To profit off of a bullish housing market with signs of firming, you should consider buying these commercial and residential home building stocks. Each of these stocks has impressive earnings growth forecasted for this year. These companies also have attractive valuation metrics to back them up. Century Communities Inc-CCS Century Communities builds homes in the states of Colorado, Georgia, Utah, Nevada, and Texas. In addition to Century Communities, they also own brands such as Grand View Builders and Jimmy Jacobs Homes. With these brands, Century Communities has a diverse price range of homes to offer for its customers. CCS stock is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and it has a market cap of $421 million. The company makes for a viable investment candidate. It currently trades at a forward PE of 7.84, which is well below the industrys average PE of 11.44. CCS also trades at a price-to-book of 1 and a price-to-sales of just 0.44. With valuations this low, the stock could be getting overlooked by the broader market. Century also has growth characteristics that make it quite attractive. This year, EPS and sales are projected to grow by 35.6% and 31.4% respectively. In addition to having a bright future outlook, Centurys recent history has been impressive. In fact, the stock has topped our earnings consensus in each of the last four quarters. Just last quarter, CCS topped out EPS estimate of $0.55 by 12.7%. The home builder is expected to release its next quarterly earnings report in early November. Story continues Revenue (Quarterly) Revenue (Quarterly) | Quote M.D.C. Holdings Inc-MDC M.D.C. is a holding company with subsidiaries that provide home building and financial services. Through its home building brand, it has been building and designing new homes across the US for over three decades. The holding companys other subsidiaries provide financing services (such as mortgage lending and title insurance) for home buyers. MDC is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it provides investors with a 2.03% annual dividend yield. MDCs forward PE of 11.52 is in line with the industry standard, but its PEG of 0.47 helps it to stand out as a cheap stock within the commercial home building space. M.D.C. Holdings stock trades at a price-to-book of 0.96. When a companys price-to-book is below one, it could be undervalued. MDCs Growth grade of B shows that theres more to this company than its fundamental valuation metrics. Earnings are forecasted to increase by 52.5% this year, and revenues are expected to pick up by 22%. Over the last two months, four analysts have revised their fiscal year EPS expectations upwards for MDC. In that time frame, no analysts have revised their current year expectations lower. MDC topped our earnings consensus estimate by 12.24% when it reported its earnings last quarter. Revenue (Quarterly) Revenue (Quarterly) | Quote PulteGroup Inc-PHM PulteGroup Inc. is one of the nations largest and most diversified homebuilders. It focuses on managing its homebuilding and financial services businesses, and the holding company has brands which include Centex, Del Webb, DiVosta, Pulte Homes, and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods. PulteGroup is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and it gets a B for Value in our Style Scores. The stock also doles out a dividend that yields 1.84% annually. PulteGroup is cheap across several important valuation metrics. The company has an EV/EBITDA of 10.52, and this is slightly lower than the industrys average EV/EBITDA of 11.44. The company also has a forward PE of just 12.12. To put this into perspective, the average forward PE of the S&P 500is 18.25. PulteGroup stands to benefit from the strength in the housing market. This year, the companys EPS (earnings per share) and sales are forecasted to increase by 27% and 24.7% respectively. Its trailing twelve month net margin of 7.89% is well ahead of the industrys average net margin of 5.39%. Over the last 60 days, three analysts have revised their previous EPS estimates higher for the current fiscal year. PHM has beaten our consensus estimate in each of the last three quarters, so theres a good chance that it could surprise us once again when it releases its next quarterly results in late October. Revenue (TTM) Revenue (TTM) | Quote Bottom Line The commercial and residential building industry currently stands among the top 30% of all 265 industries ranked by Zacks. This is important because stocks within the top half of all industries have a strong tendency to outperform the lower half by a wide margin. The recent rise in the HMI index could suggest that there may be better things to come for the industry. If confidence stays elevated among home builders and the momentum is sustained, these stocks have a good chance to give your portfolio additional gains. The Zacks Rank is a truly marvelous trading tool. Our ranking system has beaten the S&P 500, yielding an average return of 25% per year for the last 29 years! Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PULTE GROUP ONC (PHM): Free Stock Analysis Report MDC HLDGS (MDC): Free Stock Analysis Report CENTURY COMMUNT (CCS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research An all-female flotilla from Barcelona, Spain, is on its way to the Gaza Strip to try and break the Israeli siege. The boats, the Zaytouna and the Amal. Source: Laura Burdon-Manley/Al Jazeera By India Today Web Desk: Riding boats named the Zaytouna (meaning 'olive') and the Amal (meaning 'hope'), a crew of female sailors have set sail from Barcelona last week, heading for the Gaza Strip. Their goal is simple: to raise awareness about the plight-stricken Palestinians, and to break Israel's siege on Gaza. advertisement Headed by Captain Madeleine Habib, who has more than 30 years of experience under her belt, the flotilla plans "to nonviolently push through the naval blockade" Israel has been imposing on the Gaza Strip since 2007. "It's preventing freedom of access to the people of Palestine," Habib told Al Jazeera. "It's creating a jail in their own country and denying them access to the basic rights that they deserve." "We are trying to provoke a reaction [through] a very positive and symbolic action in a peaceful way," she said. If Habib's all-female fleet succeeds in their mission, they will be one of a kind as flotillas with similar mission to Gaza have not been successful. In 2010, 10 members of a Turkish flotilla were killed by Israeli forces after they attempted to enter Gaza's naval territories. There have been a few more attempts over the years, but none were successful. But these women do not seem the least shaken with this statistics. ''The Palestinian woman has been participating in the cause for years just like men - if not more - but there is no recognition of her role," Khaldiya Abu Bakra, one of the only Gaza-born activists in the team, told Al Jazeera. "Palestinian women suffer from the occupation and siege the most, so women from all over the world wish to honour and recognise the role of the Palestinian woman," she said. A lot of effort of many people in that boat. Love to you all and good wind for the women who are sailing to Gaza. pic.twitter.com/jKkxmDDPUD Pablo Miranzo (@PabloMiranzo) September 18, 2016 The boats, carrying a set of 11 crew members each, are expected to reach Gaza in three weeks. Irish Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire, American playwright Naomi Wallace and Turkish athlete Cigdem Topcuoglu are also supposed to join the flotilla along the way. advertisement Read more: Gaza does not excite new India Gaza militant rocket hits Israel, Israel responds with air strikes, shells In pictures: Gaza bombings intensify Israel-Palestine conflict No stop to Gaza misery --- ENDS --- Thousands of migrants were reportedly evacuated from the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island Lesbos after a large fire broke out on Monday evening, September 19. Greek news media reported that hundreds of migrants had been staging protests at Moria and other camps over rumours of mass deportations to Turkey. A volunteer for rescue charity Lifeguards Hellas told Storyful, migrants began staging a protest earlier in the day over the number of new arrivals and conditions in the camp before the situation deteriorated and clashes broke out between two migrant groups. Footage circulated on Twitter showed the protests throughout the day. Credit: Mochament Faisal Naasan Agha A love story borne of two individuals in their mid-20s who found each other through a debilitating disease, then were separated by it, reached a heartbreaking conclusion Saturday with the death of the husband who never gave up hope of reconnecting with the woman he loved. Dalton Prager, 25, who like his wife Katie, 26, was born with cystic fibrosis a progressive genetic disease that affects primarily the lungs, and whose patients have a current average life expectancy of around 40 years died in a hospital in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. Katie Prager, whose own illness caused her to enter hospice care earlier this month at the couple's Flemingsburg, Kentucky, home nearly 400 miles miles and eight hours away from her husband, announced his death on Facebook, where they had first spotted each other in 2009 and instantly forged a friendship that led to marriage. "My angel, my best friend, the love of my life, my husband went to be with the Lord our God today," Katie wrote. "Dalton fought a long hard battle with Cystic Fibrosis. He was a courageous fighter and 'give up' wasn't in his vocabulary." Husband, 25, in Real-Life Fault in Our Stars Couple Dies After FaceTiming Wife: 'We Wanted to Keep Living'| Real People Stories The couple, wedded in July 2011, had generated headlines as a true-life Fault in Our Stars pairing, echoing the star-crossed young cancer patients of the best-selling young-adult novel and 2014 film. After finding hope and a future in each other's company, both had pursued life-prolonging lung transplants. "We wanted to keep living, we wanted to keep traveling, we wanted to just keep being the married couple that we always wanted," Katie tells PEOPLE. Following an acceleration of hospital stays starting in their teen years each of the two battled an additional bacterial infection, burkholderia cepacia, transferred from Dalton to Katie that complicated their illness the couple entered the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in August 2014. Dalton received his transplant that November. Katie, who struggled to cover the cost of her surgery after colliding with insurance barriers because of the compounding infection, received her transplant several months later in 2015. Story continues Husband, 25, in Real-Life Fault in Our Stars Couple Dies After FaceTiming Wife: 'We Wanted to Keep Living'| Real People Stories The two never fully rebounded from their surgeries, and both would eventually travel to be near their respective families while their hoped-for recoveries continued. At the time that Katie opted to forego further life-prolonging care earlier this month, Dalton was himself hospitalized and on a ventilator. A donated hospital transport had been arranged by Dalton's family to move him from Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, about an hour from the couple's home, to be closer to Katie. But in the days before Dalton died, his mother Renee tells PEOPLE that he was never well enough to make the trip. The couple had last seen each other briefly, for only a few minutes, in Katie's Kentucky hospital room on their anniversary in July. "Today a September 17, 2016 at 12:56 Dalton Lee Prager joined his sister, Samantha, and grandfather, Larry, in Heaven," Dalton's mother, Renee Prager, wrote on the couple's Facebook page. "You may Breathe Easy now my son. You are my true hero. Love Forever, Mom. Husband, 25, in Real-Life Fault in Our Stars Couple Dies After FaceTiming Wife: 'We Wanted to Keep Living'| Real People Stories Family and friends of both Dalton and Katie have created separate fundraising pages to cover end-of-life and funeral expenses for each. "The past week has been very emotional and decisions have been made that aren't meant to be made by someone in their 20s with their whole life ahead of them," Katie posted on September 2, after deciding to leave the hospital and enter a hospice program. "There are too many things going on in my body to be able to fix everything. Things appear to be going downhill faster than I thought they would. My hospice nurse is coming out today to get everything set up. I won't have to go back to the hospital or get anymore IVs. I get to spend the rest of my time surrounded by people and things that make me happy." "Please don't take this as a sign of me giving up. It's the last thing I want people to remember of me," she said, writing ahead of subsequent Facebook updates in which she chronicled her calls to Dalton's hospital nurse and her hopes that she would see him again. "God bless you all and thank you for going on this journey with me! Love, Katie." Press releases from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) in the past few days include news from Singapore and Tokyo. IBM is one of the oldest and most storied companies in America. Despite recent troubles, it remains one of the largest public companies in the United States, as well as among the largest employers. IBM is number 31 on the current Fortune 500 list. In 2000, it was number six on the list. From Singapore: SINGAPORE - 16 Sep 2016: IBM (IBM) today announced it has signed a contract with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) to examine the design, management and execution of contracts among business partners using blockchain technologies. The two companies will begin by piloting blockchain to automate business transactions between the two companies. ALSO READ: America's Best (and Worst) Car Brands This is one of the first projects built on the Hyperledger Project fabric, an open-source blockchain platform, to use blockchain for real-life contract management on the IBM Cloud. IBM and BTMU have built a prototype of smart contracts on a blockchain to improve the efficiency and accountability of service level agreements in multi-party business interactions. The bank plans to begin using it to manage contracts within their business in fiscal year 2017. In addition, IBM and BTMU aim to manage agreements between the two companies with the system by the end of fiscal year 2017. To help improve efficiency, IBM and BTMU will monitor delivery and usage of equipment with a sensor that embeds information into the blockchain. This will then automate invoicing and payment processes between the two companies. ALSO READ: 9 Cities Where Home Flippers Make $100,000 a House Both hard to understand for a layperson, as well as hard to guess financial implications for IBM. Somewhat easier to grasp: TOKYO and ARMONK, N.Y. - 16 Sep 2016: IBM (IBM) and JFE Steel Co., Ltd., signed a five-year outsourcing agreement enabling the steel company to migrate core systems to the IBM Cloud while consolidating its IT infrastructure and streamlining its business operations. Story continues With the World Steel Organization stating that steel prices will continue to fall in 2016, steel companies like JFE Steel, must identify ways of creating a more efficient business model that can quickly adjust to market changes. In fact, under the JFE Groups medium-term business plan, JFE Steel aims to increase annual JFE branded product and services to 40 million tons ALSO READ: Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Campbell Soup, Lockheed Martin, PNC Financial, Wells Fargo, Cerner and More JFE Steel is fairly large, with nearly 44,000 employees. It is the eighth largest steel company in the world. As for 40 million tons, by comparison, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute: In the week ending September 10, 2016, domestic raw steel production was 1,626,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 69.5 percent. Production was 1,687,000 net tons in the week ending September 10, 2015 while the capability utilization then was 70.5 percent. The current week production represents a 3.6 percent decrease from the same period in the previous year. Production for the week ending September 10, 2016 is down 1.8 percent from the previous week ending September 3, 2016 when production was 1,656,000 net tons and the rate of capability utilization was 70.8 percent. ALSO READ: Boeing, Down 12.4%, Is Worst Performing Dow Stock of 2016 Adjusted year-to-date production through September 10, 2016 was 62,545,000 net tons, at a capability utilization rate of 72.3 percent. That is down 1.3 percent from the 63,375,000 net tons during the same period last year, when the capability utilization rate was 72.1 percent. The 40 million tons seem small. Related Articles AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Kenya has failed to comply with its obligations to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in the case of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, a judge ruled, referring the country for non-compliance. The court found that "the Republic of Kenya had failed to comply with its obligations to cooperate with the ICC and referred the matter" to the court's governing body, the court said in a statement on Monday. (Reporting By Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Toby Chopra) LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Lundin Law PC (the "Firm") announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Goldcorp Inc. ("Goldcorp" or the "Company") (GG) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between March 31, 2014 and August 24, 2016 (the "Class Period"). Investors, who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period, should contact the Firm in advance of the October 24, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. To participate in this class action lawsuit, click here. You can also call Brian Lundin, Esquire, of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or e-mail him at brian@lundinlawpc.com. No class has been certified in the above action. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also choose to do nothing and be an absent class member. According to the Complaint, Goldcorp made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that Goldcorp's mine in Penasquito was leaking selenium into the groundwater well near the mine as early as October 2013; that the Company informed the Mexican government about the rise of selenium levels in the groundwater in October 2014; that in August 2016 the Company informed the Mexican government of contaminated water found in other properties near the mine; and as a result of the above, Goldcorp's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When this news was disclosed to the public, shares of Goldcorp fell in value, which caused investors harm. Lundin Law PC was founded by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding shareholders' rights. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Contact: Lundin Law PC Brian Lundin, Esq. Telephone: 888-713-1033 Facsimile: 888-713-1125 brian@lundinlawpc.com http://lundinlawpc.com/ SOURCE: Lundin Law PC Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba was scheduled to attend a swanky gala on Monday hosted by the Atlantic Council, a well-known Washington-based think tank, to accept an award for his life of public service and efforts to improve the lives of the people of Gabon. Unfortunately for the dictator, he was forced to cancel at the last moment because of mounting unrest in his country the bloody fallout from a likely stolen election on Aug. 27. (International observers declared the vote fraudulent after the regime reported an improbable 95.5 percent victory for Bongo in his home province amid 99.98 percent voter turnout.) Days of violent protests followed. At least 50 people were killed, and more than 1,000 were arrested by security forces, according to the opposition. Gabon remains under a 12-hour-a-day curfew, but the Atlantic Council has not officially rescinded the award, which it previously bestowed on the likes of Robert De Niro and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. In a letter to Human Rights Foundation, Atlantic Council President Frederick Kempe said his organization respects Bongos decision to forgo receiving his Global Citizen Award this year due to the overriding priorities he has in his country. Yet its not clear how Bongo was ever considered a worthy candidate for the award in the first place. The notoriously corrupt leader has ruled Gabon since 2009, when he succeeded his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, in a fraudulent election. (The Bongo family has exerted almost complete control over Gabonese politics, business, and civil society since 1967.) The country scores the lowest possible rating on Freedom Houses civil and political rights indices, and anti-government protestors are often met with violence or even killed. The Bongo regime has an even worse record when it comes to corruption. The president and his family treat the national treasury like a private bank account, appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds for personal use, according to U.S. and French investigators. The government is built on what Gabonese prosecutors have described as a mafia-like network of fake civil servants who receive salaries despite not having official jobs. The result is that even with immense oil wealth per capita income in Gabon is four times that of most sub-Saharan African countries a third of the population lives below the poverty line and unemployment exceeds 20 percent. Meanwhile, Bongo and his family own more than three dozen vacation homes abroad some worth as much as 100 million euros and boast a fleet of more than 100 luxury cars, including Ferraris, Bentleys, and customized Rolls-Royces. Their embezzlement ring, which has been extensively documented by the French government, extends to at least 70 bank accounts, yachts, an enormous fine art collection, and even a Boeing 777. By recognizing him with a Global Citizen Award, the Atlantic Council is helping Bongo shed his image as an outrageously corrupt autocrat. The democratically elected leaders of Japan and Italy, Shinzo Abe and Matteo Renzi, respectively, will receive their awards on Monday as scheduled at a gala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Had Bongo not been busy putting down a protest movement opposed to his rule, he would have been able to present himself as a similarly legitimate leader. And since the Atlantic Council hasnt revoked the award, he may still be able to do so at a later date. The Atlantic Council has long trumpeted its objectivity and independence, but feting Bongo is just the latest in a series of troubling developments at the think tank that raise questions about its commitment to transparency and ability to keep business interests separate from its research and policy operations. Gabon is not the only dictatorship the Atlantic Council has cozied up to: The Kingdom of Bahrain is listed on the organizations website as a six-figure donor, and it has received financial support from the governments of Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan. Alexander Mirtchev, one of the directors of Kazakhstans sovereign wealth fund, sits on the executive committee of the Atlantic Councils board of directors and is listed as a six-figure donor. The Atlantic Council claims to retain intellectual independence over its programs, but its difficult to explain the organizations assessment of certain countries without taking into account their financial contributions. In 2012, for instance, the think tank hosted an event entirely dedicated to Kazakhstan, where speaker after speaker lauded the governments foreign and economic policies while providing only tepid criticism of the countrys deteriorating human rights situation. Theres a lot to praise in Kazakhstan, gushed Lorne Craner, a former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, adding that the country made great strides in the field of human rights. Larry Napper, the former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, praised Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayevs talent for building personal relationships with American leaders and reminisced on his sauna and vodka hospitality. Martha Brill Olcott, then a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, another Washington-based think tank, echoed this sentiment, exalting Nazarbayevs enormous diplomatic talents and personal charm. No one mentioned the fact that Nazarbayev is a ruthless tyrant who has enriched himself and his family, set himself up as president for life, and persecuted all who oppose him. The subject of political prisoners was completely ignored, presumably for fear of alienating one of the Atlantic Councils top donors. The think tanks treatment of Gabon raises similar concerns. J. Peter Pham, the director of the Atlantic Councils Africa Center, is frequently quoted on Gabon in the media but has avoided criticizing Bongo. Most recently, Pham attacked Bongos political rival, former African Union chief Jean Ping, referring to his insistence that the Aug. 27 election was rigged as a very dangerous game. Earlier this year, Pham praised Bongos military reforms in an interview with Foreign Policy. In a more recent interview with the news site Ozy, he defended Bongo and belittled the opposition. A review of Phams comments and reporting reveals that he never criticizes the Gabonese regimes human rights violations. Considering that Pham is quick to point out human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for instance, his selective criticism seems less like dispassionate analysis and more like the words of a public relations gun for hire. Because the Atlantic Council does not publicly disclose all of its funders, or the size and date of their donations, it is difficult to discern the precise nature of the organizations relationship with the Bongo regime. Did the government of Gabon or someone acting on its behalf donate funds to the Atlantic Council? Do other Atlantic Council donors or partners stand to benefit from business dealings in Gabon? Until these questions are answered, the credibility of one of Washingtons most venerated think tanks will remain in question, and its Global Citizen Award will remain a joke. Photo credit: ANTOINE GYORI / Getty Images India's prime minister on Monday summoned top security advisers to thrash out a response to a deadly raid on a Kashmir army base blamed on militants from Pakistan, amid calls for tough action against the nuclear-armed nation. Narendra Modi has vowed to punish those behind the attack in which gunmen hurling grenades stormed a base, killing 17 soldiers in the worst such attack in over a decade. An 18th soldier died in hospital on Monday. The Hindu nationalist prime minister promised during his election campaign to take a hard line over Kashmir and has faced calls from army veterans -- and even some in his own party -- for military action against Pakistan. On Monday he summoned his national security adviser and military leaders to formulate a response, which media reports said could include air strikes on training camps on the Pakistan side of the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir. But security experts say India lacks the military capabilities to take on its neighbour in the divided Himalayan region, already tense after weeks of violent clashes between police and demonstrators protesting at Indian rule. "It's not like the US conducting air strikes in Syria to tackle ISIS that's hundreds of miles away from home ground, Pakistan is next door," said Ajai Sahni, executive director at the Institute of Conflict Management think-tank in Delhi. "India knows it can't sustain a 15-day war against Pakistan and Pakistan knows it can't sustain a similar war against India." Local media also urged caution, with the Indian Express saying calls for military action were "easier made than acted upon". - 'Right to respond' - Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but both claim it in full. The two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since gaining independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. India regularly accuses its arch-rival of arming and sending rebels across the heavily militarised border that divides Kashmir between the two countries, to launch attacks on its forces. Story continues Ranbir Singh, the army's director-general of military operations, said the markings on some of the material recovered from the slain militants showed they had come from across the border, while insisting India had the resources to adequately respond to Pakistan. "The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in the hinterland," he said at a media briefing Monday. "...We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our own choosing." On Sunday Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused Pakistan of "continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups" and called for it to be internationally isolated. As the war of words intensified on Monday, Pakistan's army chief Raheel Sharif said his forces were "fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat". Islamabad meanwhile accused New Delhi of trying to deflect attention from weeks of unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir with what it called "vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements". "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the Indian-occupied Kashmir since the death of Burhan Wani," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement. - Wreath-laying - Sunday's attack followed weeks of protests sparked by the killing of the popular rebel leader in a gunfight with security forces. At least 87 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between protesters and security forces, the worst unrest to hit Kashmir since 2010. On Monday more than 50 people were injured when security forces fired tear gas and pellet guns at protesters who defied a curfew in southern Kashmir, according to local police. Sunday's attack was one of the bloodiest on soldiers since an armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989. Militants killed 30 soldiers and their families in a suicide attack in Kaluchak area in 2002. On Monday soldiers paid tribute to their colleagues, most of whom died when their tents and other accommodation caught fire, at a wreath-laying ceremony in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. The Indian army has blamed Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which was implicated in an audacious attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab in January that left seven soldiers dead. That attack dashed hopes of a revival of peace talks, which have been on ice ever since. Rebel groups which have been fighting Indian troops in Kashmir since 1989 seek either independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. Soldiers have been deployed in the territory for decades and currently number around 500,000. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting. By India Today Web Desk: Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who is accused of raping a minor, was mobbed by followers on a Delhi-bound flight on Monday. Supporters of Asaram had booked half of the aircraft. The supporters who were in awe of the godman rushed to touch his feet soon after the flight took off from Jodhpur. The incident led to a huge commotion in the flight. advertisement Owing to the commotion, the aircraft began to tilt back and forth. Immediately, the pilot asked the passengers to sit down and fasten their seatbelts. Asaram was accompanied by 10 policemen. Sources said that Asaram nudged the passengers to trouble the policemen on board. However, after the situation went out of hand, Asaram intervened and requested the passengers to settle down. Sources said that it was a difficult task for the police to bring the situation under control. GOD OF TANTRUMS Upon landing, Asaram threw another tantrum by asserting that he would not get off the aircraft without his supporters by his side. The police agreed to do so. Adding to the troubles of the police, the airport staff too rushed to seek blessings of the tainted godman. The police had to use force to disperse the airport staff and supporters. Sources said the police would also file a report about the incident and submit it to the court. Asaram was flown down to Delhi for medical examinations at AIIMS. Also read: Asaram to be flown to Delhi for medical check up at AIIMS --- ENDS --- Lloyd Blankfein A changing of the guard is taking place at Goldman Sachs. The securities division, which houses the bank's equities and fixed income, currencies, and commodities units, has seen at least 18 partner-level departures from key roles in the US and Europe in 2016. They include the heads of trading for equities, US interest-rate products and mortgages, and coheads of sales for fixed income, currencies, and commodities. (You can see a full list of partner-level departures at the bottom of this page.) These exits represent just a small fraction of Goldman's partner pool, which stands at more than 450, and the three coheads of securities Pablo Salame, Isabelle Ealet and Ashok Varadhan remain in place. But the high-level departures speak to numerous concurrent challenges for the firm, current and former executives say. The securities division, which generated about half of Goldman's first-half revenues, is in a difficult environment, and it has been assigned a new "mission" to do more business with existing clients. Of course, some familiar workplace issues like questions of performance, office politics, and shifts in influence are also at play here. And it's not coincidental that moves to bring through the next generation of leaders at Goldman Sachs are taking place ahead of a biennial decision about who becomes a partner. 'Our mission' Goldman Sachs first announced a shake-up in the securities division back in February, naming Jim Esposito, a London-based executive, as head of strategy. His role, according to the memo announcing his appointment, is to help the bank work "more deeply and expansively with an even larger set of clients." Jim Esposito "Our mission is to adjust our practices and aspirations in a way that takes into account structural developments and our strong market position," the memo said. The "structural developments" are most pronounced in fixed income, currencies, and commodities, or FICC, a business that is in the doldrums. Industry-wide revenues have fallen by a third since 2011. Story continues That business remains key to Goldman's profitability, however, generating about a quarter of the bank's first-half revenue. The bank has responded by launching a plan to "deepen" relationships and sell more products to existing clients. It has been a recurring theme in Goldman Sachs' internal memos and conversations with Wall Street analysts. Now, banks embark on these kinds of cross-selling initiatives all the time. They always want to do as much business with their best clients as possible. But it seems that Goldman's push is a little bit more strategic. It also seems to have led to a fundamental revamp in the FICC sales team. The two coheads of FICC sales at the start of the year, Dalinc Ariburnu and Tom Cornacchia, are gone. Cornacchia's departure was especially noteworthy, as he had discussed a culture shift at Goldman earlier in the year and is said to be close to Goldman Sachs No. 2 Gary Cohn. Several partners in sales in London and New York who were considered close to Ariburnu and Cornacchia have also left. Esposito now coheads sales in addition to his strategy role, with John Willian, the former global head of prime services, taking the spot as cohead. The appointment of Willian is telling, Goldman insiders say, as it again points to the bank's plan to have deeper relationships with clients. Since 2007, Willian has headed the prime brokerage, clearing, and futures business, a unit that focuses not on making millions through big-ticket trades but on picking up thousands on the plumbing behind them. Goldman Sachs "Our ability to deliver effectively the range of our services to clients across fixed income, currencies, and commodities will only become more important and valuable to our clients," Goldman Sachs said in an internal memo announcing Willian's appointment. The rationale here is clear: Do more business with existing clients to boost revenue. It's the market That is going to be key as the bank faces tough market conditions. Goldman Sachs, like every other bank, has been suffering from a weak environment for trading. The bank had a terrible first quarter, with fixed income, currencies, and commodities revenue down by almost half versus a year earlier, and equities revenue down close to a quarter. The second quarter, while an improvement, was hardly anything to cherish. The bank said in its second-quarter earnings that FICC "continued to operate in a challenging environment." In equities, Goldman lost ground to its archrival Morgan Stanley. Goldman Sachs' FICC revenue in the first half of the year was down 24% from the first six months of 2015, with total markets revenues down 18%. "In the capital markets, I've never known a time when it hasn't been hard," one former Goldman partner said. "It is the same for everybody. It takes a toll. People who have options, they've exercised them." Screen Shot 2016 09 19 at 12.14.03 PM The challenging revenue environment makes it that much harder for Goldman Sachs to hit a 12% return-on-equity target, a key measure of financial performance that is embedded in the long-term incentive plan for CEO Lloyd Blankfein and his key lieutenants. Goldman Sachs had a return on equity of 7.5% for the first half of 2016. One way to hit that 12% target is by boosting revenue through efforts like its cross-sell mantra. The other is by cutting costs. Total operating expenses in the first half came in at $10.2 billion, down 27%. The bulk of that reduction came via a $2.3 billion drop in compensation and benefits. The bank has been firing traders, with the cuts going deeper than is typical, and partners have not been spared. In fact, the upper echelons of the bank have been shrinking in recent years, with the bank's population of managing directors and partners falling by 2% from the beginning of 2012. The number of analysts, associates, and vice presidents increased by 17% in the same time. The partnership The shrinking partnership pool makes it that much harder to attain the lofty rank. Goldman Sachs will, later this year, announce a list of new partners. That's a process that takes place every two years, and the "retirement" of many long-time executives in a partner year isn't coincidental. Older partners are often encouraged to move on to make space for newcomers. Many of those who have departed this year have been at the firm for over 15 years and have had a run of six to 10 years as partner. "This always happens in a partner year," one Goldman employee told Business Insider. Given the smaller pool, the bank puts a huge amount of time in to deciding who will attain the lofty rank, with just 25 individuals from the securities division making the list in 2014. Here are all the changes that we know of: Departures in fixed income, currencies, and commodities: Departures in equities: Promotions/New Hires Jim Esposito named head of strategy for the securities division. Phil Berlinski cohead global equities trading and execution services, working with Brian Levine. John Willian cohead of FICC sales. Sean Hoover and Raj Mahajan coheads of global execution services. Jeff Nedelman global head of prime services. Jack Sebastian and Tony Pasquariello named coheads of US equity sales. Jeremy Taylor joined from Mercuria as cohead of commodities trading, working with Ed Emerson. They report to global head of commodities Greg Agran. Don Casturo named global head of metals trading. NOW WATCH: KRUGMAN: Financial markets aren't taking a Trump victory very seriously More From Business Insider Police and members of the FBI were examining the scene of an explosion on West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City on September 18. The rose window of the St Vincent de Paul Church is seen shattered, boarding along a sidewalk has been blasted away, and debris is seen on the street. The blast occurred at around 8:30pm the evening before, according to police. The blast went off outside 131 West 23rd Street, injuring 29 people, according to information provided by Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James ONeal in a press conference. One person had a serious puncture wound, according to ONeal. All 29 were released from hospital on September 18, according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. De Blasio and ONeal said the cause of the blast was unknown, but that, based on preliminary information, they had ruled out terrorism and natural gas, and the incident was not connected to a blast in New Jersey earlier that day. Mayor Bill de Blasio did say we believe this was an intentional act. Cuomo on September 18 said that a bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but said there was no evidence of a link to international terrorism. A second device was located on 27th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue. Reports said the device was a pressure cooker attached to a phone with wires attached. Credit: Anonymous * Iran seen buying 112 jets from Airbus, down from 118 * Due to delays in U.S. licences * Iran seen buying 108 aircraft from Boeing vs 109 before (Adds quotes, details) By Tim Hepher TEHRAN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Iran has reduced the number of airplanes it plans to buy from Airbus by six amid delays in U.S. regulatory approvals, and may knock one plane off a similar deal for more than 100 with Boeing, an Iranian official told Reuters. Iran announced plans in January to buy 118 jets worth $27 billion at list prices from Europe's Airbus but has complained about unexpected delays in receiving U.S. licences, which are needed due to the large number of U.S.-supplied parts. The country's deputy transport minister told a conference on Monday there were signs the U.S. Treasury would release the crucial licences by the end of this month. But speaking again on Tuesday, he stepped up criticism of what Iran sees as unfair delays in unblocking the deal, which is part of efforts to rebuild Iran's elderly fleet that were built into a pact between Tehran and world powers to lift most Western sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran's nuclear activities. "There are six fewer aircraft. These are the ones that were due to be delivered in 2016," the Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on the sidelines of the CAPA Iran Aviation Finance Summit in Tehran. The deal to be finalised with Airbus in coming weeks could therefore be for 112 aircraft instead of 118, he said. On paper, these include 12 of Airbus's A380 superjumbos but Iran has not yet decided whether to take the double-decker jets, and has an option to convert them to smaller models, he said. Reuters first reported in June that Iran was having second thoughts about taking the world's largest passenger plane. The latest move takes further shine off the deal signed in Paris during a visit by Iranian President Abbas Rouhani, but Western officials say it still represents a promising symbol of a new political and economic relationship with Iran. Story continues Boeing, which has also agreed to provide jets to Iran as it emerges from sanctions, may see its deal clipped by one jet to 108 aircraft instead of 109, the Iranian official said. Boeing said in June it had provisionally agreed to sell 80 planes directly to IranAir and to oversee the lease of a further 29. The Iranian official did not say whether the cancelled aircraft would come from the column of direct purchases or leases, nor whether it had been cut for the same reason as Airbus, but Boeing is also on the waiting list for licences. Both planemakers said they do not comment on discussions with airlines and would only act within U.S. regulations. Speaking at the CAPA conference, Western envoys sought to allay Iranian concerns over the delays in approving the airplane deals. They expressed optimism the deals would go ahead and reiterated their commitment to last year's nuclear deal. Unpicking years of sanctions is a complex task, complicated further in Washington by the fact that U.S. primary sanctions remain in effect, French Ambassador Francois Senemaud said. One person familiar with the process said the U.S. Treasury was moving ahead in its discussions and a licence decision, initially on the Airbus side of the deal, could come in weeks. Others have suggested the politically sensitive decision on whether to supply Western jets, opposed by many Republicans, could slip beyond November's U.S. presidential election. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by William Maclean and Mark Potter) By Tim Hepher TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has reduced the number of airplanes it plans to buy from Airbus by six amid delays in U.S. regulatory approvals, and may knock one plane off a similar deal for more than 100 with Boeing , an Iranian official told Reuters. Iran announced plans in January to buy 118 jets worth $27 billion at list prices from Europe's Airbus but has complained about unexpected delays in receiving U.S. licenses, which are needed due to the large number of U.S.-supplied parts. The countrys deputy transport minister told a conference on Monday there were signs the U.S. Treasury would release the crucial licences by the end of this month. But speaking again on Tuesday, he stepped up criticism of what Iran sees as unfair delays in unblocking the deal, which is part of efforts to rebuild Iran's elderly fleet that were built into a pact between Tehran and world powers to lift most Western sanctions in exchange for limits on Irans nuclear activities. "There are six fewer aircraft. These are the ones that were due to be delivered in 2016," the Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on the sidelines of the CAPA Iran Aviation Finance Summit in Tehran. The deal to be finalised with Airbus in coming weeks could therefore be for 112 aircraft instead of 118, he said. On paper, these include 12 of Airbus's A380 superjumbos but Iran has not yet decided whether to take the double-decker jets, and has an option to convert them to smaller models, he said. Reuters first reported in June that Iran was having second thoughts about taking the world's largest passenger plane. The latest move takes further shine off the deal signed in Paris during a visit by Iranian President Abbas Rouhani, but Western officials say it still represents a promising symbol of a new political and economic relationship with Iran. Boeing, which has also agreed to provide jets to Iran as it emerges from sanctions, may see its deal clipped by one jet to 108 aircraft instead of 109, the Iranian official said. Story continues Boeing said in June it had provisionally agreed to sell 80 planes directly to IranAir and to oversee the lease of a further 29. The Iranian official did not say whether the canceled aircraft would come from the column of direct purchases or leases, nor whether it had been cut for the same reason as Airbus, but Boeing is also on the waiting list for licences. Both planemakers said they do not comment on discussions with airlines and would only act within U.S. regulations. Speaking at the CAPA conference, Western envoys sought to allay Iranian concerns over the delays in approving the airplane deals. They expressed optimism the deals would go ahead and reiterated their commitment to last year's nuclear deal. Unpicking years of sanctions is a complex task, complicated further in Washington by the fact that U.S. primary sanctions remain in effect, French Ambassador Francois Senemaud said. One person familiar with the process said the U.S. Treasury was moving ahead in its discussions and a license decision, initially on the Airbus side of the deal, could come in weeks. Others have suggested the politically sensitive decision on whether to supply Western jets, opposed by many Republicans, could slip beyond November's U.S. presidential election. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by William Maclean and Mark Potter) Havana (AFP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Cuba Monday for a visit in which he was expected to meet counterpart Raul Castro and his older brother and predecessor Fidel. Rouhani said ahead of the one-day visit that he wanted to stop in Cuba, a "friendly and revolutionary country," on his way to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The visit follows one in August by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said Iran sees this as "a very opportune moment" to reinforce its ties with the communist island. Officials are due to sign a series of deals, expected to include one on energy. Cuba is keen for oil as its key supplier, Venezuela, has dramatically cut its once generous discount sales amid an economic crisis. United mainly by their shared history of enmity with the United States, Iran and Cuba often back each other in the international arena. Tehran has vocally condemned the US embargo on Cuba, and Havana has supported Iran's right to a civilian nuclear program. The Castro regime's resentment over the more than five-decade embargo, which remains in place, is still strong despite the renewal of diplomatic ties with Washington last year. During the Interview, Dorko Answered Questions about a Variety of Topics Including How She Balances Her Life as an Entrepreneur and What She Does to Relax LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Irina Dorko, a blogger who figuratively eats, sleeps and breathes fashion and fitness, is pleased to announce that she was recently interviewed on LandOfTalk.com. To read the in-depth interview in its entirety, please visit http://www.landoftalk.com/irina-dorko/ at any time. During the interview, Dorko was asked how she finds a healthy balance between her work and personal life. As she noted, she succeeds in juggling all of her responsibilities by managing her time as effectively as possible. "The best process for me is to write down everything I want to accomplish the next day before I go to sleep," she said, adding that her list does not just include business goals but also things related to relationships, fitness, consumption, and more. "Keeping this very tight, prioritized list and making sure I follow it the next day has kept me very balanced and disciplined over the years. There's something special about taking pen to paper to get all of your thoughts out of your head." As for who has been the biggest influence in her business life, Dorko said she has always admired Coco Chanel, the French fashion designer and businesswoman. Chanel's story has inspired Dorko to be an independent woman with style and class, she said. As for her dream vacation, Dorko said she would love to travel to Dubai one day. In addition to the beautiful beaches and world class shopping opportunities, she likes the way everything in Dubai is on a much larger scale. "Everything you could possibly want is there which is why it's at the top of my travel list right now," she said. Although Dorko said relaxing is not really in her DNA and she has always been a "busy body," she does find time for herself by doing yoga, running or rowing. "Long repetitive exercise is like meditation for me and it has always helped me feel more relaxed every day." Story continues Dorko concluded the interview by sharing one key piece of advice that she has personally found to be helpful. "Don't sweat the small stuff. Make sure to smile and laugh as much as possible, it's good for the soul." About Irina Dorko: Irina Dorko is a blogger who focuses on healthy living, fitness, travel, and fashion. For inspiration, check out some her video channel here: https://vimeo.com/irinadorko. SOURCE: Irina Dorko From Esquire A man dressed as a security guard walked into a St. Cloud, Minnesota, shopping mall and injured nine people before he was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer on Saturday night. In a statement on Sunday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. All nine victims - seven men, a woman and a 15-year-old girl - were treated at hospitals for wounds that weren't life-threatening, St. Cloud police Chief Blair Anderson said at a news conference Sunday. Three remain hospitalized. The others were released. New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi tweeted out a copy of an ISIS statement that said a "soldier of the Islamic State" carried out the attack. The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition. The FBI joined the investigation of the incident, which it deems a "potential act of terrorism." The suspect entered the mall around 8 p.m. Saturday and quickly began stabbing people, according to reports. Soon after he started the attack, however, off-duty police officer Jared Falconer confronted the suspect, who wore "a private security uniform." Falconer identified himself as a police officer and told the attacker to stop during a confrontation caught on security footage, St. Cloud mayor Dave Kleis told the media. The attacker charged at Falconer, who fired his weapon, causing him to fall down, the Guardian reported. He then stood up and fell down three times and was trying to stand again when Falconer fired the fatal shot. According to police, five minutes elapsed between the time of the first 911 call and the suspect's death. "He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life," Anderson said. "Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place." Speaking to the media, FBI agent Richard Thornton said, "We are currently investigating this as a potential act of terrorism, and I do say potential. There's a lot we don't know... We don't know whether the subject was in contact with, had connections with, was inspired by a foreign terrorist investigation. That's what the investigation is attempting to ascertain." Story continues According to Anderson, the attacker referred to Allah and asked at least one victim if they were Muslim. He also said that they are still investigating motive. "We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this," he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. You Might Also Like JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is planning a tender for building its largest ever solar power facility, which will have a capacity of up to 500 megawatts, in the southern Negev desert. The photovoltaic (PV) field will be "unprecedented" in size for Israel, covering about 6 square kilometers (2.3 square miles) of land near the town of Dimona, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Monday. The project will be handled as a Public Private Partnership, the ministry said, in which a company that wins the tender will fund, build and operate the facility for a pre-determined period, after which it will be handed over to the state at no cost. The statement did not specify whether the facility will be comprised of a single power station or a number of smaller ones. The government will publish in the coming months an announcement regarding the pre-qualification round. The Finance Ministry also said 10 groups have been approved to take part in a tender to build and operate a second, smaller 40 megawatt PV station nearby, in the desert town of Ashalim. That field is expected to come online by the end of 2018. Both projects are part of an Israeli push to have 10 percent of its energy production come from renewable sources by 2020. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch) JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed two Palestinian assailants in the West Bank on Monday, police said, and two Israeli police officers were stabbed in East Jerusalem in a resurgence of violence now into its fourth day. Palestinian street attacks that began nearly a year ago had largely waned in recent months, but a series of assaults since Friday have raised alarm in Israel of a new wave of bloodshed in the run-up to the Jewish New Year holiday next month. In the latest violence, two Palestinians who tried to stab Israeli paramilitary border policemen in the town of Hebron, a flashpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, were shot by the force, Israeli police said. One of the assailants was pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and the other died of his wounds in a Jerusalem hospital, according to a spokeswoman for the facility. The Palestinian Health Ministry said one was aged 17 and the other, 21. The incident occurred near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews and Muslims, who refer to it as the Ibrahimi Mosque. The deaths raised to six the number of alleged attackers - five Palestinians and a Jordanian - killed since Friday in incidents in which Israeli authorities said at least nine Israelis have been wounded. Earlier on Monday, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two police officers, one of them a woman who sustained serious injuries, in East Jerusalem, police said. The second officer, a man, shot and wounded the assailant. At least 217 Palestinians have died in violent incidents since October 2015 in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of them, 146 were identified by authorities as assailants while others were killed during clashes and protests. Palestinians, many of them acting alone and with rudimentary weapons, have killed at least 33 Israelis and two visiting Americans in the attacks. Palestinians have accused Israel of using excessive force and say that some of those killed posed no threat or had no intention of attacking anyone. In some cases, Israel has opened investigations into whether excessive force was used. Palestinian leaders say assailants have acted out of desperation over the collapse of peace talks in 2014 and Israeli settlement expansion on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel says anti-Israeli incitement by Palestinian officials and on social media networks have stoked attacks. (This story corrects age of alleged assailant.) (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Toby Chopra) According to Bengaluru Police, a 22-year-old girl led a mob that burnt 42 buses of a Tamil Nadu-based operator on September 12 after she was offered Rs 100 and a plate of biryani by the end of the day. Forty-two buses were burnt at KPN bus depot in Bengaluru during Cauvery agitation on September, 12. (Photo Credit-PTI) By India Today Web Desk: Did you ever wonder what can Rs 100 and a plate of biryani do? It can dangerously motivate someone to burn 42 buses in a depot. This happened in Bengaluru on September 12 when a mob resorted to arson attack at a bus depot. A 22-year girl has been charged with instigating arson attack on the bus depot. advertisement Bhagya was the only woman to have been arrested in connection with the violence that plagued Bengaluru following the Cauvery verdict by the supreme court. She was sent to judicial custody by a Bengaluru court on Monday. THE ARSON ATTACK On the basis of CCTV footage and mobile phone clips, police identified Bhagya as the chief instigator at the KPN bus depot, where 42 buses were parked and burnt down. She is one of the 11 people arrested for this incident. Besides gutting the entire depot in fire, they have been charged with dousing the crew of KPN fleet with diesel and threatening to be burn alive. Many other women are also seen in the video footage but their connection with the incident is not clear. Police are still ascertaining as to whether other women, seen in the video, were involved in this act of vandalism. The burnt buses belonged to a Tamil Nadu-based operator and several buses had TN number plates. Rs 100 AND BIRYANI Bhagya lives with her parents in Bengaluru's Girinagar locality, which is close to KPN bus depot. She is a daily wager. She moved into Bengaluru two years ago from Yadgir in north Karnataka. According to Bhagya's mother, on the day of the arson attack, she was approached by some men known to her. Bhagya was asked to join the protests in return for Rs 100 and one plate of mutton biryani, said her mother. ALSO READ: Cauvery water dispute in numbers Cauvery row: Failed in anticipating impact of controversial, viral content, says Karnataka top cop Cauvery dispute: Karnataka comes to a standstill, 53 Tamil channels blocked --- ENDS --- Japan's Hinode sun-observing satellite has delivered spectacular imagery and invaluable measurements of the sun since it launched into space 10 years ago on Sept. 23, 2006. Hinode is part of an international mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with NASA and other partners. Over the course of a decade, the spacecraft has provided remarkable views of violent solar flares, eruptions, transits across the sun and much more. To celebrate Hinode's 10-year anniversary, JAXA and NASA unveiled this amazing video showcasing the probe's launch and most spectacular views of our closest star. The Hinode satellite named after the Japanese word for "sunrise" travels in a sun-synchronous orbit around Earth less than 400 miles (640 kilometers) above the planet's surface. It was launched into orbit to get an up-close view of the sun and measure its magnetic field. To accomplish this feat, the satellite is equipped with three scientific instruments: the Solar Optical Telescope, X-ray Telescope and Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer. [Solar Eclipse Photos: The View From Space] Using these tools, the Hinode probe is able to peer deep into the sun's innermost atmosphere and study the generation, transport and dissipation of magnetic energy from the lower solar atmosphere, called the photosphere, to the upper solar atmosphere (the corona), NASA officials said on the Hinode mission page. Scientists use Hinode's measurements to learn more about how energy that is stored in the sun's magnetic field is released in the form of violent solar fares or eruptions. During its tenure in space, the Hinode satellite has also watched as the moon passed in front of the sun for what is known as a solar eclipse. Since the satellite constantly orbits Earth from pole to pole, it provides a unique view of that solar event. In 2011, Hinode spotted two huge holes, or gaps, in the sun's magnetic field. Scientists call the sun holes "coronal holes" and have found that they act as gateways for solar material and gas to escape out into space. Story continues With 10 years under its belt, the Hinode satellite continually reveals new solar secrets and spectacular imagery of Earth's closest star. Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. UPDATE with video: Jimmy Kimmel roasted Hollywoods diversity pretensions, Maggie Smiths no-show pretensions, O.J. Simpson profiteering pretensions, and Mark Burnett gifting America with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, in a scorched earth opening monologue that included one of the rawest cant-forget-it images of Trump yet heard on network television. In an elaborate opening video gag, Kimmel made the worlds longest commute to the Emmy theater, including a white Bronco ride, hitchhiking with Ty Burells Modern Family clan, and Carpool Karaoke-ing with James Corden, before finally hitching a ride with First Lady Selina Meyer. She makes him get up front with the driver: Jeb Bush. Im in between jobs now. You can make $12 an hour driving for Uber! Bush marveled, asking Kimmel if hes nominated for an Emmy tonight. He is. Wow, whats that like? Bush wondered, advising Kimmel, If you run a positive campaign, the voters ultimately will make the right choice. Jimmy, that was a joke, Bush snapped, ordering Kimmel out of the car, shouting, and shave that wig off your face you godless Hollywood hippie! During his opening, Kimmel handed an Emmy to Transparents Jeffrey Tambour. That saved us 22 minutes. The rest of you, if your show doesnt have a dragon, or a white Bronco in it, go home now, Kimmel advised. He also gave Sarah Paulson the win for the best date, having brought Marcia Clark, who she played in FXs The People v. O.J. Simpson, Because everyone in LA knows if you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark, Kimmel snarked, eliciting the nights first collective groan. Hi Marcia are you rooting for OJ to win this time? he added. Groan 2. Tonight we celebrate all the amazing shows well nenver get around to watching, Kimmel enthused. Television has the ability to make us laugh and cry and, in certain parts of Game of Thrones, masturbate. Story continues Noting this years crop of nominees is the shows most diverse ever, Kimmel explained, and here in Hollywood, the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity. This year is so diverse the Oscars are now telling people were one of their closest friends. Television also brought us Donald Trump, Kimmel finally got around to mentioning, which took much longer than some of us had speculated. If it werent for television, Kimmel said, Trump would be at home, quickly rubbing up against his wife, Malaria, while she pretends to be asleep. Groan 3. While the camera threw to Mark Burnett in the crowd, Kimmel told viewers thats the man to blame, for bringing us NBCs reality series The Apprentice and starting Trump on his road to the White House. Thank you for coming from England to tear us all apart with your intricate plot, you sneaky little crumpet muncher, Kimmel said pointedly. He asked Burnett if Miley Cyrus or CeeLo Green will be our next Supreme Court justice Burnett also being EP of NBCs reality competition series The Voice. If Trump is elected and he builds the wall the first person were throwing over it is Mark Burnett, Kimmel promised. Kimmel had promised not to go to too heavy into politics with tonights opening monologue unless something crazy happens thatweekend, because I think people have probably had an ass full of that kind of stuff on every show for the last 18 to 94 months. It did. So he did. Kimmel became part of the election cycle narrative when he had Hillary Clinton open a pickle jar to demonstrate her state of health, only to be accused in some quarters of having pre-opened the jar for her (The proof? No pop!). And earlier, Kimmel made presidential race headlines when Trump visited his late night show during which Kimmel delivered a challenge to debate on TV from then Dem candidate Bernie Sanders. Kimmel tweaked his opening monologue right up until show time: last minute #Emmys punch up with my best joke writer pic.twitter.com/gBenQrKYXw Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) September 18, 2016 Related stories Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo Emmys: Winners (And Losers) Celebrate Into The Wee Hours; What You Didn't See On TV Jeffrey Tambors starring role on Transparent has earned him another Emmy, but on Sunday night, the cisgender actor made a plea to Hollywood to give actual transgender actors more opportunities to perform. Now listen to me, Im not going to say this beautifully, he said at the end of his acceptance speech for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. To you people out there, you producers and you network owners and you agents and you creative sparks: please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their stories. Do that. And also one more thing: I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television. We have work to do, Tambor concluded. I love you. Jeffrey Tambor won lead actor in a comedy for Transparent, thanking showrunner Jill Soloway and the creative team at Amazon during his speech. You changed my life, you changed my career and you changed everything, Tambor said to Soloway. As the reigning champ in the category, Tambor was the frontrunner from the start of Emmy season. The veteran actor has received a tidal wave of kudos for his portrayal of the transgender Maura Pfefferman. Tambor won his first Emmy last year for Transparent. Hed previously racked up six nominations, three for HBOs The Larry Sanders Show and two for Foxs Arrested Development. He ended his speech on Sunday night by asking creatives to give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story. Do that. I would not be unhappy if I were the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television, we have work to do, he added. Anthony Anderson earned his second consecutive nomination for his work as the patriarch of the Johnson family at the center of Black-ish. The show made a mark in its second season with its periodic efforts to tackle social issues including racial profiling and the use of the N-word. The versatile actor has moved freely between comedy and drama projects during his career, from stints on The Shield and Law & Order to standup performances. The fourth career nomination was the charm for Will Forte of Foxs Last Man on Earth. The Saturday Night Live vet was on his second consecutive bid for Last Man, an offbeat comedy featuring Forte as one of the few survivors after an apocalypse. Forte was also Emmy nommed for his work as a writer in 1998 on CBS The Late Show With David Letterman and for guest actor in 2013 on NBCs 30 Rock. Aziz Ansari broke into the Emmy race in a big way this year. The Parks and Recreation vet scored the auteurs hat trick with noms for acting, writing and directing on his autobiographical Netflix comedy Master of None, plus he nabbed a fourth nom for comedy series. Story continues William H. Macy was on his third consecutive nom for his work as the depraved patriarch of Showtimes Shameless. The actor previously won an Emmy for the 2003 telepic Door to Door. He was also Oscar-nommed for supporting actor for 1996s Fargo. Thomas Middleditch went all the way on his first try at the Emmys for his role as the neurotic tech genius Richard Hendricks on HBOs Silicon Valley. The Canadian actor has emerged as an much sought-after comedy player after his three seasons on the show. Related stories Emmys Red Carpet: Stars Talk 'Empire,' 'Transparent' & More While Braving the Heat Matt Damon Heckles Jimmy Kimmel After Losing Emmy Award (Watch) Jill Soloway Compares Donald Trump to Hitler Backstage at Emmys The anti-Donald Trump commentary started early on Sundays Emmy telecast and continued backstage when Transparent creator Jill Soloway who won Directing for a Comedy Series for Transparent compared the Republican presidential nominee to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Soloway said Transparents second season storyline that went back in time to the Holocaust was incredibly timely given the state of the presidential race. In her view, Trumps position on immigration and law enforcement is akin to the dynamics that led to Hitlers rise to power. Jews were other-ized in Nazi Germany to gain political power for Hitler, and right now Donald Trump is doing the same thing, Soloway said. Hes other-izing people. He calls women pigs if they dont look like beauty pageant contestants; he blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems; he makes fun of disabled people, this is otherizing with a capital O.' It has been used in our history before to start and win wars. He needs to be called out at every chance he gets for being one of the most dangerous monsters to ever approach our lifetimes. Hes a complete dangerous monster, and any moment that I have to call Trump out for being an inheritor to Hitler, I will. Tambor, standing next to Soloway, said he agreed with her comments. And he quoted a line from the poet W.H. Auden: Love one another or die. Veep showrunner David Mandel also sounded the alarm about Trump in dire terms in his backstage remarks. There are days when things we think of pale in comparison to that mad man threatening Hillary Clinton not once but twice, Mandel said. If I wrote that Id get fired by HBO. I find the level of discourse in this campaign horrific. Mandel acknowledged that the bizarre extremes of the real-life presidential race will complicate his job on Veep next season. A lot of people dont want to laugh about this stuff, he said. Mandel also had a message for the millennials of the world: Get out and vote in November. Story continues The last time a third-party candidate got a lot of votes we ended up with George W. Bush, he said. Emmy telecast host Jimmy Kimmel delivered an opening monologue that was more pointed than most, blaming the entire television business for enabling Trumps candidacy. He also targeted Mark Burnett for originally giving the businessman a TV platform on The Apprentice. He proposed the British producer be the first person deported if Trump were elected. Burnett who won an Emmy for Reality Competition Program for The Voice said he thought Trump was probably thrilled with the attention from Kimmel. How much free media could any one person get?, Burnett wondered. "The Apprentice" producer @MarkBurnettTV on the rise of Donald Trump and Jimmy Kimmel's remarks at the #Emmys pic.twitter.com/OLQ2M4pwKp Variety (@Variety) September 19, 2016 The Republican presidential nominee has been an Emmys fan in the past but has not tweeted during this years ceremony. Related stories Variety's TV Critics Dish on 2016's Emmy Winners: Did the TV Academy Get It Right? 'Mr. Robot' Star Rami Malek Hails Progress for Actors of Color Backstage at Emmys Emmy Awards: HBO Battles FX, Surprises Abound, and Plenty of Trump Jokes Los Angeles (AFP) - Veteran comic actor Jim Carrey has been sued for allegedly procuring drugs under a bogus name for his ex-girlfriend, who died of an overdose last year, and then trying to hide his involvement. According to the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by Mark Burton, the estranged husband of Carrey's former girlfriend Cathriona White, the actor "used his immense wealth and celebrity status" to obtain opioids for her. Burton alleges that the actor purchased the drugs under the fake name "Arthur King" and then "took steps to conceal and obfuscate his involvement and culpability" after White's death. Carrey's attorney, prominent celebrity lawyer Marty Singer, dismissed the suit on Monday as nothing but a bid by Burton to extort money from the actor. The celebrity website TMZ quoted Singer as saying White "stole" Carrey's prescription medication and that he never gave her any pills. "There are moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world," TMZ quoted Carrey as saying in a statement. "I will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me, or the woman I loved." The suit alleges that Carrey was obsessed with controlling and manipulating the 30-year-old woman with whom he had an on-again, off-again relationship since 2012 and was able to monitor surveillance cameras at a home in the Los Angeles area where White often stayed. The actor and his assistant were allegedly aware that White had not left the home for well over a day in September, when she died, but failed to act. News reports at the time said that she and Carrey had broken up a few days before her death. White sent a cryptic message on her Twitter account on the day the couple reportedly broke up that read: "Signing off Twitter, I hope I have been a light to my nearest and dearest." According to the coroner's office, White took her own life by overdosing on a lethal amount of prescription drugs including Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet. Story continues The suit alleges that three pill bottles found near the body of the Irish-born makeup artist bore the name "Arthur King." Carrey allegedly obtained the drugs from a physician who routinely prescribed them to the actor under the false name. The suit claims that the Canadian-born comedian tried to cover up his tracks by sending a "bogus text message" to White on September 27, when she was already dead, enquiring as to the whereabouts of the drugs. Burton also claims the actor engaged in a "charade" after White's death, reneging on his offer to pay for funeral expenses. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages as well as reimbursement for funeral expenses and attorney fees. Carrey served as a pallbearer at White's burial in her hometown in Ireland and wrote a tribute after her death describing her as a "truly kind and delicate Irish flower." The estranged husband of Jim Carreys late girlfriend filed a lawsuit against the actor on Monday, accusing him of wrongfully providing the drugs that led to her death. Cathriona White, 30, was found dead in her home on Sept. 28, 2015 following a drug overdose. A toxicology report found four prescription drugs in her system: a mix of painkillers, beta blockers and a sleep aid. Her death was officially ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Coroners office in July of this year. It was revealed shortly after her death that despite White and Carrey dating on and off for three years, she was actually married to another man, Mark Burton, at the time of her death. According to records in Clark County, Nevada, White and Burton married on Jan. 14, 2013 at the Heavenly Bliss Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. NEWS: Jim Carreys Girlfriend Cathriona Whites Death Ruled a Suicide This is a case about Jim Carrey using his immense wealth and celebrity status to illegally obtain and distribute highly addictive and, in this case deadly, controlled substances, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit goes on to claim that Carrey obtained drugs illegally under the false name of Arthur King and provided them to White. Mr. Carrey did so despite the fact that he knew full well that Ms. White was ill equipped to ingest and manage highly additive prescription drugs outside the care of a licensed physician; was prone to depression; and had previously attempted to take her own life, the lawsuit alleges. NEWS: Jim Carrey Slams Coroners Office for Information Released in Cathriona Whites Autopsy Report: What a Shame According to the autopsy report obtained by ET, three of the prescriptions found at Whites residence were prescribed under the name Arthur King. The coroner also reported finding a text on Whites phone from Carrey the night before she died, asking if she knew where certain painkillers prescribed to him went. The lawsuit alleges Carrey was attempting to cover-up his conduct and complicity in her death by sending the text message. Story continues The suit claims that Carrey was pretending as though he had misplaced the drugs and insinuating White may have taken them from Carrey without his knowledge, when in reality Carrey knew full well that he had voluntarily and illegally provided them to White just days prior. NEWS: Cathriona Whites Final Note Includes Jim Carreys Name, Pills Found by Her Bed, Says Coroner The court documents also allege that Carrey had an obsession with controlling and manipulating White and had the ability to monitor surveillance cameras on a home White often stayed at. The lawsuit claims that Carreys assistant remotely checked the surveillance cameras and had determined White had not left the residence in over a day at the time surrounding her death, yet neither Carrey nor his assistant alerted authorities, according to the lawsuit. The documents pose the question: If Carrey legitimately believed White had taken the drugs from him and she had subsequently gone missing for days with no contact, then why would Carrey not immediately request law enforcement to check on her well-being after she did not return his text? NEWS: Jim Carrey and Late Girlfriend Cathriona White: A Timeline of Their Relationship Over the Last 3 Years In addition to seeking recovery for economic and emotional damages, Burtons attorney, Michael Avenatti, tells ET they are also looking for criminal action to be taken. We will be calling for the Los Angeles District Attorneys Office to investigate Mr. Carreys role in connection with the death of Cathriona White, Avenatti says. At this time, Carreys rep had no statement to provide in response to the lawsuit. She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled, Carrey told ET in a statement shortly after Whites death. My heart goes out to her family and friends and to everyone who loved and cared about her. For more Entertainment Tonight videos visit Yahoo View. Related Articles My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James has announced his second solo album, Eternally Even, will arrive via ATO/Capitol Records on November 4th, just four days before Election Day. The release date is intentional, with Eternally Even acting as a call to action regarding today's political climate. "I wanted to make an album that hopefully speaks to the issues of the day, many of which, sadly, are issues we have been dealing with since the beginning of time," James said in a statement. "Most of what I think about right now is how so many things in the world are SO fucked up our political system is broken and corrupt ... our Earth is being destroyed by climate change ... people are not treating each other with equality and respect ... and I think, 'Are we going to make it? Are we going to figure it out and fix it before it's too late? Can we ever truly open our hearts and embrace love in all its beautiful forms?' I think it's still possible." James co-produced Eternally Even, his follow-up to 2013's Regions of Light and Sound of God, with Alabama Shakes producer Blake Mills. "I still have hope in humanity," James continued of his new LP. "I'm just trying to be a part of the discussion and encourage people to speak out for equality, to not be afraid to speak out for peace and love. All of us feel afraid at times in these absolutely insane times, but it's important we speak." In addition to his new album, James will venture out on a solo tour starting November 15th and 16th in Boston. Check out ticket details at James' tour page, with fan club members getting priority for tickets. Jim James Tour Dates September 28 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet's September 29 - Ventura, CA @ Ventura Theatre September 30 - San Francisco, CA @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival October 1 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium November 15 & 16 - Boston, MA @ Royale November 18 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philly November 19 - Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre November 20 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5 November 22 - Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle November 23 - Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium November 25 - Louisville, KY @ Palace Theater November 26 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre November 27 - Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater November 29 - Saint Louis, MO @ The Pageant November 30 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown December 1 - Minneapolis, MN @ State Theater December 3 - Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre December 5 - Missoula, MT @ The Wilma Theatre December 6 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo December 7 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre December 10 - Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl December 11 - Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee December 13 - Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live December 14 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues December 16 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues Related Content: Bharti Singh aka Lalli has 100k followers on Twitter. Now that is quite impressive, isn't it? By India Today Web Desk: Laughter queen Bharti Singh is great at what she does, and naturally a comedy genius like her would have her own fair share of followers on the social media. Also see:Govinda to Bharti Singh: Celebs at the funeral of Krushna Abhishek's father But Bharti Singh has more than her fair share of followers, people. The talented star recently thanked her fans on Twitter after she discovered that she has a 100,000 people following her on Twitter. advertisement Bharti posted a picture of herself with a thank you message written across it on the social media. She wrote, "Thank you lovelies for #100kOnTwitter! I'm really grateful for all the love you guys give me each day! #CantKeepCalm." A screen shot of Bharti's tweet. Picture courtesy: Twitter/bharti_lalli Bharti first shot to fame when she qualified as a runner-up for The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Season 4 on the channel Star One. Presently, the comedienne hosts the reality show Comedy Nights Bachao with Krushna Abhishek. Bharti is quite active on the social media, where she regularly posts updates from whichever project she is working on. --- ENDS --- GettyImages emmys jimmy kimmel host opening monologue Emmys host Jimmy Kimmel lit up the Hollywood audience with jokes about diversity and the making of Donald Trump during his opening monologue on Sunday night. Amid controversy over diversity in Hollywood and the Oscars' continuing #OscarsSoWhite talk, Kimmel delivered a backhanded compliment to the Emmys and Hollywood. "This year's nominees are the most diverse ever," he said of the 2016 Emmys. "And here in Hollywood, the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity. The Emmys are so diverse this year, the Oscars are telling people we're one of their closest friends." He then had a person of color find a white person and "say thanks for your bravery." Cue a hug between Ty Burrell of "Modern Family" and Aziz Ansari of "Master of None." And for your use tonight when you're feeling the love at the #Emmys. cc: @AzizAnsari pic.twitter.com/ZARDBZF6t5 Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) September 19, 2016 With that problem solved, Kimmel moved on to who should be blamed for Trump's rise as the 2016 Republican presidential nominee. "If it weren't for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? No," Kimmel said. "He would be at home right now quietly rubbing up against his wife, Malaria, while she pretends to be asleep." Kimmel then wondered aloud about who exactly should be blamed for the Trump phenomenon. In fact, Kimmel said, that person was sitting in the audience. "That's right. That guy. Mark Burnett, the man who brought us 'Celebrity Apprentice,'" Kimmel said. "Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore, because we're living in one. Thank-you, Mark." via GIPHY He then nominated Burnett to be the first one thrown over the wall if Trump wins and actually builds one along the border with Mexico. Story continues Kimmel wasn't done pointing fingers. He jokingly announced that the show had a new rule that winners had to be present to accept the award or it would go to the next person on the list. Who inspired the rule change? "It's called the Maggie Smith rule," he said of the "Downton Abbey" actress. "If you don't know Maggie Smith, she has been nominated for the Emmy nine times. She has won the Emmy three times. How many times do you think she showed up here to get the Emmy? That's right, no times. This year, she had a Sunday ceramics class." Watch Kimmel's opening monologue below: NOW WATCH: 'We'll see what happens to her': Trump says Clinton's 'armed bodyguards' should 'disarm immediately' More From Business Insider John Kerry Secretary of State John Kerry took a swipe at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during a discussion at a summit hosted by the United Nations Foundation and Mashable on Sunday. Speaking at the Social Good Summit ahead of UN General Assembly week, Kerry criticized Trump for not believing in climate change and subtly rebuked some of his key campaign positions. "We need leadership that understands" climate change, Kerry said in his talk at the 92nd St. Y in New York City. "It's astounding to me that we've had people running for president who don't even acknowledge that climate change is taking place." Kerry also negated the idea that trade deals are hurting the US economy. Trump has insisted throughout his campaign that bad trade deals have cost US jobs, and promised to cancel deals that "rip off" America. "We have learned you can't shut off the world," Kerry said. "95% of the world's customers live in other countries. People are fighting this concept of trade, but trade is not the problem." He continued: "It's how we treat workers who are dislocated by transition or what we do with people to be able to not just see the upper 1% of American income earners doing well while everybody else is either struggling to hold where they are or falling behind. That's a problem of our tax code, it's a problem of our political finance system and a whole lot of other things, but not the fault of trade itself." Kerry said the US needs better safety nets "to help people go to school, get ongoing education, find a job at age 45 or 50 or whatever it is, be able to move into another sector." Kerry also made the case that US involvement in the world is crucial another divergence from Trump's platform, which some experts have characterized as isolationist. While Trump has advocated for stronger ties with countries like Russia, he has run on a platform of putting "America first." Story continues "What we need, frankly, is a larger commitment by the United States to help lead other countries," Kerry said. "At the end of World War II, we did the Marshall Plan. And people were not for it, by the way. Harry Truman had to work like hell to get that through." He said that people should view diplomacy less as "dropping bombs on people and being engaged in war" and more as "helping to educate people and build healthcare capacity and create stability and show people how technology can lead to transparency and governance." NOW WATCH: Donald Trump is under fire for his comments about the Iraq War More From Business Insider John Prine's new single will definitely spark memories among the traditional country music crowd. Titled "Fifteen Years Ago," the song was a No. 1 hit in 1970 for Conway Twitty. Prine told Billboard that even then, the song made an impression on him. "It's a really good story song, which I've always been a sucker for," Prine said. "It tells a story with a theme that I haven't heard in a lot of other genres. I was familiar with Conway Twitty's original, of course, but about 10 years ago one of my musician buddies from Ireland came to visit me. One night I took him down to the Station Inn in Nashville when The Sidemen played each week. I used to go down and hear them. One of the guys got up - just him and his guitar - and sang it for me and my buddy. That night, the song just kind of became brand new again. My buddy ended up recording it in Ireland, and asked me to sing on it." Fast forward to 2015, as Prine began work on his new album, For Better, Or Worse. A sequel of sorts to his 1999 Grammy-nominated duets disc In Spite Of Ourselves, Prine was coming up with a possible song list -- and "Fifteen Years Ago" was at the top. His collaborator for the track is Lee Ann Womack, of whom Prine paid the ultimate compliment, saying "getting her to do it made it all the better, because her voice is just pure country." Womack also lends her vocals to a cover of Jessi Colter's "Storms Never Last" on the project, which will be released on Oh Boy Records Sept. 30. Prine said that the recording process concerning For Better, Or Worse was very open, with a couple of the artists bringing their own selections to the dance. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Alive and Circlin' At 50 Years "Everybody I would approach, I would give them two or three songs for us to possibly do, but I'd also tell them that I was totally open to other ideas," he said, allowing that one artist's suggestion led Prine on somewhat of an educational listen through the early works of George Jones. "Most of them chose one of the songs, but Susan Tedeschi wrote me a letter and said 'John, I'll do anything you want me to do, but here's some songs that would work really good. At the top of the list was 'Color Of The Blues.' I knew most of George Jones' big hits. But for some reason that one had totally passed me by," he said of the song, which was a No. 7 hit for "The Possum" in the spring of 1958. He was hooked. "I remember getting into the studio, and Susan singing it, I just thought it was a really cool song." Story continues Unlike a lot of duets albums, Prine said that all but one of the cuts -- including artists such as Kacey Musgraves ("Mental Cruelty"), Miranda Lambert ("Cold, Cold Heart") and Morgane Stapleton ("Look At Us") -- were recorded live, with both artists present. "We cut every one of them live except the Alison Krauss track ("Falling In Love Again"). The band was really hot one night, and we had done three artists, and still had an hour left over. We cut the track, and I sang on it. It came off so good. [Producer] Jim Rooney asked me 'How in the heck can that be a country song?" I told him to put some steel on it. That's how we pitched it to Alison. As it turned out, it was her dad's very favorite song of all time. She was very determined to do it, but her schedule was so busy and we had a rough time scheduling a date. Finally, Jim went to Alison's home studio, and she did it there. The rest of the tracks, we cut eyeball to eyeball with the band right around us." Being up close and personal helped to set the give-and-take feel of the songs on the album, said Prine. "I think the reason that I like duets is because of the back-and-forth thing, as far as chemistry goes. If you're not singing back and forth to each other, you're not going to get that feeling of flirting or hurting. I think the ones with Iris DeMent ("Who's Gonna Take The Garbage Out") and Kacey Musgraves really have that sassy feel. I think we really got that." The album closes with a Prine solo cut of a song called "Just Waitin." He said it definitely has a personal connection - as well as a historic one. "It's a 'Luke The Drifter' recitation. I've been a fan of his recitations since before I could play the guitar. My dad was a huge Hank Sr. fan, and part of the reason I learned Hank's songs when I was 14 was so I could entertain my dad and prove to him I could sing those songs that he loved. That's why I became a songwriter. I wrote 'Paradise' for him and wanted to show him I could sing and write like that, too." Does it amaze him that over four decades later, "Paradise" remains an American classic? Absolutely, he says, but admits the staying power of his catalog as a whole is a little surprising. "I'm still surprised by the fact that I'm singing 'Sam Stone' and 'Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore.' If I was a betting person, I would have thought the life expectancy would have been about six months. I thought that they were very political songs at the time when Richard Nixon was president. But I'll be darned if those songs still don't ring true every night I sing them. I don't think that 'Paradise' will ever go away, because so many people were affected by strip mining, and still are with the fracking and stuff." One constant between his new duets album and its 1999 predecessor is the work of legendary photographer Elliott Erwitt. Prine said he remains intrigued by Erwitt's work. "He is a world-renowned and very iconic photographer. He likes black and white, which I do too. I remember that on In Spite Of Ourselves, I just went to the Green Hills Library, and I took six books of his to a table. He had one of nothing but couples. Even on the back of In Spite Of Ourselves, there were two old cars, and they were leaning into the back of each other. His eye captures inanimate objects that look like couples. I ended up buying several of his books online, and there was this picture of this one couple where it said 'Just Married,' and you had that bumper sticker -- 'She got me this morning, but I'll get her tonight' -- I thought that fit the feel of these songs so right." Part three of Dr. Phils interview with JonBenet Ramseys older brother, Burke Ramsey, aired Sept. 19. The episode focused mainly on the unwillingness of some people to acknowledge Burkes and his parents innocence, and the role the media has played in it. Roughly two weeks after JonBenets 1996 murder, DNA tests showed that it was very unlikely that anyone in the Ramsey household had committed the crime. In 2008, with more advanced methods of testing available, DNA evidence completely cleared Burke and his parents. But still there are some who view them as the main suspects. Ramsey is not sure what else he can do to convince people of his innocence. Ramsey believes the media is to blame for this, saying it blows things out of proportion such as one occasion when Boulder, Colo., police knocked on his door at college to ask for an interview. Ramsey said it was exam week and he didnt have time. A few months later, this unannounced visit from the police became national news. Finally, Dr. Phil asked Ramsey if he thinks his sisters murder will be solved in his lifetime. You have to keep the hope alive that it will. I dont know. You gotta never give up, he replied. Check out the three most shocking revelations from The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter. Amman (AFP) - Patriotic music and songs praising Jordan's King Abdullah II boom from a white tent pitched in Amman by candidates standing in Tuesday's parliamentary election. Dozens of supporters mill about, sipping bitter black coffee or biting into syrup-drenched pieces of konafa, a traditional Arabic sweet. But their hearts are not quite in it. Hani Ajour, 55, says he has "no faith in the election". "Unfortunately the results are known in advance. The government puts its cronies in parliament and after the vote campaign promises are forgotten," he adds. But Ajour also admits that he will vote on Tuesday and cast his ballot for a "friend", one of several candidates on a tribal list. Jordan's electoral system gives disproportionate clout to rural districts, which are less populated than the cities but tend to return tribal candidates loyal to the monarchy. The Phenix Center, a local pollster, said that 32 percent of Jordanians would vote for a family or tribe member, while 27 percent believe that voting is a national duty. Mohammed, who worked for the interior ministry for 30 before retiring, does not belong to either category. "They're all hypocrites. Believe me, elections in Jordan are a big lie," he says, declining to give his full name. Mohammed says he has visited the tent every day since campaigning began out of a sense of "duty" to support a candidate from his tribe, but also that is determined not to vote on election day. "Even if my father rose from his grave to stand in the elections, I wouldn't vote for him," he says. With the exception of the opposition Islamists, who can count on grassroots support, other candidates rely on tribal and family connections. Experts expect that the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, will win around 20 seats in the 130-seat parliament, making it the largest opposition force. Story continues The IAF boycotted elections in 2010 and 2013 in protest at the then electoral law which played in favour of pro-government and tribal candidates, but decided to stand this year after the law was amended. - Campaign pledges ignored - In past elections, Jordanians complained of alleged vote rigging and vote buying and denounced the MPs they voted for, saying they failed to deliver on election pledges to improve their lot. Habib Lotfi, an electrician, is among those who says he will vote "because it is my electoral right", but he also says he is not happy with the system and the candidates. "Most of the candidates work for personal gain, not to improve people's lives," he believes. Shopkeeper Bilal Shalabi agrees. "It's always the same -- the deputies who get elected don't work for the good of the people. The exact opposite: they pass laws imposing new hardships on us," he says. Unemployment in the kingdom is 14 percent, with the under 30s who represent 70 percent of the population of 9.5 million the worst hit, official statistics show. However, unofficial estimates put the number of jobless as high as 30 percent. Last year growth slumped to 2.4 percent, down from 3.1 percent in 2014, and the prices of most goods, electricity, fuel and other services are constantly rising. Jordan, stuck between Iraq and Syria, has borne the brunt of the conflicts ravaging its two neighbours and over the years has received a steady influx of refugees. Despite the challenges facing the tiny resource-poor kingdom, some voters remain optimistic. Sawsan, a blonde woman in her 30s, says she did not vote in the past two elections. But she will this time, and says she will cast her ballot for "emerging new groups" of candidates. "I've seen new groups entering the political arena with new programmes. I'm hoping for big changes, actually, and that's why I've decided to vote this time," she says. Samer Qobain, 40, adds: "Democracy can't be built in a day. "It's true that our elections are always dominated by money and tribal relations more than political debate, but bit by bit we're trying to change things." In an emotional acceptance speech Sunday night, six-time Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus praised her father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who died Friday at the age of 84. Im so glad he liked Veep, because his opinion was the one that really mattered, his daughter said. William (ne Gerard) Louis-Dreyfus lived an outsized life. The scion of a Jewish Frenchman who fought in the resistance against German occupation and a mother of Mexican and Portuguese descent, he moved to the U.S. in 1940 with his mother after his parents divorced. Also Read: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Breaks Emmy Record With Sixth Lead Actress Win He attended Duke University and Duke Law School, and worked as a lawyer at Dewey Ballantine before joining his fathers company, French agricultural and mercantile conglomerate the Louis Dreyfus-Group, which is the worlds largest trader of cotton and rice. His heart ran to poetry, though, and he was president of the Poetry Society of America for a decade, from 1998 to 2008. His poetry ran in publications like The Hudson Review. William also inherited a vast fortune from his fathers company. In 2012, he bought a full-page ad in the New York Times encouraging his fellow one-percenters to donate to efforts to thwart the passage of voter suppression laws, contributing $1 million to the cause. Related stories from TheWrap: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Breaks Emmy Record With Sixth Lead Actress Win It was a bittersweet night for Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The 55-year-old actress took home her fifth straight Emmy for playing Selina Meyer on HBO's Veep on Sunday, but it was a personal loss days before the Emmys that made her break down in tears onstage. WATCH: Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the 'Generosity' of Her Father "I want to thank the Academy. I'd like to thank HBO, Casey Bloys, Mike Lombardo and Richard Plepper, whose friendship has been demonstrated to me in extraordinary ways, particularly this week," Louis-Dreyfus began her speech, voice cracking, as she continued to thank Veep showrunner Dave Mandel and others while also apologizing for the crew's long hours. "While I'm apologizing, I'd also like to take the opportunity to apologize for the current political climate," she said, before giving a knowing look as the audience chuckled and applauded. "I think Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics." It wasn't until the end of her speech that Louis-Dreyfus, who has now won eight Emmys, broke down in tears, revealing that her father, successful businessman and art collector William Louis-Dreyfus, died on Friday. According to USA Today, he was 84. PHOTOS: Stars We've Lost in Recent Years "Lastly, I'd like to dedicate this to my father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday," Louis-Dreyfus said, trying to keep her composure as her hands began to shake. "I'm so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered. Thank you." Five suspicious devices found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station might contain a live explosive device, the city's mayor said. A worker walks past idle New Jersey Transit commuter trains in the Hoboken station in Hoboken. By Reuters: Police detonated a suspicious package early on Monday near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, following concerns that it might contain a live explosive device, the city's mayor said. The packages contained five suspicious devices. The incident came after the United States was shaken by three attacks at the weekend, including a Saturday night bombing that injured 29 in Manhattan and a stabbing incident at a Minnesota shopping mall that wounded nine. advertisement IT COULD HAVE BEEN A LIVE BOMB IN A WASTEBASKET: MAYOR In Elizabeth, a city south of Newark, New Jersey, two men scavenging trash near the train station on Sunday evening found a suspicious package containing what could have been a live bomb in a wastebasket, Mayor Christian Bollwage said. The men reported the package to police after they "saw wires and a pipe," Bollwage told reporters. A Union County bomb squad drone determined the package "could be a live bomb" and an FBI bomb squad went to the site. A large explosion was heard early on Monday near the transit station, NBC News reported. On social media network Twitter, Bollwage confirmed that police had detonated the suspicious package. An FBI spokesman in Newark, Mike Whitaker, said agents were aware of the situation in Elizabeth. "We are responding with our local law enforcement partners," he added, but declined to give further details. TRAIN SERVICES HALTED New Jersey Transit Corp and Amtrak halted train services to the Elizabeth station as investigations continued, authorities said. A powerful explosion rocked Manhattan's popular Chelsea neighborhood late on Saturday after a pressure-cooker bomb packed with shrapnel detonated. A similar unexploded device was found a few blocks away later that night. The Chelsea blast followed a pipe bomb explosion on Saturday morning along the route of a running race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No one was injured in that blast, which is being investigated. --- ENDS --- BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday that Jean-Claude Juncker needed no protection from awkward questions after a video blogger accused a staffer at YouTube of trying to censor her questions to the EU chief executive. Juncker, 61, gave a series of live interviews on YouTube last Thursday to young social media celebrities, including French 'vlogger' Laetitia Birbes, aiming to counter an image of Brussels' bureaucrats as stuffy and out of touch. But Birbes accused a YouTube staffer of threatening her career on Google's online video platform if she asked tough questions. "They expected me to put really easy questions," she said in a video posted on Sunday. "It was all meant as a big advert for Juncker." She included a video clip showing a man in a YouTube T-shirt telling her before the interview that she should not "alienate" the Commission and YouTube - "unless you don't plan on lasting long on YouTube". ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y-xS_EB3QI ) However, Birbes did in the end ask Juncker whether, as a long-time premier of the "tax haven" Luxembourg, his campaign against corporate tax avoidance was like having a bank robber as chief of police. The European Commission president replied that "robbers and poachers" often made the best policemen. The Commission's chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters on Monday that, after more than a quarter of century in politics, Juncker needed no protection from interviewers and would not let his staff try to water down questions. "Frankly," he said, "we are a bit annoyed that for some reason we are now becoming part of the story with which we have absolutely nothing to do." YouTube said its employee had been responding to an inquiry from Birbes about how to pitch her questions. "Our colleague encouraged her to be respectful rather than confrontational," it said, noting that she had asked the questions she wanted to ask. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey) John Kasich John Kasich's chief strategist ripped GOP Chairman Reince Priebus over his Sunday threat hinting that the governor might have some difficulty running again for the presidency in 2020 if he did not endorse Donald Trump. John Weaver, who was the chief strategist for Kasich's presidential campaign, said in a Sunday statement that Priebus is "unable to stand up for core principles or beliefs." Kasich, the Ohio governor, has refused to endorse Trump, the Republican nominee, after bowing out of the presidential race in early May. "Thankfully, there are still leaders in this country who put principles before politics," Weaver wrote. "Throughout his life, Governor John Kasich has always made decisions based on what is best for our country. The idea of a greater purpose beyond oneself may be alien to political party bosses like Reince Priebus, but it is at the center of everything Governor Kasich does." "He will not be bullied by a Kenosha political operative that is unable to stand up for core principles or beliefs," he continued, naming Priebus' hometown in Wisconsin. "In fact, Reince should be thanking the governor for standing for an inclusive, conservative vision that can actually win a national election and improve our country." Weaver added that Kasich is "traveling the nation" to support down-ballot Republicans who could be the victim of a "potential national wipeout" that he said would occur "on Reince's watch." During a Sunday interview CBS's "Face the Nation," Priebus said Trump's former primary challengers might face trouble in 2020 or 2024 if they did not announce their support for Trump. "Those people need to get on board," he said. "And if they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think that we're going to evaluate the process of the nomination process and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them." Kasich, along with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has prominently refused to endorse Trump since he wrapped up the party's nomination in May. Priebus said the party would "look at" potential penalties for those who have not endorsed Trump and are considering a future presidential bid. Every GOP presidential hopeful signed a loyalty pledge last summer stating they would support the eventual nominee no matter who it was. Story continues "People in our party are talking about what we're going to do about this. I mean, there's a ballot access issue in South Carolina," Priebus said. "In order to be on the ballot in South Carolina, you actually have to pledge your support to the nominee, no matter who that person is. So what's the penalty for that? It's not a threat, but that's just the question that we have a process in place. "And if a private entity puts forward a process and has agreement with the participants in that process, and those participants don't follow through with the promises that they made in that process, what what should a private party do about that if those same people come around in four or eight years?" NOW WATCH: A hair surgeon explains what's going on with Donald Trump's hair More From Business Insider New York (AFP) - The United States declared Monday that Russia had failed to meet its side of a deal to enforce a seven-day truce in Syria, but that Washington was willing to keep working on it. Under the terms of an agreement struck earlier this month in Geneva, the US military would set up a joint cell with Russian forces to target Syrian jihadists if the ceasefire held. US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters: "We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods." Under the terms of the Geneva agreement, the US was supposed to rein in opposition forces and Moscow was to ensure its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad halt attacks. Kerry had earlier said that this ceasefire was "holding but fragile" but that the other half of the agreement -- that Assad allow UN aid convoys to besieged areas -- was incomplete. The Syrian military, meanwhile, has announced that after seven days it was ending its participation in the ceasefire, blaming the rebels for repeated breaches of the truce. Kerry, who was meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, reacted testily to the declaration, but implied there was time to save the deal. "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this," he said, in brief remarks to reporters. "And I think it's, as I said yesterday, time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods that are necessary for access. "So we just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods, and let's see where we are. We're happy to have a conversation with them," he said, of the Russian side. Under the deal, if fighting had been reduced significantly over seven das and aid had got through, the US and Russian militaries were to have set up a joint targeting cell in Geneva. This would enable more accurate strikes on the Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly the Al Nusra Front. US and Russian officers were meeting Monday in Geneva, but the Defense Ministry in Moscow said it would be "pointless" to continue the truce in the face of rebel violations. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Humanitarian aid deliveries were expected to reach eight or more locations in areas of war-torn Syria on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said amid signs that a Syrian ceasefire may be in deep trouble. "It was quite good last night," Kerry replied when asked whether the Syrian truce was holding, adding: "Trucks are moving today to maybe eight locations or more so we'll see where we are today. Let's wait..." He was speaking at the start of U.N. meetings in New York with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton) NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Syrian ceasefire is holding but fragile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday amid reports that fighting had picked up after a week of reduced violence and humanitarian aid was still not getting to besieged areas in Aleppo. "The basic ceasefire is holding but (is) fragile," Kerry said as he met his Vatican counterpart in New York. "We're waiting to get the full download from our team that is meeting now with the Russians in Geneva." He said humanitarian assistance should reach eight locations on Monday, a key part of the ceasefire negotiated between him and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov more than a week ago. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton) "In my twenties and thirties I was hugely aware of the stigma of an actor doing music, so it was something I'd never touch," says Kiefer Sutherland, who, at 49 years old, has just released his debut album, the country-rocking Down in a Hole. Now he finds himself juggling two successful careers. Kiefer Sutherland Makes Chart Debut With New Country Album His new ABC show Designated Survivor, about a cabinet member who becomes president after a terrorist attack, debuts Sept. 21. At the same time, he is already working on songs for his sophomore album. As for any potential actor-doing-music criticisms? "I'm at a point in my life where, if someone wants to take a run at me, I couldn't give a crap," Sutherland happily reports. You grew up on rock n' roll, but Down in a Hole draws primarily from country music. These songs are about my life, and are very much sung in the first-person narrative. And if there ever was ever a genre of music that illustrated great American storytelling, it's country. Musically, it allows you to do a lyric that is quite specific and story-driven. You've talked about bringing a guitar with you to movie sets to relieve stress. When you were filming Stand By Me in 1986, you even taught River Phoenix how to play the Ben E. King song of the same name. It was one of the few songs I could actually play and sing at the same time! What's funny about that is Stand By Me was originally called The Body, which is the name of the Stephen King short story [that the film is based on]. I don't know if [director] Rob Reiner has actually said it or not, but I think he heard us playing it on the set and that's when he thought of Stand By Me as the title of the film. On Designated Survivor you play a man whose qualifications as president are in question. Do you feel there's a certain timeliness to some of the issues being raised by the show? The timing is what the timing is. This show was not sitting around for two years waiting for a presidential election. But I think people are fascinated with the White House and the responsibilities of a president. So it's an examination of that. And, obviously, politics will be on people's minds in a very strong way by the time we air. Check out a behind-the-scenes look into the making of Sutherland's debut record, which Billboard exclusively premiered: Back in April, the Wall Street Journal printed a controversial ad that essentially denied the 1915 Armenian Genocide. On Saturday, Kim Kardashian fired back by taking out her own full-page ad in The New York Times. The ad led with the hashtag #StraightUp followed by the title: "Genocide Denial Cannot Be Allowed." The ad continues to say that while Kardashian West and her family are "no strangers to BS in the press," this is a vastly different case. While she acknowledges the initial ad was paid for by Turkic Platform, she says for a publication such as the Wall Street Journal to print such an ad was "reckless, upsetting and dangerous." 15 Songs Kim Kardashian Likes, According to Her Snapchat She also cited a Gawker article that ran back in April, which included the Wall Street Journal's response to the outrage, which read: "We accept a wide range of advertisements, including those with provocative viewpoints. While we review ad copy for issues of taste, the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers." Kardashian's signature marks the bottom of her ad, followed by a statement from the Armenian Community expressing thanks to the reality star for her support in raising awareness to such denial. View both ads (the original and Kardashian's) below. Full-page ad in today's @WSJ denying the Armenian genocide pic.twitter.com/LjBGjCo80l - Gary Bass (@Gary__Bass) April 20, 2016 Wow! @KimKardashian + #Armenian Educational Foundation challenge #ArmenianGenocide denial in full page @nytimes ad pic.twitter.com/lp0lxDCJPT - Aram Hamparian (@ANCA_DC) September 17, 2016 Kimberly-Clark Corp. KMB has been reshuffling its management for some time now. Recently, the company announced that its Chief Human Resources Officer ("CHRO"), Liz Gottung will retire at the end of 2016. Gottung held various leadership roles in Kimberly-Clark for 35 years. As the leader of its HR organization, she aligned this function with the company's overall business strategy and championed the culture. Kimberly-Clark has appointed Scott Boston as Gottung's successor. Boston, who joined the company in 2011, has led global HR talent management with an experience for leading HR within Kimberly-Clark International. He will take up the position of senior vice president and CHRO from Jan 1, 2017. Gottung will work with him for a smooth transition. Boston is a strategic fit for this role, as he has more than 20 years of global HR leadership experience. Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark, Boston was senior vice president, Human Resources, for McKesson Corporation. We believe Bostons leadership will further strengthen the companys business. KIMBERLY CLARK Price and Consensus KIMBERLY CLARK Price and Consensus | KIMBERLY CLARK Quote Overall, we are impressed with Kimberly-Clarks cost-saving initiatives and continued product innovation that have been driving earnings for the past many quarters. It also achieved higher organic sales on the back of volume growth and better pricing. However, the company recently shut down its operations in Venezuela due to economic crisis in the region. Also, it is facing lawsuits related to the spin-off of its health care business, now named as Halyard Health, Inc. HYH, in Oct 2014. These headwinds are expected to hurt investors confidence. In the last reported second quarter of 2016, Kimberly-Clark posted better-than-expected results, wherein both earnings and revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Adjusted earnings in the quarter increased 8.5% from the year-ago figure, boosted by organic sales growth, cost savings, input cost deflation, margin improvements and lower tax rates. However, sales declined 1.2% from the prior-year quarter, mainly due to foreign currency headwinds. Organic sales grew 3% from the prior-year quarter, mainly driven by volumes, which offset the product mix. Story continues Kimberly-Clark has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the consumer staples sector include Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. OLLI and Ingredion Inc. INGR. Both stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report KIMBERLY CLARK (KMB): Free Stock Analysis Report HALYARD HEALTH (HYH): Free Stock Analysis Report INGREDION INC (INGR): Free Stock Analysis Report OLLIES BGN OUTL (OLLI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Xavier Dolan won't submit his next movie, which stars Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain, to the Cannes Film Festival to avoid personal attacks that masquerade as movie criticism. In a post on his Instagram account, the Canadian director wrote that The Death and Life of John F. Donovan won't be ready in time for Cannes. An unanticipated hiatus will now take completion of production from November 2016 to June 2017. But Dolan also wrote "the culture of trolling, bullying and unwarranted hatred shouldn't be an inextricable part of the cinematic or analytical adventure." Dolan, who has brought five of his previous six movies to Cannes for a world premiere, has in The Death and Life of John F. Donovan his most star-studded project to date. But the indie, which features Kit Harington as an American TV star in a pen-pal relationship exposed by a gossip columnist, reveals a harsh media treatment Dolan wants to avoid in Cannes, and which greeted his 2016 film It's Only the End of the World before it earned the Grand Jury Prize on the Croisette. Read more: Cannes: Xavier Dolan Wants to Look Past the "Glittery, Cheap Thrills" "Since it appears we live in a time where they (critics) are unable to be disassociated, it is one's right to choose different trajectories for his work, without necessarily acting out of frustration, or reprisal," Dolan wrote on his Instagram account. The director has been a Cannes darling since first feature, I Killed My Mother, took top honors in the Directors' Fortnight program in 2009. That was before Dolan's fifth feature, Mommy, in 2014 shared the third-place Jury Prize in Cannes. But It's Only the End of the World, his sixth film, which stars Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard and Lea Seydoux, received a critical mauling when screening in official competition. The Death and Life of John F. Donovan's bypassing Cannes makes it more likely the film will debut in Venice, where his 2013 film Tom at the Farm had its world premiere, and then shift to Telluride and Toronto as launchpads. A photo posted by xavierdolan (@xavierdolan) on Sep 18, 2016 at 4:16am PDT The Bombay high court upheld the Maharashtra government's new domicile rules, providing reservation in admission to local students in medical colleges. By Vidya : Bombay high court on Monday declined to interfere with the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). In effect, this means that the Maharashtra government can go ahead with its domicile policy with regard to admission in medical colleges. Now, even unaided private colleges will have to admit students, who have passed their qualifying school examinations from Maharashtra under the 85 per cent quota, while only 15 per cent of the seats will be available to students of other states. advertisement According to the state government's domicile policy, admission will be prioritised for students from within the state. Bombay high court, however, asked the state government to prepare a separate list of the candidates from other states. This list will be for academic purpose only. The high court declined to stay its own order as sought by the colleges in their petition. Now, the colleges have decided to approach the supreme court to challenge the high court's ruling at the earliest. THE DOMICILE RULES The Maharashtra government had formulated domicile rules, providing reservation of seats in colleges for local students. These rules were also made applicable to unaided private medical colleges. Multiple litigation had been filed in the Bombay high court challenging the Maharashtra government's domicile rules. The institutions, which had filed the petition wanted to go ahead with the admissions on the basis of the NEET results. But, the state government insisted on strict compliance of new domicile rules discarding NEET ranks. Mahatma Gandhi Vidya Mandir Trust, which runs a dental college in Nashik, was one of the main petitioners. It sought non-interference from the state government with regard to NRI quota of the college. The contention of the petitioner colleges was that they did not receive any monetary aid from the government, so, they should not be forced to implement new domicile rules. TWO MERIT LISTS During the hearing of the case, the state government, however, told the high court bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice MS Sonak that the new rules were formulated to protect the interests of the students from state. It argued that similar rules formulated by other states prevent students of Maharashtra from securing admission there. "It is possible that there may not be a single student from the state on that (NEET) list" rendering great disadvantage to the local students, the government had told high court during an earlier hearing. In the last hearing, the high court had asked the government to prepare two lists- one on the basis of NEET rank and another of the students of Maharashtra on the basis of merit. MAHARASHTRA'S ARGUMENTS Appearing for the state government, Advocate General Rohit Deo told the court, "We are accountable to the students of Maharashtra and not to the petitioners. They are giving the impression that this 15 per cent [quota] available for outside students is their right but the truth is that it is a shackle put on the state by the apex court." advertisement Students from Maharashtra, who were unable to get through to government medical colleges as they had secured low ranks and their future now depended on admission in private colleges in state, had also filed an intervention plea. Counsel for the students, MM Vashi argued that domicile was different from reservation. Students with state domicile should be given priority admission in their own state, Vashi told the high court. ALSO READ: Maharashtra government should implement domicile policy: Raj Thackeray No admission to non-domicile students --- ENDS --- Kmart (69) Kmart is closing 64 stores across 28 states. Sears Holdings, which owns Sears and Kmart, informed Kmart employees of the closures on Friday, according to several local news reports and multiple employees who spoke with Business Insider. The stores that are closing will begin liquidation sales on September 22 and close by mid-December, employees said. Sears did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Separately on Friday, Seritage Growth Properties, a real-estate investment trust that owns 235 Sears and Kmart stores, revealed in a filing that Sears had decided to terminate leases on 17 stores, meaning it would close those stores. According to RBC Capital Markets analysts, all 17 closures are Kmart stores and they will close by January. The new wave of closures follows Sears' decision to shut down nearly 80 stores most of which were Kmart stores in July. Moody's analysts warned last week that Kmart doesn't have enough cash or access to cash to stay in business. Kmart has about 870 stores today, down from about 1,300 in 2012. Here's a full list of stores that will close in December, according to employees: Kmart #3044: Lawton, OK Kmart #3180: Merrillville, IN Kmart #3241: Springfield, IL Kmart #3320: Houma, LA Kmart #3328: New Lenox, IL Kmart #3355: Panama City, FL Kmart #3359: Gardendale, AL Kmart #3521: Binghamton, NY Kmart #3556: Elkhart, IN Kmart #3594: Chicago, IL Kmart #3644: Nashville, TN Kmart #3695: Sierra Vista, AZ Kmart #3706: Wytheville, VA Kmart #3754: Martinsville, VA Kmart #3814: Kearney, NE Kmart #4066: Jackson, MI Kmart #4095: Joliet, IL Kmart #4135: Augusta, GA Kmart #4162: Salt Lake City, UT Kmart #4175: Canton, OH Kmart #4176: Cheektowaga, NY Kmart #4439: Yakima, WA Kmart #4700: Fenton, MI Kmart #4717: Oak Ridge, TN Kmart #4739: Clarksville, TN Kmart #4772: Burnham, PA Kmart #4781: Macomb, IL Kmart #4837: Riverton, WY Kmart #4845: Manistee, MI Kmart #4851: Byron Center, MI Kmart #4910: Mentor, OH Kmart #4917: Thornton, CO Kmart #4961: Burlington, NC Kmart #4970: Memphis, TN Kmart #4972: Lubbock, TX Kmart #4984: Tinley Park, IL Kmart #7024: Scottsbluff, NE Kmart #7061: New Iberia, LA Kmart #7077: Harlingen, TX Kmart #7174: Pikeville, KY Kmart #7205: Grand Rapids, MI Kmart #7216: Moorhead, MN Kmart #7306: Sioux Falls, SD Kmart #7356: Jonesboro, AR Kmart #7412: West Valley City, UT Kmart #7478: Waipahu, HI Kmart #7551: Indio, CA Kmart #7560: Craig, CO Kmart #7587: Fontana, CA Kmart #7625: Los Angeles, CA Kmart #7642: Natchez, MS Kmart #7718: Hixson, TN Kmart #7733: Alpena, MI Kmart #7755: Deming, NM Kmart #7775: Lafayette, IN Kmart #7795: Abilene, TX Kmart #9129: Mount Airy, NC Kmart #9146: Great Barrington, MA Kmart #9397: West Saint Paul, MN Kmart #9571: Cullman, AL Kmart #9586: Sault Saint Marie, MI Kmart #9623: Springdale, AR Kmart #9728: Smyrna, TN Kmart #9751: Cody, WY Story continues Do you work at a Kmart store that is closing? Reach out to this reporter at hpeterson@businessinsider.com. NOW WATCH: 64 Kmart stores are closing mid-December heres when clearance sales begin More From Business Insider Explosions rocked New York and New Jersey over the weekend, and several suspicious devices were found in both states. Police arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, the man sought in connection to the bombings, on Monday in Linden, N.J. Here is a guide to what happened where: Pipe bomb explosion in Seaside Park, N.J. on Sept. 17 A pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, a Jersey Shore town, on Saturday at about 9:30 a.m. ahead of a charity 5K race to benefit the Marines and sailors, in which 5,000 runners were expected. No injuries were reported in the incident. Authorities detected a black powder and found a cell phone at the bombing site, the Associated Press reported. Officials said Monday that the Seaside Park explosion was connected to the Manhattan blast and that Rahami was directly linked to both explosions. Explosion in Chelsea on Sept. 17 An explosion in the Chelsea area of Manhattan injured 29 people later Saturday at about 8:30 p.m. Materials recovered from the explosion on West 23rd Street contained residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that is readily available in sporting goods stores. The bomb contained shrapnel, and was constructed with pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights, a law enforcement official told the New York Times. Pressure cooker device found in Manhattan on Sept. 17 A second device consisting of a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a cellphone was found about four blocks away from the Chelsea explosion on West 27th Street, at about 10:30 p.m., police said. Like the bomb that exploded in Chelsea, the pressure-cooker device was filled with the same fragmentation materials, including small bearings or metal BBs, according to the Times. New York City police blew up the device in a controlled explosion on Sunday evening, authorities said. Bag of explosive devices discovered in Elizabeth, N.J. on Sept. 18 Two men discovered five explosive devices in Elizabeth, N.J. inside a bag placed in a trash can on Sunday evening near the New Jersey Transits Northeast Corridor rail line. The men told authorities they saw wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices found in the trash can exploded early Monday at about 1 a.m. while a bomb squad used a robot to try and disarm it. The FBI was working on disarming all the devices, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage told reporters, saying other explosions were expected. Ahmad Khan Rahami arrested in Linden, N.J. on Sept. 19 Police arrested Rahami in connection with the bombings in New York and New Jersey on Monday following a shootout in Linden, which injured the suspect and two police officers. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters he believed the attacks were an act of terror. larry ellison On Sunday afternoon, Larry Ellison declared that Amazons lead is over" in cloud computing, thanks to the imminent arrival of the second-generation Oracle cloud platform, first teased late last week. According to Ellison, the new Oracle cloud platform is both cheaper and more powerful than Amazon Web Services making it a perfect way for customers to run the large-scale databases that are Oracle's bread and butter. It's a bold challenge to Amazon, which is far and away the leader in the fast-growing cloud computing market, where startups and large enterprises alike pay by the minute or the hour for functionally infinite supercomputing power. And it's exactly what Oracle's investors want to hear, as the company keeps losing business to Amazon. But many analysts still see Oracle as an also-ran in the cloud race, lagging behind competitors like Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, and especially Amazon itself. Here's what the analysts have to say: "ORCL talked up its 'next-gen' infrastructure as a cheaper rival to AWS, but we dont believe it will be competitive anytime soon," writes Deutsche Bank in a note to clients sent out after last week's Oracle earnings call. "In terms of market leadership, I think we will have to watch how fast Oracle can crank growth to really get ahead of the competition," says IDC's Al Hilwa . "There's still so much vendor lock-in associated with Oracle that I don't think they're really perceived as a true cloud player yet because the idea of cloud is one that is interoperable," Technology Business Research's Cassandra Mooshian tells Computerworld. To boil that down even further, Oracle's cloud may be great for the company's existing database customers, which includes a lot of large enterprises. These customers might want to move their databases to the cloud to take advantage of the cost savings so, for instance, they don't have to keep adding hardware as the amount of data grows. It's not easy to move databases, and there's some reason to believe Oracle could have a better chance with Oracle customers. Story continues But it still has a long way to go before it can attract new customers away from Amazon Web Services. Andy Jassy, Amazon One reason: Oracle has a reputation for pushing its in-house, proprietary technologies, while Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have made a huge commitment to letting software developers use whatever tools and products they like. In Microsoft's case, it's even rejected much of its old imperialist ways to be more competitive in the cloud. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services is a $10 billion juggernaut of a cloud computing beast, while Oracle is only expected to do $2 billion in total cloud revenues this year very little of which can be attributed directly to the current form of its direct challenger to Amazon Web Services. Oracle does have time on its side: it's still very early on in the cloud computing market, and Oracle could make a strong case to the crucial large enterprises many of whom are still locked into Oracle's technology for critical parts of their business. But the market doesn't seem to be holding its breath. NOW WATCH: I tried sending something to an Amazon Locker and it was a terrible experience More From Business Insider By India Today Web Desk: Exiled Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti has decided to file asylum papers for India. Bugti reportedly plans to travel around the world on Indian papers and campaign against Pakistan. Baloch Republican Party (BPR) will approach India, Afghanistan or Bangladesh to file a case against China at the International Court of Justice. The party has also decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani army generals at International criminal courts. advertisement Earlier this month, BRP representatives have said that just like India facilitated Dalai Lama, who uses an Indian passport to campaign around the world against China, the Balioch leader too can move freely across the globe and highlight the plight of Balochis. Nearly 15,000 Balochis are seeking asylum in Afghanistan, while 2,000 others are spread across various European nations. Bugti fled his native Dera Bugtin Balochistan after his grandfather Akbar Bugti was assassinated in 2006. He has been living in Afghanistan and Switzerland ever since. Also read: Exiled Baloch leader Brahumdagh Bugti likely to get Indian citizenship Balochistan freedom movement gets new poster faces --- ENDS --- Washington (AFP) - The weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey and a stabbing spree in the Midwest are the latest example of the new terror threat faced by the United States along with much of the West: diffuse, unsophisticated and very hard to counter. Just days ago the United States marked the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks -- the suicide airliner assaults that took months or years of meticulous planning by a well structured organization acting from outside the United States. But the face of terror in America has changed. Now, attacks are waged by American citizens who are isolated or acting in small groups and may have no links with Islamist extremist organizations other than visits to websites or contact on social media. In the weekend attacks, a bombing Saturday night in New York's Chelsea neighborhood wounded 29 people. A pipe bomb exploded earlier in the day in New Jersey. It caused no injuries but forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps charity race. In Minnesota, a 22-year-old Somali American went on a stabbing spree at a mall Saturday, wounding nine. An Afghan-American previously unknown to law enforcement was taken into custody Monday in connection with both East Coast attacks. This kind of attacker is very hard to detect, said Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. And if you detect them, he asked, "what do you do?" "You can't monitor anybody 24/7 just because he's active on social media," used by extremist groups to get out their message, said Vidino. And yet the internet often plays the role of "the devil on the shoulder" that repeats "kill, kill" to potential attackers, in the words of FBI director James Comey. The methods used in attacks these days are often crude -- a stabbing in Minnesota and pressure cookers filled with shrapnel and made with flip phones, Christmas lights and explosive compound, in the case of Manhattan, according to the New York Times. Story continues Still, they can kill. And they are enough to trigger panic, scare people and make them suspicious of Muslims in general. The motives of the suspect in the New York and New Jersey attacks, Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, remain unknown so far. Officials said Monday they are not seeking any other bombers and have no reason to believe a cell is active in the region. "It is quite possible the bombings could have nothing to do with groups such as the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda," said the Soufan Group, a security consultancy founded by a former FBI official, Ali Soufan. "There is no shortage of domestic extremist groups and actors," it added. "We have seen in NY and NJ area a few clusters of people, a few groups of friends who radicalized together," said Vidino. However, a news agency with ties to the Islamic State group said the Minnesota mall rampage was carried out by one of its "soldiers." - FBI 'going dark' - In that Midwestern state, police, educators and local governments have worked to reach out to the sizeable Somali community, which is considered one of the least integrated in America. The goal is to establish links with Somali parents and community leaders and instill trust so as to keep young Somali Americans from answering the call of Islamist extremist groups. But such programs can only mitigate the terror threat, not eliminate it, said Vidino. In the face of such a diffuse threat, US counterterrorism officials want something very specific from government officials and the internet community: halt the spread of technology that encrypts email and other communications and makes them impervious to eavesdropping, as such intercepts are crucial to fighting extremism. These technologies give an edge to jihadist groups, Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said earlier this month. "We are going dark," said Comey of the FBI. Metal Gear Survive When the newest entry in the iconic "Metal Gear" franchise was revealed in late August, most fans were pretty upset with the formulaic direction the typically-eccentric series was headed. The trailer has a whopping 107,000 dislikes on YouTube, compared to just 20,000 likes. In stark contrast to the series' typically strange cast of characters and self-aware sense of humor, "Metal Gear Survive" looks to be a pretty standard multiplayer zombie action game with the "Metal Gear" name slapped onto it. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that this is the first "Metal Gear" to be developed after its main auteur, Hideo Kojima, left Konami in a very public, dramatic fashion. Seriously, the whole situation is very complicated. Kojima finally broke his silence on "Metal Gear Survive" at a press event at Tokyo Game Show, and it sounds like he's ready to distance himself from it as much as possible. "Thats nothing to do with me," he said, according to IGN. "The 'Metal Gear' games are about political fiction and espionage. Where do zombies fit in with that?" To its credit, Konami has said it will not be charging a full $60 for "Metal Gear Survive." Instead, it will function as more of a small, bite-sized, spin-off experience. norman reedus death stranding Kojima was at Tokyo Game Show primarily to discuss his new game, "Death Stranding," which stars Norman Reedus of "The Walking Dead." It's still in very early development, so not much is known about it yet. If anything, its first (very surreal) trailer proves the secret sauce that makes "Metal Gear" so unique is intimately tied to the creative vision of Kojima, and not the "Metal Gear" name itself. NOW WATCH: Here's your first look at the newest PlayStations More From Business Insider TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan forces allied with the U.N.-backed government on Sunday battled Islamic State militants in their last hideouts in the city of Sirte, in a renewed push after a break in fighting for the Muslim celebrations of Eid. At least two were killed in clashes after pro-governnment forces shelled neighbourhoods inside the city, targeting militants who have been holding on in a last section of Sirte after months of street-to-street fighting. U.S. air strikes and helicopter raids along with small teams of Western special forces have helped the Libyan troops advance in Sirte and losing the city would be a major blow for the militant group depriving it of its North African stronghold. "Our forces targeted on Sunday hideouts of Daesh in Neighbourhood No.3's 600 block area and Geza Bahriya with heavy artillery shelling," said Mohamed Ghasri, a spokesman for the forces, said using an Arabic term for militants. Akram Gliwan, a spokesman for Misrata central hospital, told Reuters two fighters had been killed and six more were wounded and were brought to the hospital. Mostly from Misrata city, 230 km (145 miles) to the north west, the government-allied forces say some commanders from Islamic State and fighters may have escaped and fled south or to the Tunisia border before Sirte was encircled. But Ghasri said two Islamic State commanders, Hassan Karami and Walid Ferjani, had been killed in fighting inside the city, without giving details. Misrata commanders have said in the past Karami had been killed, but they have not indicated whether any body had been positively identified with DNA. Western governments are supporting the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli as the best option to bring together Libya's rival armed factions to stabilise the country, end Islamist State threats and stop illegal migrant smugglers. But it has faced opposition from hardliners, especially in the east, where Gen. Khalifa Haftar has been carrying out his own campaign against militants in Benghazi. Haftar's forces a week ago took control of major oil ports. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Ros Russell) By TJ Strydom JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Life Healthcare Group is ready to pay up to $1 billion on a European acquisition, its chief executive told Reuters, as South Africa's second-biggest private hospital company chases growth outside its home market. Stiff competition and flagging economic growth have pushed South African private hospital groups to broaden their horizons by expanding in Europe, the Middle East and India. Domestic prospects are also clouded by a broad market inquiry by South Africa's Competition Commission, which is examining pricing and competition in the sector. Life Healthcare has been slower off the mark than rivals Mediclinic International and Netcare but it is loosening the purse strings in an effort to increase revenue from outside its core market to 20-30 percent of group revenue by 2020. "We think the transaction size will be in the order of 8 billion rand to 14 billion rand ($600 million to $1 billion)," Chief Executive Andre Meyer said after the company's inclusion in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's benchmark Top-40 index on Monday. Mediclinic, which entered the United Arab Emirates with its acquisition of Al Noor Hospitals last year and holds 29.9 percent of Britain's Spire Healthcare, sources more than 60 percent of its profit from outside South Africa. Johannesburg-based Netcare, meanwhile, runs Britain's biggest private hospital network, BMI Healthcare. Though Life Healthcare has invested in India and Poland, the group still earns 95 percent of its revenue and 98 percent of profit in South Africa, where economic growth is forecast to be barely positive this year. "We think in India we have a five-year horizon to see really good earnings," Meyer said, citing a growing middle class in the world's second most populous nation as a key factor. Meyer said his company wants to buy a more mature business that has both scale and growth potential. It is only interested in European markets where business can be conducted in English, he said, adding that this includes Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland. "We actually think Brexit has given us a opportunity to pick up a good asset at a more acceptable multiple," Meyer said, referring to Britain's June vote to leave the European Union, though he did not name any potential targets. "We're not chasing anything and everything that is for sale," the CEO added, though he said that Life Healthcare would also consider assets in complementary healthcare, such as mental health, occupational therapy, renal dialysis and oncology. In Poland, the company sees opportunities to add smaller businesses to its Scanmed business, though Meyer said he remains cautious about the market after the state increased cardiology tariffs this year. ($1 = 14.0700 rand) (Editing by David Goodman) Juicy J was due to release his fourth solo studio album this year, Rubba Band Business: The Album, but it still doesn't have a release date. The album might not make it out before the end of the year, so the legendary Memphis rapper and producer has seen fit to release a new mixtape to keep fans happy in the meantime. He did only just release his Lit In Ceylon mixtape back in July, but Juicy J isn't one to leave his fans waiting for too long. His newest mixtape, #MUSTBENICE, features the help of a lot of guests. With appearances from Gucci Mane, Jeremih, Wiz Khalifa, Project Pat, and 21 Savage, Juicy J keeps things gritty on #MUSTBENICE. The mixtape is predominantly produced by TM88, but SouthSide, Lex Luger, and Metro Boomin stop by to lend some production, too. Listen to the mixtape below via DatPiff. Continue Reading On Complex Simon Cowell has just made another successful deal. A 25 million pounds deal, to be precise. Yeah, it really happened. By India Today Web Desk: English entrepreneur and reality TV judge Simon Cowell is a powerful and well-connected individual. The man has his own ways of getting things done. Also read:The latest season of The X Factor UK to premiere tonight We are talking about the recently signed deal between the reality television judge and Independent Television (ITV) to keep the shows, The X Factor and, Britain's Got Talent on the channel till 2019, according to recent reports. That is three whole years, people! advertisement Simon thanked his partner, ITV, for their brilliant partnership. A still from Britain's Got Talent. Picture courtesy: YouTube "I'm delighted for the shows and, in particular, for all the talented people who work on them with us," Simon said in a statement. The director of ITV, Kevin Lygo, also expressed his happiness at the development, and said, "Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor are both big, brilliant, wonderful shows and I am delighted that they will continue to take up their place as an important part of our schedule for the next three years." --- ENDS --- LONDON (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) fined Mitsui Bussan Commodities Ltd 80,000 pounds after one of its traders intentionally entered erroneous orders, the LME said. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said in a members' notice released on Friday evening that an unnamed trader first made a mistake then tried to cover it up by entering additional erroneous trades. "The trader intentionally entered five orders in backwardation (when the market was in contango) hoping that they would be traded and then price adjusted in their favour in accordance with the LME Error Trade Policy," the LME said. The LME, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., said one of the trades resulted in a loss to a third party, it added. It said Mitsui Bussan Commodities, the commodities trading arm of Japanese bank Mitsui & Co., cooperated with the LME and took disciplinary action against the trader. (Reporting by Eric Onstad; editing by Jason Neely) London (AFP) - The daily grind of London commuting is being brightened by a collection of black marker pens and white boards -- giving city dwellers a welcome boost as they travel through the metropolis. The hall of Oval underground station looks more like a living room than a Tube stop -- complete with plants and a small library, while Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 5" plays. It is at this stop on the Underground's Northern Line that Glen Sutherland, an employee of tube operator Transport for London (TfL), whips out a black marker and writes up the "Thought for the Day". Today the quote appearing on the large whiteboard -- strategically positioned in front of the escalators used by thousands of people daily -- is from Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho. "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure," it reads, written in fine writing which harks back to the books of centuries past. The Oval station tradition began in 2004, as a way to brighten up the station and distract passengers -- particularly during peak times when the crowded trains are akin to sardine cans. "As you come up from the escalator you hear the music, you got the thought of the day, the books, the bench, you can sit down, have a read, take it easy. "We should start serving coffee in there!" Sutherland tells AFP. - From Steve Jobs to Socrates - The TfL employee hunts down quotes on the internet, he says, wary of what should be avoided: "It's a case of choosing them carefully, you can't put anything political, sexist, religion." Sutherland often chooses positive messages for the "Thought for the Day", encouraging those who may have got out of bed on the wrong side. "When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love", is one example from Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Oval's whiteboard also provides advice and comments on society, such as this line from Oscar Wilde: "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." Story continues The quotes can also come from more unusual quarters, such as Yoda from the "Star Wars" films: "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." Other famous names which have appeared include Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, Steve Jobs, Confucius, Shakespeare, Socrates and Picasso. Occasionally "Thought for the Day" takes inspiration from news and current affairs, paying tribute to celebrities who have recently passed away such as David Bowie, Prince and Mohammed Ali. There has also been encouragement for Team GB at the Olympics and a birthday message for Queen Elizabeth II. - Driven by social media - The initiative at Oval has now spread to several other stations, with photos of the "Thought for the Day" being shared on social networks, and numerous bars and shops have also started sharing quotes and witticisms. "Shoes: less money than a shrink," quips a sign at one shop about the therapeutic benefits of shopping, while a pub warns "all hipsters must be accompanied by an adult". "Beer is the answer, but I can't remember the question," reads another pub sign, traditionally written in white on a blackboard. The messages sometimes use humour rather than straightforward positive PR, such as one board outside a cafe in Stockport: "Come in and try the worst porridge that one woman on TripAdvisor had in her life". Mandy Miller, a specialist in calligraphy for blackboards, says the fashion for puns and funny comments has come with the growth of social media companies such as Twitter and Instagram. "They rarely say anything about the pub they stand outside or what is on offer, but that's almost irrelevant. It's the photo opportunity that they provide, people like to 'collect' and share them, therefore, the pub gets a mention in the post. The more clever and outlandish the better," says Miller, who goes by the alias "Chalkboard Lady". Roberta Mussato, an Italian passing through Clapham North station which also boasts a whiteboard, is just one enthusiast of the "Thought for the Day". "Either they make you smile or they make you think. In any case it's nice when you're all in the rush and you just take five seconds to read," she says, before getting lost in the fast pace of London life. By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has enjoyed remarkably strong opinion poll numbers since winning power in last October's election but now faces tough decisions that could dent his popularity. Trudeau's Liberals, who quickly ran up a big budget deficit as they boosted spending to help kick-start the economy, have launched extended public consultations on several major issues. When Parliament reconvenes on Monday, the government will have to deliver verdicts on challenging environmental and military questions. "There are some policy issues ... that are going to be difficult to politically manage," said pollster Nik Nanos of Nanos Research. "The key question is: How much political capital will Justin Trudeau expend?" A Nanos Research poll earlier this month asking who Canadians preferred as prime minister put Trudeau at 54.1 percent, compared with 16.5 percent for Rona Ambrose, interim leader of the Conservative Party. Both main opposition parties lack permanent leaders and will not choose replacements until next year. That, say Liberals, means the time for politically risky calls is now, so voter anger can dissipate before the next election in October 2019. Last week, Trudeau received a boost when his high-level pressuring of Chinese officials helped secure the release of Canadian Kevin Garratt, who spent two years in jail and was convicted of spying. [L2N1BS1JP] Ottawa is concerned about the potential blowback from decisions on projects in British Columbia, where the Liberals did better than expected in the last election, said two well-placed political sources. Ministers must rule by the end of September on a liquefied natural gas export project proposed by Petronas [PETRA.UL]. The deadline for Kinder Morgan Inc's plan to expand its Trans Mountain oil pipeline is Dec. 31. Both projects are opposed by green activists, courted by Trudeau in 2015. British Columbia could prove crucial to Trudeau's hopes of winning another majority government in the 2019 election. Ottawa also faces a difficult October summit with the 10 provinces on setting a national price for carbon. Some provinces worry about the potential economic impact, and preparatory talks have bogged down, said one of the political sources. The Liberals will also announce whether they intend to break a pledge to launch a competition for fighter jets. Talk inside military circles is that Ottawa could announce a sole-source contract. "Will there be difficult days and difficult issues? Sure there will be," said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. "It won't always be easy, but if you engage Canadians in the process, you're going to make for better results," he told reporters. Tony Clement of the official opposition Conservatives said Trudeau could not put off hard calls forever. "When you make a decision, maybe somebody's ox is being gored, and that's when the trouble starts," he said. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Cooney) Even by FX standards, Baskets is an out-there comedy series. Louie Andersons win for supporting comedy actor caps a first season in which the show defied the odds against its survival. And thats perfectly in keeping with the theme of the show. This show is all about not fitting in and then fitting in perfectly, he said. Creator Jonathan Krisel really wanted to help people see different kinds of families and embrace those families. Anderson plays the mother of an offbeat family including twin brothers, played by Zach Galifianakis, who work as clowns. Anderson said backstage his win would help get more eyeballs on the show. He added Numbers matter. But in the same breath he noted that FX gave the modestly rated show an early vote of confidence. After five episodes they decided to keep us for another year, he said. Anderson said he has made a deep commitment to the drag performance. Im just one of the gumballs in the machine, he said of being part of the ensemble. He wants people to watch and say Is that Louie Anderson? As for the impact of Baskets on his own career, which was at a low ebb before he was recruited for the part by Krisel, Anderson said he felt it offered him a second chance. He gave credit to his own mother for informing his decisions in his role as the earnest Christine Baskets. Im playing my mom, he said. This is her award. Everything little thing your mother does at some time in your life youll find yourself doing. You might as well just embrace it. Theres nothing you can do. Andersons own troubled childhood has also been a source of inspiration throughout his career. Comedy was a life saver, he said. We live in a society of exclusion, Anderson said. I remember that when I was a kid we lined up in the Projects line and the rich kids line. I remembered that. Ive always had a special place in my heart for being different. Related stories 'Veep' Continues Emmys Streak By Winning Best Comedy Story continues 10 Memorable Quotes From The Primetime Emmy Awards 'Game of Thrones' Rules Primetime Emmys With 12 Wins, Including Best Drama I have not always been a very good man, but I play one hell of a woman. So said Louie Anderson tonight, echoing the opinion of the Television Academy in his acceptance speech after winning the emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Andersons win for playing Christine Baskets, mother of the main characters (played by Zach Galifianakis) on FXs Baskets is believed to be the first time a male actor has landed an acting emmy for playing a (cis) female character. (Jeffrey Tambor of course won the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy last year for playing trans woman Maura Pfefferman on Amazons Transparent). Anderson noted his own mother as informing her performance on Baskets, from whom he said he stole every nuance, shameful look, cruel look, loving look, [and] passive agressive line. The Emmy is Andersons third he previously won twice for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, for his 1990s Fox animated series Life With Louie. His win tonight was presaged somewhat by 68th Emmy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel, who quipped during his opening monologue that I never dreamed that in 2016 my favorite TV mom would be Louise Anderson. Anderson started his own backstage remarks without waiting for a question. These are so much heavier than you think, but then so am I, he joked while hefting his Emmy, adding I am just honored and thrilled and I feel like I stole one from some really talented people. Reiterating his earlier tribute to his mother, Anderson added that he borrows many of his comic bits from her, saying this is her award, Anderson said Baskets is about not fitting in, and then fitting in perfectly We live in a society of exclusion. Anderson also recalled how, as a child, he remembers how the rich kids and the project kids were made to line up in separate lines (he was in the project line). I always had a special place in my heart for being different, he said. As for next season, Anderson says he hopes the show will say to audiences that They werent kidding. They were really serious about this show. Story continues Baskets was renewed in February for a second season, set to air on FX in 2017. Related stories Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo Emmys: Winners (And Losers) Celebrate Into The Wee Hours; What You Didn't See On TV Donald Trump Revels In Emmy Awards Bashing - Update By PTI: Lucknow, Sep 19 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey today disqualified Swami Prasad Maurya, a rebel BSP leader who later defected to BJP, from the membership of the House. An official release issued here said the Speaker has accepted a petition by BSP Legislature Party Leader Gaya Charan Dinkar in this regard and Maurya ceases to be member of the House with effect from June 22. advertisement Dinakar had moved a petition citing the announcement made by Maurya at a press conference on June 22 and subsequent actions to prove that Maurya had on his own quit the party on whose ticket he had been elected. Citing various rules, the BSP said Maurya is no longer qualified to be a member of the party as he quit it on his will and so he should be disqualified from the state Assembly and facilities and emoluments he enjoys as an MLA be withdrawn with effect from from June 22. Maurya, who had quit the party saying he felt "suffocated" and accusing BSP chief Mayawati of "auctioning" tickets for 2017 Assembly polls, subsequently joined BJP. According to Vidhan Sabha officials, Maurya, who was Leader of Opposition before he left BSP, was given two opportunities to present his case but he failed to turn up before the Speaker on both the occasions, giving various reasons. PTI SAB SMI TIR RG TIR --- ENDS --- By Deisy Buitrago and Girish Gupta MARGARITA ISLAND, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reveled in support from leftist allies during a summit of a Cold War-era bloc that wrapped up on Sunday, but critics pilloried him for hosting unpopular leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and for failing to draw many world leaders. It appears only around a dozen heads of state from the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement made it to the meeting held on the Caribbean island of Margarita, just off Venezuela's coast, in a blow for a government keen to bolster its international legitimacy. Authorities did not supply a list of attendees. Maduro, hit by low popularity amid a deep economic crisis, hailed the meeting as a triumph. "This summit, we can say, has been a total success, a victory of Bolivarian diplomacy," Maduro told a news conference minutes after closing the six-day event, referring to Simon Bolivar, Latin American independence hero and idol of the socialist revolution in Venezuela. The movement was formed in 1961 by nations wanting to avoid aligning with the United States or Soviet Union though has dwindled in relevance over the years. The most high-profile heads of states in attendance at Margarita were Mugabe, Cuba's Raul Castro, and Iran's Hassan Rouhani, who passed on the presidency of the group to Venezuela on Saturday. Venezuelan authorities promoted the hashtag #TheWorldWithVenezuela on state broadcasts in a bid to show a domestic audience that Caracas had international support, as Venezuela suffers a severe economic crisis with shortages of basic goods, many complaining of hunger and a high murder rate. The opposition decried spending state funds on a lavish summit during the crisis and many expressed outrage that Mugabe - called a dictator by rights groups - was welcomed with open arms. "This so-called summit is a devastating failure," read astatement from Venezuela's opposition coalition. "It ratifies(Maduro's) international isolation, his diplomatic ineptitude and the world's rejection of a regime that is a global symbol of corruption and incompetence." Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, used the forum to denounce U.S.-led air strikes he said had killed 83 Syrian soldiers, saying they were aimed at sinking a fragile U.S.-Russia ceasefire plan. Others leaders lambasted imperialism and pledged their support to Maduro. Many also called for a reform of the United Nations. Delegates complained privately of a lack of organization, delays and shabby hotels, despite Venezuela's efforts to make Margarita shine by repainting roads, stocking supermarket shelves and boosting security. (Writing by Girish Gupta; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer) Dashing Japanese actor and host Mocomichi Hayami will be in Singapore for the first time to meet his fans and film a special episode of the popular cooking show Mocos Kitchen. On 2 October, fans can meet the 32-year-old up close at a closed-door fan meet, where they stand a chance to win autographed merchandise and take pictures with him. Interested fans and subscribers of Singtel TV channel can visit www.singteltv.com.sg/GEM and take part in a contest, which will end on 25 September 2016. The lucky winners will stand to win photo opportunities with the star, fan meet passes and GEM goodie bags. Mocos first visit to Singapore will also include the filming of a special episode of Mocos Kitchen, where he discovers well-loved local dishes and incorporates local ingredients and flavours into his recipes. Fondly known as the prince of olive oil by his fans for using a lot of olive oil in his recipes, he has also published several cookbooks, one of which won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards Japanese cooking category in 2013. The actor has also starred in dramas such as Absolute Boyfriend, Gokusen 2 and Rebound". MOCOS Kitchen airs on GEM (Singtel TV Channel 519) every Tuesday at 10.10pm. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f214522%2fconcerned_citizen A curious yet uplifting image is doing the rounds on social media, after a solitary, unnamed man stood on the street outside a mosque in Australia over the weekend. The man stood outside the entrance to Yarralumla Mosque on Friday, holding a DIY sign of solidarity that read "Fellow Australians, I apologise for the religious bigots in our society, gov't and media." Simple and effective. SEE ALSO: Man who fought racism with tea gets plenty of praise, pots of tea in return The man appeared just in time for those making their way to midday prayer. And the general consensus online is legend! A very concerned citizen showing a great gesture to his fellow citizens outside #Canberra mosque #auspol #Australia pic.twitter.com/SJvru1EwoS Yas (@YasLone) September 16, 2016 The gesture is refreshing, especially given the maiden speech given by right-wing politician Pauline Hanson only last week in parliament, in which she feared the nation was being "swamped by muslims." Someone trying to short-circuit the cycle of fear precipitated at the fringes. Seen outside a mosque in Canberra. pic.twitter.com/6KqA9eV7Oi Peter Davison (@PeterDavison) September 18, 2016 Thanks mystery man, for proving no protest is too small. Even a solitary fedora-wearing guy on the side of the road can make a difference. All retaliatory options short of war must be explored and executed as it is the issue of maintaining the morale of the army as 20 soldiers, Capt Amarinder said. By Manjeet Sehgal: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Captain Amarinder Singh suggested a strong two pronged retaliatory strategy against Pakistan and the extremist separatist groups in Kashmir for ensuring permanent peace and prevention of any such future strikes by the terrorists today. "All retaliatory options short of war must be explored and executed," he told reporters at an informal interaction. He said, it was the issue of maintaining the morale of the army as 20 soldiers had died in the attack while about 70 others are injured. advertisement "This is absolutely unacceptable," he said, while adding, India should explore the options of pre-emptive strikes as carried out by Israel. READ: Captain Amarinder Singh questions PM's silence over Dalit attacks, calls for intervention ON INDIA'S NUCLEAR CAPABILITY Asked about Pakistan being a nuclear state and the Defence Minister of that country warning retaliatory nuclear strikes, the former chief minister said, "So are we and we have more nuclear arsenal, capacity and capability." "Just because somebody was trying to threaten you, out of own fear and frustration, does not mean you must not retaliate and reciprocate in the same measure," he said. ON GOVERNMENT'S SOFT STANCE ON SEPARATISTS Capt Amarinder attributed the weak and soft policy adopted by the government towards the Kashmiri separatists for the rise of such incidents. "Till you don't break the back of the militancy in Kashmir and those who are aiding and guiding it, they will not come to the negotiating table", he said, while calling for ending the appeasement policy. "Don't talk to anybody till you don't break the back of the militancy there", he advised the government of India, adding, that the goodwill missions do not serve any purpose under these circumstances and these goodwill gestures are only taken to be as weakness. The former chief minister also sought an inquiry into the lapses that led to the attack and loss of so many precious lives in Uri. He said, the commanding officer and the brigade commandant responsible must be taken to task as it was a serious lapse on their part. Also read - Seventh Pay Commission: Captain Amarinder asks Parrikar to stand by Defence forces --- ENDS --- Ahmad Khan Rahami, named as a person of interest in bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey on Saturday, filed a lawsuit in 2011 against the Elizabeth, New Jersey, police force, claiming officers harassed him and his family for being Muslim, PEOPLE confirms. Rahami, 28, was apprehended Monday morning in Linden, New Jersey, following a shootout with police that injured Rahami and two officers, PEOPLE confirms. A small bomb was allegedly recovered from the area. Five years ago, Rahami, his father, and his brother filed a federal civil suit against Elizabeth and its police department, alleging that officers tried to "harass and intimidate" them at First American Fried Chicken, the restaurant owned by Rahami's parents, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. The suit alleges that between 2008 and 2011, officers were dispatched to the restaurant on numerous occasions to issue summonses for allegedly staying open past 10 p.m., which is illegal. But the suit alleges the summonses were "baseless" and "unfounded." The lawsuit additionally names a local businessman, alleging he was the one who kept calling Elizabeth police to complain about First American Fried Chicken's hours of operation. The suit alleges this businessman, who could not be reached for comment, has a history of making discriminatory comments about Muslims. According to the suit, the businessman entered Rahami's parents' restaurant soon after it first opened, and commented, "You are Muslims," and "Muslims make too much trouble in this country." Man Detained in New York-Area Bombings Filed Lawsuit Against Local Police Claiming Ethnic Discrimination| Crime & Courts, Terrorism, True Crime Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. The businessman also allegedly said "Muslims don't belong here." The suit alleges local police did little to verify the validity of the complaints, and that the harassment from the police visits forced the Rahamis to close their business promptly at 10 p.m., resulting in substantial revenue losses. In its response, lawyers for the Elizabeth Police Department denied all of the allegations against it outlined in the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Newark, says that the family is from Afghanistan and are all Muslims who have owned the chicken restaurant since 2002. Court records show the lawsuit was resolved in 2012, when a judge moved to dismiss the filing. Rahami lived with his parents above the fried chicken restaurant. Saturday night's explosion in Chelsea injured 29 people, all of whom have since been released from the hospital, NBC News reports. New Jersey State Police said Monday that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected, according to multiple reports. No one was injured in the Seaside Park bombing. A federal source confirms to PEOPLE that the same model flip-style cell phone was used as a detonator for the two bombs in Chelsea (a second device was discovered on Saturday night and disarmed by authorities) and the bomb that went off ahead of a charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey, which is about 85 miles south of Manhattan. Both bombings occurred within hours of each other on Saturday. The federal source says Rahami is considered separate from the five people who were detained by the FBI on Sunday night. Those individuals were taken in for questioning during a traffic stop at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the bridge that connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. The FBI states that no one has been charged with any crime as the investigation is ongoing. Early Monday morning a police robot detonated a backpack full of pipe bombs in Elizabeth, which is about 20 miles from Manhattan. A federal source tells PEOPLE that it unclear if the same style of flip-phone was connected to the bombs found in Elizabeth. The source adds that investigators believe the five persons of interest detained are from Elizabeth, New Jersey, but have not yet confirmed any connection to the devices found there overnight. When Mark Burnett was asked in the press room about Emmy host Jimmy Kimmels joke at the onset of tonights show, specifically how The Apprentice producer is responsible for propping the popularity of GOP candidate Donald Trump, The Voice Emmy winner beamed Its easy to be a good sport.Im sure Donald is thrilled, I bet you hes emailing Jimmy now! Kimmel quipped earlier tonight Thanks to Mark Burnett, we dont have to watch reality shows anymore because were living in one. The late night talk show host also joked that if Trump gets into office, Burnett would be the first one thrown over the GOPs planned Mexico-United States border wall. Following Burnetts reality/competition Emmy win for The Voice tonight, Kimmel ribbed, That Emmy is going on the hood of Trumps limousine! How do you feel about Donald Trump? leaned one reporter backstage, refusing to accept Burnetts polite response. The reality TV guru dodged, How much free media can any one person get? indicating how Trump is the last person to be upset about his name being dropped on the show, whether its good or bad. Said Burnett, I think its an example really about how everything is changing whether its big business or politics. Burnett then ended his answer with an acronym that threw the whole press room off: Its all MFMO. Its mobile first or media over. Related stories Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo Emmys: Winners (And Losers) Celebrate Into The Wee Hours; What You Didn't See On TV Mark Cuban In the course of only a couple months, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban has become one of Hillary Clinton's most stalwart defenders while becoming arguably Donald Trump's most fiercely antagonistic critics on Twitter. "It's always fun because it takes two seconds to pop out 140 characters and get people riled up," Cuban said in a recent interview with Business Insider. "Sometimes, in some situations, it's a decent response. Or it raises decent questions." Cuban regularly fires off scathing tweets at the Republican nominee. So frequently, in fact, that during a Friday interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Trump said Cuban "sends me so many different tweets" and promised to send her "all of the Mark Cuban tweets and conversations." Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," responded to Trump's comments by (per usual) launching into a tweetstorm directed at him. Cuban offered Trump $10 million to let him interview the GOP nominee for four hours about his policies. He playfully trolled Trump by saying that "if you need it," he'd let Trump keep the $10 million as opposed to donating the money to charity. "Groundrules are that you can't mention the Clintons or discuss anything other than the details and facts of [your] plans and no one else is in the room to help," he continued. "Just me, you and a broadcast crew. Deal?" On the other hand, Cuban frequently stands up for Clinton, the Democratic nominee. His most frequent defenses have come regarding critiques over her use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state and for allegations of "pay to play" stemming from the Clinton Foundation. Cuban has engaged in back-and-forths with prominent business-backers of Trump, such as billionaire investor Carl Icahn and former General Electric CEO Jack Welch. He's also locked himself into a nearly day-long battle with top Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Story continues Mark Cuban quote It's rare to find a day since late July, when Cuban endorsed the former secretary of state at a rally in his hometown of Pittsburgh, during which Cuban isn't either sticking up for Clinton or antagonizing Trump on the social-media platform. During the interview with Business Insider, Cuban said the ease of getting his message out on Twitter is one of the reasons he's been increasingly political on the platform. He called his approach to his political tweets "common-sense," pointing to his frequent defense of Clinton's use of a private email server and her handling of classified information. "That's one of my pet peeves because everybody likes to talk about the emails," he said. "The emails. OK, OK. Well, the real issue is, how did she deal with classified documents?" "How do you think she dealt with classified documents?" he continued, noting her statement that she used hard copies of the information. "Of course she did! But no one knows because no one trusts her and they don't ask the obvious question." Becoming one of the more active and followed political tweeters of the election cycle, Cuban said he attracts a large amount of colorful disagreement. "But they crack me up," he said. "It comes with the turf. They're a pretty entertaining. I mean, you get the anti-Semitism hate, death threats, all of that kind of stuff." "But beyond the noise, there's relatively little signal," he continued. "Every now and then something that sparks something that makes me think, and that's a good thing." NOW WATCH: We spent an afternoon at the Trump Winery in Virginia and it wasn't what we expected at all More From Business Insider Markus Zimmer is stepping down as managing director of Concorde Filmverleih, one of Germanys top independent film distributors, after 17 years in the role. Zimmer, who has also served as head of film acquisitions and as a producer for the Tele Muenchen Group for 20 years, said Monday that he would leave the company at the end of this year at his own request to pursue new projects. Zimmer was responsible for the acquisition of more than 250 feature films during his two decades at Tele Muenchen Group (TMG), as well as their subsequent release by Concorde. These ranged from the blockbuster Twilight (pictured) and Iron Man franchises to Oscar winners The Queen and The Iron Lady, and titles by celebrated auteurs including Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), Terrence Malick (The Tree Of Life), Lars von Trier (Dogville) and Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus). The Twilight franchise was Zimmers most successful acquisition and release, grossing more than 129.2 million ($173.8 million) for Concorde in Germany. The Twilight films make up five of the companys top six performing titles of all time, according to comScore. Top Concorde releases in 2016 have included the final part of Felix Fuchssteiners time-travel trilogy Emerald Green (Smaragdgrun), which grossed 4 million ($4.6 million); the final theatrical feature in the YA Divergent series, Allegiant, ($4.1 million); and Swedish comedy A Man Called Ove ($3.9 million). Markus Zimmer is the most defining personality in my more than 40 years professional experience in the feature-film sector, said Herbert G. Kloiber, chairman of TMG. His incredibly sound knowledge, his prudent, always considered actions and, above all, his outstanding reliability and taste enabled him to become a supporting pillar of the Tele Muenchen Group. Holger Fuchs, currently head of marketing and sales at rival Constantin Film, has been tapped to succeed Zimmer as head of distribution for Concorde from Jan. 1, 2017. Story continues Related stories TMG at 45: Film Arm Concorde Carves Out Unique Market Niche Film Review: 'The Misplaced World' TMG's Herbert Kloiber Feted With France's Legion of Honor We need to focus on South and Central American refugee crisis as well as Middle Eastern. 65 million have been displaced on this earth and the amount we give in aide is a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. We need a new Marshall plan to figure out what to do today. SAN SEBASTIAN Few competition films entered San Sebastian with the buzz of Rodrigo Sorogoyens May God Save Us, a grueling, grimy, melancholic thriller about men who cannot control their actions. The movie is a serial-killer procedural which unspools in a hot Madrid overrun by the pilgrims because of a visit by the pope. Sorogoyen turned heads with his crowdfunded Stockholm, about a one-night stand between a girl on the edge of a nervous breakdown and a guy who just wants to have sex and leave. Sorogoyen continues that study of male psychology in Que Dios Nos Perdone (May God Save Us), but with a big step up in scale, budget and producing team. One backer, Tornasol, won an Academy Award for The Secret in Their Eyes, while another, Atresmedia Cine, produced movies by Woody Allen. May God Save Us is multi-layered in its themes of friendship, violence and institutionalized dereliction of duty, and is set in a dilapidated central Madrid where the old and infirm cant afford Philippine live-in carers. The movie is laced with the quirks and foibles of Spain and its people. Sorogoyen talked to Variety about the film. One central question about May God Save Us is what is its driving force, and that, I think, is only really defined in the ultimate shot of the film. This is a story of the across-the-tracks friendship between Velarde and Alamo, who are diametrically opposed in almost everything: social circumstance, character and, one suspects, politics. Sorogoyen: The theme of friendship in the film was really secondary until we started shooting. Obviously we really liked the relationship between them and the journey they make from complete disinterest to absolute respect. But it was only once we started work with the actors (and thanks to their work) that the film eventually became the story of two people who felt alone and found, in the least likely person, a partner to see themselves reflected in, to gain support, respect, to learn from, and to love, and why not? These are things that everyone needs. Story continues This is also a film, however, about men who cant control their bodies, and women who are victims. The film questions to what extent Velarde and Alamo are so different from the killer. Some of the mens violence can be put down to circumstance, career frustration, but the violence appears to run deeper, being the result of both nature and nurture. Sorogoyen: First and foremost, we wanted to talk about violence violence within human beings but also the violence of modern societies, and cities where violent behaviors occur. It was our intention to do just that: think of a three-way relationship between characters, who are different and complementary. Its curious a psychiatrist friend told us that we had created three psychopaths who related to violence in a very different but very recognizable way. The film adopts a sometimes lacerating take on Madrids police force: one cop Alonsos astonishing dereliction of duty by not reporting a rape; Sancho, the homicide squad boss attempt to cover up the crimes since he didnt want news of a serial killer raping and killing old ladies to get out during the popes visit to Madrid. Yet Alonso rallies round and finally helps Velarde and Alamo try to save the case. The vision of the police is sometimes damning, but not without nuance. Sorogoyen: When we spoke with police to gather information they made it clear to us that being police is like any other job. They talk about the same things, and behave the same as any other government official, doctors or lawyers. We took that statement as a mantra, and we created an office and a universe of characters that could be in an office in any other profession. Thus Sancho, the boss, could behave as you suggest; another cop could be negligent, though he tries to make up for that. That makes the vision of these characters and the film natural, realistic, making the confrontation with violence that appears throughout the film that much more shocking. The film is filmed in widescreen and using an often handheld camera. The net effect is to include a lot of the clutter of office: cables, old computers, mildewed walls, file stacks, dingy basements. There is a sense of chaos and the absolute impossibility of betterment in interior design.Could you talk about the films cinematography? Sorogoyen: We wanted to portray the chaos of a normal office. We believed, as I explained earlier, that it linked better to the more movie style second part of the film. Because of this, in terms of visual style we split the film in two. The first 65 minutes, everything is handheld and done with open optics. We were looking for the ugliness and closeness between human beings a more documentary style, if you will. The second part, when the story darkens (there is an increasing violence and the characters begin to feel more lost), we used a steady-cam, harmonious movements, zooms.We wanted to be elegant, more aesthetic, and to create a discomfort in the spectator because he would like what he was seeing (because of its elegance) but be discomfited by the squalor and violence. The film comes in at two hours on the dot. One senses that you needed such a length to make the audience sense just how grueling this case is and its toll on the homicide cops private lives. Would you agree? Sorogoyen: It is indeed a long movie, but I think it has good pacing and is not at all boring. The length helps tell everything we felt necessary to explain the crime story well and to show the personal lives of the characters. We believe that without that balance the film would be a movie more than a story about these police. We think that if the film is any way special its because it talks about human beings. The mise-en-scene sometimes recalls the 50s and 60s Madrid-set movies of Fernando Fernan-Gomez and Luis Berlanga, but transferred to a procedural.Did you have any influences, which you could mention? Sorogoyen: Thank you! Obviously for me those are movies I love, and that attention to cultural detail and naturalism is where we wanted to focus. Cinematographer Alex Paul and I also referenced films that we love such as Gomorrah, A Prophet, Zodiac and Seven, or the police films of 70s America like French Connection, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.' Related stories San Sebastian: Mexico's Pimienta Films Boards Teodora Ana Mihai's Drug drama 'La Civil' San Sebastian Film Review: 'Smoke and Mirrors' Savage Cinema's 'Surfer's Blood' Explores the Spell of Surfing PM Modi, who is on three-day Gujarat visit, laid the foundation stone of C-295 aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara. During his visit, which comes ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections later this year, PM Modi will also launch a host of projects in different parts of the state. Stay tuned with Indiatody.in to get all LIVE updates on PM Modi's Gujarat visit. By Guy Faulconbridge NEW YORK (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May met business chiefs from firms including Goldman Sachs, IBM and Amazon.com on Monday in an attempt to reassure investors after her country's shock vote to leave the European Union. The June 23 vote took many investors and chief executives by surprise, triggering the deepest political and financial turmoil in Britain since World War Two and the biggest ever one-day fall in sterling against the dollar. "Every working day in the United Kingdom one million people wake up and go to work for an American company. And every day in the United States one million people wake up and go to work for a UK company," May told the business leaders. "So you see there is reciprocity," said May, who is in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. "The UK is going to be out there. We will be looking for business. And ladies and gentlemen, please feel free to invest in the UK." May said that she wanted to hear what issues business leaders wanted addressed in the Brexit negotiations, which she said would yield a good deal in the trade of goods and services with the EU. Chief executives from AECOM, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Merck & Co, Sony Pictures and United Technologies Corp also attended the meeting. The head of Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, also attended. May first had a closed meeting with major investors and Wall Street banks before addressing dozens of other executives at a wider reception. Despite warnings before the vote that Brexit would shatter economic confidence, some positive economic data and SoftBank's $32 billion takeover of Britain's technology company ARM have stoked the perception that Britain could prosper outside the EU. Still, May and her ministers admit they need to reassure investors from the United States, Japan, China and India that the United Kingdom and London, the only financial capital to rival New York, are still good places to make money. The United States is the largest single inward investor into Britain, which currently attracts far more foreign direct investment than any other EU member. When asked what they wanted to hear from May, one business leader at the meeting who asked not to be named said: "Reassurance." "BREXIT MEANS BREXIT" Some investors have called for clarity about how much access foreign companies based or operating out of Britain will have to the European market, a concern for some U.S. banks and manufacturers which sell into the EU from Britain. Other issues include when and how Brexit will happen. May, who has repeatedly pledged that "Brexit means Brexit", has so far said only that she will not trigger the formal EU divorce process before the end of this year. "We will be getting the right deal for the United Kingdom and that is the right deal in terms of trade in goods and services because we recognise the importance of both," May said. "At the same time we want to scope out new deals around the world to further liberalise trade between the UK and other partners around the world," she added. U.S. President Barack Obama said this month that he wanted the Brexit process to be resolved in the least disruptive way possible, though both France and Germany face elections next year which could complicate the Brexit negotiations. Before the vote, some U.S. companies had warned that Brexit would complicate their lives and could cost jobs. Those included JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who has 16,000 staff based in Britain. British companies reduced their investment plans in the month after Britain voted to leave the EU, a survey by Lloyds Bank showed on Monday, a further sign the decision is likely to have a lasting impact on the economy. Last month, the Bank of England left its forecast for British growth this year steady at 2.0 percent but cautioned that there might be little growth in the second half and sharply downgraded its forecast for 2017 to just 0.8 percent from a previous estimate of 2.3 percent. "What I really wanted to talk to you about tonight is just very simply to say this: Britain is open for business," May said. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Grant McCool and Bill Rigby) At Nela Richardsons first job, she was a fly on the wall, she recalls, as the greatest financial disaster of the modern era unfolded in front of her. Richardson was an economist at Freddie Mac at the height of the housing bubble, and she witnessed some of the brightest minds in her field get blindsided by the crisis. The lesson? Even the best thinkers miss black-swan events they never thought theyd never overlook. And the most valuable skill an economist can possess isnt arithmeticits humility. Richardson grew up in deindustrializing Indiana, a state with long ties to the Ku Klux Klan, where she developed a fascination with the problems of economic development and social justice. She was the daughter of a single mother, and in high school, she traveled her home states small towns as the state debate champion. It was an education, she said, in learning to engage with people who think very differently. That education continued at Indiana University, where she tripled majored in math, philosophy, and economics, before going on to earn her masters and Ph.D. Richardson is now chief economist at Redfin, an online real estate brokerage and research firm. She leads the companys efforts to leverage their vast database to inform consumers about the still convalescent housing market. Her focus of late has been on the headwinds facing the middle class and working class as it tries to achieve the American dream. At Freddie Mac, we talked about making housing affordable, but thats just half the story, Richardson says. It has to be livable too. That means that communities must have great schools, job opportunities, a mechanism for upward mobility. To that end, the startup has come out with data sets on not just home prices, but also walkability of different neighborhoods, proximity to good jobs, and neighborhood trends. Thats along with regular information on the market itself and where its heading. A hobbyhorse of Richardsons is making information more transparent, and easily available to people that need it, something she strives for in publishing her research at Redfin. Often, good information can be the difference between economic mobility and bad investment decisions. Richardson recalls that growing up, that the more information that was available to her, the bigger the world became: I think that comes from being a girl from small town Indiana with big dreams. (MEMPHIS, Tenn.) Political leaders in Tennessees two largest cities are taking steps toward marijuana decriminalization with ordinances that would allow police to reduce the penalty for people who possess small amounts of it. Nashvilles Metropolitan Council is set to take a final vote on its ordinance on Tuesday, while the Memphis City Council is scheduled to make its decision Oct. 4. Both cities have similar proposals on the table: Police who encounter people in possession of a half-ounce or less of marijuana have the discretion of giving them a civil citation for a $50 fine or community service. Such a penalty is in stark contrast to Tennessee law, which calls for people caught with a half-ounce of marijuana or less to face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Nashville and Memphis are trying to join more than two dozen other U.S. cities that have taken steps to decriminalize marijuana, including Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Miami, said John Marek, executive director of the Memphis chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Marek said he hopes state legislators are paying attention to the city ordinances. We do hope that it sends a signal that its time to consider decriminalization and medical marijuana on the state level, Marek said. Supporters of the ordinances say the new approach to simple marijuana-possession offenses will allow officers to spend more time on the streets fighting serious crimes, rather than locking people up for minor ones. Many say they also will help eliminate racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests. A September 2014 report by the Center on Juvenile Justice and Criminal Reform, citing statistics in five states that implemented marijuana reforms, concluded that blacks were more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses than all other races and ethnicities. These low-level drug offenses hit harder on poor and minority communities, the Black Caucus of State Legislators noted in a letter to the Memphis City Council supporting the ordinance. Story continues U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the Memphis Democrat who has pushed marijuana decriminalization and other types of criminal justice reform in the U.S. House, agreed. In a letter supporting the Memphis ordinance, he wrote that it would keep young people in the city, disproportionately African-Americans, from being subject to convictions that can affect their future or current employment and create a barrier to scholarship and housing opportunities. Memphis City Council member Berlin Boyd, who is black, sponsored the ordinance after watching the positive response it received in Nashville. The Nashville ordinance was gradual, coming a year after a failed attempt to hold a public referendum on the issue. Nashville Metro Councilman Russ Pulley, a former police officer and FBI agent, says the goal is not to take it easy on offenders who are arrested for more serious crimes or who have a violent criminal past. In no way, shape or form would this inhibit the police to conduct those types of investigations and take guns off the street, said Pulley, who is co-sponsoring the Nashville ordinance. Neither city has seen a groundswell of opponents, but there has been some pushback. Gov. Bill Haslam told reporters in late August that he is not a fan of the ordinances. While I do think weve had some people who have spent more time in jail than they need to for that, Im not in favor of decriminalizing that, he said. Some state lawmakers have questioned whether the ordinances and their reduced punishments conflict with the stiffer penalties required by state law. Republican State Rep. William Lamberth, chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee, has said he is considering filing a bill in the next legislative session that would withhold state highway funds from cities that fail to enforce the state marijuana law. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said she wonders if city officials are posing a solution for a problem that doesnt really exist. Last year in Memphis, she said, only 333 of the approximately 200,000 cases her office reviewed involved simple possession as the only charge. In Nashville, Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson was initially opposed to the language in the proposal, which said offenders shall be issued a citation for a $50 civil penalty. He says he is now neutral on the issue after the language was changed from shall to may, allowing officers to use their discretion. State Rep. Raumesh Akbari, a member of the Black Caucus of State Legislators, said she just hopes officers use that discretion fairly with both whites and blacks. Any time you give discretion to anyone, sometimes their personal interactions or their biases might come into the picture, Akbari said. By Paul Carrel and Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would turn back time if she could to better prepare Germany for last year's migrant influx, striking a conciliatory tone and taking some blame for her party's drubbing in a Berlin city vote on Sunday. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered their second electoral blow in two weeks in Sunday's vote in the capital, slumping to their lowest level since 1990 in the state election in which voters rejected her open-door refugee policy. "I take my share of the responsibility that lies with me as party chairwoman and chancellor," Merkel, sounding the most conciliatory she has in over a decade in office, told a news conference. In prepared remarks, Merkel said she would do things differently if she could go back again and prepare better to cope with the influx of around one million migrants who flooded into Germany last year. "If I could, I would turn back the time by many, many years," Merkel said, sounding particularly sombre. Commenting on a recent poll showing 82 percent of voters wanted a change in her migrant policy, she added: "If I knew what change in policy people wanted, I would be ready to consider it and to talk about it." "But the poll does not give any advice on that," she added. A backlash against her migrant policy has raised questions about whether Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader, will stand for a fourth term next year. Given a dearth of options in her party, however, she is still the most likely candidate. Asked whether she will run again next year, Merkel smiled and declined to comment. She said she was still motivated. A year before the national election, the Berlin result has deepened rifts in her conservative camp, with her CDU and their Bavarian allies -- the Christian Social Union (CSU) -- blaming each other within minutes of Sunday's results. The CSU wants to cap the number of migrants coming into Germany at 200,000 a year. Merkel has so far rejected such a ceiling, but sounded ready for compromise. She said that if the wish of the German people was for the country not to be swamped with uncontrolled and unregulated migration "then that is exactly what I am fighting for". Merkel is pushing for a European solution to the migration challenge by securing the continent's external borders, agreeing migration deals with countries like Turkey and distributing refugees across Europe. The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which with 14 percent of the vote will enter its 10th of the country's 16 regional assemblies, said it would target a double digit score in next year's national vote after the "terrific" Berlin result. "More and more people are convinced and recognising that we are a real alternative not just for Berlin but for Germany," AfD co-leader Joerg Meuthen told a news conference in the capital. (Reporting by Paul Carrel and Michelle Martin; Editing by Noah Barkin and Catherine Evans) Aged 16, Sameer has endured more terror than most adults will ever know. Six months of forced conscription with the Taliban back home in the Afghan province of Kunduz, by his own account. A death-defying escape, alone at age 14, through Iran, that included border guards shooting at him. Squeezing into a packed refugee boat from Turkey to Greece, and hiding himself on trains across most of Europe, until he finally staggered, last December, into the town of Calais a sodden patch of bush and sand on Frances northern coast, across the Channel from Britain. Nine months on, however, the final leg of the journey to the U.K. is proving the hardest of alla daunting hurdle that marks Calais as the end of the line for many refugees, and in many respects, a microcosm of the legal and political morass at the center of the worlds biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Slender, with a dimpled smile and a mop of unruly hair, the boy has spent more than two of his teenage years drifting solo across the globe. Yet he is still trying to reach his brother and uncle in London, by sneaking aboard cargo trucks headed across the Channel, in a nightly death-defying game of chicken with French and British police. I have tried countless times, he says with a wry laugh, speaking via a translator as he curled up on a mat in a small donated recreational vehicle parked in Calais unofficial refugee camp known as the jungle. He says French police fired teargas canisters at him during his attempt the night before. Like other young refugees in Calais, he agreed to talk on condition his real name was not used, for fear of complicating his chances for asylum. The night we spoke, an icy wind howled and rain pummeled the roof of his temporary home. He said the fierce weather could mean fewer police, and slower trafficbetter conditions, perhaps, to slip past 12-foot barbed-wire fences and three border checkpoints. When we first came last winter it was so much easier, he says. Now, it is very, very difficult. Story continues On Monday, world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. global summit on refugees and migrants and will try to tackle the biggest exodus in generationsa staggering 65 million people displaced from their homes across the planet. The one-day program includes speeches about the root causes and drivers of migration. President Obama will hold a second summit on Tuesday specifically on the subject of refugees, in an attempt to push leaders into greater commitments. But few are counting on success; negotiations have already stalled over which countries should shoulder major responsibility for refugees, with officials warning on Monday that it could take two more years to reach an agreement. For the young teenagers in Calais so-called jungle, that is time they no longer have. Amid the sprawl of leaky tents and rickety shelters staked into the mud, conditions here are dire. The British aid organization Help Refugees on Monday estimated the number of refugees in Calais at more than 10,188, with 1,022 or them unaccompanied minors younger than 18a spike of about 51% above numbers counted in August, it said. French officials dispute the number, estimating Calais refugees at about 7,000, of which 1,500 women and children or so sleep in government-sanctioned containers. The rest are crammed in about 1.5 square miles of scrub, with no electricity or plumbing. The driving rainstorm during my visit last Friday was a mild foretaste of the gnawing winter closing in on northern Europe. Since Britain and France have declared the jungle an illicit migrant settlement, rather than a refugee camp, there are no U.N. relief organizations here, unlike the camps in Greece, Jordan and elsewhere. Legally, the jungle does not exist. There is chronic overcrowding, and there are shortages of donated food, shoes, toilet paper, water, firewoodin fact, of everything. Volunteers from Care4Calais, a 10-month-old British relief group, pick their way through the dirt tracks every afternoon, handing out coupons to refugees, which they can exchange for limited quantities of items like toothpaste, toilet paper, razors and clothes, donated by well-wishers in France and Britain. Now even those relief efforts could be under threat. On Sept. 7, Britain announced it would shortly build a 13-foot wall in Calais to stop refugees crossing the Channel illegally. And French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve declared that France intends to demolish the entire encampment soon, and disburse the refugees to small centers across France. In March, French officials demolished the southern half of the camp, in an effort to cut the numbers in Calais. It resulted instead in greater overcrowding, with more people than ever squeezed into the remaining area. Aid groups warn the strategy is doomed; in fact, several French mayors have stated they will not willingly accept the refugees. People will come back, and the police will need to chase them day after day, says Alexandra Simmons, a team leader for Care4Calais, who has worked in the jungle since February. This is going to be violent, for sure, she predicts. People wont stay in government centers. They are determined to go to the U.K. So determined are they, some are prepared to take deadly risks. Hours before TIME arrived in Calais last Friday, an unnamed 14-year-old Afghan boy was killed falling off a truck he had sneaked aboard near the entrance to the Channel, in a desperate attempt to make it to England. Witnesses told relief workers another driver struck the boy after he fell, killing him in a hit-and-run accident. It was the 13th death so far this year of people trying to sneak into Britain from Calais. Like Sameer, he was trying to reach a brother and uncle in London. Tragically, those deaths should not occurat least in terms of the law. Under the U.Ks so-called Dubs Amendament, named for the British peer Lord Alf Dubs who has championed the refugee cause, the U.K. Parliament last May granted unaccompanied minors younger than 18 the right to asylum in Britain, even if they do not have any close relatives in the country. Those with relatives in Britain, like Sameer and the dead boy, are also entitled to be transferred to Britain from Calais, under the international so-called Dublin rules governing migrants. In practice, however, migrants and volunteers say the system has all but ground to a halt. Refugees say months of delays and bureaucratic demands that are almost impossible to meet have left them deeply skeptical that there is any legal path to asylum. Sameer, for example, is required to provide his original identity documents, which he says his mother has been unable to send from Kunduz. Almost all the teenage refugees arrive without documentsleaving officials to guess their age, or take their word for it. As the bleak light faded on Friday evening, five teenagers from Eritrea squeezed into another recreational vehicle, out of a rainstorm, and described their harrowing odysseys through the Sahara, into Libya, and across the Mediterranean in overpacked boats to Europe, where they are stillmany months after arriving in Calaisattempting to reach Britain. Most said they had no relatives there; they are, in the jungles parlance, Dubs kidsvulnerable children who are, in theory, eligible to be resettled in Britain. But the delays seem literally interminable. I arrived in the jungle 11 months ago, says 15-year-old Aron (not his real name), who appears far younger, in his cropped trousers and sandals. Aron arrived in Calais with no proof of identity, since he lost his only documenta school cardin the Sahara, he says. One of five children, he says he fled Eritreas long military conscription, and that his older brother has advised him not to settle anywhere but Britain. Despite the dismal conditions in the Calais jungle, there is a widespread belief among the teenage refugees that the U.K. is far more welcoming than Francean impression underscored in the minds of jungle residents by months of teargas battles in Calais with French police. It is so difficult here, but my brother says I must go to England. So I have to keep trying, Aron says. He is not alone in facing intense difficulties. Across Europe, hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in various forms of legal purgatory, waiting for labyrinthine asylum procedures to take their course, or scrambling to find legal loopholes, while governments argue over how many of them they will accept as refugees. As darkness fell on the jungle, a relief volunteers mobile phone rang in the jungles makeshift Eritrean churchan impressive structure with a belfry and tall steeple hammered together from scraps of wood and plastic sheeting. Three teenage Eritrean girls had been arrested by French police on a train from Germany. Since they were underage, the police did not arrest them, but instead dropped them at a train station and left them to find their own way to Calais. Aid workers picked them up at Calais station late Friday night. The girls journey underscored how difficult it might be during the coming months for French and British officials to stop thousands trying to cross to Britain from Calais, despite the risks. On the blustery, cold Friday night, Aron and his Eritrean friends plotted that nights attemptjust the latest in the countless number of failed crossings to Britain. Friday nights run failed too, and they returned to the jungle. But having lost so much, and come so far, turning back homeor anywhere else, for that matterseems a far-off option to them. Donald Trump's running mate says if elected he would model his vice presidency after Dick Cheney. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence told ABC's This Week in an interview that aired Sunday that he holds Cheney "in really high regard." Cheney served two terms as vice president under George W. Bush and was known for playing an active role in the Bush White House. Pence is a former 12-year congressman and says he envisions emulating Cheney in working closely with the House and Senate to implement Trump's agenda. Pence says he has talked with Trump about what his role would be, but declined to talk more about "our private conversations." Pence also said that "birtherism" is no longer an issue for the Republican presidential nominee. Pence declared on ABC's This Week that "it's over." Host Martha Raddatz replied: "It's not over." On Sunday news shows, Pence, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others said Trump's comments Friday acknowledging that President Barack Obama was born in the United States cancels out Trump's five years of suggesting otherwise. The surrogates also insisted that a confidant of Hillary Clinton's started peddling the theory that Obama was born in Kenya, that Trump has been a victim of unfair media coverage over the issue, and that Americans don't care about the issue, anyway. Trump on Friday ly claimed that Clinton had started the birther discussion. Pence is campaigning in Florida this weekend and was scheduled to be interviewed about his faith by a minister in Jacksonville at a church service Sunday. Read more: Multiple People Injured in New York City Building Explosion By Ashish Pandey: Former union minister and Congress veteran B Janardhana Poojary on Sunday offered "urulu seve" by rolling over the floor at Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Temple in Mangalore for the early solution of Cauvery water dispute. After offering special pooja the 79-year-old Congress leader said, "I prayed to the god for his divine intervention in the Cauvery water dispute as the apex court is expected to take up the issue on September 19 and 20 so that Karnataka state gets a favourable verdict " advertisement CM CONSPICUOUS BY HIS ABSENCE However, the Congress leader had invited the chief minister of Karnataka for the special prayers for the prosperity of state he had to offer the pooja alone as Siddaramaiah didn't turned up. When asked about the Kanada CM's absence he said, "Let the chief minister work to collect necessary documents so that he can present a strong case in court during the upcoming hearing". Poojary, who practised law as a barrister earlier, too offered such prayers for different reasons like rainfall as well as for the good health of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He believes that this time too his prayers will help the state to restore prosperity and peace. Also read: Janardhana Poojary accuses Karnataka govt of derailing MK Ganapathy case to protect politician Cauvery crisis: Bengaluru on the boil, Siddaramaiah to hold cabinet meet today --- ENDS --- Minneapolis (AFP) - Dahir Ahmed Adan, the Somali American named as the perpetrator of the weekend stabbing rampage in Minnesota, was a high-achieving student with no known history of violence. Adan -- who police said was 20 years old, but community members said was 22 -- was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman after Saturday's attack, which the Islamic State group claimed as the work of one of its "soldiers". Members of St Cloud's close-knit Somali refugee community expressed shock that one of their own had stabbed 10 people at a mall in the city 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of the state capital St Paul. Adan's father, in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said his son was born in Kenya but grew up in the United States. He said he had "no suspicion" of his son having any ties to terrorism. The younger Adan graduated with honors from a local high school and was attending a nearby university, said local Abdul Kulane. "He worked part-time as a private security officer," Kulane told a Sunday news conference. "He was helpful to his family and as far as we know, he never had a violent history, as far as his family and the community can remember. He was a friendly and active community member." Adam Hammer, a spokesman for St. Cloud State University, told AFP that Adan's "intended" major was information systems. Hammer said Adan's last semester at the college was in the Spring of this year, and he had not registered for the Fall semester. Kulane said "the families are grieving and are in dismay... And the entire community (is) shocked by this incident." A news agency with ties to IS claimed the St Cloud attack was carried out by a jihadist "soldier," and President Barack Obama said Monday that the FBI was investigating the incident as a "potential act of terrorism." Police in St Cloud said the attacker was dressed in a private security guard uniform and had made "some references to Allah" before the stabbing spree. Story continues "He asked at least one person if they were Muslim," St Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson told a news conference. The Minnesota attack came the same day as bombings in New York and New Jersey, which stoked terror fears less than 50 days before the US presidential election. Police wounded and captured a 28-year-old Afghan-born American in connection with those attacks. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f214949%2f86e89efad5d44e53adbaa82ac43eb102 LONDON Grand entrances just aren't all that impressive unless you're on horseback. SEE ALSO: Totally chill horses attend a church service because, why wouldn't they? One model at Prophetik's London Fashion Week show went for a full-blown jaw-dropping entrance, as she arrived on horseback at Freemason's Hall. Hessle, the "black beauty horse", was ridden by Feya, "the designer's Raven Queen" at the show on Sept. 17, according to an Instagram post by the fashion house. The golden hour at the Prophetik "Nevermore" catwalk show at London fashion week. Hessle the black beauty horse and Feya the designer's Raven queen. #jeffgarner #lfw #sustainablefashion #nevermorecollection @lucychoilondon A photo posted by Jeff Garner | Prophetik (@prophetik) on Sep 18, 2016 at 6:31pm PDT The model wore a jet-black full-length gown with feathered shoulders and a crown to add even more dramatic effect. One of the beautiful models arriving to open the @prophetik SS17 show on a horse last night! #prophetik pic.twitter.com/Nw6Noey6xf Forward PR (@ForwardPR) September 18, 2016 Someone call this woman an Uber, people. The woman on the other end of the frantic 911 call Patsy Ramsey made in December 1996 after finding a ransom note for her 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet, but before the girl was found dead spoke out for the first time Sunday in the premiere of CBS' The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey. Kim Archuleta, the Boulder, Colorado, 911 operator who took Patsy's call, detailed the dramatic phone conversation to investigators Laura Richards, a former Scotland Yard behavioral analyst, and Jim Clemente, a retired FBI profiler. The pair are re-examining the mysterious JonBenet case, with a team of experts, ahead of its 20th anniversary. ( The Case of is one of a number of such TV specials this year.) "This is the first time that anyone's asked for my opinion in 20 years," Archuleta said Sunday. "I just remember having that sunken feeling, like something wasn't right. The problem was, if you hear the frantic [tone] in her voice when she's speaking to me, where she couldn't even answer my questions, it immediately stopped." Patsy called police right after 5 a.m. on December 26, 1996, to say that she had just discovered a two-and-a-half page note asking for $118,000 for JonBenet's safe return. Following the short conversation, Ramsey appeared to try to hang up the phone but many have said voices can still be heard on the line. WATCH: 5 Clues That Could Reveal What Really Happened To JonBenet Ramsey "What bothered me immensely, [after hanging up,] it sounded like she said 'Okay, we've called the police, now what?' " Archuleta told investigators in The Case of. "And that disturbed me. So I remained on the phone, trying to hear what was being said." "It sounded like there were two voices in the room, maybe three different ones," Archuleta said. "I had a bad feeling about this. To me, it seemed rehearsed ... that's never changed." Later that day, JonBenet's dead body was found in the family's basement with a garrote around her neck and duct tape over her mouth. Archuleta said that an investigator came to her home shortly after the slaying and told her that she was under a gag order until charges were brought. She said she was not contacted to testify during the 1999 grand jury proceedings against Patsy and husband John Ramsey, after which then-District Attorney Alex Hunter declined to prosecute the couple, citing a lack of evidence. "There were things being said that somebody needed to know," Archuleta told Clemente and Richards. "It was never addressed. I think it would have really turned the case around." Story continues Mom's Frantic Call After JonBenet Ramsey Disappeared 'Seemed Rehearsed': 911 Operator| Crime & Courts, Murder, True Crime, Crime, TV News, John Ramsey, JonBenet Ramsey, Patsy Ramsey Neither Patsy nor John, or son Burke who was 9 at the time were ever charged in JonBenet's killing, and they have always maintained their innocence. John and Burke are the family's only surviving members: Patsy died in 2006 from ovarian cancer two years before then-District Attorney Mary Lacy wrote a letter to John saying that DNA evidence cleared the trio, a decision that has been criticized in some law enforcement circles. In Sunday's episode, the Case of investigators further analyzed Patsy's 911 call with an audio engineer, using noise reduction to try to determine what was said after she thought she'd hung up. After working on the formerly inaudible segments, Clemente and Richards decided they thought they heard an adult male say, "We're not speaking to you"; an adult female ask, "What did you do?"; and a "smaller voice" ask, "What did you find?" (Some have speculated that Burke was with Patsy and John at the time the 911 call was placed and can be heard on the audio a theory he and his father have dismissed as "pure fiction.") Mom's Frantic Call After JonBenet Ramsey Disappeared 'Seemed Rehearsed': 911 Operator| Crime & Courts, Murder, True Crime, Crime, TV News, John Ramsey, JonBenet Ramsey, Patsy Ramsey Clemente and Richards were joined in the episode by Stan Burke, a former FBI special agent; Jim Fitzgerald, a forensic linguist; James Kolar, a former investigator for the Boulder District Attorney; Dr. Henry Lee, a forensic scientist; and Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist, in their self-described "war room." The group analyzed the ransom note, looking at wording, writing and more, before ultimately deciding that it was a "red herring" crafted by a female, age 30 or older. Further, the investigators recreated the Ramsey home and later spoke with the family's friends. During a conversation with Judith Miller, who was in the Ramsey's close circle and played on a softball team with the couple, she revealed that she was advised not to speak to police or reporters. Miller, who said she "loved [JonBenet] very much," told Clemente and Richards she felt, however, that speaking out would help. "I opened my doors up to reporters, and then talked to police twice," she explained. "They just cut me off as a friend." Part two of The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey airs Monday (9 p.m. ET) on CBS. In what has been a good year for emerging markets equities and exchange traded funds, some frontier markets are being left behind. What is even more concerning about that trend is that many frontier markets are major oil producers and Brent oil, the international crude benchmark, is one of this years best-performing asset classes. The Global X Nigeria Index ETF (NGE) is a prime example of single-country frontier markets ETF tracking a major oil-producing country that is struggling this year. Year-to-date, the lone ETF dedicated to Nigerian stocks is down nearly 33%. SEE MORE: High Volume Sell-Off in Nigeria ETF On Friday, Nigerian equities and bonds were dealt another blow when Standard & Poors downgraded the countrys sovereign credit rating deeper into junk status. S&P lowered Nigerias rating one level to B, five levels below investment grade and in line with Kyrgyzstan and Angola. The outlook was changed from negative to stable, reports Bloomberg. Nigeria is Africas largest oil producer, the continents biggest country by population, its second-largest economy behind South Africa and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Earlier this year, the Nigerian central bank abandoned its currency peg, which many blamed for the weakened economy. Trending on ETF Trends FDRR: A Timely New Dividend ETF Another Drag on Staples ETFs Tech ETFs are Credible Dividend Plays Gold Miners ETFs Could Rebound With Some Fed Help CrowdInvest ETF Will Close Market observers have been calling for the central bank to devalue the naira currency in light of plunging oil prices. Meanwhile, investment in Nigeria has fallen off as foreign investors were deterred by capital controls needed to defend the nairas peg while domestic businesses struggled to import materials. Since NGE does not hedge its currency exposure, a depreciating naira would mean returns are lowered when converted back into U.S. dollar terms. SEE MORE: Nigeria ETF Tumbles Story continues Nigerias economy has weakened more than we expected owing to a marked contraction in oil production, a restrictive foreign exchange policy and delayed fiscal stimulus, Bloomberg reported, citing an emailed statement from S&P. Some oil market participants believe the recent price recovery was not fueled by fundamental factors but more of a result to short-covering and speculation over potential production freezes among Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers. OPEC has kept up production to pressure high-cost rivals, such as the developing U.S. shale oil producers. The International Energy Agency expects it will take several years before OPEC can effectively price out high-cost producers. For more information on Nigeria, visit our Nigeria category. Global X Nigeria Index ETF Ideally, home buyers strive to stay far away from violent crime. But surprisingly enough, crime rates, including murder, are on the rise in some of the nations fastest-growingand, when it comes to housing, most desiredcities. Nationally, the number of murders is projected to jump 13.1% in 2016, compared with 2015with nearly half of those homicides happening in Chicago, according to a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice. The center is a nonpartisan law and policy institute at the New York University School of Law. But the Windy City has long been known for its high rates of violence. What comes as more of a surprise is that the murder ratewhich shows how many people are killed per 100,000 residents is also expected to rise in fast-rising tech hubs like San Jose, CA, and Austin, TX. Homeowners in those cities shouldnt panic and rush to put their homes on the market and move to safer, more suburban pastures. The murder rate is especially concentrated in areas that are the poorest and have struggled with unemployment, says Ames Grawert, one of the authors of the report. Thats probably why home prices in the affected cities seem to be largely unaffected by the violence. Nationally, crime is hovering near historic lows and is expected to rise just 1.3% in 2016. The authors of the report attempted to collect crime data from police departments in the 30 largest U.S. cities, although they werent able to obtain full data for nine of those cities, including Portland, OR, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. They came up with their 2016 predictions by calculating the projected number of new crimes they expected to happen this year based on how many occurred last year and how many there have been so far in 2016. Where is the murder rate rising the highest? The murder rate is expected to spike by 106.3% this year in Austin, a rapidly growing liberal oasis in the middle of a red state. But numbers can be deceiving. The increase is worryingbut the citys projected number of murders in 2016 was 5.2 per 100,000 residents, or 52 killings overall. Thats one of the lowest rates of cities on the list. Story continues The jump in anticipated violence may be due to the citys population surge of nearly 15% from April 2010 through July 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Cities that are growing very much may have a harder time handling higher crime rates, Grawert notes. Those transplants moving in have helped boost home prices in the metro area by 4.7% annually, according to realtor.com data that compared August median prices to a year earlier. However, thats less than the 6.2% national average during the same period. Austins low per capita crime rate is actually one of the selling points for buyers moving into the quirky city despite its recent rise, says local Realtor Reinae Kessler of Austin Home Girls Realty. People want to live in a neighborhood where they can walk their dog at night, she says. And Austins not a place where the publics at risk. Money cant buy fewer homicides In Silicon Valleys extra-expensive San Jose, only one of the priciest markets in the entire country, murder rates are anticipated to shoot up 66.7%. Clearly, tech money cant buy everythingsuch as fewer homicides. The median home price in the Bay Area hot spot is a bank-account-busting $769,000. But the annual appreciation was 5.7%still below the national average. It looks frightening. [But] this is still a city thats fairly safe, says Grawert. If you look at how many homicides actually occurred there, its still a relatively low number. The citys number of per capita murders is projected to be fairly low at 4.8 per 100,000 residents. Thats an expected 51 murders in 2016. The sleepy Texas city of San Antonio is projected to see the third-highest jump in homicides, at 50%. Its per capita murder rate is expected to be more than double that of the top two cities on the list, at 9.6 per 100,000 residents with 144 deaths. Meanwhile, home prices were up 7% in the metro annually, according to realtor.com. Murder rates also are expected to rise 47.1% annually in Chicago, at 26.6 projected homicides per 100,000 residents; 32.4% in Nashville, TN, at 12.7; 28.9% in San Diego, at 3.4; and 25.9% in Oklahoma City, at 14.7. Cities such as New York, where many tourists are still scared to take the subway or wander the streets alone at night, are expected to have substantially more killings: 359. But with more than 8.5 million folks calling the Big Apple home, that translated into a lower rate of only 4.2 anticipated homicides per 100,000 residents. The cities with the most murders per capita The cities with the highest projected murder ratesBaltimore, Detroit, and Chicagohave all struggled with poverty and unemployment for at least the past decade, Grawert says. The cities are anticipated to have 49.8, 41.5, and 26.6 murders respectively per 100,000 residents in 2016, according to the Brennan Center report. Chicagos larger population is the reason why it comes in third on the list but makes up such a disproportionate number of homicides. Chicago overall is not a highly violent city, says Arthur Lurigio, a criminology and psychology professor at Loyola University Chicago. The communities that are most violent are ones that have suffered from blight for more than 50 years. Those isolated pockets of violence havent crimped citywide residential real estate prices. Median list prices rose more than the national average, at 7.9% year over year in August. But the worst-off neighborhoods are still struggling. They were also the hardest hit by the recession and foreclosure crisis. And the problems only gotten worse as those who can afford to do so have been leaving Chicagos roughest neighborhoods for the last 10 to 15 years, taking their more middle-class values and the stability they provided their communities with them, he says. Those who are left are the poorest of the poor, the most hopeless, Lurigio says. Violence is a way for these young men to bolster their self-esteem and their reputation in a gang. The post Murder Rates Are Rising in Surprising Cities, and Heres Why appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. In Bengaluru, the police presence has been increased in hypersensitive areas, such as, Hosur Road, Mysuru Road, Rajajinagar, Vijaynagar, Chandra Layout, Deepanjalinagar and NICE Road, which witnessed violence and unrest last Monday. By Mail Today: Security has been beefed up along Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border towns and Bengaluru with the Cauvery Supervisory Committee set to meet today in New Delhi to discuss sharing of Cauvery river water between the two states. Karnataka has deployed platoons of police at KRS Reservoir in Mandya district, Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Kollegala and Anekal to quell any unrest if the Committee directs Karnataka to release more water to Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court, which directed Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu, would hear the neighbouring state's petition tomorrow. advertisement SECURITY INCREASED IN HYPERSENSITIVE AREAS In Bengaluru, the police presence has been increased in hypersensitive areas, such as, Hosur Road, Mysuru Road, Rajajinagar, Vijaynagar, Chandra Layout, Deepanjalinagar and NICE Road, which witnessed violence and unrest last Monday. Also read: Cauvery row: BJP objects as Congress points fingers at RSS for violence in Karnataka Cauvery: In Tamil heartland, 'victory' has little meaning Cauvery protests: Businesses hit, infrastructure challenges loom large THE DISPUTE The Karnataka government is not willing to take any chances as the Supreme Court has directed it to maintain law and order situation in view of unrest over sharing of Cauvery river water. --- ENDS --- By Hilary Russ Sept 19 (Reuters) - New Jersey's Stockton University is ramping up plans, including a bond sale this week, to build a $178 million campus in Atlantic City, the state's financially distressed gambling hub. The Atlantic County Improvement Authority will issue nearly $128 million of municipal bonds on Thursday for Stockton University to fund construction of a new campus in the seaside resort town, according to a bond document released on Monday. The campus will include a 56,000-square-foot academic building, residential housing for more than 500 students and nearly 900 parking spaces. Local officials are hopeful the development will bring much-needed economic activity to the area. Atlantic City is facing a possible state takeover if it cannot soon craft a financial recovery plan, and last week it violated one of the terms of a $73 million bridge loan from the state. Four of the city's eight casinos closed in 2014, leading to thousands of job losses and a shrunken property tax base. A previous plan by Stockton to turn one of the city's shuttered casinos into a university campus fell through. The two-part bond deal on Thursday includes $77.2 million of general obligation lease revenue bonds backed by the university's rent revenues and insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. through lead underwriter Citigroup. The remainder are county guaranteed revenue bonds backed by economic tax credits. (Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Dan Grebler) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f214719%2fbritishbakeoff LONDON The British realm has been thrown into chaos, and this time it's not voting to leave the European Union or a Viking invasion that has caused the uproar. It's a television show about baking. SEE ALSO: 'Great British Bake Off' stars really aren't happy about Mel and Sue leaving the show The Great British Bake Off recently announced that it would be changing hands from the BBC to Channel 4 a controversial move that has created much consternation across the British Isles. And at a Jeremy Corbyn rally in Birmingham on Saturday, things turned political. someone at the jeremy corbyn rally has a sign that says "nationalise bake off" pic.twitter.com/0Ris3zhanA lily (@ctrlaltlily) September 17, 2016 Someone raised a sign emblazoned with the words: "Nationalise Bake Off". An amused Corbyn noted the poster, and addressed the demand in his speech: "I think the fate of Bake Off is what happens when the BBC was allowed to contract out its programme-making somewhere else, and thus the public lost ownership of Bake Off. "Shall we get it back?" Jeremy Corbyn expresses his approval for a "Nationalise Bake Off" banner at a rally in Birmingham https://t.co/BriUXtUY9k Sky News (@SkyNews) September 17, 2016 The fate of the much-loved programme has instigated a nation-wide freak out, and even public figures such as Prince William have commented on the show's future. Will Bake Off resist the pressures of privatisation? Can the power of political pressure prevail? Only time will tell. Netflix, Inc. NFLX has been recently entangled in a legal battle with Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. FOX. The latter alleged that Netflix has been illegally poaching the best executives of the company, including those that had fixed-term employment agreements with the company. Per media reports, Fox has filed a lawsuit against Netflix saying the streaming giant has been on a brazen campaign to unlawfully target, recruit, and poach valuable Fox executives by illegally inducing them to break their employment contracts with Fox to work at Netflix. The exact employee contract specification against which the lawsuit has been filed is not clear yet. According to a report from Deadline, Netflix is gearing up to defend itself and commented We do not believe Foxs use of fixed term employment contracts in this manner are enforceable. We believe in employee mobility and will fight for the right to hire great colleagues no matter where they work. Media reports indicate that the lawsuit was particularly targeted at two former Fox employees, Marco Waltenberg and Tara Flynn who currently hold key positions (promotions and drama programming leads) at Netflix. An excerpt from the lawsuit that was filed states This action is necessary to enforce Foxs rights, to hold Netflix liable for its wrongful conduct, and to prevent Netflix from continuing such illegal conduct. Netflix has been rapidly expanding its operations and offerings, which have naturally resulted in a rapid hiring spree. However, such lawsuits do not bode well for the company, especially as it is already investing heavily in expanding both original and acquired content for its platform. Also, stiff competition from the likes of Alphabets Google GOOGL, Amazon AMZN, Hulu and others remains an overhang. NETFLIX INC Price and Consensus NETFLIX INC Price and Consensus | NETFLIX INC Quote Currently, Netflix carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Story continues Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report NETFLIX INC (NFLX): Free Stock Analysis Report TWENTY-FIRST CF (FOX): Free Stock Analysis Report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research donald trump Donald Trump on Monday shot back at critics of his declaration that the explosion in New York City on Saturday night was a bombing before officials had publicly disclosed the nature of the event. In an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Monday, the Republican presidential nominee mocked critics who said he should have waited to label the explosion a bombing until after officials made a determination. "I heard I was criticized for calling it correctly, but I was actually correct," Trump said. "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news." Trump described the explosion, which injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, as a bombing to a crowd at a rally on Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York," Trump said. "And nobody knows exactly what's going on." He added: "We better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough." Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, also labeled the explosion a bombing later Saturday night, but she urged caution in labeling events before authorities confirmed the cause. Asked about Trump's comments while speaking with reporters after the explosion on Saturday, Clinton said "it's important to know the facts about any incident like this." "I think it's always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions," Clinton said. At multiple points during the campaign, Trump has lauded his ability to anticipate terrorist attacks. Following the nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year that left dozens dead, Trump touted his plan to bar Muslims from entering the US, saying he predicted future attacks. "What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning," Trump wrote on Twitter at the time. "Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough." Story continues NOW WATCH: Watch Donald Trump attempt to explain why he thinks Hillary Clinton is a bigot More From Business Insider LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria has received commitments to its planned $1 billion Eurobond from international investors, which it aims to issue before the end of the year, but pricing will be key, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Monday. The West African country is seeking advisers and bookrunners and is currently accepting proposals from international and local banks for the bond sale. Standard and Poor on Friday lowered Nigerian sovereign rating to B from B+, owing to marked contraction in oil production, restrictive currency regime, delayed fiscal stimulus. "We already have quite strong indications and indeed we had some commitments. Even though we weren't doing a deal we already have commitments to our bond offer, so we are very confident that it is just a question of pricing," Adeosun said. (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha and Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Toby Chopra) By PTI: Chennai, Sep 19 (PTI) Hours after the Cauvery Supervisory Committee ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water per day to Tamil Nadu, farmers in the state expressed disappointment over the "insufficient" quantum, even as political parties flayed it on similar grounds. President of the Tamil Nadu All Farmers Federations, P R Pandian, said the order was "disappointing." advertisement "The quantum of water that has been ordered for release will not at all be sufficient even for preparatory works for Samba crop," he told PTI. He said the methodology adopted by the Committee in arriving at the quantum of water to be released is "not correct." Urging the Committee to go for a "field assessment in both the states," he said only then would the authorities be able to gauge the situation of farmers in Tamil Nadu. After carrying out such an exercise, he said the Committee should pass an order to fulfil the needs of farmers. Overruling differences between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee had earlier in the day ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water per day to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and September 30. Referring to the order, PMK chief Ramadoss said,"this is injustice for Tamil Nadu in the name of justice," adding the order will be of "no use" to Tamil Nadu farmers. He said the supply of 3000 cusecs of water for 10 days will be only around 2.60 TMC feet and "it will not suffice even the water needs of farmers for two days." As 64.70 TMC feet of water inflow to Tamil Nadu remained pending from Karnataka as on September 5 as per the Final Award of the Cauvery Tribunal, Tamil Nadu approached the Committee seeking a directive for the release of such deficit water, he said. He urged the Centre to immediately constitute a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Regulatory Authority. Two days ago, Leader of Opposition and DMK treasurer M K Stalin had said that the MPs of AIADMK should resign if the CMB and CRA were not set up. Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar) chief G K Vasan said though the quantum of water that the Committee has ordered is "not sufficient, Karnataka should implement it in toto considering the welfare of Cauvery Delta farmers." He said Karnataka should implement orders on release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and protect Indias unity and foster good relationship between the two states. PTI VGN RC BSA --- ENDS --- advertisement ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria plans an "immediate large injection of funds" into the economy though asset sales, advance payments for license renewals and infrastructure concessions, its budget minister said on Monday. Udoma Udo Udoma also told a business conference in Abuja that the government had almost finalized a bill asking parliament for emergency legislation powers to improve the business climate. (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Warri (Nigeria) (AFP) - A militant group on Monday claimed an attack on a crude oil pipeline in Delta state, southern Nigeria, in the second attack on the same line in less than a week. In an emailed statement, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM) spokesman Aldo Agbalaja said "Opudo strike force, at about 11:30 pm on Sunday, September 18, 2016, struck the Afiesere-Ekiugbo delivery line in Ughelli, operated by NPDC/Shoreline." The rebel group hit the same pipeline last Tuesday and vowed to "ground" the Nigerian economy, which is already in recession, in part due to plummeting oil exports as a result of sabotage. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Nigeria's credit rating last week, saying the "marked contraction" in oil production from an average of 2.1 million barrels per day to 1.7 was hurting its economic prospects. The NDGJM has stepped up its attacks after rival group the Niger Delta Avengers declared a ceasefire in August and entered talks with the Nigerian government. "All agrarian products in the area surrounding the scene of the incident have been damaged as a result of the blast," a resident of the nearby Ekuigbo community, Efemena Akposire, told AFP. A military officer added: "Unlike previous attacks carried out by the group where they hack-sawed the pipelines, dynamite was used in this case." Nigeria's military has boosted its presence in the oil-producing southern swamplands in response to the attacks, raiding suspected militant camps and clamping down on illegal oil refineries. Various rebel groups have complained about poor living conditions in the area, where despite massive oil wealth most people live in poverty without access to basic services such as education and health care. Distrust in the Nigerian security forces is widespread in the region. Last week the NDGJM complained of intimidation and vowed to "match force with the oppressor's brutality". Story continues Rebel attacks are not the only crimes plaguing the region: kidnappings for ransom are also common. Nigerian police said Monday it had rescued 14 local oil workers and their driver after a shoot-out with their kidnappers near the oil hub of Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state. The employees of Nestoil Plc, an oil and gas service firm, were seized on September 2 by a gang of men who hijacked their vehicle and fired shots into the air to frighten away bystanders. Rivers police spokesman Nnamdi Omoni said none of the oil workers was injured and no ransom was paid. Efforts were being made to track down the kidnappers, he added. Ota (Nigeria) (AFP) - A man who named his dog after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari defended his decision on Monday, saying he has nothing but admiration and respect for the leader. Joachim Iroko Chinakwe, a textile trader, was arrested by police last month and charged with an act likely to cause breach of peace after naming his dog Buhari. But speaking at the magistrate court in the town of Ota in the southwestern state of Ogun, Chinakwe said he only has love for the president. "President Buhari is a man after my heart. I have great love and admiration for him because of his honesty, discipline and integrity," Chinakwe told AFP before court proceedings started. "I also salute his courage and resilience. Here is a man who ran for the presidency three times and failed. But he did not give up. He ran again for the fourth time and to God be the glory, won," the 40-year-old added. Chinakwe also revealed the dog wasn't the only family member who shared a name with the head of state. In September, he named his newborn girl "Aisha", after the president's wife. "This is to further demonstrate my love for the Buhari family," said Chinakwe. Chinakwe's lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa said the case was an abuse of power and should be dismissed. Adegboruwa, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer, is known for his acrimonious relationship with the government and was this year arrested by Nigeria's anti-graft agency. "There is no law that says a man cannot give any name to his dog," he told AFP. Police maintain the dog case has nothing to do with the president, alleging that Chinakwe inscribed the name on the sides of his dog and paraded the pet in the streets to antagonise a neighbour whose father's name is Buhari. The matter has been adjourned until November 21. By Hugh Bronstein UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Efforts to stop immigration and the mix of cultures are bound to fail, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto told a United Nations summit on migrants and refugees on Monday, as his country's northern border has become an issue in the U.S. presidential election campaign. Pena Nieto took a public opinion shellacking for hosting Republican Party candidate Donald Trump on Aug. 31 because Trump has repeatedly vowed to build a border wall to keep out illegal immigrants and said Mexico would pay for it. "History shows that there are no barriers that can stop either the movement of people or the fusion of cultures," Pena Nieto said in his address to the summit ahead of the U.N. General Assembly. "Neither natural nor artificial barriers hold sway. For every river there has always been a bridge. For every obstacle there has always been a way forward. Movement is an essential part of human existence," he said. Trump has infuriated Mexicans with a series of broadsides against the United States' southern neighbor. "We are a proudly mestizo, multi-cultural and diverse nation," Pena Nieto said, referring to Mexican of mixed descent. "We Mexicans firmly believe that this mestizo fusion is the future and destiny of human kind." Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate in the Nov. 8 election, has accused Trump of embracing a brand of U.S. political conservatism associated with white nationalism and nativism. She has linked Trump's statements about immigration and religion to the rise of a political fringe movement in the U.S. known as the "alternative right", which opposes multiculturalism and immigration. (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; editing by Grant McCool) By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) Between 2006 and 2012, antibiotic use in hospitals in general did not change, and the use of a class of drugs tied most closely to antibiotic resistance actually increased, according to a new study. We believe the increases in the use of more powerful and last resort antibiotics should prompt further exploration and, where indicated, actions to improve the use of these antibiotics, said lead author James Baggs, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. While the optimal level of antibiotic use or distribution of classes is not really known for every hospital, we know from other studies that inpatient prescribing of antibiotics for some infections is often inappropriate, Baggs told Reuters Health by email. The researchers reviewed adult and pediatric antibiotic use from 2006 to 2012 in 300 participating acute care hospitals. More than 34 million patients were discharged from these hospitals over the six-year period. Over the whole period, 55 percent of patients left the hospital having taken at least one dose of an antibiotic. Overall, for every 1,000 days of hospitalization, 775 days included antibiotic therapy. In some cases, providers might be unaware of treatment guidelines, Baggs said. In others, infections are misdiagnosed, for example, a provider thinks a patient has an infection when they do not. We also know that in many cases for hospitalized patients, antibiotics are started before all of the clinical information is available. Although overall antibiotic use stayed level over time, use of third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, macrolides, glycopeptides, carbapenems and tetracyclines increased significantly, as reported September 19 in JAMA Internal Medicine. In the hospital, where the sickest patients are, theres been an increase in broad-spectrum antibiotics, said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra of Harvard Medical School, who coauthored a commentary in the journal. Broad-spectrum antibiotics act against a wide variety of bacteria. Those are the big guns, and with increased use of them the worry is that thats leading to the bacteria thats broadly resistant, Mehrotra said. Antibiotic overuse has been a problem for decades, Mehrotra told Reuters Health by phone. We dont believe the reason broad spectrum antibiotics are overused is that physicians arent educated, he said. Doctors are human, theyre worried, theyre behind, theyre concerned about what the patient wants. What were proposing is that the strategies to address this should come from a psychological perspective, and should target doctors who give out the most antibiotics, he said. If social pressure leads to overprescribing, maybe it can also curb prescribing rates. Send them an email or letter saying, youre not a top performer, why is that, Mehrotra said. Antibiotic use guidelines are already in place and dont need to be changed, he said. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2cCq5CB JAMA Intern Med 2016. Porlamar (Venezuela) (AFP) - The Non-Aligned Movement wrapped up a summit in Venezuela with an expression of support for its embattled host, President Nicolas Maduro, and scathing attacks on US "interventionism" around the world. The 120-member group issued a statement at the end of the two-day meeting calling for peace, urging world powers not to meddle in other countries' affairs and voicing concern over violence in Syria, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories. The 190-page document also urges support for "the struggle against terrorism, for solidarity with refugees in northern Africa, and the Venezuelan people's right to peace," Maduro told a press conference. Founded 55 years ago to give a greater voice to countries squeezed in the power struggle between the United States and Soviet Union, the Non-Aligned Movement has struggled to stay relevant since the end of the Cold War. Just a handful of heads of state or government attended the summit on the Caribbean island of Margarita, though organizers did not say exactly how many. But it was a key diplomatic encounter for Maduro, who has been left increasingly isolated as Venezuela's oil-dependent economy has skidded into crisis amid a collapse in global crude prices, fueling calls for his ouster. The leftist leader, who accuses the United States of backing opposition attempts to remove him in a "coup," emphasized that the summit had backed his government's condemnation of US sanctions that declare Venezuela a threat to US national security. "It's a total economic war; we will be winning it," Maduro insisted at the closing event. The White House says that language is a formality for imposing targeted sanctions, but Maduro has lambasted it as alarmist. Venezuela took over the rotating presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement from Iran at the meeting. It will hold it for the next three years. Maduro looks keen to recast the group as a bulwark against "interventionism" and "neo-colonialism," analysts say. Story continues Both words were oft-invoked at the summit. - Syria condemnation - Syria had harsh condemnation for the United States after a US-led coalition strike killed dozens of Syrian soldiers Saturday. Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, accused Washington of seeking the "failure" of a tattered US-Russian ceasefire deal that aims to halt a five-year war that has killed more than 300,000 people. Finding common ground with other group members, he also lashed out at US sanctions on Syria as "economic terrorism." "My country is suffering a unilateral blockade similar to the ones imposed on Cuba, Venezuela and other countries, in flagrant violation of the UN charter," he said. - Oil deal 'close' - One of OPEC-member Venezuela's top missions for the summit was to seek backing for its campaign to slash abundant global oil production in a bid to raise prices. Maduro said Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries are now "close" to a deal, adding he had discussed the issue with his Iranian and Ecuadoran counterparts. He did not give details, but said he hoped to have an announcement by the end of September on a plan to "stabilize the market" and adopt a "new methodology" to control prices. Political analysts said Maduro was keen to use the summit to show Venezuela remains a player on the world stage. The crisis is the biggest threat yet to Maduro and the socialist "revolution" launched in 1999 by his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez. "Maduro is seeking to create the false impression that Venezuela still has international support and remains an influential actor. But it hasn't been since Hugo Chavez died and oil prices fell," said Diego Moya-Ocampos of London-based consultancy IHS Markit. Margarita island has seen anti-government protests recently, but the government's deployment of 14,000 police and soldiers for the summit ensured there were no major demonstrations. Instead, hundreds of red-clad Maduro supporters marched to the convention center where the summit was held, gathering at a newly unveiled statue of Chavez, for whom the building is named. In a more clandestine display, Maduro opponents banged empty pots from their windows at night, a traditional form of protest in much of Latin America. SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised a ground test of a new rocket engine to launch satellites, the North's state media reported on Tuesday, the latest in a rapid succession of missile-related tests this year by the isolated state. Kim asked that the scientists and engineers make "preparations for launching the satellite as soon as possible on the basis of the successful test," the official KCNA news agency said, indicating the North may soon launch another long-range rocket. The test was conducted amid global condemnation of the North's fifth nuclear test this month and a call by the United States, Japan and South Korea this week for greater pressure on Pyongyang over its disregard for United Nations resolutions banning missile and nuclear programs. North Korea has been testing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate this year under Kim's direction, including the launch of a satellite in February that was widely seen as a test of long-range ballistic missile technology. "Kim Jong Un ... visited the Sohae Space Center to guide the ground jet test of a new type high-power engine of a carrier rocket for the geo-stationary satellite," KCNA said. The Sohae center is the North's newly upgraded rocket station where the February launch of a satellite and other rocket tests have been conducted. "This test is another important development pointing to the first launch of a bigger, better space vehicle to place satellites in higher orbits, which could happen in the not too distant future, said Joel Wit, founder of the 38 North website, which monitors North Korea. A satellite image from Sept. 17 provided to Reuters by Washington-based 38 North showed preparations for an engine test, including a heavy crane over the vertical engine test stand and a shelter that would house the rocket engine. North Korea earlier this month fired three missiles that flew about 1,000 km (600 miles) each and in August tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that international experts said showed considerable progress. It also launched an intermediate-range missile in June that experts said marked a technological advance for the isolated state after several test failures. (Reporting by Jack Kim and James Pearson; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Lincoln Feast) (INDANAN, Philippines) A Norwegian man freed by militants after a year of jungle captivity in the southern Philippines described the ordeal Sunday as devastating, carrying a backpack with a bullet hole as a reminder of a near-death experience that included the beheadings of the two Canadians kidnapped with him. Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed by his Abu Sayyaf captors on Saturday to rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Philippine government and helped negotiate his release. On Sunday, he was handed over to Philippine authorities, along with three Indonesian fishermen freed separately by the Abu Sayyaf. Aside from the horror of constantly being warned that he would be the next to be beheaded by the brutal extremists, Sekkingstad said he survived more than a dozen clashes between Philippine forces and his captors in the lush jungles of Sulu province. In one intense battle, in which the forces fired from assault helicopters and from the ground, he said he felt a thud in his back and thought he was hit by gunfire. After the fighting eased, he discovered that he wasnt hit, and that his green, army-style backpack had been pierced by the gunfire instead. Sekkingstad was carrying the damaged backpack when he walked to freedom Saturday somewhere in the thick jungle off Sulus mountainous Patikul town. On Sunday, the heavily bearded Sekkingstad, clad in a rebel camouflage uniform and muddy combat boots, was asked how he would describe his horrific experience. Devastating, devastating, he said, still clutching the backpack. Philippine presidential adviser Jesus Dureza, who received Sekkingstad and the three freed Indonesians from Moro National Liberation Front rebel chief Nur Misuari in Misuaris rural stronghold near Sulus Indanan town, accompanied the Norwegian on a flight to southern Davao city, where the ex-hostage met President Rodrigo Duterte. Story continues Duterte told Sekkingstad that his travails were over. Sekkingstad, newly shaved but looking gaunt in a loose polo shirt, thanked all those who worked for his freedom. I am very happy to be alive and free, he said. Its a beautiful feeling. Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a yacht club he helped managed on southern Samal Island on Sept. 21, 2015, along with Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Halls Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor, sparking a massive land and sea search by Philippine forces. The Abu Sayyaf demanded a huge ransom for the release of the foreigners, and released videos in which they threatened the captives in a jungle clearing where they displayed Islamic State group-style black flags. Ridsdel was beheaded in April and Hall was decapitated in June after ransom deadlines lapsed. When Flor was freed in June, she recounted in horror how the militants rejoiced while watching the beheadings. Sekkingstad said he and his fellow captives were forced to carry the militants belongings and were kept in the dark on what was happening around them. At one point, he said, their heavily armed captors numbered more than 300. We were treated like slaves, he said. After the militants decapitated Ridsdel, Sekkingstad was threatened by the militants, who repeatedly told him, Youre next. When the negotiations for his release began in recent months, Sekkingstad said the rebels began treating him better. It was not immediately clear whether Sekkingstad had been ransomed off. Duterte suggested at a news conference last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid to the militants, but that they continued to hold on to him. The military said Saturday that relentless assaults forced the extremists to release the hostage. In Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg thanked Duterte and Dureza, and said his government supports the Philippines in their fight against terrorism. Solberg told Norwegian says his Philippine kidnapping was devastating Norways NTB national news agency that Norwegian officials had not participated in any payment of ransom or made any concessions in the matter. Philippine forces launched a major offensive against the Abu Sayyaf after the beheadings of the Canadians sparked condemnations from then-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called on other nations not to pay ransoms if their citizens are abducted to discourage the militants from carrying out more kidnappings. The three Indonesian fishermen freed by the Abu Sayyaf were kidnapped in July off Lahad Datu district in Malaysias Sabah state, according to regional Philippine military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan. Their release came as Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu was visiting the Philippines. Five Indonesians, five Malaysians and a Dutch bird watcher, along with five Filipinos, remain in Abu Sayyaf custody, the Philippine military said. The Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the Philippines for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Without any known foreign funding, the extremists have relied on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry, and some commanders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group partly in the hope of obtaining funds. ___ Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. Novartis AG NVS announces new analysis from the PARADIGM-HF study on its cardiovascular drug, Entresto, at a scientific meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America. Results from the study demonstrated the benefits of Entresto in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Patients on Entresto reported higher quality of life scores, compared to those taking ACE inhibitor, enalapril. Note that Entresto (twice-daily) is used in conjunction with other heart failure therapies for reducing strain on the failing heart. It is indicated in the U.S. for the treatment of heart failure (NYHA class II-IV) in patients with systolic dysfunction. In the EU, the drug is approved for the treatment of symptomatic chronic HFrEF in adult patients. Novartis is working on expanding Entrestos label and is evaluating the drug for preserved ejection fraction heart failure conditions. We remind investors that Entresto received a strong Class I recommendation in both the U.S. and the EU as per heart failure treatment guidelines. These guidelines establish Entresto as the standard of care for symptomatic patients with HFrEF. Drug sales are expected to be approximately $200 million in 2016. Heart failure, a debilitating and life-threatening condition, affects over 60 million individuals across the world. NOVARTIS AG-ADR Price NOVARTIS AG-ADR Price | NOVARTIS AG-ADR Quote Meanwhile, the company has also announced positive top-line results from the phase III EXPAND study on its pipeline candidate, BAF312 (siponimod), for the treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Results demonstrated that an oral once-daily BAF312 led to a 21% reduction in the risk of three-month confirmed disability progression, in comparison to placebo. The candidate was generally safe and well tolerated. Data were presented at the Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis. Novartis said that it will complete full analyses of the data from the EXPAND study and determine the next steps in consultation with health authorities. Full study results will be submitted for publication. MS, a chronic disorder, affects approximately 2.3 million individuals in the world. With very few treatment options to delay disease progression in SPMS, there is high unmet need for effective therapies with an acceptable safety profile. Novartis MS portfolio currently includes Gilenya and Extavia. Meanwhile, the companys MS pipeline comprises ofatumumab (OMB157), a fully human monoclonal antibody, in development for relapsing MS. Going forward, investors should keep an eye on the approval of new drugs and label expansion of the existing ones at Novartis, given that the company has been facing stiff generic competition for some of its key drugs like Gleevec. Novartis currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCRX, Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated CORT and ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ANIP. All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Story continues Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NOVARTIS AG-ADR (NVS): Free Stock Analysis Report PACIRA PHARMACT (PCRX): Free Stock Analysis Report CORCEPT THERAPT (CORT): Free Stock Analysis Report ANI PHARMACEUT (ANIP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis on Monday intensified its bid to convince doctors to prescribe its heart failure drug Entresto, releasing an analysis that concluded the medicine contributed to higher quality of life scores compared with an older drug. The decline in health-related quality of life scores among patients hospitalized with reduced ejection fraction heart failure was less steep among Entresto patients compared to those taking the drug enalapril, Switzerland's Novartis said in a statement. Launched to much fanfare last year, Entresto sales have so far disappointed investors and the company, forcing Novartis to spend hundreds of millions more on marketing as it seeks to hit a modest target of $200 million in revenue from the drug this year. The company is still convinced sales of Entresto will peak at around $5 billion annually. "This new analysis of the data demonstrates that Entresto can also help reduce the serious impact on quality of life associated with heart failure, and further reinforces the potential of this medicine to improve the outlook for patients living with this debilitating condition," said Vasant Narasimhan, Novartis's chief medical officer. Reduced ejection fraction heart failure is a debilitating condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood around the body. The decline in quality of life scores was about 50 percent less among those taking Entresto compared to patients who took enalapril. Measures of quality of life in the Novartis study included questions about patients' ability to perform daily activities. Novartis is presenting its analysis at the Heart Failure Society of America's meeting in Orlando, Florida, on Monday. (Reporting by Joshua Franklin and John Miller, editing by Louise Heavens) The drunk law student rammed his car into the autorickshaw on Cathedral Road during the wee hours today. By Akshaya Nath: An autorickshaw driver died in Chennai after a drunk law student crashed his luxury car into the autorickshaws parked on Cathedral Road. The incident took place during the wee hours today when the drunk 22-year-old rammed his Porsche car into the autorickshaws on the city's Cathedral Road damaging more than 12 of them and injuring 9. The deceased autorickshaw driver was identified as Arumugam. advertisement According to the police, two youth were speeding in the luxurious car bearing Delhi registration towards Marina Beach When they rammed into around 12 autorickshaws. The student has been arrested and the investigation is on. Watch the video here: --- ENDS --- Harry Potter fans finally have a chance to move into his childhood home. No, not Gryffindor Tower, but 4 Privet Drive, where Harry spent many miserable years with his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley and their coddled son, Dudley. The family home that was used as the Dursleys residence in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone has been put up for sale, complete with enclosed backyard, three bedrooms and yes, a cupboard under the stairs. There is one glaring disparity between the actual home and the one in the filmits not located at 4 Privet Drive, village of Little Whinging, in the county of Surrey. Instead, the house is located at 12 Picket Post Close in Martins Heron, Bracknell in Berkshire on the outskirts of London. While moving into Gryffindor Tower still requires a letter of acceptance from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, making 4 Privet Drive your new home requires nothing more than 475,000 (almost $620,000). Perhaps waiting for an owl from Hogwarts is more realistic. [H/T Mashable] Carl Icahn Bill Ackman We now know how Carl Icahn's Herbalife sale fell through, thanks to a report by Michelle Celarier at Fortune. Icahn and Bill Ackman have had a long-running feud over Herbalife, the nutritional supplements company. Ackman is short the position, Icahn is long. Their battle came to a head earlier this summer, when the Wall Street Journal reported that Icahn was shopping around Herbalife shares. Since then, Icahn has skirted around confirming the story, and as recently as last week, avoided a question on it during his interview at the Delivering Alpha hedge fund conference in New York. The latest story by Fortune involves a Jefferies exec texting Ackman while he was vacationing in Italy to ask for a meeting to discuss a potential sale. Jefferies shopped the idea around to other investors, too, but the deal eventually fell through. Here's Fortune: "In the end, despite at least a month of scouring Wall Street, and hamstrung by legal restrictions (more on that later), the best bid Jefferies was able to get Icahn was for a little more than 11 million, of Icahns 17 million, Herbalife shares at a price of $51.50 a shareabout $10 south of where shares of Herbalife were trading on the open market at the time, sources familiar with the bid said. (People close to Jefferies put the figure a few dollars higher.) It didnt take Icahn long to reject the bid." For the full story, head over to Fortune >> NOW WATCH: Kobe Bryant is starting a $100-million venture capital fund More From Business Insider President Barack Obama ruled out any connection between the stabbing attack that happened in Minnesota on Saturday and the explosions that hit New York City and New Jersey in the past two days during a press conference on Monday, September 19. The president urged Americans not to succumb the fear. Obama is in New York City to attend the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants and the UN General Assembly. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in the New York City and New Jersey bombings, was arrested in Linden, New Jersey, on Monday. Officials had released his photograph on Monday in connection with the blast in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday that left 29 people injured. A suspicious device was discovered in a trash can in Elizabeth earlier on Monday. The device, found near a train station, exploded as a bomb squad attempted to disarm it. Credit: Youtube/White House Barack Obama President Barack Obama said Monday that the US's continued campaign against the Islamic State terror group is "instigating a lot of people" to "carry out attacks" on American citizens. Obama delivered a statement following a series of weekend terror attacks in New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota that injured dozens of people but did not claim any lives. The attack in Minnesota had no apparent connection to the bombings on the East Coast, the president said. "We will continue to lead the global coalition in the fight to destroy ISIL, which is instigating a lot of people over the internet to carry out attacks," Obama said. "We are going to continue to go after them. We are going to take out their leaders. We're going to take out their infrastructure." No terror group has taken responsibility for the New York and New Jersey bombings, but a man wanted in connection to the attacks was captured by authorities late Monday morning. ISIS claimed responsibility for the Minnesota attack, in which nine people were stabbed at a mall before the attacker was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. The president and his administration have often said in the aftermath of attacks that increasing pressure applied to the Islamic State overseas has resulted in the terror group executing more attacks on civilians. Secretary of State John Kerry said in July after the Orlando nightclub massacre and the attack in Nice, France, that the attacks had proved ISIS was "on the run." In his statement, Obama also said it was "important to remember what terrorists and extremists are trying to do." "They want to hurt innocent people, but they also want to inspire fear in all of us," the president said. "And disrupt the way we live. To undermine our values. And so even as we want to be vigilant and aggressive in preventing senseless acts of violence ... we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don't succumb to that fear." Story continues Obama called the citizens of New York and New Jersey "no better example of that," and mentioned conversations he had with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. All three were quick to make that point, he said. "Folks around here, you know, they don't get scared," he said. "They're tough, they're resilient, and they go about their business every single day. That kind of toughness and resoluteness and a recognition that neither individuals nor organizations like ISIL can ultimately undermine our way of life. That's the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an American, and that's the kind of strength that's going to be absolutely critical in not only the days to come, but in the years to come." Obama added that extremists "will never beat us" and that Americans "will never give in to fear." Watch the speech: More From Business Insider By Jeff Mason NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday his administration would ask Congress and other countries to "step up" aid for Iraq to help rebuild Mosul after an expected operation in the coming months to dislodge Islamic State militants from the city. Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Obama said he hoped for progress by the end of the year on Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city which fell to the Islamic State group in June 2014. "This is going to be a challenging battle. Mosul is a large city and ISIL has embedded itself deeply within that city," Obama said, referring to the militant group by an acronym. Thanks to cooperation between the coalition and Iraqi security forces as well as cooperation from Kurdish Peshmerga forces, "we feel confident that we will be in a position to move forward fairly rapidly," he said. Obama ran for the presidency in 2008 largely on the back of a promise to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, but he has been forced to stay engaged on a military and diplomatic level in Iraq thanks to the rise of the Islamic State. Obama said once the Mosul operation was finished, it would be necessary to rebuild the city to prevent militants and extremists from returning. U.S. lawmakers and other countries would have to help provide funding to pay for that, he said. "We're going to be asking Congress to step up in support of this effort and we're going to be asking other countries to step up in support of this effort," he said. "Hopefully by the end of this year we will have seen further progress with respect to Mosul and ... further progress with respect to economic and political stabilization inside of Iraq." Abadi echoed Obama's comments about a time frame for the long-anticipated Mosul operation. Iraqi commanders have indicated an operation to dislodge the group from the city could begin by late October. "We hope within the next few months we're going to kick Daesh out of Mosul, and we'll deliver a huge blow to what Daesh believes in," he said, using another common name for Islamic State. (Writing by Jeff Mason and Arshad Mohammed; editing by Diane Craft) New York (AFP) - President Barack Obama said Monday that US-backed Iraqi troops could be in a position "fairly rapidly" to liberate the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. But, speaking ahead of talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the US leader warned: "This is going to be hard, this is going to be challenging." The IS group seized Mosul, Iraq's cosmopolitan and religiously mixed second city, in June 2014 in a lightning offensive through the north and west of the country. The defeat exposed deep flaws in Iraq's military, but since then a US-led coalition has sent military advisors and attack jets to bolster the government side. The United States alone now has 4,460 troops in the country, backed by hundreds more from Western allies, advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces. "We feel confident that we will be in a position to move forward fairly rapidly," Obama said, vowing to fight "right at the heart of the ISIL operation in Mosul." "This is going to be a challenging battle, Mosul is a large city," he warned. He said the operation must drive out the IS group but also reassure the populace so that the "extremist ideology born out of desperation will not return." By Timothy Mclaughlin CHICAGO (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday praised an off-duty police officer for saving lives when he shot dead the suspect in a stabbing attack at a Minnesota mall for which the radical group Islamic State claimed responsibility. "Thanks to the quick action of a brave off-duty police officer, the suspect was killed and we avoided more people being hurt," Obama said of the officer, who works for the police department in nearby Avon, Minnesota. Avon Police Chief Corey Nellis said it was "divine intervention" that Jason Falconer, a part time officer who is a fire arms instructor and competitive shooter, was at the Crossroads Center Mall in St. Cloud on Saturday when the attack occurred. Nellis told a news conference on Monday that Falconer needed time to cope. "He, too, is a victim in this situation." Obama, in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, told reporters that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was treating the mall attack as a "potential act of terrorism." He said there was no known connection between that attack and bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. A bomb exploded on Saturday evening in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, wounding 29 people. Earlier on Saturday, a bomb exploded at a charity race in New Jersey. No injuries were reported. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said the mall reopened on Monday with increased security measures. Chris Nelson, a spokeswoman for St. Cloud Hospital where the stabbing victims were taken on Saturday, said on Monday that all them had been treated and released. The attacker in Minnesota was identified by local media as Dahir A. Adan. Authorities have declined to name the suspect because of the ongoing investigation. (Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Additional reporting by Michelle Conlin in New York and by Ben Klayman in Detroit) President Obama said Monday that investigators at this point see no connection between stabbings a mall in Minnesota and bombs planted in New York and New Jersey. He also told Americans their best weapon against terrorists is refusing to give in to fear. By showing those who want to do us harm that they will never beat us, by showing the entire world that, as Americans, we do not and never will give in to fear, thats going to be the most important ingredient in us defeating those who would carry out terrorist acts against us, Obama said in New York. Obama, making his first public remarks on the Saturday night blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan, did not explicitly tie the so-called Islamic State to the attack, or to explosives found in New Jersey, or to the stabbings at a busy mall in St. Cloud, Minn. An ISIS-linked news agency praised the Minnesota attacker, who injured nine people before he was fatally shot by police. Still, he said, the group is instigating a lot of people over the Internet to carry out attacks and his administration will work with high-tech firms as well as community and religious leaders to choke off that kind of recruitment. And the U.S. military will work with its partners to target Islamic State in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria. We are gonna continue to go after them. Were gonna take out their leaders. Were gonna take out their infrastructure, Obama said. As we take away more of their territory, it exposes ISIL as the failed cause that it is and it helps to undermine their ideology, which over time, will make it harder for them to recruit and inspire people to violence. President Obama makes a statement following a weekend bombing attack in New York. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Obama said he had spoken to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, promising the full resources of the federal government to respond to the weekends events. Were gonna make sure that everybodys working together seamlessly as one team to get to the bottom of what happened, to find those responsible and to make sure that justice is done, the president said. Story continues Obama said he had also spoken to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton about the stabbing attacks on Saturday. At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in New York and New Jersey, the president said. Obama said Americans have a duty to help law enforcement and a responsibility not to panic in the face of unpredictable violence. He cited people in New York and New Jersey who, perhaps because of the 9/11 attacks and superstorm Sandy, have taken the attacks in stride. Folks around here, you know, they dont get scared. Theyre tough, theyre resilient, they go about their business every single day, he said. Thats the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an American, and thats the kind of strength that is gonna be absolutely critical, not just in the days to come, but in the years to come. _____ Related slideshows: Slideshow: Ahmad Khan Rahami, suspect in New York City and New Jersey explosions, is captured >>> Slideshow: Explosive devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey >>> Slideshow: Substantial police presence in NYC following Chelsea explosion >>> Slideshow: Pipe bomb explodes at Jersey Shore >>> Slideshow: Explosion in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood >>> By Rahul Noronha: State Congress President Arun Yadav, donned a Gandhi topi and adopted a Gandhian way to protest malnutrition related deaths among children. Yadav held a 4-hour 'maun vrat' at the PCC office to protest against what he described as failure of the BJP state government to check malnutrition related deaths in children in the state. During the protest, Yadav was joined by the families of 6 affected children from Sheopur district in MP. The PCC President had the children examined by the doctors of the Red Cross Hospital who the leader claimed were 'horrified' at the extent of malnutrition present in the children. advertisement The PCC President began the 'maun vrat' at about 11.30 AM and broke it at 4 PM. After the protest, Yadav said that he was astonished that malnutrition related deaths were prevalent in children even when the state government claimed it was spending Rs 2200 crore annually in tackling it. He said that it was obvious that the entire amount was not reaching beneficiaries and a large part of it was being siphoned off owing to corruption. Malnutrition is acute, especially in districts of the Gwalior and Chambal divisions and the regions of Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress claims that more than one and half dozen children have died owing to malnutrition in Sheopur district in the last few weeks. The politics over the issue is also picking up with the opposition Congress attempting to make it an issue to attack the state government with. Former Union Minister and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia also visited Sheopur district on Sunday to meet families affected by malnutrition. After the deaths, the state government had dispatched two senior Principal Secretaries to the district and sought a report on the death. --- ENDS --- UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday and urged China to accelerate efforts to address the problem of industrial excess capacity, the White House said. In a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Obama also urged Beijing to establish a level playing field to allow all firms to compete fairly in China, a White House statement said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason, David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Bill Rigby) New York (AFP) - President Barack Obama Monday called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" after bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey and a mass stabbing incident in Minnesota over the weekend. "Even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive both in preventing senseless acts of violence but also making sure that we find those who carry out such acts and bring them to justice, we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don't succumb to that fear," he said. Obama stressed that investigators at this point saw "no connection" between the incidents on the East Coast and the Minnesota stabbing. The second play in a domestic cycle that Richard Nelson calls The Gabriels: Election Year In the Life of One Family, What Did You Expect? bears a strong if superficial resemblance to the playwright-directors beloved series of plays about the Apple family. Both families live in Rhinebeck, N.Y. , struggle with the loss of a patriarch, and are deeply unsettled by the state of the nation. But the sensitive, literate Gabriels are an intellectual and economic notch below the Apples, which makes this quintessential American family more vulnerable and more precious. In keeping with the playwrights ultra-naturalistic style, the stage at the Public Theaters intimate LuEsther Theater is absolutely bare until the six members of the Gabriel family set it up as the kitchen of their home on South Street. No conventional dramatic introductions are made, leaving the audience to work out individual roles and relationships over the course of their real-time preparations for a catered picnic. Despite being absent, patriarch Thomas very much dominates the conversation of the family, which is warm, loving, and heartbreaking in its belief that a close family can survive anything, even the upcoming presidential election that terrifies them. The temper of this middle-class-but-slipping household is brilliantly conveyed by Nelson when one of the Gabriels clasps her hands and prays: Please, Hillary be human! To put family matters in context: The recently deceased Thomas was a novelist and playwright who left his descendants with cartons of unpublished work but no tangible assets, aside from the house owned by his elderly mother, Patricia (a tour de force performance from the redoubtable Roberta Maxwell). This is precisely the demographic, Nelson suggests, with the most to lose if Donald Trump is elected dictator. Thomass brother, George (Jay O. Sanders, steady as a rock), is now the de facto patriarch. But as an under-achieving piano teacher and cabinetmaker, hes in no position to provide security for his brothers dependents or even direction for survival as their assets shrink. Story continues As is indicated by his wife Hannah, who is patient beyond understanding in Lynn Hawleys lovely performance, George is sweet but sadly clueless about practical matters like home mortgages and literary copyrights. Even a simple service transaction is beyond him. In a misguided effort to please clients for whom hes doing carpentry work, he treats them to the picnic being prepared gratis by his caterer wife. So it falls to Thomass first wife, Karin (made painfully aware of her awkward position by actress Meg Gibson), to pick through Thomass disordered papers, hoping to find some unproduced gem that might keep this floundering family solvent in these hard times. The times are made even harder by disastrous moves made in good faith by individual family members. Thomass still-grieving widow, Mary (the sublime Maryann Plunkett, deeply invested in a maternal role that was made for her), was a practicing physician until she let her medical license expire. George made some money as a piano teacher until he sold his piano. And lets please not discuss the ownership of the house. Only Thomass sister, Joyce (Amy Warren), who lives in Brooklyn and makes an okay living as an assistant costume designer, seems to have escaped the Gabriels self-destructive tendencies. In Warrens crisply intelligent performance, Joyce smartly says her piece and escapes back to Brooklyn before the family curse rubs off on her. Less than two months away from the election which Nelson will get to in the third play of this cycle the Gabriels fear the worst, but trust that their love will keep them safe from the blowback. No matter how much we love them, someones going to have to break the news that theyre wrong. Related stories Jill Soloway Compares Donald Trump to Hitler Backstage at Emmys Jimmy Fallon's Donald Trump Interview Draws 2,324% Increase in Twitter Hate for 'Tonight Show' Should Late-Night TV Hosts Grill Presidential Candidates? The Afghan-born immigrant wanted in New York area bombings was spotted sleeping in a doorway of a New Jersey bar before he was nabbed in a gun battle with police. Two officers sustained nonlife-threatening injuries and the 28-year-old suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was wounded and taken to a hospital, authorities said. Sources told NBC News that Rahami was seen on a video on 23rd and 27th streets in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on Saturday night. A bomb exploded on 23rd Street, injuring 29 people, and police found an undetonated device on 27th Street. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Monday afternoon that authorities are not looking for any other suspect at this point. Source: New York City emergency mobile alert In addition to the Chelsea bombs, a pipe bomb exploded Saturday in a New Jersey shore town ahead of a 5K race. No one was injured. And on Sunday night, five explosive devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Get the latest on the bombing investigations here. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. More From CNBC Minnesota officials say the "heroic" actions of an off-duty police officer who fatally shot the suspect in the mass stabbing at a St. Cloud mall on Saturday prevented further harm. During a Monday press conference, Chief Corey Nellis of the Avon police said Jason Falconer, a part-time officer for the department, acted "quickly and decisively" after nine people were stabbed at the Crossroads Center mall. Falconer shot suspect Dahir A. Adan, 22, after the suspect began attacking shoppers at the mall just after 8 p.m., police said. Seven men and two women were injured, and all are expected to survive. The shooting happened in the Macy's department store, authorities confirmed. Falconer declined PEOPLE's request for comment, citing an ongoing investigation. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said during a Sunday press conference that Falconer is "clearly a hero." "Clearly he made a decision, and if not for him being there clearly this would be much worse than it was," Kleis said. Falconer has worked for the Avon Police Department for several years, in multiple capacities, Nellis said Monday. He also serves as a firearms instructor for the city of Avon and is a competitive shooter. "[He's] one of my most experienced officers at the city and I am personally grateful for his years of service with us," Nellis said. "I am very proud of Officer Falconer's heroic actions." Nellis added, "If I was going to ask anybody to fire live rounds in a crowded mall, I would trust his abilities next to anybody." Nellis said the officer needs "time to cope" with the incident. Falconer will not return to duty for at least two months, although that scheduling was set before Saturday's incident, Nellis said. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. "I am deeply grateful to the heroic law enforcement officer, whose swift response prevented an even worse attack," said Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in a statement. "And I extend my very best wishes to the victims for their swift and complete recoveries." Authorities are investigating the incident, and have not ruled it out as a "potential act of terrorism," FBI Special Agent In Charge Richard Thorton said during Sunday's press conference. An ISIS-tied news organization has, however, claimed a connection to the attack, reported CNN. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said during the press conference that the suspect referenced "Allah" at least once, and asked one person if they were Muslim. Said Thorton, "We do not at this point in time know whether the subject was in contact with, had connections with, was inspired by, a foreign terrorist organization." During a Monday press conference, President Barack Obama said officials see no connection between the stabbing and the explosions this weekend in New York and New Jersey. A person of interest in the bombings was taken into custody Monday after a brief shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, that injured the suspect and two police officers. Reporting by SUSAN KEATING By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil rallied on Monday before settling off its highs on scepticism over Venezuela's bid to talk up a potential OPEC output freeze and on indications U.S. crude stockpiles had risen last week. Clashes in Libya that foiled a restart of crude exports from key ports, along with higher equity prices on Wall Street and a weaker dollar, helped oil end higher. U.S. gasoline futures (RBc1) tumbled nearly 3 percent as players booked profit on a 9 percent rally sparked by a leak on a key gasoline pipeline on Sept. 9. Pump prices in the southeast have jumped as well as Colonial Pipeline Co tried to fix a more-than-week long disruption. Brent crude futures (LCOc1) settled up 18 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $45.95 a barrel. It rallied more than 2 percent earlier, reaching $46.93. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures (CLc1) closed up 27 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $43.30. The session high was $44.15. Last week, Brent hit a two-week low of $45.48 and WTI fell to a five-week low of $42.74 on concerns about oversupply with more deliveries from Libya and Nigeria. In Monday's trade, oil initially rallied on reports that clashes in Libya halted the loading of the first oil cargo from the port of Ras Lanuf at the weekend. A port official, however, said loading was due to start late afternoon. Also boosting the markets early was Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's remarks on Sunday that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers were close to reaching a deal on price stability. Oil producers are to meet Sept 26-28 on the sidelines of an industry conference in Algeria for talks on potentially freezing oil production, ahead of OPEC's all-important policy meeting in November. But by the close, oil pared much of its advance as the market turned sceptical of OPEC's commitment to an output freeze, especially with key members of the group boosting exports while talking of a production deal. Story continues Saudi crude exports rose in July to 7.62 million barrels per day from 7.46 million bpd in June, data on Monday showed. A Reuters poll, meanwhile, showed U.S. crude stockpiles likely rose 2.3 million barrels last week, after back-to-back declines in two previous weeks. [EIA/S] OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo hinted at the weekend that if a freeze deal was not achieved next week, the group may shoot for one at its November summit. "The agency's Sec Gen appears to be sending off signals that the talks will be informal and unlikely to result in a decision to restrain output," said Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based oil markets consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates. "Bottom line: We see lower values ahead with WTI and Brent poised for additional decline to about $39 and $40.50 respectively, potentially by the end of next week." (Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in LONDON and Mark Tay in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Diane Craft) The National Constitution Center is awarding its 2016 Liberty Medal to Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) on Monday for his courageous dedication to civil rights and the Constitution, citing the 1965 march he and Hosea Williams led across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., on March 7, 1965. At the time, Selma represented the deep problem of inequality in voting: in a city that was almost exactly half white and half African-American, 99% of those registered to vote were white, reported TIMEs March 19, 1965, cover story about the protest. As the call to register more black voters became ever louderand opposition became more violentMartin Luther King, Jr. called for a voting-rights demonstration in the form of a march from Selma to the state capital at Montgomery. But, as the magazine reported, his plan to lead it had to be changed at the last minute because his personal safety was at risk. Enter Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Despite the state Governor George Wallaces order not to march, he started at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church with a group that TIME estimated back then to be 650 African-Americans and a few whites. I dont understand how President Johnson can send troops to Vietnam but not to Alabama, he later recalled saying at the time. Walking two by two, the group got as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge before a line of state troopers shut it down. As TIME described the scene: Suddenly the clubs started swinging. From the sidelines, white townspeople raised their voices in cheers and whoops. Joined now by the possemen and deputies, the patrolmen waded into the screaming mobNow came the sound of canisters being firedWithin seconds the highway was swirling with white and yellow clouds of smoke, raging with the cries of menThe mounted men uncoiled bull whips and lashed out viciously as the horses hoofs trampled the fallen. Story continues That day became known as Bloody Sunday. Lewis was one of the dozens hospitalized, knocked unconscious by a troopers nightstick. I thought I saw death, hed later say. Demonstrations took place in cities nationwide and Martin Luther King, Jr. declared a symbolic March 9 march as far as the bridge. Meanwhile, concerned Americansespecially members of the clergyflocked to Selma. In Indianapolis, Jewish Mission Worker David Goldstein had an appointment to seek a salary raise from his boss; he canceled it and headed for Selma, TIMEs cover story reported. University of Chicago Divinity School Instructor Jay Wilcoxen arrived home to find that his wife had taken it upon herself to get him a plane reservation. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in federal troops, and on March 15, sent a voting rights bill to Congress. He used the words We shall overcome, echoing a mantra of the movement in what Lewis considers one of the most meaningful and powerful speeches any modern president has made on voting rights. A third march from Selma to Montgomery was successfully completed on March 25. On the events 30th anniversary, TIME would describe Bloody Sunday and the Selma marches as a turning point in the civil rights movement that led to not only President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act into law on Aug. 6, 1965, but also to the elimination of discriminatory literacy tests and poll taxes. Lewis made headlines this summer for relating the persistence of the civil rights marchers in Selma to Democrats persistence on another cause, when he led a June sit-in on the House floor for more than 25 hours to pressure the Republican majority to act on gun-control legislation. More than 50 years ago, I crossed the bridge not just one time, but it took us three times to make it all the way from Selma to Montgomery, he said. We have other bridges to cross. By PTI: From Aditi Khanna London, Sep 18 (PTI) British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing fresh rebellion from within her own party as a group of anti-European Union lawmakers join business people to launch a new Leave Means Leave group to push for "hard Brexit". The new group aims for a so-called "hard Brexit" to get the UK out of the EUs single market after the country voted to leave the European Union in a historic referendum in June. advertisement The Eurosceptic Tory lawmakers want an end to the influence of Brussels on British laws and scrapping "free movement" migration across Europe, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The group, to be launched today, is being led by businessman Richard Tice, one of the leading figures behind theLeave EUcampaign in the referendum, with the backing of other business figures, lawmakers and economists. In the groups launch report, it argues that Britain must pull out of the EUs single market, even if no alternative trade deal has been struck with Brussels. "Lets be clear: No deal is better than a bad deal," Tice said. He told the newspaper: "The British people made it clear that they wanted to leave the EU. There should be no compromise on this. The sooner we leave the more certainty and confidence for everyone." The new group, which has the support of at least six Conservative lawmakers so far, will add to the impression that concerns are growing among Mays colleagues over whether she will deliver full Brexit or some kind of compromise. May has said she will wait until next year before triggering Article 50 of the European treaties, which would launch the formal two-year process for negotiating the terms of Brexit. The group believes she should aim to complete the talks sooner. This would set Britain free to sign trade deals with countries outside Europe and would be a signal to the EU that the UK is serious. The group warned that single market is "the worlds least successful economic zone", which ties businesses up in regulations regardless of whether they trade with other European countries. It argued that remaining in the single market would be a mistake after leaving the EU because this would mean the UK would still be bound to accept unlimited numbers of migrants, while British firms would all have to abide by Brussels law. The groups supporters include the Tory MPs Peter Bone, Adam Holloway and Peter Lilley; UK economists Ruth Lea and Ewen Stewart; and business figures Richard Smith and Patrick Barbour. advertisement The Labour donor and businessman John Mills is also a supporter, with the Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman. A No. 10 Downing Street spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister has been clear that she is going to get the best deal for Britain and deliver on the clear verdict of the British public." PTI AK ABH AKJ ABH --- ENDS --- For Immediate Release Chicago, IL September 19, 2016 Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This weeks list includes Oracle (ORCL), FedEx (FDX), Adobe Systems ( ADBE) and Alcoa (AA). To see more earnings analysis, visit https://at.zacks.com/?id=3207. Every day, Zacks.com makes their Bull Stock of the Day available, free of charge. To see it, click here . Q3 Earnings Season Gets Underway Note: The following is an excerpt from this weeks Earnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actuals and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>> The Q3 earnings season got underway with the Oracle (ORCL) report and another 8 S&P 500 members, includingFedEx (FDX) and Adobe Systems ( ADBE) , will come out with results this week. All of these companies will be reporting results for their fiscal quarters ending in August, which get counted as part of our Q3 tally. In all, we will have seen results from 25 S&P 500 members by the time Alcoa (AA) comes out with quarterly results on October 10th. Estimates for Q3 have come down, following a well-established historical trend. Total Q3 earnings for the S&P 500 index are currently expected to be down -3.2% from the same period last year on +1.4% higher revenues. As negative as this revisions trend looks, it is nevertheless an improvement over what we have become used to seeing in the recent past. In other words, estimates for Q3 have not fallen by as much as was the case at the comparable stages in other recent reporting cycles. Estimates for 14 out of the 16 Zacks sectors have come down since the beginning of July, but they have come down the most for the Auto sector and the least for the Aerospace sector. Estimates Beyond Q3 Full-year 2016 earnings growth expectations are now negative, similar to what we saw last year. Beyond the current period (September quarter), meaningful growth is expected to resume from Q4, which is then expected to continue into 2017. Story continues Easier comparisons for the Energy sector arrive in Q4, when the sectors earnings growth turns positive. But the expected growth in Q4 and beyond isnt solely a function of easy comparisons for the Energy sector the expectation is for positive momentum from a broad cross section of sectors. Those expectations will most likely need to come down. But it will be interesting to see to what extent they will have to come down. Note: Sheraz Mian manages the Zacks equity research department. He is an acknowledged earnings expert whose commentaries and analyses appear on Zacks.com and in the print and electronic media. His weekly earnings related articles include Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview . He manages the Zacks Top 10 and Focus List portfolios and writes the Weekly Market Analysis article for Zacks Premium subscribers. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz Mian publishes a new article, please click here>>> Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter offers continuous coverage of the industries and the stocks poised to outperform the market. 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Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report FEDEX CORP (FDX): Free Stock Analysis Report ADOBE SYSTEMS (ADBE): Free Stock Analysis Report ALCOA INC (AA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Sydney (AFP) - An orphaned baby koala in Australia has found solace cuddling a fluffy toy marsupial in the absence of his mother as he recovers from the trauma of her death. Nine-month-old Shayne's mother was recently hit and killed by a car in Queensland state as he clung to her back. Rescuers found the joey had been thrown 20 metres down the road by the impact and was being chased by crows. The baby was taken to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, run by the family of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, where doctors said he was overcoming his terrifying ordeal with the help of a toy koala as he learns to be independent. "Shayne has no injuries as a result of the accident, instead, hes dealing with the loss of his mum and the vital life lessons he needs to learn in order to become an independent, wild koala, hospital director Rosie Booth said Monday. At the hospital Shayne, his black button nose and bushy ears visible above the soft pink blanket he was swaddled in, clung onto the back of the toy koala as he might his real mother. Its very fortunate that we had an observant rescuer who found Shayne and brought him into us because he wouldnt have lasted even a day in the wild by himself at his young age -- now he gets a second chance at life," Booth said. The much-loved koala has been under increasing threat across Australia in recent decades, particularly from habitat loss, disease, dog attacks and bushfires. The hospital treats an average of 70 to 80 koalas every month. A 2012 national count placed total Koala numbers at around 330,000, though their treetop habitat makes accurate assessment difficult. MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized Russian parliamentary elections on Monday, saying they had been marred by curbs on basic rights and a lack of distinct political alternatives. Vladimir Putin's political allies won a landslide victory in the election, near final results showed on Monday, paving the way for Putin to run for a fourth term as president in 18 months if, as expected, he chooses to do so. Ilkka Kanerva, a Finnish parliamentarian and the OSCE's special coordinator for the elections, told a news conference monitors had noted some improvements, including greater transparency when it came to the vote's administration. But he said the overall picture was beset by problems. "Legal restrictions on basic rights continue to be a problem. If Russia is to live up to its democratic commitments, greater space is needed for debate and civic engagement," he said. "Democratic commitments continue to be challenged as the electoral environment was negatively affected by restrictions to fundamental freedoms and political rights, firmly controlled media and a tightening grip on civil society." Kanerva also said a liberalized party registration process had yet to result in "distinct political alternatives." (Reporting by Andrew Osborn, Dmitry Solovyov, Polina Devitt; Editing by Christian Lowe) ZURICH (Reuters) - The consortium Sempione Retail on Monday offered to buy struggling Swiss retailer Charles Voegele Holding. Sempione, made up of Italy's OVS, financial investor Aspen Trust Services and Retails Investment S.R.L, is offering 6.38 francs per bearer share in cash for Voegele, a 2.1 percent premium to its closing price on Friday, Voegele said in a statement. The premium price would value the company at about 56.1 million Swiss francs (43.96 million pounds), based on Thomson Reuters market capitalisation data. Voegele has been closing stores and cutting jobs amid a prolonged slump that has led to hundreds of millions in losses over the last five years. (Reporting by John Miller) Taybeh (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Nearly 20 years ago, Nadim Khoury created the first Palestinian brewery. Now, with his son Canaan, he wants to add Palestine to the map of the world's wines. In 2013, after Canaan returned from studying in the United States, they founded a winery in the village of Taybeh set in the hills of the occupied West Bank. The Khourys, a Christian family, are one of only a handful of significant producers of wine in the Palestinian territories, along with the Salesian priests from the Cremisan monastery near Bethlehem. "Since the time of Christ, people have made wine in the Holy Land," said Nadim Khoury, whose given name in Arabic refers to a sometimes tipsy meal companion, a character who can be found as far back as pre-Islamic poetry. "My grandmother and grandfather pressed grapes at home," added Nadim's daughter Madees. Their descendants now want to "increase production and improve quality," she said. Around 20 varieties of grapes are grown in the West Bank and account for a key part of Palestinian agriculture, second only perhaps to olives. Vine-dotted terraces cling to steep hills, while in kitchens across the territories, the fruit is used for desserts and consumed freshly squeezed. Their leaves, stuffed with rice or meat, are a staple of family meals and holiday feasts. Vineyards cover about five percent of cultivated land in the West Bank, and annually produce more than 50,000 tonnes of grapes, according to the Palestinian agriculture ministry. - An act of faith - But Palestinians, 98 percent of whom are Muslim, produce little to no wine, despite the West Bank being far from devoid of it. Some 400,000 Jewish settlers have moved to the land Israel occupied in 1967 in a situation never recognised by the international community. And these settlers have established more than 20 vineyards across the region. For Khoury, producing a Palestinian wine is as much a matter of taste as an act of faith in the Palestinian cause. Story continues Christians also represent 90 percent of the population of Taybeh -- one of the highest concentrations in the West Bank. Every year the Khourys produce 30-35,000 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah red and white wines made from local grapes, using oak barrels imported from Italy and France. Farther south, near the city of Hebron known as one of the most conservative in the West Bank, the "Zeini" grape is cultivated. At the vineyard nearly 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) above sea level, they make a fragrant wine that is fermented and aged in steel tanks -- perfect for the summer heat of the Palestinian hills and as an accompaniment to grilled chicken. The Khourys are now seeking recognition of the Zeini as the first Palestinian grape. Helping to sort the fruit on a conveyor belt leading to a mechanical press, Madees says they want to help publicise Palestine, despite the state still not having received full recognition from the United Nations. As such, exporting a wine from "Palestine" is far from easy. - In US by Christmas? - "The free trade agreements with the United States, for example, say the 'West Bank' but not 'Palestine', so we had to change our labels," said Nadim Khoury. The front of the bottle says "Palestine" but the label on the back of the bottle reads "Taybeh, West Bank". "God willing, before Christmas our wine will be sold in the US," said Khoury. He is, he says, proud of his "great achievement of having kept the name of Palestine". The Palestinian territories suffer from a lack of organised industries and regulations, so it took two years to get the Palestinian Authority label required for export. The environment is favourable to viticulture, said Ghassan Cassis, who farms in the family vineyards in Bir Zeit near Ramallah, selling the grapes to Nadim Khoury for pressing. "We are 750 metres above the sea, humidity and dew evaporate quickly and the sunshine is good," said Cassis, who trained in Australia before coming home. However, he bemoans the lack of skilled labour in the sector. Khoury, meanwhile, is realistic about the future of Palestinian viticulture. "Latrun, which was a Palestinian city of wine until the 1967 war, is now in Israel and produces a wine sold as Israeli," he said. The monastery of Cremisan has for years been under pressure from the nearby separation wall built by Israel in a bid to protect Israelis from attackers from the West Bank, he said. Khoury said he worries that Taybeh could one day become "the only traditional winery in Palestine". By Himanshu Mishra: South Delhi police has arrested three highway robbers - Monu Tomar, Deepak Pandey and Ambika. The police recovered the robbed consignment of an online shopping company and also seized an Eeco van used to commit the crime. On September 10, the police received a complaint from Vineet Dixit who deals in transport business. Dixit's driver Ramdas informed him over the phone that his mini tempo loaded with goods of an online shopping company including mobile phones, shoes, computer components, toys and expensive clothes was robbed from NH-8. advertisement POLICE FINDS BEATEN UP DRIVER During investigation, the police team found the driver Ramdas injured at an isolated place in Rangpuri. He was immediately taken to Indian Spinal Injury Centre, Vasant Kunj for treatment. Ramdas said that while he was driving the tempo on NH-8, an Eeco van obstructed his way near Radisson Hotel. Six persons came out of the van and overpowered him. He was pinned down in the tempo and taken to a deserted place where they unloaded the goods into their Eeco. The assailants also beat him up and robbed him of his mobile phone and wallet. They then dumped him in the forest area behind Ghitorni. On the basis of descriptions provided by the driver, the police team developed local intelligence and traced the tempo near Shanker Camp in the forest area near Model Public School. They received a tip-off regarding a criminal named Monu Tomar based in Uttar Pradesh, who was previously involved in similar robberies and had also spent time in jail in Baraut, UP. ACCUSED ARRESTED, LOOTED ITEMS RECOVERED The police received information that he has been wearing branded clothes and had expensive mobile phones. On receipt of specific input, Monu Tomar was apprehended by the police team and an expensive mobile phone was recovered from his possession. During interrogation, Tomar confessed his involvement in the crime along with his associates. Based on his confession, co-accused Deepak and Ambika were also arrested from the area of Rangpuri Pahari and the police were able to recover some more stolen items. Also read: Delhi Police arrest accused in daylight robbery of 80 lakhs --- ENDS --- Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian shot by police during a stabbing attack against Israeli officers in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday has died of his wounds, a hospital statement said. His accomplice was shot dead on the spot. "The second terrorist... brought to Shaare Zedek hospital in critical condition... has died of his injuries," the statement said. Jerusalem (AFP) - Palestinian knife attacks against Israeli police left two assailants shot dead and three officers wounded on Monday as a new surge in violence raised concerns ahead of Jewish holidays. There have been eight similar incidents since Friday, coming after Palestinians wrapped up the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha last week and as Israel tightened security ahead of major Jewish holidays in October. The upsurge has shattered several weeks of relative calm. In Monday's first attack, a Palestinian stabbed two police officers in annexed east Jerusalem before being shot, Israeli authorities said. A 38-year-old policewoman was in serious condition in intensive care with a stab wound to her neck, while a policeman in his mid-40s needed treatment for moderate stab wounds. The Palestinian attacker was in serious condition after being shot in the head and limbs at the scene, near the walled Old City's Herod's Gate. He was identified as Ayman Hassan Al-Kurd, 20, from Ras al-Amud in east Jerusalem. Surveillance video distributed by police showed the attacker approach the officers from behind before forcefully stabbing them. Palestinian shops along the same street were ordered closed by police after the attack, shopowners said. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the closures were ordered for officers to search the area, but some shopowners said it seemed like punishment for the stabbing. "Police told us: 'Either you close or we'll close your shops by force'," fruit and vegetable merchant Samer al-Meswali, 38, told AFP. - 'Assailant subdued' - Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevy said locals should realise they have a stake in events. "It cannot be that there is an incident like this and life goes on as if nothing happened," he told Israeli Channel Two television. The US Consulate General in Jerusalem warned all US government employees and their families to avoid the Old City until further notice. Story continues A few hours after the Jerusalem attack, there was fresh violence in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Two Palestinians, aged 21 and 17, tried to stab Israeli border police near a flashpoint holy site before being shot, police said. One of the attackers was killed on the spot while the other later died from his wounds. One officer was "very lightly wounded in his hand", police said. After nightfall, a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier but he "subdued the assailant without the use of fire," an army statement said. While the assailants are believed to have acted on their own, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Qanoua on Monday said the Islamist movement that runs Gaza welcomed the attacks. He called them "a natural response to the crimes of the Israeli occupation against our people". On the eve of Monday's attacks, the Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it said were increased Israeli security measures in Hebron, Jerusalem and elsewhere, including new checkpoints and closing off villages. An Israeli security official, on condition of anonymity, said tensions may be increasing because of Palestinian "online incitement" against Jewish visits to Jerusalem's Old City and its Al-Aqsa mosque compound. - Tension over holy site The compound is the third holiest site for Muslims and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. The Jewish holidays see an increase in Jewish visitors to the site. UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov urged both sides "to take measures to preserve calm and avoid escalation, especially during the upcoming" holidays. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his nearly year-long order barring members of parliament and ministers from the volatile site. Clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa compound last year during the Jewish holidays amid Muslim fears that Israel was planning to change the rules governing the site, claims Netanyahu vehemently denied. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid stoking tensions. The site is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel seeks to assert further control over it. Far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition have called for Jewish prayer rights at the compound, while hardline groups favour construction of a third Jewish temple there. Since October, 229 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest. Jerusalem (AFP) - A Palestinian stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers in east Jerusalem near the Old City on Monday before being shot by forces at the scene, police said. Medics said a policewoman in her 20s was seriously wounded in the attack and a 45-year-old policeman was moderately wounded. A police spokeswoman said the perpetrator was a 20-year-old from east Jerusalem and believed to be in critical condition. Monday's was the sixth attack on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday after a three-week lull in a nearly year-long wave of violence. The attack took place by the Herod's Gate entrance to the Old City, a short distance from the Damascus Gate where on Friday a Jordanian was shot dead after attempting to stab a police officer. Since October, 227 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Paul Ryan House Speaker Paul Ryan met with Ivanka Trump in New York City on Monday at her request, according to a source familiar with the meeting. The source told Business Insider that Ivanka Trump, daughter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, shared campaign updates with Ryan during the productive conversation. The meeting took place at the the New York Economic Club where Ryan delivered a speech. Ryan also shared with Ivanka Trump what he learned when he was on the 2012 Republican ticket as the partys nominee for vice president, the source said. The relationship between Ryan and the Trump family has not always been great. The Wisconsin Republican famously declined for weeks to endorse Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination earlier this year. Ryan has also at times publicly condemned some of Trump's fiery rhetoric. The meeting comes as Donald Trump enters the final leg of the presidential campaign. The real-estate mogul is set to debate Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, for the first time next week. NOW WATCH: A hair surgeon explains what's going on with Donald Trump's hair More From Business Insider Penn Station, New York Citys hub for Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Railroad, may be getting a security overhaul. The news follows bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend and the discovery of multiple bombs in New Jersey early Monday. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in response to a reporter question on Amtrak security this morning, said he is preparing a new security plan, in coordination with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for Penn Station. I dont want to get ahead of Tom Prendergast [MTA CEO] but we are going to outline shortly a new plan, for Penn, part of which will be new security measures, said the Governor, who declined to be specific. The Governors office also declined to offer further details to FOXBusiness.com. Earlier this year, his office proposed a broad $3 billion overhaul of Penn much of which focuses on the outdated infrastructure. Inquiries by FOXBusiness.com to Prendergast's office were not answered at the time of publication. Unlike airport security, Amtrak and tri-state commuter rails do not require a photo I.D. or passport to board a train for travel between points in the U.S. Amtrak, which says on a daily basis it carries more than three times as many riders between Washington, DC, and New York City as the airline industry, many of which are business travelers, also stressed it has received no new specific or credible threats. In a statement to FOXBusiness.com, a spokesperson for Amtrak says it is monitoring the latest developments and is working closely with the FBI and local law enforcement adding, Amtrak has increased its security posture along the entire Northeast Corridor including additional uniformed and plainclothes officers as well as K9 units to keep our passengers, employees and the railroad safe. Enhanced security measures are in place at stations, on trains and along the tracks. Amtrak Police are in close contact with local, state and federal partner agencies to coordinate and share intelligence information Story continues This month Amtrak appointed Charles Wick Moorman as its new CEO, replacing Joe Boardman. Moorman is the retired CEO of Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC). Terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami was captured in Linden, New Jersey mid-morning Monday, following a shootout with law enforcement after his picture was released to the media and was blasted to smart phones via an emergency alert more commonly used for weather warnings and Amber alerts. New York and New Jersey remain under a heightened state of alert on Monday following the weekend bomb attacks and ahead of the United Nation's General Assembly. Related Articles [Photo: Ibrahim Konar / Youtube] People in Turkey are taking to the streets and social media in protest after a Turkish court released a man on Sunday who confessed to kicking a woman in the face because she was wearing shorts. Aysegul Terzi, a 23-year-old nurse, was standing at the back of an Istanbul bus when the assault occurred. She was helped by three men who witnessed the attack and stepped in to try and stop it. According to local media, her attacker Abdullah Cakroglu was heard saying those who wear shorts must die! He also admitted during an interrogation that her shorts went against [his] traditions and that he attacked her because it angered him. Cakroglu, a 35-year-old security guard at a private company, reportedly suffers from bipolar disorder. I beat people whose outfits I do not like. The state should punish those who dress like this, Cakroglu reportedly said. His release incited outrage and sparked a protest on and off the streets, with many people taking to social media to tweet # AysegulTerzininSesiOlalm, meaning lets be the voice of Aysegul Terzi. Several women even posted images of themselves wearing shorts in solidarity with Terzi. People also gather in Ostanbuls Galatasaray Square on Sunday to protest the attack and call for an end to violence against women. Story continues Sort giydigi icin siddet goren Aysegul icin sessiz kalmyoruz pankartyla Galatasaray'da toplanld. @nilu_34 pic.twitter.com/VocSI7oI4c 140journos (@140journos) September 18, 2016 Following the public uproar, a prosecutor on duty issued a warrant for Cakroglus arrest and hours later he was once again detained for inciting animosity among society. What do you think of Cakroglus release? Let us know know by tweeting us @YahooStyleCA. Claire Danes made a very golden appearance at last nights Emmys [Photo: Getty] Fake tan fails. Weve all been there. Unfortunately for Claire Danes, hers happened to be on the worlds stage as she attended Sundays Emmy Awards in a glittering gold dress complete with matching OTT golden skin. The star, who was up for Best Actress in Homeland, had presumably had a fake tan pre-awards, but instead of a gentle glow, she did a Ross in Friends and went a few shades too dark. Typically, the Twitterati were quick to point out the 37-year-old actress beauty fail. Did Claire Danes have a little Trump self-tanning malfunction? YIkes. #orangeclaire #Emmy, wrote one viewer. Twitter couldnt stop talking about Claires Fake tan fail [Photos: Getty] "Who hates Claire Danes and why did she let them give her a spray tan? joked another. If I were Claire Danes Id sue the person who suggested the extra tanning, added another. But some people could see past the tanning faux pas. Claire Danes dress is epic, that back with the hardware, gorgeous! Im willing to overlook the Cheetos spray tan! wrote one fan. Despite the OTT fake tan, Claire looked amazing in this glittering gown [Photos: Getty] And despite getting carried away with the fake bake, the blonde mum-of-one looked incredible in the slinky sparkly gown with delicate leaf cut out back, which showed of her slim figure to perfection. Claire also caused a stir on the red carpet in this Cinderella Dress at the Met Gala earlier this year [Photo: Getty] This isnt the first time Claire Danes has caused ripples on the red carpet. Earlier this year she amazed onlookers with her amazing light-up gown at the Met Gala. The Zac Possen creation was dubbed a Cinderalla dress as it lit-up just like the dress worn by the Disney Princess. What do you think of Claires look? Let us know @YahooStyleUK Emmy Awards 2016: Best & Worst Dressed Ariel Winter Brings Kylie Jenners NYFW Street Style to the Emmys Red Carpet Pintoo Kumar kidnapped the six-year-old boy and threatened his mother that he would kill her son if she did not arrange his marriage with her sister. By Anuj Mishra: Delhi Police have rescued a six-year-old boy and arrested his kidnapper. On September 14, the mother of the child registered a complaint with the Mundka police station that her six-year-old son, who was studying in second standard, had been kidnapped from school. She said that she had dropped him off at school at 8 AM, like she normally does. advertisement KIDNAPPER SAYS HE WANTS TO MARRY VICTIM'S AUNT At around 1 PM, she received a call on her mobile phone from a man who introduced himself as Pintoo. Pintoo said that her son was in his custody and would be returned only if the complainant's sister (the boy's aunt) was married off to him. The complainant rushed to the school and found that her son has already been taken from school by Pintoo. The police immediately swung into action and began the search operation for the kidnapper and his victim child. The call detail records were analysed and Pintoo's location was obtained from the service provider. A team along with the complainant dispatched for Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh, as the location of Pintoo's mobile phone was on the rail-route to Mughalsarai, where the sister of the complainant resided. KIDNAPPER NABBED IN BIHAR When the team was on the way to Mughalsarai, Pintoo's phone was located in Devle village in Bihar. This information was immediately sent to the Superintendent of Police, Seikh Pura district for surveillance in Devle. The team enroute Mughalsarai also reached Seikh Pura and conducted a raid at the house of Pintoo's uncle. He was nabbed, and the boy was rescued safely. During interrogation, Pintoo revealed that he and the complainant lived in the same neighbourhood. He developed intimacy with the husband of complainant and started visiting their house. Once, he visited the native village of the complainant and saw the sister of complainant. He fell in one-sided love with her and wanted to marry her but the complainant and her husband were not agreeing to this marriage. Hence, he hatched a conspiracy and kidnapped their child from the school and made a threat call to the complainant to the effect that he would eliminate her son if his marriage is not arranged with complainant's younger sister. Also read: Delhi Police finds man who fabricated his own kidnapping --- ENDS --- Ahmad Khan Rahami, named as a person of interest in the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City on Saturday, was wounded and taken into custody after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, a source confirms to PEOPLE. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said at a Monday press conference that two officers were wounded in a shootout: One was shot in the hand, one in vest. "Mr. Rahami also sustained shots and an ambulance has taken him away," Bollwage said. The FBI says that Rahami, 28, was born in Afghanistan and was believed to be living in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Saturday night's explosion in Chelsea injured 29 people, all of whom have since been released from the hospital, NBC News reports. New Jersey State Police said Monday that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected, according to multiple reports. No one was injured in the Seaside Park bombing. A federal source confirms to PEOPLE that the same model flip-style cell phone was used as a detonator for the two bombs in Chelsea (a second device was discovered on Saturday night and disarmed by authorities) and the bomb that went off ahead of a charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey, which is about 85 miles south of Manhattan. Both bombings occurred within hours of each other on Saturday. Person of Interest in New York Bomb Attack Apprehended After Being Wounded in Police Shootout| Crime & Courts, Terrorism, True Crime Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. The federal source says Rahami is considered separate from the five people who were detained by the FBI on Sunday night. Those individuals were taken in for questioning during a traffic stop at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the bridge that connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. The FBI states that no one has been charged with any crime as the investigation is ongoing. Early Monday morning a police robot detonated a backpack full of pipe bombs in Elizabeth, which is about 20 miles from Manhattan. A federal source tells PEOPLE that it unclear if the same style of flip-phone was connected to the bombs found in Elizabeth. The source adds that investigators believe the five persons of interest detained are from Elizabeth, New Jersey, but have not yet confirmed any connection to the devices found there overnight. (Reuters) - Petra Diamonds Ltd said it expected production to rise up to 24.3 percent in 2017 from a year earlier and grow further to hit 5 million carats (mcts) in 2018, a year earlier than expected. The diamond miner forecast production to rise to 4.4-4.6 mcts in the year ending June 30, 2017 from 3.7 mcts in the corresponding period a year earlier. Higher volumes at its joint venture with Kimberley Ekapa Mining in South Africa was helping boost total production, the company said. (Reporting by Pranav Kiran in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri) From Popular Mechanics Philadelphia's main transit agency plans to try urine-repelling paint to combat smells and complaints about cleanliness. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will run a trial this fall of a product called Ultra-Ever Dry, a surface coating that makes urine spray back on the offender. SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said complaints are common for any large transit system. SEPTA's maintenance crews are always looking for new ways to tackle cleanup issues aside from their regular cleaning routines, he said. The coating has been used in public spaces in San Francisco and Hamburg, Germany. "From what we've understood, it seems like there's been some success (with the coating) so we are certainly willing to give this a try," Busch said. San Francisco's public works department used the clear, liquid repellent on some of its city walls to fight a chronic public urination problem. A light pole corroded by urine fell on a car in San Francisco last year. Public urination in Philadelphia, as in San Francisco, is illegal. The offense carries a $300 fine. SEPTA officials haven't decided whether they'll coat elevators, which San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit agency did to 80 elevators last month, or try the repellent on walkways or walls. The news website Billy Penn first reported the agency's plans. Busch said trial costs are minimal. You Might Also Like MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine regional trial court has ordered the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to return to the Bangladesh central bank a recovered portion of the $81 million (62.1 million) that was stolen from the bank earlier this year, a government lawyer said on Monday. The court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totalling $15 million, Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Philippines' Department of Justice, said while reading a copy of the court's ruling to a Reuters reporter. Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCB.PS) in Manila. During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, a casino junket operator claimed to have received $35 million of the stolen funds but only returned $15 million. It is not clear what happened to the remainder of the money. Bangladesh had to file a petition staking its claim to the money before it could be turned over to them. "(The) court ordered the release of the cash now in the BSP vault in favour of the People's Republic of Bangladesh," Paras told Reuters. Bangladesh is also seeking to recover another $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines' casino regulator. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Writing by Karen Lema; Editing by Christian Schmollinger) A notorious kidnapping-for-ransom gang in the strife-torn southern Philippines enjoyed another lucrative payday when it released a Norwegian hostage after a year in captivity, analysts said Monday. A bearded and bedraggled Kjartan Sekkingstad was released Saturday on a remote southern island after what analysts said was almost certainly a payment in the thousands of dollars after the Abu Sayyaf demanded millions. The Philippine and Norwegian governments have denied paying ransom for the release of Sekkingstad, while highlighting their efforts to secure his freedom after the kidnappers had beheaded two of his fellow hostages, both Canadian. Security analysts said the Abu Sayyaf would never release a hostage without ransom. "There was a ransom payment negotiated by intermediaries of the family with diplomatic help. My information is 30 million pesos ($625,000) was paid," said Rodolfo Mendoza, senior analyst of Manila-based Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research. "Hostage-taking is the Abu Sayyaf's fund-raising activity," Mendoza, a former police general, told AFP. Sekkingstad's brother Odd Kare Sekkingstad declined to comment when asked by AFP about reports of a ransom. His sibling was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from a tourist resort in September 2015, alongside a Filipina who has been freed, and the two Canadians who were beheaded in April and June. Philippine authorities have said the Norwegian was freed due to a military offensive which President Rodrigo Duterte ordered against the militants, and with the help of a separate Muslim rebel group holding peace talks with the government. Duterte himself had said last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid for Sekkingstad's release. "The Norwegian, that's already paid," Duterte told reporters. "I don't know (where the money came from), maybe my bank," he said in jest when asked who paid the ransom. Story continues Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College in the United States, told AFP there was no doubt ransom was paid. "The (Abu Sayyaf) did not release him out of the goodness of their hearts... governments have to deny paying ransoms, as it incentivises more hostage-taking. But often governments will use third parties." The payment would allow Abu Sayyaf to buy more guns through the black market, Abuza added. The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the nation's worst terror attacks, is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. Based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and listed by the US as a terrorist organisation, some of its leaders have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. In 2014 the Abu Sayyaf boasted of receiving 250 million pesos for two German hostages it freed after six months in captivity. In 2013 the militants also released an Australian ex-soldier after holding him for 15 months, with a local politician who acted as a negotiator saying ransom was paid. Militants Attack Indian Army Base In Kashmir; 17 Soldiers Killed An army soldier at the army base which was attacked by militants in the town of Uri, west of Srinagar. Photo Getty India has asserted that the terrorist attack in Uri in Kashmir has highlighted Pakistans desire to use poison instead of dialogue, as it lodged a strong protest against Islamabad at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Venezuela for its mischievous and malignant support to terror. Terrorists attacked the Indian army headquarters of the 12 Brigade around 5.30 a.m. The Indian army headquarters where terrorists killed 18 Indian army troopers, after the gun battle between Indian army troopers and terrorists on September 18, 2016, in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri near the Line of Control. As many as 86 civilians have been killed and over 13,000 Injured during the fierce protests over the killing of a young rebel commander Burhan Wani. The violence in the area is the worse since 2010 and the protests have triggered a heavy crackdown by Indian government forces, which include many curfews. Story ANI; Images Getty BEIRUT (Reuters) - A planned evacuation of several hundred Syrian rebels from the last opposition foothold in Homs city was delayed until Tuesday, the Homs governor said, vowing to press ahead despite opposition warnings it will sink a truce. The district of al-Waer in Homs, home to 60,000 people, is besieged by the government, which has been seeking to conclude local agreements with rebels to win back full control of strategic areas in western Syria. Homs Governor Talal Barazi said the delay in evacuating the fighters from the al-Waer district was due to "logistical obstacles", but he was confident it would go ahead successfully. "This is the fifth time that fighters and their families are evacuated from Homs," Barazi told journalists in the city. "All previous evacuations were successful, and this one will be too." He said on Sunday that between 250 to 300 fighters were due to leave Waer on Monday. Fighters from Waer have previously been given safe passage to the insurgent-dominated province of Idlib in northwestern Syria. Rebel groups however say the plan is part of a government strategy of forcibly displacing people from areas after years of siege and bombardment. In a statement on Sunday, they said the government would have "clearly ended its commitment to any proposed truce" if anyone was evacuated from Waer. A truce brokered by the United States and Russia came into effect in Syria on Sept. 12, though both the combatants have accused each other of numerous violations. Explaining the obstacles that led to the delay, Barazi said earth berms and concrete barricades need to be removed from the route to ensure the rebels reach their final destination. He said this could be Idlib province or the border with Turkey. The Syrian army has provided all appropriate conditions for the convoy's safe passage, he added. "I don't think there are big obstacles," Barazi said. "God willing, tomorrow will be a suitable day to resume this operation." (Reporting by Marwan Makdesi in Homs; Writing by Ellen Francis; Editing by Tom Heneghan) Police have arrested the man sought in connection with explosions over the weekend in New York City and New Jersey, as New Yorks mayor said he believed the blasts were an act of terror. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was taken into custody in Linden, N.J., following a shootout with police, officials said. Rahami was sought in the Saturday evening New York City bombing, which injured 29 people in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and in an explosion in Seaside Park, N.J., on Saturday morning. Authorities in New Jersey charged Rahami with attempted murder Monday evening over the police shootout. We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters during a news conference on Monday afternoon. De Blasio said investigators are not looking for anyone else in connection with the explosions. FBI special agent Bill Sweeney said there was no indication of a terrorist cell operating in the area, and that Rahami was not on police radar prior to the bombings. His motives remain unclear. I do not have information yet to show what the path to radicalization was, Sweeney said during the news conference. Sweeney did not comment on how the explosive devices found in Manhattan and New Jersey were connected, but said Rahami was directly linked to both. U.S. Attorney for New Yorks southern district Preet Bharara said his office will pursue charges against Rahami. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters at a news conference in New Jersey that two officers were injured while apprehending Rahami. One officer was shot in his bulletproof vest and another was shot in the hand. Rahami sustained gunshot wounds and was taken away in an ambulance, Bollwage said. Rahami was found sleeping in a bar hallway, the AP reported. The bars owner initially thought he was a vagrant and called the police, Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said. Police officers who responded quickly realized Rahami was the suspect sought in the explosions. Armstead said Rahami pulled out a handgun and fired at the officers, hitting one in a bulletproof vest. He then began firing his handgun while running down the street, and police shot him in the leg. Story continues Rahami was bleeding and conscious when an ambulance took him away. Linden police Capt. James Sarnicki told the AP three police officers were taken to the hospital. One officer was struck by shrapnel and another had high blood pressure. New York and New Jersey police issued photos of Rahami on Monday morning, saying he was wanted in connection with both bombings. Rahami is a naturalized citizen of Afghan descent, the FBI said. Linden is about four miles from Elizabeth, N.J., the site of Rahamis last known address. Officials found five suspicious devices near a train station in Elizabeth on Sunday night; one exploded early Monday when a bomb squad was trying to disarm it with a robot. The Quantico star proved that red really is her colour, at the Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. By Hemul Goel: With desi girl Priyanka Chopra dropping hints of her attire on the red carpet of the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, all breaths were held in anticipation of the actress' final appearance. Also read: 68th Primetime Emmy Awards to honour the best in television And, it's safe to say that the Quantico actress didn't disappoint. Before the big reveal, PeeCee even teased her fans with a Boomerang of the train of her gown, while she got ready to walk the red carpet. Watch it here. On my way.. #emmyswithpc A video posted by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Sep 18, 2016 at 2:51pm PDT advertisement All set to present an award at the ceremony--with all speculation pointing towards her co-presenter's identity as Tom Hiddleston--the actress was twirling perfection at the event. Twirling all the way. Photo: AP Wearing a one-shouldered Jason Wu number, featuring a waist-cinching belt and cutouts, the actress kept the finishing touches rather minimal. A bold red pout, a low ponytail and a pair of solitaires shone from her ears. Not long ago, the actress had been spotted sporting a bright Jason Wu number at the Accessories Council Excellence Awards and recently, PeeCee was seen in Jason Wu again while attending a bash thrown by Hugo Boss at the New York Fashion Week. Red hot on the red carpet! Photo: AP Though going red on the red carpet is a classic move, courtesy the colour clash, it's also the easiest to go wrong with, nevertheless Priyanka Chopra emerged as a clear winner on the red carpet. That pout! Photo: AP That pout! Photo: AP As gorgeous as the actress looked at the event, the only teeny-tiny detail we would change about her look would be that hairstyle. It gives it a boring vibe PeeCee! Those cutouts need to be paired with something a bit more fun, girl! Catch all excitement as the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards will be telecast LIVE on Star English Network in India on September 19th at 4:30 AM with a repeat telecast at 8 PM! --- ENDS --- Authorities are investigating a suspicious package found at a New Jersey train station. Two men found the package in a waste basket in Elizabeth, N.J. at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night and took it "because they thought it was of some value" and then notified the police, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said during a press conference. The two men reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. The bomb squad was called in and a drone examined the package. "The drone indicated it could be suspicious and it could be a live bomb," Bollwage said. The FBI and State Police were called to the scene to decide how to remove the device. At around 12:30 a.m., a loud explosion occurred in the area, according to local reporters who took to social media. Multiple devices in the backpack that was found Be aware of more detonations to come #Elizabeth NJ- Andy Mai (@MaiAndy) September 19, 2016 N.J. Transit and Amtrak trains are currently shut down going through the Elizabeth station on the Northeast Corridor line. Also on Sunday night, the FBI pulled over a car on a highway in Brooklyn and were questioning the vehicle's occupants in connection with the investigation into the New York City bombing that injured 29 people on Saturday, authorities said. It is unclear if the Elizabeth incident is related. NEC and NJCL service remains suspended between EWR and Elizabeth due to police activity near Elizabeth. - NJ TRANSIT (@NJTRANSIT) September 19, 2016 Sept. 18, 10:30 p.m.: Updated with explosion. Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Monday that there would be no repeat of last year's "chaotic" border opening to refugees, after a stinging defeat for her party in a Berlin state election. Even as she defended the "political and ethical" decision to let in one million asylum seekers in 2015 in the face of a potential humanitarian catastrophe, Merkel reached out to critics. "If I could, I would turn back time many, many years to better prepare myself, the federal government and all those in positions of responsibility for the situation we were rather unprepared for in the late summer of 2015," Merkel said. Merkel, who has been in office since 2005, was speaking to reporters after a dismal showing for her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) in Berlin, just two weeks after a drubbing for the party in another regional poll. The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) harnessed a wave of anger over the refugee influx to claim around 14 percent of the vote, poaching support from the venerable mainstream parties. The strong AfD result, thanks to support especially in the vast tower block districts in Berlin's former communist east, meant it has now won opposition seats in 10 of Germany's 16 states. Its success has mirrored the march of anti-migrant parties in France, Austria and the Netherlands as well as Republican maverick Donald Trump in the United States. News website Spiegel Online noted that although the AfD had fallen short of its own goal of a second-place finish, "the right-wing populists -- sad but true -- now belong to the new normal in Germany." - 'Sad but true' - Merkel's CDU slumped to just 18 percent -- its worst result in the city since World War II -- likely spelling the end of its term as junior coalition partner to the Social Democrats (SPD), who won just under 22 percent. Analysts said the drubbing would force Merkel, widely seen as Europe's most influential leader, to focus on German affairs at a time when the EU is facing sluggish economic growth, growing divisions over its migration policy and Britain's impending exit. Story continues In an unusually frank opening statement, Merkel said the errors of the past included a long-standing refusal to accept Germany's transformation into a multicultural society. "We weren't exactly the world champions in integration before the refugee influx," she wryly admitted, noting that the infrastructure for getting newcomers into language and job training had to be ramped up overnight. Merkel acknowledged that her "We can do it" rallying cry during the refugee crisis had become a provocation to many who felt it expressed a glibness about the challenges ahead and said she would now refrain from using it. But she continued to resist calls from within her conservative bloc to set a formal upper limit for the number of asylum seekers admitted to Germany. - Foothold for hard right - And she struck an optimistic note about the ability of Europe's top economic power to eventually integrate tens of thousands of refugees who will remain in Germany, including many from war-ravaged Syria. "I am absolutely certain that we will emerge from this admittedly complicated phase better than we went into it," she said. Berlin marked the fifth regional poll in a row showing losses for the CDU, as voter angst over the refugee influx shakes Merkel's once firm standing with the electorate. The AfD's string of successes indicates that for the first time since World War II, a party to the right of the CDU has established a foothold in German politics. AfD co-leader Frauke Petry said the Berlin poll marked the start of a "countdown" to the general election next September or October, when she predicted the party would clinch a "double-digit result". Political scientist Karl-Rudolf Korte of the University of Duisburg-Essen said the series of setbacks would force Merkel to focus on shoring up domestic support at the expense of international crisis management. "Merkel will stay in Germany more and travel abroad less, to explain her policies to citizens and why they should vote for her again next year," he told public broadcaster ZDF. SUWANEE, GA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Suwanee Georgia based Premier Financial Alliance recently held their annual convention, which took place in August 2016 at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, with a record attendance of more than 1,300 people. The annual convention was held to celebrate the company's success from January through July 2016. The company also laid out the master plan for the next 10 years. "Everyone has learned so much and is so excited about the PFA crusade and cause," says Heather Stewart with Premier Financial Alliance. One of the guest speakers during the event was David Carroll Sr, CEO and Founder of the company. Carroll spoke about "Success in the Next Decade". His presentation was followed by Executive Field Chairman Jack Wu who spoke about "The Secret of turning a great concept into GOLD". Other speakers included Jackie and Kevin Freiberg, global bestselling authors whose discussion was entitled, "CAUSE! A Business Strategy for Standing Out". The company states that everyone in attendance received valuable information and insights into what the organization plans to do next. "Everyone claimed to have had a wonderful time in Las Vegas and are excited what the future holds. We are really proud of how we've grown over the first half of the year. We can't wait to see what the next 10 years will bring. Anyone who is interested is urged to contact us for more information," said a spokesperson. Those interested can also visit the company on their official website or the PFA Facebook page to learn more about the convention as well as to gain an overview of the types of services that they provide. Premier Financial Alliance has been helping people for more than 30 years to start their own businesses and gain financial independence. A leader in the financial services industry, the company helps to arm people with the system they need to enter lucrative careers. The company attributes its success to surrounding itself with great people and like-minded partners in the industry, allowing PFA to create tools and innovate new products which helps its people be successful now and in the coming years. Story continues Contact Premier Financial Alliance: Kelly Martin https://www.pfaonline.com/contact.php 4411 Suwanee Dam Road Suite 720 Suwanee, Georgia 30024 SOURCE: Premier Financial Alliance President Obama urged Americans not to succumb to fear amid the investigations into terror bombings in the New York, New Jersey and stabbings in Minnesota over the weekend. As Americans, we do not, and never will, give in to fear, Obama said Monday. Speaking from the Lotte New York Palace Hotel, where the president is meeting with government officials from across the globe on Monday who are in town for the U.N. General Assembly, the president said he was grateful that no one was killed in the Saturday evening bombing in New York City, but wished the two dozen people who were injured a speedy recovery. As the president was speaking, officials in New York said a suspect in that attack, who has also been linked to subsequent bombs in New Jersey, had been taken into custody. The attacks, Obama said, are a reminder that all must be vigilant in efforts to thwart terrorism, repeating the line if you see something suspicious, say something, while speaking in New York on Monday. He also asked the media to hold off reporting unconfirmed bits of information, saying it does not help if false reports or incomplete information is out there. Obama also addressed the stabbings in Minnesota over the weekend, saying there is no connection between that event and the stabbings. Investigators are also looking into that case. The president said the federal government is providing officials in New York, Minnesota, and New Jersey all of the assistance they need throughout the investigations. I want to take this opp to reassure the people in this city, this region, and across American that our count terrorism and law enforcement professionals at every level are working together around the clock to prevent attacks and keep us safe, Obama said. The president called the terror organization ISIS a failed cause and said the U.S. will continue leading efforts to go after the group, its leaders, and its infrastructure in the ongoing coalition attacks in the Middle East. In New York and New Jersey, Obama said, folks dont get scared That kind of toughness and resoluteness and the recognition that neither individuals nor organ like ISIL can ultimately undermine our way of life thats the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an American, Obama said. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York last week, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said his pro-growth policies would create 25 million new jobs. Today, the nonpartisan Peterson International Institute of Economics eviscerated that claim in a deep analysis of the positions Trump has taken. Related: Trump Has a New Economic Plan, but the Numbers Dont Add Up The Institutes review of the proposed trade policies of both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton concludes that the Republicans proposals could cost America almost 5 million jobs, plunge the country into recession and increase illegal immigration from Mexico. [The Peterson International Institute of Economics, a Washington-based, nonprofit and nonpartisan research institution, and The Fiscal Times are supported by Peter G. Peterson but operate independently of each other.] The Institute said in its three-part report that the proposed trade policies of both Clinton and Trump would deeply harm the American economy. Furthermore, they would primarily hurt average American households on modest incomes, and especially many of the individuals and communities that were already hard hit by the crisis. Curbing trade will worsen rather than solve the problem of American income stagnation by reducing families purchasing power, and by further slowing productivity growth. In fact, our analysis shows the recession that the belligerent trade policies proposed by Trump would cause would devastate viable American businesses, the Institute said. The analysis took both candidates to task for their anti-trade rhetoric, but it found the positions taken by Trump the most dangerous and potentially damaging. Related: Trumps Penny Plan Has Appeal, but Experts Say Its Unworkable It cited Trumps calls for ripping up existing trade agreements, renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, imposing a 35 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and a 45 percent tariff on imports from China, and pulling out of the World Trade Organization, which is the core framework for U.S. commerce with 163 countries. Story continues To the question of whether a President Trump could unilaterally carry out his threats, Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Institute, wrote: The short answer, at least in the short term, is yes, both because of the presidents constitutional power over foreign affairs and because multiple statutes enacted by Congress over the past century authorize the president to impose tariffs or quotas on imports and regulate foreign commerce in other ways as well. And while Trump would face stiff opposition to his tariffs and lawsuits from a slew of manufacturers, other countries would not wait for American courts or the WTO to review his actions. In a full trade war scenario, with heavy tariffs imposed on China and Mexico, employment in 2019, the trough of the recession, falls by nearly 4.8 million private sector jobs, more than 4 percent below baseline private sector employment, the Institute found. Source: Peterson International Institute of Economics The drop in employment would hit a broad swath of states, according to the Institutes analysis, including some of the biggest battlegrounds in the election, including New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Related: Trumps Tax Plan Would Cost Trillions, but the Numbers Are a Moving Target Industries that manufacture machinery used to create capital goods in the information technology, aerospace, and engineering sectors, which depend on exports, would be the most intensely affected, the Institute said. But the trade shock would also damage sectors not engaged in trade, such as wholesale and retail distribution, restaurants, and temporary employment agencies, particularly in regions where traded commodities are produced. Millions of American jobs that appear unconnected to international tradedisproportionately lower-skilled and lower-wage jobswould be at risk. An analysis of the impact of the trade policies of Clinton and Trump -- written by Marcus Noland, Sherman Robinson and Tyler Moran -- said that if China were to take retaliatory trade action and terminate aircraft purchases, that alone could cost 179,000 American jobs. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: From Starbucks to McDonald's and Cafe Coffee Day, rapidly growing multinational fast food chains in India are increasing pollution rates. From Starbucks to McDonald's, the big fast food chains are not using climate friendly technologies to reduce global warming. Picture courtesy: Instagram/etchymcetchy/livetoeatbombay By Indo-Asian News Service: Rapidly growing multinational fast food chains in India are the largest contributors to hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) emissions and could add the equivalent of nearly one million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020, says a new international study. US-based McDonald's, Starbucks, Subway and Dunkin Donuts as well as India-based company Cafe Coffee Day fast food chains that could add the equivalent of nearly one million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said in its report "Transitioning HFCs in India: The opportunity for climate-friendly cooling in the fast food industry" released on Friday. advertisement "Developing countries like India are expected to join a global HFC phase down, and it behoves multinational corporations to do their part for the climate," an official statement quoting EIA Global Climate Campaign Director Avipsa Mahapatra said. "With climate friendly, cost effective technologies already available, these companies have no excuse to rely on super greenhouse gases." "We call on these companies to recognise the enormous potential for emissions reductions in India by reducing their refrigeration footprint and publicly commit to not install HFC-based equipment in their new stores from 2019," Mahapatra said. Also read: 5 junk food hybrids that will definitely make you obese The Indian fast food industry is expected to grow from $15 billion in size to more than $50 billion over the next five years. McDonald's, with more than 350 stores in India and growing, has not transitioned to climate friendly alternatives in India, but in its Europe facilities, has installed over 13,500 pieces of HFC-free equipment since 2010 and has piloted an entirely HFC-free store, says the EIA. Subway, the largest fast food chain by store count in the world, uses hydrocarbons in back counter chillers in the Britain and Ireland, but has no stated intent of going HFC-free in India. The EIA calls on the Indian government to ban the use of HFCs with a global warming potential higher than 1,000 in new food and beverage refrigeration equipment beginning January 1, 2018 in multinational food and beverage retailers. The Parties to the Montreal Protocol will meet in October to reach an agreement on the global phase down of HFCs. According to the EIA, a successful agreement has the potential to mitigate 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050. --- ENDS --- Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Times A Chinese consortium has gate-crashed the auction of gas pipelines that supply nearly 11 million homes and businesses - posing the first big test of Theresa May's clampdown on foreign ownership of key national infrastructure. http://bit.ly/2cAPWuD The Serious Fraud Office is considering launching an investigation into the collapse of an oil company that was advised for three years by the Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi. http://bit.ly/2cAPbl4 The Guardian The head of Germany's central bank has warned that London's position as a financial centre would be dealt a severe blow if the UK left the single market because banks would be denied the right to operate across the 27 remaining members of the EU. http://bit.ly/2cAPSuz First-time buyers hoping to snap up a bargain after the Brexit vote could be in for a shock with figures showing new sellers in England and Wales asking 3.3% more for typical starter homes than a month ago. http://bit.ly/2cAPTyD The Telegraph China has failed to curb excesses in its credit system and faces mounting risks of a full-blown banking crisis, according to early warning indicators released by the world's top financial watchdog. http://bit.ly/2cAQFM8 Rolls-Royce is cutting more than 200 management jobs, the latest in a series of losses as its chief executive attempts to turn around the British engineering giant. http://bit.ly/2cAQbG6 Sky News Sky News understands that The Hut Group, which counts the former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy among its shareholders, will announce the purchase of Ideal Shape in the coming days. http://bit.ly/2cAQpgf The Secretary General of the Commonwealth has said that many countries "are still getting over the shock" of Britain deciding to leave the EU, but will explore opportunities to intensify trade partnerships with the UK. http://bit.ly/2cAQErG Story continues The Independent Business confidence has been dragged to a four-year low amid rising concerns over economic uncertainty and a slowdown in demand following the EU referendum result. http://ind.pn/2cAQxwf (Compiled by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler) Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Three violent attacks over the weekend in the U.S. that left almost 40 people injured remained shrouded in questions, but together they fueled growing fears among authorities about terror assaults by small groups, lone wolves or simply deranged individuals. http://on.wsj.com/2cBaB4U - Veteran winners dominated top categories at the 68th Emmy Awards, underscoring the institution's challenge in keeping up with a television landscape that has changed rapidly in recent years. http://on.wsj.com/2cBabvp - Koch Industries Inc, a conglomerate owned and run by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, is making a push into the household-cleaner business, taking aim at industry stalwarts such as Procter & Gamble Co and Clorox Co. http://on.wsj.com/2cBau9m - The cease-fire in Syria was in jeopardy on Sunday as clashes escalated the day after the U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian government forces in an airstrike. http://on.wsj.com/2cB9D8O - The leader of the union representing auto workers in Canada said thousands of factory employees will strike at two General Motors Co plants if the sides miss a Monday night deadline for a new contract, threatening to disrupt the supply of engines that go into the company's sport-utility vehicles. http://on.wsj.com/2cBb6f4 - The Federal Aviation Administration appears poised to take on a new role some agency officials have coveted for years: serving as traffic cops in space. http://on.wsj.com/2cBaCG8 - Aubrey McClendon's fine wine collection sold for $8.4 million over the weekend, as bidders from the late oilman's home state helped the auction exceed expectations. http://on.wsj.com/2cBbcDK - Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC is expanding job cuts in its prolonged battle to boost profitability at the struggling British engine maker. Rolls-Royce said Sunday that it would shed 200 more management roles through a buyout program. http://on.wsj.com/2cBaw0X Story continues - OPEC members damped expectations over the weekend for an agreement to limit crude-oil output this month, as new pledges of increased production from several countries threatened to render any pact meaningless. http://on.wsj.com/2cBavKC - In a case that shook Albuquerque, two former police officers are scheduled to stand trial this week for the 2014 shooting death of a mentally ill homeless man. http://on.wsj.com/2cBbPxc - Salesforce.com Inc said it would embed artificial intelligence technology into its software for salespeople, making it the latest in a gaggle of companies racing to enhance workplace tools with human-like abilities. The company will demonstrate the new software at its annual user conference next month in San Francisco. http://on.wsj.com/2cBaZQZ - As it grapples with a massive global smartphone recall that is estimated to cost more than $1 billion, Samsung Electronics Co is moving swiftly to sell stakes in other technology companies to raise cash. The world's biggest smartphone maker said Sunday it has sold shares in computer-drive maker Seagate Technology PLC, chip maker Rambus Inc, Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding NV and Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp . http://on.wsj.com/2cBbDxF (Compiled by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru) Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Should Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump get elected, Congress most likely would moderate his proposals to cut taxes, increase spending and even to build a border wall. But international trade policy is one area where a President Trump could unilaterally deliver on the changes that he has promised, making imported goods like electronics a lot more expensive. http://nyti.ms/2cjgdiM - Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and many economists support investing billions in the nation's crumbling infrastructure, but paying for it will not be simple. The candidates' agreement, combined with growing accord among economists that increased spending on infrastructure could invigorate the American economy and raise overall living standards, has led to a cautious optimism that some sort of big public works push is coming, regardless of who is elected. http://nyti.ms/2cjgm63 - The plight of Citrus Pest Control District No. 2, which serves just six people in California, shows how some public pension plans are far less funded than their official numbers suggest. Calpers, which managed the fund, keeps two sets of books: the officially stated numbers, and another set that reflects the "market value" of the pensions that people have earned. The second number is not publicly disclosed. http://nyti.ms/2cjgti0 - Restaurants in Palo Alto, California, are increasingly struggling as rents soar and workers are hired away by the corporate cafeterias of behemoths such as Google, Apple and Facebook. http://nyti.ms/2cjd7vj (Compiled by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru) Editor's note: This is the second installment of a two-day series. The first day covers the state political efforts surrounding opioids. For more than a decade, members of a little-known group called the Pain Care Forum have blanketed Washington with messages touting prescription painkillers vital role in the lives of millions of Americans, creating an echo chamber that has quietly derailed efforts to curb U.S. consumption of the drugs, which accounts for two-thirds of the worlds usage. In 2012, drugmakers and their affiliates in the forum sent a letter to U.S. senators promoting a hearing about an influential report on a crisis of epidemic proportions: pain in America. Few knew the report stemmed from legislation drafted and pushed by forum members and that their experts had helped author it. The report estimated more than 100 million Americans roughly 40 percent of adults suffered from chronic pain, an eye-popping statistic that some researchers call deeply problematic. The letter made no reference to another health issue that had been declared an epidemic by federal authorities: drug overdoses tied to prescription painkillers. Deaths linked to addictive drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet had increased more than fourfold since 1999, accounting for more fatal overdoses in 2012 than heroin and cocaine combined. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and The Associated Press reveals that similar feedback loops of information and influence play out regularly in the nations capital, fueled by money and talking points from the Pain Care Forum, a loose coalition of drugmakers, trade groups and dozens of nonprofits supported by industry funding that has flown under the radar until now. Hundreds of internal documents shed new light on how drugmakers and their allies shaped the national response to the ongoing wave of prescription opioid abuse, which has claimed the lives of roughly 165,000 Americans since 2000, according to federal estimates. Story continues Painkillers are among the most widely prescribed medications in the U.S., but pharmaceutical companies and allied groups have a multitude of legislative interests beyond those drugs. From 2006 through 2015, participants in the Pain Care Forum spent over $740 million lobbying in the nations capital and in all 50 statehouses on an array of issues, including opioid-related measures, according to an analysis of lobbying filings by the Center for Public Integrity and AP. The same organizations reinforced their influence with more than $140 million doled out to political campaigns, including more than $75 million alone to federal candidates, political action committees and parties. That combined spending on lobbying and campaigns amounts to more than 200 times the $4 million spent during the same period by the handful of groups that work for restrictions on painkillers. Meanwhile, opioid sales reached $9.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a health information company. You can go a long, long way in getting what you want when you have a lot of money, said Professor Keith Humphreys of Stanford University, a former adviser on drug policy under President Barack Obama. And its only when things get so disastrous that finally theres enough popular will aroused to push back. This story is part of Whos Calling the Shots in State Politics?. The Center exposes the powerful special interests that drive elections and policy in the states. Click here to read more stories in this series. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. Obama gave his first speech on the opioid epidemic last fall. In July, Congress passed its first legislation targeting the crisis, an election-year package intended to expand access to addiction treatment. But the law includes little new funding and no restrictions on painkillers, such as mandatory training for prescribers, a step favored by federal advisory panels. Obama administration officials say they have tried to strike a balance between controlling the harms of opioids and keeping them available for patients. We did not want to deny people access to appropriate pain care, said Michael Botticelli, Obamas drug czar. We were all trying to figure out what the balance was, and thats still the case going forward. Painkillers are modern versions of ancient medicines derived from the opium poppy, also the source of heroin. Prescription opioids were long reserved for the most severe forms of pain associated with surgery, injury or terminal diseases like cancer. That changed in the 1990s with a surge in prescribing for more common ailments like back pain, arthritis and headaches. A combination of factors fueled the trend, including new medical guidelines, insurance policies and pharmaceutical marketing for long-acting drugs like OxyContin. The drugs manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $600 million in fines in 2007 for misleading the public about the risks of OxyContin. But the drug continued to rack up blockbuster sales, generating more than $22 billion over the last decade. Despite having no physical address or online presence, the Pain Care Forum hosts high-ranking officials from the White House, Food and Drug Administration and other agencies at its monthly gatherings. Purdues Washington lobbyist, Burt Rosen, co-founded the forum more than a decade ago and coordinates the groups meetings, which include dozens of lobbyists and executives. Purdue declined to make Rosen available for interviews and did not answer specific questions about its lobbying activities or financial support for forum participants. Purdue said it supports a range of advocacy groups, including some with differing views on opioids. In practice and governance, the Pain Care Forum is like any of the hundreds of policy coalitions in Washington and throughout the nation, the company said in a statement, adding: Purdue complies with all applicable lobbying disclosure laws and requirements. While Purdue, Endo Pharmaceuticals and other members have maintained the forum does not take policy positions, the AP and Center for Public Integrity's reporting shows the groups participants have worked together to push and draft federal legislation, blunt regulations and influence decisions around opioids. Opioid drugmakers say they are striving to improve the safety of their products and how they are used. They point to new harder-to-crush pills and initiatives that, among other things, allow states to share databases designed to spot doctor shopping by patients. Elsewhere, experts are reevaluating the effectiveness of opioids for most forms of chronic pain, noting little long-term research. The biggest myth out there is that theres a conflict between reducing our dependence on opioids and improving care for patients in pain, said Dr. Caleb Alexander, co-director of Johns Hopkins Universitys Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. Its an artificial conflict, but there are lots of vested interests behind it. Related: About this project Related video: Politics of Pain The epidemic of pain By spring 2014, the figure that 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain was getting new attention: as a talking point for the nations top drug regulator. The head of the FDA used the statistic to illustrate the importance of keeping painkillers accessible, despite the escalating toll of opioid addiction and abuse in American communities. In an online essay, then-Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said reducing the toll was a highest priority, but that her agency had to balance it with another major public health priority: managing the pain that affects an estimated 100 million Americans. That line populated her speeches and interviews for months. But Michael Von Korff of the Group Health Research Institute, whose research contributed to the statistic, said the number has no connection to opioids. Instead, he said, it mostly represents people with run-of-the-mill pain problems who are already managing them pretty well. Von Korffs work is funded by federal, foundation and health insurance sources. He also is an officer with Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a group pushing for restrictions on the drugs. Pain Care Forum participants spent nearly $19 million on lobbying efforts that included the legislation requiring federal research on pain and the Institute of Medicine report that first highlighted the figure. Concerns about the use of the statistic in connection with opioids and ties between some of the report authors and the pharmaceutical industry were covered by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2014. Nearly half the experts assembled by the Institute of Medicine to write the 364-page report had served as leaders in Pain Care Forum-affiliated groups, such as the American Pain Foundation, the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine all supported by industry funding. Hamburg said in an email that the report was another piece of scientific literature that helped inform the broader field, which her agency had no role in producing. The Pain Care Forum discussed the legislation that led to the report at its first meeting in February 2005, according to notes by one of the groups principal members, The American Pain Foundation. Memos from the now-defunct foundation are among hundreds of documents obtained through public information requests by the AP and the Center for Public Integrity from the city of Chicago, which accused six drugmakers of misleading the public about opioid risks in an ongoing lawsuit. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. In June 2006, the forum organized a Capitol Hill briefing headlined The Epidemic of Pain in America. Briefing materials included statements like: Appropriate use of opioid medications like oxycodone is safe and effective and unlikely to cause addiction in people who are under the care of a doctor and who have no history of substance abuse. Attendees were asked to support a bill from then-Congressman Mike Rogers, which would later be rewritten by the forum and reintroduced in 2007 and 2009, according to the memos. It called for the Institute of Medicine now a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to develop a comprehensive report on pain in America. Parts of the legislation eventually passed with Obamas sweeping health care overhaul of 2010. Rogers, a Republican from Michigan, received at least $310,000 in contributions from forum groups from 2006 to 2015, which went to his campaign and to a leadership account that he could use to donate to his peers. Rogers, who left office last year, rejected the idea that he was influenced by the contributions, and said he began working on pain issues as a state senator after helping his brother through a series of back surgeries. I think they said, This guy is a champion, hes doing something we believe in and we want to support guys like that, he said. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who together introduced the Senate version of the bill, received more than $360,000 and $190,000 respectively from forum participants. Staffers for Hatch did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Dodd, who left office in 2011, said in a statement: Sen. Hatch and I worked together to increase awareness and understanding of this serious medical condition in the hopes of providing relief to the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic pain. Phil Saigh, the executive director of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said he informed the Pain Care Forum years ago that his group did not consider itself a member of the coalition. Yet the academy has continuously appeared in directories of forum participants since 2006, including as late as 2013, the most recent documents available. The academy and the American Pain Society say some of the funding they receive from drugmakers is in the form of grants used for expenses tied to educational meetings and events. Both organizations also operate separate corporate councils, in which companies are granted meetings with physicians in exchange for annual payments up to the $20,000 range. Jennifer Walsh, a spokeswoman for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, said, We stand by our report, the committee, and the process that produced it. Experts who could personally profit from reports are prohibited from serving on its committees, she added. But the academies, which advise the federal government on scientific and medical topics, declined to release financial disclosure forms completed by panelists. Those on opposite sides of the opioids debate agree that the report raised important points about pain treatment, including warnings about the addictiveness of painkillers. After the reports release in June 2011, the American Pain Foundation received $150,000 from Purdue to promote its findings through the Pain Care Forum. The foundation planned congressional briefings and hearings and meetings with the leadership of various federal agencies, according to a November 2011 letter. The foundation closed the next year. Senate investigators had asked about the nonprofit receiving nearly 90 percent of its funding from industry. Related: Politics of pain by the numbers Related story: Politics of pain: Drugmakers fought state opioid limits amid crisis Meanwhile, a handful of lawmakers tried to draw attention to rising rates of painkiller abuse. In 2010, then-Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., co-founded the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, which focused on educating lawmakers about drug abuse. She clipped newspaper stories from her colleagues home states, but recalled, Theyd just say Yeah, yeah, yeah, and move on to more pressing matters. Bono, whose family had dealt with opioid addiction, drafted legislation in 2010 designed to curb opioid prescribing by requiring the FDA to limit the labeling for OxyContin and related drugs to severe pain. OxyContin had long been marketed for a broader indication listed on the label as moderate-to-severe pain. According to Bono, a Purdue lobbyist visited her and threatened to pull back on its state-level funding for drug abuse initiatives. They were just letting it be known that if I didnt play nicer with them, they could cause some things to happen that I wouldnt like, she said. Purdue said in a statement that it met with Bono to support her efforts to stop prescription drug abuse. The company says it does not oppose measures that improve the way opioids are prescribed, even when they could reduce sales. Former Rep. Bill Brewster, D-Oklahoma, a contract lobbyist for Purdue at the time, said in an email that he recalled the conversation as cordial and constructive. Purdue spent nearly $800,000 on lobbying efforts that included Bonos bill and subsequent versions of it. Pain Care Forum participants gave her campaigns more than $60,000 from 2006 through 2012. Bonos bill, the Stop Oxy Abuse Act, never received a congressional vote or hearing, even after Republicans regained control of the House in the November 2010 elections. She lost her congressional seat in 2012. Whats a regulator to do? In June 2012, a senior FDA official gave a presentation to the Pain Care Forum titled: FDA and Opioids: Whats a regulator to do? For several years, the FDA had been developing risk-management plans to reduce misuse of long-acting opioids like OxyContin. With oversight of drugmakers and their marketing efforts, the agency seemed perfectly positioned to tackle the problem. But the plans that the FDA laid out lacked the major reforms suggested by the agency itself in 2009, when it announced the initiative. Instead of mandatory certification training for doctors and electronic registries to track opioid prescriptions to patients, the FDA official outlined much milder steps: Drugmakers would fund optional classes for prescribers and supply pharmacy brochures to patients about opioid risks. Over several years, the FDA seemed to have backed away from any significant restrictions. It was my observation that the staff at FDA had really bought into the idea that pain was greatly undertreated in the United States, said Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, former chief medical officer with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, a federal health agency. As early as December 2008, the Pain Care Forum was developing a strategy to inform the process at the FDA, according to meeting minutes from the American Pain Foundation. When the FDA sought public comment on how to proceed, the forum helped generate more than 2,000 comments opposing new barriers to opioids, according to a 2010 foundation memo. Additionally, the forum produced a 4,000-signature petition opposing electronic registries for opioid prescriptions, which advocacy groups said would stigmatize patients. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. Finally, in July 2010, the FDA assembled a panel of outside advisers primarily physicians to review its plans to manage opioid risks, including voluntary doctor training. During a comment period, several members of the public warned it was a mistake. Dr. Nathaniel Katz, a former FDA adviser turned pharmaceutical consultant, traveled from Boston to implore the panel to support tougher requirements. The days of prescribers not being trained how to safely prescribe the number one medication in the United States have to be brought to an end by you today, said Katz, who had previously chaired the FDA panel, according to a meeting transcript. Ultimately, the panel voted 25-10 against the measures developed by the FDA, saying they would have little effect on opioid abuse. But the FDA put them in place anyway, one month after the agency briefed the Pain Care Forum on the plans. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels. Agency officials said they decided that requiring certification for opioid prescribers would have been overly burdensome and disrupted care for patients. You cant imagine the bitter screeds we hear from the prescribing community about the paperwork involved, said Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDAs drug center. She added that the opioid crisis fundamentally stems from individual prescribing decisions, saying, We dont regulate medical practice. In the last two years, the FDA has placed several limitations on opioids, including adding new bolded warnings to immediate-release opioids such as Vicodin and Percocet. But prescriber training remains optional, even after a second FDA advisory panel again recommended the step earlier this year. Woodcock says the agency is still weighing that recommendation. Currently, states such as Massachusetts are imposing their own physician-training requirements, a development that Katz attributes to a lack of federal action. The FDA failed to make a decision that could have averted many of the thousands of deaths were seeing per year, Katz said. So when people continue to die and communities continue to be devastated, then others will arise to do the policing. Charting a safer course It was a federal agency hundreds of miles from Washington that finally sidestepped the influence of the pain care lobbyists. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, located in Atlanta, overcame threats of congressional investigation and legal action to publish the first federal guidelines intended to reduce opioid prescribing earlier this year. Essentially, the agency said the risks of painkillers greatly outweigh the benefits for the vast majority of patients with routine chronic pain. Instead, the guidelines said, doctors should consider alternatives like non-opioid pain relievers and physical therapy. For more than 15 years, CDC officials have tracked the precipitous rise in painkiller overdoses, which has been followed by a similar surge in heroin deaths. The CDC called the painkiller trend an epidemic in 2011, pushing Washington officials to do the same. The agencys director, Dr. Tom Frieden, labeled opioids dangerous medications that should be reserved for situations like severe cancer pain. When the CDC drafted its opioid guidelines, it moved quickly and quietly, initially giving outside groups just 48 hours to comment on draft guidelines distributed last September. Opioid proponents said the guidelines were not based on solid evidence and criticized the CDC for not disclosing outside experts who had advised the effort, alleging that they included physicians who were biased against painkillers. One pharma-aligned group, the Washington Legal Foundation, said the lack of disclosure constituted a clear violation of federal law. And a longtime Pain Care Forum participant now known as the Academy of Integrative Pain Management asked congressional leaders to investigate how the CDC had developed the guidelines. A House committee asked the CDC to turn over documents about its advisers, but staffers said the probe did not uncover any violations. Related story: Drugmakers fought domino effect of Washington opioid limits Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. Some of the most vigorous pushback came from Pain Care Forum affiliates embedded in the federal system. Under the 2010 pain legislation backed by the forum, the NIH had created a 19-member panel to coordinate pain research made up of federal officials, civilian physicians and pain advocates. At the groups December meeting, panelists with connections to the Pain Care Forum called the CDCs approach horrible and shocking. Dr. Richard Payne, a former board member of the American Pain Foundation, questioned whether the experts advising the CDC had conflicts of interests in terms of biases, intellectual conflicts that needed to be disclosed. Payne himself had received more than $16,240 in speaking fees, meals, travel and other payments from drugmakers, including Purdue, between 2013 and 2015, according to federal records. Myra Christopher, a long-time Pain Care Forum participant, said the panel should inform the CDC that it could not support the opioid guidelines and that their release should be delayed. Christopher holds a chair at the nonprofit Center for Practical Bioethics, which receives funding from opioid drugmakers, and her position was established through a $1.5 million gift from Purdue. Both she and Payne also served on the Institute of Medicine panel on pain in America. Christopher and Payne said they were thoroughly vetted before serving on the panel and disclosed their past work and activities. Federal officials who oversee the panel responded that all members met federal requirements to serve, including completing financial disclosure forms, though the NIH said those cannot be publicly released. One week after the NIH panels critique, the CDC said it would delay finalizing its guidelines to allow more public comment and released a list of advisers. One of 17 core experts advising the agency reported serving as a paid consultant to Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, the law firm suing multiple opioid drugmakers on behalf of the city of Chicago. In March, the final guidelines appeared. The first recommendation for U.S. doctors: Opioids are not first-line therapy for chronic pain. It was a statement considered common practice by many doctors as recently as the early-1990s, a decade before the Pain Care Forum formed in Washington. "We're trying to chart a safer and more effective course for dealing with chronic pain," Frieden said. "We dont expect any magic. We dont expect things to be better in 15 months when its taken 15 years to get this much worse. Center for Public Integrity reporter Liz Essley Whyte and Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this article. This story was co-published with The Associated Press. Related story: Pharma lobbying held deep influence over opioid policies This story is part of Whos Calling the Shots in State Politics?. The Center exposes the powerful special interests that drive elections and policy in the states. Click here to read more stories in this series. Related stories Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. The Obama administration won praise for promising in 2012 to curtail the use of bomb-grade uranium in the production of medical diagnostic tools. But now the U.S. Energy Department is getting brickbats for proposing to send such materials to several European nations, including Belgium, where a shaky nuclear program has in recent years been plagued by sabotage, radicalization and terrorist surveillance. Its not the first time that the administration has been accused of failing to fulfill one of its nuclear weapons-related commitments. In this case, in 2012, the United States, Belgium, France and the Netherlands declared at a summit meeting in South Korea that they would begin phasing out the use of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) for making medical isotopes, with the understanding that by a 2015 deadline, the material would be replaced with less concentrated uranium that could not be used by terrorists to construct a nuclear weapon. That proposed phase-out didn't occur. In fact, a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Nuclear Regulatory Commission export licensing records shows that since making the 2012 promise, the United States government has quietly sold foreign countries 81.7 kg of highly-enriched uranium for use in making medical isotopes more than enough to build three new nuclear bombs. This latest request which was open for public comment until Sept. 14 has drawn particular objections from nuclear nonproliferation experts. In a letter sent this month to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, former officials from each of the past six presidential administrations said they objected to a National Nuclear Security Administration request that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorize the sale and shipment of 7.2 kg of highly-enriched uranium almost 16 pounds, or more than one-fourth of what's typically considered needed to build a nuclear bomb. The experts complained that the HEU was going to porously-guarded civilian reactors, in a shipment that will undermine the broader objective of reducing access to highly-enriched uranium throughout Europe. The shipment would wrongly "continue business as usual," their letter complained. Story continues This is a violation of a commitment by not just any country, but the country that convened and initiated the whole Nuclear Security Summit process, said Alan Kuperman, a University of Texas public policy professor who closely monitors efforts to draw down the world's supply of bomb-grade uranium. It really risks calling into question whether other countries will feel compelled or committed to abide by their pledges. A final NRC decision may be weeks away, because before the NRC approves export requests, its commissioners seek presidential guidance. The White House press office did not respond to requests for comment. Medical uses Radioisotopes are byproducts of irradiated uranium that can be injected or used externally to produce imaging that can detect cancer and heart disease and enable bone and organ scans. The most commonly used isotopes for medical diagnoses are molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m. Health institutions in the U.S. buy about half of the worlds medical isotopes annually. The 2012 commitment to stop using HEU in their production emerged from a Nuclear Security Summit that year, one of four that grew out of President Obamas 2009 speech in Prague calling for movement towards a world free of nuclear weapons. In that speech, which helped him win a Nobel Prize, Obama called nuclear terrorism the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. The United States agreed at the summit to continue supplying highly-enriched uranium to its partner nations during the search for an alternative. But that work has been impeded by technical challenges, regulatory hurdles in Europe, and economic forces that have left isotope producers reluctant to fully embrace the transition. Among the largest conversion obstacles, according to a new report released by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, is "the continued availability" of highly-enriched uranium from America. Its more expensive to produce isotopes using low-enriched uranium, the report explained, and producers often arent willing to pass along those costs to their customers when a few outliers refuse to make the transition and keep selling lower-cost radioistopes.The report said that scientists on the panel recommended "that the U.S. government and others take additional actions to promote the wider utilization of Mo-99/Tc-99m produced without the use of HEU targets. The NNSA's latest export request, submitted to the NRC in July, would provide 7.2 kg of highly-enriched uranium a years supply to the Institute for Radioelements in Belgium for conversion to medical isotopes. The Institute plans to have the material irradiated in France and the Netherlands, and then extract molybdenum-99 and other useful isotopes at Belgian Reactor 2 at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre in Mol, an hours drive north of Brussels. For many nonproliferation and security experts, thats a troubling prospect. In November 2015, Belgian police investigating the terrorist siege that month in Paris discovered secret video of a senior nuclear researcher at the Mol plant that had been recorded by two brothers with ties to the Islamic State; the pair later carried out suicide bombings in Brussels this spring. Thats just the latest in a string of worries at Belgian nuclear sites. Since 2014, a Belgian reactor was damaged and shut down for months by sabotage and an inspector with broad access inside a nuclear plant was killed in Syria fighting alongside ISIS. Because of the mounting worry about Belgiums nuclear sites, the government for the first time deployed armed military guards to protect them. Before that, unarmed contractors were responsible for guarding the plants. But the armed guard deployment is temporary, and will be withdrawn when the government has established a suitable response force that can react to emergencies including terrorist attacks at nuclear facilities, Nele Scheerlinck, spokeswoman for the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, the NRCs counterpart in Belgium, wrote in an email. The Obama administration has acknowledged that it has gathered intelligence suggesting terrorists want to acquire nuclear materials, and smuggling attempts foiled in Europe demonstrate theres a black-market for bomb-grade ingredients. Loopholes in the promise Nevertheless, the NNSA defended its plans to sell more highly-enriched uranium to Belgium. In an email, NNSA spokeswoman Francie Israeli noted that a joint statement issued at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit by the nations that were party to the 2012 commitment leaves the door open for continued exports of bomb-grade material from the U.S. to European countries. While renewing the initial committment, it said it should be pursued "where technically and economically feasible." It also asserted that "in some facilities, HEU is still indispensable during the transition period to conduct peaceful scientific research or to produce medical radioisotopes used for radiopharmaceutical products. Israeli said that all of the countries behind the 2012 pledge remain fully committed to meeting their Summit commitment of a wholesale switch from highly-enriched uranium as soon as possible. The State Departments Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation also supports the NNSAs export application, the bureaus spokeswoman Margaret MacLeod said in a telephone interview. The NRC isnt legally bound by the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit commitment, but it cannot ignore a federal law passed in 2012 that requires the Energy Department to demonstrate it is making progress on the conversion to low-enriched uranium. They dont seem to be doing that as fast as they can, said Miles Pomper, a senior fellow at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Montereys James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The NNSA has considerable leverage in the process, which critics say it has failed to use. It pays private sector firms and some of the same contractors that develop its nuclear weapons to improve the underlying technology for using low-enriched uranium technology in medical applications. But it also brokers deals for its contractors to sell the bomb-grade materials abroad. Analysts say that because the U.S. use of radioisotopes is declining, the current supply is adequate. But they also forecast a shortage after a Canadian reactor shuts down in October. I do think [NNSA] has a strong obligation to avoid any more [medical isotope] shortages, and this may influence it to give countries like Belgium the benefit of the doubt and not play hardball, Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program, wrote in an email. But in the past, highly-enriched uranium-based suppliers have taken advantage of their near-total control over the market to drag their feet on conversion. Kuperman said that the U.S. has all the leverage, because we provide the highly-enriched uranium. The U.S. should use that leverage to compel Europe to convert to low-enriched uranium as soon as possible. Thats how the 2012 agreement came to be. Current DOE officials apparently have forgotten The Art of the Deal. Theyre acting like lobbyists for the Europeans, instead of phasing out highly-enriched uranium exports as quickly as possible. It just may be, he said, that this Nuclear Security Summit process was a mirage that just might vanish. This article was co-published with NBC News. Related story: A terrorist groups plot to create a radioactive dirty bomb This story is part of Nuclear Waste. A look at the worlds faltering efforts to control dangerous nuclear explosives. Click here to read more stories in this investigation. Related stories Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. By Kenny Katombe and Amedee Mwarabu KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congolese police on Monday clashed with protesters marching against what they claim is a bid by President Joseph Kabila to extend his mandate, killing at least 17 people and prompting a threat of further sanctions from the United States. The protest, attended by thousands, came at a time of growing local and international pressure on Kabila to step down when his term of office legally ends in December. The opposition accuses him of plotting to extend his tenure in the central African copper producer by delaying elections that were supposed to be held in November until at least next year. His supporters deny this. "The sad and painful death toll from these barbaric and extremely savage acts is as follows: 17 dead of which three were policemen," said Interior Minister Evariste Boshab, condemning "the use of violence to incite disorder and chaos". United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed the death toll and urged Congolese national security forces to exercise restraint. The president of opposition party Reformist Forces for Union and Solidarity (FONUS) Joseph Olenga Nkoy said 53 people were killed in the clashes while a local rights official said 25 protesters were shot. Earlier on Monday, a Reuters witness saw a crowd burning the body of a police officer in the Kinshasa suburb of Limete in an apparent act of retaliation for police gunfire. Angry crowds torched the offices of politicians loyal to Kabila and tore down giant posters of the president, chanting in French: "It's over for you" and "We don't want you". Rights groups reported dozens of arrests of protesters and journalists in the capital as well as in Goma and Kisangani, where anti-government marches also took place. A government spokesman confirmed the detention of opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who suffered a head injury during the march. By mid-afternoon, most protesters had been dispersed and the streets in the normally bustling city center were quiet. But in a sign that further unrest could be ahead, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called for further protests in a statement late on Monday. "(The opposition coalition) calls upon the Congolese population from this day forth to intensify and amplify the popular mobilisation every day until December 19," said a spokesman for Tshisekedi's UDPS party, referring to the day Kabila is officially due to step down. Kabila's supporters also plan a loyalty march this weekend, according to a statement released on Sunday. "VERY DANGEROUS" Monday's march was sparked by anger over a decision by the election commission last week to petition the constitutional court to postpone the next presidential vote. The vast, mineral-rich central African state has never seen a peaceful transition of power. Western observers and donors fear that growing political instability could mushroom into armed conflict in a country plagued by militias, especially in its lawless eastern regions. Millions of people died in regional wars in Congo between 1996 and 2003 that drew in armies from half a dozen countries. The United States on Monday threatened to impose additional sanctions on those responsible for violence and repression -- an outcome Kabila is seeking to avoid. It imposed targeted sanctions on a Kinshasa police chief in June. Dozens of people died in similar protests against Kabila last year. Police said in a statement that officers had been warned to use restraint ahead of Monday's march, adding that it would punish those who did not comply. But Human Rights Watch said government repression has intensified in the period leading up to the clash. "Today's march shows that the security forces have not switched their tactics and are still clamping down on anyone opposed to Kabila," said Ida Sawyer, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. She added that three children were shot in Goma during the clashes. In another sign of growing scrutiny of Kabila's government, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday described the situation in Congo as "extremely worrying and very dangerous", adding that European nations will discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions. The African Union urged parties in Congo to seek a solution to the current political impasse through talks. In a further sign of growing tensions between Washington and Kinshasa, the U.S. embassy said on its Twitter feed that it was "outraged" by the harassment of its special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Thomas Perriello, at Kinshasa's airport. Congo's "Presidential Majority", as Kabila's supporters call themselves, had accused Perriello, in a Sunday statement, of jeopardizing talks aimed at resolving the political impasse. (Additional reporting by Benoit Nyemba; in Kinshasa, Nellie Peyton in Dakar, Michelle Nichols and Lesley Wroughton in New York; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Sandra Maler) According to the police officials, Sharma allegedly dumped debris near mangroves behind his bungalow in suburban Versova and also undertook illegal construction near it. By PTI: An FIR was registered by Versova police today against popular stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma for alleged violation of the Environment Act. Sharma allegedly dumped the debris near mangroves behind his bungalow in suburban Versova and also undertook illegal construction near it, police said. SURVEY FOR VIOLATION ORDERED Mumbai suburban District Collector Deependra Singh Kushwah had directed officials to conduct a survey to find if Sharma violated the Act by dumping debris near the mangroves. advertisement After the survey, the Andheri talathi filed a police complaint. READ| More trouble for Kapil Sharma; probe report recommends FIR for destroying mangroves "We have recorded a case under Sp LAC (special local Acts) No 87/16 U/S 15 (1)(2) Environment Act against Sharma," Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe told PTI. The complainant also submitted the mangrove cell report to police, he said. The bungalow number 71 at Four Bungalows area in Andheri (West), Mhada Colony, was purchased by Sharma from a businessman on November 7 last year and the actor had allegedly carried out some illegal alterations. Prior to this, the Oshiwara police had last week registered an FIR against the actor under section 53(7) of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP), for alleged unauthorised construction at his flat in suburban Goregaon, based on a complaint by a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official. COMPLAINT ON BRIBING BACKFIRES Sharma had kicked up a controversy earlier this month by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by an official of BMC which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also at his apartment in suburban Goregaon. He had also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet posted on September 9. "I am paying Rs 15 cr income tax from last 5 year n still i have to pay Rs 5 lakhs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi (sic)," Kapil had said in the tweet. I am paying 15 cr income tax from last 5 year n still i have to pay 5 lacs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi&; KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) September 9, 2016 Yeh hain aapke achhe din ? @narendramodi&; KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) September 9, 2016 "Yeh hain aapke achhe din? @narendramodi (are these your good days)," he sought to know in another tweet, referring to Modi's 2014 poll slogan of "good days are ahead". Sharma has nearly 63 lakh followers on his Twitter handle and since he tagged the Prime Minister, the tweet generated sharp reactions from all major political parties, with an eye on the forthcoming civic elections. advertisement Also read: 50 bungalows in Kapil Sharma's neighbourhood under scanner for uprooting mangroves --- ENDS --- South Africa gives universities the go-ahead to raise student fees by up to eight percent, prompting protests on several campuses across the country. Student groups last year secured a zero percent fee increase after weeks of demonstrations rocked the government, and had demanded a freeze on all fees until a commission into university funding was complete. By Matt Scuffham TORONTO (Reuters) - Quebec's public pension fund, the Caisse, is about to take on one of its toughest investment challenges yet - helping the commuters of Montreal. Keen to boost returns, Canada's second-biggest pension fund is financing and overseeing the construction of a new 67 kilometer (41.6 miles) public transit system in Montreal, the third largest automated transportation system in the world behind those in Dubai and Vancouver. It will own and operate the track once it has been built. The venture is a bold move by the Caisse - more familiar with bond prices and rental yields than ticket fares and commuter habits - and one fraught with risks. Canada's biggest pension funds, such as the Caisse and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, are among the world's biggest infrastructure investors, having pioneered a strategy of directly investing in the asset class as an alternative to low-yielding government bonds and volatile equity markets. (Graphic: http://tmsnrt.rs/1SLRtfJ) Senior fund sources told Reuters other funds see the Caisse's efforts as a test case as they consider whether to finance major new infrastructure projects planned by Canada's federal government. The Caisse aims to get the first trains running by 2020, at which point other investors and public authorities can start to assess how successful the project was. The federal government's C$120 billion ($91 billion) infrastructure investment program is spread over a decade. Unlike most private-public partnerships, which usually focus on finished projects, the Montreal deal has the Caisse assuming all of the construction and operational risk. Such "greenfield" investments, potentially promise higher returns, but the risks are greater too because of possible cost overruns, delays and uncertain revenues. The fund, which has C$255 billion in assets, is investing C$3 billion in the 24-station light rail system, which will connect downtown Montreal with the city's Trudeau airport. The federal and provincial governments are in talks to provide the remaining C$2.5 billion required. "The project has clear benefits for commuters and economic growth in Quebec, but it will also generate returns for depositors," said Audrey Cloutier, a spokeswoman for Quebec's Finance Minister Carlos Leitao. "We feel it's a true win-win arrangement." In return for taking the execution risk, fund sources say the Caisse is proposing that it retains all the profits up to a yet-to-be-agreed level, after which it will share the returns with the provincial and federal governments. Taxpayers still risk losing their initial investment if the project fails. NO GUARANTEES To mitigate construction risk, the Caisse plans to rely on fixed-price contracts with hefty penalties for cost overruns, the sources told Reuters. The Caisse has not sought guarantees over future traffic demand from the Quebec government and not asked it to make up any shortfall, the sources said, since such a provision would have reduced Caisse's anticipated returns. David Caplan, who was Ontario's Infrastructure Minister between 2003 and 2008 says it might be too much risk for Caisse given how difficult it is to predict transport usage. "I'm skeptical," he told Reuters. "If you forecast your demand too high then you'll just be hemorrhaging money if the government isn't backstopping." The Caisse said it had addressed the demand risk by asking London-based traffic consultancy Steer Davies Gleave to undertake an "exhaustive and detailed ridership study" due this fall. Steer Davies Gleave declined to comment. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is courting the pension funds to help stretch the taxpayer money in the government's infrastructure plan. Infrastructure experts have identified public transit expansion in Toronto, new subway and rail projects in Vancouver and flood protection defenses in Calgary as possible priorities but the government has yet to confirm its plans. Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi said that the Caisse model could be replicated if it proves successful. "I think those are the kind of ideas we need to talk about and we need to explore," he told Reuters in an interview. The Caisse has a history of infrastructure investments stretching back to 1999. It was the lead investor in the construction and operation of a rapid-rail link between downtown Vancouver and its airport that was completed on schedule and on budget in 2009. Overall, the Caisse reported average returns of 9.1 percent in 2015, compared with a 5.4 percent return from Canadian pension funds in general, according to RBC Investor & Treasury Services. People familiar with the matter told Reuters the Caisse is expecting annual returns of 10 to 15 percent from the Montreal project compared to the 6 to 8 percent that industry executives say investment in pre-built assets normally brings. A Caisse spokesman said the fund's "objective is to achieve a commercial return, comparable to that of similar projects in the world". A FAIR FARE Canada's pension funds are fiercely protective of their independence and investing with the government on construction projects could expose them to political interference and greater reputation risk if things go wrong. It is less problematic for Caisse, because in contrast to other funds its mandate includes supporting the Quebec economy, but there is still potential for political friction. At the first environmental hearing for the project last month, hundreds of Montrealers aired their concerns about fare costs and the environmental impact. Some residents also complained that it unfairly focuses on one side of the city. The Caisse has said it will work with a new government agency set up to standardize public transit fares in Montreal, to set prices and will provide details in the spring. "I think the risk profile on that investment is very, very high," said Leo de Bever, former chief executive of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation and a pioneer of the Canadian funds' strategy of investing in infrastructure. The obvious risk, he said, was possible pressure from local politicians to lower the fares. De Bever said pension funds should develop the expertise in "greenfield" investments to boost returns, but warned that there would be casualties. "Some of them could lose money." ($1 = 1.3199 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Tomasz Janowski) EUGENE, OR / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Quest Solution, Inc. "The Company" (QUES), a leading provider in the technology, software, and mobile data collection systems business, announced today that Viascan Group Inc. and Quest Solution, Inc. have signed a letter of intent whereby all the shares of Quest Solution Canada Inc. will be sold back to Viascan Group Inc. Both parties are working to complete the Definitive Agreement in order to close the transaction as soon as possible. Under the terms of the Letter of Intent, Quest Solution, Inc. will receive shares of Common Stock and Preferred Stock of Quest Solution, Inc. and exchangeable shares of Quest Exchange Ltd., forgiveness or payment of certain debts or liabilities or retention of certain assets, cash over a period of 4-5 months subsequent to the effective date of the transaction (subject to adjustment for the assumption or release of certain contracts and adjustment based on the value of net assets at closing). Quest Solution, Inc. will also receive a contingent consideration upon a liquidity event or a change of control of Quest Solution Canada Inc. for a period of 10 years subsequent to the transaction. Quest Solution, Inc. will also have the right of first refusal for any offer to purchase Quest Solution Canada Inc. during the same 10 year period. The consideration given for the transaction to the Company is estimated to be approximately $5.0 million (exclusive of the value of the contingent consideration). In return, Quest Solution, Inc will forgive the entire balance of the debts owing by Quest Solution Canada to the Company, estimated to be approximately $7.0 million. The consideration and intercompany debt described above are estimates and subject to adjustment at closing. The final terms and conditions of the transaction will be set forth in the definitive agreement. While the transaction is being completed, Gilles Gaudreault will take a leave of absence as CEO of Quest Solution, Inc. and will resign as a director and officer effective with the date of closing. Tom Miller, currently Quest Solution, Inc. President and Chairman, will serve as the Company's Interim Chief Executive Officer during Mr. Gaudreault's leave of absence. Once the transaction is completed, Mr. Gaudreault will become the CEO of the Canadian operations for Viascan Group Inc. Tom Miller commented, "The repurchase of the Canadian operations by Viascan Group Inc. will be beneficial for all the stakeholders. It will allow for the simplification of the respective operations, and will lead to more flexibility to affect operational and financial initiatives. This transaction will help us refocus on our respective strengths, reduce our costs and accelerate our path to profitability. Post transaction, the parties see potential opportunities to cooperate, especially on complementary products." Story continues Gilles Gaudreault added, "Both parties will benefit from this transaction. It will give us greater flexibility and help us refocus on our core business. In the end, we needed to best align our operations and strengths." About Quest Solution, Inc. Quest Solution is a Specialty Systems Integrator focused on Field and Supply Chain Mobility. We are also a manufacturer and distributor of consumables (labels, tags, and ribbons), RFID solutions, and barcoding printers. Rated in the Top 1% of global solution providers, Quest specializes in the design, deployment and management of enterprise mobility solutions including Automatic Identification (AIDC), Mobile Cloud Analytics, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), and proprietary Mobility software. Our mobility products and services offering is designed to identify, track, trace, share and connect data to enterprise systems such as CRM or ERP solutions. Information about Forward-Looking Statements "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This release contains "forward-looking statements" that include information relating to future events and future financial and operating performance. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "can," "believe," "potential" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in demand for Quest Solution, Inc.'s products, the introduction of new products, the Company's ability to maintain customer and strategic business relationships, the impact of competitive products and pricing, growth in targeted markets, the adequacy of the Company's liquidity and financial strength to support its growth, the Company's ability to manage credit and debt structures from vendors, debt holders and secured lenders, the Company's ability to successfully integrate its acquisitions, risks related to the timing or ultimate completion of the sale of Quest Solution Canada Inc. to Viascan Group Inc. and other information that may be detailed from time-to-time in Quest Solution Inc.'s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Examples of such forward looking statements in this release include, among others, statements regarding the proposed sale of Quest Solution Canada Inc. to Viascan Group Inc. and the expected benefits of the transaction. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting Quest Solution, Inc. please refer to the Company's recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. Quest Solution, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law. Investor Contact: Joey Trombino, CFO (514) 744-1000 ext. 1228 jtrombino@questsolution.com SOURCE: Quest Solution, Inc. Please tell me youre seeing this too. So said Rami Malek tonight, quoting a central phrase from Mr. Robot as he accepted his first Emmy tonight for his starring role on the USA network series. In the end, it wasnt much of a twist as Maleks performance has been hugely acclaimed, but Malek beat out a highly competitive field tonight, picking up his first acting Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for playing troubled hacker Elliot Alderson. I am honored to be recognized with such a distinguished and accomplished group of actors, Malek said tonight. Im honored to stand here and represent my family Im honored to work with a pure visionary in (Mr. Robot creator) Sam Esmail. Malek closed his speech by nodding to the tortured, misanthropic protagonist he portrays. I play a young man who is, like so many of us, profoundly alienated he said. The unfortunate thing is, Im not sure how many of us would want to hang out with a guy like Elliot. But I want to honor the Elliots [out there], because theres a little of Elliot in all of us. Related stories Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo Emmys: Winners (And Losers) Celebrate Into The Wee Hours; What You Didn't See On TV Held exactly 50 days before the election, politics was on the mind of many stars on the Emmys stage Sunday night. Read: The Real Marcia Clark Attends Emmys With Sarah Paulson as O.J. Simpson Miniseries Wins Big Bryan Cranston, who portrayed President Lyndon B. Johnson in the HBO film All The Way, gave Inside Edition his take on the current political landscape. I think Lyndon would be very happy to know that there is a real chance that we may have the biggest turnout in our nations history, he said. Donald Trump took a beating during the show as host Jimmy Kimmel filled the night with jokes about the Republican presidential candidate. If it wasnt for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? No. He would be at home rubbing up against his wife, Malaria, when she pretends to be asleep, the host joked. The audience laughed and gasped at Kimmel calling Trumps wife by the wrong name. It is still unclear if it was intentional or a Freudian slip. Kimmel blamed Trumps candidacy on producer Mark Burnett who created the real estate moguls show The Apprentice. Thanks to Mark Burnett, we dont have to watch reality shows anymore because we are living in one, Kimmel said. Actress America Ferrera also referenced Trumps reality show history. While presenting the Outstanding Reality category, she said that a career in reality TV could lead to the White House. That was not a joke that is reality. When actor Courtney B. Vance won his Emmy for portraying Johnnie Cochran in The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, he showed support for Hillary Clinton. "Obama out, Hillary in," he said. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth straight Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy in Veep and took a dig at the Republican nominee. Read: Keeping It Classy in the Heat: Stars Show Off the Best Emmy Looks in Scorching Temperatures I'd like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics," she said. "Our show started out as a political satire, but it now feels more like a sobering documentary. So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it." Story continues After winning his award for Outstanding Variety Series, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver was asked backstage by reporters if he was responsible for the rise of Donald Trump in politics. Quick on his feet, Oliver roasted the reporter, saying: Thank you, yes, it was an honor to win," Oliver said. "Do I feel responsible for Trump? The short answer to that is no and the slightly longer answer is no, of course I f***ing don't." Watch: A Yuge, Hair-Raising Event: Jimmy Fallon Rubs His Hands Through Trump's Coiffure Related Articles: Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - Heavy bombing pummelled rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Monday, an AFP correspondent in the city said, less than two hours after Syria's army announced the end of a week-long truce. Air strikes hit five eastern neighbourhoods of the battleground city, while heavy shelling was heard coming from Aleppo's southern outskirts. Ambulances with wailing sirens zipped through the eastern half of the divided city, the correspondent said, describing the bombardment as "non-stop." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, also reported that shells and rockets were raining down on the northern city. Syria's armed forces announced an end to the week-long truce on Monday evening, accusing rebel groups of violating the ceasefire more than 300 times. Under the US-Russia deal, fighting would halt across Syria and humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians -- particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo. AFP's correspondents in the city had reported calm over the first few days of the truce, but violence escalated sharply at the weekend. The first raids since the ceasefire came into force hit the city on Sunday, leaving one woman dead. And a child was killed in regime shelling on Aleppo's outskirts earlier Monday. More than 300,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011. By Samonway Duttagupta: Feeling hungry before a flight is common, even if you have had a meal before leaving home for the airport. Travellers from any part of the world have always known this. When you have so much time to kill at the airport, waiting for a flight. Besides, it's a common human psyche to fall for the tempting bites sold by the good-looking food outlets at the airport. But beware! Falling for these temptations could ruin your day. advertisement Here are the 10 things you must never eat or drink before a flight: Apples Surprised? But it's true! Although a fruit, but eating apples before a flight is just not advisable. Wondering why? Well, fruits usually make for healthy snack choices, but apples or any other fibrous fruits are not easy to digest, and can lead to gas and bloating. French fries I wonder who would not get tempted to this. Because it's so easy to grab some french fries and munch on them while you are at the airport. But let me tell you, it's the mother of indigestive foods. Besides, our body's ability to process high-fat fried food becomes even worse, easily leading to bloating and discomfort. Indian food I know most of you would agree with me on this. We Indians are big time foodies, and quite naturally, our cuisine is rich in spices, oil, and other ingredients that make digestion a far-fetched possibility. If you still can't hold back your temptation for that tempting chicken biryani at the airport, be prepared to have a horrible flight. Picture courtesy: Wikimedia/Damien Ramon Naidoo/Creative Commons Also read: Travel hacks: 7 ways to survive a long-haul flight Soft drinks Well, it's quite natural to feel thirsty when you are sitting for long hours at the airport. No matter how boring it tastes, have water every single time. The moment you have that can of Coke, you are good to have gas and heartburn, both of which are unpleasant feelings to have during a flight. Alcohol I have often got attracted to those runway-facing bars at the airport. Admit it or not, getting to have your favourite pint of beer while looking out at the aircrafts through the huge glass windows is a very tempting idea. But my personal experience suggests that it's a big no-no. Alcohol is infamous for causing nausea, headaches, and discomfort on the plane. Now, you don't want to start your holiday by throwing up on your co-passenger, do you? Chewing gum Sounds weird, doesn't it? In fact, I have known a lot of people taking the help of chewing gums to help the ears pop after takeoff and landing. And I understand that you might be one of them as well. But, what needs to be understood is the fact that constant chewing also lets extra air into your body, causing bloating and gas. Picture courtesy: Wikimedia/Lusheeta/Creative Commons Picture courtesy: Wikimedia/Lusheeta/Creative Commons advertisement Coffee "Oh, come on!" Isn't that what you just said in your mind when you read this? You are not to be blamed. A lot of us actually survive on coffee, isn't it? And it's quite natural for you to grab that cup of coffee from that Costa outlet at the airport, or even order for one while flying. But, coffee has a dehydrating effect on the body, and combined with the dry airplane air, it leads to headache and nausea. Besides, the caffeine might also play its part in ruining your flight nap. Also read: 5 tips to protect your ears from in-flight pain while taking off or landing Burgers It is ever-so-tempting to grab one of those juicy burgers when you are bored sitting at the airport. But fatty and high-sodium foods like burgers are very difficult to digest at high altitude, and might easily cause an upset stomach. Besides, it can also increase your risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), because the addition of saturated fat can further hinder blood flow. --- ENDS --- The Red Hot Chili Peppers will embark on a "getaway" of their own this winter, as the veteran rockers have announced a North American tour. Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Dark Necessities' Only 4th Song to Top Mainstream Rock, Alternative & Adult Alternative Charts The tour follows a string of summer festival headlining gigs, all in support of their latest record, June's The Getaway. The 24-date outing will kick off on Jan. 5 in San Antonio and is currently slated to wrap up on March 18 in Vancouver. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will open all the dates, while multi-instrumentalist and original drummer for the RHCP Jack Irons will join the tour throughout the month of January. Watch (Almost) Naked Anthony Kiedis Re-Create 'Saturday Night Fever' in Red Hot Chili Peppers' New 'Go Robot' Video Pre-sale begins Sept. 21 (for members of the RHCP Community) and will open to the general public on Sept. 24. Each ticket purchased includes a choice of a physical or digital copy of The Getaway. More information can be found here. Red Hot Chili Peppers dates: Jan. 5 -- San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center Jan. 7 -- Houston, TX @ Toyota Center Jan. 8 -- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Arena Jan. 10 -- New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center Jan. 12 -- Memphis, TN @ FedExForum Jan. 14 -- Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center Jan. 15 -- Wichita, KS @ Intrust Bank Arena Jan. 18 -- St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center Jan. 20 -- Lincoln, NB @ Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 21 -- Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center Feb. 2 -- Detroit, MI @ Joe Louis Arena Feb. 4 -- Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre Feb. 7 -- Boston, MA @ TD Garden Feb. 10 -- Buffalo, NY @ Key Bank Center Feb. 12 -- Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Arena Feb. 15 -- New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden March 2 -- Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center March 4 -- Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena March 5 -- San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino Center March 7 -- Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center March 12 -- Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena Story continues March 15 -- Portland, OR @ Moda Center at Rose Quarter March 17 -- Seattle, WA @ KeyArena March 18 -- Vancouver, BC @ Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena A disturbing fault line is at the heart of global politics today. Our world is more interconnected than ever before, and yet the mechanisms and means for managing globalization seem less adequate to the challenges. The result is predictable: a backlash against global engagement born of frustration, fatigue, and fear. Nowhere is this more evident than with the global refugee crisis. Sixty-five million people around the world were displaced by conflict, persecution, and human rights violations in 2015, an increase of 5.8 million over 2014. Less than 1 percent of refugees returned to their home countries in 2014, and according to the United Nations, the average duration of displacement has risen to 17 years. In 2015, the U.N. appealed for a record $20 billion in order to address global humanitarian needs. Despite tremendous generosity, these appeals faced an unprecedented 45 percent shortfall. The desperation is rising among refugees and in the countries to which they are fleeing. This includes places such as Turkey and Kenya, which are among the largest refugee-hosting countries, as well as European states such as Germany and Sweden, which have welcomed a large number of refugees in the last couple of years. We know from previous crises for example, the rapid depletion of the ozone layer in the 1980s or the Bosnian civil war in the 1990s that these events produce two reactions. Countries either decide that the problem is too big for them to make a difference, and shy away from commitments and obligations, or the international system comes together in recognition that no meaningful solution will work unless it is truly collective. We are at such a moment in the handling of the refugee crisis. There is pressure to close borders and repatriate those fleeing a result that would only empower people smugglers. There are politicians who equate refugees with terrorists stoking fear and turning communities against each other. This vicious cycle urgently needs to be reversed. Story continues An opportunity presents itself at two global summits taking place this week. The first is the U.N. Summit for Refugees and Migrants, which is being organized by the president of the U.N. General Assembly. Beginning on Sept. 19, its purpose is to bolster the front-line states that are hosting the vast majority of refugees, to galvanize greater global responsibility sharing, and to create a new set of international principles on refugees and migration. Although a great deal of commendable effort has gone into preparing for this meeting, the blueprint for the summit released by the U.N. last month suggests that it is likely to yield milquetoast restatements of already agreed-upon principles rather than meaningful changes in how nations share responsibility for refugee support. This would be a disappointment. With the world facing record numbers of refugees, we cannot simply produce general statements of intent. We need actionable commitments to which states can be held accountable. If the U.N. summit falls short, it will become all the more important for a separate summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama (the following day) to deliver. By demanding that countries pay to play, the presidents initiative aims to catalyze substantial commitments on refugee resettlement, as well as create employment and education opportunities for them in host countries (which are generally low- to middle-income, such as Lebanon or Pakistan). The presidents summit offers an opportunity for the United States to lead by example and increase humanitarian commitments globally, but the international community must address three areas both at these meetings and in the follow-up that must occur. First, a sea change in support to refugee-hosting countries is imperative. Some 85 percent of refugee-producing countries are outside the OECD club of rich countries. This year, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a new model of how [g]overnments, local communities, the private sector and aid organizations work together for people in crisis. Countries hosting refugees need more (and more efficient) resources to provide safe and dignified accommodation for refugees. This means investing in evidence of what works in crisis settings. Specifically, the U.N. should develop shared outcomes for people affected by conflict similar to the Sustainable Development Goals adopted last year. This would keep the focus on measurable global commitments to the displaced in areas such as income and access to education; ensure accountability in meeting these commitments; and make sure that programs are not only cost-efficient but cost-effective so that precious resources are used to best effect. Second, countries need to harness the independence of the displaced. Refugees kept in camps feel like a permanent underclass trapped in dependency. But if countries get them out to work, they can contribute to the economy. The World Bank estimates that for each 1 percent increase in the population of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Lebanese service exports increase by 1.5 percent. To realize the full benefit of hosting refugees, they must be granted the opportunity to work. The private sector and actors such as the World Bank have a leading role to play in generating jobs. Third, resettlement the transfer of refugees from an asylum country to another state must be expanded. Resettling 10 percent of the global refugee population 1.6 million refugees over the next three years strikes the appropriate balance between a target that is achievable and one that would truly make a difference for hosting states carrying a disproportionate responsibility. This is a mere half a million per year, collectively only a tiny fraction of the legal migration that rich countries facilitate each year on non-humanitarian grounds. The United States has historically been a leader in resettlement and has proved that the process works, with robust security screening (taking 18-24 months on average) and integration programming that quickly moves refugees from aid dependency to economic contribution. Washington should raise the number of U.S. refugee admissions to 140,000 next year. Resettlement is not only the right thing to do; it is a smart investment. At the International Rescue Committee last year, 88 percent of refugees we resettled enrolled in an employment program and were employed; and in 2009-2011, refugee men above the age of 16 were more likely to be working than their U.S.-born counterparts. Resettlement not only provides a pathway to hope for the worlds most vulnerable people. It also shares the load with those countries that already host large numbers of refugees. It takes collective government leadership, business innovation, and popular mobilization to solve the worlds problems. The summits in September are a chance to engage across all three of these pillars to find solutions to this crisis and to begin developing a better humanitarian system that can handle problems of this magnitude when they inevitably erupt. The price of failure goes far beyond the agony of the displaced nothing less than the future of the international order is at stake. Photo credit: LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images By James Oliphant PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Republican Donald Trump of aiding Islamic State recruitment, while Trump said she had helped weaken national security as bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey resonated on the U.S. presidential trail. Both candidates for the Nov. 8 election tried to use the weekend attacks to flex their credentials to protect America as world leaders gathered in security-heightened New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Clinton said Trump's rhetoric against what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism" was helping Islamic State recruit more fighters. "We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists," she told reporters in White Plains, New York. ISIS is an acronym used for Islamic State. Trump fired back by saying Clinton bore some responsibility for the violence by not persuading President Barack Obama to leave a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq when she was his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Obama and the Iraqi government failed to reach agreement at the end of 2011 on extending a U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, and most American troops were withdrawn. Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration. "Her attacks on me are all meant to deflect from her record of unleashing this monster," Trump told a large crowd in Fort Myers, Florida. The campaigns weighed in after the bomb incidents and a stabbing attack at a mall in central Minnesota. In the most serious incident, a bomb went off in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, injuring 29 people. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found nearby. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb went off in Seaside Park, New Jersey. On Monday, an Afghanistan-born American suspected in some of the incidents was arrested in nearby Linden, New Jersey, after a gunbattle with police. Authorities had said earlier they wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, about the Chelsea and Seaside Park bombings. The incidents, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, put the United States' most populous city on edge. Trump, who has in the past talked of the need for a resumption of harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding for terrorism suspects, said authorities need to "get information" from the bombing suspect "before it comes no longer timely," but that instead he would probably be coddled. "Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And he'll probably even have room service knowing the way our country is," he said. 'COMMANDER IN CHIEF TEST' At a speech in Philadelphia on Monday, Clinton called for vigilance. "This is a fast-moving situation and a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world," she said. Trump seized on a government report that said 858 immigrants from countries with which the United States has national security concerns who were pegged for deportation were mistakenly granted citizenship. He said the report showed the need for tighter control over who gets into the United States. "Immigration security is national security," Trump said in Fort Myers. Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who worked on the National Security Council under Republican President George W. Bush, said Clinton was trying to argue Trump did not pass the commander in chief test. When bad news happens, she wants to be able to say, this is why you need a steady hand on the tiller," Feaver said. The renewed focus on terrorism came as Clinton and Trump prepared for their first debate next Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, east of the city. With world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. conclave, Clinton was expected to meet leaders of Japan, Egypt and Ukraine later on Monday, while Trump was expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting Islamic State mainly through air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Trump, who has based much of his campaign message on arguing that the United States is no longer safe and that he alone can protect the nation, told Fox News on Monday morning that he expected more attacks. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," he said. (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson, Alana Wise and Emily Stephenson in Washington, and Emily Flitter in Fort Myers, Fla.; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney) By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Gasoline prices in the southeastern United States kept rising on Monday after a more than weeklong disruption in Colonial Pipeline's main gasoline line led to supply issues and choppy availability in retail gas stations across the region. The leak, which was discovered on Sept. 9, has released about 6,000 to 8,000 barrels of gasoline in Shelby County, Alabama, and thrown the gasoline market into a tizzy in the past week, with East Coast and futures prices increasing and Gulf Coast prices weakening significantly. One of the hardest hit states is Georgia, where prices were up nearly 6 cents overnight to Monday. The average price of a gallon of gas in the state is now at $2.316, more than 20 cents higher than a week ago, according to motorists' advocacy group AAA. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed an executive order on Monday preventing gas stations from significantly raising their fuel prices. Many states have allowed for an extension of the maximum number of hours truck drivers are allowed to drive in order to deliver gas products to the state. Gasoline futures gained 9 percent in the week following the leak, although futures dipped modestly on Monday, falling 0.3 percent to $1.4569 a gallon in trading. Colonial still projects a full restart of its damaged gasoline line, which typically hauls about 1.3 million barrels a day, by this week. The company is in the midst of constructing a bypass that circumvents the leak. Availability of fuel has varied across the region. Gasoline stations have run out in parts of Tennessee and long lines were seen in the Nashville area. State governors have called for citizens to not rush to fill up their tanks. "There's a very emotional response to the headlines," said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData. "So you see false indicators to demand when people fill up tanks due to shortage fears and that adds another layer of complexity." Story continues Pump prices in Alabama ticked up to $2.01 on Monday while prices in Tennessee rose nearly 3 cents to $2.13 from $2.10 on Sunday, according to the AAA. Patrick Sheehan of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Middle and East Tennessee have had spotty unavailability of fuel. "The Tennessee Petroleum Association has informed us any unavailability is being resolved in a matter of hours, and often even if one station is out of fuel, other stations nearby have fuel available," he said in a statement over the weekend. (http://bit.ly/2cKlnn9) Colonial said on Monday it gathered gasoline from Gulf Coast refiners to transport the fuel on its distillate line to markets throughout the affected region. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Bill Trott) Senior citizens across Europe have become the fastest growing segment of Airbnb hosts, doubling in numbers over the last year. According to a new report published by the short-term vacation rental site, seniors aged 60 and over have become an increasingly important demographic, with 160,000 -- or 10 percent -- of European listings posted by retirees. That figure is nearly double what it was in July 2015. Leading the charge in Europe? Seniors in France, who represent 15 percent of that number. Likewise, French cities take up the first six spots on the list of top 20 European cities for senior Airbnb hosts, with Biarritz, Cannes, La Rochelle, Antibes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. Seniors in Ireland and Italy meanwhile are tied to represent 13 percent of the market across Europe, while pensioners in the UK, Croatia, and Portugal each take up 11 percent of the pie. Guests looking for a guarantee may also want to seek out accommodations owned and operated by pensioners as the report found that seniors are the highest-rated hosts in Europe, with 70 percent of older hosts receiving a perfect five-out-of-five score. In fact, the older the host, the higher the probability of a perfect score. Nearly half of respondents (45 percent) said that the extra income earned from being an Airbnb host has allowed them to keep their homes and avoid moving, while a quarter of hosts said the income has even helped them avoid an eviction and losing their home. Senior hosts in Europe rent out their homes for an average of 23 nights a year, earning about 3,000 euros. Here's a breakdown of the most active Airbnb senior citizen hosts across Europe: France 15% Ireland and Italy 13% The UK, Croatia, Portugal, 11% Greece, 10% Switzerland, Spain and Netherlands, 9% The top 20 cities in Europe with active senior hosts: Biarritz, France Cannes, France La Rochelle, France Antibes, France Avignon, France Aix-en-Provence, France Olbia, Italy Nice, France Venice, Italy Bristol, UK Marbella, Spain Dubrovnik, Croatia Florence, Italy Albufeira, Portugal Torrevieja, Spain Rijeka, Croatia Verona, Italy Malaga, Spain Marseille, France Montpellier, France By Pankaj P. Khelkar: Gajendra Chauhan has written to media about the recent open day organised by FTII on September 17 and 18. Here's what he has to say: "I am in deep gratitude of all Punekars for making the open days at FTII on September 17 and 18, 2016, a resounding success. The enthusiasm witnessed in the campus is unprecedented. From school children to octogenarians, from college students - from as far as Kolhapur, Baramati, and Thane - to housewives, visitors overwhelmed me by their presence. advertisement FTII, India's best film and television school has an illustrious past and a vibrant present but this legacy was somehow inaccessible to the very Punekars whose love, support and encouragement allowed this premier Institution to reach the heights it has. The open days has now organically connected the people with the Institute. I fully agree with the Director of the Institute when he says that the open days were held in a spirit of gratitude to this wonderful city of Pune to which FTII belongs. All this is captured in the motto....FTII for Pune. Pune for FTII. This was the first Open Days of its kind in the history of FTII but just two days in 56 years is not enough. Punekars and the people of Maharashtra must surely get more opportunities to visit the campus, explore the legacy and absorb the creativity that blooms in FTII. There will be more open days in future where FTII will throw open its gates for not just the general public but also to the institutions of the city. --- ENDS --- Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday delayed for one week the execution of a man who had been declared insane by government doctors, after rights groups urged the government to halt the hanging. "A mentally ill prisoner who was due to be hanged Tuesday morning has received a seven-day stay from the Supreme Court of Pakistan," Justice Project Pakistan, an independent rights group, said in a statement. Imdad Ali had been scheduled to die at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday in a prison in the city of Vehari despite having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, it said. "His execution was stayed pending a hearing on 27 September, but he could still be executed as early as next week," it said. Human Rights Watch also urged Pakistan on Monday to halt the hanging, saying the execution would violate its international legal obligations. Ali, who is aged around 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious cleric in 2002. HRW opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, its country representative Saroop Ijaz told AFP. "But in this case it also violates Pakistan's international legal obligations," Ijaz said, referring to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Islamabad ratified in 2011. "Imdad (Ali) has no insight into his punishment or condition or the idea of penalty. Executing someone who does not understand the punishment he or she is being awarded is simply harrowing and serves no criminal justice aim." Separately, a psychiatrist who examined Ali over several years and declared him insane in 2012 had said he was shocked at news of the imminent execution. "He is a declared insane person," said Tahir Feroze Khan. "To hear about his death warrant is shocking news for me." A medical report seen by AFP said Ali's speech was incoherent, he frequently spoke and laughed to himself, and he suffered from paranoia and delusions of grandeur. Despite being officially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the Lahore High Court last month rejected arguments that Ali should not be executed because of his illness. Story continues "His killing would signify in a grim way all that is wrong with the Pakistani justice system," added Ijaz. Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after suffering its deadliest-ever extremist attack, when gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 and killed more than 150 people -- mostly children. Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but later extended to all capital offences. The country has executed over 400 people since resuming hangings in December 2014, according to new research by Reprieve, a British anti-death penalty campaign group, although only a tiny fraction have been for terror charges. This weeks Rob & Chyna had both reality stars open up about dealing with their physical insecurities. Rob Kardashian has been in the news before for his depression, but in this episode he talked about the pressure he currently feels as he struggles with his weight and is constantly dealing with paparazzi. This was the reason why he decided to cancel a trip to France, where Blac Chyna was scheduled to go to a party in Cannes. Despite getting a trainer and working on losing weight, after meeting a stylist and getting a fitting, he decided against escorting Chyna on the international red carpet. Blac Chyna did not take her mans cancellation lightly, but she was also dealing with her own body issues, as her booty had been the subject of some critical press recently. While Chyna was overseas, Rob dedicated himself to losing weight by getting a treadmill and making an effort to eat healthy. By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Self-driving boats and assemblies of robotic platforms will one day shuttle people and goods along Amsterdam's centuries-old canals - if a project part-funded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology bears fruit. Researchers said on Monday they hope to launch the first prototypes of craft they have christened "roboats" in the Dutch city in 2017. "Imagine a fleet of autonomous boats," said professor Carlo Ratti of MIT, which donated 20 million euros ($29 million) to the project. "But also think of dynamic and temporary floating infrastructure, like on-demand bridges and stages that can be assembled (in) ...hours." With different prototypes due to be tested, one basic design under consideration resembles a square, flat-topped pallet a little less than two meters (six feet) a side. Dozens might assemble to form a new, temporary space, or a footpath across the water to relieve traffic congestion. Professor Arjan van Timmeren, scientific director of the institute leading the project, said the project envisages a high-tech return to the 17th century, Amsterdam's golden age when its canals were the main throughfare for transporting goods. Nowadays most boats in the city are recreational. The researchers hope roboats might find a home in other urban areas too, as many cities are situated on or near rivers - though the engineering challenges faced by Van Timmeren's Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions are far from straightforward. "(The problems) are actually greater than for self-driving cars," he said, because small craft are both less stable and more difficult to steer than land-based vehicles. Other participants in the project include the City of Amsterdam, the Delft Technical University and the City of Boston. ($1 = 0.8959 euros) (Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by John Stonestreet) What its like to run your own theater company What its like to run your own theater company Meet Gretchen Dawson. Shes the co-founder of a Southern California theater group she runs with her family called 3-D Theatricals (3DT), in addition to being the theater groups Marketing Director. Gretchen also has a second job as the Associate Choreographer for a neighboring performing arts center so yeah, shes definitely busy. Here are three days in her life. image1 Day 1 8:00 a.m.: SO TIRED. Yesterday, I worked for, like, 12 hours straight. The great thing about my job is that I work mostly from my smartphone or computer, which allows me to take on other work outside of my organization. Lets face it, you dont go into theater to make money, but a girls gotta make a living. 8:45 a.m.: Ate a bagel and had my morning coffee. 9:00 a.m.: Im answering the usual 3DT emails for an opening night show making sure press photos are picked by our Artistic Director (and my brother) T.J. Dawson, getting the photos ready for print and online use with our photographer (Isaac James), checking with my team to make sure the Step & Repeats (those paper backdrops with company names that people pose in front of on red carpets) and programs got to the theater safely, and locking down menu items with the caterer for the opening night party we are throwing for the cast on Sunday after the matinee. 10:00 a.m.: I just posted on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts reminding our followers of opening night. God, I hope people show up. 11:30 a.m.: Just made a phone call to our caterer and locked down the menu for the party. Everything looks so tasty! 12:00 p.m.: Im confirming the upgrade for a new Step & Repeat. It will be delivered next Thursday so we can have it for our Fullerton opening. IM BUMMED because it exceeded my budget more than I expected, but it is a way easier device (THANK GOD) to set up which will hopefully extend its lifespan. Our previous one only lasted one season. Story continues 12:24 p.m.: I sent an email to our entire team attaching an updated version of our company logo and tagline. Its the slightest adjustment, but I am excited about the update. 1: 00 p.m. I approved ticket donation requests for organizations in our community, and now I am hungry. I gotta get me some food. 1:15 p.m.: Still havent eaten. Im coordinating with my graphic designer every day, but today has been pretty light because most all the materials for The Full Monty the show thats opening tonight have been submitted. She just sent me a draft of the opening email blast for Fullerton and I sent back my notes along with an LA Times interview. The Times interviewed some cast members and the show director! amidiot1 1:30 p.m.: I get snacks and head to rehearse with Dana Solimando, the choreographer of American Idiot at La Mirada Performing Arts Center, who brought me on as her Associate on the show. We are about to rehearse a number we are kind of nervous about. Originally, on Broadway, this number incorporated flying. This production will not include flying, so we are hoping that our idea works just as well without it. 2:00 p.m.: I arrive and we get STRAIGHT TO WORK. 6:30 p.m.: We stop rehearsing and grab some food before our rehearsal officially begins. 7:30 p.m.: Rehearsal starts. 7:59 p.m.: Thinking of my 3DT family while Im at the La Mirada, and praying The Full Monty goes well. 11:00 p.m.: Rehearsal ends and I text my brother/3DT Artistic Director, T.J., to see how opening night went. 11:20 p.m.: I leave the La Mirada rehearsal hall after discussing schedules for the next day. 11:45 p.m.: Im home. Cant wait to finally be with my girlfriend and go to sleep. 11:47 p.m.: I get a response from my brother saying the audience loved it! 12:30 p.m.: I go to bed but know it will be hard to fall asleep. Day 2 8:00 a.m.: Wake up and get ready for another long day of rehearsal and driving to Redondo Beach for press night of The Full Monty. 8:45 a.m.: AAAHHH Im quickly downloading the final press shots of The Full Monty so I can post them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram before I leave. 9:15 a.m.: Heading to Starbucks for a venti and bagel. I am starving this morning. 10:00 a.m.: Just got to La Mirada rehearsal hall to meet with Dana before everyone else arrives. 10:50 a.m.: Posting a press photo on Instagram! 11:00 a.m.: American Idiot rehearsals begin. amidiot2 3:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m.: Lunch! We went to The Habit. Yum! 6:00 p.m.: I get out of rehearsal and jump in my car to go back to Huntington Beach. Gotta change and get ready for The Full Montys Press Opening in Redondo Beach. My girlfriend, Bitty, is coming with me and she loves this show so much. (I hope she doesnt sing along the whole time. LOL.) 7:25 p.m.: We arrive at the theater and I greet our guests in the lobby. 8:00 p.m.: The show begins! 9:25 p.m.: Intermission. The crowd seems to be enjoying it. I hope they tell their friends so we can get more people in these seats. 11 p.m.: The show just ended and Im blown away. I havent been able to catch rehearsal for this one because of my commitment to American Idiot, but I must say my brother killed it again! He truly has a musical theatre gift; for every show he touches, he creates magic. Even if its a show you hate or dont want to see, hell always cast the right person for the part and make sure the performance is top quality. 11:50 p.m.: Home. Exhausted. 12:30 p.m.: go to bed go to bed go to bed go to bed Day 3 7:50 a.m.: Wake up! 8:35 a.m.: I head to my brother Daniels house (the other co-founder of 3DT) and give him an iPad to take with him to the show tonight (it has the playlist I created for the cast party!). 8:45 a.m.: To Starbucks for a coffee and bagel! Lol, this is starting to be a habit. 9:30 a.m.: Arrive at La Mirada rehearsal hall for a short meeting with Dana. 10:00 a.m.: We start rehearsal beginning with one of my favorite songs from the album, Holiday. Why is it my favorite, you ask? Because they had to build a bus OUT OF CHAIRS. Its cool so far. Hope it translates well to stage! 2:00 p.m.: Lunch time! Panera Bread sounds good. 5:00 p.m.: Rehearsal gets out and Im heading straight home for a looooooong night of relaxation. 5:30 p.m.: I check on the party. All is well, and a crazy week comes to an end. For more Working Girl Diaries, check out: What its like to be a writer for The Powerpuff Girls What its like to work at a company that creates ~augmented reality~ What its like to run an international clothing brand at the age of 23 And more here The post What its like to run your own theater company appeared first on HelloGiggles. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday it considers it "senseless" for Syrian government forces to respect a ceasefire unilaterally when it is being attacked by militants who cannot be reined in by the United States. "Syrian servicemen and peaceful citizens are still dying. The cause of this is the fact the United States has no effective leverage to influence Syria's opposition and is unaware of the real situation on the ground," Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official, told a briefing. "Taking into account the fact that the terms of the ceasefire are not respected by militants, we consider observing it unilaterally by Syrian government forces is senseless." The ministry said its monitors on the ground had registered 53 ceasefire violations in Syria over the past 24 hours. There is information that moderate Syrian opposition units are merging with "terrorist groups" and preparing joint attacks, the ministry said. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Christian Lowe) By Pankaj P. Khelkar: The students' association of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is in the news for yet another agitation. This time, some of the senior students are protesting against the FTII administration because some of the contractual workers from the housekeeping staff have been transferred outside FTII to some other location in Pune. HOUSEKEEPING STAFF SUPERVISOR DENIES CHARGES AGAINST HER advertisement When India Today got in touch with the housekeeping staff supervisor Aruna who has been transferred, she said "Since many years we have been working here, but the director is now saying that I harass the other housekeeping staff. If I was harassing these workers, why would all of the housekeeping staff come in support of me?" While sitting on dharna outside the director's office, Aruna further said that the FTII director says that he got some calls from some housekeeping staff members. "He got some calls saying I am into money-lending business at 25% interest. He also alleged that I snatch away all of their payments, and I torture these workers. Why would I torture these people? I have come here to work and so I will get the work done, why would I indulge in irrelevant work?" Adding that many in FTII are involved in the business themselves, she says "If I was into the money-lending business, why would I work here for a meagre 7000 rupees wage?" She challenged the FTII director and asked for the details of the complainant if any, alleging that he is giving false statement against some of the housekeeping staff members. FTII STUDENTS ASSOCIATION EXTENDS SUPPORT IN SOLIDARITY The senior FTII students who in 2015 were on strike for 139 days against the appointment of Gajendra Chouhan as the chairman of FTII are once again in action. Some of the members of the students' association sat on dharna outside the director's office as a mark of solidarity, extending their support to the ongoing agitation of the housekeeping staff members. The president of the students' association Nachi Mutthu said "First of all, the director of FTII should realise that he is also a servant like these workers, the difference is that these workers are on contract and he is on deputation. But the director and the registrar feel that they are kings and this is their private property. Just like our Prime Minister and the RSS feel that this country is their private property, they have this attitude." advertisement Mutthu defended the allegations against the two housekeeping staff members, Aruna and Ashu, and said that the charges against them are false and that she is not into any sort of money-lending business. On the other hand, Mutthu said that money-lending is a common practice at FTII and everyone from peons to teachers are involved in lending money at a high interest. But the director, without listening to the other side of the story, has asked the contractor to change these housekeeping staff members who have been working with FTII since the last five years. BACKGROUND OF THE AGITATION Because two of the contractual housekeeping workers were transferred without any notice, the other workers of the housekeeping staff did not report to work since September 16 as a mark of protest. During this period, the director had organised an open day for the general public. This became a prestige issue for him and so to save face, he got other housekeeping staff from the contractor. Now, these housekeeping staff members are transferred to some other location and are helpless. Action has been taken without any notice. Mutthu, who represents the FTII students' body, alleged that all this action taken against the contractual housekeeping staff is just personal vendetta. advertisement Mutthu added that they are supporting these workers because injustice is being done to them and also since these workers have always supported the students' agitation, it is now the students' turn to support the housekeeping staff in their fight for justice. FTII DIRECTOR'S STAND The director of FTII Bhupendra Keinthola talking to India Today over the phone justified his stand, saying that he has no role in transfer of the contractual housekeeping staff. He added that since they all went on a flash strike, the administration was left with only one option, that is to ask the contractor who provides the housekeeping staff to give substitute workers. This was because there was an important event at FTII where thousands of people from Pune were expected to attend and so the premises needed to be cleaned on time. Keinthola said that he has called a meeting of the representative of the housekeeping staff, the contractor, and one student from the FTII students' association to resolve the issue. Also read: FTII gates open after 2 years --- ENDS --- By Se Young Lee and Paul Carsten SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday a Galaxy Note 7 phone a Chinese user claimed caught on fire was damaged by external heating, seeking to assure customers in the world's top smartphone market the devices being sold there are safe. The incident comes amid a recall of the Note 7 phones across the globe including South Korea and the United States due to faulty batteries causing the devices to catch fire while charging or in normal use. Samsung has said it has sold 2.5 million phones equipped with the suspect batteries. Late on Sunday, Chinese online financial magazine Caixin cited an internet user's report that their Note 7 phone, bought from JD.com Inc (JD.O), had caught fire in what appeared to be the first report in China of a fire involving the handset. Samsung said in a statement on its China website its investigation of the phone shows "the damage to this product was caused by external heating", without elaborating. Battery maker Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) said separately on Monday one of its batteries was in the Note 7 phone in question, but added its joint investigation with Samsung determined the incident was not directly linked to a battery made by the China-based firm. "According to the burn marks on the sample, we surmise that the source of the heating comes from outside the battery, and it's very likely that there was an external factor causing the heating problem," the battery maker said in a statement. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the phone was damaged by an external heat source, possibly an induction oven or a fan heater. The person was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and so declined to be identified. Another person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Samsung SDI Co Ltd was responsible for the faulty batteries that triggered the recall. JD.com said it referred the case to Samsung. Samsung last week announced a recall of 1,858 Note 7 phones in China but those devices were products distributed before the official Sept. 1 launch. The company said the phones sold through the official launch used batteries different from those in reported fires. ATL is owned by Japanese components maker TDK Corp . (Reporting by Se Young Lee in SEOUL, Paul Carsten Michael Martina in BEIJING and Sijia Jiang in HONG KONG; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Louise Heavens) Sarah Paulson and Marcia Clark made a cute couple at the Emmy Awards on Sunday night. (Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage) Sorry, Holland Taylor! Sarah Paulson brought a different date to the Emmy Awards former California deputy district attorney Marcia Clark, whom Paulson portrayed in the widely lauded miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and won an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy for her performance. In order to play the lead prosecutor in the trial of the century, Paulson rocked four different wigs showcasing Clarks infamous corkscrew curls. During a panel discussion about her role, Paulson, 41, explained how she found common ground with Clark by way of their hair. After explaining that shed never been allowed to play a leading lady without dyeing her naturally brown locks blond, she added, Thats sometimes some of what comes with my job. I dont like that part of it, but when I signed up for it, I sort of knew it. In comparison, however, Clark didnt. Marcia was a private citizen, a civil servant, and, unlike the defense team, was not very well versed in the language of intense media scrutiny and pressure. In other words, leave the lady and her hair alone! Related: Complete List of 2016 Emmy Winners For the Emmy Awards, Paulson wore her short (now blond!) hair slicked down and sported a stunning emerald green Prada gown encrusted with variegated crystals, stones, and plexi paillettes (i.e. it was sparkly). The nominee completed her look with dramatic chandelier earrings and a sweep of smoky eye makeup. Paulsons stylist, Karla Welch, shared a gorgeous Instagram shot of the look, writing, Sarah x Prada. (For what its worth, however, Sarahs blond locks featured dramatic dark roots.) Sarah x Prada #imwithher A photo posted by Karla Welch (@karlawelchstylist) on Sep 18, 2016 at 2:40pm PDT Meanwhile, Clark tweeted: On the way to the Emmys with @MsSarahpaulson. Its 120 degrees lol! #soefffinhot. By the time she arrived on the red carpet, however, Clark looked every bit the Hollywood A-lister. The 63-year-old opted for a shimmering gown with a plunging neckline and an elegant diamond necklace for the occasion. Story continues Related: Emmys 2016 Red Carpet Arrivals It seemed these two had come a long way as they stepped onto the red carpet. Earlier this summer, Paulson admitted that at the time of the trial, she had not been a fan of the attorney. I was one of those women who didnt like Marcia Clark. And that was based on believing what I was told by the media that she was this total monster and a bulldog and so aggressive, she explained. It was really transformational to realize, God, I had it all wrong. Most people did. Sarah Paulson used to think Marcia Clark was a total monster. (Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage) Paulson concurred with Clarks complaint about the heat. Im sweating in unmentionable places, she told E!s Giuliana Rancic, who praised her brilliant performance in the series. Paulson said she hoped it would be a big night for the show and noted that Clark was accompanying her. Shes right there, with a fan on her, like a normal person, Paulson laughed as she pointed to Clark, a few feet away. (Rancic tried, unsuccessfully, to wrangle Clark for a few questions, too.) While chatting with Rancic, Paulson also revealed that she hadnt actually watched the series, because she didnt want to see [Clark] lose (another testament to her friendship with the former lawyer). Because she is a true class act, however, the actress wrapped up her interview with a shout-out to her girlfriend at home. Hi, Holland, if youre watching, Holland Taylor, I love you! she said, just before Amy Schumer passed by and told her she hoped she had won. Related: Jimmy Kimmels Best Opening Monologue Jokes But the fun didnt end there during his opening remarks, Jimmy Kimmel noted that Paulson had brought Clark along for the ride. Id also like to announce the winner of tonights plus one contest: Sarah Paulson, who played Marcia Clark and actually brought Marcia Clark with her tonight, he began. Everyone in L.A. knows, if you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark. (Paulson booed that one, but she was laughing just the same.) Kimmel then turned his attention directly to Clark. This must be very strange for you, he speculated. Are you rooting for O.J. to win this time? Survey says: #yaass! And The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (which received 22 Emmy nominations) did clean up. Paulson won, and took her few minutes of screen time to apologize to Clark. The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark not the two-dimensional cardboard cutout I saw on the news, but the complicated, whip smart, complicated mother of two who woke up every day, put both feet on the floor, and dedicated herself to righting an unconscionable wrong the loss of two innocents, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown the more I had to recognize that I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial and careless in my judgment and I am glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you I am sorry, the actress said as tears welled in her eyes. (The camera cut to Clark, who had a beaming smile on her face.) In addition to Paulsons victory, both Courtney B. Vance (who played Johnnie Cochran) and Sterling K. Brown (who played Christopher Darden) nabbed Emmys for their performances. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story also received the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series. Sarah Paulson took one special date to Sunday's Emmy Awards. The 41-year-old actress was accompanied by Marcia Clark, the star prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial. EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Paulson Dishes on 'AHS' Season 6 and Reveals Girlfriend Holland Taylor Won't Be Her Emmy Date! Paulson, whose performance as Clark in FX's The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story earned her a nod for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie, walked the red carpet in a stunning Prada emerald green gown. Clark, who appeared in good spirits, rocked a classic black lace dress. Getty Images Moments before the show commenced, Paulson made sure to give her girlfriend, Holland Taylor, a quick shout out. "Hi Holland Holland Taylor, if you're watching, I love you," Paulson said to the camera during a red carpet interview with E!. Holland, who was indeed watching the show remotely, responded with the cutest message. "If I'm watching...?? If I'm WATCHING??? YES, I'm watching--!!! good LORD! ...I LOVE you!!!" she wrote on Twitter. If I'm watching...?? If I'm WATCHING??? YES, I'm watching--!!! good LORD! ... I LOVE you!!! pic.twitter.com/63341mz81C Holland Taylor (@HollandTaylor) September 18, 2016 PHOTOS: Check Out All of the Stars Arriving on the 2016 Emmys Red Carpet! Once inside, host Jimmy Kimmel couldn't help but single out Paulson and Clark. "Everyone in L.A. knows, if you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark," he said. The camera then quickly focused on the pair and Paulson gave the comment a thumbs down. Kimmel then asked Clark, "This must be very strange to you. Are you rooting for O.J. to win this time?" The two responded with a few laughs. WATCH: Emmy 2016 Predictions: Who Will Win the Biggest Categories For more from this Sunday's show, watch the clip below! Story continues Related Articles And the Emmy finally goes toSarah Paulson. Paulson won her first Emmy award Sunday night for her portrayal of Marcia Clark on FXs American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, winning for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie. The actress, who was seen as a shoo-in for the award, was also nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie for her role in FXs American Horror Story: Hotel, which went to Regina King for ABCs American Crime. Paulsons award was one of many for People v. O.J. Simpson tonight at the Emmys, including a win for writing and for Sterling K. Brown, whom Paulson thanked during her acceptance speech. On stage, Paulson spoke at length about Clark, who came as her date Sunday night. Speaking of the misjudgment and unfair treatment Clark endured in the 90s during the trial, Paulson said, I am glad to be able to stand here in front of everyone today and tell you Im sorry. The winner also thanked a few more people on stage Ryan Patrick Murphy, I owe you everythingyou changed my life, she said, also giving a shoutout to her partner, adding, Holland Taylor, I love you. The double-nominee tonight was previously nominated was four Emmys, prior to the 2016 awards three times for other seasons of Horror Story and another for HBOs Game Change. When she did not win for American Horror Story: Freak Show, critics and fans called out her snub, given that she played the difficult roles of conjoined twins Bette and Dot to much praise. On the day of her nomination, Paulson who juggled filming People v. O.J. Simpson and Hotel at the same time spoke to Variety about her two nominations, admitting that she really wants to win. I feel a little bit of pressure. I dont want to let anybody down, she said in an interview this past summer. I appreciate that people feel that passionately about wanting a victorious night for me, but I personally have to sit in the place of if I give it that much weight, it will take away everything I learned about being a woman, a human, my experience with the other actors and am I going to let an award take that away? No. So the experience has to be paramount and the other stuff has to be the gravy. But dont get me wrong, I like gravy! Story continues Related stories 'American Horror Story' Teaser Features Lady Gaga's 'Perfect Illusion' Sarah Paulson in Talks to Join 'Ocean's Eight' Sarah Paulson Cast as Geraldine Page in Ryan Murphy's 'Feud' for FX By Toni Clarke and Natalie Grover (Reuters) - Bowing to pressure from patient advocates, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy even though an outside panel of experts and the agency's own reviewers questioned the drug's efficacy. The FDA's lead reviewer, Dr. Ronald Farkas, recently quit the agency after issuing a scathing report criticizing the quality of the data presented by Sarepta Therapeutics Inc, developer of the drug Exondys 51, known also as eteplirsen. Sarepta's stock nearly doubled to $56.18 on news of the decision. Farkas's departure highlighted sharp divisions within the agency. He and other scientists were opposed by Dr. Janet Woodcock, the agency's powerful head of pharmaceuticals, who argued for approval, according to a summary of the dispute. In an email to staff on Monday, Woodcock said the approval "reflects FDA's ability to apply flexibility to address challenges we often see with rare, life-threatening diseases - while remaining within our statutory framework." The drug treats a subset of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare, progressive genetic disorder that hampers muscle movement, eventually killing most sufferers by age 30. The subset includes about 13 percent of all DMD patients, or some 1,300 to 1,900 patients in the United States. FDA scientists, including Dr. Ellis Unger, director of the drug evaluations division overseeing the product, appealed Woodcock's planned decision to an internal disputes board, according to a publicly available summary of the dispute written by FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on Sept. 16. The agency's acting chief scientist, Dr. Luciana Borio, also did not believe Sarepta's data supported approval, Califf's summary stated. Nonetheless, Califf decided to "defer to Dr. Woodcock's judgment and authority to make the decision." "I find no basis for a view that Dr. Woodcock was unduly influenced by involvement with the patient community or other external pressures," he wrote. He added, however, that "serious shortcomings present in the eteplirsen development program should not be allowed to establish a broad precedent for therapeutic development in rare diseases." Simos Simeonidis, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, described the approval as "one of the most perplexing regulatory decisions in recent history." The FDA approved Sarepta's drug under its so-called "accelerated" approval pathway in which a product is approved based on data believed to predict a clinical benefit. That benefit must be proven by the company in a subsequent clinical trial. "It will be years before we find out the outcome of that trial," Simeonidis said, adding that Sarepta "now becomes one of the most attractive mergers and acquisitions targets in biopharma." PATIENT ADVOCATE PRESSURE This is the second time in just over a year that the FDA has bowed to patient pressure to approve a drug despite scant scientific evidence showing it worked. Last August the agency approved Addyi, a pill to boost libido in women with low sexual desire. A coalition of women's groups backed by the manufacturer, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, packed an advisory committee meeting with women who testified to their desperate need for the pill. Woodcock said at the time that the agency was "committed to supporting the development of safe and effective treatments for female sexual dysfunction." The drug carries a boxed warning saying it can cause fainting and extremely low blood pressure and that it should not be used with alcohol. Analysts said the approval of Exondys 51 bodes well for similar approvals elsewhere in the world. Tim Lugo, an analyst with William Blair, estimated the drug will generate global peak annual sales of close to $2 billion. The FDA also granted Sarepta a rare pediatric disease voucher representing a commitment by the FDA to review a new drug developed by Sarepta within six months rather than the standard 10 months or more. The voucher can be sold to another company. Michelle Gilson, an analyst at Oppenheimer, estimates the voucher could be worth roughly $350 million, which could be used to fund the launch of the drug. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc's Kyndrisa, designed to address the same subset of patients as eteplirsen, was rejected by the FDA in January. (Editing by Andrew Hay and David Gregorio) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote as soon as Wednesday on a joint resolution seeking to block a $1.15 billion sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia over concerns about the conflict in Yemen, sponsors of the measure said on Monday. Republican Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee and Democratic Senators Chris Murphy and Al Franken introduced the legislation on Sept. 8. Backers of the joint resolution say it would block the sale of Abrams tanks and other equipment if it were passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives and signed by President Barack Obama. However, any effort to stop the sale would face stiff opposition from the White House, which has already approved the sale, as well as in Congress. The measure's backers said that, even if it does not pass, a positive vote or a strong vote would send a strong message about continued U.S. support for Saudi Arabia. Paul and Murphy told a meeting at the Center for the National Interest in Washington on Monday that they have deep concern about the Saudi conflict in Yemen, and think the United States should rethink its automatic support for the Riyadh government. "I think holding back the arms may give them a chance to show that they can do better," Paul said. Murphy said supporting Saudi action in Yemen hurts U.S. security. "If we are helping to radicalize Yemenis against us, we are participating in the slaughter of civilians, and we are allowing extremist groups that have plans and plots against the United States to grow stronger, how can that be in our security interest?" Murphy asked. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by James Dalgleish) Jain was earlier arrested for smuggling of gold in the past, wherein 37 Kgs worth gold worth Rs 9 crores was seized by DRI. (Photo: Reuters) By Atir Khan: A Guwahati-based bullion trader has been arrested for smuggling 7,000 kgs of gold through Indo-Myanmar land border and bringing it to Delhi through an airline. The revenue intelligence officials probe has revealed that the trader made hundreds of smuggling trips and is said to be the mastermind of Rs 2,000 crore smuggling racket. Narendra Kumar Jain, a Guwahati based bullion trader came in Directorate of Intelligence net when his 10 kg gold consignment was seized at domestic terminal of IGI Airport early this month. He along with his Delhi-based aide was arrested by the sleuths. A private airlines staffers are also being quizzed in this connection. advertisement NOT AN ORDINARY SMUGGLER Guwahati based bullion trader Narendra Kumar Jain Sustained interrogation revealed that Jain had made 617 trips to Guwahati for the purpose of smuggling gold over a period of past two and a half years. So far smugglers had been known to be using train and bus routes to carry smuggled gold into different parts of India. However Jain had adopted a new modus operandi. He used to smuggle 24 carat purity gold bars into India through Indo-Myanmar land borders. Once the gold bars were received in Guwahati, he would declare and book gold as valuable cargo in domestic flights between Guwahati and Delhi. Interestingly he was using a particular private airline for this purpose. That's why sleuths are also questioning the airline staff. Investigations have revealed that the airline staffers were knowing that gold was being transported through the cargo. Jain was earlier arrested for smuggling of gold in the past, wherein 37 Kgs worth gold worth Rs 9 crores was seized by DRI. He was also arrested by enforcement agencies in Guwahati in February 2015 for smuggling gold of about 12 kgs and was later released on bail. Sleuths are trying to identify the buyers of the smuggled gold suspected to be in the NCR region in adjoining states. Intelligence suggests huge quantities of gold bars of foreign origin are being smuggled from Myanmar through Indo-Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh in Manipur and from Zokhawthar area in Mizoram. These activities relating to gold smuggling are continuing unabated. Detection of smuggling of gold through Indo-Myanmar border becomes difficult due to topography and porosity of the land border. READ| China tells India 'educate your travellers' after 5 Indians held for smuggling drugs SEIZING THIS YEAR DRI has been making seizures of gold of foreign origin gold emanating from Myanmar, including seizure of 87 kgs in March 2015 at Siliguri and 58 Kgs of gold at Kolkata in August 2016 in which 12 persons were arrested. In another case involving seizure of 12 Kgs of gold in Mumbai on 5th August 2016, investigations had revealed that the same group had smuggled 700 kgs of gold, valued at over Rs 200 crores. On 11th September foreign currency notes of 7.5 lakh dollars values at about Rs 5 crore was seized near SIliguri from a truck bound for Manipur for smuggling to Myanmar to purchase gold to be brought back by smuggling in to the country. advertisement During current financial year from April to July 2016, the licit import of gold has reduced to about 107 metric tons valued at Rs 24,000 crore, as compared to 274 metric tons, valued at Rs 60,700 crore in the corresponding period in the last financial year. Total gold import in 2015-16 was about 855 metric tons, valued at about Rs 1,79,172 crore. Also read: Gold and forex smuggling go up, jewellers under scanner for tax evasion READ - Bihar: Liquor smuggled in empty gas cylinders --- ENDS --- (Repeats to additional subscribers with no changes to text) By Nick Carey LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept 19 (Reuters) - United Parcel Service plans to expand its 3D printing service to Asia and Europe, the U.S. shipping company has told Reuters, in a bid to fully embrace and get ahead of a trend that threatens to eat away a small but lucrative part of its business. Aside from its main package delivery service, UPS gets an undisclosed portion of its revenue from storing and shipping parts for manufacturers. If those customers were to switch to 3D printing their own parts, that business would face a drastic reduction. To counter that threat, UPS has chosen to get on board the 3D revolution, and is now looking to offer a service in which UPS will print out plastic parts - anything from nozzles to brackets to prototype soap dispensers or multi-faceted moving parts - around the world and deliver them. "3D printing is a great opportunity for us, but it's also a threat," Alan Amling, UPS vice president for corporate strategy, told Reuters. The dynamic - welcoming rather than fighting a threatening new technology - is not unlike automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG teaming up with ride-hailing services Uber and Gett, respectively. Amling said UPS is looking at either Singapore or Japan for an Asian 3D printing factory. He did not say where the company might open a European facility, though UPS's operational hub in Europe is in Cologne, Germany. UPS has already got into the business in its home market. In May, it launched a U.S.-based 3D printing service with Fast Radius, a 3D printing company based outside Atlanta, where UPS is headquartered. UPS bought an unspecified stake in Fast Radius, which has a 3D printing factory at UPS's Louisville, Kentucky, hub. There are also now 3D printers at 60 UPS stores in the United States that print parts using industrial grade thermoplastics. Customers can upload images for printing at the Fast Radius factory or at one of those UPS stores and have the printed products shipped to any location. Story continues HOW IT WORKS A 3D printer works by laying down successive levels of material, mostly plastics at this point, to create an object. Quality printers that make metal parts cost over $500,000, while printers that use thermoplastics can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Prices are expected to come down as the technology advances. While 3D printing is still slow compared to high-speed production lines, the technology has progressed so it can be used effectively for prototypes or some components that are not needed in high volumes. Larger firms such as General Electric Co are incorporating 3D-printed parts into production. That progress is a mixed blessing for UPS. As the cost of 3D printers drops and processes improve, that could undermine UPS's efforts to develop 3D printing as a service - because customers could buy just buy their own printers. "Why wait a day for a part to arrive (from UPS) when you'll be able to innovate six times a day on your own?" said Richard D'Aveni, a professor of strategy at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. A QUIET CORNER What Fast Radius calls its "digital manufacturing factory" is a quiet operation occupying space in a corner of the UPS building in Louisville, without any of the grime, noise or bustle associated with a standard factory. Instead, a handful of machines work noiselessly, printing parts of varying sizes and shapes. During a recent visit to the operation by Reuters, Fast Radius CEO Rick Smith said that because of 3D printing, manufacturing is about to transform from "being about where it's made to where it's needed." One of the printers was close to completing a black plastic prototype hydraulic pump for a manufacturing customer in Germany - a process that takes about 72 hours. Smith said the job illustrates the need for UPS to expand its service beyond the United States. Another customer, action camera maker GoPro Inc, is making use of Fast Radius' printers, coupled with UPS's ability to deliver a prototype the next day. Previously, if GoPro wanted to try out new designs, it would take weeks or even months to make a mock-up, senior GoPro product designer Ryan Harrison said. Now the company can innovate much quicker. "3D printing allows you to fail quicker or to stumble on moments of genius," Harrison said. BRACING FOR DISRUPTION UPS does not break out how much it makes from its supply chain services, including warehouse storage. But in 2015 it reported about $6 billion in "forwarding and logistics" revenue, or about 10 percent of its total sales. An unknown portion of that came from its warehousing operations. UPS's biggest rival, FedEx Corp, is less focused on supply-chain services and has not dipped into 3D printing. But if UPS succeeds, analysts said, FedEx could follow suit. The company declined to comment on 3D printing. German competitor DHL, a unit of Deutsche Post AG , issued a report earlier this year warning the technology could upend traditional mass-production manufacturing, in which goods are shipped around the world. UPS's foray into 3D printing is not its first experiment in other disruptive industries. In October 2015, it invested in drone maker CyPhy Works, and this February bought a stake in same-day delivery company Deliv - in both instances to understand and harness potentially industry-shaking technologies. Morningstar analyst Keith Schoonmaker said while 3D printing has not yet proved itself on a mass scale, it makes sense for UPS to incorporate a technology "that could supplement or replace its services." (Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Eric Effron and Bill Rigby) NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, against Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. ("Northern Oil" or the "Company") (NYSE MKT: NOG) and certain of its officers. The class action is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased Northern Oil securities between March 1, 2013 and August 15, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). Northern Oil is an energy company primarily in North Dakota and Montana, engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Northern Oil's compliance policies in connection with the SEC regulations and the Company's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics were insufficient to identify and/or prevent misconduct by the Company's officers; (2) consequently, Northern Oil's Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), Defendant Michael Reger, illegally manipulated the stock during his tenure at Northern Oil; (3) Reger was therefore unfit to serve as Northern Oil's CEO; and (4) as a result of the above mentioned, Northern Oil's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 16, 2016, Northern Oil fired its Chief Executive Officer, Michael Reger, after he admitted to the Company that he is facing sanctions in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Northern Oil said that Reger was sent a Wells Notice from the SEC regarding its 2012 investigation of Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. and its trading. Reger was an invested in Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. since 2008. Northern Oil announced that Reger was removed from its board, effective immediately, and that Northern Oil does not believe that Reger will be entitled to any severance payment. Following this news, Northern Oil stock dropped $0.25 per share, or 6.28%, to close at $3.73 on August 16, 2016. Story continues A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/nog or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number. If you suffered a loss in Northern Oil you have until October 17, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz 212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP: To: All Persons or Entities who purchased Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. ("Isle of Capri") (ISLE) stock prior to September 19, 2016 . You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Isle of Capri to Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (ERI). Under the terms of the transaction, Isle of Capri shareholders may elect to receive either $23.00 in cash or 1.638 shares of Eldorado common stock for each share of Isle of Capri stock they own. To learn more about the action and your rights, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/isle-of-capri-isle or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you. Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Joseph E. Levi, Esq. Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. 30 Broad Street - 24th Floor New York, NY 10004 Tel: (212) 363-7500 Toll Free: (877) 363-5972 Fax: (212) 363-7171 www.zlk.com SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Really, Jet.com? jet grocery pack I recently ordered two small boxes of butter to get my cart over $35 to qualify for free shipping on Jet.com. I wouldnt have done it if I knew they would ship the butter on its own, in a big cardboard box, stuffed with two large, plastic-wrapped insulation pads, 20 feet of paper, and three ice packs. It turns out I'm not alone: Wall Street Journals Brian Baskin complained about similarly excessive packaging for his Jet shipment of a single-serve yogurt. Shipping waste is, of course, a much larger problem in the on-demand economy. Indeed, 35 million tons of containerboard were produced in 2014 in the US, reports the New York Times, with e-commerce companies among the fastest-growing users. Still, Jet faces some unique challenges. The Amazon competitor, which launched last year and was acquired by Walmart in August for $3 billion, distributes fresh items through national carriers like Fedex, while Amazon and others use their own vehicles. In short, that means it needs to provide more robust packaging. Jet says it's working on reducing packaging for its Fresh program, which is currently available only in parts of the Northeast. In the near-term, it plans to move to a larger warehouse for Fresh items, allowing more shipping options. It also plans to expand its selection and provide deals to encourage people to make larger orders. The company is experimenting with new shipping options, including coolers that come with return shipping labels, and has recently hired a packaging engineer. "Part of the reason we are being so deliberate about the pilot is because our goal actually is to scale this pretty quickly," says Liza Landsman, Jets chief customer officer. Jet wouldn't comment on how the Walmart acquisition might change things. NOW WATCH: JET.COM FOUNDER: This is what makes Jet different from Amazon More From Business Insider By Noah Barkin BERLIN (Reuters) - Will the euro survive the next big crisis? A new report inspired by Jacques Delors, one of the architects of the single currency, says it probably won't and urges policymakers to pursue immediate changes to Europe's troubled monetary union to ward off the inevitable collapse. The report, entitled "Repair and Prepare - Growth and the Euro after Brexit", comes at a time when even the most ardent defenders of the euro are cautioning against closer integration in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Pressing ahead, they worry, would deepen public resentment towards Europe after years of economic crisis that has pushed up unemployment and sent populist, eurosceptic parties surging in opinion polls. The authors, a group of academics, think tankers and former policymakers from across Europe, acknowledge the obstacles but argue that politicians cannot afford to wait. They have put together a three-pronged plan for shoring up the euro that they believe is politically feasible despite the troubling backdrop. "Reforming the euro might not be popular. But it is essential and urgent: at some point in the future, Europe will be hit by a new economic crisis," the report says. "We do not know whether this will be in six weeks, six months or six years. But in its current set-up the euro is unlikely to survive that coming crisis." In the works since before the Brexit vote in June, the 38-page report was put together by Berlin-based political economy professor Henrik Enderlein and former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta, both of the Delors Institute, together with the Bertelsmann Foundation. They worked with former central bankers Joerg Asmussen and Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, the former economics adviser to French President Francois Hollande, Laurence Boone, as well as ex-WTO chief Pascal Lamy and Philippe Maystadt, the former finance minister of Belgium. In a first stage to shore up the single currency, they recommend "quick fixes" that include a reinforcement of the euro zone's rescue mechanism, the ESM, a strengthening of banking union and improved economic policy coordination that does not require changes to the EU treaty. Story continues This would be followed by a north-south quid pro quo on structural reforms and investments. In a third stage, the euro zone would move to a more federal structure, with risk and sovereignty sharing. This final stage, the most controversial, could take a decade or more to realise and is described as important but optional. Central to the argument is the view that the European Central Bank has used up virtually all of its ammunition in the past year and that it is now urgent for politicians to act. "The ECB is in a Catch-22 situation," said Enderlein. "If it says that it's out of ammunition, it is weakening its own position. But if it says everything is fine, then governments won't do their part." "Everyone is focussed on the latest crises, from refugees to Brexit," added Asmussen. "We want to remind everyone that the monetary union is still incomplete." (Reporting by Noah Barkin; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Photo: Getty Images A man who killed his older brother last year by stabbing was jailed seven years after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on Monday (19 September). Ng Yao Wei, 23, entered the plea before Judicial Commissioner Audrey Lim at the High Court for the offence that happened at a condominium in Choa Chu Kang on 13 April 2015. Ng admitted to killing his brother, 26-year-old Ng Yao Cheng, by using a kitchen knife to stab him at the condominium, where the brothers were staying with their family. Court papers revealed that the then Singapore Polytechnic student and his older brother did not have a close relationship and were often quarreling. A day before the incident, the younger Ng had invited two friends to the house to play computer games. At about 11 pm, the victim got agitated because the trio was making too much noise and he shouted at the younger brother. The younger Ng retaliated and called his brother a dog, which almost caused the siblings to come to blows. However, their father was able to diffuse the situation and the older brother went to his room. Still unhappy about the incident, the younger Ng confronted his elder brother the following day at about 10.50 pm. Court papers revealed that Ng called his elder brother by an expletive. The older Ng then lunged towards his brother, who then reached out for a kitchen knife underneath his pillow. Court papers revealed that the knife was hidden by the younger Ng the night before. Ng then used the 33-cm knife to stab his older brother. Upon hearing the commotion, the siblings parents came into the room and saw the victim lying on the bed with his neck bleeding. After attacking his brother, Ng called the police, who arrived at the scene at 11.10 pm. The older Ng was pronounced dead by paramedics at 11.16 pm and the younger Ng was promptly arrested. Pleading for a sentence of seven years and below, Ngs lawyer, Josephus Tan, told the court that his client was a timid and introverted person who had been abused physically and verbally by the older brother since he was young. Story continues In his written mitigation, Tan said that the victim would often hit his client at the back or on the chest, leaving his client feeling like a punching bag. Tan pointed out to a medical report showing that his client was suffering from a major depressive disorder. His parents have already lost one son and they are here today to see another son sentenced. However, they are willing to look after him after his release, said Tan. Pressing for a term of between seven and 10 years, the prosecution pointed out to the brutality of the attack, which left the victim with a total of 43 external injuries, including 22 stab wounds. Ng, who was wearing a prison attire, remained quiet as the judge sentenced him. In passing sentence, the judge said that it was a truly unfortunate case of a brother killing a brother. However, I noted the manner on how the crime was committed and the weapon used. I also recognise that the accused was also a victim of long-term acrimony, she added. SEATTLE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2016 / SinglePoint, Inc. (SING), a full-service mobile technology and marketing provider, today announces it is in the final preparations of its corporate audit needed to become a fully reporting corporation and uplist its common stock to the OTCQB Venture Market Place. Once the audit is complete, which could be as early as next week, SinglePoint will file Form 10 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and become a fully reporting company. Upon acceptance by the SEC, the Company plans to complete its process of uplisting to the OTCQB within 60 days. "We have diligently worked alongside MaloneBailey to prepare this audit and increase SinglePoint's corporate and shareholder value," stated CEO Greg Lambrecht. "Not only will the completion of these efforts provide us better financing options and allow institutional investors to invest directly on the open market, it also correlates with our M&A strategy. Additionally, as an OTCQB-listed company we expect to see greater liquidity, as well as brand awareness among the investment community." About SinglePoint, Inc. SinglePoint, Inc. is a full-service mobile technology and marketing provider. We provide solutions that allow our clients to conduct business transactions, accept donations, and engage in targeted communication through mobile devices. Our products connect small to mid-size companies to their target markets by providing innovative mobile technology at reasonable rates. SinglePoint recognized the strength in acquiring interest in undervalued subsidiaries in other markets, such as Daily Fantasy Sports, to create a diversified holding base. For more information visit www.SinglePoint.com. Connect on social media at: www.facebook.com/SinglePointMobile, www.twitter.com/_SinglePoint, and www.linkedin.com/company/SinglePoint. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Story continues Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Contact: SinglePoint, Inc. Greg Lambrecht 602-481-1544 QualityStocks Scottsdale, Arizona www.QualityStocks.com 480.374.1336 Office Editor@QualityStocks.net SOURCE: SinglePoint, Inc. (This version of the Sep. 16 story corrects the name of the pastor in the story to John Boston II, not Jason Ridley, in paragraph 5) By Tyler Behm COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - The mayor of Columbus, Ohio, said on Friday that the air pistol brandished at police by a black, 13-year-old boy as he was shot dead by a white officer this week was nearly indistinguishable from weapons carried by members of the city's police force. Mayor Andrew Ginther appeared with Police Chief Kim Jacobs for a tense community meeting of more than 200 people, most of them African-American, who were invited to ask questions of city officials at the church gathering for just over an hour. But Ginther and Jacobs, who are both white, along with the city's public safety director, Ned Pettus, who is black, had few new details to offer about circumstances leading to the fatal shooting on Wednesday of Tyre King. The officials appealed for patience on the part of the public while investigations of the incident continue. "Everyone here is emotional. We're all hurting," Pastor John Boston II of the Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church, who hosted the gathering, said of the crowd's mood, which grew angry as officials concluded the session after about 30 questions, leaving many others wanting to speak. "So we don't get a voice?" one woman shouted, drawing applause and jeers before she was removed by security officers. According to a police account of the shooting, officer Bryan Mason, a nine-year veteran of the force, shot King multiple times after the youth drew what appeared to be a handgun from his waistband during an encounter with police in an alley. It was later determined to be an air pistol that fires BBs - small, metal, ball-bearing-like pellets, not bullets. [L2N1BR0K9] But according to Ginther, the BB gun looks "almost identical" to the 9-milimeter Glock semi-automatic handguns carried by Columbus police officers. Story continues The mayor said police in the Ohio state capital, who have no video footage of the fatal shooting, are expected to begin equipping their officers with body cameras early next year, a step other big-city departments have implemented to provide "additional oversight and accountability." Police who confronted the boy were responding to reports of an armed robbery by a man who told officers that a group of males had demanded money and threatened him with a gun. King was one of three young suspects police had sought to apprehend, according to authorities. King's family members have said in a statement released by their lawyers that the version of events related by Mason, a nine-year veteran of the police who has been placed on leave, conflicted with accounts of witnesses. King's death comes nearly two years after the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was black, by a white Cleveland police officer responding to reports of a suspect with a gun in a city park. An investigation revealed Rice had a replica gun that shoots plastic pellets. Rice's death became a rallying point for the Black Lives Matter movement and was one of a number of deaths that led to nationwide demonstrations against the use of excessive force against minorities, especially young black men, by police. Columbus has remained calm since King's death. Family and friends held a prayer vigil on Thursday near where the boy was shot. (Additional reporting by Kim Palmer in Cleveland, Laila Kearney in New York, writing by Steve Gorman; editing by Lisa Von Ahn) By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) The government today came out with a new import policy for different types of marble and travertine blocks to balance the interests of domestic consumers, producers and processors. The notified policy will come into effect from October 1 this year. "The new policy balances the interests of domestic consumers, producers and processors, and ends the cumbersome licensing system for import of marble and travertine blocks," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. advertisement For marble and travertine blocks, it claimed that the quantitative restriction on the imports and the restrictive import licensing system have been brought to an end under the new policy. The Minimum Import Price (MIP) for marble blocks has been reduced to USD 200 per tonne to address the distortions associated with MIP. "To address the interest of domestic producers, the basic customs duty on import of marble and travertine blocks will go up four times from the present 10 per cent to 40 per cent w.e.f. October 1," it said. It also said that the MIP on the imports of marble slabs is being reduced to USD 40 per sq metre. The basic customs duty on the import of marble slabs is being doubled from 10 per cent to 20 per cent from October 1. Further the MIP on the import of granite slabs is being reduced to USD 50 per sq metre to address the distortion associated with MIP. On this, the basic customs duty on import of granite slabs is also doubled from 10 per cent to 20 per cent, it added. PTI RR JM MR --- ENDS --- London (AFP) - The European Union will make Brexit "very painful" for Britain, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview published Monday, adding that London was "bluffing" over its pre-Brexit negotiating power. "The EU will take this opportunity to show the public: 'Listen guys, now you will see why it is important to stay in the EU'. This will be the position," Fico, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told the Financial Times. Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly insisted that Britain will "make a success of Brexit", but has yet to set out whether she will be pushing for continued access to the EU single market, or the extent of controls on immigration. "They are bluffing," Fico said of London's confidence, adding: "Even if it is the fifth-biggest economy in the world -- I understand their financial importance -- this will still be very painful for the UK." European Union leaders met Friday without Britain in their second summit since the country's June referendum vote to leave the European Union. In the Slovak capital Bratislava, they agreed to forge a new "vision" within six months to restore faith and unity in the bloc. Event attendance crashed to 73,000 a day. It seems racegoers were not as revved up as in previous F1 events despite exhaustive promos and an array of ticket discounts as attendance at the Singapore Grand Prix fell to an average of 73,000 spectators for each of the three days of the race weekend. A report by Reuters revealed that the 2015 edition attracted about 87,000 spectators daily, while the inaugural race in 2008 welcomed over 100,000 spectators. "The overall ticket take-up is 15 percent lower than the average attendance at the Circuit Park since the inaugural race," Singapore GP said. The sluggish economy and growing Zika virus concerns were being blamed for the low turnout at the racing event. Read the full report here. More From Singapore Business Review NEW YORK (AP) -- Slumping outfielder Jay Bruce was out of the New York Mets' starting lineup for the second straight game. Acquired by the Mets from Cincinnati at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, Bruce pinch hit and flied out in Monday night's 7-3 loss to against Atlanta. A 3-for-34 slide has left him with a .180 batting average, four homers and 11 RBIs in 38 games with New York. ''We just told Jay yesterday, look, we're going to get you out of here. Just back off for a couple of days, catch your break and get back in there,'' manager Terry Collins said. Collins compared the respite to his late-July decision to give a few days off to second baseman Neil Walker, who was in a 9-for-58 (.155) slide. Walker rebounded to hit .426 (40 for 94) over the next month before a back injury that required season-ending surgery. Collins also said left-hander Steven Matz, who has not pitched since Aug. 14 because of shoulder tightness, may throw a Wednesday bullpen session in New York rather than at the team's spring training complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Matz could rejoin the rotation later this week. He would be limited to 40-50 pitches. ''He's not ready to go real far, so we need to make sure we're not just taking a short in the dark here and starting a guy that we can get only get two innings out of,'' Collins said. Matz would follow Noah Syndergaard, who is lined up to pitch Saturday and Sept. 30 at Philadelphia, which would put him on track to start the NL wild-card game on Oct. 5 with normal four days' rest. Occupation: Owner, EssieSpice, New Jersey Find her: essiespice.com Essie Bartels moved to the United States from Ghana at 18 and spent the first part of her career at a multinational corporation, seeing the world. The flavors from her travels found their way into her home kitchen and then into her line of sauces and spice blends that meld international flavors with those of her native West Africa. I was in Mexico and tried these tamarind candies, she says. Tamarind is naturally a bit sour, but they added a lot of sugar so people would buy them. Then, the science part of my brain kicked in: I decided to melt the candies with water and put them on chicken wings, and thats how my tamarind sauce came about. Tamarind is a tropical fruit from West Africa, but its now used in Caribbean food. Its funny how everything comes full circle. Her best-selling Mango Chili Medley was inspired by a Jamaican Scotch bonnet chile sauce she was making when her sister suggested adding mango to balance the heat. Bartels likes using it as a spread, dip, or marinade. The Coco-for-Garlic sauce is her ode to time spent living and traveling across Western Europe. Its got roasted garlic and peppers with shallots and honey, but its made in a coconut oil base, which is traditional in West African cooking, she says. Though healthier cooking relies heavily on spices and herbs to boost flavor, sodium levels in premade blends can exceed daily recommendations. So keeping health in mind was an important step for Bartels. Im very particular about making sure I make great food thats not bad for my customers. she says. By Aamir Saeed BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An effort to boost large-scale solar energy production in Pakistan has hit a roadblock after the government cut the rate it pays for solar electricity, frustrating investors. Pakistans Punjab province government set up the 100-megawatt Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park in the Cholistan desert in March 2015 as a pilot project to lure foreign investment for an additional 900 megawatts of power. Zonergy Limited, a Chinese-owned firm, then agreed to invest $1.5 billion to produce the power, with a promise to complete the work by June 2016. But last December, Pakistans National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) reduced the amount the country pays to buy solar electricity from 14.5 cents to 9.25 cents per kilowatt-hour, citing falling costs for solar panels and other equipment. The cut has prompted a lawsuit by Zonergy officials, who last month brought online just 200 megawatts of the promised 900 megawatts of power in Punjabs Bahawalpur district, said Muhammad Amjad, chief executive officer of the solar park, in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Zonergy has gone into litigation over the reduction of the tariff and this is delaying completion of the project, he said. We are trying to resolve it as soon as possible. Zonergy officials in Pakistan could not be reached for comment. Amjad said the tariff reduction was justified as the price of solar panels and other accessories needed to produce the power had declined significantly in the international market in the last year and a half. Even after the reduction, Pakistan still offers one of the worlds most generous payments for solar power fed into a national grid, he said. 6,500 ACRES OF PANELS The solar park has been promoted as one of the largest in the world, spread over 6,500 acres (2,630 hectares) of land in the Cholistan desert in east-central Pakistan. It is located about 20 kilometers from the city of Bahawalpur, and a special security unit has been established for protection of its workers, along with a 22.5 kilometer (14 mile) security wall around the facility. Muhammad Hassan Askari, the parks operations manager, said the solar panels feed into the national grid for around 8-10 hours each day. There is no battery system to store energy for night-time distribution. The original 100 megawatt plant, installed by the Punjab government from its own budget, produces about 150 gigawatt hours a year, he said, enough to light about 100,000 homes in the country. The Cholistan desert is one of the best locations in Pakistan for solar energy production, he said, calling the project financially viable. Askari said that over one million solar panels have been installed so far to produce the combined 300 megawatts of power, and they should help avoid about 280,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Dust and sand are the greatest technical challenges to deal with at the solar plant, he said, with a permanent team of about 100 labourers hired to wash the panels each week. The solar park is offering green jobs to around 2,000 workers as they have been trained to install the solar panels and do other related work, Ashkari said. POWER SHORTAGES Pakistan faces a year-round electricity shortfall that hits around 7,000 megawatts in the summer, the period of peak demand. The country's rural areas often suffer blackouts of more than 14 hours a day while urban areas can experience up to 10 hours a day without power. Syed Zahir Salahuddin, a Karachi-based electrical energy expert, said that Pakistans electricity demand is increasing at 8-10 percent each year, and can be met only through a sustainable energy mix including solar power. Pakistan should introduce a uniform tariff policy instead of considering it on case-to-case basis, to encourage competition for private investment in renewable energy, he said. Without private sector investment, solar energy projects will not take off in the country, he warned. He called solar energy a viable power solution for off-grid areas of Pakistan as well as grid-connected ones, as it does not require the government to spend large amounts of money to install transmission lines. About 44 percent of households in Pakistan are not connected to the grid. More than 80 percent of those are in rural areas, according to the World Bank. Salahuddin suggested the government map all potential sites for solar power plants in the country and then seek investors, offering government financial support for things like transmission lines and land purchases. Askari said he hoped differences between the government and investors over the Cholistan desert project could be resolved in order to drive further investment into solar energy in Pakistan. (Reporting by Aamir Saeed; editing by Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate) Minneapolis (AFP) - The Somali community in the US state of Minnesota braced for a backlash after a man who stabbed 10 people in a mall over the weekend was identified as one of their own. The FBI is investigating the Saturday attack in the city of St. Cloud as a potential act of terrorism. Authorities late Monday officially identified the attacker as Dahir Ahmed Adan. Police said he was 20 years old, but local newspaper reports and community leaders said he was 22. Adan allegedly attacked shoppers at a mall, where police said he asked at least one victim whether they were Muslim before stabbing them, and made "some reference to Allah." He was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Authorities had initially reported that nine people were attacked. As investigators viewed additional security video of the incident, they discovered a tenth victim -- a 21-year-old man who had not sought out medical attention or notified authorities of his injuries, police said. A news agency with ties to the Islamic State group said the rampage was carried out by an IS "soldier," but it was not clear what connection the attacker had with the terrorist organization. "We strongly condemn what happened," said Haji Yussuf, cofounder of the activist group #UniteCloud, during a Sunday news conference. "That is not what this community is, that is not who we are." - Reports of harassment - Eyewitnesses reported on Sunday evening that a handful of pickup trucks, some flying American and Confederate flags, buzzed by apartment complexes where many Somali-Americans live. Meanwhile, a group of flag-waving motorcyclists circled around another Somali neighborhood. Community advocates like Lul Hersi were getting texts Sunday night from frightened residents. "One person does something, and the whole community pays for that one person's actions," she said. The perpetrators were employing "racial slurs, various hand gestures," said community activist Justin Michael, who was working with the St. Cloud Police Department to help prevent further incidents. Story continues "It's really important that we are, as a community, able to share the true, lived experience of the Somali community members that we love so much," he said. St. Cloud's Somali population has its roots in the 1990s and has grown rapidly in the last 10 years. The state of Minnesota is home to a third of the more than 85,000 Somalian refugees resettled in the country, according to the US Census. Twenty percent of students in St. Cloud's school district are from a home where the primary language is Somali, according to the St. Cloud Times. Ismail Ali, a student at St. Cloud State University where Adan attended college, said the city was at a crossroads. "We can either choose to let hate win and be divided as a community, or we can choose to come together and love one another and move on," he said. - 'Coming together' - Governor Mark Dayton, alluding on Monday to the need for unity, expressed "deep concern for what occurred" and pledged to aid in the "community's recovery from that and coming together more unified and stronger than ever before." Yussuf hoped authorities are able to quickly piece together what happened, so they can better address whatever broader problems may have been behind the rampage. "We need to know, so that we make sure as a community, we stand together as a community, and make sure it does not happen to us ever again. Never again in our town should we see something like this. So, let's find solutions," he said The growth in the Somali refugee population in St. Cloud has escalated tensions, particularly in the school system. In 2012, the US Department of Education reached an agreement with the St. Cloud school district after an investigation into alleged harassment of Somali Muslim students. Last year, students staged two walkouts in support of a Somali student was falsely labeled on the social media app Snapchat as a member of Islamic State. The group Yussuf founded, #UniteCloud, was created to try to address tensions and create better relations between Somalis and the community at large. He feared the attack will set back his efforts. "Thirty years of relationship building could be undone by this one incident," he said. Amid the chaos following Saturday night's explosion in New York, a small act of kindness is touching hearts across the city. A Starbucks employee working near the site of the explosion delivered coffee and pastries to NYPD officers, and the sweet act was caught on camera. Read: Mayor Calls Blast an 'Intentional Act' After Dozens Left Injured The video, which was uploaded to Facebook by KnightNews, shows the moment the worker, Jermaine, stopped by one of the closed-off streets to hand over the bags of treats, coffee and cups to the grateful officers. "We wanted to give y'all some coffee," he tells a police officer, an EMT and a fire department worker. "Thank you so much, man," one officer tells him. Jermaine tells them he works at 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue, just a block from the explosion. "Y'all enjoy," he adds. "I wish I could give a little more." Read: Man Claims Responsibility for Chelsea Bombing in Online Manifesto On Monday, authorities said they were looking for a foreign-born U.S. citizen in connection with the bomb, which injured 29 people when it exploded Saturday night. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is believed to have been seen near the area. They are also seeking him in connection with a second pressure cooker-style explosive device that was found on 27th Street and subsequently removed. Several similar devices were detonated or discovered in New Jersey over the weekend. Watch: New Yorkers Run From 'Intentional' Explosion in Dumpster That Injured 29 Related Articles: A new survey reveals that 70 percent of Japanese men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 are still virgins. Find out why. By India Today Web Desk: For a long time Japan has been coping with its unusual demography having the world's oldest population, dwindling birthrate and to add to this misery, a study reveals that nearly half Japanese adult population has never had sex. According to the survey nearly three quarters of people aged between 18-34 are still single and the country's population is projected to fall around a third to 87 million by 2060. advertisement Despite the governments efforts to incentivise childbirth, Japan's overall fertility rate is only experiencing a downward spiral. The survey According to The Japan Times, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR) surveyed 8,754 single people and 6,598 married couple. The study indicated that 70 percent of unmarried men and 60 percent of unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 34 aren't currently in relationships. During the survey 40 per cent of Japanese men and women confessed that they were still virgins. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research which conducts a survey every five years also found out that the number of children between couples who have been married for 15-19 years averaged a record-low of 1.94. Government plays cupid The government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken up various steps to raise the birth rate, such as easier access to childcare and tax incentives. The Japanese newspaper reports, that the administration's most coveted goal is to bolster the population, and they aim to increase the fertility rate from the current 1.4 to 1.8 by 2025 or so. To buttress the population decline and economic stagnation they are funding matchmaking and dating services to get more young people married. Another popular strategy employed by officials to get couples hitched is through 'konkatsu',or marriage hunting. Yo-yoing commitment decisions In the survey nearly 90 percent of the respondents said they want to get married 'sometime in the future' but were not clear as to when. Japan Times quoted Futoshi Ishii, head of the NIPSSR's population dynamics research department, as saying, 'They want to tie the knot eventually. But they tend to put it off as they have gaps between their ideals and the reality.' One of the main causes that has dissuaded people from child rearing and wedlock is the declining economy. Many younger woman put off their marriage to focus more on their careers. The only positive outcome of this trend is that ratio of women who returned to work after having their first child exceeded 50 percent for the first time, states the report. --- ENDS --- advertisement 19 Sep - Just like his newly-wedded wife, Shu Qi, who returned to Hong Kong after concluding filming in Prague last week, Stephen Fung has declined to respond to any questions about his surprise marriage to the actress. As reported on Mingpao News, Stephen recently arrived in Hong Kong, a few days after his wife's arrival with a big smile on his face as he walked out of the gate. However, unlike his cheerful expression, Stephen was tight-lipped when asked about his marriage. "Thank you. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival," the director responded, when asked if he would be celebrating the festival with Shu Qi. When questioned if he is planning to hold his wedding banquet in Hong Kong, Stephen replied, "All that we wanted to say have already been said. No more discussion." Stephen and Shu Qi announced their marriage last week, while Shu was filming Stephen's new movie, "The Adventurers" in Prague alongside Andy Lau. The couple also revealed that they have actually been dating for the last four years. (Photo Source: hk.on.cc) In an almost walker-free episode of Fear the Walking Dead, a whole lot of nothing happens. OK, that cant be the case: Its the zombie apocalypse! Something must be going on somewhere! Maybe over in the colonia Nick and Luciana must be dealing with the gang searching for their hideout. Nope. They were ordered to stay put and do nothing, so they do just that. We also find out that Ofelia is taking an extended trip down memory lane with plenty of flashbacks. And it looks like shell be heading back to the United States yawn. At the resort, Madison and Elena unite with the hotel guests to power up the generator and make ice. And were once again on the edge of our seats! Then, out of nowhere, Ilene plays ding-dong-stab-and-ditch on Strand, leaving him fighting for his life. And in a scene that plays like a pale ghost of a far superior Rick Grimes speech from The Walking Dead, Madison takes charge and lays down some ground rules. Is this signifying the rise of Madison as iron fist leader of the group? Probably not, since she almost immediately melts down on a medical supply run to the gang-run supermarket. And she then signals for everyone to come pillage their village when she lights up the resort at night. This must mean that something big is finally going to happen. No? Thats the end? Well, at least another episode is over. See you next week for more captivating surf lessons at the end of the world! Want to know about the messy and disappointing history of Star Wars on TV? Watch now: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. By Karl Plume and Tom Polansek CHICAGO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat farmers, struggling to make money as prices sink and global supplies swell, could be the main beneficiaries if Washington wins a case it brought last week against China over an estimated $100 billion in domestic grain market supports. On Tuesday, U.S. trade officials said they would file a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China over allegations that aggressive pricing supports prompted Chinese farmers to overproduce corn, wheat and rice, fueling a global crop glut and depressing world prices. This is the latest salvo in fraught trade relationships between the world's leading agricultural producers. More than half of the Obama administration's 23 complaints to the WTO have been against China and the two countries are also embroiled in bilateral trade deal discussions and a Chinese investigation into alleged dumping of animal feed grains by U.S. producers. The U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) announcement comes less than two months before a presidential election in the United States and with a debate over the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement looming. China came under scrutiny last year from consultants commissioned by U.S. farm and trade groups in 2011 to look into exporting issues. Subsidies in China were "the biggest problem, even though there were serious problems with some of the other countries," said Craig Thorn, a partner at the consulting firm, DTB Associates. With that conclusion in hand, U.S. farm groups began to push the USTR more actively to open a case into trade with China, Thorn said. DTB provided U.S. officials with its analysis. The trade groups that funded DTB's research included U.S. Wheat Associates, an industry group that promotes exports, along with the U.S. Grains Council and USA Rice. WHEAT IN FOCUS U.S. Wheat Associates then funded an additional study from Iowa State University to look at the economic impact of China's subsidies. That estimated that if the subsidies were removed, the United States would produce nearly 1 million tonnes more wheat by 2022 and export almost 1.5 million tonnes more to China. Beijing's program led to at least $650 million in lost revenue for U.S. farmers last year, the study found. Story continues "China is huge in everything and Chinese policy has enormous impacts for the U.S. The potential benefits to the U.S. of minor policy changes in China are enormous," said Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, who conducted the analysis. While the U.S. allegations cover corn and rice as well as wheat, China has already reformed its corn policy and rice exports were never a major part of U.S. agricultural income. It is wheat that is now causing most pain in America's farming heartland. U.S. wheat prices are at decade lows and some farmers could face losses next year of $55 an acre. In the coming weeks, they are likely to plant the fewest winter wheat acres in a century.. The USTR's case at the WTO could take 18 months to resolve, Thorn said. But while there will be no short-term fix, it could help turn the tide for those farmers who survive, said Dalton Henry, vice president of policy at U.S. Wheat Associates. "By starting to take action now, it ensures that in 12 or 18 months when we finally have a ruling and some resolution to these policies, it will make a difference then," he said. Traders and industry analysts, however, question how the United States, which has ceded its dominance in wheat over the past two decades to Russia and the European Union, would recapture market share. "I do not think it makes any difference. The wheat market ... is all about price," said Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co. (Writing by P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Jo Winterbottom and James Dalgleish) If you still have a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that was bought around the time the phone first launched, stop what youre doing, turn it off, and go return it. The US government formally recalled the device last week after numerous reports of it combusting while charging, so to keep using it is to put yourself and everyone around you at risk. For those that plan on buying a new Note 7, however, Samsung has set up a few resources that should help you be sure your particular device wont malfunction. In a company blog post, it says that new, post-recall Galaxy Note 7 devices will include a new green battery icon, whichll be displayed on the phones status bar, Always On Display screen, and Power Off screen. Itll look like this: Galaxy Note 7 Battery Beyond that, Samsung says safe phones will have a black square near the barcode on their respective boxes. Thatll look like this: galaxy note 7 battery safe packaging If you decide to buy a used Galaxy Note 7 which, again, is probably a bad idea you can also head to Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 Safety Recall page, and verify whether or not your device is at risk by entering its IMEI number. That can easily be found in the About Phone section of your Settings menu. None of this is likely to help the financial or perceptual damage the Note 7s issues have already caused, but they should make actually using the device at least a little more comforting. More From Business Insider Dahir A. Adan has been named a suspect in the Saturday night stabbing attack at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, not far from where he'd worked briefly as a security guard, PEOPLE confirms. Authorities said the 22-year-old Adan, who was killed by police, was wearing a private security uniform during the attack. A spokeswoman for appliance company Electrolux North America confirms to PEOPLE he was at one time a temporary guard at one of its stores via a third-party firm. "Mr. Adan was an employee of Securitas, a security provider. He was not an Electrolux employee," Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale tells PEOPLE. "For a few months, he was assigned as a temporary weekend security guard, which ended last June, at Electrolux Home Products in St. Cloud." One Electrolux security guard in St. Cloud declined to comment to PEOPLE about what kind of person Adan had been but said, "This is bad." In a news conference Monday, President Barack Obama said there was no connection between the stabbing and the explosions in New York City and New Jersey this weekend. However, Obama did say the Minnesota attack was being investigated as an act of terrorism, and a federal law enforcement official confirms to PEOPLE that ISIS has claimed credit for the stabbings. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. College Dropout Adan had recently stopped attending college, where he would have been a sophomore, St. Cloud University spokesman Adam Hammer tells PEOPLE. "He was not currently enrolled at St. Cloud. Spring 2016 was his last semester. He started in 2014," Hammer says. He continued, "[Adan] named an intended major in Information Systems but was not accepted in that major. That would be standard for any school. He did not have enough credits to declare a major. "I have no information on what type of student he was and whether he withdrew, stopped coming or left for any other reason. All I have is that he previously was enrolled but was not a current student." Adan was born in Kenya on April 10, 1996, and came to the United States as a 2-month-old infant that June, according to the federal law enforcement official. His application for U.S. citizenship was approved in 2008, the federal official tells PEOPLE. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Story continues Suspect Named in Minnesota Mall Stabbings That Injured 9 as ISIS Claims Credit| Crime & Courts, True Crime Timeline of the Attack Authorities say Adan was shot by an off-duty police officer, Jason Falconer, after Adan allegedly injured seven men and two women ranging in age from 15 to 53 shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday inside the Macy's department store at Crossroads Center mall. St. Cloud Police Chief William Anderson said in an earlier news conference that all of the victims were expected to survive. Three remained in the hospital as of Sunday morning, he said. Police executed search warrants for two apartments, including the one where Adan lived with his father, Anderson said. They also impounded the assailant's car from the mall parking lot, he said. Anderson also alleged shortly after the attack that Adan referred to Allah at least once and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before attacking them. Authorities said video footage of the incident is being pieced together. With reporting by SUSAN KEATING ABUJA (Reuters) - Suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed six people in an attack on a commercial convoy being escorted by the army in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, the military said on Monday. Boko Haram has killed more than 15,000 people and displaced 2.4 million across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating a state based on a radical interpretation of Islamic law. Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said suspected elements of the group who were foraging for food had ambushed troops escorting the commercial vehicles from Damboa to Maiduguri, a journey of around 50 miles (80 km). "Unfortunately, five civilians lost their lives at the incident and another died on the way to the hospital," said Usman. "Three soldiers also sustained injuries." Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the start of last year, but has been pushed out of most of that territory by the Nigerian army, aided by troops from neighboring countries. The militants have nevertheless continued to carry out suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad. On Saturday, Niger said its soldiers and Chadian troops had killed 38 Boko Haram fighters during operations that followed attacks on two border towns in southeastern Niger. (Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Kevin Liffey) (BEIRUT) The Russian military is warning that for Syrian government forces, observing the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire has become meaningless in view of continuous rebel violations of the truce. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff, says the rebels killed 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers since the truce took effect a week ago. He claimed on Monday that the Syrian government forces have observed the truce unilaterally, despite the continuing rebel violations. The Syrian government forces have in fact also repeatedly been accused of violating the truce. Rudskoi accused Washington of failing to fulfill its obligations under the truce deal most importantly to separate the U.S.-backed opposition units from al-Qaidas branch in Syria. He says that amid the rebel violations, it has become meaningless for the Syrian government forces to unilaterally observe the cease-fire. He didnt explain whether this means Moscow is opting out of the cease-fire and giving the Syrian government the free hand to freely use force again. Al Malikiyah (Syria) (AFP) - Syrian Kurds, who have unilaterally proclaimed a federal region in the country's northeast, on Monday started carrying out a population census aimed at paving the way for local elections. Jihad Omar, a member of the committee overseeing the census, said the data collection would "prepare for council elections in the federal" region. The census started in several towns in the northeastern province of Hassekeh, an AFP reporter said, with groups of two to four teachers visiting homes to fill out the questionnaires. Kurdish authorities declared a public holiday and a curfew in those towns on the first day of the curfew, which was to continue during the week. In March, as the Syrian conflict entered its sixth year, Kurdish-led parties declared a federal region in areas under their control along the Turkish border. The Damascus government and the Syrian opposition do not recognise the region. Kurds comprise about 15 percent of Syria's population and Kurdish forces have been backed by Washington in fighting the Islamic State jihadist group. In May, the Kurdish region named Rojava opened a representative office in Paris following others in Moscow, Berlin and Stockholm. Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests across the country, but has since evolved into a complex war for competing zones of control. Syria's Kurds largely declined to side with either regime or rebels, focusing instead on building a semi-autonomous region in Kurdish-majority areas. The self-proclaimed "federal system" is intended to centralise governance in the three Kurdish cantons of Afrin, Kobane, and Jazire in north and northeast Syria. Damascus (AFP) - The Syria truce deal brokered by the United States and Russia is set to expire Monday evening at 7:00pm (1600 GMT), a senior military source in Damascus told AFP. "The Syrian army had announced a freeze on fighting until Sunday night, but as Russia announced an extension, it will end on Monday at 7:00pm (1600 GMT)," the source told AFP. "We do not know if the truce will be extended again," he added. The ceasefire deal came into force on the evening of September 12, with Syria's army announcing a freeze on fighting across the country. The main battlefronts subsequently saw a marked reduction in violence, but clashes broke out late last week in the central provinces of Hama and Homs, as well as east of Damascus. The deal was further strained by US-led coalition strikes on Syrian army positions in the east that killed dozens of government soldiers. And on Sunday, the first air strikes since the ceasefire began hit rebel-held districts of the battleground city of Aleppo, killing one woman. Residents of eastern Aleppo have been waiting desperately for promised aid deliveries into their neighbourhoods. Moscow has accused rebel groups of violating the truce and said Washington would be responsible if the cessation of hostilities broke down. By PTI: Kolkata, Sep 19 (PTI) Hero Electric launched an entire range of its high-energy density lithium battery electric scooters here today. The two-wheeler manufacturer aims to put over three million electric two-wheelers on Indian roads by 2020. It will give customers a choice of lead or lithium batteries while purchasing, its CEO Global business Sohinder Gill said. "Lithium battery technology will not only give around five years of petrol-free ride, but will also allow home charging besides, 30 minutes of top up charging," Gill said while launching Optima, Maxi and NYX models. advertisement With an average mileage of 65 km on full charge, which would last for four to five hours, Gill said the Optima Lithium Delux scooter could travel at a top speed of 25 km/h. The company has also tied-up with Paytm and would be offering an extra discount of Rs 10,000 in addition to government subsidies to select customers on the Optima Lithium Delux Scooter, the CEO informed. "This is over and above the Rs 17,000 subsidy given by the government on high performance e-scooters," Gill said adding Optima booking would start from September 25 on Paytm. The Nyx Lithium, would be available in West Bengal for Rs 45,790 from next month, he said. Hero Electric had launched its Optima and Photon scooters back in 2014 to provide a zero emission solution to urban mobility. The company, the CEO said, has also launched its charging stations to improve the electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the country. "We are in talks with various agencies as well the state governments to get them installed at various locations," Gill added. PTI SCH DKB ABI --- ENDS --- BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army said government forces repelled an insurgent attack in the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo early on Tuesday, state media reported. It said the attack took place near the Ramousah area, which houses a military complex government forces and their allies recaptured earlier this month. The fighting came after a week-long ceasefire ended on Monday. PARIS (Reuters) - The refugee crisis unleashed by the Syrian conflict has pushed the number of asylum seekers globally to a post-war record high, lifting overall migration flows, the OECD said on Monday. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 35 member states saw the number asylum seekers double in 2015 to 1.65 million, the body said in its annual International Migration Outlook. "We're at a historic moment. When we look at 2016, we see an increase in the number of asylum seekers, even if the flow is lower," said Jean-Christophe Dumont, the head of the OECD's International Migration Division. Nearly one in every four asylum seekers came from Syria last year followed by Afghanistan at 16 percent. Three quarters of the total sought asylum in the European Union, with Germany getting the lion's share, the OECD said, citing figures from the United Nation's refugee agency. The migrant crisis has caused immigration to become a major political issue in many European countries and especially in Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party has suffered electoral losses as voters rejected her open door policy for refugees. The surge in refugee numbers has lifted overall international migration flows to OECD countries, reaching 4.8 million in 2015, the Paris-based organization estimated. That marked a four percent increase from 2014, and brought the number of migrants to levels not seen since 2007, before the global financial crisis broke out. The OECD published its Migration Outlook to coincide with a United Nation's summit on refugee and migrant flows on Monday in New York. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by Richard Lough) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's military on Monday declared the seven-day initial period for a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia over, without indicating whether the truce would be reinstated. It said in a statement that "terrorist groups", a term the Syrian government uses to refer to all insurgents fighting against it, had failed to commit to any of the provisions of the deal, and had used the ceasefire to rearm whilst violating it 300 times. It vowed to "continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability". Each side has accused the other of violating the truce, which appears to be in tatters a week after taking effect. The United States said earlier on Monday the ceasefire was "holding but fragile". (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Kevin Liffey) NEW YORK (Reuters) - The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said on Monday that because Russia did not respect the terms of a ceasefire in Syria, brokered by Washington and Moscow, the Syrian government also violated it. "The regime does not respect the terms and conditions of the truce. Unfortunately also Russia does not respect it as well and that must have basically given the regime the go-ahead to go with these violations," SNC president Anas al-Abdah told Reuters in New York. (Reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Dan Grebler) Shiver me timbers and walk the plankits International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Celebrated annually on Sept. 19, the parodic yo-ho-ho-holiday gives every swashbucker and hornswaggler the opportunity to grab an eyepatch, stuff a parrot on their shoulder and yell Arrr! at the most unsuspecting, lily-livered of pals. Cooked up by Oregon friends John Baur (Ol Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Capn Slappy) in 1995, it has since become a cult phenomenon, with restaurants, radio stations and social media platforms clamoring to be part of the fun. But its clear our much-loved pirate-ese language bears little relation to the actual speech of 17th and 18th-century buccaneers. In fact, evidence suggests that our modern impression of pirate speech is all down to Disney. Heres why: Scottish author Robert Louis Stevensons adventure novel Treasure Island was published in 1883. In 1950, the popular tale was adapted for Hollywood in what was Walt Disneys first movie made with live actors only. The movie starred Robert Newton as the fictional pirate Long John Silver. His performance was certainly a memorable one; TIMEs 1950 review of Disneys Treasure Island notes that it offers the fun of watching an eye-rolling, lip-twitching Robert Newton as he wallows outrageously through the role of Long John Silver, one of fictions most ingratiating scoundrels. Born in Dorset and educated in Cornwall, Newton based his pirate talk on his own native British West Country dialect. His accent might not have been far offthe south west of England has long been associated with pirates because of its strong maritime heritage; notorious pirate Blackbeard was even said to have come from Bristol, in the heart of that area. Newtons iconic role as Long John Silver was so influential that a variation his West Country English became the standard for portrayals of pirates on stage and in the cinema. As historian Colin Woodard told the National Geographic in 2011, Newtons performancefull of arrs, shiver me timbers, and references to landlubbersnot only stole the show, it permanently shaped pop cultures vision of how pirates looked, acted, and spoke. So, today, when your yo-ho-ho-ing is done, sit back with a bottle of rum and spare a thought for Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Newtonwhom we have to thank for giving us the excuse to yell out Ahoy, me Hearties! to an unsuspecting passerby. 'Talking Cars With Consumer Reports' Opens Up About the Buick Cascada "Talking Cars" viewers don't miss much. Recent evidence? They spotted the Buick Cascada on the set of our special 100th episode even though it wasnt mentioned on the podcast. We remedy that grave oversight in this episode, finally discussing Buick's new convertible. Imported from Europe, where it is sold as an Opel, the Cascada fills a hole in the marketplace left by the departure of relaxed cruisers like the Chrysler Sebring/200, Toyota Solara, and Volkswagen Eos convertibles. Open-air details are very well-addressed with this new model, although there is nothing compelling about how the Buick drives. Next, we answer a question about whether SUVs, like the station wagons and minivans that came (and went) before them, will ever go out of style. Our verdict: Not likely. After all, SUVs make too much sense because of their chair-height entry and generous accommodations. What's more, building them on car-based platforms has bred out most of their bad habits. As proof that buyer interest in SUVs is unrelenting, we answer several viewer questions about which SUV to purchase. One compares the Toyota Land Cruiser, an expensive institution still surviving in the brand's lineup, with the far more modern Audi Q7 and Volvo XC90. Another question brings the shopping back to more attainable altitudes, comparing the Subaru Forester and Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. We also try to help a viewer who has a long commute and a long list of desires for an affordable all-wheel-drive car. And last, we explain why we don't care much for the Toyota Yaris despite its reliability and low price. Perhaps the best answer exists in Toyota's own lineup: The Mazda-designed Scion/Toyota Yaris iA proves to be far more satisfying than Toyota's own home-grown hatchback. As with other "Talking Cars," this episode on popular cars is also available free through the iTunes Store. Subscribe to the video or audio. You'll also find the video on YouTube. Story continues Share your comments on this show below, and let us know whether you need any advice about choosing a car. Special Show: 'Talking Cars With Consumer Reports' Video Podcast Turns 100 Self-Driving Cars, episode 99 Buick Envision, Jaguar F-Pace, episode 98 Cadillac CT6 & XT5, Chevrolet Volt, viewer questions, episode 97 Mazda CX-9, Tesla, viewer questions, episode 96 GMC Acadia, Tesla Model X, episode 95 More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S. Hollywoods many degrees of separation. Taylor Swifts exes Tom Hiddleston and John Mayer nearly crossed paths at the 2016 Emmys on Sunday, September 18. Copresenting with Quanticos Priyanka Chopra, a tux-clad Hiddleston, 35, was presenting the Emmy for Best Directing in a Limited Series, which incidentally went to his director for The Night Manager, Susanne Bier. Emmys 2016: Complete List of Nominees and Winners! Bier beat out other heavyweight nominees, including Jay Roach (All the Way), Noah Hawley (Fargo), Ryan Murphy (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story), Anthony Hemingway (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) and John Singleton (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story), to take home the prize. Just moments after Bier and Hiddleston exited the stage, the cameras panned to the orchestra pit, where, completely unexpectedly (and randomly!), Mayer, another one of Swifts exes, was jamming out on a guitar. Check Out Hollywood's Friendliest Exes Swift, 26, and Mayer, 38, briefly dated back in 2009, and even collaborated on 2010 hit Half of My Heart. Their split was a messy one, and was rumored to be the impetus behind Swifts song Dear John off her Speak Now album. Mayer then went on to date Swifts frenemy Katy Perry on and off for two years before the pair called their relationship off for good in spring 2014. PHOTOS: Taylor Swift's Best Surprised Faces Hiddleston, meanwhile, parted ways with Swift earlier this month after a whirlwind summer romance that included trips to Nashville, London, Rome and Australia. Related Content: Electronics distributor Tech Data Corp. (TECD) announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire the Technology Solutions business of Avnet Inc. (AVT) for $2.4 billion in cash and 2.785 million shares of Tech Data's common stock. The total value of the deal is about $2.6 billion, and Tech Data expects a tax benefit of $200 million in present value tax benefits. On a pro forma basis for the 12-month period ending July 31, the combination would have raised Tech Data's revenues from $26 to about $35 billion. The Technology Solutions business would have increased margins from 29% to 45%. Pro forma non-GAAP operating income for the period would have more than doubled, including the effects of expected cost savings. ALSO READ: America's Best (and Worst) Car Brands Tech Data CEO Bob Dutkowsky said: This combination complements our value-added distribution capabilities in Europe and the Americas, while establishing Tech Datas presence in Asia-Pacific, which will be a new market for us. As a result of the enhanced value proposition created through this transaction, Tech Data will be even better positioned to capture opportunities in next-generation technologies, deliver differentiated value to our customers and vendor partners, support career development for our employees, and generate strong returns for our shareholders. Avnet CEO William Amelio said: Moving forward, Avnet will focus its resources and investments on becoming a leader in design chain and supply chain services not only for our current customers and suppliers, but also for new markets. We will drive targeted investments in embedded solutions, Internet of Things (IOT) and critical digital platforms. By investing in these high growth areas, we can expand the breadth of our portfolio and attract new customers worldwide who depend on us to deliver world-class solutions. ALSO READ: 9 Cities Where Home Flippers Make $100,000 a House The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Tech Data said it intends to finance the cash portion of the acquisition with a combination of cash on hand, its existing revolving credit facility and proceeds from a new term loan and senior notes. Debt financing has been fully committed by Merrill Lynch. Story continues The 2.785 million shares of Tech Data stock that are part of the deal amount to about a 7% stake in the company. Avnet expects to realize a gain of $3.75 to $4.75 per share when the transaction is completed. ALSO READ: America's Richest (and Poorest) States Tech Data shares were unchanged in Monday's premarket session, after closing at $69.34 on Friday. The stock's 52-week range is $57.99 to $83.51 and the consensus 12-month price target is $74.35. Avnet traded up about 12% Monday morning, at $44.00 in a 52-week range of $37.10 to $46.95. The stock's 12-month target is $43.78. Related Articles By PTI: Guwahati, Sep 19 (PTI) A state-of-the-art supercomputer, Param-Ishan, was today unveiled in IIT Guwahati by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, as the government looks to give a push to research and innovation in Indian institutions. "It is a one of the glad moments to have the fastest and most powerful computer in northeastern, eastern and southern regions," Javadekar said after the launch. advertisement Calling IITs "modern temples for development", Javadekar said a nations potential for growth is evaluated on the quality of its research and development. Several technology areas will be positively affected through the introduction of the new supercomputer, he said. Officials said several institutions in the country will get supercomputers in the near future to boost innovation and research. "While some institutions already have supercomputers, the number of such institutes will rise and go up to 60 as the government is focussing on providing advanced infrastructure," a senior official said. In his speech, Javadekar said the government has invited new development and research initiatives and 2,000 proposals have been received so far, according to a statement released today. Out of these projects, four hundred were shortlisted and funds released for the various projects across the county, he said. IIT Guwahati Director Prof Gautam Biswas said Param-Ishan has power of 250 Teraflops and capacity of 300 terabytes. He said the supercomputer would not only augment research initiatives in the institute, but also help create an ecosystem for attracting the right talent to the field of research. The supercomputer can be used in application areas like Computational Chemistry, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Electromagnetic, Civil Engineering Structures, Nana-block Self Assemble, Optimisation etc. It can also be used for weather and climate modeling as well as seismic data processing. PTI ADS BSA RG BSA --- ENDS --- The spate of terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota over the weekend, and the subsequent capture of bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami were immediately subsumed into the presidential campaign on Monday, as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each claimed to be best suited to defend the nation from terrorism while assuring the public that their opponent is exactly the person terrorists want to see in the Oval Office. Neither campaign covered itself in glory on Monday. Trump was coming off another bad weekend in which his surrogates were tripped up on national television trying to defend his false claim that Clinton started rumors about then-Senator Barack Obamas citizenship in 2008. Related: Terror Attacks Give Trump a Chance to Shift Campaigns Focus The Trump campaign kept blasting out regular press releases as the news developed on Monday, promising, among other things, that he would simply end violence against Americans. However, when asked what he would do specifically in an interview with Fox and Friends Monday morning, he fell back on tough-guy posturing with little else to back it up. Were going to have to do something extremely tough over there, he said. Like what? Like, knock the hell out of them. And we have to get everybody together and we have to lead for a change because were not knocking them. Were hitting them every once in a while; were hitting them in certain places; were being very gentle about it. We have to be very tough. Related: Deplorable: Trump Uses Vets as Backdrop for Hotel Pitch, Birther Lies At times on Monday, it seemed that the defining element of Trumps anti-ISIS strategy is to repeat the word tough as often as possible. In a written release Monday afternoon, he said, These are tough problems that require tough leadership. We need to get smart and get tough fast so that this weekends attacks do not become the new normal here as it has in Europe and other parts of the world. Story continues For her part, Clinton also jumped right into the fray. On Monday she said, I'm the only candidate in this race who's been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield. I have sat at that table in the Situation Room. She said, "I know how to do this." However, late Sunday she accused Trump of giving aid and comfort to ISIS recruiters. The remark grew out of intelligence reports that suggest that anti-Muslim rhetoric of the sort Trump has spouted during the campaign is used to inspire terrorist recruits. But the language she chose corresponds almost exactly to the legal definition of treason. Related: Trumps Dramatic Birther Flip Is a Big Flop The Trump campaign responded with predictable outrage. Hillary Clintons comments today accusing Mr. Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, its also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on ISIS, said Trump senior communications adviser Jason Miller. If Clinton really wants to find the real cause of ISIS, she needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror. The decision to remove all American troops from Iraq in 2011, which was vigorously supported by Clinton, created the vacuum that led to the founding of ISIS. Nothing she says or does can ever un-ring that bell. The only thing we can expect from a Hillary Clinton presidency is more attacks on our homeland and more innocent Americans being hurt and killed. Clinton campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon retorted, For most of his campaign, Donald Trump has made dangerous and irresponsible statements that experts say play directly into the hands of ISIS and its perverse ideology. We know from independent analysis by counterterrorism experts with years of experience that ISIS supporters want him to win and that his rhetoric has been used for recruitment. We cant have someone in the Oval Office who can so easily play into the hands of terrorists. The Trump campaign can call it whatever they want; Hillary Clinton will continue to call it out as Donald Trump continues his reckless campaign. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: If Donald Trumps Twitter feed is a bellwether of his campaign in general, and its as good an indicator as any, were about to see a shift in focus from the Republican presidential nominee toward national security and terrorism. The US experienced what appear to have been three different terrorist attacks over the weekend -- a bombing in New York Citys Chelsea district that left dozens injured, a bombing in New Jersey that disrupted a road race but caused no injuries, and a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota shopping mall that left eight people injured. Related: Media to Trump on Birther Issue: Its Not Over Officials have suggested that the two bombings might be related, and the Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the Minnesota attack. Overnight Sunday, the FBI and local police investigated a backpack found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey that had multiple improvised explosive devices inside. At least one appears to have detonated while a police robot was inspecting them. Commuters in the Northeast on Monday woke up to news of major transit delays as a result. As news about the attacks began to spread, there was a notable change in the tone and content of Trumps Twitter posts -- his preferred means of communication with the public when he is not calling into cable news programs. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was crazy and a neurotic dope. CNN guests who spoke ill of Trump were mostly losers in life. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was dopey. But you could almost hear the record scratch Sunday morning when Trump changed direction. Other than retweeting his campaign managers posts about polling and wishing the Air Force a happy birthday, Trumps tweets were suddenly full of seemingly heartfelt concern for the victims of the terrorist attacks and criticism of the Obama administration and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons policies. Related: Deplorable: Trump Uses Vets as Backdrop for Hotel Pitch, Birther Lies Saturdays attacks show that failed Obama/Hillary Clinton polices [sic] wont keep us safe! I will Make America Safe Again! Trump wrote Sunday morning. Story continues By Sunday afternoon, the Trump campaign released a blistering attack on Clintons vice presidential running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. In an interview, Kaine contended that the US had made dramatic improvements in its strategy for fighting the ISIS. The only thing that is dramatically improved is ISISs global reach, the frequency of deadly attacks, and the threat they pose due to the failed national security policies of President Obama and Hillary Clinton, read a statement attributed to Trump senior communications adviser Jason Miller. Given that recently uncovered U.S. intelligence documents say ISIS is expanding the number of areas where they are fully operational, Hillary Clinton should say whether she agrees with her running mates troubling assessment of the threat they pose. Its safe to assume that this is just the start for Team Trump. The issue of terrorism has been a strong one for the GOP nominee in recent months. While polling earlier in the summer tended to show that voters trusted Clinton more than Trump to deal with the threat of terrorism, the most recent polls have indicated that Trump is closing that gap and that he is, in some cases, preferred to the Democratic nominee. Related: Trumps Dramatic Birther Flip Is a Big Flop The attacks come as Trump and his surrogates were facing powerful pushback from both Democrats and the national media over the candidates false claim that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the spread of a persistent untrue rumor that President Obama was not born in the US. Team Trump plainly wanted to see the back of that issue, with GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence declaring Its over in an interview with ABC. Reporters werent prepared to oblige them over the weekend, but its an old saying among political hands that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. Dont expect Trump and his campaign to let the opportunity to change the conversation slip away. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Indias Home Minister Rajnath Singh called neighboring Pakistan a terrorist state Sunday, in response to an attack by suspected militants in the conflict-wrought border state of Kashmir that killed 17 Indian soldiers. A senior official from the Indian Army said the attack on Sunday in the border town of Uri, on the Indian side of Kashmir, fit the modus operandi of the Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Indian Express newspaper reported. He added that weapons recovered from the four gunmen killed in the attack including grenade launchers and AK-47 rifles bore Pakistan markings. Singh, who was scheduled to visit Russia and the United States this week, said on Twitter that he had canceled the trips following the attack. I am deeply disappointed with Pakistans continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups, he added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a similarly strong but more indirect response, condemning the incident as despicable and cowardly and saying those behind it would not go unpunished. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack and Pakistan has denied any involvement. India immediately puts blame on Pakistan without doing any investigation, Nafees Zakaria, a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, told Reuters. We reject this. In an earlier statement, the Pakistani army asked India for actionable intelligence on accusations it was behind the attacks. Read more: Another Season of Unrest Brings Darkness for Ordinary Kashmiris Sundays attack, and the reaction from the Indian government, illustrates a particularly fraught period in the two countries already adversarial relationship particularly over Kashmir. India and Pakistan have fought three of their four wars over the territory, which both of them claim in its entirety although each side only controls a portion of. Border skirmishes between military forces stationed on either side are recurring incidents. Story continues But this time could be different, depending on how the governments choose to react. After Pathankot, the Indian government responded with a degree of measure and reason, Ashok Malik of the New Delhibased Observer Research Foundation tells TIME, referring to a terrorist attack at an air-force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab in January. Malik adds that initial cooperation between the two countries to investigate that attack has broken down; India sees Pakistan as having dropped the ball. All of that certainly restricts the political space the Indian government has this time to also respond in a mature, reasoned and measured manner, he says. Something more than just hard statements and tough talking is probably expected. In addition, the internal unrest that has been a hallmark of Kashmir since the two countries became independent from Britain in 1947 has escalated recently, with the killing of a prominent separatist leader in July sparking widespread violent protests. The Indian government has placed the state under curfew and somewhat controversially used pellet guns to wound and dispel protesters. The convening of the U.N. General Assembly this week adds another dimension to the attacks aftermath. Pakistan has called on the global governing body to investigate human-rights violations by Indian forces, which operate under virtual impunity in Kashmir thanks to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). It has also accused India of sponsoring its own militants in the restive Pakistani province of Balochistan, an issue Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to bring up at the U.N. this week. Read More: Curfews Imposed in Kashmir U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, condemned the Uri attack in a statement on Sunday and called on all parties involved to preserve peace and stability. But experts say Pakistans efforts to internationalize the Kashmir issue could backfire because of the Uri incident. It feeds into the Indian narrative of dissatisfaction in the Indian part of Kashmir being supported by Pakistani groups, says Samina Yasmeen, an expert on South Asia and Islam at the University of Western Australia. The attack, Yasmeen says, gives the Indian government the possibility of reacting by suggesting that in fact whatever is happening in Kashmir is militancy sponsored by Pakistan. Beyond the diplomatic front, concerns abound that a military retaliation could follow the escalating rhetoric between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. It could be diplomatic, it could be military as well something that would make it apparent that those who have threatened India have been punished in some manner, Malik adds. Thats the public mood, I cant see how the [Indian] government can completely sidestep that. But Yasmeen cautions against an unbridled amplification of the bilateral conflict in the aftermath of this weeks attack, particularly as the two countries are looking to play an enhanced role on the international stage. There are two levels at which India is operating: one is as an emerging global power and one is a very regional-focused approach, she says, adding that the countrys inability to reconcile the two have led to its recent belligerent rhetoric that she says dont behoove a global power. The danger would be that under present circumstances, engaging in [military] activity would be an easy route to hot conflict, not just a cold conflict, she says. I think that would be a very unwise move. Divers pulled at least two bodies from the bowels of a submerged river boat Monday after the overcrowded vessel carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river, leaving 18 people dead. The accident happened on Sunday afternoon near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong currents. Scores of people lined the bank Monday as divers plunged into the swollen, brown waters for the grim task of searching the partially-submerged pleasure boat for the missing. Distraught relatives wept as the body of an eight-year-old boy was pulled from the wreckage and laid in a white plastic sheet, an AFP team on site reported. The boy was later followed by the corpse of a woman who had been found downstream and was brought to shore on the back of a jet ski. Rescuers used a white board to keep track of those still missing including six children. Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong later said the confirmed death toll stood at 18 with 12 missing and 14 hospitalised. The dead were not thought to include any foreigners. The boat's captain is in custody and faces a negligence charge after allowing the double-decked vessel to become overcrowded, police told AFP. "The boat has permission to carry about 50 people but it was carrying more than 100 people," said Ayutthaya police chief Sudhi Puengpikul. Disaster struck as the boat returned from a memorial for a Muslim scholar at an Ayutthaya mosque. Television footage showed the boat stopping abruptly as it appeared to hit the concrete bank, and sinking in seconds. Thai broadcasters showed desperate scenes of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people. - Safety lapses - Many of the dead were trapped on the lower deck of the boat, which ran into trouble agonisingly close to safety. Officials said its proximity to the bank may have prevented the toll from being even higher. Story continues Despite its wealth compared to regional neighbours and huge tourism sector, accidents are common on Thailand's public transport network. Safety regulations are often weakly enforced, including on boats, with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common -- particularly in busy tourist areas. According to the World Health Organization, Thailand has the world's second highest road fatality rate after Libya. The Thai junta has got tough on breaches of many laws, but has so far failed to fix the chronic safety lapses in the country's transport system. The Chao Phraya, the main river that flows through Bangkok, is a key commuting artery, filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital whose riverside is studded with the remains of Buddhist temples. Thailand's reputation as the "Land of Smiles" has suffered in recent years amid accidents, crimes against foreigners and political unrest. But visitors keep coming. A record high of nearly 30 million travelled to the kingdom in 2015, a number boosted by a surge in mainland Chinese tourists, with some 33 million expected this year. The junta government this week said they expected tourism to account for as much as 17 percent of GDP this year. Everything Malayalis do on Onam Is for one reason and one reason only. Ive been trying to recall my earliest memories of Onam. Mainly because I finished binging on Stranger Things and Im tired of watching the oh-so-relatable lives of celebrities and YouTubers on Snapchat and also because Im slowly starting to get the Onam vibes, you know? A bit of craving for vegetarian meals and ghee. just lots and lots of ghee. And then some more ghee. And payasam! Oh, and also, ghee. More From 101 India: Arts & Culture A vegetarian feast, served on a banana leaf, consists of 26 dishes. Image source: wikipedia.com Im a 90s kid, so the internet tells me Im supposed to have the best memories about everything. Because everything was better in the 90s, right? Well, it was, kind of But I feel like I appreciate Onam a lot more now, as an adult and thats a big deal. Because as I grow up, Ive noticed, I start resenting a lot of things I loved back in the 90s. Movies, for example. Ever sit down to rewatch your favorite childhood movie, all set to take a nostalgic field trip to the good ol days, ready to feel all the feels all over again, but only to realize what a sexist, racist and homophobic piece of shit it actually is? At the end of it, you dont know whether to feel nostalgic or guilty for ever thinking it was a good movie. The same goes for festivals, especially religious ones. When you are a kid, you are told its one thing and when you grow up, you see it for what it really is and if you are anything like me, you feel like an idiot for ever being a part of it or enjoying it and you try to look past all the ridiculousness and continue enjoying the togetherness of it all. The floral carpet made in front of houses in Kerala, with a variety of flowers Image source: coxandkings.com More From 101 India: The Delightful, Gruesome, Tarantino-esque Art Of Kathakali But not Onam. Its like Harry Potter. The more you learn about the wizarding world, the more you appreciate the existence of J K Rowling. The more you know about Onam, the more you appreciate being a Malayali. Story continues When I was a kid, my grandma used to say we (all the cousins) should eat so much on Onam day that we look 5 months pregnant. The reason for that, to me, is just adorable. Not just that. Almost everything a Malayali does on the day of Onam is for one reason and one reason only to make our beloved long lost king happy. So although it has a Hindu history, like every other Indian festival, Onam isnt really about religion or even God(s). Onasadhya is the most delicious part of the grand festival called Onam. Image Source: flickr.com So long story short, there was this king who ruled ancient Kerala. His name was Mahabali (aka Maveli). He was so good. Like Justin Trudeau-good! We even have a song in Malayalam that praises the king. And not one of those usual hail-the-king folk songs written by random ass-kissers, saying the king killed a bear and ate a lion or whatever. This song is all about how good the Mallu land was during the Mahabali reign. Apparently, there was true equality, no discrimination, no crimes, no child deaths. But there was one slight problem. King Mahabali was a demon (an asura)! So obviously, he was breaking all stereotypes and guess what happened to him? Yup, he was overthrown. Pulikali - The dance of the tigers, performers painted like tigers dance on the streets Onam The Gods up in heaven got really jealous of his popularity and decided to play a pretty elaborate prank to throw him out of power. Lord Vishnu took the avatar of a Brahmin boy called Vamana, came to Kerala and asked King Mahabali for some land equivalent to three paces of his boy feet. Although he knew the boy is actually lord Vishnu and its a prank, he still agreed. Then it was the big reveal, the innocent boy pulled a hulk and measured all of earth with one step, all of the heavens with another and when it was time to take the 3rd and final step, Mahabali got on his knees and asked Vamana to place his foot on Mahabalis head, for that was all he had left in the world. Impressed by his behavior, Vamana granted one wish to Mahabali, to which he said all he wants is to come visit his people every year. And then Vamana pushed him down to Pathala, the netherworld. So as an atheist, do I believe in all of that? Probably not. But the idea that people from this one part of the country, regardless of religion, caste or creed, dress up in new clothes, cook, eat, play games, eat again and have a lot of fun together. Every single year. Just to show our beloved long-lost king that we are happy, we have enough, we all love each other and its all good, is just Its beautiful! Vallam Kalli, the Snake Boat Race happens during the harvest festival of Onam Pulikali/Kaduvakali (The dance of the tigers), Vallamkali (The snake boat race), Pookkalam (The floral carpet), everything about Onam is so beautiful and rich in culture. But of course, not everyone sees it that way. After centuries of celebrating Onam as the homecoming of Mahabali, all of a sudden, the festival isnt Hindu enough for a few people in Kerala. They want it to be seen as the birthday of Vamana, the Brahmin boy who put a savage in his place (sounds familiar?) and not as the homecoming of that savage. I wonder what triggered that revelation now, out of nowhere! More From 101 India: The Ambassadors New Bike | Amir Muharemi | 101 Chromed The times we live in! Not just the names of some roads or places, even the stories behind festivals need to be changed to protect our culture! Maybe, everything was better in the 90s after all, where people could actually see the irony in that. I still make sure I look 5 months pregnant before going to bed after the Onam celebrations, though, just so Maveli could see that Im well fed. Or because I just love to eat. Either way, I know Im going to have a Happy Onam. Heres hoping you do too. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are independent views solely of the author(s) expressed in their private capacity and do not in any way represent or reflect the views of 101india.com By Arjun Raj Cover photo credit: waahtv.com For more visit www.101india.com [Photo: Instagram/Teva] Love them or hate them, UGGs continue to be a footwear staple in the UK and beyond. But now, many believe that the companys new collaboration with utilitarian sandal brand, Teva, has finally crossed a line. Described on the Teva website as a striking mashup of two icons and something that is familiar, yet remarkably different, the new sandal boot (if thats hows best to describe it) is baffling the internet. A striking mashup of two icons. Meet the all-new #TevaxUGG hybrid, blending plush @ugg sheepskin w/ Original-inspired straps and our tried-and-true Hurricane XLT outsole. A video posted by Teva (@teva) on Sep 16, 2016 at 8:48am PDT The shoe combines two elements - the UGG moon boot design and that of a Teva neoprene sandal - and the result is as surreal as wed expect. A pair dont come cheap, either, at $300 AUD (around 170). Born from the water, ready for the street, Tevas Instagram account writes alongside an image of the angle-high edition of the sandal. Our new #TevaxUGG sandal takes the luxurious comfort of @UGGs signature sheepskin & wool into fresher, sportier realms. Born from the water, ready for the street. Our new #TevaxUGG sandal takes the luxurious comfort of @UGGs signature sheepskin & wool into fresher, sportier realms. A photo posted by Teva (@teva) on Sep 15, 2016 at 2:30pm PDT Many on social media are confused, or outright horrified. One user wrote: ugg and teva are doing a collab and its the worst thing ive ever seen. whyyyy. Another said: Woah, this new, actual @Teva and @UGG mashup is a mullet for feet. ugg and teva are doing a collab and its the worst thing ive ever seen. whyyyy. pic.twitter.com/pJek3qkSUv olive (@0live_ia) September 15, 2016 One Twitter user pointed out some practical issues with the shoe: I am always irked by overly chilled ankles and heated soles; take my money!! [sic] *sarcasm* Story continues UGG itself, meanwhile, has taken the criticism on the chin. What do you think about the new UGG-sandal hybrid? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK. No One Understands Why Gucci Released These 1,230 Slippers Made Out Of Hair A Dress Made Out Of Cars Is Getting Everyone Talking At London Fashion Week New York (AFP) - Thieves inadvertently helped police find a bomb in New York's fashionable neighborhood of Chelsea, it emerged Monday after the suspect wanted for planting the device and detonating another was arrested. The pressure cooker device was discovered on 27th Street late Saturday -- four blocks away from the site where a similar bomb exploded, wounding 29 people. "We have a video of two persons who picked up the bag, took the device out of it and then walked off with the bag," New York chief of detectives Robert Boyce told a news conference Monday. "They looked like there were two gentlemen just strolling up and down Seventh Avenue at the time," Boyce added. "Once they picked up the bag, they seemed incredulous they had actually picked this up off the street." Police are now urgently trying to track down and speak to the two witnesses. It was "difficult to say right now" whether the thieves inadvertently pulled a wire on the device, which may have disabled the bomb, Boyce said. But a police spokesman told AFP they did not disarm the device, which was later safely defused by law enforcement and sent to the FBI for analysis. In the neighboring state of New Jersey, two homeless men also found the backpack that contained five pipe bombs overnight in Elizabeth, the hometown of Afghan-born suspected bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami. The men picked the bag up hoping it might contain something valuable and walked down the street before realizing there was something wrong, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. The homeless men found the package going through a garbage can, Bollwage was quoted as saying. But when they noticed wires and a pipe, they dropped the bag and went straight to the police. Officers later disarmed the nest of bombs, accidentally detonating one of the devices in the process, but causing no injuries, the FBI said. Police captured Rahami in New Jersey on Monday after shooting him in the leg during a shootout. He is wanted in connection with the New York bombing and a separate pipe bomb attack on the Jersey shore last Saturday. Here are a few things we must know about the consequences of a nuclear exchange before we ask for a war. By Shreya Biswas: Ever since Sunday's deadly attack by four Pakistan-backed terrorists at an Indian Army base in Uri, emotions have been running high. Social media has been flooded with posts -- from common people to celebrities -- voicing support for a war against nuclear-armed Pakistan. In fact, bizarre polls have surfaced on Twitter asking people if they're ready to lay down their lives in a nuclear war with Pakistan. Are we Indians prepared for a nuclear war for finishing Pakistan as a country. Many of us may die in the process Sanjay Dixit (@Sanjay_Dixit) September 18, 2016 advertisement Both India and Pakistan have a nuclear weapon stockpile, and the anger seems to be bubbling on both sides. A conventional war could quickly escalate into a nuclear exchange, especially because India has conventional superiority over its neighbour, a fact that may well push Pakistan's hand towards the nuclear button. Also read: Uri attack: India to declare Pakistan state sponsor of terror, may launch punitive strikes However, a nuclear war means total annihilation. Here are a few things we must know about the consequences of a nuclear war before we push the government towards such a disastrous move: IMMEDIATE EFFECT A nuclear bomb explosion starts with an intensely bright flash, followed by a fireball, which burns everything it touches. The heat from the explosion is so powerful that it can be felt for miles away, in a "heat blast". The fireball is so hot that it rises into the air and sucks up the ground under the blast (dirt, rock, debris) and shatters them into tiny particles. The rising fireball superheats the air and creates a massive "shock wave" that can topple concrete buildings, pick up and throw buses. The fireball continues to rise, which causes the well-known mushroom appearance. As it rises, the fireball carries the radioactive particles high into the air, which gets spread around, leaving the area radioactive for years. Source: Bestanimations.com ECOSYSTEM DESTROYED According to Nuclear Darkness, if even one per cent of the war-ready nuclear weapons were detonated in large cities, "they would utterly devastate the environment, climate, ecosystems and inhabitants of Earth". That goes for only one per cent. From India Today Magazine: Pakistan's new nuke threat: Why India has to worry SMOKE LAYER Nuclear explosions release black carbon upon detonation. Black carbon has the ability to absorb sunlight, and in the form of rain can kill millions in moments. According to the Nuclear Darkness website, both India and Pakistan possess some 100 nuclear warheads with the same yield as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. If detonated in large cities, these will create 5 million tonnes of black carbon which will quickly rise into the stratosphere and spread around the world. The black carbon layer will shroud the sky for years to come, blocking out sunlight and resulting in a drop in the temperature by several degrees. "There would be a corresponding shortening of growing seasons by up to 30 days and a 10 per cent reduction in average global precipitation." Source: Dr Luke Oman/ Nuclear Darkness OZONE LAYER DESTROYED Effects of the nuclear weapon will eat away 25 to 40 per cent of the ozone layer at the mid-latitudes, and 50-70 per cent at the northern high latitudes. This, of course, will lead to massive amounts of harmful UV rays reaching the earth. advertisement Not to forget, the drastic change in the weather would cause a distort the ratio of global rainfall altogether. From India Today Magazine: The dirty bomb FAMINE Lack of sunlight coupled with drop in temperature would trigger a steep fall in agriculture and food production. Even with global support, which would anyway be limited, this will lead to acute famine. Like always, it will be the lower strata of the survivors that will suffer the brunt of this shortage of food. Even generations to come would literally starve to death. ECONOMY Environmental crisis aside, India's economy would take a blow in the gut even if we win the war and crush the enemy. Massive loss of human resource, habitable land and standing infrastructure would mean the government (and the country) would have to be rebuilt - most likely - from scratch. From India Today Magazine: NSG in sight LOSS OF LIVES When the US dropped nuclear bombs 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, more than 120,000 people died. But that was just the direct effect of the bomb. Even after 70 years, the two Japanese cities suffer from the after effects. advertisement If New York Times is to be believed, at least 12 million people could die at once if India and Pakistan give in to a nuclear war. And its effects will keep distorting lives for at least 20 years to come. That is what would happen if we go to war. So, the question is, if we go to war, would the destruction of millions of lives and our future be worth it? Read more: Nuclear exclusion zone to become world's largest solar farm In Fukushima, even robots can't survive nuclear mayhem --- ENDS --- A police bomb disposal robot accidentally detonated a backpack full of pipe bombs that was found at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey early Monday, the FBI confirms the third explosion in the New York area since Saturday morning. A two men found the backpack in a trash bin and picked it up about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. When they opened it, they saw pipe bombs and wires and dropped the pack and ran to alert police, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage told CBS News. About 12:30 a.m. Monday, a police bomb disposal robot cutting into the backpack accidentally detonated one of the five improvised explosive devices inside, Bollwage told reporters, according to NBC News. #Breaking: Video shows law enforcement officers on scene of raid in Elizabeth, New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/D3GtoSwAGv a CBS New York (@CBSNewYork) September 19, 2016 The FBI field office in Newark confirmed on Twitter that no one was injured in the detonation. CBS New York reports that heavily-armed FBI and ATF agents have raided a business in Elizabeth not far from the train station. It is unknown whether the raid is connected to the bomb investigation. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. The explosion in Elizabeth, about 20 miles from Manhattan, is the third since Saturday morning. The first explosion occurred about 9:30 a.m. Saturday at a U.S. Marine charity race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 85 miles from New York. No one was injured, but race organizers say that casualties could have been severe but by a stroke of luck the 9 a.m. race start was delayed because of late registrations. Some 5,000 runners would have been passing by the bomb at the time of the blast had the race started on time, organizers said. Then, about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, a pressure-cooker bomb detonated near a garbage dumpster in the heavily-populated Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Twenty nine people were injured, though only one seriously. A second device, which did not go off, was found a few blocks away. Five people were detained on Sunday night in connection with the Chelsea bomb blast after a traffic stop at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City, police sources told PIX 11 and other local news outlets. The FBI office in New York confirmed the traffic stop, but said no one has been charged with a crime. Emergency Alert Anyone holding a cellphone in New York City received an emergency alert a few minutes before 8 a.m. on Monday: WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 911 if seen. Rahami, who was wanted in connection with two bombings in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday, has now been taken into custody. New York Citys office of emergency management (OEM) has three alert categories: presidential announcements, missing person (AMBER) alerts, and imminent threats. This weekend was the first time that the alert service Notify NYC was used for a non-weather related event tied to an imminent threat. Though NYC OEM does not have an estimate of how many mobile phone users actually received this alert, the departments press secretary Nancy Silvestri says over 100 wireless carriers participate, and that includes all the major ones including Verizon (VZ), Sprint (S), AT&T (T) and T-Mobile (TMUS). In fact, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been working in-depth on the wireless carrier side to enable the technology to become available. Silvestri also notes the alerts are disseminated via cell towers so theyre not subject to the same congestion that comes when individuals use mobile data. She says that out-of-towners and tourists should have received the same alert. NYC OEM has issued eight alerts since 2012; the first three notifications were for Hurricane Sandy about various areas being evacuated. The first notification sent out this year was regarding a travel ban that was put in place because of Storm Jonas in January. The second alert of 2016 was sent to people in the Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night residents were told to stay away from windows. The system can only accommodate 90 characters, and there are pre-scripted messages because of the fairly limited number of circumstances that would necessitate such an alert, according to Silvestri. In the case of Monday mornings notification, the timing was event-driven. We issued the alert as soon as the New York police gave us the information, she said. In this case, it was triggered by a threat to life, safety, and solicited public action. Story continues Notify NYC started as a pilot program with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) called Commercial Alerting System. It was then fully implemented in 2012. FEMA has since rolled out the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) nationwide. The alert system does not incur a cost for the NYC government, according to Silvestri. NYC OEM could not confirm whether the alert gave police a lead to take the bombing suspect into custody, but the department says it will work with the NYPD to determine whether another alert will be sent out providing further information. Melody Hahm is a writer & reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. Read more: Theres an $18 trillion asset class that a VC-backed startup wants to unlock None of the 5 greatest cities in the world are in the US Theres one clear winner in the music-streaming price wars How a 28-year-old realtor used Snapchat to rent out an $80,000/month home sight unseen Whether its been Bernie Sanders supporters screaming about superdelegates, Never Trump-ers trying to unbind delegates from their democratic mandate, or residents outside of Iowa and New Hampshire questioning why those particular states have such disproportionate influence as the first states to vote, its been hard not to find critics of the presidential primary process this election season. Funny, then, that U.S. political parties are in fact among the most open and democratic in the developed world. And even though many Americans havent been pleased with the results, more than 57 million of them voted in the primaries this year close to the record turnout set in 2008, the Pew Research Center reports. Meanwhile, most parties in other developed democracies limit leadership elections to members who must pay annual dues to the party or, at worst, have no public input at all. More recently, though, parties in other countries have also started to open up, following in the footsteps of the U.S. In France, after the Socialist Party held its first fully open primaries several years ago, its Republican Party more recently bowed to pressure and now plans to hold an open primary for the forthcoming presidential election in 2017. In the U.K., the Labour Party recently reformed its rules regarding leadership selection, which enabled members of the public to sign up to vote for the first time. Meanwhile, in the Canadian province of Alberta, the Liberal Party held the first fully open primary in the countrys history just five years ago. This trend toward greater openness within political parties could lead to a deeper, more representative democracy for all, advocates argue. But others warn open contests could instead devolve into a tyranny of the extremes, whereby political leaders get selected by a small slice of the most radical members of the electorate. Some countries are dealing with a similarly radical scene. Indeed, there is a danger that increasingly open primaries give crackpots an extraordinary say over the parties nominees for electoral office, warns Herbert Kitschelt, a professor of international relations at Duke University. Especially in systems with two leading parties, such as in the U.S. and the U.K., but also in multiparty systems, there is a threat of mainline political parties being taken over by radical voters, Kitschelt says. The end result could mean more parties with leaders who are extreme, inexperienced, unwilling to compromise and unappealing to the vast majority of voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Sounds familiar, right? The Republicans in the U.S. are discovering this firsthand, says David Hine, an associate professor of politics at Oxford University, who notes both the Republicans and the Democrats have been pretty lucky not to have produced more candidates like Barry Goldwater, who ran in 64, until now. And had the Democratic Party been without superdelegates this year, perhaps Sanders would have clinched the nomination, and we would now be looking at one of the most ideologically extreme presidential debates in U.S. history. Story continues Already, some countries are dealing with a similarly radical scene. Jeremy Corbyn, who won the Labour Partys historically open 2015 leadership election in the U.K. on a wave of support from newly eligible voters, is in the middle of another leadership contest, after three-quarters of his own members of Parliament passed a motion of no confidence against him, claiming that his extreme left-wing policies could never win a general election. In the U.K., as in the U.S., populism has taken over and it does go hand in hand with the openness of parties, says Hine. Likewise, in the French Socialist Partys first semi-open primary, back in 2006, Segolene Royal defeated more mainstream and centrist candidates despite having very little structured support within the party establishment, says Florence Faucher, a political science prof at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Royal went on to lose a head-to-head general election by six percentage points. As political parties like these open the gates to the risk of internal populism, it seems that it might not be easy to put the genie back in the bottle: Once theyve broadened the selectorate meaning the people that select the leader in a particular partys vote they cannot go back, Faucher says, because this would seem like a backward, undemocratic step. Hine disagrees, arguing this trend might well be reversible. Party establishments tend to take a long, hard look at internal processes following any general election disaster as many predict will happen to the U.K.s Labour Party if Corbyn remains in charge. Delegates Allocated to Presidential Candidates InsideGov To be sure, the outsiders who have a better chance in more open party contests are not always politically extreme. In Italy, a relatively open leadership contest in the Democratic Party in 2007 swept Matteo Renzi, notably more centrist than his predecessors, to power on a wave of popular support. And four years after Frances Royal lost a presidential election, she was defeated in an even more open primary contest by a more centrist candidate who later prevailed in the general election current president Francois Hollande. Theres also still a long way to go before voter turnout comes close to what was seen in the U.S. primaries this year. Only 150,000 people out of a nationwide electorate of over 45 million were eligible to vote in the contest for the U.K.s Conservative Party leadership, which chose David Camerons successor, Theresa May. In Australia, just 100 members of Parliament voted for a new Liberal Party leader last year, and in doing so, kicked the prime minister out of office. Those parties are still resisting the pressure to open up, which might be a wise move. According to Faucher, parties in France and the U.S., along with the U.K.s Labour Party, are trapping themselves. The lesson from the rest of the world, then, as both the Democrats and Republicans face calls to make the U.S. primaries even more open might just be: Are you mad?! Related Articles Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following timeline charts the schedule for Quebec's pension fund, the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, to finance and oversee the construction of a new 67 kilometer (41.63 miles)public transit system in Montreal, the third largest automated transportation system in the world behind those in Dubai and Vancouver. JANUARY 2015 - The Caisse announces the creation of CDPQ Infra, its new infrastructure arm which will work with the Quebec government to provide critical infrastructure in the province. Under the agreement, the government will select projects for the Caisse to consider and it will assess their commercial viability and tell the government if it wants to invest or not. The government makes the final decision on whether to proceed. JUNE 2015 - Quebec's parliament authorizes the implementation of CDPQ's business model. APRIL 2016 - CDPQ Infra announces plans for a new integrated public transport network linking downtown Montreal, South Shore, West Island, North Shore and the airport. It will invest C$3 billion in the project and wants the federal and provincial governments to contribute the remaining C$2.5 billion required. CDPQ Infra begins consultation process with stakeholders. AUGUST 2016 - Public hearings assessing the environmental impact of the project begin. END OF 2016/EARLY 2017 - Final decisions from provincial and federal governments on whether to invest EARLY 2017- Construction expected to begin. END OF 2020 - First trains expected to run. (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Tomasz Janowski) ABU DHABI/CAIRO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Egypt's ability to import one of its most essential commodities, wheat, has been thrown into question amid repeated failed tenders, a result of suppliers shunning the world's top buyer because of its strict policy on the ergot fungus. Over the past year Egypt has flip-flopped on its policy towards the common grain fungus, which can lead to hallucinations but is considered harmless at minor levels. Last month's decree reinstating zero tolerance for ergot rattled world grain markets and threatened to disrupt Egypt's bread subsidy programme, on which tens of millions of the country's poorest rely. Below is a timeline of the controversy: December 2015: A 63,000-tonne shipment of French wheat sold by Bunge to Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), is rejected by the agriculture quarantine authority for containing trace levels of ergot. Jan. 6, 2016: Egypt's quarantine head, Saad Moussa, says the authority is applying a zero-tolerance ergot policy despite the supplies ministry and GASC stipulating 0.05 percent tolerance. Jan. 14, 2016: The supplies ministry insists it will keep its 0.05 percent tolerance level for ergot. Jan. 31, 2016: GASC confirms Bunge's French wheat shipment has been rejected, saying it contained an ergot level higher than 0.05 percent. Bunge denies this. Feb. 3, 2016: Egypt's agriculture ministry says it will accept 0.05 percent ergot in wheat shipments, while the quarantine authority, an agency that falls under it, says anything above zero will be turned away. Feb. 7, 2016: After two GASC purchase tenders are cancelled due to low turnout, Egypt seeks to reassure the global market. The supplies and agriculture ministries stress they will adhere to a 0.05 percent ergot level. Feb. 9, 2016: Bunge launches legal proceedings against GASC. Feb. 17, 2016: Under mounting pressure from trader boycotts of its purchase tenders, GASC distributes a letter to suppliers from the agriculture ministry stating it will adhere to a 0.05 percent tolerance level. Story continues March 2, 2016: Reuters reveals agricultural quarantine continues to apply zero tolerance in part because of an old decree governing it that calls for zero ergot. That is at odds with a separate regulation, used by GASC, that allows 0.05 percent. March 6, 2016: Egypt replaces Moussa, the head of the agriculture quarantine authority and the man who strictly applied the zero-tolerance policy. Ibrahim Imbaby replaces him. March 7, 2016: Egypt's agriculture ministry says it has assigned an expert from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to conduct a risk assessment on ergot in order to bring the country's laws into harmony. March 8, 2016: Imbaby says he will, like his predecessor, apply a zero-tolerance policy until a new law is passed. July 4, 2016: A decree is passed by the agriculture ministry allowing quarantine to accept 0.05 percent ergot. July 13, 2016: The agriculture ministry reveals that an FAO study concluded ergot is not a threat to Egyptian crops, but says the decision can be amended if future studies indicate harm. Aug. 25, 2016: Egypt's supplies minister, Khaled Hanafi, who had defended the 0.05 percent policy, resigns on the back of a wheat corruption scandal. Aug. 28, 2016: Egypt's agriculture ministry imposes a new decree reinstating the total ban on ergot. The ministry cites a locally conducted follow-up study that finds the fungus to be a threat to Egyptian crops. Aug. 31, 2016: GASC changes its tender specifications, bringing them in line with quarantine's zero-tolerance policy on ergot for the first time. Global suppliers stage a boycott and GASC is forced to cancel a tender. Sept. 5, 2016: Egypt's health ministry adopts a zero-ergot stance, bringing all three ministries that oversee the policy in line for the first time and making it harder for GASC to backtrack. Sept. 7-9, 2016: Egyptian inspectors reject a 63,000-tonne Romanian wheat shipment at its port of origin for trace levels of ergot even though the cargo had been contracted under the old ergot rules. It is the first cargo rejected at its port of origin. Sept. 16, 2016: GASC cancels its second consecutive wheat tender after failing to receive any offers and as a 60,000-tonne Russian wheat shipment is rejected at Novorossiisk after weeks of inspection. Sept. 16, 2016: Russia says it will ban imports of fruit and vegetables from Egypt from Sept. 22, apparently in retaliation for held-up shipments of Russian wheat. Sept. 19, 2016: GASC holds its third wheat tender under the zero-ergot rules even as suppliers insist they will not make offers. Traders speculate the failed tenders are a strategy for GASC to convince the government to overturn the zero-tolerance policy as grain reserves come under pressure. (Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Eric Knecht; Editing by Dale Hudson) An investigation is underway after two bombs exploded, and several others were discovered, in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. The suspect linked to the incidents, Ahmad Khan Rahami was apprehended Monday morning in Linden, N.J., after a shootout with police. Below, a timeline and interactive map of the events. Saturday afternoon: Explosion in Seaside Park, N.J. The first explosion occurred Saturday afternoon in Seaside Park, N.J., where thousands of runners were gearing up for a 5K charity race to benefit U.S. Marines and sailors. The unexpectedly high turnout had delayed the races start time, so few people were nearby when the explosive device detonated. No one was injured, and the race was subsequently canceled. The FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force is steering the investigation, and a preliminary sweep of the scene revealed that there were three pipe bomb devices wired together along the route of the race. Only one had exploded. Investigators noted the use of cellphones as timers in the New Jersey bombs as well as the explosive that was detonated in New York City Saturday night. There was also a cellphone connected to a pressure cooker bomb discovered on West 27th Street in Manhattan. That device did not detonate, and clues on the phone reportedly led police to identify Rahami as a person of interest. The FBI announced Monday morning that the agency was looking to question 28-year-old Rahami in the New Jersey and New York incidents. Hours later he was in custody. Saturday evening: Blast rocks Chelsea, another undetonated device is found blocks away Hours after the explosion that left runners unscathed in New Jersey, another device was detonated in New York Citys busy Chelsea neighborhood at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. The explosion, which officials later said came from a device detonated either inside or near a dumpster, injured 29 people, shattered windows, and sent shrapnel flying down West 23rd Street. Later Saturday night, state troopers discovered another explosive, four blocks away, on West 27th Street. The NYPD bomb squad took the second device which had apparently been made using a pressure cooker, wires and a cellphone to the department firing range in the Bronx, where it was safely defused before being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Va., for further examination. Story continues Sunday evening: Backpack filled with bombs discovered at a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. Five more explosive devices were discovered Sunday night at a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. Two men were reportedly leaving a restaurant near the train station when they found a backpack filled with wires and pipe sitting on top of a garbage can. At around 8:45 p.m., the men called the Elizabeth Police Department, who called the Union County bomb squad. The FBI responded using robots and determined that the backpack contained five bombs. At approximately 12:30 a.m., the robots were attempting to disarm one of the bombs when it accidentally detonated. No one was injured, but one robot was destroyed and the other lost an arm. Meanwhile, in New York, up to five people were taken into FBI custody following a traffic stop in Brooklyn Sunday night. We did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in the investigation, read a tweet from the FBIs New York field office. No one has been charged with any crime. The investigation is continuing. Authorities are investigating links between the backpack of explosives and the bombs that went off in Manhattan and Seaside Park on Saturday. According to details released by the FBI Monday, the last known address for Ahmad Khan Rahami the person of interest in both the Manhattan and New Jersey explosions was in Elizabeth, N.J. _____ Related slideshows: Slideshow: Ahmad Khan Rahami, suspect in New York City and New Jersey explosions, is captured >>> Slideshow: Explosive devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey >>> Slideshow: Substantial police presence in NYC following Chelsea explosion >>> Slideshow: Pipe bomb explodes at Jersey Shore >>> Slideshow: Explosion in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood >>> From Cosmopolitan Baking a pie from scratch can be a bitch. If someone tells me that a task is as "easy as pie," I'm thinking it's going to be really difficult and make me feel like a complete failure of a human being. That's what pie is for me: a trail of broken dough and dreams. Yet in spite of the fact that I always struggle when making a pie, I feel inexplicably determined to get better at it, and I'm not afraid to ask for help. So I turned to Kate McDermott, a teacher who runs pie workshops out of the Pie Cottage in Port Angeles, Washington, and the author of the new cookbook Art of the Pie. Also sometimes called a pie-chiatrist. I asked, Could she help me be a better baker of pies? Yes, she said. This was going to be my pie therapy. Here are the tips she shared: Keep your dough cold AF. Never forget this pie commandment, because it is everything. "It is first, last, and middle," McDermott said. The pie must be chill. 1. Cold ingredients make a better pie crust. You know this from your recipes: the instructions usually dictate that the butter should be cold, and that the water should be ice-cold. There's a reason for this. "Fats are really the thing that control whether you're going to have a successful and easy pie-making session or not," McDermott said. And if your fat isn't cold, you end up with a mess: dough that sticks to the rolling pin, or a greasy, tough crust. 2. Remember that butter melts at 59 degrees Fahrenheit. That's way cooler than most rooms, especially when it's summer, or what you might call peak pie-making season. So, if it's hot for you, it's even hotter for your butter. A few tips: When it's really hot, freeze your butter and grate it into your bowl. Hotter than hot? Keep all your ingredients - even your flour - in the freezer. Mix your dough in a bowl that sits in a bigger bowl filled with ice. Wait until your pie is made before you turn on your oven. Story continues 3. Even your hands need to be cold. They're called pastrymaking hands, and I don't have them. Especially in the summer, my hands tend to run warm, and McDermott recommended that I (and any others out there like me) soak my hands in an ice bath for as long as I can take before getting really intimate with my dough. You can also hold a few ice cubes in your hands instead. 4. Wait until you and your dough are ready to roll out. The dough has to chill before you roll it out. McDermott explains it like this: When you first make the dough, it's like when you go to the gym. It's sweaty. It needs to cool down, shower, and change before it goes back outside into the world. Putting the dough in the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes allows it to rest and get refreshed. To test your dough before you roll it out, take your rolling pin and tap the dough. If it breaks in half, it's too hard and needs to warm up so that it can be pliable. If the tap creates a big indentation, the dough is too soft and you need to put it back in the fridge. "Have a cup of tea. Call a friend," McDermott said, before assessing your dough again. 5. If your dough starts sticking, don't panic. Take a deep breath and say, "I know how to fix this," McDermott said. "If your fat is melting, throw a little extra flour on top of the dough, on the bottom of it, and maybe a little extra over your shoulder so you feel like you're chilling out too." 6. If your dough cracks or breaks, don't panic. Use a tiny bit of water to help "super glue" the dough back together. "Just put a little bead of water there," McDermott said. "Never give up. What happens between you and your dough stays between you and your dough. No one needs to know what you go through at the counter." 7. Put something between the dough and your rolling surface. This helps with the sticking. McDermott uses a pastry cloth, but you can use anything from plastic wrap to parchment paper to a clean pillow case. "If you roll out a beautiful dough on a wooden surface and then you can't get it off, that's when you start to have a meltdown," McDermott said. So take heed and put something between the dough and the counter. 8. Don't overfill your pie with filling. People often make this mistake with juicy fillings such as berries, cherries, and rhubarb. McDermott recommended keeping the filling about a half inch below the rim of the pie plate. You might think it a waste of filling, but if it's going to end up staying in the bowl or running onto the floor of your oven, what's the difference? With fruits like apples and pears, you can "mound those babies up as high as you want." 9. Don't take your pie edge too far over the pie plate. "The dough will continue to melt down," McDermott said, "and you'll see burning on and under the edge. It's a life lesson: Make sure you know where your boundaries are so you don't burn where nobody can see it." 10. Vent! Your pie needs to release steam while it bakes so that it doesn't get mushy. Open up your crust with slits or holes or make a lattice crust - there are so many fun ways to vent! 11. Get your rolling pin to help you top the pie. I always freak out when it's time to close up a pie. McDermott gave me some advice here: "Think good thoughts when you do this," she said. "Pie doughs really can sense if you have fear. Go to the excitement." But beyond that, she said I could use my rolling pin to help get that dough on the pie. She said to place the pin diagonally across the center of the dough, fold the dough and the paper or cloth over the pin, lift up the dough, set it on the center of the pie, and quickly roll the dough off the pin. "If your dough is feeling like its melting, use some common sense and put it back into the fridge or freezer until the fats have chilled up enough so that it feels like it has some integrity and rolls off in one piece." 12. Not every pie has to have beautiful edges. OK, more wisdom here: "Pie in general just says, 'Make me.' What is more wonderful holding that pie in your hands and giving it to somebody? They don't care whether you have a braided edge." That said, if you want to work on getting prettier edges, make a C shape with the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand. Take the index finger on your other hand and put them together on either side of the dough edge - imagine "the male-female thing here." You can also use the dowel of a wooden spoon or a chopstick to push the edge down all around the edge of the pie. 13. Every pie pan is a good pie pan - except for a shiny pie pan. If you have a metal pie pan find one that is not super shiny because it deflects heat. But you don't have to stress if a recipe calls for a glass pie plate and all you have is a ceramic one. If you're using a disposable aluminum pie plate, consider putting it inside a glass pan so you have a sturdier platform for the pie, not to mention a better conductor of heat. 14. Make your pie with love. "I truly, truly feel that you can taste love on anything that's on your plate," McDermott said. Use fresh, quality ingredients, and have good intention when you make your pie, and you may just end up making the best pie anyone has ever had. Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life, is out Oct. 4. Follow Helin on Instagram. You Might Also Like This Indian policeman's poem speaks volumes about the anger and outrage over the Uri attack which killed 17 jawans. By India Today Web Desk: The brazen attack by Pakistan-backed militants on an army camp in Uri has left soldiers fuming. Amid all the anger and grief, an Indian policeman's powerful Hindi poem slamming Pakistan has taken the country by storm. In the video that is going viral he says, "We are lions and sons of lions and lions don't fear anyone. Go and tell the Pakistanis that we are not afraid of bomb blasts or artillery but we fear agreements of the Tashkent and Shimla standards." advertisement He goes on to say, "You can create atom bombs and gloat but you forget '65, '71 and '99 wars. Patton tanks were captured by a single soldier Abdul Hamid and the Indians burnt down your American jets. Remember how PNS Ghazi was sunk, remember how Dhaka was conquered in a flash, remember those 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war, remember the Shimla agreement and the favours of Indira Gandhi." He emphatically says, "'Pakistan, hear this loud and clear, if this war breaks out you will be obliterated. Kashmir will exist but Pakistan won't." Watch the video below: --- ENDS --- Video shared by Brian Minich of Warren County, Pennsylvania shows a potential tornado which appeared in the region on Saturday, September 17. An Associated Press report carried by local outlets describes several tornado reports near Scandia in Warren County between 6:pm and 7:pm Saturday, corroborating the uploaders account. The report states that the National Weather Service was working to determine whether it was in fact a tornado which appeared in Warren County. Credit: Facebook/Brian Minich Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American rights to the adult road-trip movie Paris Can Wait. The film, starring Diane Lane, was directed by Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford Coppola, who is making her narrative feature debut at the age of 80. Paris Can Wait, which made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in the special presentation section on Sept. 12, centers on a woman (Lane) at a crossroads in her life. Long married to a successful, driven but inattentive movie producer (Alec Baldwin), she unexpectedly finds herself taking a car trip from Cannes to Paris with a business associate of her husband (Arnaud Viard). What should be a seven-hour drive turns into a carefree two-day adventure replete with diversions involving picturesque sights, fine food and wine, humor, wisdom and romance, reawakening Anne's senses and giving her a new lust for life. Coppola also wrote the semi-autobiographical screenplay. She produced alongside Fred Roos, who is a longtime collaborator with the Coppola family. "Eleanor Coppola's Paris Can Wait is a movie to savor, something very fine," SPC said in a statement. "Elegantly directed, exquisitely designed and beautifully acted by Diane Lane and Arnaud Viard, this is that special movie that will bring pleasure to audiences everywhere." Added Coppola: "[SPC is] the gold standard in bringing very interesting, high-quality films to the big screen over many years." As part of the deal, A+E Television retains second TV window rights to the film. ICM Partners and attorney Barry Hirsch negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales. Read more: 'Paris Can Wait': Film Review | TIFF 2016 Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Eleanor Coppolas narrative directing and writing debut Paris Can Wait for North America. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Diane Lane, Alec Baldwin and Arnaud Viard star in the story of a movie producers wife who drives from Cannes to Paris with an associate of her husbands and ends up on a three-day roadtrip full of food, wine and humor. The 80-year old wife of director Francis Coppola previously directed the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse. Paris Can Wait is produced by Eleanor Coppola and Fred Roos, and is executive produced by Michael Zakin, Lisa Hamilton Daly, Tanya Lopez, Rob Sharenow and Molly Thompson. The film is an American Zoetrope and Lifetime Films production in association with Corner Piece Capital and Tohokushinsha Film Corp. Eleanor Coppolas Paris Can Wait is a movie to savor, something very fine. Elegantly directed, exquisitely designed and beautifully acted by Diane Lane and Arnaud Viard, this is that special movie that will bring pleasure to audiences everywhere, said Sony Pictures Classics in a statement. A+E Television has second TV window rights to the film. It is so gratifying to have been part of helping a creative spirit like Eleanor realize her vision. Seeing her make this wonderful film, so true to who she is, has been incredibly rewarding, said Rob Sharenow, exec VP and GM of A&E and Lifetime. The deal was negotiated by ICM Partners and Barry Hirsch on behalf of the filmmakers, Molly Thompson on behalf of A + E and Lifetime Films, and Sony Pictures Classics. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales. The acquisition was first reported by Deadline Hollywood. Related stories Toronto: Netflix Buys Adam Leon's Romantic Comedy 'Tramps' Has the Toronto Film Festival Gotten Too Big for Its Own (or Anybody's) Good? Woody Harrelson Got Advice From Bryan Cranston on Playing LBJ Netflix has struck again, this time picking up worldwide rights to the hotly contested indie romance-heist film Tramps. Adam Leon wrote and directed the romance, which follows a petty criminal and his driver who botch a drop-off job and have to correct their mistake while learning to trust one another along the way. A source pegged the deal at $2 million. Callum Turner and Grace Van Patten are being hailed for their breakout performances in Tramps, which also stars Mike Birbiglia and Margaret Colin. THR's David Rooney said, "Winsome never anote The world of Leon's films is graced with such endearing innocence that you go with it. It's the faultless performances that make the film so captivating the delightful Callum Turner and Grace Van Patten are the tender heart of the movie." Read more: 'Tramps': Film Review | TIFF 2016 Tramps made its world premiere in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the Toronto Film Festival and sparked immediate interest from A24, Sony Pictures Classics and The Orchard, among other distributors. Netflix also bought the young Barack Obama movie Barry over the weekend and picked up the post-apocalyptic sci-fi pic What Happened to Monday? last week as well as the doc Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids as the market got under way. Tramps is produced by Joshua Astrachan, David Kaplan, Andrea Roa and Jamund Washington (the latter who also shared a story by credit with Leon). Frederick W. Green, Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub, Julia Godzinskaya, Sophie Vickers and Michael Sackler served as executive producers. UTA and WestEnd repped the film. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f214609%2fgettyimages-607522354 LONDON A church service just isn't a church service unless a horse is present. SEE ALSO: Dressage horse dancing to 'Smooth' by Santana wins gold for chillest horse And St. John's Church in Hyde Park, London, just hosted an entire church service for more than 60 horses. The event is hosted annually to raise awareness of working horses in central London and to celebrate horse riding in the city. Horses continue their own dirty protest at the event, started in opposition to the threat of closure to Hyde Park's stables. Image: Jack Taylor/Getty Images On Sept. 18, the vicar of St. John's Church the Reverend Stephen Mason led a cavalcade of horses and their riders through the streets before gathering outside the church for the 49th Horseman's Sunday. Hot to trot: the Reverend layers up in full clerical wear to deliver the service. Image: Jack Taylor/ Getty Images The horses congregated on the church's forecourt for a blessing before being awarded rosettes. Young riders, members of the public, MPs and community leaders were in attendance. Naturally, cloaked members of the clergy were also on horseback. My little ponies all round, as young riders join the procession outside the church. Image: Jack Taylor/ Getty Images The annual Horseman's Sunday event began in 1968 to "highlight the need to maintain stables along the north of Hyde Park". "This occasion is one of the most colourful events in the Hyde Park calendar. After all, how often do you get to see a cloaked member of the clergy on horseback these days?" the Reverend said in statement. How often indeed! Following the bombings in the New York and New Jersey area, Donald Trump condemned political correctness while hunting for terrorists on Monday morning, and mocked America's "stupid" leaders. Read: Donald Trump Mocked at the Emmy Awards "I think this is something that maybe will happen perhaps more and more over the country," Trump said. "We've been weak, our country's been weak." Trump added: We coddle them. We are too politically correct. We dont want to say radical Islam, or radical Islamic terrorism. Obama wont even say the words, neither will Hillary Clinton. Trump also suggested that police in America should profile the people they believe are suspects. We have become so politically correct in this country, this is only going to get worse, the GOP presidential candidate added. Trump also said how the United States needs stricter immigration policies and Obama has allowed more people to come into the country from the Middle East. Thousands of people are pouring into our country, we have no idea what we are doing, he said. Our leaders are stupid. Trump then went on to blame Obama and Clinton for helping create ISIS, saying the terrorist organization started under their policies. They say we are winning the war on terror, we are not winning the war, they are winning the war. When terrorist suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami was captured following a dramatic shootout Monday morning, Hillary Clinton slammed Trump's rhetoric. "But let us remember, there are millions and millions of naturalized citizens in America from all over the world. There are millions of law-abiding peaceful Muslim-Americans. This is the kind of challenge that law enforcement can be and is prepared to address, namely going after anyone who would threaten the United States," she said. She also thanked law enforcement before attending rally in Philadelphia at Temple University. Story continues Read: Bombing Suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami Nabbed After Shootout; Was Found Dozing in N.J. Doorway I want to start by offering my full support to our state, local and federal law enforcement as they continue to respond to the attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota and bring those responsible to justice, she said. On Twitter, she added: "Like all Americans, my thoughts are with those who were wounded, their families, & our first responders Hillary on this weekends attacks Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 19, 2016 Trump echoed the same sentiment, tweeting: Great job once again by law enforcement! We are proud of them and should embrace them - without them, we don't have a country! Watch: New Yorkers Run From Explosion in Dumpster That Injured 29 Related Articles: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is expected to hold talks with presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in New York this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, in a pair of meetings that illustrate one of Americas more uncomfortable foreign relationships. Al-Sisi came to power following the July 2013 military coup that overthrew the government of President Mohamed Morsi, who had won the presidential election following the Arab Spring and the overthrow of the longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The former chief of Egypts armed forces, al-Sisi led a military takeover that opened a period of political violence that left more than a thousand people dead, and also presided over a clampdown that jailed an estimated 40,000 people including protesters, students and journalists. Al-Sisi became President in 2014 in an election that was widely regarded as a fait accompli. If elected, Clinton is not expected to make drastic changes in U.S. policy toward Egypt. Trump, however, has voiced admiration for a range of authoritarian leaders, hailing Russias President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader and praising former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as an effective killer of terrorists. Human-rights rights advocates worry that, if elected, Trump would deepen U.S. support for al-Sisi, who casts his regime as a bulwark against extremist groups. We hear that Trump will be supporting Sisi in the so-called fight against terrorism and this will lead to cracking down more on human rights, leading to a massive deterioration in the human-rights situation in Egypt, says Mohamed Ahmed, a researcher on Egypt at Amnesty International. The Obama Administration initially maintained a degree of distance from al-Sisis government. The U.S. froze arms deliveries to Egypt in the aftermath of the 2013 coup but eventually released aid in March 2015, delivering F-16 fighter jets and tank turrets. The decision appeared to prioritize the immediate needs of the international fight against extremists like ISIS over human-rights concerns, embracing an authoritarian regime in Egypt that is battling ISIS-affiliated militants in the Sinai Peninsula and attempting to police a long desert border with Libya, where ISIS managed to establish itself in the chaos of that countrys civil war. Clinton played a complicated role in Americas relations with Egypt during her years as Secretary of State under Obama. When Egyptian protesters launched an uprising demanding political freedom in January 2011, Clinton voiced confidence in Mubaraks government. Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people, she told reporters on Jan. 25, 2011. By the end of January, however, she was calling for a peaceful, orderly transition to a democratic regime. Eventually over 800 demonstrators were killed over 18 days of protests, before Mubarak finally stepped down, ending nearly three decades of autocratic rule. Clinton said in 2009 that she considered Mubarak and his wife Suzanne to be family friends. A realist, during the Arab Spring Clinton warned about the possible negative effects of pushing Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally, out of power. Some Egyptian dissidents at the time were disappointed that she had not sided more clearly with the protesters calling for an end to authoritarian rule across the Arab world. She made a very clear statement when millions of people were in the streets protesting Hosni Mubarak, says Ahmed. At the beginning she was not really with change, so we expect that it will likely continue, the same U.S. policy, he adds. While human-rights advocates have criticized Clinton for being too slow to abandon Mubarak and Obama for ultimately embracing al-Sisi despite his authoritarian tendencies, Trump on the campaign trail has been critical of the Obama Administration for withdrawing support from Mubarak. He supported the ouster of a friendly regime in Egypt that had a long-standing peace treaty with Israel, and then helped bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in its place, Trump said in a foreign policy speech in April. Yet in 2011, Trump himself was critical of Mubarak and welcomed his ouster. Egyptian state institutions continue to restrict critics of the government. On Saturday a Cairo court ruled in favor of a freeze on the assets of five of Egypts top human-rights activists. Rights groups fear that the move could pave the way for a prosecution of the few remaining rights advocates documenting government abuses. Twelve human-rights defenders have been banned from leaving the country. Rights groups have also documented hundreds of disappearances, in which detainees are held secretly and without acknowledgement by the state. According to a tally by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Egypt held 23 journalists in its jails at the end of 2015, a figure that placed it second only to China among the worlds worst jailers of journalists. The militants snatched 4 service rifles from the guards of Advocate Javaid Ahmad Sheikh, district president, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at his residence in Dialgam village of the district. By Shuja-ul-Haq : Around 10 armed militants on Sunday night attacked the house of a PDP leader in south Kashmir's Anantnag district. The militants snatched 4 service rifles from the guards of Advocate Javaid Ahmad Sheikh, district president, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at his residence in Dialgam village of the district. Also read: Uri terror attack: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns act advertisement Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert Uri attack exposes vulnerability of security forces near Line of Control "The militants resorted to aerial firing before making their way into the house," said the PDP leader. Earlier, militants had snatched 4 rifles from a political leader in Kulgam district. This has become a new dangerous trend in which militants target policemen and snatch their weapons. These weapons are then used to recruit more militants. Watch the video --- ENDS --- Never in recent political memory have candidates kids played such a prominent role in trying to get their parent elected president. Mitt Romney had his pack of boys behind him in the election of 2012, but they seemed more like handsome props than stand-ins for the old man. Related: Ivanka Trump Could Be the Most Powerful First Daughter Ever In this election year of dubious firsts, however, the offspring of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have sprung to center stage. In fact, they are so high profile that both Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump have their own Secret Service detail. Of course in the treacherous world of politics, having blood you can trust behind you can be reassuring, but it does come with risks. Chelsea Clinton has been in and out of the public eye since she was a child in the White House, and that exposure plus a stint as an NBC correspondent has made her a polished pro. She rarely makes a misstep when she is out on the hustings pushing the candidacy of her mother, which she has done with barely a break to deliver her second child in June. The grown Trump children son Barron is only 10 have arguably played an even more out-front role. For one thing, there are more of them, with Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric and to a much lesser extent Tiffany speaking out for their father. Ivanka and Eric have also helped solicit donations, and Ivankas husband, Jared Kushner, has reportedly taken a deeper and deeper role in the campaign of his father-in-law. Related: A $3 Raffle? Trumps Unorthodox Pleas for Cash Up until now, they have been mostly seen as polite counterpoints to their fathers bombast. But last week, the usually measured Ivanka cut off a phone interview with Cosmopolitan about her fathers new maternity leave policies -- which as the mother of three, including a newborn, she reportedly helped craft -- after complaining about the negativity of the reporter. Ivankas pique was barely a blip, however, compared with the loquacious Donald Jr. A Washington Post story on Saturday laid out many of the 38-year-old Trumps gaffes, including saying last Wednesday that if Republicans were behaving as deviously as Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, theyd be warming up the gas chamber right now. Story continues Related: Donald Trumps Latest White Supremacist Problem Junior denied he was referring to the killing of Jews by the Nazis, but on Thursday the Anti-Defamation League took him to task for making Holocaust jokes. Also last week, Trump Jr. posted an image on Instagram that sought to portray his father and well-known supporters as superheroes in response to Clinton referring to some Trump supporters as the deplorables. Unfortunately, among Trump backers like Chris Christie, Ben Carson and Rudy Giuliani was Pepe the Frog, the Post said, a cartoon character now associated with the alt-Right and white supremacists. Other incidents involving white supremacists and Trump Jr. cited by the Post point to the Republican nominees eldest child being oblivious to the point of undermining his fathers candidacy. Its great when the kids have your back as long as they dont inadvertently put a shiv in it. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: New York (AFP) - Donald Trump will meet Monday in New York with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Republican presidential candidate's first meeting with a leader from the Muslim world. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had already scheduled a meeting with Sisi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, which kicked off Monday with a summit on the global refugee crisis. Trump has called for "extreme vetting" of refugees entering the United States along with a ban against people from "terrorist nations." Trump's meeting with Sisi will take place at the end of the day, according to a campaign official. He was supposed to travel first to Fort Myers, Florida for a rally. He had alluded to meetings with foreign leaders in an interview with Fox television earlier in the day. "I don't want to comment specifically on who but a couple of people are coming over. I've already met with a couple," he said. But the meeting with Sisi appeared to be a response to Clinton, a former secretary of state who announced last week she would be meeting with the Egyptian leader as well as Ukraine's President Petro Porochenko. Clinton has said she would discuss "the threat from terrorism" during her meeting with Sisi, who came to power after a bloody crackdown on political Islamists and has often warned that religious extremism presents a vital threat to the Muslim world. Donald Trump Donald Trump said Monday he did not care if his former primary challengers endorse him, but expressed agreement with Reince Priebus, chair of the Republican National Committee, who warned that measures may be taken against Republicans who refuse to get aboard the Trump train. "These people all want to run in four years, right?" Trump said on Fox News. "If I were the head of the Republican Party, I'd say you can't do it, but what do I have to do with it?" The real-estate mogul added: "In the meantime, we're either tied or leading, we're doing very well, and it'd be nice to have their support, but at this point, I don't really even care about their support. Whatever happens, happens." During a Sunday interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," Priebus said Trump's former primary challengers might face trouble in 2020 or 2024 if they did not announce their support for Trump. "Those people need to get on board," he said. "And if they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think that we're going to evaluate the process of the nomination process and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them." Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have prominently refused to endorse Trump since he wrapped up the party's nomination in May. Priebus said the party would "look at" potential penalties for those who have not endorsed Trump who are considering a future presidential bid. Every GOP presidential hopeful signed a loyalty pledge last summer stating they would support the eventual nominee no matter who it was. "People in our party are talking about what we're going to do about this. I mean, there's a ballot access issue in South Carolina," Priebus said. "In order to be on the ballot in South Carolina, you actually have to pledge your support to the nominee, no matter who that person is. So what's the penalty for that? It's not a threat, but that's just the question that we have a process in place. Story continues "And if a private entity puts forward a process and has agreement with the participants in that process, and those participants don't follow through with the promises that they made in that process, what what should a private party do about that if those same people come around in four or eight years?" Kasich's chief strategist for his presidential run, John Weaver, fired back at Priebus late Sunday, saying the Ohio Republican would not be "bullied by a Kenosha political operative," referring to Priebus' hometown in Wisconsin. The Manhattan billionaire praised Priebus in his Monday interview, saying he is doing "a very good job." "But it shows he's a tough cookie," Trump said. "He doesn't like it when you sign a pledge and then you use their data. They signed an agreement ... and now they're violating it." Calling out Kasich specifically, Trump said the only reason Kasich is not backing him is because the real-estate magnate defeated the governor "so badly." "But Kasich isn't on board, and the only reason he's not on board is that he got beaten so badly," Trump said. "He got beaten as badly as anybody can get beaten. I don't mind it. If Kasich doesn't endorse me that's fine. But I will say this: He and Bush and all of these people signed pledges." NOW WATCH: A hair surgeon explains what's going on with Donald Trump's hair More From Business Insider Beja (Tunisia) (AFP) - Activists are warning of a potential "thirst uprising" in Tunisia following protests over severe water shortages after one of the North African nation's driest summers on record. Residents in the interior are suffering long water supply cuts, reservoirs are running dry and farmers are seeing significant losses, adding to social tensions in a country still struggling with instability since its 2011 revolution. The Tunisian citizens' water observatory, known as Watchwater, warned last month the country could face a "thirst uprising" reminiscent of the protest movement that spread across Tunisia nearly six years ago. "The failure to find urgent and serious solutions will increase protests across the country," it said. Water scarcity has long been a problem for Tunisia, but in recent years the challenge has been exacerbated by growing urbanisation and increasing demand from agriculture and industry. This year has seen the country particularly hard-hit, with rainfall -- Tunisia's main water source -- down by some 30 percent, the state secretary for water resources and fishing, Abdallah Rabhi, told AFP. In August, the agriculture ministry warned Tunisia would be facing a "catastrophic" situation if it did not rain by the end of the summer. The few rainstorms since have not been enough to replenish groundwater reserves or reservoirs. Agricultural losses for this year have already reached nearly two billion dinars ($900 million/800 million euros), according to the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries. - Call to 'pray for rain' - The ministry of religious affairs has even called on the people to "pray for rain". Since mid-May, the authorities have announced more than 700 water supply cuts. Officially they last from several hours to three days, but Alaa Marzouki of Watchwater said that in some regions the cuts have lasted nearly a month. Protests have erupted in several affected areas, with the water shortages adding to the frustrations of many residents who feel their concerns are being ignored by authorities in Tunis. Story continues At one demonstration in the northwestern town of Fernana earlier this month, protesters gathered at a local pumping station and threatened to disrupt supplies to the capital, according to local media reports. "Economic protests resembling those that sparked the 2010 Jasmine Revolution are spreading throughout Tunisia and may grow into nationwide civil unrest," the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute warned in a report this month. In the southwestern Gafsa region, local farmer Mabrouk said frustration was growing. "We are suffering," said Mabrouk, who declined to give his last name. "We had to buy a water tank for 30 dinars for what we use and what our animals use. We've sent requests to the government but they remain unanswered. All we can do is wait for rain, God willing." Tunisia has some 30 dams and reservoirs that provide irrigation of agricultural land and drinking water, but by the end of August their reserves were less than 40 percent of what they were at the same time last year, Rabhi said. - 'Very dangerous situation' - Some, like the Nabhana reservoir in central Tunisia, are completely dry. At the Sidi Salem dam near Beja in northern Tunisia, reserves are about half what they were last year. "You have to go back to 1993-1994 to find such a level," said the dam's manager, Cherif Gasmi. "If rain does not come by the end of September... we will have to tap the dam's strategic reserves and that's a very dangerous situation," he said. Groundwater levels in areas without dams have also fallen, in some cases by 25 percent, said Mohamed Dahech, the CEO of SONEDE, the national water supply authority. With consumption increasing by an average of four percent a year, SONEDE has urged Tunisians to use less water. But Marzouki of Watchwater said more needed to be done. "The state has not put in place the necessary strategies," he said, pointing in particular to decrepit water pipelines that leak 10 to 30 percent of supplies. SONEDE's Dahech said a major issue is unpaid bills, which have reached the equivalent of some 60 million euros so far this year. The government has promised a raft of measures, including unblocking several dam projects and the construction of three desalination plants in the south. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have dismissed nearly 28,000 teachers and suspended almost 9,500 others over alleged links to terrorism, a deputy prime minister said on Monday, pursuing a security crackdown followed a failed coup in July. Turkey has sacked or suspended some 100,000 civil servants including judges, prosecutors, police officers and teachers since a group of rogue soldiers tried to topple the government. At least 40,000 people have been detained for suspected links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the plot. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed U.S. exile since 1999, has denied the accusations and condemned the coup. The scope of the crackdown has raised concern from human rights groups and Turkey's Western allies, who fear President Tayyip Erdogan is using the abortive coup as a pretext to curtail dissent. Teachers in the largely Kurdish southeast of Turkey have been targeted in recent weeks, with authorities citing their alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said nearly 28,000 teachers had been expelled from the profession. Investigations of almost 9,500 suspended teachers were continuing, he said. "As part of our fight against terrorism, necessary measures have been carried out on teachers along with other civil servants assessed to be linked with terrorist organizations," Canikli said. He added that 455 teachers who had previously been removed from duty had been reinstated after inquiries were completed. His comments coincided with the start of a new school term on Monday, following the end of the summer holidays. Immediately after the July 15 coup, authorities shut 15 universities and around 1,000 secondary schools linked to Gulen. The closures left some 200,000 students in academic limbo, wondering if they could continue their studies and worried about the black mark of a Gulen school on their college record. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; writing by David Dolan; editing by Mark Heinrich) At a time when their home country is descending further into political turmoil, two Turkish filmmakers received major awards at the Oldenburg International Film Festival, which concluded Sunday. Emre Konuk's drama The Apprentice, about a modern-day Bartleby who descends into paranoia when he's forced to make changes to his daily routine, won Oldenburg's German Independent Award, the festival's top honor, while first-time director Ruken Tekes scored with The Circle, an intimate portrait of social and racial oppression of Kurds in Turkey, which won the prize for best short film. Oldenburg's Seymour Cassel Award, which honors outstanding achievements in acting, was split, with French actress Nomie Merlant sharing the honor with German veteran Andre Hennicke. Merlant won for her turn as a freshly orphaned teenager on an odyssey through South Africa in Christophe Lioud's Twisting Fate, while Hennicke got the nod for his performance as a former porn actor confronted with unknown progeny in Strawberry Bubblegums, from director Benjamin Teske, which was the fest's opening-night film. Oldenburg's closing night also included the announcement of the nominees for this year's European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI, the honor presented by both the European Film Academy and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) to the best first feature from a European director. Read more: Oldenburg: How the Indie Film Fest Is (Slowly) Going Mainstream This year's nominees include Bogdan Mirica's Dogs from Romania, Jules Herrmann's Liebmann from Germany, Elite Zexer's Israeli drama Sandstorm, the black-and-white Finnish feature The Happiest Day in the Life of Ollie Maki by Juho Kuosmanen and Svetla Tsotsorkova's Thirst from Bulgaria. The European Discovery winner will be announced Dec. 10 at the European Film Awards in Wroclaw, Poland. The Oldenburg awards ceremony was followed by a screening of Joachim Lafosse's marriage drama After Love, which stars Berenice Bejo and Cedric Kahn as an alienated couple trying to find out how they can financially justify their long-overdue separation. Story continues Oldenburg, lovingly described as the biggest little festival in Europe, has markedly perked up in its 23rd edition, due in no small part to the star wattage of Nicolas Cage, who visited the event for the first time and caused quite a frenzy in the usually quiet town. Other notable guests included actress Amanda Plummer, French director Christophe Honore and actress Sonja Kinski, granddaughter of the late legendary actor/enfant terrible Klaus Kinski. Read more: Nicolas Cage Doubly Honored at Oldenburg Film Festival A police official said the curfew has been imposed to maintain law and order in view of the separatists call for a march to the three districts of Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar. People burn effigy of Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti and her party (PDP) during a protest rally against the killings of civilians, in Srinagar on Friday. Photo: PTI By Press Trust of India: Curfew was today clamped in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Kashmir, while it remained in force in some other areas of the Valley including in parts of Srinagar, in view of the separatists call for a protest march to the three districts. Normal life also remained disrupted in the Valley for the 73rd straight day. A police official said that curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and Baramulla districts today, while it remains in force in Shopian and five police station areas of downtown (interior city) along with Batamaloo in uptown Srinagar. advertisement He said the curbs have been imposed to maintain law and order in view of the separatists call for a march to the three districts of Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar. SEPARATISTS CALL FOR PROTEST MARCH The official said restrictions on the assembly of people continued to remain in force in the rest of the Valley. The separatists, in the weekly protest programme, have called for a march to the three districts Baramulla (in north Kashmir), Srinagar (in central Kashmir) and Pulwama (in south Kashmir) today. They have asked the people of north Kashmir districts of Bandipora and Kupwara to march towards Baramulla, people of south Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag to march to Pulwama and people of Central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam to march towards Srinagar. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain paralysed in Kashmir for the 73rd consecutive day due to restrictions and separatist sponsored strike. The separatists, who are spearheading the current agitation in the Valley, have extended the protest programme till September 22. KASHMIR SHUT FOR 73rd CONSECUTIVE DAY Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut, while public transport was off the roads. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain shut. Mobile telephony, except the postpaid connections of BSNL, and the mobile Internet services continued to remain snapped across the Valley. As many as 81 people, including two cops, have been killed in the unrest that broke out a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in South Kashmir on July 8. Also Read: Kashmir unrest: All you want to know --- ENDS --- By Supantha Mukherjee and Narottam Medhora (Reuters) - Twitter Inc said on Monday it would lay off some employees and halt engineering work at one of its development centers in India's technology hub Bengaluru. The layoffs will impact less than 20 employees at the development center, according to a source familiar with the matter. The employees were part of ZipDial, an Indian mobile communications startup bought by Twitter last year, the source said. "Over the past 18 months, we have incorporated the technology and talent of our ZipDial acquisition across our company," said a company spokesperson. Twitter said it remained committed to India as a strategic market and would continue to maintain a presence in the city. The company had 3,860 employees globally as of June 2016. However, it did not disclose the number of employees it had in India. (Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak Dasgupta) ROME (Reuters) - Two Italian citizens have been kidnapped in Libya, Italy's foreign ministry said on Monday. A spokeswoman for the ministry confirmed Italian media reports that the two had been seized in the desert, but gave no further details. The foreign ministry and its crisis unit were following the situation, the spokeswoman said. Sky Italia television said a Canadian had been kidnapped along with the two Italians. (Reporting by Isla Binnie) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two 20-truck aid convoys destined for eastern Aleppo with enough supplies to feed 185,000 people for a month are still stuck in Turkey, a U.N. spokesman said on Monday, hours after a ceasefire in Syria expired. The U.N. has said it does not have sufficient security guarantees from all sides in the conflict, now in its sixth year, to be able to deliver to eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The aid has been sitting at the border for around a week. The U.N. also wants to deliver to other hard-to-reach areas in Syria, but says it has not received necessary permissions from the Syrian government to proceed. The seven-day ceasefire declared by the Syrian army expired at midnight with no announcement of its extension. A Syrian rebel official said the truce had ended, and there was no hope the eastern Aleppo aid would be delivered. Up to 275,000 people remain trapped in that part of Syria's most populous city without food, water, proper shelter or medical care, said U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien. "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo," O'Brien said in a statement. He referred to a 20-truck convoy, the first of two that would have carried flour and other food supplies, enough to feed some 185,000 people for one month, he said. Both convoys are still sitting at the Turkey-Syria border, where they have been for almost a week, U.N. spokesman Jens Laerke said. Humanitarian access to Aleppo hinges on control of the main road into the besieged rebel-held part of the divided city. The road needs to become a demilitarized zone in order for aid to proceed. Russia has said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from the road, but insurgent groups in Aleppo have said they have seen no such move and would not pull back from their own positions around the road until it did so. "I hope that all parties to the conflict, and those with influence over them, would see the convoy as an opportunity to move forward," O'Brien said. "Humanitarian aid must remain neutral, impartial and free of political and military agendas." (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Tom Perry; editing by John Stonestreet) UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An aid convoy was struck while traveling to Orem, in Aleppo governorate, a United Nations spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman could not confirm if it was an air strike. Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed aid trucks near Aleppo late on Monday after a fragile week-long ceasefire ended, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish) By Francois Murphy and Shadia Nasralla VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Monday he would seek a third term, stressing the threat posed by North Korea and the role his inspectors could play in any diplomatic deal with Pyongyang. Yukiya Amano, a 69-year-old career diplomat from Japan, has emphasized that the work of the IAEA - the United Nations nuclear watchdog - is technical, a reference to the more political style of his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei. He was first elected as director general in 2009 with the support of Western powers such as the United States, which had clashed with ElBaradei over Iran's nuclear program. ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. "A number of countries encouraged me to continue to serve as the director general beyond 2017," Amano told a news conference during a quarterly meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors, without specifying which countries. His second four-year term runs until the end of November next year. The IAEA is policing the restrictions placed on Iran's nuclear activities under a deal between Tehran and six major powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - which also lifted sanctions against Iran. While there is no sign those powers oppose a third term for Amano, some diplomats from that group of countries have expressed frustration over what they see as a lack of detail in the IAEA's quarterly reports on Iran's compliance with the deal. Amano is expected to be challenged by an Argentine diplomat, Rafael Grossi, who has chaired the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a club of countries that seeks to prevent nuclear proliferation by restricting exports of sensitive technology. Grossi was not immediately available for comment. Amano's tenure has been marked by the deal between major powers and Iran, reached last year, and by repeated nuclear tests by North Korea, a country that IAEA inspectors have been unable to visit since before Amano's election in 2009. Asked why he wanted a third term, Amano highlighted the Iran deal and North Korea, which he said was "very worrying" and "is a threat to the security of northeast Asia and beyond". "All of this combined means the IAEA is facing huge challenges in the coming years. In order to cope, address these challenges, continuity and unity is very important," he told reporters. The IAEA could also quickly provide inspectors if needed to support any political agreement with North Korea, he said. "The IAEA can play an essential role in the peaceful resolution of (the) North Korea nuclear issue," he said. (Writing by Francois Murphy; Editing by Tom Heneghan) GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, voiced outrage on Monday at an attack on an aid convoy heading to the divided northern city of Aleppo. "Our outrage at this attack is enormous ... the convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians," de Mistura said, in a statement emailed to Reuters by his spokeswoman in Geneva. An aid convoy was struck while traveling to Urm al-Kubra in Aleppo governorate, a United Nations spokesman said on Monday in New York. (Reporting by Tom Miles, writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Kevin Liffey) By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. investigators reported on Monday they found it increasingly difficult to interview newly arrived Syrian refugees in Europe and urged countries to allow access to them to help document suspected war crimes. Their inquiry panel, which says it has a confidential list of suspects on all sides who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity, called again for major powers to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. "We are appealing to countries inside Europe hosting newly arrived Syrian refugees to grant us access and remove any barriers to our work," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told the U.N. Human Rights Council. He declined to name the countries hampering investigators' access to Syrian refugees. Most have gone to Germany and Sweden while others remain stuck in Greece and Italy seeking asylum. "Time is of the essence, particularly if the Commission is to continue preparing well-documented reports on the current situation in the country, rather than reports of a historical nature," Pinheiro said. Vitit Muntarbhorn, a panel member, said it was investigating allegations of chlorine gas being used in the Maqsoud area of Aleppo in April and also of chemical weapons used in August. It was also looking into alleged use of incendiary weapons - both "phosphorus and napalm" - in the Syrian cities of Hama, Homs and part of Damascus, he told Reuters. The panel said earlier this month that it had a database of some 5,000 detailed interviews and information, some of which is being shared with European governments seeking to prosecute their nationals fighting as foreign militants in Syria. "There have been cases of successful prosecution which our information has aided," Pinheiro told the 47-member Geneva forum on Monday without elaboration. Carla del Ponte, a panel member and former U.N. war crimes prosecutor, said: "We need a formal investigation to be done as soon as possible. Time is passing and we must be ready for a future tribunal. Don't forget, 'no peace without justice'." "I think it's time that the Security Council is doing something because it is incredible after five years, no justice for the victims," she told reporters. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday that U.S. coalition air strikes which hit Syrian army positions near Deir al-Zor on Saturday were a "flagrant aggression". Syrian Ambassador Hussam Eddin Aala, addressing the rights council, denounced "this treacherous, deliberate, pre-planned American aggression" that he said had killed dozens of Syrian soldiers and paved the way for an Islamic State attack. Russia has backed Assad in Syria's five-year civil war while the United States has supported non-Islamist rebel forces fighting to topple him. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Tom Heneghan) By PTI: Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has done some vibrant comic roles and mouthed hilarious dialogues, gleefully retorted to Justice Markandey Katjus criticism of the actor having "nothing inside his head". "He (Katju) is right I dont have anything inside my mind. He is right...My head is khalas (finished)," Bachchan said when asked about the comment made on him by the former Supreme Court Judge, known for his hard-hitting and often controversial views on a rash of issues. advertisement At a time when the veteran actor is receiving praise for his performance in "Pink", a social thriller which revolves around the issue of womens empowerment, Justice Katju had a different take on his on-screen talent. On September 17, the ex-Judge posted on his his social media page, "Amitabh Bachchan is a man with nothing in his head, and since most mediapersons praise him, I doubt there is anything in their heads too." "We were in same school. He was my senior. There is no rivalry," said the 73-year-old actor in response to a question at a press conference. PTI KKP RSY SHD SRE --- ENDS --- WARSAW (Reuters) - Opposition politicians were at a sharp disadvantage in Russia's parliamentary election because of limits on freedom of expression and barriers that made it hard for them to register, a U.S. human rights envoy said on Monday. "The elections were well administered, but there were also significant restrictions to the rights of free expression and assembly," Tom Malinowski, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, told reporters. The ruling United Russia party took three-quarters of the seats, providing a likely springboard for President Vladimir Putin to seek re-election to another term in the Kremlin in 2018. Liberal opposition parties failed to win a single seat in the weekend election. "There were obstacles to the registration of political parties and candidates," Malinowski said in Warsaw, where he was attending a conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on human rights and democracy. "For all these reasons, it remains very, very hard for non-systemic political parties and candidates in Russia to compete with the ruling party." Earlier on Monday, the OSCE criticized the elections, saying they had been marred by curbs on basic rights and a lack of distinct political alternatives. (Reporting by Wojciech Strupczewski and Maria Wejcman; Writing by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Mark Trevelyan) NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it was working to extend a cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria but called on Russia to first clarify a statement by the Syrian army that the truce was over. "Our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regime's compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. There had been a measure of reduced violence since the truce was agreed but not seven consecutive days of calm as called for under the deal, Kirby added. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Dan Grebler) KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling was little changed on Monday but traders said they expected it to weaken gradually this week due to an expected rise in dollar demand from importers. At 1123 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,376/3,386, little changed from Friday's close of 3,375/3,385. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Duncan Miriri) Geneva (AFP) - The UN's humanitarian chief said Monday he was "pained" that aid convoys had not deployed to eastern Aleppo, as a ceasefire in Syria teetered on the brink of collapse. The delivery of desperately needed supplies to Aleppo's rebel-held east and besieged areas across the country was a key component of the truce agreed by the United States and Russia that came into force last week. But UN trucks carrying life-saving supplies destined for Aleppo have been stuck in a buffer zone between the Turkish and Syrian borders since early last week. "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care," said a statement from Stephen O'Brien, who heads the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA). The US-Russia deal included specific measures aimed at getting aid into eastern Aleppo. The pact called for Syrian troops to withdraw from the Castello Road supply route into the city, which regime forces seized in early July, cutting off aid to Aleppo's east. The UN has said its trucks would not roll until Washington and Moscow signalled that the Castello Road was clear and safe. Addressing the UN rights council on Monday, the head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, sounded a further call for "unimpeded, sustained and rapid humanitarian access to all those in need." "Roadblocks made of red tape are just as effective as roadblocks made of weapons of war," he told the council. Meanwhile, fears mounted Monday that the fragile truce was failing. Regime ally Russia and the US, which backs some opposition groups, have blamed each other for cracks in the ceasefire. Moscow and Damascus have blasted Washington over airstrikes that killed scores of Syrian soldiers on Saturday in Deir Ezzor, which is partly held by the Islamic State group. The Pentagon has conceded that Syrian troops may have been hit in the raid targeting IS. Syria's envoy to the UN in Geneva, Hussam Edin Aala, charged in the rights council that the US strikes were "planned and deliberate." Vienna (AFP) - UN atomic watchdog head Yukiya Amano said Monday he will seek a third term in office beyond 2017, saying the agency needs "continuity" to face difficult times ahead. Amano said that the "huge challenges" facing the International Atomic Energy Agency include North Korea's nuclear weapons and stopping nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands. "In order to address these challenges, continuity and unity are very important. This is the reason why I am running for a third term," the veteran Japanese diplomat, 69, told a regular news conference. He added that several member states had encouraged him to run. Amano has been director general of the Vienna-based IAEA since December 2009 and his current term expires in November 2017. Amano was a contentious choice when first elected nearly seven years ago, with many countries seeing him as a US puppet. US diplomatic cables quoted by WikiLeaks described him as being "solidly in the US court on every key strategic decision". But four years later, he appeared to have won over many detractors and was easily re-elected in 2013. So far, diplomats in Vienna have been guarded on whether they will support him staying on. Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic on Monday revised a death toll for weekend clashes in the heart of the nation down to six. "The total number of people killed was six," MINUSCA force chief Herve Verhoosel said in a statement, adding that an investigation into the deadly violence was under way. A police source told AFP on Sunday that at least 20 people had been killed and several more injured since Friday in clashes pitting ex-Seleka rebel fighters against the anti-Balaka militia. "Ex-Seleka" is the term used for remnants of the supposedly disbanded alliance of mainly-Muslim armed groups which seized power in the CAR in late 2013. The groups fought vigilantes from the mainly Christian anti-Balaka (machete) militia before being chased from the capital the following year. On September 16, in Ndomete in the centre of the country, "ex-Seleka members clashes with the anti-Balaka", MINUSCA said, adding that peacekeepers "dispersed fighters from both sides." "These clashes left four people dead," the peacekeeping force said. Two other people died in Kaga Bandoro some 10 kilometres (six miles) to the north, after the houses of several peacekeepers were looted, MINUSCA said. In a statement on Sunday, the UN mission said it had sent troop reinforcements to Kaga Bandoro and the village of Ndomete, which was particularly affected by the violence, "to prevent any deterioration of the situation." Kaga Bandoro is the fiefdom of the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC), an ex-Seleka splinter group. It is led by Noureddine Adam, who faces international sanctions for his alleged role in intercommunal killings in 2013 and 2014. Violence in CAR over recent years has claimed thousands of lives and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, even if the presence of French and UN troops has gone some way to improving security. CHICAGO (Reuters) - Package delivery company United Parcel Service Inc said on Monday it will expand its 3D printing services to Asia with a new facility in Singapore run by its partner Fast Radius that will open by the end of 2016. UPS rolled out a similar service in May in the United States. The company owns an undisclosed stake in Fast Radius, which has a 3D printing factory at the Atlanta-based package delivery company's hub in Louisville. In the United States, UPS customers can have parts printed at the Fast Radius factory or at one of 60 UPS Stores equipped with 3D printers and then shipped to them. UPS also plans a 3D printing hub in Europe. The company sees 3D printing as a potential threat to its warehousing business where it stores parts for manufacturers, so its strategy is to embrace the new technology and incorporate it into its business model instead. Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing works by laying down successive levels of material, mostly plastics at this point, to create an object. (Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) A-10 The hullabaloo surrounding the future of the US Air Forces A-10 Thunderbolt II has been endless. Its effectiveness on the battlefield has been proven with servicemembers on the ground going as far as calling it their guardian angel in the heat of battle. Equipped with an arsenal of weapons, including its notorious 30mm Gatling gun, its not hard to see why the A-10 commands such respect. However, even with its impressive resume, the Air Force continues to float plans to replace the A-10 after 40 years of service. Even so, a Defense News interview with a US Air Force official indicated that a compromise may be on the negotiating table. Lt. Gen. James M. Holmes, the US Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Requirements, explained that a new light attack aircraft could be introduced that would not outright replace the fleet of nearly 300 A-10s, but instead, supplement them starting as early as 2017. In doing so, Defense News reports that this new light aircraft, called Observation, Attack, Experimental (OA-X), would give commanders a cheap alternative to fight insurgents, compared to the costs of operating the A-10 and other fighter aircraft. Do you believe that this war that we're fighting to counter violent extremists is going to last another 15 years? Holmes asked in the Defense News interview. If you believe it does, and our chief believes it will, then you have to think about keeping a capability that's affordable to operate against those threats so that you're not paying high costs per flying hour to operate F-35s and F-22s to chase around guys in pickup trucks. However, that doesnt necessarily preclude the A-10 being outright replaced. Defense News reported that the Air Force began floating an A-10 replacement possibility in July. Under the proposal, the Air Force would conduct close air support (CAS) missions with the A-10 with a supporting cheap OA-X in low-threat environments. Story continues Under the proposal, the Air Force would at a later date also acquire a fleet of future A-X aircraft that would perform in medium-threat environments and eventually replace the A-10. Also on the table was the possibility of pushing back the projected retirement date of the A-10 from 2022 due to the high operational costs of the Air Forces latest fifth-generation fighters. It should be noted, however, that the annual cost of the A-10 program costs less than 2% of the Air Force's budget. In 2014, it was also reported that the A-10 costed about $11,500 per hour to operate about a third of the hourly cost of the militarys latest F-35 Lightning II. NOW WATCH: The Air Force's A-10 Warthog targets ISIS fighters with this massive gatling gun More From Business Insider The nine-member group had gone to take a bath in the river when an unexpected water level washed them away. By Revathi Rajeevan: Six people were washed away in flash floods in Kadanthra river in Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. The six were part of a nine-member group who went to take bath in the river on Sunday evening. An unexpected rise in water level washed away all nine of them, out of which three were rescued by the locals. The deceased have been identified as Rajeesh and Sajin Sasi. Police said that the third body is yet to be identified. advertisement Also read: Kerala to file review plea this week against Soumya verdict NO WARNING BY AUTHORITIES Locals told media that the rains inside forest led to such sudden floods which people are not usually aware of when they go to the river. The locals also pointed out that there are no warning signs or boards near the area. All nine are natives of Kozhikode aged between 18 and 25. The post mortem of the deceased will be done at the Kuttyadi hospital in the district. Rescue operations are underway to find the missing persons. --- ENDS --- United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United States and France on Monday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to set an election date amid growing unrest, with Washington protesting harassment of a US envoy. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called the situation in the vast African country "very dangerous and extremely worrying" amid fears that President Joseph Kabila plans to hold on to power. Kabila has ruled the war-torn, mineral-rich former Belgian colony since 2001, when he succeeded his slain father. He is banned by the constitution from running for a third term but has given no sign that he plans to give up his job or hold elections. At least 17 people died in clashes Monday, according to a government minister, with fears for further violence as the opposition plans a major rally. "The constitutional order must be respected," Ayrault told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations. "What matters is the date of elections," he said. "If they're delayed endlessly, that means that Kabila intends to stay in power," he said. "That's a situation that is not acceptable." State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States was "disappointed" by the election commission's failure to set a date and "deeply alarmed" by the violence. He said Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for the Great Lakes region who had spent 10 days in Kinshasa encouraging dialogue, faced "physical obstruction and verbal aggression" as he flew out on Sunday. Perriello, a former US congressman, is well-known in Kinshasa and was harassed in an area of the airport tightly controlled by government authorities, Kirby said. "The US government protests this treatment of its envoy in the strongest possible terms," Kirby said in a statement. He said that the United States was ready to impose sanctions on anyone "responsible for perpetrating violence or repression" amid the political crisis. A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged security forces to show "maximum restraint" and asked political leaders to "address their differences peacefully." Ban "urges all concerned political leaders and their supporters to refrain from any further violence that could exacerbate the situation," a statement said. Kandahar (Afghanistan) (AFP) - A US air raid has killed eight Afghan policemen who were battling the Taliban, officials said Monday, the first apparent "friendly fire" incident since American forces were given greater powers to strike at insurgents. The incident happened on Sunday in the Tali area of the southern province of Uruzgan, where the Taliban recently attempted to overrun the provincial capital Tarin Kot in a major security breach. "The first air strike killed one policeman. When other policemen came to help, they came under a second air strike, killing seven of them," Rahimullah Khan, highway police commander in the southern province, told AFP. "It could not be unintentional," Khan added. Mohammad Sediq, a policeman who survived the attack, said their forces were "engaged in close fighting" with the Taliban when they were bombed. The NATO command centre in Kabul confirmed US warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted individuals posing a threat to Afghan forces. "US forces conducted two air strikes against individuals firing on... our Afghan partners in Tarin Kot on 18 September," NATO spokesman Charles Cleveland said in a statement. "We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking (Afghan) forces. US, coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense, and in this case were responding to an immediate threat." Civilian and military casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the 15-year campaign against Taliban insurgents, prompting harsh public and government criticism. A US air strike killed up to 10 Afghan soldiers in July last year at an army checkpoint in Logar province south of Kabul, one of the deadliest episodes of "friendly fire" by foreign forces in recent years. NATO officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but US forces in June were given more power to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign. Story continues The new authority gave the US-led NATO troops greater latitude to order air strikes in support of Afghan troops. Earlier this month Afghan forces backed by US air strikes mounted an offensive to flush out Taliban insurgents encircling Tarin Kot. Afghan forces repelled the attack hours later, bolstered by reinforcements. Uruzgan, a remote province with a huge opium production, is one of the biggest flashpoints in the Taliban insurgency that erupted after a US-led invasion brought down their regime in 2001. While "friendly fire" incidents involving foreign coalition forces are a volatile issue in Afghanistan, UN statistics show that the Taliban are responsible for most deaths. New York (AFP) - US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Monday predicted that the world's largest economy would have legislation by the end of the decade to combat climate change. His optimism comes despite intense political debate in the United States with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowing to scrap the Paris climate accord if elected on November 8. But Moniz, opening the annual Climate Week of events in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said that US public opinion and state and local policymakers were moving toward reducing carbon responsible for the planet's fast-rising temperatures. "I will state quite frankly, I have a bet riding on the fact that we will have economy-wide legislation in the Congress by the end of this decade. I really believe that this is coming," he said, joking that as a physicist he believed in "rationality." Legislation to create the first nationwide carbon caps in the United States, the world's second-largest emitter after China, died in the Senate in 2010, with little prospect seen for action after the Republicans took control. President Barack Obama instead has relied on executive authority to take measures such as regulating power plants and fuel standards. Moniz said that the United States was confident it would meet its goal submitted under the Paris accord of reducing emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, from 2005 levels. "But I think there's no issue that rather than a sectoral approach, which is inherent in using administrative authorities, a simplified economy-wide approach would be preferable and, frankly, would be a lot clearer in terms of the signals for business," Moniz said. The United Nations is hoping that this week's meetings will put in force the Paris accord, which requires formal agreement by 55 countries accounting for 55 percent of global emissions. The accord got a major boost earlier this month when Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly committed themselves to the global climate pact. New York (AFP) - Even as a new barrage of bombs and shells pummeled besieged Aleppo once again on Monday, the United States refused to abandon efforts to broker a ceasefire. US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed annoyance that Russia had publicly declared a week-old ceasefire "pointless" without consulting Washington. And he insisted that Moscow must work harder to rein in its Syrian ally, even as regime forces returned to the offensive around the northern city of Aleppo. A meeting of the 23-nation International Syrian Support Group was called for Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to build support for the truce. But Kerry was forced to admit the week-old ceasefire -- which he protested was "holding but fragile" -- had not led to a significant delivery of humanitarian aid. And that Russia has not upheld its end of a ceasefire deal which would have seen Moscow and the US set up a military coordination cell. Kerry told reporters: "We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods." Under the terms of their agreement, the US was supposed to rein in opposition forces and Moscow was to ensure its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad halted attacks. But the Syrian military announced Monday that after seven days it is ending its participation in the ceasefire, blaming the rebels for repeated breaches of the truce. Apparently errant US-led air strikes at the weekend, which Moscow says killed 62 Syrian soldiers, likely didn't help. Kerry reacted testily to the declaration, but implied there was time to save the deal. "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this," he told reporters. "And I think it's, as I said yesterday, time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods. "So we just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods, and let's see where we are. Story continues "We're happy to have a good conversation with them and see how we proceed," he said, of the Russian side. After Kerry went into more bilateral meetings, the State Department issued a statement to clarify the US position and insist on the need for more consultations. - Continued attacks - "Despite continued attacks by the regime on opposition positions, we have witnessed a measure of reduced violence over the last week," spokesman John Kirby said. "But we have not seen a sustained flow of relief supplies. Indeed, deliveries only began today and only then in limited areas." "We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities, while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance. "We will be consulting with our Russian counterparts to continue to urge them to use their influence on Assad to these ends." Kirby noted the Syrian declaration that the ceasefire is over. But he added: "Our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regime's compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position." French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault sounded pessimistic, but said the US-Russian dialogue was the only opportunity on offer to end the fighting. "It must retain a glimmer of hope," he said. "It is the only basis the international community can draw on." Under the deal, if the level of fighting had dropped for seven days and aid had gotten through, the US and Russian militaries were to have set up a joint targeting cell in Geneva. That would enable them to carry out more accurate strikes on the Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly the Al Nusra Front. US and Russian officers met Monday in Geneva, but the defense ministry in Moscow said it would be "pointless" to continue the truce in the face of rebel violations. Veeps Julia Louis-Dreyfus scored her fifth straight Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series win tonight, tying Candice Bergen and Don Knotts for the most wins by a performer for the same role in the same show. Shes also now notched up six total wins for Lead Actress including one for The New Adventures Of Old Christine, and one for Supporting Actress on Seinfeld in 1996 to take the total to seven and tying her with Allison Janney and Mary Tyler Moore for trophies to a female performer. Cloris Leachman still leads with eight. Her fifth Veep win as Selina Meyer comes for a season that saw a change in showrunner as creator Armando Iannucci departed (amicably) at the end of the fourth and Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm alum David Mandel took his place. Louis-Dreyfus told Deadline earlier this year that she definitely wanted to continue. I did not want to walk away from this. Tonight, she thanked Mandel for letting me trick him into running the show. She also took the opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire, but it now feels more like a sobering documentary so I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it. The visibly emotional Louis-Dreyfus wrapped up the speech by thanking her father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday. As she fought back tears, she said, Im so glad he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered. In total, Louis-Dreyfus has actually won eight statues which includes one as exec producer on Outstanding Comedy Series winner Veep last year. She could make it nine later this evening with the show again in that race. Also nominated in the category tonight were Laurie Metcalf (Getting On), Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish), Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Lily Tomlin (Grace And Frankie) and Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer). Story continues Related stories Facebook Fans Show Up for Emmys Telecast Despite Low Ratings Emmy Awards Hits All-Time Low Of 11.3M Viewers; Down Hard From 2015 In Demo Emmys: Winners (And Losers) Celebrate Into The Wee Hours; What You Didn't See On TV CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Global oil supply of 94 million barrels per day needs to fall by about a tenth if it is to match consumption, Venezuela's Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said on Monday. Del Pino, whose country is pressing for OPEC and non-OPEC producers to reach a deal to bolster crude prices, said a "fair price" would be around $70 per barrel. "Global production is at 94 million barrels per day, of which we need to go down 9 million barrels per day to sustain the level of consumption," he said in an interview with state oil company PDVSA's internal TV station. Del Pino is also president of PDVSA. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching a deal to stabilize oil markets. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria from Sept. 26 to 28. Non-OPEC producer Russia is also attending the forum. (Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) By PTI: Colombo, Sept 19 (PTI) Sri Lanka today condemned the terror attack on an Indian military base in Kashmir and reaffirmed the "urgent need for sustained" regional and global cooperation to eliminate terrorism. "In the hour of grief, the Government of Sri Lanka offers its condolences to the families of the victims of the attack," a foreign ministry statement said. advertisement "Sri Lanka, as a country, that has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism," it said. Sri Lanka reiterates the urgent need for sustained regional and global cooperation to eliminate the menace of terrorism, the statement added. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmirs Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel. All four terrorists were neutralised. Another jawan today succumbed to his injuries. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. PTI CORR SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- ROME Despite skepticism that it would ever make it into cinemas, Filipino auteur Lav Diazs nearly four-hour-long opus The Woman Who Left, which won the Venice Film Festivals Golden Lion, is set for theatrical release in Italy by local niche distributor Microcinema. Microcinema has acquired Italian rights to the revenge drama from Berlin-based Films Boutique and plans to distribute it theatrically in coming months, in spite of comments in the press and on social media that the movies 228-minute running time made it too hard a sell. Sam Mendes, who presided over this years Venice jury, said during the awards ceremony that one of the jurys jobs is to encourage people to come to the cinema and see original films, while also noting that the jurors in discussions talked about all movies the same way. Mendes and the jury chose to give the Golden Lion to a film that thinks outside the box, said Microcinema managing director Roberto Bassano. And we are also planning to think a bit different. Bassano acknowledged that releasing The Woman Who Left, which stars Charo Santos-Cancio as a wrongly convicted schoolteacher facing the outside world after 30 years behind bars, would be a business challenge both in terms of finding ticket buyers and exhibitors unfazed by the double screen time taken up by the movie. But he said that several art-house exhibitors, and also some Italian multiplexes in metropolitan areas, have already expressed interest. Its a slow burner, the kind of film you open small and expect to have legs on a few screens, Bassano said. An Italian release of The Woman Who Left would mark the first time a movie directed by Diaz made it into Italian cinemas, and also a rare release of one of his films in Europe. Upcoming Italian releases by Microcinema, which uses a satellite transmission system to beam movies into movie theaters, include Argentinian romcom No Kids, directed by Ariel Winograd. The Woman Who Left, shot in black-and-white with long fixed-camera takes, is considered one of Diazs more accessible works, with a restrained run-time by the Filipino directors standards, as Variety critic Guy Lodge put it. Story continues Earlier this year, the prolific Diaz won the Berlin Film Festivals Silver Bear for his eight-hour historical epic, A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery. That film was released theatrically in the Philippines by Star Cinema and elsewhere only screened in festivals. Related stories Venice Film Review: 'The Woman Who Left' Venice: Natalie Portman Talks About the Dangers of Playing 'Jackie' Venice: Winners Announced of Final Cut Workshop for Films From Africa, Arab World Jason Calacanis Jason Calacanis wants to build the next media empire on the back of an old standby: email, specifically email newsletters. On Monday, Calacanis launched a site called Inside.com, which functions as a Kickstarter-style system for identifying topics ripe for their own recurring top news of the day email newsletter. Topics that snag 1,000 sign-ups will see their own newsletters produced by Calacanis team. The building blocks of the newsletters will be two or three sentence summaries of stories from major publications, and links out to those stories. We are going to launch 250 of these [newsletters], Calacanis tells Business Insider. His current "beta" roster includes eight newsletters, which range from Inside San Francisco to Inside Electric Vehicles. Collectively they have built a collective audience of over 100,000 over the past eight months, he says. The problem with news apps Calacanis is the active angel investor and serial entrepreneur who sold Weblogs to AOL for $30 million in 2005. But it was a frustrating moment in his career that led him to Inside.com, not one of his successes. We tried to make a news app, he explains. It would be the Uber or Twitter of news Everyone agreed with that premise. There was a whole cohort [of startups] that were invested in to do that And they have all failed pretty hard. Calacanis ascribes this failure to two thing: app-building is expensive from a technical perspective, and getting a news app into peoples daily workflows is extremely hard. Half a million people downloaded the app, and about half gave their email," he recounts. "Only one percent of them used the app every day. So Calacanis started an experiment. His team would email the top 10 stories of the day to the email addresses they had gotten. They saw 40% usage versus less than 1% on the app. 40x the return, he says. And it cost 90% less. We didnt need any of the developers. Story continues Screen Shot 2016 09 18 at 5.06.37 PM The audience relationship Calacanis isnt the only one to discover the power of a lean email newsletter operation. For instance, the morning briefing cult hit TheSkimm, which launched in 2012, had grown to over 3.5 million subscribers as of April. But Calacanis is banking on a relationship with his audience to drive Inside.com to success. The first piece of that relationship is letting the audience pick the newsletters that get made through the Kickstarter-inspired system. The second is the ability for readers to reply to any of the newsletters and have their emails be read by the team. We are actually spending about a third of our time encouraging people to reply and then interacting with them, he says. If I reply, somebody will actually get back to me. That really changed everything. Readers are correcting the newsletters, correcting the source material, and participating in an ongoing discussion about whether the newsletters are too left-leaning. Are we treating Hillary with kid gloves? Calacanis asks. And he says this relationship will continue to evolve. This intimate reader relationship is also what Calacanis says will help his team lean away from linkbait. People who sign up for the email are opting into curation, he says. These readers arent just seeing a headline pass them by on social media, so theres not the necessity for a big hook to get them interested. Instead, the content of the email is focused on a succinct summary of each story. Its an executive summary [of the news] in the vertical or verticals that you care about, he says. Even if readers dont click through to all of the articles, Calacanis wants his readers to walk away informed. And hes not worried about publications feeling he is stealing the meat of their stories. If you are fair to people, they will respect fair use. If you are unfair, people will sue you and write letters, he says. The money question As to money, Calacanis sees revenue coming from both ads and patronage. 1-5% of people who consume media want to support it, he says. But the big key to success will be keeping costs down, Calacanis says. Theres no infrastructure, no printing press, no fancy office, no big level of mid-management. Theres two or three writers working on a vertical, and they can hit publish. We think this is the key to scaling it, he says. NOW WATCH: Hidden Facebook tricks you need to know More From Business Insider Sept 19 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners Management LLC has agreed to acquire Infoblox Inc , a U.S. network security firm targeted by activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP, for $1.6 billion, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday. Vista Equity will pay $26.50 per share in cash for Infoblox, the person said. Reuters had reported last month the company had launched an auction to sell itself after coming under pressure from Starboard to do so. The deal, which is expected to be announced as early as Monday, was first reported by Fortune Magazine. The source asked not to be identified because the deal is not yet public. Vista Equity declined to comment, while Info did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum) 19 Sep - Wallace Huo has recently won a case against two news portals for reporting that he was involved in hiring prostitutes. As reported on Libberty Times News, back in 2014, following the sex scandals of Huang Haibo and Wang Quan'an who were arrested after being caught soliciting prostitutes, more and more stars were said to have been involved in a similar scandal. A woman later came forward and alleged that they were paid by a Taiwanese actor surnamed H a lot of money to keep quiet about his own involvement. While the woman didn't give out any actual names, the two news portals alleged that she was talking about Wallace. On 16 September, the Chinese Haidian Court ruled that the two had damaged Wallace's image, and asked for them to pay RMB 80,000 (USD 11,899) and RMB 20,000 (USD 2,974) each to the actor, and also pay for the litigation expenses. Geneva (AFP) - UN war crimes investigators on Monday asked European countries to "remove barriers" to their work by giving them unhindered access to newly arrived Syrian refugees. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which has been investigating human rights violations and war crimes in the country for the past five years, warned that the shift in refugee flows towards Europe had complicated its job. "It has become more difficult to access victims and witnesses with fresh information," commission chief Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "We are appealing to countries inside Europe hosting newly arrived Syrian refugees to grant us access and remove any barriers to our work," he said, as he presented the commission's latest report to the council. Pinheiro refused to specify which European nations he was referring to, telling reporters only that the commission had been "in contact with several countries," adding that the investigators had received "assurances that we will have some positive answers." The investigators have never gained access to Syria itself, instead relying on nearly 4,600 interviews in the region and from Geneva, as well as pictures, medical records and other documents for its findings. Pinheiro stressed Monday the importance of accessing new arrivals from Syria, who could help the commission document new phases in the drawn-out conflict that has cost more than 300,000 lives. Their testimonies could prove essential to investigators compiling confidential lists of suspected war criminals and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. The aim would be to use the information they gather in future prosecution, including at the International Criminal Court. The commission's appeals to refer Syria to the ICC have however stalled in the UN Security Council. Commission member and veteran former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte voiced frustration Monday at the lack of accountability for the horrendous crimes committed in Syria. Story continues "I think it's time that the Security Council is doing something, because it is incredible after five years (there is) no justice for the victims," she told reporters. Investigator Vitit Muntarbhorn meanwhile said the commission was probing allegations that "incendiary weapons", including phosphorus and napalm, were used in three different locations in Syria. In its 12th report, published earlier this month, the commission said it was investigating claims that chlorine gas, a chemical weapon, was used in Aleppo in April. Muntarbhorn said they were also investigating another possible use of chlorine gas last month, but did not specify the location. A separate UN investigative panel concluded last month that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and one in 2015. It also found that Islamic State group jihadists had used mustard gas to attack the town of Marea in Aleppo province in August 2015. Beijing (AFP) - China's banking sector could be facing an imminent debt crisis, a global central bank watchdog has warned, fuelling fresh fears of a blowout in the world's second largest economy which could hit the global financial system. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) -- dubbed the central bank of central banks -- said a gauge of Chinese debt had hit a record high in the first quarter of the year. China's credit-to-GDP gap reached 30.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, its highest level ever and far above the 10 percent level thought to present a risk to a country's banking system, the Switzerland-based bank said in a quarterly report released late Sunday. The gauge measures the difference between a country's current credit-to-GDP ratio and its long-term trend. The BIS gave China a red signal: a warning that it could face a financial crisis in the next three years. China's total debt hit 168.48 trillion yuan ($25 trillion) at the end of last year, equivalent to 249 percent of national GDP, the China Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank, has estimated. The warning comes as Beijing tries to avoid a "hard landing" for the economy while transforming it from one based on state investment and exports to consumer-led growth. Analysts have warned that the ballooning borrowing risks sparking a financial crisis as bad loans and bond defaults increase. - Global impact - Because China is a key driver of world growth, a crisis in its banking sector could have catastrophic implications around the world, with the global economy still struggling to recover from the 2008 financial crisis. China's credit-to-GDP gap for the period was well above all other countries in the survey, which covered 43 economies including the United States, Greece and the United Kingdom. The BIS early-warning indicators are intended to capture "financial overheating and potential financial distress" in the medium term and to highlight the fact that rapid credit growth could "sow the seeds" for future crises, it said. Story continues China's "Big Four" state-owned banks reported mounting bad loans in the first half of the year. Earlier in the summer an official with the banking regulator said lenders had written off more than $300 billion of bad loans in the past three years. Authorities have unveiled a set of policies intended to tackle the problem of souring loans, including debt-for-equity swaps. Analysts say the country's vast foreign-exchange reserves and control over the banking system could help cushion the economy from financial crises. "Cleaning up Chinas debt problem will be expensive, but this process is likely to result in gradually slower economic growth rates, greater volatility, and a higher fiscal deficit/GDP ratio, not the dramatic hard landing or banking crisis" that many fear, said Andy Rothman of Matthews Asia in a note. And because most potential bad Chinese debt is held by state-controlled companies and banks, Beijing has control over the pace of recognising and dealing with bad loans, he said. But the impact of a debt crisis could be widespread, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Its number two official David Lipton said this summer it was "crucially important" for the world economy that China tackle its debt problem, since "we have learned over and over in the past 20 years how disruptions in one countrys economy and markets can reverberate worldwide". The risk of a debt crisis in China remains manageable "though it's undoubtedly growing", Qiang Liao, senior director at S&P Global Ratings, told AFP, adding that the global impact of such a crisis through disrupted trade flows, investment, and changes in risk appetite "could be huge, given the size of the Chinese economy". By India Today Web Desk: Lauren Gottlieb is a wonderful performer, every time she dances; she sets the stage on fire. But did you know that Lauren is as wonderful a writer, as she is a dancer? Yes, the woman is multi-talented. Lauren recently posted a pretty looking picture of St. Stephen's Cathedral (Austria) on her personal Instagram account. But what caught our eyes was not just the beauty of the said picture, but the beauty of the emotions that Lauren expressed in her writing about her grandfather in the description space of the picture. advertisement Also read:This letter by TV actress Shveta Salve to her unborn baby will melt your heart The talented dancer wrote a lengthy and detailed piece on her grandfather who had passed away from pancreatic cancer a decade ago. Here is an excerpt from her writing; Just about 10 years ago my grandpa was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was devastating for our family as this cancer works really fast. At the time I was on So You Think You Can Dance. When our tour came to my hometown of Arizona our entire extended family of about 50 people gathered at my house. My grandpa said I was the family angel who brought us all together one last time for him. I got the news of his passing a few hours before our final tour show and needless to say I was devastated. Yesterday I was in Vienna, Austria and went to visit the St. Stephen's Cathedral. As I sat in complete awe of the church all I could think about was him. It was here in Austria where he grew up. It was here in Austria where his childhood was taken away when Hitler came to kill all the Jews. It was here in Austria where Nuns hid him from the Nazi's in a convent for over 2 years separated from his parents. And it was here in Austria where he survived the war, reunited with my great grandparents, and set out for America. I was so overwhelmed with emotion I burst into tears in the middle of the church? advertisement Well, we are pretty sure that Lauren's grandfather would have been super-proud of her today, considering all that she has managed to achieve under such a short span of time. --- ENDS --- advertisement Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f21244%2fgettyimages-160626325 Stop what you're doing because we've found it the most "aw" inducing animal video ever. The RSPCA animal shelter in Victoria, Australia, recently put out a call to animal lovers to donate their old pet's beds to the charity. The hand-me-down beds were then gifted to 100 cats and dogs still awaiting their "forever homes." The resulting video is bitter sweet at once cute and heartbreaking. Somebody adopt these precious little guys! As the RSPCA is a not-for-profit organisation, donations such as these make a sizeable impact on the well-being of the pets and animals in their care. The emotional weight of the video could only be improved if Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was playing over the top. You've been warned. James Corden joins Pharrell to pitch ad to Apple Music execs in new commercial Humpback whale scares the crap out of a few dudes on a peaceful fishing trip Twist and shout to Ferris Buellers Day Off in 8-bit graphics 'Overwatch' hack uses turntables to control musical hero Lucio By Will Boggs MD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new "flash" blood sugar monitoring system cuts down on episodes of low blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes, researchers say. Low-blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, can be dangerous in diabetics. Sometimes called an insulin reaction, or insulin shock, severe cases of hypoglycemia can lead to unconsciousness and seizures. The new Freestyle Libre sensor, a small device thats worn on the upper arm, automatically checks blood sugar every 15 minutes and stores the information. A separate reader device, when held close to the sensor, can display current glucose level, glucose readings over the past 8 hours, and whether glucose has been rising or falling. This can be repeated as often as desired. Patients "marked increase in self-monitoring frequency after they started using the Freestyle Libre device resulted in an almost immediate reduction in hypoglycemia both during day- and night-time, Dr. Jan Bolinder from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden told Reuters Health by email. Dr. Bolinder and colleagues from 23 European hospitals compared the new glucose monitoring technology to conventional self-monitoring of blood glucose for prevention of hypoglycemia in 239 adults whose type 1 diabetes was already well controlled. They randomly assigned patients to use one technique or the other, and they focused on the amount of time patients blood sugar was low over a 24-hour period. This "time in hypoglycemia" decreased by 38% from almost 3.5 hours per day to 2 hours per day with the new monitoring system, but it barely changed in the group that continued to use conventional self-monitoring. In fact, all measures of low blood sugar were significantly better with flash glucose monitoring both during the day and overnight. According to the September 12th report in The Lancet, time spent with high blood sugar was also reduced to a greater extent in patients in the flash monitoring group than with conventional monitoring. The researchers think these improvements resulted from increased attention to blood glucose levels. Patients in the flash monitoring group checked their blood sugar an average of 15 times a day, compared with only about six times a day in the conventional monitoring group. The reductions in time spent in hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) did not translate into differences in hemoglobin A1c levels, insulin doses, or quality-of-life between the groups, however. For many individuals, hypoglycemia is a barrier to optimum glucose control, the researchers conclude. Novel sensor-based systems to monitor glucose hold great promise as an effective alternative to conventional self-monitoring of blood glucose. My guess is that this type of device will replace conventional (finger-prick) self-monitoring of capillary blood glucose in subjects with insulin-treated diabetes in the near future, Dr. Bolinder said. Dr. Roman Hovorka from the University of Cambridge in the UK, who coauthored a commentary published with the study, told Reuters Health, "For those who are very well controlled, wearing Libre reduces hypoglycemia and promotes frequent glucose monitoring. The device tends to be (nearly) cost neutral this is great benefit driving adoption even if not reimbursed. The Freestyle Libre sensor is manufactured by Abbott and is presently available only in Europe, although the company is working to get it approved in the United States. Abbott sponsored the study and has financial relationships with all of the researchers. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2cprAUS and http://bit.ly/2cKDfhI The Lancet, online September 12, 2016. Troubles have been intensifying at Wells Fargo & Company WFC following its $190-million settlement to resolve regulators claims of illegally opening millions of unauthorized accounts. On Friday, three customers in Utah filed a lawsuit against the banking giant for fraud, breach of contract and invasion of privacy. The lawsuit, the first one that emerged tied with the scandal, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Utah, and seeks class-action status on behalf of thousands of customers. According to the complaint, the "abusive and fraudulent tactics" undertaken by the banks employees in order to meet sales targets has hurt customers. The plaintiffs noted, Those failing to meet daily sales quotas are approached by management, and often reprimanded and/or told to do whatever it takes to meet their individual sales quotas. The plaintiffs alleged that the bank has invaded customers privacy and failed to protect their confidential information. The plaintiffs further claimed that though the bank executives were well aware of employees misusing the system, they failed to take proper action. In fact, several executives were awarded promotion for shoring up the banks figures. The plaintiffs referred Wells Fargos firing of around 5,300 employees as cosmetic with the banks intention to offer plausible deniability. Notably, The U.S. Department of Justice has also launched an investigation that may result in civil or criminal charges. Further Probe In further fallout from the fake account scam, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, announced earlier on Friday, that it has commenced an investigation into the bank. As part of the probe, the committee intends to call John Stumpf Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo to testify at a hearing later this month. Chairman of the committee Jeb Hensarling in a letter to James M. Strother, Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel at Wells Fargo, stated The Committee is very concerned by these serious allegations and is investigating Wells Fargos questionable sales practices and corresponding agreements with federal regulators in order to evaluate the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of Federal laws. Apart from seeking all records related to the timing and detection of the unauthorized customer accounts, the committee will also ask several corporate officers to appear for interviews. Additionally, the committee may mull over further actions, including subpoenas. Bottom-Line Story continues The monetary fine by the regulators, including Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), will have no material impact on Wells Fargos financials. However, the company continues to come under fire from several quarters, which undoubtedly tarnishes the reputation of one of the largest banks in the nation. Last week, Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, calling for an investigation of the matter and asking Wells Fargo CEO, John Stumpf, to testify. Further , the banks scam drew attention of rating agency Moodys Investors Service which noted [T]he regulators revelations are highly disturbing; they highlight that Wells Fargos vaunted cross-selling capabilities were inflated, its incentive structure had led to pervasive inappropriate practices, and its retail banking sales process lacked adequate and effective oversight. As such, the implications of this announcement are credit negative. Wells Fargo, known for setting aggressive sales goals for its employees, announced last Wednesday that it will remove all product sales goals in retail banking, effective Jan 1, 2017. Notably, since the announcement of the settlement, shares of Wells Fargo lost nearly 9%. Year-to-date, the company fell more than 16%. WELLS FARGO-NEW Price WELLS FARGO-NEW Price | WELLS FARGO-NEW Quote Currently, Wells Fargo carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better ranked stocks in the finance space include Meta Financial Group, Inc. CASH, Flagstar Bancorp Inc. FBC and LPL Financial Holdings Inc. LPLA, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report LPL FINL HLDGS (LPLA): Free Stock Analysis Report FLAGSTAR BANCP (FBC): Free Stock Analysis Report META FINL GRP (CASH): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Reuters) - Financial services company WH Ireland Group Plc said on Monday that Kuwaiti European Holdings Group (KEH) was considering buying a stake in the company, sending its shares up as much as 28.7 percent. KEH was close to announcing an agreement to buy nearly 30 percent of WH Ireland shares, and may consider acquiring the London-listed company entirely, Sky News had reported on Saturday. http://bit.ly/2cWGKPN WH Ireland, which offers private wealth management, wealth planning and corporate broking services, did not provide details of the potential deal in its statement. KEH, an investment company focused on property, health and leisure businesses, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British stockbroker would not be the first to attract investment from the Middle East. The majority shareholder in WH Ireland's rival Panmure Gordon & Co is Qatari investment bank QInvest, with a 43.43 percent stake, according to Thomson Reuters data. WH Ireland, which has a market capitalisation of 26.9 million pounds as of Friday's close, was fined 1.2 million pounds by Britain's financial regulator in February, for inadequate controls to prevent trading abuses. The Financial Conduct Authority also banned the company from taking on new customers in its corporate broking division until May 4. The division is focused on small- and mid-cap companies. Shares in WH Ireland were up 23.3 percent at 129.99 pence at 0725 GMT. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri) On Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in the wake of the dual explosions in New York and New Jersey on Saturday, Sept. 17, and the ensuing manhunt leading to the capture of the suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric talks with jihadi turned anti-ISIS de-radicalizer Mubin Shaikh, as well as Chris Bollwage, the mayor of Elizabeth, N.J., where the suspect lived. The three discuss what was done to apprehend the suspect and what can be done to prevent these radicalized, violent acts in the future. The whos who of American television are gearing up for the Emmy Awards which will take place tomorrow. Amongst the presenters is our very own Priyanka Chopra. Earlier, Priyanka had Instagrammed a very blurry picture of herself rehearsing for the award show with a mystery co-presenter. We may have found out who it is! Recommended: Priyanka Chopra looks ethereal at the Emmys 2016 Red Carpet! It could very well be The Night Managers Tom Hiddleston who has been nominated for the Best Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie at the Emmys. We came across a picture of the two indulging in a giggle fest and we have to admit, were already obsessed with the photo! A photo posted by Priyanka Chopra Daily (@priyankadaily) on Sep 17, 2016 at 5:30pm PDT We cant wait for these two to present at the Emmys! Now that would be a good-looking couple! Meanwhile, the second season of Quantico will premiere on 25th September and will chronicle around Alex joining the CIA much to the chagrin of her former FBI colleagues. Tom was recently in the news for his infamous linkup and breakup with Taylor Swift and is currently busy shooting for Thor: Ragnarok where he plays the sexy villain, Loki. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, told CNN on Monday morning that the US was in a "narrative fight" with ISIS. Earnest appeared on the network as authorities in New York and New Jersey investigated bombs found throughout the area over the weekend, including one that injured 29 people when it exploded on Saturday night in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. Authorities on Monday morning seemed to be changing their initial assessment that the bombs weren't connected to one another and did not appear to be related to international terrorism. "What I can tell you is that we are, when it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight, a narrative fight with them, a narrative battle," Earnest said, using an alternate name for the terrorist group, which is also known as the Islamic State or Daesh. "And what ISIL wants to do is they want to project that they are an organization that is representing Islam in a fight, in a war against the West and a war against the United States." Earnest continued: "That is a bankrupt, false narrative. It is a mythology. And we have made progress in debunking that mythology." Donald Trump's presidential campaign immediately seized on Earnest's comments to criticize the Obama administration. "When the White House says we are in a 'narrative fight' against ISIS just days after a series of apparent terror attacks on US soil we should all be very concerned," Jason Miller, the communications director for Trump, said in a statement. "For the US troops in Iraq and Syria who are on the frontlines against ISIS, it's a real fight where we've lost real lives." Miller added: "Diminishing the threat the Obama administration has allowed to materialize on its watch puts us all at risk and is another reminder that we need new leadership in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism. Hillary Clinton has backed President Obama's failed ISIS strategy to the hilt, and voters should know whether she too shares the White House's troubling assessment of the situation." Story continues ISIS propaganda often pushes the idea of a final battle between the West and soldiers of Islam, and experts say ISIS seeks to provoke the West into a war with it. NOW WATCH: There's something confusing in the fine print of Donald Trump's new $10 million TV ad More From Business Insider From Town & Country Following the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City Saturday night, one Starbucks employee's kind gesture is going viral. Jemaine, who works at the Starbucks on 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, not far from the site of the explosion, hand-delivered coffee and snacks to the police officers and firemen working the crime scene. "I want to give y'all some coffee and some pastries," he said. "Thank you guys." The officers responded, "Thanks a lot man, it's much appreciated," as he passed the food over the barrier. The whole exchange was caught on video by Knight News. Watch the recording below. Starbucks isn't the only brand doing good deeds this week. The popular Standard High Line Hotel offered free rooms and meals to New Yorkers living near the scene of the attack. In a Facebook post publicizing the offering, the hotel only asked for proof of address in exchange for the complimentary stay. Uber, on the other hand is trying to right their wrongs from Saturday evening. The car-service company was blasted on social media for imposing surge pricing following the explosion. They now appear to be checking in with customers who voiced their displeasure via Twitter, potentially offering refunds. .@Uber just lost my business for triple charging in #NYC after last night's terror bombing #Ubersucks - Travelin' Patriot (@travelintechguy) September 18, 2016 @travelintechguy Surge pricing was disabled in the area following the explosion. Let's DM to make sure you weren't charged in error. - Uber NYC (@Uber_NYC) September 18, 2016 You Might Also Like By PTI: London, Sep 18 (PTI) Linking terrorist acts with mental illness unfairly stigmatises the millions of people with mental health problems and impedes prevention efforts, scientists including one of Indian origin have warned. Researchers said that terrorist groups and networks seem to avoid recruiting people with mental health problems, "probably because they share some of the same stigmatised views as the rest of society and see people with mental health conditions as unreliable, difficult to train, and a security threat." advertisement Recent attention has shifted to "lone actor" terrorism, in which mental illnesses are more common, they said. However, they point out that no single diagnosis is associated with "lone actor" terrorism, and that a psychiatric diagnosis where appropriate does not explain motivation. According to Kamaldeep Bhui from London School of Medicine and Dentistry in the UK and colleagues call for careful media reporting of terrorist events, similar to the reporting of suicides, to reduce copycat episodes. Researchers said that many health practitioners are concerned about the governments counterterrorism strategy, which outlines a public duty to assess, report and prevent radicalisation if this may lead to extremist violence. They point to a lack of transparency which means there is a "paucity of published evidence" for the effectiveness of the programme. This undermines trust and has alarmed many health practitioners, "who are concerned about acting as agents of the state." Wessely said that the single best thing we can do to improve services, is make it easier for people to be referred, improve treatments that they get - that will improve mental health - and may also reduce risk to the public of these extremest acts. He added that psychiatrists are not in the role to deal with extremism, but are there to help those with mental health problems. "An effective counterterrorism strategy, which is in all our interests, will be more successful if it engages fully with mental health professionals, public health agencies, and communities, making the research evidence and recommended actions as transparent as possible without undermining genuine security concerns," researchers said. The study was published in The BMJ journal. PTI MHN SAR MHN --- ENDS --- You may have heard that theres a new Disney princess coming and her name is Moana and basically everybody thinks shes going to be totally awesome and that Disney was getting early props for bringing some diversity to the princess landscape with its first Polynesian royal daughter. But unfortunately, the folks at Disney seemed to miss the memo when it came to understanding the difference between celebrating diversity and cultural appropriation. That was evidenced by news that broke over the weekend about the costume of the movies character, Maui, being sold online through the Walt Disney Store, and how the costume is making a whole lot of people feel uncomfortable with the way that it basically encourages people to wear the skin of a given ethnicity and culture. Fortunately, the Twitterverse was able to explain exactly why, to put it simply, cultures arent costumes. https://t.co/VW1c2003JX Dear @Disney this is cultural appropriation. & my culture is not a costume. Keakeake (@8keakeake) September 18, 2016 Many people are Rightfully upset about this new piece of #Moana merch. Cultures are NOT costumes. pic.twitter.com/J4R5W9ZLsy NPOC (@nerdypoc) September 18, 2016 As excited as I am for #Moana, and as cool as Maui will be, other peoples skins are not costumes. @DisneyAnimation https://t.co/p9RsWt18o0 jess banks (@ProfBanks) September 18, 2016 This isnt the first time that the issue of cultural appropriation has come up in the world of costumes in particular: Earlier this year, a group of students at Bowdoin College in Maine were criticized for wearing sombreros during a tequila-themed birthday party. And last fall, a Yale University staff member drew heavy backlash from the student body after she penned an email to the students in the college house she and her husband, a Yale professor, supervised; in it, she asked students to note which Halloween costumes they might see as offensive, and culturally appropriative, as an invitation for discussion with peers on what might be problematic about such choices. Story continues And just last week, the designer Marc Jacobs faced heated criticism for not only sending white models down the NYFW runway in colorful dreadlocks, but then taking up the battlecry of I dont see color or race I see people when called out for his appropriative styling choices. Making things even worse, the designer then attempted to tell the black women who were offended that they, too, have historically appropriated white womens standards of beauty by straightening and relaxing their own hair. It was, to put it mildly, not the designers best look. Because what choices, and responses like that of Jacobs and the marketing masterminds at Disney fail to realize is that for people of a given culture or ancestry, how they wear their hair or decorate their skin or put clothes on their bodies isnt a casual fashion statement, but in fact a literal, visceral, unavoidable articulation of their own identity. For such people, these visual signifiers arent fun trends, but both who they are and a way of physically connecting with those who have come before them. So some might think its silly for students to lose their housing over wearing a sombrero to a party if it isnt a visual component of your nationality, culture, or religion being made into a joking costume by others. Because the truth of the matter is that its hard to assert that a culture is not being appropriated that is, objectified in a way that dilutes its history, essence, and significance down into its most superficial elements that can than be adopted as costume by those not of that culture except for those of the culture in question. Marc Jacobs, a white, cisgender man, cant tell black women that their own cultural beauty standards are not being appropriated, just as the very likely white, cisgender culture driving Disney marketing isnt in a position to tell native Hawaiians if everything from the color of their skin to their traditional body tattoos being packaged and sold as a costume shouldnt be thought of as offensive to them. By Carter Maness Much fretting about the release of two new Frank Ocean albums last month concerned their business implications. On August 19, Endless appeareda single-track visual album, a surprise release in line with the marketing strategies of our time. It premiered (and currently lives) exclusively on Apple Music, a streaming service not to be confused with the iTunes Store, where it remains unavailable for sale. The next day, Endless was followed by Blonde, a real album with honest-to-god track breaksan Apple exclusive at first, but one that could be purchased and has since spread to other streaming services. A narrative emerged: Endless had fulfilled Oceans contract with Def Jam, a major label imprint under the Universal Music Group. Blonde, in turn, was an independent self-release. In a single week, the real album netted over a two million dollars. Endless netted well, nothing, because its still not for sale. Had Frank Ocean found a loophole in the music industry? How savvy, cried the press! How sneaky! A game changer, if there ever was one. Oceanalongside Chance The Rapper, who released his much-adored Coloring Book with zero label backinghave provided fresh examples that big albums no longer need the support of a major label to make an impact. Hell, they might not need a label at all. But the money has to come from somewhere. In 2016, artists are making deals directly with tech companies. We still dont know much about what these deals look likehow much they pay, how rough the terms might bebut we definitely know that major labels have yet to pull rank on these new income streams. Yes, Universal reacted to the Frank Ocean release by banning exclusives with the streaming services, but would they really say no to their biggest stars, especially when they can jump ship and do their own deals? Would Columbia, itself a subsidiary of Sony, try to force Beyonce, their most successful artist right now, to not release albums and videos exclusively to Tidal? Im sure they want to, but they dont have enough power anymore. Story continues Why would an artist sign with a label at this point? In a series of interviews with industry veterans and tastemakers, we heard again and again that, beyond helping to fund a lifestyle where its feasible to record music as a job, the biggest reasons left to sign with a label are distribution, radio promotion and good old-fashioned connections. Yet return to Frank Ocean, and youll see that distribution is a tenuous perk at best. If physical copies are dying out, multi-decade connections to retailers and manufacturers mean very little. Radio, on the other hand, makes hits even when you dont listen to it. Its still a world where connections matter more than originality, and a scan of the top twenty songs on the Billboard Hot 100 finds no artists who arent either signed to or distributed by a major label. Its near impossible to break through without the help of label professionals who already live on the other side. Theyre the ones who get calls returned from television bookers. Theyre the ones who can get an artist nominated for awards or played on the radio twice an hour. Their power may be reduced, but is it disappearing completely? Frank Ocean might provide a new model, but its not the only path to success. Lets let the experts explain. Related links: Continue Reading On Complex Every time there is a terrorist attack attributed to Muslim extremists anywhere in the world, Donald Trump will rush forward to claim, as he did after an Easter bombing in Pakistan, that he alone can solve the problem of radical Islamic terrorism. His eagerness to score political points has come back to hurt him in the past, as when, following this summers mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, he sent a tasteless tweet bragging: Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I dont want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! He must have been deeply disappointed that the Orlando attack, which resulted in the deaths of 49 people, did not give him a boost in the polls. But, he apparently figures, there is still time to make political hay out of the suffering of others. In the case of the weekend attacks in New York City, New Jersey, and Minnesota, which did not kill anyone but did leave numerous people injured, Trump did not even wait to find out exactly what had happened before telling a rally in Colorado on Saturday night: We better get very tough, folks. Its a terrible thing thats going on in our world and in our country, and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. The next day he tweeted with transparent glee: Under the leadership of Obama & Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook! With only seven weeks to go until the election, the question at hand is whether voters will be satisfied with Trumps calls to get tough and smart or whether they will demand to know what exactly he is going to do to stop terrorism, because if they do want details, they wont find any. Beyond Trumps bluster, there is more bluster. To the extent that he has spelled out any specific policies, they are likely to exacerbate rather than ameliorate the danger. Trump laid out his counterterrorism agenda most comprehensively in an Aug. 15 speech in Youngstown, Ohio. He spent the first part of the speech castigating President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for enabling the growth of terrorism by, among other actions, pulling troops out of Iraq and bombing Libya, with no acknowledgement that he had supported both moves at the time. Even more brazenly, he repeated his oft-told lie: I was an opponent of the Iraq War from the beginning a major difference between me and my opponent. In fact, Trump did not publicly come out against the war until August 2004, which was not, as he claims, very early in the conflict, but 17 months into the conflict, by which time it was obvious that it wasnt going to be a cakewalk. In that same Aug. 15 speech, Trump repeated another one of his much-cherished lines: I have long said that we should have kept the oil in Iraq another area where my judgment has been proven correct. According to CNN, ISIS made as much $500 million in oil sales in 2014 alone, fueling and funding its reign of terror. Its true that ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, makes money off oil, but its mainly Syrian, not Iraqi, oil. And Trump never explained in that speech or in any other public comment since how he would have kept the oil in Iraq. In addition to it being a war crime (youre not allowed to keep another nations resources), such an move would have required a long-term U.S. military occupation of the Iraqi oil fields, ports, and all of the land in between. If hatred of America is prevalent in the Muslim world now, imagine how much worse it would be if the United States had seized a Muslim nations oil wealth. In the blink of an eye, Trump switched tracks in that Ohio speech from outlining fantastic and unworkable non-solutions to advocating for what is already being done: My administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS, international cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting. He even pledged to find common ground with Russia in the fight against ISIS, which is exactly what the Obama administration is doing now in Syria to little effect. And he vowed wait for it to convene an international conference to halt the spread of radical Islam. An international conference! Brilliant! Why didnt anyone ever think of that before? Presumably he has never heard of all the conferences in Geneva and Vienna that Secretary of State John Kerry has convened with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to find a solution to the Syrian mess, Syria being the prime breeding ground of terrorism today. Having made a brief ghostwritten foray into the realm of humdrum foreign-policy respectability, Trump immediately veered back to what got him where he is. The core of his approach is to keep saying the enemy is radical Islamic terrorism, something that he (wrongly) claims Clinton never does. To defeat Islamic terrorism, he said in Ohio, we must also speak out forcefully against a hateful ideology that provides the breeding ground for violence and terrorism to grow. But theres a good reason why both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama have been reluctant to speak of Islamic terrorism, and its not because Obama is a closet Muslim, as Trump has insinuated in the past. Its because they realize that in the battle against terrorism, the United States cannot win unless it can get the support of most of the worlds 1.5 billion Muslims. By seeming to insult Islam and Muslims as Trump does, he plays into Islamic State and al Qaeda propaganda, which posits that there is a battle between Islam and the West. But Trump doesnt care about winning Muslim hearts and minds. He seems to think he can keep Americans safe by keeping all terrorists out of the country, as if it werent the case that many of our post-9/11 attackers such as Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood, Texas, shooter, and Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter were homegrown. Back on Dec. 7, 2015, Trump first proposed a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what is going on. His Muslim ban helped him win the Republican nomination but has left him open to well-justified charges of religious bigotry. So for the general election, he has been desperately trying to modify his ban. He knows he wants to ban someone; hes just not sure exactly who. In early June, he said he would ban only immigrants not all visitors from countries where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States. If taken seriously, this would apply to immigrants from Britain, France, and Italy, among other nations. A few days later, this was modified to suspend immigration from regions linked with terrorism, which hardly solves the problem, since just about every region of the world has been linked to terrorism. By mid-July, the ban had been modified yet again to apply to any nation that has been compromised by terrorism, a more nebulous category that could just as easily apply to the United States itself as to, say, Syria or Iraq. Trumps Aug. 15 speech included a call to stop immigration from regions where adequate screening cannot take place while adding another category of undesirables: He vowed to screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles or who believe that sharia law should supplant American law. He never said, of course, how he would implement this kind of screening. Would U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ask visitors if they harbor hostile attitudes towards our country? It apparently never occurs to Trump that terrorists might lie about their true views. He surely has never heard of taqiya, the Islamic term for lying to avoid persecution. His focus on sharia law i.e., Islamic religious law is also misbegotten. Its like saying that he will screen out any visitors who believe that the authority of the pope supersedes that of the president of the United States. All observant Muslims obey sharia, just as observant Jews obey Halakha (rabbinical law) and observant Catholics obey papal law, but that doesnt make them bad Americans or potential terrorists. And what happens if a few stray terrorists should manage to slip through Trumps vaunted border controls or if they happen to be here already? He constantly suggests that the answer to terrorism is profiling, which, he claims, we are not currently doing because of political correctness. Speaking to Fox & Friends on Monday, Trump said, Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are. They are afraid to do anything about it because they dont want to be accused of profiling. And they dont want to be accused of all sorts of things. Is there any evidence that law enforcement has identified a lot of terrorists but wont do anything about it because of political correctness? Of course not. Just as there isnt any evidence that, as Trump constantly claims, friends and neighbors of the Orlando and San Bernardino, California, shooters knew what they were up to but refused to tell law enforcement. And just as there isnt any evidence that, as Trump also claims, thousands and thousands of Muslims in Jersey City, New Jersey, celebrated 9/11. What Trump seems to be suggesting is that law enforcement should employ a strategy of treating American Muslims as the enemy within a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there were one. For all of his huffing and puffing, Trump has yet to offer any remotely workable solution to terrorism. What he offers is a lot of anti-Muslim animus that is guaranteed to backfire. Its little wonder why the Islamic State is praying for a Trump victory. As noted by Matt Olsen, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, in an article for Time that did not receive the attention it deserved: In August, one ISIS spokesman wrote: I ask Allah to deliver America to Trump. Another supporter declared: The facilitation of Trumps arrival in the White House must be a priority for jihadists at any cost!!! ISIS is working to drum up support for the candidate it has called the perfect enemy. It is deeply ironic and disturbing that the Islamic States dream candidate is posturing as the tough-on-terrorism candidate. If voters cant see through Trumps con game, terrorist groups like the Islamic State and al Qaeda will receive an unprecedented helping hand from Americas next president. Imagine what a conspiracy theorist someone like Donald Trump would make of that. Photo credit: JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images Kino Lorber has bought all North American rights to French filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrands documentary Human, Variety has learned exclusively. Arthus-Bertrand, who authored the 1999 book Earth From Above and directed 2009s Home, assembled stories and images from around the world, aimed at presenting a cinematic immersion to the core of what it means to be human. He and his crew interviewed of 2,000 people in 60 countries over a three-year period. Human premiered at last years Venice Film Festival. It was subsequently screened at the United Nations Assembly Hall in New York, in the presence of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Human is an epic, ambitious and heartfelt work about what unites us all, said Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. Its also an incredible cinematic experience that must be seen on the big screen, so Kino Lorber is already working with theaters around the country and planning theatrical runs and special screenings for the film, as well as extensive outreach to educational institutions and nonprofit organizations. The film is part of Arthus-Bertrands commitment to the non-profit GoodPlanet Foundation, which he started in 2005, and to the United Nations. Arthus-Bertrand is a United Nations Environment Program Goodwill Ambassador. Launching Human in the United States and Canada is extremely symbolic for me as Human is a transcription of humanity and what better place to share this project than in the melting pot that is America, Arthus-Bertrand said. With one more striking than the other, these testimonies brought together are the achievement of a lifetime Human will be presented Tuesday at a special event screening in New York at the French Institute Alliance Francaise in the presence of Francois Hollande, President of the French Republic; Arthus-Bertrand; Segolene Royal, French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy; and other special guests. This screening will be followed by similar events around the country, with VOD and package media launches scheduled for the summer of 2017. Story continues The screening is hosted by Kino Lorber, The Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations, The Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, the French Institute Alliance Francaise, The Goodplanet Foundation, The Kriegel Foundation, Unifrance and The Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation. Related stories Geoffrey Rush's 'The Daughter' Eyes Winter U.S. Release Sundance Winner 'Sand Storm' Gets U.S. Release SXSW Winner 'Tower' Gets October Release New York (AFP) - An Afghan-born American was charged Monday with attempted murder after being shot and captured in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey, thrusting security fears into the heart of the election. Saturday's attacks, which wounded 29 people in Manhattan and cancelled a US Marine Corps race in New Jersey, came on the same day that a Somali-American with possible links to the Islamic State extremist group went on a stabbing rampage in Minnesota, wounding nine people. President Barack Obama, in New York at the UN General Assembly with world leaders, called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sparred over how best to combat terror attacks. Obama stressed that investigators saw no connection between the East Coast bombings and the Minnesota stabbings, where police said the assailant made "some references to Allah" in carrying out the attack. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was initially spotted by a police officer outside a bar in Linden, New Jersey around three hours after the FBI released his mugshot and described him as "armed and dangerous." When the officer approached the suspect, he immediately whipped out a handgun and shot the officer in the torso, hitting his protective vest, said acting Union County prosecutor Grace Park. In a subsequent police shootout, Rahami was shot multiple times outside an auto repair shop, several blocks west of the bar, she said. The handgun was recovered at the scene and Rahami was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery, officials said. Neither the first officer nor a second hit in the head by a fragment of bullet suffered life-threatening injuries, the prosecutor said. Rahami was stretchered into an ambulance in the town of Linden, wearing a bloodied bandage on his right arm and moving his head moments after being taken into custody. - $5.2 million bail, wife in Pakistan - He was charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and on two unlawful weapon possession counts, Park announced. Story continues A judge set bail at $5.2 million. Little is known about a suspect, who was not on the authorities' radar before the attacks. Born in Afghanistan, he worked at his family's fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and is a US citizen. Investigators will now focus on whether he had co-conspirators and on his motive in allegedly bombing New York's Chelsea neighborhood and detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a US Marine Corps race. Another pressure cooker device was found and defused close to the scene of the Manhattan blast, and five pipe bombs were discovered late Sunday in a trash can in Elizabeth. These were also defused. Rahami had traveled "extensively," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN, visiting his homeland and Pakistan, where he had a wife. "But we don't have any associations at this time with ISIS, Taliban, etc that would explain this behavior," the governor added. Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials say lone-wolf attacks perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda are the greatest terror threat to the homeland. "I have no indication there is a cell operating in the area," senior FBI official Bill Sweeney told a news conference in New York. New York mayor Bill de Blasio said authorities were not currently looking for any other suspects in connection with an "act of terror." - Clinton, Trump at loggerheads - Rahami was apparently seen in surveillance footage taken in Chelsea before the bomb went off. Separate footage broadcast by CBS purported to show Rahami dragging a large bag down a street in the district. Rahami's family sued Elizabeth in 2011, accusing the city and local police department of religious and ethnic discrimination in forcing them to close their chicken restaurant by 10:00 pm. The suit was settled in 2012 in the city's favor, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. "What happened is not in any fashion a representation of the Muslim community or the Muslim faith. He is a sick, deranged young man," said Salaam Ismial, a social worker at a local mosque. Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the New York or New Jersey bombs, a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS "soldier" carried out the Minnesota stabbings. The suspect, identified by police as 20-year-old Dahir Ahmed Adan, injured nine people in a shopping mall in St Cloud before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The Somali American had been a high-achieving student with no known history of violence. On the election trail, the attacks fanned acrimony in an already deeply divisive campaign, with Democrat Clinton touting experience and patient determination and Republican Trump demanding radical change. Clinton, whose lead in the polls has dipped less than 50 days before the election, said the United States needed to invest "more time and more resources" in confronting the lone-wolf threat. "I will bring an end to these senseless acts of violence," Trump said. "We will not allow political correctness and soft-on-terror, soft-on-crime policies to threaten our security and our lives." New York residents took the opportunity on Monday September 19 to deliver pizza to police officers monitoring the site of the weekends bomb attack in Chelsea. The blast went off on September 17 outside 131 West 23rd Street, injuring 29 people, according to information provided by Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James ONeal in a press conference. One person had a serious puncture wound, according to ONeal. All 29 were released from hospital on September 18, according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Floridian Zach Escalante, who lives in New York, filmed a scene outside his apartment on 23rd Street, which saw pizza being offered to officers. Credit: Instagram/Zach Escalante (Tumblr) Like a lot of 21-year-olds, Jennifer Gray was feeling a little rough after a night out partying with friends. According to her mother, the University of West Scotland student woke up the Sunday after a Saturday night on the town with a persistent sore throat, cold-like symptoms, sore joints, nausea and a headache. Just another case of too many G & Ts, right? But throughout the day, her symptoms persisted and got worse, prompting her to call her parents and later, to go to the hospital. That night Gray went into a coma and passed away. After running a series of tests, doctors concluded that Gray had been suffering from bacterial meningitis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe bacterial meningitis as very serious and potentially deadly, saying death can occur in as little as a few hours. While occurrences of bacterial meningitis have decreased in the last 10 years, the spread has long been linked to college campuses due to the community setting and close quarters among students. But another issue is how similar the signs and symptoms are to a hangover. Meningitis symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, and stiff neck, the CDC describes. There are often additional symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to light) and altered mental status (confusion). The symptoms of bacterial meningitis can appear quickly or over several days. Typically they develop within 3 to 7 days after exposure. While doctors admit that in Grays case, the symptoms moved extremely quickly, being aware of what to look for can help save a life. Story continues By sharing their story, Grays parents are hoping to spread awareness about this frightening disease. Meningitis struck my family. It came for us like a bolt from the blue, Edwina Gray tells the Daily Record. It is the worst possible thing to happen to someone who has an only child. Now Ill never be a gran. I selfishly think about that. Ill never see her married. Maybe she was never going to be married because we didnt get to see what the future held. That opportunity is gone. Our daughter died after confusing meningitis symptoms for hangover the Gray family for #MRFAwarenessWeek https://t.co/Q48gAMXWtG Meningitis Research (@M_R_F) September 19, 2016 In order to prevent the submission of meningitis, the CDC recommends parents adhere to the full vaccine schedule recommended by their local health authority. In addition, keeping your immune system strong can be vital in building up a defense against the disease. Maintaining healthy habits, like not smoking and avoiding cigarette smoke, getting plenty of rest, and not coming into close contact with people who are sick, can also help. This is especially important for young babies, older adults and people with weak immune systems, since they are at increased risk for serious disease. If LTTE chief Prabhakaran's life were to be brought on screen, Mani Ratnam should be the director doing it. We give you the reasons. By Srivatsan: Recently, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) founder Vaiko released a secret letter written by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Prabhakaran, to Tamil Nadu's then Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi. To the world, Prabhakaran is known as a guerilla leader, an extremist and a terrorist, who pioneered the usage of suicide bombings to annihilate two prominent leaders of the world - Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Sri Lankan President and Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India. advertisement But to the Tamils in Sri Lanka, he is known by the sobriquet Thambi (little brother), who was a freedom fighter, a demigod and a martyr. Prabhakaran, the militant leader and a mass murderer, who spearheaded the intermittent insurgency against the Sri Lankan government for 28 years, was killed on May 19, 2009. However, if you look at his life from an alternate perspective, he was a rebel who actually had a larger-than-life image among his people. ALSO READ: Kaatru Veliyidai- Mani Ratnam to shoot action sequence in Ladakh ALSO READ: Before Prithviraj and Dhanush- 5 South actors who moved to direction At the same time, Prabhakaran's tumultuous journey has enough potential to become one of the finest films of Indian cinema, even commercially, so to speak. Now that his life is back in focus, we take a look at why Mani Ratnam should direct his biopic and who all should play the lead roles. Be it Arvind Swamy throwing himself on a burning flag in Roja (1992) or the opening scene in Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), where a couple, while having a quiet moment, is cautiously aware of the sounds of Sri Lankan troops, who has romanticised brutality on film better than Mani Ratnam? But what makes Mani Ratnam a trailblazing filmmaker? Is it just his vision of cinema or his audacity? Speaking of audacity, no director would have had the gall to helm a subject like Iruvar (1997), which was a fictionalised exploration of the relationship and dirty politics between Dravidian stalwarts MG Ramachandran and ex-Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Kalaignar Karunanidhi. Even further, Mani Ratnam went on to direct a biographical drama on the life story of Dhirubhai Ambani in Guru (2007), which depicted the emergence of crony capitalism in Mumbai. These are subjects that have the potential to not only jeopardise one's career, but also earn the stamp of an 'anti-national'. Shootout in Madras On May 18,1982, all hell broke loose when the Tamil Nadu police nabbed two Sri Lankan youths who tried to take each other's lives outside a theatre in Pondy Bazaar in Chennai. The youngsters were none other than Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran alias Mukundan, founder of another militant outfit PLOTE (People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam). advertisement Senior journalist MR Narayana Swamy details what happened there in his book, Inside an Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran, "Both Uma and Pirabaharan (Prabhakaran) whipped out their revolvers almost at the same time, but it was the more agile Tiger chief who fired first. Pirabaharan let go at least six rounds. Uma, however, managed to get away. Pirabaharan and Raghavan also tried to flee, but ran into a crowd and were caught by policemen who had rushed to the scene. Uma was tracked down near a railway station six days later and overpowered, but not before he had fired at the policemen who pinned him down." A vintage Pondy Bazaar setting with two rebellious youngsters seeking blood for retribution. When you ponder over this, goosebumps are but inevitable. Especially if a director like Mani Ratnam writes this one with a pulsating score from AR Rahman. However, it's not about Ratnam's cinematic approaches, but the amount of detailing he gives to the characters and the script itself that make him skilled enough to head a project as full of drama as Prabhakaran's life. In Kannathil Muthamittal, Mani Ratnam showed us a glimpse of the Sri Lankan Civil War, although it felt like Ratnam's script was lost in transition from paper to screen thanks to political reasons. advertisement Having said that, for an audacious script like Prabhakaran's life, the film requires solid casting. Be it Selvaraj (Janagaraj) in Nayagan (1987) or Shyama (Nandita Das) in Kannathil Muthamittal, these films received international acclaim mainly because of their character artists. With a change in the political climate, what if Mani Ratnam were to direct Prabhakaran's biopic? Here's what the dream cast would look like: Prakash Raj as Prabhakaran, founder of LTTE Prakash Raj as Prabhakaran Manju Warrier as Prabhakaran's wife Mathivathani Erambu Manju Warrier as Prabhakarans wife Mathivathani Erambu Pasupathy as Uma Maheshwaran, PLOTE Kishore as Shanmugam Kumaran Surili (Uriyadi) as Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, leader of LTTE (Eastern Province) Surili (Uriyadi) as Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan Santhana Bharathy as Colonel Sathasivam Krishnakumar aka Kittu Sandhana Bharathy as Colonel Sathasivam Krishnakumar aka Kittu Prithviraj as Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India Prithviraj as Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India Siddhartha Basu as Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Sri Lankan President Siddhartha Basu as Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Sri Lankan President Mammootty as Mahinda Rajapakse, ex-President of Sri Lanka advertisement ( The writer tweets as @TheLoner_7126 ) --- ENDS --- For Immediate Release Chicago, IL September 19, 2016 - Stocks in this weeks article include: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT), Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN), Tilly's Inc. (TLYS), InterDigital Inc. ( IDCC) and Finisar Corp. (FNSR). Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research: 5 Stocks to Buy on Significant Relative Price Strength Earnings growth and valuation multiples are indeed important for investors to determine whether a stock has the ability to offer considerable returns. But these are also essential in determining whether a stocks price performance is ahead of its peers or the industry average. If the stocks performance is lacking that of the broader groups despite having impressive earnings growth or valuation multiples, then something must be wrong. Its always advisable to stay away from these stocks and bet on those that are outperforming their respective industries or benchmarks. This is because betting on a winner always increases the odds of winning. At the same time, it is important that you determine whether or not an investment has relevant upside potential when considering stocks with significant relative price strength. Stocks delivering better than the S&P 500 over a period of 1 to 3 months at the least and having solid fundamentals indicate room for growth and are the best ways to go about this strategy. Finally, it is important to find out whether analysts are optimistic about the upcoming earnings results of these companies. In order to do this, we have added positive estimate revisions for the current quarters (Q1) earnings to our screen. When a stock undergoes an upward revision, it leads to additional price gains. Screening Parameters Relative % Price change 12 weeks greater than 0 Relative % Price change 4 weeks greater than 0 Relative % Price change 1 week greater than 0 (We have considered those stocks that have been outperforming the S&P 500 over the last 12 weeks, 4 weeks and 1 week.) Story continues % Change (Q1) Est. over 4 Weeks greater than 0: Positive current quarter estimate revisions over the last four weeks. Zacks Rank equal to 1: Only Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks that have returned more than 26% annually over the last 26 years and surpassed the S&P 500 in 23 of the last 26 years can get through. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here . Current Price greater than or equal to $5 and Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: A minimum price of $5 is a good standard to screen low-priced stocks, while a high trading volume would imply adequate liquidity. VGM Score less than or equal to B: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential. Here are five of the eight stocks that made it through the screen: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT): Headquartered in Akron, OH, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber is one of the worlds largest tire manufacturing companies, which sells tires, undertakes automotive repairs and provides other services through 1,100 tire and auto service centers. The company has a VGM score of A and an excellent earnings surprise history. It surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters at an average rate of 10.28%. Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN): Urban Outfitters is a lifestyle specialty retailer that offers fashion apparel and accessories, footwear, home decor and gifts products. Sporting a VGM score of A, this Philadelphia, PA headquartered companys expected EPS growth rate for 3 to 5 years currently stands at 15% comfortably ahead of the industry growth rate of 13.10%. Tilly's Inc. (TLYS): A specialty retailer of casual clothing, footwear and accessories targeting young men and women, Irvine, CA-based Tilly's has a VGM score of A. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2017 and 2018 increased 42% and 24%, respectively, to 27 cents and 31 cents per share. InterDigital Inc. (IDCC): Headquartered Wilmington, DE, InterDigital is a designer and developer of digital cellular and wireless telecommunications systems used in mobile devices and networking equipment. The company has a VGM score of B and surprised earnings to the upside in each of the last four quarters. Finisar Corp. (FNSR): Founded in 1987 and Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Finisar is a leading developer of optical communications components and subsystems that enable high-speed data communications in data centers and telecommunication networks. Fiscal 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate for this company is $1.39, representing 143.86% earnings per share growth over fiscal 2016. The next fiscal years average forecast is $1.62, pointing to 16.55% growth. Finisar has a VGM score of B. You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance/. Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: In addition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free Sign up now for your free trial today and start picking better stocks immediately. And with the backtesting feature, you can test your ideas to see how you can improve your trading in both up markets and down markets. Dont wait for the market to get better before you decide to do better. Start learning how to be a better trader today: https://at.zacks.com/?id=111 Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. About Screen of the Week Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use. Each week, Zacks Profit from the Pros free email newsletter shares a new screening strategy. Learn more about it here https://at.zacks.com/?id=112 About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. 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Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer . Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report GOODYEAR TIRE (GT): Free Stock Analysis Report URBAN OUTFITTER (URBN): Free Stock Analysis Report TILLYS INC (TLYS): Free Stock Analysis Report INTERDIGITL INC (IDCC): Free Stock Analysis Report FINISAR CORP (FNSR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Samsung's recall of over 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones following explosions may have been at least partially caused by an effort to beat and out-innovate Apple in the marketplace. According to a lengthy report from Bloomberg that cites "people familiar with the matter," Samsung caught wind that the iPhone 7 wouldn't be all that different from its predecessor, giving the Korean company an opportunity to leap ahead as an innovator. So it reportedly rushed its Note 7 to market. Samsung reportedly held extremely tight deadlines for its suppliers and its own engineers and chose to pack the phone with features, including an iris scanner, edge-to-edge display and a 3900mAh battery in a very thin frame. The Note 7 hit the market before the iPhone 7, and to much acclaim. In our review, editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer wrote that "[i]f you want a phone with a big screen, the Galaxy Note 7 should be at the top of your list." Then the batteries started exploding. According to the Bloomberg report, the phone division was internally pointing fingers at Samsung SDI, which produced the batteries. On September 15, the day before the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus' wide release, Samsung officially recalled the Note 7. The company will have units back on shelves on September 21. Tom's Guide has reached out to Samsung to ask about the company's response to the report and how many phones are still waiting to be returned. We'll update this article if and when we get a response. This morning, the Associated Press reported that two Galaxy Note 7 phones caught fire in China. Those are the first instances of this type of problem in what is now the biggest smartphone market in the world. The company had previously claimed that models sold in China were safe. Be sure to check out the full report at Bloomberg, which delves deeper into Samsung's internal politics and how they may have played into the incident. Copyright 2016 Toms Guides , a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager says the EU is going after all tax evaders (AFP Photo/Yuri Gripas) (AFP) Washington (AFP) - Europe's powerful Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday that the EU order for Apple to pay $15 billion in taxes did not represent any bias against US companies. Speaking hours after the European Union launched an in-depth probe into alleged sweetheart tax deals between French gas group Engie and Luxembourg, Vestager said the new case was evidence that the EU was going after all tax evaders. "If you look at our practice, then you cannot find a US bias. You cannot find the statistics to back up any kind of bias," she said in Washington. The European Commission, the EU executive arm, last month ordered Apple to reimburse a record 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in unpaid taxes in Ireland. That came after US companies, including Starbucks, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, have come under probes over the low profits tax they pay in Europe due to alleged sweetheart tax deals with certain governments. When the Apple ruling was announced late last month, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew criticized it as unfairly targeting US companies. Vestager, speaking at a news conference ahead of a meeting with Lew, said that of some 150 such tax rulings made by the European Commission since 2000, only two percent involved US companies. She also said the tax hit on Apple was not a reprisal against US regulators' imposition of multibillion-dollar fines on European banks for violating US sanctions on other countries and for their involvement in the massive US subprime mortgage bond crisis. Last week the US Justice Department proposed a record $14 billion fine against Deutsche Bank for its selling of high-risk mortgage bonds before the 2008 financial crisis. "I am absolutely certain that the decision on Deutsche Bank is built on facts of the case and American legislation," Vestager said. Lew's office, in a statement late Monday after his meeting with Vestager, said that during their talks he "reiterated his concerns that the European Commission is retroactively applying a sweeping new Sstate aid theory that is contrary to well-established legal principles, calls into question the tax rules of individual countries and threatens to undermine the overall business climate in Europe." The European Court of Justice has upheld its previous ruling that shop, hotel or bar owners who provide free public Wi-Fi access cannot be held liable for customers who commit online piracy. The long-running legal dispute dates back to 2010 when a visitor to Tobias Mc Fadden's lighting and sound system shop near Munich unlawfully "offered for downloading" a musical work belonging to Sony Music Germany using the shop's freely accessible Wi-Fi network. When Sony Music sought to receive damages from the business owner, Mc Fadden took the case to the German regional courts, who, in turn, referred it to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg for deliberation. Following a preliminary verdict in March, the court has now upheld its decision that business owners who operate freely accessible public Wi-Fi networks are not liable for copyright infringements committed by third party users. "Consequently, the copyright holder is not entitled to claim compensation on the ground that the network was used by third parties to infringe its rights," ruled the court, adding that Sony Music was "precluded" from claiming any legal costs incurred. It did, however, warn that operators of public Wi-Fi networks "may be required to password-protect its network in order to bring an end to, or prevent, such infringements." Such measures, particularly when users are required to identify themselves before obtaining the password, are proven to deter network users from infringing intellectual property rights, the court said. Sony Music declined to comment on the case. Coincidentally, the European court ruling arrived in the same week that the operator of New York's Wi-Fi kiosks announced that it was to limit their internet browser capabilities after the hubs became congregation points for homeless people loitering, drinking, doing drugs and watching pornography. The kiosks were introduced at the start of the year as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's pledge to replace more than 7,500 public pay phones and bring free Wi-Fi and phone service to every neighborhood in New York. After months of complaints from residents, businesses and other elected officials, objecting to the way that the kiosks were being used, operating company LinkNYC announced that it was removing their internet browser "while we look at ways to enhance the service." The kiosks will continue to provide Wi-Fi, free phone calls and access to key city services. From Popular Mechanics So many people are registering drones and applying for drone pilot licenses that federal aviation officials say they are contemplating the possibility of millions of unmanned aircraft crowding the nation's skies in the not-too-distant future. In the nine months since the Federal Aviation Administration created a drone registration system, more than 550,000 unmanned aircraft have been registered with the agency, said Earl Lawrence, director of the FAA's drone office. Speaking Friday at the first meeting of a new government-industry drone advisory committee, Lawrence said new registrations are coming in at a rate of 2,000 a day. By comparison, the FAA says there are 260,165 manned aircraft registered in the U.S. The FAA began issuing drone pilot licenses to commercial operators less than a month ago. Already, 13,710 people have applied to take the pilot exam, and 5,080 have passed it, Lawrence said. It's clear the agency's estimate of 15,000 licensed drone pilots by the end of 2016 will easily be exceeded, he said. The FAA now forecasts there will be more than 1.3 million licensed drone pilots by 2020. Lawrence asked the 35 committee members and dozens of attendees at the meeting: Will there eventually be hundreds of thousands of drones in the nation's skies? Or will there be millions? Hobbyists and commercial operators alike are required by the FAA to register their aircraft, but agency officials acknowledged that they have no way of measuring how many unregistered drones are in use. U.S. drone sales are expected to top 2.4 million aircraft this year, more than double last year's sales, according to the Consumer Technology Association, whose members include drone manufacturers. NASA is working with industry and the FAA to create a new low-altitude air traffic control system specifically for drones. Industry and government officials say such a system will be needed if there are to eventually be widespread drone deliveries by Amazon and other companies. Google and the Chipotle Mexican restaurant chain are currently testing drone deliveries of burritos at Virginia Tech. You Might Also Like On Lucky Ali's birthday today, let's thank him for making our road trips ten times better! By Mini Dixit: It won't be wrong to say that the texture and charm of Lucky Ali's voice is a gift to humanity. After establishing himself as one of country's most beloved indi-pop artists through iconic numbers like O Sanam and Teri Yaadein--Ali made his Bollywood debut with Kaho Na Pyaar Hai's soulful number, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum. Apart from being distinctively hummable and high on melody, there is yet another thing Ali's tracks boast of--their absolute suitability for road trips! Also Read: When Aryans' Aankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra and Shahid Kapoor's innocence won our hearts advertisement Just think of it--Hairat, O Sanam, Safarnama, Teri Yaadein Aati Hain, Tere Mere Sath--which Lucky Ali number can't you croon during that long road trip with friends? Also Read: How Kishore Kumar's Zaroorat Hai became Bombay Vikings' Kya Soorat Hai As you allow that to sink in, give a listen to his these six tracks on Ali's 58th birthday. 1. Kabhi Aisa Lagta Hai 2. Tere Mere Sath Jo Hota Hai 3. O Sanam 4. Kitni Haseen Zindagi 5. Safarnama 6. Hairat --- ENDS --- Need access to the Constitution of the United States on your mobile device or tablet? Our Interactive Constitution app features the annotated text, plus analysis from dozens of top scholars. icapp535 The National Constitution Centers Interactive Constitution app is now available at the App Store and on Google Play. The app allows students, educators, and citizens everywhere to access the Interactive Constitutions content anytime, since most of the content is stored on your device after it is downloaded to your device. This transformative new app will make the Interactive Constitution accessible to all students and citizens on their mobile devices, with or without connectivity, said Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center. This is a milestone in our pledge to bring the Interactive Constitution to every citizen in America. The National Constitution Centers new Interactive Constitution app lets students join the great conversation about liberty, justice, and human dignity no matter where they are, on any device, said John Williamson, the College Boards vice president of Advanced Placement. The app is exciting because its an incredibly useful and enriching tool for not only AP students, but for all students and teachers across the country. Since the Interactive Constitutions launch last September, the online educational resource has garnered over six million unique page views and has been called an Internet sensation by USA Today especially among young people. The app version of the Interactive Constitution features full analysis of the first 15 Amendments to the Constitution and the Articles, or Structural Constitution, from scholars representing different viewpoints. For each Amendment or Article, the scholars first agree on a Common Interpretation, and then they discuss Matters of Debate on each point. To learn more and download the app, go to the following links in the App Store or Google Play: Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/interactive-constitution/id1147260877 Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.constitutioncenter.interactiveconstitution Oracle Corporations ORCL chief technical officer Larry Ellison announced the launch of Oracle Database 12c Release 2 as well as inclusion of more than 20 new cloud based products and applications into the companys Cloud@Customer line of subscription services during the Oracle Open World 2016. Introduced six months ago, the Cloud@Customer line of products will now feature services such as Big Data Cloud Machine@Customer, Exadata Cloud Machine@Customer and Infrastructure Cloud Machine@Customer among others. What Sets Cloud@Customer Apart? Oracle Cloud@Customer differs from the original Oracle Cloud in the sense that the customers own data center hosts the hardware so as to address security and sovereignty issues. In terms of convenience and pricing, both the services are on par with one another. Both the services are available on a subscription basis and are entirely managed by Oracle. While citing the details of the new products, Ellison said that customers wont be required to purchase the technology and can simply subscribe to the services on a month-to-month basis. He also said during the event that the products are more powerful and less costly than Amazon.com Inc.s AMZN cloud services. Others in the Fray As per many technology analysts, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is considered to be the market leader in the cloud computing space. Additionally, per a Gartner report, Amazons S3 cloud storage service alone holds more than twice the data than the next seven biggest cloud service providers taken together. Apart from Amazon, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, and Salesforce are the two other companies that Larry considers as major contenders in the cloud services space. Our Take Unlike AWS, which only works on the Amazon cloud, Oracles Cloud@Customer gives the subscribers the freedom to set up their own on-premise data centers and have access to the cloud at the same time, which is also referred to as the hybrid cloud. We note that Microsoft Corporation also supports this kind of technology. Story continues Given the flexibility that Cloud@Customer offers, we expect Oracle to do well in the cloud computing space in the coming years. ORACLE CORP Price ORACLE CORP Price | ORACLE CORP Quote Zacks Rank & Key Picks At present, Oracle carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the broader technology space is Avid Technology, Inc. AVID, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report AVID TECH INC (AVID): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research In a world where we can program our refrigerators to order more milk or conjure images of distant galaxies with a few swipes on a smartphone, its significant that the best, most reliable technology available on Election Day 2016 is good, old-fashioned paper. It seems counterintuitive, but paper is a technology that just happens to work really well for elections, says Pamela Smith, the president of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for accurate and transparent elections. You cant hack a piece of paper. Voters can mark it and see their vote, and then the ballots can be collected and double-checked. The following map uses data compiled by Verified Voting on county-by-county voting technology to track which regionsand, therefore, which parties base supportersare most vulnerable to election tampering, even if the odds are remote. Use the search feature or zoom in manually to see what technology your county uses. The security of paper ballots is a powerful selling point in an election cycle rife with concerns about cybersecurity. In the past six months, foreign agentsallegedly backed by two Russian intelligence agencieshave hacked the Democratic National Committee, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign and other Democratic political organizations, as well as voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois, according to researchers at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In August, the FBIs Cyber Division issued a flash alert to election officials warning that states must take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems, and in mid-September, the Election Assistance Commissions Technical Guidelines Development Committee met to discuss future cybersecurity standards. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has warned that this election could be rigged. Story continues Its a threat we take very, very seriously, Tom Hicks, a commissioner at the EAC, told TIME. But, he added, from a cyber perspective, this election may actually be less vulnerable to cyber mischief than elections in 2008 and 2012. The voting process is the most secure its ever been, he said. Thats partly because this election year, an estimated 90 million Americansroughly 71 percent of all voters, based on TIMEs analysis of the Verified Voting data and using 2012 turnout figuresare expected to use paper ballots (the green-colored counties on the map), either at their polling stations or through vote-by-mail systems. And while paper ballots are not perfect by any meansrecall the hanging chad debacle in 2000they do make it much more difficult to remotely affect the results of an election. They also provide both voters and auditors with independent hard copies, which then can be checked and doubled-checked if questions arise. The real problem, said Lawrence Norden, the deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice Democracy Program, lies with the nearly 40 million Americans who wont be voting on paper, again based on 2012 figures. Those voters will instead be saddled with electronic voting machines (the yellow and red-colored counties on the map), many of which are more than a decade old, lack basic cybersecurity protections, and utilize hardware no more sophisticated than a stripped down, Bush-era laptop. In 42 states, electronic voting machines are more than a decade old, according to Nordens research. (Many states still use such machines for voters who require special assistance.) While states no longer use voting machines that connect directly to the internet, and therefore cant be hacked in the same way your laptop can, any sophisticated neer-do-well with physical access to an electronic voting machine could easily rewrite its software to change the way that votes are counted or tabulated, according to a recent report by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology. A hacker could also fairly easily manipulate other weak points in the system, such as the digital networks through which votes from different precincts are collected and transmitted, said Malcolm Harkins, the chief security and trust officer at the cybersecurity firm, Cylance. When you look at a lot of these problems, its low probability, but high impact, he said. So if the question is, Is it possible?, the answer is yes, definitely. Some electronic voting machines produce a paper receipt (the yellow-colored counties on the map), which helps reduce some of the risk of cyber-meddling. Election officials can use the paper print-outs to compare print-receipts with a machines electronic tally. On November 8, about eight percent of expected voters will use electronic machines that provide paper receipts. But many morean estimated 22 percent of expected voterswill vote in precincts that leave no paper trail whatsoever (the red-colored counties on the map), leaving them in a precarious position. If one of those machine is hacked, or malfunctions, or if concerns arise about the legitimacy of a county or states election results, there is no independent means through which to audit individual votes in those particular precincts. That specter looms particularly large Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Delaware and New Jersey, which have been the slowest to update their election systems, and therefore have a majority of precincts with primarily electronic machines with no paper trail. Of those 750 counties that use electronic voting machines without a paper receipt, the vast majority lean Republican. In 2012, for example, 53 percent of voters in those counties cast a ballot for Mitt Romney in 20126 percentage points higher than the Republican nominees national performance. Counties that have electronic voting machines with paper receipts also lean Republican. The 218 counties with electronic machines with a paper trail broke 51 percent for Romney in 2012. Meanwhile, the 1,975-some counties that use paper ballots, which include optically scanned ballots, tend to vote Democratic. In 2012, 54 percent of counties with paper ballots broke for Obama, slightly above the Presidents share of the popular vote. The 175 counties that vote by mail had a similar split. The real problem with these electronic voting machines, says Merle King, the executive director for the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University, is one of perception. The idea that anyone could hack in any meaningful way into the election system so as to skew the result on the national stage is far-fetched actually, he said. But theres so much anxiety about this out there. If there was something that came up, even on a small scale, that compromised peoples perception of the legitimacy of this election, that would be the worst outcomethat could be really terrible. Methodology All the data on voting machines was compiled by Verified Voting. The 2012 election results are licensed from the Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. In cases where multiple machines were used in the same county, we chose only to tally machines that are available to the majority of voters on Election Day, as opposed to early-voting mechanisms or those designed for special accessibility. As such, our map does not exactly match that on VerifiedVoting.org, though our results were carefully checked against their raw data for accuracy. In a very small number of cases26 out of over 3,100a county uses multiple types of machines in different precincts on Election Day. Those counties are colored by stripes on the map and count toward both totals for the partisan breakdown of machines by 2012 election results. On Monday morning smartphone users were tapped to aid in the hunt for terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, who authorities linked to bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. As of mid-morning on Monday, the suspect was captured and in police custody. Law enforcements efforts on the ground, coupled with the support of wireless carriers including AT&T (NYSE:T), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Sprint (NYSE:S) and T. Mobile (NYSE:TMUS), likely led to his swift capture. Around 8 a.m. ET smartphone users received a high-pitched text message alarm sounding over the emergency alert system on their devices. The system, which is more commonly used for Amber Alerts or extreme weather warnings, let users know that Rahami was a wanted person, and that his official photo could be viewed online. According to the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) site page, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) works with wireless companies to make users immediately aware of three types of situations; alerts issued by the President, alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life and Amber Alerts. Messages from the President cannot be blocked by subscribers, but participating carriers can allow users to block the other two types of messages. When asked for comment by FOXBusiness.com the major U.S. wireless carriers directed us to the FCCs website for more information. Participation in the program by carriers is voluntary, but customers must be notified if the wireless carrier does not offer the WEA program. The emergency alert messages are sent to cell towers in different geographical regions, and then delivered to the participating carriers devices throughout the targeted area. Authorities also discovered five other suspicious devices Monday morning, near a train station in New Jersey, one of which detonated on a bomb squad robot. This led to the raid of Rahamis last known address in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rahami was captured in Linden, New Jersey after a shootout with police, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed to FOX News. He was taken to a local area hospital. Related Articles The EU wants to change some fundamental ways the Internet functions. (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) Some of the European Unions leaders think theyve come up with a two new way to boost the continents digital economy: let newspapers bill search engines like Google and Yahoo (Finances parent company) for showing snippets of news stories, and get video sites to make sure their users dont uploaded copyrighted content. Making digital companies prop up analog firms may not seem like a particularly sound strategy, but its a key part of the proposed copyright reforms the EUs European Commission released on Wednesdaysome of which are not particularly objectionable and aim to solve actual problems in the market. The fact that these ideas have flopped before doesnt seem to have discouraged the EC. And you shouldnt be too surprised if a vote by the European Parliament to adopt them encourages Big Copyrights lobbyists in the US to demand similar measures here. A screening at video and other sites The first bone the ECs Copyright Directive throws to copyright holders is a requirement that sites hosting content submitted by their users adopt systems to scan for and reject copyrighted material. That represents a major shift from current law in Europe, which requires sites to take down infringing material when a copyright holder notifies it of the offense and, in return, frees them from being held liable for what their users post. The US has a similar system in place, and its allowed the entire category of user-generated content sites to flourish. Without it, youd have no Twitter (TWTR), no Facebook (FB), no Instagram, no YouTubeestablishing this regime ranks as one of the most important accomplishments of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The EC now proposes to flip this around by requiring sites to police their users upfront. Thats not impossibleYouTubes Content ID does this and allows copyright holders to choose between having a video taken down or taking a cut of the ad revenue that clip generatesbut it is difficult for sites without the resources of a Google (GOOG) behind them to write code to match short video samples against an enormous library of copyrighted content. Story continues The commissions proposal would exempt smaller sites but doesnt specify a threshold. The full text of the proposed Directive only says that this requirement would apply to sites that host large amounts of works. What is clear about this: Life for any EU user-generated-content startups proposing to compete with the likes of Google will get a lot harder when they have to budget for taking on copyright-cop duties at some point. Get ready for a snippet tax The commissions other bad idea aims to protect the press by allowing publishers to stop search sites from showing one- or two-sentence summaries of their stories unless those sites license such summaries and, presumably, pay for them. Well, Ive seen this movie before, and I know how it ends. It ignores the reality that Google News and other search sites send people to news sitesand since Google News doesnt include any ads of its own, the exchange of value is already tilted in publishers direction. But if publishers really dont want Googles help (maybe they feel that a reader who would be satisfied with a one-sentence summary of a story can somehow be motivated to perform the extra effort of searching for it on their own sites?), they can already refuse that assistance by editing a standard file on their sites to block Google or any other search engine from indexing their content. Past attempts by news publishers to demand royalties from Google and others have flopped when search sites balked and publishers relented. In the most dramatic case, Spain passed a law in 2013 requiring such payments, with no option for news sites to waive themand Google responded by essentially firing the country, in the form of closing the Spanish version of Google News. Google remains unconvinced on snippet taxes. A post on its European-policy blog declared that paying to display snippets is not a viable option for anyone. Meanwhile, the ECs proposal says nothing about the massive and growing amounts of traffic sent to news sites from social-media sites like Facebookwhich already influences news consumption enough to make journalists worry about its leverage. One longtime critic of European copyright overreach, Pirate Party European Parliament member Julia Reda, said this is best read as an attempt by established media outlets to protect their own market share. The positive effects of social media and search on reaching new audiences are more pronounced for smaller, less well-known news outlets than for the largest ones, Reda wrote in an e-mail. Its a dangerous game for them, though, because there are plenty of publishers who oppose this law. It can happen here too From a chair in the States, it can be tempting to make fun of those silly Europeans and their odd fondness for making up new kinds of intellectual-property rights like the right to be forgotten rule, which requires search engines to scrub their results to hide old or embarrassing results of a EU resident whos not a public figure and files such a request. But intellectual-property overreach is not just a European sport. It happens in the US too, most recently when a federal court decided that an incredibly common form of software development infringed on a property right that had never before been recognized. Meanwhile, the Recording Industry Association of America is already campaigning to change US copyright law, saying its too weak in protecting musicians and too soft on the likes of Google. So if the European Parliament goes ahead with the ECs proposals, you can expect calls to make them our newest import from Europe. More from Rob: Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro. By PTI: Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) In a move aimed at countering the silent morchas being taken out by the Maratha community across the state, Maharashtra government today appointed Rajya Sabha MP and heir of Warrior King Chattrapati Shivaji, Sambhajiraje Bhosale as its Tourism Brand Ambassador. State Tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal said Bhosale will promote the rich legacy of forts built by Shivaji during his reign. advertisement Rawal, while speaking to reporters here also announced setting up of a heritage committee which will make recommendations on conservation of heritage forts and promoting luxury tourism in the state. "Chattrapati Sambhajiraje Bhosale will be a member of the committee which will submit its report to the government in four months time," Rawal said. Accepting the governments proposal to be its Tourism ambassador, Bhosale said the heritage policy will seek to make efforts to convey the rich historical legacy to the world at large. "Just like Rajasthan has marketed its historical forts as tourist destinations, the state too intends to showcase the same through the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC)," he said. However, Bhosale refused to comment on the silent morchas being taken out by the Maratha community. The MP said after taking oath as a new member of the Rajya Sabha, he did raise the issue of the gangrape and murder of the teenager in Kopardi during the Zero Hour. "I do not want to take credit for raising the issue of reservation quota for Maratha community and thus I wont speak on the issue. But I will definitely raise this issue when I make my maiden speech in the Parliament," he said. Meanwhile, Rawal lamented at the encroachment of slums in Mahim fort (in Mumbai) and a school being run in a fort in Malegaon in Nashik district. "There is urgent need for control over the heritage forts. The government intends to set up a Directorate of Tourism headed by a director," he said. Rawal announced that the state will celebrate 2017 as year of "Visit Maharashtra" and said it has so many heritage forts steeped in rich history, more than what Rajasthan has. He further said funds will be earmarked in District Planning and Development Committees (DPDCs) of the district for promotion of tourism. Besides this, each district will have its own district tourism plan which will promote religious, tourist, heritage forts, wildlife sanctuaries in the plan, Rawal added. PTI MM NRB AJR --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) In a move aimed at countering the silent morchas being taken out by the Maratha community across the state, Maharashtra government today appointed Rajya Sabha MP and heir of Warrior King Chattrapati Shivaji, Sambhajiraje Bhosale as its Tourism Brand Ambassador. State Tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal said Bhosale will promote the rich legacy of forts built by Shivaji during his reign. advertisement Rawal, while speaking to reporters here also announced setting up of a heritage committee which will make recommendations on conservation of heritage forts and promoting luxury tourism in the state. "Chattrapati Sambhajiraje Bhosale will be a member of the committee which will submit its report to the government in four months time," Rawal said. Accepting the governments proposal to be its Tourism ambassador, Bhosale said the heritage policy will seek to make efforts to convey the rich historical legacy to the world at large. "Just like Rajasthan has marketed its historical forts as tourist destinations, the state too intends to showcase the same through the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC)," he said. However, Bhosale refused to comment on the silent morchas being taken out by the Maratha community. The MP said after taking oath as a new member of the Rajya Sabha, he did raise the issue of the gangrape and murder of the teenager in Kopardi during the Zero Hour. "I do not want to take credit for raising the issue of reservation quota for Maratha community and thus I wont speak on the issue. But I will definitely raise this issue when I make my maiden speech in the Parliament," he said. Meanwhile, Rawal lamented at the encroachment of slums in Mahim fort (in Mumbai) and a school being run in a fort in Malegaon in Nashik district. "There is urgent need for control over the heritage forts. The government intends to set up a Directorate of Tourism headed by a director," he said. Rawal announced that the state will celebrate 2017 as year of "Visit Maharashtra" and said it has so many heritage forts steeped in rich history, more than what Rajasthan has. He further said funds will be earmarked in District Planning and Development Committees (DPDCs) of the district for promotion of tourism. Besides this, each district will have its own district tourism plan which will promote religious, tourist, heritage forts, wildlife sanctuaries in the plan, Rawal added. PTI MM NRB AJR SRE --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Sep 19 (PTI) More than three-fifth of Indians support use of military force to defeat the scourge of terrorism, according to a latest Pew Survey released today which said that about half of the respondents disapprove of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Pakistan policy. "With roughly half (52 per cent) the Indian public worried that ISIS poses a major threat to their country, about six-in-ten Indians (62 per cent) believe that overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism around the world. Just 21 per cent say relying too much on such force creates hatred that leads to more terrorism," said Pew Research Center in its report running into 40 pages. advertisement While 68 per cent of the respondents feel that India is playing a more important role in the world than it was doing 10 years ago, the Pew Research Center in its annual survey, which was conducted among 2,464 respondents from April 7 to May 24, said half of the respondents disapprove of Modis management of Indias volatile relationship with Pakistan. His Pakistan policy is approved by just 22 per cent, said the survey which was conducted in the months after the terrorist attack at the Pathankot Air Force base coming from across the border. "Notably, however, more than half of BJP supporters (54 per cent) and a plurality of Congress party adherents (45 per cent) disapprove of the prime minister?s handling of relations with Pakistan," the report said. In the handling of China, supporters of Modi?s own party, the BJP, are more likely than adherents of the Congress party to favor his conduct of bilateral relations. Pew said Indians are ready to support more defence spending. Across party lines, more than six-in-ten (63 per cent) think the country should increase spending on national defence, just six per cent want to decrease it and 20 per cent want to keep it at current levels. Notably, Indians who see Chinas growing military power as a very serious problem are more likely than those who see China?s growing military power as a less serious threat to favor increased military spending, it said. According to Pew, the Indian publics satisfaction with the direction of the country has increased 36 percentage points since 2013, the year before Modi took power. The survey found that Indian publics ciews on the economy have improved by 23 points. And belief that todays children will be better off financially than their parents is up eight points. PTI NSA CPS --- ENDS --- The New York City authorities have identified the Manhattan explosion suspect as Ahmad Khan Rahami, a resident of New Jersey. By Reuters: An Afghanistan-born American sought in connection with a series of bombings that wounded 29 people in the New York City area over the weekend was in custody after a gun battle with police on Monday, a New Jersey mayor said. Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was captured after firing at police officers in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles (32 km) outside New York, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. Two officers were shot, one in the hand and the other in a bullet-proof vest, he said. advertisement "Mr. Rahami also sustained shots and an ambulance has taken him away," Bollwage said. Video from WABC television showed a conscious man described as Rahami on a gurney and being loaded into an ambulance. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two US officials told Reuters. Earlier on Monday, New York Police had released a photo of Rahami, 28, and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. Also read: Explosion in a dumpster in Manhattan injures 29, no terror link reported In addition to the two incidents, officials are probing a backpack containing bombs found in a New Jersey train station on Sunday, and an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb located blocks away from the Chelsea blast site. No one was injured in the other blasts. As reports of Rahami being taken in custody were being released, US President Barack Obama said he saw no connection between the explosions and a separate weekend incident where a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead. He said authorities are investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism. The man in the Minnesota incident was described a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group's news agency said on Sunday. --- ENDS --- A man threw ink on Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today while he emerged from his meeting with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at the latter's residence in the national capital. By Rohit Mishra: A man threw ink on Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today while he emerged from his meeting with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at the latter's residence in the national capital. "They are trying to divert people's attention when the Aam Aadmi Party government is doing its work in Delhi," Sisodia, whose red shirt bore the stain of the ink attack, told reporters. advertisement The attacker, who has been identified as Brajesh, said he threw the ink to protest the absence of senior Delhi government officials from Delhi, when it was facing a severe dengue and chikungunya epidemic. ALSO READ | Ink on your face, big disgrace, Really? "The people of Delhi are hassled while these leaders are away on trips," he told reporters. JUNG SUMMONS SISODIA Jung had summoned Sisodia from Finland where the senior Aam Aadmi Party leader, also Delhi's Education Minister, was attending a conference on education. Sisodia returned from Finland as scheduled on Sunday despite the Lt Governor's order to cut short his visit. ALSO READ | Students throw ink at Union Health Minister JP Nadda in Bhopal Jung's summon had come in the wake of widespread criticism over senior Delhi government officials missing from the national capital. He is going abroad on our money and people of Delhi are suffering: Brajesh Shukla, who threw ink at Manish Sisodia pic.twitter.com/k1fUbHDXDw ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Refuting the Opposition's allegation that he was "holidaying" in Finland, Sisodia had said it was not a "sin" to study the schooling system of other countries to fix the problems in Delhi's education system. ALSO READ | Kejriwal and 10 other politicians who had shoes thrown at them in public "I am not holidaying in Finland, I am on a tour to understand the education system here. Is coming to Finland a sin? Eating ice-cream a sin? Which book says that? I am working here for 26 lakh children for which Delhi Government is responsible. I am accountable to their parents," he told a TV channel from Helsinki. ALSO READ | Delhi dengue: L-G Jung asks Deputy CM Sisodia to return from Finland immediately --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Sep 18 (PTI) The Syria and ISIS policy of President Barack Obama is working as the terrorist outfit is shrinking in its occupied space, Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine said today. "We have dramatically improved in the last year. And the proof is in how much ground ISIS has lost," Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. advertisement A year ago, Kaine was highly critical of Obamas Syria policy and described it as a joke. Its no longer the case, he said. "A year ago, I think you remember, we had a small force that we were trying to put into Syria. And the opening of that was a dismal failure. But now were taking the fight to ISIS to defeat and destroy them," he told CNN. "If you look at whats happened in the last year, ISIS territory has dramatically shrunk because of a significant uptick in cooperation between the US, the Iraqi military, the Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq, the Kurds in Northern Syria and the Syrian opposition," Kaine said. Russia can demand that Syria stop its atrocities against its civilians. Russia has always had the ability to mandate a ceasefire, because theyre there in Syria. Theyre Syrias chief backer, he said. At the same time, he hoped that Moscow will stick to the table, stick to the ceasefire agreement, because thats whats necessary to solve this humanitarian crisis. Responding to questions, Kaine acknowledged that situation has deteriorated in Iraq. "In Iraq, it spiraled downward. And then, in Syria, where we didnt have troops, it spiraled downward because of the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad. We cant make governments govern wisely," he said. "But what we need to do is, when terrorists pose a threat to allies or to the United States, we need to engage in punishing activity to destroy them. We are now on track to defeat ISIS on the battlefield. But we have got to be sharing intelligence with our allies, so that we can keep America and our allies safe," Kaine said. PTI LKJ KUN --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Sajjad Hussain Islamabad, Sep 19 (PTI) Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif today met his top commanders and said the military was "watchful" towards the security imperatives of the country in the wake of "hostile narrative" by India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. The Corps Commanders Conference - held in Rawalpindi and chaired by Gen Sharif - reviewed external and internal security situation and operational preparedness of the army, the army said in a statement. advertisement "Taking note of a hostile narrative being propagated by India, COAS (Gen Sharif) said that we are fully cognizant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan," the statement said. "Armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat," he said, expressing his satisfaction over operational preparedness of the army. "Pakistans armed forces together with our resilient nation have surmounted every challenge and will thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan in future as well," Gen Sharif said during the meeting. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmirs Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. Indias DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. PTI SH ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- Baloch Repubublican Party protested against the genocide carried out by Pakistan and to condemn the Uri attack outside the UN. A high level meeting of the Baloch Republican Party Central Committee was held under the leadership of Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti in Geneva. By Anil Kumar: In a protest demonstration outside UN office, Baloch Repubublican Party highlighted Baloch genocide and state atrocities outside Broken Chair in Geneva. Party activists and large number of Swiss citizens participated in the protest to express solitary with the families of the victim and highlighted mass human right violations committed by the Pakistan forces in Balochistan. The demonstrators held banners, scribed with various slogans reading "No to Pakistan, Free Balochistan". advertisement READ| Balochistan freedom movement gets new poster faces A high level meeting of the Baloch Republican Party Central Committee was held under the leadership of Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti in Geneva. "Pakistan aggression in Balochistan has escalated since the speech by Indian PM Narendra Modi about Balochistan and my welcoming reaction on the statement," he said. READ| Exiled Baloch leader Brahumdagh Bugti likely to get Indian citizenship Speaking to India Today, he said "We condemn the Uri Attack in strongest possible terms. It is yet another example of Pakistan's role as a country exporting terrorism. Terrorist attacks like Uri Attack should unite India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Balochistan as responsible neighbours against terrorist Pakistan." BAGTI TO APPLY FOR ASYLUM IN INDIA "I will file the asylum application with the Indian government through the country's embassy in Geneva soon and we will follow the legal process for the application," Brahumdagh Bugti said. Brahumdagh Bugti is currently living in exile in Switzerland. Also read: India raises Balochistan at UNHRC Session in Geneva, hits out at Pakistan --- ENDS --- Militants said they ambushed an unmarked vehicle ferrying soldiers on Sunday morning near the congested Daudzai area of Peshawar. By Reuters: Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Sunday, militants said, in an attack for which both Islamic State and a Pakistani Taliban faction claimed responsibility. Militants said they ambushed an unmarked vehicle ferrying soldiers on Sunday morning near the congested Daudzai area of Peshawar. Military sources confirmed the attack but said the killed men were army employees and not soldiers. advertisement The Pakistan army often uses unmarked vehicles for transportation of soldiers and other employees in volatile areas around Peshawar to avoid being identified and attacked. Also read: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened "They were travelling in a civil van when unknown armed men opened fire at them," said a security official who declined to be named. "Three of them died on the spot." ATTACK RESPONSIBILITY Pakistan's military this month declared that it had foiled Islamic State's attempts to establish operations in the country. But the group's Amaq news agency said Islamic State was behind the ambush, also claimed by Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, an offshoot of the Islamist militant Pakistani Taliban group. Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, which carried out the Easter Sunday bombing in Lahore in which 70 people were killed, at one time swore fealty to Islamic State's Middle East leadership, but later switched back to the Taliban. The two groups also both claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a hospital in the Pakistani city of Quetta that killed 74 people last month. Also read: 25 killed in suicide bomb attack in Pakistan mosque CONCERN ON INCREASING ISLAMIC STATE ATTACKS Pakistan's military said on September 1 it had arrested more than 300 Islamic State militants and sympathisers, thwarting the ultra-hardline group's attempts to expand there. But concern has been growing that Islamic State - which controls parts of Iraq and Syria and is known for especially brutal treatment of religious minorities - might replicate their model in Pakistan, especially after Islamic State loyalists seized small pieces of territory in neighbouring Afghanistan. On Friday, Pakistani authorities said they arrested four Islamic State militants plotting attacks in the city of Lahore. The four men had 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) of explosives as well as fuses and detonators, officials said. Most Islamic State recruits in the region are believed to be Pakistani or Afghan defectors from other Islamist movements. Also read: Stop sending love letters to Pakistan, says Bihar deputy CM Tejaswi to PM Modi Pakistan is home to several militant groups including the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network, giving Islamic State both a rich pool of potential recruits but also fierce competition. advertisement Islamic State last year declared Afghanistan and Pakistan as the state of "Khorasan", part of its self-declared global caliphate, and appointed longtime militant Hafiz Saeed Khan as its regional leader. A US drone strike killed Khan last month in eastern Afghanistan. --- ENDS --- Pakistan's chief justice expressed disappointment over some of the political parties extending support to terrorism in the country. By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan's chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has slammed some political parties of the country for endorsing terrorism. Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad on Monday Justice Jamali confirmed what India had been saying for years and international community suspected for long. "It is disappointing to see some political parties supporting terrorists for their own interest," Geo News quoted Justice Jamali as saying. advertisement The chief justice said that terrorists were targetting courts in Pakistan in order to instill fear among lawyers and judges. Terrorism is flourishing in Pakistan due to internal patronization, he asserted. INSTITUTIONS MUST WORK IN PAKISTAN Pakistan's chief justice made an impassioned plea that various institutions of governance must function properly to bring stability in the country. He said that all institutions should work in their respective domains and not trespass each other, Geo News reported. Justice Jamali also maintained that religious persecution should not have any place in Pakistan. "The constitution allows all faiths to practice their religion without fear of being persecuted," he was quoted as saying. ALSO READ: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened In pics: Combing operations in Uri post fidayeen attack --- ENDS --- Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said that the sacrifice of the 17 soldiers will not go in vain. By Press Trust of India: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said that the supreme sacrifice of 17 brave soldiers, who were martyred in the deadly Uri attack will not go in vain as he instructed the Army to take firm action against those responsible. Parrikar also visited the injured soldiers at the hospital in Srinagar and instructed the authorities to provide best possible treatment. advertisement Defence sources said that 3-5 soldiers have also been airlifted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital here. "The supreme sacrifice of 17 brave Soldiers will not go in vain. My salute to them. Reviewed situation in Kashmir following Uri attack with Army Chief & Commanders. Instructed to take firm action against those responsible," he tweeted. PARRIKAR BRIEFED ARMY Parrikar, who flew in to Srinagar earlier in the day, was briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt Gen DS Hooda and Lt Gen Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. The briefing included discussions on the soft points and how the terrorists managed to get in. Defence sources said possible "action plan" was also discussed about how the Army can respond to the attack. Sources said the decision will be taken at a higher level on the kind of action to be taken but this would be highly confidential. TALKS ABOUT SECURITY GRID ALONG LOC Parrikar has in the past said "individual or organisation" harming the country "should also receive the pain of such activities". Parrikar was also briefed about the security grid along the Line of Control and the hinterland also covering the deployment and employment of the additional forces that have been recently inducted into the Valley. The need for heightened vigil both on the LC and hinterland and to remain prepared for any development was stressed upon. Also read: Uri attack: Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar hold strategy meet amid reports of fidayeen infiltration --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Amitabh Bachchan's Pink might have seen a cautious start on Friday with only Rs 4.32 crore, but has since steadily seen progress. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh reported the film was being helped by positive word of mouth, taking their weekend opening to Rs 21.51, after earning Rs 9.54 crore on Sunday. The film has seen steady increase with Rs 4.32 cr, Rs 7.65 cr and Rs 9.54 cr on the first three days respectively. advertisement ALSO READ: Amitabh Bachchan's Pink is another name in Bollywood's Could-Have-Been-Great list #Pink Fri 4.32 cr, Sat 7.65 cr, Sun 9.54 cr. Total: ? 21.51 cr. India biz. EXCELLENT! taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) September 19, 2016 For a small film like Pink, this is a huge success. The rave reviews might increase footfalls over the coming week. The Bhatts on the other are experiencing stagnation in its opening weekend with collections of Rs 6.30 cr, Rs 5.49 cr and Rs 6.30 cr in the first three days taking their tally to an underwhelming Rs 18.09 crore. #RaazReboot doesn't witness growth on Sun... Single screens better... Fri 6.30 cr, Sat 5.49 cr, Sun 6.30 cr. Total: ? 18.09 cr. India biz. taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) September 19, 2016 Raaz Reboot has gotten bad reviews from a majority of the leading publications, plus Pink is turning out to be the darker, more thrilling film. Raaz Reboot stars newcomers Gaurav Arora, Kriti Kharbanda alongside the Raaz veteran Emraan Hashmi. Raaz is the more expensive film, having been shot in Romania, and the business will have to increase in the next week if it has to break even. Amitabh Bachchan's Pink on the other hand is growing positively and is only expected to get closer and closer to becoming a hit in the next few days. --- ENDS --- By PTI: (Attn.editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) Plight of Pakistani Minorities Discussed in the United Nations GENEVA, September 19, 2016/PRNewswire/ -- The European Organization for Pakistani Minorities, on September 16, organised a side event titled "Plight of Pakistani Minorities" at the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. advertisement The speakers included Fulvio Martusciello, Member of the European Parliament, Mario Silva, Executive Director, International Forum for Rights and Security, Canada, Dr. Rubina Greenwood, Vice Chairperson, World Sindhi Congress and Senge Sering, President, Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies. Speaking on the occasion, Fulvio Martusciello highlighted Pakistans discriminatory laws against minorities and use of extremist groups as proxies to target minorities including the Christains, Hazaras, Ahmadiyas, Hindus and Balochs. He expressed deep concern regarding the growing intolerance in Pakistani society, a phenomenon aggravated by the actions of the Pakistani government. (MORE) PRN TLS TLS --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Yoshita Singh New York, Sep 19 (PTI) A 28-year-old naturalised American citizen of Afghan descent is being sought by US authorities for questioning in the powerful New York explosion yesterday that injured 29 people, as the city mayor conceded today that the blast could be an act of "terrorism" with foreign links. "The FBI is asking for assistance in locating Ahmad Khan Rahami," FBI New York said in a tweet, released with the picture of the suspect, who is now also sought in connection with todays explosion in New Jersey as well. advertisement "Rahami is a US citizen of Afghan descent. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is about 5.6 tall, has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair," the FBI said, adding that the suspect could be "armed and dangerous". Rahami is wanted for questioning in connection with the explosion that occurred yesterday in Chelsea district of Manhattan, New York, and injured 29 people, it said. A second bomb that was discovered nearly four blocks away was defused successfully by the bomb disposal squad. Meanwhile, the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said there were "certain commonalities among the bombs," that went off in New York yesterday and New Jersey today, leading authorities to believe "that there was a common group behind the bombs." "The more we learn with each passing hour, it looks more like terrorism," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a TV interview today. Yesterday, the city administration while conceded that the blast was "intentional," it was careful as not to use the word terrorism. "Todays information suggests it may be foreign related but well see where it goes," Cuomo told another TV channel. The White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said that President Barack Obama has been informed about the developments and he will make a statement later today. Earlier, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing. Security had already been tightened in the city for the ongoing UN General Assembly, but the presence of officers throughout New York City after the blast will be "bigger than ever," de Blasio said. Earlier today, the FBI found five explosive devices at a train station in New Jersey. One of the devices detonated while robot police was trying to disarm the device. Police believe the same suspect could be linked to both the incidents. PTI YAS SUA AKJ SUA --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Sep 19 (PTI) Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda today cancelled his scheduled visit to the UN to address the concerns of ethnic groups over the new Constitution, which he said must be open to amendments as the Madhes-based communities are still dissatisfied. Prachanda was supposed to fly to New York today to take part in the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly leading the Nepalese delegation. advertisement He had returned home yesterday on completion of his four- day tour to India. "The Prime Minister decided not to leave the country after voices were raised from several quarters that he is required to work towards addressing the concerns and grievances raised by the Madhesi, Tharu and ethnic minority groups," reads a statement issued by the Prime Ministers Office. On behalf of the government of Nepal, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat will lead the country at the UN, it said. Sources said it was high time that the prime minister focussed on implementation of the Constitution and carry out reconstruction work of the damaged structures, so he decided to cancel the foreign trip. Meanwhile, addressing a programme in Nepal Army pavilion here to mark the Constitution Day, Prachanda said the statute can mature only after timely amendments to cater to the needs of the people. The Constitution must be open to amendments as the Madhes-based communities are still dissatisfied with the existing one, he said. The Madhesis, who are mostly of Indian-origin, say that the Constitution is discriminatory to their interest and marginalises them politically. The Prime Minister congratulated the people of Nepal as the nation marked the first anniversary of achieving the decades-long dream of promulgating a people-written Constitution. He also said the government was active towards holding elections at all three tiers including local, provincial and federal levels and would soon announce the dates for them. President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Deputy prime ministers, ministers, high-ranking government officials, chiefs of diplomatic missions, among others were present on the occasion. PTI CPS/SBP SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has launched a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him a 'selfie-machine' during his ongoing Kisan Yatra in UP. By Kumar Abhishek: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government on Monday. He said that the prime minister only believed in taking selfie with world leaders. Speaking during a road show at Urai in UP's Jalaun district, Rahul said, "He is a kind of PM, who takes selfie with the world leaders, but he has never taken a selfie with a farmer or a labourer. He has become a selfie machine." advertisement READ: Modi's new challenger: Rahul Gandhi 'FAIR & LOVELY GOVERNMENT' The Congress leader also said that PM Modi only made promises, which were never fulfilled. Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of black money once again during his ongoing Kisan Yatra in UP. Taking a swipe at the black money declaration scheme of the government, he said, "If you have thousands of crores of rupees and you wish to make them white, then go to (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley. Your black money will be turned into white. This is the fair and lovely scheme, that Modi government has launched." READ: Rahul Gandhi's sense of value far superior to Narendra Modi: Jairam Ramesh to India Today 'MODI GOVERNMENT IS ANTI-POOR' The Congress vice president accused the Modi government of being anti-poor, which catered to the needs of the rich and big industrialists only. "The Modi government has waived off loans of big industrialists, who defaulted lakhs of crores of rupees in the past two-and-a-half year. But, a farmer's loan of a few thousands can't be waived off even if that farmer dies under the burden of loan," Rahul Gandhi said. "If Congress is voted to power in UP, we will write off farmers' loan in ten minutes. Electricity bills of the farmers will also be waived off," he promised during his road show. ALSO READ: PM Modi thanks Rahul Gandhi for birthday wishes as Twitter showers its love Rahul Gandhi's Om Shanti tweet takes a dig at PM Modi's BJP facing adversity remark --- ENDS --- Late TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee's boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh is in trouble again; he has been booked for drunk driving and not possessing a driving license. By Mustafa Shaikh: Accused in the Pratyusha Banerjee suicide case, the boyfriend of the late actress--Rahul Raj Singh--was caught driving under the influence of alcohol along with his friend Saloni Vijay Sharma, on Sunday night at Gazdhar Bandh road, Santacruz West, Mumbai. The duo was apprehended during a drunk driving check; the alcohol level in Rahul's blood was more than the permissible limit. advertisement The two were later booked under the Local Act Case and let off with a fine of Rs 2,500; they will now have to appear before the court when summoned. Also read: Late TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee's boyfriend booked in molestation case According to the Santacruz police, Saloni threatened Police Inspector Shrikant Desai that she would complain to his superiors if he registers a case against Rahul. "Desai tried to pacify them. But they still argued. Rahul Raj Singh was not possessing his driving license. Action is taken for drunken driving and not possessing driving license vide LAC No 4600/16 and 4601/16," said Mumbai Police spokesperson, Ashok Dudhe. Also read: Suicide is a very cowardly thing to do: Rahul Raj Singh Under the Maharashtra Police Act, which was earlier known as the Bombay Police Act, or Local Act Case (LAC), the station house officer can let the accused go after taking a fine from them with an undertaking that they will appear before the local magistrate when required. Rahul has constantly been in the news for some trouble or the other. Just last week, he was charged with a molestation case against a South Indian actress (name undisclosed). Prior to that he was charged with an abetment to suicide in the Pratyusha Banerjee death case. --- ENDS --- Telly couple Rithvik Dhanjani and Asha Negi are having a fun time in Switzerland these days. By India Today Web Desk: Super Dancer host Rithvik Dhanjani is having a super time with girlfriend Asha Negi in Switzerland these days. And their travel pics posted in Instagram are giving us some serious travel goals. Gorging on some awesome food and visiting all the landmark places in Switzerland, the couple are making the most of their vacation. The Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan actress was also seen enjoying the lovely weather. advertisement Also read: Happy Birthday, Asha Negi! Rithvik Dhanjani, Suyyash Rai wish the actress on Twitter Both Rithvik and Asha are travel buffs and love to travel along with their friends. Their last vacation was with Karanvir Bohra, Sargun Mehta, Ravi Dubey in Goa. Check out pics from their Switzerland holiday: Meanwhile in Switzerland..????#inlovewithswitzerland A photo posted by Asha Negi (@ashanegi) on Sep 19, 2016 at 3:32am PDT And he says I can't click good pictures?? A photo posted by Asha Negi (@ashanegi) on Sep 18, 2016 at 2:13pm PDT Say cheese everybody! Making sure my life is quite cheesy?? #inlovewithswitzerland A video posted by Asha Negi (@ashanegi) on Sep 18, 2016 at 2:09pm PDT My black and white look and to go with it is this cute @3madchicks bag.. now that's a way to start a trip????????#switzerlandhereicome??????????? A photo posted by Asha Negi (@ashanegi) on Sep 17, 2016 at 12:25pm PDT --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Controversial RJD leader Shahabuddin could be in for trouble as Supreme Court today agreed to hear next week a plea seeking quashing of a Patna High Court order granting him bail in the murder of a person who had witnessed the gruesome killing of his two younger siblings at Siwan in Bihar. The apex court, which for the present did not allow the interim prayer for stay on operation of Patna High Courts bail order asked Shahabuddin, against whom 58 criminal cases were pending in 2014, to respond to the plea of Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons were killed in two separate incidents. advertisement Keeping coalition compulsions aside, the Nitish Kumar-led government went a step ahead of Prasads plea and sought issuance of non-bailable warrant (NBW), against the RJD strongman who has termed Kumar as "Chief Minister of circumstances" on his release from Bhagalpur jail recently. A bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, which heard advocate Prashant Bhushan and Bihar governments plea for nearly an hour, however said "we intend to give him a hearing also". "Issue notice on the Special Leave Petition as also on the prayer for interim relief seeking stay of the impugned Order dated September 7, 2016 passed by the High Court of Patna, returnable on Monday, the September 26," it said. Bhushan, appearing for Prasad also known as Chanda Babu, said Shahabuddin was a "notorious criminal" and his reign of terror was "in Bihar in general and in Siwan in particular". "As per the affidavit filed by Bihar government in 2014 in another case, there are 58 criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin and out of them he has been convicted in eight cases. In two of the cases, he was awarded life sentence by a trial court," he said. Shahabuddin had been granted bail recently by the High Court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, Prasads son who was the sole eye-witness to the cold-blooded murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan. The RJD leader has already been convicted and awarded life imprisonment in the twin murder case, while the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence. Bhushan said the High Court considered the fact that the trial in Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was jailed at Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail. (More) PTI MNL PKS SJK ARC --- ENDS --- Acting on petitioner Chandrakeshwar Prasad's plea, the court has sought a prompt response from the former parliamentarian and fixed the matter to be heard again next Monday. By Anusha Soni: The Supreme Court today issued a notice to Bihar strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin, whose bail has been challenged by petitions filed by both the Bihar government as well as a man from Siwan whose three sons were allegedly killed by the RJD leader. Acting on petitioner Chandrakeshwar Prasad alias Chanda Babu's plea, the apex court has sought a prompt response from the former parliamentarian and fixed the matter to be heard again next Monday. advertisement Prasad has alleged that his life was in danger following the release of Shahabuddin, who was earlier convicted for the murder of his two sons. Shahabuddin was released even as the trial in the murder of Prasad's third son had not yet started. "BIHAR BREATHING UNDER TERROR" Appearing for Prasad, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan told the Supreme Court, "Bihar is breathing under terror ever since his release. Shahabuddin is a Class A history-sheeter; he should not have been granted the bail." In a hearing that lasted about forty minutes, Prashant Bhushan told the apex court that the private army of Shahabuddin is beyond imagination. Quoting one of the instances as an example of his criminal activities, Bhushan said that about 100 rounds were fired on District inspector and constables during a raid. Giving details of his heinous activities Bhushan told Supreme Court that Shahabuddin is known to pour acid on victims, cut them into pieces, put them in sacks with salt to decompose body. Bhushan also said that the jailor of the jail where Shahabuddin was lodged must be suspended as he allowed the criminal to roam freely outside the jail. About 40 criminal cases are pending against Shahabuddin out of which he has been convicted in eight. Also read: Is Shahabuddin an RJD leader or a criminal, Pappu Yadav asks Lalu Activist Prashant Bhushan seeks cancellation of Mohammad Shahabuddin's bail Ready to go back to jail, says Siwan strongman Shahabuddin Shahabuddin's bail challenged by Nitish govt in Supreme Court Apart from the Patna High Court order on September 10 granting bail to Shahabuddin after 11 years in jail, Bhushan has also sought the suspension of the jailor in Bhagalpur jail where the RJD leader was lodged. Meanwhile, the state of Bihar, in a separate plea, has sought a non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin, whose RJD is a member of the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance currently ruling Bihar. HIGH ALERT IN SIWAN DISTRICT A high alert was sounded in Bihar's Siwan district ahead of the Supreme Court hearing today. A district administration official said the high alert was declared and heavy deployment of security forces was made following an intelligence report that warned of possible law and order situation if Shahabuddin's bail was cancelled. --- ENDS --- advertisement Former deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi has alleged the Bihar government has again fielded a weak lawyer like Gopal Singh to argue Shahabuddin's case. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Former deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi has alleged the Bihar government has again fielded a weak lawyer like Gopal Singh to argue the dreaded don-turned politician Shahabuddin's bail cancellation petition filed by the state government in Supreme Court. The two petitions challenging Shahabuddin's bail filed in the apex Court, one by Chandrakeshwar Prasad, father of three sons who were allegedly killed by Shahabuddin and another by the Bihar government came up for hearing on Monday. advertisement Modi alleged the state government has been exposed after it failed to put up a strong advocate from a number of senior and able lawyers it has to contest Shahabuddin's bail in the Apex Court. On behalf of Chandrakeshwar Prasad it was senior counsel Prashant Bhushan who argued for cancelling Shahabuddin's bail. "It was Prashant Bhushan who all the time argued for Shahabuddin's bail cancellation. The Bihar government in the court admitted that in the Patna High Court it failed produce facts in a strong manner against Shahabuddin", said Sushil Modi. Modi said had the state government hired services senior advocates like it did by hiring senior Supreme Court lawyer Rajiv Dhawan in prohibition case and Nageshwar Rao in museum case, Shahabuddin's would not have got bail from High Court. "Nitish cannot live without Lalu and Lalu cannot live without Shahabuddin", said the BJP leader. Modi further said Nitish Kumar never wanted to upset RJD President Lalu Prasad by challenging Shahbuddin's bail in the Apex court. He said had Prashant Bhushan not moved Supreme court for Shahbuddin's bail cancellations, the state government would have never moved the SC for the same. "There is atmosphere of fear in in Siwan and across the state after Shahabuddin's release from jail. Two murders have taken place in Siwan in last 48 hours. The law and order situation in Siwan is crumbling", said Sushil Modi. The Supreme Court bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy served notice to Shahabuddin asking why his bail should not be cancelled and fixed the matter for hearing on September 26. Supreme Court notice to Shahabuddin on cancellation of bail, Bihar govt seeks NBW --- ENDS --- The ongoing family feud has intensified in Yadav clan with Samajwadi Partys Uttar Pradesh unit chief Shivpal Yadav expelling seven party leaders for anti-party activities. By India Today Web Desk: The drama within the warring Yadavs of the Samajwadi Party is far from over. Just when one thought the truce called by virtually every leader involved in the fight is real, new Uttar Pradesh president Shivpal Singh Yadav today sacked seven leaders, including three MLCs, for anti-party activities and statements against supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. The seven leaders, believed to be closer to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, are: Sunil Singh Yadav (MLC), Anand Bhadauria (MLC), Md Ebad (state Youth Brigade president), Brijesh Yadav (state president, Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha), Sanjay Lathar (MLC), Gaurav Dubey (national president of Youth Brigade), and Digvijay Singh Deo (state president of Chhatra Sabha). advertisement ALSO READ | In the war for succession, why Mulayam can't ignore Shivpal for son Akhilesh The sacking of the seven leaders came a day after Shivpal expelled a close relative of senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and another leader for their alleged involvement in a land grabbing case. In his first decision after taking charge as UP state president of his party, Shivpal on Sunday expelled MLC Arvind Pratap Yadav, who is a nephew of Ram Gopal Yadav, and former village head in Etawah, Akhilesh Kumar Yadav, for their alleged involvement in the land case. The series of sackings came even as the feud in Uttar Pradesh's first family had apparently ended after Akhilesh Yadav restored all but one portfolios of Shivpal Yadav and promised to support him as the Samajwadi Party's state president, a post from which he was himself removed last week triggering the power tussle with his uncle. --- ENDS --- The actress was to be the showstopper for designer Shweta Sarda at the recently concluded India Runway Week but left the venue without setting foot on stage. By India Today Web Desk: Held in the Capital, the recently concluded India Runway Week was in the news for a couple of reasons. With Bollywood stars like Esha Gupta and Soha Ali Khan comprising its list of showstoppers, one wouldn't expect any less, but what the organisers were not expecting was being in the news because one of the showstoppers refused to walk. Yes, actress Soha Ali Khan apparently left the venue without walking the ramp, and just like that the fashion event took a rather unexpected turn. advertisement What happened? Reportedly, Soha was to walk the ramp for fashion designer Shweta Sarda but had to leave due to a delay in the proceedings of the event. Soha had informed the designer in advance that she wouldn't stay beyond 4:30 pm under any condition as she had to catch a flight. But due to an overall delay, Shweta's show started only at 4:25 pm--which is why Soha left without walking the ramp. Soha left the venue without walking the ramp. Picture courtesy: Twitter/@sakpataudi Also Read: Esha Gupta turns showstopper at India Runway Week "I was sure that the show would end by then, but the first show of the day started late and then everything got delayed. We all tried our best, but it was only at 4.25pm that my models started walking the ramp. Had Soha walked as the showstopper, it would have taken her 15-20 minutes extra, so she decided to leave. She did tell me that she had a flight," Shweta was quoted as telling The Times of India. She was to walk the ramp for designer Shweta Sarda. Picture courtesy: Twitter/@sakpataudi A source from the event's team confirmed that Soha had been waiting backstage till 4.30pm. Aviinash K Pathania, one of the organisers of the event, added, "We were clueless, because Soha was standing right behind the models while the show was underway, and suddenly, she left. We took good care of her, but we don't know what was in her mind. There were many other celebrities who came and were very happy with our hospitality. She was paid a huge amount and her travel and stay was taken care of." Also Read: We can't decide if Sonam, Kareena and Rhea in one picture is #FashionGoals or #SquadGoals? However, Times of India quoted Soha as saying that she stayed at her home and paid for her own tickets. "I felt bad for the designer and she was upset, but I stayed true to my professional commitment and waited till 4.30pm, as I'd said I would. As far as travel and stay is concerned, I was staying at my home in Delhi and I paid for my own air tickets," TOI quoted Soha as saying. The event, in its 7th edition, showcases the work of budding designers. --- ENDS --- advertisement By Hemul Goel: The last time Kareena Kapoor Khan stepped out with her favourite girls including her sister Karisma Kapoor, and her BFFs Amrita Arora and Malaika Arora Khan, for what we assume was a fancy brunch, the actress gave us some major #SquadGoals. Also read: Kareena to Malaika: Bollywood's hottest squad steps out in style However, this time we spotted her chilling with the Kapoor sisters aka Sonam Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor. As is the norm, all the Kapoor girls looked their stylish best, with Sonam finishing her graphic monochrome look with green pumps and statement sunglasses. Power brunch or what? Picture courtesy: Instagram/@rheakapoor advertisement Rhea on the other hand kept it casual in a white tee, pants and denim jacket pairing, while mommy-to-be Kareena Kapoor Khan wore her casual tee with a jacket, pointed boots, a Chanel bag, a chunky necklace. Layering gold accessories on her wrist, the actress topped it of with a red lip and a chic pony. We just can't decide if the pictures of these girls together are #FashionGoals or #SquadGoals. How stylish is Rhea's directorial venture, Veere Di Wedding going to be! Also read: Is Kareena's sexy pregnancy style inspired by Kim Kardashian? Though Rhea doesn't share many pictures of herself on her Instagram account often, yesterday, the director shared two selfies of herself. The first had her posing with Bebo, while the second selfie included her sister and her muse Sonam. The way the two pout, they could totally pass for fraternal twins! Pout perfection.Picture courtesy: Instagram/@rheakapoor Pout perfection.Picture courtesy: Instagram/@rheakapoor We can't help but eagerly wait for the movie's first look already! --- ENDS --- Ties between Asia's two largest economies have long been overshadowed by arguments over their painful wartime history and a territorial spat in the East China Sea, among other issues. By Reuters: China on Monday accused Japan of trying to "confuse" the situation in the South China Sea, after its neighbour said it would step up activity in the contested waters, through joint training patrols with the United States. Ties between Asia's two largest economies have long been overshadowed by arguments over their painful wartime history and a territorial spat in the East China Sea, among other issues. advertisement China has repeatedly denounced what it views as interference by the United States and its ally Japan in the South China Sea. Japan will also help build the capacity of coastal states in the busy waterway, its defence minister said last week during a visit to Washington. TALKS TO MAINTAIN PEACE Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said countries in the region had reached a consensus that the South China Sea issue should be resolved through talks between the parties directly involved, and that China and Southeast Asian countries should jointly maintain peace and stability there. "Let's have a look at the results of Japan's throwing things into disorder over this same time period ... trying to confuse the South China Sea situation under the pretence of (acting for) the international community," Lu told a daily news briefing, when asked about Japan's announcement. Japan's actions have simply pushed other countries away from it, and it has failed to compel other nations to see its point of view, he added. CHINA'S CLAIM INVALID "China is resolute in its determination to protect its sovereignty and maritime interests," Lu said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which ships carrying about $5 trillion in trade pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims in the sea, which is also believed to be rich in energy resources and fish stocks. In July, an arbitration court in the Hague said China's claims to the waterway were invalid, after a case was brought by the Philippines. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling. --- ENDS --- The simulated strikes will be carried out during the advanced Red Flag exercise to be held at Eielson air force base in Alaska from October 3-21, Yonhap News Agency reported. Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se of South Korea (L), Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida of Japan, and US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) join hands during a meeting between the three leaders in New York on September 18, 2016. Photo: Reute By Indo-Asian News Service: South Korea and the US are slated to conduct a joint aerial exercise in October that will focus on striking North Korea's nuclear facilities, military officials said on Monday. The simulated strikes will be carried out during the advanced Red Flag exercise to be held at Eielson air force base in Alaska from October 3-21, Yonhap News Agency reported. advertisement The move is aimed at improving the South Korean air forces' combat capabilities amid evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. MISSILE ATTACK "The drill will be held with the scenario of a sudden missile attack from North Korea. It is also designed to practice striking the North's nuclear and other core military facilities," a military official said. South Korea plans to send six F-15Ks and two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to Red Flag this year. "F-15Ks are expected to carry out a mission to strike the North's nuclear facility in Yeongbyeon, more than 100 km north of the country's capital city of Pyongyang, with GBU-31JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) guided bombs," he said. Earlier this month, North Korea said it "successfully" conducted a nuclear test -- its fifth and the "most powerful" test so far. BANNED BY UN SANCTIONS Pyongyang has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches since top North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave an order on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead "in a short time". North Korea is banned by UN sanctions from any tests of nuclear or missile technology. Since their inception in 1975, the Red Flag exercises have served as the pinnacle of air-to-air combat training for airmen. The purpose is to give pilots from the US, Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and other allies an opportunity to practice and refine their skills for real combat situations. --- ENDS --- Suriya is likely to team up with director Raju Murugan after he completes work on his next project with Vignesh Shivan, say reports. By India Today Web Desk: Actor Suriya, who is currently shooting for his upcoming actioner Singam 3, the third part of the Singam series, is likely to team up with director Raju Murugan of Cuckoo fame. Of late, Raju Murugan is in the limelight after the critical and commercial success of Joker, a political satire film. According to reports, Suriya will be working with Raju Murugan after his next film with director Vignesh Shivan of Naanum Rowdy Dhan fame. advertisement ALSO READ: Prabhakaran biopic- If Mani Ratnam is the director, what the dream cast would be ALSO READ: Naga Chaitanya on wedding plans- I will tie the knot next year The project will be produced by Dream Warrior Pictures, which also produced Joker and actor Karthi's upcoming thriller Kaashmora. It is also rumoured that Suriya's project with Vignesh will go on floors in November and will start work on Raju's film in March or April next year. Also, Vignesh's film, which is touted to be a thriller, is based on true events. Reports also suggest that Suriya will make his Telugu debut with filmmaker Trivikram of Athadu and A Aa fame. --- ENDS --- The problems were compounded by the fact that the Newmans' Indian visas would expire on October 7 - leaving them with the only option of keeping Lily in an orphanage till her passport was issued. By Indo-Asian News Service: Five days after offering help to a stranded British couple in Mumbai, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked the UK government when they would issue the passport for their infant daughter of about five-months. In the meantime, she assured that the Indian government would extend the visas of Chris Newman and his wife Michele, which are due to expire on October 7 as they ran from pillar to post trying to get a passport for their daughter Lily. advertisement "When will Britain give Lily a passport? We are prepared to extend parents' visa till then," Sushma said in a tweet on Sunday. The development came four days after the Newmans' plight was first highlighted in the Indian media by IANS (September 14), about the Britons who are living in a small rented flat in Mumbai and fast running out of resources. They faced hassles in taking their surrogate daughter Lily to the UK as her British passport was not yet ready. ORPHANAGE ONLY OPTION Apparently moved by the plight of the Newmans of Epsom in Surrey, Sushma on September 14 gave a heart-warming tweet: "We will help (you) with extension for your visa. Pl(ease) give your details." The problems were compounded by the fact that the Newmans' Indian visas would expire on October 7 - leaving them with the only option of keeping Lily in an orphanage till her passport was issued. However, after the latest assurance tweeted by Sushma - to extend their visas till Britain issues Lily's passport - it would prove to be a big relief for the Newmans, who are now in their 40s. In fact, they had applied on June 3 for a British passport for Lily who was born in May. But processing delays with the international checks at the UK Passport Office has effectively left them stuck in India. Frustrated by the delays, they put up a petition a few weeks back, on social media site, Change.org saying: "We are proud new parents to our amazing daughter Lily, who was born in Mumbai through surrogacy in May 2016. We travelled to Mumbai for Lily's birth and to bring her home to Epsom in Surrey." "However, we have been left stranded because of delays due to UK Passport Office (HMPO) checks and may have to leave our three-and-a-half-month-old daughter with a complete stranger as we are forced to leave by the Indian government," the Newmans expressed their apprehensions. Living in a one-bedroom flat in Mumbai, they described how they were unable to venture out with Lily because of the monsoon rains or extreme heat coupled with poor local surroundings. advertisement CRY FOR HELP "We have now run out of money to live on due to the weakened pound from the Brexit (Britain voting to exit the European Union) vote and having to keep up our mortgage payments on our UK home," they said. They said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had twice asked them to be prepared to "leave Lily" in India. "Lily is now starting to laugh and giggle like all babies her age, but little does she know that the safe, secure and nurtured world she lives in with her mum and dad could be turned upside down in less than 27 days," they said. After the British media highlighted the Newmans' plight, Sushma Swaraj defended India's Surrogacy (Regular) Bill, 2016 in a series of sharp tweets. "...Will the advocates of commercial surrogacy suggest a solution and help this baby? Commercial surrogacy is banned in Britain... Will British government give a British passport to this surrogate baby? ...Should orphanage be the destiny of a surrogate baby?" the minister asked. But on a more humane note, she advised the Newmans to acquire a British passport for their child as "Orphanage is not an option for baby Lily". --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: Chennai, Sep 19 (PTI) Tamil Nadu government today proposed to create database of movable and immovable assets of the temples in the state as part of its series of initiatives in the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said such assets of temples include metal and stone idols besides land and buildings. "All the information will be computerised," she said in a statement. advertisement GIS and GPS will be used for documenting temple property, she said, adding, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) will be used to give a fillip to temple administration. Apart from it, 241 temples will be added to an existing scheme to ensure at least one time pooja a day is performed in these places of worship. Already 12,504 shrines were benefiting under this scheme where the aim is to ensure that proper pooja are conducted at least once in a day, she said. The state government will provide Rs 2.16 crore to the devotees contribution of Rs 24.10 lakh for conducting one time pooja, she said. Allocation of funds for making new wooden temple cars, purchase of required pooja material for a number of temples, construction of Annadana halls and rest areas for devotees and increase in pension for temple staff were also part of the initiatives announced by the Chief Minister. PTI SA BN SMJ --- ENDS --- Twitter users angered by the Uri terror attack are discussing the option of a nuclear war and it's pretty disconcerting. By India Today Web Desk: Twitterverse was seething over the Uri terror attack which claimed lives of 18 Indian Army jawans on Sunday, and revenge was on almost everybody's mind. Amid the obvious anger, some users called for a nuclear war against Pakistan, and even ran polls asking Indians if they were ready to become 'martyrs'. This unprecedented level of anger has now set off a debate on the effects of nuclear weapons, war and India's options for retribution. Are we Indians prepared for a nuclear war for finishing Pakistan as a country. Many of us may die in the processSanjay Dixit (@Sanjay_Dixit) September 18, 2016 'India to confront Pakistan with undeniable proof of its involvement in Uri attack'. Hope at least they drop the proofs from a C130 HerculesRaju Das | ???? ??? (@rajudasonline) September 19, 2016 advertisement The 'nuclear war' option received mixed responses. Many users were quick to express concerns like the fallouts of nuclear warfare, but others believed that patriotism came first. The original poll run by user Sanjay Dixit, meanwhile, was allegedly whitewashed by "Pakistani users" to show a 'no' vote. Dixit followed up with another poll asking users what might be India's best response to the terror attacks: Result of the last poll. Mood on Twitter overwhelmingly for action. Poll stopped as Pakis move in for rigging pic.twitter.com/939G0PybD0Sanjay Dixit (@Sanjay_Dixit) September 19, 2016 Meanwhile, a Pakistani user threw open the same question to his followers, and the results were overwhelmingly in favour of ' martyrdom'. Poll in response to @Sanjay_Dixit If India threatens Pakistan for a nuclear war, will you be ready to sacrifice?Farhan Khan Virk (@FarhanKVirk) September 18, 2016 Adding fuel to nuclear warfare talks, a video showing Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja M Asif on Geo News, in support of 'tactical weapons' went viral too. It was later revealed that the interview actually aired a day before the attack. There comes the nuclear threat. Let's see. https://t.co/70Fec9SWM4Yusuf Unjhawala (@YusufDFI) September 19, 2016 Many Twitter users appeared obviously upset at the overwhelming support for a 'nuclear war' The next few days on Twitter pic.twitter.com/re10dNK1R8Krish Ashok (@krishashok) September 18, 2016 India media must begin debate on the uses of nuclear weapons. In current circumstances, it is necessary to educate people in democracies.Tufail Ahmad (@tufailelif) September 18, 2016 To even talk of nuclear war seems like an act of foolhardy absurdity. Social media tends to lower the standards of debate #UriMadhavan Narayanan (@madversity) September 19, 2016 Also read | Apocalypse alert: How an India-Pak nuclear war will kill 12 million, destroy the two countries In one viral post, a user posted a list of questions for PM Modi. I humbly submit this to u, PM @narendramodi. I'm no expert. But as a citizen, these questions haunt me. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/lfPZfKoPPwNupur (@UnSubtleDesi) September 18, 2016 advertisement And another viral video showed a cop reciting a spirited poem in response to the attacks. Stand-up comedian Tanmay Bhat joined the debate too with a spoof poll: How do you like your idli?Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 And a personal narrative on how people forget the cost of war while striving for patriotism The teachers watched in horror. They were the judges of course and I won't the debate. But none of the students thought I deserved to.Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 For other Twitter users, it was saracasm as usual. Guys I'd request you to not share strategies to destroy Pakistan on social media. We don't want them to know our plans. #BMKJ #DDLJ????? (@Ghair_Kanooni) September 19, 2016 I don't know enough about warfare to know what our response should be. People who know better, point me to some helpful resources? #seriousAshish Shakya (@stupidusmaximus) September 19, 2016 India has, meanwhile, hardened its stance on terrorism and is actively considering imposition of material damage on Pakistan. Top sources in the government also told India Today that the time and place of retribution will be of India's choosing. Army DGMO during press briefing: India reserves the right to retaliate at a time and place of our choosing.Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) September 19, 2016 advertisement --- ENDS --- At the UN human rights council, India sent out a strong message to Pakistan and asked it to stop promoting terrorism. India also raised the issue of human rights violations in Balochistan and PoK. By Press Trust of India: In a blunt message, India asked Pakistan on Monday to stop supporting terrorism and vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as it highlighted human rights violations in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh and persecution of minorities including Hindus. "We, once again, ask Pakistan to stop inciting and supporting violence and terrorism in any part of India and refrain from meddling in our internal affairs in any manner. We call upon the Council to urge Pakistan to fulfill its obligation to vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir," India said in its right to reply at the 33rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) here. advertisement Also Read: Uri attack: India to declare Pakistan state sponsor of terror, may launch punitive strikes 'PAKISTAN PROMOTES CROSS- BORDER TERRORISM' It said Pakistan continues to test the patience as well as wisdom of the Council with its unceasing false-narrative backed by fabricated facts and figures about Jammu and Kashmir. "Pakistan has had territorial ambitions over Kashmir since 1947 that has found concrete expression in the aggression it embarked on in 1947, 1965 and 1999. As on date, Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of 78,000 sq ms (approx) of Indian Territory in Jammu and Kashmir," it said. The fundamental reason for disturbances in Kashmir is cross-border terrorism promoted by Pakistan, it added. Also Read: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened INDIA RAISES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BALOCHISTAN Raising human rights violations in Pakistan, India said, "the people of Balochistan, amongst other provinces, have been waging for decades a bitter and brave struggle against their daily abuse and torture." "Religious and sectarian minorities such as Hindus, Christians, Shias, Ahmaddiyas, Ismailis and others continue to face discrimination, persecution and targeted attacks in Pakistan. Places of worship belonging to minorities have been destroyed and vandalized. Blasphemy laws remain in force and are disproportionately used against religious minorities." Noting that various international organizations have documented how enforced disappearances continue with impunity, particularly in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh where members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement are routinely abducted and killed, India said selective but extremely opaque and high-handed use of force by Pakistani authorities has affected civilian populations on a large scale. Also Read: Baloch Republican Party protests, chants "No to Pakistan, Free Balochistan" outside UN Underlining that more than one million people remain displaced as a result of the current and past armed conflicts in the northwest of Pakistan, India said, "Pakistan will be well-advised to focus its energies on setting its own house in order and acting against the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on its neighbours instead of ritually raking up alleged human rights violations elsewhere." Earlier, making a statement at the session here, India called upon the Council to urge Pakistan to put an end to cross-border infiltration; dismantle the terrorism infrastructure; and stop acting as an epicentre of terrorism. India said it firmly believes that a policy of "zero tolerance" against terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to its own people. advertisement "It is time that moral and material support provided by Pakistan to the perpetrators of this continuing heinous violence on the Indian soil should attract this Council's attention," India said. INDIA HITS OUT AT PAKISTAN FOR PROMOTING TERRORISM Asserting that the acts of terrorism are the most egregious violations of human rights as they rob their victims of the most fundamental of human rights - the right to life, India said this should be clear to any impartial observer of the issue. "India has been a long-suffering victim of terrorism emanating from our neighbourhood. The fundamental reason for disturbances in Kashmir is cross-border terrorism promoted by Pakistan which is so ruthless that it does not shy away from using civilians and even children by putting them in harm's way, at the forefront of violent mobs instigated and supported by their handlers from across the border," it added. advertisement Also Read: Uri terror attack: PM Modi, top ministers discuss India's action plan against Pakistan The fact that known terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin have been able to hold huge rallies in Pakistan's main cities is a reflection of the state of affairs and can mean only one thing: active support for such personalities and the designated organisations they lead in blatant disregard of rule of law is the new normal in Pakistan, it said. Rather than internationalising issues with India, Pakistan should cleanse itself of its terrorists. The time has come, when the international community needs to address the plethora of human rights concerns in Pakistan because its impact has moved beyond the county's domestic problem and has begun to affect the region and the world at large, the statement said. Also Read: Uri attack: Army says India will respond at place, time of its choosingIntelligence agencies warn of another possible attack near Srinagar within next few days Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti to file for asylum in India --- ENDS --- By PTI: Lucknow, Sep 19 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today announced a financial aid of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of four jawans from the state killed in the terrorist attack in Uri in Kashmir. "The Chief Minister has announced a financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of four jawans from Uttar Pradesh killed in Uri yesterday," a spokesperson said. advertisement Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammed had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri, killing 17 jawans. While two of the 17 soldiers were from Jammu and Kashmir, four belonged to Uttar Pradesh, three each Bihar and Maharashtra, two each West Bengal and Jharkhand and one hailed from Rajasthan. PTI ABN GVS DV GVS --- ENDS --- India reserved the right to respond to cross-border terror strike at a place and time of our choosing, the army said today. By Manjeet Negi: India reserved the right to respond to cross-border terror strike "at a place and time of our choosing", the army said today, a day after an attack on a military base in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers was blamed on Pakistan. The Director General Military Operation (DGMO), Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, while addressing the that the army had recovered more articles from the possession of four militants who were killed after they attacked the army camp near the garrison town of Uri, close to the Line of Control (LoC) a de facto border with Pakistan. advertisement "We reserved the right to respond at a place and time of our choosing. We have the desired capability to reply to such blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us," he said. Uri attack: India to declare Pakistan state sponsor of terror, may launch punitive strikes RECOVERIES Among the arms and ammunition recovered from the dead militants were 39 UBGL grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPS devices, two maps and "large quantities of food and medicines with Pakistani markings on them", the DGMO said. He said, "Total recoveries during Uri operation include 4 AK rifles, 4 grenade launchers, 4 under barrel grenade launchers." Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened INCREASE IN INFILTRATION BIDS He said there had been 17 infiltration bids from across the border with Pakistan in 2016. They were foiled, leaving 110 terrorists dead. "Of a total of 110 terrorists killed during various operations this year, 31 were killed while they were attempting to cross the LoC, " DGMO said. At least 31 of them were killed while crossing the LoC, he said. "This indicates a desperate attempt from across the border to push infiltrators and create disturbances in India. Infiltration attempts have increased in the last two years," adding, "During 2016, there have been a total of 17 infiltration bids across the LoC, which have been sucessfully eliminated by Indian Army." The Army has called off the operation this evening and has cleared the entire area. INDIA MAY LAUNCH PUNITIVE STRIKES Hardening its stance on terrorism in the wake of Sunday's attack on an Indian Army base in Uri, India is actively considering imposition of material damage on Pakistan. There may even be a punitive strike in response to ceasefire violations and infiltration. Based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instructions, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, NSA Ajit Doval and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh sat down together in South Block to discuss the ground operations that can be launched by the Army Special Forces. Highly placed sources in the national security apparatus confirmed that very soon results on ground would be seen and felt but no loud announcements would be made. ISOLATE PAKISTAN DIPLOMATICALLY Sources also said PM Modi has given his nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping in the wake of the Uri attack. advertisement MoS Defence Subhash Bhamre has attacked Pakistan army and said that it is to be blamed for Uri attacks. He said, "Jaish-e-Mohammad couldn't have operated without Pakistan army's support." He said, "We will call for diplomatic isolation of Pakistan on international stage." Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert Uri attack exposes vulnerability of security forces near Line of Control --- ENDS --- China today said it was shocked by the attack in Uri and "strongly condemned" terrorism By Ananth Krishnan: China today said it was "shocked" by the attack in Uri and "strongly condemned" terrorism, but however added that it wanted "dialogue" between India and Pakistan. Beijing also said it was concerned by the "escalation" of tensions in Kashmir, as it goes ahead with a massive economic corridor plan that runs through PoK. "We have noted relevant reports. We are shocked by this attack", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing. advertisement "We want to express our deep sympathies and condolences to the affected families and the injured. China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding Kashmir situation." Beijing also called for "relevant parties", referring to India and Pakistan, to "have dialogue and consultation to resolve their differences and enhance counter terrorism cooperation". "Only this way can they safeguard peace and security in their region", Lu said. India has recently called on China to be more sensitive to its concerns on terrorism. While China is itself worried about the Jihadist threat in its Xinjiang region bordering PoK, it has continued to shield Pakistan against any international pressure to crack down on groups like the Jaish-e-Muhammad, said to be behind the Uri attack. SANCTION TO MASOOD AZHAR Beijing this year placed a technical hold on India's move to sanction JeM chief Masood Azhar at the UNSC sanctions committee. China is also going forward with a $46 billion corridor through PoK and to Balochistan. Chinese experts have expressed concerns about the plan being derailed by instability in both areas. Lu said "the building of the corridor is to drive the development of the regional countries" and "needs the concerted efforts of all countries concerned to ensure the smooth running of this corridor". "At the same time I need to stress that recently in this region especially in Kashmir region, there has been some escalation of tensions", he said. "Our position is that we hope all relevant parties can work together and remain committed to resolving these disputes through peaceful consultations and jointly maintain the peace and stability of the region. This in the final analysis is conducive and will bring benefits to China, India, Pakistan and all the regional countries." ALSO READ Uri terror attack: PM Modi, top ministers discuss India's action plan against Pakistan Uri terror attack: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns act Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened advertisement Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert Uri attack exposes vulnerability of security forces near Line of Control --- ENDS --- I appeal to our PM to take revenge from Pakistan and give a befitting reply, said a martyr's daughter who lost his life in the terrorist attack in Uri. The last rites of the three bravehearts from Bihar who were amongst the 17 soldiers who lost their lives in Uri terror attack will take place tomorrow. (Photo: Reuters) By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bodies of three martyrs from Bihar who laid their lives in the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir will be reaching their home tomorrow morning. However, the inconsolable family members of the deceased soldiers are demanding a direct action and revenge from Pakistan. The bodies of sepoy Rakesh Kumar Singh, Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh and Naik Sunil Kumar Vidyarthi have reached Varanasi in Indian Air Force C-130J transport aircraft from Srinagar and presently kept at the BHU mortuary before being dispatched to the respective families. advertisement Sepoy Rakesh Kumar Singh was the youngest of the three sons of Harihar Singh, a farmer. Resident of Badda village in Kaimur district of Bihar, Rakesh had joined the Indian Army in September 2008 and his first posting was in Leh. Rakesh has left behind wife Kiran and two-year old son. Kiran along with her son was at her mother's place in Delhi when the tragic incident took place. Rakesh had last spoken to his wife on 16th September. Despite Rakesh attaining martyrdom, the family is proud and ready to send more members of the family in the Army. READ - Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened "I am proud of my brother's sacrifice. He has made us proud. We will send more members from our family into Army", said Harangi Singh, elder brother Rakesh Singh. Naik Sunil Kumar Vidyarthi, resident of Baknauri village in Gaya district was the second soldier from the state who attained martyrdom in the terror attack. Naik Vidyarthi is survived by his wife, three daughters and a two year old son. Vidyarthi's family is infuriated at the cowardice act indulged into by Pakistan. Naik Vidyarthi had joined Indian Army in 1998. "I appeal to our PM to take revenge from Pakistan and give a befitting reply. The government which has held us back should let us loose so that we can take revenge", said Anshu, martyr's daughter. Similar is the demand from Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh family in Bhojpur district. Havildar Ashok himself was serving in the Indian Army and what is inspiring that his son Vikas to in serving in the Army. Te family of Singh is though morning the loss the Singh in the terror attack, however, her wife Sangeeta has manifested strong grit and determination depite her husband's death. READ| Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert " My son is also in the Army and I am ready to sacrifice my son too for the motherland. The government should not stop hollow talks and take a direct action against Pakistan. We want revenge from Pakistan at all cost", demanded Sangeeta, wife of the martyr. advertisement The last rites of the three brave hearts from Bihar who were amongst the 17 soldiers who lost their lives in Uri terror attack will take place tomorrow. READ| Uri attack: India to declare Pakistan state sponsor of terror, may launch punitive strikes --- ENDS --- There may even be a punitive strike in response to ceasefire violations and infiltration. The time of retribution and place will be of India's choosing, top sources in the government told India Today. By Manjeet Negi: Hardening its stance on terrorism in the wake of Sunday's attack on an Indian Army base in Uri, India is actively considering imposition of material damage on Pakistan. There may even be a punitive strike in response to ceasefire violations and infiltration. Based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instructions, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, NSA Ajit Doval and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh sat down together in South Block to discuss the ground operations that can be launched by the Army Special Forces. advertisement Highly placed sources in the national security apparatus confirmed that very soon results on ground would be seen and felt but no loud announcements would be made. The PM held several meetings in the morning today with the Cabinet Committee for Security attended by all top ministers including home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley and NSA which discussed all diplomatic and offensive options. Talking about the measures deliberated upon at the meeting, top sources in the government told India Today that diplomatic talks with Pakistan may now be off the table. There may not be any dossier diplomacy. Sources also said PM Modi has given his nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping in the wake of the Uri attack. MoS Defence Subhash Bhamre has attacked Pakistan army and said that it is to be blamed for Uri attacks. He said, "Jaish-e-Mohammad couldn't have operated without Pakistan army's support." He said, "We will call for diplomatic isolation of Pakistan on international stage." The action plan is as follows: 1. Declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terror 2. Scale down diplomatic ties with Pakistan 3. Scale down economic ties with Pakistan 4. Punish Pakistan along the LoC for infiltration and ceasefire violation 5. There is likely to be bombing of Pakistani posts along the LoC, but not immediately Also read: Uri terror attack: PM Modi, top ministers discuss India's action plan against Pakistan Uri terror attack: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns act Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened The government feels all political parties are united on teaching Pakistan a lesson. Hence, executing the plan to make Pakistan bleed may not be a hindrance, the sources said. "DEFENCE, INTERNAL SECURITY TOP PRIORITY" Defence and internal security will be top priority of the government. The Pakistani posts that aid infiltration will be punished. The Ministry of Home Affairs will strengthen internal security grid across Jammu and Kashmir for operations to be carried out. In fact, the government will launch a simultaneous diplomatic and economic offensive against Pakistan. MORE DETAILS Deliberations also took place on India declaring Pakistan a terror sponsor state. India will work on UN and other world bodies to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terror. advertisement These options are at a discussion stage. A final decision is likely to be taken very shortly, the sources said. Also read: Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert Uri attack exposes vulnerability of security forces near Line of Control --- ENDS --- While Mehbooba's posturing must have earned her laurels and many new friends within the BJP and the RSS, her stand has added salt to gaping wounds in Kashmir, NC president said. By Naseer Ganai: A day after the deadly militant attack on the brigade headquarter in Uri which left 17 soldiers dead and 19 others injured, the main opposition party in Kashmir accused CM Mehbooba Mufti of relinquishing her authority as head of Unified Headquarters and described her as a mere figurehead. The opposition said, Governor N N Vohra summoning chief minister to attend security review meeting is an indication of how Mehbooba Mufti has surrendered the mandate and sanctity of the chief minister's chair. advertisement "We express serious concern over the complete surrender by the chief minister's office in unofficially relinquishing its authority. Mehbooba Mufti has been reduced to a mere figurehead by New Delhi. National Conference Provincial President, Nasir Aslam Wani said it was evident that the chief minister is no longer the operational head of the UHQ and is merely summoned to play a supporting role to the governor," NC provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said. READ| Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened MEHBOOBA NOW A MERE PARTICIPANT IN SECURITY REVIEW MEETINGS? "The appalling fact that the chief minister is summoned to merely attend security review meetings is an indication of how Mehbooba Mufti has surrendered the mandate and sanctity of the Chief Minister's chair in order to remain in office at all costs. It is an established precedent and security protocol that the chief minister - as the head of the UHQ - calls the security review meetings and heads them," the NC Kashmir president said. "Now, she is invited as a mere participant to such meetings at the Raj Bhawan - if not just as an observer. This doesn't bode well for the institutions of democracy in the state", he said. Mehbooba Mufti along with the Governor N.N Vohra chaired a high-level security review meeting yesterday evening. The meeting took place at Raj Bhawan and the Raj Bhawan spokesman furnished details of the meeting, which is unprecedented. READ| Uri terror attack: PM Modi, top ministers discuss India's action plan against Pakistan "The new trend of security review meetings chaired in Raj Bhawan with the governor present went against the spirit of accountable governance in the state," Wani said. "RAJ BHAWAN MEETINGS BELITTLE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS" "If New Delhi doesn't trust Mehbooba, they should stop this facade and do something about it. Having security review meetings in the Raj Bhawan belittles the democratic process and the very essence of a government's representative character. The chief minister has been elected to play an active role in security matters of the state and this mandate and authority cannot be shifted to anyone else," he added. "Mehbooba Mufti's surrender is total and complete. In addition to the security review meetings at Raj Bhawan, it is the governor who is calling meetings with Ministers to inquire about core policy measures and the ministers in turn are briefing the governor instead of the chief minister." advertisement "It is high time Mehbooba Mufti either steps up to the challenges and responsibilities that come with power or at least demonstrates the humility to admit she isn't up to the task. Her incompetence, ineptness and lack of leadership threatens to discredit democratic institutions beyond retrievable limits and that's an enormous risk for a state like Jammu and Kashmir", Wani added. Mehbooba Mufti's vestigial role in the current unrest had been provocative, arrogant and counter-productive, NC's Kashmir president said. READ| Uri attack: There was specific intelligence inputs; IB alerted army units on Thursday "She is responsible for humiliating the agitated youth, being insensitive towards mourning families and in turn aggravating the already grave situation. While her posturing must have earned her laurels and many new friends within the BJP and the RSS, her stand has added salt to gaping wounds in Kashmir. Coupled with her insensitivity and ruthlessness, her incompetence is pushing the State closer and closer to an unprecedented, disastrous situation", he added. advertisement READ| Those behind 'cowardly' Uri terror attack won't go unpunished, says PM Modi Also read: China condemns Uri attack, but wants India, Pakistan to have 'dialogue' --- ENDS --- Home Minister Rajnath Singh, held an hour-long security review meeting in the wake of the Uri incident and the issue of "retaliatory action" came up several times at the review meeting, sources said. By Mail Today Bureau: Enraged by one of the worst terrorist attacks on the Army in recent years, in which 17 soldiers were martyred at a pre-dawn raid in Uri near the Line of Control, the security apparatus in New Delhi is considering swift and deadly retaliatory action. ATTACK STRUCK A RAW NERVE The attack, carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide squad, has caused unprecedented outrage across the country, with growing demand for assertive military action against Pakistan. Sources in the security establishment said many options were under consideration including surgical action at a tactical level on the LoC. Several high-level officers told Mail Today that the Sunday's raid was crossing of the threshold which "cannot be left unanswered". Meanwhile, intelligence agencies have warned of another suicide squad in Kashmir. advertisement "Our information is that there is another group of terrorists launched to hit vital assets in or around Srinagar closer to Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's address at the United Nations General Assembly," top sources in the ministry of home affairs told mail today. RETALIATORY ACTION DISCUSSED The Army said the imprints of Jaish-e-Mohammad, which had carried out the attack on Pathankot air base in January this year, were written all over the strike. Soon after the new of Uri attack, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag rushed to Uri, followed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who were briefed at the Army's headqqarters in Srinagar. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who postponed his scheduled visit to Russia and the United State, held an hour-long security review meeting in the wake of the Uri incident. The meeting was attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, top officials of Ministries of Home and Defence and Army and paramilitary forces. The issue of "retaliatory action" came up several times at the review meeting, sources said About the retaliation, sources recalled that the Army's special forces had carried out an operation across the border in Manipur last year after terrorists gunned down 18 soldiers in Chandel. However, the officers added that the situation on LoC was completely different from the Manipur border even though it displayed strong political will. PM ASSURES PAYBACK Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Ranbir Singh spoke to his Pakistani counterpart to convey serious concerns over the fact that some of the items terrorists were carrying had Pakistani markings. PM Narendra Modi assured that those behind the strike will not go unpunished with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called for isolating "terrorist state" Pakistan. Leaders across the political spectrum, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, condemned the attack. The defence minister in Srinagar said that the sacrifice of 17 brave soldiers will not go in vain as he instructed the Army to take firm action against those responsible. Parrikar also visited the injured soldiers at the hospital in Srinagar and instructed the authorities to provide best possible treatment. MILITANTS POSSESSED INTELLIGENCE The four heavily-armed terrorists managed to enter an army administrative installation in Uri and launched attack with incendiary ammunition. Of 17, At least 13 or 14 soldiers who died were sleeping in the temporary structure and tents which caught fire after the terrorists lobbed grenades. Army's quick reaction teams swung into action and all the four terrorists were killed in a fierce gun battle lasting around three hours. The DGMO said that the terrorists were carrying four AK-47 rifles and four under barrel grenade launchers along with a large number of other war-like stores. advertisement Most of the troops who died belonged to 6th battalion of Bihar regiment which was moving into the area to replace 10 Dogra. The martyred soldiers were part of initial compliment which had arrived in the area. The fact that the terrorists chose this particular installation and that time when the soldiers were most vulnerable showed the level of planning and intelligence gathering, sources said. Rajnath Singh, who recently returned from Islamabad from a SAARC conference, said he was deeply disappointed with Pakistan's direct support to terrorism. ALSO READ: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened Uri attack: There was specific intelligence inputs; IB alerted army units on Thursday advertisement Those behind 'cowardly' Uri terror attack won't go unpunished, says PM Modi --- ENDS --- Sources said the Border Security Force ( BSF), Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Punjab police, Air Force agencies and the intelligence have swung into action immediately after the Uri attack to form a common grid to deal with any terror threat. By Mail Today Bureau: The Uri terror attack has put security forces in the neighbouring Punjab on high alert. SECURITY FORCES IN PUNJAB SWING INTO ACTION Sources said the Border Security Force ( BSF), Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Punjab police, Air Force agencies and the intelligence have swung into action immediately after the Uri attack to form a common grid to deal with any terror threat. Pathankot, which had witnessed a terror strike earlier, witnessed movements of Air Force and other security agencies after the terror attack. The police officials said they were also in touch with the Air Force and army authorities to handle the situation. advertisement INTENSIFIED BORDER PATROL "We have intensified checking along state borders and have also started frisking those entering the state. As we providing outer security, we are in touch with Air Force and other security agencies. We have appealed to locals living near the Indo-Pak border to inform us and the army if any suspicious activity is noticed," SSP Pathankot Rakesh Kaushal said. Security has also been beefed up in Gurdas, Fazilka and Ferozepur. BSF has deployed two additional battalions in Fazilka sector and one battalion in Ferozepur. Vehicles entering Punjab from Jammu and Kashmir are being stopped at various places for frisking. ALSO READ: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened Uri attack: There was specific intelligence inputs; IB alerted army units on Thursday Those behind 'cowardly' Uri terror attack won't go unpunished, says PM Modi --- ENDS --- The three soldiers from Bihar were killed during the Uri terror attack on Sunday. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar government has announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the families of the three martyrs from the state who laid their life fighting terrorists in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. Speaking to the media today, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the three martyrs will be given a state funeral and a minister of the state government will also be in attendance during the funerals. advertisement COMPENSATION TO FAMILIES "Uri terror attack is condemnable. Three sons of Bihar lost their lives. Government will provide Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family members of the deceased and also a state funeral will be given to them," said the chief minister. Also read: Uri attack: Rajnath, Parrikar hold strategy meet amid reports of Fidayeen infiltration Three soldirs Naik SK Vidarthi, Havaldar Ashok Kumar Singh and Sepoy Rakesh Singh died in the Uri terror attack. They belonged to 6th battalion of the Bihar Regiment. They are natives of Gaya, Bhojpur and Kaimur, respectively. --- ENDS --- A day after the terror attack on Army headquarters in Uri, bus Carvan-e-Aman resumes its service between India and Pakistan. By Naseer Ganai: A day after a deadly fidayeen attack on Uri brigade headquarters, which left 17 soldiers dead and around 23 wounded, a weekly cross-LoC bus, also called 'Carvan-e-Aman' or peace-bus between India and Pakistan, resumed its normal service between Uri and Muzafferabad and Poonch-Rawlakote. According to the officials, the bus carrying eight passengers including five from the valley, three from Muzafferabad left Srinagar this morning. The official said the bus had crossed Uri and reached Salamabad. He said it would move shortly towards Chokoti in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The official said no one has objected to resumption of the bus service. BUS RESUMED AS PER SCHEDULE advertisement The bus service, according to the DC Poonch, resumed according to schedule from Poonch-Rawlakote route carrying 40 passengers of PoK. He said there had been no hindrance in cross-LoC trade from Poonch-Rawlakote route. According to the officials in Uri the Cross-LoC trade from Uri and Muzafferabad would resume tomorrow. The trade is suspended since July 8 when protests erupted in the valley after killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffer Wani. The cross LoC travel between divided parts of Kashmir was started on April 7, 2005. It was followed by the cross LoC trade, which commenced on October 21, 2008 and it is considered as biggest CBM between New Delhi and Islamabad. NEW DELHI-ISLAMABAD TRADE PACT Under LoC trade New Delhi and Islamabad have agreed to trade on 21 listed items from the divided parts of Kashmir on barter system. To promote demand for local goods, the items produced by a third nation are not allowed for export or import. Both sides have constructed Trade Facilitation Centres, around 5 km inside the LoC. In Kashmir TFC is at Salamabad in Uri of Baramulla district, while as in Jammu the TFC is at Chakandabagh at Poonch district. The trucks have permit to enter upto the TFC where the goods are unloaded and the trucks return. The goods are then reloaded onto local trucks for onward journey. The trade is conducted four days a week i.e. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Also read: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened --- ENDS --- Uri martyr Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh's mother also slammed the government for its failure to handle Pakistan sponsored terror. By Jai Prakash Singh: Doleful wails of grief, confusion and anger echo across the dingy room lit up by camera lights. Tears cover her wrinkled face as a cacophony of sorrowful chants fill the air at Raktu Tola village in Bihar's Bhojpur district. "Babbua," sobs the mother of a fallen son, Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh. Beside her, her widowed daughter-in-law mourns inconsolably on a bed, attached to an intravenous drip. advertisement Raktu Tola stands out as a village of soldiers in Bihar's Bhojpur district. Out of its 100 houses, many of them unplastered stone-and-brick structures built along dusty lanes, at least 25 have one or more family members serving in the Indian army. On Sunday, Raktu Tola lost one of its soldiers, Havildar Singh, when terrorists raided the Uri base. The gallant dead has left behind a rich legacy for his descendants. Havildar Singh's brother Kamta Singh died in action as part of the Bihar Regiment in 1986 in Rajasthan. The Uri martyr's elder son, Vikas Singh, and his two nephews are all army men. The loss the family suffered in 1986 didn't deter its male members from joining the armed forces. It hasn't in 2016 either. Havildar Singh's teenage son, Vishal Singh, pledged to follow his father's footsteps as he waited for his body to arrive. "I will join the army," he said. Vishal struggled to hold backs his tears but expressed his frustration at the system in a muffled voice. "We don't give them (terrorists) a befitting reply. We must," the young boy lamented. His mother, Sangeeta Singh, was as resentful of New Delhi's handling of Pakistan-backed terror. "The government has failed. Had it acted in time and stayed alert, this wouldn't have happened," she snivelled. Havildar Singh's widow, however, refused to make any demands. "I have no demand from the government. I lost my gold. I want no trash in return," she bemoaned, wiping her eyes with the edge of her saree. Also read: Uri attack: India to declare Pakistan state sponsor of terror, may launch punitive strikes --- ENDS --- Terror attacks by suspected Pakistani terrorists on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri killed 17 soldiers. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting at his official residence in New Delhi, a day after one of the worst terror attacks by suspected Pakistani terrorists on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri killed 17 soldiers and injured more than 20. The 7, Race Course Road meeting is also being attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and the top brass of India's security apparatus. advertisement India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with PM Modi strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. Today's meeting with Modi follows a review meeting chaired by Rajnath Singh and Manohar Parrikar, who, along with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, were briefed on the Uri situation by paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies. Parrikar and General Suhag had visited Kashmir on Sunday in the aftermath of the Uri terror attack, in which heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) had stormed an army base, killing 17 jawans. Meanwhile, a team of National Investigation Agency is expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the Uri terror attack site. Also read: Intelligence agencies warn of another possible attack near Srinagar within next few days Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened Uri attack: There was specific intelligence inputs; IB alerted army units on Thursday Those behind 'cowardly' Uri terror attack won't go unpunished, says PM Modi Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert --- ENDS --- One more jawan has succumbed to injuries taking the death toll to 18. By India Today Web Desk: Adopting an aggressive posture in view of the national outrage over yesterday's terror attack in Uri, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar briefed all party spokespersons in the capital today. Intelligence agencies warn of another possible attack near Srinagar within next few days The Defence Minister apprised the BJP spokespersons of all the ground-level facts on the attack on Army camp in which Indian jawans were killed. Meanwhile, one more jawan has succumbed to injuries taking the death toll to 18. advertisement MODI GOVERNMENT UNDER ATTACK It may be noted that the Modi government is under severe attack on social media in the wake of the Uri terror strike. Old tweets and statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were pulled out to embarrass the government. Uri attack: There was specific intelligence inputs; IB alerted army units on Thursday The two leaders, as the then Gujarat chief minister and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha respectively, had attacked the previous Manmohan Singh government alleging inaction following numerous terror attacks. The government is also on the back foot because of its perceived soft handling of Pakistan despite recent terror attacks in Gurdaspur, Pathankot and now Uri. Modi's visit to Karachi to greet Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on the latter's birthday is also being criticised. Uri attack: Security forces along Punjab border put on high alert In view of the all round attack on the government, the ruling BJP is planning to switch over to a damage control exercise, adopting an aggressive posture. It plans to inform the people the ground situation and the options available to the government at this juncture to strike back at Pakistan. Also read: Uri attack: An inside story of how it happened Those behind 'cowardly' Uri terror attack won't go unpunished, says PM Modi --- ENDS --- I'm fitter than most people I know, but I was in a shock when a test revealed my cardio age was way older than my real age. Here are the lessons I learnt. By Nikita Bhalla: It wouldn't be wrong to write that my world came crashing down when I learnt that my health and fitness levels weren't as great as I thought them to be. Having taken a vascular age test--a test that can predict the future incidence of stroke or heart attack and may very well be an indicator of the need to reverse or halt cardiovascular diseases in the future--I was in for a rude, nasty shock. advertisement Working out (almost) regularly and being a conscious eater on most days of my life, I thought my health report card would have only clear cut distinctions to brag about, but hell, I was so wrong. There I was, sitting with a cardiologist at the recently opened Sens anti-ageing and wellness clinic in Delhi, and she asked me the dreaded question--"Do you smoke often?" I couldn't believe my ears because I hadn't lit a cigarette my entire life and I thought to myself: 'Why is she asking me something which I should have no symptoms of?' Next up was the verdict: "Your heart age is much older than your biological age", said the doc. Being an average 27-year-old, I was pretty active, into sports, dance, and other fitness activities, and genetically from a more-or-less-fit family. So tTaking a medical test to check my health (read heart health) was no big deal, or so I thought before I actually took the test. But let me first give you an insight into what this age test is all about. What is vascular age testing? Vascular age testing is the degree of endothelial dysfunction in response to physical and mental stress. More commonly referred to as the age of your heart versus your metabolic age. Vascular age testing can look at your blood vessels and determine your vascular age and tell you if your arteries are older than you are. Dr Nidhi Gupta, Head, Diagnostics, MBBS, Sens-Anti Ageing Wellness Clinic, New Delhi, told me, "Vascular age can be determined by measuring the thickness of the carotid arterial walls (Carotid Intimal Media Thickness or CIMT). Determining the thickness of the arterial walls gives you and your physician the information to prevent or even reverse cardiovascular disease." But does everyone need to get this test done or should those who are more vulnerable opt for it? "People who are suffering from diabetes, are obese and smoke should go in for this test. Even hypertensives, alcoholics, and people with no physical activity or sedentary lifestyles should take this test to know the condition of their heart before it's too late," the doctor said. Also read: 4 lessons I learnt after eliminating sugar from my diet for more than a week I took the test called Angioscan: Contour Analysis, and here are four lessons that I learnt. These could very well be a takeaway for you too; here's how. Stop stressing: You really don't have to look for a solution to every little damn thing in the world and you can't take up truck loads of pressure on your head for nothing. It's okay if you're in a crisis but worrying about a traffic jam or your help not turning up is really futile. These everyday things happen and will probably happen again, so stop fretting over them. There are bigger worries in life, so ignore these regular uncertainties and don't let them stress you out. Sleep well and long: It wasn't too long ago that I learnt what a good, sound sleep does for your body. Sleeping helps in relaxing your muscles and mind. A good night's sleep will make you happier, more energetic, less lethargic and it will sure as hell calm you down. There is no reason to skip a workout: Wasting your time and pondering over when you should work out and when you must not eat is useless. Instead, chill and be merry, take one step at a time. Though you're young and probably think it's okay to prioritise a party over a workout, that's one thing you should rectify. You need to understand that there's nothing wrong in partying and enjoying life, but discipline is one word that will take you places. I've experienced both and have realised the latter isn't all that exciting. The joy of running to dance classes, or trying out a new, exhilarating routine gives you a kick like no other. And once you're on the road to fitness, there's no looking back, just awesome perks--you start feeling confident with all the toning and sculpting, you can easily pass off as a fitness icon in your peer group and you're floored with compliments on looking super healthy. Indulge in healthy bites: It's easy to get swayed by good looking, sumptuous food--stuff that's oily, spicy and what not! But there should be a limit. I don't propagate dieting of any sort but eating the right kind of food at the right time and in the right quantity is a great way to stay full and fit. I must confess that I'm a foodie at heart and am equally enthusiastic about being fit, but if I mess up the balance for even a few days, my body starts to send me signals. Everything goes for a toss--from having a disturbed sleep to the unpleasant feeling of indigestion each night or feeling acidic for not eating on time to the way my skin turns dull and lifeless. Not only that, energy levels take a hit, and before you know it, you become a couch potato. Keeping a food diary helps; in my case it did. Or you could get a trusted friend to remind you to control your portions when eating out and basically help you eat what's best for you. But at the end of it, you need to take charge and make it a routine and not just a change for a few days. advertisement I don't want to scare you but if you're lazy, overweight, genetically not-so-lucky or/and slack back at the drop of a hat; you really do need to get your ass off that couch and do something about it. This was indeed one of the most horrifying results of my life--and all of this, after being the fittest version of myself. advertisement So what steps can be taken to improve one's health and vascular age? advertisement Dr Gupta suggested, "Depending upon the degree of dysfunction, cause needs to be evaluated and appropriate therapy must be initiated. One could go in for antioxidant therapy, belly reduction measure, detoxification of the body, stress management, inflammation control and nutraceuticals depending upon the an individual's case. --- ENDS --- Shakti actor Vivian Dsena has ruled out the possibility of divorce with wife Vahbiz, saying that he will make their marriage work. By India Today Web Desk: There have been a lot of speculations doing the rounds from the past few weeks regarding the latest split in telly town. Vivian Dsena and Vahbiz Dorabjee are said to be separating from each other because of compatibility issues. Though Vivian had so far neither confirmed or denied the reports; the actor has now opened up about the existing status of their relationship. The actor has confirmed that the couple has taken a break from each other, but they are not thinking of divorce. advertisement "We are not yet done with each other, we have just taken a break. Divorce is out of question. Vahbiz and I will make our marriage work," Vivian told The Times of India in an interview. Also read: Vahbiz Dorabjee finally opens up on her split with Vivian Dsena Vivian denies having any ego issues with his wife. "There is no place for ego between us. We leave work at work and personal life at home. In fact, being from the same profession makes life easier as we understand each other's erratic schedules and work out our timings accordingly." He ended the interview on a positive note, hinting that the current phase in their life will pass. "There is nothing in this world that can't be resolved. It's all about perception. Vahbiz and I have collectively decided that it's not that big an issue that it can't be resolved." We hope, the couple resolves their issues soon! --- ENDS --- By PTI: Lucknow, Sep 19 (PTI) The war in Uttar Pradeshs first family seems to be far from over, with Samajawadi Partys state unit head Shivpal Yadav today asserting himself against Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav by expelling seven party functionaries, including three MLCs, considered close to him. Protesting against the tough action, a number of youth office bearers of the partys front wings spontaneously resigned, claiming that "Akhilesh" is their "undisputed" leader. advertisement Sunil Singh Sajan, Anand Bhadauria and Sanjay Lathar -- all MLCs -- were shown the door by Shivpal for making "derogatory remarks" against party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, indulging in anti-party activities and indiscipline. Besides the MLCs, state chief of SP youth brigade Mohd Ebad, state president of SP yuvjan sabha Brijesh Yadav, national president of SP youth brigade Gaurav Dubey, and state chief of chatra sabha Digvijay Singh Dev were sacked from the party on similar grounds by Shivpal. The pro-Akhilesh camp protested against this development which came only two days after a compromise worked out by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav between Shivpal and the Chief Minister, who have been engaged in a turf war. As per the compromise, Akhilesh restored all but one key portfolios of Shivpal and accepted him as state unit president, a post from which he himself had been removed. "Akhilesh ji is our undisputed leader. We joined politics under his leadership. We did not indulge in indiscipline. We are even ready to give our life from him," an angry Brijesh said. Digvijay aired similar sentiments, saying they believe in the policies of Netaji (Mulayam) and will continue to work for Samajwadi Party. "We only apprised Netaji of our views in favour of Akhilesh," he said. High drama unfolded in the VVIP Guest House area where two youths of SP chatra sabha climbed atop a TV transmission tower to protest the mass sacking. Protests against the decision were reported from some districts as well. After taking the decision, Shivpal visited CMs residence and both the leaders had closed door talks. A meeting of legislators and party district presidents has been called by Shivpal tomorrow to discuss the partys strategy for the Assembly elections due early next year. Meanwhile, Shivpal, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme, gave a tough message to party cadres saying, "Strict action will be taken against all those who indulge in indiscipline." PTI ABN SMI GVS RG AKK AKK --- ENDS --- advertisement [September 19, 2016] The GBC Ultima 65, the Most Popular School Laminator in the Market, is Now Easier to Use LAKE ZURICH, Ill., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The GBC Ultima 65, which is known as "THE School Laminator," is now better than ever. It is easy to load, easy to use and easy to love. The new and improved GBC Ultima 65 is packed with features found on no other laminator in the educational environment. With its EZload film technology, film loading is virtually foolproof, making it 50% faster to load. Film rolls are easy to install correctly the first time, greatly reducing the chance of film wraps. In addition to using EZload film rolls recommended for the GBC Ultima 65, the unit can also run standard film. The AutoSpeed feature on the GBC Ultima 65 ensures users get perfect quality lamination and eliminates the guess work of which speed to choose. 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The GBC Ultima 65 model offers these benefits and enhancements: 50 Percent Faster Film Loading Pivoting table and open design provide easier access when changing film. New EZload film rolls are easier to install and take the guesswork out of how to put the film in. With standard film, AutoGrip shafts make it simpler to remove and add film. Foolproof Machine Operation The AutoSpeed feature ensures quality lamination and eliminates the guess work of which speed to use. A stop button on the back of the laminator allows the user to view the output and easily stop the machine, thus reducing waste. A one-touch control panel with large buttons gives the user perfect control of the machine. Removable shaft hooks on the back of the unit reduce the chances of common film wraps and provide storage for AutoGrip shafts. The improved GBC Ultima 65 machine is a popular choice for laminating charts, flash cards, games, work sheets, maps and many other materials used in classrooms. "Librarians, school administrators, teachers, technology support staffs and PTO volunteers will like its high dependability record and low rate of heat sealing and jam issues," commented Dan Charwath, Associate Product Manager. GBC laminators are available for purchase on www.gbc.com and through educational distribution and online e-tail partners. About GBC GBC has led the market in binding and lamination for over 65 years. With a complete line of binding, laminating and shredding machines and supplies, GBC helps customers present, protect and preserve their documents. To learn more about GBC products, visit www.gbcconnect.com. About ACCO Brands Corporation ACCO Brands Corporation is one of the world's largest designers, marketers and manufacturers of branded business, academic and consumer products. Our widely recognized brands include Artline, AT-A-GLANCE, Derwent, Five Star, GBC, Hilroy, Kensington, Mead, Quartet, Rexel, Swingline, Tilibra, Wilson Jones and many others. Our products are sold in more than 100 countries around the world. More information about ACCO Brands can be found at www.accobrands.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130114/CG41611LOGO-b To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-gbc-ultima-65-the-most-popular-school-laminator-in-the-market-is-now-easier-to-use-300330088.html SOURCE ACCO Brands Corporation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] Prominent Virus Researchers Descend Upon Baltimore to Participate in the Institute of Human Virology's 18th Annual International Meeting The Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine today commenced IHV's 18th Annual International Meeting, which will be held through Thursday, September 22 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. IHV's Annual International Meeting attracts hundreds of elite scientists from who descend upon Baltimore to share ideas and inspire collaborations. "It really is astonishing that so many leaders in the field of medical virology will be in one place at one time," said Robert C. Gallo, MD, Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, Director, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, who is most widely known for his co-discovery f HIV as the cause of AIDS and, along with his coworkers, for the development of the HIV blood test. "The agenda is as compelling as I have seen since this meeting's inception." This year's dynamic program, among other themes, will facilitate intense discussions on HIV "cure" research, focus on paths forward to new treatments and vaccine research and bring to light new discoveries that are impacting the field. Global health representatives from around the world will focus on translating laboratory discoveries into public health practice. During a gala held Wednesday, September 21, the 2016 IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service and the 2016 IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for Scientific Contributions will be awarded to Raymond Schinazi, PhD, Hon DSc, Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, Emory University and Member, Board of Directors, Global Virus Network (GVN) and Peter Vogt, PhD, Professor, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, California. "Ray Schinazi is an outstanding leader in the field of anti-viral drug research and his extraordinary ability in translating research has saved the lives of millions of people globally," said Dr. Gallo. "Peter Vogt is a pioneer in the study of the genetics, replication cycle and mechanisms of cancer induction by animal retroviruses. His work, more than anyone else's work in the study of animal viruses, gave us the foundation for understanding human retroviruses." In 1996 Dr. Gallo co-founded the IHV with colleagues Robert Redfield, MD, associate director of the IHV and director of IHV's Division of Clinical Care and Research and William Blattner, MD, retired since January 2016 and formerly associate director of the IHV and director of IHV's Division of Epidemiology and Prevention. IHV is also comprised of an Animal Models Division, Basic Science Division and Vaccine Research Division. Since 2004, the Baltimore-based Institute has cared for more than 1,000,000 HIV positive individuals in 7 African and 2 Caribbean nations in addition to approximately 6,000 HIV positive Baltimoreans. IHV is internationally renowned for its basic science research, which includes the search for a functional cure and a promising preventive HIV vaccine funded largely by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and in part by others including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. For more information, visit www.ihv.org and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @IHVmeeting and #IHVmeeting. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005242/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 19, 2016] SUSE Linux Enterprise Provides Operating Environment for SAP HANA, Express Edition LAS VEGAS, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SUSE today announced SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is now available free as part of a new offering: SAP HANA, express edition. The combination of the leading Linux platform for SAP solutions and SAP HANA in a streamlined package is designed to allow Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X users to develop new SAP HANA-based applications more easily and conveniently. This streamlined version of SAP HANA can be downloaded and installed on laptops, desktops or servers, either as a virtual machine based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications or as a binary installation package for all supported Linux environments with Intel chipsets. It can also be accessed in the cloud for an additional cloud infrastructure fee. "The speed of change in today's data center can overtake even the most-vigilant IT staff," said Naji Almahmoud, SUSE vice president of cloud and software alliances. "Businesses need to be agile, and the simplicity of the express edition of SAP HANA means developers can more quickly and cost effectively provide tools so enterprise customers can be agile. It will allow them to take better advantage of the power of SAP HANA to meet hange head-on and make better decisions for their businesses." For more information about the solution, read www.suse.com/communities/blog/suse-supports-sap-hana-express-edition. For additional information about SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, visit www.suse.com/products/sles-for-sap. For more about SAP HANA, express edition, including the free download, see www.sap.com/sap-hana-express. SUSE announced the inclusion of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications in SAP HANA, express edition, at SAP TechEd being held Sept. 19-23 in Las Vegas, where the company is exhibiting in booth 114. About SUSE SUSE, a pioneer in open source software, provides reliable, interoperable Linux, cloud infrastructure and storage solutions that give enterprises greater control and flexibility. More than 20 years of engineering excellence, exceptional service and an unrivaled partner ecosystem power the products and support that help our customers manage complexity, reduce cost, and confidently deliver mission-critical services. The lasting relationships we build allow us to adapt and deliver the smarter innovation they need to succeed today and tomorrow. For more information, visit www.suse.com. Copyright 2016 SUSE LLC. All rights reserved. SUSE and the SUSE logo are registered trademarks of SUSE LLC in the United States and other countries. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SAP, SAP HANA, TechEd and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150622/224623LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/suse-linux-enterprise-provides-operating-environment-for-sap-hana-express-edition-300330108.html SOURCE SUSE [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] William Terry Badham William Terry Badham was born on September 27, 1895, in Birmingham, Alabama. Having achieved superior grades in high school, he attended and graduated from Yale University in 1917. Always seeking adventure he joined the French military and served as a gunner/observer in several French observation airplane squadrons. After the United States declared war on Germany, he transferred to the Air Service, United States Army. Here he was assigned to the First Army Air Service 91st Aero Squadron, an American observation unit. As a rear gunner in the two seated plane, he scored his first kill on September 15, 1918. The pilot was his commanding officer, George Kenney. Flying with another pilot, Badham shot down four additional German planes. For his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Badham continued flying and scored an additional five victories over the battlefields in France. He was one of four Americans to earn the title of "Ace" as an observer/gunner during World War I. After World War I, Badham established a small chemical business, Naphthalene Products Company in Birmingham. He and his business partners were successful in their business during the short interval between World War I and the beginning of World War II. Badham rejoined the Army Air Force at the beginning of World War II and advanced through the commissioned officer ranks to finally being promoted to brigadier general. He served with the U. S. 8th Air Force in England and the Middle East. It is interesting to review how Badham received his many honors and awards. The first award was the Distinguished Service Cross while he was a First Lieutenant in World War I. The award states, "Lieutenant Badham showed extraordinary heroism in action near Buzancy, France, October 23, 1918, by skillful work with his machine-gun while successfully repelling the attack of two German planes and destroying both in the scrimmage." The second award states, "By direction of the President, Lieutenant Badham is cited by the Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded him." As an avocation, Badham developed skill as an artist as he had been drawing since age ten. By the age of fifty, he traveled throughout Europe and Mexico. He began to specialize in watercolor landscapes. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries both in the United States and abroad. Badham enjoyed ninety-six years and died on June 6, 1991. He is buried in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. CHARLESTON -- The sixth annual Oktoberfest, to benefit the St. Hedwig Haus of Hospitality and the Servant of God Augustus Tolton House of Hospitality, will be held from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Newman Catholic Center, 500 Roosevelt Drive. The entire family is invited to this fun-filled afternoon that will benefit the continuing ministry of the Catholic Worker Community. Music will be provided and the St. Charles Kinder choir will perform. There will also be informal croquet and a bags tournament, as well as food, bingo, and a beer tent for those 21 and over. A Kickstand raffle will also be held. Prizes include his and hers Schwinn bikes and a patio set. Raffle tickets will be sold before and during the fest and winners need not be present during the drawing. St. Hedwig Haus of Hospitality opened in October of 2011. The Augustus Tolton House, which is set to open later this year, was made possible by a grant from the Charleston Area Charitable Trust. They are Catholic Worker houses that offer a place for women and their children who are in crisis. The Catholic worker movement was established in 1933 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. It is grounded in the firm belief of the God-given dignity of every person. Catholic workers seek to alleviate poverty through the works of mercy outlined by Jesus Christ in the 25th chapter in Matthews Gospel. Currently there are four women and three children who are guests at the two houses of hospitality. They are served by one full-time resident Catholic worker. They share time, conversation, meals, household chores, prayer, and support. Volunteers from the community and Eastern Illinois University take turns spending several hours on the Haus as part of the ministry. The Catholic worker houses are funded by donations and fundraisers, supported by a board of directors. Board members, including Chairman Roy Lanham and the Rev. John Titus, will be available during Oktoberfest to answer questions about the Catholic worker movement. For more information contact Joel Grissom, 217-345-6901, or email charlestoncatholicworker@gmail.com. First Nebraska Trust Company is pleased to announce Jeff Arnold, CFP, has joined their company as vice president & trust officer, and will be working in both the Lincoln and Omaha offices. A graduate of University of Nebraska-Kearney, Arnold earned a Bachelor of Science Business Administration degree. He later furthered his education through the College for Financial Planning, earning his certified financial planner professional designation. Arnold, a native Nebraskan, has spent his entire career in the financial services profession with an emphasis, over the past 26 years, of providing trust services to clients' and their families. His experience includes trust administration as well as financial planning in the disciplines of retirement and estate planning. Arnold's experience, skills and knowledge make him well suited for serving clients and professionals in simple to complicated matters focusing on delivering quality services in trust and estate administration. Arnold is a member of both the Lincoln Estate Planning Council and the Omaha Estate Planning Council. Arnold also serves as a long time board member of the Financial Planners Association of Nebraska, (FPA) having served as president in past years. In addition Arnold is a board member of Nebraska Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (NPPP). First Nebraska Trust is also pleased to announce Tanner Bortnem, JD was promoted to trust officer who joined First Nebraska in May 2015. He is from South Dakota and received his undergraduate degree in business management at Augustana College. Bortnem attended the University of Nebraska College of Law and graduated with concentrations in wealth management and business & estate planning. He is a member of Lincoln Estate Planning Council. His unique educational background in both the legal and financial areas, combined with his previous work experience, further enhance and strengthen First Nebraska Trust's ability to deliver very personal and customized trust services to our clients. First Nebraska Trust Company is an independent, locally owned trust company with offices in Lincoln and Omaha and serves clients throughout the country. Specializing in trust, estate and investment services; this company is uniquely qualified to provide outrageously excellent service to its clients. The primary areas of service include personal trusts, estate settlement, charitable trusts, investment management, and IRAs. The company is committed to building long term mutually beneficial relationships with clients. For more information about First Nebraska Trust visit www.firstnebtrust.com or call 402-477-2200. The Buckle has filed a $5 million lawsuit against a New Jersey floor manufacturer. The Kearney-based teen retailer said in the suit filed last week in U.S. District Court that flooring it bought in 2011 for 73 of its stores from Mannington Mills was defective. The suit also names the independent representative who sold the flooring. The company said it had to repair or replace the flooring in 53 of the stores after it experienced issues including bubbling, chipping and separation of floor of planks. The suit alleges breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty and negligent misrepresentation. It seeks at least $5 million in damages. Mannington officials could not be reached for comment Monday. The Red Hot Chili Peppers will return to Lincoln for the first time in decades to play a Pinnacle Bank Arena concert on Jan. 20. The veteran L.A. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame funk band is touring behind The Getaway, its chart-topping album that was released in June. The six-time Grammy Award winners known for songs like Give It Away, Under the Bridge and Dani California, have sold more than 60 million albums during their more than 30-year career. The Chili Peppers made their first Lincoln appearance in the late 1980s, playing the Drumstick. "This is a really good show for us," said Lincoln arena manager Tom Lorenz. "It's the rock-based show we've been looking for." The Chili Peppers are one of just a handful of rock bands that can fill arenas, Lorenz said. Many rock bands today are more likely to sell 6,000 to 8,000 tickets, becoming half-house shows. As is often the case, Lincoln is one of the two small markets on the tour, which begins Jan. 5 in San Antonio and ends in Vancouver on March 18. There are a few reasons the big shows keep coming to the arena, Lorenz said. "Production wise, the building is in great shape, they like coming in and doing shows here," he said. "Then there's the strong, strong fan support. A lot of the promoters have been here before, had shows here before. The Red Hot Chili Peppers show goes through Michael Buble and James Taylor. They know the city supports the shows." Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Jack Irons will be the support acts for the Chili Peppers. Tickets for the show go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Tickets are $52 and $102 and will be available at the arena ticket office, ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets and by phone at 800-745-3000. A fan club presale begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Every ticket purchased includes the choice of a standard physical or digital copy of The Getaway." Lincoln police arrested three men this weekend who they say tried to meet and have sex with an underage girl after responding to an online advertisement, according to court documents. The arrests were all connected to an ad posted Friday in which an escort appeared to offer her services but was in fact placed by an undercover police officer, court documents show. Brad Gladwell of Omaha and Lincoln residents Kaw Bwe and Nathan Meister believed they were communicating with a 15-year-old girl when they responded to the ad, the documents say. Each of the three sent text messages to the undercover officer and arranged to pick up the girl to have sex, police said. Police arrested Meister, 26, in the parking lot of a North 27th Street gas station after 9:30 p.m. Friday, according to police and jail records. Meister is a registered sex offender with child pornography and related convictions out of Alaska. Almost two hours later, Bwe arrived at the parking lot of a business near 25th and O streets. The undercover investigator saw a car matching the description of the vehicle Bwe said he'd be driving and texted Bwe to ask him to turn off his headlights when he got there, an affidavit for his arrest said. He did, and officers arrested him moments later. Early Sunday, Gladwell drove to the same gas station Meister did to meet with the girl, police said in court records. Officers arrested him at 12:49 a.m. and searched his truck, finding condoms, vodka, orange juice and $150, the amount police say he agreed to pay for one hour with the girl, an affidavit for his arrest said. The three were each jailed on suspicion of enticement by an electronic device. Nebraska law makes it illegal for anyone older than 19 to offer or solicit indecent, lewd or lascivious acts from a child younger than 16 or to do so with a police officer the offender believes is a child younger than 16. The Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, encouraged by its efforts to increase school interpreter standards last year, will create a task force to take a deeper look into the state's education practices and recommend ways to improve them. Once the task force is in place, it will ask the Nebraska Department of Education to hire a national consulting firm with expertise in the area of deaf and hard of hearing education to analyze Nebraskas system. That idea was inspired by Lincoln Public Schools recent audit of its special education department, said John Wyvill, executive director of the commission. I would have to say Lincoln Public Schools is very courageous with their audit, he said. They have the confidence in their program to say, This is what were doing. How can we improve? Thats not to say Wyvill wasnt a bit disappointed that the LPS audit did not address deaf and hard of hearing education in the district, despite a letter he submitted with a list of recommendations he hoped auditors would address. Obviously wed like to see deaf and hard of hearing in the forefront so our disappointment is not surprising. But they have to look at the whole picture, not one piece of the puzzle and were one piece of the puzzle. Statewide, about 49,000 students receive special education services and of those, about 830 have a primary hearing disability, Wyvill said. But the LPS audit did prompt the commission to conclude it should take a similar step. The commission would like to see a consultant analyze graduation rates, employment outcomes for students, remediation work, state test scores and teacher and supervisor qualifications. Last year the commission successfully championed increasing the state Department of Educations standards for school sign language interpreters, a change recommended by a legislative study. And the task force will address a number of recommendations that came from the work group that also recommended the higher standards for interpreters. Many of those were included in a letter to LPS before its special education audit, and they touched on issues including dealing with interpreters, parent communication, formalizing a transition program into employment and starting a mentoring program. The board decided we should not just be focusing on LPS, we should be looking statewide, Wyvill said. The board also voted to create a new staff position at the commission dedicated to advocating for the educational concerns of deaf and hard of hearing students. Wyvill said those interested in serving on the s task force should contact him at john.wyvill@nebraska.gov. Students and family members helped celebrate the namesake for Lincoln's newest school and its new mascot on Sunday. Wysong Elementary opened in August near 56th Street and Yankee Hill Road, named for the late Sally Wysong, whose family members sported red t-shirts with the words the originals on the back for the dedication ceremony. Wysong, a school board member for seven years, was a champion for early childhood education, founding Meadowlane Nursery School and serving as president of the Nebraska Association for the Education of Young Children. Liz Wysong Hoffart, Wysongs daughter, is a librarian at Kahoa Elementary and says child care is in her genes. She described Sunday's ceremony as surreal. I felt like I was continuing her legacy as a teacher in Lincoln Public Schools, but its an even bigger honor that a school is named after her, Wysong Hoffart said. Were really thankful as a family that our community is supporting the school and our family this way. Wysong Elementary just finished its fifth week of classes with 328 students in grades K-5. Principal Randy Oltman says one of the highlights of opening a new school is watching the students build relationships with new friends and staff. Its new for everyone, and everyone starts at the same place, said Oltman. Its been fun to watch the students become more confident as they know the routines and procedures. Jeremey Shiers is new to Lincoln, and one reason he moved his family to the neighborhood was so his children could attend the new school. That made the transition from small-town rural Nebraska into the city a lot easier, since everybody is meeting new friends, Shiers said. My impression (of the school) so far has been very positive. His daughter, first grader Adeline Shiers, stood for the majority of Sunday's event, sometimes peering over the adults heads to wave at her new teacher. The two teachers in charge of the student council unveiled what Adeline and many of her peers were most excited for -- the school mascot and colors. But before the teachers finished describing the voting process, the cloth covering up the mascot dropped to the floor. Excited shrieks filled the packed multipurpose room, celebrating the blue and silver Wysong Wolves. Adeline said she was hoping for Wildcats, but blue and silver were her choice of colors. I was wanting the second choice to be the Wysong Wolves -- so yay! she said, waving her arms in the air. Costco wants to put its first Lincoln store on the north side of Pine Lake Road between 14th and 20th streets, a prime location for the warehouse store that is among the most requested retailers for Lincolnites. Now a cornfield, the 20-acre site, for which the company has a purchase agreement, would have a 150,000 square-foot discount store and 16 fuel pumps -- and two entrances off Pine Lake, one at 14th Street and a back entrance at Hazel Scott Drive. The proposed store is between Lincoln Southwest High School, which is located west of 14th Street, and Scott Middle School, which is immediately east of the cornfield. That has raised concerns about the increased amount of traffic on the already crowded roadway -- engineers estimate that Costco would add 300 cars in the peak hour of 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. -- and about the safety of students crossing the streets. Those concerns are legitimate and they are being considered and addressed by the company, which is working in cooperation with the city and meeting with neighborhood groups. Neither the city nor the Lincoln Public Schools opposes the Costco development. And the Journal Stars Matt Olberding found an example of where a Costco operates between two schools with no problems and praise from its neighbors -- in La Habra, California. Those schools are smaller than Southwest and Scott and the city of La Habra is less than a third the size of Lincoln. The traffic and street crossing issues, however, appear to be manageable. The proposed store will not open until 10 a.m., alleviating any concerns over students walking to school in the morning. In the afternoon, the four-lane thoroughfare is already busy from 3 to 4 p.m. Based on observations on a recent school day, the Scott students traversed it quickly and safely. Crossing at the lights in large groups, they were on the south side of the street and on the way home in less than 10 minutes. As for those pedestrians and students who stay on the north side of the street, the sidewalk that serves as a bike trail could be relocated, moving north between the store and Lincoln Memorial Park, eliminating any traffic/pedestrian conflicts. If Costco wants to be there, theyll build that trail wherever we want them to, Scott Wieskamp, Lincoln Public Schools facilities director, told Olberding. That, however, wasnt said in adversarial fashion. Rather, it is an indicator of the willingness of Costco to adapt its plans to address neighborhood concerns -- a process that is laudable, particularly in light of the squabble that arose with neighbors when Wal-Mart built its nearby South 27th Street store a few years ago. RACINE Cats from all over the country descended on Memorial Hall this weekend for the 4th annual Feline Groovy Cat Show. More than 130 cats participated in the show Saturday and Sunday, while people attended the event to admire the furry felines. The event was hosted by the Cats Rule Cat Club of Milwaukee with judges coming from all over the country. The club is part of The International Cat Association. Sometimes judges come from Australia or Germany, said Margaret Karpen, Cats Rule Cat Club president. Its international, so we get judges from everywhere. Wisconsin cat owners said it is nice to have an event close to home. Some traveled from the East and West coasts for the event. Being so close means I dont have to travel so far, Karpen said. Ive driven 21 hours to a show before. With Memorial Hall packed with cages and felines, the cats battled it out for the best of the best prize. The show Participants in the show went through all five judges over the span of two days. The cats were judged on criteria from personality to various appearance traits, according to Karpen. Once the finalists were selected, 10 cats remained. Then a winner for the group was chosen. After that, a Best of the Best was crowned. However, whether participant or spectator, the day was for the cats. Its all about the cats, Karpen said. When youre cat a person its great to spend the day with all of the cats. One of the special entries was two cats brought in by Kindred Kitties, a nonprofit rescue based in Kenosha. Those two participated in the house cat category. The hope was to have the cats adopted by the end of the event while also trying to raise money for the rescue. Weere trying to get more people aware of us, said Aminah Bektesi, a volunteer for Kindred Kitties. We have two cats in the show to show what kind of animals are up for adoption. The proceeds for the event went to the club that so future events can be put on. RACINE A 7-year-old child was taken to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa on Sunday after reportedly being struck by a vehicle. Racine police were called to the 200 block of Ohio Street at 5:53 p.m. for an accident involving a vehicle that struck a 7-year-old, according to a Racine Police Department news release. The child was eventually transported to Froedtert. The childs condition was unknown late Sunday night. The incident is still being investigated but the accident doesnt appear to be criminal, police said Sunday evening. No additional information was immediately available. Kudos to the Racine Police Department for taking seriously a recent cruelty case involving more than two dozen dogs who were seized from self-described "no-kill rescue" (Racine couple facing 26 counts of animal mistreatment, Sept. 12). This case should serve as a warning against putting blind faith in such groups. So-called rescues and no-kill shelters make up a quarter of the approximately 6,000 new hoarding cases reported in the U.S. each year. Recent cases include more than 120 animals seized from a "rescue" in North Carolina, dozens of sick dogs living in their own waste at an "animal rescue" in Texas, more than 30 animals some of them sick, malnourished, and/or injured who were seized from a "rescue" in Louisiana and "rescues" in Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico and South Carolina, where neglected animals were found in filthy conditions. A 2015 report estimates that at least 40,000 animals were confiscated from failed rescues over the course of 10 years. A super PAC is airing ads in Wisconsin that emphasize Hillary Clintons health as part of a message questioning her fitness for the presidency. Reform America Fund, a new super PAC originally founded to help re-elect Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, signaled Monday that it is shifting at least part of its attention to Clinton. The ads are part of a $1.2 million statewide campaign with TV, radio and digital components that begins airing Monday, according to the funds spokesman, Chris Martin. The ads bring a more negative tone to the White House battle for Wisconsin, a potential swing state. They also could be a sign the presidential battle here is heating up, as recent polls show an increasingly tight contest between Democratic nominee Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. The Reform America TV ad is narrated by a man reading a poem called C is for Clinton. It includes the lines: Cs for concussion, a bump in December, and C is for cough thats affecting her bid. Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia earlier this month, which caused her to miss several days on the campaign trail last week. In December 2012, Clinton sustained a concussion that then was described as not severe after she got a flu virus and fainted. The bout with pneumonia triggered an episode in which Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 ceremony and was seen on video appearing to collapse. Clinton later attributed the incident to dehydration; she released a note from her doctor describing her pneumonia as mild and saying she was recovering quickly. But Trump and some other Republicans have continued to raise questions about Clintons health and stamina. Clintons campaign responded to the ad by saying Trump has been much less transparent than Clinton about his background and business dealings. Until Trump discloses his foreign business ties, divests from the Trump Organization, and releases his tax returns, there should be serious concern about who a President Trump would serve, Ofirah Yheskel, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign in Wisconsin, said in a statement. The Trump campaign in Wisconsin fired back with a statement from spokesman Pete Meachum, saying: Hillary Clinton and her allies are saying anything and blaming anyone to shift attention away from the weakness she showed as Secretary of State. The new ad says C is for cash as in pay to play a reference, Martin said, to the Clinton Foundation. Reports have shown Clinton, while U.S. secretary of state, met with donors to the charitable foundation launched by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton served on the foundations board after she left the State Department. Clintons critics have said the arrangement raises the question of whether donors got favors from Clinton or the State Department in exchange for contributions to the foundation. There is no proof of such an arrangement with any foundation donors. Clinton has strongly denied she took any actions as Secretary of State because of a contribution to the foundation. The Reform America Fund ads are its first major ad blitz since its creation, according to Martin. A Federal Election Commission report shows the super PAC was created in July 2015. After its creation, Reform America Fund initially vowed to use all funds raised to support the re-election of Johnson, R-Oshkosh. He is facing Democrat Russ Feingold, who consistently has led Johnson in polls. As a super PAC, or political action committee, Reform America Fund may raise and spend unlimited sums and is required to report its activity to the FEC. As of July 31, the most recent reporting deadline, Reform America Fund had less than $6,200 on hand, according to its FEC report. Responding to an inquiry about whether the group received a recent infusion of contributions and if so, who the donors were Martin said we certainly had a great showing of support since August. We report our donors publicly with the FEC as required, which can be viewed online in our next report, Martin wrote. The groups largest donor as of July 31 was Terry Kohler, the Sheboygan businessman, 1982 Republican gubernatorial nominee and activist, who had given $30,000. New York Times - hates MO constitutional carry By Matt Vespa. September 17th, 2016 It's now law. In Missouri, you no longer need a license to carry a firearm in public. They're the 12th state to adopt such a law known as constitutional carry; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) represents a state with such a law. To those who love freedom and the Second Amendment, it's a great day for the expansion of constitutional rights. For anti-gun liberals, it's a day for hysterics, which was perfectly captured by the editorial board of The New York Times: The measure has drawn no great national attention, but it certainly provides further evidence that gun safety cannot be left to state lawmakers beholden to the gun lobby. Democrats opposed to the Missouri bill called it a "perfect storm" of lowered standards for the use of deadly force and an invitation for people to be armed without responsible controls. The measure was enacted by the Republicans, despite strong public opposition and warnings about the threat to public safety from the state Police Chiefs Association. Everytown for Gun Safety, one of the groups fighting the gun lobby, noted that stand your ground laws result in disproportionate harm to communities of color. [] In the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton has called for extensive gun safety measures, including a ban on the assault weapons favored by mass shooters, closing background-check loopholes, ending the gun industry's outrageous protection from civil damage suits and denying guns to risky suspects on the government's no-fly lists. Donald Trump, endorsed by the National Rifle Association, favors more armed civilians ready to engage in what he calls a defensive "shootout." This is one of the most pathetic measures yet of his pandering, when he should be leading, on an issue of vital importance to the public. If there's any measure endorsed by Everytown, it's bad--and pro-gun rights advocates should pour everything they've got into defeating whatever policy proposal that Everytown leeches itself onto in the future. ....... The broken record continues to play, with absurd scare mongering! "Expansion of gun rights will lead to more gun deaths". That of course is simply not the case. Gun homicides have gone down hugely since 1993. In fact, they've been cut in half. Violent crime is still down, save for a few pockets in Democrat run urban areas. We only have to think of Vermont, which has long had constitutional carry, to realize that there are no reports of huge blood baths! The Times is typical of way too many media attitudes. "You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side." 2016 JPFO All rights reserved. jpfo@jpfo.org 1-800-869-1884 Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 12500 NE 10th Pl. Bellevue, WA 98005 USA Americas most aggressive civil rights organization We make the NRA look like moderates Join JPFO Back to Top A year on, provision of 33pc unimplemented As the country celebrates the Constitution Day, the government itself has not been able to implement a constitutional provision that one-third representation of women in all forms of state mechanism. Above the fray Its possible to maintain deep ties with both India and China simultaneously Air Kasthamandap crash caused by engine failure The crash of an Air Kasthamandap plane at Chilkhaya in Kalikot last February was caused by engine failure, a probe report has revealed. Both pilots were killed while the nine passengers on the charter flight survived. Communique shamed nation: Oli CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has accused Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of shaming the country by signing a 25-point joint communique during his state visit to India. He claimed the agreements were against the national interest. Court records Ganga Mayas statement A legal team from the Chitwan District Court has recorded statement of Ganga Maya Adhikari in the murder case of her son Krishna Prasad, a college boy from Fujel of Gorkha who was allegedly killed by the then Maoist rebels after abduction in 2004. Dr KCs call for health sector reforms is legitimate The appointment of Gagan Thapa, a popular youth leader, as the Health Minister comes at a critical juncture in the countrys medical sector, with the malpractices in the health sector and issues of medical education including affiliation and quality control highlighted by the Mathema report that was made public last year. Finance panel to hold talks before amending Bafi Bill The parliamentary Finance Committee said it would hold a final round of discussions with the finance and law secretaries and central bank officials before amending controversial provisions in the Bank and Financial Institution (Bafi) Bill. First Constitution Day marked A special programme has been organised in Tundikhel, Kathmandu, on Monday to mark the first year of promulgation of countrys new constitution. Government comes clear on joint statement The government has brought forth clarity on the joint statement issued during the State visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India, reasoning that some media have reported the news by misinterpreting some points. Government seriously working to address voices of Madheshi, Tharus: PM Dahal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal has said the government was serious toward addressing the grudges of the Madeshi, Tharu and ethnic communities over the constitution through its amendment. Govt conducts prevalence study Amid growing concerns about the danger of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the Nepal Health Research Council has begun a large-scale research on the prevalence of the diseases for the first time in the country. Great managers keep evolving Rohit Gupta completed his MSc in Finance and Management from the University of Exeter in 2008. Include 18 more to martyr list: Morcha Madhes-based parties have demanded martyr status for 16 protesters killed during the five-month-long protest in the Tarai plains but were left out of the list earlier announced by the government. Kashmir attack: Pakistan hits back at India accusations Pakistan has hit back after India accused it of masterminding a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers. Kathmandu meet to set tone for 19th Saarc Summit Nepal is holding a conference of South Asian countries in the Capital in the last week of September as a preparatory meeting for the 19th Saarc Summit to be held in Pakistan later in the year. Minutes of Karkis appointment safe The minutes of the Constitutional Council that recommended Lokman Singh Karki as the chief commissioner of the Commission for Investigation for Abuse of Authority are archived in the Presidents Office Mother disappears after ditching baby in well A dead body of a seven-month-old baby girl was found inside a well at Kumaroj locality of Khaireni Municipality in Chitwan today. Naya Shakti calls for all-party panel The Naya Shakti Nepal, led by former Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai, has proposed ending the row over the new constitution through an all-party mechanism. Nepali workers caught in Malaysias unfair system Nepali migrant workers aspiring to take up jobs in Malaysia are forced to cough up tens of millions of rupees every year due to expensive pre-departure services provided through well-laid syndicates of its agents against the laws. No lessons learnt from trade embargo The most surprising, or rather, the most humiliating, upshot of the promulgation of the constitution exactly a year ago was the Indian blockade, which chocked supplies of almost everything to the country. Pact with India wont affect ties with China Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who returned from a four-day state visit to India on Sunday, said that bilateral ties with China would not be affected by the agreements he had reached with New Delhi. PM cancels New York visit for UN meet Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has decided to cancel his visit to the United States citing pressing domestic political matters, a source at the Foreign Ministry said. 'Saddest' polar bear 'Pizza' offered new home A UK wildlife park has confirmed that it is offering a new home to a "lonely" polar bear named Pizza who is living trapped in a Chinese mall. Supreme Court decides to hold final hearing on petition against IBN CEO appointment The Supreme Court on Sunday decided to hold a final hearing on a petition seeking a stay order against the governments decision to appoint Maha Prasad Adhikari as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Investment Board Nepal (IBN). Upper Karnali: IBN board meet to decide on extension The next board meeting of Investment Board Nepal (IBN) will decide whether to extend deadline for financial closure of the GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower Project (900 MW). Following the increased inflow of refugees from South Sudan, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, has doubled its assistance towards the refugee population in Uganda. The most recent is the arrival of a Boeing 747 aircraft in Entebbe carrying more than 100 tons of emergency relief items. This relief items are set to be delivered to refugee settlement areas in Adjumani, Arua, Kiryandongo as well Bidibidi settlement in Yumbe district. The people of South Sudan are suffering, as weve seen by the record numbers that have fled to Uganda and other neighbouring countries in recent weeks, said UNHCRs acting Representative to Uganda, Bornwell Kantande in a statement issued on Monday afternoon. Were extremely grateful to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid for his ongoing support to UNHCR and for making it possible for us to ensure this much-needed aid gets delivered to thousands of the recent arrivals. This shipment will go a long way towards ensuring these people are living in a safe and dignified environment, he added. The delivery comes just days after the number of South Sudanese who have been forced to seek safety in neighboring countries passed the one million mark, including more than 185,000 registered in the last ten weeks alone. This assistance has been provided by Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai. Story By Samuel Ssebuliba The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has declined to tag estranged South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar as a persona non grata. While closing the IPU-Igad meeting in Kamuli district today, the speaker of the transitional national legislative assembly of South Sudan, Anthony Lino Makana, had asked delegates to explicitly mention troubled Riek Machar as none wanted person in South Sudan. According to Makana the move would help in reinforcement peace in the country. However, Kadaga, who chaired the meeting, supported by the whole House, rejected the move saying if it were to be accepted, Igad would be extending its mandate far beyond its boundary. Machar escaped from South Sudan and left his Vice President seat vacant, after the clashes in which several soldiers were killed at State House. Makana argues that according to the transitional government agreement, SPLM-IO, replaced him within 48 hours with Taban Deng Gai and that Marchar is now a security risk to the people of South Sudan. The IPU-Igad meeting focused on peace and development among member countries, especially Somalia and South Sudan. Story By Isaac Imaka By Somewhere in the middle of last week my husband and I became obsessed with coleslaw. Ridculous, I know, but there we were with the recipe book open discussing which cabbage, savoy or chinese, like the world depended on our decision. It was Eid Al Adha and with the kids off school, and both of us not working, it meant time was on our side. Time we both just havent had for the past year. Why coleslaw? After a year of cancer, full time work, children heading off to school and sick parents, why coleslaw? I have no idea, but the minute we had lock on, it was a full blown affair. Would we choose Jamie Oliver or Donna Hay? A chinese cabbage? Did we need more colour? A spring onion or plain white? Of course wed make the mayo from scratch, of course! But then things got really complicated. The equipment required, sure we could grate, chop and dice, but if we were going to get serious we needed a proper food processor. Would we spend the money at the flash kitchenware store? Or would we use our airmiles at the local store? A Kenwood or a Phillips? How had we survived in Qatar all these years with just a blender and a Kitchen Aid? Hang on, was there an attachment we could get. Lets look it up now! It was a week of extravagent amounts of idle time. Long phone calls, pyjama days, family tv binge watching, and hours and hours of lazing at the beach. It was a gift, and one I recognized as such after the most insane work/health/family disruptive year of my life. It was as if my heart slowed, my mind cleared, and all the clutter, anxiety, and urgency disappeared. Not too far away, a mere eight hour flight, is my friend Nikki whos an Aussie based in Hamburg. Shes just moved there and is navigating a new home, city, school and way of life. There is no peace, only a constant stream of I need what form? Im just heading back to IKEA, again They tell me Ill have wifi in a week or so and I really need to make some friends. One of her children decided to make things a little more interesting for her this move by climbing a tree at school, great! And falling, oh. And fracturing his hip, thats not good. Which required a fire truck to get him out, nah, thats not good at all. Did I mention shes moved into an apartment on the 3rd floor with no lift great for crutches. It is a time for new beginnings in the expat world. For many of us its a new school year, and for others its a move to a different country. New jobs, new contracts, new friends and a whole new way of living. I know that for many of you time is the enemy right now, whether its the ten minute window between an unfamiliar school drop off and an unfamiliar work place, or walking into yet another social event where you know absolutely no-one. Or waiting for yet another Uber/taxi in the heat because you still dont have a car or a licence, and when you get one is completely out of your control because youre still waiting for the freaking papers to come out of the shipment! Time for you right now, is unrecognisable, foreign, and at times, heartbreaking. Hang in there, youll get comfortable, life will get easier, and soon you too may find yourself pondering the merits of a spoonful of dijon mustard to the mayonnaise. Itll just take a bit of time. Sign up for the best bits here Your favourite posts from the group as well as the gems from the podcast. We'll send it straight to your inbox to save you searching Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 61F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Rain. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Are you a student or recent graduate who is looking to build your resume with hands-on experience? If so, consider interning with the Indiana Senate Republican Caucus. During the 2017 session of the General Assembly, there are a variety of paid internship opportunities in the Senates legislative, legal, policy, communications and information technology offices. Below youll find more information about each internship opportunity and its duties: Legislative interns will track and analyze bill data, provide constituent services, staff committee meetings and conduct policy research. Legal interns will conduct legal and policy research, file legislative documents within deadlines and help create the daily legislative calendar. Policy interns will conduct research, track legislative proposals, develop a legislative matrix and summarize legislation. Press Secretary interns will track legislation, write news releases and op-eds, create e-communications and social media strategies and work with members of the media. Information Technology interns will respond to IT needs of senators and staff, troubleshoot hardware and software issues, assist in the implementation of new technologies, and reformat and reimage computers. Visual Communications interns will assist with Senate photography and videography needs, monitor online streaming of committees and session, create visual content for print and web, and assist in website management. Interested and qualified candidates must be college students, recent graduates, or enrolled in graduate or law school. Positions are open to Indiana residents or non-residents who attend a college or university located within the state. Benefits include a $700 bi-weekly stipend, scholarship opportunities, earned academic credits, resume building, community involvement and networking while working along with more than 40 fellow interns at the Indiana Statehouse located in downtown Indianapolis. These are partisan, full-time positions that begin with a mandatory orientation in late December and conclude at the end of the legislative session in April 2017. During internships with the Senate, students gain time-management, communication and problem-solving skills that will help them become attractive candidates for employers in todays competitive job market. I encourage anyone interested in state government to apply for this unique and rewarding opportunity. More information and applications for full-time, spring internships can be found online at www.IndianaSenateRepublicans.com/intern-program. The deadline to apply is Oct. 31. For questions about the internship program, contact my office by email at Senator.Kruse@iga.in.gov or by phone at 800-382-9467. FREMONT The Fremont Community Schools Board of Trustees are poised to make William Stitt its permanent leader. The Fremont Community Schools Board of Education will discuss Stitts proposed contract at todays 6 p.m. meeting at the school administration office, 1100 W. Toledo. Stitt, 48, has returned a third time to the district, serving as interim superintendent since July. Three other candidates were interviewed for the position and Board President Marty McNeal said Stitt is the top pick. We interviewed three other candidates. The Board decides hes exactly what we were looking for, McNeal said. The proposed three-year compensation package runs Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2019, and totals $139,802 annually. It includes an annual $120,000 base salary; $3,600 annual teachers retirement; $2,400 retirement; $1,223 whole life; $8,143 health insurance; $417 dental; $99 vision; $576 long-term disability; $744 term life; $2,000 auto allowance; and $600 cellular phone. It also includes 20 vacation days each calendar year, six paid holidays and nine absence days. Stitt taught music in the Fremont schools from 1990-92. He then left for Central Noble school corporation, where he taught music for five years. He served as Jay County High Schools assistant principal for three years before returning to Fremont as Fremont Middle School principal, 2000-08. Stitt has also served as superintendent and principal in the Waldron Schools, Waldron, Michigan, and as middle school principal in South Haven, Michigan. Stitt earned his bachelors degree in music education from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, his masters degree in school administration from Indiana University, Bloomington, and doctorate at Oakland City University, Oakland City, Michigan. He said hes thrilled to be home and looks forward to whats ahead. Im super excited. This is home and its always been home. Hopefully, Ill be here until retirement, Stitt said. Stitt has been busy getting acclimated in heading the district. The corporation ran one billboard sign this past summer in Angola to promote the Fremont Schools. As we get into schools of choice, we have to sell our programs, he said, adding hes confident the district will be up in attendance over the budgeted 900 students. Friday was count day statewide in public schools. Last year it was projected that Fremont would drop to about 900 students this year, but that number, it appears, will be on the low side. Stitt replaced Lori Vaughn, who was Fremonts superintendent the last four years. She retired and was hired as assistant superintendent of DeKalb Central United School District, Waterloo. The La Crosse Chapter 370 of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) will meet Oct. 12 at Perkins Restaurant on Hwy. 16. The gathering will be at 11.30 a.m., with lunch at noon. Wisconsins roads need more than engineering and concrete. They need leadership and courage. They dont need delays. They dont need answers that only pretend to suit the political whims of today instead of the needs of today and tomorrow. We need leadership the type that requires difficult, potentially unpopular decisions if were truly going to serve the future of our states roads and bridges. If Wisconsin is open for business and tourism, we need to make sure our roads are, too. Gov. Scott Walker announced plans last week to delay road projects in Wisconsin. Sadly, thats not what our road system needs. The states Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the state needs $939 million to pay for projects that have already been approved. The governor wants to give more money to local governments for road work, but it barely will patch the pothole. Heres an example of his solution and the problem: Under Walkers plan, La Crosse County would receive $127,000 during the next two years. The problem is, La Crosse County has an $89 million to-do list of work that includes failing pavements, bridges in need of replacement, resurfacing and stormwater issues, County Highway Commissioner Ron Chamberlain said. A bandage and a lollipop wont help. Lets look at an opportunity weve already lost and a possible solution going forward. For 20 years beginning in 1986, Wisconsin raised revenue by automatically indexing its fuel tax each year by a small amount per gallon. Yes, that raised the tax. It also raised millions of dollars to improve our roads. In 2005, the Legislature and then-Gov. Jim Doyle agreed to repeal that automatic annual increase. It was an easy, popular quick fix and even some conservative Republicans said it was short-sighted. How much did that cost our transportation fund in revenue? The Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported in March 2015 that the transportation fund had lost more than $1 billion because of the change, which took effect after April 2006. So, you do the math: The state needs $939 million to complete approved projects, and weve lost out on $1 billion because we lacked the leadership and courage to continue the adjustment on a tax that is paid by all who use the roads, including tourists and many other non-Wisconsin residents. Our state has a heritage of appointing bipartisan, blue-ribbon committees to improve operations, such as the Kettl Commission, charged more than 15 years ago with studying ways of restructuring government in our state. Since Walker has been governor, we havent seen that type of collaborative problem-solving, only divide and conquer. Now would be an excellent time to pull together businesses and transportation executives to help policy-makers make sound decisions on funding and fixing Wisconsin roads. Were encouraged that members of both the Republican and Democratic caucuses are unhappy with the governors approach to fixing our road problem. But will they have the leadership and the courage to do something about it? Will they be able to override a veto from the governor? Will they be able to work together on a solution? Were not optimistic. The Transportation Development Authority will convene constituents throughout the state Sept. 29 to call attention to the problem. Its an excellent opportunity to speak out. TDA Executive Director Craig Thompson said the governors proposal does not provide a coherent plan or vision for the state. It would provide, for the next two years, needed investment at the local level, but at the expense of important economic corridors. Crucial safety improvements called for by WisDOT on some of the busiest stretches of interstate in Wisconsin would not proceed. The question is: If we are not going to rebuild 60-year-old segments of the interstate system now, when are we? Thats exactly the question: If not now, when? During a TDA meeting in Onalaska this summer, businesses like Kwik Trip talked about the increased cost of maintenance and replacement caused by deteriorating roads. Jeff Reichling, Kwik Trips superintendent of petroleum transportation, said during that meeting: This will only continue to grow as a problem. The safety of our residents and the vibrancy of commerce and tourism are at stake. Its time to find a long-term solution even if it hurts. Q: Can Pacific hurricanes influence our weather in North America? A: Super Typhoon Meranti, the strongest storm of the year, delivered a devastating blow to Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday. The word typhoon, used commonly in the west Pacific, is a synonym for hurricane. The storm, which intensified from a category 1 to a category 5 hurricane in 24 hours, had estimated sustained winds of 190 mph for nearly a day after reaching that incredible strength. Though such storms are an annual threat to Taiwan and the neighboring Philippines (a nation that endures more hurricanes each year than any place on Earth), a storm of Merantis strength has not made a direct hit on Taiwan since 1959. By the time the storm hit the far southwest tip of the island, the sustained winds had weakened to 115 mph but it still wrought widespread damage to the southern portion of the island. The storm passed directly over Itbayit in the Philippines so that the small island could be seen in the eye of the storm on satellite images. Meranti subsequently barreled northwestward and made another landfall near Xiamen, China, on Wednesday afternoon with invigorated strength as winds were at an estimated 145 mph, with gusts to 175 mph. As is usually the case with hurricanes, Merantis winds weakened after its Chinese landfall, but the storm was still associated with very heavy rains, flashflooding and mudslides. Though the most intense impacts of the storm are limited to the immediate landfalling areas, the broader atmosphere does respond to the presence of such a powerful hurricane in ways that can eventually affect the weather over North America. The forecast calls for unusual warmth over western Canada at the end of this week that may well have its origin in the interaction of the remnants of Meranti and the jet stream flow over the Pacific Ocean. DATCP visit Staff from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) visited and toured the Food Enterprise Center Aug. 16. DATCPs Buy Local Buy Wisconsin grant program has funded four of our tenants Fifth Season Cooperative, B&Es Trees, Wisco Pop! and Fizzeology and the group wanted to meet the recipient businesses in their production spaces. According to a follow-up note from Kietra Olson, Angie Sullivan and Juli Speck, It was an absolute pleasure meeting you and touring your facility yesterday. The building and the work you are doing is invaluable to our local food system and were so glad we were able to see it. DATCP provides many resources to help businesses grow and we appreciate their partnership! CLA Foundation Grant VEDA recently received a $20,000 grant from the CliftonLarsenAllen (CLA) Foundation in Minneapolis, Minn., to support our work of growing small and emerging businesses and building an entrepreneurial environment in the region. We were one of 17 awards from 50 applications chosen to complete a full application for the grant. Initially, the foundation received more than 80 nominations from employees in offices across the country. The mission of the CLA Foundation is to promote and support diverse individuals and organizations by connecting networks, advancing work readiness, and creating career opportunities. Employment/career building and entrepreneurship/small business are two areas the foundation focuses on. Oct. 12 I&E Club Plan to attend the next Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club meeting Wednesday, Oct. 12, 6 p.m. at the Food Enterprise Center. Thomas White will join us again to talk about the three Rs for evolving your business for growth and changing conditions. Thomas will lead a discussion on Re-assessment, Re-design and Re-engagement. His practical approach will give you a new perspective on your existing business, some ideas on how to make changes that help you grow, and a set of steps that support starting the process of new growth right away. Everyone is welcome and no reservations are required. New Brochure Want information about VEDA in a handy format? Pick up a copy of our new brochure which features our goals and accomplishments, photos and testimonials from businesses we help, a listing of Food Enterprise Center tenants, and more. VEDA brochures are available in Viroqua at the Chamber, food co-op, and a number of other locations. To receive a copy by mail, email Sue at snoble@veda-wi.org or call her at 608-638-8332. Helpfully accompanied by a few illustrationsI feel called upon to state openly where I think this country is going. First, I want to say that my views since the Reagan administration have essentially been consistent, although only the few people who have known me that long could attest to my having held to this belief as long as I have. I say this not to gloat, but to assure you that what I have to predict here is not the product of a recent depression brought on by the success of Trump, but of decades of careful observation of what is happening to the United States.Trump may, even likely will, lose the election, but it makes no difference in the long run. The truth is, Trump is an anomaly, a consequence of a miscalculation on the part of the Republican elite, which spent decades, and billions of dollars, building an electoral base that was motivated by greed, hatred and a lust for violence; without at the same time building in quite enough authoritarian passivity to understand that their role was simply to do what they were told. Believe me, many liberals may not get that yet, but the few hundred rich sociopaths who really run the Republican party know it perfectly, and they will see that it never happens again- that no one not hand picked by them ever gets close to the Republican nomination, and all their cash, needed to turn a loser into a winner.What comes in four years, or eight, will be far worse than Trump: far more plausible, far more ruthless, and far more under control. And thanks to the deliberate destruction of our electoral democracy by corrupt Justices planted on the Supreme Court, nothing stands in the way of whoever has the most money to spend. We hear all day long that any Democratic candidate other than Hillary would be destroying Trump. This is not true, because the same smear machine that has given Hillary her utterly unjustified unpopularity would be turned on them with similar results. What is true, however, is that virtually any one of the sixteen other Republican candidates for President would be walking all over Hillary because, despite her being an honest, well-intentioned candidate with more qualifications to be President than anyone we have seen since Roosevelt, the Republicans have succeeded in destroying her public image.So, Trump will never happen again. If he loses, the real Republicans, their rich donors, the people who own the party, will immediately start insuring that they win next time, or the time after that. And here is what they have planned for our country, an agenda that has remained utterly unchanged for the lifetimes of the people reading this post, and which will never change until it is implemented fully:Like the idea of paying into Social Security accounts all your life so you can get the promised return when you are too old to work? Forget it; the Social Security funds are the greatest pile of unstolen money left in the country, and they are going to be taken as soon as possible. That doesn't mean, of course, that you will stop having part of your earnings taken every week of your whole working life; it just means there won't even be a pretense of your ever getting most of it back.A decent education for all is a right, and in fact a necessity in a democratic country? Forget it. Once democracy is dead, as it basically already is, we only need people who do what they are told. Education is for those who can afford it, an ever shrinking group restricted to the children of the richest people in society, and soon enough not even to them. Their parents will be perfectly capable of teaching them how to steal with impunity from everyone else, and in today's America that, along with inheritance, is the only real path to riches, as perfectly represented by the Republican party's last two nominees for President.Health care? Pay or die. Denying health care to the non-rich is, after all, only culling the herd of the losers, after all, and any good rancher (the Bundys for example, "good" in the new America meaning those who can do the best job of living off the government while blaming everyone else for the same thing) will tell you that culling the herd is a good thing.A banking and investment system that exists to enable all of us to save and marshall our resources so that, if we do not engage in stupid investments, will permit us to reach some degree of economic stablility? Forget it. Banks and investment firms are now virtually nothing but another way to enable the rich to steal whatever small amount of savings everyone else has accumulated, and the possibility of reversing that is virtually nonexistent.Food safety? Water to drink and air to breathe that don't kill us? Safe drugs? Safe machines and houses and workplaces? Forget it. These cost money, which belongs in the pockets of the hyper-rich, who deserve that money because they are the "job creators," and who can meet those needs on their own, spending your money to accomplish that.A minimum wage? Don't be ridiculous. The "free market" will determine what you out there are worth, which is essentially nothing, or at least not one penny more that someone in Bangladesh or Indonesia needs to keep them barely alive while they slave fourteen hours a day for the privilege.And finally our government: an oligarchic dictatorship which exists solely to benefit literally two or three hundred families, many of them not even American, and which cares not a shred for the rest of the population, which will be relegated to what is essentially a slave class, with the penalty for trying to rise above their station to be starvation, homelessness and a quick death. Oh well, plenty more where those came from, if not here, then in some other country.And wars! Lots of wars! Wars to sate the hatred and anger of the Republican base, wars for profit, and wars to seize the territory and resources of other countries, to feed the never-satisfiable hunger for more, more, more among the richest sociopaths in world history.This is the almost certain fate of our country: within a generation to lose every single thing America is supposed to mean, and to become the most massive third world dictatorship the world has ever known.Well, here's the only bright lining in this cloud: Thomas Piketty, who has calculated that, by 2030, the United States will have the most unequal division of wealth in the history of the human race, has also pointed out that no society like this has ever, ever survived without provoking a violent rebellion, in which the rich criminals get a lot of what they had coming. Unfortunately, the last time the Western world went through an episode like this, it cost fifty million lives, and that was before nuclear weapons. The juggernaut is on the move, and the devastation and suffering that will be the product of our having stood there and allowed this to happen are going to be beyond anything the world has ever seen; the return to normality for the few survivors is scant comfort to the rest of us, who are facing the abyss. This is Whats Trending Today. Hollywood honored its televisions stars Sunday night in Los Angeles. Actors, directors, writers and others gathered at the Microsoft Theater for the 68th Emmy Awards ceremony. The biggest winner was the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones. It received 12 Emmy awards this year. The show has won 38 Emmys since its first season aired in 2011. It also broke a record set by the comedy show Frasier for the most prime-time series Emmy awards. Thousands posted congratulations to the show on Twitter. Many also commented on the shows stars. The Curly Critic praised British actress Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, the mother of dragons, on the show. Emilia Clarke was an absolute Queen at the Emmys, the Curly Critic tweeted. Another noted how normal and likable the actress appears. There were also lots of social media posts about matching tattoos on Game of Thrones cast members Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams. The two play sisters Sansa and Arya Stark on the show. But they like each other in real life! Their tattoos record the date in 2009 they found out they were cast in Game of Thrones. Characters do not always last very long on Game of Thrones. So, Turner said, we were like lets get these before anyone kills us. And thats Whats Trending Today. Im Dorothy Gundy. Caty Weaver wrote this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________ Words in This Story fantasy n. an imaginary story that is far from normal or reality prime-time n. usually the period between 8pm and 11pm when many people watch television dragon n. a large, fierce imaginary animal with scales, wings often breathing fire tattoo n. permanent ink drawing on the skin From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report. A group of friends from around the world have gathered because they all have something in common. They all want to have fun. They all want to exercise. And they all want to eat healthy. Those reasons are great. But they are not why these people have banded together. The have banded together because they all carry the APoE4 gene. That gene increases their risk of getting the brain-destroying disease known as Alzheimers. "We all found out that we carry one or two copies of the APoE4 gene. Which is it puts us at higher risk for Alzheimer's." Susan, who gives only her first name, says her father died from Alzheimer's. As the disease progressed in his brain, doctors had little to offer except a memory-boosting drug called Aricept. She adds that doctors had a fatalistic attitude, meaning they acted as if they could do nothing to reverse the damage from Alzheimers. Again, heres Susan. "It was just more or less, well, we can try Aricept but it won't work for very long. And there's a fatalistic attitude with some doctors that once you have it, there's nothing you can do. And you just sort of have to get your affairs in order and expect that you're going to the nursing home next." Four years ago Susan discovered that she has the APoE4 gene. She says that she was determined to do something. So, she went online and looked for other people with the APoE4 gene. When Susan found other people with her genotype, they banded together to hack their own health. In other words, they wanted to figure out how to help themselves without the help of traditional doctors, nurses and hospitals. "A bunch of us banded together and decided to see -- can we hack our own health." One of those health hackers is a woman who goes by the name "Juliegee." Before banding together with Susan, Juliegee had been anxiously watching as her "senior moments" increased. A senior moment refers to a time when an older person forgets something. But Juliegee was not really an older, or senior, person. She was only 49. Then she learned that she has the APoE4 gene. "When I put the symptoms I was having together with my very high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, I was pretty terrified." Her fear turned to bravery as she helped build an online community named APoE4.info. This community of health hackers researched the many conflicting studies about healthy brains. Then they directed their attention to leafy greens, healthy fats, exercise and more. Juliegee made lifestyle changes. And now, she says, her thinking ability, or cognition, has improved. "It's been a very exciting journey. My cognition is very much improved now." The group's approach is confirmed by doctors and researchers in the medical community. Dale Bredesen is a researcher at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He studies how combining lifestyle changes with other measures can reverse the weakening of a persons cognitive ability. Bredesen has worked with the ApoE4.info group for two years. In June of this year he added to their hope. Bredesen documented a reversal in cognitive decline in patients with early Alzheimer's. He says that when he looked at the actual causes of cognitive decline, he found many lifestyle factors affect the brain, including stress and sleep. "This is the first time in history that there's been reversal of cognitive decline in early Alzheimer's disease." Bredesen calls the ApoE4.info group a great example of people who are taking their health care into their own hands. They are using many different ways to help the brain, such as exercising, eating healthy foods, cutting down on stress and getting enough sleep. Whats happened up until now is that people will say, Dont bother to find out your APoE status because if you find out youre APoE4 positive, then there will be nothing to do about it.' And again, we disagree with that. Theres a lot that can be done with it today. Members of the group say the sooner a person starts taking control of their brain health, the more likely that a genetic risk won't become their fate. "I can hopefully prevent it, but if not, at least put it off for decades." Bredesen plans clinical studies to improve his methods for reversing cognitive decline. The Alzheimer's Association calls his work a promising possibility. The association adds that his research may help the United States develop national policies to "prevent or effectively treat Alzheimer's disease by the year 2025." Im Anna Matteo. Shelley Schlender reported this story for VOA News in Boulder, Colorado. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. _________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story fatalistic adj. the belief that what will happen has already been decided and cannot be changed fate n. attitude n. the way you think and feel about someone or something put your affairs in order phrase Ensure that one's financial and legal arrangements are properly organized, especially in preparation for one's death. genotype biology n. the genetic constitution of an individual organism. band together to form a group in order to do or achieve something health hacker a person who uses the latest technology to research and care for their own health needs : also called biohacker cognitive adj. of, relating to, or involving conscious mental activities (such as thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering) decline v. to become worse in condition or quality reversal n. a change to an opposite state, condition, decision, etc. fate n. a power that is believed to control what happens in the future to put something off phrase postpone something World leaders will gather at United Nations headquarters in New York this week for the yearly meetings of the U.N. General Assembly. The leaders have been invited to a special summit on refugees and economic migrants. They will discuss ways to improve the international communitys reaction to the growing number of refugees and migrants worldwide. The worlds refugee crisis is now as bad as it was during World War II, according to The New York Times newspaper. The leaders are expected to talk about access to education for refugee children. When families flee from countries because of war or political insecurity, the children leave behind not only their homes but, in many cases, their education. That is the subject of a new report from the United Nations refugee agency. The report says that 3.7 million children under the U.N. agencys mandate are unable to attend school. The situation gets worse as the children get older. The percentage drops from 50 percent for young children to 22 percent at secondary school age. U.N. information also shows that only one percent of refugees attend a university, compared to 34 percent of the worlds population. Filippo Grandi is the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. In a statement, he said that refugee education is, too often, terribly ignored. Grandi also said he would like to change that. In his words, education is one of the few opportunities we have to transform and build the next generation of refugees so that they can improve the futures of the many millions of forcibly displaced people. The issue of providing refugees with an education is more difficult because of the expanding population and a lack of necessary financing. According to the U.N. report, the population of school-age children grew by 30 percent in 2014. That number requires an extra 20,000 teachers. Many host nations already struggle to provide simple, but necessary services for refugees. But now, they must also find a place to hold classes and a way to purchase additional school supplies. Often, the children struggle in their studies after missing several years of school and do not speak the local language. "As the international community considers how best to deal with the refugee crisis, it is essential that we think beyond basic survival," Grandi said. "Education enables refugees to positively shape the future of both their countries of asylum and their home countries when they one day return." Refugees from Syria, for example, have been in the news as the Syrian conflict continues for a sixth year. Countries from Turkey to those across Europe must decide what to do to assist the families that have fled the fighting. The U.N. refugee agency says there are about 1.7 million Syrian refugees who should be in school; however, 900,000 of them are not. The agency has asked international donors for $4.54 billion this year to aid Syrian refugees. Financing for education involves $662 million of that request. As of June, the U.N. had collected only 39 percent of that total. In 2015, most of the donations for this education program arrived in the final two months of the year. U.N. officials said this hurt the ability of host countries to make effective long-term plans for schooling. The U.N. is asking donors to provide dependable funding over many years to help those countries better plan for providing teachers and supplies. It also urges the host governments to include refugees in their national education systems instead of separate schools. Those schools cannot easily be supervised in the same way to guarantee their effectiveness. The new report discusses the helpful effects of education, saying it helps children avoid child labor and membership in armed groups. It also said that not providing schooling only extends conflict and leads to more people being displaced. "There is solid evidence that quality education gives children a place of safety and can also reduce child marriage, child labor, exploitative and dangerous work, and teenage pregnancy," the report says. Im Jill Robbins. And I'm Alice Bryant. Chris Hannas wrote this story for VOANews.com. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story summit n. a meeting or series of meetings between the leaders of two or more governments migrant n. a person who goes from one place to another especially to find work access n. a way of being able to use or get something mandate n. an official order to do something transform v. to change (something) completely and usually in a good way forcibly displaced this phrase describes people who are forced to leave their homes, often because of war or political unrest host adj. In the context of this story, the word host describes countries that receive refugees. Sometimes we say host countries or host nations." Other times, we may say host governments. essential adj. extremely important and necessary enable v. to make (someone or something) able to do or to be something long-term adj. lasting for, relating to, or involving a long period of time exploitative adj. a word describing work that uses (someone or something) in a way that helps someone else unfairly Are there refugees in your country? Do the children attend regular schools or separate schools? Are the children able to attend school? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. A record 27.3 million Hispanics are eligible to vote in the U.S. elections this November. Hispanics now make up about 12 percent of all U.S. voters. That is the same percentage as African-American voters, according to Pew Research Center. Albert Camarillo teaches history at Stanford University in California. He is also a founding director of the universitys Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Camarillo said 3,000 more Hispanics become eligible to vote in the U.S. elections every day. In a Stanford University report, he said Hispanic voters could make a huge difference in states where Hispanics make up a large percentage of the population. The growth of Hispanic voters, he said, changed Arizona, a state that historically had strong ties to the Republican Party. The state has only supported one Democrat in the past 10 presidential elections. But now, Arizonans could vote for either a Republican or Democratic candidate, he said. Clinton Hispanic Support Compared to Obamas Political observers thought that Hispanics would vote in larger numbers for Democrat Hillary Clinton than they did for Barack Obama in 2012. Four years ago, Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent among Hispanics, according to exit polls. But a new study suggests Clinton, while leading Trump among Hispanic voters, will have a hard time topping Obamas 71 percent support. The opinion that Clinton would do better with Hispanic voters was based on statements made by Republican Donald Trump. Trump had called on the government to expel all 11 million illegal immigrants. He suggested many Mexican immigrants were drug dealers or rapists, and promised to build a huge wall along the Mexican border. Theres Nothing More Personal Yvanna Cancela is political director of the Las Vegas, Nevada Culinary Union. Many members of the group are Hispanic. A lot of times you hear this rap about how politics doesnt affect their life, she told the Associated Press last month. But that changes when its personal, and theres nothing more personal than Donald Trump talking about deporting 11 million immigrants. In recent days, efforts to measure the Hispanic vote produced mixed results. Polling organizations questioned likely voters after Trump gave an immigration speech on August 31. In the speech, Trump said he would focus on removing illegal immigrants who were guilty of crimes. He did not say what would happen to the large majority of illegal immigrants who were not guilty of crimes. But he said illegal immigrants who want legal guarantees in the United States would first have to return to their home countries. In his speech, Trump blamed illegal immigrants for violent crimes. And he said the United States would be more selective in deciding who to admit -- choosing people who shared American values and would not take away jobs from U.S. citizens. We take anybody, he said of current immigration policy. Come on in, anybody. Just come on in. Not anymore. Some members of Trumps Hispanic advisory group said they were disappointed he did not soften his earlier statements on immigration. Mixed Findings in Recent Poll A recent poll found that Clinton is getting a lower percentage of Hispanic votes than Obama did in four states where the Hispanic vote is important. The polling results were reported by Univision, a Spanish language television station. Univision said Hillary Clinton holds a wide lead over Donald Trump among Hispanics in Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado. However, her support among Hispanics does not match Obamas in 2012. The station added that Clinton led Trump among Hispanic voters 53 percent to 29 percent in Florida, 68 percent to 18 percent in Arizona, 62 percent to 17 percent in Colorado and 65 percent to 19 percent in Nevada. These are large leads, but Obama won between six percent and 13 percent more in the four states, according to polls taken after the 2012 election. The good news for Clinton is that the same Univision poll showed Trump getting a lower percentage of Hispanic votes than Republican Mitt Romney did in 2012. Romney won between six percent and 10 percent more Hispanic votes than Trump is receiving in the states covered by the Univision poll. Poll Came After Bad Week for Clinton Kevin Wagner teaches political science at Florida Atlantic University. He said recent poll results may not relate to how people vote in November because it came after a bad week for Clinton. She had to leave a New York City ceremony marking the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks because of she wasnt feeling well. She also had to back away from a statement in which she called half of Trumps supporters deplorable. She described them as holding racist or far-right opinions. Wagner said even more important than what percentage of Hispanics support Clinton or Trump is how many actually vote. In past elections, Hispanics voted at lower percentages than both whites and African-Americans, according to the Pew Research Center. I expect Secretary Clinton to carry the Latino vote by a sizable margin, but the key will be whether the Latino voters turnout in enough numbers to tip some of the closer states, Wagner said. That is still very much in question. Camarillo of Stanford University said Hispanic voter turnout will depend on motivation. By that, he means how much worse voters think a candidate can make their lives. Wagner said it is important that people understand that Hispanic/Latinos include many nationalities. Many Cuban-Americans live in the southeastern state of Florida. They are considered more conservative than other Hispanics and often vote Republican. Wagner noted that Cuban-Americans vote differently than Mexican-Americans, who are more likely to support Democratic candidates. Im Bruce Alpert. Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. ___________________________________________________________ Words in This Story eligible - adj. able to do something poll - n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something rap - v. criticism or punishment that is given in a gentle way for something that you did wrong deport -- v. to remove people from a country focus - v. to direct attention or effort at something specific selective --adj. involving choosing people from a group disappoint - v. to make someone unhappy by not doing something that was hoped for or expected tip - v. to move from one result to another motivation - n. the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something The suspect in two bombings Saturday in New York City and New Jersey has been captured after being wounded in a gun battle with police. The 28-year-old suspect was identified as Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan. News video showed Rahami being placed into an ambulance Monday in the New Jersey town of Linden, about 32 kilometers from New York City. The suspects arm was bloody and bandaged and officials said he underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg. Local officials said two police officers were also injured during the operation. Chelsea blast The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Rahami was wanted for questioning in an explosion Saturday evening in the Chelsea area of New York City that wounded 29 people. The explosion went off in or near a trash container in a busy area of the neighborhood. The blast sent glass and debris flying into the air. All 29 people wounded were treated and released from the hospital. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described the Chelsea bombing as "obviously an act of terrorism." Rahami is also a suspect in another bombing that happened hours earlier in Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 135 kilometers south of New York City. Police said a pipe bomb exploded before the start of a charity race to help U.S. Marines. No one was wounded. Possible links to other devices The FBI and New York police have also been searching for possible links between the Chelsea bombing and another explosive device found a few blocks away that did not go off. That bomb was recovered shortly after the first one exploded. Police safely removed it from the area and set it off in a controlled explosion. Also, five explosive devices were discovered Sunday in a trash can at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, just outside New York City. One of the devices exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it, but no one was hurt. The bombings happened as leaders from around the world were gathering in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. A U.N. spokesman told VOA that officials evaluate the security needs each day inside the U.N. complex. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story VOA Learning English, based on reports from VOA News, the Associated Press and Reuters. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story bandage n. a piece of cloth put on injured parts of the body debris n. pieces left over after something has been destroyed pipe bomb n. a homemade bomb made with a pipe to hold explosives evaluate v. to consider or study something carefully Incumbent Wayne Rieskamp will not be challenged for his Ward 1 City Council seat in the Nov. 8 general election, not because he doesn't have any opponents but because he dropped out. Linn-Benton Community College has shut off water to eight sinks at its facilities in Linn and Benton counties due to high lead levels that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agencys standards. They were pretty much handwashing sinks, not that someone couldnt get a drink of water out of them, said Dale Stowell, college spokesman. For example, two of the sinks were in bathrooms at LBCCs downtown center in Lebanon, Stowell said. Two of the sinks were located on the Lebanon campus. LBCC tested 171 water sources where people might draw drinking water, Stowell said. If you could turn the handle on and fill something up, we tested it, he added. Test results were returned on Wednesday and the sinks were shut off the same day. The sinks with high lead levels will remain shut off until they are replumbed and retested in the coming weeks, said Dave Henderson, LBCC vice president for finance and operations. That should cost an estimated $5,000 to $10,000, and funding will come from the maintenance budget for emergency repairs, Stowell said. The college decided to test its water after reports of lead issues at other educational facilities, Henderson said. Stowell said LBCC wasnt required to test for lead, unlike K-12 schools in Oregon. But given what was going on, with results in older buildings, we thought this was a good idea for us. This was something we needed to know so we could take care of it, he added. Henderson said the issues will be relatively easy to fix. Temporarily turning water off at the sinks until we can address this issue wont cause any hardships or disruptions, he said. The testing, which cost about $3,400, was done using EPA guidelines, which call for the water to remain stagnant in the lines for at least eight hours. K-12 school districts began testing lead levels in their drinking water statewide after a scare earlier this year in the Portland School District. In August, the State Board of Education adopted rules requiring school districts and public charter schools to develop plans that include lead tests, and to report test findings and information on ongoing monitoring to the public within five days of receiving the results. The Albany and Corvallis school districts found that a number of water sources at their schools contained elevated lead levels. Lead can get into drinking water when service pipes that contain lead corrode, according to the EPA. Structures built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes and fixtures, the agencys website states. Young children, infants and fetuses are particularly vulnerable to lead, and even low levels of lead in the blood of children can result in behavior and learning problems and other issues. Adults exposed to lead can suffer from increased blood pressure, hypertension and other cardiovascular effects, decreased kidney function and reproductive problems, according to the EPA. LEXINGTON,Neb. - The Dawson County Commissioners considered the proposed 2016-2017 county budget on Tuesday during its bimonthly meeting. At 8:30 a.m., a public hearing was held to hear support or opposition to the proposed 2016/2017 County Budget. The only speaker during the public hearing was Allan Rickertsen of Cozad. Rickertsen voiced his skepticism and opposition to the county budget. "How can you go from a $24.1 million budget last year to a $37.8 million budget the next?" Rickertsen asked the board. "A lot of it is carry over," said Butch Hagan, a commissioner. Road projects from last year did not get completed, adding to the cost and would hopefully get done in the coming year, Hagan said. Commissioner Bill Stewart said sometimes an expense in one county department is also counted in another department, leading to the appearance of double listing on the budget- this could lead to adding more in the budget for expenses. Rickertsen did commend commissioners for holding property taxes - meaning the tax levy, the same as it was last year. Hagan noted that the cost of road work has almost doubled in recent years, another factor that leads to increased budget costs for the county. The proposed 2016-2017 property tax request is $10,174,669.07 million. Big portions of the budget are allocated for: the general fund ($16.3 million), roads ($5.7 million), insurance claim ($4 million) and sinking fund ($4 million). Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to adopt the 2016-2017 proposed budget. Commissioner PJ Jacobson was absent from the meeting. Dawson County Sheriff Gary Reiber gave his monthly crime report for August. Last month there were 1,135 total services provided and 189 inmate bookings, he said. In August, 43 handgun permits were given, 103 vehicle inspections were conducted and 267 civil process services were provided. Total revenue for the budget year so far is $329,794.74, up more than $51,000 compared to this time last year. Reiber said LB 605 was affecting the Dawson County jail and that statistics were being compiled on the impact the law was having on the jail. The law requires that those convicted of a class-one misdemeanor or felonies, like a class-IIIA felony, be able to serve time at a local county jail instead of going to the state prison. This is meant to address prison overcrowding, Reiber said. The state does not provide reimbursement for local county jails for housing inmates as part of LB 605, he said. Although there is a block grant available to county jails to offset costs, funds were only awarded on a competitive basis, Reiber said. Reiber said he has spoken with State Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg on the impact of the new law on his jail. "It's another unfunded mandate," Reiber said about LB 605. Dawson County Treasurer Sharon Wood verified a list of the Sheriff's distress warrants. She said there was $40,906 in distress warrants. A resolution to strike the record for delinquent personal property taxes was passed. The county would issue county tax sales or begin the foreclosure process for properties that are three years or older with delinquent taxes, Wood said. Randy Deans, the highway superintendent for Dawson County, presented two bids for asphalt work in the City of Gothenburg for that city and for the county. About 88 percent of the asphalt work will be done for the county; while 12 percent would be for the City of Gothenburg, Deans said. The high bid was received from Werner Construction of Hastings - it came in at $3,343,599.77. The low bid came from Paulsen, Inc., of Cozad - it came in at $3,018,716.30. The project would consist of 15.5 miles of county road getting asphalt, Deans said. Deans noted that the engineer's estimate put the cost of the project at $3,010,834.91, meaning the low bid from Paulsen was just $8,000 over the estimate. Action on the two bids was tabled to allow time for the Gothenburg City Council to go over the bids and come to their own decision on it. Hagan, a former highway commissioner for the county, said the backlog of much needed road work for the county is so big that if 14 miles were paved with asphalt each year it would take five years to finish the backlog. Commissioners also approved an interlocal agreement between Dawson County and Central Nebraska Public Power District. No bids from car dealers were received on time for a vehicle order for the county, said John Moore, Dawson County assessor. A resolution to close two funds - one for county relief and one a veterans relief - was passed by commissioners. Both funds had been merged into other existing funds, said Karla Zlatkovsky, the Dawson County Clerk. Also, a resolution was passed directing the road superintendent, Randy Deans, to study the use for vacating a road. The road being considered is Road 410, located between 754 and 755. In other news, Stewart said Lexington would receive about $5,000 and Cozad would receive about $1,100 in funds from the lodging tax. "Butch and I met with the Dawson County Visitor's Committee. We need to make sure we make better use of that money (lodging tax money) to get it to eligible projects," Stewart said. The hotel occupancy sales tax, known as the lodging tax, is awarded in the form of either improvement funds or promotional funds. Funds given out for improvement purposes must be used to improve such things as museums or tourist attractions. Promotional funds must be used to promote an event that can bring in people to the community who will stay in hotel/motel rooms and pay the lodging tax, said Sandra Bappe, executive director of the Cozad Chamber of Commerce. The lodging tax in Lexington is three percent. Hagan said a construction project at the landfill was canceled because bidding was not properly advertised. This means the bidding process would have to start all over again, he said. (Editors note: In honor of the upcoming Dawson County Fall Hero Flight, the Clipper-Herald presents the stories of some of the veterans who participated in the April flight. This is the second of the four-part series. All stories based on interviews provided by the Dawson County Hero Flight committee.) Dick Prasch was a newly married man working for the City of Lexington when he was drafted into the military in 1967. I was told to report to Omaha, so I got on a bus here in Lexington. We picked up men on the way, Prasch recalled. When we arrived we all took physicals. Once everyone was gathered together, they asked if anybody wanted to be a Marine. I stepped forward, and another man stepped forward. They said, You two are in the Marines, the rest of you are in the Army, he continued. The Drill Sergeant in charge told us afterward, Thats going to be your easiest day in the Marine Corps, the day you said yes. Prasch went through Boot Camp in San Diego. From there he was flown to Anchorage, Alaska, then on to Okinawa, Japan. It was at Okinawa that reality first began to set in, in terms of what Prasch and his fellow Marines would soon be facing in the jungles of Vietnam. We were stationed at Okinawa for 12 to 14 days. We went through jungle warfare school there, did a lot of prep work for the jungle and the enemy wed be facing, Prasch said. Its really beautiful country, but extremely hot and humid. I didnt realize what it was all about until we went live fire. Things really hit home the night before Prasch arrived in Vietnam. We were aboard a ship, and before they choppered us into Vietnam, they gave us live ammunition for the first time. I realized, There arent anymore blanks in my rifle. We are here to do live combat. Praschs unit was based out of a relatively isolated outcrop (known as the Rockpile) in the northern reaches of South Vietnam. Typical duty while at base included nightwatch, he said. We were surrounded by concertina wire. Watch lasted 12 hours, and you had a bunker position. They gave us what was at that time a new technology called the Starlight Scope. With any light at all, not even the moon, but just the starlight alone, you could detect movement at 500 yards with the scope, Prasch said. Sometimes somebody would yell, Incoming! and it ended up being a monkey, or a leopard, that they saw moving out in the jungle. The Rockpile was never stormed by enemy combatants, he aid, but mortar attacks were common. We were the focal point for a lot of mortars at night. One of the worst things that would happen was when someone would shout, Incoming! We knew then we had to get into the bunkers or get on the ground, Prasch said. There were several mortars that landed pretty close. One landed really close. Thats when Bobby was killed. Bobby Alexander, from Decauter, Ala., was the first American Marine Prasch saw killed in action. I saw him get killed right beside me. It could have been me as well as him, Prasch said. A nearby ridgeline of tall hills, called Mothers Ridge, was a frequent target of American bombardment. At night, we could see lights on the ridge, and that was the enemy moving equipment and supplies into South Vietnam, Prasch said. They used elephants, and the elephants had lights on them because the elephants were scared of snakes. Wed call in mortar attacks and investigate the next morning. We never found any bodies, but we found bandages, and sometimes we found dead elephants, so we knew the mortars hit what they were aiming at. Prasch and his fellow Marines were often selected to go out on patrol. The patrols lasted between six and eight hours. We did a lot of night patrols, he said. The jungle is actually a beautiful place at night. It glows, because of the underbrush. I saw a lot of things there. It was while out on a sweep for enemy personnel that Prasch earned his Purple Heart. It was a sweep operation. Our company was sent out to patrol a trail we thought the enemy would come down. We set up explosives we could detonate in a 90-degree angle along the trail, so there wasnt anything that was going to get by us, he explained. The night passed without any contact. After linking up with another patrol, Praschs company continued through the jungle. There were thick vines above our heads, and one of the vines was hanging lower than the others. The radio mans antennae got caught on that low hanging vine, and as anyone would, he reached back to release the vine, Prasch said. There was a Chicom mine rigged to explode right above him. The explosion killed two men and wounded 11 others, Prasch included. Strangely, the man who tripped the mine was uninjured. There was a corpsman with us, we called him Doctor Gibbs, even though he wasnt a doctor. He did one hell of a job patching us up, Prasch said. It was raining terribly hard, you couldnt see hardly 10 feet in front of you. So they couldnt bring a helicopter in. All but two of us walked out of there. By that time, the weather cleared, and they called in a helicopter to get us out. The helicopter transported Prasch and the others to a hospital, where he had surgery performed on his back. After about two weeks in the hospital, Prasch was returned to his unit, and he served the remainder of his tour. Hed been in-country for a mere 10 days prior to being injured. Throughout the rest of my tour, I got involved in some firefights. I never got hit again, but there were some times when it came close, he said. Prasch said his wife was staying with her parents when she learned that hed been injured. Two Marine officers showed up at their house. My wifes father was a World War Two veteran, and seeing those officers really shook him up. Usually that meant youd been killed in action, he explained. Instead, they handed her a telegram stating that Id been injured, I was on-board a ship, and that I was going to be alright. Prasch said he only got the chance to call home once during his tour, while on R and R in Hong Kong. He had another opportunity to go to Hawaii, but passed, because he didnt want to get so close to the contiguous United States without seeing his wife. I was awarded my Purple Heart, along with 12 other guys, there in Vietnam, he said. I didnt realize then what an honor that was, but when I got home I wore that ribbon very proudly. Prasch rose to the rank of Sergeant and after returning from Vietnam, worked on a flamethrower range in California for the rest of his time in the Marines. He received what he described as a mediocre welcome home, but said he was welcomed and accepted in his hometown. There were some people who were against the war, and it was sometimes hard to let them know I was a veteran, he said. There were several articles in the newspaper, and I gave some speeches at the Chamber of Commerce. I was treated fairly most of the time. Prasch found kindred spirits among the World War Two and Korean War veterans he met through the Chamber of Commerce, as well as fellow returning Vietnam veterans. I made some real good friends, particularly among the Korean War and Vietnam veterans, he said. Prior to departing on the Dawson County Hero Flight in April, Prasch said he would seek out two names on the Vietnam War Memorial: Bobby Alexander and Larry Langdon. Langdon was the other man to step forward when the question, Do any of you want to be a Marine? was asked in Omaha. He was killed in May 1968, Prasch said. In 1966, Jim Campbell had never heard much about Vietnam, and didnt know where it was. But he knew thats where he was going. I enlisted because I felt like I was going to be drafted, so I wanted to get it over with,Campbell said. The Cozad native was working at a factory right out of high school when he signed up in 1966. He said he was nervous and scared when he entered boot camp in San Diego, mostly due to how little he knew about Vietnam. The training was shortened from three months to two, and the emphasis during training was you knew you were going to war, and that was that. I trained as best I could,Campbell said. When I was done with boot, they sent me home on a 30-day leave. The whole time I was wondering what Id gotten myself into. I talked to some old veterans for advice, and they all told me, Hold on for dear life. Following his return from leave,Campbell went through advanced training, then hopped on a United Airlines flight and headed overseas. Upon arrival in Vietnam, he and the other new recruits stood in a line. Units came by, and the leaders would say, I need two guys, or something similar. One guy looked at me and said, Youre mine, so me and another soldier went with him and they trucked us to our base camp,Campbell said. The first week in Vietnam, we loaded up on Chinooks and flew toward the demilitarized zone. We could hear the bullets hitting the bottom of the helicopter, and one came through a window and went into my backpack. The Chinooks couldnt land, so we had to jump out into a rice paddy. Some guys were buried up to their knees, others fell flat on their faces, he continued. All the while, were getting shot at. To all us new guys, everybody yells, Welcome to Vietnam! That was my fourth day there,Campbell finished. He started out as a rifleman but after four months in-country, the radio man got hit. They turned around and looked at me, and said, Youre the radio man now. I had to learn how to use it, and carry it around. It was bad news,Campbell said. Campbells unit was providing cover for a big operation when he was wounded. There was a big op on the other side of the river, and our job was to not let anybody come across alive, he said. For a couple of days, nothing happened. I was horsing around, trying to celebrate my 20th birthday, when a sniper decided he didnt like us very much. He ended up shooting a couple of us,Campbell said. He was flown to Da Nang, and eventually to Japan. After two months, he found out he was going home. The final operation they did on me didnt work,Campbell said. They told me to call my family; that the orders were being prepared and I was going home. It took 10 minutes to get a call through to my wife. I dont remember what we all talked about. All I knew was there was a big phone bill waiting for me when I got home. All told, he spent about six months in Vietnam. The injury he suffered earned him the Purple Heart. Campbell still hadnt healed from being shot when he returned to Cozad. My family had come up to visit me in the hospital before I was discharged. When I got home, I didnt really want to talk to anybody. I was just glad to be with my family, he said. Campbell was intrigued when the Dawson County Hero Flight was announced. He wanted to make the trip out to Washington D.C. while he was still healthy enough to enjoy it. My wife of 50 years is going with me. There are a few names of classmates on the Wall I want to see, he said. Otherwise, I just want to hear what the other veterans have to say. I want to visit the memorials and say, This is yours. What do you think? Campbell didnt keep up with the men he served with after being injured. I dont remember most of their names, but Id really like to see one man. A black fellow, he clued me in on what was going on in the states, he said. I asked him, What are you doing here? And he said, The judge told me it was four years in the state pen, or four years in the military. Ive always wondered if he made it. COZAD Creativity is important in Cozad. It is embraced and promoted in a variety of ways year-round with special activities each September to coincide with International Dot Day. We celebrate all month long. Its a celebration of creativity, said Jessica Wall, childrens librarian at the Wilson Public Library in Cozad. She said International Dot Day is observed Sept. 15-ish as an outgrowth of the themes of creativity, courage and collaboration that are in a picture book called The Dot written by Peter H. Reynolds. Each kindergarten student in Cozad receives a copy of the book for their home library courtesy of the Wilson Public Library and United Way. Maya Rahmann, 8, said she reads the book at home, plus she has heard it read at the library. Maya was at the library after school on a recent Tuesday to make mono print mandalas along with her 5-year-old twin sisters Kyndall and Quinn. The girls are the daughters of Ryan and Adrian Rahmann of Cozad. Circles of foam board covered in foil were painted, sometimes with a variety of colors, before a pattern was drawn in the paint. The design was pressed onto a sheet of white paper, which was turned over and carefully rubbed to ensure the design transferred to the paper before it was peeled away. With mono prints, only one print can be made from each design, but the printing surface can be repainted to make as many designs as desired. The children experimented with printmaking using varied-size circles and assorted paint colors and with their imaginations. Its cool. Its amazing, Quinn said of the activity. I love that, Lucha. Its so pretty, Kyndall told Lucha Olvera, 8, when one of her prints was revealed. Each Tuesday in September features a different activity at the library based on dots or circles and creativity, Wall said. There was a chocolate olympics last week, and upcoming activities are contact paper mandalas, circle paintings, and canvas and sheet painting. I like to get this place noisier than it should be, Wall said. I want kids to think the library is fun. She said children have natural creativity, but it often gets stifled while they are young and doesnt carry into adulthood. Were trying to have a lot of fun and celebrate creativity and help kids think they dont have to be an amazing artist to do something creative, she said. I think grownups are happier when they dont lose that piece of magic, Wall said. Author and Humanities Nebraska speaker Barbara Eymann Mohrman also visited Cozad Wednesday for presentations at CozadHigh School, CozadMiddle School and the Wilson Public Library to showcase another side of creativity. Mohrman is the author of Four Blue Stars in the Window, which is this years One Book, One Cozad selection. People in the community are encouraged to read and discuss the selected book and attend themed activities related to the book throughout the year. The presentation of a Make Your Mark on Cozad Award is another aspect of Cozads month-long International Dot Day observance. Every year, a person in the community who exemplifies the characteristics in the book is recognized, Wall said. The award spotlights a community member who is an avid supporter of the library, the town of Cozad and the arts. The Cozad Library Foundation selected Cozad resident Art Peters as the recipient of this years fourth-annual award. He was recognized at a Boy Scout Court of Honor at Christ the King Catholic Parish Hall on Aug. 28. The inaugural award was bestowed upon Katherine Wilson in 2013. Ann Burkholder received it in 2014, and the late Jan Patterson was the recipient in 2015. Peters was the lead supervisor for Paulsen Inc. when Wilson Public Library was built in 1997. Former Library Director Mary Neben said Peters was the go-to person any time the library or board had a question during the building process. After retiring from Paulsen Inc., Peters served as Cozads city building inspector. Peters was recognized for touching countless lives through his lifelong tenure in Boy Scouts. He is also known as an avid reader and genealogist. Marion Alice Anderson, 78, of Lexington died Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, at Lexington Regional Health Center in Lexington. Funeral Services will be held Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Lexington with the Rev. Anne Gahn officiating. Burial will be in the Greenwood Cemetery at Lexington. Visitation will be Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, from 5-7 p.m. at the Reynolds-Love Funeral Chapel in Lexington. She was born Jan. 29, 1938, at Elm Creek to Robert Willis and Annie K. (Sorenson) Sear. She grew up north of Lexington, and graduated from Lexington High School with the class of 1955. This is where she met the love of her life, Kerry. She then went on to further her education at Nebraska Weslyan University where she obtained her teaching certificate. She taught for a couple years at District No. 99 and Lexington Public Schools. Marion was united in marriage to Kerry Anderson, a southsider, on Dec. 23, 1957, at the First Presbyterian Church in Lexington. Three children were blessed to this marriage, Scott, Susan, and Rob. To say Marion had a special talent for art is an understatement. She painted beautiful watercolors, many of which are on the walls of homes all around the state. She enjoyed quilting, and made the best sugar cookies you would ever eat. It was always Marions duty whenever Kerry served on any committee she had the job as decorating! There was no one more qualified! Marion was active in her Art clubs as well; she belonged and enjoyed attending the State Halsey Art classes, where she served on the Board. This is where she met many of her dear, dear friends. She displayed her work at Art on the Farm, was a member of A.R.T. Club in Lexington, Studio 25, United Way Board, and an active member of Chapter FS P.E.O. She was a faithful member of First United Methodist Church, and served on the Dawson County Election Board. She enjoyed traveling, especially to Hawaii/Maui, and being with family and friends. She had a wonderful sense of humor, a beautiful smile, and a huge heart. Marions survivors include her children, Scott (Corky) Anderson, Susan (Rod) Reynolds and, Rob (Natalie) Anderson, all of Lexington; six grandchildren, Lindsey Anderson, Blake (Stacy) Reynolds, all of Lexington, Carrie Beth Reynolds of Lincoln, Ryan Reynolds, Joelly and Camille Anderson, all of Lexington; one sister, Carolyn (Dr. John) Worthman of Cozad; as well as her mother-in-law, Florence Anderson of Lexington; also surviving are many, many friends. Marion was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Kerry in April of 2016; and, father-in-law, Harlan Anderson. Memorials are suggested to Lexington Community Foundation, First United Methodist Church, or Lexington Regional Health Center. Reynolds-Love is honored to be assisting the family with arrangements. Please share online condolences with the family by visiting: reynoldslovefuneralhome.com. It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future. This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this. Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole. It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most. So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning". Between the last week of school and Christmas craziness, the past two weeks have been a blur. But I have been working out and diligently ... MONDAY AM UPDATE: William Engle is in custody. His grandfather turned him in at the Land O' Lakes Detention Center Monday morning. Engle was wanted on charges of aggravated battery and for trespassing and business burglary. PREVIOUS STORY: Pasco Sheriff's Office deputies are searching for a man accused of ramming his car into Action Honda in Hudson, where he worked, and fleeing on a stolen motorcycle. Suspect accused of crashing car into motorcycle shop Happened after an argument with ex-girlfriend Suspect fled store on stolen motorcycle Deputies are searching for 26-year-old William Engle on charges of aggravated battery, criminal trespass and business burglary. The suspect is accused of ramming his car into Action Honda, where he worked, and causing damage in excess of $75,000. (Photo: Pasco County Sheriff's Office) According to the sheriff's office, at about 11 a.m. Sunday morning, Engle met with his ex-girlfriend at the 7-Eleven at County Line Road and U. S. Highway 19, for a child custody issue. Deputies said Engle's boss, who is the owner of Action Honda, was present to ensure nothing happened. Deputies said Engle is a known drug user and can be violent. An argument ensued and deputies said Engle attempted to cut his ex-girlfriend's tires with a knife. Deputies said Engle's boss intervened and was cut by Engle on the hand and across the stomach. Deputies said the cuts were minor and the victim refused medical attention. Engle left the location and went to Action Honda, 15628 U.S. 19, Hudson, where his car was parked, according to deputies. Deputies said he got in his car and used the vehicle to ram both glass showroom doors of the business, causing damage in excess of $75,000. Engle then fled the scene on a white Honda motorcycle, according to deputies. JUBA, South Sudan - The South Sudan government has shut down the country's main English-language daily, which headlined news on a war profiteering report commissioned by actor George Clooney, the paper's editor told AFP on Wednesday. George Clooney / Image by 123RF. Nation Mirror editor Simon Aurelious said officials from the National Security Service gave no clear reason for the closure, simply saying "the paper is indulging in activities incompatible with its status". "We were called today to the office of the National Security and after reaching there they showed us an order. The order is instructing us to close down," Aurelious said. The paper's headlines Wednesday and Tuesday focused on a report released in Washington this week about the alleged implication of President Salva Kiir, rebel chief Riek Machar and the country's army chiefs in corruption during the nation's three-year civil war. The report by watchdog group The Sentry, said leaders of the world's newest country had profited from a conflict that has driven a quarter of a million people from their homes and left tens of thousands dead. One of the Nation Mirror headlines read Kiir, Machar and top Generals implicated in Sentry Report while another said Machar's source of weapons uncovered. The government has denied the report as "completely rubbish". Aurelious said security authorities two weeks ago summoned him and demanded the paper's management produce the author of a critical piece on the government. But the Nation Mirror refused to give the writer's name. "They told us that if this is the case we are going to notify you" to close down, he said. In February last year the paper was shut down by government security agents for nine months after publishing details on the activities of rebels affiliated to Machar. Alfred Taban, a veteran South Sudanese journalist who is chairman of the country's Association for Media Development, AMDISS, said the latest decision "is shocking news." "We are yet to check with the Media Authority as to why they [National Security] are doing this," Taban said. Taban spent 13 days in detention in July after writing an editorial sharply critical of Kiir and Machar. The paper's closure comes days after the United Nations expressed concern over alleged threats by government officials against civil society activists in contact with a UN Security Council group that visited South Sudan to look at the possible deployment of a regional protection force. The government rejected the idea. Source: AFP. GENEVA, Switzerland - The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, has called on the Eritrean Government to urgently provide information on the whereabouts and state of health of senior government officials and independent journalists arrested on 18 September 2001 and in the following days. Fifteen years ago, the Eritrean authorities arrested and detained a group of senior cabinet ministers, members of parliament and independent journalists without charge or trial. To date, the Government has refused to share any information on their whereabouts and state of health. The Eritrean Government has denied those arrested their fundamental right to liberty and security of the person, right not to be subjected to torture, right to a fair trial as well as right to freedom of expression and opinion, Keetharuth said ahead of the anniversary on Sunday. Those arrested have been detained incommunicado and in solitary confinement. Even family members have never been allowed to have any contact whatsoever with them. The 2001 clampdown set in motion a chain of egregious, widespread and systematic human rights violations that continues to this very day, including arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, denial of the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, right not to be subjected to torture, and disappearances, among others, the Special Rapporteur said. In addition, the right to freedom of opinion and expression as well the right to freedom of the press has since then, also been negatively impacted. Earlier this year, the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea - of which Keetharuth was also a member - concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Eritrean officials have committed, among others, the crime of enforced disappearance, a crime against humanity. The Government of Eritrea said that the arrests and detentions of September 2001 were in response to national security threats posed by the prominent politicians and independent journalists. However, the expert stressed that invoking national security as the main reason to violate basic fundamental human rights of Eritreans cannot be perpetual. All those arrested in September 2001, as well as of all other detainees, including those arrested in the aftermath of the 2013 Forto incident should either be brought to court or released unconditionally and immediately if not charged, she said. Furthermore, the Eritrean authorities should allow independent monitors to have unhindered access to all detainees in the country as a matter of priority. The Special Rapporteur recalled that Eritrea is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights since 2002, to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights since 1999 and to the Convention against Torture since 2014. However, it has consistently failed to give effect to their provisions guaranteeing universal fundamental human rights to its people, Keetharuth noted. It is time to revert this trend and ensure accountability for past and ongoing crimes. The Primetime Emmy Awards 2016, which was held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Monday morning IST), witnessed a lot of excitement and with good reason after all, it is televisions biggest night. However, the after-party too had more than its share of excitement, courtesy Priyanka Chopra and Tom Hiddleston. Chopra and The Night Manager actor, who made a joint appearance on stage to present the award for the Outstanding Director for Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special, were said to be openly flirting with each other at the after-party. According to E!Online, Hiddleston had his arm around Chopra and held her close during the after-party. They were reportedly holding hands at one point and even exchanged numbers before embracing in a long hug and planting several kisses on the cheek. Chopra left the after-party minutes after Hiddleston made an exit. The two were spotted together earlier over the weekend during the rehearsals of the award show. This comes weeks after Hiddleston called it quits with Taylor Swift. Their short-lived romance, which started at the dance-off at Met Gala 2016, had caught the attention of many. However, the two parted ways when Swift apparently refused to walk down the Emmys red carpet with him. Jimmy Kimmel swore he wanted the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards to move faster and feel shorter than in past years, and in that respect, the ABC late-night host kept his word. The Awards evening was one of the funniest in Emmy history with lines like these from the monologue: If your show doesnt have a dragon or a White Bronco in it, go home now. Television has the ability to make us laugh and cry and, during certain key parts of Game of Thrones, masturbate. He had plenty to say about People Vs OJ Simpson: Because everyone in LA knows if you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark. Marcia, this must be very strange for you. Are you rooting for OJ to win this time? Here are the host's best lines from the show: Matt Damon's back The funniest 11-year-old running gag returned with Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon trying to one-up each other. The feud reached a new level of outrageousness when Matt Damon walked up on stage just after the host of the night failed to take home the Emmy for Best Variety Talk Series. The Bourne actor strolled onstage, munching an apple and asking Kimmel if he won the award which went to John Olivers Last Week Tonight. Damon tells the host, Im sorry, I mean, you lost, but now you gotta stand out here for the rest of the night in front of everybody, when you probably just wanna go home and curl up and cry. Can we cheer Jimmy up? Hes a big loser. Will Matt Damon stop at nothing to continue his feud with @JimmyKimmel? #Emmys pic.twitter.com/QnvzN1Wseg Decider (@decider) September 19, 2016 PBJs at the Emmys Remember the time when Ellen de Generes decided to order pizza at the Oscars? Pizza was too mainstream for Jimmy Kimmel, who decided to ask his mother to make 7,000 peanut butter and jelly (PBJ) sandwiches and had the young stars from Stranger Things ride bikes, handing out lunch bags. He says, I know a lot of you havent eaten since Labor Day. So I have a surprise for you. He also warns the guests, If you are allergic to peanuts, I guess this is goodbye, we could only afford one epi pen. The #Emmys are long & people get hungry so my Mom made 7,000 PB&Js pic.twitter.com/jvN6G1HsJc Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) September 19, 2016 That's the wrong Amy Amy Schumer received a fan letter from Jimmys mom (in the brown paper bag with her PBJ) going on about how much she wished Amy had hosted the award show and going on and on but she was talking about Amy Poehler, not Amy Schumer. Bye Bye Bill Cosby Clearly no one wanted Bill Cosby at this years Emmys. When the announcer introduced Bill Cosby as the next presenter, the audience looked stunned. Ellie Kemper tried to just smile while Tina Fey was seen inaudibly talking to Amy Poehler. Kimmel then walked onstage and said, Dont worry. Hes not really here. I just wanted to see what you guys would do. Jimmy Kimmel plays a hilarious Bill Cosby prank on the crowd, at the Emmys. Look at their faces. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/IYdxNQIwJM Hardys Closet (@HardysCloset) September 19, 2016 Jeb Bush mocks himself In the very memorable opening segment, Kimmel wound up in a limo driven by former GOP candidate Jeb Bush. Are you nominated? Bush asks Kimmel, who was looking for a ride to the awards ceremony. Wow, whats that like? Bush also offered this advice to the late-night host: Heres what I know, If you run a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice.This was a reference to Bush's rival Trump ofcourse. Bush took to twitter to comment on his performance too: Hey, @jimmykimmel, I'm giving you 5 stars! How about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know? https://t.co/tsm5fZ1aDW Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 19, 2016 He had other plenty of funny lines like: This is what he had to say about Transparent, the comedy about a transgender Mort (played by Jeffrey Tambor) and his dysfunctional family. Transparent was born a drama but it identifies as a comedy. After commenting on the diversity of the Emmy nominations in comparison to the Oscars, and after seeing Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang win the award for Master of None, he joked, Now theres almost too much diversity in this show. Beyonce's visual album Lemonade lost out to Grease Live at Emmy Awards. Kimmel quipped, I wouldnt want to be those guys (the directors of Grease Live!) when Kanye finds out they beat Beyonce. Kanye West famously stormed the stage when Beyonce lost out to Taylor Swift at the VMAs back in 2009. Actor Naga Chaitanya, son of Telugu superstar Akkineni Nagarjuna, has confirmed that he will tie the knot next year. "It (marriage) should happen next year. My father will announce the date once it's finalised. At the moment, I can't divulge more information," Chaitanya told IANS. Rumoured to be in a relationship with actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu, he refused to comment when asked about it. "Chaitanya and actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu have been seeing each other for a while. Nagarjuna sir has allowed them to decide for themselves when they want to get married. He's expected to make an official announcement soon," a source told IANS. Chaitanya is currently busy wrapping up Telugu action-thriller Saahasam Swasaga Sagipo, and also awaits the release of Premam, the remake of the Malayalam blockbuster of the same name that starred Nivin Pauly. He has also signed a yet-untitled project with director Kalyan Krishna, and it is slated to go on the floors later this year. Meanwhile, Akhil Akkineni, Chaitanya's brother is said to be getting engaged to designer Shriya Bhupa on 9 December this year, according to a reliable source. "The families have decided to get them engaged on 9 December. The marriage, however, will take place next year and they haven't yet finalised the dates," the source told IANS. Akhil and Shriya have known each other for many years. Shah Rukh Khan is currently shooting for Imtiaz Alis The Ring in Amsterdam and keeping him company in the Dutch capital is his younger son AbRam. The actor was recently seen enjoying a canal cruise with his 3-year-old toddler. Cuteness spotted: #srk and #abram clicked on a boat in #amsterdam || on the sets of #TheRing A photo posted by Team Shah Rukh Khan (@teamshahrukhkhan) on Sep 16, 2016 at 10:25am PDT Khan and his co-star Anushka Sharma were also spotted shooting for the love story on the streets of Hoorn. The Imtiaz Ali film is set in Europe and Punjab. While the first schedule kicked off in Prague, the team moved to Amsterdam in the first week of September to commence the next schedule. Khan is said to be essaying the role of a tour guide while Sharma plays a Gujarati girl who meets him during one of his tours. #shahrukhkhan & #anushkasharma clicked while shooting for #thering at Hoorn City A photo posted by Team Shah Rukh Khan (@teamshahrukhkhan) on Sep 18, 2016 at 5:29am PDT [New]: Super stylish #SRK from the sets of #TheRing at Hoorn City A photo posted by Team Shah Rukh Khan (@teamshahrukhkhan) on Sep 17, 2016 at 8:23pm PDT [Pic] : Baby #AbRam & #SRK on the sets of #TheRing in #amsterdam A photo posted by Team Shah Rukh Khan (@teamshahrukhkhan) on Sep 17, 2016 at 11:22pm PDT Khan was also seen shooting a pivotal sequence at the famed Rijks Museum. Known for his love for arts, the actor posted a selfie against Rembrandts famous painting, The Night Watch and captioned it, Surrounded by Masters keeping a Nightwatch. Rembrandt and others at the awesome Rijks Museum. #Amsterdambeautiful Surrounded by Masters keeping a Nightwatch. Rembrandt and others at the awesome Rijks Museum. #Amsterdambeautiful pic.twitter.com/YxKzfJEJ1u Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) September 16, 2016 Sharma too was a part of the shoot at the museum and posted a beautiful picture of herself with director Ali, captioning it, Discussion with Imtiaz on set before a scene. Couldnt have imagined a more beautiful backdrop #Rembrandt #Amsterdam. Discussion with Imtiaz on set before a scene. Couldn't have imagined a more beautiful backdrop #Rembrandt #Amsterdam pic.twitter.com/lLYkVKHyCX Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) September 17, 2016 However, it hasnt been all work for the lead stars of the movie. Khan and Sharma recently shared videos where they were seen enjoying some downtime while Khan put his ping-pong skills to the test, the actress gave in to her inner child as she enjoyed popping bubbles in the park. Auto refresh feeds The cast and crew from Game of Thrones accept the award for outstanding drama series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, 18 September 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Here are David Benihoff and DB Weiss accepting the award: The ninth episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, titled Battle of Bastards was singled out for praise. The episode, which features a gory battle sequence that took 20 days to film and featured the bloody death of Ramsay Bolton was singled out and won the award for best drama writing (David Benihoff and DB Weiss) and directing (Miguel Sapotchnik). Game of Thrones was up for 24 awards and came away with 12 at Sunday nights Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Congratulations to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss of @GameOfThrones for outstanding writing for a drama series #Emmys pic.twitter.com/fnZzoOaI29 Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, from left, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, and Kit Harington winners of the award for outstanding drama series for Game of Thrones pose in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss accepted the award on the cast's behalf, crediting their hard work for show's success. Game of Thrones beat out The Americans, House of Cards, Downton Abbey, Better Call Saul, Mr Robot and Homeland to win its Best Drama Series prize. Last #Emmys of the night. @GoT wins for Outstanding Drama Series! pic.twitter.com/hVR1xwRuH6 The #Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series go to @GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/mwTMGkCf0L The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards kicked off at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday night (EDT). As TV's biggest night got underway, a bevy of stars made their way down the red carpet Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Sofia Vergara, Viola Davis, among others. As Firstpost's Zenia D'cunha wrote, the Emmy Awards 2016 are being lauded for embracing diversity in stark contrast to the Oscars' "so white" controversy. For a comprehensive breakdown of the nominations in the leading categories, the snubs, and our wishlist, click here. And we're also bringing you key updates from the Emmy Awards, as they're unfolding. Who took away the night's biggest honours? Did Aziz Ansari make history by being the first artist of South Asian descent to bag the Best Actor prize? Did Game of Thrones sweep away the competition? If youve been watching Master Of None long enough, you know that a few minutes is all it takes for Aziz Ansari to leave you in splits. And thats exactly what the famed writer-comedian did at the 68th Primetime Annual Emmy Awards 2016, which was held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on 18 September, Sunday (Monday morning IST). Ansari and Master Of Nones co-creator Alan Yang received the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode Parents, which even featured Ansaris real-life parents. The two walked up on stage to receive the award and Yang kicked off the acceptance speech. Speaking at length about the representation of Asian Americans in Hollywood, Yang said, There are about 17 million Asian Americans in the U.S. as well as 17 million Italian Americans. They have The Godfather, Rocky, Goodfellas, The SopranosWe have Long Duk Dong (referring to the character in Sixteen Candles). We got a long way to go, but I know we can get there. While Yang had a point to put across, unfortunately for Ansari, his speech ran a tad too long. As soon as Ansari took to the mic to deliver his share of the acceptance speech, the cut-off music started playing. A surprised Ansari dashed off the stage, but not before joking, You guys are in trouble! as Yang and the presenters looked on. However, for those who rued over Ansari not being able to give his speech, theres good news. Ansari did steal a moment to offer his gratitude to his parents for the award. While presenting the award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Ansari said, That was a little weird, earlier. I just wanted to thank my parents who are here. They inspired that episode, and they acted in the show too. My dad is very upset about his snub but hell be okay. Ansari even shared a picture of his parents from the big night on his Instagram handle. He captioned it, Just wanted to thank these guys for giving me everything and more! #Emmy New Delhi: India saw a record inflow of over $1.3 billion from listed foreign funds in August, primarily on account of strong capital infusion in passive funds, says a report. In comparison, listed foreign funds poured in $1.2 billion in July after pulling out $332 million in the preceding month. Overall, the country has seen an inflow of $545 million so far this year. "Listed fund flows to India recorded $1.34 billion in August with strong inflows in passive funds at $845 million," said a Kotak Institutional Equities report. India is followed by Taiwan, which attracted an inflow of $1 billion. The listed funds -- passive exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and active non-ETFs -- generally account for a large part of foreign portfolio investor (FPI) activity in India. ETFs have seen higher inflows compared with non-ETFs during the month under review. Indian market witnessed inflow worth $845 million and $499 million in ETFs and non-ETFs segments, respectively. The report, which offers a comprehensive view on fund flows of listed funds into India and other emerging markets, said net FPI activity across emerging markets remained positive in August. "Net FPI activity for calendar continues to be positive on the back of other participants, especially sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), whose share in FPI assets under custody remains around 11 percent in July from 8 percent a year ago," it added. Active Asia (excluding-Japan) funds allocated 14.6 percent to India in July compared with 14.7 percent a month ago. Active global emerging markets funds reduced their India exposure to 13.2 percent from 13.4 percent in June. New Delhi: The pace of bad loan formation is going to be slower resulting in a stable outlook for the Indian banking sector over the next 12-18 months, Moody's Investors Service said Monday. "While the stock of impaired loans may still increase during the horizon of this outlook, the pace of new impaired loan formation should be lower than what it has been over the last few years," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer Srikanth Vadlamani said. India's banking system is moving past the worst of its asset quality down cycle, supporting its stable outlook for the sector over the next 12-18 months, it said in a report. "The performance of India's state-owned and private banks continues to diverge," Vadlamani said. "The state-owned banks will require significant capital over the next three years with limited access to the capital markets, while the private banks benefit from solid capitalisation and good profitability," he said. Moody's outlook expresses its expectation of how bank creditworthiness will evolve in the system over the next 12-18 months. The stable outlook is based on Moody's assessment of five drivers -- stable operating environment, asset risk and capital, funding and liquidity, profitability, and Government Support. The operating environment for Indian banks is supported by a stabilising economy, it said. Moody's baseline scenario assumes headline GDP growth of 7.4 percent over the next two years, compared with 7.3 percent in 2015, with key drivers being a favourable monsoon season, ongoing public investment, and continued growth in foreign direct investment. Asset quality will remain a negative driver of the credit profiles of most rated Indian banks, but the pace of deterioration should slow. Moody's said it expects limited policy rate cuts over the next 12 months, which should help stabilise Net Interest Margin (NIMs). Credit costs will remain high for the sector, but no higher than in recent years for the industry overall. It also believes that state-owned banks will receive a very high level of systemic support, irrespective of their size. Moody's said that besides legacy issues for some banks, the underlying asset trend will be stable because of the generally supportive operating environment. "Capital levels remain a key credit weakness for state-owned banks, and the announced capital infusion plans of the government fall short of the amount required for their full capitalisation," it said. However, a potential way to bridge this capital shortfall would be to slow loan growth to the low single digits over the next three years, it added. Funding and liquidity remains a bright spot for the system, and will remain supported by Moody's expectation of relatively subdued loan growth during the outlook. Profitability for the banks will reflect stabilising net interest margins (NIMs) and credit costs. For private banks, systemic support will be determined by their systemic importance, and range from high to very high or Moody's rated universe. Moody's rates 15 banks in India that together account for around 70 percent of system assets. The ratings outlook on 11 of the banks is positive, reflecting the global rating agency's positive outlook on the sovereign rating and the high degree of government support that could be expected for the banks, if needed. New Delhi: Terming as "substantially less" the offered points of interconnection by Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio today said an "alarming" level of two crore calls are failing everyday between the two networks. The comments come a day after Airtel said it will work towards releasing the points of interconnect or PoIs "well ahead" of the contractual obligation. In a statement, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) welcomed the decision, but said "the quantum of POIs proposed to be released by Airtel is substantially less than the requirement estimated based on transparent workings shared with Airtel." "Based on the current traffic flow between the two networks, the proposed augmentation by Airtel would still only suffice for less than one-fourth of the required interconnection capacity," it added. RJIL said it has been consistently highlighting the urgency of the requirement and impact on Quality of Service. "More than two crore calls are failing everyday between the two networks, which is far in excess of QoS parameters and of alarming proportions," it said. Stating that urgent steps are required to be taken in the interest of customers of both operators, the company said. It was "unfortunate that TRAI's intervention was required for Airtel to resume augmentation of POIs, which it ought to have done by itself in compliance with its license terms." It said TRAI regulation does not provide for 90 days to adhere to QOS parameters. "TRAI in fact instructed the incumbent operators to urgently provide requisite interconnection capacities to maintain QoS parameters and not to make this subject to any contingencies or restrictions." On Saturday, Bharti Airtel had said that it has received payment from the new entrant Jio for additional points of interconnect. It said while interconnect agreement provides for a commissioning period of 90 days, the company will work towards releasing the PoIs "well ahead" of the contractual obligation and would ensure there are no capacity constraints from its end. RJIL said Airtel has also insisted on certain unilateral deviations from the interconnection agreement between the parties with respect to installation of one-way E1s as against both-way E1s. One-way E1s are typically installed between similar sized networks. "It is apparent that Airtel continues to abuse its market dominance by imposing onerous conditions which will imminently hinder RJIL's ability to efficiently utilise the additional E1s," it said. "It appears that the QoS will continue to suffer and Indian customers will be denied the benefits of superior and free voice services as a result of such anti-competitive behaviour." Despite this, RJIL said it will continue to work with Airtel and all the other incumbent operators to resolve this issue at the earliest and ensure that Indian customers get best-in-class services. "Furthermore, Airtel has also been blocking the mobile number portability (MNP) facility for its subscribers who wish to subscribe to Jio services on baseless and unsubstantiated grounds," the statement alleged. This, it said, is another example of disregard of license terms and its obligations under the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulations, 2009 and TRAI directions. "This is again an anti-competitive move aimed at stifling a new operator, denying the Indian customers the benefit of choice of service provider. This is against public interest and fair play," it said. RJIL hopes that Airtel would enhance the PoI's sufficiently to meet its licence obligation of QoS with immediate effect and maintain these parameters on an ongoing basis. "Airtel must also immediately make available MNP to all its subscribers opting to port to RJIL in accordance with the license terms and MNP regulations," the statement added. (Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost) Gandhinagar: SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya Monday said the stressed assets level in the banking sector will come down once the key industrial sectors start functioning at their optimum capacity. During a media interaction, the SBI chief said that most industrial units are working at 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity against the desired 80 to 85 percent. "NPAs will start coming down as the demand comes back in the economy and then you see more and more capacity utilisation, which is still sub-optimal. Be it manufacturing units or power plants, most of them are running at around 60 to 65 percent of their capacity," Bhattacharya said. "When this comes up to 80 to 85 percent capacity, you will definitely see NPAs coming down," she said when asked about Non Performing Assets (NPAs). She was here to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of SBI's Local Head Office (LHO) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near here. The 14-storey tower will come up at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Upon completion, current LHO in Ahmedabad will be shifted here. During her visit at the GIFT City today, Bhattacharya also inaugurated SBI's IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at International Financial Services Centre (IFCS) in the GIFT Special Economic Zone. Commenting on the recent announcement about the merger of SBI and its subsidiaries, Bhattacharya said the merger is essential in the wake of tough competition from Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). "The merger is essential, because today banking is evolving at very fast rate. You face competition from not only other banks, but also from NBFCs. In order to sustain profitable growth, it is important for us to consolidate, because small organisations do not have such strength or capital," she added. Commenting on a recent report that employees of some banks are depositing money from their pockets into Jan-Dhan accounts, Bhattacharya said, "I am not aware of this fact. It is not something which happens in our bank, and I can assure you on that." New Delhi: Cab hailing app Uber is betting big on its enterprise offering -- Uber for Business (U4B) -- to drive its growth in the country. In the nine months of operations, Uber for Business has seen a 50 percent month-on-month growth and the company is looking at scaling the offering further. Using U4B, companies can enable travel for employees through Uber. They can monitor the trip activity and employees can use a central payment account or request reimbursement for trips related to business. "U4B was developed to provide an enhanced experience to companies, and employees, wanting to use Uber's global network for work travel. The U4B platform also includes a versatile and powerful travel dashboard that business administrators can use to manage budgets, enforce ride policies, and monitor usage and spends," Uber Asia Pacific Head (Uber for Business) Arjun Nohwar said. He added that U4B is up to 60 percent cheaper than traditional options. 'Uber for Business' also allows corporates to automate uploading of employee lists and information that ensures only authorised employees have access to the company's U4B account. The US-based company, which is locked in an intense battle in the Indian market with domestic player Ola, has been aggressively ramping up its operations in the country. It has committed multi-million dollars in investments towards India, which is its second largest market in terms of number of trips taken, after its home market. Uber for Business was launched in the US, the UK, France and Canada in July 2014. It was launched in India in December last after a three-month pilot that started in October last year. "Uber for Business as a product has been growing at an incredible pace worldwide. In India, some of the largest Indian corporates have adopted it for their employee travel. We have over 50,000 companies across the world using Uber for Business," he said. Nohwar added that Uber for Business has seen a 50 percent month-on-month growth in the last nine months since its launch in India. Some of its clients in India include Cognizant, Bain & Company, Airtel, AT Kearney, Dr Reddy's Group, Godrej Group, NDTV, Reliance ADA Group, Tata Steel, Welspun, Quikr, Mindtree, Stayglad and Treebo. Uber's rival, Ola has a similar offering for the enterprise segment -- Ola Corporate. Madhubani: At least ten passengers were killed and six others feared dead when a bus fell into a pond along the state highway in Bihar's Madhubani district on Monday. So far, 10 bodies have been fished out of the pond, Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar Barnwal said, adding that six others were feared dead in the mishap. The accident took place at Basaitha chowk under Bennipatti police station in Madhubani, about 50 km from the district headquarters. The private bus, carrying 65 passengers, was on way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when the mishap took place on the state highway. Some of the passengers swam to safety. The bus was pulled out of the pond with the help of a crane and search operation was on for the missing people. In Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed deep sorrow and said in a statement that reason of the accident was being looked into. He instructed officials to speed up relief and rescue operation. Kumar instructed Revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and Panchayati Raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident spot. The SP and other policemen, who faced resistance from the villagers who were angry over delay in reaching of crane and pelted stones at them, managed to reach the spot after additional reinforcement came in. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) has reached the mishap site. The CM has also issued instruction to provide assistance to the victims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed deep sadness over the bus mishap. "Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Bihars Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," he tweeted. Bengaluru: Terming the Cauvery Supervisory Committee order to release 3,000 cusecs of water a day to Tamil Nadu between 21 September and 30 September as "disappointing" and a "blow", Karnataka government on Monday said it would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. "The decision of the committee is disappointing to us, on Tuesday we are challenging it in the Supreme Court...the Supervisory committee's decision is another blow to the state," Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters. "We are repeatedly facing injustice, chief minister and the Cabinet will decide on next course of action to be taken," he said. "...if the judgements that are coming out are causing injustice to us repeatedly, our state government will have to take some decision," he said. As Karnataka and Tamil Nadu failed to reach an agreement on the quantum of water to be released, Union Water Resources Secretary and Chairman of the committee Shashi Shekhar on Monday directed Karnataka to release 3000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from 21 to 30 September. Soon after the development, sporadic protests were reported from different places, especially in Mandya district, the epicentre of the Cauvery agitation, where protesters blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. Following Monday's order and with the issue again coming up before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, elaborate security arrangements have been made by the state government. Parameshwara, who chaired the meeting of senior police and Home Ministry officials said, "We have discussed security arrangements to be made to prevent any untoward incidents, they (police officials) will do necessary arrangements." Chief Minister Siddaramaih also chaired a meeting in which the Home Minister, DGP Omprakash, city Police Commissioner NS Megharikh and other senior officials were present. To ensure that no untoward incident occurs, senior police officials said 15,000 police personnel along with Karnataka State Reserve Police, City Armed Reserve Police, Rapid Action Force as well as Quick Reaction Teams have been deployed all over city. Issuing a warning against rumour mongering, officials said prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC would be in place in the city till 25 September. Authorities have also prohibited sale of liquor and opening of bars, wine shops and pubs from 6 am to 1 am on Tuesay in the commissionerate limits. Violence had erupted in the city on 12 September with dozens of buses and lorries with Tamil Nadu number plates being set on fire as mobs vented their fury over reports of some incidents of attack on Kannadigas and their properties there. It had flared up soon after the apex court gave its amended order, directing Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu till 20 September. Both opposition parties BJP and JD(S) have said that government should not agree to release water to Tamil Nadu. State BJP President BS Yeddyurappa has urged the state government not to release water to Tamil Nadu "no matter what the consequences are". "The state government must say it is well-nigh impossible due to existing circumstances and stick to this stance in the interest of the people in general and farmers in particular," he said. New Delhi: The Cauvery Supervisory Committee is meeting in Delhi to decide on the quantum of the river water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states by Karnataka. The supervisory committee, in its previous meeting on 12 September, had failed to arrive at any decision for want of adequate information which was to be made available by the river basin states. It had asked them to provide the information by 15 September. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had submitted to the committee data about withdrawal of water, its utilisation, variation in rainfall and its impact on the actual run-off over a period of 29 years in their respective Cauvery basin areas, according to a source. Besides Shekhar, chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry and Central Water Commission chairman are members of the Committee, formed to implement final award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The Supreme Court had on 5 September asked Tamil Nadu to approach the committee, headed by Union Water Resources Ministry Secretary Shashi Shekhar, over the issue. On that day, the apex court had asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for a period of 10 days to Tamil Nadu to ameliorate plight of farmers there. The interim order led to protests in parts of Karnataka, especially in Mandya district, considered as the hotbed of Cauvery politics. Meanwhile, Karnataka, which is the upper riparian state, approached the Supreme Court on 11 September seeking modification of its order. A day later, the court modified the order, reducing the quantum of water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states to 12,000 cusecs per day until 20 September, when the SC will hear the matter again. Mumbai: The Congress and the NCP are likely to join hands to contest the forthcoming Legislative Council elections for 11 seats from local bodies, graduates and teachers constituencies. The term of the members from these seats ends on 5 December. Of the total 11 seats, NCP has the maximum five, while Congress, BJP and Independents have two each. Prominent among the 11 retiring members is Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil of BJP. Preliminary talks between leaders of both the parties were held before the Ganpati festival where it was decided to ally for the polls. "NCP and Congress will contest the seats where they have sitting MLCs. One more meeting will take place to finalise the seat sharing," NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said. The NCP has sitting members in teachers constituency of Aurangabad, and local bodies constituencies in Sangli Satara, Bhandara-Gondia local bodies, Yavatmal and Pune. Congress has Nashik graduates and Nanded Local bodies, BJP has Jalgaon local bodies and Amravati graduates, while two Independents hold Nagpur teachers and Konkan teachers seats. The elections are important for ruling BJP to improve its tally in the Upper House of Legislature while NCP needs to retain its position as the single largest party in the House. Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant said a meeting of leaders of both the parties did take place but nothing has been finalised as yet. Congress has appointed observers to take stock of the ground situation in Nashik graduates seat held by the party and Amravati Graduates held by MoS for Home Ranjit Patil. "This indicates that the Congress plans to contest both the seats," a Congress office-bearer said. "NCP needs our help to retain its position as the single largest party and a meeting to discuss seat sharing will take place soon," he said. Besides, Congress is keen to have at least one out of the three seats held by the NCP -- Sangli-Satara local bodies, Bhandara-Gondia local bodies and Yavatmal local bodies -- as it feels it has a good chance to win. BJP spokesman Keshav Upadhyay said the party will soon finalise its strategy for the polls. Srinagar: On Monday, curfew was clamped in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Kashmir, while it remained in force in some other areas of the Valley including in parts of Srinagar, in view of the separatists call for a protest march to the three districts. Normal life also remained disrupted in the Valley for the 73rd straight day. A police official said that curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and Baramulla districts on Monday, while it remains in force in Shopian and five police station areas of downtown (interior city) along with Batamaloo in uptown Srinagar. He said the curbs have been imposed to maintain law and order in view of the separatists call for a march to the three districts of Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar. The official said restrictions on the assembly of people continued to remain in force in the rest of the Valley. The separatists, in the weekly protest programme, have called for a march to the three districts Baramulla (in north Kashmir), Srinagar (in central Kashmir) and Pulwama (in south Kashmir) on Monday. They have asked the people of north Kashmir districts of Bandipora and Kupwara to march towards Baramulla, people of south Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag to march to Pulwama and people of Central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam to march towards Srinagar. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain paralysed in Kashmir for the 73rd consecutive day due to restrictions and separatist sponsored strike. The separatists, who are spearheading the current agitation in the Valley, have extended the protest programme till 22 September. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut, while public transport was off the roads. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain shut. Mobile telephony, except the postpaid connections of BSNL, and the mobile Internet services continued to remain snapped across the Valley. As many as 81 people, including two cops, have been killed in the unrest that broke out a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in South Kashmir on 8 July. 15:52 (ist) Modi under pressure to live upto his 2014 poll promise: Show Pak that India isn't a soft power Modi on Monday conferred with his senior ministers, security and military advisers and other experts as his government sought to craft an "appropriate response" to Sunday's terror assault on the Uri army garrison in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack, one of the biggest targeting the Indian Army in recent years, and quickly blamed on Pakistan, resulted in the deaths of 18 soldiers and substantial damage to military property just a few kilometres from the Line of Control with Pakistan. With calls mounting from inside the ruling BJP that India should "teach a lesson" to Pakistan with one senior party strategist Ram Madhav demanding "for one tooth, a complete jaw" Modi is under pressure to live up to his 2014 election campaign rhetoric of showing Pakistan that India is not a "soft power" and would give a "befitting reply" to any attacks on the country. Expectations of appropriate action were raised when Modi himself said soon after the attack that "I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished", while the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fountainhead of the party, said that "terrorists, their masters and their supporters should be dealt with firmly and conclusively". Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also said he had asked Army Chief, Gen. Dalbir Singh, to take action against "those responsible for the attack". There were arguments for and against a retaliatory military action, even a "punitive counter attack", as many military analysts are demanding. There were various war scenarios being drawn out in South Block's board rooms with one former general suggesting on TV that India should not be seen "pussyfooting" anymore as it had "conventional superiority" and could deal with military exigencies. With the world watching anxiously, and foreign embassies monitoring the "flashpoint situation" closely, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's statement that Pakistan will not hesitate to use "tactical nuclear weapons" if the need arose and that "horses should be ready" for action has led to a building up of a tense situation in the subcontinent with unpredictable consequences. After the spate of high-level visits on Sunday, including by the Defence Minister and the Army Chief, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi was flying to Srinagar on Monday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with the top police and civil officials in the state government, an official source said here. The Valley has been restive since the 8 July killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, with the almost unending protests resulting in close to 90 deaths, including that of three policemen, and over 11,000 injuries. Mehrishi will be also call on the state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Governor NN Vohra. Mehrishi is expected to attend a series of meetings with officials of the state government, army, police and paramilitary forces, the source added. Hemis: Hundreds of thousands of monks, devotees and tourists have flocked to India's remote Ladakh region for a rare Buddhist festival, dubbed the "Kumbh Mela of the Himalayas" by promoters. Dancers in bright, silk costumes and striking headgear performed to drum and pipe music as part of the festival being held in a mountain village to commemorate the 1,000th birth anniversary of Buddhist saint Naropa. The Indian saint and scholar is heralded by followers for starting a rich tradition of Buddhist philosophy in the 11th century. Held only once every 12 years, the Naropa Festival draws huge numbers of Buddhists, especially those from the Drukpa branch which is traditionally practised in Ladakh and Bhutan. Among those in the crowd in Hemis village for the week-long festival was award-winning Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh. India is renowned for its numerous religious festivals - including the main Kumbh Mela pilgrimage for Hindus held every 12 years - during which masses of devotees gather at sacred rivers and temples in often chaotic scenes and in searing temperatures. In contrast, the Naropa Festival is being held in the tranquil Himalayan village that includes a palace and monastery, located some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the region's main town of Leh. A highlight of the week-long festival that started on Friday was the display of the sacred Six Bone Ornaments - believed to have belonged to Naropa - in an hours-long outdoor ceremony. The Drukpa spiritual leader or the Gyalwang Drukpa unveiled the ornaments - which include a crown, earrings and a necklace - to scores of chanting maroon-robed monks and devotees seated under colourful umbrellas as prayers were performed. "I come from south India. Now I came here to see this festival... there are many people (who) came by airplane and from south India and other countries," Sonam Phuntsok, a monk from India's southern city of Bangalore, told AFP. "(It's a) very nice place here. And the weather is very good. Lots of people came here, I'm very happy." Another highlight is the ceremonial unfurling of a huge silk tapestry of Tibet's patron saint Padmasambhava. The brocade, known in Tibetan as a thangka, was last exhibited in 2004. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to criminal-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin on a plea challenging grant of bail to him in a murder case. The bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy also issued notice on a plea seeking stay of the Patna High Court order granting bail to Shahabuddin. While asking the Bihar government to serve notice on him, the bench directed the next hearing on the matter for the coming Monday (26 September). The court order came on a plea by Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were allegedly killed by a henchman Shahabuddin, and the Bihar government challenging the High Court order granting bail. The Bihar government had also sought issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. The February-2011 Soumya rape and murder case of Kerala that once again returned to national headlines last week following Supreme Courts refusal to give death penalty to the accused Govindachamy appears to have entered another round of controversy among the legal experts. BA Aloor, Govindachamys criminal lawyer, has hit back at Justice Markandey Katju, who had criticised the SC verdict as "wrong", saying Katjus comment showed that he was an "incompetent and prejudiced judge" during his years in office. Last week, Katju had said that SC had "grievously erred" in the Soumya case by not holding Govindachamy guilty of murder. Earlier, a Thrissur fast-track court had imposed death penalty to Govindachamy in this case, which was later upheld by the Kerala High Court. But the SC commuted the sentence to life term for raping the 23-year-old sales girl, citing lack of evidence on the prosecution side to prove that Govindachamy indeed had the intention to murder Soumya. This judgment had caused wide public uproar. The comments that Katju made show all his rulings (as a Supreme Court judge) done in 2007-2011 need to be seen with suspicion. His orders and judgments were done with prejudice in the context of his criticism on the SC judgment (in Soumya case). Katju, according to me as an advocate, is not a competent judge. Justice is not something that should be available only to one party. Even the accused also deserves that, Aloor told Firstpost. Katju, in his Facebook post, had said: The Supreme Court judgment in the Soumya case is wrong I submit that the Supreme Court has erred in law in not holding the accused guilty of murder, and its judgment needs to be reviewed to this extent." While commuting Govindachamys death penalty to life term, the SC had observed that it wasnt a place for guess work (in reference to prosecutions weak case). In another post, observing that it was "regrettable," the court has not read Section 300 carefully, Katju said, "What the court has overlooked is that Section 300 IPC, which defines murder, has four parts and only the first part requires intention to kill." "If any of the other three parts are established, it will be murder even if there was no intention to kill," he said. But Aloor refuted Katjus claims saying the accused in this case (Govindachamy) neither had the knowledge, intention nor the motive (to kill the victim). According to the Supreme Court judgment, there is no evidence that injury number 1 was caused by the accused. Even if one imagines that injury number 1 was caused by the accused, even there he doesnt have the intention (to murder) except to get her mobile phone. The injury number 2 was caused by the victim falling of train either by jumping or by force. Even the injury number 2 is not cause of death, according to forensic reports. In this backdrop, both these injuries were not caused by the accused. The accused raped her, but didnt have the knowledge that his act will lead to her death, Aloor said. The Soumya case The incident happened on the evening of 1 Februrary, 2011. According to the prosecution, Govindachamy entered the train compartment in the Ernakulam-Shornur passenger, where Soumya was the lone traveller. Govindachamy then hit her head repeatedly against the wall, let her fall off the train, jumped after her, dragged her body to a nearby place to rape and ransack her. Soumya died after five days. The prosecution had this entire narrative when it presented the case in the courts, but what it didnt have with it was scientific evidence to prove the narrative that it was Govindachamys act that led to Soumyas murder. The SC acknowledged the fact that Soumya was raped by Govindachamy, but the absence of evidence prompted the SC bench to avoid giving capital punishment to Govindachamy. Aloor is also said to be considering defending the Jisha rape, murder case accused, Ameer-ul Islam, according to a report in Mathrubhumi website. Earlier, Firstpost had highlighted the irony of Govindachamy, a beggar, being defended by an expensive lawyer like Aloor, who charges Rs 5 lakh per case. Aloor has billed Rs 15 lakh for the three hearings where he represented Govindachamy. Aloor didnt specify who hired him for the case, but said it was a group of people, whom he had defended in some earlier cases and who now wants to rescue Govindachamy. I have taken up this case because they are giving me the fee I asked. Such people wouldnt want to disclose their names and identity, he said. If the murder of Swathi, a 24-year-old software engineer, in Chennai plunged the state into a state of horror, fear and outrage in June, the alleged suicide of her alleged killer Ram Kumar in a suburban prison on Sunday will seal the fate of the case as an unresolved mystery. With the alleged murderer gone, there is no further investigation and trial possible on Swathis murder and nobody will ever know if Swathi was indeed killed by Ram Kumar and why. And both her family and friends will have to live with the non-closure of a tragedy that shattered them. In the popular imagination, which often tends to side with the Code of Hammurabi, Swathi and her family have been served justice, or rather retributive justice. But the mystery behind her death is unlikely to be uncovered as the new outrage will now be about Ram Kumars suicide. The new investigation, and justifiably a resultant outrage, will be about whether he killed himself or somebody else killed him. See how fast the tables have turned. Although Swathis early morning murder at a railway station, where she was about to board a suburban passenger train to work, by an unidentified man was as shocking as the Delhi gangrape a few years ago, it didnt lead to a major public uprising because the local police arrested the suspect within a week. Although there seemed to have been some initial jurisdictional bungling, reportedly the police was very systematic in its investigation and nabbed the accused from a far away village in the southern district of Tirunelveli. The arrest was preceded by a lot of drama as revealed by the leaked photos of the midnight raid on his house and followed by accusations by his family that he had been framed. Its impossible to even guess if Ram Kumar indeed committed suicide, accidentally died or was killed because it happened in a highly fortified jail. An investigation may or may not bring out the truth; but the fact of the matter is that according to the police, he killed Swathi; and now he is also dead. In a medieval sense of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, the circle has been completed. Its not the first time in Tamil Nadu that the accused in a sensational murder dies in curious circumstances before trial. In 2010, a driver in Coimbatore who abducted a child and her kid brother and killed both after raping the girl was gunned down by police during the investigation of the case. According to the police, they had to shoot at him because he snatched the revolver of an inspector and fired at the police while being taken to the scene of crime. Compared to Swathis murder, which evoked very limited protest, the Coimbatore rape and murder had led to a massive public outrage with people demanding his execution. Once when he was taken to a hospital, he was even attacked. Similarly, five suspects in a bank robbery in Chennai were also shot dead in an encounter during investigation. In Swathis case, what vitiated the atmosphere is not the clamour for blood by her family, friends or society, but the conspiracy theories floated by various, mostly unverified quarters in the social media and even in some television channels. While her family and friends were more or less tight-lipped on the murder, leaving the responsibility of bringing the killer to book to the police, inspired campaigns maligning both Swathi and the police and absolving Ram Kumar appeared on the social media. They floated outlandish theories to establish that Ram Kumar was not the killer and was being framed to protect the real killers. The speculations varied from an alternative love theory and contract killing to stealing strategic secret from the software company she worked in. These theories quoted unverified eye witness-accounts and past behaviour of Swathi to make them credible. Spread mostly on YouTube, these propositions were blatant assertions, with no logic, evidence or even journalistic value, accusing foul-play by police and bad personal and professional conduct by Swathi. Unfortunately, many of them also sought to sully the victims character. A number of them were also suggestive of caste discrimination. Without a serious investigation, its hard to understand the motive of, and truth behind, these conspiracy theories. Strangely, it was not one or two, but many. Did all of them originate from a single source or multiple sources? Were they coordinated? Nobody knows. However, the inherent motive appeared to prove that Ram Kumar was innocent. Except a couple of TV channels, no mainstream media paid attention to the campaign. What got lost in these conspiracy theories, and now his death, is Ram Kumars chance to face the law of the land. His lawyer always maintained that he was innocent and was being framed. He even demanded a CBI enquiry. He and Ram Kumars family were confident that he would get bail soon because the case of the prosecution was weak. Dalit rights and political leader Thol Thirumavalavan also was not impressed by the police theory and had demanded a CBI enquiry. Whats noteworthy, in the contest of the alleged suicide, was that the high court in early August prevented the police from transporting Ram Kumar to the crime scene for taking his photos and videos. In what appeared to be a minor set back to the police, the court said that it could be done at the jail itself. Was the evidence against Ram Kumar indeed weak as his supporters argue? Would he have survived the trial? With a fairly high conviction rate (compared to the national average) on IPC cases, did the police have anything to worry? These questions are irrelevant now that he is dead. Unfortunately, the Swathi murder is now an open-and-shut mystery. Lets now wait to see how Ram Kumar died. A woman facing violence may take various roads to justice legal-illegal, justified-unjustified, civil, criminal, and constitutional. Shayara Bano decided to find another route by eliminating the root cause. Her writ petition before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking a ban on triple talaq, nikah halal and polygamy poses a challenge to the prevalence of religious personal laws over constitution, and threatens the power and position of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) as the sole custodian and interpreter of Sharia law in India. Following her, Ishrat Jahan raised her head from Bengal and challenged Section 2 of the Shariat Act 1937, the law that gives AIMPLB its powers. Another woman emerged from Jaipur and posed similar challenges. Earlier this year, 50,000 Muslim women signed an online petition to abolish triple talaq and polygamy. Media is flooded with opinion pieces, journalistic stories and personal narratives by Muslim women questioning several religious practices. There is an uprising. Angry Muslim women from all corners are coming together as organisations and associations to proclaim, Enough is enough. We would no longer be treated as lesser humans by the self-appointed male custodians of religion. We are tired of adjusting, tip-toeing and manoeuvring around the male ego and privileges, making peace with small mercies. We shall take this fight to the street now, head on. This is a full-blown war. But Flavia Agnes wants them to slow things down and go easy on the whole right to equality thing. She rather says that women do not rub equality at patriarchys face too much. Dont risk getting isolated by the community, she says. Why rush to the SC? she asks. Agnes, one of Indias most revered feminist, has expressed her discomfort with Banos petition, a stand that has left Indian feminists bewildered. It is getting increasingly difficult to digest her views but openly criticising her is some sort of feminist blasphemy. In an EPW article published in May 2016, Agnes questioned the positive media coverage of Banos petition and maintained the same view in another piece published two weeks ago highlighting the few positive aspects in the affidavit filed by AIMPLB. She claimed the petition is useless and serves no purpose in helping Muslim women gain equality. Citing various judgements and laws she argued that the negative media narrative that Muslim women are suffering under personal laws and need rescuing is not true. That there are several relief options already available to them and therefore Bano should not have rushed to SC; a move Agnes suspects would potentially isolate her family that belongs to a conservative social milieu. One really hopes that a woman of Agness stature would be able to keep legal nuances and personal attacks separate, but she couldnt. She insinuated that the petition is a strategy by a little-known lawyer to gain instant fame" effectively implying that Bano cannot think for herself and that it is the lawyer who is calling the shots. She tried to portray Bano as a woman of insufficient intelligence making arbitrary inconsistent statements. She uses patronising statements like, a victim of domestic violence cannot be criticised for her answers and in that she falls into her own trap. She argues that Muslim women do not need rescuing but the underlying thought seems that it is only she who has the legitimate authority to rescue Muslim women, not some random lawyer with evil plans. Agnes relies upon Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 as the existing legal recourse available to Muslim women. The said Act merely gives women a few reasonable and fair entitlements on divorce and doesnt talk anything about the womens right to divorce. Divorce in Sharia Law is unilateral. How could this law then have helped Bano and other petitioners whose demand is to end the practice of unilateral divorce by husbands at their whim? Agnes calls the petition futile because the SC, in the Shamim Ara case of 2002, has already made instantaneous triple talaq invalid, unless the husband can prove reasonable cause and prior reconciliation But the question remains, why should women be first shown the door by triple talaq, and then fight it out in the court? How many women in India even have the means to access justice? In cases where the wife has no financial stability or family support, she would have no option but to accept a triple talaq. Banos petition, however, might drastically change this power structure. Her success would send out a strong message to Muslim men and religious leaders that their very power and privilege is now illegal. Comparing AIMPLBs present response with the one previously held in the Danial Latifi case, Agnes puts emphasis on the seeming fact that the deeply misogynist AIMPLB is, after all, warming up to the sad and bitter reality that Muslim women are also humans. She thinks it is jolly splendid that the Board now progressively urges Bano to approach the lower courts rather than settle disputes in some kangaroo courts like Darul Qazas. Unfortunately, far from being splendid, this sounds eerily similar to saying triple talaq is at least better than killing the wife. Truth be told, Muslim women in India live in a dark isolated space, treated as lesser humans by their own community and disowned by the Constitution in name of religious autonomy. Agnes wants them to remain in their dark ghettos and not reach out to the SC, seeking Constitutional rights. Through her various articles, however, Agnes fails to show what is there to lose by Banos petition? There may not be a significant change overnight but are things likely to get worse? Through the annals of time, courts have altered the power structure and status quo through their historic judgments. If nothing else, a court order is a massive endorsement that women lives matter, homosexual lives matter, black lives matter. Petitions such as Banos or those by Trupti Desais, seeking equal right to pray, are symbolic wars and signpost moments for the womens movement. Sure, it is not an easy road and there are more pragmatic alternatives. But if few brave women chose to take the difficult road, how do they deserve anything else but applause is a question that Indian women would like to ask the honourable Madam Agnes. Saarc often grabs headlines, always of the wrong kind. But Sasec is rarely in news. Thats a pity. Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives, has only largely helped Pakistan to abuse or undermine India. But Sasec (South Asian Sub-regional Economic Cooperation), which consists of all the Saarc countries except Pakistan and Afghanistan, has emerged as a more successful sub-grouping. In the past 15 years, it has implemented 33 projects worth more than US $6 billion. I can never forget the hype and hoopla I witnessed at the second summit of Saarc in Bangalore in 1986. Considering that the inaugural summit in Dhaka the previous year had only been an introductory exercise, the Bangalore summit was practically the first one with a serious agenda. But nothing really was serious. Among the officials, there was more discussion on security for the heads of the seven nations (Afghanistan joined the group later). And western correspondents, present in big number, spent more time at the bar of the five-star hotel where the delegations stayed, discussing the politics of the US and Middle East. Even at that initial stage of Saarc, the bonhomie was as false as the speeches of the leaders were hollow. Two dictatorships, two monarchies and three democracies under one umbrella seemed like an unwieldy gathering, as I reported at that time. Floating Saarc seemed to me like putting out fire with kerosene. If the Pakistani delegates appeared friendly, it was a charade that fooled nobody. At the end of it, Abdus Sattar, then Pakistans foreign secretary, said: Within the short time since its inception, Saarc has made impressive progress. His words conveyed a conviction that his face didnt. The biggest achievement, if any, of this summit was that Rajiv Gandhi and Muhammad Khan Junejo, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, sat down together separately. And what did they supposedly agree? Resumption of talks between the two countries on the normalisation of relations in general and terrorism in particular. That was 30 years ago. And now, its an act of terrorism from across the Pakistan border, worse than any in recent years, with active collusion of its government with the sole aim to provoke its neighbour, which is again prompting the question of whether India should continue to be part of the joke called Saarc. Saarc is the tragic travesty of a concept that had its roots in Jawaharlal Nehrus idea of how a post-colonial India would show Europe its place. After Bangladeshs Ziaur Rahman and Morarji Desai made some progress in 1977, Saarc became a reality in 1983, when PV Narasimha Rao was the External Affairs Minister, though Pakistan seemed wary of Indias motives even at that time. For some time after the first summit in 1985, Saarc blundered on with the false pretence of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) or even an European Union (EU) in the making. But later it even gave up that pretence. As G Pramod Kumar points out here, it has little to its credit. None of the member-countries are even sure why this body exists with a secretariat in Dhaka. None, except Pakistan. All along, Pakistan knew what it wanted. One of Pakistans worst-kept secrets was its single-point Saarc agenda. It was to use the forum to ensure that India didnt turn into a political or economic power centre in the region. It used Saarc to spread mistrust in India and bad blood blood in the vicinity, and it was no surprise that it sabotaged idea after idea that India proposed for regional cooperation. This became part of Pakistans effort to equate itself with India, an exercise that only makes that country look like a mouse that bites the ears of an elephant, something that Indias inept foreign policy managers have done precious little about. The Saarc satellite is only the latest example. Soon after he took over, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with the idea to gift a Rs 235-crore satellite to member countries for cooperation in telecommunications, broadcasting and disaster management. After seemingly warming up to the project, Pakistan sabotaged it, even questioning Indias motives behind offering the satellite. But India is going ahead with the project along with Saarc countries other than Pakistan, calling it either a South Asian Satellite or a South-East Asian Satellite. Pakistan also played spoilsport in the signing of two important agreements at the last minute at the eighteenth Saarc summit in Kathmandu in 2014. One was on motor vehicles and the other was on railways. But in 2015, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal separately signed up the transport agreement which allows vehicles to enter each others territory, doing away with trans-shipment of goods from one countrys truck to another at the border. This saves time and costs. Its this new grouping of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal which came together in 1996 and which is known as BBIN in official parlance that has been showing a lot of promise. This led to another forum by the four countries: Sasec in 2001 with funding from Asian Development Bank. Maldives and Sri Lanka joined Sasec in 2014. As Isher Judge Ahluwalia, the director of Delhis Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, notes here: The relative slowness in the promotion and implementation of regional investment projects within the framework of Saarc... prompted some of the South Asian countries to think in terms of an alternative regional hub. Sasecs projects encompass transport, communication, energy, trade, investment facilitation and tourism. In the absence of India, Pakistan might hijack Saarc and use it even more for India-bashing. Let India stay on there. But the lesson to learn is this: Without Pakistan, plenty of regional cooperation has been going on and will go on. Let Saarc die a slow death. Long live Sasec. Author tweets @sprasadindia In one of the deadliest attacks on the Army in recent years, 17 jawans were killed and 19 others injured as heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmir's Uri town early on Sunday. The death toll climbed to 18 as another soldier succumbed to his injuries on Monday. Four terrorists were killed by the Army in the ensuing encounter. "All four killed were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings. Initial reports indicate that the slain terrorists belong to Jaish-E-Mohammed tanzeem," Lt Gen Singh had said in a statement on Sunday. He added that since "the terrorists had some items with Pakistani markings, I have spoken to Pakistan DGMO and conveyed our serious concern on the same". On Monday, Modi chaired a high-level meeting attended by top ministers and other officials over the deadly terror attack in Uri. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting. The top security brass briefed the prime minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri in which 17 soldiers were killed, official sources said. Delhi: Meeting underway with PM Modi at 7RCR, HM Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, NSA present pic.twitter.com/cKuSbNm5kU ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 The defence minister and the Army chief had visited Kashmir after the terror attack on Sunday. The attack has led to widespread furore across the country and Prime Minister Modi is under pressure to live up to his 2014 election campaign rhetoric of showing Pakistan that India is not a "soft power" and would give a "befitting reply" to any attacks on the country. Expectations of appropriate action were raised when Modi himself said soon after the attack: "I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished." We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2016 India decides tio isolate Pakistan on the global stage As an immediate step against Pakistan, PM Modi has sought a concerted global effort to diplomatically isolate Islamabad, reported IANS. Sources told IANS that Modi asked the security and other investigative agencies to collect all evidence that points to Pakistani involvement in the attack for presentation at international fora. The sources said the broad thinking was that India must act without getting into the trap of emotions and anger after taking into account both the short- and long-term implications. Speaking to reporters separately, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said India was not concerned about Pakistani denials and reactions and will react appropriately and at its own pace. "Everything is in front of the people. We must not give much attention to Pakistan's reaction. We will take our steps carefully," Rijiju said. Jaish terrorists may have had help from mole: intelligence sources Sources in intelligence agencies said that Jaish-e-Mohammad was identified as the perpetrator of the Uri attack after a representative of the terror outfit called up a local journalist in Kashmir to claim responsibility. Incidentally, JeM had also emerged as the outfit behind the Pathankot attack but it did not claim responsibility for the same. On Sunday, after recce at the administrative base, agencies did not rule out help from a 'mole' or overground worker in alerting the Jaish masterminds to troop positions within the camp, thus helping the fidayeen maximise casualties, The Times of India report said. "A recce was done. The terrorists were aware of the layout of the camp and knew their way around. They had possibly identified the stretches where the fence was not properly manned and accordingly found a safe spot to cut the perimeter wire," an officer was quoted as saying by The Times of India. Meanwhile, Pakistan rejected India's claims and asked New Delhi to provide actionable intelligence. India diverting attention from Kashmir: Pakistan Pakistan on Monday accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its "reign of terror" in Kashmir by a spate of "vitriolic" and "unsubstantiated" statements. "Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterday's attack" in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government. "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani," Aziz said. While the world came together to condemn the dastardly attack in Uri, Pakistan media had a different, and a rather bizarre stand on Sunday's terror attack. The Pakistan media blamed India for the Uri attacks, saying its timing was suspicious because it coincided with Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif heading to the UN General Assembly to talk about Kashmir. Perhaps the most caustic remarks against India were made in an article in The News International titled 'Uri attack is an addition to RAW failures'. "The Indian political and security establishment is notorious for designing bizarre pseudo operations so that it could defame Pakistan in the eyes of the world," said the article World community rallies behind India after Uri attack The global community today stood behind India in its hour of loss following the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 army personnel, with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying the perpetrators would be brought to justice. France and Canada also condemned the attack and said they stand with India in the fight against terrorism, as international denunciation continued to pour in against the brazen assault carried out by suspected Pakistan-based terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed. France also called for peaceful settlement of disputes in Kashmir. In a statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asserted that the perpetrators of the attack would be brought to justice and all stakeholders would meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability. The US strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Uri in which 17 soldiers were killed even as the State Department asserted it was "committed to our strong partnership" with India to combat terrorism, PTI reported. "We strongly condemn the terror attack in Uri, J&K. Our thoughts are with the families of the brave soldiers who lost their lives #UriAttack," US Ambassador to India Richard Verma tweeted. Separately, the US State Department issued a statement in Washington strongly condemning the attack. "The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir during the early morning of 18 September. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism," John Kirby, Assistant Secretary and State Department spokesperson said in the statement released by the US embassy in New Delhi. US strongly condemns terrorist attack on Indian army base in Kashmir & we extend our condolences: https://t.co/aCX2kkDowW John Kirby (@statedeptspox) September 18, 2016 Shaida Mohd Abdali, Afghan Ambassador to India told news agency ANI: "We fully support PM Modi's call for a strong and firm action against those who terrorise all people and those who use terrorism as an instrument of foreign police.. We have been seeing this for many years." It is a matter of great sadness, we condemn this strongly: Shaida Mohd Abdali, Afghan Ambassador to India #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/Uy5Wq5vf93 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Bangladesh Envoy to India, Syed Muazzem Ali, offered deep condolence to the martyrs and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured soldiers. He said that Dhaka strongly condemns all acts of terrorism and extremism reiterating that Bangladesh "strongly stands with India as a close friend and neighbour in this tough hour," according to CNN-News18. When asked whether Bangladesh will back India's bid to isolate Paksitan diplomatically and take up terrorism at the United Nations, he said "we are prepared to cooperate on every front with India to eradicate terrorism." Termed as the deadliest attack on the Indian Army since the Kaluchak tragedy in 2002, the attack at a battalion headquarters of the Army in north Kashmir's Uri town on Sunday killed 17 jawans and injured 19 other personnel. According to recent reports by ANI, another sepoy K Vikas Janardhan succumbed to his injuries at the R&R Hospital in New Delhi on Monday taking the death toll to 18. The Indian Army has lost many of its valiant soldiers since the start of the year. These recent spate of attacks have claimed lives of at least 35 soldiers. Uri, however, will still be remembered as one of the deadliest. Here are some of the major attacks on the Army in 2016: Pathankot airbase attack Heavily-armed terrorists carried out a pre-dawn strike at the Air Force base in Punjab's Pathankot, triggering a fierce gunbattle. Around six terrorists in army attire tried to storm the base located at 35 kms from the international border. The terrorists were linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as is the case with the Uri attack. Seven soldiers died, including Lt Col Niranjan, who is a member of NSGs bomb disposal squad. He died while sanitising a terrorist's body during the attack. One commando of the Indian Air Forces special Garud unit and two Defence Security Corps personnel also died during the attack. Pampore attack At least eight CRPF personnel were killed and 24 injured after Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists opened fire at a convoy belonging to the paramilitary force in Pampore on the outskirts of Srinagar near Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The attack happened on the busy Srinagar-Jammu national highway when the security personnel were returning from a training exercise. However, three more soldiers succumbed to their injuries. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the ambush in Pampore on the CRPF personnel. "Would like to express my condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones in todays dastardly militant attack," news agency ANI reported Mufti saying. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to the eight martyred CRPF personnel on Twitter saying that he was "pained by their demise." Kashmir unrest As many as 81 people, including two soldiers, were killed in the unrest that broke out a day after Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir on 8 July. Union Minister Rajnath Singh told the Parliament during the monsoon session that 1,700 civilians were injured in the violence. However, he also reminded the House that 1,740 jawans too were injured. While foiling an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Naugam sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district, two soldiers were killed in July, 2016. Pakistan also resorted to unprovoked firing in Poonch district of Jammu in August, 2016. A policemen lost his life while three soldiers were injured. As of 19 September, normal life remained disrupted in the Valley for the 73rd straight day as a curfew was clamped in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Kashmir. With inputs from agencies. Dont take rhetoric so high that not living up to it becomes a source of embarrassment. Not many associated with the ruling establishment get this. Fortunately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been measured in his response to the Uri attack as any mature prime minister should be. Not so the likes of Ram Madhav though. The senior BJP leader, who is also the partys man in charge for Jammu and Kashmir, has asserted that the days of strategic restraint are over; it has to be the whole jaw for one tooth. Was he spelling out the governments course of response in advance? Or was he only responding emotionally to a critical situation? Whatever it is, senior functionaries ought to be more restrained in situations like this. It needlessly raises the stakes too high and reduces the space for manoeuver for the decision-makers. It also builds expectation among the ordinary masses which the final action of the government may not meet. For example, such statements may make immediate assault on Pakistan look as the fitting response to the Uri attack. But the government might go for a more calibrated approach, biding its time to hit back. The delay might not go down well with people seeking quick revenge. They would call the government weak and lose faith in it. The media jingoists have concluded that the attack calls for a tit-for-tat response. Pakistan has thrown a direct challenge to India and it has to be taught a lesson, quick and harsh. After talking so loudly about muscular response to all acts of Pakistans misadventure for so long the government cannot just evade action - this is the prevailing mood among this section. That they offer no clarity on what the strong and fitting response should be though the word war is suggested in hints. They forget easily that war is not an easy option for the country. The collateral damage can be heavy on India, a country slowly building itself into an economic powerhouse. But they can afford to be foolish and irresponsible; they dont have to make decisions. That is not the case with the government. It has to weigh the pros and cons of every action. That a section of public opinion favours rash military action cannot be justification enough for it to go to war, particularly against a country that has and wont be averse to using nuclear weapons in its possession. Its good that the government has decided not to act in a hurry. Media reports suggest it has decided to intensify diplomatic and economic offensive against Pakistan. This is a more mature response to the situation at hand. Perhaps it could begin with having a re-look at its approach to Kashmir. The absence of a clear policy in the Valley is conspicuous. The government appears to be guided more by nasty opinion manufactured in television studios and its own rhetoric than pragmatic consideration of the ground realities in the troubled state. The consequences have been disastrous. The more Kashmir is in turmoil the more it is convenient for Pakistan to interfere. The policing approach to a political problem does not simply work. For its own good, it should restrict its members from resorting to bravado. The big talk so far may have cockled the hearts of hyper nationalists at home, but it has not, as evidence suggests, exactly made Pakistan squirm in its pants. If they keep up the ante up despite repeated blows from across the border, the government stands to lose respect of its own people. The prime minister must ask all to let government do its business in peace and stop playing to the gallery in serious matters. New Delhi: Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan, who was airlifted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital after being critically injured in the Uri attack, succumbed to injuries on Monday, raising the toll in the terror strike to 18. Two other critically injured soldiers have also been airlifted to the military hospital. Seventeen soldiers were on Sunday killed in the attack, while about 23 others were injured. Of the 17 killed on Sunday, eight were from the administrative section which included seven cooks. Uri, a small town located 103km north of Srinagar, woke up to heavy gunfire yesterday when four terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed group entered the battalion headquarters of 10 Dogra regiment and killed 17 soldiers. All the four terrorists were eliminated. The deadliest terror attack on the Indian Army since the Kaluchak tragedy on 14 May, 2002 (taking the lives of 12 civilians and 22 security personnel) took place at Uri on the Black Sunday of 18 September, 2016, in which 17 soldiers were martyred. Of course in the process, all the four attackers, who happened to be suicide bombers or fidayeen, were killed. But the gruesome incident provides three lessons. First, whatever the critics may say, the fact was that there was no intelligence failure this time about such an attack. In fact, it was widely reported last week that there would be spectacular terror attacks on Indias military bases, though, in the context of the attacks on the Pathankot Airbase in January this year, airbases were under greater alert. In that sense, if the attacks did take place, then one has to admit that there were serious security lapses in Uri, which had undergone a similar attack in December 2014 when nine soldiers were killed. Uri is 19 km inside the Line of Control (LoC) and 40 km from Baramula, a town that is in the news because of the stone-throwing protestors. As General Raj Mehta, one of our perceptive military veterans, says, it is really worrisome how and where breaches in security occurred to allow unchallenged access to the fidayeen to the base or camp for so many kilometres inside the Indian territory. Therefore, the immediate need of the hour is to identify and plug these breaches. Besides, it is quite possible that there are sleeper cells in the area, which the local Police are unable to deal with. The very facts that the terrorists were well-acquainted with the area and its topography, that they knew that the camp at Uri was undergoing a change-over (a new batch of soldiers replacing the existing one), that they attacked the rear of the camp, not its heavilyguarded front facing the LoC, and that they knew about the arrangements inside the camp (their goal was to go up to the officers mess and blow it up for deadlier fire. As it is, more soldiers who were sleeping died after being trapped in the fire caused by the explosion, and not by the bullets of the suicide bombers) make it obvious that they were fully trained for the occasion. And for this occasion, the security forces were far from being prepared. Of course, the Army can say that it is difficult to identify the fidayeen in our uniforms in the rear areas early in the morning when it is a fact that soldiers at the camps often use the open space while responding to the call of nature. All told, and this is the second lesson of Uri, that ever since the phenomenon of using fidayeen or suicide-terrorists began in Lebanon in 1983, there has been no concrete remedial measures. And that is due to the fact that unlike other terrorists, the fidayeen are indoctrinated for months to lay down their lives (in case of the Islamic terrorists, as was the case in Uri, they are told how after death they will go to the paradise where they will be provided with the choicest virgins to sleep with), not save their lives during a fight. And that is why, they, according to Rand Corporation's study, kill on average four times as many people as other terrorists do. Besides, earlier suicide terrorists were relatively easier to detect they carried bombs in nylon backpacks or duffel bags rather than in belts or vests concealed beneath their clothing, as they do now. They were mostly unmarried males, uneducated and in the age group of 17 and 23. And attacks were by one suicide terrorist at a time. However, now suicide bombers are middle-aged and young, married and unmarried; some of them have even children. And they attack now in a group, not alone. Their attacks are preceded by long logistical trails. Therefore, it is a vital necessity now to understand the terrorists' operational environment, know their modus operandi and targeting patterns. There must be concerted efforts to gather intelligence from places where terrorists conceal themselves and seek to establish and hide their infrastructure. Though it is necessarily not valid in anti-terrorism measures in Kashmir (where terrorists come from across the border with all their material and training), it is vital elsewhere to encourage businessmen from whom terrorists purchase bomb-making components (ammonium nitrate fertiliser; pipes, batteries, and wires) to alert the authorities in case of large purchases. The law-enforcement agencies should be aware of places such as schools, colleges and religious institutions where bombers are recruited. This aspect has now become relevant even in Kashmir, where the youth, as the current agitation proves, is being polarised on religious lines and is increasingly getting Islamised. It does not need any elaboration that the Uri-attack, like any standard terrorist attack, was aimed at undermining the public confidence in the ability of the authorities to protect and defend citizens, thereby creating a climate of fear and intimidation amenable to terrorist exploitation. It is obvious that Pakistan is trying its best to exploit the disturbances in the Kashmir valley, undermine the effectiveness of the government led by Mehbooba Mufti, spread fear by contagion, immobilise and subjugate those living under the threats. But will Pakistan succeed in its game-plan? No is the answer, and this is the third lesson of Uri-attack. The crude attack was meant to give a severe psychological blow to the Modi government and isolate it from the rest of Indias top political parties. In fact, every terror incident in a liberal democracy soon gets politicised, with the opposition and opponents of the ruling party taking the government to task. The terrorists main job here is to create disunity, demoralise the government of the day and divide the nation on how to tackle the situation. Viewed thus, the Uri attack has failed in its goal. There has been a remarkable solidarity amongst Indias political class; almost all the parties and leaders have responded with responsible remarks ( the singular exception, according to me, is the former Chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah, who, in fact, is playing the most notorious role these days in adding fuel to the fire in Kashmir) that Pakistans nefarious designs will not succeed, that India will not fall to its knees and that Kashmir shall remain an integral part of India. Pakistan should realise that the recent history of the world shows political objectives such secession and independence have never been realised through terrorism. In his recent book, Does Terrorism Work? A History, Richard English has shown how Al-Qaida, the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland, Hamas (it wants the elimination of Israel) and the Basque separatist group ETA in Spain, and a score of others have all failed in realising their objectives. Similarly, Kashmir cannot be separated from India through terrorism or violence. But then English suggests that if a terrorist campaign has no real chance of achieving its grandiose aims, the State should not overreact to it. This is particularly important for the Modi government to mull over. While the prevention of terrorist atrocities is an essential part of public security, it is a mistake to exaggerate the threat terrorists pose, beyond the atrocities themselves. It only leads to action that makes the situation worse. English proves this point by giving the example of the post-9/11 War on Terror that witnessed an increase in the number both of terrorist actions and of terrorist-generated fatalities. Instead, English favours a calm, measured, patient reaction that focuses on prevention rather than wars to end evil. Though Englishs suggestion seems reasonable, then the fact remains that it has to contend with the emotions aroused by terrorist acts and their inflammatory political effect in countries where they occur, given the acute problems that democracies like France, the United States and India face today. Is there a way out? How about trying out a calm, measured and patient strike inside Pakistani territory, eliminating one Hafiz Saeed, the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba or one Masood Azhar, chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed , the so-called non-sate actors who master the terror campaigns against India and whom Pakistan uses as instruments of its state- policy? The Indian Army was attacked in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Sunday, where 18 jawans were killed in Uri. But, is this the first such attack? No, this was the 18th major strike on security forces in J&K since 1999, the first one being when ten army personnel were killed in a fidayeen attack on 15 Corps Headquarters at Srinagar's Badami Bagh. It is unfortunate that India speaks to a nation that has made the export of terror an instrument of state policy. India's quest for peace is so strong that we refuse to learn from past betrayals. Actually, we lack a sense of history. Since 1947, our experiences and learnings are inadequately documented and not available in the public domain; thus, the bureaucracy, political class, and civilians make the same mistakes again and again. Note that India's principal adversaries on the east and west side have an excellent sense of history; to the extent that they keep reiterating the same lies in the hope that they are accepted as the truth. It is in this context that museums play an important role. The learnings and contents of the Indian Army Museum in Leh are relevant to contemporary India and make a case for setting such museums across the country, and globally. A board at the entrance sets the tone for what to expect inside. It reads, "The Hall of Fame is as much a tribute to the valour and sagacity of the brave men of the Indian Army who guard the frigid, windswept and barren frontiers of Ladakh as much as it is an expression of recognition, adulation and wonderment of the indomitable spirit, rich culture and a zest unique to the men and women who inhabit Ladakh." Someone has correctly observed, "True Ladakh begins where the road ends!" The museum tells you about the history of Ladakh since the first century AD key battles of 1948, 1965, 1971, the 1999 wars with Pakistan and the Indo-China war of 1962. It highlights the contributions of the Ladakh Scouts. There is a section on the Siachen Glacier, which briefly tells about the battles fought and the equipment provided to jawans to enable them to guard the border posts at heights between 15,000 to 22,000 feet. It also recognises the contribution of Project Himank in building roads. Lastly, there is a memorial and a Shaurya Sthal where the names of all the martyrs are inscribed in stone. The Hall of Fame museum presents history through pictures and illuminated boards. A lot of information presented there has strategic value, something that many civilians are unaware of: 1) Information about the battles fought to occupy and retain control of Siachen Glacier between 1984 and 1999. 2) It is only when you see a map of pre-1947 Jammu and Kashmir that you realise that India could have shared a border with Afghanistan, had the then government taken control of the entire princely state. 3) Why did Ladakh develop close cultural relations with Tibet, which continue to this day? 4) Details of battles in 1948 with Pakistan in Zoji la Pass, Kargil and Leh sectors. 5) Capture of Point 13620 and Kala Pahad on NH 1A at Kargil in the 1965 war. 6) Capture of Turtuk in Nubra Valley during the 1971 war. It was part of Pakistan until then. 7) Details of numerous battles fought to recapture heights in Drass sector in 1999. Of particular interest are three key battles fought in 1965, 1984 and 1962. Brief details of each battle and learnings are as follows: Recapture of Point 13620: The Point overlooks the Srinagar-Leh Highway. It was captured by India thrice. First four Rajputs captured it on 17 May, 1965. Following assurances by the UN Observer, it was handed over to Pakistan in June 1965. In the first week of August, Pakistan resorted to mass infiltration in J&K with an intent to enter through Kargil sector and fan out towards Drass, Zanskar etc regions. It was subsequently recaptured by 17 Punjab on 15 August 1965. In July 1966, it was handed over to Pakistan in accordance with the Tashkent Agreement. It was recaptured by India on 9 December, 1971. What must Team India remember? Trust Pakistan at your own risk. Never return areas that overlook national highways or a Pass that allows the enemy to sneak in, like the Haji Pir Pass in 1965. "It is through this Pass, infamously returned to Pakistan five months after its capture, that Islamabad has been infiltrating terrorists into J&K for the last 27 years." Note that the Kargil War of 1999 was essentially fought to regain control of the heights that overlook the Srinagar-Leh highway. Secondly, the occupation of Siachen Glacier in 1984. "The operation to occupy the glacier by 13 April, 1984 was planned to pre-empt the Pakistan Army by about four days as Intelligence had reported that Pakistan Army intended to occupy the glacier by 17 April, 1984. About 300 troops dug into the critical peaks and passes on Saltoro Ridge, thus effectively denying the glacier." If India had played good boy, gone to the United Nations (UN), we might never have occupied the glacier and would still be arguing over UN resolutions. Always be pro-active, seize and never lose control, better to attack then defend and take the battle into the enemy camp. Note that ever since Pakistan started supporting terrorism in Punjab, J&K and rest of India, the Indian State is perpetually defending itself. If India has to counter the infinite Pakistan attack it must keep the rogue nation under pressure 24/7, 365 days a year. Students of history should read BR Ambedkar's Thoughts on Pakistan to understand the sub-continent Muslim mind. Thirdly, Battle of Rezang La in Ladakh. It is true that China defeated India in the 1962 war. What is not true is that India went down without a fight in every place. The Chinese launched a silent first attack on 18 November, 1962. The attack was stalled by the brave Ahirs of 13 Kumaon. At the break of dawn, Chinese attacked the post again only to be thwarted by accurate small-arm fire. Next, the Chinese resorted to heavy shelling. The Charlie coy deployed under Major Shaitan Singh Bhati repulsed seven waves of Chinese human attacks despite heavy artillery shelling. About 113 soldiers and the Major laid down their lives. According to this article, the battle left close to 500 Chinese dead and wounded, although locals put the number at about 1,300. When the local leadership was strong, the Indian Army gave the Chinese a good fight. We lost because of idealism, underestimating the enemy and failure to decipher Chinese thinking. The spiritual concept of ahinsa (non-violence) must not be used in the realm of geopolitics. Accepting mistakes allows us to put the past behind and emerge stronger. Only when India becomes an economic and military powerhouse will be there shanti, shanti, shanti. Note that the closest land route to Mount Kailash is from Demchok in south Ladakh. It's unlikely that Indians will be allowed to enter Tibet from there because that means defying the border. Any border settlement with China must include an entry from here as well. The move would be appreciated by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Tibetans worldwide. It is time to make more Indians aware about such historical facts. Therefore, the government must create similar Hall of Fames in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. This should not be confused with the proposed National War Memorial in Delhi. The same format could be used. It should include information about other wars and acts of bravery, for instance, Jaswant Singh in 1962, Battle of Longowal and Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Since the Indian Army runs schools and women empowerment centres, pictures of Sadbhavna activities should be displayed. It should have a separate section titled 'What must Team India remember'. The benefits of such an initiative would provide reliable data and limits the scope for spreading misinformation. It would give civilians, bureaucracy, and armed forces lessons in history and continuously reinforce learning. Wars have to be fought by the people of India, not the armed forces alone. It would definitely create a feeling of national pride and patriotism. At a time when social media plays an important role in information warfare, it would empower Indians worldwide to respond to country's opponents. Once successfully implemented, the Hall of Fame should be set up in international cities with large Indian populations like New York, London, Dubai and Singapore. This way the Indian point of view gets communicated globally and more importantly, consistently. Few countries have done this so far. India could be amongst them. Most importantly, Indians must now realise that they can live in peace only when the country has strong leadership, national strength, and the political will to take tough decisions against the country's opponents. The author is an independent columnist. He tweets with the handle @sanjeev1927 It seems that ink has emerged as the new weapon of choice for protests targeted at politicians or against anyone remotely associated with politics. As it happened on Monday, ink was thrown at Delhis deputy chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia after his meeting with Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. The incident occurred outside Jung's office when Sisodia was interacting with reporters. The L-G had asked Sisodia to return to Delhi from his holiday in Finland on account of the chikungunya and dengue crisis in the capital. Sisodias tour became the subject of controversy as the national capital has been struggling with an outbreak of the vector-borne diseases. Till now, the diseases have claimed 27 lives and over 3,000 people have been infected. While the deputy CM reportedly claimed that the attack was a conspiracy of the Opposition, Brajesh Shukla, the person behind the ink attack, reasoned, "He is going abroad on our money and people of Delhi are suffering." According to news reports, 35-year-old Shukla, a self-proclaimed founder of Swaraj Janta Party, who was later arrested by the police, shouted that he was an angry citizen of Delhi who was concerned by the wastage of public money by the AAP ministers. Demonstrations with black flags, posters, wearing black badges, or hurling shoes have been some of the most common forms of protest that have been used previously in the country. Right from trade union members to teachers, all have used one form or the other to register their protests against the establishment. The black flag and black colour in general, have been associated with anarchism since the early 1880s. https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/777766964643016704 During Indias freedom movement, however, freedom fighters used tricolour (Tiranga) to stage protests against the British. The Tiranga was a powerful symbol of protest that united the country against the foreign rule. The use of ink, however, has recently emerged as a tool to target a particular section of politicians or public figures. Instead of blackening their faces with black paint, the protesters now throw ink to drive their point home. Few cases in recent times where ink has been used for protests: 17 September, 2016: Angry Aiims students threw ink at Union Health Minister JP Nadda in Bhopal. 17 January, 2016: Ink was thrown at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by a young woman when he was addressing a 'thanks giving' rally following the 'success' of his government's odd-even experiment. 12 October, 2015: Shiv Sena blackened columnist and politician Sudheendra Kulkarni's face with ink to protest ex-Pakistani minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch in Mumbai. 23 August, 2014: A Shiv Sena worker threw ink at the Maharashtras Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district. 08 August, 2014: Maharashtras Cooperative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil, suffered injuries in his eyes when ink was hurled at him by the agitators demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Dhangar (shepherd) community. 25 March, 2014: Ink and eggs were thrown at Kejriwal during his Varanasi visit. 08 March, 2014: The then AAP leader Yogendra Yadav's face was smeared with ink when he was addressing a public gathering at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. 14 January, 2012 : A person threw black ink at Baba Ramdev in Delhi. https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/777768018319331328 Why ink? "Throwing ink or smearing a person with ink is more an act of symbolism. Its like a protester trying to send a message that I would put a blot on your white kurta, which symbolises politics of high morals. Its a comment on the whiteness of the kurta that symbolises purity of persona and blackening of it is an act of protest, when the leader fails to live up to one's expectations," Prof Anup Dhar, associate professor of Psychology, Ambedkar University, Delhi told Firstpost. Explaining the psychology behind the act of throwing ink, Professor Dhar, who was also a former research fellow with Kolkata's Asiatic Society, said: Ink is not thrown on every political leader as a mark of protest. Usually, a person throws ink on that particular leader who has been held high on moral grounds. There is a sort of hierarchy in the act of smearing with ink," Dhar said. "In the case of AAP leaders, who were held on high moral grounds by the voters of Delhi, ink was thrown by a person when he felt cheated. If a leader presents himself on high moral grounds, failure to meet his voters expectations leads to such a reaction, Dhar added. The Uri terror strike is aimed at triggering fresh violence in Jammu and Kashmir and creating a "war-like" situation in the region, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said while strongly condemning the attack on the Army in which 17 jawans were killed. "I strongly condemn the attack which seems to be aimed at triggering fresh violence and creating a war-like situation in the region," Mehbooba said in a statement in Srinagar on Sunday. The Chief Minister said the heightened tension in the wake of the Uri attack is set to further vitiate the atmosphere in and around Jammu and Kashmir amid growing strains in Indo-Pak ties. "Unfortunately, people in Jammu and Kashmir, who are already mired in an agonising situation, shall have to bear the maximum brunt of the fresh attempts being made to step up violence and trigger fresh bloodshed in the state," she said. She said Jammu and Kashmir has always been the worst victim of Indo-Pak hostility and its people have been paying a colossal price for the same for the past over six decades. Mehbooba said the perpetrators of violence must understand that such methods have yielded nothing in the past nor would they yield anything in future except adding to the miseries of the people. Mehbooba also led senior Army and police officials in paying tributes at the wreath laying ceremony for the 17 soldiers killed in the attack. "Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti laid wreaths on the coffins of the martyred soldiers at a somber ceremony held at headquarters of the Chinar Corps at Badamibagh," an Army official said. He said general officer commanding of the Chinar Corps Lt General Satish Dua and Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar were among senior security officials who laid wreaths to pay their respects. The Chief Minister later visited the soldiers, injured in yesterday's attack, at the 92 Base Hospital of the Army, the official said. Following directions of Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar, the Army has made arrangements for transporting the mortal remains of all the martyrs directly to their respective hometowns. While two of the 17 soldiers hail from Jammu and Kashmir, rest of them belong to Uttar Pradesh (four), Bihar (three), Maharashtra (three), West Bengal (two), Jharkhand (two) and Rajasthan (one). The Chief Minister while expressing anguish over the attack, paid rich tributes to the slain soldiers. She extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and also prayed for early recovery of those injured in the attack. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the attack. "Terrible news from Uri, 17 soldiers killed & many injured. May their souls rest in peace. Prayers for their families as also for the injured," Omar wrote on Twitter. Heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours today, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the terror strike in which four ultras were neutralised. Lucknow: After assuming charge as Samajwadi Party Uttar Pradesh unit president, Shivpal Yadav on Sunday expelled a close relative of senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and another leader for their alleged involvement in land grabbing, a move that could once again fuel a war in the family. In his first decision after taking charge as SP UP president, Shivpal expelled party MLC Arvind Pratap Yadav, who is the nephew of Ram Gopal Yadav and former village head in Etawah Akhilesh Kumar Yadav for their alleged involvement in land grabbing and other such activities. According to sources, there were a lot of complaints related to land grabbing and others against these two. "Arvind has been expelled for making derogatory and indecent comments against party supremo Mulayam and his involvement in anti-party activities," SP state secretary SRS Yadav said. Earlier, before reaching the office, Shivpal met Mulayam Singh Yadav at the airport before he left for Delhi. The expulsion could fuel another war in the family as both of them were close to Ram Gopal. The feud in Uttar Pradesh's first family had ended on Saturday after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav restored all but one portfolios of Shivpal Yadav and promised to support him as SP's state unit president, a post from which he was himself removed three days back triggering the power tussle with his uncle. Addressing party workers, Shivpal said that as elections are near, everyone should gear up to strengthen the party to form the majority government. He also warned workers against groupism saying "there is no place of groupism in the party and those indulging in it will be treated strictly". "If you all want to shout slogans, it should be first in favour of the party, then Netaji (Mulayam) and then Chief Minister," he told workers. On Mayawati's comment against the party, Shivpal said, "She should first take care of her party before commenting on others. Her party is going to be finished in next elections,". Muktsar: Condemning the attack on the army base at Uri, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said that the country has a decisive Prime Minister who would give a befitting reply to those involved in the terror strike. The Chief Minister said, any attack on unity and integrity of the country should be given an apt reply. The NDA government at the Centre was fully committed to uphold the sovereignty of the country and protect its borders by foiling such attacks, he said at a Sangat Darshan programme in Lambi assembly segment. Badal said such incidents must be dealt with a heavy hand to avoid any threat to the unity and integrity of the nation. Commenting on possibilities of former Aam Aadmi Party convener Sucha Singh Chottepur forming a new front, he said in the poll season many such fronts would mushroom in the state. These fronts would hardly have any impact on states polity, as the people of state were wise and would out rightly reject such fronts, he said. People dont rely on such leaders who have ditched their mother party for satiating their lust for power, he added. In earlier Sangat Darshans at Haakuwala, Fatta Khera, Warring Khera, Fatuhiwala, Singhewala, Dhaani Singhewala, Mithdi Budgir villages, Badal said the SAD-BJP alliance government in the last 10 years has supplied free power worth Rs 50,000 crore to farmers to bail them out of agrarian crisis. The CM said, Punjab was the only state in the country to provide Atta-Dal scheme to weaker sections and free treatment for fatal diseases like Cancer and Hepatitis C. The state government in a first of its kind scheme will provide interest free crop loans, worth Rs 50,000, to farmers, he said. In a historic decision all farmers would be provided a health insurance cover of Rs 50,000 and an insurance of Rs 5 lakh in case of accidental death or incapacitation of head of family, he added. Meanwhile, All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) strongly condemned the terror attack in Uri sector in Jammu and Kashmir that left 18 jawans dead. AISSF has welcomed the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not letting those behind "the despicable and cowardly attack" go unpunished, the federation's interim president Karnail Singh Peermohammad said. The Federation extended condolences to the families of the jawans martyred in the terrorist strike, the deadliest attack on army since 2002. This is testing time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the toughest in his two-and-half years rule at the Centre. His response to Pakistan-backed terror attack on the Indian Army brigade headquarters at Uri, which comes in close succession to the attack on the Indian Air Force base station at Pathankot, will decide whether he should be taken as a strong and decisive leader or his 'chhapan inch ki chhati' would be lampooned. He has often been equated with the late prime minister Indira Gandhi but so far that comparison and contrast was in terms of popularity, reach and making the party win elections on personal charisma in states where its organisational base was not strong. Despite her failings on several counts, Indira was called Durga as she took the call of militarily engaging with Pakistan and winning it decisively. It's a different matter though that India lost its gain over Pakistan in the Shimla Accord. However, Indira is considered to be one of the strongest Indian leaders. The test is not only for Modi but also for his number two in the government and for the BJP and the RSS to prove that they meant what they said in the run-up to 2014 parliamentary elections. But all eyes are on Modi. After all, India had overwhelmingly and decisively voted for Modi, the first single party majority government in the last 30 years. He was not called Chhote Sardar (after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) by his supporters for nothing. A majority of his supporters saw in him a mix of Vikas Purush (development man) and Loh Purush (iron man). It's time for Modi to meet their expectations. The current national mood after a series of backstabs and terror attacks by Pakistan, most recently Pathankot and Uri and fomenting trouble in Kashmir Valley is of assertive nationalism. That prevalent national mood is best reflected by the manner in which a 2.10-minute video of a BSP jawan reciting a patriotic poem inside a bus full of his other jawans went viral on social media. "Jakar Bata Do pakistanion ko....hum darte nahi atom bombo se, visfotak poto se hum darte hai to Shimla, Tashkant jaise samjhuaton se....Kashmir to hoga par Pakistan nahi hoga.....". The other jawans shouting in chorus Pakistan nahi hoga. This has an inherent message for the political ruling class, don't make us sacrifice and then concede the gains for a farcical truce with Pakistan. Wage a decisive war against this troublesome neighbour. The BJP national general secretary's Facebook post is also interesting as it comes from someone higher up in ruling echelon: "The Prime Minister has promised that those behind the Uri terror attack will not go unpunished. That should be the way forward. For one tooth, the complete jaw. Days of so-called strategic restraint are over. If terrorism is the instrument of the weak and coward, restraint in the face of repeated terror attacks betrays inefficiency and incompetence. India should prove otherwise." The theme cuts both ways it is both an asset as well as a challenge from within the party-Parivar ranks and outside. This means that gone is the Vajpayee era, the spin doctors singing virtues of "coercive diplomacy" for cornering Pakistan and making President Pervez Musharraf yield that Pakistan soil would not be allowed to be used for terror activity. Uri and Pathankot attack mean attack on the Indian state, just as attack on Parliament on 13 December, 2001 meant attack on the Indian state. It demands retaliatory action from the Indian state, otherwise the Indian state will always be called a 'soft state', always looking for other countries like the US to take up its cause. India and its people have seen that enough and is no longer in the mood to consider that as a viable option. Coercive diplomacy is good only if it is accompanied with military option. Modi should take some lessons from Vajpayee's failure. After 2001 Parliament attack, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had famously said "ab aar par ki ladai hogi" (a final and decisive battle would be waged now) and Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved Operation Parakram massive combat troops mobilisation on the western borders. After cancelling leave of all officers and jawans and having an eyeball to eyeball mobilisation along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border in Punjab, Rajasthan and elsewhere, Operation Parakram ended in mid-October 2002 with CCS taking a decision to call off mobilisation and making a face-saving statement that troops would now be strategically redeployed. Vajpayee in Parliament played with his own words, claiming that he had never said 'ab aar par ki ladai hogi', instead he had said 'agar ladai hui toh aar par ki ladai hogi'. Vajpayee and his men thought that by doing verbal gymnastics they had been able to convince people. The results of 2004 parliamentary elections proved that people of India never forgave them. Remember Vajpayee had won 1999 election post the victory in Kargil war. Also, the eventual capitulation of Vajpayee and his men under international pressure made Indira's position distinct from other leaders. In 1971, she not only won the war, but liberated East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This time around Modi is talking about the liberation of Balochistan. Consider Modi's position. Two distinct things have happened since after Uri attack first, consider the tweets: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished." We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2016 Home Minister Rajnath Singh: "My heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyred soldiers. Those behind this terror incident would be brought to justice." In another tweet he names Pakistan: "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups." My heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyred soldiers. Those behind this terror incident would be brought to justice. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016 I am deeply disappointed with Pakistans continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley: "Perpetrators of Uri terror attack shall be punished. My thoughts & prayers are with families of our soldiers injured & martyred." Perpetrators of Uri terror attack shall be punished. My thoughts & prayers are with families of our soldiers injured & martyred. Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 18, 2016 All three top leaders in the government assured that the sacrifice of soldiers will be avenged. The Indian Army and the Home Minister have named Pakistani establishment and terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad as the ones behind these attacks. Now the question is: Is there any other way other than going for military option whatever one may call hot pursuit or surgical exercise or risking full-scale war to punish "those behind the attack"? More so, if that option will have to be exercised, then it has to be exercised before the next possible attack. Remember, surprise factor is generally an advantage on terrorist and their backers side. If Modi government fails to do so, or seem to be taking any other effective and tangible measure then all the words used in the tweets would be taken as empty rhetoric and people would not forgive Modi and the BJP. The popular perception is, if Modi can't do, no one else will ever do it. Modi has the popular mandate and the image to do it. If he fails to do it then he not only fails himself, but also the entire nation. Second, for the first time ever, the government has released pictures of those attending high-level meetings chaired by prime minister and home minister with top ministers and security and intelligence officials. There have also been leakages that the army was seeking the use of military option. The idea is to assure people that the government was seriously reviewing its options. But then there is no structured meeting of CCS yet. It is for Modi to decide whether he would stand true to the image he so consciously cultivated for over a decade. Geneva: India on Monday said it firmly believes that a policy of "zero tolerance" against terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to its own people, a day after terrorists killed 18 soldiers in Kashmir in one of the deadliest attacks on its military. Making a statement during the 33rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), India also called upon the Council to urge Pakistan to put an end to cross-border infiltration; dismantle the terrorism infrastructure; and stop acting as an epicentre of terrorism. "It is time that moral and material support provided by Pakistan to the perpetrators of this continuing heinous violence on the Indian soil should attract this Councils attention," it added. Raising once again the "blatant abuse and violation of human rights in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in other parts of Pakistan, including Balochistan, India said it was adversely impacting the stability of the entire region. "Pakistan's continued mistreatment of large parts of its own population has created a cauldron of tumult that has begun to jeopardise the safety and security of its neighbouring countries". "India firmly believes that a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to our own people," the statement said. Asserting that the acts of terrorism are the most egregious violations of human rights as they rob their victims of the most fundamental of human rights - the right to life, India said this should be clear to any impartial observer of the issue. "India has been a long-suffering victim of terrorism emanating from our neighbourhood. The fundamental reason for disturbances in Kashmir is cross-border terrorism promoted by Pakistan which is so ruthless that it does not shy away from using civilians and even children by putting them in harms way, at the forefront of violent mobs instigated and supported by their handlers from across the border," it added. The fact that known terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin have been able to hold huge rallies in Pakistan's main cities is a reflection of the state of affairs and can mean only one thing: active support for such personalities and the designated organisations they lead in blatant disregard of rule of law is the new normal in Pakistan, it said. Rather than internationalising issues with India, Pakistan should cleanse itself of its terrorists. The time has come, when the international community needs to address the plethora of human rights concerns in Pakistan because its impact has moved beyond the countys domestic problem and has begun to affect the region and the world at large, the statement said. "We urge this Council to take a holistic view of this threat and not permit the use of terrorism as state policy to be masqueraded as advocacy of human rights," it added. India's statement comes a day after heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir on Sunday, killing 18 jawans. On Monday, Baloch leader Brahumdagh Bugti, founder and leader (in exile) of the Baloch Republican Party decided to announce that he would file an application for asylum to India. The party met in Geneva to take a decision on the issue and briefed the media afterwards. It was announced that the BRP will file criminal cases against the Pakistani army generals at the international criminal court in The Hague. The party will also approach India, Afghanistan or Bangladesh to file case against China at the International Court of Justice. Speaking to journalists, Bugti said, "We have decided that we will formally file asylum papers to Indian Govt. We will start work on it right away. We expect all kind of help from India." Will go to Indian embassy, we will follow the legal process: Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti on filing asylum papers pic.twitter.com/WGFrxYMbyY ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Will take China to International Court of Justice, with help of Bangladesh, Afghanistan & India: Brahamdagh Bugti pic.twitter.com/ZUDYGUYtcF ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Abdul Bugti, Baloch representative, told CNN-News18, "We are going to take help from countries like India and Bangladesh." "We are expecting all kind of help from India: Diplomatic help, moral support. They have highligted the issue in the UN. We hope India also highlights the issue in the UN General Assembly," he said. Talking to Times Now after the meeting, Brahumdagh Bugti said, "We will go ahead with the help of legal advisors on seeking asylum." When asked whether they will stage a protest in New York during the meet between Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US president Barack Obama at the United Nations General Assembly, Brahumdagh Bugti said, "We don't have a big population there. But we do have a few people there. They will do a small demonstration, but they are too little in number. They will try in their maximum capacity to highlight Baloch pride." When asked about Balochistan's expectations from India now that India has declared Paksitan as a terrorist state in light of the Uri attack, he said, "I will request India that they are aware of the Balochistan situation and hence they are responsible for it." As pointed out in an earlier Firstpost article, this announcement is an important diplomatic matter for India. If India decides to provide asylum to Brahumdagh Bugti, then he will go on to become second person to get asylum after Dalai Lama. After the party meet, Baloch activists who arrived from all over Europe staged protests and demonstration in Geneva outside United Nation's offices. Geneva: Protest by Kashmiris, Sindhis and Baloch against Pakistan atrocities pic.twitter.com/tKW7kug2QC ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Brahumdagh is the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti, who died in a military operation in Balochistan in 2006. Earlier, Brahumdagh Bugti told CNN-News18 that people of Balochistan were living in "very terrible conditions" and that the Baloch issue got more attention after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi referred to the rights abuses there. "After Modi's speech (on India's Independence Day) people have started talking about Balochistan," he said. White Plains: Hillary Clinton cast herself Monday as the most qualified to combat terrorism within the US and abroad after weekend attacks in three states rattled Americans. The Democratic presidential candidate touted her national security credentials at a hastily scheduled press conference outside her campaign plane, denigrating rival Donald Trump for using the incidents to make "some kind of demagogic point." "I'm the only candidate in this race who's been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield," Clinton, a former secretary of state, told reporters. "I have sat at that table in the Situation Room." She added: "I know how to do this." New York's governor and mayor said Monday that the bombings in a Manhattan neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town are looking increasingly like acts of terrorism with a foreign connection. Police released a photo of a 28-year-old immigrant wanted for questioning in the blasts. Authorities are also investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a possible act of terrorism. The investigations cast a long shadow over the presidential race, diverting both candidates' plans for the day. Trump was expected to cancel a fundraiser and a town hall meeting in Florida on Monday. He once again took credit for predicting current events, pointing to his Saturday night announcement that a bomb had caused the explosion in New York City. That was before authorities had publicly said so. "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news," he told 'Fox and Friends' in a phone interview. Trump said he believes there's a foreign connection to the attack, though it was unclear how the Republican obtained that information. His campaign declined to say whether it came from a national security briefing. Clinton urged voters not to "get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear from the other side." She insinuated that Islamic militants, particularly those affiliated with IS, are rooting for Trump to win the White House and are using some of his controversial proposals to recruit fighters. The Republican has said he would bar immigration from nations with ties to terrorism. Clinton said the country can meet the attacks in "concert with our values." "We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion," Clinton said. Clinton and her team sees her foreign policy expertise as a key selling point for her candidacy. On the campaign trail, she frequently invokes her role in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, regaling voters with her account of being in the White House's Situation Room alongside President Barack Obama. Clinton will briefly turn her focus from national security later Monday, when she woos younger voters at a Philadelphia university. Her campaign acknowledges they need to do more to get millennials on board. She's scheduled to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Ukraine and Japan later in the day in New York City. The leaders are in New York for the UN General Assembly. The Non-Aligned Movement wrapped up a summit on Sunday in Venezuela with an expression of support for its embattled host, President Nicolas Maduro, and scathing attacks on US "interventionism" around the world. The 120-member group issued a statement at the end of the two-day meeting calling for peace, urging world powers not to meddle in other countries' affairs and voicing concern over violence in Syria, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories. The 190-page document also urges support for "the struggle against terrorism, for solidarity with refugees in northern Africa, and the Venezuelan people's right to peace," Maduro told a press conference. Founded 55 years ago to give a greater voice to countries squeezed in the power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Non-Aligned Movement has struggled to stay relevant since the end of the Cold War. Just a handful of heads of state or government attended the summit on the Caribbean island of Margarita, though organisers did not say exactly how many. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the leaders to skip the summit, although Vice-President Hamid Ansari downplayed the miss. Ansari said there is no shift in India's foreign policy and asserted that it is participation that matters as it is "not a conference of prime ministers". Ansari was the leading Indian delegation for the Summit in the absence of Modi, who was only the second Indian Premier to not go for the conference after Charan Singh in 1979. Miss or not, India made a strong anti-terror pitch at the Summit, asserting that "concrete action" was needed in the fight against terrorism and asked the 120-nation group to set up a mechanism to ensure effective cooperation in combating the menace. Ansari said terrorism is one of the "most egregious sources of human right violations today" and its use as an instrument of state policy is to be unequivocally condemned. The time has come "for our movement to recognise the need for concrete action in the fight against terrorism", Ansari said while addressing the plenary meeting of the bloc. "We need to establish a mechanism within our movement that will ensure effective cooperation in combating terrorism, that is the main threat to security, sovereignty and development," he said. Ansari's remarks came against the backdrop of India raising its concerns at various international fora over Pakistan's support to cross-border terrorism. PM Modi had made clear references to Pakistan's support to terrorism without naming it at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, at a Brics meeting in Hangzhou and at the Asean and East Asia summits in Lao PDR. Describing terrorism as the "biggest threat" to international peace and to the sovereignty of states, Ansari asserted that no cause justifies the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians as a means to achieve a political goal or change of policies. He stated that terrorism has become a major impediment to development. Earlier, during NAM's Foreign Ministers' meeting, Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar had also called on NAM to set up a "working group on terrorism" to safeguard world peace, stability and prosperity. "Governments which think they can pay lip service to sanity at NAM summit, and continue to arm, shelter and exploit terrorists in a war by other means, when they return home will learn that you cannot sip on poison and hope to live," Akbar had said in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Ansari, in his address, also strongly flagged the issue of UN reforms. "Today we need to ask whether an organisation designed in 1945 with just 51 member states, is really appropriate to serve the needs of an international community that now comprises 193 independent sovereign states facing 21st-century challenges to their citizens' well-being and security," he said. World leaders at their Summit at the UN in 2005 had called for urgent reform of the Security Council as part of the effort to make the United Nations fit for the 21st century. The Inter-governmental Negotiations process currently underway in the UN General Assembly seeks to fulfil that mandate. "We must use the forthcoming 71st UNGA to ensure that our discussions in the IGN move forward," Ansari said. Noting that the global landscape has changed since 1961, when NAM was formed, Ansari stressed that the values and principles on which the foundations of the movement, namely "respect for sovereignty", "peaceful settlement of disputes" and "international cooperation" are as relevant today as they were at the time of the first summit. "Our theme for the next three years Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development is in congruence with our founding principles," he said. Sustainable Development Goals in the Agenda 2030 which, if implemented successfully, will transform the lives of all citizens, the Vice President said. He said it would be a reaffirmation of the commitment as a movement to ensure the dignity and development of all humankind. Noting that NAM has stood steadfastly in the forefront by highlighting global economic issues that affect the developing world, he said the member states must ensure wholehearted and holistic implementation of the SDGs and remain attentive to any effort to modify or distort Agenda 2030 by laying overemphasis on particular SDGs over others, or by trying to create a standard of measurement that could be intrusive and has no relationship to national contexts. Concluding his address, Ansari said as the largest peace movement in the world, NAM must be in the vanguard of the principal international debates on political, strategic and even economic and social issues. Meanwhile, continuing its efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue, Pakistan raised the matter at the summit, saying the 120-nation group should be "outraged" by the situation there. Sartaj Aziz, in his address here as the Pakistan delegation head, said peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council. "It is tragic that 60 years after being promised, the people of Jammu and Kashmir are still waiting to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and Kashmir along with Palestine has become one of the longstanding items on the UN agenda," Aziz said. "We should also be outraged by the horrific images of innocent Kashmiris being killed, maimed and blinded by the use of boot force in Kashmir in the last two months," he said. Aziz also stated that Pakistan strongly endorses the agreement of heads of state and government in Venezuela to undertake measures to oppose "attempts to equate legitimate struggle for self-determination and national liberation with terrorism". His comments came on a day when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a terror attack on an army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir by suspected Pakistan-based militants. With inputs from agencies New York: An Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was taken into custody Monday after a shootout with police in New Jersey, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. WABC-TV footage showed a man believed to be 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher in Linden, New Jersey. He appeared to be conscious and looking around. The law enforcement official, who was not authorised to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said two officers were shot in the gun battle. The arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami, a naturalised US citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Authorities said the blasts were looking increasingly like an act of terrorism with a foreign connection. Police did not disclose how they zeroed in on Rahami but were known to be poring over surveillance video. At the same time, five people who were pulled over in a vehicle Sunday night were being questioned by the FBI, officials said. The shootout came after a weekend of fear and dread in New York and New Jersey. In addition to the blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, an unexploded pressure cooker bomb was found blocks away, and a pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town before a charity race. No one was injured there. On Sunday, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Also on Saturday, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Authorities have not drawn any connection between the violence in Minnesota and the bombings in the New York area. Citing the FBI, New Jersey State Police said Monday that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said as investigators gathered information, they learned there were "certain commonalities among the bombs," leading authorities to believe "that there was a common group behind the bombs." Before Rahami's capture, Cuomo said investigators have no reason to believe there are further threats, but the public should "be on constant guard." Early Monday, FBI agents swarmed an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth that is tied to Rahami. The Rahami family lives in the apartment. The restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, is owned by Rahami's father and has also employed some of his brothers, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said. He said Rahami's father and two brothers sued the city after it passed an ordinance requiring the restaurant to close early because of complaints from neighbors about it being a late-night nuisance. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Rahami working there more. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," McCann said. In the immediate aftermath of the New York bombing, de New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo were careful to say there was no evidence of a link to international terrorism. Both said Monday that appeared to be changing. "The more we learn with each passing hour is it looks more like terrorism," de Blasio said in an interview on NY1 News. Cuomo said on MSNBC: "Today's information suggests it may be foreign-related, but we'll see where it goes." On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped "a vehicle of interest" in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She wouldn't provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the investigation. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. Cellphones were discovered at the site of both the New York and New Jersey bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn't authorized to comment on the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The pipe bomb that exploded Saturday in Seaside Park went off before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was canceled. One of the five devices found at the Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. No one was hurt. President Barack Obama said that the country is extremely fortunate because nobody was killed in the bombings. He also said that he has spoken to the governors of New Jersey and New York and pledged all needed federal assistance. However, he also said that he saw no connection of the blasts with the stabbings in Minnesota. Islamabad: The Pakistani military is "closely monitoring regional developments" and is ready to meet any direct or indirect threats, army chief General Raheel Sharif said on Monday. Addressing a Corps Commanders conference in Rawalpindi, the General made no specific reference to the Sunday attack on an Indian Army camp that left 18 soldiers dead. India has blamed Pakistan for the bloodbath. Islamabad has denied the charge. The Express Tribute quoted Gen Sharif as saying: "We are fully cognisant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan." He expressed satisfaction over the operational readiness of the Pakistan Army. "The armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to the entire spectrum of direct and indirect threats." The military's media wing said the external and internal security situation and operational preparedness of the army were reviewed at the Rawalpindi meeting. "Pakistan's armed forces ... will thwart any sinister design against the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan," a statement quoted the army chief as saying. The army chief's remarks came after Sartaj Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's senior aide, said the Sunday attack was an attempt on New Delhi's part to deflect attention from the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. Aziz said it was particularly deplorable that India chose to blame Pakistan for the killing of the 18 soldiers before carrying out a formal investigation. "The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up India's reign of terror in (Kashmir)," he said. India-Pakistan relations have plunged to a new low in recent times, after Islamabad came out openly in support of mass protests in Jammu and Kashmir following the 8 July killing of a militant commander. Moscow: Russia on Monday condemned the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said it is "concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base was attacked from Pakistani territory". In a statement, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the "criminal act" should be investigated properly and that "its organisers and perpetrators be held accountable". "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack against an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of 18 September, which killed 17 and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured," the statement said, according to the Russian Embassy in Delhi. "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. "We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counter-terrorism efforts," it said. The Uri attack could be an inflection point for India, its relationship with Pakistan and the geopolitical future of south Asia. Or it could be just another deep cut inflicted by a rogue neighbour that enjoys provoking New Delhi secure in the knowledge that India shall remain forever trapped in the delusion of being a "great, responsible power" that in reality can do little beyond spewing empty rhetoric followed by routine pusillanimity. There is little doubt that whichever outfit may have fronted it, the audacious terrorist strike on Sunday morning at the Indian Army headquarters in Uri that claimed the lives of 17 soldiers and wounded another 19 was carried out by the Pakistani deep state. Initial reports emerging out of New Delhi confirm the suspicion. Armys director general of military operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh was quoted as saying by Livemint that "all four killed were foreign terrorists and had some items with them which had Pakistani markings Slain terrorists belong to Jaish-e-Mohammed Tanzeem (militant group). Four AK-47 rifles and four under-barrel grenade launchers along with a large number of other war-like stores were recovered from them." While Pakistani hand behind the terrorist attack isn't surprising, the timing of the offensive certainly is. The act of war against Indian state comes at a time when heads of governments are scheduled to meet at the United Nations General Assembly starting on Monday. At first glance, Pakistan's move to sponsor a terrorist attack on Indian soil when its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is raising Kashmir issue at UN may appear counter-productive. On the contrary, it is a brilliant move. Islamabad, or more correctly the army apparatus in Rawalpindi, is gambling on the well-considered possibility that the Uri attack will goad India into a knee-jerk response that it may then exploit to its advantage to go with its narrative of "Indian oppression in Kashmir". Given the fact that the West would surely try to defuse the tension between the nuclear neighbours would mean that India would be at the receiving end of global pressure to "show restraint" and "act responsibly". Lectures to such effect were already being administered by United States commentators on Sunday evening. With Uri and Pathankot, Pakistan has now launched two audacious operations against India in this year alone, apart from the regular infiltration attempts across LoC. These ops are part of its "zero-risk" strategy because the nuclear umbrella and India's self-imposed 'no first-use' doctrine provide Pakistan with a secure cover from which it may cock repeated snooks at New Delhi's superior military might. So what shall be India's response? The first thing to understand is that India has a wide range of options to retaliate against Pakistan and it need not be caught in the false duality of "restraint" or "war". This is exactly what Pakistan is banking on and we must catch them on the wrong foot. As a first step, India must call Pakistan's nuclear bluff. For far too long have we allowed a comparatively much smaller, economically weak and a malicious, irresponsible, failed rogue state to hold us to ransom over the nuclear bogey. We have suffered repeated humiliations and debilitating injuries. Pakistan's nuclear gambit revolves around a first-use threat. But the point is, Islamabad won't dare to cross the final threshold because a retaliatory strike from India will simply wipe it away. Therefore, India must take the strategic initiative away from Pakistan. We cannot afford to indefinitely defend ourselves against a nation that uses terrorism as state policy and has launched an unconventional, proxy war against us. In absence of an effective deterrent, we have opened ourselves to a never-ending assault. Fidayeen strikes like the one at Pathankot or Uri are notoriously difficult to prevent because there shall always remain a weak spot or two which the enemy can exploit. Hence the only way India can prevent future attacks from happening is by launching a coordinated politico-military offensive against a country which only understands the language of violence. History tells us that only when Pakistan gets a bloody nose that it learns to behave. Hence the Indian action must be concentrated on these areas. On the military front, take a proactive stance and launch counter-ops to demolish terror-training camps across the LoC using local intelligence inputs. If India doesn't have the courage or conviction to act in self-defence then it will be foolish to expect that the world would respect our viewpoint. But this military option must be part of a larger diplomatic offensive. India must isolate Pakistan globally, lobby hard to make it a pariah nation and call for debilitating sanctions. India must work to bring Pakistan to its knees. Why would the world sing along with us? They would because in this game of diplomatic offensive, India's biggest weapon is its population and demography. This will be the only language the global powers will understand because, in the world of strategic affairs, decisions are taken based on domestic interests, not lofty ideals. Nobody would support India if we simply throw our arms around and call for sanctions. But if we were to tell the US that arms deals will be off if they don't play ball with us, Uncle Sam would be more favourably disposed. With Brexit, Britain is ripe for the picking for such pressure because it needs access to the Indian market. And this strategy may pay off, albeit with varying degrees of success, even with European nations. As Marianne Wade, Almir Maljevic write in their book War on Terror, "Since 2002 the European Union has systematically inserted anti-terrorism clauses into trade cooperation and association agreements with third countries". We may find resonance on economic blockade against Pakistan even from Islamabad-backers China if we leverage Beijing's trade surplus with us. Asia's great power uses Pakistan as a cheap deterrent against India's economic ambitions. With Beijing heavily invested in Gwadar through CPEC, it wouldn't want to risk a destabilisation of borders. Additionally, we must bypass Pakistan in Saarc, diplomatically isolate them and have a blanket ban on all bilateral interactions. From a display of hard power to flexing its soft-power muscle, layered alternatives are available with India. Let's junk this policy of turning the other cheek when slapped by Pakistan. It is now emphatically clear that Pakistans generals are in no mood for peace with India. Coming eight months after an attack on IAFs Pathankot base, Sundays attack in Uri that led to 20 soldiers being killed, is one of the opening scenes of a well-choreographed plan thrashed out in Rawalpindi GHQ. There are indications that Pakistans army wants to provoke the Indian leadership to sanction military action. In January, the Modi government was not provoked by the attack on Pathankot base. Instead, it sought to enlist Pakistani help to isolate or name the non-state actor behind that attack. However, another attack like the one in Uri that has led to the death of the highest number of soldiers in 17 years is bound to test Indias patience. Pakistans military has been informed that weapons found on killed terrorists in Uri had Pakistani markings. Fingers point to the role of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a handmaiden of Pakistan's army. The attack on Uri camp comes in the backdrop of Kashmir Valley protests and Pakistans decision to run a high-voltage campaign in world capitals to highlight Indias alleged occupation of Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to support Balochistans independence has further riled Pakistans military and government. In the coming week, the two countries will fight it out at the UN General Assembly where Nawaz Sharif will blame Indias human rights record in Kashmir and demand the right to self-determination in Indian Kashmir. Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will expose Pakistans backing and support for terrorism in India and rest of South Asia, apart from highlighting Pakistans occupation of Gilgit and Baltistan. Rising temperatures in India-Pakistan relations suit Pakistans generals. They have been wary of Indias growing relations with Afghanistan and Iran. Last week, visiting Afghan president Ashraf Ghani while addressing a think-tank in New Delhi spoke at length on how Pakistan was patronising terror groups on its soil to attack his own country and India. The Nawaz-Modi detente was frowned upon by the army, which has now capitalised on protests in the Valley to push forward the Kashmir issue globally. While western powers particularly, the US government, have become more vocal about Pakistans support to terrorism in India and Afghanistan, Islamabad has gone into overdrive to highlight protests in the Valley and seek Indias condemnation by world powers. For the past two months, Pakistans civilian government was egged on by generals to take an aggressive stance towards protests in parts of Kashmir and spread anti-India venom across the globe. Tainted by the Panama Papers revelations that he and his family owned foreign bank accounts, Nawaz found that Kashmir would be a handy issue to divert their attention. Pakistans government, media and civil society used the two-month-old protests in Kashmir Valley as a handy tool to divert attention from the internal security situation in their country. On Sunday, a section of the Pakistani media was quick to hint that India was behind the Uri camp attack as it sought to divert attention from the developments in Indian Kashmir. Pakistans Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has been very vocal in his support to protestors in the Kashmir Valley. On 7 September, he called Kashmir 'Pakistans lifeline' and said, We shall continue our diplomatic and moral support to the freedom movement at all levels. Raheel, one of Pakistans most popular army chiefs is due to retire in November. There is much speculation over his next move after he publicly denied seeking an extension of tenure. There are reports that Nawaz, on his return from the UN General Assembly, will seek Raheels nod for his successors name. Rising temperatures in India-Pakistan relations suit Pakistans generals Daily Times has reported that Raheel has chosen Lieutenant-General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who led the massive 10 Corps that has the responsibility of the LoC and has extensive experience of serving in Pakistan-held Kashmir to be his successor. A Kashmir-centric strategy will stay as the focal point of the relationship between India and Pakistan. Rawalpindis patronage of good terrorists to create further violence in the Kashmir Valley and attack the Indian military will continue with greater zeal in the coming months. India-Pakistan relations are set to worsen as Pakistans generals become more determined to foment trouble in India. The Modi government will be hard-pressed to tackle the evolving situation as pressure grows for taking revenge on Pakistan, while internationally there is pressure on New Delhi to not get provoked. A day after heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in north Kashmir's Uri, killing at least 17 soldiers and injuring 10 other personnel, India-Pakistan relations are at an all-time low yet again. And as leaders and sections of the media in India blamed Pakistan for the one of the worst terror attacks on the Indian Army, Pakistani media also lashed out at Indian authorities, claiming that the Uri attack was "staged" and trying to shift the focus from the Uri terror attack to the Kashmir unrest. Perhaps the most caustic remarks against India were made in an article in The News International titled 'Uri attack is an addition to RAW failures'. Apart from claiming that the Uri terror attack was staged, the article also spewed vitriol at Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). "The Indian political and security establishment is notorious for designing bizarre pseudo operations so that it could defame Pakistan in the eyes of the world," said the article. The article also focused on the timing of the Uri attack and claimed that "New Delhi explicitly wishes to dilute the effects of Nawaz Sharifs speech at the United Nations". What the article conveniently ignores, however, is that similar allegations can be made against Pakistan when it comes to the timing of the attack. As this Firstpost article points out, Pakistan could benefit from the timing of the assault because this terror attack could shift focus of other countries to the Kashmir unrest, an issue which Pakistan has always wanted to highlight in the global arena. The News International article also suggested that the Pathankot terror attack was also staged, something which Pakistan has also suggested in the past. Ironically, Pakistan government had come under fire from the opposition which accused it of hiding the details of the probe into Pakistani nationals' involvement in the Pathankot terror attack, prompting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to announce that the findings would be made public, according to PTI. The Express Tribune had reported that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senator Farhatullah Babar had accused the Pakistani government of misleading the Senate by deliberately concealing information from them and went to the extent of alleging that the government was patronising militants. What was shocking, however, was that The News International article even suggested that the 2008 Mumbai terror attack was also staged. "The November 26, 2008 Mumbai attack is yet another candid example of Indian false flag operations," it said. Yet another article in The News International stated that sources in the Pakistani security establishment said that the Uri attack was "a Pathankot-like Indian-staged drama to trumpet its terrorism mantra against Pakistan" and the battalion headquarters in Uri was "chosen deliberately to antagonise the Sikhs from supporting the Muslims struggle in Kashmir". The Pakistani media's claims that India would stage an operation against its own army personnel who are responsible for the security of the nation is perhaps the most significant evidence of the jingoistic and biased way in which it covered the Uri attack. Unlike the allegation that the Uri attack was staged by India, the allegation that the attackers were Pakistan-based terrorists is backed by substantial evidence. According to CNN-News18, the terrorists carried weapons and ammunition with Pakistani markings. They also reportedly carried candy made by United Traders, Karachi. General Officer Commanding (GoC) of Army's 15 Corps Lt General Subrata Saha had also said on Sunday that there was enough evidence to show that the terrorists who carried out the Uri attack were supported by Pakistani establishment and were highly trained for special operations. "The markings on the warlike and logistic stores whether it is food, ammunition, medicines or clothes, clearly indicates that they were of Pakistani manufactured and origin. The terrorists were heavily armed and they had enough food to last several days," he had said. Another report in Dawn said that home minister Rajnath Singh "immediately" blamed Pakistan for the attack and then quickly shifted the focus to the violent protests in Jammu and Kashmir. "Almost daily protests against the Indian rule and Indias ruthless use of force to stop the protests have drawn international attention, causing almost every major human rights organisation to demand access to the Valley," said the report. The report also talked about how India is expected to raise the Balochistan issue in the United Nations General Assembly and said that Pakistan was likely to respond by claiming that it was India, in fact, which was "responsible for promoting militancy in Balochistan". It is ironic that the report does not mention the fact that India has made similar allegations against Pakistan when it comes to the Kashmir issue. Pakistan has always criticised India for the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir but India has said that it is Pakistan which is sponsoring terrorism in the Valley. "Our neighbour is conspiring to disturb the situation in the Kashmir Valley in the name of the religion," Rajnath Singh had earlier said. Another article in Dawn said that "Indias automatic blaming of Pakistan for major violence in that country is very much a part of the problem." Similar words were used against India in a report in The Express Tribune, which called India's allegations against Pakistan a "knee-jerk reaction". Another article in Pakistan Observer titled 'Also expose Indian interference at UNGA' said, "India misses no opportunity to malign Pakistan at international forums and for this purpose resorts to all sort of rhetoric and baseless allegations. It is time for Pakistan to veraciously expose the double face of India." While certain sections of the Indian media did indeed spew vitriol against Pakistan, these articles show that certain sections in the Pakistani media are also as nasty and jingoistic, if not more. As Akshaya Mishra writes in this Firstpost article, "To handle the matter, the (Indian) government requires a policy more than rhetoric. And every policy requires a sense of discretion. Those involved must display it by keeping the bunch of chest-thumping patriots out of the scene." Maybe Pakistan needs to adopt the same attitude. With inputs from agencies Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has maintained her lead over Republican rival Donald Trump in a four-way matchup, according to a latest national poll. Clinton is beating Trump 42 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, according to a Morning Consult poll. She leads Trump among registered voters by 1 percentage point, 39 percent to 38 percent, Politico reported on Sunday. Before her bout with pneumonia - and near collapse in public - Clinton was up 41-39. The new poll suggested that Clinton might be winning back voters from third-party candidate Gary Johnson, whose support has declined from 10 per cent to 8 per cent. Forty-three per cent of Republicans said that Trump was not the best pick to be the party's nominee, while 41 per cent of Democrats suggested the same of Clinton, a stunning level of regret in the electorate with 51 days until Election Day. Half of Republicans said Trump was the party's best pick, while 55 per cent of Democrats said the same of Clinton, Politico noted. According to the poll, over one-third of Clinton's supporters say they are voting against Trump, and 44 percent of Trump's voters say they were voting against Clinton. Still, 47 percent of those polled think Clinton will win in November, and 33 per cent said Trump will. Last month, 53 per cent thought Clinton would be the next president. The survey polled 1,639 likely voters and 1,861 registered voters online, on September 15 and 16. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. TWIN FALLS 2016 is shaping up to be one of those rare years when both cool season and warm season grain crops are excellent. While silage corn harvest is just getting started, early indications are that both quality and yield will be better than last year. Even though the crop is a bit behind last year. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 64 percent of Idahos corn crop was dented as of Sept. 12, 22 percentage points behind last year at the same time. Denting is an indication of maturity so its no surprise that the maturity rating is also behind last years pace, 22 percent compared to 35 percent. Growers have harvested about a quarter of the crop, behind last year when nearly a third of the crop had already been chopped but still ahead of the five-year average of just one-fifth in a pit. Even though the crop got off to a fast start, Rick Speicher is not concerned about crop ratings that indicate the crop is behind last years numbers. We had a very warm April, and March, when we planted corn and it grew like crazy, explained the district sales manager with Winfield Solutions. But then temperatures moderated. Between April 1 and Sept. 14, heat units this year are down about 5 percent compared to 2015. Last year was the highest ever (in terms of heat units). This year were closer to the five- or ten-year average, he added. Those more mild temperatures helped the crop to grow aggressively, which is helping to boost grain content within the silage corn but is slowing maturity somewhat. This crop is going to be full of grain, Speicher said. Its a beautiful crop. He hopes growers who look see that this years crop is slightly behind last years pace will take another look at planting a few fields of shorter day corn. Many growers prefer to plant all their fields to mid- or long-season corn hybrids that historically have had higher yields. But plant breeders are changing that outlook. Speicher just harvested his first silage plots of the 2016 season. The plots were planted on May 3 in the Burley area and were harvested on September 12. The 103-day corn was harvested at an average of 71 percent moisture but there was a 3 point difference in moisture across the field. The plots that were harvested at 72.4 percent moisture yielded three tons less silage (on a green basis) than those harvested at 69.8 percent moisture, even though the hybrid was the same. More importantly, in Speichers opinion, was that the plots with the higher moisture had a lower starch content. For every 1 percentage point of moisture, the silage lost 1.2 points of starch. For those plots, that worked out to a third-of-a-ton difference between the plots with the higher moisture content (3.34 tons of starch per acre) and the lower moisture (3.66 tons per acre). Based on todays corn prices, that difference is worth about $50 per acre for the additional starch. The more starch you put in the pit, the less starch you have to buy, Speicher said. Many growers plant 103-day hybrids and often begin harvesting a few fields when the moisture content is around 70 percent. Fields continue to mature throughout harvest so by the time they finish, the moisture content is down around 63 percent. Thats considered a good moisture content for ensiling corn. But if growers would plant some short season hybrids, like a 95-day corn, those fields would mature quicker and allow silage harvest to begin at the proper moisture content. Although the 95-day corn in his plots was about a foot shorter than the 103-day corn, it was already down to 64 percent moisture and yielded 39.8 tons per acre on a dry matter basis. More importantly, the starch yield was 5.17 tons per acre (43.4 percent compared to an average of 32.9 percent for the 103-day hybrid). That difference represents about a $200 savings in starch purchases later. While the Idaho corn crop is rated at 94 percent good-to-excellent, just 74 percent of the nations crop earned the same rating. Thats still ahead 6 percentage points ahead of the 2015 crop. Forecasters with the U.S. Department of Agriculture dropped their estimates for the 2016 corn crop by about 60 million bushels after shaving 0.7 bushels per acre off the expected yield to 174.4 bushel per acre. This crop is going to be full of grain. Its a beautiful crop. Rich Speicher, district sales manager with Winfield Solutions MOLINE, Ill. Deere & Company and The Climate Corporation said they plan to contest legal action announced today by the U.S. Department of Justice that seeks to block Deeres acquisition of Precision Planting. In November, Deere and The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, announced they had signed a definitive agreement for Deere to acquire the Precision Planting LLC equipment business, and the companies cooperated fully with DOJs antitrust review. DOJs allegations about the competitive impacts of the transaction are misguided and the companies intend to defend the transaction vigorously against those allegations. Deere has long been focused on helping American farmers become more efficient and productive so that they can remain globally competitive. The proposed acquisition benefits farmers by accelerating the development and delivery of new precision equipment solutions that help farmers increase yield and productivity. Competition in precision agriculture is strong and growing in all of these channels as companies around the world continue developing new technologies. The acquisition will enable broader access to these advancements by ensuring farmers the choice to either buy new machinery or retrofit older planting equipment with the latest new innovations. When the transaction is finalized, Deere will preserve Precision Plantings independence in order to ensure innovation and speed-to-market and will invest in additional innovation efforts at Precision Planting to benefit customers. FAIR OAKS, Ind. American Humane, the countrys first national humane organization, announced that Indianas popular agritourism attraction, The Pig Adventure at Fair Oaks Farms, has achieved certification under the American Humane Certified farm animal welfare program. The program uses rigorous, science-based standards-verified through independent, third-party audits-to ensure the welfare of animals on certified farms. This is the first time American Humane is certifying an agricultural education center dedicated to showing consumers how their food is raised in modern production systems, said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane. In achieving this certification, Fair Oaks Farms demonstrates its ethics-driven commitment to transparent and demonstrably excellent farm animal welfare standards. We applaud The Pig Adventure at Fair Oaks Farms for voluntarily stepping forward to undergo rigorous auditing to earn the American Humane Certified seal of approval. This is a historic day for American animal agriculture as we celebrate the marriage of the human treatment of animals and 21st-century pig farming, said Jon Hoek, vice president of pig production at Fair Oaks Farms. We praise the leadership of Dr. Robin Ganzert and American Humane for upholding objective, science-based standards, which now confirm that Fair Oaks Farms is a responsible steward of the animals under its care at The Pig Adventure. Our American Humane Certification is good news for pigs, people, and the growing population of consumers that depend on us for ethically raised, affordable protein. TWIN FALLS When Russ Fulcher ran for governor in 2014, he carried the Republican primary vote in Idahos most populated counties. But he lost big in the Magic Valley, and incumbent C.L. Butch Otters lopsided margins among south-central Idahos Republicans helped to guarantee his win. Fulcher, a former state senator from Meridian, has already declared he is running for governor in 2018, and he doesnt want to run into the same problem again. Were starting things off here, Fulcher told the Times-News on Wednesday, on a trip through the Magic Valley. Were putting infrastructure in here. So far, the only announced candidates for governor are Republicans Fulcher and Lt. Gov. Brad Little. Little announced his plans to run at the end of June, and Fulcher followed suit in late August. Otter is in his third term as governor and has said he is not seeking another. Fulcher got almost 44 percent of the primary vote when he ran against Otter from the right in 2014, and he carried eight counties including Ada, Canyon and Kootenai, the states most populous. Otter got between 60 and 80 percent of the vote in the Magic Valleys counties, getting 51 percent of the GOP primary vote overall and beating Fulcher by about 12,000 votes statewide. Fulcher said he doesnt see a policy reason he should do worse here than elsewhere in the state. He said he had a relatively short time to campaign when he last ran about six months from the time he announced to Election Day. He was still the Senate Majority Caucus chairman in 2014, so for the first few months of the year his time was divided between the campaign and serving in the Legislature. We had to go from ground zero to being a contender in a really short length of time, he said. In the video he posted on Facebook announcing his candidacy, Fulcher talks up his background in government and business he worked for Micron for 20 years, was in the Senate for 10 and works in commercial real estate. He also talks about his policy views and what he saw while in the Senate, decrying the influence of campaign donors on state policy and the states dependence on federal dollars and blaming the costs of the Affordable Care Act and high underemployment for Idaho having lower wages than most states. Fulcher opposed the creation of a state health insurance exchange, which Otter supported, and this was one of the issues in the 2014 race. Fulcher said Wednesday that he views state management of the more than 60 percent of the states land that is owned by the federal government as key to reducing underemployment. He said that, as federal regulations on land use have increased, traditional industries like logging and mining have suffered and more people have gotten lower-paying jobs in the service industry. Whoever controls the resources controls your destiny ... and we do not control our resources here, he said. Fulcher said a change in management wont happen overnight, but the state needs to come up with a plan to achieve it if its going to happen at all. There needs to be a long-term plan to very strategically and wisely shift some of the management from the federal government to the local areas, he said. Fulcher also said he would like to see a plan developed by Idahos business and educational leaders coordinating the labor needs of industries in different parts of the state the software industry in the Treasure Valley, agriculture and biotechnology in the Magic Valley, resource-based industries in northern Idaho with programs at the states colleges and universities. TWIN FALLS Should there be some changes at Bridgeview Boulevard/Fillmore Street and Blue Lakes Boulevard? On Monday, the City Council will consider whether to tell the mayor to sign a letter asking for the Idaho Transportation Departments participation in evaluating the intersection and looking at possible changes to improve traffic flow at this busy intersection near the Perrine Bridge. Recently, citizens and City staff have observed increased delays in traffic flow at this intersection, particularly by motorists who are attempting to complete left turn maneuvers onto Blue Lakes Boulevard, says the draft letter included in the City Council packet. City staff believes that this may be caused by discomfort in judging the gap because of the large distance across Blue Lakes. Blue Lakes is a state highway, and the city is not authorized to modify the signal equipment at the intersection without ITD approval, according to a memo from City Engineer Jackie Fields attached to the Council agenda. There is no cost associated with the request at this time, although there could be down the road if there ends up being any design work or reconstruction of the intersection. Before the regular meeting starts at 5 p.m., the Council plans to meet at Joslin Field Magic Valley Regional Airport at 3:30 p.m. to tour the progress on the terminal construction project. Among other agenda items, the Council is also scheduled to: vote on a request to confirm Brad Workman for a second term on the Airport Advisory Board, and authorize city staff to enter into negotiations with Civil Science Inc., on developing the Transportation Master Plan 2016. The regular meeting will be held in the City Council Chambers, 305 Third Ave. East. The agenda and related materials are available online through the citys website, tfid.org. TWIN FALLS Emma Allred was losing her hair to chemo when her mother, Nina Allred, asked Emma a question. Well, now that your hair is starting to fall out, do you want to just go ahead and shave it? They had already cut it down to a bob, but as her treatments continued, Emma had some long, stubborn pieces of hair determined not to fall out. With all the sincerity and sass of a 10-year-old, Emma looked her mom dead in the eye and said: No. Im leaving it because it drives you crazy. Its been three years since her diagnosis of mixed germ cell cancer, but it hasnt stopped Emma from smiling, laughing and simply being a kid. Emma does things her own way. When Make-A-Wish gave her the opportunity to have a wish granted, she did that her own way, too. Instead of a shopping spree or a trip to an amusement park, shes using it to help others. On Oct. 1, at City Park, Emmas wish will come true with Emmas Incredible Wish Celebration a food drive to benefit local shelters. Even with all that life has thrown at her, Emma has taken it on herself to help the homeless, both young and old, in Twin Falls. Its a wish that is perfectly Emma, and one that she hopes the community will rally behind. The diagnosis Just a few days after the Allred family arrived back from a family trip to Disney World, Emma wasnt feeling her best. She had spent the last week in Florida feeling unwell, and several weeks before that she had what she assumed to be the flu. Her stomach ached, her appetite was low, she was running a fever and just felt terrible. First thing Monday morning Nina called the doctor. While she waited for the phone call to confirm an appointment, Nina pressed on Emmas stomach to see if she was tender. I felt the mass and I said Im not waiting, Im taking her to the emergency room, Nina said. One look at the CT scan and the doctors were certain of two things. The mass was large and needed to be removed. And the hospital did not have the capabilities to handle a possible cancer patient of Emmas age. Almost 12 hours and an ambulance ride later, Emma and Nina arrived at the University of Southern Alabama Childrens and Womens Hospital in Mobile. I remember the first night we were there the two nurses came in and they had to draw blood. One of the nurses asked if she had a favorite song or kind of music that she likes, Nina said. I just said Christian music, and immediately she knew a song and was singing it. I just knew that the Lord had us in the right place. That was His way of telling us that Im here and Im taking care of you guys. By Wednesday of that week, Emma had surgery to remove a mass that encased an ovary, as well as one in her abdomen the size of a tissue box. Doctors initially thought it was a teratoma-type tumor, meaning it was benign. But during a biopsy, doctors learned Emma had a mixed germ cell tumor, a kind found in only one percent of patients her age. The silver lining, however, was that this type of cancer had a high probability of being cured. That wasnt the case for the tissue box-sized tumor in her abdomen. It was a yolk sac tumor, one of the more aggressive forms of cancer. I felt horrible as a mom that I could have a child that has a tumor the size of a tissue box and not know about it, Nina said. We asked them if its aggressive, how long would it take for something that size to get there. Does it take a couple years, does it take a few months? They said that size with a yolk sack it could have formed in just a few weeks. Treatment started almost immediately. Emma endured three months of chemotherapy with three different kinds of chemo. It was a tough three months. One chemo treatment required a nurse with life support on standby in case of a life-threatening reaction. But Emma never wavered in her optimism. Sitting there watching her, Nina said, you would never know that these chemicals were being pumped into her body. Her final treatment was Dec. 18, 2013. She was fortunate enough to spend Christmas with friends and family. It was a bittersweet time. Many family members didnt know how much time they had left with Emma, but it was a welcomed escape for her after the grueling chemo treatments. Emma was cancer free for a year-and-a-half before a routine visit sparked concern. In July 2015 doctors discovered another large tumor that had surrounded itself around her reproductive organs and colon. That October, she had surgery and the tumor was successfully removed without the need to remove any of her organs. Now, at 13, Emma has set her sights on a new goal, one that will be made possible with the help of Make-A-Wish Idaho. A wish to give When it came time for Emma to be granted her wish through Make-A-Wish, she had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do. Her siblings and mom, however, had their own ideas. Most people, including myself, feel that my if I ever got a wish like this, it would not be to think of others, it would be What would I want to do? You know? Nina said. Her siblings tried to get her to get something for herself. We suggested a shopping spree, electronics, a Disney trip. But she didnt want any of that. No, Emma decided that with her wish, she wanted to give back to the community that she has called home for just two years through a food drive. It was an idea that has humbled her mother and helped gain the respect of her friends. Emma is a very giving child. She loves to help. Shes very eager to help with things when she sees a situation available, Nina said. She is usually quiet and keeps to herself, but she wants to help and be involved. This cause has her wanting to get the word out so as many people as possible know what she hopes to do. Of course, Emma cant take all the credit for her idea. I asked the Lord to help me pick my wish and He told me to help the homeless, Emma said. Theres a verse in the Bible, I dont remember what it is, but it says, roughly, that the greatest among you becomes the youngest, and the youngest among you becomes the one who serves. This trust in her faith and her caring spirit helped her come up with the perfect plan, one that Nancy Murphy, one of Emmas Make-A-Wish volunteers, praises highly. She has such a kind heart to want to help the community, Murphy said. It will be amazing when we see what, hopefully, will be all the cans and all the things that will help people have meals. And thats just what she plans to do. Guests of Emmas Incredible Wish Celebration are encouraged to bring canned goods to City Park from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 1 to help the local homeless shelters stock their pantries, and also to bring their own hearty appetite. Emma, her family and her Make-A-Wish volunteers will be serving hot dogs, cotton candy and popcorn to all of those who come. There will also be music, face painting, and the Twin Falls Walk For Wishes, the annual walk to help raise funds for Idaho wish kids. The original plan for Emmas wish was to make bags for the homeless shelters that included important items, but with the help of Make-A-Wish and local shelters, Emma and Nina realized a food drive would work best. Emma knows that none of this could be made possible without support of her community, which is why she is viewing this celebration as a sort of reunion. When we first met Emma, when she first told us about her wish, she phrased it beautifully, said Bev Stone, one of Emmas Make-A-Wish volunteers. She said, Id like to have a community family reunion. Thats what makes her so magnificent. It should come to no surprise that Emma has a secret to her overflowing, and seemingly infinite, supply of optimism: 1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Which is why Emmas one piece of advice to those struggling with similar situations is pretty simple: Read the Bible, because you can find the answers to any of your problems there. No matter your faith or belief, its clear: Emma has a heart and a generous spirit that is far beyond her years. I asked the Lord to help me pick my wish and he told me to help the homeless. Emma Allred TWIN FALLS Watching The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition for many families in the Magic Valley. And for some, that tradition includes bringing their children to auditions in the hopes of landing a role in the classic story. Julie Schnorr used to take her daughters to watch The Nutcracker ballet for years. But these days, Julie is usually watching them from the audience as they share the stage with professional dancers. About 60 girls and boys attended auditions for the Eugene Ballet Companys The Nutcracker Thursday at the College of Southern Idaho Fine Arts Center. Camille Barigar, fine arts special events coordinator, said this years numbers were nearly double the amount of local dancers who auditioned last year. The Nutcracker will be performed Nov. 30 at CSI, and tickets are on sale now. Julie choked up a little as she stood in the foyer of the Fine Arts Center. She could still recall the feeling of pride as she watched her daughters dance in the ballet for the first time. It just makes you feel proud, Julie said. I just love The Nutcracker. Its so Christmasy and its a tradition. For more than 20 years, the Eugene Ballet Company has come to Twin Falls to cast local children into its holiday show. Julie brushed youngest daughter Audrey Schnorrs hair into a bun before her baby mice audition. Julie danced when she was a young girl, she said, but wasnt as good as her daughters. The final touch was a cloud of hairspray Julie swept across Audreys head. Im excited because I like being in The Nutcracker, Audrey said. Audrey had two roles last year as an angel and a mouse because not as many children auditioned. This year, with more people auditioning, competition would be a lot stiffer. Lucy Schnorr, 10, stepped in front of her mother next. Her blond hair was quickly brushed into bun like her sisters. This was Lucys third year auditioning and she wasnt nervous at all. Shake your head, Julie said. Does that feel tight? Yes, it does, Lucy said. Inside the auditorium, Jennifer Martin, ballet mistress, had a line of little dancers dressed in pink tights and black leotards jump and touch her hand while squeaking. Then they did the choreography again. Scurry onto the stage, Martin said as she led the line. Shh, no noise. Were spreading out across the stage. They stretched their arms into the air and jumped and touched Martins hand while squeaking. Audrey was the last mouse in the line and instead of making a squeaking sound, she turned around and roared like a lion just like Martin instructed her to do. Next, students hoping to land roles as angels took the stage. A little girl at the end of the line started crying. Are you nervous? Martin asked her. No, Im scared, the girl replied. Dont be scared, Martin said, giving her a hug. Your mom is right outside. The little girl stopped crying and wiped her eyes and nose with her hand. Martin turned around and clapped her hands. Lets learn some choreography, she said. Martin has been traveling to Twin Falls from Oregon for the last 23 years to cast children in the annual show. For the young ones, Im trying to utilize as many students in the community as possible, Martin said. Over the years she has seen a lot of heartbreak and joy. In this group, she would have to choose an understudy, but that didnt mean that child would not be on stage. Illness and other obligations happen often and understudies fill in. Children selected for the cast have to practice every Saturday with Rayni Capps, a local ballet instructor, for an hour until the Nov. 30 performance. And they must attend all rehearsals. Marci Boyle of Twin Falls said her daughter Sydney Morris, 10, was nervous when they were walking into auditions. I feel like all the Monarch butterflies have gone into my tummy, Boyle said her daughter told her. Boyles oldest daughter, Elizabeth Morris, 13, would audition later in the evening. Elizabeth has been auditioning for the past four years. There have been years when Boyles two daughters did not receive roles. It was devastation and tears, she said. But Boyle said it also taught her daughters not give up and work even harder for the next year. Martin also encourages children to come back each year. Its crushing for them not to get a part, Martin said. Their little faces just crumple. But whether children get a role or not, Martin said, she wants the experience to be positive for them all. This brings so much joy into the community for a lot of families, she said. Martin stood in front of the angels group and showed them how to start in the prayer position. They moved their arms up and above their heads. Plie. One, two, three, four, circle arms and back to starting pose, she said. Then she gave them an important piece of advice. You can smile. Its OK, she said. Remember, this is about fun. Seniors wellness The Twin Falls Senior Center will hold a presentation for senior citizens at 12:15 p.m. Monday at 530 Shoshone St. W. Connie Campbell of Syringe Place will discuss Seven Ways to Slow Aging. Free; 208-734-5084. Blood drives The American Red Cross will hold blood drives in Twin Falls and Shoshone. Blood donation opportunities will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday at La Quinta Inn, 539 Pole Line Road, Twin Falls; and 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at the Lincoln County Community Center, 201 S. Beverly St., Shoshone. A diverse blood supply is important to ensure the needs of all patients are met. Donors of all blood types are needed. To schedule an appointment to donate, use the blood donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767. Yoga College of Southern Idahos Community Education is offering Hatha Yoga classes with instructor Morgan Jeno, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept 20 through Oct. 25, at the Twin Falls CSI campus. The yoga postures include balance, strength, flexibility and the ability to calm the mind. Bring your own yoga mat. Cost is $49; register: communityed.csi.edu or 208-732-6442. Victims support Support group for victims of domestic violence, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Mini-Cassia Shelter Haven of Hope, 323 First St., Rupert. Information: Rachel, 208-312-7021. Alzheimers support Alzheimers Association, Greater Idaho Chapters Caregiver Support Group meeting, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Twin Falls Senior Center, 530 Shoshone St. W., Twin Falls. The group meets on the third Wednesday every month. Information: Pattie Dennis, 208-734-4264 or 208-539-4290. Grief support Visions of Hope meeting, 5 p.m. every Thursday at Hospice Visions, 1770 Park View Drive, Twin Falls. This grief support group is open to everyone in the community. Information: 208-735-0121. Mental health support Mental Health Support Group, 5:30 p.m. every Thursday at Family Health Services/Behavioral Health building, 1102 Eastland Drive N., Twin Falls. The free support group is open to Magic Valley residents. Information: 208-734-1281. Anxiety support Anxiety Support Group, 6 p.m. every Thursday at Magic Valley Fellowship Hall, 801 Second Ave. N., Twin Falls. Support for those who experience anxiety, panic attacks or depression. Learn about the signs, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and coping skills. Information: Cathy Shaddy, 208-410-2768. Grief support Griefshare meetings, 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lighthouse Church, 960 Eastland Drive, Twin Falls. Anyone who has lost a loved one and/or friend is welcome to attend. A separate class for teens will be possible if there is interest. Participants can begin at any session. Enter through the east doors at the rear of the building. Information: 208-737-4667. Seniors wellness The Twin Falls Senior Center will hold a presentation for senior citizens at 11:45 a.m. Monday, Sept. 26, at 530 Shoshone St. W. Rhea Lanting with University of Idaho Extension Service will discuss Why Protein is Important as You Age. Free; 208-734-5084. Joint replacement Free class on total joint replacement, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, at BridgeView Estates, 1828 Bridgeview Blvd., Twin Falls. Meet in the lobby. Topics: Preparing for joint-replacement surgery, amount of pain, recovery time, insurance coverage, care after surgery, discharge planning and long-term rehabilitation. Tours of the BridgeView rehabilitation facility are available. Pre-registration is required, Amy at 208-280-0047 or Sarah at 208-280-0045. Vision support Visually Impaired Support Group meeting, 12:45 to 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Twin Falls Senior Center, 530 Shoshone St. W., Twin Falls. Topics: glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetes-caused vision problems. Information: Idaho Commission for the Blind, 208-734-2140, or Verna Motes, 208-732-0627. I arrived in the United States in 1996 as a foreign correspondent for the Economist. Like many young journalists from Europe, I was instantly won over by the countrys infectious optimism. By most objective measures, the United States was as unequal, class-bound and divided as my own Britain; but it differed fundamentally in its outlook. For some strange reason, nearly all Americans perceived themselves as middle class. They believed, without asking for evidence, that things were improvingor that if they werent, they would. Two decades later, Americans are in danger of succumbing to the opposite mentality. The sunny affability of Ronald Reagan has been displaced by Donald Trumps dystopian rants about the United States losing; the nations real challenges are blown out of all proportion by a toxic public discourse that accentuates the negative. If Trump and his ilk want to make America great again, they should not talk it down. They should not paint immigration as a mortal threat to the nationnot when the country was built by migrants, not when every study shows that their presence is a boon to the economy and not when the alleged flood of Mexicans is a fiction. Between 2009 and 2014, fewer Mexicans migrated to the United States than returned in the opposite direction. Trump has incited fury about a problem that does not exist. Equally, Trump and his backers should not rant that trade is destroying livelihoodsnot when imports as a share of the U.S. economy have been roughly flat over the past decade, and not when the nations trade deficit with other countries has been halved as a share of its economy. The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership with East Asia, denounced not just by Trump but also by Hillary Clinton, would boost U.S. national income by an estimated $77 billion annually. Even if there are fair questions about who wins and who loses, there is no excuse for painting TPP as a plot to harm the average citizen. Or consider the core grounds for populist resentment: the stagnation of middle-class incomes. Since a peak in the late 1990s, the median U.S. household has experienced no income gain whatsoever: There is a real issue here. But the Census Bureau just reported that last year brought good news: The median household income was up 5.2 percent, the largest one-year jump on record. The gains were highest in percentage terms among poorer households. The number of people living in poverty fell 8 percent. In the 1990s, this progress would have been celebrated wholeheartedly. The national mood embodied by the youthful President Bill Clinton was bubbly and positiveas was the mood embodied by his political nemesis, Newt Gingrich, another Southern baby boomer. Clinton understood the pain of New Englands hard-pressed textile workers, but he believed he had solutions: He embraced technology, trade and the opportunities of globalization; he used U.S. power to bring the war in the Balkans to a peaceful end. Today, Trump disparages the nation and scorns international engagement. For her part, Hillary Clinton struggles to find the words to challenge him. So here is an appeal to Trump and Clinton: Do not talk the United States into a self-feeding depression. Part of the solution to the nations challenges is to be found in better policies; the government should do more for those who live paycheck to paycheck. But only part of the solution is to be found there, for the truth is government has already done more than it gets credit for, and yet the national malaise continues. In the past several years, tax tweaks have helped low-income workers, and Obamacare has extended health coverage to millions; given the gridlock that possesses Washington, it is unlikely that the next few years will see greater advances for hard-pressed families. And so it is time to ask the question: If Americans cant fix all their problems, can they at least rediscover their old talent for living cheerfully with them? This appeared in Sundays Washington Post. Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who blew the cover off the federal governments electronic surveillance programs three years ago, has his admirers. After the inevitably celebratory Oliver Stone film about him appears this weekend, he may have more. Whether Snowden deserves a presidential pardon, as human rights organizations are demanding in a new national campaign timed to coincide with the film, is a complicated question, however, to which President Barack Obamas answer should continue to be no. Snowdens defenders dont deny that he broke the lawnot to mention oaths and contractual obligationswhen he copied and kept 1.5 million classified documents. They argue, rather, that Snowdens noble purposes, and the policy changes his whistle-blowing prompted, justified his actions. Specifically, he made the documents public through journalists, including reporters working for The Post, enabling the American public to learn for the first time that the NSA was collecting domestic telephone metadatainformation about the time of a call and the parties to it, but not its contenten masse with no case-by-case court approval. The program was a stretch, if not an outright violation, of federal surveillance law, and posed risks to privacy. Congress and the president eventually responded with corrective legislation. Its fair to say we owe these necessary reforms to Snowden. The complication is that Snowden did more than that. He also pilfered, and leaked, information about a separate overseas NSA Internet-monitoring program, PRISM, that was both clearly legal and not clearly threatening to privacy. (It was also not permanent; the law authorizing it expires next year.) Worsefar worsehe also leaked details of basically defensible international intelligence operations: cooperation with Scandinavian services against Russia; spying on the wife of an Osama bin Laden associate; and certain offensive cyber operations in China. No specific harm, actual or attempted, to any individual American was ever shown to have resulted from the NSA telephone metadata program Snowden brought to light. In contrast, his revelations about the agencys international operations disrupted lawful intelligence-gathering, causing possibly tremendous damage to national security, according to a unanimous, bipartisan report by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. What higher cause did that serve? Ideally, Snowden would come home and hash out all of this before a jury of his peers. That would certainly be in the best tradition of civil disobedience, whose practitioners have always been willing to go to jail for their beliefs. He says this is unacceptable because U.S. secrecy-protection statutes specifically prohibit him from claiming his higher purpose and positive impact as a defensewhich is true, though its not clear how the law could allow that without creating a huge loophole for leakers. (Snowden hurt his own credibility as an avatar of freedom by accepting asylum from Russias Vladimir Putin, whos not known for pardoning those who blow the whistle on him.) The second-best solution might be a bargain in which Snowden accepts a measure of criminal responsibility for his excesses and the U.S. government offers a measure of leniency in recognition of his contributions. Neither party seems interested in that for now. An outright pardon, meanwhile, would strike the wrong balance. In this time of Trump, lets review the Redoubt. Idahoans have had an awareness of this sort-of phenomenon for some time, especially but not exclusively those in the north. It is listed in Wikipedia, where the descriptive article about it begins, The American Redoubt is a political migration movement first proposed in 2011 by best-selling survivalist novelist and blogger James Wesley Rawles which designates three states in the northwestern United States (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), and adjoining portions of two other states (eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington) as a safe haven for conservative, libertarian-leaning Christians and Jews. It isnt just a call from a messiah, though. An article about the Redoubt from last May in the Spokane Spokesman-Review was headlined, Extreme right invites like-minded to region. The area overall is said to have attracted thousands of people, though no one knows for sure how many. No one knows for sure what its political impact may be, either. It sounds like the kind of movement that might find common cause with the Donald Trump campaign, and maybe many of its people do. That too is hard to know, because so many of them are determinedly off the grid, unallied with large organizations, even those as disorganized as the Trump campaign. But if so, it does not seem to be taking over. In Idaho, the core of the Redoubt area is in the Panhandle, and in the May primary election Texas Senator Ted Cruz won all of the Panhandle except for Shoshone County (a relatively lightly-populated area); Trump won mainly in the areas that were more remote still, outside the areas usually classed as the Redoubt. A late August article in the Washington Post on the Redoubt, a well-crafted piece focusing on Idaho, missed most of the recent electoral context, which extended beyond the presidential level. An opinion piece on the Spokesman-Review website on Sept. 1 noted, reasonable Republicans largely prevailed during the Idaho primary in May. Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger easily beat his constitutionalist sheriff opponent. Jim Chmelik, one of the regions leading proponents for public land takeovers, lost his bid for re-election as Idaho County commissioner. Four far-right incumbent legislators in North Idaho were defeated. So, in the short term, it would appear as if the majority of Idahoans havent bought into the fear-based agenda of the extreme right. They dont envision teeming hordes streaming out of the Lilac City. I dont mean here to conflate the Redoubters of today with the Aryan Nations neo-Nazi gaggle of yesteryear gone now, happily, for more than a decade except for this: The actual numerical influence of both probably has been and now is being overstated. Back in the Aryans day, some member of that tribe (on one occasion, head honcho Richard Butler himself) would run for a local office, and invariably collect no more than a handful of votes, losing in an overwhelming rout. That part of the Aryan story didnt often get as much play as their parades or other activities that seemed to puff up their visibility and seeming size and influence. That could change with the Redoubters. In theory, it could affect this next election. But Ill believe it when I see it. Following the increase of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli civilians and soldiers over the past few days, Prime Minister Netanyahu held a meeting with top security officials and urged them to tighten security measures. In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu instructed that police forces be increased, especially in the Old City and around the Temple Mount. With concerns that the numerous attacks during the weekend could mark the return of the knife attacks and car ramming targeting Israelis, the Prime Minister directed that determined action be taken against any attempt to violate order in the Old City and around the Temple Mount. There have been at least five major attacks since Friday. One of them was carried out by a Jordanian. A boy said to be around 12-year old also tried to attack an Israeli Border Police Base in the West Bank with a knife and two firebombs, Israeli police stated. In a bid to counter the attacks, an additional infantry battalion of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been moved to the Hebron area in the West Bank. Netanyahu also urged political figures to stay away from historically disputed areas. He urged Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to continue stopping government ministers and parliamentarians from visiting the Temple Mount during this sensitive period. The last wave of knife attacks and car ramming went on for several months last year and was often referred to as the Third Intifada in some quarters. Those attacks left 34 Israelis and 2 Americans dead while 214 Palestinians were killed during the same period. As Muslims who accomplished this years annual Hajj pilgrimage are returning home, Saudi Arabia revealed that it arrested 54 terror suspects between September 3 and 11 and that most of them are Saudi nationals. The circumstances surrounding the arrests are yet to be made public. Security was significantly tightened ahead of the Hajj ritual. Colonel Saad Al-Dosari said the security teams were continuously monitoring the pilgrims and informed the operations center of any suspicious activity to prevent any problem before it happens. Saudi Arabia welcomed 1.8 million pilgrims this year. The suspected terrorists hailed from Bahrain, Brunei, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi, Sudan and Yemen. The foreign country with the most suspects is Bahrain with 13 individuals, followed by Yemen with 4 and Pakistan with 3. It is unclear if the suspects are linked to extremist groups active in the Middle East such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. Riyadh was heavily criticized last year, especially by Iran, after hundreds of pilgrims were crushed to death in a stampede at Mina. To avoid a similar scenario, Dosari explained that the command and control center in Mina operated on a fulltime basis surveying the screens to detect any problem or any blockage that could be caused by the flow of pilgrims. More than 5,000 cameras were installed in the entire Makkah sector covering a radius of around 10 kilometers around its Grand Mosque. From this vantage point, directives could be given to investigate any suspicious-looking or potentially dangerous activity. As the Hajj has come to an end, the Kingdom has announced the beginning of the Umrah (minor Pilgrimage) season. President Hadi in a presidential decree on Sunday sacked the board of the countrys central bank and appointed former finance minister Monasser Al-Quaiti as the new central bank governor. He also moved the bank headquarters from Sanaa to Aden; a town that has been serving as the temporary capital of his government after its liberation from the Houthis. Some new ministers and government officials were also appointed in decrees issued by the president from Saudi Arabia. Sanaa is the capital of Yemen and it has been under the control of the Houthi Movement and their allies for more than a year. There have been claims that the rebels have mismanaged the funds of the state. Therefore, moving the central bank from the area under their control would affect their source of revenue. Yemen depends on limited oil revenues to finance state activities and there are reports that civil servants have not been paid for several months. Sources close to the rebel group have stated that moving the central bank to Aden will not be accepted and there are already plans to establish a new government in Sanaa. Most of countrys 26 million people are concentrated in the rebel-held north but the shortage of fuel, water, electricity and basic commodities is a nationwide phenomenon. The conflict, begun in early 2015, caused widespread destruction in one of the poorest countries in the region and the relocation of the bank is expected to worsen the economic situation in the north. Efforts to end the war have been stalled as warring parties could not agree on the steps likely to lead to a ceasefire. The Hadi-government backed by the Saudi-led coalition has pushed back the rebels but has been unable to reach Sanaa since the beginning of its military intervention in March 2015. The Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) led by Ibrahim Jadhran launched an offensive attack on the oil terminals of Ras Lanuf and Sidra that they lost last week to the Libya National Army (LNA) under Khalifa Haftars command. They were able to take-over the terminals for a brief period before being repelled by the LNA with the help of warplanes. National Oil Corporations (NOC) chairman Mustafa Sanalla called on the armed groups to avoid taking actions that could damage our vital national infrastructure as he reminded them that our national recovery depends on these ports being open and our oil flowing freely. As the clashes intensified, a Maltese flagged tanker that was loading at Ras Lanuf terminal sailed off the Libyan coast as a safety and precautionary measure. A storage tank in Sidra was set alight during the battle. When Haftars forces took over the oil terminals, they handed them over to the NOC and Sanalla, who promised that operations would commence immediately after the necessary evaluations of the facilities are made. Colonel Ahmed Al-Gatrani of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) alleged that the PFG was pushed back by airstrikes launched by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and neighboring Egypt. The PFG and the GNA became allies last month after they reached a deal to end the blockade on oil ports with a payment package to the rebel group. Spokesman Khalifa Obeidi of the LNA loyal to the Tobruk-based parliament said they have also taken over the town of Bin Jawad, 25 kilometers west of Sidra, during the counteroffensive. Control over the oil infrastructure has been a major issue between Libyas rival governments. The part of the country known as the oil crescent region is expected to witness several clashes between rival groups, as the group controlling the major oil terminals will be in a stronger position during political talks. The Sudanese government on Sunday said it would close its border with South Sudan within days if its neighbor does not expel militant groups. According to Sudans Foreign Minister, South Sudan had pledged to expel the militant groups within 21 days during a visit last month. Khartoum would re-seal the border if its neighbor fails to honor this promise, the Foreign Minister told the state media. Khartoum accuses Juba, the capital of South Sudan, of backing a rebellion in its Darfur region and a separate but linked insurgency in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan. South Sudan denies the allegations. Relations have been tense between the two countries since 2011 as they failed to agree on borders and the status of several regions that both sides claim sovereignty over. The border was closed in 2011 when relations deteriorated after the south seceded following a long civil war, taking with it three quarters of the countrys oil estimated at 5bn barrels of proven reserves by the US Energy Information Administration. The border was opened earlier this year and landlocked South Sudan was able to benefit from Sudans sea ports for its oil transits. Credit: shutterstock.com White Americans live on average 3.6 years longer than black Americans. If you look only at men, the difference becomes 4.4 years. As I found in a recent study, the main reason behind this disparity is that black Americans are at higher risk of most chronic medical conditions, such as hypertension, obesity, heart disease, stroke and cancer than other racial and ethnic groups. However, research suggests minority groups in the U.S. tend to be better off in terms of mental health than white Americans. Depression, anxiety and suicide, for instance, are more common among white Americans than black Americans. Research, including work I have done with my colleagues at the University of Michigan, demonstrates that although white Americans are, on average, the "healthiest group," they are also, on average, far less "resilient" than black Americans. It seems that vulnerability is a cost of privilege, and resilience comes as a result of adversity. What do we mean by resilience? We call a group "resilient" when it is healthy, given the level of exposures to a wide range of psychosocial risk factors. For instance, psychosocial adversities such as lower educational attainment are associated with increased mortality in general. But the effect is lower in some groups than others, so we would describe the groups where the effect is lower as more resilient. White Americans seem to be more vulnerable to certain psychosocial risk factors for a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes compared to minority groups. In other words, they are less resilient less able to successfully adapt to life tasks in the face of highly adverse conditions. Across several studies using nationally representative samples of Americans, my colleagues and I have consistently found that white Americans are more vulnerable to the effects of risk factors such as low education, anger, depression, feeling of control over own's life and other psychosocial factors on mortality. Educational attainment influences mortality in different ways Educational attainment is one of the main protective factors for our health. First, educational attainment leads to better jobs with better pay, and second, it develops our brain and behavior so we can make better decisions and live a healthier life. For instance, research from Harvard and Yale has found that while those with more than a high school diploma can expect to live to 82, the life expectancy for those with 12 or fewer years of education is only 75. In a study published in 2016, we used data from the Americans Changing Lives survey to follow 3,500 individuals for 25 years to compare the effect of low education on mortality risk based on race. Overall we found that when all other factors are controlled, having only a high school diploma is associated with 20 percent lower risk of mortality over 25 years compared to those without a high school diploma. While low educational attainment was bad for everyone, the health effect was worse for white people than for black people. In the same study we found that the additional risk of mortality associated with low education is 30 percent larger for whites than blacks. This echoes research Angus Deaton, the 2015 Nobel laureate in economics, and Anne Case published last year. They documented a marked increase in the all-cause mortality of middle-aged white men and women in the United States between 1999 and 2013. This mortality increase was unique to non-Hispanic whites. In the same time period, mortality rates for other race and ethnic groups continued to fall. They also found that most of this increasing mortality rate for non-Hispanic whites was due to behavioral issues such as alcohol use, drug use and suicide. This change reversed decades of progress in mortality and was unique to the United States. Interestingly, the mortality increase was greatest among poorly educated white Americans. Differences in how anger and depression affect health Hostility and anger can predict cardiovascular mortality; a person who is angrier is more prone to heart problems, high blood pressure and stroke. Again drawing on data from the Americans Changing Lives Survey, we followed more than 1,500 black and white adults for 10 years. The study used self-reported scales to measure anger and hostility. We found that each additional unit of anger and hostility was associated with more cardiovascular mortality in whites compared to blacks. In another study using data from the same survey, my colleagues and I wanted to see if the level of depressive symptoms that the individuals experienced in 1986 could predict their risk of mortality over 25 years. Once we controlled for social class and physical health factors, we found that reporting more depressive symptoms in 1986 did in fact predict higher risk of subsequent mortality in 2011, but only for white participants. This harmful effect was not found among black participants in the survey. This finding was replicated for mortality from kidney disease in a separate paper. In another study we compared the number of chronic medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, cancer, stroke and arthritis that participants reported in 1986 to what they reported in 2011. We found that having more depressive symptoms at the beginning of the survey predicted a greater increase in number of chronic medical conditions over the next 25 years only if the participant was white but not black. In another study, we successfully replicated the same findings in a different sample, suggesting that these findings are stable and robust. Self-rated health predicts mortality differently in whites than blacks Past research has shown that asking patients to rate their own health is a very strong predictor of mortality. My colleagues and I wanted to see if poor self-rated health similarly predicts mortality risk for both black and white Americans. Again, using data from the Americans Changing Lives Survey, we observed that when someone feels that they are not very healthy, they are at higher risk for mortality. However, this depends on race; feeling less healthy better predicted mortality among whites than whites. In another study among elderly people, we found that with a decline in health status, people panic more about their death. This was also only true for whites, not blacks. Beyond physical health, my colleagues and I have also found that the link between depression and hopelessness is stronger for whites than for blacks. And in another study I found that while white men had the lowest number of stressful life events compared to white women, as well as black men and women, each stress had a larger effect on their depression. And finally, we found that whether or not people feel that they are in control of their lives is associated with premature death, but the association was 50 percent stronger in white Americans than it was in black Americans. What explains these differences? Why are white Americans less resilient? One explanation is that, in general, they are not as prepared to cope with adversities because they have less experience dealing with them. This lack of preparedness and experience with previous stressors may place whites at the highest risk of poor outcomes when life gets out of control. Minority groups, on the other hand, have consistently lived under economic and social adversities which has given them firsthand experience and ability to believe that they can handle the new stressors. For blacks a stressor is anything but new. They have mastered their coping skills. Population groups differ in how resilient they are when they face stress and other adversities. This is relevant to a proverb that all of us have heard frequently: What does not kill you makes you stronger. Explore further Race influences how anger impacts cardiovascular health This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. An outbreak of water-borne disease has killed at least 19 people and sickened scores more in Sudan's rain-ravaged states of Blue Nile and Kasala, a minister said Monday. Since June, heavy rain and flooding have hit several states of Sudan, killing at least 100 people, destroying thousands of homes and submerging many villages. "In the past three weeks, 19 people including children have died from water-borne diseases like diarrhoea," Health Minister Bahar Idris Abu Garda told AFP. Seventeen died in the state of Blue Nile and two in Kasala. So far 632 cases of people suffering from diarrhoea have been registered across the country, said Abu Garda, without specifying the type of disease. "Our laboratories confirm that using polluted water was the main reason for this disease to spread," he said, adding that the situation was now under control. Humanitarian workers had expressed concerns about the impact of flooding on the health of those affected as they were unable to deliver aid to them in the initial days of flooding. They said illnesses that cause diarrhoea had been incubating since incessant rainfall commenced. Many people had to wade through waist-deep water to reach safety or get supplies during the floods. Hundreds of people suffer from water-borne diseases every year across Sudan given the lack of access to clean drinking water. The country's dilapidated health care sector further aggravates the situation, especially in rural areas during the rainy season. 2016 AFP Lithium occurs in drinking water in trace amounts. Studies show that it lowers suicide rates. Credit: RobertoVerzo/flickr.com Studies show that lithium contained in drinking water lowers suicide rates. This still holds true when taking account of drug residues of lithium prescriptions, as has been shown by a current study for Austria within the context of a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. Can it be true or is it a coincidence, pondered the psychiatric consultant Nestor Kapusta when learning of a Japanese study showing that the lithium level in drinking water has an impact on suicide rates. This implies that regions where more of the lightweight alkali metal can be detected in drinking water register fewer cases of suicide. That was in 2009. Meanwhile, research has advanced, and several studies worldwide confirm this connection which could be of great importance for suicide prevention. Geographical investigations Researchers from the Suicide Research Group (www.meduniwien.ac.at/suicideresearch/) in the Department for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy at the Medical University of Vienna have made a major contribution to these insights and were able to provide evidence for the impact of lithium from natural sources on suicide mortality in Austria. In their most recent investigations, a team led by Nestor Kapusta also explored the impact of lithium prescriptions lithium being a drug successfully used for many years for treating affective disorders on lithium levels in drinking water in a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. More than 6,000 drinking water samples "We were able to show even back in 2011 that the correlation between lithium in the drinking water and suicide rates remained significant even if taking into consideration a region's socio-economic and other factors, such as unemployment, per-capita income, access to health care or gender distribution", notes Kapusta. In this major study undertaken by the Medical University of Vienna, an interdisciplinary team investigated the connection between the lithium levels found in 6,460 drinking water samples and suicide rates in all Austrian districts. Unanswered question: drug residues The scholar notes that one question had remained unanswered, viz. whether the lithium prescriptions might have an impact on the results in Austria, where the drug has been used successfully for decades to treat recurring depression and bipolar (manic-depressive) disorders. On the one hand, these drugs are taken by persons at risk in relatively high doses which improves their preventive effect against suicide; on the other hand, they are excreted again by the patients and thus find their way back into drinking water like other drugs. "Therapeutic dosage is higher by a factor of one thousand than the traces of lithium naturally occurring in drinking water", explains Kapusta. In this way, residues found in the water might also have a positive impact on the population at large. Lithium levels in drinking water. In the alpine regions lithium levels are particularly low, in comparison to the lower plains, where water accumulates. Credit: Nestor D. Kapusta/MedUni Wien Existing knowledge not invalidated In order to determine the impact of lithium prescriptions on the incidence of lithium in drinking water, the suicide researcher and his colleagues used data on the geographic distribution of lithium prescriptions in Austria and applied these data to the existing results. As it turned out, the lithium level in Austrian drinking water is hardly influenced at all by prescriptions. Suicide rates also remained unchanged on a statistical average when the researchers included prescriptions in the computations. "Hence, existing knowledge, according to which the lithium in drinking water stems from natural sources but still has an impact on suicide mortality, has not been contradicted", states Kapusta. Lithium not a panacea In medical terms, the project findings indicate that researchers should continue to investigate lithium and seek to determine what influence micro-doses of the substance, as occurring in drinking water, have on the human organism. At the same time, Nestor Kapusta warns against considering lithium as a panacea, as some reports suggest. According to Kapusta, suicide is always a multi-factor phenomenon, and the scholar is not in favour of current considerations to deliberately add the substance to drinking water. "We don't know what the influence of such low doses might be on pregnant women or children. Lithium also affects thyroid function. We would need further basic research to understand whether adding it to drinking water is innocuous." Researchers perceive potential benefits According to Kapusta, many ongoing investigations prove that lithium has aroused the interest of researchers. It was found, for instance, that even small amounts of the alkali metal slow down the progress of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's by inhibiting the decay of brain cells. Nestor Kapusta and his colleagues, together with Gerda Egger from the Clinical Institute of Pathology and Daniel Konig from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, are also conducting investigations on a specific type of brain cell, the neuroblastoma cells. "Studies on single-cell organisms show that by regulating the GSK-3 enzyme lithium extends the life span of these organisms by five percent. That is an amazing effect of a simple, naturally occurring ion", comments Kapusta. Lithium traces and suicide mortality in Austria Lithium, its name being derived from "lithos" (stone), belongs to the alkali metal group of elements and is best known for its use in batteries. Lithium occurs in nature in trace amounts. In the form of lithium salt it may be found at higher levels in some mineral waters. In the Austrian Alps, such as in Tyrol, lithium levels are particularly low. On the lower plains, where water accumulates and the chances of lithium being washed out from rock are better, lithium levels in water are higher. Comparatively high levels are found, for instance, in Mistelbach, in the region around Vienna, in Graz and Linz. In Vienna, twelve micrograms of lithium have been found in one litre of water, which is a little higher than the Austrian average. The highest suicide mortality in Austria is found in Styria and Carinthia, the lowest in Burgenland, Vienna and Vorarlberg. Explore further Lithium in drinking water reduces suicide rates possibly also as a result of medicine residue Credit: Laura Dominguez In a new Policy Forum article in Science, NC State professor Jennifer Kuzma argues that federal authorities are missing an opportunity to revise outdated regulatory processes not fit for modern innovations in biotechnology, such as a current situation involving genetically engineered mosquitoes. Earlier this summer, the Food and Drug Administration approved the engineered mosquitoes as a potential weapon in the fight against the Zika virus. The agency OK'd field trials for a modified version of the male Aedes aegypti mosquitothe primary carrier of Zika, yellow fever and other diseases. The specific line of mosquito is engineered to pass on a lethal gene to wild females, causing offspring to die in early development and, in theory, reducing the amount of disease-carrying mosquitoes. The FDA approved the genetically engineered mosquito as a "new animal drug," a category of products reviewed for how safe and effective the drug is for the target animal. However, in this case, the ultimate goal of the genetically engineered mosquito is its own population's demise. "An explosion of genetic engineering techniques and products" is testing the nation's existing regulatory structure, Kuzma wrote, and the public, the media and politicians are paying more attention to the issue. So in 2015, when the White House called for a revision of the United States' current regulatory process for biotechnology, a policy window opened to enact real change. However, Kuzma says options to truly restructure the regulatory process, the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology (CFRB), were never on the table. The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), along with representatives from the FDA, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture, largely met in closed session as they worked through a year-long review of the CFRB. And during the first of three public meetings, OSTP staff stated that the review likely wouldn't result in revision of authorities or the creation of new ones. Rather, it would clarify existing authorities. "This was disappointing to many scholars and practitioners, given that the CFRB had not been revisited in nearly 30 years," Kuzma wrote. When the interagency review group sought to clarify appropriate oversight in the regulatory process, Kuzma said it picked case studies that "fell neatly" into existing pathways. The group didn't include emerging genetically engineered products that are stretching regulatory definitions or have the potential to be problematic in the future, such as genetically engineered insects or animals for environmental release or livestock. In the article, Kuzma also argues that the review didn't properly engage scholars, practitioners, interested members of the public, and stakeholders in its three public meetings. In addition, the process didn't address how the U.S.'s regulatory processes align with others around the world, such as global protocols and conventions of which the United States is not a party to. "Other policy windows may open in the future," Kuzma wrote in the article. "But opportunities to affect meaningful and impactful change for safe, responsible, legitimate and appropriate use of GEOs were missed at this key juncture in the biotechnology revolution, although it is poised to change nearly every sector and even our conceptions of nature." Kuzma, the Goodnight-North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Distinguished Professor in Social Sciences in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center, has studied biotechnology regulation for the past two decades. She currently sits on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee conducting a study of products that could be produced with biotechnology during the next 10 years. The committee's report is due out in December. Explore further US finds GMO mosquitoes won't harm environment More information: J. Kuzma. A missed opportunity for U.S. biotechnology regulation, Science (2016). Journal information: Science J. Kuzma. A missed opportunity for U.S. biotechnology regulation,(2016). DOI: 10.1126/science.aai7854 UC San Francisco researchers have devised a new term, "sudden neurological death," to describe apparent sudden cardiac deaths that actually were due to neurological causes, such as stroke, aneurysm or epilepsy, and estimate that 10,000 to 25,000 of these deaths may go undetected each year. The finding could impact overall estimates of cardiac and neurological disease burden. They also suggest that apparent sudden cardiac deaths could be misclassified in cardiovascular clinical trials, which might change our understanding of the risks and benefits of cardiovascular treatments such as blood thinners. The study appears in the Sept. 16 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The researchers said many of these deaths may be missed because out-of-hospital sudden deaths are often assumed to be cardiac, which can only be verified via a detailed postmortem investigation. Less than 15 percent of sudden deaths that occur outside a hospital lead to an autopsy. "Our data suggests that low prevailing autopsy rates may contribute to a systematic misclassification of sudden neurological deaths as sudden cardiac deaths," said senior author Zian H. Tseng, MD, MAS, a UCSF Health cardiac electrophysiologist. "This has the potential to impact overall event rates of sudden cardiac deaths and neurological emergencies in the general population, as well as hemorrhage outcomes in large cardiovascular clinical trials, which often rely on the overburdened existing coroner and medical examiner infrastructure to determine assumed cause of death for study participants." By common epidemiologic definitions, a sudden cardiac death is a sudden, unexpected death occurring within an hour of symptom onset for witnessed events or within 24 hours of being observed symptom-free for unwitnessed events. There are an estimated 184,000-450,000 annual sudden cardiac deaths in the United States, with more than 90 percent occurring outside the hospital. In this study, Tseng and his colleagues used data on the incidence and causes of sudden neurological deaths they compiled in the ongoing POST SCD (POstmortem Systematic invesTigation of Sudden Cardiac Death) study. POST SCD is a comprehensive study of out-of-hospital sudden deaths in the City and County of San Francisco that is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It aims to discover the true causes of sudden cardiac death, why it is more prevalent in some demographic populations and whether it is too often inaccurately cited as a cause of death. All of the deaths reported in the Neurology study met the widely accepted World Health Organization criteria for sudden cardiac death. Following a systemic evaluation of 352 consecutive sudden cardiac deaths reported to the San Francisco Medical Examiner between 2011 and 2013 including a full autopsy and detailed evaluation of the heart and cranial vault in 95 percent of cases (335) the researchers found that 5.4 percent of these deaths (18) should have been classified instead as a sudden neurological death. At 5.4 percent, this could mean that between 10,000-25,000 annual sudden cardiac deaths in the United States actually could be sudden neurological deaths. Further, Tseng and his colleagues found that 14.9 percent of all non-cardiac sudden deaths during this two-year period were due to a neurological cause such as aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage or sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. It was the most common non-cardiac cause of sudden death after drug overdose. "If even half of the brain hemorrhages that we observed in this study would have been missed with prevailing autopsy rates, this would mean that we are underestimating the risk of fatal brain aneurysms by 25 to 30 percent," said study lead author Anthony Kim, MD, MAS, medical director of the UCSF Stroke Center. "Also, the lower risk of sudden neurological death compared to sudden cardiac death among males and whites, and a corresponding trend toward increased risks in women and the fast-growing population of Asians and Hispanics, may justify follow-up studies to evaluate whether greater vigilance is warranted for specific demographics," continued Kim, an associate professor of neurology at UCSF. A failure to identify sudden neurological deaths, particularly among those at high risk for sudden cardiac death, has potential implications for interpreting the results of large cardiovascular trials, said Tseng, who is the Murray Davis Endowed Professor in the Cardiology Division and Cardiac Electrophysiology Service at UCSF. Specifically, it could shift the balance of the relative risks and benefits of blood thinners, particularly among patient populations that have a higher risk for neurological than cardiac conditions. Explore further Higher thyroid hormone levels linked to sudden cardiac death More information: Anthony S. Kim et al. Sudden neurologic death masquerading as out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death, Neurology (2016). Journal information: Neurology Anthony S. Kim et al. Sudden neurologic death masquerading as out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death,(2016). DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000003238 Credit: The Advocacy Project Traveller communities have significantly lower uptake of vaccinations compared to the general population, suggesting that more work needs to be done to promote understanding and appreciation of the benefits of vaccination among this population, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. In a study published today in the Journal of Public Health, researchers from the Primary Care Unit at Cambridge examined records at a General Practice in the East of England to compare uptake of vaccination with the Traveller and non-Traveller communities. For the majority of vaccines including the MMR, rotavirus and combined Tetanus, diphtheria, polio and pertussis vaccines only around five out of ten eligible children in the Traveller community had completed the relevant vaccination schedule, compared to nine out of ten children in the non-Traveller community. Substantial health inequalities exist between the Traveller and general population, with the life expectancy of Travellers being 10-12 years lower than non-Traveller equivalents. Several studies have shown that there is lower vaccine uptake in Traveller children but this is the first study to present recent, accurate data in the UK. The findings show that this community is at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. Ireland, Scotland and Wales and pockets of England are implementing strategies to improve vaccination coverage in the general population, but there is no national strategy in place in England to target Traveller, Gypsy and Roma communities. The 2011 census recorded just under 58,000 Gypsies and Irish Travellers in England and Wales; however, the true number is more likely to be between 150,000 and 300,000, as many Travellers do not identify their ethnicity due to fear of discrimination. "There is clearly much work needed to improve uptake of vaccinations among the Traveller community," says Kathryn Dixon, a student doctor at the School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge. "Vaccinations are incredibly important to help protect children from potentially serious diseases, and we need to work with the Traveller communities to promote better understanding and appreciation of the long-term benefits." Literacy levels within the Traveller community can be low, meaning that information often spreads by word-of-mouth, according to the authors. This can lead to a rapid change in vaccine uptake if one person in the community hears something good or bad about vaccination from, for example, another Traveller site. It was estimated in 2006 that around one in ten Travellers live in the East of England. "There have been cases in the past of Travellers being refused healthcare by GPs, but the practice involved has made a particular effort to engage with the local Traveller communities," explains Dr Tanya Blumenfeld, Senior Clinical Tutor at the University. "This could mean that vaccination rates elsewhere are even lower. We need to better understand the barriers that limit vaccination coverage and so help reduce the health inequalities that currently exist." Explore further New study finds levels of TB in Irish travellers three times that of white Irish-born population More information: K. C. Dixon et al. Vaccine uptake in the Irish Travelling community: an audit of general practice records, Journal of Public Health (2016). Journal information: Journal of Public Health K. C. Dixon et al. Vaccine uptake in the Irish Travelling community: an audit of general practice records,(2016). DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdw088 For picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts Page GERALDINE It might have been the legislation of that year that did it the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 that also enlarged mens view of the West. It meant a homesteader could now file on 320 acres instead of 160, as the original Homestead Act of 1862 allowed. It made entrepreneurs look twice at a plain country like Montana, where dryland farming was the phrase on everyones tongue. And if you were stuck in a college that year, 1909, it made you fret and fume about who else was looking who else might already be filing on the land that was out there waiting for you out there beyond the western horizon. Thats why Benjamin B.W. Armstrong of Hawarden, Iowa, didnt go back to the Iowa State College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts in Ames that fall. He bought a train ticket instead. He had already learned plenty in his incomplete Iowa State education how to play with tools; how to play with words. He sat in the carriage as the engine chuffed across Iowa and Dakota and started to write what was, it seems now, the beginning of his familys Montana story. Hank Armstrong of Geraldine, Montana, at 89, still has that leatherbound diary that records his fathers journey. October 19, 1909 Left Hawarden one hr. late in company with B.F. Hill, Guy Venard, Elmer Leafstedt and an unknown chap. Amid the bustle and confusion of the departure, the soft wee voice of conscience spoke up, saying, Are you right in going? And of course I got no answer from the faces of the solicitous parents and friends gathered to see us off. The train took them to Canton, South Dakota, first, then on to Aberdeen, the Hub City, its railroads spoking out this way and that. West of there the romance of travel began to wane. On our way once more we experienced a sensation undoubtedly felt by those genus porcinus when they are driven into rather close, unclean quarters such as stock is shipped in. The old arks that served the purpose of cars were packed full of people leaving the registration office and others going to Lemmon and western points. Pleasantry was abandoned. Soon they were beyond Lemmon, South Dakota: Daylight revealed to our land-hungry eyes one of the most damnable forsaken stretches of unbounded loneliness in the shape of flat prairie that the gaze of a good Iowa Farmer ever beheld. To speak of this country as a reservation means perhaps that the indicated country has been preserved for the Indian. In fact, this is correct, but my interpretation of the term is that it means a setting apart of an area of country that is to serve the purpose of forever discouraging homesteaders of taking claims and to contain as large an amount of emptiness in its entirety, alkali in its purity and sage brush in its beauty as the comprehensive capacity of any normal person can accommodate. In short we saw a strange new sight that deepened our respect for Old Iowa. Passing through North Dakota he finds the experience not much different: As we passed on from Lemmon through the border of N. Dak. to the Montana line we wondered how strong the motive must be that would draw people from the land of comfort and scatter them to live in such soul-sickening solitude as certainly reigned over those homely cabins we saw We were crossing the bad lands, from all external appearances and indications the qualifying adjective should have been advanced to the superlative degree and then I doubt if the expression would be entirely inclusive. The land was positively awful and yet the picturesque beauty of the formations and stratifications was grand. Many of the hills were beautifully tinged with red. They are finally under the Big Sky: Our opinion of the much heard of state of Montana improved wonderfully as we drew up at the up-to-date depot of Miles City. Yet the people of Miles City gouged them fearfully on things such as the prices of cigars and haircuts, he notes ruefully. And the land does not improve. The aspect of the country was anything but cheerful as traveled west from Miles City. The elevations became higher and the faces of the cliffs more rugged and rocky. Giant boulders larger than a ten-room house lay as much as 200 yards from the foot of the hills they had been broken from. Yawning cracks wide enough to hide a horse ran up and down these rocky layers. In the Musselshell they noted the crude irrigation not a hearty endorsement for agriculture. It was hard for us to believe that such a rough country would ever be fortunate and still harder to entertain the hopes of seeing a beautiful farming country for we were more than a little discouraged. Had we been as credulous as nature meant we should be I am sure the land agents would certainly have placed sufficient assurance before us in the shape of confidential talks and testimonial advertisements, for we were besieged at every turn by columns and squads of these obliging gentlemen with enormous propensity for graft. But even so, Armstrong concedes they must be partly telling the truth, because the country around the Musselshell and the Judith Gap is rich in sheaves of grain. Such soil and conformation of land could be beaten nowhere, Armstrong scrawled in his journal. It spoke for itself in words of golden yellow bound with twine. But worse country was still to come. They come into it after they hire a locator at Stanford to help them locate places on which to file homestead claims; noting in passing that the Montana Experiment Station, intended to carry out research for farmers, was of no comparison with our own well equipped station at Ames. Only one small square building, a shed and a barn. The locator takes them up toward Square Butte, a 40-mile journey. We traveled only a short distance on the bench when a sight met our eyes that was really enough to freeze out our rather weakened desire for a farmstead. An almost endless tract of hogbacks, gullies, coulees, buttes, creeks and canyons met our gaze So much for Montana; the leatherbound diary ends soon after. But the next year? The next year B.W. Armstrong came back to that same plain. He filed on a place with a big, wide view of Square Butte. He was 22. His father was 46. They both came out that year, 1910, and built their homes and between them they had 640 acres already at the start. B.W. Armstrong made photographs with a camera he had made at Iowa State. He photographed his Montana plowing and reaping. On one photo, an image of a team of horses pulling a binder, he wrote, Rambling Thru The Flax as though homesteading Montana were just a pleasant excursion. He made interior photographs of his dining area and the sitting room in the house, both dated 1911. B.W. Armstrong made photos of his father, Henry, at the wheel of a 1915 Avery gas tractor while his mother, Sadie, stands on the disc to help weigh it down. He made photos of his barn on the treeless plain and his own homestead shack. On one of the prints B.W. wrote, in his elegant, almost festive handwriting, like it was the celebration of something, Home Of A Drylander. Its still the home of a drylander. Hank Armstrong still lives in his grandparents house and looks out each morning at Square Butte, off to the south-southwest. Its still the same rugged lump of country his father first saw in 1909. It rises from the plain like the knob on a compass that still helps locate the coordinates of home, a dry long distance from Old Iowa, at the end of B.W. Armstrongs journey. Karl Rosston, Montana's suicide prevention coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services, will be speaking at St. Anthony Parish, 217 Tremont St., on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. Rosston is a dynamic speaker with information on the shocking suicide rate in Montana. There will be questions and answers at the end of the presentation. *** NAMI Missoula presents "Beautiful Minds," a benefit event Friday. The benefit features live music by Loose String Band, Mark Chase and Basses Covered, and silent auction. The event will be held at Imagine Nation Brewing Company, 1151 W. Broadway, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is free (a $5 donation is requested). All donations and the proceeds from the auction will go to support the work of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Missoula. For further information, call 880-1013. *** Peace educator David J. Smith will talk about his book "Peace Jobs: A Student's Guide to Starting a Career Working for Peace" at noon Thursday at the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, 519 S. Higgins Ave. Bring your lunch and join us. Smith teaches in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and was formerly a senior manager at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is currently president of the Forage Center for Peacebuilding and Humanitarian Education, Inc. In his book, he offers advice and insight on exploring careers focusing on peace-building, human rights, humanitarian assistance and conflict resolution. His book includes 30 profiles of young professionals working in the field who provide inspiration to the reader for considering career pathways. The book features a number of peace leaders including Jeannette Rankin. He will bring books to sell after the talk. *** The Montana Down Syndrome Association is hosting the annual Missoula Buddy Walk on Sunday, Sept. 25, at Silver Park from 1 to 3 p.m. Registration is at noon Sunday or Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Zootown Brew. Individuals and families can register online anytime at mtdsa.org. This year there will also be a silent auction at the Buddy Walk, combining two fundraisers to raise awareness for people with Down syndrome and provide financial support to families facing extraordinary hardship. *** Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health will host a community Relay for Recovery at 11 a.m. Saturday. The relay will begin in two places, with a group starting one mile north, and another group starting one mile south of the Peoples Center. The two groups will converge at the Peoples Center for an Art in the Park event, consisting of various presentations, music, interactive games and art activities regarding health, wellness and recovery. Relay for Recovery is an event for all those in recovery or on the path to recovery from mental illness and/or substance abuse, and including families, friends and allies who support those in recovery. Participants are invited to travel the Relay for Recovery on foot, by horse, by car, by motorcycle or bicycle. As you read this our calves are being loaded onto the trucks to make their trip to the feedlots, where they'll spend six or seven months until they're up to slaughter weight of about 1,200 pounds on the hoof. We don't know where they're going, as most calves are sold to an order buyer who has already sold them to a feeder. The buyers' margin is slim, but they contract thousands of pounds of calves every year, so they make a relatively good living. Sometimes they make less than a penny a pound, so they have to move a lot of cattle to stay in business. Last year, prices for feeder calves were the highest in history, bordering on $2.50 a pound in some cases. But this year they're a dollar less a pound, which makes a $650 difference in value for each calf sold. That, times 350 to 400 or more calves, makes a big difference in a ranch's gross income. Some of the heavier calves will be almost $800 cheaper than a year ago, and nobody felt rich then. Many of the feeders took a beating last year, and some of them are still working to pay off the loss they suffered. They bought expensive calves in the fall, but when April and May rolled around and the cattle were up to slaughter weight, the entire cattle market had taken a nosedive. In the '50s and '60s ranchers made a pretty good living. Fuel was less than 50 cents a gallon, and tractors were substantially less than the $100,000 they are now. In those days shipping was a happy occasion. It took all day for a ranch to get the calves weighed and sold. They had to be trucked the 20 miles to Drummond, where they went over the scales and then were loaded onto railroad stock cars. Sometimes the trucks would have to make four or five trips, and all the calves weren't weighed and the check written until after dark. After that, with many ranchers it was steaks and whiskey. An unwritten custom was that the buyer bought steaks for all. There was one buyer who was known for being cheap and sneaking out of town before the owner of the calves and the truckers got to the restaurant. Some people wouldn't sell to him just for that. Shipping is all business, now. The calves don't have to go to Drummond because many ranches have legal scales at their corrals. In most cases the heifer calves have been separated from the steers, so the only work is taking them from their mothers, loading them onto fifth-wheel trailers for the two-mile trip to the scales. After the calves are weighed, the buyer takes a walk through the bunch, and usually cuts a few out because of bad eyes or something else that makes them unsuitable to go onto the trucks. Those calves are weighed again, and their total weight subtracted from the bunch. Many buyers take a 1 percent shrink off of the total pounds weighed to allow for the hay the calves are carrying in their bellies. Years ago, buyers demanded that the calves and their mothers be kept overnight in a dry corral with no feed or water before the calves were separated and weighed. Depending on the number of calves to be shipped, the deal is usually consummated within a couple hours, and everyone goes back to work. The check is taken to the bank, and another year begins. There are no steaks and whiskey anymore. Before cross-breeding revolutionized the cow/calf business, buyers demanded that all the colors be uniform, paying much less for a calf that wasn't colored right. We raised Herefords in those days, and a calf with a tiny spot of white on its back, or lacking the white crest on its neck, was cut back and sold for a substantially lower price. Even as a 10-year-old, I knew that we were getting a raw deal, but the practice was so widely accepted, no one complained. The feeders do prefer a uniform bunch of calves, because they want them to all reach slaughter weight at the same time, but they don't dock us for color anymore. So by 9 a.m. today we'll know how we did. Among ranchers there's a tacit understanding that a person asks neither the sale price nor the weight of another's calves. It's customary to wait until the seller offers the information. So we'll see how it goes and begin another year of work and hope. Interested Missoulians will have two scheduled opportunities Tuesday to hear Dr. Jai B. Kims review and analysis of the Maclay Bridge and how it could be rehabilitated for further use. Kim, a historic bridge expert and professor emeritus of civil engineering at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, is scheduled to discuss his findings first at 2 p.m. at the Missoula County commissioners new meeting room in the courthouse annex. At 7 p.m. he is scheduled to speak at the Target Range Elementary School multimedia room on South Avenue. Kim and his son, Robert H. Kim, a structural engineer from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, were hired by the Maclay Bridge Alliance, a local citizens group, to inspect the historic one-lane Maclay Bridge over the Bitterroot River, which is scheduled to be replaced by a new span upriver. In August HDR Engineering, representing Missoula County, presented its preferred alternative for the replacement bridge, which will be an extension of South Avenue that now dead-ends east of the Bitterroot. The Kims were expected to arrive in town on Sunday, according to a press release from Robert Schweitzer of the Maclay Bridge Alliance. Their Tuesday afternoon meeting will be geared to the public, elected officials and interested organizations and agencies. The evening presentation will be geared to citizens and neighbors most affected by the project. John Craighead liked to quote fellow legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold, who once said we should think like a mountain. The philosophy of following natures cues and looking at the fundamentals of things guided Craigheads pioneering work in American conservation, its wild rivers and seminal studies of grizzly bears. I have listened to the voice of the mountain for most of my life, said Craighead upon receiving The Wildlife Societys Aldo Leopold Memorial Award in 1998. The mountains still talk, but they lost one of their most avid listeners Sunday morning when John Craighead died in his sleep at his home of more than 60 years in southwest Missoula. Craighead turned 100 on Aug. 14 and had been ailing for years, though his children said it wasn't until last year that he was unable to frequent the tepee in his yard in all seasons. It was unexpected, but expected, said son Johnny, who lives next door to and has been the primary caregiver for his father and mother Margaret, 96. When he went to sleep Saturday night we didnt expect it to happen, but we expected it to happen sometime soon, the younger Craighead said. He was going, and weve been grieving, for a long time. No formal services will be held. The family plans to spread his ashes in the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, area, where Craighead and his twin brother Frank settled when they first came West as young naturalists and husbands, building look-alike cabins near Moose. Johnny Craigheads older siblings, Karen Haynam and Derek Craighead, still live in the area. The breadth of Craigheads experience and expertise in the natural world with Frank and apart from him is legendary. In 1998, the same year John received the Aldo Leopold Award, the twins were named among America's top scientists of the 20th century by the Audubon Society. I dont think his impact on the wildlife profession can be overestimated, said Dan Pletscher, who retired in 2013 as director of the University of Montanas wildlife biology program that Craighead helped establish as one of the best in the nation. The Craighead brothers were born in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 14, 1916. Intrigued by falconry and birds, they attended Penn State University and, at age 20, published their first of many articles for National Geographic Society titled Adventures with Birds of Prey. The U.S. Navy tapped their outdoors prowess for the war effort. The Craigheads developed a survival school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, during World War II that provided physical conditioning and outdoors confidence to Navy pilots in the expedited training program. In 1943 they wrote a survival guide called How to Survive on Land and Sea, and as the war wound down they taught survival tactics to agents of the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA. Both Craigheads received doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan in 1949. John moved into the academic world in the early 1950s when he accepted a position with UM, where he led the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit for 25 years. He and Margaret raised their three conservation- and science-mind children in Missoula. John and Frank Craighead wrote much of the text for the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that was passed by Congress in 1968, even as they conducted a 12-year study of grizzly bears in Yellowstone. The study is credited with helping save the bears from extinction. The Craigheads' writings and film work with National Geographic caught the imagination of many a budding outdoorsmen, including Jim Solomon of Missoula. Everything I did in the outdoors, John was the start of it, Solomon said Monday. It was his National Geographic TV show on Yellowstone grizzlies that made me decide I was going to move to Montana to work for him. That was in 1975. Solomon, who grew up in Arizona and later returned there to host a popular outdoors radio show in Phoenix, said he arrived in Montana on July 4. Two days later he was hired by Craigheads Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit. The following year Craighead encouraged Solomon to apply for an assistants position for a study of grizzlies in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Solomon said he spent six weeks and 270 miles on Craigheads team accruing ground-truth data for what proved to be highly accurate satellite imagery. He made it happen for me, Solomon said. Craighead was pushing 90 in 2005 when UM endowed the John J. Craighead Chair in Wildlife Biology. Im just so happy we got that done while John was alive, said Pletscher. The private dollars raised and placed in an endowment allows the school to attract people to the school that you might not be able to attract, Pletscher said. A name like John Craighead attracts people because everyone know that name, knows that legacy and knows what John meant to wildlife and conservation in general. Frank Craighead was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1987. He died in 2001 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the age of 85. His brother's death on Sunday marked the second passing of a giant in the world of grizzly bear study this year. Charles Jonkel, dubbed the "father of bear biology," passed away in April in Missoula at age 85. One audition, and Jackalynn Snow was hooked. It was in sixth grade, and Snow got the part as Clara in "The Nutcracker." She remembers the adrenaline surging through her body as she stepped on stage. It cemented her love of theater and set her on a path to her desk today: director of SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning. SPARK is Missoula's arm of the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child initiative, an effort to expand arts education in grades K-8. SPARK is the only Any Given Child program in Montana, and it's the smallest nationwide. In 2013, Missoula was chosen as the 13th Any Given Child site. Snow moved from Indonesia for the job, but she's a Montana native. She grew up in Butte, and taught English and theater at Billings Skyview High for 10 years. "It was a tough decision to make to leave there, actually," Snow said of leaving Indonesia. "But I found out about this job and applied, and when I got it, I decided it was too cool an opportunity to pass up. If I was ever going to come back to Montana, Missoula was where I wanted to be." *** Snow completed her master's degree in arts integration in education at the University of Montana's Creative Pulse. "It piqued my interest in (arts integration) as a more effective method of teaching, and also a way to combine my interests in art with my interests in how I taught," she said. Karen Kaufmann, Creative Pulse's director, was on SPARK's hiring committee. She's thrilled to have Snow back in Missoula. "She just gets it," Kaufmann said. "She is able to articulate why the arts are important for children, and she is the consummate teacher herself. ... She's also a wonderful organizer. She communicates really well with artists and also with schools. That's what we were looking for: somebody who could speak both languages." In fact, Snow first became interested in arts integration as a child though she didn't know that's what it was at the time. In class, she thought, "If I were teaching this, I would have us do this." She came up with interactive, artsy, project-based activities. "It seemed like the natural way to do things," she said. In third grade, she won a dress-drawing contest based on a book her class read. "When I think back and try to think about what do I remember from school, its always those creative projects that stick out in my mind," she said. "I never remember a worksheet or a test. But I remember in second grade, we were studying birds and we made birds out of papier mache. We had to make them as accurately as we could. Then, I didnt know that was arts integration." In sixth grade, she auditioned for the Nutcracker. "There were not many theater opportunities in Butte like here, with Missoula Children's Theatre and camps," she said. "Sixth grade was when kids could get actual acting roles." After that audition, Snow said she was "addicted." *** She was finally able to put those ideas into action when she became a teacher. "As I grew as a teacher, I started to realize those things weren't just fun, but they were what actually got students to be engaged and learn the materials better," Snow said. It's true around the world. Snow taught at Surabaya Intercultural School in Indonesia for two years. There, she chaired the English department, started a theater program, and used arts integration to help students learn English. "It was their second, or often third or fourth language, so for them, getting on their feet or adding visual arts or adding music to help with the rhythms of language all those things were really helpful," she said. "Seeing that in practice ... made me feel passionate about wanting more students to have that opportunity." Snow is taking over from Chris Neely, who Kaufmann said "cemented" SPARK in Missoula County Public Schools and engaged the local arts community in the effort. Neely left to be closer to family. Kaufmann said Snow has been open to building on Neely's accomplishments, and facing SPARK'S challenges. "We were challenged with how we were going to keep track of data," Kaufmann said. "What happens, what are students learning, how do we know what they're learning, what is the teacher learning, what is the artist learning. We realized that some of the other Any Given Child sites are doing this data collection a lot better than we were." *** Some teachers are uncomfortable with arts integration since they themselves are not artists. "I don't think they need to be," Snow said. "I'm not a great visual artist. But it's a good example for a teacher to show themselves as a learner and jump into something they're not an expert at." That's something SPARK encourages, and they're developing teacher trainings through UMArts. At the end of the month, Kennedy Center trainers are coming to Missoula to train teaching artists and K-8 teachers in arts integration. "She herself was willing to take many risks into areas that were not her expertise," Kaufmann said of Snow's work in Creative Pulse. "She served as a great role model, because that's what we expect our students to do all the time. She just rose to the top of her class." Snow is still getting a handle on the position, so she wants to "continue the work that's already been happening." Long-term, she wants to see SPARK expand to high schools. Any Given Child is K-8, so SPARK is looking into grants and community support for the high-school level. "Sometimes people think, oh little kids get into that kind of thing and in high school it's time to be serious," Snow said. "But I feel like learning is more complete when it's done through the arts." Students are affected on a personal level, too. "I had several students in my freshman English class who were too shy to even raise their hand and answer a question," she said. So she "scaffolded" the lesson. Everyone starts out working together doing the same thing. Then they break into group work, then people perform on their own. By their senior year, Snow said some of those painfully shy freshmen were directing plays or starring in shows. Snow wants SPARK to be the model for Montana. She wants to see the arts in every Montana classroom. As school districts' budgets are tightened across the nation, the arts are often the first to be cut. "As an arts teacher, as a theater teacher, it was always a fight for anything that I wanted to do," she said. "I had to prove it was important, where you don't have to do that if you're a math teacher." That plays into SPARK's mission. "Part of working with kids in the arts is helping them to feel confident that the arts are not a silly thing to pursue or be engaged in," Snow said. A 10th-grade boy, age 15, needs a warm winter jacket, men's size large, jeans size 32 x 34, boxers, men's size medium (which must be new and in the packaging). He is also in need of warm flannel sheets and a warm winter blanket for a full size bed, and towels. New or gently used is wonderful. If you would like to help with this need you can donate gently used items or make a donation of $175 to My Student in Need and we will purchase a gift card so the teacher can purchase the items for the student. Sentinel No. 1723. A fourth grade girl, age 9, needs pants, hoodies and shirts women's size small. New or used is wonderful! If you would like to help with this need you can donate gently used items or make a donation of $150 to My Student in Need and we will purchase a gift card so the teacher can take the student shopping. Russell No. 1743. The Missoula County Sheriffs Office has identified the woman found dead in her apartment at the Lewis and Clark Village on Saturday evening as 22-year-old Rhianna Leigh Dilworth of Kalispell. University of Montana Police were called to the apartment around 5:15 p.m. Saturday after the womans roommate found her dead in the apartment, said Missoula police public information officer Sgt. Travis Welsh. The Missoula Police Department is investigating the death, but Welsh said they do not believe there is any danger to the public. The sheriffs office did not release a cause of death, pending the completion of autopsy and toxicology reports. The Friday, Sept. 16 Missoulian contained an opinion piece by Hamilton area legislator Ron Ehli. We appreciate his input and message to the citizens of Boulder but believe that some of what he has to say is not complete or fully informed. In one sentence, he writes, The main objective of (Senate Bill 411) may have been to close (the Montana Developmental Center), but another important objective of the bill sponsor was to repurpose the campus in Boulder, protect jobs, and thus the economy of Boulder. We acknowledge repurposing the MDC campus and protecting jobs and the local economy may have been an objective of some who voted in favor of the bill, but records demonstrate that it was not an important objective of the bill sponsor. The original draft of the bill as introduced by the sponsor, Sen. Mary Caferro of Helena, contained no language whatsoever about those issues. It was not until April 13, 2015, during executive action of the House Human Services Committee that those issues were introduced, coming then as amendments offered by Rep. Kirk Wagoner of Montana City, whose district includes the Boulder area. Supporting evidence exists on the official legislative website. Rep. Ehlis advice that the citizens of Boulder ask questions, stand up for themselves and approach the legislature for help is well taken. That is exactly what the community has been working on through the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee (BTAC) and the Making Boulders Future Bright effort. Dozens of citizens have devoted many, many hours to getting ready for the upcoming legislative session, and Ehli should rest assured that the citizenry will do its best to be heard when the legislative session begins in January. We take a little bit of an issue with Ehlis claim that there has been an apparent lack of input from the governors office and administration staff on this matter. Boulder has seen far more input from that wing of the government than from the many legislators who voted in favor of SB411. Several legislators, all Democrats who opposed SB411, have been actively involved in the Making Boulders Future Bright and BTAC effort. The Governors Budget Director, Dan Villa, has also spent many hours visiting with and listening to the citizens in those efforts. Some of those efforts have also addressed the topic raised by Ehli about the forensic overflow from Montana State Hospital. We feel confident that any legislator who voted in favor of SB411 who wants to be involved in helping Boulder citizens craft a repurposing and economic protection plan to take to the upcoming session would be welcomed to any of the citizen meetings set to address that. A meeting of the MDC Repurposing Committee is set for Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 3:30 p.m. at the county clerk and recorders building. A meeting of the Attracting Business Committee is set for Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the city hall. The BTAC will meet Oct. 12 at 8 a.m. at city hall. All of the meetings on this topic are listed on the website makingbouldersfuturebright.com under Get Connected. We urge Ehli and those legislators who share his concerns about the future welfare of our community to get involved in our ongoing efforts. The more advice we can get about crafting a viable plan that will gain legislative approval, the better off we will be. The news came, as most knew it would, that the shuttered Columbia Falls aluminum smelter has now been added to the federal Superfund National Priorities List. That brings Montanas total to 17 Superfund sites and its expected well wind up with the Smurfitt-Stone plant added to that number in the near future. Thats nothing to be proud of here in the Land of the Big Sky. Add to that the hundreds of toxic waste sites, abandoned mines and leaky oil wells that wont qualify for Superfund status and the conclusion is inescapable state and federal regulatory agencies are systemically failing to fulfill their mission to ensure industry does not damage human health and the environment. Given the rather alarming number of former industrial operations that become Superfund sites in Montana, one might wonder on just whose behalf our politicians are acting. Nowadays governance does not mean passing laws and overseeing agencies to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens as it should. Instead, our politicians bend over backwards to accommodate the demands of industry. Tragically, the bigger the industry, the more our politicians are willing to dilute laws and hobble regulatory agencies to give polluters the benefit of the doubt at every turn. Tax breaks, regulatory exemptions and weakened laws for industry are now the norm. In the meantime, the tax burden gets shifted to the homeowners and small businesses that are the vast majority of Montanas population. Yet industry lobbyists never sleep and are always yowling for more breaks, less regulation, subsidies and self-monitoring. It seems our politicians have forgotten that when they take office they swear to uphold the Montana Constitution. As clearly stated in the Montana Constitution, their first and unambiguous duty in regard to environmental protection is found in Article II, Section 3. Inalienable rights: All persons are born free and have certain inalienable rights. They include the right to a clean and healthful environment And again, at Article IX, Environment and Natural Resources, Sec. 1, Protection and Improvement: (1) The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. Obviously, continuing to generate Superfund sites is not in compliance with the mandates of the Montana Constitution. Yet, despite the undeniable results of industry-generated pollution, our current batch of politicians and wannabes are out in full force cheerleading for yet more polluting industries and more reductions in pollution control from both state and federal agencies and laws. Bakken oil? Let er rip. Rolling bombs through the middle of our major cities? Not a problem, gotta get that oil to market. The dying Colstrip coal-fired power plants? Forget cleaning up their incredible pollution already poisoning the areas groundwater, lets hear about how the rest of the populace should pay higher utility costs to bolster those left behind by an antiquated industry. Looking over the stumpfields turned knapweed plantations left behind by Plum Creek, the cheerleaders say we need more clearcuts. Montana once had a non-degradation standard for water quality until the mid-'90s, when the Republican-dominated legislature and Republican Gov. Marc Racicot decided we needed mixing zones instead of clean industrial discharges. That allowed pollutants to be dumped into state ground and surface waters providing there was still enough clean water left to dilute the pollutants within a certain distance from the discharge hence mixing zones. Ironically, many of the corporations that lobbied for the change have already folded their tents and departed Montana. But they leave behind their pollutants and our now-degraded water quality standards for the very present and future generations the Constitution mandates protection. Superfund sites and treatment in perpetuity should make Montanans ashamed of our current and past governance. Is this really the legacy we want to leave our kids and grandkids so our politicians can kow-tow to polluting industries? Didnt we learn anything from the Butte-Anaconda environmental nightmare that prompted the guarantees of a clean and healthful environment in the 1972 Constitution? Apparently not. Next time you hear a politician lauding their pro industry stance, you might ask them how that complies with the Constitutions mandate for a clean and healthful environment. If they tell you we can have both point them to the newly-designated Columbia Falls Superfund site or the 16 other Superfund sites and remind them that their worn-out industry-friendly rhetoric is being proven wrong every day and what Montanans really have is a systemic failure to regulate polluting industries. In the criminal justice system, defendants have rights, but what about victims? Montanans have an opportunity to weigh in on this important question in the upcoming Nov. 8 election as they consider whether to support or oppose Constitutional Initiative No. 116. To learn more about CI-116, come to a one-hour panel discussion hosted by the Missoula League of Women Voters on Tuesday, Sept. 20, from noon to 1 p.m. in the large meeting room of the Missoula Public Library at 301 East Main. Montana statutes already recognize a variety of rights and protections for some victims of crime. CI-116 would expand these rights and amend them into the Montana Constitution. Commonly known as Marsys Law, the initiative is named for Marsalee Nicholas, a murder victim in California whose family believes they did not receive sufficient information or involvement in the prosecution of her killer. One week after the murder, Nicholas mother and brother ran into the accused murderer in a grocery store; they had not been told he had been released on bail. CI-116 would add a new section to Montanas Constitution enumerating 18 rights to which victims of crime and their families would be entitled. They generally would ensure victims are afforded notice regarding the prosecution and incarceration of perpetrators and an opportunity to be heard by the courts and corrections system. For example, victims would have the right to be heard in any proceeding involving the release, plea, sentencing, disposition, adjudication or parole of the perpetrator. Victims would also have the right to confer with the prosecuting attorney and to submit information about the impact of the perpetrators conduct for use in sentencing. The judicial and correctional systems would be required to inform victims about the outcome of the case against the perpetrator, any sentence, any clemency proceedings, and the timing of the perpetrators release or escape from custody. Victims would be entitled to the enforcement of these rights in any trial or appellate court acting on the case against the perpetrator. Victims would be issued written statements of these rights, known as Marsys cards. Victims are already entitled to most of the rights listed in CI-116. But CI-116 would expand victims rights and elevate victims protections to the Montana Constitution, making them harder to alter or remove in the future. Montana statutory law requires the prosecuting attorney in criminal cases involving bodily injury to consult with the victim regarding the dismissal of the case, release of the perpetrator during judicial proceedings, plea negotiations and pretrial diversion of the case. CI-116 would require the prosecuting attorney to consult with the victim in all misdemeanor, felony or juvenile delinquency cases in which a person suffers direct or threatened physical, psychological or financial harm as a result of the commission or attempted commission of a crime. Proponents of the initiative believe additional protections for victims are necessary to ensure criminal justice decisions are made with sufficient regard for the impact of the perpetrators conductand the prosecution processon the victim. They are concerned that the pain and anguish that victims experience may be exacerbated by the criminal justice systems seeming indifference to their loss. National supporters of Marsys law seek to have it adopted in all 50 states and, eventually, amended into the United States Constitution. They have succeeded in two states, and versions of Marsys law are also on the November ballot in North Dakota and South Dakota. Opponents of CI-116 generally agree with the importance of victims rights, but they argue CI-116 is overbroad or duplicative of existing protections. Some opponents are concerned that engrafting those rights into the Montana Constitution will make it more difficult to amend the language of the victims rights even though implementation may indicate a need for practical changes. Further, the amendments would extend rights to victims of nonviolent misdemeanors; this would draw on additional prosecutorial resources. A voter deciding whether to support or oppose CI-116 might discuss the proposal with someone he or she knows who was the victim of a crime. The voter might review current Montana statutes regarding victims rights and the specific language of the proposed constitutional amendment. BUTTE Montana Tech has the go-ahead to offer a new bachelors degree in data science what the Harvard Business Review calls the sexiest career of the 21st century. Starting a year from now, Tech will begin a stand-alone Bachelor of Science degree in data science the only one of its kind offered in the Montana University System, according to Tech. The Montana Board of Regents approved the new degree on Thursday in Billings. Its a cutting-edge degree, Tech professor Richard Rossi told The Montana Standard Thursday. Its an exciting new field in the information and technology sector." Rossi, director of Techs statistics program, is co-creator of the degree program with colleague Jeff Braun, Tech computer science department associate professor. If sexy could refer to the starting entry pay for new graduates, they could earn between $80,000 and $90,000 right out of the gate, Rossi said. Its a great deal, said Rossi. Such a degree could come in handy in several fields. Its something that all researchers and analysts need to have, Barbara Wagner, chief economist for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, told the Standard. Data science graduates can work as data scientists, statisticians, business analysts, data warehousing and database administrators, and software developers. I anticipate some demand for the data science program from other disciplines, added Wagner. And hopefully they are working with the other disciplines to make sure that the IT (internet technology) skills are matched with knowledge on statistics and econometrics. Techs statistics faculty and computer science department will jointly run the new degree program. Its been in place under statistics as a different curriculum, said Rossi. This is a new and improved curriculum we put together in the last year. The new degree was redesigned to meet the needs of the job market, read a Tech press release. Former mathematical sciences head at Tech, Rossi said it will help undergraduate students compete in the growing field of data science in which there is currently a tremendous demand. He mentioned Oracle, a database management corporation in Bozeman, and government jobs as current hotspots for data scientists. Offering such a degree will definitely serve as a recruiting tool, he added, plus it appeals to the type of student that already attends Tech: Its the same group that would be interested in our engineering program, so were looking for students with strong quantitative skills math and computational. An October 2012 article in the Harvard Business Review credited Hal Varian, a Google economist, with tagging computer engineers as the sexy job of the 1990s. The article notes: If sexy means having rare qualities that are much in demand, data scientists are already there. They are difficult and expensive to hire and, given the very competitive market for their services, difficult to retain. There simply arent a lot of people with their combination of scientific background and computational and analytical skills. Now Tech remains a leader in the ever-changing field. It is also the only Montana university that offers a bachelor of science degree in statistics. Irish Studies at the University of Montana, in partnership with the Presidents Lecture Series, Friends of Irish Studies in the West, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, will host the 32nd annual American Conference of Irish Studies Western Regional. The conferences theme is Her Exiled Children: Ireland and Irish America. The conference is set for Missoula during the weekend of Oct. 20-22. Most events will be held at the Holiday Inn Downtown. Guest speakers include H.E. Anne Anderson, Ireland's Ambassador to the U.S.; Professor Ruan ODonnell, chair of history at Irelands University of Limerick; Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, poet in residence at the University of Notre Dame; Breandan Feiritear, former head of Radio na Gaelachtachta and a documentary filmmaker; and Myles Dungan, independent scholar and Irish radio and television broadcaster. A tour of Butte and Anaconda is organized for Thursday, Oct. 20, and will be led by UM Professor Emeritus of History Dave Emmons, author of the seminal texts The Butte Irish and Beyond the American Pale. Delegates will be received by members of Division 1 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians at their Anaconda hall. Founded in 1885, this division is the longest continuously active division west of the Mississippi. Following a tour of the facility and town, the group travels to Butte for a reception at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, home to a rich repository of primary material relating to the history of the Irish in the West. A tour of the city follows, after which the group returns to Missoula. Friday marks the official opening of the conference and the presentation of papers. Ellen Crain and Aubrey Jaap from the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives will present the traveling exhibit, Erins Exiled Children: Irish America and the Road to the Rising, which sets the theme for the day, focusing primarily but not exclusively on the Easter Rising. Dungan will develop this theme as he presents a paper titled How to Lose a Country in 16 Executions. The day culminates with ODonnell delivering a speech as part of UMs prestigious Presidents Lecture Series. He will present Irish America and the 1916 Rising. The talk begins at 8 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom on UMs campus and is free and open to the public. Saturday will celebrate the historical relationship between Ireland and America in general in particular the close connection between Ireland and Montana. The Irish love of sport is a prominent feature of Saturdays activities. Hurling, the most ancient of Irish games, is the sport, Loyola Sacred Hearts Rollin Field is the venue and teams that traveled from throughout the Northwest and Canada are set to play. Saturdays keynote speakers have a personal connection to Montana. Feiritear will deliver a talk titled Dragging it Home: Songs and Stories from Gaelic America. He has been following the trail of Irish-speaking emigrants and presenting his findings on radio and television for more than 40 years. His documentary on Butte, Sceal ar Butte, will be shown following his talk. Ni Dhomhnaill will read from her large corpus of original poems and will share family stories and the memories they left from living and working in Montana. The evening culminates with a banquet at which Irish Ambassador Anderson and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock will be guests of honor. Both will speak to the importance of the relationship between Ireland and Montana. O Riordain said Ambassador Andersons presence at the conference is highly symbolic and indicative of how Montana is viewed in Ireland. During her visit to Montana in 2006, former Irish President Mary McAleese spoke of the enormous contribution Montana has made to Ireland and to the special place this state has in the hearts of all Irish people. Ambassador Andersons first official visit to Montana was deliberately scheduled to coincide with the conference as a reminder of the high regard in which the Irish government and people hold their friends in Montana. The evening will conclude with presentations and a celebration of Irish music and dance. For more information on times, prices or how to get involved, call 243-6359 or email traolach.oriordain@mso.umt.edu. *** Law school to host campus sexual assault symposium The Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana will address one of the nations pressing problems when the Montana Law Review hosts the 2016 Browning Symposium on Friday, Sept. 30. The topic for this years event is Sexual Assault: Conflicts Between Campus and Courts. Law Dean Paul Kirgis praised the law review, a student-run organization, for addressing the topic. Campus sexual assault remains an issue of national importance. Greater recognition of the scope of the problem has led to heightened media coverage of individual incidents and to academic institutions reformulating their campus sexual assault policies. Debates rage about the appropriate role of universities in sexual assault investigations, the punishment of offenders and how campus sexual assaults should be handled by the criminal justice system. These issues are particularly important for the UM community, with Jon Krakauers book Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town casting a national spotlight on campus. UM President Royce Engstrom said he welcomes the symposium as an opportunity for the university to show its leadership in responding to this critical issue. I am proud of our work to combat sexual assault at UM, Engstrom said, but recent news reminds us that these issues persist at colleges and universities across the country. If UM can help lead this important national dialogue, we should and we will. Speakers include Montana U.S. Attorney Mike Cotter and Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, who will deliver the conference keynote. Also attending will be a slate of national experts including: Deborah Blake, University of Pittsburgh School of Law; Erin Buzuvis, Western New England University School of Law; Kevin Cole, University of San Diego School of Law; Andi Curcio, Georgia State University College of Law; Joanna Grossman, Hofstra Law School; Kari Hong, Boston College Law School; Susan Kruth, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education; Diane Rosenfeld, Harvard Law School; and Nadine Strossen, New York Law School. Panelists will discuss topics including the interpretation of federal Title IX laws in addressing campus sexual assault, the application of criminal laws to campus sexual assault, and the due process rights of victims and suspects in campus sexual assault investigations. The symposium is open to the general public free of cost. Attorneys interested in continuing legal education credit can register for 6.75 CLE, including one ethics credit, at a rate of $125. Lunch will be provided and the day will conclude with a reception. The Montana Law Review will publish a symposium edition that will include scholarly works on the topic in the months following. More information on the event and registration details can be found on the Montana Law Reviews website at montanalawreview.org. *** Creative Writing Program accepting 2017 submissions The UM Creative Writing Program is accepting submissions for the 2017 Merriam-Frontier Award. The annual writing competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at UM during fall semester 2016. The award was established by H.G. Merriam, UM professor of English and creative writing from 1919 to 1954, and consists of a $500 prize and publication of the winning entry as a chapbook. Submissions are limited to one per student and must include a cover page with the title of the manuscript, students name, email, phone number and address. All entries must be delivered to Liberal Arts Building Room 133 by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18. The manuscripts will be judged by a committee of local writers. A winner will be announced Friday, Feb. 3, 2017, and will be invited to give a public reading. Poetry: 20 to 25 poems Fiction: one or more stories (40 to 60 double-spaced pages) Creative nonfiction: one or more essays (40 to 60 double-spaced pages) Frontier, later titled Frontier and Midland, was a distinguished quarterly journal founded and edited by Merriam and published at UM from 1920 to 1939. Contributors included then-emerging talents Wallace Stegner, A.B. Guthrie Jr., William Saroyan, Dorothy Johnson, John Mason Brown, Weldon Kees, Thomas McGrath and many others. A particular strength of the journal was its frequent publication of work by young authors, a tradition the Merriam-Frontier Award honors and continues. More information is available online at hs.umt.edu/creativewriting. Its the plight of every Montanan seeking a quiet escape: The Last Best Place has been discovered. Whitefish is packed with skiers, Big Sky is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, and places like Philipsburg and Virginia City are crawling with tourists. For someone who wants to enjoy a relaxing getaway but still wants the amenities of a town, planning a trip can be frustrating. Want to sleep in a real bed and savor a cup of coffee made by someone else but still enjoy a quiet weekend free from crowds? Consider an escape to one of these spots. Scobey This Daniels County charmer is home to a replica of an old Pioneer Town, which includes 35 restored historic buildings and an impressive museum. There arent too many amenities in the area, but youll find a few good restaurants like Ponderosa Pizza and the peace and quiet you seek. Ekalaka Explore the peaceful Medicine Rocks State Park, check out the Carter County Museum, get to know the locals at the Old Stand Bar and Grille and get a quiet nights rest in Ekalaka. You wont find much to do in this town of about 350, and the locals like it that way. Chinook Youll find Chinook in Blaine County near Havre, and its the perfect place to go when even the small city of Havre seems like too much. Chinooks main attractions are a museum and an old battlefield, so its the definition of quiet. Paradise Located near the spot where the Clark Fork River meets the Flathead, Paradise is a small community with a rich railroad history. Youll find stunning scenery and total relaxation here, and you wont find much else. Troy When the chaos of summer dies down and fewer people flock to northwestern Montana, this little city becomes a more peaceful place to visit. Camp along the tranquil Yaak River and enjoy the beautiful fall foliage in the area. Copyright 2022 HT Digital Streams Ltd All Right Reserved Jurors on Monday in Butte district court convicted a Texas man for the fatal shooting of a Whitehall man and wounding two other men on a remote road southeast of Butte in 2015. In less than four hours, the jury of six men and six women found Tony Dwade Sawyer guilty of deliberate homicide and two counts of attempted deliberate homicide, all felonies, in connection with a late-night triple shooting that killed 37-year-old Joe Powers on Nov. 3. The 48-year-old, flanked by public defenders Ed Sheehy and Catherine Rickett, sat stone-faced and lowered his eyes while the verdict was read. Powers parents, Tom and Zelda, sat quietly behind prosecutors along with other family members. They declined comment. Presiding Judge Brad Newman ordered a presentence investigation, and the sentencing was slated for Nov. 7. Sheehy said his client may be facing a throat cancer diagnosis and asked the judge that his client receive a medical evaluation while incarcerated in the county jail, which Newman ordered. After the judge adjourned court, family members of Joe Powers embraced County Attorney Eileen Joyce and her co-counsel, Ann Shea and Michael Clague, both deputy county attorneys. Joyce and her team spent at least 100 hours in preparation for the trial. She wasnt surprised that jurors returned a quick verdict. We believe that the jury reached the correct verdict, and were happy justice was served for all the victims and Joe Powers family, Joyce said. In instructing jurors before closing arguments Monday morning, Newman said their task was to deliberate if Sawyer was guilty of the more serious charges or the lesser offenses of mitigated deliberate homicide regarding Powers and attempted mitigated deliberate homicide regarding Whitehall residents Steve Drury and Hunter Smith. If jurors opted for the lesser offense regarding Drury and Smiths injuries, they would also consider an offense of assault with a weapon. In an hour-long closing argument to a packed courtroom, Deputy County Attorney Michael Clague faced the jury, saying the case was about a choice Sawyer made and a choice he took away from Powers, who was shot in the back and left face down in a snowy ditch on Fish Creek Road. Four men got into a car on Nov. 3, 2015, and only one man returned in the vehicle to Drurys residence, Clague continued. No matter the amount of methamphetamine and number of guns, the facts in the case could not be denied that Tony Sawyer took away these three mens choices. Clague dismissed the defenses contention that Sawyer was acting in self-defense. If a person acts in self-defense, he argued, then that person would likely turn himself in. Sawyer was apprehended a day after the shooting in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The prosecutor said testimony showed there was no danger to Sawyer as it related to Powers and Smith. He said the defense wanted the jury to believe danger existed. When Sawyer ran up to Drury, this was not the action of a scared man, Clague said. Rather, it was the behavior of a man running to a fight. Clague argued the security footage at Drury's house shows Sawyer was not scared when he helped load the Chevy Equinox the four men rode in to go skeet shooting. After the shooting, when Sawyer returned to Drury's house, he took 45 minutes to methodically pack another vehicle, a Mitsubishi, before he fled, Clague said, adding that the security footage did not support Sawyer's admission that he was scared or suffering severe emotional distress. Sheehy, in his closing, said the five days of testimony showed his client feared for his life the night the shootings occurred and that his use of force was justified. Sheehy said testimony based on Sawyers interviews with Idaho law enforcement, Butte police Detective Anthony Jurenic and clinical psychologist Loretta L. Bolyard indicated he fired shots because he feared for his life or serious bodily injury. As the situation escalated on Fish Creek Road that night, Sawyer questioned You guys aint going to kill me? And then, when the need for self-defense became apparent, said Please, please, please dont make me do it. That, said Sheehy, indicated Sawyer was doing what he could to save his own life. In the prosecutions rebuttal, Shea said this is a case of choices and those choices revolved around the defendants choices. When Sawyer left Texas for Montana, he set in motion a chain of events that changed Powers family forever and took away Joe Powers life, she said. Police reports MAN ARRESTED ON FELONY WARRANT An off-duty police officer recognized a man wanted for felony probation violation at 3 p.m. Friday inside the Front Street Safeway and reported the man to on-duty officers. When police arrested Christian Kraha, 22, of Butte, they discovered two bottles of MiO Liquid Water Enhancer which adds caffeine to water in his back pocket. Kraha is charged with felony probation violation and misdemeanor theft. ROUGHHOUSING LEADS TO DUI Police were called to Cobban and Florence streets Saturday night after four men were reported fighting in the street. The men told police they were old friends and just roughhousing. Police asked whose truck was running in the middle of the street, and 20-year-old Butte resident Reid Vandenbos said it was his. Vandenbos admitted to police he had been drinking and failed a field sobriety test and another test at the jail. Vandenbos refused a Breathalyzer test and was charged with misdemeanor DUI. WOMAN VIOLATES PAROLE Police responded to a call from a convenience store at 10 a.m. Saturday and arrested a woman for felony probation violation. Police said Tara O'Donnell, 31, Butte, seemed intoxicated and was drinking wine at the casino. When police called O'Donnell's probation officer, she took off down the street. O'Donnell was arrested for felony probation violation, and misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession when police found a glass pipe on her. The state of Montana has withdrawn from negotiations on the Butte Hill Superfund cleanup because BP/ARCO has so far refused to permit the state to dump the Parrot smelter tailings near the Berkeley Pit. Gov. Steve Bullock told The Montana Standard in an interview Monday morning that the state was not participating in a negotiating session scheduled Monday in Missoula. I am more committed than ever that were going to remove those tailings, Bullock said. We have an excellent engineering plan and all we need is access to the Berkeley Pit to get it done once and for all. Butte-Silver Bow, too, declined to participate in Mondays Superfund consent-decree negotiations. Chief Executive Matt Vincent delivered a statement to the other negotiators, saying that it didnt make sense for Butte-Silver Bow to spend the time and resources in the negotiations when no tangible progress could be made without the states participation. While Vincent applauded the good progress that has been made over the past year in the negotiations, and the decision not to participate was not taken lightly, he told The Montana Standard that given the parties positions and the impasse on the Parrot access agreement, we support the governors decision. Bullock told The Montana Standard, The state of Montana is eager to resolve the last remaining issues between the parties in the cleanup of the Butte hill, and were certainly committed to getting to a resolution. But I certainly wont return to the consent-decree negotiating table until we get the access agreement we need. It ought to be an easy thing, Bullock said. We need to get this access agreement off the table and get things done. Butte deserves no less in fact, Butte deserves more than just the cleanup of the Parrot tailings. Butte-Silver Bow is foursquare behind the removal of the Parrot tailings, Vincent said in an interview. "Enough is enough on whatever is keeping this project from moving forward. Atlantic Richfield understands that the removal of Parrot tailings is a priority for the State," an ARCO spokesman said Monday evening. "Atlantic Richfield has been working constructively with the State to discuss our concerns about the proposed project." Those concerns, the spokesman said, include the instability of the pit area, which is "subject to rockslides." The spokesman added, The states proposed plan to dispose of Parrot tailings on a ramp road in the pit also could limit long-term access to the pit and damage storm water control structures that currently route contaminated water into the pit in order to protect Silver Bow Creek. "Atlantic Richfield is seeking assurance from the state that these issues would be addressed in the states final work plan. "These concerns are not new," said Harley Harris, supervising attorney for the state's Natural Resource Damage Program, which has designed the Parrot Tailings cleanup project. "They have been identified and thoroughly analyzed in our design process and we believe they have been satisfactorily addressed. "In light of ARCO's statement we will again be reaching out to them to answer their questions." The states own technical consultants have warned of safety hazards from hydrogen sulfide gas that could be emitted from the pit if organic material excavated from the Parrot tailings slides into the pit," the ARCO spokesman said. "To prevent this from happening, the state should segregate organic material and place it in a location where it cannot slide or erode into the pit. Harris said that is precisely the state's intention. The spokesman said ARCO is disappointed that the state has withdrawn from the consent-decree negotiations. Reaching a positive outcome for the community is not possible if the state does not participate. Bullock announced last October that the state would unilaterally take responsibility for excavating the Parrot tailings, which have been identified for years as the source of severe groundwater pollution near the Civic Center in the heart of Butte. The Bureau of Mines and other experts have said there is evidence that the plume of polluted water is moving toward Silver Bow and Blacktail creeks. A state Natural Resources Damage Program project study released this year shows new levels of pollution along the creek beds. The Environmental Protection Agency and ARCO, rejecting evidence that the plume is moving, years ago agreed on a remedy plan involving capturing and treating the polluted water. ARCO has installed a French drain a few feet below the surface to intercept polluted water and route it to treatment. Other experts have countered that the drain is ineffective and insufficient. After the state originally announced that it would dump the tailings directly into the Berkeley Pit, and then decided to put the waste dirt on a ramp to the pit instead. Then, an alternate plan was announced in which the tailings would be dumped on Montana Resources property. Under that plan, MR would have moved the tailings to a leach pad eventually and processed them to remove the recoverable metals. Last month, it was announced that the state and Montana Resources could not come to agreement on the specifics of the leaching plan, including indemnifying each other for potential legal liability. Then the state said it would go back to the Berkeley pit ramp plan. But that, too, required an agreement. Montana Resources has indicated it is willing to provide an access agreement to the state but due to its contractual obligations, MR needs a sign-off from ARCO to grant that agreement. ARCO has refused to go along. In our view, the ARCO spokesman said, Placing the excavated material on the active mine site where it could be reprocessed, would be a safer and lower-cost solution than disposal on the ramp in the Berkeley Pit. Atlantic Richfield would strongly support reprocessing in the active mine site." Harris said the state "is in contact with ARCO at just about every level" and expects to keep working toward an agreement. The state and the EPA have long been at odds over the cleanup. In 2006, at the time of the Butte Priority Soils Record of Decision a preliminary document outlining the cleanup plans for the Butte Hill then-Department of Environmental Quality director Richard Opper did not sign on to the record of decision itself, instead writing a letter of partial concurrence that said in part, DEQ does not concur with the overarching decision to leave accessible, major sources of groundwater contamination in place. We refer specifically to the Parrot Tailings, Diggings East Tailings and the North Side Tailings. Our concern is that leaving these wastes in place poses a significant and permanent threat to groundwater and to the long-term water quality in Silver Bow Creek." Despite other areas of cooperation between the state and federal agencies, that dispute remains, as both agencies have held to their respective positions. Bullocks effort to have the state step in and remove the tailings has been stymied by one issue after another this year including disagreement over where Butte-Silver Bow should relocate its county shops, which sit atop part of the Parrot tailings and will have to be removed before the tailings can be excavated. "This should be about moving tailings out of our community," a frustrated Vincent said Monday. As others wrangle over liability issues, he asked, "When does our community get some indemnification?" We screen students for vision, hearing and spinal problems. Why not for depression? The Montana Suicide Mortality Review Team, composed of Montana health care professionals and other citizens, has recommended that all students be screened for depression beginning at age 11. That recommendation is consistent with what the U.S. Prevention Services Task Force advised recently. What we envision is making parents aware, giving parents information and suggestions on where to go for follow up, said Karl Rosston, statewide suicide prevention coordinator. We want to give parents information so they can make decisions. Shocking as it may be to think that children as young as 11 are seriously depressed, Montana statistics argue for detection of this disease at an early age. Since 2014, at least two Montana 11-year-olds have taken their own lives, one child in Billings, one in Great Falls. Several 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds have killed themselves in the same period. Not all who suffer depression will kill themselves or even attempt self-harm. But the majority of people who die by suicide had undiagnosed, untreated or ineffectively treated mental illnesses. Depression is the illness most often connected with suicide. The review team was created by a 2013 law that aims to reduce the rate of suicide in Montana, which is the highest of any state double the national average. The Montana team made other recommendations for a multi-level approach for all elementary and secondary students, including: -- Teaching resiliency and coping skills starting in grades 1 and 2. -- Training school counselors in suicide prevention. -- Training all middle and high school students in a Question, Refer Persuade, a simple, evidenced-based method of asking a few questions to help their peers stay safe. -- Requiring each school district to develop protocols to respond to students identified as being at high risk. Among the 27 Montana youth who died by suicide between Jan. 1, 2014 and March 1, 2016, 21 were white, five were American Indian and one was Asian. Seven were 17 years old, 20 were younger. Eighty-one percent were boys. The Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a confidential survey conducted every other year in Montana middle and high schools, has shown an increasing trend toward serious depression among our youth. In 2015, the most recent survey: -- Nearly 30 percent of Montana students said they had felt sad or hopeless for more than two weeks in a row in the past year and had stopped doing some of their normal activities. -- Nearly 9 percent reported attempting suicide. -- Students with disabilities were more likely than any other student group to answer yes to those questions. The second highest rate of risk was among students in alternative schools, followed by American Indians living in urban areas and American Indians living on reservations. All those groups had higher risks than the general student population, according to the YRBS. Montana cannot ignore depression and suicide. The student screening recommendations are new, but the screenings arent. Family doctors and mental health professionals have used depression screenings (often a series of questions) for many years. The Montana Suicide Prevention Review Team has asked that lawmakers consider mandating some type of depression screening for middle and high school students. Such a law is justified for protecting adolescent health and life. But local school boards dont have to wait for lawmakers to act next year. In consultation with their community and health care professionals, school trustees can and should establish depression screening programs. We urge Montana school leaders not to wait for the next student suicide. Step up now to help parents learn about depression, treatment and recovery. -- The Billings Gazette The number of registered medical marijuana patients in Montana without access to a legal provider has quadrupled in the past two weeks to 11,850 patients. Ninety-three percent of the 12,730 patients registered with the Montana Marijuana Program are listed as patients with no provider in the programs first monthly report released this week from the state since a law limiting providers to three patients took effect on Aug. 31. A state spokesman said its not quite as bad as it looks. Others the patients disagree, with some reluctantly returning to pharmaceuticals or nothing at all to deal with their ailments until the outcome of an initiative on the November ballot decides their future fate. Jon Ebelt, spokesman for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, said that patients with no provider are considered their own provider, meaning they can grow marijuana for themselves. Since Montanas 457 remaining medical marijuana providers can only have three patients each, most patients dont have anyone to turn to. Predicting this shortfall, Ebelt said the health department sent out temporary 30-day provider cards on September 1 to over 8,600 patients who didnt tell the state who their new provider would be by the time the new law came into effect on Aug. 31. Those cards allow patients to cultivate their own plants for personal medical use only and possess up to an ounce of harvested marijuana. Thats easier said than done, said Chris Lindsey. Lindsey, senior legislative counsel of the Marijuana Policy Project, thinks its unrealistic that many patients could buy equipment, obtain seeds, learn to grow, and get permission from their landlord to start growing at home. There is a perception that growing at home is like growing house plants, but it is actually very involved, and the cost savings compared with purchasing can be offset by things like security, demanding schedule (daily and weekly duties and no more vacations), and the possible presence of young family members, Lindsey said. Growing marijuana is no small step for anyone. Lindsey said the vast majority of patients in state medical marijuana programs buy (or as of Aug. 31 in Montana, used to buy) their medicine from providers, almost always a dispensary. With most Montana patients now cut off from dispensaries and unable to grow, Lindsey said their choice is buying illegally or not buying at all. Unfortunately the underground market is a much easier option for many patients. And those without any resources to do it at home, or who choose not to break the law, will just have to stop for a while, he said. JJ Thomas owns The Marijuana Company, a Butte medical dispensary that shuttered this month because it couldnt sustain operations with only three patients. He said the equipment costs alone to get a home grow off the ground would be at least $1,000 and wouldnt produce anything usable for four months. He said providers cant sell seeds or cloned plants, so its unclear where the health department expects personal providers to get their starters. PATIENTS PERSPECTIVES Kati Wetch has had 18 brain and spinal surgeries for conditions she can best describe as a skull too small for a brain, which causes neurological disorders by herniating down on her spine, and a body that doesnt have the glue to hold itself together. She is legally disabled to the point where she cannot work. Everything dislocates, she said. I have extreme muscle spasms from being cut open all the time. Wetch, 27, said shes been in the Montana Marijuana Program for 11 years, almost since its inception, and that she was one of the first minors registered in the program at age 16. Thats whats so frustrating about all this, too. This was implemented in 2004, I got sick in 2005, and ever since Ive been a patient, weve been having to fight for our rights, Wetch said. I was 96 pounds and dropping because of the brain stem compression and nausea issues. I was throwing up every single day, and this is the only thing that gave me any kind of relief, she said. Its basically my lifeline. Wetch believes that if the health departments intent with the personal provider cards was to cover patients until the legislative session, its not working. Ebelt said the health department doesnt monitor whether patients have access to marijuana, only if they have a provider. Because of this, the health department doesnt know how many of the 8,600 Montanans issued emergency personal provider cards are actually growing for themselves. Providers and patients agree that it cant be many. Everybody knows you cant grow medical cannabis from seed to finish in nine weeks, so I dont know what theyre really expecting people to do in that time frame, Wetch said. Wetch is one of the lucky patients, because her partner is her provider. She and he live in Billings, where hes one of 48 providers in Yellowstone County, which has gained two providers since August. With a maximum of three patients each, those providers can only serve at most 144 patients. There are 1,306 registered medical marijuana patients in Yellowstone County. Wetch said many patients are afraid of speaking up about being cut off from access to marijuana for fear of retribution, especially those whose conditions arent severe enough to preclude them from working. A patient now without a provider agreed to speak with The Montana Standard under the condition of anonymity. Shes not ashamed to use medical marijuana, but shes a state employee and afraid to lose her job if her employer found out. Shes right to be afraid. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the despite language in the Medical Marijuana Act protecting patients from denial of rights, the law doesnt protect employees fired for legally using medical marijuana. When her dispensary closed on Aug. 31, she was out of options. She wouldnt dare ask her landlord for permission to grow in her home not that she has the space, know-how, seeds, money, or desire to do so. Getting permission would leave a paper trail. She couldnt afford to stock up on marijuana before the law went into effect and said she will run out of marijuana to treat painful muscle spasms in a week. She said shed never buy it on the black market; she wouldnt even know where to begin, as shes only ever purchased marijuana legally through the state program. Im not in a position where Id be able to grow on my own, she said. She doesnt know what shes going to do at the end of next week but hopes voters pass Initiative 182 in November, a ballot measure that would reform medical marijuana laws and get her back a provider. She doesnt want to go back to pain pills and muscle relaxants the side effects are too much. BACK TO PHARMACEUTICALS Butte resident Johnny Shipley said hes had to go back on pharmaceuticals since the three-patient limit went into effect, and he knows other cut-off patients are doing the same. The 67-year-old used marijuana for arthritis, and his wife luckily still has a provider to treat her multiple sclerosis. Before medical marijuana, Shipley said his wife was in a wheelchair two days a week and was afraid to hold her grandkids because she thought she might drop them. The Shipleys married 48 years didnt have the budget for Johnny to stock up before Aug. 31 either. He didnt even bother renewing his medical marijuana card. He said others are in worse pain than he is, and he didnt want to be one more person holding up the line if he could bear it. I thought about going out and getting some anyway, but I dont want to do that, because my wife still has legal access, and I dont want to do anything thats gonna screw this program up. Ive seen the benefits, Shipley said. Marijuana helped both Shipley and his wife sleep through the night, easing her pain and his PTSD. You see her there sleeping peacefully, and I cant tell you how much that means to me, he said. Without marijuana for himself, Shipleys restless nights are back. When you get to be a great-grandpa and youve got the great-grandchildren over and theyre asking why great-grandpa was screaming last night, you really dont know what to say. And it makes you feel kind of second rate. And not having that happen and not having to worry about it really makes a difference in the way a guy feels. It helps pick a guy up, Shipley said. Shipleys PTSD isnt a qualifying condition for medical marijuana in Montana, but if voters pass I-182 in November, it would be, in addition to eliminating patient limits for providers and reforming many other parts of the law. Shipley is counting on it. HOW IT HAPPENED The new law effectively cutting off patients from medicine isnt new at all. Senate Bill 423 was originally passed back in 2011 at the height of what many politicians agree was an abuse of the original 2004 medical marijuana law by healthy folks who just wanted to get high. State Senator Cliff Larsen, D-Missoula, is listed a primary sponsor 2011's SB 423, but hes no fan. The bill that actually passed wasnt the one I wanted, Larsen said. Back then, Montana Republicans owned the Legislature and, led by Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, aimed to dismantle the 2004 medical marijuana program even Democrats agreed had gotten out of hand. Larsen said he was tasked by then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer, also a Democrat, with taking the teeth out of SB 423, removing provisions that would hurt Montanans with legitimate medical needs for marijuana. The Democrats failed, and SB 423 passed with multiple provisions, including the three-patient limit for providers, that worried medical marijuana advocates. Immediately challenged by the Montana marijuana industry, SB 423 languished in the courts until two weeks ago. The Montana Supreme Court reversed the ruling of a lower court earlier this year which had prohibited the law from being implemented, and Attorney General Tim Fox denied appeals by medical marijuana patients and the health department to delay the laws implementation further until after the coming legislative session, when voters might pass I-182. Larsen said Montana has moved backwards in the intervening years since the law was written, while other Northwest states have passed legalization. Calling from his RV on the Oregon Coast this week, Larsen said it was sadly ironic he could smell commercial legal pot being smoked on the campground while back home patients were cut off from their medicine. Im really disappointed that the people who need the medicine cant get it anymore, he said. Larsen told the Billings Gazette when the bill first passed he was afraid truly sick people would have a hard time finding a provider under the new law. Sen. Essmann, now chairman of the Montana Republican Party, declined to comment on the recent implementation of SB 423. 3-D LOCKSMITH OPEN FILE CABINET 30.00; A&J ASSOCIATES PC COMM SERV BLDG IT ROOM 2,000.00; A-1 QUALITY TIRE TIRES, SRVC, DISPOSAL 3,557.69; ABBE INC (RCF) RCF 2,831.60; ADV BUSINESS SYS INC MONTHLY MAINT SRVC 967.51; ADV CORRECTIONAL & HEALTH PROF SRVCS 21,630.32; ADV ENVIR TESTING, & ABATEMENT ASBESTOS TESTING 2,776.00; AFLAC AFLAC - PRETAX: PYMT 588.74; AFSCME IOWA COUNCIL 61 UNION DUES - AFSCME: PYMT 212.40; ALLIANT ENERGY OPERATIONS 2,003.24; ALLISON & MATHER TRUST PURCHASE OF 112 E 4TH ST 120,350.00; ALT, GEORGE VA COMMISSION 89.20; ALTORFER INC PARTS; SERVICE 19,255.86; AMERICAN FUNDS SERV CO DEF COMP-AM FUNDS: PYMT 7,250.00; AMERICINN HOTEL FOR WITNESS 317.46; ANDERSON ERICKSON DAIRY JL MILK 1,119.42; ANDERSON, HEIDI NATURE CAMP REFUND 30.00; A-ONE GEOTHERMAL INC GEOTHERMAL INSP/SAMPLE ANLYS 650.00; AQUA TECH CO FISH FOOD 376.88; ARMSTRONG, SUSAN PROF SRVCS 375.00; ARNOLD MOTOR SUPPLY PARTS 1,957.65; 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CURTIS PEST CONTROL 16/17 PEST CONTROL--7 ADDRESSES 3,510.00; D & D FENCING FENCING 1,682.71; DAN CONE GROUP PUMP ON BOTTOM OF OVEN 1,569.83; DAUFELDTS TRUCK-N-TRAILER PARTS; SERVICE 3,969.74; DEAN, ESTHER J LEGAL REPRESENTATION 288.00; DELL MARKETING LP 4 TONER CARTRIDGES 455.96; DES MOINES STAMP CO PERMA STAMP/SIGNATURES 31.80; DIAMOND LIFE HEALTH CARE INC RCF 1,816.91; DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP PROF SRVCS 15,004.50; EASTERN IA LIGHT & POWER COOP UTILITY 2,616.64; EASTERN IOWA TIRE TIRES 9,209.00; EATON, JEFFREY L OR JUDITH A CANCEL ACH 710.00; ELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS CO INC RADIO 130.00; ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING R/R P25 RADIO MFD 635.30; ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES INC GARBAGE COLLECTION SRVCS 2,929.18; EXCEL AUTO GLASS INC SERVICE 312.95; FAREWAY STORES INC FOOD 105.78; FARM BUREAU LIFE & ANNUITY DEF COMP-FARM BUREAU: PYMT 600.00; FARMERS SUPPLY SALES INC JD 1550 MOWER 12,150.00; FASTENAL CO SUPPLIES 829.13; FOUNDATION 2 PROF SRVCS 2,752.35; FOUR OAKS FAM & CHILDREN PROF SRVCS 167.20; GABRILSON INDOOR CLIMATE SLTNS OPERATIONS 346.68; GARRETT, SUSIE MILEAGE 7.35; GENERAL ASPHALT CONST CO ASPHALT 521.96; GENESIS HEALTH GROUP PROF SRVCS 500.00; GENESIS HEALTH SYSTEM AUGUST 181 COUNTY EAP DUES 643.50; GENESIS OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PROF SRVCS 69.00; GEO-COMM INC GEO UPGRADE;PHASE 2 NEXT-GEN 16,800.00; GHA TECHNOLOGIES INC HP TONERS 538.80; GIERKE-ROBINSON CO ENGINEERING SUPPLIES 163.54; GILLESPIE, REID MATERIAL TO PROTECT METAL PIPE 18.31; GLOCK PROFESSIONAL INC ARMORER COURSE 250.00; GOOD SOURCE SOLUTIONS INC JL DRINK MIXES 12,597.59; GOODWILL IND OF THE HEARTLAND VOC/DAY 5,731.05; GOODY, LINDA JOYCE RENT 50.00; GOVCONNECTION INC EXTENDED WARR -REPL PCS 3,125.45; GRAINGER MISC SUPPLIES 114.74; GRANT THORNTON LLP FEE FOR ISSUANCE OF BONDS 2,500.00; GRAY, TIMOTHY OR PAMELA REIMB WELL PLUGGING 494.00; GREAT RIVER TIRE & SERVICE INC MT BALANCE/TIRE DISPOSAL 90.96; GREENE, STEVE L CARETAKER--J SHUGER PARK 550.00; GREENWOOD CLEANING SYS GARBAGE BAGS 834.58; GRETE, MARLYS PA TRAINING 25.88; H D CLINE COMPANY SEALS 13.86; HAHN READY MIX CO CONCRETE 13,611.10; HANDICAPPED DEV CENTER PROF SRVCS 382.80; HARPER, ROSE PA TRAINING 21.84; HARSCO METALS GRANULAR 2,534.44; HART, S R, ATTORNEY AT LAW LEGAL REPRESENTATION 168.00; HARTFORD LIFE INS CO DEF COMP-HARTFORD: PYMT 2,200.00; HENDERSON BARKER FUNERAL HM PROF SRVCS 375.00; HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE CO SECURE REMOTE MGMT MAINT 225.72; HOGAN, KIRK RENT 50.00; HY-VEE DRUGSTORE #7060 NONFOOD FOOD PANTRY 2,370.45; HY-VEE GROCERY FOOD 32.00; HY-VEE INC, ATTN: CHARGE ACCT CLEARING 58.59; IA DEPT OF REVENUE - SWT IA - STATE W/H-CNTY 30,005.00; IA DEPT OF REVENUE-SWT/MUSCOM IA - SWT - JOINT COMMS-JC - 945 2,038.94; IACCB CONF 2016 CONFERENCE REG 225.00; IC SOLUTIONS LLC JULY DEBIT FUNDING 12,954.95; ICOP 5 MIC BATTERY PACKS 178.77; ILLINOIS DEPT OF REVENUE IL STATE WITHHOLDING-JC 545.64; ILLOWA INVESTMENT INC BRIDGE APPROACH REPAIR 210,490.98; IMWCA INSTALLMENT 3 16/17 WORK COMP 12,130.00; ING LIFE INS & ANNUITY CO DEF COMP-ING: PYMT 5,950.00; IOWA CITY VA HEALTH CARE SYSTM VA VAN FY2017 1,962.00; IA COMMUNITIES ASSURANCE POOL ITEMS ADDED TO INSURANCE 951.88; IA DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY IA ONLINE WARRANTS/ARTICLE SYS 5,706.00; IOWA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE WAGE LEVY- IA DEPT OF REV: PYMT 876.02; IA DEPT OF NAT RES, WATER SUPPLY FY 2017-ANNL WATER SUPPLY FEE 25.00; IOWA DIVISION OF LABOR BOILER INSPECTION 200.00; IOWA ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES ENGINEERING SERVICES 3,817.70; IA LAW ENFRCMNT ACADEMY REGISTRATION 500.00; IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE ELECTION STAMPS 8.25; IOWA STATE ASSOC ASSESSORS ISAA 69TH ANNUAL CONF 650.00; IA ST ASSOC OF COUNTIES 2016 FALL SCHOOL/2017 DUES 7,111.40; IOWA STATE PRISON INDUSTRIES PLASTIC BAGS 4,601.54; IOWAY-RECORD PRINTING OFFICE SUPPLIES INV 102.69; IPERS IPERS-CNTY 111,635.80; IPERS - MUSCOM IPERS - JOINT COMMS-JC 3,127.36; ITSAVVY LLC 2PK BLACK TONER 743.43; J & J LOCKS;SAFES & ALARMS INC KEYS 272.00; J.L. BRADY COMPANY LLC 2 UNITS DOWN;CONTROL PROBLEM 308.00; JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE DEF COMP-JACKSON NATL: PYMT 400.00; JOHANNSEN, MICHAEL REIMB MILEAGE 28.62; JOHANNSEN, SUSAN PA TRAINING 16.98; JOHN DEERE FINANCIAL GREASE CARTRIDGE;SHOP TOWELS 963.82; JOHNSON CONTROLS INC REPAIR FAILED COMPRESSOR 3,133.00; JOHNSON COUNTY AUDITOR 6 PRCNCT ALTAS CMPTRS/SCNRS 4,539.08; JOHNSON CO MEDICAL EXAMINER MEDICAL EXAMINER 692.09; JOHNSON COUNTY SHERIFF PROF SRVCS 103.46; JOHNSTON, DOUGLAS E LEGAL REPRESENTATION 618.00; KEEFE SUPPLY COMPANY COMMISSARY 12,685.64; KELL, DEBRA J COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS 31.50; KELLER, JEANNETTE LEGAL REPRESENTATION 180.00; KELLOR & KELLOR LANDSCAPE INC MINNOWS;WORMS/MOWING 9,090.90; KELLY HTG & CLG & PLMG INC BLOWER MOTOR SERVICE CALL 9,734.85; KELTEK INCORPORATED LIGHT BAR,MT KIT AND SIREN 2,625.68; KENS WELDING INC SERVICE 345.00; KILBERGER, ALLEN E VA COMMISSION 53.03; KIRK BUTCHER PLUMBING & HEATING BUILDING MAINTENANCE 1,065.00; KONE INC CH--MAINT AGMT;08/01/16--01/31/17 2,706.18; KRC REPORTING P.C., TRANSCRIPTS-Z WALKER 68.25; KRIEGERS-GM MOTOR COMPANY LABOR;06 TRAILBLAZER/ 15 TAHOE 24,745.54; L & B MOBILE HOMES PARK RENT 200.00; L & M WASTE SYSTEM INC OPERATIONS 165.00; LABSOURCE INC NITRILE GLOVES 1,234.07; LAKE, KATHY L RENT 100.00; LAMB, CRAIG A 4 WEEKS--CAMPGROUND DUTIES 405.00; LANGUAGE LINE SOLUTIONS JUNE EQUIP MAINT CHARGES 23.00; LAW ENFORCEMENT SYSTEMS CITATION BOOKS 83.00; LEGACY CORPORATION OF IL CULVERT REPAIR 35,747.54; LESTER, KARLA PLEA HEARING 207.50; LEWIS INDUSTRIAL SERVICE INC SERVICE; SUPPLIES 819.06; LEXIS NEXIS ONLINE/RELATED CHRGS; JULY 2016 178.00; LIBERTY COMMUNICATIONS MONTHLY SERVICE; AUG 16 246.00; LINCOLN NATIONAL LIFE INS CO AD&D: PYMT 5,182.18; LINWOOD MINING & MINERALS CORP GRANULAR 7,658.91; LOGAN CONTRACTORS SUPPLY INC CONCRETE SUPPLIES 3,180.00; LOUISA COUNTY SHERIFF DILIGENT SEARCH 135.23; LOUISA COUNTY TREASURER PARCEL 120.00; LOVEWELL FENCING INC PRIVACY SLATS FOR FENCE 125.00; LOWE, MARY E TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 24.00; LUCAS COMMUNICATIONS INC LABOR AND TROUBLESHOOT 954.17; LUCAS COUNTY SHERIFF RETURN OF SERVICE 17.50; LUELLEN, CHARLOTTE RENT 50.00; LUPTON & TOYNE PRINTERS OFFICE SUPPLIES 559.00; LUTHERAN SERVICES IN IOWA INC PROF SRVCS 13,692.49; MAGIC MAGIC EST OPERATION EXPENSE 25,665.00; MAIL SERVICES LLC MOTOR VEHICLE RENEWALS 1,525.81; MAILBOXES & PARCEL DEPOT BUSINESS CARDS 21.25; MARKS, KATHRYN L PA TRAINING 20.00; MARTINEZ, REBECCA PA TRAINING 20.00; MEALY, LORETTA B RENT 50.00; MEDICAL ASSOCIATES CLINIC PC PROF SRVCS 163.00; MEDLINE INDUSTRIES INC 30 CASES TP 911.10; MENARDS DRYWALL KIT;SPACKLING 2,680.32; MERCY MEDICAL CENTER PROF SRVCS 1,224.67; MIDAMERICAN ENERGY COMPANY GAS CHRGS 7/12-8/10/16 167.77; MIDTOWN TOWING & REPAIR LABOR;BRAKE REPAIR/FUEL FILTER 2,704.21; MIDWEST SPRAY TEAM CLEARING 2,594.40; MIDWEST WHEEL CO PARTS 5,111.07; MILLER, RON VA COMMISSION 28.92; MIRACLE CAR WASH SERVICE 9.00; MOODYS INVESTORS SERVICE PROF SRVCS FOR SERIES 2016A 19,000.00; MOTOROLA INSTALL JAIL ANTENA FOR P25 3,996.00; MURPHY, LINDA PA TRAINING 20.00; MUSC CO TREAS (FLEX) FLEX BENEFIT - DEP CARE: PYMT 3,890.02; MUSC CO TREAS (HEALTH/DENTAL) HEALTH - PRETAX: PYMT 189,419.75; MUSC CO TREAS (PURCHASES) HANDGUN PURCHASE: PYMT 454.09; MUSCATINE BOARD OF REALTORS FLEX SERVICE 50.00; MUSCATINE CNTR FOR SOCIAL AC RENT 20,498.10; MUSCATINE CO ABSTRACT CO EASMENT RSRCH-PARK SBDVN 100.00; MUSCATINE CO COMMUNITY SERV TRANSPORTATION 500.70; MUSCATINE CO ENGINEER FUEL 5,958.15; MUSCATINE CO INFO SERV DEPT REIMB EXP JUN 2016 4,691.25; MUSCATINE CO SHERIFF - PAPERS PAPERS SERVED 2,307.64; MUSCATINE CO SHERIFF - SERVICE TRANSPORTS 2,372.50; MUSCATINE CO TREASURER PARCEL 27,741.92; MUSCATINE COMMUNITY Y FAMILY PROGRAMS 4,213.23; MUSCATINE FIRE DEPT/AMBULANCE ADMIN BLDG INSPECTION 45.00; MUSCATINE LEGAL SERVICES LEGAL REPRESENTATION 1,913.21; MUSCATINE POWER & WATER WRC SEC LIGHTS 136,349.31; MUSCATINE VETERINARY HOSP VET MEDS 132.00; MUSCATINE-LOUISA DD#13, TREAS MAINTENANCE FUND 25,000.00; NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY ASS FEES 600.00; NEALS VACUUM & SEWING CENTER FILTERS AND BAGS 154.44; NEARY LAW OFFICE LEGAL REPRESENTATION 821.67; NEW CHOICES INCORPORATED SCL 5,190.00; NICHOLS, CITY OF OPERATIONS 240.00; NIELSEN, TRAVIS REIMBEMD CLASS 233.72; NORTHWEST MECHANICAL INC AUG16 MNTHLY MAINT-COMM SRVC 2,652.00; NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL LIFE DEF COMP-NW MUTUAL : PYMT 800.00; OFFICE MACHINE CONSULTANTS INC MONTHLY BSNS CONTRACT 458.30; ON-SITE INFO DESTRCTN, SRVCS OF IA LLC SHREDDING 178.33; OPTIMAE LIFESERVICES SCL 24,077.49; OSTERGREN, ALAN REIMB NDAA CONF/BOARD MTG 1,275.04; OWENS, AMBER PA TRAINING 25.80; PACE, KONNIE CTO CLASS 225.35; PAETEC COMMUNICATIONS TELECOMMUNICATIONS 9.16; PAETEC COMMUNICATIONS INC TELEPHONE SERVICES 1,704.30; PARAGON COMMERCIAL INTERIORS 50% DEPOSIT-COMM SRVCS/DHS 122,523.68; PAULSEN, JESSICA TRANSCRIPT 49.00; PER MAR SECURITY SERVICES CS BLDG MONITORING 840.00; PETTY CASH PETTY CASH 100.22; PETTY CASH CLE TRNG/JIMMY JOHNS 51.00; PHELPS THE UNIFORM SPECIALISTS OPERATIONS 900.12; PHILLIPS BROS RENTALS INC TRIMMER HEADS, OIL 451.76; PHOENIX PRODUCTS LLC HATS 103.96; PLUMB SUPPLY CO PLUMBING PARTS 245.68; PORTER, NICK RENT 200.00; PRAIRIE LAWN CARE MOWING NYE CEMETERY 200.00; PRAIRIE VIEW MANAGEMENT INC RCF 12,345.75; PRICE PRESERVATION RESEARCH DAIRY BARN TAN PROJECT;MILEAGE 98.00; PRINCIPAL FUNDS DEF COMP-PRINCIPAL: PYMT 2,350.00; PTS OF AMERICA LLC EXTRADITION FR RENO NV 1,900.80; PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT GO CO PURPOSE & REFUNDG BOND 15,709.00; QUAD CITIES TAS, INC ANSWERING SRVC 70.00; QUAD CITY DOOR CO INC BUILDING MAINTENANCE 85.00; QC TIMES /JOURNAL JULY 2016 LEGAL PUBLICATIONS 2,107.00; QUEST DIAGNOSTICS PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTING 30.45; QUILL CORPORATION OFFICE SUPPLIES 46.95; R.D. TRUCK & TRAILER REPAIR SERVICE 1,722.67; RACOM CORPORATION PRGM RADIOS-MUTUAL AID SCOTT CO 1,591.25; RADAR ROAD TEC RECERT 20 UNITS, REPAIR OF UNIT 660.00; RALPH J WITTICH-RILEY-FREERS PROF SRVCS 1,067.00; RAPIDS REPRODUCTIONS INC ENGINEERING SUPPLIES 375.98; REDWOOD TOXICOLOGY LABORATORY PROF SRVCS 266.90; REIF, GLADYS PA TRAINING 24.90; RICOH USA INC COPIES 98.20; RILEY, WILLIAM REIMB MILEAGE, MISC EXP 153.86; RIPLEYS INC RENT 160.00; RIVER BEND TRANSIT TRANSPORT 236.00; RIVER CITY HARDWOODS INC MULCH 180.00; RIVER PLACE TECHNOLOGOES LLC TROUBLESHOOT VAV BOXES 1,080.00; RIVER PRODUCTS COMPANY INC GRANULAR 22,322.99; RIVER VALLEY COOPERATIVE OPERATIONS 1,760.00; RIVERA, ARTURO A RENT 900.00; RK DIXON OFFICE 1,217.81; ROGERS MOBILE WASH INC SERVICE 1,760.00; RUSHER, ALAN RENT 100.00; SAFETY X-TREME SIGNS 1,575.50; SAHA, PRIYANKA NATURE CAMP REFUND 30.00; SAMS CLUB MISC PURCHASES 98.74; SCOTT CO JUVENILE DETENTION PROF SRVCS 1,820.00; SCOTT COUNTY SHERIFF SRVC OF SUBPOENAS 483.38; SECRETARY OF STATE NOTARY RENEWAL 120.00; SECRETARY OF STATE OF IA NOTARY RENEWAL 30.00; SECURITY BENEFIT DEF COMP-SECURITY BEN : PYMT 600.00; SENIOR RESOURCES INC PROF SRVCS 2,099.38; SENTRY POOL OPEN WATER SCUBA COURSE 900.00; SERIGHT, MICHAEL REIMBURSEMENT 50.00; SERVICEMASTER CLEANING SRVCE CARPET CLEANING AT DC 319.60; SHARPE, BENJAMIN REIMB EMD CLASS EXP 284.51; SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO PRIMER;ROLLER COVERS 1,020.37; SHERWOOD COMPANY CLEAN & TREAT AWNINGS 800.00; SIMPLE HOUSES LLC, C/O D BAILEY WELL PERMIT 400.00; SIMPLEX GRINNELL LP COLD START SYS REPAIR 1,183.92; SOENKSEN, JENNY A TRANSCRIPT OF SENTENCING 127.50; SOUTHERN COMPUTER WAREHOUSE 28 SPINDLES OF 50 DVR-R 342.72; SPARTAN STORES LLC FOOD (WFO) 211.44; SPENGLER AUTO REPAIR SERVICE 62.13; SPIES, RANDY REIMB MILEAGE-ECD EXP 365.23; SPRATT OIL SALES INC GASOHOL/DIESEL 6,681.52; SPROUSE DISTRIBUTING INC BAG/CAN BOX 690.80; ST LUKES HOSPITAL, (PHYSICIAN) PROF SRVCE 125.06; STAPLES ADVANTAGE OFFICE SUPPLIES 1,072.32; STAPLES CREDIT PLAN OFFICE SUPPLIES 87.11; STATE FARM MUTUAL FUNDS DEF COMP-STATE FARM: PYMT 3,600.00; STATE HYGIENIC LABORATORY WATER TESTING JULY 2016 236.50; STELZNER, NORMA PA TRAINING 20.00; STELZNER, TIM PA TRAINING 20.00; STEW HANSEN DODGE CITY 2016 RAM TRUCK 29,842.00; STOREY KENWORTHY/MATT PARROTT DELIVERY ABSENTEE ENVELOPES 1,663.16; STREICHERS POLICE EQUIPMENT 5) 50 RD GEN 2 9 MM ROUNDS 155.00; STRONG SR, ROGER VA COMMISSION 26.96; SU INSURANCE CO ANNL PRINTER/SCANNER SUPPORT 4,728.00; SUPER WASH OF MUSCATINE JULY SQUAD WASHES 108.00; SYCAMORE PRINTING ENGINEERING SUPPLIES 1,791.62; T & L NELSON ELECTRIC INC REPAIR CMPGRND ELECTRIC BOXES 165.80; TALLGRASS BUSINESS RESOURCES INK CARTRIDGES & CD-RS 1,605.67; TEAM STAFFING SOLUTIONS INC ENGINEERING 4,963.54; TEAMSTERS LOCAL 238 UNION DUES: PYMT 1,106.72; TEMP ASSOCIATES TEMP HELP-MCCS 54.60; TEVIS, LAURA CANOE/SHELTER REFUNDS 180.00; THE OHIO NATIONAL LIFE INS DEF COMP-OHIO NATL - A: PYMT 400.00; THE OHIO NATIONAL LIFE INS DEF COMP-OHIO NATL - B : PYMT 400.00; THE SHOP PARTS; SERVICE 166.00; THE TONER PLACE TONERS 150.00; THOMS PROESTLER CO COMMISSARY POPCORN/OIL 25,862.70; TIMM, JOHN RENT 50.00; TOMASSON, REX 2 WEEKS--CAMPGROUND DUTIES 90.00; TREAT AMERICA FOOD SERVICE MEALS 23.61; TREMCO PRODUCTS INC ANTI THEFT SYS FOR 2016 RAM 112.45; TRUCK COUNTRY OF IOWA PARTS 625.36; TRUE NORTH LUBRICANTS DEF 564.27; TWIN BRIDGES TRUCK CITY INC PARTS; SERVICE 48,976.12; TYLER TECHNOLOGIES INC EAGLE RECORDER SUBSC FEE-REC; 9,918.00; U S CELLULAR CORP PHONE 3,124.30; U S POSTAL SERVICE STAMPS 1,494.00; UIDL MED EXAM 12,149.00; ULTRAMAX DEPARTMENT AMMO 12GA 125.00; UNCOMMON GROUND OF THE QC CH FERTILIZER & WEED CONTROL 400.00; UNI ROADSIDE PROGRAM CONFERENCE 95.00; UNIFORM DEN INC UNIFORMS 689.15; UNITED RENTALS (NORTH AMERICA) RENTAL 251.31; UNITED WAY OF MUSCATINE UNITED WAY: PYMT 329.20; VALETS SERVICE INC SQUAD MAINTENANCE 49.50; VAN METER INC PARTS TO FIX INTERCOMS 227.42; VANGUARD APPRAISALS INC ARCHIVE 2016 VCS 2,400.00; VANROEKEL, MELANIE PA TRAINING 30.78; VAZQUEZ, RAMIRO RENT 50.00; VERIZON MONTHLY SERVICE 3,673.61; VETERANS INFORMATION SERVICE RENEWAL 55.00; VISA MISC DEPARTMENT EXPENSES 5,113.16; WAMBACK, BETTY REIMB MILEAGE TO SEAT 45.33; WEDEKIND, BRANDY VA COMMISSION 56.37; WELLS FARGO FINANCIAL LEASING COPIER LEASE 321.59; WELLS FARGO HOME MORTGAGE INC RENT 150.00; WENDLING QUARRIES INC ROAD;EROSION STONE/DP 14,547.55; WEST LIBERTY INDEX LEGAL PUBLICATIONS 1,202.83; WEST LIBERTY, CITY OF UTILITY 557.64; WHITE DISTRIBUTION & SUPPLY OPERATIONS 132.75; WHITE, KEITH REIMBURSEMENT 89.55; WIELE CHEVROLET INC SQUAD MAINTENANCE 2015 CHARGER 57.29; WILTON TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION MONTHLY SPEC ACCESS 278.72; WILTON, CITY OF OPERATIONS 77.50; WILTON-DURANT ADVOCATE NEWS LEGAL PUBLICATIONS 1,772.90; WINDSTREAM ALI DATABASE 647.63; WLMC LLC RENT 200.00; WOOD, BETTY PA TRAINING 19.92; WRIGHT, ANGELA REIMB MILEAGE - WEST LIBERTY 84.77; WUNDER LAW OFFICE GUARDIANSHIPS 592.00; WYATT, BRENT OR AUDREY CANCEL ACH 383.00; ZAEHRINGER, WILL RENT 150.00; ZONES PA LAPTOP REPR;CPU COOLING FAN 284.64; GRAND TOTAL 2,285,483.13 Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life! Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] The prolonged legal battle between Yuppiechef and Yuppie Gadgets regarding the use of the word Yuppie culminated in a victory for Yuppie Gadgets in a Supreme Court ruling on 15 September. The fight started in November 2011, when Yuppie Gadgets received a legal letter, demanding it to stop using the word Yuppie in its name. Yuppiechef had registered the name Yuppiechef as a mark, and it felt Yuppie Gadgets was trading on its good name and was causing it harm. Yuppie Gadgets refused to stop using the word Yuppie, and the battle progressed to the Western Cape High Court which ruled in favour of Yuppie Gadgets. Yuppiechef appealed the ruling, and the case was heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on 1 September 2016. The SCA held that the two marks Yuppiechef and Yuppie Gadgets are not so similar that the use of Yuppie Gadgets was calculated to deceive or cause confusion among shoppers. It also held that the Yuppie Gadgets mark was being used for a business not related to the goods in respect of which Yuppiechefs mark was registered. The court further held that there was no evidence of blurring or the tarnishing of the Yuppiechef mark. The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Yuppiechef, with costs. The full ruling is available here. More about online shopping South Africans are moving to online shopping 3 stores join TFG online shopping mall Research ICT Africa (RIA) has submitted its report on the cost of communication to parliament, which shows that South Africas mobile data prices remain high. The report states that many South Africans are spending significant portions of their income around 20% on small amounts of data (1GB). This is because data prices still remain relatively high and because people are using a wider range of services more extensively, said RIA. RIA highlighted that operators are required to build next-generation networks, increase their capacity to meet demand, and attempt to retain the quality of their networks. As a result, they are collectively investing billions of dollars in network extension and upgrades, for which they are required to ensure yield good rates of return for their shareholders. How much mobile data costs in South Africa South Africas cheapest 1GB data product places 16 of out 47 African countries assessed by RIA. Tanzania has the cheapest 1GB for US$0.89, in comparison to South Africa priced at US$5.26. Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria also have better data prices than South Africa. The chart below shows the US$ price of 1GB of prepaid data in 20 African countries. South African operator prices Looking at local operators, the 1GB data basket in the South African market has not seen much change. All operators, except for Telkom Mobile and MTN, sell 1GB of mobile data for prices around the R150 mark. More on mobile data prices Cell C to shake up data prices #DataMustFall campaign against mobile data rip-off Vodacoms R2 per MB rip-off INX-ZA has expanded the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) into Teracos data centre in Isando. Internet exchanges offer neutral facilities for ISPs and network operators to link and exchange traffic in South Africa. Teraco also operates its own Internet exchanges, NAPAfrica, in its data centres. INX-ZA is an autonomous division of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) of South Africa which runs several exchange points around the country. News of JINXs expansion into Teracos facility comes after it became a multi-site exchange earlier this year. More on ISPA and INX-ZA ISPA 20 years old and going strong 10Gbps upgrade for Hetzner-JINX link Hetzner becoming vendor-neutral data centre champion WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Hillary Clinton cast herself Monday as the most qualified to combat terrorism within the U.S. and abroad after weekend attacks in three states rattled Americans. The Democratic presidential candidate touted her national security credentials at a hastily scheduled press conference outside her campaign plane, denigrating rival Donald Trump for using the incidents to make "some kind of demagogic point." "I'm the only candidate in this race whose been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield," Clinton, a former secretary of state, told reporters. "I have sat at that table in the Situation Room." She added: "I know how to do this." New York's governor and mayor said Monday that the bombings in a Manhattan neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town are looking increasingly like acts of terrorism with a foreign connection. Police released a photo of a 28-year-old immigrant wanted for questioning in the blasts. Authorities are also investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a possible act of terrorism. The investigations cast a long shadow over the presidential race, diverting both candidates' plans for the day. Trump was expected to cancel a fundraiser and a town hall meeting in Florida on Monday. He once again took credit for predicting current events, pointing to his Saturday night announcement that a bomb had caused the explosion in New York City. That was before authorities had publicly said so. "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news," he told "Fox and Friends" in a phone interview. Trump said he believes there's a foreign connection to the attack, though it was unclear how the Republican obtained that information. His campaign declined to say whether it came from a national security briefing. Clinton urged voters not to "get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear from the other side." She insinuated that Islamic militants, particularly those affiliated with ISIS, are rooting for Trump to win the White House and are using some of his controversial proposals to recruit fighters. The Republican has said he would bar immigration from nations with ties to terrorism. Clinton said the country can meet the attacks in "concert with our values." "We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion," Clinton said. Clinton and her team sees her foreign policy expertise as a key selling point for her candidacy. On the campaign trail, she frequently invokes her role in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, regaling voters with her account of being in the White House's Situation Room alongside President Barack Obama. Clinton will briefly turn her focus from national security later Monday, when she woos younger voters at a Philadelphia university. Her campaign acknowledges they need to do more to get millennials on board. She's scheduled to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Ukraine and Japan later in the day in New York City. The leaders are in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. Soroptimists hold No Drugs Down the Drain on Oct. 22 at Calistoga police station As part of an ongoing effort to protect local waterways, groundwater and marine life, Soroptimist International of Calistoga will hold another No Drugs Down the Drain collection. The service club, in partnership with the Calistoga Police Department and St. Helena Hospital, will host a free collection of unwanted prescription and non-prescription drugs on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Calistoga Police Station, 1235 Washington St., across from Calistoga City Hall. In addition, unwanted pet medications and used syringes (sharps) will also be accepted. Controlled substances, such as prescription painkillers, are allowed due to the Calistoga Police Departments presence. As in the past, the sponsors emphasize this collection is for home-based drop offs only no business wastes are accepted. Studies show an alarming level of pharmaceutical chemicals appearing in Californias groundwater, waterways and coastal waters. Unused medicines that are put down a drain or into a landfill harm fish, wildlife and our drinking water supply. These drugs have dramatic, negative environmental impacts. The common practice of flushing these medications from homes, businesses and even medical facilities has resulted in more than 250 million pounds of waste improperly discarded. For the second year in a row, the Napa Valley Unified School District is proposing the merger of two schools due to declining enrollment and other critical factors. But the plan this time involves two very different schools widely separated by distance and learning methods: Yountville Elementary and Stone Bridge Charter in Carneros. Last year, NVUSD got the school board to approve moving the students and curriculum at Salvador Elementary, a magnet school specializing in artful learning, to El Centro Elementary, another north Napa school with a traditional K-5 curriculum. These elementary schools, located only a mile apart, are in an area of north Napa where enrollments have been shrinking. NVUSD has cited fewer students as one reason for wanting Yountville Elementary School, known locally as YES, to become the new home for Stone Bridge Charter, located southwest of Napa in the Carneros region. The two schools would retain their separate curriculum. YES currently has only 120 K-5 students, making it by far the smallest elementary population in NVUSD, whose primary schools range in size from 300 to 600 students. YES is a New Tech school that uses Project Based Learning and computers, Stone Bridge uses Waldorf methods that emphasize holistic learning and nurturing childrens imagination. The two schools are 14 miles apart. Stone Bridge does not lack for students, based on the limits established by its charter. It has reached its cap of 260 students across nine grades (K-8), and has a waiting list. Together, the two schools would form a campus of nearly 400 students, making it more viable operation for NVUSD from a fiscal standpoint. Stone Bridge needs to move, according to district officials, because of safety issues stemming from a nearby earthquake fault and a Pacific Gas & Electric natural gas transmission pipeline. We dont believe it is safe to have a school that close to a pipeline, especially after San Bruno, said Assistant Superintendent Wade Roach last Tuesday in Yountville, referring to the 2010 explosion of a PG&E gas transmission line that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes on the Peninsula. Roach also brought up the fact that the Stone Bridge campus sits on top of the West Napa Fault, a discovery made after the August 2014 earthquake that left huge cracks in the schools parking lot. Joining Roach that night in the Yountville Community Center was Don Evans, NVUSDs head of school construction, who told the crowd of nearly 100 parents and local leaders, including Mayor John Dunbar and the Town Council: Having that school that close to that fault line is not a good situation. PG&E replaced a section of its gas transmission line that runs underneath the Stone Bridge property line following the earthquake. But that wasnt enough to satisfy Evans, he said. Im concerned after living as long as I have in earthquake country, said Evans, who has lived in Napa since 1952. Im not sure thats enough improvement to make it safe for a school. If Napa Valley Unified asked me today whether I would recommend that site for a school, the answer would be a flat no, he said. Stone Bridge was established at the former Carneros Elementary School, which was built in the 1950s and closed five years ago. Some Stone Bridge parents say they were both surprised and upset by NVUSDs plans to move their school to Yountville. Laura Jones, co-chair of the Stone Bridge School Parent Council, appeared before the school board last Thursday to complain about the YES/Stone Bridge merger. Citing Measure H, the $269 million school bond passed by NVUSD voters in June, Jones indicated her school was the victim of bait-and-switch tactics by the school district, which held meetings at numerous school campuses in the spring to garner parent support for the election. We were told last May by Don Evans at a meeting on our campus that if Measure H passed, there would be dedicated money to rebuild our school structures within our Carneros campus, Jones told the school board during the meetings public comment period. We were told based on testing and studies done by the state of California, if the facilities were rebuilt from a certain distance from the fault line, our campus would be safe, just as is happening with Snow [Elementary School], which also has the West Napa Fault running under it, said Jones. She also said that a majority of our parent body want to stay on our current campus, and we are really confused by the extreme change of plans after Measure H has passed. As Napa families were feeling really confused and upset and slightly misrepresented, said Jones in her concluding remarks. I hope we can create a more open and honest dialogue in the near future. When asked Monday morning about parents complaints and the change of plans for Stone Bridge, Evans said he would address the matter on Wednesday night, when he and other district officials will meet with the Stone Bridge community beginning at 7 p.m. at their school. Even if Stone Bridge parents balk at the Yountville relocation, Superintendent Patrick Sweeney indicated the district wants to go ahead. Speaking to the Yountville audience last Tuesday, Sweeney said the districts goal is to have the school board approve the merger in November. We want to get the architects started on designs for a remodeled YES campus that would have Stone Bridge operating on it, but separately from the Yountville K-5 school, according to Sweeney. He also said the final decision may not be popular with all parents, including those at Stone Bridge. The way charter schools work, said Sweeney, we have to provide a facility but we dont have to give people their facility wherever they want. Yountville parents expressed their own worries about the merger, most of which centered around whether their small school would get short-changed by having the larger Stone Bridge on their campus. How do we know Yountville wont be the loser in this merger, given the differences in enrollment sizes, asked one parent in the audience. Boyd Dennington, president of the Yountville Kiwanis Club, rose up and told Sweeney, Evans and Roach: I fear youre putting the future of Yountville Elementary in jeopardy. I feel like in the past Yountville Elementary has been bullied by the district, he said. I feel like their needs have not always been addressed, and theres always been an uphill battle fighting rumors and misinformation about closing down the school. Denningtons remarks produced the loudest applause of the night. District officials were aided in their efforts to assuage Yountville parents by Rob Mondavi, whose child attends kindergarten at YES. Mondavi, the grandson of Robert Mondavi, is helping lead a parent advisory committee thats meeting weekly with the district about the merger. They cant promise us anything, he told his fellow Yountville parents, but theres an idea that theyll help us one way or another. I feel comfortable with the intent of the team thats over here, he said pointing to district officials. Evans said the district anticipates greater demand for parking at YES if two separate schools are operating on the same campus. Mondavi pledged to help raise money for a parking structure, if NVUSD says it cant afford to build one. If parking is a problem, how do we go vertical with it? he said in an interview following the meeting. If thats too expensive [for the district], how do we do a private fundraiser to the school for the community? SAN FRANCISCO -- A man suffered a life-threatening head injury early M onday morning when he was shot with a paintball gun in San Francisco's Outer Mission neighborhood, police said. The shooting was reported in the 5800 block of Mission Street shortly after midnight, according to police. The 33-year-old victim was taken to a hospital after being found shot in the head with a paintball gun. Police did not immediately release any information about a possible suspect and said there were no witnesses. The shooting is not the first in San Francisco this year involving a paintball gun. On May 19, a 55-year-old man was shot by a suspect in a white sedan with tinted windows around 12:35 a.m. on Mission Street near Cortland Avenue. In that incident, one of two suspects in the vehicle tried to engage the man in conversation, but when he ignored them, a suspect shot him in the eye with a paintball gun. The victim suffered a cut to his eye socket and was unable to see out of his eye, according to police. Police officers, firefighters and paramedics have the task of protecting those in danger. But who keeps a thought for the safety of the protectors themselves? For more than 80 years, Roman Catholic churches in the U.S. have devoted an annual service to honor their public safety workers and pray for their welfare. The service known as a Blue Mass for the blue uniforms common to law enforcement is a tradition that has recently come to St. Helena Catholic Church, where more than 140 worshipers on Sunday morning paid tribute to nearly 20 men and women in uniform. Today we honor those who do such a great service to our community, Father Gordon Kalil said, nodding toward two rows of pews occupied by sheriffs deputies in green and St. Helena police officers in blue. Its so impossible to do what you do in this world without God being with you and your families. The custom of the Blue Mass dates to 1934, when more than 1,100 blue-uniformed police officers and firefighters joined a procession into St. Patricks Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. In the decades since, numerous congregations have taken up the tradition of honoring safety workers who are active, retired or have died on duty. One of the traditions carriers in the Napa Valley is Kalil, who led an annual Blue Mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Napa for more than a decade before moving to the St. Helena church three years ago. The first such tribute service in Napa took place in 2001 days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in which more than 300 New York City firefighters died in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Although 9/11 was not the original impetus for the local Blue Mass, Kalil described an increasing resonance for the service in the years since. As a nation, we often take for granted and dont acknowledge the men and women who risk their lives for us so often, he said before the St. Helena service. Its our responsibility to honor them and their families, and thank them and pray for them. Often theyre people of faith; I think they almost have to be. Before a nearly full sanctuary, Kalil asked worshipers not only to take time to thank safety forces for the risks and sacrifices they make, but also to avoid judging them by the misdeeds of officers whose actions have triggered protests in numerous cities over the deaths of unarmed civilians. The concept of love doesnt have any divisions, doesnt have any races, he told parishioners. When we start to divide, we deny Gods presence, and it gives us a distorted view of who we are. Among those who were honored on Sunday were Filippo and Kelly Bianco, both members of St. Helena Police as well as parents to two boys ages 4 and 2. It feels fantastic to be honored, because to a lot of us in law enforcement, normally you do your daily job like anyone else would, and to be honored like this is humbling, Fil Bianco said afterward. Its humbling that this many people appreciate us and pray for us. With all the negativity there is (about police) in the world, theres still a positive, and we have to hold onto this positive. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined world leaders in New York on Monday (19 September 2016) to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). During his five-day visit to the United States, Mr. Stoltenberg will meet with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other high-level officials. On Tuesday, the Secretary General will attend the General Debate of the UNGA, focusing on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change. NATO and the United Nations have worked together since the early 1990s, in support of peacekeeping and crisis-management operations. Last year, at the 2015 Leaders Summit on Peacekeeping, NATO offered enhanced support to UN peace operations. In the margins of the UNGA, Mr. Stoltenberg is expected to hold talks with several world leaders, including Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Later this week, the Secretary General will travel to Boston to deliver a keynote speech at Harvard University on NATOs adaptation and how European and US security and prosperity are linked. Courtesy Rob Biddulph(LONDON) -- One dad in London has amassed a fan club at his daughter's school thanks to the creative Post-it notes he leaves in her lunchbox. Rob Biddulph said he started drawing little notes for his youngest daughter Poppy when she first enrolled in elementary school. In London, children like Poppy only have a half-day of nursery school, returning home for lunch, before enrolling in elementary school. So when the 7-year-old started school, "staying ... for lunch was quite a big deal," the father of three told ABC News. "She was a bit nervous about it." "I put a picture in her lunchbox to kind of cheer her up," Biddulph added. "I did that for the first day and when I came home, she said, 'What are you going to draw for me tomorrow, Daddy?'" Biddulph, 43, said that was three years ago and he's now drawn more than 600 Post-it notes for his daughter. The children's author and illustrator said he usually draws characters from Disney films, such as "Aladdin," "Zootopia" and even "Star Wars," the night before he prepares his daughter's lunch. He also draws classic "Looney Tunes" characters such as Tweety Bird, Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny. It only takes him about 10 minutes to create the sketches. Biddulph said it's often hard to decide what to draw the next day so he uses themes. For last year, his theme was drawing Disney films in chronological order. This year, it's "A to Z," drawing characters based on the letters of the alphabet. His favorite, however, was a sketch of Darth Vader with the words, "I am your father." Biddulph said thanks to his drawings, he now has student and teacher fans at his daughter's school. "Its added pressure," the father admitted. "I feel like I have to do a really good drawing now instead of quickly sketching something out." Disney is the parent company of ABC News. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Biden confuses number of states in U.S. Peskov: Russia cannot be someone's vassal Minibus carrying party members overturns in Ankara Italian MFA comments on Russia's withdrawal from food deal Economist: High inflation took Western countries by surprise, which were wrong in their forecasts Artsakh National Assembly issues statement: Artsakh has never been and will never be part of independent Azerbaijan Parliament of Republic of Artsakh unanimously adopts statements NA holds extraordinary meeting in Artsakh: Big rally takes place on Renaissance Square (photos) Lavrov confirms Putin's readiness for negotiations with Ukraine La Repubblica: Italy supplied Kiev with 20-30 M109L artillery guns and PzH 2000 howitzers Typhoon in Philippines affects more than 932,000 people Source: Turkey conducts 'telephone diplomacy' on food deal Borrell: The EU urges Russia to revert its decision Haiti PM Ariel Henry: The leader of a political party was murdered in the republic Armenia MFA expresses condolences to South Korea over Seoul tragedy Seoul receives more than 3,700 missing persons reports after crush Armenian Defense Ministry: Private received fatal gunshot wound Toivo Klaar: I emphasised the European Unions continued strong engagement in the peace process Arrested for assaulting Speaker Pelosi's spouse faces charges Major crush in Seoul: There are victims Britain needs air defense in connection with war in Ukraine President discusses latest foreign political developments around Artsakh Azerbaijan officials considering opening embassy in Israel Armenia PM, EU Special Representative for South Caucasus discuss regional security and peace Nikol Pashinyan, Garo Paylan exchange views on Armenia-Turkey normalization process Quake hits Armenia-Turkey border zone Armenia ruling party adopting new vision regarding Karabakh conflict settlement Russia MOD: Ukraine carried out terrorist attack on Black Sea Fleet ships, civilian ships in Sevastopol Premier: CSTO should plan force operation, restore Armenias territorial integrity Armenia PM: All countries consider Karabakh to be part of Azerbaijan Armenias Pashinyan: CSTO does not exist Kremlin responds to question on extending mandate of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh Armenia premier: We need to know, ultimately, what Russian peacekeepers are doing in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia PM: Im ready to sign document, accept that Russian peacekeepers term in Karabakh be extended 10-20 years Armenias Pashinyan: We are ready to delegate border guard service operation to Russian border guards Finland, Sweden promise to join NATO together European Parliament calls on Armenia to consider diversifying its security partnerships Visiting Armenia MPs brief Canada lawmaker on recent Azerbaijan military aggression Armenia PM at ruling party congress: We declared repairing states foundation our primary task Karabakh President: Russia leaders statement inspires certain hopes Armenia ruling party congress kicks off Man breaks into US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home, demands to speak with her, beats husband with hammer EU-Armenia Joint Committee on Research and Innovation first meeting to be held in November Provincial governor of Armenias Gegharkunik: EU monitoring mission already started US accuses Russia of disinformation regarding Washington intentions towards Armenia, Azerbaijan Mexico fully legalizes gay marriage Newspaper: Azerbaijan not inclined to sign anything with Armenia in Russias Sochi Armenia ruling party convening closed convention Italian prime minister demands that she be addressed as prime minister in masculine form Pentagon to send Ukraine new aid package worth $275 million Europe will ban sale of one type of car European Commission head announces new aid and investments for Serbia Biden calls Putin's rhetoric on nuclear weapons 'dangerous' Lukashenko on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict: What are you fighting for in these mountains, where not even goats walk? Swedish authorities offer to create united northern army Lukashenko: Conflict issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be resolved now - with Ilham Aliyev Lukashenko about situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border: Where are we racing horses, where are we rushing to? Pashinyan: Armenia-Diaspora relations undergo profound substantive changes Lukashenko to Pashinyan: Sit down with Aliyev and make a decision, if you don't make it today, it will be worse Bulgarian interim government urges to speed up transition to euro zone President of Karabakh: It is necessary to unite all national potential and efforts IMF: China's sharp and uncharacteristic economic slowdown will stall growth in Asia by the end of 2023 Iran: Riots in country were planned by the intelligence services of the USA, England, Israel and the KSA Steinmeier: Ukraine war caused 'epochal break' in Germany's relations with Russia Gas prices in Europe remain high in coming years Ararat Mirzoyan and Toivo Klaar stress importance of hosting EU civilian mission in Armenia Armenia's ambassador-at-large: Daily false propaganda can't cover up Azerbaijani war crimes Taiwan MFA outraged by Putin's speech on his status and Pelosi's visit Armenia gives no response to peace treaty proposals, Bayramov says Netanyahu expects return to power after 5th Israeli election in 4 years Armenian gravestone found in Trabzon, Turkey neighborhood Pashinyan: CSTO Secretary General's report mainly reflects existing realities Azerbaijan talks possible deliveries of its gas to international Turkish hub CSTO leaders to meet in late November: Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border will be discussed Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia Pelosi's house attacked, her husband injured Russias Putin to have private talks with Armenias Pashinyan, Azerbaijans Aliyev Mher Grigoryan: CIS needs a new scientific and technical agreement Pentagon strategy doesn't rule out use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats French National Assembly plans to pass resolution proposing certain sanctions against Azerbaijan STEPANAKERT. The adversary violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces more than 55 times, over the weekend. During this time the Azerbaijani armed forces fired around 370 shots toward the Armenian position-holders, and by way of rifle weaponry, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Defense Army informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. But the NKR Defense Army vanguard units are in command of the operational and tactical situation, and they continue reliably maintaining their military positions. YEREVAN. The Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) of Armenia received a call on Monday at 1:14am. Accordingly, a traffic accident had occurred on the Yerevan-Ashtarak motorway, there were affected, and rescuers were needed. An MES Crisis Management Center operative team, and a fire and rescue squad were dispatched to the scene. It was found out that a vehicle had gone off road, hit a roadside external lighting pole, and turned over. As a result, A. A., 47, and an unidentified person had died on the spot. Prior to the fire and rescue workers arrival on the scene, however, G. K., 56, S. G., 61, and A. A., 46, were brought out of the car by local efforts. Subsequently, they were rushed to a capital city Yerevan hospital, where doctors said S. G. is in moderate condition, whereas A. A. is in critical condition, and G. K. was discharged from hospital after receiving the necessary medical treatment. Shamshyan.com informed that the victims were returning from a wedding ceremony. YEREVAN. The foreign ministries of Armenia and Iran conducted political consultations Sunday in Tehran, the Iranian capital city. The parties discussed the avenues for the further development of Armenian-Iranian relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. They also stressed the need for the maintenance of regional security and stability. Special attention was paid to the implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic projects. In addition, they conferred on collaboration in several domains as well as within the framework of international organizations. Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, who heads the Armenian MFA delegation, also met with the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, Morteza Sarmadi. The interlocutors summed up the discussions on the matters of mutual interest, and indicated the future courses of action. YEREVAN. Businessman Tovmas Shahverdyan has been elected Mayor of Ashtarak, in Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. Shahverdyan, who is the CEO of a company, received the most votes in Sundays mayoral election in this town, according to the website of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia. Initially, there were eight mayoral candidates in Ashtarak, but the incumbent mayor pulled out of the race some time thereafter. Local government elections were conducted Sunday in 317 communities in Armenia. YEREVAN. A delegation from the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia attended the 64th meeting of the Council of Heads of Customs Services of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The event was held in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk, where President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus received the heads of the participating delegations, the SRC informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. The Armenian delegation was led by SRC First Deputy Chairman Artur Afrikyan. At the talk with the Belarusian president, the parties underscored the expansion of cooperation between the CIS customs services. And during the aforesaid meeting, thirteen decisions were signed with respect to various domains of customs work. YEREVAN. Astrophysicists and astronomers around the world still make use of the scientific roads paved by Byurakan Observatory of Armenia. Observatory Director Hayk Harutyunyan on Monday told the aforesaid to reporters, during official opening of a conference devoted to the 70th anniversary of Byurakan Observatory. Harutyunyan stressed that, with these scientific roads, scholars endeavor to predict the evolution of space objects. Like before, we [i.e. Armenia] participate in international scientific discourse, he added. Starting from 2010, Byurakan Observatory got a chance to modernize its telescopes and numerous other equipment. And its director underscored the respective assistance from Russia. Hayk Harutyunyan also noted that ties still continue with Russian scientists and organizations. YEREVAN. President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday attended the official opening of the trade fair, entitled Made in Armenia. This exposition enables the producers of Armenia and Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR)] to display our [i.e. the Armenians] economic strength by combining efforts, Acting Minister of Economy of Armenia Artsvik Minasyan said in his opening remarks at the event. And this is the economic military parade ahead of the 25th anniversary of the independence of Armenia. By demonstrating the potential of our producers, we are able to send several clear messages. First, [no matter] what external and internal challenges are on the rise, our producers are able to create, [and] create goods, products corresponding to international competitiveness. The second message is addressed to us all, including the [Armenian] diaspora. The acquisition and use of quality Armenian products enables to strengthen the economy of our country. [And] the third message is addressed to both foreign and domestic investors. By investing in the economy of Armenia, you can multiply your investments, your profits. YEREVAN. A total of 161 of the 237 candidates of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) have won in the local government elections on Sunday. Ruben Tadevosyan, Chairman of the RPA Organizational Issues Committee, on Monday told about the above-said to Armenian News-NEWS.am. We also have assisted and supported 20 non-party candidates, added Tadevosyan. The local elections went well, overall; [but] there have been some calls, which are being checked. Local government elections were conducted Sunday in 317 communities in Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Syunik, and Tavush Provinces in Armenia. STEPANAKERT. President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh), Bako Sahakyan, on Monday received Krikor Greg Soghomonian, a representative of Armenian National Committee of Australia. The avenues for achieving a settlement to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, and presentation of truthful information about Artsakh in various international instances were on the agenda of their talk, Central Information Department of the Office of the NKR President informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. President Sahakyan highly appreciated the aforesaid committees respective activities, and expressed the hope that close cooperation with this organization will continue. In addition, the Armenian National Committee of Australia was awarded with the Medal of Gratitude, in connection with the 25th anniversary of the Artsakh republic and for its contribution to the recognition of the NKR independence Bako Sahakyan presented this medal to Soghomonian during their talk. YEREVAN. National Assembly (NA) of Armenia Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov, who is on a working visit to Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Monday met with Aleksey Sergeev, Secretary General of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS). The interlocutors underscored that the IPA CIS is a parliamentary platform for discourse, the NA informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. Sharmazanov, for his part, stressed the need for the establishment of dialogue and peace within the CIS. We must prevent and condemn the attempts to resolve conflicts in the CIS expanse by means of force, and make targeted assessments, he noted, in particular. Constructive dialogue should be expanded, instead of attempting to destabilize the region. Sergeev, in turn, highlighted the role of Armenian parliamentarians in the activities of the IPA CIS. They also discussed the Armenian delegations participation in the events to be held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. YEREVAN. - The previous 'traditions' of the electoral processes mainly continued during the local government elections in Armenia on Sunday. Spokesman for Armenian ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Arman Musinyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News NEWS.am on Monday, commenting on the recent elections. The elections showed that the administrative imperative resource, corruption and intimidation continued to be the hope of all the governmental candidates. The non-governmental candidates lost wherever they were able to resist them, including, for instance, in Ararat, where the Armenian National Congress (ANC) representative Arsen Hakobyan confidently won in the city council election, leaving his ravels behind by 350 votes, Musinyan said. He also added that the ANC is now focused on the second phase of the local elections, whose hot spots will be Gyumri and Vanadzor cities. Apart from Vanadzor and Gyumri, the ANC has also nominees in a number of other communities. It will be possible to give a more complete assessment of the self government elections after October 2, Musinyan concluded. YEREVAN. Acting Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Sergo Karapetyan on Monday received a delegation led by Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB (Oxford Committee for Famine Relief Great Britain). Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Agriculture that they conferred on the effectiveness of the programs which Oxfam implements in Armenia, and the prospects for further cooperation. Karapetyan lauded Oxfams activities in Armenia, and underscored, in particular, its projects aimed at the development of border communities in the country. Goldring, for his part, briefly presented the main objectives of the activities of the OxYGen Foundation in Armenia. He expressed the hope that close relations will be established between this organization and the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia. The interlocutors reaffirmed their willingness to deepen and expand cooperation. They also discussed several other respective issues of mutual interest. Artur Sargsyan, who delivered food to the Sasna Tsrer, which had seized Yerevan's Erebuni police station, carried out active actions aimed at holding the seized building and the paramedic hostages, the press-service of the Investigative Committee of Armenia reports. According to the source, Artur Sargsyan checked the medical equipment and the medical staff, mended the communication means of the harmed group and guarded the hostages. Fifteen people aiding the group have been arrested. The circumstances of the murder of three policemen A. Vanoyan, Y. Tepanosyan and G. Mktchyan are being ascertained. Investigation is underway into holding ten policemen and seven civilians hostages, wounding seven policemen, breaking the ACBA Credit Agricole Bank ATM and stealing a large amount of money, as well as torching cars. The investigation has established that as a result of the shootout in the territory of the seized police station in the night of July 30, police officers P Mnatsakanyan and T. Gevorgyan suffered serious gunshot wounds. Several cars were also damaged. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a statement in connection with the Independence Day of Armenia. The statement reads as follows: On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I want to extend my congratulations to the people of Armenia as you celebrate the 25th anniversary of your nations independence on September 21. The United States deeply values its warm friendship with Armenia and with all of you. In the past quarter century, Armenia has made great progress, and my government looks forward to continuing to work closely with you in support of shared prosperity, strong democratic institutions, the rule of law, and regional peace. We appreciate Armenias consistent support for effective international peacekeeping operations and its leading role in responding to the Syrian refugee crisis. We are also grateful for the presence in the United States of a vibrant and highly-accomplished Armenian-American community. On this special day, I offer best wishes to all Armenians for a peaceful and prosperous year to come. YEREVAN. - The visa free regime with Iran is a go ahead for Armenian and Iranian tour operators. Head of the Tourism Department at the Economy Ministry of Armenia, Mekhak Apresyan, said the aforementioned to Armenian News NEWS.am. The Economy Ministry of Armenia is already discussing the participation of Armenian and Iranian tourist companies in the exhibitions in both countries. A familiarization visit of Iranian journalists to Armenia is also scheduled. Apart from this, options are discussed to prepare a single touristic package to Armenia and Iran (to both countries by one ticket) and present it in the world market. ''We hope to implement these projects with the support of the Iranian Embassy in Armenia, together with the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization,'' Apresyan added. Visa free regime has been established between Armenia and Iran since August 6. The Georgian children will be able to appeal to the UN for violating their rights. The Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze passed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki -moon the ratified charter to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure It enables children to submit a complaint to the UN Children's Rights Committee about violations of their rights by the state. The implementation of the document is under the supervision of the UN Children's Rights Committee, which is composed of 18 experts. MELBOURNE, Florida A homeless Florida man was bitten by an alligator around 9:15 a.m. on Monday near Crane Creek in Melbourne, Florida. Melbourne Police discovered the man who suffered lacerations to his shoulder as a result of the alligator attack by Promenade Park. Police then radioed to dispatch for the Melbourne Fire Department to respond. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Upon arrival, fire rescue crews issued a trauma alert and transported the man to Holmes Regional Medical Center. The mans current condition has not yet been released. Police also called out Florida Fish and Wildlife officials to investigate the alligator attack. FWC officers arrived on scene within minutes of the call. Alligator attacks in Brevard County, Florida are not uncommon. Just last year, a Palm Bay man was eaten by an alligator while trying to hide from Brevard County Sheriffs deputies. Alligators are opportunistic predators with an indiscriminate appetite that includes fish, birds , reptiles, amphibians, mammals , and even fruit Candler School of Theology will host world-renowned German theologian Jurgen Moltmann for a two-day conference on issues of contemporary theology, the church and the world, as seen through the lens of Moltmanns theology. Unfinished Worlds: Jurgen Moltmann at 90 will take place Oct. 19-20 in Cannon Chapel. The title Unfinished Worlds comes from a lecture Moltmann delivered in 2011. According to conference organizer Steffen Losel, associate professor of systematic theology at Candler, the phrase captures one of the central tenets of Moltmanns theology namely, his insistence that the power of Christs resurrection doesnt apply merely to eternity, but to humanity on earth. Because of this, Christians should experience hope in the future, but also dissatisfaction with the present. This unfinishedness of the world is both a gift and a task for us human beings, says Losel. It is a gift, because we are not locked into the eternal return of the same. Things can change in this world. Those who suffer can be liberated from oppression, and those who have committed crimes are not marked by their sins forever. But it is also a task for us: Because God meets us from the future, we can and must work for change here and now. In planning the conference, Losel says that he and Moltmann agreed that rather than focusing on his theological work of the past, they wanted to take a forward-looking approach. We wanted to focus on the question: Where is this world unfinished? And where does the church need to raise its voice for change? They also wanted to feature younger, promising theologians whose work deals with present ills in our unfinished world, says Losel. These are exciting young colleagues who will challenge us to not be complacent, but to seek out passionate engagement with these issues. Moltmann will begin the conference with a lecture that Losel believes will be a clarion call for Christians today to wake up from their ecclesial slumbers. Then, a diverse slate of speakers will take up the question of what theologians, Christians and citizens must work for in this unfinished world. The speakers were allowed to choose any issue for their presentation, resulting in a varied program that includes environmental justice, racial justice, gender justice and justice behind bars. Moltmann will deliver a response to all the presentations on the second day of the conference, followed by a concluding worship service with Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Atlantas historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, preaching. See the full conference schedule. Speakers include Candler faculty members Joy Ann McDougall and Jennifer Ayres; Nancy Bedford of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; Reggie Williams of McCormick Theological Seminary; Raphael Warnock; Charles Mathewes of The University of Virginia; Joshua Ralston of the University of Edinburgh; Gerald Liu of Princeton Theological Seminary; Reinerio Arce-Valentin of Matanzas Theological Seminary in Cuba; Rachelle Renee Green of Emory Universitys Graduate Division of Religion; and Hilda P. Koster of Concordia College. A prisoner of war during and immediately following World War II, Moltmann was drawn to the Christian faith while imprisoned, and later studied theology at the University of Gottingen, where he earned his doctorate in 1952. He is the author of more than twenty books, including his two most famous works, 1967s Theology of Hope, considered one of the most influential theological works of the second half of the 20th century, and 1972s The Crucified God. Moltmann archive coming to Candler Moltmann served as the Robert W. Woodruff Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Candler from 1983 to 1993, and has returned regularly since. His most recent visit was in 2011, when he spoke on campus as well as at the graduation ceremony of the theology certificate program for inmates at Lee Arrendale State Prison, a program Candler co-sponsors. And now, Moltmanns ties to Candler and Emory will endure, thanks to the theologians decision to bequeath his entire personal archive to Pitts Theology Library. I am so proud that Candler is able to host this conference to celebrate Moltmanns 90th birthday on this side of the Atlantic, says Losel. It is also an appropriate occasion to thank Professor Moltmann for this gift, which will make Emory a destination for Moltmann studies for years to come. Admission to the conference is $30 for the general public, and free for Candler and Emory students, faculty and staff. All attendees must register in advance. Candler School of Theology at Emory University prepares real people to make a real difference in the real world. An intellectually vital, internationally distinguished, and intentionally diverse university-based school of theology, its mission is to educate faithful and creative leaders for the churchs ministries throughout the world. Candler is dedicated to expanding knowledge of religion and theology, deepening spiritual life, strengthening the public witness of the churches, and building upon the breadth of Christian traditions, particularly the Wesleyan heritage, for the positive transformation of the church and the world. It is one of 13 seminaries of The United Methodist Church, with an enrollment of nearly 500 students representing 40 denominations and more than 8,000 alumni worldwide. 23:51 "Say more about what's happening! Rolling out now," said an official tweet from the social network, which is seeking to broaden its appeal. The new policy exempts media attachments such as photos, videos and polls from the character limit, as well as tweets that are quoted in a retweet. The move comes as Twitter's efforts to increase its user base and engagement have been sputtering, raising questions about its growth trend. Amid reports that Twitter may be seeking ways to cut costs or even sell itself, the San Francisco-based service has been adding new features including live video. The latest move eases but does not entirely eliminate the 140-character limit, which was set due to mobile phone text messaging constraints in place when Twitter launched in 2006. Analysts have said Twitter needs to find new ways to boost its appeal beyond a core of celebrities, politicians and journalists, with its user base stagnant for the past year. In its last quarterly update, Twitter said the number of monthly active users edged up to 313 million, up three percent from a year ago and only slightly more than the 310 million in the prior quarter. Twitter has yet to post a profit, even as it has ramped up its efforts in advertising. Twitter announced on Monday that it was easing its 140-character limit on tweets, implementing a policy announced in May to no longer factor certain add-ons including pictures into a message's length. 02:03 With less than 10 days left for the rainfall season to end, the IMD on Monday said the season would end with the country receiving "normal" precipitation and not "above normal" as it had earlier forecast. The country's weather agency has attributed the downward revision to the delay in La Nina phenomenon. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences said the monsoon this year will be below 100 per cent of the Long Period Average. Anything between 96-104 per cent of the LPA is considered as normal rainfall while precipitation in the range of 104-110 per cent is termed 'above normal'. India has been hit by drought in the last two years, with monsoon in previous season being affected by El Nino, a phenomenon associated with warming of Pacific waters. As predicted, it was supposed to get into neutral mode by the August. The activation phase of La Nina, phenomenon associated with cooling of Pacific waters, was supposed to start in August-September. This could have given a boost to the rainfall. But that has got delayed and La Nina could now start in November, the state-run weather agency said. "The monsoon deficiency is now 5 per cent, but a lot of rains have been taking place in Central India, east coast of Odisha to Gujarat coast, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh since last 4-5 days. "Another spell of rains in the same pocket is likely to happen from 21 to 23. So, we are looking at huge rainfall scenario in coming days. There is a good possibility that we will be closer to a normal rainfall scenario," IMD Director General K J Ramesh said. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] MUMBAI: The Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL)'s second Visakhapatnam Class-destroyer, with more than 60 pct indigenization and increased stealth power, was launched ahead of its schedule here on Saturday, officials said. The Guided Missile Destroyer ship of Project 15B was launched by chief guest Reena Lanba, wife of Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Chief of Naval Staff. The momentous event was attended by a large number of naval officers, sailors and MDL staff and workers. Loud cheers and thunderous claps marked the launch as the warship smoothly slid into the Arabian Sea waters for the first time. Named 'Mormugao', the hull of the 7,300-tonne, 163.2 metres long guided missile destroyer, which was constructed on dry area, floated on water for the first time - which is a milestone event for any vessel. The Project 15B missile destroyers are modern warships equipped with the latest weapons package in continuation of the lineage of the highly successful Delhi and Kolkata Class ships. Under the Project 15B, MDL will build a total of four destroyers, the first of which was Visakhapatnam, launched on April 20, 2015, followed by Mormugao. Other deliveries are scheduled between 2020-2024, said an official. The warships can achieve a maximum speed of 31-32 knots and are equipped with surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, anti-submarine launchers, multi mission radar for surveillance along with medium range air/surface surveillance radar and other advanced electronic warfare and decoys. Fitted also with the Barak-8 long-range missiles, Mormugao has been named after the picturesque port in Goa, the home state of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. After Visakhapatnam and Mormugao, the next in the queue is 'Paradip' followed by another warship expected to be named after a coastal city of Gujarat. Read Also: Smart Grids Reduce Power Generation Shortfall New Supercomputer Cooling Method To Save Water Touch of Nature plans Veteran Adventures by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale is once again offering student veterans from around the region the opportunity to participate in Veteran Adventures during the 2016-17 academic year. A trip to Missouris Eleven Point River is slated for Oct. 8-11. Participants will canoe, portage and camp three nights along the riverbank. It promises to be a fun outing with plenty of physical and mental challenges and the chance to take them on while bonding with fellow veterans. The cost is $50. Deer Camp 2016 is slated for Dec. 9-11 at Touch of Nature Environmental Center, located about eight miles south of Carbondale on Giant City Road. Participants will learn about the historical and educational aspects of deer hunting in Southern Illinois and will then have the opportunity to bow hunt whitetail deer on the facilitys 3,100 acres. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources and local hunting and trapping experts are also involved in this event and the cost is $100. Another trip is planned during spring break. Student veterans will travel to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee March 11-19, 2017, for a backpacking and camping adventure. The trail will take participants on an exploration of mountains, streams and many of Mother Natures wonders. The cost of the trip is $100. Each event is open to any veteran who is currently enrolled at SIU or other colleges in the region. The trips and camp are all inclusive with the registration fee covering transportation, food, gear, logistics/guides and everything else. SIUs Touch of Nature Environmental Center and Veterans Services are partnering to provide these opportunities for veterans. Donations and fundraisers enable them to offer the trips at such low pricing. To register for any of the activities, visit www.veteranadventures.siu.edu. Pre-registration is required at least a week prior to each of the Veteran Adventures. For more information, contact Shane Brady at 618/453-1121 or by email at tonec@siu.edu. Age is not bar when it comes to gracing the runway and a proof to that is sexagenarian Zeenat Aman. The 64-year-old diva recently walked the ramp for jewellery designer Akassh K Aggarwal's 'The Muse Room' collection at the India Runway Week season seven Winter/Festive edition, day four, which is a celebration of 'Being a Queen Beyond her Peers.' When ANI quizzed the veteran actress, why the women in Bollywood put a pause to their acting after certain age, she said that it is because there is no age appropriate role for them. "There are no age appropriate roles. If age appropriated roles are created, we have very talented actresses who would love to work," she said. Akassh's designs came with a message of celebrating women of all ages, from their teens to their 90s, who not only have a stellar sense of living and a knack for making their way in the world, but also possess that uncanny ability to know when to act their age and also when to throw the supposed limits of that number. Speaking on the same note, the 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' actress said, "All women should be empowered with the knowledge of what they are. I think all women should know it is wonderful to be a woman, whether it is a girl, or a daughter or a mother or a sister." Zeenat Aman, the ultimate diva of her time was never affected by her stardom or fame, although the nation went gaga over her. When she was asked about the same, the actress said, her children and two dogs kept her grounded always. "Raising two boys kept me down to earth. You have to go to the school, talk to the principal, to make sure things are done- all these kept me down to earth. Two boys and two dogs will keep you grounded," she told ANI here at Thyagaraj Stadium. On a related note, when the designer was asked for the thought behind roping in Zeenat, he said, "The idea behind my collection is 'Muse Room.' A muse is an inspiration. For me, I have grown up seeing Zeenat Ji. She is India's first model turned super-actress and she has let the legacy go. She is the first one to inspire everybody and take the career ahead, not letting it go beyond age or personal things." The actress, adding to this, said, "Walking the ramp is always fun. It is a feel good factor when you get the instant reaction from the audience." It was not only Zeenat Aman, the final day of India Runway Week was also graced by another timeless beauty Sharmila Tagore, who dazzled the ramp for designer Rohini Gugnani's collection, which redefined the glory of Avadh era. (ANI) Condemning the terror attack on a major Army set up in Uri in Kashmir, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said any such acts will not deter India in bringing normalcy in the trouble- hit state. Speaking to mediapersons after a party function here, Ms Sitharaman said it was disturbing that such attack took place but no such attacks will deter the Indian Armed forces or the government in putting down the motives of terror outfits in Kashmir. The country will do at most to maintain internal security in all states and take steps needed to restore peace and normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, she said. Speaking to reporters at the BJP's State Women's Executive Meeting here, Ms Sitaraman said today's terror attack was one of the most deadliest and all such intentions will be repulsed by the Army. In all 17 army men were martyred and 19 others injured when heavily armed militants, who were said to be a handful, raided the camp in Uri in North Kashmir. The four militants were neutralised by the Army personnel. The Minister said both the Centre and the state government would work towards bringing normalcy and peace in the state and work out a strategy together.UNI RS HVB PS AE 1711 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-938988.Xml Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the ten-year-old SAD-BJP alliance will fight the Punjab Vidhan Sabha polls scheduled to be held early next year. Mr Jaitley, who was in the city to inaugurate start up school at the LPU campus, said new political assertions had been taking place with the emergence of more regional outfits, including Navjot Singh Sidhu's 'Awaaz-e-Punjab. He said with the emergence of such outfits in the state, the opposition had scattered into pieces, benefiting the alliance to win for the third consecutive time to form its government in the state for the third record time. Referring to the case of BJP MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who is still in the party when her husband Navjot Singh Sidhu had floated his own forum after deserting his parent party, Mr Jaitley said, "it is Dr Sidhu to take decision as per her choice." When asked about the forum floated by Mr Sidhu, he declined to make any comment. Taking jibe on Mr Kejriwal's AAP government in Delhi, he said Mr Kejriwal had failed on all fronts including good governance and corruption. His is the worst ever government, he had witnessed in Delhi during his long stint in the political arena. He said the government of Mr Kejriwal had become a den of scams and immoral characters.UNI XC DB AE BD1912 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-939240.Xml Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will visit Srinagar today to assess the situation in wake of Uri attack. Mehrishi will meet the top officials of the state government and take stock of the situation. At least 17 soldiers were killed yesterday in the gun battle at the base, which is around 100 km from state capital Srinagar. Four militants were also killed after penetrating the base in Uri sector in the most deadly attack in the province in recent years. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited Kashmir yesterday to take stock of the situation and review the overall security in Kashmir. They were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt. General D.S. Hooda and Lt. General Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the Uri attack and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. Parrikar was briefed about the security grid along the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland also covering the deployment and employment of the additional forces that have been recently inducted into the Valley. The need for heightened vigil both on the LoC and hinterland and to remain prepared for any developing was stressed upon. On being briefed about the internal security situation in the hinterland, the Army Chief reiterated the importance of complete synergy amongst all security, intelligence and other government agencies to ensure calm and prevent the terrorists and other inimical forces from moving with impunity and intimidating the populace. Earlier the Army Chief also visited Uri to get a first-hand account where he was briefed on the latest situation by the Commanders on ground. Parrikar and the Army Chief later met the casualties at the Army Base Hospital in BB Cantonment. Saluting the martyrs, they expressed their deep grief and condolences over the loss and wished speedy recovery to the injured. (ANI) Asserting that the sacrifice of the soldiers, who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri Sector will not go in vain, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that India will give a befitting reply to Pakistan and it will have to bear the brunt. Speaking to ANI, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi condemned the Uri terror attack and said "Today's incident of Uri is very unfortunate and painful. Now it is very clear from the observations of the military establishment that the terrorists were trained from Pakistan and they were heavily armed with well equipped planning." "As far as the reaction of our government is concerned, the Prime Minister has given a clear indication that these culprits will not be spared. And Home Minister, despite taking all the meetings and keeping an eye, has cancelled his entire visit of Russia and America," he added. The BJP leader further said that Indian Government, on the diplomatic level, has left the defensive policy and adopted an assertive policy on the issue of terrorism. "No country is standing with Pakistan. Even their trust ally US is snubbing them. UAE and Saudi Arabia is not with them and to a certain extent China is hob dobbing with them. We have raised the issue of Balochistan, so from their internal angle to the international angle, we have diplomatically, successfully cornered Pakistan," he said. Branding Pakistan as a 'terrorist state' and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said that there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. Meanwhile, condemning the terror attack as well, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the nation that those behind the 'despicable' attack will not go unpunished. "We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets. Hinting at Jaish-e-Mohammad's role behind the Uri attack, India's Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh also asserted that the evil designs would get a befitting reply. "The killed terrorists were all foreign terrorists and as per the initial reports, they belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad. Along with the terrorists, we recovered four AK-47 rifles, four under barrel grenade launchers, a large number of grenades and other war-like stores," Lt. Gen. Singh said. Lt. Gen. Singh said the items recovered from the slain terrorists had Pakistani markings, adding he has conveyed India's serious concerns about the same with Pakistan Director General of Military operation General Raheel Sharif. "I would also like to mention that the intelligence agencies and security forces are working in close synergy with each other and regular intelligent inputs are received from intelligence organisations and agencies and necessary action is being taken accordingly," he added. At least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 19 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. (ANI) Militants stormed into the house of a ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and snatched four weapons from his guards in south Kashmir district of Anantnag, official sources said here today. They said a group of militants barged into the house of a local PDP leader Javid Ahmad Sheikh during the night and took away four service weapons from the guards posted there. Police have registered a case and launched a massive hunt to nab the militants. Meanwhile, the police guards were being questioned about the incident, the sources said. About half-a-dozen similar incidents have taken place in Kashmir valley, particularly in the south, during the past two years. However, majority of the looted weapons were recovered.UNI BAS SB 0813 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-939693.Xml A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) is arriving here today to visit Brigade headquarters at Uri, where fidayeen attack left 20 soldiers dead and over 25 others wounded. All the four fidayeen of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were also killed in the encounter which ensued at 0500 hrs near the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector early yesterday. Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General Dalbir Singh, accompanied senior Army officers after visiting Uri, briefed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who rushed here to review the security situation on the LoC and hinterland yesterday. Official sources told UNI that a team of NIA headed by Inspector General is arriving here today to review the situation following the attack. They said the NIA, besides meeting senior Army and other officers, is scheduled to visit the Brigade headquarters in the afternoon, where the fidayeen attack took place. The team will visit the headquarters and meet senior Army officers there to get the first hand information on how the militants were able to sneak into the camp. The NIA is already investigating Udhampur ambush on BSF vehicle where a militant was arrested alive. The investigation agency is also probing the recent Poonch attack near an Army camp besides questioning a Pakistani resident militant, who was arrested alive in north Kashmir near LoC after a brief encounter early this year. Sources said that the Army has also started its own investigation as to how the militants could reach the Brigade headquarters after infiltrating from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), when the Line of Control (LoC) is six km from camp and the terrain is also very difficult without getting noticed by the troops deployed in the area. This was the first major fidayeen attack in the Kashmir valley since the eruption of militancy in early 90s. However, on December 6, 2014, a fidayeen attack on Army headquarters at Mohra Uri left eight Army personnel, including a Lt Colonel, three police personnel and six militants dead.UNI BAS SB ADG 1035 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-939740.Xml To foil 'Vehil Shopian challo' called by separatists today, authorities imposed curfew and sealed all roads since early this morning, official sources said. The Deputy Commissioner, Shopian, announced that curfew restrictions have been imposed in Vehil and adjoining areas since early this morning to maintain law and order and prevent any loss of life or damage to property in view of the challo call by separatists. All main roads and bylanes have been closed with barbed wire and a large number of security forces and state police personnel, wearing bullet proof jackets and holding automatic weapons besides teargas and pellet guns have been deployed to prevent any demonstration. People of Vehil alleged that security forces were making repeated announcements that curfew has been imposed. ''We are being directed to remain indoor,'' they said adding even the interior roads have been closed. Security forces had also been deployed in strength in the adjoining villages to prevent any procession and demonstration. UNI BAS ADG PM1055 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-939754.Xml The ruling Samajwadi Party fighting to regain its lost ground after the much murkier family drama last week, has roped in world-renowned political consultant Steve Jarding of Harvard University to handle the election campaign for its attempt to win a second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh. The US based political consultant will fight out against Prashant Kishor of Congress and a team ofstrategists of the BJP in the 2017 assembly polls. Jarding, a campaign manager and political consultant for the Democrats in the US, was already advising SP on various issues, but is now officially on board and presently visiting the state. Party sources here today said that Jarding was redesigning the publicity campaign for the SP government's welfare schemes, and actress Vidya Balan was roped in to endorse Samajwadi Pension Yojana. Later another Bollywood upcoming star Nawazuddin Siddique was engaged for the yet to be launched Samajwadi Kisan Insurance scheme. Jarding, professor at the Harvard kennedy school in US where he teaches public policy, has prepared a strategy with getting feedback from every constituency on what is required at the local level to hit the road in that area. Jarding, who has been a campaigner, manager, political consultant and strategists of leaders like US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former US vice-president Al Gore, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, will also train SP candidates on how to communicate with constituents and address issues. His teams have been camping in villages, getting feedback and sending it to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, sources said . The leaders claimed that the primary survey done by Jarding in the rural belt of the state claims that the CM has a clean image projection among the masses and it could be the major benefit for the SP.UNI MB ADG PM1103 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-939752.Xml Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials are present in the meeting. Rajnath held separate meeting earlier today with Parrikar, Dalbir Singh and other officials. Rajnath had in a strongly worded statement yesterday said Pakistan is a 'terrorist state' and should be isolated. Parrikar and Dalbir Singh visited Srinagar yesterday to take stock of the situation and review the overall security in Kashmir. They were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt. General D.S. Hooda and Lt. General Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the Uri attack and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh yesterday announced that the initial reports indicated that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others were injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. (ANI) "Canada strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on 18 September, which resulted in the death of 17 soldiers. The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism." (ANI) A statement issued by the Secretary General's spokesperson said, he expressed his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and to the Government of India and wished speedy recovery to those injured in the attack. "The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice," the statement said. The UN was following the developments closely and shared the concerns of people living in the region for peace, it read. Four heavily armed terrorists struck the Army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district early yesterday morning, leaving 20 soldiers dead and more than 25 others injured. It was one of the deadliest terror attacks on security forces in recent times in the state. The four terrorists killed during the operation were foreigners and belonged to Jaish-e-Muhammad, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh had said yesterday. UNI RBE SB ADG 1254 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0427-939886.Xml The sacrifices of true heroes, who shine like a star, are definitely cherished till the end of days. One can never forget the valor of the Uri bravehearts. Sunday's fresh terror attack is a huge setback for the families of these Uri bravehearts, but their spirit has not been deterred by such acts of cowardice. One such example is slain Indian Army Naik Sunil Kumar Vidharthi's daughter, Aarti Kumari, who despite having lost her father at this young age feels proud of his sacrifice for the nation. Vidarthi was a resident of Boknari village in Bihar's Gaya district. "I am proud of my father because he did not die but instead he sacrificed his life for the nation," Aarti told ANI. "The way the Pakistani militants are attacking the nation, we should also attack them in the same way. A befitting reply must be given to those who attack our security forces only then Pakistan will be able to understand our pain and suffering," she added. Vidharthi's father Mathura Prasad Yadav appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a befitting reply to those attacking the security forces. "We are sad that we have lost our son. But we want to ask the government for how long this will continue? How many soldiers will lose their lives?" he asked. Vidharthi, who joined the army in 1999, has left behind his wife and four children namely Aarti, Anshu, Anshika and Aryan. Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. five lakh to Vidharthi's family. Another Sepoy Javra Munda, a resident of Meral village in Jharkhand's Khunti district, was also one of the bravehearts who sacrificed his life. One of Javra's friends said that the Sepoy's only ambition was to serve the nation. "He was very hard working. He used to mingle with everyone and that too very easily. His only ambition was to serve the nation," he said. The family members of another Uri martyr Sepoy G. Dalai, who was a resident of Jamuna Balia village in West Bengal's Howrah district, also mourned the death of the brave soldier. "Why did they do so? God will teach them a lesson," said the sister-in law of Sepoy G. Dalai with tears in her eyes. "He called me on Thursday and said I will go from here.bombs are being thrown.they will kill us. Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son," said his mother. "He was only 22 years old. He was a junior officer, normally seniors are sent there. Why was my son sent there? The government should condemn this and ensure that strict punishment is given to those who killed my son," said his father. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saluted the sacrifice of the Uri bravehearts. "No words can take away the pain of the 17 families who lost their loved ones in #Uri. India's brave soldiers, salutes. Mortal remains of one brave jawan is being brought to Howrah," tweeted Banerjee. In one of the worst attacks in recent times, at least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others got injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district yesterday. Subedar Karnail Singh, Havildar Ravi Paul, Sepoy Rakesh Singh, Sepoy Javra Munda, Sepoy Naiman Kujur, Sepoy Uike Janrao, Havildar NS Rawat, Sepoy Ganesh Shankar, Naik SK Vidarthi, Sepoy Biswajit Ghorai, Lance Naik G Shankar, Sepoy G Dalai, Lance Naik RK Yadav, Harinder Yadav, Sepoy TS Somnath, Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh and Sepoy Rajesh Kumar Singh are the 17 soldiers, who sacrificed their lives for the nation. The army yesterday announced that the initial reports indicated that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. (ANI) The tribunal will next hear the matter on October 24. The tribunal had in June directed the state government to submit a report on its stand on the shale gas exploration. The Bench comprising Justice P Jyothimani and expert member PS Rao had said the government should clear the air whether it was in favour of the project or not. If the government was for the project, then a detailed scientific study should be done to assess the feasibility and other environmental aspects. The ONGC project intends to extract shale gas in Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts. (ANI) Former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP) stalwart has suggested the government to adopt aggressive policy and initiate actions to declare Pakistan as Terrorist Nation and impose financial sanctions on it. Strongly condemning the dastardly attack on the Army Unit in Jammu and Kashmir at Uri town yesterday, DrJoshi told a section of media here last night that the central government should exercise all options and evolve effective counter-strategy to neutralise Pakistan sponsored terror activities against India. He also warned Pakistan not to test patience of India and its people. Dr Joshi, was here in connection with some programme paid tribute to the Army personnel who lost their lives in terrorist attack on Uri Army camp. The Indian ambassadors deployed in other countries should take the issue forcefully at international platforms exposing Pakistan and create an atmosphere for declaring it as a Terrorist nation. He further said that the government to take up this issue as well as the anti-Indian activities of the Pakistan in the ongoing General Assembly of United Nation. The financial supporters of Pakistan should also be exposed globally. The time has come to create strategic pressure on Pakistan to control its cross border terrorism, said Dr Joshi adding that it is a fact that Pakistan has originated terrorism and was imparting training to the terrorists as well as creating religious mania. He advised union government to ask other SAARC countries to cancel the meeting scheduled at Pakistan this month. The BJP leader opined that India should create a joint front along with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Shri Lanka against Pakistan which is engineering terrorism in its neighbourhood with the ulterior motive of destablising India.UNI RS PK NV VS AS1422 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-939980.Xml "Narendra Modi ji, give a befitting reply to Pakistan," this is how the teenager daughter of slain army jawan Sunil Kumar Vidyarthi reacted to the killing of her father and 19 other jawans in the Fidayeen attack on Uri base in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday.Crying inconsolably as tears rolls down from her cheeks before soaking into her clothes,. the 13 year old daughter Aarti Kumari of slain Lance Naik checked her emotions for a while and told newspersons at her residence near Chandauti round about in Gaya town that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should give a befitting reply to Pakistan for its state sponsored terrorism. (Modi Ji, Pakistan Ko Eit ka Jawab Patthar se de).Her mother Kiran Devi, who like her daughter is waiting for the arrival of body of her martyred husband from Jammu and Kashmir reacted in the same veing, "Government at least should now not restrain security personnel and give them a free hand to teach a good lesson to perpetrators of violence". The martyred jawan is a native of Boknari village under Paraiya police station area in Gaya district where a pall of gloom has descended at the residence as jawan`s wife Kiran Devi and her children keep crying even as their relatives, neighbours and other well wishes try hard to console them. People in Gaya are proud of the martyred Army jawan who made supreme sacrifice for repulsing the attack of extremists at Army base in the early hours yesterday. Sunil Kumar Vidyarthi had joined the 06 battallion of Indian Army on October 10, 1998 and his first posting was in Danapur. He was married to Kiran Devi from Paharpur village in 2000. He was the second son of Mathura Yadav and Kunti Devi`s three sons.UNI XC DH IS KK SDR ADG PM1429 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-939968.Xml Situation in Jammu and Kashmir is out of control and imposing President's Rule in Kashmir will not help in bringing the situation under control, so the Centre should dissolve the government and impose 'Martial law' there, said Shiv Sena editorial 'Saamna' here today. Shiv Sena, the ruling alliance partner in the state, quoting Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dr Subramaian Swamy's statement, said that BJP's political alliance in J and K has misfired, according to the editorial. ''Who's failure is this? Four terrorists attacked our military headquarters at Loc and killed our 17 soldiers,'' the editorial said and slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it added ''Russia and United States will not save Kashmir, instead of giving verbal assurance, it is the need of the hour to strengthen our army forces.'' ''There are continuous terrorist attacks in Kashmir. It is a total failure. What should we to do? It's a question.' ''It is a major attack compared to Pathankot airbase attack, it is a conspiracy to put a crack on the global image of Mr Modi. During the past four months, terrorists are repeatedly attacking in Kashmir. In the streets of Srinagar-Baramulla, youths openly raised slogans a 'Pakistan 'Pakistan Jindabad'. '' In this situation, the Centre should dissolved the state government and impose 'Martial Law'.'' The editorial said ,''Situation in the Valley is worst than the Congress rule, we must accept the truth.'' ''When only four terrorist can take lives of our 17 soldiers, should our government take credit for this, or shed tears? One hundred and twenty five crore people of the country should think on this,'' the editorial added.UNI ST NV AE RSA AS1632 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0100-940462.Xml Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today urged civil society leaders to help in restoring peace and normalcy in violence hit Kashmir, where the unrest has left 83 civilians dead and over 9000 others injured since July 9. An official spokesperson said Ghazi Ghulam Nabi Kashmiri, well known poet and writer, and Girija Dhar, social activist separately met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan here today. He said Mr Kashmiri shared with the Governor his views about the obtaining situation in the Valley and appealed to the latter to take up people's concerns with the Centre and take decisive steps for restoring peace and normalcy in the state. "Mr Kashmiri also presented to the Governor his poem titled "Jhelum Key Naam Sey Zamaana Jisko Jaanata Hai" which describes the flood fury of Jhelum river in 2014 and asks for justice from the leaders of the Nation," he said. Meanwhile, Dr Dhar discussed with the Governor the sufferings and trauma faced by women due to the unrest in the Valley and suggested certain initiatives to ameliorate the lot of the affected families. The Governor urged Dr Dhar to commence appropriate action in this regard and assured her of strong support. The Governor also stressed the crucial importance of peace being urgently restored in the State and urged Mr Kashmiri and Dr Dhar to sustain their endeavours in this regard. UNI ABS AE AS1705 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-940335.Xml If you are tensed about what to do and what not to do for your wedding, then here's a solution to it, named Bandbaajaa.com. An NDTV Group venture, Bandbaajaa.com is a wedding ecommerce startup that caters to wedding planning and all wedding related services. The website is currently the only wedding portal to operate in multiple languages- English and Hindi, and is planning to go vernacular and explore more languages to gauge greater reach and adoption. The Hindi website is already seeing huge traction, up to 20 percent of which contributes to the entire wedding portal's reach. According to Google India statistics, Hindi content consumption is starting to take off and has grown 94 percent year-on-year as compared to a mere 19 percent growth in English content. The report also says that at least one in five persons in India prefers to access Internet in Hindi. It is with this idea that Bandbaajaa.com has ventured into multilingual websites. Founded by Sachin Singhal, CEO and Smeeta Chakrabarti, MD, Bandbaajaa.com aims to be the ultimate wedding planner and curator of selective wedding merchandise. The website has around 5000 vendors across 20 categories, is operating in over 22 cities. The platform, which is known for its effective ways of connecting brides and grooms to credible and curated network of vendors, is working to become one-stop shop for all wedding needs, with its average order value Rs 6000. Currently valued at 20 million USD, Bandbaajaa.com is looking to expand and generate revenue of Rs 180 Crore by the year 2021. Speaking on the popularity of the Hindi website, Sachin Singhal, Founder and CEO, Bandbaajaa.com says, "We see a large number of people coming to our Hindi site to discover new trends in the wedding industry, shop for products, read about vendors and their services from across India. The whole idea here is to diminish the hassles of wedding planning and help customers by providing stress-free modes of solutions. This is something we're constantly working towards, and we are glad we're reaching out to the right audiences." Started early this year, the website, apart from featuring leading designers like Anita Dongre, Neeta Lulla, Payal Singhal and others, also displays some of the leading wedding couture brands like Manyavar, Mohanlal and Sons, and Outhouse on Board and more. (ANI) Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Mohd Abdali on Monday said all terrorist groups are coming from the same source but with different names, and called upon India, Afghanistan and the world community to come up with a joint strategy to fight terrorism out. "These terrorist groups, in my opinion, are all coming from the same sources but with different names, and thus, India-Afghanistan and the world community should come up with a joint strategy to fight terrorism out," said Ambassador Abdali, while condemning the terrorist attack on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district that claimed the lives of 18 soldiers and left over 20 others injured. "It is a matter of great sadness, we condemn this strongly. Afghanistan has been facing similar attacks on our security forces and our innocent people and hope the world community, countries of this region will join hands with India and Afghanistan to fight terrorism more appropriately," he told ANI. Pledging his nation's support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a strong and firm action against the perpetrators, Ambassador Abdali said: "We fully support PM Modi's call for strong and firm action against those who terrorise people, and those who use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy; seeing this for many years. Whoever uses terrorism shouldn't only be isolated but also held accountable." "Afghan is absolutely ready to cooperate with India; we are true examples of nations fighting terrorism in true meaning. We hope countries in the region and the world community join us to fight terrorism that affects people all over world. We should not be speaking about this terrorist or that, but we must fight every terrorist," he added. After giving an assurance of going after the perpetrators of the deadly Uri attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road here. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials were present in the meeting. Pakistan has, however, flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in the Uri terror attack, stating that it has become India's traditional tendency to point fingers on them after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (ANI) Without taking Pakistan's name, Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Mohd Abdali on Monday said all terrorist groups are coming from the same source but with different names, and called upon India, Afghanistan and the world community to come up with a joint strategy to fight terrorism out. "These terrorist groups, in my opinion, are all coming from the same sources but with different names, and thus, India-Afghanistan and the world community should come up with a joint strategy to fight terrorism out," said Ambassador Abdali, while condemning the terrorist attack on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district that claimed the lives of 18 soldiers and left over 20 others injured. "It is a matter of great sadness, we condemn this strongly. Afghanistan has been facing similar attacks on our security forces and our innocent people and hope the world community, countries of this region will join hands with India and Afghanistan to fight terrorism more appropriately," he told ANI. Pledging his nation's support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a strong and firm action against the perpetrators, Ambassador Abdali said: "We fully support PM Modi's call for strong and firm action against those who terrorise people, and those who use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy; seeing this for many years. Whoever uses terrorism shouldn't only be isolated but also held accountable." "Afghan is absolutely ready to cooperate with India; we are true examples of nations fighting terrorism in true meaning. We hope countries in the region and the world community join us to fight terrorism that affects people all over world. We should not be speaking about this terrorist or that, but we must fight every terrorist," he added. After giving an assurance of going after the perpetrators of the deadly Uri attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road here. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials were present in the meeting. Pakistan has, however, flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in the Uri terror attack, stating that it has become India's traditional tendency to point fingers on them after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (ANI) The Pattikajathi Ksehma Samithi, a CPI(M) controlled organisation district secretary E Gangadharan today said the Gujarat Dalit rights leader Jignesh Mevani will not attend the Swabhiman Sangamam at Kannur and Taliparamba on September 21 and 22.Ashok Mochi, who was termed as the hunter of Gujarat riot -2002 after a photograph of his got exposed in media, will attend both the programmes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah will reach Kozhikode, this week to attend national council meet. The Kannur CPI(M) unit thinks that at the same time the Gujarat Dalit leaders will attend the partys prgoramme at the neighboring district of Kozhikode.Talking to media persons here, Mr Gangadharan said earlier both Gujarat leaders are agreed to attend the PKS programme at Kannur, as a fight against what it called the Sangh parivar attrocities against the dalits. Later, Mr Jignesh Mevani cancel the programme due to misunderstand by some one.Taking down to social media, he agreed to attend the PKS programme when the organizers said there is no political affiliation with any party, but later he came to know the link with CPI(M). He also quoted that CPI(M) is not give rights to Chitra Lekha,a women and dalit auto driver of Payyanur in Kannur and even obstructing the work as a auto driver. The alleged CPI(M) workers are also obstructing to construct a house, where the former UDF government given free land at Kannur corporation.To a question, Mr Gangadharan replied that this is a past incident and the PKS is condemned it. He also said some people are given false propaganda and led to misunderstand him and led to cancel the Kannur district programme.PKS State vice-president S Ajay Kumar and CPI(M) district secretary P Jayarajan will attend the public function of PKS at Kannur town on September 21, while PKS State secretary K Soma prasad will attend the function at Thaliparamba on September 22. Procession carry "Torch light"will be arranged at all Dalit Colonies on tomorrow and September 21 to high light the importance of unity among dalits to prevent the threats from sangh parivar organization, said PKS District president Mr T Pavithran.Interestingly, the CPI(M) had organised a platform to assemble the prey and predator, Mr Qutubuddin Ansari and Asho Mochi of Gujarat riot- 2002 at Thaliparamba on March 3,2014 and led to national wide media attention. The photographs of Mr Qutubuddin Ansari, who pleads the mob for mercy and Bajrang dal activist Ashok Mochi, seen armed with iron stick, were met in one stage after 12 years at Thaliparamba in Kannur. This programme was organised by district committee of 18 Muslim organisations which was controlled by CPI(M) to highlight the chapter of historical secularism.UNI AK APA SDR AE 1840 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-940551.Xml Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu today condemned the terrorist attack on Uri Army base and described it as an act of cowardice. Talking to mediapersons here, he said, ''Pakistan is aiding, funding and training terrorists.'' He said, ''it is a rogue nation as they are not abiding by the promise they made and added that Pakistan is exposed at the international level and all the countries in the world should come together to condemn the heinous act of Pakistan.''"They want to cripple Indian Economy and they want to weaken the country as it is not acceptable at all," he said, adding that it's high time to declare Pakistan as terrorist nation and urged world countries to come together to stop assistance to Pakistan. Mr Naidu said, "The United Nations should take up this issue in a serious manner because terrorism is an enemy of humanity, it's not against India alone, terrorist activities are happening in different parts of the globe. Pakistan has become an epic centre of terrorism, it's high time that United Nations should come forward to declare Pakistan a terrorist state." The Union Minister advised member nations not to extend any help and assistance. He said the Centre will give a fitting reply to the perpetrators of Uri terrorists attack.UNI DP SHS AE 1833 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-940631.Xml With Dasara festivities round the corner, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) has introduced two new concepts Golden Chariot and Royal Routes to mark the celebration.Announcing this at a press meet here today, KSTDC Managing Director G Kumar Pushkar said that the Golden Chariot will run on alternative days starting from October 1 to 9.The Golden Chariot train will leave Yeshwantpur Railway Station at 8 am after picking up tourists from Taj West End Hotel in Bengaluru where all those who have booked their seats are asked to assemble. The tourists, en route to Mysuru, will be taken around tourist spots in and around Srirangapatna, before arriving at Mysurulater in the evening and stay overnight.The following day, the tourists will be taken around Mysuru Court, Jagan Mohan Palace, Lalitha Mahal Palace, Amba Vilas Palace and other tourist spots and heritage locations of the city, before returning to Amba Vilas Palace where the tourists will be introduced to cultural programmes at the Palace. After this, the tourists willbe dropped back at Bengaluru, marking the culmination of the tour, Pushkar said.The package is priced at Rs 30,000 per head, with 88 seats available on each trip, he added.Mr Pushkar said that the other concept, Royal Routes, which is part of the larger Palace on Wheels initiative, is being unveiled for the first time this year and entails going around the city and exploring the major Palaces. The tour will cost Rs 999 per person (lunch included). The tour will be open from Sept. 27 to Oct. 9.It will commence from Mysore Palace at 10 am everyday, with the tourists spending two hours there. The other Palaces included in the itinerary are Jaganmohan Palace, Lalitha Mahal, Vasantha Mahal, Karanji Mahal, Cheluvamba Mansion, Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion, Aloka Palace and finally Mysore Palace again at 6.30 pm, he said and added that all tourists will receive mementos.He said that the Tourism Department has also roped in Mysuru Royal Walks, which will conduct 'Heritage Walk' with expert curators. The tariff for the entire day is Rs 4,999 per head.Bookings can be done online through the KSTDC website. UNI BSP MSP TS SDR AE 1842 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-940644.Xml Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) today got its first woman whole time Director when Ms Anandi Ramalingam assumed charge as Director (Marketing).Prior to her elevation she was General Manager heading the Military Communication Strategic Business Unit (SBU) at Bangalore Complex.Ms Ramalingam, who joined in 1985, has worked in various domains of military communication including heading testing for 'Shakti", the flagship Artillery Combat Command and Control System, developed by BEL and DRDO for the Indian Army and AREN (Army Radio Engineered Network) winning the Raksha Mantri's Award. In 2004, she was roped in as part of the team formed to set up the Marketing Division for the Military Communication and Electronic Warfare SBU at Bangalore Complex. The team pioneered proactive business development practices in BEL and gradually assisted other SBUs in establishing effective marketing systems. In 2007, she was elevated as the Marketing Head of the Military Communication SBU where her team could achieve record growth in order book and turnover. In 2010, Mrs Anandi Ramalingam moved to the InternationalMarketing Division (IMD) to head Defence Offsets, establishing BEL as a reliance global supply chain partner for multiple foreign OEMs and facilitating substantial growth of BEL's export order book. In December 2014, she moved to the National Marketing Division as General Manager. Within a short span of time, she saw to it that BEL's order book grew significantly. UNI MSP TS SDR 1925 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-940815.Xml As nation mourns martyrdom of 18 soldiers in Uri attack, the Congress today called Narendra Modi a 'weak' Prime Minister and asked whether he has confidence to assure the country that such terror attacks will not reoccur in future. Addressing mediapersons here, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari ridiculed present NDA dispensation by quoting old tweets and statements of the BJP leaders, in which the saffron party members criticized UPA regime and advocated for strong action following terror attacks during the grand old party's rule (2004-2014). "We will not do politics on national security unlike them. We only want to ask Mr Modi two questions. Can you assure that there will not be another terror attack in the country and secondwhat is your policy for Pakistan,'' Mr Tewari said. The Congress leader then attacked BJP-led NDA government, saying Masood Azhar, the Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the terror outfit responsible for Pathankot airbase and Uri attack, was released by the saffron party-led regime itself. "History and truth are very bitter. If indeed, it is correct that the JeM has masterminded the Uri attack and since the government says so and we have no reason to disbelieve them, it begs another question: could Kandhar have been handled differently? Because the man the NDA government had chaperoned to Kandhar, Masood Azhar, created the JeM after his release,'' he said. He also called the Prime Minister weak, saying if he was strong, the country needed proof of that. ''There is a huge disconnect between the rhetoric and intent of this government,'' he added. Alleging that the Modi government neither has any strategic sense nor any tactical understanding, Mr Tewari said their definition of policy is unfortunately limited to only headline management and it never went beyond it. Asked what should be the effective response to the situation following heavy causalities in the attack, the Congress leader said it was up to the central government to decide future course of action. However, he pledged Congress' full constructive support to the regime and also favored the idea of all-party meeting on the issue. Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister was briefed by senior members of his Cabinet and Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag on the attack. The terror incident has led to a nationwide outrage, and the civilian and military establishments were veering towards the view that the situation needed some effective response. UNI RG SW AE 1900 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-940690.Xml The first consignment of Wax to Mexico was dispatched last week from Inland Container Depot(ICD), Amingaon, Guwahati, a NRL statement said here today. High quality of NRL wax has invited interest from several other countries like Mozambique and USA, making NRL Wax a brand to be reckoned with worldwide. NRL commenced sale of Paraffin Wax in domestic market as well as exports since commissioning of its Wax plant, the largest single unit producing Wax in the country in 2015. In a very short span, NRL has been able to capture around 40-45% of the domestic market . The utility of paraffin wax lies in making candles, tarpaulin sheets, food grade wrappers and in PVC pipe manufacturing industries while microcrystalline wax finds widespread application in the manufacture of tyres, rubber products, paints and polishes, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.UNI SG BM CJ AN1920 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-940655.Xml Mr Das has offered his condolence over the death of Jawra Munda a jawan from Khunti and Nayman Kujur of Gumla. In his message, the chief minister said, the sacrifices made by these brave sons would not go in vain. Mr Das said the youth of Jharkhand have never been behind to lay their lives whenever there has been a threat on the country. "It was due to their courage that there was prosperity and unity in the country," CM said. Mr Das said the state government was together with the families of these martyrs in the time of grief. He also said apart from the compensation the last rites of these brave hearts would be performed with full state honours and would also be attended by cabinet ministers as the representative of the state government.UNI AK BM CJ AS1911 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-940678.Xml Punjab Revenue and Public Relations Minister Bikram Singh Majithia today alleged that Aam Aadmi Party is a ''double-faced'' party therefore what can people expect from such a party whose leaders in Punjab give statements in favour of the state and that very day in Delhi, they give statements against the interests of Punjab on the same issue. Interacting with the mediapersons after addressing thanksgiving rally organised by Jatinder Singh Lally Bajwa here, the Minister said on the issue of SYL, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal gave statement in favour of Punjab during his visit to Punjab and after reaching Delhi, he changed his stand. Mr Majithia said Mr Kejriwal was making false promises in Punjab whereas the condition of Delhi was worsening day by day, and people were not getting even basic facilities. He said Mr Kejriwal was sheltering corrupt and women exploiters and if anyone tries to stand up against such activities within his party, he shows the door as a dictator. The AAP is totally exposed due to its corrupt leaders who are selling tickets in Punjab and involved in sex scandals, he alleged. Commenting on the decreasing graph of Punjab Congress, he said Captain Amarinder Singh was himself to blame for this who is still not available for even his senior party leaders as he used to be during his tenure as Chief Minister. Mr Majithia alleged that the Congress frustration was now becoming violent as seen during the last Vidhan Sabha session a few days back. He said no one made any castiest remarks but the Congress tried all means to create drama inside and outside the Vidhan Sabha to recover their lost ground. He alleged that Congress has always adopted the policy of divided and rule but, he added that, now the people were fully aware of such petty politics of Congress. Commenting on the fourth front, he said such fronts often come up near elections. He hoped that the SAD-BJP will form the government in the state for the third consecutive term on the inclusive development agenda. UNI DB RSA AE 1844 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-940598.Xml Sorrow and anger on Monday gripped four small villages in Maharashtra which lost four young soldiers to Sunday's terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir. The four soldiers are Vikas Janardhan Kudmethe from Purad village of Yavatmal, Vikas Janrao Uike of Nandgaon-Khandeshwar in Amravati, Sandeep Somnath Thok of Khadangli in Nashik and Chandrakant Shankar Galande of Jashi village in Satara district. Kudmethe, 27, had joined the army five years ago and was married two years back. He is survived his wife wife and a daughter besides his aged parents. Uike, 26, joined the army in 2009. His father Janrao is a retired soldier. He had been transferred to Uri barely a month ago. Thok, 22, joined the army in 2012 and was due to get married around Diwali. He had been joined duty in Uri barely a few weeks ago. His family, including father Somnath who is a tailor and a brother who is a farmer, were preparing for his coming wedding. The family owns a small piece of land on which his brother carries out farming and they live on a small dwelling on the plot. Galande, 27, had joined the army in 2012 and is survived by his aged parents, wife Nisha and sons Shreyas, 5, and Jai, 3. The youngest and doted son among three siblings, Galande came from a backward dry part of Satara where their two acres of land never had sufficient water supply for cultivation. "It was my desire that all three sons join the armed forces. They respected my wish. Today, the youngest has been martyred. I am proud that his life has been sacrificed for the cause of the nation," a teary-eyed Shankar Galande told mediapersons. Two months ago, the son had come on a brief holiday. Last Saturday night, he told wife Nisha that he was planning to come again for 10 days to help with the farm work. Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the government would provide Rs.1.50 million (Rs.15 lakhs) to the families of each martyr and any other help required. Opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil demanded that each martyr's family should be given a compensation of at least Rs.2.50 million as they had left behind aged parents and widows and their minor children. The scene on Monday was similar in all the four villages, with hundreds of people arriving to comfort the families of the martyred heroes. Villagers kept vigil outside the homes of the soldiers and awaited news of the arrival of the martyrs' bodies which shall be accorded a state funeral. --IANS qn/mr ( 442 Words) 2016-09-19-19:56:09 (IANS) The activists of the Bajarang Dal marched in a protest rally from Tinimuhani- Rama mandir to Old Bus stand after paying tribute to the 17 jawans of Dogra Regiment, who were killed in the terrorist attack. As many as seventeen soldiers were killed and 30 jawans were injured when four Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber attacked them.The four terrorists were later eliminated by the security forces Kendrapara SP Nitinjeet Singh has meanwhile sounded an alert to all the marine police stations and also couple of police stations located at the coastal pockets and directed the police personnel to keep a strong vigil on the sea route. All the three marine police stations along with Rajnagar and Mahakalapada police stations were asked to monitor round the clock vigil at the coast . Mr Singh said armed police force have been deployed in the coast of Kendrapara and the marine police personnel have intensified sea patrolling in Rajnagar and Mahakalapada block. Police personnel were also directed to verify suspected persons, the SP saidUNI XC BD.BM CJ 2105 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-941115.Xml Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwartoday said that the state government would provide an aid of Rs 15lakh to the family of each martyr and any other help required. While, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil demandedthat each martyr should be given a compensation of at least Rs 25lakh since they have left behind their families comprising agedparents and widows as well as their minor children. Meanwhile, the scene in the four corners of the state wassimilar today, with hundreds of villagers arriving to comfort andconsole the families of the martyred heroes, who were killed in aterrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri, Jammu & Kashmir yesterday. Four young martyred soldiers are: Vikas Janardhan Kudmethefrom Purad village of Yavatmal, Vikas Janrao Uike of Nandgaon-Khandeshwar in Amravati (both in eastern Maharashtra's Vidarbharegion), Sandeep Somnath Thok of Khadangli, Nashik district ofnorthern Maharashtra and Chandrakant Shankar Galande of Jashivillage in western Maharashtra's Satara district. Groups of villagers were seen keeping a vigil outside the homesof the soldiers and waiting for news of the arrival of the martyrs'bodies which shall be accorded a state funeral.UNI AAA SS HK CJ 2250 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-941210.Xml "Serious negotiation about the future could occur if Pyongyang does not engage in any more provocative actions," Kerry told his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on Sunday. Sunday's three-way meeting followed North Korea's fifth underground nuclear test earlier this month and an increased pace of regular missile firings - "the latest reckless choices Kim Jong-un has made," Kerry said. South Korean Foreign Minister, Yun Byung-se, appeared reluctant to consider negotiations with North Korea, in view of Pyongyang's repeated defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions, Voice of America news reported. Yun called for the current UN General Assembly which begins in 71st session on Monday, to "send out a united and forceful message," and impose even more robust sanctions on North Korea as it is "now at the final stage of nuclear weaponisation". Japanese Foreign Minister, Fumio Kishida, also urged stronger pressure to be applied on Pyongyang "including further sanctions, as well as taking our measures respectively". A joint statement issued by the three countries noted the ministers "explored ways to work together to ensure that all countries fully and effectively implement all their obligations and commitments under UN Security Council 2270, which imposed the strongest sanctions ever placed upon North Korea." --IANS ksk ( 243 Words) 2016-09-19-08:20:08 (IANS) A disturbing official report suggests that that nearly a thousand bullet-ridden corpses have been recovered from various parts of Balochistan in the past six years, raising questions about security and safety in Pakistan's largest province, a Pakistani daily has reported. The News, quoting official reports, said that more than 51 percent mutilated bodies have been identified as being that of ethnic Baloch. According to official figures, 22 percent dead bodies belonged to Pashtuns while the rest of the bullet-ridden corpses either remained unidentified or belong to Punjabis, Afghan refugees or non-Muslims. The figures prepared by senior officials assigned to swiftly execute the National Action Plan (NAP), showed that more than 940 dead bodies were recovered from various districts of Balochistan, whereas Quetta remained the worst-hit district with 346 dead bodies recovered since 2010. Maintaining that the confidential data is exclusively available with Geo News (ASKKS Programme) and The News, the report suggests that 112 persons were still declared missing in the province. Apart from all these human rights violations in the province, the official figures further stated that over 658 innocent people lost their lives in sectarian incidents, where a total of 1, 837 were killed either in target killings or other disputes after 2011 in the province. During this period, over 3,470 people were injured in terror or sectarian related incidents. Reports suggest that the security forces, with the help of intelligence agencies and operators of the newly established Intelligence Fusion Cell (IFC) during this period in the province, had recovered over 498 dead bodies of Baloch which already lags behind other provinces in terms of over nine key social indicators. Though around 159 dead bodies of Pashtuns are said to have been recovered from various parts of the province, but the security forces have failed to identify 175 bullet-ridden corpses, as their faces were completely burnt and spoiled. The police have also recovered around 108 dead bodies, where some of them were identified as Afghan refugees and Punjabis. According to the reports, Kalat is said to be second largest district after Quetta where 268 dead bodies were recovered by law enforcement agencies. In terms of rights violence, in 2011, 203 dead bodies were recovered, 129 in 2015, 165 in 2014, 168 in 2013, 166 in 2012, 102 in 2010 and 17 bullet-ridden bodies were recovered this year. The reports also revealed that soon after the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, over 2,654 intelligence based operations were conducted by law enforcement agencies and more than 335 criminals were killed and 73 were injured in these operations. According to the data, in the last eighteen months, over 13,362 criminals have been arrested. The law enforcement agencies are said to have recovered 4,154 illegal weapons and 248,327 rounds of ammunition from the criminals. Ever since the NAP started, the Intelligence Fusion Cell is said to have taken the lead over police and Levies and have arrested 7, 597 criminals, killed 288 terrorists and recovered 242,105 rounds of ammunition. However, the recent killings and recovery of dead bodies in Balochistan, Home Minister of the province Sarfraz Bugti asserted that there has been significant drop down in violence. "Balochistan witnessed a significant drop down in violence -- this momentum will go on by grace of Allah," he said. He also maintained, "We will not let Baloch separatists and other militants to flex their muscles yet again." With the Baloch people already raising their voices against the atrocities and human rights violations by Pakistan against them, the issue today is known to everyone. Former Senator Sana Baloch, commented that Balochistan is facing a political crisis and needs a well-sequenced roadmap to undo the damage and reverse the cycle of violence. He also pointed out that, "a combination of economic collapse, Talibanisation, sectarian menace, abductions for ransom, near-to-collapsed health and education infrastructures, corruption and brutally mismanaged governance have brought the province to the verge of a Somalia-like situation where the ordinary citizen begs state-backed criminals, gangs and mafias for safety and security." The Baloch people across the globe are holding protests with an objective to highlight state atrocities on Baloch civilians across Balochistan. The protestors have even thanked India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the supporting them in their cause. India on Wednesday launched a scathing counter attack against Pakistan by raising human rights violations it perpetrates in Balochistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). India also took aim at human rights violations by Pakistan's politico-military establishment across the country, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Giving a befitting reply to Pakistan for alleging human rights violations in India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said that Islamabad is characterised by authoritarianism, absence of democratic norms and widespread human rights violations across the country including Balochistan. (ANI) Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin comfortably won a parliamentary election today, but early indications were that turnout was low, suggesting a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite 18 months away from the next presidential election.The ruling United Russia party, which Putin founded, won 44.5 per cent in today's vote, an exit poll showed, slightly down on the last election. But it was still enough to preserve the dominance of Putin's allies in the Duma, or lower house of parliament.Putin, speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed, said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine.Putin's aides are likely to use today's result, which leaves United Russia by far the biggest party, as a springboard for his own campaign for re-election in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed that he will seek another term."We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it's won," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party's leader.Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3 per cent, Putin said: "We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result."In the last election for the Duma, or lower house of parliament, in 2011, United Russia won 49 percent of the vote.There were some reports of voting irregularities. Reuters reporters at one polling station witnessed several people casting their ballot, then coming back later and voting again. Election chiefs said were was so far no evidence of large-scale cheating.After the last election, anger at ballot-rigging prompted large protests in Moscow, and the Kremlin will be anxious to avoid a repetition of that.TURNOUT DOWNAccording to the exit poll, by state-run pollster VTsIOM, the populist LDPR party was in second place with 15.3 per cent, the Communists were in third on 14.9 per cent and the left-of-centre Just Russia party was fourth with 8.1 per cent.All three of those parties tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues in parliament, and avoid direct criticism of Putin.With 11 per cent of votes counted as of 1930 GMT, the official results were broadly in line with the exit poll.Election officials said that as of 18:00 Moscow time, two hours before polling stations in the capital closed, turnout was 39.4 percent, substantially down on the 60 per cent turnout at the last parliamentary election.There was some evidence of voter apathy during the day today as people went to polling stations across Russia's 11 times zones, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.A taxi driver in Ufa, just over 1,350 km east of Moscow, told a Reuters reporter that voting "was like urinating into a blocked toilet." "Why bother?," the man, who gave his first name as Ilysh, said.Yan Gaimaletdinov said he deliberately spoiled his ballot paper when he went to his local polling station in the village of Knyazevo, near Ufa. "I didn't vote for anyone: I don't play with assholes," he said.Commenting on the turnout, Putin, at the United Russia campaign HQ, said it was "not as high as we saw in previous election campaigns, but it is high."REFLECTED GLORYUnited Russia is routinely depicted in a favourable light by state television. It also benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, enjoys a personal approval rating of about 80 per cent.Many voters are persuaded by the Kremlin narrative, frequently repeated on state TV, of the West using sanctions to try to wreck the economy in revenge for Moscow's seizure of Crimea, the Ukrainian region it annexed in 2014.Yevgeny Korsak, a 65-year-old pensioner in the city of Saransk, 600 km (375 miles) south-east of Moscow, said he had voted for United Russia "because it is strong and powerful."By contrast, liberal opposition politicians, who currently have just one sympathetic member in the Duma, complain they are starved of air time, vilified by state media, and their campaigns systematically disrupted by pro-Kremlin provocateurs. Pro-Kremlin politicians deny that charge.The liberal opposition failed to get over the five percent threshold needed for party representation in the Duma, the exit poll showed. Some of their candidates could still make it into parliament in constituency races.Putin has said it is too early to say if he will go for what would be a fourth presidential term in 2018. If he did and won, he would be in power until 2024, longer than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.The election is the first time that voters in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, are helping decide the makeup of the Duma.That has angered the Ukrainian government and there were scuffles between Ukrainian nationalists and police outside the Russian embassy in Kiev today after a few nationalists tried to stop Russian citizens from voting there. REUTERS AKC 0221 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-939665.Xml Foreign ministers for the United States, Japan and South Korea met in New York today, ahead of UN meetings, to discuss stepped-up measures against North Korea and expand collaboration with one another after Pyongyang's fifth and largest nuclear test.The September 9 blast was in defiance of UN sanctions that were tightened in March.The meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and their South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, was the first since the latest nuclear test. It will be one of the main issues discussed by world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly this week.In a joint statement, the ministers said North North's disregard for multiple UN resolutions prohibiting its missile and nuclear programs called for even stronger international pressure.North Korea has been testing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate this year under leader Kim Jong Un."They discussed the important work currently taking place in the Security Council to further sanction North Korea and considered other possible measures of their own, in particular ways to further restrict revenue sources for the DPRK's missile and nuclear programs, including through illicit activities," the ministers' statement said."They reaffirmed that they remain open to credible and authentic talks aimed at full and verifiable denuclearization of the DPRK," the statement said, referring to the country's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.The United States has said it is willing to negotiate with the North if the country commits to denuclearization, which Pyongyang has refused to do.Washington has pressed Beijing, which is Pyongyang's most important diplomatic backer and trading partner, to do more to rein in North Korea.China has expressed anger with North Korea for its largest nuclear test to date, but has not said directly whether it will support tougher sanctions. It has said it believes sanctions are not the ultimate answer and called for a return to talks.REUTERS AKC 0300 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-939667.Xml Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin comfortably won a parliamentary election, early results showed today, but low turnout suggested a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite 18 months before the next presidential election.The ruling United Russia party won 51 per cent in Sunday's election, according to a preliminary central election commission tally after a quarter of the votes had been counted.That would allow the party, which was founded by Putin and benefits from his popularity, to extend its dominance in the lower house of parliament, or Duma. An exit poll also had United Russia as the overwhelming winner.Putin, speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed yesterday night, said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine.Putin's aides are likely to use the result as a springboard for his own campaign for re-election in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed that he will seek another term."We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it's won," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party's leader.Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3 per cent, Putin said: "We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result."Other parties trailed far behind United Russia.According to the incomplete official vote count, the populist LDPR party was in second place with 15.1 per cent, the Communists were in third on 14.9 per cent and the left-of-centre Just Russia party was fourth with 6.4 per cent.All three of those parties tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues in parliament, and avoid direct criticism of Putin.In the last election for the Duma, in 2011, United Russia won 49 per cent of the vote.There were some reports of voting irregularities. Reuters reporters at one polling station in the Mordovia region of central Russia witnessed several people casting their ballot, then coming back later and voting again. Election chiefs said were was so far no evidence of large-scale cheating.After the last election, anger at ballot-rigging prompted large protests in Moscow, and the Kremlin will be anxious to avoid a repetition of that.TURNOUT DOWNElection officials said that as of 6 p.m. Moscow time, two hours before polling stations in the capital closed, turnout was 39.4 per cent, substantially down on the 60 percent turnout at the last parliamentary election.There was some evidence of voter apathy during the day today as people went to polling stations across Russia's 11 times zones, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.A taxi driver in Ufa, just over 1,350 km east of Moscow, told a Reuters reporter that voting "was like urinating into a blocked toilet." "Why bother?," said the man, who gave his first name as Ilysh.Yan Gaimaletdinov said he deliberately spoiled his ballot paper when he went to his local polling station in the village of Knyazevo, near Ufa. "I didn't vote for anyone: I don't play with assholes," he said.Commenting on the turnout, Putin, at the United Russia campaign HQ, said it was "not as high as we saw in previous election campaigns, but it is high."REFLECTED GLORYUnited Russia benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, enjoys a personal approval rating of about 80 per cent, opinion polls show.Most voters do not see any viable alternative to Putin and his allies, and they fear a return to the chaos and instability of the 1990s, the period immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, if his rule ends.Many voters are persuaded by the Kremlin narrative, frequently repeated on state TV, of the West using sanctions to try to wreck the economy in revenge for Moscow's seizure of Crimea, the Ukrainian region it annexed in 2014.Yevgeny Korsak, a 65-year-old pensioner in the city of Saransk, 600 km south-east of Moscow, said he had voted for United Russia "because it is strong and powerful."Putin has said it is too early to say if he will go for what would be a fourth presidential term in 2018. If he did and won, he would be in power until 2024, longer than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the longest-serving Soviet leader aside from Joseph Stalin.Liberal opposition politicians, the only group openly critical of Putin, failed to get over the five per cent threshold needed for party representation in the Duma, the early results showed. Some of their candidates could still make it into parliament in constituency races.The election is the first time that voters in Crimea are helping decide the makeup of the Duma.That has angered the Ukrainian government and there were scuffles between Ukrainian nationalists and police outside the Russian embassy in Kiev on Sunday after a few nationalists tried to stop Russian citizens from voting there. REUTERS AKC 0418 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-939674.Xml Kazakhstan has started the construction of a Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) bank. According to a report of the Novosti-Kazakhstan, this was confirmed by Timur Zhantikin, the Deputy Head of the Kazakh Energy Ministry's Atomic Committee. Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed an agreement to set up the IAEA low enriched uranium bank in Oskemen, Eastern Kazakhstan in August 2015. Zhantikin was quoted, as saying that the uranium bank will be located in a separate building at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant. The bank will be launched in the second half of 2017, he added. According to the IAEA, the uranium bank in Kazakhstan will have a physical reserve of up to 90 tons of low enriched uranium, which is sufficient to run a 1,000 MWe light-water reactor. Such a reactor can power a big city for three years. The plant has been handling and storing nuclear material, including LEU, safely and securely for more than 60 years. The establishment and operation of the bank is fully funded through USD 150 million of voluntary contributions from a nuclear threat initiative, the United States, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Norway and Kazakhstan. The LEU bank is an assurance of supply mechanism of last resort, and will be a physical reserve of LEU available for eligible IAEA member states. Owned and controlled by the IAEA, the LEU Bank will host a reserve of LEU, and act as a supplier of last resort for member states in case the supply of LEU to a nuclear power plant is disrupted due to exceptional circumstances and the Member State is unable to secure LEU from the commercial market or by any other means. The IAEA LEU Bank will be a physical reserve of up to 90 metric tons of low enriched uranium suitable to make fuel for a typical light water reactor, the most widely used type of nuclear power reactor worldwide. The LEU can be used to make enough nuclear fuel to power a large city for three years. This will provide member states with additional confidence in their ability to obtain nuclear fuel in an assured and predictable manner in the event there is disruption in existing fuel supply arrangements due to exceptional circumstances and when LEU can be obtained by no other means. The IAEA LEU Bank will be located at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Oskemen, Kazakhstan. It is anticipated that it will take about two years from the signature of the IAEA LEU Bank agreements to do all the necessary work to bring the IAEA LEU Bank into operation. The bank is part of global efforts to create an assured supply of nuclear fuel to countries in case of disruption of the open market or of other existing supply arrangements for LEU. Other assurance of supply mechanisms established with IAEA approval include a guaranteed physical reserve of LEU maintained by the Russian Federation at the International Uranium Enrichment Centre in Angarsk, Russia, and an assurance of supply guarantee for supplies of LEU enrichment services in the United Kingdom. The United States also operates its own LEU reserve. A key principle of the IAEA LEU Bank, as an assurance of supply mechanism of last resort, is that it must not distort the commercial market. The availability and operation of the IAEA LEU Bank is consistent with the rights of IAEA Member States to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. A member state which needs to purchase LEU from the IAEA LEU Bank must have a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA in force and no issues relating to safeguards implementation in that member state under consideration by the IAEA Board of Governors. (ANI) Police detonated a suspicious package early today near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, following concerns that it might contain a live explosive device, the city's mayor said.The incident came after the United States was shaken by three attacks at the weekend, including a Saturday night bombing that injured 29 in Manhattan and a stabbing incident at a Minnesota shopping mall that wounded nine.In Elizabeth, a city south of Newark, New Jersey, two men scavenging trash near the train station on Sunday evening found a suspicious package containing what could have been a live bomb in a wastebasket, Mayor Christian Bollwage said.The men reported the package to police after they "saw wires and a pipe," Bollwage told reporters. A Union County bomb squad drone determined the package "could be a live bomb" and an FBI bomb squad went to the site.A large explosion was heard early on Monday near the transit station, NBC News reported. On social media network Twitter, Bollwage confirmed that police had detonated the suspicious package.An FBI spokesman in Newark, Mike Whitaker, said agents were aware of the situation in Elizabeth. "We are responding with our local law enforcement partners," he added, but declined to give further details.New Jersey Transit Corp and Amtrak halted train services to the Elizabeth station as investigations continued, authorities said.A powerful explosion rocked Manhattan's popular Chelsea neighborhood late on Saturday after a pressure-cooker bomb packed with shrapnel detonated. A similar unexploded device was found a few blocks away later that night.The Chelsea blast followed a pipe bomb explosion on Saturday morning along the route of a running race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No one was injured in that blast, which is being investigated.Police in Union County, New Jersey, declined to comment. REUTERS JW PM1208 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-939842.Xml In a statement, Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said that his country was appalled by these attacks. "Canada strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp at Uri on September 18, which resulted in the death of 17 soldiers," Dutton said. "The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism," he added. Sunday's terror attack was one of the biggest targeting the Indian Army in recent years, resulting in the death of 17 soldiers and substantial damage to military property just a few kilometres from the Line of Control with Pakistan. --IANS and/ps/in/sac ( 163 Words) 2016-09-19-14:14:08 (IANS) Baloch Republican Party (BRP) founder Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday announced that he would appeal for a political asylum in India. Bugti said that the decision was taken in his party's central committee meeting. "The meeting of our central committee ended today. And in the meeting the members of the central committee have decided with majority that I will appeal for a political asylum in India," Bugti told ANI. Bugti said that the he would seek an appointment with the Indian embassy in Geneva. "This decision has been taken and we will start working on it right away. Within two to three days, we will seek an appointment before the Indian embassy and we will present our case based on that," he added. Bugti had earlier clarified that he has not made a formal request to India for asylum, but added that he would certainly consider it if given an opportunity in the future. "Our people in Balochistan and Afghanistan are in a very difficult situation. Very few of them are able to come to Europe, rest are living there only. So, we want that the Indian Government should open there doors for them and provide them access, including myself. Right now, I'm here (Switzerland), but I face problem regarding my travel. So, if I get an option to be in India, I will definitely go there," Bugti told ANI. When asked as to why he is seeking asylum in India, Bugti said, "India is our neighboring country. In Europe, even if a government or the immigration department knows the problem, the people don't. But in India, the people know about our problems, we will have their support. We share the same culture. We will be closer to our people and our people can easily seek asylum there, and it is easier for them to reach there with their families." Meanwhile, Bugti's party has also decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani Army Generals at the International Criminal Courts. The Baloch activists and leaders have continuously maintained that Pakistan is involved in the genocide of the Baloch people and added that human rights violations are rampant in the region there. (ANI) A planned evacuation of several hundred Syrian rebels from al-Waer, the opposition's last foothold in Homs city, has been postponed today until tomorrow an official in Homs province said."It has been postponed until tomorrow," the official told Reuters. The governor of Homs said yesterday that between 250 and 300 fighters had been expected to leave under a deal with the government. REUTERS VS PR1600 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-940233.Xml Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has enjoyed remarkably strong opinion poll numbers since winning power in last October's election but now faces tough decisions that could dent his popularity.Trudeau's Liberals, who quickly ran up a big budget deficit as they boosted spending to help kick-start the economy, have launched extended public consultations on several major issues.When Parliament reconvenes today, the government will have to deliver verdicts on challenging environmental and military questions."There are some policy issues ... that are going to be difficult to politically manage," said pollster Nik Nanos of Nanos Research. "The key question is: How much political capital will Justin Trudeau expend?"A Nanos Research poll earlier this month asking who Canadians preferred as prime minister put Trudeau at 54.1 per cent, compared with 16.5 per cent for Rona Ambrose, interim leader of the Conservative Party.Both main opposition parties lack permanent leaders and will not choose replacements until next year. That, say Liberals, means the time for politically risky calls is now, so voter anger can dissipate before the next election in October 2019.Last week, Trudeau received a boost when his high-level pressuring of Chinese officials helped secure the release of Canadian Kevin Garratt, who spent two years in jail and was convicted of spying.Ottawa is concerned about the potential blowback from decisions on projects in British Columbia, where the Liberals did better than expected in the last election, said two well-placed political sources.Ministers must rule by the end of September on a liquefied natural gas export project proposed by Petronas. The deadline for Kinder Morgan Inc's plan to expand its Trans Mountain oil pipeline is Dec. 31.Both projects are opposed by green activists, courted by Trudeau in 2015. British Columbia could prove crucial to Trudeau's hopes of winning another majority government in the 2019 election.Ottawa also faces a difficult October summit with the 10 provinces on setting a national price for carbon. Some provinces worry about the potential economic impact, and preparatory talks have bogged down, said one of the political sources.The Liberals will also announce whether they intend to break a pledge to launch a competition for fighter jets. Talk inside military circles is that Ottawa could announce a sole-source contract."Will there be difficult days and difficult issues? Sure there will be," said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale."It won't always be easy, but if you engage Canadians in the process, you're going to make for better results," he told reporters.Tony Clement of the official opposition Conservatives said Trudeau could not put off hard calls forever."When you make a decision, maybe somebody's ox is being gored, and that's when the trouble starts," he said.REUTERS VS PR1639 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0440-940320.Xml Chancellor Angela Merkel said today she would turn back time if she could to better prepare Germany for last year's migrant influx, striking a conciliatory tone and taking some blame for her party's drubbing in a Berlin city vote yesterday.Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered their second electoral blow in two weeks in yesterday's vote in the capital, slumping to their lowest level since 1990 in the state election in which voters rejected her open-door refugee policy."I take my share of the responsibility that lies with me as party chairwoman and chancellor," said Merkel, sounding the most conciliatory she has in more than a decade in office in a shift away from a previously robust defence of her migrant policy.In prepared remarks, the 62-year-old chancellor said she would do things differently if she could go back again and prepare better to cope with the influx of around one million migrants who flooded into Germany last year, many of them fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and beyond."If I could, I would turn back the time by many, many years," Merkel said, sounding particularly sombre.A backlash against her migrant policy has raised questions about whether Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader, will seek a fourth term next year. Given a dearth of options in her party, however, she is still the most likely candidate.Asked whether she will run again in 2017, Merkel smiled and declined to comment. She said she was still motivated.Rather than repeat her mantra of "Wir schaffen das", or "we can do this", on the migrant crisis, Merkel said she did not like using the catchphrase anymore."Some people feel provoked by this sentence and that was never the aim," she added, sounding almost apologetic.Merkel's deepening woes at home are eroding her influence beyond German borders, where she failed to impose herself at a European Union summit in Bratislava last Friday.MEA CULPAConceding that "God knows, we have not done everything right", the chancellor added: "We - including me - now need to surpass ourselves, so to speak."The CDU won 17.6 per cent in Berlin, down from 23.3 per cent in the last election in Berlin in 2011.The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which with 14 per cent of the vote will enter its 10th of the country's 16 regional assemblies, said it would target a double digit score in next year's national vote after the "terrific" Berlin result.Commenting on a recent poll showing 82 per cent of voters wanted a change in her migrant policy, Merkel said: "If I knew what change in policy people wanted, I would be ready to consider it and to talk about it.""But the poll does not give any advice on that."A year before the national election, the Berlin result has deepened rifts in her conservative camp, with her CDU and their Bavarian allies -- the Christian Social Union (CSU) -- blaming each other within minutes of yesterday's results.The CSU wants to cap the number of migrants coming into Germany at 200,000 a year. Merkel has so far rejected such a ceiling, instead seeking a Europe-wide solution to the issue.But she sounded ready to compromise with the CSU, saying that if the wish of the German people was for the country not to be swamped with uncontrolled migration "then that is exactly what I am fighting for".CSU leader Horst Seehofer, speaking minutes after Merkel, said people did not want to hear backward-looking apologies."Justifications of the past do not help. We need answers for the future now and for the coming years, that's what people are waiting for," he said.If the CDU and CSU can agree a credible migrant policy, Seehofer added, "we still have every chance of winning the federal election well". REUTERS SZ AN2230 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-941202.Xml Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev cancelled a trip to New York today after suffering chest pains during the flight, his spokesman said."He is being examined now," spokesman Almaz Usenov said, adding that Atambayev, who turned 60 last week, was in Turkey. REUTERS SZ VN2326 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-941227.Xml An Afghanistan-born American suspected of carrying out the weekend bombing in New York City that wounded 29 people and planting other bombs in New York City and New Jersey was in custody after a gun battle with police today.Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a 28-year-old naturalized US citizen, was captured in Linden, New Jersey, about 32 km outside New York, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. He said two officers were shot and that Rahami was wounded and taken by ambulance to a local hospital.The attacks came as world leaders prepared to gather at the United Nations in New York for the annual General Assembly this week, just days after the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing incidents, two US officials told Reuters.The motive behind the bombings was not immediately clear, though New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described it as an apparent act of "terrorism." The United States has seen a series of large-scale attacks, including mass shootings in Orlando, Florida, and San Bernardino, California, over the past year."Yesterday there was no hint of any connection foreign terrorism.... But there may very well turn out to be a link to foreign terrorist organizations, and that we'll find out today or in the coming days," Cuomo told a news conference in New York today.Police in Linden received a call about a man sleeping in a doorway and when one officer, who recognized the person as the bombing suspect, tried to rouse him, Rahami opened fire and hit the officer in the abdomen. The officer was wearing a bullet proof-vest, said Linden Police Captain James Sarnicki.Rahami also fired through the windshield of a patrol car, wounding another officer. The wounds to both officers are not thought to be life-threatening, he said.Local resident Romel Johnson, 46, said he was near the scene and heard about 10 to 12 gunshots in Linden, followed by the arrival of more police cars and an ambulance.Earlier today, New York police had released a photo of Rahami and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said.In addition to the two incidents, officials are probing a backpack containing bombs found in a New Jersey train station yesterday, and an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb located blocks away from the Chelsea blast site.No one was injured in the other blasts.As reports of Rahami being taken in custody were being released, US President Barack Obama said he saw no connection between the explosions and a separate weekend incident where a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead.He said authorities are investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism.The man in the Minnesota incident, who has not been officially identified, was described a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group's news agency said yesterday."At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in New York and New Jersey," Obama, who was in New York for the UN meeting, told reporters. He added he had spoken to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton."The FBI is investigating the Minnesota incident as a potential act of terrorism. We will direct the full resources of the federal government to make sure that the investigation goes forward aggressively," he said.CHELSEA BOMBINGFederal authorities believe that the explosion in Chelsea, where another explosive device was found nearby, was linked to as many as six explosive devices found just outside New York in Elizabeth, Homeland Security officials told Reuters.No one was injured in the Saturday morning explosion along the route of a running race in Seaside Park, about 97 km) south of Manhattan, New Jersey State Police said.Before the suspect was captured, the two US presidential candidates weighed in on the New York bombing."I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," Republican nominee Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News today.Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said the United States needed to work with its allies to combat global terrorism and that the country should launch an "intelligence surge" to detect attacks before they are carried out.A Federal Bureau of Investigation poster described Rahami as a resident of Elizabeth, where agents were executing a search warrant on Monday morning after explosive devices were found at a train station in that city, Mayor Bollwage told CNN.The raid in Elizabeth came hours after an explosive device left near a train station there blew up when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, the mayor said. It was one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site. REUTERS SZ VN2323 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-941238.Xml DAMASCUS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Warplanes struck several neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo Sunday, the first in Aleppo since a nationwide ceasefire went into effect last Monday, a monitor group reported. At least one woman was killed when the airstrikes targeted the rebel-held areas of Sakhour, Karm al-Jabal and Karm al-Baik, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The airstrikes were the first in Aleppo, since the city enjoyed a relative calm following the implementation of a U.S.-Russian brokered truce in Syria. Earlier in the day, Syria's national TV said tens of civilians evacuated the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city, as part of a renewed government call on civilians and armed men to leave the besieged rebel-held areas in Aleppo. The U.S.-Russian ceasefire deal is threatened with a recent escalation between Washington and Moscow, after the U.S.-led airstrikes killed 90 Syrian soldiers in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the first U.S. strike to target government forces since the coalition started operations in Syria in late 2014. Enditem KATHMANDU, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday returned home after concluding a four-day visit to India. Dahal said his visit was successful in taking the relationship between India and Nepal to a greater height. "All misunderstandings with India have been cleared following my visit to India. I believe that our bilateral relationship has been taken to a greater height now," he told media Sunday at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. During his stay in India, Dahal held meetings with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as government ministers. Dahal left for India Thursday on his first overseas visit after assuming office as prime minister last month. Enditem ARUSHA, Tanzania, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania has announced new measures to combat human trafficking in the east African nation. Hamad Yusuf Masauni, Tanzania's home affairs deputy minister, said on Sunday here that the country has been a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. "That's why we've come up with new measures that will involve all security agencies and the public and the main target in the program will perpetrators of the barbaric business," he said, warning traffickers that their days are numbered as the Tanzanian government will squarely deal with them. According to Masauni, immigration officers whose points serve as pathways of the aliens will not be spared either. He maintained that the perpetrators of human smuggling into borders will not only be arrested but the government will also confiscate and nationalize their vehicles. Speaking during his tour of the immigration department at the Tanzania-Kenya border in Namanga, the Tanzanian minister warned the perpetrators to shun the vice lest they get busted by the government. "The state will confiscate such vehicles and the officers will be held responsible for such failures," he cautioned. He said the government was not satisfied with the efforts of the immigration officers at Namanga border, as there were many aliens still finding their entry into the country through the border point. "Some of these aliens collude with Tanzanians in looking for routes to enter the country," he said. The deputy minister called for routine checks at the border point and on vehicle passing through the border to arrest perpetrators of the vice. Daniel Chongolo, Longido District Commissioner, admitted that the area was prone to irregular immigrants as its geographical location that extends to the neighboring Kenya. In recent years, Tanzania has witnessed an increasing flow of irregular migrants from the horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia and Somalia, who have been fleeing drought, economic deprivation, unemployment and conflicts to look for a better life outside their own country. Tanzania has also become a transit corridor to Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia en route to South Africa and beyond. Enditem KHARTOUM, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Sunday threatened to close its border with South Sudan if Juba failed to fulfil its commitments to expel Sudanese rebel groups from its soils, Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported. "South Sudan's First Vice-President Taban Deng vowed to the Sudanese government to expel the movements from Juba within 21 days," State Minister at Sudan's Foreign Ministry Kamal Ismail was quoted as saying. On Aug. 22, Deng, during a visit to Khartoum, reiterated that his country would not be a starting point for any hostile acts against Sudan by Sudanese armed groups. He said his country and Sudan agreed to settle all outstanding security issues within 21 days. "If South Sudan's government failed to commit to this agreement, (Sudan's) government will close the borders with the south and stop the food aid," Ismail noted. He said the government is closely following up Juba's decision to expel the rebels, saying "Juba must clearly make its political decision on expelling the movements." Khartoum accuses Juba of sheltering rebel groups of Sudan's Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. Enditem ISLAMABAD, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Sunday rejected as "baseless" Indian accusations after the attack on an army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Indian military said that militants killed at least 17 troopers and injured over 20 others in a suicide attack on an Indian military base in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Indian officials have said that four militants, believed to have carried out the attack, were also killed in retaliatory fire inside the base near the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Kashmir. The Indian officials said the four militants belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group. The Indian government had also blamed the same group for the attack at the Pathankot air base in January, in which 7 army men were killed. In his reaction to the attack, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he is "deeply disappointed with Pakistans continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups." "There are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped," he said on his official Twitter. However, the charges were angrily dismissed by Pakistan. Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that India leveled allegations without investigations. "It is now the habit of India to shift the blame of every terrorist incident towards Pakistan without any investigation. Indians had been involved in many terrorist incidents in India, which were blamed on Pakistan" he said. "Through such allegations against Pakistan, India wants to divert attention from its atrocities in occupied Kashmir," the spokesman told the media. Indian officials said the attack took place at garrison Uri town in frontier Baramulla district, about 109 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. No group has yet claimed the responsibility for the attack. Enditem TIRANA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian government will provide a fund worth 184.6 million euros (207.2 million U.S. dollars) in loans that will be distributed to Albanian companies, public institutions and SMEs or Hungarian entities operating in Albania, Albanian Investments Development Agency (AIDA) said on Sunday. According to this agency, this fund will be given in the framework of an initiative that the Hungarian government has launched with the aim of enhancing the economic cooperation and trade relations with Albania. Official sources from the agency also said that EXIM Bank will provide loans and finance up to 85 percent of the amount. Loans may be short-term (30 days to two years) or long term (two to 10 years), the sources said. Enditem JERUSALEM, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister's Office confirmed Sunday that Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York on Wednesday. A statement released by Netanyahu's office said the two are likely to discuss "the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East and the way to promote peace and security together ." White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss "the need for genuine advancement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the face of deeply troubling trends on the ground." The meeting will allow "an opportunity to discuss the stalwart ties between the United States and Israel, as recently underscored by the finalization of our new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with Israel, the single largest pledge of military assistance in U.S. history," he said. "Additionally, the leaders are likely to discuss continued implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and other regional security issues," Earnest added. Last Wednesday, the two allies signed a military aid agreement, which is expected to give Israel as much as 38 billion U.S. dollars a year over 10 years. Enditem WINDHOEK, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Namibian police said Sunday that since the declaration of a gun amnesty, 443 firearms have been surrendered. The three-month amnesty was declared on Sept. 3 to allow all those who have illegal firearms to surrender them to the police. Police spokesperson Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi told a media briefing that in the past two weeks since the amnesty was declared, 443 firearms have been surrendered. Shikwambi said the majority of the firearms were surrendered in Khomas region where Windhoek is, while Karas in the south and Omusati in the north also recorded high gun returns. According to Shikwambi, there are 424 rifles, 16 hand guns, three shotguns and 118 explosive ordnances. "All persons who possess illegal firearms, ammunition or armaments should surrender these to the police officer in charge at the nearest police station and do not have to fear prosecution," Shikwambi said. Police inspector general Sebastian Ndeitunga who announced the amnesty said then that the government was concerned with the number of illegal guns in the country. This is the second time after Namibia attained independence in 1990 that a firearms amnesty was declared. In 1992, the government called on all those who had fought in the war on the side of the ruling Swapo Party and the South African Defense Forces to surrender their weapons. Enditem RABAT, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people marched on Sunday in the Moroccan city of Casablanca against the Islamist ruling party of Justice and Development Party (PJD). The march was initiated by some civil society groups on social media ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections on Oct. 7. In statements to the press, participants in the march said they came to protest against "Islamisation of the state" by the Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane's party. Meanwhile, a PJD leader said the march was "fabricated by parties against democratic development in Morocco," adding that "the answer will be given on the vote day." A total of 15.7 million registered voters are called to elect the second Moroccan parliament after protests in 2011. Enditem KHARTOUM, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The health committee at the Sudanese parliament on Sunday announced that 27 people died due to infection by watery diarrhea in Sudan's Blue Nile and Sinnar states, Sudan tribune reported. "Statistics on death cases due to watery diarrhea amounted to 26 in Blue Nile state and one in Sinnar state," Imtithal Al Rayah, chairperson of the health committee at the Sudanese parliament, was quoted as saying. She said medical teams from the federal ministry of health and the parliament were sent to villages of Blue Nile state to investigate the death cases. The official refuted earlier media reports which indicated outbreak of cholera in Blue Nile and Sinnar states, accusing what she termed as "activists" of spreading false news about death statistics at the two areas. Meanwhile, Malik Agar, chairman of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector, which is fighting the government at Blue Nile, called in a statement Saturday on the government to acknowledge cholera outbreak in the area. Enditem WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The attack that wounded nine people at a mall in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota Saturday night is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism, a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official said on Sunday. "We're currently investigating this as a potential act of terrorism, and I do say potential," Rick Thornton, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis Division, told reporters at a press conference Sunday afternoon. "We don't know whether the suspect was in contact, had connections with, or was inspired by a foreign terrorism organization," he said. Thornton added that the FBI will look at the suspect's social media accounts, his electronic devices and talk to people associated with him. The suspect, wearing a private security company uniform, stabbed nine people at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, a city about 70 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Saturday night before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. Three of the nine victims remain hospitalized, including one person who is in a life-threatening condition, according to local authorities. While law enforcement has yet to reveal the name of the suspect, the Amaq News Agency of the Islamic State (IS) group claimed Sunday morning that the suspect was "a soldier of the Islamic State" and carried out the operation in response to the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. The attack happened shortly after an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City wounded 29 people. The motivation behind the explosion remains unknown and there's no evidence yet that these incidents were linked. Enditem UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met with visiting South African President Jacob Zuma, and the two leaders discussed such issues as the peace and security in Africa and climate change. During the meeting, "the secretary-general thanked South Africa for its many contributions to peace and security in Africa," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. Zuma is in New York to attend the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, which is set to kick off on Tuesday at the UN Headquarters. Ban "urged South Africa to ratify the climate change agreement as soon as possible," the spokesman said. "He also drew attention to migration and refugee challenges and stressed the need for a truly global sharing of responsibilities." Meanwhile, the secretary-general and the president discussed the importance of inclusive political dialogue in South Sudan, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the spokesman added. Enditem UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, and they discussed the progress in the Cyprus peace talks, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. The secretary-general and the president discussed progress in the Cyprus peace talks, facilitated by the secretary-general's Special Adviser, Dujarric said. "With the unprecedented progress in the negotiations achieved in the past year, he also welcomed the atmosphere of mutual trust, determination and goodwill surrounding the talks," he said. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when the Turkish military intervened and controlled the north of the island after a coup by a group of Greek officers. For several decades, the United Nations has continuously worked to persuade the two communities to find a solution to the issue. Also during the meeting, the secretary-general and the president discussed climate change, the spokesman said. "The secretary-general welcomed the strong commitment of the Republic of Cyprus towards the ratification of the Paris agreement." The Cypriot president is in New York to attend the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, which is set to kick off on Tuesday at UN Headquarters. Enditem LONDON, Sept.18 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Ministry of Defense (MOD) confirmed Sunday it is finalizing a contract worth almost 40 million U.S. dollars to develop the country's first laser weapons for military use. The contract with British firm MBDA UK will see the development of a Laser Directed Energy Weapon Capability Demonstrator, The project will assess innovative laser directed energy weapon technologies and approaches, culminating in a demonstration of the system in 2018/19, said the MOD. Called Dragonfire, it sounds like something straight from science fiction movie such as Star Wars. What would be Britain's first laser weapon, was capable of being mounted on ships to shoot down enemy jets and missiles or even used by ground forces to destroy incoming mortar rounds. It could replace conventional systems, offering a lower cost and more efficient alternative to current weapons. A laser only needs a power source to fire, whereas conventional weapons need ammunition or use missiles, which relatively expensive and take up space. The company behind the technology, MBDA UK, say the initiative will put Britain at the forefront of laser system technology. MBDA spokesman Dave Armstrong said: "Dragonfire will put the UK at the forefront of high energy laser systems, capitalizing on the experience of joint MoD/Industry working in the complex weapons environment. "Furthermore, it advances the UK towards a future product with significant export potential, as well as providing opportunities for partnerships with other nations' armed forces that have similar requirements." The MOD said the contract will assess how the system can acquire and track targets at range, in varying weather conditions, over land and water, and, crucially, with sufficient precision to enable safe and effective engagement. Nick Joad, from the MOD's Defense Science and Technology (Dstl) said the project is being made possible under a disruptive capabilities initiative that the MOD is delivering to ensure it retains the ability to have a decisive edge through the use of advanced technology. Dstl's Peter Cooper said: "This is a significant demonstration program aimed at maturing our understanding of what is still an immature technology. It draws on innovative research into high power lasers so as to understand the potential of the technology to provide a more effective response to the emerging threats that could be faced by UK armed forces." Rear Admiral Paul Bennett said the Royal Navy remains committed to the rapid exploitation of revolutionary concepts and scientific advances. "The project sits alongside other cutting edge initiatives that together keep the Royal Navy at the forefront of change and well placed to be an early adopter of innovative technologies," said Bennett. Enditem UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday hailed a plan for the largest expansion of education opportunity in history, describing education as "the most powerful investment we can make in the future; a fundamental driver of personal, national and global development." The statement came as the secretary-general was speaking at the launch of a report by the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. "The report launched today sets out a plan for the largest expansion of education opportunity in history," Ban noted. "It is a roadmap to creating the Learning Generation." "The report points to education as the most powerful investment we can make in the future; a fundamental driver of personal, national and global development," he said. "It makes the case for investment in education as a prerequisite for economic growth, sustainable development and global stability," he said. The report -- The Learning Generation: Investing in Education for a Changing World -- noted that without an urgent increase in education investments by national governments, children in low-income countries will remain trapped in intergenerational cycles of poverty and be left without the skills and knowledge they need to contribute to their societies and economies when they reach adulthood. More than 1.5 billion adults will have no education beyond primary school in 2030, according to the report. "The international community must be ready to support countries that commit to making the reforms and investments needed to transform their education systems," Ban said. "At a time of multiple global crises, the crisis in education is eminently solvable," he said. When more than 250 million children are out of school, and another 330 million children are failing to achieve the most basic learning outcomes, he said, "we cannot hope to achieve the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." The 2030 Agenda was approved in September 2015 as the blueprint for the global development efforts for the next 15 years. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education is a catalyst, Ban noted, adding that an accelerator that will turbo-charge progress on the other 16 goals and deliver for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships. "But if current trends continue, we will not achieve universal primary education until 2042, and upper secondary education until 2084," he said. "We will miss SDG4 by half a century." Meanwhile, Ban said, "Education is the key to preventing the spread of poisonous ideologies and violent extremism." "The extremists and terrorists know this," he said. "That is why they have repeatedly attacked schools: in Kenya, in Pakistan, in Nigeria. They fear children, and particularly girls, with books." Investment in high-quality education that promotes critical thinking and universal values is a key element of my Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, he said. Furthermore, education is a human right and a universal good, he said. When the United Nations conducted the global survey that led to the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals, the world body asked the world's people what mattered most to them, he said. Seven million people took part in the survey, he said. "More than five million of them said education was their top priority." "For too long, quality education has been accessible to the privileged few in our world," he added. "Our world is not prosperous, if it is too poor to educate its children." WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- With the race between U.S. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump running neck and neck, the upcoming presidential debates could determine who will clinch the White House. Clinton is now still the favorite to win the presidential race, but now it could become a very tight race," Republican strategist Ford O' Connell told Xinhua. "The polls are tightening and the Clinton camp is concerned about turnout," said O' Connell. The Clinton camp has realized that there's "an enthusiasm gap in favor of Trump," he noted. Indeed, Trump has galvanized working class whites more than any Republican candidate in decades, whereas Clinton has not garnered anything near that sort of enthusiasm. Many Clinton supporters don't feel passionate about the candidate, but rather support her simply because they don't like Trump. Trump was trailing Clinton several points in the polls just a month ago, but behind only 1.5 points in the Real Clear Politics poll average on Saturday. The past month has looked good for Trump but increasingly bad for Clinton, especially after her collapse last Sunday in New York. That has sparked concerns that the 68-year-old candidate may not be healthy enough to lead the country. At the same time, Trump has in recent weeks made an effort to appear more presidential, making serious policy speeches with cogent arguments, instead of controversial, offensive and over-the-top statements that get him into trouble with voters. "Clinton's had a bad month. Trump has had a very, very good September. Obviously we still have half the month to go, but between the health issue and the 'deplorables' comment, things are looking up for Trump," O' Connell said. He was referring to Clinton's recent attacks on voters who support Trump, calling half of them "deplorables." This marked a very rare occasion in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has attacked an opponent's supporters rather than the opponent. The comment may hurt Clinton, especially in the upcoming debates, when Trump will have a chance to paint her as an elitist who is way out of touch with the country' s working class - the bulk of Trump' s supporters. Clinton has also been criticized for her campaign's lack of transparency concerning her health after the Sunday collapse. But Clinton has an edge in the ground game, with experienced campaign managers who know how to go door-to-door in various districts and counties nationwide to drum up support for Clinton. Trump's ground game is lacking, and much of his campaign has depended on media coverage of the bombastic candidate. Given the trends and the fact that the candidates are neck-in-neck less than two months before the election day on November 8, the upcoming three presidential debates may well determine who wins the White House. "At the rate things are going, the debates could very well decide this presidential election," said O' Connell, adding that the first debate could attract as many as 100 million viewers due to the controversies of this presidential race. For many voters, their first perception of the candidates is likely to be made at the debates, because they don' t really follow the election campaign closely, he explained. The first presidential debate is scheduled to be held on Sept. 26, while the two others will take place on Oct. 9 and Oct. 19. UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met with Mr Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, and Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission, they talked about the issues of refugees and migrants, and the peace and security in Ukraine and Syria. The meeting took place before the United Nations is set to hold a high-level meeting on the issue of refugees and migrants at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday. During the meeting, "they discussed the ongoing efforts to address large movements of refugees and migrants, including how to best take forward the commitments enshrined in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. With regard to the situation of refugees and migrants, the secretary-general urged the European Union (EU) leaders to continue their efforts to forge a joint approach, based on shared responsibility and in line with international law, the spokesman said, adding that Ban commended the EU's efforts to counter the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons. "The secretary-general stressed the need to fully implement the Minsk agreements to ensure a peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine," he said. The secretary-general and the European Union leaders also exchanged views on Syria and the Middle East peace process, he said. They also discussed EU efforts to combat climate change, he said, adding that the secretary-general commended the strong commitment of the EU member states towards positive ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change. CARACAS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua)-- Bolivian President Evo Morales called for unity among the people of Latin America to stop the "imperialist onset" against the region. In an interview with the press at the 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Venezuela, Morales highlighted the urgency of maintaining the unity and integration promoted by former Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez. "I continue to believe that the best homage to Chavez is unity. Unity will always be the triumph of the people of Latin America," he said from the island of Margarita, where the NAM Summit is being held. "The rotating presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement must be in the hands of anti-imperialist countries and governments," said Morales, adding that he wishes great success to his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, whose country holds the presidency for the next three years. According to Morales, Venezuela will guarantee a representation for non-aligned countries, adding he wants to apply for Bolivia to take the NAM presidency in 2019. The Bolivian leader said that two models are facing each other in Latin America, the capitalist model and the humanist model, which focuses on social needs above all and where human beings are seen as greater than wealth. "The best way to defend our revolutions is with unity and conscience. They will try to divide us as always, with aggression, and we have the obligation to defeat them while thinking of our future," he said. "There is a profound difference...of privatizers versus nationalizers," concluded Morales, also pointing to regional leaders such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez whom he called "the liberating force of our continent." Founded in Belgrade in 1961, NAM is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of now, the group has 120 members, 17 observer states and 10 observer organizations. U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivers a speech during a luncheon meeting of the Economic Club of New York in New York, the United States, Sept. 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- With the race between U.S. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump running neck and neck, the upcoming presidential debates could determine who will clinch the White House. Clinton is now still the favorite to win the presidential race, but now it could become a very tight race," Republican strategist Ford O' Connell told Xinhua. "The polls are tightening and the Clinton camp is concerned about turnout," said O' Connell. The Clinton camp has realized that there's "an enthusiasm gap in favor of Trump," he noted. Indeed, Trump has galvanized working class whites more than any Republican candidate in decades, whereas Clinton has not garnered anything near that sort of enthusiasm. Many Clinton supporters don't feel passionate about the candidate, but rather support her simply because they don't like Trump. Trump was trailing Clinton several points in the polls just a month ago, but behind only 1.5 points in the Real Clear Politics poll average on Saturday. The past month has looked good for Trump but increasingly bad for Clinton, especially after her collapse last Sunday in New York. That has sparked concerns that the 68-year-old candidate may not be healthy enough to lead the country. At the same time, Trump has in recent weeks made an effort to appear more presidential, making serious policy speeches with cogent arguments, instead of controversial, offensive and over-the-top statements that get him into trouble with voters. "Clinton's had a bad month. Trump has had a very, very good September. Obviously we still have half the month to go, but between the health issue and the 'deplorables' comment, things are looking up for Trump," O' Connell said. U.S. Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton gestures to spectators on the last day of the 2016 U.S. Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States, on July 28, 2016. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has formally accepted the U.S. Democratic Party' s nomination for president and pledged more economic opportunities for Americans and "steady leadership". (Xinhua/Li Muzi) He was referring to Clinton's recent attacks on voters who support Trump, calling half of them "deplorables." This marked a very rare occasion in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has attacked an opponent's supporters rather than the opponent. The comment may hurt Clinton, especially in the upcoming debates, when Trump will have a chance to paint her as an elitist who is way out of touch with the country' s working class - the bulk of Trump' s supporters. Clinton has also been criticized for her campaign's lack of transparency concerning her health after the Sunday collapse. But Clinton has an edge in the ground game, with experienced campaign managers who know how to go door-to-door in various districts and counties nationwide to drum up support for Clinton. Trump's ground game is lacking, and much of his campaign has depended on media coverage of the bombastic candidate. Given the trends and the fact that the candidates are neck-in-neck less than two months before the election day on November 8, the upcoming three presidential debates may well determine who wins the White House. "At the rate things are going, the debates could very well decide this presidential election," said O' Connell, adding that the first debate could attract as many as 100 million viewers due to the controversies of this presidential race. For many voters, their first perception of the candidates is likely to be made at the debates, because they don' t really follow the election campaign closely, he explained. The first presidential debate is scheduled to be held on Sept. 26, while the two others will take place on Oct. 9 and Oct. 19. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, meet withUN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters, September 18, 2016, in New York City. ( AFP PHOTO / DOMINICK REUTER) by William M. Reilly UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 200 VIPs and diplomats descended on New York for a Climate Summit and the annual General Debate in the UN General Assembly on Sunday in the echo of heated accusations between Russia and the United States over Syria and a mysterious explosion only a few kilometers away in a crowded neighborhood. The Saturday night blast in the popular Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people, one seriously, was not believed a terrorist attack, officials said. Some of the leading topics expected to be discussed in the 71st General Assembly session this week include Syria, its refugees and migration, as well as other Middle East hot spots, conflicts in Africa and Asia, the missile launches and nuclear tests of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, UN reform, selection of the next secretary-general and terrorism. Scores more of topics will be discussed in the 1,100 bi-lateral private meetings between nations requested, said conference officials. "Eighty-six heads of state signed up for the General Debate, 1 crown prince, 5 vice presidents, 48 heads of government, 51 ministers and three observers, for a total of 195, which is two more than last year," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, told reporters last week. He said 545 meetings have been requested, including side events and regular meetings Ban, who retires on Dec. 31 after serving two five-year-terms, has more than 120 bi-lateral meetings scheduled and will participate in 62 events, said Dujarric. In a light-hearted moment during a usually all-too-serious briefing, considering global conflicts and tragedies, the spokesman said diplomatic "rock stars" were joining the usual host of ambassadors on hand in a sort of a UN "fashion week," an apparent reference to the VIPs -- some in national dress -- arriving on the heels of New York's recent Fashion Week. This high-profile week -- complete with high security tying up foot, road and maritime traffic on Manhattan's East Side -- follows the "intentional" Chelsea explosion just over three kilometers away in a busy West Side neighborhood. There were no claims of responsibility. The blast occurred about an hour after a 7:30 pm EDT (0030 GMT Sunday) emergency Security Council session on Syria called for by Russia following reports U.S. aircraft attacked Syrian government forces, killing more than 60 people. Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the world body, said it was an accident and apologized, adding that Russia calling for the meeting was a "stunt" since it hadn't called for any emergency meetings for attacks by the Damascus government on civilians in the 5-year old conflict. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia called her remarks "demagoguery." The heated exchange came during a troubled 7-day humanitarian "cessation of hostilities" in Syria worked out between Russia and the United States. It was hoped that accord could lead to further cooperation, possibly worked out while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were in New York for the UN meetings. Humanity deliveries had been delayed by lack of sufficient security assurances, UN officials said. The week of meetings at UN headquarters on the banks of Manhattan's East River get into full swing Monday morning with a first-ever General Assembly summit on refugees and migrants. UN officials say there are 65 million refugees -- those fleeing to safe ground from strife in there home countries -- and economic migrants, the most since World War II, officials said. Most refugees are from Syria, flowing into neighboring lands and many attempting to flee to countries they attempt to settle in, in Europe. This massive flow has triggered xenophobia in several nations where refugees and migrants land. Now the assembly is taking up the topic at the highest level for a better international response. President Barack Obama of the United States was scheduled to arrive from Washington for the summit. As with the secretary-general, it will be Obama's last General Debate while in office. Obama's second four-year term ends Jan. 20, 2017. A Security Council diplomat said the 15-country peace and security body is trying to find a way of helping neighboring countries aid refugees from next-door conflict states so that they can return home more easily when peace resumes. A declaration is expected to come out of the one-day session as well as the formal "marrying" into the UN family by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. The IOM is an intergovernmental agency that arose from the ashes of WWII and is now headed up by former U.S. Ambassador William Swing. Tuesday will be the official opening of the General Debate whose official theme is "The Sustainable Development Goals: A Universal Push to Transform our World," referring to the 2030 global goals adopted last year. After Ban's welcoming remarks, Brazil, by tradition, is the first country allowed to take the green marble podium in the cavernous hall. Next on the list, by wit of being the host country for UN headquarters, is the United States, represented by Obama. Wednesday will see a high-level conclave on the margins of the General Debate on anti-microbial resistance (AMR). Officials say the problem is one of the biggest threats to global health and endangers other major priorities, such as human development. The health problem stems from increasing resistance by micro-organisms to antibiotics because of over use of anti-microbial drugs. The same day, Ban will also push for countries to deposit their instruments of accession to the climate agreement reached last year in Paris. Notably, the two greatest emitters of pollutants in the world, China and the United States have already done so. After taking his oath of office last week the new president of the 71st session of the General Assembly (PGA), Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji, called two grand-daughters, five and seven years old, to his side and expressed the hope because of action in the assembly the world will be a safer place for them when they become young adults. The General Debate is expected to last, with next Sunday off, until Monday morning Sept. 26. PARIS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Lyon were held to a goalless draw by struggling Marseille to miss out on the chance to go fifth in Ligue 1 at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday, while Nice kept remained undefeated at Montpellier. Sergi Darder scored a superb bottom-corner finish from 18 meters away in the 34th minute for Lyon, but Maxwel Cornet's interference from an offside position denied Les Gones the opener. After the first-half goal was controversially ruled out, Lyon stayed the more threatening team between the two sides, but failed to bring an end to a run of two consecutive league defeats. With the 0-0 draw, Lyon and Marseille slightly slipped on the Ligue 1 table, moving to ninth and 15th places respectively. Also on Sunday, Nice preserved their unbeaten start to the 2016-2017 season with a 1-1 draw at Montpellier. Ryad Boudebouz's penalty put the hosts in front on 66 minutes after Malang Sarr was adjudged to have handled in the area, before Younes Belhanda grabbed a late equalizer to help Lucien Favre's men escape La Mosson with a point. Thanks to the tie, Nice moved up to the second position to limp over the defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Montpellier remain 12th. In the other Sunday game, Saint-Etienne snatched a 1-0 win over Bastia as substitute Romain Hamouma scored a stoppage-time penalty. Saint-Etienne now lie in eighth place while Bastia stay 11th. MELBOURNE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- West Australia's Premier Colin Barnett is locked in a battle to retain his leadership following the resignation of two of his ministers at the weekend. Dean Nalder, former minister for transport and agriculture, and Tony Simpson, former local government minister, both said that Barnett had lost their support. The latest Newspoll had Barnett trailing opposition leader Mark McGowan 55-45 as the state prepares to go to the polls in March. In a column for The West Australian newspaper on Monday, Nalder said he would challenge Barnett for leadership of the West Australian (WA) division of the Liberal Party if a spill motion was put forward by a colleague. "The Premier is not listening. Not to me, not to his Cabinet colleagues, not to his party room and certainly not the community," Nalder wrote. "As a result, the community has stopped listening to him. Barnett responded to Nalder's impending challenge by saying that he had no plans to stand down as leader. "I am the leader, I am the premier of Western Australia and I intend to stay there," Barnett told press on Sunday. A vote on the leadership is expected on Tuesday after Nalder's supporters introduce a spill motion to the party room meeting. BOGOTA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- A senior leader of Colombia's largest guerrilla group announced Sunday that the group is seeking a new name to use after it finishes demobilization and becomes a legitimate political movement. Speaking at a press conference during a meeting of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Ivan Marquez thanked the group's members for helping to broker a peace agreement with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos. "The FARC... is thinking to convert into a legal political movement. We have not defined the new name, but we are listening to proposals from all guerrilla fronts. Some are very attractive," he said. The 10th National Guerrilla Conference began Saturday in the southwestern department of Caqueta with the participation of around 300 insurgents. It is expected to be the FARC's last convention as a rebel army before its demobilization. Marquez also thanked Santos for his gesture in freeing 24 guerrilla fighters from prisons to allow them to attend the conference. Afterwards, they will return to prisons to complete their sentences. The Colombian government began a peace process with the FARC in 2012 with talks taking place in Havana, Cuba. While the announcement of a final peace deal was made in August, Santos and top FARC commander Timoleon Jimenez will formally put an end to 52 years of a civil war at a signing ceremony on Sept. 26. Following the ceremony, the Colombian people will vote on whether to approve or reject the peace agreement in a plebiscite on Oct. 2. The conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC started in the 1960s as an uprising for land rights. It has left about 220,000 people dead and millions displaced. MELBOURNE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Victorian Police have been banned from shooting at moving vehicles following a spate of ramming attacks on officers. A series of incidents in which police officers have fired their weapons at moving vehicles has forced Victoria Police to ban its officers from doing so because of the potential danger. Earlier this month, a motorist was shot and killed by a Victoria Police officer, whom the driver had pinned against a wall with a van in Melbourne's northwest. Meanwhile, an officer fired at a vehicle involved in another ramming in Wodonga, 300 km northeast of Melbourne, and a stolen vehicle was shot at by police in the city's southeast. A directive issued to all officers by Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp instructed officers not to shoot "at or towards moving vehicles." "It has been proven through training and experience, in Australia and in the wider policing community abroad, that if you shoot at a moving vehicle with the intention of stopping it, you won't," Crisp said in his directive published by News Limited on Monday. "If you shoot at the driver and seriously injure or kill them, then the vehicle is out of control. There is a significant risk of injury to your partner or members of the public. "In some situations, when police vehicles have been rammed, members (officers) have chosen to exit the police vehicle and run from the impending collisions. "Be mindful that this could place members at greater risk of physical injury as they are briefly exposed and/or immobilized in the vicinity of a threatening vehicle." Victoria Police said it would investigate the dramatic rise of ramming incidents aimed at officers recently. Police statistics revealed that 14 officers in Victoria were injured in 104 vehicle rammings in 2015/16 compared to just four injuries from 36 incidents in the previous year. Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Saturday that the state would take in thousands more police recruits to counter the rise of rammings as well as a youth crime wave. LONDON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's lingerie brand AtoG Lingerie, in collaboration with Annderstand, launched on Sunday four luxury custom-made undergarments at Fashion Scout during London Fashion Week, becoming China's first underwear brand that appears on international fashion shows twice in one year. The latest works by indigenous Chinese designer Yu Ge have a sense of fusion, beauty, and uniqueness in cutting-edge style. She has previously worked as a ready-to-wear buyer for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci in the retail and merchandising department. Fashion Scout, the international showcase for fashion pioneers, is the UK's largest independent showcase for emerging and established design talent during London Fashion Week. Many talented designers made their careers by presenting their brands at Fashion Scout, including Peter Pilotto and David Koma. Alongside British designers, it also provides a platform for international designers to demonstrate their talents, such as Yu. Fashion Scout's director Martyn Roberts said he had witnessed many good works by Chinese designers during these years. He believed that AtoG's undergarments are very unique and creative, showing a new level of Chinese design. AtoG Lingerie is a leading tailor-made lingerie brand founded by Zhou Yingying from China. In February, AtoG launched five custom-made luxury undergarments with Vivienne Hu during 2016 New York Fashion Week, becoming China's first lingerie brand that participates in the "Big Four" fashion weeks. Zhou told Xinhua that she brought AtoG to London Fashion Week to let the world know the creativity of Chinese design. She hoped that AtoG would mark a revolutionary progress in the traditional undergarment making industry by realizing its "custom-made line with volume production capacity" pattern. AtoG's pioneer concept "matching underwear like matching glasses" aims to be a professional breast steward by making the most suitable bras, and creating a one-stop breast care service through combining customized undergarments with professional breast care, she said. London Fashion Week is a clothing trade show held in London twice each year, in February and September. It is one of the "Big Four" fashion weeks, along with those of the New York, Milan and Paris. YANGON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The hydropower commission of Myanmar's new government, formed to review and scrutinize the hydropower projects at the confluence of the Ayeyawaddy River, is preparing its first report to be submitted to the president in November, according to a press release of the commission published Monday. The press release came following the commission's field trip to Myitgyina, the capital of northernmost Kachin state, where it conducted survey at the Myitsone hydropower dam project, meeting with foreign investors and local residents. The report will reflect the impact of the implementation of the projects on the social environment and the ecosystem, the sustainability of the Ayeyawaddy River and the risk of its water resources. The commission will also review whether or not the projects should continue and seek to coordinate ways to enjoy mutual benefit between Myanmar and the foreign investors, and encompass the attitude voiced by local residents and social organizations. The 20-member commission was formed by the President's Office on Aug.12 to re-assess the long-suspended Myitsone dam project in Kachin state if it should go on. The China-invested Myitsone hydropower project, lying on the Ayeyawaddy River near Tanphe village, about 7 kilometers downstream of the confluence in Kachin state, was suspended by the previous government in 2011 amid objections by some environmental groups. With an installed capacity of 6,000 megawatts, the project was firstly designed to yield 29,400 million kilowatt-hours a year on completion by 2019. The Myitsone hydropower plant project started in December 2009 as the first of the seven Maykha-Malikha valley projects of the confluence of the Ayeyawaddy River. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen speaks at the Panha Chiet University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 19, 2016. Hun Sen said Monday that the country has no political crisis and called on foreign countries not to interfere in the country's internal affairs. (Xinhua/Sovannara) PHNOM PENH, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said Monday that the country has no political crisis and called on foreign countries not to interfere in the country's internal affairs. "I'd like to assert that Cambodia has no political crisis...please do not construe private issue as political issue," he said in a speech during the graduation ceremony at the Panha Chiet University, referring to Kem Sokha, vice president of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), who was sentenced earlier this month to five months in prison in a prostitution case. The prime minister renewed his warning against the CNRP for planning mass protests against the conviction on Sept. 9 of Kem Sokha. "(We) cannot allow anyone to destroy peace, political stability and social order," he said. "Foreigners must not interfere in Cambodia's internal affairs." Meanwhile, Hun Sen rejected the CNRP's call for talks over the issue, saying that the government has no rights to meddle in the court's decision. "You violate the law, go to jail by yourself, that's all," he said. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced, in absentia, Sokha to five months in prison for "refusal to appear" in court over a prostitution case involving his alleged mistress. Sokha has been holed up at the CNRP's headquarters on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh since May 26 in fear of arrest, as dozens of his loyalists have gathered at the party's headquarters to protect him. CNRP's president Sam Rainsy has been living in self-imposed exile in France since November last year to avoid a two-year prison sentence over a defamation conviction. CARACAS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro approved on Sunday the final declaration of the 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). In a speech at the summit being held on the Venezuelan island of Margarita, Maduro, who currently serves as NAM president, said the Margarita Declaration "is a historic document...with 21 points for this decade, for the democratization of relations and a world in which we can live." He said the declaration would "move the world" as it "goes beyond the hegemony of the media, beyond the warlike spirit of the United States and its agenda of recolonization. We have a plan for a renewed fight for peace." According to Maduro, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the NAM until 2019, the 21 points in the declaration cover revitalizing the group, consolidating a new international order, achieving self-determination for all people as well as nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, human rights, and anti-terrorism fight, among others. The text also pushes for new alliances to be forged and to work on joint plans to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, the declaration lays out a vision for the UN reform, including the selection of the secretary-general, peacekeeping operations, the 2030 agenda and the promotion of education and technological development. Maduro added that, as NAM president, Venezuela would continue to push for a multipolar world "free of imperialist forces." PARIS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- France has recently passed new laws to ban the use of plastic utensils and ordered that afterwards all dishware should be made of materials that can be composted. According to France's RFI, the new laws are part of the Energy Transition for Green Growth plan which is due to take effect in 2020. This new way to reduce pollution is gaining applause among green economy supporters, some of whom suggested the government enforce the law as early as in 2017, but plastic utensils producers are reasonably unhappy about it. Pack2Go Europe, a Brussels-based organization that represents European packaging manufacturers, called the new measures "nonsense", The Independent reported. "We are urging the European Commission to do the right thing and to take legal action against France for infringing upon European Law," Pack2Go Secretary-General Eamonn Bates said, accusing the French ban of violating the free move of goods within the European Union. It's reported that French Environment Minister was not so decisive about the ban initially in fear that it might increase economic burden on lower-income families which usually consume more plastic tableware. France has banned plastic shopping bags earlier this year and it's not the only country that announced fights against plastic goods. Some states in the United States have banned the use of plastic shopping bags and in most parts of Britain the use of plastic bags requires extra cost. CARACAS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which gathered in Venezuela for their 17th Summit, took a united line on many of the problems affecting the world, including UN reform and terrorism. UN REFORM During a debate ahead of the much awaited Margarita Declaration which will be delivered as the Summit closes on Sunday evening, ministers from around the world said that they felt the UN needed to become more relevant for all its members. Bounkeut Sangsomsak, minister to the Prime Minister's Office of Laos, said that the NAM needs to precisely "identify" its agenda on how to reform all bodies of the UN. "The Movement must not limit itself to just some of the organisms of the UN," he said. In terms of the internal affairs of the NAM members, Sangsomsak said that solidarity should be strengthened "to defend the noble principles of our founding fathers. Only in this way...can the NAM recover its historic credibility." Lenkon Tao Bruno, foreign minister of Vanuatu, also emphasized that "global problems requires global solutions" and that "the UN must be reformed in order to be more effective in dealing with this." He said this would help ensure international cooperation in tackling various challenges, such as climate change. Alejandro Evuna Owono, minister to the presidency in charge of missions of Equatorial Guinea, called it imperative to bring about a new international order in which the NAM "plays a fundamental role" and maintains itself "at the forefront of new multilateral mechanisms." "It is evident that this reform depends on the establishment of a new international order...in which our movement must act with full confidence," said Evuna Owono. According to the diplomat, it is important that the NAM becomes part of "a more dynamic and proactive outlook," in order to face "the (global) problems we currently face." Finally, minister of foreign relations of Bangladesh, Shahriar Alam, called for "global governance to be strengthened" as the world is undergoing "a time when the global community is undergoing a paradigm shift." TERRORISM & WORLD PEACE Alam is also in charge of the NAM's affairs in fighting terrorism and extremism. "The people of many countries are suffering from extremist actions such as terrorism which we must defeat to reach global peace," he said. Alam encouraged the NAM to strengthen South-South cooperation, boost its ties with the G77+China, and establish secure channels for migration. The Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, called on the members to work hand in hand to end armed conflicts. Al Zeyoudi rejected foreign interference in countries' internal affairs, which threatens stability and sovereignty, while urging the NAM members to respect these principles. "It is crucial that the NAM seeks a peaceful solution in the Middle-East...and counter the scourge of terrorism and extremism," he said. INTERFERENCE Another hot topic during the summit was interventionism, which was denounced by the foreign minister of Burundi, Alain Aime Nyamitwe, who slammed attempts to foster coups or to interfere in other states. "Non-Alignment is a recognition that all the people of the world are equal and can create a better world. Political independence and sovereignty...are founding values of the NAM. Our people have been attacked by coup attempts which seek to topple our legitimate government," he said. In the same line, Hernani Coelho, foreign minister of Timor-Leste, called on member countries to remain vigilant in order to re-establish sovereignty as the legitimate right of all nations. "Many of the new NAM members are free and independent countries which were former colonies of Western powers. However, our work is not finished. We are still facing the challenges of our founders and we must keep alive the spirit of the movement and improve solidarity between each other," he said. NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT On the same day, the UN thanked the NAM for its efforts in ensuring nuclear disarmament and preserving world peace. Speaking at the Summit, Kim Won-soo, the UN's High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, thanked the NAM for helping the United Nations "in all these causes." He said that nations with powerful weapons must "guarantee the total implementation of their disarmament commitments" while calling on all states "to sign and ratify" all instruments related to nuclear disarmament. According to Kim, the creation of a safer and better world for all requires inclusive efforts from interested parties. In recognizing the NAM's contribution to these goals, he highlighted how "the Movement's initiative to hold the first meeting of the (UN) General Assembly on disarmament and establish Sept. 26 as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons has helped to maintain global attention on this essential topic." Founded in Belgrade in 1961, the NAM is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of now, the group has 120 members, 17 observer states and 10 observer organizations. CANBERRA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government is set to undertake a major review of the nation's six intelligence agencies, as a response to the changing face of terrorism as well as the growing threat posed by cyber-spying. In the wake of Australia's online census disaster, in which foreign hackers were able to shut down the nation's first online national survey, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reportedly ordered the first major intelligence review since 2011. A spokesperson for the prime minister told Fairfax Media that the nation's six agencies, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Office of National Assessments (ONA), the Defence Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Geospatial Organisation and the Australian Signals Directorate, would come under review in the next couple of months. The spokesperson said the review was in response to a new era for national security. "We are working through a proposal for a periodic review and the details involved. It is expected that these considerations will take at least several weeks," the spokesperson said. Following news of the review, Tobias Feakin, national security expert from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told the Australian broadcasting Corporation (ABC) it was "always sound policy" to review the functions of any intelligence agency. Intelligence expert at the Australian National University (ANU) John Blaxland said the growing threat posed by "lone wolf" terrorists and the changing face of cyber-crime meant it was important to keep on top of the national security landscape. "The world has continued to change and, while we thought the Cold War was over and that old-school intelligence and security concerns were behind us, it seems that they're back. So the concerns about great power espionage are back," Blaxland told Fairfax. "Then that's on top of the apparently growing concerns about self-generated jihadists who have made established surveillance techniques far less effective than was the case when they were all less security conscious and less encrypted." WELLINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government on Monday lent its support to talks to step up collaboration between top-ranking universities in New Zealand and China. Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce met with senior representatives of China's prestigious Tsinghua University and China's western Qinghai University during talks with the University of Auckland. Tsinghua University Council Chairperson Professor Chen Xu and Qinghai University President Professor Wang Guangqian and their delegations met with University of Auckland executives for talks on the "Three Brothers" partnership, which was established in 2007 and is due to expire in August next year. The delegations would continue discussions on the trilateral partnership to develop new collaborative projects in science and engineering, said vice-chancellor of the University of Auckland Professor Stuart McCutcheon. "We strongly value our close relationship with both Tsinghua and Qinghai Universities, a collaboration we see as having real potential benefits for both China and New Zealand's future," McCutcheon said in a statement. "All three universities are focused on excellence in research and innovation and we have much to share with, and to gain from, each other." Professor Wei Gao, of the University of Auckland's Faculty of Engineering, said Tsinghua University was the number one science and engineering university in China, and the relationship between the three universities was a close one. "Our partnership with Tsinghua University is also about supporting the on-going development and success of Qinghai University and is an excellent example of how international collaboration can work for the benefit of all parties," he said in the statement. VIENTIANE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Many Lao provinces around the country have launched a crackdown on illegal drugs in September, with a number of drug traffickers having been arrested, local daily Vientiane Times reported Monday. The first case saw police from the Khammuan Drug Prevention and Control Department in central Laos, arrest two men and confiscate almost 4,000 amphetamine pills. The police arrested the pair as they were transporting amphetamines to waiting customers and confiscated 3,993 tablets. The second case occurred when officials from the Champassak Drug Prevention and Control Department in southern Laos, stopped a pickup along a road and confiscated 6,000 amphetamine pills, two small bags of crystal methamphetamine (ice) and a gun, and arrested two men and a woman. During police investigations, they confessed that they had travelled from Champassak to Vientiane to collect the pills. On their return to Champassak, police stopped the pickup and found the pills they had bought. The last case was reported in capital Vientiane after police arrested two drug dealers and confiscated 2,447 amphetamine pills and 18 small bags of crystal methamphetamine in their possession. The drug dealers confessed to police that they had been taking amphetamines since 2012. The police are continuing their investigations into all cases and trying to identify other people involved in the drug rings before sending the suspects to court. In 2015, Lao police handled 2,258 drug cases, and arrested 3,346 people including 90 foreigners. This was an increase of 600 cases compared to 2014, according to Lao Drug Control and Supervision Department. Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao meets with former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and attendees of the fourth China-France young leaders' forum in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 19, 2016. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao on Monday called for more exchanges between Chinese and French young people. "China-French ties have long played a leading role in China's relations with Europe and the west, and the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership has entered a new era," said Li when meeting with attendees of the fourth China-France young leaders' forum. Li said he hoped the two sides will make the most of the opportunities, align their respective development strategies and foster new bright spots and new engines in pragmatic cooperation of various fields. He called on young people of both countries to step up communication and aid the development of bilateral relations. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French prime minister, expressed his willingness to help promote people-to-people exchanges to deepen ties. The forum is co-hosted by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) and the France China Foundation. The first forum was held in France in late August 2013. WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. authorities in the state of New Jersey are investigating a suspicious package, found Sunday night at a train station, to determine if it is a live bomb, local media reported. Christian Bollwage, mayor of the city of Elizabeth where the package was found, was quoted as saying that local police received reports from two men who claimed they found a suspicious package with a pipe and wires coming out, the reports said. The Union County bomb squad was called in and a drone was used to examine the package that was left in a trash can near the train station. "The drone indicated it could be suspicious and it could be a live bomb," Bollwage said, adding that police would decide how to remove it. With investigation underway, train service has been suspended between Newark's Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, while New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains from New York are being held at the Penn Station. The discovery of the package came as the U.S. is on high security alert against terror attacks after 29 people were wounded in a blast Saturday in New York City and the explosion of a pipe bomb earlier Saturday along the route of a Marine charity run in New Jersey. Nine people were also wounded Saturday night in a stabbing attack at a mall in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota. The incidents, which remain unknown if they are connected, are being investigated as potential acts of terrorism. NEW DELHI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least one person has been killed and more than 10 others injured after a drunk law student rammed his Porsche car into a dozen auto-rickshaws parked in a stand in the southern Indian city of Chennai early Monday morning, a senior police official said. "The 22-year-old student, identified as Vikas Vijayanand, was returning home after a drinking session throughout the night when he hit the auto-rickshaws, killing one auto-driver on the spot and injuring 10 others on Cathedral Road," the official said. Local TV channels showed footage of some of the three-wheelers being reduced to a crumpled heap and blood stains of the deceased on the streets. "The accused has been arrested and will be produced in a court of law later in the day. A probe has also been ordered into the incident and we are also trying to obtain footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area where the accident took place," the official said. This is not the first such case of drunk driving, leading to loss of lives. In June, a drunk woman techie drove an Audi and crashed a daily wage laborer killing him. She was later arrested and is currently out on bail. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The cylinder-shaped black object bears no resemblance to any ordinary clock, but it is one of the most advanced timepieces ever. It was sent to space with the Space Laboratory of China's Tiangong-2 on Thursday, becoming the first ever cold atom clock working in space. "This clock is so accurate that it should not lose one second in 30 to 300 million years in space," says Liu Liang, professor and director of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Unlike ordinary clocks, the timekeeping device is based on atomic physics. And unlike the most atomic clocks, this clock uses more advanced "cold atom" technology, ensuring its ultra precision. A mechanical watch loses almost one second a day; a quartz watch loses about one second every 10 days; the hydrogen atomic clock loses about one second over millions of years; the cold atom clock exceeds all in accuracy, Liu says. Scientists attribute its accuracy to the microgravity environment in space as well as the coldness of the atoms the clock uses. Under microgravity conditions, the cold atoms, pushed by lasers, perform a uniform motion in a straight line. By observing their performance, scientists get more precise atomic clock signal than under the gravity conditions on Earth. Moreover, the laser cooling technology helps to eliminate the influence of atomic thermal motion on the clock's performance. "Though molecules and atoms can't be seen in a room, they are actually moving at high-speed, and the speed is equivalent to temperature," Liu explains. "We use laser cooling technology to slow down the atoms to a temperature that a refrigerator could never reach, so they nearly stay still," Liu says. "By observing the almost static atoms we make our measurements more precise." Scientists believe that putting such a clock in space will help set a time standard to synchronize other atomic clocks in space more precisely. "A more accurate clock system in space will benefit us on Earth," Liu says, citing possible substantial improvements in navigation and positioning accuracy. Scientists say the development of cold atom technology could also make many experiments possible, such as deep space navigation and positioning, dark matter probes, and even gravitational wave exploration. "A lot of research is based on our measurement of time and space. If we could detect subtle changes in time and space, we could make discoveries beyond the range of existing technology," Liu says. "In the future, there will be more accurate clocks than this cold atom clock and our ultimate goal is to make a clock that will never be a second fast or slow over the life of the universe." JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police said a Palestinian man stabbed and injured two police officers in Jerusalem before he was shot and critically wounded on Monday morning. The incident took place near the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem's Old City amidst a resurgence in Palestinian unrest. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri identified the stabber as a Palestinian in his twenties, a resident of the Ras al-Amud neighborhood in East Jerusalem. "He noticed the two police officers and followed their steps," Samri said. "When he reached close to them, he pulled out a knife and stabbed them several times in their upper body," she said. One of the officers, a 47-year-old policeman, then shot the stabber and "neutralized" him, according to Samri. Another officer, a policewoman, sustained serious injuries, according to Israel medical emergency teams. Israeli authorities said the incident was the sixth attack against Israelis since Friday. It came after almost a month-long lull in Palestinian attacks. The resurgence of violence started on Friday, when Israeli police shot and killed a Jordanian citizen after he allegedly tried to stab police officers outside East Jerusalem's Old City, according to the police. A spokesman for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Sabah Rafi, refuted the Israeli narrative, saying the victim was with a group of tourists from Jordan. "The Jordanian government is following up the case to look into all details and to hand over the body of the martyr to his family in preparation to take international legal and diplomatic procedures," Rafi said. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the parliament speaker to act to prevent lawmakers and government ministers from going up to the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem ahead of the Jewish high holidays next week. Violence since mid-September has claimed the lives of at least 230 Palestinians and 34 Israelis. Israel says that most of the Palestinians were killed amidst stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting attacks. The Palestinians and human rights organizations say that Israel is using excessive force to quell the uprising, and in many cases kill Palestinians who could be stopped without using lethal force or were mistaken to be attackers. Israeli leaders accuse the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest, while the Palestinians say it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, home to more than 5 million Palestinians, where they wish to establish their state. Chinese frigate "Huangshan" and Russian Navy's Antisubmarine Ship "Admiral Tributs" sail to a target area during a China-Russia naval joint drill at sea off south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 16, 2016. Chinese and Russian fleets conducted joint operation exercise off Guangdong Province in the South China Sea during the "Joint Sea 2016" drill on Friday. The drill, starting on Sept. 12, will run until Sept. 19, consisting of three phases: preparation at port, exercise at sea and summary. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming) ZHANJIANG, Guangdong, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian naval forces on Monday concluded their joint military exercise in the waters off the southern province of Guangdong, pledging to enhance practical cooperation. Addressing the closing ceremony of the drill, which ran from Sept. 13 to 19, Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, lauded the exercise as successful and the activity had achieved the desired aim. Wang said the drill had improved the actual combat capabilities, informationization and standardization of the two navies, adding that they will expand practical cooperation and boost communication. Alexander Fedotenkov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, said the two navies shared theoretical and practical experience and were engaged in sound collaboration throughout the exercise. Fedotenkov said the two sides will maintain close marine cooperation ties, deal with new challenges and threats, and together safeguard world peace and regional stability. The "Joint Sea 2016" drill featured surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, marines and amphibious armored equipment. HANOI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will begin to teach Chinese language in primary school from 2017, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) on Monday. The MoET is building a general education program for Chinese, Japanese and Russian languages and the three languages will be taught as the first foreign language to local students from grade three to grade 12. Nguyen Minh Chau, deputy head of education and training department of Vietnam's northern Lang Son province, said on local Dan Tri (People's Knowledge) online newspaper on Monday that as his province borders China, it will be favorable to develop Chinese language teaching. Lang Son will continue to teach English as the first foreign language in schools and teach Chinese as the first foreign language in some classes to meet with pupils' demand. In the 2016-2017 academic year, Korean, French and German will be taught as the second foreign language. ISTANBUL, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has made some U.S. special operations forces leave northern Syria as the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) does not want American interference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. "The Free Syrian Army does not want interference from the U.S., because the behavior of U.S. officials heightened the problem to that level," the president told the press in Istanbul prior to his departure for New York for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. "Our officials, our special forces have taken out around 27 U.S. special forces from the area," he added. Washington announced last Friday the deployment of some three dozen special operations forces in northern Syria to work with Turkish troops in fighting the Islamic State (IS). Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and special operations forces into northern Syria on Aug. 24 in a launch of what it called Operation Euphrates Shield to fight both the IS and Syrian Kurdish militias. The operation that offers support to the FSA on the ground is progressing well as of now, the president said. Erdogan said that an area of 5,000 sq. km in northern Syria should be "appraised as security zone" so that more Syrian refugees could return to their hometown without fear of terror. "Up to now 900 square kilometers of area have been cleared of terror elements as part of Turkey's operation," he said. "We are heading toward further south," the Turkish leader added. "More Syrians will return when more areas are cleared of terror elements." Turkey is sheltering some 3 million Syrian refugees on its soil. WELLINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- One of New Zealand's most enduring sister city relationships with China will be renewed and expanded with the arrival of a high-level delegation from China this week. The visiting delegation from Shanghai will be led by Yin Yicui, chairwoman of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, the highest ranking official to visit sister city Dunedin, on the east of the South Island, in an official capacity. The main purpose of the visit was to re-sign the 1994 sister city memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Dunedin and Shanghai on Thursday, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said in a statement Monday. Dunedin was already reaping the benefits of its strong relationships with China, particularly in the areas of education, tourism and trade, Cull said. The updated MoU would build on existing relationships and have an increased focus on science, technology and innovation, sustainability and environmental protection, and creative industries and networks. As part of the updated agreement, the Dunedin City Council, through its Enterprise Dunedin agency, would be engaging with the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission with a view to collaborative research opportunities with the likes of the Dunedin-based University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic. "Earlier this year, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong and I discussed opportunities to include sustainability in the updated agreement," said Cull. "The context for this addition is for our cities to exchange knowledge and expertise on reducing our carbon footprint, responding to climate change and taking advantage of economic opportunities in a changing energy context." The two UNESCO Creative Cities would also be looking at opportunities for cultural exchanges and other ways to collaborate. Enterprise Dunedin and Shanghai Media Group, one of China's largest media and cultural companies, will sign an MoU aimed at making it easier for Chinese production companies to film in Dunedin and the surrounding Otago region. The delegation would also attend the opening of a permanent Shanghai photographic exhibition in the Shanghai Room of the Dunedin Municipal Chambers. TRINKOT, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Mistaken airstrikes obviously conducted by the U.S.-led coalition forces claimed the lives of eight policemen in the southern Uruzgan province on Sunday night, a police officer Rahimullah Khan said Monday. Khan who is commander of Reserve Battalion of Police in the province told Xinhua, "the foreign forces aircrafts targeted police checkpoints in Sagai area outside provincial capital Trinkot late Sunday leaving eight police personnel dead," adding just 800 meters away from the targeted police checkpoint were Taliban trenches but the aircrafts pounded police position. "The foreign forces aircrafts conducted two sorties and killing eight personnel of the National Police on the spot." another police personnel, Toor Jan told Xinhua. The NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission has yet to make comment on the report. WELLINGTON, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government came under fire Monday with claims it was encouraging oil and gas exploration in the habitat of the world's rarest dolphin. The claims came after Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges announced the start of the block offer 2017 consultation process for awarding oil and gas exploration permits. Consultation would take place on four proposed offshore areas, one proposed offshore/onshore area, and two proposed onshore areas, covering a total area of around 508,691 square kilometers. "I acknowledge the challenging low oil-price environment that industry is currently facing, but we know commodity prices are cyclical. The government remains committed to providing a stable and predictable regime," Bridges said in a statement. However, the block offer area included part of the critically endangered Maui's dolphin marine sanctuary, the opposition Green Party said. Approximately 4,000 square km of the Maui's dolphin sanctuary -- roughly a third of its total area -- was "up for grabs," Green Party energy and resources spokesperson Gareth Hughes said in a statement. "With just 55 Maui's dolphins left, it is hugely irresponsible to offer drilling permits in a third of the sanctuary where they live." The largest ever block offer permit area covered was 525,515 square km for this year. Bridges said when tenders opened in March that oil remained a significant export earner for New Zealand and natural gas was a vital input to industry, electricity generation and was used in more than 300,000 homes. The consultation period for block offer 2017 runs until Nov. 18 and the final tender area will be announced in March next year. by Zhou Shengping KATHMANDU, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Around 10 km away from the downtown area of Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Sunday morning, a special graduation ceremony was held at a temporary school whose previous buildings were completely destroyed by the devastating earthquake in 2015. More than 50 teacher trainees, who completed a training program for nutrition, water, sanitization and garbage management, beamed with pride while sitting at simple desks in a rather crude classroom at the Balhodh Secondary School. "I am very happy to attend this training program," said Raghunath Luitel, a 35-year old teacher. "Our trainer taught us a great deal about food, water, personal hygiene and environment protection in a short period, which was very meaningful for us, as even though we do these things on a daily basis our trainer instructed us on how to do them correctly." Gyanu Rimal, 45, another newly-qualified teacher expressed a similar view with Xinhua at the temporary school after receiving the certificate from Zou Zhiqiang, director of the Nepal office of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), one of the few international non-governmental organizations working outside of mainland China. The female teacher said excitedly, "This training is very important and we learned many things. Now we know how to do these daily things correctly and we will now train our students what we have learned here in the same way to change society." One hundred teachers, 150 students and 600 homemakers from three wards of Nagarjun Municipality, Kathmandu District comprised the trainees, according to Keshav Pokharel, the branch Chairman of the Safa Sunaulo Nepal, a local NGO and parter of CFPA that organized the training program from July to August this year. As the main trainer, Top Bahadur Thapa, an assistant doctor from Aniko Society, the technical supporter of the program, is well aware of both unhygienic and unhealthy daily routines which are a result of a lack of understanding of the basic principles of sanitation and cleanliness. According to the young social worker, without scientific knowledge and self-protection awareness, most of the citizens living in the area eat only for survival, not for health. Homemakers do not wash their hands before cooking food and students are not aware of the need to wash their hands after defecating, Thapa observed. In view the fact that washing hands can dramatically reduce the occurrence of diarrhea, respiratory diseases as well as the death of infants, a "six steps" procedure for proper hands washing is a compulsory part of the reeducation course. "All the health-based knowledge I bestowed on these communities are new things for them, they are so simple, but very useful, " said Thapa, who witnessed many aged women listening to his lecture like pupils on their first day of school. The data made public by Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population in 2012 showed that 54 percent of the country's 27 million population do not know how to wash their hands properly with soap and water. On the first anniversary of the 2015 earthquake this April, the leading NGO CFPA issued a statement to the media in Kathmandu, saying it will invest about 180,000 U.S. dollars in hepatitis prevention and control, and water sanitation and health promotion programs, which will directly benefit 50,000 Nepalis. Chairman Pokharel told Xinhua that the CFPA had also provided money to repair two damaged public toilets and build a new larger one since last year's earthquakes destroyed around half of the washrooms in this area. A few thousand people will enjoy the new facilities funded by the Chinese NGO. Pokharel further said these days, programs supported by the CFPA had become a crowd puller and quite a catch in the Nagarjun Municipality. All 14 wards of this municipality, home to over 100,000 people, expressed a strong willingness to implement similar training plans. In August, 2015, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation registered its Nepal office with the Social Welfare Council (SWC), a government body under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare. The ministry is responsible for the co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of activities of NGOs in Nepal, and the CFPA signed a general agreement to work in areas of health, education and community development in Nepal. The Himalayan nation is one of the least developed countries in the world and according to the latest report by the World Bank, its poverty rate stands at 25 percent. Rakesh Himal, an executive member of the SWC thinks that the Chinese NGO's efforts here deserve a medal. According to him, the CFPA representatives came here taking responsibility for the edification of local people and were always true to their word. "We all pulled together. They have won the hearts of the local people and I loved working with them," Himal said with a smile. JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police said Monday they shot two Palestinian "terrorists" in the West Bank, killing one and critically wounding the other, after the pair allegedly tried to stab security personnel. The incident took place near a checkpoint outside a flashpoint holy site in Hebron amidst a resurgence in Palestinian unrest. The site is known to Muslims as Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the "Cave of the Patriarchs." Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the men approached paramilitary Border Police and pulled out a knife at them. "The Border Police officers opened fire toward the terrorists," she said, adding that as a result of the fire, one man was dead, and the other sustained severe injuries. Samri said no Israelis were injured in the incident. Israeli authorities said the incident was the seventh attack against Israelis since Friday. It came after a lull of almost a month in Palestinian attacks. The resurgence of violence started on Friday, when Israeli police shot and killed a Jordanian citizen after he allegedly tried to stab police officers outside East Jerusalem's Old City, according to the police. A spokesman for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Sabah Rafi, refuted the Israeli narrative, saying the victim was with a group of tourists from Jordan. "The Jordanian government is following up the case to look into all details and to hand over the body of the martyr to his family in preparation to take international legal and diplomatic procedures," Rafi said. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the parliament speaker to act to prevent lawmakers and government ministers from going up to the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem ahead of the Jewish high holidays next week. Violence since mid-September has claimed the lives of at least 230 Palestinians and 34 Israelis. Israel says that most of the Palestinians were killed amidst stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting attacks. The Palestinians and human rights organizations say that Israel is using excessive force to quell the uprising, and in many cases kill Palestinians who could be stopped without using lethal force or were mistaken to be attackers. Israeli leaders accuse the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest, while the Palestinians say it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, home to more than 5 million Palestinians, where they wish to establish their state. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China strongly objects to the recent meeting between European Parliament leaders and the Dalai Lama, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday. It was reported that European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Elmar Brok, chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, met with the Dalai Lama on Sept. 15 despite strong opposition from the Chinese side. "They have broken the promises the EU made to China on Tibet," spokesperson Lu Kang told a press conference. Tibet issues are core interests of China, Lu said, stressing that the Chinese government is firmly against separatism. China opposes the Dalai Lama's visits in any name or capacity to any country or organization to engage in separatist activities, Lu said. China is also opposed to any contact between the Dalai Lama and officials from any country or organization. China-EU ties are at a new stage, and relations between the parliaments are sound, but the meeting between the European Parliament's leaders and the Dalai Lama harms China's core interests and the political foundation of inter-parliamentary communication, Lu said. China demands that the EU side take measures to nullify the negative effects of the meeting, the spokesperson said. SHANGHAI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has tightened its grip in fighting food safety crimes, with violators likely to face life bans in the industry. The Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress convened to listen to explanation and interpretation of the local measures (draft) on safeguarding food safety. The deputies also heard a review report of the draft measures to implement the national law on food safety, which urged "the strictest punishment" for violators. The report said that any food companies found operating against the law or caught operating irresponsibly should be barred from the business, while anyone implicated in such illegal businesses should be banned from the food industry for life. According to the draft measures, local food watchdogs should tighten supervision through a credit system, in which food safety watchdogs will assess food industry producers, businesses and online third-party platforms, record their scores and make the information public. Authorities should enhance supervision against those with poor credit, according to the law. SHANGHAI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Over 60 village leaders, experts and government officials mostly from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China and South Korea met Monday here for the opening of an exchange program on poverty reduction. The week-long event, the fourth organized by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), features in-depth discussions and field trips to rural areas and communities in China. The program, held annually since 2013, allows participants to have a better understanding of the socioeconomic development in rural China. In particular, the field study under the program will help attendees learn useful experiences of Chinese village leaders in their practical work, and enhance the capacity building among village leaders of ASEAN plus China, South Korea and Japan (ASEAN+3). Noting that China has lifted 700 million people out of poverty since the adoption of the policy of reform and opening up in 1978, Tan Weiping, deputy head of the IPRCC, said that China still faces many challenges in this regard and needs to learn from other countries. "China needs to learn the best experience of other countries. With their respective unique experience in poverty reduction policies and practices, ASEAN countries could benefit from this exchange program," he added. Tang Thi Phuong Mai, who is in charge of community affairs in the ASEAN Secretariat, lauded the program as one of the concrete actions that moves forward the vision of the East Asian leaders, saying it also reinforces the long-standing partnership among ASEAN+3 countries. "This program is particularly timely and relevant in this regional context as it is aimed at building the capacity of ASEAN+3 village leaders, through knowledge-sharing on economic development, infrastructure development and human capital development," she said. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday criticized the Japanese defense chief's recent remarks on the South China Sea issue, urging Japan to stop going against the consensus of countries in the region. Spokesman Lu Kang's comments came after Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said Thursday in Washington that she strongly supports U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea and vowed to increase engagement in the waters. "Japan has not seen, or does not want to see, the trend of times," Lu said. Lu stressed that countries in the region have agreed to adhere to a "dual-track" approach to deal with the South China Sea issue. The approach calls for disputes to be resolved peacefully through negotiation between directly concerned parties, and for China and ASEAN members to work together to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. Consensus on the South China Sea was reached at both the China-ASEAN leaders' meeting early this month and the China-ASEAN foreign minsters' meeting in July, according to Lu. China will resolutely safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, Lu said, adding that the nation's determination to properly deal with the South China Sea issue through the "dual-track" approach is unshakable. Fireworks light up the sky above the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. The 11th G20 summit was held in Hangzhou from Sept. 4 to 5. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The G20 summit concluded earlier this month in Hangzhou has left a positive legacy that will benefit the world's economy and stability. The summit strengthened partnerships, with members agreeing to work together to reinvigorate the world economy and deal with global issues. Documents adopted -- including a communique on development direction, targets and measures for cooperation, such as expanding opening up and implementing inclusive development -- demonstrate will for partnership and common development,. To show the determination for common development, the summit put the development issue at the center of the global macro policy framework. "To brave the rough waters of the world economy and start a new journey for future growth, it is good to know that we are in the same boat," Xi Jinping, President of China, said in his opening address on Sept. 4. China invited developing countries and emerging markets, the most in the history of the G20 summit, to talk about the global economy and have their voices heard. The summit helped improve global economic governance by pushing structural and financial reforms. Leaders endorsed an agenda toward a more stable and resilient international financial architecture, and promised to continue to improve the analysis and monitoring of capital flow, and management of risk stemming from capital flow volatility. They agreed to continue reform of international financial institutions' quotas and voting rights to make them better represent emerging markets and developing countries. They also reiterated opposition to trade protectionism and formulated guiding principles for investment policy. The summit offered routes to long-term and sustainable global growth -- innovation and inclusiveness -- against the backdrop of slow global economic recovery. Leaders agreed to concentrate on mid- to long-term growth through innovation, a new paradigm based on knowledge and new, cleaner technology. Consensus was reached on inclusive and interconnected development, so the G20 will benefit the whole world. For the first time, leaders agreed to support Africa and the least developed countries by providing more investment in infrastructure and boosting their technological level. Leaders ratified an action plan for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the summit, all members also agreed to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change. Actions speak louder than words and the Hangzhou summit agreements will only prove beneficial for the world if well implemented. Related: News Analysis: Chinese presidency boosts G20 as possible new model of global governance: Italian experts ROME, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The G20 summit held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou showed the strength and quality of China's leadership, and proved to be a possible new model in terms of global economic governance, according to Italian experts. Full Story Spotlight: Overseas analysts hail China's role in G20 BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Overseas China-watchers have hailed the country's active and more mature role in the Group of 20 (G20) by hosting a summit that highlighted innovation and cooperation to spur global economic growth. Full Story Interview: China endows G20 with long-term vision, say Argentine experts AMMAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 4 million eligible voters in Jordan will go to polling stations on Tuesday to elect a new parliament. The one-day vote comes as part of political reforms pledged by the kingdom in 2011 following the so-called Arab Spring. It also comes amid unprecedented challenges faced by Jordan due to the regional situation and the influx of large numbers of Syrian refugees into the country. The economic conditions of Jordanians have been worsened and the poverty and unemployment rates have increased as a result of these challenges, according to observers. In Tuesday's elections, Jordanians will choose 130 members of parliament out of 1,252 candidates who are running in the vote. Fifteen seats are reserved for women. The Islamic Action, the largest opposition party and the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, is taking part in the vote with some 121 candidates. "The upcoming elections represent the start of a new political and democratic life in Jordan," Jihad Momani, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission, told Xinhua. Jordan's Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah said the kingdom is looking forward to a large voter turnout. More than 108 European Union observers will be monitoring the elections, he added. BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's coal output fell 10.2 percent year on year to 2.18 billion tonnes during the first eight months of the year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. The fall eased from the previous three months, but it still marked the fifth consecutive month of declines over 10 percent. Coal imports rose 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.56 trillion tonnes during the eight-month period on surging demand, according to a statement on the website of the bureau. In August alone, coal imports surged 52.1 percent year on year to 265.9 billion tonnes. The statement added that stockpiles at coal companies amounted to 460 million tonnes at the end of August, down 12.2 percent year on year. It is the 10th monthly drop of coal stockpiles since November 2015, said the statement. NANCHANG, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Experts have warned against possible ecological damage as China's biggest freshwater lake enters low-water season. The water level at the Xingzi section of Poyang Lake is currently 11.96 meters, 4.07 meters lower than the average of previous years. The lake hit low-water levels about 54 days earlier than average in previous years, according to statistics released Monday by the Jiangxi provincial hydrographic bureau. The water level at the section is likely to decrease to below eight meters in mid-October, said Li Guowen, deputy head of the bureau. "The advance of the low-water season will inflict heavy damage in the areas around the lake," Li said, adding that related departments should take actions soon to handle any possible consequences. The water level at the Xingzi section was 17.94 meters on Aug. 19, as areas around Poyang Lake endured heavy rain earlier this year, with multiple localities suffering heavy flooding. KABUL, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A senior official with Interior Ministry is looking towards the People's Republic of China to equip National Police Hospital and help police doctors to improve their capacity and professionalism. "Our request from China is to equip National Police Hospital and also help us in capacity building of our doctors and medical practitioners," Director General of the Health Services of Interior Ministry, General Kandahar Shinwari said on Monday after receiving a contingent of medical donation worth 46,500 U.S. dollars from Chinese embassy here. Thanking China over its contribution to the rebuilding process of the war-torn Afghanistan, the official said, "Sometimes those injured police personnel whose medical treatment is impossible in Afghanistan he is hopeful to be shifted to China for treatment". Presently some 150 injured police personnel are under treatment in the national police hospital in Kabul. Those police personnel including officers who sustained critical injuries in the conflict-ridden Afghanistan are shifted to the national police hospital here for medical treatment. "I am hopeful this donation won't be the last one," Shinwari said, adding he is hopeful to see Chinese doctors visiting here Afghanistan and our doctors to visit China to learn from their experiences. Earlier, a senior official with Interior Ministry, Murtaza Rahimi, in his address expressed gratitude to China for its cooperation, saying, "The leading board of Interior Ministry and the Interior Minister himself are thankful to China for its support to the Police Hospital". "We know your needs and we do our best to assist you. Our security cooperation can be strengthened," Councellor Zhao Hongtian from the Chinese embassy said in his remarks after handing over the donation. The cover of Public Eye's report Dirty Diesel, concerning Swiss trading companies flooding toxic fuels in Africa. (Photo courtesy of Public Eye) ACCRA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A report has accused Swiss commodity trading companies of selling low-quality diesel and gasoline in Africa that are damaging environment and people's health. "Many West African countries that export high grade crude oil to Europe receive toxic, low-quality fuel in return," according to the report "How Swiss Traders Flood Africa with Toxic Fuels" published last week by Public Eye, a Switzerland-based non-governmental organization. What makes the diesel toxic is its high level of sulphur content that exceeds the standard in Europe, the report said. Other toxic substances, such as benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were also found in concentrations that are also banned in Europe, rapidly raising air pollution in African cities and jeopardizing the health of millions of people, it said. The report noted that these toxic fuels were mainly mixed in the ARA-Zone (Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp) where Swiss trading firms had their own refineries and storage facilities. "Producing and selling such products is illegitimate and violates the African populations' right to health," the report said. For their test, Public Eye researchers drew fuel at local pumps in eight African countries, namely Ghana, Angola, Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Benin, and Zambia. The report said the diesel with high sulphur levels were found mostly at pumps operated by Swiss trading companies exploiting lax regulatory standards. "In Ghana, we found diesel at Vitol and Trafigura operated petrol stations with average sulphur levels between 240 and 360 times higher than the European standards of 10 parts per million (10 ppm)," the report lamented. The result of the analysis revealed that the diesel samples contained up to 378 times more sulphur than is permitted in Europe. The report explained that although fuels imported by Ghana's Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) from these Swiss traders fell within Ghana's national standard averaging 3,000 ppm, they are about 2,000 times worse than the standard accepted in Europe. In response, Senyo Horsi, Chief Executive Officer of the BDCs, said the burden of regulation and upholding standards lies on the government, adding that Ghanaians must be ready to pay for high quality fuel if the practice must stop. XI'AN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The third Silk Road International Film Festival opened here on Monday, attracting 676 films from 35 countries to compete for awards. The five-day festival was given the theme "film in development, culture with diversity." It comprises film reviews, screenings, forums and cultural shows. The films come from countries including China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia. They will vie for five awards: best feature, best documentary, best animation, best male actor and best female actor. During the event, more than 300 films from countries and regions along the Belt and Road will be screened in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province. Chinese director Huang Jianxin, who leads the festival jury, said he hoped the festival would boost the film industry in countries along the Belt and Road. The festival invited Jackie Chan as ambassador and young actor Kris Wu as youth ambassador. Founded in 2014, the Silk Road film festival is held in Xi'an and Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province in turn to promote film exchanges among countries along Belt and Road. The two cities are seen as starting places of the two routes. NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The New York City Police Department released a photograph of Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old New Jersey resident, as the suspect in the Manhattan explosion incident. Rahami was described as a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan on Jan. 23, 1988. According to police, Rahami is about 5 feet 6 inches (about 168 cm) tall and weighs about 200 pounds (about 91 kg), with brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair. "I want to be very clear that this individual could be armed and dangerous," said Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City. Rahami is wanted because authorities believe he is the man seen carrying a duffel bag near the scene of Saturday's bombing in surveillance videos, according to local media. Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth in the state of New Jersey. Just hours ago, a loud blast was heard at the Elizabeth train station, when a bomb squad was investigating a suspicious backpack found near the rail tracks. Some reports said it contained as many as five explosive devices. Police are currently conducting raids in Elizabeth to search for evidence related to the explosive devices. Another incident happened in Seaside Park, New Jersey, where a pipe bomb exploded along the route of a Marine charity run on Saturday. The bombs found in the series of attacks over the weekend have similarities, said New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. The similarities include materials used in the bombs, cellphones used to trigger the bombs and "Christmas chain lights" found on the explosive devices, according to local media. Cuomo also said that he "wouldn't be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act." The attacks put pressure on the city's law enforcement force as world leaders gather in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly this week. Cuomo said on Saturday that New York State will deploy an additional 1,000 State Police officers and National Guard troops across the state. Twenty-nine people were injured in the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday evening. Syrian children slide down rubble of destroyed a building in the rebel-held city of Daraa, in southwesternSyria on September 12, 2016 as Muslims mark the first day of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) holiday. (AFP/Xinhua) DAMASCUS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army announced Monday the end of the Russian-U.S. brokered truce in Syria, without talking about possible extension, according to the state news agency SANA. The Syrian army said the seven-day truce that was brokered by the United States and Russia ended Monday, as previously declared. Still, the army didn't speak of any possible extension to the week-long truce, but accused the rebels of committing over 300 violations to the truce. "The terrorists have taken advantage of the ceasefire to amass themselves and continue to attack residential areas and military positions, mainly in the provinces of Hama, Qunaitera, and Aleppo," the military statement said. The statement said the military forces have practiced high self-restraint, and responded in a few cases when it had to do so to silence the fire sources of the rebels. It renewed old pledges that the army will continue to fight terrorism until restoring peace and stability to Syria. Last Monday, a Russian-U.S. ceasefire was implemented in Syria, bringing relative calm to the most troubled areas, including Aleppo. Still, both warring parties traded accusations of breaching the ceasefire, which was deemed as a good chance to bring the bloodletting in Syria to a close. NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect wanted in connection with a series of bomb attacks in New York City and New Jersey in the United States was apprehended on Monday after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, local police said. Rahami was wounded after exchanging fire with police officers on East Elizabeth Ave in Linden and subsequently taken into police custody. Two police officers were also reportedly injured during the shootout. The suspect, 28, was taken into custody shortly before Monday noon time and only a few hours after New York Police Department released his photo and asked for tips from the public. TV footage showed Rahami was on a stretcher and his right arm seemed to have been wounded. He was conscious and reportedly sent by an ambulance to a hospital for treatment. Police had also found a suspicious package and required bomb squad and police canine to the scene. Rahami was believed connected to all three incidents including the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan on Saturday evening that injured 29, a pipe bomb explosions near the starting line of a Marine charity run on Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and five pipe bombs discovered near a train station on Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The FBI and New York City Police Department had identified Rahami as a suspect in the series of attacks on Monday morning, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described him as "armed and dangerous." Rahami was described as a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born on Jan. 23, 1988 in Afghanistan. The investigation is ongoing and it's not clear if there were other suspects involved in the bombings. Rahami was identified by investigators using the cellphone attached on the explosive device made out from a pressure cooker, as well as his fingerprints left on the device, according to authorities. U.S. President Barack Obama, who is here for the annual UN General Assembly, delivered his first statement in New York since the attacks on Monday morning, commending law enforcement officers and first responders for their professionalism and quick response, and urged Americans not to "succumb to the fear." Nine people were also wounded Saturday night in a stabbing attack at a mall in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota. The incident was investigated as potential acts of terrorism, but did not appear to be linked with the series of bombing attacks in New York and New Jersey, according to police. The attacks came as world leaders gather at New York City for the United Nations General Assembly this week, which puts pressure on the security capabilities of the city's law enforcement force. Cuomo said on Saturday that the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout New York. BEIRUT, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi presented Monday the first detailed project and mechanism for the return of displaced Syrians back to their homeland, as he warned of changes to the Lebanese entity shall the refugees remain in Lebanon. "The national identity is subject to change and the Lebanese entity is in danger. The return of Syrians to Syria is necessary," stressed Qazzi in a press conference. Pointing to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York that will address the issue of refugees and migrants, Qazzi said "the Labor Ministry is not interested in any decision taken today in New York on the subject of Syrian refugees outside the framework of their return to their country." "If the return of Palestinians to Palestine is a right, then the return of Syrians to Syria is a duty," he stressed, pointing to "the need to secure financial budget from donor countries to cover the project expenses." "The next phase is entitled 'Syria for the Syrians and the Syrians to Syria.' We announce a comprehensive and detailed program starting in January 2017, and the implementation will be gradual and over two years," Qazzi concluded. Photo taken on May 8, 2015 shows Somali refugees at the Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya. Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo) NAIROBI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has denied allegations by the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch that the agency and the Kenyan government were harassing and intimidating Somali refugees in Kenya to let them return home. UNHCR's Representative in Kenya, Raouf Mazou, said over the weekend in a statement that the agency was working closely with Kenya to ensure that Somali refugees' rights were upheld and that solutions were found to enable them to live in peace and security, including voluntary repatriation on the condition of safety and dignity. The UNHCR and Kenya are repatriating Somali refugees living in northern Kenya's Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp currently harboring more than 300,000 Somalis, as Kenya said it would close the camp in November, citing mainly security concerns. Somali refugees prepare to get on a bus heading for Somalia at Dadaab in Garissa, Kenya, July 1, 2016. The Kenyan government on Friday kicked off voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees at the Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp in northeast part of the country. (Xinhua/Stephen Ingati) Dadaab was set up over 20 years ago to house Somalis fleeing civil conflict. The Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Kenya was not giving the Somalis a real choice between being repatriated or staying, and that Kenya's repatriation program does not meet international standards for voluntary return of refugees. The rights group said refugees described intimidation by the Kenyan government, silence over alternative options that would allow them to remain in Kenya, and inadequate information on conditions in Somalia. It said that many refugees living in Kenya's Dadaab camp say they have agreed to return home because they feared Kenya will force them out if they stay. It also accused the UNHCR of not giving the refugees accurate information about security conditions in Somalia. In response, the UNHCR said in its statement: "Central to any refugee return process is the principle of voluntariness. In all of our engagements with government officials, refugees and other stakeholders, we have consistently stressed that repatriation must be voluntary and cannot, therefore, be time-bound." A Somali refugee girl looks out after getting on a bus heading for Somalia at Dadaab in Garissa, Kenya, July 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Stephen Ingati) The statement says the UNHCR is committed to ensuring that all Somalia refugees receive adequate information about conditions in their country of origin and are able to make an informed decision regarding return. "We regularly meet with refugees, and broadcast radio messages in English and Somali, emphasizing that returns must be voluntary and based on an informed decision," the statement said. "We are also strengthening our Return Help Desks in Dadaab and Kakuma (another refugee camp in Kenya), working closely with colleagues and partners in Somalia to provide the most up-to-date information," it added. The statement also said the Somalis returning home were receiving the necessary support, including financial assistance and basic relief items to facilitate. The UNHCR says that prior to Kenya's decision to close the Dadaab camp, several thousand refugees had registered their intention to return, many of whom have since voluntarily gone back to Somalia. "Over the past five years, the Somali refugee population in Dadaab has reduced by some 160,000 individuals," the statement said. It also said the UNHCR recognizes the challenges that Kenya has expressed with regard to the Somali refugee situation in the country -- "one of the most protracted in the world". Kenya, UNHCR and Somalia have laid down plans to repatriate about 150,000 Somali refugees in Dadaab by the end of 2016. A security member stands inside a mosque after a bomb explosion in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on Sept. 17, 2016. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood) MOSCOW, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed media reports on the alleged closure of the Baghdad Information Center, which was set up by Russia and three Middle Eastern countries last year to coordinate their fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. Iraq's Baghdad Post internet news portal has posted an article alleging that the center has folded its operations, including data exchanges on counter-terrorism, the ministry said in a statement. "We note that this report is nothing but a piece of blatant disinformation, which has nothing to do with reality, and is aimed at bringing confusion in the ranks of our friends and associates and at sowing doubt about the Russian participation, which cements the center's activities," the statement said. The Baghdad center remains an important tool of practical cooperation among all participants in the fight against the IS, and Russia's partners have confirmed their interest in further development of such cooperation, it added. In September 2015, Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran set up the Baghdad Information Center to coordinate joint military actions against the IS. The four countries are represented by officers of their armed forces, whose primary task is to collect and analyze data related to militant operations in the region. Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in New York City, is seen in this image released by the New Jersey State Police on September 19, 2016. ( Courtesy New Jersey State Police/Handout via REUTERS) NEW YORK, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect wanted in connection with a series of bomb attacks in New York City and New Jersey in the United States was apprehended on Monday after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, local police said. Rahami was wounded after exchanging fire with police officers on East Elizabeth Ave in Linden and subsequently taken into police custody. Two police officers were also reportedly injured during the shootout. The suspect, 28, was taken into custody shortly before Monday noon time and only a few hours after New York Police Department released his photo and asked for tips from the public. TV footage showed Rahami was on a stretcher and his right arm seemed to have been wounded. He was conscious and reportedly sent by an ambulance to a hospital for treatment. Police had also found a suspicious package and required bomb squad and police canine to the scene. Rahami was believed connected to all three incidents including the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan on Saturday evening that injured 29, a pipe bomb explosions near the starting line of a Marine charity run on Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and five pipe bombs discovered near a train station on Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The FBI and New York City Police Department had identified Rahami as a suspect in the series of attacks on Monday morning, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described him as "armed and dangerous." Rahami was described as a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born on Jan. 23, 1988 in Afghanistan. The investigation is ongoing and it's not clear if there were other suspects involved in the bombings. Rahami was identified by investigators using the cellphone attached on the explosive device made out from a pressure cooker, as well as his fingerprints left on the device, according to authorities. U.S. President Barack Obama, who is here for the annual UN General Assembly, delivered his first statement in New York since the attacks on Monday morning, commending law enforcement officers and first responders for their professionalism and quick response, and urged Americans not to "succumb to the fear." Nine people were also wounded Saturday night in a stabbing attack at a mall in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota. The incident was investigated as potential acts of terrorism, but did not appear to be linked with the series of bombing attacks in New York and New Jersey, according to police. The attacks came as world leaders gather at New York City for the United Nations General Assembly this week, which puts pressure on the security capabilities of the city's law enforcement force. Cuomo said on Saturday that the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout New York. Foreign ministers hold a meeting for the 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Margarita Island, Venezuela, Sept. 16, 2016. The 17th NAM summit will be held on Sept. 17-18, grouping leaders of 120 countries. (Xinhua/Boris Vergara) CARACAS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which gathered in Venezuela for their 17th Summit, took a united line on many of the problems affecting the world, including UN reform and terrorism. UN REFORM During a debate ahead of the much awaited Margarita Declaration which will be delivered as the Summit closes on Sunday evening, ministers from around the world said that they felt the UN needed to become more relevant for all its members. Bounkeut Sangsomsak, minister to the Prime Minister's Office of Laos, said that the NAM needs to precisely "identify" its agenda on how to reform all bodies of the UN. "The Movement must not limit itself to just some of the organisms of the UN," he said. In terms of the internal affairs of the NAM members, Sangsomsak said that solidarity should be strengthened "to defend the noble principles of our founding fathers. Only in this way...can the NAM recover its historic credibility." Lenkon Tao Bruno, foreign minister of Vanuatu, also emphasized that "global problems requires global solutions" and that "the UN must be reformed in order to be more effective in dealing with this." He said this would help ensure international cooperation in tackling various challenges, such as climate change. Alejandro Evuna Owono, minister to the presidency in charge of missions of Equatorial Guinea, called it imperative to bring about a new international order in which the NAM "plays a fundamental role" and maintains itself "at the forefront of new multilateral mechanisms." "It is evident that this reform depends on the establishment of a new international order...in which our movement must act with full confidence," said Evuna Owono. According to the diplomat, it is important that the NAM becomes part of "a more dynamic and proactive outlook," in order to face "the (global) problems we currently face." Finally, minister of foreign relations of Bangladesh, Shahriar Alam, called for "global governance to be strengthened" as the world is undergoing "a time when the global community is undergoing a paradigm shift." A member of the Venezuelan presidential honor guard walks at the convention center in the Margarita Island of Venezuela Sept. 14, 2016. The 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit kicked off in the Caribbean island of Margarita on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Boris Vergara) TERRORISM & WORLD PEACE Alam is also in charge of the NAM's affairs in fighting terrorism and extremism. "The people of many countries are suffering from extremist actions such as terrorism which we must defeat to reach global peace," he said. Alam encouraged the NAM to strengthen South-South cooperation, boost its ties with the G77+China, and establish secure channels for migration. The Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, called on the members to work hand in hand to end armed conflicts. Al Zeyoudi rejected foreign interference in countries' internal affairs, which threatens stability and sovereignty, while urging the NAM members to respect these principles. "It is crucial that the NAM seeks a peaceful solution in the Middle-East...and counter the scourge of terrorism and extremism," he said. INTERFERENCE Another hot topic during the summit was interventionism, which was denounced by the foreign minister of Burundi, Alain Aime Nyamitwe, who slammed attempts to foster coups or to interfere in other states. "Non-Alignment is a recognition that all the people of the world are equal and can create a better world. Political independence and sovereignty...are founding values of the NAM. Our people have been attacked by coup attempts which seek to topple our legitimate government," he said. In the same line, Hernani Coelho, foreign minister of Timor-Leste, called on member countries to remain vigilant in order to re-establish sovereignty as the legitimate right of all nations. "Many of the new NAM members are free and independent countries which were former colonies of Western powers. However, our work is not finished. We are still facing the challenges of our founders and we must keep alive the spirit of the movement and improve solidarity between each other," he said. NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT On the same day, the UN thanked the NAM for its efforts in ensuring nuclear disarmament and preserving world peace. Speaking at the Summit, Kim Won-soo, the UN's High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, thanked the NAM for helping the United Nations "in all these causes." He said that nations with powerful weapons must "guarantee the total implementation of their disarmament commitments" while calling on all states "to sign and ratify" all instruments related to nuclear disarmament. According to Kim, the creation of a safer and better world for all requires inclusive efforts from interested parties. In recognizing the NAM's contribution to these goals, he highlighted how "the Movement's initiative to hold the first meeting of the (UN) General Assembly on disarmament and establish Sept. 26 as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons has helped to maintain global attention on this essential topic." Founded in Belgrade in 1961, the NAM is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of now, the group has 120 members, 17 observer states and 10 observer organizations. UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Monday underlined the need to address the root cause of the "distress migration," which includes the large movement of refugees and migrants. "A necessary first step is to address the factors that lead to distress migration," the FAO chief said while speaking at the high-level UN meeting on refugees and migrants."We must create the opportunities for rural people in developing countries to stay in their home." Acknowledging that the solution ultimately requires a collective effort, he said that investing in sustainable agriculture and rural development is an integral part of any solution. Large-scale cross-border movements over recent years have sparked tensions in some countries, placing migration high on the diplomatic agenda and front and center at talks this week at UN Headquarters in New York. While migration has throughout history been a driver for development, the cost becomes too high when people find that leaving their homes is their only alternative, Graziano da Silva said. "Migration should be an act of choice, and not a desperate last resort," Graziano da Silva said. STARTING FROM RURAL AREAS A starting point for effective action is rural areas in developing countries, where more than 75 percent of the world's poor and food insecure live. Such people are highly vulnerable to conflict, persecution, poverty, lack of employment, inequality, environmental degradation and climate change, each and all of which can "quickly chip away at their capacity to provide a decent life for their families," Graziano da Silva said. FAO promotes measures aimed at building resilience and fostering development in countries where many of today's migrants originate. Ensuring adequate access to land and water, empowering women, and promoting financial inclusion to boosting family farming, paying special attention to rural youth's needs and prospects, and strengthening social protection schemes that can serve as buffers against shocks are among FAO's key priorities. RISE IN INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS There were an estimated 244 million international migrants in the world in 2015, a 40 percent increase since 2000. At the same time, internal migration flows are even larger, involving an estimated 740 million people in 2013. Forcibly displaced persons number roughly 65 million, more than a third of whom are refugees or asylum seekers. More than half of all rural households in many African countries report having at least one member who has migrated away. While refugees from conflict situations are often highly visible, 87 percent of people in conflict zones do not flee their homes despite facing severe food insecurity. Almost all of those that do end up in developing regions, with the largest host countries being Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ethiopia and Jordan. GENEVA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) Deputy Director-General Yonov Frederick Agah welcomed on Monday China's ongoing efforts to increase the integration of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) into the global market amid promising South-South cooperation trends. "The consistent support provided by China to enhance integration of LDCs into the multilateral trading system is truly commendable," said Agah at the opening session of a two-day South-South Dialogue on LDCs and Development. "While China has been the top destination of LDC exports since 2009," other developing economies such as India and Thailand also are amongst the top export destinations for LDCs, he added. Recent dynamics have seen South-South trade take off, spurring much needed economic growth and development in LDCs. According to figures, South-South merchandise trade has almost tripled in value since 2004 to reach 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2014, representing 23 percent of world merchandise trade. Similarly, South-South foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks have increased by two thirds from 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2009 to 2.9 trillion dollars in 2013. China's Ambassador to the WTO, Yu Jianhua, explained that much of this success can be attributed to Beijing's ambition to enhance the South-South cooperation. The Chinese official explained that existing ties are guided by China's unwavering support towards LDCs and also by its stance within the WTO, given that Beijing and LDCs share the same core interests. "Since 2005, China has faithfully implemented the Decision of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, providing Duty-Free-Quota-Free treatment for 97 percent of export from LDCs, which is the highest among developing preference providers," the diplomat highlighted. "China has also liberalized a number of service sectors which are of interest to LDCs under the LDC service waiver," he added. Yu signaled China's aim to increase investment in the world's poorest nations to reach 12 billion U.S. dollars by 2030, while supporting the interests of LDCs in multilateral trade negotiations. He also reminded that China has written off LDCs' debt on outstanding intergovernmental interest-free loans due by the end of 2015. "At this critical moment, it is increasingly essential for us to join hands together. Further strengthening the South-South cooperation within the WTO framework, with an aim to fully protect our right to achieving the development goals," he said. This is especially important, given that many challenges remain to be addressed to achieve equitable and sustainable development. Not least is the fragile state of the global economy, which has struggled to recover from the 2008 financial crisis. While leading to falling commodity prices, a factor that has hit commodity producing LDCs particularly hard, it has also resulted in lower demand for raw materials in developing economies. "The share of LDCs in world exports has gone below 1 percent in 2015, posing a daunting challenge for the Group to achieve 2 percent share of world trade by 2020 as has been stipulated in the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)," Agah continued. This calls for redoubled efforts to enhance the integration of LDCs into the world economy, including applying measures to bolster trade, investment and diversification in LDC markets, he explained. It also entails finding new ways to enable LDCs to make the most out of the multilateral trading system, he added. In the two-day South-South Dialogue on LDCs and Development, discussions are attended by around 30 LDCs as well as a group of developing economies such as China, India and Brazil. Participants review the evolving pattern of South-South cooperation on trade in a bid to strengthen the coordination among LDCs, and between LDCs and developing economies in the context of concluding multilateral negotiations. A ceremony is held in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, on Sept. 19, 2016 to mark the 31st anniversary of the 1985 8.1-magnitude earthquake killing thousands of people. (Xinhua/Str) MEXICO CITY, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mexico City on Monday marked the 31st anniversary of the deadly 8.1-magnitude earthquake that destroyed much of the downtown area on Sept. 19, 1985, killing thousands. At 11 a.m., the citywide earthquake alarm system was sounded across some 8,200 speakers as part of a planned drill to test evacuation procedures at schools, hospitals and in tall buildings, mainly those occupied by government agencies. On the city's main central plaza, the Zocalo, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong raised the national flag to half mast at exactly 7:19 a.m., the hour the quake struck. Osorio Chong, standing in for Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assemly, was accompanied by the ministers of National Defense and the Navy, as well as the head of the Civil Protection agency. At the same time, in a different part of the downtown area, Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera placed a floral wreath in honor of the victims at the site of the former Regis Hotel, which collapsed in a pile of rubble during the quake. The lot where the hotel once stood is today called Solidarity Plaza, in tribute to city residents who largely led the recovery efforts after overwhelmed local and federal agencies failed to immediately respond to the disaster. "How can anyone forget that day!" Mexico City resident Martha, 70, said as she took part in an earthquake drill. "It was very painful for Mexicans, and since then I'm always scared when it quakes," she said. The devastating quake, epicentered off Mexico's Pacific Coast, also caused damage in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero, Colima and Jalisco. More than three decades later, the exact death toll is still a matter of dispute. The official government figure stands at 5,000, the number of bodies recovered from toppled buildings and identified. But many more victims went missing and were never recovered, leading others to estimate the actual death toll to be as high as between 30,000 and 45,000. A 7.9-magnitude aftershock hit later the following day. Today, the city is much better prepared to deal with a similar event. The alarm system is designed to provide residents with a 50- to 60-second warning before a quake hits to turn off dangerous machinery and take cover. New York Police Department vehicles are seen near the blast site in New York, U.S., Sept. 18, 2016. All 29 people wounded in Saturday's blast in New York City were released from hospitals, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday at a news conference on the explosion. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) Republic Bank opens new branch The Southpark branch is located at Lot #3, Michael Rahael Boulevard in Southpark, Tarouba, just behind the very conspicuous Toyota building. According to Nigel Baptiste, Managing Director of Republic Bank Limited, Southparks branch is the fifth new branch opened by the company within the last two years, the second to last being opened last Monday in Rio Claro. The branch is only physically new, however, as it is really a moving of the companys Pointa- Pierre branch which closed earlier this year. Baptiste related that the move was caused by growing concerns over health and safety due to the former branch being just across the road from Petrotrins Point-a- Pierre Refinery. As the country and ourselves became more aware of health and safety concerns, on going issues with air quality continued to adversely affect both our staff and our clients, Baptiste said. These concerns, coupled with a desire to enhance the overall experience of both stakeholders, eventually led to the decision and the actions that bring us here this evening. Baptiste also said that the branch represents the companys continued hope in the long term future of the Trinidad and Tobago economy. Representing the San Fernando City Corporation, Alderwoman Vidya Mungal-Bissessar welcomed the Banks newest branch to the Southern City of San Fernando. Your banks core values are very synonymous with what we at the City Council believe are our core values, said the Alderwoman. We are very proud to have been invited to bring our greetings and best wishes. We look forward to an even stronger relationship with you, Mungal-Bissessar said. The banks two floors sit atop 1,500 square feet of land, has two internal staircases, an elevator and wheel-chair access for the differently-abled. All was blessed by Fr Anthony Graham, a priest visiting from the Westminster Diocese in London. As part of the banks Power to Make a Difference programme, Baptiste announced the companys intentions to form a long lasting relationship with the Mothers Union Childrens Home. Successful societies are not defined by the profits that you generate, said Baptiste, but by the lives that you enhance. Chaired by Regional Sales Manager, Farook Hosein, the inauguration was also attended by Republic Banks Chairman, Ronald Harford, Executive Directors Derwin Howell and Roopnarine Oumade Singh, and a few of the banks loyal customers. Female prisoners getting on bad over-crowding and the inability to receive simple items to assist them in their stay at the prison. Newsday understands that when the female prisoners began protesting. that section of the Golden Grove facility was placed under lock down as officers from other sections of the prison were dispatched to that section to assist their colleagues in restoring calm. However the female prisoners continued to shout, curse and demand that their living conditions be improved. They reportedly even threatened to embark on a hunger strike if their demands were not met. When breakfast was taken to the prisoners yesterday, they refused to eat was served, claiming that they were not pleased with their daily ration - they insisted that the bread served to them on mornings is usually stale and the butter is often rancid. They also claimed that the tea served to them appeared to be watered down. The women insisted that basic items like toiletries were being denied to them and at times. those who could not afford to buy items such as disposable sanitary pads from the prisons commissary. had to do without. They added that in some instances, they were not given the allotted airing out period and that some of their rights were denied. Some of the female prisoners have vowed to continue the hunger strike, claiming that they had previously taken their grouses to management at the prison yet little to nothing had been done to ease their plight. Although normalcy was returned to the Womens Prison shortly after 6 am yesterday, the female prisoners insisted that they would continue their hunger strike until some of the ills meted out to them are dealt with expeditiously. Efforts to reach Commissioner of Prisons. Sterling Stewart, on the matter proved futile. Prison officers who contacted Newsday later said while they understand the concerns of the female prisoners, they too are stressed out because they have to work in the same inhumane environment the prisoners are complaining about. Prison officers acknowledged there is an issue of over-crowding. telling Newsday that the Womens Prison needs to be reorganised in such a way to avoid tensions between inmates and staffers. A living story of survival and success Valerie Graves VALERIE GRAVES tells a compelling account of growing up black in Pontiac, Detroit. It is in the 1960s and against the backdrop of riots, looting, burning stores, and the timbre of black frustration, she manages to blossom. Graves displays flashes of precocity and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The script has long been prepared and Graves is ideal for the part. The walls of the Projects the inner city are notoriously cold and unforgiving to black youth. Here, the scales of justice are stacked against the poor who are delivered to a prison industry that chews and spits them out with abandon. It is a reality driven home to every black family and young Graves is well aware of the hand she has been served. She welcomes time spent with her grandfather in prison, a place that loses its darkness after repeated visits. Despite her lot, Graves is steady, overly ambitious. Moreover, she is a dreamer. I began to feel deprived, a sensation that would be with me for many years. In a sharply segregated town, she recalls, When I learned that our side of the lake was called Mud Lake, I felt ashamed and wondered why God hadnt put us on the Crystal Lake side. When I noticed that the people on that side of the lake were white, I wondered why God liked them better than us. I dont remember blaming white people for anything; since they seemed to have much, I wanted to be like them. She is among an elite group that holds strong opinions on race and expectations. We got into a long [and] rambling conversations about how our race was perceived. We tonguelashed each otherIf we wanted to be treated betterwe would have to learn to conduct ourselves instead of showing the ignorant side of ourselves that was so often on display. Not quite in her late teen she concludes that a mercurial approach to social change is counterproductive. My own brothers and their friends seemed to sympathise with the anarchistic fervour of their Detroit counterparts. Like my parents I didnt see the sense of black people running around throwing firebombs in our neighbourhood. Her revolutionary spirit, though, was ever alive. She pens, The transformative civil rights struggle of my childhood had been grounded in the non-violent leadership of Dr Martin Luther King. Even the black consciousness movement that was taking hold of my peers and me was rooted in the concept of inner growth [as] we nurtured our connection to the African motherland in an effort to cast off the lingering self-hatred of slavery In my concept of black consciousness, there was no contradiction between defiant Afrocentrism and non violence; there was evolution. Suddenly, Graves script is unconscionably rewritten. Sagacious but no stoic, she falls prey to her fiery passions and becomes pregnant. Her mother cries for three days. It is a likely death knell to a brilliant future. But Graves bounces back delicately balancing maternal responsibility with educational ambitions. She graduates from college and eventually lands a job in the high voltage, topsy- turvy, white-dominated world of advertising where she excels, exceeding expectations, while never compromising her integrity. Anecdotes of cultural insensitivity and sexism add that much realism to this revealing offering. By mid-1970s Graves expertise is readily sought by Fortune 500 companies. She serves as the senior vice-president of corporate creative services at Motown Records, and vice president and chief creative officer at UniWorld Group. She wins Advertising Ages 100 Best and Brightest, and Ebony magazines Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications award. Equally impressive awards follow. But this is a story that transcends personal accomplishments. It speaks to history, psychology, and fate. With tireless resolve, Graves removes the albatross of race, freeing herself from the mental chains that afflict so many around her. Steadfast, she shatters the glass ceiling that divides people and upholds the status quo. In the dog-eat-dog world of advertising she rises to the top, completing an inspiring script. She would have it no other way. Graves success is a celebration of life. It validates the power of chasing dreams and speaks volumes of the therapeutic and curative power of love. Many are derailed because they were never emotionally sheltered. Mama lavished affection on us kids, Graves remembers. (When) I was old enough to visit my neighbourhood friends, it slowly dawned on me that everyone was not hugged and kissed daily as we were. Their parents might have been too stressed to indulge them in the little ways our mother did with us. If I bumped my knees on the couch and I cried my mother was likely to give the couch a whackEven as a small child, I knew it was silly but I loved that my mother cared enough to attack inanimate objects on my behalf. Graves autobiography advocates recognition and acknowledgement of the past and the advancement of a philosophy that empowers through education. Pressure makes Diamonds is a living tale of survival and success. Decades after Graves rise from the ashes of the inner city, black America continues to be weighed down by fatherlessness, crime, and unemployment. More than anything else, Graves existential journey offers infinite hope. Feedback: glenvilleashby@ gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@ glenvilleashby Pressure makes diamonds: Becoming the Woman I Pretended to Be by Valerie Graves 2016 Publisher: Akashic Books, Brooklyn, NY ISBN: 978-1-61775- 493-7 Available at Amazon Ratings: Essential YA book even adults can enjoy YA literature for 12 to 18 year-olds is so well written even adults can appreciate it. Here is a list of some of my favourite YA books. Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar Theres no childrens and Young Adult (YA) writer better able to capture the needs of young readers while presenting suspense in a riveting read than Louis Sachar. His characters are real and relatable and his stories present conflicts that grip young readers. In his latest book, Fuzzy Mud, Sachar crosses the boundaries of childrens and YA literature by pairing an elementary student and a secondary student together as protagonists. Tamaya Dhilwaddi is a fifth grader and Marshall Walsh is a seventh grader who have attended Woodridge Academy together since elementary school. Both students have been taking a shortcut home through the forest. When the two students get lost, they discover some unsettling circumstances that could change their lives. This book deals with bullying and other school issues. Students will also enjoy Sachars other books like Holes and The Card Turner. Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz Annie has no idea how her life will change when she begins lying to their social worker so that they can stay with their grandmother, who basically ignores them when shes not treating them with scant courtesy. Lying, Annie discovers, can have devastating consequences. What the two children dont know is that their grandmother has been lying to them about what really happened to their father. One day, a prison break brings a stranger to their doors, and the children must face all the lies surrounding them. Sheep by Valerie Hobs Sometimes teenagers enjoy reading books with an animal as a main character because they find it helps them to work through problems that are difficult to articulate. Jack, the dog in the book entitled Sheep, is the perfect example of such a book. When Jacks people sell their farm, Jack takes off on a journey to find a new home. Along the way, he tackles many problems. There is a particularly good chapter in this book where Jack meets a dog who is abused in a circus. Jack tries to convince the dog to end its cycle of abuse by running away with him. This is an excellent chapter that deals with the psychological dynamics of abuse. Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead Students now entering secondary school will relate to the teen-related issues in this book. Bridget, one of the main characters in this novel, searches for the meaning of life and ways to fit in with the crowd after she misses a year of school because of injuries suffered in a car accident. Bridget and her group of friends know how brutal school and life can be so they make a promise never to hurt each other. This turns out to be more difficult than expected when girls begin to form new friendships and discover boys. Everything goes spinning out of control when the students begin experimenting with social media and selfies. This is the perfect book to examine friendship, loyalty, consequences, social responsibility and the ethical issues that teens face. These high interest/low reading level novels will suit the needs of reluctant and avid readers from forms one through five. Adults should try reading them too. No one is above the law Officers involved in the exercise later claimed that Minister Mitchell, on being pulled over and told that he had committed an offence by driving over the speed limit, insisted he had not broken any law and had even thrown a tantrum. Mitchell yesterday denied any such behaviour. The Minister also flatly denied ever making any complaint or causing persons close to him to make a complaint to the top brass of the Police Service over the issuance of the ticket. Sources earlier had stated that someone close to Minister Mitchell had contacted Acting Commissioner of Police Harold Phillip and Deputy Commissioner of Police Deodath Dulalchan, to complain about the ticket. It was further alleged that Head of the Highway Patrol and Traffic Branch Senior Superintendent Baldeo Nannan, was asked for a full report on the incident. Sources revealed that the report was later submitted, in which the relevant Police Standing Orders were quoted. According to reports, between 10.30 am and 2.30 pm on Wednesday September 14, officers of the Highway Patrol and Traffic Branch were engaged in a traffic exercise along the north-bound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway, in the vicinity of the Caroni Overpass. At the time, speed guns were being used by officers on the exercise. During said exercise, 34 speeding tickets were issued while 39 other traffic offences were detected. Newsday understands that at about 12.30 pm, officers had cause to order the driver of a grey BMW vehicle with officers requesting that the driver submit his drivers permit and insurance for perusal. Constable Ramnarine along with a speed technician, informed the driver that he had exceeded the speed limit, hence the reason for him being stopped. The driver then identified himself as Minister of Housing Randall Seth Mitchell of Cocoyea Village, San Fernando. Constable Ramnarine, who was at the time being supervised in the exercise by Senior Superintendent Nannan, sought the opinion of the senior officer, who instructed him to issue the ticket to Mitchell. The speed gun indicated that the Housing Minister had been driving at 104 kilometres per hour (kph), which was in excess of the legal limit of 80 kph. Newsday understands that Snr Supt Nannan asked Minister Mitchell if he had an emergency, to which the minister replied, No. After being given the speeding ticket, Mitchell was allowed to continue towards his intended destination. Shortly after 2.30 pm yesterday, Newsday contacted Minister Mitchell about the matter. He queried why his being ticketed was a story. Minister Mitchell confirmed to Newsday that he had received a ticket for speeding. He explained that on the day in question he was on his way to Parliament and did not realise he may have been driving above the speed limit. I accepted the ticket and paid the fine on Friday. This shows that no one, not even a Government Minister is above the law, the Housing Minister said. Asked if he or anyone close to him had contacted Acting Commissioner of Police Harold Phillip and Deputy Commissioner of Police Deodath Dulalchan to complain about being issued the speed ticket, Minister Mitchell said, I do not know anything about that. Minister Mitchell made headlines in July when he steupsed loudly after being interrupted during an interview with journalists, by a woman - Mary Paria - who declared she had been living in the San Fernando General Hospital and wanted a Government house. Minister Mitchell later publicly apologised for the steups. No lab chosen for fish kill They will provide a list which of course must be whittled down to at least one. In July, dead fish started appearing along the coast of the Gulf of Paria, and fisherfolk have since suffered a reduction in sales so harsh that their livelihoods were jeopardized at a critical time of the year for parents. Numerous investigations into the causes of the fish kill were conducted, but their apparent conflict did not inspire the public to return to fishing depots to buy fish. To restore public confidence in the safety of the fish and to get fishermen back on their feet, Minister of Planning and Development, Camille Robinson-Regis, sanctioned the sending of fish samples to an international lab for further testing. But, according to Fontenelle, an international lab has not yet been chosen. Asked for a time frame for its selection, Fontenelle said that to ensure a thorough process, that would be based on the recommendations and consultations with PAHO. He assured that it is something that the Minister wants post-haste. On 26 July, EMA chairman, Nadra Nathai-Gyan reportedly said that the chemical Corexit was not found in fish samples they had given to the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute for testing. She denied access to the document, claiming that the EMAs contract with CARIRI, did not allow for it. As a result of the findings, the dumping of excess fish by fishermen was blamed for the appearance of the thousands of dead fish. Many fishermen admitted to dumping fish themselves. However, there was one conflicting report. Gary Aboud, Secretary of the Environmental activism group, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) claimed that the FFOS had CARIRI conduct an independent Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon test into water, fish, and soil samples. According to this report shown by Aboud to the media, fish samples contained levels of hydrocarbons thousands of times more than the European Unions benchmark. Aboud charged the government with trying to cover up the results of the test to avoid a public panic. While the public awaits the results of the tests from the international lab to know whether they can continue buying fish, however, the Ministry of Planning has not yet chosen said lab. This news come days after deposits of oil appeared on the Carat, Coffee and Pointe Sable beaches in La Brea which inspired Alvin La Borde, President of the La Brea Fisherfolk Association, to call for the government to produce the report of the National Environmental Assessment Task Force set up in February of 2014 to assess the environmental impacts of the massive oil spills of 2013. Interestingly, though La Borde continues to represent fisherfolk from his area, he claims that he stopped fishing after the 2013 oil spills for fear of the fish not being safe to eat. Unlike many other fishermen, La Borde has financial support from his wife and son, but he assured that him and all fishermen do not want to be giving people contaminated fish. Asked how he reconciles his stance and his continued support for the fishing industry, La Borde said that any decision needs to happen after the NEATF report is produced. Fontenelle reminded Newsday that Public Health were sent to the various fishing depots to ensure that the strictest heath measures are met. Parliament re-opens Sept 26 Instead, a simple ceremony will occur which will see both the House of Representatives and the Senate meet simultaneously. The Presidential proclamation will be read, the National Anthem played and both Houses will deal with the business of the day. In the case of the House of Representatives this could see Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi table legislation to reform child marriage laws. Last Friday, Al-Rawi told reporters he hoped to table legislation in September. Various papers are also to be tabled and it is expected the House will then adjourn to September 30, which is Budget Day. However, it will remain open to the Government to convene another sitting, such as on September 28, prior to Budget Day should this be needed. A motion to refer tax legislation to a Joint Select Committee remains outstanding, though Government officials have said that matter is likely to be dealt with after the Budget. Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday confirmed an official request had been sent to US officials in relation to tax measures and that he was awaiting a response. Today, the Cabinets Legislation Review Committee is due to meet and to consider draft legislation prepared by the Ministry of the Attorney General in relation to reform of the child marriage laws. Several consultations on the matter have been held in Trinidad and Tobago and inclusive of children. President of the Inter-Religious Organisation Brother Harrypersad Maharaj yesterday said, I am waiting to see how the State resolves that matter. Judges pray, IRO officials take back seat as Law Term opens This service features representatives of the highly-influential religious lobby group. These representatives would normally offer invocations. On Friday, however, that task fell not to religious persons. Instead, judges said prayers. That was our recommendation, said IRO President Brother Harrypersad Maharaj yesterday. We want to encourage people of the different professions to create their own spirituality in their own environments. Should members of the Judiciary who must follow institutional guidelines which ban them from partisan activity be encouraged to proselytise? A judge is a normal person and a normal citizen, said Harrypersad. We cannot deprive them of their constitutional right to freedom of worship. He said some might take comfort in knowing the judge is religious. There are judges who are priests including one member of the Court of Appeal who is a Presbyterian priest, Harrypersad said. Is it that somebody is going to say I am not going to go before a judge because he is of a different religion? In fact, you might get a fairer judgment. He said the IRO has been trying to change the format of the opening of the Law Term in this regard for years. This year we thought it was time to make a move on this, Harrypersad said. The IRO has been at the centre of a heated debate over reform of child marriage laws. That debate in large measure began when Chief Justice Ivor Archie opened the discussion at a panel at the NCG Bocas Lit Fest in April. Teachers - architects of TTs future Williams applauded both principals and teachers present for their dedication to the programme and assured them that they had in fact, gifted their students with the most valuable to for a successful life: literacy. She said, The Leading for Literacy Now Project, is perfectly aligned with Republic Banks of building successful societies. It sets a foundation, not just for learning, but for sustainable development. What you both principals and teachers have achieved over this last academic year has been an amazing feat. As principals and true leaders, you have created a positive learning environment for your teachers and students. As teachers, youve expressed a willingness to explore with your kids to read with them, follow a path dimly lit unaware of the dazzling surprise that waited around the bend. Each of you, through your own volition and passion, has gifted your students with the most important tool theyll ever need in life: the gift of literacy. Williams added that a teacher affects eternity and no one can tell where their influence stops. So as we celebrate today, I encourage you to keep striving and understand the need to embrace new and innovative ways for young ones to learn... Remember, your job title may be teacher, but in reality, you are an architect whos shaping humanitys future. Forty schools participated including four from Tobago in the project and teachers received awards in areas such as Teacher of the Year, Most Creative Learning Environment and Use of Innovative Ideas. Winners in the Teacher of the Year Category included Ann-Marie Bishop-James of Scarborough RC and Mauricia John-Ramrattan of Mayaro RC. In the Most Creative Classroom Environment Category, Rachel Gokool-Ali of Pepper Village Government and Natasha Romeo of Las Lomas R.C. received awards. And in the Use of Innovate Ideas Category, Vanessa Williams of Fifth Company Baptist School received an award. Rose Marie Grant, representative from the Education Ministry and Cheryl Ann Quamina-Baptise of the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago, while scheduled to speak, were not in attendance. UWI gets new IIR director Byron holds a PhD in Political Science (International Relations) from the University of Geneva, Switzerland (1990), a postgraduate diploma International Relations from The UWI, St Augustine Campus (1979) and a Bachelor of Arts in French and Spanish (First Class Hons) from The UWI Cave Hill Campus (1978), a release from the UWI regional headquarters said. Prior to her appointment at the St Augustine campus, Byron was a Professorial Fellow for one year at The UWI Mona Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES ). She is also the former head of the Department of Government, The UWI, Mona, Jamaica from 2010 to 2013 and a former UWI Coordinator of a tripartite BSc/ MSc programme in Politics and International Cooperation involving The UWI, Universite Antilles-Guyane and the University of Bordeaux IV. Coupled with her new role, she is also serving as visiting lecturer in the graduate programme on International and Comparative Politics at the Universite Antilles-Guyane and is a member of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) Working Group on crisis, response and alternatives in the Caribbean. Her research interests include Caribbean and Latin American regionalism and small states/ societies in the global political economy. Agriculture Minister engages South hunters Be out, be seen, be available to provide the support, was the Ministers mandate to Officers of the Forestry Division and the Police Services Praedial Larceny Squad as the opening of the Hunting Season fast approaches. He noted that officers need to be out, criss-crossing Trinidad and Tobago; [we must see] everyone on the ground, across the country, taking responsibility for forest management and wildlife hunting. Rambharat in his feature address said that he was very happy to see fewer people than last year at the seminar, because over the last year, I have sent a very clear signal around the country on how we as a Government intend to deal with wildlife conservation on the whole and hunting in particular. He shared with the audience the work of the Ministry over the last year and plans for the next year, which included: a review of the moratorium on hunting, which ended on September 30, 2015; particularly that any changes in hunting had to be discussed with the country and key stakeholders, with the first of such public consultations being hosted in November; an outline of the work of the Steering Committee, particularly the resultant recommendation for legislative changes in relation to fines/ penalties; and management and oversight for wildlife conservation and hunting. He also said that the re-introduction of the honorary game wardens, who as active hunters have a vested interest in protecting the wildlife was a vital part of the Ministrys plan to conserving the countrys rich natural resources. He also spoke of the establishment of the Wildlife Conservation Committee. The Minister assured that hunting has been sustainably carried out in Trinidad and Tobago for a very long time and hunting is an important economic activity. Other speakers included Dr Reza Mohammed who said in his presentation that, hunting is a passion, and Mohan Bholasingh, President of the South Eastern Hunters Association. The South Eastern Hunters Association continues its thrust in education and conservation with the hosting of this its 30th annual seminar. The days activities included lectures and demonstration on the negative and positive impacts of our wildlife by qualified persons in the field. Also present were representatives from the South Hunters Association; Forestry Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries; and twenty (20) students of the Cadet Tableland High School. Kamla: Las Alturas not about me Responding to the statement Al-Rawi made at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, last Thursday, the former prime minister declared, I had nothing to do with the fiasco that is the Las Alturas project. The AG must answer for his role in same. Pe r sad-Bi s s e s s ar claimed this was a preposterous allegation by the AG to distract from whatever may be his own culpability re that project. She stated there has been no interference with the work of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Las Alturas, which was appointed under the PP and concluded its work under the ruling Peoples National Movement. Persad-Bissessar reiterated, If there is any misbehaviour in public office, it could be that of the AG and his cohorts and no one else. Moonilal said the smoke and mirrors game which Al-Rawi played at Thursdays briefing, borders on flat out dishonesty. He argued it was a matter of record that Al-Rawi sat as a member of the board of HDC and would have acted as legal advisor to other members. On Thursday, Al-Rawi indicated he served on the HDC board from November 21, 2006 to March 13, 2009. Quoting from the COI report, Al-Rawi said construction of failed towers H and I began in December 2008, suffered structural stress in the latter part of 2009 and it was clear that action for recovery of losses against the contractor of those towers, China Jiangsu, and others was required. Al-Rawi also said Government has received preliminary legal advice which raises questions about the contents of the COI report, noted the inquirys cost had climbed to $40 million and the HDC has initiated civil action against China Jiangsu. No move as yet Responding to questions at last weeks Post Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, Rambharat said the work needed to be done for the ministry to occupy that building would take ten weeks. He said those works should commence next week. The Minister said the building was previously earmarked for the Tertiary Education Ministry under the former Peoples Partnership (PP) government. Rambharat said there was an initial plan to occupy the building from January 1. However he said the necessary statutory approvals were not obtained. The building was constructed through the National Training Agency, Nipdec was the project manager, Moosai Construction was the contractor and Vikan Engineering was the consultant. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has said the ministrys current location in St Clair could be used as the site for the construction of a world class hotel. The Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott) is currently seeking proposals for entities interested in that project. PNM Women thanks PM Rowley is also PNM political leader and Diego Martin West MP. In a statement, Womens League chairman Camille Robinson-Regis said, Despite the difficult economic times, Dr Rowley by his leadership has been able to hold this country together by taking the people into his confidence. Robinson-Regis, who is also Planning Minister, said this was demonstrated last Sunday when Rowley presented a report that not only told the country of the challenges we faced but, he also identified that the government had a clear plan to take us out of those difficulties. She said the Womens League recognises that the main burden in difficult economic times like these, usually fall on the women of TT. It is the mothers and caregivers who will be called upon to shoulder the responsibility to keep the families of the country together, she said. Observing that Rowley gave the assurance that Government is definitely up to the challenge of steering the country in the right direction, Robinson-Regis said the Womens League awaits the presentation of the 2016/2017 Budget in Parliament on September 30, when the plan for the next financial year will be announced She concluded, We encourage the women of the PNM and indeed of the nation to heed the call to make TT a better place to live by playing our part in nurturing a safe, productive society. We can do this together. Everything You Need To Know About Samsung Galaxy C9 Release! New Delhi, Mon, 19 Sep 2016 NI Wire After Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7, South Korean tech giant, Samsung is ready with its third flagship in the C series - the Galaxy C9. It has been heard from trusted sources that Samsung is working on Galaxy C9 and will soon be releasing the device in major markets. Ever since the news has come out, everyone has been busy speculating over the features, details and release of the Samsung Galaxy C9. As reported earlier too, Galaxy C9 is going to be the third Samsung device hailing from the C-family. As for the earlier released C series devices, the Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7 were released in May2016. However, so far, these devices are available in the Chinese market only. There were reports that C5 and C7 would release in other markets as well but till now there has been news about it. This has made all anticipate that like its predecessors, the Samsung Galaxy C9 may also not see the daylight in Indian market. There are high chances of it being made an exclusive to the Chinese market but then we can't really predict anything as Indian market does have the power to get the device launched in here too. Details of Galaxy C9 Moving on to the specifications and features of the Galaxy C9 device, it has been heard that the device would be released in October or November. It is rumored to be carrying the model number as SM-C9000, and was spotted on Zauba, website that tracks imports and exports to India. The Galaxy C9 comes with a 5.7-inch screen and is available at a price of Rs. 23,950 probable to change during the launch. It is to note that a similar model was spotted on some other website too, where it was stated that Samsung is working on a new device which is claimed to be the Galaxy C9. While the code names match each other, it is surprising as the devices spot differences in terms of features. In the other website, the Galaxy C9 is said to be carrying 6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, with features similar to that of Samsung Galaxy C5. From the details as known, the specifications of Galaxy C9 can be summed as: 5.2-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with 1,9201,080 pixels, backed by Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, powered by Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow operating system. The device is said to be coming 32/64GB internal storage which is said to be expandable up to 128GB through microSD card. It will also feature 4GB RAM. At the camera front the device will have 16MP primary camera backed by f/1.9 aperture, and for selfies, it will sport 8MP front-camera with f/1.9 aperture. The device will have 2,600mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology. Let us wait for the release to happen in China, and hope that along with C9, the Galaxy C5 and C7 will also make it to the Indian smartphone market. BJP condemns the incident of throwing of ink on Dy. Chief Minister Manish Sisodia New Delhi, Mon, 19 Sep 2016 NI Wire Condemning the Incident of Ink Throwing on Dy. Chief Minister, BJP Says That Kejriwal Party Gave Political Approval to Such Dirty Acts When IT Made Jarnail Singh MLA New Delhi, 19th Sept: Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay has said BJP condemns the incident of throwing of ink on Dy. Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. We believe that in democracy there is no place for such acts of protest like ink or shoe throwing & slapping the leaders but unfortunately it is the Kejriwal Party which gave political approval to such acts when it made Jarnail Singh MLA and now it is facing the same. Upadhyay has said as we condemn today's incident of ink throwing a question comes to the mind, why do such incidents happen with Aam Aadmi Party leaders whenever they are in the political docks? At a time when Delhi wants to know from Dy. Chief Minister Sisodia the untold reasons behind his Finland trip and about Kejriwal Government's negligence on Dengue & Chikungunya happening of this ink throwing incident raises suspicion on the purpose behind it. How did the culprit get to know that Dy. Chief Minister will come to LG House and give the bite? BJP requests Delhi Police that this incident of ink throwing should be thoroughly investigated to bring out the reason behind today's act. It is important to note that in every such incident faced by Aam Aadmi Party leaders, the culprit is an old associate of theirs. Share The news of Nokia (News - Alert)'s new XaaS, or Everything as a Service, portfolio must have been like tripping over a cask of buried gold for mobile operators and similar ventures worldwide. It represents a major new opportunity for businesses to bring out new tools and new means of differentiating a business from the ever-growing competition, and all from one company. Nokia's XaaS platform will draw heavily on its slate of data center technologies, in particular the Open Compute Project's AirFrame Data Center. With this technology, backed up by Nokia's AVA Platform, Nokia can offer a wide slate of services for operators. This is welcome news to businesses in the midst of an environment where data access is constantly under heavy strain as customers seek new sources of connectivity. Right now, four major components make up Nokia's XaaS system. The first is the Wi-Fi Controller as a Service concept, which uses Nokia's AirScale to offer new management capabilities for Wi-Fi networks, including remote configuration, management and monitoring that allows for upscaling as needed to address data demand. The second, Optimization as a Service, helps improve what's already on the ground by offering things like application programming interfaces (APIs) for analytics, as well as the means to act on the trends revealed by analytics tools. The third is SmartData as a Service, which helps to improve the overall user experience by analyzing how data is used on the network and how to address conditions at certain times according to use patterns. Finally, 5520 Access Management System as a Service provides users with a complete management system for Nokia Intelligent Services Access Manager users, whether those are fiber-based or digital subscriber line (DSL) users. Nokia's head of global services, Igor Leprince, commented, With the number of connected applications growing rapidly, XaaS models are vital to quickly bring expertise to a wide range of businesses. The extensive Nokia XaaS portfolio will allow operators and enterprises to tap our global scale and experience and capitalize on operational efficiencies while rapidly meeting subscriber demands with the quality they expect in today's connected world. Since this is all as a service based, it gives users the chance to try the services out for a couple of months, and if there's no perceptible benefit, the services can be canceled with only a minimal loss. Even then, the minimal loss isn't really a loss; users will discover, much as Thomas Edison was once heard to remark, a way that doesn't work. That's valuable information in its way, and the kind of thing the as-a-service economy can help illustrate. Nokia's putting out quite a spread of services, and it will likely find plenty of takers interested in at least trying these out in current operations. It may have a bit of a challenge keeping users, but that's a whole different matter. Edited by Alicia Young We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Libyan National Army (LNA) forces, led by military veteran Khalifa Haftar, Sunday pushed back attempts by the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) to re-take two oil ports that they had lost several days ago, reports say. LNA released pictures of destroyed vehicles, claiming they belong to the PFG, Libya Herald reports. PFG, commanded by Ibrahim Jadhran, an ally of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), launched attacks early Sunday to re-take Ras Lanuf and Sidra oil ports seized on September 11. Haftars forces, reportedly aided by UAE and Egyptian fighter jets, launched airstrikes against GNA-backed forces. Ground forces were also used, reports further say. Injured fighters in the PFG camp were reportedly sent to Misrata hospital. Some other fighters have been arrested and held captives by Haftars men. LNA forces announced one week ago control of Libyas main oil ports formerly under the control of the PFG. The LNA and its political wing, the House of Representatives (HoR), placed the oil crescent under the control of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), which welcomed the LNAs military action and quickly announced export of the Libyan oil. The move caused waves in Western capitals, which called for the immediate retreat of Haftars forces. GNA minister of defence Colonel Ahmed Al-Gatrani condemned the Sunday aerial attacks against the PFG. The Moroccan Organization for Human Rights (OMDH) will take part in the UN Human Rights Council to defend the rights of the Moroccan families who were arbitrarily expelled from their homes in Algeria in 1975 by the Algerian military junta. The OMDHs lawyers will highlight these families suffering and defend the rights of the thousands of Moroccan families who were forced out of their homes by the Algerian regime in 1975 on the day of EId El Adha. Besides the members of the human rights organization, representatives of the Association of the victims of the arbitrary expulsion will attend a meeting with a UN team in charge of forced disappearances, Akhbar Al Yaoum newspaper said. The meeting will discuss cases of forced disappearances that have affected the members of many Moroccan families who were deported by the Algerian authorities after Morocco retrieved the Saharan provinces through the Green March. The Algerian regime expelled some 45,000 Moroccan families, about 300,000 people who have been residing legally in Algeria for decade, including many who fought the Algerian war of independence. The man suspected of planting bombs in New York and New Jersey over the weekend was charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law-enforcement officer on Monday following a police chase and shoot-out in Linden, New Jersey, earlier in the day. His bail was set at $5.2 million, and he is expected to face further charges. Ahmad Khan Rahami a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen living in Elizabeth, New Jersey was reportedly shot by law enforcement after firing on cops. Rahami was conscious and awake when taken away in an ambulance, though the extent of his injuries is unknown. Chelsea bomb suspect Ahmad Rahami is taken into custody after shootout in Linden, NJ. https://t.co/AiOFcg2hHX pic.twitter.com/JkifvZzgI7 Jim Roberts (@nycjim) September 19, 2016 Around 10:30 a.m., reports of an active shooter emerged from Linden, New Jersey, about 15 minutes away from the suspects alleged residence, which was raided by the FBI on Monday morning. People on social media described the sound of repeated gunshots, and video and photos circulating on social media appear to show the aftermath, including one image of the suspect disarmed and lying on the concrete near the edge of the street. #UPDATE : Suspect Ahmad Rahami Is In Custody After Shooting At Officer In Linden NJ pic.twitter.com/5alZj1MDpc URGENT NEWS (@UrgentNews911) September 19, 2016 CBS New York reports that police zeroed in on Rahami after receiving a call complaining that an unknown individual was sleeping in the doorway of a local bar. Linden police responded to the disturbance and went to wake the man up, assuming he was an indigent person. Cops roused that individual now believed to be Rahami and saw that he had a beard and resembled the wanted person from the poster, Linden police captain James Sarnicki told reporters. Police asked the man to show his hands, and the suspect pulled out a gun and began to shoot the officers. Rahami fled, exchanging fire with police and sending a barrage of bullets down the street. The suspect was finally taken down by police after officers shot and wounded the alleged bomber. A surveillance video captured part of the chase: VIDEO shows NJ, NY bomb suspect run down street ahead of capture in Linden, NJ https://t.co/b9K9qH1cJn pic.twitter.com/I4CbrTr3wk NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) September 19, 2016 Two cops were also hurt in the crossfire, but their injuries are not believed to be serious. One was hit in the abdomen at close range when Rahami fired from the doorway, but the officer was protected by a bulletproof vest. Another cop was injured in the face by ricocheting debris. Law-enforcement officials from the FBI and Homeland Security are now scouring the massive crime scene in Linden. A massive manhunt had been under way on Monday for the suspect, whom the FBI had considered armed and dangerous. Officials sent out an emergency alert to cell phones in the New Jersey and New York area to notify people about the suspect. WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, in connection to the Chelsea explosion. Call #800577TIPS with any information. pic.twitter.com/rBDQGfXwbh NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 19, 2016 NBC News reports that authorities suspect Rahami is the man seen on surveillance video before the blast in Chelsea, on West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, that injured 29 people, and at another location on West 27th Street, where an undetonated pressure-cooker device was found. Authorities say evidence links Rahami to a pipe bomb that exploded on Saturday before the start of a charity race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and five IEDs, uncovered Sunday night, stuffed in a backpack in a garbage can near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of those devices detonated while a police robot was trying to disable it, but no one was hurt in the blast. Police officials told NBC News that a fingerprint found on one of the unexploded devices helped law enforcement hone in on Rahami. Though the Manhattan bombs were different types of explosives than those found in New Jersey, they did share similar materials and use cell phones as the detonation device, which also tied Rahami to the multiple crime scenes, according to officials. He certainly seemed to do virtually nothing to cover his tracks, an official told NBC News. Some thieves may have also unwittingly helped authorities in their search for the most wanted man in America, reports DNAinfo. On West 27th Street, where an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found, sources say two people looking to steal the suitcase may have accidentally disabled the device and thus left key evidence intact: The young men, who sources described as being well-dressed, opened the bag and took the bomb out, sources said, before placing the explosive into a garbage bag and walking away with the rolling suitcase. In doing so, investigators believe they inadvertently disabled the explosive, sources said. That allowed investigators to examine the cellphone attached to the bomb intact and discover that it was connected to the family of Rahami. Police officials have not named Rahamis potential motive for the attack, and it is not yet clear if he had direct ties to overseas terror networks. At a press conference at NYPD headquarters after Rahamis capture, authorities cautioned that the investigation is still in flux. But they did assure the public that, contrary to earlier reports, there is no indication that Rahami was operating as part of a larger terror cell or involved in a bigger plot. Officials said evidence suggests Rahami acted alone, and law enforcement are not actively seeking any other suspects in the bombings at this time. Theres also no apparent link between Rahamis plans and the stabbing spree in a Minnesota mall on Saturday night. Just saw wanted poster for Ahmad Khan Rahami at NYPD police headquarters with a big red "Apprehended" stamped across his face. J. David Goodman (@jdavidgoodman) September 19, 2016 Officials added that Rahami doesnt appear to have been on law enforcements radar and was not on any federal or NYPD terror watch lists. He had at least one run-in with police relating to a domestic-violence incident in 2012, the investigation of which was allegedly dropped. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a press conference, said, We have every reason to believe it was an act of terror, though he added that theres still a long investigation ahead. Over the weekend, de Blasio called the Chelsea bombing an intentional act, but he and NYPD officials stressed that the blast did not initially appear to be tied to international terrorism. NYPD police commissioner James ONeill who was publicly sworn in on Monday after a brutal start to his new job praised the coordinated efforts of law enforcement to apprehend Rahami. This happened 50 hours ago, ONeill said of the Chelsea bombing. And we now have our suspect in custody. The trail that led to Rahami heated up Sunday night after police pulled over a car on the Belt Parkway near the entrance to the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn. The New York Times reports that the men may have been associates of Rahamis and were potentially on their way to JFK Airport. Authorities questioned them, but they were not taken into custody, contrary to previous reports. None of those men has been charged with any crime, but the information they provided helped launch the FBI raid in Elizabeth and another in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Monday morning. In Mondays predawn hours, the FBI and ATF raided an apartment in Elizabeth a few minutes away from where authorities found those IEDs near a local train station on Sunday night; it is believed to be Rahamis last known address. The apartment, at Elmora and Linden avenues, sits above the First American Fried Chicken Restaurant, which was reportedly owned by the suspects family. Law-enforcement officials have saturated the area and also cleared out a deli, a computer store, and a beauty salon in the neighborhood, according to the Times. Breaking. News. This morning. A raid is underway at an apartment in Elizabeth, New Jersey close to where multiple... Posted by Sukanya Krishnan on Monday, September 19, 2016 #FBI #ESD detection K9 at raid of Chelsea bomb suspect home in Elizabeth. Dog finds hard drives, etc. #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/hBMEFKvWtx Checkey Beckford (@Checkey4NY) September 19, 2016 The Rahami family was granted asylum to the U.S. in 1995, according to NBC News. Ahmad was likely 7 years old at the time. Rahami and his brothers worked at First American Fried Chicken, which their father, Muhammad Rahami, ran, says the New York Times. The 24-hour fast-food joint apparently got on the nerves of local residents for its rowdy clientele, and the towns city council eventually passed an ordinance to shut the place down at 10 p.m. The Rahamis did not comply, per the Times: Once one of Ahmads older brothers got in a fight with an officer who came to shut down the restaurant. Before the case could be resolved, Mr. McDermott said, the son fled to his home country, Afghanistan. The elder Rahami sued the city, [Elizabeth] Mayor [Christian] Bollwage said. The Rahamis brought the lawsuit in 2011 and reportedly claimed that the city and the police were harassing them because of their ethnicity. Theyve been monitored for code enforcement and noise complaints over the years, but weve never suspected anything like this, Mayor Bollwage said about the joint. Rahami studied for an associates degree in criminal justice at Middlesex County College in 2010 but never graduated. Hed often talked about his interest in refurbishing and racing Hondas; the FBI had alerted media that his possible getaway car was a blue 2003 Honda Civic with Jersey plates. Multiple reports indicate that Rahami traveled to Afghanistan at least one time in the past few years. A federal official told the New York Times that while Rahami may have told people he was in Afghanistan, he actually visited Pakistan for three months in 2011, and took another trip to Pakistan for nearly a year. Friends said he was a changed man when he returned to the U.S. in March 2014. He ditched his T-shirts for traditional Muslim robes, began praying in the back of his familys store, and grew more stern. Its like he was a completely different person, said Flee Jones, a childhood friend. He got serious and completely closed off. It appears that unbeknownst to his friends, Rahami married while overseas. Representative Albio Sires of New Jersey told CBS New York that Rahami contacted his office from Pakistan in 2014 in an attempt to get his pregnant wife a visa. Its unclear if she or the child ever came to the U.S. One story is that he had a wife in Pakistan, he was very upset that he couldnt bring his wife back, Governor Cuomo said. Another theory is that he was much more upset about the lawsuit with the government where they closed down the family restaurant, which caused hardship to the entire family. Cuomo added that, though New York is constantly on the alert for terror activity, there was no specific information on any additional or new threats related to the New York and New Jersey blasts. That hasnt stopped the NYPD from stepping up its police presence across New York City, which is also set to host a slew of foreign dignitaries as the United Nations General Assembly gets under way. Governor Cuomo also authorized the deployment of an additional 1,000 state police and National Guard troops across the city. A rainy and gray Monday in New York also witnessed early-morning scares: Reports of a suspicious package in Union Square turned out to be a toolbox, and the NYPD also investigated, and quickly cleared, an unattended package at the J train stop in Cypress Hill, Brooklyn, reports PIX 11. This post has been updated throughout. Prosecutors say Christie and Wildstein discussed the traffic problems in Ft. Lee, NJ, when they were together on September 11, 2011. The bridge remained closed for two more days. Since 2013, when lane closures at an entry to the George Washington Bridge created a massive and it soon became clear, politically motivated traffic jam in the New Jersey town of Fort Lee, one big question has remained a mystery: how complicit was Governor Chris Christie? At first, Christie responded with derision, and then, when the involvement of some of his top aides became indisputable, he said he was stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here. Today, at the federal trial of two former public officials accused of conspiring to cause the jam, prosecutors and defense attorneys set out their own narratives of the closure. The adversaries all agreed about one thing: Christie knew. It has been clear for some time that Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, the defendants, were intending to implicate Christie in the effort to pressure Fort Lees mayor, Mark Sokolich, into offering a reelection endorsement. What came as a greater surprise was the disclosure, tucked into a brief aside in prosecutor Vikas Khannas opening argument, that the government had evidence that Christie was aware of the closures as early as September 11, 2013 day three of the four-day closure. Baroni and David Wildstein, two of Christies top appointees at the Port Authority, allegedly gave the governor an update while at a World Trade Center memorial service. The evidence will show that Baroni and Wildstein were so committed to their plan to punish Mayor Sokolich, Khanna said, that during those precious moments they had alone with the governor, they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee, and Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned. Despite desperate appeals about public safety, the closures would continue for another two days. Pictures of the event show Christie sharing a laugh with Wildstein, who is now the principal witness for the prosecution. His relationship with the governor, which extends back to high school, is a central issue in the case, and Khanna acknowledged from the outset that it was Wildstein that was the mastermind of the closure scheme. Mr. Wildstein, when he testifies, will make clear that he has engaged in politics all his life, and in doing so he has engaged in a lot of dirty tricks, the prosecutor said. Those dirty tricks, Baroni and Kelly knew all about [them], and they accepted him anyway. He claimed that the three of them worked hand in hand in order to punish Mayor Sokolich, abusing their power as public officials in order to further Christies reelection campaign. Defendant Bill Baroni and his lawyer, Michael Baldassare Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images Not only was that conduct mean spirited and vindictive, Khanna said. It was criminal. Left unanswered, at least for now, is the question of why prosecutors did not charge Christie if they had firm evidence of his complicity in a criminal conspiracy. (The governor, who spent yesterday responding to the apprehension of the Chelsea bombing suspect in Linden, did not offer any comment beyond his previous statements, which maintain that he does not recall discussing the traffic jam or Sokolich with Wildstein.) In his opening argument, Michael Critchley, Kellys defense attorney, sought to assign responsibility upward, projecting a large diagram called, The Inner Circle, with Christie at the center of it. In a large sense, ladies and gentlemen, this case is not about traffic, he said. Its about a presidential campaign. Critchley claimed that Wildstein concocted the idea because he wanted to shine in Chris Christies eyes, and specifically hoped to win a position with the then-frontrunners 2016 campaign for president. He doesnt just want be on the team, Critchley said. He wants to run Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina. Both defense attorneys signaled that they are planning to assault the credibility of Wildstein, a former campaign operative-turned anonymous political blogger who ended up allegedly by his own descriptionas Christies enforcer inside the huge and fractious bistate Port Authority bureaucracy. They described what were called red light-green light meetings, where the governor allegedly ordered firings within the authority. The attorneys said that Wildstein had proudly called himself a bully and said that Christie had likened him to Winston Wolf, the character played by Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction. Wildstein liked that, when the governor said, Youre the cleaner, Critchley said. He was Chris Christies cleaner. Those are words that didnt come from David Wildsteins mouth, those are words that came from Chris Christies mouth. David Wildstein should be, based on this evidence, looked at like a ventriloquists doll sitting on Christopher J Christies lap, said Michael Baldassare, Baronis attorney Christie was David Wildsteins world. Both of the defense attorneys sought to minimize their clients role within the Christie orbit, despite public evidence that they were quite influential. Critchley said that his clients famously blunt email Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee was the product of workplace banter, and her credulous belief that Wildstein had a plan to study Fort Lees traffic patterns. (Left unexplained was another email exchange, in which she said felt bad for school children stuck in traffic I guess and Wildstein responded that they were the kids of Democratic voters. Kelly looked stricken to see it when prosecutors projected it on a large screen.) Baldassare said that Baroni had been distracted by arrangements for the September 11 ceremony at the time he gave approval for the closures, and made the surprising revelation that his client had once been a secret informant for FBI investigations into political corruption when he was in the state legislature at a time when Christie was mounting prosecutions as U.S. attorney. Baldassare added that when Baroni lost his Port Authority job as a result of the scandal, Wildstein had written that he hoped his former friend doesnt jump off the bridge. This David Wildstein is a vicious guy, hes a bully sorry judge, everyone hes an asshole, Baldassare said, citing what he said were descriptive terms offered up by other government witnesses. He has a twisted mind. Hes maniacal. I apologize again David Wildstein is a miserable prick. As examples the lawyer cited everything from long-ago political shenanigans stealing Senator Frank Lautenbergs coat before a debate, for instance, so he would have to go on television wearing something ill-fitting to his walking out of the Port Authority with Baronis computer hard drive, which he handed over to the government eventually. Baldassare said that Wildstein had been trading scalps for time with prosecutors, and hinted that more revelations could still be to come. David Wildstein implicated so many people in this activity that it will boggle your mind, he told the jury. Theyre people at the highest level of government in New Jersey and at the very, very top of the Port Authority. Baldassare said that when Wildstein exited his office at the Port, he left behind a set of snow boots, some family photos, and a lone file folder, conspicuously labeled, Things I Dont Care About. Only you can prevent authoritarians from coming to power. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Two days after a homemade bomb wounded 29 in lower Manhattan, the Republican presidential nominee decried Muslim refugees as a cancer from within and suggested that American law enforcement should racially profile Arab men, as they do in Israel (where many such men live under military occupation). Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are. Theyre afraid to do anything about it because they dont want to be accused of profiling, Donald Trump told Fox & Friends Monday morning. You know, in Israel they profile. Theyve done an unbelievable job, as good as you can do. Trump went on to condemn President Obama for allowing Muslim refugees into the country, decrying the effort to resettle Syrians displaced by war as a Trojan horse whose true effect would be to fill America with ISIS agents. How they came into the country in the first place is beyond me, Trump said of legal American residents whom he hopes to represent as president. This is cancer from within. This is something thats going to be so tough. They stay together. Theyre plotting. .@realDonaldTrump: There are many foreign connections; people making US unsafe because we're not allowed to profile pic.twitter.com/t3lkTPSJ0M FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 19, 2016 Trumps past proposals for overt discrimination against American Muslims and prospective Muslim immigrants through racial profiling, databases, and immigration bans were among the most widely condemned of his campaign. While Trump has refused to soften his image as thoroughly as some GOP operatives might like, he did back away from his Muslim ban, suggesting the United States discriminate on the basis of region, not religion, when it comes to immigration. But last weekends string of apparent, small-scale terror attacks from a stabbing spree in Minnesota to bombings in New York and New Jersey has Trump making his policies and rhetoric fascistic again. On Monday, Trump predicted that unless we get tough on these people, there will be more and more terror attacks in the coming weeks. I think maybe were going to be seeing a big change over the last couple days, Trump said at the outset of the interview. I think this is something that maybe will get, will happen, perhaps more and more, all over the country. .@realDonaldTrump: We might see more terror strikes around the country; our leaders are "stupid" pic.twitter.com/l1ilg5URPL FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 19, 2016 The GOP nominee never misses an opportunity to set himself up for future congrats. Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 Nor to congratulate himself, when such credit is due. On Saturday night, hours before the local authorities had declared that the source of the Chelsea explosion had been a bomb and days before police indicated an apparent connection with terrorism Trump told a crowd in Colorado that a bomb had gone off in New York and that America needed to get tough. He was widely criticized for the remark. Full bit of Trump telling a Colorado crowd a bomb went off in Manhattan without any confirmation: pic.twitter.com/oHCV1KoDiB Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 18, 2016 I heard I didnt see it but I heard I was criticized for calling it correctly, Trump told the Fox News morning crew. But what I said was exactly correct. I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news. Here, the GOP nominee has a point. He should be a newscaster: Better for the Trump News Networks eponymous host to debate Alex Jones about whether the car backfire they just heard was radical Islamic terrorism or just Hillarys latest false-flag operation than for President Trump to hear it and order his mosque patrol to start getting tough. Trump. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images The good news is that authorities have taken the suspected Chelsea bomber into custody. The bad news is that they provided him with medical care and are honoring his constitutional right to an attorney. Or, at least, thats how the afternoons events look to the Republican nominee. Speaking in Florida, Donald Trump praised law enforcement for capturing Ahmad Khan Rahami, after wounding the suspected terrorist in a shootout. But the bad part: Now we will give him amazing hospitalization, Trump continued. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And hell probably even have room service knowing the way our country is. On top of all of that, he will be represented by an outstanding lawyer, Trump added. And his punishment will not be what it once would have been. What a sad situation. We must have speedy but fair trials and we must deliver a just and very harsh punishment to these people. Trump on bombing suspect: "His punishment will not be what it once would have been." https://t.co/NpMJM7ufBf MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 19, 2016 The Republican nominee did not say whether the police should leave American citizens suspected of terrorism to bleed out in the street upon shooting them or whether they should merely deliver the wounded suspects to the worst available hospital. Likewise, its unclear whether a Trump administration would seek the repeal of the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the right to a lawyer for criminal defendants, or whether it would merely require their lawyers to be as ineffective as this one: In all seriousness, the fact that the GOP nominee is bemoaning an American citizens constitutional right to legal representation (and, perhaps, his protection against cruel and unusual punishment?) is shocking. Or, at least, it would be, if Trump hadnt exhausted our capacity for shock. Thankfully, we can count on reasonable Republicans in Congress to act as a check on President Trumps authoritarian instincts. Aurora Moynihan, pictured right, was found dead in the Philippines. Photo: Courtesy of Facebook Earlier this month, the daughter of a runaway British aristocrat was found dead on a street in the Philippines next to a cardboard sign that read like an omen: DRUG PUSHER TO THE CELEBRITIES YOU ARE NEXT. Hours earlier, Manila police had arrested three suspects for dealing ecstasy to celebrities. The killing made 45-year-old Aurora Moynihan one of the highest-profile drug-war victims in the Philippines under the countrys new president, who is accused of encouraging people to murder drug dealers and users. As a known drug personality, according to police, Aurora Moynihan took after her father, the late 3rd Baron Antony Moynihan. He was one of Britains most notorious blue-blooded politicians a confidence trickster, brothel-keeper, drug-smuggler and police informer, as described in The Telegraphs obituary. Those monikers were apparently true: After serving in Britains House of Lords in the late 1960s, Antony Moynihan fled fraud charges and ultimately escaped to the Philippines, where he met a belly dancer who owned a chain of massage parlors in Manila. They married, and she had three daughters, including Aurora Moynihan, while Antony Moynihan developed an infamous reputation: He ran several brothels, trafficked heroin, and in 1988 helped the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency capture the international pot smuggler Howard Marks, whose memoir, Mr. Nice, became a best seller. Lord Antony Moynihan with Aurora Moynihans mother, Luthgarda Maria Beltran del Rosa Fernandez, at their wedding reception, May 1968. Photo: McCarthy/Getty Images Aurora Moynihan studied French literature in Paris. After her parents divorce, in 1979, she moved to the Philippines to live with her father and allegedly mirrored his work, joining a Filipino cartel. In 2013, she was arrested for possessing crystal meth. She was on bail for those charges until September 10 this month, when she was found shot to death in a Manila street. Police reportedly found bags of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in her purse. What exactly happened wasnt clear CCTV footage showed her exiting a Toyota SUV, but the investigation is ongoing. We as a family have one priority and truth at this point in time, her sister Maritoni Fernandez, a famous Filipino actress, told reporters, and that is to protect her children from further pain and suffering so that they, and we as a family may take this time to grieve, mourn but most of all celebrate the life of this exceptional human being I will forever have the privilege of calling my sister. Aurora Moynihans death is one of more than 3,500 drug-related killings in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took office last June. About a third were conducted by police, but the majority by armed vigilante militias, according to The Guardian. Duterte is accused of encouraging people to kill drug dealers and users to fight the countrys drug epidemic. After initially promising to eradicate the issue in six months, he asked for six more months last weekend: The problem is I cannot kill them all even if I wanted to, he said. I did not have any idea that there were hundreds of thousands of people already in the drug business and what makes it worse is that they are operated now by people in government especially those elected positions. Congresswoman Jackie Speier. Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for MoveOn.org If you ask men, theres no gender bias in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. But if you look at the numbers, women hold less than 25 percent of jobs in all STEM fields. Women also hold comparatively fewer STEM degrees, and even those with degrees are less likely to hold a job in their field. One of the reasons women are so underrepresented in STEM is because studies have shown an inherent gender bias toward men in STEM fields. Another is because STEM fields tend to have less family-friendly flexibility, and child care still falls disproportionately to women. Another is that women in those fields face routine sexual harassment. On Thursday, California congresswoman Jackie Speier will propose a bill, called the Federal Funding Accountability for Sexual Harassers Act, designed to quash sexual abuse and harassment of women in STEM. According to a press release, the bill will require all colleges and universities to report any substantiated findings of sexual abuse by professors to every single federal agency thats awarded the school a grant in the past ten years. Schools would also have to report any investigations into sexual-harassment claims that have been going on for more than six months. The bill would require federal agencies to take both past reports of sexual harassment and ongoing investigations into account when theyre deciding which academic programs to fund. There have been far too many cases of professors sexually assaulting or harassing their students and employees, but continuing to receive millions in taxpayer-funded grants, Speier said. We know that sexual assault and harassment are an enormous factor in driving women out of STEM, and yet universities continue to cover up the appalling actions of some of their faculty. Federal agencies deserve to know if the researchers they are funding are abusing their students. Jordan Barrett. Photo: Matteo Prandoni/BFA/REX/Shutterstock Just think about it: Everyones done this here for years, why would you be the one that dies? Im being invited into this philosophical consideration by the 19-year-old model Jordan Barrett. Were at Coney Islands Luna Park, and hes attempting to coax me onto the Sling Shot, a ride where wed launch 150 feet in the air at 90 miles per hour. Its really fun, I promise, he says. Youre gonna try it, okay? Please? Lets get you in the tank and see if you like it. We came to Coney Island to ride go-karts, but the six-foot-two Australian deemed them too kiddie, and this ride is closer to the skydiving he had initially suggested we do, anyway. Barretts managed to escape to the edge of Brooklyn during the whirlwind of Fashion Week where hes been bouncing among fittings, shows, and parties because, well, hes a male model. Theyre the interchangeable second-class citizens of the fashion world, and at the moment, there are really only two of note. The first is 18-year-old Lucky Blue Smith, the good-boy Mormon whos in a band with his sisters, lives with his parents, covered GQs Most Stylish Man Alive issue, and was named Male Model of the Year at the Elle Style Awards. And then theres Barrett, Smiths more audacious counterpart, whose Instagram is filled with pictures of him kissing models like Barbara Palvin and hoisting cocktail glasses with yet another model, Rianne ten Haken, as well as snaps from Burning Man, and coy captions like Boring when your [sic] sane. In his brief career, Barretts worked with all the right brands: Tom Ford, Versace, Calvin Klein (he has the ideal long, strawlike, dirty-blond, 90s-throwback hair). Hes met all the right people: Theres photographer Steven Klein, who helped land him in the Balmain campaignslashKanye West music video Wolves, where Barrett slouches behind West in a bedazzled blazer. And his agent, Jen Ramey, who has worked with Kate Moss for 25 years and recently accepted Jordan as her first male client (He had that look in his eye, and Im like, Youre a star, she says). Not to mention the tastemaker fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, who put him on the cover of the third issue of CR Mens Book (Lucky Blue was on the first), and who also pops up a surprising amount on his Instagram. Barrett is from Byron Bay, a town of 9,000 on the eastern coast of Australia. Its a place where a lot of people dont wear shoes and they walk about barefoot all day and they play their ukulele with their dreadlocks, Barrett, who has always wanted dreadlocks, explains. He was spotted when he was 13 and really into surfing. He loves to tell the story: It happened as he was stealing matches from a grocery store. I wanted to have a cigarette, but I couldnt get a lighter because apparently you have to be over 18, so I decided I was gonna take matches from the counter, Barrett recalls. A modeling scout came over and started asking him questions about how to contact his parents, I was like, That was weird. I thought he was trying to catch me for shoplifting, and he just gave me his details and left. IMG, his agency, wouldnt let Barrett move to New York until he turned 18, so hes still kind of new to the whole scene here, where the coverage of him always seems to mention that his father was a convicted drug-cartel boss. His father was caught trafficking something like $9 million in marijuana, but I just dont like the word cartel, Barrett says. To me, theyre little gentle giants. My dad is hilarious. Then in the media its like drug cartel. In my head, thats like guns and heavy drugs. In Byron Bay, theres farms and you just grow a load of weed. He just happened to be good at growing lots of plants. Barretts also named after one: His middle name is Kale. When my mom named me it wasnt really a trendy vegetable, he says. People werent going around to the kale shop. She just called me Kale. Now it makes him extra-relevant, but I dont even like kale, he insists, even though hes gluten-intolerant, vegan, and has been sipping an energy supplement, provided by his trainer, all afternoon. Its too hard to digest. Chewing on kale? No. Not into it. Since moving here, Barrett has become friendly with It girls like Hailey Baldwin and Georgia May Jagger posting photos of Tommy Hilfiger shoots with Gigi Hadid, appearing in the tabloids for getting cozy with everyone from Paris Hilton to Dutch model Lara Stone to Moss. It works to my benefit with older women; they treat me like their kid, Barrett says. But as for the qualities of the reporting: Yesterday I read I was dating Barbara Palvin, and then in the same paper I was linked to Kaia Gerber, Cindy Crawfords daughter. Thats what I think about the tabloids. Barretts face, Australian tan, glows conspicuously in the bright Brooklyn beach sun; his feline eyes and forehead have more in common with a lounging female leopard than a human. A group of teenage girls all turn to stare at him as we walk by; a park attendant asks him if hes ever been told he looks like a model before. Barretts wearing a white ripped sweatshirt over a T-shirt printed with a picture of Sinead OConnor smoking a cigarette, along with paint-splattered pants, but he doesnt even look weird or sweaty for a hot day by the beach. He looks like fashion. Today hes driven to Coney straight from Jeremy Scotts womenswear show, where he was one of four men walking in the collection. The girls run in crews. I dont really have any He stops himself before suggesting he might not have guy friends. I suppose Im in the same scene as those girls. They have fun nonstop and they kill it. Jordan also likes having fun, which is why he doesnt really hang out with many other male models. Behind the scenes at guys shows, everything seems a little forced and tense or competitive, he explains. Its weird energy. Ive seen a lot of Zoolander stuff happen, like comparing bodies with each other and with shirtless selfies. He shakes his head. It turns out amusement parks are something of a Fashion Week ritual for Barrett. In Paris, he always goes to the Fete des Tuileries after those shows (Last time, I went twice), and wherever he is hell Google the top-ten most adventurous activities and try to do them all. I have the excitement of a child. He says he doesnt love clubs, but one of his favorite places in L.A. is a disco go-karting track with neon-pink-and-green cars and bright flashing lights. We buy tickets for the Sling Shot, and I tell Barrett Im going to yell the whole time. He responds that the first time he went on one of these, the rider right before him had his cage unlocked. He was okay, but he was, like, twirling around with it open. We strap in and he flings off his Converse low-tops, requesting that I continue asking him questions on the ride. I mention his tattoos I can see the words 0% INTEREST and PSYCHO written across his left arm and he confirms that he has MONICA LEWINSKY scrawled across his pelvis. If I could, I would vote for her ex-boyfriends wife. (Barrett was just a 1-year-old when that scandal broke.) Then were sling-shotted. After a couple of bounces, he shouts, Open your eyes! Turns out theyre photographing the ride for those commemorative snapshots you can get at an amusement park, and when we get off, Barrett tells me he was pointing at me the whole time, always ready to take the perfect shot. *This article appears in the September 19, 2016, issue of New York Magazine. Kim Kardashian. Photo: James Devaney/GC Images Kim Kardashian is pissed that The Wall Street Journal published a full-page ad in April denying the Armenian genocide, so she decided to fight fire with fire. Over the weekend, Kardashian took out a full-page ad of her own in the New York Times to put the WSJ on blast. In the Saturday ad, Kardashian wrote that she and her family are no strangers to BS in the press. But she couldnt just brush off the WSJs decision to publish an ad effectively denying that nearly 1.5 million Armenians were murdered over the course of a year (from 1915 to 1916) by the Ottoman government. For the Wall Street Journal to publish something like this is reckless, upsetting and dangerous, Kardashian wrote in the ad. Its one thing when a crappy tabloid profits from a made-up scandal, but for a trusted publication like WSJ to profit from genocide its shameful and unacceptable. Kardashian slammed the WSJs stance that it was publishing a provocative viewpoint, and instead accused the newspaper of spreading lies. She called for Turkey to be held accountable for the Ottoman governments actions, and urged the U.S. government to recognize the genocide. South Wind Womens Center. Photo: Sue Ogrocki/AP The last time a new abortion clinic opened in Oklahoma which has some of the strictest anti-choice laws in the country it was 1974. But last week, a Kansas-based foundation called Trust Women began serving patients at the new South Wind Womens Center in Oklahoma City. Its six licensed physicians provide services including ob-gyn care, family planning, adoption, emergency contraception, and abortion. Trust Womens founder and CEO told the Associated Press that Oklahoma City was the countrys largest metropolitan area without an abortion provider after a doctor forfeited his medical license as part of a plea deal to fraud charges last year. The only other providers in the state of 3.75 million people are in Tulsa and Norman. The Oklahoma legislature tried to pass a bill this spring that would have made it a felony for doctors to perform abortions at any point during a pregnancy unless the womans life was at stake or she was having a miscarriage. Anti-choice governor Mary Fallin vetoed it, but only because she knew it wouldnt withstand legal challenges. No, she still wants an abortion-free society. Oklahoma is now slightly less of a reproductive hellhole with the opening of this new clinic, but with no thanks to its elected officials. Taylor Swift, Tom Hiddleston, and Priyanka Chopra. Taylor Swift and the British actor Tom Hiddleston broke up two weeks ago after a brief but completely public summer relationship. Tabloids and gossip columnists guessed up until the breakup that Swift would be Hiddlestons date to the Emmys, but that obviously did not happen. According to E! News, Hiddleston instead moved on with someone else at the awards show last night. The site exclusively reports that Hiddleston was openly flirting with his co-presenter Priyanka Chopra. A source who was apparently very near to the action tells E! that at the after-party, Tom had his arm around [Priyanka] and held her close. Afterwards, Tom and Priyanka talked closely and were holding hands at one point for a few moments. Priyanka fixed Toms bow-tie and then the two kissed on both cheeks. Before the end of the night, Hiddleston and Chopra reportedly exchanged numbers. It is also possible that they met up later. E!s source continues, Priyanka and Tom said goodbye and she told him that she will see him later. They left the event about a minute after each other. On the red carpet before the Emmys, Hiddleston told People that he is still friends with Swift. Not for long! My mother was a beauty queen, and she encouraged me [to model]. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine Kayran Abasali, Model How did you get into modeling? Well, back in Trinidad, where Im from, my mother was a beauty queen, and she encouraged me. I started doing commercials I was the face of Angostura bitters. I always had the right look, the right skin color I was brown enough, and dark enough. In New York, its competitive especially as a mixed-race person; there are only a few spots for us. I only just started modeling again when I turned 30. So what were you doing before that? In my 20s, after getting an associate degree at F.I.T., I decided to go to Columbia as a general-studies student. I majored in sustainable development. Any big fall plans? Im running away to Italy for five days with a friend of mine whos from there. The Italian boys usually like me. Lightning Round Age: 32. Siblings: Im the eldest of three. Currently reading: Im rereading Roots. Currently watching: Friends. Workout regime: I dont exercise I have good genes and walk everywhere. Favorite restaurant: Pearls for Caribbean food. Get the bake and shark. Favorite part of the city: The Lower East Side. *This article appears in the September 19, 2016, issue of New York Magazine. Tracey Africa Norman and Geena Rocero make cover history. Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON @ de facto inc./Courtesy of Harpers Bazaar Tracey Africa Norman is finally having her cover moment, 30 years in the making. Last December, the Cut published the story of Traceys remarkable, brief career as the first black, transgender fashion and beauty model in the late 70s and early 80s her discovery by photographer Irving Penn for Italian Vogue, her spreads in Essence magazine, her face on a box of Clairol before she was outed and it was all taken away. Vindication comes to those who wait, though, and since that article came out, Tracey has been welcomed back as the face of Clairol, and today, the Cut has learned exclusively, she is one of the first two transgender models to appear on the cover of an edition of Harpers Bazaar. Traceys cover is part of a nine-model study in diversity from art director and executive producer Christopher Sollinger, who actually conceived of the project upon reading about Tracey on the Cut. Your story really moved me and a lot of my friends, and ever since I read it Ive been thinking about what I can do to give back to Tracey, he told me. This entire project stems from wanting to do something with Tracey. The way she had to live in hiding and in fear, being such a beautiful woman with so many talents and gifts, just felt so wrong. Shes someone who should be celebrated. I wanted to create an image that she would be able to look at and feel proud and seen and loved and appreciated. Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON @ de facto inc./Courtesy of Harpers Bazaar Sollinger says he shopped his cover series idea around to multiple imprints of Harpers Bazaar before Harpers Bazaar India finally signed on. India is actually very inclusive of transgender people, Sollinger says. The series features not only Tracey but also trans Filipino model Geena Rocero making them, according to Sollingers research, the first two trans cover models for any Harpers Bazaar, featured alongside Muslim model Hind Sahli, 38-year-old Belgian actress Hannelore Knuts, and Koreas leading model Soo Joo Park. Tyra Banks, the biggest name among the cover models, actually turned down the project, but she reconsidered after Sollinger told her Traceys story and the difficulties hed been having getting the covers published. Tyra flew to New York at her own expense, Sollinger says. She doesnt need to do a nine-model multicover series, nor do the other models, but she felt moved and wanted to do what she could to make it happen. Since the shoot, Sollinger has invited Tracey out to a fashion show, where she sat front row. Shes so fabulous, and such joy to be around, he says. She looks like a Hollywood actress. When I first met her, we had dinner at Soho House, and when she walked in you could hear a pin drop. She just exudes grace and confidence, and shes not bitter or jaded; shes grateful. We had so many obstacles getting this project done, and Tracey was such an inspiration to moving forward. And when Tracey finally got to see her first magazine cover, she cried, Sollinger says. Because its what shouldve happened 30 years ago. Shes amazing. Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON @ de facto inc./Courtesy of Harpers Bazaar Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Photo: STOCKTON JOHNSON Both ugly not surprised Reply Thread Link The thing I waste the most money on is food oop Reply Thread Link Food adds up fast. Like damn Reply Parent Thread Link i dont even wanna know how much money i spend on seamless/food delivery in a month. i know the shit is exorbitant. Reply Parent Thread Link My bank recently started like calculating how much money I spend on various things (food, school, entertainment, etc) and the amount of money I spend on food is kind of out of control, lol. Reply Parent Thread Link lol you're like "bank...CAN I LIVE" Reply Parent Thread Link I spend soooo much money on food. It's ridiculous. Reply Parent Thread Link mine is definitely food too Reply Parent Thread Link same it's insane how fast it adds up Reply Parent Thread Link Same, I was going to throw an extra $100 onto my credit card this month, but I accidentally spent it on food oop. But rn I'm on a clear liquid diet and I'm dying Reply Parent Thread Link yup, I totally spoil myself with good ingredients and great places to eat Reply Parent Thread Link Same, I know how to keep food costs when I absolutely need to but I like going out to eat at nice places and grocery shopping at Whole Foods, lol. Food is probably my biggest 'entertainment' expense. Edited at 2016-09-19 01:08 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link mte! when I sit back and think about how much money I spend on food (take out, just buying food everyday instead of eating at home) I get mad at myself, lol. I could save so much money if prepared my meals and, ate home more often. Reply Parent Thread Link same. and not food food because I really don't eat out the often, it's the snacks that kill me Reply Parent Thread Link me too bb. i'm vegan and don't cook so it adds up fast. i've been saving a little better this summer by shopping more often at trader joe's (instead of whole foods / co-ops) and not ordering drinks at restaurants. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link me too & so much of it goes to waste bc I'm single & a lot of groceries (in the US at least) come in quantities for 4+. I try to eat leftovers & freeze stuff but it's still a problem. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link same i need to stop Reply Parent Thread Link I try to take my lunch to work to keep that expense down but the amount of times I go get coffee or when I work with healthy people and they're like "lets go get a $6 smoothie!" adds up so much. Reply Parent Thread Link I feel like I really romanticize going out to eat, but afterwards I feel bad that I spent 25 bucks on something that's just gonna come out of my asshole in a couple of hours. Reply Parent Thread Link I see you, Jonathan Safran Foer. Reply Thread Link lol mte i wonder if this will make it into one of his pretentious email exchanges with her Reply Parent Thread Link my god my sister saw that I was reading "eating animals" and she went all out in detail about foer leaving his wife and kids for natalie while nat was like "noooooooooooooooooooooooooope", I somehow missed this happening. how embarrassing, and how tragically sad for his family Edited at 2016-09-19 01:59 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link his ex has now written a book called "how to be a man" thats apparently inspired by what a weakling prick he turned out to be lol. it's not out yet (I dont think?) but I am so reading it. anyway, I think his ex is fine lol. Reply Parent Thread Link god, I dont even think those "published" emails are even fucking real - it's just a litany of completely non-casual, carefully scripted promotional dribble devoid of any and all colloquialism that would actually be shared between friends. it was such garbage, seriously cringe worthy. I liked what jezebel said about it lmao: "May we all remember Bastille Day 2016 as the day we saw two famous people jerk each other off in the pages of the New York Times." the only emails I care to read are the ones that "disappeared" - ya fucking right - where he becomes a fucking creeper and she furiously blows him off and tanks his movie adaptation to boot. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm confused by this thread - what happened? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I've always wondered how expense accounts work. Reply Thread Link I know someone who was arrested for using their company card for unapproved charges to the tune of $65,000. My groups of friends tried to figure out what they hell they could have spent it on and someone broke it down to if the person ordered breakfast/lunch or lunch/dinner everyday for the entire time they were with this company which is both sad and shocking Reply Parent Thread Link The principal at the school where I used to work was fired for using the school's expense account for her own shit. Reply Parent Thread Link I also know of someone who was fired and had criminal charges for using expense account inappropriately. They were buying tablets and other things, cameras, flights etc. it was over 100k in stuff. smh Reply Parent Thread Link That's a lot of egg mcmuffins holy shit. Reply Parent Thread Link I've had expense accounts but they were at non-profits and I was so OTT conservative about it because hello, it's a charity. Usually there are rules and limits to what you can spend and for what. It should be clear but if you're a tip boss you probably have more leeway Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Either you buy something and get reimbursed or you use the company card and justify it using receipts or whatever. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I worked with a guy who was recently fired for this. It's a convoluted story about how he wasn't caught earlier, but his trick was to buy things on Amazon or at Best Buy that could be written off as work expenses. He wasn't turning in itemized receipts all the time, so that should've been looked into earlier, but when he did, it would be like lots of tech gear and he'd tell our boss the IT guy told him to buy it all because he needed it for work, and he'd tell the tech guy that our boss approved it, and no one was double checking. He'd also get nicer hotels than we try to use for our travels and claim it was all he could get, that sort of thing. We work at an ed nonprofit which is extra fucked up. He got away with it for a while because he was a really good liar and he was smart enough to charge reasonably explainable things, then we were switching between expense reporting systems, then he finally got caught when when everything was all housed in one place again. Edited at 2016-09-19 01:04 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link at the company i work at we need to provide receipts for anything over $10 Reply Parent Thread Link I can expense certain things to my company (mainly for work related travel) but generally I pay for it myself and then submit the receipts at the end of the month, and our finance department can either approve or deny it. If they approve it I get an extra check mid-month, though since I'm low-level and mostly expensing cabs it's usually like, a $20 check lmao Reply Parent Thread Link I have an expense account and I use it solely for travel. My coworker got so paranoid about misusing it, she gave up her company credit card, got her own, and now files long reports every month. Our company also mandates very explicit receipts. Reply Parent Thread Link Since we're sharing fun stories: my former boss once tried to write off 100% of his expenses for taking his family to Disney for over a week because "I ran into someone there and gave them my card, so I was on the clock." FOR OVER A WEEK, FOR HIS WHOLE FUCKING FAMILY. He thought that'd be prime expense account material. He also tried refusing to clock vacation time for it because, again, he gave one person his card once, ergo the entire thing was a business trip. What a sack of shit. Reply Parent Thread Link I have one, and man I am so fucking careful with it. Keep all my receipts and they have to be for meetings and work related stuff always. Pain in the ass, tbh. Reply Parent Thread Link I have to account for pretty much every penny spent on my company credit card each month Reply Parent Thread Link Hopefully he has to pay it back. It is so crazy to me how some people in upper management abuse their power Reply Thread Link What do you spend a lot of money on, ONTD? I might have an ever so slight Larabar addiction... But it's healthy junk food so it's okay! Reply Thread Link I refuse to buy those if they're not $1/bar Reply Parent Thread Link My store is currently selling them for $0.90 a bar. Reply Parent Thread Link The pumpkin pie and snickerdoodle versions have been rolling out and I'm living. So yummy Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Food and beauty products Reply Thread Link The only good thing I can see about this is that with all that money spent on taxis, people weren't drinking and driving. But other than that....whoa. Reply Thread Link Queen Natalie can do better. Reply Thread Link What do you spend a lot of money on, ONTD? trader joes, sushi and makeup Reply Thread Link are you me? Reply Parent Thread Link YES Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ugh trader joe's!!! me: * yea, I'm just going in for soy creamer, broccoli, and some yogurt* *walks out with a cart full of shit I don't even have room for in my fridge*. -_- Reply Parent Thread Link I recently found a Trader Joe's that has ample parking, is bigger than their normal stores and isn't packed to the rafters 24/7. I drive an extra 10 miles to go to it because I feel like I've found a unicorn in the wild. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i hope a wild coyote sucks his dick in hell Reply Thread Link lol his paycheck is enough to never have to abuse funds like this. it's crazy. Reply Parent Thread Link ia what do a bunch of ballet nerds need all that money for anyway? he was making sure it didn't sit around and go to waste Reply Parent Thread Link lmao ikr, just how many pairs of pointe shoes do those dance geeks need anyway?! Better to spend spend spend, Benjamin. That 104k on cabs would just be burning a hole in some account otherwise. Like my mum always says, "can't take it with you!" Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I always love it when my manager or regional manager buys lunch/dinner/drinks. DA BEST Reply Thread Link I hope they sue him Reply Thread Link What do you spend a lot of money on, ONTD? I've been spending more food on groceries lately because I just got a new blender and crock pot (along with just having a stove/oven and kitchen to myself) at my first apartment so there's a million kinds of different recipes I wanna try Also I've been kinda obsessed with bath and body works bc of their fall scents and I'm gonna go ham once the winter scents come out. It doesn't help that I got a well paying job for the first time in 3 years so I'm getting shit that I've wanted for awhile lol Edited at 2016-09-19 12:43 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link Congrats on the new job! Just reminded me I have a bath and body Works gift card. I'm going to buy some fall scents Reply Parent Thread Link I got sweet cinnamon pumpkin, champagne apple and honey (my f a v e), and pumpkin cupcake. I love them all. They had the buy 3 get 3 so I stocked up on the apple and cinnamon pumpkin ones. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Cooking at home saves more money in the long run though. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I feel like a Crock-Pot will really get my life in order Reply Parent Thread Expand Link oh dear Reply Thread Link lol no way this lawsuit will go anywhere Reply Thread Link I loved Fruits Basket. Have you read the sequel? Reply Parent Thread Link i had no idea there was a sequel lol i will have to look into it. but tbh the manga ended perfectly Reply Parent Thread Expand Link wait there's a sequel :O i love fb! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Oh for sure. When my fiance passed away his mom tried to sue me for wrongful death despite my being 300 miles away from him when he crashed his car and later died while in a coma. Her defense? If I had just ~made him~ stay home that weekend her baby would still be alive. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Wasn't she a Scientologist? Reply Thread Link ..now im curious what scientology funeral rites are like... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jim-carrey-girlfriend-cathriona-white-scientology-829140 She was a practicing Scientologist. Reply Parent Thread Link idk if this is true or not, but it just screams 'i want some of dat money' Reply Thread Link Same here. My guess is that he's seeing dollar signs. If he's just looking for them bills, I hope he gets himself a good lawyer, b/c I'm sure Jim has a great one. Reply Parent Thread Link I feel bad for jim carrey Reply Thread Link I looked at the picture, read the post, read the comments, read the post again, and only THEN I realized that's Jim in the pic and not the estranged husband. Why do people have to age tbh :/ Reply Thread Link lol I assumed it was her ex husband until I read this comment Reply Parent Thread Link i think he looks pretty good! Reply Parent Thread Link i know someone who has been in a relationship with this girl for like 7 years now and he wanted to end it about 6.5 years ago, but the girl always tells him she'll commit suicide if he breaks up with her and is too scared to do it :/ Reply Thread Link Even if she is depressed and suicidal that is an incredibly manipulative and abusive thing to do Edited at 2016-09-19 09:18 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link so manipulative and awful to do to someone, even if you're in the depths of depression. i had a friend who hooked up with a girl(no sex) and had discussed with her prior to them doing anything made it clear that he wasn't interested in any type of relationship. she brought up that she thought they were dating and asked if he wanted to meet her mom after they had fooled around and he stopped her and had to tell her again that he wasn't interested a relationship and brought up that they had discussed this prior to hooking up, told her he still wanted a friendship but couldn't in good conscious hook up with her again or let it go further(they only hooked up that one time) later in the night she texted him saying she was worthless bc he didn't want to date her and that she'd swallowed a handful of pills and was planning on killing herself. my friend called 911 and then the next day swung by her house to see what was happening but the girl wasn't home...he ended their friendship after that bc he was wracked with guilt for weeks later and just wanted her to seek help. he'd only known this girl for a week and a half when this happened. Reply Parent Thread Link not similar but i have ex-friend that was like that. whenever he broke up with his bfs/dates, he would threaten to commit suicide ... i broke up the friendship after i got really worry one-time and call the cops ... we legit try to locate him all night only to find out he was at the casino all night ... i was done then. Reply Parent Thread Link he needs to break up with her, and document her threats. he should also call the police and tell them the situation, so they can prevent her from actually doing something to herself should he actually try to live his own fucking life. whatever he does, he needs to get out stat. Reply Parent Thread Link That's awful & it's abuse. It's hard and scary but ultimately he's gotta let her go & be at peace with whatever happens... He can't be responsible for her mental health, she's an adult. Reply Parent Thread Link Ugh, my sister's ex did this and went as far to send her photos of pill bottles, saying like "this is all your fault." She panicked and called our mom who called his campus police, who found him. He hadn't actually taken any of the pills I don't think (or maybe just very few of them) but he was put on a 72-hour psych hold. It really fucked my sister up. Reply Parent Thread Link My first serious boyfriend, a girl he dated did that and tried to slit her wrists outside of his house and carved his name into her arm. His mom called the police. Honestly, I am Bipolar and chronically depressed, but if someone did this shit to me I would be like 'okay, bye'. This is absolutely abuse and there is NO reason for you to try to manipulate someone like that so that they will stay with you. Reply Parent Thread Link That's insane on both of their parts. Why hasn't your friend contacted her family or authorities about her threats? She obviously needs help and he's only enabling her by staying for 7 frickin' years. Reply Parent Thread Link ummmmmmm that's abuse and so fucking unfair to him I had a friend who dated a guy who threatened to kill himself when they broke up and I was like oh well let him die Honestly, it's so ridiculous especially as a person who suffers from depression and anxiety. I wouldn't want anyone in my life who is there because I am threatening them. Reply Parent Thread Link Maybe he should do it on a controlled setting. If is a danger to herself she should be put on a psych hold. Reply Parent Thread Link Tell your friend to treat his girlfriend like someone who is suicidal and call the police. Reply Parent Thread Link my friend told me a similar story about her bf's ex-gf and i honestly didn't and still don't believe that could be real. a person would stay in a monogamous committed relationship with someone they didn't even like for OVER 6 YEARS OF THEIR LIFE just bc they thought the person might kill themselves? i kind of call BS unless that person just gets off on being a martyr for the cause. i guess i'm thinking more abt my friend and this story that her bf ~never loved his ex and ~only ever loved her. i was k hunny Reply Parent Thread Link jfc people can be so tacky. Reply Thread Link What the fuck, I definitely missed all Jim Carrey news for the past like three years. Reply Thread Link that should tell you how little he was "grieving for the press" when you cant even remember him being in the press. Reply Parent Thread Link uh oh... why? Genuinely curious as I haven't followed him much lately. Does he have a history of depression? Reply Parent Thread Link he have really sad eyes, remind me of robin williams Edited at 2016-09-19 10:01 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link I can't forget reading somewhere that he basically suffers from pretty crippling depression and insecurity that he used to cover up with acting silly/loud, but now it is harder to hide. I don't even remember where I read it and it may have been borderline a blind item (like, someone who supposedly worked with him said it?) but for some reason it stuck with me. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, he's got a lot going on and I hope he winds up being ok. Reply Parent Thread Link same. i look him up from time to time to see if anything is new w/ him Reply Parent Thread Link Oh ffs... First she uses Jim's pills to end her life, and now this asshole is trying to make a quick buck? Goddamn let him live... Reply Thread Link So he's really trying it huh? Reply Thread Link The lawsuit says she had previous suicide attempts that Carrey knew about and that he still gave her access to enough Percocet and Ambien to kill herself. It also says that Carrey sent a "bogus" text message to her after he knew she was already dead accusing her of "stealing" his drugs, in an attempt to cover his ass. I don't know if any of that is true, but if it is, that's pretty shitty behavior by Carrey. It may not actually make him legally liable in her death, though. Edited at 2016-09-19 09:34 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link What does "gave her access" mean? She was an adult, not a child. It wasn't his responsibility to hide his pills in case she decided to steal them and I doubt he could even if he tried. I wouldn't fault him for texting her postmortem either. She put him in a horrible position, he had every right to make that clear to everyone. Reply Parent Thread Link I partly agree and partly disagree with you. Yes, she was an adult and responsible for her own actions, but if I knew someone I was in a relationship had a history of depression and suicide attempts, I personally would go out of my way to keep them from gaining access to pills of mine that they could use to kill themselves. Maybe it wouldn't stop them if they were really determined, but why make it easier? Maybe that's just me. As for the postmortem text, he may or may not have actually known she was deceased at the time, so I don't know if he was trying to cover his ass or not. The commenter above you says she was missing for a few days, so it's possible he had no idea. But if he did know she was dead, then I don't really think sending a text to a woman who has just killed herself accusing her of stealing from him is really the best way to go about letting everyone know she put him in a terrible position. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link A few days before the highly anticipated OPEC meeting in Algeria, a top official from the group threw cold water on the possibility of a production freeze. Expectations for a deal have gone up and down since they were first floated in August, taking oil prices on a volatile ride. Rumors of a possible deal were enough to spark a 20 percent rally in oil prices in August, ending what had become a bear market. Since then, a cavalcade of comments, opinions, and seemingly off the cuff remarks from OPEC officials and oil ministers have fueled market speculation about the possibility of a production freeze. But the latest comment from OPECs Secretary-General is arguably the most definitive to date, and it doesnt bode well for a production freeze in Algiers. Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said over the weekend that the group wouldnt be making a decision on any limits. It is an informal meeting, it is not a decision-making meeting, Barkindo said to Algerian state media. On the other hand, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that they were closing in on a deal, which could be announced before the end of the month. "We had a long bilateral meeting with Rouhani. We're close to a deal between OPEC producer countries and non-OPEC," Maduro said at a news conference, referring to a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of a summit in Venezuela for the Non-Aligned Movement. Related: What Hubbert Got Wrong About Peak Oil Venezuela is one of the countries that is most desperate for a deal, so those comments should be taken with a large dose of skepticism. At the same time, the comments from OPECs Secretary-General should also not be taken at face value. Damping down speculation could be a calculated move, lowering expectations for whatever might come from the Algeria meeting. Nevertheless, if an agreement is to be reached, the most likely scenario is that OPEC and non-OPEC participants agree to some sort of consensus about capping output, but a formal agreement would only come from some future meeting, not from the upcoming gathering in Algeria. By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A pair of foreign companies are suspected to have paired up to purchase Britains National Grid, a very large distribution network that was put up for auction last year. The asking price is approximately $14.3 billion USD. China Gas and the conglomerate Fosun, which owns businesses ranging from insurance to mining and is the owner of Club Med, are thought to be making a joint effort to purchase controlling shares of the network. The National Grid spans the country and supplies gas to approximately 10.9 million customers. As for National Grid, 51 percent of the firm is up for auction. The bidding consortium of Fosun and China gas have competition. Australian bank Macquarie is thought to be heading up a rival bidding group that may include the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation. Another contender is the Canada Pension Plan Board. The first round of bidding ends this month. A spokesman for National Grid stated: We will not speculate on the identity of potential bidders. Regardless of their identity, all bidders will have to go through the same rigorous approval process. The joint bid by Fosun and China gas comes at an interesting time. Less than a week prior, Britains Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that the country would impose tighter regulations on companies that invest in the nations infrastructure. May made the announcement after giving the nod to a new nuclear reactor at Britains Hinkley Point in Essex, which is being financed by firms from France and China. The Chinese State nuclear firm will pay one third of the cost of that project, which is being led by the French state energy company EDF. That project is valued at around $23.48 billion USD. Last week, the British Government announced that it would retain a golden share in any future nuclear power projects. The golden share would give the ministers the ability to veto any changes in corporate ownership. That move came after May temporarily suspended the Hinkley Point Project over concerns of Chinese involvement in the effort. By Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Petroleum Facilities Guard and the Libyan National Army (LNA) yesterday locked horns again, at the Ras Lanuf port, which halted the loading of the first export-bound oil cargo at the port since 2014. The LNA took over Ras Lanuf, along with Es Sider, Zueitina, and Al-Brega last week, after theyd been held for years by the PFG. The PFG, which is affiliated with the UN-backed Government of National Accord, on more than one occasion used the ports as a means to generate revenues, claiming Libyas National Oil Corporation owed its members wages. The LNA, for its part, reports to the rival government, the House of Representatives, headquartered in eastern Libya and unrecognized by the international community. Last Thursday, the LNA handed control of the ports over to the NOC. The companys chairman Mustafa Sanalla told media that all the ports are secure and that NOC is already negotiating deliveries with foreign commercial partners. NOC, which until recently was also split into two rival divisions but has since reunited, had announced earlier last week that it would start exporting 600,000 barrels of oil per day in just four weeks. The company also said that it would ramp up production and exports to 950,000 barrels per day before the end of the year, up from the approximately 250,000 bpd the country is exporting right now. The tanker that was loading at Ras Lanuf Seadelta should have shipped 781,000 barrels of crude to Italy. Now, with the new fighting that has erupted, the accomplishment of NOCs goals becomes suspect. Whats bad news for Libyas oil company, however, is good news for oil traders: Brent and WTI both started the week with gains, as the news about the new wave of clashes between PFG and LNA quenched worries that Libya would add even more to the existing oil glut. At half past midnight EDT, WTI was trading at US$43.83 a barrel, up 1.86 percent on Fridays close, and Brent crude was trading at US$46.53, up 1.66 percent. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In its second attack in the same area in one week, the separatist Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate bombed a major crude oil pipeline owned by the state-run Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) Sunday night, according to local media reports. The groups spokesperson Aldo Agbalaja said on Monday that the attack took place at 11:30 p.m. near Ekuigbo in the Delta State. Agbalaja also called the use of the Nigerian military to protect oil assets a waste of resources. NDGJM conducted a similar attack against a NPDC pipeline in the same region early morning last Tuesday. At the time, the group said the attack fulfilled its threat to conduct a series of attacks on foreign and domestically owned oil assets in the Niger Delta in pursuit of freedom from the oppressive Lagos government. The Niger Delta is not a conquered territory and our people have never succumbed to intimidation before, rather we match force with the oppressors brutality, Agbalaja said. The Nigerian government should already know that the people of this part are not fools, who will not be able to see when they are being treated with disdain. The group warned residents of areas surrounding the oil facilities to leave for their safety. For the last time, leave these areas if you live around them and if you love your lives, it said. Related: Oil Rises On OPEC Jawboning, Libyan Turmoil Late last month, the group denounced a meeting between Niger Delta stakeholders and the Federal Commissioner for Information, Ijaw Chief Edwin Clark, which called for the end of hostilities against oil industry, sites. The Niger Delta Avengers another major separatist group active in the Niger Delta agreed to the ceasefire. However, in early September, NDJGM had reportedly agreed to stop attacking oil industry sites as a result of the meeting. NDGJM has accepted to stop bombing of pipelines in obedience to the call by Niger Delta leaders at the meeting convened in Effurun, August 19 by the former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, the groups leader, who identified himself as ODU, told Vanguard. The attacks over the past week and related warnings confirm that the group does not plan to abide by the terms of the ceasefire. Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated last week that the countrys oil production has been cut by roughly 60 percent due to the attacks on its oil infrastructure. By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Nigerian police have rescued 15 employees of oilfield service company Nestoil who were abducted in early September. The rescue operation involved gunfire that resulted in wounds for some of the kidnappers, but they all escaped, the Associated Press reports. The kidnap victims were unharmed. The AP quotes police spokesman Nnamdi Omoni as saying the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 100 million naira, an amount approximately equal to US$322,600. He did not divulge whether the ransom was paid. Kidnapping is a common practice in the Niger Delta, with victims usually being released after the ransom is paid. The practice is employed by both common criminals and militant groups that claim to be fighting for a fairer distribution of Nigerias oil riches. It remains unclear for the time being whether the kidnappers who took the 15 Nestoil employees belonged to any of these groups. The Nigerian government has been negotiating with some of these groups in hopes to put its oil industry back on its feet, after suffering a serious economic blow thanks to the attacks on production and transportation infrastructure in the Delta, on top of the oil price rout. In March this year, Nigeria fell from the top spot among African producers, replaced by Angola. According to the latest OPEC Oil Market Report, the country pumped 1.47 million barrels daily in August, down from 1.52 million bpd in July. Last week brought some good news, however and bad for oil traders. Exxon announced it will soon be restarting the exports from its Qua Ibe terminal, which has been under force majeure since July. The terminal is a namesake of Nigerias most abundant crude oil grade and last year accounted for daily exports of 340,000 barrels. According to Bloomberg, Shell is also preparing to restart shipments from its Forcados terminal, which can handle 200,000 bpd. Together the two terminals will add half a million barrels of daily exports, which would further dampen any hopes of the global oversupply subsiding anytime soon. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Standard & Poors Global Ratings has further downgraded Nigerias sovereign credit rating to B, five levels below investment grade, citing a significant decline in oil production, restrictive forex policies, and delayed fiscal incentives. S&P now expects Nigerias real GDP to contract by 1 percent this year, grow by 2 percent next year and resume a more solid growth of 4 percent only from 2018. S&Ps downgrade comes as Nigeria plans to issue US$1 billion Eurobond this year, with all bids required to be placed by noon Nigerian time on Monday, September 19. The issue is part of a US$4.5-billion Federal Government Medium Term Note (FGMTN) program for 20162018. Nigerias economy has suffered from lower crude prices, as oil sales are one of the countrys primary revenue sources. In addition, militant attacks on oil infrastructure have deprived it of significant part of oil production and its output has dropped by some 700,000 barrels per day to 1.56 million bpd. S&P reckons that oil production may increase in the last quarter of the year amid the government negotiating with militants and sabotaged pipelines being fixed. However, even if the notorious Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) agreed to a conditional ceasefire in August and agreed to halt hostilities later, other militant groups continue to attack pipelines. Just last week, a group that had refused to be part of the ceasefire attacked oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta. On the positive side for Nigerian output, but on the negative side for the global oil glut, there are signs that Nigeria would raise its production. Exxon is reportedly ready to load its first Nigerian Qua Iboe crude since it declared force majeure on these exports in July, while Shell has lifted its force majeure on Bonny Light crude. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Milwaukee high schools have very different policies on student cell phone use while on school grounds. It seems high school cell phone policies are a microcosm of the differences between city public schools, suburban public schools and private religious schools. When the majority of the student body is from a privileged, higher income family, they are more likely to own a smartphone and they are granted the opportunity to use it freely. However, at high schools with poorer kids, also typically kids of color, cell phone use is limited or restricted. Milwaukee Public Schools policy restricts students from activating, using or displaying cell phones, tablets, portable music players or any other social media device. "Our goal is to provide an environment where students can focus on learning. These devices can be disruptive to that environment," says Katie Cunningham, the district's media relations supervisor. Shorewood High School and Nicolet High School both suburban public schools have very different policies. Both schools allow students to have and use a cell phone during the school day, but with limitations. "We leave it up to the teachers. Some forbid cell phone use during class, others want it out of sight when they are teaching, but are fine with students wearing headphones during work or study time," says Joe Patek, associate principal at Shorewood High School. Greg Kabara is the principal of Nicolet High School and confirms that his school's policy is similar to Shorewoods. "Our students are able to have phones at school during the day at the discretion of their classroom teachers," says Kabara, who adds that the policy changed shortly before he became principal four years ago. "Nicolet used to have a no-cell phone policy, but it became difficult to police when almost every student has a phone," he says. The "no phone" policy also seemed counterproductive to the districts goal of getting technology into the hands of every student to teach them how to efficiently access information as well as teach technology appropriateness. "They figure out that its OK to text friends during lunch time, but not during class time," says Kabara. Patek says Shorewoods goal for the 2017-18 school year is for every student to have a device and that teaching kids how to properly and responsibly use technology makes more sense than forbidding it. "The kids are going to have them for the rest of their lives. They are going to have phones in college and in the work force and its important they learn now how to be respectful of devices and use them appropriately," says Palek. Whitefish Bay High School's policy is slightly more strictly worded, giving students permission to use devices if required by a teacher, but not for personal reasons. According to the student handbook, "With the unending advancement of digital technology, there is ever greater opportunity to better advance student learning through its use. On the other hand, digital technology may also be used in ways that detract from student learning. Consequently, during instructional time, students may only use digital technology devices available to them (either personally owned or school provided) for teacher authorized purposes." When contacted, Whitefish Bay assistant principal Kara Harmon declined to comment. Private high schools' policies also differ. According to Messmer High School principal Todd Willems, students are not permitted to use a phone at any time during the school day unless requested by a teacher. "We have this conversation yearly, and we look at what other Catholic high schools are doing," says Willem. "But for us it boils down to equality among students." Messmer, a Catholic High School on Milwaukees near North Side, has a primarily African-American student population. Some students have smartphones, but many do not. "We dont want texting or social media to interrupt the learning process," says Willems. Messmer students can use phones before and after school, but if they need to make a call during the day for any reason they must use the land line in the main office. "For now, the minuses of kids using cell phones outweigh the pluses for us," says Willems. "But the balances are getting closer." Marquette University High School, also a private Catholic high school, has the same policy as Messmer: no phones during the school day. The reasoning behind it is similar, with one added objective. "Our goal is to have our students look at other people when they communicate," says Kriss Schulz, vice president of operations and communications at Marquette University High School. According to numerous studies, one in four teens are "cell mostly" internet users, meaning they primarily go online via their phone rather than a laptop or desktop computer. In 2013, a Harvard University study determined that 78 percent of teens have a cell phone and 47 percent of those own smartphones. The stricter MPS cell phone policy could be attributed to a much larger student body and safety issues. The policy was originally drafted in 2007 after two violent incidents took place at Bay View High School during which students used cell phones to call people outside the building to get involved in fights both inside and outside the building. Some Milwaukee public high schools adhere to the policy more closely than others. In some high schools, students are permitted to listen to music with earbuds during study hours. Rowan Chheda is a sophomore at Rufus King High School. He says cell phones are restricted, but the policy is not strictly enforced. Chheda, who, ironically, is currently without a cell phone because his broke a few weeks ago, thinks cell phones should be permitted, but within reason. "Kids in high school should be allowed to use their phones for music and educational purposes when it's appropriate and with ear buds," says Chheda. "Restrictions make sense when the teacher is teaching." The issue of safety and whether cell phones help or hinder it can be looked at in two entirely different ways. In city schools, there might be fear of phones being used to organize gang activity, but suburban districts often see them as integral to safety in the case of an emergency like a mass school shooting, which generally occur more in suburban environments. Numerous districts around the country changed their policies to allow phones on site after the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. Consequences if a student is caught using a cell phone during a restricted period also vary. Not surprisingly, the schools with the strictest policies also have the strictest consequences. If MPS students are caught using a cell phone during school, the device will be confiscated, according to the district handbook. "In the case of an emergency, parents can contact their student by calling their school office. Staff also will work with students to contact their parent or guardian if necessary," says Cunningham. Marquette has a stringent policy, too. The phone is immediately taken away, and parents are required to come into the office to retrieve it. Although cell phones are "legal" at Shorewood and Nicolet, if students abuse the privilege of using them, they will receive a verbal warning and parents will become involved in extreme cases. "This rarely happens," says Kabara. "Our students are doing a great job managing their devices." Reprinted from Reader Supported News Prisoners across America went on strike last week to protest poor wages, a lack of adequate medical care, poor food, and the utter absence of any educational or training opportunities. This doesn't sound like a big deal. But it's unprecedented. Prisoners in the United States are forbidden by law from going on strike. And, indeed, federal Bureau of Prisons regulations prohibit strikes as "interfering with the smooth running of the institution," an offense punishable by immediate transfer to solitary confinement. I had it pretty easy during the two years I spent in federal prison after blowing the whistle on the CIA's torture program. Still, I wouldn't wish prison on anybody. It's dehumanizing, depressing, and as the "greatest country in the world," we should be utterly ashamed of the prison system we have. Let's look at prisoners' demands. Wages: The Wall Street Journal reports that many prisoners earn between $0.74 and $3.34 per day. I have news for them. When I worked as an orderly in the prison chapel in the Federal Correctional Institution at Loretto, Pennsylvania, I earned $0.60 per month. That's right. Per month. That's normal in prisons across the country. There are far more prisoners than there are jobs, and there's even less money to pay them. Incidentally, for most prisoners, salaries come from commissary profits. So it's usually prisoner money paying for prisoner labor. But the matter is worse than that. Many prisoners work full-time in something called "UNICOR," also known as Federal Prison Industries. It is in UNICOR that federal prisoners earn that dollar a day to build furniture, man call centers, and do any number of other jobs. This amounts to slave labor that somebody, somewhere, is making a profit on. And there are even worse components to it. First, as an example, prisoners at Loretto were put to work making electronic cable for the U.S. Navy. But at a dollar a day, their hearts weren't in it. So much of the cable was deemed to be substandard that it had to be scrapped. Even without labor costs, it was a complete waste of the taxpayers' money. Furthermore, paying prisoners subservient wages and forcing them to work in a commercial, for-profit enterprise puts other Americans out of work. How in the world can a small company compete with prison labor? It can't. And as a result, Americans are thrown out of work. Food: My first full day in prison was a Friday. That's fish day in federal prisons across the country. As I was walking to the cafeteria, a fellow prisoner warned me, "Don't eat the fish. Ever. We call it 'sewer trout.'" I stayed away from the fish. But when I got down to the food line, I saw boxes stacked up. They were all marked, "Alaskan Cod. Product of China. Not for Human Consumption. Feed Use Only." It wasn't even human-grade food. Just before I got to prison, a private food service company, John Soules Foods Inc., "accidentally" sold dog food to prisons to be fed to prisoners mismarked as "ground beef." There was no punishment for the company or its executives, other than a $392,000 fine, the cost of the investigation, paid to the U.S. Treasury. Prisoners got nothing. Not even an apology. And the shame of the story is that nobody could even tell that it was dog food. It tasted the same as everything else prisoners are served. Medical care is probably the most important of the issues strikers want to see addressed. Certainly, volumes could be written about the abysmal state of healthcare in U.S. prisons. Four people died of preventable medical problems while I was at Loretto. Nobody in the administration cared. Holly Sterling, the wife of imprisoned CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling, told me recently that a prisoner near Jeffrey last week asked permission to go to sick call because he wasn't feeling well. The corrections officer denied his request. The prisoner died two hours later of a heart attack. Prisons routinely deny basic medications, access to a doctor, and any access to outside medical professionals or tests. Many prison officials will admit privately that, sentimentality aside, it is far cheaper for them to just let a prisoner die than to pay for expensive outside medical care. Educational Opportunities: There are none. Period. In the federal system, educated prisoners teach other prisoners how to get their GEDs. But that's it. In the "good old days," prisoners could learn a skill -- plumbing, electrical, mechanics, etc. The idea was that if they had a skill, they could find a job upon release. That, in turn, would reduce recidivism. But that was in the good old days. Now there's nothing. It's no wonder that recidivism is so high. I refrained from encouraging prisoners to go on strike last week. I didn't want to be responsible for anybody being sent to solitary confinement, which the United Nations has deemed to be a form of torture. But I support the strike 100 percent. I hope it's successful. And if it isn't, then maybe it ought to become a more permanent action. Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News. As fertility rates decline and life expectancy increases, the proportion of people aged 60 and above is growing globally. Global average life expectancy has increased from 48 years in 1950 to 68 years in 2010 and is expected to become 81 years by the end of the century. Nearly 60% of the world's over 60 population resides in the Asia Pacific region and this number is expected to more than quadruple by 2050. While people living longer is a cause for celebration, this demographic transition towards an ageing society in the Asia-Pacific region brings new challenges with deep social, economic and political ramifications. With increasing age, health and well-being take their toll. Non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and dementia, are becoming more widespread. Yet, health and social security systems in the region are under-prepared to meet the needs of older persons. As countries age, they need to invest in supporting the contributions, experience and expertise of their growing number of older citizens. At the HelpAge Asia-Pacific Regional Conference 2016 on Economic Implications of Ageing, recently held in Hanoi, Viet Nam, good practice examples of how some countries were responding to their rapid population ageing were shared. Japan: Prepared well in advance! Japan is a hyper-ageing country, with one third of its population over 60. But it prepared well in advance to deal with it. Dr Keizo Takemi, Chairperson of Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), said that Japan began its welfare policies for the elderly way back in 1960s when the ageing rate was low at 5.7%. It adopted a comprehensive welfare policy, introduced universal healthcare, a universal social pension, and a plan for income redistribution, low unemployment rates and progressive taxation. Healthcare was made free for the elderly Japanese in 1973. In 2000, Long Term Health Care Insurance System was enforced. Between 1990 and 2011 there was a 277% increase in the number of health facilities. All this has paid off and Japan is now not just the oldest, but also one of the healthiest and wealthiest countries, with the highest healthy life expectancy in the world. However, Takemi cautioned that as future costs of long term care benefits and premiums become high, healthcare expenditure will skyrocket. By 2025, 1 in 5 of Japan's population will become over 75 years old, and 46% of the total health budget will be spent on them. One important solution suggested by him is to increase healthy life expectancy; reduce the gap between healthy life expectancy and life expectancy (which currently stands at 9-12 years in Japan, but is much higher elsewhere); and create job opportunities for those healthy elderly people to be economically independent. Policy makers will also have to develop an integrated community care system focussed on home care services. It would make better economic sense to move elderly patients from hospital to home by strengthening the capacity to deliver medical as well as routine life support services at the home. Takemi also hinted that in future Japan is very likely to use robots to take care of the elderly persons at home. China: Expanding basic health insurance... Liu Zengrui, Director of Rights and Interests Protection, China National Committee on Ageing, gave an overview of how China is dealing with its ageing population. Chinese government has expanded basic health insurance to achieve complete coverage; reformed the ways for making medical insurance payouts; improved medical-care in nursing homes; introduced social insurance against chronic diseases; strengthened health education to increase fitness awareness for the aged; promoted social participation of older people by stipulating policies for gradually suspending the retirement age of employees and keeping older people in the workforce. It has launched a programme named "Yin-Ling" to encourage and support retired scientists, experts and professors to participate in volunteer activities. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). See original here I've written a couple of articles recently, here and here, about CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling and his battle to get adequate medical care while incarcerated in the Federal Correctional Institution at Englewood, Colorado. Jeffrey has a history of atrial fibrillation. He has had several medical "episodes" in prison related to his heart, and prison officials have refused to allow him to see an outside cardiologist or to go to a hospital for tests. Jeffrey's wife, Holly Sterling, told me in an email on Sunday that Jeffrey appears to have suffered a heart attack. She said: "Things continue to get worse for Jeffrey. He had another episode today and had to go to the medic. He was playing darts and began sweating profusely, heart pounding, and chest pain. Jeffrey was informed, for the first time, of his blood work results. He has high levels of Troponin. A Troponin test measures the levels of Troponin T or Troponin I proteins in the blood. These proteins are released when the heart muscle has been damaged, such as occurs with a heart attack. The more damage there is to the heart, the greater the amount of Troponin T and I there will be in the blood." Prison medical officials told Jeffrey two weeks ago that they would take him out to see a specialist, but that never happened. They told Jeffrey recently that it was the cardiologist who had cancelled the visit, a very unlikely proposition. In the meantime, he was forced to initiate something called the "Administrative Remedy Process," which theoretically would force the warden to take action to help him. More on that in a moment. Holly Sterling has been tireless in her work to get her husband to a cardiologist. She asked Jeffrey's sentencing judge, Leonie Brinkema, to intervene. Brinkema refused. She then enlisted the support of Norman Solomon's Roots Action, which has asked supporters to call Warden Deborah Denham at 303-763-4300. In addition to the warden, Solomon recommends contacting the Bureau of Prisons' North Central Regional Office by calling Sara M. Revell at 913-621-3939 or writing to her at NCRO/ExecAssistant@bop.gov. Our grass roots pressure may be the only thing that gets Jeffrey Sterling to a cardiologist. It could save his life. The above is most certainly NOT what the Bureau of Prisons wants you to do. They argue that there is an Administrative Remedy Process in place, and that the only way Jeffrey will get any attention -- if, they say, he deserves any at all -- is to go through the process. Let me explain what this corrupt, backward, and probably illegal system entails. If a federal prisoner has a problem -- any problem, whether it's with a rude staff member, a complaint about conditions, or a medical problem -- he must fill out a form called a BP-8.5. He writes out his complaint, and the form then goes to the person the prisoner is complaining about. The staff member has one week to respond. Of course, no staff member is going to say, "My bad. You got me. Sorry. We'll fix this." So the prisoner then fills out a form BP-9. That goes to the warden, who has four weeks to respond. But again, no warden is going to side with a prisoner over a staff member. The prisoner then fills out a form BP-10, which goes to the nearest BOP Regional Office. The director there has three months to respond. But regional directors, logically, will support their wardens, not a prisoner. Once the prisoner loses there, he fills out a BP-11, which goes to BOP Headquarters in Washington. Headquarters has six months to respond. The whole process, then, takes just under a year. But the BOP has two more tricks up its sleeve. First, they backdate their responses. So if the warden has to respond by September 1, let's say, but he doesn't actually respond until October 15, he just backdates the response to September 1. So in reality, the process takes more than a year. And a second tactic is if the prisoner actually has a legitimate grievance, the BOP will just transfer him to another prison. He then has to start the process all over again. To make matters even worse, the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, coupled with a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding it, has mandated that all prisoners must exhaust the Administrative Remedy Process before they can file a lawsuit. Jeffrey Sterling doesn't have the luxury of time. He needs help immediately. Please pick up your phone and demand treatment for him. Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website The Russian government's sincere and diligent effort to prevent chaos in Syria and additional massive refugee flow into Europe, all the while avoiding conflict with Washington and its vassals, has been brought to an end by Washington's intentional attack on a known Syrian army position, thus wrecking the cease-fire agreement that Russia sacrificed so much to achieve. The response to this fact by the Obama regime's ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, reveals that Washington will lie to the hilt in order to achieve its agenda of reducing Syria to the same chaos as Washington has reduced Iraq and Libya. Washington, and Washington alone, is responsible for the war in Syria. When the British Parliament and the Russian government blocked Obama's intended US invasion of Syria, the Obama regime armed and financed jihadist mercenaries to invade Syria, pretending that the jihadists were Syrian rebels fighting for democracy in Syria. Samantha Power turned history upside down and blames the war on Russia's intervention at the request of the Syrian government against the ISIL jihadists that Washington sent to destabilize Syria. What Samantha means is that if Russia had not come to the aid of Syria, Washington and ISIL would already have destroyed Syria, and there would be no war. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said that in his 40 years of diplomacy he had never seen such a high-handed and demagogic performance as Samantha's. Churkin seemed to imply that such an unrealistic and twisted response to known facts as Samantha delivered leaves him without hope of any successful diplomatic outcome. If the Russian government has finally arrived at the conclusion that Washington is determined to destroy political stability in Syria and to replace it with chaos, it has taken a long time. The Russian government has studiously avoided this conclusion, because once diplomacy is acknowledged as useless, force confronts force. In today's context that means thermo-nuclear war and the end of life on Earth. This is the reason that the Russian government has replied diplomatically to Washington's coercive provocations, offering Washington cooperation in place of conflict. However, Washington wants conflict. The Russians have pretended that Washington has a common interest with Russia in combating terrorism, but terrorism is Washington's tool for destabilizing Syria, then Iran, and then the Muslim provinces of the Russian Federation and China. Washington wants hegemeny not cooperation. Now that Samantha Power has made this so clear that the Russian government can no longer pretend otherwise, what will Russia (and China) do? If Russia and China are not ready for the war that Washington is bringing to them, will they retreat in the face of the aggression, sacrificing Syria, the break-away Russian provinces from Ukraine, and the various disputed island issues in the Pacific Ocean while they gather their strength? Or will they decide to break-up the NATO alliance by making the cost of conflict very clear to Washington's European vassals? Clearly, Europe has nothing to gain from Washington's aggression against Russia and China. Or is Russia unable to do anything now that diplomacy is a proven dead-end? Perhaps this is the over-riding question. As far as someone who is not a member of the Russian government can tell, Russia is not completely in control of its destiny. Elements in the Russian government known as "Atlanticist Integrationists" believe that it is more important for Russia to be part of the West and to be integrated into the Western system than to be a sovereign country. They argue that if formerly great powers, such as Great Britain, Germany, and France, can profit from being American vassals, so can Russia. Atlanticist Integrationists claim that Russia's strategic nuclear capability and land mass means that Russia can maintain some sovereignty and only partially submit as a vassal. One problem with this position is that it assumes the neoconservatives are content with less than complete hegemony and would not capitalize on Russia's weakened position to achieve full hegemony. The Russian government probably still has hopes that at least some European governments will recognize their responsibility to avoid war and exit NATO, thus removing political cover for Washington's aggression. Possibly there is some such hope, but the main European political figures are bought-and-paid-for by Washington. As a high US government official told me as long ago as the 1970s, "we own them; they belong to us." Not much hope can be found in the European media. Udo Ulfkotte, a former editor of Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, published a book in which he said that every significant European journalist was on the CIA's payroll. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). By Steve Buckstein How many attorneys do you know who make their living defending liberty? Well, 43 attorneys work full-time at the national public interest law firm Institute for Justice. They protect school choice, economic liberty, the First Amendment, and private property. Supported by generous donors, the Institute for Justice never charges its clients. Founded 25 years ago, the Institute for Justice has litigated over 200 cases, including five before the U.S. Supreme Court, where it won four times. The fifth case led to the infamous Kelo decision, where the Court unfortunately seemed to forget that private property cannot be taken through eminent domain for a public purpose, but only for a public use. This year, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey appointed Institute for Justice co-founder Clint Bolick to the state Supreme Court, saying that Clint is nationally renowned and respected as a constitutional law scholar and as a champion of liberty. It is fitting on this 25th Anniversary of Clint Bolicks Institute for Justice that Oregons free-market think tank Cascade Policy Institute has chosen him as the Keynote Speaker at our 25th Anniversary Dinner on October 20. There, Justice Bolick will talk about how important defending personal and economic liberty has beenand still is in his new role on the Court. You wont want to miss his inspiring talk. For full details and to RSVP, go to CascadePolicy.org/25. Steve Buckstein is Founder and Senior Policy Analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregons free market public policy research organization. The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher, The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe-Adjaho has assured the chiefs and people of the Volta region that they will not be taken for granted by the NDC government or any of its functionaries. According to him, the region is being accorded the needed attention in terms of development by the government and nothing will be done to undermine the people. Speaking at a grand durbar in Ho to climax this years Asogli Yam festival celebration on Saturday, Mr. Doe-Adjaho pledged the support and commitment of all government appointees from the region towards its development. I want to pledge in the presence of all the dignitaries and chiefs gathered here that, we, the sons and daughters of this region who are in government wont do anything to deprive this region of its share of development. Whatever we have to do however, to ensure the regions progress we shall do it to the best of our ability, he stated. The Speaker of parliament who led a high-powered government delegation including the chief of staff, Julius Debrah to represent President John Mahama as a special guest at the festival, said their presence at the event, which coincided with the launch of the NDCs manifesto at Sunyani, was an attestation of their commitment to the people of the region. As we are aware, the President who was the guest of honour, is in Sunyani and from there, he will travel to the United Nations. Because of that, he asked me to lead a delegation to this festival. Myself, I was scheduled to be on an official assignment abroad but I have to cancel my trip, to be here with other appointees including the chief of staff, because duty has called. This shows the high level of respect we have for the people of Asogli and for that the entire [Volta] region, Mr. Doe-Adjaho remarked in Ewe, before going ahead to deliver the Presidents address at the durbar. His remark comes on the back of a recent tongue lashing of the NDC and its appointees in government by Togbe Afede XIV, paramount chief of the Asogli traditional area and President of the Volta region House of Chiefs, for showing gross disrespect to the chiefs and people of the area, because it is their political world bank. The speaker of parliament therefore called on all stakeholders in the region to put aside personal interest in order to build solid and congenial synergies and collaborations between chiefs and committed government appointees from the region. Because from our different elective and appointive positions, we owe it a sacred duty to the region to serve and help achieve our aspirations. Other members of the high-powered delegation to the festival included, Ambassador Dan Abodakpi, Health minister, Alex Segbefia, Volta Regional minister, Helen Ntoso, Deputy Minister for Culture and Creative Arts, Dzifa Gomashie and the Deputy General Secretary of NDC, Koku Anyidoho. Source: starrfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The 13th exhibition will be held from 7 to 9 March in Sofia, Bulgaria. Over the years it has established itself as a platform for implementation of environmentally friendly technologies and solutions in the South-East European Region. A highlight will be the Austrian Pavilion, which will be realized with the support of Advantage Austria Sofia. PHUKET, THAILAND 19 September 2016: Amatara Wellness Resort, one of Southeast Asias premier wellness resort & spa destinations, has entered into collaborative agreement with Bangkok Hospital Phuket in development of an Integrative Wellness Program. Supervised by a medical team, the program will include integrated health plans to promote the customers total wellbeing. Amatara also signed an MOU with Bangkok Airways to provide privileges for customers and beneficial offerings for clients. This is the first time the leading wellness resort has made an agreement with a hospital and airline in Thailand. The collaborative effort will help to position Thailand as a leading integrated wellness destination. Dr. Prattana Punnakitikashem, Managing Director, Amatara A Destination Spa, revealed, To offer a new service for visitors who need deep relaxation together with healthcare, Amatara Wellness Resort has collaborated with Bangkok Hospital Phuket to develop an Integrative Wellness Program that focuses on brain health, wellbeing and anti-aging services. This program will operate under the highest standards covering various angles: brain checks to world medical standards, health consulting, nutrition planning after medical treatment, relaxation and treatments, preventive health education, and wellness lifestyle programs. She continues, Amatara will provide more convenience to the hospitals patients in case they need an excellent accommodation service for recovery or relaxation after checkup, with access to superb beachfront rooms and villas, hospitality services and high-end facilities. This will effectively promote Thailands integrated wellness tourism business. The collaboration also has planned to co-develop a preventive brain health package and a deep sleep enhancement program to be launched in the future. Further, Amatara Wellness Resort works in close partnership with Bangkok Airways to introduce special privileges for clients travelling to Phuket, such as reward points for its flyer bonus program and redemption program for existing clients who stay at Amatara. With the combined strong potential of two leading companies in their industries, Bangkok Airways & Bangkok Hospital Phuket, this partnership helps Amatara to provide more services and offerings. Guests will enjoy more convenient and value-added services that cover transportation, checkup, treatment, and recovery in an integrative way. This will enhance not only the hospitality and wellness tourism sector in Phuket, but also in Thailand as a whole, in order to attract wellness tourists from around the world. Amatara has a vision to be one of the Top 5 Wellness Destinations in Southeast Asia, to enhance the global wellness tourism economy and improve wellness in Thailand to its highest standard, concluded Dr. Prattana. Dr. Kongkiat Kespechara, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) BDMS Southern Group and Director of Bangkok Phuket Hospital said, Now Thailand has obviously entered into a phase of an aging society. Many irrecoverable diseases and disorders have been found, and one of them is Alzheimer disease, which ranked in the list of top 10 diseases found in adults over 65 years old. Bangkok-Phuket Hospital sees an importance of disease awareness, development of high technology analysis programs, and research of anti-aging to reduce the risks of Alzheimer disease by specialized medical teams. The cooperation with the leading wellness resort Amatara for development of an integrated wellness program that focuses on brain health marks a big step for medical advancement. With Amataras high-end hospitality service, soothing ambience, and 5-star facilities, in cooperation with a high standard of medical expertise at Bangkok-Phuket Hospital, we strongly believe customers will experience true relaxation and be able to maintain their sustainable health in the long term, explained Dr. Kongkiat. Ms. Ornjira Kanongchaiyos, Director of Loyalty Program of Bangkok Airways, said, As per the agreement with Amatara, Bangkok Airways offers clients 10 Flyer Bonus Points for every nights stay at Amatara Wellness Resort (duration 3 years starting 15 Sep 2016 onward) to be awarded to qualifying members. For launching of the partnership, Amatara Wellness Resort is pleased to offer 20 Flyer Bonus Points for every nights stay at Amatara (double points, valid for now 31 October 2016). By cooperation with the resort, we will offer more special promotions for the general public throughout the year. Bangkok Hospital Phuket recently hosted an academic conference entitled Globalized Trend in Spine Care from 9 10 September 2016 at King Carl Gustafs Conference Room, 3rd floor. It was inaugurated by Dr. Narongrit Havarungsi, Chief Medical Officer, BDMS Southern Group. The conference aimed to foster academic collaboration, knowledge exchange and update on medical innovations and todays spine surgery technique, as well as to break new ground in the betterment of spine patient care up to international standards. It was attended by over 80 medical professionals from other hospitals in the network as well as government and private hospitals in Southern Thailand. Pieces of finished (Upper) and unfinished (Lower) fishhooks from Sakitari Cave. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1607857113 (Phys.org)A large team of Japanese researchers affiliated with multiple institutions working at a dig site on the south side of the island of Okinawa has found what are believed to be the oldest examples of fishing hooks ever unearthed. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes the fish hooks, other artifacts they found and why they believe their findings are challenging conventional views of maritime adaptations. Researchers have been excavating at the Sakitari cave site since 2009 and have now found what they believe to be evidence of people finding a way to survive on the resource-limited islandfish hooks that would allow them catch live protein-laden prey. Prior research has suggested that humans have been visiting the island for approximately 50,000 years, but until now, there was little evidence of people staying on the island for long periods of timeat least until the modern era. But this new evidence suggests that people may have been living on the island continuously for the past 23,000 yearsback to the time when the fish hooks (which were fashioned out of sea snail shells) were being used. In addition to the fish hooks, the researchers also found evidence of other food that had been eaten by the early humans such as frogs, birds, small mammals and even eelsmuch of it had been charred, suggesting humans had cooked them first. Prior to this latest report, researchers working in the cave had found human skeletal remains, beads crafted by the early people living there and what some believe might have been a grindstone. Interestingly, archaeologists have also found the remains of cooked lobster appearing to be of the size that would have been taken in the fallthe prime time for lobster fishing, as that is when they taste the best. The fish hooks represent an advancement in maritime technology, one that was necessary for the spread of people across the islands that dot the world's oceansthey suggest that people were able to spread to a much wider geographical zone earlier than has been thought. The team also reports that they have found some other artifacts that might suggest people have been living on Okinawa going back as much as 35,000 years. More information: Masaki Fujita et al. Advanced maritime adaptation in the western Pacific coastal region extends back to 35,00030,000 years before present, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016). Masaki Fujita et al. Advanced maritime adaptation in the western Pacific coastal region extends back to 35,00030,000 years before present,(2016). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1607857113 Abstract Maritime adaptation was one of the essential factors that enabled modern humans to disperse all over the world. However, geographic distribution of early maritime technology during the Late Pleistocene remains unclear. At this time, the Indonesian Archipelago and eastern New Guinea stand as the sole, well-recognized area for secure Pleistocene evidence of repeated ocean crossings and advanced fishing technology. The incomplete archeological records also make it difficult to know whether modern humans could sustain their life on a resource-poor, small oceanic island for extended periods with Paleolithic technology. We here report evidence from a limestone cave site on Okinawa Island, Japan, of successive occupation that extends back to 35,00030,000 y ago. Well-stratified strata at the Sakitari Cave site yielded a rich assemblage of seashell artifacts, including formally shaped tools, beads, and the world's oldest fishhooks. These are accompanied by seasonally exploited food residue. The persistent occupation on this relatively small, geographically isolated island, as well as the appearance of Paleolithic sites on nearby islands by 30,000 y ago, suggest wider distribution of successful maritime adaptations than previously recognized, spanning the lower to midlatitude areas in the western Pacific coastal region. Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2016 Phys.org In a new analysis of nuclear accidents, researchers at the University of Sussex and ETH Zurich provide a cost in US dollars for each incident. Credit: University of Sussex A team of risk experts who have carried out the biggest-ever analysis of nuclear accidents warn that the next disaster on the scale of Chernobyl or Fukushima may happen much sooner than the public realizes. Researchers at the University of Sussex, in England, and ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, have analysed more than 200 nuclear accidents, and estimating and controlling for effects of industry responses to previous disasters provide a grim assessment of the risk of nuclear power. Their worrying conclusion is that, while nuclear accidents have substantially decreased in frequency, this has been accomplished by the suppression of moderate-to-large events. They estimate that Fukushima- and Chernobyl-scale disasters are still more likely than not once or twice per century, and that accidents on the scale of the 1979 meltdown at Three Mile Island in the USA (a damage cost of about 10 Billion USD) are more likely than not to occur every 10-20 years. As Dr Spencer Wheatley, the lead author, explains: "We have found that the risk level for nuclear power is extremely high. "Although we were able to detect the positive impact of the industry responses to accidents such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, these did not sufficiently remove the possibility of extreme disasters such as Fukushima. To remove such a possibility would likely require enormous changes to the current fleet of reactors, which is predominantly second-generation technology." The studies, published in two papers in the journals Energy Research & Social Science and Risk Analysis, put fresh pressure on the nuclear industry to be more transparent with data on incidents. "Flawed and woefully incomplete" public data from the nuclear industry is leading to an over-confident attitude to risk, the study warns. The research team points to the fact that their own independent analysis contains three times as much data as that provided publicly by the industry itself. This is probably because the International Atomic Energy Agency, which compiles the reports, has a dual role of regulating the sector and promoting it. The research team for this new study gathered their data from reports, academic papers, press releases, public documents and newspaper articles. The result is a dataset that is unprecedented being twice the size of the next largest independent analysis. Further, the authors emphasize that the dataset is an important resource that needs to be continually developed and shared with the public. Professor Benjamin Sovacool of the Sussex Energy Group at the University of Sussex, who co-authored the studies, says: "Our results are sobering. They suggest that the standard methodology used by the International Atomic Energy Agency to predict accidents and incidents particularly when focusing on consequences of extreme events is problematic. "The next nuclear accident may be much sooner or more severe than the public realizes." The team also call for a fundamental rethink of how accidents are rated, arguing that the current method (the discrete seven-point INES scale) is highly imprecise, poorly defined, and often inconsistent. In their new analysis, the research team provides a cost in US dollars for each incident, taking into account factors such as destruction of property, the cost of emergency response, environmental remediation, evacuation, fines, and insurance claims. And for each death, they added a cost of $6 million, which is the figure used by the US government to calculate the value of a human life. That new analysis showed that the Fukushima accident in 2011 and the Chernobyl accident in 1986 cost a combined $425 billion - five times the sum of all the other events put together. However, these two extremes are rated 7 - the maximum severity level - on the INES scale. Fukushima alone would need a score of between 10 and 11 to represent the true magnitude of consequences. Further, the authors emphasize that such frequency-severity statistical analysis of holistic consequences should be used as a complementary tool to the industry standard Probabilistic Safety Assessment, especially when aggregate consequences are of interest. Professor Sovacool adds: "The results suggest that catastrophic accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima are not relics of the past. "Even if we introduce new nuclear technology, as long as older facilities remain operationallikely, given recent trends to extend permits and relicense existing reactorstheir risks, and the aggregate risk of operating the global nuclear fleet, remain." Finally, the authors emphasize that this work is not comparative in nature, i.e. it does not quantify the risks of other energy sources. It provides a risk assessment for nuclear power alone, thus informing a single criterion, for a single power source, in the selection of a portfolio of multiple power sources, where many criteria must be considered. Fellow co-author Professor Didier Sornette stresses: "While our studies seem damning of the nuclear industry, other considerations and potential for improvement may actually make nuclear energy attractive in the future." The 15 most costly nuclear events analysed by the team are: Chernobyl, Ukraine (1986) - $259 billion Fukushima, Japan (2011) - $166 billion Tsuruga, Japan (1995) - $15.5 billion TMI, Pennsylvania, USA (1979) - $11 billion Beloyarsk, USSR (1977) - $3.5 billion Sellafield, UK (1969) - $2.5 billion Athens, Alabama, USA (1985) - $2.1 billion Jaslovske Bohunice, Czechoslovakia (1977) - $2 billion Sellafield, UK (1968) - $1.9 billion Sellafield, UK (1971) $1.3 billion Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA (1986) - $1.2 billion Chapelcross, UK (1967) - $1.1 billion Chernobyl, Ukraine (1982) - $1.1 billion Pickering, Canada (1983) - $1 billion Sellafield, UK (1973) - $1 billion Explore further Lessons of Chernobyl disaster, 30 years on More information: An open-source database of all 216 analysed nuclear events is available online, containing dates, locations, cost in US dollars, and official magnitude ratings. This is the largest public database of nuclear accidents ever compiled: An open-source database of all 216 analysed nuclear events is available online, containing dates, locations, cost in US dollars, and official magnitude ratings. This is the largest public database of nuclear accidents ever compiled: innovwiki.ethz.ch/index.php/Nu lear_events_database Spencer Wheatley et al. Reassessing the safety of nuclear power, Energy Research & Social Science (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.026 Spencer Wheatley et al. Of Disasters and Dragon Kings: A Statistical Analysis of Nuclear Power Incidents and Accidents, Risk Analysis (2016). DOI: 10.1111/risa.12587 Journal information: Risk Analysis andia National Laboratories chemical engineer Craig Tenney analyzes modeling results at the John B. Robert Dam in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tenney uses computer simulations to examine how chemicals soak into concrete to better decontaminate concrete structures after a spill or other incident. Credit: Randy Montoya In March 1995, members of a Japanese cult released the deadly nerve agent sarin into the Tokyo subway system, killing a dozen people and injuring a thousand more. This leads to the question: What if a U.S. transportation hub was contaminated with a chemical agent? The hub might be shut down for weeks, which could have a substantial economic impact. Craig Tenney, a chemical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, is looking for better ways to clean contaminated concrete to reduce that impact. "We can't just rip out and replace the affected concretethat would be too expensive," said Tenney. "We need to decontaminate it and make it safe. The public has to be confident enough to come back and use the affected facility." The project, funded by Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research & Development program, uses computer simulations to examine how chemical agents soak into and bind within concrete. The power of the simulations is that researchers can glimpse details they can't obtain experimentally. Researchers can expose a concrete block to a chemical, try to clean it and then detect the remaining chemicals, but that doesn't allow them to watch what is happening on the inside, Tenney explained. Decontaminating concrete is difficult because it's chemically and physically complex. Tenney said he and his team need details of the chemical interactions that occur in concrete so they can design new decontamination methods and mixtures. Concrete's nitty-gritty details Concrete has been used since the Roman era and is everywhere: building foundations, sidewalks, even specialized underground seals and linings. But its ubiquity masks remarkable chemical complexity and physical intricacy, said Ed Matteo, a chemical engineer with expertise in cement durability. Like a cake, the recipe for concrete can change depending on how spongy, or porous, it needs to be, but the major ingredients remain the same. Roasted and finely ground limestone and clay make up the "flour," which is mixed with water to form the gluey "dough" called cement. Concrete is just cement with sand or gravel added to bulk up the mix. Other ingredients can be added to tweak properties, such as the time it takes to set. On the chemical level, cement is made up of many minerals including aluminosilicates from clay, calcium oxide of quicklime and even potassium hydroxide from potash. But the most important component is amorphous calcium silicate hydrate, the "glue of the glue," said Matteo. Cement loves water and is extremely alkaline. All this affects how chemicals react with concrete. In addition to its chemical complexity, concrete is intricately spongy and thus really hard to clean up. It may not look like it from the outside, but concrete is full of microscopic pores that allow a concrete structure to grab onto chemicals and sometimes "breathe" them back out. That means even if the concrete surface is cleaned, dangerous chemicals from an event could still be hiding deep inside. Breaking down the problem into bite-sized pieces Building upon Sandia's long-standing expertise in molecular-scale geochemical simulations, Tenney and his team modeled several long-lasting, oily chemical agents to see how they react and move within tiny water-loving concrete pores: where they spend their time and how they degrade. These simulations monitored several molecules of chemical agents wiggling for several nanoseconds in nanometer-sized pores 5,000 to 10,000 times narrower than a human hair. The team validated the simulations against what little experimental data is available, which provided a good starting point. Building on that knowledge and his expertise in atomic-scale models of chemical reactions, Chris O'Brien, a computational materials science postdoctoral researcher, looked at how chemical agents degrade in concrete. He modeled an agent bound to several representative concrete environments and watched how this interaction hastened or slowed the natural break-down process. He plans to expand to other chemical agents, time and funding permitting. The team will use the results to determine the best way to decontaminate concrete exposed to nasty chemicals. Solving the larger problem Tenney and his team still have much to do before they can suggest better decontamination mixtures for concrete, but they have determined how strongly various agents stick to concrete pores and which ones clump together. Tenney would like to team up with geochemists to look at the larger picture. Using information gained from the nanoscale models as a starting point, they would look at larger bits of concrete, still smaller than a human hair, and watch how chemical agents soak into the concrete. Once they understand the transport of chemical agents in concrete, Tenney says, they can suggest decontamination mixtures that would move similarly, following an agent to its hiding place within the porous concrete. One strength of the computer models is that they allow fairly rapid evaluation of different possible decontamination solutions, often much faster than experiments. This will let Tenney's team screen many different formulations to see which ones are best at pulling agents out of concrete or away from each other. Another future goal is to experimentally test these new decontamination methods on concrete contaminated with sample chemicals to validate the insights gained from the computer modeling. What they learn from the computational models could lead to more accurate field tests, said Tenney. Tests that accurately determine the areas impacted by an event and whether the cleaning was effective would improve the efficiency and reliability of decontamination. "Yes, it would be great from a scientific perspective to just understand what's going on, but from an engineering point of view, it would also be darn nice if we could take that understanding, tailor our approach for decontamination and make it better," said Tenney. "This is a national lab-scale problem and there are lots of little pieces that need to be put together to solve a big problem. If the unfortunate ever does happen, at least we [will be] prepared." Developmental psychologist Stanka Fitneva (seen here addressing study participants) has published new research on how cultural surroundings shape children's beliefs about their own and their parent's knowledge. Credit: Queen's University New research by Queen's University developmental psychologist Stanka Fitneva has found that culture and environment can impact when and how children identify their own areas of knowledge and those of the adults in their lives. "Children do not know everything that adults know, nor do adults know everything that children know," explains Dr. Fitneva. "While prior research has allowed us a greater understanding of when this differentiation in understanding between adult- and child- specific knowledge takes place, much of the research has taken place in the West. In this study, we examined whether cultural factors may play a role how these beliefs are formed." The study examined two sets of children, consisting of 24 four year-old and 24 seven year-old children, in both Canada and Japan. Despite both being modern, technologically-advanced democracies, the two nations differ in their approach to the role of the individual as part of the larger society and the importance given to one's elders. Dr. Fitneva hypothesized this difference could impact how children and adults both consider what the other knows and understands. The children were asked to identify whether certain abilities or types of knowledge would be more likely to be held by an adult or a child. The children were then asked to describe their own knowledge of the same items and tasks, and asked to identify knowledge or skills that children would be more likely to possess than adults. The parents of these children also participated by filling out a questionnaire, which included questions asking what their children knew that they might not such as the names of characters from Spongebob Squarepants, or other topics relating to popular child-specific programs. Dr. Fitneva noted a difference between the samples in how children recognized their own knowledge and that of their peers. All children successfully identified "adult" knowledge or skills such as 'knowing how to make chicken soup'. However, Japanese children's self-reported knowledge more strongly correlated with their overall view of what children should know suggesting they viewed their own knowledge as being similar to their peers, rather than assuming that they stood out from the group. The researchers conclude that cultural factors could contribute to this difference in how children interpret the knowledge of adults. "As we expected, beliefs about adult-specific knowledge would develop first in both cultures and beliefs about child-specific knowledge are more strongly related to a child's own knowledge in the Japanese sample," says Dr. Fitneva. Across cultures, the study noted that children develop beliefs about what adults know before they are able to identify their own areas of knowledge. Dr. Fitneva says that further research is needed to fully understand how children develop their sense of age-specific knowledge and when a child's actual knowledge level diverges from their sense of what they know. Explore further Can white kids grow up to be black? Some preschoolers think so More information: Stanka A. Fitneva et al. Japanese and Canadian Children's Beliefs about Child and Adult Knowledge: A Case for Developmental Equifinality?, PLOS ONE (2016). Journal information: PLoS ONE Stanka A. Fitneva et al. Japanese and Canadian Children's Beliefs about Child and Adult Knowledge: A Case for Developmental Equifinality?,(2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163018 Illustration shows procedures for growing ternary molybdenum sulfoselenide on the porous foam; b-c, images showing surface roughness of the nickel diselenide foam grown at 600 degrees C; d-e, morphologies of ternary molybdenum sulfoselenide particles on porous foam, grown at 500 degrees C. Credit: University of Houston Hydrogen is often considered a fuel for the future, in the form of fuel cells to power electric motors or burned in internal combustion engines. But finding a practical, inexpensive and nontoxic way to produce large amounts of hydrogen gas especially by splitting water into its component parts, hydrogen and oxygen has been a challenge. A team of researchers from the University of Houston and the California Institute of Technology has reported a more efficient catalyst, using molybdenum sulfoselenide particles on three-dimensional porous nickel diselenide foam to increase catalytic activity. The foam, made using commercially available nickel foam, significantly improved catalytic performance because it exposed more edge sites, where catalytic activity is higher than it is on flat surfaces, said Zhifeng Ren, MD Anderson Professor of physics at UH. Ren is lead author of a paper in Nature Communications describing the discovery. Other researchers involved include Haiqing Zhou, Fang Yu, Jingying Sun, Ran He, Shuo Chen, Jiming Bao and Zhuan Zhu, all of UH, and Yufeng Huang, Robert J. Nielsen and William A. Goddard III of the California Institute of Technology. "With the massive consumption of fossil fuels and its detrimental impact on the environment, methods of generating clean power are urgent," the researchers wrote. "Hydrogen is an ideal carrier for renewable energy; however, hydrogen generation is inefficient because of the lack of robust catalysts that are substantially cheaper than platinum." Platinum catalysts have the highest efficiency rate for hydrogen evolution, said Ren, who also is a principal investigator at the Texas Center for Superconductivity. But platinum is rare, difficult to extract and too expensive for practical use, he said, and researchers continue to seek less expensive ways to split water into its component parts. Currently, most hydrogen is produced through steam methane reforming and coal gasification; those methods raise the fuel's carbon footprint despite the fact that it burns cleanly. Molybdenum sulfoselenide and similar layered compounds have shown promise as catalysts, but so far no one has boosted their performance to viable levels in bulk form. The researchers say most active catalysis on those layered compounds, known as layered transition-metal dichalcogenides, or LTMDs, takes place at the edges, making the idea of a substrate with a large number of exposed edges more desirable. Also, they wrote, "arranging two different materials into hybrids might lead to synergistic effects that utilize the best properties of each component." Their hybrid catalyst is composed of molybdenum sulfoselenide particles with vertically aligned layers on a 3-D porous conductive nickel diselenide scaffold. Testing determined that the hybrid catalyst required 69 millivolts from an external energy source to achieve a current density of 10 milliamps per square centimeter, which the researchers said is much better than many previously reported tests. In this case, the current "splits" the water, converting it to hydrogen at the cathode. Achieving the necessary current density with lower voltage improves energy conversion efficiency and reduces preparation costs. A platinum catalyst required 32 millivolts in the testing, but Ren said ongoing testing has reduced the hybrid catalyst requirements to about 40 millivolts, close to the platinum requirements. Equally important, he said, was the ability to increase current output at a faster rate than the increase in required energy input. The catalyst remained stable after 1,000 cycles at a constant current. The work will continue as researchers focus on reducing required voltage. Explore further New catalyst for hydrogen production More information: Haiqing Zhou et al. Efficient hydrogen evolution by ternary molybdenum sulfoselenide particles on self-standing porous nickel diselenide foam, Nature Communications (2016). Journal information: Nature Communications Haiqing Zhou et al. Efficient hydrogen evolution by ternary molybdenum sulfoselenide particles on self-standing porous nickel diselenide foam,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12765 European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager says the EU is going after all tax evaders Europe's powerful Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday that the EU order for Apple to pay $15 billion in taxes did not represent any bias against US companies. Speaking hours after the European Union launched an in-depth probe into alleged sweetheart tax deals between French gas group Engie and Luxembourg, Vestager said the new case was evidence that the EU was going after all tax evaders. "If you look at our practice, then you cannot find a US bias. You cannot find the statistics to back up any kind of bias," she said in Washington. The European Commission, the EU executive arm, last month ordered Apple to reimburse a record 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in unpaid taxes in Ireland. That came after US companies, including Starbucks, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, have come under probes over the low profits tax they pay in Europe due to alleged sweetheart tax deals with certain governments. When the Apple ruling was announced late last month, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew criticized it as unfairly targeting US companies. Vestager, speaking at a news conference ahead of a meeting with Lew, said that of some 150 such tax rulings made by the European Commission since 2000, only two percent involved US companies. She also said the tax hit on Apple was not a reprisal against US regulators' imposition of multibillion-dollar fines on European banks for violating US sanctions on other countries and for their involvement in the massive US subprime mortgage bond crisis. Last week the US Justice Department proposed a record $14 billion fine against Deutsche Bank for its selling of high-risk mortgage bonds before the 2008 financial crisis. "I am absolutely certain that the decision on Deutsche Bank is built on facts of the case and American legislation," Vestager said. Explore further EU rejects US concerns of bias in company tax investigations 2016 AFP Emily is an emergency dispatcher, yet work is the only place where she always feels calm. Sometimes, when Emily (not her real name) walks her dog on the sidewalks of her Pittsburgh neighborhood or gets ready to leave her home to run errands, she feels a spell of dizziness. Then comes shortness of breath. After that, a spacy, hallucinatory feeling. It will seem like there is nothing real to me, she says, like everything is in a dream. Then imbalance, paralysis and a clamming up that makes it difficult for her to communicate with anyone, even her husband. Her condition is panic disorder, and its marked by recurrent, unpredictable panic attacks and a lingering undercurrent of anxiety about future attacks. The episodes started when she was 12. They were initially misdiagnosed as migraines. She says her teen years were difficult. The medication Paxil caused her to gain weight and become even more moody and socially withdrawn. Through the years, talk therapy has helped to a degree. Now, at the age of 32, Emily has the stability of a career and a husband, but still lives in fear of the attacks. She feels a sense of wooziness when she exits a familiar place, like her home or the dispatch center, and enters the chaotic larger world. Her work allows her to plug in an earpiece and channel some of that worry into situations where worry makes sense, coordinating medics to crime scenes and car accidents. The dispatch center is the one place where Ive never had [an attack], she says. I dont have time. You cant think about anything else besides the work. Home hasnt been as peaceful. Her husband wants to travel more, but Emily fears airplanes and highways. Day trips to nearby casinos on state routes are the best she can do. It has caused a strain on her marriage. When she vetoes plans to avoid triggers, her husband tells her shes being a bit dramatic and then he withdraws. Last January, Emily saw a Facebook ad for a pilot program offering a new treatment for panic attacks. Allegheny Health Network was offering a free four-week trial of a breathing tool called Freespira. At an impasse with her condition, she clicked on it. This is how Emily found herself in a conference room at AHNs North Side headquarters, a clear plastic nasal cannula stretched across her lower lip, staring into a tablet computer and trying to breathe at the pace of a series of beeps. The Freespira device, about the size of a dinner roll, was the conduit between the breathing tube and the computer. An AHN nurse helped guide her through the process, which took 17 minutes, but there really wasnt much to clarify. The Freespira system explained itself via the tablet computer. It told Emily to close her eyes and breathe normally for the first part of the session. Then it gave her a series of tones to follow, breathing in as the 8-bit video game-like sound escalated and exhaling as it dropped. Two graphs, like rising and falling Etch-a- Sketch mountain ranges, were on display. One charted Emilys breath and the other the goal breathing rate. During the final part of the session, the program asked Emily to breathe along only using the graph; no sounds to follow. Emily took the setup home that day for a four-week trial. Each day, the Freespira guided her breathing, slowing down her pace as the weeks progressed. She says she hasnt had an attack since she returned the device to AHN. Utilizing both personal technology and knowledge about panic attacks that did not exist 12 years ago, Freespira has had promising results for Emily and the 6 million other Americans who suffer from panic disorder, and might have even better implications for health insurance networks, for whom panic disorder is one of the most expensive and frustrating conditions to treat. Panic attacks can cause financial spillovers when patients wind up in emergency room with symptoms doctors might mistake as signs of a heart attack, and conventional mental health approaches have had mixed results. Freespira utilizes a technique developed in the mid-2000s, primarily at Stanford University. Researchers believed that panic attacks create a state of constant hyperventilation. The strained breaths dont deliver as much oxygen as deliberately paced breathing, inducing the bodys fight-or-flight mechanism and reinforcing the panic response. And panic sufferers breathe differently, more shallowly, even when not in the midst of an attack. The Stanford researchers developed a protocol called CART, capnometry-assisted respiratory training, to teach patients to normalize their air intake, learning to escape the cycle. In the first study of CART, published in a 2008 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research, 40 percent of subjects were free of panic attacks during the fourweek training period. At the two-month follow-up, 62 percent had not had an attack since the training. In a period between two and 12 months after the CART training, 68 percent were free of attacks. Note that, after the four-week trial, patients were not continuing to train. They had merely reset their breathing habits. Freespira is basically a computer program that teaches CART in a home setting. It was developed by Palo Alto Health Sciences, a firm created to commercialize the CART technique and approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in 2013. Promising clinical trials and FDA approval are not the only gates between a treatment and its intended beneficiaries. Insurance companies can be hesitant about new treatments. Its just a process we expect to go through, says Greg Tomita, vice president of marketing for Palo Alto Health Sciences. It will take a few years. Allegheny Health Network has a program to try out just such new technologies and recent medical innovations. Named VITAL, the program has connected patients with new treatments for everything from peripheral artery disease to acid reflux. A VITAL pilot program does not test a treatments clinical effectiveness, notes Dr. Alan J. Russell, AHNs chief innovation officer and executive vice president. Thats already been tested before we get to it. It tests the financial feasibility of AHN offering the treatment. When he heard about Freespira, Russell said it sounded like a winwin- win: Its noninvasive, requires no medication, and Im pretty impressed by the patient response. There are incentives for a group like AHN to seek out a new treatment for panic disorder, in particular. While exact figures on the costs to treat mental health conditions are difficult to pin down, it is known in the medical field that panic attacks cost insurers a lot of moneymuch of which is spent on treatments that have unimpressive success rates. Its noninvasive, requires no medication, and Im pretty impressed by the patient response. Dr. Alan J. Russell, Allegheny Health Networks chief innovation officer on Freespira In 2005, researchers compiling the American Psychiatric Associations latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual found that medication fosters some improvement for panic disorder patients in 70 to 90 percent of cases. But its difficult to keep patients on medication, due to side effects and changes in access to meds; 84 percent of panic disorder patients discontinue antidepressants within 90 days, and only 30 to 45 percent of these patients remain well after quitting their meds. Also, benzodiazepines, the sedatives commonly prescribed for anxiety, have abuse potential and are rising more quickly than opiates as a factor in overdose deaths. In 1999, the sedatives were present in 1,135 OD fatalities. In 2014, they were present in just south of 8,000. As for talk therapy, Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) remains the gold standard for panic disorder, according to Russell. CBT therapists use a variety of methods to examine and alter the patients thought process. According to a 2006 British Medical Journal study, 41 percent of patients reported being free of panic attacks after 12 months of CBT. However, Most therapists arent trained to do cognitive behavioral therapy, says Dr. Anthony Mannarino, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Allegheny General Hospital, an AHN facility. Unless a patient searches out a cognitive behavioral therapist (which requires a degree of knowledge of psychologist styles rare in the general population), he or she probably isnt going to find one. The result is most therapists [treating panic disorder] just do supportive therapy, says Mannarino. While a well-trained supportive ear can help anyone with a mental health disorder, Mannarino says panic attacks are a particular kind of psychiatric disorder that might not decrease with generalized treatment, as insurers continue to shell out for weekly therapy sessions. The most expensive aspect of panic disorder, from an insurers standpoint, is the tendency of sufferers to wind up in emergency rooms. If a person arrives at the ER with the myriad of physical symptoms that can accompany a panic attackshortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, etc.the staff will usually implement a series of tests for other conditions with those symptomsand quickly, without thought to cost. Its how emergency medicine works, Mannarino says; doctors and nurses think in terms of worst-case scenarios. An expensive troubleshooting process commences. The National Institute of Mental Healths most recent attempt to tally the cost of repeated use of emergency services for relief from anxiety disorders, compiled in 1999, put the figure at $22.8 billion. Thats $32.7 billion in 2016 dollars. Palo Alto is currently charging insurers $499 a month to rent a Freespira unit, a small price to curb the financial chaos of stop-start treatments and ER visits that come with panic disorder. Russell, chair of AHNs VITAL program, says hes still reviewing the results of AHNs pilot program, which introduced 100 patients to Freepsira treatment, but he says hes been impressed so far. Its so much faster than other treatments and its a non-medicine, he says. Its priceless. [Many patients] have tried so many medications and have been in therapy for years. This gives them a sense of control. Three months after Freespira breath training, Emily hasnt suffered a panic attack. She is cautiously optimistic. She and her husband havent made any travel plans, but she no longer gets a spike of discomfort when she crosses the thresholds of home or work. In fact, she doesnt think about that transition from familiar settings to the outside world anymore. And thats a start. Advocates for fairer school funding are promising to appeal a judges decision Monday in a case of eight school districts that sought more adequate funding. Last year, eight school districts filed a lawsuit, Maisto v. the State of New York, in state Supreme Court of Manhattan claiming that education funding is inadequate. The districts involved are Niagara Falls, Jamestown, Utica, Kingston, Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie, newburgh and Mount Vernon. The districts, also known as the Small Cities Schools, said they had been severely underfunded because the state had not fulfilled its obligation to fully funded education. As part of a settlement to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, the Legislature in 2007 had promised to provide more than $7 billion in new education funding over a four-year period. When the Great Recession hit in 2008, the state initially froze and then reduced the amount of aid coming to schools through the gap elimination adjustment. The plaintiffs said that the judge found that student outcomes in many of the plaintiff districts are not acceptable but the judge did not address financial resources. The judge referenced the earlier case, which referenced a report from then-Gov. George Pataki that determined the costs for a sound basic education in New York City. This report recommended that the rest of the state provide 25 percent of what was recommended for New York City. The implication of the judges order is that New York City schools should be fully funded, but that it is okay to have a double-standard where schools in the rest of the state only get a small fraction of that ordered for New York City. That is simply unacceptable and is why the plaintiffs have already announced their intention to appeal this case. And by the way, the state has failed to fully fund New York City schools as ordered in CFE, said Billy Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education. Seniors are invited to take part in the weekly Lecture and Lunch Series, formerly known as the Senior Lecture Series, starting Tuesday and running through Oct. 11 at the SUNY Adirondack Queensbury campus. Programs start at 9:30 a.m. with refreshments and check-in. Lunch is served from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. Each session features three hour-long lectures, each followed by a 15-minute question and answer period. The series kicks off Tuesday with Thomas Mowatt, assistant professor of biology, speaking on Canine Sense of Smell at 10 a.m.; Trent Millet, president of Mohawk-Hudson Dowers, on Health, History and Wellness with the Waters of Saratoga at 11:30 a.m.; and Nicholas Buttino, professor emeritus of business, on The National Debt: Is America Going Bankrupt? at 1:45 p.m. Additional programs are planned Sept. 27, Oct. 4 and October 11. Sept. 27 programming includes Kathleen Hogan, Warren County District Attorney, on The Heroin Epidemic; Jen Bremser, assistant professor of psychology at SUNY Plattsburgh in Queensbury, on The Extreme Female Brain and Aspects of Eating Disorders; and Jonathan Newell, executive director of Hudson River Music Hall, on The World of Music. Oct. 5 speakers are Colin McCoy, adjunct professor of social science, on How Lincoln Won the Presidency in 1860; Joseph W. Zarzynski, maritime archaeologist, on Rod Serling and His Journey into Another Dimension; and Nancy Kimball, licensed wildlife rehabilitator, on Meet the Raptors of the Adirondacks. On Oct. 11, programming includes Norman Enhorning, professor emeritus of history, on History of American Political Parties; Valerie Haskins, professor of anthropology and archaeology, on Guatemala and Belize: Maya Culture and Community Interaction; and Jonathan Canning, curator of The Hyde Collection, on Curating The Hyde Collection. The series cost, which includes all programs and lunch and refreshments, is $129. For more information or to register, call the SUNY Adirondack Office of Continuing Education at 743-2238. Doug Gruse is Director of Marketing and Communications at SUNY Adirondack. Email him at grused@sunyacc.edu. For more information on the college, go to www.sunyacc.edu. HORICON A Florida man has been charged for allegedly stealing a vehicle from a Horicon residence back in July. The Warren County Sheriffs Office was called to a residence on Tannery Road on July 12 at about 4:30 a.m. for a report of a stolen 2008 Mercury Mountaineer. The owner of the vehicle discovered it was missing from the driveway after waking up to go to work, according to a news release. The owner told police that a relative, 33-year-old Alfred L. Lambdin of Milton, Florida, had been staying at the residence. Authorities believed that Lambdin was attempting to return to Florida, and entered the vehicle into the New York State Police Information Network. Lambdin was later located operating the vehicle in Atlantic County, New Jersey. He was extradited back to Warren County on Friday and charged with one count of felony third-degree grand larceny. Lambdin was arraigned in Horicon Town Court and bail was set at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond. He is due to return on Sept. 28 at 3 p.m. The case was investigated by Investigator Russ Lail. QUEENSBURY A Queensbury woman was arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge following a crash. Warren County Sheriffs Officers responded to the area of Haviland Road near Meadowbrook Road just before 11 p.m. after nearby residents reported hearing a vehicle crash into a utility pole, according to a news release. Police interviewed the driver, 58-year-old Debra L. McHale, and learned that she had consumed an alcoholic beverage earlier in the evening. She allegedy failed standardized field sobriety tests and was arrested. Upon further investigation, police found that her blood alchol content was 0.18 over twice the legal limit. She was charged with misdemeanor aggravated DWI. McHale was not injured in the crash. She was released on an appearance ticket and is due to return to the Town of Queensbury Court on a later date. QUEENSBURY Apex Solar Power has signed a contract with Tesla Motors to install solar-powered electric car charging stations at the homes of vehicle owners. If youre out there driving your Tesla or your electric BMW, you pull into your house and you plug your solar system into your electric car, said Stan Dobert, co-founder of Queensbury-based Apex Solar Power. The contract will lead to an increase in the companys workforce in about six months, as sales of the new product pick up, said Greg Demarse, the companys other co-founder. Once the orders start coming in, we will, of course, have to start hiring more electricians to put them in, he said. Company officials announced the contract Monday when U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, toured the Apex headquarters and warehouse complex at 64 Main St. as part of her re-election campaign. Stefanik is running for re-election against Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County, and Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls. Dobert said the largest segment of the companys business comes from customers who are 40 to 50 years old and who take advantage of federal tax credits for alternative energy such as solar and wind power. Really its all about the economics, he said. Some of them are all lovey dovey about how its going to save the environment, but its mostly about the bottom line. Dobert praised Stefanik for advocating and voting in support in late 2015 of extending a federal alternative energy tax credit program for three years, to 2019. Because of that we employ people and our growth has continued. And we all want to say, Thank you very much, he said. Im here to talk about a result that has translated into not only a clean industry but also jobs rights here in New Yorks 21st District, Stefanik said. Stefaniks environmental and conservation record has drawn mixed reviews. The Nature Conservancy awarded Stefanik its Supporter of Nature Award for support of land conservation programs. Lake George and Adirondack groups have praised her efforts to raise awareness and get funding for control of invasive species. Derrick, her Democratic opponent, has criticized Stefanik for her score of 9 out of a possible 100 points on a League of Conservation Voters scorecard, based on her voting record in 2015. Monday was Stefaniks second visit to Apex Solar Power since she took office in January 2015. The company manufactures, sells and installs solar units. It has warehouses in Queensbury, Malone, Syracuse, Newburgh and Massachusetts. The company started locally with five employees about nine years ago and now has about 90 full-time employees and about 30 full-time independent sales contractors. The typical sales and installation of a solar panel involves about 40 people performing 127 different tasks, said Steve Weigel, the companys chief administrative officer. Think about the thousands and thousands of jobs (industrywide) that translates to, Stefanik said. Dobert said the company plans to begin construction soon on a second story of its headquarters building and related parking lot and landscaping improvements that the Queensbury Planning Board approved in November. GLENS FALLS The Chapman Historical Museum will host William R. Griffith, author of "The Battle of Lake George: Englands First Triumph in the French and Indian War," at 2 p.m. Sunday. The public is invited to meet Griffith at the event, during which he will sign copies of the newly published book, in which he recounts the thrilling details of this important event in the regions history. Griffith, 24, is a native of Branchburg, New Jersey, and a lifelong student of American military history. His interest and passion in the subject can be traced back to a visit to Fort William Henry with his father when he was 5. Vacationing annually with his family at Lake George, he developed a love for New Yorks colonial history. A 2014 graduate of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, with a degree in history, he is completing his master's degree in military history through Norwich Universitys graduate program. The book sells for $21.99 and is available in the Chapman Museum shop. The museum is located at 348 Glen St., Glens Falls, NY. For information, call 793-2826 or go to www.chapmanmuseum.org. FORT ANN The idea is this: It takes a community to feed a community. We know that there are people in Fort Ann who do not have enough food, so we need to come together as a community, find that food and get it out to the people who need it, said Supervisor Richard Moore, who is coordinating with Highway Supervisor Paul Winchell in a project called Fort Ann Helping Fort Ann. I mentioned this at a Town Board meeting and said I could not do it alone, and Paul said he would step in and help, Moore said. That got it started. The two town officials will not be alone in the project, which kicked off with a meeting last week. The turnout was great, Moore said. There are a lot of people who want to help, and they know there are some people in Fort Ann who are not as fortunate as others. Moore said the meeting included church and school leaders, members of the towns emergency squads and others. The aim is to collect canned and dry goods and plan for a distribution in the weeks before Thanksgiving. If that works, maybe we can shoot for another one right before Easter, Moore said. A can drive will be held at the school and students will make posters letting people know about it. Pastors and ministers will speak to their congregations about donations, and the towns emergency groups will also do collections. We are looking for any help we can get, Moore said. There are people out there who need help, and we need to help them. More details will be available as the plan moves forward. Moore said Emily Stranahan, who has children in the school system and helped coordinate the food backpack program, will be involved in the food drive. Moore urged anyone interested in helping out with the food drive, especially local businesses and community groups, to call 639-8929. LAKE GEORGE Yankee Boating Center will hold a Boating for Babies benefit event from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at its Diamond Point marina. The company will offer half-off its boat rentals all weekend, with all proceeds being donated toward renovations at the Glens Falls Hospital Snuggery. The company hopes to raise $20,000 for the Snuggery. To make a reservation, call 668-5696. Those who cannot attend but wish to donate can do so. BOLTON School officials have achieved several goals of their strategic plan and are focusing this year on offering more advanced courses, creating a hospitality program and addressing facility needs. The districts strategic plan has five major components: increasing academic achievement and raising expectations, maximizing Boltons strengths as a small school, increasing opportunities in science, technology, art engineering and math (STEAM), improving the facility and increasing community engagement. Among the tasks already accomplished have been to add an Advanced Placement course in psychology, create a Makerspace room where students can work on creative projects and add French and Spanish in the sixth grade, according to a recent presentation. Other achievements have been to expand elementary art down to first grade, create a math club, improve communication with the public on school news and happenings and increase staff professional development on using data to improve student achievement. The tasks for the 2016-2017 school year include continuing expansion of foreign language in the elementary school; developing creative evaluation tools, including student self-assessment; and developing an in-house hospitality program and internships, with the goal of enrolling students in the fall of 2017. Also, the school aims to help students establish relationships with peers from outside Bolton and offer training to teachers to improve teacher-parent relationships. School officials are going to develop a plan to address maintenance issues identified in the 2016 building conditions survey, develop a plan to address stormwater runoff from the roof of the 1974 wing, address the needs of the bus garage and explore the concept of an auditorium addition. The roughly 200-student district is continuing its efforts to reach out to the community through events such as a senior citizens luncheon and grandparents breakfast. The defendant was taken to Warren County Jail by the court and is also held in custody by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer. Grant for wastewater treatment plant rejected Boos to the state Environmental Facilities Corp. for rejecting an application from the village of Lake George for a $4.75 million grant to help in the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant. The state gives out grants to improve wastewater treatment as part of an effort to keep the states waters clean. The Lake George plant has been inadequate to its task for years and as a result has been contributing to the lakes problems with loss of clarity and algae growth. Its hard for us to imagine a higher priority than stopping pollution of Lake George, which is such a jewel among the states natural resources and is so critical to the economy of the region. Village officials met with state officials following the rejection, and we hope the villages next request for funding is successful. Site will be preserved Bravos to Gino Vona, owner of the land in Fort Ann called Battle Hill, where a Revolutionary War clash, the Battle of Fort Anne, was fought on July 7, 1777, between Continental and British forces. Vona had originally hoped to develop the property as a mine. But as people came forward to advocate for preserving the site, Vona gave them time to do historical research and, eventually, agreed to sell the land to the Civil War Trust, a national organization dedicated to preserving North American battlefields. Vona also donated part of the land in the deal. No double standard here Boos to Jim Brock, the Warren County supervisor from the citys 4th Ward, for criticizing the Glens Falls mayor, Jack Diamond, because Diamond is seeking to fire city Assessor Lauren Stack. Stack has been convicted in two recent drunken driving episodes. Brock, a former city councilman, says the mayor is exhibiting a double standard, because he recently rehired John Ward to handle city code enforcement. Ward pleaded guilty in 2006 to driving while ability impaired. What Brock is not considering is that Stack was already given a second chance by the mayor in 2012, after it was revealed that she had a criminal record in Florida, where she had committed burglaries in the late 1990s, been convicted of a felony and served two years in prison. Every case of this sort will have its own circumstances, and the mayor has the discretion to decide who deserves another chance and who doesnt. He has made the right calls in both Wards case and Stacks. Votes are being taken in public Bravos to the Moreau Town Board for making sure that any votes taken after executive sessions are being held in public, and for providing summaries of decisions made during executive sessions, even if no votes were taken. The board changed its procedures after being criticized by Robert Freeman, director of the state Committee on Open Government, for firing people in secret, during executive sessions, and never revealing the actions to the public. The board has done the right thing by making the change. Revitalization effort moving ahead smartly Bravos to the Glens Falls Downtown Revitalization Initiative Advisory Committee for holding its meetings in public and for encouraging public comment in various forums, including online surveys. Its easy to be cynical about the state economic development process, which pits communities and regions against each other in competitions for state grants. The system rewards those communities willing to sink lots of money into colorful plans and is a windfall for urban planning and design firms, if no one else. Its also easy to denigrate the $10 million award, which sounds like a lot but isnt much when you consider how expensive it can be to rehabilitate a single historic building. Nonetheless, city and local economic development officials have done a great job of maneuvering the city into position to get this grant, and it now appears they are being smart about how to spend it. The idea is not to sink millions into a single big project but to use the money to help make as many projects as possible happen projects that, without a little bit of extra funding, probably would not go forward. Post-Star editorials represent the opinion of the Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Terry Coomes, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle and citizen representative Stuart Ginsburg. This was to demand the release of their deposits running into several millions of Ghana Cedis. But an injunction from the High Court of Justice, Sunyani ordered the customers to refrain from any protest on the day of the launch. Mr. Nketia has subsequently accused the NPP of using the situation as a campaign message ahead of this years elections. READ MORE: Election 2016 Police seeks injunction to prevent demonstration by DKM customers Asiedu Nketia said government cannot be blamed for an investment decision that has gone bad. Speaking to Citi News, Spokesperson for the customers, Maxwell Mahama however indicated that they will resort to the courts if Asiedu Nketia fails to apologise for his comments. That is an unfortunate remark from Asiedu Nketia. Those who dont have their monies with these investment companies are the ones making these remarks. It is not true that we are allowing ourselves to be wooed by politicians. That is why I am saying that Asiedu Nketia should come and apologise and retract or face us in the law courts for making these unwarranted and unfounded allegations. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The Accra Food Festival is a hub for Accra's lifestyle enthusiasts to interact, eat, have fun and do business. This year's edition took a break from their former location, the Alliance Francaise as food and drink lovers converged at the Accra Polo Heights Grounds at the heart of Airport City. At 11am prompt, the event was already underway with most patrons trying to get in early to avoid missing out on the good food, the free booze and great live band. Stand after stand offered a glimpse of what the various vendors had in stock. From hotels like the Royal Senchi in the Eastern Region right to safari-inspired Zaina Lodge in Mole in the Northern Region, it was safe to say that everyone had been represented. The restaurants and food stands were so many that one was left indecisive on what to eat and what to stay away from. The Peduase Valley resort was the first to open it's door to Pulse Ghana by offering us what they called the "Afrofusion" dish, a gourmet meal using Ghanaian ingredients like Yam, Plantain, tomato, pepper and tilapia but presented like you'll find in a 5-star restaurant somewhere in Europe and America. From 1:00pm, things had just started to get exciting. Celebrities, socialites & everybody hard to be seen started making their way to the venue. KKD, a purveyor of Ghanaian lifestyle was the first to be spotted in his flamboyant fashion and his famous stick which has been copied by his young proteges all over Ghana. Radio and TV's Berla Mundi was another face that couldn't be missed even amongst the crowd which was growing larger by the minute. Nana Asante Bediatuo, Agnes Ntow of Y-fm, James Gardiner, Bola Ray,Sammy Forson, Manifest and more took their turns to attend the event. In the evening, it was sealed with good music from the live band, good dance tunes and some Azonto moves. Music lovers were not left out. SEE ALSO: How to prepare beans salad Anorectal Malformation, or Imperforate Anus, is a spectrum of abnormalities of the rectum and anus. Affected persons need immediate surgery to create an opening for the passage of stool. In the case of a female, stool may be allowed to pass through the genitals until corrective surgery is performed. Speaking to Kumasi-based Luv FM, Dr Amoah said the situation, which can affect other parts of the body, has reached an alarming point and has therefore called for intensive antenatal interventions. Health experts say nutritional deficiencies and chemical contamination are among the causes of the disease. However, common among them is the folic acid deficiency, Dr Amoah has said. He explained that If the folic acid level in the blood is not up a certain minimum required level then the foetus stands the chance of being born with this condition. But the police have said they are unable to provide security for the nurses and hence their demonstration should be postponed to September 22. We had given the Police three weeks notice of our intention to embark on this peaceful march and we have just been denied at the nick of time when people have travelled from far and near in preparation only to be told there has been some last minute arrangement which the police will not be able to provide security for uswe have now been given September 22, 2016 to embark on this march, he added. The president wrote on Facebook on Monday, September 19 that the former Council of State member was a great woman of our modern era. Dr Mary Grant was a former Member of the Council of State and former member of erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). She entered politics after she was appointed Deputy Secretary for Health in 1985 during the PNDC era. She championed the fight for a better welfare of all categories of health workers. She was also involved in drawing guidelines for drawing guidelines for the party structures at the grassroots. During her tenure as Deputy Secretary for Health, she led Ghanas delegation to many international conferences including General Assemblies in Geneva, World Health Organisation (WHO), WHO Regional Conferences in Africa, World Bank Meeting in Africa Health, Cairo Conference on Population and Development among others. READ ALSO: Amenfi West MP dead She was also part of Ghanas delegation to the Beijing Conference on Womens Rights. Dr Grant later served for two terms as a member of the Council of State at the inauguration of the fourth republic. During that same time, she was the Chairperson of the National Council on Women and Development. READ ALSO: Six dead in gas explosion at Tinga The Ghana Medical Association at their 39th Annual General Conference in 1997, awarded her a Certificate of Honour for her concern for the welfare of doctors. She received a State award in the same year for her wise and forthright counsel as a member of the Council of State. She turned 88 on August 6 this year. Ive been in exile, I have suffered a lot. But now at my age though Im old age, Im young in thoughts. Now the workers of Ghana are suffering and the voice of labour should be heard. We helped Nkrumah to make it possible for Ghana to have independence and Trade Union Leaders have suffered some have died, he told Accra-based Kasapa FM. He argued: The time has come for a leader who is courageous, patriotic and incorruptible. Ghanaians should vote for me because I understand the problems of Labour and Industry. I have negotiated with top employers since independence and so I know the problems of both employers and workers. People dont understand the problems of workers. People are talking about providing jobs but they dont understand workers problems. With my experience I will be the right person to be President of Ghana. The above words sum up what several residents in the Greater Accra region feel about the countrys education system, which many believe would eventually collapse if politicians do not come out with an effective strategy to deal with its 'falling standards.' Hundreds of the residents, mainly traders, artisans, labourers among others expressed these sentiments during the Institute of Economic Affairs #IWantToKnow Campaign. The #IWantToKnow Campaign is aimed at getting questions from the average Ghanaian on the street on what they would want to ask the presidential candidates if they had the chance to meet them. The campaign, which was earlier rolled out in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi last week, proceeded to the Greater Accra region on Friday, September 16, where the team was at the main Makola market to solicit from the people what they would want to ask their various presidential candidates. The campaign team made stopovers at strategic trading centres at Accra, where T-shirts and other paraphernalia were distributed to the teeming crowd who were excited to receive the team. Several of them who interacted with the team said they would want to know what plans the flag bearers have, particularly, in the countrys education sector ahead of the elections. A businessman at the Osu Oxford street in Accra said: The fees are too much. The last time I went with my daughter to follow up on her admission, the school fees were just too much. Government must tell us how they intend to solve the problem because the education of our children cannot be overlooked. Its sad. A security man at one of the fast food joints on the same busy street in Accra shared similar sentiments. I want to know the plans the flag bearers have for our kids who are going to school. They promised us free education, but we are yet to see it, he said. At the Accra Polytechnic School, some of the students who interacted with the team on the basis of anonymity said they have lost all hope in the various presidential candidates as their previous promises to assist students are yet to be fulfilled. As one angry student puts it: Sister, I have nothing to ask them [flagbearers] as they have nothing for us. By now they are chairing big big meetings and thinking of how to win the elections. That is their main concern. As for me, I will continue to fend for myself. A parent who had come to the school to assist her ward in the registration process said: We dont see what they [flag bearers] have for our childrens education. At the Makola market in Accra, several traders who were happy to meet the team expressed similar sentiments. Our childrens education is worrying us. The fees are too much. So they [flag bearers] should tell us how they can help us. That is all I want to know, a woman selling tomatoes said in her local dialect. For Sister Mary, who is a labourer at one of the courts in Accra, apart from the challenges in the education sector, the amount of money she spends on fertilizer for farming is too much. ...So they [flag bearers] should tell us how they intend to increase our salaries so we can afford the fertilizer, she said. Ahead of the December polls, several of the presidential candidates have already begun making campaign promises, particularly in the education sector, with many becoming the subject of controversy. The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has promised to implement what it calls a progressive free tertiary education policy, with many arguing that it is a replica of the NPPs much hyped free SHS policy in the 2012 elections. But residents believe these will mean nothing if primary education, which happens to be the basis, is not given the necessary attention in terms of adequate resources. President John Mahama recently mounted a spirited defence for the current three-year duration of Senior High school education following calls by some stakeholders for a return to the four-year Senior High School system. His comments follow the release of the 2016 WASSCE results, which many have described as poor. In this years release of BECE results, the entire results of 321 schools have so far been withheld following some examination malpractices. But this has not gone down well with many parents who spoke to the team, as they argue that the issue of exam malpractice should be blamed on the current system in place and not their children. As one parent put it: Where were the invigilators when the children were entering the exam hall with foreign material. Did they not see them? No, this is unfair. Meanwhile, several of the residents seem to have concerns about the high rate of utility bills which they argue is having a toll on their businesses. Ever since the NPP introduced these prepaid meters, we have not had our peace of mind. The bill is too much; we cant afford. So I want to know what plans the flag bearers have to help us, a dealer in second-hand clothing asked in the Ga local dialect. For Sister Maggie who sells vegetables at the Makola market in front of a high-rise building under construction, apart from the high utility bills, the AMA taskforce has made life unbearable for her and her other colleague market women. The AMA is always harassing us, saying we have to move our wares from where we are currently situated because of this new building. But we have nowhere else to go. This is the job we use to feed our children, as our men have become irresponsible. So we want to know how the politicians are willing to help us, she said. READ ALSO: What Kumasi residents want to know from flag bearers ahead of Dec 7 The Executive Director of the IEA, Jean Mensa subsequently expressed satisfaction with how the #IWantToKnow Campaign has been rolled out so far in Accra and Kumasi. She believes the campaign will enable the electorate to demand accountability of the candidates even before one of them is elected president. Additionally, this approach will ensure that the real concerns of the citizens are addressed by candidates. The #IWantToKnow Campaign is expected to make its next stop at Ho in the Volta region. Pulse Ghana will be bringing you a broadcast of the event in Ho and subsequent ones. The comments come on the back of calls by the PPP's General Secretary, Murtala Mohammed, for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to release the autopsy report covering the late presidents death to prove their innocence. The flag bearer of the PPP, also addressing a rally at Cape Coast, said although some members of the NDC pretend to be hurt by Mills death, many rejoiced as his demise allowed them to retain power in the 2012 elections. Mills was our kinsman and he became the president. Some people criticized and attacked him until till he died. And some of the NDC people themselves thanked God that Mills died, is that not strange? And after his death, they came back here to tell us to replace him with another person from the Central region. After all that they go about provoking us that if Mills had not died, the NDC wouldnt be in government today....It appears as though they deliberately pushed him to the seat so they can commit the wrongs behind him," he said. But commenting on the matter, Mr Samuel Atta Mills, brother of Prof Mills said Papa Kwesi Nduom, being a PhD holder, must show a bit of common sense and intelligence in the manner he speaks about the death of Prof John Evans Atta Mills. You see, when you call yourself a Dr., it is assumed that you have a little bit of common sense and some intelligence, but for this man [Dr Nduom] to be going the way that he is going, I am just puzzled and marveled. What he should understand from what my brother said was: dzi wu fie asem mind your own business. The guy has passed on, whatever we put out, people are going to challenge us, why dont we let him lie in peace, lets move on. We know what killed him; we have the autopsy report, what is the big deal? How come Paa Kwesi Nduom didnt raise it four years ago when he passed away? And he waits in an election time? Is this how we run our elections? Well, he calls himself a Doctor, so he needs to at least exhibit that he has a little bit of common sense and some intelligence. He needs to live above this fray. If someone else is saying it [fine]; I dont expect it out of this man. He needs to be quiet, he needs to run his campaign, he said on Accra-based Class FM. Background Many Ghanaians and particularly, the opposition New Patriotic Party [NPP] have over the years mounted pressure on the government to make public the cause of President Mills death after alleging he was killed. Posters of late President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills with imprint Who Killed Atta Mills? subsequently emerged at the NDC Campaign launch in Cape Coast last month. The opposition NPP believed President Mahama who was then vice to Prof Mills must be interrogated for the death of his former boss. READ ALSO: NDC But Central Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr Allotey Jacobs has said that President Mahama is innocent and knows nothing about even the sickness which killed Prof. Mills. ...We express our greatest disappointment in the leadership of the National Democratic Congress led by President John Dramani Mahama and General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia. READ ALSO: NDC Manifesto Launch We expect Mr Mahama and his party secretary to call some undisciplined youth to order to make Ghana attractive to the outside world. We think in this time and age, it's too barbaric to carry coffins to party functions with pictures of the opposition leader and claim that it is the body of the opposition leader for burial. Even though leadership of the party saw their followers engaging in such undisciplined act, they could not stop them but rather urged them on, a statement signed by the president of the group, Osempakani Kaakyire, has said. Inasmuch as we need democracy in the country, we also believe the best form of democracy is discipline and respect for individuals, especially the elderly in society. We think it is not acceptable and therefore, we expected President Mahama to have condemned it because he saw the coffin going round. Let's respect [each other] because politics will be over but life will go on, the statement added. After a heavy downpour Saturday morning that almost halted the party's manifesto launch in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, bizarre pictures emerged online showing NDC supporters at the venue carrying a coffin with Akufo Addo's pictures on it. The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Akufo Addo, has often said the NDC wants him dead, saying it is the only way they can win the 2016 elections. He told a rally in Bolgatanta in August that, "It looks as if the only way the president will get a third term is when I am sick or I am dead. That is the only ground on which he will get his third term. Issues of life, death and health are in the hands of the Almighty. I will leave matters in the hands of the Almighty because I believe, and I continue to say 'The Battle is the Lord's." According to him, there was confusion as to who actually wrote the manifesto, with the NDC eventually agreeing at the manifesto launch that the NPP had good ideas for the country. Something very interesting happened yesterday in Sunyani. The NDC went there to launch their manifesto and one of their leaders said it is not true they are copying our policy ideas but rather both parties agreed on what is good for the Ghanaian people and that is why similar ideas are coming up. We thank God, they now acknowledge that we have very good ideas for Ghana. But if they are confused and lack clarity on a simple matter like the source of ideas of their manifesto why will they not be running this country in such a confused manner? Our government will deal with all the problems their confused government has brought to us to put Ghana in a better state as a country moving forward, he said. Carrying banners reading "the battle is still the lord's," and "Nana is our president," the NPP supporters clambered on buildings and railings to catch a glimpse of him as he spoke. "We will bring a good government led by Akufo-Addo to bring development and turn around the economy," Akufo Addo said. "You have heard me talk about how we are going to address the challenges of the country. We want to industrialise the economy by establishing one factory in every district. How we are going to revive our agriculture and make it possible to feed ourselves in Ghana. These are the solutions that we have for the development of our people," he added. We didnt copy NPP ideas Asiedu Nketia The General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress has said anybody who accuses NDC of stealing its visions and ideas can only be a newcomer to politics. The party held the event at the Coronation Park at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region. Over 50, 000 party supporters were at the launch on Saturday. READ ALSO: Find out why NDC launched its campaign in Sunyani The NDC manifesto, titled Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana, is hinged on four thematic areas: Putting People First Building a Strong Economy Expanding Infrastructure for Growth Transparent & Accountable Governance President Mahama touched on various issues including the reduction of maternal, infant, child, and under-five mortalities under his administration, the expansion of the Tamale Teaching hospital, creating five more regions, building 5 more stadiums, the election of Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), among others. Police had a hectic time controlling the overzealous crowd who had gathered for the event, which was to launch the campaign of the Member of Parliament, Mavis Hawa Koomson. Carrying banners reading "the battle is still the lord's," and "Nana is our president," the NPP supporters clambered on buildings and railings to catch a glimpse of him as he spoke. "We will bring a good government led by Akufo-Addo to bring development and turn around the economy," Akufo Addo said. "You have heard me talk about how we are going to address the challenges of the country. We want to industrialise the economy by establishing one factory in every district. How we are going to revive our agriculture and make it possible to feed ourselves in Ghana. These are the solutions that we have for the development of our people." Akufo Addo, the New Patriotic Party flagbearer, told his audience that he was excited to be here to join them launch the campaign of their MP, saying they should "have confidence in the promises I make to you. I will honour my promises when I am voted into office." In a wide-ranging speech touching on the challenges of the Ghanaian economy, the need for voters to come out in their numbers to vote on December 7, the NPP leader also took a swipe at the manifesto launch of the NDC in Sunyani on Saturday. According to him, there was confusion as to who actually wrote the manifesto. He said the campaign coordinator for the re-election bid of President Mahama, Kofi Adams, said the president was not involved in the drafting of the manifesto. Then a member of the manifesto committee comes to say president Mahama had an idea of the content of the manifesto, he continued. Finally, he added, the president came to say he drafted the manifesto. "How can the drafting of one manifesto be rocked with such confusion," he asked to cheers from the crowd. "If there is so much confusion on a simple issue of manifesto, why won't there be so much confusion in the country," he quizzed. "We will come and get rid of these confusions and put the country on a better scale." He also pleaded with voters in Kasoa to retain their MP and also vote massively for him to become president. "Vote for [Hawa Koomson] to continue with her good works," he said. According to sources in the family, she died on Sunday (September 18, 2016) at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra. Dr Mary Grant was a former Member of the Council of State and former member of erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). She entered politics after she was appointed Deputy Secretary for Health in 1985 during the PNDC era. She championed the fight for a better welfare of all categories of health workers. She was also involved in drawing guidelines for drawing guidelines for the party structures at the grassroots. During her tenure as Deputy Secretary for Health, she led Ghanas delegation to many international conferences including General Assemblies in Geneva, World Health Organisation (WHO), WHO Regional Conferences in Africa, World Bank Meeting in Africa Health, Cairo Conference on Population and Development among others. READ ALSO: Amenfi West MP dead She was also part of Ghanas delegation to the Beijing Conference on Womens Rights. Dr Grant later served for two terms as a member of the Council of State at the inauguration of the fourth republic. During that same time, she was the Chairperson of the National Council on Women and Development. READ ALSO: Six dead in gas explosion at Tinga The Ghana Medical Association at their 39th Annual General Conference in 1997, awarded her a Certificate of Honour for her concern for the welfare of doctors. She received a State award in the same year for her wise and forthright counsel as a member of the Council of State. She turned 88 on August 6 this year. He used the photo as an opportunity to express his undying love for his wife and to let the world know just how much he loves her. He wrote, "The Mrs and I ..my babamai ,we shall grow old together ,we just dey start ooo. Love of mi life ..a woman who knows me .#not just bone of my bone #youarethebone." Also Elliot has been up to some charitable acts as he recently surprised a homeless woman with a well-furnished apartment. The veteran Nollywood actor turned politician took to his Instagram page yesterday, August 20, to share photos of the apartment as well as the reasons behind his act of charity. Elliot revealed that he had come across the homeless woman living and working at a borehole in Surulere which is under his constituency. Filled with fresh chic pieces that can be paired in varying ways, the offerings are all effortless mixes of single pieces that can be paired individually featuring eight unforgettably soft designs. The sultry looks presented are named with the fierce jumpsuit with peep hole details as the 'Ayaba Jumpsuit', a sultry crepe silk and lace trim piece as 'The Grace Dress', a corp top over silk crepe skirt as 'The Jagun Top and San Skirt'. ALSO READ:Vanskere debuts anticipated Signore Fusion for Spring 2017 Tuxedo styled with skirt with tulle overlay named as 'The Tanwa Blazer and The Cook Skirt' for a classic detailed muse made a way into the collection, sheer shirt paired with bralet and matching wide leg pants made 'The Yemisi Set' while the 'Okiki top and The Iyin Skirt' makes a chic mix of silk top with delicate lace trimmings paired with skirt. A black dress in stoned silk crepe and lace over matching black pants from raw silk made 'The Saro top and the Izara Pants' with a mesh cape featuring bold details as The Gold cape and The Mizeh pants' all featuring looks that can be interchanged for any look. "The brand's philosophy is the embrace of individuality by mastering the art of mixing single pieces of clothing to create outfits for every mood and occasion, creates a clean look with classic cuts and soft tones across board. The "PIECES" capsule collection is especially aimed at showcasing the power of buying individual non coordinated apparels, as each piece seen here can be paired with almost any other piece in the collection to create even more stunning outfits" creative director Tolu Olorunfemi revealed in an accompanying note for the new collection. About Eman Zazar The Eman Zazar brand is a high end Nigerian fashion brand focused on the production of premium luxury/made to measure clothing. It's a high end fashion brand owned by Tolu Olorunfemi who doubles as creative director. She is a former fashion blogger and media enthusiast turned fashion designer. Her experience stems from being a life long fashion lover, blogger and alumni of Instituto di Moda Burgo, Milan. Check out the offerings off the collection Credits: Photography: Ari Labadi @mrarilabadi Model: Oluwayemisi Soremekun @oluwayemisi_s Make up: @glambyshawnte Styling: Dipo Ayo-Adeusi @diipo93 Art Direction: Bimpe Kayode @bimpekayode Shoot Location: The Wheatbaker Lagos It was gathered that Alabi had brutalized the victim, Latifat Adeyemi with a spanner and flogged her with a cable in their house in the Ikorodu area of the state after she challenged him for breaking into her room and removing the air conditioner with the claim that it was consuming too much electricity. In a statement from the Command, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Fatai Owoseni, had ordered that the run-away Alabi is arrested by all means and brought to book. The statement signed by the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Supol Dolapo Badmos, read in part: The CP took up the matter and ordered that he should be fished out. He was arrested in his hideout in Ikorodu around 1.30pm." ALSO READ: FCT police arrest woman for turning 6 girls to sex slaves Yaro on Monday, September 19, revealed that human traffickers now use motorcycles and donkeys to transport their victims from Nigeria to neighbouring countries as a way to avoid detection by security officials. He made the disclosure while parading 11 victims of human trafficking rescued by the state Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service in various border areas of Katsina state over the weekend. Of the 11 rescued victims, seven were from Edo state, three from Delta state and one from Kogi state. The comptroller disclosed to journalists in the state that the victims who were attempting to cross the border to the Niger Republic on their way to Italy without any travelling documents were picked up individually on Saturday, September 17. Yaro confirmed that the NIS was able to rescue the victims using new strategies being implemented by the men of its intelligence unit. He added that some of the victims were riding on motorcycles of donkeys as a way of avoiding detection by operatives of the NIS. ALSO READ: Police arrest woman for human trafficking However, the comptroller refrained fro disclosing the border areas from which the suspects were picked up, insisting that the information would put investigations to track down the traffickers, at risk. Our investigation revealed that their mission was to cross border en route Agadez in the Niger Republic to Libya and then Italy for so-called employment. It was further established that none of them was in possession of any travel documents. It is important to note that the victims were misled by the traffickers whose business is to ferry persons across the border through illegal routes. At least that is one of her wishes as she celebrates her 36th birthday today. Ikeji has had run-ins with many of her fans and haters who think she needs a husband to be complete, as is the case with many Nigerians who believe a woman should get married once she attains a certain age. But with her accomplishments, she is, in the eyes of many, not yet a complete woman. So as she adds another year to her age, she has openly voiced her desire with these words: "I turn a year older today, September 19th; and I can't tell you guys how grateful I am for the life I have. I may not have everything I want yet... but I have more than I thought was even possible and for that I am thankful. I am thankful for my family, friends, all LIB readers, and well-wishers. My prayer as I turn 36 today, is to find an amazing guy soon, settle down, have a bunch of kids and continue to live, impact my world and make a difference. Please say a prayer for me! I mean it! Massive hug and plenty kisses." Apart from Oyedepo from whom he got N500,000, the suspect who confessed that he spent the money he made from the crime on women and drugs, said he also duped Oba Otudeko, the Chairman of Honeywell Group of N1 million, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, N500,000 and billionaire business mogul, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, who parted with N2 million. Kwasu said he collected the sums pretending he wanted to help Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the north. In his confession, the suspect said: I collected N500,000 from Otudeko, CEO, Honeywell. From Admiral Kanu, I got N500,000. I also got N500,000 from Bishop Oyedepo and N2 million from Dantata. I also got money from and others. I opened a Guaranty Trust Bank account in Bishop Kukahs name. I registered a SIM card in my name, but used Bishop Kukahs picture on my True Caller account, so that when I call, his picture would appear on the recipients phone. I called people on the telephone and told them I was Bishop Kukah. I used his picture on my True Caller account, so that when I called people, they would think he was the one talking with them. I also obtained a passport in Bishop Kukahs name which I used to open an account with GTB. The money I realized was paid into the account and I used an Automated Teller Machine card to withdraw it. The Federal Capital Territory Police Command reports that Kwasu, who is serving a two-month sentence in the Keffi Prison, realized over N5.7 million from the crime while only N1.7 million was found in his bank account during investigations. Kwasu was also said to have exploited his fathers name to extort money from the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari when he was the Speaker of House of Representatives. It was gathered that the end of the road for the suspect came when the real Bishop Matthew Kukah petitioned the police that someone was impersonating him and collecting money in his name. The accused identified as Mansir Sani, who hails from Yakasai Quarters, Kano, was charged with the unnatural offence, which contravenes Section 284 of the Penal Code. Disclosing the details of the report to the court, the prosecutor, Mr Suleiman Danladi, said that one Yusuf Dauda of Kofar Mata Quarters, Kano, made the report to the Kano State Hisbah Board Office on August 22. Danladi revealed the accused lured the victim who is the stepson of the complainant to the corridor of Amadu Tijjani Islamic Centre, located at Kofar Mata Quarters, Kano, in August. The suspect, Sani then reportedly forced himself on the young boy. The victim who was seriously injured after the encounter was reportedly rushed to Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano. Sani pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge levelled against him. The victim, Matthew Iyede, was said to have been stabbed to death by three friends on Sunday, September 18, 2016, at a popular drinking bar, Blue Sea Restaurant and Bar, close to the Delta State University Abraka, after an argument brewed between him and the assailants over a girlfriend. It was gathered that the late Iyede was ambushed by armed youths alleged to have been led by one Ese Uku, who was said to have warned the victim to steer clear of the girl whom Matthew had reportedly been dating for long and in the fight that ensued, the victim was stabbed on the chest with a knife and he died on the spot. The victims relative, Victor Iyede, who confirmed the incident, narrated how his brother was killed over a woman he had been dating for long. Matthew was stabbed at a plaza closer to Eku Town hall. He was stabbed over a girl. Those involved are at large. Their names have been submitted to the police. However, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Celestina Kalu, said two of the suspects had been arrested by the police in Abraka. The vigilante group, in collaboration with the police, arrested two suspects in respect of the case. The names of the suspects are (21-years-old) and (19-years-old). The report alleged that Jibrin opened an account in an ING Bank branch situated at Forum House, Grenville Street, St-Heller, Jersey JE2 4UF, with his address at 453 Crank brook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW. This revelation was released to the press by the Anti-Corruption Unit, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, who said Jibrins ownership of foreign account contravenes the provisions of the 1999 Constitution which bar public officer from owning and operating foreign account. In a swift reaction on his Twitter page, the former Chairman of the House appropriation committee said The document is FAKE, I DO NOT own such account or balance neither do I have anything what so ever to do with the said address at Essex. Adding that This blackmail is part of a wider propaganda arranged by the desperate Speaker Dogara through his Deputy Chief of Staff Hon CID Maduebum. Jibrin said The plan is to creat credibility problem for me as I release more revelations on MrSpeaker that will send shock down the spines of Nigerians. Jibrin also posted a snapshot of some documents on his timeline, saying "Petition of criminal defamation and forgery against Ifeanyi Okonkwo and Ikenga Ugochinyere working forSpeaker Dogara." Abdulmumin Jibrin had earlier accused the House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara of fraudulently inflating the 2016 budget. The air force disclosed on Sunday, Septembers 18, that its fighter jets conducted several air strikes at suspected locations on the outskirts of Tumbin Gini and Tumbin Kayewa Northeastern Borno on Friday 16 September 2016. The air strikes were as a result of ground based intelligence and successive Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance reports obtained from several missions flown by NAF platforms," a statement by Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, Director of Public Relations said. He added: In a video released by the NAF, some of the terrorists could be seen at one of the rendezvous where they were believed to be holding a high-level meeting when NAF jets were scrambled to hit the locations. A post-strike battle damage assessment of the strikes revealed that the rendezvous was badly damaged with many casualties while those far from the vicinity could be seen scrambling to safety. The aircraft involved in the air strikes are the NAF F-7Ni and the Alpha jets. The air offensive of the NAF has continued to deny the terrorists any hiding place and room for maneuver. This has enabled unhindered advance by the surface forces as part of the ongoing Operation GAMA AIKI. The statement which contradicts that of Jonathan during the inauguration was made known to the Premium Times by the Executive Director of the Fund, Solomon Ochoche. While inaugurating the committee in 2015, Jonathan had said: Our gathering here today is to kick-start the process of providing succour to our people who have been directly affected one way or the other by acts of terrorism in the country. However, Ochoche says otherwise saying it's an impossibility for the committee to cater for all the people affected by the terror created by the bomb blasts. He said N227 million was shared among 14 hospitals across North-East Nigeria for the care of civilians affected by bomb explosions and another N35 million was given to two military hospitals for the same purpose. ALSO READ: Reps call for accountability on Victim Support Fund It is not possible for the VSF to cater for all the people affected by these terror, Ochoche reportedly said. Ochoche stressed that the VSF had identified and provided funds for 14 hospitals to treat the victims but the agency won't be responsible for referrals by the highlighted hospitals. Continuing, he said: "If they go to hospitals that we have asked them to go to and they are referred to other hospitals, I am sorry but we cannot take responsibility for that. It is the hospitals that will know how to sort themselves out. At the inauguration of the agency through a committee led by Theophilus Danjuma, a total of N54billion was pledged at a fund raising but only N28billion is said to have been redeemed. N28 billion has been redeemed out of N54 billion which was pledged, Ochoche revealed. At the beginning; the Victims Support Fund identified three areas of intervention; women economic empowerment, educational support for children and psycho-social support. Those were the areas identified and the needs in these areas are very broad. When we later identified the enormity of the needs of bomb blast victims; VSF decided to step in to help support the health challenges of the victims," he said. The individual, whose name was given as Mamman Daura, has reportedly been the source of the President's speech since his inauguration in 2015. It was further reported that Daura is arguably the biggest power player in President Buhari' cabinet, who has taken upon himself the role of the President's speechwriter with no consultations with other authorities. Daura, report says, was behind President Buharis inauguration speech, which lifted a famous quote from the late French leader Charles de Gaulle. The identification of Daura as the speechwriter is contrary to Presidential media aide, Garba Shehu's statement that the speech was a mistake by an overzealous staff. Attah Esa, was reportedly revealed as the only deputy director attached to the State House media office and whose duties are concerned only with newspaper reviews. Buhari started blaming the Goodluck Jonathan administration almost immediately he took office, and with good reason. Jonathan and his associates made a mess of Nigeria and left the dirty work for Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to clean up. However, when blame shifting becomes a regular occurrence, it becomes whining, and no one likes a whining leader. Since taking office, Buhari hasnt taken the blame for anything. In June 2015, just days after being sworn in, he blamed the delay in the release of his ministerial list on Jonathan. The President did say he would hit the ground running, but he has not been given the chance to hit the ground running because the administration that he succeeded the Jonathan administration did not deliver the handover notes until two or three days to the inauguration, meaning that these handover notes were submitted at a time when everyone had been consumed by (inauguration) activities, Buharis Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said on June 13. To be fair to him, he would have hit the ground running if the previous government had handed over the notes early. However, the Jonathan government did not even permit any minister to interact in any way with the Buhari Transition Committee. Evidently, we had our hands tied behind our backs until we took over. Thus, there is nothing shady about it, Shehu added. Buhari eventually appointed ministers in November, almost six months after his inauguration. More recently, Buhari blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the economic crisis in the country saying that he inherited nothing from the party despite its 16-year rule. I want Nigerians to realize that what this government inherited after 16 years of PDP government was no savings, no infrastructure, no power, no rail, no road and no security, the president said on Monday, September 12, 2016. The latest edition of the blame game was played when it was discovered that Buhari plagiarized US President Barack Obamas 2008 victory speech during the launch of the Change Begins With Me campaign, thankfully the PDP wasnt blamed for this. However, the president still didnt take responsibility for the mistake, instead he vowed to punish the person responsible. PMB has ordered that prompt & appropriate disciplinary action be taken against those responsible for a wrongful insertion in his speech, Shehu said on September 16. There was a mistake by an overzealous staff and we regret that this has happened. Already, a Deputy Director in the Presidency has accepted responsibility for the insertion of the contentious paragraph, he added. The issue is, we didnt vote for an overzealous staff or a Deputy Director in the Presidency, we voted for Buhari and he should be accountable to us. The president owes Nigerians a personal apology because the shame this scandal has caused is on us all. We know the president cant write all his speeches, but we dont want to know for a fact that he doesnt know whats in them. How do you hope to inspire your followers to change when you cant even come up with the right words or relate to the ones that have been written for you? Buhari needs to realize that hes in charge of this country and we expect to have a Commander-in-Chief not a Complainer-in-chief. No true leader should enjoy shifting blame, and if the president intends to inspire confidence in his followers, he needs to start taking responsibility, for the good and for the bad. The pilgrims, comprising 201 male and 222 female, were received at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello on Sunday. Bello, represented by the Acting Secretary of Transportation Secretariat, Alhaji Abdul-Hamid Suleiman, urged the pilgrims to continue to imbibe the good virtues practiced during the Hajj exercise. He enjoined them to continue to pray for the nation and its leadership because the country needs such prayers. The minister commended the pilgrims for being good ambassadors of the Federal Capital Territory and by extension the country at large while at the Holy Land. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that no fewer than 2,975 Muslims from FCT participated in the 2016 Hajj. According to reports, the 18 year-old Haruna was caught at midnight while his cow was grazing in a farmland. His cow allegedly destroyed cassava, maize, okro and pepper valued at N3m, according to The Guardian. The Magistrate, Idowu Ayenimo, saidthe herdsman was arraigned on a two-count charge of wilful and unlawful damage of farm crops on January 22, 2016. Ayenimo who ordered that the sentence should run concurrently, added that the accused got a light sentence because he committed the offence before the grazing law was signed. The Magistrate also said the police prosecutor, Mr Olasunkanmi Bankole, proved his case beyond reasonable doubt. Chris Omokhafe, counsel to the accused, however pleaded with the court saying his client was a first offender. The Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose signed the Open Grazing Prohibition Bill into law on August 29, 2016. Makolo made the call at a press conference in Lokoja on Sunday in Lokoja. He said that for almost seven months Kogi had been denied representation in the Federal Executive Council meetings, adding that there was a dire need for the representation. According to him, the meeting has the primary purpose of promoting good governance and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of freedom, equality and justice and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people. The lawyer said that the only period Kogi was represented at the meeting was between November, 2015 and March 6, 2016 Ocholi spent as minister before his death. This is wrongful and unconstitutional. It is the duty and responsibility of all authorities and persons exercising executive, legislative or judicial powers in Nigeria to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of the constitution strictly, he said. Makolo said the only way to maintain the integrity of the federation was for the leadership to ensure equal representation of the units, entrench constitutionality and guarantee, justice, fairness and the rule of law. As a concerned citizen of Nigeria and a worried indigene of Kogi State, I wrote to our dear and beloved president last month on the need to appoint a qualified indigene of the state as minister but I am yet to receive acknowledgement, he said. He's done all of that from the comfort of his electronic gadgets. This week, he can actually go one better. With the House set to reconvene, Jibrin has stepped up his attacks, calling on the "budget padding quartet" to resign. On Wednesday, July 20, 2016, Jibrin was relieved of his duties as Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. He denied he was sacked, opting to use the word 'resign' to describe his predicament. Jibrin hasn't quite forgiven Dogara since he made his way out of the Appropriations office, insisting he wasn't sacked. "The Speaker in Plenary announced that despite the fact that I approached him and notified him of my decision to resign as Chairman Appropriation Committee of the House, they had already taken a decision to relieve me of the appointment. He went further to add that it was in line with his promise to sanitize the budget process of the House", said Jibrin. "That clearly implied that I was relieved for budget offense, and by inference the only culprit in the 360-member House! The Speaker was economical with the truth and was trying to suppress the biggest corruption, fraud and gross abuse of office in the history of the House perpetrated by himself and a few others. Speaker Dogara's statement was a complete misrepresentation of the facts, tissues of lies, wilful mischief and calculated attempt to bring my name to disrepute and lower my estimation in the eyes of the public. The whole drama was largely a red herring to divert public attention from the actual goats and go for a scapegoat". "A day after Speaker Dogaras statement, the media was awash with the story that I was sacked for budget padding and related allegations. The Speaker maintained a silent approval. Even before then, it was a public knowledge in the House that I was accused of all manner of budget offenses that I knew nothing about. "As I noted earlier, they were all lies, figment of the authors imagination and an attempt to use me as a scapegoat to cover up the monumental fraud committed by the quartet of Speaker Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa and Ogor in the 2016 budget. It is this QUARTET that launched the spread of falsehood against me in the House and effectively blocked me from briefing members and craftily ensured I did not attend the last executive session". It is against this backdrop that the House reconvenes on Tuesday, September 20, 2016. Dogara has maintained a stoic silence through it all, in a manner suggesting he's got another plan to deal with Jibrin, up his sleeves. Media reports were rife, weekend, that Jibrin runs an account with ING Bank UK with Essex address and a balance of 1.3m--allegations that already look straight outta the Dogara playbook. There are insinuations that Jibrin will be suspended once plenary resumes. The garrulous lawmaker knows he's been boxed into a corner and was already on the defensive on Monday. "The document is FAKE, I DO NOT own such account or balance neither do I have anything whatsoever to do with the said address at Essex. "This blackmail is part of a wider propaganda arranged by the desperate Speaker Dogara through his Deputy Chief of Staff Hon CID Maduebum. "Hon Maduebum recruited and paid 20million naira to one Ifeanyi Okonkwo and Ikenga Ugochinyere of a shadow youth organisation to do the hatchet jobs. You will recall that the same group went to town with the allegations of 17 billion and 418 million naira which all turned out a fluke. "Ahead of resumption of the House,they are back at work to divert attention from allegations of budget fraud and corruption against Mr Speaker. "The plan is to create credibility problem for me as I release more revelations on Mr. Speaker that will send shock down the spines of Nigerians". Nigeria's national assembly has been the theater of fisticuffs and throwing of chairs since the country's return to democracy in 1999. The smart money will be on rowdy sessions gracing our TV screens in the next couple of weeks; with Dogara fighting to keep his position and "lonely" Jibrin throwing up more allegations. According to a report by Punch following an allegation by the National Youth Council of Nigeria, the bank account with domiciled in ING Bank Channels Island, United Kingdom was traced to Jibrin head of the Council's anti-corruption unit. The report further revealed that the account which is domiciled in ING Bank branch situated at Forum House, Grenville Street, St-Heller, Jersey JE2 4UF, was opened with the lawmaker's address at 453 Crank brook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW. A total of 1.558m (approximately N825m) was reportedly traced into the account between June 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016 but after the withdrawal of 623.44 pounds the balance in the account was put at 1.376, 193.84. In a recent tweet by Political commentator, Kayode Ogundamisi, Jibrin confirmed owning the account and asked what next after the revelation. Jibrin had accused the Speaker of the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara of allegedly inflating the budget. However, the 1999 Constitution bars public officers from owning and operating foreign accounts. Osinbajo also said the Federal Government did not envisage that there will be a huge drop in the production of crude oil. The Vice-President attributed the drop in production to the constant bombing of pipelines by militants in the oil rich region. Osinbajo said Perhaps it is important for us to understand the nature of this recession in which we have found ourselves. In discussing this issue of recession there is tendency for people to generalize. A lot depends on what sort of recession and how we got here. If we did not have vandalisation in the Niger Delta as we are currently suffering, we will not have this recession today. Moreover in looking at the solutions, we should try to focus on the type of problem we have and what instigated it. Then we can begin to come up with better solutions. Four of the accounts were opened with company names by former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamowei Dudafa. Mrs Jonathan made the comment via an open letter written to EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu by her lawyers, FirstLaw Solicitors on Sunday, September 18. The letter reads: 1. By virtue of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, we are Solicitors to HER EXCELLENCY, MRS. PATIENCE IBIFAKA GOODLUCK JONATHAN, the wife to the immediate past President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, HIS EXCELLENCY, DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR. We shall hereinafter, refer to Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan as OUR CLIENT. 2. Our Client is a respected senior citizen of international repute, a retired Permanent Secretary and the immediate past First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our Client is a law-abiding citizen who has never or at all been the subject of any criminal and/or financial investigation, whether at home or abroad. Accordingly, she has not been found guilty of any criminal conduct throughout a sparkling public service career spanning over 35 years. 3. During the 5 years our Client served as First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria between May, 2010 and May, 2015; she was the Initiator/Founder of the A. ARUERA WOMEN FOUNDATION as well as the WOMEN FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE; both of which Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) substantially contributed to the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in the country. Our Client is the recipient of numerous local and international awards in recognition of her untiring commitment towards uplifting the living standard of women, children and the aged in Nigeria. 4. Sir, it is against this sterling and meritorious background of our Client that we most respectfully, write to draw your attention to the numerous breaches of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 2004 committed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in cause of the Commissions illegal and unlawful investigation of our Client for alleged money laundering. These investigations have reportedly led to the freeze of our Clients accounts and led to untold consequences to our Clients health and wellbeing. 5. Firstly, the EFCC must realize that the ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (ESTABLISHMENT) ACT 2004 is inferior in content and quality to both the 1999 CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (AS AMENDED) and THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS 2004. 6. To that extent, it is trite law that, where there is a conflict or an inconsistency between the EFCC ACT, on the one hand; and the combined provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004, on the other hand; the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004 must necessarily prevail to the extent of the said inconsistency. 7. However, we note, with regret, that in the current matter involving the curious and bizarre investigation of our esteemed Client, the EFCC under your watch has not only undermined the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights; the Commission has actually conducted itself in a most desperate, despicable and arrogant manner. This is rather unfortunate. 8. Sir, one of the cardinal principles enshrined in both Nigerian and African jurisprudence, is that of the presumption of innocence which is guaranteed to all citizens, including our Client. 9. Consequently, the SPECIAL POWERS of the Commission as defined by SECTION 7(1) & (2) of the EFCC ACT 2004 to, among others, cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the persons life style and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income, is inconsistent with and contrary to the mandatory requirement of SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which states thus: Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to (a) be informed promptly in the language that he understands and in detail of the nature of the offence; (b) be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence; 10. The necessary implication or import of SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is that the EFCCs so-called power to arbitrarily and unlawfully investigate our esteemed Client and thereby, freeze her accounts with total sum in excess of FIFTEEN MILLION US DOLLARS which are domiciled with SKYE BANK PLC is NOT ABSOLUTE. 11. Sir, it is our Clients brief that there is no formal criminal complaint of economic and financial crime as defined by the EFCC ACT 2004 written by any person or institution against her which warranted the EFCC to freeze her accounts. 12. It is also our Clients brief that the EFCC failed to obtain a Court Order as required by SECTION 34 of the EFCC ACT before her accounts were frozen. 13. It is our Clients further brief that, up until the writing of this Open Letter, she has not received any formal invitation to appear before the Commission for questioning; whereas her accounts domiciled with SKYE BANK PLC have since been frozen by the Commission without recourse to her. 14. Sir, the argument put forward by the Commission in the public domain that, investigations are ongoingMrs. Patience Jonathan shall be invited in due course, are not only vexatious and provocative. They constitute an outright violation and rape of the fundamental right to fair hearing and ownership of property as guaranteed to our Client by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004. 15. Indeed, SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), contains or laid down a sequence or pattern of commencement of investigation which MUST BE FOLLOWED STRICTLY, to wit: a. Persons charged with a criminal offence must be informed in the language they understand and in detail of the nature of the offence; b. Such persons must be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence; etc 16. Sir, instead of strict compliance with the above pattern, as laid down by SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the EFCC went after our Clients money by ordering a freeze of her accounts. With all due respect, the EFCC is a BIG THIEF! 17. We are very much aware of numerous instances where EFCC used strong-arm tactics to dispossess hard working Nigerians of their legitimately earned money; only to turn around to brazenly and shamelessly loot the recovered loot. This is one of such unfortunate instances. Clearly, it is a failed politically-motivated attempt by the EFCC to steal our Clients money using the cover of the present political climate. 18. We are sufficiently convinced that prebendal politics of the sort that smears the image and reputation of former public office holders, together with that of members of their families which automatically, distracts from governance and slows down the nations pace of development is one of the major reasons for the persistent and unrelenting politically-motivated attacks on our Client who is extremely popular with Nigerian women, children and the aged. 19. We have rightly observed that each time a new Government was sworn into office, political jobbers such as the EFCC promptly mobilized themselves to throw mud, blackmail and/or otherwise label members of the immediate past Government; all in a desperate bid to accomplish or satisfy narrow and base political interests to the detriment of the entire country. This disturbing familiar pattern of unjustifiable, bankrupt and hollow harassment of the nations former leaders is deplorable. 20. Our Client has unfortunately, come under the vice grip and stranglehold of the cabal of political jobbers who would not allow her concentrate on her private life in retirement. Ironically, our Clients most virulent critics and traducers come from the human rights community in Nigeria which benefited immensely from her husbands fairly commendable human rights record, while he served as President. 21. Notably, we recall that the Freedom of Information Act 2015 was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Criminal Justice Administration Law 2015 was also signed into law by the former President. Needless to say, these extant laws have strengthened Nigerias civil society to act effectively as the nations fourth arm of government. 22. For the avoidance of doubt, it shall be counter-productive and inimical to the public interest if the Attorney General of the Federation and/or the EFCC heeded the irresponsible calls to commence the arrest and prosecution of our Client based on suspicion. If they did otherwise, they shall be violating the extant provision of SECTION 174(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which clearly prohibits criminal proceedings that were not in the public interest. Besides, suspicion; no matter how strong it may seem; cannot ground a conviction. 23. We hereby categorically and emphatically state that, HER EXCELLENCY, MRS. PATIENCE IBIFAKA GOODLUCK JONATHAN SHOULD BE LEFT ALONE! 24. Furthermore, there is no established legal or political precedent for what the EFCC is currently doing to our Client. How many former First Ladies in Nigeria have received the Patience Goodluck Jonathan Treatment (PGJT) to have warranted the EFCC to engage in the effrontery to freeze our Clients accounts and subject her to public opprobrium, ridicule and disgrace? This nonsense must stop forthwith! 25. Consequently, we urge the EFCC to de-freeze our Clients accounts WITHIN 14 DAYS from today, September 18, 2016 and tender a public apology to our Client. He announced this at the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum between the Private Sector and the Economic Management Team (EMT) in Abuja on Monday. Represented by Mr Johnson Awoyemi, the Senior Technical Adviser of the ministry, the minister identified peace and security in the Niger Delta region as crucial in the programme. Kachikwu mentioned policy and regulation; business environment and investment drive; transparency and efficiency; stakeholder management and international coordination as primary concerns of the ministry. The others, he said, were engaging in gas revolution as well as increasing refineries and local production capacity. Oil and gas will drive diversification but the drop in oil production to 1.56 billion barrels per day from the annual estimate of 2.2 billion barrels per day will negatively affect growth. The minister stressed the need to empower the Niger Delta region and ensure peace in the region by stopping militancy in enhancing the attainment of national aspirations in oil and gas production. Kachikwu said that a lot of companies in the sector were indebted in payment of royalties, adding that the companies were in default to the tune of about four billion dollars. He said there was need for policies on oil, gas, downstream and fiscal reform, adding that the proposed petroleum industry bill (PIB) had become very imperative. Kachikwu said there were challenges in the oil and gas sector which led to drop in the nations GDP growth from six percent to four percent. The minister said that this had led to shortage of funds for providing critical infrastructure. He explained that there was 29 per cent decline in oil production amount to loss of 700,000 million barrels per day. Accordingly, there was 32 per cent decline in gas production from 8,000 million cubic feet per day to 5,500 million cubic feet. He announced that 3,000 pipeline vandalism incidents were recorded from 2010 to 2015, while 643 million litres of petroleum products amounting to N51.28 billion was lost in 2015 alone. The minister explained that between January and June 2016, the ministry recorded 1,600 vandalism incidents in spite of efforts to boost local production and refining of products. Until we are able to locally refine what we produce, we wont be able to go forward. It is the plan of the ministry that by 2019 the country has to export Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). Kachikwu advised investors to embrace the ministrys policy for creating modular refineries and asked them to come up with proposals. He noted that some successes were recorded in the oil and gas sector since Nov. 2015, including the elimination of subsidy payments yielding N15.4 billion monthly savings. Kachikwu had started the liberalisation of downstream sector with 47 per cent reduction in PMS truck loads and signing of 80 billion dollar MOUs at the China Investors Roadshow in June 2016. The minister said that plans were on to increase oil production to 1.8 billion barrels per day by October and to two billion barrels by December. Also, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said that the Federal Government had released N720 billion into the economy so far. According to her, the administration has released N420 billion for capital projects, will release additional N350 billion to ministries, departments and agencies this week and ready to release another N350 billion in November. She added that government was concerned about improving the overall business environment as well as key socio-economic indicators. In another paper, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukhu Enelamah, said Nigeria remained the best industrial hub in Africa. Represented by Mrs Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of State, Enelamah, said that the country plans to move from 169 to 100 in the ease of doing business ranking in three years. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, said the administration was making efforts to pull the country out of recession through injection of funds into the economy. Lead stars of the web series, Chiagoziem Nwakanma and Nick Mutuma, were recently a guest at Pulse TV, where they spoke extensively on the series. On core message of the show, Chiagoziem Nwakanma said, "This is It" is about relationships from different angles, and how to also work things out from within without going out." For Nick Mutuma, it's all about imperfect perfection. "It is also like a window into modern life relationships, and how they function," he added. On how "This is It" has changed their mentality about marriage, Nwakanma, who looks forward to marriage, said, "It made it less complicated." "It just enlightened me about marriage. I think the secret to marriage is communication. It made me understand and respect the union of marriage." Mutuma, who isn't excited about marriage as his co-star, added. The duo also spoke about the character most viewers would love, interpreting their roles, working with the director, Lowladee Dolapo Adeleke ("Brave," "A Place Called Happy"), their expectations, and the future of TV in Africa. ALSO READ: undefined "This is It" follows the first year journey of the young clueless newlyweds Dede and Tomide, how they adjust living together, dealing with friends and a little drama. Starring Kenyan actor Nick Mutuma (Tomide) and Nigerian actress, Dede (Chiagoziem Nwakanma), the first season focuses on the first six months of their marriage. Jibrin had the choice to make the allegations long ago, as I am aware that many legislators wanted to belong to the appropriation committees of both arms of the National Assembly. The issues of budget padding among other things gave rise to the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget and this affected its smooth passage at the National Assembly, he said. The former minister of education remarked that before Jibrins allegation, the legislators who belonged to the appropriation committees alleged that he was the cause of the problems that bedeviled the budget passage. The legislators even alleged that Jibrin hijacked the budget process and handled the whole process and its activities alone. One can then ask why he is shouting now because he should be among those that should be investigated, being part of the process from the beginning, he said. The country imported virtually every item without paying attention to production, with the populace having the wrong notion that all locally-made goods are inferior. The country depended entirely on oil revenue as the government worsened the situation by giving concession to import goods which discouraged manufacturers and intending ones. The situation made the manufacturers view importation as an easy way to make money and we got to a point that the country depended on its foreign reserves for importation, he said. He noted that because importation could not be done with local currency, the foreign reserves started depleting and drastically affected the country economically. It is accepted that the present administration met a terrible condition on ground with the young peoples perception of making easy money without working worsening the situation, he said. He remarked that the issue of the National Assembly giving President Muhammadu Buhari emergency powers to handle the recession was a temporary measure, especially on procurement. I know as a former minister of education that procurement processes take time and there is already a bill on the issue before the National Assembly which I support wholeheartedly. The governor made the comments via a statement issued by his media aide, Lere Olayinka. The statement reads: Our president, through his actions and inactions is destroying everything that makes Nigeria a country and well-meaning Nigerians must stand-up to be counted in the crusade to save the country from going under. Nigerians must begin to speak out now before the country is totally destroyed by this one-man government, which does not see any idea coming from those perceived as opposed to the government as worthy of consideration. President Buhari went to foreign countries to de-market Nigeria by calling all Nigerians thieves and dishonest people. Which foreign investor will invest his money in a country of dishonest people? Who made investors to leave Nigeria if not President Buhari, who created atmosphere of economic and political instability in the country by his acts of nepotism and vindictiveness? Nigerians will not measure his government on the basis of what his predecessors failed to do, but on what he does or neglected to do between May 29, 2016 and May 29, 2019. President Buhari has not only taken Nigeria to economic recession, he has moved the country to economic depression and nepotism has prevented him from engaging the best hands in the All Progressives Congress (APC). No nation has ever reached greatness by their leaders engaging in blame game, nepotism and vengeance as being done by President Buhari and his APC government. Like I said before, the main issue confronting Nigerians now is hunger and hunger does not speak the language of politics. It is therefore no longer about politics; it is about preventing hunger from killing Nigerians. The federal government should stop deceiving Nigerians with stories of injecting funds into the economy. The economic problems facing the country has gone beyond talks of injecting N350 billion into the economy through execution of capital projects. If they inject even N500 billion into the economy by paying contractors executing federal government capital projects, how does that affect the price of rice and other food items? How does it affect the price of basic drugs? Instead of unsustainable measures, what President Buhari should do is to bring economic experts in the country together not-minding their political and ethnic affiliations so that they can proffer lasting solutions to the countrys economic problems, he added. The monarch made the prediction when Obaseki and his campaign team, led by the Director of Campaign, Mr Osarodion Ogie, paid a visit to the palace to seek for his blessings. Iduriase, who dismissed the rumour being peddled around that he (the monarch) had chased away Obaseki from his palace during an earlier campaign tour of the area, appealed that electioneering campaign should be based on issues and not falsehood. He said that he was not even in the country when Obaseki earlier visited the area. He also condemned the use of social media to spread falsehood, especially as it concerns the Edo governorship poll. He added that we have a problem with social media because so many lies are being peddled there. I got a call that I chased away Obaseki from my palace. I said what, me that was in America, how can someone outside the country be at his Palace at the same time. That was why I said when I come to town, I will see you personally. He commended Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo for his achievements in the state and assured Obaseki that he would get the support of the people. He said if you look at the history of my people here, you will know the kind of people we are. As you have come here, we will tell our people about your ambition. Gov. Adams Oshiomhole has tried by developing the state and that has earned him respect. I will have to thank you also for the way you conducted yourself in this campaign and I know that in the election, you are going to emerge victorious. I pray our ancestors protect you before and after the election. Obaseki thanked the monarch for the prayers and blessings and promised not to disappoint the people of the state. The Chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi made the statement on Monday in Abuja in an interview with newsmen. He said that all the leaders and members of the party irrespective of their interest and factions were working for the partys candidate, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, in the Sept. 28 election. I have never heard of any PDP member in Edo, no matter the personal interest of such member campaigning for APC. All the report reaching me is that all PDP members, irrespective of their aliment, have been campaigning for the party. That assures us that we are on course and we are confident that if free and fair election holds, we are going to come out victorious. We have no fear at all, Makarfi said. On reconciliation of the leadership crisis rocking the party, Makarfi said that the PDP under his leadership was opened to rational and reasonable demand for reconciliation. When you are in the process of reconciliation, you talk less. When talk about the actions being taking or contemplated, you may indirectly be undermining the process. All I can say is that, we on this side of the divide are open to reconciliation. Such reconciliation must not be forceful; there must be flexibility when you are talking of reconciliation, he added. He said that members of the party had nothing to fear over the ongoing process because they believe that they would come out stronger when the stormy period is over. Secretary to the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Sen. Ben Obi, said that the committee was committed to restructuring the party to its past glory. We are deeply committed in making sure that PDP comes back to its old self. That is what the chairman has been busy doing in the last three or four weeks meeting various leaders across the country in search of peace. The ruling party also stressed the need for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the President in laying solid foundation for a prosperous Nigeria. The states chapter of the party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary Mrs Kate Ofor, decried plot by PDP to bring back unbridled corruption into Nigeria. The plot was exemplified by PDPs unwarranted propaganda against President Muhammadu Buhari. The statement explained that the scheme by PDP to bring back uncontrolled corruption made the party to keep heaping blame on President Buhari as the cause of the recession in the country. The APC state chapter said PDP smartly exonerated its leadership of lack of planning and squandering the resources of the nation in the last 16 years. According to it, the lack of planning and squandering of resources by the immediate past administration actually caused the present economic recession. PDP has the guts to call on President Buhari to resign for failing to fix the economy they battered during their 16 years leadership. The party recalled that it was during PDP government that billions of Naira was stolen, thereby plunging the nation into the current economic challenge. In less than 20 months, PDP thought Nigerians are morons who forget so easily. The APC, however, assured Nigerians that Buhari was on course in its avowed determination to fight corruption and lay solid foundation for economic prosperity of the country. Daniel made the comment during a recent radio interview in Abeokuta, the state capital. It is not only the PDP that has crisis, the APC also has its own share of crisis. The only difference is that while, we in the PDP have not been able to manage our own, the APC has been able to manage their own, Daniel said according to Vanguard. If it were the time President Olusegun Obasanjo was still in the party, we would have gone to him and one way or the other, he would have resolved the crisis. Currently, there are many local champions in the party. The party does no longer have a spirit, he added. The statement read; Online degrees are not accepted at the moment in Nigeria. However, this does not include the approved Nigerian universities e-Learning programme run within the shores of Nigeria." This puts Nigerian Institutions at below 5% regarding online programme practice. In the U.S for example, 62.4% of colleges offered full online programmes. Still on the statement, he said: The Nigerian universities e-Learning programme is a legitimate and well thought out pilot e-learning initiative. It is a Public Private Partnership between the National Universities Commission (NUC), Park Associates E-Learning Group and four federal universities. The commission wishes to use this medium to allay all fears and doubts concerning the legitimacy or NUC endorsement of the Nigerian universities e-Learning Programme. Students in the programme are urged to continue to pursue their studies without fear and prospective applicants are encouraged to enrol. The Google Pixel phones passed through Geekbench for certification, and some potential cases also showed up, even screen panels. From the information seeping into our ears (and eyes) at Pulse Tech is that the new Google Pixel will be powered by Qualcomm'sSnapdragon 820 chipsets (a brand-new second revision version) with 4GB of RAM. Strangely, the OS that will power the new Google Pixel is listed an Android Nougat 7.1 which means that the new Google Pixel smartphones will have a new minor update of Nougat, Google's latest Android mobile OS. ALSO READ: Google has launched its latest mobile OS True to tradition, the new Google Pixel smartphones will not be built by Google - HTC has been given the task of crafting Google's next battle instrument in the smartphone war. That aside, the new Google Pixel will be available in two versions - US and International. The International models (which are the ones you will most likely buy) do not include CDMA connectivity, and slightly different LTE brands. The leaked cases for both the 5.2-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL have a sizeably wide hole for the camera, but none of the leaks so far have suggested the possibility of a dual setup camera. This is following cases of battery explosion and all other mishaps experienced by customers. The status report request was contained in a letter to Samsung West Africa, signed by Dupe Atoki, CPC's Director General on Wednesday, September 14, 2016. The letter reads, The attention of the Council has been drawn to media reports indicating that the lithium-ion batteries for Samsung Galaxy Note 7 are prone to catching fire. The said faulty batteries have reportedly caused the phone to explode in 35 separate incidents, sometimes bursting into flames, damaging property and leaking dangerous chemicals, You are, therefore, directed to, within seven days of the receipt of this letter, furnish the Council with information on the full status of your compliance with the global directive of Samsung to recall the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 forthwith, including other measures you may have taken to safeguard the safety and interest of Nigerian consumers in this respect. The once feared rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo has not appeared in the courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since September 7. He is the first defendant before the tribunal -- set up in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes -- to ever go on hunger strike and his protest is vexing judges who have ordered his trial must go on in his absence. "How long can this situation last? Is it the kind of justice we want before the International Criminal Court?" said his lawyer, Stephane Bourgon, in a statement sent early Monday. "We can't ignore the absence of the accused whose current state of health is rapidly deteriorating." Ntaganda, who has been held in the ICC's detention unit in the seaside suburb of Scheveningen since he surrendered in 2013, has also told his lawyers to stop acting for him. Once dubbed The Terminator, Ntaganda has denied 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out of savage ethnic attacks carried out in the DR Congo by his rebel Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) in 2002-2003. With Ntaganda again absent from the courtroom, Judge Robert Fremr said the detention centre's medical officer had reported early Monday that Ntaganda "shows fatigue, but no alarming physical or mental symptoms." The medical officer had concluded Ntaganda was fit to be transferred to the courtroom to attend in his trial. 'Disruptive' actions Fremr again denounced Ntaganda's actions as "disruptive", calling them "self-induced" and adding "the chamber sees no reasonable alternative but to continue the proceedings." Ntaganda is protesting the judges' refusal to ease restrictions on his visitors -- imposed due to fears about witness tampering. In a rambling statement read to the court last week, he said he had lost hope of ever seeing his wife and children again without the presence of court and security officials. The standoff has left the court in a quandary, although ICC officials told AFP they would not force feed him. "The court has an internal protocol that is being applied. Mr Ntaganda is being seen regularly by medical professionals and will not be force fed," the ICC said. Ntaganda's trial opened in September 2015 after he walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been mired for two decades in ethnically-charged wars, as rebels battle for control of its rich mineral resources. Michel Legre was arrested in May 2004 over the kidnapping and killing of Guy-Andre Kieffer, a specialist in the cocoa industry who was writing about corruption and was last seen in a car park in Abidjan in April 2004 along with Legre. He was subsequently released without charge. "(Legre) unfortunately died this morning. I don't know anything more," said Franck Anderson Kouassi, an ally of former president Laurent Gbagbo and representative of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party. "He died at his home," added a journalist close to the FPI, citing acquaintances of Legre. A witness in the trial of Simone Gbagbo, who has been on trial since May 31 for alleged crimes against humanity committed during a post-electoral crisis in 2010-11, recently claimed that Kieffer was "executed and his body burnt" on the orders of the former first lady. The ruling United Russia party, which Putin founded, won 44.5 percent in Sunday's vote, an exit poll showed, slightly down on the last election. But it was still enough to preserve the dominance of Putin's allies in the Duma, or lower house of parliament. Putin, speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed, said the win showed voters still trusted the leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine. Putin's aides are likely to use Sunday's result, which leaves United Russia by far the biggest party, as a springboard for his own campaign for re-election in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed that he will seek another term. "We can say with certainty that the party has achieved a very good result; it's won," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters, where he arrived together with his ally Dmitry Medvedev, who is prime minister and the party's leader. Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3 percent, Putin said: "We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result." In the last election for the Duma, or lower house of parliament, in 2011, United Russia won 49 percent of the vote. ALSO READ: Russian President says economy stabilised, pledges budget deficit cuts There were some reports of voting irregularities. Reuters reporters at one polling station witnessed several people casting their ballot, then coming back later and voting again. Election chiefs said were was so far no evidence of large-scale cheating. A coalition of opposition parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) had planned country-wide demonstrations demanding reform ahead of the 2018 election, when 92-year-old Mugabe plans to stand again. But a month-long protest ban and a massive police deployment in Harare saw the event fizzle out before it started. However, activists charged the police with intimidation,making arrests and firing against small groups demonstrating in the suburbs. "The response of the government... has been very worrisome. They have used live ammunition in areas including Kuwadzana,Dzirasekwa, Mufakose and Kambuzuma," said Jacob Ngarivhume, whose political party Transform Zimbabwe is part of NERA, at a press conference. "We have over 100 people who have been arrested so far." The police declined to comment on the claims. The activists also alleged that several people were abducted on the eve of the protest. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said residents were told not to participate in the protest. "The people were threatened by police and people in plain clothes. They were told, 'We will beat you up and you will disappear if you embark in the demonstrations'," said MDC spokesman Obert Gutu. Police this week had issued an order barring protests in the capital. Campaigners said they would challenge the ban through the courts, which had overturned a similar order earlier this month. Mugabe has vowed a crackdown on dissent and blasted judges for "reckless" rulings allowing previous demonstrations. But in the second city of Bulawayo, close to a thousand protesters staged a peaceful march on Saturday after a high court ruling gave them permission to take to the streets. Police stood by with armoured vehicles and water cannons. "All we are demanding is that we want a free, fair and credible election," MDC deputy president Thokozani Khupe told the crowd. "We are drawing a line in the sand and we are saying never again will we allow an election to be held where elections will be rigged." Mugabe's ZANU-PF party won the last general elections in 2013, which were marred by electoral fraud. Opposition to the ageing leader?s 36-year rule has grown in recent months with a surge of public demonstrations, triggered by an economic crisis that has left banks short of cash and the government struggling to pay its workers. Mugabe has often used brutal force to silence his opponents and warned the protestors last week they were "playing a dangerous game". Unemployment is about 90 percent in Zimbabwe, which has been in the grips of a cash shortage worsened by a severe regional drought. "For the record no firearm or live bullets were used in the perceived protests throughout the country," police spokesman Paul Nyathi said in a statement. "As police we reiterate that anyone who claims that live bullets were fired at protesters should come forward with evidence." A coalition of opposition parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) had planned country-wide demonstrations on Saturday demanding reform ahead of the 2018 election, when 92-year-old Mugabe plans to stand again. A month-long protest ban and a massive police deployment, in Harare, however, saw the event fizzle out before it started. But activists charged the police with intimidation, firing against small groups demonstrating in the suburbs of the capital and arresting close to 100 protesters, a number the police disputed. "Only 21 people were arrested by the Zimbabwe Republic Police throughout the country... for engaging in acts of disorderly conduct of blocking the smooth flow of traffic and intimidating the general public to side with them and partake in illegal activities," said the police statement. Nyathi said the arrested activists included members of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) "who were openly agitating for violence". NERA on Saturday said about 100 activists were arrested while others were heavily assaulted by law the enforcement agents. Campaigners said they would challenge the protest ban through the courts, which had overturned a similar order earlier this month. Mugabe has vowed a crackdown on dissent and blasted judges for "reckless" rulings allowing previous demonstrations. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party won the last general elections in 2013, which were marred by electoral fraud. Opposition to the ageing leader?s 36-year rule has grown in recent months with a surge of public demonstrations, triggered by an economic crisis that has left banks short of cash and the government struggling to pay its workers. Mugabe has often used brutal force to silence his opponents and warned the protestors last week they were "playing a dangerous game". Unemployment is about 90 percent in Zimbabwe, which has been in the grips of a cash shortage worsened by a severe regional drought. Buhari added about two paragraphs of Obamas speech to his remarks during the launch of the governments Change Begins With Me campaign. Obama is a very inspiring speaker, so its no wonder that his speeches are being copied. Here are three other Obama speeches which are worth plagiarizing: 1. 2004 DNC speech: Obama spoke about his parents and their unlikely love his own amazing rise in politics despite his roots. My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack or "blessed," believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren't rich, because in a generous America you don't have to be rich to achieve your potential. They're both passed away now, and yet I know that on this night they look down on me with great pride. They stand here, and I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story. 2. The 2015 Selma speech Fifty years after the march on Selma, Obama spoke of the historic event and the circumstances that led to it. He also announced that the legacy of Selma is that there is still work to do. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, and new ground to cover, and bridges to be crossedAnd it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow. 3. The 2016 Rutgers University commencement speech In obvious reference to controversial presidential candidate, Donald Trump, Obama informed an audience of 50,000 about the need to always know what youre talking about. Ties between Asia's two largest economies have long been overshadowed by arguments over their painful wartime history and a territorial spat in the East China Sea, among other issues. Japan will also help build the capacity of coastal states in the busy waterway, its defence minister said last week during a visit to Washington. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said countries in the region had reached a consensus that the South China Sea issue should be resolved through talks between the parties directly involved, and that China and Southeast Asian countries should jointly maintain peace and stability there. "Let's have a look at the results of Japan's throwing things into disorder over this same time period ... trying to confuse the South China Sea situation under the pretence of (acting for) the international community," Lu told a daily news briefing, when asked about Japan's announcement. Japan's actions have simply pushed other countries away from it, and it has failed to compel other nations to see its point of view, he added. "China is resolute in its determination to protect its sovereignty and maritime interests," Lu said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which ships carrying about $5 trillion in trade pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims in the sea, which is also believed to be rich in energy resources and fish stocks. Sentry, a group co-founded by actor George Clooney and activist John Prendergast, said South Sudan's leaders on both sides of the civil war and their families had profited from the conflict. "This sort of allegation can only jeopardise the pursuit of peace and stability in my country where mutual distrust and lack of authority are key factors of violence," a government spokesman said in a statement, expressing "deep concern." "We will make sure that each of those allegations are challenged with a counter forensic and legal analysis of the shortcomings of this report," Ateny Wek Ateny, spokesman for the president's office, said. Sentry said the report followed a two-year undercover investigation to look into the financing of African conflicts. It was released as the United Nations is threatening to impose an arms embargo against South Sudan's government. Sentry said it had identified a network of international facilitators stretching from arms dealers in Ukraine to construction firms in Turkey, mining companies in Kenya, and Chinese investors involved in gambling and private security in South Sudan. Spokesmen for President Salva Kiir and his rival, former deputy president Riek Machar, both denied allegations levelled against the two leaders when the report was released on Monday. Other senior officials were also named in the Sentry report. South Sudan, which won independence in 2011, plunged into civil conflict in December 2013 after a long running political feud between Kiir and Machar, who are from different ethnic groups. Much of the fighting ran along ethnic lines. Sudan regularly accuses its neighbour of backing insurgents in the Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions that run along its southern border. The border, regularly crossed by traders and pastoralists, was closed after the 2011 split and only re-opened last January. Speaking to state media on Sunday, Kamal Ismail, a minister of state in the foreign ministry, said that South Sudan had pledged to expel the militant groups within 21 days during a visit last month. Khartoum would re-seal the border if its neighbour did not meet this promise, Ismail said. Finding Peace of Mind: Discover These Five Places in Europe to Unwind Isle of Capri Casinos' headquarters will move from suburban St. Louis to Reno, Nevada, as part of the gaming company's $1.7 billion sale announced Monday. Eldorado Resorts, based in Reno, said it anticipates completing the stock-and-cash transaction in the second quarter of 2017, pending approval by gaming regulators. Jill Alexander, Isle of Capri's spokeswoman, said about 100 people work at the company's headquarters in leased space in Creve Couer. She said a headquarters "transition team" will be assembled but whether the company would retain a presence in the St. Louis area had yet to be decided. Eldorado plans to keep all of Isle's casinos, including the new land-based casino in Bettendorf. The deal values Isle of Capri at $23 a share, a 36 percent premium over Friday's closing price. Eldorado said it would pay 58 percent of the purchase price in cash and 42 percent in stock. The sale includes Isle's $929 million of long-term debt, the companies said. Eldorado shareholders would own 62 percent of the combined company while Isle of Capri shareholders would hold 38 percent. Combined, the companies would have 20 properties in 10 states and would have generated $1.8 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended in June. The boards of both companies and key shareholders have signed agreements to vote in favor of the transaction, executives of both companies said. Those shareholders include members of the Goldstein family. Bernie Goldstein, who opened the nations first riverboat casino in 1991 in Bettendorf founded what became Isle of Casino when he opened a riverboat casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1992. Goldstein died in 2009, but family members remain on Isle's board. Shares of Isle soared Monday, rising $5.11, or 30 percent, to close at $22.04. Isle owns or operates casino properties in seven states, primarily under the Isle and Lady Luck brands. Eldorado, founded in 1973 in Reno, owns seven casino properties in Nevada, Louisiana, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The companies said they have identified "cost synergies" of approximately $35 million in first year following completion of transaction. David Katz, a gaming industry analyst for Telsey Advisory Group, said the sale would be good for Isle and Eldorado. Consolidation makes sense in the slow-growth regional gaming industry, he said. Eldorado's decision to retain Isle's casino brands also makes sense because of customer loyalty in their markets, Katz said. Gary Carano, Eldorado's chief executive, said in a statement the combination with Isle "builds the scale of our gaming operations and further diversifies the geographic reach of our operations without any overlap with our existing properties." Eric Hausler, Isle's chief executive, said the agreement with Eldorado will provide Isle shareholders "substantial and immediate value, as well as the opportunity to participate in the upside potential of the combined company." After the sale, Eldorado would have 20,800 slot machines and video lottery terminals, more than 560 table games and more than 6,500 hotel rooms. The deal also would add to Eldorado's free cash flow and diluted earnings per share. Eldorado has received financing for the deal totaling $2.1 billion from financial adviser J.P. Morgan. Credit Suisse is Isle of Capri's financial adviser. In a conference call with investors, Carano, Hausler and Tom Reeg, Eldorado's president and chief financial officer, noted the lack of geographic overlap in the companies' casino markets. Hausler said he is impressed by the firms' similarities. Back in 2004, a group of buddies met up at Sunset Marina on a gorgeous summer day to show off their cars, hang out and have fun. A dozen years later, led by that tight group of friends, the same thing happens every year around the same time, but the crowds have grown considerably. Almost 150 classic cars, trucks and motorcycles filled the grounds of the Rock Island marina and the imaginations of the almost 1,000 people who attended this years Haps Car Show. Snaking about the park were old Fords and Chevys in cotton candy colors, sleek cherry red and intergalactic silver Corvette Stingrays, muscular orange Mustangs, iridescent low riders decked out with fuzzy interiors and rearview mirror dice to match, and more. Barbecue spiced the air as blues music slunk through speakers and kids giggled romped around the playground. Im just happy people are out here having fun, said James Hap Houston, 57, of Rock Island, the man whose nickname emblazons the fest. Thats why it started, and thats what its all about. The free festival is put on with the help of volunteers, donations and sponsors, but its goal is a pretty simple one in line with its origin story. Its just people getting together to enjoy life, said Sylvester Perry, 62, of Milan, another of the original founders who brought his 1964 Pontiac GTO. Its just having fun, enjoying the cars, having some good food, listening to good music and enjoying each others company. Its not an awards show this is a chance for friends to get together and talk, eat, and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Sunset Marina. And, of course, enjoy all the nice cars, trucks and motorcycles. And thats just what people did. I love it. I love the food and the cars and the feeling of friendship that everyone has here, said James Jackson, 64, of Davenport. Its really a great day. Ive been to a lot of different shows and seen a lot of cars, but there are a lot here Ive never seen, said Kent Smith, 58, of Milan, who was showing off his pristine 1929 Ford Model A. Its a really wide variety of cars. One of the most unique vehicles was the three-wheel 2015 Polaris Slingshot, which looked like a burnt orange Batmobile. Its owner, Carter Nicholson, 65, of Moline, was beaming with pride and happy to let wide-eyed kids check out the wild ride. Whenever people see it, I get Batmobile, Transformers or Mad Max, Nicholson said with a laugh. Kids love it. For kids, it was a special treat seeing all the different Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars brought to real- scale life. I really like the colors of all the cars and the way they sound, said Julia McCowan, 7, of Rock Island. Its really, really cool! said William Sowers, 6, of Bettendorf, who was looking forward to seeing the Corvettes. There are so many cool cars! The big kids were pretty happy with the gig as well. This is the first time Ive been here, but this is a really cool event, said Richard Bromquest, 35, of Moline. Im glad to hear they do it every year. Ill be back. Just like the original founders. DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad says he trusts that fellow Republican Donald Trump will keep Iowas precinct caucuses first in the nation, but the same is not true for Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom the governor insists has an Iowa problem based on less-than-stellar performances in the state. Officials in the Clinton campaign and Iowa Democratic Party were quick to refute Branstads contentions as off base and purely political. Branstad told reporters during his weekly news conference the GOP presidential nominee gave assurances during a campaign stop in Des Moines last month that he supports keeping Iowa first-in-the-nations presidential nominating process although he likes primary elections better than caucuses. The Iowa Republican governor said he is comfortable that Trump, who finished second to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowas Feb. 1 precinct caucuses, will support Iowas lead-off position, but by contrast, he said Clinton has not made similar commitments and he would not trust her even if she did. She has not made it clear that she supports keeping the Iowa caucuses first, said Branstad, who speculated it was rooted in her third-place finish in Iowa in 2008 and her razor-thin win in 2016 over Bernie Sanders. Iowa has embarrassed her, and Iowa has been a problem for her again and again and again, he said. Its obvious, I think, that shes got an Iowa problem. Branstad noted that Trump has made more campaign appearances in Iowa since Julys national nominating conventions and pointed to recent public-opinion poll numbers showing Trump ahead in the race for Iowas six key swing-state electoral votes as evidence of that Iowa problem. Kate Waters, Iowa press secretary for Hillary for America, shrugged aside Branstads claims, saying, "Hillary Clinton has and will continue to support Iowa's first-in-the-nation status. Ben Foecke, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, said: "Gov. Branstad's ridiculous assumptions are pure partisan games Hillary Clinton continues to support Iowa's first-in-the-nation status, period. It appears that our governor has decided to join Donald Trump by embracing conspiracy theories that have no basis." AMES, Iowa Tim Kaine said he thinks millennials are altruistic, global thinkers who embrace diversity. And he said those young people will be critical in choosing the nations next president. Kaine, the Democratic nominee for vice president and running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, spoke Monday at a rally on the Iowa State University campus as the campaign made an appeal to young voters. Millennials are critical to this race. Young voters are critical to this race, said Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia. Some people look at the millennial generation, and they find reasons to gripe about them. I look at the millennial generation, and I see embracing diversity, I see altruistic and patriotic and thinking globally. Democrats are hoping millennials turn out in the November election, which was 50 days from Monday, and support Clinton. In an August poll by USA Today, millennial likely voters overwhelmingly supported Clinton over Donald Trump, 56 percent to 20 percent. Jeff Kaufmann, the Republican Party of Iowa chairman and a history and psychology professor at Muscatine Community College, said in a conference call Monday that Republicans have not written off millennial voters, but he cast doubt on Clintons ability to improve her standing with the group. Ive been teaching and interacting with this group of individuals for more than a quarter of a century. Ive got a pretty good handle on this group, certainly a better handle than Hillary Clinton or Tim Kaine could hope to have, Kaufmann said. I can tell you that is a fluid vote. That is a vote that is focused on very specific issues. I can tell you a few of those issues are definitely privacy rights, individualism, cost of education. I can also tell you this group is pretty discerning, and they are not going to be captured by ridiculous claims that somehow theyre going to have a free college education. En route to Ames, Kaine stopped into Mars Cafe coffee shop near the Drake University campus. Among the people he greeted was a trio of Drake students who said they were pleasantly surprised to get a chance to meet Kaine. One of the students Kaine greeted was Shea Sieff, a junior from suburban Chicago. Sieff said she supported Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses, but Clinton was her second choice, and she is supporting Clinton in the general election. Right now, the election is between Trump and Hillary, and who are we going to pick thats going to make America a country that we want to live in and not a country fueled by hate or racism? Sieff said, adding she thinks Clinton is working to help minorities. I think shes the right choice. Sieff said she thinks people her age are getting more involved in the political process during this election. I think were seeing now more millennials and my generation getting involved in the political system, she said. I feel like this election has been a turn for that. At the Iowa State rally, which drew 500 people, according to the campaign, Kaine spoke about issues he thinks are important to young voters: LGBT equality, addressing climate change, womens choice in health care, immigration reform and voting rights. He also criticized Trump on numerous fronts, including his view of the country. Kaine held up a copy of Trumps book, Crippled America, and contrasted it with the book written by the Clinton-Kaine campaign, Stronger Together. I dont recognize crippled America. I dont recognize this anywhere I go, Kaine said. Thats what this race is about: fundamentally who we are. Kaine also attended a campaign fundraiser Monday at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. Roughly 65 people attended the fundraiser, which required a donation of $2,700 to $5,000 per person that will go toward organizing and get-out-the-vote programs, according to the Clinton campaign. Most polls on the presidential race in Iowa have shown a close race between Clinton and Trump, although a Monmouth University Poll published last week showed Trump with a lead of 8 percentage points. DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he is encouraged by the state Board of Regents' two-year approach to budgeting, but he expressed concern over a two-tiered tuition idea floated at Iowa State University that might hurt students who spend the first two years at community colleges to keep costs down. Branstad told his weekly news conference he thinks the state has made progress in restoring stability and predictability for students and families considering the cost of attending a state university. He said, however, that student debt remains high, although it has come down in recent years relative to other states. At Iowa State University, President Steven Leath last week cited a growing reliance on tuition over state appropriations for funding state universities in proposing that his school implement a two-tier tuition structure that eventually would charge more in tuition for juniors and seniors than for freshmen and sophomores. He said the phased-in change would help finance high-quality educational offerings. On Monday, Branstad said he generally is supportive of a two-year budget request by the regents to increase state funding by 2 percent in exchange for limiting tuition increases to 2 percent for resident undergraduate students, but he raised concerns about the Iowa State idea of a two-tiered tuition system, saying, "I'd want to study that very, very carefully." "My concern is that a lot of our students are starting out at the community colleges because they can't afford to go to the state universities," the governor told reporters. "So, we don't want to penalize them by having a higher tuition for them in their junior and senior years." Branstad said college tuition is "competitive" in Iowa, while other states have seen "outlandish" increases, but he noted that how much taxpayer funding he and state legislators will be able to offer state universities will depend on the state revenue forecast that gets issued in December. He said he intends to unveil a two-year spending proposal in January when he delivers his Condition of the State message to lawmakers. College funding was the focus of Branstad's weekly news conference where he drew attention to a "GEAR UP" (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) college access and career readiness program that provides low-income students and their families with planning resources. The federally funded program administered by the Iowa College Student Aid Commission serves more than 7,000 students in 26 high schools in 12 districts, including Davenport, Clinton, Columbus Junction, Cedar Rapids, Denison, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Perry, Sioux City and Storm Lake. With a $22 million grant and another $22 million in in-kind matches from partners, GEAR UP Iowa provides services to help students and families create a "college-going culture" to prepare students to enroll and succeed in college and careers: campus visits, job shadowing and career fairs, financial aid advice, tutoring and mentoring, said commission executive director Karen Misjak. "These students might be the first in their families to go to college or plan their career path," Misjak said. "GEAR UP Iowa helps them achieve education or training beyond high school by providing knowledge and resources to the entire family." About half of the Iowa students involved in the GEAR UP program in 2008 wound up going to college in 2014, and of those, about 70 percent still are enrolled in college, she said. Jaqueline Guardado, a ninth-grader at Perry High School who was among a group of GEAR UP class students who attended Monday's event at the Statehouse, said the program was giving her an opportunity to attend college that neither of her parents had. "I'm very grateful for this," she said. "I hope one day that I'll get to have a job that I love and is something worthwhile." YANKTON | Aron Bernal Sabino came to America because of poor conditions in Mexico, and for a better life. "When growing up, whatever was hunted or fished, we ate," he said. "Many times I went hungry." Now a resident of Yankton, Sabino looks back on the long process of finding a new home that took more than a decade. In 2000, he entered the United States illegally and has since become legal. "I crossed into the United States illegally, which now I know was wrong. I wanted to do the right thing and make it legal," he says. He crossed the U.S. border near Nogales, Ariz., with a group of people. "It was a hot afternoon," Aron said. "I had to climb and jump from a 12-foot fence. I was scared." He found out later that another group that had been nearby had been caught by the border patrol. From there he traveled to Phoenix, then to Norfolk, Neb. His sister lived in Norfolk and arranged transportation across the country. When he arrived in Norfolk, his first job was roofing. With the help of Justice for our Neighbors, Sabino received a work permit in 2012 and also with their help he started the process to become a legal citizen. Justice for our Neighbors educates, advocates and gives legal representation to immigrants. He would have to renew his work permit each year, paving the way to citizenship. (He can apply for citizenship in 10 years and Sabino plans to do that.) His first step was to apply for and get approved for a waiver for the U.S. government to forgive him for crossing the border illegally. He received it. The next step came in July of this year. Sabino returned to Mexico and started the process to become a permanent resident. Sabino needed an immigration visa. He applied and received an interview date. On that date, he traveled back to Mexico to the U.S. embassy in Ciudad, Juarez. On day one in Ciudad, Sabino had to get all his immunizations. On day two, he was fingerprinted. Then came the day of decision: Day three. First, an official went through all of his paperwork, ensuring it was correct. After that step, Sabino was told to wait until his name was called. "There were a lot of people in the waiting room, probably over a hundred," he said. "There were two doors, those that were approved and those who weren't." While sitting in the waiting room, Sabino felt confident he would exit the door for those who'd been approved. When his name was called, he went inside a room. An interviewer asked him several questions. Are you married? How many kids do you have? Where did you illegally enter the United States and when? The interviewer looked at his file as he answered the questions. One wrong answer would terminate the process and he would be denied. During the entire process, Sabino said, he prayed to God that he wouldn't be nervous. "I was surprised at how calm I was." Sabino knew he passed when the interviewer drew a smiley face on his paper. "I was happy." At the present time, Sabino's parents and his brothers live in Cuatro Bancos, Mexico. Sabino sends money back to them. He's concerned for them because there's a lot of violence, robbing, killing and beheading. "It's happening all the time," Sabino says. When Sabino thinks about America, he says this: "This country is blessed by God. America has a lot of things, that where I'm from doesn't have. In Mexico, a person can work all day, and still not have enough to feed a family." Sabino is appreciative and grateful to be here to raise his family. He and his wife, Andrea, who was born in Yankton, have six kids. "I thank Jesus for the blessing. I feel very happy and welcome in Yankton. It's a good place to raise my family and it has a lot of job opportunities," Sabino said. He ends with saying, "It feels like home." Standing in Art Alley in downtown Rapid City, Tyler Read squinted up at the sinister black snake towering over him in the high noon shadows. The thing thats irritating me about that snake, Read said, is I forgot the tongue. Read is a graffiti artist, and the black snake looming in Art Alley near the Seventh Street entrance is his latest creation, an ominous symbol of the Dakota Access pipeline being protested by thousands of indigenous peoples hundreds of miles away in the pastures of North Dakota. The black snake is an old Lakota prophecy, that a great black snake will cross Lakota territory, Read said. My understanding of the prophecy is that if the snake passes, it will be the end of the world. If it does not pass, it will be because the indigenous peoples came together to usher in a new era of peace. If completed, the $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline will pump nearly half a million gallons of light crude oil from the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota across South Dakota and Iowa to existing oil networks in Illinois. It is currently routed near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, whose tribal members have protested the pipeline as a potential threat to ancestral lands and drinking water from the Missouri River. The mural reveals the worry many Natives have about the pipeline and its path. Blue waves crash against the tarry coils. The snake's blood red eyes glare back at viewers over a pair of long fangs dripping with inky venom. Its unnoticeable until Read points it out, but sure enough, the forked tongue is absent. Im thinking about coming back and adding it in, he said. Read is the community engagement coordinator on the Rapid City Arts Council at the Dahl Arts Center, where one of his duties is to coordinate the painting permits for Art Alley. The Muhammad Ali and butterflies mural at the other end of the alley is also his. He got the inspiration for his latest piece on Labor Day weekend. He was driving back from a brief vacation in Sioux Falls, where hed been viewing displays of ledger art by Don Montileaux of Rapid City, when he heard about an incident involving protesters near a pipeline construction site in North Dakota. Security personnel hired by the company building the pipeline had used dogs and pepper spray to clear protesters from the area. Read isnt Lakota himself, but his wife and children are. Angered and saddened by the incident, Read decided to do something to express his support for the movement. So on the Wednesday after he got back, he got to work on the mural. He started at noon that day and didnt finish until 2 a.m. on Thursday. The snake dominates the wall, but tilting toward it are three depictions of the indigenous warrior spirit. On the left, a Lakota brave charges the great snake on horseback. Rendered in the ledger art style, the image is a duplicate of a piece by Montileaux, whom Read consulted before completing the mural. On the right, a bird in the artistic style of northwestern Native American tribes joins the fray against the snake, while a Hopi warrior of the southwest also readies for battle. I didnt want to replicate people, Read said. I wanted to replicate warriors, in their respective art forms. In 2004, Read came to Rapid City from Seattle, where he got his start as a graffiti artist. In the larger city, he would paint at night in communities that were not his own. Here in Rapid City, he feels his work has experienced a miniature revolution. He has been able to undertake far more projects in the light of day, and in a community of his own that he believes has slowly learned the artistic value of graffiti. It was really interesting to see the social dynamic here, Read said. Ive spent a lot of time observing it, but Im becoming more engaged in trying to change that dynamic. By John D. Taylor WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK -- The National Park Service (NPS) intends to work with South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks (GFP) to use skilled volunteers to reduce the parks elk herd. This is being done, according to information from Midwest Region NPS Chief of Communications Alexandra Picavet, to help address the high rate of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the park. The elk management plan for Wind Cave has a population objective of 232 to 475 elk. Current population estimates, however, show about 550 elk in the park. This, coupled with a recently released United States Geological Survey (USGS) report, estimate that CWD prevalence in the parks elk herd is at about 9.5 percent higher than previously understood. Biologists want to know if this increased prevalence of CWD is linked to the higher density of elk in the park. It is believed that by reducing the elk population within the boundary of the park, it will also reduce the prevalence of CWD, according to Picavet. Our scientists believe the density of the parks elk population and CWD are related, said Wind Cave Superintendent Vidal Davila. We will be following the herds health over the next several years to determine if the reduced density of elk lowers the prevalence of CWD in the park. Every animal taken during this operation will be tested for CWD. According to Picavet culling surplus elk is consistent with the options presented in the parks Elk Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement of 2009. Herd reduction According to Picavet, beginning in mid-November, trained volunteers selected through a lottery system managed by GFP will work with NPS staff to reduce the number of elk inside the park. Four different volunteers will be needed each week for this operation. Each day, two teams (an NPS team leader and two volunteers) will be formed. On their first day, volunteers will be required to demonstrate firearms proficiency and physical fitness, including shooting three of five shots in an 8-inch circle at 200 yards using their own rifle and non-lead ammunition. During the week, volunteers will be required to hike up to 10 miles over rough terrain and carry packs up to 70 pounds. The operation is expected to continue through February. Reaction Tom J. Slowey, is the South Dakota Regional Director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF). Hed not had a whole lot of time to digest the full information about the hunt on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 15, a day after the NPS made its announcement that it intended to reduce the herd. However, he said, Anything that helps the health of the herds, range management and forest management, were in favor of. Making sure elk and elk habitat remains balanced in the ecosystem is the main priority of RMEF. Slowey said. Wind Caves effort reminded him of what NPS and North Dakotas Game and Fish Department did in Theodore Roosevelt National Park during 2010 and 2011. There, a herd of 1,200 elk were about 500 animals more than what biologists believed was appropriate, so volunteers, working with park officials, culled the elk to achieve a herd in balance with the landscape. As far as what this might mean for those who like to hunt elk, Slowey couldnt say without knowing more details about the program. Meat to feed hungry NPS and GFP will distribute the meat from the animals taken during this cull to Feeding South Dakota. Also, volunteers who work an entire week will be eligible for some meat. Only meat testing negative for CWD will be distributed. During North Dakotas Theodore Roosevelt National Park cull, the park donated nearly 20,000 pounds of meat to Sportsmen Against Hunger to stock food pantries throughout the state; another 25,000 pounds was shared with native people in the state; and the volunteers who helped received the remainder. For more information visit nps.gov/wica/learn/nature/elk-cervus-elaphus.htm Sidebar Anyone wishing to volunteer should submit an online application through GFP website at: https://apps.sd.gov/gf79license/login.aspx. A lottery, similar to those conducted for elk permits, will be conducted through 8 a.m., Sept. 28. Only online applications will be accepted.As people fill out the application, they have to understand that this is difficult work that includes several hard days in the field under strenuous hiking and weather conditions, said Davila. On Sept. 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., First Interstate Bank and Casey Peterson & Associates will co-host a fundraiser to benefit Rural America Initiatives. Held in the parking lot at First Interstate Banks Gateway branch at 333 W. Blvd., Ste. 100, the event will serve Indian tacos, with a recommended donation of $10 a plate. Proceeds will benefit RAI, a local nonprofit that serves at-risk and impoverished Native American youth in the area. A news release from First Interstate Bank says the event will also include traditional Lakota dancers and music, and guest speakers, including testimonials from those helped by RAI. Please come and share some traditional Native culture, said RAI Executive Director Bruce Long Fox. The two area businesses also held a fill the RAI pantry food drive from Sept. 12-19. Monetary donations may also be made online at RAIs website. Members of RAI work with some of the most challenged and at-risk families in Rapid City, "focusing on fostering the skills needed to break the crippling cycle of poverty," according to the news release. The organization works in Early Head Start and Head Start programs in Rapid City, as well as the Ateyapi role-modeling mentoring program in area schools. Pete was born July 29, 1924, in Aladdin, WY, attended by a midwife to Frank and Anna (Landsverk) Gordon. Some years later the family moved to Belle Fourche, where Pete and his siblings attended school and his father secured employment at the Electric Light Plant and the Flour Mill. Upon the death of his father, his mother moved the family to California to be closer to her family. While in California, as WWII loomed over Europe, he worked as a shipyard rigger at Moore Dry Dock in Oakland, CA. When Pete received his military draft notice he returned to Belle Fourche to enter with his old school friends. He entered service on Oct. 15, 1943, at Fort Crook, Nebraska and served with the 1st Engineer Combat Battalion in Central Europe under General George Patton. He was honorably discharged in January of 1946 at Camp Carson, CO. Following his service in the United States Army, Pete became a truck driver for Buckingham Transportation. Pete met Florence Dahl of Spearfish and the couple married on the first day of spring, March 21, 1949. He became a favorite uncle who fished, hunted and camped with his nephews. Pete and Florence had recently celebrated 65 years of marriage and were looking forward to 70 years. Pete outlived all four of his siblings, but he left their children and grandchildren with many happy memories of their Uncle Pete. Russian court recovers $21.5 million from Cypriot offshore on request of Trust bank MOSCOW, September 19 (RAPSI) The Moscow Commercial Court has ruled to recover almost 1.4 billion rubles ($21.5 million) from Cypriot offshore Belenfield Trade Limited in favor of Trust Bank, the courts documents read on Monday. According to the documents, demands of the bank were based on two agreements regarding emergent deals at financial market, signed in June 2013 and January 2014. Several contracts were signed as part of these agreements, which led to a debt. Hearings were condoned without representatives of defendants. This is not the first claim Trust Bank has filed against various offshore firms. Yet on April 27, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals confirmed the recovery of over 2 billion rubles ($29 million) from Cyprus-based Siberiankd Timber Enterprises Limited as requested in a claim put forward by Trust Bank. Altogether, for the first half of 2015, Trust bank filed about 20 lawsuits against companies registered in the offshore jurisdictions worth over 32 billion rubles ($464.5 mln) and over $94 million. Business media outlets reported that some of these companies were associated with the former owners of the bank. In late December 2014, the Central Bank of Russia decided to reorganize Trust Bank, which at that time was on the list of the top 30 Russian banks, placing it under the temporary supervision of the Deposit Insurance Agency. FC Otkritie Bank, part of Otkritie Holding, was selected as a bridge bank. Prosecutor seeks two years in prison for famous Russian blogger accused of extremism MOSCOW, September 19 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) Prosecution on Monday asked Moscows Presnensky District Court to sentence famous Russian blogger Anton Nosik, who stands charged with extremism, to two years in prison, RAPSI learnt in the court. As previously reported, a criminal case against Nosik was opened after he had posted an article called To wipe Syria off the map on the Internet. The blogger pleads not guilty insisting that the distributed information is his private opinion. If convicted, Nosik could face a fine, or corrective labor of up to one year, or imprisonment of up to two years. Currently, the blogger is under travel restrictions. Nosik is a popular Russian blogger and startup manager. He earlier acted as an editor in various outstanding news online media outlets, a manager of Rambler search engine and blog office of Russian media company SUP which owns LiveJournal social networking service. Detention of ex-FSB officer suspected to be bribed by Turkish company appealed MOSCOW, September 19 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) The defense had appealed against the decision of the Moscow Garrison Military Court to detain Vlad Novikov, a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) suspected of accepting a 5 million rubles ($77,000) bribe from a Turkish company, lawyer Dagir Khasavov told RAPSI on Monday. According to the lawyer, the date on which the appeal is to be heard has not been set yet. As it has been reported earlier, two men were arrested in a fraud case on suspicion that they had received a bribe from the Turkish construction firm Esta Construction. Investigators claim that Esta Construction has been fined over 37 million rubles ($570,000) for violation of migration legislation. The companys lawyer in order to avoid payment of the fine asked the suspects for help in the termination of the case for 5 million rubles ($77,000). The case resulted from a provocation on the part of the alleged victim, who had embezzled the money and was trying to deflect the blame on the defendants, Novikov said when being convoyed to the courtroom, where the decision on the detention of the suspects were to be taken on Friday. Esta Construction is a contracting company established by Bahattin Demirbilek in Moscow in 2006 and operating as a general contractor and project designer in international construction market, the firms website says. Privacy Policy RealChoice is a BlogSpot blog. You get whatever privacy you get when you post on a blog. As Blogmistress of RealChoice, I do not collect information on my users or those who post comments. I will delete spam and offensive comments, and thoroughly cooperate with law enforcement, as I did in the case of Ted "Operation Counterstrike" Schulman, if people make terroristic threats on my blog. So fight nice, kids. The Container Store elevations Beachwood Elevations submitted by KA Architecture show The Container Store anchoring a renovated La Place shopping center next to Beachwood Place mall. (City of Beachwood; KA Architecture) BEACHWOOD, Ohio - The Container Store plans to open its first Northeast Ohio location in spring 2017, at the refashioned La Place shopping center next to Beachwood Place mall. KA Architecture filed signage plans for the Container Store with the city last week, on behalf of General Growth Properties, Inc., the landlord for La Place and the mall. James Heller, a consultant to KA, is scheduled to present those plans Monday evening to Beachwood's Architectural Board of Review. A frequent name on local shoppers' retail wish lists, the Container Store carries storage and organization products, from shelves and boxes to file cabinets and custom closet systems. The Dallas-based retailer's nearest stores to Cleveland are in Columbus and Troy, Michigan. At one point, the Container Store popped up on site plans for the mixed-use Pinecrest project in Orange, Beachwood's neighbor to the southeast. But General Growth ultimately won the deal. Cuyahoga County real estate records show that the mall giant and the Container Store agreed to a 10-year lease, with extension options, in May. Construction already is under way at the east end of La Place, where the 25,000-square-foot store will occupy the former footprint of a Borders book shop that closed in 2011. Neither General Growth nor the Container Store have formally announced the Beachwood project, but the city confirmed the broad strokes of the deal on Monday. "We're thrilled that such a key retailer is coming to Beachwood," Mayor Merle Gorden said in a news release. "I'd like to welcome the Container Store, which will be joining many other quality retailers who serve customers in our city. ... This is key to reinventing La Place, which is what General Growth was planning from the get-go." General Growth has not announced additional tenants for La Place, which the company acquired out of foreclosure in early 2015. The center's prior owner, an affiliate of ORG Portfolio Management of Beachwood, defaulted on a mortgage after Borders closed. General Growth bought that troubled loan for an undisclosed price in 2014 and took control of the real estate to satisfy the debt and end foreclosure litigation. Now General Growth essentially is raising the roof at the former Borders store, making room for the Container Store. Beachwood's Planning and Zoning Commission signed off on the expansion and reconfiguration project in early 2016, without knowing the name of the tenant. Signage plans show that the store will be accessible from the parking lot on the south side of La Place. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. is handling the construction. KA, which worked on previous renovations at La Place and the mall, redesigned the east end of the center. The firm also is working with General Growth on a planned expansion of Beachwood Place. "It's a fabulous retailer, and it's going to be an asset to the project," Heller, a longtime Beachwood resident and former president of KA, said of the Container Store. "But it's going to be an asset to everyone in the area." Former Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley has unloaded his suburban estate in Montgomery County for 20 percent less than what he had originally asked for the six-bedroom Colonial. Utley, who was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers last year after more than a decade with the Phillies, listed the two-story home in the Gladwyne section of Lower Merion Township for $3.495 million in April. He chopped $395,000 off the price in May then lobbed off another $200,000 less than a month later. The property, which was also once owned by former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson, sold for $2.78 million, according to its RedFin listing. The deal closed on Monday. Utley bought the home in 2013 for $2.325 million, county property records show. Built in 1998, the home underwent a "meticulous top-to-bottom renovation" and "layout transformation" under Utley's ownership, according to the listing, that "created a sleek open California-style layout." A new saltwater swimming pool and pool pavilion were also installed on the property. The home became the center of media attention in 2002 when Iverson hid out there amid allegations he broke into a Philadelphia apartment and threatened people with a gun. Iverson bought the home in 2000 for $2.4 million, according to property records. He sold the property in 2006 for $2.85 million. Utley, a California native, hasn't cut all real estate ties with the area yet. He still owns a condo near Washington Square in Philadelphia, records show. Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 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The trunk was in a library patron's vehicle that was stolen earlier this month. Police recovered the stolen car, but the library's trunk is still missing. The Public Library has several "traveling trunks" that can be checked out by patrons. They are history in a kit that is primarily used by teachers as educational tools, providing students with actual artifacts to examine from significant periods in history. Most of the items in the trunks are donated by relatives or families, or have been painstakingly collected by patrons, library staff and volunteers. Topics of other trunks at the library include the Lewis and Clark expedition, immigration, the Santa Fe Trail, the Camino Real, and WW I, Korean War and Vietnam wars. The missing World War II trunk, valued at about $800, is a duffle bag with wheels that includes photographs, medals and other memorabilia from a World War II soldier, items that will be nearly impossible to replace. If you have information about the missing World War II trunk please call the Albuquerque Police Department at 505-242-COPS (242-2677). $25K in Gannett Foundation grants go to central Kansas organizations Four local organizations are receiving a total of $25,000 as the Gannett Foundation invests in community-building initiatives in north-central Kansas. Here is an upcoming film coming out of Brazil with a compelling premise. Amare, Spanish for 'I Love You' (putting that in my pocket for my trip South in November), is a new sci-fi/musical hybrid coming in the early part of 2017. I met Amare director/producer M.M. Izidoro (one of the M's is for Marcel so I will stick with that from now on) at Morbido last year when he was in town with the Brazilian folklore horror flick The Fostering. Marcel and I have kept in contact since then, always keeping an eye on the film scene in Brazil, and we have been talking about this project for a while now. Marcel is ready to start sharing his project with the World so we have a set of stills to share with you as well as a statement from the director. So far, there is nothing explicitly sci-fi about the images that he has sent to us. Rather, they certainly convey an air of intimacy between his lead couple. We especially love the framing of the fourth photo, with the lush foliage, a blanket of green. We await to see what sci-fi elements Marcel has weaved into his story. It's always fun to witness the debut of a fantastic filmmaker. In this case, it's the birth of TWO filmmakers, the team of Joel and Ethan Coen, who debuted in the lexicon of cinema with the neo-noir film Blood Simple in 1984. Starring Frances McDormand, John Getz, M. Emmett Walsh, and Dan Hedaya, Blood Simple is the tale of a Abby (Frances McDormand), very young wife who tries to escape her marriage to psychotic, wealthy bar owner Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya) via one of Marty's bartenders, her new lover Ray (John Getz). In no short time, Marty hires a private detective to follow the two, and when Marty sees photographic proof that his wife has been unfaithful, he hires the same man to off them. In noir, things always go wrong --- and that's the fun part. The PI Marty has hired decides that he'd rather doctor photos of the lovers' death and then kill Marty and take his money, than actually murdering the couple. Ray comes across the boy of Marty in the bar and decides (probably from stupidity and fear), that he should clean up. Of course, as the guy sleeping with Marty's wife, he wouldn't entirely escape blame --- or motive --- anyway. As it turns out, Marty isn't quite dead --- yet. Ray discovers this and must bury him --- ALIVE --- in a barren farm field in the wee hours of the night. The sequence is rife with horror and dread, right up there with Alfred Hitchcock's oeuvre. If you love classic thrillers and haven't seen this film, you need to. The Criterion Collection's new Blu-ray release is a great place to start. With a new 4k digital transfer over seen by the Coen Brothers and their cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, Blood Simple reveals crisp sound and a great picture, with minimal flickering and some grain. As with most Criterion editions, cinema fans and film students will eat this one up. It was interesting to watch the conversation between the Coens and Sonnenfeld on what they felt the film's greatest visual mistakes were and how they would remedy those, given what they know now. A discussion between author Dave Eggers and the Coens is also illuminating. Blu-ray features include: New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the films look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations New conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the films production, from inception to release New interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound mixer Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh Trailers PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich Blood Simple is out on Blu-ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection on September 20. Check out the 4K restoration trailer below. This picture shows last year's festival at the Rotterdam-based Lantaren Venster venue. Even if you don't intend to go see films, it's always worth a visit due to the stalls, exhibitions, food, books... in a previous year the festival had re-created a Tokyo manga cafe, complete with maids, in other years you could wrestle or even get a massage, or learn origami... For our recommendations for this year, click the sides of this image to flick though the gallery, as there is bound to be something for everyone. The 22nd edition of Paris premiere fantastic film festival LEtrange closed today with the announcement of their Palmare Awards and for the first time in the festivals history, two films shared the top prize. Ahead of closing film The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, The Mo Brothers (Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto) Headshot and Gabrielle Mainettis They Call Me Jeeg Robot jointly received The Grand Nouveax Genre Award. Indonesian genre specialists The Mo Brother's latest violent thriller stars The Raids Iko Uwais as a man on a mission to save the woman who rescued him. Gabrielle Mainetti can add one more award to the already impressive haul hes received for his Italian super-hero action-comedy feature. The Audience Award went to Chilean-French multi-hyphenate Alejandro Jodorowsky for his latest film Endless Poetry. The autobiographical work, the follow-up to 2013s The Dance of Reality, tells of the famed directors early life in Chile and his introduction to the avant-garde art world. Jodorowsky was present throughout the festival to present his film and to host his unique Cryptocinema event. In the International Short Film Competition the Netherlands Mathijs Geijskes walked away with the Grand Prix Canal+ Award for Klem while the Audience Award went to Conor MacMahon for his entry Stranger in the Night. Warm temperatures and clear skies sent droves of people to Ocean Beach Sunday and when there are crowds at the ocean's edge, folks in jeopardy are almost sure to follow. In Sunday's case, the imperiled were a man and a dog, both of which were pulled to safety by rescue crews. According to NBC Bay Area, emergency responders were called to a rocky outcropping near the Cliff House early Sunday afternoon for two separate rescues, of the human and canine varieties. Active high angle rescue in progress at the Cliff House. @abc7newsbayarea pic.twitter.com/U1JQiR7s5c Cristina Dunning (@SillyCristina) September 18, 2016 The man, NBC reports, was "trapped between the crashing waves and the rocks" until rescuers climbed down and pulled him to safety. But "at the same time," an apparently unrelated corgi took off down the cliff and got similarly trapped, requiring a second rescue (which involved a super cute emergency harness) just feet away from the first. Both the man and the dog were uninjured following their respective ordeals. In fact, says one member of the San Francisco Fire Department, the pup was unfazed by the incident. "The dog was mellow and happy," SFFD Battalion Chief Anita Paratley says,"and had the crowd cheering him on" as he was raised to safety. The alphabet-busting roster of San Francisco ballot propositions voters will decide on November 8 have made for a massive information pamphlet, the booklet every registered voter will receive by mail in advance of the election...unless, as hoped by SF's Department of Elections, you get on the ball today and opt to read the document online instead. This year's 300-plus-page voter information booklet (if you can call anything that's 300 pages long a "booklet") is "one of the largest pamphlets ever produced" in San Francisco, Department of Elections Director John Arntz says. The pamphlet, for those of you who don't still have the copy of the last election's by your toilet, contains the legally-required "candidate statements, legal text of local ballot measures, and ballot arguments in favor of and against each measure," Arntz says. While earlier this summer San Francisco's Board of Supervisors managed to narrow the local measure count down from 40, the document is still incredibly long and that's not even counting the California State voter info packet, which the Chron reports is a separate 224 page document. San Francisco's .925 lb tome will go to every one of the city's 471,123 registered voters, unless they opt out in favor of reading the information online. So far, about 5,865 voters have done just that but the deadline to decline the paper version is today, so if you want out, act fast by opting out online here or by calling 415-554-4375. Of course, there's one party displeased by the push to take the pamphlet online: The United States Postal Service. When contacted by the Chron regarding the DoE's encouragement to opt out of the paper version, USPS spokesperson Augustine Ruiz sniped that We are no different from any other business where a drop in business, in this case mail, is a drop in revenue. And no business would find this very pleasing. When asked if the heavy manuals might be an undue burden on postal workers, Ruiz was equally dismissive, saying that Our carriers are accustomed to heavy loads ... (and) wouldnt have an issue with delivering it. (Tell that to the mail carriers on my route, who complain to me at great length when my multitudes of September fashion magazines arrive.) For those OK with depriving the USPS of business, Arntz says that instead of the booklet, you'll get "a link via email in early October to view the pamphlet on sfelections.org." But opt out sooner rather than later, as if you fail to decline the print version by the end of today, your mail carrier will be HAPPILY delivering that big-ass book to you next month. A hang-out time between acquaintances turned horrific Saturday afternoon, when an argument escalated into an attack with an axe. According to the San Francisco Police Department, at 3:19 p.m. Saturday, five men aged between 25-35 were "hanging out" on the 2300 block of Powell Street, which is between Bay and North Point Streets. Police say that "a heated verbal argument ensued." A 30-year-old member of the party "then revealed an axe" and struck a 27-year-old member of the group "in [the] abdomen area, causing a deep cut." The uninjured four men then fled the scene "in a vehicle," police say. The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of his injuries, police say. An update on his condition was not available at publication time, nor was additional information on the suspects or the reason behind the attack. Police did confirm, however that no arrests had been made in the case. If you know anything about this attack, the SFPD asks that you call SFPD's Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message. The Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project is facing what appears to be an end run opposition by preservationists and Supervisor Aaron Peskin, just ahead what should be the project's groundbreaking this fall. Peskin has a new resolution, which may be going before the full Board of Supervisors at their Tuesday meeting, "urging the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to make all efforts to preserve the historic character of the Van Ness Corridor through reuse as well as replication of the Van Ness Avenue historic streetlamps." It's unclear to what extent this resolution could delay the project further the BRT effort on Van Ness dates back a decade now, and isn't expected to be complete until 2019. The resolution refers to both historic trolley poles and streetlamps on the corridor, which date back to 1915 when a major streetcar route came to Van Ness in preparation for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. It describes the Beaux Arts poles and lamps as having "graceful ironwork brackets," and the preservationist set notes that in a 1982 architectural survey conducted by San Francisco Heritage, the trolley poles and lamps were given a level B grade indicating their "major importance." To be clear, these are the poles we're talking about, like the one pictured below. As the Examiner reported back in January, the reconfiguration of the corridor is going to require the removal of 193 mature trees along the central median, in addition to the 259 historic trolley poles which are made of concrete and were once closer to the central median before a street-widening project in the 1930's. The BRT will create two designated bus lanes up the center of the street, removing the two center lanes of vehicle traffic, with each having its own median station stops at nine locations: Market, McAllister, Eddy, Geary/O'Farrell, Sutter, Sacramento, Jackson, Vallejo, and Union Streets. The consolidation project to remove the other stops for the 47 and 49 bus lines already began earlier this year. The trees have been there since the 1950's, when the streetcars were removed and replaced by a median and two more lanes for cars. Per the Ex, the Historic Preservation Commission issued the SFMTA a conditional certificate of appropriateness last year, asking them to preserve four of the historic trolley poles near City Hall, but both agencies agreed that the concrete polls are crumbling and need to be recreated in some fashion. Hoodline adds that while a group of 33 lamps and poles fall within the Civic Center Historic District and therefore need to be preserved, there's been some vagaries around how many actually will be, because of a 2009 study that concluded that most of them "lacked sufficient historic and structural integrity" to deserve historic status. The latest resolution caught the attention of transit advocate Eric, a.k.a. Militant Pedestrian on Twitter. Opponents of #VanNessBRT just will not relent, and they have the ear of "progressive" Peskin. cc @SFTRU https://t.co/TZSDr3S89K Militant Pedestrian (@transbay) September 17, 2016 Unfortunately, when a supe meddles in a particular Muni project, the result is more often than not to the detriment of good transit. Militant Pedestrian (@transbay) September 17, 2016 According to the resolution, "The Van Ness Avenue Historic Streetlamps have been nominated to the National Trust for Historic Preservations 2016 list of 'Americas 11 Most Endangered Historic Places' to be nationally announced in October 2016." The project has faced opposition from Chinatown, and from business owners on the Van Ness Corridor, while it has been championed by transit advocates as the first of what should be several such projects in the city, including a BRT project planned on Geary. Previously: Van Ness To Get Speedy New Bus Line (Eventually) Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson, a 5 minute video that everyone should watch. Those who already understand will appreciate his explanation to those who... Image: Dusteramaranth Every aspect of creation is governed by an angel. Even trees and plants (especially those with healing prop... [If you did not see Part 1 click here to watch ] What will happen in the final war of "Gog and Magog" at the End of Days? Who are ... Text by Rabbi Daniel Travis Two by two the animals came into the Ark to Noach. [ Noah 7:9 ] The concepts in this verse are ill... Rabbi Aaron L Raskin [28 min video] After being isolated for two years from the pandemic, COVID-19, the year of Hakhel is like a breath of... HT: AG "A soul like his does not descend in every generation, it descends once in many generations" Rav Shlomo Yehudah Be'eri... SIOUX CITY | Hamid Shirvani hasnt been in Iowa very long. But it hasnt taken the new Briar Cliff University president much time to feel like he's home. The notion of the spirit of the place and the spirit of the family and the community was quite paramount, he said. This is a community that truly cares for its students. Shirvani noticed the unique heart of Iowans on a trip across the state. Needing hot water for drops to soothe his throat after a long day of talking, Shirvani never once received a confused look or a no as he stopped at gas stations. In fact, it was often a request greeted with a smile and a here you go. That wasnt always the case in other states hes called home in his 37 years in higher education. Its a small thing, sure, but one that stuck out. As small as it is, its meaningful, said the Tehran, Iran, native. It represents the community. Shirvani, 65, said that feeling of a safe, friendly environment, but one that wants to move forward, has been why Briar Cliff has been able to grow its enrollment to its highest point in 20 years. That tells me this is a fabulous place, he said. Its a fabulous place that we can attract a great number of students from out of the state and tell those parents that this is a great university and a great community. Shirvani, who takes over at Briar Cliff after the 15-year tenure of former president Bev Wharton, has held leadership roles before. A new environment presents its own unique challenges with its own solutions. As a professor, dean and president, Shirvani has said he has developed a matrix of what works and what doesnt work. Anything you do, you do your best and if its successful, great, and if its not, you learn from your mistakes, he said. The worst thing you want to do is nothing. While he takes over for the longest-serving president in BCUs history, he has hit the ground running and is eager to expand on the efforts to grow programs on both undergraduate and graduate levels -- like the doctorate in physical therapy programs and major in kinesiology. Shirvani said hes focused on continuing to roll out programs that meet the needs of the community and region. He said he has taken feedback from the community and faculty to see what programs might attract new students and produce much-needed professionals in the area. Some of the programs were going to develop are the programs that the community is very anxiously waiting to be a part of, he said. The role of the university is not just being an excellent university and moving to a higher level of recognition, but also being a major player in advancing Sioux City. Todd Knealing, interim vice president for academic affairs, said the eagerness of Shirvani to step into the leadership role and continue to improve Briar Cliff is refreshing and has eased concerns associated with the transition. It helps people feel connected that he has a good understanding of higher education, the ups and downs higher education is facing and how to use that experience to propel us forward, he said. And Shirvani said he has appreciated the willingness of the staff and students to work to continue to push the university forward. The sense of trust and openness he has experienced since coming to Sioux City earlier this year reflect the values that appealed to him on his initial visit. Theyre a Franciscan school but its not just in the title and name. Its in practice and very deeply in practice, he said. Its quite clearly demonstrated. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to assaulting his girlfriend with a hammer after she refused to let him tattoo his name on her chest. Jonathan Boggs, 28, entered his written plea Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to third-offense domestic abuse assault. His trial was set for Dec. 6. According to court documents, on Sept. 2, Boggs was going to give the woman a tattoo on her chest at their apartment in the 1500 block of Court Street and told her he wanted to tattoo his name on her. After she refused, an argument ensued. The woman tried to leave the house several times, but Boggs stopped her, grabbed a hammer and threatened to kill her before hitting her with the hammer, court documents said. DES MOINES -- Gov. Terry Branstad says he trusts that fellow Republican Donald Trump will keep Iowas precinct caucuses first in the nation, but the same is not true for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who the governor insists has an Iowa problem based on less-than-stellar performances here. However, officials in the Clinton campaign and Iowa Democratic Party were quick to refute Branstads contentions as off base and purely political during Mondays exchange. Branstad told reporters during his weekly news conference the GOP presidential nominee gave assurances during a campaign stop in Des Moines last month that he supports keeping Iowa first in the nations presidential nominating process although he likes primary elections better than caucuses. The Iowa Republican governor said he comfortable that Trump -- who finished second to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowas Feb. 1 precinct caucuses will support Iowas leadoff position, but by contrast he said Clinton has not made similar commitments and he would not trust her even if she did. She has not made it clear that she supports keeping the Iowa caucuses first, said Branstad, who speculated it was rooted in her third-place finish in Iowa in 2008 and her razor-thin win in 2016 over Bernie Sanders when many experts believed she would put him away early and she did not. Iowa has embarrassed her and Iowa has been a problem for here again and again and again, he said. Its obvious I think that shes got an Iowa problem. Branstad noted that Trump has made more campaign appearances in Iowa since Julys national nominating conventions and pointed to recent public-opinion poll numbers showing Trump ahead in the race for Iowas six key swing-state electoral votes as evidence of that Iowa problem. Kate Waters, Iowa press secretary for Hillary for America, shrugged aside Branstads claims, saying "Hillary Clinton has and will continue to support Iowa's first-in-the-nation status, while Ben Foecke, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, said: "Gov. Branstad's ridiculous assumptions are pure partisan games -- Hillary Clinton continues to support Iowa's first in the nation status, period. It appears that our governor has decided to join Donald Trump by embracing conspiracy theories that have no basis." Several key players miss Week 2 contests New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski missed his second consecutive week with a hamstring injury, after he was ruled out for Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins. Gronkowski's absence wasn't exactly unexpected, but there were a few surprises in the inactives for Week 2 including Pittsburgh wide receiver Markus Wheaton, who will miss the Steelers' home game against Cincinnati with a shoulder injury. It's the second straight missed game for Wheaton, who was listed as a full participant throughout the week. Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles is out with a knee injury, but Miami running back Arian Foster (hamstring) and Carolina's Jonathan Stewart (ankle) were in their teams' respective lineups. The Dolphins were again without center Mike Pouncey (hip). Defensive end Mario Williams, who was concussed in last week's loss at Seattle, was active for Miami. Jacksonville running back Chris Ivory, who was hospitalized and missed the Jags' opener last week, was again inactive for Sunday's game at San Diego. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. provides automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles, and light and heavy duty trucks. The company offers battery accessories; belts and hoses; brakes and brake pads; chassis and climate control parts; clutches and drive shafts; engines and engine parts; exhaust systems and parts; hub assemblies; ignition components and wires; radiators and cooling parts; starters and alternators; and steering and alignment parts. It also offers air conditioning chemicals and accessories; air fresheners; antifreeze and washer fluids; electrical wires and fuses; electronics; floor mats, seat covers, and interior accessories; hand and specialty tools; lighting products; performance parts; sealants, adhesives and compounds; tire repair accessories; vent shades, mirrors and exterior accessories; washes, waxes and cleaning supplies; and wiper blades. In addition, the company offers air filters; fuel and oil additives; fuel filters; grease and lubricants; motor oils; oil filters, part cleaners and treatments; and transmission fluids for engine maintenance. Further, it offers battery and wiper installation; engine light scanning and checking; electrical system testing; video clinic; oil and battery recycling; and loaner tool program services. Additionally, the company sells its products through its website. It serves professional installers and do-it-yourself customers. The company operates stores under the Advance Auto Parts, Autopart International, and Carquest brands, as well as branches under the Worldpac name. As of April 23, 2022, it operated 4,687 stores and 311 branches in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada; and served 1,318 independently owned Carquest branded stores in Mexico, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the British Virgin Islands. The company was founded in 1929 and is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc.. Read More Derwent London plc owns 83 buildings in a commercial real estate portfolio predominantly in central London valued at 5.4 billion (including joint ventures) as at 30 June 2020, making it the largest London-focused real estate investment trust (REIT). Our experienced team has a long track record of creating value throughout the property cycle by regenerating our buildings via development or refurbishment, effective asset management and capital recycling. We typically acquire central London properties off-market with low capital values and modest rents in improving locations, most of which are either in the West End or the Tech Belt. We capitalise on the unique qualities of each of our properties - taking a fresh approach to the regeneration of every building with a focus on anticipating tenant requirements and an emphasis on design. Reflecting and supporting our long-term success, the business has a strong balance sheet with modest leverage, a robust income stream and flexible financing. As part of our commitment to lead the industry in mitigating climate change, in October 2019, Derwent London became the first UK REIT to sign a Green Revolving Credit Facility. At the same time, we also launched our Green Finance Framework and signed the Better Buildings Partnership's climate change commitment. The Group is a member of the 'RE100' which recognises Derwent London as an influential company, committed to 100% renewable power by purchasing renewable energy, a key step in becoming a net zero carbon business. Derwent London is one of only a few property companies worldwide to have science-based carbon targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Landmark schemes in our 5.6 million sq ft portfolio include 80 Charlotte Street W1, Brunel Building W2, White Collar Factory EC1, Angel Building EC1, 1-2 Stephen Street W1, Horseferry House SW1 and Tea Building E1. In 2019, the Group won several awards including EG Offices Company of the Year, the CoStar West End Deal of the Year for Brunel Building, Westminster Business Council's Best Achievement in Sustainability award and topped the real estate sector and was placed ninth overall in the Management Today 2019 awards for 'Britain's Most Admired Companies'. In 2013 the Company launched a voluntary Community Fund and has to date supported over 100 community projects in the West End and the Tech Belt. The Company is a public limited company, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and incorporated and domiciled in the UK. The address of its registered office is 25 Savile Row, London, The number of mobile only Internet users in the US exceeded desktop in 2014, and the gap is getting wider. This particular trend hasnt escaped the notice of Google and Twitter, leading the companies to create the Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP project to make mobile pages much faster. The initiative from Google and Twitter is in part a response to Facebooks Instant Articles project and others like it that have developed ways to speed up access on mobile devices. But unlike the Facebook or Apple platforms, this is an open source project, which should encourage more content creators and developers to use AMP. Currently AMP is used by leading publishers around the world, including BBC, Guardian News & Media, SPIEGEL ONLINE, The Financial Times, CBS News, CNN, Forbes, NFL, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many others. According to comScore, half of all US digital media consumption is being accessed on mobile devices. And the technology is also being used by todays workforce and the businesses and organizations they work for, making fast access on mobile devices a key feature moving forward. So how is AMP going to improve the way your small business customers access your website with greater speed on mobile devices? What is AMP? Simply put, AMP is a barebones or stripped-down form of HTML which allows for pages to be designed for fast loading. This is achieved because the pages are for static content, thus they dont require the same level of interaction from the user, and this makes the pages load faster than regular HTML. The Process In order to make AMP so fast, developers have to use streamlined versions of CSS, a style sheet language common in web design, and certain tags of HTML cant be used. With these parameters in place, it leaves little space to do anything but let you read the content you are looking at quickly. Even though the pages are static, rich media objects like video and social posts and display advertising can be embedded by developers with a growing library of web components, which includes analytics. Google will also expedite the process because most of the content is going to be heavily cached for quick availability. The AMP format lets content producers make their files available to be cached by third parties. This not only gives publishers control of the content, but other platforms can cache or mirror the content so it can be delivered quickly to users. All of the AMPs are going to be cached by the Google AMP Cache at no cost. Using AMP The biggest application of AMP so far has been by publishers that want to serve their content quickly so their users can access it without having to click through to a website. An AMP enabled webpage is made available in the mobile results as a carousel above the rest of the results page. For publishers that have valid AMP versions, it means their results will show above both the news and regular search results. An AMP version still requires a regular desktop version of the pages. Once it is marked with an AMP HTML link on your desktop page, Google is able to find it. Benefits of AMP The biggest benefit of AMP is the speed at which users can access your pages, eliminating the high bounce rates attributed to slow loading pages. For publishers that rely on delivering the latest news or other types of content, AMP could be a great value proposition. Additionally, it promotes greater distribution so publishers can make the content available everywhere much quicker across platforms and applications. For companies that rely on revenue from ads or subscriptions, AMP also seems to have great potential. Can anyone accelerate their mobile pages? The beauty of the open project is that it is available to anyone, including publishers, consumer platforms and creators. So if you want to increase the visibility of your small business website on mobile, AMP may be one option to consider. The goal of the project is to allow publishers to use AMP to improve mobile access to news stories, videos, blogs, photographs and GIFs. Getting content into AMP HTML The AMP project is built with existing web technologies, which means the development process is like the one already used by many publishers. If youre not familiar with HTML or youre not a developer, Content Management Systems (CMS) have plugins that generate AMP content automatically. The WordPress AMP plugin creates dynamically generated AMP-compatible versions of all the posts on your site. This is a great way to try AMP for your business without having to invest any money. Advertising and monetization on AMP Publishers control their own ad inventory with their existing website, and AMP also supports subscriptions and paywalls allowing publishers to regulate the viewing experience for subscribers, metered users and anonymous users. As for analytics, according to Google the analytics support in the demo release of AMP is very limited, but publishers do get credit for the traffic from a measurement perspective. Google goes on to say, it expects support for collection of analytics information. Third party systems and analytics providers are participating in the project to deliver solutions without compromising the AMP file speed or size. See Also: How to Pick the Best Business Partner for You Conclusion The fact is more than half (53 percent) of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than three seconds to load. And with the average load time for mobile sites over 3G connections taking 19 seconds, the numbers just dont add up. Add to that mobile sites that load in five seconds or less earn twice the mobile ad revenue as those that load in 19 seconds. No matter how you crunch the numbers, faster means better all around, which makes AMP a necessary tool for businesses of any size looking to improve the experience of their users on mobile. The annual five-day weekend featuring Santa Fe restaurants and world-class wineries. The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta is an annual five-day weekend of events featuring the culinary artistry found in Santa Fe, New Mexicos many excellent restaurants coupled with the sophistication and wines of national wineries. By bringing 90 national wineries to Santa Fe to partner with 75 of Santa Fes best restaurants, a five day schedule of food and wine events is created featuring cooking demos, wine seminars, winery luncheons and dinners. The weekend culminates with the Grand Tasting at the Santa Fe Opera where all 75 participating Santa Fe restaurants and all 90 wineries serve samples of their best food and wine. One event, The SFWC Fiesta Live Auction raises money to sponsor Santa Fe restaurant community events. Proceeds from the live auction help sponsor culinary classes such as restaurant service classes, wine and cooking classes. As well the Live Auction helps sponsor other community events involving our restaurants and chefs such as Santa Fes Cooking with Kids program and Santa Fe Restaurant Week. By reinvesting resources and education into the Santa Fe restaurant community, we serve our mission of the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta keeping Santa Fe on the map as a world-class culinary destination. Thank you to all the sponsors, local restaurants and wineries who help to make this happen. And a great thank you to all the food and wine enthusiasts who keep returning to Santa Fe supporting our great restaurants! LEONARDTOWN, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme. Masheca Letoya Mcgirt, age 36, of Ft. Washington, Md. (Sept. 19, 2016)The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office today released the following incident and arrest reports.9/10/2016 POSSESSION: Deputy B. Fennessey stopped the suspect,, for speeding in the area of Three Notch Road and Lockes Hill Road in Mechanicsville. A moderate smell of marijuana was coming from the vehicle. Subsequently, a probable search was performed, which revealed a marijuana smoking device and loose pills; one of which was identified as suspected Vynase, a schedule II controlled dangerous substance. The suspect was placed under arrest and charged with Possession of CDS of Schedule II. CASE# 47134-169/8/2016 ASSAULT: Deputy First Class V. Pontorno responded to the 21000 block of Williams Drive in Lexington Park a reported assault. The victim alleged the suspect, [Name redacted. Court record was expunged.], produced a knife during an argument and swung it at the victim. The victim displayed lacerations consistent with the allegations. [Name redacted] was transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center and charged with Second Degree Assault. CASE# 1-16-0467189/10/2016 POSSESSION: Deputy D. Potter conducted a vehicle stop on the 22000 block of Three Notch Road where the suspects,and, were passengers. Abelende had a confirmed warrant and was placed under arrest. A search was conducted which revealed suspected Adderall, hypodermic syringes, and additional CDS. The other passenger, Yates, was in possession of a prescription bottle with an obliterated label. They were both arrested and transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center. Abelende was charged with Possession CDS: Not Marijuana: Buprenorphine Possession Paraphernalia, Theft, and Possession CDS: Not Marijuana. Yates was charged with Remove Prescription Label. CASE# 47150-169/13/2016 ASSAULT: Deputy First Class R. Steinbach responded to the St. Mary's County Detention Center for a report of an assault between inmates. The suspect,, attacked the victim striking him several times in the head. The victim sustained injuries consistent with being assaulted. Darnell was charged with Second Degree Assault. CASE# 47606-169/13/2016 POSSESSION: Deputy M. Pleisse responded to the District Court for the report of possession. The suspect,, responded to the District Court for a probation violation hearing. She was sentenced to the St. Mary's County Detention Center at the conclusion of the hearing. Upon arrival at the Detention Center, Hill was searched by Correctional Officer S. Boyd, who located a baggie containing a white powdery substance of suspected crack cocaine. Hill was charged with CDS Possession - Not Marijuana and CDS Possession in place of Confinement. CASE# 47693-169/13/2016 INDECENT EXPOSURE: Deputy M. Pleisse responded to the St. Mary's County Detention Center for a reported indecent exposure. The suspect,, was in a District Court holding cell when he requested a roll of toilet paper from a Correctional Officer. Inmate Gross knocked on the window of the door to gain the attention of the Correctional Officer. It was at that time the Correctional Officer observed the inmate fondling his exposed genitalia. He was charged with Indecent Exposure; Correctional Employee. CASE# 47677-169/14/2016 ASSAULT: Deputy A. Budd responded to the 46000 block of Cameo Lane in Lexington Park, for the report of a domestic disturbance. The suspect,, held the victim in place by wrapping his arms around the back of the victim's head. Nash was transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center and charged with Two Counts of Second Degree Assault. CASE# 47778-169/14/2016 POSSESSION: The suspect,, was being served a warrant at the St. Mary's County Detention Center. A search of her purse revealed she was in possession of a medication bottle containing suspected Oxycodone Hydrochloride. Mcgirt did not have a prescription for the medication. She was served her warrants and charged with CDS Possession - Not Marijuana: Oxycodone. PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme. (Sept. 19, 2016)The Prince Frederick Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) today released the following incident and arrest reports.TAKE BACK DAY FOR PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS: September 24 will be another opportunity to bring those no longer used prescriptions or over the counter meds to the mail box in front of the barrack. Even though this can be done any day throughout the year, twice a year we do a take back day to help remind us all that keeping drugs of abuse in our homes can result in them being resold or taken illegally. Further, it cuts down on groundwater contamination. So get them all together and place them into the mailbox. It is simple to do and will make you feel better.UNLAWFULLY CARRYING WEAPON: On 9/13/2016 at 8:29 am, Trooper First Class Casarella stopped a vehiicle on Rt. 4 near Broomes Island Rd. for traffic violations. While speaking with the driver,, he stated he had a permit to carry a concealed firearm. However, upon presenting this to TFC Casarella, it was discovered that the permit had expired over 18 months ago. TFC Casarella took possession of the firearm and on September 16th, Mr. Parker was issued a criminal summons for having a handgun in his vehicle.STOLEN REGISTRATION PLATES: On 9/15/2016 at 10:06 am, Trooper First Class Warrick responded to the 100 block of Central Drive to serve a warrant., was located and arrested. During the incident, it was discovered that the registration plate on Grays vehicle was a stolen tag from Anne Arundel County. The registration plate was removed and taken back to the MSP Barrack in Prince Frederick. Gray was arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center. Gray was charged with Theft: Less $1000 value.POSSESSION OF OXYCODONE & SUBOXONE: On 9/16/2016 at 9:06 pm, Corporal Esnes stopped a vehicle on Rt. 4 prior to Stoakley Rd. in Prince Frederick for traffic violations. Cpl. Esnes called for a K9 scan and positive alerts were observed. Suboxone and Oxycodone were located., was arrested. During the arrest, Albanna began to make statements causing concern and he was transported to the hospital for evaluation. An application has been filed for criminal charges to be served at a later date.Terry J. Gross, 57, of Lusby, arrested on 09/13/2016 @ 09:13 pm by Cpl. J. OlesPaul M. Johnson, 22, of Port Republic, arrested on 09/15/2016 @ 02:01 am by TFC K. RoweLawrence K. Williams, 33, of Accokeek, arrested on 09/15/2016 @ 06:01 am by TFC K. RoweFrank K. White, 32, of Levittown, Penna., arrested on 09/17/2016 @ 12:25 am by TPR P. KaitzShanove T. Coby, 39, of Lusby, arrested on 09/17/2016 @ 12:34 am by TFC K. RoweRobert D. Taylor, 22, of Port Tobacco, arrested on 09/18/2016 @ 09:16 pm by TFC S. Matthews Zenobia Dyson. Left to right: Laura Webb and Captain Daniel Alioto, of Vice Narcotics. The Hollywood Moose Lodge hosted a charity softball tournament on Saturday, September 10, to raise funds for the Southern Maryland Advocacy Center. The tournament between the Hollywood Moose Lodge and the Sheriff's Office was held at Tippet's Ball Field in Hollywood. The Hollywood Moose Lodge raised more than $1000 through 50/50 raffles, food sales, and entrance fees from the SMCSO team.On behalf of Sheriff Cameron and the men and women of the SMCSO, thank you to the Hollywood Moose Lodge and the spectators who supported the cause. Although the Sheriff's Office lost to the Moose Lodge 9-5, everyone had fun!A Sheriff's Salute is an award given to those individuals whose accomplishments deserve special recognition, traditionally given to a member of the agency. However, on Saturday, September 10, Zenobia Dyson, of St. Mary's County, was the recipient of one of these prestigious awards.Mrs. Dyson was honored during a community worship event at the Holiday Inn and Suites. Capt. Steven Hall of the Sheriff's Office was proud to read aloud the words of the salute, "With appreciation and distinguished recognition of your exemplary community service. Your kind and selfless acts have helped countless people during their time of need. Your exemplary volunteerism and sustained dedication have been an invaluable asset to the citizens of St. Mary's County and made a positive difference that will always be remembered."Mrs. Dyson was recognized for her work in the community as a long-time advocate against sexual assault and domestic violence. Among other activities, she has launched a poetry reading night and spearheaded a career ministry to assist community members with job skills and preparation of resumes.On behalf of Sheriff Cameron and the men and women of the Sheriff's Office, thank you, Mrs. Dyson, for your work in the community."Policing is a public trust," states Tim Cameron. "There must be an organizational commitment to not only respond to crime but to prevent it through strong police-community interactions and relationships. As Robert Peel, the first Commissioner of London's Scotland Yard said, 'The police are the people, and the people are the police.'"The public has the right to expect that police officers will carry out their duties in a manner that is consistent with the dictates of the Constitution," Sheriff Cameron adds. "Public trust is based on a relationship that is reciprocal in nature, fostered by officers who demonstrate the highest ethical standards while being supported by an engaged community. In essence, the goal is to achieve partnerships that promote cooperation between the police and community as they work together towards a shared vision."The Sheriff's Office will host a series of training sessions. Sheriff Cameron and the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office will work to strengthen the bonds between local officers and the community they serve, by hosting workshops on "Community Policing and Building Relationships of Trust." The workshops will be led by Dr. Melanye Smith, a 20-year veteran and administrator of the Metropolitan Police Department (Ret.) and a contributing faculty member at Ashford and Walden Universities. Dr. Smith will bring together officers and citizens in an environment designed to encourage open engagement and enhanced understanding of each other's positions and concerns. To that end, Sheriff Tim Cameron invites all community leaders, activists, and interested residents to participate in these workshops.The workshops will focus on the interdependency of the police and their family members with the community, and will examine their mutual interest in building relationships of trust. Workshop participants will explore leadership capabilities, emotional intelligence, and the experiences of mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Dr. Smith will explain the theory, research, and practice of communication, building trusting relationships, and the concept of emotional intelligence. These efforts are aimed at marking the beginning of a sustained positive change."This training is for law enforcement officers and officers' family members, as well as for civilians and community members," says Dr. Smith. "The workshops are geared towards moving each participant from their current position along an ideological continuum, by generating dialogue that enhances understanding and meaning and helps to create a shared vision."The first session is set for this Wednesday, Sept. 21; However, all seats are spoken for.The second session which is scheduled for Saturday, October 22, 2016, at the Circuit Courthouse in Leonardtown from 8:00 a.m.3:00 p.m. Those interested in attending are asked to contact Sgt. Richard Russell at 301-475-4200, ext. *8062, or by email at Richard.Russell@stmarysmd.com.As part of International Overdose Awareness Day, on Friday, September 2, 2016, members of the Sheriff's Office attended a community gathering and labyrinth walk. A labyrinth walk is a complicated maze which encourages inner reflection. The event was held at the Beacon of Hope of Walden, in Lexington Park.Community members including individuals in recovery, families grieving the loss of children, and individuals gathering in support of their friends were invited to walk the labyrinth. Before entering, each person was explained the intent of the walk and encouraged to find peace within themselves as they navigated the maze."While the winds from Hermine prevented us [Walden] from using the luminary bags the way they were intended, we were still able to use the labyrinth pattern onto the sidewalk, with the unlit bags to help as guides in a healing way," said Laura Webb, Walden Sierra.International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) is a global event held on August 31st each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have met with death or permanent injury as a result of drug overdose. Overdose Day spreads the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable.Capt. Daniel Alioto, Commander, Vice-Narcotics, expressed his appreciation for the special invitation for the Sheriff's Office to attend this event. "Thank you to the leaders of Walden for inviting the Sheriff's Office," Capt. Alioto said. "We are grateful that individuals in our community affected by addiction have an outlet such as Walden Sierra. We are also inspired by the citizens of this community who realize that policing is not always about prosecution, it is also about serving the citizens with compassion." LA PLATA, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme. (Sept. 19, 2016)The Charles County Sheriff's Office today released the following incident and arrest reports.DOMESTIC ASSAULT/SUICIDE: On Sept. 18 at 8:08 p.m., officers responded to the 15000 block of Covington Road in Brandywine for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers located a 35-year-old male with a self-inflicted gunshot wound; he was pronounced deceased on the scene. A female in the house, who had facial injuries, reported the male assaulted her with the gun and then shot himself. The woman was flown to a hospital where she was treated for her injuries. Det. S. Webster is investigating.OFFICERS LOCATE ROBBERY SUSPECT: On Sept. 18 at 5:23 p.m., officers responded to the area of Route 228 near Mill Hill Road in Waldorf for the report of a carjacking. Investigation showed the suspect,, assaulted his girlfriend and then carjacked her vehicle. Officers spotted the car near Route 228 and Western Parkway and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but Sharp fled striking a car. Sharp continued to flee and suddenly jumped out of the car and fled in a wooded area. Officers A. Coulby, J. Bottorf, and B. Clark and his K9 partner tracked Sharp to the area of Lady Allison Court where Sharp was apprehended. No one was injured during the carjacking and subsequent crash. Sharp was charged with carjacking, robbery, and assault.DETECTIVES CHARGE MAN WITH ROBBERY: On Sept. 15, Det. J. Feldman charged, in connection with the February 8 robbery of a pharmacy on Technology Place in Waldorf. During the robbery Shaw and an accomplice jumped the pharmacy counter and stole two bottles of cough syrup, threatening a clerk with a metal pipe. Through the course of the investigation, Shaw was identified as a suspect. He was located in a detention center in Washington, DC, and was subsequently charged with armed robbery. The investigation is ongoing.THEFT FROM AUTO: On Sept. 14, during the daytime hours, unknown suspect(s) broke into two cars parked in the commuter parking lot at 3099 Livingston Road in Bryans Road and stole items. Pfc. J. Harley is investigating.BURGLARIES: On Sept. 14, officers responded to the 2100 block of Bonnie Lane in Waldorf for the report of a burglary. Investigation showed unknown suspect(s) broke into a shed and stole lawn equipment. While on the scene, a neighbor reported some fishing supplies had been stolen from his garage. Officer C. Chamblee is investigating.THREE SUSPECTS CHARGED WITH THEFTS: Between Sept. 26, officers took three theft reports at a construction site in Waldorf. On Sept. 13, a citizen found some of the stolen items, including copper, in a wooded area. Detectives set up surveillance and observed three suspects cutting the copper for scrap., and, were arrested and charged with theft. Officers R. Johnson, E. Weaver, and R. Boggs made the arrests. Thu, 27.10.22 - 11:04 The temperatures will fall in the Murcia Region but the weekend still promises to be warm and sunny Autumn has ye... Were now in the final calendar week of summer, which means there are just a scant few Build-Outs left to feature in our 2016 series. For this build, we journey to La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego, where its summer year-round and the craft beer flows like cool water from a mountain spring. As you might guess, this cafe has ample outdoor seating; what you might not have guessed is Public Squares commitment to taking coffee in a culinary direction, featuring several of the best roasters in the American West and handsome gear from Saint Anthony Industries, among others. As told to Sprudge by Jacob Dempsey of Public Square Coffee. For those who arent familiar, will you tell us about your company? The world doesnt need another cafe. You know this. We know this. And yet, here we are. Why? Because what the world does need is connection. People are busy. We spend a majority of our days bumping into one another without noticing. Our eyes are on phones and our noses in laptops, working, staying busy, and attempting some semblance of relationship. Truth is, were not actually connecting at all. Not authentically. We believe that people need a more genuine type of contact something real. Public Square is a place for exactly that: a place to see and be seen, a place to hear and be heard, and a place to serve and be served. We will do this in three ways: coffee, culture, and cause. Can you tell us a bit about the new space? Public Square will feature spacious indoor and outdoor seating and a stage for nightly events. Concerts, open-mic nights, poetry readings, spoken wordanything and everything that allows members of the community to tell their tale and hear the stories of others. Like the public squares of old, this is a place to share. We want to know you. We want the world to know you. We want you to know others. Every square inch of the Public Square will be designed and orchestrated to facilitate this environment. Whats your approach to coffee? The sky is the limit. Believing everything is worth experimenting. We understand the traditional views of coffee even in the specialty scene but pushing the limits is an adventure we want to take. Taking it to a culinary level. Willing to fail forward. This leads us to try things weve always dreamt of as baristas. Public Square is our chance to finally tear down walls that have been before us and finally place our visions and dreams on a menu. We hope the outcome shows our passion, love, exploration, and creativity. Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up? La Marzocco Linea Classic, Mahlkonig EK 43, Mahlkonig K30, Mahlkonig Peak (on its way), Baratza Forte AP, Wilbur Curtis water tower and batch brew. Using Augies Coffee Roasters, Huckleberry Roasters, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Common Good Coffee Roasters, and Summit Tea Company. Were also using tampers, aprons, glasses, and custom portafilters from Saint Anthony Industries. Whats your hopeful target opening date/month? September 14. Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that youd like to mention? Rob Nelson, the original architect on this project, sadly he passed before he could see his vision come to life. Justin Erholtz graciously picked up where Rob left off and saw his vision through. Chris Henderson, of FLB Laser, provided amazing laser work to help with our unique identity. Saint Anthony Industries, helping our baristas feel comfortable and professional through their beautiful custom equipment. Photos courtesy of Jacob Dempsey and Ale Dempsey. Eldorado Resorts, Inc., which owns and operates Scioto Downs, has announced that it has reached a deal to purchase Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc., which owns and operates Pompano Park in south Florida. The deal was announced via release on Monday, September 19. The announcement states that Eldorado will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Isle of Capri for $23.00 in cash or 1.638 shares of Eldorado common stock, at the election of each Isle of Capri shareholder, reflecting total consideration of approximately $1.7 billion, inclusive of $929 million of long-term debt of Isle of Capri and its subsidiaries. We intend to implement our strategy of focusing on margin enhancement and customer service and experiences across the portfolio by marrying best practices from both companies, Eldorado Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Carano was quoted as saying. Led by our proven gaming, hotel management and food and beverage teams with a long-term record of operating execution and M&A integration, we believe that Eldorado Resorts will be positioned for long-term success. Combining the assets, management, personnel, operations and other resources of these two organizations is expected to create substantial near- and long-term synergies." The release goes on to state that the transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Eldorado Resorts, Inc. and Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. The transaction is subject to approval of the stockholders of Eldorado Resorts and Isle of Capri, the approval of applicable gaming authorities, the expiration of the applicable Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to be consummated in the second quarter of 2017. (With files from Eldorado Resorts, Inc.) The morning after driving Real Passing Lady to the Rosecroft winner's circle for his first victory of the fall meet, Brian Burton was in a pumpkin patch with his four children. "This is something not everyone gets the chance to do with their kids on a Friday morning," Burton said. Ironically, it wasn't too long ago that Burton, a mainstay on the Maryland harness racing circuit the past 15 years, thought he would have a more conventional career. A native of Cambridge, Md., Burton had graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in English and a secondary degree in Journalism. "Out of college I did have an internship with a couple newspapers," Burton said. "I wanted to cover sports. But, man, I thought this is a cutthroat business. This is rough." Sales jobs at Sears, Hyatt and a conveyor belt company brought Burton, a third generation horseman, to the realization that he had a "yearning for open spaces." It also brought him to the realization that he fit into what he calls the "blue collar" world of harness racing "My grandfather (Jack) raced up-and-down the east coast," Burton said. "I probably started coming around Rosecroft when I was 12. It started like a hobby and blossomed into a racing business. My father, Martin, had a farm with [Standardbred] horses and raced locally for a long time. I worked out a deal with my dad and got my driver's license and I've been doing it ever since. I have about 10 that I own or own with other people and the whole barn has about 15 horses. I'm not just training my own, but breaking horses on the side." Not only does Burton believe in Rosecroft a track he says is a "great place to start young horses over a great surface" but he also believes the sport of harness racing is accessible to everybody. "I think this sport is a working-class sport," he said. "It doesn't cost a lot to own a horse compared to other sports. I have guys who own horses with what you might call regular jobs, blue-collar jobs. I have an owner who owns his own heating and air conditioning company. It's a sport you can enjoy. The horses race more often than Thoroughbreds, you can enjoy the races with your family, and, like when I was a kid, I'd come out to the barns in the morning and hang around the horses. "I think it's going to get better. We've already seen changes that The Stronach Group has done, including the new infield television and the paved paddock. It's like shock-and-awe when you get here." Rosecroft will play host to 12 races Tuesday evening. First-race post time will be 6:40 p.m. The card will also feature a Pick 5 carryover with a low 12 per cent takeout of $1,398. Beginning at 5 p.m., Rosecroft will host six races as part of the Maryland Sire Stakes. (Rosecroft Raceway) Trot Insider has learned that longtime Maritime breeder/owner R. Brian Burgess of Dartmouth, NS, has passed away at the age of 69. Trot Insider has not received an official obituary as of yet, but has been informed that Burgess passed away suddenly on Monday, September 19 at the QE II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, following an eight-month battle with cancer. Burgess, who was a retired partner in the accounting firm WBLI, loved working with his horses both on and off the track. Trot Insider will update this notice notice when more information becomes available. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Brian Burgess. Popular Spoken-Word Poet Pens Bold Book to a Lost and Suffering World Contact: Althea Thompson, 407-333-0600 LAKE MARY, Fla., Sept. 19, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- As a viral poet known worldwide for several videos totaling over 30 million views, Savanna Hartman has authored her first book, Fierce Hope (October 11, 2016) , to high anticipation with Charisma House. With an authenticity that has captured hearts around the world, Hartman's viral spoken-word videos on Facebook and YouTube have garnered millions of views. Subsequently she has appeared on various national news outlets including CNN, Washington Post, Huffington Post, CBS News, and National Public Radio, among others. As a rising voice of hope in her generation, she now takes her message to print. In her new book, Fierce Hope, Hartman captures the essence of her viral video platform by addressing a world that has never been more broken and lost than it is today. Maintaining the bold, passionate voice and spoken-word reflections appreciated by her thriving social media audience, she addresses topics such as finding hope in the midst of: Prejudice Slavery Terrorism War "This book isn't going to have all the answers," Hartman says. "But I will tell you one thing: this book is full of hope. It is possible to find hope in the hardest situations imaginable." Fierce Hope offers a compelling alternative to the negative perceptions many have about the message of Christ. Hartman continues, "My prayer is that once you finish this book, you will not only have found fierce hope of your own, just as I did, but also that you will feel comfortable and sure enough in that hope to carry it into the lives of hurting people all over the world." After more than two decades of continuous war against countries we bombed with which we were officially at peace, and then invaded, and after millions have been killed and after billions have been spent to finance Americas illegal wars, we are no safer than we were before 9-11 and the world is facing the greatest refugee and worst humanitarian crisis since WW II. The United States is to blame for these wars of atrocity and the American political class that promulgated them are war criminals. In short, we Americans are the new Nazis of the world disorder. Reports by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Mother Jones, and Time put the costs of American adventurism at about $1.6 trillion dollars. Other reports have estimated the cost of US wars since 9/11 to be far higher, between $4 -$7 trillion. According to MJ, a report by Neta Crawford, a political science professor at Boston University, estimated the total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistanas well as post-2001 assistance to Pakistanto be roughly $4.4 trillion. The CRS estimate is lower because it does not include additional costs including the lifetime price of health care for disabled veterans and interest on the national debt. The U.S. is primarily to blame for the wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq which have killed thousands of people, most civilians, every year. The U.S. is complicit in proxy wars in Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan, Ukraine, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Congo, and Libya, which have claimed hundreds lives in recent years. Mexico, which suffered the fifth highest number of violent deaths in the world last year, is sort of a special case because the country is effectively a narco-state due to the violence unleashed by drug gangs. Afghanistan is also a narco-state but it is under occupation by American forces, which have not stopped, or even slowed much of the opium production in that country. U.S. agencies like the DEA, AFT, and FBI have been deeply involved in Mexico, as U.S. military forces are involved in Afghanistan, and those agencies were responsible for gun shipments to drug traffickers in Mexico. These facts are undisputed. So while hundreds of armed conflicts are on-going around the world, the bloodiest conflicts are the ones where U.S forces are either directly or indirectly involved. The American wars have led to famine and a refugee crisis which in turn is leading to the dissolution of the European Union and to new military and political alliances that will make the world a more dangerous place than it is now. American exceptionalism that has guided the last three administrations was supposed to bring happy days of peace and security and democracy to the world but none of that has materialized and anybody who still thinks our militarism will accomplish those fanciful goals is drinking too much tainted Kool-aid. In short, we Americans are like those good Germans who bought Hitlers propaganda and enjoyed a better life for a while as German armies invaded their neighbors with whom they were officially at peace. History does have its lessons but we have not learned from it and are condemning ourselves by repeating it. The U.S. is the Fourth Reich. God help us all. Peter White is a writer and producer. He lives in Tennessee with his two sons and a dog, Ashes, who loves books. Ashes is not choosy about what she sinks her teeth into and her master is a regular contributor to the Nashville Public LIbrary. Over the last several months, I have made one significant change in my work. I have pivoted to China. It is fashionable to do so, and my own little project has nothing to do with the geopolitical shift of the Obama administration (though it was handy to borrow the term). It is also interesting. Only back in 2012, when I was starting my business and when the potential investors asked me endlessly which countries I should target, I was not sure. At best, there was this hyphenated pair of India-China, as two big Higher Education markets, and I spent the good part of the last four years focusing on India. But, as it would happen, my work shifted, somewhat on its own momentum, to China. Despite spending more time on India, the business got more students in China. And, more generally, when we explored new ways of doing education, we realised the difference between India and China: We got polite nods in China, though the Chinese partners mostly accepted the ideas for their own use; in India, we were told new ideas would not work there. And, finally, as I explored opportunities in the UK, and it seemed that even in the UK, education is primarily a China play. As I find out, my excitement about China is hard to explain, particularly to those who had been old 'China Hands' at the UK Universities. For them, China is a long term game which never really matures. For them, China is as bewildering as India, only more unfathomable. So, as I try to build an UK education business this time keeping the Chinese students in mind - and experience has indeed made me very very focused on China - I am forever explaining that China has changed. And, perhaps, we are at a tipping point of change when decades worth of quantitative change - the age of 'more' - is transforming into qualitative change, a change for better. Indeed, there are those who say that China is bound to fall apart. They point to unsustainable levels of debt and expect everything to stall like Japan, and they point to the 'totalitarian system' and expect all this to go the Russia way. But, one way to look at it is that the supposed 'totalitarian system' has more economic manoeuvrability than the democratic ones, and the strength of the Chinese economy makes a Russia-like meltdown unlikely. And, besides, there are a number of things that all but the astute China watchers miss: For example, the One-Party system in China maintains a level of meritocracy, whereas multi-party system of other democracies (such as India) often run on cronyism and corruption. On the economic front, China is making a very effective transformation from investment-led growth to consumption-led growth, dealing with its environmental issues as it goes along. Its continued prosperity has created an English-speaking, aspirational, young people, more open and world-ready, just as big democracies, such as India and the United States, turn inwards. It has almost willed - over the last decade or so - a world-class education system. It has acknowledged its mistakes in experimenting with the Healthcare system, and restored universal healthcare. It is an amazing transformation, never before attempted in history in its scale, scope and intentionality, and our mental models - whether we ask if China will overtake the United States or if India can compete with China - fall short to fully comprehend such changes from the outside. I should perhaps illustrate this point with examples from within my own context. When in 2012, investors were asking me which country I should be focusing upon, China and India had roughly comparable number of students in Higher Education. In the five years from 2011 to 2016, while both countries expanded Higher Education capacity at breakneck speed, the enrolments have only risen marginally in India, China's numbers have nearly doubled and reached the 40% Gross Enrolment Ratio mark (while India's remained at around 20%). This is reflected in China's impact on Higher Education systems in other countries as well. In 2011, roughly the same number of students arrived in the UK from China and India, about 38,000. After this, as UK tightened the visa requirements and crucially abolished the provision of Post-Study visa, making it impossible for students to stay on after their study, the arrivals from India collapsed, to only about 17,000 in the latest count, whereas the numbers from China continued to rise, simply due to sheer demand, and in 2016, this is going to be about 80,000. For the year we have data available, 459,800 students have left China to study abroad, representing a growth of 11% year on year. And, this is not just about quantity but quality too: A number of Chinese universities have broken into the top 50 of global rankings, for whatever they are worth, and it had 380,000 International students at Chinese universities coming from 200 countries. I cite these numbers for two reasons. One, the obvious, is to make the case for China in the context of Higher Education, the sector I am engaged in, and understand its trajectory. Two, it is important to see China beyond the geopolitical prism - Communist and all that - and appreciate fully the massive transformation now underway. Whether or not the Chinese experiment succeeds, and we know that speculating about history is a perilous game, such rise of a nation invariably creates its own opportunities. And, in this case, we do not have to necessarily see conflict - with United States or anyone - as an inevitable outcome, because China, at least so far, has refrained from building systems of alliances, did not indulge in Colonial conquests and while it competed with United States in building scientific and technological capability and healthier and a more educated workforce, it has not done anything comparable to the madness of the arms race that undid the Soviet Union. We have to remember that it is America pivoting to China (though, arguably, many of its 'friends' in South-East Asia may be building bridges with China) rather than the other way around. For me, with my heritage and natural connections with India, it is a difficult act of priority setting. India remains important and growing Higher Education market, and it took me time to focus my efforts on China over India. While China and India gets hyphenated for good reason - for their large population and relatively recent development - the difference between the two. The two countries are completely at two different stages of development, and the middle class person in China earns around 5 times more than her counterpart in India. While India is planning to improve its infrastructure. China has become a world-leader in Infrastructure development and is now exporting its expertise. The Chinese millennial population is bigger than the whole population of the United States, and many of them speak English (not so in India) and given China's vast export sector, it makes sense for them to have foreign education and exposure, a business that I am in. And, finally, and importantly, it is important for the Modern Chinese to learn from the world - Deng famously asked the Chinese to learn from the successful Chinese diaspora - whereas India is an 'open society with a closed mind', as Kishore Mahbubani said. Hence, my China pivot: I am building a high quality global education solution primarily aimed at Chinese students, which involves collaborating globally and also coming over to UK and do a part of the programme face to face at Cambridge and London. This means doing things differently - I am building networks among Chinese diaspora in the UK, making efforts to learn Chinese customs and practises, and building the brand with overt sensitivity to this market - and this is an exciting experience. Hiroki Chiba began his career at Square Enix in 1993, where he assisted in the creation of FINAL FANTASY VI. He was also the Event Planner on the CHRONO TRIGGER and FINAL FANTASY series. After working on the development of the character Vincent from FINAL FANTASY VII, Chiba became the Scenario Writer and Event Director for DIRGE of CERBERUS -FINAL FANTASY VII-. Additionally, he has worked on the event scenes and the scenario for titles including FINAL FANTASY VII, FINAL FANTASY VIII, FINAL FANTASY X, FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 and LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII. Since then, Chiba has continued to work on the overall direction and scenarios for many titles. By Daisy Handfield FELICIANO Antonio Garcia Quin, a 56-year-old Dominican, was murdered on Sunday in his Kew Town home, Providenciales, during an alleged robbery. Kevin Clarke, police press officer, said that at around 8:06 pm, a report was made to the 911 call centre concerning a man who had been shot. The lifeless body of the Garcia Quin was discovered by police officers and a medical team. Information received was that the deceased, along with another man and woman, were approached by an unknown man wearing a mask, who pointed a gun and forced them inside the house demanding cash. A scuffle allegedly broke out between Quin and the robber, who shot him in the head and fled the scene. The Dominican man was pronounced dead by a doctor who arrived on the scene shortly afterwards. According to police, a 26-year-old man is currently being held in connection with the incident. Garcia Quin is the third Dominican to be murdered in the Turks and Caicos Islands this year. In April the body of a Dominican woman, Yuneiry Veras, was discovered in a remote area of Providenciales. And, again, in July another Dominican woman, Sonrineida Moreno Aries, was found dead in the bushes in Providenciales. The Minister of Tourism, accompanied by representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, the TCHTA, and the Junior Minister of Tourism will attend the Caribbean Tourism Organizations (CTO) State of the Industry Conference from September 14-16 in Barbados. CTOs State of the Industry Conference is the Caribbean Tourism Organizations annual convocation where Caribbean tourism practitioners, policy makers and strategic partners, at the highest levels, gather to discuss issues, identify solutions and generally develop courses of action that will benefit the tourism industry in the Caribbean. Speakers of international acclaim will provide best case practices and winning strategies on a wide range of topics that are critical to the growth of regional tourism, all with a view toward the development of a sustainable tourism industry, that will position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year-round warm weather destination by 2017. At this years conference, the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Porsha Stubbs-Smith will be presenting to the delegation on the topic: "Delivering the Luxury Experience. This session examines how Caribbean destinations can re-craft their value propositions in the luxury travel market in order to deliver a luxury experience and cash in on this rapidly growing segment. Concurrently, the Junior Minister of Tourism, Ms. Kayanna Gibson aims to deliver a stellar performance in hopes of achieving overall victory at the annual Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress scheduled for Day 4 of the 5-Day conference. A staple on CTOs program, the Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress features the "National Junior Ministers of Tourism comprising of students between the ages of 14-17 from several CTO member countries. The Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress is structured to mirror a CTO Board of Directors Meeting with an agenda and topics on salient tourism issues which participants have to research beforehand. The Junior Ministers must come prepared to discuss one topic, sharing their vision for the future direction of regional tourism. A "mystery question will also be asked and each student will be expected to give a response. Delegates should expect a thought-provoking and spirited exchange of views among future leaders of the Region as the young debaters vie for important prizes and the chance to be a youth ambassador for tourism. The Caribbean Youth Congress is one of the vehicles through which CTO encourages the best and brightest young minds from the region to consider tourism as a career. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), with headquarters in Barbados and offices in New York and London, is the Caribbeans tourism development agency comprising membership of 28 countries and territories including Dutch, English, French and Spanish, as well as a myriad of private sector allied members. The organization provides specialized support and technical assistance in sustainable tourism development, marketing, communications, advocacy, human resource development, event planning & execution and research & information technology.(By Olivia Rose ) BY OLIVIA ROSE ATTORNEY GENERALS of several Overseas Territories will convene in the Turks and Caicos Islands to discuss compliance with international legal obligations, and to exchange experience and best practices at the upcoming Overseas Territories Attorney Generals conference. The conference which will run from 18- 22 September ,will provide an opportunity for the AGs to consider key legal and constitutional issues facing the Overseas Territories, including implications for the OTs of the UK leaving the EU. According to a Government release, Governor Peter Beckingham, announced on 14 September that the UK Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, will also be attending the conference Governor Beckingham said: "I am delighted that the UK Solicitor General will be visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands this month. "Following the meeting here in July hosted by the Premier of most of the Overseas Territory Premiers, it is a mark of how far TCI has progressed recently that we are arranging this important annual conference of the law officers from all the Territories, from Gibraltar to the Falkland Islands. "I am particularly pleased that the Solicitor General has taken time from his busy schedule to again represent the UK at this conference. Beckingham noted that it is an important opportunity for a senior UK Minister to see and hear for himself the great strides the Turks and Caicos Islands has made. In addition to chairing the conference, the Solicitor General will have meetings with the Premier, the Leader of the official Opposition, the Chief Justice and members of the Bar Council. Attorney General, Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles, also welcomed the announcement of the Solicitor Generals visit to the conference, which she is organizing with the Foreign Office. She said "It is an absolute pleasure and honor to welcome my fellow Attorneys General and colleagues from across the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to the Turks and Caicos Islands. "I am pleased that the Turks and Caicos Islands have the opportunity to host this year; as well as considering key legal issues facing us, the visit will be an opportunity to showcase the best of our islands. Beckingham noted that this is great chance for TCI to showcase to an international audience its progress and world class tourism. The UK Solicitor General supports the UK Attorney General across the range of his responsibilities. Robert Buckland was appointed as Solicitor General on 15 July 2014; he was elected a Member of Parliament for South Swindon in 2010. The Solicitor General, Governor and Premier will give opening statements at the conference. The Conference of OT Attorneys General has been meeting on an annual basis for many years. Along with the annual Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) of OT Leaders with the UK Ministers it is an important forum for OT and UK representatives to discuss priority issues of mutual interest, and to exchange experience and best practice. A PASTOR and a veteran educator, Shirley Clarke-Calcano has joined the ranks of the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) party as one of its at-large candidates. Calcanos candidacy was announced at a press conference on Wednesday, September 14, at the PDAs headquarters in Caribbean Place, Leeward Highway, Providenciales. PDA Leader Oswald Skippings made the introduction of the newest member, which brings his list of candidates to thirteen. "The spiritual importance, the gender and internal importance of this new female addition to the PDAs already impressive slate of candidates must not go unnoticed, Skippings said, noting that unlike other political parties, the PDAs commitment and dedication to the Christian faith is enshrined in the pages of the party constitution. In line with this, the party leader said that Mrs Clarke-Calcanos selection is just another example of them practising what they preach and of being committed to their spiritual conviction to lead from the forefront. Clarke-Calcano in her brief address, acknowledged that the faith bestowed in her by those who selected her to help carry the PDA to victory in the next general elections, is very much appreciated. She further promised that this faith is also well founded. As stated by the candidate, she has been an active pastor for the past eleven years and is also a twenty-five year veteran educator. "I am grateful for the opportunity that Ive had to assist in moulding the lives of the youth of my country. I am extremely grateful and privileged to have been nominated by you the people of these islands to be a candidate, and to along with this party to help bring about change in the TCI. She added that the PDA is united for change and is committed to seeing a new beginning here in the Islands. Skippings later announced that the party will hopefully, be soon announcing the two other candidates. He also took the opportunity to address some topical social issues, while also sending out his congratulations and support to local Olympian Delano Williams. Skippings made it known that he found the reception for Williams upon his return to the TCI to be sorely lacking from both the side of the Government and that of the Opposition. He further outlined what a PDA government would do to show its appreciation to the countrys first Olympian: "Delano we are squarely behind you and in full support and will play any role possible to ensure that your dreams and your aspirations come to full fruition in your pursuit of greatness which you have already achieved to some extent and which you so deserve. Skipping continued that he and his PDA team deeply regret that the PNP government has not seen it fit to appreciate the athlete properly and that the PDM opposition has not seen it fit to use their parliamentary authority to challenge the government on this matter. "However, in progressive regression the PDA will remedy this national injustice done to our golden boy and first Olympian Delano Williams. That is not a promise that is a commitment that you can run with Delano. The party leader also congratulated the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force on its recent surge in crime solving. "However we make a special plea that we see a closure to [Kevino] Bah Smiths murder case so that his family may give him a decent burial and put their minds at rest after about two years and get the satisfaction that justice is finally being done, Skippings added. By Daisy Handfield IN AN effort to diminish crime in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), press officer for the police force, Kevin Clarke, spoke on safety tips for residents and visitors alike. In an interview on Wednesday, Clarke said that the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) is committed to ensuring public safety, reducing fear and incidences of crimes in the TCI, but the public had to play a collaborative role in the combat. He said: "From time to time crime prevention tips are posted on our website, social media pages, and the newspapers for awareness to the public, but they apparently are not taken seriously. "There are reports of persons getting burglarized because they left their window or door unlock and went to bed or went out. "We still get reports of vehicles being stolen because the owners left the keys in the ignition, or vehicle being vandalized because owners left items such as handbags, purse or valuable items visible where they can be seen. "All these are crimes of opportunity and make persons vulnerable to becoming victims. Clarke said that crime occurs because many times people open themselves and their families to criminal opportunities, which make a lot of individuals vulnerable to becoming victims. "Talking to strangers and taking for granted ones safety outside the home make us easy prey to criminals. "In the fight against crime, knowing that the worst can happen makes you less prone to be a victim and more confident of avoiding disasters. "Protecting yourself, your family and your home is a matter of responsibility that cannot be taken on by anyone else, he said. The press officer said that residents and visitors should ensure that all doors and windows have working locks; all entry points to households should be securely locked to prevent unnoticed entry. He also encouraged people to make it a habit to check that all doors and windows are locked at night before going to sleep, because the dark of the night was the best camouflage for criminals. Clarke said: "People should keep porches, yards, and all entrances to their house and garage well lighted. "Leave lights on inside your house when you go out for the evening. "Also, keep a record of the important information of all household facilities and equipment, such as tv., laptop, cell phones, radio, video cassette recorder, refrigerator, VCR and washing machine. "Have an inventory of your jewellery and other precious items and documents like birth, baptismal and marriage certificates. Clarke explained that cash from businesses and other valuables should be stored in the bank, because hiding them inside locked drawers does not guarantee that they will be safe from the knowing eyes and practiced moved of robbers. "Provide family members with their own keys to the house. This is safer than leaving the key in a secret place, one that can be discovered by any person who takes the time to watch your movements when you leave your home and come back at night. "If you and your family are going on a vacation, ask a neighbour to watch your home, or ask a relative to stay in your home while you are away. An empty house is a prime target for criminal elements, Clarke concluded. tech2 News Staff Chinese online retailer JD.com Inc said on Monday Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is carrying out an internal review, after the e-commerce firm referred a customer report of a Galaxy Note 7 battery fire to the South Korean company. "We immediately referred this case to Samsung and they are conducting an internal review," a spokeswoman told Reuters in an email. Samsung did not immediately respond to request for comment. Chinese online financial magazine Caixin cited late on Sunday an internet user's report that their smartphone, bought from JD.com, had caught fire. In a statement on Samsung's Chinese website dated Sept. 14, the South Korean firm said that Galaxy Note 7 phones sold after the Sept. 1 official launch were not vulnerable to fires because the version sold in China used a different battery supplier. Last week, China's quality watchdog said Samsung's local unit will recall 1,858 units of its Galaxy Note 7 phones, a number of which were sold as part of a testing scheme. Samsung is officially recalling all units of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 sold so far. Airlines the world over have already banned users from the carrying the device on flights. As part of the recall process, Samsung is offering full refunds and replacements for the device. An investigation has concluded that a fault in the battery can sometimes cause it to short, resulting in overheating and ultimately, an explosion. With inputs from Reuters hidden Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Sunday it sold shares in four companies including ASML Holding NV and Seagate Technology Plc to free up money for additional investments for its core businesses. Samsung said in a statement it sold about half of its shares in ASML while selling its entire 4.2 percent stake in Seagate. The company also sold its 0.7 percent stake in Sharp Corp and its 4.5 percent stake in Rambus Inc. A Samsung spokeswoman told Reuters the total proceeds from the sales exceeded 1 trillion won ($888.85 million) but declined to give further details including when the shares were sold. A term sheet seen by Reuters on Sept. 8 showed Samsung was selling about half of its stake in ASML for 606 million euros ($675.99 million). The company's stakes in Rambus, Seagate and Sharp were worth a combined $456.4 million based on closing prices on Friday. Samsung Electronics and other affiliates of Samsung Group have been divesting from non-core operations as South Korea's top conglomerate seeks to narrow its focus and secure more resources for its main businesses. "There is no impact on the business cooperation with the relevant companies," the South Korean firm said without elaborating. Reuters hidden By Asheeta Regidi Earlier this month, Airbnb announced a Non-discrimination Policy, on the finding of racial discrimination by hosts on the site towards the guests they selected to stay with them. The findings of a Harvard study that African Americans were 16 percent less likely to get bookings through Airbnb earlier this year, triggered revelations of discrimination by Airbnb hosts on the grounds of race, gender and sexual orientation. Discrimination isn't new in India, with instances of discrimination being reported against scheduled castes, religious communities and people from the North East and even Africans in India. The Airbnb incident brought to light the fact that racial discrimination is finding new avenues in the online world, and this needs to be addressed. Racial abuse online through messages, pictures, and even games Incidents of online racial abuse include receiving racially abusive pictures, messages, etc., whether on Facebook, Twitter, through mails or instant messages. People have reported being kept out of online groups on account of their race. One can also find websites dedicated to abusing a particular race or community. This includes cloaked websites, where a seemingly legitimate website is actually used to spread misinformation or mock certain racial or ethnic groups. While online games tend to be violent and abusive, the players also take to racial abuse. For example, the use of racially abusive profile pictures, such as Confederate flags, swastikas, images of lynching, etc. by players on popular games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Xbox live has been reported. Teams of players were also harassed on account of their race. Highly racist games and apps can also be found on app stores. Is anonymity the only solution? The main trigger for the racial abuse on Airbnb were the profile pictures of the guests. This led to arbitrary cancelling of bookings and refusing to provide accommodation to guests of a different race. Many of these guests found that rooms for the same time slot were made available when they attempted to book the rooms using a different name. Airbnbs main change in the policy was to reduce the size of the profile pictures, and provide alternate accommodation to people who had been racially discriminated against. Many people have argued that these measures are nowhere near adequate to tackle the racial discrimination, and want the profile pictures to be removed completely from Airbnb. In fact, removing photos and other racial identifiers was found to be effective in mitigating racial discrimination in fields like mortgage applications. The online world provides an anonymity which can protect people from some of the discrimination they face in real life. For example, many Africans, including celebrities like Oprah, reported being discriminated against while shopping in stores. Online shopping saved them the agony of this by allowing them to make their purchases anonymously. However, as soon as identities are revealed online, such as through names, or profile pictures, the racial abuse returns. For example, in one study, the same ad was put up online to sell an iPod, one with the hand of an African American, and one with the hand of an American. The one with the African American received 17 percent less offers, and often received bids of a lower price. It is very wrong that people feel that hiding their identities is the best way to guarantee freedom from racial discrimination and abuse. It shows that the absolute ineffectiveness of the law in protecting people from racial abuse. Tackle online racial discrimination, dont tolerate it Going anonymous will not stop racial discrimination. Racial abuse can persist only so long as the abusers have nothing to be afraid of. A better way is not to avoid it or tolerate it, but tackle it. The mistake made by most victims of racial abuse is that they do not report the abuse unless it takes a violent turn. Remember that the law is on your side. The Indian Constitution guarantees your right against discrimination on any grounds, be it race, religion, sex, caste or language. The first step for victims is to report the abusers. Every online website contains a mechanism for the removal of abusive content, such as YouTubes Reporting and Enforcement Centre. This is a requirement which is imposed on the website by law (In India, under the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines, 2011). Abusive websites and apps can also be reported. Even people who are not victims need to take action against racially abusive content. Victims must also collect evidence of the abuse, such as taking snapshots or photographs on mobile phones/ PCs. Keep records of any communication from the person, such as e-mails or messages. An FIR in the nearest police station is all that is needed to initiate action. Any evidence collected will greatly help with the investigation of the case. Need for better anti-discrimination laws in India Airbnbs move is a good first step towards tackling online racial discrimination. Not just websites, but the government also needs to take better steps towards this. Specific incidents of racial abuse, such as criminal intimidation and incitement of communal violence, are punished under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Anti-discrimination laws on certain specific issues are in place in India. For example, there are specific laws for the protection of scheduled castes and tribes. There are also specific laws against gender bias in employment. A general law preventing racial abuse is, however, absent. The quashing of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 last year unfortunately also removed the only general law protecting victims of online racial abuse. As a result, the main remedy left to victims is to file a writ before the High Court or Supreme Court. Two amendments to the IPC, Section 153C, which will punish racial discrimination and Section 509A, which will punish racial abuse, were proposed, but are yet to be implemented. It is hoped that the government will approve of these two amendments soon. The Government also needs to consider a better worded replacement to Section 66A of the IT Act. These changes can go a long way in effectively dealing with online racial abuse and discrimination. The author is a lawyer with a specialisation in cyber laws and has co-authored books on the subject. tech2 News Staff A lot has been said and written about the Xiaomi Mi 5s, an alleged upcoming variant of the Mi 5 to feature Snapdragon 821. Now, invites sent out by Xiaomi for an event in China suggest the company is all set to launch the device on 27 September. Xiaomi has sent out invites with a notable 'S' hinting that the device would be the Mi 5s. Several leaks and rumours have been doing the rounds online revealing the Mi 5s will be an enhanced version of the Mi 5. The key features of the device are expected to be a 5.5-inch display with 3D Touch, and under the hood it gets a powerful Snapdragon 821 clocked at 2.4GHz and coupled with a whopping 6GB RAM. On the storage front, we will see 256GB of internal storage. However, some previous reports were hinting at two more variants, so we could probably get, 3GB RAM with 64GB onboard storage and 4GB RAM with 128GB onboard storage. However, a 256GB variant is also said to be in the offing. It is to run Android Marshmallow with a layer of MIUI 8. On the camera front, rumours point out at a 16MP rear snapper, and a 4MP front-facing camera. Another rumours hints at a dual camera module on the back that is expected to come from Samsung. A fingerprint scanner, which should somewhat look like the iPhone 7 tactile home button, has also been rumoured. However, there is no official word on any of these specifications yet. Looks like, we should be able to confirm the specs soon on 27 September. Philippine president seeks extension of bloody war on drugs Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte A delivers a speech before members of the Scout Rangers regiment at a military training camp in San Miguel town, Bulacan province, north of Manila. AP, Manila : The Philippine president said Sunday that he may need to extend a bloody government anti-drug campaign that has left more than 3,000 people dead and been slammed by the United States and others. Acknowledging for the first time that he may not be able to keep his campaign promise to eradicate illegal drugs in no more than six months, President Rodrigo Duterte said in jest that with the huge number of people involved, "even if I wanted to, I cannot kill them all." Duterte said at a news conference in the southern city of Davao that he was overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and may need to extend his self-imposed deadline by another six months to end the scourge. He won the May 9 election on an ambitious promise to end corruption and crime, especially illegal drugs, in three to six months. More than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and traffickers have been killed in Duterte's campaign against drugs since he assumed the presidency in June, and 600,000 others, mostly drug users, have surrendered to authorities for fear they may be killed. A law enforcement investigation, however, has turned up more names of people who are involved in the illegal drug trade, including many village leaders and mayors, Duterte said at the news conference. Duterte first built a name for his deadly crime-fighting style while serving as Davao's longtime mayor before becoming president. "I didn't realize how severe and how serious the problem of drug menace in this republic (was) until I became president," Duterte said. "Even if I wanted to, I cannot kill them all because the last report would be this thick," Duterte said, laughing. President Barack Obama, U.N. officials and human rights watchdogs have raised concerns over the widespread killings, but Duterte has lashed back at them and other critics. He said that critics were impeding his battle against a problem that has worsened into a national security threat. A former Filipino militiaman recently testified before a Senate committee hearing that Duterte, while he was still Davao's mayor, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead starting in the late 1980s. While his key officials have played down the allegations and questioned the credibility of the witness, Duterte himself has not directly reacted to the statements made by Edgar Matobato in the nationally televised Senate inquiry. Matobato testified that he heard Duterte order some of the killings, and acknowledged that he himself carried out about 50 deadly assaults as an assassin, including a suspected kidnapper fed to a crocodile in 2007 in the southern province of Davao del Sur. Rights groups have long accused Duterte of involvement in death squads. He has denied the claims, even while engaging in tough talk in which he stated his approach to criminals was to "kill them all." Matobato is the first person to admit any role in such killings, and to directly implicate Duterte under oath in a public hearing. Quality education of DIU lauded Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid talks with a delegation of Daffodil International University, led by its Chairman M Sabur Khan, DIU Board of Trustees at the Minister\'s office recently. Campus Report : Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said, some private universities are trying their best to ensure and improve the quality education where a large number of foreign students are also come to study in those universities and Daffodil International University is one of them. Education Minister said this when a delegation of Daffodil International University (DIU), led by its chairman M Sabur Khan, Board of Trustees, DIU met him at the minister's office recently. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid appreciated the university's efforts to offer quality education in a large green permanent campus with proper facilities for students. He expressed his hope that world class facilities of the university would be able to draw the attention of more foreign students and produce quality and skilled manpower expanding high-tech quality education. During the meeting, the delegation apprised the Education Minister about the facilities like transport, sports, multipurpose convention center with 6000 seats, 100 percent comprehensive hostel facilities for both male and female students at DIU permanent campus situated at Ashulia on 100 acres of land and free from the hustle and bustle of the city. The delegation apprised the Education Minister that around 250 foreign students are studying at DIU. The delegation also apprised about the preparation of upcoming 6th convocation of the university. The other members of the delegation were Prof Dr Yousuf M. Islam, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr SM Mahbub -Ul- Haque Majumder (Acting Pro-Vice Chancellor), Hamidul Haque Khan, Treasurer, Mohamed Emran Hossain, Director (Administration) and Anowar Habib Kazal, Senior Assistant Director (Public Relations) of Daffodil International University (DIU). UGC Chair honoured with MTC Global award Campus Report : Prof Abdul Mannan, Chairman, Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently been awarded with prestigious MTC Global Roshikumar Pandey Life Time Achievement Award for his contribution in higher education at a two-day 6th annual convention of the MTC Global, a management teachers' consortium spread over 35 countries. The award ceremony was held at the International School of Management (ISME), Bangalore, and was presided over by Dr Bholanath Dutta, the Founder President of MTC Global. The theme of this year's convention was 'Disruptive Innovation in Education.' Prof Mannan was also the chief guest in the inaugural session and gave the Keynote address. About 100 participants from India, Bangladesh, UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia attended this year's convention. The convention concluded on 17 this month. PM condoles death of AL leader Tara Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep shock at the death of Aminul Islam Tara, President of Mymensingh city chapter of Bangladesh Awami League. In a message of condolence, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh Awami League has lost a good organizer and people of Mymensingh have lost one of their beloved leaders at his death. Sheikh Hasina prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed profound sympathy to the bereaved family members. Several villages were inundated due to breach of Kobadak River embankment in Satkhira. This photo was taken from Kuri Kawnia area on Monday. Suspect Rahami in custody NBC News, ELIZABETH, N.J. : The 28-year-old New Jersey man wanted in connection with a series of blasts that terrorized New York and New Jersey over the last three days was taken into custody Monday after being shot, two sources told NBC News. Ahmad Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was identified as a suspect after a fingerprint was found on one of the devices that failed to detonate, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News. They also found more information that pointed to Rahami on cell phones that were wired to the unexploded bombs, the official said. "He certainly seemed to do virtually nothing to cover his tracks," the official says. But the official downplayed any talk of Rahimi being part of a "cell" and said at this point have no idea whether anyone else was involved. Asked whether the bombings were ISIS-inspired or directed, the official said authorities have no idea: "We're a long way from that." Still, the FBI warned that Rahami should be considered armed and dangerous. And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials could not rule out international terrorism. "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," Cuomo said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Monday. Rahami is the man seen in surveillance footage taken Saturday night in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, the site of an explosion that injured 29 people, a senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News. The source said there is other physical evidence linking Rahimi to the devices that went off or were found in New York and New Jersey. Global water shortage threatening economies Katherine Purvis : Water is essential for life, whether to irrigate crops, to manufacture goods, or for drinking, washing and cleaning. But the intensification of climate change, a growing population and increasing demands from cities, agriculture and industry - coupled with poor water governance - is driving acute water shortages around the world. The World Bank predicts that by 2050 this scarcity will deliver a significant hit to the economies of Africa, central Asia and the Middle East, taking double digits off their GDP. To address these challenges and ensure that every person, country and business has enough, it is essential to determine the true value of water throughout the supply chain. But how? This was the question debated during a panel discussion, hosted by the Guardian and supported by SABMiller, at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, Sweden, which was organised in association with the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Lack of awareness: The panel was unanimous that water is not valued in the way it should be. Lack of awareness was suggested as a likely cause. "In places where farmers have been hit by drought to the point that it's impacted their livelihoods, water has become a valued resource," said Paul Reig, senior associate of the Water Programme and Business Centre at the World Resources Institute. "It is places that haven't suffered this kind of impact that lack awareness." Reig has been working with Valuing Nature, a sustainability consultancy, to understand the value of water in terms of the cost of delivering it in socially, environmentally and economically beneficial ways. "We think that by understanding the total cost, it could inform the level of investment needed to reach those conditions, as well as the largest impacts that are impeding their achievement," he said. Thirsty agriculture: The panel agreed that the agriculture sector has a long way to go before it adequately values water. "Agriculture is the largest consumer and the largest polluter of water," said Reig. "Despite this, it's difficult to ask farmers to pay for water when they struggle to make a living." John Vidal, the Guardian's Environment editor who chaired the debate, asked whether farmers need to think differently about how they grow and irrigate crops, if they are unwilling or unable to pay for water. "I think it's already happening," said Anton Earle, director of SIWI's African Regional Centre. The government of Botswana is looking at ways to introduce a water charge for farmers and the farmers SIWI speaks to there say they are already using efficient techniques for irrigation to reduce the cost of powering pumps, he said. Speaking companies' language: It is not only in agriculture, however, where operations and processes need to be more water efficient. SIWI has been working with Swedish textile companies to encourage their production plants in countries such as Bangladesh, China and Ethiopia to place greater value on water. "We talk to these factories and say: 'You're using and polluting many of the water resources in the local area - you should change your practices', but factory owners would rather sell to a business that is less pushy," said Earle. Instead, the key was to find the right language businesses could respond to. "We asked them about their major costs and they consistently pointed to energy and the chemicals used to dye textiles. We told them we could introduce processes that would reduce those costs," said Earle. "So instead of dyeing fabric three or four times and releasing the water, they do it once, capture the chemicals and reuse them. Improving water use is a side effect but the entry point had to be something that the corporates could really relate to." But individual corporate action does not necessarily mean water is being better valued overall. Andre Fourie, head of water security and environmental value at SABMiller, described the company's work with barley farmers in India, where he says agriculture accounts for 80% of water consumption. "By having better irrigation - drip irrigation [where water is directed at the plant's root], for example - they save water. But we've also seen that the water they save is used by someone else, so we haven't actually solved the problem." One of the most effective ways for companies to determine the value of water, says Fourie, is to develop a better understanding of what it costs throughout different parts of the business. "By having one price [for water] in our thinking it makes our decisions quite blunt. Take a brewery: the water that comes into it has one price, but if the brewery treats it the water is worth more." Should we pay more for water? One of the key challenges in securing a long-term supply of water is finding sustainable streams of finance and working out who should bear the cost. "In many cases, there is a cultural issue around making profit from water, even in countries where the private sector has played a strong role in different parts of the economy," said Earle. When it was suggested to the National Treasury of South Africa that the country's wastewater treatment could be handled by the private sector on the condition that the business could sell off the treated water, the idea, said Earle, was not met with open arms. In some areas, however, many of the poorest people have to buy water from vendors, tankers and other informal providers, and spend as much as 10 times more than someone who has a reliable connection in the home. While this situation reveals deep inequalities, it also shows that there is a willingness to pay. Monika Freyman, director of Investor Water Initiatives at non-profit Ceres, agreed that asking domestic users to pay for water could be a way of increasing the value placed on it, as well as leveraging the money needed to secure supply. "Many investors, when they look at private solutions or public-private partnerships, are beginning to ask: 'How can we ensure that those at the bottom of the pyramid can afford and have access to water?' I think privatisation can work but you have to have pretty strong policies and stewardship from the regulators to go with it." Freyman believes that the corporate and investment community can value water better by understanding the risks of inefficient water management. "Many companies are beginning to assess the money they're leaving on the table by not getting water management right," she said. "In the past, the investment community was obsessed with the volumes of water they were using, but I think the bigger question now is: what are the lost opportunities around not understanding and managing water well?" (Katherine Purvis is a freelance journalist, working on the Global Development Professionals Network). State of mismanagement -- needs to be attended MEDIA reports of three incidents on the same day reflect the state of misrule in the country. First, a Tangail court on Sunday sent ruling Awami League lawmaker Amanur Rahman Rana to jail after rejecting his bail petition in a case for killing freedom fighter Faruk Ahmed in 2013. Having remained fugitive for over a year, the lawmaker from Tangail-3 (Ghatail) Constituency surrendered before the court in the morning and pleaded for bail. The court rejected the bail and he later landed in Tangail district jail. He, however, was able to escape serious charges brought against him in 44 other cases including murder, attempt to murder, extortion, grievous hurt, riot and unlawful assembly. In the second incident, a ruling Awami League lawmaker of Cox's Bazar allegedly led his men to take away various goods that a mobile court seized Sunday from illegal occupants at Himchari, a popular tourist spot in Ramu Upazila. Saimum Sarwar Kamal of Cox's Bazar-3 Constituency and some 40 to 50 of his supporters scolded a forest official for carrying out the drive. They also vandalized several establishments of the Forest Department. Thirdly, Rashed Sarwar alias Rumon (32), youngest son of Refat Amin, Awami League lawmaker of a reserved seat for woman from Satkhira was sent to jail on Sunday following his arrest in two extortion cases. According to media report Rashed was arrested once earlier in May this year with three women and later got bail. He was beaten by local people on September 15 in an unwanted situation. These incidents are part of the ground realities which Bangladesh has been experiencing for last few years. It is unfortunate that even the lawmakers have involved themselves in serious crimes. A good number of them are engaged in managing undue advantages for personal gain. We have differences with the government, but that is on points of mismanagement for lack of accountability. We know this is the time when any responsible government would take the prevailing lawlessness among the government and their own people seriously aiming to restore discipline in conducting the affairs of the state. Couple found dead at house They might have been murdered, police suspect Kurigram Correspondent : A couple was found dead at their house at Baikkamari village in Roumari upazila of Kurigram district on Monday morning. The dead couple has been identified as Golam Hossain, 32, and his wife Shilpi Khatun, 27. Golam was found hanging from the ceiling of a room, while his wife Shilpi found lying on the floor of a separate room at about 10am yesterday. As the deceased Golam's mother saw her son and daughter-in-law sleeping till 10am yesterday, he started calling them. But she (Golam's mother) did not get any response from inside the house. As soon as the news spread, neighbours rushed to spot and they also tried to awake Golam Hossain and his wife Shilpi in many ways. At one stage, they broke the door and stormed the house and found the couple's bodies. Police said, the couple might have been murdered as their bodies bore several injury marks. Sajedul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Roumari Police Station said there was an injury mark of a sharp weapon on Golam's head. "Besides, Shilpi's body also bore injury marks," he said adding that they visited the spot but were still clueless about motives behind the murders. Pre-primary edn for ethnic minorities from next year M M Jasim : The government is going to introduce pre-primary education for the ethnic minorities in their own language from the next year. The Ministry also asked the officials concerned to complete arrangements in this regard as early as possible. The Ministry plans to distribute free books among ethnic students like Chakma, Marma, Garo, Kokborok and Sadri languages. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said, "The leaders of ethnic minorities have been demanding for long to introduce pre-primary education in their mother tongue. The Ministry is going to meet their demands." "We are also planning to provide free books from the next year," he said. The Minister also hoped that the books would help the children to learn everything easily as these will be written in their own language. According to the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, there are 45 ethnic groups that make up about 1% of the population. Other estimates put the number at around 35. These groups are believed to use 26 distinct languages. Ethnic communities have long been calling for providing primary education to their children in their mother tongue Narayan Chandra Saha, Chairman of National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Bangladesh, told The New Nation that they would print 26,125 books in separate languages. Asked about their content, he said these books were translated from the Bangla texts. Take strong steps against stalkers: Nahid Staff Reporter : Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Monday called upon the people from all walks of life to build up 'social resistance' in a bid to eliminate eve teasing from the society. He came up with the remarks while addressing at a meeting held at his Ministry at Secretariat in the city yesterday. Education Secretary Md Sohrab Hossain and senior officials of the Ministry were also present at the meeting. Nurul Islam Nahid asked the authorities concerned, including law enforcement agencies, to take necessary step for ensuring congenial academic atmosphere for girls in the educational institutions. "A social resistance must be created against the eve-teasing, and necessary steps should be taken to ensure the security of female students," Nurul Islam Nahid said. He said guardians of school and college-going girls are now worried over the security of their daughters following the frequent incidents of attack on girls on their way to educational institutions. "Panic and tension start gripping the guardians after sending their daughters to educational institutions," he said. He said being threatened many guardians have already stopped sending their daughters to schools or colleges. Body of Councillor`s wife found Staff Reporter : Police on Monday recovered the body of a housewife from Uttara in the capital city. The deceased was identified as Nushrat Jahan Tumpa, wife of councilor Solaiman Mia of Gazipur City Corporation. Tumpa's father alleged that she was killed by her husband. Police said, family of Solaiman Mia has been living in Section-4 at Uttara for last few years. He is the councilor of ward number 2, of the city corporation. Tumpa's father Nazrul Islam alleged that her daughter had married to Solaiman before 12 years. Solaiman was frequently oppressed his wife as he was addicted of drugs and allegedly extra marital relations with other women. When Tumpa protested of Solaiman's sexual affairs with other women then he beaten her. Tumpa's family said, last Sunday Tumpa, Solaiman, Solaiman's brother Sayeed and his wife was gone to Basundhara residential area. In that time Tumpa has found a photo of a woman in Solaiman's cell phone set. She asked to Solaiman about the identity and relationship of the woman with the councilor. It has created a quarrelsome among them. At a point Sayeed (Solaiman's brother) has left Tumpa and her husband in their resident at night. Their kid Nafee was stayed with her grand father Nazrul Islam's home. Nazrul Islam alleged that Solaiman killed Tumpa any time in the night and locked the resident from out side and went on hiding. Their maidservant found the door locked at morning and called Tumpa's mother over cell phone. Tumpa's family members broke open the door and saw her body lying on the bed. They later informed police and recovered her body. Police sent her body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for autopsy. Big coal-fired power plant near Dighirpara planned Anisul Islam Noor : The government plans to build a large coal-fired power plant near Dighirpara coal mine field in Dinajpur district, Energy Division sources said. They said the planned 600MW capacity power plant will be run using coal from the Dighirpara coal field. Considering the experience, the Energy Division handed over the responsibility of operation of Dighirpara coal field to Barapukuria Coal Mine Field of Dinajpur, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, to develop and extraction of coal also from this field. Meanwhile, state-owned Oil and Gas Corporation Petrobangla showed success in operation and extraction of coal from Barapukuria Coal Mine Field. Barapukuria also learnt to have preparing a plan in this regard At present, coal is being produced commercially only from the Barapukuria underground coal mine field in Dinajpur. It has gone through a period of eight years of construction and one year of production. Currently, the production rate of Barapukuria is about 1500 tons per day. Energy experts said there is no option for Bangladesh other than mining its coal for power generation, because the future power demand cannot be met from gas-based power plants as the gas reserve is too limited to run for long. The only coal-based power plant (250MW) in the country is in operation near the Barapukuria Coal Mine Field, which feeds the plant. If the Barapukuria mine runs efficiently for its expected lifespan and if feasibility studies conducted at other fields conclude positively only then we can expect that the contribution of coal in the total energy mix in the country will increase in future, the experts said. Till now five major coalfields have been discovered in Bangladesh. They are Jamalganj (1962), Barapukuria (1985), Khalashpir (1989), Dighipara(1995) and Phulbari (1998). Barapukuriua coalfield was discovered in 1985 by GSB in Dinajpur district. Coal layers are encountered at a shallow depth of about 18-500 meter. In 1989 GSB discovered another coalfield at Khalashpir in Rangpur district where coal layers are encountered at depths of about 257-450 meter below surface. In 1995 another major coalfield was discovered by GSB at Dighirpara where coal was encountered at a depth of about 250 meter below the surface. An USA-Australian coal mining company BHP discovered a major coalfield named Phulbari in 1997. Here coal was encountered at depth of 130-260 meter below the surface. Police to have aviation unit Staff Reporter : The Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended formation of a three-dimensional unit named 'Aviation Unit' for the police force to build up its capacity in the land, air and water against the backdrop of alarmingly rising terrorism and militancy in the country. At the same time, the ministry also proposed formation of specialized 'Anti-terrorism Unit' for the force to check various other crimes. Side by side, it recommended expansion of the activities of the recently formed Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit by forming its units from the district to grassroots level. The ministry's latest report along with recommendations and proposals has already been placed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Home Affairs. The report signed by Deputy Secretary of the Ministry Nirod Chandra Mandol pointed out different problems and obstacles of the police force. It also showed ways to get a solution. Officials said that the ministry had also suggested for specialized training to the law enforcers at home and abroad. Not only that, the ministry in its proposals laid emphasis on raising new battalions, teams and forces to tackle the situation. In line with the modification plan, the ministry proposed to constitute metropolitan police in Rangpur, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Comilla, the officials said. The ministry expressed the hope that the capacity of police force would be increased if sophisticated technology and modern equipments are provided to the force. It also put emphasis on expanding the investigation management of technology-based crimes. "The police force must reduce dependency on evidence and witness-based investigation. Rather, it should take initiatives to expand science and technology-based investigation. It needs to provide latest technological equipments to the police force considering some recently committed crimes," the report said. According to the report placed on September 4, the ministry has given the highest importance on some other matters, such as purchase of vehicles, food, uniform, and impart training, human resource development and housing. About purchase of vehicles, the report mentioned that it takes long time to buy vehicles and riverine vessels due to complications in the departmental process. And for that reason, the police department in most time could not buy transportation even after having enough budgets. The Finance Ministry usually fixes the price of vehicles which are far bellow than lowest rate of tender bidders. If the 'double-star' codes withdrawn, the ministry proposed, it would be easier for the police department to buy modern and standard vehicles. About food and uniform supply, the ministry said the rice, wheat, atta and others those are supplied from government silos are mostly smelly and sub-standard. So, it is impossible for police members to consume. Besides, the police personnel cannot receive quality-rice due to existence of 'warranty system', the report said. Return $15.25m heist fund to BD Staff Reporter : A regional trial court of Philippine on Monday ordered the country's central bank to return to the Bangladesh central bank a recovered portion of the $81 million fund stolen by hackers from its account held with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The National Capital Judicial Region came up with the order after hearing a forfeiture case between the government of Philippines and casino junket operator Kim Wong. Philippine's Department of Justice (DoJ) represented the case on behalf of Bangladesh. The court earlier issued forfeiture order of the funds amounting to $15.25 million turned over by casino junket operator Kim Wong to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AML) of Philippines in April and May. "We have received a copy of the court ruling which ordered the Philippines central bank to release of the $15.25 million in favour of Bangladesh. The court declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the recovered funds," AFM Mokammel Hoque, a spokesman of Bangladesh Bank (BB) told reporters in a press conference on Monday evening. He said: The fund is now kept in the vault of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of Philippines. The amount would be deposited to BB account soon. "We are trying to recover rest of portions of the stolen funds through legal process. The government of Philippine and its central bank have already extended all-out supports and cooperation to the Bangladesh Embassy in Manila in this endeavor," he added. The BB spokesman expressed the hope that they will be able to recover all the stolen funds that laundered through Philippines banking system. When asked, he said, the BB and the Philippines central bank would discuss how and when the fund to be released to Bangladesh exchequer following the court's order. According to BB, unidentified hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, a casino junket operator Kim Wong claimed to have received $35 million of the stolen funds but only returned $15.25 million. But the Philippines authorities are yet to be tracked to the rest of the funds. Assad smiles as Syria burns The New York Times : Beirut, Lebanon - On the day after his 51st birthday, Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, took a victory lap through the dusty streets of a destroyed and empty rebel town that his forces had starved into submission. Smiling, with his shirt open at the collar, he led officials in dark suits past deserted shops and bombed-out buildings before telling a reporter that - despite a cease-fire announced by the United States and Russia - he was committed "to taking back all areas from the terrorists." When he says terrorists, he means all who oppose him. More than five years into the conflict that has shattered his country, displaced half its population and killed hundreds of thousands of people, Mr. Assad denies any responsibility for the destruction. Instead, he presents himself as a reasonable head of state and the sole unifier who can end the war and reconcile Syria's people. That insistence, which he has clung to for years even as his forces hit civilians with gas attacks and barrel bombs, is a major impediment to sustaining a cease-fire, let alone ending the war. The new cease-fire, less than a week old, is already tenuous. On Saturday, the United States acknowledged carrying out an airstrike that killed Syrian government troops in eastern Syria. Attacks have resumed across the country, and aid meant for besieged residents of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, is still stuck at the Turkish border. Mr. Assad has become a central paradox of the war: He is secure and kept in place by foreign backers as his country splinters, although few see the war ending and Syria being put back together as long as he stays. Although he remains a pariah to the West, and scores of militant groups continue to fight to oust him, even his opponents acknowledge that he has navigated his way out of the immediate threats to his rule, making the question of his fate an intractable dilemma. Life During the Cease-fire The rebels are unlikely to stop fighting as long as the man they blame for the majority of the war's deaths remains. But fear of what might emerge if Mr. Assad is ousted has deterred many Syrians from joining the insurrection and may have helped prevent countries like the United States from acting more forcefully against him. The result has been a crushing stalemate. Mr. Assad's standing as leader of Syria is diminished - and yet stable. "The problem is that he cannot win, and at the same time he is not losing," said Samir Altaqi, the director of the Orient Research Center in Dubai. "But at the end of the day, what is left of Syria? He is still the leader, but he lost the state." Indeed, recent events give the impression that Mr. Assad has succeeded in muddling through, without being held accountable. August came and went with little mention of the anniversary of the chemical attacks by his forces that killed more than 1,000 people in 2013. Turkey, a key backer of the rebels, dropped its demand that he leave power immediately, and the United States has stopped calling for his removal. And the day before Mr. Assad's birthday on Sept. 11, for which his supporters created a fawning website, the United States and Russia announced a new cease-fire agreement with surprising benefits for Mr. Assad. Besides making no mention of his political future, the agreement brought together one of his greatest foes, the United States, with one of his greatest allies, Russia, to bomb the jihadists who threaten his rule. Years ago, few assumed that Mr. Assad would join the ranks of the world's bloodiest dictators. Money came from ME: Arms thru` India Staff Reporter : Police on Monday claimed that Middle East (ME) is the key financial backers of the militants involved in launching terror attacks in city's Gulshan cafe and Sholakia of Kishorganj district. "We have obtained information that at least Taka 13 lakh was smuggled into Bangladesh through hundi transfer (an illegal system) from the Middle East. Most of the money was spent in house rent and weapons," said Monirul Islam, an additional commissioner of police and chief of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit at DMP media centre in city yesterday. He said as they came to know the identity of the person who received the money from this end they are trying to capture him. "But the sources of arms have not yet been known," Monirul Islam said,adding but they are confirmed that the supply of arms in both attacks came through India. Police have also identified four Neo-banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader---Ripon, Khalid, Bashar and Rajib Gandhi alias Shuvash alias Gandhi. Of them, Ripon and Khalid have already fled to India. "After the raids in Kalyanpur, Azimpur and others areas, law enforcers have been able to bring down the strength of JMB down to 30-40 percent," Monirul said. Investigation has been underway into the terror incidents. Since then, police have had success in cracking some major militant dens and bringing down some militant leaders. Several Neo JMB leaders, including coordinator and trainer, were killed during the raids in city's Mirpur (Rupnagar), Kalyanpur, Azimpur and Naryanganj area, said Monirul. Replying to a query, he said the two minor children rescued from Azimpur militant den, have already been handed over to their relatives, while another one, the son of slain militant Karim, is being interrogated, he added. The sources of money and arms came to light after the July 1, 2016 terror attack on Holey Artisan at Gulshan in which 22 people including the attackers while another terror attack was carried out at Eid congregation in Sholakia Eidgah on July 7, 2016 in which four people were killed. Police have widened the dragnet to nab the militants after the terror attacks and successfully arrested some of them while some militants were killed in firings between police and the militants. Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes. What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection? Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were. Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly. Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection: You get to see exactly what will happen to your money When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor. Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on. A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with. You find out about potential major repairs Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing. If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately. You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home. Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly. You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best. This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit. Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home. You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home. You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price. You can sell your home faster and for more money If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are. In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price. Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for. Your home will hold its value longer As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property. When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home. You can make smart decisions about property investments Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property. If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal. There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about. If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing. They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit. You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for. For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money. You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building. You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure. Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so. As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process. President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. Alumni, family and friends of Southern Methodist College from six states across the South met on the Orangeburg campus Monday night to dedicate a new conference center and honor the Rev. Dr. Ron Carrier for whom it is named. Carrier spent 52 years serving the college as adjunct professor, trustee and board chairman before retiring last year. He was first hired as an adjunct professor in 1964 when the college was only eight years old. In 1965, he was appointed to the board of directors and served uninterrupted in that capacity until 2015. He acted as board chairman for 23 of those years, from 1967-1982 and from 2007-2015. Carrier said he appreciates the honor bestowed on him by the college. I didnt ever expect anything like this, he said. Im grateful for the opportunity of being here, to have this opportunity to look at you, so many of you that Ive known and appreciated for your work for the Lord in the Southern Methodist Church. Carrier said he really didnt retire. I just told them not to elect me again, he said. After being in a car accident in 2010, he and his wife Lois have lost much of their mobility and find it difficult to make the trip from Tennessee to Orangeburg, he said. Academic Dean Dr. John Hucks read a statement from Board Chair Dr. George Green, who was not at the dedication because of health issues. The building will be used to advance the cause of Christ, Southern Methodist College and the Southern Methodist Church. God is using our college in a unique way at this point in its history, Green wrote. SMC President Dr. Vic Reasoner said Carrier was a joy to work with, always very magnanimous. If he knew that we were in arrears with salaries, we would sometimes get a check from him and his wife to help make up that deficit, Reasoner said. Not only was he a leader in word, but he did everything he could to help take care of our cash flow problems. It was people like Carrier who brought the college to where it is now, Reasoner said. Though the college recently closed classes on campus, it now reaches across the globe to offer both degree and non-degree Bible education to people in their own homes and communities via the Internet. Alumni, members of the college family and colleagues shared memories of the man they affectionately call Doc," memories that were built during decades of friendship and service. They described him as a strong and godly man who led the college through years of growth as well as through many financial and other storms while pastoring a church in Tennessee. They also remembered him as a humorous person who loved snazzy dressing and Hawaiian shirts and fishing. Former SMC President Rev. Dr. Dan Shapley said he was a young whippersnapper of a college student when he first met Carrier. Quite frankly, Doc, we held you in fear and trepidation, Shapley said. You were a lot scarier then. Thats because you didnt know me, Carrier responded. Shapley spoke about participating in his first General Conference as a young pastor of his first church. He and his wife were about halfway to Birmingham where the conference was to be held when he realized hed forgotten to pack his one and only suit, he said. If you knew the Southern Methodist Church back then, you know that was a real no-no, a real faux pas, Shapley said. At the conference, it turned out that Carrier was the one who handed him his ballot. You asked me, Wheres your suit, son? I got my ballot, and Im not even sure I answered you, he told Carrier. He realized Carrier was OK when he met Mrs. Lois, Carriers wife, Shapely said. I knew anybody who can marry a feisty redhead and live with her has got to be okay. Over the years, God led Doc to the Hawaiian shirt, Shapley said. Im so glad he did because grace abounded after that, and I didnt feel so uncomfortable, he said. I never thought wed be friends, but we are, Shapley told Carrier. Youre a great man, and I love you and appreciate you. Rev. Gary Briden, also a former SMC president, noted that an authentic Hawaiian shirt covered the Carriers picture until the unveiling. We should have sent out a memo and we would all have come in Hawaiian shirts, he said. Briden praised both Carrier and his wife for their service to the college and denomination. If you put your ministry of the two of you together and the impact upon lives in spiritual terms, I think it would equal a $1 million company, he said. I know youve influenced many, many, many young people over the years, and this not-so-young person anymore is one of those youve influenced. Rev. Dr. Julian B. Gamble served as president of the college in the seventies while Carrier was board chair. At age 95, he was unable to attend the dedication service, but sent a greeting by email. Gamble, who was later elected president of the Southern Methodist denomination, remembers Carrier as a close friend. On this special occasion, it is an honor and pleasure for me to have the opportunity to congratulate a dear friend on this achievement and acknowledgement of many faithful years of dedicated service to the Southern Methodist College and Church, Gamble said. He is worthy of this honor. The college and denomination are better off because of his untiring effort. Gamble also remembered a lighter side to Carrier and the fun they had when they relaxed together. Some South Carolina food and traditions were unknown to the Nashville native. But in their time together, Doc learned to eat boiled peanuts and sardines while fishing, Gamble said. While serving on the college board and teaching as an adjunct professor, Carrier has also pastored several churches in the Nashville area. Currently, he is minister at the Southern Methodist Church in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. SMC was established in Greenville by the Southern Methodist Church on Jan. 26, 1956. It was moved to Aiken in 1958. The school now offers degrees online and services to ministers of the International Fellowship of Bible Churches in the Philippines. SMC also has articulation agreements with a number of Christian institutions of higher education, including the West Africa Theological Seminary in Nigeria, and it serves about 200 students in 17 Wesley Institutions. Those classes can be upgraded to a degree program. NORTH -- The former chairman of the North Board of Appeals wants to know why he was removed from that position. Russell Jeffcoat posed that question and others during September's North Town Council meeting. "The issue I have today is not so much my alleged removal from the board and/or my appointment as chair but how that decision came to be made and by whom," Jeffcoat said during the public comments portion of the meeting. Jeffcoat, who had served as chairman of the Board of Zoning Appeals for a year, wanted to know if the decision to remove him was done legally. "My concern is for our town, that decisions are being made through the appropriate committees, government bodies according to rules and procedures and not made randomly or biasedly by a single individual as they personally see fit, or a small group of individuals who were not elected or appointed to make these decisions," he said. Citing Municipal Association of South Carolina rules, he said if the town's Board of Zoning Appeals did vote to remove him as chair or from the board altogether, a meeting must have been held. If a meeting was held, he was not aware of it, Jeffcoat said. He reviewed the procedures the BZA needs to follow when holding a meeting and making decisions, including following Freedom of Information Act meeting notification rules. "I am asking for a definitive answer regarding my current status on the Zoning Board of Appeals," Jeffcoat continued. "If in fact I was removed from the board or from my appointed position as chair, then I am also requesting a special review of how my removal was decided upon. "If, after special review, it is found that this decision was made erroneously and not according to the rules of procedure by its appropriate governing body, then I would further ask that every decision made by this towns administration be reviewed, or at least called to question." When asked by a citizen attending the meeting if council had answer to Jeffcoat's comments, North Mayor Patty Carson said, "I need to look into it." During council's August meeting, Carson reported that Jeffcoat and Linda Askew Chandler were removed from the Board of Zoning Appeals because they had not submitted the necessary CEUs (continuing education units or credits). Carson declined comment when asked by The Times and Democrat about Jeffcoat's remarks Monday. Also during the meeting, Swansea's utilities manager Rick Bryan, who now serves in similar positions with North and Bull Swamp Rural Water, announced that North's water and sewer operator, Chad Stevens, resigned in the middle of August to accept a position in Richland County. Bryan now serves as the operator of record of North's water and sewer department. Carson declined comment as to whether or not the town is seeking to hire another operator, saying it is a personnel matter. When asked if the department is understaffed, she said, "I am just not going to get into it at this point." Carson did say residents don't need to worry about water quality. "Water is safe to drink and there are no issues with the water," the mayor said, noting the water continues to be regularly treated according to state regulations and requirements. Stevens' resignation comes at a time when a number of North's aging water mains have developed leaks. The pipes were laid in the 1970s and 1980s and have become brittle due to age and the low petroleum content used in manufacturing them. Bryan said the pipes will continue to leak if they are not repaired. The small main replacement projects were submitted for penny sales tax consideration, but were not funded. In a recent inspection of the town's water system, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control found that 26 valves were out of service because they were broken or couldn't be located. The valves will need to be replaced. During the meeting, Carson was asked about rumors that North's intergovernmental agreement with the town of Swansea related to sharing Swansea's water and sewer resources will be terminated. "I will not comment on that at this time," Carson said, adding that she wanted to talk to the town attorney first. A telephone call and email to Swansea Mayor Ray Spires inquiring about the status of the intergovernmental agreement was not immediately returned. For the past three years, the two towns have combined their water/wastewater treatment resources, sharing both equipment and personnel as needed. Swansea is currently collecting water customer payments for North. In other business: Council gave first-reading approval to an ordinance adopting the Enforcement of Community Development Code and Buildings Inspection Code. Carson said the code will be on the town's website and a public hearing will be held on it before the next meeting. Carson reported that Waste Haulers, the company responsible for picking up the town's trash, was recently bought out by Waste Management Company. She said the transition should be smooth, adding that if anyone has any problems, let her know. The mayor reported that North Police Department and North Volunteer Fire Department personnel appear in the Christian-film "Faith's Song," which was filmed in North last winter. She said the movie trailer can be viewed at northfacechristianfilms.com. Carson asked council members to solicit community members to sit on the zoning board of appeals. They must be willing to attend a three-hour annual training session, she said. Only one person has met the required certification to be able to serve on the board, Carson said. Everyone was reminded about the Operation Clean Sweep county cleanup scheduled Oct. 15. North volunteers will meet at the fire department. Council went into executive session for about half an hour to discuss an economic development matter with Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson. Council took no action when it returned to public session. "Farm Bureau and Scana: We have a lot of similar things that we deal with," Scana Corp. Director of Government and Regulatory Relations Jonathan Yarborough told Orangeburg County Farm Bureau members gathered Tuesday night during the group's annual meeting. One is the state's surface water withdrawal act, Yarborough said. Both agriculture and utilities have exemptions under the act in an effort to expedite the review and approval process, which can in some cases last over a decade, he said. Utilities receive an exemption for hydroelectric withdrawals. "Is that really what we want when it is a matter of whether we are going to be able to feed people," he said. "I don't think so." The exemption allows water users, such as agriculture, to register with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The registration is then submitted to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, which determines a formulation on a river's safe yield. Yarborough noted the issue came to the fore in recent years when Michigan-based Walther Farms received permission from DHEC to withdraw 805 million gallons per month out of the South Edisto River, or 6 billion gallons annually for its operation in Aiken County. The withdrawal was considered 14 percent of the safe yield. The farm grows potatoes for Frito-Lay's potato chips. The request prompted a number of public concerns about the impact of the withdrawal on the Edisto River environmentally. "This was really the first big registration or permit since the surface water act was put in place," Yarborough said, noting the other water users were grandfathered in. "When they did the safe-yield analysis ... that withdrawal they were asking for was well within the safe yield." The concerns from some prompted Orangeburg Democratic Sens. Brad Hutto and John Matthews to co-sponsor the Surface Water Stewardship Act, which would have required a surface-water user to receive a permit from DHEC if the withdrawer plans to take 5 percent of a rivers safe yield and 425 million gallons monthly. The bill never got out of the Senate. Yarborough defended the surface water withdrawal act, noting the legislation was created after eight years of negotiations and compromise with different bodies and interest groups across the state. "Understand before that piece of legislation was passed, we were still operating under common law riparian rights," he said. "If you lived on the water, you could do what you wanted to do." Yarborough said Farm Bureau did an "excellent job" in getting its story told during various hearings. Yarborough also updated members on Scana's new nuclear facilities in Fairfield County. He said the company is in the process of building two new facilities. He promoted nuclear energy as clean and efficient. "There are no emissions with nuclear," he said. "We are in good shape because the Obama administration gave credit for new nuclear as a way to reduce the state's carbon emissions. The non-emissions generations is the way to go into the future." In other matters, members unanimously approved resolutions: * Recommending counties with multiple voting delegates select at least one young farmer as a voting delegate for the S.C. Farm Bureau annual meeting and have that young farmer sit in the voting delegate session. * Recommending advisory committees of various commodities review crop insurance as it pertains to covered crops and its impact on farmers. The recommendation was put forth in light of the October 2015 floods and crop insurance concerns. * Continuing efforts to encourage equipment farmers to share proprietary maintenance information such as diagnostic codes, data and solutions. The recommendation is aimed at helping make it easier for farmers to have diagnostic codes checked on farm equipment and ensuring farmers' information is protected from third-party interests. The resolutions will now go before the state FB board at its resolutions committee meeting. In other business: * Members were informed the county FB will be co-sponsoring a booth at the Orangeburg County Fair in conjunction with the Calhoun County FB. Volunteers to help staff the booth are needed. * Members were encouraged to reach out to young farmers and encourage them to get involved in the FB. * Members were informed the county is seeking a woman to chair the FB's Women's Committee. * Elected the next term of FB board members to include David Funchess, Jacob Riser, Harry Wimberly, Landy Weathers, Bobby Riley Jr., Dwain Fogle, Robert Riley III and Thad Wimberly. The members were unanimously approved. * Members were reminded about the annual South Carolina Agriculture Business Expo scheduled for Jan. 11-12 at the Florence Civic Center. * Recognized Santee farmer Walter Dantzler for his service as the FB Coastal District representative for the past decade. Dantzler has retired from the position. * Nine-year-old Rowesville resident McKenzie Johnson, talent winner (Junior Division), performed a clogging routine to the song "Think" by Aretha Franklin. Johnson is the daughter of Tesha Johnson and Chris Williamson. It was very recently announced in the press that lawyers for the South Carolina Legislature forwarded a request to the Supreme Court, asking the court to discontinue its exercise of judicial oversight relative to the Legislatures progress in equalizing school funding of the public schools. We are reminded that the issue of improving educational opportunities in the rural communities of this state has, for decades, been a continuing long-standing and unsettled debate. The identification of the rural communities bordering I-95, from North Carolina to Georgia as The Corridor of Shame, has received considerable attention in legal, educational and civic discussions. After many years of legal wrangling, in November 2014, the court under the leadership of Justice Jean Toal accepted the argument of the plaintiff districts in the case of Abbeville County School District vs. State of South Carolina. The court decided the Legislature was not honoring the state constitutional mandate to provide a minimally efficient education to all students enrolled in South Carolinas public schools. As a basis for a deeper understanding of the history and allegations involved in the case, I encourage readers to view The Corridor of Shame -- the documentary published in 2005 that helped keep the spotlight on the issue of public education equity in South Carolina. I encourage those who view the film to listen carefully to the recorded comments from Charles S. Way Jr., who is now the chairman of the board of trustees at South Carolina State University, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham as they identify existing preconditions to improving educational opportunities for children attending rural public schools in the plaintiff districts. I agree with the court that those conditions had not been met by 2014. I suggest further that neither could they have been corrected to the degree where oversight should be abandoned in the time that has passed since then. The failure of the South Carolina Legislature to address and remedy these conditions to date should not be lightly dismissed in responding to the plea for relief. For the Supreme Court to honor the plea would be to absolve the Legislature of any sense of accountability that it has for the creation of the conditions, as well as any sense of continuing responsibility that it bears to repair the conditions and create a climate of educational equity for the children of this state. A decision by the court granting the relief requested would further exacerbate the problem and complicate the challenge to improve educational opportunities. The fact of the matter is that the Legislature is the most influential actor in the public education arena bearing the seal of state authority. The Legislature is more powerful on such matters in every sense than is the State Board of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, the Office of the Governor or any other agency laying claim to primary or competitive jurisdiction in educational matters. How can the accountability of the controlling authority be legitimately reduced given the continuing existence of the unremedied failures in our education delivery system? I respectfully submit that it is the Supreme Court that stands as the last bastion of protection to ensure the development of a strong system of public education, a healthy state economy, and a racially diverse, talented and productive workforce. There is an additional reason why I respectfully urge the court not to respond favorably to this request for relief coming from the Legislature. That reason bears a direct connection to the magnitude of this issue. As we have said, this is an issue that impacts the lives of many -- presently and in the future. This is a decision that is entirely too important to be framed by legislative leaders and their lawyers at a time when the Legislature itself is not in session. The issue is important enough to be publicly discussed and publicly debated. Sadly, I have spoken to a number of state legislators who were not aware that the recommendation for the elimination of judicial oversight was forthcoming. This raises the critical question of who is representing whom? Who in the Legislature is speaking for the poor and the marginalized? Who are the real policy makers? In that the 36 school districts comprising the original cohort of plaintiffs in this case represent an approximate 88 percent minority population, should the public not know the position of the representatives from The Corridor and that of the minority legislative caucus on this issue? On such an important issue, the public should not have to guess where our elected officials stand. South Carolina will not be able to responsibly fulfill its developmental potential by continuing to listen to the drumbeat of the few and ignore the will and wellbeing of the masses or the needs of the state as a whole. I appeal to the wisdom of the court and to the judicious concern that it harbors for all of the states children, as human beings and as a talent pool for the future development of South Carolina. I ask that the court not abandon the exercise of its oversight responsibility and that the relief requested by the legislative leaders and their lawyers be denied. Let us not forget that we are talking about enforcing a constitutional standard that ensures a standard of minimal efficiency in the preparation of our 21st century student population. Based on a record of performance by the Legislature, which reflects too many years of unsuccessful effort, I ask: If it is not the Supreme Court, who will stand to defend and protect the educational rights and constitutional entitlements of the poorest children among us, then to whom shall we turn? We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova The 8th Uzeyir Hajibayli International Music Festival opened in Heydar Aliyev Palace on September 18. The festival that made tremendous contribution to promoting Azerbaijan`s musical traditions kicks off annually at the National Music Day, dedicated to the birthday of great musician, Trend Life reported. The ten-day music celebration is co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Prior to the event, photos and books about life and creative activity of Uzeyir Hajibeyli were exhibited in the foyer. Addressing the event, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev stressed the importance of Uzeyir Hajibeylis music and scientific heritage. Uzeyir Hajibeylis music has been included into the gold fund of the world culture. Uzeyir bey made essential contributions as a publicist, playwright, scientist, public figure and pedagogue. His masterpiece Koroglu opera, O olmasin, bu olsun, Arshin mal alan musical comedies are splendid examples of the national music culture, they are still loved and demonstrated, he said. The colorful festival that brought together a number of art lovers continued with fascinating music program.. Guests enjoyed the beauty of classical works and masterly skill of Azerbaijani and foreign musicians. The opening ceremony featured brilliant performance of Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra as well as the State Choral Chapel. State Symphony Orchestra performed the overture to the opera "Koroglu" by Uzeyir Hajibeyli, "Concerto for Symphony orchestra" by Soltan Hajibeyov, while as the State Choral Chape performed the cantata "Azeriler" Agshin Alizadeh. In the second part of the event, famous Russian pianist Petr Laur delighted the audience with a majestic performance of "Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1" by Johannes Brahms. The festival will last until September 27 involving many local and international musicians from Azerbaijan, Russia, USA, Israel, Germany, Turkey, Georgia. Major concert programs will be held at the Magomayev Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall, Organ and Chamber Music Hall, Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater , Azerbaijan composers Union, Baku Music Academy named after Uzeyir Hajibeyli etc. Besides, the festival will feature performances and scientific conference dedicated to the study of the creative heritage of the great composer. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov The OSCE Minsk Group and Armenia must take into consideration the position of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This was said by Hikmat Hajiyev, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, to Trend on September 19. The final document was adopted at the 17th NAM Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Isla de Margarita, Venezuela on September 1318, 2016. In the final document, the NAM member-states called for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with the UN Security Councils resolutions and within the territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, Hajiyev said. After Azerbaijan joined the Movement, the position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is constantly being reflected in all documents which are being adopted at the level of heads of state and foreign ministers of the NAM member-states, the Spokesman noted. This is the single and firm position of international community to resolve the conflict. Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group must take into account this position, which expresses the will of the international community, he added. Hajiyev noted that one of the main points of the summit was NAMs position on the principle of self-determination of nations, reflected in the final document of the summit. In accordance with the UN Charter, the NAM member-states mainly consider the principle of self-determination of peoples in the context of decolonization and the fight against colonization. The principle of self-determination outside this context cannot be a tool to artificially breach the territorial integrity of states. It proves once again that the attempts of Armenia to conceal the occupation of Azerbaijani territories abusing this principle are entirely unfounded, the Spokesman said. The member-states of the Movement, expressing strong protest against the attempts to violate the territorial integrity and national unity, reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of states. Hajiyev noted that another important result of the summit is the decision to hold the next NAM summit in 2019 in Baku and the transfer of chairmanship in the organization for 2019-2022 to Azerbaijan. The Spokesman said that Azerbaijan is committed to the spirit and principles of the Movement, and during its presidency will make efforts for the development of its fundamental goals and objectives. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) called for resolution of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijans territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders. The corresponding item was included in the final document of the NAM summit, which has been recently completed in Isla de Margarita, Venezuela. The heads of states and governments of the Movement's member-countries expressed regret that despite UN Security Council's resolutions, the conflict is still unresolved, and continues to constitute a threat to international and regional peace and security. The summit reaffirmed the importance of the non-use of force principle, which is reflected in the UN Charter, called on the parties to settle the conflict within the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. In the outcome document of the summit, heads of states and governments also supported the proposal of Azerbaijan to hold the next NAM summit in 2019 in Baku. Azerbaijani delegation at the summit was led by Azerbaijans Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov. He held meetings with Mevlut Cavu?o?lu, Ramtane Lamamra, Retno Marsudi, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Riad Al-Malki, Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Algeria, Indonesia, Republic of South Africa and Palestine respectively on the margins of the NAM summit. At the meetings, the development of bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian fields, as well as the issues on the agenda of the NAM and the 71th Session of UN General Assembly were discussed. The Ministers also noted the importance of enhancing relations between the countries within international organizations. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov briefed his counterparts on the current negotiation process over the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and highly appreciated consistent fair position within the NAM on the settlement of the conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. Non-Alignment Movement is an international organization uniting 120 countries on the principles of non-participation in military blocs. The movement was formally established by 25 states at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. Azerbaijan became a full member of the movement in 2011. By Trend Japans Sumitomo Corporation is constructing a gas turbine power plant in the Turkmen Lebap province, Shiro Nishioka, spokesman for Sumitomo Corporation, said in an interview with Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper. According to the message, the gas turbine power plant will be situated on an area of ??more than four hectares. The plant is planned to be commissioned in 2018 and all generated electricity will be exported to Afghanistan, the message said. "This is our first contract on the construction of a large-scale power plant in Turkmenistan, Nishioka added. So, we are dealing with this project with great responsibility." According to the message, Turkish Ronesans construction company and Japanese Mitsubishi corporation, which will supply three gas turbine power units, became subcontractors of the project. Niasse scores in U23 run-out against Arsenal , 19 September, The Senegalese striker was named in a three-man attack alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin and David Henen for a match that the Blues started in brilliant fashion. Kieran Dowell opened the scoring for Everton in only the fourth minute, firing home from just inside the box. Jonjoe Kenny and Niasse both had chances to extend the lead before the break but Liam Walsh did double the Blues' advantage just two minutes into the second half with an excellent free kick. Niasse then made it 3-0 before substitute Calum Dyson weighed in with a brace to compete the rout. Everton U23s: Hewelt, Jones, Robinson, Walsh (Dyson 68), Connolly, Kenny (c), Dowell, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Niasse (Duffus 75), Henen (Charsley 58). Subs not used: Renshaw, Duffus, Sambou. Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer About these ads Yemen's exiled president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi appointed Finance Minister Monasser Al Quaiti as head of the country's central bank on Sunday, the state-run sabanew.net news agency reported. The decree announcing the appointment included a decision to move the bank's headquarters from the capital Sanaa to the southern port city of Aden, according to the report. Hadi also appointed Ahmed Obaid Al Fadhli to replace Al Quaiti as finance minister, it said. The central bank has been the last bastion of the impoverished country's financial system amid a civil war and is effectively running the economy, according to central bank officials, diplomats and Yemenis on both sides of the war. Hadi is backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, which has been waging an offensive trying to roll back gains made by the Iran-aligned Houthi forces since 2014. His government asked international financial institutions last month to prevent central bank officials from accessing state funds held in overseas banks, sabanew.net reported on August 6. The government has accused the Iran-allied Houthis of squandering some $4 billion on the war effort from central bank reserves, but the Houthis say the funds were used to finance imports of food and medicine. Reuters American hardwoods are set to feature widely at the second edition of Dubai Design Week, the Middle Easts biggest celebration of design, which will run from October 24 to 29 across the city. Following success at the inaugural design event last year, the American Hardwood Export Council (Ahec) has announced its plans to participate at both Downtown Design 2016 and Design Ras Al Khor (Drak) - two key events taking place during Dubai Design Week (DDW). This years event will cement Dubais status as the design capital of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) and South Asia region with more than 100 events taking place in Dubai Design District (d3) and all across the city over six days, said the organisers. Aiming to highlight the beauty, versatility and environmental credentials of American hardwoods, Ahec is collaborating with T.ZED Architects on an installation at the event by repurposing thermally-modified American ash that was previously used to clad its stand at exhibitions in Turkey. Tarik Al Zaharna, the founder and director of T.ZED Architects, said the main challenge was to utilise a specific quantity of thermally-modified timber in order to produce a long-lasting installation at Downtown Design 2016 and beyond. The installation will not only serve the purpose of being shown at the fair but also aspires to have a prolonged presence in the public realm around Dubai and the UAE, long after the event has ended, he stated. Launched in 2015, the Drak initiative aims to draw attention to the potential of the Ras Al Khor Industrial Area - one of the oldest in the city - to become a creative district and hub in Dubai. As part of this year's Drak, Ahec will be bringing the acclaimed New Zealand designer David Trubridge to Dubai, along with 'Aleni' - a recliner bench he made from thermally-modified American ash for Ahec's Seed to Seat project earlier this year. Trubridge will also be heavily involved in the talks programme of both Drak and Dubai Design Week, giving him a chance to talk about his work in American hardwoods and his experience of working with product life-cycle environmental profiling. "Drak is a collective design initiative established by myself and three creative designers and friends," remarked Khalid Shafar, the co-founder of Drak. "This progressive design movement aims to draw attention to the potential of Ras Al Khor Industrial Area and encourages design research, innovation and material exploration," he stated. "We are very grateful to have Ahec on board with us as one of Drak16s official partners. Along with their support and partnership, the week-long exhibition at Dubai Design Week will explore the topic, Celebrating Wood and present four main design projects by upcoming international and locally-based designers," he added. Rod Wiles, the director of Ahec for Middle East and Africa, South Asia and Oceania, said: "Our presence at DDW marks our strong commitment towards the promotion and marketing of American hardwoods as a truly beautiful and sustainable material in the region." "The collaboration with T.ZED Architects, Downtown Design and Drak will help throw the spotlight on thermally-modified American hardwoods, which are relatively unknown amongst the specifier community in the region," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Technip, a world leader in project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry, has been awarded a large contract by the UAE's Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) for the expansion of its Jebel Ali refinery. The contract covers the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for the design and construction of the processing unit. Enoc plans to expand the capacity of its Enoc Processing Company (EPCL) Jebel Ali facility by 50 per cent. The expansion project comprises three separate packages at an estimated value in excess of $1 billion. The expected date for commercial production is Q4 of 2019. The main package of the project will add a new condensate processing train to the existing facility, expanding its daily capacity to 210,000 barrels, up from its existing 140,000 barrels per day. Additional processing units will also be added. These include a new LPG/naphta hydrotreater, an isomerisation unit, kerosene hydrotreater, and a diesel hydrotreater. These units will ensure that the refinerys fuel products, which include gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, are capable of meeting expanding domestic fuel demand, as well as for export purposes. Technip's operating centre in Rome, Italy, will manage the project. The front-end engineering design was carried out by KBR. The licensor technology has been provided by UOP, Axens, and KT. Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO of Enoc, said: The UAE's energy demand is growing at about 9 per cent a year. Since our establishment, we have grown into a responsible, profitable and sustainable organisation that has continuously met these needs. An emerging aviation sector and the evolving logistics needs of numerous businesses invoke a strategy that demands foresight. The refinery expansion is part of this strategy to develop enabling infrastructure that fuels the nations growth. In response to the UAEs drive towards clean energy, the expanded EPCL facility will manufacture products for the local market meeting stringent Euro 5 standards. Marco Villa, president of Technips region EMIA, covering Europe, Middle East, India, Africa and Latin America, said: We are proud to reinforce the long-lasting relationship between Technip and Enoc for the expansion of the Jebel Ali refinery, which was successfully delivered by Technip in 1999 with outstanding safety, schedule and quality performances. This award confirms Technips leading position in the refining sector and in the Middle East downstream business, as well as its ability to provide its clients with customised solutions combined with secure project delivery. We are firmly committed to repeat, and even more improve, our strong performance of the original Jebel Ali Refinery Project, he added. The subsequent two packages of the project will include the construction of storage tanks and a 31,000-sq-ft warehouse. Suitable contractors are currently being shortlisted prior to the tendering process for both packages. Enoc is constantly focusing on expanding capacities in order to support domestic energy demand in alignment with Dubai Plan 2021 and in preparation for Expo 2020. Along with the development of its refinery capabilities, the company will also extend its service station portfolio by 50 per cent by 2020. The facility also includes an ISO 9001:2015/ ISO 17025:2005 certified laboratory, and is the only accredited organisation in the Middle East that is capable of carrying out critical tests for gasoline and jet fuel products. TradeArabia News Service A new eco-friendly public school, which cost BD4.1 million ($10.8 million), was officially opened in Bahrain yesterday (September 18), reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. To read further, please visit GDNonline. Sheraa, a launch pad for young entrepreneurs in the UAE, has collaborated with app-based car service Careem to offers student an opportunity to develop a detailed marketing plan for start-ups. The marketing challenge presented students with an opportunity to complete a three-month internship programme at the company headquarters, and implement their winning idea. At Sheraa, we strongly believe in infusing a positive entrepreneurial spirit in todays youth. By introducing students to the world of start-ups, Sheraa aims to invest in the leaders of tomorrow through education beyond the classroom, said Najla Al-Midfa, general manager of Sheraa. Through collaboration with successful entrepreneurs and organizations, we want to inspire students to utilize and channel their creativity to achieve tangible benefits which have a positive social and financial impact on the community. The marketing challenge attracted applications from over twenty-five teams. In the preliminary round ten teams were chosen, of which five teams were shortlisted for the final round. Careem awarded the final winners of the challenge - Huda al Ali, Aisha Usman and Abdullah Malek, credits worth Dh10,000 ($2,721). The winning team was also awarded Dh10,000 cash reward for successfully implementing their marketing plan. "As the fastest growing company in the region, Careem is in a unique position to offer a Silicon Valley-like start up experience right here in the UAE. Our cooperation with Sheraa for the marketing challenge and our summer internship program was an important step towards achieving our mission of building an institution that inspires. The interns brought a new perspective to our marketing strategy and we are proud to see them grow and develop their skills with us, said Aura Lunde, general manager Careem UAE. Sheraa is a valuable component of the UAEs growing ecosystem. Sheraas initiatives, which help sustain and grow new businesses, are important especially as self-employment among the regions youth gains popularity. TradeArabia News Service Mettler Toledo, one of the worlds largest manufacturers of weighing instruments for laboratory, industrial and food retailing applications, is set to launch its new competence centre in Dubai, UAE. The centre is an application lab that provides analytical support to developing industries, such as the petrochemical industry, in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The facility, located at the Dubai Science Park Laboratory Complex in Dubai, will be inaugurated by Jean-Claude Alder, the general manager of Mettler Toledo Sales (International), on November 9. Alder will later address the gathering and provide a comprehensive overview of the new lab. A leading global producer of precision instruments, Mettler Toledo holds top-three market positions for several related analytical instruments. The company is a manufacturer of automated chemistry systems used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development. In addition to this, it also makes metal detection systems used in production and packaging.-TradeArabia News Service US authorities were searching on Monday for an Afghanistan-born American in connection with a New York City bombing that left dozens injured and could be linked to pipe bombs found in New Jersey. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two US officials told Reuters. The New York Police Department released a photo of 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to question him about a Saturday night explosion that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN that Rahami might be armed and dangerous. The attacks came as world leaders prepared to gather at the UN in New York for the annual General Assembly. The Chelsea bombing, coming just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks on the US, put the most populous US city on edge. "We're going to have more security personnel than ever assembled over this next week during the UN General Assembly," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on CNN. "The evidence might suggest a foreign connection," Cuomo said in television interviews on Monday morning. Federal authorities now believe that the explosion in Chelsea, where another explosive device was found nearby, was linked to as many as six explosive devices found just outside New York in Elizabeth, Homeland Security officials told Reuters. No one was injured in the Saturday morning explosion along the route of a running race in Seaside Park, about 60 miles south of Manhattan, New Jersey State Police said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in television interviews that President Barack Obama, who is already in New York, was being briefed on the case. The two US presidential candidates weighed in on the New York bombing. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," Republican nominee Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said on Monday: "The threat is real, but so is our resolve." In a news conference, she said the US needed to work with its allies to combat global terrorism and that the country should launch an "intelligence surge" to detect attacks before they are carried out. SEARCHING NEW JERSEY HOME A Federal Bureau of Investigation poster says Rahami was a resident of Elizabeth, where agents were executing a search warrant on Monday morning after explosive devices were found at a train station in that city, Mayor Christian Bollwage told CNN. Rahami was not listed on US counterterrorism databases, several US officials said. A group of men were stopped and questioned in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday night in connection with the explosions, but their current status was unclear, other national security sources said. Cuomo said that, while the bombs discovered in Manhattan and New Jersey were not identical, there were "certain commonalities" among the chemicals and technologies used. The raid in Elizabeth came hours after an explosive device left near a train station there blew up when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, the mayor said. It was one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site. No one was injured in the blast from the device, which had been left in a backpack placed in a trash can near the station and a bar, Bollwage told reporters earlier. As many as five potential explosive devices tumbled out of the backpack when it was emptied, Bollwage said. After cordoning off the area, a bomb squad used a robot to cut a wire to try to disable the device but inadvertently set off an explosion, he said. - Reuters A week-old Syrian ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia was in deep trouble on Monday as a rebel official said it had practically failed and signalled insurgents were preparing for a full resumption of fighting. Already widely violated since it took effect, the ceasefire came under added strain at the weekend when Russia said jets from the US-led coalition against Islamic State killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad called the incident "flagrant aggression". Washington has called it a mistake. The agreement is the second ceasefire negotiated by Washington and Moscow this year in the hope of advancing a political end to a war now in its sixth year, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people. But while it has led to a significant reduction in fighting over the past week, violence has been increasing in recent days. A planned delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo - one of the first steps in the deal - has been repeatedly postponed. Plans to evacuate several hundred rebels from the last opposition-held district of Homs city have also overshadowed the agreement, with rebels saying it would amount to the government declaring the ceasefire over. The Homs governor said the plan had been postponed from Monday to Tuesday. US Secretary of State John Kerry said the ceasefire was "holding but fragile". If the truce were to collapse, it could doom any chance of President Barack Obama's administration negotiating a Syria breakthrough before it leaves office in January. Kerry overcame scepticism of other administration officials to hammer out the ceasefire, gambling on cooperation with Russia despite the deepest mistrust in decades between the Cold War-era superpower foes. Washington and Moscow back opposite sides in the war between Assad's government insurgents, while both oppose the Islamic State jihadist group. The politburo chief of one prominent Aleppo rebel group, Fastaqim, said the agreement had "practically failed and has ended", adding that it remained to be seen if anything could be done "in theory" to save it. Zakaria Malahifji, speaking to Reuters from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, also indicated rebel groups were preparing for combat: "I imagine in the near future there will be action by the factions". Another rebel official also signalled the insurgents might soon step up military action. Abu Al-Baraa Al-Hamawi, commander of a group fighting in the Jaish Al-Fatah Islamist alliance, said it was time for a new attempt "to break the siege on thousands of civilians in Aleppo after the false promises of aid deliveries from the United Nations". Monitors reported clashes in and around Aleppo on Monday. The government blamed some of the violence on an what it said was an insurgent assault, but another rebel official denied they had yet launched new attacks. The opposition High Negotiations Committee spokesman Riad Nassan Agha said the government side had never committed to the truce. "Air raids by Russian and Syrian warplanes, which haven't stopped, suggest the truce never started in the first place," he said. The Syrian army meanwhile had yet to announce any extension of the seven-day ceasefire it declared on September 12, which was due to expire at 11:59 pm (2059 GMT) on Sunday, according to the statement issued by the army command when the truce was announced. The US-Russian deal set out steps including a nationwide ceasefire, aid deliveries, and joint US-Russian targeting of jihadists including Islamic State and a faction formerly affiliated to Al Qaeda. Washington hopes it will lead to talks on ending a war that has splintered Syria, uprooted 11 million people and created the world's worst refugee crisis. But the ceasefire deal has faced enormous challenges from the outset, including how to disentangle nationalist rebels backed by the West from jihadists not covered by the truce. And there has been no sign of compromise on the issue at the heart of the war: the future of Assad, who enjoys firm Iranian and Russian military backing that is buttressing his strongest military position in years. The dispute over his fate has made a mockery of all previous diplomatic efforts to end the fighting. The last ceasefire, reached in February, unravelled over a period of weeks as fighting intensified, particularly in and around Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war and now potentially the biggest prize for pro-government forces. The UN aid chief said an aid convoy destined for rebel-held eastern Aleppo was still stuck in Turkey. "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo," the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien said in a statement. The United Nations says it still lacks sufficient security guarantees from both sides to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo, the rebel-held half of the city, which pro-government forces completely encircled this month. Up to 275,000 people remain trapped in eastern Aleppo without food, water, proper shelter or medical care, he added. UN officials have blamed Damascus for blocking aid deliveries to other besieged, rebel-held areas. - Reuters Saudi Arabia has arrested 17 suspected Islamic State sympathisers accused of plotting attacks on religious officials, security forces, civilian districts and economic and military targets, the interior ministry said on Monday. Fourteen of those arrested are Saudi nationals, including one woman, ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told state television news channel Ekhbariya, which broadcast photographs of the accused. The other three detainees were Yemeni, Egyptian and Palestinian, he said. "The activities of this network went beyond the kingdom's borders to provide technical and media support for Daesh," said Turki, using an Arabic acronym for the Iraq and Syria-based Islamist militant group. The cells had planned attacks on targets including the Shi'ite Imam Al-Rida mosque in the eastern Saudi city of Al-Ahsa, a public security training facility in Riyadh and an oil pipeline west of the capital city, said Turki. They also conspired to plant an explosive device on the car of an employee of the Ministry of Defence in Riyadh. The arrests followed months of investigation into the network, Turki said, adding that the militants had prepared more than 25,000 kg of adhesive bombs and explosive belts. Authorities also seized pipe bombs, firearms, silencers and cash in excess of SR600,000 ($160,000). Local Saudi affiliates of the Islamic State group have carried out several deadly shootings and bombings in the kingdom, many targeting security personnel and Shi'ite mosques. - Reuters Cisco, a global technology leader, will participate as a strategic sponsor in the 8th e-Crime Congress Abu Dhabi 2016 which will highlight latest trends, techniques and regulations in data protection, cyber security, fraud and privacy. To be held on September 21, the event will also address another critical shortcoming in the war against cybercrime the lack of skilled security professionals. As strategic sponsor of the event, and partnering with Emircom, one of the UAE's leading systems integrators, Cisco will use this platform to share insights from Ciscos 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report (MCR 2016) and help chief information security officers (CISOs) evaluate the cyber-security solutions available to them and to assess the overall security of their digital businesses. The Cisco 2016 Annual Security Report revealed that only 45 per cent of organizations worldwide are confident in their security posture as todays attackers launch more sophisticated, bold and resilient campaigns. According to Ciscos MCR 2016, so far in 2016, ransomware has become the most profitable malware type in history with experts seeing this trend continuing with even more destructive ransomware that can spread by itself and hold entire networks, and therefore companies, hostage. Hackers increasingly tap into legitimate resources to launch effective campaigns for profit-gain. Additionally, direct attacks by cybercriminals, leveraging ransomware alone, put $34 million a year per campaign into their hands. Cloud, mobility, Internet of Things (IoT) and social media technologies, combined with digital business practices, have helped countless organizations transform how they operate but they have also increased the attack surface, said Scott Manson, cyber security leader for Middle East and Turkey, Cisco. Old methods of cybersecurity that focus on perimeter defence are no longer enough to keep an organization safe. Attackers are going undetected and expanding their time to operate. To close the attackers windows of opportunity, organisations will require more visibility into their networks and must improve activities, such as patching and retiring ageing infrastructure lacking in advanced security capabilities, he added. Visibility across the network and endpoints remains a primary challenge. On average, organizations take up to 200 days to identify new threats. Ciscos median time to detection (TTD) continues to outpace the industry, hitting a new low of approximately 13 hours to detect previously unknown compromises. Faster time to detection of threats is critical to constrain attackers operational space and minimize damage from intrusions. Security is rapidly becoming an integral part of any sort of deployment, and this awareness is coming in earlier in the process, though often, not early enough. In order to enable organizations to tackle security challenges, they are facing a fundamental problem the skills gap. According to Cisco 2016 Annual Security Report 2016, there is currently a deficit of 1 million security practitioners, increasing to 1.5 million by 2019. Globally, 26 per cent of organisations are facing staffing shortages, and 35 per cent are facing expertise shortages with security jobs growing at 12 times the rate of the overall job market, and 3 times the rate of general IT. Today, more than ever before, increased collaboration, communication and coordination both within organisations and across the security industry are required to effectively combat the cyber threats. Across the board, organizations in the UAE will need to invest in the people, processes and technologies that will enable themselves to become more resilient in the face of new attacks and compete in the new digital age, concluded Scott. TradeArabia News Service More than 3,500 refining and petrochemicals industry professionals from over 30 countries will converge in Bahrain for the 10th Middle East Refining & Petrochemicals Conference and Exhibition (Middle East Petrotech 2016) next week. Held under the patronage of Bahrains Prime Minister His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Middle East Petrotech 2016 is the largest gathering of the downstream oil and gas industry in the Middle East. It will be held from September 26 to 29. The bi-annual event, established 20 years ago, incorporates a four-day high level conference organised by a committee of NOCs, IOCs and major service providers spearheaded by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and Saudi Aramco, and a parallel three-day exhibition organised by Allworld Exhibitions member Arabian Exhibition Management. The Middle East Petrotech 2016 conference takes place under the theme Teaming Up for Excellence: Industry, Government and Education. In challenging times for the energy sector in light of low oil prices, the Middle East Petrotech 2016 chairman and president and CEO of Kuwait Petroleum International Bakheet Al-Rashidi says the event is a bright spot for the region and the industry alike, and an important opportunity to convene as it looks to the future. The conference theme Teaming Up for Excellence: Industry, Government and Education is focused on the symbiosis between downstream oil professionals, government officials and those active in the education and training fields. Synergy between these sectors will lead to the advancement of the downstream industries through the maximisation and exploration of resources, implementation of best practices and benchmarking utilisation, Al-Rashidi said. Understanding the latest developments and trends in the global economy and future shifts in market dynamics is of vital importance. Top management and economists will discuss possible ways forward in an uncertain world at Middle East Petrotech 2016, he continued. Optimising the best return on assets will also be a focus of the conference, through energy conservation, new tools for the successful completion of projects, operational excellence and encouraging a culture of reliability and efficient turnaround maintenance. Health, Safety and Environment will be showcased in a bid to encourage the creation of a culture of plant safety and environmental practices to help ensure a safer and healthier future for future generations. The conference has secured an impressive line up of speakers, beginning with a pre-conference forum and the conference opening ceremony on September 26 at the Ritz Carlton, Bahrain Hotel & Spa. The pre-conference forum will discuss the vital roles of industry, education and government across three sessions. Invited speakers include: Professor Jean M.J. Frechet, Vice President of Research, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Dr Jawaher Al-Mudhahki, CEO, the Bahrain National Authority for Qualifications & Quality Assurance of Education and Training; Dr Roy Blatchford, advisor on rducation reform, Government of Bahrain; Abdulaziz Al Abdulkarim, VP procurement & supply chain management, Saudi Aramco; Rebecca Liebert, president & CEO, Honeywell UOP; Jean Sentenac, chairman and CEO, Axens; Lord David Howell of Guildford, former UK Minister of Energy and writer on energy issues; and Dr Ihsan A Bu-Hulaiga, principal consultant, Joatha Business Development Consultants. The conference opening ceremony will begin with welcome address from Bahrains Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and the Middle East Petrotech 2016 chairman Bakheet Al-Rashidi. An executive plenary session will follow under theme The Economic Downturn and Its Effect on the Oil Downstream Industry with addresses from Amin H Nasser, president and CEO, Saudi Aramco; Nizar Al-Adsani, CEO, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation; and Prince Faisal Bin Turki, advisor, Saudi Arabia Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources. Over the next three days at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre, the conference will feature 63 technical sessions with insights on case studies, best practices and industry advancements across nine distinct tracks: operational excellence, plant reliability & integrity, project challenges, energy management, HSE & risk management, smart plant & technology, market intelligence, catalyst management and people development. Daily keynote sessions led by presidents and CEOs further examining the roles of government, education and industry will also take place. New for 2016, a series of Meet the Experts sessions will provide delegates with the opportunity to meet, consult and learn from recognised authorities on 10 key topics. They include: hydrotreating process, instrumentations and analysers, fired heaters, reforming process, process safety, corrosion, hydrocrackers, rotating equipment, steam traps and FCC. The packed agenda at Middle East Petrotech 2016 also includes two short courses, two workshops and the opportunity to sit a certified maintenance reliability professional (CMRP) exam prior to the conference on September 25. The Middle East Petrotech 2016 exhibition of refining and petrochemicals products and services showcases over 100 companies and runs from september 27 to 29 September at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre. About 6,000 sq m is devoted to the latest technologies, new product launches and best industry services in the refining and petrochemicals industry. Regional giants, including Bapco, Adnoc, KNPC, Petro Rabigh, Saudi Aramco, Sadara Chemical Company, Samref (Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company), Sasref (Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery), Satorp (Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company) and Yasref (Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company) are taking flagship stands. International service industry majors will also have a strong presence at Middle East Petrotech 2016. A host of specialist companies consolidate this line up. - TradeArabia News Service Add Energy, an international energy consultancy provider, has been awarded a contract worth 120,000 ($156,000) with a leading upstream gas operator in Oman. The contract has secured jobs at the companys Aberdeen office and enabled sustainability of its Oman office and in country partnership. The scope of work will see Add Energy provide the plant with equipment specific maintenance strategies and procedures, which will enable maintenance execution and planning to be optimised. The project will be carried out with an aim of reducing equipment downtime, by mitigating failures due to maintenance which is inadequate or without full coverage. Peter Adam, Add Energy managing director, said: We are thrilled to be have been awarded this contract from a world class upstream gas operator in Oman. Having completed previous contracts in the region, the Middle East has always been a focus for Add Energy and we look forward to working closely with our client in the coming months. This contract signifies that while cost cutting continues, operators still need to invest in initiatives that are driven towards efficiency and streamlining operations. The project will be carried out by Add Energys asset and integrity management division in both Aberdeen, UK and Muscat, Oman. Work is due to start in September. TradeArabia News Service State oil giant Saudi Aramco has awarded a major contract to Saudi KAD, a leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, for its strategic pipeline projects related to the Master Gas Programme Phase II, and the Fadhili Gas Programme. When the project gets completed in 2018, the Master Gas System capacity will increase to 12.5 billion standard cu ft per day. The scope of work includes engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of a pipeline network totalling 1,118 km in length. These vital pipelines will significantly expand Saudi Aramco's capabilities for delivering sales gas to power plants and petrochemical facilities throughout the kingdom. The pipeline sizes will vary, with the biggest diameter reaching 56 inches and extending over a distance greater than 1,000 km. The scope also includes EPC work for valve stations, metering systems, launcher and receiver stations, fibre-optic cables, as well as road and rail crossings, said the statement from Aramco. Saudi KAD is already engaged in executing Saudi Aramco's Onshore Maintain Potential Programme. The four new contracts awarded by the Saudi oil giant under the Master Gas Programme Phase II and the Fadhili Gas Programme will further strengthen its existing relationship with Saudi KAD. Ahmad Al Jabr, the chairman of Saudi KAD, said: "We are deeply honoured by the trust placed in us by Saudi Aramco's award of these strategic projects. It clearly demonstrates Saudi Aramco's commitment towards supporting and growing national contractors for the greater benefit of our national economy." "Saudi KAD will reciprocate this trust through meeting every commitment on the awarded projects, and continuing to pursue our aggressive localisation agenda," he stated. Saudi KAD said all aspects of these projects will be executed in Saudi Arabia, as further evidence of its commitment towards local investment. The EPC will be performed totally in-kingdom, thereby positioning Saudi KAD as the first fully-integrated Saudi EPC contractor. Moreover, Saudi KAD will aim to achieve ambitious Saudisation targets for its construction workforce, focusing on core skills such as welding, pipe fabrication and pipe fitting, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Movenpick Hotel Bahrain has welcomed Iain Joyce as the property's new executive chef. Joyce brings 20 years of experience and is set to win over the palates of Bahraini residents. He had spent nine years with Kempinski properties in Djibouti, Jordan and China, where he served as executive chef. Joyce began his career in his hometown of Bournemouth, England before moving onto bigger roles in New Zealand, Bermuda and the Middle East. He holds a vast knowledge in the industry, specialising in hospitality with a special focus on culinary arts. Chef Iain possesses a unique and exciting mixture of culinary backgrounds, which Im positive our guests will appreciate. His set of skills and foresight will add great value to our already popular food and beverage offerings, said hotel general manager Daniel Kaan. Commenting on his new appointment, Joyce said: Bahrain is very welcoming and has an innovative dining scene. I am very pleased in joining a property that has a strong and renowned reputation. Just a two-minute walk from Bahrain International Airport, Movenpick Hotel Bahrain is a five-star property, housing five outlets with different themes, inspired by Europe and East Asia. The propertys outlets have won numerous awards throughout the years, celebrating its popularity amongst the islands residents and tourists. - TradeArabia News Service Etihad Airways was named Best International Airline Offline at the 2016 Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) National Travel Industry Awards held in Auckland on September 10. Voted for by the New Zealand travel industry, the award recognises the airlines world-class product and service. Etihad Airways general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Sarah Built, who accepted the award on the airlines behalf, said: Id like to thank our travel industry partners throughout New Zealand for their vote of confidence and ongoing support. Id also like to thank the team at The Walshe Group, our General Sales Agent in New Zealand, for their tireless efforts in representing Etihad Airways in the market. Built acknowledged Etihad Airways equity partner Virgin Australia and codeshare partner Air New Zealand for their contribution to the airlines success. As an offline carrier in New Zealand, we rely on the support of our partner airlines to provide seamless trans-Tasman connections to our Australian gateways. The partnerships we have with these airlines are critical to our success in the New Zealand market. Etihad Airways codeshares with Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand from Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington to its four Australian gateways, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The annual TAANZ National Travel Industry Awards are in their third year in 2016. The Best International Airline Offline award is Etihad Airways first win in this category. - TradeArabia News Service Mixing contemporary design with traditional Islamic architecture, Conrad Makkah (Jabal Omar) brings a level of sophistication to the experience of religious travellers who are seeking world-class hospitality in a locally-inspired surrounding. Be it the art of Mashrabiya, sahn courtyard, chandeliers with the tree leaves pattern, or the unique combination of Surahs from the Holy Quran in the paintings and in the wall and ceiling decoration, Conrad Makkah (Jabal Omar) transforms the elements of Islamic heritage into an ultra-modern composition. The architectural and design teams blended contemporary luxury with the elements of Islamic-infused interiors and art, culminating in a visual and experiential design masterpiece that embodies the idea of modernity meets traditional Islamic architecture, said Magdi Helal, project director, Architecture, Design and Construction Middle East and Africa at Hilton, a leading global hospitality company that owns Conrad brand. From the moment of their arrival, our guests are indulged in a fascinating heritage of Islamic art, vocabulary and colours, translated into a visual storytelling that consistently flows from the main hotel lobby and its restaurants and lounges to private rooms and meeting areas, added Helal. Falak - derived from Surahs from the Holy Quran and meaning Astronomy in English - has been predominantly used in the paintings and drawings on the walls of Conrad Makkah, with beige and very light blue colour giving the sense of peace and equanimity. Overlooking the Sacred Mosque, Al Masjid al Haram, and the Holy Kaabah, Conrad Makkah (Jabal Omar) features 438 elegant rooms, including 62 suites situated in two towers, ranging from 56 square meters to 247 square meters for the Royal Suite. The spacious rooms are considered to be some of the largest in the Holy City, said Helal, adding that their interiors create a distinct visual orientation point that provides a sense of location within its local surrounding. Apart from its Islamic-infused artwork, a lot of attention has been paid to the unique nuances of designing this hotel such as the careful orientation and location of footboards, bathrooms and other personal hygiene facilities, which the interior architectural design company has creatively translated into an iconic and progressive luxury design that derives its details from the local surrounding and beyond, said Helal. Conrad Makkah delights guests with a wide array of onsite dining options, from the elegant steak restaurant, Prime, which features an engaging open kitchen and magnificent views of Al Haram, and the all-day dining restaurant Al Mearaj, which features local favourites and international classics, to the Al Hilal Cafe at the Al Haram level, inviting guests to enjoy light snacks and refreshments between prayers. The hotels 12 elevators with direct service to the religious site enable pilgrims to seamlessly reach the Sacred Mosque during peak prayer times. The hotel also offers an on-site Masjid with audio connection to Al-Haram for up to 1,000 guests. Guests booking a stay at the hotel can also utilise the popular Conrad Concierge mobile app which gives global luxury travellers the ability to customize details of their hotel stay before, during, and after each visit via a smartphone or tablet. Whether it's pre-selecting bath amenities or checking-in while in-transit from the airport, guests can access a variety of features by using the app. - TradeArabia News Service Jannah Hotels and Resorts, UAEs premium luxury hospitality brand, has introduced the Stay three, Pay two special promotion for the month of September. The offer aims to provide more value for guests wanting to relax with a memorable staycation as the summer comes to a close. Guests can look forward to personalised Karim services to assist with any requests, early check-in and free access to the new luxury island destination, Happiness Island. The special promotion is valid for stays in Jannah Burj Al Sarab (Abu Dhabi), Jannah Eastern Mangroves Suites (Abu Dhabi), Jannah Marina Bay Suites (Dubai) and Jannah Place Dubai Marina. The Stay three, Pay two offer is available until September 30. - TradeArabia News Service Have an event, trend or general energy happening youd like to see in the Energy Journal newsletter? Send it to Star-Tribune energy reporter Heather Richards at heather.richards@trib.com. Sign up for the newsletter at www.trib.com/energyjournal. Bankruptcy news Big news this week in the coal bankruptcy saga: Another company has come to an agreement with regulators on an exit strategy. Arch Coals Chapter 11 restructuring agreement was approved by a bankruptcy judge Tuesday. The company will likely exit bankruptcy in a matter of weeks, and has agreed to replace all of its self-bonds with surety bonds. It's a win for environmentalists, who have been fighting throughout the bankruptcy process to end self-bonding in Wyoming. The debate, however, will continue long after the bankruptcies are old news. Wyoming regulators want to keep the bonding tool in their portfolio, and it appears that federal regulators disagree. Peabody Energy is now the last of the bankrupt coal companies operating in Wyoming. The company is larger than Arch, and includes international assets, that may slow down the agreement process. Peabody has yet to capitulate on its self-bonds in Wyoming. Wyoming worker dies Wyoming industry lost one of its employees this week, a 36-year-old plant worker from Opal. Michael Smuin died at the Williams Opal natural gas processing plant Wednesday. The cause of death is still unknown. The news follows the death of an oil rig worker in Midwest over the summer. That deaths investigation should soon be public, according to the Wyoming Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Wyoming statistics Every month the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission releases its supervisor report, a combination of statistics from the previous month. In August, the commission approved 659 APDs, 36 more than July. The commission received 866 applications. That number is significantly up from the previous month, when they received 588. The commission also notes the rig count is up to 13, according to Baker Hughes. But, the commissions own count puts that number at 18, a far cry from the single digits of the early part of this year. A total of 361 wells have been taken off the commissions orphan well list, with 174 orphan wells plugged in August alone. Ten orphan wells were converted to water well for the use of the landowner, and two were mined through. Meanwhile, in China... U.S. Republican Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso were joined by Rep. Cynthia Lummis in asking that a relatively unknown Wyoming resource be brought up at the U.S. China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade later this year. At issue is soda ash, a powder similar to baking soda. Soda ash is used to make detergent and glass among other things, and Wyoming is the nation's lead producer, according to a release from Enzis office. The trouble with China is that the country used to be a huge importer of soda ash, but has turned into a major producer as well, creating a glut. The country's economic growth has stalled and it is now seeking more export markets. In short, China is threatening Wyoming's soda ash market, the Wyoming congressmen say. U.S. soda ash is the most competitive and environmentally friendly in the world due to a unique natural deposit of the soda ash raw material trona located in Green River, Wyoming, from which the U.S. could supply world demand for 1,000 years, the press release stated. Roughly 55 percent of U.S. soda ash is exported, making soda ash Americas largest inorganic chemical export. After falling into bankruptcy, three of the largest coal companies operating in Wyoming are coming back one by one, a hopeful note in the troubled history of coal over the last few years. The bankruptcies were signs of how far the market had fallen, but they were also the direct result of badly placed bets on Chinese demand that never materialized. Companies coped with the financial burden by overproducing, adding to a stockpile of coal that wasnt significantly dented by the warmer than average winter. Natural gas prices were so low that coal, generally a cheap and reliable resource for electricity, couldnt compete. The result in Wyoming was lost revenue and lost jobs. But things are changing. In the last month, two of those companies, Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coal, have come to the end of their Chapter 11 reorganization. Alpha emerged as two companies, with Alpha retaining Appalachian mines and newly formed Contura Energy buying the Wyoming assets, including the Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte mines near Gillette. Arch had its bankruptcy exit strategy approved last week. The owner of the Black Thunder mine near Wright will soon emerge. The third company, Peabody Energy, continues to work through its reorganization plant. The owner of the North Antelope Rochelle mine was the latest of three to declare for Chapter 11 protection, filing in April. With the period of big bankruptcies apparently headed to a close, the question is how well with these companies fare in the new coal market, particularly can they survive the end of the downturn? In many ways the signs are good from Wyomings perspective. The companies are better positioned, and the price of coal is finding a new normal. Still, the 2016 production of coal is set to be between 75 million and 100 million tons less than the previous year. The price of natural gas is on the rise, though not as significantly as some would hope. The federal regulations on emissions under the Clean Power Plan are on hold but far from over. The market storm and the stockpile The basic story of Wyoming coal is a familiar one a commodity cycle. A sometimes brief but tumultuous downturn clears out weaker players. The commodity price rallies, and the market emerges healthier than before. Reorganization, bankruptcy and also just market turmoil, its kind of like youre going through a storm. Its a tough transition to a new equilibrium, explained Rob Godby, director of the Energy Economics and Policies Center at the University of Wyoming. But, most observers believe that the new market equilibrium the reality of lower prices is something that most (coal) companies are going to be able to deal with. The coal sector will contract, with fewer producers, he said. Its not like coal is going away, he said. Its a little too soon to call it healthy, but certainly a lot better than it was six months ago before most of these companies declared bankruptcy. The companies are likely much more flexible now as well. Alpha, Arch and Peabody accrued significant debt that inhibited them from good investments. Throughout their bankruptcy, the companies continued to lose money at alarming rates a combined $763 million between Alphas declaration of bankruptcy in August 2015 and roughly the end of the second quarter of 2016. Taking Arch as an example. That cash bleed will likely continue through the end of year based on the companys own projections. However, next year things will turn, according to Archs court documents. There is reason to believe the companys argument, said Monica Bonar, an analyst at Fitch Ratings. The market is slightly better, and Arch will be free to make better investments while retaining cautious spending habits, she said. Ultimately, Arch and the other companies could survive the hard times, she said. Production may be still be low, but that does not mean the companies cant level out, said Godby, the UW professor. A bankruptcy is just what we call a capital structure adjustment. Thats the sanitary way of saying somebody lost money, he said. But a capital structure adjustment means they are coming out of bankruptcy without this huge debt load over them, so this should make a more flexible company, make them more competitive. The end of the year and beginning of next year are going to be telling. If natural gas prices stabilize, the coal stockpile will begin to go down in the winter months, Godby said. Then we have a more competitive, smaller coal sector that will produce coal, and were not as likely to have the oversupply that we did, he said. Theres got to be a hard winter come one day. Theres got to be a hot summer come one day. The trouble with coal contracts Historically, Wyomings coal sector has been more reliable than the oil market the states other large industry. That is due in part to how the energy resource is bought and sold. Coal markets have not, historically, been as volatile as the gas and oil markets because most coal from Wyoming is sold under longer-term contracts (three years and up), said Lawrence Wolfe, a lawyer who has worked in the Wyoming coal industry for three decades. Prices tend to be more stabilized year to year. Oil and gas mostly sells on the spot market so price changes ripple through the industry with great alacrity. Contracts will be telling for the success of the post-Chapter 11 companies, Godby said. Peabody and Arch were running with $14 a ton contracts signed four years ago and they were a take or pay kind of contract. You either took the coal or you paid, he said. That was the case for Cloud Peak Energy. In the second quarter of 2016, 97 percent of the companys adjusted earnings were due to contract buyouts from utilities. The Gillette-based company managed to avoid bankruptcy and layoffs in the downturn. Almost half of Archs production for the next year is already contracted, a good sign that the companys financials will be stable, said Bonar, the Fitch analyst. There is a downside to the contract system. In the current market, coal companies dont have the upper hand in regard to contract price, Godby said. Contracts the coal companies are going to have to live with are going to be much lower priced than they were, because you have fewer and fewer (utilities) companies actually signing long-term contracts, Godby said. The contracts will be a balancing act, said Bonar, the Fitch analyst. From the point of view of the utility companies buying coal, it is common sense to make a deal, Bonar said. When you have many fewer well-capitalized suppliers of something that you are going to need going forward, its in your best interest to make sure that they survive, she said. There really are fewer suppliers of coal, and they are not going to give it to you for nothing, so there is going to have to be a balance. Facing the future Arch, Alpha and Peabody are facing immediate and long-term pressures. The stockpile remains high and the price of coal relatively low. Production is down and the workforce downsized. Nobody is out of the woods yet, with federal emissions regulations still under litigation that could have long-term consequences for the coal industry, analyst agree. In the thermal coal market, the two big questions are: Will natural gas prices continue to stay as low as they are at a level that really eats into coals competitiveness in terms of the electricity generation market? Godby said. The second thing is just the uncertainty in respect to greenhouse gas regulations. While we have the stay on the Clean Power Plan, we just dont know how that will occur and if it will occur. Of course that is going to be a big determinate in terms of what the use is for coal in the long term. Brian Scott Gamroth, the voice Wyomingites awakened to in the morning for 23 years on K2 Radio, died in a motorcycle crash in Montana on Sunday morning. Scott was returning with a group of motorcyclists from a Shriners event in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, when the accident occurred outside of Lewistown, Montana. Another motorcyclist, Bill Spicer of Casper, was seriously injured in the crash and was in a Billings, Montana, hospital. Brian was one of those people who loved what he did, loved this city and loved Wyoming. But first and foremost for him was his family, said Bob Price, general manager for Townsquare Media in Casper. At 6 a.m., on Monday, K2 Radio began with a prolonged silence, followed by the haunting melody of Garth Brooks The Dance, the words of which perfectly described the mood of losing a loved one living the life he loved without having the chance to say goodbye. Price then said, I have been in this chair many days, and of all of the days, this would be the day I would not want to be in this chair. According to the Montana Highway Patrol, two motorcycles crashed in Judith Basin County near mile marker 64 of US Highway 87 near Eddies Corner. According to MHP trooper Travis Dillon, two motorcycle riders were eastbound and were trying to pass a large line of vehicles in the same lane. As they were attempting to pass, they encountered west-bound traffic and had to merge abruptly back into the right lane. One of the motorcycles hit the other one, causing both to crash. Both motorcyclists were wearing helmets. In addition to his morning broadcasts beginning at 6 a.m., Monday through Friday, Brian Scott was well-known as an emcee for nonprofits ranging from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming and the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. It was common for him to assist with several nonprofit events in one weekend. He was much more than a helping hand, Price said. He raised millions and millions of dollars for Casper and throughout the state. No one told him to do those things, he just did it. Most recently, he emceed the Cowboy Kickoff Concert on Sept. 2, at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, which drew 4,500 country music fans the night before the Wyoming Cowboys opened their season at War Memorial Stadium. He loved the arts, as well as the Denver Broncos and Wyoming Cowboys. Gov. Mead honored him with a Governors Arts Award in February for his longtime commitment to the arts. He was also active in the Wyoming Republican Party and was the first chairman of the Wyoming Lottery Commission. He is survived by his wife, Tracy; sons, Josh, Kyle and Cory; daughters-in-law Heidi and Whitney; four grandchildren; a sister, Michelle Gamroth Bartosh of Casper; and a brother, Kevin Gamroth of Casper. Service arrangements had not been announced at Journal press time. Brian Scott Gamroth, a K2 radio announcer and one of Wyomings biggest media figures, died Sunday in a motorcycle crash near Lewistown, Montana, the Casper radio station announced late that day. Gamroth worked at K2 Radio for more than two decades, hosting its popular morning radio program. He developed a devoted audience that spanned the state, from the Oil City to far-flung rural communities. Some of Wyomings top officials, such as Gov. Matt Mead and Sen. John Barrasso, were regulars on his morning program. But Gamroth was equally adept at connecting with everyday people and small business owners. Brian was one of those people who loved what he did, loved this city, and loved Wyoming, Bob Price, general manager for Townsquare Media in Wyoming, wrote in the announcement, which was posted to the K2 Radio website. But first and foremost for him was his family. Scott, who was known for his community involvement and support of the arts, was returning from a Shriners event in Canada at the time of the crash. He at times served on numerous boards, including for the Nicolaysen Art Museum, the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and the Casper Childrens Theatre. He used his fame in Wyoming to raise millions of dollars for nonprofits while serving as an event emcee. For example, he helped raise money for updates to the Gertrude Krampert Center at Casper College, as well as thousands of dollars in arts and humanities scholarships for the school. Gamroth was married and had three children, according to a biography on the K2 website. At 6 a.m. Monday, the time when Brian Scott Gamroth would normally begin his morning radio show, there was only silence. Then, after a few moments, Garth Brooks The Dance played on K2 Radio and all of its sister stations in Casper. For a moment, all the world was right, Brooks crooned. How could I have known that youd ever say goodbye? Scott died Sunday in a motorcycle crash near Lewistown, Montana. He was arguably Wyomings most well-known media figure, with a devoted following that tuned in each morning to hear him interview anyone from Gov. Matt Mead to ranchers in rural towns like Kaycee and Muddy Gap. On Monday morning, it fell to the stations general manager, Bob Price, to host Scotts program. I have been in this chair many times, and of all the days, this would be the day I would not want to be in this chair, Price said. Price told listeners the radio station would keep the phone lines open all morning. While he was sure they would hear from dignitaries, more importantly to Brian was you, the listener. Our charge today is to share our memories of Brian. Scott billed himself as a morning radio announcer, but to people in central Wyoming, he was more than that. Family man. Community booster. Downtown supporter. Fundraiser emcee. Arts patron. Hunter. Biker. Scott used his local celebrity to raise money for organizations around Wyoming, from Casper College to the Wyoming Symphony. He was much more than a helping hand he helped raise millions and millions of dollars in the community, and no one told him to do that, Price said. The broadcast brimmed with both sorrow and laughter. Callers sobbed on the air, but they also shared lighthearted moments. At one point, Chad Lore, a local musician and regular on the show, arrived at the station to perform a song hed written that morning. Lore is known for his boisterous performances, clicking his feet while energetically strumming his acoustic guitar. But on this day, his song was slow and somber. When he was done, Lore stood and hugged Prices wife, Jana, and quietly sobbed. Scott is survived by his wife, three sons and four grandchildren. Star-Tribune reporter Sally Ann Shurmur contributed to this report. Syrias fragile cease-fire started to unravel Sunday with the first aerial attacks on rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo and a southern village that killed at least eight people. The violations came as tensions between the American and Russian brokers of the deal worsened following a deadly U.S. strike on Syrian government forces. The air raid by the U.S.-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers and led to a harsh verbal attack on Washington by Damascus and Moscow. The U.S. military says it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State in eastern Syria on Saturday. The seven-day cease-fire was supposed to end at midnight Sunday, according to a Syrian army statement last week. The U.S. and Russia have said that if it holds for seven days, it should be followed by the establishment of a Joint Implementation Center to coordinate the identification of targets against the Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked militants. Despite largely holding, the cease-fire has been repeatedly violated by both sides, and aid convoys have not reached besieged rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syrias largest city and one-time commercial center that has been the center of violence in recent months. The aid convoys are part of the cease-fire deal. Earlier this month, Syrian government forces and their allies captured areas they lost south of the city, re-imposing a siege on its opposition-held eastern neighborhoods. More than 2,000 people were killed in 40 days of fighting in the city, including 700 civilians among them 160 children, according to a Syrian activist group. Syrian state TV reported Sunday that dozens of residents had left rebel-held areas in Aleppo and were taken to shelters in the government-controlled part of the city. Also Sunday, Aleppos governor, Hussein Diab, called on insurgents in the eastern neighborhoods to turn themselves in, hand over their weapons and take advantage of an amnesty decree issued recently by President Bashar Assad. We are at a new stage that requires making the decision to embrace reconciliation, Diab said in a statement carried by the state news agency, SANA. He urged insurgents to halt what he called the bloodshed and destruction and affirmed that all who turned themselves in and surrendered their weapons would be treated well and allowed to return to normal life. Moscow laid the blame for Sundays violence squarely on the opposition. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in an emailed statement that both terrorists and the opposition are using the truce to boost their forces and prepare for renewed hostilities. Konashenkov said Moscow still had not been able to contact the U.S.-backed opposition to coordinate cease-fire efforts, despite Washingtons assurances. Chris Bianco didnt want to close his namesake pizzeria in downtown Tucson, but on Saturday night thats exactly what he did. Just over two years after opening a restaurant many viewed could be a game changer for downtown, Bianco pulled out. Bianco said he is looking for a new Tucson location either in an old building that he can rehab as he did the 2,000-square-foot space at 272 E. Congress St., or build new on a vacant lot. He said he has not determined where he will go, but he wants a space where he can create a complete Pizzeria Bianco experience that would include more accessible parking and patio dining two things that Bianco said he could not accomplish at the downtown location. Bianco on Sunday said closing was one of the hardest decisions he has had to make in his 30-plus-year restaurant career that started with his flagship downtown Phoenix restaurant that he opened in 1994. This is the first time hes ever had to close a restaurant. For us, I think that the challenges that were presented were a little bit much to overcome, Bianco said, citing construction of the downtown AC Hotel by Marriott on East Broadway and South Fifth Avenue, behind the pizzeria. Biancos landlord Scott Stiteler is developing the hotel project. I understand the progress of construction. I think the hotel is going to be great when its built, but for us I didnt feel that we were capable to deliver the experience that I wanted to, Bianco said. Bianco said he and Stiteler mutually agreed to allow Bianco to exercise an early exit from his lease agreement for the 2,000-square-foot space thats next to Stitelers restaurant The Hub Restaurant and Ice Creamery and adjacent Playground Bar and Lounge. Bianco would not specify the terms of the original lease and Stiteler could not be reached to comment on Sunday. He said none of his 10 employees are affected by the closing. Most will continue working with Bianco in Tucson catering jobs using a portable wood-fired oven. Bianco announced in April 2013 that he planned to bring Pizzeria Bianco to Tucson at a time when East Congress Street was undergoing the beginnings of a major resurgence. New restaurants, including Flagstaff-based Proper and Diablo Burger, and several businesses including The Cadence student housing complex were driven by the prospect of the Sun Link streetcar, which was in the final stages of construction when Bianco started renovating the historic space in summer 2013. At the time he had anticipated opening that November or December. The restaurant, specializing in wood-fired artisan pizza, opened seven months later, in late July 2014. I am so grateful for all the support, said Bianco, 54, the James Beard Award-winning chef who operates several restaurants in the Phoenix area. I hate letting even one person down. I understand if people are disappointed; I know I am. We did all that we could do in that location. SAN FRANCISCO Yelp.com is warning that a California lawsuit targeting critical posts about a law firm could lead to the removal of negative reviews and leave consumers with a skewed assessment of restaurants and other businesses. Lawyer Dawn Hassell said the business review website is exaggerating the stakes of her legal effort, which aims only to remove from Yelp lies, not just negative statements, that damaged the reputation of her law firm. The case is getting attention from some of the biggest Internet companies in the world, which say a ruling against Yelp could stifle free speech online and effectively gut other websites whose main function is offering consumers reviews of services and businesses. A San Francisco judge determined the posts were defamatory and ordered the company to remove them two years ago, which a second judge and a state appeals court upheld. Yelp is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn the order. The high court faces an Oct. 14 deadline to decide whether to hear the case or let the lower-court ruling stand. Experts expect Yelp to prevail. There were a lot of people who were unhappy about this opinion, said Eric Goldman, co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. Internet giants Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft said in a letter to the California Supreme Court last month that the ruling radically departs from a large, unanimous and settled body of federal and state court precedent and could be used to silence a vast quantity of protected and important speech. Yelp said it would give businesses unhappy about negative reviews a new legal pathway for getting them removed. They could sue the person who posted the content and then get a court order demanding the Internet company remove it. But Hassell disputes the ruling would do anything that drastic. Her 2013 lawsuit accused a client she briefly represented in a personal injury case of defaming her on Yelp . San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donald Sullivan ordered the client and Yelp to remove the statements. Hassell said the client failed to answer her lawsuit or remove the posts, so she had to seek a court order demanding that Yelp do it. Yelp says the judges order violates a 1996 federal law that courts have widely interpreted as protecting Internet companies from liability for posts by third-party users. A free forum later this month will focus on life along the U.S. Mexico border. The September 29 event, sponsored by Arizona Public Media and the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, is designed to be a live, interactive event and will feature four journalists who work along the border. Organizers aim to take the discussion beyond the often-debated topics of drug violence and illegal immigration. For example, panelists will discuss such issues as U.S.-Mexico trade relations and initiatives, as well as the ways political and cultural perceptions vary north and south of the border. The journalists also will discuss Donald Trumps and Hillarys Clintons positions on border and immigration issues and how those positions could impact business, trade and life along the border. Panelists include: Javier Garza: The longtime Mexican journalist has worked extensively to protect reporters working in Mexico, who are often targeted by drug cartels. Garza is a Knight International Journalism Fellow in Mexico. Nancy Montoya: Arizona Public Medias border reporter has 35 years experience in broadcast news in the United States and Latin America. With the Gadsden Purchase in 1854, her familys ranch went from being in Mexico to being in the United States almost overnight. Curt Prendergast: The Arizona Daily Stars border reporter has lived in South America and covered the border for the residents of Santa Cruz County from 2012 to 2015 as a reporter for the Nogales International. Fernanda Santos: The Phoenix bureau chief for The New York Times hails from Brazil and contributed to Latinos in the United States: A Resource Guide for Journalists. She is the author of The Fire Line, a book about the Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire. Moderating the panel will be Maria Hinojosa, anchor and executive producer of the long-running weekly NPR show, Latino USA. The event is free, but tickets must be reserved in advance. (See accompanying box) The contest for the two seats to represent Legislative District 2 in the state House has come down to a three-way race between incumbent representatives Chris Ackerley and Rosanna Gabaldon against challenger Daniel Hernandez Jr. Ackerley, a Republican, is seeking a second term in the predominately Democratic district, and Gabaldon, a Democrat, is seeking to secure a third term. Hernandez, a Democrat, serves on the Sunnyside Unified School Districts Governing Board. Ackerley and Gabaldon are both running as clean election candidates, which means they will not accept campaign contributions from special interest groups. As of Sept. 7, Ackerley had raised $17,992 and Gabaldon had raised $18,049. Hernandez had raised $76,178, including large donations from Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill and venture capitalist Arthur Rock. The three candidates agree the biggest issues facing the district are the lack of public education funding and resources, in addition to a crumbling infrastructure and stifled economic development throughout the area. EDUCATION FUNDING Proposition 123 was a hotly debated education funding ballot proposal that Arizonans passed by a narrow margin of 2 percent during a special election in May. The proposition will increase education funding by $3.5 billion over the course of the next 10 years by allocating more money from the states general fund and increasing the annual contribution from the state land trust permanent funds from 2.5 percent to 6.9 percent. Ackerley and Gabaldon both voted for Prop. 123 in the Legislature, and Hernandez supported the initiative at the ballot box. I had some issues with it, primarily the rate at which we were going to withdraw from the states trust fund was too high. I thought it should be more in line with about 5 percent, said Ackerley, who is a math teacher at Amphitheater High School. As a school board member, Hernandez said he felt he had no choice but to support the measure so the Sunnyside district could recoup some of its financial losses. We had $17.5 million in cuts over the last few years, Hernandez said. It was a bad deal but when we had to look at the options, we as a district had nothing we could do but support it. We had staff that hadnt had raises in over seven years, we had programs that were on the verge of being cut. So I supported it, but I said, This is not a good deal, this is not something that is the be-all, end-all, its just a first step. Gabaldon similarly voted for the funding, as she too thought it would be something of the beginning of a recovery for education in the state, but she says she has been disappointed by the lack of follow up in the legislature. INFRASTRUCTURE needs Candidates on both side of the aisle believe their district is in need of infrastructure improvements. We have to look at our aging infrastructure our packed roads, our utilities, our bridges, Gabaldon said. Ackerley said the roadways in the district, which are often congested, are in need of repair and expansion in order to better facilitate trade in the state and across the border. Time is money when youre talking about the movement of goods and services, Ackerley said. Were in a very competitive environment, and when someone who is either exporting or importing is looking at the port in Nogales or the port in Douglas, as compared to ports in Texas, theyre going to take that into consideration. Hernandez said the lack of resources and funding dedicated to infrastructure in the district has had an impact on the regions economic growth. Nogales is often rated as the poorest city in the state of Arizona, and I really think there is no reason for that given how much trade is going through the city of Nogales, how much international money is being brought into the United States, he said. BORDER ENFORCEMENT When Gov. Doug Ducey introduced the polarizing Arizona Border Strike Force last year, both incumbents had mixed feelings about it. I had some serious questions to ask when the proposal was first put forward, Ackerley said. But, its basically about trafficking, whether its human trafficking or drug trafficking, along the border. So yes, I support the state in having a role in combating trafficking along the border. After speaking with law enforcement officials in the district, Gabaldon came to a different conclusion. They dont support it, Gabaldon said. And so, I really have to look at law enforcement, I have to look at public safety, and when you have people who are boots on the ground that are there, I dont support it. Hernandez said any productive discussions on border-related issues in the legislature have been side-tracked by partisanship. When were looking at border enforcement, and people like Donald Trump talking about building a wall, thats not the big problem, Hernandez said. The problem that we have is that there is 11 million people here that are in the country that do not have the ability to come out of the shadows. We have 11 million folks who are paying taxes, but are not receiving any of the benefits. Kids are graduating from our high schools, and are unable to go to college. Voters will choose one of two women running for State Senate in Legislative District 2. On the campaign trail, Green Valley Republican Shelley Kais carries a map of District 2 thats labeled with little icons representing big industries: tourism and retirement lifestyles, trucking and logistics, mining and agriculture, aviation and defense. These are the engines that drive our economy and we need to get them jump-started, said Kais, whose major focus is jobs. She would support lean regulatory agencies, business incentives and a healthy relationship with the Air Force. Incumbent Andrea Dalessandro, a Sahuarita Democrat, said she looks for common ground with other senators to get things done. Shes proud to be part of a bipartisan coalition to stop flex loans and predatory lending, and she was nominated for an award for collaborating with U.S. Rep. Martha McSally and Tucson City Council Member Richard Fimbres to stop the closure of a Tucson postal center. Dalessandro won in 2012 on her third try for a State House seat, and then she was appointed to the Senate seat in 2014. She kept the job, winning 55 percent of the votes in 2014, and now she is running for a second full term as senator. Kais ran for U.S. Congress in 2014 and received about 8 percent of the votes when she ran against McSally in the primary. She had previously backed McSally in the 2012 special election. Both are former educators. Both have experience in business and accounting. Both candidates are participating in the clean elections system, which means they do not accept donations from special interest groups. Heavily Democratic and mostly rural, District 2 includes parts of Pima County and Santa Cruz County. To win, Kais will need independents and conservative Democrats to vote for her. I think independents are just looking for leadership and hope, she said. EDUCATION FUNDING Dalessandro called Proposition 123 disgraceful, but she held my nose and voted for it. The school funding initiative, narrowly approved by voters in a special election earlier this year, ended a years-long legal dispute between school districts and the state after state budgets left out voter-mandated increases in education spending. The next step needs to be a plan for gradually restoring funding cuts to schools, Dalessandro said. Dalessandro said a top problem in the state is the systemic defunding of public education on all levels. She favors more regulations for charter schools, opposes expansion of vouchers that send taxpayer dollars to parochial schools, and advocates for more spending on community colleges. Kais said voters should think of Prop. 123 as the beginning, not the end. It was a way to move forward and more ways need to be identified. She said she is confident education funding will be addressed in the next legislative session. Kais supports funding technical and career education programs at the ninth-grade level, which the state cut in 2010. Dalessandro has introduced bills to try to improve JTED funding. BORDER ISSUES Both candidates want to change the negative narrative about the U.S.-Mexico border. People think my district is a war zone, Dalessandro said. But its safe, and talk of building a wall only hurts businesses and real estate values, she said. Im ticked off at politicians who come to the border for photo opportunities but they dont try to understand the people, Dalessandro said. Kais said the border is a federal issue, but local police and sheriff are the first line of defense for national security. The states role is to support and enforce the federal rule of law and protect citizens, she said. Kais said she feels very safe in Nogales and thinks more Arizonans should talk about the good things, like improving business conditions and safety. When she looks at the port she sees untapped opportunity for business. She herself has changed her tone on the issues. In her 2014 run for Congress, Kais said a wave of migrants arriving at the border was planned and is clearly an effort on the part of the president to dictate immigration policy by exploiting the humanitarian nature of Americans. Imagine you served for 10 years as a city councilman, and then did one term as mayor, during which time you supported major changes in local transportation infrastructure and priorities. Now imagine yourself more than two decades later being approached by city officials looking to rename something in your honor. What would you pick? A park? A road? A building visible for miles in all direction? University of Arizona professor Thomas Volgy, who was the Tucson Ward 6 councilman from 1977 to 1987 and mayor from 1987 to 1991, chose an underpass. The Warren Avenue Underpass, which runs under Speedway from the northeast corner of the University of Arizona campus, was dedicated at a ceremony two weekends ago. At first glance, you might think this is hardly recognition enough for a man who has generously given his time, passion and ideas to this community, Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said at that ceremony. For Gods sake, he was mayor of Tucson. Many more-prominent local landmarks bear the names of former mayors. Theres the Murphy Overpass on South Kino Parkway, named after Lewis Lew Murphy, who was mayor from 1971 to 1987 and whose name also graces the Murphy-Wilmot Library (Your humble columnist honestly cant think of a better name for an overpass). Ochoa Elementary and Ochoa Street are namesakes of Estevan Ochoa, who served briefly from 1875 to 1876. Pinckney Tully (1882-1883), got Tully Elementary and even Tully Peak in the Rincon Mountains, according to Arizona Place Names. But for Volgy, the underpass built in 1991 holds important lessons of humility and respect for voters for local politicians and for planners. You see, during his tenure in local politics, Volgy and some of his colleagues supported a big-ticket rethinking of Speedway north of campus: They imagined the major arterial diving underground and a pedestrian-only boulevard packed with green spaces, university buildings and shops springing up in its place. Several people who were involved in the roughly $25 million project said the city had the cash on hand but that the mayor and council decided to put it to the voters, who, Volgy recalled, said no very clearly. The underpass that now bears his name, along with two others that give pedestrians and cyclists a car-free entrance to campus, was a pared-down compromise of sorts. Bruce Wright, who was then the UAs director of community and public service, said the total bill was around $3 million. Looking back at the failed Speedway push, Volgy suspects that if it had been successful, the current boom in downtown Tucson development may have never happened. Instead, businesses might have been drawn to the new Speedway strip, and the downtown area might have continued to wither and die. In the long run, I think the public was smarter than we were, Volgy told the Road Runner. Its a really important reminder to politicians, that sometimes when your great ideas get turned down, there might be a good reason for it, and really in the long run you should trust the voters. Wright and Pima County Department of Transportation Director Priscilla Cornelio, who was then Tucsons deputy transportation director, were more skeptical that downtown development would have been inhibited by the larger Speedway plan and still think that it would have been better for the university area. However, because the plan was contentious, Wright said the Tucson council was right ...The public needed to weigh in. The mayor and council have to live within the political context they operate in, he added. I understand why they needed to take it to a vote. While they didnt get the project they had hoped for, Wright and Cornelio agreed that the underpasses marked the beginning of a more collegial and collaborative relationship between the university and city government. As to his underpass, Volgy said he is unaware of any others locally named after politicians, but is really proud that this one is. I learned something really important about the public, he added of the experience. DOWN THE ROAD Starting Saturday and ending Oct. 2, Colossal Cave Road will be closed at the railroad crossing near its intersection with the Old Vail Road to allow for improvements. To get to the road north of the crossing, motorists will need to take Houghton Road to Mary Ann Cleveland Way. The work is intended to improve visibility at the railroad and Success Drive. This is the first of three closures anticipated for the crossing, and future dates will be announced when they are confirmed, according to a release from the Pima County Department of Transportation. In the city, new water lines are to be installed at the Stone Avenue-Drachman Street intersection. Starting early Tuesday morning, only one lane of travel will be available to drivers until early Friday morning. Depending on the time of day, southbound or northbound travel will be detoured. Drachman will be closed at the intersection throughout the work. Crews are also set to start work today on Tucson Boulevard between Fort Lowell Road and Grant Road and on Rosemont Boulevard between Speedway and Winsett Street. Work on both segments will take place between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. City officials say delays are to be expected. The Tucson project is expected to be completed by Nov. 11, and the Rosemont project is expected to be finished by Dec. 16. A significant city crack-seal, fog-seal and asphalt-patching effort is to begin Monday. Between Monday and Thursday, crews will work on Stone Avenue between River and Wetmore roads between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Between Wednesday and Oct. 4, crews will work on Oracle Road between Miracle Mile and Drachman Street with the same shift. The work, part of the $100 million, five-year Road Recovery bond program approved by voters, is to fill in roadway imperfections and extend the life of roads and will eventually be done on 16 additional segments. At least one lane of travel will be open during the work. Also, Oro Valley is set to have a community conversation about distracted driving on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6 p.m. at the El Conquistador Resort. The forum is intended to provide an for attendees to discuss their concerns and ideas to help raise awareness and improve the overall safety of drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists in our community, a release says. Specially marked meters slated for downtown Tucson and near the University of Arizona could soon buy more than just a few minutes to park your car. Under a proposal before the Tucson City Council Tuesday night, the 20 meters dubbed donation stations would take spare change, debit and credit cards specifically to help Tucsons homeless community. The citys smart-parking-meter vendor, IPS Group, has offered to donate the credit-card-enabled, solar-powered meters. Additionally, city staff reports note the company would waive extended warranty charges, credit card processing charges and other fees for the donated meters. Park Tucson, the city of Tucsons parking management department, would install the donation meters, which would be painted a bright color to distinguish them from actual parking meters, most likely either bright orange or yellow. The location of the specialized meters, if approved by the council, has not been finalized. The man behind the proposal is local businessman John Jacobs, who worked with the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association, the University of Arizona, the Downtown Tucson Partnership and two business associations in the university and Main Gate areas to find a way to help the homeless community. Jacobs, the founder of the merchant-driven Tucson Change Movement, said the proposal is still a work in progress. One of the biggest issues still in play is which organization will administer the collected funds. Jacobs suggests the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona should administer the program, noting it would charge half a cent for every dollar collected. However, processing debit and credit cards would add 1.9 percent charge to every electronic transaction. The idea is to be flexible and as agile as possible, he said. Our objective is 97 cents per dollar going to the street. A staff report suggests the citys Department of Housing and Community Development would recommend to the mayor and council how the donated funds should be given to local agencies providing services to the homeless community. However, Councilman Richard Fimbres said he is concerned about the proposal, stating he will recommend on Tuesday that the city has as little involvement as possible allowing the business communitys proposal to be managed by a willing nonprofit partner. Councilman Steve Kozachik voiced similar concerns last week. The businesses came up with the idea, and the businesses should be allowed to carry it through with minimal city involvement. Lets not create an administrative framework that ends up costing more than the program will generate, he said. City officials concede the program does include some costs roughly $5,000 to install the meters and an estimate of less than $3,000 a year to collect cash donations. Several other cities have similar donation station programs already in place, including Phoenix, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Antonio and San Luis Obispo. OPINION: "Well, I finished by telling this person I knew his grandparents were huge Franklin Delano Roosevelt supporters. After being asked what point I was trying to make, I responded with something the late president once said: 'Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves. And the only way they could do this is by not voting,'" writes Tucsonan Mary Stanik. Liz Martinez couldnt contain her frustration during a public forum hosted by behavioral health insurer Cenpatico Integrated Care last week. As CEO Terry Stevens described, to a crowd of about 40 people, Cenpaticos success in stabilizing members who are in crisis, Martinez raised her hand. I dont believe that to be true, she said. The victims advocate described months of struggling to get help for her then-fiance as he descended into a full-blown manic crisis this spring. The man, who has bipolar disorder, began saying in March that his medications werent working anymore. He went days without sleeping and couldnt sit still. He once tried to open the car door as she was driving 55 mph. But the agency treating him said he had to wait for his May appointment to get a medication review, Martinez said. In the meantime, he deteriorated mentally and physically. He lost 30 pounds. At one point he approached police officers on the street and asked to be arrested. Yet Martinez couldnt convince crisis responders or behavioral health providers that he was a danger to himself and needed to be hospitalized. He was eventually hospitalized and put on new medications, but hes not the same, Martinez said in an interview. He lost his full-time job as a cook during the breakdown and is still trying to get back to a place of stability. After nearly having a breakdown herself, Martinez ended their engagement; she said she didnt feel she could marry him, knowing he was completely at the mercy of a broken system. I still feel like hes my best friend. I just cant trust what would happen if he had another episode, she said. Mental health advocates say vulnerable patients are bearing the brunt of upheaval in the public behavioral health system since Cenpatico, the for-profit subsidiary of publicly traded insurance giant Centene Corp., became Southern Arizonas regional behavioral health authority last October. In Arizona, RBHAs contract with the state Medicaid agency, AHCCCS, and administer Medicaid dollars to contracted behavioral health providers who treat low-income patients. This is Cenpaticos first foray into Pima County after 10 years in rural parts of the state. Some patients are in turmoil after the closure of Pasadera Behavioral Health Network, a provider that shut down this month in the face of mounting financial strain. The pressures included Cenpaticos recruitment of other providers whose services would replace Pasaderas, along with reduced reimbursements. For Johnny Hostetlers 27-year-old daughter a Pasadera patient who didnt want her name used the agencys closure meant a transition to CODAC Behavioral Health Services and another round of intake interviews and psychiatric evaluations. But Hostetler said her daughters transition was beset by confusion and delays. That was likely worsened by an increase in volume at CODAC, as it received patients moving from the shuttered Pasadera, a CODAC spokeswoman said. It took weeks for Pasadera to transfer medical records to CODAC and more time to get an appointment with CODAC. In the meantime, Hostetler said her daughter ran out of the medication that keeps her stable. Her former Pasadera psychiatrist couldnt write her another prescription because she was no longer his patient, but she wasnt yet a CODAC patient, Hostetler said. Her daughter has bipolar disorder and severe anxiety. She was holding on without the Zoloft, but I could see her spiraling, Hostetler said. She resorted to buying Zoloft for $9 a pill on the black market after her daughter had a breakdown. They cut the pills in half to make them last longer. Ive never done anything like that in my life, but you get desperate, she said. Once the Pasadera records were transferred, CODAC told Hostletlers daughter to show up in the early morning for the chance to get a same-day appointment if there was an opening and she is at the front of the line. She showed up between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. for three days in a row before she was seen by an intake specialist. Hostetler said her daughter still hasnt had an appointment with a psychiatrist, which was scheduled for 90 days after her initial visit last month. Early-morning waits for patients desperate for treatment arent unusual these days, providers say. Overburdened intake agencies commonly tell patients to show up early for a chance at getting seen that day for some, thats the only way to initiate treatment for specialty services that require a referral, said Deb Seng of Our Family Services. The agencys therapists often end up providing their services unbilled, because it can take six to 10 weeks to get the referral that allows them to bill Cenpatico, she said. Seng said caseworkers are spending hours, day after day, waiting alongside their clients, hoping for an appointment with an intake specialist. In the meantime, patients are nearing the point of crisis, she said. Not only are they breaking into psychosis, theyre devolving into suicidal and homicidal thoughts, she said at the public forum. Our therapists are sitting in the homes of members who are saying, I am going to kill someone if I dont get help today. CENPATICO OUTREACH After Martinez spoke up at the forum last week, Cenpaticos CEO listened and said the insurer would investigate her then-fiances treatment, reviewing records and conducting interviews with the providers involved. CEO Stevens acknowledged that Cenpatico hasnt managed a smooth changeover from Pima Countys last RBHA, the nonprofit Community Partnership for Southern Arizona. She said she takes to heart the criticisms aired last week during the forum. Im not unfamiliar or unwilling to look at the challenges, she told the crowd. The transition wasnt as smooth as I would have anticipated or I wanted, but its not for lack of trying and we continue to do that. Martinez concerns were among many raised at the event, the first of three public forums to be hosted by Cenpatico this month. Attendees painted a picture of an underfunded and chaotic public mental health care system, with deep-seated problems exacerbated by a tumultuous transition to Cenpatico. One mental health provider described case managers impossibly high caseloads of more than 200 patients. Constant turnover due to burn-out means patients rarely have the same case manager for long, contributing to fractured care, patient stress and delays. Behavioral health agencies are facing high demand for services, while dealing with new stringent reporting requirements and contract cuts from Cenpatico. Another provider spoke up in support of Cenpaticos ambitious goals and efforts to reform the public mental health system. I think youve bitten off a lot, but it needed to be tackled and attempted, said Margaret Higgins, executive director of The Haven, a residential treatment facility. Well come out at the other end stronger and better. One woman questioned when the public could see the mortality and morbidity patient data that RBHAs collect, which could illuminate how patients are faring under Cenpatico. Cenpaticos Stevens said that data would be posted on Cenpaticos website after its calculated, following the end of the first contract year. This is the second year Cenpatico has hosted community forums in Pima County. Those sessions are a crucial way for the insurer to engage with the community and provide updates on services, Stevens said in a emailed statement. PATIENTS IN CHAOS To serve their patients in a reasonable time frame, local behavioral health agencies need more funding and more staffing, said Stephania ONeill, the former CEO of behavioral health agency Compass, which merged with another agency in 2013 to become Pasadera. Its not like the provider doesnt want to do the job, she said at the forum. Its a workforce issue. Its a resource issue. Im tired of people telling me, Its just the way it is, theres nothing you can do. I wont accept it. In an interview, Seng said Our Familys clients are some of the communitys most vulnerable, and barriers to getting them treatment must be torn down for everyones sake. If we dont find solutions to get timely services for these folks, they will disengage completely and are likely to live out their lives on the streets, she said. After the forum, Stevens said shed heard about patients having to wait in the morning for appointments even before Cenpatico entered Pima County. But she acknowledged that access issues for patients may have been compounded by the transition. ONeill suggested establishing an independent community task force comprised of experts without a financial stake in the system to help address fundamental problems. Stevens said that was a good idea. I truly cant express how thankful I am that youre being honest, she told the crowd. The only way we can fix things is if we know that theyre happening. INTEGRATED CARE Other Pima County patients are frustrated with the limitations of Cenpaticos network for medical providers. Cenpaticos medical coverage is part of AHCCCSs broader plan to integrate behavioral and medical coverage for people on Medicaid with serious mental illness. The goal is to better coordinate care for people in that group whose life expectancy is, on average, nearly three decades shorter than that of the general public. But that means patients in the behavioral health care system no longer have a choice about which AHCCCS plan they enroll in for their medical care they are automatically enrolled in Cenpaticos plan, which might not contract with their long-time doctors. Megan Gregory, 25, has bipolar disorder, OCD and anxiety, as well as a rare heart condition that causes an abnormally high resting heart rate. Her cardiologist of seven years isnt in Cenpaticos network. Gregory said she wanted to opt out of Cenpaticos medical plan to stay with her doctor, but Cenpatico told her since other cardiologists were in their network, she couldnt opt out. Opting out is reserved for occasions where there may only be one specialist that provides the service that the member needs and that provider has elected not to contract with the RBHA, AHCCCS spokeswoman Monica Coury said in an email. Gregory is now planning to disenroll from Cenpatico behavioral health care coverage and pay for her mental health needs out of pocket so she can stay with the doctor who knows her heartbeat so well that he can hear the slightest anomaly, she said. Shes having to choose between her medical and behavioral health care, said her mother, Angela Lane, a social worker. Coury said patients in active treatment with an out-of-network doctor such as for cancer treatments or pregnancy can stay with the doctor for the duration of their treatment. For patients who arent in active treatment but have an established relationship with the doctor, AHCCCS requires the RBHA to reach out to the doctor and offer a contract. If the doctor declines, thats his or her choice, she said. This is common in any type of insurance, Coury said in an email. Your commercial carrier will not pay out of network for care you can receive from one of their contracted providers. Cenpatico has more than 6,500 specialty and behavioral health providers in its Southern Arizona network, and plans to continue adding doctors, Stevens said. Our provider network is robust and continues to expand as our membership grows, she said. Theres only so much Cenpatico can do in the face of a chronically underfunded public mental health system, Clarke Romans, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona, said at the forum. Real change will require the political will to devote more resources to mental health, he said. More than 650,000 people in Arizona have serious mental illness, he said. Thats a large constituency and they and their loved ones must exercise their right to vote, he said. This is a political problem, he said. When it comes to mental health in the U.S., he said, Were big, were rich, and were doing a terrible job. Help India! New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Monday conferring with senior ministers, security and military advisers and other experts as his government sought to craft an appropriate response to Sundays terror assault on the Uri army garrison in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack, one of the biggest targeting the Indian Army in recent years, and quickly blamed on Pakistan, resulted in the deaths of 17 soldiers and substantial damage to military property just a few kilometres from the Line of Control with Pakistan. Support TwoCircles With calls mounting from inside the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that India should teach a lesson to Pakistan with one senior party strategist Ram Madhav demanding for one tooth, a complete jaw Modi is under pressure to live up to his 2014 election campaign rhetoric of showing Pakistan that India is not a soft power and would give a befitting reply to any attacks on the country. Expectations of appropriate action were raised when Modi himself said soon after the attack that I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished, while the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fountainhead of the party, said that terrorists, their masters and their supporters should be dealt with firmly and conclusively. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also said he had asked Army Chief, Gen. Dalbir Singh, to take action against those responsible for the attack. There were arguments for and against a retaliatory military action, even a punitive counter attack, as many military analysts are demanding. There were various war scenarios being drawn out in South Blocks board rooms with one former general suggesting on TV that India should not be seen pussyfooting anymore as it had conventional superiority and could deal with military exigencies. With the world watching anxiously, and foreign embassies monitoring the flashpoint situation closely, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asifs statement that Pakistan will not hesitate to use tactical nuclear weapons if the need arose and that horses should be ready for action has led to a building up of a tense situation in the subcontinent with unpredictable consequences. After the spate of high-level visits on Sunday, including by the Defence Minister and the Army Chief, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi was flying to Srinagar on Monday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with the top police and civil officials in the state government, an official source said here. The valley has been restive since the July 8 killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, with the almost unending protests resulting in close to 90 deaths, including that of three policemen, and over 11,000 injuries. Mehrishi will be also call on the state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Governor N.N. Vohra. Mehrishi is expected to attend a series of meetings with officials of the state government, army, police and paramilitary forces, the source added. Help India! By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net West Bengal: In Birajmoni, a Muslim-majority village in the Sunderbans, West bengal, almost the entire population lives in abject poverty, depending on the agricultural fields for their day-to-day needs. Support TwoCircles Abed Ali who lives in Birajmoni, works on his small piece of agricultural land. Cooking meat at home is luxury for Ali and for majority of the other residents of the village. Similar is the case of Pathankhali village and the Sunderban Siddiqiya Madrasa in the vicinity. So, to help these villages celebrate the occasion of Eid ul Adha, US-based Indian Muslim and Charities (IMRC), under its Qurbani Program distributed meat among the five villages of Sundarbans as well in other parts of West Bengal. Meat distribution on such large scale has taken place here in these poor villages for the very first time. Every house in our village cooked meat this Eid only due to the efforts of IMRC who undertook this distribution program, said, Maulana Asjad, who is caretaker of Sunderbans Siddiqiya Madrasa. Every year thousands of poor families benefit from IMRC Qurbani program across India. This year also meat distribution took place villages across 17 states in India. A total of 5,207 Qurbanis were performed, thus benefitting 39,052 truly deprived families (close to 2 lakh people) bringing them nourishing meat, so that they could equally participate in the celebrations of Eid AL Adha. The states where IMRC meat distribution took place are, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu. In Pukhri village of Bihar, 470 kms from West Bengal, Najo Mistry works as a daily wage labourer to sustain the family of four. His village was waiting since a week before the Eid for the meat distribution to take place. The cost of 1 kg meat is close to Rs 400 and my per day earning is Rs 250 and that too is possible if I get some work. So, purchasing meat is out of bounds for me but since last few years we are getting it for free every Eid Al Adha, said Mistri. In Delhi, Ambia Khatoon lives with her 4-year-old kid in a makeshift tent in Kanchangunj area of Jamia Nagar. She fled Assam in 2012 with her husband after the riots broke out between indigenous Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims. They have been forced to live like refugees in their own country. Her husband works as a scrap collector, walking through lanes in search of used bottles, paper and iron. But he is not the lone scrap collector. Most of the time he returns home empty handed. But this Eid Khatoon and his family were also able to equally celebrate Eid as she was also one among the other hundreds of beneficiaries of IMRC meat distribution programme in Delhi. Indian Muslim Relief & Charities began in 1981 and helps run several programmes throughout the country in partnership with over 100 organisations. It focuses on providing education, emergency relief, medical & legal aid, shelter and food for the needy and runs schools, orphanage, hospital, colleges, etc. IMRC has been at the forefront of providing immediate relief to affected victims of the, 2016 Bihar floods, 2015 Nepal earthquake, 2015 Chennai floods, 2014 Kashmir floods, 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, 2012 Assam riots, and other natural/man-made calamities. Help India! Patna : Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of 35 lives in a 50-seater buss accident in Bihar on Monday. The bus was going from Madhubani to Sitamarhi when the driver lost control over the vehicle and it slipped off the road and fell into a pond, submerging it, a state Home Ministry official said. Support TwoCircles The accident occurred on Monday at about 1200 hrs near Basakha Chowk in Benapatti area, about 250 km from here, Basaitha village in Madhubani district, the official said. In this accident, 35 dead bodies have been recovered from the pond. Rescue operation is being carried out by State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), he added. Modi expressed his grief over the loss of lives, saying: Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Bihars Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief, an official statement quoted Modi as saying. UMi has been on the international market for a while now and2016 has been a bustling year for theChinese brand, having launched numerous successful smartphones. When the first teasers of the UMi Max started surfacing, we imagined that UMi wouldrelease a new smartphone with a large display, somewhere around6", as usually brands do in the 'Max' category. However, when the full specifications were revealed it became clear that, despite it's name, the UMi Max is is actually the UMi Super with less RAM and storage. Design UMi Max comes with a metal unibody and has a 5.5" display, with Gorilla Glass 3. In the front panel one will find the Halo Notification that acts as Home Button, and can be personalised with up to 7 colors. For example, the user can set the notification light to be green for Whatsapp messages and blue for Facebook notifications.On the sides you can find the volume rocker, sim slot and a customisable shortcut button. Operating System The UMi Max runs a very clean stock variant of Android Marshmallow 6.0. But, do you like tweaking the bits and bytes of your phone? The UMi Max supports Rootjoy out of the box, so you can flash a different ROM and change any setting you want without voiding your warranty or return policy. Hardware The Max ispowered by the brand-new Helio P10 Octa-core processor with Cortex-A53 CPU and the ARM Mali-T860 complementing each other perfectly.It comes with16GB eMMC 5.1 flash memory and a spacious 3GB LPDDR3 RAM. The UMi Max features a high colour-saturation 5.5 1080p display covering 95% NTSC gamut made by SHARP,. You also get an ultra fast 360 recognizable FingerPrint sensor from MicroArray.Power is supplied by a 4000 mAh battery made by Sony. It comes with a standard 5V/1A charger. Camera The UMi Max comes with a Panasonic 13MP high-speed camera. Its veryquick to activate (0.3s according to the company), quick to focus (0.1s) and quick to take the shot with 0s shutter lag. The camera is paired with a dual LED flash. Selfie lovers get a 5MP camera with beauty adjustments. The image quality is what you'd expect from this range of devices - not very sharp, washed out photos. We're still hoping that2017 is the year that sees a revolution in mobile photography, with finally decent cameras in all price ranges. Veredict The UMi Max is overall a very good device. It's display quality is a big plus. However, if you can afford it, we'd choose it's brother UMi Super over it. The added RAM and bigger storage are worth the few extra quid. This phone is currently being sold for 129, butthere's a few flash sales that push it down to around 100. It's competitorsinclude theXiaomi Redmi 3S, theOukitel K6000 Pro and the Meizu M3 Note, which you can see in the video comparison below. Up to eight policemen have been killed in Afghanistan as a result of US airstrikes, Reuters reports citing officials. The US has confirmed one airstrike, but insists the assault was in response to a threat.An initial airstrike killed one policeman late Sunday, while a follow-up strike targeting first responders killed at least seven others, said Rahimullah Khan, commander of the reserve Police unit in Uruzgan. The US military command in Kabul has confirmed its warplanes conducted an airstrike in the area, but said those targeted were individuals firing on, and posing a threat to Afghan national security forces. "We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF [Afghan national defense and security forces]," US military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement. "US, coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self defense and in this case were responding to an immediate threat," Cleveland added. Afghan officials said they are investigating the attack and communicating with the US-led coalition. Liam Neesondramatic weight loss recently was not forhis health or to outrun weight-related problems. And far from impressing people, Neeson's makeover scared them. Neeson who is already trim, looked sickly gaunt and it caused question about whether Sir Liam was ill or purposely starving himself. The secret to the "Taken" actor's massive weight loss reveals a bizarre talent some performers have that will shock you. Neeson's weight loss explained. So Neeson isn't sick--in fact, he's in the peak of health--assure publicists. But the "Michael Collins" actor does play someone who is, so to speak. In the 2016 Martin Scorsese film "Silence" Liam Neeson plays a 17th century Jesuit priest who goes to Japan as a missionary. He, along with fellow Jesuits, (played by Adam Driver, Ciaran Hinds and Andrew Garfield) are persecuted for their faith. In order to look the part of a starved, tortured 1600s monk with a vow of poverty, Neeson had to drop 20 pounds. He has now purposely gained weight to get back up to a healthy BMI (body mass index). Scary talent actors have This practice of losing weight for a role is one shared by several male actors. They can also gain weight to play certain parts as well. Sometimes actors have to gain and lose in relatively quick succession when filming movies that require them to different sizes. Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp,Christian Bale and Jared Leto are some of those chameleon actors. Jared Leto put on about 40 pounds for his role as Mark David Chapman in "Chapter 27." In "Suicide Squad," he had to be wraith-like. He got to obesity with bizarre methods such aseating butter and olive oil straight. To lose weight, he used a more healthy, if unconventional, method of fasting and cleansing. Colin Farrell ate just two cans of tuna a day to lose weight fast. Losing weight can lose parts. Funny lady Rebel Wilsongained weight because she thought fat people were funnier than skinny people. Just for the health of it, she shed pounds. Now that she has lost serious weight, she may or may not be taken seriously as a comedian or in roles that require a heavy person. Other Celebrities likeTimothy Spall lost weight for a more slender and serious role too. Poor Melissa McCarthy actually lost her show "Mike and Molly" because she wasn't fat enough to play an obese woman. Mainland official meets with Taiwan delegation Updated: 2016-09-18 16:29 (Xinhua) BEIJING -- Zhang Zhijun, the Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief, on Sunday met in Beijing with a delegation of county and city officials from Taiwan. The delegation includes officials for New Taipei City and the seven counties of Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen and Lienchiang. Zhang, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, extended a warm welcome to the eight visiting county and city officials and applauded their adherence to the 1992 Consensus and efforts to promote cross-Strait cooperation and exchange at the county and city-levels. Taiwan's current leader, Tsai Ing-wen, and her administration have refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus since she and the Democratic Progressive Party took office in May, Zhang said. The 1992 Consensus affirms that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China. The refusal has shaken the political foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations and dealt a heavy blow to the good momentum of peaceful cross-Straits ties that had been achieved through eight years of efforts, Zhang said, adding communication across the Straits has been affected and the interests of people on the two sides have been severely damaged. Zhang stressed adherence to the 1992 Consensus under the new situation, vowed to firmly oppose and curb "Taiwan independence" and promote cross-Straits exchange in various fields to boost economic and social integration. The eight officials from Taiwan voiced their concerns about cross-Straits relations and pledged to continue to stick to the 1992 Consensus and maintain peaceful development of cross-Straits ties along with the mainland. Mainland officials with the Ministry of Commerce, National Tourism Administration, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives also attended the meeting. China prosecutes three former senior officials Updated: 2016-09-18 16:36 (Xinhua) BEIJING -- Chinese prosecuting authorities have filed separate lawsuits against three former senior officials, including Ling Zhengce, Chen Chuanping and Sun Hongzhi, all are accused of accepting bribes and other graft-related crimes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Sunday. Chinese premier arrives in New York for UN conference Updated: 2016-09-19 02:59 (Xinhua) NEW YORK -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Sunday to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. During his four-day stay in New York, the premier will outline China's stance on major issues including international order, global governance, and peace and development, while addressing the general debate of the UN General Assembly session. The premier is also expected to announce China' s pragmatic measures to support the United Nations' endeavor and cope with global challenges. Helping hands wanted for the home Updated: 2016-09-19 09:49 By Hou Liqiang(China Daily) Domestic workers use dolls to practice how to teach babies to walk during a training course in Beijing.Photos By Zou Hong / China Daily An aging society and growing middle class mean there is a soaring demand for good domestic workers, Hou Liqiang reports. Finding qualified and dedicated domestic workers has been "extremely difficult" for Han Lu, an engineer at a State-owned company in Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan. The 37-year-old has changed two nannies and been through 30 domestic workers since she had her daughter on June 4, 2014. She said most of the domestic workers have not been satisfactory as they lacked know-how about the service they offer. Han's experience testifies to the lack of professional domestic workers in China, for which there is a growing demand. "Good domestic workers are in high demand. The supply, however, falls short. Many families find it difficult to employ a qualified domestic worker," said Li Changze, a spokesman for Ayilaile, an agency that supplies domestic services. More than 70,000 domestic workers serving more than 100,000 clients nationwide are registered with Ayilaile. But currently, only two out of every 10 women, who are sent to the company through local government's labor export projects or by training schools, are qualified to do the work, Li said. "The domestic service industry used to employ a lot of women that could hardly find other jobs, but they are not the labor the industry really needs. Instead of the surplus labor, the industry needs young people who consider domestic service to be their career," he said. Lacking professionalism, many domestic workers only want to make money and may quit at any time, he added. The last nanny Han hired had to call her teacher constantly to ask for advice. She quit suddenly before Spring Festival last year, leaving Han in the lurch, and she had to ask for leave from her work. She said she even thought about quitting her job. Han increased the number of domestic workers in her home from two to three last month to support the family of six, including three seniors in their 70s. In addition to a nanny, she has one worker to do the cleaning and one to do the cooking. "I employ three so there will be someone who can help even if two of them quit," she said. Li said it's important that home helpers with high qualifications and a professional attitude are paid decent salaries to encourage others to follow their example. Then, more people would regard being in domestic service as a career rather than just a temporary job. Gao Xin, author of Blooming Viola Philippica: The Oral History of Domestic Workers, said many women with no special skills work on factory assembly lines first and then construction sites before becoming domestic workers. She said many Chinese domestic workers, who are from the bottom rung of society, hold the perception that they are inferior to others. This differs a lot from Filipino domestic workers, who take pride in their work and have won wide recognition, she said. That domestic workers feel inferior can sometimes result in trouble, Gao said. She offered as an example a live-in postpartum care worker who would probably feel hesitant to oppose the parents' decision not to send an infant with fever to hospital. If they have professional status, they would have more respect and their opinions would be more valued, Gao said. However, she said many women, though they do the work, only do so because the demand is there and it is a way to make some money; they do not view it as a career or want to be a professional. During the restructuring of China's State-owned enterprises in the 1990s, tens of millions of workers were laid off. The All-China Women's Federation and its local branches made great efforts to train and absorb laid-off women into the domestic service industry, said Tang Binyao, an associate professor of social work at the University of Jinan in Shandong province. Those laid-off workers are now retiring. While some college graduates are joining the industry, the proportion of female migrant workers from the rural areas working as home helpers is still high. With insufficient training, these women lack the necessary service skills and have a low level of professionalism, said Tang, who is also one of the nine founders of the Gichon Social Service Center for the Community in Jinan, an NGO that focuses on serving seniors and domestic workers. While these women from rural areas are important to meet the growing demand from lonely seniors with low incomes, they may meet some problems in serving the increasing high-end demand from the growing middle class. "Middle-class people usually respect their domestic workers. However, they may get into disputes with them as they have high requirements for their hired help," said Tang. Chen Jiyan, a program officer for domestic workers at Beijing Hongyan Social Work Service Center, said the lack of training for domestic workers is a long-standing problem. She once attended a training class for domestic workers when she was doing research, but found the teacher only asked the students to note down what she had included in her Powerpoint slides without offering any further explanation. Chen said some domestic workers don't even know how to use home appliances, let alone know how to make Western desserts or pastries. Han, the Wuhan engineer, said many of the domestic workers she had hired to do the cooking didn't know how to use the oven, and they cleaned nonstick pans with steel wool, damaging them. "Every time, I have to train them how to use our home appliances before they start their work," Han said. Without enough training, domestic workers have to meet the personalized needs and high requirements of the families they work for. In response to the growing demand for domestic helpers, some colleges have launched domestic service majors to build up a talent pool for the industry. Chen, however, doubts many of the students who study the major will work in the industry. "The domestic service industry is promising, but there is still social discrimination against the job," she said. Contact the writer at houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn Overcoming the second major steel crisis Updated: 2016-09-19 07:47 By DAN STEINBOCK(China Daily) LUO JIE/CHINA DAILY Today, advanced economies blame China for steel overcapacity. Yet, four decades ago the United States and Europe were the ones that opted for bad policies, which China is seeking to transcend. At the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, some world leaders criticized China for its steel overcapacity. Before the summit, US lawmakers, and trade unions and associations had urged President Barack Obama to blame China's trade practices for US mill closures and unemployment and to stress the need for "aggressive enforcement of US trade remedy laws". In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker echoed US concerns. In Canada, steelworkers and producers urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to push China for the same reasons. In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for structural reforms to address China's steel overcapacity. Yet, as history shows, the first major steel crisis broke out in the 1970s, starting in the US and Europe. In the postwar era, crude steel production has grown in three quite distinct phases. In the first phaseoften called the "golden era" of the advanced economiesglobal steel production grew an impressive 5 percent a year, driven by Europe's reconstruction and industrialization, and catch-up growth by Japan and the Soviet Union. As this growth period ended with two energy crises, a period of stagnation ensued and global steel demand barely grew 1.1 percent a year. In the US, the challenges of the "rust belt" led to labor turmoil, offshoring and the Ronald Reagan era. In the United Kingdom, similar turmoil paved way to the Margaret Thatcher years. The third phase ensued between 2000 and 2015. China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 initiated a period of massive expansion in steel production and demand fueling output growth by 13 percent a year. While China's industrialization and urbanization is likely to continue another 10-15 years, the most intensive period of expansion is behind. As a result, the steel sector is facing overcapacity and stagnation. Are Washington and Brussels now urging Beijing to resolve overcapacity by resorting to the kind of policies they used to tackle the first postwar steel crisis? No. After the mid-1970s, the open trading regime took a step back as aggressive trade practices arose in the US and Europe. The two adopted fairly similar external policies but different domestic measures. In the US, policymakers avoided direct intervention in the domestic market and allowed domestic enterprises to suffer large losses, which resulted in many plant closures. That translated to substantial reductions of least efficient integrated producers and the rise of more efficient players, including mini-mills. In contrast, Brussels administered a de facto domestic cartel. Economically, the European capacity reductions proved less effective than those in the US. Socially, Europe was able to smooth the process of transformation, but mainly in the short term. As the US and Europe sought to protect their markets through non-tariff barriers, they opted for protectionist external policies, which imposed substantial costs on economies and consumers. In the next two years, China hopes to allocate $15.4 billion for the coal and steel sectors to help up to 3 million laid-off workers find new jobs, particularly in the service sector. But unlike the US and Europe in the 1970s, China today is eager to sustain globalization and intensify world trade and investment, as evidenced by the Hangzhou G20 Summit, the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS New Development Bank. Beijing remains committed to resolving the overcapacity problem but not at the cost of the living standards of people in China or other emerging economies. The objective is to sustain China's economic rise, while supporting the industrialization of other major emerging economies. And that is very much in the interest of Washington, Brussels and Tokyo as well. The author is a guest fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. This commentary is based on his SIIS project, China and the multipolar world economy. All 29 people injured in NY blast released from hospitals - mayor Updated: 2016-09-19 06:48 (Xinhua) NEW YORK - All 29 people wounded in Saturday's blast in New York City were released from hospitals, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday at a news conference on the explosion. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials stand amid the site of an explosion which took place on Saturday night in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, US September 18, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] The mayor called the blast which occurred around 8:30 pm Saturday EDT (0030 GMT Sunday)) in the popular Chelsea district in west 23rd street, Manhattan, "a very serious incident", saying lot more work needs to be done to find out the motivation behind the blast.The motivation behind the explosion remains unknow, Mayor Blasio said.He termed the blast which wounded 29 people an "intentional" and "criminal" act. However, he declined to call the blast a terrorist attack.New York City Police Commissioner James O'neil said at the press conference that no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion.New York police are beefing up extra security at bus terminals, airports and on subways in the city as nearly 200 VIPs and diplomats descended on New York for a Climate Summit and the annual General Debate in the UN General Assembly on Sunday. New York City to deploy 'bigger than ever' police presence Updated: 2016-09-19 08:48 (Xinhua) Investigators are seen near the blast site in New York, US, Sept 18, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] NEW YORK -- New York City will deploy "bigger than ever" police presence during the upcoming UN General Assembly week after an explosion injured 29 on Saturday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. "You will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week, bigger than ever," de Blasio told reporters at a press conference on the explosion. Police officers will be deployed in force in key public locations around the United Nations headquarters and the Times Square, including the newer units of Critical Response Command and Strategic Response Group, said de Blasio. The city will also see an increased bag search and canine activities throughout the mass transit systems, said city officials. At the press conference, the mayor said all 29 people wounded in Saturday's blast were released from hospitals and the motivation behind the explosion remains unknown. He termed the Saturday blast which occurred around 8:30 p.m. Saturday EDT (0030 GMT Sunday)) in the popular Chelsea district in west 23rd street, Manhattan, "a very serious incident", saying a lot more work needs to be done to find out the motivation behind the blast. He called the blast an "intentional" and "criminal" act. However, he declined to call the blast a terrorist attack. "We'll not jump to conclusions," he said. A second explosive device was found a few blocks near the explosion site. The mayor noted there was no specific and credible threat against the city, calling for the vigilance of New Yorkers and asked for tips and information from the public. He also said there was no specific evidence of connection between the New York explosion and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast, which happened on Saturday along the route of a Marines charity run, causing no injuries or damage. Meanwhile, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at the press conference that no one has claimed responsibility for the New York explosion, which he categorized as a "violent criminal act". City officials confirmed that the explosion in the popular Chelsea neighborhood was caused by a bomb with "components indicative of an IED", not an accident. Bomb suspect in police custody in New Jersey Updated: 2016-09-19 23:44 (Agencies) Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in New York City, is seen in this image released by the New Jersey State Police on Sept 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - An Afghanistan-born American sought in connection with a series of bombings that wounded 29 people in the New York City area over the weekend was in custody after a gun battle with police on Monday, a New Jersey mayor said. Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was captured after firing at police officers in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles (32 km) outside New York, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. Two officers were shot, one in the hand and the other in a bullet-proof vest, he said. "Mr. Rahami also sustained shots and an ambulance has taken him away," Bollwage said. Video from WABC television showed a conscious man described as Rahami on a gurney and being loaded into an ambulance. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two US officials told Reuters. Earlier on Monday, New York Police had released a photo of Rahami, 28, and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. In addition to the two incidents, officials are probing a backpack containing bombs found in a New Jersey train station on Sunday, and an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb located blocks away from the Chelsea blast site. No one was injured in the other blasts. As reports of Rahami being taken in custody were being released, US President Barack Obama said he saw no connection between the explosions and a separate weekend incident where a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead. He said authorities are investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism. The man in the Minnesota incident was described a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group's news agency said on Sunday. Bombings spark security concerns in US as world leaders gather for UN meetings Updated: 2016-09-20 02:53 (Xinhua) Security concerns are plaguing the United States on Monday after bombings rocked New York and New Jersey over the weekend in what officials linked to act of terrorism. The New York City Police Department released a photograph of a 28-year-old Afghanistan-born American wanted for questioning in connection with both the blast that injured 29 people in the bustling Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea Saturday night and the pipe bombing earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized US citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was taken into custody after a shoot-out with police, local police said, more than two hours after the release of his photo. The attacks, occurred just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, sparked fears among the population of more than 8 million in New York City. At 7:55 a.m. on Monday, residents in the US financial capital were alarmed with an emergency alert urging them to contact authorities if they see Rahami or have any information about him. The klaxon-like alarm that usually sounded for flash flood warnings was sent to New Yorkers' cell phones, in a sign of the urgency authorities felt in chasing down the suspect and preventing additional bombings. The bombings put enormous pressure on the city's law enforcement as world leaders are gathering this week at the United Nations headquarters for the annual General Assembly meeting and a UN high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants. About 135 heads of state or government are expected to attend this week's event at the United Nations. "We're going to have more security personnel than ever assembled over this next week during the UN General Assembly," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in interviews with CNN on Monday morning. City authorities said they had bolstered an already heavy security force with 1,000 more uniformed police officers and National Guard members. Rahami should be considered "armed and dangerous," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in one of a series of TV appearances minutes after the release of the photo. Early Monday, FBI agents flocked to an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth that the authorities said was tied to Rahami. Just hours earlier, one of the five explosive devices discovered Sunday night at the nearby Elizabeth train station exploded when investigators were trying to defuse it with a robot. Rahami, whose fingerprint was found on an unexploded device, was manhunted in connection with the blasts that provoked suspicions of a local terror cell, according to federal officials. In addition to the Chelsea blast on Saturday night, another unexploded device apparently made out of a pressure cooker was found several blocks away. On the immediate heels of the blast, both New York city mayor de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo were cautious about linking the attacks to international terrorism. However, both struck a different tone on Monday morning. "I suspect there may be a foreign connection," Cuomo told CBS News. "That's what we are hearing today, as the investigation goes on." On Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded in a garbage pail along the route of a five-km charity run sponsored by the US Marine in New Jersey's Seaside Park, the Ocean County, about 129 km south of New York City. The explosive device went off before the road run, thus inflicting no injuries or damages, according to local authorities. Also on Saturday, a man stabbed and injured nine people at a mall in the northern US state of Minnesota before a police officer fatally shot him. The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) quickly claimed responsibility for the Minnesota attack. The incident was investigated as potential acts of terrorism, but did not appear to be linked with the series of bombing attacks in New York and New Jersey, according to police. Rahami was identified by investigators using the cellphone attached on the explosive device made out from a pressure cooker, as well as his fingerprints left on the device, according to authorities. Rahami was wounded after exchanging fire with police officers on East Elizabeth Ave in Linden, while two police officers were also reportedly injured during the shootout. Police had also found a suspicious package and required bomb squad and police dogs to the scene. The investigation was still underway and it's not clear if there were other suspects involved in the bombings. US President Barack Obama, who is now in New York City for the annual UN General Assembly, delivered his first statement since the attacks on Monday morning, commending law enforcement officers and first responders for their professionalism and quick response, and urged Americans not to "succumb to the fear." "The threat to the United States is serious," Robert Shapiro, professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, told Xinhua. Prof. Shapiro, however, believed it was "not an existential national threat unless there might be chemical or other large-scale attacks." "I don't think the timing is related to the UN meeting but perhaps to the US elections," he said. This post is part of the Verastic In Nigeria series. Im back from Nigeria (and still very jetlagged)! I came back on Saturday afternoon, and all I have been doing since is unpacking and sorting and eating and sleeping. Ill start working on the videos this week, and Ill publish my first one next week. But before I do, I want to tell you about the rubbish question that this woman asked me on the plane to Nigeria. I flew Lufthansa, and it was my first time flying it. I chose Lufthansa because they land in Abuja (which is closer to Plateau State than Lagos), and because their stopover time [in Germany] was not too long (four hours). I had a really pleasant time flying with Lufthansa, but thats not what I want to tell you about. I want to tell you about this White American woman who was seated behind me. For the purpose of this post, lets call her Jane. Jane was seated behind me with her two kids, age 3 and 5 (she told me), while her husband was seated next to me in front and there was an empty seat between us. They were moving to Germany for three years because her husband is in the military and Germany is his new post. Jane and I got to talking and I excitedly told her that I was going to Nigeria after being absent for 16 years. When I say that I excitedly told her, I mean that I was very, very excited to share this information. Jane cocked her head to the left, nose-squeezed, and asked me, But is it safe though? I was hot from the inside. Me: Well, its just like America. Jane: How so? Me: People dont want to come to America because theyre afraid they will get shot. Jane (voice a little higher than usual): Its not even like that! Me: Exactly. Her (two seconds later): Oh, I see. I am Nigerian. I am not ignorant of the problems my nation faces. I know that we are not where America is. I also know that we are only one-quarter of Americas age. And I am not in any way implying that we can use age as an excuse, nor am I trying to encourage bad behavior. But as a Nigerian and African living in America, I am so sick and tired of the single Nigerian/African story. People look at us and our entire continent with pity because they think we are all dying and their money is whats keeping us afloat. On my About Page, I describe myself as a cultural ambassador, and it is exactly during moments like this one that I remember why I describe myself as that. Yes, Nigeria has a lot of problems. Yes, our youth get frustrated from lack of employment and go into armed robbery. Yes, we have a terrorist group called Boko Haram. Yes, Nigeria has a lot of problems. But Nigeria is my country, and I will defend her. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. Australia has given the green light for Vietnamese fresh mango to be imported into the country after nine years of negotiations, as it becomes the second Vietnamese fruit, after litchi, to be imported into the country. Photo kinhtedothi.vn SYDNEY Australia has given the green light for Vietnamese fresh mango to be imported into the country after nine years of negotiations, making it the second Vietnamese fruit, after litchi, to be presenting in the demanding market. The Viet Nam Trade Office in Australia said the first shipments of mango will arrive in Australia this month, with about 18 tonnes to be exported daily by Suoi Lon Mango Co-operative in southern ong Nai Province. The co-operative negotiated and won agreements with two Australian partners to sell its mango products at supermarkets and wholesale markets in Australia. Viet Nam applied for a licence to export mangos to Australia in 2009, with approval given after strict requirements of origin, packaging, pest control and disease were met. To promote exports of Vietnamese mangos to Australia, the Vietnamese Embassy and Trade Office in Australia organised programmes to introduce the fruit to consumers and partners on the sideline of the Australia International Food Fair held in September 12-15. On the occasion, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on supporting consumption of Vietnamese agricultural products, including fresh fruits, was signed between the Viet Nam Trade Office and the Viet Nam Business Association in Australia. VNS HA NOI Viet Nams coffee exports in August reached 2.54 million bags (152,678 tonnes), a growth of 9.2 per cent from July, according to the General Department of Customs statistics. This number is significantly higher than the markets expectation of 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes, as well as the Governments estimated 140,000 tonnes. Viet Nams coffee exports from the beginning of the 2015-2016 crop has yielded 1.61 billion tones, as of today, an increase of 33 per cent compared with the same period last year. Experts said Viet Nams increase in coffee exports in August had contributed to balancing the market in the context of decreasing supply from Brazil, one of the largest coffee producers in the world. According to the August 2016 monthly exports report by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafe), the countrys export of Robusta coffee in August had declined by 90 per cent compared with the same period last year to a mere 39,327 60kg bags. Brazils yield of Robusta coffee was severely affected by the drought in the state of Espirito Santo -- Brazils main Robusta-producing region. Its coffee exports (both Arabica and Robusta) in August reached 2.4 million bags, down by 7.4 per cent from the same period last year. Nonetheless, compared with July, coffee exports still increased by 46 per cent -- the smallest amount in a year. Nelson Carvalhaes, President of Cecafe, predicted a gradual and sustainable growth recovery for Brazils coffee exports. VNS HCM CITY Viet Nam hopes to export 1.6 million tonnes rice in the four remaining months of the year, raising exports for the year to 4.9 million tonnes, said the Viet Nam Food Association (VFA). According to a report the VFA tabled at a meeting held in southern An Giang Province late last week, exports of 3.3 million tonnes in the first eight months of the year fetched US$1.43 billion and represented a year-on-year reduction of 13.5 per cent in volume and 10 per cent in value. More than a million tonnes worth of contracts are on hand as are 1.2 million tonnes of inventory. Business executives attending the meeting said their inventories were at high prices while global prices have declined, threatening to cause difficulties for them. For instance, 5 per cent broken rice from Thailand usually sells at above $400 per tonne, but currently stands at $370. Pakistani rice prices have fallen the most -- to around $330. It is unlikely for domestic prices to go up in a short time despite the contracts to export large volumes, the executives said. Lam Anh Tuan, director of Thinh Phat Co., Ltd, said rice exports this year would be below expectations. Thailands effort to increase exports amid a global slowdown in demand is among the reasons for prices to drop, he said. The annual global rice trade is around 40 million tonnes a year, and any sudden increase in supply from one source hits the market share of others, he said. For this year the VFA set an export target of 6.5 million tonnes, but due to market volatility it has adjusted the target. The new target is 4.9 million tonnes, but nobody can predict anything because we depend on the market. If from now to year-end the market is good, rice exports will be higher. But I think rice exports this year will surely be lower than in previous years, with exports via border trade falling the most. China considers rice imports over the border as smuggling. According to the VFA, rice exports to China reduced by 13.33 per cent in the first eight months of the year. Firms said the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta had almost completed harvest of the summer-autumn rice crop and the volume was not high. Yet paddy prices are not very high because a large volume of Cambodian rice has entered the domestic market. The country earned $2.68 billion from export of 6.5 million tonnes of the grain last year, a decrease of 3.94 per cent in value despite a marginal increase in volumes as prices dropped. VNS MOSCOW Viet Nams enterprises in foreign countries, especially Russia, should develop co-operation with enterprises in Viet Nam to take full advantage of free trade agreements signed between Viet Nam and foreign partners. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung made the statement during a business forum held in Moscow on Sunday to promote co-operation between Viet Nam and Russia when the Vietnam Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) free trade agreement comes into effect on October 5 this year. At the forum, a representative from Viet Nams Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the FTA between Viet Nam and EAEU. The FTA would cut many tax lines for Vietnamese products exported to the EAEU, according to the MoIT representative. The enterprises could set up business relations with Vietnamese people living and studying in Russia to expand their business. Viet Nams Ambassador to Russia Nguyen Thanh Son said the FTA would create opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises at home and in Russia to promote production and business. The free trade pact between Vietnam and the EAEU is expected to boost bilateral trade, investment and tourism, said Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung. To fully benefit from the deal, the Vietnamese community in Russia should use more legal and transparent business models and increase the quality of products according to international standards. He said cutting many tax lines would affect the businesses of Vietnamese people in Russia. Therefore, Vietnamese business households should move business activities from markets to trading centres and import goods directly from Viet Nam or become agencies of local enterprises. Co-operation between Vietnamese enterprises in foreign countries and local enterprises would develop production and business in Viet Nam, said Dung, adding that the Government would have the responsibility of solving difficulties in developing production and business. Vietnamese businesses in Hungary The 10th Conference of Vietnamese Businessmen in Europe took place in Budapest, Hungary from September 16-18 with the focus on the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The highlight of the conference was a seminar on opportunities and challenges brought by the EVFTA on Saturday. Ambassador-head of the EU Delegation to Viet Nam Bruno Angelet made a speech on this issue at the meeting. The conference was the biggest event for the Vietnamese entrepreneur community in Europe to exchange views and experiences on markets in the worlds and doing business. Held annually since 2006, it has brought together leading Vietnamese enterprises operating in Europe. This years event featured the European Vietnamese Youth Business Alliance for the first time. - VNS Everyone, from the youngest child to the oldest adult, experiences fear at one time or another. Being anxious and frightened never feels good. But for kids, such feelings are normal and necessary. Laetitia Bluteau, Family Medical Practice Hanois pediatric psychologist, discusses how to help children deal with childhood fears. Fear, joy, sadness and anger are emotions we all feel starting in childhood. There is an automatic brain response activated when a situation is interpreted as dangerous. Fear is accompanied by physical sensations such as rapid breathing and heartbeat, sweaty palms, dilated pupils, tense muscles, stomachache, dry mouth, nausea or shaking movements. Whatever the origin of the fear, a child needs to be supported by an adult. When a child is afraid, the child is expressing a need for reassurance and attachment. Even if the stated cause of the fear seems wacky, silly, or crazy, parents should always believe a child who says is frightened. It is inappropriate to make fun of fears or to minimize them. Forcing a child to face a fear before the child is ready is harmful. Defining childhood fears So-called "traditional" childhood fears are linked to developmental milestones: such as fear of the dark, fear of separation, fear of monsters, and fear of noises. These fears are transient and may disappear and reappear during the childs development, depending on life experiences. For example, a preschool child attending a new school might develop a fear of monsters or dinosaurs before going to bed. While this fear remains strong, bedtime rituals might seem endless. On the other hand, some fears are not linked to experience but result from the brains evolution. For example, its very common to have fun in the sea with a 2 year old and to see the same child one year later extremely scared about being bitten by a shark. There are also fears which result from experiences: Im afraid to go to the dentist because I remember it was unpleasant last time. Or: "I read a book in which a little rabbit was afraid of the dentist, so the dentist must be scary!" Be careful. The movies, cartoons and books your children are exposed to might feature overly violent images that can be overwhelming for the young. If a child goes through a traumatic experience, he might manifest fear in similar situations in the future. For example, after falling off a horse, a child may be frightened at the sight of horses, even in photos. His internal sense of security might be damaged and, as a result, the child might be afraid of many different things. Soothing your child 1) Listen compassionately. Make yourself accessible. Let children say what they feel, without judging, interrupting or trying to reason with them. Instead, validate childrens emotions and allow them to cry. It is always better to name the emotions and to ask details about what your child feels, rather than to deny the feelings or to say dont worry, this is nothing. 2) Be physically reassuring. When children express fears, you can watch with love, take their hands, touch a shoulder, try to keep physical contact. Then take the child in your arms and share your loving presence, a kiss, a cuddle. 3) Reassure a frightened child by giving simple, rational answers: "Youre afraid to go to school because you will not see Mom and Dad all day. Even if we are not together, we both think of you and we are happy because we know we will be together at the end of the day." "Youre scared before falling asleep because at your age, your imagination is boundless and you see monsters." There are no sharks on the beach. "Look, the dinosaur you see is actually the shadow of your chair." To move forward, you can demonstrate the principle of shadow puppetry. 4) Play together! Play is good for all children, especially those experiencing anxiety. You can role play to create a game about your childs fear and laugh about it to release the tension.You can also let the child draw the monsters that frighten him, then give the monsters all ridiculous attributes (a red nose, lipstick, a little dress, firefighter hat, etc.). All this must be done very gently and respectfully. 5) Encourage children to find solutions. Whether its fear of failing to make friends in a new school or fear of witches, let the child list all solutions, without judging them. This may ease fears. If children need help to do this, guide them and give them options: What could you do to be less afraid at night? Would you like to have a flashlight?" Give the child an object that belongs to you to help reassure your child. Seeking professional help Your childs worries are cause for concern if they develop into severe anxiety and interfere with healthy development. When parents feel helpless, it is probably time to see a therapist who will help you understand the cause and give you tools to reduce anxiety. In all cases, be patient and listen. This is the best way to help a child grow and to develop healthy self-confidence! FAMILY MEDICAL PRACTICE HANOI *** Laetitia Bluteau is a Clinical psychologist trained in France, able to work with mother-baby dyads, teenagers, children and adults, dealing with different issues such as violence, anxiety, self-esteem, trauma, phobias, etc. She also provides psychological assesments and parenting consultations. HCM CITY Best-selling author Nguyen Nhat Anhs new novel Ngay Xua Co Mot Chuyen Tinh (Once Upon a Love) has been available at bookshops nationwide. Speaking at the launch of the book in HCM City on Wednesday, Anh said: The book is about teenage love, but contains problems that teenagers must face when they grow up. The book is different from my previous works, said Anh, who is one of Viet Nams most successful writers of childrens books. The 320-page book features a love triangle among three teenagers named Vinh, Phuc and Mien. It also reflects the way young people discover the world and find ways to have a happy ending. The book contains mature topics, including sex before marriage, pregnancy, and single motherhood, as well as naughty boys learning to become men, Anh said, adding that he hopes readers can see how the characters mature after they experience ups and downs. The Tre (Youth) Publishing House has published 70,000 paperback copies and 10,000 hardcover copies of the book. Nguyen Minh Nhut, director of the publisher, said: Its not the best time to release a new book, but Anhs fame will guarantee its success. The author started his career in 1984, publishing more than 80 stories for children, which received recognition from both children and adults. He has written several stories about teenage love such as Mat Biec (Blue Eyes), i Qua Hoa Cuc (Daisy Passing), and Co Gai en Tu Hom Qua (Girl from Yesterday). The books moved millions of readers with its depiction of young peoples difficulties in life and their first loves as well as hopes for their bright future. VNS MARGARITA, Venezuela - The strength of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is best displayed when its member countries are unified, raise one voice and act as one on the basis of the founding objectives and principles of the movement, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said. The Deputy PM and Foreign Minister sent the message to the 17th NAM Summit that kicked off in Margarita, Venezuela on Saturday. In his speech, titled strengthening solidarity on the basis of common objectives and principles for peace, sovereignty and sustainable development, the Vietnamese representative said over the past 55 years, NAM has grown stronger and greatly contributed to the struggle for peace and against war, national independence, and mutual assistance for development. The official noted that along with development opportunities, the world today presents many unprecedented challenges. Security threats, conflicts, lack of respect for or disregard of international law, interference, coercion and imposition by big powers of values, views and selfish interests still linger, he added. On top of those, he said, inequities in international trade and finance, climate change, environment and marginalisation risk, unilateralism and terrorism have been on the rise and cannot be addressed by a single country. In this context, NAM must first reconsolidate the unity and solidarity of its 120 members. In this endeavor, adherence to international law is the prerequisite for a stable, democratic and rules-based international relations and respect for sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and international peace and security. The Deputy PM underlined the need to strive for the best development interests of the Movement in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, with particular emphasis on the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities. At the same time, it is necessary to revitalise and explore innovative modalities to foster such co-operation mechanisms as South-South, tripartite, intra- and inter-regional and sub-regional co-operation, he said. Minh also referred to ASEANs efforts in building its community, especially in promoting peace, security, stability and development, and addressing complicated regional challenges, including the East Sea (South China Sea) issue. He called upon all parties concerned to exercise self-restraint and solve disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, fully respect diplomatic and legal processes, implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and expedite the completion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). The Non-Aligned Movement is the second largest international organisation in the world, after the United Nations (UN). It currently has 120 member states, 17 observer countries and 10 observer organisations. Bilateral meetings Minh had separate meetings yesterday with leaders of El Salvador, Haiti and Burundi, on the sidelines of the 17th NAM Summit. Meeting with the President of El Salvador Sanchez Ceren, the Deputy PM assured him of Viet Nams policy on developing multi-faceted relations with his country. The President said his country would set up a diplomatic representation in Viet Nam to promote economic and trade links between the two countries. At the meeting with Haitian Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles, the two sides hailed the positive development of bilateral ties, reflected through high-level visits and an effectively operating telecom project. The Haitian side urged Viet Nam to send experts to Haiti to share experience and techniques in rice cultivation. Minh and Burundis Foreign Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe stressed the necessity to enhance exchanges of all-level visits between the two nations, and sign economic co-operation agreements soon. The Vietnamese leader called on Burundi to facilitate Viettel Groups Lumitel telecom project, thereby expanding links between the countries in other fields in the future. VNS The Ministry of Home Affairs has established the Viet Nam International Law Association as a socio-occupational organisation. Photo vov.vn HA NOI The Ministry of Home Affairs has established the Viet Nam International Law Association as a socio-occupational organisation. Politburo member and Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said at the ceremony on Saturday that the establishment of the association is in line with Party, State and Governments policy, serves national development, and meets the demand of generations of Vietnamese who study and practise international law. He suggested the association create a forum for foreign law enforcement experts and managers, and work with other legal organisations such as the Viet Nam Lawyers Association and the Viet Nam Bar Federation to contribute to building the rule-of-law State, improve judicial reform and conform national law to international commitments. He expressed his belief that the association would make significant contributions to national defence and development, as well as the development of the international law community. The executive board of the Viet Nam International Law Association for the 2016-2019 tenure includes 21 members. It will focus on studying and popularising international law, supporting the Governments standpoints at international forums, and co-operating with other organisations and businesses on legal issues, dispute settlement and global integration. VNS HCM CITY HCM Citys police has called for prosecution against two South Koreans detained on smuggling charges, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) reported. The police on Sunday proposed that the municipal Peoples Procuracy begin legal proceedings against two South Korean citizens -- Cho In Soo, 37, and Her Min Chul, 37, -- for alleged smuggling and Vietnamese citizen Duong Minh Thi, 31, living in District 7, HCMC, for alleged smuggling across the border. According to police investigation, Cho In-Soo and Ha Min Chul had bought used mobile phones in South Korea to resell in Viet Nam. On the afternoon of April 22, 2016, the HCM City division of economic and corruption crime investigation (PC46), in collaboration with the Customs Branch of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, caught the two subjects red-handed illegally smuggling 96 used mobile phones (all South Korean brands - Samsung, LG, Luna, and Vega) without customs declaration while they were being processed for entry into Viet Nam. The suspects told the police that they planned to sell these phones to a South Korean currently residing in Phu My Hung (District 7, HCMC), but did not know the name and address of the person. For each phone sold, they would make some VN100,000-150,000 in profit. As per the valuation results, these 96 phones have a total value of VN342 million (VAT excluded). The Consulate General of the South Korea Republic in HCM City has confirmed that Cho In Soo and Her Min Chul, have a record of breaking the law several times back in their home country. Duong Minh Thi was on the same flight from South Korea to Viet Nam with two South Korean nationals. The two cases are, however, unrelated. The authorities discovered 24 mobile phones (Samsung, LG and Luna brands), 240 mobile phone batteries, four rice cookers, 739 lipsticks, and 191 brimmed hats inside her baggage, all without customs declaration. Thi allegedly told police that she bought the 240 mobile phone batteries and planned to sell them to mobile phone stores in Viet Nam. However, with regard to the rest, she said she was hired to smuggle them from South Korea into Viet Nam. She was told she would receive payment of US$13 for each phone she carried, VN70,000 for each hat, VN120,000 for a lipstick and VN40,000 for each rice cooker. The estimated total value of the smuggled goods in this case stands at VN437 million (VAT excluded). VNS NINH BINH Save Vietnams Wildlife (SVW), Cuc Phuong National Park and Ha Noi Wildlife Rescue Centre (WRC) have successfully released 33 Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) into the wild at an undisclosed secure site. SVW said late last week that the lucky pangolins were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in August. After a month of care at SVW and Ha Noi Wildlife Rescue Centre, they were released back into the wild in good health. SVW does not disclose the release locations of pangolins, due to the risk of the animals being located and recaptured by poachers. "This successful release was the result of hard work by WRC and SVW staff. We look forward to further successful releases in the future," the Director of WRC, Ngo Ba Oanh, said. Nguyen Van Thai, the Director of SVW, said sharing of skills and resources is a logical move for all those involved in rescuing these animals from the cruel illegal wildlife trade. Experts release Sunda pangolins into the wild at an undisclosed site in Viet Nam. Photos Save Vietnams Wildlife According to SVWs Head Wildlife Keeper, Luong Tat Hung, the collaboration between government run rescue centres, WRC, and SVW at Cuc Phuong National Park will help reestablish the critically endangered pangolin. Last month, 20 Sunda Pangolins were released into nature, thanks to cooperation between the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Programme, SVW and Cuc Phuong National Park. According to Save Vietnams Wildlife, 95 Sunda Pangolins confiscated from the wildlife trade were returned to the wild at safe locations this year. Pangolins are the most traded animals in the world. Viet Nam has two species, the Sunda Pangolin and the Chinese Pangolin. Both are critically endangered, meaning they are in imminent threat of becoming extinct in the wild. Save Vietnams Wildlife (SVW) is a national non-profit organisation founded to provide more effective solutions to secure a future for Vietnamese wildlife. VNS HA NOI Ethnic minority childrens education has been improved by teaching in both their mother tongues and Vietnamese, research has showed. Results from the action research on mother tongue-based bilingual education, released on Friday, showed that bilingual education is a feasible approach in Viet Nam. The multi-ethnic nation has 53 ethnic minorities accounting for about 14 per cent of its population. Ethnic minorities reside mainly in mountainous, remote areas, facing difficulties in socio-economic development and education. According to the report, students should access education through the language they understand best. When children are mostly guaranteed to be able to attend, their mother tongue should be used as long as possible. In Viet Nam, seven ethnic minority languages Cham, Khmer, Ede, Bahnar, Jarai, Hmong and Chinese are taught at 782 schools with more than 124,000 students in 20 provinces. The pilot project on Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education was implemented by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2008 in collaboration with UNICEF in three provinces with high ethnic minority population densities - Lao Cai, Gia Lai and Tra Vinh in three languages - Hmong, Jarai and Khmer. About 520 five-year-old children and 510 primary school students are engaged in the project. Ha uc a, director of Research Centre for Ethnic Minority Education, said that the project had helped improve education for ethnic minority children. Evidence gathered from the three pilot sites indicated that the programme had a substantial positive effect on students, teachers, education managers, parents and beneficiary communities. The children in bilingual classes made great strides in knowledge, skills and their attitude to study, he said, adding that they became more confident and enjoyed school more than those in monolingual classes. Students in bilingual classes were also more proficient in Vietnamese than those in monolingual classes, he said. For example, in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, nearly 24 per cent of students in bilingual classes were rated "Excellent" in Vietnamese, about 46 per cent were rated "Good" and about 30 per cent were rated " Average". While in monolingual classes, only 20 per cent were rated "Excellent", 40 per cent were rated "Good" and 40 per cent were rated "Average". Bilingual classes in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tra Vinh saw 55.5 per cent of students rated "Excellent", 22.3 per cent were rated "Good", and 11.2 per cent were rated "Average". In monolingual classes in Tra Vinh, 38.3 per cent were rated "Excellent", 39.7 per cent were rated "Good", 16.2 per cent were rated "Average", and the remaining 5.8 per cent were rated "Less than average". An advantage of bilingual education was that when teachers/students failed to communicate in Vietnamese, they could shift to the students mother tongues, he said. It is obvious, though not yet generally recognised, that when children are learning in a language, which is not theirs, they are faced with a double set of challenges: not only do they need to learn a new language but they also need to learn new knowledge, new cultural norms and practices that are contained in that new language. Furthermore, these challenges might be exacerbated, for certain groups, who are already at risk of illiteracy, poverty and other vulnerabilities, said Yoshimi Nishino, chief social policy and governance, UNICEF Viet Nam She said that bilingual education could be very effective in improving education. The success of the programme clearly showed that ethnic minority groups in Viet Nam may be better served and become socially and economically active if ethnic minority languages were used in other social services such as in healthcare and the legal sector, she said. VNS LONG AN The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Intel Products launched a joint effort to restore habitats in the Lang Sen Wetland Reserve last week, with the goal of planting more than 12,000 native trees this year. The project aims to restore the degraded forests, providing habitats for wildlife and ensuring livelihoods for local residents, whose livelihoods depend on the areas ecosystem. Recent rapid changes in climatic factors like temperature and rainfall, as well as the hydrological regime of the Mekong River, have led to serious degradation of the forests. The partnership also aims to support the fight against water scarcity in the Mekong Delta, thanks to the forests ecological function of storing floodwaters during the rainy season and releasing freshwater into surrounding communities and recharging groundwater in the dry season. In the first phase of reforestation, WWF and Intel have engaged 400 volunteers, including employees of the chip maker and TRG International, to plant trees on September 14 and 17. The volunteers also engaged with local students in Tan Hung Commune, Long An Province, to raise awareness and encourage the practice of reusing plastic bottles to protect the environment. The Plain of Reeds, including the area of Lang Sen Wetland, not only has a crucial environmental role in protecting the Mekong Deltas wildlife, but also provides the fundamental eco-system services for local communities, Trinh Thi Long Fresh Water Practice Co-ordinator, WWF-Viet Nam, said. Restoring the wetland habitats in Lang Sen goes beyond the conservation of this areas wildlife, and provides local people with better livelihood opportunities. Currently only 1 per cent of the Plain of Reedss natural wetlands remains intact. To counteract the trend of degraded eco-system integrity, WWF has been delivering a comprehensive ecosystem-based climate change adaptation programme since 2007. WWF started working in Lang Sen in 2010 to improve water management, conserve bio-diversity and establish a monitoring system for the recovery of the natural habitat. As the reforested area within the WWF Intel partnership significantly contributes to WWFs strategic plan, it sets a strong foundation for developing further conservation works in the Lang Sen Wetland Reserve in the ever-changing context of climate change. This is a great opportunity for Intel and its employees to engage in a meaningful project with WWF, directly contributing to both improving long-term livelihoods in local communities and raising awareness among its employees of the importance of ecological preservation, and the negative impacts of climate change at the community level, Ho Uyen, public affairs director, Intel Products Viet Nam, said. Officially established in 2004, Lang Sen Wetland Reserve is among the few natural remnants of the Plain of Reeds (ong Thap Muoi), and home to almost 300 species of plants and animals. It provides freshwater and fisheries to 9,000 people in the surrounding areas. VNS The Director of the Planning Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vu Quang Cac, speaks to Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper about the shortcomings of planning activities in Viet Nam What do you think about planning activities in Viet Nam? Unreasonable development plans are seen in sectors including steel, beverage and rice export. The Ministry of Industry and Trade developed planning for rice traders who are eligible to export. In my opinion, I dont think this needs to be planned as it does not relate to any arrangement of space. Controversial opinions are also raised about planning on rice farming land. Its reasonable to keep land for farming but it is not necessary to grow only rice in the planned areas. Farmers should be allowed to grow other crops if they are more profitable than rice. I witnessed a situation in which the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Industry and Trade developed two separate plans for the medical materials industry. The two plans were quite the same. I think it would be better if they worked together on only one plan, which could formulate policies to better attract investment to the industry. Some are afraid that without Government planning in some key sectors or products, people would rush to such sectors/products, possibly resulting in lower prices. Do you think so? Despite Government development plans, for example for farming products, abundant farming products were left spoiled and thrown away. Actually, planning doesnt always curb losses for farmers. Planners themselves are not sure in predicting market demand and supply, especially world supply-demand. Moreover, to some extent, plan makers cannot understand the market as well as the business itself. Once investing in certain sector, business always finds out about market conditions as much as possible. How would we manage the development of key sectors/ products if planning is removed? Viet Nam has had development planning for pepper, coffee and rubber - but these were usually changed. Authorities failed to control over- or under-production of these crops. Experience from other countries shows that Government should set conditions instead of planning. For examples, Government imposes conditions relating to financial capacity, environment or work safety. The Government then publicises these conditions to deter ineligible business from entering these sectors. Currently, businesses can be hurt if they are not included in the Governments development planning. They have to wait from six months to two years to be added to adjusted plans. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has re-proposed a draft law on which faced objections last year. Is there any change in the new version? The draft law on Planning proposes planning for only 33 sectors. Ministries and agencies would not carry out planning by themselves, as previously. A national planning council would be responsible in order to prevent overlapping and serve the benefits of a particular sector/ locality only. The draft also removes planning for particular products. The production and trade of products will be managed with conditions, criteria and according to principles of transparency and international practice. VNS Viet Nam expects a place among the top three at the 11th ASEAN Skills Competition (ASC) taking place at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang.VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuan HA NOI Viet Nam expects a place among the top three at the 11th ASEAN Skills Competition (ASC) taking place at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang. A send-off ceremony for the Vietnamese delegation to the September 19-29 event was held by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) in Ha Noi yesterday. The 109-member delegation comprises 32 technology experts for juries, and 44 competitors selected from a national skill competition who will show off their talents at 22 out of 25 categories of the regional round. MoLISA Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep expressed his belief that the Vietnamese contestants will raise the countrys prestige in the world arena. The 11th ASC draws the participation of 214 experts and 280 competitors from ASEAN member countries, except Brunei. Its opening ceremony is scheduled for September 23. The ASC is the centrepiece for showcasing young ASEAN skilled talents. The ASC provides the impetus for participating ASEAN countries to develop motivated and high-performing skilled workers. It also serves as an ideal platform of collaboration within the skills community in ASEAN as the region strives to enhance the delivery of technical and vocational education and training. Last year, Viet Nam claimed first place at the 10th ASC, which it hosted, with 15 gold, six silver and six bronze medals. VNS NGHE AN Farmers in Nghe An Provinces Dien Chau District are deeply concerned about the extraordinary number of fish that have been dying since Saturday. The deaths are taking place in farming cages in the Bung River, passing through the communes of Dien Hanh, Dien Nguyen, Dien Quang and Dien Ky. At about 10am on Saturday, fish in my familys three farming cages, in which 1.5 tonnes of fish are being raised, started to die en mass, 63-year-old Chu Van Thanh, a resident of Dien Hanh Commune, said. He added that his family was distressed because of the huge economic loss. The fish were about to be harvested with an estimated value of VN500 million (US$ 22,400), he said. A similar occurrence is taking place in farming cages of hundreds of other families along the river. The locals said this was not the first time fish have died in this area. Fish deaths were also reported in June and July but the quantity of dead fish was much less. They attributed the recent incident to the polluted river water, which had turned red and had a foul smell. They felt the most likely reason for the deaths was the discharge of wastewater from a factory processing cassava located in the upstream area of Yen Thanh District. Le The Hieu, head of the agriculture sector in Dien Chau Peoples Committee, yesterday afternoon said the local authorities had collected water and fish samples for testing. Mass fish deaths have increasingly been reported across the country in recent days, many of which were caused by improper waste treatment in industrial production. In particular, the Taiwanese Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Seel Corporation was responsible for 100 tonnes of fish dying, whose carcasses washed ashore along the four central provinces in April. VNS TUY HOA The south-central province of Phu Yen has declared a state of emergency due to severe erosion in the estuary of the a Nong River. The decision was announced by provincial Peoples Committee Chairman Hoang Van Tra on Saturday after the entire elevated part of the 237m levee in the north of a Nong Rivers estuary collapsed, due to which water flowed onto the land at high speed. At some places, water flowed 100m inwards. The levee foundation was levelled to nearly as low as the riverbed due to erosion. Another 100m levee which protects the Phu Lac residential area in Hoa Hiep Nam Commune was also severely eroded, causing two houses to collapse and threatening tens of other households. Vo Ngoc Hoa, chairman of ong Hoa Districts Peoples Committee, said the districts authorities had instructed Hoa Hiep Nam Commune and the Hoa Hiep Nam Border Guard Station to inform local residents about the erosion so that they could prepare themselves in case of an emergency. The provincial authority has ordered the reinforcement of the levees by putting two-tonne rocks along the levees foundation to reduce erosion. The province is also proposing that the government allocate a fund of VN800 billion (US$35.8 million) to reinforce the levee in the long term. The construction of the levees was started in 2002 with a budget of VN42 billion and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was the investor. However, authorities discovered several cases of wrongdoing and corruption related to the project, leading to the prosecution of 13 public officials and contractors. Since then, construction was left unfinished, leading to serious damage by the high tides. VNS HA NOI Foreigners can easily rent or buy motorbikes in Viet Nam but many of them do not know the countrys traffic laws and traffic police find it difficult to punish them because of language barriers. Viet Nams laws regulate that for a foreigner to drive a motorbike in Viet Nam, they must be above 18 years old, allowed to live in the country and have a valid driving license. But foreigners can hire motorbikes easily without fulfilling the above conditions. In the centre of HCM City, many shops advertise motorbikes for rent from VN100,000-200,000 (US$4.4-8.8) per day depending on the kind of motorbikes. The owner of a shop in District 1 said that to hire a motorbike, a foreigner only needed to give his/her passport, or some money as a deposit. Tuoi tre (Youth) newspapers correspondent found that near the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, there are many shops offering motorbikes for hire. Most of their customers are foreigners. In Nha Trang City in the central province of Khanh Hoa, there are a number of similar shops in main streets such as Biet Thu, Nguyen Thien Thuat and Tran Phu. The shops advertise their services in Vietnamese, English, Russian and Chinese with the prices of VN150,000-250,000 ($6.6-11) per motorbike per day. Lawyer Huynh Van Nong said that a foreigner violating the Law on Transport should be fined like Vietnamese people. If the violator and traffic police did not have a common language, or the violators do not obey the traffic police, the police could still punish them. Nong said that foreigners could change driving licenses from their country to Viet Nams driving licenses, and the procedure was simple and clear. Lawyer Vu Manh Quynh said that for foreigners from countries driving on the left hand-side such as the UK, Singapore and Australia, they could be asked to take a theory test when they want to change their driving licenses in Viet Nam. At present, procedures to let foreigners hire motorbikes in the country were basic, said Quynh. In some developed countries, the work was more professional. The hirer must show his/her driving license, credit card, passport and must buy insurance, he said. Infrastructure and signs system in Viet Nam is quite different from international norms, for instance, urban traffic signs are often hidden by billboards of shops and restaurants. Lawyer Quynh proposed the Government refer to regulations of other countries such as Germany about the motorbike owners responsibility in punishing traffic violations. Nguyen Van Canh, head of the Khanh Hoa Traffic Police Department, admitted that some traffic police were embarrassed to punish foreigners for violating traffic laws because of their limited ability to speak foreign languages. Paula Bianca, a tourist who often visits Viet Nam, said she was fined by traffic police two months ago in Ha Noi for driving in the wrong direction. The police could not speak to me in English, he used body language to express that I violated traffic laws, she said. Paula had to pay US$20 for the violation. Huynh Trung Phong, deputy head of the HCM City Traffic Police Department, said that the department set up teams with workers good at foreign languages to punish foreigners violating traffic laws. The punishment would go together with education and guidance to help them understand the regulations, he said. Colonel ao Vinh Thang, head of the Ha Noi Traffic Police Department, told the Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper that recently some foreigners did not wear helmets while driving motorbikes, and the city police would give strict punishment to them. But the traffic police would be flexible. For instance, when foreigners said that they went to Viet Nam as tourists so they did not know the laws, traffic police will give them a warning only, said Thang. VNS HA NOI Health ministers from ASEAN member states convened a teleconference yesterday seeking ways to combat the Zika virus, which has hit much of Southeast Asia. As of yesterday, seven out of 10 ASEAN countries recorded Zika infections, except for Laos, Brunei and Myanmar. Thailand and Myanmar reported the viral disease in 1954 and 1969, respectively, but it has yet to erupt into outbreak. Since 2012, the number of cases in 13 Thai cities and provinces surged to 314. As many as 12 new cases of Zika were reported in Singapore last weekend, bringing the total number to 381 since the start of the outbreak on August 27, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA) of Singapore. As of last Friday in Viet Nam, three people in HCM City, the central provinces of Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen were found infected with the virus. The Vietnamese health ministry forecast that more infections were likely to be reported in the country in the near future. Speaking at the event, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said Viet Nam has raised public awareness of Zika prevention, especially at international airports and border gates and called for financial aid. Concluding the event, participants issued a joint statement detailing co-operation in increasing monitoring efforts in each country, improving information exchange, surveillance and countermeasures, as well as mosquito control and management of larvae breeding grounds. More action! The HCM City Department of Health is stepping up preventive methods against the spread of the Zika virus after two foreigners tested positive with the virus. One of the foreigners, a German woman who works in the city, tested positive for the virus while she was visiting Japan. A Taiwanese man, who had travelled to Tra Vinh Province, tested positive after returning to Taiwan. The health department told district-level preventive health centres to continue spraying chemicals to destroy mosquitoes and larvae. Areas at high risk should be monitored to minimise the multiplication of mosquitoes. Education on preventive health measures should also be provided for residents, especially pregnant women, the department said. Surveillance of infections has been strengthened as well. The citys 30 hospitals are required to report any incidence of communicable disease, including Zika, to city authorities. According to the department, only 20 per cent of patients infected with the Zika virus have symptoms such as fever. The department said that most patients have had mild cases and have recovered without specific treatment. To deal with the spread of Zika in Singapore, the HCM City International Health Quarantine Centre is inspecting arriving aircrafts from Singapore and spraying pesticide to kill mosquitoes, if necessary, Nguyen Hong Tam, the centres acting director, told Viet Nam News. The centre is screening all arriving passengers for fever at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. When passengers with suspected symptoms are detected, they will be stopped by a health quarantine officer for examination and epidemiological investigation. If there is a strong suspicion of infection, they will be transferred to a hospital for isolation. The quarantine room, nearby areas and means of transport at the airport will be sprayed to prevent the Zika virus from spreading. Warnings and precautions about the Zika virus and preventive methods are being provided to passengers and staff working at the airport. As many as 2,500 passengers from Singapore come to HCM City via the airport every day. Wolbachia bacteria Mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria, which have been intentionally released on Tri Nguyen Island in Khanh Hoa Province since 2013 in an experiment to control dengue fever, could control Zika, according to the Ministry of Health. Wolbachia bacteria can stop the dengue fever virus from replicating inside mosquitoes that transmit the disease. In April, the province recorded one Zika incidence. Since 2013, the island has had only one incidence of dengue fever. The provinces Peoples Committee has approved releasing mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria in four more wards in Nha Trang City. Between 2018 and 2021, mosquitoes with Wolbachia will be released in two or three more provinces to control dengue fever. VNS BANGKOK The search for several missing passengers continued yesterday after a boat carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailands Chao Phraya river leaving at least 15 people dead, a provincial governor said. The accident happened on Sunday afternoon near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong tides. "The death toll is now confirmed at 15, with 11 people still missing," Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong said, updating the overnight toll from 13 dead. "Fourteen people are still in hospital," he said, adding "the rescue operation resumed this morning to find those missing." No foreigners were believed to be among the dead. Local television stations showed graphic footage of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people on the bank. Passengers were trapped on the lower deck of the pleasure boat, which was submerged in the swollen, brown waters agonisingly close to the bank. Despite its wealth compared to regional neighbours and huge tourism sector, accidents are common on Thailands public transport network. Safety regulations are often weakly enforced, including on boats with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common in particular in busy tourist areas. The Chao Phraya, the main river that flows through Bangkok, is a key commuting artery, filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital whose riverside is studded with the remains of Buddhist temples. Thailands reputation as the "Land of Smiles" has suffered in recent years amid frequent deadly bus and boat accidents, crimes against foreigners and political unrest. But visitors keep coming. A record high of nearly 30 million travelled to the kingdom in 2015, a number boosted by a surge in mainland Chinese tourists, with some 33 million expected this year. The government this week said they expected tourism to account for as much as 17 per cent of GDP this year. AFP In summer 2015, Virginia Tech mechanical engineering graduate student Ashley Taylor, a native of Fort Chiswell, Virginia, was on a transatlantic flight home from her third trip to Malawi. She was unable to rest, still thinking about what she had seen. While touring the neonatal ward at Domasi Rural Hospital in southern Malawi, her group had discovered that doctors faced a big problem in keeping infants alive keeping them warm. Lack of reliable, consistent electricity meant that some babies died during cold nights in the neonatal unit. Blankets often disappeared, as mothers took them home to keep their children warm. Knowing that mechanical engineering principles could underpin a solution, Taylor had a thought: A group of undergraduate students could tackle the issue of neonatal hypothermia. Before the plane had landed, Taylor had her advisor, Kevin Kochersberger, associate professor of mechanical engineering, on board to help. Together, they set in motion the development of a passive warming device they later called the baby pod. The next year saw Taylor mentoring six undergraduates who adopted the baby pod for their senior design project. Employing only materials readily available and inexpensive in Malawi, the team devised a prototype built primarily from PVC pipe with chicken-feather insulation. Because a group of Ugandan mothers was available to give quick feedback, the team turned to them for its first test. The mothers gave thumbs up but noted the pods lack of beauty and suggested it be covered in fabric, so Taylors group made the change. Unfortunately, when Taylor returned to Malawi this past July to unveil the pod, the negative reaction jolted her. Because of the pod's shape and use of chitenge the local fabric what immediately came to Malawian minds was a child's coffin. Humbled by the misstep, the team scrapped the design and intensified the gathering of community feedback. Based on local suggestions, the pod became a basket-like device with a natural look. Taylor said a key lesson was learning how crucial it is to incorporate the community in the design process, to "make sure that were not just parachuting in with a cool solution, but that it is a community-led thing. Reza Barkhi, professor of accounting and information systems in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, has been named the KPMG Professor in Accounting by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. The KPMG Professorship in Accounting was established in 2004 to support the Pamplin College of Business in its efforts to attract and retain eminent scholars in the field of accounting. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1997, Barkhi does research focusing on decision support and organizational integration systems, information technology audit and control, social network analytics, the economics of information systems, and cybersecurity. He currently serves as a senior editor of the journal Decision Support Systems and as an associate editor of Information Technology Management. He also serves on other journal editorial boards and is active in professional organizations. He served as president of the board of trustees for the Virginia Accounting and Auditing Conference. He has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. Barkhi completed a five-year term as department head, stepping down in June 2016 to return to full-time teaching and research. He has taught courses in the areas of management information systems, database management, decision theory, information systems audit and control, systems analysis and design, operations management, and executive decision making at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has also served, including as chair, on more than 20 doctoral dissertation committees in his own department and in other Virginia Tech departments, including computer science, industrial and systems engineering, and marketing. Barkhi held the PricewaterhouseCoopers Junior Faculty Fellow of Accounting and Information Systems from 2010 to 2015. He received his bachelors degree, two masters degrees, and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Unequal Budget funding for the Yes vote wont give Australians equal say If you seek to ensure not all Australians get an equal say in the debate about an enshrined voice, then dont be surprised when millions of them cry foul about the integrity of the result. ISIS brides and children repatriated from Syria should be in a jail forever 04:45 Iraqi refugee Salam Qaro says all ISIS brides and their children who have come from Syrian detention camps should be in a jail forever". Australian killed in South Korea stampede 00:12 It has been confirmed an Australian citizen has been killed in the Halloween stampede in South Korea. Federal government warned to act quickly on power prices 02:54 The federal government has been warned it must act before the end of November to stop power prices from climbing another 50 per cent next year.... This blog has MOVED to https://robertwaters.wordpress.com CREVE COEUR, Mo. Eldorado Resorts Inc. of Reno, Nev., said Monday it would buy St. Louis-area based casino operator Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. for $1.7 billion, including debt. The transaction includes the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo. It is subject to regulatory approvals, including by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017. Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo will become one of 20 properties owned by Eldorado Resorts, Isle senior director of communications Jill Alexander said. While the transaction is newly announced, and specifics of the transition are being formulated as we speak, it is business as usual at Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo... Very little if anything noticeable is expected to change. Were being told theres no change, other than a change in the parent company, Beth Knipp, executive with the Black Hawk County Gaming Association, the nonprofit organization that holds the Isles state gaming license. The association distributes a portion of the Waterloo propertys adjusted gross revenues for community projects and property tax relief. The Isle also has Iowa properties in Bettendorf and Marquette. Creve Coeur, Mo.-based Isle of Capri owns or operates casino properties in seven states, primarily under the Isle, Isle of Capri and Lady Luck brands. The transaction includes all properties companywide under that name. Eldorado, founded in 1973 in Reno, Nev., owns seven casino properties in five states: Eldorado Resort Casino, Silver Legacy Resort Casino, and Circus Circus Hotel Casino in Reno; Eldorado Resort Casino in Shreveport, La.; Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort in Chester, W.Va.; Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs in Columbus, Ohio; and Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie, Pa. Brian Ohorliko, executive director of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, said his staff will meet with Eldorado executives for information on the companys key employees here and determine which of the company executives would have to undergo background checks, since they havent previously done business in Iowa. The same would be true with any other state the company is expanding into with the acquisition. Essentially, what it entails is making sure Eldorado is suitable ... to do business here, Ohorliko said. He noted the company is in good standing in Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Nevada, where it currently does business and that those states regulatory procedures are well respected within the industry. Isle of Capri will receive 1.638 shares of Eldorado common stock, or $23 per share, which represents a premium of 35.9 percent to Isle of Capris Friday closing price. The deal includes Isle of Capris $929 million of long-term debt, the companies said. Isle shareholders will own 38 percent of the combined entity and Isle will designate two new directors to sit on the companys board, subject to agreement of both companies. The transaction has been unanimously approved by boards of both Eldorado Resorts and Isle of Capri, the companies said. The acquisition of Isle of Capri represents a transformational growth opportunity for Eldorado and creates substantial and immediate value for Isle of Capri shareholders, Alexander said. The companies said they have identified cost synergies of approximately $35 million in first year following completion of the transaction. The combination builds the scale of our gaming operations and further diversifies the geographic reach of our operations without any overlap with our existing properties, Eldorado Resorts Chief Executive Gary Carano said in a statement. Following the deal, Eldorado will have 20,800 slot machines and video lottery terminals, more than 560 table games and more than 6,500 hotel rooms. The deal will add to Eldorados free cash flow and diluted earnings per share. Eldorado has received financing for the deal totaling $2.1 billion from financial adviser J.P. Morgan. Credit Suisse is Isle of Capris financial adviser. WATERLOO Police arrested a Waterloo man and seized a stolen handgun Sunday evening traffic stop. Kristopher Darquel Spates, 22, of 134 Warneka St., was arrested for carrying weapons, interference with a weapon, first-degree harassment, assault on a peace officer causing bodily injury and fifth-degree criminal mischief. According to police, officers pulled over a vehicle for a missing brake light in the area of Vinton and Mulberry streets at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday. Spates was a front seat passenger, and officers noticed a handgun in his waistband during a safety pat down search, according to court records. Spates allegedly pulled away from police and reached for his waistband, and officers seized a loaded .40-caliber Glock Model 22 and detained Spates, records state. Spates allegedly spit on one officers eyes and told another officer he was gonna be in a ditch, court records state. Police said the pistol had been reported stolen during a 2015 burglary. The traffic stop came a day after someone reported shot at the home of Spatess relative. Officers were called to 520 Elm St., where Spatess grandmother lives, after a neighbor reported hearing gunfire at about 8:35 p.m. Saturday. The shooter allegedly fired at the house from a passing vehicle and fled. No injuries or damage were reported, according to police. No arrests have been made in the shooting. UPDATE: A news conference is scheduled today on the Safety Services Director Dan Trelka's status. According to a news release from Waterloo City Hall, the joint press conference to discuss Trelka's status and future community policing will be 2:30 p.m. at City Hall. EARLIER STORY WATERLOO --- Director of Safety Services Dan Trelka who has overseen several missteps by officers over the past few months has told some of his staff he has been asked to step down. Neither Trelka nor Mayor Quentin Hart would publicly confirm the report last week but will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. in City Hall to discuss the situation and the future of community policing in the city. News of the removal of the popular chief rippled through the community Friday and Saturday with many people expressing dismay and outrage Trelka is the fall guy for the department. There were reports on social media a crowd will show up at Mondays Waterloo City Council meeting to protest the decision. The council meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. According to sources, Trelka, 52, informed a small number of officers that he had been asked to leave, and that there would be no improvement in the department if he remained chief. The police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor. Hart, in his first term as mayor, was out of town Friday and declined to comment when reached, saying he would not discuss personnel matters publicly. In recent weeks the Waterloo Police Department has come under fire over allegations of unfair treatment of black residents. In July, the city finalized settlements with residents who brought use of force lawsuits and the family of a 13-year-old girl who was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. In August, the department began an internal affairs investigation into recorded remarks a patrol officer made disparaging a black teen killed in 2013, and in September police disclosed another officer had been disciplined for striking and pulling the hair of a handcuffed black suspect following a chase and crash. Several Waterloo City Council members contacted Friday said they were unaware of the move, including Steve Schmitt, chairman of the councils public safety committee. Council member Tom Lind, the committees vice chairman, said he received a phone call relaying a third-hand rumor Friday morning before the news broke. That was the first I heard about it, and it was just kind of a rumor, Lind said. I dont know if he resigned or got fired. After the news was out, Lind said he received a phone call from Hart, who told him it was a personnel matter and Hart couldnt talk about it with Lind. Lind said he was troubled he and Schmitt werent approached for input. The two of us should have been at least been advised or asked for our opinion about making such a major change, and maybe the whole council should have been asked about it, Lind said. Council member Pat Morrissey, who like Hart attended a National League of Cities state conference in Des Moines last week, said he knew of no developments regarding Trelka. In recent weeks, officers have been undergoing diversity training, and last week Trelka said he had been in meetings with the U.S. Department of Justices Community Relations Service. Trelka was named Waterloos police chief in 2010, and he was appointed to the newly created position of director of public safety in January 2011. A Wisconsin native, Trelka had served in the U.S. Marines and was a sheriffs deputy in Weld County, Colo., before becoming a police officer in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., in 1992. He became the Sturgeon Bay police chief in 2003 and held that position until he was named Waterloos police chief. Former Black Hawk County Supervisor and longtime neighborhood anti-crime activist Leon Mosley is one of Trelkas staunchest supporters. I think he is a great police chief, Mosley said. He has sat in my yard. He has helped us with crime in the community personally. Hes out in the community, and hes doing one heck of a good job. And it really upsets me that somebody asked him to leave. If he wants to leave, thats a whole different story. The person that has asked him to leave, what has that person done in the community to make it safer and better? Mosley said. Asked if he would feel the same if that person were the mayor, Mosley said, I dont think the mayor would do that. I hope he wouldnt. Theyre not going to find anybody thats going to do a better job than he (Trelka) is doing. We have two blacks on the police force. Why? said Mosley, who is black. They are begging to get people. They wont come. Meanwhile social media sites such as the Taking Back Waterloo page filled with comments in support of Trelka. A Facebook page We Support Dan Trelka was also started and had nearly 1,000 likes by Saturday afternoon. Courier news editor Pat Kinney contributed to this story. WATERLOO A Waterloo woman was shot with a BB gun while pushing a stroller. Witnesses reported seeing a man leaning from a passenger vehicle and hearing three pops near Washington Park, 500 W. Park Ave., at about 6:09 p.m. Sunday. One BB hit Tabitha Conrad, 18, in the chin, and a second BB struck a cup that was in the stroller with a 3-month-old girl, said Capt. David Mohlis with the Waterloo Police Department. He said the infant wasnt injured. Conrad was taken to Unity Point Health-Allen Hospital, and authorities recovered the BB that struck her, Mohlis said. The suspect is described as a white male, age 13 to 14 with dark hair, police said. WATERLOO Dan Trelka will continue to lead an embattled Waterloo Police Department looking to rebuild trust with the community and stamp out gun violence. Residents, mostly supporting the safety services director, packed the City Council chambers Monday just hours after Mayor Quentin Hart announced Trelka would remain on the job. Many carrying signs stating We got your six, Dan and Dont scapegoat Trelka gave him a standing ovation when he entered the council chambers and shared personal stories about how Trelka had helped them resolve issues. Others said Trelka should be held accountable for a series of recent missteps by his officers involving black suspects. While Trelka reportedly told some of his officers last week hed been asked to resign reports neither Hart nor Trelka would confirm or deny Hart said Trelka was being assigned for the next year to focus solely on the police issues, removing him from his dual role overseeing Waterloo Fire Rescue. I believe that Dan Trelka is the one that can help us to address the myriad of challenges internally and externally that we face, Hart said. Chief Trelka and I, through community meetings, outreach, best practices, conversations and a passion for this community have begun a process of a community-wide policing plan that will work toward regaining public trust that has been lost due to some of our shortcomings. But this just isnt a plan to hold accountability to our public safety officials, he added. It will also send a message to any perpetrators of senseless violence that takes place in our streets that enough is enough. Trelka said he was not quitting and will work with Mayor Hart. Weve got some challenges to face; weve got some adjustments to make, Trelka said. Were having great conversations. All of this is for the betterment of Waterloo and Im optimistic for the future of all of us. Trelka was hired as Waterloos police chief in 2010, and he was appointed to the newly created position of director of public safety in January 2011, which included overseeing fire operations. Hart said Pat Treloar, chief of fire services, would now answer directly to the mayors office. (Trelka) and I both agree that at this moment the focus should just be with WPD and him as chief, Hart said. The challenges that we face internally and externally are too daunting to have a dual capacity. The Waterloo Police Department has been involved in a series of incidents recently that led some to call for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate. Those included settlements over improper use of force, recorded remarks an officer made disparaging a black teen killed in 2013 and the release of a video earlier this month showing an officer striking and pulling the hair of a handcuffed black suspect following a chase and crash. Hart acknowledged those incidents shine a bad light on the community but stood by the police department. The (incidents) dont represent City Hall and they dont represent the best of what our brave public safety officers have to represent this community, he said. More than 30 residents paraded to the microphone during nearly two hours of public comments during the council meeting. Several residents said they were prepared to blister the city for forcing Trelka to resign but changed their message after learning he was staying. The way things transpired over the last four days is ridiculous, absolutely appalling, said Pete Miles, who said Trelka deserves more officers along with the citys support. In the six years he has been here, every year crime has dropped. Hart took personal responsibility for the situation when some residents began criticizing the City Council for the issues swirling around Trelkas employment. Im not going to let them take a beating for conversations Ive had with Dan, Hart said. This was my conversation with a staff member. Others were not as quick to applaud the decision to keep Trelka on board. Andrea Anderson said change was needed at the top of the department because officers who allegedly roughed up her 17-year-old son Malcolm in 2014 remain employed in the city. Why are they not in jail for assaulting my son? said Anderson. Malcolm filed a federal lawsuit over the incident and was paid $100,000 to settle the suit this year and not speak about it. David Goodson said he once supported Trelka to the federal justice officials but was changing his view. I do want you to know I question your leadership, Goodson said. Youve got some police officers on this force making you look bad. WATERLOO In Burma, when Catholic parishioners want to pray they can say the rosary at a shrine at churches open around the clock. In Waterloo, however, the doors are often locked when it isnt time for Mass, said Ivan Saw Soe Myint. Thats the reason Burmese members of Sacred Heart Church in Waterloo wanted to build a shrine for the Virgin Mary outdoors near the rectory. That, and seeing the Mary statue on the ground felt uncomfortable for us, Saw Soe Myint, a minister at Sacred Heart, said. On a visit to Kansas City, he got the idea for an outdoor shrine. We already had this idea a long time ago, he said. Our Burmese people love to pray the rosary. So a group of Burmese men, led by builder and Sacred Heart church member D Phoe Ei, spent about two weeks beginning in August constructing a large brick-and-stone shrine devoted to Mary. They finished the work Sept. 3 and had a procession the next day to celebrate in advance the Birth of the Virgin Mary on Sept. 8. Especially D Phoe had that experience in a Thailand refugee camp every year they celebrate the Blessed Mary, Saw Soe Myint said. This year we prayed to the Blessed Mary (at the shrine). Saw Soe Myint and Phoe Ei, along with church member Henry Phatanet and associate pastor the Rev. Luigi Htya Ruh, all helped complete the shrine in time for the feast day, donating their labor and talents. The workers, nearly all of whom work at Tyson Foods, spent two to three hours on the shrine each day before heading to their jobs. Since then, others have added to the shrine with flowers and candles to lay at the feet of the Mary statue. We can gather here anytime thats why its a special place for our community, Saw Soe Myint said. The builders hope to add plantings and landscaping in the spring, as well as a bench to allow people to sit and pray. Saw Soe Myint said he wants it to be a model for other Catholic churches. They did such a good job on it, said Jenna Feeney, director of music and liturgy coordinator at Sacred Heart. This is really, really cool, and I want the whole community to know. Saw Soe Myint said it was important for the Burmese builders to contribute to the community. Its not only for our Burmese people, but the church too, he said. We want to show we are family. Even though we come from different places, different countries, we are also part of the church. CEDAR FALLS -- Travis Yaggy served two tours of duty in Iraq in his nearly nine years in the U.S. Army. "I seen stuff I really don't like talking about," Yaggy said."Don't take any offense, but a lot of times, I try to avoid talking about it around civilians." He lost friends over there. "Multiple," he said."The number I know of right now is eight. I know some of the ones I served with in Iraq the first time, they lost their lives in either Afghanistan or Iraq," on subsequent deployments. But he'd much rather talk about fishing. More specifically, spinner baits. How he tries to imitate the color, shape and motion of bait fish. How he makes a lure presentation look like a bluegill. Or a shad. Or a perch. And he'll show you the largemouth or smallmouth bass he and other folks have caught with his spinners. "I get as close to the actual colors as I can," Yaggy said. Fishing brings him peace. Peace from the dreams that come back ... maybe not always during the day, but during his unconscious thoughts at night. The 2001 Cedar Falls High School graduate has been diagnosed with service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder. He sleeps, but not always restfully. He has other dreams, to replace the dreams of Iraq. He dreams of expanding his own business to the point where, some day, he can help other veterans enjoy the peace of fishing. He's started his own cottage industry, Yaggy's Custom Lures. His girlfriend, Keri Cox, who keeps the books, said word of his work has spread, by word of mouth and among other veterans, to the point where he has dozens of back orders. "This is his stress reliever," said Kevin Dill, a career former Marine who is executive director of the Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs Commission. "He hopes to take other vets out who are suffering from PTSD fishing, a way of relieving that stress." That peace comes not only when he's in a boat, or working a shoreline, but in what he calls his "dungeon" in his home. That's where he creates his spinners. When he's "in the zone," he can crank off as many as 200 crank baits in a day. The lures work. He has the photos to show it -- mostly nice-sized large and smallmouth bass, caught by him or others who have used his lures. "I've got proof," he said."Right now I mainly do spinners." He'd like to get into other lures "but that requires funding" to buy the raw materials. He said he got into the enterprise because "I got bored one day and said 'You know what? Let me go ahead and see what I can do with spinner bait ... . You keep tweaking it and you keep perfecting it." Yaggy caught the attention of Dill, who attests Yaggy has a talent to share that can help other veterans. He just needs the time and the help to make that business grow. "He's got a skill and a talent that not only helps him, but you can see that helping other veterans who struggle with PTSD," Dill said. "Travis and Keri and I got together and talked about his fishing lures and the idea he could teach that to other veterans or get other veterans fishing and help him having his own business where he's making money, but at the same time helping other veterans. That's where Travis needs to be. He's working toward that goal." "He told me one day, 'I want to make a business out of this,'" Cox said. "He does the lures and I do about everything else. "I see how he benefits from it," Cox said. "At home he's a different person. You can tell he struggles. But when he's by the water, the world makes sense. He's just totally different by the water." Cox said she's done research, and fishing therapy helps stave off suicides. "I get peace of mind," Yaggy, 33, said."This is about the only way I get calming. I already have enough troubles sleeping." Yaggy spent his first tour in Iraq with the 54th Engineering Battalion based in Bamberg, German, attached to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. His second tour was with the 10th Mountain Division. "Kevin's been helping me quite a bit on a lot of these issues," Yaggy said, and he's also been volunteering on the establishment of a shelter for homeless veterans in east Waterloo. "More vets do need to come by and see Kevin. He's a true master at his craft. He does his job and he's very, very competent." "Whatever we can do to help him, I'm right with him," Dill said. "This could lead to him saving some lives. We all need to get behind him. Everybody in this community -- all of us veterans, all of us who love to go out fishing -- we need to get behind Travis and support his business, to help him and other veterans and save some lives, which I believe it will do." Dill said the Veterans Administration doesn't itself have funds for startup businesses but can connect them with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Also with service-connected PTSD, he can connect with vocational rehabilitation through the VA with education and other assistance while he's establishing a business. He aspires to actually have a shop and continue to particpate in or make additional connections with other veterans, fishing tournaments and sport shows. Interested individals may contact Yaggy at (315) 777-5787, Cox at 243-9446 or online at yaggyscustomlures.com. More information also is available on Facebook and a GoFundMe pages, "Army Veteran Starting a Business," or https://www.gofundme.com/2e3axd8. The Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs commission is located the Pinecrest county office building, 1407 Independence Ave., 291-2512. NBCs Commander in Chief Forum, held Sept. 7 aboard the USS Intrepid in New York, was the closest thing to a debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton until the real thing Sept. 26. And it showed an advantage Trump might have when the two meet face-to-face: She has a record in government to defend, while he doesnt. On that score, Trump, at 70, a newcomer to politics, seems new, while Clinton, at 68, a veteran of decades in public life, seems, well, not new. The format of the NBC forum, in which the two candidates were separated by only a commercial break, put that contrast into higher relief than ever before. Clinton cited her experience right out of the blocks, when moderator Matt Lauer asked her, What is the most important characteristic that a commander-in-chief can possess? Steadiness, Clinton answered instantly. An absolute rock steadiness, and mixed with strength to be able to make the hard decisions. Because Ive had the unique experience of watching and working with several presidents. The problem for Clinton was talk of her experience leads naturally to talk of what she has done and that, in todays campaign environment, means talk of her mishandling of classified information as secretary of state. Why wasnt it disqualifying? was Lauers second question of the evening. Then, when it came time for the military audience to ask questions of their own, the first for Clinton, from a retired naval officer, was brutal. Secretary Clinton, how can you expect those such as myself who were and are entrusted with Americas most sensitive information to have any confidence in your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security? Ouch. Clinton argued she did not send or receive emails with a header marked TOP SECRET or the like. Maybe voters will find that convincing, and maybe they wont. But it was a rocky start. The next question, from Lauer, was about Clintons vote in 2002 to authorize the Iraq War. Another audience member stood to ask: You have had an extensive record with military intervention. How do you respond to progressives like myself who worry and have concerns that your hawkish foreign policy will continue? And then Lauer asked about Clintons role in the Iran nuclear negotiations. One common theme of all the questions: They focused on things Clinton did in her years in office, in the Senate and as secretary of state. She started out by citing her experience, so Lauer and the audience answered, in effect, OK, lets talk about your experience. Trump has no such experience. Theres no Trump record in public office, no government decisions that went awry, no votes to back away from, no nothing. When running for public office, even for the presidency, that can be an advantage. In a number of presidential elections in recent decades, especially races between two non-incumbents, the candidate with less governmental experience, especially less national government experience, won. Barack Obama had a lot less experience in government than John McCain when he defeated McCain in 2008. George W. Bush, midway through his second term as governor of Texas, had less experience in government than Al Gore, who by 2000 had served 16 years in the House and Senate and eight as vice president. And Bill Clinton, a long-time governor of Arkansas, had nowhere near the experience President George H.W. Bush had when Clinton defeated Bush in 1992. Thats not to say Obama, Bush I and Clinton had no experience at all in government, as is the case with Trump. But in 2008, 2000 and 1992, less was more when it came to national government experience. Democrats who try to pin Trump down on his record have a harder time than Republicans going after Clinton. Look at what Clinton tried to do Wednesday evening with Trump on Iraq. My opponent was for the war in Iraq, she said. He says he wasnt. You can go back and look at the record. He supported it. He told Howard Stern he supported it. On Sept. 11, 2002, Stern asked Trump, Are you for invading Iraq? Trump answered, haltingly, Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly. Compare that brief exchange on the Howard Stern show! with Clintons extended and carefully reasoned speech on the Senate floor supporting military action against Saddam Hussein, plus her vote to authorize the war, and its not clear voters will see the equivalence Clinton is trying to sell. Thats the challengers advantage: The candidate who has done less on the national stage has less to answer for, and his hopeful promises and pronouncements are less weighted by an actual record. Of course, Clinton has significant advantages of her own. But for Democrats hoping Clinton will land a knockout blow in the upcoming debate, the NBC forum was a cautionary moment. It showed Trump has some serious strengths of his own, and that in what could be the most asymmetrical matchup ever, Clintons experience might not be the advantage her supporters hope it will be. On Chief Trelka MIKE and MARY JO PETERS WATERLOO We would like to say a few things about our police chief Dan Trelka. He is a very sincere person who loves God, loves his family and is a true servant. We have found him to be willing to help people of all races, backgrounds and faiths. Besides raising five of his own children, he and his wife have been foster parents on several occasions and also have adopted four more children since moving to Waterloo. We feel so privileged to have this man of integrity as our police chief. He is truly working to make this community a better place for everyone. Confidence in Trelka HOWARD GRIFFIN CEDAR FALLS I am a lifelong resident of the Cedar Valley. I have known, personally, many of the police administrators who have served here. I have had the privilege to serve as well. Law enforcement is a difficult and often thankless vocation. Many decisions have to be made, some in the blink of an eye. Chief Dan Trelka is a quality administrator. He came to this community with a wealth of experience, a positive attitude and a can-do spirit. I truly believe he wishes to serve all community members. He is listening. He is open to suggestions and is willing to lead. To ask for his resignation makes little sense to me. What changes need to be made should be clearly identified, benchmarked and those goals should be objectively evaluated. Let Trelka lead the change process. I think if given the chance, he will pleasantly surprise you. If there are shortfalls in policing, identify them. Or, better yet, apply, train and put on the uniform. Dedicate your life to protect and serve. Own the solution yourself. Trelka should go KATE McELLIGATT WATERLOO Kudos to Mayor Quentin Hart for making the tough decision to ask Chief Dan Trelka to step down. Abusive and unprofessional conduct by police officers must never be tolerated. Hopefully this will be the first step in the process of elevating the standards within the department. I fully support outside scrutiny and support by the U.S. Department of Justice through a comprehensive review, as advocated by the Des Moines Register and many community members. Community Policing initiatives will be important, but the way to improve the citizens relationship with the police is for each police officer to approach every citizen with kindness, respect and professionalism during every interaction, whether in or out of uniform. Reporting MIKE MOORE JANESVILLE They Got you covered Right. On Sept. 15, Ron Steele reported on a judge people are trying to vote out due to his (non) sentencing of a child molester. But he did not mention the judges name one time. Thanks KWWL for telling who to vote out of position. Editors Note: It was a story out of Ottumwa and the judge was Randy DeGeest. The 19-year-old offender was given a suspended 10-year prison term and placed on probation after pleading guilty to lascivious acts with a child. Ag photo contest is now underway WATERLOO Entries are being accepted for Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Areas annual Capture the Heart of America Photo Contest. Photos may be taken anywhere in the United States of America, except for one category dedicated to SSNHA partner sites. Contest entries are due Sept. 28. Go to www.silosandsmokestacks.org/photo-contest for online entry form and complete contest rules/guidelines. Contest categories include: American Farmscapes. This category captures beauty through artistic depictions of farm and field scenes. Life on the Farm. This category shares the story of the American farmer. Silos & Smokestacks partner sites. From dairy farms and museums to vineyards and tractor assembly tours, more than 100 designated Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area partner sites share in Americas agricultural story in a 37-county region of Northeast Iowa. This category lets visitors share their experience at Heritage Area Partner Sites. Celebrations of Agriculture. This category commemorates the agricultural experience at countless events throughout the country. Americas Agricultural Industry. This category captures this important story. UIU, Bertch form new partnership FAYETTE Bertch Cabinet Mfg. Inc. employees and their family members will soon benefit from a new partnership with Upper Iowa University. As Corporate Advantage Program partners, the companys employees, their spouses and dependent children younger than 26 are eligible to receive set tuition discounts at any of Upper Iowas 25 U.S. educational centers or through UIU distance education programs. The application fee also is waived for all eligible participants. Based in Waterloo, Bertch Cabinet Mfg., Inc. has been family owned and operated for 40 years. Local Rotarians attend summit WATERLOO Two Cedar Valley residents will join 40 Rotarians younger than 40 at an inaugural Young Professionals Summit in Cleveland on Sept. 29Oct. 1. Whitney Jackley of the Cedar Valley Rotary Club and Emily Neuendorf of the Waverly Rotary Club were selected to participate in the event, held in conjunction with a Legacy Zone and Rotary Institute. The institute involves Rotarians from 28 districts in 10 U.S. states and a portion of Ontario, Canada. Jackley is marketing director/River Valley district executive with the Boy Scouts of America Winnebago Council. Neuendorf is foundation director at the Waverly Health Center. 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(36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Willamette University College of Law welcomes Professors Andrew Gilden, Aaron Simowitz and Amy Meyers to its faculty in 2016. The three join the colleges faculty of dedicated teachers and leading legal scholars, nationally recognized for their research, publications, and contributions to the law. Gilden teaches property, internet and copyright law, as well as trusts and estates. His research focuses on intellectual property and internet law, in addition to legal issues concerning free speech, civil rights, gender identity and sexual orientation. Before joining Willamette, Gilden was a Thomas C. Grey Fellow and Lecturer of Law at Stanford University. His key publications include the journal articles, Common Sense and the Cannibal Cop in Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (2015), Raw Materials and the Creative Process in Georgetown Law Journal (2016) and Punishing Sexual Fantasy in William & Mary Law Review (forthcoming 2016). Simowitz teaches international business transactions, debtor and creditor law, negotiation and a seminar on resolving business disputes. His research focuses on cross-border business transactions, litigation and arbitration. Previously, Simowitz was a research fellow at New York Universitys Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law and a fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU. His key publications include the journal articles Transnational Enforcement Discovery in Fordham Law Review (2015), Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments and Award: What Hath Daimler Wrought? in New York University Law Review (2016) and Legislating Transnational Jurisdiction in Virginia Journal of International Law (forthcoming 2017). Meyers teaches Legal Research and Writing and Legal Analysis for the Bar. She also consults with students seeking assistance with their writing for the bar or other academic performance. The degree of professionalism, preparedness, civility and engagement has been very exciting to see from my side of the podium, and I look forward to working closely with students in individual conferences as the semester progresses, she said. Before joining the College of Law, Meyers taught at Charlotte School of Law in North Carolina and practiced law with her husband in St. Louis, winning a $5.2 million judgment for a teacher-plaintiff in an employment discrimination and retaliation trial. About Willamette University College of Law Opened in 1883, Willamette University College of Law is the first law school in the Pacific Northwest. The college has a long tradition at the forefront of legal education and is committed to the advancement of knowledge through excellent teaching, scholarship, mentoring and experience. Leading faculty, thriving externship and clinical law programs, ample practical skills courses, and a proactive career placement office prepare Willamette law students for today's legal job market. According to statistics compiled by the American Bar Association, Willamette ranks first in the Pacific Northwest for job placement for full-time, long-term, JD-preferred/JD-required jobs for the class of 2014 and first in Oregon for the classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014. Located across the street from the state capitol complex and the Oregon Supreme Court in downtown Salem, the college specializes in law and government, law and business, and dispute resolution. Sep 19, 2016 | By Alec The Emirate of Dubai is rapidly becoming synonymous with 3D printing, as the city state is turning its considerable wealth towards sponsoring high-tech enterprises, innovations and pioneering technology. Earlier in the year, the country unveiled their own Dubai 3D Printing Strategy, which aims to make the country the 3D printing capital of the world by 2030. This innovative drive is now further supported by the Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA) program, which launched during the summer. A massive 2,274 applications arrived from all over the world, and just 30 (including construction 3D printing innovator Construction Robotics) were chosen for a twelve week testing and pioneering program. 3D printing is just one of the disrupting technologies that the DFA program (an initiative from the Dubai Future Foundation) was looking for. Aiming to revolutionize seven key sectors of society, including health, construction and energy, the program launched to bring some of the worlds most innovative developers to Dubai. Now that we have concluded the selection phase of the Dubai Future Accelerators program, we can go ahead with the actual testing stage for the innovative solutions in cooperation with the relevant authorities, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation Saif Al Aleeli revealed. This isnt a one-off event either, as the DFA has been set up to house three rounds of innovators every year - covered by three month periods. The initiative will provide training programs for the selected startups to learn about business development, prototyping and the setting up of pilot programs in Dubai. By the end of the twelve week period, participants are given the tools to set up a profitable business model in collaboration with relevant government entities and global experts. Funds come from the Waqfs $275m Future Fund. Through this initiative, the UAE is seeking to redefine the international role of business accelerators, said His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi, managing director of Dubai Future Foundation. But when looking at the list of thirty finalists (less than 2 percent of the total 2,274 applications), its clear that Dubai is looking at the entirety of society. Most prominent among them is Hyperloop One, which is seeking to develop a light speed transportation system, while Next Future Transportation specializes in self-driving vehicles. Other big names are Concensys, one of the world leading app software providers and Honeywell, with the latter focusing on developing new 3D digital systems for medical applications (and 3D printing). According to HE Mohammed Al Gergawi, they were targeting companies that, through sustainability and innovations, will help Dubai usher in the fourth industrial revolution and change business models as we know them. Following an in-depth study undertaken with our partners and a group of leading experts to test the feasibility and effectiveness of each entrys proposed solutions for the challenges facing the relevant key sectors, we can confidently say that we have selected the most innovative and promising applicants, he stated. While many of the startups will use 3D printing in one shape or form throughout their development process, the technology seems to be most strongly represented by Construction Robotics, a construction specialist that seeks to increase productivity five-fold through innovative 3D printing solutions. Their selection is not entirely surprising, as Dubai is known for its refreshing look at construction. Their immense man-made islands are a new wonder of the world, but they are also steadily adopting 3D printing for various new structures, such as Dubais Museum of the Future and this first fully functional 3D printed office building. Through Construction Robotics many more similar projects will doubtlessly follow. Indeed, infrastructure and construction are two of the key targets on the government agenda. Together with education, health, energy and transportation, they will provide a global platform to develop new and innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges facing society, HE Al Gergawi argued. When it comes to innovation, there is a flood of good ideas but not enough champions with courage and vision to test them out. It is also remarkable that the DFA has set a new acceleration program record in attracting businesses, and that doubtlessly has something to do with the extreme eagerness of Dubai to be innovative. Our goal is to transform the city of Dubai into a global test bed for leading ideas and technologies, said H.H. Sheikh Hamdan, the Crown Prince of Dubai. Also very appealing is the fact that no equity or intellectual property has to be handed over to Dubai. We only ask only that we be invited to invest alongside other partners if fundraising is part of the eventual outcome of your participation in the program. Our goal is to help you take your product or service prototype out into the real world, with real partners and real impact, the organizers previously stated. This is about creating and testing real proof of concepts and prototypes at the city-wide scale. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Sep 19, 2016 | By Alec Remember Project Maia? Launched back in April, this heartwarming Australian project by researchers from the Queensland University of Technology and the Hear and Say charity started working on a fully functional 3D printed ear implant for the 2-year-old Maia who will be the first Microtia patient in the world to receive such an implant. The same people behind Project Maia are now upping the ante with the FutureHear platform which seeks to bring the same 3D bioprinting solution to Microtia patients everywhere. To realize this, they are hoping to raise $200,000 AUD (about $150,000) through a Pozible crowdfunding campaign. This is a solution that is more necessary than you might think, as Microtia (or little ear) is a seriously debilitating ear deformity that leaves people completely deaf in one or both ears. Imagine you are born without an ear, or with an underdeveloped ear (termed Microtia). Imagine the phychosocial implications, potential bullying, the associated hearing issues. Imagine being a parent wanting their child to have a completely normal life, the uncertainty, the search for a solution, the FutureHear initiators say. Affecting about one in every 6,000 births around the world, it leaves most patients without a functional earth canal. While some patients currently wear headbands that transmit sounds to their brain (using the skull as a conductor), its a poor substitute for the real thing which is actually in reach. FutureHear is seeking to provide life-like, removable 3D printed ears to children born without them. Through the 3D scanning of the other ear, these children can be given an affordable prosthesis that is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. In time, even fully-functional prostheses are a realistic possibility. Of course traditional prosthetics offer some opportunities as well, but these are very labor-intensive and expensive to manufacture. They also need to be regularly replaced, due to wear and solar damage. Many families simply cannot deal with those extra expenses. Children from all over the world can benefit from this FutureHear concept. The four-and-a-half year old Ole Walton from Brisbane, for instance, is in need of two implants for his two underdeveloped ears. We don't know what the future, exactly, will bring but we're really impatient and quite excited by the prospect of everything that's going on now, his mother said after hearing of the project during Hear and Say Centre's annual Microtia workshop. In this specific case, ear prosthetics could be modeled after the ears of Oles parents. There'll be the debate of who's ears will he have. It will be very exciting, but every ear is different so it would be nice for him to have his own unique ones, she added. This fantastic initiative can be traced back to 2015, when Dr Dimity Dornan (founder of Hear and Say) met with biofabrication specialist Dr. Mia Woodruff. The latter was giving a presentation on the medical possibilities of 3D printing at QUT, and audience member Dornan simply asked her if the same 3D printed patient-specific implant options were available for ears as well. Yes, but weve never really focussed on that........ why? Woodruff replied, and things grew from there. Hear and Say, which already helped children through personalized listening and speech therapy, was more than willing to accommodate 3D printing as well. As Dornan explained, 3D printing can enable a huge leap forward in the treatment of deformed ears. It is absolutely a world first, when we can get to the stage where we're biofabricating the child's ear with the child's own skin and cartilage cells, Dornan said. When that stage is reached, it is absolutely a world-first but what we are doing is, firstly, generating the next-generation prosthetic ear, which will be far better than anything else around. It's exactly the same as the ear they have on the other side, usually, and it will be completely matched using computer scanning and an app in an iPhone. FutureHear was thus born, but quickly ran into financial difficulties. The Australian government simply failed to provide them with adequate funding. We have the people, we have the resources, we just don't have the research funds to enable us to do that project, Woodruff said, adding that Australia can easily become a world-leader in the field of 3D printed ear structures. Undeterred, the project has now turned to crowdfunding, as theyve seen more than enough social support already. The public understands that they can be part of this journey, that they can help contribute, even if it's just in a tiny, tiny way, she said. But crowdfunding also necessitates a clear schedule and targets, and FutureHear has therefore started focusing on three realistic goals. Firstly, to create child-specific prosthetics that are cheaper than a pair of glasses. Secondly, to 3D print tissue-engineered ears that are functional and permanently implanted. Thirdly, to address hearing functionality through 3D printed embedded electronics. The first prosthetic ears can be ready by late 2017. The real revolution would be in the biofabricated ears of the second and third goals. These are ears we're also 3D printing, but we're using biocompatible sterile materials and we are culturing those in a bioreactor in a laboratory with cells taken from a patient and we are creating a living ear that will be implanted by a surgeon, Woodruff said. The prosthetic could be achieved by the end of next year and, if the funds come in for that project, it will enable and catapult the tissue-engineered ear to be able to be hopefully realized within a five-year timeframe. To build a foundation for these ambitious plans, FutureHear is now seeking to raise $200,000 in 45 days through a Pozible crowdfunding campaign. Though backers are not rewarded the usual perks known from Kickstarter, they can help to make a real difference in childrens lives. The funds will largely go towards research equipment and to support positions for scientists and researchers. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Sep 19, 2016 | By Tess 3D printers have been popping up in lots of places, from libraries, to stores, to classrooms, but recently they have popped up in a less expected location: banks! Are they 3D printing money? No. But the Volksbank eG regional headquarters in Villingen, Germany is using 3D printers to help make its employees digitally literate, which in turn will help them to retain and improve their customer relations. The 3D printer at the bank is actually part of a larger project which the bank has called its innovation playground which consists of additive manufacturing technologies, VR headsets, drones, IoT robots, digital mirrors, and Amazons hands-free Echo speaker. Currently, the Volksbank regional headquarters is only making the innovation playground available to employees, though it plans to open it up to potential customers in the future. If youre still wondering how a digitally literate bank employee would be an advantage, Thomas Bader, head of business development at Volksbank, explains that by giving its employees a hands-on experience with emerging technologies, the bank hopes that it will be better disposed towards helping its tech oriented business customers and offering them banking advice. He says: The employees must change their private ideas and go with this new technology to the customer. We would like to bring our employees to this room to show them the future technologythey can play with it, put it in their hands and have fun. The innovation playground is also part of a larger effort to reach out to clients as many bank branches are forced to close down for a number of reasons. For instance, Volksbank, a German co-operative bank, has had to downsize its branches from over 45 to just 37 in the past ten years, with only 26 of those being staffed. Within the next 10 years, that number could even drop to as little as 10 branches, so making customer experiences as valuable and informed as possible is crucial. Volksbank has definitely taken a step forward in giving its customer service an edge with the implementation of the 3D printer and the rest of the innovation playground. Not many regional banks are thinking about this, and thats a problem, explained Mr. Bader. Regional banks are smaller, with lower budgets and less time to think about this... At our bank we have a budget to look into the future and design ideas for employees and customers to bring together. The innovation playground was realized by Volksbank with the help of NCR, the U.S.-based company known as the maker of ATM machines. Ralf Kluth, NCRs innovation evangelist, conceived of the idea for the digital playground with the vision that technology is the key to transforming the current economic and banking system. Volksbank, which currently has 37 branches, 110,000 customers, and a 3.8 billion balance, hopes to see positive feedback and results from its new, and rather experimental, technological playground. After all, if you were opening up a business account for your 3D printing startup, wouldnt you prefer to work with a bank that knows the technology? [Via: FT] Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: John Dee wrote at 9/20/2016 5:19:03 PM:As the banks have far more money than the rest of us, it would be far more impressive if they had machines we couldn't afford, SLS, CNC, etc. Instead of expensive toys like VR headsets, drones, IoT robots, digital mirrors, and Amazons hands-free Echo speaker. Sep 19, 2016 | By Alec If you cant beat em, join em. That is, in a nutshell, what UPS mustve been thinking. They have been interested in the concept of 3D printing for some time, and have been extensively experimenting with 3D printing on-demand services in the US. But now it has come to light that 3D printing also threatens a modest, but solid, portion of UPSs income: the storage and shipping of spare parts, the demand for which is expected to decrease as 3D printing grows. In response, UPS is now planning to expand its 3D printing services to Asia and Europe. The shipping and storage of spare and replacement parts represents just a small portion of the United Parcel Service business model, but every business loves security. As more and more companies are switching to in-house 3D printing, that secure portion is expected to shrink over the coming years. 3D printing is a great opportunity for us, but it's also a threat, said Alan Amling, UPS vice president for corporate strategy. Nonetheless, the exact figures for this competition from 3D printing are not known. UPS does not disclose its profits from supply chain services, such as warehouse storage. In 2015, they did reveal that they earned about $6 billion from forwarding and logistics services (which includes warehousing operations) about ten percent of their total sales. While many companies would respond to such market changes by fighting them tooth and nail, UPS has thus chosen to get on board with 3D printing. They are envisioning a 3D printing service that supplies plastic components for every possible size, shape and quality category, and delivers them all over the world. This obviously requires the setting up of new 3D printing factories in Europe and Asia, with Singapore and Japan being contenders to house those factories in the Far East. Amling further revealed that UPSs European HQ in Cologne, Germany, is the number one option for the Europe factory. Those services could very well be modeled after UPSs solution for the US market, which is covered by a collaboration with 3D printing service Fast Radius. The service launched in May and relies on a 3D printing factory at UPSs hub in Louisville, Kentucky. Users can upload their own designs to the service, which are 3D printed in Louisville or in any of the sixty UPS stores throughout the US that are already offering industrial thermoplastic 3D printing services. While Fast Radius calls it a digital manufacturing factory, the Louisville service is relatively modest and features a handful of 3D printers operating around the clock. According to Fast Radius CEO Rick Smith, it offers a glimpse of how 3D printing is about to transform manufacturing. Especially prototypes for various industrial applications are being 3D printed in Louisville, which exactly illustrates the field in which 3D printing can make a difference. GoPro is also a regular client, and uses the service to 3D print mock-ups of new fittings. 3D printing allows you to fail quicker or to stumble on moments of genius, GoPro product designer Ryan Harrison told Reuters. But UPS are not the only delivery service to see 3D printing as a threat. German service DHL, part of Deutsche Post AG, previously warned about the effects 3D printing could have on the traditional supply chain, which heavily relies on delivery services. Low-cost 3D printed drones are also appearing as viable delivery options as Flirtey recently proved by delivering a warm pizza via drone. It seems obvious that those technologies that can disrupt manufacturing can also disrupt delivery services. Morningstar analyst Keith Schoonmaker rightly pointed out that, though 3D printing is still in its infancy, it can definitely supplement or replace [UPSs] services. But the real question is: can it be economically viable? As 3D printing continues to drop in price and increase in quality, more and more professional clients are adopting the technology for themselves. This would obviously also affect UPSs target market. Why wait a day for a part to arrive (from UPS) when you'll be able to innovate six times a day on your own? Professor of Strategy at the Tuck School of Business Richard D'Aveni wondered. Time will tell. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: by Evan Edwards The following is part of a project I'm working on that traces out the history of various words for human locomotion. My hope is that by understanding the uniqueness of each of these words, I can gain a deeper appreciation for walking. The entry (and following entries as well) begins with passages from literature that use some synonym for walking, then gives basic etymological information, as well as a preliminary definition of the word. The last and largest part of the post is an essay that goes deeper into both the history and semantics of the word to make a case for its beauty and power in describing the ways that humans move. Amble And that's why I have to go back to so many places in the future, there to find myself and constantly imagine myself with no witness but the moon and then whistle with joy, ambling over rocks and clods of earth, with no task but to live, with no family but the road. Pablo Neruda, El Viento But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks. Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymphs William Shakespeare, Richard the Third, Act I, Scene I Let me have my way, Madame. The post of Justice of the Peace is an ambling pad for M. Vitel; for me it shall be a war-horse. Honore de Balzac, Le Cousin Pons Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these. Susan B. Anthony Early 14th century, Late Middle English, from Old French ambler, ultimately from the Latin ambulare, cognate with Greek . Pronunciation mbl Originally applied exclusively to horses and persons riding horses. In the late 16th century, it came to be applied to people moving like a slow-moving horse. When applied to horses, it refers to a speed slightly faster than walking, and slower than galloping. In modern English, when applied to human locomotion, it signifies going at a slow, leisurely pace. Somewhere in the British Isles, in the ninth century, horses started walking very strangely. For the thousands of years that humans had spent living alongside them, horses had almost exclusively walked in just one way; that is, with one particular gait. A traditional horse gait occurs when pairs of diagonal hooves move in tandem such that at some point, all hooves are off the ground at once. Traditionally gaited horses would also walk with a foot on the ground at all times, but this was slow going for the horse and rider. This way of moving, with which humans had been acquainted for millennia, is due to the connections in horse ligaments that restrict liberty in their muscular legs. This arrangement had caused horses to be ridden mainly in two ways. Either you rode a horse at a walk, and could travel for long distances very slowly, or you could ride her at breakneck speed for brief periods of time. The reason for this is that when a horse moves her legs in diagonal tandem at high speeds, it tends to be very uncomfortable for the rider. Faster, traditionally gaited horses were often used by nobles in antiquity and the early middle ages to sprint across fields during battle, and were highly praised in war-time because of their ability to quickly catch the enemy. But outside of war, these naturally gaited horses had their own problems. Because a naturally gaited horses bones and muscles are shifting from side to side, riding a natural gait at high speed leads to so-called saddle-sores if you ride for too long. Consequently, it is impossible to ride a naturally gaited horse at high speed for very long and allows for short-distance travel exclusively. The alternative to riding natural gaits at speed is to ride at walking speeds about 4 mph which doesnt allow you to go very far either, since even though it is more comfortable to ride for long amounts of time, you are still travelling barely faster than a speedy human walk. So, when these abnormal British horses began walking in this new, strange way, it might have seemed at first to be some kind of undesirable birth defect. Even today this mutation, which eventually came to be known as an ambling gait, is described as strange, awkward, and funny. But the British horse breeders who discovered this alteration also noticed that it allowed them some remarkable advantages. The new ambling gait was in fact the result of a genetic mutation in horses that occurred in York, England, in around 850 CE. The mutation on a gene related to limb movement and motion, DMRT3 allowed these horses to move both side legs at the same time at speed; only one foot is off the ground at any given time. For reasons that well return to, these horses that acquired this new ambling gait were exported from the British Isles and spread quickly in mainland Europe and Scandinavia. When they came to mainland Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries, it became necessary to differentiate these gawky, stumbling horses from normal ones in some way. Horse dealers and breeders described these horses as ones that ambled, a word that found its way into English by way of assimilation of the Old French word ambler, which was in turn borrowed from the Occitan amblar. Occitan, a language that is still spoken today, is a very old language that was born when Roman invaders moved into the south of France and the native language mixed with Latin. This Occitan word, amblar, is then a direct descendant of the Latin word for walking, ambulare. Here, then, is the genealogy of the modern English sense of ambling. But well come back to that. The popularity of these horses came from the fact that their particular gait was much more comfortable for riders when moving at high speeds. Because three of their legs are on the ground at once, the horses remain more stable and level than in natural gaits; they also are able to move over diverse and even dangerous terrain for the same reason that it is easier for us to walk over a pile of rocks than run over it: more feet on the ground equals sure-footedness; as a result, the rider experiences much less turbulence. Ambling gaits allowed riders to move faster than a walk, but slower than a gallop, and therefore to travel great distances at a time. Horses with an ambling gait became popular for pleasure riding in the middle ages because of their sure-footedness and speed not a crawl, but slower and more leisurely than natural gaited horses. Across the Atlantic, centuries later, large farm and plantation owners in the United States found these ambling horses to be particularly useful because of their ability to endure long journeys through fields and other more difficult terrain. This particular ability to easily traverse diverse terrains meant that they were not confined to the roads, open plains, or easy paths. Instead they could travel through the circuitous paths of rocky woods, over stocks and stones, kicking sand across the water carved beach. Their walks could be, like that of the poet described in Nerudas poem above, a journey over the rocks and clods of earth; or, like Anthonys important moments in life, they could be following stranger paths, ones that lead to the door of memory, unexpectedly leading horse and rider to sniff around a bit inside consciousness. Anthonys metaphor is apt, I think, for what ambling is like. An amble not only leads to unexpected places, but it also comes upon you as a surprise. No one goes out for an amble the way that one goes out for a walk, or plans to promenade through the park. Instead we simply find ourselves ambling once were out. For centuries this term ambling was reserved for these mutated horses cruising comfortably across Europe. Then, in the 1600s during the revolutionary beginnings of what we now call Modern English the term came to be used as a metaphor to describe people who walked in this awkward though comfortable manner. A human who ambled, like its equine namesake, was one who did so for pleasure, without a particular end in mind, nor with any expectation of what the journey might bring. In Balzacs Le Cousin Pons, the police chief Monsieur Vitel is mocked by the imposing bourgeois gentleman Monsieur Frazier for using his position as the administrator of the Justice of Peace as an ambling pad rather than the authoritarian war-horse that Frazier would like to use it for. For Frazier, the post of Justice of the Peace simply shouldnt be used for the kind of frivolity and purposelessness that is associated with ambling. Further back, in the work of the greatest craftsman of Modern English William Shakespeare we read again this understanding that whatsoever ambles is frivolous and misguided with respect to serious realities. The ambler pursues or represents pleasure and joy, playfulness and wantonness. Just as ambling horses were the choice for pleasure riding and not war-time, in serious situations, amblers human or equine or otherwise have no place. Their place is elsewhere, in the world of pleasure, daydreams and, as well see, hallucinations. What we should first notice about this word is that its evolution and emergence in language is the result of a mutation and evolution in the very DNA of the horse species. Like the curious, bumbling horses from York, the Latin ambulare underwent a subtle but profound shift in its genetic makeup in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Because of the fact that in the absence of wild mutations nature tends to work at such a slow rate, we dont normally have the opportunity to see a word so clearly follow the process of natural selection. The word ambling is beautiful because it demonstrates the nearness of the physical process of the horses evolution to the language we use to describe our world, of the material to the ideal, of substance to semantics. The ambling path of this word through history, making its way from Rome to the South of France and from there to England, is a clear and robust example of the way that language isnt simply ready at hand for us to use. No, rather, it lives, migrates, and evolves in much the same way that an organism does, shifting over time, and undergoing genetic variation as it encounters new environments and actors. Just as ambling horses hold over many atavistic traits (nearly all of them, in fact) from naturally gaited horses, our sense of the word itself bears the marks of use from its own history in modern English, the imprint of the mutant horses of York, and its linguistic roots in Greek and Latin. If we attend to those roots for a moment, we can learn even more. Ambulare is a cognate with the ancient Greek (pronounced something like alyo). A cognate is a word that is generally considered to be conceptually equivalent to some word in another language, like dog and perro in English and Spanish, or sea and mer in English and French. Ambulare is a compound of the prefix ambi (on both sides, or around) and the root alo (to wander). We should note also that the Latin alo itself most likely derived from the Greek , so that the English word amble is something like its great-great-grandchild. That ambulare and are cognates is interesting because describes not just ambling through the physical world, but also wandering through your own thoughts. It is from that we get the word hallucination and its actor, hallucinator. The sense of ambling as somehow disconnected to the real world, untethered and wandering, perhaps draws part of its resonance from this part of its semantic DNA. This is because hallucinations are often described as perceptions that have no external stimulus; they come to us in our private world, in our minds alone. As such, hallucinations can be understood both as a disconnect from the shared world of perception and as an added layer that consciousness finds laid over that world, deepening its richness, beauty, horror, and depth. To amble is not just to walk through the physical world slowly, without purpose, and comfortably; it also implies a mental experience, where we drift through our memories, through imagined situations, and among dreams that we havent yet had. This might account for some of the disparaging opinions that Balzacs Frazier and Shakespeares King Richard have for ambling and amblers. This prejudice, in fact, goes all the way back to Plato, who associated the act of wandering another translation for with disorder, irrationality, and the imperfection in the Timaeus. To amble is to move in a way that lies outside of the goal-oriented, rational, and purposive means of moving through space that Frazier imagines, or Plato idealizes. Fraziers war-horse approach to the Justice of Peace position makes for a perfect foil to that of Vitels ambling. The difference is not simply one of physical difference, where one moves their limbs in differing ways; no, these two approaches are entirely different states of mind as well. When the war-horse or at least her rider is charging toward the battle, or the galloping horse of Paul Revere is sprinting across the countryside to inform the nation of a coming invasion, they have a definite end in mind, a goal that must be achieved as soon and efficiently as possible. The ambling horse and rider, the bumbling chief of the Peace, the stray dogs wandering aimlessly into the doors of memory, these have no purpose, and will produce no utility or profit other than the satisfaction of movement itself, of peering through the veils of the world, hallucinating, driven to wander by wonder. This is a state of mind just the same as that of the war-horse, a mental lens through which the ambler sees the world, but one that is entirely in a world of its own. Thinking back to Anthonys ambling dogs and the way that ambling sneaks up on us often without our realizing weve been doing it until later reflecting in the comfort of hearth and home we might also note that the reason that no one goes out for an amble is that this would be a kind of contradiction in terms. An amble is, I think, a journey with no end, no telos, and to make a point of ambling, to set out to amble, is setting up a goal, an end. True to its hallucinatory essence, ambling is like dreaming: it is often only after we have ambled that we realize we were doing it in the first place; like dreaming, ambling takes us to strange places and unfamiliar territory; ambling is something that we find ourselves in the midst of, not having set out at first to be there; disorienting, to be sure, but also full of all the wonder and mystery of the mind set wildly adrift. by Akim Reinhardt Lets be honest. 3 Quarks Daily isnt the type of website that attracts many Trump supporters. But thats not just a 3QD thing. It turns out that online or off, most Clinton supporters have minimal contact with Trump supporters and visa versa. Its a national phenomenon that speaks to the profound geographic and social segregation of partisan America. Indeed, its probably a bit pointless for me to post an open letter to Trump supporters here. But honestly, Im not sure where else to turn. After all, I dont get to hoist monthly essays onto any Republican-leaning websites, and what follows is bound to be a bit too long for that modern day version of a Letter to the Editor, the beastly maelstrom known as a Comment Section. So if you happen to be among that slim minority of Clintonistas who has real and meaningful interactions with Trumpatistas, feel free to share this with them, he said, like a pen pal in want of a postman. Dear Trump Supporter: I get it. Clinton supporters can be insufferable, condescending elitists. I understand this on a personal level, just like you do. You see, even though Im a kind of a lefty and kind of a liberal, Im not actually a registered Democrat. So if they see you Republicans as the enemy, then they see people like me, who agree with them on many issues but dont always vote Democrat, as apostates. In their world view, its like were all living in that ghastly, disease-infested stink pot that was Medieval Europe. And in their super violent, smelly little fantasy land, theyre the Christians, youre the Muslims, and Im part of a tiny schismatic reform group. Theyd love nothing more than to permanently take the entire Holy Land back from you and kill or convert every single Mohammadean. But it aint gonna happen. And they realize that no matter how much they hate you, and no matter how many murderous crusades they send to massacre your brethren, on some level they simply have to accept you and your ilk as the savage enemies they can never fully vanquish. So theyll find a purpose for you. Theyll turn you into the permanent villains they can pour their hatred onto, the heathens they can use to define themselves as civilized. Its like youre each others Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. But me? Theyll burn me at the stake for supposedly knowing the truth of Christ, but rejecting it because I believe we have to make paradise on Earth before Jesus returns, while they angrily insist that paradise cant occur until He returns, and that Im praying the wrong way, which means I am personally responsible for delaying the Second Coming. You know, the same way some of you wanna stone Gary Johnsons supporters to death. So, Trump supporter, our situations arent exactly the same. But I at least understand why youre hesitant to engage Clinton supporters. I too find myself holding back, even though I actually agree with them on many, maybe even most issues. Who actually wants to talk to these people, right? Ugh. So fear not. This letter is not a finger-wagging lecture about why Trumps an asshole and how youre ruining America. Youve had to put up with that kind of venom even when youre supporting someone reasonable like John Kasich or old man George Bush, both of whom are practically Democrats, quite frankly. Instead of spewing hate, Id like to take it upon myself to talk about where we are at this historical moment. As a historian, I tend to take a long-view. And it seems to me that this is one of those elections theyll still be writing about in textbooks a hundred years from now. Most elections dont make the cut. No one today remembers who won in 1880 (it was former Union general James Garfield, who got shot not long after being elected and was succeeded by a dapper dandy from New York named Chester Arthur). However, there are a handful of turning point elections. Not only do all U.S. historians know a lot about these select few ballot battles, but we also insist on boring our students with the details, because theyre just more important, or at least more meaningful than the rest. Heres quick rundown of some really momentous presidential elections. 1828: Andrew Jackson defeats John Quincy Adams in an epic rematch with shades of Ali-Frazier (Adams had won in 1824). Jacksons victory is made possible by the advent of universal white male suffrage, and with help from a savvy machine politician from New York named Martin Van Buren. And it ushers in both, the era of modern political parties, and populist campaigning. 1860: Abraham Lincoln loses every Southern state, but still gains enough electoral votes in the North and West to earn a majority and best three other candidates. The rest of the story kinda writes itself. 1876: An otherwise uninspiring showdown between Republican Rutherford Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden erupts into mayhem when the results of three Southern states are disputed. A prelude of 2000's Bush/Gore tilt, each side claims victory, and a special commission of congressmen, senators, and Supreme Court justices hammers out a negotiated settlement, voters be damned. Hayes gets the White House, Union troops finally pull out of the South, and boy is it gonna suck for black people for another century or so. 1896: The Peoples Party, also known as the Populists, represents Southern and Midwestern farmers pissed off about the screw job theyre getting from the nations new big businesses: banks and railroads. The Populists are poised to launch a major third party challenge, but the Democrats steal their thunder by nominating Nebraskas William Jennings Bryan. The good news is, Bryan has co-opted many Populist issues, bringing them to the mainstream. The bad news is, Bryan has co-opted many Populist issues, thereby marginalizing the party as a fringe group. Confused and desperate, the Peoples Party also nominates Bryan, in absentia. But Bryan is a loyal Democrat and distances himself from them. He then loses the election to William McKinley, who really likes banks and railroads. But eventually, many Populists positions will actually become the law of the land, such as the direct election of U.S. Senators and secret ballots, so you can tell all your friends that you voted the same way they did, but deep down you know you did what was right. 1928: The Republicans nominate Iowa orphan Herbert Hoover, a Protestant prohibitionist. The Democrats nominate New York Tammany Hall politician Al Smith, a wet Catholic and the son of Irish immigrants. This will turn into the ultimate Your Guy Is Evil! showdown. The election becomes a way for the nation to grapple with its rural/urban split and a bevy of cultural divisions flowing from it. In the end, Smith is too foreign for most Americans. Also, the economy seems to be doing really well, and Hoover promises there will be a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. Doesnt sound like much now, but back then it was like promising people a McMansion and a Porsche. And they believe you. Hoover wins in a romp of historic proportions. Although not given to smiling much, hes very happy for a few months. Then the Great Depression happens. 1932: Hoover has spent three and a half years making one PR gaffe after another as the rate of full time craters out at 50%. The Democrats could nominate a chimp and win this election. Instead they choose New York governor Franklin Roosevelt. He has a plan. Its called the New Deal. It still shapes your life in too many ways to list here. Hes so beloved he wins four elections. Can you even imagine? Afterwards, shell shocked Republicans are so distraught they help push through a constitutional amendment limiting presidents to two terms. Which is the only reason Trump is not going to lose to Obama by 25 points. Believe me. That would be happening. 1980: Ronald Reagan punches incumbent Jimmy Carter so hard that the Georgia peanut farmer feels the need to spend the next four decades trying to repair his public image. This is a very important election. I dont need to explain why to Republicans. Ill just let you have a few moments alone to savor it. 2016: Regardless of who wins this election, it probably actually will be written about for a very long time, even though some of the reasons are as of yet unknown. Perhaps one of these nincompoops will start a major war or destroy the economy. Each side seems to believe thats what will happen if they lose. But even without knowing what awaits us over the next four years, this election will still be one for the ages. Why? Because if you look at the above list, its not just about the concrete consequences of a given election such as the Civil War or the New Deal. Its also because all of those elections represented something. In each instance, the nation was very highly divided, and the election crystalized those divisions. And right now, in this highly divided nation, larger issues are being filtered through this election. Historians will likely talk about it with regards to national anxieties over long simmering racial tensions, and demographic changes resulting from immigration and the political rise and peak of Millennials and Baby Boomers respectively. So now, dear Trump supporter, Id like to talk to you about your role in history. And that in no way means Im going to sing Hilary Clintons praises, much less ask you to vote for her. Remember, I dont like Hillary Clinton either. I think shes a liar and war monger. I wasnt the least bit surprised by how Colin Powell described her in his leaked emails. He characterized her as overly ambitious and full of hubris. He said she creates her own problems and comes across as sleazy . . . for good reasons. He even went so far as to admit hed rather not have to vote for her. That sounds about right. But you know what? He also said Trump is a racist, a disaster, a national disgrace and an international pariah. Can we let our partisan guards down, and be honest and open with each other for just a moment? We both know in our hearts that Powells probably right on both counts. The retired general and registered Republican who has served presidents in both parties, nailed it: Clintons pretty bad and Trumps much, much worse. Lets start with the racist part. Trump is a racist. He says racist things. He advocates racist policies. It really is pretty straightforward. Thats why, even though neither candidate can muster support from a majority of voters, 60% believe that Trump is biased against women and minorities. Hell, even 7% of his own supporters go a step further and admit that hes hes outright racist and sexist. Dont stick your head in the sand on this one. Of course, just because you vote for a racist, it doesnt mean that youre a racist. And if you support Trump, Ill never call you a racist on that count. But you are in fact supporting a racist, and you have to take responsibility for that. Donald Trump frequently says racist things. Not just coded racist things, like claiming Obama wasnt born in America, but clearly racist things that are beyond dispute. Dont believe me? How about Fortune Magazine? They, for one, have absolutely no qualms admitting Trumps a racist, and they even list a whole bunch of examples from the 1980s to the present. Voting for Donald Trump wont make you racist. But down the road, when history has its say, youre going to have to explain to your kids and grandkids why exactly you did vote for a blatant racist. In the year 2016. Aside from Trumps racism, theres also the question of qualifications. Lets begin by acknowledging that Democrats have this really ugly habit of trying to paint Republicans as stupid. Back in the 1950s, they even tried to smear Dwight Eisenhower as being dopey. You know. The guy who had just been in charge of the European theater during World War II. Utterly shameless. Democrats later did the same thing to George H.W. Bush, who had previously run the CIA. Democrats, especially the dumb, self-satisfied ones, love to pretend theyre smarter than Republicans; theyre brilliant, urbane sophisticates, while Republicans are a bunch of slack-jawed, mouth-breathing neanderthals. And Dems are so arrogant about it, they dont even know why you hate them. Im with you on this one. I really am. I dont think Donald Trump is stupid. I think hes very smart. But heres the thing: hes also patently unqualified to be president. I dont say that because hes not a politician. Id be happy to see someone with little or no experience as an elected politician find their way to the White House. Hell, I might end up voting for Green candidate Jill Stein, and boy is she not a politician. Or very qualified. But unlike Trump, she has zero chance of winning. So Im not warning you off Trump because hes an outsider. I love outsiders. And I agree with you that insiders are a huge part of the problem. However, being an outsider, in and of itself, is not enough to be a good politician. And Trump is authentically unqualified to be President of the United Sates for several reasons. First, theres the whole racism thing. Im sorry, but that really does count. As does the sexism. Second, he doesnt seem to know what hes doing. Its one thing to not have experience. Its another thing to not have the relevant skills. And being a good businessman isnt by itself a relevant skill for being president. You need to translate those skills into politics. And to do that, you have to understand the basics of how government works, both on domestic issues and foreign policy. But Trump has shown time and time again that he does not have a sound understanding of either. He simply does not have the skill sets to be successful. Third, and I know youve heard this many times and are probably dismissive of it, but Trump does not have the temperament to be president. It sounds like a copout, but its a real thing. And its not just that he pops off and says outrageous tings. Yay! Thats fun! More importantly, he cant seem to stay focused. He loses interest and moves on to the next thing. He also seems completely incapable of understanding any issue from anyone elses point of view. He seems to be driven primarily by ego instead of a coherent set of beliefs. And hes so lacking in self-discipline and empathy as to make you wonder if hes mentally ill. At the very least, hes selfish, narcissistic, and impulsive to the point of being reckless, and the thought of him having access to the nuclear codes should give you serious pause. For all of these reasons, Donald Trump is almost certainly the most unqualified major party presidential candidate of the last hundred years, if not all time, and if elected, may prove to be historys least effective and most dangerous president. Now, none of that means Hillary Clinton will be a good president. In fact, I think she will probably be a bad president in the mold of progressive, interventionist Democrats like Woodrow Wilson and Lyndon Johnson. But shell be bad in all the conventional, regular ways. Nothing you cant predict. Shell develop a flawed agenda and make poor decisions. Her good accomplishments will be overshadowed by her mistakes. But Trump does not even have what it takes to be just plain old bad. I dont think hes going to start World War III. But I do believe that if Trump moves into the White House, he will embarrass you on a near daily basis. I mean, I wont be embarrassed, because I wont have to admit having voted for him. But this isnt like voting for Reagan or a Bush. This isnt just about policy differences, which in this case arent even that stark in many respects. Theyre dramatic (Build a wall!). But even though most people wont admit it, Trump and Clinton arent nearly as far apart on the issues as, say, Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz. Clintons barely liberal and Trumps barely conservative. Rather, this is about recognizing that the Republican presidential candidate is fundamentally unqualified to be president, and that if he wins, he may very well end up as the worst president of all time. Which is precisely why, even in this era of hyper-partisan party loyalty, scores of the nations top Republicans are NOT supporting Trump. Dozens are abstaining. Many are even actively campaigning against him. And not a single living former president from either party is supporting Trump, which really ought to tell you something. I dont care how much you hate all of those former presidents. Theyre the only people in the world who really understand what the job entails, and not a one of them, including fellow Republicans, believe Trump has what it takes, which is really quit stunning and completely unprecedented. Look, Im not asking you to vote for Hillary Clinton. I would never do that. Shit, Im probably not voting for Hillary Clinton either. Instead, Im just asking you to think long and hard before you punch the screen for Trump. Figure out an alternative. Vote for Gary Johnson. Write in Ted Cruz. Trade your vote with someone in another state. Stay home. But think twice, and then a third time before you vote for Donald Trump. The 2016 election is probably going in the history books. And a hundred years from now, when were all dead, and absolutely nobody has any skin in this election, when its all been reduced to an odd puzzle from the past, Americans will look back in amazement while historians do their darndest to explain why so many people did something so incomprehensible as voting for Donald Trump. Which page of the history book do you want to be on? Akim Reinhardt's website is ThePublicProfessor.com by Evert Cilliers aka Adam Ash Just to know where I'm coming from, I think Trump is a fat lump of pustulent crap oozing the blood of everyone he's ripped off in his career of an uber-lying, short-fingered, papaya-topped conman. With that out of the way, here is what Hillary said (read beyond the deplorable stuff to where she gets to her actual point): You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America. But the other basket and I know this because I see friends from all over America here I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas as well as, you know, New York and California but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well. For that, Hillary got hammered by the media (who conveniently left out the context of the other basket of people who feel that government has let them down, etc.). Well, the media were wrong to hammer her. And she herself was wrong, too. Because ALL Republicans are in a basket of deplorables (a felicitious coinage, BTW: Hillary is one nifty language slinger). Here's why: Burning fossil fuels threatens to destroy the planet, but Republicans believe climate change is a hoax. That is deplorable. Obamacare, based on a Republican idea successfully introduced to Massachusetts and signed into law by Republican governor Mitt Romney, has expanded subsidized healthcare to millions of Americans. Yet the GOP wants to repeal it. That is deplorable. Republican governors have chosen to opt out of expanding Medicaid, thereby killing 17,000 Americans a year. That is deplorable. Republicans want to loosen restraints on our banks when Wells Fargo has just paid $185 million in fines for its fraudulent practices, proving that bank cultures remain as crooked as they were in 2008. That is deplorable. Paul Ryan comes up with ridiculous GOP budget plans all the time, in which his numbers never add up. That is deplorable. Senate Republicans refuse to hold hearings about confirming Obama's appointee to the Supreme Court. That is deplorable. The GOP Congress has done nothing besides repealing Obamacare more than 50 times. They've done nothing about funding our crumbling infrastructure, or doing any tax reform, or immigration reform, etc. etc. The GOP Congress is the biggest do-nothing Congress in history. That is deplorable. GOP Governor Brownback has turned Kansas into a experiment in Republican policies, which has ruined his state. That is deplorable. According to Eric Levitz in New York magazine, these are the facts: In 2010, the tea-party wave put Sam Brownback into the Sunflower State's governor's mansion and Republican majorities in both houses of its legislature. Together, they implemented the conservative movement's blueprint for Utopia: They passed massive tax breaks for the wealthy and repealed all income taxes on more than 100,000 businesses. They tightened welfare requirements, privatized the delivery of Medicaid, cut $200 million from the education budget, eliminated four state agencies and 2,000 government employees. The following January, after signing the largest tax cut in Kansas history, Brownback told the Wall Street Journal, My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican ticket to say, See, we've got a different way, and it works.' As you've probably guessed, that model collapsed. Like the budget plans of every Republican presidential candidate, Brownback's real live experiment proceeded from the hypothesis that tax cuts for the wealthy are such a boon to economic growth, they actually end up paying for themselves (so long as you kick the undeserving poor out of their welfare hammocks). Backers of the budget touted projections from the Kansas Policy Institute, which predicted it would generate $323 million in new local revenues by 2018. But marginal gains at the municipal level were dwarfed by the $688 million loss that Brownback's budget wrought in its first year of operation.* Meanwhile, Kansas's job growth actually trailed that of its neighboring states. With that nearly $700 million deficit, the state had bought itself a 1.1 percent increase in jobs, just below Missouri's 1.5 percent and Colorado's 3.3. Meanwhile, revenue shortfalls have devastated the state's public sector along with its most vulnerable citizens. Since Brownback's inauguration, 1,414 Kansans with disabilities have been thrown off. Medicaid. In 2015, six school districts in the state were forced to end their years early for lack of funding. Cuts to health and human services are expected to cause 65 preventable deaths this year in Sedgwick County alone. In February, tax receipts came in $53 million below estimates; Brownback immediately cut $17 million from the state's university system. This data is not lost on the people of Kansas as of November, Brownback's approval rating was 26%, the lowest of any governor in the US. Louisiana has replicated these results. When Bobby Jindal moved into the governor's mansion in 2008, he inherited a $1 billion surplus. When he moved out last year, Louisiana faced a $1.6 billion projected deficit. Part of that budgetary collapse can be put on the past year's plummeting oil prices. The rest should be placed on Jindal passing the largest tax cut in the state's history and then refusing to reverse course when the state's biggest industry started tanking. Jindal's giveaway to the wealthiest citizens in the country's second-poorest state cost Louisiana roughly $800 million every year. To make up that gap, Jindal slashed social services, raided the state's rainy-day funds, and papered over the rest with reckless borrowing. Today, the state is scrambling to resolve a $940 million budget gap for this fiscal year, with a $2 billion shortfall projected for 2017. Yet Republicans continue to favor trickle-down supply-side economics, despite the real-life proof of its failures in Kansas and Louisiana staring them right in the face (policies that lift only yachts and sinks most boats, which may be exactly what they want anyway). That is deplorable. Republican have made a politically inexperienced businessman their standard bearer. A man who discriminated against blacks as a landlord; lies 72% of the time; stiffed his suppliers regularly; won't release his tax returns (because they'll show he's nowhere near as rich as he says he is); wants to ban Muslims from American when our constitution guarantees freedom of religion; wants to round up eleven million Mexicans and deport them; calls women fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals; says Megyn Kelly was bleeding from her wherever when she asked him tough questions; does not think John McCain is a war hero; attacks a Muslim Gold Star family whose soldier son died a hero in Iraq; presides over supporters who yell lock her up and kill the bitch about Hillary at his rallies; encourages his supporters to beat up protesters; admires foreign dictators; mocks a disabled reporter; said for many years our president wasn't born in the US; calls Mexicans rapists and drug dealers; insults his opponents; retweets white nationalist dogma in other words, a man who runs on outright sexist, racist bigotry and lies, and is surrounded by extreme far-right bigots campaign managers (mostly because he was turned down by all the actual professionals). Moreover, he's being advised by serial sexual harasser Roger Ailes, who has cost his former TV network $20 million in a settlement with a woman he harassed. That is deplorable. ALL Republicans are deplorable, and our media are too, for being enthusiastic Trump enablers. They continue to give him tons of free and soft publicity. They should be forced to drink many basketsful of deplorable liquor themselves. They attack Clinton for her ties to the Clinton Foundation, one of the greatest charities in the world, and downplay the scandal of Trump sending $25,000 from his charity (an illegal act for which he was fined) to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's PAC in Florida, after which she did not join New York's investigation into his Trump University scam. Why is Clinton not crushing Trump by double digits in the polls? Simple: because Trump gets a break from the media, and Clinton is attacked for absolute BS, like not telling the media she has pneumonia soon enough, or her emails, or Benghazi, or god knows what else. (The GOP wasted $500 million of our tax money on their anti-Hillary investigations.) The woman is called a liar, when the facts show that she lies less than all other politicians. Here is the truth about Hillary, spoken by President Obama at a rally this past Tuesday: And, yes, she's got her share of critics. And she's been caricatured by the right and sometimes by the left. And she's been accused of everything you can imagine, and has been subjected to more scrutiny and what I believe is more unfair criticism than anybody out here. And she doesn't complain about it. And you know what, that's what happens when you're under the microscope for 40 years. But what sets Hillary apart is that through it all, she just keeps on going, and she doesn't stop caring, and she doesn't stop trying, and she never stops fighting for us even if we haven't always appreciated it. And look, I understand we're a young country, we are a restless country. We always like the new, shiny thing. I benefitted from that when I was a candidate. And we take for granted sometimes what is steady and true. And Hillary Clinton is steady, and she is true. And the young people who are here, who all you've been seeing is just the nonsense that's been on TV. You maybe don't remember all the work that she has had to do, and all the things she has had to overcome, and all the good that has happened because of her efforts. But you need to remember. You need to understand this. If you're serious about our democracy, then you've got to be with her. She's in the arena, and you can't leave her in there by herself. Against this truth stands the vast rightwing conspiracy of truckloads of deplorables, who have been smearing Hillary for years. And our media swallow their lies about Hillary and pass them on wholesale to the public. America's mistrust of Hillary is based on rightwing lies. All this proves one thing: our media is misogynist to the core, as is Trump. And that, finally, is utterly deplorable. by Bill Benzon Martha Mills came to Mississippi as a young civil rights lawyer, looked racists judges, lawyers, and Ku Kluxers in the eye, and never backed downin court or out. Small in stature, huge in guts, as far as I was concerned she was the smartest, bravest, and just plain toughest of that corporals guard of dedicated lawyers committed to giving life to the law. W. Hodding Carter III The 1960s were tumultuous years in American politics. The nation blundered into a disastrous war in Vietnam that sparked years of protest and deprived Lyndon Johnson of a second full term as president. His boss, John F. Kennedy, and been assassinated in November of 1963, leaving Johnson to pursue that terrible war, but also to work with Kennedys brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. They brought the civil rights movement to fruition with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, when Robert was a U.S. Senator. Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June, 1968, only two months after Martin Luther King was assassinated. Kings assassination fulminated race riots across the nation. On February 7, 1969, The New York Times ran a story on page 20: Woman Lawyer, 27, Jailed on Contempt In Grenada, Miss. Special to the New York Times GRENADA, Miss., Feb. 6A 27-year-old woman lawyer was jailed for three hours here today after being held in contempt of court by Circuit Judge Marshall Perry when she attempted to file a bill of exceptions to a case involving a Negro civil rights worker. Miss Martha M. Wood, an attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, based in Jackson, was released under $300 bail. An offense that merits release after only three hours in jail and with bail at $300 cant have been much of an offense. And it wasnt. But it involves a kind of intricate legal obfuscation that defies easy summary and that is characteristic of race relations in the United States, then and alas now. If the prospect of summarizing it brings me to the edge of extreme annoyance you can imagine what it did to those who suffered through and by it, day after day. Such is the texture of the story that Martha Mills recounts in a memoir of her years as a civil rights attorney, Lawyer, Activist, Judge: Fighting for Civil and Voting Rights in Mississippi and Illinois (2015). In this particular case the obfuscation was also the occasion of a little theatrical detail in the manner of arrest: The deputy grabbed my arm roughly and hauled me out of the courtroom. As soon as we were out of the courtroom, however, he dropped my arm, apologized, and said he had to do that for the judge (p. 277). You gotta love it, the delicate egos of those racist judges. The Lord does indeed move in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. People After an undergraduate education at Macalester College and a law degree from the University of Minnesota, Martha A. Mills became the first woman lawyer at White & Case, a prestigious Wall Street firm. As members of that firm had been involved in the 1963 formation of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Mills was aware of the committees volunteer program (p. 21): In hindsight, there were few women trial lawyers anywhere in the United States in those days, and trial lawyers were what the Lawyers Committee in Mississippi desperately needed. White & Case was definitely very white, very male, and much imbued with status quo ideas about what women lawyers should or could do. But they approved and Mills arrived in Jackson, state capital of Mississippi, on March 1, 1967. That same evening she accompanied another staff attorney, Barbara Shapiro, to attend a mass meeting in Natchez following the death of Wharlest Jackson, who had been murdered because he had taken a $7-an-hour job formerly held by a white man. This meeting was held in a church, as many such meetings were, for the church has traditionally been the center of African-American community. As Barack Obama said in his eulogy for Clementa Pinckney: Over the course of centuries, black churches served as hush harbors where slaves could worship in safety; praise houses where their free descendants could gather and shout hallelujah, rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad; bunkers for the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. And now Mills was one of those foot soldiers and was hunkered down in her first meeting deep behind enemy lines (pp. 100-101). The mass meeting went from one hour to two and then three. It was interrupted several times by phone calls of reported threats on the lives of NAACP people in the community. After each phone call, the threat would be announced, in part so that everyone knew the danger that skulked outside, and in part to poke fun at attempted threats. After each announcement both murmurs and soft laughter ran through the crowd, so that I could see that people took the warnings seriously but that it was recognized as white business as usual. Given the history of the Klan and many whites in the area, the dual reaction was the only sensible response. [] The atmosphere, in spite of the context, was positive. People sang hymns between speeches that called on everyone to stand strong and fight for the equality they deserved. The message was that together they could overcome all the years of degradation and abuse. It was not a somber event. Dogs barked outside, people responded from all parts of the crowd, Yes, Thats it, Youre right, brother, You tell em! Everyone, especially me, seemed so caught up in everything that the heat, the overcrowding, and the long hours were not even noticed. After the meeting Mills was introduced to Charles Evers, brother to Medgar Evers, the civil rights activist who had been assassinated in 1963. They soon became fast friends and allies. Mills bought a home catty-corner from Evers and met and played with his children, Nicie especially, his youngest: We talked, told stories, played music, baked cookies, and made a papier-mache hippopotamus and painted it purple. In 1969 Evers decided to run for mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, a small city of less than 2000. He registered 450 additional voters and won, 433 to 264, over Turnip Green Allen, who was asked to but refused to swear Evers in as mayor. Evers hired Mills as city attorney. She resigned her position with the Lawyers Committee to take the job and set about training city officials and straightening out the budget, which had been deliberately left in a mess. Then they got word of a plot to assassinate Evers, something about an ex Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Green Forest and a former Exalted Cyclops of the United Klans of America (294-297). And so it goes. There is the law, in all its majesty and eloquence, albeit often embroidered with intricate traceries of technical detail, and there is the practical business of making it work. People make it work, or not. And so Marthas bookfull disclosure, shes a friend, so Im entitled to the informalityis full of people and stories about them, little stories, big stories, but stories. Did you see Mississippi Burning, the 1988 film starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe? It was based on the 1964 murders of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. Well Martha had extensive dealings with William Harold Cox, the real-life judge in that case. It seems that pretty near anyone involved in civil rights in Mississippi had dealings with Judge Cox, who once rendered a decision in which he said: Who is telling these people [black applicants for registration] they can get in line and push people around, acting like a bunch of chimpanzees? (222). Guess what? Martha was able to manage things so that Judge Cox was the one who had to admit her to the federal bar of Mississippi (197): I suppose I wanted him to suffer through having to swear me in. My attitude was a bit petulant, but I figured that I was entitled to something for the anguish Judge Cox and his court regularly put as all through. Like I said, people. Hows the song go? People who need people/ Are the luckiest people in the world. Hmmm One more story: Lynn and Larry Ross hosted the Seder and invited me, others from the office, and some black friends. The text we used was the radical Seder [that had been published in Ramparts magazine in 1969], which used both the traditional and familiar questions and answers as well as the expanded recognition of the universality of the desire for freedom. It acknowledged leaders other than Moses, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We had the traditional accouterments, including the empty wine cup and empty seat at the dinner table for Elijah. The Seder hope was that a stranger would appear, and perhaps the stranger would be Elijah to lead us all to freedom and better things. My friends having the Seder lived in the same neighborhood I did, with winding streets in which it was easy to get lost, or at least not find what you are looking for. An about-to-be-very-surprised black couple stopped at the house to ask directions. They were not only confronted with a mixed race dinner gathering in a black neighborhood, but also being hailed as Elijah and welcomed in to participate in the dinner! And they did stay awhile and have a glass of wine. We were all delighted. People. Preclearance and the Return of Obfuscatory Nonsense Mills devotes a substantial part of the book, five chapters (pp. 25-92) to explaining the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, what they are and how they came about. In particular she details the many ways Mississippi had devised to keep Africa-Americans from voting, tactics that were given a new life in June of 2013 when in a Supreme Court case, Shelby County v. Holder (Wikipedia), the Roberts court decided that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was unconstitutional. That, in turn, rendered Section 5 toothless. Section 5 requires certain states and local governments to obtain federal preclearance before implementing any changes to their voting laws or practice. Section 4(b) contains the coverage formula that determines which jurisdictions are subjected to preclearance based on their histories of discrimination in voting. Whats this about? Its about poll taxes, reading tests, oaths, where you live, when you moved, the distinction between municipal and state elections, the publication of lists of voter applicants, and who knows what else. Its all intricate obfuscatory nonsense designed to provide legal cover for denying black people the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 said If you want to change the requirements for voting you have to get our (the federal government) permission to do so. Thats preclearance and the objective is to eliminate one particular variety (among many) of obfuscatory nonsense. The Roberts court decided the times they have been changed and, in effect, nullified that requirement. The result? The return of obfuscatory nonsense. For example: Michael Wines, writing in The New York Times, Critics See Efforts by Counties and Towns to Purge Minority Voters From Rolls (July 31, 2016): Three years ago, the Supreme Court declared the preclearance mandate unconstitutional, saying the blatant discrimination it was meant to prevent was largely a thing of the past. But since the Supreme Courts 5-to-4 ruling in the voting-rights case, Shelby County v. Holder, critics argue, the blatant efforts to keep minorities from voting have been supplanted by a blizzard of more subtle changes. Most conspicuous have been state efforts like voter ID laws or cutbacks in early voting periods, which critics say disproportionately affect minorities and the poor. Less apparent, but often just as contentious, have been numerous voting changes enacted in counties and towns across the South and elsewhere around the country. They appear as Republican legislatures and election officials in the South and elsewhere have imposed statewide restrictions on voting that could depress turnout by minorities and other Democrat-leaning groups in a crucial presidential election year. Georgia and North Carolina, two states whose campaigns against so-called voter fraud have been cast by critics as aimed at black voters, could both be contested states in autumns presidential election. And so it goes. Freud called it the return of the repressed. I call it nonsense. I call it evil. A Million Dollar Win And thats what Martha Mills was up against. But she, and many others, did win some victories. In 1966 Ben Chester White was murdered near Natchez. Criminal charges were brought against Claude Fuller, Ernest Avants, and James Lloyd Jones, to no avail. In 1968 Mills and her colleagues sued them, and five top officers of the KKK (199-217). The case was tried before Judge William Harold Mississippi Burning Cox and Mills and her colleagues won. The story involves a good measure of backwoods insanity, grandiose titles, beer and strawberry soda, male bonding through violence, torching a car, religious conniptions, and obfuscatory nonsense, of course. Would you believe, for example, that a disbarred Klansman was allowed to represent the defendants? When the jury returned, they were asked if they had reached a verdict, and the foreman said yes. The verdict was passed to the clerk of the court to read. He read the first part finding the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Jones, Fuller, and Avants liable for $21,500 in actual damages and then stopped. He paused and glanced at the judge. He continued. He read that the jury awarded $1 million as punitive damages. We were both ecstatic and a bit surprised. Later, when we thought about it, we felt the clerk looked at Judge Cox before reading that part of the verdict out of an excess of caution because the clerk too was surprised. (214) Of course it is one thing to win a million dollar judgment and quite something else to collect on it. As Mills notes, their Klan bed sheets werent worth spit (my wording, not hers). Still, it was the first major verdict since Reconstruction for a black person killed or harmed by whites (215). What a life. In the span of four years, 1967-1971, at one and the same time both short and long, short in chronological time, long in the pace of events and the centuries of history encapsulated, Martha Mills made a difference. Not by herself, certainly, not by herself, for she worked closely with others, black and white, well educated and not, but strong in spirit, all dedicated to justice and to freedom. The struggle continues and will always continue. There are no final victories. Only accomplishments, hope, and promise. If you are a student, read this book. If you are a citizen, read this book. If you care about truth and justice, freedom and dignity, read this book. * * * * * The book is also available for pre-order at Amazon.com for release, I kid you not, on April the first, 2017. The earlier link is to the American Bar Association, which publishes the book, and will sell it to you now for $60 simoleons, $48 if you're a Sponsor Member. There is some hope that the price will become more reasonable at some time in the future. by Humera Afridi I have just finished reading The Morning They Came for Us by Janine Di Giovanni and, in its wake, Dreaming of Baghdad by Haifa Zangana. I can't recall the last time I had such a powerful and visceral reading experienceneeding to physically move my body into air and sunlight, taking myself from the quiet of my living room to a bench at a pier in Manhattan where I gained solace in uninterrupted views of the boundless sky and and the oddly comforting presence of insouciant yachts docked in the marina. I looked up from the harrowing accounts on the page to the bustle of the Farmer's Market and the fountain where Uversa, the self-professed Oracle of Union Square, unveils the future in artful tarot cards. I felt dizzy, disoriented, and, at the same time, reassured. Ensconced in the knowing that the world familiar to me still reliably exists, I wondered, but, for how long? I read first one book and then the other, compulsively. I am acutely aware that my position as a reader of these books is privileged, precariousvicariously experiencing the trauma of ongoing wars, through the written word, and at a safe distance, on the shores of a country that has its own dubious hand in the strife-riven lands of these magnificent narratives. Here I am, a person in command of her body, with the freedom to move, in safety, to places of her own choosing, needing the assistance of the sky and deep inhalations of fresh air to get through descriptions of unspeakable torture and imprisonment. I looked at my surroundings with new eyes. Every person bumping past me in the crowded public spaces in which I chose to read these intimate portraits of waramid chatter and laughter, and freshly harvested bunches of tender dandelion greenscarries within them a hidden world. How many of these hands, these feet, passing me have touched the skein of war? How many harbor memories of trauma, of elsewheres that shadow them here, in the present of this life, in this city, in this square? In the Morning They Came For Us Di Giovanni offers a devastating and lucid account of the early years of war in Syria. She limns that in-between space when Thursday pool parties at the Dama Rose Hotel defied the reality of car bombs going off in adjacent neighborhoods, as if the louder the music played and the more beautiful the partygoers, the likelier the conflict could be snuffed out by the sheer will of joie de vivre. And then she takes herself, and us, into the shattered heart of an unmistakable full-on civil war, which precipitates with calamitous velocity and is merciless in its trajectory of destruction. She shares the harrowing experiences of ordinary citizens ineluctably caught in the turmoil. Those who survived, despite the odds, and who Di Giovanni met or sought out on her trips to Syria speak poignantly, in their own voices, of the horrors they experienced. What is striking in many of the accounts, both in di Giovanni's book, as well as in Zangana's lyrical, elliptical memoir, is the prevalence of the universal desire for freedom. Freedom at all costs, freedom no matter the extent of the sacrifice. Liberation from authoritarian regimes, from occupationat all costs. And, then, afterwards, after the unspeakable has happened, when life persists miraculously, despite the bestial, inhumane treatment, that breaks you and takes you to the edge of death and back, again and then again, and you think how is it possible I am still alive: what then does freedom mean, what then does freedom look like? One such testimonial is from Nada, a young activist who grew up in the Alawite triangle of Syria, as a minority Sunni. Her home is very close to the mountain town of Qardaha, the birthplace of Hafez al-Assad, (the father of Bashar al-Assad) who ruled Syria for three decades. From her family she heard stories of the Hama Massacre of 1982 in which thousands were killed after the Syrian Army and the Defence Companies, under the orders of Hafez al-Assad besieged Hama, in addition to countless stories of imprisonment and persecution of religious Sunnis. But Nada joins the opposition, not for religious reasons, she tells Di Giovanni, but because she wanted the chance to live in a democracy. As you do.' She joined as a volunteer, at first acting as a runner, bringing sandwiches and medical supplies to the frontlines where fellow studentsopposition soldiers,' were fighting to overthrow Assad. Then she went on to social media and began broadcasting the opposition's message and strategy. Months into her activism work, Nada receives a phone call from a colleague. It is clear he's been captured and, under duress, has released her name. She thinks of the phone call as a mercy, an alert that will give her time to escape. But she has no passport, nowhere to hide, and her parents with whom she lives have no idea about her activism. So she stays, destroying her notes and every possible shred of evidence, and waits for the inevitable. Everyone remembers their last morning of normality, writes Janine di Giovanni with heartbreaking acuity. The shaft of early morning light streamed through Nada's window onto her bed, making a small pool on her blanket. She remembers her mother's hurried knock on her door. She remembers the whiteness of her mother's face against her hijab and the tenseness of her mouth as she leaned over her daughter, still in bed, and whispered: There are six police cars outside; they are shouting out your name. Frozen with fear, Nada locks herself in the bathroom and remains huddled on the cold floor, until the thunderous knocking begins and the police kick the door in. Di Giovanni's eye for detail is precise, her portrayal of character nuanced and compelling. We witness the utter horror and helplessness of Nada's position in that dreadful moment. Nada is tiny. Her bones are delicate, and her face is almost doll-like, with large blue eyes that make her seem younger than her twenty-five years. She covers her hair with a hijab, but the strands that escape are baby-fine, and a quiet brown. One of the men half-lifted her off the ground Nada's father insists on his right to accompany his daughter to the military police station. But once there, he is sent home. Nada's ordeal begins immediately and lingers interminably. She is kicked, beaten, tortured and raped for eight months and three days. In all that time, she is kept in a small, dark filthy cellso small that she was unable to stretch her body outnot far from her childhood home. Writes Di Giovanni: She had never thought this would happen to her, never considered the potential consequences if she got caught working with the opposition. I just did it. I did not thinkmaybe I did not let myself thinkof what could happen.' Still, Nada did not cry, at least not at first. She just lay on the ground wishing she were dead. The stories of resilience in the face of excruciating pain and loss and trauma populate Di Giovanni's book. She covers the war comprehensively as an embedded journalist, gaining insight into the various factions and points of view of of those involved in the fighting the opposition as well as the government. What comes through, poignantly, is the universal human desire for freedom and peace, and yet, how tragically elusive it seems. I am in awe of Di Giovanni's own courage and willingness to sacrifice safety and the joys of motherhood as she persists in covering a brutal war where at any moment, and at every corner, lurk the threat of snipers and kidnappers. Driven by the will to show and remember all those who lost their lives and to bring to justice those who have committed atrocities, she is as compelled to cover this war as those fighting in it are fuelled by the desire for freedom. And, yet, freedom is the mantra the torturers spit in the faces of their victims. Di Giovanni recounts how Nada and others were subjected to a similar pattern as that described by a man whom she spoke to in a town in Northern Lebanon who was strapped to a board, his spinal cord fractured by Assad's men. Every time they hit me,' he said, they screamed at me, You want freedom! Okay, take this! Here is your great freedom!' In the prologue to her poetic and riveting memoir, Dreaming of Baghdad, Haifa Zangana, who was born in Baghdad to a middle class family, declares: This may be the first published book written by an Iraqi woman to address the experience of imprisonment and struggle against the Baath regime, which lasted from 1968 to 2003. Destined to be either a doctor or pharmacist, she chose instead to be politically active and joined a group of revolutionaries dreaming of a better Iraq for everyone regardless of their religion, race or political belief. She was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured, moved from Qasr al-Nihaya, the detention center for political prisoners, to Abu Ghraib, the general prison, to Al-Za'afaraniya, a prison for prostitutes. Zangana employs both the first and third person in her bookthe first person as a record of her memories and the third person as she often saw herself, standing outside of my own life, trying to remember things and events as correctly and completely as possible. She says of the book, I wrote it about hernot always about mebecause I wanted to avoid the illusion of self at the center of events or history. The memoir has been written, too, to break the silence on torture, Zangana says. She tells of her own experience. Silence becomes your refuge from the shame and guilt you feel for being alive. How do you talk about humiliation? About weakness and the fear of letting yourself and others down? About being reduced to an animal sleeping with urine and feces? Thirty years later I still often wake at two a.m., the time when they used to lead me out of my cell for interrogation. Dreaming of Baghdad recollects the author's youthful dreams and her work for a free homeland which turns into a nightmarish ordeal yet remains empty of self-pity. The narrative is creatively structuredsuccinct and elliptical, grounded in realism, but all the while bathed in the lyrical evocations of a visionary soul. There is a wretched moment in prison when Zangana touches her hair, matted with dried blood, all too aware of the odors emanating from her broken and bruised body. She thinks: Can the soul be separated from its shell and leave it behind and wander the open fields? I gaze into the darkness. I see a green mountain, heavy with bushes and cypress trees. At its foot are vineyards, overlooking a village. The tinkling of water can be heard inside its houses. I see a group of children picking chamomile leaves, putting them in cotton bags, competing with each other to fill them up. I see them eating figs on their way home and throwing walnuts at each other. I see myself laughing happily with them. The beauty of such imaginings juxtaposed with the utter brutality of Zangana's experiences of torture is startling and breathtaking. The resiliencethe very mystery and marvel of the resilience of the human spiritresounds powerfully, page after page, in Dreaming of Baghdad. Reading Haifa Zangana and recalling Nada from The Morning They Came For Us, I am reminded of Noorunissa Inayat Khandaughter of an American mother and an Indian fatherwho chose to work for the Resistance in World War II, as a radio operator, a highly dangerous job, and one at which she was extremely proficient. She, too, believed in freedom, the cause of spiritual liberty and was one of the first women radio operators to be flown into Nazi occupied France. Gentle and quiet, a musician and author of children's stories, often described as a dreamer, Noorunisa Inayat Khan did not fit the profile of a typical war heroine and yet she defied every stereotype of female roles and aptitude, displaying even after her capture, a heroic spirit, that refused to break in the cruel hands of her torturers. It has been recorded that her last word uttered at the Dachau Concentration Camp where she was executed was liberte'. Noorunissa's testimonial is lost to history and the bloodied walls of the crematorium in Dachau. Reading the graphic, candid accounts narrated in The Morning They Came For Us and in Haifa's memoir, I sense some of Noorunissa's story, as I do of all those who did not survive to tell their own stories, their recollections of that last morning before their understanding of life and humanity altered forever. Zangana writes: Somewhere I read this sentence, but can't recall the writer: I am leaving but I promise to return when I am master of darkness and light. Do you know who wrote it? The presence of those who have lost their lives in the injustice and cruelty of war hovers spectral, urging us to remember. I sense I have been drawn intuitively to read The Morning They Came For Us and Dreaming of Baghdad in the days surrounding the fifteen-year anniversary of September 11, the death anniversary of Noorunisa Inayat Khan on September 13, and in the surreal aftermath of the coup attempt in Turkey. Through each these seemingly disparate narratives runs the leitmotif of freedomand its perversity. I look up at the New York sky, humming with benign helicopters, and am reminded ruefully of the barrel bombs in Syria of which I have just read, and where the war, tragically, continues to blaze on. I can't help but wonder about the price of 'freedom.' by Michael Liss Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called trigger warnings,' we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own. John Ellison, Dean of Students, University of Chicago I was an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University in the 1970s, a place and a time where the phrase safe space referred to the stocked civil-defense structures under the campus, and trigger warnings were letters you didn't want to be receiving from people in positions of authority. I raise this not to launch into a when men were men rant, but rather because Dean Ellison's letter reminded me of two lectures I attended at JHUthe first given by Alger Hiss, the second, in connection with the receipt of an honorary LLM awarded by the University, by Princess Ashraf Pahlavi of Iran. Hiss, as people of a certain vintage would know, was a government and State Department official accused, in 1948, of being a spy for the Soviets. in 1950, he was tried and convicted for perjuring himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and jailed for three and a half years. He then spent the rest of his life protesting his innocence. Princess Ashraf was the once-exiled twin sister of the Shah. Hiss's talk was fascinating. Tall, thin, balding, and wispy looking, his cultured voice a little grainy with age, he inhabited the stageif I recall, he had a stool, but moved about a bitwith the ease of an actor. His memory was like an old library filled with leather-bound books. He would select an event, pull it out, find some passages to share, put it back, and move to the next volume. He was playing before an easy crowdliberal college kids and faculty who loathed both Richard Nixon and the McCarthy-Era mindset he sprang from. Watergate was burning up everything in sight, and the yin-yang of Hiss and Nixon seemed to illustrate the obvious innocence of Hiss. A profound injustice had been doneHiss had been made to pay an enormous price (his career and his freedom) to satisfy the colossal ego, ambition, and paranoia of Nixon and a passel of self-appointed patriots who looked for Commies under every bush. That is at least what we thought, when going into Shriver Hall. And yet, after hearing him speak, my friends and I left with more questions than we had when we arrived. There was something about Hiss, maybe his affect, maybe just a studied compartmentalization, a reserve that came from living a life too often in shadows and alleyways, that gave us a slightly clammy feeling. We didn't buy Nixon's accusations of Hiss endangering the fiber of American life, but there was the odd sense of not hearing the entire story, of things omitted, choices unrevealed. Hiss, we thought, might have done something: had the wrong friends, talked to the wrong people, helped someone he shouldn't have. Somewhere between the Pumpkin Papers, the accusations of Whittaker Chambers, the febrile imagination and rantings of Nixon, and the angry claims of complete innocence by Hiss and his defenders lay a truth. Where on the scale of saint and sinner that lay, none of us had a clue. But we came out of that experience subtly changed, educated in a way we didn't expect. A tiny little bit of smugness had been replaced by kernel of doubt. Score one for the forces of hearing controversial speakers. Princess Ashraf's appearance was of an entirely different color. The award of the Doctorate itself was a contentious move by Hopkins (some said money played a big role) and the audience not nearly as friendly. I don't remember what the Princess saidI think she gave some anodyne remarks about the value of culture and education (she had led on educating young women when in Iran)but that wasn't the take-away. At some point during the speech, two groups of demonstrators, on opposite sides of the balcony, unfurled banners and began shouting slogans. What happened next was swift and visceral. Out of nowhere, security guards emerged (they clearly weren't JHU campus copswe knew all of them) and smothered the protestsliterally.I have this image in my mind I have never been able to entirely forget, of a very large dark-suited man, maybe 30 feet away from me, essentially sitting on someone. The disrupters were frog-marched out, and the speech continued. At the time, it was easy for the college crowd to sympathize with the protestors, as it had been easy to align oneself with Hiss. To speak out against the regime seemed entirely reasonable. The Shah was one of many dictators that American governments supported against democratic movements that seemed too chummy with the Russians, or too threatening of capitalist interests. The very same Fifties sense of a global Cold War, and the fear of mass annihilation that helped set off McCarthyism (and HUAC, and the Blacklist), also influenced the U.S. establishment's approach towards foreign governments. We liked strongmen who could be bought or convinced to oppose Communism and protect our (and our allies') economic interests. This applied seemingly everywhere: Southeast Asia, Africa and Greece, South and Central America, and particularly in the Middle East, with its crucial supplies of oil. The Shah had ruled since 1941, but he consolidated power in 1953, with the CIA-backed ouster of Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh was both a liberalizer and a secularist (which America generally supported), but he made an absolutely fatal mistakehe nationalized the Iranian oil industry, which had been under the control of the predecessor company to British Petroleum since 1913. This, the British could not tolerate, and, after multiple attempts to mediate fell short, Winston Churchill helped convince newly elected Dwight Eisenhower (Truman had refused) that Mosaddegh would inevitably align himself with the Socialists, or, even worse, the Soviets. A carefully orchestrated campaign (we later learned personally directed by Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, Kermit) removed Mosaddegh. He was jailed, replaced by an Iranian General who was substantially more compliant, and Iranian oil flow was directed to British and American interests. The democratizing efforts of Mosaddegh were over, permanently. The Shah's power was enhanced by his close ties with the military, and enforced by his secret police, SAVAK (presumably, it was SAVAK personnel who so efficiently provided the security for Ashraf Pahlavi at her speech.) And Iran, subsidized heavily by the United States, remained a close ally and a stabilizing force in the Middle East, fulfilling, for a time, the security-for-liberty swap that our Defense and State Departments wanted. If you went to hear the Princess speak, you knew at least the broad outlines of thisthe monarch who retained power through a coup, Big Oil, the perverse appeal of autocratic governments. If you were a liberal, likely, you hated it. You wondered why our government didn't live up to its own idealsand why business and security interests trumped concepts such as freedom and democracy. But, even if you had been a conservative, I think your confidence might have been a little shaken, if nothing else by the experience of actually witnessing the security guards in motion. The best way I can describe it is like something out of the Costa-Gavras movie Z: first, the shouting and banners, and then a blur of quick, decisive movements with a distinct touch of menace. Except it was realit was right in front of us, and it was the type of thing that we Americans didn't do, or let happen to others on our soil. Yet, in 1976, in Shriver Hall on Homewood Campus, we did. Again, as with Hiss, you couldn't have observed this and not had your certainties a bit challenged. You had to be questioning the stability of a government that needed to do that to hold power. As we all know, that wasn't the end of the story. A few years later, all that dissent that the guard was sitting on exploded into the Iranian Revolution. The Shah's own efforts at modernization, the so-called White Revolution of land reform, sales of state-owned property, secularization and education and enfranchisement of women, had alienated more than they attracted. Even the ban on wearing the veil in public had backfiredit drove more women to stay in the home, rather than engage with the outside world. And modernization did not mean a vigorous democracy. The Iran of 1979 was still a top-down autocracy, with wealth concentrated in the elite, and dissent not tolerated. When the Shah left for cancer treatments, Islamic, leftist, and nationalist groups, each with their own agendas, coalesced with astonishing rapidity. We are, of course, still living with the consequences of those missteps. Iran exemplified the central flaw in static, purely ideological thinking, of seeing only one side of the story. American liberals were right: The Shah was the dictator we thought him to be. Yet the alternative, the taking of 52 American hostages and the rise of a hostile Islamic Republic, was far worse. As for American conservatives, they were also right: A Shah-less Iran was enormously destabilizing and antithetical to American interests. Nonetheless, our government's tolerance and even encouragement of often ruthless suppression of political dissent, as a tradeoff for support of American geopolitical goals, left an alienated population uninterested in being our friends. As Alger Hiss and Princess Ashraf, each in their own ways, demonstrated, it wasn't always easy to determine who was wearing the white hats and who the black. There was a lot of gray in the world, a lot of moral compromise, and a lot of nuance. Perhaps you couldn't see that from a safe space, but they were there for anyone who had the inclination to look. Open minds, open debate, and uncomfortable truths. Perhaps that's why Albert Einstein once said that Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. Four years in the making, Iso Rabins' dream of opening a tripped out, community-centered, co-working kitchen space is finally a reality. Rabins, along with business partner and cousin Matt Johansen, opened Forage Kitchen, a 2,700-square-foot collaborative culinary incubator in Uptown Oakland this month. Rabins is no stranger to the Bay Area food world. The Santa Cruz-native, occasional chef, and frequent forager, founded ForageSF in 2008 to support local foragers. In 2009, he started the Wild Kitchen, an underground supper series featuring locally-foraged foods, and later that year launched the less-than-legal Underground Market, a pop-up where unlicensed local vendors peddled their homemade goods before the authorities shut it down. On the heels of the Underground Market, Rabins launched a Kickstarter campaign for his pinnacle project the creation of Forage Kitchen. "Starting a business is a lonely endeavor," said Rabins. "I wanted to create something that could help people get the support they need from their fellow creators." Rabin's brought in Johansen, a long-time Bay Area resident and a founder of Hayes Valley's beloved Biergarten, to help in creating his new concept, which is far more than a shared kitchen space. "We want to create a space where members interact and support each other, as well as take advantage of all the opportunities for exposure we're creating; that's what will make this more than just a kitchen, but a hub for food makers." Co-owners and cousins Iso Rabins (left) and Matt Johansen (right) show their new Forage Kitchen project in Oakland. (Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle) Though Rabins and Johansen began looking for a location in San Francisco, they ended up at a storage space in Oakland they spotted on a First Friday in 2014. In the two years since, they have put in new infrastructure, plumbing, and tiling. Meanwhile, the neighborhood has seen its own changes, with Uber setting up offices nearby and the Hive welcoming innovators, artists, and epicureans of all kinds with its co-working office space and specialty shops and restaurants (including local favorites Drake's and Calavera). Rabins and Johansen welcome the new vibe. "We want Forage Kitchen to be a home for anyone who loves food," said Rabins. "My vision is a space abuzz with activitypeople eating in the cafe, a hard cider workshop going on in the kitchen, a business class in session upstairs, and people in the office talking through recipe development." Forage Kitchen is divided into a cafe with outdoor seating, spacious industrial kitchen, and upstairs office spaces, which are shared with the Food Craft Institute, a local non-profit that supports artisan food businesses through classes, business skill development and entrepreneurial mentorship. Enter through the Kitchen's front door and you'll find a counter and mini mercantile where locals can pick up merchandise or grab lunch from one of the kitchen's featured members. First to fill the space will be Pal's Takeaway, a nomadic sandwich shop and local favorite that has moved from its Mission location to the cafe of Firebrand Artisan Breads to the Forage Kitchen cafe in less than a year. Aunt Malai's deep-fried Lao sausage sandwich at Pal's Take Away. (Jen Fedrizzi, via The Chronicle) "I've known Jeff for years and love his sandwiches," said Rabins. "When I heard he was looking for a home, I invited him to join us. We were originally going to rotate every three months, but we love Jeff, so we changed the rules for him." Rabins isn't sure how long Pal's will stay, but it will be, "a good spell" by his estimations. Other businesses will also be afforded the opportunity to sell from the space, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the kitchen. "We will try to get as many of the products created in the kitchen sold in the cafe, and possibly have them do popups at night," said Rabins. Forage members will work in a spacious kitchen with a 32-foot cook line, tripped out with convection ovens, ranges and plenty of table space. The kitchen can hold up to 16 teams of two at any given time. In the back are a walk-in, freezers, and shelves for dry storage. Rabins has placed an emphasis on identifying and eliminating as many pain points as possible. Case in pointa full-time dishwasher will do all of the dirty work, doing away with the frustration of sharing sinks and giving makers more time for making. "This is the space I wish I'd had when I started my business," said Rabins. Beyond the kitchen, upstairs offices will provide business space for meetings and workshops, as well as mailboxes and work space for culinary entrepreneurs. Forage Kitchen members fall into four categories: Day Use, Maker, Santoku and Chef. Day Use members pay $30/hour (with a 10-hour minimum), while Maker members pay $99/month for Sunday-only kitchen space. On the more committed end of the spectrum are Santoku and Chef members who commit to 40-hour and 80-hour minimums and are given access to storage and office space. As of mid-August, over 400 applications had been submitted, though only 30 businesses can use the space in a week. The key to funneling so much interest comes in Forage Kitchen's reservations app, which allows members to sign up for specific stations and identify open slots and spaces. The kitchen will be open 21 hours a day, (with a three-hour window for cleaning), allowing for plenty of rotation and opportunity. "We want to figure out how to utilize everyone's time most efficiently," said Rabins. Made to Gather offer a variety of services including cooking classes, workshops, and private meals, overseen by a personal chef. (Courtesy of Made to Gather) Early members of Forage Kitchen include Sally Rogers' Eat Nibble (healthy office snacks), Prosper Tea (infused teas), Kazschu (cashew butter), Simmer Soups (soups and bone broths), and Lee Davidson's Made to Gather (cooking classes). "I was in search of a community kitchen where I could host events and create workshops and experiences. I met Iso and we just connected immediately," said Davidson. "We share the same values and are on a similar mission within the food industry in Oakland. The location is excellent, and the layout and energy [are great]. It's not just a communal kitchen but a thriving creative hub." Rogers echoed similar sentiments. "The time and attention that Iso and Matt have spent on every last detail in their space is obviousfrom the tree outside the kitchen to the flooring in the offices to the paint color in the cafe area. The integration of kitchen and cafe makes for a unique setup where creators and makers can speak directly to people who may have no prior knowledge of their product." Though the doors have yet to open, Rabins is already planning unconventional uses for the space. "We have lots of plans!" he said. "Movie nights, a Makers Market where Makers who are using the space can sell their stuff, markets where our vendors can sell their wares, First Friday events with games like 4-square and cornhole, storytelling nights, plus the space will be open to rent for interesting events." // Look for Forage Kitchen at 478 25th St. (Oakland), foragekitchen.com Say hello to the Mayor of Fillmore Street. No, of course that isn't his real title (but wouldn't that be cool?), but for Vasilios Kiniris, it may as well be. Vas, as he is more commonly called, deeply hearts the Fillmore: Over the past 25 years, his modernist home design shop, Zinc Details, has occupied no fewer than four different addresses on and around the ever-changing, always-vibrant retail drag. (Photography by Guru Khalsa) Oh, and he's also executive director of the Fillmore Merchants Association, overseeing its marketing efforts among other things. Since 2014, Kiniris, who actually lives in Oakland's Rockridge, has been curating his midcentury and contemporary finds in the 4,000-square-foot space situated on Fillmore Street between Post and Geary, luring teensy-apartment dwellers, money-is-no-object techies, and everyone in between with "an egalitarian approach to everyday designs," says Kiniris, who opened Zinc Details with his wife, Wendy Nishimura, "to attract people who want to express their individuality through their furniture." Bay Area aesthetes know the mainstay shop wellZinc Details is rather a darling of the local design-minded press. Of course, all the accolades belong to Kiniris: He is Zinc Details. But before the UC Berkeley architecture grad became one of our city's leading gurus, Kiniris was a kid hanging around his father's Mission grocery. "It's where I learned the value of customer service, the value of customers," he says. And while he never set out to become a store owner, "it just sort of happened." Kiniris is a charming extrovert with impeccable taste, a love of good food, and a thing for hats, and he compares his mantra for dressing with his approach to interior design: "I start with quality basics and then add unique accessories for a personal touch." His typical look might include a great pair of jeans from Paige; shirts from Asmbly Hall, Brooklyn Circus, and Crossroads Trading; a blazer, scarf, and signature chapeau. In case you didn't catch it, all those brands have shops on Fillmore Street. We told you he's devoted. Design Philosophy "Start with timeless pieces, and then switch things up with new accessoriesthrows, artwork. I don't think one's house should ever be finished." Save From a Burning House "I love my vintage pieces. I would grab this well-worn, cozy Danish leather chairit's beautiful, with hand-sanded teak and so much soul." Fillmore Eats "Fillmore Bakeshop is family owned and everything is delicious; they're always reinventing things. Every Saturday, they have the most awesome breadI don't even get it home because I've already eaten the whole thing." Coffee Fix "Espresso at Jane. I also like the vibe at Social Study, especially if I want to work on my laptop." The Out-of-Towners Tour "Lunch or coffee in North Beach, a stroll along upper Grant, and then the Filbert Steps, Coit Tower, and the Ferry Building. I time everything to land at Embarcadero Center at 5pm when the famous parrots gather to be fed." On Fillmore Street "At the end of the day, it's like a village. From Jackson Street to Eddy Street, there are 200 stores and 50 percent of them are small businesses. In the past, there has been the perception that there are two separate Fillmore Streets, and I want everyone to come to embrace the fact that there is one. The borders are artificialwe need to embrace all the flavors." Great Escape "Every year, we like to take a big tripwe may go to Italy, Japan or Scandinavia. Wherever I go, I am always shopping." Laws crafted by those elected should do most good for most people columns This announcement is made to inform the Outlook users about a fast and efficient approach to remove the password from PST file. The PST Password Remover tool offers the easiest way to unlock the PST file conveniently. Salt Lake City, Utah, 19th September 2016 : This release is in accordance to the latest automated software, which can easily remove password from the PST files. The software assist to unlock the password protected PST files and access all the data items conveniently. The PST files being the major data files of Outlook are sometimes protected by the password. In many situations, where the user may forget the old password, it becomes nearly impossible to view the emails and other data items of Outlook file. Due to lack of any in-built utility to remove PST password from such files, users are in constant search of automated tools. In order to help the users the PST password remover tool has been developed to reveal the password and remove the older one. Understanding the users need to recover the PST file in an unprotected format, we have developed an automated password remover tool that can easily extract password from the PST file and generate the file without any password. It has been designed to extract any kind of password: short, long, easy, complicated, etc. Moreover, the multilingual support is provided to remove the existing password of any language. Therefore, the tool can be used globally to extract multilingual passwords from the PST files. said Allegen, Lab Director The PST Password Remover software provides batch PST files i.e., any number of PST files can be selected at once to remove the passwords at one go. Thus, the tool serves as a faster and bulk password removal approach for the password protected PST files. The PST Password Remover application proffers the following features, which makes it the choicest tool among other password removal tools: Reset the existing password of Outlook PST file Supports batch PST files to remove password Eliminates all applied protections from PST file Recover PST file from any length of password Unlocks PST file from multilingual passwords Compatible with Windows 10 & below versions The tool plays a very considerable role for the users who have forgotten or lost the applied password for the PST files. The user can simply use the PST password remover to eradicate the applied password. It allows the user to easily extract all the emails and other items without any restriction. Moreover, the tool assures not to manipulate the data contents of the PST file. It only unlocks the protected file without any data loss or corruption issue. So, the users can totally rely on the tool for removing password from the PST file.quoted Susan Kaet, Director, Web Team Group. This password remover software scans the complete PST file to evaluate the existing status of these files. Once scanning is complete, a report is generated that lets the user know which files are locked at the moment. The tool also offers to save the report on local system for future reference. Reportedly, the tool is capable to remove passwords from PST files belonging to Outlook 2016 and all below versions. On this major release, Evans Swans, Director of Production Development quoted that: Considering the human nature of forgetting the passwords, we have aimed to assist them to extract password from the PST file(s). It generates a new file without any password restriction implied to it. Thus, making it easy for the Outlook users to unlock file and access its contents for reference. The major concern while designing the tool has been to remove the password without introducing any kind of data loss or corruption as data is the most crucial need of everyone. So, we assure our users that there is no risk of losing data or file being corrupted while using PST Password Remover. The development of such an efficient tool is a result of our hard working team who put all efforts to make this tool worthy to use. The PST Password Remover application is totally independent i.e., it does not require to install Outlook on the system. It can carry out its function to remove password from the protected PST file even without installation of Outlook on the system. Thus, it makes the usability and approachability of the tool wider. Joseph Cain, the Head of Support Department said:Our password remover software proves to be efficient for the users who are unable to migrate to other email applications due to protected PST files. The users can easily unlock the protected PST file using the tool without any data loss issue. After unlocking the PST file, it can be easily exported to some other email client for accessing the mails and other data items. Moreover, the software can remove passwords from both ANSI and UNICODE format and making its usable for all the versions of Outlook. About SysTools : SysTools is one of the leading software company dealing in data recovery, data backup, cloud backup, digital forensics solution. The products developed by the company are always up to the mark and cater the need of users in an efficient manner. PST Password Remover is one such utility by this esteemed organization, which removes the password from the protected PST manner within few easy steps. Media Contact Company Name: SysTools Inc Contact Person: Anuraag Singh Email: anuraag@systoolsgroup.com Phone: +1 888 900 4529 City: Salt Lake City State: Utah Country: United States Website: http://www.systoolsgroup.com/about-us.html Chairman's Address to Shareholders Brisbane, Sep 19, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Fertoz Ltd ( ASX:FTZ ) ("Fertoz" or the "Company") is holding an Extraordinary General Meeting ("EGM"), primarily for the purposes of approving the issue of shares, pursuant to a recent successful fund raising effort. However, the EGM also provides an opportunity for us to provide an update on several corporate development and administrative matters. HIGHLIGHTS - Transformational year from exploring and development to production and sales - $4.35 million raised, pending today's approval of shares - Mine development work commenced at Wapiti Phosphate Project with road construction complete - Sales and marketing strategy centred on a scientific approach using agronomist-based recommendations to sustainable agricultural rotations, now well underway. - Evaluating relationships and partnerships with distributors that have established facilities and synergistic products We would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on some key highlights: Fundraising - we completed a highly successful fund raising effort in late July. We raised $4.35 million which will be used to drive the mining and marketing effort, as we secure distributors and third party fertiliser groups as well as individual farmers wanting our direct application rock phosphate. Team - I am especially impressed and proud of the Fertoz Board and team. Nearly everyone has 20-30 years of solid resource experience. We all pitch in, in all phases of work, utilizing the many talents available. I think this allows us to run "lean" and as we move to a more sales and marketing focus, improve our execution in the future. Resource and Mining - we obtained all approvals, Regulatory and First Nations, to enter mine and obtain bulk samples of up to 17,500 tonnes at Wapiti. We have begun infrastructure work by building the access road to site and establishing the mining base. We plan to begin mining extracting product shortly which will be relatively easy and cost effective to extract due to the material being accessible at surface with the seam running in a fairly straight line. As we will discuss below, we are actively working to secure sales. As such, we have decided to move the material to lower elevations in western Alberta where we will use this as a base for crushing, sizing and screening of material. Fernie - We are awaiting permits to continue exploration and development work at Fernie. We really like the logistics of the 2-3 possible mine locations which have reasonably decent access and can be readily moved to the Prairie Provinces. Other Projects - We continue to look at other rock phosphate deposits that meet our selection criteria, principally - high quality phosphate, shallow resources, available infrastructure and importantly, close to known organic markets and with relatively quick pathway to permitting. Several western US states where there are known phosphate occurrences could meet these criteria and supply the local Pacific Northwest and California markets. On development, recent evaluations have led us to consider that the Dry Ridge Idaho project does not meet our selection criteria in that the ore is not ideal for organic farming and permitting has proven to be more difficult than expected. We are working with the leaseholder on other partnership approaches. Sales and Marketing - In early spring we engaged a highly experienced Sales and Marketing team. They studied our rock phosphate product, liked the potential and emphasized that a trust based relationship through the use of agronomists will greatly assist with securing sales. They emphasized the need for agronomic assistance using sustainable practices in row crop "no till" rotations. The team also identified good markets for our phosphate in tree, fruit, specialty and nut crops with all these markets requiring strong advocates and recommendations by users. Our focus has thus moved to securing recommendations from major users and also highlighting the benefits of blending phosphate rock with other products to improve plant uptake of phosphate. To ensure Fertoz builds a significant business for organic rock phosphate in North Western America it is critical to build a market place based on user trust and which fosters repeat seasonal orders. Fertoz remains focused on commencing sales in the 2016/17 year and building this into a meaningful business in the years ahead. A science-backed approach to sales, supported by agronomists and users who understand the product, will build a long term base to ensure that we can exceed sales expectations in the future. In order to set the Company on the right sales and marketing footing, we have numerous trials underway, with well-respected growers. We have four agronomists, who also run their own farms who are undertaking large scale trails on several crops in two Provinces. This fall, we are testing a wide range of blends and various soil types with products synergistic to rock phosphate such as sulphur and humates which have been demonstrated to improve the available phosphate and uptake in plants. However other mineral and biological soil amendments may also improve combined performance. Education-Information - It is our observation that a number of companies have entered the organic crop input space. We find many with good products and sales serving niche markets. We believe that our rock phosphate is one of the best direct application rock phosphates available in North America today in terms of total and available phosphate. It is also our observation that overall organic fertilizer information is specialized or area specific. Thus, we think Fertoz can become a real source of organic information, to organic and conventional growers. We can become the source of real time information, agronomic blogs, crop, weather, trends and input information, all of which are relevant to our organic farmers. You will see us doing far more in investor, industry, distributor and grower information in the coming months, in order to raise the awareness of Fertoz among the organic farming communities in North America. This will include an updated website with organic fertiliser and crop news feeds, education pieces on direct application rock phosphate and phosphate blends, an updated media section and more. I would like to thank our investors. Fertoz has grown from an idea, to an exploration and development company, to now, a real mining and sales business. It has not gone all perfectly to plan, but we have worked hard to define our strategy and are now executing this effectively. We are on the verge of great things and with your continued support, we know we can increase sales, our profile and long-term profitability. I look forward to updating you at the Annual General meeting, to be held in November 2016. About Fertoz Ltd Fertoz (ASX:FTZ) is an Australian-based phosphate exploration and development company with a range of projects in British Columbia, Canada as well as Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Company is focused on becoming a fertiliser producer as quickly as possible, initially focusing on the Canadian/USA markets. Fertoz plans to develop its exploration assets in Canada in order to identify any potential Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) projects. It intends to seek joint venture partners to assist in funding the exploration projects in Australia. Phosphate is a commodity necessary for feeding the world, and Fertoz is ready to capitalise on this growing demand. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD) is finalising the agreement of a 30 million contract with UK DRAGONFIRE, a UK industrial team led by MBDA, to conduct the Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) Capability Demonstrator. Above: UK DRAGONFIRE. MBDA UK Ltd 2016 UK DRAGONFIRE will achieve, through the Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) Capability Demonstrator, a significant step change in the UKs capability in High Energy Laser Weapon Systems and will provide the basis for technology-driven operational advantage. The programme will mature the key technologies for a high energy defensive laser weapon system and will include the engagement of representative targets in land and maritime environments in 2019. The programme will also provide the body of evidence for future procurement decisions. UK DRAGONFIRE is a collaborative consortium led by MBDA with QinetiQ and Leonardo-Finmeccanica that has brought together the best of relevant UK industry expertise to deliver the highly challenging and complex programme. The team also capitalises on the strengths of the individual companies involved, which includes GKN, Arke, BAE Systems and Marshall ADG. The UK DRAGONFIRE proposal builds on the significant MoD and Industry investment in the areas of laser coherent beam combining, weapon systems command and control, advanced pointing systems and high power storage. Welcoming the announcement, Dave Armstrong Executive Group Director Technical and UK Managing Director of MBDA said: Under MBDAs lead, UK DRAGONFIRE will put the UK at the forefront of high energy laser systems, capitalising on the experience of joint MoD/Industry working in the complex weapons environment. Furthermore it advances the UK towards a future product with significant export potential, as well as providing opportunities for partnerships with other nations armed forces that have similar requirements. Steve Wadey, QinetiQ Chief Executive Officer said: This programme is a great example of companies pooling expertise to provide the MoD with the best solution. QinetiQ will provide the high-powered laser system that will be used in the test, as well as conducting the trial itself at one of the ranges we manage for the MoD as part of the Long Term Partnering Agreement. Its an opportunity for us to provide innovative technology, and use our testing and evaluation expertise to ensure a successful demonstration. Norman Bone, Managing Director of Leonardo Air and Space Systems said: We are pleased to be part of a strong UK team that I believe can deliver the right solution for this challenging programme. Leonardo will contribute the electro-optic beam director to the programme and support the trials and evaluation. This demonstrator will be at the forefront of UK technology research and fits within our strategy to develop the next generation of laser systems. EuroMena has announced the listing of Biopharm, one of its portfolio companies, on the Algiers Stock Exchange. The shares listed represent 20% of the company for a value of DZD 6.3 billion (c. USD 60 million). The company is the third company of EuroMena to successfully enter a stock market, after Siniora Food on the Amman Stock Exchange and the Palestine Securities Exchange on the Palestine Exchange. Biopharm is one of the leading Algerian pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies owning c.15% market share in the Algerian market, with its revenues growing at c.45% over the past three years, reaching DZD 50 billion (c. USD 460 million) in 2015. With a solid pipeline and several avenues for growth, the company is expected to maintain the strong growth momentum in the coming years. Today, with a market cap of DZD 31.5 billion (c. USD 290 million), Biopharm is the fifth company to enter Algerias stock market and accounts for 70% of the total Algiers stock exchange market cap. EuroMena invested in the company in January 2014 alongside Development Partners International (DPI), Mediterrania Capital Partners (MCP) and Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG). The four partners have remained shareholders in Biopharm with the vision of unlocking further growth potential in the company. With the listing of Biopharms shares on the Algiers Stock Exchange, EuroMena continues its strategy of creating value to its shareholders through investing in high growth companies in the Levant and Africa regions. EuroMena, alongside its partners has helped Biopharm in formulating its strategy and growth plans, and is actively gearing it up for an optimal and profitable exit, consequently achieving high returns (IRR) for the Fund, Gilles de Clerck, Partner at EuroMena said. The EuroMena Fund Management Team has raised USD c.350 million to date from prominent investors, and has closed more than 20 investments and divestments. The Funds investors include several international institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), the Electricite de France (EDF), the Proparco, the CDC Group, as well as high net worth individuals from the MENA and Gulf regions. EuroMena III, the third and latest Fund of EuroMena, closed in June 2016 for a total consideration of USD 150 million. The Fund aims to invest in high growth local companies in the Levant and Africa regions, turn them into Regional Leading Groups, and prepare them for a profitable exit within a timeframe of 3-7 years. To date, EuroMena III has already invested 35% of its capital in the Levant, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions. *Source: ME NewsWire View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919006056/en/ Grey Doha Denise Yamine, +974-3331-8761 Denise.yamine@greydoha.com DUBAI, UAE, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingram Micro today announced a strategic channel alliance with Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. As a premier distribution partner, Ingram Micro will help to accelerate the rapid growth that Cradlepoint has achieved and extend their regional market share in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406411LOGO ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406410LOGO ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT. Dr Ali Baghdadi, Chief Executive, Ingram Micro, Middle East, Africa & Turkey said: "Cradlepoint's networking technology is world-class and fits perfectly within our portfolio. We will leverage our combined technical capabilities and expertise to build value-added solutions for tactical customer segments and vertical markets that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability." George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "Ingram Micro's dedicated excellence in serving the channel has set the pace for a great partnership and Cradlepoint's further geographic expansion." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "We are looking forward to driving new business opportunities alongside Ingram Micro for our mutual vendor partners." About Ingram Micro Ingram Micro helps businesses Realize the Promise of Technology. It delivers a full spectrum of global technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Deep expertise in technology solutions, mobility, cloud, and supply chain solutions enables its business partners to operate efficiently and successfully in the markets they serve. Unrivalled agility, deep market insights and the trust and dependability that come from decades of proven relationships set Ingram Micro apart and ahead. http://www.ingrammicro.com Svetlana Sorokina svetlana.sorokina@ingrammicro.com About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places, and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedised M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile, and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security, and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organisations around the world-including 75 percent of the world's top retailers rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. http://www.cradlepoint.com Hubert Da Costa hdacosta@cradlepoint.com The Jamaica Center Business Improvement District announced today that its Executive Director, Rhonda Binda, was honored as the Community Leader of the Year by the Queens County Young Democrats. Binda joins other honorees including Melinda Katz, Queens Borough President who is the Elected Official of the Year; Moira McDermott, a labor activist who is the Labor Leader of the Year; and Mike Corbett, President, NY State Young Democrats and with Millennials4Hillary, who is the Young Democrat of the Year. Honorees were selected by the Queens County Young Democrats based on demonstrated leadership, character and community impact. This group of leaders is being recognized at the 10th Annual Queens County Young Democrats Summer Gala. Were excited to recognize Rhonda Bindas work in Jamaica, Queens, said Stacey Eliuk, President of the Queens County Young Democrats. Its great to see female Democratic leaders making a positive, visible difference in the communities they serve. Rhonda is a great example for us because she has gone back to the community where she grew up to help develop it economically and culturally. We are proud to honor her tonight. Binda has served as Executive Director for the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District since 2014. She has advanced the business improvement district by leveraging the three Ts Technology, Tourism and Transportation to continue its evolution as a thriving business hub, and a sought-after shopping and tourist destination. Previously, Binda worked with local governments worldwide for the U.S. Department of State and for the Office of Public Liaison at the Clinton White House. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from Duke University with a minor in African-American Studies, and a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Binda is from and lives in Jamaica, Queens. Since Rhonda has been on our team weve had very positive momentum, said Michael Hirschhorn, President of the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District. We have accomplished so much in the past two years. From being highlighted in The Wall Street Journal as the number one real estate destination in New York City, to successfully launching the Jamaica Start Fund, which now has more than 30 applications submitted for venture capital funding, and winning the 2016 NYC SBS Neighborhood Challenge Grant to curate the Jameco Exchange art exhibit in partnership with No Longer Empty weve really begun to move Jamaica, Queens forward as an economic and cultural hub. Im thrilled Rhonda is being recognized by the Queens County Young Democrats and look forward to seeing what we accomplish next. About The Jamaica Center Business Improvement District: Founded in 1979, the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District is the largest business improvement district in Queens. It promotes downtown Jamaica as the premier destination for living, shopping, working, and playing. For more information, please visit www.jamaicacenter.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @JamaicaAvenue. To connect with Rhonda Binda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondabinda. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919006382/en/ The Connective Agency Jacqueline Chen Valencia, 469-540-1151 jacq@connectiveagency.com New Channel Will Bring Curated Content by Renowned UC San Diego Wellness Experts Today, New York Times best-selling author and wellness expert Deepak Chopra, M.D. announces a partnership between Jiyo, his new holistic wellness platform, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and The Chopra Center for Wellbeing to launch the UC Wellbeing Channel. The new channel will offer curated health and wellness content from highly acclaimed University of California faculty and thought leaders and will be freely accessible through Jiyo and UCTV, the broadcast and online television network of the University of California. The University of California San Diego School of Medicine is highly acclaimed for contributing some of the most cutting-edge research in the health and wellness discipline, said Dr. Chopra, who is a UC San Diego clinical professor of family medicine and public health. Enabling access to the knowledge of these renowned experts through freely accessible platforms such as Jiyo and UCTV will continue to underscore our mission to democratize wellbeing and impact one billion lives around the world. The UC Wellbeing Channel, hosted online at uctv.tv/wellbeing, will bring viewers the latest groundbreaking and intellectually credible research from internationally renowned UC San Diego experts including Dr. Rob Knight, professor and co-founder of the American Gut Project; Dr. Larry Smarr, a leader in the field of microbiomes and founding director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology; and Dr. Bill Mobley, chair of the neurosciences department at UC San Diego. The channel includes content from numerous other UC faculty, including UC San Francisco and UCLA. In addition, the channel will feature leading mind-body healing content from the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, as well as Jiyos distinguished network of wellness experts across disciplines. Recently launched, Jiyo is a wellbeing platform intended to be a companion to enable personal transformation, focusing on five pillars of wellness including personal growth, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and relationships and offering insights from leading global experts including Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, Kimberly Snyder, Eddie Stern and Tara Stiles. As part of the launch of the UC Wellbeing Channel, Jiyo will offer a dedicated channel with UC Wellbeing content within the platform. Additionally, all University of California students will be offered free access to a premium subscription to Jiyo, which offers meditations and other wellbeing approaches specifically targeted toward students to reduce stress and anxiety, for one year. Paul J Mills, a UC San Diego professor of family medicine and public health and director of the Center of Excellence for Research and Training in Integrative Health, will serve as the faculty director for the new channel. For over fifteen years, UCTV has been drawing on the vast educational resources of UC system, the nations premier educational research university. The new UC Wellbeing Channel will curate and deliver all existing UC content relevant to wellbeing as well as partner with other institutions and experts for content to offer viewers an unparalleled resource of knowledge and inspiration to support their own wellbeing. Mary Walshok, associate vice chancellor of public programs and dean of UC San Diego Extension, oversees UCTV and the UC Wellbeing Channel. This partnership delivers on the promised mission of research universities to extend their knowledge and resources to the larger global community, Walshok said. Together we are enabling free and unlimited access to the latest and most innovative information on one of the most important topics health and wellbeing. About JIYO Jiyo is a comprehensive digital platform that allows users to engage, learn, and interact with a diverse range of information, articles, videos and reminders that help them to be their best selves. Jiyos intuitive technology tracks users behavior and then offers insights and suggestions based on their habits. This kind of 360-degree wellness covers exercise, meditation, relationships, finances, and finding purpose in the everyday. Besides useful content and encouraging reminders, Jiyo is also committed to fostering community, connecting users to world leaders and experts on wellbeing and allowing them to create bonds with like-minded people who use the platform. Jiyos aim is to make users more aware, identify their unique sets of strengths, and create a pathway to making every moment of life count. About The Chopra Center The Chopra Center for Wellbeing was founded by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and David Simon, M.D. in 1996. Located in Carlsbad, California, the Center offers a wide variety of programs, retreats, and teacher training programs that integrate the healing arts of the East with the best in modern Western medicine. The Chopra Center has helped millions of people around the world find peace of mind, physical balance, and emotional healing. The website www.chopra.com is your starting point on the path to wellbeing. About UCTV Founded in 2000, UCTV is a public-serving media organization featuring programming from throughout the University of California, the nation's premier research university system made up of ten campuses, three national labs and several affiliated institutions. UCTV embraces the core missions of the University of California -- teaching, research, and public service by sharing high quality, in-depth content generated across multiple disciplines. Reaching the public through cable, online, YouTube, iTunes, Roku, and mobile apps, UCTV transports knowledge far beyond the campus borders and into the homes and lives of inquisitive viewers around the world. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005920/en/ Press: For Jiyo Callie Stanton, 646-654-3438 cstanton@nikecomm.com or University of California San Diego School of Medicine Jennifer Davies, 619-405-2741 jdavies@ucsd.edu NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A New York church, World Mission Society Church of God, received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Servicethe United Kingdom's most prestigious volunteer awardleading 2.7 million global members to recommit to volunteering in their communities. As a result, the Church of God, which is at the forefront of environmental protection in New York's Jamaica Bay, launched a multi-state public awareness campaign emphasizing volunteerism. "Our church believes in Heavenly Mother and wishes all people of the world to live a happy life by putting the love of Mother in their hearts through voluntary works," said General Pastor Kim Joo-Cheol of the World Mission Society Church of God. "The Church of God contributes to the peace of humankind by following the teachings of Heavenly Mother, transcending boundaries of race, culture, nationality and religion." Queen Elizabeth II presented the Church of God with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service after an extensive screening process. Through the award, the Church became a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, a designation for exemplary organizations, and is recognized by 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia, Canada and Singapore. The Church launched a public awareness campaign with an advertorial in Time magazine describing volunteers as "everyday superheroes" who willingly sacrifice their time and efforts to improve communities. With a call to action to join the movement of volunteerism, the advertorial features the Church's six areas of community service, including environmental protection. For eight years, Church volunteers have worked with the American Littoral Society to preserve Jamaica Bay. They continually clean the coastline, removing debris and litter, and have helped plant salt marshes to prevent flooding. Following Hurricane Sandy, volunteers even helped dozens of families in Breezy Point, Broad Channel and the Rockaways to clean out flooded basements, tear down damaged drywall, and provided basic necessities and canned foods to the community. The World Mission Society Church of God is a faith-based, non-profit organization that spreads God's love through good deeds. Established in 1964, the Church of God has more than 2,700 locations in 175 countries with 2.7 million members. The Church of God conducts volunteer service in disaster relief, environmental protection, blood drives, social welfare, smile campaigns and healing through art. For more information, visit newyork.wmschurchofgod.org or its social media sites, Facebook and Twitter. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408783 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408782 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408781LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-york-church-receives-top-uk-award-300329904.html SOURCE World Mission Society Church of God GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Import and Export Fair (the Canton Fair) has announced Qatar Airways as the official partner airlines of the 120th Canton Fair. The raffle of round-trip tickets to Guangzhou has been drawn during the two remote video conferences in Jordan and UAE on 4th and 5th September, 2016 respectively. The special fare offer mainly targets buyers from Middle East and Africa. Buyers who depart from designated cities could enjoy discounts on different Qatar Airways tickets. This campaign covers 25 cities, of which 13 are in the Middle East and 12 African countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa, offering options of both one-way and round-trip in economy as well as business classes. Airfare concession depends on the cabin class and is up to 20% off. To apply for the offer, buyers can log in to the "BEST" (Buyer E-Service Tool) platform on the official Canton Fair website at http://invitation.cantonfair.org.cn/en (Registration required for first time attendant), visit the Qatar Airways special airfare campaign page and fill in the required information. Then the promotion code can be obtained and applied when booking tickets via Qatar Airways official homepage at http://www.qatarairways.com/cn/cn/cugs/cantonfair-2016.page. The team-up between the Canton Fair and Qatar Airways will extend the Canton Fair's service chain. "The Canton Fair has a solid connection with Qatar," said Liu Quandong, Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair, "we are both committed to providing our guests with high-quality services. Our cooperation with Qatar Airways will offer more comfortable, convenient and economical visiting experiences for buyers all over the world." The crossover cooperation, according to Liu, is an implemented integration of the advanced business and tourism resources to establish an eco-system of exhibition services with global leading companies. For more information, please visit: http://invitation.cantonfair.org.cn/Home/Index http://www.qatarairways.com/cn/cn/cugs/cantonfair-2016.page About Canton Fair: China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is held biannually in Guangzhou during spring and autumn. Established in 1957, the Fair is a comprehensive exhibition with the longest history, highest level, largest scale and largest number of products as well as the broadest distribution of global buyers and the highest business turnover in China. The 120th Canton Fair has launched a series of special offers and services to best accommodate global buyers. In addition to the Qatar Airways partnership, the fair also features exclusive sourcing services, Advertisement Reward for New Buyers (ARNB), VIP lounge and self-service online platform Buyer E-Service Tool (BEST) to create the most comprehensive and convenient experience. BURKE, Va., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Virginia church, World Mission Society Church of God, received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Servicethe most prestigious volunteer award in the United Kingdomleading 2.7 million global members to recommit to volunteering in their communities. As a result, the Church of Godwith state locations in Burke, Midlothian, Newport News and Woodbridgelaunched a multi-state public awareness campaign emphasizing the importance of volunteerism. "Our church believes in Heavenly Mother and wishes all people of the world to live a happy life by putting the love of Mother in their hearts through voluntary works," said General Pastor Kim Joo-Cheol of the World Mission Society Church of God. "The Church of God contributes to the peace of humankind by following the teachings of Heavenly Mother, transcending boundaries of race, culture, nationality and religion." Queen Elizabeth II presented the Church of God with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service after an extensive screening process. Through the award, the Church became a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, a designation for exemplary organizations, and is recognized by 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia, Canada and Singapore. To highlight the importance of volunteerism, the Church of God launched a public awareness campaign across multiple states on the East Coast. The campaign includes an advertorial in Time magazine describing volunteers as "everyday superheroes" who willingly sacrifice their time and efforts to help complete strangers and improve communities. The advertorial features the Church of God's six areas of community service with a call to action to join the movement of volunteerism. The World Mission Society Church of God is a faith-based, non-profit organization that spreads God's love through good deeds. Established in 1964, the Church of God has more than 2,700 locations in 175 countries with 2.7 million members. The Church of God conducts volunteer service in disaster relief, environmental protection, blood drives, social welfare, smile campaigns and healing through art. For more information, visit virginia.wmschurchofgod.org or its social media sites, Facebook and Twitter. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408783 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408782 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408781LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virginia-church-receives-top-award-from-queen-of-england-for-volunteer-efforts-300329902.html SOURCE World Mission Society Church of God Balochistan Republican Party leader Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday said that he will apply for political asylum in India. We have decided that we will formally file asylum papers to Indian Government and we will start work on it right away. Will go to Indian embassy and will follow the legal process, said Bugti. I will call Indian embassy for an appointment soon, he added. Bugti, president of the outlawed Baloch Republican Party and the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, has been living in self-imposed exile in Switzerland since his grandfather was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army a decade ago. His decision to apply for asylum in India comes days after media reports showed the Pakistani government had sped up the process of obtaining Interpols red warrants against the Baloch separatist leader. Bugti said he plans to tour the world with Indian documents to highlight the plight of the Baloch people. His party members had earlier pointed to the Dalai Lama using an Indian passport to campaign against China. Bugti has been fighting for the freedom of the Baloch people and highlighting the human rights violations in the region, allegedly by the Pakistan army. Bugti also said that the Baloch leaders have decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani army generals and China at the International Court of Justice. Will take China to International Court of Justice with the help of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India, said Bugti. Bugti had lauded Modis reference to Balochistan as the most powerful statement in the last seven decades. It is for the first time that an Indian Prime Minister has spoken. We believe that India should have taken this step a long time ago, he said, adding that he is convinced about Balochistans freedom. I am thoroughly indebted to Prime Minister Modi for raising the voice of Baloch people in his Independence Day address. Earlier there were reports that India was considering granting political asylum to Baloch activists living in exile. The reports said that a decision to this effect was taken at a high level meeting of BRP in Geneva on Sunday. India last granted political asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959. A day after the terror attack in Uri that killed 17 soldiers, the Centre decided to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at ever international forum or group. The meeting chaired by the PM Narendra Modi gives nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping on Monday. India will present all actionable evidence, if required, at international bodies proving Pakistans involvement in Uri attack. Sources said, PM Modi met union ministers Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar and Arun Jaitley and decided to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international forum. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army-marked arms to be given to Pakistan at DGMO level, said sources. Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Indias ambassador alleged that Pakistans military establishment is committing human rights violations across the country, including Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). It will be best if the government of Pakistan focuses its energies on improving the human rights situation within the country and PoK, said Ajit Kumar Indias Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, in a statement at the 33rd Session of the UNHRC at Geneva. Top sources said the government is clear that there must be a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response from India to the attack. India, the sources said, could raise the Uri attack at the United Nations General Assembly, which is in session in New York. Earlier, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also called a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and top officials from the ministries of Home and Defence, the Army, the paramilitary forces and the chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed Singh on the latest in the Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control, official sources said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who postponed his visit to Srinagar, attended this meeting. Asserting that time has come when India responds in equal measure to Pakistan following the deadly terror strike in Uri, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union Minister of External Affairs Yashwant Sinha calls for a military response, adding that the nations three forces must formulate an action place and present it to the Centre. Even though Pakistan denying its hands in Uri attacks, the international community came out strongly in support of India. We call on States to fight against terror groups operating on their territory or from their territory against others. France remains at Indias side in the combat against terrorism, Frances Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Monday. [dropcap]N[/dropcap]avratri brings a creative invention of backless cholis, late night celebrations, drugs, alcohol and a strong undercurrent of sexual intimacy. It is in the air of the smoky yet starlit city sky; it is in the music and the attires; it is in the sensuous dance, as the Raas a form of Garba performed only by the unity of ying-yangs. From teenage girls who bank on Navratri for escapades with boyfriends to some young girls who make a quick buck out of the mood to middle-age married women willing to pay a bomb for teenage escorts the forbidden fruit is omnipresent and basks in the glory of the nine festive nights of Navratri. On the other hand, film strugglers and models get lured in flesh trade through this escorting business. They become contractual partners for outsiders who land up in glossy city to spend their celebration nights. While none of this is new, this year the hints have gotten stronger and more visible. What seems to be a first this year is many middle-aged women getting young men to escort them for the night. While this happens around the year under wraps, during Navratri, this clan gets the gusto to wear their able-bodied acquisitions on their sleeve and flaunt them. These models are paid between Rs. 500 to Rs. 50000 depending on their body, fame and performance. And unabashed fun is not limited to the elderly. For the young ones, Garba provides a good excuse to sneak out and have fun. The Indian media has played a major role in revealing instances of the casting couch in B-town, flesh trade and prostitution in the garb of fashion and celebration to maintain high standards of life. In a sensational sting operation in 2005, India TV trapped famous Bollywood baddie Shakti Kapoor and TV star Aman Verma. They were caught on tape making advances to a starlet planted by the channel. Last year, actress Rani Mukherjis brother Raja found himself in the thick of trouble when he was arrested for allegedly molesting a TV actor named Priya Mishra who had approached him with a script. However, the most famous casting couch scandal in B-town could well be a case where the man was wronged. Starlet Preeti Jain created a sensation in 2004, when she accused ace director Madhur Bhandarkar of raping her for many years after making false promises of giving her a role in his film. The case dragged on for years and finally in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Bhandarkar and rejected the rape charge. Actress Payal Rohatgi was in the thick of controversy in 2011, when she accused director Dibakar Banerjee of trying to sexually exploit her in exchange for a movie role. Banerjees friend, noted filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, jumped into the fray to defend his pal and dismissed Payal as being mentally unstable. In heartless B-town, it seems even established stars cannot escape persecution. Well, the narrative of dark side wont stop here. However, many models and small time artists run sex rackets and flesh trading. They trap strugglers who run out of money and desperately need one. This industry has too many stories of human trading and compromises. This is not for the first time but recently Mumbai police have rescued Bollywood strugglers lured in sex racket by the models. Film industry has its own glamour but the other side of the story has a very different and dark side. Earlier, Bollywood was completely male dominated industry and women were given trivial or insignificant roles in the movies and they were also underpaid. With the changing time, female centric movies have proven that the films can fetch market without a hero. Vidya Balans films are great examples. She has worked in films that were Heroine oriented and male actors had very minor role to play. Industry changed with the time and many youngsters are running towards Hindi film industry to make their career. Here, begins the saga of darker side. These youngsters enter into Bollywood and its colourful fringes being clueless. They knock various doors. Some get work; some get small role and maximum land up doing odd jobs because returning to home town becomes dilemma to them. Young boys and girls with dreams arrive in Mumbai in dozens everyday. Only three per cent of these strugglers ever make it to the glitzy side of the real Bollywood. However, this depressing statistic never affects the surge of hopefuls who finally dont even care if they make it in film as long as they find some way of earning. In the struggle for perceived stardom and the mirage of megabucks, ethics and so-called societal values have no place. They call themselves aspiring models or aspiring actors as soon as they disembark in Mumbai. Bollywoods sordid underside is not news. Most of the youngsters come here to make money than the career. The struggle for the strugglers begins right at the beginning finding a roof in Mumbai, lodging and commute are three big challenges. Their needs increase as the pockets get stretched. To fill this gap, they force themselves to work in all those zones where money can be earned. Given this parallel industry for the genuine ones, it is often a struggle to ensure that one is not taken for a ride, such as routine fake auditions. There are coordinators who come to offer help but with ulterior motives. Auditions are sometimes euphemism for pleasure sessions. Many rich people and businessmen on pretext of producers check out young, good-looking men and women through such auditions. Many strugglers are called often for parties and pleasure by some so-called socialists and film financers. It is not easy to break into Bollywood, if you are not born into a powerful and influential star family. Therefore, aspiring starlets feel the need to develop connections and get themselves a sugar daddy in the business that will smooth their ride to the top. With desperate aspirants willing to almost throw themselves at their mercy Bollywood bigwigs are not shying of exploiting these junior artistes. According to insiders, its now easy to recognize the desperate people who willingly come for casting couch, for the role in serials or movies. One has to seriously think over this on-going trend that has lured many youngsters in flesh trade for the extra perks. Is this the future of Young India? (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) [inlinetweet prefix= tweeter=null suffix=]After giving an assurance of going after the perpetrators of the deadly Uri attack in which 18 army soldiers were killed[/inlinetweet], Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. According to sources, India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistans hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistans involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistans involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road here. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials were present in the meeting. Pakistan has, however, flatly refused New Delhis claims of Islamabads involvement in the Uri terror attack, stating that it has become Indias traditional tendency to point fingers on them after each terrorist attack. Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack, the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan, he asserted. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri, belonged to Pakistans banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Mumbaikars want state government to offer compensation to the families of all jawans who have died in the Uri terror attack incident. At a time when eighteen soldiers have lost their lives in a militant attack in Uri area of Baramulla district politicians are trying to indulge in politics of regionalism. Leader of opposition in state assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil has urged the state government to provide compensation of Rs 25 lakhs for the kin of four jawans belonging to Maharashtra state martyred in the terror attack. He also paid tributes to those jawans and said that the nation was proud of them as they have sacrificed their lives to safeguard citizens lives. Patil condemned the terror attack and said, Four jawans Chandrakant Galande (27) from Satara, Punjab Uike (26) from Amravati, Sandeep Tok (21) from Nasik and Vikas Kudmethe who lost his life after undergoing treatment due to injuries. These jawans families were dependent on them. Since these soldiers were martyred while discharging their duties it is the responsibility of the state government to provide adequate compensation to their families. On the other hand, Mumbaikars were unhappy with statements issued by Patil and said that he has given a regional colour to the entire incident. According to them, Patil should have asked the state government to offer compensation to all the 18 jawans hailing from different states of India as they were only safeguarding their motherland. Vishal Rode a Borivali resident said, Politicians always try to divide people on the basis of caste, religion and region. However, one should not follow this policy for soldiers as they are serving the nation. Ramesh Seth, a BPO employee from Kandivali said, Firstly, I would like to pay tributes to jawans who were martyred in the Uri militant attack incident. For me nation always comes first before any individual so politicians should not try to take mileage out of this issue. Rahul Singh a software programmer from Borivali said, India should first give a befitting reply to Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism. At the same time, politicians should refrain from issuing such type of controversial statements when the nation is mourning deaths of jawans. Eighteen soldiers were killed in the Uri militant attack incident. Police sources said that fidayeen militants stormed an Army camp in Uri near the Line of Control (LoC) around 4 a.m. Four militants were killed in the encounter. After the terror attack, Home Minister Rajnath Singh postponed his visit to Russia and the U.S. He was planning to leave for Russia on Sunday for a four-day visit. South Korea and the US are slated to conduct a joint aerial exercise in October that will focus on striking North Koreas nuclear facilities, military officials said on Monday. The simulated strikes will be carried out during the advanced Red Flag exercise to be held at Eielson air force base in Alaska from October 3-21, Yonhap News Agency reported. The move is aimed at improving the South Korean air forces combat capabilities amid evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. The drill will be held with the scenario of a sudden missile attack from North Korea. It is also designed to practise striking the Norths nuclear and other core military facilities, a military official said. South Korea plans to send six F-15Ks and two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to Red Flag this year. F-15Ks are expected to carry out a mission to strike the Norths nuclear facility in Yeongbyeon, more than 100 km north of the countrys capital city of Pyongyang, with GBU-31JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) guided bombs, he said. Earlier this month, North Korea said it successfully conducted a nuclear test its fifth and the most powerful test so far. Pyongyang has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches since top North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave an order on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead in a short time. North Korea is banned by UN sanctions from any tests of nuclear or missile technology. Since their inception in 1975, the Red Flag exercises have served as the pinnacle of air-to-air combat training for airmen. The purpose is to give pilots from the US, Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and other allies an opportunity to practise and refine their skills for real combat situations. Needling Narendra Modi over the Uri terror attack, Shiv Sena said the situation has become worse than that under the previous Congress regime and if the Prime Minister is unable to strike Pakistan and eliminate terrorists, his exercise of building a global image will prove futile. The Sena also called for dissolution of the government in Jammu and Kashmir and imposition of martial law in the state to sternly deal with the terrorists and pro-Pakistan elements. Striking a hawkish posture, Sena said Pakistan has waged an open war against India with this attack and our attempt to gather proof of its involvement will yield no result internationally. One has to accept that the situation today is worse than what was during the Congress regime. At a time when pro-Pakistan sloganeering is on in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistani flags are being hoisted there, the Centre should dissolve the state government and impose martial law there as Presidents (Governors) rule wouldnt suffice, Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana. Pakistan has waged an open war against India now, while we cannot do anything except issue warnings. The probe into the Pathankot terror attack too did not result in any action against that country, it said. Why are we searching for proof of Pakistans involvement in this terror attack? This proof has no value at the international level. If you (Modi) do not have the courage to strike Pakistan like the US did to eliminate Osama Bin Laden, there is no use of building an international image, it added. Stating that foreign nations would not do anything to help India on the issue, it said that if Pakistan could use four terrorists to wreak havoc why India cannot use its security forces to strike Pakistan. The Sena said that merely decorating coffins of martyred soldiers or accepting condolences from foreign nations would not serve the purpose. Instead, giving credence to our security forces is the need of the hour. Terrorist attacks have become regular in Jand K. Whose failure is this? Modi may continue to issue warnings but the question is how much and when would Pakistan pay heed to them? the Sena said. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday blamed the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the ink attack on him outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jungs official residence. Sisodia was talking to press after returning from a trip to Finland, when a person named Brijesh Shukla threw ink on him. Sisodia, who is facing criticism for his tour at a time Delhi is struggling with a spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases, was responding to questions on his meeting with the Lieutenant Governor when the incident took place. The AAP is working for peoples health and education and on the other hand, there is the Congress or the BJP who are working on throwing inks. They are not bothered about the people of Delhi. They want to stop the work on health and education. This is the cheap politics of Congress and the BJP, Sisodia said. I challenge the BJP, they have MCD, they should go and clean that. They are not doing anything in the municipal and education sectors. The Congress has destroyed the education system. They are trying to divert by throwing ink, he added. Meanwhile, Shukla justified his act and said that he had come to the Lieutenant Governor to complain against Sisodia. The people of Delhi are disturbed. They (AAP leaders) go abroad with our money and click photos on the sea beaches, he added. DCP (North) Madhur Verma said Shukla has been taken to the police station and he is being interrogated. He (Brijesh Shukla) is saying that he is the founding member of Swaraj Janata Party. He said that he had come here to complain as he was not happy with the Delhi Government and thats why he did so (threw ink). He has been detained, taken to the police station and is being interrogated. If we get any complaint, we will take action accordingly, Verma added. Sisodia returned last night from his Finland tour, which became controversial after social media posts of his trip went viral following which he was summoned by the Lieutenant Governor. A 22 year-old C Bhaghyasri, arrested for setting fire 42 buses and trucks with Tamil Nadu registration number plate in Bengaluru on September 12, was allegedly offered Rs. 100 and a plate of mutton biryani to join the protests over Cauvery water sharing issue. C Bhagya, as she known as, is one of 11 people arrested for the September 12 attack. The suspects have been accused of dousing the crew of the KPN fleet with diesel and threatening to burn them. After watching the CCTV footage of the cameras from the yard where the buses were parked along with the mobile videos filmed by KPN crew, the police has come to the conclusion that Bhagya could be the agent provocateur. Meanwhile, the mother of Bhagya, Yellamma has confirmed that her daughter was offered Rs. 100 and a plate of mutton biryani for joining the Cauvery protests. She is a daily wager and stays with her parents in Girinagar near KPN Garage. Bhagya had just returned home around noon (on September 12) when some men known to her came over and asked her to join the protests. They promised to give her biryani and Rs. 100 at the end of the day, Yellamma said. According to the sources in police, more women were seen at the site in the CCTV footage but it is not yet clear if they were too involved in vandalism and instigating people. Bhagya is the lone woman among the 400 people arrested by the police in connection with the Cauvery protests. Bhagya is in the police custody for further questioning. As of now, we can say she was one of the arsonists, a senior police officer informed. A senior police officer said it was not yet clear if Bhagya was leading the mob. As of now, we can say she was one of the arsonists, the officer added. She has been booked for attempt to murder (IPC 307), unlawful assembly (IPC 143), rioting (IPC 147), rioting with deadly weapon (IPC 148), voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (IPC 324), causing damage (IPC 427), damage by fire or explosive substance (IPC 435) and Column 2 of Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Property Act of 1981. WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2016 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announcednew USDA initiativesto counter an epidemic of opioid and heroin abuse that has killed thousands of Americans, with a disproportionate impact on rural communities. The initiatives, aimed at strengthening outreach and education resources at the local level, were announced as President Obama proclaimed this week Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epicdemic Awareness week. Some 44 percent of Americans recently said they or someone they know has been addicted to prescription pain medicine, USDA said in a release. "Over the past few months, I've seen firsthand the devastation that opioid addiction is causing in communities across the country, Vilsack said. After hearing from mothers and fathers who've lost their children to opioid misuse, and listening to mayors and medical personnel appeal for greater treatment resources, it's clear that rural communities need our help. In order to better serve our communities, I've directed USDA's local teams to step up as leaders and expand our resources and programs to battle the opioid epidemic." USDA noted that opioid addiction, including heroin and prescription drug misuse, is a fast-growing problem that played a role in more than 28,000 deaths in 2014. The crisis disproportionately affects rural communities, in part due to the lack of outreach and treatment resources available in remote areas. In January, Obama tapped Vilsack to lead an interagency initiative focused on curbing rural opioid misuse. Over the past nine months, Vilsack has visited regions of the country that have been hit hard by opioid addiction to host a series of White House Rural Council Town Hall meetings to hear from local leaders fighting the epidemic on the ground and discuss possible solutions. "I've seen firsthand the devastation that opioid addiction is causing in communities across the country, Vilsack said. After hearing from mothers and fathers who've lost their children to opioid misuse, and listening to mayors and medical personnel appeal for greater treatment resources, it's clear that rural communities need our help. In order to better serve our communities, I've directed USDA's local teams to step up as leaders and expand our resources and programs to battle the opioid epidemic." Do you find the information on Agri-Pulse helpful? See even more ag and rural policy news when you sign up for a four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. Vilsack directed USDAs Farm Service Agency and Rural Development offices in key affected states to host opioid awareness events, bringing together government officials, medical professionals, law enforcement, and other stakeholders to raise awareness of the issue, forge partnerships, identify possible solutions and highlight the need for more treatment resources in rural communities. The series will kick off with four events this month today in Tolland, Connecticut; in Brighton, Colorado, Sept. 20; in Grants Pass, Oregon, Sept. 26; and in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Sept. 29 with more to follow in the coming months. Vilsack also announced that USDA will display information about addiction resources from the Centers for Disease Control in all of its local offices. The department pointed out that the Farm Service Agency, Rural Development and Natural Resources Conservation Service offices serve millions each year and for many people in rural communities this may be the only face-to-face interaction they have with the federal government. USDA's offices can play an important role in raising awareness about the issue and helping people connect with resources, the department said. The Agriculture Department has already taken a number of steps to use its resources to help battle the opioid epidemic. In March, Vilsack announced that the Rural Health and Safety Education grant program could be used for communities to conduct drug addiction awareness efforts. USDA's Distance Learning and Telehealth Medicine Grants have been used to help hospitals in rural communities use telemedicine to better treat individuals struggling with addiction and the Community Facilities Grants and Loans Program has allowed communities to build treatment and recovery facilities. And in August, the Secretary announced that USDA was leveraging its rural housing programs to provide more housing for individuals in recovery. More information on the opioid epidemic and USDA's response can be found by clicking here. The president has also proposed $1.1 billion in new funding to support states in expanding treatment options. Recently, Congress passed legislation aimed at addressing the crisis. However, USDA notes, lawmakers did not provide any funding that would expand resources. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2016 - Senators look to pass a long-stalled child nutrition bill as soon as this week and also will grill top executives of seed and chemical units about the impact of a series of planned mergers on the farm economy. The bipartisan nutrition bill would reauthorize nutrition programs for five years, would ease rules on sodium and on whole grains but broadly preserves the school meal standards the Obama administration implemented under the expired Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are seeking unanimous consent to bring up the bill on the floor after they found a funding source to make up a shortfall in the bill after budget estimates came in higher than expected. The extra money is expected to come from fiscal 2016 savings in the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, a source said. Senate passage could set up the bill to be included in a year-end fiscal 2017 spending package that lawmakers hope to pass in December. Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., was encouraged by progress on the bill last week but wasnt tipping his hand on the end game. Well try different things, he said. Members of the United Fresh Produce Association were on Capitol Hill last week to lobby for passage of the bill. A House version of the bill, which has no chance in the Senate, would allow some states to experiment with setting their own rules for school meals and also would tighten a community eligibility provision that allows all students to get free meals in schools located in certain high-poverty areas. The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved the bill on a party-line vote. It has yet to be debated on the House floor. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will question executives from DuPont, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer and Monsanto about their merger plans and the impact they would have on the seed and chemical business. DuPont and Dow are combining and Bayer announced a $66 billion deal last weekend to take over Monsanto. ChemChina is in the process of acquiring Syngenta. There also is a fourth merger pending between two Canadian-based fertilizer firms, Agrium and PotashCorp. They wont be represented at the hearing. Another witness at the hearing, Bob Young, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the committee hearing would help ensure that the Justice Department is aware of concerns about the mergers as it reviews them. Any one of these (mergers) by themselves would be OK. You can certainly understand it. All four of them at once, wow, Young said. Both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission sent letters to Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley indicating they would consult with the Agriculture Department in their reviews of the mergers. Young is likely to argue that the downturn in the U.S. farm economy and the heavy costs of regulatory approvals and litigation are major drivers behind the mergers. I dont think it should surprise you that the mergers are going on, he said. The state of the farm economy also will be a topic of concern on Wednesday when Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testifies before the Senate Agriculture Committee. Learn about the benefits of subscribing to Agri-Pulse. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. House and Senate leaders, meanwhile, are working on a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating after the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1. The House also could take up a two-year reauthorization of water projects soon, said Speaker Paul Ryan. The Senate passed a two-year bill last week to authorize $12 billion for 30 Army Corps of Engineers projects in nearly 20 states. The bill also includes a provision exempting some farmers with aboveground fuel storage tanks from EPA requirements to prepare spill control plans. Heres a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere: Monday, Sept. 19 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and ONDCP Director Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, meet with parents affected by the opioid epidemic. Agri-Pulse Editor Sara Wyant moderates a panel discussion at the Agricultural Bioscience International Conference in Fargo with North Dakota Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring and MN Commissioner of Agriculture Dave Frederickson. 4 p.m. - USDA releases Crop Progress report. Tuesday, Sept. 20 Vilsack speaks at the National Civil Rights Conference for Federal Agencies at the Transportation Department and at the Cropp Cooperative Grass Up Event at the U.S. Botanic Gardens. 10 a.m. - Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on seed and agrochemical mergers, 226 Dirksen. Wednesday, Sept. 21 Nationals Association of State Department of Agriculture annual meeting, through Saturday, Lincoln, Neb. Organic Trade Associations Organic at Expo East, through Thursday, Baltimore. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman Froman will participate in the U.S.-Africa Business Forum. 10 a.m. - Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the farm economy with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, 328A Russell. Noon - CFTC Commissioner Christopher speaks at the American Enterprise Institute, 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW 2:30 p.m. - Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing on proposed revisions to the Fish and Wildlife Service mitigation policy, 406 Dirksen. Thursday, Sept. 22 Vilsack travels to Ohio to visit Rural Development investments and announce Community Facilities projects at Wilmington College, Wilmington. Acting Deputy Secretary Michael Scuse speaks at the USDA Land Tenure and the Next Generation of Agriculture Fall Forum at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Froman hosts African trade ministers for a trade and labor ministerial roundtable. 8:30 a.m. - USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report. 9:20 a.m. - American Enterprise Institute forum, "Protectionism and the future of US trade policy, with Froman and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 10 a.m. - House Agriculture subcommittee hearing, Rehabilitation of the Chesapeake Bay: Healing the Bay the Voluntary Way, 1300 Longworth. Noon - Environmental Law Institute forum, Fighting Food Waste: Reduction and Donation, 1730 M St. NW. 5 p.m. - Center for Strategic and International Studies forum, Water for Food Security, A Vital Resource to Feed the Planet, 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Friday, Sept. 23 Vilsack speaks on trade and the importance of Trans-Pacific Partnership at the NASDA meeting. Scuse participates in a panel discussion on TPP and international trade. 9 a.m. - USDA releases monthly Food Price Outlook. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com Manuello Paganelli first journeyed to Cuba in 1988, notes FastCompany in a profile of the photographer. "I saw the country in black and white, like a Humphrey Bogart movie, Paganelli says, recalling the dated clothing people wore and the vintage automobiles in the streets. He has since has been back September 18, 2016 NEW YORK Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is slated to address the UN General Assembly session that opens Sept. 20. It will be Rouhani's fourth such address, but this year he will notably only stay in New York for less than 48 hours. Rouhanis whirlwind visit to the United States comes at a time when he finds himself under increasing fire at home by hard-liners, who charge that the most important achievement of his foreign policy, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is useless and a stain of disgrace on Iranian history. Indeed, since the signing of the nuclear agreement in July 2015, Iranian hard-liners have relentlessly sought to devalue Rouhanis success in ending the nuclear crisis while portraying it as another Treaty of Turkmenchay. The 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay, signed by Qajar Iran and tsarist Russia, saw Iran cede many of its northern territories to Russia after suffering military defeat. To this day, Iranians invoke this treaty as a symbol of national surrender and humiliation. In this vein, Seyyed Morteza Hosseini, a hard-line member of parliament, said on May 25, The story of the JCPOA in history will be like the Treaty of Turkmenchay when it comes to the posterity of this country. He added, People should make a right decision in the [May 2017] presidential election and not let [Iran] be humiliated. The obstacles hampering implementation of the nuclear deal, which many Iranians see as rooted in stonewalling by the United States, is giving hard-liners in Tehran more pretexts and power to expedite their plan to damage Rouhanis standing ahead of the May 2017 presidential election. On Aug. 20, hard-liner and former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who unsuccessfully contested the 2013 presidential vote, took a swipe at Rouhani over his openness for a dialogue with the West, saying, If smiling at America would work, [the] 1953 [coup instigated by the United States and Britain to depose Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq] would not have happened. During the negotiations leading up to the nuclear deal, and even after agreement was reached, Rouhani supporters repeatedly emphasized the accords positive impact on the Iranian economy, which suffered greatly due to sanctions that have been now lifted. Yet, the speed of the economy's recovery remains slow, and the economic windfall of the nuclear deal is not what Iranians expected, owing largely to the anxiety of foreign investors and banks about facing punishment for re-engaging with Iran. While nuclear-related sanctions have been lifted, primary US sanctions which, for example, ban dollar and so-called U-turn transactions with Iran, remain in place. In an interview with the Guardian on Sept. 16, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Irans Atomic Energy Organization, said, As has been stated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has remained committed to its commitments, while the other side its very clear now to public opinion and its not a secret has not really delivered on the promises: that the sanctions would be removed and that banking transactions would go back to normal, that trade would speed up and economic relations would be enhanced. These have not been materialized to the extent that we expected. Given this situation, Rouhani appears to have put implementation of the nuclear deal at the top of his agenda for his short visit to the United States. According to Salehi, a foreign ministerial meeting between Iran and the six world powers with which Tehran negotiated the JCPOA is scheduled to be held in New York. It will be the first such meeting since the JCPOA's implementation. The focus will be on how to collectively tackle the problems hampering implementation. A fruitful outcome to this meeting and other efforts by Rouhani and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, while in New York would be in the interests of both Iran and the United States. Indeed, if the nuclear deal is fully implemented, it could aid the recovery of the Iranian economy and perhaps as a consequence of that pave the way for talks between Washington and Tehran on regional issues. In an Aug. 2 interview on Iranian state television, Rouhani highlighted the obstruction of the [implementation of the nuclear] deal, saying, If the United States had implemented the JCPOA accurately and with goodwill, we would have trusted them, and we would have now been ready to negotiate on other issues that could have been in the interest of the region, the United States, ourselves and others. In this vein, one of Rouhani's top priorities in New York might also be Syria. Indeed, the UN Security Council is slated to hold a special session Sept. 21 to discuss possible political solutions to the Syrian conflict. Moreover, as stated by the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, a ministerial meeting on Syria is also scheduled for Sept. 21 the target date for ensuring that all actors in the Syrian political process are involved in making headway toward a settlement. Al-Monitor has learned through an Iranian diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity that Zarif will likely attend the ministerial meeting on Syria. In a Sept. 13 op-ed in The New York Times, Zarif called for efforts by the world body to tackle militant extremism. He wrote, There needs to be coordinated action at the United Nations to cut off the funding for ideologies of hate and extremism, and a willingness from the international community to investigate the channels that supply the cash and the arms. Given the timing and focus of Zarifs op-ed, it appears that Rouhani will emphasize his own previous calls for resolving regional crises including the conflicts in Yemen and Syria through political negotiations and, like Zarif, urge the fostering of greater dialogue between religions and sects to counter medieval fanaticism. In 2013, in his first speech to the General Assembly after being elected, Rouhani addressed the issue of terrorism around the world and called on the international community to embrace Irans vision for how to forge a World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE). Although the General Assembly voted to approve Rouhani's WAVE initiative three months after it was unveiled, it remains to be seen whether steps will be taken to turn it into reality this year. September 18, 2016 BAGHDAD The National Alliance, the largest predominantly Shiite political bloc that holds 185 out of 328 parliamentary seats, decided Sept. 5 to elect Ammar al-Hakim, the head of the Islamic Supreme Council, as its leader in an unexpected move that came without any news about the coalition's intention to choose a new president being previously published. This suggests that there are political goals behind this decision as the alliance tries to revive itself by creating a strong political cohesion among its members in order to participate in the upcoming elections and preserve its historic achievements, knowing that it has been the largest political bloc in the post-2003 era. It appears that under a new consensus, Hakim will only be able to hold the post for a year. Since its inception in 2005 until the formation of the current government, the National Alliance had always been fragmented and struggling to reach united stances. When Haider al-Abadi was elected prime minister, the bloc of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused many of the National Alliance parties of treason, which led to a wave of dissent that was followed by the Muqtada al-Sadr-affiliated al-Ahrar blocs declaration that it would not attend the National Alliance meetings amid mounting protests in the Iraqi street against the policies adopted by those in power. Also, just like Sunni and Kurdish alliances, the National Alliance suffered over the last two years from internal disputes. Due to the lack of agreement on a new leader, both former Minister of Higher Education Ali al-Adib and Hakim, who ran for the alliance leadership post in July 2015, could not gain the blocs confidence. As a result, the post remained occupied by Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leader of the alliance following the August 2009 death of Supreme Council head Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. This month's election of Hakim as the head of the National Alliance came within a general consensus whereby the coalitions leading commission would elect someone for a rotational presidency on a yearly basis. This means that Hakim only has one year to complete the task of reorganizing the alliance following six years of differences between the Dawa Party and the Supreme Council regarding the presidency, and suggests that the recent arrangements came to breathe new life into the alliance, which failed to manage the country's deepening crises. It should be noted that there are regional parties that played a key role in restoring harmony to the National Alliance in preparation for the upcoming elections in Iraq. In this context, a source close to the National Alliance told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that meetings had been held between the leaders of the National Alliance and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month, which facilitated the election of Hakim as a rotational leader to the alliance that includes all of the Shiite components and partisan blocs. The meetings between Khamenei and the National Alliance leaders that took place in August focused on the need for cohesion within the National Alliance and resolving the differences over its presidency, the source said. Nouri al-Maliki is expected to head the National Alliance once Hakims term comes to an end. This will coincide with the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections in 2018 and the formation of a new government, and it will serve as a source of strength for Maliki, who is aspiring to return to power. However, a source close to Hakim told Al-Monitor that there is talk in the corridors of the Supreme Islamic Council, which is not happy with the Islamic Dawa Partys monopolization of leadership positions in the country, about the existence of an agreement within the alliance whereby the Dawa Party would not lead the alliance so long as it holds the premiership. Abadi is a Dawa member. Over the past two years, the National Alliance witnessed a significant escalation between its two main poles, namely Maliki's State of Law Coalition and Sadr's al-Ahrar bloc. Iran has also previously placed pressure on all of the parties of the National Alliance in an attempt to avoid division among its blocs. Meanwhile, Hakim tweeted, One of the first priorities is to establish institutional mechanisms in the National Alliance junctures, involve everyone in the planning and decision-making process, activate the general authority and the political authority, disseminate the culture of dialogue and communication, and find solutions to the problems facing us. He also expressed confidence in the leaders of the alliance, calling on them to show support for him regarding these goals. Despite Hakim's openness to all of the Shiite blocs and despite his visits to the leaders of the coalition, the Sadrist movement continues to cling to its position on the National Alliance as it suspends its membership in the National Alliance and abstains from attending any of its meetings. For his part, Jaafar al-Moussawi, an al-Ahrar bloc parliamentarian, said in a press statement that his bloc did not learn about Hakims nomination procedures, noting, It has been a while since al-Ahrar bloc attended any meetings related to the National Alliance. Media outlets affiliated with the Supreme Council focused on Hakims measures to restore harmony in the National Alliance, while Hakim is meeting other political blocs to reach understandings over the disagreements plaguing the parliament after a wave of interrogations deemed political toppled Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, and is aiming to withdraw confidence from Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari and interrogate Jaafari, who handed over the leadership of the National Alliance to Hakim. September 19, 2016 There may be no end in sight of the Syrian war, but Lebanon is already positioning itself as a hub for Syrian reconstruction markets once the war is over. Strategically located between the Mediterranean Sea and some of Syria's most devastated provinces such as Homs and Damascus, Lebanon could become one of the most important gateways for reconstruction efforts. According to the World Bank, the restoration of Syria represents an industry estimated to be worth over $200 billion. The figure has some businessmen and policymakers hoping that the anticipated boost in multinational trade will save the Lebanese economy, which has stagnated in recent years. Two free trade agreements, a common language and historic commercial ties are expected to give Lebanon a competitive advantage over other countries that share a border with Syria. In the last 10 or 15 years when we started liberalizing the economy, at the time when Syria was pursuing a protective planning system, Lebanon was pursuing a free trade economy, Nabil Sukkar, the managing director of the Syrian Consulting Bureau for Development and Investment, a consultancy specializing in market and investment expertise, told Al-Monitor. Lebanon became sort of the Hong Kong of Syria. A lot of business was done in Lebanon to serve Syria, and I expect that in the post-conflict reconstruction period, Lebanon will again become the Hong Kong of Syria, he said. However, Lebanons ability to make the most of its prospects hinge on whether it can draw foreign corporations to its shores despite its uncompetitive business environment. Currently, Lebanon ranks 13 out of 15 Arab countries on the World Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Index. Across the country, the government, along with international partners including the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and United Nations agencies are evaluating a number of initiatives that could spur foreign investment as well as bilateral trade. In anticipation of lucrative reconstruction contracts, the Ministry of Industry and the UN Industrial Development Organization are evaluating the possible creation of up to three industrial zones. These zones might be established in the eastern Bekaa Valley or southern Chouf region, where local manufacturers would be well-placed to service the Damascus area. Several other projects are being enabled through funds from a new financial instrument established in April by international donors. The Concessional Financing Facility (CFF) is meant to offer loans at highly concessional rates with a 40-year repayment window and a 10-year grace period. The grant money that was initially received during the April meeting from the international community is put into a CFF trust fund. This will allow us to program about $800 million worth of money, Peter Mousley, the program director at the World Banks regional office in Beirut, told Al-Monitor. That money will be put to use in Lebanons north where World Bank funding is being used to upgrade 700 kilometers (435 miles) of roads, according to Hassan Dennaoui, a special consultant at the Tripoli Chamber of Commerce. Through this initiative, the government is hoping to stimulate job creation while laying the ground work for Syrian reconstruction activity. Perhaps no city in Lebanon stands to gain more from Syrias repair than Tripoli, an impoverished city that, as recently as March 2014, was the site of fierce clashes between factions on opposing sides of the Syrian war. Now, with the violence quelled, Tripoli is set to become the countrys most crucial hub for the Syrian reconstruction business and a key supply route to the devastated Syrian province of Homs, located north of Lebanon. The potential wealth to be made from Syrias restoration has also energized work on existing projects such as the expansion of Tripolis seaport. In 2012, the government awarded a contract to Gultainer for the construction and operation of a terminal at the port, and new developments are ongoing. For his part, Dennaoui told Al-Monitor that the city is even being prepared to compete with Syrias own harbors to the north. There is no readiness for the seaports in Syria to host the big shipments because, here [in Tripoli], we have a depth of around 15.5 meters [51 feet] and it will be [dredged] for 17 meters, which does not exist is Syria, Dennaoui said. With the coordination of the Tripoli Chamber of Commerce, the seaport will work in tandem with a special economic zone (SEZ) that is in the early phases of development. The site of the SEZ, which is located next to the sea, is currently under reclamation and is expected to be finished by mid-2017. Theres a lot of desk work that has to be done, Raya al-Hassan, who formerly served as minister of finance and was thereafter appointed as the chairman of the SEZ, told Al-Monitor. Our law allows us to work with private developers. So either we mobilize funding through concessional financing by multinational organizations or we have to knock on the door of private developers, equity or loan financiers to basically provide funding no less than $30 million for the infrastructure. If all goes according to schedule, Hassan believes that the SEZ could be operational by 2020. Once completed, the zone is expected to play an integral role in attracting foreign corporations to Lebanon with a scheme of tax breaks and incentives, including a 50% foreign worker allowance. Tripolis most ambitious project will be the laying of a 30-kilometer (19-mile) railway to the Syrian border that will be used to transport construction materials and other goods for reconstruction. Dennaoui said that the Islamic Development Bank has accessed the CFF and committed some of the $85 million that are needed to build the railroad over the next five to six years. According to Dennaoui, the chamber predicts that these megaprojects and subsequent foreign investment could create as many as 7,000 jobs across a range of sectors, including information-technology, consulting, construction and logistics. However, skeptics like Nassib Ghobril, the chief economist at Byblos Bank, are hesitant to put their hopes in Syrian reconstruction markets. For the Lebanese economy, you have an obsession now: the reconstruction of Syria. We have to wait for the reconstruction of Syria and the Lebanese economy will boom again. But you need to upgrade the infrastructure in the country regardless of what happens in Syria for a simple reason: our competitiveness is declining, and second you dont know when the war in Syria will end, Ghobril told Al-Monitor. One thing that experts can agree on is Lebanons need to prepare for reconstruction-related activity to maximize its earnings. If the country cannot meet expectations, Syrian reconstruction could become a missed opportunity for Lebanese and Syrians alike. September 19, 2016 BAGHDAD On Aug. 30, the Iraqi Integrity Court announced the recovery of the head of the statue of King Sanatruq I, who reigned from roughly 140 to 180, which is an important Babylonian monument that is registered in the records of the Iraqi Museum of Antiquities. The head was stolen in April 2003. Also in August, Iraq recovered 483 artifacts that the Islamic State (IS) intended to smuggle out of Iraq. An important step was taken in the efforts to recover Iraqi antiquities when the United States pledged last month to protect the antiquities of Iraq and to recover what was looted, John Russell, the US State Departments senior adviser on Iraqi cultural heritage, said in a statement. This was confirmed by a source at the US Embassy in Baghdad who requested anonymity. The source said that the embassys instructions on how to deal with cases of artifacts smuggling are very strict, and that the United States is very serious about ending this phenomenon. However, the progress in recovering Iraqi antiquities that disappeared from museums and archaeological sites is offset by signs of continued smuggling in Mosul in the countrys north, especially since IS occupied the city on June 10, 2014, and in Dhi Qar (375 kilometers south of Baghdad), where on May 24, 2016, two antiquities smugglers were arrested while in possession of old manuscripts and artifacts. On May 24, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said, Iraq still needs international support to curb the smuggling of antiquities as an international crime. On Jan. 20, an antiquities smuggler in Baghdad was arrested while in possession of old manuscripts and artifacts. On May 31, an Iraqi man tried to smuggle artifacts through Najaf airport to a neighboring country. And on April 1, 2015, in Babil province a smuggling operation was thwarted when an Iraqi smuggler tried to hand over artifacts to a foreign woman. But overall, the number of smuggling operations has significantly decreased compared with 2003, when US forces entered Iraq and brought down Saddam Husseins regime, according to Haidar Abdul Wahid, the director general of investigations at the Tourism and Antiquities Authority. In a statement Feb. 17, he said, There have been significantly fewer illegal excavations in the southern provinces in Iraq after the cooperation and coordination between the Tourism and Antiquities Authority and the security forces. This view was reinforced by Hussein Falih, the director of Babil antiquities, who told Al-Monitor, Smuggling is almost nonexistent in the ancient city of Babil. The directorate began protecting the antiquities of Borsippa in southern Babel at the beginning of 2016, which would lead to fully ending the illegal excavations in the area. In Dhi Qar province, a research archaeologist who preferred not to be named told Al-Monitor, The vast expanses of archaeological sites are guarded by protection staffers who do not have modern monitoring techniques. They only use primitive techniques. The archaeological sites in Dhi Qar are subject to theft and illegal excavations on an ongoing basis. And there are no clear government plans to protect the sites. One of the main reasons for the continuing smuggling and illegal excavations of antiquities is the large number of archaeological sites in Iraq. They amount to roughly 13,000 sites as announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on June 15, 2015. This number is too large for the limited protection capabilities available; even important historical sites are without adequate security protection. On April 14, a field trip by the police found that many artifacts are left out in the open. Had there been archaeological awareness, these historic areas would have been protected despite the dearth of security protection. This applies not only to Iraq but several Arab countries afflicted by war, such as Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, Mohamed Abdel Latif, a professor of Islamic and Coptic monuments at Egypt's Mansoura University, said April 4. He added, The Arab countries civilizations have been devastated by wars and terrorism. Stopping illegal excavations, which are the source of smuggled artifacts, is twofold: first is security. Falah Abdul-Karim al-Khafaji, the head of the security committee in Babil province, told Al-Monitor, The smuggling of artifacts is linked to the security chaos. The more the conditions stabilize, the more the illegal excavations recede. There is an urgent need for preventive security measures to stop smuggling operations before they occur and to adopt modern, digital monitoring methods at archaeological sites, especially by monitoring via satellite and by supporting villagers near the sites and encouraging them to physically protect the sites. The second part of the solution lies in increasing archaeological awareness. Important projects that may help eradicate smuggling operations are on the horizon. On Aug. 12, the UNESCO office in Iraq produced, with the help of Norway, videos that raise awareness about protecting Iraqs cultural heritage. In the same context, the National Campaign to Protect Iraqi Antiquities was launched by activists and volunteers, calling for coordination with the Foreign Ministry to monitor the sale of Iraqi antiquities in global auctions. September 19, 2016 In 2006, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Turkish citizen Osman Murat Ulke, who refused to perform compulsory military service as an act of civil disobedience, had been subjected to "civil death" due to the numerous prosecutions he faced after his original jail sentence. Ulkes expulsion from his profession and the prospect of an interminable series of convictions, which forced him into hiding, constituted a disproportionate punishment, the court said. Many legal experts now believe that thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Turks are potentially in a similar situation in the wake of the July 15 bloody coup attempt. According to officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), 70,000 public servants were dismissed in less than two months after the putsch, while some estimate the figure is more than 100,000. Among them, thousands remain in police custody or have been imprisoned pending trial, but the overwhelming majority of those remaining have not yet faced any questioning related to their dismissals. Kerem Altiparmak, an Ankara University scholar specializing in human rights, believes a public sector purge on such a scale is perhaps unprecedented in the world. We are speaking here of tens of thousands people more than 100,000 people ousted from public service. Im not sure whether it had reached such numbers even in the entire Eastern European bloc after the Iron Curtain collapsed, Altiparmak told Al-Monitor. The Economist recently wrote that the crackdown resembles a witch-hunt, far bigger than Senator Joe McCarthys purge of suspected communists in America in the 1950s. In the chaotic days after the coup attempt, which claimed more than 240 lives and left thousands injured, the AKP government repeatedly assured that no innocent people would be swept up in the crackdown on the putschists, who Ankara has branded the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO). Yet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Sept. 7 that the horses traces had mixed with the dogs traces a Turkish phrase that describes a serious confusion. Following his statement, the government immediately announced that those who had been unfairly dismissed would be reinstated. Speaking at a meeting with governors in Ankara, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim ordered the creation of crisis desks in all of Turkeys 81 provinces to review objections. In a separate meeting with the governors, Erdogan said, I dont want you to compete with each other on who gets more public servants dismissed. I want you to be fair. The same day, however, more than 11,000 teachers in the mainly Kurdish southeast, most of them members of a leftist trade union, were suspended for alleged collaboration with the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), casting doubt on the sincerity of the governments mea culpa. Ever since the coup attempt, the government has claimed collusion between the leftist PKK and the religiously motivated FETO, but according to leftist trade unions, this was clearly a political operation. The purge in the public sector is being carried out through legislative decrees, a tool made available under the three-month state of emergency declared days after the bungled putsch. The government has used two methods in the crackdown: dismissal and suspension. Those suspended stand a chance to return to their jobs after the investigations. But those dismissed cannot be employed in or assigned directly or indirectly to public service again, the legislative decrees stipulate. According to Altiparmak, this provision effectively condemns the dismissed to lifelong unemployment. Expelled judges or law professors, for instance, cannot work as lawyers, and soldiers or police officers cannot provide private security services. The problem, however, does not end there. Aziz Celik, a scholar of labor economics at Kocaeli University, says the dismissed are being socially stigmatized because their names are being published in the Official Gazette without any trials and convictions. With the publicizing of their names, those people are being declared putschists or terrorists before the public. In other words, they are being blacklisted and left to die a civil death, Celik told Al-Monitor. According to the scholar, the purge has affected up to 500,000 people, counting in the families of the dismissed. This is a very serious social trauma that could have other ramifications in the future, he said, stressing that the dismissed were stigmatized along with their relatives and social circles and had their personal lives destroyed. The main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) has said it will seek the cancellation of the legislative decrees at the Constitutional Court. CHP deputy and human rights lawyer Sezgin Tanrikulu believes government opponents unrelated to the coup attempt are being punished collectively and subjected to social lynching in the tense aftermath of the putsch. Ankara, in a sense, is creating a new internal enemy, he told Al-Monitor. Turkey cannot afford this in this polarizing climate. The legislative decrees stipulate that the dismissed have no legal recourse to appeal. Many legal experts, however, disagree. Some even say the legislative decrees are unconstitutional and thus null and void, and call on the dismissed to petition administrative courts and then, if necessary, the Constitutional Court, as the normal procedure requires. Altiparmak believes that no domestic recourse is possible because the emergency rule law exempts legislative decrees from the scope of constitutional objections, and thus the dismissed could go directly to the ECHR. Earlier this month, Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, urged Ankara to produce clear evidence in pursuing participants in the putsch and separate those who were clearly behind the coup and those who have been in some way or another connected to or working [in institutions run by] this so-called Gulen network. Otherwise, he warned, Turkey may be challenged in the ECHR, which enforces the European Convention of Human Rights. For many legal experts, this prospect is inevitable and thousands of civil death cases are potentially looming against Turkey at the ECHR. Referring to a Sept. 1 legislative decree, under which 41,000 people were dismissed, Altiparmak said, If all 41,000 of them apply to the ECHR, all 41,000 of them will win, and the court will order Turkey to pay both material and moral compensation. We know from precedents that the court considers such expulsions from public service without fair trial as violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. September 19, 2016 Only a year or so ago, Russian and Turkish newspapers were digging up reports of the last war between the countries and speculating what would happen if a new one broke out. But things are moving fast. The military channel of the dialogue that began with President Recep Tayyip Erdogans apology letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin was extended with the Sept. 15 visit of Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov to Ankara. A visit by the chief of staff after an 11-year hiatus is itself an important development, made even more so because it came soon after Turkeys intervention in the Syrian war and coincides with the ongoing debate over Black Sea domination. At the end, the official statements of both sides were sweeter than honey. The Russian Defense Ministry was positive in its statement: The meeting provided an opportunity to facilitate assessments of the current situation in Syria and measures needed to support the cease-fire. The Turkish side also appeared to be very pleased with the visit. Turkish military sources said, This visit realized after an 11-year interval was very positive and productive. Commonalities between the militaries of Turkey and the Russian Federation were further consolidated and opened the way to even more positive developments. This visit is a signal of the Russian Federations acknowledgement of Turkey as a major power in the region. We believe there will be positive reflections of this in the near future. Another important aspect of the visit is the understanding that regional problems can be solved through joint initiatives of regional countries. This is certainly a groundbreaking reversal for Ankara, which once used to ask, What is Russia doing in Syria? Although Ankara has been working with the United States in a proxy war against the Syrian regime for the past five years, Turkey couldnt have entered Jarablus and al-Rai without Russias blessing. It is certainly noteworthy that Turkeys presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, admitted earlier this month that he views the improvement in Russian-Turkish relations regarding Syria as a positive step. It was a good thing that we took that step," he said. "Otherwise, we could not have conducted these operations in Syria and sent assistance there." Nevertheless, despite all this optimism, it is not all that simple. Russians think that Turkey, after entering Syria with a green light from Moscow, has exceeded the agreed-upon limits of the operation. The Syria issue has aspects that could bring the two countries into confrontation at any moment. Russian agency Interfax reported that Gerasimov told Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar that the Turkish armys operations in Syria have violated international law. The report said Gerasimov warned that further expansion of the operation could have political and military risks. It is significant that the Russian warning came on the heels of US President Barack Obamas proposal to Erdogan of a joint operation against Raqqa. According to Turkish sources, Gerasimov wanted to know Turkey's operational dimensions and when Turkey will conclude its operation. Akar told him that Turkey favors territorial integrity for Syria and that Operation Euphrates Shield aimed at ensuring Turkey's border security. Turkish media reported the three-hour meeting of the two generals as confirming the legitimacy and appropriateness of Operation Euphrates Shield. One has to wonder how accurate the Turkish medias conclusions were. Russia declares all operations carried out by third-party countries without the knowledge and approval of the Syrian government as violations of international law. It is not likely that Moscow will amend its firm stance for the benefit of Turkish-Russian relations. It is hardly likely that Moscow will simply stand and watch if Turkey supports armed groups against the Syrian army, which is gaining ground around Aleppo with Russia's backing. Turkey and Russia had already decided to establish a hotline as relations were normalizing. The meeting in Ankara between two military chiefs simply activated the plan. The step that would have significant bearing on Turkey-Russia rapprochement will be more than a hotline and will require Ankara to change its attitude toward Syrian opposition groups. But there is no sign of this. There is an undeclared accord between the United States and Russia to treat Erdogans favored Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (the former Jabhat al-Nusra) the same as the Islamic State. The question is how Turkey and the Gulf countries are assessing this US-Russian accord. Although Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Turkey has ceased issuing ultimatums on the destiny of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, can anyone say that Ankaras intentions for Syria have become crystal clear? In addition to Syria, another critical issue is Russias sensitivity to an increasing NATO presence in the Black Sea. Ankara annoyed Moscow to no end by favoring such a buildup in the Black Sea. Until now, Russia has deemed Turkeys handling of the navigation as foreseen by the Montreux Straits Treaty through its straits as friendly. According to a statement Gerasimov gave before coming to Ankara, Russia will not tolerate a change in this Turkish approach. Today our Black Sea fleet is in good shape. Only a couple of years ago the military capacity of this fleet contrasted sharply with the Turkish navy. In those days, Turkey was seen as the ruler of the Black Sea. These have all changed, he said. The Russian general noted that submarines armed with guided missiles have joined Russia's Black Sea fleet. We now have three," he said. "One more is about to join them. Two more will be added next year to give us a total of six submarines. A senior Turkish source who did not want to be identified said Turkeys support of a larger NATO presence in the Black Sea has softened since the normalization of Turkish-Russian relations. But this doesnt mean that Turkey has eased its ambitions of boosting the Turkish naval presence in the Black Sea. The source said Turkey has not abandoned the US goal of containing the Russian power in the Black Sea. In July, Erdogan told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Your lowering of visibility in the Black Sea gives the impression it is a veritable Russian lake. We have to make the Black Sea a basin of stability again. Turkey and Russia, which have both increased their military capabilities and have become more involved in regional issues, are in disagreement. To prevent these discords from becoming hot clashes, more hotlines and more channels of dialogue are needed. Both countries want to improve economic relations, but Russia pays more attention than Turkey to strategic relations. Al-Monitor has learned that Leonid Reshetnikov, the chairman of the Kremlin think-tank Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, while hosting Ankara policymakers in Moscow had stated, We want to improve ties with Turkey very quickly. Although Turkey looks at the issue from its economic aspects, we look at the world through a geopolitical lens. The institute will send a delegation to Turkey Oct. 31 seeking to further improve relations between the two countries. Not to be forgotten is that both countries have imperial habits and they may well need more than a single hotline to avoid a head-on confrontation while dealing with their ambitions. September 19, 2016 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas intends to declare more hard-line Palestinian national positions on all permanent status issues at this months UN General Assembly meeting as well as at a meeting of the Arab League, Al-Monitor has learned from a senior PLO official. He will shift from more traditional pragmatic positions such as those expressed by the Palestinians during the Oslo process, in talks with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and in talks last year with US Secretary of State John Kerry. These more nationalistic positions come in response to what Ramallah perceives as extreme right-wing Israeli policies and activities in the West Bank, especially regarding settlement expansion and economic annexation in Area C. Abbas is expected to characterize Israel's policies as ethnic cleansing and war crimes. The official stated that PLO policy planners are currently drafting national Palestinian positions for a two-state solution that reflect the mainstream of Palestinian public opinion. These positions will include five main points. The first is a two-state solution along the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as a capital, with only minor and equal territorial swaps. The second concerns security arrangements for both sides, guaranteed by international monitors. No Israeli military presence in the West Bank will be tolerated. The third element mentioned by the PLO official was the establishment of a family reunion program in sovereign Israel for 100,000 Palestinian refugees, to fulfill the principle of the right of return. Another important element is international compensation to all Palestinian refugees. And finally, there is the issue of Israeli-Palestinian security and diplomatic cooperation, which must be developed strictly on the basis of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. The PLO official claimed that Palestinian public opinion research shows broad support for such positions. In a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in both the West Bank and Gaza on Aug. 22, 51% of Palestinians were in favor of a two-state solution. Around 40% supported a compromise along the lines of this plan. Abbas will base his speeches on these findings and positions. On the Israeli side, hard-line Palestinian positions and international disinterest in a peace process are welcomed, as these factors will make it easier for official Israel to reject the Palestinians' conditions. A senior Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Research Center official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Israeli diplomacy has succeeded under the personal guidance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in preventing any major international pressure for a two-state solution and even for a settlement-construction freeze. He said, Policy is not a popularity contest. What counts is that we were able to place the main onus on the Palestinian side for the deadlock in the peace process. The Israeli official said that Israel is aware of the Palestinian policy plans, which are totally unacceptable. According to him, Israeli does have contingency plans for the renewal of talks. Israel will insist that only bilateral and unconditional negotiations will be relaunched. Israel will agree to the presence of Quartet members only at the opening session of such negotiations. Israel will agree to the principle of a two-state solution only when the Palestinians recognize the principle of Israel as the Jewish homeland. The border issue will be decided only after all security and anti-terror arrangements are agreed upon, prioritizing Israeli settlement blocs and security interests. Israel will refuse any right of return, as well as a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. Both sides are preparing to present unrealistic positions. The Palestinians will adopt an unrealistic stance to impress upon the international community that they are not giving into Israeli pressures on the ground, and Israel will do the same to continue its settlement and occupation policies. Still, both sides have an alternative: to return to the agreements that they have signed together, the Oslo Accord of 1993 and 1995. According to the agreements, several parameters must be agreed upon. One of the most important is that Israel must, even before permanent status talks, begin to turn over parts of Area C (under full Israeli control) to Area B (under Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control). The Oslo agreement does not stipulate how much of the West Bank territory under full Israeli control will be handed over to Palestinian civil control, but the understanding between the two parties was that the vast majority of the West Bank would be under the (civil) jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. Another essential parameter is that in the permanent status talks, all issues Jerusalem, settlements, borders, refugees and security must be dealt with simultaneously. The issue of a Palestinian state is alluded to in the agreement, granting the Palestinians their political rights. The Oslo Accord refers to all the West Bank and Gaza as one territorial unit. This should be the scope of territory of the future Palestinian independent state, while allowing negotiated territorial swaps. In addition, Israel has the full right to insist on rigid security arrangements, but without disrupting Palestinian sovereignty. Oslo emphasized the importance of both security and economic cooperation, which must be part of a successful two-state solution and anti-terror policy. The Oslo Accord also refers to regional cooperation, and especially to Egypt and Jordan. Finally, but no less important, the Oslo Accord is based on mutual recognition. The avoidance of the parties from the difficult decisions that are clearly detailed in their signed agreements is undoubtedly the root of todays crisis. September 19, 2016 The US-led coalitions Sept. 17 bombing of Syrian government forces has triggered increasingly tough Iranian rhetoric on the role the United States is playing in Syria. After meeting with the Syrian ambassador to Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the former Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs who now serves as director general of international affairs in parliament, said Sept. 18, Americas behavior shows that the United States and its allies are always looking to strengthen terrorist groups in Syria and the announced cease-fire should be regarded in that respect. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, US-led coalition airstrikes coming from the direction of the Syrian-Iraq border killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor. When the Sept. 10 cease-fire plan was announced by the United States and Russia, Iran welcomed the initiative, saying conflict must be ended through dialogue. The Iranian tone has significantly changed in the aftermath of the unprecedented strike on Syrian forces. On Sept. 18, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said, This American move, which was concurrent with attacks by the [Islamic State (IS)] terrorist group on the same positions, was in violation of the national sovereignty of the Syrian government and such a move showed that terrorist groups enjoy US support in Syria. Of note, the US-led coalition says it mistakenly hit the Syrian army instead of nearby IS militants. The militants reportedly advanced to seize a hilltop overlooking a Syrian military base held by government forces after the bombing. Meanwhile, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Amir-Abdollahians successor as deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, is in Damascus for the second time in two weeks. Ansari met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who stressed the importance of the support provided by Iran, Russia and other friendly countries. The two agreed on strengthening bilateral coordination and cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries. The strong condemnation from Tehran comes as Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders prior to the national Sacred Defense Week, which marks the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. Once again taking aim at engagement with the United States, Khamenei said Sept 18, Logic rules that we should absolutely distrust those who have openly maintained hostility toward us; thus, it is necessary for officials to stay vigilant in the wake of the enemys infiltration and thirst for domination. Suggesting that Washington has reached out to Tehran for talks on regional issues, Khamenei added, Why else would US officials insist on holding talks with us on concerns regarding the West Asian region particularly Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen? What is their genuine goal, of holding such negotiations? They seek nothing other than preventing the Islamic Republic of Iran from being the core factor in making the US nosedive in the region. In this vein, Khamenei concluded, Negotiations with the US are not only useless, but also harmful; this has been made clear to high-ranking officials of the country, in a seeming reference to President Hassan Rouhanis administration. Indeed, Khamenei notably asserted that these officials had no response to his reasoning for the futility of talks with the United States. This story appears in Birmingham magazine's September 2016 Issue. Subscribe today! What began as a festival in Munich about 200 years ago has inspired modern German-themed festivals around the world, including Birmingham. Oktoberfest as we know it today is a super-sized combo of state fair, beer smorgasbord, and tailgate. The name is also a moniker for a style of beer, perhaps the only modern brew named for an event. And while the event is named for the month of October, Munich's Oktoberfest has long been celebrated mostly in September. Confused? It really does make sense. Munich's Oktoberfest is the offspring of the royal wedding between Bavaria's eventual ruler, Ludwig, and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on Oct. 12, 1810. Their multi-day nuptial festivities, timed to coincide with the traditional fall harvest festival, ended with a horse race in a meadow named for the bride, Teresienweise. Celebrated since on the same site, Oktoberfest officially became an annual festival centered on beer in 1819. Munich officials moved it to start in mid-September and end the first Sunday in October to take advantage of warmer weather. The original Oktoberfest beer was commonly called Marzen (or Maerzen), the German word for March. Marzens were strong lagers brewed in March, the end of the traditional German brewing season, and stored in ice-filled caves to be consumed during fall harvest festivals. It was dark in color, which was typical because of the way malt was brewed at the time. Aided by technological advances that allowed brewers to make lighter-hued beer, Spaten Brewery introduced the modern version of Oktoberfest beer in 1872 to acclaim. Munich's breweries adopted the new festbier style, which was orange- to copper-colored and malty with just enough crisp hops to cut the caramel sweetness. Some continued to call it Marzen, leading Spaten to use the phrase "Ur-Marzen" on its bottle labels to indicate it is the original version of the modern Oktoberfest style. Fest-style beer has become popular with craft breweries in the United States. Birmingham offerings include Cahaba Brewing's Oktoberfest and Avondale Brewing's Meredith Marzen. "Our Oktoberfest has a big flavor, a darker orange color, and more malty character than a lot of German Oktoberfests on the market," says Cahaba's Eric Meyer, who started developing the recipe for the brewery's 7.5 percent ABV (alcohol by volume) beer when he was a home brewer. Avondale's Meredith Marzen is 5 percent ABV, sold on draft. Avondale also plans a limited release of 300 "bombers"--22-ounce bottles--says head brewer Nate Darnell. Other Alabama breweries making seasonal Oktoberfests include Blue Pants in Madison and Salty Nut in Huntsville. Munich's 16-day Oktoberfest is legendary among beer lovers. In more than a dozen tents, each holding thousands of drinkers, strong fest beer is dispensed by the liter (twice the size of a standard serving in Birmingham). In 2015, nearly 6 million visitors to the festival downed 7.7 million liters of lager. Back home, the party is much tamer. In Cullman--founded by a German native and an early enclave for German immigrants--the annual city Oktoberfest was alcohol-free until 2011 (the city had been dry for decades until a law change). Birmingham's Oktoberfest at Das Haus on Second Avenue North turned 40 this year. Run by the Freunde Deutscher Sprache und Kultur (FDSK or Friends of German Language and Culture), the weekend-long celebration features a variety of German brews served in an outdoor biergarten, German sausages and other food, and live music. It feels almost like you're in Munich, with many attendees wearing typical German garb--dirndls and lederhosen. So whether you're in Germany or Alabama, this worldwide celebration gives a reason to ring in the fall, drink some German beer, and cheers with "Prost!" Details Cahaba's Oktoberfest will be available through October at the brewery taproom, 4500 5th Avenue South; Avondale's Meredith Marzen will be available at the taproom, 201 41st St. South, starting in early September. Oktoberfest in Alabama and Beyond Csro3bwWEAAxCty.jpg large.jpg (Courtesy of Krispy Kreme) Ahoy, doughnut lovers! Customers who talk like a pirate today at participating Krispy Kreme stores in the U.S. and Canada will receive one free original glazed doughnut from the chain. If you're really into the pirate thing, you can dress up like one and receive a dozen free original glazed doughnuts, no purchase necessary. A qualifying costume must include three pirate items, like a bandana, eye patch or peg leg. Additionally, guests who use the custom Krispy Kreme Snapchat pirate filter to digitally "dress" like a pirate can show the image to a team member at the store to receive a dozen free original glazed doughnuts. Click here for more information. Long John Silver's is also providing a free piece of Alaskan whitefish or chicken to customers who talk like a pirate. The restaurant will give away a two-piece fish or chicken basket to anyone who dresses like one. RHE-headshot-landscape-brick_outdoor.jpg Though she's a new mom and is working on a new book, according to her website, Rachel Held Evans is making a handful of appearances this fall. She will be the featured speaker in the Stephen and Ruth Dill Lecture Series at Dauphin Way Methodist Church in Mobile on Sept. 24-25. (www.rachelheldevans.com) (Picasa) She writes about faith, doubt and life in the Bible Belt - and Birmingham native Rachel Held Evans will be speaking on those topics and more this weekend at Dauphin Way United Methodist Church in Mobile. Evans is the New York Times best-selling author of "Faith Unraveled" (2010), "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" (2012) and "Searching for Sunday" (2015). She is also a nationally popular blogger who addresses a broad array of topics, from her new adventures in motherhood to politics to Christianity and her personal spirituality. She has described her faith journey as "wrestling, meandering, stretching, struggling. My spiritual GPS has yet to chirp, 'You have arrived.'" This week, prior to her appearance in Mobile, Evans will participate in a panel discussion, "Women and the Church: An Inter-Tradition Dialogue" with Sister Simone Campbell and Mary Rice Hasson at the University of Notre Dame. Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Christianity Today, Slate, The Huffington Post, The CNN Belief Blog, and on NPR, the BBC, "Today" and "The View." According to her website, she is "a lifelong Crimson Tide fan." Evans is the featured speaker in the 2016 Stephen and Ruth Dill Lecture Series at the church. On Saturday, she will lead the Dill Women's Event, "Women of Valor: A Biblical Call to Celebration." More than 200 women have already registered. And then on Sunday, she will deliver the message during morning worship at 10:30 a.m. and will give a lecture on Sunday evening at 5:30 p.m. She will sign books at a reception following the lecture. On her Facebook page recently, she said that she will preach from Luke 16: 19-31, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The Dill Lecture Series was established in 2013 by Dauphin Way United Methodist Church Foundation to honor Dr. Stephen Dill and his wife Ruth for their 40 years of service to the church and to the community. The series brings esteemed speakers to offer their insights and inspiration to the Dauphin Way congregation and the community at large. For more information, visit www.dauphinwayumc.org/dilllectureseries or call the church at (251) 471-1511. Anniston's BAE Systems plant will be one of two locations helping fulfill a $54 million contact to provide 32 upgraded howitzers to the Brazilian Army. According to a news release, work will begin in October in Anniston and at the company's York, Penn. plant. The contract calls for M109A5+ self-propelled howitzers to be delivered by the last quarter of 2018. BAE Systems will overhaul and upgrade 32 self-propelled howitzers tailored to the Brazilian army's requirements, and include spares and training. The army will also receive live fire support and field service support. Marco Caffe, the company's Brazilian general manager, said BAE has been working with the Brazilian army for four years on upgrading similar vehicles. A Gadsden City High School 9th grader is being questioned in connection with a social media post hinting at a visit by a "clown" at an Etowah County school. Rainbow City Police Chief Jonathon Horton said officers are questioning a student in connection with the incident, which lead to an increased police presence at two Etowah County schools this morning. By the afternoon, Etowah County authorities were also dealing with a threat to two schools in the Hokes Bluff area. And in Calhoun County, authorities arrested a 16-year-old juvenile from Pleasant Valley on charges of making a terroristic threat. Etowah County Schools Superintendent Alan Cosby said officers with Rainbow City police were on campus this morning at Rainbow Middle School and John Jones Elementary. The officers were there following a social media post which hinted at a visit to Rainbow Middle by a clown. Taking the post as a starting point, Horton said officers questioned the person who shared it, and eventually traced it to the student. "He invented the hoax and originally said he was dared to do it," Horton said. "Then he told us he just did it on his own because he'd seen (where) other people had done it." Horton said police, juvenile probation and the Gadsden City School system are working together to determine how to move forward with the case. The incident comes a week after "creepy clown" sightings and threats impacted other Alabama school systems. The Escambia County Sheriff's Office announced Friday the arrests of a 22-year-old woman and two juveniles in connection with the "Flomo Klown" affair. On Thursday, cryptic "Flomo Klown" postings on Facebook led to school campus lockdowns in Escambia County northeast of Mobile. On Friday, further social media buzz led to a so-called "soft" lockdown of Fairhope High. Cosby said the post was not really "an overt threat" and that the schools were not on lockdown. Classes are continuing. "I'm not aware of any mass absenteeism this morning," Cosby said. The post was a screenshot shared on Facebook between an unidentified person and someone identified as Jay Lit. "Come to Gadsden bud" is the first text from an unidentified sender. "I'm coming tomorrow," is the reply, with a clown icon. "Like where you gonna be at" the other texter questions. "By Rainbow Middle" Officers were also stationed at John Jones Elementary because of its proximity to Rainbow Middle. Police became aware of the post last night and were able to have officers in place for school this morning. This afternoon, Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Natalie Barton said authorities received a 911 call "saying clowns are attacking Hokes Bluff school." Barton said the call appeared to be a third party call originating from Georgia. "There's nothing to it," she said. Calhoun County Chief Deputy Matthew Wade said extra deputies were stationed at Saks Middle School this morning. Investigators became aware of "threats" made through social media posts. "Some posts have been deleted, some have been taken down," he said. The Pleasant Valley youth arrested had threatened to "shoot up" the middle school, Wade said. "It's really disturbing in today's world that people are doing this to scare others," he said. "We are going to find the people who did this. There are consequences when you make threats." Two more Alabama schools were on lockdown today after a social media posts and phoned-in threat warned "clowns" might show up at two Birmingham area schools. Irondale police Officer James Lewis, a school resource officer, said a student reported to police that a Facebook post hinted at the possibility of clowns showing up on campus at Shades Valley High School. "There was no threat,'' Lewis said. Birmingham police said Holy Family Cristo Rey High School in Ensley received a call that a clown was coming to the school to lure children to the woods. Police found nothing, said Sgt. Bryan Shelton. Similar incidents have taken place throughout Alabama, including Flomaton, Etowah County and Montgomery, and across the southeast. In some instances, children have reported clowns trying to lure them into the woods. In other cases, victims have been messaged by the so-called clowns with vulgar language. The Escambia County Sheriff's Office announced Friday the arrests of a 22-year-old woman and two juveniles in connection with the "Flomo Known" affair. On Thursday, cryptic "Flomo Klown" postings on Facebook led to school campus lockdowns in Escambia County northeast of Mobile. On Friday, further social media buzz led to a so-called "soft" lockdown of Fairhope High. Today, Etowah County Schools Superintendent Alan Cosby said officers with Rainbow City police were on campus this morning at Rainbow Middle School and John Jones Elementary. The officers were there following a social media post which hinted at a visit to Rainbow Middle by a clown. And, just a short time ago, the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office posted this on Facebook: "The Sheriff's Office has received numerous reports of social media posts of individuals making threats under the auspice of being clowns. These threats under Alabama Law could result in arrest for "Making a Terroristic Threat" which is a felony. School resource officers have identified several suspects that were making the posts and an investigation is currently ongoing." In Irondale, Lewis said they spoke with the student who reported the possibility of clowns showing up at Shades Valley, and said the Facebook posts have since been removed. He said the soft lockdown is a precaution only, and there is no disruption to classes. Irondale police Det. Sgt. Michael Mangina said they have two school resource officers assigned to Shades Valley. In addition to those two officers, extra officers were patrolling the campus today. Mangina said they are monitoring the situation, but said they are not overly concerned. "Part of the problem is the fact this stuff gets on social media and it explodes and it alarms people and it just spreads,'' he said. "In today's climate, we're better safe than sorry." Gov. Robert Bentley today praised the response from Colonial Pipeline after a pipeline leak on Sept. 9 spilled 336,000 gallons of gasoline -- and counting -- in Shelby County. Bentley said he was "very impressed" by the company's response and urged consumers not to panic about rising fuel prices and reports of gas shortages. The governor also said it is impossible to know if another such leak will happen again. "We don't know a (pipeline leak) won't happen again. That's like asking if a tornado will happen again," Bentley said. Bentley said he also does not know how much the leak is going to cost the state. "That can be calculated when we get the original problem fixed," Bentley said. The governor today is touring the the incident command center for the Colonial Pipeline gas spill and received a briefing on the response to the spill from officials from Colonial Pipeline, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Alabama Department of Environmental Management, and Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Colonial Pipeline says it could be ready to restart its Line 1 this week, meaning drivers throughout the Southeast will likely have to endure scattered gas station outages and price increases for at least a few more days. The company is constructing a temporary bypass line around the leaking segment of pipe, which spilled an estimated 336,000 gallons of gasoline in Shelby County, Ala. and shut down a major part of America's gasoline distribution system for more than a week. "We anticipate being able to restart the line through the bypass this week," Colonial Pipeline public information officer Don Pozin said Sunday afternoon. "There's a lot of factors that can go into restart time, but our projections suggest that it will be this week. "A more precise timetable really depends on a number of external factors, such as weather or other things that are outside the bounds of our control. At this time, we're staying with this week." The bypass line would be about 500-700 feet long, Pozin said, and follow closely the route of the leaking pipeline. Pozin said that allows pipeline workers to avoid the hazardous fumes around the assumed site of the leak. Work crews have been limited in their access the site to make repairs or remove the spilled gas for days at a time due to high levels of gasoline and benzene vapors at the site. "What [the bypass] does, is it allows us to work in a safe area, construct the pipeline and be able to connect it back to the existing line," he said. Federal, state and local authorities on scene have said the vapors do not pose a health threat to local residents, or the nearby cities of Helena or Alabaster. Pozin said the company has installed multiple blockages to prevent gasoline from reaching the Cahaba River, which is home to numerous threatened and endangered species. The leaking pipeline normally carries 1.3 million barrels of gasoline per day from refineries in Houston to distribution centers across the Southeast and East Coast. For now, Colonial is shipping gasoline on Line 2, normally used for diesel and other distillate products, to get around the leak but will not say how much of their product is currently going through. Colonial is the country's largest pipeline operator by volume and, according to its web site, delivers 105 million gallons of petroleum products daily to distributors who serve approximately 50 million consumers, mostly in the Southeast and East Coast. Colonial has said that consumers in the Southeast are more likely to feel the impacts of the pipeline outage since the East Coast has more alternate sources available. Gas stations in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee have experienced outages and price spikes since the pipeline was shut down on Sept. 9, the day the leak was discovered. The governors of six states have declared states of emergency allowing fuel delivery truckers to log longer hours on the highways to make deliveries until the situation is resolved. Excavation put on hold Friday, Colonial's plan was to dig out the leaking line and repair it in place. Now, those actions are being put on hold in favor of the bypass. "We have focused on the bypass at this time," Pozin said. "We are still recovering product off of the pond, but work at the actual leak site because it was being impacted by the vapors, we have decided to go to the bypass solution. "When that is constructed and we've got it back online, we'll be able to move more cautiously, with the health and safety of the workers being the primary concern, to be able to continue the work at the leak site." Federal regulators from the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration are on scene to investigate the cause of the leak. Pozin said the DOT approved the plan to construct the bypass line and the agency would have to give authorization before the line is restarted. Motorist Shot By Security Guard.PNG (Photo Courtesy of Birmingham Police ) Christopher Randall King in 2008 A Hueytown man who was fatally shot by a security after he pinned one man to a parked car and tried to pin others was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when the bizarre incident happened early Saturday, authorities said today. The Jefferson County Coroner's Office today identified the man as Christopher Randall King. He was 37. Birmingham police West Precinct officers responded about 2:50 a.m. Saturday to a club in the 500 block of 19th Street in Ensley on a report of a male shot. When they arrived on the scene, they found King sitting in the driver's seat of an SUV. Sgt. Bryan Shelton said King was driving down the road when he collided with a parked vehicle, pinning a man between the two vehicles with his foot still on the accelerator. The victim then disengaged from that vehicle and hit several other vehicles, investigators said. In an effort to prevent further serious injuries or loss of life, a security guard working a club fired at the victim's vehicle, which then rolled to a stop. Shelton said the man - later identified as King - was pronounced dead on the scene. The only other injury was the person initially pinned between the vehicles. The security guard, whose name hasn't been released, was questioned and released. The case will be presented to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office but is expected to be ruled justifiable. "We are thankful for the heroic actions of the security guard. Further loss of life could have happened, but his quick responsible actions prevented that,'' Shelton said Saturday. "Now we will try to understand motive or reasoning, if any, behind the victim's reckless actions." Birmingham homicide Sgt. John Tanks today said an autopsy performed this morning showed King to be under the influence of an undisclosed substance. The investigation is ongoing. Court records show King was convicted of third-degree assault in 2007, harassment in 2005, disorderly conduct in 2003, robbery in 2001 and criminal mischief in 1997. Anyone with additional information about the case is asked to call the Birmingham Police Department's homicide unit at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Fears that one brand of Judaism is being forced on the country is dominating the public conversation. On a Saturday Tel Aviv, Israels most liberal coastal city, has the holiday vibe down pat. It stirs gently as I arrive late morning, couples and families take a walk and dogs enjoy a run around in their very own section of the local park. Others head down to the beach. No businesses are open other than coffee shops and grocery shops. For the most part, Tel Aviv is respecting the observance of Shabbat, a weekly religious holiday that begins on Friday night and ends as dusk falls on a Saturday. At Tel Aviv port, once used for shipping, but now a chic little area bustling with fashion stores and food joints, the relaxed atmosphere belies the fact that this is actually a political battlefield. Israeli ultra-orthodox and right-wing religious parties feel that the few shops that open on the Shabbat are a threat to the Jewish way of life and to the Jewish identity of Israel. In Jerusalem, in one of the ultra-orthodox neighborhoods the Ashkenazi, Jewish identity is deeply embedded. A majority of the men wear the heavy black suits and wide brim hats associated with their brand of Judaism. The women are equally distinct in long skirts and headscarves wrapped tight. Its a stark contrast to the beach and sportswear of Tel Aviv on a Saturday morning. Its here I meet one of the most powerful Rabbis in the country. Rabbi Yitzhak GoldKnopf is large man with a bright white beard that almost touches his chest. He sits at the intersection between various Ultra Orthodox organisations and runs the powerful Committee to Observe Shabbos, an organisation dedicated to the Jewish day of rest. In 2006, his organisation successfully lobbied to get the El Al airline to restrict services on the Shabbat. Today its not planes that are on his mind, but shops and trains. The Israeli government has carried out train maintenance work on a Saturday. They say its crucial for safety and doesnt inconvenience passengers. Not good enough, says the larger than life Rabbi. The government of Israel is a symbol of the country. No one can desecrate Shabbat, not the prime minister or the ministers. No work at all should be done. READ MORE: Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez urged to boycott Israel His words carry weight. The ruling coalition relies on the support of various ultra orthodox parties to stay in power. A fact he is not shy of using. He tells me: If our demands are not met we will quit the government. Back in Tel Aviv, his words have sent shock waves through the city. Mickey Gitzin is a member of Be Free Israel, an organisation dedicated to and promoting liberal values. We sit in his local park as midday approaches and talk. He is fearful of the religious right wing in his country. I ask him if he feels under pressure in Israel. Of course I think if this country goes more and more religious we wont be able to live here. He gestures towards the people in the park. I mean look at this park, people feel free to do whatever they want at the weekend. If that changes, people will leave. The worry that the Ultra-Orthodox could be forcing their own brand of Judaism on the country is dominating chat shows on radio and in opinion columns in newspapers. This is as much a political struggle as it is a religious one. The ultra-orthodox and religious parties have become a powerful force in Israel and are using that power to blur the distinction between religion and state. That separation, along with maintaining a Jewish identity, has always been an issue in Israel, But now, once fringe parties feel like they have enough support to tip the balance in their favour for a strict religious state. Follow Imran Khan on Twitter @ajimran New York In a city famous for taking in waves of migrants and refugees over the past century, 193 United Nations member states discussed on Monday what to do with the worlds tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free and agreed to keep discussing things for two more years. After a vicious global debate that has resulted in anything other than what is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, UN members especially some European ones have done all they can to avoid the millions of homeless and tempest-tossed refugees. Refugees and Europes dilemma Borders have been sealed and asylum seekers denied and deported. Billions of dollars have been paid to one country, Turkey, to just stop to the flow of humanity into Europe. Mondays Migrants and Refugees Summit came at a time of crisis. According to the UN, in 2015 there were 65 million forcibly displaced people. Of that number, more than 21 million were refugees, three million were asylum seekers, and 40 million were internally displaced people. Still, in his final UN General Assembly as secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon shone an optimistic light on Mondays declaration on mass migration. This summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility, said Ban. When we translate the New York Declaration, which we will adopt here today into reality, more children can attend school, more workers can securely seek jobs instead of being at the mercy of criminal smugglers, and more people will have real choices about whether to move once we end conflict, sustain peace, and increase opportunities at home, he added. For decades, Chinas economic prowess has powered world growth. Chinas rise as a modern nation has been remarkable and the countrys leaders often tell the world that they managed to lift more than 600 million people out of poverty in just a few decades. But the boom times are over: Chinas economy is slowing and cracks in the system are starting to appear. With the Chinese economy faltering, building has ground to a halt, leaving ghost towns and abandoned construction sites across the country. Some economists say that the countrys building boom never delivered real prosperity, and that government spending has been poorly managed. They warn that with Chinas debt mounting at an alarming pace, the countrys economy could collapse. In 2005, China owed 164 percent of its gross domestic product, but today it has almost doubled. The mountain of debt is piling up much faster than the economy is growing. Despite the looming debt crisis, the government continues to encourage citizens to take on even more debt, buy more property and clear the over supply. Buying property in China used to be one of the safest investments, but the bubble has burst in many cities leaving many Chinese with debt they cannot pay back. For years officials promised that everyone would share in economic prosperity, but as the markets slow and debts rise, millions of ordinary workers are hurting. Chinas government says it will let go of five to six million workers from its factories and mines. Many of the workers are struggling to survive and feel left out of Chinas success. For more, watch the 101 East documentary The End of China Inc? The inequality and hardship that Cameron actively exacerbated in the UK made the EU referendum impossible to win. Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author of Not the Enemy: Israel's Jews from Arab Lands. Last week, Britains former prime minister broke another promise honestly, weve lost count of these by announcing he would be retiring from politics. David Cameron, who will be remembered as the United Kingdoms Conservative Party leader who needlessly took the country out of the European Union, resigned as prime minister on the morning that this referendum decision was announced in late June. But now, with the country still reeling from this historic decision and with the Conservative government evidently still clueless as to how to actually enact it, Cameron has quit the political stage altogether. Totally unprepared The fact that he took such a big gamble with his own country, which he claims to love, overshadows other errors although it inevitably is informed by other calamitous policies he initiated, too. The EU referendum was a political decision, intended to assuage the right-wing of Camerons own Conservative Party, and cauterize support for the Eurosceptic, right-wing populist UK Independence Party, or UKIP. On the day Britain decided by 52 percent of the vote to quit the EU, Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, the Paris head of the European Council on Foreign Relations, observed that it wasnt Camerons decision to call the referendum that astonished EU member states; no, it was the idea that he was not better prepared to win it. Indeed, Camerons Conservative Party, which managed to persuade only 39 percent of its voters to remain in the EU, was perhaps the least equipped to make the case for the EU. Much like those of one of his predecessors, Tony Blair, Cameron's foreign policy errors carry an air of arrogance, self-interest and miscalculation, with terrible and far-reaching consequences. by Having bemoaned the constraints of the Union and having rallied against immigrants though he is not, to be fair, the only European leader to do so at a time when Europe desperately needed a unified approach to the migration crisis, Cameron couldnt credibly morph into a EU cheerleader. But it was deeper than that: the inequality and hardship that Cameron not only presided over but actively exacerbated in the UK food banks, zero-hour contracts, a starved welfare state, the list goes on made the referendum impossible to win. For people who see the EU as the cause of their neglect and poverty, Cameron could hardly say that, actually, that wasnt because of the EU so much as the ideological and ravaging austerity cuts that formed a core plank of his governments domestic policy. Miscalculation on all fronts This lack of planning and forethought was similarly on display in his decision to invade Libya in 2011. Days after he stepped down as a backbench MP, the British Foreign Affairs Select Committee found that military intervention in Libya was ill-conceived and lacked a coherent strategy holding Cameron ultimately responsible. Having intervened to remove Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi on the basis of insufficient information, Britain and France lost interest in the country, leaving the political and security situation to deteriorate. Inevitably, Libya quickly descended into violence and lawlessness, creating the optimum conditions for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to take root. On top of which, the violence spread beyond Libya, quickly devastating Mali as well as spilling out across Africa and the Middle East enabling and strengthening al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which regularly launches terror attacks in the region. The security vacuum in Libya has also meant that migrants as well as weapons can more easily be smuggled across the Mediterranean and into Europe. OPINION: In Libya, Britains ignorance triumphed over caution So, in a terrible chain reaction of events, Camerons actions in Libya helped create exactly the kind of instability that resulted in a surge in refugees, hostility to which was then manipulated to fuel the Brexit vote. When, earlier this year months before Brexit US President Barack Obama described the Anglo-French intervention in Libya (or more accurately, its aftermath) as a shitshow, his frustration with Cameron whom he described as failing to rebuild Libya because he was distracted by a range of other things was barely disguised. This sense of frustration at Camerons recklessness will doubtless be shared by leaders across Europe, knowing that Cameron, never a real team-player in project Europe, has now seriously jeopardised the future of the EU. Much like those of one of his predecessors, the former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair whom Cameron cites as a role model Camerons foreign policy errors carry an air of arrogance, self-interest and miscalculation, with terrible and far-reaching consequences. But Cameron, much like Blair, will never materially feel the devastating consequences of his mistakes. A former PR man from the most privileged section of British society, Cameron has a memoir in the pipeline and, almost certainly, some preposterously well-paid gigs on the speaking circuit in the works, too. If the penance for his political errors is leaving parliament, the lucrative engagements and handsome financial rewards now awaiting him will surely soften the blow. Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author of Not the Enemy: Israels Jews from Arab Lands. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. The US confirmed the air strike, but said it was carried out in response to a threat to US and Afghan forces. US air strikes have killed eight Afghan policemen in the embattled southern province of Afghanistan, officials confirmed, as security forces, supported by US strikes, battle Taliban fighters. Rahimullah Khan, a provincial operational commander, said the first of two air strikes on Sunday afternoon killed one policeman at a checkpoint outside the provincial capital of Tarin Kot, while the second, killed seven others. Another official, Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammed Qawi Omari, put the death toll at six, but also reported the police were killed by a foreign air strike. READ MORE: Afghanistan Taliban pushes into Uruzgans Tarinkot The US military command in Kabul confirmed its warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted individuals firing on and posing a threat to Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). We dont have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking [the] ANDSF, US military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement. US, coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defence and in this case were responding to an immediate threat. Afghan officials said that they were investigating the attack and were in contact with the US-led coalition. Al Jazeeras Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said fighting to push back the Taliban from the Uruzgan province is ongoing and that US forces are helping the Afghan forces. At this point it is difficult to know if this was a mistake in identity or whether the coordinates were called in wrong, but we do know that there were Taliban in the areas, our correspondent said. But as so often happens here, the Afghan security forces get caught in the middle, and in this case, eight Afghan policemen are reportedly killed. The Taliban have in recent months stepped up their attacks in Uruzgan and neighbouring provinces in the south, including the Taliban heartland of Helmand. Afghan security forces, supported by American air strikes and international military advisers, are battling the Taliban who have fought a 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul. READ MORE: SIGAR report Taliban gained territory in Afghanistan Taliban fighters briefly entered Uruzgans capital city, Tarin Kot, in early September before being pushed back by security forces. Last year, the US military conducted a deadly air strike on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistans Kunduz, killing at least 42 people, including 24 patients, 14 staff and four caretakers. Technical and human error led to the attack, the US military said as they presented the results of an internal investigation into the incident. Landmark ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and the US set to end with 40 trucks of civilian aid still undelivered. Two aid convoys destined for Syrias Aleppo, with enough supplies to feed 185,000 people for a month, remained stuck in Turkey on Monday as rebels said a landmark ceasefire had effectively ended. The United Nations has said it does not have sufficient security guarantees from all sides in the conflict, now in its sixth year, to be able to deliver the 40 lorries of aid to eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The aid has been sitting at the border for nearly a week, as the patchy seven-day ceasefire was punctuated by fighting and air raids, with all sides accusing each other of violating it. The UN also wants to deliver aid to other hard-to-reach parts of the country, but says it has not received the necessary permissions from the government to proceed. They completely wasted time. They had a really good opportunity in the past week, with low casualty numbers and low bombing rates, to be able to send in aid, but we havent seen that, Hadeel al-Shalchi, Syria researcher with Human Rights Watch (HRW), told al Jazeera. A rebel official told the Reuters news agency that the truce, brokered by the US and Russia, had ended, and there was no hope that the eastern Aleppo aid would be delivered. According to a timetable set by Moscow and Washington, the ceasefire was due to officially expire at 1600 GMT on Monday. The Syrian army, though, said last week it would expire at midnight on Sunday. Up to 275,000 people remain trapped in eastern Aleppo Syrias most populous city without food, water, proper shelter or medical care, said Stephen OBrien, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. READ MORE: US air raid on Syrian army post sparks Russia tension I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, OBrien said in a statement, referring to a 20-truck convoy, the first of two that would have carried flour and other food supplies. Both convoys were still sitting at the Turkey-Syria border, where they have been for almost a week, UN spokesman Jens Laerke said. We know that the situation is deteriorating quickly. We know that people will begin to starve, as they ration the products that they have in the city at the moment, said HRWs Shalchi. Humanitarian access to Aleppo hinges on control of the main road into the besieged rebel-held part of the city. The road needs to become a demilitarised zone in order for aid to proceed. Russia said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from the road, but rebel groups in Aleppo have said they have seen no such move and would not pull back from their own positions around the road until they did so. I hope that all parties to the conflict, and those with influence over them, would see the convoy as an opportunity to move forward, OBrien said. Humanitarian aid must remain neutral, impartial and free of political and military agendas. Clinically dead A senior Syrian opposition figure said on Monday that the ceasefire was clinically dead. George Sabra of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) told The Associated Press news agency that the truce had been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in opening roads for aid to enter besieged rebel-held areas. On Monday, the opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone. Syrian state news agency SANA reported last week that the truce would last until midnight on Sunday. There has been no announcement of an extension of the truce. Reports of an explosion near the Elizabeth train station near scene of investigation into suspicious package. A New Jersey mayor has said one of five suspect devices found in a backpack near a train station exploded while a bomb squad robot was trying to disarm it. Christian Bollwage, the mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey, said that the device exploded shortly after 12:30am local time on Monday. The FBI was leading the investigation and working to disarm the other four devices. There were no reports of injuries. Bollwage said to expect more detonations. Two men called police and reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of a package after finding it around 8:30 pm on Sunday, the mayor said. Al Jazeeras Tom Ackerman, reporting from one of the stalled trains in nearby Metuchen, New Jersey said authorities had suspended all services on trains south and west of New York City because of reports of a possible live bomb had been found in a trash can at the Elizabeth station. Bollwage said two men called police and reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of a package after finding it at about 9:30 pm on Sunday. He said the Union County bomb squads robotic device indicated that the package the men left near the train trestle could be a live bomb, adding that the FBI and state police would decide how to remove the device. New Jersey Transit told the Associated Press news agency that services had been suspended between Newark Liberty International Airport and Elizabeth, and New Yorks emergency management department said that New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New Yorks Penn Station. The discovery of the suspicious package comes a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. The thought, of course, is that they are all related, said Ackerman. Ackerman said that a widespread search was under way across the New York Metropolitan area to see who is behind this spat of bombings, and of course, the suspicion would appear, that there are more to come in locations that we have yet to find. Thundery breakdown marks an end to the recent heatwave as cooler air spreads right across the continent. Europe has enjoyed a late blast of summer with some western areas, such as the UK enjoying their warmest September days on record. Temperatures across western parts of the continent reached the low to mid-30s Celsius in places and at times were around 10 to 15 degrees above average. That all came off the back of the hottest months on record. Just last Friday The United Nations World Meteorological Organisation said that August equalled July as the hottest month on record. This led WMO chief, Petteri Taalas to say: It is looking likely that 2016 will [be] the hottest year on record, surpassing the incredible temperatures witnessed in 2015, We are now looking at a spell of rather more normal weather with temperatures in the west close to their September averages. London and Paris are looking at highs of around 20C over the next few days. That has come about following the recent thundery breakdown in the weather, where cooler and wetter weather rolled in from the Atlantic finally breaking the feed of hot southerly winds from Spain and North Africa. The unsettled weather is now rolling across Italy and the Balkans. Severe storms are expected to continue rumbling away from the Adriatic to the Black Sea for a good part of this week. Many areas are currently reporting daily rainfall totals of around 70mm. The area of low pressure associated with the heavy rain is also feeding cool northerly winds across much of Eastern Europe. Temperatures in Moscow struggled to reach double figures on Sunday, barely touching 9C. Just a week ago they were up around 20C. The September average is 16C. The cooler air will reach the Hungarian Plain by midweek and, with the storms then gradually moving through Greece into Turkey, it seems safe to say that autumn has finally arrived across the vast majority of Europe. As the UN prepares to host the first summit on refugees and migrants, Sudanese refugees say they have been long ignored. Amman Every day since Khalda Khater, 25, and her family fled Sudans war-torn Darfur region five years ago, she has been waiting to leave Jordan. We ran from war, but I would rather die than live here like this, Khater said as she held up her refugee certificate issued by the UN High Commission for Refugees, the UNHCR. Just send me anywhere else but here. Khater and her family are among roughly 3,000 UNHCR-registered Sudanese refugees in Jordan, a majority of whom are from Darfur region. A recent Human Rights Watch report found that violence in the benighted region is at its highest point since 2004. In December 2015, the Jordanian government deported nearly 600 Sudanese refugees after they protested against their living conditions outside the UNHCR headquarters. A government spokesman said at the time that the Sudanese refugees were deported because they entered the country with fake medical visas. Human Rights Watch, however, said that the majority of protesters were registered refugees. READ MORE: Sudanese refugees nervous after deportation from Jordan As the United Nations General Assembly is expected to host its first Summit on Refugees and Migrants on Monday to address the large-scale movement of people all over the world, Sudanese refugees in Jordan a co-host of the summit say the UNHCR has ignored them for too long in the country, where they face racial discrimination. Sometimes there's food, sometimes there isn't. We go to organisations. They tell us:'For Syrians only'. They pick and choose who to give money to. by Khalda Khatar, 25, Sudanese refugee According to Ninitte Kelley, the director of UNHCRs liaison office in New York, although the summit is dedicated to large movements of refugees, discussions will also address small concentrations of refugees who are part of larger movements, such as Sudanese refugees in Jordan. She added that UNHCR gives the Sudanese [refugees] parity with other refugee groups. UNHCR addresses the needs of refugees regardless of how numerous they are in a host country, Kelley said. Sudanese refugees in Jordan in need of international protection are persons of UNHCRs concern and are entitled to and receive equal treatment by the Office, she told Al Jazeera. But on the ground in Jordan, Sudanese refugees tell a different story. Many believe their resettlement cases are being processed more slowly than other groups of refugees. Many also complain that they are not receiving the same amount of monthly cash aid. Paul Stromberg, the UNHCRs deputy representative in Jordan, says the organisation decides the amount of aid allocated to refugees based on home visits. After each assessment, UNHCR employees measure each family or individual situation against the general norm and then, based on the resources available, decides whether to provide assistance, and if so, how much, Stromberg told Al Jazeera. Khater, who has two young children, said a UNHCR representative visited her home twice; once in May 2015 and a second time in May 2016. Khaters family was rejected as a candidate for monthly cash assistance, she said. The UNHCR representative informed them of the rejection on the phone when Khaters husband called one week after the second visit. They were not given a reason for the rejection, she added. Mohammad Abayad, 31, is another Sudanese refugee from Darfur. He says the organisation has visited his home once and has allotted him only one payment of $100 in the nearly three years he has lived in Jordan. Abayad earns money by transporting stone on construction sites in Amman, but he like most refugees in the country cannot work legally. Their UNHCR refugee certificates do not give them the right to work in the country. Work permission is only given by the Jordanian authorities. Sudanese refugees are an easy target for labour inspectors because of their skin colour. Abayad says that he had to run from the police on several occasions to avoid arrest. Khater said she had to remove her eight-year-old son from school for a year because he was repeatedly bullied. Other refugees say they have been victims of racially motivated attacks, have been called names or have had vegetables thrown at them in the street. Adam Coggle, a Human Rights Watch researcher based in Amman, said most Sudanese refugees have to band together and pay rent because of the lack of humanitarian assistance available to them. He added that the greatest issue facing Sudanese refugees is maintaining a livelihood in Jordan. Khater agrees. Sometimes theres food, sometimes there isnt, Khater said. We go to organisations. They tell us: For Syrians only. They pick and choose who to give money to. At the UN summit, member states are expected to adopt a 22-page outcome document, also known as the New York Declaration . The document lists commitments that countries can agree on as a whole to assist refugees. The New York Declaration holds promise for an improvement in conditions in host countries but without any guarantees. For instance, it calls on host governments to open their labour markets to refugees, it does not, however, specify the conditions of work or require any host governments to issue work permits to refugees. The declaration also encourages more countries to open their doors to refugees, provide access to education for every refugee child, and to increase the level of humanitarian assistance to refugees. But again, it offers no guarantees. The International Organisation for Migration, which will be present at the summits opening session, said it will work to ensure world leaders and organisations address issues facing all migrants and refugees. Were not entrusted to one particular large movement, or one particular set of migrants or refugees. Were going to stand up and speak for all of them, including those smaller groups, said Olivia Headon, associate migration officer at the IOM office of the permanent observer to the UN. UNCHR Jordan says it has submitted 57 resettlement cases for Sudanese refugees since the beginning of 2016, and the goal is to resettle 157 Sudanese refugees this year, or 7 percent of all registered refugees. Stromberg, of the UNHCR office in Jordan, said this was proportionately a much higher resettlement number than the number of Syrians who are being resettled. If you look at the absolute numbers, it looks like many more Syrians are being moved, he explained. But its something thats hard to say when people are frustrated, to say you are better off in percentage terms, but it is a fact. WATCH: Sudanese refugees struggle to survive in Jordan According to Betsy Fisher, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project, allowing more spots for Sudanese resettlement would be crucial to improving the lives of the refugees. The United States is the only country that accepts Sudanese refugees from the Middle East as part of its standard refugee resettlement programme,so having options in other places that would be willing to resettle when there are really urgent vulnerabilities or protection threats would make an immense difference, Fisher said. I think its definitely high-time for further discussion about this group and what we as an international community will do to give them a long-term solution, she told Al Jazeera. At an August 2016 press conference, Karen Abu-Zayed, special adviser on the Summit for Refugees and Migrants, said she hoped everyone at the summit would embrace the New York Declaration to ensure that no refugee and no migrant is left behind. Meanwhile, as Khater watched her children play outside their small apartment in a working-class neighbourhood in East Amman, she, too, hoped something might be done to improve her familys life in the country. Were tired, she said. We just want to be somewhere else, somewhere where we are respected as humans. Suffering from schizophrenia, Imdad Ali saved from the gallows for a week after appeal from rights groups. Lahore, Pakistan A mentally ill prisoner in Pakistans Punjab state, who was due to be hanged early on Tuesday, has received a one-week lifeline from the countrys Supreme Court after appeals from rights groups. Imdad Ali could still be executed after the top court hears the case on September 27, despite the 50-year-old having been diagnosed with a severe case of schizophrenia. Imdad, a household appliance repairman, was sentenced to death in 2001 for killing a local mosque imam in Vehari town, nearly 300km from Lahore, capital of Punjab state. We are extremely relieved to hear that the Supreme Court has stayed Imdads execution till next week, said Sarah Belal of Justice Project Pakistan, whose organisation provides legal aid to vulnerable prisoners. The Honourable Court will finally be presented [with[ the overwhelming fact of his mental illness, one that has been repeatedly confirmed by the medical community, his family, and even the jail authorities, she said in a statement. Hanging revives Pakistan capital punishment debate Safia Bano, Imdads wife, was informed about his imminent hanging on Friday. But now her hopes have been raised after the court order though the fate of her husband still hangs in balance. Bano told Al Jazeera she met her husband on Monday in his small, solitary cell where he has been confined since 2013. She said he had no idea he was going to die. He spoke of spirituality and black magic, which he used to be heavily involved in prior to killing the imam, she said. Bano said Imdad has suffered from mental illness since she married him in 1993. He never fought with me, she said in a sheepish voice. His adopted son Mudassir, who also visited him in jail, described Imdad as delusional. Imdad is among the nearly 8,000 prisoners on death row in Pakistan, which lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in 2015 following a deadly attack on an army school a year before. Since then, close to 400 prisoners have been executed. Under Pakistans Prison Rules, the state is duty bound to provide treatment for Imdads schizophrenia and to shift him to a mental health facility. Instead, the state has turned a blind eye to his disabling mental illness for at least the past eight years, Belal told Al Jazeera. Pakistan executions surge a year after Peshawar attack Dr Usman Amin Hotiana, from Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, King Edward Medical University and Mayo Hospital, Lahore, confirmed that Imdad is mentally ill. I have seen Imdads detailed notes, but I have not treated him myself, and a prison medical officer also said he is not mentally fit, Hotiana told Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera has seen medical documents that affirm Imdads medical condition, one of which said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, a chronic form of the illness. There was no comment from the Punjab chief ministers office by the time of publication. The federal and provincial governments still have time to halt this wrongful execution and give Imdad the medical treatment he so badly needs, Belal said. Neither our religion nor our laws permit execution of a mentally ill patient. Last year, the execution of a Pakistani man who was allegedly arrested as a juvenile and tortured into confessing to a murder triggered an international outcry. Israeli police say two men tried to attack officers in occupied West Bank before they were shot dead. Two Palestinians who attempted to stab Israeli border police in the West Bank have been shot and killed as deadly violence in the occupied territories continues. The shooting happened in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Monday and was the latest incident in a new surge of violence between Palestinians and Israeli forces. According to a police statement, two male Hebron residents, aged 17-20, approached a security checkpoint at the shrine known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs. Israeli forces kill three Palestinians, one Jordanian The two aroused the suspicion of the border policemen, who asked them to step aside for inspection, but the suspects did not respond. When the border police approached, one of the suspects pulled a knife and attempted to stab them. In response officers shot him. The second suspect then pulled a knife and tried to stab the border policemen, who opened fire on him too, police said, noting one of their officers was very lightly wounded in his hand during the incident. Second attack The Hebron attack was Mondays second and the seventh on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday, Israeli authorities said, shattering several weeks of relative calm. This is very much a self-perpetuating wave of violence, reported Al Jazeeras Imran Khan from West Jerusalem. These arent coordinated attacks, its just very angry young men lashing out at security forces for what they experience here in the occupied Palestinian territories. Since October, 228 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Eritrean, and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to a count by the AFP news agency. Israeli security forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Despite economic woes, Putins Party has 54.2 percent of the vote after 90 percent of ballots counted. Russias ruling United Russia party cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls but a low turnout suggested a softening of enthusiasm for the ruling elite 18 months before the next presidential election. President Vladimir Putins party had 54.2 percent of the vote after 90 percent of ballots were counted on Monday, data from the election commission showed. The Communist party was in second place with 13.5 percent of the vote, followed by the Liberal Democrats party on 13.3 percent and the Just Russia party on 6.2 percent, according to an incomplete vote count. The election for the 450-seat State Duma went smoothly for a government desperate to avoid a repeat of mass protests last time round and eager to increase their dominance as the country faces the longest economic crisis of Putins rule. We can announce already with certainty that the party secured a good result, that it won, Putin said after the vote. The situation is tough and difficult but the people still voted for United Russia, he said on state television. Life is hard Putins aides are likely to use the result as a springboard for his campaign for re-election in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed that he will seek another term. Alluding to the spluttering economy, which is forecast to shrink this year by at least 0.3 percent, Putin said: We know that life is hard for people, there are lots of problems, lots of unresolved problems. Nevertheless, we have this result. READ MORE: Ukraine Moscow failed to bring Kiev to its knees Results indicated that liberal opposition groups were unlikely to make it into parliament, with neither the Yabloko party, nor the Parnas party, headed by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, appearing to have secured enough votes to win a seat. Sundays election follows a tumultuous few years that have seen Russia seize the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, plunge into its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War and start a military campaign in Syria. Boring campaign But the Kremlin exerts almost complete control over the media and public discourse, and this years election campaign was dubbed the dullest in recent memory. Looming large was the spectre of mass protests over vote-rigging that followed the last legislative polls five years ago and grew into the biggest challenge to Putin since he took charge in 2000. WATCH: In Search of Putins Russia Since then the government has cracked down on the right to protest while pledging to stamp out electoral manipulation. A former scandal-tainted election chief was removed in favour of a human rights advocate who allowed more genuine opposition candidates to take part. Despite the authorities pledging to crack down on vote-rigging, observers around the country made claims of violations including cruise-voting, where people are bussed to vote at multiple polling stations, and ballot stuffing. Electoral Commission chief Ella Pamfilova admitted that there had been problems in certain regions but officials said the number of violations was way down on the last vote. In any case there already is full confidence that the elections are nonetheless quite legitimate, Pamfilova said. And we did a lot for that. Fighting rages with more than 30 civilians killed as US and Russia seek to salvage beleaguered truce. Syrian or Russian warplanes bombed aid trucks near Aleppo after a fragile week-long ceasefire ended and it appeared that the bloody five-year war was fully back on late on Monday. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 32 people were killed in dozens of air strikes launched in and around Aleppo after the truce officially came to an end at 1600 GMT. The war monitor said that the aid lorries made a routine delivery to an area west of Aleppo city and were hit near the town of Urm al-Kubra, killing 12 people. US air raid on Syrian army post sparks Russia tension An official with the Syrian Red Crescent confirmed aid vehicles operated by the group had been targeted by air strikes as warplanes resumed bombings in Aleppo province. Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, denounced the air raid. Our outrage at this attack is enormous The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians, he said. Inside Story Europe debating Syrias war Syrias military on Monday declared that the seven-day, US-Russian brokered ceasefire was over as the government and opposition traded accusations over mounting violations. An AFP news agency correspondent in Aleppo reported that the northern city was being pummelled. Sirens wailed as ambulances zipped through the eastern rebel-held half of the divided city, the correspondent said, describing the bombardment as non-stop. The Russian military said rebels launched a major attack on a government position on Aleppos southwestern outskirts, forcing Syrian troops to respond. The attack by the terrorists was proceeded by a massive artillery bombardment from tanks and rocket systems, it said. The US said it was prepared to extend the fractured truce, and Russia after blaming rebels for the violations suggested it could still be salvaged. Following the Syrian military declaration, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed annoyance at Damascus and Moscows handling of the ceasefire. Syria ceasefire deal explained It would be good if they didnt talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this, Kerry said. As I said yesterday, [its] time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods that are necessary for access. But Kerry also acknowledged that the first stage of the truce which called for a week of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid to several besieged communities had never really come to fruition. From the start, the truce had been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations. Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The UN accused the government of obstructing the delivery, while Russian officials said rebels opened fire at the delivery roads. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the past week, according to the Syrian Observatory, which uses a network of sources on the ground to compile its reports. Earlier on Monday, Russias Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. With the rebels failing to fulfil conditions [of] the ceasefire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless, Rudskoi said. He said that the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies. The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strikes by the US-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir Az Zor. Russias military said at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed and more than 100 wounded. The US military said it would not intentionally hit Syrian troops, and it came as it was conducting a raid on positions occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested in New Jersey hours after he was publicly identified as the suspect. The suspect wanted in connection with bombings in New York City has been taken into custody after a firefight with police. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested in New Jersey on Monday hours after he was publicly identified as the suspect in connection with explosives planted in New York City and New Jersey state. A bomb went off on Saturday in Manhattans Chelsea neighbourhood, injuring 29 people. All of the wounded have since been released from the hospital. We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the arrest. Rahami an Afghan immigrant who lives in Elizabeth, New Jersey was taken into custody after firing on police officers, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. Two officers were shot in the encounter, but suffered non-life threatening injuries. Mr Rahami also sustained shots and an ambulance has taken him away, Bollwage said. He underwent surgery on his wounds. Officials said they had no indication there were more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they were continuing to work to understand Rahamis connections. FBI official William Sweeney Jr said in a news briefing there is no indication that theres a [terrorist] cell in the area. The suspects motive remains unclear, New York Police Commissioner James ONeill said. Shootout Derek Armstead mayor of Linden, New Jersey, where Rahami was captured said the owner of a bar found him sleeping in his hallway on Monday morning. He told the AP news agency the man was initially presumed to be a vagrant, but police officers who responded quickly realised it was Rahami. Armstead said the man pulled out a handgun and fired at the officers, hitting one in a bulletproof vest and grazing the other. He then began firing as he ran down the street and police shot him in the leg. He was conscious when he was taken away in an ambulance. READ MORE: Mayor says New York blast was carried out deliberately A homeland security official told Reuters that five devices found in New Jersey early on Sunday were connected to Saturdays blast in Manhattan. The five explosive devices were found in a backpack near a New Jersey train station. One of the devices exploded early on Monday as authorities worked to disarm it. There are still a lot of unanswered questions: Number one, what are the motives for this? And was anyone else helping the plotter? reported Al Jazeeras Gabriel Elizondo in New York City. A memo addressed to administrators of UFs Levin College of Law asking them to cut the graduate taxation program is forcing students and faculty to speak out. Faculty members in the program met with about 50 students Friday to discuss a memo sent out Sept. 9 by UF law professor Robert J. Rhee, who credited the program entirely at fault for declining student enrollment. The 24-page document was addressed to The University of Florida Law Center Association Inc., the Florida Alumni Tax Advisory Committee, UF Law Dean Laura Ann Rosenbury, Associate Dean Amy Mashburn and UF Provost Joe Glover. The tax program loses money for UF Law, and its fiscal model is unsound, the memo stated. But Lyrissa Lidsky, the associate dean for graduate and non-J.D. programs, said Rhees memo is wrong. To have a memo out from a member of my faculty thats unfair and distorting and painful to students is just devastating, especially when its such an incredible group of students, Lidsky said. During the meeting, officials expressed their disgust with the memo. Wherever you go in life, theres going to be some bad apples and bomb-throwers, and unfortunately, we have one, said UF law professor Steven Willis. Students spoke about having Rhee removed, but Lidsky, who is also a first-amendment lawyer, said it may be difficult due to his free speech rights. You dont always agree with what they say and even more so, how they say it, she added. Jamie Koepsel, a UF taxation graduate student, said the revenue figures Rhee used to describe how the tax program is broken are not accurate. They dont fairly represent what the tax program actually contributes to the university from an accounting standpoint, the 28-year-old said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Koepsel said how the law schools administration responds is more important. Whats really going to make the biggest difference is the response as it plays out in the future over the next few weeks, he said. 2005 .. English News Riedel grossly under-estimating Pakistan on Kashmir & Jihadis Alwihda Info | Par Hem Raj Jain - 19 Septembre 2016 Bengaluru, India Sub:- (i)- Riedel grossly under-estimating Pakistan on Kashmir and Jihadis (ii)- Getting Pakistan labeled a patron State sponsor of terrorism, will not be easy (iii)- Any weakness in Pakistan in getting Kashmir will invite ISIS in AF-PAK-Kashmir region (iv)- India should go own its own against Pakistan in first stage (v)- Despite Uri attack, India should rely only on State actors and should not think of developing illegitimate non-State actors (vi)- Otherwise India will lose tremendous goodwill among world community (vii)- India should eliminate PoJK terrorist camps as Kashmiri alienation will increase Uri like attacks (viii)- India should be prepared for all-out war and even for Realized CW / SAARC Bruce Riedel, who served the US Central Intelligence Agency for 29 years and is one of America's leading experts on terrorism in South Asia and who chaired President Obama's committee to draft a new American policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2009 expressed his views in media after September, 18 Jihadi terrorist attack at Army-camp at Uri in J&K that [It has been clear for several months that the Pakistani army believes the situation in Kashmir is ripe for a re-intensification of the conflict and that India has few credible options to respond. First and most importantly, the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating with alarming casualties. Second the rhetoric on both sides is heating up. This is getting dangerous. India has no good military options to stop Pakistani supported cross border violence in Kashmir. Any military response (by India) in Pakistan risks escalation and will be condemned by the international community including Washington. A better approach would be to seek diplomatic support for labeling Pakistan a patron State sponsor of terrorism]. Though Riedels views cannot be taken as US Governments view but it more or less reflects its policy. But Riedel is grossly under-estimating Pakistan [when he says that USA (if properly mobilized) can label Pakistan a patron State sponsor of terrorism] for the simple reason that US-Pak relations, as explained below, are based on blood whereas Indo-US relations are based merely on water (economy) and blood is always thicker than water. Pakistan has given immense blood and lives for USA. The USA won cold war in Afghanistan in late eighties against USSR on the strength of Jihadis supplied and developed by Pakistan (these Jihadis when became free were sent to Kashmir for snatching Muslim Kashmir from Hindu India). Further after 9/11 Pakistan assisted USA in Afghanistan in global war against terrorism and is still assisting USA (despite many complaints from USA and Afghanistan) in facilitating the early exit of USA and its Allies from Afghanistan. There is one more big danger in weakening Pakistan by world community. The Islam, as per media, has laid down the lives of ~ one hundred thousand Jihadis sent by Pakistan in Kashmir and also Kashmiri Jihadis mobilized by Pakistan in Kashmir valley. Hence if Pakistan and its government (including its military) and its Jihadis are seen to be going week and incapable of snatching Muslim Kashmir from Hindu India (despite present unrest in Kashmir) then it will pave the way for the entry of blood thirsty ISIS in AF-PAK-Kashmir region. And this will immensely disturb and influence ~ one billion Muslims living in East of Iran (including in SAARC). Therefore India should go own its own against Pakistan at least in the first stage. At the same time if Pakistan succeeds in making Kashmir an international issue it will create huge pressure for separation of Kashmir (including PoJK) from India. In any case if global community will support India on Kashmir then it is only due to global war against Jihadi terrorism hence Pakistan (despite its better title) cannot be supported by global community on Kashmir because in such case it will strengthen Jihadis. Moreover India should not think of creating non-State actors / Fidayeen (as was suggested on TV debate by a former Army Chief) which (as per proposal) will be an alternative to like of JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed of Pakistan (unfortunately this idea was supported by a defense expert in this debate who went even to the extent of suggesting that these Indian non-State actors should also carry out selective covert assassination acts in Pakistan). Instead India, as I have suggested, should try legitimately to eliminate terrorist camps in PoJK and then to retrieve PoJK, both militarily. [otherwise also it (Indian non-State actors) is an impractical idea because neither Hinduism has tradition of something like Jihad in Islam nor India has millions of alienated Hindus in a specific territory in Pakistan / PoJK as on the contrary Pakistan has alienated (especially after present unrest in Kashmir) millions of Muslim Kashmiris in India who provide sanctuary and material & logistic supports to Jihadi terrorists coming from Pakistan in Kashmir] Therefore the government of India should take the initiative and should, without any further delay, take military action to immediately eliminate ~ 40 terrorist camps which are operating in Indias territory of PoJK, as explained at:- http://www.alwihdainfo.com/India-should-eliminate-PoJK-terrorist-camps-as-Kashmiri-alienation-will-increase-Uri-like-attacks_a41016.html Regards Hem Raj Jain (Author of Betrayal of Americanism) Bengaluru, India Dans la meme rubrique : < > More robots entering people's daily life China sees accelerated development of express delivery sector in rural areas China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) First NBC Bank Holding in New Orleans has named its new chairman. The $4.9 billion-asset company said in a regulatory filing Friday that its president and CEO, Ashton Ryan Jr., had relinquished the chairmanship to Shivan Govindan, its vice chairman since 2013. Ryan announced Sept. 8 that the board had decided to make several executive changes, including his giving up the chairmanship, after errors in the company's accounting for tax credits forced it to delay filing its 2015 annual report. Govindan, a director at First NBC since it was established in 2006, is a managing member of the private equity and investment firm Pilgrims & Indians Capital in Austin, Texas. Pilgrims & Indians was involved in a $74 million capital raise in August for The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., and Govindan was subsequently named a director of the Delaware company. His compensation at First NBC has not changed, according to Friday's filing. First NBC said Friday that Mary Beth Verdigets, its chief financial officer, had been named treasurer, a newly created role. It had said on Sept. 8 that it would create the role to allow Verdigets to focus more on financial reporting. Also on Friday, the board said that Albert Richard III, First NBC's chief accounting officer, had been named chief financial officer. The air cargo markets deceleration this year had a greater impact on third-quarter cargo revenues at American Airlines than its primary rivals, Delta and United Airlines. But the best revenue quarter in company history and a $483 million profit painted a positive financial picture that could be replicated in the final quarter thanks to resilient [] Regardless of the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump's rise will force the Democratic Party to eventually have to address how its elected officials have neglected black Americans, its most loyal constituency. The Democratic Party's worse nightmare happened when Donald Trump reached out to black Americans at a campaign rally in Wisconsin. Trump's outreach was prefaced by challenging blacks to do an honest assessment of their return on investment after 50 years of voting Democrat. The most damning words that Trump spoke were "what the hell do you have to lose" by voting Trump? The last thing Democrats want blacks to do is to ponder that very question, knowing that the answer is nothing. In the meantime, Democrats and their cohorts in the media have become unhinged at Trump's outreach to blacks. For weeks prior to and immediately after Trump's initial outreach, the media were quick to erroneously report that polls had Trump getting only 1% of black support. Of course, any thinking person who studies history knows that those supposed polls could not be accurate. Every Republican president in history has gotten at least 4-6% of the black vote. How is it possible that Trump was getting only one percent? Furthermore, if the polls were indeed accurate, why were liberals so upset at Trump's outreach? The fact of the matter is that even before Trump made a public outreach to blacks, many blacks had signed on to support him, and liberals knew it. Several current polls have Trump receiving 15-23% of the black support nationally. That is the highest black support any Republican presidential candidate has received in over 50 years. This explains why Hillary Clinton decided to recycle the birther issue (that backfired) and the Congressional Black Caucus's decision to put on that spectacle of feigning outrage over Trump's birtherism while coalescing around Hillary Clinton, the mother who actually gave birth to birtherism. Yet none of the members of the CBC seems to have a problem being the landlord over the inner-city ghettos. Many black Trump supporters are former Democrats. In fact, I am in contact on a daily basis, through social media and other venues, with several (I have never been a Democrat). It is refreshing to hear of their journeys of discovering (through history and personal experiences) what the Democratic Party really represents. There are also some blacks who are currently part of the Democratic Party who have discovered what white Democrats really think about blacks. Nikki Johnson-Houston, a black female and a contributor at the Huffington Post, describes herself as lifelong Democrat. She wrote an eye-opening article titled "The Culture of The Smug White Liberal." What I find fascinating about this article are the contradictions of what the Democratic Party claims it stands for and what it actually practices. Mrs. Johnson-Houston describes what attracted her to the Democratic Party: One of the things that always attracted me to the party were the ideals of equality, fighting for the little guy and our openness to differing opinions, but lately I have seen my party take a turn that makes me uncomfortable. Somewhere along the way we stopped fighting for the little guy and became the party of the smug, educated elites who look down on those with less education and deem them unable or unworthy of being able to make personal decisions for their own lives. The problem with what Mrs. Johnson-Houston says attracted her to Democratic Party is that none of it was ever true to begin with. Where have Democrats ever fought for the little guy or for equality? Throughout history, Democrats have voted and fought against any legislation that would give equality to black people, starting with the abolishment of slavery and then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. All of these acts were initiated by the Republican Party and opposed by the Democratic Party. Therefore, it is no wonder that Mrs. Johnson-Huston has discovered that liberal policies have the opposite effect of what democrats claim: As an African-American professional from humble beginnings, I know firsthand the importance of giving everyone an equal opportunity to access the American Dream. I don't take lightly the opportunities I have been given or the fact that many people, black and white, fought for and sometimes died for me to have these rights. I also have serious concerns about the lack of progress that I have seen for many African-Americans and I blame some of that lack of progress on ineffective liberal policies that are based upon wanting to help those in need, but in many instances end up causing more harm than good. My problem with Liberalism is that it's more concerned with policing people's language and thoughts without requiring them to do anything to fix the problem. White liberal college students speak of "safe spaces", "trigger words", "micro aggressions" and "white privilege" while not having to do anything or, more importantly, give up anything. They can't even have a conversation with someone who sees the world differently without resorting to calling someone a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, bigot and trying to have them banned from campus, or ruin them and their reputation. They say they feel black peoples' pain because they took a trip to Africa to help the disadvantaged, but are unwilling to go to a black neighborhood in the City in which they live. These same college students will espouse the joys of diversity, but will in the same breath assume you are only on campus because of affirmative action or that all black people grew up in poverty. My personal favorite is declaring with surprise how articulate a black classmate is despite the fact that we are attending the same institution of higher learning as they are. The White Liberal culture encourages talking about diversity and shaming others for their alleged racism, but many times they themselves work in environments that are mostly white. When questioned they'll defensively state that they promote strictly on merit. Black people aren't suggesting that we want someone unqualified to get the position, but I find it telling that they assume that we are not qualified. These same Liberals are quick to be against school choice, while their kids go to private or well-regarded public schools. Leaving poor black children behind in underperforming schools and providing less opportunity to improve their lives is inconsequential to keeping true to their white liberal politics. Many people are quick to espouse the political values of liberalism without having to live with the often harsh reality of those policies. I am constantly hearing similar stories from other black Americans who have awakened to what liberal policies have done to poor black Americans. The Democratic Party shot themselves in the foot by electing the first black president with a far left ideology. Black Americans thought a black president would make sure black people's economic situation improved. Yet blacks are now worse off than before President Obama took office. Therefore, black people have more of an incentive to give Trump a chance. Blacks can reason that since a black Democrat president did nothing to help black people, after 50 years of voting Democrat, why believe that any white Democrat president would do anything different? Democrats know that their goose is about to be cooked. That is why the liberal media viciously attack and try to destroy any black Trump supporter who appears on their shows. The writing is on the wall. Christian Commentary (http://patriciascornerblog.com), or contact the author at patdickson@earthlink.net. Follow me on Twitter @Patrici15767099. Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy By Stephen Moore and Kathleen Hartnett White Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2016 256 pp., $18.94 President Obama recently set a goal to double renewable power generation in the U.S. by 2020. At the same time, he suggested ending oil company tax breaks and using them, instead, to bolster solar and wind industries. The U.S. government is investing more than $1 trillion in green energy, the so-called "clean" energy alternative, while choking off coal and natural gas production with increasingly onerous regulations. In their book, Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy, authors Stephen Moore and Kathleen Hartnett White argue against the shift to renewables. Using energy-production statistics and the historic contributions of fossil fuels, they explode the myths promulgated by renewables cheerleaders. They expose the extensive misinformation on clean energy resources to effectively argue against what they believe would be a disastrous, energy production shift that would have serious lifestyle and geopolitical consequences for Americans. Promoters of renewable energy sources -- the supposed low environmental impact alternative to fossil fuels -- are putting forth a false narrative, Moore and White assert. Rather than worrying that carbon energy resources are destroying the planet and looking to renewable energy as an alternative, the authors suggest we should celebrate the vast contributions fossil fuels made during the past century, advancing mankind and making our lives safer, more productive and economically and politically secure. The U.S. has more recoverable energy supplies than any nation on earth, the authors posit. With fairly recent shale oil and natural gas discoveries and newer technologies of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking, we are in no danger of running out any time soon. It should be welcome news, they urge, that the U.S. can be energy independent within the next few years and be the world's dominant energy producer. Freedom from OPEC manipulations and the potential for millions of jobs that would substantially add to our gross domestic product, benefits our national security and would be a welcome boon to our relatively stagnant economy. Moore and White explain how the Industrial Revolution, fueled by carbon energy usage, broke through decades of static human existence and brought significant and historic, upward trends for the average person, including a tripling of life expectancy and a 10- to 30-fold increase in per-capita, real income. Coal and petroleum transformed into energy for mechanical power was the most important energy conversion in industrial civilization. With coal-powered machines, man was suddenly liberated from the physical limitations of muscle and beasts of burden. When electricity became available, heat, power and countless household appliances, industrial motors and electronics were developed, generating a second, energy revolution. Carbon-resource usage (and the invention of the internal combustion engine) brought liberty, mobility and choice, enabling sustained productivity and economic growth, the authors maintain. Additionally, it revolutionized the science and practice of metallurgy and dramatically transformed textile production. Previously expensive and tedious to produce, clothing became more affordable and warmer; winter clothing became available. Today, 60% of global fibers come from fossil fuels. In addition, fossil fuels played and continue to play an important role in reducing food supply loss by refrigeration, packaging and containers. The authors marvel at the transformation that took place in a newly industrialized society. Until coal was harnessed on a massive scale, humans were dependent on energy from plants, wood, animals and human muscle, as well as wind and water flows. The dramatic shift from diffuse and variable flows of energy -- wind and water -- to massive stores of hydrocarbon minerals was a turning point for human progress. Energy became transportable, controllable, affordable, dense, reliable and versatile. Fossil fuels have also dramatically benefited agriculture. The authors detail that U.S. food production has tripled, using 1/3 of the land, 1/3 the labor, and at 1/3 the cost of pre-fossil-fuel agriculture. In the past, over 50% of the U.S. population was involved in agriculture and food was scarce and expensive. Today, only 3% of the countrys population produces our plentiful food supply. The economic implications for todays shale revolution are equally extensive, especially if drilling is allowed on federal lands. The authors estimate tax revenues in the trillions of dollars. They cite the economic prosperity of North Dakota, with potentially greater oil resources than Saudi Arabia and currently more millionaires per capita than any other state. The Great Plains state has already surpassed California and Alaska in oil production and is second behind Texas. The U.S. currently has 50% more oil reserves than in 1950. Technology and innovation have increased our supply so that we discover new sources faster than we deplete known reserves. Further, economic efficiencies in extraction, processing and conversion of energy result in less spending for greater energy output and a continuing reduction in the energy infrastructure physical footprint. By comparison, non-fossil-fuel energy sources -- wood, wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, biomass and nuclear make up only 15% of the world's total primary energy supply and provide significantly lower energy yield and potential. For example, the power density -- power per unit of volume -- of natural-gas-fired, electric generation is almost 2,000 times greater than that of wind-generated electricity. Using ethanol produced from corn to power a vehicle's internal combustion system creates a net energy loss when the energy used in planting, fertilizing, harvesting, distilling and transporting is factored in. Further, the diversion of 40% of the U.S. corn crop to ethanol, a less efficient fuel than gasoline, has raised corn prices and prompted more farmers to grow corn instead of other vital crops. Biomass energy production, with its accompanying upticks in tractor and farm vehicle usage and chemicals, reduces the food supply, increases fertilizer and water use, and adds to pollution. Production of wind, solar and biofuels uses thousands more acres of land than coal, natural gas and nuclear power. According to Jess Ausubel,1 an average wind system uses 460 metric tons of steel and 870 cubic meters of concrete per megawatt. In contrast, a natural gas combined cycle plant uses about three metric tons of steel and twenty-seven cubic meters of concrete. As for carbon dioxide falsely classified as pollutant, Moore and White remind readers of basic eighth grade science: Carbon dioxide is essential to plant life, on which all human and animal lives depend for food. Plants inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen used in human respiration. Commercial greenhouses actually use elevated levels of CO2 to stimulate plant growth and that plant life flourished during past periods of higher CO2 levels. The authors criticize the misguided trend to replace our fossil-fuel-based, electric system with wind, solar or biomass. They argue that green energy can't compete in a free market without bringing scarcity, economic decline, physical suffering and geopolitical crises. The reliability of renewable energy suffers from weather vagaries whereas coal, natural gas and nuclear power deliver energy precisely as needed. Moore and White bemoan the political clout of the Environmental Protection Agency and its myriad regulations and question its integrity and usefulness. They assert that emissions actually began to fall in the 1960s, nearly a decade before the establishment of the EPA. During the same time as the EPAs anti-industrial "back to nature" philosophy took root, air quality actually improved despite a doubling of fossil fuel use with an accompanying 200% increase in the GDP. These improvements came from emission reductions and controls made by private business rather than EPA mandates, the authors maintain. Between 1980 and 2010, airborne sulfur dioxide declined by 89%, carbon monoxide by 82%, nitrogen dioxide by 52%, ozone by 27%, particulate matter by 27% and mercury by 65%. Over the past few decades, tailpipe emissions declined by more than 90% with miles traveled increasing by 180%. In recent years, a massive, wind and solar renewables program failed miserably in Europe. It caused precipitously higher prices and scarcities, prompting hundreds of thousands of families to turn to wood burning in desperation (thus inflating furniture and paper prices) and spurring construction of new coal plants. The threat of blackouts, unacceptably high utility bills and corporate flight resulting from this renewables program, threatened the very stability of Europe. Citing Europes dismal example, Moore and White explain that contrary to the popular exaltation of renewables, a prosperous American future will be driven by abundant, reliable and inexpensive fossil fuels. ______ 1. Jesse Ausubel, Big Green Energy Machines. American Institute of Physics, October/ November 2004 On May 28, 1993 Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12850. This improper EO changed the way the U.S. made trade deals with China and led to the loss of tens of millions of American manufacturing jobs. The story of how this was done not only proves that the Clintons are behind the loss of American jobs, but shows how Bill Clinton established a Democratic strategy for manipulating foreign policy that was copied by both Hillary while she was Secretary of State and Obama while he was president. At the time, U.S.-China trade relations were conditioned upon Chinas humanitarian treatment of its own citizens. Americans had seen protesters in Tiananmen Square crushed by Chinese tanks. The brutality of the Chinese toward unarmed protesters had shocked Americans so much that China was required to treat its citizens in a humanitarian way in order to maintain its MFN (Most Favored Nation) status. China desperately needed to keep its MFN status for one reason: only with MFN status could it get a huge discount on tariffs it had to pay to the U.S. With MFN Chinese manufacturers only had to pay a 6% tariff. Without it they would have had to pay an unprofitable 40%. So without its MFN status China couldnt as easily compete with American manufacturers. Chinas MFN status was suspended during the Korean War, but conditionally reinstated in 1980 under the Jackson-Vanir freedom of emigration amendment to the Trade Act of 1974. This is where Bill Clinton stepped in. With his 1993 Executive Order, he unconstitutionally seized control of the MFN conditions, removing it from the involvement of Congress, just as Obama seized treaty control away from the Senate with his Iranian nuke deal. Clintons Executive Order was issued at a time when the U.S.-China trade deficit was only $18 billion a year. In 2015 the deficit was $367 billion. Its important to understand that at the time Chinas MFN status was annually up for review by Congress. The effective law was passed in 1974. What Bill Clinton did, with an unconstitutional Executive Order, was to use the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States to rewrite a Congressionally approved treaty and change the terms. The way he changed it is eerily similar to the way Hillary practiced State Department decisions when she was Secretary of State from 2009 to 2012. Bill Clinton intentionally, with great harm to jobs in the U.S., changed the terms of the law in this way: instead of requiring a vote of Congress to reaffirm Chinas MFN status every year, Bill Clinton illegally shifted the decision-making role to the Secretary of State. This eliminated the power of Congress to approve the annual MFN status. President Clinton, in his 1993 statement, said this was necessary to avoid the annual battles between Congress and the Executive which was divisive. Of course it was divisive -- the Framers of the Constitution intended it to be so. Without the input of the elected members of Congress the people had no say. Similarly, Hillary Clinton used her position as Sec. of State to personally approve/disapprove many agreements. President Obama was to emulate this shifting of foreign policy making to bureaucrats in 2015 with his so-called Iranian deal. An agreement with a foreign nation is a treaty, not a deal. This is because the authority of the U.S. government is used to both make the treaty and adhere to its terms. The Constitution properly gives the people, working through the Senate, the opportunity to have a voice in the terms of the treaty. Bill Clinton, Hillary, and Obama all stole this input from the voters and placed it under their control. And just as the Clinton Foundation has been linked to relationships Hillary had to her speech payers and donors, Bill Clintons decision to send jobs to China by permanently controlling its MFN status has been linked to campaign donations. Boeing Company wanted the EO. Boeing was the parent company of the Loral Corporation, which donated $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee in June, 1994, according to a Washington Post report at the time. A nice reward to Clinton for his MFN status change. The Loral Corporation is a major developer of missile flight control software and at the time they wanted to launch satellites from China. Boeing also owned McDonnell-Douglas which in 1994 made an agreement with China to open a parts factory in Beijing. If this all seems oddly similar to the deals Hillary made with foundation campaign donors, well, thats because it is. While Bill Clinton made this deal through an Executive Order, its important to note that there are other developments which have evolved from the EO. The Clinton Foundation is legally located in Canada, allowing the Clintons to hide the identities of their donors. They also used the foundation as a method of obtaining payment for delivering unprecedentedly expensive speeches. In return, it appears that Hillary allowed donors access to her office and granted State Department permission on numerous foreign trade deals. Since these agreements and deals were made through email the Clinton email scandal is seen as an effort to hide the pay for play evidence. In 2001 Boeing got a $63 million dollar incentive deal from the Democratic mayor of Chicago to relocate its headquarters there. These incentives will likely be paid for, in typical Democratic Party style, by the middle-class and poor taxpayers who will have to make up that $63 million through their own familys budgets. Boeing only brought 500 jobs to the city, costing taxpayers $126,000 per job. This, like the Chinese MFN Executive Order, promoted as a good investment for the city. When all of these actions are thoroughly investigated, these deals will reveal that the Democratic Partys globalization initiative is mostly a scheme to get rich by trading U.S. governmental authority, and American jobs, to enrich a tiny number of people. As the Clintons and Obama get richer the American people lose jobs and become poorer. Those are facts. This is primarily done by shifting the authority of government. Bill Clinton bestowed the authority to reauthorize Chinas MFN status to the Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton bestowed upon herself the authority to negotiate with companies with foreign interests and the foreign nations themselves. And Barack Obama seized the power of Federal agencies through his 32 czars, bypassing the restraints imposed by the Constitution. The basic strategy is to shift authority, then control that newly created authority, bypassing the role of Congress. Its only just begun. Voters can decide if they want to see more unrestrained power brokering by Hillary. President Obama, and other world leaders, will be making their visits and speaking before the U.N. In 2007, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela came and caused quite a controversy, calling President Bush "the devil." Not long ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran, came to New York and said some rather bizarre things. By mid-September 1960, the Nixon-Kennedy campaign was underway. Everyone was talking about the debates around the corner. And both candidates were talking about a visitor to the U.N. Cuba's Fidel Castro arrived in New York on September 18, 1960: In September 1960, Castro led a delegation to New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly. He and his entourage caused an immediate sensation by deciding to stay at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem. While there, Castro met with a number of African-American leaders, including Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam and the poet Langston Hughes. On September 26, Castro delivered a blistering attack on what he termed American aggression and imperialism. For over four hours, Castro lambasted U.S. policy toward Cuba and other nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The United States, he declared, had decreed the destruction of his revolutionary government. Castros visit and lengthy public denunciation marked the final breaking point in relations between the U.S. and Cuba. In January 1961, the Eisenhower administration severed all diplomatic relations with Cuba. Cuba also became a hot topic in the Kennedy-Nixon debates. Kennedy took a tough posture toward Castro and criticized the Eisenhower policy. I recall that my parents, and many Cubans, followed these debates with keen interest. Cuba had never seen such an important issue in a U.S. presidential election. Unfortunately, President Kennedy did not support the men of Brigade 2506 at the Bay of Pigs. It turned into a huge victory for the Castro regime, and the invasion was followed by severe repression against anti-Castro Cubans on the island. The Missile Crisis followed 18 months later! My guess is that no one 56 years ago thought the bearded Cuban would become such a headache for the winner of the election. P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. The Islamic State has claimed credit for the stabbing attack at a Minnesota mall that injured nine people on Saturday. The suspect was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman. H is family identified him as Dahir A. Adan, 22, originally from Somalia. CNN: Dahir A. Adan, 22 , has been identified as the man who stabbed nine people at a Minnesota mall Saturday before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer, according to two Somali community leaders in Minnesota who are in direct contact with the Adan's family. Federal law enforcement sources also confirmed Adan's name to CNN. On Saturday night, Lul Hersi stood outside the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, waiting to find out whether her son was among the nine people stabbed by a man who an ISIS-linked news agency praised as a "soldier of the Islamic state." Fear washed over the Somali-American mother, not just for her son's well being, but also because of the potential backlash that might follow against her community. "This has been a dark day; it is a day we will never forget," said Hersi. "ISIS does not represent us. It does not represent Islam, and it does not represent Somalis." The man, whom local media reports said was of Somali descent, stabbed nine people at the Minnesota mall before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The following day the Amaq agency posted a statement online, the latest in a series of ISIS-related media outlets claiming responsibility for purported attacks carried out by individuals across Europe and beyond this year. CNN cannot independently this latest claim. Likewise, St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson told CNN Sunday he was unable to confirm if the mall stabbings were anything more than a lone attack. "Right now, we're trying to get to the bottom of his motivations," Anderson said. The FBI is calling the attack "a potential act of terrorism." It was reported by several sources that Adan asked his victims if they were Muslims and also invoked "Allah" during the rampage. But to the local Somali community, it's "unclear" what Adan's motivations were. After the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York mayor Bill de Blasio went to great lengths to assure New Yorkers that international terrorism was not involved. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the bombing an intentional act but declined to call it terrorism before police had any tangible notion of motive. ONeill echoed those comments, saying if the act was terrorism police will come out and say it. But Governor Andrew Cuomo described the bombing as terrorism regardless of its ultimate motive or perpetrator. There is no link at this time at this preliminary stage to international terrorism, he said, adding that police will consider any motive, terroristic, political or personal. Whoever placed these bombs, we will find and they will be brought to justice. This morning, both men will be singing a different tune. Law enforcement authorities believe they have found a link between Islamic terrorism and the bombings in Chelsea, as well as bombs that were discovered last night near a train station outside a bar in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Police and FBI have launched an intense search for the man they believe may have built the bombs a naturalized American citizen from Afghanistan. CNN: New York police say they're looking for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the Chelsea bombing over the weekend. Also on Monday morning, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday the bombs found over the weekend have similarities, suggesting "there might have been a common linkage." Cuomo said the investigation is ongoing, and he "wouldn't be surprised if it zeroes in on a particular individual, today even," and he "wouldn't be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act." The intense investigation into the weekend bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey is leading authorities to signs of a possible terror cell in those two states, law enforcement officials told CNN Monday. The ongoing investigation, which includes two bombs in New York City and devices in two cities in New Jersey, has given authorities leads on specific people who are urgently being sought. Also on Monday morning, a federal law enforcement official said BBs and ball bearings were among the pieces of metal that appeared to be packed into both pressure cooker bombs in New York. One of those devices exploded on 23rd Street, but the fact that it was partly under a metal trash container may have diminished the force of the blast. The latest developments came just hours after a backpack containing multiple bombs was found Sunday night near an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station, according to the FBI and the city's mayor. The backpack had up to five devices, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. It was found around 9:30 p.m. in a wastebasket outside a neighborhood pub, about 500 feet from a train trestle. The two men who found the backpack thought it might contain something valuable, but they alerted police when they saw wires and a pipe on the devices, the mayor said. No cell phones or electronic timing devices were found, Bollwage said. Five suspects were arrested by the FBI near the Verrazano Bridge in New York. It is unknown what connection, if any, they have to the bombings. It is still possible that Rahami is not connected to international terrorism, but rather "inspired" by ISIS or al-Qaeda. It hardly matters. The possibility of an active terror cell on the east coast targeting innocent civilians must now be dealt with. We will update this blog post if there is any additional significant information. On top of blacks and Hispanics refusing to play their anticipated role as nearly monolithic Hillary voters, the other key demographic group she has been counting on has apparently had its fill of Herself. Dante Chinni of NBC News reports: New polls released this week suggests Hillary Clinton has a growing problem with millennial voters and that's a major concern for the Democratic presidential nominee. Both national polls and surveys in swing states show Clinton has seen a slide with voters younger than 35, particularly when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are factored in. A national Quinnipiac poll showed Clinton capturing 31% of the vote among voters 18-to-34 years of age and a slim 5-point lead over Trump. In August Clinton had 48% of that vote and a 24-point lead over Trump. A Fox News poll of the national electorate showed Clinton winning 37% of the youth vote and leading Donald Trump by 9 points. In August, the poll showed her support at 39% and leading Trump by 8 points. In Ohio, a CBS/YouGov poll showed Clinton doing better with voters under 30, winning 51% of them and holding 32-point lead on Trump. But that number was down from August when Clinton won 57% of that vote and a held a 38-point lead. A Detroit Free Press poll in Michigan showed a big dip among voters under 35. In the new poll she has 31% of that vote and a 7-point lead over Trump. In August she had 44% of that vote and a 24-point lead. The lower numbers are a big problem for Clinton because Democrats need a lot of votes from the younger part of the electorate to offset losses they normally get with older voters. Caroline Glick has a sobering column in the Jerusalem Post thats well worth reading. She notes how the Democratic Party has turned sharply against Israel over the last decade and a half. Who can forget the boos and jeers at the 2012 convention when the decision was announced to reinstate the (purely formulaic) pledge to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? Progressivism now includes the relentless demonization of Israel. BDS has successfully lobbied all the prog organizations courted by Hillary to put the destruction of the Jewish state on their agenda. The great majority of Jewish voters identify with the left, but this hostility to Israel does not seem to have fazed many of them. Unfortunately, a number of prominent Jewish Republicans also seem unfazed by whats at stake for Israel in this election. Theyve taken a leading role in the NeverTrump movement. Some are motivated by personal distaste for Trump. Some, unreconstructed interventionsts, are distressed by Trumps rejection of their globalist agenda and resent that they will be excluded from a Trump administration, while imagining theyll be consulted by Hillary. Neo-cons, while vocal and visible, by no means speak for all Jewish Republicans. Many recognize how disastrous our interventions in Iraq and Libya have been and how catastrophic our flirtation with Iran will inevitably prove to be. But neo-cons get onto the podiums, and Glick describes a recent Intelligence Squared debate in N.Y. pitting two Jewish journalists against two Christian journalists on the question of who is responsible for Trumps rise. Two-thirds of the way through the event, Carney brought up religion. Carney allowed that many of Trumps supporters are indeed bigoted. However, he said that as a Christian, he couldnt accept that they are irredeemable because Christianity teaches that all men can be saved. Rather than grant his point or simply ignore it, Rubin chose to respond in the name of Judaism. In so doing, she turned the debate into a contest between Christianity and Judaism. Incorrectly arguing that Judaism does not believe in repentance as a road to redemption, Rubin pointed to herself and Stephens and said sardonically, We Jews just believe in good and evil. We dont believe that everyone is redeemable. The Christians won the debate in a knockout. Perhaps the most striking thing about the Jewish Republicans behavior is that while attacking the anti-Semites at the margins of the Republican Party, they ignore the anti-Semites at the heart of the Democratic Party. That says it all. Myopic NeverTrumps have to ask the question Jews are not supposed to ask: Is it good for the Jews? The 43% of world Jewry that lives in Israel will be imperiled by the election of Clinton, her rhetoric notwithstanding. No grown-up takes anything she says seriously. And as Glick points out, Republican support for Israel will inevitably decline if Jews are perceived as having betrayed the party. The top question, of course, has to be Is it good for America? We need to ask what will be the result of four more years of our supine foreign policy. Obama makes Neville Chamberlain look like Clint Eastwood. Hillary will be no improvement. She and her husband have also used the U.S. Air Force to support Islamicists in Kosovo and Libya, as well as Syria, lying about the pretext, and backed the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt, ultimately foiled by General el-Sisi. There are small signs that Jews are ignoring the NeverTrumps among them. In 2012, 68% of Jews in Florida supported Obama. According to one poll, 66% now support Clinton. The shift is anemic, but the trend is in the right direction. Prominent Jewish Republicans need to join those of us who also loathed Trump during the primaries and looked forward to Cruz eviscerating Clinton in the debates. Were at #OccasionallyTrump the occasions being when he happens to be running against a Democrat. Ask health care providers to describe what constitutes a serious health event, and youre likely to get a bewildering assortment of medical definitions based on lengths and levels of experience of the opinionaters as well as the nature of their medical specializations. Theyve all seen such a variety of human health crises that its impossible to narrow all their experiences down to a common description, even of a single event. But I will wager that almost every health care provider in the country, upon viewing the video of Hillary Clintons collapse at the 9/11 memorial last weekend, will agree that what we are witnessing is a serious medical episode. They will vary widely as to causation, but considering the age of the subject and her past health history, virtually none will dismiss the events depicted in that brief video as anything less than a serious medical incident. Yet the Hillary campaign is doing its very best to dismiss possible thousands of professional opinions in its attempt to convince the American public that her serious medical occurrence was inconsequential pneumonia and indicative of nothing medically prohibitive regarding this almost 70-year-old womans ability to serve four years in one of the most stress-inducing jobs in the world. All of which brings me to CBS and 60 Minutes, which just ran a segment on the continuing nuclear threat to America, presumably from the Russians, in some new Cold War the media keeps insisting we are now entering. The 60 Minutes piece, which will air a second segment next week, was obviously contrived to insert doubt in the minds of American voters as to whether Donald Trump is up to the mental and emotional challenges of handling a nuclear confrontation. The timing is simply too convenient to be otherwise. And consider the source. As I watched all the ominous details unfurling on CBS, an image kept replaying in my mind: that of a seriously debilitated senior citizen first being held rigidly erect, then collapsing toward the pavement; being grabbed up, thrown into a van, and then hustled away out of public view. My reaction: How could any person in that condition be capable of responding effectively to an alarm of incoming missiles should the two events occur concurrently? Moreover, wouldnt the circumstances of such a physical collapse by the commander-in-chief throw the entire National Command Authority into question? Who present would qualify to determine the c-in-c incapable of performing her duties? Long, confused minutes would tick by while incoming missiles continued to fly at near-orbital speeds to their American targets. Until such a medical determination occurred, who in the command structure could or would assume the enormous responsibility of ordering our defense forces to respond? As the 60 Minutes piece made clear, intricate codes and confirmation processes are all part of the failsafe protections built into our National Command Authority to prevent a mistaken release of our own nuclear arsenal. Watching that CBS presentation, I had to wonder how any person in the condition of that woman who stumbled from that curb and collapsed toward the pavement beside that van could possibly comprehend such complexities as those codes and processes demand. And if she could not, but her authority couldnt be quickly transferred, what might be the fate of our nation? Thank you, 60 Minutes, for opening my old, weak eyes to Hillarys inability to serve. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has mostly been accepted as a great phone by both consumers and critics alike but its no secret that the South Korean companys latest flagship shipped with seriously faulty batteries in a lot of regions. Namely, the batteries produced by Samsung SDI have repeatedly proven a worrying tendency to overheat and catch fire while charging. While Samsung has been in full damage control mode for weeks now and will reportedly spend up to a billion dollars just to fully complete the process of replacing the problematic devices, industry experts are debating what went wrong during the companys quality assurance process which somehow didnt catch the fact that a significant percentage of batteries manufactured by Samsung SDI is faulty. Theres actually been a recent development on that front as Bloomberg claims its sources reported Samsung rushed the Galaxy Note 7 because the company was adamant at beating Apples iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to the market. More specifically, sources suggest Samsungs market and industry experts concluded that the new iPhone wont be a big upgrade on the last years model. They came to this conclusion early in the year and agreed that this is the perfect opportunity for the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer to introduce a flagship that unlike the iPhone 7 is obviously superior to its predecessor. However, that was only the first step in the plan to beat Apple; the second one was to get the Note 7 to the market before Apple releases this years iteration of iPhone. Sources report that in the end, performing that second step meant Samsung had to rush the Galaxy Note 7 launch which was eventually moved up by ten whole days. Naturally, the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer refused to comment on this report and its not realistic to expect the company will ever reveal the truth behind what went wrong with the Galaxy Note 7 launch, but its not a huge leap to think Samsung was on a tight schedule because of Apple. Namely, the companys flagship devices directly compete with Apples smartphones and unlike previous years, Note 7 was planned for release close to the iPhone 7 launch. In other words, it would have definitely made sense for Samsung to try and beat the next iPhone to the market. It was reported last week, and later confirmed, that Samsung was going to help users differentiate their fixed Galaxy Note 7 from explosive models by changing the battery icon from white to green. Its a subtle way to tell that you have a safe Galaxy Note 7, without needing to go to any of the details of the smartphone. But theres just one problem with this, its against the rules the Google set forth in the Android Compatibility Definition Document. Many of you are likely unaware of the Compatibility Definition Document or CDD. Basically this is the document full of rules for manufacturers to follow, if they want their device to be approved and licensed to run Google apps. These include the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google+ and the whole suite of Google apps that you see on most Android smartphones. Even though most smartphones dont look anything like stock Android, Google does still define some of the changes that can be made to the UI. One of those changes pertains to the battery icon located in the status bar. Noted in the Themes section of the document, Google writes, Android device implementations MUST use white for system status icons (such as signal strength and battery level) and notifications issued by the system, unless the icon is indicating a problematic status or an app requests a light status bar using the SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LIGHT_STATUS_BAR flag. They also go onto state that when a light status bar is needed, the device must change the battery icon to black. Its pretty cut and dry and not much room for changing the color of the battery icon, is available. It may seem a bit controlling on Googles part, but this is how they are hoping to give users a universal experience on any Android device. Not to mention the fact that a number of apps especially Google ones use a green status bar. Which would make it tough to see the battery icon, when those apps are open. Advertisement Every OS update that goes out to any Android device, is sent to Google for testing and to check it against the Compatibility Definition Document. So Google will be seeing this new update that Samsung is reportedly looking to push out in the near future. Its tough to say what Google may do, whether they let Samsung slide with this, or if they pull Google app support from the Galaxy Note 7. But currently, this update is not heading out to users, just yet. That may change in the near future though. Especially as users are beginning to get their replacement Galaxy Note 7s already. Since the early 90s, Google has steadily become one of the largest companies on the Web, and theyre now arguably the most recognizable Internet company out there. For a lot of users, its services like Google Maps, Gmail, the Play Store and of course Android itself. The majority of what Google offers customers is of course free, which often ends up with people wondering how they actually make any money. The answer to that is of course ad revenue, and the company has been making billions upon billions from this ad revenue each and every year. On top of these figures, it would come as no surprise that theres a sizeable about of tax to be paid, but not for the first time this year, Google is facing allegations of unpaid tax. This time its in Indonesia, and now its thought that Google could end up having to pay as much as $400 Million in unpaid tax. According to a fresh report from Reuters, Googles offices had been investigated in Indonesia and that according to Government Official, Muhammad Hanif, who heads up Indonesias special cases branch of the tax office, Google paid just 0.1 percent of tax in 2015 alone. This is where the $400 Million figure comes from, and its thought the companys refusal to be audited back in June of this year is what causes the authorities to escalate things. Hanif said in a statement that while tax planning is legal, aggressive tax planning to the extent that the country where the revenue is made does not get anything is not legal. The majority of Google Indonesias revenue is booked through the umbrella Google Asia Pacific office, based in Singapore, and its this office that refused the audit back in June. Whether or not Google will end up paying the $400 Million tax bill is unclear, but it looks as though the Indonesian authorities are beginning to lose their patience. Given that this is not the first rodeo Google has had with allegations of unpaid tax this year, the outcome from this one will be watched closely by governments all over the world. Major technology firms like Google are not alone in the recent scrutiny regarding taxes, as Apple has come under fire for the way they use Ireland in order to pay less tax, and other companies such as Facebook have also faced scrutiny for their taxes, too. Googles upcoming Pixel XL, previously thought of as the Nexus Marlin, has allegedly just shown up Geekbench in a benchmark listing that shows the device will come with 4GB of RAM as well as come running on Android 7.1 Nougat for the software version. Rumors that Googles devices this year would be on Android 7.1 instead of Android 7.0 have surfaced before, and although this is not an official confirmation it does seem to add a little more to the evidence that Android 7.1 could be the version of Android software on the Pixel and Pixel XL when they launch later this year. Aside from the 4GB of RAM and the Android version on the benchmark listing, the only other telling detail is that the device is labeled as Google Pixel, with the name Marlin labeled under the motherboard category which would suggest that this is the Pixel XL and not the Pixel. The processor does list that the phone is powered by a Qualcomm chip that is clocked at 1.59GHz, and that it has four cores, but it doesnt say anything about what type of Qualcomm processor it is, which leads to no new information on the chipset that Google is planning for either of these devices. Having said that, rumors have already been floating around for quite some time that the processor Google was planning to use is the Snapdragon 820, although it has been speculated that Google might be opting for the Snapdragon 821. Although not official press renders, some mocked up renders of the Pixel XL surfaced just yesterday that appear to be based on the information in leaks about the phone from the past couple of weeks. While it doesnt offer up any detail on the devices type of hardware or features, according to the benchmark the Pixel XL came out with a single-core score of 1659 and a multi-core score of 3951. Googles Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones are expected to be announced next month on October 4th, with the potential for a launch in the near future following the official announcement, and possible pre-orders the same day of the unveiling. Its also been rumored on numerous occasions that HTC would be manufacturing both phones. This Sunday, Lyfts president and co-founder John Zimmer presented an essay on the future of transportation in urban areas and announced that the ride-sharing company will fully embrace the emerging autonomous driving technology. More specifically, he predicted that by 2021, the majority of rides organized with the Lyft app will be conducted in driverless vehicles. Zimmer also expressed a deep conviction that personal car ownership will soon come to an end due to the fact that autonomous vehicles will become a significantly cheaper alternative to buying and maintaining a car in the near future. This isnt the first time one of Lyfts representatives expressed specific interest in autonomous driving technology. The company has recently teamed up with General Motors (GM) in order to test self-driving cars in Phoenix and San Francisco and recent reports suggest that GMs first driverless car will actually debut on Lyft soon. The fact that the San Francisco-based company is quickly transitioning to autonomous driving isnt surprising given that its biggest competitor Uber is doing the same. Like Zimmer himself suggested, ride-hailing companies would definitely turn a bigger profit using cars that drive themselves as opposed to the cars that require drivers who need to be paid. Even if autonomous cars require humans to supervise them and act as backup drivers, they still cost less than full-time drivers. Furthermore, Lyfts president predicted that ride-sharing companies will start transitioning to driverless vehicles by exclusively offering autonomous rides at low speeds in good weather. According to Zimmer, this is because the industry cant and isnt willing to wait for the self-driving technology to be perfected and usable in virtually any situation. He also labeled autonomous driving technology as an inevitable consequence of urbanization in the 21st century given how self-driving cars have the ability to solve the problem of transportation for poorer people and lower the demand for parking spaces in urban areas. In addition to less pollution, a smaller number of cars that driverless technology would result in, would also indirectly lead to the repurposing of a large number of parking spaces, said Zimmer. Not surprisingly, many industry experts disagree and claim these predictions are overly ambitious but only time will tell whether the autonomous driving technology will be ready for commercial implementation in half a decade. Samsung has announced that it is to cooperate with T-Mobile US, Americas third-largest carrier, in building a nearly commercially complete 5G service using the 28GHz band, next year. We already knew of Samsung and T-Mobile US arrangement but in addition to this announcement, Samsung also explained that they are increasing their cooperation with Americas two largest carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, to develop 5G technologies. Samsung appear determined to put their foot into the door of 5G technologies, which are exciting governments all over the world. Samsung have already demonstrated their 28GHz 5G networking technology earlier in the year by operating a small antenna and amplifier system for base stations operating at this high frequency. The problem with high frequency radio waves is that whilst the carrier wave is able to transmit and receive data at a very high rate, it is easily degraded and then stopped by buildings and obstacles. 28GHz is a significantly higher frequency than todays commercial cellular networks, whereby the American telecoms regulator, the FCC, is currently running an auction for spectrum at the 600MHz point. Americas fourth largest carrier, Sprint, operates some of the highest frequency commercial spectrum at the 2.5GHz point. However, as part of the 5G 28GHz rollout, Samsung is set to utilize beam forming technologies: this is a means of extending the range of a given mast through careful optimization of the radio waves and network infrastructure. Samsung has a position on the board of the Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, or AWRI, and as such has an influence on the development of 5G technologies. An official from the Korean Ministry of Science said this on the matter: The 5G technology being developed by the AWRI is highly likely to become such a leading international standard that the Korean government will apply the technology to a 5G telecommunication network that will be tentatively operated beginning in 2018. Samsung has much to gain from steering the AWRI by applying its own technologies and know-how into the mix: if it is able to secure a foothold with Americas three largest carriers, it will be able to gain valuable experience to allow it to roll out similar technologies to other markets. The 5G networking standard has yet to be ratified but weve seen American and European political leaders pushing to introduce the technology as quickly as possible. Here, Samsung is providing the infrastructure at the network end as well as gaining insight to allow it to fine tune devices for the consumer market. South Korean electronics giant, Samsung, has reduced or sold stakes in four companies to raise one trillion won, or around $890 million. Although it is unclear when the stock was sold, Samsung explained that this cash is to be reinvested into their core businesses. The company has reduced holdings in Dutch semiconductor supplier business ASML by about half, and full stakes in Seagate, Sharp Corp and Rambus Inc, amounting to 4.2%, 0.7% and 4.5% of these companies respectively. Where significant holdings in one company are reduced, the business selling often stages transactions over a number of weeks or even months in order to avoid upsetting the market. In a statement, Samsung explained that: There is no impact on the business cooperation with the relevant companies. The reason why Samsung is investing into its core businesses is that, after a long period of diversification and expansion, Samsung is struggling to perform. Growth is slowing in Samsungs consumer electronics division, which drives overall business performance although we have seen the business seeking additional investment for other parts of the business too such as kitchen appliances. There are a number of reasons for this slowdown in sales, including how many markets are now saturated and customers are upgrading an existing device rather than purchasing their first smartphone. Here, the 2014 and 2015 Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Note flagship lines struggled with poorer than expected sales and part of the reason was a plastic build quality and boring design. Samsung revised and improved their flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note models, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S6, by introducing a new metal design, an integrated battery, a bleeding edge chipset and yet more technologies crammed into the device. Although not a perfect device, the Galaxy S6, was an improvement over former Samsung Galaxy flagship devices. The follow-up smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S7, features a number of improvements over the Galaxy S6 and has been almost universally praised. In the still-developing regions of the world, Samsungs devices have typically been more expensive than the competition whilst offering a lesser specification and here weve seen Samsung improve specification, such as upgrading devices to AMOLED panels. In the short term, Samsung is also suffering from the exploding battery problem of the Galaxy Note 7 model, which has been recalled in several key markets and the company must replace these. Galaxy Note 7 sales have temporarily been suspended until Samsung is able to get new devices to various markets. For a company competing with arch-rival Apple, the last thing Samsung wanted was a recall. Its unknown as to how this recall will impact Samsungs short term profits, but the company needs to increase production of the new, revised Galaxy Note 7 units, and rush them to the market in order to resume sales before momentum is lost. This short term action is quite probably expensive and is perhaps the reason why Samsung raised money by selling shares in other businesses. In what has to be one of the biggest product recalls in the smartphone world, Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 recall has kicked into a higher gear all over the world as of late. We should all know the story by now, but if youre still wondering what all the fuss is about, Samsung has had to recall the Galaxy Note 7 due to overheating batteries that have been exploded and harming people and property alike since they went on sale. Across the pond in the UK, the Galaxy Note 7 hadnt even gone on sale officially at the time of the recall from Samsung, but just to be safe, they have now officially opened a recall program in the UK for the Galaxy Note 7, too. Those across the pond with a Galaxy Note 7 are likely in one of two camps; they either got the device early thanks to a pre-order offer or theyve imported it from elsewhere in Europe. The former will now be able to go through the official process with Samsung in order to get their new device some time shortly after, but those in the latter camp are a little less lucky. If you had imported your Galaxy Note 7 from somewhere else in Europe, you might not be able to get your Galaxy Note 7 replaced as part of this recall program in the UK. Samsung now has a live website for UK residents that has all the relevant info for an exchange, which lists the contact details for Samsung themselves, Carphone Warehouse as well as the four major UK networks as well. It should be noted that the Galaxy Note 7s tendency to catch fire and possibly explode is nothing to be trifled with. Samsung is trying their best to get people to turn in their devices, and its something that owners should definitely do if they havent done already to ensure no risk to themselves or others. As for when the Galaxy Note 7 will go back on sale in the UK, its unlikely to be before October. Samsung themselves has apologized to those that have pre-ordered the device and not received it, but Carphone Warehouse is rumored to have stock in starting October 21st. This new stock should be safe and free of the rare anode-to-cathode defect that was present in some Samsung SDI batteries used in the production of the Galaxy Note 7. (ANSA) - New York, September 19 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday that his government's spending on its 'Home Italy' programme to make Italy anti-seismic after last month's devasting earthquake in which almost 300 people were killed will be outside the EU Stability Pact rules. "Reconstructing is good, preventing is better," he said in New York. "I renew my appeal to all the political parties to put controversy aside with Home Italy. "As for Europe, what is needed for our schools will be outside the spending counted for the Stability Pact because the stability of our children is more important than the stability of the technocrats. "Italy respects the European rules not because the Germans asks for it, but because it's right for our children and grandchildren, not to answer to some German banker". In his enews newsletter, Renzi said that his government would present its plans to reconstruct the quake-hit central towns of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata on Friday. BERLIN - German chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin on Monday that she would not support closing the country off to Muslim migrants but ruled out that as large of an inflow of migrants as that seen in 2015 could be repeated. The chancellor spoke about the difficulties of cultural and employment that migrants face as well as security risks, adding that these were reasons to perhaps adjust the country's policy on migrants, as supported ''by 82% of respondents in a survey last week''. If respondents wanted to rule out the accepting of any foreigner, she said, and especially any Muslim ''then this is against our constitution, our country's commitment to international law and especially the ethical foundation of he Christian Democrat Union of Germany and my personal beliefs. This line, both the CDU and myself cannot follow''. ''But if 82% actually wanted to say,'' she added, ''that the situation we had last year after a humanitarian emergency must not be repeated, with - at the beginning - partially uncontrolled and unregistered entries'' of refugees in Germany, ''then I am fighting so that it will not be not repeated. All the measures of recent months have been to this end.'' She noted that ever fewer people were coming to Germany due to a closing of the Balkan route and said that the agreement between the EU and Turkey had been very important, but that the Dublin Regulation should be modified. Merkel added that ''the migrants that arrive in Italy are mostly economic ones'' and that ''we cannot take them all in. We must act against the causes in those countries''. Libya: militias confirm, 'mufti ISIS killed in Sirte' 'New progress against jihadists after few days of stalling' ops (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 19 - The spokesman of the forces of Binyan al Marsous, Mohamed Al-Ghasri, has confirmed to website Alwasat that ''the mufti of Daesh in Sirte, Hassan Al-Karamy, has been killed. The spiritual leader of ISIS died sometime over the past few weeks. Libyan militias fighting to free the city have announced that they ''made strategic progress after stopping for a few days to elaborate a plan and clashing with Daesh, gaining control of a few buildings like the grand mosque''. (ANSAmed). Libya state oil company, fire at Sidra terminal extinguished 'We hope to resume today operations at terminal after clashes' (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 19 - Firefighters of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) have extinguished a fire in the tank number 12 of the oil terminal of Sidra after fighting, NOC reported on Sunday night. ''We hope to resume the normal operations across all oil ports tomorrow morning (today)'' in the oil area including Ras Lanuf where it was forced to suspend activities as a precautionary measure. The president of NOC, Mustafa Sanalla, added that no additional information of interest had been reported. Yesterday morning, violent clashes shook once again the oil terminals of Ras Lanuf and Sidra after guards at the installations under the presidential council of Fayez al Sarraj launched a surprise attack against the terminals to retake them after the operation conducted by Khalifa Haftar last week. But the assault was controlled by the general's forces who reconquered the area. (ANSAmed). DAMASCUS - Syria's military declared the end of a cease-fire on Monday, blaming rebel groups for violating the truce that went into effect a week ago. Residents of eastern Aleppo shortly reported the resumption of airstrikes in their besieged areas. No immediate reports of casualties. The Syrian government also said it repelled an insurgent attack on areas it controls south of Aleppo. ROME - Qatar's candidate for director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, arrived Saturday in Rome as the kick-off to his campaign for the position. Quality education and more funding for UNESCO's cultural missions throughout the world are the main pillars of his program. Al-Kawari, who was previously ambassador to France and Qatar's minister of culture, made his candidature for the October 2017 appointment official in the Italian capital, noting that the country ''is a large museum'' itself and that ''one of the first duties of the UNESCO director-general is to protect the world's cultural heritage''. Qatar's candidate, who will be vying for the position with one from Egypt and one from Lebanon, on Monday received an honorary degree from the Tor Vergata University. On Monday and Tuesday he will be engaged in institutional visits including a meeting with Minister of Education, Universities and Research Stefania Giannini. Al-Kawari praised Italy's decision to ''allocate one euro to culture for every euro spent on anti-terrorism activities''. He was speaking in response to a press conference question on the threat that Islamic terrorism represents for world cultural heritage. He added that ''a moderate Arab figure'' in UNESCO with direct experience of the culture of other parts of the world could help to ''deal with the problem of deviant'' versions of Islam from a cultural standpoint. (by Laurence Figa-Talamanca) ROME - A fragile ceasefire has dissolved, tensions between Russia and US have returned to the maximum level with exchanges of accusations and the population of Aleppo that was waiting for humanitarian aid was again struck by bombs. There is no end to the war in Syria on sight. The delicate situation precipitated after an air raid by the US-led Coalition was carried out on Saturday on a base of the Syrian army surrounded by the Islamic State, near Dayr az Zor, in which 62 soldiers of Damascus were killed, enraging Russia. Moscow accused the White House of ''defending ISIS''. Russia on Saturday night had asked and obtained an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The sorrow expressed by the Obama administration for the unintentional loss of lives was useless. Russia accused Washington of having an ''unconstructive and confused position'' at a UN meeting, showing it was ''unable to provide an adequate explanation'' and of attempting ''as usual, to change the cards on the table''. But US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said the Security Council was summoned for a diversion in a ''cynical and hypocrite'' move while Moscow should focus on the implementation of the ceasefire and not on games. But the truce, which started last Monday amid differences and difficulties, has de facto failed. And the martyred city of Aleppo is paying the price. According to anti-regime activists of the local committees, Syrian jets struck eastern districts causing several civilian casualties. Daraa, the city south of the Syrian capital where in 2011 the revolt against President Bashar al Assad started, was bombed, activists report. Eight people died, including a six-year-old boy and a teen. ISIS is as usual taking advantage of the end of the truce. Through its press agency Amaq, it claimed yesterday the downing of a Syrian jet in Dayr az Zor and the destruction with a missile of a Turkish tank in Jakkah, in the region of Aleppo. In Libya as well, where weapons appear to have been laid down in the oil district after days of tension, violent clashes shook again yesterday the oil terminals of Ras Lanuf and Sidra. The spokesman of the brigade 302, the forces of General Khalifa Haftar, announced they have retaken the area from the guards of the installations that respond to the Presidential Council of Fayez al Sarraj. Tobruk's jets hit several targets. The first oil exports since the end of 2014 were blocked. CAIRO - Firefighters of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) have extinguished a fire in the tank number 12 of the oil terminal of Sidra after fighting, NOC reported on Sunday night. ''We hope to resume the normal operations across all oil ports tomorrow morning (today)'' in the oil area including Ras Lanuf where it was forced to suspend activities as a precautionary measure. The president of NOC, Mustafa Sanalla, added that no additional information of interest had been reported. Yesterday morning, violent clashes shook once again the oil terminals of Ras Lanuf and Sidra after guards at the installations under the presidential council of Fayez al Sarraj launched a surprise attack against the terminals to retake them after the operation conducted by Khalifa Haftar last week. But the assault was controlled by the general's forces who reconquered the area. Mideast: two police officers stabbed in Jerusalem Assailant wounded (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 19 - Two Israeli police officers on Monday morning were stabbed while they were patrolling the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, Israeli police said, adding the two officers were seriously injured. The assailant was shot and wounded by other officers. The attack comes after a week marked by repeated attacks carried out by young Palestinians, mostly in the West Bank and Jerusalem. (ANSAmed). BEIRUT - Humanitarian convoys have reached over the past few hours Syrian civilian populations in areas besieged by the government in central Syria and south of Damascus but the distribution of aid has not involved some 300,000 civilians in eastern Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights and Syria's official news agency Sana reported on Monday. Sana said that Red Crescent trucks reached Muaddamiya last night, a district south of Damascus besieged by the regime for three years that had surrendered to loyalists over the past weeks. The UK-based monitoring group, for its part, said humanitarian convoys had reached besieged areas north of Homs, in particular Talbise, a stronghold of insurgents. Haftar 'has more important issues than UN envoy', Al Ahram UN envoy 'meddled' in Libyan affairs (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 19 - UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler ''is meddling in very sensitive issues'', General Khalifa Haftar told Egyptian daily Al Ahram on Monday. The commander of the armed forces linked to the Tobruk-based government, said that the UN envoy should not have sought to set up a meeting with Haftar to discuss the army's role. He added that his time was ''precious'' and that it could not be wasted in pointless discussions, but that he respected the UN and the secretary general of the UN. Haftar justified a recent seizure of control over Libya's three key oil terminals in the east by saying that armed forces had to act against the controlling of the country's resources and economy by militias. He added that foreign countries had not understood what happened and that they are concerned for their economic interests and political plans. (ANSAmed). (by Mohammad Ben Hussein) AMMAN - Jordan beefed up security around polling stations ahead of the parliament elections scheduled on Tuesday, despite expected low turnout and prevailing apathy, as difficult economic conditions and continued marginalization of Palestinians cast gloomy shadow over the polls. The government deployed a strong force to control crowds around election centres but the real concern comes from the Islamic State (Isis), which could use the occasion to retaliate against Jordan's participation in the war inside Syria. Jordan publicly denies sending troops inside Syria but security sources affirm that special forces from the army and other security bodies have been sent regularly inside Syria to provide assistance to western troops during operations across Syria. Jordan also provides valuable logistic and intelligence support to the US lead coalition against Jehadi groups fighting in Syria. Islamist sources say popularity of Isis is on the rise due to worsening economic conditions, soaring unemployment, taxation policy, and marginalization of Jordanians of Palestinian origin. In Baqaa camp, home to the largest number of Palestinian refugees in the kingdom, the stench of pilled garbage north of the camp stand as testimony to deteriorating conditions in refugee camps across the kingdom. Election banners and images of former intelligence officers smirking as they urge voters vote for them are hung around dilapidated roads and near dull and dusty squares of the overcrowded camp. But residents feel frustrated and angry about official policies towards them. "The government acknowledges us as Jordanians only to pay taxes and vote," sais Un Kifah, a 62 year old mother of 10 who spent the good part of her life struggling to make a living. "They do not care about us. Jordan is not for us, its only for east bankers," she told ANSA. "I will not vote and I will ask all my sons and their children to stay home," she told added Meanwhile, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) is putting the final touches on preparation ahead of vote casting while local and international observers will be deployed to monitor the polls, where pro-government candidates will be running against the Islamist movement and its allies. Doubts over integrity of the polls is running high after previous polls witnessed flagrant intervention by the state. Various sources said that previous elections saw members of the army and intelligence units vote in favour of pro-government candidates. A study by the Centre of Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan showed that turnout could be as high as 49 percent, with the high volume of participants coming from rural regions, dominated by tribes, while Jordanians of Palestinian origin show little interest in the polls. Political analyst Hussam Ayesh said vote casting in the elections is mainly due to tribal and family allegiance. He said the current elections are not expected to show major changes. "People remain under the influence of previous election laws. People do not have major motivation to head to the ballot centres," he added. (ANSAmed). Apple today joined global renewable energy initiative RE100, reaffirming its commitment to reaching 100 percent renewable energy worldwide and pledging to work with the initiative to drive clean energy into the manufacturing supply chain. Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, announced the membership today during remarks at Climate Week in New York City, and shared additional progress the company is making toward its clean energy goals. Following the routes inauguration with the Boeing 777-300 on 1 March 2016, Qatar Airways has seen a steady growth in demand for its service on the route. The 517-seater A380 aircraft increases Qatar Airways current daily capacity by 44 per cent on this route to meet the growing travel and trade demand. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: From the moment we inaugurated service to Sydney earlier this year, we have been welcomed with open arms. Customers flying to and from Sydney appreciate our global route network and our efficient flight schedules, which save them hours of time on the average itinerary. We are pleased to respond in kind, with the introduction of the A380 service to Sydney, offering 517 seats per flight. Qatar Airways brings travellers from Australia to more destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa than any other airline serving Australia today. Australia is one of the main hubs of the business world in Asia Pacific, with many passengers flying worldwide for business and leisure. What better way to serve travellers from this key destination than to introduce our iconic A380 to the country, starting with the nations biggest hub, Sydney. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan visited Made in Armenia-2016 Expo which is being held in Meridian expo center from September 19 to 22 in Yerevan, press service of the Presidential administration informed Armenpress. The Expo aims to present the Armenian industrys exiting potential, the development opportunities and contribute to revealing new markets. More than 300 companies from Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are taking part in the exhibition of the Armenian goods and services. The companies represent a number of sectors. Business delegations from countries that represent prospective markets for Armenias economy are participating in the Expo. President Sargsyan toured the pavilions and got acquainted with the companies goods and services, talked with the company representatives about their issues and development projects. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. President of Syria Bashar al-Assad on Monday received Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari and the accompanying delegation, Armenpress reports, citing SANA. Talks during the meeting touched on the strategic and distinguished relations between the two countries, as well as developments in Syria and their regional and international ramifications. President al-Assad pointed out that the sides that are hostile to Syria are depleting all their energies and resources to maintain the terrorist war on Syria, noting that whenever the Syrian state achieves tangible progress either on the ground or in national reconciliations, the state that are hostile to Syria increase their support for terrorist organizations, and the most recent example of this is the flagrant US aggression on a Syrian Arab Army position in Deir Ezzor for the benefit of ISIS. President al-Assad underlined the importance of the support provided by Iran, Russia, and other friendly countries in bolstering the steadfastness of the Syrian people in the face of the terrorist war that targets them. For his part, Jaberi Ansari affirmed that Iran is determined to continue providing all possible support to Syria in its war on terrorism, noting that Syrian-Iranian relations arent just based on mutual interests, as they are also based on a mutual vision and a wise political understanding of the threats to the regions people, chief among those threats being terrorism and extremism. Prime Minister of Syria Imad Khamis also met Jaberi Ansari, discussing with him means to revitalize economic relations, with the Premier affirming that the Syrian government took upon itself to improve the economic situation and push forward with production, which would encourage trade exchange between Syria and its friends, particularly Iran, adding that the terrorist war on Syria targeted Syrias human and economic resources. The Iranian official affirmed that economic relations between Syria and Iran will continue to be developed to match their political relations. The Filipino president has called for a six-month extension to his "war on drugs" which, so far, has resulted in more than 3,000 deaths. Despite his wish, he cannot kill them all, he said. Analyst told AsiaNews that his first steps after coming to power closely resemble those of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, acting as loving father of the nation whilst seeking military backing. For Card Tagle, We are here for you. Let us not waste life." Manila (AsiaNews) The rhetoric of "loving father of the nation", the iron fist against alleged drug traffickers and military backing are the three elements that Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte is using to establish a dictatorship in the country, said a local analyst, anonymous for security reasons. Speaking to AsiaNews, the latter said that the presidents "first steps after coming to power closely resemble those of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It's impressive." The escalation of violence in the country seems to have unstoppable effects. "In his election campaign, he had promised 100,000 dead traffickers, the analyst said. Back then, It sounded like he was shooting his mouth off, like a politician used to present himself as a hands-on man. However, as things are going, he might actually get to kill 100,000 people without trial and without serious parliamentary opposition. Civil society must wake up." Since Duterte was elected last May, about 3,000 alleged drug pushers have been killed across the country. Officially though, a thousand people died. Police claim that the slaughter "occurred during gun battles" with criminals. However, private vigilantes have also been involved. Their incentive is an unofficial rewards paid by local authorities. Some 2,000 people are said to have died this way. Their modus operandi is like that of the death squads under Ferdinand Marcos, similar to what Duterte did in Davao City where he was mayor for 20 years. Last night, Duterte asked for a six-month extension for his war on drugs, saying there are too many people involved in the narcotics trade and that he cannot kill them all in what is tantamount to extrajudicial killings. I did not realise how severe and how serious the drug menace was in this republic until I became president, he noted. He is applying the same method used "by Marcos, the analysist said. Duterte talks like a good family man, hardnosed but fair. On more than one occasion, he addressed mild criticism by saying: What would you do if a drug dealer came into your home to poison your children? You tell him to stop, but if he does not listen you shoot. And I want to be a father for the Philippines. Behind these statements there is a profound contempt for the democratic system." However, the rhetoric is not enough "and Duterte knows it. That's why in recent weeks, amid broad silence, he began visiting military barracks across the country. Like in Lebanon and Turkey, even in the Philippines, the military are the guarantors of democracy. If he can bring them on his side, as Marcos did, the situation will be really worrying." The Catholic Church has repeatedly criticised the governments "war on drugs", calling on law enforcement to "recapture the spirit of justice." In order to limit the damage, the archbishop of Manila has urged parishes in the capital to provide care and treatment programmes. We are here for you. Let us not waste life. It [life] is important and it has to be protected and nurtured, Card Tagle said. From a practical point of view, the archdioceses community-based rehabilitation programme is designed to help anyone in need of support via spiritual guidance, skills training, and livelihood. People are hoping for a ceasefire extension, but there is a widespread scepticism. For Mgr Georges Abou Khazen, the US attack on Saturday "threatens the fragile truce." During the current hiatus of peace, the Christian community has filled the churches for two celebrations dedicated to Mother Teresa. Meanwhile, the missionaries continue their work in Aleppo. Aleppo (AsiaNews) The Syrian population still hopes that "the ceasefire can continue", although there is not "great confidence", in particular "after the American attack against the Syrian army in Deir el-Zor, said Mgr Georges Abou Khazen, vicar apostolic of Aleppo of the Latins. Speaking to AsiaNews the; the prelate is certain that the US air attack last Saturday that struck Syrian soldiers involved in the offensive against the Islamic State (IS) "is not an error," but part "of a predetermined goal." The US is present in the Deir el-Zor "with military bases and forces on the ground". Analysing "the facts," Mgr Abou Khazen noted, shows that the US attack "seemed air cover for jihadists". In fact, Daesh (Arabic acronym for the Islamic State) "fought back" exploiting the US bombing "as if there was an agreement, an understanding" between Washington and jihadists. The US administration said the operation was an error that caused "an unintended loss of life". In the aftermath of the attack Washington and Moscow exchanged accusations on the sidelines of the UN Security Council in New York. A spokesman for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also does not believe the accident version and his Russian ally raised serious doubts. What is certain is that air strike weakened Syrian forces besieging an Islamic State stronghold - along with Raqqa. Some analysts and experts believe Washington's goal is to keep a Jihadi presence in Syria, to facilitate the imminent offensive against the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq, by holding back the Syrian-Russian-Iranian axis as well as the recent military gains by the regular Syrian army. The possibility of extending the ceasefire in force since 12 September, which is due to end at 7 pm local time, seems increasingly remote. The ceasefire, which started with the Islamic festival of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha), is the latest in a series of diplomatic efforts by Washington and Moscow. The goal is to end a five-year conflict that has caused an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe: more than 300,000 deaths according to recent estimates, (430,000 according to other sources) and millions of refugees more than 4.8 million forced abroad and 6.5 million displaced at home. Aleppo remains the main hub of tension. In northern Syrias metropolis, some 250,000 people are still holed up in the eastern sector. People have experienced this weeks truce "with hope" and were more "relaxed", the vicar of Aleppo noted. Still, scepticism remains widespread about any real intention to silence guns. "In the last few days, there was only sporadic fighting overnight, he said, and the ceasefire generally held and we hope it will continue. The fear is that this time, as in the past, the truce could be followed by an even more intense conflict." Still, Catholics took advantage of the relative calm to participate in two solemn celebrations of thanksgiving for the canonisation of Mother Teresa. "We celebrated a Mass yesterday, the vicar said. St Francis Parish Church was packed. The same thing happened last week, at the first Mass in the cathedral." At the end of the service, the Catholic community "offered a lunch for the poor." In Aleppo there are five Missionaries of Charity who run a nursing home with 52 residents, said Mgr Abou Khazen, "all Christians, but the sisters also take care of other, non-resident seniors, Christians and Muslims, without making distinctions based on religion." Aleppo is a city that is "suffering" in both the western, government-held sector as well as in the eastern rebel-held sector. However, the local church wants to continue to be a sign of hope. "For this reason, later this month we are planning a great meeting on the family, a day of celebration and reflection, the prelate said, in order to understand what it means to be family in a time of war and suffering." by Mathias Hariyadi The Dutch priest (1863-1926) proclaimed first Christianity on the island, where he aligned the Catholic faith with indigenous religions. A great educator, he set up a number of schools from which some prominent Indonesians graduated, like Mgr Soegijapranata SJ, the countrys first native bishop. He is also remembered for baptising 171 indigenous people on 14 December 1904. Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The Indonesian Ministry of Education has decided to recognise officially the great contribution to the nation of Dutch missionary Fr Franciscus Georgius Josephus van Lith SJ (1863 - 1926), a great educator and the first to proclaim the Gospel to the natives of Java. Fr Gregorius Budi Subanar, a professor at the Jesuit University of Yogyakarta, was called to Jakarta to receive the award. Fr van Lith is known for his missionary and educational work in Central Java province. The main feature of this was aligning Catholic teachings to the traditional religiosity of the Javanese people, called Kejawen. His was the idea of entrusting the spread of the faith and the work of evangelisation in the hands of "indigenous natives". In order to improve the study and proclamation of the Gospel, the Jesuit set up the first Catholic school in Muntilan (Central Java), where young people from every religious, cultural and ethnic background could receive an education. This type of proposal was new in the Dutch East Indies as Indonesia was known during the colonial era. The facility was an immediate success and trained many prominent Indonesians in the 20th century, including Mgr Albertus Soegijapranata SJ, Indonesias first native bishop; IJ Kasimo, founder of the Catholic Party and member of the government under Sukarno, the first president and founding father of the modern state. Fr van Liths work did not stop at the Institute in Muntilan. In the small village of Semampir, the Jesuit built a school and a church. Afterwards he expanded the institute by setting up a Normaal School in 1890, a Kweek School (to train teachers) in 1904, and an institute for school principals in 1906. The teacher school immediately received 107 applicants, 32 of whom were non-Catholics. The figure of the Jesuit missionary is also linked to an event that is still remembered by the local Church. On 14 December 1904, the priest baptised 171 natives in Java Sendang Sono (Kulong Progo regency). Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Subanar SJ stressed the importance of the figure of Fr van Lith for the Indonesian Church. "Thanks to the work of this Dutch missionary dozens of prominent national figures emerged, including Commodore Josaphat Sudarso (who later died fighting the Dutch for independence) and many others not yet publicly recognised." Thanks to the works established by the clergyman in Muntilan, "a great bond between Catholicism and nationalism developed across the country", Fr Subanar said, which helped spread the faith in the whole nation. John Paul II quoted Fr van Lith during his visit to Indonesia on 10 October 1989. When one thinks about the beginning of Christianity in Java, One thinks of Father van Lith, the pontiff said. Census data indicate that 34.6 million Japanese are over 65, an absolute record since statistical records have been kept. Some 10.45 million people or 8 per cent is over 80. Today the country marks Respect for the Aged Day, but the Church warns that without new births the country could collapse. Tokyo (AsiaNews) The number of people in Japan 65 years old or older rose to a record 34.61 million, accounting for 27.3 per cent of the nations population. This represent 730,000 more senior citizens (0.6 per cent) over the previous year. The figures were released today, which is Respect for the Aged Day. Women in this age group numbered 19.62 million, making up 30.1 per cent of the total female population, compared to 14.99 million men 65 or older, who represent 24.3 per cent of the male population. Men and women aged 70 or older totaled 24.37 million and accounted for 19.2 per cent of the population, while those 75 or older numbered 16.97 million, or 13.4 per cent of the population. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research forecasts the proportion of senior citizens in the total population will exceed 30 per cent in 2024. As the number of seniors rises, the birthrate is unable to compensate for the graying of the population. The current birthrate stands at 1.43 children per woman, low but better than Hong Kong (1.12), Singapore and South Korea (1.19). This does not however guarantee generational replacement, which is necessary to maintain the welfare and pension system. In fact, the aging population is the countrys most urgent problem, and could lead to the collapse of the pension and welfare system. This, according to Mgr Kikuchi Bishop of Niigata in a commentary published by AsiaNews, brings another negative aspect. "An aging society with fewer children and drastic shift of youth population to major cities such as Tokyo means the collapse of the present local communities." The Japanese Catholic Church has tried for some time to raise awareness among ordinary Japanese about the issue. The Bishops' Conference declared 2010 the "Year for Life" and launched a number of health and social initiatives in favour of more pregnancies. The results, however, are still not satisfactory since many couples choose their career and wait beyond the maximum time to have a child. In addition, a very high youth suicide rate and policies favouring consumerism do not bode well for the future. One of the two officers was seriously injured. Author of the assault a Palestinian of about 20, hospitalized in critical condition. After three weeks of relative calm, there have been six attacks in four days. September 21 face-to-face meeting between Netanyahu and Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A Palestinian assailant wounded two Israeli policemen, one of them seriously, before being "neutralized" by the intervention of the security forces, which shot him several times. The attack took place this morning in East Jerusalem, near the Old City. Medical sources speak of a 20 year-old policewoman who suffered very serious injuries; the situation her 45 year-old colleague is better, who suffered only minor damage in the assault. A police spokesman adds that the assailant is about 20 years of age and is a native of East Jerusalem. At present he is hospitalized in critical condition. This mornings knife attack is the sixth in just four days, after about three weeks of relative respite, during which there were no assaults or violence. The assault took place in the vicinity of Herod's door, the entrance to the Old City, not far from the Damascus Gate where last September 16 a Jordanian citizen was killed by police after he tried to stab an officer. Since last October, after ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged in provocative behaviour on the Temple Mount, incidents and clashes have multiplied in Israel and the Palestinian territories in what has come to be dubbed the knife intifada. Since it began, 207 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, two Americans and one Sudanese and one Eritrean have been killed. Most Palestinians were killed trying to stab or fire on passing cars or soldiers. The others were killed during demonstrations or clashes with the military. Faced with this escalation of violence that culminated in the attack in Tel Aviv on June 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to step up the demolition of the homes of Palestinian assailants. A measure which, according to critics, is a "collective punishment" which ends up exacerbating the tension. Meanwhile a bilateral meeting between Israeli Prime Minister s Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama has been confirmed for the sidelines of the UN General Assembly scheduled this week in New York. As reported by White House sources, the meeting is scheduled for September 21 next; the focus of the talks the peace negotiation for two states - long stalled - to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while on the ground, "the situation is increasingly worrying". by Christopher Sharma The new Prime Minister Prachanda has invited everyone to celebrate the event. The parties of the madhese minority have instead launched a "Black Day", a counter-celebration in which they are ready to burn the fundamental text. The Nepalese prime minister in India to mend relations after the embargo. Foreign Minister: "We will no longer be influenced by Indian pressure." Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - The Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, called on all people to celebrate the first anniversary of the promulgation of the democratic and secular Constitution, which falls today. The basic charter was passed after years of consultations, but left the demands of madhese minority unsatisfied. So today the parties representing the minority group have launched a counter-celebration called "Black Day", during which they are ready to set fire to the constitutional text, considered discriminatory and detrimental to their rights. Prime Minister Prachanda was re-elected in August to lead the country, and soon after the assignment has reassured minorities by saying that he would find a solution to their demands as soon as possible. Yesterday he came back from the first state visit to India, in an effort to mend relations with Delhi following the approval of the Constitution and the subsequent embargo on goods exported from the Indian partner. Baldev, political advisor to the Prime Minister, said: "The prime minister asks everyone to celebrate the new constitution, which made federalism, secularism and the figure of the President official, replacing a unitary system of government, Hindu state and monarchy. We will soon see the amendments needed to allow the claims of dissatisfied groups". On the other hand the Madhesi continue to complain that the current territorial division into seven provinces deprives them of an autonomous region in the southern areas of the Terai. Mahantha Thakur, president of Terai Madhes Democratic Party, attacks: "This Constitution removes our rights. We are segregated from the political point of view in a region of which we are the majority. " The question of respect for minority rights has been at the center of the dispute with India during the months of the embargo, implemented in an official capacity to support the demands of the under-represented Nepalese people. After the State visit of Prachanda, Foreign Minister Prakash S. Mahat, leader of Nepali Congress, has launched a message to the authorities in Delhi. "In the past - he said - Nepal has been overly influenced by Indian politics and India has attempted to impose choices facilitating government changes. But now India has realized that Nepal has its own importance in the international arena. Our decisions will no longer be influenced. We will solve the issue of Madhesi according to our needs, even if they appear to have been encouraged by the Indian messages that seek to amend the Constitution. " At Mass this morning Francis recalls Christs council: "Be children of light and not of darkness; guard the light that was given as a gift on the day of Baptism ". In all of us there is "a piece of mafia", that takes advantage of the trust of others to plot evil." Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Safeguard the light of faith, and let it shine before men, avoiding those behaviors that are likely to hide it, from jealousy and arguments, plotting against our neighbor - "the little bit of Mafia that we all have" that puts off to tomorrow the good we can do today, said Pope Francis at Mass this morning in Casa Santa Marta, taking a cue from todays Gospel. "Cherishing the light - he said - means guarding something that we have been given as a gift and if we exude light, we do so because we received the gift of light on the day of our Baptism". The Pope recalled that "in the early centuries of the Church", and still "in some Eastern Churches" today "Baptism is referred to as Illumination. This light, he warned, "should not be hidden." "If you hide this light," in fact, "you become lukewarm or simply" a "Christian in name only". The light of faith "is a true light, which Jesus gives us in baptism", "it is not an artificial light, a souped-up light. It is a gentle, serene light that never goes out". But there is a whole range of behaviors that are likely to hide this light and encourage the approach of darkness, first "never hesitate to help those in need". "Never off to tomorrow the good we can do today ... doing good cannot be put on hold: You must do good today, and if you do not do it today, tomorrow is too late. Do not put off to tomorrow what the good you can do today: this putting off to tomorrow hides light. It is also an injustice ... Another way these are tips, to avoid hiding the light: do not plan evil against your neighbor. How often people exploit the trust of others to plot evil, to destroy, to dirty others reputation, to render them unless ... This is the little bit of Mafia that we all have within; taking advantage of the trust of others to plot evil, this is mafia! 'But, I do not belong ...': but this is the mafia, exploiting the trust of others ... It hides the light, it blots it out. It makes you dark. Every Mafioso is dark! ". The Pope emphasized the temptation of always fighting with someone, the pleasure of arguing with those who do "nothing wrong." "We always look for something to argue about. But in the end we grow tired, of arguing: you can not live like this. It 'better to let go, forgive "," to pretend not to see things ... not to quarrel constantly". "Another piece of advice that the Father gives to the children not to cover the light: 'Do not envy the man of violence and do not fret because all his success, because the Lord holds the perverse in horror, while his friendship - the Lord - is for the righteous'. And often we feel jealousy, envy towards those who have things, or who are violent ... but let's look at the history of the violent, the powerful ... Well, it's simple: the same worms will eat we eat them; the same! In the end we will all be equal. Envy, ah! power, feeling jealousy ... this covers the light. " Christs council: "Be children of light and not of darkness; guard the light that was given as a gift on the day of Baptism ". "Do not hide it under the bed," but "keep the light shining". And to safeguard the light, he reiterated, there are these tips to put into practice every day. "There are strange things we see these things that cover the light every day". "May the Holy Spirit, that we all have received in Baptism, help us not to fall into these bad habits that cover the light, and help us to carry on the light received for free, the light of God that does so much good: The light friendship, the light of meekness, the light of faith, the light of hope, the light of patience, the light of goodness". Brussels (AsiaNews) - The European Parliament has named the well-known intellectual and Uighur activist Ilham Tohti among finalists for the Sakharov Prize. The Professor, who had taught for years in a university in Beijing, was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2014 on charges of "terrorism" and "inciting separatism". In reality he was targeted by authorities for his writings, critical of the central government and "erroneous communist policies" in the western province of Xinjiang. Tohti, 47, is famous for his public interventions in favor of the Uighur. This ethnic group lives in the northern autonomous region of Xinjiang, is ethnically Turkish and Muslim, and suffering a strong linguistic, economic, cultural and religious repression at the hand s of the Chinese central government. However there is no evidence that Tohti supports the separatist movement and since the day of his arrest he continues to proclaim himself innocent. "He believes he has always tried to work in the interest of the nation with words and with deeds - says his lawyer - and the organic integration of the majority Han and the Uighur" minority. The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is an award dedicated to the scientist and Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, set up by the European Parliament in 1988 to reward personalities or organizations who have dedicated their lives to defending human rights and individual freedoms. It is awarded every year around December 10, in memory of the day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. Recent winners included Raif Badawi (2015), a blogger who opposes repression in Saudi Arabia; Malala Yousafzai (2013), a young Pakistani activist who is fighting for the right to education in her country; Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar Panahi (2012), opposed to the regime of the ayatollahs in Iran; the association Memorial (2009) active in Russia; Hu Jia (2008), the historical face of dissidents in China and point of contact among activists for human rights and the international community. Hu Jia commented on to this nomination Radio Free Asia: "As a Chinese citizen, and Sakharov award winner, I believe that if there is one person in all of China who really deserves the award that's Ilham Tohti. He is a thorn in the side of the Communist Party: He is the consciousness of the Uighurs and for this has received the harshest punishment. The people he represents are persecuted, and this has sparked a welter of hostility and confrontation. But the key to loosen this pressure is Ilhams release". However, the same activist fears this nomination could lead to increased pressures on the detainee: " In 2008, I was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on charges of "inciting subversion of state power," because I engaged in activities to promote human rights and liberty before the Olympic Games. The European Parliament awarded me the Sakharov Prize, and I was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. When I was in prison, the head of the Beijing municipal political police led a group of public security and foreign ministry officials to pay a visit to me in prison they were putting me under intense pressure, trying to force me to make a public announcement that I rejected both the Sakharov Prize and the nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. In exchange, these officials said that they would reduce my sentence by 2.5 years, and also pay me double the cash award of the Sakharov Prize, as economic "compensation." These secret political police, and the jailers in their charge, lobbied me with this proposal on up to seven occasions. I flatly rejected all of these despicable, filthy political dealings. Thus, I am deeply aware of how moral support, and awards from the international community, place the Communist Party's security organs and foreign affairs officials under enormous pressure". Hu concluded, that the jailed professor "opposes all forms of violence and bloodshed. If he's awarded the Sakharov Prize, then his ideas, what he advocates, what he has attempted to realize, his wish that we're all able to live with dignity as part of a big family, will be recognized by the entire world. The Xinjiang question will be looked at squarely by the world, as well as the question of the Uighurs." Donald Trump Is Already Gloating Over The NY/NJ Attacks Trending News: How Will This Weekends Terror Attacks Affect The Election? Why Is This Important? Because with less than two months to go before Election Day, everything matters. Long Story Short This weekends terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota may affector nothow people decide to vote in November. Long Story Of course this past weekends terror attacks are going to come into play during the election campaign. How could they not be? So its worth taking a look to see how both candidates responded in the hours following the attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota to give us a clue about how heated the rhetoric will become as the cycle rolls out over the course of the week. As CNN points out, the two candidates reactions to the news were, as usual, a study in contrasts. In a press conference aboard her campaign airplane, Clinton said it was important to know all the facts and to support first responders in their investigation before claiming they were terror attacks (though she later described them as such). "Like all Americans, my thoughts are with those who were wounded, their families, & our first responders Hillary on this weekends attacks Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 19, 2016 At a campaign stop Saturday night in Colorado, meanwhile, Trump was quick to label it terrorism, before any investigator even called it that. I would like to express my warmest regards, best wishes and condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing in NYC. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2016 Not that that matters to Trump or the people who think hell be tougher on terror than his opponent. The attacks are red meat for the Republican nominee, and hes wasted no time pointing out that the main suspect behind them is a naturalized US citizen of Afghan descent. Appearing on Fox and Friends Monday morning, Trump said this of radical Islamic terrorists, in his own idiosyncratic English, according to a transcript: Theyre here. And Ive been saying. This is going to be like the Trojan horse. Were letting tens of thousands of people flow into this country and they are bringing in, in many cases, this is cancer from within. They are plotting. They keep plotting, and this has been going on for so long and everybody knows it and the good law enforcement, we have such great people, thats the best thing we have going is that we have great law enforcement, they know about it. But according to recent polls, the electorate cant decide who would be better at fighting terror. A recent Quinnipiac University poll said 49 percent of Americans believe Hillary Clinton would do a better job at fighting terror, while 47 percent thought Trump would. The same poll also showed that 17 percent of Americans believed terrorism was the most important issue facing the country, second only to the economy. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Will the bombings change anyones mind about who to vote for? Disrupt Your Feed Youd think that this would automatically benefit Trump, but his loose cannon approach to international affairs might turn people off. Drop This Fact The first presidential debate will take place in exactly one week, on Monday, September 26. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein will not be invited. Australias growing macadamia industry Australias 2016 macadamia crop is on track to reach 46, 750 tonnes in-shell says the Australian Macadamia Society (AMS). According to the AMS, Australias macadamia production has steadily increased over the last three years, positioning Australia as the worlds largest supplier of macadamia kernels. AMS Chief Executive Officer, Jolyn Burnett, says the global demand for macadamias is strong. The Australian macadamia industry has a good geographical spread across a number of key growing regions, making it a steady, reliable source of high quality kernel and in-shell to world markets, said Burnett. Our industry continues to show strong support for the kernel markets worldwide. At the same time, we strive to achieve a good balance between supplying these markets and meeting demand for in-shell, he stated. Burnett said the Bundaberg region in Queensland is expected to become Australias largest macadamia growing region by the end of 2016, responsible for more than 40 per cent of the nations crops. Production in the Bundaberg region has increased by 10-20 per cent this year, a direct result of new plantings coming into production and good growing conditions. Its in this region and its surrounds that we are seeing the most number of new investments and plantings, Burnett said. Interestingly, the AMS have released its positive forecast at the same time Domain is advertising a macadamia farm for sale in Gympie, Queensland, described by its selling agent as one of his agencys most popular properties in a long time. The AMS is also not resting on its laurels, recently conducting boot camp, inviting macadamia marketing delegates from overseas and within Australia to meet macadamia farmers to learn more about the product they are selling. Department of Defence opens tender for ration supply The Australian Department of Defence is now accepting tenders for the supply, warehousing and distribution of combat ration packs and ancillaries. Those interested in submitting a tender are invited to an industry briefing at the Victoria Barracks Melbourne in Southbank on 3 November 2016 at 1pm. Only four people from each business or organisation looking to submit a tender can attend the briefing. Nominations to attend the briefing must be forwarded in writing to the Contact Officer by 12 noon 27 October 2016. Tender applications must be submitted online through the AusTender website. Applications close 1 February 2017. by Michael MataThe Victorian governments long-running efforts to enrich its coffers with the sale of a 50-year lease to operate the Port of Melbourne is coming to a close. The two remaining contenders lodged final bids on September 16 for one of the biggest privatisations in Australia this year.The offers to buy the 50-year lease to operate the Port of Melbourne were submitted by 10 am Sydney time. The winner will be swiftly decided and Tim Pallas, the state treasurer, will announce the winning bid early this week (Tuesday at the latest). The two binding bids are likely to be worth $6.5 billion to $7 billion each.The Victorian government is planning to use the funds earned from the sale of the lease to bankroll its commitment to removing the 50 worst train level crossings in Melbourne. Ten percent of the total proceeds will also be spent on much needed infrastructure in rural and regional areas.As with many recent large-scale attempts to acquire land and infrastructure in Australia, Chinese investors were prominent contenders. While Chinese participation in the Port of Melbourne race avoided censure from the capital, the lack of a domestic partner was widely viewed as a key reason for the elimination of Chinese investors early in the race.With the Chinese investors eliminated, Australias biggest infrastructure investors, QIC Limited and IFM Investors, along with their respective bid partners, are scheduled to go head-to-head in their attempt to secure Australias busiest port for containerised and general cargo.Sources predict the winning bid will likely hinge on the proposed business plan for the port and the willingness of the bidding contender to comply with all the conditions set down by the Victorian government.Opinions are divided on the Port of Melbournes final valuation, with some sources claiming that the clear regulatory regime and the potential revenue growth from the port likely to elevate its valuation to $8 billion or higher.Credit Suisse, Gresham, and Herbert Smith Freehills are advising the QIC-led consortium, while Macquarie Capital and Ashurst LLP are working for the IFM group.Flagstaff Partners and Morgan Stanley, along with MinterEllison , are conducting the auction for the Victorian government. A former law clerk at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has been sentenced to almost four years in jail for stealing sensitive client information in an insider trading scheme. Steven Metro, formerly managing law clerk at the BigLaw firm in New York, has been given a 46-month jail term by U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton, New Jersey. Metro, 42, pleaded guilty last November to stealing information about transactions including mergers and acquisitions among clients of the law firm. Metro admitted that the insider trading scheme ran from 2009 to 2013. When he had new information from scouring his law firms computer network, he would meet Frank Tamayo at bars and coffee shops in midtown Manhattan. Tamayo, a friend of Metros from law school, would then pass on the information to Vladimir Eydelman under the main clock at Grand Central Station. Tamayo, who was then working as a mortgage broker, would show Eydelman, who was a Morgan Stanley stockbroker at the time, ticker symbols of the firms tipped by Metro. When Eydelman finished memorising the information, Tamayo, 42, would chew the napkins or post it notes that contain the ticker symbols. The 5-year insider trading scheme made $5.6m in profit, prosecutors said, but most went to Eydelman. Prosecutors said Metro pocketed only $168,000 from the scheme. Federal guidelines recommend a sentence of 57 to 71 months in prison for Metros charges. Tamayo and Eydelman are due to be sentenced by judge Shipp on 21 and 22 September, respectively. Both have also pleaded guilty. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Morgan Stanley have not been accused of any crime related to the scheme. Financially disadvantaged law students from the University of Queensland will get additional help after a $2 million donation from the University of Queensland Endowment Fund (UQef).The donation creates the Leadership, Excellence and Diversity (LEAD) Scholarship which will help up to 15 students from UQs TC Beirne School of Law from 2017.Scholars, who have to secure a place on the law program through the normal Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre process, will get $7,000 each every year for up to five years.It will be aimed at students from non-selective Australian state schools, rural and remote areas, low income, Indigenous or refugee families or those who are the first in their family to attend university, said UQef fund chair David Goffage.The UQef is a private fund established in 2008 after Wotif.com founders and UQ alumni Graeme Wood and Andrew Brice committed about $18 million to its launch.School head and Dean of Law Professor Sarah Derrington said that the program which assists underprivileged students undertaking a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree alleviates to some extent the imperative to work to survive.One of the major hurdles for financially disadvantaged students is the cost of living while undertaking a full-time degree, she said.Apart from the cash grant, recipients will also benefit from priority access to internship opportunities, access to academic and tutorial assistance through UQ residential colleges and professional networking opportunities, Derrington said.The dean also noted that UQ is hard at work to position TC Beirne School of Law as Autralias leading law school.We will not achieve this without ensuring our student population includes those from educationally disadvantaged and culturally diverse backgrounds, she said.She hopes that the initiative of the UQef will spur other organisations and private citizens to maintain the scholarship. It might come down to what you can afford, and what part of Australia you are in. I rented an apartment overlooking the water at the Gold Coast for a while at $330 per week. But now in another area the 4 bed detached house next door is renting at $300 pw. But that figure in some other areas may only get you a tiny room. Hi all,I submitted all my clearance checks from FBI (Nov.2014 issued), AFP (Sep.2014 issued), Korea FP (Aug.2015 issued) and my first lodgement date is 18. Oct. 2015.I assume that I will be asked to re-upload new clearance checks and not a problem to re-attain KFP and AFP since I also have to do it for working at Bank...The thing is, FBI checks takes freaking forever and I wonder the chance to be asked to update itI re-applied FBI checks at the end of august and FBI recieved my packet two weeks ago. I am pretty sure that my last FBI check is covering whole my staying time in USA (2008 ~ 2010) along with my travel documents showing the in-bound and out-bound date but technically that document's validity is already over, innit?Grrrh..I just hope that CO doesn't care of my submitted FBI's a year valid time that much X(Thanks all in advance. I really wish I could use channelers like other USA citizens and PR do. At first, the newly elected Labor government planned to reinstate the speed limit on the highways in the Northern Territory, a move it pledged to do during its campaig n. The restrictions were lifted by their predecessors and competitors , the Country Liberal government.However, automaker representatives and motorists complained about the change. Among the most vocal of the disappointed people was the representative of Porsche in Australia . It appears that the Labor government was listening to the complaints and decided to act.Michael Gunner, chief minister of the newly-elected government, has stated that the Northern Territorys Department of Transport was instructed to develop a permit and exemption system that will allow high-speed vehicle testing on its highways. Mr. Gunner reaffirmed the governments support for the vehicle testing industry, which plays a significant role in Central Australia.Thanks to automakers that come to Australia for its unique testing environment, as well as proximity to amenities in Alice Springs and availability of sealed roads, the economy of Central Australia has to benefit. This opportunity must not be booted, as the new government has observed.As we previously wrote, Australias Northern Territory has one of the few public roads in the world that do not have an official speed limit, as Car Advice notes.Just last year, Bentley took the Continental GT Speed on the Stuart Highway , where it drove it to 206 mph, or 331 km/h. That was done without any special permits and exemptions, although Bentley probably informed authorities about its upcoming Vmax run.Curiously, authorities will allow regular drivers to drive faster than in the rest of Australia, as the countrys highways have a speed limit set at 110 km/h, while the motorway in the Northern Territory will allow a maximum of 130 km/h for the average Joe.Those that used to drive faster will have to adapt, or else they will face fines, just like everyone else in the world. For the moment, it is unclear whether all the highway s and roads in the Northern Territory will get the new speed restriction, but it feels like that is what is going to happen. The fact that, together with his two former colleagues, James May and Richard Hammond, as well as executive producer Andy Wilman , Clarkson is getting ready to launch a new car show on Amazon Prime called "The Grand Tour, " is only going to add fuel to the fire.He went from being the old successful host of a show the BBC network is struggling to put back on track, to the new host of a possibly successful show on a competing network. All the fans that continued to watch the old Top Gear just because they had no other alternative will now snub Matt LeBlanc and whoever they decide to bring as the new host and glue their eyes to The Grand Tour instead.Judging by what we've seen so far, it looks like the new show will be the true successor of the Top Gear we've gotten used to over the last few years. The new Top Gear tried to bring as few adjustments to the recipe as possible, fearing it would otherwise alienate fans, but what it didn't take into consideration was that the main ingredient was missing: the three blokes and their three very different personalities.The Grand Tour will also employ the tried and tested methods of having the show's cast travel around the world and do stupid things . But unlike the new Top Gear, The Grand Tour will still have Clarkson, Hammond, and May. What it will also have is Hollywood A-Listers invited as guests, something the latest Top Gear Series struggled with.You will probably remember that the first new episode of TG was supposed to feature Brad Pitt as the main guest, but the American actor pulled out at the last minute. He was substituted by Jesse Eisenberg who, despite being a very nice and funny guy, he's just not at the same level of stardom as Brad Pitt. The fact that half of you had to Google his name just now is clear proof of that.According to The Mirror , Matt Damon and Charlize Theron have already confirmed they will feature in Clarkson's new show, with promises of seeing more stars of the same caliber throughout the first season of the series. The Grand Tour probably didn't really need big Hollywood names to reach much larger audiences than the new Top Gear , but it can't hurt either. ECU The beauty of this velocity fight, which sees the Zuffenhausen track tool duking it out with a V12-powered grand tourer for over one decade ago, sits in the sheer absurdity of the battle.The Rennsport Neunelfer is your "typical" Lava Orange machine, coming in 100 percent stock condition. As for the Benz, this may not have any Affalterbach assets to help in the fight against the Porscha, but the 6.0-liter engine under its long hood does come with anremap.As an interesting coincidence, the V12, in stock form, delivers the same 500 hp output as the 4.0-liter naturally-aspirated flat-six of the GT3 RS. In the torque department, though, the 339 lb-ft (460 Nm) of the rear-engined coupe are blown away by the twin-turbo might of the SL (read: 590 lb-ft/800 Nm).But let's not forget about the gearbox battle, where the seamless shifts of the 911's PDK are at the opposite end of the blitz scale when compared to the slushbox of the Mercedes.The two slabs of Germany recently met on an airfield, with the result being visible in the piece of footage at the bottom of the page. According to the uploader of the clip, the guy behind the wheel of the Porsche gave the SL a bit of a head start on purpose.Nevertheless, we wouldn't jump to conclusions - for instance, a glance at the screenshots to your right might convince one the outcome of the race is predictable. But we weren't kidding when we mention the grand tourer packing a surprise... TDI HP Until Samsung revealed its top-of-the-line smartphone, S7 was mostly known as the name of a Saleen car. Petrolheads still think of a Saleen when they hear a reference to S7, so you can imagine the goosebumps we felt when we heard something about some note and an S7 catching fire or exploding. We were about to write that no cars were burned because of the phone, but that had already happened, sadly.Coming back to the S7 we know best, the Saleen S7 , it appears that the company will build a continuation series. The news came from Steve Saleen during the 20th Annual Saleen Show and Open House. Only seven vehicles will be constructed, and all of them will be S7 LM cars.The LM series of the Saleen S7 celebrates the class win achieved in 2010 at Le Mans . Six years ago, a team named Larbre Competition from France entered a Saleen ST-7 in the LMGT-1 class.The #50 automobile came first in its class and on the 13th overall spot. It was driven by Gabriele Gardel, Julien Canal, and Roland Berville, and riding on Michelin tires. It performed 331 laps, which is 66 less than the winning LMP1 car, an Audi R15plus.According to SOEC , the Saleen Owners and Enthusiasts Club , the new car will provide about 1,000, and it will also come with advanced electronics and smart suspension system. The body will have exposed carbon fiber on view, and will reportedly cost $1 Million.From what we can observe in the photos posted by the SOEC forum, the engine will be a V8, while a tub of one of the first units is expecting its first customer. Six other cars will be made after it, so get them while they are hot and available. Antich The Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) has honored three fleet industry professionals with its 2016 President's award, including Automotive Fleet's editor Mike Antich, the association announced. In addition to Antich, the association is honoring ADP's executive vice president Michael Bieger and Elizabeth Schlicht, a member of the AFLA staff who serves as the membership and marketing manager. The awards will be shown at the AFLA Conference in San Diego on Sept. 19. The association is honoring Antich for his "vision and work to develop AFLA's globalization initiative," according to a release. Antich is a former AFLA president. Bieger "has worked tirelessly to reinvent the AFLA conference and make the educational content cutting edge and relevant to everyone within the fleet industry," according to the association. Schlicht is being acknowledged for bringing leadership and stability for the committees that she serves. Multiple committee chairs recommended recognition for her service to the organization. "This years award winners are passionate about AFLAs growth and they exemplify AFLAs spirit and leadership," said Brian Barber, AFLA's president. "I cant thank them enough for their contributions to this organization and the fleet industry." Volkswagen still faces the aftermath of the diesel emission cheating scandal. There are still 1.1 million cars left unfixed and they might need to attend to this issue as soon as possible. The controversial move by the automaker has been on the headlines since its discovery. They are trying to talk their way to reduce the damages, but still this one might cause them a big blow. Mail Online reported that one out of 10 vehicles, which was installed with the cheating system, was repaired, and that was only in the United Kingdom. To be exact, only 110,000 units were freed of the deceitful system. However, Labour MP and chairman Louise Ellman is not pleased. According to her interview, the figures that Volkswagen revealed is still unacceptable. "One year on from the Volkswagen emissions scandal, nine out of 10 drivers are still waiting for their car to be recalled. Time and time again, VW's schedule has slipped," she said. She added: "People deserve to know when they can expect their vehicles to be corrected and returned to them. It's time VW came clean with its customers. If it refuses to do so, the Government must act." A previous article revealed that Volkswagen might lose around $15 billion for all the damages. It ranges from car replacements, repairs and refunds. To make things worse for the automaker, there's a chance it might face criminal charges as well. Wall Street Journal reported that the Environmental Protection Agency might press criminal charges because of the cheating fiasco. So far, Volkswagen has been trying to clean their name in spite of the huge effect. Some in-the-know insiders revealed that lawyers and US prosecutors from Volkswagen are in the middle of negotiations. The car company is allegedly planning to offer a settlement, but could result in more monetary liability on their behalf. Stay tuned for the development of this news. Clay Lacy Aviation, which operates FBOs in Los Angeles and Seattle, has joined with Key Air, based in Oxford, Connecticut, the two companies announced last week. Our clients asked us for a larger presence in New York, and this is the first of several strategic steps to expand our East Coast services, said Brian Kirkdoffer, Clay Lacy CEO. Chris Hand, vice president of operations for Key Air, said joining the Clay Lacy family will bring immediate benefits to the companys clients and employees. Clay Lacy Aviation was founded in 1968 by Clay Lacy, who grew up in Wichita, Kansas, and flew for United Airlines for more than 40 years, retiring in 1992. The company specializes in jet charter and executive jet management, and offers a range of services indulging charter, sales, maintenance and FBO services. Lacy is also well-known for his work in the film industry and as an avid pilot with more than 50,000 hours logged in a wide range of aircraft. 19 September 2016 17:06 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The fact that Armenian Members of Parliament and other officials conduct illegal business is no longer a surprise for anyone now it turns out that Armenian MPs do not even bother to attend their real job. Thus, Armenian newspaper Aikanan Zhamanak recently published the total number of 'truant' MPs, as well as the amount of fines they had to pay for missing meetings of the ninth session of the National Assembly, RIA Novosti reported. According to the press service of Armenian Parliament, 39 parliamentarians were absent at the sessions of Parliament; and the amount deducted for that from their salaries made up a sum of 12.64 million drams (about $26,700). The newspaper also asked to provide a full list of truant Armenian MPs, but this information was not announced by the press-service of the National Assembly. The Assembly also noted that the amount withheld as penalties has been recorded as a saving of the Salary Fund. It seems, that with appointment of the new Armenian Prime Minister, the authorities try to make it look like the fight against corruption and impunity in Armenian government has finally started; but, apparently, this show will end very soon, as it is typical for Armenia. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 11:37 (UTC+04:00) By George Soros The refugee crisis in Europe was already pushing the European Union toward disintegration when, on June 23, it helped drive the British to vote to Brexit the EU. The refugee crisis and the Brexit calamity that it spawned have reinforced xenophobic, nationalist movements that will seek to win a series of upcoming votes including national elections in France, the Netherlands, and Germany in 2017, a referendum in Hungary on the EU refugee policy on October 2, and a rerun of the Austrian presidential election on December 4. Rather than uniting to resist this threat, EU member states have become increasingly unwilling to cooperate with one another. They pursue self-serving, beggar-thy-neighbor migration policies such as building border fences that further fragment the Union, seriously damage member states, and subvert global human-rights standards. The current piecemeal response to the refugee crisis, culminating in the agreement reached earlier this year between the EU and Turkey to stem the flow of refugees from the Eastern Mediterranean, suffers from four fundamental flaws. First, it is not truly European; the agreement with Turkey was negotiated and imposed on Europe by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Second, it is severely underfunded. Third, it has transformed Greece into a de facto holding pen with inadequate facilities. Most important, the response is not voluntary. The EU is trying to impose quotas that many member states strenuously oppose, forcing refugees to take up residence in countries where they are not welcome and do not want to go, and returning to Turkey others who reached Europe by irregular means. This is unfortunate, because the EU cannot survive without a comprehensive asylum and migration policy. The current crisis is not a one-off event; it augurs a period of higher migration pressures for the foreseeable future, due to a variety of causes. These include demographic shortfalls in Europe and a population explosion in Africa; seemingly eternal political and military conflicts in the broader region; and climate change. The agreement with Turkey was problematic from its inception. The very premise of the deal that asylum-seekers can legally be returned to Turkey is fundamentally flawed. Turkey is not a safe third country for most Syrian asylum-seekers, especially since the failed coup in July. What would a comprehensive approach look like? Whatever its final form, it would be built on seven pillars. First, the EU must take in a substantial number of refugees directly from front-line countries in a secure and orderly manner. This would be far more acceptable to the public than the current disorder. If the EU made a commitment to admit even a mere 300,000 refugees annually, most genuine asylum-seekers would view their odds of reaching their destination as good enough to deter them from seeking to reach Europe illegally an effort that would disqualify them from legal admission. Second, the EU must regain control of its borders. There is little that alienates and scares publics more than scenes of chaos. Third, the EU needs to find sufficient funds to finance a comprehensive migration policy. It is estimated that at least 30 billion per year will be needed for a number of years, and the benefits of surge funding (spending a large amount of money up front, rather than the same amount over several years) are enormous. Fourth, the EU must build common mechanisms for protecting borders, determining asylum claims, and relocating refugees. A single European asylum process would remove the incentives for asylum shopping and rebuild trust among member states. Fifth, a voluntary matching mechanism for relocating refugees is needed. The EU cannot coerce member states to accept refugees they do not want, or refugees to go where they are not wanted. A scheme like the one used by Canada could elicit and match the preferences of both refugees and receiving communities. Sixth, the EU must offer far greater support to countries that host refugees, and it must be more generous in its approach to Africa. Instead of using development funds to serve its own needs, the EU should offer a genuine grand bargain focused on the needs of recipient countries. This means creating jobs in refugees home countries, which would reduce the pressure to migrate to Europe. The final pillar is the eventual creation of a welcoming environment for economic migrants. Given Europes aging population, the benefits migration brings far outweigh the costs of integrating immigrants. All the evidence supports the conclusion that migrants can contribute significantly to innovation and development if they are given a chance to do so. Pursuing these seven principles, described in greater deal elsewhere, is essential in order to calm public fears, reduce chaotic flows of asylum-seekers, ensure that newcomers are fully integrated, establish mutually beneficial relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa, and meet Europes international humanitarian obligations. The refugee crisis is not the only crisis Europe has to face, but it is the most pressing. And if significant progress could be made on the refugee issue, it would make the other issues from the continuing Greek debt crisis to the fallout from Brexit to the challenge posed by Russia easier to tackle. All the pieces need to fit together, and the chances of success remain slim. But as long as there is a strategy that might succeed, everyone who wants the EU to survive should rally behind it. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Saving Refugees to Save Europe --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 11:49 (UTC+04:00) By Gordon Brown In his 1952 novel, Invisible Man, the late Ralph Ellison famously portrayed American blacks as silent, long-suffering, and entirely unnoticed by the majority white population. In 2016, there is a new and global invisible class: the 260 million boys and girls who are currently denied access to basic education. Todays invisible victims are refugee children holed up in tents, shacks, and hovels who will never enjoy a first day at school; they are the millions of 9-12-year-olds condemned to child labor, and the millions of young girls destined for child marriage and denied an education simply because of their gender. Ensuring a better future for these children is the civil-rights struggle of our time. Out-of-school children are losing out because of our failure to invest in education; but so, too, are another 600 million boys and girls who are in school, but not learning. In low- and middle-income countries, half of all primary-school-age children dont learn basic literacy and numeracy skills. All told, 900 million of the worlds 1.4 billion children reach adulthood un- or under-educated. According to a forthcoming report from the International Commission on Financing Global Educational Opportunity (the Education Commission), which I chair, members of this neglected majority lack the skills they will need to succeed in a quickly changing global labor market. In the interconnected world of the future, children will need to be taught information-technology and computational skills if they are to find gainful employment. However, in low-income countries, where technology is most needed to improve educational services and inclusive growth, only 10% of pupils attend schools with Internet access. To close these education gaps, a business-as-usual approach is unlikely to suffice. Indeed, by 2030 the year by which the UN sustainable development agenda promises to deliver universal basic education 1.5 billion adults will have had no education beyond primary school. Worse still, half the worlds young people will still be entering the workforce with no recognizable qualifications, and will probably suffer long periods of unemployment. For years, the international community has held summits promising to redouble its commitment to education. But, time and again, it has failed to fulfill that promise, thus depriving the next generation of the most valuable gift it could bestow. In 2002, 13% of overseas development aid went to childrens education; today, that figure is 10%, and in low-income countries it amounts to no more than $17 dollars per child, on average. By short-changing the worlds children, we are squandering the most valuable untapped resource we have. Moreover, we could be setting the stage for a modern doomsday scenario, because an entire generation of uneducated, alienated young people will make easy prey for extremists and terrorist organizations. Fortunately, how to improve educational outcomes isnt a secret: the best schools hire dedicated and competent teachers and administrators, and teach curricula relevant to childrens future needs. Moreover, the Internet enables the poorest children in the remotest areas to access the worlds best libraries and teachers. With auditing and accountability systems, we can make future investments dependent on results, and transform every classroom into a learning hub for every child. Toward this end, the Education Commission which includes leaders from government, academia, business, and economics just published a roadmap and a proposed global budget to provide universal, high-quality primary and secondary education. Our evidence shows that if developing countries can adopt domestic reforms to match the results of recent success stories, such as Vietnam, they can deliver education for all by 2030. For our program to succeed, the global investment in education will need to rise steadily from $1.2 trillion now to $3 trillion by 2030; and low- and middle-income countries will need to modernize their education sectors by increasing their domestic investments to 5.8% of national spending, 1.8% above the current average. If countries are willing to make this level of commitment, they should not fail to deliver universal education for lack of funding. To ensure that the money is there, the Education Commission is offering detailed proposals to reform the current global framework for funding education, and to bring multilateral development banks together to prioritize education and release new resources. Education is the most cost-effective investment we can make, so the economic case for increased funding could not be clearer. The Education Commissions goal is to make today and tomorrows children a learning generation. If we succeed, we expect low-income countries per capita GDP to be 70% higher by 2050 than it is now. By contrast, if the world succumbs to inaction and paralysis, we predict that it will cost global GDP $1.8 trillion by 2050. The brunt of this cost will fall on low-income countries, where 25% of populations will still live in extreme poverty. Those are the quantifiable costs of ignoring an invisible generation of young people; the other costs, in terms of lost opportunities and ravaged, alienated lives, are impossible to quantify, but should be equally worrisome. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Education and the Invisible Child --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 16:23 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), which bears responsibility for accumulating and managing oil and gas revenues of the country, is planning to invest some 100 million in the Equity Participation Fund (EPF), a debut fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EPF will allow SOFAZ to participate in the EBRDs direct equity investment portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, as well as in Turkey, with a view to achieve a long-term capital growth by making investments in financial, industrial, agricultural, infrastructure, and energy sectors. CEO of the Fund Shahmar Movsumov said that the investment is a continuation of the strategy pursued by the company for the diversification of different financial instruments and geographic locations in the portfolio of SOFAZ. Moreover, the investment structure will allow to closely cooperate with the EBRD which has the extensive experience and strong local presence in the region. Some 76.6 of SOFAZs investment portfolio fell to a share of bonds and money market instruments in the first half of 2016. Shares accounted for some 11.1 percent, while the share of gold and real estate amounted to 3.8 and 5.5 percent respectively. The volume of investment portfolio stood at $33.76 billion as for July 2016. EPF will allow investors to automatically take 20-30 percent of the economic interest in all of the EBRDs eligible direct equity investments worth above 10 million during a five-year investment period, building a large, diversified and well-balanced portfolio equity investments across the countries where the EBRD invests. Earlier, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev received a delegation of EBRD, headed by Bruno Balvanera, director for the South Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus. The minister informed the guests about the ongoing large-scale reforms in Azerbaijan with the aim of further improving the business and investment sphere, as well as the development of entrepreneurship in the country, emphasizing that the development of private sector remains one of the priorities for the government. Balvanera, in turn, expressed appreciation and support for the reforms which are being carried out in Azerbaijan in the economic sphere, as well as in the area of developing entrepreneurship, customs, and privatization. EBRD has allocated some 2.5 billion to Azerbaijan for implementation of approximately 159 projects since 1992. One of the main tasks of EBRD is to ensure a stable development of Azerbaijan's non-oil sector by investing in the small and medium-sized private enterprises. Azerbaijan is the largest recipient of EBRD funds in the South Caucasus, as well as one of the largest recipients of this organization's funds in the CIS and Eastern Europe. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 17:29 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have entered a new phase, in particular, they have actively developed in the past 2.5 years. Azerbaijans Deputy Economy Minister Sahil Babayev made this remark at the Iran Project-2016 exhibition held in Baku on September 19. The history of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan has a particular specificity, causing all stages of the development of bilateral relations. The present Iranian administrations policy of improving international relations, Tehrans pursuit of win-win situations, and a political will shared by Iran and Azerbaijan have improved the chances of growing economic ties between the two neighboring countries. So far, Iranian companies have invested $2.6 billion to the Azerbaijani economy, according to Babayev, saying that only $145 million were put up in non-oil sector. Some 450 companies with Iranian capital are operating in the country. For slightly more than a two-year period heads of two states met seven times. More 80 mutual meetings were held and over 40 documents were signed between the two countries. Also, two meetings of intergovernmental commissions were organized. In February, President Ilham Aliyev paid a very successful visit to Iran, and in August, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Azerbaijan. As part of these visits, more than 20 documents were inked. This is the biggest indicator of the strategic importance of our relations, the deputy minister explained. Babayev emphasized that the warm relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as historical, cultural and religious unity among the nations have given their results in the economic sphere. For seven months of 2016 the trade turnover between the countries increased by 70 percent. Both export from Azerbaijan and import from Iran increased, he said. Azerbaijan imports food and construction products from Iran, while, export electricity to this neighboring country. The deputy minister noted that this means about the created trust and business climate between the countries. Azerbaijan is ready to support the activities of Iranian companies in the country with the help of industrial parks, neighborhoods, special economic zones, investment promotion instruments, etc., Babayev said. After the western sanctions were lifted from Iran, Tehran has repeatedly expressed intention to improve trade with neighboring Azerbaijan in a bid to make up for the decline in trade turnover between the two countries. Due to the reduction in revenues of Azerbaijan in connection with the decline in oil prices, Baku is also interested in development of mutually beneficial areas of cooperation. Agriculture is one of the most important spheres for Azerbaijan and Iran, both countries have a great potential to boost agriculture cooperation. The cooperation in this sphere would give a stimulus for diminishing dependence on oil sector. The countries are continuously working on the development of this sphere and ensuring the food security of the countries. Cooperation in the framework of major international North-South transport corridor and designing a railway bridge over the Astarachay also propel the development of economic cooperation in transportation, tourism and trade sectors. The corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. Now the two countries also seek to develop their banking sector. Earlier, Baku office of Milli Iran Bank for many years was active in order to enhance bilateral economic relations between the two states, but sanctions imposed by West on Iran prevented this. Expert claimed that lifting of sanctions will increase the number of banking transactions between Azerbaijan and Iran and indeed, soon, the central banks of the two courtiers will open checking accounts, according to the head of Iran's Central Bank Valiollah Seif. The checking accounts will open according to a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the central banks of the two countries. Under the MoU, the central banks of Iran and Azerbaijan will encourage their commercial banks to establish bilateral banking ties through opening correspondent accounts, and conditions for establishing their branches in both countries have been created. Iran and Azerbaijan also intend to establish a joint regional Bank and thereby develop financial cooperation between the two countries. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 16:10 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova The 8th Uzeyir Hajibayli International Music Festival opened in Heydar Aliyev Palace on September 18. The festival that made tremendous contribution to promoting Azerbaijan`s musical traditions kicks off annually at the National Music Day, dedicated to the birthday of great musician, Trend Life reported. The ten-day music celebration is co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Prior to the event, photos and books about life and creative activity of Uzeyir Hajibayli were exhibited in the foyer. Addressing the event, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev stressed the importance of Uzeyir Hajibaylis music and scientific heritage. Uzeyir Hajibaylis music has been included into the gold fund of the world culture. Uzeyir bey made essential contributions as a publicist, playwright, scientist, public figure and pedagogue. His masterpiece Koroglu opera, O olmasin, bu olsun, Arshin mal alan musical comedies are splendid examples of the national music culture, they are still loved and demonstrated, he said. The colorful festival that brought together a number of art lovers continued with fascinating music program.. Guests enjoyed the beauty of classical works and masterly skill of Azerbaijani and foreign musicians. The opening ceremony featured brilliant performance of Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra as well as the State Choral Chapel. State Symphony Orchestra performed the overture to the opera "Koroglu" by Uzeyir Hajibayli, "Concerto for Symphony orchestra" by Soltan Hajibayov, while as the State Choral Chape performed the cantata "Azeriler" Agshin Alizadeh. In the second part of the event, famous Russian pianist Petr Laur delighted the audience with a majestic performance of "Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1" by Johannes Brahms. The festival will last until September 27 involving many local and international musicians from Azerbaijan, Russia, USA, Israel, Germany, Turkey, Georgia. Major concert programs will be held at the Magomayev Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall, Organ and Chamber Music Hall, Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater , Azerbaijan composers Union, Baku Music Academy named after Uzeyir Hajibayli etc. Besides, the festival will feature performances and scientific conference dedicated to the study of the creative heritage of the great composer. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 20:00 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova The music festival "Two worlds", dedicated to Azerbaijani music, has kicked off in eastern city of France, Mulhouse. The magnificent festival was opened by the event organizer, President of the Association of XANADU Association Greta Komur, Azertac reported. Addressing the event, Komur thanked the Embassy of Azerbaijan in France, the mayor of Mulhouse and other structures for the help in the organization of the event, conducted for the third time. Speaking next, the festival's artistic director, composer and author of the work "Khojaly 613" Pierre Tila shared his impressions about Azerbaijan and informed the audience about national Azerbaijani music and culture. The composer stressed his acquainted with Azerbaijan more than 15 years and expressed his pride to represent such rich music in France. The representative of Azerbaijani Embassy in France, Ayaz Gojayev spoke about the diversity of Azerbaijani culture, multiculturalism and tolerance. He said that 2016 was declared in Azerbaijan the Year of Multiculturalism. Gojayev also stressed the great contribution of President Ilham Aliyev the First Lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva in the transformation of Azerbaijan into international and intercultural space. The first day of the festival featured folk dances performed by national ensemble "Stars of Baku" under the artistic direction of people's artist Yusif Gasimov. The performance was greeted with long applause by many guests. A great deal of interest was generated by performance of young jazzman Etibar Asadli who synthesized the folk music into ethno-jazz. The festival ended with a concert of Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra led by the young and talented Azerbaijani conductor Fuad Ibrahimov. Accompanied by Azerbaijani violinist Sabina Rakcheyeva, the festival featured the works of famous Western composers and "Concerto grosso" by Azerbaijani composer Khayyam Mirzazade. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 11:22 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) called for resolution of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijans territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders. The corresponding item was included in the final document of the NAM summit, which has been recently completed in Isla de Margarita, Venezuela. The heads of states and governments of the Movement's member-countries expressed regret that despite UN Security Council's resolutions, the conflict is still unresolved, and continues to constitute a threat to international and regional peace and security. The summit reaffirmed the importance of the non-use of force principle, which is reflected in the UN Charter, called on the parties to settle the conflict within the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. In the outcome document of the summit, heads of states and governments also supported the proposal of Azerbaijan to hold the next NAM summit in 2019 in Baku. Azerbaijani delegation at the summit was led by Azerbaijans Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov. He held meetings with Mevlut Cavusoglu, Ramtane Lamamra, Retno Marsudi, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Riad Al-Malki, Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Algeria, Indonesia, Republic of South Africa and Palestine respectively on the margins of the NAM summit. At the meetings, the development of bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian fields, as well as the issues on the agenda of the NAM and the 71th Session of UN General Assembly were discussed. The Ministers also noted the importance of enhancing relations between the countries within international organizations. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov briefed his counterparts on the current negotiation process over the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and highly appreciated consistent fair position within the NAM on the settlement of the conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. Non-Alignment Movement is an international organization uniting 120 countries on the principles of non-participation in military blocs. The movement was formally established by 25 states at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. Azerbaijan became a full member of the movement in 2011. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 13:58 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijan calls on the UN Commissariat on Human Rights to pay special attention to the facts of gross violation of international humanitarian law by Armenia, in particular to the massive violations of the rights of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons. "Unfortunately, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for more than 20 years remains silent about the violation of the rights of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons," Spokesman of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend. The bloody ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, including the perpetration of Khojaly genocide and destruction of cultural heritage, public and private property belonging to the people of Azerbaijan, destruction of natural resources, deliberate and systematic attacks on property and civilians, exposure of detained persons and hostages to enormous physical and psychological torture, and mass killings are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, he added. Armenia as a state is responsible for illegal actions at the international level. Moreover, its actions on violation of international humanitarian law and human rights during the conflict are characterized as a crime under international criminal law, said Hajiyev. Continuous crimes by Armenia are not an accident, but the result of a purposeful policy of Armenia held at the state level. The activities conducted at the national level and within the international legal framework will serve for bringing to justice the perpetrators of serious crimes against Azerbaijan during Armenian aggression. The permanent mission of Azerbaijan to the UN in Geneva and offices in other international organizations once again raised the question at the Council meeting on human rights held on 14 September, Hajiyev noted. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 14:12 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The OSCE Minsk Group and Armenia must take into consideration the position of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This was said by Hikmat Hajiyev, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, to Trend on September 19. The final document was adopted at the 17th NAM Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Isla de Margarita, Venezuela on September 1318, 2016. In the final document, the NAM member-states called for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with the UN Security Councils resolutions and within the territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan, Hajiyev said. After Azerbaijan joined the Movement, the position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is constantly being reflected in all documents which are being adopted at the level of heads of state and foreign ministers of the NAM member-states, the Spokesman noted. This is the single and firm position of international community to resolve the conflict. Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group must take into account this position, which expresses the will of the international community, he added. Hajiyev noted that one of the main points of the summit was NAMs position on the principle of self-determination of nations, reflected in the final document of the summit. In accordance with the UN Charter, the NAM member-states mainly consider the principle of self-determination of peoples in the context of decolonization and the fight against colonization. The principle of self-determination outside this context cannot be a tool to artificially breach the territorial integrity of states. It proves once again that the attempts of Armenia to conceal the occupation of Azerbaijani territories abusing this principle are entirely unfounded, the Spokesman said. The member-states of the Movement, expressing strong protest against the attempts to violate the territorial integrity and national unity, reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of states. Hajiyev noted that another important result of the summit is the decision to hold the next NAM summit in 2019 in Baku and the transfer of chairmanship in the organization for 2019-2022 to Azerbaijan. The Spokesman said that Azerbaijan is committed to the spirit and principles of the Movement, and during its presidency will make efforts for the development of its fundamental goals and objectives. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 12:00 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended a ground breaking ceremony of a new bitumen production facility as part of reconstruction of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery on September 19. The foundation ceremony coincided with the eve of grand holiday of oil workers, which has been celebrated in oil-rich Azerbaijan for over the past 20 years. The day marks the beginning of the new oil strategy of the contemporary Azerbaijan with the signing of the Contract of the Century. The Contract, signed on September 20, 1994, marks the launch of newly independent nation's policy of energy diversification, initiated by late President Heydar Aliyev and symbolizes the success, gained by Azerbaijan in regional and international partnerships. Speaking at the ceremony President Aliyev said the project of reconstruction of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery has been launched and the work to be done here will enable to create a world-class plant. Life goes on and new technologies must be applied. The refinery must meet the highest international standards. Reconstruction of the plant will take about 2-3 years. After that fuel of the highest quality, including diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, will be produced. The plant will ensure the highest environmental standards, and the working conditions of refiners will be improved, President Aliyev said. "Black gold" brought enormous fame to Azerbaijan over the past century, thus acting as a major catalyst to boom national industry. Using the state-of-the-art technologies the country could prosper and ensure steady economic growth able to resist global and regional crisis. The head of state said the plant, which is currently producing the majority of fuel, is of particular importance for the development of the country. "This is an enterprise, which has great importance for our development and security. We have large oil reserves. Azerbaijan has the whole chain of the oil industry including production, transportation, processing, sale, export, oil products, and raw materials, he said, emphasizing that it is very important for improving the ecological situation in Baku. During the event, President Aliyev laid a foundation stone for the new bitumen production facility. President of Azerbaijan State Oil Company (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev informed President Aliyev a new bitumen production facility to be built at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery would have an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons. EN 40/60 brand road bitumen will be produced here and the facility is expected to be commissioned in mid-2018. The construction of the new bitumen facility will be the first stage of the reconstruction work to be carried out at the refinery. The Austrian engineering company Porner and the Heydar Aliyev Refinery signed an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management contract for the construction of the plant. By the construction of a new bitumen production facility, the current infrastructure of former Azerneftyag oil refinery will be fully decommissioned and the coastal areas will be emptied and handed over for the realization of White City project. Furthermore running costs of Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery will be optimized and the country will be provided with high-quality bitumen. The company plans to produce high-quality oil products as part of the next stage of the reconstruction work to be carried out at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery. Under the program, the oil refinery will produce Euro-5 standard diesel in 2019 and the Euro 5 standard petrol in 2020. By realization of the project the processing capacity of the refinery will be increased to 7.5 million tons. This will help to fully meet the country's domestic consumption of car fuel for the next 15-20 years and increase the export potential of high-quality oil products. The implementation of the project will contribute to the improvement of the environmental situation in Baku and to the country's socio-economic development. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 14:38 (UTC+04:00) The Final Document of the 17th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement held in the Island of Margarita, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on 13 - 18 September 2016 was adopted, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported. The Final Document also includes the paragraphs related with the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, hosting the XVIII Summit of the Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement by Azerbaijan in 2019, and the Seventh Global Forum of the UNAOC held on 26-27 April 2016 in Baku, Azertac reported.. The NAM Margarita Final Document presents the extracts: - The Heads of State or Government expressed their regret that in spite of the United Nations Security Council resolutions (S/RES/822, S/RES/853, S/RES/874, S/RES/884) the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains unresolved and continues to endanger international and regional peace and security. They reaffirmed the importance of the principle of non-use of force enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and encouraged the parties to continue to seek a negotiated settlement of the conflict within the territorial integrity, sovereignty and the internationally recognized borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan; - The Heads of State or Government welcomed the offer of the Republic of Azerbaijan to host the XVIII Summit of the Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2019, as endorsed by the NAM Member States from the European Region, and recommended it for endorsement to the XVII NAM Summit to be held in Margarita Island, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on 17-18 September 2016; - The Heads of State or Government welcomed the Seventh Global Forum of the UNAOC held on 26-27 April 2016 in Baku, Azerbaijan and active participation of UN member states, international organizations and civil society in the Global Forum. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 15:17 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has started his working visit to New York to attend general debates of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly. Elmar Mammadyarov will make a speech in general debates of the Session, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys press service reported. Moreover, he will take part at various conventions including Annual Coordination Meeting of the Foreign Ministers (FMs) of the OIC Member States, 8th Ministerial meeting organized by the Friends of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Informal Meeting of the Council of FMs of the BSEC Member States, Informal Meeting of the Council of FMs of the Turkic Council, and Ministerial Meeting of the UNAOC. The 71st Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 71) has begun at UN Headquarters on September 13, 2016 in New-York, U.S. One of the main issues to be considered at the Session are Summit for Refugees and Migrants on Sept. 19, Annual general debate of The Sustainable Development Goals: a universal push to transform our world on Sept. 20-26, and High-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance on Sept. 21. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 18:06 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Iran has always supported and continues to support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Irans ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen said during a press conference on September 19. The term of his office ends on September 22. "Our position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is very clear: we have always supported Azerbaijans territorial integrity and we stand against the change of official borders," he said. "We want settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and we are ready to render all possible assistance for this," the ambassador added. During his leadership of the Irans Embassy to Azerbaijan, a lot of work has been held to improve the mutual trust between Tehran and Baku, and mutual ties developed, said Mohsen Pak Ayeen in the course of the press conference. The Ambassador said his term of office completes on September 22, after that he will leave Azerbaijan. Mohsen Pak Ayeen was appointed as Ambassador of Iran to Azerbaijan in 2012. Pak Ayeen also spoke about the development of Iran-Azerbaijan relations during his leadership of the diplomatic mission. Today, bilateral relations between Iran and Azerbaijan are at a high level. During this time, the Presidents of Iran visited Azerbaijan three times, and the Azerbaijani President twice visited Iran. The Ambassador added that the two countries have signed about 50 documents, economic ties developed, and the number of flights between Iran and Azerbaijan has increased. Stressing the future launching of the train Nakhichevan-Mashhad, Pak Ayeen noted that it will promote further development of relations between the two countries. The Ambassador highly appreciated the role of media in development of bilateral relations, and added that through establishing close relations with media, it became possible to reduce the negative propaganda of external forces trying to damage the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan. In conclusion, the Ambassador added that he felt in Azerbaijan as in his homeland. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 15:03 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Japans Sumitomo Corporation, a leading integrated trading company, is constructing a gas turbine power plant in the Turkmen Lebap province, the northeast of the country, bordering Afghanistan. The gas turbine power plant, which is planned to be commissioned in 2018, will cover an area of more than four hectares. Spokesman for Sumitomo Corporation Shiro Nishioka, told Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper that the contract became the first contract of the company on the construction of a large-scale power plant in Turkmenistan. Sumitomo Corporation took a role of a prime contractor, being responsible for all aspects, including procurement of the main equipment, while Turkish Ronesans Construction Company and Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation, which will supply three gas turbine power units, became subcontractors of the project. Sumitomo Corporation signed an EPC contract (Engineering Procurement Construction) worth approximately $300 million with Turkmen State Power Corporation Turkmenenergo in October 2015. Being the sixth in the world for the volume of natural gas reserves, Turkmensitan has been promoting downstream energy projects to facilitate the diverse use of its tremendous gas resources expanding cooperation with neighboring countries through the development of infrastructures, including railways, pipelines and electricity. The country signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Afghan government to export low-cost gas-powered electricity to the country starting from 2018. The power plant will be the main source of the electric power to be exported to Afghanistan under the PPA, while the main objective is to support the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Turkmenistan produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year, while most of its proven gas reserves are located in the Amu Darya basin in the south-east and in the Murgab South Caspian basins in the western part of the country. Oil and gas sphere is considered to be one of the key and strategic spheres of the country. The Central Asian country has also been lately engaged in gas talks with China and India. Moreover, the former Soviet republic is also considering Europe as one of the most promising markets for the supply of energy resources and continuously studies opportunities for entering it. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsA 19 September 2016 10:55 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Head of the Turkish Calik Holding Ahmet Calik at a meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov told about the process of construction of an international sea port in Turkmenbashi city, said the message of the Turkmen government. Calik received specific instructions of the Turkmen president in this regard, according to the message. The Turkish holding will construct the modern seaport on the Caspian shoreline by 2017. The project cost will be more than $2 billion. The design capacity of the marine harbor is 15 million tons of cargo for various purposes per year. This project involves construction of car and passenger ferry terminal with a total area of 230,000 square meters and a container terminal with a total area of 249,000 square meters. The complex will include a general loading terminal, bulk cargo terminal, polypropylene terminal, as well as shipbuilding and ship repair plant, which will occupy an area of 166,000 square meters. The possibilities of car and passenger, as well as container terminals and ferries will meet the high demand for services to transport goods and passengers in the Caspian Sea, including the transit ones, the Turkmen state news service said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 12:59 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova The border conflict in the Ungar-Too Mountain was resolved peaceably through negotiations. Checkpoint on the state border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan resumed the transit of the citizens of two countries after the settlement of the border dispute in the area of Ungar-Too Mountain on September 19, RIA Novosti reported. The incident broke put after landing of Mi-8 helicopter carrying seven Uzbek policemen on Ungar-Too on August 22. Kyrgyzstans border service reported on August 24 that Uzbekistan deployed a group of police officers to the disputed Ungar-Too Mountain, site of a Kyrgyz-run television relay station, and took four employees into custody who were released only after three weeks. In turn, the Uzbek side said that four Kyrgyz citizens working at relay station were taken to Yangikurgan police department in Uzbekistan for procedural measures and there is no cause for concern about the detained Kyrgyz citizens. However, the incident creates tensions on the border between the countries. The mountain and surrounding areas were objects of a testy standoff in March that culminated with Uzbekistan deploying several armored personnel carriers. Hence, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan closed all checkpoints on the joint state border. The Uzbek side demanded to remove the Kyrgyz police checkpoints around Ortho-Tokoy reservoir. The reservoir is located on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. However, since the period of Soviet Union, it is in the actual use of Uzbekistan. This year the Kyrgyz government decided to transfer the Ortho-Tokoy reservoir to the balance of the country. On September 19 the checkpoints on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek state border have started to function in their normal routine, said the State Border Service of Kyrgyzstan. The press-service of the Kyrgyzstans President reported that the acting President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held telephone talks with the head of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev on September 17. Afterwards, Uzbekistan withdrew its forces from Ungar-Too. The total land area of Ungar-Too (in Kyrgyz writings Unkur-Too) is 45 hectares. In 2013 Uzbekistan tried to install its border post on Ungar-Too, which led to the border conflict. Short after the parties came to a peaceful solution and the radio station Kerben continued its work. After the collapse of USSR, nearly a quarter of the entire Kyrgyz-Uzbek borderline remained non-delimited, causing permanent conflict along the border. Over the past three years, there have been several armed incidents. After Kyrgyzstan's accession to the EAEC in 2015, the state border of the Republic became the southern border of integration association. Initiating dialogue on how best to share resources and jointly police complicated and high-altitude frontier areas would be the most rational and constructive solution, but neither of the governments involved has shown itself to be in possession of a surfeit of good sense. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 12:39 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Turkey will begin a new stage of fighting the Fethullah Gulen movement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, TRT Haber TV channel reported on September 19. President Erdogan added that Turkey will until the end fight the Gulen movement, directly connected with a military coup attempt in the country. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 14:26 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Russia held parliamentary elections on September 18 to elect 450 members of the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. In addition, 39 regions chose legislative assemblies, seven regions elected governors, and municipal elections were held in 5,000 cities and towns. The Crimea participated in a national election for the first time since seceding from Ukraine and reuniting with Russia in 2014. The Central Election Commission reported that the United Russia was leading in Russian parliamentary election with 51.04 percent of votes. After 25 percent of ballots counted, the United Russia gained 51.04 percent, Liberal Democrats won 15.09 percent, Communist Party won 14.85 percent, and Just Russia won 6.42 percent. The Russian prime minister officially announced the victory of the United Russia party in the 2016 parliamentary elections on September 18, Sputnik reported. "I would like to thank all the citizens of our country who came to ballot stations today, demonstrated their civil position and voted. Moreover, a significant portion of them voted for the United Russia," Medvedev said at a meeting with the partys activists, adding that it is safe to say that our party has won. Earlier, it was reported that more than 111 million eligible voters were electing 450 lawmakers for the next five years. Voting was underway at some 95,000 polling stations across Russia and in diplomatic missions in 145 countries. "The turnout as of 18:00 reached 39.37 percent," Central Election Commission Deputy Chairman Nikolay Bulaev said at a press conference on September 18. In addition, the Russian nationals residing in Azerbaijan were casting their votes to elect members of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly. Some 487 people participated in the elections.The elections were held in an organized way. No case of complaints has been reported. Observers from the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS countries, representatives of the media were present in the election process. The majority of the Russian citizens in Azerbaijan voted for the ruling party. Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Azerbaijan Vladimir Dorokhin has cast his vote at the polling station in the Russian Embassy. The citizens of Russia permanently or temporarily residing in Azerbaijan could take part in the voting at the polling station #8017 at 17, Bakikhanov Street, Baku, Azerbaijan. The polling station was open from 08:00 until 20:00 (GMT +4). The last time Russia held a parliamentary election, in 2011, the capital erupted in mass protests. Fortunately, such cases were not observed this time. In turn, Kremlins man in charge in this election Vyacheslav Volodin has previously told that this vote will be the cleanest in Russian history. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 17:40 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Turkish armed forces have liberated more than 5,000 square kilometers of Syrian territories from the militants of the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group, the TRT Haber news channel quoted Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying on September 19. Erdogan noted that currently, Turkish troops stationed in Syria are moving to the south as part of the Shield of the Euphrates operation. The ongoing terror in Syria is a problem not only for Damascus, but for the whole world, he added. On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force, with the support of the coalition aircraft, launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS in northern Syria, near Aleppo. The operation was dubbed the Shield of the Euphrates. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The IS, the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 19:28 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Russian President Putin said the results of elections to State Duma was good for the "United Russia" party, ruling and the leading political forces, RIA Novosti reported. "First of all, I want to thank the citizens who came to the polls and expressed their attitude to the events going on in the country, showed a responsible attitude and expressed their position in these elections. It is a good result for the ruling political forces, leading political forces and for the party United Russia," he said at a meeting with government. On the next day of elections President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory message to the Chairman of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev in connection with the victory of United Russia in the State Duma elections. "Please, accept my sincere congratulations on your convincing victory of the United Russia party that you lead. This victory indicates high trust of Russian people in your party and its ongoing consistent and far-sighted policy aimed at strengthening statehood, maintaining stability, promoting democratic values and well-being of the population. I am convinced that our joint efforts will continue to promote traditional friendship, deepen cooperation and interaction between Azerbaijan and Russia in the name of the prosperity of our peoples, the message says. Dear Dmitry Anatolyevich, taking this opportunity, I wish you good health, happiness and success in your state activity for the benefit of friendly Russia," President Aliyev said in the congratulatory message. Moreover, it was reported that the Executive Director of the Moscow office of the Russian Azerbaijanis Congress Shamil Tagiyev and executive director of the Russian office of Association of Azerbaijan-Slavic Youth (AASY) Khazar Garayev monitored the election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The head of the Russian office of AASY Togrul Allahverdili said that they observed the voting in nearly 100 polling stations, adding no irregularities were registered. Previously, a spokesman for the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also said that the victory of the United Russia in the State Duma elections demonstrates an impressive vote of confidence to President Vladimir Putin. Following the results of September 18 elections to the State Duma, the United Russia continues to lead, gaining 54.19 percent of the votes according to the results of counting 95.26 percent of protocols for the Federal Circuit. Out of the 450 parliamentary seats and 140 parliamentary seats, which are assigned to the party, the United Russia obtained 203 more single-seat districts. Earlier, Putin said that has not yet decided whether to participate in a new presidential campaign or not. I cannot answer this question, but it is clear that vast majority of the voters de-facto supported the President. Once again, the president received such an impressive vote of confidence from the people of the country, Peskov said answering the question about how the election results and the victory of the United Russia will affect Putins plans for presidential elections in 2018. In early September, responding to questions from journalists, Putin said that it was too early to talk about the 2018 presidential campaign and his participation in it, to look at the results. In the meantime, Putin underlined that he has not decided yet to participate or not in the presidential elections. On September 18 Russia held parliamentary elections to elect 450 members of the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. In addition, 39 regions chose legislative assemblies, seven regions elected governors, and municipal elections were held in 5,000 cities and towns. The Crimea participated in a national election for the first time since seceding from Ukraine and reuniting with Russia in 2014. The Central Election Commission reported that the United Russia was leading in Russian parliamentary election with 51.04 percent of votes. After 25 percent of ballots counted, the United Russia gained 51.04 percent, Liberal Democrats won 15.09 percent, Communist Party won 14.85 percent, and Just Russia won 6.42 percent. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 18:57 (UTC+04:00) By Trend On September 19, 2016 the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) held in Warsaw the OSCE meeting to review the implementation of the commitments, the Human Dimension implementation meeting - Europe's largest human rights conference. This meeting has been held for more than fifteen years. This two-week meeting in the Polish capital is attended by the representatives of OSCE participating States, experts on international issues, activists of non-governmental organizations and human rights defenders. The meeting is attended by the delegation of Turkmenistan, Turkmen embassy in Baku reported. During the meeting, participants exchanged views on the work related to the implementation of commitments in the humanitarian sphere. In particular, the delegation of Turkmenistan conveyed to the participants the main results of the work carried out by Turkmenistan in the humanitarian sphere, including the adoption of the National Action Plans on human rights, on gender equality and on combating human trafficking. The representative of the European Union, in his statement, welcomed the participation of the Turkmen delegation at the meeting, the adoption of the National Action Plan on human rights and looked forward to its implementation. OSCE Human dimension implementation meeting continues its work. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 18:03 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Iran has fulfilled its obligations within the joint comprehensive plan of action on the nuclear program, said the director general of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano on September 19. "Iran continues to fulfill its obligations in the nuclear field within the joint comprehensive action plan," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying at the agency's Board of Governors meeting on September 19. The Agency continues to verify whether Iran fulfills the obligations on the absence of nuclear switching materials in the framework of safeguard agreements. Also, the verification continues on whether there are undeclared nuclear materials and ongoing activities in Iran. The agreement on the Iranian nuclear program was signed July 14, 2015, in Vienna. In July, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2231 in support of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (SVPD). Under the agreement, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98 percent, and reduced by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. To monitor and verify Iran's compliance with the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have regular access to all Iranian nuclear facilities. The agreement provides that in return for verifiable abiding by its commitments, Iran will receive relief from U.S., European Union, and UN Security Council nuclear-related economic sanctions. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 19 September 2016 19:45 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The agreement on normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel can de facto enter into force this week, Haber TV channel reported on September 19. Preparations are underway in Turkeys Foreign Ministry for appointing Turkeys first ambassador to Israel after restoration of relations between the two countries. At the same time, Israel is expected to appoint its ambassador to Turkey. Moreover, this week, Ankara expects to receive compensation from Israel for the Freedom Flotilla incident. Relations between Israel and Turkey deteriorated after the Freedom Flotilla incident in 2010, when a convoy of six ships, including one flying Turkey's flag, tried to approach the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid and activists on board. The flotilla was blocked and stormed by Israeli forces, with eight Turkish citizens being killed as a result. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel should apologize for the Freedom Flotilla incident, pay compensation to the families of those killed, and end the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag earlier said that Israel will pay Turkey a compensation of $20 million for the Freedom Flotilla incident. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Vienna, Austria / Atlanta, USA, September 19, 2016 / B3C newswire / -- The Austrian spin-off TAmiRNA develops biomarker solutions, which significantly improve early detection of serious age-related illnesses such as osteoporosis. At this years ASBMR meeting in Atlanta (Georgia) TAmiRNA presents the new osteomiR test kit a unique molecular diagnostic kit for detection of osteoporosis. Every year more than 3 million bone fractures occur in Europe due to osteoporosis. The resulting costs are estimated at 40 billion Euro. Worldwide, the number of osteoporotic fractures is just under 10 million. Osteoporosis has become a major socio-economic challenge and burdens patients as well as public and private health insurances, and based on the steady increase in life expectancy the incidence of osteoporosis will continue to rise. Therefore, tools for early diagnosis coupled with targeted therapeutic intervention are required to prevent fractures and to counteract this trend. Due to the heterogeneity of osteoporosis, we are convinced that early and personalized diagnosis are essential for a timely and successful therapeutic prevention of bone fractures, which are associated with great pain, immobility and unfortunately even mortality," said Matthias Hackl (32), director and co-inventor of this microRNA based diagnostic procedure. Since 2013 TAmiRNA has developed a minimal-invasive molecular diagnostic test to estimate fracture-risk in postmenopausal women as well as other subgroups at risk of osteoporosis. The results of the clinical development, which have been published in peer-reviewed journals in 2015 and 2016, show that serum concentrations of specific microRNAs are significantly associated with osteoporosis and the risk of fractures. Using multivariate diagnostic algorithms a significant improvement of the classification performance of bone densitometry and other risk-score can be achieved. The osteomiR kit has been developed to standardize both laboratory and data analysis of these microRNAs (osteomiRs) in patient serum samples. For now, the osteomiR kit is for research-use only, but in the near future the clinical utility of will be investigated in multiple clinical research centers for musculoskeletal disease. microRNAs are a class of non-coding RNA molecules, which regulate gene expression and correct cell function. Abnormal microRNA expression can be a consequence or even cause of onset and progression of disease. Since microRNAs are constantly released from cells through specific mechanisms, their composition in blood changes during disease development. The innovative team of TAmiRNA has taken advantage of this effect within their very successful research studies. On the basis of several studies in more than 1,000 patients, we were able to show that certain microRNAs are strongly associated with the progression of osteoporosis and the risk of fractures. From these data, we were able to develop diagnostic algorithms based on microRNAs and clinical parameters to allow a more accurate patient classification." Says Johannes Grillari, professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, co-founder and scientific advisor of TAmiRNA. About TAmiRNA TAmiRNA was founded in 2013 as a biopharmaceutical research and development company and as a spin-off company of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, to promote the discovery and development of microRNAs (miRNAs) substantially as tools for diagnosis and treatment of age-related diseases such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of the research work is to advance early risk assessment of age-associated diseases, and thus to give physicians a tool for timely initiation of counteractive measures. This should result in increasing the quality of life for older patients and people. Furthermore, tests for personalized medicine will be developed to support the choice of the best treatment options for patients and also may reflect the therapeutic success. Publications (1) Heilmeier U, Hackl M, Skalicky S, Weilner S, Schroeder F, Vierlinger K, et al. Serum microRNAs Are Indicative of Skeletal Fractures in Postmenopausal Women with and without Type 2 Diabetes and Influence Osteogenic and Adipogenic Differentiation of Adipose-Tissue Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells In Vitro. J Bone Miner Res 2016. (2) Hackl M, Heilmeier U, Weilner S, Grillari J. Circulating microRNAs as novel biomarkers for bone diseases Complex signatures for multifactorial diseases? Mol Cell Endocrinol 2016;432:8395. (3) Kocijan R, Muschitz C, Geiger E, Skalicky S, Baierl A, Dormann R, et al. Circulating microRNA signatures in patients with idiopathic and postmenopausal osteoporosis and fragility fractures. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2016:jc.2016-2365. Contact TAmiRNA GmbH Dr. Matthias Hackl Muthgasse 18 1190 Vienna, Austria +43 660 420 5856 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.TAmiRNA.com Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, visited the free-from producer Welsh Hills Bakery factory in Aberdare. The trip marks 60 years since founders of the company, Ernest Rule and wife Ruby went into business. Welsh Hills has produced products for companies including Harrods, Selfridges, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Co-op, Holland & Barrett and the NHS. Managing director Peter Douglass showed Griffiths around the factory, where 100,000 was recently invested in new machinery. Douglass, who is Ernest and Rubys son-in-law, said: It was a pleasure to show Ms Griffiths around our factory and explain exactly how we operate a totally free-from site. Welsh Hills represents 12% of the UK gluten-free cakes and desserts market, with the overall UK free-from foods market valued at 532m. He added: I believe there is huge scope for us to grow even further, in particular our export trade. As a company, were extremely optimistic about what the future holds and are looking forward to the next 60 years. In May, Welsh Hills Bakery celebrated the appearance of its chocolate sponge cake in a Morrisons TV advert. Real Good Food has confirmed that it has created a new 100% wholly-owned subsidiary business in the US, under the name Renshaw US Inc. Following the news which broke exclusively in British Baker last week, the company has said the new business will trade as Renshaw Americas and will concentrate on further growing its cake decorating export business across the continent. As reported by British Baker, Renshaw Americas has secured a five-year lease on an 18,750sq ft warehousing facility in Rockaway, New Jersey, chosen as an ideal logistical location for onward distribution and its proximity to the port of Newark. Initially Renshaw Americas will initially employ a commercial team of four and will act as a sales and distribution hub to sell cake decorating products from the Real Good Food stable, initially across the US and Canada and eventually on a broader scale across the rest of the Americas. Products will include sugar paste, coverings and frostings from Renshaw in the UK and the full range of Rainbow Dust Colour products. Pieter Totte, executive chairman of Real Good Foods, said: The USA and Canada are very important markets for our cake decorating business. It already accounts for around 10% of our overall export sales and, by establishing a permanent presence, we believe there is scope for future growth and improved margins, with operating efficiencies and better supply management. We can now ship in bulk quantity directly to a storage and distribution facility in an optimal location for onward distribution. This leads to manufacturing efficiencies in our factories in the UK and, ultimately, better customer service and improved margins. With an established presence, we also see the opportunity to broaden our customer base and, in particular, we are excited about the growth opportunity for sugar paste, as opposed to soft icing, as this market is largely underdeveloped across the Americas. In a separated move, Real Good Food has also rebranded its Real Good Food Europe division as Renshaw Europe to reflect the business focus on cake decoration products. Renshaw Europe is based in Brussels and acts as a sales and marketing, distribution and logistics centre for a range of products across Europe. Latest Articles is Indias #1 and most trusted website for Banking Jobs. The portal has complete information about all Banking and Insurance Jobs, its latest notifications, from all state and national level jobs, and updates. These exams and jobs are regularly updated as per the official information available. Check thehere. Polk School leaders are hoping for more help from residents and businesses for five middle schools threatened with being shut down by the state. State has threatened to shut down five middle schools Schools received D or F grades from the state for two years in a row Polk Superintendent says schools receiving extra support from public The schools, Kathleen Middle, Denison Middle, Westwood Middle, Shelley S. Boone Middle and Lake Alfred-Addair Middle are under scrutiny because they received D or F grades from the state for two years in a row. School Superintendent Jacqueline Byrd, school board members and community leaders held a press conference at Westwood Middle School in Winter Haven Monday morning to talk about plans for the schools. Byrd said the district was sending addendums to turnaround plans to state education leaders. She said the schools have been receiving a lot of extra support from the public. "These schools will not close over my dead body, said Winter Haven education activist Doug Lockwood at the press conference. He pledged support from the business community. Parent Jay Neavis encouraged more parents to volunteer at schools. "These kids matter," he said. "These kids matter too much for us to sit back and idly watch this happen." Legoland general manager Adrian Jones pledged additional support from the theme park. That might include passes to the park as incentives for hard working students and teachers. Community Assessment Team meetings (Five middle schools that are currently on improvement plans in bold) September 27, 2016 Boone Middle School beginning at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria The following schools will be in attendance: Boone Middle Westwood Middle Denison Middle Lake Alfred-Addair Middle Eagle Lake Elementary Garner Elementary Palmetto Elementary Lake Marin Creek Middle October 4, 2016 Kathleen Senior High School beginning at 6 p.m. in the auditorium Kathleen Middle Combee Elementary Bartow Middle Griffin Elementary Crystal Lake Middle Update: Bloated Whale Strands on N. Oregon Coast - Then Disappears Published 09/18/2016 at 6:41 PM PDT - Published 09/19/2016 at 5:41 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Manzanita, Oregon) UPDATE: The Humpback whale disappeared with the tides by Monday morning. No necropsy will take place. One part of the north Oregon coast was the recipient of a particularly smelly castaway this weekend. The bloated corpse of a full grown Humpback whale washed ashore at Falcon Cove Beach (between Manzanita and Arch Cape) Saturday, carrying with it the nasty stench of something that had been dead a long time. (All photos Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium). Meanwhile, there have been many humpbacks sighted at the mouth of the Columbia River in recent weeks, although it's not certain if the whale was part of those pods. The whale will undergo a necropsy on Monday to determine how it died. There was no obvious sign of death on its exterior. Tiffany Boothe, science expert with the Seaside Aquarium, said aquarium staff will be working closely with Dr. Debbie Duffield of Portland State University, who will perform the necropsy. Both Duffield and the aquarium are part of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, which responds to incidents like these on the Oregon coast. Boothe said the whale was definitely an adult about 38 feet long. UPDATE: Seasie Aquarium's Keith Chandler said no necropsy can happen now that the whale washed away with the tides. It is believed to have been lodged in one of many coves in the Cape Falcon area. He also said there were no plans to get rid of the body since there was no way to bring heavy equipment down on Falcon Cove Beach, which is a small cove typefied by large piles of unstable, polished stones. It was first reported to us on Friday afternoon by the Coast Guard, Boothe said. They saw it floating a few miles off shore of Arch Cape. By Saturday the whale had washed on shore, on Falcon Cove beach. The intense smell alerted many locals to its presence. This is among the stinkiest of whales to come ashore on the coast in recent years, according to many witnesses. Even worse than the smell, the humpback corpse had been dead so long that it was bloated and parts of it exploded. Boothe explained the pile of unpleasant stuff you see near it is parts of its organs that had popped out of it, namely its stomach lining. The whale was very bloated, and the pressure from its body weight, once it hit the beach, pushed its bloated stomach out of its mouth and then exploded, Boothe said. On the less disgusting side of things, the whale had many barnacles living on it. Boothe took many photos of those. There are specific species of barnacles that only live on whales, Boothe said. Among them are Coronula diadema, a species closely related to acorn barnacles (the ones you usually see in the intertidal areas, seen above). The second is related to another type of barnacle, called a goosneck barnacle, the species which commonly attaches to humpback whales, Boothe said. The latter is called Conchoderma auritum. You can see plenty of live humpbacks now, however. We are still getting reports of humpbacks in the Columbia River, Boothe said. They have been coming in on a regular basis at high tide, feeding on the small bait fish in the river. Last year they were in the river until October 9. Oregon Coast Hotels in these areas - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours More of Falcon Cove beach below: More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The fifth-largest pizza chain in the country is looking to bite into the Beaumont market with its signature "take-and-bake" pizzas. Papa Murphy's announced plans to open at least seven locations in Beaumont, Nederland, Groves, Lumberton, Vidor and Orange within the next four years, with the first hopefully opening within the next two, said Gary Payne, vice president of franchise sales. With at least 100 locations across the state and dozens more planned, the chain looked to Beaumont for its next expansion. >> See other restaurants we wish would open locations in Southeast Texas in the gallery above. Papa Murphy's offers made-to-order pizzas for families with busy schedules - or people who just don't feel like cooking on a particular night - who still want a fresher meal option. Customers can order online, through an app or in-store, and pick up their pizza, which Payne says takes about three minutes to make. After that, customers take home their pizza and slide it into the oven for a few minutes before serving. Prices range from about $5 for a personal-sized pizza to about $14 for a large pizza. Since the store does not bake the pizzas, the company is able to cut down on labor costs and instead invest in better ingredients, Payne explained. Papa Murphy's pizzas feature dough made in-store, cheese grated from blocks, veggies sliced daily and meats without additives, Payne said. The company also sells sodas, salads and cookie dough. Payne suggests buying two packs of cookie dough - one to eat on the car ride home, and one to enjoy once you get home. Currently, Papa Murphy's is looking for people interested in starting the franchises. Payne said the company is offering reduced franchising fees and royalty abatements. More: papamurphys.com Have an In the Works tip? Email LocalNews@BeaumontEnterprise.com. Be sure to include "In the Works" in the subject line. Three Southeast Texas Farmers Insurance agents Daniel Priest and Tracy Fletcher from Lumberton, and Zachary Farris from Port Neches were recently named to the "Topper Club" for outstanding achievement and costumer focused efforts, according to a news release from the company. The three were recognized during a Sept. 16 conference in Seattle, Washington. If you liked July and August, you'll love this week, even though summer comes to its astronomical end on Thursday. You can't tell that closing book of seasons by its cover. Temperature will climb most of this week into the low 90s with lows in the mid to upper 70s with no rain in sight, the National Weather Service predicts. Heat index will be in the low 100s with the accompanying high humidity, said Todd Mogged, forecaster at the weather service's Lake Charles, Louisiana, office. As to the tropics, Tropical Storm Karl remains over the central Atlantic and is curling away from the Eastern Seaboard while a disturbance just west of the Cape Verde Islands has an 80 percent chance of forming into a tropical system by Friday. That doesn't mean the Gulf isn't capable of churning out one of its own pop-up tropical storms. The water in the Gulf is in the high 80s and could supply all the energy a storm system needs to get fat and scrappy. This Saturday also marks the 11th anniversary of Hurricane Rita, which roared into the area between Johnson Bayou in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, and Sabine Pass as a Category 3 hurricane. It had reached Category 5 strength before weakening ahead of landfall, eventually causing $12 billion in damage. It was the 18th named storm of that busy tropical year, the 10th hurricane overall and the fourth-largest major hurricane of the year, which ran through all of its alphabetical names and reached into the Greek alphabet before mercifully coming to an end well after January 2006. It goes to show that hurricane seasons differ wildly from year to year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SOUTHEAST TEXAS TALES Texas revolutionary Jane Long, a woman who dined with pirates, spied on enemies and scared away invading Indians with an abandoned cannon, has long captivated the interest of Bolivar Peninsula residents and visitors. On Sept. 19, 1821, Long's husband, James, left her behind at Fort Las Casas on the peninsula as he set out for La Bahia. James Long, "who was plotting and working for the overthrow of the Mexican government, was captured at San Antonio and taken to Mexico City, whence he never returned," according to the Texas State Historical Association. Three months after the young couple had said their goodbyes and during a rare, but especially brutal Southeast Texas ice storm, Long gave birth to her third daughter, Mary James, with virtually no help and while partially exposed to the elements. Her 12-year-old servant, Kian, was ill and her 5-year-old daughter Ann was too young to help. Claiming to be the first English-speaking woman to birth a child in Texas, Long later referred to herself as the "Mother of Texas," a title historians have since proven to be false, but the myth still lingers, according to the state's historical association. On Dec. 22, 1821, the day after Mary James' birth, Long reportedly rose early to care for her family. Historians have described the Texas winter of 1821 as one of the harshest in the state's history. Galveston Bay reportedly froze thick enough that Long could walk a quarter of a mile from shore without cracking the ice. She hacked frozen fish from beneath the ice and stored them in the brine of an empty pickle barrel. In addition to the salted fish, Long and the girls survived on dwindling supplies of corn meal and oysters from the bay. Food ran out in the dead of winter, and she and the girls neared starvation. They had not eaten in three days when she saw three men on Jan. 22, 1822. They ran away, but she found a line in the water where they had been fishing and hauled up a fish that kept them from starving, according to historians. Several days later, Long waved at a ship off shore and 15 men landed, supposedly the first group of colonists recruited by Stephen F. Austin, also known as the "Father of Texas." Wed to a swashbuckler Well before she met James Long or ever stepped foot in Texas, Jane Herbert Wilkinson seemed destined for a life of comfort when she was born in Maryland in 1798. At 16, she swapped her life as a Southern belle for adventure when she met and married James, a swashbuckling soldier. The young couple enjoyed domesticity in short spurts. The new husband was loath to settle down, according to historians, but they had two daughters, Ann and Rebecca, by September 1819. Rebecca died in infancy, when Long was 21. By then she'd already made one trip to Texas, trailing her husband, and she made a second trip in 1820. For the second journey, Long brought Ann and her servant, Kian. The little family was together for a few months in a makeshift fort on Bolivar, then James left them again. He heard that settlers in La Bahia, near Copano Bay, might be sympathetic to his dream of Americanizing Texas. He would be back in three weeks, he promised. But the weeks stretched into months, and the soldiers guarding the fort on Bolivar abandoned their post. They begged the pregnant Long to leave, too, but she wanted to wait for her husband. Meanwhile, Long taught Ann and Kian to be on the alert for war canoes. She was in constant fear of an attack by the Karankawa Indians, whose fires she could see across the bay. Long believed the Karankawas were cannibals, a myth since disproved. At least twice, Karankawa tribesmen approached as if to attack, according to historians. To fend them off, Long hoisted a flag, really her red petticoat, Kian put on a soldier's uniform, and they kept firing a small cannon left by the soldiers until the Karankawas retreated. Tragedy and resilience It wasn't until the spring of 1822 that Long learned her husband had been captured and killed. Disheartened, she tried without success to collect compensation for his death, then returned to extended family in Louisiana and Mississippi. There another heartbreak awaited her - little Mary James died of an unknown illness at age 2. That was the summer of 1824. By the following spring, Long, Ann and Kian returned to Texas as early colonists. With the help of Stephen F. Austin, Long eventually received a headright - a parcel of land usually reserved for men who were heads of households. She made the most of it. In 1832 she opened a boardinghouse in Brazoria and spied on Mexican officers as she had once spied on the pirate Jean Laffite. And as the men marched off to fight for Texas independence - achieved in 1836 - she watched over their possessions. It was during this time that Long claims she was courted by Texas patriots Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar and Ben Milam, according to the state's historical association. Some claim Long broke Milam's heart because she refused to remarry. In 1837, Long moved to Richmond and she and Kian (Ann was married by then) opened a second boardinghouse. Long also developed a working plantation, where she lived until her death in 1880. Skip forward almost two centuries, and Long's spirit still endures on the Bolivar Peninsula, where she is celebrated with a festival each October and a portion of Texas 87 has been renamed for her. Additionally, Long's portrait has been hung in the state Capitol and she has several historical markers that detail her adventures. With reporting by Hearst reporters Harvey Rice and Claudia Feldman. Southeast Texas Tales is a weekly feature that revisits regional history. Technavio recently released a report on the global health insurance market from 2016 to 2020. Here's what you need to know. 1. The top five global health insurance vendors are: Zurich Insurance Group, United Healthcare Aviva, AXA and Allianz. Other prominent vendors include: Aetna, AIA Insurance Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Kaiser Foundation. 2. Low insurance rates are helping insurance companies to negotiate debt financing deals which is accounting for an influx in private equity. However, that private equity is not expected to remain in the market long term because of a lack of long term returns. 3. Insurance companies are expanding globally in an attempt to capitalize on economic growth factors. That expansion helps the industry diversify risk and improve company valuations. 4. Insurers are targeting developing markets as a way to increase financial productivity. Most coding, billing and collections news: How metrics will bring providers and payers closer than ever: 5 thoughts Donald Trump's updated plan for Medicaid and birth control: 5 things to know Connecticut's Insurance Commissioner withdrawing from Anthem-Cigna review: 7 takeaways Five senators and several organizations are attempting to create a public healthcare coverage offering through the Affordable Care Act, HealthPayer Intelligence reports. Here's what you need to know. 1. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) are leading the charge to have a public option offered alongside the private payers on the exchanges. "We must continue to make needed healthcare reforms so that the American people can have healthcare as a right, not a privilege," Mr. Sanders said. 2. The measure has widespread support with the Democrats. 3. As private insurers continue to withdraw from the exchanges, Co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee Stephanie Taylor said a public option could increase competition among payers. 4. The senators will bring a resolution forward that outlines the challenges in the healthcare industry, and how a public option would eliminate them. 5. The ACA was originally supposed to offer a public option, but that was blocked in Congress. President Barack Obama and democratic nominee Hillary Clinton both have supported public healthcare options. Mr. Obama said that a public option would strengthen competition and would result in "more affordable health plans" for consumers. More news related to coding, billing and collections: How metrics will bring providers and payers closer than ever: 5 thoughts Donald Trump's updated plan for Medicaid and birth control: 5 things to know Connecticut's Insurance Commissioner withdrawing from Anthem-Cigna review: 7 takeaways Following a recent pneumonia diagnosis, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released more of her medical records to the public. Ms. Clinton's personal physician Lisa Bardack, MD, released an update of a July 2015 letter, featuring two new medical conditions including a sinus and ear infection as well as pneumonia, according to The New York Times. Here are six thoughts: 1. Physicians not linked to Ms. Clinton claim Dr. Bardack's letters do not include essential information such as Ms. Clinton's height and weight. They also argue the letters should include a more detailed history of Ms. Clinton's blood clots and her 2012 concussion. 2. Based on the pneumonia information disclosed in the letter, William Schaffner, MD, an infectious diseases professor at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University, said Ms. Clinton's pneumonia treatment indicates the candidate may have had pneumonia longer than initial estimates indicated. The letters also suggest Ms. Clinton will need more X-rays and a follow-up examination to ensure her body responds appropriately to the treatment. 3. Dr. Schaffner also said the letter failed to disclose details as to whether the candidate was short of breath or experienced chest pain while breathing during the pneumonia episode. 4. In her letter, Dr. Bardack wrote Ms. Clinton did not have an underlying disorder that increases her risk for developing blood clots, although Ms. Clinton takes Coumadin as a precaution. The letter showed Ms. Clinton does not regularly take other medication except for a thyroid hormone, Clarinex for allergies and vitamin B-12. 5. After suffering a concussion in 2012, Dr. Bardack's recent CT scan showed no abnormalities and wrote the candidate was "in excellent mental condition." 6. Because Ms. Clinton's cholesterol levels were 118 and 103, some physicians have asked why the candidate is not taking a statin drug. However, the cardiologist who ran Mrs. Clinton's cholesterol and other lipid measurements found she did not need a statin therapy based on the results. More healthcare news: Analysts give SCA $54.75 price target 4 notes Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children opens $45M pediatric center, includes ASC: 4 things to know Aurora Health Care opens $38M Germantown Health Center, equipped with ASC: 5 takeaways Here are the five most popular Becker's ASC Review gastroenterology and endoscopy stories for the week of Sept. 12 to Sept. 16, 2016. 1. FDA, Custom Ultrasonics continue saga over endoscope cleaning system: 5 takeaways Click here 2. Gastroenterologists weigh benefits, costs of new CRC screening test: 5 notes Click here 3. Patient data for 14,000 taken in University Gastroenterology data breach: 6 takeaways Click here 4. 28 starting salaries for specialty physicians GI comes in 5th Click here 5. AGA encourages CMS to include GI specialty APMs under MACRA: 5 notes Click here More GI/endoscopy news: McMaster University to study pediatric fecal transplant: 3 notes 5 GI physicians in the headlines Sept. 16, 2016 University of British Columbia develops treatment for common Crohns complication: 4 insights Hospitals across the country are exploring ways to reduce patient identification errors a problem that poses serious risk to patient safety, undermines patient satisfaction and leads to revenue loss. Patient identification errors are fairly common, with as many as 7 to 10 percent of patients misidentified during medical record searches at hospitals, according to Imprivata, a health IT security company based in Lexington, Mass. Although patient misidentification is a pervasive problem, hospitals across the country have been able to significantly reduce these mistakes by investing in the right technology. This content is sponsored by Imprivata The causes of patient misidentification Patient misidentification can occur in a number of ways and is often rooted in the rudimentary oral registration processes hospitals rely on. There is ample opportunity for mistakes when patients vocally relay information to registration staff who manually enter the information into a sophisticated electronic system. For example, a patient could intentionally provide false information, such as an incorrect Social Security number, at registration. This most commonly occurs in hospital emergency departments and, in most cases, it's simply because the patient is trying to avoid a hospital bill, according to Mollie Drake, former senior director of corporate access management at San Diego-based Scripps Health. Patients will also sometimes provide incorrect information to avoid immigration issues, she said. Some hospitals pull information from a patient's photo ID at registration, but that can also lead to identification problems. For example, a patient who has been to the hospital on numerous occasions may get married and change the last name on their driver's license, causing the registration worker to create a duplicate record missing the patient's medical history. This raises patient safety concerns, as the duplicate record may lack the patient's allergies, medications or other vital information. A physician who relies on this fragmented view of a patient's medical history may order duplicate or unnecessary tests or prescribe medications that negatively interact with other prescription drugs the patient takes. A duplicate record may be created even when a patient provides correct and up-to-date information. Schedulers at hospitals are under very tight time constraints and may not have time to locate the correct patient in the electronic system. "If a name is typed in and 183 records pop up, a new record is likely created," said Ms. Drake. A more serious problem occurs when numerous records pop up during a search and the hospital worker selects the wrong patient's medical record. This results in overlays, which occur when patients are mistakenly sharing a medical record. Such a serious mistake can cause physicians to rely on the wrong information when treating a patient. Patient identification problems hurt a hospital's bottom line Hospital and health system reimbursement is more closely tied to patient satisfaction than ever before, and the direct link between patient satisfaction and revenue is expected to strengthen in coming years. Patient misidentification can cause hospitals to lose revenue, as it negatively affects patient satisfaction in a number of ways. For example, when a physician mistakenly relies on a duplicate medical record, the patient may have to endure the trouble of undergoing unneeded tests and subsequently shoulder the cost of that care. Or, when the wrong patient's record is selected at registration, a patient may receive a bill for another person's medical treatment. Patient identification errors also contribute to revenue loss by causing insurers to delay payment or deny a hospital's claims, according to Aaron Miri, vice president of government relations and CIO of Imprivata and former CIO of Walnut Hill Medical Center in Dallas. If an insurer can't identify a patient based on information supplied by the hospital, the insurer will deny the claim for reimbursement. According to the Advisory Board, demographic and technical errors are by far the leading source of claim denials and write-offs, causing healthcare organizations annual losses of net patient revenue from 1-5 percent, or $2 million to $3 million annually, for an average 300-bed organization. Therefore, it is critical that hospitals provide accurate information for the more than 300 data elements in a claim. It is fairly common for hospitals to provide faulty patient information in a claim when a patient provides information verbally at check-in or when registration staff pulls information from a patient's ID. Although hospitals are given the opportunity to rework or appeal claims that are initially denied, that process is a drain on a hospital's finances. According to a Medical Group Management Association report, it costs approximately $25 to rework a single denied claim, which quickly adds up. When a claim is properly reworked, a hospital typically receives payment once the claim is resubmitted to the insurer. However, there are times when patient identification errors force hospitals and health systems to absorb certain costs in full. For example, when a physician relies on a duplicate medical record that was erroneously created and orders redundant or unnecessary medical tests, hospitals are responsible for the bill, as insurers will not cover this cost. When patient identification errors occur, hospitals must go through the expensive process of cleansing the inaccurate patient records from the EHR. According to Ms. Drake, it typically takes registrars many hours to perform this manual process. Accounting for the human labor and time involved, the cost to cleanse a single duplicate medical record tops $1,000, according to Imprivata. If a duplicate medical record is created for a patient, merging those records is an "incredibly tedious process" that has to be performed manually in most cases, said Ms. Drake. This process involves comparing information, such as surgeries and medications, in the patient's medical history to ensure all information is merged into the final record. Reducing patient identification errors with biometric authentication To reduce problems caused by duplicate medical records and patient misidentification, some hospitals have invested in biometric patient identification technology, which uses one-of-a-kind biological identifiers to match patients with their unique medical identification number. Many hospitals and health systems are using palm-vein biometric authentication for patient identification, as patients typically find this technique less intrusive than other biometrics, such as fingerprinting. This biometric of choice takes a scan of a patient's palm vein pattern. Since no two palms are the same, any misidentification issues are eliminated. Health systems across the country, including Scripps Health, Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System and Tampa, Fla.-based BayCare Health System, have successfully reduced patient identification mistakes using Imprivata PatientSecure. This tool integrates a palm vein recognition scanner with advanced patient matching software. The solution is installed at more than 65 health systems comprising more than 350 hospitals across the nation. Ms. Drake, formerly of Scripps, said the system saw immediate improvement after implementing biometric authentication. "Scripps' patient identification error rate dropped by 30 percent after switching to biometrics," she said. According to Ms. Drake, staff acceptance of the new technology was high, as most employees were glad to be given a tool that not only helped with patient identification but also sped up the registration process. Ms. Drake said most patients were happy with the switch as well. With growing concerns over medical identity theft, patients were pleased they no longer had to provide personal information, such as their Social Security number, in a public area and weren't bothered with showing ID. Patients at BayCare's facilities were also concerned about the risk of identity theft and were uncomfortable sharing demographic information in a public space. That concern prompted the 14-hospital system to implement palm-vein biometrics. In addition to eliminating patients' worries about their information being stolen, BayCare also saw a substantial reduction in duplicate records after switching to biometric authentication. Within one year of implementing the technology, the system reduced its cases of duplicate medical records by 42 percent. Since Imprivata PatientSecure provides interoperability between facilities and hospital IT systems, Carolinas HealthCare deployed palm-vein scanners at registration desks throughout its hundreds of locations. Like other systems, Carolinas HealthCare saw its rate of patient identification errors and duplicate medical records drop significantly from about 10 percent to .01 percent after implementing biometric authentication. That is about 80 times better than the national average of 10 percent. The system also reduced patient check-in times by 70 percent after the switch, thereby boosting patient satisfaction. Once a system invests in palm-vein biometrics, the technology can be implemented quickly across all facilities. Ms. Drake said training is simple with Imprivata PatientSecure. "It takes about 15 minutes to train someone to use it," she said. Although biometric authentication is typically used on the front-end, nurse managers and physicians are also using it, according to Mr. Miri. He said hospitals are deploying this technology in innovative ways, such as to identify patients before administering medications and to identify unconscious trauma patients who arrive in the emergency department. Time to invest in biometrics The broad reimbursement changes in healthcare make it critical for hospitals to focus on improving quality of care, efficiency and patient satisfaction, as the three areas are becoming increasingly intertwined. Implementing biometric authentication such as palm vein recognition can help achieve all three of these goals, according to Mr. Miri. "I convey to hospital CFOs and others that it would be remissive to not invest in technology that can improve quality, reduce the overall burden of care for the patient, has a quick return on investment and will help increase HCAHPs," he said. San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives launched the Precision Medicine Alliance, a program that will be available at nearly 150 hospitals and care centers across the United States. Initially, the alliance will focus on advanced diagnostic tumor profiling in cancer treatment. The program will then expand into other areas such as cancer and cardiovascular risk as well as pharmacogenomics. Additionally, the alliance will create a database for clinical cancer data. Through the alliance, Dignity Health and CHI will partner with laboratories and bioinformatics companies to develop individual-specific molecular tests for patients. The Precision Medicine Alliance is also aligned with the national Precision Medicine Initiative, a $215 million investment from the White House. "The Precision Medicine Alliance will provide community physicians with access to a wide range of diagnostic technology that is currently only available in academic medical centers. This will provide more accurate diagnoses, with personalized therapies tailored to each patient through community providers, where the vast majority of care happens," said Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health, in a statement. Serving approximately 12 million patients annually, the alliance creates the largest community-based precision medicine program in the country. More articles on health IT: HealthShare Exchange inks tighter contract with members How Mercy created a $54M virtual hospital in St. Louis Opinion: How network surveillance can stop hospital hackers Louisville-based KentuckyOne Health, a division of Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, laid off two senior vice presidents and the president of Frazier Rehab Institute on Friday, according to the Courier-Journal. In an internal announcement that wasn't publicly shared, KentuckyOne said the following executives were ousted: Damian Alagia, MD, senior vice president and chief physician executive, who was laid off; Michael Spine, senior vice president of strategy and business development, whose position was cut; and Randy Napier, president of Frazier Rehab Institute in Louisville and Southern Indiana Rehab Hospital in New Albany, whose position was also eliminated. KentuckyOne CNO Velinda Block, DNP, RN, who previously shared her decision to leave the system, resigned, and her position will not be filled, according to the report. KentuckyOne spokesman David McArthur told the Courier-Journal the moves are part of a "series of system-level and facility leader transitions." KentuckyOne, which was formed in 2012, has faced financial troubles for years. In 2014, the system laid off 500 employees, according to the Courier-Journal. More articles on leadership and management: 4 ways executives find time to be creative Dartmouth-Hitchcock CEO: Psychiatric hospitals exempt from layoffs Walking during meetings yields positive health benefits, study shows Striking Allina Health nurses remain deadlocked with the Minneapolis-based health system in a dispute over health insurance, reports MPR News. The workers, who are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, began their second strike of the summer on Labor Day at five Minnesota hospitals Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity Hospital in Fridley. As workers began the strike, Allina brought in 1,500 replacement nurses. Two weeks later, no future talks are scheduled, and neither side has asked to return to the bargaining table, according to the article. The nurses plan to strike until a deal is reached. However, they must restart negotiations with Allina for that to happen, and neither side wants to initiate further talks, reports MPR News. A federal mediator has not yet gotten involved. A key issue in the dispute between Allina and its 4,800 union nurses has been the nurses' health insurance. Allina wanted to eliminate the nurses' four union-backed health plans, which include high premiums but low or no deductibles, and move the nurses to its corporate plans, reports the Star Tribune. Allina has estimated that eliminating the nurses' four union-backed health plans would save the health system $10 million per year. Recently in the dispute, the union has questioned Allina's business dealings, according to the article. The union claims Allina helped arrange or direct the dissolution of The North Suburban Hospital District Board, which owns Unity Hospital, and that Allina was involved in a predatory financial deal that cost it and several other organizations millions in extra fees, reports MPR News. But Allina has refuted those claims in statements and on MPR News. "There are mistruths and actually quite honestly lies being spoken about not only our organization, but other organizations too in how finances are being managed," Allina CEO Penny Wheeler, MD, said, according to the report. "And that is just unfair. The ends don't justify the means." In response, Rose Roach, executive director of the MNA, said, "Allina has brought up their finances, and the reason they need to switch the health plans is about saving $10 million. [If] you're going to open up the door to finances, we get to question finances. And that's exactly what we're doing in this particular case," the article states. The latest strike is the second since an initial seven-day strike in June. The June strike cost Allina $20.4 million. Food service workers at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic rallied Friday in protest against Mayo's plans to subcontract food service employees, according to a Post-Bulletin report. Leaders with Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota, a union representing food service workers at Mayo, and supporters also participated in the rally. SEIU Healthcare Minnesota is fighting Mayo's plan to switch from Sodexo to Morrison Healthcare for food and nutrition services at 20 campuses. An estimated 700 Mayo food service workers would become Morrison employees if the switch took place, according to the article. Sodexo food service workers who work at Mayo facilities but are not Mayo employees would also become Morrison employees. Sodexo employees said the proposal would result in thousands of dollars in extra insurance and benefit costs for workers, according to the article. But Jamie Gulley, president of the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, said at the rally that the fight is about more than the group of 700 workers, reports Post-Bulletin. "This is about the future of Rochester, and are we going to be a city of haves and have nots?" she said. Mayo has contended local employees will be offered jobs for the same pay, and that the change "will allow us to deliver consistent and enhanced food and nutrition options to our patients, visitors and staff." "We fully understand that this change is difficult for our food service employees, which is why we are committed to protecting jobs and salaries and offering one of the most generous transition packages in the industry," Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said, according to the report. "Contrary to many other employees in similar situations, Mayo is supportive of our food service staff if they want to seek and secure other jobs within our organization." According to the article, the union, in an effort to debunk Mayo's claim that the outsourcing will result in better food service, now seeks an 18-month reprieve to prove "we can beat any patient satisfaction score at another location" with proper training. Friday's picket follows another rally that took place in August. In addition to the protest of Mayo's plans to switch food vendors, it was announced Friday that 126 non-union Sodexo employees who work at Mayo had collected enough signatures to cause an election to join SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, reports Post-Bulletin. From a class-action antitrust lawsuit filed against Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare to a Colorado hospital accused of widespread age discrimination, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines. 1. Class-action suit accuses Carolinas HealthCare of anti-competitive behavior A class-action lawsuit filed against Carolinas HealthCare alleges the Charlotte, N.C.-based system engaged in illegal and anti-competitive behavior. 2. Judge allows class-action antitrust suit against NorthShore to proceed U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang denied Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem's motion for summary judgment in a class-action antitrust lawsuit. 3. Oracle to pay $100M settlement to Oregon over failed healthcare exchange site Oregon and software company Oracle reached a settlement agreement valued at more than $100 million over the state's failed health insurance exchange. 4. Colorado hospital accused of widespread age discrimination against nurses The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against Montrose (Colo.) Memorial Hospital, alleging hospital administrators discriminated against older nurses. 5. UnitedHealthcare expands hep C coverage to settle $300M class-action lawsuit Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealthcare agreed to expand its coverage of hepatitis C medication in an effort to settle a $300 million class-action lawsuit brought against the company by policyholders. 6. Ambulance company owner sentenced in Medicare fraud scheme The owner of two Norristown, Pa.-based ambulance companies was sentenced for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme. 7. Dr. Tariq Mahmood resentenced in fraud scheme that closed several East Texas hospitals A former Texas general practitioner convicted of identity theft and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud was resentenced to federal prison. More articles on health law: 13 recent lawsuits involving hospitals Stark Law: The 27-year-old act killing healthcare reform before it can begin? How the courts define this word will significantly impact future false claims litigation The drug companies that make prescription painkillers have deployed hundreds of lobbyists and spent millions of dollars in campaign contributions to work against legislative measures designed to curb the rates of opioid abuse and prevent overdoses, according to an investigative report from The Center for Public Integrity and The Associated Press. While the manufacturers of these opioids have pledged to make efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, the report found the companies employ a 50-state strategy to obstruct the passage of state-level legislation that would limit the dissemination of opioids. "The opioid lobby has been doing everything it can to preserve the status quo of aggressive prescribing," Andrew Kolodny, MD, founder of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, said in the report. "They are reaping enormous profits." Here are three things to know about pharma's fight against opioid legislation: 1. Money in overdose: Sales of prescription opioids quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. According to the CDC, opioids contributed to the deaths of more than 28,000 people in 2014 alone. In 2015, 227 million opioid prescriptions were written, which, according to the collaborative report, is enough to provide a bottle of medication to 90 percent of American adults. In 2015, the maker of OxyContin (Purdue Pharma) made an estimated $2.4 billion from opioid sales, according to the healthcare information company IMS Health. 2. Funding politics: According to the report, opioid manufacturers and allied pain medication advocacy groups funded an average of 1,350 lobbyists per year across the country from 2006 to 2015. The lobbyists fought measures designed to implement opioid restrictions as scrutiny on the addictive nature of the medications increased. One such defeated bill in New Mexico would have limited initial prescriptions of opioid painkillers for acute pain to seven days. The measure offered exemptions to patients with chronic conditions, but was defeated after lobbyists rallied against it behind the scenes. Additionally, nonprofit advocacy groups provided more than $24 million to 7,100 candidates for state-level offices from 2006 through 2015. 3. The new drugs: Big pharma's lobbyists are now focusing their efforts on supporting measures to encourage the sale of new, more lucrative drugs. These drugs are known as abuse-deterrent formulations and are designed to curb addiction. However, some experts have called their safety into question, saying the medications harbor some of the same addictive properties as the drugs they are meant to curb the abuse of. These drugs have increased profitability for drugmakers because they're patent protected and have no generic competitors. In the report, Anna Lembke, chief of addiction medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine, said, "This is a way that the pharmaceutical industry can evade responsibility, get new patents and continue to pump pills into the system." To read part one of the investigative report from The Center for Public Integrity and The Associated Press, click here. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Lawmakers search for ways to regulate synthetic drug use WakeMed fined for HIPAA violations in patient debt filings Colorado hospital accused of widespread age discrimination against nurses A 19-year-old who was arrested earlier this year for allegedly practicing medicine without a license is in police custody in Virginia for allegedly using an elderly woman's credit cards without her permission, according to the Palm Beach Post. Malachi Love-Robinson was arrested in February and charged with practicing medicine without a license. He allegedly performed physical exams and gave medical advice to people including an undercover officer at an illegal medical office he ran in West Palm Beach, Fla. Mr. Love-Robinson was also charged with grand theft earlier this year for cashing checks he allegedly stole during house calls with an 86-year-old patient. After posting bail of $26,000, Mr. Love-Robinson was free while awaiting trial in Florida. However, he was arrested in Virginia last week for using an elderly woman's credit cards to buy two iPads and a cell phone. He also brought the confused woman to a car dealership and told workers at the dealership that she had agreed to cosign for a car, according to police. A finance director at the dealership thought Mr. Love-Robinson's story was suspicious the teen introduced the elderly woman as his mother, his aunt and then as his godmother and contacted local authorities after looking him up on the internet. The elderly woman told investigators she had never agreed to cosign for a car for Mr. Love-Robinson. Mr. Love-Robinson will remain in Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, Va., until he's returned to Palm Beach County Jail Nov. 18 the date of his next court date in the Florida case. The Florida trial was originally slated to begin in September, but last month it was postponed until November to allow Mr. Love-Robinson's lawyer time to explore whether an insanity defense is viable. However, Mr. Love-Robinson's lawyer subsequently withdrew as counsel for the teenager, saying that an ethical issue prevented him from continuing his involvement in the suit, according to the Palm Beach Post. More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits: 13 recent lawsuits involving hospitals Class-action suit accuses Carolinas HealthCare of anti-competitive behavior Ohio hospital sues West Virginia over CON changes Becker's Hospital Review has named the following organizations to the 2016 edition of its list, "100 hospitals and health systems with great heart programs." The hospitals on this list lead the nation in cardiovascular healthcare. Many have pioneered groundbreaking procedures and are still pioneering breakthroughs today. All have received recognitions for top-of-the-line patient care. To develop this list, the Becker's Hospital Review editorial team examined several reputable ranking and award agencies, including U.S. News & World Report rankings for cardiology and heart surgery, Truven Health Analytics' cardiovascular hospital rankings, CareChex rankings for cardiac care, Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care, star ratings from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Healthgrades cardiology awards and Magnet designation. Hospitals included in this list have received marks of distinction from these organizations. Note: Hospitals cannot pay for inclusion on this list. This list is not a ranking. Organizations are presented in alphabetical order. Alexian Brothers Medical Center (Elk Grove Village, Ill.). Alexian Brothers Heart & Vascular Institute offers a range of cardiac care services, including a program devoted to women's heart health. [READ MORE] AnMed Health (Anderson, S.C.). AnMed Health has provided care to residents of eight counties in upstate South Carolina and northeast Georgia for more than 100 years. [READ MORE] Aspirus Wausau (Wis.) Hospital. Aspirus Heart & Vascular offers a range of heart care services, including pediatric cardiac care through a partnership with University of Wisconsin's American Family Children's Hospital in Madison. [READ MORE] Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center (Milwaukee). Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center is home to the seventh largest robotic heart center in the world, and its heart transplant program has a one-month survival rate of 100 percent. [READ MORE] Banner Heart Hospital (Mesa, Ariz.). This specialty heart hospital, located adjacent to Banner Baywood Medical Center, opened in November 2000. [READ MORE] Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University (St. Louis). More than 2,000 patients are seen each month at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University Heart & Vascular Center. [READ MORE] Baystate Medical Center (Springfield, Mass.). Baystate Medical Center's Davis Family Heart & Vascular Center offers a full range of treatment options and features six surgical/endovascular suites to accommodate complex heart surgery procedures. [READ MORE] Beaumont Hospital (Royal Oak, Mich.). Beaumont Hospital's cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and vascular surgeons perform nearly 500,000 procedures and tests annually, with mortality rates well below national averages. [READ MORE] Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston). Created in 2007, the CardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was recognized as a Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospital by Truven Health Analytics in 2016. [READ MORE] Bethesda North Hospital (Cincinnati). TriHealth Heart Institute hospitals, including Bethesda North Hospital, perform more than 650 heart surgeries annually. [READ MORE] Billings (Mont.) Clinic. In 1972, Billings Clinic cardiothoracic surgeons performed the first open-heart surgery in Montana. [READ MORE] Boston Children's Hospital. U.S. News & World Report ranked Boston Children's Hospital as the No. 1 pediatric hospital in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery for 2016-17. [READ MORE] Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston). The heart and vascular care team at Brigham and Women's includes 200 physicians and specialists who provide care at The Carl J. And Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center. [READ MORE] Carolinas Medical Center (Charlotte, N.C.). For more than 50 years, the team at Carolinas HealthCare System's Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute has delivered care throughout the Carolinas, including at the system's flagship hospital Carolinas Medical Center. [READ MORE] Catholic Medical Center (Manchester, N.H.). The New England Heart & Vascular Institute at Catholic Medical Center includes 21 cardiologists who are board certified in interventional cardiology, electrophysiology and non-invasive cardiology. [READ MORE] Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles). The Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute unites 16 centers and programs to treat a full spectrum of heart conditions. [READ MORE] Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta provides inpatient services at the Children's Sibley Heart Center and at Sibley Heart Center Cardiology locations across Georgia. [READ MORE] Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. More than 125 clinicians, including pediatric cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, critical care intensivists, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants, provide care at CHOP's Cardiac Center. [READ MORE] Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (Milwaukee). The Herma Heart Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is the largest pediatric cardiac center in the state. [READ MORE] Cleveland Clinic. The Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic treats more patients for heart and vascular conditions each year than any other hospital in the country. In 2015, the institute had nearly 543,000 patient visits. [READ MORE] Delray Medical Center (Delray Beach, Fla.). Delray Medical Center has provided care to South Palm Beach County, Fla., for more than 30 years. [READ MORE] Doylestown (Pa.) Hospital. Founded in 1923, Doylestown Hospital is home to the Richard A. Reif Heart Institute, which offers 10 specialized programs and services including a chest pain center, valve clinic and cardiac surgery. [READ MORE] Duke University Hospital (Durham, N.C.). Duke University Hospital is recognized by HHS as one of the nation's largest heart transplant programs. [READ MORE] Edward Hospital (Naperville, Ill.). The cardiac care team at Edward Hospital provides comprehensive heart care, including treatment for coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, rhythm disorders, heart failure and peripheral vascular disease. [READ MORE] Eisenhower Medical Center (Rancho Mirage, Calif.). The heart care team at Eisenhower Smilow Heart Center provides a full range of advanced cardiac care services. [READ MORE] Emory University Hospital (Atlanta). Emory University Hospital is one of the nation's leading hospitals for cardiac care. U.S. News & World Report ranked Emory University Hospital as No. 16 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery for 2016-17. [READ MORE] Good Samaritan Hospital (Cincinnati). Part of Cincinnati-based TriHealth, Good Samaritan Hospital provides a range of services to patients in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. [READ MORE] Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center. The cardiac care team at the Heart and Vascular Hospital at HackensackUMC diagnose and treat a wide range of heart and vascular conditions. [READ MORE] Henry Ford Macomb Hospital (Clinton Township, Mich.). Henry Ford Macomb Hospital offers comprehensive acute and tertiary care and houses a Heart & Vascular Institute. [READ MORE] Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian (Newport Beach, Calif.). The Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute offers services at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. [READ MORE] Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian (Philadelphia). Cardiology patients at the Penn Presbyterian campus benefit from the research performed at the Penn Cardiovascular Institute where physicians and researchers develop new clinical devices and treatments for cardiovascular issues. [READ MORE] Houston Methodist Hospital. The cardiac care team at Houston Methodist Hospital provides patients with comprehensive cardiac care at the DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center. [READ MORE] Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital. Huntsville Hospital has offered cardiac care for more than 30 years. [READ MORE] Indiana University Health Academic Health Center (Indianapolis). IU Health is home to a full-service transplant center, and the IU Health Transplant team has performed heart transplant surgeries since 1982. [READ MORE] Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore). U.S. News & World Report ranked Johns Hopkins Hospital No. 9 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery for 2016-17. [READ MORE] Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center. Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center has the largest cardiac surgery program in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of the largest in California. [READ MORE] Lankenau Medical Center (Wynnewood, Pa.). The cardiac care team at the Lankenau Heart Institute treats patients with heart disease at all Bryn Mawr, Pa.- based Main Line Health hospitals, including Magnet-designated Lankenau Medical Center. [READ MORE] Lehigh Valley Hospital (Allentown, Pa.). Lehigh Heart and Vascular Center at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem, Pa., offers services to treat a wide array of heart conditions, including heart failure and valve problems. [READ MORE] Loyola University Medical Center (Maywood, Ill.). Loyola's Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine offers a myriad of services, such as pediatric cardiology and cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. [READ MORE] Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). The Massachusetts General Hospital Corrigan Minehan Heart Center offers a wide array of programs, including the Elizabeth Anne and Karen Barlow Corrigan Women's Heart Health Program, which offers cardiac care designed specifically for women. [READ MORE] Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.). U.S. News & World Report ranked Mayo Clinic as No. 2 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery for 2016-17. [READ MORE] Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (Houston). The Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute opened in Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in 2008. [READ MORE] Mercy Hospital (Coon Rapids, Minn.). The cardiac care team at the Heart & Vascular Center at Mercy Hospital uses the latest technology to provide early detection, rapid treatment and rehabilitation of heart disease. [READ MORE] Mercy Anderson Hospital (Cincinnati). Since 1984, Anderson Hospital has offered advanced medical care through a variety of programs. [READ MORE] Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbot Northwestern Hospital offers comprehensive cardiac care, including specialized treatment for a full range of heart conditions. [READ MORE] Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center. The Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute offers a wide array of services at Morristown Medical Center and Overlook Medical Center in Summit, N.J., both part of Morristown-based Atlantic Health Services. [READ MORE] Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital (Greensboro, N.C.). Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital houses the Cone Health Heart and Vascular Center, one of the most active cardiovascular care facilities in North Carolina. [READ MORE] Mount Auburn Hospital (Cambridge, Mass.). Founded in 1886, Mount Auburn Hospital is affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston and is home to the Saal Family Cardiovascular Center, which offers a wide range of heart services, including cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology, cardiac surgery and cardiac rehabilitation. [READ MORE] Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City). Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai Hospital offers comprehensive heart care, including treatments for heart attack, heart failure and heart rhythm disorder. [READ MORE] Munson Medical Center (Traverse City, Mich.). The medical team at the Webber Heart Center at Munson Medical Center includes cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, vascular surgeons, internists and neurologists. [READ MORE] Nebraska Medicine (Omaha). Nebraska Medicine was named the No. 1 hospital overall in the state by U.S. News & World Report for 2016 and listed as a high-performing hospital for heart failure and heart bypass surgery in its common care ratings. [READ MORE] Nebraska Methodist Hospital (Omaha). Nebraska Methodist Hospital is a Blue Distinction Center+ for Cardiac Care and received a three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 2015. [READ MORE] NewYork-Presbyterian University Hospital (New York City). The hospital treats patients through its three cardiac care centers the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute, the Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center or the William Acquavella Heart Valve Center. [READ MORE] Northeast Georgia Medical Center (Gainesville). Physicians at the center's Ronnie Green Heart Center consult about 30,000 patients and perform more than 5,000 cardiac procedures every year. [READ MORE] Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago). The Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital launched in 2005 after a Valentines Day gift of $10 million from philanthropist Neil G. Bluhm. [READ MORE] NYU Langone Medical Center (New York City). NYU Langone's heart center was renamed from The John Wyckoff Adult Cardiology Clinic to the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology in 2002 in recognition of a donation from a longtime friend of the center. [READ MORE] Ocala (Fla.) Regional Medical Center. Ocala Regional Medical Center offers a comprehensive cardiovascular program that delivers the continuum of care options from prevention and screenings through diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. [READ MORE] Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (Columbus). The Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital at OSU Wexner Medical Center offers heart care programs for structural heart disease, heart rhythm disorders and heart failure, among others. [READ MORE] Oregon Health and Science University Hospital (Portland). Physicians at OHSU's Knight Cardiovascular Institute performed the first surgery with an artificial valve in 1960 and developed angioplasty in 1964. [READ MORE] OSF St. Joseph Medical Center (Bloomington, Ill.). OSF St. Joseph Medical Center Heart Center turned 25 this year and reports 90 percent of its coronary artery bypass surgery cases are done as beating heart surgery, so patients avoid the heart lung machine. [READ MORE] Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. The hospital takes a comprehensive approach to heart health, focusing on prevention, diagnosis and treatment programs, as well as cardiovascular research. [READ MORE] ProMedica Toledo (Ohio) Hospital. ProMedica Toledo Hospital contains a 24-7 emergency care and coronary intensive care unit that always has a cardiologist on staff. [READ MORE] Riverside Medical Center (Kankakee, Ill.). As of December 2012, surgeons at Riverside Medical Center have performed more than 2,600 open heart surgery procedures and more than 20,000 cardiac catheterizations. [READ MORE] Rush University Medical Center (Chicago). The Rush Heart Center for Women is the first heart program in Chicago exclusively dedicated to treating females. [READ MORE] Saint Thomas West Hospital (Nashville, Tenn.). Saint Thomas West Hospital's heart program includes more than 60 cardiac specialists at 35 regional sites. [READ MORE] Sanford USD Medical Center (Sioux Falls, S.D). Sanford USD Medical Center's Sanford Heart Hospital houses more than 750 heart specialists and staff members that offer highly compassionate and personal heart care. [READ MORE] Scripps Health (San Diego). Scripps Health unveiled the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute in 2015. The institute is a large comprehensive center dedicated to cardiovascular medicine, research and training. [READ MORE] Sentara Norfolk (Va.) General Hospital-Sentara Heart Hospital. The Sentara Heart Hospital offers comprehensive cardiology care with services ranging from advanced diagnostics and imaging to minimally invasive heart procedures, surgeries and transplants. [READ MORE] St. Agnes Medical Center (Fresno, Calif.). St. Agnes Medical Center provides a high level of heart and vascular care through its broad range of diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical interventions. [READ MORE] St. Cloud Hospital (Saint Cloud, Minn.). The CentraCare Heart & Vascular Center at St. Cloud Hospital is the largest, most advanced heart center in Central Minnesota and sees more than 30,000 patients each year. [READ MORE] St. Elizabeth Edgewood (Ky.). St. Elizabeth Edgewood's Heart & Vascular Institute contains a dedicated team of cardiologist and physician specialists who provide heart care in every area ranging from wellness and prevention to complex heart procedures and surgeries. [READ MORE] St. Francis Hospital (Roslyn, N.Y.). St. Francis Hospital, which specializes in heart surgery, cardiac catheterization and angioplasty, is the only specialty designated cardiac center in the state of New York. [READ MORE] St. Joseph Mercy Hospital (Ann Arbor, Mich.). St. Joseph Mercy Hospital offers an intensive cardiac rehabilitation program, along with a wide range of diagnostic and surgical cardiac services. [READ MORE] St. Luke's Hospital (Kansas City, Mo.). St. Luke's Hospital is home to the St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute the only facility in the region that offers a full range of cardiovascular services. [READ MORE] St. Luke's University Hospital (Bethlehem, Pa.). St. Luke's University Hospital Bethlehem Campus is the main campus for St. Luke's University Health Network. [READ MORE] St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana (Indianapolis). St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana represents the largest collective heart care system in the state with more than 180 cardiovascular physicians located throughout Indianapolis and central Indiana. [READ MORE] Stanford (Calif.) Health Care-Stanford Hospital. The Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, consisting of 124 faculty members, serves as the cardiovascular research hub for Stanford University. [READ MORE] Sutter Medical Center (Sacramento, Calif.). Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute, with its main location at Sutter Medical Center, is a full-service cardiovascular center that hosted the first successful open-heart surgery, first heart transplant, first pediatric open-heart surgery and first endoscopic vein harvesting procedure in the Greater Sacramento area. [READ MORE] Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital. The hospital's 77,000-square-foot cardiovascular center contains eight cardiac-specific operating rooms and six cardiac catheterization labs. [READ MORE] Texas Children's Hospital (Houston). Texas Children's Hospital offers pediatric services in interventional cardiology, electrophysiology and cardiac imaging, among other areas. [READ MORE] Texas Heart Institute at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center (Houston). Texas Heart Institute's staff of 180 has performed more than 118,800 open heart operations, 258,000 cardiac catheterizations and 1,270 heart transplants. [READ MORE] The Christ Hospital Health Network (Cincinnati). Christ Hospital, often known as "Cincinnati's Heart Hospital," has been named to Truven Health Analytics' 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals every year for more than a decade. [READ MORE] The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano (Texas). The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano began working on a 150,000-squre-foot expansion in May to complete a 200-seat auditorium and double the number of private outpatient beds, with an expected completion date of May 2018. [READ MORE] Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia). Thomas Jefferson's heart institute was one of the first centers in the country that used stents to open arteries and drug-eluting stents to prevent re-obstruction. [READ MORE] Tufts Medical Center (Boston). Tufts Medical Center includes surgeons who have been president of the Heart Failure Society of America, Heart Rhythm Society and American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. [READ MORE] UC San Diego Medical Center-UC San Diego Health. UC San Diego Medical Center opened the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, a comprehensive heart hospital, in 2011. [READ MORE] UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles). UCLA Medical Center, which houses one of the country's largest heart and lung transplant programs, earned a three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. [READ MORE] UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco). UCSF Medical Center includes three cardiology divisions at UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus/Mount Zion/Mission Bay, San Francisco General Hospital and the San Francisco VA Medical Center. [READ MORE] UMass Memorial Medical Center (Worcester, Mass.). UMass Memorial Medical Center provides comprehensive care for heart disease and offers appointments within 48 hours at multiple locations across the healthcare system. [READ MORE] University Hospitals Case Medical Center (Cleveland). The UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute at UH Case Medical Center includes 11 centers of excellence in heart and vascular care. [READ MORE] University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham. The cardiovascular care at the University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham treats patients with heart failure, valve disease, vascular disease, congenital heart disease and pulmonary vascular disease, among other conditions. [READ MORE] University of California Davis Medical Center (Sacramento). UC Davis cardiologists became the first in Northern California to offer a new bioresorbable stent in July when a patient received the Absorb vascular scaffold. [READ MORE] University of Colorado Hospital (Aurora). UC Health includes two programs for transcatheter aortic valve replacement: The Heart Valve Clinic at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland and The Heart Valve Clinic at University of Colorado Hospital in metro Denver. [READ MORE] University of Kansas Hospital (Kansas City). The William A. & Mary J. Reed Cardiovascular Surgery Center and Lynn H. Kindred, MD, Catheterization Labs at the University of Kansas Hospital provide advanced care for patients. [READ MORE] University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers (Ann Arbor). The University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers unveiled the $215 million University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center in 2007, which was renamed the Frankel Cardiovascular Center in 2013 in honor of the Samuel and Jean Frankel Foundation. [READ MORE] University of Washington Medical Center (Seattle). University of Washington Medical Center offers one of the only full cardiovascular training programs in the Northwest. [READ MORE] University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (Madison). The heart, vascular and thoracic care at UW Health in Madison has a special emphasis on angioplasty, peripheral vascular blockages and limb salvage, cardiac surgery and heart and lung transplant, in addition to other services. [READ MORE] UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside (Pittsburgh). The UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute offers 13 different specialty centers for heart care, including the artificial heart program and center for aortic valve disease. [READ MORE] Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tenn.). Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute became the first heart program in the state to implant the HeartWare ventricular assist system as a bridge to transplantation in 2013, only months after the system earned Food and Drug Administration approval. [READ MORE] Yale-New Haven (Conn.) Hospital. The cardiac services at Yale-New Haven Hospital include heart failure, aortic aneurysms, cardiac rehabilitation and a womens heart and vascular program in addition to other services. [READ MORE] Two buildings at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City were evacuated Monday after construction crews ruptured a gas line in the area, according to a KMBC news report. Officials said the A.R. Dykes Library and the Hemenway Life Sciences Innovation Center, both located on the University of Kansas Medical Center's campus, were evacuated, according to the report. Hospital officials told KMBC the incident did not affect patient care at University of Kansas Medical Center. The gas line was capped not long after the break, and people will be allowed to return to the evacuated buildings once utility crews finish work on the line, according to the report. More articles on healthcare news: UPMC looks for new site to build hospital FBI urges ransomware victims to report attacks to federal law enforcement Drugmakers push back against opioid limitation measures: 3 things to know To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below WASHINGTON, D.C.-After the 2012 election cycle, POLITICO decided to move beyond its D.C.-centric publishing model and expand nationally. Now with seven state-specific newsletters and three state-specific websites, its knee deep in the audience targeting game and working with directly with the Clinton and Trump campaigns, as well as numerous PACs and Super PACs. Historically, POLITICOs real bread and butter has been newsletter sponsorships, Randon White, the companys Head of Programmatic, said in an interview earlier this month at the Beet.TV summit on politics and advertising. But now with the type of scale that were achieving, effective banner targeting is the most efficient means that weve found for these campaigns. POLITICOs geographic expansion led to the onloading of its data management platform with Lotame and a partnership with Acxioms data connectivity unit, LiveRamp. The result, according to White, goes beyond the programmatic space. The way that were approaching it is a lot of the ways that a campaign would. Thinking how do we build lists, how do we get those direct-response campaigns and how do we move down the funnel to when were doing persuasion and geo TV later on in the year, said White. The POLITICO portfolio now includes extensive digital and print offerings. On the legacy side, it distributes more than 35,000 copies of its newspaper five days a week when Congress is in session and publishes POLITICO Magazine six times a year. During this election cycle, the national expansion that began a few years ago is paying off. Its a lot of PACs and super PACs but also the highest level presidential campaigns, said White. Were doing a lot of work with the Trump and Clinton campaigns. Its a testament to our regional scale. You are watching videos from Beet.TV politics and advertising summit presented by OpenX along with Intermarkets. Please find additional videos from the series here. External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has reportedly helped an Indian sailor, whose physical condition was worsening, on Sunday. The Sailor named Devendra Singh on board Nu Shi Nalini, a chemical tanker ship, in Yemen, was sick. Swaraj, knowing this, tweeted to get him emergency medical help, tagging Defence minister and Indian Navy. Later, a company doctor assisted Singh, whose condition is better now, the Navy said. The woman got through to a police call handler in Massachusetts A concerned British road user got a surprise when she called police to report another motorist, only to realise she had phoned a force more than 3,000 miles away in the United States. The caller burst out laughing along with the confused police call handler in Massachusetts when they both realised the mistake after two minutes on the line. The woman, who thought she was calling officers in Barnstaple, Devon, had actually contacted Barnstable police on the east coast of America. Confusion arose after the woman, who had explained that she had seen a car cross the white line in the road to hit another vehicle, tried to explain where she was. After she told the call handler where the incident happened, he made clear his bewilderment and she said: "You're not local then, you can't be because Ilfracombe is the next town on from Muddiford." When the officer informed her she had called Massachusetts she said with surprise: "Massachusetts? There's no way you can help me then is there?" The officer replied: "It's a different town, it's twinned with Barnstaple, England. Our response time is going to be about six hours." Chuckling, the woman told him: "I'm sorry, go on laugh." The audio has been shared online. Chief Paul MacDonald of Barnstable police said: "The officer did a great job handling it. Obviously there was a little confusion between the person who called and the officer but I think they handled it pretty well." The announcement comes after the airport's main carrier, budget airline Ryanair, said it was axing flights to London and cutting the number of services to Liverpool The First Ministers have confirmed the Executive will provide 7million in funding to the struggling City of Derry Airport. The Executive will provide up to 2.5m in route development support which will help transform the future of the airport and a further 4.5m capital investment in partnership with Derry and Strabane District Council aimed at creating high-value jobs and training opportunities. The announcement comes after Ryanair - the airport's main carrier - axed flights to London and reduced the number of services to Liverpool. Read More The Executive has said talks are "at an advanced stage" with an airline over replacing routes from the airport. The airport, which is owned by Derry and Strabane District Council, is currently operating at a loss of 2.145m a year. Announcing the funding package on Monday, First Minister Arlene Foster, said: This 7m package ensures the airport remains a key gateway to the North West for business and leisure travel. "The council also has plans for further development which would bring employment opportunities to the area and we want to act as a catalyst for it to succeed. "This announcement is part of our plan to help deliver economic prosperity in every part of Northern Ireland. Indeed, the plans to invest in capital works will be a welcome boost to the construction sector in the North-West as well. "Our package of support will ultimately allow the airport to plan for the future and remain a key part of the transport infrastructure for Northern Ireland. Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness added: "Connectivity is a pre-requisite for economic development which made this investment in the City of Derry Airport vital. "This 7m package will enable the City of Derry Airport to invest in route development and capital projects which will create high value jobs and training opportunities. I have been actively engaged in discussions with the City of Derry Airport and the local council for a number of weeks. "With Ryanairs withdrawal, having another airline in place is vital for our economic development and I am pleased discussions are at an advanced stage. I am confident this financial backing will enable the airport to not only function but flourish and serve all the people of the North-West and further afield. Britain's leading ports company is to invest 50 million to support the growth of UK exports. The phased investment will boost vehicle handling facilities at the Port of Southampton. The south coast port is number one in the UK for handling vehicles, with more than 900,000 vehicles passing through in 2015, including around 520,000 for export. Nearly a third of these arrive for export on up to five daily trains. The first 25 million tranche of the investment by Associated British Ports (ABP) will deliver two new vehicle handling facilities, capable of storing 7,600 vehicles en route from UK factories to global markets. The second phase will see a further two facilities built. Ultimately, the investment will add a further 15,000 spaces to the port's capacity and take the total number of vehicle handling facilities in Southampton to nine, capable of carrying 55,000 vehicles. ABP chief executive James Cooper said: "The port is a critical part of the supply chain for the British automotive industry, providing essential access to global markets. "Our investment will build on this critical role and support our customers' drive to continue to grow their exports well into the future." International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox said: "This investment is positive news not just for Southampton, but for our world-class automotive industry as a whole. Southampton is a key route for British brands to access international markets and this investment will allow exporters to take advantage of the global demand for British-made vehicles. "Last week, ONS statistics revealed UK car exports reached a record high in July and investments like this will help to strengthen exports in the sector and will be a further boost for confidence and optimism." Premium Margaret Canning Opinion Conservatives have gone back to traditional territory with a mini-budget that just might cost the party the next election Many of the measures in Kwasi Kwartengs first big statement as Chancellor had been trailed in advance changes to stamp duty, the cancellation of both the rise in National Insurance and the rise in corporation tax, and bringing forward a cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19 pence. Jamie Dornan has gone from serial killer to sex symbol - and now soldier. The Co Down actor's new character is an Irish UN peace keeper who survived an ambush in central Africa. New images for the forthcoming Netflix film The Siege of Jadotville - released ahead of a special screening at Dublin's Savoy cinema tonight - show Dornan wearing army combats and brandishing a rifle in the African wilderness. The Siege of Jadotville marks a departure for Dornan from playing cold, complicated and unpleasant men - first as a charming serial killer in The Fall, then as the masochistic romantic interest in Fifty Shades - and allows his fans a to see him as a straightforward good guy. The movie recounts the true-life tale of Irish UN peacekeepers, ambushed by mercenaries during the Congo's brutal civil war 55 years ago, and how they fought off 5,000 guerrillas before running out of supplies. When the promo reel was released last week, it made headlines internationally - in large part due to the casting of Dornan, who became a household name playing Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades franchise. The second movie, Fifty Shades Darker, is out next February - and, if the success of the trailer is anything to go by, it could be a more successful movie than its blockbuster predecessor. When the first trailer for the new movie was released last week it garnered a whopping 114 million views online in its first 24 hours - smashing the record set for most-viewed trailer in a single day by the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens', which hit the top of the charts in October 2015 with 112 million views. Some 39.3 million of the views came from North American, while 74.6 million came from overseas. '50 Shades of Grey' was the first book to sell more than one million copies on Amazon Kindle, and the trilogy has sold more than 125 million copies worldwide. In The Siege of Jadotville, which is a far cry from the S&M sauce-fest which helped make him famous across the world, 34-year-old father-of-two Dornan assumes the role of Commandant Pat Quinlan, who led the 157 troops in their shootout against troops loyal to the Katangese Prime Minister Moise Tshombe, and the Belgian and French mercenaries assisting them. Expand Close Jamie Dornan as Pat Quinlan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jamie Dornan as Pat Quinlan As different factions vied for power in volatile post-independence Belgian Congo, the peacekeeping operation from 1960 to 1964 attempted to keep order was the largest and most costly operation the UN ever carried out. Eddie Izzard making a speech in his pink beret at the rally A Brexit supporter from Poland has admitted stealing Eddie Izzard's pink beret during a pro-EU rally . David Czerwonko, 26, of Clitherow Road, Brentford, west London, admitted snatching the pink hat off the comedian's head during the march down Whitehall on September 3. Izzard was forced to give chase in high heels after Czerwonko, a chef who has lived in the UK for two and a half years, seized the beret. As officers pinned the man to the floor, Izzard retrieved the colourful headwear and replaced it on his head. It was later taken away by police as evidence. Prosecutor Amanda McCabe said the pink beret, which had UK and EU badges pinned to it, was of unknown but personal value to Izzard. She said: "The march was well-attended, there were thousands of other people taking part. "Mr Izzard was at the head of the march. A group of four masked men stood in front of the march with a large banner supporting the Brexit campaign." The banner halted the march, blocking their path as they approached the cenotaph in Whitehall, she added. Referring to the four men, the prosecutor said Mr Izzard said: "This is the face of Brexit: masked and dangerous." Speaking of Czerwonko, whose face was half-concealed by a bandanna, she continued. "He approached Mr Izzard, reached out to him and grabbed at the pink beret he was wearing at the time." Wearing faded denim jeans, a black Puma T-shirt and a full beard, Czerwonko pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday. Tobi Olu-Iyiola, defending, said the 26-year-old did not know that the man with the pink beret was Izzard, and did not attend the march with the intention of causing trouble. She said: "He saw a gentlemen who he did not know, he did not know who Eddie Izzard was, he just noticed a pink beret and grabbed it and ran off with it. "He said it was an instinctive and silly reaction ... something he won't be repeating again." The event was one of a series of 'March for Europe' rallies across the country on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, demanding a pause in the Brexit process. Chair of the bench Robin Westlake acknowledged that "there was not a great deal of planning, it was a fairly spontaneous reaction and the beret was recovered". Czerwonko was fined 185, and ordered to pay a 30 victim surcharge and 85 court costs. Simon Cowell will be hoping for X Factor glory as he becomes the mentor to the girls for the first time. Head judge Cowell has mentored the overs category for the last two years on the ITV talent show. Former Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger will mentor the boys, Louis Walsh will mentor the groups and Sharon Osbourne will mentor the overs. Osbourne, who returned to the judging panel this year, won the show in 2013 with the same category when Sam Bailey was named winner. The mentoring categories were announced at the end of the Bootcamp episode of the show. More than 1 00 acts took to the stage at north London venue Alexandra Palace in a bid to make it through to the six-chair challenge. Former X Factor participants Gifty Agyeman, 20, also known as Gifty Louise, and Anelisa Lamola, 26, are both through to the next round. Agyeman said: "When I saw Simon walk through there, honestly my head just exploded. My heart was beating just, like, yes." Samantha Atkinson, 32, and James Wilson, 34, are both through to Osbourne's six-chair challenge in the overs category. Viewers saw Wilson disappear moments before he was due to perform at Bootcamp, as the pressure of the show became too much for him. The carpenter, who has dyslexia, explained: " I found out I had dyslexia when I was six or seven. I struggle with my reading and writing, it's difficult for me because it's all about reading the lyrics." Couple Tom, 24, and Laura, 29, from Liverpool, will also compete in the overs six-chair challenge after raising their game during their audition. Beforehand a nervous Laura admitted: "I'm afraid I'm going to let Tom down. I have to prove to Simon I deserve to be on that stage as much as Tom." Also through to the next round is rapper Honey G, who said it was all "going to go down at Wembley Arena, it's going to kick off left, right and centre. This is the sickest thing that's ever happened to me". The boys' category may be the one to watch this year, with strong contenders such as Matt Terry, 23, whose nan came in to hug Cowell during her grandson's audition. Scherzinger's boys' group were in good spirits as she addressed them for the first time, saying: "I hope you guys are ready to work, I wish I came in here with a whip," to which someone cheekily replied: "So do we." Next week the contestants will take to the stage at Wembley's SSE Arena as the six-chair challenge kicks off. The hopefuls will sing in front of a live audience as the judges whittle their groups down to just six people, who they will take through with them to the Judges' Houses round. :: The X Factor airs on ITV at 8pm LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Winners John Travolta, Ryan Murphy, actress Connie Britton, and host Dave Karger attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner John Oliver and host Dave Karger attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Patton Oswalt attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Outstanding Reality-Competition Program Winner for The Voice Carson Daly (L) producer Mark Burnett (R) and producing team attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) Sarah Paulson attends the Governors Ball for the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) Jeremy Maguire attends the Fox Emmy Awards after party on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 in Los Angeles (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners Keegan-Michael Key (R) and Jordan Peele attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner John Oliver and host Dave Karger attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Courtney B. Vance attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Soloway attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Regina King attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) Joanne Froggatt arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) Felicity Huffman arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Laura Carmichael arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Maisie Williams arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Amy Poehler arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Heidi Klum arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Sophie Turner arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) Ariel Winter arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Kirsten Dunst arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Ariel Winter arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Julia Louis-Dreyfus winner of the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series and best comedy series for Veep poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Neve Campbell, left, and JJ Feild arrive at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Kiefer Sutherland presents an award at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Jessie Graff arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Michelle Dockery arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Matt Damon, left, embraces host Jimmy Kimmel on stage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Jane Krakowski arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Tina Fey arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Sofia Vergara arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Allison Janney appears on stage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Lindsey Vonn arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Tom Hiddleston, left, and Priyanka Chopra appear on stage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Henry Winkler pays tribute to Garry Marshall at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) James Corden, left, and Jeffrey Tambor, the winner of the award for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for Transparent, walk off the stage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, from left, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, and Kit Harington winners of the award for outstanding drama series for Game of Thrones pose in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) The cast and crew from Game of Thrones accept the award for outstanding drama series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Larry David presents an award at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Mandy Moore arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Claire Danes, left, and Bryan Cranston arrive on stage to present an award at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Matt Damon, left, and host Jimmy Kimmel appear on stage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Kit Harington winner of the award for outstanding drama series for Game of Thrones poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) The cast and crew from Game of Thrones accept the award for outstanding drama series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus poses with the Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series and Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, in the press room during the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / FREDERIC J BROWNFREDERIC J BROWN/AFP/Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner David Mandel and actor Matt Walsh attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus poses with the Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series and Oustanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, in the press room during the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / FREDERIC J BROWNFREDERIC J BROWN/AFP/Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Nikolaj Coster-Waldau attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners David Benioff (C) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners John Travolta and Ryan Murphy attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Ryan Murphy, actress Connie Britton and hosts Dave Karger and Jill Kargman attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Actress Connie Britton and host Dave Karger attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners Keegan-Michael Key (R) and Jordan Peele attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winners Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele attend IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Courtney B. Vance attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Courtney B. Vance attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) Steven Moffat and crew of Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Masterpiece) accept the award for outstanding television movie at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Kit Harington, left, and Andy Samberg appear on stage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Winner Patton Oswalt attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images) Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Veep at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) John Travolta winner of the award for outstanding limited series for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, from left, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, and Kit Harington winners of the award for outstanding drama series for Game of Thrones pose in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) The cast and crew from Game of Thrones accept the award for outstanding drama series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) The cast and crew from Game of Thrones accept the award for outstanding drama series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) The cast and crew from Game of Thrones accept the award for outstanding drama series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Cast and crew from the""Game of Thrones" celebrate the award for Outstanding Drama Series during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Cast and crew from the""Game of Thrones" celebrate the award for Outstanding Drama Series during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Writer/producers David Benioff (4L), and D.B. Weiss (2R) with cast and crew accept the award for Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Writer/producers David Benioff (center L), and D.B. Weiss (center R) with cast and crew accept the award for Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Writer/producers David Benioff (4L), and D.B. Weiss (C) with cast and crew accept the award for Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Kit Harington winner of the award for outstanding drama series for Game of Thrones poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Actors Sophie Turner (L) and Kit Harington, winners of Best Drama Series for "Game of Thrones", pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Actors Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, winners of Best Drama Series for "Game of Thrones", pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Actors Rory McCann, Conleth Hill, Iwan Rheon, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, winners of Best Drama Series for "Game of Thrones", pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Actors Rory McCann, Conleth Hill, Iwan Rheon, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, winners of Best Drama Series for "Game of Thrones", pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) Director Miguel Sapochnik accepts the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Cast & crew of 'Game of Thrones' pose with the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, in the press room during the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / FREDERIC J BROWNFREDERIC J BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Director Miguel Sapochnik accepts the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Writer/producers David Benioff (L) and D.B. Weiss accept the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for "Game of Thrones" episode Battle of the Bastards during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Cast & crew of 'Game of Thrones' pose with the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, in the press room during the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / FREDERIC J BROWNFREDERIC J BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Writer/producer D.B. Weiss (R) accepts Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' from actor Hank Azaria (L) during the 68th Emmy Awards show on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Valerie MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Actors Rory McCann, Conleth Hill, Iwan Rheon, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, winners of Best Drama Series for "Game of Thrones", pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Actor Peter Dinklage accepts Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Actress of the serie "Games of Thrones" Sophie Turner arrives for the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn BeckROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images Actress in a Drama Series "Game of Thrones" Emilia Clarke arrives for the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn BeckROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images Supporting Actress in a Drama Series "Game of Thrones" Maisie Williams arrives for the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn BeckROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Writer/producer David Benioff (R) accepts Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' from actor Jimmy Smits (L) onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Writer/producers D.B. Weiss (C) and David Benioff (R) accept Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' from actor Hank Azaria (L) onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Writer/producers David Benioff (2nd L) and D.B. Weiss (C) with cast and production crew accept Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Actress in a Drama Series "Game of Thrones" Emilia Clarke arrives for the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn BeckROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images Actress in a Drama Series "Game of Thrones" Emilia Clarke arrives for the 68th Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Robyn BeckROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Director Miguel Sapochnik accepts Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Writer/producers David Benioff (L) and D.B. Weiss accept Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' episode 'Battle of the Bastards' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Writer/producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (both center, at microphone) with production crew accept Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Actress Emilia Clarke and writer George R.R. Martin accept Outstanding Drama Series for 'Game of Thrones' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Actors Maisie Williams (L) and Emilia Clarke, winners of Best Drama Series for "Game of Thrones", pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) Game Of Thrones toasted a record-breaking night at the Emmys, while Dame Maggie Smith triumphed for Britain at the TV awards. The show, based on George RR Martin's novels, has now scooped 38 Emmys, beating Frasier's record of 37 to become the most-awarded narrative show in Emmy history. Downton Abbey actress Dame Maggie stayed away from the Los Angeles ceremony but won a best supporting actress gong for her role as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the hit period drama. Her rivals included Game Of Thrones stars Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams, but the 81-year-old went on to land another Emmy to her bulging trophy cabinet - her third for her Downton role alone. Host Jimmy Kimmel joked during his opening monologue that the veteran actress should have made an effort to be at the event, having not attended in previous years either. "I f you want an Emmy you better hop on a plane right now and get your Dowager Count-ass over here," he joked. When her name was announced as winner, he walked on to the stage to take Dame Maggie's trophy, saying: "No, no, no, no, no. We're not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this, it'll be in the lost and found." British comedian John Oliver, who made his name on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, won outstanding variety talk show for satirical programme Last Week Tonight. He beat big names including James Corden, Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon to the gong. Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, the much-anticipated Victorian era-set special featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which left some viewers puzzled when it was broadcast on New Year's Day, received the television movie award. Cumberbatch had been nominated for his acting role in the special, but went away empty-handed. Sherlock writer Steven Moffat brought The Great British Bake Off controversy to a US audience when he received the award, saying : "Thank you to the BBC, who we love above all bakery. British people will get that." Tom Hiddleston left without an award after being nominated for his role in The Night Manager, the thriller based on the John le Carre novel. But the British-US miniseries did scoop a directing gong, for Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. Sky Atlantic fantasy Game Of Thrones was named best drama series and picked up gongs for outstanding writing and directing at the event in Los Angeles, although there was disappointment for British heartthrob Kit Harington as well as Headey, Clarke and Williams. The TV drama based on the murder trial of OJ Simpson, The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, was also honoured with a host of acting awards and was named outstanding limited series . Julia Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy for her role in the political satire Veep, which was named best comedy series, and paid a heartfelt tribute to her father following his death on Friday. The US star fought back tears as she collected the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series award, saying: " I'm so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered." It is the fifth time in a row Louis-Dreyfus has won the award for her role in the US version of BBC comedy The Thick Of It. Jeffrey Tambor won best lead actor in a comedy series for his role in the Amazon series Transparent and urged the TV industry to provide more opportunities for transgender actors. "Please give transgender talent a chance," he said. "Give them auditions. Give them their stories." Rami Malek was named best lead actor in a drama series for his role in Mr Robot, while Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama series for her performance in BBC America series Orphan Black. The 68th Emmy Awards took place at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. The BBC welcomed the wins for Sherlock and The Night Manager. Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, said: "Huge congratulations to Sherlock and Susanne Bier, the director of The Night Manager, for their outstanding Emmy wins. "It's a testament to the sheer quality and excellence of their work." Sue Vertue, executive producer for Hartswood Films, said: "Sherlock is a passion project so the work is its own reward - but it's nice that there are other rewards too. We are so glad to know that people enjoy the show almost as much as we enjoy making it." Presenter Phillip Schofield will host a documentary on the charitable works of the Duke of Edinburgh The Duke of Edinburgh will tell of his charity work in a TV documentary The Duke of Edinburgh is taking part in a new ITV documentary about the royal's charitable work. Philip will be interviewed by another Phillip - TV presenter Phillip Schofield - for the "landmark royal documentary". The programme - in which Schofield also talks to the Earl and Countess of Wessex about their involvement - will celebrate 60 years of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which helps young people. This Morning presenter Schofield said: "I am hugely excited to be working with T he Duke of Edinburgh's Award as it celebrates its 60th anniversary. "It's a unique opportunity to meet Prince Philip, the charity's founder, and to see first-hand the amazing work that the DofE does with young people all over the world." The documentary, with the working title When Phillip Met Prince Philip: 60 Years Of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, is being produced by Spun Gold TV, which made When Ant And Dec Met The Prince: 40 Years Of The Prince's Trust. The award is also marking its 60th anniversary with a Diamond Challenge, which is open to applicants of all ages to embark on a "personal challenge" to raise money for the charity. Peter Westgarth, chief executive of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, said: "This is a momentous year for The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Charity as we celebrate our Diamond Anniversary, 60 years of transforming the life and work prospects of millions of young people, from all backgrounds and circumstances, in the UK and worldwide. "The documentary is a fantastic opportunity for us to reflect on these past successes but also to showcase the positive impact of the DofE on today's generation and the potential for generations to come, helping young people to be happy, healthy, socially conscious and more employable. "We're excited to be able to capture such a pivotal year, give a unique insight into the DofE in 2016 and thank our founder, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, for setting up what has become the world's leading achievement award for young people." Queen's academics have been left reeling after the university announced the ditching of its sociology degree. The University and College Union (UCU), which represents academics, said staff were informed of the decision on Friday. Single honours degrees in sociology and anthropology had been threatened earlier this year under the university's Size And Shape Review that saw a number of departments shrunk. The decision to cut them was delayed in June. Now the university has gone ahead with its plan to dump the single honours degree in sociology. It is not known if the move will result in job losses. Earlier this year Queen's said there would be no compulsory redundancies arising from the review. Queen's UCU president Dr Fabian Schuppert said it was "a completely unacceptable and indefensible about-turn which threatens to undermine staff-management relations and the university's reputation". He said sociology academics had carried out a substantial review of the Bachelor of Arts degree "proving its sustainability and potential, but senior management decided to ignore it". He added: "It's incredible that, at a time when Queen's is awash with money, and on the basis of flawed reasoning and poor evidence, the faculty has basically told staff that the single honours sociology course will be closed - and jobs might be lost - without reasonable thought and in direct opposition to the suggestion of the review and consultation group. "In June vice-chancellor Patrick Johnston agreed to review the plans and work towards a reinstatement of the courses and staff. "A consultation group was set up and it recommended to keep both single honours sociology and single honours anthropology. "But senior management simply decided to ignore this advice in the case of sociology." Sociology lecturer Dr Veronique Altglas said she was "shocked and appalled" at the news. "It's just unbelievable. We're really annoyed and worried by it all," she said. "Many staff here have relocated from quite a distance, have planned to make a life here, but the university seems to care little about staff welfare. "It is deeply unfair to us - and flippant and short-sighted in how it makes plans for the future of higher education." A university spokesman said Queen's regularly reviews all its academic programmes 'to sustain its position as a world class university', "A working group from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences involving academic colleagues and student representatives has been considering the Single Honours in Sociology as a sustainable proposition," he said. "The engagement of subject staff and students in the process has been very positive. "Staff and student representatives were briefed on Friday on the output from the working group. A recommendation is to be taken to the University's Executive Board and Senate. "Sociology will continue to be offered at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and makes a strong contribution to the research vitality of the University." Arlene Foster has a series of engagements with potential investors and tourism officials in New York Arlene Foster will "unashamedly" try to sell the benefits of doing business in Northern Ireland during a visit to the United States. The First Minister has a series of engagements with potential investors and tourism officials in New York before moving on to Washington where she will a ddress a major legal conference. Speaking ahead of the trip, the DUP MLA said : "The message I am taking to the US is that Northern Ireland is a great place to live, invest and grow business, and I will unashamedly repeat this to a full range of potential new investors. "I am immensely proud of Northern Ireland and welcome that our tourism offering continues to grow year on year. "2015 was a record year for tourism from the United States and the US remains one of the top four markets for tourism to Northern Ireland." Meanwhile, Mrs Foster will also promote the region's fast-growing legal services sector when she addresses 6,000 delegates at the International Bar Association Conference in Washington. She added: "Northern Ireland now has an international and comprehensive legal cluster which includes top firms including Citi, Herbert Smith Freehills, Allen & Overy, Axiom Law and Baker and McKenzie. "Employing 1,200 people, these global giants have voted with their feet. They have made Northern Ireland their location of choice, having discovered that we offer an unparalleled combination of cost-effectiveness and legal technical excellence. "I will leave no stone unturned in my efforts to ensure a prosperous future for everyone in Northern Ireland." Campaigners whose family members were shot dead by soldiers in the 1971 Ballymurphy massacre stand outside Laganside Courts Ballymurphy Massacre families walked out of a meeting with the Secretary of State James Brokenshire at Stormont on Monday. It was Brokenshire's first meeting with the families since he took over in the post from Theresa Villiers. They walked out after just 45 minutes with James Brokenshire at Stormont House in a row over the release of funding for Troubles-related inquests. John Teggart, whose father was among 10 people shot dead in August 1971, said they were "disappointed and depressed" by the Minister's attitude. He said: "It was a terrible meeting. "James Brokenshire refused to answer many of our questions and it was just going round and round in circles." Mr Teggart said the relatives had been encouraged by some recent statements from the Minister, who was appointed in July. But he added: "It was just the same old, same old. "The families poured their hearts out about what had happened to their late relatives and were basically pleading for him to release the funding but it was going nowhere. "Mr Brokenshire is now the fourth Secretary of State that we have met. Expand Close Mourners at the funeral of one of the Ballymurphy victims / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mourners at the funeral of one of the Ballymurphy victims "He said he could not release the funding because he did not see support from the Executive for that. But we had representatives from six parties in the room. "The only party that wasn't there was the DUP." Ten people died after being shot by soldiers, among them a Catholic priest and a mother-of-eight, over three days of gunfire in August 1971. Another man died of a heart attack following an alleged violent confrontation with the troops. As with Bloody Sunday six months later, members of the Parachute Regiment were involved in the shootings. They took place as the Army moved into republican strongholds in west Belfast to arrest IRA suspects after the Stormont administration introduced the controversial policy of internment without trial. Expand Close Supporters and families of people shot dead by the British Army in 1972 in the Ballymurphy area marching through west Belfast (File photo) Photopress Belfast / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Supporters and families of people shot dead by the British Army in 1972 in the Ballymurphy area marching through west Belfast (File photo) Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: "The legacy aspect of the Fresh Start agreement is one that is continuing to exercise all of use, but more importantly the families of victims. I am hoping that the last piece of the jigsaw can be put in place," he said. "I do believe there is a huge responsibility on the British government to stop using the delays of others on the issue. They should fund those inquests as requested by the Lord Chief Justice. "This is a big issue, these people have waited for 45 years and I think it is only right that the British government take up their responsibility." Earlier this month Northern Ireland's most senior judge Sir Declan Morgan called on political leaders to sort out the contentious funding issue for legacy inquests. His request for 10m to fund a five-year programme that would deal with controversial Troubles' deaths was blocked by First Minister Arlene Foster. Outstanding inquests into more than 80 deaths that took place during the 30-year conflict have yet to be heard. Sinn Fein's legacy spokeswoman Jennifer McCann said the Ballymurphy families had been "let down". She said: "The Ballymurphy families have been waiting 45 years for justice and once again they have been let down by the British Government by their failure to release funds for legacy inquests. "The British Government has failed to uphold commitments made in the Stormont House Agreement on how to deal with the legacy of the conflict. "This is the fourth British secretary of state the families have met and their inaction has only added to the hurt of the families over four decades." SDLP West Belfast MLA Alex Attwood said the families are right to be angry at the failure to release funds for inquests. Alex Attwood said: "The Ballymurphy Massacre families walked out of the meeting with the Secretary of State today and I left with them. They are right to be angry and right to let the Secretary of State know of their anger in unambiguous terms. "The Secretary of State has been meeting with victims and survivors. One of the outcomes should be that the London Government changes for the better its approach to legacy issues. "Today, the Ballymurphy families heard that despite meeting victims and survivors, the London Government and the Secretary of State have yet to demonstrate change in their thinking. They gave the families no hope that inquest funds which the Lord Chief Justice has asked for time and time again will be released now. "It is also of concern that the Secretary of State is giving one party in this case the DUP a veto on a legacy issue. Victims and Survivors, their grief and their needs should not be subject to a shallow veto. "If the DUP can veto funding for inquests, they or others could try to do so again and attempt to veto other proposals to achieve truth, justice and accountability. Where would we be then? "This cannot be allowed to happen. The Secretary of State must show that he hears the calls of Victims and Survivors, including the Ballymurphy Massacre families, and will answer those calls. A spokeswoman for the Northern Ireland Office said they did not comment on the content of private meetings. The sister of a teenager whose face was slashed in a "horrifying" stabbing has urged witnesses to come forward to police. Vikki Gough also appealed for no retaliation following the attack on her 19-year-old brother Kevin Thompson, who was "minutes from death" following the incident in north Belfast on Saturday. Kevin, from the Ardoyne area, was out with friends when he was attacked with a broken bottle. He was taken to hospital with a serious cheek laceration and had been in a critical condition before doctors stabilised him yesterday. A 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is being questioned by police. Vikki said she believed her brother - known as KJ to friends - was trying to avoid trouble and was on his way home when he was attacked in Harcourt Drive shortly after 7pm. She claimed there was also an attempt to bite her brother's ear off, and that he also had cuts to his arms before being stabbed in a "C shape from ear to jaw and jaw to neck". Learning of what happened to Kevin the following morning, Vikki said: "My reaction was one of just utter shock and terror at what was happening. "He had been in surgery and the doctor updated us - had he come in a few minutes later there would have been nothing they could have done. "He lost almost all his own blood. They had to get a specialist surgeon to work on his face. Now there is possible nerve damage to his face. He was critical because of the blood loss. "The doctors said the next 24 hours would be important. He had been sedated all night and has been on very high doses of pain medication. Kevin has now started to come round, but it is confusing for him at the minute. He does not know what has happened." Vikki said her mother and the wider family were relieved to see him starting to regain consciousness but were still concerned. "We just want to say to anyone who has any information, no matter how small the detail, to give this to police," she said. "KJ's friends and other young people in the community - please do not retaliate in revenge. You will end up putting yourself and other people in danger. Keep yourselves safe. "This is horrifying for us. Kevin was minutes away from death." Vikki (29) said Kevin is a much-loved "baby brother" and was "very kind-hearted". She said her brother "had his troubles in the past" but had gained qualifications in construction and was looking forward to working in the industry and enjoying his new flat. "It is utterly shocking," she added. "Me and him are very close. He relies on me for everything. "We don't want to see anyone else put their lives at risk." Local Sinn Fein councillor JJ Magee has condemned the stabbing. "This incident has shocked the local community in north Belfast," he said. "I hope that the victim can make a full recovery from his injuries. "It highlights once again the dangers of knife crime on our streets. "I would call on anyone with information on this incident to come forward and assist the police investigation." SDLP councillor Paul McCusker also appealed for anyone with information to contact the PSNI. "It certainly was a vicious attack," he said. "The victim is stable now but was in a life-threatening condition at one stage." Mr McCusker said a motive had yet to be established but understood an anti-social incident "went seriously wrong". "There could have been a life lost," he added. "We have an issue of anti-social behaviour in north Belfast and we are working on that to see what we can do. "We are looking at a strategy, myself and youth workers and residents, starting in the Girdwood area, in association with park wardens from the council. We want to get positive engagement from young people." Detectives have appealed for anyone with information, or who witnessed the incident close to the junction of Harcourt Drive and Manor Street, off the Cliftonville Road, to contact them. They are asked to contact detectives at Musgrave PSNI station on 101, quoting reference number 1285 of 17/09/16. Alternatively they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak anonymously on 0800 555 111. Among the issues being tackled are cultural diversity, racism, sectarianism, paramilitarism, language, sport, and dealing with the legacy of the past More must be done to champion the contribution of ethnic minorities and migrant workers in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed. Peter Osborne, chairman of the Community Relations Council, described the rise in hate crimes as disturbing and appealed for political leaders to highlight the positive impact of inward migration. He said: "Public representatives should shout out very loud and publicly what huge benefit Northern Ireland derives from BME (black and minority ethnic) communities and newcomers. "Inward migration has uplifted us all socially, economically and culturally. Public services and many traditional industries depend on people born outside the UK or Ireland. Yet public policy and its implementation urgently needs to reflect this in better targeting race equality, better supporting BME organisations, and better promoting our intercultural future." Mr Osborne was speaking as the 14th Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week kicks off. More than 160 events are being staged across the region by a wide range of organisations, including schools, libraries, local councils, community and voluntary groups as well as a newly formed refugee orchestra, Orchestre des Refugies et Amis. Among the issues being tackled are cultural diversity, racism, sectarianism, paramilitarism, language, sport, and dealing with the legacy of the past. Mr Osborne added: "An 87% rise in crime with hate motivation in the last four years should be deeply troubling to this society. The Brexit vote has further sharpened concerns and fears. It is not that most people are racist - but those who are racist may now think more people agree with them than actually do. I believe the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland don't agree with the racists. "In these circumstances, it is critically important that all people with a public voice stop using language that suggests newcomers to this region have somehow had a negative impact. "We have an opportunity to create a new Northern Ireland - outward-looking, confident, inter-cultural - that isn't defined by its past. It will take the best of us all, whether British or Irish, newcomers or here for generations, because we all call this our home. We all have an equal part in shaping its future and we all can enrich this place going forward." One of the biggest events of the week will see 3,500 young people come together to mark international peace day on Wednesday. Meanwhile, those directly involved in peace-building will gather in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, on Tuesday for the Together: Building a United Community Engagement Forum. Jacqueline Irwin, chief executive of the Community Relations Council, said: " We hope the week will also encourage everyone to see that we all need to play a part in building the future if it is to be a positive one." Campbell College headmaster Robert Robinson talks to Rebecca Black about the challenges of leading one of the best known schools in Northern Ireland and his worry about the cuts to funding from Stormont. Q. Tell me about your background, where are you from and what inspired you to become a teacher? A. I grew up in Belfast. In 1981, the year of the hunger strikes, I finished my time at Methodist College and when most of my peers were choosing to escape Belfast I opted to stay put. I held a strong hope that life in Belfast would improve and I did not want to leave my home at this time. I wanted to stay and make a difference. I decided to read Psychology at Queen's University with the view to subsequently going into the Church. I soon discovered that Psychology and I were not suited and so I reverted to Science where I immediately felt comfortable. I fell into teaching. However, once I had fallen, I knew that I had found my niche. As a teacher my inspiration has always been driven by my own experience. No child should feel invisible, every child is different, and each has their own unique strengths, so attention to the individual is paramount. Q. What was your first job? A. My first teaching post was in Glastry High School where I had the pleasure of teaching some incredible children - children of all abilities and backgrounds. This diversity was the best learning ground for me as I had to quickly develop strategies that would bring out the best in each pupil. I arrived in the final years of the principal, Eddie Beckett, who had established the school and was inspirational to me - he strongly advocated the potential for how teaching could transform lives. After I married I settled in Newtownards where I taught chemistry in Regent House. I was very involved in the development of Regent and this experience enabled my move to Headship at Rainey Endowed in Magherafelt. My 10 years as Head of Rainey Endowed saw a transformation of the academic performance of the school, the collaborative activity between schools within Magherafelt and my work there earned me an MBE for services to education. Q. When did you start as Headmaster of Campbell and what drew you to the position? A. I started at Campbell in 2012 and was immediately struck by how different it was to my previous school. I had moved from a country grammar to one of the most prestigious schools in Northern Ireland - if not Ireland. I would not have moved for any other position. The heritage of Campbell was a huge draw for me - you can feel the 120 years of history in every corner of the place. I was excited about the opportunity to work in an environment that recognised and celebrated the individual. What particularly interested me was the Board of Governors' commitment to drive the college forward and I saw this as a great opportunity to be part of a strong team with a clear and exciting vision for the future. In the last four years at Campbell we, as a team, have moved this school forward by leaps and bounds in tandem with the ethos of the place. Academically the school has been delivering record results in recent years but more importantly the passion for the college from our pupils, staff and parents is stronger than ever. We provide individual attention and care for each and every boy and in return we are privileged to enjoy the commitment and passion of our boys as they head off into the world, forever holding Campbell College in their hearts. Q. What makes Campbell different to other schools? A. I believe the main difference is grounded in our people. Our staff who go the extra mile, our pupils who wear the school crest with pride and respect, our parents who work with us to get the best for their children and our Old Campbellians who give back - not just to the college but to the world around them. There is a shared belief that 'together we make a difference' and I have not witnessed that sense of community at any other school. But there is also a host of tangible differences. For instance, 150 of our 1200 pupils are boarders, hailing from all corners of the world and representing a wide range of cultural, social and religious backgrounds. This is an international family. As a boarding school, we have a number of our staff and their families living on campus and so the College is full of life, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Even in school holidays the college is filled with youth groups, residential summer schools, weddings, festivals and events. It never stops! We had 400 people in our Great Hall on Saturday past attending a screening of one of the Harry Potter movies as part of the Belfast Film Festival. We are an all-boys school and committed to the premise that boys learn differently. Our senior school is not 100% academically selective - 70% of our intake at Year 8 is based on academic selection and 30% is not. This sets us apart from other Grammar Schools and is part of our commitment that every child has a different educational journey. We have one of the largest Combined Cadet Force divisions in the UK, one of the country's most successful school rugby teams, world-renowned authors, Olympians, Victoria Cross and Nobel Prize winners, international rock stars and leading actors among our Alumni. Not to mention we have our own pipe band and 120 years of history - our buildings hold a century of stories in their walls! The list goes on. Boys walk through our gates at three or four years of age and from that moment they are Campbellians until the end of their days. We have generations of families who have attended the college - some of whom have been married here and many of whom have their names etched into our history. This is no ordinary school - it is a family and a way of life. Q. As a fee-paying school how accessible is Campbell? A. Campbell College is a Voluntary B Grammar School and as such we charge a capital fee: for a day pupil these fees are 2,600 a year, that is 50 a week, 7 a day. The fee we charge pays for the maintenance and development of all our historic buildings and our 100-acre campus and its facilities. Whereas other non-fee-paying schools are granted funding to maintain and develop their buildings and grounds, we raise all this money ourselves. We use these funds to ensure a superb campus for our pupils but also to help preserve a piece of local heritage for future generations. Our buildings and grounds are over 120 years old and we are committed to sharing these with the wider community. We open up the campus on an increasing basis each year via a variety of public festivals, heritage open days, historic tours, school events, community events, charity activities and nature walks. Each year over 6,000 people not connected to Campbell enjoy our buildings and grounds and we aim to increase this accessibility over the coming years through a number of ambitious public access projects. Throughout its history Campbell has been committed to ensuring that those who are not able to afford the fees are given equal opportunities through our bursary and scholarship schemes. Thanks to contributions from Old Campbellians over the years these bursaries and scholarships have delivered life-changing benefits to generations of boys. The philosophy of our founder continues. Q. How much is the college connected to its local community? A. Our founder Henry Campbell was a philanthropist - an individual who believed in making a difference and giving back to society. His legacy continues in the college to this day. The school is well-connected to and continually contributing to its wider community. Whether financially through bursaries, scholarships and charitable activity or through sharing our campus and facilities with the local community, Campbell knows the role it should be playing in East Belfast and beyond. It has been part of the Belfast story for over a century and will continue to be so for many years to come. Q. Can you comment on Campbell's position in the league tables? A. Firstly, league tables do not compare like with like and along with many of my peers I set little store by them. I am not concerned with a measurement system that is devoid of any rigid quantifiable approach. 70% of our Year 8 intake is chosen via academic selection and 30% is not. Our results cannot be reduced to a 5 A* - C figure and compared with a school that is 100% academically selected. That does not make sense. We need a system that shows the educational journey of a child through school. In this technological age there is no reason not to have a meaningful measurement such as a value-added system; looking at where each individual pupil starts at Year 8 and tracking their individual improvement: where they start versus where they end up. The same principle could be applied to the primary system. Once we introduce a standard measurement that removes the differences then we can start comparing schools in an equitable way - if you ever think making narrow comparisons between people is a good thing to do. Secondly, I am a firm believer that education is about more than results. It is about the whole person, their character and their ability to go into the real world and stand out from the crowd, be an individual. Returning to my starting point - the premise that each child is different and our role as educators is to inspire each pupil to be the best he or she can be: that is what we should be measuring. Q. How will you be affected by budget cuts? A. Harshly! We are affected just like all the other schools of Northern Ireland, and we will be looking at how we will make cut backs to cope with the shortfall the Department of Education imposed into the budgetary allocation. In addition, as we do not receive any grants for our buildings and grounds and already fund these elements from our own purse, we are under even more pressure as a tough economic climate hits our own fundraising capabilities and hence we can be hit doubly hard. Q. What are your hopes for the future? A. To continue the journey we have begun and to realise the full potential of Campbell College, as a place of educational excellence, as an important part of the history and fabric of Belfast, but most importantly as a place where boys are affected for good; young boys at three or four years of age start their educational journey in the safe knowledge that they will leave at 18 a full and rounded individual - the best that they can be and ready to make a difference to the world. The family of missing teenager Arlene Arkinson have endured an "emotional week", a coroner's court has been told. Although fresh searches failed to locate the schoolgirl's remains, her relatives are optimistic she will be found, their lawyer said. Henry Toner QC told Belfast Coroner's Court: "The family have to remain hopeful and do so while being bitterly disappointed that Arlene's remains have not been found." Details of the extent of the last week's digs at Killen in rural Co Tyrone were provided to the court. In a statement, Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray said specialists had examined two separate sites but found nothing suspicious. He said: "The area of concern was a low mound roughly the shape and size you expect a grave to be. The mound was covered with stones which appeared to originate from a nearby dry stone wall. "The actual excavation of the site took place on Friday September 16 and the experts concluded that no human remains were present." Another area of disturbed ground was also ruled out, the court was told. Mr Murray added: "When they were present at the scene they indicated another area, close by, where at some point soil may have been disturbed. "The scene was held for a further day and this too was excavated. It was discovered to be an old septic tank. "Nothing suspicious was discovered at either of the excavation sites and I directed that the scene be closed and the operation brought to an end." The search was triggered when farmer Noel Doherty, who rents the land, found what appeared to be a shallow grave. He said animals had eaten away vegetation to reveal a six foot by three foot plot filled with stones close to a house which has been derelict for about 15 years. Mr Murray said: "Given the proximity of the house to the location where Arlene was last seen, he felt that this could possibly be the location where she had been buried. "The area was in reasonably close proximity to both the place that Arlene had last been seen alive by an independent witness, and the location of the dwelling of the main suspect in the case, Robert Howard. "Travelling time from either of these locations could be covered by car in a few minutes." The Police Service of Northern Ireland deployed two forensic archaeologists from Bradford University, a specialist search adviser and major crime forensic adviser to work on the high-profile case. Judge Brian Sherrard, who is presiding over the long-running inquest, expressed gratitude to the farmer for reporting his suspicions. He said: "It is a matter of regret that nothing of evidential value was found. But it is reassuring that we live in a community that these matters are reported to the police and made subject to examination." Meanwhile, it also emerged that the coroner's legal representatives are to meet officials from the Republic's State Solicitor's Office to discuss what, if any evidence, Garda officers can contribute. It follows a legislative change in which Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has authorised the sharing of information. During a previous hearing earlier this month Judge Sherrard spoke out about the level of red tape hampering cross border co-operation. The coroner added: "We have been informed that An Garda Siochana now have the green light, through legislation, to work with the inquest." The meeting is expected to take place within the next fortnight. The inquest has been adjourned until October 7. Detectives investigating the murder of John Boreland have arrested a 39-year-old man. UDA member John Boreland (46) was gunned down in north Belfast last month. The man was detained on Sunday August 7 and was questioned at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast. He was later released unconditionally. Three men age 29, 33 and 61 have been charged with perverting the course of justice. While a fourth man aged 33 who was arrested in Newtownabbey on Tuesday September 13 has been released pending a report to the PPS. The central figure in the Nama controversy has broken his silence to claim he did not "make a penny" from a series of property transactions being investigated on both sides of the border - and by the FBI. Former Nama adviser Frank Cushnahan also claims recordings of him allegedly receiving 40,000 cash from a Nama borrower "infringed his privacy". It is the first time Mr Cushnahan has publicly responded to a series of allegations about his role in the sale of Nama's Northern Ireland loan book, known as Project Eagle. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ordered an inquiry into the sale of that portfolio after an investigation by the Comptroller & Auditor General published last week found that Nama, the Republic's so-called bad bank, incurred a potential loss to the Irish taxpayer of 223m from the sale. In a damning report, C&AG Seamus McCarthy raised questions over how the portfolio, at the time the biggest property sale in Irish history, was valued and marketed. He also criticised Nama's failure to take more action when it learned Mr Cushnahan allegedly stood to be paid 5m by one of the bidders. However, Mr Cushnahan rejected the claims that in the event of the purchase by Pimco he was to receive 5m. "I was never a party to any such agreement," he said. Mr Cushnahan claimed he had been treated like a "criminal" and that he was innocent. The BBC Spotlight programme broadcast secret recordings of a meeting between Mr Cushnahan and a Co Down-based Nama borrower, John Miskelly, that allegedly took place in a Jaguar car in 2012. "There's 40,000 in that and it's in bundles of two, Frank," Mr Miskelly is recorded as saying. Mr Cushnahan was advising Nama at the time the recording was made and was reappointed to the advisory board the same year. Project Eagle has been dogged by scandal for more than a year. US company Cerberus bought the portfolio in April 2014 for about 1.6bn. It later emerged that the managing partner of a firm of Belfast solicitors that had worked for Cerberus transferred 6m in fees from the deal to an Isle of Man bank account without his firm's knowledge. He resigned once it was discovered. Later Mr Cushnahan, a former member of Nama's Northern Ireland advisory committee, was recorded claiming that the 6m was meant for him. Mr Cushnahan did not directly address that recorded claim but reiterated that he did not benefit financially from the Project Eagle sale in any way. Writing in the Sunday Independent, Mr Cushnahan rejected all claims of wrongdoing: "I have been treated like a criminal by sections of the media, although few criminals would have been subject to the same onslaught I have had to endure over the past year." Mr Cushnahan failed to address the recordings which appear to show him accepting 40,000 cash in a brown paper bag in a hospital car park in 2012 from Mr Miskelly. He said he was talking to lawyers about taking legal action against the BBC. He claimed that the meeting occurred when he was asked to assist Mr Miskelly "at a time when I was informed that Mr Miskelly was terminally ill". In the recording the men are then heard discussing the payment and Mr Miskelly assures Mr Cushnahan no one else knows about the meeting. The programme claims Mr Cushnahan said he would use his "insider status" to help ease Mr Miskelly's financial problems. Mr Cushnahan admitted it was his "understanding" that, had the initial sale gone through and Pimco purchased the Project Eagle loan book, there was "a possibility he would have been appointed by (US company) Pimco to an executive role with appropriate remuneration". He also stressed that he was not a "public servant in the Republic of Ireland" and, as an adviser to Nama, he was paid the sum of 5,000 per year "as an honorarium". The appointment of a journalist as chief Stormont spin doctor has sparked a war of words between the Executive Office and the Opposition that has been blasted as "unmannerly". Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt queried why the First and Deputy First Ministers named BBC Nolan Show editor David Gordon as Press secretary without advertising the job or informing the Executive Committee before making the appointment public last week. He accused the Executive Office of behaviour befitting North Korea. But it hit back with two stinging statements on Saturday and yesterday accusing Mr Nesbitt of "hysteria", and labelling talk of Assembly scrutiny committees looking at the appointment as "nonsensical". Political commentator Peter Shirlow described one of the statements as "extraordinary". Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics show, Mr Shirlow said it read like something from a George Orwell novel. "That is one of the most unmannerly, unsophisticated documents that I have ever seen come out of the Executive Office," he said. "Whatever you think of the Executive, we need our leaders to show manners and we need them to be transparent in their communication. "Whenever I read that - that was anger, it was frustration, it was like something written by teenagers who had fallen out with each other." It was announced last week that Mr Gordon is to become the most senior spokesman for First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. However, his appointment has drawn criticism after it emerged the post - which commands a 75,000 salary - had not been advertised, and that the First and Deputy First Ministers used powers under what is known as the Royal Prerogative to create the role for the BBC journalist and former Belfast Telegraph political editor. Mr Nesbitt said the matter will be discussed next week by the committee - chaired by him - that monitors the Executive Office. Yesterday morning the Executive Office released a second weekend statement. It said: "Ministers use ministerial powers to make ministerial appointments. "The Executive Office has supplied the relevant order to any media outlet that requested it and has provided media with details of the legislation under which the appointment was made since it was announced. "To suggest there was any 'secret' is stretching credibility to breaking point." However, a number of political parties have expressed concern at the way the whole process has been handled by Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness. Alliance MLA Naomi Long said the fashion in which Mr Gordon was appointed to the role was "scandalous", while TUV leader Jim Allister described it as "Stalinist". The Fire Service has been feeling the strain of Obese people requiring its help. Northern Ireland firefighters are among the busiest in the UK involved in the rescue of obese people, according to new figures. The BBC reports that 166 people were rescued in the past four years, costing the service almost 500,000 in so-called bariatric rescues - when their weight is a factor in the incident. That figure puts Northern Ireland firefighters at fourth in a list for all the UK fire services. The Northern Ireland Fire Service said it had a duty to help people in emergency situations, and worked with the Ambulance Service to provide the specialist equipment required to help with the rescue of bariatric patients. In the last year, however, there has been a 26% reduction in cases compared to 2014. The service told the BBC: "Decisions are made on the appropriate rescue techniques required, including specialist equipment and manual handling techniques, to ensure the safety of all involved and the dignity of the patient." Data obtained by BBC Radio 5 shows there were 944 incidents where people needed help in 2015/16, up a third on the 709 in 2012/13. The figures were collected from all 50 fire and rescue services in the UK. Rescuers often used lifting equipment, special slings and sometimes had to remove windows, walls and banisters, frequently in people's homes. The cases included helping the ambulance service with lifting equipment to remove an "extremely large" patient who had been stuck on the sofa for days and carrying a 40-stone man from the upstairs of a pub. A number of incidents involved moving obese people who had died from their homes to an undertaker's ambulance. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service had the highest number of incidents in 2015/16 at 77, while Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service had 46. Humberside Fire and Rescue Service had 45, London Fire Brigade had 38 and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service had 37. Chris Jones, watch manager from South Wales Fire Service, told the BBC some of the rescues were very complicated. "Some of these incidents have become protracted overnight while we've needed to change certain elements to the building to make that rescue safe before we can bring the patient out," he said. "If we are doing what we call an external rescue where we're taking the patient out through a window, quite commonly we'll remove the window frame itself and we will actually sometimes drop courses of brickwork down to create that space. "Internally we might have to take doors off, move furniture - we may even have to put supporting systems into the house to make sure everything's structurally sound, as well." Dr David Kerrigan, one of the UK's leading bariatric surgeons, said patients who become that big "are prisoners, not just within their own body but within their own home". He told the BBC: "The bigger and bigger they get, the less confident they feel about engaging with the outside world. "They are big users of the internet - so they don't even go out to shop any more and do a lot of their socialising using social media, and they just become more and more trapped." Tam Fry, from the charity National Obesity Forum, told BBC Radio 5 live the figures were on the increase because the obese were getting bigger. He said: "This is not about more people being obese. This is about those who are already obese now getting to a size where they now need assistance." Mr Fry said the figure could be a lot higher. "Senior doctors I speak to say there are many people who don't leave their homes so they don't even put themselves in a position where they may need to be rescued. "They are scared of being seen in public." In 2012, a new category was created for the fire and rescue services to report "bariatric rescues" involving obese patients. Police have investigated more than 700 child rapes in Northern Ireland in the last three years. Stock image. Picture posed by model Police have investigated more than 700 child rapes in Northern Ireland in the last three years. They were among nearly 4,200 sex offences where the victim was aged under 16 - four a day on average. The number of sexual attacks has soared by 35% in that period. Children were victims of sickening crimes such as prostitution, grooming, incest and voyeurism. Campaigners warned the majority of sex attacks in Northern Ireland are now carried out on young people. Fermanagh-South Tyrone MLA Lord Morrow said he was "aghast", describing the details as "sickening and disturbing". Child sex attack figures were released after a Freedom of Information request by the Belfast Telegraph. The PSNI confirmed 4,181 sex offences were recorded between April 2013 and March this year where the victim was aged 15 and under. These include: 738 cases of rape; 1,843 sex assaults; And 1,600 other sex offences. The number of attacks on children has risen sharply. In 2013/14 a total of 1,200 sex crimes against under-16s were reported. But by 2015/16 this had jumped to 1,620 - a rise of 35%. The range of offences includes incest, abuse of children through prostitution and pornography, exposure, voyeurism and sexual activity involving a child under 13. Lord Morrow said:"To learn such a high number of children - one of the most vulnerable groups in any society - have been subjected to such appalling treatment at the hands of unscrupulous persons is nothing short of vile." "Our children are our greatest asset yet some would seek to violate the innocence of youth for their own perverse, self-indulgent deviance." The DUP peer has called for tougher action against child sex offenders. "We cannot be complacent when it comes to child protection and safety, and indeed the after-care the victims of these crimes require," he added. "I cannot begin to imagine the horror these children have endured. "Courts must take a close look at these figures and ensure sentencing is commensurate with the offence. "Deterrent does not appear to be in the equation going by these figures." Colin Reid, who is head of policy at the NSPCC in Northern Ireland, said young people are more likely than any other age group to be a victim of a sex attack. "The majority of sexual offences are actually against children and young people in Northern Ireland," he said. "These stats remind us of the need to ensure there is no complacency in steps that are needed to protect children. "This includes giving children, through the school curriculum, the skills to recognise potential harm. "They also need to know the routes through Childline and our adult helpline to get help and avail of our specialist post-abuse treatment services." One of Northern Ireland's biggest sex abuse scandals emerged in 2010. It was revealed that four brothers had abused children in Donagh, Co Fermanagh, for more than 30 years. John Michael McDermott was later jailed for nine years. Two of his brothers - mentally unfit to stand trial - were given lifetime sexual offences prevention orders. A fourth brother took his own life during his trial. A judge at the time said the brothers had been responsible for a "tidal wave of abuse" in the tiny village. Detective Chief Superintendent George Clarke, head of the PSNI's Public Protection Branch, said: "The sexual abuse of children is an abhorrent crime and one which we take very seriously. The PSNI is committed to safeguarding children and young people - we owe it to them to do everything we can to protect them, which is what my officers are doing on a daily basis. "While these statistics show an increase in sexual crime, other factors such as the reporting of historic abuse cases and an increase in confidence in the criminal justice system may be contributing to the rise. "Child protection falls under the remit of the PSNI's Public Protection Branch which was established in April 2015. As part of this, our Public Protection Units are aligned to each of the health and social care trusts to ensure closer working relationships and better communications with our external stakeholders. "We work daily with The Rowan Centre, NSPCC, Barnardos, Nexus and other community and statutory agencies to help keep people safe. This partnership approach has allowed the PSNI to focus its resources, skills and expertise to deliver an enhanced service in the area of public protection, including the safeguarding of children. "We will continue to deliver and enhance our safeguarding measures, investigate offences and bring those responsible before the courts. I would encourage anyone with any concerns or information in relation to the sexual abuse of children to contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency." Refugees and campaigners take part in a Refugees Welcome demonstration at Parliament Buildings Stormont Future generations will despair at the international response to the refugee crisis if more is not done to help those fleeing their homelands, a demonstration in Belfast was told Refugees seeking asylum in Northern Ireland joined campaigners, politicians, trade union activists and church leaders at Stormont to demand more action. The protest was held to coincide with Monday's United Nations summit in New York on the migrant crisis. US president Barack Obama will host his own high-level meeting on the issue on the fringes of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. The "Refugees Welcome" event at Parliament Buildings heard calls for the negotiations in New York to deliver results. It was organised by Amnesty International and the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (NICRAS). Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland programme director, said: "I fear that when future generations look back at the response of our own government and other governments around the world to what is the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War they will hold their heads in despair that so many governments, so many countries, were willing to turn their backs on people in a time of desperate need. "There really is an opportunity (at the UN) to do something about this, but we fear if the outcome is not adequate, if it is not up to the challenge, then millions of refugees face an ongoing desperate plight, whether lost in refugee camps with inhumane conditions or forced onto unseaworthy boats or into the backs of lorries risking their and their children's lives." One of the asylum seekers who took part in the demonstration was Khanyisa Mafumo from Zimbabwe. She and her husband fled Africa with their three children after her father-in-law was murdered by political opponents. "They abducted him and tortured him and later on killed him," she said. Mrs Mafumo, 30, said her application for asylum was still being processed almost three years after she arrived in Northern Ireland. She expressed frustration at the process and the fact she and her husband are unable to work until their status has been resolved. "It is very frustrating, it's very hard - a very complicated and very distressing process," she said. "It is still a waiting game where you have to make further submissions and still have to wait on them. "You definitely can't live a full life - you are limited in your resources." She added: "Today is about welcoming refugees into the country, hoping the welcoming of refugees will also lead to refugees having access to work and being able to live a normal independent life." The Syrian conflict is set to dominate discussions at the UN. Some 250 displaced people from the war-torn country have been resettled across Northern Ireland since last year. They include dozens of children whose families were taken from refugee camps in Lebanon and Turkey as part of the UK-wide Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme to resettle around 20,000 by 2020. The scheme was set up following a public outcry after the death of toddler Alan Kurdi last year. The Syrian conflict has created almost five million refugees. According to the UN's refugee agency, so far this year 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe and more than 3,200 have died or gone missing. Tens of thousands are also stranded in Greece and Italy. A mulberry bush at HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire, which has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) The original Bramley Apple tree in Southwell, Nottingham, has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) The sycamore which starred in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) Photo issued by the Woodland Trust of the Wesley Beeches in Lambeg, County Antrim which has been shortlisted for the "tree of the year". PA A sycamore which starred in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, the original Bramley apple and a tree which has swallowed a bicycle are among those shortlisted for "tree of the year". Shortlists featuring 28 of the UK's finest trees have been unveiled by the Woodland Trust, from almost 200 nominations, as it seeks to find a tree of the year for England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland. A winner for each country will be selected by a public vote and they will go on to compete in the European tree of the year contest. Shortlisted trees in England include a mulberry bush at a prison in Yorkshire which is thought to have been the origin of the nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, played by female prisoners with their children. Expand Close The sycamore which starred in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The sycamore which starred in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) England's nominated trees also include rare elms, the famous tree on Hadrian's Wall which featured in Kevin Costner's 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and the dying original Bramley apple tree from which all other Bramley trees come. Scotland's shortlist includes the last remaining tree from the ancient Birnham oakwood, whose advance, it is foretold, will vanquish Macbeth in Shakespeare's play, and a sycamore which has "eaten" various objects including a bicycle after growing through the scrap of a blacksmith's workshop. Trees making the shortlist in Wales include an 800-year-old oak which has witnessed the rise and fall of Dinefwr Castle, Carmarthenshire, and the Brimmon Oak, which will see a bypass diverted to avoid it thanks to campaigners. Expand Close Handout photo issued by the Woodland Trust of the Belvoir Oak in Belvoir Park Forest, Belfast which has witnessed the growth of Belfast and has been shortlisted for the "tree of the year". PA PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Handout photo issued by the Woodland Trust of the Belvoir Oak in Belvoir Park Forest, Belfast which has witnessed the growth of Belfast and has been shortlisted for the "tree of the year". PA In Northern Ireland, nominated trees include one of the country's oldest oaks which has witnessed the growth of Belfast, and two beeches wound together in the 18th century by John Wesley to symbolise the connection between the Anglican Church and Methodism The winning tree in each country will benefit from a "Tree LC" grant of 1,000, and any tree with more than 1,000 votes will get 500, which can be used to arrange a health check, provide education materials or hold a celebratory event. Beccy Speight, Woodland Trust chief executive, said: "These trees have stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and each will have a special place in peoples' lives. Expand Close The original Bramley Apple tree in Southwell, Nottingham, has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The original Bramley Apple tree in Southwell, Nottingham, has been shortlisted for the Tree of the Year award (Woodland Trust/PA) "By celebrating them and reminding people of their value we hope to support and influence those who can ensure they continue to thrive for future generations." The People's Postcode Lottery is backing the competition. The case against a prominent dissident republican charged with encouraging terrorism should be declared null and void due to an error in the prosecution process, the High Court heard today. Lawyers for Damien "Dee" Fennell claimed it should be halted due to a failure to secure the consent of the Advocate General for Northern Ireland to bring criminal proceedings over a speech delivered at an Easter Rising commemoration event. They argued that Jeremy Wright's authorisation was required because the alleged offences relate to the affairs of a country outside the UK, namely the Republic of Ireland. Barrister Karen Quinlivan QC said: "The charges are a nullity." Fennell, 34, of Torrens Avenue in Belfast, is awaiting trial on counts of encouraging acts of terrorism, inviting support for the IRA and addressing a meeting to encourage support for the IRA. He denies the charges. The alleged offences relate to a speech he gave during a 1916 commemoration event at St Colman's Cemetery in Lurgan, Co Armagh on Easter Sunday last year. His legal team are seeking to judicially review the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), arguing that the terror-related charges need to go before Mr Wright, who is also Attorney General for England and Wales. Ms Quinlivan insisted the graveyard oration made reference to the Irish partition and political parties in the Dail. "The purpose of the speech is connected with the affairs of the Republic of Ireland," she contended. The barrister urged the two-judge panel to deal with the alleged error in the process now, before Fennell's trial gets underway. Resisting the legal bid to have the prosecution halted, Tony McGleenan QC, for the PPS, branded the challenge "a classic instance of satellite litigation". He also disputed claims the speech impacted on the Republic. According to Mr McGleenan the alleged offences involved "inviting armed resistance against the authorities in this jurisdiction". He added: "It wasn't directed at any other country. "The Director (of Public Prosecutions) has looked at it and formed the view this was directed at purposes within the United Kingdom." Reserving judgment in the case, Lord Justice Gillen, sitting with Mr Justice Maguire, said: "We need some time to think about this." Micheal Martin also called for a special taskforce to be set up to help businesses and communities along the border with Northern Ireland UK Prime Minister Theresa May is making it up as she goes along when it comes to Brexit, the main opposition leader has claimed. Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin launched the broadside as he called for a special taskforce to be set up to help businesses and communities along the border with Northern Ireland before the UK splits from Europe. " The failure of the Tory government to agree even when they want to start the negotiations shows again how they are making it up as they go along - even with three leading Brexit advocates in charge," he said. Mr Martin, whose party is in opposition but pledged to support the minority government over three budgets, issued the rebuke as his party meets to prepare for the new parliamentary term. And he warned that the British Government's approach to Brexit and triggering Article 50 should not stop Ireland's leaders from making early preparations to deal with the fallout. "This has no impact on our government deciding exactly what we want out of the negotiations and holding proper consultations with key sectors," Mr Martin said. "We believe that a taskforce focused on the border region is now required. We have the time to be ready to help businesses and communities cope with whatever arises. We can't keep playing catch-up." Mr Martin criticised the Irish Government's approach to the referendum in June and claimed it had been unprepared for the support for Brexit. "The lack of preparation for the possibility of a vote for Brexit was an immense failure by this government," he told his party faithful. "We all have a role to play in making up for lost time and ensuring that Ireland does not suffer because of it. "The Scottish Parliament has already published an all-party report on Brexit yet no substantive progress has been seen here. "We will be pushing for a rapid process of consultation with groups most likely to be impacted by Brexit and the publication by the end of the year of a detailed statement of national objectives in the Brexit negotiations." The Finance Minister is in Asia to promote Ireland as a hub for international financial services. Eoghan Murphy's seven-day programme will include launching the IFS Ireland brand in Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo. A delegation of 12 financial services and technology companies will also accompany him to boost trade links. Speaking ahead of his departure Mr Murphy said: "Launching the IFS Ireland brand in these target markets is a great opportunity to showcase our unique financial services' offerings - our market access, our educated workforce, and the increasing depth and sophistication of our indigenous financial services' sector. "My aim is to highlight Ireland's capability, global offering and growing reputation as a hub for specialist international financial services. I look forward to building on the excellent work of our embassies and trade agencies to enhance existing links and open up new opportunities in these markets." The IFS Ireland brand is a key action of the Government's IFS 2020 international financial services strategy. It aims to promote Ireland as a destination to do business, support companies already operating in key Asian markets and add 10,000 jobs to the sector by the end of 2019. Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon said: "There are currently over 20 Irish companies active in the Asia Pacific region, many with multiple presences across the region. These companies exported more than 115 million euro to this region last year and are forecasting significant growth over the next five years." The figure rises to one in five for people aged 25 to 34 One in eight people have taken medicine that was not prescribed for them, health watchdogs have revealed. The research also uncovered the figure rises to one in five for people aged 25 to 34. The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), which regulates medicines, medical devices and other health products, urged people to make themselves aware of the risks of prescribed treatments including the need to take the correct dose and know the side-effects. Its survey of consumer habits and attitudes found almost a quarter of people do not read the information notes or the directions for use that come with their prescriptions. It also found o ne in five patients take a prescription medicine for a shorter period than their doctor advised them. Health Minister Simon Harris, who supports the information campaign, said it should only take three minutes to take in advice on using medicine. "It is extremely important for anyone taking a medicine that they carefully read the instructions for use," he said. "This information is provided with every medicine and following the instructions will ensure that patients get the best results. It only takes three minutes to make sure you're fully informed, and that you're doing the right thing for your own health and peace of mind." Lorraine Nolan, chief executive of the HPRA, said: " Our research tells us that people who read this information spend about three minutes doing so. "Our campaign aims to encourage more people to always take those three minutes whether they are taking medication themselves or giving it to someone in their care. If people have any questions or concerns, they should always consult their doctor or pharmacist." The survey also found more and more patients not reading information about their medication - up from 12% since the same survey was carried out in 2010. The HPRA said just over a quarter of adults admit to never reading notes for over-the-counter medicine, up from 14% six years ago. Ms Nolan added: "Even if someone is taking a specific medicine regularly over a long period of time we would recommend they still read the product information on a regular basis. "Significant details such as the contraindications or potential side effects can change from time to time so it is important that those on long-term medication keep themselves informed." The Republic of Ireland's government is to hold an official inquiry following a highly critical report on the NAMA sale in 2014 Pressure has increased on Finance Minister Michael Noonan to answer questions about the 1.6bn NAMA sale of properties in Northern Ireland. Dail Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Sean Fleming, on Monday said he expected Mr Noonan to appear before his committee to answer questions about his role in the controversial sale, which has been criticised by the public spending watchdog, the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG). So far the Irish government has said that it is not the Finance Ministers role to appear before the PAC. Government Ministers have said the protocol is that the secretary general of the Finance Department is the one who should attend the committee while the Minister answers directly to the Dail. The Republic's government is to hold an official inquiry following a highly critical report on the NAMA sale in 2014. Last Wednesday the C&AG issued its damning report and the PAC generally bases its work on that offices work. Sean Fleming, a chartered accountant and Fianna Fail TD for Laois, said he believed Mr Noonan knew he would be a neutral chairman. He said there was ample precedent for government ministers giving public evidence, including an appearance by former Irish Defence Minister, Michael Smith, in the High Court during the army deafness cases in the 1990s. Mr Noonan would be very capable of making a decision himself on appearing before our committee. He would also be more than capable of answering our questions, Mr Fleming told reporters at the start of Fianna Fails pre-Dail meeting in Carlow. Mr Fleming said the PAC will meet in private session on Wednesday to consider how they will handle the issue. He dismissed suggestions that failure by Mr Noonan to appear before them would render their work useless. We are going to question the senior people in NAMA and the Department of Finance. These are our key witnesses and we will have important questions for them, he said. Mr Fleming acknowledged that NAMA was founded in 2009 when his party was in government. If the former Minister for Finance were still alive we would be inviting him to the committee, he said. An MoD spokesman said they were "fully co-operating" with the coalition investigation into what happened. Theresa May said the UK would "never intentionally strike or focus on Syrian forces" after Britain admitted being part of a coalition air attack that has been claimed to have killed dozens of Bashar Assad's troops. The Prime Minister said the UK would co-operate with the investigation by the US-led coalition into the attack on Saturday near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The United States has accepted its aircraft may have accidentally hit a Syrian government position during an attack on Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh, which is not covered by the ceasefire agreement. Australia and Denmark have also said that their planes were involved in the strike. It is understood Britain's participation involved an unmanned RAF Reaper drone. Speaking at the United Nations HQ in New York, Mrs May told broadcasters: "The UK was part of the coalition air strike that took place. We are now part of the investigation and it's right that this is properly investigated. "But, from the UK's point of view we are there to deal with Daesh, to deal with the terrorist threat that is Daesh. "We would never intentionally strike or focus on Syrian forces. "But there is an investigation taking place and we will be contributing to that investigation fully." Russia - president Bashar Assad's main foreign backer - said it had been told by the Syrian government that 62 of its troops had been killed in the strike. The Syrian military said the coalition aircraft had hit a base which was surrounded by IS - enabling the militants to overrun their positions. The incident lead to furious exchanges between Russia and the US at the UN, with the ambassadors of both countries storming out of an emergency session of the Security Council. Vitali Churkin, the Russian ambassador who called the meeting, said it was suspicious the incident had happened just two days before US and Russian forces were supposed to begin co-ordinated strikes against the Islamists and that it had left a "very big question mark" over the peace deal. US ambassador Samantha Power expressed regret for the loss of life but dismissed the summoning of the Security Council as a "stunt", accusing Moscow of "moralism and grandstanding" that was "uniquely typical and hypocritical". The row erupted amid mounting reports of ceasefire violations - including air strikes by Syrian government forces on rebel held areas of the beleaguered city of Aleppo. President Barack Obama arrives in New York for a Democratic Party fundraising event (AP) Barack Obama blasted Donald Trump as being unqualified to be president as he addressed a fundraising event for Hillary Clinton. He praised the Democratic Party presidential nominee as someone w ho cares deeply about making sure that the United States works for everybody and not just a few. On the New York home turf of Mr Trump, her Republican Party rival, Mr Obama dismissed the tycoon as "the other guy" and said he is not qualified to be president. The president was talking to about 65 people at the event at the home of restaurateur Danny Meyer. Attendees contributed 25,000 dollars (19,220) while others paid up to 250,000 dollars 192,200). Mr Obama said Mrs Clinton's judgment has been "unerring". He also said she has been disciplined and "extraordinarily effective" in every job she has ever had. AP A British aircraft took part in the air strike in Syria which led to the deaths of dozens of regime soldiers and has threatened to scupper the recent deal against Isis between the US and Russia. It is believed that a UK Reaper drone was part of the US-led raid on Dayr az Zawr last Saturday. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: We can confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition air strike in Syria south of Dayr az Zawr on Saturday and we are fully cooperating with the coalition investigation. The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. The admission comes on the eve of the second anniversary of Operation Shader Britain joining the American-led coalitions bombing campaign against Isis which initially focused on Iraq. The Cameron governments decision to extend the mission to Syria caused deep divisions in the country and bitter exchanges during a Commons debate. The Iraqi government had invited the Western coalition to take part in military action against Isis, no such authorisation had come from the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and opponents questioned the legality of the mission. Despite Mr Camerons assertion that the strikes needed to include Syria to crush the head of the snake, subsequent British air strikes in Syria have, in fact, been extremely limited in numbers, with just 12 per cent taking place in Syria with the rest focusing on Iraq. Vladimir Putin ordered Russian air strikes in Syria last year. There were accusations from the Syrian opposition and its Western backers, including Britain, that Moscows strikes were targeting moderate rebels as well as Isis. A deal between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the Russian defence minister, Sergei Lavrov, was supposed to coordinate the air strikes, but the attack on Dayr az Zawr came days later, leading to a furious reaction from Moscow. The Pentagon stressed that it had stopped the mission as soon as the Russians sent information that regime soldiers and vehicles may have been hit and expressed regret at the loss of lives. However, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Saturday night, Russia accused the US of jeopardizing the Syria deal. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, reposted: Russia really needs to stop the cheap point scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts and focus on what matters, which is implementation of something we negotiated in good faith with them. In March this year, armed forces minister Penny Mordaunt told the House of Commons that Britain had carried out 200 drone strikes in Iraq and 13 in Syria between 1 September 2014 and 15 March 2016. File photo taken on October 10, 2005 shows Don Gabriele Amorth, exorcist in the diocese of Rome and the president of honour of the Association of Exorcists, posing in Rome. AFP/Getty Images Father Gabriele Amorth, a prominent Roman Catholic exorcist, has died aged 91. Father Amorth who was the chief exorcist for the diocese of Rome, passed away after suffering from a pulmonary illness. The Catholic priest controversially claimed Harry Potter books encourage children to believe in black magic and yoga is evil because it promotes Hinduism. Father Amorth believed people possessed by Satan tend to vomit pieces of iron and shards of glass. He maintained both Hitler and Stalin were possessed by the Devil, but that fact didnt excuse their abhorrent actions. For example, I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed by the devil. If you think about what types like Stalin, Hitler did ... certainly they were possessed by the devil, he said. Born in Modena in northern Italy in 1925, Gabriel Amorth was ordained a priest in 1951. In 1985, he was appointed Exorcist of the Diocese of Rome. Read more Read More During his lifetime, Father Amorth claimed to have performed 70,000 exorcisms and documented them in a number of books. The Italian news agency ANSA said Father Amorth had said he found himself faced with true demonic possession at most 100 times He credited the 1973 film The Exorcist for giving a substantially exact representation of what it was like to be possessed by Satan. He did maintain the special effects were exaggerated, however. During his exorcisms, his patients often had to be physically restrained. "From their mouths, anything can come out pieces of iron as long as a finger, but also rose petals," he said. His conviction in the power of exorcisms informed his approach to current affairs. In a Facebook post in 2015, he asserted: ISIS is Satan. Spanish theologian Father Jose Antonio Fortea told the Catholic News Agency: Now he rests from his many battles with the devil. While Father Amorths death is a blow for the diocese of Rome, exorcisms will still be carried out by its other nine resident exorcists. People stand near the entrance of the Crossroads Centre in St Cloud, Minnesota (Dave Schwarz/St Cloud Times via AP) The stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota shopping centre appear to be the work of a "lone attacker", officials said. Federal authorities are looking at whether it was a potential act of terrorism in the immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including Islamic State (IS). "We haven't uncovered anything that would suggest other than a lone attacker at this point," St Cloud police chief Blair Anderson said at a news conference with Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. "If that changes, we will be transparent about that." A young Somali man dressed as a private security guard entered the Crossroads Centre on Saturday wielding what appeared to be a kitchen knife. Mr Anderson has said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. The man was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. None of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds. The motive of Saturday's attack is still unclear, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton has said it is being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism". IS claimed responsibility, but it was not clear whether the attacker was radicalised. Authorities were digging into his background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts and electronic devices and talking to his associates, Mr Thornton said. The attack in St Cloud, a city of about 65,000 people, began shortly after an explosion in a crowded New York City neighbourhood injured 29 people. Hours before that, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a 5K race. However, President Barack Obama said on Monday that authorities see no connection between the New York area explosions and the Minnesota stabbing. Leaders of Minnesota's large Somali community have condemned the stabbings, saying the suspect - identified by his father as 22-year-old Dahir A Adan - does not represent them and expressing fear of backlash. St Cloud Mayor David Kleis said an attack like Saturday's is the type of worry that keeps him "up at night", but Mr Dayton urged people in St Cloud and around the state to "rise above" such violence. Experts say that if Saturday's stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on US soil. An IS-run news agency claimed on Sunday that the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a US-led anti-IS coalition, but it was not immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand. It does not appear anyone else was involved in the attack, which began at about 8 pm and ended minutes later, Mr Anderson has said. Authorities have not identified the attacker, but his father, Ahmed Adan, told the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune his son's name through an interpreter and local activists also identified Dahir Adan as Somali. Ahmed Adan said his son was born in Kenya but was Somali and had lived in the US for 15 years. He also said police told him about an hour after the attack that his son had died at the shopping centre and that the family's apartment had been searched, with photos and other materials seized. He said he had "no suspicion" that his son had been involved in terrorist activity, the newspaper reported. Police had had three previous encounters with the attacker, mostly for minor traffic violations, Mr Anderson said. The man was an employee of the security firm Securitas and was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux facility. That assignment ended in June, Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale said. A spokesman for St Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student majoring in information systems, but had not been enrolled since the spring semester. Mr Anderson has said the man began attacking people right after entering the shopping centre, stabbing people in several spots. The victims included seven men, one woman and a 15-year-old girl. All have been released. Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon who was there shopping, began shooting the attacker as he was lunging at him with the knife, Mr Anderson said, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. "He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life," Mr Anderson said. The shopping centre reopened on Monday after being closed on Sunday. Sydney Weires, 18, and two of her friends saw a man who appeared to be a security guard sprinting down the hallway, and then two men stumbled out. "One was covered in blood down his face," she said, and the other man had blood on his back. "They were screaming, 'Get out of the mall. Someone has a knife'," Ms Weires said. Mr Falconer is the former police chief in Albany, about 15 miles north-west of St Cloud, and the president and owner of a firing range and firearms training facility, according to his LinkedIn profile. His profile says he focuses on firearms and permit-to-carry training and teaches "decision shooting" to law enforcement students at St Cloud State University. In a brief interview with the Star Tribune, Mr Falconer said he had "been trying to stay away from it all, for the time being". AP New York governor Andrew Cuomo (centre) and city mayor Bill de Blasio, right, beside a mangled dumpster FBI agents examine the scene of the bombing in Manhattans Chelsea area The New York Police Department are currently vetting a Tumblr post claiming to be written by the person who planted a bomb that injured at least 29 people in Manhattan on Saturday night. The post titled "I Am The NY Bomber" has been taken down by Tumblr - but sources within the police department told The New York Daily News that they are taking the page's threats seriously. "The explosives detonated in New York City, that was me," the posting reads. "Those were just some tests, I know where I have made errors and I will not make the same mistake next time." The authenticity of the posting has not been confirmed by authorities. "I did it because I cannot stand society. "I cannot live in a world where homosexuals like myself as well as the rest of the LGBTQ+ community are looked down upon by society," the author continues. "I don't know exactly how I feel about taking human lives. "I suppose I'm just going to have to move forward knowing that what I am doing had a purpose and will in fact make a difference." Officials found another explosive device just four blocks away from the blast in the Chelsea area late on Saturday night. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has said the explosion that rocked the crowded neighbourhood does not appear to be linked to international terrorism. Mr Cuomo said 1,000 additional law enforcement officers were being deployed after the blast in a primarily residential neighbourhood on Manhattan's west side that is known for its art galleries and large gay population. He encouraged New Yorkers to go about their day as usual. "We're not going to let them win," Mr Cuomo said at the scene. "We're not going to let them instil fear." The Democratic governor said the preliminary investigation did not appear to show a link to international terror, and he noted that no terror group had taken credit for it. Authorities said the Manhattan blast did not appear to be connected to a pipe-bomb explosion earlier on Saturday in New Jersey that forced the cancellation of a charity run. He noted that the bombs included different materials. A law enforcement official said a second device that officers investigated four streets from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a mobile phone. The official said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. The device was removed with a robot and taken to a department firing range in the Bronx. It was a sunny summer's day at Slane Castle, Co Meath, the annual rock gig, with Freddie Mercury and Queen belting out their greatest hits. Tens of thousands of fans were in front of the stage, whereas I had the pleasure of a personal invitation from Henry Lord Mountcharles and the late promoter Jim Aiken and was with dozens of A-listers in the private grounds of the castle with access to indoors, where we partook of Champagne and strawberries and cream. Sated by such, I sat in the glorious sunshine by the side of the castle walls with a great view of the stage. Somebody rolled another joint, and then another, and we passed it around among the five of us. Smoking dope that day with me back in the mid-1980s were a motley crew, among them a politician who now sits in the Assembly, a young journalist, now a household name as a national radio broadcaster, and a writer who specialised in Northern Ireland and who died more than a decade ago. We got utterly stoned, and a great day was had by all. For me, it was not the first or last time. As a child of the Sixties, with its licence to swing, that morphed into being a dedicated follower of the hippie movement, smoking marijuana was just part of what I did. All that flower power and psychedelic stuff, magical mystery tours and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. As celebrity American psychologist Timothy Leary advocated: "Tune in, turn on, drop out." I had my first taste of marijuana the year Bob Dylan played the Isle of Wight and was an habitual, occasional and social cannabis smoker for the next four decades. There are more than 200 street names for cannabis - including weed, pot, herb, bud, dope, spliff, reefer, grass, ganja, Bob Hope, doobie and skunk. Marijuana is a green, brown or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds and flowers of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. It is a psychoactive, or mind-altering, drug. Read more Read More Sinsemilla, which I smoked in California in 1972 at a drive-in watching Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey - hash/hashish (resinous form) and hash oil (sticky black liquid) - brought back to me by a civil servant on a year's leave of absence in India are stronger forms of the drug. Its main active chemical is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), a psychoactive ingredient. When marijuana smoke is inhaled THC is rapidly carried to the brain and other organs. THC acts on specific receptors in the brain called cannabinoids, starting off a chain of cellular reactions which finally lead to the euphoria - or 'high' - hat users experience when stoned. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell are heightened. Read more Read More Marijuana, since those halcyon days of the Sixties, has had its advocates and its detractors. On the one hand some assert that cannabis is a dangerous, highly addictive drug that causes schizophrenia, and that any move to relax prohibition would be a disaster. On the other hand there are those who have used cannabis for years - myself included - who swear it causes no trouble or side-effects. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug globally, with currently 2.9% of people aged 15 to 64 having used or still using marijuana. Among public figures who have admitted smoking marijuana are David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Alistair Darling, Harriet Harmon and Norman Lamont, as well as the late Mo Mowlam and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Then there's Bill Clinton ("I did not inhale") and Barack Obama, John Kerry and George W Bush, as well as Bill Gates and Sarah Palin. Celebrities include Johnny Depp, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Miley Cyrus and Morgan Freeman. The Hollywood director Oliver Stone said: "I went to Vietnam and I was there for a long time. "Using marijuana made the difference between staying human or, as Michael Douglas said, becoming a beast." Read more Read More Tomorrow, the debate in the UK will once again take off, following the publication of an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report recommending the legalisation of pharmaceutically produced cannabis for medical use only. MPs will set out an argument for enabling doctors to prescribe cannabis that has been produced in a strictly controlled pharmaceutical setting, and recommend facilitating further research on its therapeutic properties. They will recommend it is made available to treat around 60 specific conditions, with proven and well-documented medical benefits for cancer, Aids, glaucoma and other debilitating and painful conditions such as MS and motor neurone disease. MPs will look at the global context. Access to cannabis as a medicine is now allowed in Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Israel and more than 20 states in the US. Germany and Switzerland allow it to be imported from the Netherlands for medicinal purposes. Baroness Molly Meacher, who chaired the APPG committee recommending the changes to the law, says 30,000 people in the UK now access the drug illegally for medical reasons, putting themselves at risk, paying criminal dealers and fuelling a black market in drugs. She says that more than one million people could benefit from making the drug available as a controlled medicine "saving the NHS millions". She also believes that public opinion is now in favour of a change. But there is still considerable opposition to any change in UK law. The British Medical Association remains firmly opposed. It has concerns about any pharmaceutical drug finding its way onto the recreational market and also about the possible psychotic and addictive side-effects. Those advocating a change in the law maintain that there would be less risk of either with specially produced and controlled cannabis. The Netherlands, which for decades now has allowed open marijuana consumption and sales at its famous coffee shops, provides some salutary lessons - if reformers and politicians are willing to heed them. In the Republic the call for medical marijuana is back on the agenda this year. Back in 2012 then Health Minister James Reilly faced calls to legalise such use in Ireland. The push for legislation was a result of applications to the Irish Medicines Board from drug companies wishing to sell cannabis-based medicines in Ireland (ie bring in revenue). In November 2013, however, the whole idea was shot down with a 111 to eight votes in the Dail. The cannabis Bill, put forward by maverick Independent TD Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, was allowed some debate, but it seems most of the rhetoric was from politicians with no real idea what cannabis is or does. Even Reilly pulled out the debunked "cannabis causes schizophrenia" myth. Side-effects of marijuana use - if any - vary from person to person. The short-term effects include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch); difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of co-ordination and motor skills. As far as am aware, I have never suffered any ill-effects. Advocates of decriminalising marijuana for recreational as well as medical use say its prohibition is an unwarranted intrusion in individual freedom of choice. Crime and violence are greatly increased due to illegal selling and buying and a change in the law would logically end such behaviour. In the end, I believe marijuana is no more harmful to a person's health than alcohol or tobacco - both legal and widely used, but regulated. And it does not lead to harder drugs, no more than drinking milk leads to alcoholism. Perhaps, it is less harmful. The jury is still out. Tomorrow's support for medical legislation, however, will certainly fuel the debate and may even be a "tipping point" policy moment, but no change is likely for a long time yet. And, of course, what happens in Westminster does not necessarily follow through to Stormont. 'These photographs were taken during my morning walk on Gibb's Island, Killyleagh, Co Down. It really is a beautiful place' - Pic Laura Skinner Locals claim this building in Portbraddan, Co Antrim is the smallest church in Ireland. It was built 1950s as cow byre. Photo by David Fennelly I was driving along the Strangford Lough shore road (on a bird watching trip )two or three miles from Newtownards when I spotted this magical view of hay bales with the lough and Scrabo in the distance. I thought 'isnt Northern Ireland the most wonderful place to live?'. It was so beautiful and I had to stop and take a photo. By Noeni Bryars, Harmony Hill Lambeg. Wheatear (female) in prime condition to depart shortly for that long flight back to its Winter Grounds in Central Africa By Christine Cassidy, Derry A beautiful August day in Annalong, Co Down. By Paul Briggs from Portadown Steven Hylands, from Banbridge took this picture of Clare Glen. You can see a herron in the distance waiting patiently to catch any fish swimming down stream! November 2015 Trevor Denton From Crumlin took this at the harbour in Buncrana. It will probably take more than a lick of paint to get this vessel shipshape again. Nov 2015 Hugh McCloy, from Moneymore Co Derry took this picture of Lough Melvin Flangans Point, looking across the lough to the mountains Harvest moon and Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on Friday 16 Sept 2016 at Donaghadee lighthouse. Picture by Bernie Brown Harvest moon and Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on Friday 16 Sept 2016 at Donaghadee lighthouse. Picture by Bernie Brown This photo was taken on October 4, 2016 at 7am in Letterkenny. It features Conwal parish church in the town'a beautiful and historic Cathedral quarter. Submitted by Cathal McGlynn This is a picture taken by myself on 20/10/16 of the trees in Alexandra Park, Belfast - Gerard McCartan I took this round the corner from my house in Greyabbey in Co Down on October 19, 2016, at 1.30pm. It was a very blustery day and the sky was doing crazy things! Submitted by Jill Smyth St Philips and St James church grounds in Holywood. Couldn't help but snap this brushstroke of evening sun. Taken October 2016 by Jen Dickson Ritchy Kimmins from Newry. The picture was taken in Kilbroney Park, Rostrevor and it is of the Holm Oak tree. The picture was taken last weekend as this tree is over 200 years old. Taken in Stormont Park: no better place for shushing through leaves and getting messy. October 2016. By Kate Lewis Mairs, Belfast. Hi, I thought this photograph that I took at Lagan madows taken last Thursday (20-10-16). It was a eautiful afternoon....13c Sunshine - Reflections - Idyllic - Nature at its best!!! - Pauline Greenaway This was taken on October 2016 at Murlough reserve. Where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea. Submitted by Deborah Anderson from Lisburn Manannan Mac Lir, the Celtic Sea God, looks out from his home on Binevenagh Mountain at sunset on Thursday December 29 2016. Photo by Eoin McConnell Ballintoy looking out towards Rathlin - Submitted by Gavin O Connor, Belfast. March 2017 Port Moon Bothy between Dunseverick Castle and The Giants Causeway - submitted by Eoin McConnell. March 2017 This is a photo I took recently of McCarts Fort (Cavehill). Managed to get a brief break in the rain to capture this nice, foggy scene. Submitted by Michael McGibney, from Belfast, March 2017 My name is Neil Hunter and I live in the Bangor area. The picture was taken the night after the 'super moon' at Donaghadee looking over the harbour I used to live in Northern Ireland but I do not live there anymore. I have very fond memories of my life there during my time at Queen's University Belfast - here's my picture of Springhill House, Moneymore, Co. Derry - submitted by Michela Dettori Was a fairly foggy day coming up from Bloody Bridge, eerily quiet except for the wind. Picture is Mourne wall Southern slope. Submitted by Keith Lowry, from Kilbride, Ballyclare. March 2017 From Mount Errigal to Slieve Donard here is our collection of reader photographs capturing the magic and beauty of the Ulster countryside Send us your pictures Do you have some photographs of your favourite beauty spots from Dundrum to Donegal and Carrick to Downpatrick? Have you captured an image you would like to share with Belfast Telegraph readers? . It is easy to do. Simply email your pictures to us at: digital.editorial@belfasttelegraph.co.uk and include: Shutterstock.com Was Muhammad really a prophet? Nabeel Qureshi used to believe so, but his world changed after a college roommate and apologist David Wood engaged him on the differences. Wood, who speaks globally, was instrumental in the conversion of Qureshi from Islam to Christianity. There was evidence he never took note of before he met Wood, Qureshi said in an interview with the Christian Post. More importantly, it was Wood's persistence that deposited the seed of faith as others usually gave up on witnessing to him. "It is real easy to do once you try, but no one else had. Because of that, I was ultimately opened to a lot of evidence I probably never would have considered." The two became friends over the years, and they both had numerous discussions and debates regarding Islam and Christianity. After making the comparisons, Qureshi, who was born into an Ahmadi Muslim family, discovered there were historical issues with Islam. Being open to the mounting evidence which supported Christianity, Qureshi became a Christian. Today Qureshi speaks worldwide about the two religions, and why Christ is the true Messiah. He shared this journey in his book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. He released a follow up to the New York Times bestseller with No God but One: Allah or Jesus? During his journey, Qureshi discovered that when it came to Muhammad, something also was amiss. The foundation of Islam, he shared with the Christian Post, is based on Muhammad and how he lived his life. They are called hadiths, the words spoken by the prophet, they are a moral code. It comes from the Arabic word "narrative" or "report" and is second to the authority of the Quran. Qureshi questioned that there is no evidence that Muhammad actually is like what the hadiths said he is. "It is believed that the Muhammad was born in Mecca around 570 CE," Qureshi explained. Muhammad was dead before the hadiths were recorded. The lack of evidence continued to mount against Islam, he continued. "There is no archaeological evidence that Mecca even existed before the beginning of the eighth century." Also, there were no trade routes that talked about Mecca. Growing up in the U.S. as a devout Muslim, Qureshi, studied Islamic apologetics. After comparing the Bible and the Quran--it was like night and day. So he studied Christianity for another three years and Islam for another year. Qureshi has been invited to speak at over 100 universities that include Cornell, Duke, Oxford and John Hopkins. He continues to moderate debates all over the world making a case for Christianity. However, he is not the only person to convert from Islam to Christianity. Others have found Jesus, and are taking to the media. Iman Mario Joseph, was a Muslim cleric in India. He became a believer after someone asked who Jesus was. He went to the Quaran, and began to compare Christ to Muhammad. During his research, his passion for Jesus and the Bible became unquenchable, and he became a Christian. His family ordered his death. He speaks globally to share his story. Mosab Hassan Yousef was a Hamas leader, and converted to Christianity after a British missionary shared the Gospel in 1999. He has helped with the arrest and capture of key terrorists within Hamas, including his father. He has political asylum in the U.S. He said that Islam is like a ladder with prayer and praising. "The higher rungs represent helping the poor and needy, establishing schools, and supporting charities. The highest rung is jihad," he said. During a conference in New York he shared that Islam as an entire entity should be compared to Nazism. Pastor Hamid Pourmand was a former Iranian army colonel, and became a Christian over two decades ago. He was under assault from the government and arrested many times, and faced death, but was released with pressure from the international community. Miss USA pageant winner in 2010, Rima Fakih, converted to Christianity after being a devout Muslim. She connected with her Muslim roots in college. "When I went to the University of Michigan, because there's more of a Muslim community, my dad wanted me to learn more about Islam. I didn't know much about Ramadan and other holidays, and my dad wanted me to take that opportunity and learn." She moved to Christianity in 2016 before her marriage to music producer, Wassim Salibi. Six million Muslims have converted to Christ last year, but there are those we don't know about, who are afraid to speak up. Those who are Muslim are nauseated that their religion is associated with ISIS. Brother Rachid, who hosts a Christian program translated into Arabic, spoke to CBN.com regarding the change of landscape for many Muslims. He explained that many Muslims told him, "'If ISIS is Islam, I'm leaving.' Some are becoming atheists," he told the outlet in 2015. Islam is facing a crises and people are with moving towards Christ or are leaving religion altogether. There are 3.3 million Muslims living in the U.S. in 2015, making up 1 percent of the population, according to the Pew Research Center. And over the last two decades there has been an increase in the number of Muslim immigrants coming into the U.S. There are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as of 2010. There were American Muslims who did not identify with a faith. "About one-in-five American Muslim adults were raised in a different faith or none at all," Pew found. Researchers also uncovered that those who were brought up in the Muslim faith, decided to leave the religion when they became older. Qureshi and others continue to pave the way for others to follow Christ. We should not fear Islam. We should be praying to see more people accept Christ and hope that He will deliver those who are persecuted for being Christians. Additionally, this is not one-sided as we need to reach out to our Muslim neighbors in love, not hate. Yes, there is a legitimate threat against believers and our country, but not all Muslims want war, they want peace. Corine Gatti-Santillo is a freelance digital journalist, editor, and content producer. She is also the The Christian Post Voices Editor. She is also a former editor at Beliefnet.com. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. 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Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain. Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that. And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details. If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices For Immediate Release, September 16, 2016 Contact: Jaclyn Lopez, (727) 490-9190, jlopez@biologicaldiversity.org Statement From Center for Biological Diversity on Sinkhole at Radioactive Strip Mine in Central Florida ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. News broke late Thursday that a massive sinkhole below a phosphate strip mine 30 miles east of Tampa has been releasing radioactive waste into the Floridan aquifer for three weeks. News reports indicate that Mosaic, the owner of the mine, and state officials have known about the problem for three weeks, but failed to notify the public. The sinkhole formed below a phosphogypsum stack, which is a pile of radioactive waste hundreds of feet tall produced by phosphate mining, and in this case may pose a serious threat to drinking water for millions of Floridians. Enough is enough. Florida must finally take a stand against this destructive, radioactive phosphate mining that is putting our health and environment at risk, said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Mosaic wants to mine an additional 50,000 acres of Floridas beautiful, biodiverse lands, but this incident makes clear it cant even handle the radioactive waste it currently generates. We must come together and demand that our counties, our state and our federal government reject further expansion of this dangerous industry. Radioactive phosphogypsum is produced during phosphate mining when sulfuric acid is applied to phosphoric ore, releasing naturally occurring uranium and radium. Besides leaving massive piles of radioactive waste, this process produces radon gas in the air, which is cancer causing. Forty percent of the phosphate ore thats mined in Florida is shipped overseas, but 100 percent of the radioactive phosphogypsum waste thats generated remains in the United States, the majority of it in Florida, where it stays forever. Thats five tons of radioactive waste for every one ton of usable phosphate. Phosphate mining creates 60-foot-deep to 80-foot-deep open pits thousands of acres wide. Florida is home to the world largest phosphate mine, and now Mosaic wants to strip mine an additional 52,000 acres in Manatee, Hardee and De Soto counties. This is not the first time a sinkhole has opened up below a radioactive phosphogypsum stack, nor is it the first time Mosaic has had problems with handling its hazardous waste. In 2009 a sinkhole at the PCS White Springs facility released more than 90 million gallons of hazardous wastewaters into the Floridan aquifer. In October 2015 the EPA and Mosaic settled a lawsuit regarding a series of alleged violations of how Mosaic handles and stores its hazardous waste, paying civil penalties to the feds and Florida. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For Immediate Release, September 16, 2016 Contact: Ileene Anderson, Center for Biological Diversity, (323) 654-5943 ianderson@biologicaldiversity.org Wendy Rea, Greenspot Residents Association, (909) 705-0520, wendy@protectgreenspot.com Lawsuit Challenges High-density Harmony Housing Development Project Would Devastate Wildlife Habitat, Increase Traffic, Air Pollution HIGHLAND, Calif. Public-interest groups filed a lawsuit late yesterday challenging the city of Highlands approval of the high-density Harmony development in Southern California. The remote development sits at the confluence of Mill Creek and the Santa Ana River and is directly adjacent to San Bernardino National Forest lands. It will bring more than 3,600 houses to 1,657 acres of land acquired by Orange County Flood Control in the Seven Oaks Dam project that are currently home to numerous endangered species, rare habitats, wetlands and crucial wildlife-connectivity corridors. Theres nothing harmonious about the Harmony development, said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. Not only does this project threaten endangered species and some of their most important habitat but the citys analysis did a lousy job of looking at how Harmony will affect air quality, traffic and the climate crisis. The lawsuit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society and the Greenspot Residents Association, who are represented by the law firm Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger. It argues that the city of Highlands City Councils August approval of the project violates the California Environmental Quality Act. The proposed development site is far removed from Highlands city services and is vulnerable to episodic fire, catastrophic flooding and the San Andreas Fault. The environmental review completely ignored that a bridge over Mill Creek which would be required to access the development will permanently alter that free-flowing creek. The project will also harm rare and protected species, including critical habitat for endangered San Bernardino kangaroo rats and federally threatened Santa Ana sucker fish, as well as habitat for endangered southwestern willow flycatchers. Its developments such as this that push rare plants and animals to the brink of extinction, said Drew Feldmann with the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society. The amount of rare wildlife and habitat already existing on the site points to conserving it, not developing it. The area has a long tradition of rural and agricultural living, not high density housing as is proposed with the Harmony Plan said Wendy Rea, executive director of the Greenspot Residents Association. This development is precisely the sort of ill-conceived 1960s leapfrog planning that has plagued this county for decades. Rather than focus on economic development and urban renewal, the city and an outside county have pushed an enormously unpopular development on a remote, annexed piece of land surrounded by unincorporated citizens. It is a fundamentally flawed and unsafe plan, built on a heritage of eminent domain and disregard for the community. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. The San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society is a local chapter of the National Audubon Society, with about 2,000 members dedicated to preserving the habitat in the area, not just for birds, but for other wildlife, and to maintain the quality of life in and around San Bernardino County. The Greenspot Residents Association is an unincorporated association comprised of concerned citizens within the area historically known as Greenspot, that covers much of the Mentone, Redlands, and Mill Creek Canyon communities. Dedicated to the historic, cultural, ecological and agricultural preservation of the area, the association was formed and is managed exclusively by local residents. For Immediate Release, September 19, 2016 Contact: Loyal Mehrhoff, (808) 351-3200, lmehrhoff@biologicaldiversity.org Iconic Hawaiian Bird Proposed for Endangered Species Act Protection HONOLULU In response to a 2010 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed protection for the iiwi as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. This bird, a bright-scarlet, nectar-feeding Hawaiian honeycreeper, was once widespread across all of the main Hawaiian Islands, but is now primarily found at higher elevations on East Maui and the island of Hawaii. The number one threat facing the species is climate change, which is driving the spread of highly lethal mosquito-borne diseases. Photo by Brett Hartl, Center for Biological Diversity. The iiwi is a spectacular, iconic Hawaiian bird that desperately needs Endangered Species Act protection to survive, said the Centers Loyal Mehrhoff. But the good news is that if we protect it, it has a good shot at dodging extinction. A recent study by the Center found that the majority of U.S. birds with endangered species protection are improving. The iiwi (Drepanis coccinea, also known asVestiaria coccinea) is a medium-sized honeycreeper that lives in native forests of ohia and koa. It is one of more than 50 species of honeycreepers that evolved, in a spectacular example of adaptive radiation, from a single finch-like bird that colonized Hawaii 2.5 million to 4 million years ago. Two out of three Hawaiian honeycreepers are now extinct, and most of the remaining honeycreepers are either already listed as threatened or endangered, or are declining. The iiwi has seen a 92 percent decline on Kauai in the past 25 years and a 34 percent decline on Maui. As temperatures increase with global warming, so does the spread of introduced mosquito-borne diseases like avian malaria which is almost 100 percent fatal to the bird. Protected areas that we once thought could save the iiwi are now expected to be uninhabitable in the future because of the expanding range of mosquitoes and malaria, said Mehrhoff. So its crucial for the iiwi to get the help it needs to avoid extinction and recover. This will require removing or greatly reducing the threat from introduced mosquito-borne diseases, as well as restoring and protecting native Hawaiian forests. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For Immediate Release, September 19, 2016 Contact:Kristen Monsell, (510) 844-7137, kmonsell@biologicaldiversity.org Obama Administration Urged to Halt Dumping of Offshore Fracking Waste Into Gulf of Mexico Proposed Permit Threatens Sea Turtles, Fish, Other Gulf Wildlife ATLANTA An Obama administration proposal to continue allowing oil companies to dump unlimited amounts of offshore fracking chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico violates federal law and threatens endangered marine wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity warned over the weekend. In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency on a proposed wastewater discharge permit for offshore oil and gas drilling activities in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Center explained that the proposed permit violates the Clean Water Act because it causes an undue degradation of the marine environment. The permit allows the unlimited discharge of produced wastewater, including the unlimited discharge of chemicals used in offshore fracking and other well-stimulation treatments, the letter noted. The EPA is endangering an entire ecosystem by allowing the oil industry to dump unlimited amounts of fracking chemicals and drilling waste fluid into the Gulf of Mexico, said Center attorney Kristen Monsell. This appalling plan from the agency that's supposed to protect our water violates federal law and shows a disturbing disregard for offshore frackings toxic threats to sea turtles and other Gulf wildlife. Today's letter also points out that the EPA is relying on a 33-year-old study of waste fluid produced by offshore platforms, despite the drilling of more than 450 wells in the area since 2010 alone. The letter urges EPA to adopt a zero-discharge requirement for produced water and fracking chemicals, as is required under other offshore drilling permits. At least 10 fracking chemicals routinely used in offshore fracking could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including marine mammals and fish, Center scientists have found. The California Council on Science and Technology has identified some common fracking chemicals to be among the most toxic in the world to marine animals. Fracking chemicals raise grave ecological concerns because, among other factors, the Gulf of Mexico is important habitat for whales, sea turtles and fish, and contains critical habitat for imperiled loggerhead sea turtles. Dolphins and other species in the Gulf are still suffering lingering effects from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As explained in the letter, the EPA is proposing to allow oil companies to discharge fracking chemicals without even knowing how much fracking has, or would, occur in the Gulf by relying on data from 1988. Information recently obtained by the Center indicates that oil companies were permitted to frack more than 1,200 times from more than 600 wells from 2010 to 2014 alone. And the agency is relying on more than 30-year-old data to estimate the volume of produced water to be discharged. The Obama administration cant just turn a blind eye to how offshore fracking could hurt the Gulfs wildlife, Monsell added. Its the EPAs job to protect water quality from offshore fracking, not rubberstamp the dumping of the wastewater from this dangerous, disgusting practice. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Sanofi announced that it filed a patent infringement suit against Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. ("Merck") on September 16, 2016 in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. In its suit Sanofi alleges infringement of ten patents. The suit was triggered by a notification received from Merck in early August, in which Merck stated that it had filed an NDA (505(b)(2) New Drug Application) with FDA for an insulin glargine drug product. Merck also stated that its NDA included a paragraph IV certification challenging all of the ten Sanofi patents listed in the FDA Orange Book for Sanofi's Lantus and Lantus SoloStar products. Mewing is a TikTok trend that has blown up in the last few months. It is claimed that it can help shape your jawline as well as cure other ailments by actively pressing your tongue to the roof LAGOS, Nigeria - Nokia has effected "constructive and collaborative engagement" with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and has reopened the Lagos office. Image by 123RF The Nigerian Communications Commission closed Nokias office in the country because it claimed that company had failed to pay a licence fee amounting to $6,300. Nokia has operated in Nigeria for over a decade, and as in all other markets where it has had a presence, it states that it has conducted business with sound corporate governance. We are always mindful that our business success is based upon superior commercial propositions and long-lasting partnerships with regulators, governments, suppliers, customers, partners and employees in all our markets. We take our responsibilities and obligations very seriously to build a sustainable industry that contributes to the growth of local economies. Nokia remain fully committed to acting in accordance with applicable requirements and regulations when delivering world-class connectivity solutions to the Nigerian market, in adherence with Nokia's culture of high-performance, innovation and integrity, a Nokia statement read. Source: Africa Media Agency Raised through this year's submissions to Glass Lion: the Lion for Change category - an award that goes to creative work that breaks gender stereotypes - Cannes Lions will donate a total of 72,819 to gender equality charities worldwide. Glass Lion This years submissions were from 38 countries and featured work that confronted gender-based prejudice and inequality. The proceeds from the 155 entries into the Glass Lion at this years Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity have been shared between ten gender equality-focussed charities from across the world: UN Women, Equality Now, Pro Mujer, Global Fund for Women, Gender and Development Network, Geena Davis Institute, Men Engage, Women for Women, Clinton Foundation and UN Women National Committee of the UK. Live at the Festival, attendees picked their favourite charity from the selected 10 and made donations using an activation platform delivered in partnership with in/PACT. Donations will support a range of causes, including: Pro Mujer is committed to empowering women in Latin America. The generous contributions of Cannes Lions attendees will provide essential health services and training, supporting women to break free from the cycle of poverty, said Lynne Patterson, co-founder, Pro Mujer. Global Fund for Women gives voice and resources to women worldwide. Thanks to your donation, we can ensure more women and girls are free from violence and are economically and politically empowered, commented Renee Saedi, stewardship officer of GFFW. UN Women National Committee UK is dedicated to gender equality with the goal of removing social and cultural barriers. The money raised will make a tangible difference, helping women and girls become more self-confident, independent and respected within their communities, said Laura Haynes, chairwoman of the UN Women National Committee UK. When we launched the Glass Lion, we were clear that all proceeds from entry fees would go to appropriate charities. Thank you to all the Cannes Lions attendees who participated in choosing the charities through the in/PACT platform. We hope the Glass Lion will one day focus on other issues within society, and we look forward to the day when an award like this is no longer needed to highlight gender imbalance in the world, said Jose Papa, managing director of Lions Festivals. The Glass Lion was launched in 2015 as part of a growing number of initiatives designed by Cannes Lions to promote diversity within creative communications. In 2016, 40% of jury members were women, the highest ratio ever. Female creatives See It Be It, the Festivals initiative for high-potential creative women, aims to change the ratio of female leaders in agency creative departments. In its third year, a cohort of 14 women took part in a tailored programme of main stage seminars, behind-the-scenes jury room access, workshops, one-to-one mentoring and exclusive networking opportunities. The Glass Grand Prix award, the highest accolade, was won by Indias first transgender band in a campaign by Mindshare for Brooke Bond tea. The winning Glass Award work is available on the Cannes Lions winners site at: www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/ For more information about the diversity agenda at Cannes Lions, please visit the Cannes Lions Archive where highlights from keynote sessions are available to watch in full. These include: Sex, Lies & Advertising by Madonna Badger; Gender Equality Is No Laughing Matter, Talks from the girls lounge; and Unleashing The Power of Diversity in Tech with Reshma Saujani. Cannes Lions is an eight-day Festival and Awards celebrating creative excellence across all forms of brand communications and runs from 17-24 June 2017 in Cannes, France. Further information on how to be a part of it can be found at www.canneslions.com. South African agribusiness, GWK recently scooped a Gold at the 2016 Loerie Awards for their groundbreaking animated TV and online advert, developed by MullenLowe SA, highlighting the important role that farmers play in society. The advert, called 'This man is building a rocket' equates farming to 'building a rocket'. We spoke to Neil de Klerk, executive manager: corporate marketing at GWK, who played an active role in the coordination and production of the advert, about its message and how a dedication to innovation inspired it. Neil de Klerk What was the aim of the ad, what did GWK hope to achieve? Neil de Klerk: We embarked on a journey to tell the beautiful story of agriculture and the people involved in agriculture and food production. The objective of the campaign is to highlight the innovation, imagination, and passion that are intrinsic to being a farmer while emphasizing that farmers really are the thread that keeps the modern food chain together. The world needs farmers who work in ways that no one ever thought was possible to meet the growing demand for food, and we want to share this beautiful story of continuous innovation in agriculture with everyone in South Africa. What was the inspiration behind the ad? De Klerk: We understand that farming is a noble profession and that every farmer and farm worker is actually making a meaningful contribution to the worlds challenges around food security and sustainability. Nothing is possible without the people who produce our food. And nothing is possible without the innovation that is necessary every day to continue to meet the growing demand for food. Kirk Gainsford, chief creative officer for MullenLowe South Africa, explains it best by saying, without farmers there would be no doctors, no students, and no scientists because without food we cannot progress as a people. This is how the idea was born for This man is building a rocket. Because without farmers the scientists and engineers will not have the food to feed their minds to be able design the rocket that will fly into space. We see farmers as the modern explorers of our time who have to find new ways and means every day to supply food to the world. How does the ad reflect GWK and its relationship with South Africas farmers? De Klerk: GWK as a company is owned by farmers. We provide farmers with the inputs they need, we support them with the best solutions on the farm and we ensure the best channels to market for their products, locally and abroad. We ensure quality and sustainable supply for our clients in the agri-commodity markets and niche products for multinational clients with specific needs. Our premium branded food products for the consumer have origin on the farm, linking consumers to the value of the work farmers do. Thats why we say in the advert that GWK supplies farmers with tools and technology, ploughs and biscuit mills and pasta factories, and new and smarter ways and means to keep the world growing and dreaming. We feed the people who feed the people. GWK is known for its innovative approach to farming and agribusiness. As Kirk Gainsford from MullenLowe South Africa says "They are an innovative and visionary organisation providing cutting-edge research and solutions in agriculture. GWK endeavours to be on the forefront of technology, to innovate agriculture." How important is this to GWK and what drives this mindset of the organisation? De Klerk: Our positioning as a company is to continuously discover new and smarter ways to do business. Discovery is the softer side of innovation. It is about doing things differently, to be more effective in everything you do. It is a leadership philosophy rooted in strong entrepreneurship led by a strong leadership team. This, however, does not mean that we are not involved in hard innovation. Our research and precision farming team, for example, does ground-breaking work to improve yields with sustainable farming practices and techniques. Another example is the recently commissioned GWK Farm Foods factory near Kimberley at Modder River in the Northern Cape. Designed and built with energy efficiency and water sustainability in mind, the factory includes state of the art technology in its silos, mill and production plants, and is the most advanced facility of its kind on the African continent. We also strongly believe in the right partnerships, such as our collaborations with John Deere and Valley Irrigation to ensure that we are able to supply the latest and best technology to farmers. Tell us a bit about some of the innovative things GWK has been up to and its plans for the future. De Klerk: We are very excited and proud of Natures Farms, our new South African farmer brand for the premium consumer foods market. The new brands origin on the farm is signified by packaging that showcases images of farming in a very unique way. To honour our roots, each product line is also named after one of the farms where the raw ingredients are sustainably grown. The Natures Farms ranges of pasta and biscuits, white and brown bread flours, cake flour and maize meal produced by GWK Farm Foods is already available in Pick n Pay and other retail outlets nationwide while extensions of the product lines are already planned. South Africa's advertising landscape is still experiencing the reverberations of years of consolidation that saw global networks snap up some of the country's leading agencies. One effect is that traditional agencies are being pushed by their new international owners to get more serious about online advertising and to position themselves as full-service consultancies. On the one hand, this is a welcome development because it helps to shift more advertising spending to online channels and encourages brands to take a more integrated view of their marketing strategies. On the other, many of these traditional agencies are not up to date with the latest online marketing practices and skills, and instead rely on outmoded metrics and methods for success. Nowhere is this clearer and more potentially harmful to the industry and to brands than in the current trend of agencies regressing to click-through rates as their key measure for success. Most digital native agencies left the click-through behind years ago because it is no longer the most accountable and accurate way to measure return on investment. Indeed, the era of programmatic media buying is upon us, bringing more meaningful and accurate ways to target customers and measure marketing success. Agencies that are too quick to use click-throughs and other traditional reach-and-frequency measures as a crutch are essentially being irresponsible with their clients money. Cost-per-acquisition a more meaningful measure for online media metrics is becoming more accurate and accountable all the time, and programmatic buys support that trend by making it easier to segment audiences, deliver personalised messaging to them, and then measure the results. We can say goodbye to the infamous adage: I know 50% of my advertising worked, but Im not sure which 50%. We can today know exactly what worked, what didnt and why. When I say "know what worked, I mean understanding which placements and messages helped us to convert customers as well as how much these customer acquisitions cost us versus the value they generated. This sounds scary to many traditional marketers and agencies, but they should embrace it as a means to show their performance to the business. When I speak about customer acquisition goals, I use the term broadly to refer to a range of marketing objectives. It could mean generating a lead from an application form the customer filled in online, a sign-up for the email newsletter, or a customer registering on the site and making a purchase. What is important in this definition is that an acquisition is a client carrying out an online action that meets the businesss objectives. It has a value and a meaning to the business it doesnt simply mean that a few people accidentally viewed the homepage for a few seconds after accidentally clicking on a banner. We need to match our acquisition goals to consequential acquisition metrics. For example, a bank could look at the potential value of the interest it could generate from a home loan applicant over the period of the mortgage. It could use this to calculate the cost of the acquisition to decide whether the banner ad placement paid for itself. Marrying business and campaign data for an accurate view of performance leads brands go even further some of the banks we work with benchmark their online ads for mortgages against the loans approved originating from online applications. This is the end goal: marrying internal business performance information with online campaign data to get a clear picture of ROI. Of course, getting it right can be a complex journey since there isnt always a linear path between a customer clicking on the ad and then carrying out the desired action. Brands need to map the entire customer journey and consider how various online channels and touchpoints affect acquisition. For example, a client might intend to apply for the home loan after seeing the ad, but drop off because the forms are cumbersome. She might visit for more information, and then fail to apply because the landing page isnt easy to navigate or because the call to action is unclear. Or she might come into a branch two weeks later to fill in the forms. However, with todays online analytics tools, we can get a full view of customer behaviour across social channels, search, the website and online media ads to see how they interact in the customer journey. It takes a specialist team and sophisticated knowledge to succeed, but it can and must be done. After all, CEOs are pressuring their marketing teams for results, and marketers are in turn demanding better value and performance from agencies. Agencies can no longer hide behind nebulous ROI metrics they must show themselves to be accountable and deliver real business results to their customers. Healthcare systems are undergoing the same level of convergence as ICT companies did more than a decade ago - with the health landscape in the early stages of disruption A convergence is taking place between the private and public sectors, regulators and the industry, between competitors and even between sectors, and the degree of cooperation is increasing exponentially, says Richard Bergstrom, director-general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations (EFPIA). Achieving dialogue between all parties is a big part of what Bergstrom does, and he says that in Europe all parties are talking to each other to reduce inequalities in health, as well as accelerating patients access to innovative medicines and improving patient safety. Based on what he has seen in South Africa, Bergstrom says that dialogue here was steadily improving. Current healthcare model antiquated Even the technology sector is getting involved in healthcare, with a wide variety of health apps, many of which are not complying with health and privacy regulations. Companies in Europe are collaborating as never before, but the current healthcare model is antiquated, as typified by payment systems that focus on activities and not results. What stakeholders in the healthcare system are calling for is a payment model based on results. Under the US Obamacare system, in just the past few years, the percentage of payments based on results has shot up from 10% of the total to 50%. This is the way the rest of the world has to go, says Bergstrom. Focus on universal data One of the challenges in implementing such a system is the quality of data available. There has been huge investment and huge interest in the subject of real-world evidence. This is something the healthcare industry is familiar with because traditional R&D starts with historical data. But this new direction of healthcare requires a focus on new and universal data generated by consumers connected to apps and sensors, he says. There is considerable resistance to the idea of the health of all people being tracked for diagnostic purposes, as it would violate privacy laws. However, even regulators are suggesting that instead of doing a trial of, say, 50 000 people, we track every persons health. Patient experience needs better planning This raises a question of how to connect every patient onto the system. Governments wanting to lower the cost of health services would certainly like to give the pharmaceutical industry access to broad health records, but are not permitted to. So the question is how to take an already high level of cooperation to a new level. The collaborative space has to be expanded, says Bergstrom. As to why collaboration has to be increased, he explained that while a lot is happening in medical innovation, at the patient level it is far less evident. The patient experience has to be far better planned. The technologies now starting to come through are more complex than a simple oral tablet; they are entire systems which offer the potential to reduce costs. With this, payers want different payment models and the challenge to the industry is to come up with innovations in this space. Intercepting diseases before onset Cancer and Alzheimers are the next medical tsunamis coming. These treatments involve intercepting the diseases even before its onset, based on family history and diagnostics. This will be a suite of services that starts with finding the patient. Patently, this requires both data on people and on tracking outcomes, and a different payment structure. Ordinary people are not ready for this, nor are traditional ways of doing business, he explains. Results need to be demonstrated The underlying theme in many new medical innovations is the ageing population, and Bergstrom says that this was likely to have more of an impact in middle income countries. Their populations were ageing, but without having the income to afford treatment. We need quality data because the people who were once sceptical about the results achieved by the pharmaceutical industry are today expressing equal scepticism about how good we claim the results. They have to be demonstrated. It is conceivable that juicing is a fad too far and that kale isn't as saintly as it seems. However, for the fervent who cleanse, reset and detox but might be averse to slicing, chopping and dicing, it has never been easier to get in five-a-day, thanks to Woolworths. Woolworths CE Ian Moir.Photographer: Trevor Samson One might argue that its precut juice mixes pander to the lazy, but the retailer is more inclined to call the prepped offerings and shortcuts it sells "solutions." "Customers come in [to our stores] and want to be inspired about what to make for their meals. They want us to help them, to make it easy for them. Even if its just allowing them to put sprinkles on a salad they feel less guilty," says Woolworths CEO Zyda Rylands. "Customers also dont have to get to a big mall we have small stores and some big ones. Its just convenient to get to us. We are very well positioned." The group has made fat profits from catering to the time poor and cash rich, and in doing so it has altered retailing in SA to build a R25bn food business. Five years ago, when SAs weekly food shoppers became Woolworth s target through its supermarket-slash-grocery strategy, Pick n Pay was in the throes of its descent and Shoprite was gung-ho on Africa. Woolworths dug in and stole market share. And its been doing so ever since. Customarily frequented for "jocks and socks", fancy jam and biscuits, its aisles began to brim with more mundane items like loo roll and tomato paste. And though Woolworths essentially became a different animal as its basket shoppers became trolley shoppers, its position as a niche player has endured. Sasha Naryshkine, a director at asset management company Vestact, which holds a "buy" rating on Woolworths, says the "Woolies" client is still happy to pay for quality. "What is key is that they [Woolworths] are differentiating themselves from their competitors in their food offering, making sure that they appeal to higher-income groups that are not price sensitive," says Naryshkine. "Theres this whole idea that the rich remain rich and are less likely to worry about price over the superior quality. Food is less risky [and] premium (not too premium) is pretty sticky, provided that they keep the quality and maintain the brand, relative to their peers ... management are masters at this." Despite the broader economic malaise, Woolworths full-year numbers largely came in above expectations, unlike most of its peers. Food delivered strong numbers: total sales were up 11.9% and 5.7% on a comparable basis. Transformation initiatives at its Australian outfit, David Jones (DJs), are seemingly on track it posted its strongest earnings since 2011. And while Clothing & GM didnt exactly shoot the lights out due to what group CEO Ian Moir called "a horrible, nonexistent winter" (sales were up 8.2% or 4.4% comparably), the only real lemon was Country Road, of which there will be more in next weeks Financial Mail. Naryshkine reckons that at a historic price:earnings ratio of 19, and forward closer to 16.5, the stock presents a great buying opportunity. Plus investors are getting paid more than 3% yield as a bonus. Woolworths is cheaper than it has been in a while. The counter is down nearly 17% this year, mostly on profit taking and the lingering risk of higher income tax on wealthier consumers. There has also been some fret over the quantum of change going on at its Australian business the head office move from Sydney to Melbourne, a food roll-out at DJs, a big fix-up at Country Road and a revamp of its Elizabeth Street store. Still, analysts remain captivated by Moirs growth story, with 10 "buy" ratings on the stock, alongside five "holds" and two "sells". On average, these analysts expect the share price to hit R94.45 within a year. Its not too far off already, and bobbed at about R81/share at the time this magazine went to print. In SA, the plan for food other than finding ever-greater numbers of cultivars to spiralise and sell is to invest in price. Just how aggressively this will play out at Woolworths remains to be seen. With a trading margin above 7% which is dizzying and perhaps a wee bit unsustainable for a food retailer its drive to keep and grow market share might spell some pressure down the line. As far as clothing goes, Woolworths, as a predominantly cash-based player, has been less vulnerable than rivals Truworths and the Foschini Group (TFG) to changes to the National Credit Act. Moir says the intent of the new regulations was right: "Government [was] trying to do the right thing ... [it was] trying to control credit, which was in danger of getting out of control. But there were some unintended consequences of the act that hopefully the regulator will think about again, and Im thinking particularly about the credit limit increases in stores, which now require three months worth of bank statements. "That is going to affect all businesses." At Truworths, the implementation of the national credit regulators (NCR) new affordability assessments resulted in a loss of between R200m and R250m in credit sales. The group, along with Mr Price and TFG, has initiated legal action against the NCR and the Department of Trade and Industry. As onerous as the new rules are, blame for the tapering off of credit sales cannot be laid solely at the NCRs door. With a rising unemployment rate and high household debt, consumer confidence is severely depressed, particularly in the middle to lower segment of the market. Never before has the environment been so tough for so long. Alec Abraham, Sasfins senior retail analyst, says that in terms of defensive exposure, investors would probably want to stick with food rather than apparel retailers. "At the moment, given the way things are going and that is extreme pressure on consumers spending people with tighter budgets who were initially just moving away from buying furniture and appliances are now not spending that much on clothing," he says. Moir, like his less-polished counterpart at Shoprite is unapologetically blunt about domestic headwinds. "We are not expecting any growth in SA. Everyone is facing a tough time. Its not going to get easy soon weve seen some positivity coming through with the local elections, some improvement in the rand and the end of the drought. "But we still see political turmoil," he says. Retailers, as some of the largest private-sector employers in SA, pay billions in direct taxes to the fiscus. On governments role in tackling the economys structural problems, Moir says: "I dont see how at 0% growth forecast you can argue that they are [doing enough]. I think government really needs to do more. But we all do, dont we? We all want SA Inc to be successful and we are all prepared to do our part. Woolworths does a lot to develop small businesses to create more wealth and jobs in the economy and we employ a lot of people. Government, being the government [of this country] needs to do more and to do a better job of governing." As high flying as its food business is, Woolworths only makes a quarter of its profits from selling food the DJs acquisition effectively reduced the food contribution to the group, making its business profile somewhat riskier. Yet, noting that its current price was the cheapest entry point in years, Woolworths was upgraded to overweight from neutral by JPMorgan on 1 September. In a note, analysts said that after a steady de-rating over the past year, valuation no longer appeared to be a concern and now looked cheap in the light of history. "We ... continue to like the David Jones story, even though we believe the profit inflection in this business is now delayed to FY19. Woolworths is one of the few SA consumer names that has clear long-term vectors [DJs, SA food], which we believe is attractive to long-term investors," they said. Woolworths two years ago paid R23.3bn for department chain DJs. It also paid retail tycoon and long-time nemesis Solomon Lew about R2bn for his minority stake in Country Road. Every great city is said to have an iconic department store Paris has Le Bon Marche, New York has Bergdorf Goodman and London has Liberty. With DJs in Sydney, Moir is setting out to build the most "beautiful store in the southern hemisphere". According to FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva, the groundbreaking international accord on illegal fishing, which recently came into force, is a welcome development but requires "strong and effective implementation." Graziano da Silva praised the signatories of the FAO-brokered Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) while addressing the Our Ocean Conference in the United States capital. The FAO Director-General also provided United States Secretary of State John Kerry with an update on the status of the treaty, which came into force in June. "In 2014 only 10 nations had ratified the PSMA," Kerry noted in his conference address. "All of us then decided that we could do better and we did... because more than 60 nations have now ratified the PSMA and that is critical," he added. Everyone must come onboard The FAO director-general, urged all other countries to follow suit in adhering to the treaty. "We need everyone to come onboard, otherwise rogue fishing vessels will continue to find ways to land and introduce their illegal catches into the markets of non-PSMA countries," he added. Graziano da Silva likened adherence to the treaty to the international community's commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, "a situation in which no one can be left behind." Under the treaty, parties are obliged to implement a number of measures while managing ports under their control, to detect illegal fishing, preventing ill-caught fish from being offloaded and sold, and ensuring that information on unscrupulous vessels is shared globally. Supporting impelemtation FAO has launched a global programme to support countries with the implementation of the treaty and complimentary instruments, Graziano da Silva said. These include the Voluntary Guidelines on Flag State Performance, which spell out a range of actions that countries can take to ensure that vessels registered under their flags do not conduct illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. So far FAO has secured $5 million for this global programme, including funding from the organisation's own resources. FAO is also collaborating with Google to develop new platforms and research methodologies to support countries in improving their monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing activities. Each year, IUU fishing is responsible for annual catches of up to 26 million tonnes, with a value of up to USD 23 billion. It also undermines efforts to ensure sustainable fisheries and responsible fish stock management around the world. Boosting small-scale fisheries Graziano da Silva also stressed to the Our Ocean Conference participants the need to increase support for small-scale fisheries on which 110 million people - 97 percent of them in developing countries - depend for their livelihoods. "They are among the poorest communities in the world and they risk to be further marginalised," the FAO director-general warned. He called on donors to support an ongoing FAO initiative that is aimed at providing policy support, promoting the sharing of experiences and empowering small-scale fisheries communities in the context of poverty eradication. Some $2.5 million have already been secured for this work, but more support is needed. A $66 billion merger deal between German chemical giant Bayer and US seeds firm Monsanto could result into the world's largest agribusiness. But what does it mean for African farmers where Monsanto is also active? Marcin Balcerzak via 123RF Many experts say that Bayer's takeover of Monsanto may lead to a global monopoly in the production of agricultural supplies. Mariam Mayet, executive director of African Centre for Biodiversity, told DW that the merger could also have a negative impact on both farmers and consumers in Africa. DW: What is your take on the merger between Bayer and Monsanto? Mayet: I think that it will result in one of the largest agribusinesses on the planet because it will put together one company that will control almost 30 percent of the world's seeds and around a quarter of the world's pesticide market. But we must also remember that this merger is part of a bigger consolidation and concentration in the global agriculture input market. As we speak, the deal between ChemChina and Syngenta is being finalized, as well as the merger between Dow and DuPont. What are the likely risks arising out of this merger and how will it affect farmers in Africa? Mayet: I think the first thing to note is that Monsanto already controls much of the high breed maize seed market in Southern Africa, and in parts of West Africa. So in terms of further expansion into the seed market, I think that we will see a greater push into the GM (Genetically Modified) seed market, particularly GM cotton in west Africa. We will see a bigger push in Southern Africa, where Monsanto controls a higher breed maize market, probably a strengthened push towards GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and also a further push for the GM soya beans market. We anticipate that this renewed economic force and power in Africa, bringing together the seed and agrochemicals industry, will result in a bigger push for African governments to deploy GM technology and the greater use of agrochemicals in African agriculture particularly with maize, soya bean and cotton. Do you foresee appropriate regulation by African policy makers? Mayet: Let's wait and see what happens with the approval of the merger in the US and in Germany or at the European level. I think there will be quite a lot of resistance at national levels, at the competition commission levels, and at the antitrust levels. However, regulations will not be something to which African governments pay lots of attention. Will Bayer attempt to clean Monsanto's track record in Africa? Mayet: If you look at what happened in Burkina Faso after the failure of BT Cotton, Monsanto's Cotton, cotton seeds companies were more open to doing business with Bayer. Monsanto has a very tainted record in Africa. It has a very bad public relations image because of the way they dismissed consumer concerns. They just have an appalling track record and they are very much hated by consumers and environmentalist across the world. I think that Bayer will want to distance itself from that image but not the product. It's possible that they may give the seed and agriculture chemical component of this conglomerate a new name and a new branding. How independent do you think an African farmer will be once these global giants penetrate the market? Mayet: Greater consolidation means less choice for farmers and consumers. Less competition always means greater control by cartels to control the price of seed, high breed seeds and GM seeds. Small-scale farmers are predominant in Sub-Saharan Africa. These farmers operate on a very low-profit margin. So, a significant change in input cost will have a huge impact on farmers' ability to survive. I think it will also have a greater impact on the downstream market. An increase in the maize seed market will increase the cost of food at the supermarket. What opportunities are there for Africa? Mayet: Africa should curb out its own indigenous solutions to the problems besetting its agriculture systems. Looking outwards for external inputs will further impoverish Africa and marginalize small-scale farmers. It will also undermine Africa's raw genetic diversity and the strong systems that farmers have built to increase diversity and nutrition security. The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit will this November showcase city development plans on the continent at the CTICC in Cape Town. Addis Ababa Dereje Belachew 123RF.com CEO of Wesgro Tim Harris; executive director of Kampalas Capital City Authority Dr Jennifer Musisi; UCLG-A secretary general Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi; and Business Botswana director Lekwalo Mosienyane form part of the lineup of headline experts from around Africa that will address attendees from 2-3 November 2016. UCLG-A: United Cities and Local Governments of Africa The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit aims to gather the full spectrum of the continents real estate sector and plans to assist African cities and governments to secure international investment for commercial real estate development and infrastructure projects that will contribute to urban development plans (UDPs). Some of the continents leading cities, including Lusaka, Kigali, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, have been invited to showcase their UDPs in a discussion format. This will allow for delegates and exhibitors to understand the future plans of developing cities and build business relationships with key city officials including: city managers, city mayors, city council members, town planners, town clerks, district officials and city and finance directors amongst others. View the full conference agenda. The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit is organised by Spintelligent and the African office of Clarion Events. A meeting of career counsellors in Pretoria is expected to improve the support given to youth to help them get ready for the world of work. The University of Pretoria, in partnership with the Department of Labours Public Employment Services (PES) Branch, will on Thursday, 22 September 2016, host a workshop for career counsellors to discuss the latest methodologies in the field. The interactive workshop will provide an overview of the steps needed to help youth plan and prepare for employment. Workshop participants will review the tools used for assessing student strengths, preferences and interests; strategies for developing career goals; resources for teaching employment skills; and ideas for providing work experience. More than 100 career counsellors are expected to attend the workshop. It will be attended by delegates from the Department of Labour, University of Pretoria, the Department of Higher Education and Training and the National Youth Development Agency. Held under the theme, Counselling youth on entering employment, the workshop is expected to be addressed by Dr Lauren Linstrom from the University of Oregon in the United States. Dr Maximus Sefotho from the University of Pretoria is also expected to address the workshop. The workshop will also be addressed by the Department of Labours Chief Director of PES Workers Services, Sagren Govender and PES Director: Work-seeker Support, Emily Maneli. The workshop will start at 9am at the University of Pretorias Groenkloof Campus (Preller Street) Department of Educational Psychology. The Hayward v Zurich Insurance Company PLC 2015 decision by the England and Wales Court of Appeal relating to insurance fraud has now been overturned on appeal by the UK Supreme Court. This appeal judgment sets an important precedent for the law relating to insurance fraud and will undoubtedly have an impact on the South African insurance industry. History of the Hayward case Hayward suffered an injury at work for which he claimed compensation from his employers insurer (Zurich). Although Zurich suspected that Hayward had fraudulently exaggerated his injuries to inflate his claim, it was unable to obtain conclusive proof of this. Shortly before trial, a substantial settlement was reached. Two years later evidence emerged from Haywards neighbours, confirming Haywards fraud. In light of the new evidence, Zurich sought to rescind the settlement, claiming that the fraudulent nature of Haywards representations induced it to conclude the settlement. Hayward argued that the matter had already been disposed of with finality through the settlement agreement and that the court should accordingly dismiss Zurichs application for rescission of the settlement. The County Court upheld Zurichs argument and set aside the settlement agreement, only awarding Hayward a substantially-reduced sum in compensation for his actual injuries. In August 2015, the England and Wales Court of Appeal ruled in Haywards favour, holding that, since Zurich had been aware of (or had strongly suspected) the fraud at the time of conclusion of the settlement agreement, Zurich was not at liberty to have the settlement set aside when better evidence later arose. The court took a harsh stand and ruled that Zurich had concluded the settlement with eyes wide open and that the principle of finality of settlements applied. Significant findings of the UK Supreme Court The Supreme Court ruled on 27 July 2016 that, contrary to the 2015 finding, Zurich did not have full knowledge of all the facts of Haywards fraud when it concluded the settlement. It held that Hayward had grossly and dishonestly exaggerated his condition and Zurich had been induced into concluding the settlement. The Supreme Court also confirmed that a party need not believe the truthfulness of a misrepresentation to still be factually influenced (i.e induced) by the misrepresentation to conclude a settlement. The judges of appeal acknowledged that in some cases an insurer may know that a misrepresentation is false, but may rely upon it anyway as a matter of fact. This will happen when, for example, an insurer knows that a claim is false but settles the claim to avoid the possibility that a court may accept the misrepresentation as truth. The Supreme Court acknowledged that [i]nsurers may often have grounds for suspicion about a claim but lack the hard evidence necessary to prove fraud, and also conceded that, for an insurer, [t]o pursue an allegation of fraud without strong evidence is risky. The Supreme Court also ruled that an insurers thorough investigations into a claim where fraudulent misrepresentation was suspected would not preclude the insurer from being induced by the misrepresentations. The Court held that in almost all circumstances where fraud was suspected, subsequent proof of the fraud would unravel a settlement. Impact on South African law As it now stands in the UK, fraud (still) unravels all. This principle has for many years been incorporated in South African law. In terms of our common law, the purpose of the principle that fraud unravels all is to restrict the right of fraudsters to avoid the consequence of their performance. Reversal of the 2015 judgment is good news for insurers in South Africa, as it reinforces the English-law principle that has previously been followed by our courts that courts will not allow their process to be used by a dishonest person to carry out a fraud. The principle of finality of settlement agreements is important, but the law cannot be seen to be condoning fraudulent practices. The financial health of any sectional title scheme is dependent on a steady income stream, as payments of bills and regular maintenance is what is needed for the scheme to maintain value and be managed properly. If the body corporate is unable to collect all the levies due on a regular basis, the scheme might end up with financial difficulties, which affects all the owners negatively and not just the non-payers. If owners of sectional title units do not pay their levies in full and on time, they place a huge burden on the others who do pay, which is an unacceptable situation. In turn, if there is a shortage of funds, it creates a situation where the scheme might not be able to meet its financial obligations. This might mean that a special levy must be raised to rectify the situation, but it often happens that the non-payers will default on this contribution as well, leaving the paying owners to cover the amounts not coming in. A plan has to be made While some owners might have genuine problems with paying their bills each month, be it a loss of income or illness, the bad news is that a plan has to be made to meet their obligations or they will have to face the consequences of non-payment. Unpaid levy accounts place a huge strain on everyone trying to manage those accounts, not just the trustees trying to manage the scheme but for those who are responsible for the awkward task of collecting the debt. This is where it is better for the trustees to hand the account over to a professional, whether it be an attorney or a company experienced in debt collection in sectional title schemes, as there is no personal involvement and just a carrying out of an instruction. If levy accounts are handed over for collection, it will take some time for money to come in as legal processes are often lengthy. In order to assist, whether the body corporate has appointed an attorney or collections company, all the necessary information pertaining to the outstanding accounts should be handed over by the trustees as soon as possible. Alleviating the stress of trustees During the course of many years in operation, Propell has seen that those bodies corporate opting to use an arrears collection service or arrears finance package has immediately helped, by alleviating the stress of trustees having to collect outstanding levies on their own. In cases such as these the company taking over the collection process often also assists by fronting the amount of money needed by the body corporate to get their scheme back in the black. Using this option is often the better solution that trying to go through all the legal processes alone, as using an experienced collections company also hands the credit risk over to the company rather than the body corporate carrying it. All the legal fees incurred are usually paid by the collections company and the interest on outstanding amounts will also be recovered from the owner. We find that managing agents and trustees possibly dont have the time it takes to continuously follow up on the outstanding bills, but if they employ a professional expressly to do this job, they can get on with the day to day running of the scheme. The Visitor's Guide Flower Route, published by MapStudio, is a beautifully-illustrated, detailed overview of South Africa's spectacular annual kaleidoscope of wildflowers, often described as "the greatest flower show on earth." Winfried Bruenken (Amrum) via Wikimedia Commons - Namaqualand Besides brimming with floral information, this guide weaves a rich tapestry of historic information and fascinating things to see and do with recommendations of where to eat and sleep, so appealingly presented that it is guaranteed to spark off an immediate itch in any roadies accelerator foot. Meticulously and passionately researched and written by Marion Whitehead the guide is divided into the five key wildflower regions: Springbok, Kamieskroon/Karies, Namaqua National Park, Knersvlakte/Vanrhynsdorp and Nieuwoudville/Bokkeveld and richly endowed with top-class maps, descriptions of scenic routes and seldom-heard place names tucked away at the end of roads less travelled. It also contains tips for planning wildflower trips, key telephone numbers, and information about the regional impact of the weather, brightly illustrated with attractive pictures of flowers, dreamy scenery, animals, and eateries. The magnetic appeal of this comprehensive guide is that it is so enticing that even just paging through it the reader is struck by an almost overwhelming urge to load up and get out there to see and experience Mother Natures colourful extravaganza first hand. Undecided about which direction to point the nose of your vehicle for your next road trip? Let this guide decide. In the Always-On enterprise, cyber security is an ongoing concern. More importantly, it has evolved to become not just a threat to desktop computers but the modern data centre as well. This should not come as a surprise. Given the amount of data companies have come to rely on, a data centre provides an attractive target for malicious users. And while many threats come from external sources, disgruntled employees leaving the organisation can never be discounted. Governing access An organisation has to contend with a large surface area when it comes to effective cyber security implementation. And while implementing a traffic light system (red, yellow, and green) to identify risks, might be a good initial strategy, it is by no means a silver bullet. This especially comes into play when looking at disaster recovery. In theory, making backups and having access to them should indicate a green light. Yet, what controls have the company put in place to govern the person who has access to the backups and who can restore them? Given how the data centre has become a very targeted way to cripple an organisation, decision-makers need to scrutinise their disaster recovery and business continuity policies even further. Having the restore activities go through an internal IT security team is one way of dealing with the potential problem, any cyber security policy needs to be judged by the way it is implemented. It is a never-ending enablement journey. Cyber security, especially in how it forms part of the modern data centre, does not simply entail a fire-and-forget approach. Organisations need to invest in proper techniques, systems, policies, and even broader forms of availability to keep them more secure. This is one part of a digital transformation effecting every organisation around the world. Availability expectations The organisation needs to ask itself what the expectations are around availability and in which situations it becomes necessary. Yes, most companies have high demands of the continuity of their data centre but it is in the way data is restored that becomes the challenge. Consider the implications if the person who restores the data has access to the files. Opening the CEOs email and going through sensitive information becomes so much simpler this way if care is not taken around permissions and policies. While the temptation is there to over permission, companies need to take role-based access to backup files very seriously. If not, the data is there for all to access and do with what they want. When it comes to cyber security, decision-makers need to work closely with their IT departments to align business needs with the right level of protective measures. Only then will the modern data centre and the associated backups be on the way to be better protected. Cyber security is a global issue and one that no organisation, irrespective of size and industry, can afford to ignore. However, it is not just about protecting systems but also about securing backups to maintain operations in the event of a disaster. European oil companies, especially Swiss commodity traders, are exploiting weak African fuel standards by selling toxic diesel and gasoline across the continent, a campaign group said Thursday, 15 September. jordi Clave Garsot 123RF.com A three-year investigation published by Switzerland-based environmental and economic group Public Eye did not accuse oil companies of breaking any laws. But it charged several firms with using an "illegitimate strategy" to boost profits, hawking so-called "African quality" fuels that have had devastating health and environmental impacts across many sub-Saharan states. In a 160-page report based on research in eight African countries, Public Eye found fuels sold at the pump which contained high levels of toxins, notably sulphur. Such toxic blends would be illegal to sell in Europe, which caps sulphur rates in fuel at 10 parts per million, Public Eye said. In Africa, sulphur limits are on average 200 times higher. "By selling such fuels at the pump in Africa, the traders increase outdoor air pollution, causing respiratory disease and premature death," said the report from Public Eye, a group previously known as the Bern Declaration and founded in 1968. Among the key culprits, Public Eye named Swiss traders Vitol and Trafigura as well as the multi-national energy group Oryx, which specialises in the African market. In a statement sent to AFP, Vitol called the report "inaccurate and misinformed," stressing that African governments were responsible for setting their own fuel standards. Oryx made the same case, noting in a statement that it sells fuel products "that strictly comply with the national legislation of each client country". Public Eye tested fuel sold in Angola, Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal and Zambia. While sub-Saharan Africa includes major oil producers like Angola and Nigeria, limited refining capacity on the continent means that most African oil is sold as crude on the international market. States then import fuel products refined abroad, often from European traders. These transactions often involve regional brokers in Africa, who are sometimes responsible for mixing the fuel. Public eye called on African governments "to set stringent fuel quality standards" in line with European levels, arguing that was the most effective way to crack down on toxic blends. Fears that banning low-quality blends will raise costs for consumers are misguided, the report said. It noted that measures in East Africa to limit sulphur content had "no impact on prices at the pump". Importing better fuel would also lower healthcare expenses and reduce vehicle maintenance costs in the long run, Public Eye argued. With many of the toxic blends produced in Europe and the United States, Public Eye urged Western governments to ban the export of fuel products that do not meet their own domestic standards. Source: AFP LIBREVILLE, Gabon - An internet curfew and social media blackout has sparked outrage and wreaked havoc on businesses in oil-rich Gabon, as citizens keenly await a pivotal ruling challenging President Ali Bongo's contested re-election. Image by 123RF "We are losing a lot of money," fumed Steeve Ndong, who oversees the website of a mobile telephone company. The figures of the page I look after are in the red. We are now down to 600 hits a day against between 6,000 and 10,000 normally," he said. "It has lasted for 15 days," added Raoul, a doctor in the seaside capital Libreville, adding "(and) we speak of democracy." Internet connections were partially restored on Thursday between six in the morning until 8 at night and then cut off later. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook and What'sApp remain blocked. Gabon, which has been ruled by the Bongo family for nearly 50 years, has been wracked by violent protests after the sitting president was declared the winner of the August 27, 2016, polls. Bongo's rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat, took his challenge of the result - which gave Bongo a winning margin of a mere 6,000 votes - to the country's top court. Riots broke out following the August 31 announcement of the results, the National Assembly was torched and there were attacks on Ping's headquarters. Bongo meanwhile claimed that Ping had instigated the violence. Ping has asked for a recount in the ruling family's stronghold of Haut-Ogooue province, where Bongo won more than 95% of votes on a reported turnout of more than 99%. Ping says more than 50 people were killed in post-electoral violence, but the interior ministry says the toll was three dead. Meanwhile, anxious Gabonese awaiting news of the Constitutional Court's decision on Ping's appeal now only have recourse to the country's tightly-controlled state media and television. "To know what's really happening we have to wait for the evening news on international TV channels," said a student who identified herself as only Marie. Another young woman, Laure, said she had "anticipated" the crackdown and installed a virtual private network or VPN on her smartphone to avoid "censorship." "We have access to Facebook," said the 23-year-old Ping supporter. Communications Minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze told AFP that the erratic services were due to "disruptions" in the network and nothing more. "We are all victims," he said. "Like everybody else, we too cannot work normally and we hope that the links will be re-established quickly," he said. But this line fails to convince many. "The government is trying to make us believe that business is back to normal but that's rubbish," exclaimed Paul, who works in a Libreville bank. Shops and businesses, shuttered for days after the post-poll violence broke out, have re-opened but close well before normal hours. Parents are also worried about the new school term, which begins at the start of October. In the incredibly tangled web that makes up Gabon's political elite, the Constitutional Court is headed by Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, a former beauty queen whose affair with the leader's father produced two children. For over 20 years the glamorous 61-year-old has headed the nine-member Constitutional Court and many question her impartiality. The African Union on Friday said it was putting together a high-level legal team to send to Gabon "as soon as possible" to help ensure the court delivers a fair and transparent ruling. "We wish to guarantee proper transparency as well as the credibility and legitimacy of Jean Ping's challenge," the spokesman for the AU Commission, Jacob Enoh Eben, told AFP. "Consultations are under way to establish this team of jurists, experts in French administrative law," in coordination with the Gabon Constitutional Court, he said. The AU was seeking "former Supreme Court chiefs and university professors". France, Gabon's former colonial ruler, has called for a fair ruling with Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault underscoring the need "to examine the objections transparently and impartially." Source: AFP. A Chinese border-based military affairs observer, who did not want to be named, told KNG that the soldiers disguised as civilians had crossed into China at the Jiegao border crossing. An observer said that the soldiers were seen heading towards the Chinese border towns of Longchuan and Yingjiang, which are close to the KIO headquarters and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Brigade 3 headquarters in Laiza, Laisin Bum, and Mai Ja Yang, but since then there has been no further news about them. Lieutenant-Colonel Naw Buu, a KIO information officer based at KIO headquarters in Laiza confirmed to KNG that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the KIOs military wing, had received information about Burma Army soldiers entering China dressed as civilians. Since an escalation of tensions between the Burma Army and the KIA on Kampaiti Road last month the Chinese have stationed troops on the border. Previously, when the Burma Army attacked and seized the KIOs former headquarters at Nahpaw-Pajau Bum in 1987, Burma Army troops had attacked the KIA positions from across the border in China, according to KIA officials. Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI An unrelated photo. MOSCOW (PTI): India need not worry about the planned Russia-Pakistan joint military exercises as these drills will not be carried out in disputed areas, a senior Russian diplomat has said. Russia thinks India should not be concerned about upcoming Russia-Pakistan joint military exercises, the Russian Foreign Ministry's director of the Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov said. The joint military exercises, dubbed as 'Friendship-2016', are tactical drills which will be held from September 24 to October 7 in the Army High Altitude School in northern Pakistan's Rattu and at a special forces training center in Cherat area. The exercises aim to strengthen and develop cooperation between the two former Cold War rivals' armed forces. "We were informed by the Russian Defense Ministry that these exercises will not be carried out in (disputed) areas, and a place was chosen that has nothing to do with this. Hence there is no reason for India to worry about it," Kabulov was quoted as saying Russia's state-run Sputnik news agency. Kabulov said Moscow had informed New Delhi of the regions where the exercises with Pakistan were planned to take place. Around 200 military personnel from the two sides would take part in the joint military exercises. The move comes amidst increasing defence ties between Moscow and Islamabad as the latter was also thinking to buy advanced Russian warplanes. The joint military drill is seen as another step in growing military-to-military cooperation, indicating a steady growth in bilateral relationship between the two countries, whose ties had been marred by Cold War rivalry for decades. Islamabad is eager to improve its ties with Moscow to diversify its options in the event of any stalemate in ties with Washington. After securing a deal of MI-35 helicopters, Pakistan is also exploring options to buy Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, Pakistani media reported recently. CHANDIGARH (PTI): Lt Gen Surinder Singh has taken over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command. After arriving from New Delhi on Saturday (Sept 17) morning, Gen Surinder laid a wreath and paid homage to the martyrs of Western Command. Later, the western army Commander reviewed a Guard of Honour, said an official release. He also met the senior staff at the Headquarters and took stock of the situation. Lt Gen Surinder Singh was commissioned in 1979 into the Second Battalion, The Brigade of the Guards, an elite Infantry regiment. In his illustrious career, the General has held prestigious commands, staff and instructional posts. He is a graduate of the British Army Command Staff College, Army War College and the National Defence College. He rose through the ranks to command his Battalion and an Armoured Brigade, an Infantry Division and a Mountain Corps. Launch of P15B-Missile Destroyer in Mumbai on Saturday. PTI MUMBAI (PTI): An indigenously built warship equipped with a range of high-tech missiles was launched on Saturday with Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba saying the stealth destroyer can be compared with the best vessels in the world. Christened 'Mormugao', the vessel has been built by government-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) and belongs to Visakhapatnam class of ships being constructed under Project 15B. Admiral Lanba's wife Reena launched the bedecked ship at a function at MDL in Mumbai and it was released into the Arabian Sea for the first time. The vessel will undergo certain testings required by Indian Navy and would be subsequently known as INS Mormugao. Four such destroyers would be built and delivered by MDL during 2020-2024, the PSU said in a statement. The first ship of the Visakhapatnam class was launched on April 20, 2015. Mormugao has a displacement of 7,300 tonne with maximum speed of over 30 knots. The warship is equipped with surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles and anti-submarine rocket launchers. It is also capable of carrying two anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Addressing the function before the launch, Admiral Lanba said, "This ship serves the Make in India drive of the country as it is indigenously built." "It secures the sea in a better way. Contract for this ship was signed on January 2011. It can be compared with best ships in the world and has been developed by our own designers at DRDO as well as other government agencies and private companies," he said. There is a pressing need to build more such ships and reduce the construction period of future vessels, the Navy chief said. Admiral Lanba said since 1960, Indian Navy and MDL are building ships together. MDL is the only dock in the country that has capability to build submarines. Type 214 diesel electric submarine. MUMBAI (PTI): German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp is keen to build its Type 214 submarines for the Navy under the Project 75I or P75I, which seeks to build six new-generation diesel electric submarines as and when the Defence Ministry calls in the bids. Thyssenkrupp Group's marine systems division will be bidding for the USD 8-billion project. "We are very keen to offer our HDW Class 214 submarines for the Navy. We will be bidding for the P75I, having already delivered four non-nuclear submarines to the Navy in the late 1980s and early 1990s," Thyssenkrupp India managing director and chief executive Ravi Kirpalani told reporters. Kirpalani joined the regional headquarters of Thyssenkrupp India as MD and chief executive in March 2016 after spending over 16 years at lubes major Castrol India. While the current Scorpene class of submarines are being built at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai, no decision has been taken yet on where the more advanced diesel electric submarines will be built, under the P75I project. When asked whether his company is comfortable working with a local partner, Kirpalani said, "We will be happy to collaborate with any local partner to build the submarines," adding the bidding conditions make it mandatory. Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems is one of the leading system providers for non-nuclear submarines and high-end naval vessels across the globe. It stands for marine competence, innovative technologies and comprehensive and reliable service. P751 is an extension of the ongoing Project 75 where the French defence major DCNS is the technology collaborator and is building six Scorpene class of submarines at the Mazagon Docks, while the P75i, wherein 'I' stands for India, is aimed at building a new generation of more advanced class of diesel electric non-nuke submarines. Project 75 was originally conceived in the early 1990s under the 30-year submarine building programme and was cleared in 1999. The first project was the P75, under which six Scorpene submarines are being built in Mumbai with collaboration of French major DCNS. The Project 75I was first announced in 2010 under which the winning bidder will have to enter into a tripartite agreement with one of the government-run docks, a local private partner. Since nothing progressed, the Modi government last December expedited the move and decided to call for RFQs. It has also in June 2016 allowed 100 per cent FDI in defence production, including in submarine building. But the P75I is out of this. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Justin DeRoo of 17 Wing Winnipeg has his sights set on being one of Canadas top sharp-shooters. A native of Brandon, 2nd Lt. DeRoo is already among this countrys elite marksmen. The 32-year-old is among 450 shooters and support staff who were selected to participate in the Canadian Armed Forces Small Arms Concentration (CAFSAC) in Ottawa, a 13-day competition which ended Saturday. The CAFSAC includes male and female marksmen from the Canadian Armed Forces, several Canadian police forces and some international teams who compete in challenging and physically demanding events to test and improve their shooting ability and accuracy, combat skills and combat fitness. The Canadian Forces 2nd Lt. Justin DeRoo of 17 Wing Winnipeg, a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force team, was among those competing at the 2016 Canadian Armed Forces Small Arms Concentration in Ottawa, which wrapped up on Saturday. The event brought together the top shooters from the Canadian Armed Forces, several Canadian police forces and international teams to test and hone marksmanship skills, combat fitness and compete for special awards recognizing elite performances. DeRoo competed in eight events, including long-distance shooting from 500 metres, which is a significant distance, as it is considered outside the capabilities of the standard-issue C7A2 rifle. Live rounds are used in all events it is a controlled and operationally-focused environment, but its not just a drill when there are real bullets flying around. Youve got to use live ammunition. Otherwise, youre not really training like you fight, said DeRoo, a graduate of Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School. Ive learned a lot and I would love to come back. My marksmanship has improved greatly, since I got here, from my peers and mentors. Skill at arms is expected of anybody in the Canadian Forces regardless of their trade, whether youre a trucker or an infantry soldier, you could be finding yourself in a position where this could save the lives of you and your colleagues or others. DeRoo, a 15-year Canadian Forces member, completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2006 when he spent six months in armed conflict. Ive been shooting for a long time and I honestly think the attention to detail required is reflective as to how one can live ones life, DeRoo said. The way I look at it, any serious marksman has to take every shot individually. Shooting every individual round is a process. You dont focus on the result as much as the process. The result will speak for itself. Thats a really good way to look at ones life. If you try to do well at every little part of the process, the results will be there. DeRoo competed on the 12-member Royal Canadian Air Force team along with Maj. Ken Barling, also from 17 Wing Winnipeg. Barling is a three-time winner (2012-14) of the Queens Medal the competitions top honour as the top rifle marksman with the highest aggregate score in each of the regular force and reserve force. DeRoo said his favourite event was the gruelling military biathlon in which teams of shooters run seven kilometres in total with different targets throughout at different distances. Youre having to carry casualties and things like ammunition cans while wearing 35 to 40 pounds of gear. They have dummies that are about 200 pounds and, since its a team event, we had a stretcher and we had to run with him for a while after we did some shooting, DeRoo said. It really isnt just a test of your marksmanship, its a test of your physical fitness and your thinking under pressure. I had a very good time doing it but I definitely tripled my water intake on that day. Another challenging event is called the Close-Quarter Battle House, which is shooting inside a course set up with walls to simulate the interiors of buildings. Shooters have to make split-second decisions as they are confronted with different targets, some which are silhouettes of civilians. There are heavy penalties for hitting a no-shoot, an unarmed target. Winnipeg Free Press Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A 32-year-old Belmont man is dead following a rollover near Ninette Saturday night. Kylie Canada died after the vehicle he was in rolled shortly before 10 p.m. on Highway 23 approximately three kilometres east of Ninette. Friends and family flooded Canadas Facebook page on Sunday after learning of the news. Kylie Canada To my cousin, my heart is in splinters thinking it was your time, a family member wrote. Never once did I hear you complain, never once were you not smiling. And it was contagious. Wish I would have to you more how great you were. Or as least how proud I was to call you (a cousin) you hold a strong place in my heart and always will. Emergency workers found Canada laying on the highway near the overturned pickup truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other men who were in the vehicle at the time of the rollover were located near the scene and transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Alcohol is believed to be a contributing factor to the crash, according to RCMP. In a span of less than 10 hours on Saturday, three people died and 11 were injured on roads and highways throughout Manitoba. This is a tragedy, RCMP Insp. Ed Moreland said referencing the Ninette rollover, an ATV crash that claimed the lives of two Brandon men and a Winnipeg crash on the Perimeter Highway. We are continuously seeing drivers put their lives and the lives of others at risk by driving impaired, speeding or simply not paying attention. There is no possible excuse for this behaviour and unless all Manitobans commit to safe driving, this loss of life will continue to occur. For those drivers on our roads that choose to put the lives of others in danger, the Manitoba RCMP will be doing everything it can to stop them and hold them accountable for their actions. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WestJet no longer offers flights between Brandon and Toronto, according to a press release from the City of Brandon. Its disappointing and I know that a lot of Westman residents will be disappointed, but these things come down to business decisions and that flight wasnt performing to the expectations of WestJet, city manager Scott Hildebrand said. The flight from Brandon to Toronto, which had been taking off four times a week since the end of June, was originally billed as a seasonal opportunity set to end on Sept. 5. However, in July, WestJet spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the company decided to extend the route into the winter despite a slow start. Instead, the company changed course and as a result, WestJets last flight from Brandon to Toronto left earlier this month. Hildebrand said the summer trial was always going to be a tough time of the year to test the flight. He hopes WestJet gives the flight another test run in the winter months when travellers are shopping for vacations to sun destinations. With the route cancelled prior to its planned start, individuals who have booked flights on the Brandon-Toronto route will be contacted by WestJet directly to make alternate arrangements, either by rerouting or refunding, according to the release. Hildebrand said WestJet indicated it remains committed to the partnership it shares with the City of Brandon and the company will continue to operate a midday Brandon-Calgary flight seven days a week. In addition, WestJet will return an early morning departure/late-night return option for the Brandon-Calgary route three times a week, beginning Oct. 23. The city will continue to make investments at the airport, according to Hildebrand, such as the current renovations in the hope of attracting additional flights in the future. We still believe that a regional airport is of vital importance to the economy, Hildebrand said. And we want to be prepared if something opens up in the future. Renovations at the airport should be completed in early 2017. Calls to WestJet were not returned at press time. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Ten-year-old Dylan Byrnes face lit up as the third and final cow was wrangled into the pen at the Keystone Centre on Saturday. Byrne was competing at the Manitoba Team Penning Association (MTPA) finals. While there was plenty of commentary from the sideline while Byrnes team of three riders tried to pen three cows in a herd of 30, one voice stood out over the rest. Charles Tweed/The Brandon Sun Dylan Byrne, 10, competes with his grandfather, Ken Dalgleish, at the Manitoba Team Penning Association finals at the Keystone Centre on Saturday. Give em hell, his grandfather hollered as words of encouragement as Byrne cut out a cow from the herd. Byrne and his grandfather, Ken Dalgleish, have been penning together for the past three years. Hes showing me the ropes and things went pretty smooth today, Byrne said while saddled on top of 12-year-old Little Moe. On Saturday, Byrnes junior team broke the 60-second mark, although he said hes been faster when working with his grandfather. A fast time is between 35 to 40 seconds, while a good time is under 60 seconds. The young cowboy comes by his love of livestock honestly. Hes the fourth generation to work cattle, while his father, Scott Byrne, recently retired after a 20-year career as a professional bullfighter. I wanted to do something with horses and learn horsemanship, the younger Byrne said. The toughest part to learn was to use soft hands and be correct. Byrne was one of approximately 70 riders from Manitoba and Saskatchewan taking part in the event over the weekend. Times at this event will help determine what class cowboys and cowgirls will be slotted into at national finals in Calgary on Thanksgiving weekend. Rick Andrews, past president of the MTPA who lives south of Brandon, has been a part of penning in the province since its inception in the late 1980s. I love horses and it does maintain the western lifestyle, Andrews said. I have a day job, but one of my passions is horses and the cowboy way of life, and this lets me do that. The camaraderie and the social aspect is also just as important to me. In each run, competitors are given a rating to determine which class they can ride in. For example, in the 10 Class, the three riders cant exceed a level 10 when their ratings are added together. Andrews is rated a three, while the top rider in the area is a four. The highest rating is a seven. Its a way of handicapping the teams to make sure that its fair, he said. The rating system ensures fairness. However, that could be called into question if teams are allowed to rank themselves. Thats where Ken Crawford, a rating and judge co-ordinator with the Canadian Team Cattle Penning Association, comes in. Charles Tweed/The Brandon Sun Ken Crawford with the Canadian Team Cattle Penning Association was in Brandon overseeing the Manitoba finals at the Keystone Centre on Saturday and Sunday. Crawford, from Okotoks, Alta., was in Brandon ranking contestants from one to seven ahead of national finals, where more than $500,000 is on the line. There is some serious money and teams are looking for every little advantage they can muster out of it, Crawford said. While Crawford doesnt compete anymore, he was first drawn to the sport due to its pace. I found out I really like riding fast. Thats how I got hooked on it, Crawford said, adding he probably would have rode in barrel-racing events if it was acceptable when he was competing. Crawford said the sport continues to grow in Western Canada, where there are 10 associations across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In Alberta, Crawford said some clubs have struggled recently due to the economic downturn. Its not a cheap hobby, he said, adding that a good horse can go for more than $20,000. You have to pay to play. And, just as important as the riders ability is a good horse, according to Andrews. Theyre bred to work cattle. Just like a retriever is bred to retrieve ducks, these horses are bred to follow something when it moves, Andrews said. Once they are trained and they know what you want, theyre very good. A cow can flick an ear and the horse knows the cow is going to move long before the rider notices it. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/09/2016 (2232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Its 160 acres of prime real estate in one of Winnipegs toniest neighbourhoods, and still it remains vacant, undeveloped and an eyesore to the thousands who drive past it daily on Kenaston Boulevard. Kapyong Barracks the former home to the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, which relocated to CFB Shilo in 2004, leaving the barracks abandoned has been the subject of much legal wrangling between the federal government and Treaty 1 First Nations governments Brokenhead, Long Plain, Peguis, Roseau River, Sagkeeng, Sandy Bay and Swan Lake. The bands became interested in the property in 2001, but in 2007 Ottawa decided to make the property strategic and to sell it to the federal agency that markets this type of surplus property. Then began a protracted legal fight with the federal government. Ottawas stance was it didnt have to consult fully and substantially with First Nations on the future of the site because of its special status as a strategic property. Last fall, in the midst of a federal election, then-prime minister Stephen Harper announced his government was going to drop any further court appeals on the issue, opening the door for discussions. A new deal was put on the table, and in September 2015 there was optimism development could proceed in the near future. But that optimism has waned. Talks on how the land will be used, at what price and whether it can be designated as an urban reserve have been ongoing since the federal Liberal government came to power. As the Winnipeg Free Press has reported, it appears discussions have been put on pause because of changes at Peguis First Nation more than a year ago. Cindy Spence took over as the first female chief of Peguis after a nail-biter of an election in the spring of 2015, defeating incumbent Glenn Hudson. The election was fought largely on issues of transparency, including concerns about negotiations on Kapyong as well as a development deal with the Manitoba Jockey Club to develop Assiniboia Downs as an urban reserve. But the clock is ticking, and now its time to move forward. As time moves on, the potential for prime real estate in Winnipeg remains untapped. After spending more than $1 million in legal bills fighting the courts decisions, Ottawa also remains on the hook to maintain the barracks to prevent total decay along with paying for its annual property taxes. Since 2004, Ottawa has paid $11.7 million in total taxes on the property. More than that, the city is missing out on even higher tax revenue it could pull in if the land was fully developed. The court decision made it clear the government doesnt have to sell it to First Nations, it must only act as a willing seller. This is a file that has been open for too long, and its time for the two sides to work out an agreement that will have some benefit. There not only has to be pressure placed on the Liberal government in Ottawa, but on the Treaty 1 officials here in Manitoba to broker a deal. Winnipeg Free Press Update 10am: Forty new jobs have been announced in Dublin at pharmaceuticals company Mallonckrodt. The company announced a new 10m R&D centre in the capital. It will bring their workforce in Ireland to 120 by 2017. Meanwhile, US developer of mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists MathWorks has announced 50 jobs at a new centre in Galway. Earlier: 100 new jobs are to be created by Irish healthcare company Oneview Healthcare. Half of the new positions will be based in Dublin and the other half across the company's international offices. President of Oneview Healthcare Mark McCluskey said the company is expanding into a different market. "We're already in the hospital market, and we're moving into the senior-living market," he said. The jobs in Dublin will primarily be in development and in solutions-development. The jobs in the US and Australia will be for sales, system integration and solutions consultants." Minister of State for Finance Eoghan Murphy is in Asia to promote Ireland as a hub for international financial services. Mr Murphy's seven-day programme will include launching the IFS Ireland brand in Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo. A delegation of 12 financial services and technology companies will also accompany him to boost trade links. Speaking ahead of his departure Mr Murphy said: "Launching the IFS Ireland brand in these target markets is a great opportunity to showcase our unique financial services' offerings - our market access, our educated workforce, and the increasing depth and sophistication of our indigenous financial services' sector. "My aim is to highlight Ireland's capability, global offering and growing reputation as a hub for specialist international financial services. I look forward to building on the excellent work of our embassies and trade agencies to enhance existing links and open up new opportunities in these markets." The IFS Ireland brand is a key action of the Government's IFS 2020 international financial services strategy. It aims to promote Ireland as a destination to do business, support companies already operating in key Asian markets and add 10,000 jobs to the sector by the end of 2019. Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon said: "There are currently over 20 Irish companies active in the Asia Pacific region, many with multiple presences across the region. These companies exported more than 115 million euro to this region last year and are forecasting significant growth over the next five years." The Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has told the UN summit on refugees and migrants, that Ireland is ready to play its part in addressing the crisis. Speaking in New York, the Justice Minister said the humanitarian challenge requires a global response. Ireland is co-hosting a major UN summit in New York today, to discuss the issue of refugees and migrants. Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan will address the UN General Assembly later. Today's summit will be the first time the United Nations has dealt with the issue of both migrants and refugees at a high-level meeting of all 193 member states at the UN general assembly. The conference will look at the root causes of the large movements of refugees, as well as highlighting the positive contributions of migrants. About 65 million people have been displaced from their homes due to conflict, violence or political persecution, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The number of migrants is estimated to be around 244 million. The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which will be adopted by the UN today, aims to strengthen governance of international migration, and create a more predictable system for responding to large movements of refugees and migrants. Speaking ahead of his departure for the UN, Mr Flanagan said: "Ireland's commitment to the principles and values enshrined in the United Nations Charter remains at the very heart of our foreign policy and the annual UN General Assembly provides a valuable opportunity to set out Ireland's priorities and to engage with international partners. "Ireland is particularly active in both UN peacekeeping and in tackling hunger and poverty. In my address to the UN General Assembly, I will highlight the fact that conflict and deprivation are key drivers of the current migration crisis. "The community of nations needs to work together to address the root causes of migration and the UN has a critical role to play in this regard. Today's migration crisis resonates with Ireland's own sad history of emigration and I will be emphasising the need for the international community to tackle the root causes of the migration crisis, rather than focus on addressing the symptoms of the problem. "Ireland played a key role in facilitating the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the holistic multilateral approach offers a model that can be adopted in addressing the challenges posed by migration." Former Tanaiste Joan Burton has told a court she did not think she had the alternative of being able to get out of a car during Jobstown protest writes Tom Tuite. She was giving evidence on day one of the trial of a Dublin youth accused of falsely imprisoning her and her advisor Karen O'Connell during the water protest at the Fortunestown Road in Jobstown in Tallaght, Dublin, on Nov. 15, 2014. The teen was aged 15 at the time and is being tried before Judge John King at the Dublin Children's Court. He denies the charges. The prosecution alleges that the Tanaiste and her entourage were trapped in a ministerial car for about three hours after they had attended a graduation ceremony at the An Cosan education centre. She told prosecuting counsel Tony McGillicuddy that she arrived at about 11.30 am for the ceremony. She said now Minister for Children Katherine Zappone, and former Minister Kevin Humprhies as well as several academics were also there. The former Labour leader and Minister for Social Protection described the graduation ceremony as having a happy atmosphere. She said that when she arrived she noticed some protesters. A young male in a clean blue tracksuit was holding a phone close to her face trying to take a photo and saying Talk to us Joan, she said. The defence said that she was referring to the defendant who was accompanied to the court by his mother and his legal team. She said that she as advised that she would have to leave. On exiting she was hit with a water baloon, she said adding that it hurt and her clothes were wet. She said that is when the hassle started. Her advisor gave her a jacket to wear. She said she made haste to a garda car. She sat in the back with Ms O'Connell and she said there was a lot of noise and offensive language. There was a large number of children present and she was concerned about them. She said that there was a lot of vulgar abuse and she was called a fucking cunt and stuff like that. She said she was annoyed that the graduation was disrupted. One person behind the car had a megaphone and she said that at this point she wanted to be able to leave as early as possible. She said the crowd was pushing and was very wild. She said she feared what would happen if they got the car door open. Gardai moved her to a second vehicle, described as being like a jeep. She said the officers were around her like a screen and the crowd was pushing. She said they were very aggressive and there was a lot of pushing. Plastic bottles and eggs were being thrown she said. She said that when she reached the Garda jeep she flung herself into the back seat. She felt menaced and added I worried what will happen if they manage to open the car doors. When she was being moved from that car she worried that she would not be able to run because she lost her shoe, she said. There were more protesters around and the jeep moved slowly. After what seemed she described as a long time, she was transferred to a another gardai vehicle which rushed her away. In cross-examination Giollaoisa O Lideadha SC, defending , put it to her that gardai made an operational decision to progress the situation. Are you suggesting I had an alternative, of leaving the car? Because I don't think I had, she replied. Cross examination will continue this afternoon. Finance Minister Michael Noonan is to review an invitation to the Dails Public Accounts Committee (PAC), his spokesman has said today writes Irish Examiner Political Editor Daniel McConnell. The PAC is investigating the controversy around Namas sale of its 1.6bn Northern loan book and there have been calls for Mr Noonan to make himself available to the committee, despite it not being the norm for ministers to go before it. Fianna Fail TD Thomas Byrne has said he believes water charges are gone and will not be back. Fianna Fail is holding its parliamentary party think-in today. Housing, credit availability for businesses, and the UK's BREXIT vote will be among the issues on the agenda at Fianna Fail's meeting of TDs and Senators in Co Carlow today and tomorrow, with water charges also likely to feature. On Saturday, tens of thousands took part in a national demonstration in Dublin city calling for water charges to be abolished. The charges were suspended by the Government earlier this year pending the outcome of an expert commission. Last week, Minister Simon Coveney said the way the water is paid for would have to change. However, Fianna Fail TD Thomas Byrne (pictured) said he believed water charges were gone for good. He said: "We're quite satisfied we have dealt with water charges in a way that will broadly meet the approval of most people. "I believe water charges are gone and I dont believe they're coming back...At the moment, there's no majority possible in the Dail to reintroduce water charges. That's the political reality that we accept." Update at 11pm: A Syrian activist monitoring group says that 12 aid workers and truck drivers were killed when their humanitarian aid convoy was hit by airstrikes in Aleppo province. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside the country, reported the casualty figures on Monday. The report could not be independently verified. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the UN envoy for Syria, said that the Syrian Red Crescent convoy carrying UN supplies had been "bombarded". Mr Egeland added: "It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses." #Syriaceasefire over tonight as regime & Russian warplanes pound East #Aleppo This horrific video of kids in overcrowded ER via @AleppoAMC pic.twitter.com/6kID8ubvBO Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) September 19, 2016 Update at 9.45pm: The United Nations has confirmed air strikes have hit trucks in an aid convoy near the Syrian city of Aleppo. The attack came just hours after the government there declared a ceasefire was over. The Red Cross says the bombing killed more than 10 people. Update at 9.20pm: The US has said it is prepared to extend the window for Syria's fractured week-old ceasefire despite numerous violations and the Syrian military's announcement that the truce is over. The State Department said it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid but added that Russia must clarify its position on the status of the ceasefire. Spokesman John Kirby noted the Syrian announcement while stressing that the US and Russia agreed to the arrangement, but the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad has not. "We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities, while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance," Mr Kirby said in a statement released after the Syrian declaration. "We will be consulting with our Russian counterparts to continue to urge them to use their influence on Assad to these ends. "While we have seen comments attributed to the Syrian military, our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regime's compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position." Damaged buildings and rubble line a street in Homs, Syria, Sept. 19, 2016. Russia's Foreign Ministry said the failure of Syrian rebels to adhere to the truce "threatens the cease-fire and US-Russian agreements". The ministry statement came after the Russian military said that continuing rebel violations made it "meaningless" for the Syrian army to respect the deal. The Syrian military said earlier on Monday that the ceasefire had expired. Terrified, injured kids - This is how the end of the #Syriaceasefire looks like right now in East #Aleppo pic.twitter.com/aPzLHvlldw Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) September 19, 2016 While acknowledging numerous violations, Mr Kirby said the truce, which took effect last Monday, had been responsible for "a measure of reduced violence". However, he also repeated calls for the sustained delivery of humanitarian aid to Aleppo and other besieged communities. Such deliveries began only on Monday and were available only in limited areas, he said. Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed hope that the ceasefire could still hold even after the Syrian military's announcement and took aim at Russia for not doing enough to pressure Mr Assad's government to comply. "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this," he told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "As I said yesterday, (it's) time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods that are necessary for access." Mr Kerry expressed frustration with the touch-and-go ceasefire. "We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods," Mr Kerry said. Those seven days of calm and aid deliveries were required before the US and Russia could embark on a plan to co-operate in targeting the Islamic State group and al Qaida affiliates working in Syria. Rebel fighters in Aleppa The Syrian military said in a statement on Monday that "armed terrorist groups" repeatedly violated the ceasefire and took advantage of the truce to mobilise and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas. The statement said the rebels wasted a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed. He said US and Russian officials were meeting in Geneva to try to sort out aid deliveries to Aleppo and other besieged communities. American officials said, however, that conditions were still not right for US-Russian military co-operation. A Syrian activist group said 92 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the ceasefire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 29 children and teenagers were among those killed, as well as 17 women. The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the Observatory said on Monday. A mistaken air raid by the US-led coalition also killed 62 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on September 12 and a senior Syrian opposition official declared the ceasefire "clinically dead". Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone. Hillary Clinton has cast herself as the most qualified to combat terrorism in the US after a weekend of violent attacks in three states. Going after rival Donald Trump, she argued that his anti-Muslim rhetoric is helping Islamic militants, including the so called Islamic State (IS), recruit new fighters. The Democratic presidential candidate touted her national security credentials at a hastily arranged news conference outside her campaign plane, accusing Republican Mr Trump for using the incidents to make "some kind of demagogic point". "I'm the only candidate in this race who's been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield," Mrs Clinton, a former secretary of state, told reporters. "I have sat at that table in the Situation Room." She added: "I know how to do this." New York's governor and mayor said on Monday that the bombings in a Manhattan neighbourhood and a New Jersey shore town are looking increasingly like acts of terrorism with a foreign connection. Authorities are also investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a possible act of terrorism. An Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings was captured in New Jersey on Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police, authorities said. The violence cast a long shadow over the presidential race, diverting both candidates' attention from the daily controversies of the presidential race. Mrs Clinton and her team see her foreign policy experience as a key selling point for her candidacy. On the campaign trail, she frequently invokes her role in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, describing to voters the tense atmosphere in the White House alongside President Barack Obama. But while much of the foreign policy establishment has rallied around Mrs Clinton, Mr Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, promises to close US borders and vows to aggressively profile potential terrorists have fuelled his presidential bid. Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Germain Arena, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Ft. Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) "Knock the hell out of 'em," Mr Trump told Fox And Friends in a phone interview on Monday morning. "We're not knocking them, we're hitting them once in a while; we're hitting them in certain places. We're being very gentle about it. We're going to have to be very tough," Mr Trump told Fox News Channel. He said that US leaders, including Mr Obama, "coddle" potential terrorists. Mr Trump once again took credit for predicting current events, pointing to his Saturday night announcement that a bomb had caused the explosion in New York City. That was less than an hour after the explosion and before authorities had publicly said so. Mrs Clinton urged voters not to "get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear from the other side". She insinuated that Islamic militants, particularly those affiliated with IS, are rooting for Mr Trump to win the White House. The Republican has said he would bar immigration from nations with ties to terrorism. "We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion," Mrs Clinton said. She briefly turned her focus from national security on Monday, wooing younger voters at a midday rally at a Philadelphia university. Her campaign acknowledges she needs to do more to get millennials on board. She is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Ukraine and Japan late in the day in New York City. The leaders are in New York for the UN General Assembly. Mr Trump, too, announced plans to meet with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Monday. Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at Germain Arena, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Ft. Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) The events came as both candidates were dealing with missteps. Mr Trump and his allies spent Sunday - repeatedly and falsely - accusing Mrs Clinton of pushing the idea that Mr Obama was not born in the US - a conspiracy theory long championed by Mr Trump himself. Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, is still facing questions about her health and openness after a video caught her staggering after abruptly leaving a 9/11 ceremony. Donald Trump, who has made a hard-line stance on immigration a centrepiece of his presidential campaign, has asserted that not one more American life should be given up in the name of open borders, writes Jonathan Lemire in Houston. All across this country, dining room tables have an empty seat because the government abandoned its duty and has not enforced its basic laws, the Republican presidential nominee told a gathering of the Remembrance Project, a group founded to remember those killed by people living illegally in the US and to press for tougher laws. This has to end. This will end if I become president. Two dozen members of the organisation sat behind Trump as he spoke, and several told their stories, often gruesome, of how their loved ones lost their lives. Trump has appeared with members of the group several times, including during the speech to lay out his immigration policy in Arizona last month. He vowed to continue to shine a national spotlight on their work. Politicians ignore your cries, but I never will, Trump said. Maria Espinoza, founder of the group and daughter of a Mexican immigrant, praised Trumps advocacy. But the Houston-based group has come under scrutiny for some of its pronouncements, including Espinozas false assertion that illegal immigrants kill 25 Americans a day. Trump has long talked tough on immigration, deriding Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals in his campaign kick-off speech last year and vowing to build an impenetrable wall on the nations southern border. He is not proposing a pathway to legal status for people living in the country illegally but has backed away from his call for the mass deportation of millions of people who have not committed crimes beyond their immigration offences. But he also ruled out what he dismissed as amnesty, saying those who want to live legally in the US will need to leave and head to the back of the line in their home countries. Trump also hit back at the former defence secretary who called the Republican nominee beyond repair when it comes to national security. Robert Gates, who served under presidents of both parties, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Trump is stubbornly uninformed about the world. Trump, at a rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, called Gates an absolute clown, and insinuated he probably has a problem we dont know about. But Trump made no mention of either controversy that dominated the political world hours earlier: he did not address his decision to finally acknowledge that President Barack Obama was born in the U St or his call for Hillary Clintons Secret Service agents to drop their guns and then lets see what happens. Prices of rice from top exporter India edged up this week on an uptick in the rupee and supply concerns, while a... LONDON: OPEC is likely to maintain its view world oil demand will rise for another decade, longer than many other... PERTH: Indias batting coach said on Saturday that his side is not fazed by fast bowling as it prepared to face... LAGOS: More than 600 people are now known to have perished in the worst floods in a decade in Nigeria, according to... NEAR KHERSON FRONTLINE: Russian forces are digging in for the heaviest of battles in the strategic southern region... BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities are investigating the theft of $2.5 billion from the tax authority, officials said... School volunteers are under siege, according to the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations, and it is calling on candidates in the ACT election to commit to supporting the people who support their schools. Council vice-president Amanda Bichard knows first-hand how hard it is to get volunteers to help. She's the canteen and uniform shop convenor at Macgregor Primary School as well as the school's representative on the council. Vice-president of the ACT Council of P&C Associations Amanda Bichard at the Macgregor Primary School's canteen. Credit:Karleen Minney With a core group of five people looking after the day-to-day running of the P&C, and about 20 volunteers who help with in-class activities, the canteen and uniform shop, they are stretched serving a school of 400. "Volunteer numbers are desperately low in some schools," Ms Bichard said. Canberra's largest private hospital provider is testing support for a private emergency department to take pressure off overcrowded public hospitals. WHAT'S ON TODAY: Discover two million years of human history in the one room with A History of the World in 100 Objects from the British Museum, now on show at the National Museum of Australia. Until January 29. Tom Osborne, 11, splashes around in Lake George. Credit:Karleen Minney The Wharf Revue's irresistible blend of vitriol and vaudeville returns to Canberra Theatre Centre from September 13 to 24. Tickets from $45 for adults. 1. NYC bombing suspect captured in shootout Dramatic scenes in the United States as police captured the suspect wanted over Saturday night's Manhattan bomb blast in a shootout in the neighbouring state of New Jersey. Incredibly, Ahmad Khan Rahami was spotted asleep in a hallway. When a police officer was called to investigate, he recognised him as the suspect from the poster police had earlier that morning issued. Two police officers were injured in the operation. [Josephine Tovey/Fairfax] Authorities said they were not looking more suspects, nor did they believe the suspect was part of any wider terror cell, though they were still investigating. As news broke of the capture, President Obama addressed the media. Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has raised concerns about an alarming number of young, international and LGBTI students reporting rape and sexual assault at Australian universities. Early submissions to a landmark survey of thousands of students at 39 universities reveal some are unwilling to report crimes and abuse to police and campus authorities. Australian Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs was shocked by early responses to a student survey. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Professor Triggs said many early submissions were shocking and included female students waking up after drinking to find men having sex with them. The study, commissioned by Universities Australia, will be managed by the Human Rights Commission and presented with recommendations to vice-chancellors next year. A drug cook was allegedly bashed, gagged and his body dumped after a south-west Sydney crime syndicate learned he was ripping off drugs, it will be alleged. Those responsible for Son Than Nguyen's death also allegedly murdered his girlfriend, who was brought along to a fatal meeting over the drug dispute. Son Thanh Nguyen's body was found on the side of the road in Bankstown in 2013. Credit:NSW Police Homicide detectives on Monday afternoon arrested Asian crime figure and hired muscle, 25-year-old Kevin Ly, over the alleged murders in 2013. Mr Ly appeared in briefly in Fairfield Local Court on Tuesday wearing a grey zip-up hoodie and handcuffs. As Dane McNeill, 20, sat with his hands and feet bound with duct tape in a laundry, his mother was desperately searching for him. Mr McNeill had been punched, stabbed up to a dozen times and forced to swallow the drug Xanex in a Sydney apartment but remained alive for many hours. Lexy May Jamieson (centre) leaves Darlinghurst court on Monday. His mother Rebecca sent Facebook messages to his friends and drove to different places looking for his white Subaru Impreza. But she would never see him alive again. A three-year-old boy seriously injured in a crash in Central Queensland may be airlifted to hospital in Brisbane. The boy and four other people were injured when two cars collided head-on on the Burnett Hwy in Boudlercombe on Sunday. Five people were hurt in a head-on crash at Boudlercombe. Credit:Glen McCurtayne A 25-year-old woman who sustained life-threatening injuries remains in a critical condition after undergoing surgery at Rockhampton Base Hospital. AAP A Brisbane restaurant has been criticised online for celebrating the "stylish days" of the British Empire's push into "developing cultures of the world". British Colonial Co. opened in Hawthorne on July 1 and boasts a "safari style setting", with the "promise of adventure and modern refinement". The statement can be found on the British Colonial Co. website. Credit:http://www.britishcolonialco.com.au/ "Inspired by the stylish days of the empirical push into the developing cultures of the world, with the promise of adventure and modern, refinement in a safari style setting," the restaurant website states. The statement has left many online shocked. Paramedics have treated two people after a fire devastated a home north of Brisbane. Five fire crews rushed to the two-storey Narangba home about 7.30am, arriving to find it engulfed in flames with smoke spewing from the roof. Police closed Oakey Flat Road as firefighters wearing breathing apparatuses battled to bring the blaze under control, eventually succeeding just before 8am. Ten News reported the ceiling had caved in and the front rooms were destroyed. A search and rescue operation has been launched for a young family missing for more than 12 hours after setting out on a boat in the Torres Strait. The five-metre Wahoo vessel left Yam Island about 1.30pm Monday and was expected to arrive at Mabaduan Village, about 70 kilometres away in Papua New Guinea by 4pm. Police are involved in the search for a missing family. The boat never arrived and police started asking around the surrounding islands after being notified late Monday night but hadn't found the vessel. A helicopter and police vessel The Handren was involved in the search overnight, to continue on Tuesday morning. The Greens want Local Government Minister Jackie Trad to investigate 2015-2016 donations made to Logan Mayor Luke Smith by a company tht as since 2013 wanted to develop a $750 million resort on the Logan River at Carbrook. Ms Trad repeated her comments that "real time" disclosure for political donations would be in place in "early 2017". Logan City mayor Luke Smith. Credit:Tuba Media Productions This follows earlier investigations into political donations to Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale where Cr Pisasale was cleared and an ongoing investigation into Gold Coast councillors. Brisbane Greens councillor Jonathan Sri on Monday asked Ms Trad to call the development in as she did last week with a 1350-unit West End development on a 2.6 hectare block of land. The Anglican priest whose provocative signs have become an internet sensation has torn strips off Pauline Hanson at a speech in Melbourne, accusing the One Nation leader of representing a "radicalised Christianity" that has no place in Australia. Father Rod Bower, from the Gosford Anglican Church on the NSW central coast, has thousands of social followers thanks to his outspoken billboards chastising politicians over everything from asylum seekers to Australia's racial discrimination laws. Recent messages include "Hell exists and it's on Nauru" and "Equality shouldn't cost $160 million". A picture of the anti-plebiscite message has been liked by more than 9000 people on Facebook, and shared more than 5700 times. The signs have even sparked a Facebook 'appreciation society' with more than 4000 members from across Australia. The brother of one of Australia's 'most wanted' child sex offenders has opened up about the cycle of sexual abuse in the hopes it will encourage other victims to speak out. Terry Cook, 39, is the younger brother of convicted paedophile, Kenneth Cook, 48, who was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years jail on Friday at Rockhampton District Court for a string of offences committed in Central Queensland between 1996 and 2002. Kenneth Cook, 48,was sentenced to 10 years in jail after he was found living under an alias in Kalgoorlie. Credit:WA Police Kenneth was extradited from Kalgoorlie in November 2015 to face the charges, after a resident in the Goldfields town recognised him from a Federal police 'most wanted' list. He had been living and working in the town as a handy man going by the name of "Rob" after fleeing Queensland as a fugitive in 2007. WA Premier Colin Barnett says he is expecting a leadership challenge on Tuesday, but claims he is confident he has the numbers to remain in the top job. Mr Barnett told Radio 6PR on Monday morning if there was a spill motion at Tuesday morning's Cabinet meeting, he would come out the other end still leader of the Liberal party. There are rumblings within the corridors of Parliament a MP will put up a motion on behalf of former Transport Minister Dean Nalder, who quit his two portfolios only hours after Local Government Minister Tony Simpson resigned on Saturday. Mr Nalder told reporters on Sunday he would throw his hat into the leadership ring if a spill was called. BUDAPEST Agnes Galgoczi, 84, can no longer make it to the toilet on her own. It sits in the kitchen of her apartment in Budapest, just three feet from the bed, where she sings to herself to fight loneliness. Several blocks away, Vera Varga, 78, slides decades-old movies into her videocassette player. The images remind her of the outside world. They are two of the estimated half-million remaining Holocaust survivors around the world, a group whose needs are growing in complexity and cost as they age, while funding from a variety of sources that has provided for them over the past two decades is starting to dry up. The family living next door to Vera Varga threw rocks through her window after realising she was receiving special services because she is Jewish. Credit:Akos Stiller/The New York Times Both women are widowed and rely on help to shop, cook and clean. Galgoczi could use round-the-clock care, but even if Hungary had adequate nursing homes, neither she nor Varga would make the move. The Nazis forced them out of their homes once before, marching them to the Budapest ghetto, ripping their families apart and sowing seeds of fear and mistrust that have resurfaced as the women enter their final years. The unique problems that are the legacy of the suffering of their youth, like an intense fear of institutionalisation, as well as renewed anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe and a lack of family, often mean that sending nurses and social workers into their homes is the only way to care for them. Latest News Lendi Group settles $33.6 billion in FY22 Ambitious target of a deal a day for brokers APRA announces new appointments The prudential regulator has a new chair, deputy chair, and members Australian Brokers sister publication, MPA is well known for its special reports and surveys with the Top 100 Brokers report one of the most prestigious.For twelve years, the MPA Top 100 has been the definitive ranking for Australias highest performing mortgage brokers. Gaining a place on the list is an invaluable accolade for brokers, with competition for the top spot notoriously fierce. Top 100 Brokers ranking is based on the total value of residential loans settled in the 2015/16 financial year, with all figures submitted subject to a verification process through your aggregator(s).Entries will close onso we urge you to enter today to allow enough time for you application to be verified.For your chance to be named as one of Australias Top 100 Brokers of the year, submit an application online now The 12annual Top 100 Brokers ranking will be published in issue 16.11 of MPA magazine in October. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Beeeeeeeeeep! Negotiations have flatlined between Cobble Hill residents, local pols, the city, and the developer of the controversial plan to erect luxury housing towers on the former Long Island College Hospital site, and they arent any closer to reaching a compromise the community can support since they all last met nine months ago, according to a local civic group leader. We havent spoken to Fortis [Property Group] directly since January at City Hall other than to discuss with them the maintenance and upkeep of the parks and playgrounds and the sites, said Amy Breedlove, president of the Cobble Hill Association, which was representing residents in the discussions. The various parties began peace talks after Fortis unveiled its designs for glassy high-rises on the site bounded by Atlantic Avenue and Hicks, Henry, and Amity streets in May last year, horrifying residents who think it will stick out like a sore thumb in the low-rise historic hood and overload local infrastructure with too many people. Fortiss honchos could just go ahead and erect towers without the communitys blessing, but they want to rezone the land to allow for bulkier buildings. That will require Councils approval, and local Councilman Brad Lander (DCobble Hill) whose position will set the tone for most other reps has pledged that he wont support a rezoning until the community does. If they cant secure the Landers or locals backing soon, they may just erect what theyre able to without Councils okay which would still include two housing towers of up to 35 stories a Fortis spokesman told Politico last month. Lander said he hasnt heard from Fortis in weeks and has no updates on where the talks stand. In return for locals support on the bulkier building, Fortis has been offering to include below-market housing, space for a school, and more parkland on the properties while threatening to use a building loophole to add an 800-bed college dorm to the property if they cant rezone but that hasnt been enough to win the residents over. The developer presented Lander with a revised plan in July, according to Breedlove, but the proposal was still too large, out of place, and didnt include enough sweeteners to secure her groups endorsement. There are issues regarding where things are placed and how much bulk and mass are next to the historic district, she said. Cobble Hill Association members want space for underground deliveries, more parkland, more open pedestrian corridors, and street plazas, she said. Mayor DeBlasio had been trying to keep the discussions alive last year, fearing the loss of below-market housing in the project, and City Hall is still meeting regularly with the civic group though Breedlove said their conversations arent really making any headway. There is a feeling that were being heard at this point, but I wouldnt say theyre very productive because were not really getting anywhere, she said. The delays come amid a federal probe into the mayors involvement into the sale of the hospital. DeBlasio who staunchly opposed the sale prior to taking office is close pals with Fortiss lobbyist James Capalino, and rival developer Don Peebles claims DeBlasio asked him to donate $20,000 to his private Campaign for One New York promotional fund when he was bidding for the site. A City Hall rep said it is meeting with all of the players regularly, but refused to say how often or clarify the content of the conversations. We continue to work to bring together the community, officials and the developer to reach a plan that serves Cobble Hills needs, said mayoral spokeswoman Melissa Grace. There are regular conversations underway. Fortis declined to comment. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Can I have one more of these with some booze in it, please? Wildly popular movie star Bill Murray tended bar at his sons new restaurant in Greenpoint on Friday and Saturday nights, dancing and drinking behind the counter while pouring out shots for guests at the private event. News of the Space Jam actors stint had spread as far as India and Australia, and fans crowded outside the new Greenpoint Avenue eatery for hours on both nights, mobbing the thespian as he arrived. And the scene was no less wild inside, as invited guests squeezed in to score photos, videos, and drinks from Murray. The voice of Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties was reportedly in very fine spirits during his Friday shift, singing and toasting his son Homer for making over his former restaurant River Styx into the newly upscale 21 Greenpoint but Murray appeared subdued on his second gig the following night, working slowly and seriously and having to admonish revelers for camping out too long on the much coveted bar stools. with Jason Speakman 21 Greenpoint (21 Greenpoint Ave. between Transmitter Park and West Street in Greenpoint) opens to the public on Sept. 21. latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Ready to officially meet new agents Alex Quinn and Nick Torres in the NCIS season 14 premiere? Though its been months since Tony left, Gibbs has yet to pick a new member for his team. Thats about to change. In Rogue, the team investigates a deadly car explosion in DC that connects to Nick, who disappeared six months ago while on a deep undercover assignment in Argentina. Meanwhile, Gibbs asks Alex to shadow his team after rejecting eight agents she instructed and referred to him. NCIS Season 14 Teasers: Find out How the New Characters Fit in with the Team>>> Watch the promo for Rogue as the team deals with car bombs and the new agents: Gibbs gets Alex to stick around by suggesting she see first-hand the kind of agent they need. As for Nick, being on a team is going to be a first for this undercover agent. Check out a sneak peek of a change in the squad room: When Bishop returns from work after a trip to Scotland (which included her getting a feel for Clayton Reeves incredible stamina when they hiked), she notes that McGee has yet to settle in at his new desk. Its like bizarro world, he explains. Everythings reversed, so hes having trouble adjusting to the layout. Bishop has been gone long enough that Gibbs has also tried out and rejected another probie. He fell asleep at work twice, McGee reminds the agent, Terry Mahler, so is it any surprise that Gibbs fired him? Let someone else deal with the guy with chronic exhaustion who needs a couple naps a day. Which NCIS Character Are You?>>> Watch Alex compare Gibbs to Goldilocks in the NCIS season 14 premiere: After Gibbs rejected eight agents in three months, Alex has had enough and pays him a visit at work. No one was the right fit, he argues. One was too smart, one too slow, one too physical and one too timid. Youre like the Goldilocks of NCIS, Alex says. Hell know what hes looking for when he sees it, he insists, and he suggests she stick around and shadow the team. Check out a clip of Nick refusing to be sidelined: Bishop wonders why Nick has spent eight years doing nothing but undercover work, and Alex attributes it to different strokes, adding, He probably views a desk job as a fate worse than death. And its not just undercover agents who have to carry what they had to do for a case with them, the FLETC instructor reminds her: Every action we take has a consequence. When Gibbs, McGee and Nick join them, the focus turns to the case. Leo Silva is in DC, attending the World Oil and Energy Conference. Hes been in DC for two days already, so he has plenty of time to put the hit out on the Campbells, attend the event and leave town. But Nick knows he wont leave until he gets what he wants: me and my family dead. Nick wants to face him, but Gibbs informs him, Thats not how we do things. Nick argues that he knows how he operates and Gibbs cant sideline him. What do you think of these first looks at Alex and Nick in action? Are you happy that McGees moving to Tonys old desk instead of one of the new agents taking it? NCIS season 14 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS. Want more news? Follow our NCIS Facebook page. (Image courtesy of CBS) Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. The exit of Sanjay Purohit, the seventh key executive to quit Infosys, shows the challenges its first non-founder chief executive Vishal Sikka is facing. Sikka, a former board member at business software company SAP AG, has been trying to push the Indian IT services firm to shift its business model from a people-dependent one to higher productive mix of software and people. Horizon Pharma, a US-based drug company, has moved court against Mumbai-headquartered over what it calls patent infringement. Horizon decided to take legal action after filed an abbreviated new drug application (Anda) for a generic version of Pennsaid, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. chief executive Vishal Sikka saw the exit of the seventh key executive in Sanjay Purohit, since he took over as the boss of India's second largest software exporter. Pune based pigment and agro chemical maker Sudarshan Chemicals is planning to invest Rs 1000 crore over the next five years. The company is aspiring to become the fourth largest company in the world. Its products primarily serve the coatings, plastics, inks and cosmetics markets. It is one of the leading manufacturers of color & effect pigments in India. Ginger Hotels, one of the dominant budget hotel chains from the house of Tata's, plan to add 20 properties every year across the country as part of its expansion strategy. Air carriers from the South-East Asian region, such as Tigerair, SilkAir and Thai Airways, have evinced interest in operating flights connecting Bhubaneswar with destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. The Indian IT industry continues to feel the heat on account of a global slowdown, Brexit and changing dynamics in the software sector. In a recent interaction at the JP Morgan Investor Summit, Infosys Chief Executive Officer, Vishal Sikka, said, I can tell you that the second quarter will be better. But we are seeing some risks that could lead to a downward revision of the guidance because the environment has worsened as we have gone into the quarter. Infosys had lowered its guidance in July 2016; a further reduction within a span of three months highlights the fast deteriorating scenario in the market. Earlier TCS and Mindtree had lowered their guidance. Cognizant had already downgraded its guidance during the current calendar year and lowered profit expectation. For a state as small as Delhi, the problems that the issue of jurisdiction brings are manifold. The civic bodies, led currently by the Bharatiya Janata Party, are trifurcated. The healthcare system falls under the respective region's Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the state government and the central government. The Indian Army has served notice to Pakistan, reserving the right to respond to the terrorist strike on an army camp in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on Sunday, in which the casualty count increased to 18 with the death of a wounded soldier in hospital on Monday. In addition, 29 soldiers were injured. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday said one must not give importance to the assertions made by Pakistan post the attack on an army base camp in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, adding the neighbouring nation stands exposed before the world. "Not admitting it does not hold any importance now. Everything has been exposed. We should not bother much what Pakistan says. There should not be much commenting on the issue. We will take steps carefully. Commenting too much on it is not right. Fuel should not be given to what Pakistan says," Rijiju told the media. Rejecting New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in Uri terror attack, Pakistan has said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is chairing a high-level review meeting in Delhi in wake of the terror attack. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh, Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Security Advisor Ajit Doval , DGMO Lt. General Ranbir Singh and other officials are present in the meeting. Rajnath had in a strongly worded statement yesterday said Pakistan is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated. Parrikar is likely to meet and brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi today on the Uri attack. Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited Srinagar yesterday to take stock of the situation and review the overall security in Kashmir. They were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt. General D S Hooda and Lt General Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the Uri attack and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. Later, they also met the casualties at the Army Base Hospital in BB Cantonment. The army on Sunday announced that the initial reports indicated that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. At least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others got injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year in which seven army men were killed. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday called upon international community to work towards declaring Pakistan a "terrorist state" and said that it is high time to "teach a lesson" to perpetrators of Sunday's Uri terror attack. "Pakistan is aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorists and it has become its state policy," Naidu told reporters here. He accused the neighbouring country of conspiring to weaken the India's economy and said, "They want to cripple Indian economy, they want to weaken the country. It is not acceptable at all." "(The) country is running out of patience and it is high time to teach a lesson to Pakistan and its perpetrators," he said. He urged the world community to come together to isolate Pakistan. "The world community should come together to isolate Pakistan and declare it as a terrorist state, and stop all military and other assistance to it," said Naidu, who is the Minister for Urban Development also. Naidu said that the United Nations should take up the issue of terrorism in a serious manner as it is an enemy of humanity. Naidu's remarks came a day after a terror attack in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday in which 18 soldiers were killed. Indian Army has said that the attack was carried out by militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said all the countries in the world should come together to "condemn this heinous act of Pakistan". "It (Pakistan) has proved to be a rogue nation and they are not walking the talk which they promised earlier during General (Parvez) Musharraf's period and during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's period," he alleged. "They are going back on their promises and now you can't take it lying down," he blamed. The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) is clearly ahead of its peers in terms of international presence. However, this is not enough to be globally competitive as the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2016/17 - where its ranking fell from 202 last year to 219 - shows. The The Ken-Betwa river linking project has got the approval of the standing committee of the Board for Wildlife. The panel headed by Union environment minister Anil Madhav Dave has agreed to submerge about 100 sq km of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh one of the countrys prime tiger habitats for the project. (File Photo) Deputy Chief Minister was attacked with ink outside the Lt Governor's Office by a man who claimed that he was upset over the AAP leader undertaking a tour of Finland at a time when the city was grappling with a health crisis. When Sisodia was about to get into his car after talking to media persons, Brijesh Shukla threw ink at Sisodia which splattered across his arms and on a portion of his forehead. Sisodia said the ink attack on him was reflection of the "dirty of Congress and BJP". Shukla, a resident of east Delhi's Karawal Nagar, has been detained by police. He said he was angry with the Deputy Chief Minister for visiting Finland at a time when the city was grappling with rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. The AAP leader had returned to the national capital last night from Finland after he was asked by LG Najeeb Jung to return on Saturday. However, he came back according to his schedule on Sunday. Reacting to the attack, Sisodia said, "Delhi government is committed to working on health and education. But Congress and BJP are working on ink. They have nothing to do with Delhiites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is the dirty of BJP and Congress." He also challenged the BJP-ruled civic bodies to clear the "filth across the city" and hit out at Congress for "ruining" the city's education and health sector during its term. "This is merely a diversionary tactic adopted by them since we are focusing on development," he said. #WATCH: Man throws Ink at Manish Sisodia in Delhi, says Sisodia goes abroad but people of Delhi are left suffering. pic.twitter.com/0T9fUvoGk5 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a step towards solving the mystery over the missing Indian Air Force plane AN-32, a ocean monitoring vessel of the Chennai-based Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has recorded some metal reflections from deep within the sea, east of Chennai. The reflections have not yet been confirmed of being the missing aircraft. The NIOT vessel had sent submersibles (small vehicles designed to operate underwater) into the seas at a depth of around 2,000 metres at six places. A further confirmation about the debris would be known once the submersibles reach 3,000 metres below the sea by the end of this month. Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) have brought down the curtains on their three-year-old airport slum rehabilitation dispute. The two sides settled their dispute on the directions of a three-member arbitration tribunal and have unconditionally withdrawn all claims against each other. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met President Pranab Mukherjee here to brief him on the developments related to the Uri terror attack, hours after he discussed the issue with senior ministers and top officials. Modi went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening and apprised the President of the details related to the attack on the Army camp that took place on Sunday, official sources said. The Prime Minister's meeting with the President came hours after he chaired a meeting on the with senior ministerial colleagues top officials. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh, and senior officials of the ministries of Home and Defence. Modi had asserted that "those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and top security brass of the country today met to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas, in the wake of the terror attack in Uri. Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefedthe meeting on the latest situation in Valley as well as along the Line of Control, official sources said. Parrikar and General Suhag had visited yesterday in the aftermath of the terror attack in Uri where 17 soldiers were killed. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed in the meeting, the sources said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who has postponed his visit to Srinagar, also attended the meeting. The Home Minister, Defence Minister and the top officials also reviewed the security situation across the country, particular along the western border - from Punjab to Gujarat, the sources said. Meanwhile, a team of Investigation Agency is expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the terror attack site. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. The Home Minister, who had yesterday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that "for one tooth, the complete jaw" should be the policy after the attack. The Supreme Court on Monday sought Maharashtra government's response on the bail plea by the lone convict in the 2010 Pune that had claimed 17 lives and an appeal against his life sentence. A bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy issued notice and sought response from the state government, which had earlier appealed against the High Court order that had commuted death penalty awarded to Mirza Himayat Baig to life term. Baig, who was acquitted on March 17 of serious charges under various sections of the Unlawful Prevention (Activities) Act and IPC, was however convicted for offences under IPC section 474 (possessing a document knowing it to be forged with intent to use it as genuine) and under section 5(b) of the Explosive Substances Act. Baig, alleged to be a member of banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, was arrested in September 2010 from Latur in Maharashtra for involvement in the blast at German Bakery, a popular eatery in Pune's Koregaon Park area, which killed 17 persons and injured 58 including some foreigners. In 2013, the trial court had convicted and awarded him capital punishment. Besides Baig, Qateel Siddiqui was also arrested in the case, but he had died in Pune's Yerawada jail following a scuffle with other inmates. The other wanted accused are alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives Mohsin Choudhary, Riyaz Bhatkal, Iqbal Ismail Bhatkal, Fayyaz Kagzi and Sayyad Zabiuddin Ansari. Yasin Bhatkal, who had allegedly planted the bomb in the eatery, was arrested in August 2013. The case against him is pending before the trial court. Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will visit Srinagar on Monday to assess the situation in wake of . Mehrishi will meet the top officials of the state government and take stock of the situation. At least 17 soldiers were killed on Sunday in the gun battle at the base, which is around 100 km from state capital Srinagar. Four militants were also killed after penetrating the base in Uri sector in the most deadly attack in the province in recent years. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited Kashmir on Sunday to take stock of the situation and review the overall security in Kashmir. They were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt. General D S Hooda and Lt. General Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. Parrikar was briefed about the security grid along the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland also covering the deployment and employment of the additional forces that have been recently inducted into the Valley. The need for heightened vigil both on the LoC and hinterland and to remain prepared for any developing was stressed upon. On being briefed about the internal security situation in the hinterland, the Army Chief reiterated the importance of complete synergy amongst all security, intelligence and other government agencies to ensure calm and prevent the terrorists and other inimical forces from moving with impunity and intimidating the populace. Earlier the Army Chief also visited Uri to get a first-hand account where he was briefed on the latest situation by the Commanders on ground. Parrikar and the Army Chief later met the casualties at the Army Base Hospital in BB Cantonment. Saluting the martyrs, they expressed their deep grief and condolences over the loss and wished speedy recovery to the injured. With Islamabad rejecting New Delhi's claims that it was involved in the deadly attack in Uri, where 17 Army soldiers lost their lives, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre on Monday asserted that India did not need Pakistan's clarifications, as their involvement in the terror strike was concrete. Speaking to ANI here, Bhamre stated that given the current tense situation across the nation following the attack, the Centre is gearing up to give a fitting response to Pakistan. "The entire nation is traumatised right now as we lost 17 brave soldiers. No condemnation is enough for this cowardly act. The whole nation is united in this hour of grief. The Prime Minister, Home Minister and Defence Minister have all come to the conclusion that a response needs to be given to Pakistan," he said. Talking about Pakistan washing its hands off the charges of being involved in the attack, Bhamre asserted that it was Islamabad's habit to deflect, adding that India did not need their 'certificate' as everyone knows that it was behind the attack. Confirming the death toll of the tragedy to be at 17, he stated that most of the injured are suffering from severe burns and are being treated in the Valley itself, but three injured soldiers were brought to the RR Army Hospital here. Earlier in a statement, the Army said that a group of heavily armed terrorists targeted the rear administrative base of a unit at Uri on Sunday early morning, and in the counter action, four terrorists were eliminated. "The administrative base had large strength of troops of units turning over after their tour of duty who were stationed in tents/temporary shelters which caught fire, and resulted in heavy casualties. We salute the sacrifice of 17 soldiers who were martyred in the operation," the statement added. Condemning the terror attack in Uri Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the nation that those behind the 'despicable' attack will not go unpunished. "We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has hit out at Pakistan branding it as a 'terrorist state', adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Branding Pakistan as a 'terrorist state' and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, the Home Minister added that there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. However, Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in Uri terror attack, stating that said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh on Sunday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). During his briefing to media persons, Singh said that four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers and other war like stores have been recovered from the militants. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is against sharing original granular level data that it gets from banks and other market sources with the proposed Financial Data Management Centre (FDMC), a data warehousing company that will act as a central repository of information on all financial entity. The finance ministry on Monday clarified that there are no legal problems involved in the notification of the Constitution amendment Act on the goods and services, a day after speculations were raised that the government might have to re-notify the Act as existing wordings would not allow it to impose excise duty on goods even now. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday said the this year would be normal at below 100 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). The 2016 southwest season formally comes to an end in 10 days. India's expects that the Rs 4,500 crore being spent on building supercomputers across universities and research centres would give a leg up to local manufacturing of hardware. While India has built expertise in creating supercomputing software applications over the years, the focus is now being shifted to building supercomputer hardware in the country, which, up until now, has been procured and assembled. The environment ministry said on Sunday the sub-committee constituted by the country's biotech regulator Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to examine the bio-safety data on genetically-modified (GM) mustard had in it experts on subjects relevant to safety evaluation of the hybrid, including a health expert. The statement came days after an anti-GM group alleged that sub-committee formed by GEAC did not have any health expert and three of its members have conflict of interest. The ministry in its clarification said that B Sesikeran was in the sub-committee as a health expert. He is an MD in pathology and former director, National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Activists opposed to the had alleged that Sesikeran had serious conflict of interest. "The GEAC in its 126th meeting held on January 4 this year constituted a sub-committee with expert scientists in specific subjects relevant to safety evaluation of Genetically Engineered (GE) Crops. "The sub-committee also consists of a health expert,B Sesikeran, who is an MD in pathology and former director, National Institute of Nutrition Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and is currently serving as chairman, Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation," an official statement said. Reacting to the clarification, anti-GM group, Coalition for a GM-Free India, which had levelled the accusations, said it repeats what it had said in its recent report on the matter of this sub-committee and the "lack of reliability" on its assessment processes. "Sesikeran was missing from GEAC including in the crucial meeting of the sub-committee in which the sub-committee created its report in February 2016, which was submitted to GEAC in its 127th meeting," Kavitha Kuruganti from the Coalition told PTI. The Coalition had alleged that Sesikeran, was a board member of International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) which has Bayer, BASF, Monsanto and others as members. "It is important to note that he (Sesikeran) was a member of the expert committee headed by Anupam Verma for the CGMCP project, advising on what studies to take up for health safety assessment of . "...also he conducted the studies as former director of NIN, he also gave a green signal as chairperson of RCGM in DBT and now sits in GEAC as a member and was included in the sub-committee! He however did not attend the February 2 meeting. From all information available, he did not take part in the sub-committee processes," the Coalition had alleged. Moodys said on Monday the banking system would soon move past the worst point of its asset quality down-cycle, supporting a stable outlook for the sector over 12-18 months. on Monday slammed the European Parliament leaders for receiving the Dalai Lama and warned that the meeting between them has harmed Beijing's "core interests" in Tibet. It was reported that European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Elmar Brok, chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, met with the Dalai Lama on September 15 despite strong opposition from the Chinese side. "They have broken the promises the EU made to on Tibet," spokesperson Lu Kang told a press conference. "Tibet issues are core interests of China," Lu said, stressing that the Chinese government is firmly against separatism. Dalai Lama has been living in India since he escaped after the failed uprising of 1959. China opposes the Dalai Lama's visits in any name or capacity to any country or organisation to engage in separatist activities, Lu said. China is also opposed to any contact between the Dalai Lama and officials from any country or organisation. China-EU ties are at a new stage, and relations between the parliaments are sound, but the meeting between the European Parliament's leaders and the Dalai Lama harms China's core interests and the political foundation of inter- parliamentary communication, Lu said. China demands that the EU side take measures to nullify the negative effects of the meeting, he said. M J Akbar Minister of State for External Affairs will attend several meetings at the UN, including a high-level summit on refugees and migrants aimed at addressing the unprecedented crisis. Akbar will attend various summits being organised at the high-level segment of the 71st UN General Assembly that opens on Monday. He will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts of different nations on the sidelines of the session. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive here on September 24 to address the General Debate on September 26. Akbar, who arrived here from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Venezuela, will address the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, which will kick off the high-level week. The India-US-Afghanistan trilateral will also be convened in New York later this week. The summit is the first time that the General Assembly has called for a meeting at the Heads of State and Government level on the topic and "it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better response", the world body said. World leaders are expected to adopt a political declaration as an outcome document at the summit, during which the UN will see a new addition to its family a dedicated migration agency. Leaders of the UN and the Organisation for Migration (IOM) will sign an agreement to officially make IOM a related agency of the UN system. Akbar is also expected to attend other high-level summits and meetings during the week. On September 21, the Assembly will hold a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, which has become one of the biggest threats to global health and endangers other major priorities, such as human development. On the same day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will make a pitch for an early entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change by convening a special event at which countries can deposit their ratification instruments with him. On September 22, there will be a high-level segment of the General Assembly to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. A total of 195 leaders including 86 Heads of State, a Crown Prince, five vice presidents and 51 ministers will address the General Debate. With Kashmir high on his agenda Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly where he would enunciate Islamabad's position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New York's Kennedy Airport by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, the Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's delegation includes Tariq Fatemi Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule including addressing the 193-member Assembly on September 21 and meeting at least ten world leaders among other activities. He said the Prime Minister would specifically focus on the current situation in particularly the "continuing grave violations of human rights" taking place there. The Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister would call on the community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, Prime Ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon. US Secretary of State John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. Syria's fragile cease-fire started to unravel with the first aerial attacks on rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo and a southern village that killed at least eight people, violations that came as tensions between the American and Russian brokers of the deal worsened following a deadly US strike on Syrian government forces. The air raid by the US-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers yesterday and led to a harsh verbal attack on Washington by Damascus and Moscow. The US military says it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria on Saturday. The seven-day cease-fire is supposed to end at midnight Sunday, according to a Syrian army statement issued last week. The US and Russia have said that if it holds for seven days, it should be followed by the establishment of a Joint Implementation Center for both countries to coordinate the targeting of Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked militants. Despite largely holding, the cease-fire has been repeatedly violated by both sides, and aid convoys have not reached besieged rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and one-time commercial centre, which has been the centre of violence in recent months. Aid delivery to Aleppo is part of the US-Russia cease-fire deal. Earlier this month, Syrian government forces and their allies captured areas they lost south of the city, re-imposing a siege on its opposition-held eastern neighbourhoods. More than 2,000 people were killed in 40 days of fighting in the city, including 700 civilians, among them 160 children, according to a Syrian activist group. Syrian state TV reported Sunday that dozens of residents had left rebel-held areas in Aleppo and were taken to shelters in the government-controlled part of the city. Also Sunday, Aleppo's governor, Hussein Diab, called on insurgents in the eastern neighbourhoods to turn themselves in, hand over their weapons and take advantage of an amnesty decree issued recently by Syrian President Bashar Assad. "We are at a new stage that requires making the decision to embrace reconciliation," Diab said in a statement carried by the state news agency, SANA. He urged insurgents to halt what he called the bloodshed and destruction and affirmed that all who turned themselves in and surrendered their weapons would be treated well and allowed to return to normal life. Moscow laid the blame for Sunday's violence squarely on the opposition. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said in an emailed statement that both "terrorists and the opposition" are using the truce to "boost their forces and prepare for renewed hostilities". Few things motivate Samsung employees like the opportunity to take advantage of weakness at Apple. Earlier this year, managers at the South Korean company began hearing the next iPhone wouldn't have any eye-popping innovations. The device would look just like the previous two models too. It sounded like a potential opening for Samsung to leap ahead. THE GENESIS Samsung heard that the next iPhone wouldnt have any eye-popping innovations It then decided to accelerate the launch of a new phone They pushed ... Russia's ruling United party has cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls that could pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to glide to a fourth term in 2018 elections, with more than 93 per cent of votes counted. Sunday's ballot for the 450-seat State Duma was smooth sailing for authorities desperate to avoid a repeat of mass protests last time round and eager to increase their dominance as faces the longest economic crisis of Putin's rule. But a low turnout of less than 50 per cent suggested that many Russians may have been turned off by a system in which the Kremlin wields near-total power, which could raise questions over legitimacy. "We can announce already with certainty that the party secured a good result, that it won," Putin said after polls closed. "The situation is tough and difficult but the people still voted for United Russia," he said on state television. With more than 93 per cent of the votes counted, the United party had 54.3 per cent of votes, securing it at least 343 seats in the 450-member parliament, up from 238 previously, and a constitutional majority, according to results announced Monday morning. It was followed by the Communists and the ultra nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, on 13.5 per cent and 13.2 per cent respectively, and A Just Russia, which received 6.2 per cent, results published by the central election commission showed. Those four parties which made up the last parliament and all back the Kremlin were the only ones to clear the five percent threshold needed to claim a share of the one-half of seats up for grabs. The vote comes as Putin's approval ratings remain high at around 80 per cent and authorities appear to be banking on trouble-free presidential elections in two years. Results indicated that liberal opposition groups would not make it into parliament, with neither the Yabloko party, nor the Parnas party of former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and assassinated Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, having secured enough votes to win a seat. "I'm upset by such a low turnout at these polls. Russians are letting go possibly the last chance to change the authorities democratically," Kasyanov said after the vote ended. With only a fraction of the votes counted, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev confidently said that his party would end up with an "absolute majority" in the Duma. Though the overall tally for United Russia was higher than the 49 per cent it claimed in 2011, participation was low, particularly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Only 47.8 of voters cast their ballots, against 60 per cent in 2011, electoral officials said. It would turn out to be the last day at Yogakshema, the curvaceous Nariman Point central office, for Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) chief S K Roy. Hundreds of miles away in the quaint educational hub of Manipal, some 1,077 shareholders of Syndicate Bank had gathered for an extraordinary general meeting. Global continued to be slightly nervous about a possible tightening from the US Federal Reserve (and also about surprising Bank of Japan action). But, the consensus assumption is that the Fed will maintain status quo, given several weak macroeconomic data points coming out of the US. In India, the Nifty found support around 8,700, but it now seems to be waiting for the Fed. has rallied 11% to Rs 174 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company received a Letter of Intents (LOIs) from Shree Cement, for civil work at their cement plants at Aurangabad, Bihar and at Gulbarga, Karnataka for a total contract value of approximately Rs 50 crore. Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) has said that at least five Pakistani "terrorists" were reportedly killed in an operation in southern Zabul province. The NDS in a statement yesterday said that special forces launched the operation in Naseran village of Mezan district of the province against an al-Qaeda base, reports the Tolo News. The statement added that the NDS troops also seized a number of weapons and explosive devices in the operation. The base is also said to be destroyed during the operation. No further details were given by the NDS about the operation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Asserting that time has come when India responds in equal measure to Pakistan following the deadly terror strike in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 17 army soldiers lost their lives, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former union minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday called for a military response, adding that the nation's three forces must formulate an action plan and present it to the Centre. Speaking to ANI here, Sinha stated that responding to Pakistan must be left with the military, adding that the Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force should sit together to work out a response and then inform the government. "Then it is up to the government to not only approve the plan of the army, but also take adequate diplomatic measures to inform the public opinion globally about why India has been forced to do what Indian Army must be doing," he said. Stating that the 'military response' should be New Delhi's current policy with Islamabad, Sinha added that India must let go of the strategy to engage with Pakistan and establish a level of friendship. Maintaining his stern stand, the senior BJP stated that Pakistan has always ditched India and been at war, which is why they should never be trusted with to take action. "I was never in favour of a Pakistani team coming to Pathankot because I knew nothing is going to come out of it. Nothing has come out of the Mumbai attack in 2008. In eight years the people who are responsible for that dastardly attack on Mumbai have not been brought to book in Pakistan," Sinha said. Emphasising that Pakistan will never take action against terrorists, whom they themselves are giving shelter and sponsoring, he stated that the terrorist elements are aiding Pakistan's policy of enmity with India. Refering to the Pakistan Army, Sinha stated that they have never been interested in friendship and are daring India saying, "to do what you will, but we will continue with our acts of cross border terrorism." However, Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in Uri terror attack, stating that said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has lashed out at Pakistan branding it as a 'terrorist state', adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Calling Pakistan a 'terrorist state' and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, the Home Minister added that there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Baloch Republican Party (BRP) founder Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday announced that he would appeal for a political asylum in India. Bugti said that the decision was taken in his party's central committee meeting. "The meeting of our central committee ended today. And in the meeting the members of the central committee have decided with majority that I will appeal for a political asylum in India," Bugti told ANI. Bugti said that the he would seek an appointment with the Indian embassy in Geneva. "This decision has been taken and we will start working on it right away. Within two to three days, we will seek an appointment before the Indian embassy and we will present our case based on that," he added. Bugti had earlier clarified that he has not made a formal request to India for asylum, but added that he would certainly consider it if given an opportunity in the future. "Our people in and Afghanistan are in a very difficult situation. Very few of them are able to come to Europe, rest are living there only. So, we want that the Indian Government should open there doors for them and provide them access, including myself. Right now, I'm here (Switzerland), but I face problem regarding my travel. So, if I get an option to be in India, I will definitely go there," Bugti told ANI. When asked as to why he is seeking asylum in India, Bugti said, "India is our neighboring country. In Europe, even if a government or the immigration department knows the problem, the people don't. But in India, the people know about our problems, we will have their support. We share the same culture. We will be closer to our people and our people can easily seek asylum there, and it is easier for them to reach there with their families." Meanwhile, Bugti's party has also decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani Army Generals at the Criminal Courts. The Baloch activists and leaders have continuously maintained that Pakistan is involved in the genocide of the Baloch people and added that human rights violations are rampant in the region there. Members of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) on Monday protested before the UN office in Geneva to highlight the atrocities by Pakistan on Baloch people. Holding banners with pictures of Baloch activists killed by the Pakistani military, the protesters raised slogans to stop atrocities on Baloch people. The protesters also raised slogans such as, "China must leave Balochistan." Maintaining that the situation in Balochistan is worse today, BRP president, Germany Chapter, Javed Mohd Baloch said, "In the last one month Pakistan has killed more than 100 people in Balochistan, especially Dera Bugti and Nasirabad." Javed said the Pakistani authorities have escalated military operation after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi supported their cause. "After the statement made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they [Pakistan] are escalating military operations," Javed told ANI. Prime Minister Modi, in his Independence Day address, had thanked the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for the goodwill they have shown towards him. He had in an all-party meeting on Kashmir said the "time has come that Pakistan shall have to answer to the for the atrocities committed by it against the people in Balochistan and PoK". His statement about atrocities in Balochistan has hit a nerve with Pakistan, which has now voiced that it would raise the Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Javed asserted that Pakistan wants to complete China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project at any cost, even if they have to kill all Baloch people. He highlighted even Beijing is involved in this. On the BRP founder Brahamdagh Bugti statement that his party would take Pakistan to the International Criminal Court for the killing of Baloch people in Balochistan, Javed said, " We think it is a great step. It should have been taken long ago. We will implement this in Germany and also file cases here." Meanwhile, another protester said, "We are protesting to highlight the issue of Balochistan. The human rights violations, the genocides which are being conducted by the Pakistani Army there." The Baloch people have been protesting alleging Pakistan of being only concerned about the resources in Balochistan and not its people and exploiting the region's resources and trading it to Beijing. Considered to be a part of China's One Belt, One Road initiative, the USD46 billion project covers Balochistan and Sindh provinces and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India has formally opposed the CPEC because it runs through PoK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Baloch Republican Party (BRP) founder Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday said that his party would take Pakistan to the International Criminal Court for the killing of Baloch people in Balochistan. "We will also take Pakistan to the International Criminal Court, the Pakistani Army Generals be it past, present or from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)," Bugti told ANI. The Baloch people across the globe have been holding protests with an objective to highlight state atrocities on Baloch civilians across Balochistan. The protestors have even thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for supporting them in their cause. Meanwhile, Bugti also said that they would take Beijing to the International Court of Justice over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. He asserted that he would take the help of other countries including India since it was difficult to file an appeal alone. "So, we have decided that we will take China to the International Court of Justice with help of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India since it is difficult to file an appeal alone," he added. The Baloch people have been protesting alleging Pakistan of being only concerned about the resources in Balochistan and not its people and exploiting the region's resources and trading it to Beijing. Considered to be a part of China's One Belt, One Road initiative, the USD46 billion project covers Balochistan and Sindh provinces and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Described as an economic "game-changer" by Pakistan and China, the project also has strategic implications for India and Afghanistan. Pakistan's Gwadar port in Balochistan province is a key part of the CPEC and is being developed with the Chinese assistance. India has formally opposed the CPEC because it runs through PoK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The acting high commissioner for Canada to India, Jess Dutton, today issued the following statement "Canada strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on 18 September, which resulted in the death of 17 soldiers. The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delivering the inaugural address at the FICCI-CMSME's sixth annual MSME Summit on the theme 'Propelling MSME Growth He urged the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country to update the details of their enterprises on the MSME data bank. He also said that the updated data would be used for evolving parameters for the growth of MSMEs in the country. Jalan said that there was a need to carry out academic work in the space to understand the challenges and issues of the sector. He suggested that FICCI should come out with knowledge papers focusing on the specific concerns of the sector. Speaking about the financing aspect of the MSMEs, Jalan said that there was a need to carry out research in this area as it has been seen that SME credit by banks was going down. He suggested that for MSMEs, a dedicated financing institute could be established like private sector non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Pannuda Boonpala, Director, ILO India, said that In India, the Government's efforts to support the MSME sector through initiatives such as Make in India or Start up India reflect the importance of this sector to national development, and hold great promise. Highlighting the challenges for MSME sector, Mr. Sanjay Bhatia, President, FICCI-CMSME and Managing Director, Hindustan Tin Works Limited, said that to propel MSMEs there was a need to build an enabling environment for MSMEs. The Government was already working on a MSME Policy, but he suggested that the MSME Policy document must contain some provision for sector specific dedicated industrial estate/ clusters for MSMEs with the support from State Government. Also, micro enterprises should be exempted from all compliance, inspection and labour laws for certain period. A guide could be provided to them on the compliances that they need to adhere to in those years. In order to make MSMEs grow vertically, MSMEs should be facilitated with the tax benefits linked to direct employment generated by MSMEs and Start-up businesses. As per policy benefits, MSMEs adopting latest clean and green technologies across sectors should be incentivized by the government. The Government should look for a possible collaboration with institutions which can help MSMEs in their R&D activities. In his concluding remarks R Narayan, Vice-President, FICCI-CMSME and Founder and CEO, Power2 SME, said that the IT had the power to propel MSME growth with the ability to extend revenue-making opportunities by selling products and services online. MSMEs could also utilize modern technology and the internet as the medium to reduce procurement costs and thus reduce overall cost of goods sold to improve profitability. Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and FICCI-CMSME, said that the programme 'Make in India' should focus on MSMEs as it is the sector which will generate employment and not the big industries where manpower was being replaced with technology. He added that the objective of the summit was to create awareness and understanding among the Indian MSMEs on the various schemes and initiatives being taken by the government and private institutions/organizations for the development of MSME sector. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The plans for operationalising the Special Security Division (SSD), which was to be set up to provide security to the Chinese personnel working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, have been held up by civil-military wrangling. It is feared that if the issue is not resolved at the earliest then it could potentially affect the CPEC timelines, reports the Dawn. The military had announced the raising of the SSD soon after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Islamabad last year, but even after an year and a half there are no agreed terms of reference (ToR) that would govern the working of the SSD. The Pakistan Government has been sitting on the ToR proposed by the army indicating it is not comfortable with the draft. The role envisaged by the military for the SSD is to advise, guide and 'indirectly' control the civilian law enforcement agencies in issues related to the security of CPEC projects. Besides, the SSD can act as 'first responders' in cases of threats to critical projects. But Islamabad's apprehension is that such "wide-ranging ToR" could expand military's influence on law enforcement agencies at the cost of civilian administration's authority. There are also differences over who would be in-charge of the SSD. The government thinks that the SSD has to be under the Interior Ministry's command whereas the military has so far kept itself in the lead and intends to maintain that role. Two wings of the SSD - North and South - are to be set up. Though the army has established the SSD-North, which covers the area between Khunjerab Pass on the Pakistan-China border and Rawalpindi, the government is reportedly holding back the executive and financial approval for the SSD-South. It is estimated that creation of a new wing could take about 12 to 18 months which implies that even if the approval is given now, the SSD-South will not be functional by the end of 2017. Security is particularly problematic in the area that has to be secured by the SSD-South. The Frontier Works Organisation, which is engaged with road projects in Balochistan, has already lost 44 men, including 26 soldiers, in the province in security-related incidents. At present, there are close to 10,000 Chinese personnel working on different projects across the country. Their number is expected to grow as the CPEC projects' implementation progresses. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fortis Escorts Heart Institute exhibited yet again the level of skill and expertise the doctors are equipped with in operating a patient from Pakistan in a life-saving effort. The team was led by Dr. Aparna Jaswal, Associate Director, Electrophysiology, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute. Zafar Khan, 61 years of age, hails from Peshawar in Pakistan. He has had a stent procedure conducted seven years ago and a year ago his kidneys had deteriorated very badly. He was advised a kidney transplant. Tests were conducted to determine his medical condition and they revealed that not only was his heart very weak and functioning to only 15 - 16 % of its capacity. it was also considered appropriate by all doctors to first treat the heart condition and consider the kidney transplant only later. Several rounds to multiple hospitals in Pakistan led to no positive outcome as all the hospitals turned Zafar Khan away on the basis that none of them were equipped to treat him due to lack of skill and clinical excellence. He was advised implantation of a CRT in Pakistan, however, but his sons could not find any healthcare provider ready to take the challenge of their father. Hence, his sons decided to bring him to India. Several rounds to 5 - 6 hospitals in Delhi also did not yield much due to his critical condition of his father requiring much expertise of the implantation of the CRT. On the advice of a friend, Zafar Khan was brought to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute. With an implant of the CRT, it was a successful attempt to have Zafar Khan lead a better life and hoping for an extended lease of life. Dr. Aparna Jaswal, Associate Director Electrophysiology, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute said, "Zafar Khan was brought to our hospital in a critical condition. Considering a CRT implantation in such patients can be extremely challenging. It required extra precautions and multi-disciplinary team of nephrologists, Dr. Narula and a critical care team to help us do the procedures successfully in such a sick patient. With the implant of the CRT we are hoping Zafar Khan should be able to live better and longer." Dr. Somesh Mittal, Zonal Director, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute said, "The Fortis Escorts Heart Institute doctors have repeatedly conducted life-saving procedures that have been challenging to others and patients have been turned away. By treating such cases, we are living up to our reputation of being the Number 1 Cardiac care centre in the country. We continue to secure our position globally as well through continuous efforts of treating patients where other healthcare providers have given up." The patient's son, Ibrahim tearfully thanked the doctors, "I was so dejected when we got repeated refusals from doctors in Pakistan and India that our father's heart was beyond treatment. The moment I met Dr. Aparna Jaswal and she explained how my father could be treated for his cardiac condition, I felt I had reached my destination. I have to admit that my family is in no doubt on why Fortis Escorts Heart Institute is so sought after for cardiac solutions. We are very thankful to Dr. Jaswal and her team for giving our father a new lease of life despite our father being so sick. The entire procedure was seamless and without any complications. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress Party on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to give a befitting reply to Pakistan in the wake of the terror attack in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district and said that it would send a strong message to Islamabad, which would ponder before continuing to bleed India in the way it is doing. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this is the acid test for everyone, adding India has the capacity to pass this test. "I think there is not even a minority of one in India who feels otherwise than that India should give a befitting reply to Pakistan. The details of which are for the government to decide whether it is diplomatic coupled with military , coupled with economic, coupled with social international whether it is covert or overt, whether it is direct or indirect at a time manner and methodology of our choosing," Singhvi told ANI. "But clearly Pakistan must learn that it must pause to think not once, not twice, not five times but 10 times before it continues to bleed India in the way it is doing," he added. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had earlier expressed shock and deep distress over the martyrdom of Indian soldiers in the dastardly terrorist attack in Uri. Describing the "cowardly" attack as a "deplorable affront on our conscience", Sonia expressed hope that the perpetrators of this dastardly attack as also the forces behind them will be severely dealt with and brought to book. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi chaired a crucial security meeting at his official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) residence over the deadly terror attack in Uri. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh besides other senior officials attended the meeting. The top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the attack. Earlier today, Rajnath, Parrikar and the top security brass met to take stock of the security situation. Meanwhile, a team of the Investigation Agency (NIA) is to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the terror attack site. The Home Minister, who cancelled his visits to Russia and the United States post the attack, yesterday said Pakistan is a 'terrorist state' and should be isolated. DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh yesterday announced the initial reports indicate that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others were injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Monday suggested that the Indian army should directly attack terror camps operating in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. His statement came in the wake of the terror strike in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district yesterday "We have given importance to non-violence in this nation. Now, we should also give importance to valor too," he said. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to talk of both peace and war. "We should not get attacked on daily basis and this is very shameful for any brave country," Ramdev added. At least 18 soldiers lost their lives and over 20 others injured during the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday paid tribute to the 17 soldiers killed in the militant attack on an army base in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district. Later, she visited 92 base hospital here to meet the injured soldiers. Following directions of Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar, the Army has made arrangements for transporting the mortal remains of all the martyrs directly to their respective hometowns. While two of the 17 soldiers hail from Jammu and Kashmir, rest of them belong to Uttar Pradesh (four), Bihar (three), Maharashtra (three), West Bengal (two), Jharkhand (two) and Rajasthan (one). Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing a high-level meeting at his official residence at 7, Race Course Road (RCR) residence in the capital in the wake of the Uri terror attack. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials are present in the meeting. Rajnath, who held separate meeting earlier today with Parrikar, the Army Chief and other officials, yesterday said Pakistan is a 'terrorist state' and should be isolated. DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh yesterday announced the initial reports indicate that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others were injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japan and Russia on Monday condemned the terror strike on an Indian Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district that claimed lives of at least 18 soldiers, and offered their condolences to the victims' families. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, in an official statement quoting Foreign Press Secretary Yasuhisa Kawamura, said, "The Government of Japan strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Indian Base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, and extends its sincere condolences to those who lost their lives and their bereaved families, and expresses its heartfelt sympathy to those who were injured." Asserting that Japan condemns terrorism in all forms regardless of its purposes, the statement strongly reiterates that "no act of terrorism can be justified". "Japan expresses its solidarity with India in the fight against terrorism," the statement added. At least 18 soldiers lost their lives and over 20 others injured during the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district yesterday. Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement said, "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of September 18, which killed 17 (18 actually) and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured." Also highlighting the Pathankot attack at the Indian air base in January 2016, the statement said, "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control." "We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory," the Ministry said. Russia also called for a proper investigation in the Uri attack. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counterterrorism efforts," the statement said. Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh had earlier said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources said. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official 7, Race Course Road residence in the national capital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hollywood actor Jeffrey Tambor, who was recently adjudged the Best Actor in a Comedy Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, used the platform to urge Hollywood to hire transgender actors so that they could be included in the mainstream. The 'Transparent' actor was awarded for his portrayal of Maura Pfferman, a transgender woman who came out to her family late in life, reports E!Online. "I'm not going to say this beautifully. To you people out there, please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story. Do that, I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television. We have work to do," said the 72-year-old actor. He added, "What they take away. May I be very very clear about something? There is no best actor. Alright? I am so honored to be in this category with these artistic killers. Thank you guys," said the 72-year-old actor. Thanking the 'Transparent' writer Jill Soloway, who also took home an Emmy for helming the 'Amazon series', he said, "You changed my life, you changed my career and you changed everything." Tambor also won the award at the 2015 Emmys and a Golden Globe. The actor has been nominated for an Emmy six other times for his work on 'Arrested Development' and 'The Larry Sanders Show'. On a related note, the third season of Transparent premieres September 23 on Amazon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the wake of Uri terror attack that claimed the lives of 18 bravehearts, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Monday announced Rs. 10 lakh for the families of the slain soldiers from the state. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced Rs. five lakh for the families of soldiers from the state who lost their lives in the attack while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced financial assistance of Rs. 20 lakh each to the families of jawans from the state. The Maharashtra Government announced a financial assistance of Rs. 15 lakh each for families of soldiers from the state who lost their lives in the terror attack. Slain sepoy Javra Munda belonged to Khunti while Sepoy Naiman Kujur was from Chainpur district of Jharkhand. Sepoy Rakesh Singh belonged to Kaimur, Naik S.K. Vidarthi was from Gaya while Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh was from Bhojpur district of Bihar. Sepoy Rajesh Kumar Singh belonged to Jaunpur, Sepoy Harinder Yadav was from Ghazipur, Lance Naik RK Yadav belonged to Ballia while Sepoy Ganesh Shankar was from Ghoorapalli district of Uttar Pradesh. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has lashed out at Pakistan branding it as a 'terrorist state', adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 18 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. Director General of Military Operation (DGMO) Lt. General Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A disturbing official report suggests that that nearly a thousand bullet-ridden corpses have been recovered from various parts of in the past six years, raising questions about security and safety in Pakistan's largest province, a Pakistani daily has reported. The News, quoting official reports, said that more than 51 percent mutilated bodies have been identified as being that of ethnic Baloch. According to official figures, 22 percent dead bodies belonged to Pashtuns while the rest of the bullet-ridden corpses either remained unidentified or belong to Punjabis, Afghan refugees or non-Muslims. The figures prepared by senior officials assigned to swiftly execute the National Action Plan (NAP), showed that more than 940 dead bodies were recovered from various districts of Balochistan, whereas Quetta remained the worst-hit district with 346 dead bodies recovered since 2010. Maintaining that the confidential data is exclusively available with Geo News (ASKKS Programme) and The News, the report suggests that 112 persons were still declared missing in the province. Apart from all these human rights violations in the province, the official figures further stated that over 658 innocent people lost their lives in sectarian incidents, where a total of 1, 837 were killed either in target killings or other disputes after 2011 in the province. During this period, over 3,470 people were injured in terror or sectarian related incidents. Reports suggest that the security forces, with the help of intelligence agencies and operators of the newly established Intelligence Fusion Cell (IFC) during this period in the province, had recovered over 498 dead bodies of Baloch which already lags behind other provinces in terms of over nine key social indicators. Though around 159 dead bodies of Pashtuns are said to have been recovered from various parts of the province, but the security forces have failed to identify 175 bullet-ridden corpses, as their faces were completely burnt and spoiled. The police have also recovered around 108 dead bodies, where some of them were identified as Afghan refugees and Punjabis. According to the reports, Kalat is said to be second largest district after Quetta where 268 dead bodies were recovered by law enforcement agencies. In terms of rights violence, in 2011, 203 dead bodies were recovered, 129 in 2015, 165 in 2014, 168 in 2013, 166 in 2012, 102 in 2010 and 17 bullet-ridden bodies were recovered this year. The reports also revealed that soon after the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, over 2,654 intelligence based operations were conducted by law enforcement agencies and more than 335 criminals were killed and 73 were injured in these operations. According to the data, in the last eighteen months, over 13,362 criminals have been arrested. The law enforcement agencies are said to have recovered 4,154 illegal weapons and 248,327 rounds of ammunition from the criminals. Ever since the NAP started, the Intelligence Fusion Cell is said to have taken the lead over police and Levies and have arrested 7, 597 criminals, killed 288 terrorists and recovered 242,105 rounds of ammunition. However, the recent killings and recovery of dead bodies in Balochistan, Home Minister of the province Sarfraz Bugti asserted that there has been significant drop down in violence. " witnessed a significant drop down in violence this momentum will go on by grace of Allah," he said. He also maintained, "We will not let Baloch separatists and other militants to flex their muscles yet again." With the Baloch people already raising their voices against the atrocities and human rights violations by Pakistan against them, the issue today is known to everyone. Former Senator Sana Baloch, commented that is facing a political crisis and needs a well-sequenced roadmap to undo the damage and reverse the cycle of violence. He also pointed out that, "a combination of economic collapse, Talibanisation, sectarian menace, abductions for ransom, near-to-collapsed health and education infrastructures, corruption and brutally mismanaged governance have brought the province to the verge of a Somalia-like situation where the ordinary citizen begs state-backed criminals, gangs and mafias for safety and security." The Baloch people across the globe are holding protests with an objective to highlight state atrocities on Baloch civilians across Balochistan. The protestors have even thanked India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the supporting them in their cause. India on Wednesday launched a scathing counter attack against Pakistan by raising human rights violations it perpetrates in Balochistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). India also took aim at human rights violations by Pakistan's politico-military establishment across the country, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Giving a befitting reply to Pakistan for alleging human rights violations in India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said that Islamabad is characterised by authoritarianism, absence of democratic norms and widespread human rights violations across the country including Balochistan. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal after returning from a four-day visit to India said that bilateral ties with China would not be affected by the agreements he had reached with New Delhi. "We have maintained balanced relations with both our neighbours," he said on Sunday at the Tribhuvan Inter-national Airport, claiming that his India visit was "highly successful and fruitful," reports Kathmandu Post. Dahal said that his visit had taken the ties with New Delhi to a new level, adding the dynamics of Nepal's relations with India and China is different. He added, "The characteristics of our relations with India and China are different. Relations with one side will not affect the other." Dahal also defended some points mentioned in the joint statement issued after the meetings. Referring to a point that said both countries hold similar views on major international issues, Dahal said it meant that Nepal supports India's candidacy for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. "Nepal and India will have similar positions in international forums in agreed matters. This is not a new thing," he said, adding that Kathmandu had been backing New Delhi's bid for a UNSC seat since 2004. On the inclusion of the constitutional concern in the joint statement, Dahal defended that the whole knew about the need to implement the statute by bringing all dissatisfied factions on board. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Baloch National Movement has alleged that Pakistan is only concerned about the resources in and not its people, adding the community must raise its voice against Islamabad's atrocities in the region. Baloch National Movement foreign spokesperson Hammal Haider Baloch said Islamabad wants to forcibly keep and not lose it as it is exploiting its resources and trading it to Beijing for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. "That is why they only need and not the Baloch people," he added. Reacting to reports suggesting that nearly a thousand bullet-ridden corpses have been recovered from various parts of Balochistan in the past six years, he said the actual causalities are ten times more. "1000 is what they have acknowledged; the actual number is more than 10,000. After Pakistan implemented the policy of killing in 2010, it kidnapped and tortured around 10,000 people and then killed them," said Hammal. He said that still more than 24,000 people are missing in the region, adding they fear that they would also be killed. Hammal said it is the community's responsibility to raise voice against Pakistan's atrocities in Balochistan because it is not only here that it is acting as a terrorist, but it is responsible for the western and NATO troops being killed in Afghanistan as well as the innocent people being killed in India. He further backed Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's assertion and said that Pakistan should be isolated by all countries to keep it in check. In the wake of a dastardly terror strike at an army camp on Sundayin Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district in which 17 soldiers were killed, Rajnath had in a strongly worded statement said Pakistan is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated. Launching a barrage on the Centre over the Uri attack and accusing it of having a failed policy with Pakistan, the Congress on Monday asserted that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar must be held accountable as India's borders and the security has been under siege for the last two years. Hitting out at the Centre's policy with Pakistan, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala stated that India lost 17 soldiers yesterday in the terror attack because of political leadership failure and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking why is India being repeatedly targeted. "Decision to invite ISI to investigate Pathankot terror attack manifested two glaring flaws in #ModiGovt's Pak policy-confused and confused. India's borders & Security has been under siege for last 2 years. Def Min. should be held accountable. In last 2 years, foreign policy viz a viz Pak has been used to promote ModiJi's image as a 'muscular' man. #UriAttack explodes that myth," Surjewala said in a series of tweets. Calling on the Centre to ask the International Community to impose sanctions against Pakistan, he further stated that this is a test for all nations who oppose terror and stand with India. Stating that he Prime Minister Modi-led government has destroyed the matrix of India's strategic and diplomatic advantage over Pakistan in two years, Surjewala added that the Uri terror attack serves as a final wakeup call to the Centre. "Pak is a renegade pariah Nation protecting global terror. How does PM Modi propose to 'punish' & protect India's interests?," he said. Asking if the Prime Minister will act against Parrikar and those responsible in his own command for the attack, the Congress leaders further stated that the terror strike was carried out due to the lack of preparedness on the Indian side. "Will PM Modi concede that #UriAttack happened on account of a massive intelligence failure?Despite Poonch incident, why were we unprepared? PM Modi says #UriAttack 'won't go unpunished'. Will he traverse the distance from rhetoric to reality by firm & appropriate response?," Surjewala said. Earlier, condemning the terror attack in Uri Prime Minister Modi assured the nation that those behind the 'despicable' attack will not go unpunished. "We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has hit out at Pakistan branding it as a 'terrorist state', adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Branding Pakistan as a 'terrorist state' and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, the Home Minister added that there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. However, Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in Uri terror attack, stating that said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). During his briefing to media persons, Singh said that four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers and other war like stores have been recovered from the militants. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After giving an assurance of going after the perpetrators of the deadly Uri attack in which 18 army soldiers were killed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. According to sources, India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road here. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials were present in the meeting. Pakistan has, however, flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in the Uri terror attack, stating that it has become India's traditional tendency to point fingers on them after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tomorrow's India Global Summit, an initiative by the Global Social India Foundation has announced that top premier educational institutions from India are all set to be a part of the Tomorrow's India Global Summit, a five-day event to be held in Seoul from 25-29 September. Confirmed institutes scheduled to be a part of the summit includes eight universities and two schools. During the event, Indian students will get an opportunity to visit the top three universities in Seoul viz. Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University. These visits will include workshops on entrepreneurial talks, how to manage cultural differences, networking, counseling sessions and so on. The session will also provide the students a chance to interact with professors in classes and workshops, network, and attend counseling sessions. Students will get free passes to attend the Conference which will be paneled by some of the top Indian speakers providing them a chance to meet their potential future employers. The students will also be provided with proper accommodation and health facilities along with a chance to apply for internship programs in international universities. During the summit, Professor Chun S. Moon, Professor and Director of Planning and Communications with the Graduate School at Korea University and Dr. Lakhvinder Singh, Chairman of India- Korea and Policy Forum and head of the Korea Peace Movement will be sharing their views with the students on intercultural relations and the scope of India-Korea Relations. "The student university visits are a part of our ethos to showcase India to the world. Tomorrow's India provides a platform for students to explore various cultural and educational opportunities that Universities in Seoul have to offer. Students will not only get to experience the university life in Korea but also will get to attend the classroom sessions," said Managing Director and Founder Tomorrow's India Global Summit, HP Singh. The initiative by Tomorrow's India Global Summit complements the already established Korean policies for higher education where the government offers scholarships to promote diversity in academia as a result of which, international students in South Korea benefit from scholarships at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Tomorrow's India Global Summit is being supported by the Embassy of India in the Republic of Korea, and will have participants from India, Korea, Ethiopia, Finland, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan and Zimbabwe. The event will provide an excellent opportunity to the students to connect with the prominent speakers at the summit which include Sangeeta Reddy, Executive Director, Apollo Hospitals Group; Arun George, Founder and CEO, Avant Garde Innovations and the Focal Point Kerala Chapter for the UN Global Compact Network India amongst others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a rare admission of military misconduct, a Tatmadaw court has found seven soldiers, including four officers, guilty of murdering Shan villagers during a botched interrogation and sentenced them two five years imprisonment. After two months of investigation, the soldiers from the Northeast Regional Command in Lashio were sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour, reports the Myanmar Times. Of the seven convicted soldiers, four are military officers. Tatmadaw has long faced allegations of misconduct, particularly against ethnic minority populations, from human rights advocates and ethnic armed groups, but until now has largely acted with impunity. The case in Mong Yaw village made headlines in June after Tatmdaw troops detained several villagers in connection with a roadblock skirmish. The bodies of five civilians were dug up from shallow graves in a roadway ditch several days later. The family members of the deceased victims said the verdict, with its minimal prison terms, is not enough for delivering justice for their loved ones. After the news of the verdict spread, some within the military community accused the legal system of unjustly buckling to public pressure. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday blamed the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the ink attack on him outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's official residence here. Sisodia was talking to reporters for the first time after returning from a much-talked about trip to Finland, when a person named Brijesh Shukla threw ink on him. Sisodia, who is facing criticism for his tour at a time Delhi is struggling with a spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases, was responding to questions on his meeting with the Lieutenant Governor when the incident took place. "The AAP is working for people's health and education and on the other hand, there is the Congress or the BJP who are working on throwing inks. They are not bothered about the people of Delhi. They want to stop the work on health and education. This is the cheap politics of Congress and the BJP," Sisodia told the media. "I challenge the BJP.they have MCD.they should go and clean that. They are not doing anything in the municipal and education sectors. The Congress has destroyed the education system. They are trying to divert by throwing ink," he added. Meanwhile, Shukla justified his act and said that he had come to the Lieutenant Governor to complain against Sisodia. "The people of Delhi are disturbed. They (AAP leaders) go abroad with our money and click photos on the sea beaches," he added. DCP (North) Madhur Verma said Shukla has been taken to the police station and he is being interrogated. "He (Brijesh Shukla) is saying that he is the founding member of Swaraj Janata Party. He said that he had come here to complain as he was not happy with the Delhi Government and that's why he did so (threw ink). He has been detained, taken to the police station and is being interrogated. If we get any complaint, we will take action accordingly," Verma added. Sisodia returned last night from his Finland tour, which became controversial after social media posts of his trip went viral following which he was summoned by the Lieutenant Governor. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court on Monday directed the state government to form a four-member team of doctors and experts to conduct the autopsy of Swathi murder case main accused Ramkumar, who allegedly committed suicide yesterday in Chennai's Puzhal jail. Ramkumar's cousin had approached the High Court to reconstitute the team of doctors to carry out the autopsy. According to reports, Kumar bit a live electric wire and died. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. Swathi was hacked to death, allegedly by Kumar, an engineering graduate, on June 24 while she was waiting to board a train at a platform of Nungambakkam suburban railway station to her work place on the city outskirts, an incident which was caught on CCTV. When police traced him days later and came to arrest him, he had allegedly attempted to commit suicide. Ramkumar was arrested in July by special team of police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a recent wave of violence, two Israeli police officers sustained injuries after being stabbed outside one of the gates of Jerusalem's old city. This is the sixth violent incident in four days. The latest incident on Monday came amid growing fears that a wave of attacks by Palestinians, which began last year but had largely subsided, appears to be escalating again, reports the CNN. During the attack, a 38-year-old female police officer was stabbed in the neck and seriously wounded while a 45-year-old male officer received a stab wound on his upper body. According to the police, the assailant followed the officers as they patrolled outside Herod's Gate into the Old City before stabbing them from behind. The male officer reportedly disarmed and shot the attacker, leaving him seriously injured. "What we know right now is that a terrorist stabbed two police officers in the backs while they were on patrol in the area," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. According to initial reports, the attacker in his 20s was a Palestinian resident of the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras Alamoud. According to Israeli authorities, four Palestinians were shot dead over the weekend during the assaults on Israelis. On Sunday, a Palestinian wounded an Israeli army officer after stabbing him in the chest outside a West Bank settlement before the soldiers shot and wounded the attacker. Since last September, Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis and two US citizens in stabbings, car rammings and shootings. About 214 Palestinians were killed during that same period. Palestinians have accused Israel of using excessive force or killing people, who were not assailants. Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The Palestinians say it is rooted in nearly 50 years of military occupation and dwindling hopes for independence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States has condemned the terrorist attack on the Indian Army base in Uri which killed 17 soldiers and said it is committed to support New Delhi in combating terrorism. In a statement, US Department Spokesperson John Kirby said, "the United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir during the early morning of September 18. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism." Yesterday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack. His spokesman said in a statement, "The Secretary-General condemns today's militant attack in Uri, India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. He expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and to the Government of India. He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice." 17 Indian Army soldiers were killed yesterday in an encounter with the terrorists at the Army Brigade headquarters in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. This is the highest casualty the army has suffered in a single attack in years. All four terrorists involved in the attack were killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attack on the Indian Army base in Uri which killed 17 soldiers yesterday. A statement from the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said, "The Secretary-General condemns today's militant attack in Uri, India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. He expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and to the Government of India. He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice." The statement said that the UN is closely following the developments in the case and shares the concerns of people living in the region for peace. "The Secretary-General hopes that all involved will prioritize the re-establishment of stability and prevent any further loss of life. He encourages all stakeholders to meet their respective responsibilities to maintain peace and stability," the statement added. 17 Indian Army soldiers were killed yesterday in an encounter with the terrorists at the Army Brigade headquarters in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. This is the highest casualty the army has suffered in a single attack in years. All four terrorists involved in the attack were killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The last rites of soldiers who died fighting terrorists during an attack on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir were performed on Monday. The last rites of Havildar Ravi Paul and Subedar Karnail Singh were performed today. The attack also claimed lives of Sepoy Javra Munda, who belonged to Khunti, while Sepoy Naiman Kujur was from Chainpur district of Jharkhand. Sepoy Rakesh Singh belonged to Kaimur, Naik S.K. Vidarthi was from Gaya, while Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh was from Bhojpur district of Bihar. Sepoy Rajesh Kumar Singh belonged to Jaunpur, Sepoy Harinder Yadav was from Ghazipur, Lance Naik R.K. Yadav belonged to Ballia, while Sepoy Ganesh Shankar was from Ghoorapalli district of Uttar Pradesh. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has lashed out at Pakistan branding it as a "terrorist state", adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. According to sources, India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) residence in the capital. In one of the worst attack in recent times, at least 18 soldiers lost their lives and 20 others got injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh yesterday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Investigation Agency (NIA) team is set to reach Srinagar today, in wake of the Uri terror attack that took place yesterday in Jammu and Kashmir in which 17 Indian Army soldiers were killed. NIA spokesperson told ANI that the next course of action by them would begin after direction from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is chairing a high-level review meeting in Delhi in wake of the terror attack. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh, Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Security Advisor Ajit Doval , DGMO Lt. General Ranbir Singh and other officials are present in the crucial meeting. Rajnath had yesterday as well held a high-level security meeting in the capital. He branded Pakistan as a 'terrorist state' and said he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. At least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 19 others injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. All four terrorists have been killed in what has emerged as worse than the attack on the Pathankot air base earlier in January this year, in which seven army men were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The sacrifices of true heroes, who shine like a star, are definitely cherished till the end of days. One can never forget the valor of the Uri bravehearts. Sunday's fresh terror attack is a huge setback for the families of these Uri bravehearts, but their spirit has not been deterred by such acts of cowardice. One such example is slain Indian Army Naik Sunil Kumar Vidharthi's daughter, Aarti Kumari, who despite having lost her father at this young age feels proud of his sacrifice for the nation. Vidarthi was a resident of Boknari village in Bihar's Gaya district. "I am proud of my father because he did not die but instead he sacrificed his life for the nation," Aarti told ANI. "The way the Pakistani militants are attacking the nation, we should also attack them in the same way. A befitting reply must be given to those who attack our security forces only then Pakistan will be able to understand our pain and suffering," she added. Vidharthi's father Mathura Prasad Yadav appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a befitting reply to those attacking the security forces. "We are sad that we have lost our son. But we want to ask the government for how long this will continue? How many soldiers will lose their lives?" he asked. Vidharthi, who joined the army in 1999, has left behind his wife and four children namely Aarti, Anshu, Anshika and Aryan. Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. five lakh to Vidharthi's family. Another Sepoy Javra Munda, a resident of Meral village in Jharkhand's Khunti district, was also one of the bravehearts who sacrificed his life. One of Javra's friends said that the Sepoy's only ambition was to serve the nation. "He was very hard working. He used to mingle with everyone and that too very easily. His only ambition was to serve the nation," he said. The family members of another Uri martyr Sepoy G. Dalai, who was a resident of Jamuna Balia village in West Bengal's Howrah district, also mourned the death of the brave soldier. "Why did they do so? God will teach them a lesson," said the sister-in law of Sepoy G. Dalai with tears in her eyes. "He called me on Thursday and said I will go from here.bombs are being thrown.they will kill us. Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son," said his mother. "He was only 22 years old. He was a junior officer, normally seniors are sent there. Why was my son sent there? The government should condemn this and ensure that strict punishment is given to those who killed my son," said his father. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saluted the sacrifice of the Uri bravehearts. "No words can take away the pain of the 17 families who lost their loved ones in #Uri. India's brave soldiers, salutes. Mortal remains of one brave jawan is being brought to Howrah," tweeted Banerjee. In one of the worst attacks in recent times, at least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others got injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district yesterday. Subedar Karnail Singh, Havildar Ravi Paul, Sepoy Rakesh Singh, Sepoy Javra Munda, Sepoy Naiman Kujur, Sepoy Uike Janrao, Havildar NS Rawat, Sepoy Ganesh Shankar, Naik SK Vidarthi, Sepoy Biswajit Ghorai, Lance Naik G Shankar, Sepoy G Dalai, Lance Naik RK Yadav, Harinder Yadav, Sepoy TS Somnath, Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh and Sepoy Rajesh Kumar Singh are the 17 soldiers, who sacrificed their lives for the nation. The army yesterday announced that the initial reports indicated that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaireda high-level meeting at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road here, in wake of the attack on an Army base camp in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district . Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials are present in the meeting. Rajnath held separate meeting earlier today with Parrikar, Dalbir Singh and other officials. Rajnath had in a strongly worded statement yesterday said Pakistan is a 'terrorist state' and should be isolated. Parrikar and Dalbir Singh visited Srinagar yesterday to take stock of the situation and review the overall security in Kashmir. They were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt. General D.S. Hooda and Lt. General Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the Uri attack and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. DGMO Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh yesterday announced that the initial reports indicated that the four terrorists killed in the attack belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad Tanzeem. 17 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others were injured post the terror strike on an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Baramulla district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Axis Bank fell 0.52% to Rs 598 at 09:44 IST on BSE after the bank signed a Share Purchase Agreement with IFCI for acquisition of 13.67% stake in Assets Care and Reconstruction Enterprise. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 September 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 6.01 points or 0.02% at 28,605.04 On BSE, so far 58,300 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 7.07 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 606.15 and a low of Rs 595.70 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 638 on 7 September 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 366.65 on 18 January 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 16 September 2016, rising 1.37% compared with 1.69% rise in the Sensex. The scrip, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 14.14% as against Sensex's 7.41% rise. The large-cap private sector bank has equity capital of Rs 477.89 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. Shares of IFCI were up 1.96% to Rs 28.60. Axis Bank said that it has signed a Share Purchase Agreement with IFCI for acquisition of 73.28 lakh equity shares (13.67% of total outstanding shares) of face value of Rs 10 per share in Assets Care and Reconstruction Enterprise (ACRE) from IFCI at Rs 31 per share, resulting in a total cash consideration of Rs 22.72 crore. The transaction is subject to requisite regulatory approvals, including from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Axis Bank said. The indicative time period for completion of transaction is January 2017, the bank said. ACRE had total assets of Rs 336 crore and total income of Rs 35.90 crore in the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016). ACRE was registered with RBI as a securitisation company. Separately, Axis Bank announced that the bank has kept its Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) unchanged after a latest review. The bank's MCLR for overnight loans will be 8.85%, the rate for one month will be 8.9% and for three months it will be 9.1%. The MCLR on 6-month loans will be 9.2% and for one-year loans the rate will be 9.25%, the bank said. MCLR on two-year loans will be 9.35% and for three-year loans the rate will be 9.4%. The rates are with effect from 17 September 2016. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 September 2016. Axis Bank's net profit fell 21.38% to Rs 1555.53 crore on 13.22% growth in total income to Rs 13852.18 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. Axis Bank is one of the biggest private sector banks in India. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At meeting held on 17 September 2016 Sat Industries announced that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company held on 17 September 2016, the Board of Directors of the Company has approved, and allotted 4,00,00,000 Warrants convertible in to equity shares at a consideration of Rs. 13.50 per warrants in accordancc with the Chapter VII of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Requirements) Regulation, 2009 as amended to promoter and others. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry wholeheartedly welcomes the new guidelines to regulate Indian direct selling companies, issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to safeguard the interests of consumers, as well as help protect ethical direct selling companies, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to our projections, the annual revenue size of the Direct Selling Industry is estimated to reach upto INR 15,000 crore by 2019-20 on account of conducive policy framework and regulatory clarity by the government, he said. The annual revenue size of the direct selling industry in 2014-15 was estimated at around Rs.7900 crore during the annual survey conducted by the PHD Research Bureau of PHD chamber The guidelines related to grievance redressal mechanism for consumers, remuneration system for the person engaged by direct selling firms and direct sellers mandatory compliance with some rules will safeguard the interests of consumers as well as companies alike, added Dr. Gupta. The guidelines will help to give boost to the industry which gives employment opportunities to large number of youth and women, contributes to skill development and women empowerment, gives push to MSME sector and has contributed to Government's ambitious 'Make in India' campaign by giving boost to manufacturing sector in India, he said. PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been conducting the Annual Survey of the Indian Direct Selling Industry for the last 5 years to study the growth dynamics of the Industry, he said. Going forward, we look forward to a clear set of standard central guidelines across the country in order to build an environment of confidence and to bring India's Direct Selling industry at par with global levels, said Dr. Mahesh Gupta. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reliance Communications gained 1.56% to Rs 48.95 at 14:25 IST on BSE on bargain hunting after the stock dropped 5.58% in prior two trading sessions. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 43.64 points, or 0.15%, to 28,642.67. On BSE, so far 10.12 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 28.71 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 49.20 and a low of Rs 48.40 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 91.80 on 1 January 2016. The stock hit a record low of Rs 45.55 on 24 June 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 16 September 2016, rising 0.52% compared with Sensex's 1.9% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 2.99% as against Sensex's 7.82% rise. The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 1244.49 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. From a close of Rs 51.05 on 14 September 2016, the stock dropped 5.58% in two sessions to settle at Rs 48.20 on 16 September 2016. Reliance Communications (RCom) announced after market hours on 14 September 2016 that the company and Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB), promoters of Aircel, a leading pan-India mobile operator signed definitive documents for the merger of their Indian wireless businesses-the largest-ever consolidation in the Indian telecom sector. The stock had dropped 2.45% to Rs 49.80 on 15 September 2016 following the announcement of merger. The RCom-Aircel combination will create a strong operator ranked amongst India's top 4 telecom companies by customer base and revenues, also ranking amongst the top 3 operators by revenues in 12 important circles. The merged company will be one of India's largest private sector companies, with an asset base of over Rs 65000 crore ($9.7 billion) and net worth of Rs 35000 crore ($5.2 billion). The combined entity will enjoy substantial benefits of scale driving significant revenue growth, and capex and opex synergies with an NPV of Rs 20000 crore ($3 billion). RCom and MCB will each hold a 50% stake in the merged entity with equal representation on the board of directors and all committees. The company will be managed by an independent professional team under the supervision of the board. RCom's overall debt will reduce by Rs 20000 crore ($3 billion) or over 40% of its total debt, and Aircel's debt will reduce by Rs 4000 crore ($600 million), upon completion of the transaction in 2017. RCom's consolidated net profit rose 5.9% to Rs 54 crore on 3.8% decline in net sales to Rs 5247 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours on 14 September 2016. RCom is an integrated telecommunications service provider. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre today urged the States to speed up the execution of Central Schemes to achieve the goal of developed India. Addressing an All India Conclave of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers at Guwahati, Assam, the Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water & Sanitation Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that development of India is intrinsically linked to development of villages. He lamented that despite 70 years of Independence, India is still lagging on several developmental parameters. Shri Tomar said that first time since Independence, the NDA Government led by Shri Narendra Modi has fixed the target years for completion of several major Central scemes, otherwise these were being executed in routine fashion. Giving the example of a housing programme called Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY) to be launched shortly, he said by 2019, one crore houses will be provided to the eligible beneficiaries after taking into consideration of SECC census, 2011 and 40 lakh incomplete houses will be completed under the old scheme of Indira Aawas Yojana. He added that by 2022, all the deprived sections of society will be given pucca houses under PMAY. Similarly, speaking on the issue of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Shri Tomar said that that between the year 2011-2014, only 73 Kilometers of rural roads were built daily , while between 2014 to 2016, it has increased to 100 kilometers per day and this year up to 140 kilometers of roads are being built each day. He said that 15 percent of rural roads built under PMGSY are using Green technologies like cold mix, fly ash, geo-textiles, plastic and other waste materials and urged the States to use this technology on a larger scale. He urged the States to complete the road projects in timely fashion to avail the Central funds and incentives as budget is no constraint for PMGSY. Shri Tomar said that apart from development of rural infrastructure, the programmes like Aajevika and skill development can transform the lives of rural poors, besides augmenting their income. He informed that there are 27 lakh Self Help Groups in the country with 3 crore women as members and they have availed about Rs 30,000 crore of bank loans to make local profitable products. Shri Tomar Said, about 15 crore family members are roughly covered under Aajevika Mission and he urged the State governments to help them find suitable markets to sell their products at profitable margins. Speaking on the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Minister urged the State Governments to undertake campaigns on a large scale for behavioral change. He said, the Swachh mission should not remain a government programme, rather it should become a people's movement. He informed that Sikkim is the first State which has become ODF( Open Defecation Free) and there are 19 Districts, 249 Blocks and more than 80,000 Villages which have become ODF. Shri Tomar reiterated that Shri Narendra Modi has set the target of making India clean by 2nd October, 2019, which is the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and added that though the target is very tough, but still achievable, provided there is strong will to achieve the same. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have cracked the case of a highway robbery by arresting three members of a gang here, and recovered the goods which were being sold by online e-commerce platform Amazon. The arrested accused have been identified as Deepak Pandey, 26, a resident of Israil Camp in Rangpuri Pahari; Monu Tomar, 26, a resident of Mahipalpur; and Anil alias Hattal, 19, also a resident of Rangpuri Pahari. The robbed consignment of Amazon and the vehicle used in the crime were recovered from them, the police said. According to police, the robbery was reported on September 10 by Vineet Dixit, a resident of Amar Colony area of west Delhi. In his complaint Dixit said that he runs a transport business and his two goods tempos were attached with Mahendra Logistics which transports the goods booked online and supplied by Amazon company. He also stated that his driver Ramdas had informed him by calling from a unknown number that his mini-tempo loaded with goods worth Rs 14 lakh was taken away from NH-8 near Raddison Hotel by six assailants. "The injured driver of the tempo was found from an isolated place in Rangpuri," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Nupur Prasad told reporters. "In his statement Ramdas said that his van was intercepted by a car and six persons of that van, blocked the tempo and then took it to a deserted place and they unloaded the goods in their van," the officer said. "The assailants then beat Ramdas and robbed him of his mobile phone and wallet and dumped him at unknown place behind Ghitorni forest area in south Delhi and fled," the officer added. "During interrogation, Tomar disclosed his involvement in the crime. He confessed that he along with his associates, Deepak Pandey, Shibbu, Sagar, Anil and Rohit committed the robbery," Prasad said. According to the police, Tomar was previously involved in a case of robbery and had been sentenced to jail in Baraut in Uttar Pradesh. The police also said that they are looking for his accomplices Rohit, Shibbu and Sagar who are missing and on the run. --IANS aks-sp/ask/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Any incident of terror taking place in Bangladesh has implications for India as well, says Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla. "Although there is not sufficient evidence of cross-border terror activity, consequential effect of a horrific incident taking place in Bangladesh can be on India as well, as we share a long land boundary with that country," Shringla told IANS during a visit here. He, however, expressed satisfaction that the Bangladesh authorities have now realised that terror activities could take a serious turn in their country, and they have met with some success in dealing with the recent acts of terror on their soil. The Indian envoy said, "Ever since the Bangladesh security forces have taken some pro-active steps, the situation in that country has improved a lot. Bangladesh has been mobilising the people of all sections to deal with the situation emerging from the recent terrorist attacks." Referring to the Home Minister-level meeting held in July in New Delhi, Shringla said that India and Bangladesh would fight terrorism jointly, as agreed upon during the meeting, also because it is in their interests. "The Home Ministers of India and Bangladesh, during their last meeting in New Delhi, decided to tackle terrorism jointly, in the common interest of the two neighbours," he added. The Indian diplomat maintained that if Bangladesh faces a threat, its potential impact on India can't be ruled out. "Bangladesh is very responsive to our security concerns. Both countries are helping each other in dealing with the threats and the situation currently prevailing there." Shringla, who joined as the High Commissioner in Bangladesh in January 2016, was in Tripura as part of his visit to the five Indian states along the Bangladesh border. He met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Chief Secretary Yashpal Singh and various other officials and dignitaries and discussed India-Bangladesh issues. "Bangladesh security forces' actions against the militants holed up in northeast India were instrumental in securing peace and stability in India's northeastern region. Most of the camps (on Bangladesh land) of militants active in the Northeast have been busted and their infrastructure demolished," he said, and added that the Bangladesh government has also handed over several militants and their leaders to the Indian authorities. The Indian High Commissioner also hailed the Bangladesh security forces for deft handling of the situation and nabbing terrorists after the deadliest terror attack in Dhaka on July 1 that killed 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, in the capital's diplomatic zone. "Bangladesh security forces were more or less successful in finding the blueprint of the recent terror activities in their country. We believe Bangladesh would be successful in containing terror activities and threats from that country," he added. "The Bangladesh government has involved people and all stakeholders, including Imams, to deal with terrorism and arrested many terrorists and their collaborators. In fact, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has personally interacted with the authorities and stakeholders in the 64 districts across the country to handle the situation," Shringla said. The District Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners of the border districts of India and Bangladesh are meeting regularly to ease out border-related issues of the two countries, according to him. "Both New Delhi and Dhaka have delegated various powers to district-level officials to handle issues that can be sorted out at their level." "India is fencing its borders with Bangladesh to check crimes, terrorists' movement, cross-border harmful activities and infiltrations. Over 75 per cent of 4,096-km India-Bangladesh borders have already been fenced and remaining portions are being fenced in a phased manner," the High Commissioner added. Talking about the attacks on minorities in that country, Shringla said that some isolated incidents of attacks did take place, but the Bangladesh Government has taken appropriate actions immediately and addressed the issues. "A number of perpetrators of attacks on minorities were either arrested or killed by the Bangladesh security forces," he added. Five states of India -- West Bengal (2,216km), Tripura (856km), Meghalaya (443km), Mizoram (318km) and Assam (263km) -- share longest 4,096-km border with Bangladesh. --IANS sc/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after a terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir in which 18 soldiers were killed, the Congress on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying if he is a strong Prime Minister he must show it now. The Congress's jibe came in the context of Modi in the past calling the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government weak, and accusing it of not acting tough against Pakistan. "Mr Prime Minister are you not weak? If you are strong, the country needs proof of it," Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari told mediapersons here. "If it is true that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is behind the attack, then it begs another question: Could Kandahar have been handled differently? Because it is after his release that Masood Azhar formed JeM," Tiwari said. JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar was released by India in return of the safety of around 200 passengers and crew of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 that was hijacked by terrorists in December 1999. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was in power at the Centre then. Tiwari also accused the Narendra Modi government of not having a clear policy towards Pakistan, and blowing hot and cold occasionally. "The Modi government should ask itself two questions. One, what do you want to do with Pakistan, and secondly, what can you do with Pakistan," Tiwari said. --IANS mak/lok/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Author and journalist Pinki Virani's recent book "Politics of the Womb: The Perils of IVF, Surrogacy and Modified Babies" grabbed headlines for its expose of the unscrupulous practices involved in the business of "baby-making". The book, dealing with commercial surrogacy, egg-trafficking and in-vitro fertilisation, published by Penguin Random House, assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016, approved by the cabinet in August. The Bill had sparked a controversy as it bans commercial surrogacy, permitting only altruistic surrogacy by close relatives, for childless couples. Virani, in an emailed interview, discusses the shortcomings of the Bill and the need for an unbending ART (Assisted Reproduction Technology) Act to rein in the infertility industry. Excerpts from an interview with IANS: Q: Is the new Surrogacy Bill (2016) needed? What are the inadequacies in the Bill in its current form? A: I have identified four areas of concern and sent to appropriate authorities a detailed note, which has been acknowledged. Broadly speaking, the altruistic surrogate needs more protection. The stipulation of "close relative" needs re-defining. There is not enough clarity on whose genes -- whose egg and sperm -- will result in that IVF-made embryo to be inserted into the surrogate. The Surrogacy Bill 2016 (after addressing these concerns) and answering requirements to protect the altruistic surrogate is "welcome". Q: The Health Ministry is going to release a draft ART Bill soon. Since IVF is a booming business in India, do you think the government can crack down on this influential lobby? What are your suggestions for the proposed ART Act? A: There is no point in any Act, no matter how precisely structured, if the government of the time does not act upon it. And with this lobby -- it will really need to walk the talk. The book has a detailed chapter on what must necessarily be part of such a law. Those points were sent to appropriate authorities when I was writing the book. Q: Have these suggestions been taken into account? What were some of the finer points in your suggestions? A: Talking from my experience, nothing is confirmed until Parliament passes any Bill to be an Act. Thereafter, there is the framing of rules and regulations around it. Broadly speaking, the book calls for an urgent end to all commercial third-party reproduction across the world. This means disallowing of oocyte-sales and sperm-sales. Almost all countries in the world -- which value women's rights and want to protect children as their future citizens -- do not allow commercial surrogacy. India is among the last to ban it. Q: The book reveals how a woman's body is abused due to heavy medication, the painful procedure of IVF and its failure rates. No one seems to be bothered about what happens to the woman herself, either during the process or after. A: She -- and the unborn -- are the reason "Politics of the Womb" is the first book of its kind in international publishing. It became very important, as the research progressed and the evidence mounted, that everything -- no matter how medically-obfuscating -- be seen from their point of view. Q: What made you write the book? A: I find myself still researching and if I continue, 2017 will make it a decade of research. In these weeks (post-Bill), there were two significant studies. One reaffirms the chapter in the book on babies being born through women made into "IVF packages" and put through no-medical-emergency caesarean operations. Such babies have a significantly higher risk of obesity and asthma. The other study has the lead scientist pointing out that the world knows more of what goes into jars of peanut butter than into "culture media" -- the manufactured liquids with which the in-vitro industry works to produce embryos. Q: You also raise a red flag on freezing eggs which some women are choosing in case there may be a late-marriage or as in pre-cancer treatment. Now that some corporates (Apple and Facebook) are also pushing it, what is the socio-economic impact? A: Corporates giving perks does not mean they can insist upon a woman employee to delay childbirth if she prefers to have her baby within the safe-age period -- 35 years. Her entitlement would be the same. Egg-freezing in itself is not easy, nor as effective, as it is cracked up to be by those offering freeze-thaw facilities at exorbitant rates. Women choosing to freeze their eggs may please keep in mind that there is a "hidden" cell-by-date. It is compulsorily needed to be followed by IVF, perhaps even aggressive-IVF (process), which comes with its own dangers of deformities and disorders. (Preetha Nair can be reached at preetha.n@ians.in) --IANS pn/in/ky/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China on Monday condemned the terror attack on the Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said it was concerned over the "rising temperatures" in its aftermath. Beijing also asked India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue. "China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding the Kashmir situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. "We want to express our deep sympathies and condolences to the affected families and the injured," Lu said, referring to the 18 soldiers killed in the Sunday morning terror attack near Uri town. "We hope relevant parties will have dialogue and consultation to resolve their differences and enhance counter terrorism cooperation. Only this way can they safeguard peace and security in their region," he said. Asked if the attack could affect the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistani Kashmir, Lu said: "The building of the corridor is to drive the development of the regional countries. "It needs the concerted efforts of all countries concerned to ensure the smooth running of this corridor." In his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of G20 this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue of terrorism emanating from Gilgit-Baltistan where the proposed corridor goes through. "At the same time I need to stress that recently in this region especially in Kashmir region, there has been some escalation of tensions," he said. --IANS gsh/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 21-member business delegation from China arrived here on a two-day visit to explore investment and business opportunities in West Bengal, said a minister on Monday. The delegation representing sectors like energy, manufacturing, mining, medical care, real estate and infrastructure consists of 21 entrepreneurs from 13 Chinese companies with an aggregate turnover of $10 billion, said Finance Minister Amit Mitra. Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao had met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2015 and promised to send a business delegation, Mitra said. "With a focus on investment, the delegation has come to explore business opportunities in West Bengal," said Mitra, who also holds the Excise, Commerce and Industries portfolio. "They will have discussions with West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) and also visit a manufacturing zone to have firsthand knowledge of investment opportunities in the state," he said. "Another delegation with representatives from Fortune 500 companies will also visit the state in October-November," he added. Worldwide Business Culture Exchange's Chairman Hua Bing Gao said: "We are interested in manufacturing, infrastructure, real estate and heavy machinery. The scenario of West Bengal is business-friendly and conducive for investment." Gao heads the delegation. The delegation will have meetings with Indian industrialists on Monday and visit Panagarh industrial park on Tuesday, Mitra said. "I hope they will take a firm decision on investments in the state. The Chinese are always quick to grab the opportunities," he said. A WBIDC official said the state has 6,000 acres of land in 23 industrial estates. --IANS bdc/in/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Dalit rights activist, Jignesh Mevani and 200 supporters, who were demonstrating outside the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, were detained on Monday. Two women members of the rights group, who are fighting for land allocation to Dalits, reportedly fainted and their health deteriorated during the detention. The Dalit activists were taken to Shahibaug Police Headquarters around 11.30 a.m. and Mevani alleged that no medical help was provided for several hours. The activists had been demanding land for Dalits in the Dholka region of Ahmedabad district, allotted to them under the Agricultural Land Ceiling (ALC) Act for many years. There are 331 allottees in Saroda village of Dholka under the ALC Act, most of whom are Dalits. When requests for medical help to the police reportedly failed Mevani posted his protest through his Facebook page. He asserted, "Gujarat Model: pathetic, obnoxious and disastrous. Even after an hour of fainting ... women are not being taken to hospital .... These women ...are bona fide owners ...We are all under detention and ready to face anything." He also added, "Ye andolan ab rukne wala nahi (this agitation won't stop now)...we want our land at any cost." Mevani said land allotment to Dalits in the region had remained on paper for years. He threatened the District Collector that if the allotment process was not initiated immediately, the activists would launch a 'rasta roko' (road block) agitation from the busy Income Tax Crossroads in Ahmedabad. Mevani was also rounded up hours before a public demonstration that he had announced in protest against the murder of a Muslim youth, Mohammed Ayyub, in the city allegedly by cow vigilantes last week. He had given a call for Dalit-Muslim unity and stated that just like the Muslims had supported the torture victims of Una, the Dalits would also back them. He had termed the killing of Ayyub on September 12 by cow vigilantes as Dadri-2 comparing it with the lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh on charges of cow slaughter earlier this year. --IANS desai/in/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence's (DRI) Delhi Zonal Unit has busted an around 7,000 kg gold smuggling racket and is probing the role of airline officials and others in it, an official statement said on Monday. The Delhi Zonal Unit has busted gold smuggling of around 7,000 kg valued at around Rs 2,000 crore carried over the past two and a half years, said a Finance Ministry statement, adding that the case case came to light when officers of the unit seized 10 kg of gold at the domestic cargo terminal of IGI airport here during the night of September 1. "The seized gold bars of 24 carat purity were admittedly smuggled into India through the Indo-Myanmar land borders and were brought to Delhi from Guwahati by a domestic flight. "Market value of the total seized goods is around Rs. 3.1 crore. Involvement of the employees of the airlines and others is being investigated by DRI," the statement added. According to the statement, the modus operandi entailed bringing the precious metal to Delhi from Guwahati on 617 occasions by declaring it as valuable cargo in domestic flights operated by a particular airline. This was done to avoid detection by Customs. Two of the accused, a Guwahati-based businessman and his Delhi-based aide, have been arrested by DRI in Delhi and sent to judicial custody. According to the Finance Ministry, intelligence reports reveal that huge quantities of gold bars of foreign origin are being smuggled from Myanmar through Indo-Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh in the state of Manipur and from the Zokhawthar area in Mizoram. "Intelligence indicates that activities relating to smuggling of gold bars are continuing unabated. Detection of smuggling of gold through Indo-Myanmar border is challenging due to the topography and porosity of the land border," the statement said. During the current financial year from April to July, 2016, the legal import of gold has drastically reduced to about 107 tons valued at Rs 24,000 crore, as compared to 274 tons, valued at Rs 60,700 crore, in the corresponding period in the last financial year. Total gold import in 2015-16 was about 855 metric tons, valued at about Rs 179,172 crore, the Finance Ministry said. --IANS vj/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Popular fantasy show "Game Of Thrones" and American series "The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story" won key honours at the 68th annual Emmy Primetime Awards on Sunday night. "Game Of Thrones" (GOT), an adaptation of "A Song of Ice and Fire", George R.R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, won three honours at the award including the Best Drama Series for the second year in a row, as listed at emmys.com official website. The other two awards for 'GOT' are Writing for a Drama Series and Directing for a Drama Series. "The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story", which is the dramatic retelling of the infamous O J Simpsons murder trial, was honoured for its writing and captured several acting awards including Actor in a Mini-Series or Movie, Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie, Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and Writing for a Mini-Series or Movie. "Veep" won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series and its lead actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus bagged the Best Actress in a Comedy Series. But the major surprises came for two first-time winners: "Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany" received the Emmy for outstanding actress in a drama, while "Mr. Robot" star Rami Malek was named best lead actor in a drama. Actress Courtney B Vance won the Best Actor in Limited Series or Movie while Sarah Paulson bagged won best actress. The best supporting actor honour went to Sterling K Brown at the gala night, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Rami Malek of "Mr Robot" and Tatiana Maslany of "Orphan Black" were named Best Actor and Best Actress in a Drama Series, respectively. The award gala also honoured Indian-origin actor-writer-director Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, who received the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy series honour for "Master of None." Ben Mendelsohn of "Bloodline" and Maggie Smith of "Downton Abbey" cornered the Best Supporting Actor and Actress award in the Best Drama Series at the award gala. While "Baskets" actor Louie Anderson and Kate McKinnon of "Saturday Night Live" won the Best Supporting Actor and Actress Award respectively. --IANS dc/nv/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least eight policemen were killed in airstrikes mistakenly by the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, an official said on Monday. Rahimullah Khan, commander of Reserve Battalion of Police in the province told Xinhua news agency: "The foreign forces aircraft targeted police checkpoints in Sagai area outside provincial capital Trinkot on Sunday night leaving eight police personnel dead." Just 800 metres away from the targeted police checkpoint were Taliban trenches but the aircraft pounded a police position, Khan added. The NATO-led Resolute Support mission was yet to make comment on the report. --IANS sm/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "MasterChef Australia" fame Gary Mehigan crafted an exclusive menu based on Seven Wonders of the World for The CEO Series Indian Edition 2016, a high profile lifestyle event that took place here on Sunday. The gala dinner was hosted for the top hundred CEOs of the country at the Hyatt Regency's The Mansion. Mehigan, along with Ivan Chieregatti, Executive Chef, Hyatt Regency Delhi, curated an exclusive seven-course menu on the theme of Seven Wonders of the World. The Australian celebrity was welcomed at the hotel in pure Indian traditional style with aarti, tikka and garlands. The venue witnessed the presence of top executives of multinationals, who were treated to a lavish menu ranging from rich soft textured salmon with flavours of ceviche from Peru, butter roasted cauliflower caramalized with spices from India, Brazilian Moqueca crustacean veloute, white chicken cooked in authentic Chinese sauces to Italian Concod'Oro'; Lemon curd and olive oil semi freddo, slow cooked lamb inspired from Middle East flavours and refreshing compressed watermelon from Jordon. Delighted to have Mehigan conceptualise "an innovative and scrumptious menu" for the guests, Aseem Kapoor, General Manager, Hyatt Regency, Delhi, said in a statement: "Such events enable social interactions outside of boardrooms and following our tradition we are dedicated to serving our guests at its best." --IANS rb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Automobile industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM) on Monday said that the Indian auto sector is committed to adhere to the BS (Bharat Stage) VI emission norms by 2020. According to SIAM, the auto industry has accepted the challenge in view of the rising concerns on vehicular pollution, especially in the metro centres. "India has been the fastest at adopting new safety and emission norms," Vinod Dasari, President of SIAM, was quoted in a statement. "This leap frog would make India the first country in the world to accomplish such an accelerated progression in vehicular emission norms." The statement pointed out that achieving BS VI target would entail a significant telescoping of long-term investments into a much shorter time frame of 3-4 years. It would also require deployment of a much larger technical resource drawn from world over to enable compression in the time taken for technical development, testing and validation of the vehicles in Indian conditions. Dasari hoped that the oil sector would fulfil its role by making the required fuel available on a country wide basis as per the new time line and have testing fuel available a year sooner. Dasari added that the industry is fully committed and ready for implementing BS IV across the country on 1st April 2017 and was now waiting for the fuel availability on a pan India basis. --IANS rv/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ali Fazal is enjoying shooting with Hollywood veteran Judi Dench for his Hollywood film "Victoria And Abdul". The actor says the Academy Award winning actress, whom he calls his "godmother", is "genuinely hilarious, sophisticated and a loving person" despite her fame and success. In the Hollywood project, Ali has reportedly taken on the role of Abdul Karim, the young servant from India who became an unlikely confidant and teacher to Queen Victoria (Dench). The movie is being directed by Stephen Frears, known for films "Philomena" and "The Queen". "Godmother and my new friend as I call her. Judi Dench, apart from the name and fame, is the most genuinely hilarious, sophisticated and loving person I have known. And I mean all of that together at once. That's something," Ali said in a statement. The film is based on Shrabani Basu's book "Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closet Confidant", telling the extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship in the later years of Queen Victoria's long rule. The actor, who featured in "Furious 7", is shooting for the film in London, and will be busy with it till November. The film will release on September 22, 2017. For Ali, each and every moment that he spends on the sets is precious to him. "Every single day of this film is X-rayed into my brain and archived. And yes I did get lucky, I have (Stephen) Frears and I am falling in love on the 70mm (and off it) with the most loved woman in Britain," he said. The actor added that he keeps on staring at Olivia Williams as he finds her "gorgeous and a wonderful actor". --IANS sug/rb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Valley on Monday remained shut for the 73rd consecutive day with authorities imposing curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar city, Pulwama and Baramulla districts to prevent separatist called protest rallies. On Sunday night, guerrillas snatched four weapons from the residential guards of a ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) district president in Anantnag. All educational institutions, main markets, public transport and other businesses have remained suspended. Eighty-nine people -- 86 civilians and three policemen -- have died since the ongoing unrest began on July 9. Over 11,500 people have also been injured in this period. Former state BJP President V. Muraleedharan, who has been seeking a probe into the sources of income of children of top state politicians, on Monday deposed before the Vigilance Bureau. The politicians whose children's incomes he has raised doubts about include Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and CPI-M Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. In a statement issued soon after he deposed, Muraleedharan said that since no one had raised the issue, he decided to write to the Vigilance Bureau headed by DGP Jacob Thomas that is tasked with investigating graft. "I deposed today before the Vigilance officials here at Kozhikode and was with them for 90 minutes. Among the demands that I have made is a probe into the dealings of the children of Balakrishnan, who run a chain of shops in the state; the source of funds as to how Vijayan's son studied at the Birmingham University at a cost of Rs 4.2 million; and two grandchildren of Achuthanandan studying medicine in the state after getting admission in the management quota. This admission must have been secured after paying hefty fees. One wishes to know the source of fund for this," said Muraleedharan. He also stated that he has brought to the attention of the Vigilance Bureau the purchase of a private hospital in the state capital by Congress legislator and former Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar. "I will continue my work and will approach the central agencies to bring it to their attention as well. I invite people to share with me any information they might have," said Muraleedharan. --IANS sg/nir/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are either over- or under-sensitive to sensory information. The severity of social difficulties experienced by them daily may increase according to their senstitiveness to touch, which may be more than their visual or auditory sensitivities, a study has found. The study showed that the sense of touch may play a more crucial role in individuals with ASD than previously assumed. For some with ASD, busy and crowded environments such as supermarkets are overwhelming, while others may be less sensitive to pain, or dislike being touched. They may have difficulties in determining which tactile sensations belong to the action of someone else, the study said. "The results can yield a novel and crucial link between sensory and social difficulties within the autism spectrum," said Eliane Deschrijver from Ghent University in Belgium. A normal human brain can detect very quickly when a touch is not their own. However, this process is different in the brain of adults with ASD. Their brain may signal to a much lesser extent, when an external touch sensation does not correspond to their own touch. Individuals who experienced stronger sensory difficulties showed a stronger disturbance in their brain. They were also the ones that experienced more severe social difficulties, the researchers said. "It is the first time that a relationship could be identified between the way individuals with ASD process tactile information in their brain, and their daily social difficulties," Deschrijver noted. "These findings can primarily lead to a better understanding of the complex disorder, and of associated difficulties," added Roeljan Wiersema, Professor at Ghent University in Belgium. In the study, the researchers investigated how the brain of individuals with and without ASD uses own touch to understand touch sensations in the actions of others. In a series of experiments with electro-encephalography (EEG), the scientists showed that the brain activity of adults with ASD differs from that of adults without ASD while processing touch. The findings were published online in the journal Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. --IANS rt/ask/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan is all geared to prominently raise the issue of alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President of 'Azad Kashmir' Masood Khan arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly session. While Sharif is to address the UNGA, focusing on Kashmir, Khan is to address a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Contact Group on Kashmir being held at the UN headquarters on Monday. Sharif is likely to devote a large part of his address to the UN General Assembly for "exposing Indian human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir", said Dawn. He will also urge the world body to intervene to enforce UN resolutions for a plebiscite in Kashmir. President of 'Azad Jammu and Kashmir', Khan said he would apprise OIC Contact Group that "Indian administered Kashmir is passing through one of its worst crisis in history" - referring to the unrest in Kashmir valley that has seen 90 people killed in clashes. Meanwhile, at the 17th Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit held in Margarita Island in Venezuela, Pakistan targetted India for "human rights violation" in Kashmir. Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, addressing the NAM summit said there can be no peace in South Asia unless the Kashmir issue is resolved according to the wishes of Kashmiri people. Highlighting Pakistan's campaign against and its "success" in tackling this menace, he mentioned that Pakistan is ready to share its counter experience with other NAM countries. On Sunday, a hotline was set up by Islamabad between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan, following the attack on an army base in Kashmir. The hotline was set up on India's request on Sunday, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), adding that the situation on the Line of Control (LoC) was discussed during the telephone conversation, Geo news reported. Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan has nothing to do with the Uri incident, adding that Pakistan only extended moral support to Kashmiris. Suspected fidayeen attacked an army camp in Uri near the border with Pakistan on Sunday, killing 17 soldiers and injuring 30 others. Four fidayeen -- suicide bombers -- were gunned down. --IANS ask-vishv/rn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal on Monday condemned the terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir that led to the deaths of 18 soldiers. In his message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said he was of the firm belief that the perpetrators behind this heinous act will be brought to justice at the earliest. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Prachanda reiterated the Nepal goverment's position of unequivocally condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and said that such acts must be firmly and resolutely dealt with. Prachanda also extended his heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families. --IANS giri/tsb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has cancelled his scheduled visit to the United Nations, in order to address the concerns of the Madhesis and Janjatis over the Constitution, a statement said on Monday. Prachanda and his Nepalese delegation were supposed to fly to New York on Monday to take part in the 71st session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He returned home on Sunday after completing his four-day state visit to India. The Prime Minister decided not to leave the country after voices were raised from several quarters that he needed to address the demands and grievances of Madhesi, Tharu, Janajatis, rather than undertake the foreign trip, said the Prime Minister's secretariat in a statement. In his absence, Nepal's Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat will lead the country at the UN. Domestic issues were more pressing than the UN visit so the Prime Minister decided to cancel the visit, said a Prachanda aide. It further stated that there were calls and it was high time to focus on implementation of the Constitution and carry out reconstruction work of the damaged structures, so the Prime Minister decided to remain in the country. Prachanda, who was elected Prime Minister in August, had prioritised the amendment of the one-year old Constitution to address the grievances and aspirations of agitating Madhesi based parties and other sections but little was done so far. Having back-to-back foreign visits at a time when the nation is in a crucial political transition seemed "not good", so the cancellation does have a meaning, said the aide. The other reason being the constraint on time as per commitment made to Madhesi and other communities to address their demands if he had left for the UN. Prachanda was scheduled to return on September 27 in the midst of festivities in . Big festivals are coming up so it would be inappropriate for him to seek time for deliberations on constitutional matters so before the festivals begin, the Prime Minister is planning to implement the constitution, said the aide. Suspicious backpacks containing explosive devices were found in New Jersey's Elizabeth city on Monday heightening security concerns raised by the weekend's Chelsea bombing that left 29 persons injured -- the New York police said they are looking for an Afghan national in this connection. New York was on high alert since a pressure cooker device explosion on Saturday rocked the Chelsea district of Manhattan and another similar device was found only four blocks away. Federal authorities have detained five persons with possible links to the blast though no one has been charged yet, CNN reported. The New York City Police Department on Monday released a photograph of Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old New Jersey resident, as the suspect in the Manhattan explosion incident. Rahami was described as a naturalised US citizen who was born in Afghanistan on January 23, 1988, Xinhua news agency reported. "I want to be very clear that this individual could be armed and dangerous," said Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York city. Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth in the state of New Jersey. Elsewhere, on Monday, a backpack found near a New Jersey railway station exploded even as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it, while authorities examined another suspicious package containing up to five devices, media reported. The second package was found in a wastebasket outside a pub and located about 500 feet from the train trestle in Elizabeth city, Mayor Chris Bollwage told CNN. Earlier on Saturday, there was an explosion at Seaside Park, New Jersey, which was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps charity run. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the bombs have similarities, suggesting "there might have been a common linkage". Cuomo said the investigation is ongoing, and "I wouldn't be surprised if it zeroes in on a particular individual, today even", and that he "wouldn't be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act". A mystery caller telephoned police hours after the bombs were found in Manhattan to warn that there would be more attacks, a local newspaper has reported. The blast is understood to have originated from a device placed in a pressure cooker outside the Associated Blind Housing facility at 135 West 23rd Street. A second device was found four blocks away on West 27th Street. New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blast in Chelsea was an "intentional act" but he insisted that there was no credible terrorist threat to the city and there was no link with the New Jersey explosion. The Joint Terrorism Task Force was called in to investigate the Chelsea blasts well as the New Jersey incident. Nine persons were also injured on Saturday night in a stabbing attack at a mall in the US state of Minnesota. --IANS sm/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A six-member NIA team is in Srinagar, waiting for the Union Home Ministry's orders to take over probe into the terror attack on the Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir that left 18 soldiers dead, official sources said on Monday. Informed sources said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, led by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officer, is waiting for a nod to visit the site of the terror attack in Uri, a part of Baramulla district, where a group of militants attacked the army camp in the early hours of Sunday. The sources said the DIG level officer reached Srinagar a few hours after the incident on Sunday and took stock of the situation from the agency's sub-division in Jammu. "The NIA team has still not been given orders from the Home Ministry to visit the site as it is a military camp," the sources clarified. Seventeen army soldiers were killed in the dastardly attack carried out allegedly by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants. Four militants were gunned down. The toll reached 18, after an injured soldier died on Monday. --IANS rak/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker and social activist Ashoke Pandit says Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's directorial "Pink" -- which questions the stereotypes attached to women -- is a "movement" that needs to be made tax-free at theatres. "No film has done what 'Pink' has done for the women of India. For this very reason, it needs to be tax-free," Pandit, who is also a member of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), tweeted on Monday. "'Pink' is not a film but a movement where men are made aware of their boundaries," he added. The gritty courtroom drama has been lauded by multiple critics as well as members of the film fraternity for subtly but effectively bringing forth the importance of understanding the choices young women of today make and about respecting those. The film features Big B as a lawyer, who fights a case of sexual assault involving three girls and a boy who belongs to an influential family. A strong message that the film gives out is that no matter how a woman dresses, what she does or what she thinks, when she says no to sexual advances, it is a definite no. Apart from Amitabh, the film also features Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Piyush Mishra and Dhritiman Chatterjee in key roles. --IANS dc/rb/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday chaired a high level meet to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Uri terror attack. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar, Chiefs of Intelligence Agencies, Director Generals of paramilitary forces and other senior officials of Home Ministry and Defence Ministry attended the meeting. Sources said that Doval and other top officials briefed the Home Minister on the ground situation in the border areas, especially in the valley that has witnessed continuous unrest since July 9. Sources said that Rajnath Singh is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprise him of the situation. Seventeen army soldiers were killed in the dastardly attack carried out allegedly by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants in an army camp at Uri, in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. Four terrorists were also gunned down. Rajnath Singh had on Sunday blamed Pakistan for the attack and said that Islamabad should be isolated. --IANS bns/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Russian Paralympic team has been illegally banned from participating in the 2016 Summer Games, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. The Para Games were held from September 7-18 in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, reports Tass. "The President is receiving today the Russian Paralympic team, they are our heroes," Peskov told journalists adding that the Russian Paralympians "were illegally banned from the Paralympics in Rio". According to President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, the fact of their suspension "does not change their status and their quality of absolute heroes, which they had proved on numerous occasions". The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on August 7 its decision to ban the membership of the Russian Paralympic Committee. IPC eventually decided to bar the whole Russian Paralympic team from taking part in the 2016 Summer Paralympics. The ruling came on the heels of a report delivered earlier in the summer by the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). --IANS sam/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea and the US are slated to conduct a joint aerial exercise in October that will focus on striking North Korea's nuclear facilities, military officials said on Monday. The simulated strikes will be carried out during the advanced Red Flag exercise to be held at Eielson air force base in Alaska from October 3-21, Yonhap News Agency reported. The move is aimed at improving the South Korean air forces' combat capabilities amid evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. "The drill will be held with the scenario of a sudden missile attack from North Korea. It is also designed to practise striking the North's nuclear and other core military facilities," a military official said. South Korea plans to send six F-15Ks and two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to Red Flag this year. "F-15Ks are expected to carry out a mission to strike the North's nuclear facility in Yeongbyeon, more than 100 km north of the country's capital city of Pyongyang, with GBU-31JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) guided bombs," he said. Earlier this month, North Korea said it "successfully" conducted a nuclear test -- its fifth and the "most powerful" test so far. Pyongyang has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches since top North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave an order on March 15 to test a nuclear warhead and ballistic rockets capable of carrying the warhead "in a short time". North Korea is banned by UN sanctions from any tests of nuclear or missile technology. Since their inception in 1975, the Red Flag exercises have served as the pinnacle of air-to-air combat training for airmen. The purpose is to give pilots from the US, Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and other allies an opportunity to practise and refine their skills for real combat situations. --IANS sm/ksk/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Superstar Salman Khan has been signed as the brand ambassador of Yellow Diamond, snack maker and the flagship brand of Prataap Snacks. He will be the face of the home-grown brand of potato chips, namkeen and snacks. Talking about his association with the brand, Salman said in a statement: "I met with the founders of Prataap Snacks and they shared their journey from small beginnings to becoming one of India's biggest snack food companies -- a Make in India journey. "Yellow Diamond snacks seeks to understand the Indian consumer and the Indian palate to help them take on the global giants. It is a pleasure and privilege to be associated with Prataap Snacks as the brand ambassador for Yellow Diamond." Arvind Mehta, Apoorva Kumat and Amit Kumat, founders of Prataap Snacks, said they are fans of the "Dabangg" star, and to have him as our brand ambassador is a "dream come true". They have described the actor as "the man for the classes and masses". --IANS nn/rb/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korean giant Samsung on Monday expanded its J-series portfolio by launching Galaxy J5 Prime and Galaxy J7 Prime smartphones that offer indigenously developed S-secure and S-power planning features. The features, developed in Samsung's India R&D centre, provide the devices better security and more battery power along with a host of other functionalities. The Galaxy J5 Prime is available for Rs 14,790 and Galaxy J7 Prime is priced at Rs 18,790. Galaxy J7 Prime has a 5.5-inch full HD display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass. It is packed with an octa-core processor, 3GB RAM and 16GB onboard memory (expandable up to 256GB). The dual-SIM device packs a 3,300 mAh battery and a separate memory card tray. It has a 13MP rear camera and 8MP front shooter. Meanwhile, Galaxy J5 Prime comes with a five-inch HD display, a quad core processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard memory (expandable up to 256GB). The device comes with a 2,400 mAh battery. It has a 13MP rear camera and 8MP front shooter. The devices are available in two colours -- black and gold. --IANS sku/gb/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to criminal-turned-politician on a plea challenging grant of bail to him in a murder case. The bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy also issued notice on a plea seeking stay of the Patna High Court order granting bail to Shahabuddin. While asking the Bihar government to serve notice on him, the bench directed the next hearing on the matter for the coming Monday, September 26. The court order came on a plea by Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were allegedly killed by a henchman of Shahabuddin, and the Bihar government challenging the High Court order granting bail. The Bihar government had also sought issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. A man threw ink on Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia outside Lt Governor Najeeb Jung's office on Monday in what the AAP alleged was a planned attack. Sisodia was speaking with journalists after meeting Jung when the man, identified as Brijesh Shukla, sneaked up and quickly threw the ink from a bottle he was holding. The ink scattered mostly on Sisodia's left arm and a part of his face, taking the Deputy Chief Minister by surprise. When reporters asked the attacker the reason for the ink attack, he responded: "People are dying in Delhi and you (Sisodia) prefer to go on a foreign (Finland) jaunt." Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, went to Finland to study the country's highly acclaimed educational system. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders expressed surprise that no policeman was present at the site at the time of the ink attack. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's media adviser Nagendar Sharma sought to know how the ink attacker knew that Sisodia would meet Jung. "Why anger is not directed at BJP's MCD? Why no ink is thrown at BJP's MCD mayors and councillors?" Sharma asked in a tweet. Later, in another tweet, Sharma said: "Ink attack against Sisodia was planned Sunday night. Messages were sent to media from mobile 98103 60022 in advance." Shukla was said to be a resident of Karawal Nagar in north-east Delhi. Sisodia said later that while his government was working on ways to improve the health and education sectors, the BJP and Congress continued to indulge in "cheap politics" with ink attacks. AAP leader Dilip Pandey blamed Jung for the incident. "Wah LG Sa'ab. You have already unleashed the ACB, CBI and police on us, now you have started getting ink thrown (on our leaders) through your goons," he tweeted. Another AAP leader, Kumar Vishwas, a long-time friend of Sisodia, remarked sarcastically that this was perhaps the "fake nationalists'" way of avenging the Sunday terror attack in Kashmir. Jung on Friday sent a fax to Sisodia in Finland and asked him to return immediately owing to the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in the capital, but the AAP leader returned only as scheduled on Sunday. Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra said the ink attacker, Shukla, had in 2003 contested assembly elections in Delhi as an independent and also had a criminal record. --IANS am/nir/mr/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Low-cost airline is increasing its flights from the city to many domestic destinations from October and also connect Kolkata to international destinations like Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh from December, a company official said on Monday. The airline, which achieved an average load-factor of 92 per cent in the last 14 months, is also exploring the possibility of launching flights from Kolkata to Yangon in Myanmar and Dubai and Sharjah in the Middle East. "We will start a significant number of flights from Kolkata. The company is poised to grow in a meaningful way. One of the first places we chose to start growing from was Kolkata because Bengal is moving forward vary rapidly," said airline's founder-Chairman Ajay Singh. "The airline will increase its network by 40 per cent from October, with flights from Kolkata to Silchar, Aizwal, Guwahati and Vizag. From December, the city will be connected to international destinations," he said. He said the airline is "exploring some other opportunities from Kolkata". "One of those connections will be Yangon. We will explore the route from Kolkata to the Middle East destinations like Dubai and Sharjah," Singh said. Appreciating the airline's decision to increase daily flights from the city, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "Kolkata is the gateway to the north-eastern states. The city is also a gateway to the Asean countries. You will get a ready market." Referring to newly built Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport at Andal, she said: "The airport is not getting flights. You can nurture and review the opportunities to start flights from there as it could cater to Durgapur, Asansol, Birbhum Bankura and Purulia districts. It could cater to Jharkhand as well." Banerjee urged the airline to start direct flights from Kolkata to European destinations. Sri Lanka on Monday strongly condemned the terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, offering condolences to the families of the victims. The foreign ministry said that Sri Lanka, as a country, that has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades, resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism, Xinhua news agency reported. "In the hour of grief, the government of Sri Lanka reiterates the urgent need for sustained regional and global cooperation to eliminate the menace of terrorism," the ministry said. At least 18 Indian army soldiers were killed in a 'fidayeen' attack on an army camp in town on Sunday morning. Despite heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack, the peace bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, known as 'Karvan-e-Aman', was operated on Monday. Escorted by heavy convoy of security forces, the scheduled run of the peace bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad was operated carrying members of the divided families between the two parts of divided Kashmir. The State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC)-owned bus headed for Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, was in fact the only civilian vehicle to be allowed to pass through Uri town after Sunday's terror strike in which 17 soldiers were killed and 30 others injured. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canada on Monday strongly condemned the terror attack at an Army camp in Uri town in Jammu and Kashmir and said it stands with India in the fight against terrorism. In a statement, Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said that his country was appalled by these attacks. "Canada strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp at Uri on September 18, which resulted in the death of 17 soldiers," Dutton said. "The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism," he added. Sunday's terror attack was one of the biggest targeting the Indian Army in recent years, resulting in the death of 17 soldiers and substantial damage to military property just a few kilometres from the Line of Control with Pakistan. Two braveheart soldiers from West Bengal were among the 17 army men killed in Uri terrorist attack in the early hours of Sunday. Sepoys Gangadhar Dolui from Howrah district and Biswajit Garai from South 24-Parganas district died when four heavily armed suicide militants attacked the army camp at the rear administrative base at Uri. Dolui hailed from Jamuna Balia village, while Garai was a resident of Ganga Sagar. The mortal remains of the martyrs are scheduled to be brought to Kolkata via Ranchi on Monday evening. Meanwhile, the sense of shock at the sudden death of the soldiers has given way to seething rage among the relatives and neighbours of Dolui. "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack at Uri. Indian government should take stern steps so that such incidents do not happen again," said Dolui's father. --IANS mgr/ssp/lok/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dubbing the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri town as the failure of the political leadership, the Congress on Monday said the Narendra Modi-led government's Pakistan policy was "confused". "Our soldiers were martyred because of political leadership failure. What is Modi sarkar's (government's) Pakistan policy? Why is India being repeatedly targeted," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala asked in a series of tweets. "Decision to invite ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) to investigate Pathankot terror attack manifested two glaring flaws in Modi government's Pakistan policy -- confused and confused," he said in another tweet. "India's borders and national security has been under siege for last two years. Defence Minister should be held accountable," Surjewala added. The Congress leader's remarks comes in the wake of Sunday's terror attack which was one of the biggest targeting the Indian Army in recent years that resulted in the death of 17 soldiers and caused substantial damage to military property just a few kilometres from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Taking a pot shot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Surjewala said: "In last two years, foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan has been used to promote Modi's image as a 'muscular' man. Uri attack explodes that myth." He also took a jibe at Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, saying: "Parrikar is busy threatening fellow Indians like Aamir Khan to being a 'Swayamsevak'. Then Uri attack happens. Warped priorities!" The Congress leader also lambasted Modi for sidelining External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and said: "Sushmaji is conspicuous by her absence on foreign policy. Isn't PM Modi singularly responsible for the complete disarray?" He also said that "Modi government should ask International community to impose sanctions against Pakistan. Test for all Nation's who oppose terror and stand with India". Targetting Prime Minister, Surjewala said: "Modiji counsels UPA (United Progressive Alliance) to not write 'love letters to Pakistan'. Post Udhampur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Pampore and Uri attacks, what is the Modi government doing?" He also accused the Prime Minister of destroying the strategic and diplomatic advantage over Pakistan and said: "Modi government has destroyed the entire matrix of our strategic and diplomatic advantage over Pakistan in two years. Hope Uri attack is a final wake up call." "Pakistan is a renegade pariah nation protecting global terror. How does PM Modi propose to 'punish' and protect India's interests," he wondered. "Will PM Modi concede that Uri attack happened on account of a massive intelligence failure? Despite Poonch incident, why were we unprepared," he asked in another tweet. "Will Modi government tell who leaked info of troop movement and change over? Why were jawans in tents and not in two empty buildings," he asked. "Will PM Modi show courage of conviction by acting against those responsible in his own command and control structure including his Defence Minister," he wondered. --IANS aks/ksk/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The killing of 17 soldiers by militants in Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi's reaction have taken Pakistan-India relations to an "unstable phase", a Pakistani daily said on Monday. The Dawn described as "a highly volatile environment" Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's branding of Pakistan as a "terrorist state" in the wake of the Friday attack on an army camp in Uri. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also declared that the masterminds of the attack would be punished. The Dawn said the deadly attack and the Indian authorities' accusations against Pakistan have taken "Pakistan-India relations into a dangerous and unstable new phase". The Indian military said the four gunmen who carried out the attack were "foreigners". With Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif set to address the UN General Assembly this week, the Uri attack could catapult the Kashmir dispute to the forefront of global issues to be discussed in New York, the Dawn said. "The war of words, at least from the Indian side, will not abate in the days ahead. "India's automatic blaming of Pakistan for major violence in that country is very much a part of the problem," the daily said. --IANS ruwa-mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 27 men of the US Special Operations Forces were removed from northern Syria as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) does not want American interference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. "The Free Syrian Army does not want interference from the US, because the behaviour of US officials heightened the problem to that level," the President said prior to his departure for New York for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, reports Xinhua news agency. Washington announced last Friday that the deployment of some three dozen Special Operations Forces troops in northern Syria to work with Turkish troops in fighting the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and its Special Operations Forces into the region on August 24 in a launch of what it called Operation Euphrates Shield to fight both the IS and Syrian Kurdish militants. The operation that offers support to the FSA on the ground is progressing well as of now, the President said. Erdogan said that an area of 5,000 sq km in northern Syria should be "appraised as security zone" so that more Syrian refugees could return to their towns without fear of terror. "Up to now 900 sq km of area have been cleared of terror elements as part of Turkey's operation," he said. "We are heading further south...more Syrians will return when the area is cleared of terror elements," he said. Turkey is sheltering some three million Syrian refugees on its soil. --IANS sm/ksk/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pompeii (Italy), Sep 19 (IANS/AKI) Police detained an American tourist on Monday who allegedly stole a marble fragment from the ancient Roman city of Pompeii near Naples in southern Italy. Security guards called police after they saw the 31-year-old tourist use his foot to dig out a chip of marble from the floor of Pompeii's House of the Small Fountain dating from the first century AD. The fragile 2,500-year-old ruins of Pompeii - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - are one of Italy's top tourist attractions and in 2015 received nearly three million visitors, according to the culture ministry. In May last year, the US returned to Italy three frescoes taken from Pompeii nearly 60 years ago as well as 22 other pieces of stolen art smuggled across the Atlantic. The 1st century BC frescoes depicting a woman with a red mantle, a male figure and a young woman with a cupid were due to be auctioned in New York after an American tycoon died, leaving his valuable private collection. The frescoes were stolen from Pompeii on 26 July, 1957 with three other frescoes that have already been recovered from Switzerland, Britain and the US, Italian police said. More recently, in September 2014, two American tourists were held at Rome's Fiumicino airport with a 30 kg artefact from Pompeii stashed in their luggage which they allegedly hoped to fly home with. The artefact, which would have adorned a building at Pompeii, was discovered in the tourists' luggage in their rental car. --IANS/AKI mr/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With the arrest of a youth, police claimed on Monday to have solved the mystery behind the brutal murder of a girl whose body was found on the city outskirts on Sunday. Cyberabad West police on Monday arrested the accused after scanning CCTV visuals, in which he was on a motorbike with the burka-clad girl riding pillion. Both the accused and the victim hailed from old city of Hyderabad. The victim was a ninth standard student and resident of Chandrayangutta, sources said. The accused is suspected to have sexually assaulted the girl before strangulating her. He had also smashed her face with a boulder. Her hands were found tied. Police were investigating if the accused acted alone or whether others were involved. The girl's body was found on Sunday evening near Gandipet lake under Narsingi police station, which falls under the limits of Cyberabad West police commissionerate. --IANS ms/in/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the 1980s and 1990s, Delhi University's (DU) North Campus was the place to be to attend college. Students from all over the country flocked to DU to study in its myriad colleges and even though the quality of teachers and teaching was not necessarily inspiring, DU itself was. You hung out with your friends, learnt from each other and cursed the classes together. There was a certain camaraderie that developed amongst us. We - I speak of my batch - went on to do well and several of my friends today have reached the top of their careers and businesses despite very little contribution from the colleges we studied at. It was a happy, easy and relatively carefree time. Although Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has managed to prevent his son Akhilesh Yadav and brother Shivpal Yadav from rocking the party's boat, it is clear that the storm has not blown over yet. The reinstatement of Shivpal Yadav as party chief has only raised the hackles of the supporters of his young chief minister son and made them take to the streets in droves. The Congress plans to make the most of the situation even as the BJP-led Centre hotly debated ways to respond to the Uri terror attack, in which 17 soldiers were killed. Putting to rest a month-long speculation, former West Bengal Pradesh Congress chief Manas Bhunia, finally joined the state's ruling party, the Trinamool Congress, after a prolonged scrimmage with the Congress leadership over his decision to continue as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman of the assembly which earned him the Congress' displeasure. The war within the first family of Uttar Pradesh, the Yadav clan, intensified on Monday with the newly appointed state Samajwadi Party (SP) President Shivpal Yadav expelling at least seven leaders of SP youth wings, including three legislators. Two policemen, including a sub-inspector, were injured when a mob attacked their team which went to stop illegal construction on government land in Jalalpur in City Kotwali police station area here. The incident took place last night when the police team, led by sub-inspector (SI) Rahul Kumar, went to the area to stop construction of a wall surrounding Chaura Mata temple blocking the entry passage to some households. A group of some 100 locals attacked the team, injuring two policemen, including the SI, Kotwali inspector Ajay Kumar Srivastav said. He said the police team had earlier in the day stopped the construction work but the residents tried to resume it late in the night. But the police team intervened again and stopped the work. Additional personnel were rushed to the spot and the mob was dispersed, he said. A case has been registered against 15 persons of whom two have been arrested, he said, adding that another case has been filed against 50 unnamed persons. Policemen and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed in the area to avoid any further flare-up, Srivastav said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman Israeli police officer was stabbed in her neck along with her male colleague today close to an 800-year-old Indian hospice, the sixth attack in four days in the holy city and its vicinity. The latest stabbing incident, which left the 20-year-old woman police officer critically injured, took place outside Herod's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. Her 45-year-old male officer sustained multiple stab wounds to the upper body, but was conscious, a relief worker said. The attacker, who came up from behind and stabbed the two police officers repeatedly, was shot at and injured. "A female officer was brought to the trauma center with a stab wound in neck. She was in serious condition, unconscious and on a respirator," a hospital spokesperson said. Over the weekend, there have been six attacks which include four stabbings, a car ramming and a rock throwing, catching Israelis by surprise as the violence seemed to have subsided after a series of stabbing attacks last year and early this year. The Indian hospice, a symbol of India's heritage and presence in Jerusalem dating back to some 800 years, is located right opposite to the Herod's gate where the incident took place. The hospice is a pilgrimage site for Indians visiting the holy land. Israel security forces are on heightened in light of a rise in violence against police officers, soldiers and civilians in recent days. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudhir Dhavalikar today claimed that around 20 current and former Goa legislators are keen to join the party and have approached them. "There are at least 20 current and former legislators who have approached us. They want to leave their current political affiliation and be with MGP," he told reporters here. Dhavilkar, the Goa Transport Minister, said MGP has kept its door open for anyone who wants to work for the state. Assembly polls in Goa are slated for next year. To a question, Dhavalikar claimed that Congress legislator Pandurang Madkaikar and Independent MLA Naresh Sawal are in-talks with the party to switch over the sides ahead of the state Assembly elections. "Madkaikar was in MGP earlier and had left the party to join Congress. We are ready accept him. Similarly, Sawal has ideology similar to us," he said. Dhavalikar said MGP is the only political party in the coastal state which had an representative in the Assembly since 1963 (when first Assembly was formed post-liberation from Portuguese rule). "All other parties arrived on Goa's political scene after 1980. That is why people identify themselves with MGP. People have seen how MGP governs. Goans want MGP," he said. In the 2012 Assembly polls, MGP, which had an alliance with the BJP, had bagged three seats. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 27 passengers were killed when a private bus fell into a roadside pond in Bihar's Madhubani district today. "A total of 27 persons were killed in the bus accident. All the bodies have been fished out from the pond," Madhubani District Magistrate Giriwar Dayal Singh said. Many of the passengers, who had boarded the bus, swam to safety or might have jumped out of the bus to save themselves, the DM said. The accident took place at Basaitha chowk under Bennipatti police station in Madhubani district, about 50 km from the district headquarters. The private bus, carrying about 65 passengers, was on its way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when the mishap took place on the state highway. The bus was pulled out of the pond with the help of a crane. In Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed deep sorrow and said in a statement that reason of the accident was being looked into. He instructed officials to speed up relief and rescue operation. Kumar instructed Revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and Panchayati Raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident spot. Superintendent of police Deepak Kumar Barnwal and other policemen, who received stiff resistance from the villagers who were angry over delay in reaching of crane and pelted stones at them, managed to reach the spot after additional force came in. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) has reached the mishap site. The CM issued instruction to provide assistance to the victims. Besides, Kumar also directed for payment of ex-gratia to the family members of those killed in the incident. Apart from DM and SP, Darbhanga Divisional Commissioner R K Khandelwal, Darbhanga Inspector General Umashankar Sudhanshu and other senior police and civil officials of Madhubani and Sitamarhi were camping at the spot along with Benipatti MLA Bhavna Jha. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Several AAP legislators today expressed "dissatisfaction" over the working of District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) in carrying out development works in their respective constituencies. During their meetings with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over Local Area Development (LAD) funds most of the legislators raised issue of DUDA delaying execution of civic works in their constituencies. During the four-day Assembly session last month also, several Aam Aadmi Party MLAs had alleged that execution of civic works in their areas was being "delayed" by DUDA and municipal corporations. The Deputy Chief Minister held district-wise meetings with MLAs over MLA LAD funds. "In meetings, most of the legislators raised issue of DUDA delaying execution of civic works in their constituencies. DUDA is not releasing funds on time under LAD fund due to which development works are being affected," an AAP MLA said. Legislators claimed that if it continues like this, it may "harm" the image of the party. DUDA was constituted last year in all 11 districts by the Delhi government for execution of development projects as well as maintenance of public assets. Each DUDA is headed by the district magistrate concerned. The purpose of constituting DUDA was to end the confusion arising due to multiple government agencies working in an area. After formation of DUDA, the government had said the agency would strengthen and augment infrastructure- roads, streets, local parks, street lights- in each of the Assembly constituencies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian chapter of the International Federation of Airlines Pilots Association (IFALPA) has opposed the demand of domestic carriers to extend mandatory notice period for pilots to one year from six months at present while urging the regulator not to give precedence to commercial interests over flight safety. In a letter to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India President Sam Thomas also demanded that the views of pilots, who are largest stakeholders in the aviation industry, should also be part of any deliberations for formulating various rules. "It may be recalled that various airline pilot unions had written to the DGCA earlier objecting to the civil aviation regulator for a six month notice period which was clearly unfair, unjust and devoid of rational thinking. The pilots being the largest stake holders are not being consulted on important rules like FDTL (Flight and Duty Time Limitations) and Notice periods. This is blatantly unfair and against all principles of natural justice," Thomas said in the letter. India is a member associate of IFALPA and claims representation of pilots from across airlines. The copy of the letter have also been marked to the prime minister's office and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. "It would be pertinent to note that all countries including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka follow this procedure which is a globally accepted norm," it said. With domestic airlines embarking on ambitious expansion plans, the demand for pilots and cabin crew across various levels is on the rise. Besides, according to a KPMG-Ficci survey, the aviation sector would need close to 9,000 pilots in the next two years. Currently, there are a little over 5,000 commercial pilots. Against this backdrop, various airlines, including IndiGo and Jet Airways under the banner of Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) are pitching for increasing the mandatory notice period for pilots to one year from six months. Reminding the regulator that despite several requests by pilot unions for inclusive discussions, it has been unilaterally forming rules and promulgating them, India said, "We once again request you through this letter to give flight safety the utmost priority and not commercial interest, while formulating rules for crew." Alleging that the pilots body has reason to believe that the airlines under the FIA have significantly influenced various DGCA decisions, the letter said, "The procedure of calling for public comments on the website is clearly an eyewash and done with an intent to show compliance of mandatory rules prior to their promulgation." Massive protests were held here today against the terrorist attack on an army base in North Kashmir's Uri town in which 18 soldiers were killed with protestors burning Pakistani flags and its effigies. College and university students, lawyers, political parties, traders and various other organisations took out separate protest rallies in solidarity with the army and against the Pakistan for "aiding and abetting terrorism". Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) activists took out a rally from the Press Club area of the city and held protest demonstrations amid anti-Pakistan slogans. They also burnt down the effigy of Pakistan and demanded the country should be declared as "terrorist state". "We demand that Pakistan should be declared as a terrorist state. Pakistan and its militants are attacking security forces and creating unrest in Kashmir. They are responsible for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir," JKNPP Chairman Harsh Dev Singh told reporters. Dubbing the neighbouring country as a "threat to the peace in South Asian region", JKNNP leader castigated Pakistan for pushing fidayeens' to carry out terror attacks on the security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, besides "endorsing support to secessionists in the Valley". Singh lambasted Pakistan for its "malicious and mischievous" designs in sponsoring militant attacks on defence installions in the state and abetting terror attacks across the country. Condemning the attack on the Army Brigade headquarters in Uri, he accused Pakistan for "pushing militants into our territory to vitiate peace and harmony in the state and the country". The JKNPP leader said Pakistan's "notoriety" had now assumed "alarming proportions" as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had on the eve of Eid announced "to continue its support to secessionists and other disruptive forces in Kashmir". Singh said the statement was followed by the most "cowardly and deadliest" terror attack on the Indian Army in last two decades and unveiled the "nefarious designs of the belligerent neighbour to destabilise India". He alleged Pakistan has not been "mending ways" despite repeated warnings at appropriate forums and held the "rogue country responsible for the ongoing mayhem in Kashmir which had left thousands of security personnel injured". Singh said it was high time that India should launch a "full throttle campaign" against Pakistan at international level for latter's interference in India's internal matters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Water Resources Ministry has convened a meeting with Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on September 21 to resolve various issues with regard to sharing of Krishna river water by the two states, an official note said here today. "Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the Chairperson of the Apex Council, will hold a meeting to discuss and resolve the issues on river Krishna in the wake of the order dated 20-07-2016 of Supreme Court ... On 21-09-2016," the note said. The meeting is expected to discuss issues such as working arrangement for sharing of Krishna water between the two states, transparent mechanism for measuring outflows and inflows at different locations and reservoirs and principles of sharing of Godavari water diverted to Krishna, among other matters, it said. Irrigation Ministers of both the states along with senior officials are also expected to participate in the meeting. On July 20, the SC had directed the Centre to set up an apex council to expeditiously settle all issues related to irrigation projects on Krishana river taken up by Telangana despite objections by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Advertising watchdog ASCI has pulled up several companies, including LG, Renault, Lenovo, Patanjali Ayurved and Godrej Consumer Products, for misleading advertisements in June. During the month, the Customer Complaints Council (CCC) of Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) upheld complaints against 98 misleading advertisements, which also included those of e-commerce firms ibibo, Paytm, Policybazaar, Naaptol Online Shopping and taxi aggregator Uber India. The regulator had received 159 complaints of misleading ads during the month, of which 25 were upheld in the healthcare category, 20 in education, 11 in food and beverages and 6 in the e-commerce sector. According to ASCI, claim by Renault India that its multi purpose vehicle Lodgy is the number one multi-purpose vehicle in India was found to be misleading after it failed to substantiate its claim. "The advertisement's claim as Renault Lodgy -- India's No. 1 MPV was not substantiated with market share sales data, and is misleading," ASCI said. Reacting to the ASCI order, Renault India said ASCI had approached the company two months ago and the advertisement at that point was based on the results published by a leading trade magazine. "Once this issue was brought to the notice of Renault, the company immediately changed the advert, which was in line with the standards set by ASCI. We would like to reiterate that we have no intention to mislead the public by our advertisement and the same was changed immediately," the company said in a statement. ASCI also pulled up Haridwar-based Patanjali for its two products -- Patanjali Juices and Patanjali Energy Bar -- as the ad regulator found that claims were "not substantiated" and "grossly misleading". It said that in the ad of Energy Bar, Patanjali had "unfairly denigrated the entire class/category of chocolates" and claimed that Patanjali fruit juices were cheaper with more fruit pulp. When contacted, a Patanjali spokesman said: "We have already challenged ASCI's power in this regard. The matter is now before the Bombay High Court." For May, ASCI had upheld 10 complaints against yoga guru Baba Ramdev-promoted Patanjali Ayurved for products such as Jeera Biscuit, Kacchi Ghani mustard oil, Kesh Kanti and Dant Kanti, among others. FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd also failed to substantiate its claim of three times longer stay for its Cinthol Deo Stick. "The advertisement's claim "3X longer" is not substantiated and is misleading by ambiguity and exaggeration as the advertisement indicates the product to be 3X better than all deodorants while it has been tested against only two marketed products," said ASCI. ASCI also held Taxi aggregator Uber's claim of Rs 10 rate as misleading for the consumers. "The claim offer, Uber Moto-flat rate of Rs 10, was misleading by omission of the validity period," it reasoned. Consumer electronics maker LG also failed to back up its claims of its smart inverter refrigerator. "The claims in the advertisement, New Smart Inverter Compressor, Saves up to 48 per cent energy, Dual fridge, 100 per cent faster conversion from freezer to fridge, Auto smart connect and Consumes power less than 2 CFL bulbs, were not substantiated with technical data and are misleading by ambiguity," ASCI said. Comments from LG, GCPL and Uber could not be obtained as e-mailed queries went unanswered. Similarly, the watchdog slammed online hotel aggregator goibibo for its refer-and-earn scheme. "The claim offer, Refer friends to download app and get free hotel night stay for 1st referral plus 1,000 goCash, is misleading by ambiguity and implication as in reality, the advertiser is only giving a Rs 1,000 discount for that one night stay," it added. Chinese technology major Lenovo was also pulled up over its claims of its android smartphone Lenovo Vibe P1M for being being water-resistant and other features. "The advertisement's claims, Water-resistant build... protection against sudden drizzle and accidental spills were not substantiated adequately and are misleading in absence of a qualifier," the ad regulator said. Kick-starting the process of holding Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur early next year, the "full" Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, will visit Lucknow on Monday next and Imphal from tomorrow. An EC spokesperson said here that the EC team comprising the CEC and fellow Election Commissioners A K Joti and O P Rawat, will visit Lucknow on September 26 and 27. "During their stay at Lucknow for two days, the Commission would review poll preparedness of Assembly elections in the state. "They would meet state police and administration officers and district magistrates as also representatives of political parties before coming back to Delhi on September 27 evening," the Commission said. The term of the 403-member UP Assembly ends on May 27, 2017. Under the Representation of the People Act, EC is free to hold polls six months prior to the expiry of the term of the Assembly. The Commission will be in Manipur tomorrow. During their stay at Imphal for two days, the Commission would review poll preparedness and meet state police and administration officials. They would also interact with representatives of political parties before coming back to Delhi on September 21 evening. The term of the 60-member Manipur Assembly comes to an end on March 18. The term of the Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand Assemblies also come to an end in March next. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least four passengers were killed and over a dozen others feared dead when a bus fell into a roadside pond in Bihar's Madhubani district today. The accident took place at Basaitha chowk under Bennipatti police station in Madhubani, about 50 km from the district headquarters. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Benipatti Nirmala Kumari said four bodies have been fished out so far and search is on for others. About 65 passengers were on board the bus. Some of them swam to safety while over a dozen are feared to have been killed. The private bus was on way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when the mishap took place on state highway. Villagers angry over delay in reaching of crane pelted stones on police team on way to the accident spot. The SP and other policemen are stranded at the accident site and waiting for police reinforcement to reach the spot. Meanwhile, in Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed deep sorrow over death of passengers in the bus mishap at Madhubani. The CM said in a statement that reason of the accident was being looked into. He instructed officials to speed up relief and rescue operation. Kumar instructed Revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and Panchayati Raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident spot. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) has reached the mishap site. The CM issued instruction to provide all possible assistance to victims of the bus tragedy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australia today returned to India three sculptures, including a third century rock carving, which were stolen and smuggled out of the country. Arts Minister Mitch Fifield handed over artefacts -- Seated Buddha, a 900-year-old stone statue of Goddess Pratyangira and a third century rock carving of Worshippers of Buddha -- to Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at Canberra-based prestigious National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Receiving the artefacts, Sharma said that the gesture of returning art pieces has taken the relationship to a new level as the artworks carried an emotional value for India. "Our sincere thanks to government of Australia and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister Fifield and the National Gallery of Australia for the gesture of returning these three antiquities, which will carry a big message of the relations between two countries," Sharma said, adding that the artworks will now be placed in National Museum in India. The NGA had bought the artefacts allegedly from disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor in 2005. Kapoor is currently lodged in Trichy Central Prison. "This is the ethical demonstration of NGA...This process in which Indian and Australian governments are working together is a testimony of quality and health of the bilateral relations," Fifield said, adding there were at least seven more objects in questions which the NGA is currently probing. The ceremony was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri. The ceremony took place in the gallery which houses almost 5,000 pieces of Asian art. Last year, the NGA research team examined new photographic evidence from the French Institute of Pondicherry that indicated a sculpture of Goddess Pratyangira which was bought for USD 247,500 was in India in 1974. This contradicts the dealer-supplied provenance, suggesting the NGA was supplied with false documentation and it was likely to have been illegally exported from India. It is believed that the work has now been reported missing to the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police, NGA said. The Buddha carving was bought for USD 595,000 and the NGA was provided with and had verified new photographic evidence that indicates the sculpture was in India as late as 1990s. "This new evidence means the NGA cannot legally or ethically retain these works, and returning them to India is unquestionably the right thing to do," NGA Director Gerard Vaughan said. In 2014, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi two antique statues of Hindu deities which were stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu before being bought by art galleries in Australia. In June this year, the US had returned over 200 cultural artefacts estimated at USD 100 million to India. Meanwhile, Sharma also met Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Keith Pitt MP and discussed various bilateral issues of mutual interest. Sharma, who is on an official visit to Australia from September 18 to September 20, yesterday attended an event in connection with 'Confluence-the Festival of India' at the iconic Sydney Opera House. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australia's prestigious art gallery today returned to India two sculptures, including a third century rock carving, worth USD 840,000 bought from an illegal Indian art dealer in 2005. Australian Arts Minister Mitch Fifield handed over a 900-year-old stone statue of Goddess Pratyangira and a third century rock carving of worshippers of the Buddha to Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at Canberra-based National Gallery of Australia (NGA). The ceremony was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri. The ceremony took place in the gallery which houses almost 5,000 pieces of Asian art. The NGA had bought the two pieces from disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor in 2005. Kapoor is currently lodged in Trichy Central Prison. Last year, the NGA research team examined new photographic evidence from the French Institute of Pondicherry that indicated a sculpture of Goddess Pratyangira which was bought for USD 247,500 was in India in 1974. This contradicts the dealer-supplied provenance, suggesting the NGA was supplied with false documentation and it was likely to have been illegally exported from India. It is believed that the work has now been reported missing to the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police, NGA said. The Buddha carving was bought for USD 595,000 and the NGA was provided with and had verified new photographic evidence that indicates the sculpture was in India as late as the 1990s. "This new evidence means the NGA cannot legally or ethically retain these works, and returning them to India is unquestionably the right thing to do," Gerard Vaughan, NGA Director said, adding "We have been working closely with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian High Commissioner in Australia to find the best outcome". Sharma said that the gesture of returning art pieces has taken the relationship to a new level as the artworks carried an emotional value for India. Sharma will be taking another piece of artwork called 'seated Buddha." He thanked the Australian government for the gesture and lauded the role of Suri on working towards building the bilateral relation. Sharma said the artworks will now be placed in National Museum in India. The Australian minister said that the important decision to remove the artworks from the gallery was taken after the findings of the NGA. Fifield said there were at least seven more objects in questions which the NGA is currently investigating. In 2014, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi two antique statues of Hindu deities which were stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu before being bought by art galleries in Australia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Australian-led consortium with Chinese investment won a 50-year-lease Monday on the nation's biggest container and cargo port for 9.7 billion dollars (USD 7.3 billion), the latest maritime asset to be privatised. The Port of Melbourne, which deals with more than 3,000 ships annually, was snapped up by a consortium including Australia's second-largest wholesale funds manager the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) and multinational firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The Australian newspaper reported that GIP was acting partly on behalf of China's sovereign wealth fund CIC Capital, which it said had effectively secured 20 percent of the port. A source close to the consortium confirmed to AFP that CIC Capital was represented by GIP but would not reveal the size of its investment. The decision comes just months after the government introduced tougher rules for the sale of major Australian state-owned infrastructure to private foreign investors following concerns over a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin to China's Landbridge Group. The new rules, introduced in March this year, state that sales of crucial infrastructure to private foreign investors must be subject to a formal review by Australia's foreign investment advisory body. China was also part of an Australian-led consortium that secured an 98-year lease in 2014 for the world's biggest coal export port in Newcastle. That deal followed the long-term lease of Sydney's Port Botany and Port Kembla further south as a growing number of major Australian ports are privatised. "The Port of Melbourne is core infrastructure -- it is a critical and strategic piece of the Victorian and Australian logistics supply chain," said QIC Global Infrastructure chief Ross Israel. "Our consortium has developed a long-term vision and business plan. Leveraging our global port and regulated asset experience, QIC is focused on delivering long-term stewardship and improvements to the port and for its users." The price tag was well above expectations, with the Victorian state government initially seeking Aus$6 billion for one of Australasia's largest maritime hubs for containerised, automotive and general cargo. "The lease, worth in excess of USD 9.7 billion, reflects strong bidder interest and the port's value, as the biggest container and cargo port in the country," the state government said. Another consortium including Australian fund manager IFM Investors and Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management was also in the running. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish schools reopened today for the first time since July's attempted coup, following a summer which saw tens of thousands of teachers sacked or suspended over alleged links to the plotters or to Kurdish rebels. As more than 18 million children began the new term after the summer break, Huseyin Ozev, president of the Istanbul teachers' union, told AFP there were fears the academic year would begin with "chaos" because of huge staff shortages. After a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara embarked on a massive crackdown, dismissing and detaining tens of thousands within the judiciary, the police and the education system over alleged links to the putschists. Students arriving at school today were handed pamphlets from the education ministry commemorating "the triumph of democracy on July 15 and in memory of the martyrs" as well as their usual school books. Pupils were being shown two videos about the coup, the ministry said, including footage of Erdogan reading the national anthem alongside images from the night of the coup showing tanks and war planes firing in the capital Ankara. One video shows the moment when people took to the streets in their thousands in Istanbul and Ankara to counter the coup attempt, which claimed nearly 270 lives, among them 24 putschists. In schoolyards, students observed a minute of silence for the victims and a prayer was said. Authorities have blamed the coup attempt on Erdogan's arch-enemy, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, and followers of his moderate Islamic "Hizmet" (Service) movement which encourages its members to work in the public sector. Gulen, who lives in self-exile in the United States, strongly denies any involvement in the coup, and the mass crackdown on his alleged supporters has sparked alarm among Turkey's Western allies. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned teachers not to "tolerate" those working for Gulen -- whose movement it refers to as the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) -- or the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "Dear teachers, never tolerate among your colleagues those who serve FETO or the separatists," Yildirim said in a televised speech during a visit to a school in the eastern province of Erzincan. Union chief Ozev warned that children's education could suffer if inexperienced teachers were called in to fill the staffing shortages after the crackdown. Speaking to AFP, he said the school year was likely to be characterised by "general chaos" due to the fact "there are 40,000 to 50,000 vacancies and no preparation on the side of the ministry of education". Cigdem, a teacher in Istanbul, attacked the sackings and suspensions as opportunism as she defended her colleagues. "We won't them let do that, we will not let down our schools. We are not coup-mongers or terrorists, we are teachers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Britain said today that it took part in US-led air strikes on Syria that sparked a major US-Russia row threatening a fragile ceasefire in the war-torn country. "We can confirm that the UK participated in the coalition air strike south of Deir Ezzor on Saturday, and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation," a defence ministry spokesman said. "The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units," the spokesman said. Russia said the strikes killed 62 Syrian soldiers and injured around a hundred others, accusing the US of undermining a ceasefire deal struck in Geneva a week ago. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the number of regime troops killed was at least 90. Washington said coalition forces believed they were hitting a fighting position held by the Islamic State jihadist group but has also said it will investigate the incident. Britain's Press Association agency reported that an unmanned Reaper drone may have been involved. Australia earlier said it was one of several coalition countries whose aircraft took part and offered its "condolences to the families of any Syrian personnel killed or wounded". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian-origin British MP Shailesh Vara has been appointed co-chairman of the Conservative Friends of India group that aims to build better links between the diaspora and the party. The 56-year-old Gujarati-origin MP joins co-chair Indian- origin businessman Ranjit Singh Baxi in the group, which is affiliated to the UK's ruling Conservative Party. "The relationship between the Conservative Party and the Indian diaspora continues to grow closer by the day and I look forward to furthering that aim," Vara said today. "There is much work to be done, both in terms of deepening the Conservative Party's relationship with the British Indian diaspora and strengthening our very close links with India," he said. Vara's appointment follows the recent ministerial reshuffle under British Prime Minister Theresa May, when Indian-origin MP Alok Sharma, who had been the Conservative Friends of India (CF-India) co-chairman, was made Minister for Asia at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Sharma is now working with UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson to build links with India following Brexit, CF-India said in a statement. "We have an exciting programme of events and activity planned for the coming year and we can do nothing but accelerate with the sound advice and ideas of one of the most senior Indian-origin politicians in the UK," said Baxi. "Shailesh is someone who will give time and effort to whatever task is in hand and we are looking forward to working with him," he added. Under former Prime Minister David Cameron, Vara had served as a justice minister and minister in the UK's Department for Work and Pensions. In 2014, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Indian government in recognition of his work in promoting closer ties between the UK and India. Patrick McLoughlin, Conservative Party chairman, said: "I am pleased that Shailesh Vara has been appointed Co-Chairman of CF India. He is a very able and versatile politician who has held a variety of government roles in the past and will bring to CF India a wealth of experience. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey today disqualified Swami Prasad Maurya, a rebel BSP leader who later defected to BJP, from the membership of the House. An official release issued here said the Speaker has accepted a petition by BSP Legislature Party Leader Gaya Charan Dinkar in this regard and Maurya ceases to be member of the House with effect from June 22. Dinakar had moved a petition citing the announcement made by Maurya at a press conference on June 22 and subsequent actions to prove that Maurya had on his own quit the party on whose ticket he had been elected. Citing various rules, the BSP said Maurya is no longer qualified to be a member of the party as he quit it on his will and so he should be disqualified from the state Assembly and facilities and emoluments he enjoys as an MLA be withdrawn with effect from from June 22. Maurya, who had quit the party saying he felt "suffocated" and accusing BSP chief Mayawati of "auctioning" tickets for 2017 Assembly polls, subsequently joined BJP. According to Vidhan Sabha officials, Maurya, who was Leader of Opposition before he left BSP, was given two opportunities to present his case but he failed to turn up before the Speaker on both the occasions, giving various reasons. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Demanding concrete and decisive action following the Uri terror attack, VHP chief Pravin Togadia today said the bodies of terrorists should not be buried but burnt on a heap of garbage in public view. He also sought that dialogue with Pakistan at all levels should be called off while trade agreements, including water treaty should be cancelled. "They (Jihadis) should not be buried after their death but should be burnt on the heap of garbage in proper security and in public view, so that there is no hope for them to reach paradise as they are being preached," Vishwa Hindu Parishad President said in a statement. Saluting the brave soldiers who have been sacrificing their lives for India, Togdia said Pakistan is behind all such Jihadi attacks, whether on the security forces or on civilians. Therefore, the government must stop dialogue with Pakistan at all levels, cancel all trade agreements and suspend water treaty by stopping the water, he said. Togadia added that the VHP is confident that the Union government is serious about punishing Pakistan and all those perpetrators, supporters of Jihadi terror. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hours after the Cauvery Supervisory Committee ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water per day to Tamil Nadu, farmers in the state expressed disappointment over the "insufficient" quantum, even as political parties flayed it on similar grounds. President of the Tamil Nadu All Farmers' Federations, P R Pandian, said the order was "disappointing." "The quantum of water that has been ordered for release will not at all be sufficient even for preparatory works for Samba crop," he told PTI. He said the methodology adopted by the Committee in arriving at the quantum of water to be released is "not correct." Urging the Committee to go for a "field assessment in both the states," he said only then would the authorities be able to gauge the situation of farmers in Tamil Nadu. After carrying out such an exercise, he said the Committee should pass an order to fulfil the needs of farmers. Overruling differences between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee had earlier in the day ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water per day to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and September 30. Referring to the order, PMK chief Ramadoss said,"this is injustice for Tamil Nadu in the name of justice," adding the order will be of "no use" to Tamil Nadu farmers. He said the supply of 3000 cusecs of water for 10 days will be only around 2.60 TMC feet and "it will not suffice even the water needs of farmers for two days." As 64.70 TMC feet of water inflow to Tamil Nadu remained pending from Karnataka as on September 5 as per the Final Award of the Cauvery Tribunal, Tamil Nadu approached the Committee seeking a directive for the release of such deficit water, he said. He urged the Centre to immediately constitute a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Regulatory Authority. Two days ago, Leader of Opposition and DMK treasurer M K Stalin had said that the MPs of AIADMK should resign if the CMB and CRA were not set up. Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar) chief G K Vasan said though the quantum of water that the Committee has ordered is "not sufficient, Karnataka should implement it in toto considering the welfare of Cauvery Delta farmers." He said Karnataka should implement orders on release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and protect India's unity and foster good relationship between the two states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CBI today moved the Calcutta High Court praying for early hearing of its petition seeking cancellation of bail to senior Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra, who was in CBI custody for over 21 months for alleged complicity in the multi-crore Saradha scam. CBI counsel K Raghava Charyulu moved a division bench comprising Chief Justice G C Gupta and Justice A Banerjee seeking early hearing of the petition for cancellation of the former West Bengal Transport minister's bail, which was granted by a sessions court on September 9, on the grounds that the matter is urgent. CBI claimed that Mitra was an influential person and that his remaining free on bail could influence witnesses. The chief justice directed the CBI counsel to file an application in this regard, following which he filed a written plea seeking early hearing of the petition. Earlier in the day, CBI moved the court of Justice Ashim Kumar Roy, before whose bench the matter was listed for hearing. However, the division bench presided by Justice Roy declined to give the matter priority on the grounds that a large number of petitions were already pending before it and that it would be unfair to bypass those. CBI then moved the court of the chief justice seeking early hearing of its petition. The Alipore Sessions Court had granted bail to Mitra on a bail bond and surety of Rs 15 lakh each, rejecting CBI's opposition. The former minister has been charged under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Mitra, who was arrested on December 12, 2014 for his alleged complicity in the Saradha scam, had earlier been granted bail by the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) of Alipore Sessions Court on October 31, 2015 after several of his bail pleas were rejected by different courts. But the breather had turned out to be brief as the Calcutta High Court cancelled his bail on November 19, 2015 on a petition by the investigating agency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CCTVs will be set up to step up surveillance as part of measures to check crime at the district headquarters town of Koraput in Odisha. The administration will install the cameras at six locations - regional transport office Chhaka, Gundicha Mandir junction, Traffic chhaka, SP office chhacka, Municipality office junction and bus stand - with work slated to start from next week. "This will take the police-public relations to new heights and will be helpful in curbing crime," Koraptu Collector Jaya Kumar V said. In the first phase, 14 CCTV cameras will be installed in major parts of the town in the project that will be funded by the Koraput Regional Improvement Trust (KRIT). In the second phase, more CCTV cameras would come up in other parts of the town, said V Satya Narayan, Secretary of KRIT who further added the integrated security surveillance system will cost around Rs 6 lakh. The CCTV cameras will be installed through Wi-Fi technology and a control room will be set up at the Koraput town police station from where officials would monitor areas under CCTV surveillance, he said. Police are hoping that the hi-tech cameras would bring down the crime rate, particularly snatching, motorcyle theft and rash driving, as the technology would cut response time. Once impletmented, Koraput will become the second hi-tech surveillance town of the district after Jeypore, where as many as 14 CCTV cameras have already been installed few months back. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China is "disappointed to the point of despair" with Japan's conduct in the South China Sea, it said today, after Tokyo announced it may set up training patrols with the US in the contested region. China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital waters in the face of rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly turned reefs in the area into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. In a speech last week Japanese defence minister Tomomi Inada called China's actions a "deliberate attempt to unilaterally change the status quo, achieve a fait accompli, and undermine the prevailing norms", according to a transcript released by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Inada said Japan would increase its engagement in the South China Sea through joint training cruises with the US Navy, exercises with regional navies and capacity-building assistance to coastal nations. Japan's conduct in the South China Sea "makes one feel disappointed to the point of despair," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing today, before accusing Japan of meddling in a situation that ought to be resolved via "direct negotiation between involved parties". Japan was attempting to confuse the situation in the region Lu said, adding the island nation had "even resorted to deception in attempts to impose its own views" on the issue on other countries. Japan has a separate territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Last week, China sailed four coastguard vessels into that contested region, sparking complaints from Japan that the Asian giant was escalating tensions. Japan is a key US ally, and is boosting defence ties with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that have their own territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea. In recent months, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has criticised China for rejecting a July ruling by an international tribunal that found Beijing's extensive claims to the waters had no legal basis. But Lu warned: "China is unwavering in its determination to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese and Russian navies today concluded their joint military exercise in waters off the southern province of Guangdong, with a drill to "seize" an island, in a symbolic move by Beijing whose claims over the South China Sea was struck down by an international tribunal. Though held off Guangdong coast far from nine-dash line claim over SCS, the drill has a strategic value for China as it comes nearly two months after an international tribunal struck down Beijing's claims over almost all of SCS. Under pressure from the US and Japan, China regards the drills as significant as they demonstrate Russia's backing to it, downplaying reports of international isolation. The eight-day long exercises have ended with both navies staging a mission to seize an island. Besides the SCS which has numerous islands with rich mineral deposits, China also stakes claims over the islands held by Japan in the East China Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed China's decision to reject the SCS tribunal verdict which the US and Japan said is legally binding. As the key element of the annual drill, the Chinese and Russian navies dispatched vessels including missile destroyer, anti-submarine vessels, missile frigates, ship-based helicopters and conventional submarines, among others, official media here reported. The exercises demonstrated the Chinese and Russian navies' capacities in command management, telecommunications coordination, and intelligence and information sharing, Senior Captain Li Xiangdong, who commanded the Chinese warships, told state-run China Daily. Addressing the closing ceremony of the drill, which ran from September 13 to 19, Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, lauded the exercise as successful and said the activity had achieved the desired aim. Wang said the drill had improved the actual combat capabilities, informationisation and standardisation of the two navies, adding that they will expand practical cooperation and boost communication, state-run Xinhua agency said. Alexander Fedotenkov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, said the two navies shared theoretical and practical experience and were engaged in sound collaboration throughout the exercise. Fedotenkov said the two sides will maintain close marine cooperation ties, deal with new challenges and threats, and together safeguard world peace and regional stability. The "Joint Sea 2016" drill featured surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, marines and amphibious armored equipment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today called for an intelligence surge, a partnership with the IT industry and for trust between law enforcement and Muslim Americans to thwart terrorist attacks inside the US. "We should launch an intelligence surge to help identify and thwart attacks before they can be carried out. We need to work more closely with Silicon Valley and other partners to counter terrorist propaganda and recruitment efforts online. And it is crucial that we continue to build up trust between law enforcement and Muslim-American communities," Clinton told reporters at a conference. In the Middle East, the US needs to smash Islamic State (IS) strongholds with an accelerated coalition air campaign, more support for Arab and Kurdish forces on the ground and intense diplomatic efforts in Syria, Iraq and across the region, she asserted. "Working closely with our allies and partners to keep us safe must be the top priority for our next commander-in-chief. Later today, I'll discuss the threat from terrorism with President el-Sisi of Egypt and other world leaders," she said as the FBI and the NYPD nabbed an Afghan American as a suspect for the New York terror attack over the weekend. Clinton, who represented New York State in the US Senate before becoming Secretary of State in the first term of the Obama administration urged fellow Americans to be vigilant, but not afraid. "We have faced threats before. If you see something, or you hear something, report it immediately to local law enforcement authorities. I know we will meet this new danger with the same courage and vigilance. We choose resolve, not fear. We will not turn on each other or undermine our values. We'll stand together because we are stronger together in the face of this threat and every other challenge," she said. Responding to a question on the immigration policy being pushed by her Republican opponent Donald Trump in view of lone wolf attacks, Clinton said she is opposed to such policies. "Let us remember, there are millions and millions of naturalised citizens in America from all over the world. There are millions of law-abiding peaceful Muslim-Americans. This is the kind of challenge that law enforcement can and is prepared to address, namely going after anyone who would threaten the United States," she said. "So I am absolutely in favour of and have long been an advocate for tough vetting, for making sure that we don't let people into this country -- and not just people who come here to settle, but we need a better visa system," she said. "Let's remember what happened on 9/11. These were not refugees who got into airplanes and attacked our city and our country. So let's not get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear coming from the other side. "This is a serious challenge, we are well-equipped to meet it, and we can do so in keeping with smart law enforcement, good intelligence and in concert with our values," Clinton added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 39-year-old cloth merchant was stabbed to death by unidentified persons near his house in east Delhi's Shakarpur area, police said today. The victim, identified as Subhash Yadav, was attacked last night near his house in J-extension in Laxmi Nagar, a police officer said. Yadav had got a call at around 10:15 pm asking him to step out of his house. When he went out, he got into an argument with some unidentified persons who stabbed him multiple times, said the officer. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead, he added. Police suspect that the murder could have been a result of personal enmity. CCTV footage from the area and call detail records of Yadav are being scanned to gain clues to the attackers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China may take up with Pakistan the recurring terrorist attacks leading up to the assault on the army camp in Uri as Beijing is deeply concerned that growing Indo-Pak tensions will affect the future of the USD 46 billion CPEC, an official Chinese think tank said today. "It is an inhuman attack that should be condemned in strongest terms," Hu Shisheng, Director of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry said here while reacting to the attack on the army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 18 Indian soldiers were killed and several injured. Though he did directly speak about involvement of Pakistan-based militant groups, Hu, a strong proponent of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said China will and must take up with Pakistan about growing terrorist attacks as the violence is hardening New Delhi's stand towards the project which will effect it in the long run. "China wants India and Pakistan to jointly counter terrorism. The larger aim of CPEC is regional development and it can't happen in a violent atmosphere," he said. He said tensions abated between India and Pakistan after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lahore last year. But the Pathankot military base attack reversed the peace process. "The Pathankot attack has destroyed all the good atmosphere created by Modi's visit to Lahore," he said. "The new attack will further escalate India-Pakistan tensions which is not in the interest of the CPEC. This may prompt India to harden its attitude against CPEC and it will impact its future," Hu said. India has already expressed concern over the CPEC project that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He said the immediate concern is also how the SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan in November will take place. The attack will also bring concerns on terrorism to the fore in next month's BRICS summit to be held in Goa, Hu said. President Xi Jinping is due to attend the summit and hold talks with Modi on its sidelines. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress and the NCP are likely to join hands to contest the forthcoming Legislative Council elections for 11 seats from local bodies, graduates and teachers constituencies. The term of the members from these seats ends on December 5. Of the total 11 seats, NCP has the maximum five, while Congress, BJP and Independents have two each. Prominent among the 11 retiring members is Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil of BJP. Preliminary talks between leaders of both the parties were held before the Ganpati festival where it was decided to ally for the polls. "NCP and Congress will contest the seats where they have sitting MLCs. One more meeting will take place to finalise the seat sharing," NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said. The NCP has sitting members in teachers constituency of Aurangabad, and local bodies constituencies in Sangli Satara, Bhandara-Gondia local bodies, Yavatmal and Pune. Congress has Nashik graduates and Nanded Local bodies, BJP has Jalgaon local bodies and Amravati graduates, while two Independents hold Nagpur teachers and Konkan teachers seats. The elections are important for ruling BJP to improve its tally in the Upper House of Legislature while NCP needs to retain its position as the single largest party in the House. Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant said a meeting of leaders of both the parties did take place but nothing has been finalised as yet. Congress has appointed observers to take stock of the ground situation in Nashik graduates seat held by the party and Amravati Graduates held by MoS for Home Ranjit Patil. "This indicates that the Congress plans to contest both the seats," a Congress office-bearer said. "NCP needs our help to retain its position as the single largest party and a meeting to discuss seat sharing will take place soon," he said. Besides, Congress is keen to have at least one out of the three seats held by the NCP -- Sangli-Satara local bodies, Bhandara-Gondia local bodies and Yavatmal local bodies -- as it feels it has a good chance to win. BJP spokesman Keshav Upadhyay said the party will soon finalise its strategy for the polls. (REOPENS BES11) Maharashtra Congress top brass will meet here on September 21 to discuss the prevailing political situation in the state and finalise its strategy for the Legislative Council and Municipal Council polls to be held later this year. That apart, issues like ties with NCP, organisational matters and functioning of the state government will also feature in the deliberations, a party office-bearer said. The meeting is being held in the backdrop of NCP leader Praful Patel's remarks against the Congress last week. Recently, Patel had squarely blamed Congress for their debacle in the 2014 polls and targeted former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over the irrigation scam. State Congress chief Ashok Chavan had responded to Patel's remark, saying the growth of NCP was not his party's responsibility, while Prithviraj Chavan had said that it was NCP leader and former Home Minister R R Patil who had approved the probe into the Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam. Youth Congress workers on Monday staged a protest against the terror attack on an army base in Uri in Kashmir. Protesters burnt Pakistan's flag and effigy of its government to protest the terror attack that left 17 soldiers dead. Harmel Kesri, a Youth Congress leader, demanded strong action against the perpetrators and said the Modi government should take stern steps to prevent such incidents in future. British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing fresh rebellion from within her own party as a group of anti-European Union lawmakers join business people to launch a new 'Leave Means Leave' group to push for "hard Brexit". The new group aims for a so-called "hard Brexit" to get the UK out of the EU's single market after the country voted to leave the European Union in a historic referendum in June. The Eurosceptic Tory lawmakers want an end to the influence of Brussels on British laws and scrapping "free movement" migration across Europe, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The group, to be launched today, is being led by businessman Richard Tice, one of the leading figures behind the 'Leave EU' campaign in the referendum, with the backing of other business figures, lawmakers and economists. In the group's launch report, it argues that Britain must pull out of the EU's single market, even if no alternative trade deal has been struck with Brussels. "Let's be clear: No deal is better than a bad deal," Tice said. He told the newspaper: "The British people made it clear that they wanted to leave the EU. There should be no compromise on this. The sooner we leave the more certainty and confidence for everyone." The new group, which has the support of at least six Conservative lawmakers so far, will add to the impression that concerns are growing among May's colleagues over whether she will deliver full or some kind of compromise. May has said she will wait until next year before triggering Article 50 of the European treaties, which would launch the formal two-year process for negotiating the terms of . The group believes she should aim to complete the talks sooner. This would set Britain free to sign trade deals with countries outside Europe and would be a signal to the EU that the UK is serious. The group warned that single market is "the world's least successful economic zone", which ties businesses up in regulations regardless of whether they trade with other European countries. It argued that remaining in the single market would be a mistake after leaving the EU because this would mean the UK would still be bound to accept unlimited numbers of migrants, while British firms would all have to abide by Brussels law. The group's supporters include the Tory MPs Peter Bone, Adam Holloway and Peter Lilley; UK economists Ruth Lea and Ewen Stewart; and business figures Richard Smith and Patrick Barbour. The Labour donor and businessman John Mills is also a supporter, with the Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman. A No 10 Downing Street spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister has been clear that she is going to get the best deal for Britain and deliver on the clear verdict of the British public." A convict serving a jail term in a murder case allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Mathura jail here following which a magisterial probe has been ordered. Braj Nandan, a resident of Vrindavan, was found hanging from an overhead water tank by his towel last evening. Nandan had been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing one Tej Singh in Vrindaban on May 17, 1987. He apparently took the extreme step after his parole plea was rejected by the Supreme Court. "When his parole plea was rejected by the High Court, an attempt was made by the family to get relief from the Apex court, however, there also his parole application was rejected," Jail Superintendent P D Salonia said. "A magisterial probe would be conducted on the death of the undertrial who committed suicide," District Magistrate Nitin Bansal said. SP City Alok Priyadarshi said the post-mortem was conducted by a team of three doctors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here today directed music composer Vishal Dadlani to join the investigation on September 21 in connection with a case against him by the Haryana police for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments by his "sarcastic" tweet on Jain monk Tarun Sagar. District and Sessions Judge Deepak Gupta directed Dadlani to join the investigation at at Ambala Cantonment Sadar police station on an application filed by the music composer for anticipatory bail. The court adjourned the matter till September 23. Ambala Cantonment police had lodged a case three weeks ago against Dadlani and one more person under relevant sections, including 153A (promoting enmity between classes), 295A (maliciously insulting the religion or religious beliefs of any class) and 509 (uttering any word or making any gesture to insult the modesty of a woman) of IPC. The case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Punit Arora, a resident of Ambala Cantonment and a follower of the Jain monk. The complainant had alleged that the accused had intentionally hurt the religious sentiments of Jains by his "sarcastic" tweet on Sagar. Dadlani came under criticism from various quarters including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, for his tweet on the Jain monk's speech in Haryana Assembly. He had subsequently tendered an apology for his tweet on the microblogging website and later deleted it. Dadlani had apologised to Sagar subsequently. The Jain monk had delivered a lecture, 'Kadve Pravachan', in Haryana Assembly last month on an invitation of the state government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 14-foot-long king cobra, which was welcomed by Delhi zoo last year from Rajasthan, has died of age-related illnesses. The rare species was the first in the National Zoological Park after 10 years and was the only king cobra there. "We lost the king cobra a few months ago. The serpant was handed over to us by Wildlife SOS in Kota, Rajasthan in 2015. It was not keeping well since several months," zoo curator Riyaz Khan said. "The animal died of age-related illness," he said. A zoo staffer, who had taken care of the animal, said the reptile was quite inactive when it was brought to the zoo but had started picking up on its movements later. The incident comes close on the heels of a spate of deaths of spotted deers at the Delhi zoo earlier this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leonardo DiCaprio's climate change documentary "Before the Flood" is all set to make its world premiere at the upcoming 60th BFI London Film Festival. Directed by the Hollywood superstar and Fisher Stevens, the documentary will be shown as a Special Presentation October 15. "Before the Flood", for which DiCaprio also visited India, is a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change, as well as the actions we as individuals and as a society can take to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our planet. The film follows DiCaprio as he travels to five continents and the Arctic speaking to scientists, world leaders, activists and local residents to gain a deeper understanding of the issue "We are thrilled to be presenting the European premiere of 'Before the Flood', a film that is both an urgent and illuminating update on climate change and a passionate clarion call from Leonardo DiCaprio and Fisher Stevens," said Clare Stewart, Director BFI London Film Festival. Fisher said he was looking forward to present the documentary to the audience in London. "We can no longer turn a blind eye to the issue of climate change; we are at a crucial moment where if we don't act now, we will forever pay the price. The festival runs from October 5 to 16. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal government today began dismantling of the Tata Motor's abandoned shed at Gopalnagar sector here in order to return it to the farmers as per the orders of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had on August 31 ruled that land acquisition process in Singur was faulty and directed the state government to return it to the farmers within 12 weeks. "Today in presence of PWD officials, DM, SP and officials of the mechanized department of KMC, the work of dismantling the shed of Tata Motor's plant began. Today we had started it from the Gopalnagar sector of the plant. From tomorrow the work will start in a full fledged way," a district official said. State Parliamentary Minister Partha Chatterjee has been directed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to supervise the work of dismantling of Tata Motor's plant from tomorrow. Banerjee last week handed over land 'parchas' and cheques to the farmers in Singur even as she sent messages to firms saying any company willing to set up auto firm in the state is "welcome". Handing over 'parchas' and cheques following a Supreme Court order in this regard, Banerjee, who had steered the massive agitation against the land acquisition for Tatas' nano car factory in Singur in 2006, said, "We want industry but not through forcible (land) acquisition". 'Parcha' is a document which establishes the ownership of a farmer over a piece of land in revenue records. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rebel AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar today alleged that he was not invited to a high-level meeting of legislators and officials called by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over spurt of dengue and chikungunya in the city, saying it was a "criminal mistake". "I am surprised that I was not called for the meeting as like the whole of Delhi, people of my constituency are also suffering from dengue, chikungunya and insanitation. Not calling me for the meeting is a criminal mistake on the part of Deputy CM office," Pushkar said in a statement. Pushkar sought a reply from Sisodia whether not calling him to the meeting was a chance error or an action caused by "political ill-will". "Not calling an elected representative of people to the official meeting is akin to the Prime Minister not calling Kejirwal to any meet of Chief Ministers," he said. He also questioned Kejriwal and Sisodia whether they have given him time for a meeting as an MLA of Timarpur and whether he gets invitiations to participate in official meetings. Pushkar also hinted that he was not invited to official meetings as he was raising issues related to Swaraj, Janlokpal, liquor vends and education in Delhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The country needs to inculcate an "entrepreneurial spirit" in society to achieve 9-10 per cent growth rate and expedite the process of scrapping unnecessary regulations to further improve ease of doing business, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said here today. "India is going through a demographic transition and is growing at 7.5 per cent per annum, whereas rest of the world is facing a very barren economic landscape. If we have to grow at 9-10 per cent, we have to foster a huge entrepreneurial spirit," Kant said in Mumbai, addressing a gathering of business community. "The power of compounding growth is huge...India is very complex, difficult to do business in. A lot of rules, regulations and acts that have been built over the last 68 years are slowly being dismantled... We need to accelerate this pace. We have just scrapped 1,053 laws," he added. He pointed out that India is 12 notches up in the ease of doing business and this year it will do better. Kant believes the onus is on states as well to help the nation grow effectively. "We have put out a portal where states are competing on 334 parameters, compared to 100 last year. The only way to make India improve is to make them (states) compete, and the worst performing states are named and shamed," he said. Education, health and water are the primary areas where states need to improve drastically, he said. He also stressed that urbanisation is critical driver of growth in cities. "Every minute 30 Indians are moving to the city. When India urbanises, land, gas and water will be scarce commodities... Therefore India needs to have an innovative sustainable path of growth," he said. Another crucial factor for India's entrepreneurial development is women's entrepreneurship. Currently, it accounts for 17 per cent of India's GDP, and women account for just 24 per cent of total number of workers. Globally women account for 40 per cent GDP, he said. "Gender parity is crucial and is a key driver for growth," he stressed. Lastly, he said, for India to be a centre of innovation and for the startup movement to thrive, it needs to focus on global markets and for this, it is important to increase the total factory output and produce at scale. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) European embassies in the UK have logged a rising number of alleged hate crimes against their citizens since the Brexit vote on June 23. According to figures obtained by the 'Guardian newspaper as part of a survey, the vast majority of xenophobic incidents involved citizens from eastern European countries, with more attacks against Poles than all the other nationalities put together. The Polish consular service in London, Manchester and Edinburgh has logged 31 incidents of reported hate crime since June 23, when Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU). "The Polish community is the largest national minority in the UK and, due to its visibility, may be statistically an easier target of xenophobic abuse," said Arkady Rzegocki, the Polish ambassador to the UK. "We recognise and appreciate the show of solidarity from the British public and the decisive steps taken by the British government and local authorities to resolve the problem. We need to work together to foster dialogue and mutual understanding between communities," he said. The newspaper had contacted the London embassies of all 27 EU member states. Of the 17 embassies that replied, almost half reported a rise in incidents of xenophobic abuse in the 12 weeks since the EU referendum, it said. The embassies of western European countries that responded to the survey, including Spain, France and Germany, reported no post-referendum abuse against their citizens. The issue of hate crime in the wake of the vote was also raised by London-based diplomats at a working lunch of a Nordic group of ambassadors last week. Latvian ambassador Baiba Braze, who hosted the lunch, said: "It is a trend that we discussed. Our citizens have not experienced anything like this before the referendum." Official police statistics released earlier this month also indicated a continued rise in post-Brexit hate crimes. The latest set of figures released by the UK's National Police Chiefs' Council showed a 49 per cent rise in incidents to 1,863 in the last week in July, when compared with the previous year. The week after saw a record 58 per cent increase in logged incidents to 1,787. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of Greece's main migrant camps on the island of Lesbos suffered extensive damage in a fire apparently set on purpose, with thousands forced to flee to safety, police said. Tents at the camp of Moria were "almost entirely destroyed" and containers that provide additional accommodation and health and registration services were damaged, a police source in Athens told AFP. Firefighters were prevented from tackling the fire early on by clashes that broke out among rival nationalities in the camp, reports said. With the flames fanned by strong winds, up to 4,000 people are believed to have fled to the surrounding fields, the police source said on Monday. However, once inside the firefighters were able to bring the fire under control. Police were sent out after the and were in the process of returning them to the camp, the officer added. He said there was "no doubt" that the fire had been set on purpose by those inside. Some 150 minors housed at the camp were evacuated to a children's village on the island, the officer said. There are now over 60,000 refugees and in Greece, most of them seeking to travel to Germany and other affluent EU countries. But they are unable to do so after several eastern European and Balkan states shut their borders earlier this year. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the condition of Greek migrant camps, pointing to overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions. The situation is particularly acute on Lesbos and other eastern Aegean islands facing Turkey, where most of the land and are held for registration. Island residents have also staged protests to demand the transportation of the migrants to the mainland. The procedure is part of an EU-Turkey deal designed to limit the flow of refugees and migrants to Greece's shores. According to government data, there are over 13,000 people on five islands in facilities built to house fewer than 8,000. Most of them are Syrian refugees fleeing civil war, in addition to Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis and from the Indian subcontinent and north Africa considered to be economic migrants, and as such not automatically entitled to asylum in Europe. Former Minister Rajendra Gudha was on Monday arrested for allegedly obstructing policemen from discharging their duty and damaging public property in the Jhunjhunu district. Gudha along with few others had allegedly misbehaved with policemen and damaged public property after a man died in a road accident near his village, police said. When police went to the spot after the accident, they stopped them from shifting the body, Superintendent of Poilice (Jhunjhunu) Surendra Kumar Gupta said. He was arrested under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of IPC and section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property act, he said. Gudha, a former Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, was the minister of State in former Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot. There is great potential for boosting trade between India and Canada, but it is yet to get the needed push, former British Columbia (BC) Premier Ujjal Dosanjh said today. Maintaining trade could grow between India and Canada, he said the relationship between the countries were quite cordial. Dosanjh was here to release his autobiography 'Journey After Midnight'. "Corruption is the key hindrance to India becoming a developed nation," he said, strongly advocating the need of a "value revolution" in the country to tackle the menace of corruption. He said, "Corruption is an ethical rot, which has spoilt the entire political system, not only in Punjab but in the entire nation." A value revolution will build values among citizens and automatically turn treatment for all sins of society, he added. Elaborating, Dosanjh said social activist Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption (IAC) movement was an opportunity for such a revolution. "The opportunity was missed and IAC fizzled out as Hazare's vision was limited to bringing a Jan Lok Bill", he said. On prospects of AAP, which reportedly had wide support of Punjabi NRIs, he said, AAP had generated hope, unfortunately now NRIs are disappointed, especially with political happenings in the last two months. "No doubt Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is a honest person, but the hope which he gave to NRIs has fizzled out and now people have realised that the politics of AAP is no different from other existing political parties", Dosanjh said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Karnataka High Court today granted bail to former Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao's son, Ashwin Rao and nine others in the Lokayukta extortion case. Justice Ratnakala also granted bail to former Lokayukta PRO Syed Riyaz and Bhaskar, an associate of Ashwin Rao, who was arrested by SIT in Hyderabad in July last year based on an FIR filed against him by Lokayukta police. Shankare Gowda, Srinivasa Gowda, Ashok Kumar, Narasimha Murthy, Hotte Krishna, Rajashekar and Mohd Sadiq Basha were the others who secured bail. Earlier, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the case, had moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to the accused by the Karnataka High Court. It had filed charge sheet against the accused, including Ashwin Rao alias Ashwin Yarabatti. After the final hearing, the apex court on April 2 set aside the Karnataka High Court order granting bail to the accused by observing that they were at liberty to move the trial court for grant of bail since the Lokayukta police had filed charge sheet against them. The charge sheet was filed in an extortion case registered by the SIT on the basis of a complaint lodged by government engineer M N Krishnamurthy, who had alleged that he was asked to pay Rs one crore by the accused to prevent a raid on him by Lokayukta police. According to the charge sheet, Riyaz, who was suspended from his post of PRO of Lokayukta soon after his arrest, is the main accused. The alleged scam came to light after the then Lokayukta superintendent of police, Sonia Narang wrote a letter to Lokayukta Registrar about the complaint she received from an executive engineer, who alleged that someone from Lokayukta office demanded Rs one crore in bribe to avoid a raid. Despite widespread protests and censure, Bhaskar Rao refused to resign from his post until the state Assembly moved a motion against him. Bhaskar Rao resigned in December 2015, four months after his son was arrested. On August 5, Rao was chargesheeted for abetting illegal gratification to influence a public servant, concealing evidence and being part of a criminal conspiracy to cover up and protect the offenders. He is a former high court CJ. After Rao's resignation, the post of Lokayukta has remained vacant as the governor had rejected the name of S R Nayak proposed by the state government. The government is yet to finalise another candidate. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi High Court today asked a private school here why it was not abiding by a court order directing it to admit a disabled minor boy in Class 1 under the economically weaker section (EWS) category. "Now, there is a direction of this court (single judge), passed under ... (an article of) the Constitution of India, you follow that," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra said, asking why it has not complied with the order. The court's observation came during the hearing of an appeal by Siddharth International Public School challenging the single judge's August 26 order, which had asked it to admit the boy on the grond that he was legally entitled to a seat in the institution. The single judge had issued the direction on the school's plea against a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) order which had asked it to admit the physically disabled boy in class 1 under EWS or disadvantaged group (DG) category, for which 25 per cent seats are to be kept reserved, by giving him age relaxation. The school had contended before the single judge that MACT lacked jurisdiction to pass such an order which was issued on a plea by the child's mother. Agreeing with the school on this point, the single judge had set aside the tribunal's direction, but adopted the order and directed the institute to admit the boy. Challenging the single judge order, the counsel for the school had submitted that there were no vacant seats under EWS category and the boy has already got admission in another school during the pendency of the writ petition. The division bench reserved its judgement on the plea, saying it will consider all the aspects raised in the writ petition and pass the order. The single judge had made it clear that the directions in the present case were passed "to rehabilitate an accident victim who also belongs to an EWS/DG category. There is nothing to suggest that in present case, justice and law cannot dwell together. After all, one should not forget that the purpose of all law is justice". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Protesting against the sacking of employees at the Tapukara plant of Honda Motorcycle Scooter India, five workers of the company today started an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar here. "Five (of the) victimised workers of Tapukara unit of HMSI started their hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, Parliament Street today," an All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) press statement said. Comments from HMSI could not be obtained immediately. AITUC claimed several workers from the Gurgaon-Manesar- Dharuhera industrial belt sat in Dharna to express their solidarity demanding taking back of 102 dismissed permanent workers and more than 2,000 contract workers of HMSI's Tapukara plant. It stated that the HMSI management has "thrown out from service more than 2,000 contract workers and trainees and 102 regular workers" for trying to form a union at the Tapukara unit. In February, trouble had erupted at the two-wheeler maker's Tapukara plant when protesting workers were lathicharged by police. AITUC claimed that the workers have not been allowed to stage protest either in front of the factory in or in Alwar or Jaipur for the last seven months due to "pressure from the management of Japanese multinational". It further said that the "victimised workers" will be submitting their memorandum to the Union Labour and Employment Minister for taking back the victimised workers. D L Sachdev and Amarjeet Kaur, National Secretaries of AITUC and A K Sandhu of CITU were among those who addressed the gathering of workers at Jantar Mantar. Union leaders of other companies, including Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki Motorcycle, Munjal Showa and Hema Engineering, along with representatives of PUDR, PUCL and Bigul Mazdoor Dasta also addressed the meeting. On Honda's current product line-up, Ueno said the BR-V is doing well and "it's on track" of the target set by the company. However it is not doing as well as some other brands. I think we might be able to increase sales". He admitted that there is a mismatch in the company's product line-up and expectations of the customers. "Currently, we are concentrating on really matching price with the competitors. Maybe, the specifications are not meeting the customers' expectations. So, such kinds of discrepancies I think are happening," he said. Ueno felt that the company cannot afford to give up on volume products like Brio and Amaze and would like to reposition them in the market with better features. "They are big volume market (products). However, maybe, the positioning in the segment can be aligned. Honda cars have been on the premium side within the segments. I think we can do it," he said. Honda is receiving a lot of feedback from customers that it should have more features even if the the price might be on the higher side. "For the future models, we are planning to add more features. We were thinking that Indian car market is price sensitive. However, customer expectations have to be balanced," Ueno made it clear. According to the CEO, the company has just taken a price hike and most probably will take a call again on the issue only next year. "Exchange rate is tough. So, if it continues to be so, then slight adjustment may be necessary, but definitely not this year. We have just increased the prices. This year, we won't touch the prices. Next year due to GST, there might be a one-time alignment," he said. Asked if the company would keep selling MPV Mobilio, he said: "We will continue. Sales are gradually increasing. So, we will keep it. Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has appealed to the UN and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to press India for an "unconditional and transparent" dialogue with all stakeholders for the resolution of Kashmir issue. "Hurriyat Conference believes that an alternative path to work out the modalities of a resolution is through dialogue. "It (Hurriyat) fervently appeals to the OIC to support this demand and urges the UN and the international community to prevail upon India to enable a genuine, unconditional and transparent dialogue with all stakeholders i.E. India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir," he said in a letter to the OIC. The separatist leader, who is under arrest at Cheshma Shahi sub jail for the past 24 days, has been invited by the OIC to attend its annual Foreign Ministers' meet to be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York later this month. He reiterated that certain steps need to be taken for creating a conducive atmosphere for the dialogue over the Kashmir issue. "Immediately stop killing, torture and arbitrary arrests of Kashmiri civilians and release all political prisoners. Remove arbitrary and draconian laws and conditions such as the Disturbed Areas act, Public Safety Act and others," he said. The Hurriyat chairman said there should be "no reprisal or intimidation" of the people of Kashmir so that they can discuss and express their political aspirations in public spaces. "The use of firearms and pellet guns on unarmed protesters should be stopped. Start demilitarising all of Kashmir and revoke impunity laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)," he said. "Most importantly, recognise the right of Kashmiri people to determine their own political future," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan today accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its "reign of terror" in Kashmir by a spate of "vitriolic" and "unsubstantiated" statements following the terror attack in Uri that killed 17 soldiers. "Pakistan has noted with serious concernthe recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterday's attack" in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government. "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation" in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander BurhanWani. He said that the situation in Kashmir is not of Pakistan's making but a direct consequence of "illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in overa 100 thousand deaths". "Nobody has been spared the brute state force including the elderly, wounded patients in hospitals as women and children. This should awaken international conscience," Aziz said. Reacting to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement Pakistan is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated, Aziz said that it was deplorable that the Indian Minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. "The statement is part of apattern to misleadworld opinion and cover up India's reign of terror in Kashmir, the statement said. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. (REOPENS FGN8) Aziz, in his address at NAM summit in Venezuela as the Pakistan delegation head, had said peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council. Aziz in a statement "called for a just settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people, as enshrined in the United Nations Security Council Resolution, which was an essential pre-requisite for peace in South Asia". Foreign Office (FO) in a statement today said that in line with Pakistan's stance, the outcome document clearly opposes attempts to equate "legitimate" struggle for the right to self-determination with terrorism. FO said that Aziz's statement at the NAM Summit also condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Aziz also said that Pakistan is ready to share its counter terrorism experience with other NAM countries. In view of new alignments and re-alignments that are redefining the global geo-strategic and political landscape, Aziz also proposed to setup a high-level panel to undertake a thorough review of the priorities of NAM, with a view to making it a 'Movement of Solidarity' that safeguards the interests of developing countries. (Reopens FES42) Meanwhile, Ambassador Tehmina Janjua, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN in Geneva, today raised at the Human Rights Council the issue of India 'sponsoring state-terrorism' in Kashmir. The Ambassador underscored that the life and liberty of Kashmiris is governed by "draconian laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that allows arbitrary detention, searches, seizures, shoot to kill on suspicion, and the use of lethal force". More than 700,000 Indian occupation personal are imposing, with "complete impunity, a reign of terror" against innocent civilians, children, women and the elderly, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a release quoting her. India has raised with Venezuelan leadership the issue of "flagrant misuse" of NAM plenary by Pakistan to make "unwarranted and unacceptable" comments on Kashmir, saying South Asia suffers from Pakistan's "dangerous use" of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. In a strongly-worded letter to the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, External Affairs Minister for State M J Akbar said the South Asia continues to face Pakistan's "dangerous use" of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. He also said that Pakistan has continued to provide safe havens to internationally designated terrorists and terror outfits. Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, in his NAM address as the Pakistan delegation head, had said, "peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council". Meanwhile, Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has condemned the Uri attack and expressed solidarity with Indian people. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. In his message, Maduro said, "we are committed along with our brotherly people of the world to get into the depth of this problem that generated proliferation of terrorist movement, which does not respect life and the need for co- existence of people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is weighing its options after the deadly attack on an army base in Uri in Kashmir blamed on a Pakistan-based terror outfit, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting amid strident calls for military action on terror camps in PoK. The death toll in the pre-dawn attack yesterday, meanwhile, rose to 18 with Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan, who was airlifted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital here after being critically injured, succumbing to injuries. As the worst ever attack on the Army in many years continued to spark outrage and triggered calls for Pakistan's diplomatic isolation, Union Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu said India will have to respond and punish the perpetrators of the attack and "can no more take it lying down". Key BJP ally Shiv Sena while needling Modi on the Uri attack said if he does not have the "courage to strike Pakistan" like the US did to eliminate Osama Bin Laden, there is no use of building an international image. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting convened by Modi. The top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack, official sources said. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief had visited Kashmir after the attack yesterday. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. The assertion by Modi triggered considerable speculation about the options that India could exercise in the current situation. A swift, surgical strike on terror camps in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir(PoK) was among the options that figured in the speculation but experts also cautioned against consequences and the damages that an escalation could pose if it goes out of hand. Separately, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the top security brass met to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas. Doval, Gen Suhag and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefedthe meeting on the latest situation in Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control(LoC) official sources said. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed at the meeting, the sources said. A team of National Investigation Agency is also expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the attack site close to the Line of Control(LoC). DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh yesterday said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Jaish-E-Mohammed(JeM) tanzeem. (REOPEN MDS13) Meanwhile, police said tonight that six CPI(M) workers had been taken into custody for questioning. "Six CPI(M) workers have been taken into custody and they are being questioned", Kannur district police sources told As clamour for strong action against Pakistan over the Uri attack grew, the Army today said it reserves the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing even as various options were discussed in a flurry of high-level meetings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Pranab Mukherjee to brief him on the developments related to yesterday's cross-border terror attack, hours after he discussed the issue with senior ministers and top officials at a high-level meeting. The death toll in the pre-dawn attack yesterday, meanwhile, rose to 18 with Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan, who was airlifted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital here after being critically injured, succumbing to injuries. "The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us," Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh told reporters. "We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing." The total recoveries from the four slain terrorists was four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, 39 Under Barrel Grenade Launcher grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPSs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings, he said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting convened by Modi. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was conspicuous by her absence. As the worst ever attack on the Army in many years continued to spark outrage and triggered calls for Pakistan's diplomatic isolation, Union Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu said India will have to respond and punish the perpetrators of the attack and "can no more take it lying down". Key BJP ally Shiv Sena while needling Modi on the Uri attack said if he does not have the "courage to strike Pakistan" like the US did to eliminate Osama Bin Laden, there is no use of building an international image. Union Minister and former army chief Gen V K Singh, however, advised the Indian Army to decide on its response "coolly" with proper planning and not to get emotional. "...From the army's side, alertness is required. The Kashmir situation needs to be thought about. The action has to be taken without getting influenced by emotions, anger. It has to be taken coolly and with proper planning," Singh said. The assertion by Modi yesterday that those behind the Uri attack will not go unpunished had triggered considerable speculation about the options that India could exercise in the current situation. A swift, surgical strike on terror camps in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir(PoK) was among the options that figured in the speculation but experts also cautioned against consequences and the damages that an escalation could pose if it goes out of hand. Separately, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the top security brass met to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The pace of bad loan formation is going to slower resulting in a stable outlook for the Indian banking sector over the next 12-18 months, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday. "While the stock of impaired loans may still increase during the horizon of this outlook, the pace of new impaired loan formation should be lower than what it has been over the last few years," Moody's VP and Senior Credit Officer Srikanth Vadlamani said. India's banking system is moving past the worst of its asset quality down cycle, supporting its stable outlook for the sector over the next 12-18 months, it said in a report. "The performance of India's state-owned and private banks continues to diverge," Vadlamani said. "The state-owned banks will require significant capital over the next three years with limited access to the capital markets, while the private banks benefit from solid capitalisation and good profitability," he said. Moody's outlook expresses its expectation of how bank creditworthiness will evolve in the system over the next 12-18 months. The stable outlook is based on Moody's assessment of five drivers -- stable operating environment, asset risk and capital, funding and liquidity, profitability, and government Support. The operating environment for Indian banks is supported by a stabilising economy, it said. Moody's baseline scenario assumes headline GDP growth of 7.4 per cent over the next two years, compared with 7.3 per cent in 2015, with key drivers being a favourable monsoon season, ongoing public investment, and continued growth in foreign direct investment. Asset quality will remain a negative driver of the credit profiles of most rated Indian banks, but the pace of deterioration should slow. Moody's said it expects limited policy rate cuts over the next 12 months, which should help stabilise Net Interest Margin (NIMs). Credit costs will remain high for the sector, but no higher than in recent years for the industry overall. It also believes that state-owned banks will receive a very high level of systemic support, irrespective of their size. Moody's said that besides legacy issues for some banks, the underlying asset trend will be stable because of the generally supportive operating environment. "Capital levels remain a key credit weakness for state- owned banks, and the announced capital infusion plans of the government fall short of the amount required for their full capitalisation," it said. However, a potential way to bridge this capital shortfall would be to slow loan growth to the low single digits over the next three years, it added. Funding and liquidity remains a bright spot for the system, and will remain supported by Moody's expectation of relatively subdued loan growth during the outlook. Profitability for the banks will reflect stabilising net interest margins (NIMs) and credit costs. For private banks, systemic support will be determined by their systemic importance, and range from high to very high for Moody's rated universe. Moody's rates 15 banks in India that together account for around 70 per cent of system assets. The ratings outlook on 11 of the banks is positive, reflecting the global rating agency's positive outlook on the sovereign rating and the high degree of government support that could be expected for the banks, if needed. For the first time, Pakistani authorities have allowed an Indian Sikh to permanently display images of 'sacred trees' of Gurdwaras of India and Pakistan at Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib. "On the request of former bureaucrat and writer DS Jaspal, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (which looks after holy places of minorities in Pakistan) has given permission to him for permanent exhibition of his work at Nankana Sahib Gurdwara," ETPB spokesman Amir Hashmi told PTI. He said this is the first time that an exhibition of an Indian Sikh is allowed for permanent display at any Gurdwara in Pakistan. The exhibition at the Gurdwara, situated about 80 km southwest of Lahore, is likely to open during a festival in connection with the birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in mid of November. "I will showcase a permanent exhibition of images of sacred trees at Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib which will draw the attention of not only Sikhs but all nature lovers to the rich natural heritage and highlight importance of preserving our depleting tree and forest wealth," Jaspal said after his meeting with ETPB Chairman Siddiqul Farooq yesterday. Jaspal is the author of 'TRYST with TREES' -Punjab's sacred heritage -a pictorial documentation of 58 sacred and historical Sikh shrines in India and Pakistan named after 19 species of trees, like Gurdwara Tahli Sahib; Gurdwara Nim Sahib, Patiala; Gurdwara Babe di Ber Sahib, Sialkot; Gurdwara Ritha Sahib; Gurdwara Lahura Sahib and Ghavindi Lahore. Jaspal was honoured with 'Siropa', an honourary dress, by Farooq for his research on sacred trees of Sikh religion. Jaspal said though love and respect for nature and environment were common to every faith, the naming of sacred shrines after trees was unique to the Sikh religion. "Sikhism is the only religion that has sanctified its association with trees by remembering its most sacred shrines with the names of different species of trees. No less than 19 species of trees have the honour of more than 50 of the most sacred and historical shrines being named after them," he said. (REOPENS FGN 22) Jaspal also gave Farooq the details of the landscape plan drawn up by him for Nankana Sahib and its environs. He said at the time of birth of Guru Nanak Dev, Nankana Sahib, then known as Talwandi Rai, was little more than a glorified village. "Nankana Sahib and its environs formed part of the subtropical arid zone. Because of the semi-desert conditions, only hardy species like the Van (salvadora oleoides), Jand (prosopis cineraria) and Phulahi (acacia modesta) were found growing." During the time of Guru Nanak, he said, Van, Jand and Phulahi species formed the bulk of the vegetation in scattered groves in Nankana Sahib. These hardy trees regenerate naturally from seeds and Van was especially appreciated for its shade by both man and beast. "It is no wonder that the hymns of Guru Nanak enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, are replete with references to nature, environment, trees, vegetation, plants and animal life," Jaspal said. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was hurled ink outside the Lt Governor's Office by a man claiming to be upset over his much-hyped trip to Finland when the city was grappling with spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases. Sisodia was talking to media persons after meeting Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on the health crisis when the man -- Brijesh Shukla, a resisdent of North East Delhi's Karawal Nagar, threw a bottle of ink at him that splatered across his arms and on portion of his forehead. Sisodia said the ink attack on him was reflection of the "dirty politics of Congress and BJP". Shukla has been arrested for "maligning the image" of the Deputy Chief Minister. He said he was angry with Sisodia for visting Finland at a time when the city was grappling with chikungunya and dengue. Sisodia had returned to the capital last night from his Finland trip. Sisodia was asked by Jung to return to the capital on Saturday but he came back as per schedule yesterday. Reacting to the attack, Sisodia said, "Delhi government is committed to working on health and education. But Congress and BJP are working on ink. They have nothing to do with Delhiites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is the dirty politics of BJP and Congress." He also challenged the BJP-ruled civic bodies to clear the "filth across the city" and hit out at Congress for "ruining" the city's education and health sector during its term. "This is merely a diversionary tactic adopted by them since we are focusing on development," he said. Shukla was questioned for five hours before he was arrested. "A case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC has been registered against Shukla," said DCP(North) Madhur Verma. The officer said Shukla claimed that he had gone to meet LG to discuss some problems being faced at the hospitals in his area. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-owned Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Rs 1.8 lakh-crore capital investment plan over the next six years will not affect the company's credit profile, Fitch Ratings said today. "The large investment plans announced by IOC are in line with the agency's expectations that are incorporated in the assessment of its standalone credit profile of 'BB+'. Fitch equalises IOC's rating with that of its largest shareholder, the state of India, due to their strong operational and strategic linkages," it said in a statement here. IOC, on September 15, had said its capex would be Rs 1.7-1.8 lakh crore over the next six years, including around Rs 15,000 crore in the current fiscal and around Rs 25,000 crore each in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Fitch said it has already factored in most of the capex over the next three years and sees no significant change to its current expectations as a result of this announcement. "We continue to expect IOC's free cash flow to remain negative over the medium term due to the high capex," it said. "However, we still expect IOC's financial profile to remain stable due to strong volume growth and relatively robust refining margins." The rating agency said it expects IOC's credit metrics to weaken marginally, but to remain within levels commensurate with its stand-alone profile over the medium term. Fitch said it has not factored in IOC's investment in the proposed mega refinery project in coastal Maharashtra though. This project is planned along with the other state-owned oil-marketing companies - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. "We anticipate no major investments associated with this project in the medium term, given the early stages of the proposed project. Fitch will take into account IOC's investment share in the proposed project once there is more clarity and certainty on time and quantum of the investments," the statement added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Jessica Alba is reportedly in early talks with bosses at consumer giant Unilever to purchase her hugely successful lifestyle brand, The Honest Company. The 35-year-old "Sin City" star launched the company in 2012 with the aim of selling baby products and household items which do not contain harmful substances, and it was valued at over USD 1 billion last year. The Honest Company has since expanded into beauty and cosmetics, and is said to currently generate an estimated USD 300 million in annual revenue, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Its popularity has attracted the interest of Unilever executives, who have entered into initial takeover discussions with Alba and her team. Representatives for Alba and the British-Dutch multinational firm have yet to comment on the . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australia's iconic gum trees may be used to produce enough low-carbon renewable jet fuel to power five per cent of the world's aviation industry, a new study has claimed. Renewable fuels that could power commercial aeroplanes are limited and expensive but a solution could be growing all around us, according to lead researcher Carsten Kulheim from The Australian National University (ANU). "If we could plant 20 million hectares of eucalyptus species worldwide, which is currently the same amount that is planted for pulp and paper, we would be able to produce enough jet fuel for five per cent of the aviation industry," he said. The aviation sector globally produces about two per cent of all human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Eucalyptus-based fuel would initially be more expensive than fossil fuels to make on a mass scale, but would produce significantly less net carbon emissions, researchers said. Kulheim said powering a modern jet aircraft with anything other than fossil fuels was difficult, due to the high energy required. "Renewable ethanol and biodiesel might be okay for the family SUV, but they just don't have a high enough energy density to be used in the aviation industry," he said. "Eucalyptus oil contains compounds called monoterpenes that can be converted into a very high energy fuel, and this high energy fuel can actually fly jets and even tactical missiles," Kulheim said. The study examined how to boost production of monoterpenes to obtain industrial scales of jet fuel from plants. This includes selecting appropriate species, genetic analysis, advanced molecular breeding, genetic engineering and improvements to harvesting/processing of the oils. Certain monoterpenes commonly found in eucalyptus oils such as pinene and limonene, can be refined through a catalytic process, resulting in a fuel with energy densities suitable for jet fuel, researchers said. Turpentine from pine trees is another potential source of these monoterpenes, but pines grow more slowly than eucalypts. Co-researcher David Kainer, a PhD candidate at the ANU Research School of Biology, said this knowledge can be used to enhance yield through breeding techniques and genetic selection. "We can double, perhaps even triple, the yield that we can get per hectare to make a bigger dent in the aviation fuel industry," he said. "We're looking for species that have the right type of oil and in addition to that, since the oil is in the leaves, they need to grow a lot of leaves in a short amount of time. "Eucalyptus plantations globally produce up to 200kg of oil per hectare per year, but by selecting the best genetic stock they could produce more than 500kg of oil per hectare," said Kainer. Kainer said jet fuel derived from eucalyptus oils would be close to carbon neutral. The study was published in the journal Trends in Biotechnology. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Competition Commission has approved Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Energy's purchase of the 500-mw Bina thermal power plant from Jaiprakash Power Ventures. Under the deal, announced in July, JSW Energy will buy 100 per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) -- Bina Power Supply Ltd (BPSL) -- to which 500 mw power plant is to be transferred. The plant, which has two units of 250 mw generation capacity each, is located at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors, has approved the proposed acquisition, as per latest information available on the regulator's website. In July, JSW Energy informed BSE that it has agreed to acquire 500 mw (2X250 MW) thermal power plant located at Bina. At that point, Jaiprakash Power Ventures had said its board has accepted the recommendations of the committee of directors as well as the audit committee to hive off and transfer of 500 mw Bina thermal power plant as a going concern basis to BPSL, subject to all requisite regulatory and other approvals. The consideration to be received from JSW is linked to a base enterprise value as on September 1, 2015, of Rs 2,700 crore for sale of 100 per cent of BPSL, subject to mutually agreed adjustments, it had said. JSW Energy is into power generation, trading and transmission, among others. Jaiprakash Power Ventures is part of the diversified Jaypee Group. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the aftermath of the Kapil Sharma episode of encroachment on mangrove land and other similar incidents, Maharashtra's Mangrove Cell has decided to fence such areas with a Rs 20 crore budget for the project. "There is 5,469 hectares of mangrove land in Mumbai, which is notified as a reserved forest. Of this, 2-3 per cent is vulnerable to encroachments," Chief Conservator of Forests N Vasudevan told PTI. "This is the same area where encroachments have taken place. A Rs 20 crore project of fencing the same vulnerable area, along with CCTV and satellite-based monitoring has been decided by the Cell," Vasudevan, who heads the Mangrove Cell, said. Most of the encroachments have taken place in areas like Colaba, Trombay, Malvani and Charkop, the senior IFS officer said. According to police, popular standup comedian Kapil Sharma allegedly dumped the debris near mangroves behind his bungalow in suburban Versova and also undertook illegal construction near it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Karnataka Health Minister K R Ramesh Kumar today met his Delhi counterpart Satyendar Jain, who said the former has shown interest in polyclinics and mohalla clinic project in the national capital. The meeting of the two ministers here comes at a time when both the national capital as well as the southern state are battling the menace of dengue and chikungunya. "Had a good meeting with Karnataka health minister Mr KR Ramesh Kumar who showed interest in Mohalla & poly clinics," Jain tweeted, while also sharing a picture of the meet. Delhi and a few other cities in north India are seeing a sudden spike in chikungunya cases. The country saw the last major outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in 2006 when over 13 lakh suspected chikungunya fever cases were reported. This year till September 11, at least 14,656 chikungunya cases have been reported across the country, with Karnataka alone accounting for 9,427 cases. At least 15 fatalities due to chikungunya complications have been reported in Delhi where over 2,000 cases of the vector-borne disease have been recorded. Dengue has claimed 19 lives and affected over 1,300 people in the national capital. Health experts say the sudden "upsurge" of the disease this year could be a result of "evolution" of the viral strain. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two persons were killed and 19 others, including police personnel, were injured in mob violence and subsequent police firing during an eviction drive near Kaziranga National Park today. Police resorted to firing in Banderdubi area under Kaliabor sub-division of Nagaon district after protestors, demanding compensation before they were evicted, turned violent and attacked security forces by pelting stones at them, Assam Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay said. "The eviction was carried out as per orders of the Gauhati High Court and the police used full restraint and minimum force to ensure that the land was cleared of encroachers," he said. The situation turned violent and the police was forced to resort to lathi charge, tear gas and firing which led to the killing of two persons, including a woman, and injury to 19 others, including 15 police personnel due to stone pelting, the DGP said. "There may be a possibility of the people being instigated by a section of people...We are investigating the matter and strict action will be taken as per law against those who provoked the people," the DGP said. Following the incident, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal held an emergency Cabinet meeting and directed that an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh be paid to the next of kin of those dead and Rs 50,000 each to those injured. The Nagaon district administration had decided to carry out the eviction following a Gauhati High Court order in October last year that Banderdubi and Deochurchang areas under Kaliabor sub-division near Kaziranga National Park be cleared of encroachers. (Reopen Cal4) Industry minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told reporters after the meeting that the state government was committed to the protection of Kaziranga and in no way would it disregard the directives of the High Court. "The eviction was carried out as per the orders of the Gauhati High Court and even people of the state want illegal encroachers to be evicted from in and around Kaziranga," he said. The Chief Minister had directed two senior ministers, Minister for Education and Health Himanta Biswa Sarma and Minister for Water Resources, Science and Technology and also the local MLA Keshab Mahanta, to meet the representatives of the two areas before carrying out the eviction. "The court had mentioned nothing about compensation but the state government agreed to pay on humanitarian grounds with affected families agreeing to leave the areas." the minister said. "Today's protests, however, indicate that there may be a third force at work to instigate the affected people which will not be tolerated. The Chief Minister has directed that the matter be investigated and strict action be taken against those involved," he said. Minister for Health and Education Himanta Biswa Sarma complimented the Nagaon district administration for their successful eviction drive in Kaziranga. "Our government will never compromise on JATI (identity), MATI(land) and BHETI(home). On that note, I also assure all deserving land owners that adequate compensation will be paid to all of them," he said. Traditional 'Laldi' folk dance will be revived during the 'International Kullu Dussehra festival' which would commence on October 11, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today. Presiding over Kullu Dussehra committee meeting, Virbhadra Singh said, the week-long festival would commence on October 11 and annual congregation of over 200 local deities of the Kullu Valley, who converge at Dhalpur Maidan to pay obeisanceto Raghunathji, presiding deity of the valley, would be witnessed during the festival. The festival would also witness the 'Trans Himalayan Culture Festival' for which efforts were afoot to invite cultural troupes from the hill regions of the country, including Leh-Ladakh, Arunachal, Manipur etc. A committee would also be re-constituted to organise 'Grameen Khel Utsav' (Rural Sports) comprising of local teams, in which rural games as Kabbadi, Volleyball, Tug-of-war, will be held. The Chief Minister said the 'Kullu Dussehra' is known for its local demigods and ancient age old traditions that govern the lives of the ethnic communities inhabiting the lower Himalayan belts and celebrated since times immemorial. He said the festival was a platform to showcase the rich culture of Himachal Pradesh and all local deities should be invited. Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, Yunus said that as of now Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) had agreed for providing cultural troupes from Bhutan, Sri-Lanka, Russia and Japan and efforts were on to tie up with North Zone Cultural Centre, (NZCC) to provide best folk artists from different states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka today condemned the terror attack on an Indian military base in Kashmir and reaffirmed the "urgent need for sustained" regional and global cooperation to eliminate terrorism. "In the hour of grief, the Government of Sri Lanka offers its condolences to the families of the victims of the attack," a foreign ministry statement said. "Sri Lanka, as a country, that has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism," it said. Sri Lanka reiterates the urgent need for sustained regional and global cooperation to eliminate the menace of terrorism, the statement added. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel. All four terrorists were neutralised. Another jawan today succumbed to his injuries. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India saw a record inflow of over USD 1.3 billion from listed foreign funds in August, primarily on account of strong capital infusion in passive funds, says a report. In comparison, listed foreign funds poured in USD 1.2 billion in July after pulling out USD 332 million in the preceding month. Overall, the country has seen an inflow of USD 545 million so far this year. "Listed fund flows to India recorded USD 1.34 billion in August with strong inflows in passive funds at USD 845 million," said a Kotak Institutional Equities report. India is followed by Taiwan, which attracted an inflow of USD 1 billion. The listed funds -- passive exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and active non-ETFs -- generally account for a large part of foreign portfolio investor (FPI) activity in India. ETFs have seen higher inflows compared with non-ETFs during the month under review. Indian market witnessed inflow worth USD 845 million and USD 499 million in ETFs and non-ETFs segments, respectively. The report, which offers a comprehensive view on fund flows of listed funds into India and other emerging markets, said net FPI activity across emerging markets remained positive in August. "Net FPI activity for calendar continues to be positive on the back of other participants, especially sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), whose share in FPI assets under custody remains around 11 per cent in July from 8 per cent a year ago," it added. Active Asia (excluding-Japan) funds allocated 14.6 per cent to India in July compared with 14.7 per cent a month ago. Active global emerging markets funds reduced their India exposure to 13.2 per cent from 13.4 per cent in June. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen S K Dua today met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra here and briefed him about the deadly terror attack on the Army camp in Uri. "The Governor and the Corps Commander discussed various important issues relating to internal security management and the need for stringent enforcement of counter-infiltration and counter-terrorism grids along the LoC," an official spokesman said after the meeting. The Corps Commander could not attend the security review meeting chaired by the Governor yesterday as he was busy with the visit of Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar and Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh. As many as 18 soldiers were killed in the attack on the army base in Uri sector of Baramulla district yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is on a two-day visit to the USA, reached San Francisco tonight. He arrived in the US to participate in the Oracle Open World 2016. He's the first CM invited to deliver a keynote address before global tech experts. Fadnavis tweeted, "Reached San Francisco. Looking forward to visit @HP & series of meetings. Agenda: Maharashtra's economic growth & employment generation." Oracle will sign an Memorandum of Understanding with the state government to develop a comprehensive ecosystem for Smart City initiative, which includes funding and nurturing 3 smart cities Kalyan Dombivali, Mira Bhayander & Pimpri Chinchwad. In a move aimed at countering the silent morchas being taken out by the Maratha community across the state, Maharashtra government today appointed Rajya Sabha MP and heir of Warrior King Chattrapati Shivaji, Sambhajiraje Bhosale as its Tourism Brand Ambassador. State Tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal said Bhosale will promote the rich legacy of forts built by Shivaji during his reign. Rawal, while speaking to reporters here also announced setting up of a heritage committee which will make recommendations on conservation of heritage forts and promoting luxury tourism in the state. "Chattrapati Sambhajiraje Bhosale will be a member of the committee which will submit its report to the government in four months time," Rawal said. Accepting the governments proposal to be its Tourism ambassador, Bhosale said the heritage policy will seek to make efforts to convey the rich historical legacy to the world at large. "Just like Rajasthan has marketed its historical forts as tourist destinations, the state too intends to showcase the same through the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC)," he said. However, Bhosale refused to comment on the silent morchas being taken out by the Maratha community. The MP said after taking oath as a new member of the Rajya Sabha, he did raise the issue of the gangrape and murder of the teenager in Kopardi during the Zero Hour. "I do not want to take credit for raising the issue of reservation quota for Maratha community and thus I won't speak on the issue. But I will definitely raise this issue when I make my maiden speech in the Parliament," he said. Meanwhile, Rawal lamented at the encroachment of slums in Mahim fort (in Mumbai) and a school being run in a fort in Malegaon in Nashik district. "There is urgent need for control over the heritage forts. The government intends to set up a Directorate of Tourism headed by a director," he said. Rawal announced that the state will celebrate 2017 as year of "Visit Maharashtra" and said it has so many heritage forts steeped in rich history, more than what Rajasthan has. He further said funds will be earmarked in District Planning and Development Committees (DPDCs) of the district for promotion of tourism. Besides this, each district will have its own district tourism plan which will promote religious, tourist, heritage forts, wildlife sanctuaries in the plan, Rawal added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With Chhattisgarh refusing to stop work on the projects being constructed on the upstream of the Mahanadi river, the Odisha government today said it will move the Supreme Court on the issue even as ruling BJD supporters burnt effigies of Uma Bharti and Raman Singh. "The state cabinet yesterday approved a proposal to approach the Supreme Court as the Chhattisgarh government turned down Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's demand of stopping construction of projects on the upstream of Mahanadi," state Excise Minister Damodar Rout told reporters here. "The cabinet fully supports the state government's proposal of approaching the Supreme Court," he said. Patnaik today held parleys with the leaders of different political parties, members of voluntary organisations and experts on the Mahanadi issue. Leaders of CPI, CPI(M), SP, RJD, CPI-ML, Forward Bloc and SUCI took part in the meeting. The chief minister apprised them about the September 17 tripartite meeting at New Delhi. "Representatives of the political parties, who met the chief minister today, have supported the state government's stand on the Mahanadi issue," an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said. "We were apprised of what had happened in the meeting which has already appeared in the media. There was nothing new. We have told the chief minister that the state government delayed in raising its voice against the construction by the Chhattisgarh government," CPI(M) leader Janardan Pati told reporters. He said the CPI(M) has suggested to the state government to approach the Supreme Court to set up a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute as the NDA-led Central government might support Chhattisgarh. Pati also said there was no need to directly approach the Centre for setting up a tribunal as Chhattisgarh was ruled by the BJP. "The Centre will be forced to set up a tribunal if the Supreme Court intervenes," he added. "I have met the leaders of political parties and sought their opinion on the Mahanadi issue. The state government is taking the views of leaders, voluntary organisations and experts seriously," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here. Earlier in the day, ruling BJD activists, led by some MLAs, burnt the effigies of Union minister Uma Bharti and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh at Master Canteen Square here and also at Sambalpur town. The protest of the ruling party was against Singh, who at the September 17 tripartite meeting, refused to stop construction of projects on the upstream of the Mahanadi and also the Centre, which allegedly did not take a "neutral" stand on the dispute. Meanwhile, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said the Centre had assured that there would be no decline in the water flow of the Mahanadi even as Chhattisgarh constructed projects under its jurisdiction. "Hirakud Dam will get the same volume of water as it used to get in the 50s," he told reporters here while accusing the ruling BJD in Odisha of "politicising" the issue. Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra, however, suggested that the state government should directly meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi before approaching the Supreme Court. The government may seek setting up of a tribunal or a river board to resolve the ongoing dispute, he said. Odisha Congress chief Prasad Harichandan blamed both the Centre and the state government for the dispute. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today expressed her apprehensions over calling an all-party meeting on the Uri terror attack. "I do not think it will solve the problem," she told reporters when asked about whether the Central government should call an all-party meet to discuss the situation in wake of the terror attack. "I have some questions in my mind like you. But it is better to keep quiet in the interest of the country," she said, adding that it was not the right time to discuss all these things. "It was very unfortunate. It is the matter of my country and I will not say anything which will hurt the interests of our country," the CM said. Earlier during the day, Banerjee in a tweet condemned the terrorist attack on the Army base at Uri in Kashmir in which 18 soldiers were killed yesterday. In one of the deadliest attacks on the Army in recent years, 18 jawans were killed and 18 others injured as heavily armed militants, suspected to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-e- Mohammed, stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today condemned the terrorist attack on the army base in Uri in Kashmir in which 17 soldiers were yesterday killed. "No words can take away the pain of the 17 families who lost their loved ones in #Uri. India's brave soldiers, salutes. Mortal remains of one brave jawan is being brought to Howrah (sic)," she tweeted. In one of the deadliest attacks on the army in recent years, 17 jawans were killed and 19 others injured as heavily armed militants, suspected to be from Pakistan-based Jaish-e- Mohammed, stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man, who allegedly abducted a six-year-old boy from his school in west Delhi's Mundka to get married to his aunty, has been arrested from Bihar and the child has been rescued, police said. The boy was abducted from his school on September 14 and a case of kidnapping was registered at Mundka police station following the complaint of his mother. The victim's mother alleged that she had received a call from Pintoo who claimed that her son was in his custody and would be released if she agrees to get her sister married to him. Tracking the call details, a police team reached Devli village in Seikh Pura district of Bihar and rescued the boy while arresting the accused Pintoo Kumar from his uncle's house, they said. The accused confessed that he lived with his family in Hiran Kudna village in Bihar where he saw a girl, who is the complainant's sister, and fell in love with her, police claimed. The complainant had gone to her in-laws' place where her sister had come to visit her. Kumar befriended the complainant's husband and later proposed to marry his sister-in-law. However, the proposal was rejected as it was a one-sided affair. Following this, he abducted the boy to put pressure on the complainant to get her sister married to him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man, wanted in several criminal cases, was today shot dead by unidentified assailants near an overbridge under Town police station area in Bihar's Siwan district, a police officer said. Unidentified assailants shot at one Jitendra Kumar Soni (30) while he was sitting at a shop at around 9.30 A.M., Town police station in-charge Subodh Kumar said. Soni, wanted in several cases of serious offences, died on the spot, he said. The body has been handed over to the family for last rites following post-mortem on it, Kumar said. Meanwhile, the victim's father Mahavir Soni has lodged a named FIR against three persons Zahir, Guddu and Haddia, charging them with murdering his son. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man from Mathura, who was stranded for over four months in Saudi Arabia after failing to pay an agent, who had promised him a job in that country, returned with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs, his family members claimed. An agent had taken Virendra (32), a resident of Bhainsa village here and a welder by profession, to Saudi Arabia by promising him a job there. But when he didn't get a job, he asked him to send him home, Prakash Singh, one of his relatives, claimed. The agent started putting pressure on him for Rs 3 to Rs 7 lakh and also seized his passport and other documents, he alleged. Virendra somehow managed to contact his family members and narrated his ordeal. They in turn approached the local police and through them the MEA, Singh claimed. Following this, officials of the Indian Mission in Saudi Arabia yesterday arranged for Virendra's return to Delhi. He reached here today, his elder brother Fatah Singh said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The man, who threw ink at Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today while he was getting into his car outside the Lieutenant Governor's office, has been arrested, police said. Copious amount of ink was thrown at Sisodia by Brijesh Shukla (42) from North-east Delhi's Karawal Nagar who was detained by the police and questioned for five hours before being arrested. Shukla said he was angry with the Deputy Chief Minister for his Finland tour at a time when the city was grappling with a health crisis. The ink was splattered across Sisodia's arms and a portion of his forehead when he was about to get into his car after talking to mediapersons. "A case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC has been registered against Shukla," said DCP(North) Madhur Verma, adding that Shukla has also been charged for manhandling the constable on duty. Shukla claimed that the ink attack wasn't pre-planned and it happened when he got to know that Sisodia was about to come to meet the LG. "Shukla claimed that he had gone to meet the LG to discuss some problems being faced at the hospitals in his area. When he got to know that Manish Sisodia was due to arrive to meet LG, he decided to get a bottle of ink. He was angry at Sisodia for being away to Finland while the city was grappling with cases of dengue and chikungunya. We are investigating his claims," the officer said. The complaint against Shukla was filed by C. Arvind, who is the secretary of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Shukla is the president of Swaraj Janata Party and has been actively engaged in protests against the AAP government over various issues. He keeps filing RTIs seeking information from the government. He had also contested the Assembly elections as an independent candidate in 2003. Sisodia said the ink attack on him is a reflection of "politics by Congress and BJP". Sisodia had returned to the capital last night from his Finland trip. Sisodia was asked by Jung to return to the capital on Saturday but he came back as per schedule yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Manipur Governor Dr. Najma A. Heptulla today conferred the 'Swayamsiddh Samman' of a steel major to 25 traditional artisans. A citation, shawl and cash award was conferred to the highly respected senior artisans who were all above 65 years of age. Speaking on the occasion, the newly appointed Governor said she acknowledged the contribution made by Manipuri artisans in the fields of art, culture and sports. Thanking the President and the Prime Minister for appointing her as the governor of the state, Dr. Heptulla commended the effort of the steel major in promoting Indian tradition across the globe. The 25 senior artisans included 6 women. Dr. Heptulla further remarked she had deep respect for the contribution of the true "gurus" who preserved the ancient Indian tradition of "teacher-student relationships" since the days of British rule and prior to the advancement in technology. Meanwhile, Shallu Jindal, President of the Foundation stated she specially organised "Swayamsiddh Samman" at Imphal after learning the dedication by traditional artisans. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The mortal remains of Havaldar NS Rawat, killed in the Uri terror attack, were today received by the local army unit, family members and representatives of the civil administration here. The mortal remains of the martyr were received at around 4.15 pm and after a wreath-laying ceremony, they were dispatched to his native Rajva village in Rajsamand district by road, a defence spokesperson said. The last rites will be performed tomorrow at Rajva. Rawat, who attained martyrdom in the deadly terrorist attack yesterday at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, is survived by wife Rodi Devi, four daughters -- Payal, Deepa, Lata, Asha -- and son Chandan Singh. Rajasthan Public Works Department Minister Kiran Maheshwari visited the home of the martyr at his native village and consoled the bereaved family members. She also monitored the arrangements for Rawat's funeral to be held tomorrow. The terror attack, believed to be carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), left 18 army jawans killed and more than 20 injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 10-year-old Vansh, the eldest of the two sons of Havildar Ravi Paul Salotra, is aware that his father was martyred in Uri terror attack but that has only strengthened his resolve to don the olive greens to serve the nation and avenge the killing. Ravi Paul of 10 Dogra Regiment was one of the 18 brave soldiers who lost their lives while fighting the four terrorists who attacked the Army Brigade Headquarters in Uri sector of Baramulla district yesterday. He had served the army for 23 years. Besides Vansh, 42-year-old Ravi Paul is survived by his wife Geeta Rani and another son Sudansheesh (7) and 80-year- old mother. Because of Ravi Paul's death, a pall of gloom has descended on his native Sarwa village in Ramgarh sub-sector of Samba district. "My father used to call early in the morning. Yesterday he called us and we spoke in length on various issues. He asked me to concentrate on my studies so that I could fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor in the Indian Army," said Vansh, a class 6th student. When asked whether he was aware of what tragedy has befallen on the family, Vansh, carrying two plastic tricolours, said his father laid down his life for the sanctity of the national flag. "Yes I know that my father laid down his life for this tricolour and I will fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor in the Army so as to avenge the killing of my father," he said. Ravi Paul's two brothers have also served in the Army. In this sleepy Sarwa village of over 120 families, there are many who have donned the olive green uniform at one stage of their life. "Majority of the people in our village are either serving in the Army or have served at one stage of their life. Out of six brothers, my three brothers were in Army and Ravi Paul was the youngest to join the Army," said Joginder Lal Salotra, elder brother of Ravi Paul. He described Ravi Paul as a very jolly and friendly person who used to mingle with everybody in the village. "Whenever he used to come on leave, people used to meet him as he always narrated the stories about his tenure in the Army," Lal said. He said Ravi Paul used to make sure that he calls his family everyday. Mohan Lal Salotra, another brother of the martyr soldier, said he has not only lost a younger brother but a friend who used to share every secret of life with him. "I also served in the Army and after retirement I joined Defence Security Corps (DSE) and I am currently posted in Ludhiana. Though I was elder to Ravi, we were like good friends who used to talk each other daily. "September 17 was the last time we spoke and yesterday when I tried to call him, the line could not go through. Later in the afternoon, somebody called me to inform that my brother has made the supreme sacrifice for the nation," Mohan Lal said. He said his brother wanted both of his sons to become doctors and join the Indian Army to serve the nation, "Now it is our duty to make sure that the dream of our brother is fulfilled". Since the of the martyrdom of Ravi Paul spread, thousands of villagers and relatives started pouring in to the house of the martyr soldier to express their solidarity with the bereaved family. Police today detained the Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and 125 others for trying to block a road near the Collector's office on the issue of non-allotment of land to Dalits in Dholka tehsil of the district. Mevani and some 100 others were first detained when they reached the Collector's office near Subhash Bridge here. Later another 25 agitators were detained, police said. "We released them later," said inspector V B Patel of Ranip police station. Mevani has been leading the Dalit communtiy's agitation against the BJP Government in Gujarat following the Una Dalit flogging incident in July. Police had detained Mevani ahead of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state last week too. At a rally in Dholka yesterday, Mevani claimed that some 300 Dalits from the tehsil who were alloted land by the government many years ago under the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act were still to get the actual possession. "As announced by Mevani in Dholka, he and other Dalit activists today staged a demonstration here to draw the government's attention to the issue," said Mevani's close aide Subodh Parmar, who was also detained by the police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) GVK Power and Infrastructure today said its subsidiary, MIAL, has amicably settled the dispute with HDIL over termination of pact for slum rehabilitation project at the Mumbai international airport. Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL), where GVK is the majority stakeholder, operates the Mumbai airport and the dispute has been going on with HDIL since termination of the agreement in February 2013. In a regulatory filing, GVK Power said an "amicable settlement" has been reached between MIAL and HDIL and that the Arbitral Tribunal passed an award today on the terms of the settlement agreement. All the disputes between HDIL and MIAL "are thus settled on the terms contained in the settlement agreement", GVK Power said. "The parties have signed a settlement agreement dated September 8, 2016, vide which they have irrevocably and unconditionally withdrawn all their respective claims and counter-claims against each other in the present arbitration proceedings," it said in a filing to BSE. Taking into account that considerable time has lapsed from the time the proceedings commenced, the parties held discussions on various issues to put an end to the ongoing arbitration and arrived at an "amicable settlement", the filing said. In a separate filing, Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) also informed the exchange about the settlement with MIAL. "As per the order, there will not be any liability (ies)/claim(s) or damages in future to either party with regard to the airport rehabilitation project," HDIL said. MIAL had entered into an agreement with HDIL in October 2007 for the slum rehabilitation project at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai. However, the pact was terminated by MIAL in February 2013. Challenging the termination of the pact, HDIL invoked the arbitration clause and moved a petition before the Bombay High Court. According to the filing, the plea was rejected by the court, then by a division bench of the court and also by the Supreme Court. An Arbitral Tribunal was constituted, and during a hearing on July 25, it urged both the parties to seriously attempt a settlement of the present dispute, the filing said. Shares of GVK Power rose nearly 6.76 per cent to Rs 6.95 on BSE at the close. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Labelling Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "selfie and promise-making machine", Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today said the promise of 'achhe din' is only meant for the PM's industrialist friends and not for the poor. "Narendra Modi made different promises...Of Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of the people, fair price for farmers, employment to two crore and many others... He is a machine that takes selfies and makes promises," Rahul said addressing a gathering during a road show here as part of his ongoing 'Deoria to Dilli kisan yatra'. Accusing Modi of spreading communal disharmony among the people, Gandhi said, "Modi's core competence is to create hatred among citizens.... Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christians were living peacefully in the country." "During this yatra, I saw mandir and mazars alongside and this is how people live here.. But he (Modi) comes and makes Hindus fight with Muslims. In Haryana he pitted jats and non-jats against each other...We were in government for ten years but there were no riots. But there are riots as he comes," Rahul said. He alleged 'achhe din' have come but only for the Prime Minister and his 12-15 industrialist friends, while the weak and poor suffer due to riots. "Despite all this, he(Modi) says he will bring development...Yes, he will do it and bring achhe din but it will only be for himself and his 12 to 15 industrialist friends," he said. "The weak and poor will suffer as there will be riots and fights...And the country which has to progress will lag behind," Rahul said, adding, Congress and its leaders will not allow this to happen as this country belongs to everyone, all religions, all castes and every poor. Recalling the incident in Deoria, where farmers took away cots after the "khat sabha', Rahul said the poor farmers were branded as 'thieves' but Vijay Mallay who fled away with Rs 10,000 crore is called merely a defaulter. "You saved the biggest thief .. You promise to give a fair and lovely scheme to convert your blackmoney into white," he alleged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) FMCG firm Mondelez International today said it will invest about USD 15 million (Rs 100 crore) to build a global research, development and quality hub in Thane, Maharashtra. "This investment is part of the company's global strategy to develop an research, development & quality (RDQ) 'Network of the Future' at nine advantaged locations around the world over the next two years," the company said in a statement. Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd Managing Director Deepak Iyer said: "With a focus on chocolate and beverages, this centre will combine the high-end skills of our local team with global learnings and best practices to develop products and processes for Mondelez International globally." The new India technical centre will employ over 150 scientists, engineers and other specialists who will focus on developing technology platforms for chocolates and beverages, consumer science, packaging and cross-category productivity. The company said it will "start construction of the Thane facility in December, and the site is expected to be fully operational by mid-2018. The new facility will come up at the site of the previous science and technology centre". In Asia Pacific, the technical centers will be located in Singapore, Suzhou in China and Thane in India. Mondelez India is a part of the Mondelez International group of companies and produces chocolate confectioneries, gum and candy products. Its flagship brand is Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM), while others include Cadbury Bournvita, CDM Silk, Cadbury Choclairs, Gems, 5-Star, Perk, Bournville, Celebrations, Halls, Oreo, Tang and Toblerone. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mosquito-breeding spots have been found in the apartments of five senior IAS officers here, prompting the civic body to intensify its drive to detect and destroy sites harbouring the carriers of deadly diseases like dengue, malaria and chikungunya. After an inspection by a team of the Insecticide Department of Brihnmumbai Municipal Corporation in Yashodhan Building, home to 42 senior IAS officers as well as same number for servant quarters, flats of five of them were found housing aedes aegypti mosquito (that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, among others), a civic official said. "On receiving requests from people residing near Mantralaya, our team went for an inspection during which it found aedes aegypti mosquito breeding spots (in five flats) and destroyed them immediately," said Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner (A-ward). Mantralaya is the administrative headquarters of the Maharashtra Government in South Mumbai and senior officers have been accommodated in buildings built near it. The civic body, since January 1 this year, has filed 927 cases in different courts against those whose premises were found housing mosquito-breeding spots and realised a fine of Rs 26.92 lakh. BMC yesterday served a notice to actor Shahid Kapoor under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, seeking his explanation over mosquito-breeding spots at his residential premises in Juhu Tara Road area. Dighavkar, however, declined to comment whether the civic body would issue notices to the five IAS officers under the same section. As reports of mosquito-breeding spots in IAS officers' flats reached the civic chief, he called a meeting, reviewed the situation and ordered his deputies to step up the anti-mosquito drive. "Civic Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, after chairing the Variation Committee meeting, approved a proposal to hire 285 additional staff on contract to help in the drive. "He instructed heads of all 24 administrative wards to step up the drive to curb the population of mosquitoes," said a statement issued by the civic chief's office. Meanwhile, social activist Anil Galgali demanded that notices be issued to the five bureaucrats as well. "If Shahid Kapoor can be served a notice under the Act, why not these officers? Law enforcement should be equal to all," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese technology giant Lenovo will bring the much-awaited modular smartphone 'Moto Z' to the Indian market in the first week of October. The Moto Z, which was unveiled globally in June this year, allows users to attach a set of accessories called 'mods' to the back of the device that adds various functionalities to the device. "We will launch 8 new devices, of which six we have already announced, in this festive season... This includes the Moto Z," Lenovo India Executive Director Mobile Business Group Sudhin Mathur told PTI. While Mathur declined to comment on the timeline of availability of Moto Z in India, sources said the product could be launched in the first or second week of October. Apart from the device, which is expected to be priced upwards of USD 300 (about Rs 20,000), the 'mods' may be available for USD 50 onwards (about Rs 3,300) in India. Moto Z is currently available in markets like the US, the UK and Latin America in three models (Moto Z Play, Moto Z and Moto Z Force). Lenovo, which had acquired Motorola from Google in a USD 2.9 billion deal in 2014, is betting on India to contribute significantly to its global growth. Last year, Lenovo's revenues from India grew about 90 per cent while its overall revenues were up 68 per cent. According to research firm Gartner, smartphone sales are expected to slow down in 2016 globally, rising only seven per cent compared to double-digit growth seen in previous years. This is on the back of slower sales growth in mature markets like Europe and Japan. India, on the other hand, remains an opportunity and presents the highest growth potential, Gartner said. Recently, Motorola had also run an ad campaign taking a dig at Apple's iPhone 7 and Samsung's Galaxy Note 7. The ad with the tagline #SkiptheSevens urged consumers to "go for something new, something different." Motorola today launched 'Moto E Power', priced at Rs 7,999. The smartphone will be available through e-commerce platform Flipkart from mid-night tonight. The 4G handset features a 5-inch display, 1 GHz quad-core Mediatek processor, 2GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory (expandable up to 32 GB), 8MP rear and 5MP front camera and 3,500 mAh battery. "Moto E Power is an affordable 4G smartphone designed to keep up with the consumer's non-stop life. They can watch videos and make conversations to their heart's content with a long-lasting battery... It is compatible with Reliance Jio and users can avail the Reliance Jio welcome offer," Motorola Mobility India General Manager Amit Boni said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav today observed a day-long 'maun vrat' (silent protest) over the issue of malnutrition, which the party claimed, had taken the lives of "over one lakh children in the last 12 years". He observed the protest at the Congress office here to highlight the issue. "More than one lakh children died due to malnutrition in the state since last 12 years despite the government spending over Rs 22 billion to tackle it under different schemes every year," a statement issued by the party on the occasion said. "This year alone, more than 9,000 kids died due to this," it said. Referring to Sheopur, where senior Congress leader and MP Jyotiraditya Scindia yesterday visited to highlight the issue, the party claimed that from April 1, 2014 to January this year, 1,280 children have died due to the menace. Meanwhile, Yadav told PTI by writing on a slate, "It is really painful that so many children died in the state because of malnutrition." "Six to seven kids from Sheopur were admitted in the Red Cross hospital today. A delegation of senior Congress MLAs will be going to the region soon to assess the situation," he wrote. Efforts to contact the government officials concerned proved futile. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry here, urging Washington to "play a role" in the resolution of the dispute. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry & PM of New Zealand," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. "PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir," she said. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif will address the UN General Assembly's high-level summit on refugees and migrants today and address the General Debate on September 21. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Neil Diamond is returning to holiday music with the release of his new festive record Acoustic Christmas. The new album will feature acoustic versions of classic Christmas songs including "O Holy Night", "Silent Night", and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". There will also be original tracks from the "Sweet Caroline" hitmaker, like "Christmas Prayers" and "#1 Christmas Record", reported Contactmusic. "One need look no further than Neil's earliest hits to know that something special happens when you set his voice in the middle of a few acoustic guitars: the vibrant expression that lives in the nuances of Neil's singing moves to the forefront and creates a profoundly intimate experience," producer Don Was said. "The vibe in the studio seems inspired by the folk scene of Neil's early years in Greenwich Village, (New York)." "He's got such a warm voice like gravy or hot chocolate," producer Jacknife Lee added. "The moments that worked so well during those sessions were when Neil sat with us and played the songs on the sofa, with his acoustic guitar, and we'd all pick up instruments that were lying about and join in. It was like traditional holiday gathering, when small family groups would sing together at home." Diamond, 75, is no stranger to Christmas albums - his previous releases include 2009's A Cherry Cherry Christmas, 1992's The Christmas Album, and 1994's The Christmas Album, Volume II. The album will hit stores next month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda today cancelled his scheduled visit to the UN taking into account concerns raised by Madhesis and other agitating parties over the implementation of the new Constitution. Prachanda was scheduled to fly to New York today to take part in the 71st Session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He decided not to leave Nepal at present taking into consideration the voices raised by the agitating parties and the general public to focus on the resolution of concerns raised by them, implementation of the Constitution and reconstruction in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Prime Minister's Secretariat said. Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, who flew to New York from New Delhi, would lead the Nepali delegation to the UNGA after Prachanda cancelled his trip, Himalayan Times reported. In his address at the UNGA, Mahat would touch issues such as international migration and refugees, sustainable development agenda, Nepal's post-constitution political development as well as post-earthquake reconstruction on behalf of the Nepal government. Prachanda returned home from a state visit to India yesterday and said his first overseas visit to India was successful and focused on creating an "environment of trust" and effectively implement bilateral projects for Nepal's benefit. With the support from the Madhesi parties, Prachanda, who joined hands with the largest party Nepali Congress to oust CPN-UML Chairman and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli, was elected Nepal's Prime Minister on August 3. Even after 45 days after his election as the Prime Minister, an agreement forged by his party CPN Maoist Centre and the Nepali Congress with the Madhesi parties on the amendment of Constitution is yet to be implemented. The Madhesi people allege that the Constitution is discriminatory to their interest and marginalise them politically. (Reopens FGN 27) Nepal needs to attain infrastructure milestone by 2030 which includes generating 10,000 MW power, connecting all cities and local bodies with blacktopped roads, completing fast-track expressway and major trunk roads integrating with neighbouring economies, having modern international airport, and establishing urban systems to provide quality municipal services, Wenchai said. Assuring ADB's continued support to Nepal's development endeavour, he said ADB is expecting the current 300 million annual lending to Nepal be increased to 1.2 billion in 2017-19 period, subject to readiness of projects and improved implementation performance. He also congratulated political leadership of Nepal for "making efforts to implement the new Constitution by forging a political consensus, while at the same time taking concrete steps to open a new era towards economic prosperity. SBI chairperson on Monday said the stressed assets level in the banking sector will come down once the key industrial sectors start functioning at their optimum capacity. During a media interaction, the SBI chief said that most industrial units are working at 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity against the desired 80 to 85 per cent. "NPAs will start coming down as the demand comes back in the economy and then you see more and more capacity utilisation, which is still sub-optimal. Be it manufacturing units or power plants, most of them are running at around 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity," Bhattacharya said. "When this comes up to 80 to 85 per cent capacity, you will definitely see NPAs coming down," she said when asked about Non Performing Assets (NPAs). She was here to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of SBI's Local Head Office (LHO) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near here. The 14-storey tower will come up at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Upon completion, current LHO in Ahmedabad will be shifted here. During her visit at the GIFT City on Monday, Bhattacharya also inaugurated SBI's IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at International Financial Services Centre (IFCS) in the GIFT Special Economic Zone. Commenting on the recent announcement about the merger of SBI and its subsidiaries, Bhattacharya said the merger is essential in the wake of tough competition from Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). "The merger is essential, because today banking is evolving at very fast rate. You face competition from not only other banks, but also from NBFCs. In order to sustain profitable growth, it is important for us to consolidate, because small organisations do not have such strength or capital," she added. Commenting on a recent report that employees of some banks are depositing money from their pockets into Jan-Dhan accounts, Bhattacharya said, "I am not aware of this fact. It is not something which happens in our bank, and I can assure you on that. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also present for the foundation stone laying ceremony of the LHO. Rupani urged Bhattacharya and her team to complete the construction of LHO as soon as possible. SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya today said the stressed assets level in the banking sector will come down once the key industrial sectors start functioning at their optimum capacity. During a media interaction, the SBI chief said that most industrial units are working at 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity against the desired 80 to 85 per cent. "NPAs will start coming down as the demand comes back in the economy and then you see more and more capacity utilisation, which is still sub-optimal. Be it manufacturing units or power plants, most of them are running at around 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity," Bhattacharya said. "When this comes up to 80 to 85 per cent capacity, you will definitely see NPAs coming down," she said when asked about Non Performing Assets (NPAs). She was here to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of SBI's Local Head Office (LHO) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near here. The 14-storey tower will come up at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Upon completion, current LHO in Ahmedabad will be shifted here. During her visit at the GIFT City today, Bhattacharya also inaugurated SBI's IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at International Financial Services Centre (IFCS) in the GIFT Special Economic Zone. Commenting on the recent announcement about the merger of SBI and its subsidiaries, Bhattacharya said the merger is essential in the wake of tough competition from Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). "The merger is essential, because today banking is evolving at very fast rate. You face competition from not only other banks, but also from NBFCs. In order to sustain profitable growth, it is important for us to consolidate, because small organisations do not have such strength or capital," she added. Commenting on a recent report that employees of some banks are depositing money from their pockets into Jan-Dhan accounts, Bhattacharya said, "I am not aware of this fact. It is not something which happens in our bank, and I can assure you on that. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also present for the foundation stone laying ceremony of the LHO. Rupani urged Bhattacharya and her team to complete the construction of LHO as soon as possible. Pharma firm Nutraplus India is planning to enter the formulations segment as it also takes steps to strengthen presence in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). "As a forward integration measure, we look forward to enter into the formulations segment of the pharmaceutical market, which would help us to have greater economies of scale and better margins," Nutraplus India said in a investor presentation. "Instead of targeting high margin branded APIs, we are targeting generic/unbranded APIs which have higher growth potential as countries try to reduce their overall healthcare costs," Nutraplus India said. Even in the face of stiff competition, the company plans to increase manufacturing capacity and gain traction in the Indian domestic APIs industry, it added. The company is also planning to manufacture around 50 APIs in the next three years, Nutraplus India said. The Mumbai based firm has acquired land for a manufacturing facility in Dahej in Gujarat and expects to start commercial operations in about 18 months. Shares of Nutraplus India closed at Rs 85.70 per scrip on BSE today, down 0.17 per cent from its previous close. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dutch electronic chip firm NXP expects contribution of startups to its Indian business to grow 10 times in the next three years under its new strategy to push innovation in the country. "As per the Innovate India approach, we will have various things from our side from time to time. We cannot open multiple fronts at one go. From IoT (internet of things) and Wearable, for NXP as business it should go by 10 times in 3 years of what we get from startups," Ashok Chandak, Senior Director, Global Sales and Marketing for NXP Semiconductors told PTI. The company has launched two electronic platforms - WaRP7 and Hexiwear - which are like motherboard with some electronic chipsets like processor, sensors, chargers that startups can use for building prototype of their wearable or any other product that can be connected to internet. "We want endless innovation to come out of it. Not only giving a platform. We are talking to some startups and lot of ideas have came out like testing of toxic in area, vehicle tracking, etc. Prototype and testing can be done using our platform and then decide on form factor. This will reduce time to go to market," Chandak said. He said WaRP7 and Hexiwear will be available on e-commerce platform. Chandak said this initiative can bring down the cost of smart wearables in India where raw material cost is just 20-25 per cent and rest is the design and marketing cost. The platforms launched by NXP can be linked with 200 more electronic circuits or boards to create differentiated products, he said. "As part of marketing approach and distribution strategy, I am trying to work with some incubation centres in the country. As part of digital marketing campaign we have 8 distributors in the country. With this, we have 700-800 staff in the field to reach out to startups," Chandak said. NXP will also provide technical support to startups under the project and connect firms with venture capitalists and other investors if required, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As law enforcement authorities arrested a 28-year-old Afghan-origin American in connection with weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, President today lauded the "tough" and "resilient" people of the two cities and asked Americans not to succumb to fear terrorists and violent extremists are trying to instill. Obama, who is in the city for the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly, praised the "tough" and "resilient" response of the people of New York and New Jersey to the weekend's bombing plots. "Folks around here, they don't get scared. They go about their business every single day. That's the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an American," Obama said. He added that terrorists and violent extremists don't just want to cause harm to individual people but want to "inspire fear in all of us, and disrupt the way we live, to undermine our values". "They are trying to hurt innocent people, but they are also trying to inspire fear in all of us. We all have a role to play as citizens in making sure we don't succumb to that fear," Obama said. Obama was speaking shortly after 28 year old Afghan-born American Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted in connection with weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, was taken into custody following a shootout with police. Obama did not mention Rahami by name but said there is "a person of interest who is the focus of the investigation". He said he had spoken to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to offer federal help. He noted that law enforcement is asking for the help of the community and that the investigation into the bombing "is moving rapidly and if you see something suspicious, then you need to say something," he said. He also asked that the press try to refrain from getting out ahead of the investigation. The FBI and other federal agencies are out in strong force in the area because of the UNGA meeting happening here now. They are "moving smartly" together, Obama said as he urged reporters to "stick to what our investigators say. He said he sees no connection between the bomb plots in New York and New Jersey and the stabbing in Minnesota. Obama did not point out a link to terrorism, but said "we will continue to lead the global fight" against those instigating to carry out attacks over the internet. "They are continuing to lose ground in Iraq and Syria," and as they lose territory it helps counter-terrorism efforts to undermine their ideology and make it harder for them to recruit," he said. The average rental for office space remained stable in Delhi-NCR during the first six months of this year although Gurgaon and Noida saw marginal rise in rents, according to property consultant JLL India. Office rent increased 5 per cent in Noida and 1 per cent in Gurgaon, respectively. Gross rentals in the Delhi-NCR market remained static in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015. "At Rs 77 per sq ft per month (on a stock-weighted basis), the third largest office market in India - in terms of stock - showed no appreciation in city-level average rents," JLL India CEO - Operations & International Director Santhosh Kumar said. Among micro-markets, Gurgaon and Noida saw a marginal rise in rentals with average rents increasing to Rs 75 in Gurgaon, and Rs 43 per sq ft in Noida, clocking a year-on-year increase of 1 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. "The relatively affordable rents in both Noida and Gurgaon micro-markets make them maintain their attractiveness for IT/ ITeS players," Kumar said. In terms of having the most grade-A office stock, Gurgaon micro-market leads the way followed by Noida and Secondary Business Districts (SBD). "Delhi city has limited grade-A supply. The emergence of Gurgaon and Noida as key office corridors was largely due to lack of adequate land limiting the development potential in Delhi city. "Also, the main city of Delhi has often seen developers employ the strata sale model while lease model is more prevalent in the suburban locations, which makes the latter more attractive to large occupiers," JLL said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif today met his top commanders and said the military was "watchful" towards the security imperatives of the country in the wake of "hostile narrative" by India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. The Corps Commanders' Conference - held in Rawalpindi and chaired by Gen Sharif - reviewed external and internal security situation and operational preparedness of the army, the army said in a statement. "Taking note of a hostile narrative being propagated by India, COAS (Gen Sharif) said that we are fully cognizant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan," the statement said. "Armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat," he said, expressing his satisfaction over operational preparedness of the army. "Pakistan's armed forces together with our resilient nation have surmounted every challenge and will thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan in future as well," Gen Sharif said during the meeting. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People of four villages in Maharashtra turned up in large number to share the grief of the families of four bravehearts from the state, who were among the 18 jawans martyred in the Uri terror attack. Sandip Somnath Thok (24) from Nashik district, Chandrakant Shankar Galande from Satara, Vikas Janardhan Kulmethe (27) from Yavatmal district and Panjab alias Vikas Janrao Uike (26) from Amravati, lost their lives in yesterday's attack. Villagers of Jashi in Mann tehsil of Satara district made a beeline to the house of Galande ever since the of his killing reached the village. Galande's brothers Manjya Bapu and Keshav are also in the armed forces. The family has a home on the outskirts of the village, where the slain soldier's wife and two children live. Now, villagers are waiting for the mortal remains to reach Jashi by road, after being flown to Pune. At Khandagali village in Nashik district, the family of armyman Sandip Somnath Thok, killed in the Uri attack, is mourning for the soldier, who was a bachelor. Sandip is survived by parents, elder brother Yogesh and two married sisters. Somnath, father of the 25-year old, is an onion farmer. Sandip had joined the Army in 2014, after repeated attempts to join the armed forces. Ten youths from the village are serving in the armed forces. Villagers are awaiting the arrival of the martyr's mortal remains for the last rites. Purad Nerad in Wani tehsil of Yavatmal district is mourning the death of Vikas Janardhan Kulmethe. Vikas, who joined the Army in 2008 and was transferred to the camp at Uri six months ago, had got married two years back. He is survived by his wife Sneha (23), his four-month old daughter, younger brother and parents. His body would be flown from Delhi to Nagpur tonight and would be taken to his native village by road. Meanwhile, the mortal remains of Vikas Janrao Uike is being brought to his native Nandgaon Khandeshwar town in Amravati district for funeral. Uike, who joined Bihar Battalion at Chandrapur in 2009, had served in Assam and Bengal, before being posted in Jammu-Kashmir three months ago. He leaves behind his parents, a brother and a married sister. His father Janrao said, they were planning to marry him off soon. "We had planned to solemnise the engagement in Diwali, but all our plans have been shattered," he told (REOPENS BOM 17) Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has announced financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh each to the families of the martyred jawans from the state. "The People v OJ Simpson" triumphed at the 68th Primetime Emmys, winning five awards including best limited series, while fantasy drama "Game of Thrones" was honoured as the best drama for the second consecutive year. "Veep" was named best comedy series and its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, won a record-breaking fifth Emmy as best comedy actress. "The People v OJ Simpson", which is the dramatic retelling of the infamous O J Simpson's murder trial, was honoured for its writing and captured several acting awards. Courtney B Vance bagged best actor in limited series or movie, Sarah Paulson won best actress and the best supporting actor honour to Sterling K Brown. "Obama out, Hillary in," Vance said as he wrapped his victory speech. HBO series "Game of Thrones", the fantasy saga based on George RR Martin's novels, made Emmy history, pushing its lifetime total number of awards to 38 - one more than "Frasier", the previous all-time record holder. Besides best drama, "GOT" won David Benioff and DB Weiss the best writing in a drama series honour and best directing in a drama series for Miguel Sapochnik. The series already became the most-honoured drama series after picking up nine Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony last weekend. Overall it won 12 Emmys this year, out of 23 total nominations. This year, however, the series lost in the drama acting categories, which were far from predictable. Rami Malek of "Mr Robot" and "Orphan Black" actress Tatiana Maslany overcame heavyweight competition to be named best actor and best actress, respectively. "Oh, my God. Please tell me you're seeing this too," Malek, who plays an emotionally troubled engineer caught up in a dangerous hacking conspiracy, said after winning the honour. The Emmys also did not shy from honouring minority talents as Indian-origin actor-writer-director Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang received the best writing for a comedy series honour for "Master of None." Louis-Dreyfus used her victory at the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted ceremony, which was witnessed several starts making sharp political jabs, to take a dig at GOP contender Donald Trump. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally apologise for the current political climate. I think that 'Veep' has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary," she said. She promised to "rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it. A shaking Louis-Dreyfus ended her speech by dedicating the trophy to her father, who she said died on Friday. Jeffrey Tambor captured his second consecutive best comedy actor trophy for "Transparent," in which he plays a transgender character. He called for Hollywood to make him the last non-transgender actor to get such a role. "Transparent" director Jill Soloway was honoured for his direction to the comedy series. Maggie Smith was named best supporting actress in a drama series for the final season of "Downton Abbey." It was her third win for playing the role of a dowager and like always she didn't attend the ceremony. "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kate McKinnon won the trophy for best supporting actress in a comedy for, officially, playing various characters. "Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, thank you, Hillary Clinton," she said, naming two of the famous people she's caricatured on the show. Ben Mendelsohn of "Bloodline" won best supporting drama actor. John Oliver received the best variety talk series award for "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver." Regina King won the award for supporting actress in a limited series for "American Crime". Louie Anderson was honoured as best supporting actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of a loving but tough mom in "Baskets." The award for best direction for a limited series, movie or drama went to Susanne Bier for "The Night Manager." "The Voice" was named best reality-competition program. The best television movie honour was given to "Sherlock: The Abominable Bride. The Centre today urged Delhi High Court to grant them more time to file their response to a plea challenging legal provisions and Supreme Court rules for designation of lawyers as senior advocates. The request was made before a bench headed by Justice S Ravindra Bhat, who on August 1 had issued notice to the Centre and Bar Council of India, seeking their reply to the petition by a lawyers' body which contended that designation of senior advocate created a different class of lawyers. Allowing the Centre's request, the court adjourned the matter for November 22. The plea by the lawyers' body, National Lawyers' Campaign For Judicial Transparency And Reforms, has alleged that the designating only some advocates as 'seniors' violated fundamental rights including that of right to life, free speech and equal opportunity in employment guaranteed under the Constitution as it creates a different class of lawyers. It has also sought that the provisions in the Advocates Act, which allegedly create this distinction, be declared ultra vires the Constitution and void ab initio. The lawyers' body has said in their plea that there should not be any difference in dress code between designated senior advocates and other lawyers. It has claimed that under the Advocates Act, primacy in proceedings was given to senior advocates and claimed that this was unconstitutional. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Determined to use a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response to Uri attack, India is likely to expose Pakistan before the world community by furnishing it with actionable evidence regarding its sponsoring of terrorism and press for isolating the nation. India is also planning to hand over to Pakistan evidence of the four terrorists using Pakistani-marked weapons, food, energy drinks and GPS trackers which they carried to enter Jammu and Kashmir from across the Line of Control. Indications in this regard came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a nearly two-hour meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and other top officials to discuss India's response. Top brass of the government is convinced that India has to launch a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response and expose Pakistan in international forums like the UN, whose General Assembly is in session, official sources said. As part of the plans, the Director General of Military Operations will hand over all the evidence linking Pakistan's involvement in Uri attack to his Pakistani counterpart shortly. At the meeting where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was conspicuously absent, the top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri, the sources said. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief, who visited Kashmir after the terror attack yesterday, also apprised the Prime Minister about their observations, they said. Heavily-armed terrorists, believed to be from Pakistan-based JeM, had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. India has reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with the Prime Minister strongly condemning it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed deep sadness over the bus mishap in Bihar's Madhubani in which a number of people were killed and said his thoughts were with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. "Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Bihar's Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," he tweeted. Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Bihars Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 19, 2016 A private bus, carrying 65 passengers, was on way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when it fell into a pond at Basaitha chowk along the state highway. Some of the passengers swam to safety while 10 bodies were fished out from the pond, according to Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar Barnwal who said six others were feared dead in the mishap. Police have arrested four more persons, including a retired Army jawan, in connection with a recruitment scam. Retired jawan Resham Singh and serving Army personnels Havildar Prabas Kumar, Hariom Sharma and Pawan Kumar were arrested from various places in north India yesterday. They would be brought here by tomorrow, In-charge of Upnagar police station, Ashok Bhagat said. They were involved in preparation of fake recruitment documents, he said. Police has earlier arrested Col (retd) Sukhpritsingh Randhawa (59), a resident of Noida, on September 1. The racket came to light in July when recruitment letters of four jawans from Rajasthan who had joined the Artillery Centre here for training were found to be fake. Investigation revealed that some people were selling the youth bogus recruitment letters of the Army. Before Randhawa, police had arrested Army jawan Giriraj Singh Chouhan, who was posted in Delhi, and an alleged middleman named Tekchand Meghawal. A total of 10 persons have been arrested so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 28-year-old naturalised American citizen of Afghan descent was arrested today by US authorities following a shootout hours after the New York mayor conceded that the blast that injured 29 people here could be an act of "terrorism" with foreign links. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man suspected in bombings in New York and New Jersey, is now in custody after a shootout with police, CNN reported. The shootout happened in Linden, New Jersey, a local and federal law enforcement official said. Rahami was taken to an ambulance in a stretcher with his right shoulder bloodied and bandaged. Two officers were hit in the shootout with Rahami in Linden, New Jersey, the mayor of the nearby city of Elizabeth said. One officer's vest was struck, and the other was shot in the hand. Rahami, wanted for questioning in connection with bombings in New York and Seaside Park, New Jersey, is also believed to be connected to the pipe bombs found in a backpack on Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey, sources said. "Rahami is a US citizen of Afghan descent. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is about 5'6 tall, has brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair," the FBI had said adding the suspect could be "armed and dangerous". Rahami will be questioned in connection with the explosion that occurred yesterday in Chelsea district of Manhattan, New York, and injured 29 people, it said. A second bomb that was discovered nearly four blocks away was defused successfully by the bomb disposal squad. Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said there were "certain commonalities among the bombs," that went off in New York yesterday and New Jersey today, leading authorities to believe "that there was a common group behind the bombs." "The more we learn with each passing hour, it looks more like terrorism," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a TV interview today. Yesterday, the city administration while conceding that the blast was "intentional," was careful not to use the word "terrorism". "Today's information suggests it may be foreign-related but we'll see where it goes," Cuomo told another TV channel. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said that President Barack Obama has been informed about the developments and he will make a statement later today. Earlier, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing. Security had already been tightened in the city for the ongoing UN General Assembly, but the presence of officers throughout New York City after the blast will be "bigger than ever," de Blasio said. Earlier today, the FBI found five explosive devices at a train station in New Jersey. One of the devices detonated while a police robot was trying to disarm it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) District police offices and other structural works as regards the proposed new districts will be ready by October 1, said Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma today. Police personnel with less than a year of service for superannuation, shall be posted as per their "willingness", he said at a review meeting with the SPs of all the districts. The Telangana government is in the process of creating 17 more districts from the existing 10, taking the total number of districts in the state to 27 and a draft notification has already been issued in this regard, seeking opinions and suggestions from the stakeholders. The DGP said wherever government buildings are vacant, the SP concerned is empowered to take it, upon obtaining the consent of the District Collector, and in case of private buildings, the rent shall be fixed as approved by the Roads and Buildings Department. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda today cancelled his scheduled visit to the UN to address the concerns of ethnic groups over the new Constitution, which he said must be open to amendments as the Madhes-based communities are still dissatisfied. Prachanda was supposed to fly to New York today to take part in the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly leading the Nepalese delegation. He had returned home yesterday on completion of his four- day tour to India. "The Prime Minister decided not to leave the country after voices were raised from several quarters that he is required to work towards addressing the concerns and grievances raised by the Madhesi, Tharu and ethnic minority groups," reads a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. On behalf of the government of Nepal, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat will lead the country at the UN, it said. Sources said it was high time that the prime minister focussed on implementation of the Constitution and carry out reconstruction work of the damaged structures, so he decided to cancel the foreign trip. Meanwhile, addressing a programme in Nepal Army pavilion here to mark the Constitution Day, Prachanda said the statute can mature only after timely amendments to cater to the needs of the people. The Constitution must be open to amendments as the Madhes-based communities are still dissatisfied with the existing one, he said. The Madhesis, who are mostly of Indian-origin, say that the Constitution is discriminatory to their interest and marginalises them politically. The Prime Minister congratulated the people of Nepal as the nation marked the first anniversary of achieving the decades-long dream of promulgating a people-written Constitution. He also said the government was active towards holding elections at all three tiers including local, provincial and federal levels and would soon announce the dates for them. President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Deputy prime ministers, ministers, high-ranking government officials, chiefs of diplomatic missions, among others were present on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission today ordered a comprehensive probe into the alleged suicide of Ram Kumar, accused in the murder of 24-year-old IT professional Swathi. Taking suo motu congnisance of a media report on the death of Ram Kumar yesterday at the Puzhal Central Prison here, SHRC chairperson Justice T Meenakumari directed the ADGP/Director, Investigation Division of the SHRC to "hold an inquiry by a senior officer and submit a comprehensive report within two weeks." Ram Kumar allegedly committed suicide by biting an electric wire in the dispensary of the jail yesterday and a hospital later declared him brought dead. The SHRC directive comes amid allegations of conspiracy and foul play by Ram Kumar's kin, who raised doubts over the probability of a prisoner committing suicide in a high security central jail. Also, the matter has gone to the Madras High Court. Opposition political parties including DMK, and CPI(M) have demanded a judicial inquiry by a High Court judge over the incident. DMK chief Karunanidhi today said, "It is not believable that he bit an electric wire." He wondered if it was possible for Ram Kumar to bite the wire "in broad daylight" without the knowledge of prison guards and questioned where the sentries had gone at the time of the incident. "Even if what had happened was suicide, appropriate action should be taken against those who were responsible for the negligence," he said, adding that the government should take responsibility for the incident. Government Royapettah Hospital authorities told PTI that an autopsy on the body would be conducted tomorrow. Meanwhile, an inquiry was conducted today at Puzhal Central Prison by Judicial Magistrate S Thamil Selvi. According to officials, she held detailed inquiry for over an hour with the both prison authorities and inmates and visited various blocks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje today accused the former Congress government for "stalling development" in the state saying that "the previous government only focused on their own development". "Our government's slogan is 'Sabka Saath - Sabka Vikas' while the previous government worked with the matra of self development. The previous government only focused on their own development," Raje said. "If the development had taken place during sixty years as we made in our tenure of two and half years, the scenario of the state would have been different," she said. Raje was addressing a ceremony organised for various public development works in Dausa district. Raje said cleanliness campaign will start in the state from October 2 keeping in view the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She appealed to the people of the state to contribute in this campaign. She said the state government is organising 'Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) in November this year where 20 per cent participants out of 50,000 will be women. He said the 10 best teachers of Rajasthan government-run schools will be felicitated in Dubai where they will have an opportunity to interact and share their teaching experience with world-level educators. The event in Jaipur will hold teaching and learning sessions, with concerts, master classes, exhibitions and talent competition. Gems education, in partnership with the state government, will adopt 50 Adarsh and Utkarsh Vidyalayas in the state and try to fill the infrastructure gap. With an objective of improving teaching and learning process, it will contribute towards curriculum enhancement and capacity building. It will also adopt five District Institution of Education and Training (DIET) and State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT) Udaipur. Automobile industry is ready to meet BS-VI emission norms by 2020 despite a steep target and is poised for implementation of BS IV across India from April 1, 2017, waiting for nation-wide fuel availability, according to SIAM. The auto industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), however, cautioned that once the industry has chosen to go down the path of leapfrogging the emission norms, this road map should not be changed or delayed mid-way for any reason. It also expressed concern that exemptions given to oil companies in some of the fuel specifications will make it even more difficult for the auto industry to meet other mandatory norms like those on fuel efficiency. "India has been the fastest at adopting new safety and emission norms. This leapfrog would make India the first country in the world to accomplish such an accelerated progression in vehicular emission norms," SIAM President Vinod Dasari said in a statement. Indian auto industry is committed to meeting the challenge of complying with BS VI emission norms by 2020. The target is very stiff, but the auto industry has accepted the challenge in view of the rising concerns on vehicular pollution, especially in urban metros, he added. Dasari said the move will not only entail a significant "telescoping of long-term investments into a much shorter timeframe of 3-4 years, but also deployment of a much larger technical resource drawn from the world over to enable compression in the time taken for technical development, testing and validation of the vehicles in Indian conditions". He, however, cautioned that "once the industry has chosen to go down the path of leapfrogging the emission norms, this road map should not be changed or delayed mid-way for any reason". Expressing concern over fuel availability, Dasari said the auto industry was hoping that "the oil sector would fulfil its role by making the required fuel available on a country-wide basis as per the new timeline and have testing fuel available a year sooner". "Also for two-wheelers, even the Euro 5 Emission Norms (equivalent to BS VI) in Europe is not yet finalised. This is a matter of concern for the two-wheeler industry, as our regulation will be ahead of even Europe," he said. On BS IV, Dasari said the auto industry is fully committed to and ready for implementing BS IV across the country on April 1, 2017 and is now waiting for the fuel availability on a pan-India basis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A section of farmers and villagers today gheraoed the authorities of district administration and city airport, who had gone to SIHF colony here to erect a wall as part of Airport expansion work, seeking compensation for the land acquired for the project, police said. As the officials arrived at the spot for constructing the wall, some 150 villagers and farmers rushed and prevented the officials from the carrying out the work, police said. The villagers then told them that about 60 acres of land were acquired by the government for airport expansion three decades ago and compensation was yet to be paid for the same. They also demanded that the government pay the compensation as per the prevailing market value in the area, police said. However, police officials managed to convince the agitators and assured to take up the issue with the concerned authorities, after which they dispersed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With India re-working taxation treaty with Singapore, an influential grouping of overseas investors has said capital gains tax exemption should be retained in the pact for FPIs in listed securities as that would "greatly ease" concerns of foreign investors. Seeking elimination of capital gains tax on portfolio investments in listed securities, Hong Kong-based Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) also said that India's tax system is "complex" and "operationally burdensome" to comply with. "Retention of capital gains tax protection in Singapore treaty, at least for foreign portfolio investments in listed securities, will greatly ease foreign investors' concerns and make doing business in India easier," ASIFMA's Patrick Pang told PTI from Hong Kong. Pang is the Managing Director - Head of Fixed Income and Compliance - at ASIFMA. It has more than 90 member firms including banks, asset managers, law firms and market infrastructure service providers. India is re-negotiating its tax treaty with Singapore following the revision of pact with Mauritius to ensure that similar provisions related to capital gains tax are in place. Stating that Singapore has a robust regulatory regime and tight anti-money laundering requirements, Pang said tax treaty with that country should be considered on its own merits. "It should not be tied to Mauritius, as they are fundamentally different. Retention of capital gains tax protection in Singapore treaty, at least for foreign portfolio investments in listed securities, will greatly ease foreign investors' concerns," he said. Further, Pang said India's tax system is "complex and operationally burdensome to comply with in the first place", as there are different rates between stock and futures, and trading around dividend dates, among others. In addition, he said developments related to tax treaties and GAAR (General Anti Avoidance Rules) are causing much more concern for overseas investors, particularly foreign portfolio investors (FPI). ASIFMA noted that if the applicability of GAAR is not clarified, then it would be difficult for an FPI to know if a capital gains tax exemption is possible under a tax treaty. GAAR is set to be implemented from April 1, 2017. Calling for elimination of capital gains tax on portfolio investments in listed securities, Pang said such a move would remove uncertainties in investing in India. "India is an outlier in terms of imposing capital gains tax on portfolio investments in listed securities, and is one of the rare countries to impose both a capital gains tax and STT (Securities Transaction Tax) on listed securities transactions," he noted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today said India should launch "surgical bombardment" on terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to retaliate against the attack on the Army base in Uri. Swamy, who met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier in the day, said the terror attack and the killing of jawans at "Pakistan's behest" represents a paradigm change in the "reckless disregard and audacity" of Pakistan which requires a "sharp retaliatory response" most urgently. He told Parrikar that a "surgical bombardment" of terrorist training camps in PoK is one such step and essential to meet Indian people's expectation from a strong government for which the people had voted in 2014, a statement by Swamy said. He also sought immediate withdrawal of unilateral most-favoured nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan for trade. Swamy said Pakistan's embassy should be immediately downgraded and the ambassador be sent back. He also suggested that China and Israel should be taken into confidence and persuaded to support India's retaliatory actions against Pakistan. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based JeM had yesterday stormed an Army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Human Rights Watch urged Pakistan today to halt the imminent hanging of a prisoner declared insane by government doctors, saying the execution would violate its international legal obligations. Imdad Ali, who is aged around 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious cleric in 2002 and is set to be hanged tomorrow. HRW opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, its country representative Saroop Ijaz told AFP. "But in this case it also violates Pakistan's international legal obligations," Ijaz said, referring to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Islamabad ratified in 2011. "Imdad (Ali) has no insight into his punishment or condition or the idea of penalty. Executing someone who does not understand the punishment he or she is being awarded is simply harrowing and serves no criminal justice aim." Separately, a psychiatrist who examined Ali over several years and declared him insane in 2012 said he was shocked at of the imminent execution. "He is a declared insane person," said Tahir Feroze Khan. "To hear about his death warrant is shocking for me." A medical report seen by AFP said Ali's speech was incoherent, he frequently spoke and laughed to himself, and he suffered from paranoia and delusions of grandeur. Despite being officially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the Lahore High Court last month rejected arguments that Ali should not be executed because of his illness. "His killing would signify in a grim way all that is wrong with the Pakistani justice system," added Ijaz. Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after suffering its deadliest-ever extremist attack, when gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 and killed more than 150 people -- mostly children. Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but later extended to all capital offences. The country has executed over 400 people since resuming hangings in December 2014, according to new research by Reprieve, a British anti-death penalty campaign group, although only a tiny fraction have been for terror charges. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Banks in have extended crop loans of Rs 11,500 crore to date against the annual target of Rs 17,460 crore for kharif season, according to the State Bank of Hyderabad. SBH is a lead banker for State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC). State Finance Minister E Rajendar who attended a meeting of SLBC here today requested the banks to complete the targeted lending for Kharif by the end of September, a press release from SBH said. Banks have disbursed Rs 6,552.83 crore to 'Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises' segment during the quarter ended June 2016, and Rs 4,171 crore to the persons under weaker section category, Rs 1152.23 crore under SCs/STs category and Rs 670.98 crore to the minorities, it said. Banks in the state have so far opened 79,86,408 accounts under PMJDY and covered 54,50,306 beneficiaries under Pradhan Manthri Suraksha Beema Yojana (PMSBY) and 16,84,903 beneficiaries under Pradhan Manthri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojna (PMJJBY). So far, 526 claims under PMSBY and 2,963 claims under PMJJBY have been settled by insurance companies in the state, it added. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia each to three soldiers, hailing from Bihar, who were killed in the terror attack at Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir. The CM also announced to accord full state honour to the three martyred soldiers, who belonged to the Bihar regiment. The martyred soldiers have been identified as S K Vidyarthi from Gaya, Rakesh Singh from Kaimur and Ashok Kumar Singh from Ara in Bhojpur district. The CM said in an official statement that while minister in-charge of the district of Kaimur and Gaya would be present at the cremation of Rakesh Singh and S K Vidyarthi respectively, the funeral of Ashok Kumar Singh in Ara would be attended by Industries minister Jai Kumar Singh. Kumar expressed deep sorrow over the terror attack that left 17 jawans dead yesterday. "The country will always remember their martyrdom," the CM said. He prayed to the Almighty to provide strength to the family of the martyred soldiers and said the entire state was with them in this hour of grief. Meanwhile, sorrow descended at the native villages of the three soldiers with their family and neighbours demanding a matching and stern action against Pakistan for this dastardly act. In Boknari village of Gaya, an angry Kiran Devi, wife of soldier S K Vidyarthi, sought revenge against Pakistan. The armyman's daughter Aarti Kumari fought back tears when she said her father died a martyr and demanded a befitting action against Pakistan. Kin and fellow villagers of soldiers Rakesh Singh of Nuwan village in Kaimur district and Ashok Kumar Singh of Ara in Bhojpur district, bid a tearful adieu to the slain soldiers. The bodies of the three are expected to reach Patna airport by evening from where it would be sent to respective destinations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi Arabia said today it has arrested 17 people from three cells linked to the Islamic State group which planned to attack military and other facilities. The interior ministry said 16 men and one woman were in custody. They are mostly Saudis but include one Yemeni, an Egyptian and a Palestinian. They are the latest arrests connected with the Sunni extremist group in Saudi Arabia. Since late 2014, IS has claimed a series of bombings and shootings against Shiites in the Sunni-majority kingdom, as well as the security forces. Dozens of people have been killed, largely in Eastern Province, which is home to most of the country's Shiites whom IS considers to be heretics. "Months-long efforts culminated in the foiling of a terrorist plot that was to be carried out by a network made up of three cluster cells connected to IS," the ministry said in a statement to the official Saudi Press Agency. They targeted security officials and security, economic and military establishments and citizens in different locations." The ministry said suspects wanted to attach a bomb to the car of a defence ministry employee in Riyadh. They also targeted security students whom they planned to bomb with a remote-controlled device at a gate. Police also disrupted the delivery of two suicide vests and separately prevented a suicide attack by a suspect who had monitored "religious sites" in Al-Ahsa region, which has a substantial Shiite community. Attacks were planned to take place over successive days earlier this year. The interior ministry added that, according to preliminary investigation, the suspects gave two suicide vests, training and automatic weapons to the bombers who attacked Al-Rida mosque in Mahasen, Al-Ahsa, on January 29. The Saudi bomber killed four people during Friday prayers at the mosque before worshippers disarmed and tied up his Egyptian accomplice who had fired on them. Also in January, the suspects blew up the car of a soldier in Riyadh's Aziziyah neighbourhood, the ministry said. IS group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called for attacks against Saudi Arabia, which belongs to the US-led coalition bombing the jihadists in Syria and Iraq. In August, police said they shot dead a would-be suicide bomber targeting a mosque in the Shiite-dominated Gulf coast district of Qatif. Earlier that same month, police arrested a Saudi and a Syrian on their way to bomb a restaurant in the same area after training by IS, the interior ministry said. Three separate suicide attacks took place throughout the kingdom on July 4. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today granted six more months to a lower court in Gujarat to conclude trial in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case, one of the nine post-Godhra riots matters probed by the apex court-appointed SIT pertaining to the killing of eleven members of a community. "The City Civil & Sessions Court (at Ahmedabad in Gujarat) is granted six months more time to conclude trial and pronounce the judgement (in the Naroda Gam case)," a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar said. The court considered the submission of amicus curiae and senior advocate Harish Salve and SIT chief R K Raghavan, who is a former CBI chief, that the trial court should be granted more time as it has to examine nearly 300 witnesses. "So far as other eight cases are concerned, investigations have been completed. The charge sheets have been filed and the trial courts have pronounced the judgements and now the cases are at stage of appeal in the High Court," Salve said. He said a time limit can be fixed for the lower court to conclude the trial. Eleven persons belonging to the minority community were killed at Naroda Gam in 2002 riots during a bandh called in protest of the Godhra train burning incident. A total of 82 persons are facing trial in the case. In June, a special court had convicted 24 persons in the Gulberg society riots case in which 68 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed. The apex court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been probing nine major riots cases including the Gulberg society riots case and the Naroda Gam matter. The apex court, on February 22 this year, had paved the way for pronouncement of judgement by Ahmedabad trial court in various cases including the Gulberg Society massacre case. It had said there was no restraint on the trial judge to pronounce the verdict and granted him three months for it. The apex court had on August 5 last year granted an extension of another three months to wind up the proceedings in the case. The apex court has been monitoring nine sensitive cases after the National Human Rights Commission and various NGOs termed the investigation into these as shoddy and unreliable. The cases were about the riots in different parts of Gujarat, including the Gulberg Society, Ode, Sardarpura, Narodao Gaon, Naroda Patya, Machipith, Tarsali, Pandarwada and Raghavapura. An estimated 2,000 people were killed in post-Godhra riots in 2002. The Supreme Court today sought response from controversial RJD leader Shahabuddin on a plea challenging the bail granted to him by the Patna High Court in a murder case. The apex court, however, did not grant any interim stay on operation of Patna High Court's bail order and said "We intend to give him (Shahabuddin) a hearing also. List it on Monday". The bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy asked Bihar government to serve its notice on Shahabuddin and fixed the matter for hearing on September 26. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons have been killed in two separate incidents, said Shahabuddin is a "notorious criminal" and his reign of terror is in Bihar "in general" and Siwan "in particular". "There are 58 criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin and out of them he has been convicted in eight cases," he said. Shahabuddin had been granted bail recently by the High Court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, son of Prasad and the sole eye-witness to the cold-blooded murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan. The RJD leader had already been convicted in the twin murder case and the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence. The Patna High Court, in its bail order, considered the fact that the trial in Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was jailed at Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail. During the hearing, the apex court asked Bhushan as to whether he was seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shahabuddin or he was challenging the Patna High Court order. "I am challenging the Patna High Court order granting him bail," Bhushan replied and referred to various case laws to highlight the point that criminal antecedent of an offender should be considered while granting the bail. Terming Shahabuddin as a "class-A history sheeter who cannot be reformed", the lawyer said that High Court should not have granted bail to the leader. Bihar government also supported the submission of Bhushan and rather went a step ahead while seeking issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. The apex court had on September 16 agreed to hear the plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to gangster-turned-RJD leader Shahabuddin. Bihar government standing counsel Gopal Singh had earlier said the High Court had failed to follow its own order of February asking the trial court to preferably complete the trial in the Roshan murder case within nine months. The state government had also said that HC ignored the crucial aspect brought by it earlier that key witnesses did not turn up to depose in these cases due to fear and the clout wielded by the dreaded gangster, who before pronouncement of judgement in the murder case of Prasad's two sons, allegedly conspired from the jail to eliminate his third son, Rajiv Roshan, the prime witness in the case. It had contended that the High Court overlooked the apex court judgement, which had held as correct its decision to conduct the trial of cases against Shahabuddin from jail itself considering the threat to witnesses. In his plea, Prasad has said the High Court's September 7 order granting regular bail to Shahabuddin "suffers from total non-application of mind" as it had "completely lost sight of the facts that Respondent No 2 (Shahabuddin) is a dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him." The plea further said that on May 13 this year, journalist Rajdev Ranjan was killed in Siwan and it was alleged that Shahabuddin was behind his killing also. In August 2004, Girish, Satish and their eldest brother Rajiv Roshan, the three sons of the petitioner, were picked up by henchmen of the gangster and taken to his native village Pratappur, where they were drenched in acid. Both Girish and Satish died but Roshan, who witnessed the killings, managed to escape. However on June 16, 2014, Roshan was also allegedly murdered and Shahabuddin was arrested for this killing on November 17, 2014. Slain scribe Rajdev Ranjan's wife had also moved apex court seeking transfer of the probe and trial in the murder case to Delhi from Siwan, alleging that media reports have shown two absconding killers of her husband in the company of Shahabuddin and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav. She has sought relief including a direction to CBI, to which probe has been transferred, to take up the probe forthwith in view of the fact that the proclaimed offenders, Mohd Kaif and Mohd Javed, were spotted with Shahabuddin and the Minister at a place where several cops were also present. Controversial RJD leader Shahabuddin could be in for trouble as Supreme Court today agreed to hear next week a plea seeking quashing of a Patna High Court order granting him bail in the murder of a person who had witnessed the gruesome killing of his two younger siblings at Siwan in Bihar. The apex court, which for the present did not allow the interim prayer for stay on operation of Patna High Court's bail order asked Shahabuddin, against whom 58 criminal cases were pending in 2014, to respond to the plea of Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons were killed in two separate incidents. Keeping coalition compulsions aside, the Nitish Kumar-led government went a step ahead of Prasad's plea and sought issuance of non-bailable warrant (NBW), against the RJD strongman who has termed Kumar as "Chief Minister of circumstances" on his release from Bhagalpur jail recently. A bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, which heard advocate Prashant Bhushan and Bihar government's plea for nearly an hour, however said "we intend to give him a hearing also". "Issue notice on the Special Leave Petition as also on the prayer for interim relief seeking stay of the impugned Order dated September 7, 2016 passed by the High Court of Patna, returnable on Monday, the September 26," it said. Bhushan, appearing for Prasad also known as Chanda Babu, said Shahabuddin was a "notorious criminal" and his reign of terror was "in Bihar in general and in Siwan in particular". "As per the affidavit filed by Bihar government in 2014 in another case, there are 58 criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin and out of them he has been convicted in eight cases. In two of the cases, he was awarded life sentence by a trial court," he said. Shahabuddin had been granted bail recently by the High Court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, Prasad's son who was the sole eye-witness to the cold-blooded murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan. The RJD leader has already been convicted and awarded life imprisonment in the twin murder case, while the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence. Bhushan said the High Court considered the fact that the trial in Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was jailed at Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail. Bhushan said "the High Court order at best could have been that the trial could be allowed to be conducted from Bhagalpur jail through video conference". He said Shahabuddin should have been rather shifted to a jail outside Bihar, alleging that his clout was such that jail authorities in the state allowed him to meet his associates. He claimed that during a raid, 40 mobile phones were recovered from his cell and there were reports that even Shahabuddin was often allowed to go out of the prison as a result of which, a Jail Superintendent was once suspended for letting it happen. During the hearing, the apex court asked Bhushan whether he was seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shahabuddin or was he challenging the Patna High Court order. "I am challenging the Patna High Court order granting him bail," Bhushan replied and referred to various case laws to highlight the point that criminal antecedent of an offender should be considered alongside other relevant materials while granting bail. He said free and fair trial was not possible in pending cases against the RJD politician who is out on bail as witnesses and people would be fearful of deposing against him. "In a case of another Bihar don Pappu Yadav, the apex court had laid down guidelines which should have been followed by the High Court while granting bail," Bhushan said, adding that the relief was granted to the controversial leader contrary to the principles laid down by this court. Terming Shahabuddin as a "class-A history sheeter who cannot be reformed", the lawyer said the High Court should not have granted bail to him. Bihar government also supported the submission of Bhushan and referred to the earlier apex court order denying bail to Shahabuddin to drive home the point that mere longer incarceration does not entitle him for grant of bail. The apex court had on September 16 agreed to hear the plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shahabuddin. Bihar government had earlier said the High Court had failed to follow its own order of February asking the trial court to complete the trial in the Roshan murder case within nine months. The state government had also said that HC ignored the crucial aspect that key witnesses did not turn up to depose in these cases due to fear and the clout wielded by the dreaded gangster, who before pronouncement of judgement in the murder case of Prasad's two sons, allegedly conspired from the jail to eliminate his third son, Rajiv Roshan, the prime witness in the case. It had contended that the HC overlooked the apex court judgement, which had held as correct its decision to conduct the trial of cases against Shahabuddin from jail itself considering the threat to witnesses. In his plea, Prasad has said the High Court's September 7 order granting regular bail to Shahabuddin "suffers from total non-application of mind" as it had "completely lost sight of the facts that Respondent No 2 (Shahabuddin) is a dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him." The plea further said that on May 13 this year, journalist Rajdev Ranjan was killed in Siwan and it was alleged that Shahabuddin was behind his killing also. In August 2004, Girish, Satish and their eldest brother Rajiv Roshan, the three sons of the petitioner, were picked up by a henchmen of the gangster and taken to his native village Pratappur, where they were drenched in acid. Both Girish and Satish died but Roshan, who witnessed the killings, managed to escape. However on June 16, 2014, Roshan was also allegedly murdered and Shahabuddin was arrested for this killing on November 17, 2014. Slain scribe Rajdev Ranjan's wife has also moved apex court seeking transfer of the probe and trial in the murder case to Delhi from Siwan, alleging that media reports have shown two absconding killers of her husband in the company of Shahabuddin and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav. She has sought relief including a direction to CBI, to which probe has been transferred, to take up the investigation forthwith. Police today arrested a sweeper of a west Delhi school for allegedly molesting a four-year-old girl student last week. The 40-year-old accused has been identified as Baldev Singh, who had been working as a sweeper in the school in Vikaspuri for the last 15 years, police said. A native of Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh who had migrated to Delhi few years back, Baldev had been engaged with the school through a contractor and used to do menial jobs, said a senior police officer. He allegedly took the girl inside the school's washroom where he molested her on September 16. He has been booked under sections 354 IPC (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and the relevant section of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, DCP (West) Pushpendra Kumar said. "The police had been scanning the CCTV footage of the school but there weren't any clues to the culprit. The male employees of the school were questioned extensively and the way Baldev conducted himself during interrogation was found to be suspicious. Based on his questioning and the description of the accused given by the girl, he was arrested today from the school," said a senior police officer. The parents of children studying in the school, including the victim's parents, had been protesting against school authorities for not taking swift action in the matter. The child had informed her parents on September 16 that a mustachioed man allegedly took her inside the washroom of the institute around afternoon and molested her. Her parents then lodged a complaint in Vikaspuri police station. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly, Pakistan's Prime Minister has written to the permanent members of the Security Council over the Kashmir issue saying it is a "constant source of tension and instability" posing a threat to world peace and security. Sharif has written to the Heads of Government/State of China, France, Russia, the UK and the US regarding "grave human rights violations" in Kashmir, Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday. "The letters emphasise the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir, on regional, as well as peace and security," it said in a statement. Sharif wrote the "non-resolution of the Kashmir issue is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to peace and security". Last week, Sharif met Hurriyat leaders from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK) and had assured them that he would "emphatically highlight" the Kashmir issue at the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Highlighting the 'violations' of human rights and humanitarian laws in Kashmir, Sharif in his letters asked the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the Kashmir issue, which he said is one of the oldest internationally recognised unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UNSC. Despite the passage of more than 68 years since the adoption of multiple resolutions, the people of Jammu and Kashmir still await the implementation of these resolutions which promised them the right to self-determination to be exercised through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, he wrote. Sharif urged the permanent members of the Security Council to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir and honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people. Scores of shopkeepers today staged a protest against provisions of the "biased" Delhi Rent Control Act and demanded an amendment in the existing law to stop their eviction by landlords. The protesters, under the banner of Rajdhani Pagdi Kirayedar Sangathan, were stopped at Patel Chowk by police while trying to take out a march to submit their memorandum to the Prime Minister. The demonstration at Jantar Mantar was attended by representatives of several market associations to demand an amendment to Delhi Rent Control Act to stop eviction of shokpkeepers by their landlords. "There are more than 5 lakh Pagdi traders who are facing the danger of eviction under the provision of the Act. These traders are small-scale businessmen who earn their livelihood from shops rented by them after paying Pagdi (amount paid to landlord while entering rent)," said a statement of the organisation. The organisation said the Delhi Rent Control act is considered as one of "the most biased" Acts of the country which "favors" landlords. Rent Control Acts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh, on the other side are balanced which address the interests of both landlords and tenants, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, who had asked him to return to Delhi from Finland in the wake of an outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in the capital. Sisodia had gone to Finland last week to study the Nordic country's education system. A row erupted after the opposition BJP and Congress targeted him for "abandoning" the city at a time it was reeling under the outbreak of the vector-borne diseases. Talking to reporters outside the LG house, Sisodia took a jibe at Jung, saying he could have called him instead of writing a letter "if there was an emergency". "I met the LG and told him about the education system in Finland. I told him that we can also do well in education and health in Delhi and no compromise should be accepted on these areas," he said. Soon after, a man threw ink at him resulting in a commotion. There were ink stains on Sisodia's arms, near his eyes and also on his official vehicle. This was the first meeting between an AAP minister and the LG after the two sides traded barbs after Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra failed to meet Jung last Saturday. The LG's office had said the ministers did not seek prior appointment and accused the AAP government of politicising the issue when the city was grappling with a health crisis. Dengue and chikungunya complications have claimed at least 33 lives this season and affected over 2,800 people in the national capital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Sri Lankan refugee today attempted to commit self immolation at Collectorate here demanding police action against some of the customers of the chit fund run by him for allegedly cheating to the tune of Rs 10 lakh. However, police prevented his attempt. Manoj of Trincomalee is in Mandapam refugee camp was running a chit fund firm, enrolling the refugees and locals as members. Some of them who bid for the chit amount in the early stages did not pay the full amount. Besides, some had borrowed money from him and did not repay leading to cumulative loss of Rs 10 lakh to him. He said though he gave a police complaint against those who cheated him, no action was taken. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sugar output in India is likely to drop to 23-23.5 million tonnes in the ensuing 2016-17 season, sugar cooperative NFCSFL today said, demanding several government measures including rollback of stock limits to improve the plight of sugar mills. While the production is likely to decline for the second straight year in 2016-17 the availability of the sweetener will be sufficient to meet domestic demand as the year will end with a carry over stock of 7.1 million tonnes, it said. Sugar output in the current 2015-16 season (October- September) is estimated at 25.1 million tonnes (MT). Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), which represents private sugar mills, has pegged sugar output at 23.2 MT for the next 2016-17 season, while the government has projected production to be in the range of 23-24 MT. "Indian sugar production in 2016-17 season is estimated to be around 23-23.5 MT. The fall in sugar production is due to two straight drought in the major producing states of Maharashtra and Karnataka," National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSFL) President Dilip Walse Patil said at the 57th Annual General Meeting here. Sugar stocks in the country will fall to their lowest in over a decade in 2016-17 season as consumption outstrips supply, but will have the "sufficient" sugar to meet the requirement, he said. Highlighting the poor plight of the Rs 80,000 crore sugar industry, Patil said, "There are few problems before the sugar industry which need immediate remedial solution to save the sugar industry and also sugarcane farmers." He said the government should roll back stock holding limits imposed on sugar mills, recast bank loans, continue waiver of excise duty on ethanol, scrapping of sugar cess and special package for sugar mills among others. On priority, Patil said, that the government should withdraw stock holding limits imposed on sugar mills for September-October period to check prices in festival season. The government should direct RBI to recast the bank loans to match the cash flow of sugar mills and restructure outstanding loans of cooperative sugar mills, Patil said. That apart, he demanded the government to continue import duty 40 per cent on raw sugar in the next season as well. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A suspicious backpack, containing up to five improvised explosive devices, was found at a New Jersey train station today, one of which exploded while a police robot was examining it, a day after a powerful blast injured 29 people in an upscale New York locality. "There was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices at the Elizabeth Train Station in NJ," FBI's Newark office tweeted after the suspicious backpack was found last night near the Elizabeth train station. "In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated. There are no injuries and law enforcement personnel are at the scene processing evidence," it added. Federal and local authorities were also investigating another suspicious item in the vicinity, CNN reported. The backpack was noticed in a trash can by two men, who reported it to the police after they saw "wires and a pipe" in it, Chris Bollwage, mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey, said. "This was an explosive device containing as many as five explosives. Based on the loudness, I think people could have been severely hurt or injured if they had been in the vicinity." Bollwage said he was "extremely concerned for the residents of the community" if "someone could just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it." The explosion was the second in New Jersey since yesterday. Another pipe bomb went off yesterday in a trash can in Seaside Park, New Jersey. As many as 29 people were injured after a blast in Chelsea district of Manhattan, New York, yesterday, while a second bomb that was discovered nearly four blocks away was defused successfully by the bomb disposal squad. The New York explosion was determined to have been an "intentional act," authorities said, adding, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was clearly "an act of terrorism," although it hadn't been linked to an international terrorist group. "A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity," said Cuomo, who ordered 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard members deployed across the city. Security had already been tightened in the city for the ongoing UN General Assembly, but the presence of officers throughout New York City after the blast will be "bigger than ever," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Several law enforcement officials told NBC that they are concerned that an active terrorism cell with multiple players could be at work in the New York-New Jersey area. Officials said that the suspicious device discovered Sunday night in New Jersey appeared appeared similar to a device that exploded earlier Saturday morning in Seaside Park. New Jersey Transit has suspended service between Newark Airport and the Elizabeth station, and Amtrak suspended service along parts of the Northeast Corridor. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP unit of Jammu and Kashmir today urged its government at the Centre to adopt a clear and decisive strategy to "teach Pakistan a lesson". "The time has come when Union government should adopt a clear and decisive strategy to teach Pakistan a lesson," state BJP president and MLC Sat Sharma said. Sharma, who was paying homage to army personnel at a function here, said the fidayeen attack on an army base in Uri at the "behest of Pakistan" was the worst kind of "inhuman act" and highly condemnable. He said the attack, in which 18 soldiers were killed, has shook the entire nation. "Whatever the nation is facing in Jammu and Kashmir is due to the blunders committed by Congress under its appeasement policy which promoted separatism and encouraged Pakistan to impose direct and proxy wars against India in Kashmir," he alleged. National General Secretary (Organisation) Ashok Kaul, while paying tributes to the martyrs, said Pakistan has been indulging in infiltration and pushing "trained terrorists" into the Indian territory, especially in Kashmir with a sole motive of "disturbing peace". He said the people should understand the "evil designs" of the neighbouring country. "The soldiers who got martyrdom will remain a source of inspiration and induces a commitment to serve the motherland at any cost," Kaul said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Accusing Pakistan of using terrorism as a state policy against India, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said the Modi government would like to assure the people of the country that in the battle of peace versus terrorism "terror and its masters" will be destroyed. While paying tributes to the brave soldiers who lost their lives in yesterday's Uri terror attack, Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) Naqvi said that the Army is capable to defeat any conspiracy against our nation. He said that India wants "good relations" with all its neighbors but if Pakistan doesn't stop using its soil for anti-India activities, it will have to pay a "heavy price" for conspiracy against India. "Pakistan has been using terrorism as a state policy against India. But the Modi Government assures the people of the country that in the battle of peace versus terrorism, terror and its masters will be destroyed," a statement quoted the Minister as saying during a book release here. Naqvi said that Pakistan has been "exposed" before the entire world "only because of "zero tolerance" policy adopted by the NDA Government against terrorism. Pakistan has been isolated in the entire world and its image has become of a "terrorist nation", he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The search for several missing passengers continued today after a boat carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river leaving at least 15 people dead, a provincial governor said. The accident happened yesterday near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong tides. "The death toll is now confirmed at 15, with 11 people still missing," Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong told AFP, updating the overnight toll from 13 dead. "Fourteen people are still in hospital," he said, adding "the rescue operation resumed this morning to find those missing." No foreigners were believed to be among the dead. Local television stations showed graphic footage of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people on the bank. Passengers were trapped on the lower deck of the pleasure boat, which was submerged in the swollen, brown waters agonisingly close to the bank. Despite its wealth compared to regional neighbours and huge tourism sector, accidents are common on Thailand's public transport network. Safety regulations are often weakly enforced, including on boats with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common -- in particular in busy tourist areas. The Chao Phraya, the main river that flows through Bangkok, is a key commuting artery, filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital whose riverside is studded with the remains of Buddhist temples. Thailand's reputation as the "Land of Smiles" has suffered in recent years amid frequent deadly bus and boat accidents, crimes against foreigners and political unrest. But visitors keep coming. A record high of nearly 30 million travelled to the kingdom in 2015, a number boosted by a surge in mainland Chinese tourists, with some 33 million expected this year. The junta government this week said they expected tourism to account for as much as 17 per cent of GDP this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a bid to stop the influence of TMC's elected representatives in college governing bodies, the party today asked its MLAs not to be part of it if they don't hold a graduation degree. "Party leaders have been clearly stated that it is the decision of party's top leadership that henceforth no MLA who is not a graduate can't be a part of the college governing council. "Actually for the last few years there have been several incidents of over influence of party MLAs into the regular functioning of the college. Especially those who are not educated are calling the shots in colleges, just because he is a party leader. This has to stop as it is sending out a wrong message to the people," said a senior TMC leader at the end of a meeting of party MLAs here. In the past few years, there were several incidents of TMC leaders interfering in college affairs and causing embarrassment to the party. Recently the classes were suspended in Jaipuria college following factional fued between two groups of TMC- student body- TMCP. Later the classes resumed following intervention of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. According to senior party leaders, TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was enraged over the regular incidents of clashes in college campus. Referring to alleged discrepancies in the new electoral list prepared by the Election Commission, Trinamool Congress leadership today asked party leaders and elected representatives to compare it with the old list, a senior party leader, who was present in the meeting, said. He said that there was no similarity in the master roll and the revised roll prepared by the Election Commission. "We feel there is discrepancy and the BJP is behind it," he alleged and said all leaders had been asked to be prepared for the next panchayat elections in 2018. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) TRS MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha has come out in support of the statehood demand for the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, citing its cultural and geographical differences with rest of the state. "Certainly there is a case for separate Vidarbha because it is recommended by first SRC (State Reorganisation Committee) if I am not wrong, based on cultural identity and based on different geography," she said. "Since we (Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which was in the forefront of movement for separate statehood for Telangana) come from that background, we understand the pain of those people and we will certainly support separate statehood movement," Kavitha told PTI here. TRS would certainly support separate statehood in cases recommended by SRC, Kavitha, the Nizamabad MP and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said. "There are certain other statehood movements in the case of states where international border is there, that is a different case. But in mainland India, if there is a demand for separate state, people are culturally different from rest of the state, I think it should be considered positively. At the end of the day this is a democracy and people's will should prevail, that's what I feel," she said. Kavitha said "backwardness" of the region and less availability of water there compared to rest of Maharashtra and "continuous movement that is happening in Vidarbha for a long time" are the things that should be considered. She quoted some people telling her that dialect-wise there is difference between Vidarbha Marathi and the one spoken in rest of the state, as also cultural aspects but hastened to add that she is not very sure about it. Kavitha also noted that "not many" political parties within Maharashtra are supporting the statehood demand. Activists of Raj Thackeray-led MNS have strongly opposed any division of Maharashtra and allegedly disrupted a press conference on September 13 called by "Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti" in Mumbai seeking statehood for Vidarbha region. The Samiti is among a handful of organisations leading a movement for decades demanding statehood for Vidarbha, a cotton-rich region in eastern Maharashtra. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The rhetoric and language being used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is giving aid and comfort to the adversaries of America, his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton alleged today. "We know that Donald Trump's comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists. We've heard that from former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who made it a very clear point when he said Donald Trump is being used as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists. "We also know from the former head of our counter- terrorism center, Matt Olsen, that the kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries," Clinton told reporters. Clinton alleged that it is well known that a lot of the rhetoric from Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists, violent terrorists. "They want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning it into a religious conflict. That's why I've been very clear; we're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion and give ISIS exactly what it's wanting in order for them to enhance their position," she said. The Trump campaign alleged that Clinton is accusing the Republican of treason. "Hillary Clinton's comments today accusing Mr Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, it's also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on ISIS. If Clinton really wants to find the real cause of ISIS, she needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror," alleged Jason Miller, senior communication advisor to the Trump campaign. "The decision to remove all American troops from Iraq in 2011, which was vigorously supported by Clinton, created the vacuum that led to the founding of ISIS. Nothing she says or does can ever un-ring that bell. The only thing we can expect from a Hillary Clinton presidency is more attacks on our homeland and more innocent Americans being hurt and killed," Miller said. At her conference, Clinton said it is time to put into place the strategies for local and state law enforcement, for an intelligence surge, for the kind of preventive actions that we need to take here at home, and to intensify our efforts to defeat ISIS. "You don't hear a plan from Trump. He keeps saying he has a secret plan. Well, the secret is he has no plan. So let's focus on what we really can do. And what I've laid out is a path forward that will keep us safer, protect our country and go after the terrorists to finally destroy them," Clinton said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hopes of tracing the missing Indian Air Force AN-32 aircraft which went missing with 29 on board on July 22, has brightened with two government ships zeroing in on possible six locations where the wreckage of the plane could be found. Sagar Nidhi, a ship belonging to Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), a unit of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, today conducted search using Remotely Operable and Submersible, an equipment which can go upto to a depth of 6000 meters. The device, which also has a camera fitted on it, went down upto 2500 meters in the Bay of Bengal, but could not go further as there was a technical snag. INCOIS has set a target of September 25-30 to finish the task. Earlier, Sagar Nidhi and Sagar Sagar Ratna, belonging to the Geological Survey of India(GSI), Ministry of Mines, did an exhaustive mapping of nearly 25,000 sq kms using multibeam echo-sound technology and acoustic waves and spotted some "high reflectivity" in the deep sea. This is an indication of the wreckage of the plane. They zeroed down on six location where the aircraft could have possibly crashed. "On these six locations we are going to use the remotely operable and submersible which can go upto to a depth of 6000 meters. The depth at these locations is 3500 meters. We don't know whether the plane is there or not. We have seen some high reflectivity. "So the RO submersible has cameras. And we can see what objects are down there because the earlier search was just with the help of acoustic waves," said S.S.C Shenoi, Director of INCOIS said. On July 22, IAF's AN 32 transport plane went missing with 29 people on board, including six crew members, while it was on its way from near Chennai to Port Blair, home to tri-service command. Following this, the Air Force, Navy and the Coast Guard launched a massive search and rescue operation. Despite several attempts, there was little success in tracing the aircraft. Shenoi said whether the objects are the wreckage of the missing AN-32 can only be verified with the help of RO submersible. "It is like we undergo ultra sound. Doctors say that there is some growth, but we don't know whether it is benign or malignant unless you do a biopsy. With the RO submersible we can identify whether that if it belongs the plane or something else," Shenoi said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today called for the world community to address the root causes of forced migration and form a comprehensive global compact on refugees and migrants that ensures the displaced do not become victims of "xenophobic attitudes and political expediency". Sharif, addressing the high-level UN summit on large movements of refugees and migrants here, said the displacement of millions of people from their homelands, among the most urgent humanitarian challenges of the current times, "has neither been voluntary nor orderly". He noted that the developing countries have to bear a greater burden of providing shelter to millions seeking refuge from war and poverty. "The true scale of the crisis lies beyond the headlines. It is the developing countries, including Pakistan, that continue to be at the forefront of bearing the burden of large scale global human displacements. Many of these protracted displacement situations have created complex political, socio-economic and security and environmental challenges for host countries and local communities," he said. Sharif said it is time for the international community to forge a "comprehensive global compact" on the large scale movement of refugees and migrants. "This compact should be "based on fair and equitable burden sharing that aims to ensure that the displaced do not become victims of xenophobic attitudes and political expediency, a compact that provides greater avenues for legal migration and takes a holistic view of the situation". He added that going forward, the international community must also address the "root causes of displacement" and forced migration. "Unless we resolutely put out the fires that have caused so much suffering, we will not be able to find a long term solution to this crisis". Sharif told the session that Pakistan has served as a "generous host" for nearly four decades to millions of Afghan refugees despite its own "modest resources". Describing the Afghan refugee crisis as the "largest protracted refugee situation" in the world, Sharif said today Pakistan is hosting over 2.5 million Afghan refugees. "Pakistan supports a safe and dignified return of all Afghan refugees to their homeland in a sustainable manner. We hope the international community will step forward and provide necessary resources to the (UN Refugee Agency) in a timely manner," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday announced a financial aid of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of four jawans from the state killed in the terrorist attack in Uri in Kashmir. "The Chief Minister has announced a financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of four jawans from Uttar Pradesh killed in Uri on Sunday," a spokesperson said. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammed had on Sunday stormed an army base in Uri, killing 17 jawans. While two of the 17 soldiers were from Jammu and Kashmir, four belonged to Uttar Pradesh, three each Bihar and Maharashtra, two each West Bengal and Jharkhand and one hailed from Rajasthan. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Virtually canvassing for BJP MLA Ram Saran Verma, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has made an appeal to the people to "support" him for his good work. "Verma has done a lot of good work like building toilets, schools, bus stations and other things required by common people that are not part of big government programmes," Naik said. "I hope he will keep up the good work ... And you will keep up your support to him," he said at a public function here yesterday. Naik said he was making the statement in the context of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. "I am saying this because you know the kind of scenario prevailing in the state... UP is preparing for Assembly elections," he said. Naik, however, hastened to add: "I am the Governor and it is not fair for me to say whom to vote for, otherwise people will say the Governor has become a party man." He said he has inaugurated various works worth over Rs six crore carried out by Verma through the MLA Local Area Development fund. Naik, a five-time BJP MP from North Mumbai and a former Union minister in NDA government, was appointed Governor in July, 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The people of Jammu and Samba districts today bid a tearful adieu to the two brave-heart jawans, who died fighting the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri yesterday. The mortal remains of Sub Karnail Singh and Hav Ravi Paul of 10 DOGRA were cremated with full military honours in their native hamlets of Shibu Chak (Tehsil Bishnah) of Jammu district and Ramgarh village of Samba district today. A pal of gloom descended the bordering villagers here after the mortal remains of the two soldiers arrived after being flown to Jammu. Special Indian Airforce helicopter flew in the mortal remains of Singh and Paul of 10 DOGRA at the Technical Area Airforce Station Jammu. The wreath laying of the two jawans was done by Kavinder Gupta, Speaker J&K legislative Assembly, Ministers- Bali Bhagat, Zulfkar Ali, Chander Parkash Ganga, Jugal Kishore MP, and MLAs -Sat Sharma, Rajesh Gupta. The wreath was laid on behalf of Dr Jitender Singh, MoS PMO, Ravinder Rana, MLA, Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Danesh Rana, IGP, brother-in-laws of martyr Sub Karnail Singh, Bhav Singh and Devi Raj Saini, Major General Sanjeev Sharma, General Officer Commanding Tiger Division, Air CommodoreAshutosh Lal, Brigadier Randir Singh and other Senior Officers from the Civil Administration and the Army. The mortal remains were taken to respective hamlets in Jammu and Samba districts. A large number of people had converged at both the places to bid a final adieu to the two soldiers. After final bugle and gun salutes by Army, the duo were cremated amid presence of the family, top officials and huge number of people. In a programme organized by BJP, State President & MLA Sat Sharma, State General Secretary Ashok Kaul and other leaders paid tributes to the soldiers killed in the Uri terror attack. Sat Sharma, on this occasion, said that "the fidayeen attack in Uri at the behest of Pakistan is the worst kind of inhuman act and is highly condemnable". "The terrorist attack at army brigade, which resulted into sacrifices of our brave soldiers, has shook the entire nation and the time has come when Union government should adopt a clear anddecisive strategy to teach Pakistan a lesson. "Whatever the nation is facing in Jammu and Kashmir is due to the blunders committed by Congress under its appeasement policy which promoted separatism and encouraged Pakistan to impose direct and proxy wars against India in Kashmir," he said. J&K Congress condemned the Uri attack and termed it as a "serious security lapse". Vikram Malhotra- General Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee expressed deep shock and pain over the death of Army personnel and conveyed heartfelt sympathies to the family members of the soldiers. Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) held a homage meeting here and condemned the outrageous and cowardice attack by terrorists on Army's Brigade Headquarters yesterday in which 18 Army soldiers were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The deadly Uri terror attack is likely to cast its shadow over the three-day BJP National Council meet in Kozhikode starting on September 23. The dominant theme of the exercise so far was likely to be the party's renewed emphasis on the 'garib kalyan' (poor's welfare) agenda, besides reprising its ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay's contribution in his birth centenary year. The terror attack on an Army camp that killed 18 soldiers and saw outpouring of grief and anger, including from BJP leaders, may have changed the script. "Obviously there is palpable anger among our workers over the terror attack and they would be looking at the top party brass to send out a message. I am sure the leadership will touch on this issue of national security," a senior party leader said. Nationalism is a key plank of the saffron party and it has often used the theme of national security and terrorism to galvanise its cadres and corner opposition parties. With the party facing criticism from certain quarters over terrorist attacks targeting security facilities during its government and lack of concrete action against Pakistan an issue over which it often taunted the UPA government, the sources said it is likely to use the event to reassure its cadres. Some party leaders, including General Secretary Ram Madhav who yesterday batted for "for one tooth, the complete jaw" policy, have gone public seeking tough action against Pakistan. Its president Amit Shah has spelt out a more nuanced view, saying India's fight against terrorism has reached a decisive stage and the government is moving in the right direction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Terming the deadly Uri militant attack as "unfortunate", BSP president Mayawati today asked the Central government to chalk out a firm long-term plan to deal with "Pakistan-backed" terror. "The attack on the army installation in Uri killing 18 jawans is most unfortunate and a matter of concern," Mayawati said in a press release here. "Now it is time for the Central government to chalk out a long-term plan by striking a consensus to deal with such incidents backed by Pakistan," she said, adding that the inconsistent Pakistan policy pursued by successive governments at the Centre has caused massive loss of life and property in the country. "Such terror strikes have been going on at regualar intervals ... Now the time has come to chalk out a firm stragegy to put an effective check on them and this is what the people of the country want," she said. Commenting on the turmoil in the Valley, she said it proves that the PDP-BJP governnment there has "failed", not only in providing security to the citizens there, but also in working for peoples' welfare. The BSP chief said there has also been "no positive result" of the all party delegation which was sent to Jammu and Kashmir. There should be no pre-conditions on holding talks with Indian citizens under the ambit of constitution, she said, and hoped that state and union governments would initiate steps in this direction soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab traders dealing in import and export of goods with Pakistan today sought a fitting reply in the aftermath of Uri attack, threatening to end Rs 3,000 crore worth of trade with the neighbouring country for the "heinous act". "Time has come for India to take strict and swift action against Pakistan which is responsible for the Uri terror attack that left our several soldiers dead," Amritsar-based trader and President of Federation of Dry Fruit and Haryana Commercial Association, Anil Mehra, told PTI today. "The Modi government should suspend all sorts of ties with Pakistan in response to the terror attack unleashed on Indian soil," Mehra suggested. Noting that there is a great amount of anger against this terror attack, which left 18 soldiers dead, Mehra said traders in Punjab are ready to end trade ties with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route. "We urge the Centre to even stop trade with Pakistan through Attar-Wagah land route. We are ready for ending trade ties with the neighbouring country, which is responsible for such an attack. For us, the country comes first and then comes trade. We will do something else for our livelihood," said Mehra. Traders asserted that it is Pakistan which is the most dependent on India for import of goods like vegetables, including tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices, cotton yarn and the like. Pakistan exports cement, gypsum and dry fruits to the country via the Attari-Wagah land route. "If we today stop sending tomatoes which has been the major export item to Pakistan, they will face immense shortage of this perishable commodity. Moreover, if we do not import dates from Pakistan, they will not find buyers for this," he added. Traders further said Pakistan had not even allowed export of onions to India last year when the country was facing shortage. India then imported onions from Afghanistan. Pakistan allows import of 137 items from India through Attari-Wagah. As per estimates, the total volume of trade between the two nations via Attari-Wagah is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore per annum. India and Pakistan had resumed cross-border movement of trucks in October 2007 after a gap of sixty years from Attari check post at Amritsar in India to Wagah border in Pakistan. An integrated check-post was set up on the Attari-Wagah border in 2012 at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore for smooth movement of traffic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia, France, Canada and Afghanistan today joined several other countries in condemning the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 Army personnel even as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Expressing their solidarity with India in its hour of loss, the countries said they stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism. Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said, "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the Army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counter-terrorism efforts." Condeming the attack, France said it "remains at India's side in the combat against terrorism. It calls on every State to fight effectively against terrorist groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries." France also recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir, a French Foreign Ministry statement said. France called for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. The Deputy Spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development in Paris said, "After that of Pathankot earlier this year, this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. "More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge. As underscored by the President of the French Republic during his India visit in January this year, all countries must effectively combat terrorism emanating from their territory or from territories under their control." He also asserted that nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combated everywhere with the same determination. Hoping that the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice, the UN Secretary General said re-establishing stability and preventing any further loss of life will be the priority of "all involved". Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said, "The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism." Condemning the attack, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said the countries that use terrorism as instrument of foreign policy, should not only be isolated but also held accountable for taking away innocent lives. Noting that his country, which has been a victim of terrorism for a long time, can "share the pain", he said it was high time that international community chalks a new course of action to "effectively and actively" deal with the countries which use terrorism as state policy. The US and UK had also condemned the attack yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Uri terror strike should be considered as an attack on the country, Congress said today, demanding "firm and appropriate measures" to ensure that the perpetrators should not go unpunished. The party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma said that the terror strike should not be considered as just an attack on a forward Army base, but an attack on the Republic of India. He said that it was surprising that the government has not said so. Demanding "firm and appropriate measures", Sharma said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar "cannot escape responsibility, nor accountability" in the wake of the terror strike that has "outraged" the entire nation. He lamented that the attack took place due to "lowering of the guard" despite the Pathankot air base strike in January and the "ongoing Pak-sponsored violence" in Kashmir Valley. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after a terror attack killed 17 soldiers in Uri, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and top officials of the ministries of Home and Defence, Army, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefedSingh on the latest ground report in the Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control, official sources said. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed in the meeting, the sources said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who postponed his visit to Srinagar, also attended the meeting. The Home Minister and the top officials also reviewed the security situation across the country, particular along the western border - from Punjab to Gujarat, the sources said. Meanwhile, a team of National Investigation Agency is expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the terror attack site. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. The Home Minister, who had yesterday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that "for one tooth, the complete jaw" should be the policy after the attack. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lawyers today observed a strike at the High Court and other courts here and held protest demonstration against the killing of 18 army jawans by terrorists at Uri. Raising anti-Pakistan slogans, they took out a protest rally in the high court complex and blamed Pakistan for terrorism in Kashmir. "We condemn the Uri terror attack. Pakistan should be taken to task. It has been aiding and abetting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir," Jammu Bar Association president Abhinav Sharma said. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A one-day education expo featuring top American universities will be held here on September 25. The participating universities represent a wide geographic area in the United States and offer a range of academic programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. Students and their parents can get information directly from the representatives of the varisites about various programmes and admission criteria, an official release said today. The discussion sessions at the fair will also help students make informed choices about US higher education and about the US student visa application process, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The opposition governor of Venezuela's second-largest state, Henrique Capriles, declared an emergency over a lack of food for public schools, blaming the socialist government's "misguided" policies. "We are declaring a food emergency in our state," said Capriles, the governor of Miranda state, who is leading a campaign to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office in a recall referendum. Capriles and his centre-right opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), blame the leftist president for an economic crisis that is causing severe shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela. The state of emergency enables Capriles, Maduro's opponent in the 2013 presidential election, to divert funding toward food for schools, nursing homes and facilities for the disabled. It also authorises him to resort to the private sector and aid organisations for food. "There's not enough food for the people of this country," he told yesterday a news conference, accusing the government of covering up the real problem: "a lack of production." Oil-rich Venezuela has veered into crisis as crude prices have collapsed since mid-2014, threatening Maduro and 17 years of socialist rule. Maduro blames the shortages on an "economic war" by the business sector, which he accuses of withholding supplies to undermine his government. Ventura Airconnect, Gujarat's intra-state airline operator, will fly to two new destinations in a month, an official of the company said today. The airline, which launched its service in 2013 by offering connectivity between Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Bhavnagar, will add Amreli and Bhuj to its list of destinations soon, its director Ishwar Dholakiya said today. The company will also offer special service to Bhuj to cater to the Ranotsava festival that is organised in the Rann of Kutchh by the state tourism department, Dholakiya said. A special service connecting Surat, Ahmedabad and Rajkot to Shirdi--a pilgrimage destination--will be launched soon, especially to cater to the devotees of Sai Baba, he said. "We have received encouraging response from fliers in the state and now plan to add new cities to our list of destinations," Dholakiya told reporters. He said the company has received on an average 70 per cent occupancy on flights that can accommodate nine passengers apart from two pilots. The company currently provides connectivity from Surat to Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Kandla. "New added routes will facilitate people to plan their foreign travel through Ahmedabad. Passengers will save time spent on road and rail connectivity," he said. The company has also signed an agreement with the state government to cover more cities in near future. "Gujarat has the largest number of air strips in the country and therefore, it has a good infrastructure for intra-state flight service. We will add more cities to our destinations in the near future," he said. The company is promoted by four industrialists -- Govind Dholakiya, Lalji Patel, Savji Dholakiya, and Lavji Daliya -- who are into diamond and export business. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A veteran South African Tamil activist was honoured here for devoting his life to the promotion of Indian languages in the country. Mickey Chetty, who played a key role in getting Tamil and Hindi languages included in the syllabus of government schools in South Africa, was presented with a painting at the annual Bharathiar Awards organised here last night. The painting shows him seated in the robes he wore when he received an honorary doctorate from the Bharath University in Chennai in March. The awards, named after Indian writer, poet, journalist, Indian independence activist and social reformer from Tamil Nadu Chinnaswami Subramania Bharathi, also honoured a number of educationalist for devoting their lives to the promotion of the Tamil language in South Africa. In his community involvement of more than three decades, Chetty served as President of the South African Tamil Federation for more than twelve years, pioneering a number of projects and raising the profile of the Tamil community at all levels in South Africa. He is currently the President for Africa of the International Movement for Tamil Culture. He also helped revive the annual Children's Tamil Eisteddfod in the country. Chetty told PTI that while he has been recognised for his role in promoting Tamil culture, everything that he had achieved was done collectively with many local, regional and national organisations and in the interests of all sections of the South African community. "Bursary programmes which we started have benefited not just members of the Tamil community, but all communities in South Africa in a variety of fields. We have today many professionals who acknowledge that they would never have become the doctors, lawyers, musicians or other professionals that they are without the support of the bursaries form the Tamil Federation. "The efforts to promote the Tamil language locally in South Africa have now spread throughout the world in such efforts as the Diaspora Tamil Teachers' Diploma Course, where 45 South Africans have already graduated, and the 21 South Africans who have undergone a Tamil Priest's Diploma course at Bharath University," Chetty said. "We are now preparing to send first Black South African Shadrack Ntuli to qualify as a priest in Chennai," he said. The Tamil community makes up more than 60 per cent of the 1.4 million South African citizens of Indian-origin, largely descended from the first settlers who came to the country from 1860 to work as indentured labourers on sugar cane plantations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi today condemned the terrorist attack on an army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 18 soldiers were killed. He also paid tribute and conveyed condolences to the bereaved families of the martyrs. "The terrorist attack on our soldiers in Uri sector in Jammu and Kashmir is to be condemned as strongly as possible. It is time to stand with the families of the soldiers who laid down their lives in this cowardly attack. The dead include two soldiers, namely Sepoy Gangadhar Dolui and Sepoy Biswajit Gharai, from West Bengal," the Governor said in a message. "I offer my tribute to them and heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved families. Our state and the entire nation will ensure that their sacrifice is not wasted," he said. In one of the deadliest attacks on the army in the recent years, 18 jawans were killed and over 20 injured as heavily armed suspected Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, stormed an army base at Uri town in north Kashmir's Baramulla district in the wee hours yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A delegation of West Pakistani refugees today met Union Minister Jitendra Singh and demanded action against Pakistan in the wake of yesterday's Uri attack resulting in the martyrdom of at least 18 Indian soldiers. In a meeting lasting over 45 minutes, the members of delegation said that they are among the earliest victims of Pakistan hostility towards India and have suffered injustice for nearly seven decades since the time of partition. They said, as true patriots, while they have constantly suffered for their genuine rights, they also feel extremely distressed by the losses suffered by Indian brave hearts. The delegation was led by Labha Ram Gandhi, President of the refugees association. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. Singh, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office, assured them that whatever future strategy the government of India decides, will be in the best interest of nation and in keeping with the expectations of 125 crore people of India. The Minister Singh assured the delegation that the Modi government is seriously ceased of their concerns and a mechanism is being worked out to address each of them. Singh noted that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has started a special recruitment drive for West Pakistan refugees, but they were facing problems because of the non-issuance of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class certificates by the state government, since they did not figure in the list of state citizens. He said, the officers in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs are working out a suitable provision to overcome this anomaly. Gandhi complained that because of the refusal to accept them as citizens they were also denied the benefits of several central government schemes like 'Laadli Beti', etc. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Being told that an image is an artwork automatically changes our response, both on a neural and behavioural level, according to a new study that provides support to an over 200 year old theory of art. This may mean that our brains automatically up or down-regulate emotional response according to the whether they think something should be understood at face value, or whether it should be interpreted as art, said researchers from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This tends to lend support to an over 200 year old theory of art, first put forward by the philosopher Immanuel Kant, they said. Most people understand that we will show a different conscious emotional response to a work of fiction or art, than we will to an equivalent real-life image. Now, researchers have tested how the unconscious brain responds to art and other types of images. Twenty-four student volunteers were asked to evaluate a series of pictures while brain activity was measured via an electroencephalogram (EEG). Half of the pictures were pleasant and the other half unpleasant. They were either told that the pictures were works of art or photographs of real events. At the end of the trial they were asked to rate each image according to likeability and attractiveness. The researchers concentrated on a brain signal called the LPP (Late Positive Potential), which is a measurement of the level of electromagnetic activity of the cortex between 0.6 and 0.9 seconds after the appearance of a stimulus. They were able to show that the amplitude of this stimulus was much greater when participants had been told that the picture was real, as against when they were told it was a work of art. When questioned, works of art were also rated as being more likable than were real pictures. "This work suggests that when we expect to be dealing with an artwork, our brain responds differently than when we expect to be dealing with reality," said lead researcher Noah van Dongen from Erasmus University. "When we think we are not dealing with reality, our emotional response appears to be subdued on a neural level. This may be because of a tendency to 'distance' ourselves from the image, to be able to appreciate or scrutinise its shapes, colours, and composition instead of just its content. "We know that our brains may have evolved with 'hard-wired' mechanisms that allow us to adjust our response to objects depending on the situation," said van Dongen. This work indicates that Kant's two century old theory of aesthetics, where he proposed that we need to emotionally distance ourselves from the artwork in order to be able to properly appreciate it, might have a neurological basis and that art could useful in our quest to understand our brain, emotions, and maybe our cognition, researchers said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Exiled Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti, who is leading the Baloch movement against Pakistan, today said he will apply for asylum in India this week and many other leaders from Balochistan may follow suit. The leader of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) also said his party will approach International Criminal Court against former and current Pakistani Army Generals including Pervez Musharraf, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Raheel Sharif besides top brass of ISI for the atrocities on people of Balochistan. Giving details of decisions taken at BRP's Central Committee meeting today, Bugti said the party will seek help of India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to file a case against China at the International Court of Justice as Beijing was "involved" along with Pakistan in unleashing violence on Baloch people. Bugti, the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed by Pakistan forces 10 years ago, said he will file the asylum application to the Indian government through the country's embassy here within next 3-4 days. "We have decided to formally file asylum papers to Indian Government soon. We will follow the legal process for the application," Bugti told reporters here. He is currently living in exile in Switzerland. The BRP leader appealed to India to come out with a policy initiative so that people facing "atrocities" in Balochistan can come and feel secure in India. He said many more Baloch leaders may seek asylum in India and added "we will see who all will need asylum (in India)". He said the Central Committee of BRP has decided to file cases at the International Criminal Court against all retired and serving Pakistani generals who were involved in human rights violation in Balochistan in the last 12 years. "BRP chapters in London, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland will file individual cases against all former and current Pakistani army generals and ISI brass involved human rights violations against our people," he said. He said cases will be filed against former army chiefs Musharraf, Kayani and current chief Sharif. He said India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have been victim of terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil and help of these three countries will be sought in approaching International Court of Justice against China. Last month, Bugti had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raising the issue of the situation in Balochistan in his Independence Day speech. Bugti had gone into exile in Afghanistan after the death of Akbar Bugti in 2006. The Pakistani government had pressured Afghanistan to extradite him following which Bugti shifted to Switzerland in 2010. He had reportedly survived multiple attempts on his life in Afghanistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Authorities have identified the woman killed during a shooting rampage that also wounded two police officers as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants. Sara Salih was shot seven times while sitting in a vehicle Friday night with a 36-year-old man, who was shot in the arm and chest. Moments before, police say, suspect Nicholas Glenn had fired about 18 shots at veteran police Sgt. Sylvia Young as she sat in her patrol cruiser on a West Philadelphia street corner. He then randomly fired five shots at two bar employees, a 42-year-old man and 41-year-old woman, as he ran down the street. Glenn later died in a shootout with responding officers. Beyan Salih, Sara's father, heard the gunshots from the family's apartment during the Friday overnight attack but didn't know his daughter had been shot until after he got home from work Saturday afternoon, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported . That's when he was told she had died. "I didn't know," he said, sobbing on his front porch. "How could she be gone? How could this happen?" Sara's sister, Fatima Salih, said Sara was a newborn when the family immigrated to Philadelphia in 1992 and that she had attended school in southwest Philadelphia. Fatima Salih described Sara as "outgoing and outspoken," with dreams of becoming a paralegal. "She always loved dreaming about the future," Fatima Salih said. Authorities say the 25-year-old Glenn apparently targeted Salih and the man she was with at random. Glenn also shot one of the responding officers, University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller. Miller was treated for gunshot wounds to his hip and ankle and was released from the hospital yesterday. Four Philadelphia Eagles players visited before his release. Young was shot in her shoulder, arm and chest and remains hospitalized in stable condition. Police say all the injured are expected to survive. Investigators say Glenn had a note that expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer at the time of the attack. He fired at least 51 shots during the rampage and was armed with more ammunition, authorities said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The global community today stood behind India in its hour of loss following the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 army personnel, with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying the perpetrators would be brought to justice. France and Canada also condemned the attack and said they stand with India in the fight against terrorism, as international denunciation continued to pour in against the brazen assault carried out by suspected Pakistan-based terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed. France also called for peaceful settlement of disputes in Kashmir. In a statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asserted that the perpetrators of the attack would be brought to justice and all stakeholders would meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability. "France most firmly condemns the terrible terrorist attack perpetrated on 18 September against an Indian army camp in the region of Kashmir. It conveys its condolences to the families of the 17 Indian soldiers killed in this attack. "France remains at India's side in the combat against terrorism. It calls on every State to fight effectively against terrorist groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries," it said. France also recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir, a French Foreign Ministry statement said. Condemning the militant attack on an army camp, the UN Secretary General hoped the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice and re-establishing stability and preventing any further loss of life will be the priority of "all involved". Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton strongly condemned the terrorist attack and said,"The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. "We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism," he added. The US and UK had also condemned the attack yesterday. (REOPENS DEL36 ) France also called for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. During a press briefing in Paris today, the Deputy Spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development said, "After that of Pathankot earlier this year, this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. "More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge. As underscored by the President of the French Republic during his India visit in January this year, all countries must effectively combat terrorism emanating from their territory or from territories under their control." He also asserted that nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combated everywhere with the same determination. Condemning the attack, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said the countries that use terrorism as instrument of foreign policy should not only be isolated but also held accountable for taking away innocent lives. Noting that his country, which has been a victim of terrorism for a long time, can "share the pain", he said it was high time that international community chalks a new course of action to "effectively and actively" deal with the countries which use terrorism as state policy. (Reopens DEL45) In a statement, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia strongly condemned the terrorist attack, offered condolence to the families of the victims and wished a rapid recovery to all those injured. "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counter-terrorism efforts. Leaders from 193 countries today adopted a "breakthrough" declaration to save lives of over 65 million refugees and migrants and share responsibility as the world grapples with the unprecedented refugee crisis. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Member States on the 22-page 'New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants' adopted at the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants at the UN General Assembly. "The Summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility," he said. The declaration is not legally binding and lacks concrete commitments but calls on countries to protect refugees' human rights, boost humanitarian aid and work on their resettlement. Ban said the adoption of the declaration will mean that "more children can attend school; more workers can securely seek jobs abroad, instead of being at the mercy of criminal smugglers, and more people will have real choices about whether to move once we end conflict, sustain peace and increase opportunities at home." "I will take forward the commitment of the membership to begin a process leading to a global compact on migration, as well as to support a global compact on refugees," said Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly. "I will be urging Member States to maintain their high levels of ambition throughout these processes, and to always reach for the higher ground. The fate of millions of refugees and migrants rests with us." By adopting the declaration, Member States are making bold commitments including: to start negotiations leading to an international conference and the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018; to develop guidelines on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations; to achieve a more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world's refugees by adopting a global compact on refugees in 2018. As called for in the declaration, Ban also launched a new campaign called 'Together - Respect, Safety and Dignity for All' to 'respond to rising xenophobia and turn fear into hope'. He urged "world leaders to join this campaign and commit together to upholding the rights and dignity of everyone forced by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life." The Secretary-General and the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration today signed the new agreement by which IOM becomes a related organisation of the UN, thus strengthening the comprehensive global approach to migration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) World leaders should come together to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and stop giving it military and other aid, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said and pitched for punishing the perpetrators of the brazen assault on the army base in Uri in Kashmir. India will have to respond and punish the perpetrators of the terrorist attack and "can no more take it lying down", he said. "The world community should come together to isolate Pakistan, declare it a terrorist state and stop giving it military and all other assistance. "The UN should take it up in a serious manner as terrorism is the enemy of humanity," the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Gannavaram near here. "Pakistan is training, abetting and funding terrorists who want to cripple India's economy. They want to weaken our country. This is not acceptable at all. India is running out of patience. It was high time we taught a lesson to Pakistan," he said. "They (Pakistan) are not walking the talk. Whatever they had promised during the period of Gen Pervez Musharraf...Atal Bihari Vajpayee...They are going back on that. And now you cannot take it lying down. With WTO appellate body ruling against India stating that its PPAs with solar firms were "inconsistent" with international norms, Mercom Capital Group today said this will affect manufacturers in the short term which are overly dependent on the DCR market. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) upheld its earlier ruling and has rejected India's appeal against domestic content requirements (DCR) for manufacturing solar cells and modules. It also agreed that India's localisation rules discriminate against US manufacturers, the multi-lateral trade body said in a statement. The result was not a surprise to anyone in the industry, it added. "The DCR policy has always been contradictory -- the government doesn't want cheaper imported panels, but wants solar power at the lowest possible price. Locally-manufactured panels for DCR projects cost 10-20 percent more, and interest in these higher-cost projects has waned," Mercom Capital Group CEO Raj Prabhu said in a statement. "In the short term, this will affect manufacturers which are overly dependent on the DCR market. In the long term, the effect should be minimal as DCR projects are a small part of the projects auctioned. Manufacturers now have clarity and can adjust their strategy accordingly in order to compete." Currently, there is a pipeline of 925 mw of solar works to be auctioned under DCR. In a setback to India, WTO's appellate body upheld the ruling of a panel which stated that the government's power purchase agreements (PPAs) with solar firms were "inconsistent" with international norms. In April, India had appealed against WTO panel ruling to this effect. The US had filed the complaint before the global trade body alleging discrimination against American firms. The US had last week claimed victory over India at the WTO wherein it had challenged the local content requirement by the Indian government in solar panels. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A youth today was critically injured in an acid attack by unidentified miscreants here, police said. The victim has been referred to Delhi as his condition was stated to be serious, they added. According to SP (city) Aloke Priyadarshi, Balbir (19), son of Fateh Singh and a resident of Vikas Nagar here, used to work at a machinery store on Saunkh Road. At around 8 pm, he was on his way home along with his cousin Ganesh Gola after the day's work when the miscreants threw acid at him, the SP said. Balbir was immediately rushed to a local hospital from where, he was referred to Delhi. Police have launched a hunt to nab the miscreants, the SP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Riteish Deshmukh says to get the look of a musician right, he took inspiration from tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. The 37-year-old actor is playing a banjo player in his upcoming film of the same name and for him it was tough to understand the musical instrument. "When it comes to understanding banjo, the instrument, it was really tough. I learned the technique from the professional guys and then adapted it to the style of the character which was a big task. I had to stand and play which people usually don't. "I kept Zakir Hussain sir somewhere in mind while playing the character. I have not copied him as he is too huge for that. But, the way he feels the music was an inspiration," Riteish said during a group interview. "Banjo" revolves around a band, struggling for it's existence, until a girl from New York comes with a desire to promote their talent. The actor feels the reason for the downfall of street artistes is technology. "Technology is the reason why street forms are losing their worth. Keyboards took the place of banjo. And now with DJs coming in even the keyboards are gone. I have heard DJs play and I have heared live, the way live sounds is all together different. Their energy is different." The movie marks the Hindi directorial debut of National- award winning Marathi director Ravi Jadhav. Riteish believes the movie may represent one group of artistes, but the issues raised are faced by each and every street artist. "'Banjo' represents the street artists to some extent. It talks about the issues they face. It is based on a particular type of street art but the issues these artists face are the same. The movie shows that if the artistes are given the right platform they can achieve great heights," he said. The film stars Nargis Fakhri as the female lead and is being compared to her debut movie "Rockstar," but for Riteish the only similarity between the two films is that they both are about music. "People are comparing 'Banjo' with 'Rockstar' just because both are musical. The genre and zone may be same, but the journeys are different." Riteish has been seen sporting beard and long hair during the promotion of the film. The actor said his current look is for the test shoot of two new projects. "Banjo" releases this Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today said it firmly believes that a policy of "zero tolerance" against terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to its own people, a day after terrorists killed 18 soldiers in Kashmir in one of the deadliest attacks on its military. Making a statement during the 33rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) here, India also called upon the Council to urge Pakistan to put an end to cross-border infiltration; dismantle the terrorism infrastructure; and stop acting as an epicentre of terrorism. "It is time that moral and material support provided by Pakistan to the perpetrators of this continuing heinous violence on the Indian soil should attract this Council's attention," it added. Raising once again the "blatant abuse and violation of human rights in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in other parts of Pakistan, including Balochistan, India said it was adversely impacting the stability of the entire region. "Pakistan's continued mistreatment of large parts of its own population has created a cauldron of tumult that has begun to jeopardise the safety and security of its neighbouring countries". "India firmly believes that a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to our own people," the statement said. Asserting that the acts of terrorism are the most egregious violations of human rights as they rob their victims of the most fundamental of human rights - the right to life, India said this should be clear to any impartial observer of the issue. "India has been a long-suffering victim of terrorism emanating from our neighbourhood. The fundamental reason for disturbances in Kashmir is cross-border terrorism promoted by Pakistan which is so ruthless that it does not shy away from using civilians and even children by putting them in harm's way, at the forefront of violent mobs instigated and supported by their handlers from across the border," it added. The fact that known terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin have been able to hold huge rallies in Pakistan's main cities is a reflection of the state of affairs and can mean only one thing: active support for such personalities and the designated organisations they lead in blatant disregard of rule of law is the new normal in Pakistan, it said. Rather than internationalising issues with India, Pakistan should cleanse itself of its terrorists. The time has come, when the international community needs to address the plethora of human rights concerns in Pakistan because its impact has moved beyond the county's domestic problem and has begun to affect the region and the world at large, the statement said. "We urge this Council to take a holistic view of this threat and not permit the use of terrorism as state policy to be masqueraded as advocacy of human rights," it added. India's statement comes a day after heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir yesterday, killing 18 jawans. Smartphone shipments are expected to miss 2016 estimates, despite a 20-per cent increase in the first half of the calendar year. Around 54 million were shipped in first six months. Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative. The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles. For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in Ecommerce firm Flipkart announced on Monday it would start its Big Billion Day sale from October 2 to October 6 2016. This is the third edition of Flipkart's Big Billion Day sale. The sale will see consumer programmes such as no-cost EMI and product exchange aimed to attract more online sellers and revenue. Highlights of the sale Host of offers including no-cost EMIs, unmatched discounts, product exchange offers to help customers buy more while paying less. Wide product range across 80+ categories and better product selection than any other marketplace. Exclusive partnerships with brands in consumer electronics and smartphones will bring best-value deals to help customers buy premium products at low price. Special offers for SBI card holders. Additional 10% instant savings. Announcing the dates, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, head - category design organization, Flipkart said, "Great offers and exclusive partnerships will give our customers more options to choose from, and our innovative consumer finance, delivery and installation for large electronics and product exchange programs will only add to the customer delight this festive season. With our well-oiled backend and supply chain systems, we are fully prepared to process a billion wishes well in time through this event of the year."The US-based electronic commerce and cloud computing company's India armIndia is expected to hold its festive season sales from October 1 to October 5, 2016, according to media reports. The company is expected to spend Rs 125-130 crore in marketing and advertising budget. Earlier, the retailer had advanced its sale schedule from October 15. On the funding front, Amazon seems to have gathered momentum with its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos committing $3 billion in June 2016 for its Indian operations. The major portion of its expenditure announced in June 2016 is expected to be spent on the festive season sale. In 2014, the firm had invested $2 billion in India opertions. Ahead of the festive season sales, another major retailer Snapdeal plans to create 10,000 temporary jobs at the company between September 15 to November 15, with the positions mostly being in logistics to ensure smooth deliveries. The firm has invested Rs 200 crore in rebranding activities and also unveiled a new logo as the e-commerce major focuses on wooing the next 100 million potential online shoppers. Beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya remains in "full control" even after relocating to UK, his UB group's holding firm United Breweries Holdings Ltd has said while disclosing remuneration totalling Rs 1.6 crore. Group company United Breweries Ltd, in which co-promoter Heineken has been hiking stake, has also disclosed total remuneration of about Rs 2.86 crore to Mallya, who moved to the UK earlier this year amid a furore over various cases involving erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines including about huge loan defaults. However, this payment had to be withheld pursuant to the orders of the Income Tax Department. In its latest annual report, released to shareholders ahead of their Annual General Meeting on September 29, the group holding firm UBHL said it has been without a Managing Director since April 17, 2014. "In the interregnum, the Chairman of the Board, Vijay Mallya is acting as the Principal Officer of the company and reviewed the performance of the Company at the Board Meetings held during the year. "Even after his relocating to London, he has full control over the affairs of the company through appropriate delegation of duties to various operating executives who report to him on a regular basis," it said. Giving details of the remuneration paid to the directors, UBHL has disclosed fees totalling Rs 3.2 lakh to Mallya for attending board or committee meetings. Out of this, payment of sitting fees totalling Rs 1.6 lakh has been restrained by Order of the Tax Recovery Officer dated November 24, 2015, UBHL said. However, Mallya received remuneration totalling about Rs 1.6 crore from two overseas subsidiaries of UBHL. "The Chairman of the company has received remuneration from two subsidiaries, amounting to $120,000 (previous year $120,000) and British Pound 89,600 (previous year GBP 89,600) during the year 2015-16," it said. UBHL also said Vijay Mallya's son Sidhartha ceased to be a director of the company with effect from March 31, 2016. The company's operations comprise primarily of holding of strategic investments and other securities, international trade, development of real estate, sale and rental of constructed premises including residential property of Kingfisher Towers, licensing of trademarks, advancing of loans and provision of guarantees. Interestingly, it also disclosed having been given "the Export Excellence award" by a Karnataka business chamber.' UBHL said it "is constrained by various restraint orders of the High Court of Karnataka as a result of which revenue yielding business proposals like franchising out the Kingfisher brand owned by the Company and renting out vacant space at UB City, Bangalore could not be implemented." "The operations of the company was further affected due to the provisional attachment of properties and shares by the Directorate of Enforcement consequent upon their investigation in a purported money laundering case of Kingfisher Airlines Limited. Continuing efforts are being taken to have the temporary embargo lifted which would augment increasing revenue streams." Giving details of various cases, UBHL said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had provisionally attached in June the immovable properties of the company based in Bangalore and Mumbai under Prevention of Money Laundering Act for a period of 180 days in connection with investigation against Mallya, Kingfisher and others. "Pursuant to a Show Cause Notice dated July 11, 2016 received from the Adjudicating Office in this regard, the company is in consultation with its legal counsels for taking appropriate steps that may be required including but not limited to defending the case before the Adjudicating Authority in Delhi. "As part of the investigations of the affairs of the Kingfisher Airlines Limited, the company has cooperated with all the Investigating Agencies by providing all relevant information, records, data and facts as and when required by the said agencies," it added. In its annual report, United Breweries Ltd (UBL) has disclosed sitting fees totalling Rs 2.9 lakh and commissions worth Rs 2.83 crore to Mallya, but added that "pursuant to the notice received from the Income Tax department, the company has withheld payments effective March 2016". At its upcoming AGM, UBHL will interestingly seek approval from the shareholders for a proposal for entering into a a pact for purchase of goods or materials from them (including purchase of beer) from UBL for an estimated amount of up to Rs 150 crore for the current financial year 2016-17. The relationship between the two countries hit another low, with Sunday attack on Indian Military camp in Uri. India suspects the hands of Masood Azhar led Jaish-e-Mohammad. Roughly 20 soldiers died in the attack. India has decided to up the ante against the neighbor and increase the diplomatic stakes of Pakistan in UN and at other international platforms. One of the options in front of India is also to reduce the economic ties with Pakistan, and many considered this as a low hanging fruit. But this also means trade may also be a scapegoat. On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a shift in the country's strategy to tackle Pakistan by raising the issue of human rights violations in Balochistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir or POK. The aim was to counter Pakistan's interference in Kashmir and its backing of the insurgency there. However, in faraway Mumbai, cotton traders were working out the nitty-gritties of shipping cotton to Pakistan. The reason - cotton production in Pakistan has fallen 35 per cent this year and imports from India turn out to be much cheaper than from Australia and Africa. Incidentally, Pakistan was the largest buyer of Indian cotton in the 2015/16 season (October-September). It bought 2.5 millon bales (one bale is 170 kg); India's total cotton exports were 6.5 million bales. Traditionally, the biggest buyer of Indian cotton has been China. However, this year, things are different, partly due to the economic slowdown there and partly due to its textile exports becoming less competitive due to rising wages and other factors. Terms of Trade Trade, it seems, is the only aspect of Indo-Pak relations that has not been hit by the deteriorating ties between the two countries. It rose 6.1 per cent to $409.96 million in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. In 2015/16, both countries had traded goods worth $5.31 billion, down from $6.71 billion in 2014/15. This year, though the trade may not surpass the 2014/15 numbers, it is projected to cross last year's level comfortably. It usually surges in winter when demand for fresh fruit, meat, nuts and other agriculture products increases on both sides. There are good reasons for this optimism. Just as Pakistan is facing a cotton crisis, India has of late been unable to produce sufficient cement due to shortage of fly ash supplied by thermal power units. This has triggered a surge in cement imports from Pakistan. Cement from Pakistan turns out to be cheaper. The average price of a sack of an Indian brand is around `550 but Pakistani supplies are sold at `480-500. Cement imports do not attract basic Customs duty but all major inputs such as limestone, gypsum and pet coke do. Indian cement makers have been pushing for additional duties on imported cement. A commerce ministry report says more than one million tonnes of cement is expected to be imported from Pakistan this year; the domestic production is 280 million tonnes. The supply from Pakistan is mostly sold in three-four districts of Punjab and some areas of Himachal Pradesh. India has also seen a surge in demand for its sugar. In 2015/16, Indian mills had exported sugar worth $46.46 million to Pakistan. In the first three months of 2015/16 itself, the exports had touched $31.78 million. India has been traditionally supplying meat, chemicals, artefacts, medicines and agriculture products to Pakistan. This year, there has been a surge in demand for Indian cotton, dairy products and sugar, too. India buys nuts, fruit, cement, leather products, some chemicals and rare earth materials from Pakistan. Trade Ties India has been pushing Pakistan for normalisation of trade on the basis of the September 2012 roadmap that mentioned removal of all restrictions on trade through the Attari/Wagah border and grant of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India by December 2012. Pakistan, however, did not adhere to the timeline. India has already given Pakistan the MFN status - which is nothing but a promise not to discriminate against imports from the country that has got the status. Afghanistan also wants to use the Pakistan route to trade with India. However, Pakistan has clarified that it can allow Afghanistan to bring its goods but will not give access to Indian traders. India and Pakistan trade from two routes - the Mumbai-Karachi sea route and the Attari/Wagah land route. There are two other points - Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch and Salamabad in Uri - but they are used only for trade between Kashmir and POK. ICRIER recently said that informal and indirect trade between the two countries is worth more than $10 billion. The products that are traded include diamond/gold jewellery, scrap, machinery, electronics items and paper. These usually travel through a third country such as Dubai. Both countries lose out on Customs and other duties. Pakistan had agreed to comply with the tariff liberalisation plan of the South Asian Free Trade Area, which would have lowered tariffs, but not much movement has happened on this till date. However, any big change in the situation is unlikely due to growing political tensions. Both countries have a restricted visa regime, high tariffs and inadequate trade infrastructure. Pakistan's negative list, for instance, has 1,209 items. India's has 614 items. Lack of direct banking channel, limited connectivity and hostile political environment also play spoilsport. Centre will soon bring a legislation for job security of contract workers, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said on Sunday. "The Centre will soon bring a legislation for the job security of contract workers, and relevant rules will also be made to make their salary payment through banks only," the Minister of State for Labour and Employment said at an event here. ESIC and EPFO services will be made available for nearly 43 crore workers working in the unorganised sector soon. By 2022, housing facility will be provided to all workers, he said, speaking at the Vishwakarma Day -National Labour Day celebrations organised by Ministry of Labour and Employment here. The Minister also said by utilising the financial assistance of Mudra Bank, workers should become entrepreneurs and should provide employment to others. Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Mudra bank has provided Rs 1.8 lakh crore all over the country, he added. Dattatreya said the government has decided to celebrate 'Vishwakarma Day' as National Labour Day on September 17 every year, to remember his contributions for the working class. "Vishwakarma invented many types of equipment for the livelihood of thousands of workers. He should be considered as first engineer in the country and his contributions should be highlighted," Dattatreya was quoted as saying in an official release. "As said by Modi, every worker is a 'Shram Yogi', 'Karma Yogi' and should become as 'Rashtra Yogi' to take part in the nation's building," he said. The Centre has focused on wage security, job security and social security and has taken many initiatives for the benefit of the workers. Increasing minimum wages, maternity benefits and bringing amendments in Child Labour Prohibition Act are some of them, he said. Dattatreya also said the existing 44 labour laws will be categorised into 4 codes and there will be complete protection for the labour welfare. Telangana BJP President and local MLA K Laxman, representatives of various labour unions and workers attended the programme. The banking sector is moving past the worst of its asset quality down cycle, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday, although it warned that state-run banks' capital levels remain a key weakness. Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans of Indian banks have nearly doubled to 8.7 percent as of June, from 4.6 percent in March last year, according to data from the nation's central bank. Including rolled-over or restructured loans, 12 percent of all bank loans were stressed as of end-June. Banks' additions to bad loans surged this year after an asset quality review ordered by regulator the Reserve Bank of India, which wants the commercial lenders to clean up their balance sheets by March 2017. Moody's said it had a "stable" outlook for the banking sector over the next 12 to 18 months. "While the stock of impaired loans may still increase during the horizon of this outlook, the pace of new impaired loan formation should be lower than what it has been over the last few years," the rating agency said in a report. For the 11 Indian state-run banks the agency rates, it estimates a capital requirement of Rs 1.2 trillion ($18 billion) by March 2019 to meet the global Basel III banking rules, Alka Anbarasu, a senior analyst, said at a press conference, reiterating earlier forecasts. The government has estimated a total capital requirement of Rs 1.8 trillion for all 22 state-run banks. It has pledged to inject over four years to March 2019 a total of Rs 700 billion, which many including Moody's believe will not be enough. "A potential way to bridge this capital shortfall would be to slow loan growth to the low single digits over the next three years," Moody's said in the report. SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said on Monday the stressed assets level in the banking sector will come down once the key industrial sectors start functioning at their optimum capacity. During a media interaction, the SBI chief said that most industrial units are working at 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity against the desired 80 to 85 per cent. NPAs will start coming down as the demand comes back in the economy and then you see more and more capacity utilisation, which is still sub-optimal. Be it manufacturing units or power plants, most of them are running at around 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity, Bhattacharya said. When this comes up to 80 to 85 per cent capacity, you will definitely see NPAs coming down, she said when asked about Non Performing Assets (NPAs). She was in Gandhinagar to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of SBI's Local Head Office (LHO) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). The 14-storey tower will come up at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Upon completion, current LHO in Ahmedabad will be shifted here. During her visit at the GIFT City, Bhattacharya also inaugurated SBI's IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at International Financial Services Centre (IFCS) in the GIFT Special Economic Zone. Commenting on the recent announcement about the merger of SBI and its subsidiaries, Bhattacharya said the merger is essential in the wake of tough competition from Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). The merger is essential, because today banking is evolving at very fast rate. You face competition from not only other banks, but also from NBFCs. In order to sustain profitable growth, it is important for us to consolidate, because small organisations do not have such strength or capital, she added. Commenting on a recent report that employees of some banks are depositing money from their pockets into Jan-Dhan accounts, Bhattacharya said, I am not aware of this fact. It is not something which happens in our bank, and I can assure you on that. General Electric is digging deeper into biotechnology with plans to build four prefabricated drug factories in Ireland, bringing to Europe a low-cost manufacturing concept it first pioneered in China. The U.S. conglomerate, better known for making jet engines and turbines, said on Monday it would invest 150 million euros in a biopharmaceutical campus in county Cork. The new factories on the site will be owned and run by GE customers. The GE BioPark Cork site is expected to create 500 jobs by the time it is fully operational, in a boost for Ireland, whose low tax rates have helped it attract top drug companies. GE reckons its off-the-shelf modules are 25 to 50% cheaper than the traditional plants needed for making complex biological medicines. They can also be constructed in just 18 months rather than the typical three years. The first such GE prefab factory was built for JHL Biotech in China, where it recently started operations. Pfizer has also a so-called KUBio unit going up in China. Both these factories are designed to produce cut-price biosimilars, or copies of expensive biotech drugs. Demand for such biosimilars is set to increase as patents expire on top-selling injectable medicines like AbbVie's Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and Roche's breast cancer treatment Herceptin. KUBio factories offer GE a way to build up its presence in biotech medicine, which it sees as a central plank of its life sciences business. GE life sciences sales reached $4 billion in 2015, out of total GE Healthcare revenue of $18 billion. GE technology is already used to make leading antibody drugs and the company also aims to become a big supplier in the emerging field of cell therapy. GE is expected to start building the factories in Cork next year. The investment is a boost for Ireland whose low tax regime has come under scrutiny. The Irish government is set to appeal against a 13-billion-euro back tax demand imposed by the European Commission on technology giant Apple, fearing it could undermine the country's long-established policy of attracting multinationals with low taxes. Ireland has been attracting drugmakers since the 1970s, helped more recently by its 12.5 percent corporate tax rate. Nine of the top 10 global drug companies today have an international base in Ireland. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie About us The Minister for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen, yesterday departed on a five-day Enterprise Ireland Trade Mission to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, one of the largest medtech clusters in the United States. Despite the global recession, the Irish life sciences sector has continued to grow and has evolved into one of the leading global clusters with direct employment of 50,000 people and exports of more than 50 billion annually. Eighteen Irish life sciences companies are participating on the mission which aims to highlight Ireland as a key hub for innovative life sciences solutions and to explore business and research opportunities in the Twin Cities area where approximately 700 medtech companies are based. Of the 18 companies travelling, 13 are Sub-Supply (SS) companies and five are in the Finished Devices (FD) category. SS companies have a service that they can provide to medical device manufacturers while FD have a finished product to sell to medical device companies and healthcare providers. Speaking before departing on the Trade Mission, Minister for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen said, "Thirteen of the worlds top 15 leading medtech multinationals now have operations in Ireland but the most impressive progression in our system has been the emergence and growth of our own vibrant indigenous industry. Along with growing exports, this has facilitated an increase in jobs with a strong regional dispersion." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Members of the Cache County Council are hoping voters will approve the creation of a water conservancy district now that the issue will officially be on the November ballot. In addition to the council, other groups have spoken in favor of a district. One group, however, is adamantly opposed to water conservancy districts: the Utah River Council, a state-wide organization. Zac Frankel, executive director of the council, said there are more than 20 conservancy districts in Utah and there were 36 lobbyists asking for more water for those districts at the latest legislative session. We estimate that it was a million dollar lobbying campaign, exclaimed Frankel on KVNUs For the People program. What they got out of that is they passed another sales tax, a permanent sales tax dedication to water, to pay themselves money. What we see in the legislature is more lobbyists representing water than any other special interest. And (those are) the proponents behind the effort to start a water district in Cache County. Frankel said a water conservancy district is a good example of taxation without representation. He encouraged local residents to study the issue thoroughly before approving it. A member of the Cache County Council strongly disagrees with the Utah River Council, an organization that has taken a stand against creation of a water conservancy district in Cache County. Jon White, a resident of Paradise, says Frankels claim that a district would raise the countys water budget from around $150,000 a year to around $1.1 million a year is wrong. White says those owning a home valued at around $200,000 would pay approximately $10.80 more a year in taxes. And that money, White says, would be used to preserve sufficient water for future generations. I look at it like the old pioneers: they came in here, they worked, they developed the water system that we have now, they built the dams, White exclaims. Maybe its time for us to step up and ensure that same thing for our future generations. Once this water is gone, once it gets reallocated to Salt Lake or somewhere else down south, well never get it back. White says if a city or individual wanted to build something in the county, the only water available now is allocated to agriculture. He says almost every other county in Utah already has a water conservancy district. Four parliamentary factions have recently offered to conduct a constitutional referendum in fall 2016, together with elections to the local municipal councils. Holding a nationwide referendum requires the passage of a special law by two thirds of the parliamentarians. Without much public deliberation, the law has already passed its first reading, with second and third readings scheduled to take place in September. The upcoming referendum will be the sixth ever since the adoption of the first constitution in 1993. Talks on amending Kyrgyzstans Constitution started already in 2013. Political forces have cited various reasons, ranging from the need to carry out a full-fledged reform of the judiciary to protecting the countrys sovereignty. This time, the initiators of the possible changes refer to an urgent need to increase the competencies of the Prime Minister by decreasing those of the President. This motivation has legitimately generated speculations that the incumbent President, whose term expires in 2017, is planning to become the next Prime Minister. However, during his latest press conference, President Atambayev firmly stated that he will leave the political scene and will become neither Prime Minister, nor Speaker of Parliament. In his words, the current Constitution creates a great basis for a potential conflict between the Prime Minister and the President that can later escalate into a large confrontation and destabilize the entire political situation of the country. Therefore, the referendum is primarily needed to set a clear and transparent system of checks and balances. In support of this statement, the Head of the Presidents Office also noted that political stability in the country is maintained not by the Constitution but by the Presidents personal qualities. Despite statements from the President and his inner circle denoting their good intentions, prominent politicians and civil society activists object to the introduction of any changes. The so-called father of the current Constitution, leader of the Ata Meken party Omurbek Tekebayev, believes that the proposed changes aim to preserve and strengthen the political influence of the President and his entourage, even after he leaves the office. The idea to introduce amendments to the Constitution and transfer much of the decision making from the President to the Prime Minister will only lead to authoritarianism. If the President is keen to change the constitution, he should launch a constitutional council to debate all the proposed matters and postpone the referendum until the spring of 2017, said Tekebayev. The President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio voiced a similar suggestion, stating that such massive amendments need thorough public discussions. According to local experts, the proposed changes to the Constitution will also severely weaken the role of the Parliament, which will be limited in its right to issue mistrust in the government and dissolve it. This will indeed throw the country back to 2010 and will jeopardize all its previous aspirations to become Central Asias only parliamentary democracy. Moreover, the suggested amendments to the Constitution will also affect judicial reform. If the changes are adopted, the Constitutional Chamber of Kyrgyzstans Supreme Court, the primary institution charged with overseeing the constitutionality of governmental acts, will have to agree its decisions with both the President and the Parliament. According to Bishkek-based political analyst Tamerlan Ibraimov, this will yet again put the judiciary system into a full political dependency on other branches of power. The fact that the constitutional court must agree with the Parliament or the President on whether their decisions are constitutional or not is absolutely wrong and in this case, there is absolutely no need for the court. Moreover, many experts fear that such an amendment will lead to a series of laws that will violate human rights. Indeed, the constitution has been changed multiple times over the past 23 years; mainly to the benefit of the ruling political elite. Unfortunately, the countrys leadership habitually blames the constitution for their own lack of political will to carry out real political reforms and has a keen interest in subjecting it to constant changes. The currently proposed amendments appear to be no different. Image attribution: www.formula1.com, accessed on July 10, 2016 What's the secret to United Russia's success in the polls? Published on September 19, 2016 Story by euro topics en fr de es it pl Despite a historically low turnout and reports of irregularities in some areas, the Putin-backed United Russia party has won 54% of the vote in the country's parliamentary elections - an increase on the last elections in 2011. But what's the secret to the party's success? Putin can do almost anything - Die Presse, Austria Vladimir Putin need have no fear of elections, Die Presse comments: "His appeal can be explained by the fact that he can do what his fans in the West can't, without being held responsible for his acts. While politicians in Europe are punished by voters, he can tell them lies in their faces with impunity. Whereas as soon as they're in power Europe's populists usually fail to transform their policies of destruction into constructive governance, or to offer solutions they reject in principle, the Russian president is free from the constraints of democratically legitimated politics. He is in the comfortable position of being able to do almost anything without having to fear the consequences. It is this organised irresponsibility that Western populists can (luckily) only dream of." (19/09/2016) Russia sinks into apathy - De Telegraaf, Netherlands De Telegraaf says that the low voter turnout testifies to widespread apathy in Russia: "The anarchy in 2012, when the elections [of December 2011] were marked by massive fraud and thousands of people demonstrated in Moscow, seems to have definitively changed into apathy. Pensions have not been raised, people are losing their jobs, holidays in Egypt or Turkey are no longer affordable for the middle class. But apparently no one holds Putin responsible for all that... Once again reports of electoral fraud have surfaced right across the country. On the afternoon of the vote the turnout is dramatically low: under 20 percent. In the end Putin's party wins; no one says a word about voter participation. Only the prisons and psychiatric institutions report that turnout has never been this high: 89% and 85%, respectively. So the inmates and the insane have brought about an electoral triumph. Welcome to Putin's Russia." (19/09/2016) Putin is unimpeachable - Corriere Del Ticino, Switzerland The Russians are rewarding Putin's lack of scruples, says Corriere del Ticino: "Outside Russia, Vladimir Putin's 'dictocracy' and his unscrupulousness in foreign policy are condemned, but within Russia the Kremlin chief is rewarded for precisely these things. Moreover, Putin has used a number of tricks to secure a majority for the United Russia party... He has silenced the oligarchs by adopting a laissez faire approach towards their activities. In exchange he demands that they don't contradict him... Underpinning the president's success is the new national identity he has created. It is based on defending the traditional Russian indigenous values (as an alternative to the West's). This strategy is based above all on territorial defence, the dream of a return to the glory of the Soviet Union and the ability to intervene militarily in international crises." (19/09/2016) Boredom and resignation - Delo, Slovenia Delo described the elections to the Russian Duma as the most boring of the last decade: "The reallocation of seats between the governing party United Russia and the three 'system parties' didn't even particularly interest local media or commentators... The reason for this is clear to Kremlin experts: the repressiveness of President Putin's regime is to blame. Those familiar with the intrigues in the court of the 'new Czar' have been saying for the past 15 years that after a brief experiment with democracy Russia has returned to the 'pre-modern' era; to Soviet times, in which votes like yesterday's were only democratic on the surface... Perhaps Russian voters really couldn't care less who wins this game of fictional democracy... Perhaps, however, the Russians also see that it makes no difference what the parties are called, that all opposition is firmly anchored in the system and that all politicians are only interested in one thing: being in power." (19/09/2016) --- 30 Countries, 300 Media Outlets, 1 Press Review. The euro|topics press review presents the issues affecting Europe and reflects the continent's diverse opinions, ideas and moods. 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SHARE By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times Albanian Muslims saved thousands of Jewish lives during World War II and a local church wants Corpus Christi residents to learn about it. St. Paul United Church of Christ of Corpus Christi will host a screening of "Besa: The Promise," a documentary about Albania, a small European country, that opened its borders to shelter Jewish refugees during the Nazi occupation. Albania is predominately Muslim. "In this time of intense xenophobia in this country, we follow Jesus' call to gather people and understand people," the church's Rev. Burton Bagby-Grose said. "This is a unique topic. The topic of Muslims saving Jews comes as a surprise to a lot of people. It's interesting and also enlightening." "Besa" is an Albanian cultural precept that means "to keep a promise." Bagby-Grose said the concept, which fostered loving relationships between the Albanian-Muslim and Jewish families, was captured eloquently in the film. A Jewish photographer, Norman H. Gershman, and a Muslim-Albanian shopkeeper, Rexhep Hoxha, are at the center of the personal drama involving a quest to return three precious books to the last surviving member of a Jewish family sheltered during the war. The documentary was shot in Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. It features interviews with survivors and rescuers, archival footage, animations and an original score by Philip Glass. The film was underwritten by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Twitter: @CallerBetty IF YOU GO What: Screening of "BESA: The Promise" When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Where: St. Paul United Church of Christ, 5525 Lipes Blvd. Information: 361-994-8899 SHARE Local students selected for national science competition The Society for Science and the Public and Broadcom Foundation announced Nikolai Ortiz of Corpus Christi and Joaquin Haces Garcia of Kingsville were selected as top 300 semifinalist in the Broadcom MASTERS national middle school science and engineering competition. Nikolai, a student at Seashore Middle Academy, and Joaquin, a student at Santa Gertrudis School, were selected for this honor from a pool of 2,343 entrants and more than 6,000 nominees from affiliated science fairs across the United States, officials said. The next step in the Broadcom MASTERS will be Sept. 20 when 30 finalists will be selected from the 300 semifinalists. Finalists and one parent or guardian will receive $500 each and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the Broadcom MASTERS Finals Week competition from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. Finalists will present their research and compete in hands-on challenges for top prizes, including funds to attend a STEM summer camp, iPads, and the Samueli Prize of $25,000. Compiled by Natalia Contreras Under the Bridge The new Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge cuts near the once bustling Hillcrest neighborhood. For those who didn't move away this is what life is like now. SHARE By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times The Gregory-Portland High School band director is on paid administrative leave after five students overheated. As of 4 p.m. Monday, Chuck Young, director of bands for the school district, was put on leave pending an investigation into student safety concerns in the band program, said Crystal Matern with the communications office. Young has been head band director for more than 10 years. The five students who were taken to the hospital Friday were released during the weekend, and all attended classes Monday. The band met during its regular class time Monday, but marching practice was conducted inside. After school practice also was rehearsed indoors Monday and Principal Kyde Eddleman attended. "We are working to ensure that G-PISD procedures are being followed so that all students are properly hydrated," Matern said in a news release. "Students are receiving helpful reminders to help them stay hydrated during outdoor rehearsals, including the physical signs of dehydration and what type of clothing is best to wear when practicing outside." Twitter: @Caller_Jules David Strickland SHARE Molli Olgin CALLER-TIMES FILE PHOTO Kristene Chapa's mother Grace Chapa puts a device called a Saebo Reach orthosis on Kristene's left hand and arm. The rehabilitation device will help her regain use of her hand and arm. Caller-Times file Messages for Mollie Olgin and Mary Kristene Chapa are scrawled out on cards, posts and sheets of paper June 29, 2012, during a vigil at Violet Andrews Park in Portland. The notes were discussed during the opening day of testimony Monday. Caller-Times file Mary Sauceda signs a memorial poster June 29, 2012, as a group of Mollie Olgin's former co-workers wear shirts with Olgin's photo during a vigil at Violet Andrews Park in Portland. The vigil was discussed during the first day of testimony in David Strickland's capital murder trial Monday. By Fares Sabawi and Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times SINTON Families of two women left for dead in a Portland park looked away as photos and video of the women bloodied and tangled in debris were shown in a San Patricio County courtroom Monday. Mollie Judith Olgin and Mary Kristene Chapa had been stripped of their clothes and shot execution style June 22, 2012. Olgin was killed. Chapa survived but was severely injured. Portland police officers described the scene during the opening day of the capital murder trial against David Malcom Strickland, who is accused of shooting and raping the women. Strickland, who has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 2014, loudly declared he is "absolutely not guilty," of capital murder and other charges at the start of trial. Chapa's father frequently watched Strickland, who sat on the end of the defense table with his three lawyers. Strickland's parents and supporters sat in the pew behind him. Next to them, in the same pew, sat Chapa's family. Olgin's friend, Stephanie Chasak, testified she met Strickland days after the shooting during a celebration of Olgin's life at the park. Olgin's friends wrote messages to her in chalk on the sidewalks of the park. Chasak said she was approached by a "strange man" who fit a description of sketches police put out of the suspect. Strickland asked her about the incident and how much police knew, including whether they knew what type of gun was used, Chasak testified. Strickland also told Chasak he was in the military and owns several guns, she said. Strickland's attorney pointed out her encounter was not in her written statement with police. She looked over her statement and said she told police about the encounter later over the phone. Strickland's lawyers suggested a Nevada man is the perpetrator. San Patricio prosecutors acknowledged in opening statements that man was Portland police's sole suspect for two years. His DNA was found on a drink can and cigarettes near the girls' bodies. That man was staying with a family friend in Portland in June 2012 awaiting sentencing for a home invasion he pleaded guilty to in Nevada. But after receiving an anonymous letter in 2014 written from the perspective of a hit man that contained information not released to the public, police were led to Strickland, prosecutor Sam Smith said. During a search of Strickland's belongings, law enforcement found part of the letter with two lines identical to the draft Chapa's father received, Smith said. Portland police suspected Strickland's wife, Laura Strickland, delivered the letter and charged her with tampering with evidence. The charge was later dismissed. The couple who found the women also took the stand. Christene Seymour said she and her husband Stanley were walking through the park looking for birds to photograph that day when she got an eerie feeling. "My inner spirit said something was wrong," she said. As she put her camera away and turned from the spot where she was photographing the Corpus Christi skyline, she said something in the brush caught her eye. She thought it was a pile of trash or debris. She called to her husband who told her bodies lay in the grass. Olgin' family cried as the Seymours recounted seeing blood and mud smeared on Olgin's bare legs. Chapa's arm lay over Olgin's body. A Corpus Christi crime scene investigator, called to help by Portland police, also testified about evidence gathered at the crime scene. Two .45 bullet casings, one behind Olgin's body and another underneath her body, were recovered. Several cigarette butts that appeared unweathered and recently smoked were found along with a can of iced tea, beer cans and other unlabeled bottles. The shooting is a rare case in a city with a population of fewer than 20,000 residents. Initially, it was widely believed Chapa and Olgin, who were a couple, were targeted because of their sexuality but authorities say evidence doesn't support that theory. Vigils were hosted in their honor across the country, and last year Chapa was a presenter and speaker at the annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards in New York. Chapa lost functionality to the left side of her body and has had to relearn to walk and talk. Additional law enforcement officers are expected to take the stand Tuesday. Lawyers said they anticipate the trial will last 2-3 weeks. Twitter: @CallerKMT They were commissioned in Yaounde on Friday, September 16, 2016. ADS The courtyard of the Ministry of Arts and Culture in Yaounde was the venue of the commission of recently appointed officials of the Ministry of Arts and Culture on Friday, September 16, 2016. Friends, relatives and well wishers thronged the venue with bouquets of flowers to congratulate the new officials. Those commissioned were heads of attached services, sub-directors and chiefs of service. Speaking at the occasion, the Secretary General in the Ministry of Arts and Culture, Mouhtar Ousmane Mey, called on them to be efficient and duty-conscious in the exercise of their duties. He reminded them of the task ahead, which is to be fully committed in the implementation of the road map of the ministry as instructed by the Prime Minister, Head of Government. Mouhtar Ousmane Mey called on the officials to be disciplined, devoted, punctual and respect seniors in order to meet set objectives. He called on them to be creative and innovative so that culture will be a veritable lever for growth and employment. The Secretary General equally assured them of the support of the ministry to provide better working conditions as they carry their tasks so as to improve their performance. Mouhtar Ousmane Mey also used the occasion to hail former officials for loyal services rendered to the nation in particular and the Ministry of Arts and Culture in particular. ADS This was agreed upon as Imams and Sarikis of the South West Region met in Buea recently. ADS In a grandiose demonstration of tolerance, harmony and brotherhood, leaders of the Muslim community in the South West Region travelled to Buea, 1 January, 2016, for what they termed special prayer session for peace and sustained security in Cameroon. The event was organised under the auspices of the South West branch of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries in Cameroon (French acronym, CIDIMUC). The venue of the special prayer was the Islamic Complex Central Mosque in Buea Town. Dignitaries at the event included the Secretary General at the South West Governors office, Clement Fon Ndikum, and the Divisional Officer of Buea, Paul Wokam. Alhadji Mohammed Aboubakar, Imam of Buea Central Mosque and South West Regional President of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries in Cameroon (CIDIMUC), was the host religious leader amid a dozen others from the six Divisions of the Region. Among them were also some of the Muslim traditional leaders called Sarikis, all of whom represented the 6000-member Muslim-community of the South West. We prayed for Allah to save us from the Boko Haram terrorism and also for poverty alleviation, good health, wisdom of Heads of State of Africa and the world and all good things we expect to have and I believe God definitely is going to answer our prayers, Imam Aboubakar who led the session told the press after a three-hour long intensive prayers. Side by side with the enormous material that the State has put in to fight Boko Haram, we too, have what it takes to supplicate God to help us win over terrorism, Imam Aboubakar explained. He added, The Head of State has said it over that terrorism is a global problem and requires a global solution and we, as Muslims, cannot stay behind. It is a common claim among the Muslims that they are most affected in this issue of Boko Haram. They are justified with reports of invasion of mosques in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon where people are killed in prayer sessions for no reason by Boko Haram. To address this, National Coordinator of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries in Cameroon (French acronym, CIDIMUC) launched a wave of special prayer sessions since 28 December across the Country. Our regional meeting here in Buea has coincided with the Christian New Year calendar (1 January) showing how the Cameroonian community is tolerant and lives freely together sharing the sorrow and happiness of one another." he said, adding that the Imams of the South West will go back to their various communities and continue these prayers incessantly until the war against Boko Haram is finally won. ADS | BY Martin Trevaskis | Clemenger BBDO Sydney creative director Luke Hawkins is in Singapore sitting on the Film, Print & Publishing, Print & Outdoor Craft jury at Spikes Asia. Heres his report on Day One of the judging. I arrived in Singapore last night to a city buzzing with Formula One fever. After an eventful journey to the hotel involving several road blocks and having to navigate my way on foot through a huge underground carpark using google maps with one bar of signal strength, I managed to catch the last half hour of the race from my balcony. An experience which can be best summed up as loud, fast and pretty fucking awesome. Day one of judging starts in the gym. Despite the ungodly hour theres already another guy in there whos giving the Elliptical trainer a good run for its money. I soon recognise him as our jury president Tony Granger and introduce myself. We exchange sweaty handshakes and proceed to do a bit of pre-judging bonding over some F1 chat and a few chin ups. As you do. After breakfast we gather in the hotel lobby and are welcomed by Terry Savage before breaking off into our respective juries. Tony Granger outlines the importance of looking for simple human truths that create relevance and meaning. And ideas that are so strong they seem almost inevitable. He also stresses the importance of being both respectful and fair. We all work hard to produce work we feel is of award show calibre, so its a point that resonates. From there we break off into two groups for the first round of film judging. We see the online film and content entries that made it through preliminary online judging and precede to vote again on those. Then its onto TV and Cinema. There are plenty of entries to get through and its good to see Australia and New Zealand well represented. In terms of trends there are 3 clear winners: 1. Pulling on the heartstrings is the new black. 2. Real world experiments are all the rage, and often come hand in hand with trend number 1. 3. Everyone loves coffee. Weve seen ads for coffee brands. Ads not for coffee brands but set in cafes. Ads for tech brands featuring baristas. And coffee used in life metaphors, analogies and tropes. Go figure. Once wed wrap up the film judging we break for lunch then get stuck into the first round of Print & Publishing and Print & Outdoor craft. Again, there are plenty of entries to get through and its nice to see that despite digital playing a part in just about everything we do these days, there is still a place for more traditional print. | BY Lynchy | Building on the success of clients such as Hungry Jacks and 3M, Channel T Sydney continues its growth with the launch of a new creative leadership team. Highly respected creative Marrianne Little joins Channel T as creative director working alongside Tim Brothers as associate CD. Says Channel T executive creative director Pete Cerny: Marrianne is a perfect fit for Channel T. Her experience as a senior creative leader coupled with and her talent for strategic thinking is a perfect combination for our clients. And now with Tim coming on board, were really excited as we enter a new phase for the agency. Says Little: Its such a perfect time to be joining Channel T, were a no borders creative agency there are no boundaries to how far we can go. I feel like Im in the right place at the right time in my career. And our key clients, Hungry Jacks and 3M are committed to being thought leaders in marketing and innovation. It doesnt get much better than that. Littles awards include D&AD, AWARD, Cannes, New York Festivals, Clio and Effies, she also brings wealth of experience across a range of local and international brands includingP&G, Coca Cola, Konica, AHM Insurance, Citibank, NRL, Uncle Tobies, Westfield, VW, and Nandos Prior to running her own creative consultancy, Little was CD at MJW and has held senior creative posts at Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB London, VCD, Love, and Clemenger BBDO. Brothers, who joins from a stint at M&C Saatchi, Innocean Worldwide and Leo Burnett, is excited about the opportunity ahead: Were so lucky to be blessed with clients that appreciate good ideas and want to see more of them. I cant wait to take their brands forward with the help of the Channel T team. | BY Lynchy | Following the success of the #MINIRAY29K Campaign and the launch of the Mini Ray model in Australia, Mini has partnered with new media company Junkee Media to launch its Bright Rays campaign. The socially-led campaign was designed by Junkee Medias content agency Junkee Studio to celebrate the rise of young entrepreneurs in Australia by sharing the stories of four leading Australian fashion and design creative entrepreneurs in a series of sharable, digital videos. The content will be rolled out throughout September and October to inspire millennials to enter the Mini Australia Bright Rays competition. Entrants will be required to advise what they would do with the $29,000 Bright Rays Grant on the MINI Australia microsite. From there, six finalists will be required to create a 30-60 second video and the most creative entrant chosen by MINI Australia will receive a $29K business grant, a MINI Ray for 12 months and a mentoring session with an established creative entrepreneur, awarded at an exclusive event in November. To inspire entrants, Junkee Studio has acquired the support of design duo Koskela, the fashion entrepreneur Mel Tan from Joy Hysteric, cake queen Katherine Sabbath, and artist and accessories brand Tiff Manuell. Each Mentor was selected by Junkee Studio and MINI Australia, recognised not only as leaders in their artistry, but in business too. The four Bright Rays mentors will star in a series of Daily Ray videos, sharing an exclusive insight into their lives, where they will share business tips, where they look for inspiration, and how they stay motivated. The content will be rolled out on Facebook and Instagram across the competition period 19/09/2016 16/10/2016. The Bright Rays campaign allows us to engage with millennials on a platform they resonate and engage with every day, says Gabrielle Byfield, national marketing manager Mini. We wanted to identify new and stimulating ways to communicate to a younger market whilst staying true to the MINI brand. MINI believes the Bright Rays campaign will allow some of Australias brightest creative talent to shine. Were looking for innovation, vibrant passion and an original creative vision. Following the announcement of the 29K Business Grant, Mini will follow the journey of the winner, fostering and nurturing their talent whilst producing sharable content with Junkee Media. The campaign will be amplified through Junkee Medias millennial focused title Junkee, which has a social reach of over 5M people every week. The MINI Bright Rays campaign was conceived through insights of the target audience, key influencers and the MINI brand, says Josh Rich, general manager Junkee Studio. Authenticity is at the heart, and MINI is a brand that has a clear vision and supporting creative pursuits and industries. We are extremely excited to work with MINI and Vizeum on this campaign. Mini Australia is passionate about supporting and nurturing young creatives and entrepreneurs that thrive off innovation, a philosophy that will ultimately influence future Mini inventors. Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 6:49PM With Netflixs growing business posing a threat to the more traditional studios, it looks like one of them isnt taking that lying down. 20th Century Fox has filed a lawsuit against the streaming service for luring away employees who are still under contract and persuading them to break their contracts to work for Netflix. The cases specifically stated were recent hires of programming executive Tara Flynn and marketing executive Marcos Waltenberg. Both companies have issued statements regarding the case. According to Fox, "We filed this lawsuit because we believe Netflix is defiantly flouting the law by soliciting and inducing employees to break their contracts. We intend to seek all available remedies to enforce our rights and hold Netflix accountable for its wrongful behavior. Meanwhile, Netflix says, "We intend to defend this lawsuit vigorously. We do not believe Fox's use of fixed term employment contracts in this manner are enforceable. We believe in employee mobility and will fight for the right to hire great colleagues no matter where they work." Source: The Hollywood Reporter Sunday, September 18, 2016 at 5:57PM Online reports from customers have started to show up saying theyre being notified by Best Buy that their replacement units are already available. No other Samsung retail partner or carrier have sent out this notice even if some of the units have already been sent to them. In the US, Samsung has told customers that they should receive their units no later than September 21. These reports help boost confidence that Samsung will be delivering the units on time. Source: SamMobile Mr Ireland, who said he was still waiting to hear back from Mr Gentleman and Chief Minister Andrew Barr regarding the discrepancy between the policy QBE provides and the statutory builders' warranty, doesn't believe this is good enough. The government provided funding to the Department of Finance to kick-start to the divestment of the four general office accommodation buildings, but Senator Cormann said a final decision on whether or not to sell East and West block had not been made. Ms Flanery said keeping dogs "restrained by a leash in public areas, in most instances, balances the views of people who like interacting with dogs with those that don't and mitigates any potential issues of public safety", such as dogs biting or harassing other people, or getting in the way of cyclists and runners. "The only issues for cabinet to resolve are the best and most cost-effective model for the relocation to ensure minimal interruption; and to ensure the APVMA is best positioned to provide improved services into the future," he said. Johan Dennelind, who was appointed CEO to help clear up the scandal, admitted wrongdoings and unethical behaviour in a conference call this morning. Telia Companys board learned of the scale of the proposed fine last night and reacted this morning after an overnight board meeting. The proposal covers as far as we understand all existing investigations. It is a very high amount. The companys chairman, Marie Ehrling, shared Dennelinds view of the scale of the fine. Our initial reaction to the proposal is that the amount is very high. We will now have to analyse the information and decide on how to proceed with the ongoing discussions with the authorities, she said in a prepared statement. But she also admitted that the company previously called TeliaSonera had been wrong. I have said on many occasions in the past that Telia Companys entry into Uzbekistan was done in an unethical and wrongful way and we are prepared to take full responsibility. We are cooperating fully with the authorities to bring clarity to the matter. General counsel Jonas Bengtsson said that Telia has been cooperating with Swedish, Dutch and US authorities. The new board, appointed at the 2013 annual general meeting, determined to change the company fundamentally, he said, and decided to cooperate with all investigating authorities. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice started investigating in early 2014, followed by the Dutch authorities. Telia was not questioning their jurisdiction over the matter, said Bengtsson. Telia has cooperated with these authorities. It is an extensive cooperation. Telia is hoping that the proposed fine will be an end to the matter. The proposal as far as we understand it covers all interests the authorities have in Telia Companys activities, he said. Dennelind was unclear on how the level of the fine was set. We have just received the information and have to analyse it, he said. But he added that the company hasnt had an expectation of the level in advance. We simply state it is a big number. Telia Company announced earlier in 2016 that it intends to dispose of all its central Asian interests, though Dennelind said he understands that there is no investigation into investments outside Uzbekistan. Earlier this month Telia sold its 60% stake in Tajikistan operator Tcell for $39 million to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, which owns the other 40%. The Uzbekistan scandal dates back to what was then TeliaSoneras acquisition of Uzbekistan operator Coscom later rebranded as Ucell in July 2007. TeliaSonera did not conduct a sufficiently in-depth analysis into the identity of our local partner in Uzbekistan before we invested in the country or into how this partner came to own the assets that were later obtained by TeliaSonera, said then CEO Lars Nyberg in his 2013 resignation statement. A report by Swedish Television in September 2012 alleged that TeliaSonera paid $320 million for its Uzbekistan licences through Gayane Avakyan, an Uzbek woman in her late 20s described as having close ties to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Islam Karimov, who had been president of Uzbekistan since 1991. Karimov died on 2 September 2016. After the allegations emerged, TeliaSonera commissioned a Swedish law firm, Mannheimer Swartling, to investigate. The company also fired Per-Arne Blomquist, the CFO, and three other senior executives after it received Mannheimer Swartlings report. Uzbekistan has not been a good investment for other foreign telecoms companies. In February 2016 VimpelCom agreed to pay $835 million in settlement fees to US and Dutch authorities after admitting it paid huge bribes to enter the Uzbekistan telecoms market. Telenor this week started to sell its stake in VimpelCom. In August 2016 Russias MTS left the Uzbekistan market after selling its 50.1% stake in Universal Mobile Systems to the state for an undisclosed amount. Four years earlier the Uzbekistan government confiscated MTSs assets in the country and arrested executives. This morning Dennelind told financial analysts that the fine would not affect Telia Companys dividend policy. Pete Bodharamik, who is also CEO of Jasmine International, says he has secured credit to buy up the shares in the company to take his holding to 100%. Jasmine lost its 4G licence in Thailand earlier this year when the company was unable to raise the money to make the first payment to the government. A subsidiary of rival company Advanced Info Service (AIS) took the spectrum instead. According to Reuters, Jasmine could become an acquisition target after that failure. The companys shares were suspending on the Bangkok stock exchange this morning after the news about Bodharamiks plans. Jasmine is Thailands second largest ISP. According to Reuters, Siam Commercial Bank will finance the Bodharamiks plans to take 100% control. The tender offer is due to start o 29 September. [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. 'Photocopy' is of utmost importance for most of us. It is a time-saving and economical method that has proved to be a boon for a huge number of students. Imagine you are studying engineering or medicine or law and you have to buy a book worth Rs 6000/-! That is no doubt a pinch on your pocket. So what is the best way to obtain that book at a low price? Simple. Get it photocopied. Even in our day to day life, we are heavily dependent on photocopies. A friend of yours owns a collection of short stories of your favourite author but you cannot purchase the same copy as the price is too high for you. So you borrow the book, get a photocopy of the same and read it with satisfaction. When photocopy of a book, irrespective of its author, publisher and content, is universally accepted, there is no room for argument that photocopying a particular book violates the copyrights of the publisher of that book. What do some of the leading publishing houses have to say about photocopy? Leading publishing houses like Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom (UK); Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd; Taylor & Francis Group, UK; and Taylor & Francis Books India Pvt Ltd argue that Delhi University has violated their copyright by providing students with photocopies of the course packets that included sections of reference books related to different subjects. The publishers also claim that the educational institute has been selling the photocopies of the reference books thus hinting at commercial gain for the institute. Delhi University has assigned the job of photocopying and providing the books to its students to Rameshwari Photocopiers. What does Delhi High Court say regarding copyright and photocopy? According to Indian Express, the Delhi High Court said that the words - in the course of instruction within the meaning of Section 52(1) (i) the aforementioned would include reproduction of any work while the process of imparting instruction by the teacher and receiving instruction by the pupil continues... Resultantly, reproduction of any copyrighted work by the teacher for the purpose of imparting instruction to the pupil as prescribed in the syllabus during the academic year would be within the meaning of Section 52 (1)(i) of the Act. The court also said that there are international agreements on copyright law with broad definitions of infringement; yet they had left it up to individual country's legislature to define the exceptions to copyright violation. The Delhi High Court also made a very valid point when it said that all the students could not be expected to buy books. This is a very significant decision taken by the court since there are many talented students hailing from poor families. Such students cannot be expected to spend thousands of rupees on book. So photocopying of required books for the purpose of studies cannot be called violation of copyright. Hence, the court's decision, as of now, is welcome. " title="NLIU organises National Workshop on "Copyright Law in India" " />NLIU organises National Workshop on "Copyright Law in India" New Delhi, 19 September 2016: Tomorrow's India Global Summit, an initiative by the Global Social India Foundation has announced that top premier educational institutions from India are all set to be a part of the Tomorrow's India Global Summit, a five-day event to be held in Seoul from 25-29 September. Confirmed institutes scheduled to be a part of the summit include (8 universities and 2 schools) JK Business School (as premier Knowledge Partner), IIT, Ansal University, Sharda University, Galgotias University, School of Planning & Architecture (Affiliated to Delhi University), Amity University, Rukmini Devi Institute of Advanced Studies (Affiliated to IP University), Rukmini Devi Public School, DLF Public School (Sahibabad). During the event, Indian students will get an opportunity to visit the top three universities in Seoul viz. Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University. These visits will include workshops on entrepreneurial talks, how to manage cultural differences, networking, counselling sessions and so on. The session will also provide the students a chance to interact with professors in classes and workshops, network, and attend counselling sessions. Students will get free passes to attend the Business Conference which will be panelled by some of the top Indian speakers providing them a chance to meet their potential future employers. The students will also be provided with proper accommodation and health facilities along with a chance to apply for internship programs in international universities. During the summit, Professor Chun S. Moon, Professor and Director of Planning and Communications with the Graduate School at Korea University and Dr. Lakhvinder Singh, Chairman of India- Korea Business and Policy Forum and head of the Korea Peace Movement will be sharing their views with the students on intercultural relations and the scope of India-Korea Relations. Talking about the initiative, Mr. HP Singh, Managing Director and Founder, Tomorrow's India Global Summit said, "The student university visits are a part of our ethos to showcase India to the world. Tomorrow's India provides a platform for students to explore various cultural and educational opportunities that Universities in Seoul have to offer. Students will not only get to experience the university life in Korea but also will get to attend the classroom sessions. This is an excellent opportunity for the students to have first-hand discussions with Korean professors which will offer them a window of opportunity to observe and consider studying in Asia's third largest economy." The initiative by Tomorrow's India Global Summit complements the already established Korean policies for higher education where the government offers scholarships to promote diversity in academia as a result of which, international students in South Korea benefit from scholarships at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. The Korean Government Scholarship Program also promotes international cooperation in education by inviting talented international students to Korea for advanced studies, especially research students at the master's and doctoral level. Korea has a multitude of established global brands such as Samsung, Kia Motors, Hyundai and so on which also have a strong foothold in India. An initiative such as this is fully poised to encourage Indian students to opt for higher education in Korea and utilize their skills to contribute to these top organisations of the world. Tomorrow's India Global Summit is being supported by the Embassy of India in the Republic of Korea, and will have participants from India, Korea, Ethiopia, Finland, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan and Zimbabwe. The event will provide an excellent opportunity to the students to connect with the prominent speakers at the summit which include Sangeeta Reddy, Executive Director, Apollo Hospitals Group; Arun George, Founder & CEO, Avant Garde Innovations and the Focal Point Kerala Chapter for the UN Global Compact Network India; Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angels Network; Shailesh K. Pathak, Executive Director, Bhartiya Group; Prakash PK Menon, Global Partner, Thought Leaders Global; and, Devita Saraf, CEO & Design Head, Vu Technologies. ABOUT TOMORROW'S INDIA Tomorrows India is a global initiative showcasing India's entrepreneurial strength and academic excellence within a cultural framework. The program aims to bring an integrated approach, focused on developing international inter-country collaborations in the fields of business, culture, and education. It's a vision to create immense opportunities with economies around the world and identify emerging trends within India for the participating countries. Ultimately, Tomorrow's India is the premier gateway to and for India through the exchange of knowledge and culture - a gateway that builds bridges across nations. The program was launched by Global Social India Foundation (GSIF) on January 24, 2016 in Singapore and brought together experts from diverse sectors of the industry, registered group of entrepreneurs, head honchos and corporate gurus, turning successful in showcasing India's might - globally. 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... With just a little over a week left until the 2016 Paris Auto Show welcomes journalists (and visitors) from all parts of the globe, the 2017 S-Class has been caught in the open. Dropping some of the vinyl stickers from the front and rear bumpers, Mercs flagship sedan continues to keep its lighting units covered, suggesting that this is probably where the main visual tweaks can be found, but even with the camouflaged completely removed, chances are it will fly under the radar for most consumers. The cabin posed for the camera as well, earlier this year, and from those spy shots we learned that, besides the usual trim updates, the S-Class features a bigger set of displays, along with a fresh steering wheel, inspired from the one used on its smaller sibling, the E-Class. A new infotainment system, gesture controls and the Drive Pilot semi-autonomous driving tech will make the grand salon more competitive against the BMW 7-Series and Audi A8. The Germans will shed some light into the engine lineup once the vehicle will shine under the spotlight at the French event, since contradictory reports state that the automaker will introduce new straight-six units, or the existing V6 mills will be updated. VIDEO A purple carbon fiber McLaren P1 has just hit the streets of London, joining the green, blue, orange, and chameleon colored carbon P1s to recently leave the companys Woking technology center. While the hybrid hypercar wasnt originally available with an exposed carbon fiber skin, McLaren later announced it as an expensive option for already-delivered cars. While it isnt known how many more P1s are currently or soon set to receive carbon fiber bodies, we think weve just stumbled upon arguably the best looking P1 to date. Captured here by Henry JW Wood Photography, the car made its public debut in London over the weekend before heading off to its home in Switzerland. The color has been dubbed K Purple and adorns almost every body panel of the car. As with most other P1s, more traditional grey carbon fiber is found on the front bumper and splitter, wing mirrors, doors, side skirts and rear fascia. Completing the exterior look are the matte black wheels and yellow brake calipers. Few people outside of McLaren or the select few owners know how much it costs to have a P1 converted to exposed carbon but inevitably, its well into the six digit range. PHOTO GALLERY Residents on a street in South West London were recently shocked when they found out theyve been fined for parking in their own driveways. According to The Telegraph, residents of Cadogan Road in Surbiton were issued with parking fines last week on Friday, Saturday and Monday, by local traffic wardens, despite having their cars parked on their own property. David Gilbert, who received three tickets, commented: It is bemusing. After the first one I thought it was obviously some kind of mistake and would be easily sorted out. Then the fines just kept on coming. Im essentially being fined 110 a day for parking on my own driveway. The local council says that parking enforcement activity has changed in St Leonards Road, which the driveways of the residents back on to. However, it doesnt appear that the council notified locals of the changes. PHOTO GALLERY Opel is attending the 2016 Paris Auto Show with a host of world premieres that include the all-new Ampera-e. Based on its North American sibling, the Chevrolet Bolt, the zero-emission hatch promises to offer a range of over 400 km (~250 miles). Setting it in motion is an electric motor, fed by a battery pack mounted under the floor, rated at 204 HP and 360 Nm (266 lb-ft) of torque. With the new Ampera-e, we continue the largest model offensive in the history of our company. Our show exhibit clearly shows the direction of development: the Ampera-e proves that electric mobility is fully feasible for everyday use and is also lots of fun. The models MOKKA X, Zafira and KARL ROCKS expand our portfolio with the ideal touch of adventure and individuality, said Karl-Thomas Neumann, the brands CEO. Another world premiere at Opels stand in the French capital is the Karl Rocks, a jacked up version of the regular model, which features a rugged exterior with robust bumpers, integrated skid plates, black front and rear wheelhouse moldings, silver roof rails and 15-inch bi-color alloy wheels. The practical hatch retains its five-door and five-seat layout and offers as much as 1,000 liters of cargo space, with the rear seats folded down. Unveiled last week, the Opel Cascada Supreme, comes with modest exterior tweaks, offering three different body colors, and adorned with a black look for the grille and side mirror casings. The special edition of the convertible sits on 20-inch alloy wheels and gets unique interior trim, inspired by the GT Concept. The facelifted version of the Mokka, which adds the X suffix, will be on display in Paris as well, after it made its premiere during the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, earlier this year, where it will be joined by the facelifted Zafira, presented this spring. Opel continues to keep mum on the next generation Insignia, but considering that various prototypes of the car have been spotted testing in different parts of Europe for quite some time now (in North America too, where it will go on sale as the Buick Regal) we wont be surprised if it breaks cover in Paris. PHOTO GALLERY Ottawa 09 Winner: Inherent Obligations Essay by Marcel Jean: Life is a Lousy Reality Show Hes average. Chubby with unkempt hair that clearly wont be around for much longer. He looks like hes forty, although he may be slightly younger. He sits in front of the television on which a stream of violent images play, supplemented by the newscasters commentary. Slowly, he gives in to the allure of the spectacle. Reality, on display in all its obscenity, gradually numbs him. The rest of the world disappears. Shes an attractive woman. Thirty, perhaps. Ignored by her man, she attempts to seduce him, then plans to leave, constantly wavering between the two. To save her relationship, to save herself, she concocts an elaborate seduction. She shimmies provocatively, trying desperately to attract his attention. She changes her hair, changes her dress, and even changes her entire look in the hopes of rivalling the dream girls that leap off the screen and monopolize her husbands attention. Its the story of a man, like countless others, reduced to his voyeurism. A man consumed by the object of his gaze, rendered impotent by the shackles of his fantasy. Its the story of a woman, like countless others, abandoned and neurotic, searching for a way to exist. Its the story of a couple, like countless others, a miserable union of two irreconcilable solitudes. Its the story of a distorted, absurd, and crazy world, media-centric and enslaved by the obscene representation of raw reality, its manufactured analysis filtered of all thought. A world that, in the end, isnt so different from our own. This is the story of the short film Inherent Obligations (2008), directed by Estonian filmmaker Rao Heidmets. The film, which is the prolific artists fourteenth short, received honors in Sienna (Italy), Fredrikstad (Norway), and Poznan (Poland), and was awarded the Grand Prize in Ottawa. Born in Parnu in 1956, Heidmets completed his studies in electrical engineering before embarking on a career in animation. He started out working for other filmmakers and moved to directing his own films in 1983. The Theatre Papa Carlo (1988; in competition at Cannes; Grand Prize at Espinho) and Noblesse Oblige (1989) both brought him worldwide recognition. Although some of his work is made for younger audiences (Dove Aunt, 1983; The Gnomes Tree, 1991), the majority of Rao Heidmets films, which explore themes of power and freedom, are intended for adults. His characters are often puppets (in every sense of the word), trapped in a system that is unravelling, as represented by the cage in The Giraffe (1986), the stage in The Theatre Papa Carlo, and the masquerade ball in Noblesse Oblige. A particularly telling representation is the flat earth in his 2003 film, Instinct, which reveals, from Heidmets perspective, how the collapse of the Soviet Union changed nothing: alienation and the desire to break free still remain. What difference does it make whether power belongs to God or the Devil? The world is nothing more than an oppressive machine. Freedom and chaos are often synonymous. The Living Room (1994) depicts a young girl trapped in an ambiguous relationship with an old man. Her mothers secret visits do not fulfill her so she physically erases her world, replacing it with a new, naively-drawn one, a world that better meets her expectations. Like Inherent Obligations, The Living Room is mainly pixilated using live actors. Along with The Giraffe, these are the only films of Heidmets that have a positive outcome, one in which the female character escapes a warped and alienating reality, thus finding some kind of freedom. The thematic uniformity of Heidmets films is particularly remarkable because it is in such sharp contrast with their aesthetic and technical diversity. Although his chosen technique of stop motion is a constant, Heidmets seems to delight in changing styles from one film to the next, most notably through his use of a wide range of materials (wood and straw for Noblesse Oblige and textile fibers for Oracle is Born?, 2011, to name but a couple) and aesthetic approaches (it is surprising to note that the primitive expressionism of his 2006 film, Pearl Man, came on the heels of the naive realism of Instinct). Among Heidmetss other signature ingredients, the non-linearity of the editing, the use of repetition as a narrative tool, the frantic rhythm of specific sequences, and the aggressive use of sound are all worth mentioning. These four elements are at the core of Inherent Obligations, which, with its ever-present and powerful music, its repetitive transitions, and its fast-paced editing, has the feel of a music video. Rao Heidmets films all end up having that unbridled look, as if they had been urgently and abruptly cast out the moment they were done, with no concern for finishing touches or fine-tuning. These imperfect, chaotic, unrefined films, with all their rough edges, exude unique, raw energy. Like the sound of chalk on a blackboard, they provoke, irritate, and, at times, cause us to grit our teeth. As a social critique that speaks directly to the viewer, Inherent Obligations attacks our complacency and points a finger at our voyeurism, ineffectuality, lack of political analysis, and inability to take control of our miserable existence. Modern man, as a passive spectator overstuffed with violent images, is doomed. He is nothing more than a ridiculous clown: a bit of a masochist, a bit of a sadist, plugged into his TV (or computer, or cell phone, its all the same) like an overfed baby sucking his bottle. His wife can still hold out hope, on the sole condition that she come to the realization that there is nothing more she can do to save her man. She alone can free herself, abandon the shackles of the marriage bed, and walk through the city with her head held high. So long as this apparent freedom is not, of course, an illusion itself. (Translated from French by Alexandra Grimanis) Photo: The Canadian Press Two Quebec teens have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and assault in an alleged plot against three of their peers. The suspects, ages 14 and 16, were arrested in Saint-Hyacinthe on Wednesday and were charged on Thursday. Quebec provincial police say a search at a school yielded evidence the youths were preparing to carry out the plot. Saint-Hyacinthe is about 60 km east of Montreal. The suspects will remain in custody pending a bail hearing. Photo: The Canadian Press Lawmaker and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov speaks in the party election headquarters after the parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia. Early results on Sunday showed Russia's ruling United Russia party winning in the parliamentary election amid reports of election violations and visible voter apathy in the country's two largest cities. With more than 8 per cent of the ballots counted, United Russia was recording 45 per cent of the vote for party-list seats and far ahead in single-district contests. The Liberal Democrats and Communists were both recording about 17 per cent and A Just Russia had 6 per cent. The results are likely to change as votes are counted from the western parts of Russia that are more urbanized and where opposition sentiment is stronger. But the election for the 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, is unlikely to substantially change the distribution of power, in which United Russia party has held an absolute majority for more than a decade. Perceived honesty of the election could be a critical factor in whether protests arise following the voting. Massive demonstrations broke out in Moscow after the last Duma election in 2011, unsettling authorities with their size and persistence. Russian Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova, who pledged to clean up the notoriously rigged system when she assumed the post earlier this year, said as the polls closed that she saw no reason to nullify the vote in any location, conceding, however, that the election "wasn't sterile." President Vladimir Putin, who formally is not a United Russia member, turned up at its election headquarters shortly after the first results were announced and congratulated the would-be lawmakers. "Things are tough but people still voted for United Russia," he said. "It means that people see that United Russia members are really working hard for people even though it doesn't always work." Putin referred to the unusually low turnout as "not the highest," but said it was good enough for the Kremlin party to win an absolute majority. Voter turnout in Russia's largest cities appeared to be much lower than five years ago, indicating that the widespread practice of coercing state employees to vote in previous elections wasn't as prevalent this time around. The turnout by 6 p.m. (1500 GMT; 11 a.m. EDT) was at a record low of 29 per cent in Moscow, compared to over 50 per cent five years earlier, and under 20 per cent in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city. Previous elections have shown that the regions with the highest turnout were where voters, mostly state employees, were pressured to cast ballots. Independent political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin, in remarks on the online television channel Dozhd, described the low turnout as the urbanite's "sofa sit-in." "It's a form of protest, it's escapism," Oreshkin said. "People want to stay away from politics." Grigory Melkonyants, co-chairman of the election monitoring group Golos, said the lower voter turnout reflected less anxiety among local authorities to produce a high turnout. Golos had received more than 2,000 complaints of suspected vote rigging from all over the country by early afternoon. Among the reported violations were long lines of soldiers voting at stations where they weren't registered, and voters casting their ballots on tables instead of curtained-off voting booths Videos posted on YouTube appeared to show poll workers in several regions in southern Russia dropping multiple sheets of paper into a ballot box. In the Siberian region of Altai, a candidate from the liberal Yabloko party claimed that young people were voting in the name of elderly people unlikely to come to polling stations. Pamiflova said the results from Altai could be annulled if allegations of vote fraud there were confirmed. In Moscow, independent election observers and opposition candidates on Sunday reported busloads of people arriving at their polling stations to vote, fueling speculations of multiple voting with the help of absentee ballots. Melkonyants of Golos said most of the complaints the organization received from Moscow were about those groups of voters although he said he "couldn't categorically say that this is a violation." "But observers perceive it as a trick which local officials could be using in order to boost the turnout in their districts," Melkonyants said, adding that the bus passengers also may have been coerced to vote in violation of Russian law. Photo: Contributed Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a 17-month-old child at an apartment complex. Tampa Police said in a statement Sunday night that received a call at 4:12 p.m. about an injured child at the Clipper Bay Apartments. Police say that while the investigation is ongoing it has been determined that the toddler died of a gunshot wound. Police say they are interviewing the child's family. They did not give the sex of the child. No other information was immediately available. Photo: NewsKamloops.com Residents are cleaning up the aftermath of damage from a huge storm that hit Magna Bay Resort and other Shuswap Lake communities on the weekend. The deluge was part of a thunder, lightning and rain storm that swept the region Saturday evening, uprooting trees, knocking down power lines, blocking roads and damaging homes. The roof and back walls were torn off one log house, with furniture and debris strewn on the ground, but bunk beds, cabinets and wall hangings remained intact inside what was once a bedroom. Winds gusted to 80 km/h. Some weekenders who had intended to leave the area to return home Sunday morning were forced to remain because of the downed trees. B.C. Hydro crews worked throughout the night and into Sunday restoring power all over the Shuswap, with Magna Bay the hardest hit. Hydro said late Sunday that trees on roads continued to hinder access in the Salmon Arm area. Eagle Bay, where 900 people lost power, and Blind Bay also saw extensive damage. Outages affected 3,300 in Sicamous, Anglemont and Sorrento. The storm was reminiscent of a similar late-summer storm that hit the Thompson-Shuswap almost exactly four years ago. At the time, Magna Bay resident Bryan Johnson said it "sounded like an express train." The pattern was similar rain and wind swept through Kamloops first and struck Shuswap Lake an hour and a half later. More than 11,000 customers were without power in that one; about 14,000 were affected by Saturday night's storm. NewsKamloops.com Photo: CTV Royalty could be mowing your lawn if you live in Langley. The chief of a West African tribe is working as a landscaper in the Fraser Valley community. Eric Manu, 32, received news he was next in line to become crown chief of his tribe in Ghana last year, following his uncle's death. Its a huge experience, he told CTV. You have to embrace it with passion. Manu returned to accept his role with the Akan tribe in the village of Adansi Aboabo No. 2, but came back to Canada for a few months and has resumed his job. Sometimes we go to the (job) site and they say, You are the chief. I saw you on TV. Why are you doing the landscaping? he said. This is humbleness, you understand. Anytime Im in Canada, Im proud to work for my boss. Manu came to B.C. in 2012 after marrying a Canadian woman. He's proud of how friends here are helping his community. His employer, Susan Watson, created a foundation called To the Moon and Back to help the poor villagers. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: NewsKamloops.com Kamloops search and rescue volunteers had a busy weekend, with two missions. On Sunday, Kamloops and Vernon search and rescue teams were called out to Harper Mountain to assist an injured mountain biker. The cyclist was located, having suffered what were reported to be serious injuries in a fall. Cherry Creek was the focal point of search efforts Saturday after RCMP issued a missing person notice for a young teen. The teen, who was reported missing from his home in Cherry Creek, turned up in Kamloops. He was reunited with family. The search was called off after seven hours. NewsKamloops.com Photo: canadianoutages.com UPDATE: 5 p.m. Shaw says there is no large outage in B.C. We have had no reports of widespread outages in the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island or in the Okanagan Valley. We encourage any customers experiencing service issues to contact us at 1 (888) 472-2222 or visit Shaw.ca/chat," says a spokesperson. UPDATE: 2:25 p.m. Shaw services seem to be working for the majority of customers, with scattered reports of email and cable trouble. Residents in most areas are having no problems. Some readers in West Kelowna, Lake Country and the Dilworth area in Kelowna have reported email troubles. Shaw is looking into it. ORIGINAL Shaw appears to be experiencing a large service outage in the Okanagan and Lower Mainland. Castanet has received reports of email trouble in the Kelowna area. The website canadianoutages.com shows reports of trouble in the Okanagan, the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Shaw media relations has not replied to requests for information and the company has not released any information about service disruptions. Are you having trouble with your Shaw services? Email [email protected] Photo: Contributed Grizzly bears have never been seen on Cormorant Island, off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, so when two showed up in the area, residents were intrigued but firm the duo must go. "It's very exciting to have them here, but this isn't a safe place for them," said Village of Alert Bay chief administration officer Justin Beadle. About 1,000 people live on the 4.5-square kilometre island, and Beadle said there had been no conflicts since the bruins' arrival on Friday, adding residents had been warned not to look for the bears and to stay off walking paths. The bears are believed to be two- to three-year-old brothers from the central coast and were likely forced westward by a dominant male, Forests Ministry spokeswoman Vivian Thomas said Monday. Grizzlies are not native to Vancouver Island, although she said the ministry was aware of about 10 bears swimming to the region over the last decade in search of new territory. The Conservation Officer Service sent a warning to Alert Bay that the bears had been island-hopping westward for about 10 days, so residents were very interested when the healthy pair waded ashore, Beadle said. "This is the first time in history, according to the locals, that grizzly bears have appeared here. Every five to 10 years a black bear might pass by, but there (have) never been grizzlies." Cormorant Island would be bountiful for bears and the animals would never need to eat garbage because the island is a cornucopia of fruits and berries, Beadle said. "But there is a little section of forest somewhere that is much better suited for them." Conservation officers set up traps at the local campground on Sunday and on Monday were using bear bangers, a non-lethal, hand-held type of explosive, to shepherd the bruins toward the traps so they could be safely caged. The bears will be relocated to a safe place on B.C.'s central coast if they are caught, Beadle said. Photo: Randy Millis The City of West Kelowna isn't saying much about a possible recount in a very close vote in the weekend's city hall referendum. "All I can tell you is the official results will be available Wednesday," city spokeswoman Kirsten Jones said Monday. Unofficial results showed the 'No' side won by only 27 votes, quashing the city's plan for a new municipal building. Reached on the weekend, West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater called the vote "a cliffhanger," and he stressed the results are only "preliminary." The spokesman for the 'No' side, meanwhile, isn't mincing words. "They're doing a recount," said Ian Graham. According to the B.C. Election Act, the District Electoral Officer can request a recount if the vote is close enough. Photo: Google Maps Kamloops RCMP have identified a body that was found on Tranquille Road, Saturday. The male was in his twenties and from Kamloops, but police are not releasing his name at this point. After investigating the discovery, nothing suspicious was found. The file has now been handed over to the B.C. Coroners Office. Photo: The Canadian Press The British Columbia government has appointed a new superintendent of real estate in its ongoing effort to protect home buyers and sellers and boost oversight of the industry. Michael Noseworthy recently served in a similar role in Yukon, where he was also superintendent of insurance and the registrar of lotteries and medical practitioners. Noseworthy will start his new job on Oct. 19 and says he'll draw on his experiences as a regulator and a lawyer to serve the interests of consumers and quickly implement the reforms initiated by government. The new position is one of a number of steps the government has taken to reform the real estate industry after concerns that speculators and foreign buyers were fuelling the frenzied market in Metro Vancouver. Premier Christy Clark announced earlier this year that self-regulation of the industry by the B.C. Real Estate Council wasn't working and that government oversight was needed. The new regulations increase the real estate council's accountability to government, although it will continue to be responsible for licensing of agents and investigating their conduct. Uganda: Hima Cement signs supply deal with Guangzhou Dongsong ICR Newsroom By 19 September 2016 Uganda's Hima Cement and Guangzhou Dongsong Energy Group have signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of over 40,000t of cement for the construction of the latter firms phosphate and steel projects, Kampalas Observer newspaper reports. Daniel Pettersson, chief executive officer of Hima Cement, said: "The purpose of this MoU is to establish the relationship between Hima and Guangzhou Dongsong. This cooperation of both parties shall cover the project of construction of the phosphate plant and steel mill plant, and any other projects within the Sukulu industrial park". The move will be viewed as a missed opportunity for Tororo Cement, whose plant is only a few kilometres from the project site, while Himas is located more than 500km away. Hima has also said it will consider buying titanium slag from Guangzhou Dongsong once its steel plant is operational. Published under If youre looking for an inexpensive family vacation, national parks seem like the perfect place for rest and relaxation in nature. While the natural elements create beautiful landscapes that are usually safe and enjoyable, wild animals and nature itself can put you and your family in an unsafe situation. Before you go adventuring from one park to the next in search of peace and quiet, make sure you pay attention to any posted warning signs and stay alert at all times. You also want to pick your destination wisely. Here are five dangerous parks in the U.S. you may want to skip. 1. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona The Grand Canyon is home to incredible sightseeing and tons of tourists willing to hike the difficult trails in the extreme heat. Covering 1.2 million acres, this national park is one of the most visited in the U.S., but it also has the highest death toll of any park. Backpacker explains the Grand Canyon claimed 21 lives in 2012, and there were also 348 search and rescue missions. The vastness and beauty of this park makes it easy for visitors to forget they need to be prepared for the elements. The majority of the search and rescue missions in 2012 were for those who were between the ages of 20 and 29 this is likely because younger hikers are more likely to ignore the warning signs that line certain trails in the park. The intense Arizona heat can quickly bring on exhaustion and dehydration, and many hikers overestimate their fitness level, leaving them stranded in the sun. If you do plan to take a hike in the Grand Canyon, its important to have a set plan in mind, to not stray from the trail, and to be prepared. Without the proper precautions, you could end up in a dangerous situation. 2. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming This mountainous park in Wyoming is home to beautiful sights, rocky terrain, and tons of wildlife. Its beauty attracts many families who are looking for the perfect campsite and hiking trails, but being in the wilderness isnt without its dangers. When youre in Grand Teton, youre in bear country. The park requires visitors follow the parks food storage regulations, as bears that get into human food can often become aggressive and threaten the safety of campers. PJ Media explains that while the wildlife can be a huge safety threat for some, its the treacherous mountain trails that are often most problematic. Those who decide to hike through the mountains need to be prepared for the change of climate and difficult terrain, as falling, drowning, and hypothermia have led to fatalities before. Even experienced hikers need to be alert. 3. Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska For skilled climbers who want to find the most challenging mountains without traveling all the way to Mount Everest, Denali National Park and Preserve is home to North Americas tallest peak, Mount McKinley. Outside Online says this mountain has an 18,000-foot vertical rise from its base plateau thats incredibly difficult for even the most experienced climbers. Those who hope to climb to the peak typically take three weeks to accomplish the task, and only about half of them actually manage to do it. In 2011, seven climbers died, and in 2012, another six lost their lives to the mountain, four of whom were caught in an avalanche. Denali National Park is incredibly dangerous because many climbers underestimate the mountains. The weather can prove unpredictable when youre climbing, and exhaustion is common. Theres also plenty of dangerous wildlife, such as grizzly bears and wolves roaming the chilly landscape. 4. Padre Island National Seashore, Texas This park is home to sandy beaches around of the Gulf of Mexico, and families frequently can be found camping within the two established campgrounds in the park area. While wildlife and weather wont pose any real dangers here, theres a different kind of threat lurking around this park. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times says immigrants and drugs often sneak over the Mexican border since much of the terrain is underdeveloped. Its gotten worse over the last few years, which poses danger to tourists and visitors who want to enjoy the natural landscapes of the park. 5. Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada and Arizona This park boasts beautiful weather and it has tons of water recreation that youll love. Boating, kayaking, and canoeing are all common here, with tons of picnic areas and desert hikes for those who dont love the water. But youll want to be extra careful when visiting Lake Mead National Recreation Area, as its home to tons of criminal activity thats spilling over from the urban areas of nearby Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Sun reports there were 98 violent attacks against Lake Mead rangers in 2002, and that number has not seen much improvement in recent years. Theres a law enforcement shortage in the area as well, making it hard to stay on top of criminal activity. As for those enjoying the water, there are lots of boating accidents and drowning incidents, which have been linked to alcohol and drug abuse. Boat safety training is required by law enforcement before taking to the lake, and alcohol is banned late at night, but this hasnt halted reckless behavior. You may want to consider another lake vacation. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Offshore Technology Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Offshore Technology Weekly Roundup A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Friday. Offshore Technology Focus Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every month. Chipotle marketing executive Mark Crumpacker, shown Feb. 11, 2014, was put on leave after being indicited as part of a cocaine ring. (Gabriel Olsen / Getty Images) New York Chipotle says its top marketing executive is back on the job, after being placed on leave this summer as a result of drug possession charges. The burrito chain says Mark Crumpacker's return was announced internally Sept. 8. Crumpacker is Chipotle's chief creative and development officer and had been in charge of the Denver company's efforts to win back customers after an E. coli outbreak last year sent sales plunging. Advertisement Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. announced June 30 that it placed Crumpacker on leave after a news report that he was one of the customers named in a New York cocaine ring indictment. The 53-year-old executive turned himself to face cocaine possession charges on July 5. The Manhattan District Attorney's office says Crumpacker's case is still open, with a court date for Oct. 18. Advertisement Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman, says the company conducted a review and is comfortable that "none of the things Mark is alleged to have done occurred on business time." He said Crumpacker also went through drug rehabilitation. "We are a better company with him than without him," Arnold said. Arnold said that Crumpacker provided consulting before Sept. 8, then officially returned from leave. Associated Press The Trump International Hotel on its first day of business Sept. 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. The Trump Organization was granted a 60-year lease to the historic Old Post Office by the federal government before Donald Trump announced his intent to run for president. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) About 150 conferencegoers arrived at the Trump International Hotel Washington, District of Columbia, on Tuesday, the day after it opened, for an annual meeting of the National Confectioners Association. But nobody wanted to talk about it. Advertisement "Nope," said three representatives at the CandyPAC table when approached by a reporter. "Not interested," added two women sitting outside the hotel's presidential ballroom. More than a dozen attendees turned down requests for an interview. The only one who agreed, a man from Montana, declined to give his name. Advertisement The new Trump International Hotel is a renovation of the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post) "It's beautiful," he said of the $212 million luxury hotel, before adding that he was staying with friends outside of town. The Trump name "didn't matter one way or another." But, meeting planners and industry insiders say, the name and the property's association with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is likely to be the largest sticking point for the 263-room hotel, which opened to the public Monday. "This hotel is the new shiny penny in Washington the only problem is that Donald Trump has his name on it," said Chryssa Zizos, president and chief executive of Live Wire Media Relations, whose clients include the Carlyle Group and Raytheon. "People are really, really nervous about utilizing the hotel's bigger spaces because it's so polarizing. There's a lot of stigma attached to it." Zizos said none of her clients have yet booked events at the hotel, even though the months leading up to an opening are often the best time to snag low rates and coveted dates. Instead, she said, corporations, educational institutions and financial firmsare opting for other high-end haunts in the District: the Hay-Adams, Jefferson and Ritz-Carlton. "Is someone going to spend $100,000 on an event that could potentially upset half of their attendees?" she said. "In six months, maybe. But right now, with tensions so high and the election so close, there's no way any of our clients are going to do that." Representatives for the Trump hotel would not disclose how many meetings and events the property has on the books. "With 10 years of experience with Trump hotels, I can easily say the opening of Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., has been the most successful in terms of opening bookings, interest from groups and large events," said Mickael Damelincourt, the property's general manager, who last week told The Washington Post that he has booked more business at the new hotel than he had during the first six months of the Trump hotel in Chicago. Trump hotels across the country appear to have taken a hit since Trump launched his presidential campaign last summer. Bookings at his hotels were down 59 percent during the first half of 2016, according to the travel site Hipmunk. Among the hardest hit was the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which is offering nightly rates of $159 on the discount site Groupon. Advertisement "Any group that's concerned that attendees would be offended by the Trump name is not going to take the risk," said David Loeb, a lodging analyst at investment firm Robert W. Baird & Co. "Trump has made himself into a polarizing figure and polarization is never something you want to be associated with if you're a business that caters to the public - even to the very, very elite public, as this hotel would." Hotels like the Trump International, which boasts 38,000 square feet of meeting space and a ballroom that seats 1,200, are built around attracting high-profile events and other large group bookings, Loeb said. "It's a city center hotel, it's got a lot of meeting space, so they'll want to have as many groups as they can," he said. Nationally, business travelers whether part of a meeting or traveling on their own typically make up about two-thirds of hotel bookings, Loeb said. That figure, however, can be much higher at big-city hotels with abundant meeting spaces. (He estimates that the New York Marriott Marquis, for example, relies on business travelers for about 80 percent of its revenue.) The National Confectioners Association, for its part, booked its annual legislative fly-in at the hotel over a year ago. A spokesman said he wasn't sure whether the group had booked the hotel before or after Trump announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015, but said the man behind the hotel had little bearing on his group's decision. "We booked the hotel based on the same criteria we always use: proximity to Capitol Hill and the availability of space to hold meetings," said Christopher Gindlesperger, vice president of public affairs for the association. Advertisement The aim of this year's meeting, according to the group's site, is to "protect your business from burdensome regulation and to promote a favorable confectionery business environment." Among the featured speakers: Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina. The group has already snagged the Trump for similar events in 2017 and 2018. In previous years, it held its annual fly-in at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. Robert DeSando, a meeting planner in Warrenton, has booked one event at the Trump: a 200-person annual meeting for a financial organization he declined to name. He said the property's lavish rooms and central location are its biggest selling points. (The group typically hosts its event at the Four Seasons in Georgetown.) But first, well before booking the hotel, he had to ask a question he'd never before had to consider in his career: Would the Trump name be a deal-breaker for attendees? "I made sure that the executives reached out to key people because it is an international meeting. I asked if they could please run that by their people, with a specific question: Is a hotel property with the name Trump [on it] going to be an issue? Would you not attend a program at that hotel?" he recalled. Advertisement It turned out attendees didn't care, DeSando said. He went ahead with negotiations and booked a block of 150 rooms for March 2018. A casual Italian restaurant that will feature Roman-inspired dishes and an eclectic selection of "global" meatballs aims to debut in late October in Andersonville. Bar Roma is the brainchild of Julia Zhu, a recently retired commercial banker who was a one-time partner at Oysy Sushi. But she has a lot of friends. Advertisement Her longtime companion, restaurateur Howard Davis (Gioco), consulted on the project. Sommelier Bob Bansberg (Gabriel's) crafted the wine list and other beverage options. The executive chef will be Fred Ramos (Angelina Ristorante, Gioco). Not a bad team for a first-time restaurateur. Advertisement "I've dreamed of opening my own place," Zhu said. "A place where I can have good food and drink with friends. Just a neighborhood place with good food and service and affordable prices." After several years of searching, Zhu found a place to her liking at 5101 N. Clark St. and purchased the space. Most restaurateurs prefer to rent, rather than tying up capital, but again: commercial banker. "I figured out with the mortgage and everything, it was half the price of the rental," she said. "I thought the neighborhood was interesting, very young and old, international. I want the crowd to be mixed." The menu will feature Roman cuisine Zhu is already touting the artichokes alla giudia with housemade pastas. Also look for an eclectic assortment of meatballs; think veal-sweetbread meatballs, chicken meatballs topped with fried eggs, Shanghai-style meatballs and, of course, Swedish meatballs in a nod to the Andersonville neighborhood. "The chef and I went to New York, visited meatball shops all over the city," Zhu said. "Everything is pulling together. I'm very excited." Phil Vettel is a Tribune critic. pvettel@chicagotribune.com Twitter @philvettel Dumpling lovers, circle your e-calendar now for Oct. 15. That's the day the folks who brought you Baconfest will launch Dumpling Fest in Chicago. As with Baconfest's bountiful spread, expect ticketholders to pig out on all types of dumplings served by Chicago chefs. There's also a music component: The three-hour event, called Wrappers Delight, will feature a soundtrack of "old school hip hop," according to a fest press release. Advertisement The festival will take place noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at AceBounce pingpong bar (also home to 1901 restaurant), 230 N. Clark St. Tickets are $50. Why Dumpling Fest? Advertisement "For me, personally, I love dumplings,'' said Seth Zurer, co-founder of both festivals. The question after Baconfest Chicago, he said, was "what kind of food do we love to eat, and how can chefs transform it?" It helps that there's a broad variety of dumplings out there, he added, from "wontons and shu mai to empanadas and gnocchi." At the event, chow down on dumplings from more than a dozen Chicago-area chefs, plus sip Goose Island beers and a cocktail from Lost Lake. Pingpong tables, paddles and balls will be at the ready, while music will be provided by DJRC, also the DJ of Baconfest. Participating chefs include: Rick Gresh of 1901; Cameron Grant of Animale/Osteria Langhe; Paul McGee and Peter Coenen of Lost Lake; Kevin Marquardt of Saigon Sisters; Elmo Han of Shanghai Terrace at the Peninsula; Jeff Mauro of Pork & Mindy's; Geordan Stenson of freestyle food & drink; Matt Bryks of Bread & Wine; Mathew Wiltzius of Lockwood Restaurant & Bar; Tim Davidson of Troquet River North; Chrissy Camba of Maddy's Dumpling House; Jordan Spritz of Jordan's Food of Distinction; and Kevin Atkinson of State & Lake Chicago. Net proceeds from the festival will go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which will run a food drive onsite. Tickets are available now at the Dumpling Fest website. The event will be capped at 250 guests. wdaley@chicagotribune.com Twitter @billdaley Veteran comic actor Jim Carrey was sued Sept. 19, 2016, for allegedly procuring drugs under a bogus name for his ex-girlfriend, who died of an overdose last year, and then trying to hide his involvement. (Justin Tallis / AFP/Getty Images) A wrongful-death lawsuit filed Monday claims that actor Jim Carrey supplied his late girlfriend with the powerful prescription drugs she used to commit suicide. Cathriona White, 30, was found dead in a Sherman Oaks, California, residence in September 2015. The lawsuit, filed by her husband, Mark Burton, in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Carrey used a fake name and "his immense wealth and celebrity status to illegally obtain and distribute highly addictive and, in this case deadly, controlled substances." Advertisement Burton, through the lawsuit, also alleges Carrey supplied White with prescription drugs despite knowing she was "prone to depression" and had previous suicide attempts. Jim Carey said in a statement Monday he "will not tolerate this heartless attempt to exploit me or the woman I loved." Advertisement "It would be easy for me to get in a back room with this man's lawyer and make this go away, but there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world," Carrey said in a statement. Shortly after White's death, reports emerged that White was still married but had been estranged from her husband. Burton attorney Michael Avenatti told The Washington Post that White and Burton had been married since January 2013, but the lawyer declined to comment on the nature of their relationship at the time of her death "because it distracts from what this case is really about, which is Mr. Carrey's conduct." The lawsuit alleges Carrey violated California's Drug Dealer Liability Act, which allows people to file civil lawsuits against suppliers for harm caused by illegal drug use, and seeks unspecified damages. An autopsy showed White "had taken her own life by overdosing on a lethal amount of prescription drugs," including Ambien, Propranolol and Percocet, all of which Carrey got using the alias "Arthur King," according to the lawsuit. Shortly after White's death, Carrey said in a statement that he was "shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of my sweet Cathriona. She was a truly kind and delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this soil, to whom loving and being loved was all that sparkled." The actor attended White's funeral, and a photo published by People shows him helping to carry her casket. But the lawsuit, which seeks burial and funeral expenses, claims that Carrey offered to help pay for the funeral (a story line that surfaced in TMZ) and never did. White, an Irish makeup artist, had been romantically linked with Carrey on and off since 2012. Advertisement Details from her autopsy were reported by various outlets this summer, including what drugs were found in her system and a note she had written to Carrey. At the time, the actor publicly lamented the release of her autopsy information. On Monday, Carrey said in a statement that White's "troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyone's control. I really hope that some day soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace." Before Sunday afternoon, pianist Vijay Iyer and guitarist Fareed Haque never had played a note together. When they joined forces toward the end of a revelatory double bill at Northwestern University's Galvin Recital Hall, they underscored the uniqueness of their contributions. Advertisement The occasion was a gala celebration of Chicago's Indo-American Heritage Museum, a nonprofit institution that puts on programs across the city and flourishes online but doesn't yet have a physical space of its own. That clearly hasn't stopped the museum from thinking big, as it did by pairing Iyer, a MacArthur Fellow and Harvard University professor, with Haque, an uncommonly versatile musician and Northern Illinois University professor. Each embraces his South Asian heritage but pushes well beyond it, intertwining jazz, classical, folkloric and other idioms. Advertisement Iyer was being inducted into the museum's Hall of Fame, and Haque was well chosen to play the opening portion of the concert. For each of these musicians takes the art of jazz in unanticipated directions, nowhere more than in their culminating duets. The haunting, intensely chromatic melody at the core of Iyer's "Abundance" probably would be effective in any instrumental setting, but the combination of Iyer at the piano and Haque playing an instrument called a "guistar" proved indelible. In essence, the guistar is a merger of a guitar and a sitar, its slightly buzzing, droning tone bringing a distinctly Indian, mystical quality to Iyer's composition. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Each player took the lead at various junctures, the glistening quality of Iyer's keyboard touch and the intricacy of his melodic embellishments enriched by the Eastern sensibility of Haque's accompaniment. In John Coltrane's "Naima," Haque switched to guitar, giving the duo a more traditional jazz context, though the music-making was rich in Indian rhythmic patterns. Iyer developed Coltrane's score via fleet lines in his right hand and an ultrasophisticated harmonic palette. Haque responded with mercurial gestures and nimble turns of phrase on guitar. Together they yielded considerable rhythmic surge and energy. The solo portions of the evening also were quite substantial, each musician packing a great deal of information into every measure. Haque opened the concert with "Paco's Blues," its flashes of flamenco rhythm and gesture leaving no doubt he conceived this as a tribute to the revered Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, who died in 2014. The singing lines and gentle tremolos Haque brought to Wes Montgomery's "Mi Cosa" represented another homage to a master guitarist, this time with a classical tinge. But jazz remains very close to the center of Haque's world, his elegantly reharmonized version of "You Go to My Head," ornate variations on Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" and poetic account of "Stars Fell on Alabama" affirming the point. Advertisement Iyer applies so many musical languages and strands of thought to his piano solos as to make any recital a journey across continents and eras. His approach to Monk's "Work" captured the angular rhythms and piquant dissonances we associate with this music but much more, as well. By working polar ends of the keyboard, repeating a single bass note (which musicians call a "pedal point") and otherwise exploiting the instrument's range of textural possibilities, Iyer turned "Work" into a intense study of color, voicing and attack. He conveyed a narrative quality in a suite of pieces saluting the Black Lives Matter movement, continuously changing the tone and character of the music, as if telling a story. And he addressed more conventional jazz tastes with Benny Golson's "Stablemates," offering a swing undertow while giving the theme a thorough workout via fast-flying right-hand lines and ample chordal dissonance. Iyer's most romantic, rhapsodic playing emerged in his "Remembrance," originally penned as an ode to his grandparents but offered here as a memorial to the gifted Chicago filmmaker Prashant Bhargava, who died last year at age 42. "I miss him, and I'm sure you do, too," said Iyer, speaking to a large audience that included Bhargava's parents and many admirers. "He changed my life. And he's with me all the time." Advertisement The warmth and tenderness of the performance said as much. Howard Reich is a Chicago Tribune critic. hreich@chicagotribune.com Twitter @howardreich MORE FROM HOWARD REICH: Vijay Iyer takes a bow for Indo-American Heritage Museum Advertisement From Freddy Cole to Omara Portuondo to Vijay Iyer, a robust Chicago jazz season Redman, Mehldau, Glasper and Ulery among new fall jazz releases Amy Iwano makes Logan Center a jazz hot spot 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) A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics finds that suicide among kids is rare, but it does happen. (Alfonso Cacciola / E+) When a child under 10 committed suicide in central Ohio a few years ago, Jeff Bridge found himself answering a reporter's question about how often young children take their own lives. Bridge, director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, discussed the question with his colleagues and discovered that suicide rates in elementary-age children hadn't been carefully analyzed. He set out to correct that. Advertisement In a new study appearing in October's Pediatrics journal, lead author Bridge and six co-authors found that suicide among young children is extremely rare, but it affects some communities disproportionately and merits serious attention. By analyzing National Violent Death Reporting System data for 17 states, researchers found 693 children ages 5-14 died by suicide from 2003 to 2012. Of those 693 deaths, 87 were children ages 5-11. Advertisement Close to 37 percent of children ages 5-11 who died by suicide were black, the study found. That's a startling percentage, given that African-Americans account for about 12 percent of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "Suicide rates have increased among black children and decreased among white children in the United States," Bridge told me Monday. "If you look at the overall suicide rate among children, there was no change over a 20-year period. It's only when you look at the analytics by race that a pattern emerges." Bridge's study attempts to determine why. "Black youth may experience disproportionate exposure to violence or traumatic stressors, both of which have been associated with suicidal behavior," the study states. "Also, research has shown that black youth are less likely to receive services for depression, suicidal ideation and other mental health problems compared with nonblack youth." To be sure, suicide affects all races. And this study should be a wake-up call about just how early we ought to address that reality. One third of all children 5-14 who died by suicide were diagnosed with a mental health problem frequently attention deficit disorder. Children under 11 were less likely to be diagnosed with depression than children 12-14, but Bridge said that could be because young children aren't screened for depression as frequently as early adolescents. Perhaps they should be. "I would like to see more of an upstream approach to suicide prevention in young people," Bridge said. "Let's begin the conversation about mental health earlier. Let's not wait until the teen years to have these conversations, because even though it's extremely rare, suicide and suicidal behaviors can and do sometimes occur in children." Advertisement Outdated thinking suggested that talking about suicide with a child could increase that child's risk of committing suicide. Bridge said that's categorically not the case. "Talking about suicide will not put the thought in a child's head," he said. "If anything, it offers hope for children who may be at risk." Parents should talk to their child's pediatrician if they're concerned their child might harm himself or herself, Bridge said. And parents should talk directly to their children as well. "It opens up the conversation," he said. "It allows children to know that if they're struggling, they can go to their parents and talk to them and that there's a support system for them." Thirty percent of all suicide deaths in children and early adolescents occur after an earlier disclosure of suicide intention, Bridge said. "Part of why we want to educate adults parents, teachers, health care providers is because there is time for intervention," he said. "These conversations can potentially save lives." Advertisement hstevens@chicagotribune.com Twitter @heidistevens13 RELATED STORIES: Impoverished tribe struggles to stop surge in teen suicides CDC investigating number of Palo Alto high school students committing suicide After 9/11, we saw tragedy unite us. Why cant we do that in Chicago? Here are some of the more interesting events, deals, websites and other travel tidbits that have come across our desk recently: Grab your lederhosen: Oktoberfest will be Oct. 8-9 in downtown Lake Geneva, Wis. There will be German food and a beer tent, naturally, along with German music, a giant pumpkin weigh-in, kids activities and more. 800-345-1020, http://tinyurl.com/huo67my Advertisement For fans of Halloween haunted houses, the Amhurst Asylum in Valparaiso, Ind., will be offering lots of frights during weekends in October. The 23,000-square-foot attraction will operate Fridays and Saturdays during the first part of the month and Thursdays through Sundays later in the month. There will also be daylight hours for younger kids on two Sundays. 312-646-0778, www.amhurstasylum.com The Rockford, Ill., tourism folks have a list of fall events and places to enjoy fall color in their area at http://tinyurl.com/zunldao. Advertisement Vacations By Rail, which offers train-centric vacation packages in North America and Europe, has early booking bonuses for travel Oct. 21 to March 31, if booked by Oct. 31. Bonuses include a free pre- or post-night hotel stay on trips such as the Chicago to New Orleans & Western Caribbean Cruise package, which features round-trip travel on Amtrak's City of New Orleans train and a seven-night Caribbean cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line. 877-929-7245, http://tinyurl.com/h7robqr ROW Adventures offers a variety of active vacations through the holiday season that range from hobnobbing with giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands to kayaking in Cuba's Bay of Pigs. Check them out at http://tinyurl.com/zrynepv. Leaf peepers can find updated fall color information for Wisconsin at http://tinyurl.com/j4magme. The Biketoberfest Motorcycle Festival and Rally will be Oct. 13-16 in Daytona Beach, Fla. www.biketoberfest.org The Michigan Hemingway Society will hold its annual fall Hemingway Weekend Oct. 14-16 in Petoskey, Mich. The society and the weekend focus on the state's influence on author Ernest Hemingway's works. During his boyhood, his family spent summers in Michigan. This year's conference focuses on 1919, the last year Hemingway spent at the family summer home on Walloon Lake. www.michiganhemingwaysociety.org More than 2,000 rowers from across the country are expected to compete Oct. 9 at the Head of the Rock Regatta in Rockford, Ill. The 3.2-mile race is held on the Rock River and draws thousands of spectators. http://tinyurl.com/zc9rayu Balloons Over Mount Vernon on Oct. 14-16 will feature hot-air balloons decorating the sky over the southern Illinois town. There will be nightly balloon glows, tethered balloon rides and a classic car show. There's also a fly-in for winged aircraft and classic planes on display. http://tinyurl.com/jn8wwcd The Rural Arts Road Trip will be Oct. 7-9 in Calumet County, between Milwaukee and Green Bay. The self-guided route will feature 11 locations with artists and craftspeople working in a variety of media. There will be artist demos, works to buy and edible souvenirs like artisan cheeses and raw honey. 920-286-0971, www.ruralartsroadtrip.com Advertisement Order the Wisconsin 2016-17 Fall/Winter Event Guide or view it online at http://tinyurl.com/jv4evcs. Deals and websites listed here have been checked for availability as of press time, but the listings are not endorsements. Send tips at least a month in advance to ChicagoTribTravel@gmail.com. Phil Marty is a freelancer. RELATED STORIES: Beyond Oktoberfest: Kolsch beer is toast of the town in Cologne Advertisement Top 20 U.S. cities to visit for Oktoberfest Underground adventures await in Midwest caves This 1966 file photo is the last official portrait of the entire King family, taken in the study of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. From left are Dexter King, Yolanda King, Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice King, Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III. (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution file photo) It is clear that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children never really knew their father. Perhaps it is because they were so young when an assassin's bullet took him away. How could we forget the iconic picture of little Bernice at the funeral, with her pigtails and white petticoat dress, and her head resting on her mother's lap? Advertisement She was 5 years old. Her brother Dexter was 7 and Martin III was 10. On that day in 1968, the nation mourned the death of a legend who always had seemed larger than life. But our grief could never come close to that of the children he left behind. Advertisement King gave so much of himself to us that most African-Americans feel as though he was ours. But his children have guarded his legacy as if it only belonged to them. It is hard to imagine an African-American museum that does not pay homage to King. And while the Smithsonian's long-awaited National Museum of African-American History and Culture will feature a program from his funeral, photos of the civil rights leader, newspaper clippings and commemorative buttons bearing his name, there is nothing of substance that belonged to King. The two most notable possessions his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize medal and the Bible he carried with him everywhere will remain locked up in a vault in Atlanta. His children refused to let them go. Over the years, we have watched the family discord unfold in the courts, almost always over money and wealth the two things that King valued the least. No one, especially African-Americans, dared to criticize them publicly, for these were the children of a martyr. We forgave them for their selfish behavior because, in many ways, they had sacrificed as much as he. So we merely held our heads down in dismay when they turned on Harry Belafonte, a dedicated supporter of the civil rights movement and close family friend who used his celebrity to raise funds to keep the movement going. In her autobiography, Coretta Scott King wrote about Belafonte's place in the movement: "Whenever we got into trouble or when tragedy struck, Harry has always come to our aid, his generous heart wide open." King depended on Belafonte to break through financial barriers that he could not. While King was jailed in Birmingham, Ala., Belafonte raised $50,000 to keep the campaign going in a city that had become the trademark for segregation and bigotry. In 2008, when Belafonte decided to auction items that King or his wife, Coretta, had given him, the siblings halted the auction by, in effect, claiming that he had stolen them. Advertisement They later went after Andrew Young, a longtime family friend who had worked side by side with King in the movement and was with him in Memphis, Tenn., the day he was killed. Again and again, they also turned on each other. The most recent dispute was over the Bible and the Nobel medal. Dexter and Martin wanted to sell them to the highest bidder. Bernice called the items "sacred." The case ended up in court and before it was all over the brothers prevailed, clearing the way for a possible sale. An article in The Washington Post recently laid out how a curator for the African-American museum had traveled to Atlanta to meet with the siblings, in hopes of reaching a deal to display the artifacts in the nation's first museum honoring the contributions of blacks. It isn't clear exactly what happened, but he went back to Washington empty-handed. No one would be surprised if there had been a demand for money. The siblings were paid $800,000 to allow their father's image to be carved on the King Memorial in Washington. They got $32 million after then-Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin obtained a loan so the city could buy King's personal papers that were about to be auctioned off at Sotheby's. It was a lot easier to empathize with the siblings before that multimillion dollar payoff in 2006. Unlike Caroline and John Kennedy, who also lost their father at a young age, King's children had no trust funds or family wealth to fall back on. King died, for the most part, a pauper without a will. It's not that he didn't make money during his lifetime he wrote five books, was a highly sought-after speaker and took home the $54,600 that went along with the Nobel Peace Prize. But rather than putting money away for his family, he donated everything he had to the movement. Advertisement It was Belafonte, in fact, who helped pay for the children's education and other necessities following King's death. The absence of a will perhaps has been the greatest detriment to King's legacy. Without a written testament as to how his intellectual properties would be managed, his children have had to figure it out for themselves. Coretta Scott King's death in 2006 and the death of the oldest child, Yolanda, the following year, gave way to more bitter disagreements between the surviving siblings. But even without a will, it is obvious what King would have wanted. He would insist that the world share in the bounty from his teachings, his sacrifices and his unbridled commitment to achieving racial and economic parity. He spent his life telling us so. And if there is doubt even after that, all Martin III, Dexter and Bernice have to do is listen to the words their father spoke in 1963 while standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: "I have a dream," he said, "that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Advertisement dglanton@chicagotribune.com Twitter @dahleeng Little Village paletero Fidencio Sanchez died Nov. 6, 2019, at age 92. Here he is shown in 2016, smiling after receiving a donation from Elizabeth Salgado. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune) The largest ever GoFundMe campaign in Illinois ended Monday afternoon, with donations to an 89-year-old paleta vendor in Little Village reaching at least $385,400. Over the last nine days, about 17,500 people offered anywhere from $5 to $2,000 in donations to Fidencio Sanchez, who's been pushing his cart of Mexican ice pops around the neighborhood for about 23 years. The online fundraising campaign was created Sept. 9 by Joel Cervantes, a stranger who bought paletas from Sanchez earlier this month and photographed him apparently struggling to push the cart. Advertisement Sanchez is set to receive the donations at a ceremony at 1 p.m. Wednesday, at Paleteria y Neveria Poncho, the ice cream shop for which Sanchez pushed his paleta cart. Cervantes and Jose Loera, who according to the GoFundMe post helped Cervantes come up with the idea for the campaign, will present Sanchez with the donation check at the shop, located at 2513 South Pulaski Road. The campaign ended at 4:30 p.m. Monday, and as of that time $385,400 had been raised. The donations could increase through the rest of the day, however, as donations may take a few hours to process, said Sanchez's attorney, Salvador J. Lopez. Advertisement The goal when the campaign began was to raise $3,000, but donations quickly surpassed that mark thanks to contributions from donors in more than 60 countries. The campaign is not only the largest in Illinois but is also among the top 25 campaigns in the U.S., Bobby Whithorne, a spokesman for GoFundMe, told the Tribune last week. Fidencio Sanchez, 89, who sells Paleteria Poncho frozen treats from a pushcart in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, thanks people for their outpouring of support Sept. 14, 2016. Over $350,000 has been raised as of Thursday morning through a GoFundMe campaign, making it the largest campaign of its kind in Illinois. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Lopez said he will be helping Sanchez and his wife, Eladia Sanchez, navigate the process of receiving the funds. The couple are set to meet with financial advisers and tax experts as well, he said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > It's common to set up a trust when a large amount of money has been raised, though funds are often deposited directly into a bank account, Whithorne said. Donations won't get released until a bank account or trust is established, he said. GoFundMe will disburse the entire sum in full minus processing and service fees, as the site automatically takes 5 percent from each donation as a service fee, and WePay, which processes the transactions, deducts 2.9 percent plus 30 cents from each donation as a processing fee for payments. Popsicle vendor Fidencio Sanchez smiles after receiving a donation from Elizabeth Salgado on Sept. 12, 2016, in the LIttle Village neighborhood. Sanchez has been a pushcart vendor in the neighborhood for more than 20 years. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune) According to Cervantes' post on GoFundMe, he met Sanchez while the older man was pushing his cart and seemed to be struggling. Cervantes bought 20 paletas and intentionally overpaid for the treats. Paletas are $1.50 each; Cervantes paid Sanchez $50. Cervantes also wrote in the fundraiser description that Sanchez's daughter, who may have helped the elder couple financially, died this year. Chicago Tribune's Leonor Vivanco and Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas contributed. meltagouri@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @marwaeltagouri Dan Herbert, attorney for suspended Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, arrives Sept. 19, 2016, at a Chicago Police Board hearing on the proposed firing of Van Dyke and four other officers over the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) Breaking his monthslong silence, the lead lawyer for the Chicago police officer charged with murder in the shooting of Laquan McDonald said Monday that his client is devastated that other officers have resigned or could lose their jobs over the scandal. Daniel Herbert said the prospect of four other officers being fired over the fatal shooting has been "very difficult" for Officer Jason Van Dyke. Advertisement "He was fine when it was just him that was looking at severe consequences," Herbert told reporters. "But when he sees fellow officers resigning ... it's been extremely difficult for him." Herbert's comments came after the first status hearing Monday for Van Dyke and four other officers before the Chicago Police Board after police Superintendent Eddie Johnson moved for their firing. Until Monday, Herbert hadn't spoken for a few months about the McDonald case after a Cook County judge imposed a gag order on the criminal proceedings. Advertisement The dashboard camera video of the white police officer shooting the black teen 16 times has caused a firestorm of controversy and led to calls for major reforms and a U.S. Justice Department investigation of Chicago police practices. Special prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes was given the green light last week for a grand jury to be impaneled to investigate a possible cover-up by police in the October 2014 shooting of the 17-year-old. The probe will look into whether officers lied in police reports about the justification for the shooting. The video showed Van Dyke opening fire within seconds of exiting his police SUV as McDonald walked away with a knife in his hand, contradicting many of the officers' written accounts that the teen had lunged at police with the knife. Van Dyke shot the teen 16 times. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Neither Van Dyke nor the other four cops facing possible firing Officers Ricardo Viramontes, Daphne Sebastian and Janet Mondragon and Sgt. Stephen Franko attended the Police Board hearing. None of the other lawyers for those officers commented after the hearing. Herbert noted how unusual it is for officers to face disciplinary charges from the department while criminal charges are still proceeding. But he said any decisions made by the Police Board shouldn't affect the criminal probe. When asked by a reporter if Van Dyke's defense would be tainted at trial if he were fired beforehand, Herbert replied, "I don't know how we will ever get a jury that is not tainted. "We know the media coverage, and there's daily articles about this case," he said. Advertisement jgorner@chicagotribune.com Twitter @JeremyGorner Five people were killed and 38 others were wounded in shootings in Chicago over the weekend, according to police. The dead include a 19-year-old pregnant woman, Parasha M. Beard, who was shot in the neck as she and a man sat in a parked car in front of her mother's home in South Chicago Sunday evening, police said. The shots came from a car that passed by around 6:10 p.m. in the 8700 block of South Marquette Avenue. The 26-year-old man was hit in the neck and the chest, police said. Beard's mother said doctors were able to save the baby. Earlier Sunday, Kiev Dobbins, 24, was shot to death in a gangway in the 8900 block of South Laflin Street in the Brainerd neighborhood, police said. He was killed less than a block from where a man was killed Sept. 10. The next day, a woman was killed and two other people were wounded while attending a vigil for the man. "It's been exactly a week," a neighbor said Sunday. "Saturday they killed the boy, Sunday they killed the little girl, Sunday they killed another boy." Also Sunday morning, a 61-year-old man shot and wounded a 16-year-old boy who had broken into his home in the 6600 block of South Rhodes Avenue, police said. The teen was shot in the lower back and right hand, and was taken to Stroger Hospital where his condition was stabilized. An 11-year-old boy with the teen suffered a laceration to the back of his head, but he was not shot, police said. Police said the man had a concealed carry permit. Twelve people were shot in city from Friday afternoon through early Saturday; 20 people were shot, four fatally, from Saturday through early Sunday; and 11 people were shot, one fatally, from Sunday through early Monday. Nicholas Schuler, the inspector general for Chicago Board of Education, says his work is being obstructed and duplicated by a CPS auditing office that has seen a marked increase in funding under district CEO Forrest Claypool. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) The inspector general for the Chicago Board of Education says his work has been obstructed and duplicated by a better-funded arm of CPS chief Forrest Claypool's office, according to a report that lays out a political scuffle between the legally mandated watchdog and the mayoral-appointed administration. In his report, Nicholas Schuler accuses auditors for Chicago Public Schools of "significant interference" with his investigation into the alleged theft of tens of thousands of dollars worth of CTA fare cards by a district employee. Advertisement A "parallel investigation" of that case by CPS' Office of Internal Audit and Compliance last year "compromised a criminal investigation by prematurely alerting a main subject, and sowing fear and confusion in the minds of key witnesses," Schuler said in his report, which was sent to Claypool and the school board. Auditors also contacted Cook County prosecutors in an effort to inject their department into the inspector general's fare card investigation, Schuler's office said. He said "very troubling issues remain" with other investigations being undertaken by the auditor's office. Advertisement Schuler's report, obtained by the Tribune, outlines a dispute between his Office of the Inspector General and Claypool's administration, which was installed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the wake of a scandal that led to the ouster of CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett prior to her conviction on federal corruption charges. As part of the Board of Education's role to advise and oversee the district, Schuler's office worked with federal authorities on the case against Byrd-Bennett. The district's internal audit team is led by Andrell Holloway, who previously worked with Claypool in a similar role at the CTA. The unit has received significant funding increases since Claypool took office. CPS budgeted a little more than $958,000 for the audit department in 2015. This year, the budget for Holloway's office is roughly $4.4 million, not including up to $14 million worth of consulting contracts that he manages. This year's budget for Schuler's office is about $2 million, relatively unchanged from recent years. The office perennially asks the school board for more money and staff. "I think there's a fundamental disagreement, at some level, about the importance of the IG's office," Schuler said in an interview. "I've been told that at the end of the day, nobody's going to stand in our way. We're free to do what we can. But I see that as something different than a wholehearted embrace of the inspector general's function and the idea that there's going to be independent and transparent investigations." CPS declined requests to interview Claypool and Holloway about Schuler's report. Frank Clark, the school board's president and a mediator in the dispute, said Holloway's unit needed more firepower after "not meeting even the minimal obligations of an internal audit department." "Of course he would like more people," Clark said of Schuler's office. "That could be said for almost every office in central office. But it's unrealistic." Advertisement Clark downplayed the severity of the disagreement, which he said stems from a lack of communication. "There is no battle that is going on," Clark said. "There is a very real overlap in what two very good leaders think they ought to be doing. And I need to correct that. I need to make sure I work with Forrest to correct that." Claypool and Clark took over the school system with mandates to stabilize its uneven finances. Claypool stocked his team with a tight network of officials and consultants, and the new leadership structure has maintained a corporate-style management approach. Clark, a former ComEd executive appointed by Emanuel, said private companies use internal auditors to handle work that inspectors general lead in the public sector. "I recognize the importance" of the Office of the Inspector General, Clark said. "Now, I come from a corporate environment, and what we have there, we don't have OIG's; we have internal auditors. ... "That's the world I'm most accustomed to." According to district budget documents and a presentation Holloway made to the board last month, the audit department's mission is to conduct "periodic risk enterprise assessments" and "improving organizational efficiency and effectiveness while minimizing organizational risk." Holloway told the board that his team looked into employees who worked fewer hours than reported, used sick days inappropriately or had "excessive or unsupported" reimbursements. Auditors cut down spending on food and travel and set $5,000 spending limits on certain transactions, he said. Advertisement "I'm convinced that internal audit will more than triple pay for itself, and that's not a measure that I typically would use," Holloway told the board. Holloway estimated his team could find "somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to $12 million over the next year" in "real cost savings or opportunity to save if we take the appropriate action." Schuler's office under state law and school policy has the authority to investigate allegations of waste, fraud and mismanagement inside the school system. Schuler also has the power to issue subpoenas and has access to a wide swath of district information. The IG's annual report details cases of theft, enrollment fraud and employee misconduct. The office continues to look into the circumstances behind the contract scandal that led to Byrd-Bennett's downfall. "From somebody in the inspector general business, it doesn't make sense why you would have, especially in the wake of a scandal at the highest level of the CEO's office, (someone) come in and then start conducting their own investigations," Schuler said. "If you've got a statutorily appointed independent, investigatory body it makes little or no sense to, especially if you have faith in that body, (to) develop a secondary capacity that kind of duplicates what's going on." Advertisement The inspector general has regularly detailed problems with CTA fare cards, which the district purchases and then issues to schools for use by homeless students or for outings and field trips. In October, according to Schuler's report, Chicago police arrested a person for having 300 transit passes that were stolen from CPS. The person, whose identity was not included in the report obtained by the Tribune, was selling the passes out of a convenience store on the South Side. According to the inspector general, the CTA discovered that an employee in CPS' central office had ordered the stolen passes. The employee had previously worked for the CTA, Schuler's report said. Schuler's office concluded the CPS employee "participated in a criminal conspiracy" in which he would steal transit passes from his office, then distribute them to accomplices who sold them on the black market. Schuler's investigators believed the employee, who has not been charged with a crime, took at least $72,700 worth of transit passes over about seven months. The CPS employee was fired in November, according to Schuler's report, which said Holloway's audit department conducted an "improper separate and parallel investigation" into the theft. Advertisement Schuler's office said the audit team "disregarded repeated requests to refrain from simultaneously and separately investigating the matter." According to the report, Holloway and other members of his team instructed one person interviewed by the IG's office to contact the audit department about the investigation, and conducted separate interviews that Schuler said "prematurely alerted" the suspected employee. "This investigation implicated a subject who had been hired from the CTA," said a summary of Schuler's investigation. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "Thus, so as to avoid the mere appearance of any impropriety or undue influence on any investigation into the theft of CTA transit passes purchased by CPS, Internal Audit clearly should have stepped aside and let the (IG's office) the statutorily independent investigative body undertake its own investigation," the report said. Clark said auditors discovered the problem independently of the inspector general, informed Schuler's office of its findings and made an "appropriate" decision to fire the employee. To Schuler, the problem is that duplicated efforts can create "investigative problems," such as upending the timing of when subjects should be interviewed. Advertisement Quick action by an auditor might save money but could keep an inspector general from discovering "how high up the chain something went" or pursuing a criminal case, Schuler said. "Sometimes getting these subtler things about how high this went, were there other people who knew, when did they know it, when should they have taken action on that if they did know these are kind of subtler, more nuanced things and they quite often take time," Schuler said. jjperez@chicagotribune.com Twitter @PerezJr Former Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy discusses the Laquan McDonald video and rising tensions with the police on Sept. 19, 2016. (Jeremy Gorner / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) Former Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, a casualty of the fallout after the release of the video of the Laquan McDonald shooting, said Monday the video never should have been made public while a criminal investigation was still under way. Addressing the City Club of Chicago, McCarthy said he was never asked for his recommendation on the video's release but defended the withholding of evidence, arguing to do so risked compromising the integrity of the ongoing probe. Advertisement "There's not an attorney that I've spoken to who likes the idea of having evidence in a case that's being prosecuted or pending being released to the public right now," he told a couple of hundred people at a downtown restaurant. The speech marked the most extensive public comments by McCarthy since Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired him in early December, a little more than a week after the court-ordered release of the video of McDonald being shot 16 times rocked the city. He has been a low-key figure for the most part since then. Advertisement McCarthy was also critical of the move to seek the firings of other officers at the McDonald shooting while a criminal probe continues, saying their credibility as potential witnesses at Officer Jason Van Dyke's murder trial has been tainted. "This is compromising the possibility of getting a conviction," he said. "And then what's going to happen? There's going to be a lot of anger. Long-standing policies are out the window, and mixed messages are being sent." But McCarthy's remarks appeared to ignore that the officers themselves are under criminal investigation since their accounts of what happened the night of McDonald's shooting differed sharply with what the video showed. Later, during a question-and-answer session, McCarthy passed on taking shots at Emanuel, particularly on whether he had conspired to keep the McDonald video from the public during his re-election campaign. Saying he was not "a conspiracy theorist," McCarthy said the mayor had no control over the Cook County state's attorney's investigation of the shooting. "The mayor did not have the capacity to prevent that video from going out there," he said. At one point during his speech, he appeared to joke about the circumstances of his firing, saying, "Politically speaking, you're either on the bus or under." "No, that is not a backhanded reference to anything that may or may not have happened to me," he added. Advertisement McCarthy's remarks centered on the upside-down world he sees in which police are increasingly the bad guys and the criminals are getting a pass for not complying with the law. He said many of the controversial uses of lethal force by police in incidents across the country many captured on video started with people not complying with the lawful orders of officers. He said this anti-police sentiment is "empowering criminals" and creating what he called "a culture of legitimizing noncompliance" with the law. McCarthy said the furor over the McDonald shooting and a series of other police-involved shootings that have drawn national attention has caused officers to second-guess themselves while working in the streets. He made a link between that pullback and Chicago's spike in violence. He also pointed to the U.S. Justice Department's probe of Police Department practices and its impact on fighting crime. "Why would you stop anyone when the Department of Justice is here looking for civil rights violations?" he asked. Advertisement McCarthy defended how officers under his watch used to document their street stops with so-called "contact cards," saying they weren't racially profiling but reacting to crime patterns in heavily minority neighborhoods. Beginning this year, a more complex, lengthier form needs to be filled out because of a new state law and concerns from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. McCarthy said filling out the complicated forms was akin to conducting a robbery investigation. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > He also took a shot at the media during his speech, pointing to a recent Gallup poll showing that trust in news organizations was at a new low, yet he said reporters are criticizing police on trust issues. He said the media too often has "an obsession for creating the news rather than reporting the news." McCarthy also took a swipe at state lawmakers for passing a law that requires officers wear body cameras while ignoring calls to toughen gun laws. "And this year, we've already got more than 3,000 people shot," he said. Advertisement Body cameras will not be the panacea people are hoping for, he said. jgorner@chicagotribune.com Twitter @JeremyGorner The oath was a simple one, and many of the words were the same as those they had said to one another 50 years ago. But as nearly 500 silver-haired couples stood from the pews of Holy Name Cathedral Sunday, and as husbands turned to hold the hands of the wives with which they had weathered life's most testing moments, they found their voices cracking and their eyes watering. Advertisement "I will stand by you now," said William Blume, 73, who married his wife, Nancy, 71, in a Maywood church in 1966. He cupped her hands in his. The couples around him murmured their vows more quickly; William took it slow. "And I will love you all the days of my life," he said, as a tear found his cheek. Advertisement The couples who crowded the church Sunday were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries, having married in 1966, when race riots and anti-war protests defined politics, the USSR landed a vehicle on the moon and "The Sound of Music" won best motion picture. The Archdiocese of Chicago commemorated the golden wedding anniversaries with its annual Mass, met by a crowd so large that the church could only accommodate the couples themselves. Families were asked to watch the afternoon service from a live stream next door in the parish center. Some wives wore sparkly white dresses, reminiscent of their wedding gowns, while others whispered excitedly into their husband's ears, as anxious for the ceremony as young brides. In his homily, Archbishop Blase Cupich commended the couples' strength and endurance in staying committed to one another for a half-century. "You are not the same people that you married on your wedding day, and believe me, I can imagine that you have had to adapt in a lot of ways," he said. "You've had to have those moments in which you have to stretch yourself to see whether or not you can really continue at this commitment, and you have found the resources of God's grace to do so." Their vow renewals, he said, signified the beginning of a new chapter that would be just as thrilling as the last, as the couples' best days were by no means behind them. "Don't look to the past," he said. "Look to the future." About 52 years ago, William Blume met his wife while they were students at Roosevelt University. They met in an English composition class that William was repeating for the fourth time. He asked her out for a date. Nancy Blume said yes. Advertisement "She is a great wife and a great mother," William Blume said. "And she is the greatest gift, which I would've lost if I had been a little smarter at English." The couple, both Catholic and heavily involved with their Grayslake church, St. Gilbert Catholic Parish, attribute the circumstances that led to their first date to God's grace. Nancy Blume's mother, for example, who had long prayed her daughter would "find a good Christian man," passed away just days before William Blume asked her out. Nancy Blume made her future husband wait two years before marrying him, insisting he finish his business degree. On June 4, 1966, William Blume jokes he "married a Gui" a reference to Nancy Blume's maiden name. "She cried the entire ceremony, till she said her vows. Then she stopped crying," William Blume said with a smile. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > His wife didn't deny his claim. "My makeup looked terrible," she said, laughing. Advertisement William Blume said the key to a long marriage is as simple as marrying someone you love. The two have raised three children together and have supported each other through many jobs, from William Blume's approximately 15,000 elevator inspections to Nancy Blume's current work helping families with financial problems. The two look forward to the triumphs that lie ahead as well as the challenges, as so far all have been manageable. "We're gonna make it to the finish line," William Blume said. Nancy Blume looked up at her husband, met his eyes and nodded. meltagouri@chicagotribune.com Twitter @marwaeltagouri U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, campaigns on Aug. 25, 2016, at VFW Post 4829 in Shelbyville. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) Senate-seeking U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth appeared with fellow Democrats on Monday to advocate for long-sought changes to immigration laws, casting the November election as crucial to the cause while blasting opponents as "bigots and racists and fear-mongerers." The comments came at a forum hosted by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition, a group that regularly organizes events with lawmakers to advocate for changes to federal immigration laws. Advertisement The group has hosted similar events with Republicans, but the campaign-season setting of Monday's event was a prime opportunity for Duckworth and her allies to pounce on Republicans over the immigration issue, which has figured as a central theme in the presidential race. Drawing on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall along the southern border to keep out Mexican immigrants, the Democrats warned that any chance of expanding rights for immigrants hinges on giving their party control of the Senate and the White House. Advertisement "Do not think that because Democrats do not control the House and I know that we'll control the Senate that we cannot do immigration reform," said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who has made immigration a singular focus of his tenure in Washington. "We can do immigration reform if we control the Electoral College on Nov. 8, so come out and vote." Despite a recent firestorm over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment, in which she labeled Trump supporters "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic," both Gutierrez and Duckworth employed similar language as they tried to gin up support for the Democratic ticket. Duckworth asserted that votes had stalled in Congress on legislation to open citizenship opportunities to students and people who serve in the military "because there are bigots and racists and fear-mongerers who don't understand that they are in fact weakening this great nation when they turn their backs on immigration reform." Duckworth is challenging first-term Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, who backed comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. Democrats have accused Kirk of coming to the issue too late. Kirk has contended there is a difference between immigrants coming from Mexico and accepting Syrian refugees. He also has made his opposition to the acceptance of refugees from war-torn Syria until adequate background checks can be conducted a major point of distinction between himself and Duckworth as he tries to portray himself as more concerned about national security. In the aftermath of weekend bombing incidents in New York and New Jersey, and a stabbing attack in Minnesota, Kirk issued a statement saying the Obama administration "should heed the warnings of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials who warn about terrorist efforts to infiltrate Syrian refugee flows into the United States and Europe." While Duckworth did not direct her comments about racism and bigotry at Kirk specifically, she did cast herself and the Democratic ticket generally as the pro-immigrant choice. "We're not going to get anywhere with comprehensive immigration reform unless we have Democrats in charge of the Senate, unless we have a Democratic leader of the Senate, because it will never come up for a vote, just like we never got a vote on a next member of the United States Supreme Court," Duckworth said. "So if you vote for the Republican, then you are voting for Republican control of the Senate, and that means we'll never get this issue to come up, it will never pass out of the Senate." Advertisement Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson contributed. kgeiger@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kimgeiger Prosecutors on Monday said a witness will testify that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was told about a politically motivated scheme that shut down the nation's busiest bridge as it was happening, the first time officials have alleged in court that Christie knew about the plot as it was going on. The assertion came during the "Bridgegate" trial of two of Christie's former aides, whom prosecutors accuse of hatching a plan to create a mammoth traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie's reelection bid. Advertisement During opening statements Monday in Newark, federal prosecutors said a third Christie associate, David Wildstein, will testify that he and a Christie aide informed the governor about the traffic shutdowns during a Sept. 11 memorial service in 2013, according to the Associated Press. "The evidence will show that . . . they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned," Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said. Advertisement Christie's office did not comment on Monday's proceedings. It pointed to a 2014 interview with a New Jersey radio station, when Christie said he didn't know anything about the plans to close the lanes and first learned about it through media reports. Christie, a former U.S. attorney, is a prominent backer of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The allegation that he knew despite years of public proclamations to the contrary could cause a headache for the Trump campaign, which routinely deploys Christie as a campaign surrogate and has tasked him with managing a transition if Trump wins in November. Alan Zegas, Wildstein's lawyer, wrote in a 2014 letter that there is evidence "tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures" as they were closed. Zegas did not return a call seeking comment. The trial comes just over three years after what first appeared to be a small-scale problem that people in New Jersey face every day: snarled traffic on one of the world's busiest bridges. But this traffic jam was different, with people stranded for hours and Fort Lee rendered impassible for four straight days. The closings later exploded into a political scandal for Christie, who at the time was riding high and floated as a top contender for the 2016 presidential election. The way federal prosecutors told it at the start of their trial, the two Christie allies - William Baroni Jr., the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs - wanted to punish Sokolich for refusing to support Christie's gubernatorial reelection bid. Wildstein will allege that he and Baroni told Christie of the reason behind the traffic snarls. Together with Wildstein - another former Port Authority official who has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify against Baroni and Kelly - the pair allegedly orchestrated shutting down the lanes and toll booths on the George Washington Bridge. On the first day of the school year in Fort Lee, without any advance notice to local officials, commuters found themselves stuck in serious backups, and Sokolich's calls for an explanation were ignored. Prosecutors alleged that those who created the jam then hatched a coverup scheme, claiming the lane closures were caused by a traffic study when their real aim was political: to punish Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Christie, a Republican. Advertisement In an August 2013 email launching the plan, Kelly told Wildstein, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," according to prosecutors. During the Republican primaries, Trump had harsh words for Christie about the bridge scheme: "He totally knew about it," Trump said last December. At a December 2013 news conference, Christie asserted that no one implemented the lane closures on his behalf, and that Bill Stepien, who managed Christie's campaign, had assured him he had no knowledge of it. At the time, records would later show, two other aides mused in a text conversation that Christie was not being truthful. "Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved," Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Christina Genovese Renna wrote, according to a court filing from Baroni's defense attorneys. "I'm listening," campaign staffer Peter Sheridan responded. "Gov is doing fine. Holding his own up there." "Yes. But he lied. And if emails are found . . . it could be bad," Renna wrote back. Advertisement Baroni and Kelly are charged with conspiring to misuse Port Authority property by fraud and conspiring to deprive people of their civil rights. Their attorneys have asserted that prosecutors stretched to allege a crime where none existed and that, even if the allegations were true, Baroni and Kelly were acting within their legitimate authority. "At its core, this case boils down to a simple issue: Can Ms. Kelly be charged with a federal crime for allegedly conspiring to cause traffic in Fort Lee to allegedly punish Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich for not endorsing Governor Christie's reelection campaign? The answer is no for any number of reasons." Michael Critchley, an attorney for Kelly, wrote in a pretrial filing. Ivanka Trump looks on as her father, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign event at the Aston Township Community Center on Sept. 13, 2016 in Aston, Pa. Ivanka Trump will be in Chicago on Wednesday for a fundraising event, while her father will attend an event in the suburbs. (Mark Makela / Getty Images) Ivanka Trump, the gorgeous mother of three who forever browses the periphery of the Donald Trump presidential campaign, is used to getting positive press. In February, she graced the cover of Town and Country next to a breathless headline: "Vote Ivanka! The Trump in charge of a growing American dynasty." (There's an entire think piece to be written on how many Americans, soaked in reality TV, seem to want a royal family, and how Donald Trump really just wants to be America's version of the queen of England, but we'll hold that for another day.) In April, The Washington Post's Chris Cilizza praised Ivanka's "cool" and "soothing" manner, suggesting she run for president instead of her wild and wacky father. Ivanka's Republican National Committee speech, a love letter to various Democratic wish lists, inspired a frenzied "Ivanka for President" social-media cascade, with fans ranging from Mia Farrow to Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker. Here's Corker, speaking to NBC News: "I don't know if I've met a more composed, brilliant, beautiful-in-every-way person." Advertisement Alas, fame and public adoration make for fickle friends, especially when you try to out-Left the political Left. Recently, while stumping for her new six-week paid maternity leave plan "Daddy, Daddy, we have to do this," Donald Trump told an Iowa rally, describing his daughter's persistent push for the project Ivanka learned this the hard way. It all started innocuously enough. Last week, Ivanka hopped on a phone interview with Cosmopolitan, a publication best known for giving young women zesty sex tips and tragicomic life advice. The interchange quickly turned dark, however, and eventually morphed into a widespread anti-Ivanka media pile-on. Because neither of us wants to actually read Cosmo, I'll roughly paraphrase the interview for you, with some points added for dramatic flair: Advertisement Reporter: Hi! Hillary Clinton released her amazing family leave plan eons ago. Why did it take you savages so long? Ivanka: I'll choose to ignore that question. Yes, we've put together a great plan! Reporter: Whatever. Why aren't you giving dads maternity leave too? Ivanka: Well. Our maternity leave plan is better than nothing, which is what America has now. (Pause) Ivanka: Also, this interview is not going as well as I thought it would, so I'll toss out the fact that this proposal helps same-sex couples too. Reporter: Ah-ha! Gotcha! Speaking of same-sex couples, does your plan give maternity leave to gay men who adopt babies? Ivanka: Um, no. Just mothers who give birth to babies. Advertisement Reporter: (Rolls eyes) Ugh. Moving on. You know, your father has said some pretty questionable things about pregnant people in the past. Ivanka: This is getting kind of negative. Also, it is absurd to imply that my father says questionable things. Where would you get that idea? Reporter: Just so you know, many of the questionable things he says are plainly documented in print and on television, and you can also Google them! Ivanka: I am somewhat surprised at your hostility. You know, there are magazines that have called me a "modern-day superwoman." At least I think I remember that. Man, it's been a long year. (Editor's note: This is correct. The "superwoman" line was also in Town and Country.) Reporter: How are you going to pay for all this? Is this kind of like the plan for the wall? Advertisement Ivanka: Trust us: We'll shift some stuff around with some other government stuff. Works every time. Also, sorry, I've got to go! (Click) The interview, in other words, did not go well and boy, were certain corners of the media gleeful. "Cosmo rips the halo off of Ivanka Trump," crowed a headline in The Washington Post. "Ivanka Trump shuts down in the face of basic questions from Cosmopolitan magazine," tutted Mother Jones. "My hot take is that Ivanka Trump is a bad surrogate who lies," tweeted New York Magazine's Rebecca Traister, linking to her own online diatribe against Ivanka's supposed maternity leave perfidy that might just rival the length of "War and Peace." Sheesh. Well, as they say, no well-intentioned but logistically challenged push to create a gigantic new entitlement program goes unpunished! There's a lesson here, of course: Try as you might, you can never out-Left the Left, and as pundit Charles Krauthammer recently put it on Fox News, Republicans will never "out-Democrat the Democrats." Your compromises will never be "good" enough. Your purity will never be pure enough. With this new maternity leave proposal, the Trump campaign is certainly trying to do just that. Here's a second lesson: If he wins the presidency, it's fair to expect more of the same. Heather Wilhelm is a writer based in Austin, Texas. Advertisement National Review A suspect in the New York-area bombings is in custody after a shootout with police. Sept. 19, 2016. (CBS Miami) The hate-crazed misanthrope who planted do-it-yourself bombs in Manhattan and New Jersey over the weekend has already failed. The damage was mercifully limited. More than two dozen people were injured when a pressure-cooker bomb exploded beneath a garbage bin in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, but no one was killed. Police, who conducted a rapid and efficient sweep of the area, located a second bomb a few blocks away. A pipe bomb exploded Saturday in nearby Seaside Park, N.J., but no one was injured. Advertisement It's hard to predict the wider fallout, though. Fear brings out the worst in people, and fear is the more lasting damage that these awful incidents create: the disorienting sense that no place is safe, that there could be terrorists around every corner, mass killers behind every shrub. Statistically speaking, we're relatively safe from random violence, but there's enough public mayhem out there to keep those who feel vulnerable steeped in dread. Advertisement That's what the bomber probably will manage to achieve. More dread, more fury, more rage directed at blameless immigrants, Muslims and refugees. More fear. More people determined to carry guns everywhere they go; more elaborate security apparatus created to keep the guns out. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 41 Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. (Nicolaus Czarnecki / AP) These are understandable human responses to a threat that, by definition, cannot be predicted, the desire of lunatics to sow mayhem and grief. What if we could just decide to stop being afraid? Or maybe even to be a little less afraid, to stop trying to imagine every possible doomsday scenario that deranged brains might devise? Obviously, there are sensible security measures we can take, that we expect the government to provide. But as long as every new headline and act of idiot violence creates a fresh round of panic, all we're going to get is a domestic arms race that can never be won. A professional tour guide in Washington, D.C., wrote a thoughtful essay that recently appeared in The Washington Post, decrying the ever-increasing effort to "harden" potential targets in the nation's capital. "Every year brings a new closure, a new checkpoint, a little less freedom than the year before," guide and author Tim Kress wrote. Too often, a day intended as a visit to some of our national treasures, he says, becomes a miserable series of long security lines, searches, X-rays, metal detectors. Yet, as the weekend explosion showed, it is impossible to keep guns and bombs out of public places. Security screenings don't prevent attacks they just make them happen somewhere else. Advertisement I am not saying please don't make me use all caps not saying that we should abandon security screening, or that private citizens should not have access to firearms. I just don't believe a panicky more-is-better response to every scary headline does us any good. The fact is that no weapon, no system, no stop-and-frisk-'em protocol can guarantee seamless security in an ostensibly free society. At some point, we have to decide how frightened we're going to be, how safe we need to feel. That's a subjective standard. Do we want to put passengers through metal detectors to board a city bus? Police checkpoints at state lines? Do we want every adult American to feel the need to be armed everywhere they go? How does any of that prevent a determined lunatic from shooting up a nightclub or planting a bomb on a public street? A comment posted to a New York Times story about the bombing caught my eye. It was written by a Manhattan resident whose terrified out-of-town aunt was sending panic-stricken texts about the incident. "It is a bit strange that a resident of Ohio is more fearful of what is going on than someone who lives close by," the commenter said. "Courage no longer seems to be much of an American virtue. We don't even aim for it." Advertisement That's a sad observation, and one I hope isn't true. Yes, we need reasonable security. And yes, terrible people plan and carry out dreadful atrocities. How scared should we be? That's up to us. Tribune Content Agency Jacquielynn Floyd is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. jfloyd@dallasnews.com On the subject of guns, Sen. Robert Kennedy knew all too well what he was talking about. No family in American history has experienced such senseless gun violence up close and with as high profile as the Kennedys. And none of the Kennedys knew better than Bobby, who was ultimately assassinated like his brother, not merely how vulnerable President John Kennedy had been, even with the best of Secret Service protection, but how many credible threats were registered nearly every day of RFK's 85-day crusade for the Democratic nomination in 1968. Donald Trump's headline-grabbing suggestion that Hillary Clinton's bodyguards should be disarmed "take their guns away" so we can "see what happens to her" would have seemed eerily familiar to Bobby as he campaigned nearly 50 years ago from the steps of the Douglas County Courthouse in Oregon. Advertisement Kennedy was proposing a modest bid to keep firearms out of the hands of "criminals and the demented and those too young," and gun owners didn't like it one bit. "Nazi Germany started with the registration of guns," a Trump-like heckler yelled. Others booed and waved signs spelling out their opposition. Kennedy tried to point out that the registration of cars and prescription drugs hadn't ruined our democracy. "If we are going to talk about this legislation, let's talk about it honestly and not say that it does something that it does not do," the senator from New York insisted. Congress eventually passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed in 1968 a measure regulating interstate commerce in guns. But if that was the good news, the bad was that Bobby didn't live to see that, and the law that passed wasn't the hoped-for first in a series of reasonable regulations on who could own firearms and what kinds would be allowed. Advertisement Fast forward to the 2016 campaign, and candidate Trump's insistence that Clinton wants to "take your guns away" so, to show her how dangerous that would be, her Secret Service detail should "drop all weapons ... immediately." That nerve-rattling suggestion, like Trump's earlier urging that "Second Amendment people" ensure that Clinton could never appoint antigun judges, is more than hyperbole to the Kennedys. Nine days before the all-important California primary in 1968, Bobby had told a crowd of 1,500 in the lumber-land community of Roseburg, Ore., that "with all the violence and murder and killings we've had in the United States, I think you will agree that we must keep firearms from people who have no business with guns or rifles." He spoke with the conviction not of a performer such as Trump, who has made an art out of firing from his hip, but of an ex-attorney general who five years before had lost his boss, his brother and his best friend to an assassin's bullet in Dallas. The night of his victory in California, Kennedy had no armed bodyguards as he walked off the podium and into the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel where his executioner, Sirhan Sirhan, was standing on a low tray stacker, waiting for his opening. Kennedy's only full-time security man, a former FBI agent named Bill Barry, was helping a pregnant Ethel Kennedy off the stage, and there was no Secret Service protection back then for candidates such as Kennedy. That wouldn't happen until just after his assassination, when Johnson issued an order that Congress eventually cemented into law mandating security for major presidential contenders. No one in his or her right mind has questioned that mandate, until now. Larry Tye is the author of "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon." For starters, let's stipulate that the following statement is correct: It's all the media's fault. I'm not sure what "it" or "all" refer to, but regardless, the media are totally to blame. This has been true since humans first started scrawling information on cave walls, prompting other homo sapiens to say things like: "This not fair. Show Zog and Grog bad hunters but Grog much worse hunter than Zog. That false equivalence!" Advertisement Fast forward to today's presidential election and you can see that the media are still doing everything wrong. We are both in the bag for Hillary Clinton and far too hard on Hillary Clinton while also being too hard on Donald Trump and also not being tough enough on Donald Trump. Logically, we can't be all of those things at once, but logic is dead, and I blame the media for that. Advertisement Trump and his fervent followers refer to the media as scum and liars and traitors, and the candidate's campaign routinely sends out fundraising emails that paint the election as a war with "the liberal media." Clinton supporters shout down any negative news about her be it relating to her health, her private email server or her family's charitable foundation as unfair and a false equivalence, implying that anything bad that she has done is irrelevant because Trump has done bad things that are much worse. The media highlight a lie Trump has told, and his supporters shout, "Oh yeah, well what about Hillary's lies?!?!" The media highlight a lie Clinton has told and her supporters shout, "You can't compare that to Trump's falsehoods!!" It's as if the media have been charged not only with reporting factual information but also rating each piece of information on a theoretical scale that tells people precisely how good or how bad that piece of information is in comparison to all other information. The problem with attempting to do that aside from it being impossible is that anybody who doesn't like what that piece of information says is going to say media's scale is rigged. I blame the media for that problem. We are the worst. What may be happening, particularly in the 2016 presidential campaign, is that the media are adjusting to a world where facts are no longer recognized as legitimate. Advertisement There are nonpartisan fact-checkers who produce fact-filled reports on things that Clinton and Trump say, and those fact-checks are bolstered by evidence like direct quotes, often recorded on video, and specific timelines. Trump says he was against the Iraq War from the beginning he wasn't. Clinton says her use of a private email server while secretary of state was allowed it wasn't. Those are facts. But the candidates and their supporters tend to ignore the facts, or at best downplay them in comparison to the egregious acts of the opposing candidate. I could write a column about how adorable kittens are the existence of kitten adorableness is a well-established fact and still get hammered by dog lovers saying I am biased against puppies. There would also be a noisy protest outside Tribune Tower by snake owners claiming I am a vile reptilianist. None of this is to say the media are doing a perfect job covering the presidential campaign. Mistakes are absolutely being made, and criticism is welcome and necessary. But the expectation seems to be that every lie or error must be called out in real time, with the guarantee that every lie or error pinned on a candidate will be declared false by the candidate and his or her supporters. Advertisement That puts journalists in an impossible situation. They strive for balance, but balance has become wholly subjective. For a Trump supporter, any story that doesn't call Clinton a murderer is unbalanced. For a Clinton supporter, any story that doesn't say Trump is a threat to our democracy is unbalanced. (For those who say that's a false equivalence, feel free to e-yell at me at rhuppke@chicagotribune.com.) So we're left with: It's all the media's fault. Even people in the media are writing pieces that could run under the headline: "Media upset with media for way media is handling presidential campaign, media say." Let me try to make this easier for everyone. Let me unburden my fellow media professionals and take one for the team. Don't blame the media anymore. Just blame me. Advertisement Any news you deem as unfair to your candidate, that's my fault. Sorry. Any opinion column you view as biased (even though opinion columns are inherently biased), I want you to know that it was me who did that. My bad. Is your candidate not polling well? That is entirely the fault of the Chicago Tribune's Rex Huppke. I caused that, with great malice, and I apologize for being a left-leaning or right-leaning (whichever applies) hack. I am stupid. I am scum. I am a globalist and also a corporatist and a socialist and a red-baiting, un-American nitwit. It is my fault. All of it. I am the "me" in "media." Blame me, and leave my brothers and sisters in journalism alone. They know not what they do. At least according to people who have no idea what they're talking about. Advertisement rhuppke@chicagotribune.com Breakfast fundraiser planned in Batavia Everyone is invited to the All-U-Can-Eat Lumberjack Breakfast fundraiser Sunday in Batavia. Advertisement The event will go from 7:30 a.m. to noon at Batavia Masonic Lodge, 28 N. Van Nortwick Ave. The menu will include pancakes, eggs, sausage, juice, coffee and more. Advertisement The donation for the breakfast is $6 for adults, $3 for children age 10 and under, and $15 for a family of four. Also available is the "King Solomon's Pass" which can be used throughout the year, and entitles the bearer to six breakfasts for the price of five. The breakfast proceeds support local and state charities, the Guy P. Vance scholarship fund, and lodge operations, group officials said. For more information, contact Trevor Steinbach at 630-768-2705. Kendall Arts Guild to meet The Sept. 27 Kendall Arts Guild meeting will feature Jamie Glaser, who will present a program on writing and illustrating her book "And Then There's Violet." A former Kendall Arts Guild member, Glaser is an art teacher in Oswego. The program will follow a short business meeting at 7 p.m., club officials said. There will also be an update on the Kendall County Courthouse Mural project. The group meets in the lower level community room of the office building at 215 Hillcrest Ave. in Yorkville. For more information, contact Joan at 630-567-6407. Advertisement FamilySearch topic at Genealogical Society "Understanding FamilySearch: Part I" will be the topic of the Kane County Genealogical Society meeting, 7:30 p.m. Thursday in first floor meeting room of the Geneva History Museum, 113 S. Third St., Geneva. The second half of the presentation will be Oct. 27. FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources and services each year to learn more about their family histories. Jane Haldeman, a professional researcher, speaker, owner of It's Relative, and author of "A Genealogist's Guide to Springfield, Illinois" will be the speaker. She lectures in the Chicago area, including parts of Wisconsin and Indiana, as well as at state and national conferences. Haldeman was president, Illinois State Genealogical Society; president, Fox Valley Genealogical Society; registrar, Fort Payne Chapter NSDAR; and registration chair, Federation of Genealogical Societies 2016 Conference in Springfield. Visitors are welcome. There is a participation fee requested for non-members. For information, call 630-879-0672 or go to www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilkcgs. Mongolian beef is a specialty at East China Inn, which includes sliced beef sauteed with green onions and served in a brown sauce over a bed of crispy rice noodles. (Jane Donahue / The Beacon-News) Since 1998, those seeking authentic Cantonese and Szechwan dishes have been turning to East China Inn on Aurora's east side. The family-owned restaurant serves up fresh and delicious food in a friendly and relaxing atmosphere for lunch or dinner, dining in or carrying out. "We are thankful for the customers for supporting us for so many years," said Renee Du, whose family owns East China Inn. "We have a lot of locals, and we appreciate that." Advertisement East China Inn offers everything you'd expect at a Chinese restaurant, along with a wide array of house specialties like the sizzling imperial beef tenderloin or lobster Cantonese style. But whatever the order, Du said, it's the consistency that keeps diners coming back. Here's what's cooking at East China Inn. Advertisement What's on the menu? The extensive menu of traditional Cantonese and Szechwan dishes is easy to navigate, and includes beef, chicken, pork, shrimp and vegetarian options. About the owner: Du and her family own four East China Inn restaurants: one in Aurora, two in Batavia and one in North Aurora. A mission statement or philosophy: East China Inn strives to provide great food in an atmosphere that is enjoyable and relaxing. What's the decor like? Tucked at the end of a strip of retail stores in Meadow Lakes Plaza on Aurora's east side, East China Inn is upscale casual with white table cloths, neutral tones and interesting Asian artwork and accents. Food specialties: The honey sesame chicken is popular, as is the Mongolian beef, which includes sliced beef sauteed with green onions and served in a brown sauce over a bed of crispy rice noodles. For appetizers, the crab Rangoon and egg rolls are crowd pleasers, and for a group, try the East China Special Platter that includes those two along with chicken nuggets, fried shrimp, shrimp toast and fried wontons. We're different because: Du said it's their consistency in both food and service that makes them different and has allowed them to be a favorite spot for local diners for nearly two decades. Extras: East China Inn offers family-style dinners and specially priced group dinners for two or more diners. Along with a full-service bar, they offer nearly a dozen different fresh fruit smoothies. Don't want to eat in? Carry out, catering and delivery are available. Price range: Two egg rolls are around $3, and six pot stickers are just under $5. Try the small order of Mongolian beef or beef with broccoli for around $7 that comes with steamed rice. Chicken egg foo young is $4.65, sweet and sour chicken is $5.25, and moo shoo pork is $8.65. There are more than a dozen lunch specials served daily that include an egg roll and chicken fried rice for $6.95. Advertisement East China Inn is at 3450 Montgomery Road in Aurora, west of Route 59. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. Call 630-898-8889 or go to www.eastchinainn.com. Jane Donahue is a freelance writer. A bullet grazed the head of a 10-year-old boy as he sat outside at a picnic table in Aurora Saturday night, police said, and a few minutes later a man was shot in the neck and had to be hospitalized. The boy was treated and released by paramedics at the scene. Police do not believe the family was targeted. Advertisement At around 10:58 p.m. Saturday, police went to the 100 block of North Ohio Street in Aurora and learned that several people were fired upon as they sat in an outdoor common area. Two people, one of whom was armed, approached the group on foot from behind a home on the 900 block of Fulton Street, opened fire, yelled a gang slogan, and the two ran back to a Jeep Wrangler that had been reported stolen out of Aurora, police said. A bullet grazed the boy and several rounds entered an apartment building, but no one else was struck. Advertisement Less than 10 minutes later, suspects matching the same description and driving the same vehicle were involved in a shooting on the 1300 block of Plum Street, police said. According to police, a 52-year-old man had just backed his car out of a friend's driveway when the Jeep Wrangler approached from the opposite direction. An argument then ensued between the men before the driver of the Wrangler crashed it head-on into the other car. The 52-year-old man was then joined by his 49-year-old friend who had witnessed the crash and the two approached the Jeep, where the four men fought. One of the men in the Jeep pulled out a handgun and fired several shots, one of which hit the 49-year-old man in the neck. The gunman also fired several shots at an SUV that was driving westbound on Plum Street. The vehicle, which was occupied by five juveniles, was struck twice but none of the passengers were hit. The suspects ran from the scene northbound through the yards. Police were not able to locate them. The 49-year-old man was taken to an Aurora hospital for treatment and later airlifted to a suburban hospital where his condition was stabilized. He is expected to survive. The Jeep Wrangler was reported stolen around 10:30 p.m. Saturday from the 600 block of High Street. The owner of the vehicle parked it on the street and left the keys in the ignition, police said. Aurora police are asking anyone with information on the incidents to call them at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to any arrests. Tips can also be submitted through the Aurora Police Department's free app available through iTunes, the Android Market, or Amazon App Store. Aurora police are searching for the men involved in a crime spree that included an armed robbery, a carjacking and a hit-and-run crash. At approximately 5:27 p.m. Saturday, police responded to an armed robbery call on the 400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Three teenage girls - a 13-year-old and two 14-year-olds - said they were walking with two teenage boys they had just met. When they crossed the street, a green minivan approached traveling at a high rate of speed. The minivan stopped just north of the group and a man with a handgun and wearing a bandanna over his face got out and demanded their valuables. One of the boys handed over some jewelry and the man ran back to the vehicle, which then sped westbound on Plum Street from Pennsylvania Avenue. Advertisement The girls told police the minivan was occupied by at least two other men. One of the 14-year-olds was treated by Aurora Fire Department paramedics for a minor injury to her leg which she sustained when she was hit by the minivan when it approached. A few minutes after the armed robbery, an Aurora police officer spotted a vehicle matching the description of the one in the armed robbery stopped at a red light heading westbound on Illinois Avenue at Randall Road. When the occupants saw the officer, the driver took off at a high rate of speed with the officer in pursuit. The driver of the minivan disregarded several traffic control devices and the pursuit was ended when it was deemed unsafe, police said. Advertisement The driver of the minivan proceeded to box in a Ford Taurus near Route 56 and Interstate 88. The Taurus was driven by a 63-year-old man, with his 61-year-old girlfriend as his passenger. There were at least four people in the minivan, all of whom jumped out and approached the Taurus, according to the couple. Two of the them were armed with handguns and proceeded to order the man and woman out of the car. The suspects stole the Taurus and took off westbound on Route 56. At approximately 5:49 p.m., the Taurus was involved in a hit-and-run crash at Prairie Street and Edgelawn Drive. A 68-year-old woman told police she had just completed her turn from southbound Edgelawn onto eastbound Prairie when her vehicle's rear fender was hit by the Taurus, which was also eastbound but at a high rate of speed. Within about three minutes of the crash, police received a call saying the Taurus stopped suddenly in the area of Lake Street and Ridgeway Avenue and its occupants ran away. Police believe at least three people were in the car at the time it was abandoned. There were no injuries as a result of the hit-and-run crash. A search of the area did not turn up any of the suspects. The Illinois State Police assisted Aurora police in the investigation of the carjacking and subsequent search for the suspects. The green minivan used in the armed robbery and involved in the chase was reported stolen from the 600 block of Gates Avenue sometime between 9:30 p.m. Friday and 12:10 p.m. Saturday. The owner had left the vehicle parked on the street, unlocked, with the keys in the cup holder. Aurora police are asking anyone with information on the incidents to call them at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to any arrests. Tips can also be submitted through the Aurora Police Department's free mobile app. The moment Trudy Huberty stepped into the gymnasium at the former Madonna High School building in Aurora, she recalled a grim November day in 1963 that marked her life forever. "I was sitting right there when we heard that President Kennedy had been shot," she said softly, pointing out a spot near the top of the bleachers. "We were having a pep rally, and someone came in from the office and announced it. None of us said anything, we were so shocked." Advertisement Many of the 40 other Madonna alumnae who attended Saturday's Class of 1966 reunion tour also recalled that moment. "We were told to go back to our homerooms," said Catherine Bruck, who chaired the reunion event. "Then they piped in the radio coverage of the shooting, and we all sat in our homerooms, just listening, until the news came through that Kennedy was dead. Nobody sobbed and nobody spoke, but there were tears running down our faces. We all experienced it together." Advertisement Unlike the Kennedy assassination, however, most memories the former classmates shared Saturday inspired laughter, mainly over the ups and downs of attending a Catholic girls high school during the '60s. The women eagerly climbed up and down the stairs of the four-story building, which now houses the Fred Rodgers Magnet School, to recall the minor misdeeds of their youth. "Girls today wouldn't even believe what high school was like for us back then," Margie Logman said. "We all had to dress exactly alike, discipline was a lot stricter, and detentions didn't mean just sitting in a chair. All the floors in here used to be wood, and if you got detention, they gave you a scraper and you scraped old wax off the floor until they said you could leave." "I was serving detention in there one day, and after half an hour I asked the nun if I could leave," said Cathy Truesdale, pointing toward a second-floor office. "She said, 'Miss Moran, the way you misbehave, you should be serving detention for life!'" The school uniform's knee-length skirts sparked a continuous battle between conscientious nuns and fashion-conscious students. "Remember all the Masses we had in the gym?" Margaret Richter asked a few classmates. "We had to kneel on that hard floor, and the nuns would come around and measure our skirts to make sure they covered our knees." "Some of us would roll up the waistbands of our skirts so they'd be more like miniskirts," Logman said. "Then during Mass, we'd unfasten the waists and pull the skirts down so that they'd hit our knees when the nuns came to check." The alumnae also reminisced about favorite teachers and priests who looked out for them. Advertisement "A lot of us rode the public school bus here from Batavia," Logman said. "When we weren't allowed to use that bus anymore, Monsignor (William) Donovan gave each of us money out of his own pocket so we could ride the RTA bus to get here. That really meant a lot to us." The women recalled having more freedom than their public school counterparts. "Our senior year, those of us who'd gone beyond the school's curriculum could take the train into Chicago to take classes at DePaul University," said Dr. Margaret Weis, a cardiovascular physiologist who studied advanced calculus at DePaul in 1966. "When my class there was over, I could do whatever I wanted as long as I got on a train back before it was dark. I explored the Loop and spent a lot of time in the Art Institute." On Saturday, Rodgers Principal Angela Rowley let alumnae explore part of the school that some of them hadn't even known existed. She unlocked one of the basement tunnels that connects the school to the adjoining convent now Lifespring shelter for battered women that was used in the past by student actors during the building's days as a community center, because it runs underneath the gymnasium's stage. When the women saw the 20 years' worth of graffiti on the tunnel's concrete walls, they lost no time adding their own comments, using markers Rowley provided. Advertisement "I'm writing, 'Girls Rule!'", said one alumna. "How about you?" "I'm writing, 'Nuns Rule!'" another replied with a laugh. Still, another former student said, "I'm writing, 'Class of 1966. We were here.' Because I want people to know that we were here." Denise Linke is a freelance writer for the Beacon-News. After seven months of planning and some missteps that raised suspicions about political ties, organizers with new community group Long Grove Neighbors said they raised $5,000 to benefit only the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Lead organizer Marcia Marshall said the group wrapped up its first "Loving Long Grove: A Celebration" campaign with a gala event Sunday night at the Grove County Club. Advertisement The summer-long fundraiser involved the display of small, handmade footbridges around downtown and a final weekend of activities that culminated with their auction at the country club. "There were several great things about this, but the best was that I have met so many people who have been truly, truly giving," Marshall said. "It has been an amazing journey." Advertisement Earlier this spring Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood and other village officials said they were distancing the village from the Long Group Neighbors' fundraising campaign after it initially appeared Marshall was tying the effort to a state-registered Political Action Committee she also controls called One Long Grove. One Long Grove helped an incumbent village board member and two newcomers during their successful campaign for board seats last year. Marshall has admitted that she and other organizers with Long Grove Neighbors made missteps during the initial planning of the community fundraiser. Mainly, the group used the name of the PAC on early promotional materials related to the fundraiser, leading to questions on whether a PAC really was the beneficiary of the fundraiser. But Marshall said the new group, Long Grove Neighbors, overcame the early planning issues and articulated clearly to residents that the communitywide fundraiser wouldn't support a political cause. "It's hard to believe that after seven months, it's over in a flash," Marshall said. "I'm a little bit overwhelmed with gratitude. And I'm very tired." After expenses, Marshall said she expected to donate more than $5,000, and several cases of canned food to the Northern Illinois Food Bank. The most visible aspect of the "Loving Long Grove" campaign was the set of 24 six-foot-long, wooden bridges built by volunteers and decorated into several themes by local religious groups, schools, homeowners associations and more. To close the campaign Sunday, organizers held an "amazing race," where costume-clad teams completed challenges at different participating businesses. Advertisement After seeing the participation from the community, Long Grove Neighbors may bring back a similar campaign in 2017, Marshall said. "It was an extraordinary experience, and we raised a lot of money for the bank, and we want to repeat it," she said. rwachter@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer Aidan Tucker, 9, of Lockport, leads a Blue Lives Matter march Saturday down Farrell Road in Lockport (Frank Vaisvilas / Daily Southtown) Led by a 9 year-old boy, about 200 people marched Saturday in Lockport to support police across the country. "To all police everywhere, I see you," Aidan Tucker told the marchers after they walked a mile and reached the Lockport police station. "I probably pay attention to law enforcement more than other 9-year-olds." Advertisement Aidan, of Lockport, said he became motivated to organize the event after watching news reports earlier this year about police officers in Texas and Louisiana being shot and killed as animosity toward law enforcement grew in the country because of police brutality reports. He also has a personal interest in law enforcement officers. His father, Jeremy Tucker, is a Cook County Sheriff's deputy. Advertisement The marchers met at a Jewel parking lot and marched a mile down Farrell Road to the Lockport police station holding "Blue Lives Matter" signs. Some also carried signs of a blue line on a black background, which is the inverse of the black line symbol that officers wear when they're in mourning of a fallen officer Jeremy Tucker said Blue Lives Matter is not necessarily a reaction against the Black Lives Matter movement and that his son simply wanted to show support for police officers. "I'm surprised this many people showed up," Aidan said. The Tuckers spread word of the event through Facebook and by word-of-mouth throughout Lockport. Attendees included several family members of area police officers and many Lockport officers, including patrolman Martin Hamilton, Aidan's favorite cop. "I think this (rally) is absolutely awesome," Hamilton said. Hamilton's mother, Kathy Hamilton, who was at the rally said she prays every day for her son's safety while on duty. Advertisement She said he's friendly to the community and has a "level head." "He doesn't want the public to be afraid of him," Kathy Hamilton said. Colleen Pacioni, who also marched, said she worries all the time about her husband when he's on duty as a Cicero police officer but she said she doesn't allow that anxiety to control her life. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > "It's become very sad that people don't see that police officers are here to help us," she said. Jeannie Stevenson was with her and said young should understand what police officers go through and show more respect given the perceived protests against police by mostly young people. She said she was glad Saturday's march went past Lockport Township High School in full view of dozens of students who were on the field practicing marching band routines. Advertisement The march was escorted by police cruisers and about 20 bikers from Jeremy Tucker's motorcycle club, M-N-M. Some Lockport aldermen also were on-hand, as well as Mayor Steve Streit. "I think support like this is important today," Streit said. "Recent violence against officers has spread into areas where there haven't been altercations. There's a heightened sense of anxiety for police when they come to work." Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter for Daily Southtown. See something, say something With regard to the latest terrorist attacks in both New York and New Jersey: News reports claim those within the Muslim community fear reprisals. In my opinion, those fears could be minimized if those Muslims reported anything remotely pertinent to the authorities before an event. Someone, somewhere must know what is eminent. In other words, see something, hear something, say something. Advertisement The same applies to the non-stop killings of innocents in Chicago's south and west sides. Gangbangers won't stop shooting until residents give authorities information, anonymously if necessary. That in and of itself won't stop the shooting, but it would drastically reduce shootings, taking those criminals off the streets. Those shooters can't shoot straight, killing innocent kids and others with absolutely no regard for human life. That amounts to local terrorism. Bob Pritchard, Homer Glen Advertisement What's on your mind? The Daily Southtown welcomes letters to the editor. Email them to letters@southtownstar.com and include your name, address and phone number. Only your name and the town you reside in will appear with the letter. Please keep a letter to no more than about 200 words. The Southtown is not responsible for the accuracy of the opinions expressed in letters to the editor. With all these countries that are being hacked by other countries back and forth, maybe a new technology should come forth writing letters. John, Bridgeport Advertisement I am a really, really, really concerned citizen who's wondering how anybody can vote for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. After she had lied for over 20 years, anybody that votes for her will get what they deserve. Orland Park Advertisement In reference to that kid from Eisenhower who stood by his convictions by not standing for the pledge: He has every right to state and stand by his actions. Our country was founded on human rights. But now he must face the wrath of his peers. That's the hard part. Everybody might like you, but do not necessarily have to agree with the way you showed disrespect. Many people have relatives in the military, some may have even lost a member of their family. Acting noble is great, but welcome to the real world. Oak Forest I would like everyone to know there are veterans and citizens out there to know there others who really do admire and thank our servicemen. We went to a late breakfast at Lumes in Orland Park on Friday. To my surprise my grandson, who is serving in the Marines (who I did not expect to see was there) was gifted by some wonderful people. Gentlemen picked up the cost of his breakfast and the gentleman sitting in back of me picked up the balance of the bill. I can only say that when we found out only after you kind people left. I, as a grandmother, was overwhelmed. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and may God bless you for your kindness. To all others who stopped and thanked my grandson blessings to all of you. This really is a great nation and we must keep it this way for future generations. KJW, Mokena Saw a Tinley Park presentation on local TV bragging about great planning in Tinley Park. But plans that take too long, or never happen, are not good. When you drive through Orland Park, there are new buildings going up at 143rd and Lagrange Road. But drive through Tinley Park and there is nothing. I'm for Trump. The absolute facts and many, many allegations are just too much "baggage" for Hillary and any non-connected person to overcome. I'll predict right now that if Trump comes out on top in the Sept. 26 debate, the DNC will drop her immediately. They won't wait for the remaining two. However, if they don't and still stick with her in spite of all her history, win or lose, we'll all know that our government and our elected politicians are corrupted and can't be trusted ever again. Oak Forest Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Shame on the group that trashed Harker Park on the night of Sept. 15. You should come back and clean up your trash and wash the sidewalks. Can you find nothing better to do with your time? Advertisement Tom from Evergreen Park uses sarcasm to refute and deny Hillary Clinton's claim that millions of Americans are racist bigots. However, if just 1 percent of Americans are indeed racist bigots, which is a percentage most would agree is exceedingly low, that would mean 3 million Americans fit that characterization. I have no scientific poll to back me, but I would guess that 90 percent of those bigots are Donald Trump supporters. Surely, the support that Trump has garnered from David Duke and others of his ilk is no surprise. Hillary did apologize, but she was correct. Denny To the woman in Orland Park who is concerned about the corrupt politicians in Illinois and all the killing in Chicago, and because of this she is voting for Donald Trump: My question is, what does voting for Donald Trump have to do with your concerns? The president can't do anything to change Illinois or all the killing in Chicago. Orland Park What's Speak Out? Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown. The second annual Elmhurst Craft Beer Fest exceeded expectations, both for its organizers and for visitors sampling beers and other offerings from 30 craft beverage producers, each of whom brought two or three of the products for tasting. "It's going fabulously," Cathy Jordan of the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation said midway through the event Saturday afternoon. Advertisement The event, sponsored by Jordan's organization and the Rotary Club of Elmhurst and held on the grounds of the Elmhurst History Museum, offered more than 60 beers, ales and ciders to a crowd of visitors. "Last year we had one tent," Jordan said, "and this year we have three all full." Advertisement Jordan said Monday the final attendance number was between 550 and 600. Jordan was especially happy that this year's event drew not only Elmhurst residents, but visitors from the surrounding area, noting that the first 200 people were given $5 certificates good at any eatery in town. "It's a great way to bring people into Elmhurst," agreed Mayor Steve Morley, beer sample in hand. Elmhurst resident and first time visitor Kristi Phipps called the event fantastic and said she was excited about all the new breweries and restaurants represented. Those places include the Red Arrow Tap Room, set to open on 1st Street in early November, offering a range of craft beers and wine in a unique self-serve format. Also on hand were representatives from what will soon be Elmhurst's first in-town brewery. Pete Dolan, co-owner of Elmhurst Brewing Company, said his company had just closed on a space at 171 N. Addison Ave. and hope to open their brewery and pub in March of next year. Bonnie and Greg Jordan of Elmhurst were enjoying not just the beer, but the whole experience of Saturday's event. Both said they liked the community nature of the fest and its manageable size. Bonnie Jordan said they recently attended an event in Lisle that she called, "too large overwhelming." "We're hoping that people will want to do it again next year," Jordan said. Assistant Village Manager Sharon Tanner, front right, discusses the idea of short-term rental properties at the Sept. 14 Committee of the Whole meeting as Trustee Barbara Miller, front left, listens. In the back are Management Analyst Adam Hall, left, and Public Works Director David Mau, right. (Daniel I. Dorfman / Pioneer Press) Should Glencoe property owners be allowed to use their homes for short-term rentals? Village trustees appear to think it is an idea worth exploring. At the Sept. 14 Committee of the Whole Meeting, Glencoe village board members agreed to allow staff to study whether short-term rentals of properties via sites such as Airbnb should be allowed in the village. Staff said the village's zoning code does not allow short-term rentals, in addition to rentals in hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts in the residential district. Advertisement But with the recent onset of sites such as Airbnb, it may be time for a change in the zoning code, said Village President Larry Levin. "What we are dealing with is a phenomenon that is new, and so our ordinances were never really designed to cope with or cover the appropriateness of these activities," he said. "And so we should probably think about what we should be doing." Advertisement Staff believe one Glencoe property has been listed on that website, according to a Sept. 15 memo from management analyst David Kraus. The memo added the village has received calls from property owners asking about existing regulations. At the Committee of the Whole meeting, trustees left the door open for further analysis of whether the short-term rental idea is appropriate for Glencoe. "There is a general principle that we do want people to be able to do what they want with their property," Trustee Barbara Miller said. Fellow Trustee Jonathan Vree, who said he has used short-term rentals himself, agreed. "We are trying to promote Glencoe as a cultural town, and I think there are a lot of positives in allowing this kind of thing," Vree said. However, Vree did not think many Glencoe homeowners would be interested in renting out their homes. Vree also suggested the village study levying a fee for property owners to rent out their properties, as he thought there could be an occasional noise complaint from a neighbor. Village Manager Phil Kiraly noted that some neighboring communities have had problems with noise. Advertisement "Northbrook in particular had a substantial issue with a few properties that were being marketed as essentially party houses," Kiraly said. With the village board agreeing to let staff study the idea, one of the matters they will have to examine is how Glencoe's lack of home rule status could affect the situation. "Home rule" communities in Illinois have been granted the ability to create their own regulations apart from those mandated the state under the Illinois constitution. Assistant Village Manager Sharon Tanner said some other neighboring communities allow for short term rentals, but, unlike Glencoe, they have home rule status. Village staff will report back to trustees on the issue of short-term rentals at a later date. Later at the regular board meeting, trustees unanimously agreed to alterations in the village code regarding parking in the central business district. The changes include: clear designation of overnight parking areas; the removal of a provision allowing drivers to be let off with a warning on their first time limit violation; the removal of a reset program which allowed drivers who violated the time limit restrictions to potentially start over again after a period of time; and the addition of specific restrictions for business parking permit holders in the downtown area. Advertisement Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press A 58-year-old Colorado man was charged with drug-related crimes after Will County sheriff's deputies reported discovering heroin and methamphetamine hidden in the muffler of his vehicle, officials said Monday. Javier Gomez-Mendoza was arrested Saturday evening and charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver and the delivery of methamphetamine, officials said. Advertisement Bail was set at $2 million Monday for Gomez-Mendoza, who told police he was traveling to see his daughter in Boston. Deputies recovered 3.2 kilograms of heroin and 2.8 kilograms of methamphetamine, according to a news release from the Will County sheriff's office. The drugs, which were hidden in the muffler of Gomez-Mendoza's Dodge Caliber, had a street value of about $300,000, Will County prosecutors said. Advertisement Gomez-Mendoza was stopped near Larkin Avenue and Interstate 80 in Joliet Township about 11:30 p.m. Saturday after a deputy observed that Gomez-Mendoza made an illegal lane change and that his vehicle had no registration lights, according to the sheriff's office. A canine unit alerted police to an area in the rear of the vehicle. The car and Gomez-Mendoza were then taken to the sheriff's department where the vehicle was put up on a lift and the sniffing dog again alerted authorities to an area near the muffler, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies noticed the muffler had mud on it, but mud was not on any other area of the vehicle. The muffler also had several questionable welding markings on it. When the muffler was removed, deputies found three bricks of heroin and six packages of methamphetamine, according to the news release. Gomez-Mendoza will appear again before a Will County judge on Oct. 11. Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter. EPHRAIM, Wis. Officials say two people have died in the crash of a small plane in Door County. Sheriff's Chief Deputy Patrick McCarty says a volunteer pilot was returning a teenage flying student to Door County from Green Bay when the Cessna 182 went down in Peninsula State Park Sunday night. A caller notified authorities about 8:30 p.m. after seeing the plane circling and hearing a crash. At least a half-dozen agencies began searching by land and in the water near the park. A bicyclist on a trail in the park called authorities after discovering the crash about 10 p.m. McCarty identified the pilot as 69-year-old Ralph Keller of La Grange Park and Sister Bay, Wisconsin. The passenger was 16-year-old Olivia Dahl, of Sister Bay. Federal investigators were expected at the scene Monday. Associated Press Lake County Circuit Clerk Keith Brin said he has decided not to take an appellate court ruling on the formation of a union in the circuit clerk's office to the Illinois Supreme Court. Brin said he will not appeal the ruling of an Illinois appeals court that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has been properly certified as the bargaining representative of clerks in his office. Advertisement In a statement released by his office, Brin said that although his position throughout the litigation has been that the union used "fraud and coercion" to obtain the signatures needed to serve as the certified representative of the employees, he will respect the appellate ruling. "My arguments have been heard and the appellate court was not sufficiently persuaded therefore, my duty is to follow the law and begin to negotiate," Brin said in a statement. "We will abide by the law." Advertisement The 2nd District Appellate Court recently upheld a ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board and an administrative law judge that a vote to unionize by some employees of the Lake County Circuit Court's office did not involve fraud or coercion, as alleged by the office's administration. The ruling held that AFSCME Council 31 held a legal vote to unionize nonmanagement workers in the office earlier this year. Following the Appellate Court ruling, Circuit Court Chief Deputy Clerk Jeanne Polydoris had said in a statement that "the people of Lake County deserve better." "We've seen what AFSCME has done to the state of Illinois and with that said, we are disappointed that the Appellate Court did not agree with the fraud and coercion (evidence) we presented," Polydoris said. Polydoris was cited in the appellate ruling as having submitted information that she was told by four employees that prospective union members were sought out at their homes in an attempt to get them to sign up with the union and that some said they felt uncomfortable as a result. Brin's new statement says that his "steadfast position has been that he was elected to represent the taxpayers in the process, and that taxpayers are already struggling under the weight of government overspending and high taxes." Brin said he took steps during his first term in office to consolidate top management positions, eliminating nearly $400,000 in salaries and benefits and reducing the office's overall budget by over $2.5 million, amounting to more than 20 percent in savings. He also said he has restructured the circuit clerk's office to reduce head count, made user-friendly technology accessible to the general public and increased services to the community. Advertisement Following the Appellate Court ruling, Erin Cartwright Weinstein, Brin's Democratic challenger in the November general election, said she was happy with the court's decision. "I was pleased to learn that the 2nd District Appellate Court in Elgin dismissed Keith Brin's frivolous complaint against his hardworking union employees," she said. "Mr. Brin spent over $100,000 of hard-earned money from the residents of Lake County on a Chicago law firm contesting his employees' lawful choice to be represented by AFSCME." According to information in the Appellate Court ruling, on Jan. 20, the union submitted a majority-interest petition to unionize clerk's office members under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act. On Jan. 21, the circuit clerk's office was notified of the petition and directed to respond if it so chose. The notice included a statement that if the office believed that the union had used fraud or coercion to obtain the signatures necessary to demonstrate majority support, it was required to present clear and convincing evidence of the fraud or coercion in its response to the petition, according to court records. On Feb. 6, the clerk's office filed a response alleging that the union had used fraudulent information and had threatened employees in an effort to coerce them into signing dues-deduction cards, according to the ruling. The Appellate Court ruling concluded "that the (Labor Relations) Board and the (administrative law judge) properly determined that the evidence did not rise to the necessary (level) because the clerk did not present evidence of threats, retaliation, or other adverse consequences" that the employees would experience unless they signed the dues-deduction cards. Advertisement jrnewton@tribpub.com Twitter @jimnewton5 Human events move briskly. Usain Bolt in Olympic 100-meter races, for example. On the other hand, Bourbon must be aged two years in oak barrels before it's allowed even to be called Bourbon. Advertisement But almost nothing in non-emergency government functions better at flank speed, except standing in line to get your driver's license. Haste produces error. For that reason alone even dismissing motives, risks, unexamined and unproven benefits the proposed merger of three of Lake County's four "Round" communities was a terrible idea that now has been quashed by what its chief advocate called a "technicality." Advertisement The binding measure to merge Round Lake, Round Lake Beach and Round Lake Park has been tossed off the Nov. 8 ballot, but the move was no technicality unless you consider the law a technicality. In measures proposing municipal restructuring, the law requires a 120-day notice. "One Round Lake" did not even come close. After unrolling the idea publicly four weeks ago, former Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes and One Round Lakers for which he spoke raced to demand a binding vote. Never had a people's movement been more invisible. This is a save-us-from-high-taxes debate with no debate and no facts, either. No homepage on the Internet. No FAQs with data, explanations, expert support. Just a thin Facebook page with many questions, but no answers. And then goodbye. In a spicy going-away note, Gentes chastised the three sitting mayors for guarding their "duplicative political kingdoms," wasting taxes, spurning democracy and denying citizens the boundless benefits of merging. The note included no evidence of any savings. But we will be back, Gentes hinted. One Round Lake claimed it was a "grass roots effort" with more than 500 resident signatories from the villages of Round Lake (18,289 residents as of 2010), Round Lake Beach (28,093) and Round Lake Park (7,379). Advertisement But One Round Lake was civic hostage-taking in which one village might vote resoundingly no, though still be held captive by the other two. If that's democracy, it emits a bad odor of mendacity. What One Round Lake lacked was unambiguous, shared proof the idea would improve life. Stealthy plans send a signal. The idea seemed secretive enough that each village administration was caught off guard, though you can't debate secrets if you don't know the secret. Or the rules. Or the reasons. Or the proof. But Gentes has history. The last time he presented himself to voters, they rejected him twice in the same electoral cycle. He lost the State Senate District 26 seat to Republican Bill Duffy in 2008 by a 68,000 to 41,000 count and then lost his mayoral reelection try for a third term in Round Lake, 1,137 to 603. Advertisement Round Lake governance during Gentes' terms had a reputation for snarly smack-talking contention, but Round Lake politics have always been that way, though fewer than 1,800 residents bother to vote for mayor. Observers noted the not-merely-coincidence of Gentes losing while simultaneously claiming in a reported newspaper editorial board interview that he had taken a leave of absence from his real estate executive job. But then Gentes admitted when confronted that the Realtor Association of NorthWest Chicagoland had fired him as operations manager. The association then called him untruthful in a press release and donated money to his Senate foe. Gentes did not leave the Round Lake throne room as a happy camper. The merger vote theoretically would have been doable because the only rational theory of merger is cost efficiency. But One Round Lake did not prove that case or even seem to try. In the case of the only identified merger detail, the new government would have used an aldermanic legislative system based on geographic, proportional population districts. Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > That means that Round Lake Beach's aldermen might have de facto veto power over the other two villages. Round Lake and Round Lake Park together have less population than Round Lake Beach. Advertisement Proving that civic mergers save money has become illusory nationwide. "There are far less savings than people think," said Jered Carr, a noted researcher on civic mergers and professor of public administration at the University of Illinois Chicago. "Given all the studies, I'm very skeptical of the idea that bigger works better," he told the Las Vegas Sun, adding that "I'm always aware that there is just no evidence for most of what elected officials say" about consolidation. So there will be no king of the new One Round Lake, at least for a while. But be patient. There's always another election. David Rutter was an editor for 40 years at six newspapers. David.Rutter@live.com Rockstar Rodeo performs during the "Rock the Block" event in Lake Zurich. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) Lake Zurich officials and residents gave a collective thumbs-up to how the "2016 Rock the Block" event went Saturday. Police estimated that more than 7,500 people attended the community event, said Recreation Manager Bonnie Caputo. Advertisement "We were so pleased with the turnout from the community and from surrounding communities," Caputo said. "They've really embraced the event, which is wonderful." Lake Zurich residents who attended the fourth annual event called it a great success and suggested the village consider hosting even more such celebrations. They also said they hope Rock the Block helps attract development to downtown Lake Zurich. Advertisement Ashley Victoria performs with Rockstar Rodeo during the "Rock the Block" event in Lake Zurich. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) Violet and Roger Rowe, 23-year residents of Lake Zurich, said they loved the music, food and seeing so many people strolling downtown. "We like country music, the nice weather, just getting to see everyone, the food the whole package," Violet Rowe said. "We love being out and enjoying these types of things in the community." The Rowes, who shared a funnel cake Saturday, live just a mile from downtown and walk five miles around the actual Lake Zurich and through downtown almost everyday, Roger Rowe said. "We walked it today," he said. "Most people who live near here just walk to downtown." Jack Corcoran, 3, of Lake Zurich rocks in front of the music stage during the "Rock the Block" event in Lake Zurich. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) Jim Schaller, a former Lake Zurich resident who has lived in Florida for the past 25 years, came to Chicago on business and decided to visit old friends when he discovered Rock the Block was Saturday. "I called and said, 'I'm in town. I heard Rock the Block is tonight. You got to come out,'" Schaller recalled telling his friend Dave O'Connell, of Lake Zurich. "He did," O'Connell said. Schaller came to see the country band Rockstar Rodeo and the versatile pop band 7th Heaven, he said. Advertisement "It's good for downtown," he said. "The more activity down here, the better. If they do stuff like this, it's going to get businesses down here." Food booths set up during the "Rock the Block" event in Lake Zurich. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) As a local taxpayer, O'Connell said, he'd like to see more events like Rock the Block. "I'd like to see something like this every week," he said. Joe and Kathleen Bordenave, 13-year residents of Lake Zurich, agreed with O'Connell. "This is a great event," Joe Bordenave said. "You've got to support stuff like this. It's a community thing. I would like to see more of it. I hope it will get people to invest in downtown." Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Lincolnshire gave a Vernon Hills developer the green light to move forward on a plan to build 15 homes near Riverwoods Road and the Ryerson Woods Forest Preserve. (Village of Lincolnshire / Handout) Lincolnshire gave a Vernon Hills developer the green light to move forward on a plan to build 15 homes near Riverwoods Road and the Ryerson Woods Forest Preserve. Village board members voted unanimously Sept. 12 to approve a preliminary residential subdivision for the Manors of Whytegate on 14.5 acres the board rezoned for the project last May. Advertisement Arthur J. Greene Construction must now return to the board for final approval of the subdivision and building plans, said Economic Development Coordinator Tonya Zozulya. "We're very excited. We think it will be a great addition to the area," Zozulya said. "It is one of the remaining undeveloped areas that they would like to develop." Advertisement Arthur J. Greene is familiar with Lincolnshire because the company previously built homes in several areas of the village, she said. "This are not just any builder. Arthur J. Greene has been building since the early '80s in the village," Zozulya said. "They are known for their quality and craftsmanship in the area." Jeffrey Greene, president of the company, did not return calls requesting comment. The company still needs final approval for engineering related to the project from the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission and the Lake County Department of Transportation, Zozulya said. "They're working through a couple of things," she said. "We expect it to happen in the next month or so. They're working on everything very diligently, and we don't expect any significant delays." The stormwater commission must grant a permit for the project because the property is undeveloped, Zozulya said. The LCDOT must also approve the project because Riverwoods Road is a county road, not a village road, she said. Zozulya declined to estimate when the company could break ground on the housing project or when the homes might be completed. The homes will be built on lots with an average size of 29,000 square-feet, she said. The proposed average house size is 5,400 square feet, but that is subject to change, Zozulya said. Advertisement At the request of trustees, Arthur J. Greene representatives agreed earlier this year to reduce the number of lots from 19 to 15 and provide at least 40 feet of separation between each house. Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Trustee Michael Gadzinski is shown being sworn in to a third term on the Harwood Heights Village Board. Gadzinski said he will resign in December. (Natalie Hayes / Pioneer Press) Harwood Heights Trustee Mike Gadzinski announced his plans to resign from the Village Board at the end of the year, two years shy of the end of his third term in office. At 33 years old, Gadzinski is the youngest member of the six-person board and was re-elected to his seat last year after campaigning as part of a political slate rounded out by veteran Trustee Therese Schuepfer and newcomer Jeff Rasche. All were elected. Advertisement Declining to go into detail about his decision to resign on Dec. 31 or explain the significance of the date, Gadzinski said his family is moving to a new home in Chicago. Public real estate records show Gadzinski bought a home just north of the Harwood Heights border in Chicago on the 5300 block of North Nordica Avenue in December 2015. Gadzinski, who works for the Cook County Board of Review as a property assessment analyst and was 24 years old when he was first elected to the board in 2007, said he hasn't occupied the Chicago residence yet and has been living in a home owned by his family on the 4200 block of North Newland Avenue in Harwood Heights. Advertisement He declined to explain why he bought the home a year ago but has yet to move in. Gadzinski said that rumors that he's been lying about his residency have been circulating. "I'm not hiding anything, but at the same time I'm not giving anyone my personal information," he said. "The fact is that I bought a house, and if I wanted to hide that, then I could've bought it under an LLC." Mayor Arlene Jezierny will need to appoint someone to complete Gadzinski's term, which ends in 2019, according to Mark Heinle, the village's legal counsel. Jezierny didn't return a call or an email seeking comment on the resignation. Known for dressing as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny at village-sponsored holiday parties, Gadzinski said he's been an integral part of the community in which he grew up. His family moved from Poland to Harwood Heights when he was a baby. "I've been very transparent with the board, and we accomplish everything as a team," he said. "I want to continue to play music for the senior club and dress up as characters on holidays. It was a tough decision to leave because I truly love the residents." Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Devin Dawson has been sentenced to six months in jail after entering a guilty plea. (DuPage County sheriff's department photo) A Chicago man was sentenced to six months in jail Monday for striking a police detective with a car as he fled an Oakbrook Terrace store following a shoplifting incident. In addition to the 180-day jail term, Devin Dawson, 20, of the 8400 block of South Justine Street, was placed on 30 months' probation after pleading guilty to battery and a forgery charge for an unrelated incident. Advertisement Dawson apologized for striking the officer with his car, which he called an accident. The officer was thrown onto the hood of the fleeing car before he was thrown off. Dawson said the officer held on for five seconds. The officer was injured, though not seriously, authorities said. DuPage County Judge Robert Miller asked Dawson what part of the series of events should be considered an accident. Advertisement "Was it an accident that you didn't put on the brakes?" Miller asked. "No, your honor," Dawson said. The incident took place at a home improvement store on May 4 after Dawson and three accomplices committed retail theft, authorities said. The on-duty plainclothes detective, who was from neighboring Oak Brook and in the store to buy supplies, chased Dawson to the parking lot. After striking the detective and then tossing the officer from the hood, Dawson drove away and went home, authorities said. He was arrested three days later and has been in custody since then. DuPage County prosecutors asked for a prison sentence, but Dawson's attorney asked for the 180-day term, saying this was Dawson's first felony conviction and he had spent his life in state foster care. He was only 19 when he struck the officer, but the judge chided him for not knowing better. "A 10-year-old knows you don't hit another human being with a car," Miller said. At the time of the offense Dawson was out on bond, awaiting trial for allegedly passing a counterfeit $100 bill at a clothing store in 2015. With credit for time served, Dawson should be released from jail in about 45 days. Advertisement Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. Tom Hawes points out the grave marker for Harriet W. Holton, who was the first teacher in the city of Crown Point. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune) The stories behind the headstones in the Historic Maplewood Cemetery in Crown Point turn like pages of a history book for Tom Hawes. Nicknamed "Tombstone" by friends, cemetery caretaker Hawes prefers to be known as a sexton, which is a church official tasked with burying the dead. Advertisement As he walked through the grounds recently, he recounts the significance of those who have been interred there since the first burial in 1871. He can point out markers of the region's earliest settlers: the first doctor, first lawyer, first Crown Point mayor and first teacher, Harriet W. Holton, who was also the first woman married in Lake County. "She was the first woman divorced here, too," Hawes said. The stories of the region's early settlers fascinate him and they are stories he would like to see preserved and shared. Advertisement "I don't want people to forget these people," Hawes said. Hawes recently approached the City Council to encourage them to keep an eye to the future by eventually opening up more land adjacent to Solon Robinson Park for future burials at the city-owned cemetery. Hawes said there is no pressing need for new sites at the cemetery; he currently has more than 700 plots still available, but he wants to ensure its future is secure and the cemetery can continue to tell the story of Lake County for generations to come. Tom Hawes, sexton at Historic Maplewood Cemetery talks about the relocation of Crown Point founder Solon Robinson from Jacksonville, Fla. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune) Mayor David Uran said the city wants to plan for the future as well, but has not made any decisions on how the long-term growth of the cemetery will be planned. Officials will have to take into account burial trends, such as increases in cremation vs. traditional underground burial when planning. They also need to take into account both the neighboring school and park and any impact the cemetery's growth may have on those facilities. Fewer than 20 people are buried there each year, officials said. "(Future growth) is something that has been brought to our attention," Uran said. Hawes came into his position by chance. He lives next door to the cemetery and helped out when another cemetery neighbor, Solon Robinson Elementary School, began a project to recover and restore its namesake's headstone in 1992. From there, Hawes said, he continued to help the then-caretaker recover older markers lost to time and nature. Those headstones continue to pop up every once in a while. Hawes said there also have been areas of the cemetery searched for forgotten headstones. As these stones were uncovered, a passion for the stories behind the grave markers developed. Advertisement A marble grave marker was struck by lightening and still shows the path it took, permanently etched into the marble at Historic Maplewood Cemetery in Crown Point. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune) "I've always loved history," he said. Teacher Carrie Gosch, who Hawes described as Indiana's Jane Addams for her role as a champion for local women and children in need, was laid to rest in the historic cemetery as well. Hawes marvels at the Crown Point native's legacy. An elementary school in East Chicago bears her name. He hopes one day there will some acknowledgment of her contributions in her home town. Hawes has worked with the city to gradually add a paved walkway through the middle of the grounds, leading to the veterans' memorials with the goal of finishing at the eternal flame. Benches and sitting areas give visitors a place to pause and reflect. "Cemeteries are for the living," Hawes said. Tom Hawes, sexton at Historic Maplewood Cemetery in Crown Point, shows a path he is slowly extending to the eternal flame on the opposite side of the cemetery. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune) Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Marthe Cohn, right, sits between her husband and medals she received for serving as a French spy in World War II during a visit to Chabad of Wilmette on Sunday. (Phil Rockrohr / Pioneer Press) Marthe Cohn's short biography for her talk Sunday at Chabad of Wilmette said simply that she joined the intelligence service of the French army at the age of 24. For the several hundred people who heard the diminutive hero's tale at the Center for Jewish Life and Learning, the story was much more complicated and filled with the happenstance that led to her discovering intelligence that earned her the French military honor the Croix de Guerre, among others. Advertisement Cohn, now 96 and living with her husband in California, was born in France in 1920 to a Jewish family that later played a significant role in the resistance to the Nazi takeover of their country during World War II. "Every day hundreds of people rang our bell," she said. "We didn't know who sent them or who they were, but they needed help and we gave it to them." Advertisement Her sister, a medical student, was arrested but refused to give the Nazis information even after they threatened her father in her presence, Cohn said. Her sister also turned down her family's offer of a guaranteed escape from a concentration camp in France, Cohn said. "Until my sister started to provide care, the children in the camp didn't get any medical care," she said. "She refused to escape because she felt that what she did for the children was too important. I reminded her that her mother needed her as much as the children. She said, 'You don't realize that if I escape, you're all going to be arrested.'" Her sister was later deported on Yom Kippur 1942 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, from which she never returned, Cohn said. Cohn finished her nursing studies and moved to Paris in November 1943, she said. In August 1944, Paris was liberated from the Nazis. It took three months to convince the army to let her join, but in November 1944, Cohn was sent to a battlefront, she said. "I was 4-feet-11, very thin, blonde and blues eyes, with fair skin," Cohn said. "The (commanding officer) took me for a bimbo and never accepted me." Saying he had enough nurses, the commander made her a social worker, a role in which she traveled to a nearby village and brought requested supplies back to foxholes on the front, Cohn said. While walking in the village square one day, Cohn met a colonel who asked her to answer his phone during his lunch break, she said. She asked if he had any books in his office. Advertisement "He said, 'There's nothing for you to read, only German books,'" she said. "I said, 'I read German fluently.' He asked if I spoke German, and I said, 'Yes, I speak German and French.'" The officer informed her that only women could serve as Allied spies in Germany because any man walking the streets in civilian clothes would be arrested, Cohn said. Cohn accepted his offer to join the French intelligence service, underwent several weeks of intensive training and was ordered to create her own alibi as a nurse working for a German doctor, she said. After 13 unsuccessful attempts to cross into Germany, she was taken to Switzerland, where she crossed into Singen by foot, evading two German soldiers guarding a large field separating the two countries, Cohn said. "I took my suitcase and started to crawl along the field. Everything was perfect until one moment. I realized suddenly the immensity of what I was going to undertake," she said. "I became paralyzed with fear. It took a long time to overcome the fear. Something suddenly clicked, and it allowed me to walk up to the soldier (on the other side) and say, 'Heil, Hitler.'" By offering care to a non-commissioned officer who had been wounded and fainted on the street one day, Cohn was able to learn and share intelligence that the German military's defensive Siegfried Line had folded, Cohn said. Advertisement Later, while bike riding, she stopped to speak with the crews of a group of German military ambulances, she said. After complaining to them that Germany was not fighting hard enough, she learned that German forces were hiding in the Black Forest waiting for the Allies, Cohn said. "I was able to get into Switzerland to deliver a letter containing the information," she said. "I gave it to a Swiss customs guard and said I was a Swiss agent, as I had been instructed. I learned later the letter was read at 11 a.m. that morning. He was in intelligence and sent it to my service. And that's why I got all these medals." Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. With the scope and penalties of Chinas social credit system being further clarified in 2021, legal and regulatory compliance has become more important than... You are here: Home The 12 Girls Band toured in Japan from Sept 8 to 13 to celebrate its 15th anniversary. The women gave a total of five performances in Tokyo, Nagoya and Kyoto. The 12 Girls Band toured in Japan from Sept 8 to 13 to celebrate its 15th anniversary.[Photo/Chinaculture.org] The show in Tokyo featured the band's original music and their versions of music from other countries, including the traditional Chinese piece Horse Race and Japanese pop music band SMAP's Sekai Ni Hitotsu Dake No Hana (). It's been nine years since the band debuted in Japan and nine members of the original ensemble have left the group. Established in 2001, the 12 Girls Band combines traditional Chinese musical instruments and modern music to create a new form of music. Officials from the Chinese embassy to Japan attended the performance in Tokyo on Sept 12. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. A screen shot of Vancouver Sun's official website covering the current real estate situation. [File photo] Canadian media found an increasing number of listed international students, most of whom are Chinese students, buy expensive houses in Vancouver through mortgage. The media caution about the possible loophole for such international investment. Vancouver Sun reported on Wednesday that the buyers of a total of 9 real estates in Vancouver's Point Grey, worth a total of 57 million Canadian dollars (CAD), were listed as international students, and all of them were thought to be Chinese students. Bank mortgages of up to 40 million CAD were used to purchase the properties. According to Vancouver Sun, Chinese student Xuan Kai Huang bought a house there for just over 7 million CAD (5.5 million USD) and re-sold it for over 8 million in May this year. Huang earned over 1 million CAD (900 thousand USD) through the re-sale. An investigation by The Globe and Mail said that non-Canadian citizens do not need to show income verification certificates if they can pay a set down payment when applying for mortgages in Vancouver. This year real estate prices rose rapidly with a surge of international investment. Vancouver Sun urged the Canadian government for more control over banks providing mortgages to non-Canadian citizens. In response to rising real estate price, the provincial government of British Colombia levied a 15% property transfer tax to non-Canadian citizens buying Vancouver residential houses or condos. A screen shot of Vancouver Sun's official website covering the current real estate situation. [File photo] Chinese prosecutors have filed separate lawsuits against three former senior officials -- Ling Zhengce, Chen Chuanping and Sun Hongzhi. All are accused of accepting bribes and other graft-related crimes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Sunday. Ling, former vice chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is indicted for seeking benefits for others and illegally accepting large amounts of money and other goods by taking advantage of official posts during his time in Shanxi, according Changzhou City People's Procuratorate in east China's Jiangsu Province. Chen, former Party chief of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, took advantage of official posts to seek benefits for others and illegally accept money and other goods, and he abused his power and caused especially great losses to the country when he served as head of a state-owned steel group in Taiyuan, the Xuzhou City People's Procuratorate, also in Jiangsu, said in the indictment. Sun, former vice minister of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce, took advantage of his official posts to seek benefits for others and illegally accept huge amount of money and other goods, Tai'an city People's Procuratorate in Shandong Province said in a statement. Sun is also charged with embezzling public assets, and his family's wealth and expenditure far exceed his legitimate income, and he can not explain the source of the money, according to the statement. Wreckage of the 9-seat Cessna 208B propeller seaplane is being salvaged after its fatal crash during maiden flight in Jinshan District, leaving 5 on board killed. [Xinhua] China's civil aviation regulator yesterday "blacklisted" a senior official of Joy General Aviation after its seaplane crashed in Shanghai's Jinshan District in July killing five people. Zhou Hua, deputy operational director and chief pilot of the carrier, had been banned for life from serving as a supervisor in the civil aviation industry, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. "Zhou was found being negligent, unqualified and employing trickeries along with other dishonest behaviors during his job on operational management and training as well as personal experiences," the administration said on its website. The wrongdoings had caused serious outcomes, it added. The administration found evidence against the official during its investigation of the fatal accident, the civil aviation administration said. Zhou was reported to be aged 63 with more than 30,000 hours' flying experience over the past 46 years. He had piloted another seaplane, from Jinshan City Beach to Zhoushan Archipelago, on July 20 the same day the fatal accident happened. He also accepted a group interview with local media to introduce the newly opened commercial sightseeing route to Zhoushan as chief pilot of the carrier. Five people, including the co-pilot, were killed when the seaplane, a Cessna 208B, crashed into the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway No. 7835 Bridge at 12:20 as it was taking off from the sea near the beach. The captain Zhang Fuquan suffered severe injuries. A preliminary investigation and evidence collection from the scene found the accident was not caused by mechanical problems, Xu Wei, a city government spokesperson has said. The crash investigation is still continuing and its conclusions have yet to be announced. Zhou became the fifth civil aviation official to be blacklisted since the administration initiated the blacklist scheme in August to "streamline safe operations and punish the dishonest behaviors on safety management," according to the administration. Other blacklisted officials include the former president and general manager of Hebei Airlines, whose aircraft crashed in northeast Heilongjiang Province killing 44 people in August 2010. Pilot error was blamed. Photo taken on Sept. 1, 2016 shows twin panda cubs "Jianjian" (R) and "Kangkang" at a park in Macao, south China. Macao's twin panda cubs were officially named "Jianjian" and "Kangkang" by the government out of 1,718 names recommended by Macao citizens, the special administrative region(SAR)'s civil affair authorities said on Saturday. (Xinhua) Macau's twin panda cubs have been officially named Jianjian and Kangkang by the government out of 1,718 names recommended by Macau citizens. The names for the twin brothers represent good wishes from the Macau people, as Jian Kang in Chinese means being healthy. They were chosen by the government out of 1,718 names proposed by 3,587 citizens according to their meaning, pronunciation, and previous panda names, Macaus Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau said on Saturday. Jianjian and Kangkang were the most favored choices as they were proposed by 1,117 citizens, some of whom said they chose them to wish the panda cubs good health and wish Macau people good health and a happy life. The bureau said another reason for making the choice is their parents names Kaikai and Xinxin are frequently used with Jianjian and Kangkang in Chinese. The combination of this familys names are Kaixin Jiankang, meaning being happy and healthy. According to the panda care team, the twin cubs now weigh 4,115 grams and 3,335 grams from 135 grams and 53.8 grams at birth. They have their parents black-and-white appearance, with their eyes open but only can see things in a short distance. Xinxin gave birth to the pair of male twin cubs on June 26. Xinxin and Kaikai were chosen from Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province as a gift of the central government to Macau. Students raising their hands in class. [File photo/Xinhua] Many parents of lower-grade primary school students are concerned about whether their children will adapt to study, as their noon nap habits can hardly be carried out in a classroom, affecting their afternoon performance. But the Hangzhou Danfeng Experimental Primary School in East China's Zhejiang province has reassured parents as it innovatively prepares 12 "sleeping rooms" for each first and second-grade class, as well as pillows and blankets for each student, the Qianjiang Evening News reports. The sleeping rooms, which are as big as a classroom, are covered with foam pads. Children can enjoy a 50-minute noon nap until 1:05 pm after laying down on their pillows and blankets. Every sleeping room has a teacher attending. Teachers will pacify naughty children or tuck sleeping students in quilts. If some students are unwilling to sleep, they are allowed to read books on the condition that they do not bother others. Cao Xiaohong, Principal of the primary school, said school teachers disagreed with students napping on desks, as many do in other schools, because it was unhealthy. Two years ago, a first grade primary student in Zhejiang reportedly went to hospital complaining of cervical vertebra aches. The diagnosis revealed a dislocation of her cervical spine and the doctor thought it was related to her long-term napping on desks. "The school moved to a new building this year and there are enough spare classrooms," Cao said. Since sleeping on the ground would likely lead to students catching a cold during cooler weather, the sleeping rooms will only open in May, June, September and October. Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng on Sunday met in Beijing with a delegation of county and city officials from Taiwan. The delegation includes officials from New Taipei City and the counties of Hsinchu, Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen, Lienchiang, Miaoli and Nantou. Yu praised the delegation's efforts to adhere to the political foundation of the 1992 Consensus, promote cross-Strait exchanges at county and city level, and maintain the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, "even against the backdrop of big changes in the situation." Taiwan's current Democratic Progressive Party administration refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which affirms that both sides of the Strait belong to one China. According to Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, this undermines the political foundation of cross-Strait relations, leading to a loss of trust and damaging previously amicable cross-Strait ties. The halting of institutional communication has had a severe impact on relations that had proceeded well for eight years, and harmed the immediate interests of compatriots on both sides, especially those from Taiwan, said Yu, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. It is a situation that people on both sides would prefer never to have seen, he added. Yu stressed that facing the new situation, the mainland will not change its policy toward Taiwan, including adherence to the 1992 Consensus. Any elaboration of the 1992 Consensus must not deny the historical facts nor change its core meaning, he said. "Our standards and attitudes are consistent," Yu said, adding that cross-Strait institutional exchanges could resume as soon as Taiwan acknowledges the Consensus. The mainland firmly opposes any form of Taiwan independence and will remain consistent with regard to national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Yu said. "We will never tolerate secessionist activities in any form, neither radical Taiwan independence nor independence in a gradual or soft way," he said. He also stressed the mainland's sincere resolution to pursue cooperation in various fields for benefit of all, mainlanders and islanders alike. The more complex relations become, the more must be done in terms of exchanges, said Yu. Whichever county or city in Taiwan recognizes the true nature of cross-Strait relations and county-level exchanges, and is willing to contribute to mutually beneficial ties, will be warmly received, he said. EIGHT MEASURES TO PROMOTE EXCHANGES The mainland will adopt eight measures to promote exchanges with the eight counties making up the delegation, according to Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office. The mainland will: -- welcome and support the counties to hold farm produce fairs on the mainland; -- encourage mainland enterprises to visit the counties to discuss the purchase of agri-products; -- support the counties promoting tour products to mainlanders; -- promote cooperation on green industries, high-tech sectors, smart cities and other fields; -- promote cross-Strait cultural and people-to-people exchanges; -- promote youth exchange; -- expand trade and personnel exchanges between coastal regions of Fujian Province, Kinmen and Matsu counties, and -- support mainland departments in their contacts with Taiwanese counties and expand cooperation with regard to immediate concerns of the public. Yu Zhengsheng said county-level exchanges should serve the big picture of cross-Strait relations, increasing benefits and strengthening the affection between the two sides. County-level communication should support people-to-people exchanges, he said, adding that counties in Taiwan could strengthen cooperation with the mainland based on their own conditions and needs by making use of the mainland's resources and market. The political advisor said he hoped for enhanced confidence, less interference and careful preservation of the positive results of cross-Strait relations in pursuit of the realization of a community of common destiny across the Strait. Hangzhou craftsman Wu Xiaoli displays her colorful clay figurines depicting the G20 leaders, including Xi Jinping, US President Barack Obama, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on August 28. The timing of this month's G20 summit in Hangzhou was somewhat tricky in the context of Sino-U.S. relations. After all, we are approaching the end of Barack Obama's presidency, which means, firstly, that neither side can be entirely confident the relationship will be able to remain unscathed by the forthcoming presidential elections, and, secondly, President Obama is concerned about his legacy once he has completed his two terms as President and must retire. Obama, along with his two experienced Secretaries of State, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, has shown commitment to relaxing tensions in the Sino-U.S. relationship, looking for agreements and compromises where possible. The most impressive example was the spectacular announcement, on the eve of the G20 summit, that the two countries would ratify the Paris Climate Change Agreement of December 2015. Given that China and the United States are the world's two leading producers of greenhouse gases, together accounting for 39 percent of global emissions, this is a hugely significant agreement. The Paris agreement can only come into force when at least 55 nations ratify it, providing they together represent 55 percent of global greenhouse gas output. That target has not yet been achieved, but the action of China and the U.S. is a vital step giving impetus to the process. This is not just about a single environmental agreement. Its real significance is that highly developed and developing countries, necessarily asymmetrical, have managed to agree on cooperation in an area previously featuring fierce competition between established markets and developing markets that naturally want to compete fairly. The message that Obama is transmitting is that the U.S. is no longer behaving as a dominant partner, but is engaging with the leading country in the developing world on a basis of absolute equality. This is important. Inevitably, during a U.S. election campaign, nationalistic and sometimes protectionist noises are made by candidates in the scramble for votes. In the U.S. there is always a degree of anti-Chinese sentiment in the public sphere at such times, as fear of competition from a newly-resurgent China tends to engender voter fears over jobs. As a responsible national leader, Barack Obama is concerned that a firm basis of cooperation should be laid in relations with China that won't be easy for any future administration to undermine. Clearly not every matter for dispute can be resolved in the short term; but Obama is looking to the medium term, to the next administration, which will have to engage on equal terms with China just as he has done. And this is not just an aspiration. Presidents Xi and Obama have set out some practical measures for cooperation over the next few years that will be hard to ignore. They have pledged their support for the establishment of a global standard, set not by governments but by market mechanisms, aimed, for example, at ensuring carbon-neutral growth in international aviation from 2020 onwards. China expects to participate in this mechanism from 2021. The UN's aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), meets shortly to discuss this further. One of President Obama's main aims for his visit to China was to convince countries of the region that his "pivot to Asia" was not motivated by a bid for U.S. hegemony, but for stabilization of a largely economic relationship. He made a forceful case for ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), intended as the basis of trading relations across the Asia-Pacific region. Here, the president is doing his best to establish the principle of free trade, hoping to ensure that the forces of protectionism raised by the current election campaign will not be able to take root. However, it's doubtful whether, in the current state of U.S. politics, it will be possible to have an agreement such as TPP ratified by Congress. Should the TPP negotiations fail, especially if that is matched by a failure in the negotiations over the proposed trans-Atlantic agreement TTIP (with Europe) this will be a severe reverse for Obama's foreign trade policy in the last months of his presidency. Anyway, he has done his best. He has demonstrated the huge importance any American president must place on maintaining good relations with China, and a solid trading system with East Asia as a whole. His intention was to ensure a basis for solid cooperation with China that his successors will not readily wish to put at risk, and I think he has succeeded. Tim Collard is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/timcollard.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. The jagged cliffs of Tojinbo in Fukui prefecture on Japan's west coast are unfortunately popular among people who commit suicide. On average 25 people jump off the cliffs to end their lives every year. A Fuji TV program reported that the cliffs, which have been occupied by Pokemon Go players day and night these days, saw a drop in suicides in August. Tojinbo is believed to have drawn crowds from afar in an attempt to catch some rare digital creatures, or Pokemon, as it is one of the few Pokestops in the region. The free augmented reality game that uses Google maps and a smartphone has fueled public safety fears, from traffic accidents to distracted pedestrians and dangerous trespassing in Japan and rest of the world. In Tojinbo, it appears to be saving lives. But Japan still has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world. The news of two middle school students' committing suicide in August sent shock waves across Japan. A 12-year-old Japanese schoolboy hung himself on Aug 19, leaving behind a 10-page suicide note that indicated he had been bullied at school. And a 13-year-old schoolgirl jumped in front of a moving train in the town of Fujisaki, Aomori prefecture, on Aug 25. A suicide note on her smartphone asked the bullies to "never bully (anyone) again". The parents of the boy and the girl said bullying is one of the main reasons that the children committed suicides and requested the authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the matters. Japanese schoolchildren's suicide rate increases when summer and spring vacations end, with most of the cases reported on Sept 1 when most schools reopen for a new session, according to the official figures from 1972 through 2013. Experts' explanation for this: Teens who are bullied fear returning to school. Suicide is the leading cause of death among 15to 40-year-olds in Japan. The results of a poll released on Sept 7 by the Tokyo-based Nippon Foundation said that one in four people in Japan had seriously contemplated suicide, and more than 500,000 attempted to do so last year alone. The survey showed that people are at higher risk of committing suicide if they have been exposed to domestic abuse and violence, or poverty, or are alcohol dependent. In 2013, the suicide in Japan was 21.4 deaths per 100,000 peoplewell above that of other high-income countries (12.7 deaths per 100,000 people), according to the World Health Organization's 2014 report. Japanese National Police Agency's statistics, however, show 24,025 people killed themselves in 2015, compared with 32,863 in 1998. Pushed by non-governmental organizations such as Lifelink, the Japanese government started a national campaign on suicide prevention in 2006. Suicide rates among middle-aged men and senior citizens are falling in the country. But the rate of suicide among young people is still highand reducing it remains a huge task. The root causes of suicides are hard to pin down. But economic woes are believed to play a big role. Suicide rates increased sharply in the mid-1990s as Japan's economy stuttered. Moreover, the nation needs to address cultural and social issues that have made Japanese more tolerant of people committing suicide. According to one Japanese tradition, committing suicide can absolve people of their guilt, cancel their debt, restore their honor and prove their loyalty. The author is China Daily Tokyo bureau chief. 1 2 3 4 5 Next Tourists visit the Baotu Spring in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 19, 2016. The water level of the well-known Baotu Spring reached 29.17 meters by Monday. Since the reactivation of the Baotu Spring in 2003 after the font ran out of streams for 548 straight days, the spring has continuously gushed for 13 years. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei) Flash U.S. Ambassador in Amman Alice Wells said Sunday Washington will cooperate with Jordan and the international community to address the issue of thousands of Syrian refugees stranded on the border with Syria, state-run Petra news agency reported. The United States is aware of the security and humanitarian challenges Jordan is facing in dealing with the refugee crisis, Wells told reporters in Amman. As many as 75,000 Syrian refugees are estimated to be stranded on the border between Jordan and Syria. "We will work with Jordan and the international community to explore the best options to address Jordan's security requirements and the humanitarian plight of these vulnerable Syrians," the diplomat added. U.S. President Obama has invited Jordan to be one of the co-hosts of the Leaders' Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis that will be held in the United States on Tuesday, she noted. The summit is expected to result in new financial commitments and pledges to support countries that host refugees, and increase the number of refugees resettled in other countries, including in the United States. Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in New York Sunday to attend the 71st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (1st L) and his wife Cheng Hong (2nd L) arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Sept. 18, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] China is an active supporter of all causes of the UN, and strongly defends the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and actively participates in the work of the UN as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Li said. China is willing to work with all sides to make contributions to better address global challenges and promote world peace and development, the premier said upon his arrival. Li, accompanied by his wife Cheng Hong and senior Chinese officials, arrived in New York as guest of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. During his stay in the city, the premier will outline China's stance on major issues including international order, global governance, and peace and development, while addressing the general debate of the UN General Assembly. The premier is also expected to announce China's pragmatic measures to support the UN's endeavor and cope with global challenges. Li is also scheduled to chair a symposium on sustainable development, attend the UN General Assembly's high level meeting on solving the problem of mass movement of refugees and immigrants, and a leaders' summit on refugee issues. The premier's attendance at the UN General Assembly is one of China's major diplomatic events in the multilateral arena this year and shows that China values the UN and multilateralism, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said Wednesday in Beijing. "China hopes to take the premier's UN tour as an opportunity to strengthen communication with other sides and underline the basic norms of international relations. The international community should jointly establish a new international order with cooperation and reciprocity at its core," Li Baodong told a press conference. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the restoration of China's seat in the United Nations. On the sidelines of the UN conferences, the premier will meet with Ban and hold talks with some state leaders. During his stay in New York, the premier is also expected to hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, and meet local figures in the fields of economy, finance, think tanks and media, and attend events held by institutions including the Economic Club of New York. After concluding his tour in New York, Li will leave for official visits to Canada and Cuba. During the upcoming visit to Canada, the first by a Chinese premier in 13 years, Li and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold talks to promote bilateral relations. Cuba, the first country in Latin America to establish diplomatic ties with China, is the last stop of Li's visit. It will be the first official visit by a Chinese premier since the two countries established diplomatic ties 56 years ago. You are here: Home Flash Exit polls showed that Russia's ruling party the United Russia led in Sunday's election of the lower house of the parliament with 44.5 percent of votes. The other three parties that gained enough votes to enter the seventh State Duma are the Liberal Democratic Party with a projected 15.3 percent of votes, the Communist Party with 14.9 percent and A Just Russia with 8.1 percent, according to the exit poll conducted by the All-Russia Center for Public Opinion. Another exit poll by the Public Opinion Foundation also showed that the ruling party is in a leading role with 48.7 percent of votes. According to the Central Election Commission, violations registered at Sunday's elections were significantly lower than previous ones. The United Russia party won 49.54 percent of votes in 2011 elections. The party's victory in State Duma elections is "evident," said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking at the United Russia headquarter, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is also the party's chairman, has announced its victory. "I would like to thank all citizens who came to the polling stations and demonstrated their civic position by voting. A significant part of them voted for United Russia. We can say that our party has won," said Medvedev. There are over 94,000 polling stations, including those in closed territories -- military garrisons, prisons and hospitals, open in Russia on the polling day, and 371 overseas stations in 145 countries. The elections rolled through 11 time zones starting from eastern Kamchatka peninsula and finishing in western Kaliningrad. Established in December 2001, United Russia is Russia's dominant party, with more than 2 million members across the country. You are here: Home Flash Sudan on Sunday threatened to close its border with South Sudan if Juba failed to fulfil its commitments to expel Sudanese rebel groups from its soils, Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported. "South Sudan's First Vice-President Taban Deng vowed to the Sudanese government to expel the movements from Juba within 21 days," State Minister at Sudan's Foreign Ministry Kamal Ismail was quoted as saying. On Aug. 22, Deng, during a visit to Khartoum, reiterated that his country would not be a starting point for any hostile acts against Sudan by Sudanese armed groups. He said his country and Sudan agreed to settle all outstanding security issues within 21 days. "If South Sudan's government failed to commit to this agreement, (Sudan's) government will close the borders with the south and stop the food aid," Ismail noted. He said the government is closely following up Juba's decision to expel the rebels, saying "Juba must clearly make its political decision on expelling the movements." Khartoum accuses Juba of sheltering rebel groups of Sudan's Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. Flash Israeli Prime Minister's Office confirmed Sunday that Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York on Wednesday. A statement released by Netanyahu's office said the two are likely to discuss "the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East and the way to promote peace and security together ." White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss "the need for genuine advancement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the face of deeply troubling trends on the ground." The meeting will allow "an opportunity to discuss the stalwart ties between the United States and Israel, as recently underscored by the finalization of our new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with Israel, the single largest pledge of military assistance in U.S. history," he said. "Additionally, the leaders are likely to discuss continued implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and other regional security issues," Earnest added. Last Wednesday, the two allies signed a military aid agreement, which is expected to give Israel as much as 38 billion U.S. dollars a year over 10 years. Flash New York City will deploy "bigger than ever" police presence during the upcoming UN General Assembly week after an explosion injured 29 on Saturday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. "You will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week, bigger than ever," de Blasio told reporters at a press conference on the explosion. Police officers will be deployed in force in key public locations around the United Nations headquarters and the Times Square, including the newer units of Critical Response Command and Strategic Response Group, said de Blasio. The city will also see an increased bag search and canine activities throughout the mass transit systems, said city officials. At the press conference, the mayor said all 29 people wounded in Saturday's blast were released from hospitals and the motivation behind the explosion remains unknown. He termed the Saturday blast which occurred around 8:30 p.m. Saturday EDT (0030 GMT Sunday)) in the popular Chelsea district in west 23rd street, Manhattan, "a very serious incident", saying a lot more work needs to be done to find out the motivation behind the blast. He called the blast an "intentional" and "criminal" act. However, he declined to call the blast a terrorist attack. "We'll not jump to conclusions," he said. A second explosive device was found a few blocks near the explosion site. The mayor noted there was no specific and credible threat against the city, calling for the vigilance of New Yorkers and asked for tips and information from the public. He also said there was no specific evidence of connection between the New York explosion and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast, which happened on Saturday along the route of a Marines charity run, causing no injuries or damage. Meanwhile, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at the press conference that no one has claimed responsibility for the New York explosion, which he categorized as a "violent criminal act". City officials confirmed that the explosion in the popular Chelsea neighborhood was caused by a bomb with "components indicative of an IED", not an accident. New York police are beefing up extra security at bus terminals, airports and on subways in the city for the UN General Assembly week. In an earlier press briefing, New York State Governer Andrew Cuomo also said the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout New York City. The suspects and motives were still unknown, and investigations were still in early stages, according to city officials. Also on Saturday night, a man wearing a private security company uniform stabbed nine people at a mall in St. Cloud, 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Minneapolis, the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota, before an off-duty police officer shot him dead. Three of the nine victims were hospitalized, one with life-threatening injures, local police said on Sunday at a news conference. The Islamic radical group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the mall stabbing attack, CNN reported on Sunday. The U.S. Federal Bureau Investigation has investigated the Minnesota stabbings as a "potential" act of terrorism. CNN cited a police chief in St. Cloud as saying that there was no evidence at this point of a link between the New York blast and the mall stabbing spree. Flash Warplanes struck several neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo Sunday, the first in Aleppo since a nationwide ceasefire went into effect last Monday, a monitor group reported. At least one woman was killed when the airstrikes targeted the rebel-held areas of Sakhour, Karm al-Jabal and Karm al-Baik, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The airstrikes were the first in Aleppo, since the city enjoyed a relative calm following the implementation of a U.S.-Russian brokered truce in Syria. Earlier in the day, Syria's national TV said tens of civilians evacuated the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city, as part of a renewed government call on civilians and armed men to leave the besieged rebel-held areas in Aleppo. The U.S.-Russian ceasefire deal is threatened with a recent escalation between Washington and Moscow, after the U.S.-led airstrikes killed 90 Syrian soldiers in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the first U.S. strike to target government forces since the coalition started operations in Syria in late 2014. Chinese investors are now among the biggest property buyers in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Spooked by continuous Chinese capital inflows into local realty, some countries have even raised foreign ownership thresholds or raised barriers. In July, Canada's British Columbia said it would levy an extra 15 percent of property transfer tax on overseas property owners in the Greater Vancouver area. So far, housing prices at Vancouver, where housing prices rose the fastest globally last year, dropped more than 20 percent in August. Only a few clients of agencies closed the deals. Many agencies attributed the fall to the new policy. "Some developed countries don't like excessive speculation in the property market. The huge demand from Chinese investors has led to a rapid rise in local property prices overseas. It could cause market bubbles and make the economy unstable. Consequently, it's feared many local residents won't be able to afford housing," said Guo Yi, marketing director at Beijing-based Yahao Real Estate Selling and Consulting Solution Agency. "Besides, many Chinese people bought overseas properties purely for investment purposes. They don't stay there. This will create problems like delayed payment of water and electricity bills, and property management fee." She also said overseas property management companies are strict about prompt fee payments. Elsewhere, the Australian government said it will restrict overseas investors from buying pre-owned homes. Foreigners with short-term visas and owning properties will have to sell such realty once the visa expires. In the United Kingdom, the newly elected mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, warned that if a large number of properties in the capital are bought by overseas buyers for investment purpose, the housing shortage would persist even if thousands of new properties are built every year. Despite such measures and warnings, Chinese investors appear unstoppable. In the first half of this year, they bought overseas properties worth $16.1 billion, according to data from CBRE Group, a US commercial real estate advisory firm. Among cities, New York has become the most popular investment destination for Asian investors, replacing London. Among countries, it is the US, attracting 52 percent of outbound Asian capital. Pedestrians pass by a newly opened Tesla outlet in Shanghai in August.WANG GANG/CHINA DAILY Authorities and users question autonomous driving feature after crashes in China and US US electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc, which was widely praised for its Autopilot, has been under fire for the same system since a Model S sedan crashed into a semi trailer that was crossing a Florida highway in May and killed the driver. The fire has now been fueled further in China, as a court in Beijing's Chaoyang district has accepted a lawsuit filed in July against Tesla by the family of a 23-year-old driver, Gao Yaning, who died in January, reported the China Central Television. It was the world's first fatal Tesla accident known so far. The victim's family is asking for 10,000 yuan ($1,498) in nominal compensation, according to CCTV. The national broadcaster aired onboard footage of the car hitting a truck from behind on a highway in Hebei province. Tesla said in a statement that the car was too damaged in the wreck to transmit data to company servers, and that Gao's family had not cooperated with the company's investigation. "We have tried repeatedly to work with our customer to investigate the cause of the crash, but he has not provided us with any additional information that would allow us to do so," it said. A spokeswoman for the company did not respond to questions about what the car had reported before the crash. Experts believe that the fatal accident would dampen Tesla's efforts to expand in China, the world's largest auto market. By the end of June, the company had built 18 experience centers in the country. Tesla has reportedly explored building a manufacturing plant in China. In early August, a Model S with the Autopilot software engaged and driver's hands of the steering wheel hit a Volkswagen Santana in Beijing. Luckily, the driver was not injured. Following the accident, Tesla altered the translation on its website about the Autopilot system in China to clarify it's a driving-assistance system, although some of its salesmen still use "autonomous driving" to describe the function. In China, the authorities have suspended road testing of self-driving cars. China is one of the two countries where autonomous driving programs are most common, with the other being the US. Chinese carmakers, including Changan Automobile Group and Zhejiang Geely, which owns Volvo, have emphasized that local road testing will be a crucial aspect of developing cars capable of self-navigating the complex traf c conditions and road signage associated with the world's largest auto market. Tesla is updating its Autopilot system later this week. "The most significant upgrade will be the use of more advanced signal processing to create a picture of the world using the onboard radar," said the automaker on its website. Instead of being supplemental to the camera, it said that radar alone "can be used as a primary control sensor". It said Autopilot version 8.0 should now recognize objects like trucks crossing the road, piles of junk metaleven "a UFO"and would know enough not to hit it, even if the system can't decipher exactly what it's seeing. The upgrade includes automatic feedback from the cars to central Tesla GPS systems, to catalog fixed items that the radar seessuch as a sign over a highwayto prevent future false alarms for other drivers. AP contributed to the story. The Great Wall Haval H6 is displayed at the Chengdu auto show last year. The Great Wall Motor Co Ltd topped the Chinese automakers with its 4.5 percent rise in net profi t for the first half of this year.CHINA DAILY Carmakers pursue higher margins amid slowing sedan sales Chinese carmakers lead in the fast-growing sport utility vehicles segment, while the joint venture car brands grabbed sustainable profits amid intensified competition in the non-luxury sedan and emerging margin erosion risk. State-owned brands have benefi ted more from the rising popularity of SUVs, especially due to their dominance in the low-end segment, despite many having high product and model concentration risk. State-owned carmaking giants, including SAIC Group, BAIC Motor and GAC Motor, narrowed their losses or posted profits in the first half, owing to strong sales of their SUV models, according to their interim reports filed to the country's stock exchanges. BAIC Motor's passenger car business turned black in the first six months, thanks to its SUV models expanding the volume contribution to 48 percent from last year's 7 percent. Securities analysts told China Daily that "SUV models brought the carmakers up to 20 percent more revenue than sedans." The analysts remarked that "an SUV does not necessarily cost significantly more than a sedan in production, nor provides extra functions. The price of an SUV is much higher than a sedan built on the same platform." A Fitch Ratings Inc's report said the SOE auto groups will not be affected by near-term market share volatility, whose diversified brand and product portfolios ensure stable operations and sustained cash dividend payments over the future one or two years. The New York based rating company also found that SOE auto groups' joint ventures with global automakers are likely to enjoy resiliently higher profitability, as they persisted in shifting their product mix toward the higher-margin SUV segment and have diversified product portfolios to smooth out single product and model volatilities. Nearly every joint venture has entered SUV segment, some even producing only those higher-profitability models. SUVs accounted for approximately 67 percent of Sino-Japanese Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co's firsthalf sales, far exceeding the sedans in terms of growth and profi tability. FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co, a Sino-German joint venture, used to focus on sedans. They recently confirmed plans to launch "a competitive SUV model" in 2017, and at least two more in the near future. Wuhan-based Sino-French joint venture Dongfeng Renault Automobile Co is locally manufacturing only one SUV model, and another two are in the localization blueprint. Fierce price competition has pressured margins in the sedan segment. The more non-luxury sedans sold, the more losses the carmaker would suf er. Fitch Ratings found SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co, currently selling only two SUV models, suf ered a 21-percent drop in net profi t in the first half this year from the same period last year, and attributed the loss to severe price cuts on its sedan models to maintain a fl at sales volume. Having more diversified product portfolios has helped joint ventures to smoothen out profi t volatilities in certain models, while more cost-effective component sourcing has allowed them to cut sedan prices without severe margin sacrifice, according to Fitch Ratings. The report pointed out that because the Haval H6 and H6 Coupe accounted for 60 percent of the sales volume of Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, the privately owned SUV maker is susceptible to product fade-out risk and margin erosion. The Great Wall Motor topped the listed Chinese auto makers with its 4.5 percent rise in net profi t for the first half of this year. Industrial data showed that Chinese Great Wall Haval H6 SUV's 40,600-unit sales volume was second only to Wuling Hongguan, a low-price multipurpose vehicle, in the first eight months of the year, allowing the company to maintain its dominant position among all passenger cars on the Chinese market. However, analysts predicted the profitability of the SUV segment could decrease in the long run, while more and more carmakers are making crossover models by elevating the chassis of their sedans. "In the future, the profi tability in SUVs should shrink to the normal 3 to 5 percent, as the now-popular products will finally saturate the segment. But in the short term, the SUV heat may sustain, as there is still a large amount of demand to feed." The Chinese and Russian navies stage a mission to seize an island on Sunday, marking the end of the two countries' joint drill this year.[Photo by GAN JUN/CHINA DAILY] The Chinese and Russian navies staged a mission to seize an island on Sunday as part of an eight-day exercise in the South China Sea. As the key element of the annual drill, the navies dispatched warships, marine forces, helicopters and amphibious armored equipment for the mission. The exercise demonstrated the Chinese and Russian navies' capacities in command management, telecommunications coordination, and intelligence and information sharing, said Senior Captain Li Xiangdong, who commanded the Chinese warships. The mission marked the end of the China-Russia Joint Sea 2016 drill, which started on Sept 12 in eastern waters off Zhanjiang, the southernmost city in Guangdong province and the base of the Nanhai Fleet. A closing ceremony was to be held on Monday. Compared with previous years, the 2016 drill focused more on confrontational capacity such as surface warships, submarines and land-based defenses, Li said, adding that the use of an advanced command system made communication between the two navies smoother. It was also the first time the China-Russia joint exercise had been held in the South China Sea. Prosecutors have charged three former vice-ministerial officials for taking huge bribes, one of them the brother of Ling Jihua, a corrupt former State-level leader, the top procuratorate announced on Sunday. Ling Zhengce, former vicechairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was found to be taking bribes either in cash or other properties, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate. No details on the amount were released. According to the indictment, when Ling Zhengce was serving as deputy director, and then director, of the Shanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission and vice chairman of the local advisory body, he made use of his position and influence to help others make illegal gains. Changzhou People's Procuratorate in Jiangsu province is prosecuting the case in Changzhou Intermediate People's Court. A court hearing will be held in a later date, according to the SPP. Ling Zhengce, 64, is a brother of Ling Jihua, former vicechairman of the CPPCC. The latter was sentenced on July 4 to life in prison for taking bribes totaling 77.08 million yuan ($11.6 million), illegally obtaining State secrets and abusing his power. In a separate development, prosecutors have also filed graft charges against two other senior officialsChen Chuanping, former vice-governor of Shanxi, and Sun Hongzhi, former deputy head of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. According to the SPP, Chen was charged with abusing power and accepting bribes. When he served as the vice-governor of Shanxi and Communist Party chief of Taiyuan, he exploited his position to benefit others and took bribes. Prosecutors also said that when Chen served as chairman of Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group, he abused his power, resulting in an "extremely heavy loss" of national interests. Sun from the SAIC was accused of embezzlement, bribery and owning a large amount of property without being able to clearly show how he bought it, according to the SPP. Tackling graft has become a priority for the country since late 2012, when the new national leadership was elected. To date, more than 140 officials of ministerial level or above have been probed, charged or convicted in corruption investigations, including the country's former security chief Zhou Yongkang, who was sentenced to life in prison in June 2015. Although several years have passed, the central leadership hasn't relaxed its anti-graft efforts and is expected to keep the pressure on corruption, according to Hong Daode, a criminal law professor from China University of Political Science and Law. "In addition to fighting corruption in some of the worst-affected regions and industries, such as real estate, mineral resources and infrastructure construction, the graft fight may also reach more of the grassroots level to benefit more ordinary people," he added. Beijing has started erecting a large-scale flower terrace on Tian'anmen Square to celebrate this year's National Day on Oct. 1. About 150 people, 30 trucks and 4 cranes are involved in the decoration. An official of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry said the flower basket will be 17 meters high and at a diameter of 50 meters, while the biggest peony flower could reach 3 meters in diameter. The overall basket design was inspired by a painting by Ding Liangguang of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It's reported that new printing technologies were also used to make the artificial flowers more colorful, vivid and safe. Flowers used to decorate Chang'an Avenue include 13 species of chrysanthemum, all cultivated domestically. Beijing Florascape Co., Ltd said the main structure of the central display would be finished on Sept. 23, which will be followed by placing flowers and testing lights during the next two days. Milestone events such as the Long March, Winter Olympics and World Horticultural Exposition will be featured in 10 flower baskets along the avenue too. Lawmakers from Asian and African nations, along with some representatives of international institutes, said on Sunday that they would welcome more cooperation to help the poor, as poverty reduction is key to their sustainable development. And they got some encouraging feedback from China. "China is willing to join hands with other countries to make a contribution to sustainable development," said Wang Chen, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, at the 2016 Interregional Seminar for Parliamentarians from Asian and African Countries. Attendees from six Asian and African countries or international institutesincluding Bangladesh, Kenya, Zambia and Cambodiaattended the seminar, jointly sponsored by the NPC's Standing Committee and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. "The legislative body, or parliament, plays an important role in maintaining relationships with others, and can supply fresh imperatives to sustainable development as it improves," Wang said. "We'd like to share our development experience with others and learn from them about how to play the legislative department's role in lawmaking and supervision. We hope to provide a better legal environment for a sustainable environment." Poverty reduction and related measures, which are the keys to sustainable development, were priority topics at the seminar, he noted. Martin Chungong, secretary-general of the IPU, formed in 1889 and with 170 members at present, spoke highly of China's achievements in helping the poor over the past decades and called on its members to learn from them. "Almost 40 years ago, China launched economic reforms that helped hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and achieved economic growth. The NPC made a contribution to that, so we can learn from it," Chungong added. Jude Njomo, a member of Kenya's Parliament, said that poverty alleviation "is the key item for sustainable development". After the seminar, participants will visit Shanghai, Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Although he had been to China several times for business, Njomo said the seminar was a good chance to absorb sustainable development experience not only from China, but other countries as well. Victoria Kalima, a member of Zambia's National Assembly, noted that Asian and African countries face similar challenges in sustainable development, so it's good to examine "what we have done, what we are doing and what we should do". She said more cooperation is needed among legislators. But she added that it should be understood that parliaments vary, and they confront different problems. The seminar activities will end on Sept 29. In March, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, attended an IPU conference in Zambia and gave a keynote speech. Media in Taiwan reported recently that authorities on the island are attempting to negotiate attendance at the 39th session of the International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly, though it had not been invited. The 39th ICAO Assembly will be held in Montreal, Canada, from Sept 27 to Oct 7. During the 2013 assembly, aviation authorities from Taiwan received a letter of invitation two weeks in advance, and they sent staff members as nonvoting delegates after an exchange of views on the issue with the mainland. This year, Taiwan received no invitation, according to the Taiwan-based Liberty Times newspaper. Lianhe Wanbao, another newspaper, reported that Taiwan is neither a member of the ICAO nor an observer. The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office on the mainland responded to Taiwan's participation at a news conference on Wednesday. Ma Xiaoguang, the office's spokesman, said that any arrangements for Taiwan's participation in international organizations must be based on the one-China principle. "Our position is clear and consistent - that is, such participation must be arranged through negotiations between the mainland and Taiwan based on the one-China principle," Ma said. Ma said that since 2008, the mainland has made practical arrangements regarding Taiwan's participation in some international organizations and activities through negotiations with the island. Such arrangements were achieved on the basis of both sides adhering to the 1992 Consensus, which states the principle. Taiwan's authorities have yet to recognize the consensus, Ma said, leading to a standstill in cross-Straits communication. Only by recognizing the political basis of one China, Ma said, can the two sides continue their institutional exchanges and have discussions about Taiwan's participation in international organizations. Xinhua contributed to this story. Visiting delegates from eight Taiwan cities and counties are appreciated for their efforts to uphold the 1992 Consensus promoting cross-Straits communication and boosting the peaceful development of relations with the Chinese mainland, China's top political adviser said in Beijing on Sunday. The delegates were from New Taipei City and the counties of Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen and Lienchiang. Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, made the remark as he met with delegates and extended a welcome. He applauded their adherence to the one-China principle and efforts to promote cross-Straits cooperation and exchange at lower administrative levels. He said Taiwan's current administration has refused, since May, to recognize the agreement affirming that both sides of the Straits belong to one China. That refusal has shaken the political foundation of peaceful development of cross-Straits relations and dealt a heavy blow to the momentum of peaceful ties that had been achieved through eight years of effort, Yu said. The mainland will maintain a positive attitude toward any county or city in Taiwan that is willing to make a contribution to good relations, Yu said. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Sunday that measures will be taken in fields including agriculture and tourism to promote communication between the mainland and Taiwan cities and counties. The delegates from the island expressed their hope for further cross-Straits communication on the basis of the 1992 Consensus to achieve win-win outcomes. China Daily - Xinhua The Supreme People's Procuratorate has made public 12 corruption cases involving prosecutors, vowing to instill discipline with a strong hand. Wang Yongqiang, a former prosecutor at the procuratorate in Qingdao, Shandong province, was alleged to have trafficked drugs, while Zhou Yong, former head of the office overseeing dereliction of duty at a procuratorate in Wolong district in Nanyang, Henan province, is alleged to have operated a casino. The top prosecuting department did not provide detailed information about the cases. It said that a handful of prosecutors have chosen to ignore the Communist Party of China's code of conduct, despite the central authority taking a strict stance on Party governance. "Some officials in leading positions have deviated from the right path and failed to behave in accordance with the law or the Party's code of conduct," it said. The top procuratorate urged prosecuting departments across the country to learn a lesson from the cases and reminded them that there will be no letup in improving the governance of the Party and the management of procuratorates. Cases related to drugs attracted wide public attention last year, with people from a variety of sectors being caught. Some 39 functionaries have been caught using drugs since a local regulation on drug use among Party members and public servants was rolled out in Hengyang county, Hunan province, in January last year. Domestic workers use dolls to practice how to teach babies to walk during a training course in Beijing. [Photo By Zou Hong / China Daily] An aging society and growing middle class mean there is a soaring demand for good domestic workers, Hou Liqiang reports. Finding qualified and dedicated domestic workers has been "extremely difficult" for Han Lu, an engineer at a State-owned company in Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan. The 37-year-old has changed two nannies and been through 30 domestic workers since she had her daughter on June 4, 2014. She said most of the domestic workers have not been satisfactory as they lacked know-how about the service they offer. Han's experience testifies to the lack of professional domestic workers in China, for which there is a growing demand. "Good domestic workers are in high demand. The supply, however, falls short. Many families find it difficult to employ a qualified domestic worker," said Li Changze, a spokesman for Ayilaile, an agency that supplies domestic services. More than 70,000 domestic workers serving more than 100,000 clients nationwide are registered with Ayilaile. But currently, only two out of every 10 women, who are sent to the company through local government's labor export projects or by training schools, are qualified to do the work, Li said. "The domestic service industry used to employ a lot of women that could hardly find other jobs, but they are not the labor the industry really needs. Instead of the surplus labor, the industry needs young people who consider domestic service to be their career," he said. Lacking professionalism, many domestic workers only want to make money and may quit at any time, he added. The last nanny Han hired had to call her teacher constantly to ask for advice. She quit suddenly before Spring Festival last year, leaving Han in the lurch, and she had to ask for leave from her work. She said she even thought about quitting her job. Han increased the number of domestic workers in her home from two to three last month to support the family of six, including three seniors in their 70s. In addition to a nanny, she has one worker to do the cleaning and one to do the cooking. "I employ three so there will be someone who can help even if two of them quit," she said. Li said it's important that home helpers with high qualifications and a professional attitude are paid decent salaries to encourage others to follow their example. Then, more people would regard being in domestic service as a career rather than just a temporary job. Gao Xin, author of Blooming Viola Philippica: The Oral History of Domestic Workers, said many women with no special skills work on factory assembly lines first and then construction sites before becoming domestic workers. She said many Chinese domestic workers, who are from the bottom rung of society, hold the perception that they are inferior to others. This differs a lot from Filipino domestic workers, who take pride in their work and have won wide recognition, she said. That domestic workers feel inferior can sometimes result in trouble, Gao said. She offered as an example a live-in postpartum care worker who would probably feel hesitant to oppose the parents' decision not to send an infant with fever to hospital. If they have professional status, they would have more respect and their opinions would be more valued, Gao said. However, she said many women, though they do the work, only do so because the demand is there and it is a way to make some money; they do not view it as a career or want to be a professional. During the restructuring of China's State-owned enterprises in the 1990s, tens of millions of workers were laid off. The All-China Women's Federation and its local branches made great efforts to train and absorb laid-off women into the domestic service industry, said Tang Binyao, an associate professor of social work at the University of Jinan in Shandong province. Those laid-off workers are now retiring. While some college graduates are joining the industry, the proportion of female migrant workers from the rural areas working as home helpers is still high. With insufficient training, these women lack the necessary service skills and have a low level of professionalism, said Tang, who is also one of the nine founders of the Gichon Social Service Center for the Community in Jinan, an NGO that focuses on serving seniors and domestic workers. While these women from rural areas are important to meet the growing demand from lonely seniors with low incomes, they may meet some problems in serving the increasing high-end demand from the growing middle class. "Middle-class people usually respect their domestic workers. However, they may get into disputes with them as they have high requirements for their hired help," said Tang. Chen Jiyan, a program officer for domestic workers at Beijing Hongyan Social Work Service Center, said the lack of training for domestic workers is a long-standing problem. She once attended a training class for domestic workers when she was doing research, but found the teacher only asked the students to note down what she had included in her Powerpoint slides without offering any further explanation. Chen said some domestic workers don't even know how to use home appliances, let alone know how to make Western desserts or pastries. Han, the Wuhan engineer, said many of the domestic workers she had hired to do the cooking didn't know how to use the oven, and they cleaned nonstick pans with steel wool, damaging them. "Every time, I have to train them how to use our home appliances before they start their work," Han said. Without enough training, domestic workers have to meet the personalized needs and high requirements of the families they work for. In response to the growing demand for domestic helpers, some colleges have launched domestic service majors to build up a talent pool for the industry. Chen, however, doubts many of the students who study the major will work in the industry. "The domestic service industry is promising, but there is still social discrimination against the job," she said. A woman tests a facial recognition machine in this file photo.[Photo/VCG] East China's Jiangxi province has started to install face recognition technology in internet cafes across the province to stop entry of children, thepaper.cn reported. The online real name registration system, which is also being installed, will help trace the authenticity of the users' ID. Once child logs on to one of the more than 5,000 monitored internet cafes, the system will immediately report it to the authority and retain evidence. China banned internet cafes from allowing anyone below the age of 18 in 2002 and every customer was required to show ID before entering the bars. The system aims to use technology rather than human check to implement the regulation. It is expected to finish installation before the end of October and finish trial run before the end of November. Media has been reporting the violation of rules both by children and internet cafes for years. On Oct 19, 2015, a 16-year-old student, surnamed Zhou, skipped classes and surfed the internet in a cafe for about seven hours before passing out and later dying in Hongze county, Huaian city of East China's Jiangsu province. On Dec 28, 2014, a 17-year-old boarding school student Xiao Lei, alias, went to an internet cafe with friends after drinking and fainted at 3.32 am in front of the computer before dying two hours later in Liuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. China, Russia conclude joint naval drill (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-09-19 17:08 ZHANJIANG, Guangdong - Chinese and Russian naval forces on Monday concluded their joint military exercise in the waters off the southern province of Guangdong, pledging to enhance practical cooperation. Addressing the closing ceremony of the drill, which ran from Sept. 13 to 19, Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, lauded the exercise as successful and the activity had achieved the desired aim. Wang said the drill had improved the actual combat capabilities, informationization and standardization of the two navies, adding that they will expand practical cooperation and boost communication. Alexander Fedotenkov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, said the two navies shared theoretical and practical experience and were engaged in sound collaboration throughout the exercise. Fedotenkov said the two sides will maintain close marine cooperation ties, deal with new challenges and threats, and together safeguard world peace and regional stability. The "Joint Sea 2016" drill featured surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, marines and amphibious armored equipment. Dennis Lo Yuk-ming. [Photo/cuhk.edu.hk/] A nine-member judging panel has selected two first winners of the country's first non-governmental science award with a million-dollar prize, the sponsor of the honor Future Forum announced Monday afternoon. Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, professor of chemical pathology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Xue Qikun, a physicist at Tsinghua University, respectively won the Life Science Award and the Materials Science Award, two categories of the Future Science Awards that was initiated in January by a group of Chinese scientists and business leaders of the Future Forum. Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, 52, a DNA research scientist, has been awarded for his seminal contribution to the widely used noninvasive prenatal test based on the original discovery of fetal DNA in maternal blood. Prosfessor Xue Qikun, 53, a PhD from Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been awarded for his pioneering contribution in the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, a discovery that has helped accelerate the IT revolution and in developing low-power-consumption electronics. An award ceremony is planned to be held in Beijing in January where the winners will be awarded $1 million each. The money has been donated by entrepreneurs who have promised to bankroll the awards for 10 years. The new honor, regarded by some as the Chinese version of Nobel Prize, was launched by private organizations in January 17 this year. A set of rules have been established to ensure the credibility of the awards, said Ding Hong, a researcher from the Institute of Physics under Chinese Academy of Sciences and the judging panel's rotating president. The winners went through rounds of procedures to win the awards, including nomination, professional appraisals, reviews from international experts, and a secret ballot from the judging panel. The judging panel comprised of three biologists, two physicists and two mathematicians, one computer scientist and one civil engineer. Selected candidates could be an individual or a team, and could also be foreigners, but they should do their research work in China, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and their research should have originality, long-term significance and great international influence. Ding said he expects the awards to boost research work in China, promote Chinese scientific work to the world and attract more foreigners to work in China. An undated group photo of the Long March Press Tour troop in Lanzhou. [Photo by Zhang Bo/for chinadaily.com.cn] Fancy a Kindle? Take the Long March quiz This wasn't the Lanzhou I remembered at all. Our Long March Press Tour troop transport drove along a wide, smooth avenue, flanked on either side by skinny trees and brand new buildings. As we pulled into the industrial park, I couldn't help but notice the fresh paint and pristine pavement. This is a dramatically different city from the one I remember. When I visited in 2011, I rode on bumpy streets to a worn out little restaurant for a bowl of the city's famous beef noodles. My group then visited the Iron Bridge before jumping aboard rafts made of inflated sheep's skin to float down the Yellow River. It was a vastly different experience. However, in China where skyscrapers can be built in two weeks or a train can take you from one city to the next faster than an airplane, speed and change are reoccurring themes. I shouldn't be surprised by Lanzhou's changes, as I've seen it before. I lived in Shijiazhuang several years ago, and while the capital of Hebei province used to be one of the most polluted cities in China, my friends who still live there say there are now many more blue sky days. The areas that were once massive construction sites are now even more massive shopping complexes with infinitely more Starbucks' locations than when I was there. I saw Chongqing change in the few years I lived there, filling out as the massive city it was intended to be. Even in Beijing, I feel as though whole sections of the city can change every season. So what is Lanzhou's motivation for change? Well, as a central point along China's Belt and Road Initiative, there is a lot to be gained from facilitating trade between China and areas to the west. To that end, the city has invested in economic projects such as the 3.5-billion-yuan Lanzhou New Area Free Trade Zone. Opened in 2014, this trade hub has massive amounts of transport infrastructure built into it, allowing it to take full advantage of the dozens of major highways and railroads that pass through the city. With huge spaces available for rent and juicy tax incentives, Lanzhou hopes to draw companies from around the world to use the space as a distribution point. My concern, however, is whether it will work. Those new buildings I saw were mostly empty. Everything looked new and sharp in part because it wasn't yet in use. While at the free trade zone, my platoon of journalists were the only people shopping there. We were even able to stand in the middle of a six-lane entryway to the area to take a picture without needing to worry about car or truck zooming by us. If Lanzhou is going to grow in that way, it's going to need businesses, goods, and people to fill their amazing new buildings. Parts of Lanzhou remain how I remember, and one of our guides said I can still go ride a sheepskin raft if I'm so inclined, but the city is trying to build on what it's brand can be. Chinese economic planners believe that Lanzhou is sitting in a prime location for overland trade, and it could regain the prominence it had with the ancient Silk Road. I hope that comes into fruition soon, but the one thing that shouldn't change are those delicious noodles. Gesher theater will tour China with one of its representative productions, Village.[Photo provided to China Daily] In 1991, during the first Gulf War, a group of Jewish-Russian actors under the leadership of Yevgeny Arye, a prominent stage director in Moscow, emigrated to Israel. In a bold move, they founded a theater that they named Gesher, which means "bridge" in Hebrew. Over the years, Gesher theater has successfully reached across Russian and Israeli cultures by recruiting many Israeli actors and actresses. Its productions are bilingual, in Russian and Hebrew. More than 60 productions have been presented at more than 17 international festivals, winning numerous awards. Village, which was first staged in 1996, was an early success. In 2015, Gesher brought Village to Beijing's Capital Theater after being invited by Beijing People's Art Theater. In November, the play will return to China in a tour of four cities: Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shanghai. "Every year, Beijing People's Art Theater invites foreign theaters to stage their classic productions. Among them, Gesher theater's Village impressed me the most," says Lan Tianye, the 89-year-old actor and director, who has been with Beijing People's Art Theater since 1952. Gesher has come to Beijing four times with several productions, including Enemies: A Love Story, A Pigeon and a Boy, Village and Don Juan. "I was touched by the story of Village, the acting of the ensemble as well as how the theater interprets a story that happened in the 1940s with pioneering approaches," Lan says. Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol tells the story of an innocent boy named Yossi, who lives in a small village and witnesses the fears, love, hopes and dreams of the people against the backdrop of World War II. Sobol, in his 70s now, is known for his political plays, which engage with sensitive issues, such as the Holocaust, Arab-Israeli relations and religious fanaticism. He drew inspiration from his own childhood experiences in Palestine in the 1940s. Visitors take selfies in front of the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, on Sept 18, 2016. This year marks the 85th anniversary of the September 18th Incident, also known as the "Mukden Incident." The museum is collecting items of interest related to the incident, or that may be symbolically related to that day, from around the world. [Photo/VCG] Sept 18 holds peculiar significance in Chinese people's memoriesas a "day of national shame". On that day 85 years ago, taking advantage of the Mukden Incident, which it had masterminded and blamed on the Chinese instead, the Imperial Japanese Amy started the full invasion of China. "Never forget the national shame" has since been the main theme of commemoration on every Sept 18. Only that the call for remembering history gets louder every fifth year, or, more recently, when relations with Japan sour. Besides serving as an occasion for driving home the message "lagging behind leaves the nation vulnerable to attacks", a lesson modern China has learnt the hard way, it has acquired a brand-new dimensiona ritual appeal to Japan to face history, instead of whitewashing it. We had every reason to anticipate louder, harsher Japan-bashing on Sunday, because the 85th anniversary of such a date of shame coincided with an obvious nadir of bilateral ties. There is no sign that the Shinzo Abe administration will step back from its rightist approach to Japan's militarist past. And Tokyo's moves of instigating and arming countries in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, along with its reported decision to join the United States and patrol the South China Sea, are only the latest hallmarks of the deep-freezing relationship. The subdued manner the anniversary was commemorated on Sunday, therefore, was more or less out of the norm. But certainly not incomprehensible. Beijing appears to have seen the harmful potential of its war of words with Tokyo, and it has become serious about damage control. After all, the two countries' leaders just met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, affirming common aspiration for a thaw in ties. There is nothing wrong with Beijing's insistence on "holding history as a mirror" for Japan's obligation to face history. Or Tokyo's on "future-oriented relations". Failure to integrate those two aspects into one organic whole, however, has driven Beijing and Tokyo, actually the entire Northeast Asia, into an endless finger-pointing game. Many of Northeast Asia's present troubles have their roots in historical animosity. Specters of history have already dragged the region's countries into a game of mutual weakening, and are threatening to shatter their hopes for peace, stability, even continuing prosperity. If Beijing has hinted at fence-mending through restrained rhetoric, such goodwill deserves something reciprocal from Tokyo. The China-Japan relationship desperately needs to get rid of the vicious circle at work. Or all the words about reconciliation, of East Asia's integration, will prove empty talk. CHEN ZHICHENG, a Beijing resident in his 50s, scrawled his name and some crappy verses in large-sized characters with red paint on some cliff faces and boulders in at least two mountainous scenic spots in Fangshan district of Beijing. A Beijing News commentary on Sunday suggested Chen be blacklisted and fined for his irresponsible behavior. Excerpts: Chen said he painted his name and verses on the mountains as a "souvenir" for future generations because soon he will be too old to climb them. He also said he didn't know the region was a protected scenic spot until his "graffiti" went viral on social media. Although Chen has apologized to the scenic spot administrative department and the public for his "misbehavior", and started removing his "works" with thinner, his remedial efforts have been futile because the thinner has only turned the red characters to pink. Chen has left dozens of indelible marks on the mountains. But so far the administrative department seems to have accepted Chen's remedy project and apology, which means he may only face administrative penalty. Experts are needed to free the mountains of Chen's "graffiti". In fact, Chen can be accused of intentional sabotage of public property given the grave consequences of his actions, and the judicial authorities should take appropriate action for that. Also, the authorities should prepare a nationwide blacklist of tourists who destroy or damage places of tourist interests or public property, so that people learn to respect the sanctity of tourist spots. Ride-hailing services Didi Chuxing and Uber [Photo/zol.com.cn] AFTER ISSUING A REGULATION IN JULY which in principle confirmed the legality of ride-hailing service apps, the Ministry of Transport issued two other documents on Sept 9 that grant local governments the power to decide the total number and prices of ride-hailing services. But if local governments have too much power, they could intervene in the ride-hailing app market and thus curb its development, says an editorial in Southern Metropolis Daily: The ministry's regulation made headlines and got nationwide applause in July because ride-hailing services, which had been operating for a few years, had been recognized as "legal" by the central government. Only a few experts warned that the regulation granted local governments too much power that they could use to impose tight limits on the ride-hailing service providers. With several cities publishing their detailed local regulations, that warning is becoming a reality. For example, the regulations of Lanzhou, capital of Northwestern China's Gansu province, and several other cities are full of limitations on ride-hailing services. Some say only residents with local hukou, or household registration, can apply for one, while some require all ride-haling cabs to be painted in uniform colors. These are ridiculous requirements. People welcomed ride-hailing apps because the traditional taxi companies' management was rather bad. Traditional taxi drivers in a city have to pay a huge share of their incomes to a monopoly management company, which makes their services too expensive. And the management ignores the complaints against the poor services it provides. If ride-hailing services are made to follow the same mode, the industry will soon face the same problems. The ride-hailing service app has proved a success in the domestic market. It has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, made life convenient for people and contributed to economic growth. The taxi companies are the only group to have suffered, because their monopoly is now under threat. Since the monopoly companies may strike back with the help of local governments, the central leadership should take measures to help the ride-hailing services to grow as part of the market-oriented reform. This photo was taken on May 24, 2016. It shows visitors, including CPC party officials, walking along the road that was once embarked on by the Red Army during the Long March about 80 years ago. [Photo/IC] It was exactly 80 years ago that the Long Marchthe strategic march of the Red Army that trudged and fought its way through thousands of miles across Chinaended in the rugged, cave-riddled mountainous terrain of Yan'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province. Yan'an was then (as it still is) something of a frontier, a waylaid place of farmers with miserable climate (stuffy summers and frigid winters), yet a place with a surprisingly delectable and distinct cuisine. But history was made in Yan'an: the regrouping of the communist guerrillas and the ascent of Mao Zedong, eventually leading to the triumph of the revolution. It's a history that has put Yan'an on the tourist map: the sprawling revolutionary sites are visited by millions of tourists every year. Yan'an is one of half a dozen sites in China that have become very popular tourist spots associated with the revolution. These sites have been given the collective moniker of "red tourism", which has seen dramatic growth over the past decade. Tens of millions of tourists now visit "red tourism" sites every year. The growth in "red tourism" has been largely organic, although the Chinese government has facilitated the process by improving the infrastructure and pumping money into funding the restoration and expansion of these sites. There was a time when these sites were sober places visited regularly only by government and Party officials on study tours, but now commercialization has followed on the heels of mass tourism. Purists like me might bemoan the commercialization and the theme-park atmosphere, but the brash and comical commodification is not limited to red tourism sites. Commodification pervades all of China's famous tourist spots, even remote villages and national parks. The question is whether the average tourist takes back home a moral more profound than souvenirs and selfies. I believe people are attracted to revolutionary sites for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is the current faddish allure of history, a fad that is also manifested in red-themed bars that have sprouted across Chinabars decorated with pop-like revolutionary posters and mementoes, and interior designs based on a red-color scheme. Another reason people are attracted to revolutionary sites is the respect for the selfless revolutionary struggle and ideological goodwill that the revolution heralded. At the "red tourism" sites people feel nostalgic, recalling and reliving the time when people were inspired by greater ideas, ideas that put the collective far above the personal. Peeping into the cave buildings in Yan'an where the revolutionaries lived or walking on the flimsy Luding Bridge across a fast-flowing river in the mountains which the revolutionaries had to fight enemy forces to cross, you can't help feeling stirred by the revolutionaries' doggedness and struggle, and bow in reverence to their selfless idea of building a fairer China. It's an idea that has resonance today. Another lasting impression of the "red tourism" sites is the sense of protracted history, for they uncannily seem older than they actually are, and that serves to demonstrate how far China has progressed. And given such countrywide progress, the "red tourism" sites are not only places of nostalgia, they also serve to inspire and connect the past with the present. The author is a freelance writer who specializes in culture, travel, and lifestyle. LUO JIE/CHINA DAILY Today, advanced economies blame China for steel overcapacity. Yet, four decades ago the United States and Europe were the ones that opted for bad policies, which China is seeking to transcend. At the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, some world leaders criticized China for its steel overcapacity. Before the summit, US lawmakers, and trade unions and associations had urged President Barack Obama to blame China's trade practices for US mill closures and unemployment and to stress the need for "aggressive enforcement of US trade remedy laws". In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker echoed US concerns. In Canada, steelworkers and producers urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to push China for the same reasons. In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for structural reforms to address China's steel overcapacity. Yet, as history shows, the first major steel crisis broke out in the 1970s, starting in the US and Europe. In the postwar era, crude steel production has grown in three quite distinct phases. In the first phaseoften called the "golden era" of the advanced economiesglobal steel production grew an impressive 5 percent a year, driven by Europe's reconstruction and industrialization, and catch-up growth by Japan and the Soviet Union. As this growth period ended with two energy crises, a period of stagnation ensued and global steel demand barely grew 1.1 percent a year. In the US, the challenges of the "rust belt" led to labor turmoil, offshoring and the Ronald Reagan era. In the United Kingdom, similar turmoil paved way to the Margaret Thatcher years. The third phase ensued between 2000 and 2015. China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 initiated a period of massive expansion in steel production and demand fueling output growth by 13 percent a year. While China's industrialization and urbanization is likely to continue another 10-15 years, the most intensive period of expansion is behind. As a result, the steel sector is facing overcapacity and stagnation. Are Washington and Brussels now urging Beijing to resolve overcapacity by resorting to the kind of policies they used to tackle the first postwar steel crisis? No. After the mid-1970s, the open trading regime took a step back as aggressive trade practices arose in the US and Europe. The two adopted fairly similar external policies but different domestic measures. In the US, policymakers avoided direct intervention in the domestic market and allowed domestic enterprises to suffer large losses, which resulted in many plant closures. That translated to substantial reductions of least efficient integrated producers and the rise of more efficient players, including mini-mills. In contrast, Brussels administered a de facto domestic cartel. Economically, the European capacity reductions proved less effective than those in the US. Socially, Europe was able to smooth the process of transformation, but mainly in the short term. As the US and Europe sought to protect their markets through non-tariff barriers, they opted for protectionist external policies, which imposed substantial costs on economies and consumers. In the next two years, China hopes to allocate $15.4 billion for the coal and steel sectors to help up to 3 million laid-off workers find new jobs, particularly in the service sector. But unlike the US and Europe in the 1970s, China today is eager to sustain globalization and intensify world trade and investment, as evidenced by the Hangzhou G20 Summit, the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS New Development Bank. Beijing remains committed to resolving the overcapacity problem but not at the cost of the living standards of people in China or other emerging economies. The objective is to sustain China's economic rise, while supporting the industrialization of other major emerging economies. And that is very much in the interest of Washington, Brussels and Tokyo as well. The author is a guest fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. This commentary is based on his SIIS project, China and the multipolar world economy. The jagged cliffs of Tojinbo in Fukui prefecture on Japan's west coast are unfortunately popular among people who commit suicide. On average 25 people jump off the cliffs to end their lives every year. A Fuji TV program reported that the cliffs, which have been occupied by Pokemon Go players day and night these days, saw a drop in suicides in August. Tojinbo is believed to have drawn crowds from afar in an attempt to catch some rare digital creatures, or Pokemon, as it is one of the few Pokestops in the region. The free augmented reality game that uses Google maps and a smartphone has fueled public safety fears, from traffic accidents to distracted pedestrians and dangerous trespassing in Japan and rest of the world. In Tojinbo, it appears to be saving lives. But Japan still has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world. The news of two middle school students' committing suicide in August sent shock waves across Japan. A 12-year-old Japanese schoolboy hung himself on Aug 19, leaving behind a 10-page suicide note that indicated he had been bullied at school. And a 13-year-old schoolgirl jumped in front of a moving train in the town of Fujisaki, Aomori prefecture, on Aug 25. A suicide note on her smartphone asked the bullies to "never bully (anyone) again". The parents of the boy and the girl said bullying is one of the main reasons that the children committed suicides and requested the authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the matters. Japanese schoolchildren's suicide rate increases when summer and spring vacations end, with most of the cases reported on Sept 1 when most schools reopen for a new session, according to the official figures from 1972 through 2013. Experts' explanation for this: Teens who are bullied fear returning to school. Suicide is the leading cause of death among 15to 40-year-olds in Japan. The results of a poll released on Sept 7 by the Tokyo-based Nippon Foundation said that one in four people in Japan had seriously contemplated suicide, and more than 500,000 attempted to do so last year alone. The survey showed that people are at higher risk of committing suicide if they have been exposed to domestic abuse and violence, or poverty, or are alcohol dependent. In 2013, the suicide in Japan was 21.4 deaths per 100,000 peoplewell above that of other high-income countries (12.7 deaths per 100,000 people), according to the World Health Organization's 2014 report. Japanese National Police Agency's statistics, however, show 24,025 people killed themselves in 2015, compared with 32,863 in 1998. Pushed by non-governmental organizations such as Lifelink, the Japanese government started a national campaign on suicide prevention in 2006. Suicide rates among middle-aged men and senior citizens are falling in the country. But the rate of suicide among young people is still highand reducing it remains a huge task. The root causes of suicides are hard to pin down. But economic woes are believed to play a big role. Suicide rates increased sharply in the mid-1990s as Japan's economy stuttered. Moreover, the nation needs to address cultural and social issues that have made Japanese more tolerant of people committing suicide. According to one Japanese tradition, committing suicide can absolve people of their guilt, cancel their debt, restore their honor and prove their loyalty. The author is China Daily Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn Students raising their hands in class. [File photo/Xinhua] One thing that foreigners are not used to in China is how quickly and dramatically a schedule can change. In Western culture, change is extremely rare and the schedule is known for at least a year in advance and is very unlikely to ever change. Even when it does change, administrators will give you several weeks advance notice so that you can plan accordingly. Another common event (besides quick and last minute changes) in China is that Chinese teachers are afraid to tell foreign teachers about any changes. They are afraid to tell them for two reasons. One reason is that foreign teachers get very upset with a lot of changes. We aren't used to it. We are used to strict organization and scheduling. Like I said, unless there is an impending and very threatening storm that will require students to take shelter, a fire or a teacher suddenly becomes seriously ill, our schedules don't change. The other reason is, because things change so often, quite dramatically and without more than a moment's notice in China, the Chinese teacher is afraid to tell the foreign teacher because either, (1) the change might not happen, or (2) there might be another change to the first change that they heard about. Perhaps you have to be a foreigner to realize how hilarious it is, but when a foreign teacher shows up for class, fully prepared to teach and no students show up, well, it is truly shocking to us and can later be funny and quite unbelievable. In America, when I tell this story to others, it is hard for anyone to believe. I teach eight classes a week in an international high school. All of our students will go to the US, Australia or Canada when they graduate. I teach TOEFL, oral English, US history, US geography, SAT preparation and academic writing. One day, I had fully prepared to teach my class and had come to school. Because I don't teach full time there, I'm not required to have office hours. So, I show up to teach my class. Well, this day, I had an oral English class for my grade 2 high school (in the US we'd say 10th grade) students. When I got to the building, the door was unlocked, so I went in and headed straight for my class. When I got to the classroom, the classroom was locked and the lights were out. I couldn't imagine what had happened. Where were my students and why was the classroom locked? I went to the administration office and it also was locked with no lights on. In fact, as I started inspecting other classrooms, I discovered that there was no one in the building. I panicked. Was there some kind of national emergency? Did the school run out of money and close the classes? I couldn't imagine what had happened. I started calling everyone I could think of who might be able to give me an answer and tell me what had happened. No one answered their cell phone. I didn't have a key to get into the office even though I did have a desk there. I take my teaching very seriously. There is no way that I would miss a class so, I sat down in the hallway for several hours waiting to see if anyone would show up. Finally, one of the school's security guards came to lock the building up for the day. He couldn't speak English and I spoke almost no Chinese. I finally remembered the words to ask. I said, "Xuesheng nali?" He started laughing, which confused me even more, but, at least it made me realize that nothing bad had happened. It turned out that the administrators had decided that morning to take all of the students to a nearby museum for what we'd call a field trip. I'd sat there worrying about everyone for several hours. At least the story turned out well and I got a big laugh from it later. LeEco A Le Holdings Co Ltd sign at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Asia 2016 in Shanghai, China, May 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Competition in China's internet market has turned into a fierce contest among ecosystems, market research firm International Data Corporation wrote (IDC) in a report released on Thursday. IDC analyzed the strong growth of internet giants Alibaba and Tencent in the second quarter, saying the two have formed complete and solid ecosystems, thus helping startups achieve rapid growth and enhance their own competitive advantages. According to the IDC, Alibaba's ecosystem is based on its core business - ecommerce, while that of Tencent's centers on social networking and online gaming. An internet ecosystem is a concept that has gained increasing popularity in the industry. As defined by economist Song Qinghui, an internet ecosystem is a brand new system evolved from the internet, enabling a comprehensive restructuring of value chains across industries. Xue Yu, an analyst with IDC, endorsed the idea in a note, saying an internet ecosystem featured openness, innovation and win-win solutions and that there would be many more such systems across different industries in the future. Currently, Baidu Inc, Xiaomi Corp and Le Holdings Co Ltd have all made headway in building their ecosystems. Tencent and Alibaba's ecosystems are more developed in comparison with other companies Baidu and Xiaomi, who lag behind in user interactivity because their core businesses, namely search and mobile phones respectively, serve more as tools, Xue said. Le Holdings' ecosystem is not built on a certain core business, but on a combination of platforms that seek to satisfy customers' various demand including TV, films, sports, among others, he noted. Besides these companies, JD.com and Didi Chuxing also have the tendency to build their ecosystems based on their strengths, he said. Let's take a look at the top five most influential internet ecosystems in China. US President Barack Obama took to the campaign trail in Philadelphia on Tuesday to offer a helping hand to Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential nominee's health issues have made headlines since the past few days and triggered wild speculation across the United States and indeed the world after she left the 9/11 anniversary memorial service in New York on Sunday morning early with "overheating" as the reason. In Philadelphia, Obama proclaimed his strong support for Clinton while fiercely blasting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. While it is nothing new for a sitting US president to campaign for his party's nominee, as witnessed in the last 240 years of US history, it is a practice that does not resonate with a great democracy touted by US politicians like Obama. Obama has famously said that "there is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America." But in campaigning for his party's candidate, he is doing so as the "Democratic president", a role he should not assume. He is the president of all Americans, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians or Green Party alike. His salary, about $400,000 a year, is paid by US taxpayers, regardless of party affiliation. According to USA Today White House correspondent David Jackson, for more than a century, it was regarded as bad form for presidents to actively campaign, even for their own elections. Lame duck presidents have been more active on the stump only in recent decades, to the degree that they are welcome by the nominee. Jackson predicted in June that Obama will become the most active lame duck campaigner in history. By spending time on the campaign trail, the US president is taking away time that should be spent on issues of concern to all Americans, not just his own party's voters. It is not hard to name a few of the top issues - jobs, crime, immigration, a deteriorating infrastructure, the gap between the rich and poor. It would be easy for Americans to dismiss the views of a Chinese on their political system, as I encounter often over the years. But a system that is truly great should consider views not just of its own citizens, but of people from around the world. In China, there is a saying: "I can't tell the true shape of Mount Lushan simply because I myself am in the mountain." It means that only people looking from the outside can see the picture clearly. My views about how to improve the US presidential election system certainly are not limited to this. The campaign finance system is deeply flawed because much of the money has been spent on negative campaign ads that are personal attacks or endorsements. The facts are often distorted. And this is especially true for those negative ads run by so-called super PACs - political action committees that pool campaign contributions and donate the funds to rally for or against candidates. There should clearly be a limit on the amount of such funds if Americans want to get rid of the "money in politics", as Obama himself has complained. Some campaign ads are so nasty that the whole presidential race no longer looks healthy. An ethical code is needed as to what should be allowed and forbidden in those campaign ads. There is no doubt that some candidates believe that a lie repeated often enough becomes truth, a quote from Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. These are some of the defects in the US presidential election system, and if fixed, they will make the US political system much more functional and attractive. The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com UK tourism authorities have launched a Chinawide campaign using social media and the internet aimed atattracting visitors to Britain during the Golden Week public holiday in October that marks China's National Day. The latest campaign in China, entitled #OMGB - Britain, Home of Amazing Moments, features a wide range of activities and places considered attractive to Chinese visitors. OMGB stands for Oh My Great Britain. Last year was a bumper year for Chinese visitors to Britain, with numbers rising by 47 percent on 2014. "Although the statistics for MayJune aren't yet in,anecdotal reports show the trend is rising,"according to Jo Leslie,China UK business development manager at Visit Britain,the UK's main tourism organization. "Anecdotal feedback from the travel trade is that this summer has been very busy, with most tour operators reporting modest growth on last year." But Brian Bickell,chairman of the UKChina Visa Alliance, a tourist industry pressure group,believes more can be done to attract Chinese visitors,particularly through changes to the visa system. "Some 120 million Chinese traveled abroad last year.Frustratingly,the UK has not yet reaped the full benefit of Chinese outbound travel,"he said."Britain has long lagged behind our main European rivals in the number of Chinese visitors." The campaign in China is not solely aimed at traditional tourist attractions,such as London's Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and others. A video produced by VisitBritain features climbing in the picturesque but rugged Lake District,watching a rugby union match in Cardiff and taking in the sights and experiences of Shakespeare's birthplace at StratforduponAvon. Key to the campaign has been signing up various attractions and local organizations in the UK - more than 400 have agreed to take part so far this year.They will compete to win the Great China Welcome of the Year Award. Joining the Great China Welcome Charter involves proving that the product or service offered is already popular with Chinese visitors,has Mandarin or Cantonese speaking staff members,signs and information printed in Chinese, staff trained in Chinese etiquette,and links to a peer organization in China. In 2015,269,631 Chinese visitors came to the UK, spending an average of 2,174 pounds each.Overall that year,Chinese visitors spent 586.22 million pounds,an increase of 17.84 percent on 2014,according to UK government statistics. Tourism officials say they expect numbers to rise because of a fall in the value of sterling since Britain voted to leave the European Union and an increase in the number of direct flights between China and the UK. Visit Britain chief executive Sally Balcombe said Britain has become one of the top 10 destinations for Chinese travelers. "We are making it easier to get here,with increased route development and airline seat capacity,"she said. In addition,Britain has introduced a new twoyear multiple entry visa for Chinese visitors. The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Jeffrey Mountevans, sealed agreements with his Chinese counterparts to further financial collaboration during his weeklong visit to China. His delegation's visit to Beijing,Shanghai,Tianjin and Hong Kong was Mountevans' first visit to Chinasince Britain voted in June to leave the European Union. Mountevans told China Daily in an exclusive interview he was glad to find that Chinese regulators' and investors' desire to work with the UK had not been deterred by Brexit. "Going out there,I was actually uncertain what I may be asked about Brexit,but the businesses and government were not so interested(in this). They were much more interested in the opportunities,"he said. Although Mountevans was an advocate of Britain remaining in the EU,after the referendum he has been keen to promote opportunities for London to strengthen ties with global partners.He feels his views are shared by his Chinese counterparts. "I had a meeting with an important Chinese regulator, who said,'Before,I thought of London as a European financial center,and now I look on it as a world financial center'," Mountevans said. He also met with insurance and banking regulators,visited the China Foreign Exchange Trade System,the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shanghai Clearing House. He said he was impressed by the warm welcome his team received wherever it went. The trip came before the British government approved the Hinkley Point nuclear power station on Thursday, a key issue for SinoBritish relations,with onethird of the investment coming from China."Everyone I met was very positive.Hinkley was not a concern,"Mountevans said. He said his biggest achievement was to discuss opportunities for more regular financial discussions on specific issues,such as green finance,maritime finance and the Belt and Road Initiative. Green finance Mountevans' team in the City of London has contributed extensively toward collaborating with China to push green finance,which was placed on this month's G20 Leaders Summit agenda in Hangzhou by China for the first time. The G20 green finance study group,chaired by the People's Bank of China and the Bank of England,presented a report with suggestions at the G20 Summit,which was accepted and endorsed by world leaders. Mountevans also highlighted the UK's enthusiasm to support China's attempts to encourage infrastructure investment as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.The Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives - transportation infrastructure projects linking Asia and Europe were launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013. "China has dreamed this imaginative,strategic initiative. The UK can have specialist input in a lot of those projects," Mountevans said. He also addressed the International Shipping Strategic Development Forum in Shanghai,which is held in partnership with Maritime London,a promotional body of the UK's maritime service industry, which Mountevans chairs. He said the UK's centuries of expertise in maritime financial services gives it a strong foundation to help China develop in this field. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion that occurred on September 17, 2016 at approximately 8:30 pm in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street, New York.[Photo/NYPD] Authorities investigating the New York explosion case were searching on Monday for a 28-year-old New Jersey man who may be armed and dangerous, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The New York Police Department (NYPD) released a photo of Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized US citizen of Afghan descent who was wanted for questioning in the Saturday night explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, de Blasio said on CNN. Federal authorities now believe the weekend explosion that injured 29 people in Chelsea, where another explosive device was found nearby, was linked to as many as six explosive devices found in Elizabeth, Homeland Security officials told Reuters. The explosions came days before world leaders prepared to gather at the United Nations in New York for the annual General Assembly. "We're going to have more security personnel than ever assembled over this next week during the UN General Assembly," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on CNN. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in television interviews that President Barack Obama, who is already in New York, was being briefed on the case. Cuomo acknowledged there might be an international connection in the case. "The evidence might suggest a foreign connection," Cuomo said in television interviews on Monday morning. Investigators believe there are more people involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots than just Rahami, but they do not have a good idea who those people are, two US officials told Reuters. An Federal Bureau of Investigation poster says Rahami was a resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey, where agents were executing a search warrant on Monday morning after explosive devices were found at a train station in that city, Mayor Christian Bollwage told CNN. Warning that Rahami could be armed, De Blasio urged residents to be vigilant and report sightings to authorities. Cuomo said that, while the bombs discovered in Manhattan and New Jersey were not identical, there were "certain commonalities" among the chemicals and technologies used. The raid in Elizabeth came hours after an explosive device left near a train station there blew up when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site, the mayor said. No one was injured in the blast from the device, which had been left in a backpack placed in a trash can near the station and a bar, Bollwage told reporters earlier. As many as five potential explosive devices tumbled out of the backpack when it was emptied, Bollwage said. After cordoning off the area, a bomb squad used a robot to cut a wire to try to disable the device but inadvertently set off an explosion, he said. The Chelsea blast followed a pipe bomb explosion on Saturday morning along the route of a running race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No one was injured in that blast. Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in New York City, is seen in this image released by the New Jersey State Police on Sept 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - An Afghanistan-born American sought in connection with a series of bombings that wounded 29 people in the New York City area over the weekend was in custody after a gun battle with police on Monday, a New Jersey mayor said. Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was captured after firing at police officers in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles (32 km) outside New York, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. Two officers were shot, one in the hand and the other in a bullet-proof vest, he said. "Mr. Rahami also sustained shots and an ambulance has taken him away," Bollwage said. Video from WABC television showed a conscious man described as Rahami on a gurney and being loaded into an ambulance. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two US officials told Reuters. Earlier on Monday, New York Police had released a photo of Rahami, 28, and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. In addition to the two incidents, officials are probing a backpack containing bombs found in a New Jersey train station on Sunday, and an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb located blocks away from the Chelsea blast site. No one was injured in the other blasts. As reports of Rahami being taken in custody were being released, US President Barack Obama said he saw no connection between the explosions and a separate weekend incident where a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead. He said authorities are investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism. The man in the Minnesota incident was described a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group's news agency said on Sunday. NEW YORK -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday met with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the ongoing 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday meets with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the ongoing 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). [Photo/Xinhua] Li and Obama are in New York attending the UNGA session that opened earlier last week. Earlier in September, they were both present at the 11th East Asia Summit in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. Li, accompanied by his wife Cheng Hong and other senior Chinese officials, arrived in New York as guest of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday. The premier is scheduled to outline China's stance on major issues including international order, global governance, and peace and development, while addressing the general debate of the UNGA session. During his stay in New York, Li is also expected to meet with Ban and hold talks with some state leaders. NEW YORK -- Premier Li Keqiang arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sept 18 to attend a series of high-level meetings of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the invitation of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Premier Li Keqiang arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sept 18. [Photo/Xinhua] Premier Li said that this year is the 45th anniversary of China's resumption of its legitimate seat at the UN. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China actively supports its development and defends the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, the Premier said. He also said that China is glad to join hands with other participants to make contributions to cope with global challenges and promote peace and development in the world. Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN; Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the United States; and Zhang Qiyue, consul general in New York, welcomed the Premier and his wife, Cheng Hong, at the airport. During his stay in New York, Premier Li, besides attending the General Assembly session, will chair a symposium on sustainable development and take part in the General Assembly high-level meeting on the refugee issue and a leaders' summit on the same topic. He also will meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and some state leaders. The Premier will hold a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama and meet American economic, financial, think tank and media representatives. He also will attend events held by some institutions, including the Economic Club of New York. Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN. [Photo/Xinhua] UNITED NATIONS -- Premier Li Keqiang is to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 18-21, and to offer the Chinese measures to help promote peace and development of the international community, said a Chinese diplomate in UN on Sunday. Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, said during an interview with Xinhua that, as the world's most authoritative and representative intergovernmental organization, the UN has been contributing heavily to safeguarding world peace and promoting common development since its founding in 1945. "Against the backdrop of the current complicated international situation, the role of the UN has never been so important," said Liu. This year also marks the 45 anniversary of the restoration of China's seat in the UN. As a firm supporter and practitioner of multilateralism, China will contribute its efforts in protecting world peace and motivating development, the Chinese diplomat said. First, China will lead international development and cooperation, and promote implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. "As the world's largest developing country, China has a unique advantage in implementing creative, harmonious, green, open and shared development, as well as promoting development and cooperation among countries," the Chinese envoy pointed out. In early September, China successfully hosted the Group of 20 Summit. For the first time China put the issue of development on top of its world policy agenda, thus injecting vigor in global development, Liu recalled. Second, China plans to play a bigger role in safeguarding international peace and security. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alibaba's chairman Jack Ma show lobsters from Canada at the headquarters of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Sept 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Cross-border e-commerce has become a new bridge linking business and trade between China and Canada, unleashing huge opportunities for not only enterprises but also government bodies in both countries. The latest case in point was the strategic partnership between Jumore, a Chinese e-commerce platform for bulk commodities, and Canadian firm WPIC, signed at the annual meeting of the Canada China Business Council in early September. Jumore also wants to join Canada's largest railway network owner for potential cooperation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attributes the huge potential to the rapid growth of the Chinese middle class. "That means a bigger market for quality Canadian food, like beef and pork, but also for lobster and cherries," he told the Canada China Business Council as part of his official visit to China in early September. Meanwhile, Canada, joining 18 other countries, has launched its pavilion in Alibaba's Tmall Global platform, witnessed by the visiting Canadian prime minister and Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma ahead of the G20 leaders' summit in Hangzhou. This will provide Chinese consumers with earlier access to Canadian brands, including yoga apparel-maker Lululemon and Clearwater Seafoods. Apart from the launch, the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service in China (TCS) also formed a strategic partnership with Alibaba, aiming to better facilitate the flow of goods and services between Canada and China, especially by way of e-commerce. China is now Canada's second largest trading partner and also its second largest export market. New statistics from AliResearch ranked Canada in 7th place among the G20 member states in terms of its e-commerce connectivity with China. "The development of Canadian e-commerce industry still lags behind their US and European counterparts, but it is catching with the global trend," said Zhang Zhouping, senior analyst with the China E-commerce Research Center. "As such, Canada is in urge need of collaboration with foreign e-commerce platforms like Alibaba, so as to provide more online support for its traditional enterprises at home." Sales of China's cross-border e-commerce have been estimated to hit more than $85 billion by the end of 2016, up from more than $57 billion last year, according to data from digital marketing researcher eMarketer. Alizila contributed to the story. Premier Li says $100 million earmarked for countries and international groups Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks at a high-level meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants at the United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan, New York, US September 19, 2016. [Photo by Zhao Huanxin/chinadaily.com.cn] China pledged $100 million in humanitarian aid on Monday to help countries and international organizations to resolve refugee and migrant crises and will consider additional support measures. The vow was made by Premier Li Keqiang when he addressed a meeting at the United Nations on refugees and migrants. Li said China would also consider using part of the China-UN peace and development fund to support refugee and migrant work in developing countries, and to explore ways to enhance cooperation with developing countries and international agencies. President Xi Jinping announced China's decision to establish a 10-year, $1 billion China-UN peace and development fund during the 70th session of the UN General Assembly last year. Li said resolution of the refugee and migrant issue calls for ramped-up international cooperation and efforts by native countries of refugees and migrants. He said China has actively joined efforts to resolve refugee and migrant issues. The number of displaced people reached a record 65.3 million at the end of last year, an increase of more than 5 million from 2014, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers and 40.8 million migrants. Opening the daylong session, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders to commit to "upholding the rights and dignity of everyone forced by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life". Li arrived in New York with his wife, Cheng Hong, on Sunday afternoon, marking his first visit to UN headquarters as premier. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the restoration of China's rightful seat at the UN. China was one of the founding members of the international organization, but until 1971 its seat was held, with help from the United States and its allies, by authorities of China's island of Taiwan. In July, Li met with Ban, and in August he met with Peter Thomson, president of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, when they visited Beijing. During his four-day stay in the city, Li is expected to offer China's viewpoints on major issues regarding the international order, global governance and peace and development. "An active supporter of all causes of the UN, China strongly defends the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and actively participates in the work of the UN as a permanent member of its Security Council," Li said upon his arrival. "China is willing to work with all sides to make contributions to better address global challenges and promote world peace and development." The premier is scheduled to attend the annual general debate and roll out a raft of pragmatic measures to support the UN's work in coping with global challenges, such as terrorism and the refugee crisis, according to the Foreign Ministry. Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, said Li would offer measures to help promote peace and development throughout the international community. Hong Xiao and Xinhua contributed to this story. Contact the writers at zhao-huanxin@chinadaily.com.cn (Photo : GettyImages/ChinaPhotos) A report by the Bank for International Settlement shows that Chinas credit-to-gross domestic product gap has touched 30.1 percent. Advertisement The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a leading global financial watchdog, has raised concerns about the growing level of banking stress in China. A report released by the BIS highlighted China's increasing corporate debt. China's banking stress level in the first quarter was at its highest since 1995. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The report showed that China's credit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) has "gap" touched 30.1 percent. Any level above 10 percent indicates a concerning level of banking strain. Such a large credit-to-GDP gap may forecast a financial bust as it indicates excessive credit growth. According to Bloomberg, the level of risk indicated by the "gap" may be mitigated by the fact that in China, the financial system is controlled by the state. The country's relatively low levels of overseas debt may also provide some relief. The People's Bank of China issued a financial stability report in June which showed that lenders might be able to maintain high levels of capital, even in the case of shocks. The Telegraph reported that China's total credit was reported at 255 percent of its GDP as at the end of last year. It has jumped by 107 percent over the course of eight years. China's outstanding loans are at $28 trillion, while the country's corporate debt stood at 171 percent of its GDP. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also raised concerns about rising debt levels which "must be addressed immediately." The current gap in China's credit-to-GDP shown by the latest BIS report surpassed the levels of 41 other countries and the eurozone. Advertisement TagsBank of International Settlements, BIS, people's bank of china, International Monetary Fund (Photo : Getty images) China's President Xi Jinping (R), Former Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) and the imprisoned aide to former Chinese President Hu Jintao, Ling Jihua (Below). Advertisement Ling Zhengce, 64, the former chairman of the Shanxi People's Political Consultative Conference, has been charged with engaging in corrupt practices while in office. Ling is the brother of Ling Jihua, who served as an aide to President Hu Jintao. Ling was charged by the Chinese Supreme Court on Sunday. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The court stated that Ling illegally used his political status to benefit others as well as himself. "Ling Zhengce had used his political position to seek benefits for others, including illegitimate gains and illegally accepting large assets from others," a statement released by the court said. "Ling should be held criminally responsible, in accordance with the law." Ling is set to be tried in Changzhou, a city located in the far eastern province of Jiangsu. Ling Zhengce was dismissed from his official position in August 2015 following allegations of graft. Ling's brother, Ling Jihua, 59, was sentenced to life imprisonment in June after he was found guilty of accepting bribes valued at over 77 million yuan ($11.5 million). Besides Ling, a former member of the Communist Party in Shanxi, Chen Chuanping; and Sun Hongzhi, the former director of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, have also been charged with corruption China's Vice Premier Ma Kai described the corruption crisis in Shanxi as a cancer. Since 2012 when he took power, President Xi Jinping has relentlessly strived to do away with corruption in the Chinese government. Advertisement Tagschina, President Xi Jinping, retired President Hu Jintao, Graft (Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Two Chinese consortiums are vying against two other large bidders for National Grid's $14.32 billion gas business. Advertisement State-backed China Gas has joined forces with Club Med owner Fosun to bid for a controlling stake in National Grid's $14.32 billion gas business, which supplies about 11 million homes and businesses in Britain. The Chinese consortium gatecrashed the auction of the gas pipelines less than a week after Prime Minister Theresa May announced that Britain is tightening its restrictions on foreign investment in key national infrastructure. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement According to the Telegraph, National Grid, which was put in the market by FTSE 100 giant in 2015, is thought to be valued at $14.32 billion. More than half (51 percent) of its stake has been put up for sale. Fosun and China Gas will be competing with two other large bidders; Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Australian bank Macquarie, which is believed to be backed by China Investment Corporation. The first round of bidding is due to be concluded at the end of the month. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from National Grid said: "We will not speculate on the identity of potential bidders. Regardless of their identity, all bidders will have to go through the same rigorous approval process." National Grid has four gas distribution pipelines supplying gas across the Midlands, the North West, Eastern England, and North London. According to the Daily Mail, it is offloading its pipelines to focus more on profitable areas of its business. Meanwhile, Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat leader, criticized the move saying "This government is getting it completely wrong when it comes to energy security." "Instead of working with our allies... we are offering up our aging systems based on fossil fuels to the highest bidder, without considering whether it is in our long-term national interest." Advertisement TagsChina Gas, Fosun, National Grid, gas business, gas (Photo : Getty Images) China marked the 85th anniversary of the 'Mukden Incident' on Sunday. Advertisement Thousands of Chinese people on Sunday gathered at a ceremony in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the 'Mukden Incident' in which Japanese troops bombarded a garrison housing 7,000 Chinese forces in Shenyang on September 18, 1931. This turned out to be the prelude to the 14-year Japanese invasion of China. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China's Vice Premier Liu Yandong led the bell-tolling ceremony, which included World War II veterans, Communist Party officials, local government officials, and citizens. The bell was struck 14 times; representing the number of years that Chinese troops fought against Japanese aggressors. In his speech, Liu said China is a peace-loving nation and would uphold its sovereignty at all cost. He said the country will never forget the incident and would continue to draw strength from the Chinese forces who died, describing them as heroes. 500 Chinese soldiers More than 500 Chinese soldiers perished during the Japanese attacks on the Chinese garrison in Shenyang on the evening of September 18, 1931. Liu said the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people are committed to upholding peace and performing their duty in promoting world peace, stability, and development. He rallied the Chinese people to uphold patriotism, and to remember the spirit of the soldiers who died fighting against Japanese aggressors and use it in realizing China's dream of a rejuvenated nation. Staged event After the ceremony, the group proceeded to a museum dedicated to the memory of the Mukden Incident. The September 18, 1931 attack was a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for Japan's invasion of northeastern China in 1931. Japanese forces blew up part of a railway under their control and accused Chinese forces of committing the act. That night, more than 500 Japanese troops opened fire on a Chinese garrison housing 7,000 troops, killing more than 500 Chinese military personnel and two Japanese soldiers. The attacks would prove to be a prelude to the 14-year occupation of China by Japanese forces. Advertisement TagsSeptember 18 Incident, Shenyang, Chinese soldiers, Communist Party of China, Japanese occupation, china, Mukden Incident (Photo : TASS) PLAN Marines wave the Russian flag at Joint Sea 2016. Advertisement China and Russia took advantage of their ongoing Joint Sea-2016 naval war games in the South China Sea to bolster combat coordination among their marines, especially in soldier-to-soldier communications. The joint China-Russia drill involves warships from the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) South Sea Fleet based at Zhanjiang responsible for operations in the South China Sea, and the Russian Pacific Fleet based at Vladivostok. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China said both countries deployed destroyers, submarines, fixed wing fighter jets, ship borne helicopters, amphibious assault craft and marines during the exercise from Sept. 12 to 19. Ominously, both countries conducted "island seizing" operations where their marines attacked "enemy-held" islands in the South China Sea. Men from the PLAN Marine Corps and Russian Naval Infantry (or Russian Marines) also participated in live-fire exercises, defense and landing maneuvers on an unspecified island. The PLA admitted military exchanges between China and Russia involve more frequent soldier-to-soldier communications. "In the past, China-Russia joint exercises gave much more attention to the communications between commanders of the two sides. But this time there are more programs involving the exchanges between soldiers," said PLA Senior Colonel Shi Zhigang. Shi, who was in charge of the Chinese and Russian marines' training programs in the drill, said soldier-to-soldier communications were important to the joint exercise because troops will cooperate better through this kind of training. "The two navies have already carried out drills in the country's North and East seas, and it's natural that we should have exercises in the South China Sea," he said. Shi added that it was the duty of China's military to protect "every inch of national territory." The China-Russia joint naval exercises were held at the South China Sea for the first time in five naval drills. In 2015, they were conducted in the Mediterranean in May and in the Sea of Japan this August. Shi, leader of the marines' drills, said that the international community should not read too much into the site of exercises. Sergey Shimankin, a Russian marines' commander, said he hoped Russian troops would hone their combat abilities through the joint exercise. He spoke highly of the Chinese marines' training and said he expected both sides would cooperate better because of the joint operations. Advertisement Tagschina, Russia, Joint Sea 2016, South China Sea Dispute, People's Liberation Army Navy, South Sea Fleet, Russian Pacific Fleet, PLAN Marine Corps, Russian Naval Infantry (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua has accused Japan of deciding to partake in joint patrols with the US in the South China Sea to get back at China over their territorial dispute in the East China Sea Advertisement Japan's decision to participate in joint patrols with the United States in the contested South China Sea is a ploy by Tokyo to gain a "bargaining chip" in its dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Islands in China) in the East China Sea, China's state-run news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement In an editorial, Xinhua said Japan has "ulterior motives" for interfering in the South China Sea including seeking favors from the United States and drumming up support from the international community for its territorial row with China over the Senkaku Islands. The editorial said Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued a warning to Japan for crossing what he described as a "red line" by joining forces with the US to conduct freedom of navigation patrols and multilateral military exercises with regional navies in the South China Sea. Fishing "As keeping maritime order in the South China Sea is a shared duty of the region's coastal states, the huge interest an outsider like Japan has shown in following in the footsteps of the United States can hardly be justified," the editorial said. The editorial added that Japan is obviously "fishing" in the waters of the South China Sea by increasing its military presence and not truly seeking to promote regional peace. The commentary argued that the only interest Japan has in joining the US in joint patrols in the strategic waterway is to use it as a "bargaining chip" in its conflict with China over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. No stone unturned "On this issue, Japan has left no stone unturned in stirring up the waters to cause tensions with, for instance, its recent plan to cheaply sell arms to India in return for the latter's voice against China." the editorial pointed out. The editorial comes on the heels of the Japanese government's announcement that it will step up its activities in the South China Sea which includes joining US forces in freedom of navigation patrols and engaging in bilateral and multilateral naval exercises with regional navies. In July, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled for the Philippines over China's in a case about the ownership of territories in the disputed South China Sea. Manila filed the case against China in 2013. The ruling said that China has no legal basis to claims to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea under its nine-dash line. The court also ruled that Beijing had violated the rights of the Philippines to explore resources within its exclusive economic zone. China did not participate in the court proceedings and rejected the ruling, dismissing it as "illegal" and "null and void." The disputed South China Sea is believed to have large deposits of gas and oil, and more than 40 percent of global ship-borne trade passes through the area each year. Besides China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, and Malaysia have competing claims to the strategic waterway. Advertisement TagsUS-Japan joint patrols, South China Sea, Senkaku Islands, Military exercises, Freedom of navigation patrols, United States, china, Japan (Photo : CASC) China's CH-4 aerial drone armed with missiles and smart bombs is a popular export. Advertisement China's position as the world's third largest arms exporter has nothing to do with it providing high quality weapons or superior military technology. Chinese weapons aren't famous for their sophistication but are in demand because they're cheap, really cheap. That means a country can, quite literally, get more bang per buck with Chinese weapons than they would with similar Russian or American weapons. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China's emphasis on low prices helped make it the world's third top arms exporter in 2015, selling nearly $2 billion worth of arms, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. From 2011 to 2015, China was also the world's third largest arms exporter, accounting for some six percent of the total arms market. This is nearly double China's arms exports from 2006 to 2010. China's weapons, however, were bought by only a few and mostly poor countries, a testimony to their low prices. From 2011 to 2015, 71 percent of all Chinese arms sales went to only three countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. The remainder mostly went to poorer countries such as Algeria, Sudan and Tanzania, all in Africa. China has also made inroads in Iraq. Since the start of this year, the Iraqi Army has posted videos on YouTube showing its small fleet of CH-4B aerial drones made in China destroying vehicles, fighters and buildings belonging to the murderous Islamic terrorists called ISIL or Daesh. Iraq is the leading combat operator of these drones armed with Chinese-made, precision strike AR-1 missiles and FT-5 precision guided bombs. A CH-4B (Cai Hong-4B) can mount up to six 45 kg AR-1 semi-active laser-guided missiles. Iraq first used its CH-4B in combat in October 2015 and since then has deployed the drone to deadly effect. CH-4 is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle system designed and built by China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (also known as the 11th Academy) of the China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (CASC) consortium. The reason for the CH-4s popularity in the Middle East and Africa is its price: a CH-4 costs only $1 million compared to the price tag of $30 million for the MQ-9 Predator. Another reason is the no questions asked policy of CASC in contrast to the Americans who strictly limit the sale of the Predator to countries with acceptable humans rights records. The Cai Hong-class in its different models has been sold to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Nigeria. In addition, China has sold eight Yuan-class submarines to Pakistan and three to Thailand. It's also sold tanks to Myanmar and anti-ship cruise missiles to Indonesia. Advertisement Tagschina's economy, arms exporter, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, weapons, CH-4B aerial drones, Iraq, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (Photo : Guosen Securities ) The late Chen Hongqiao who committed suicide. Advertisement The unending spate of suicides among government and military officials accused by Beijing of corruption highlights the fallout from a deadly power struggle between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his political rivals in the Communist Party of China (CPC). It also sheds a discomfiting light on the motivation of some of those accused that sought to prevent the destruction of their families by Xi's vengeful sycophants. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The number of officials committing suicides is unprecedented. The official Guangming Daily newspaper reported 68 officials committed suicide between 2003 and 2012 when Hu Jintao was president. That number was easily exceeded in the first two years of Xi's administration with at least 77 officials committing suicide. Xi took office in November 2012. That number has certainly risen since 2015 and might now exceed 100 suicides. Chinese media is now focusing a light on the human cost of this purge, noting that by killing themselves, people under investigation by the government for alleged corruption can bring a decisive end to an investigation that will likely destroy their families, as well. This was clearly on the mind of the late Chen Hongqiao, 49, president of state-owned Guosen Securities Company in Shenzhen, who took his life on Oct. 22, 2015 after being accused by Beijing of being one of those responsible for the stock market crash in 2015 that wiped out billions of dollars. Chen, who hanged himself from the balcony of his home in Shenzhen, left a note to the government stating: "Please leave my wife and children alone." Suicides are also rampant among the senior ranks of the demoralized People's Liberation Army (PLA), the armed forces of the communist party. Chinese media reported that this August, three Chinese military officers committed suicides. Their deaths are suspected to be linked to Xi's anti-corruption drive against allegedly corrupt military officials and those allied with his political foes, former Chinese presidents Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, who preceded Xi. Maj. Gen. Chen Jie, 54, of the Southern Theatre Command committed suicide on Aug. 5 by taking an overdose of sleeping pills, but Beijing claims there is no conclusive evidence his suicide was linked to corruption. Previous to Chen's suicide, a publicity director of a political office in Nanjing, also belonging to the Southern Theatre Command, also committed suicide. Senior Captain Li Fuwen, director of the navy's logistics enterprises management center, leapt to his death from a building in the navy's complex in Beijing. Media reported all the three suicides came after two former leading generals -- Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong of the powerful Central Military Commission -- were being investigated for corruption. Analysts believe this series of suicides indicated Xi's campaign against graft within the PLA had entered its second round. More suicides are expected. Advertisement Tagssuicides, china, Xi Jinping, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Chen Hongqiao, Guosen Securities Farrakhan to black congregation: White Americans made you sin 19 September, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) Blacks kill other blacks, push drugs, rape and lie because white Americans have made them do it, Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, told a packed and enthusiastic audience at a church in Washington, D.C., Sept. 18. During the hour-and-a-half address at Union Temple Baptist Church, Farrakhan said the idea that the white man is responsible for the sins of black people did not originate with him, but with his predecessor, Elijah Muhammad whom he holds up as the messiah who will one day return to earth on a vehicle like a spaceship. According to Farrakhan, Muhammad said blacks were not violent and not guilty of the sins associated with whites until they were forced to "sojourn" among them for nearly half a millennium. That is why Jesus didn't come to save blacks from their sins, but from the sins of the white man. My teacher, the honorable Elijah Muhammad, said, 'Not saving you from your sins, but saving you from the sins of white people that you have learned by your sojourn among them for 460 years. You never were in Africa what you've become today. "My teacher, the honorable Elijah Muhammad, said, 'Not saving you from your sins, but saving you from the sins of white people that you have learned by your sojourn among them for 460 years. You never were in Africa what you've become today," Farrakhan said. "You're not yourself. You're a white person in black skin. That's why it's so easy for you to kill your brother, lie on your sister, rape your daughter. It's easy for you to do those foul things to yourself and one another because the enemy has made us into himself." Ironically, Elijah Muhammad was accused by Malcolm X of fathering multiple children with teenage staff members in the 1960s. Malcolm X was later assassinated for making the claim and supposedly challenging Muhammad's leadership. Farrakhan also told the congregation that blacks who behave improperly should be labeled like a suit coat, "Made in America." "So if I'm a homosexual, I was made in America. If I'm a lesbian, I was made in America. If I'm a drug dealer and a drug user, I was made in America. And a wine bibber, and a fornicator, and an adulterer, and a raper of my children ... I was made in America," he said. Farrakhan said "negroes" had been made sick by following the white man and hoping that God would "lighten" them up a little bit. Blacks do not realize, however, that the light skinned are used as a "buffer" between whites and "darker-skinned negroes." Farrakhan also used the racial slur, "Ni----," a dozen times in the sermon. He said eate black people as that. He only creates real black men after his image and likeness. "If God is your creator and he created you in his image and after his likeness, how could you be anything but a little god who will one day grow up to be just like your creator," Farrakhan said, as he warned against allowing "Crackers" (white people) to interpret the Bible any other way. At times the address diverted to personal critiques of those not black enough, such as Tiger Woods. Farrakhan said Woods "hit a little white ball" in order "to get a white woman," who then went after his money. He also blamed whites for poisoning the drinking water in Flint, Mich., and said whites had convinced black women not to breastfeed. He talked about the breasts of black women "serving the purpose of God" for millions of years. "My mother was a big-breasted woman. I don't remember how I was. I was young. But I was bounded to my mother ... she was a midnight black woman," Farrakhan said. During the address, Farrakhan lit into Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He said Trump would put blacks "on a rocket ship to hell," but he said Hillary was headed there as well. Judgment, he added, was now on America as evidenced by the recent natural disasters in the South and elsewhere. Such events cannot be escaped, he said, unless whites make amends and offer "justice" in the form of reparations and a land of their own. But blacks shouldn't expect Clinton or Trump to fulfill the empty promises made in the past. "None of them can deter the wrath of God that has entered into America that you see in the forces of nature he is using against America. The only way they can slow down the wrath of God is to give you the justice you deserve," he said. Regarded by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Semite and hate preacher, Farrakhan also said God "didn't come to integrate" blacks and whites. "Our children are the ones God has marked to enter the Promised Land," the black Muslim leader said. Union Temple Baptist Church claims it was founded as a Missionary Baptist Church. It also offers an "Afro-Centric" version of religion. On its web page, it describes its sanctuary which features a "30-foot by 19-foot mural depicting the Last Supper. It not only has the image of a black Christ, but also has the twelve disciples depicted as twelve significant Africans and African Americans, among them Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X." Malaysian authorities say they did not remove Christ from latest Ben Hur film 19 September, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Christian Examiner) When New Mexico Gov. Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur in 1880 a book adapted for the big screen on three occasions now its subtitle was "A Tale of the Christ." For filmgoers in Malaysia, however, the newest version of the film abandons the tenet of faith depicted in the book and its cinematic adaptions. That's because scenes depicting Jesus Christ were cut from the 2016 remake before it was released to the Malaysian public. Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country, in spite of the fact that it is in Southeast Asia. I felt cheated. The novel from which this movie is adapted is Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ. It means Jesus is central to the plot. It was censored so much the storyline made no sense! How did Judah's mother and sister get cured from leprosy? Just who ordered the deletion of the scenes featuring Jesus is somewhat of a mystery. The chairman of the country's Film Censorship Board (LPF), Datuk Abdul Halim, said he did not recall seeing any scenes featuring Christ in the version of the film submitted for review by the board. He also insisted that the board did not know if scenes were cut and who cut them. "Maybe, but not by us; probably by producers when they sent the film to Malaysia, they already cut the scenes. They know (there's) some sensitivities," Halim told the Malay Mail Online. That move would be highly unusual for the film's producers, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, who were also behind the mini-series, The Bible. Their goal, they said, was to introduce the idea of divine forgiveness to viewers in the film. "Woven into the fabric of it is the story of faith," Downey said before the film's release this summer. "It is because [Judah Ben-Hur] has an encounter with Jesus Christ that Judah's heart is open. There, at the foot of the cross, we see his hardness drop away." Now, however, those scenes are gone and the film is 11 minutes shorter than its runtime in the West. That upset many fans who went to see the film. They soon went online to raise questions about how the character of Christ and His actions, central to the plot, could be removed. For example, they pointed to scenes from the book and earlier screen adaptations where Judah Ben-Hur's family is cured of leprosy. "I felt cheated. The novel from which this movie is adapted is Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ. It means Jesus is central to the plot. It was censored so much the storyline made no sense! How did Judah's mother and sister get cured from leprosy?" Jasmine Sia, who saw the film Friday, told the Malay Mail Online. "They just appeared at the end of the movie healed. That's why it made no sense. The original story was that when Jesus died, they got healed." Rodrigo Santoro, the actor who played Jesus in the movie, did not appear in the film at all, she also said. The edited version of Ben Hur was distributed for Malaysian audiences by United International Pictures (UIP) Malaysia. On its Facebook page, the distributor fielded comments from moviegoers disappointed with the cuts. One viewer, Farshid Rezaee, said there should have been a disclaimer on the film about the deleted scenes. "I chose to watch that movie precisely because of its strong Christian message. The movie made no sense without those scenes. Is there an obligation to screen a movie like this knowing you have to remove crucial scenes? Had I known about those changes, I would not have paid any money for it." Another patron wrote that the film had been "chopped up." He said he was encouraging his friends to go to Singapore to watch the film. In an earlier Facebook post, a digital film poster in the form of a GIF a moving picture file used on social media showed Santoro, who played Jesus. Below his picture, the text read, "Teacher, Prophet, Savior." The ad likely led moviegoers to believe the film would be presented in its original format. Not so, according to UIP Malaysia. According to the company, it "is required to oblige local legal requirements and guidelines for the movie to be released locally in the market." The distributor never directly said, however, that it altered the film before its submission to the censorship board for review. The guidelines mentioned by the company are based on Islamic laws which prohibit the promotion of any other religion. One regulation claims films that promote "polytheism of Allah" are not allowed. Polytheism is a frequent though baseless charge made against Christians by Muslims. Another rule claims a film or portions of it may be banned if offensive to another religion. A terminally ill minor has been euthanized in Belgium, becoming the first child to be euthanized in the country since Belgium removed its age restrictions on euthanasia two years ago. According to CNN, the child was suffering from an incurable disease and had asked for euthanasia, Sen. Jean-Jacques De Gucht said. "I think it's very important that we, as a society, have given the opportunity to those people to decide for themselves in what manner they cope with that situation," said Gucht, a supporter of euthanasia legislation. Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002 and then in 2014 the bill was extended to those under the age of 18 with the provision that the child understood was euthanasia means. Parental consent must also be given. "This can only be in cases of serious and incurable diseases, which is the same thing for adults ... but for minors an additional condition is that the death must be expected in the near future," said Jacqueline Herremans, president of Belgiums Association for the Right to Die with Dignity. Meanwhile, Pastor Denny Burke says that America is not so far behind Belgiums precedent. If life is only reckoned as valuable based on utility or quality of life, then when society deems such lives unworthy of living consent may no longer be required, he wrote in a column on his blog. Utilitarianism can be a conscience-crushing, life-destroying moral argument. And we must oppose it wherever it raises itself up against the image of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). This is a slippery slope that we must not go down, but it appears we are already on the move. Publication date: September 19, 2016 Over one million refugees have been forced to flee the conflict and violence in South Sudan. Stream.org reports that South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but just two years later, internal fighting broke out between government leaders. This sparked an ongoing conflict that has internally displaced 1.6 million people and exiled another million. South Sudan now ranks among Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia as countries that have displaced over one million refugees. Many of South Sudans refugees are seeking asylum in neighboring countries. Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic have all accepted tens of thousands of South Sudanese refugees. The U.S. has praised these nations, many of which are poor and dealing with crises themselves, for opening their borders to refugees in need. Leo Dobbs, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, spoke about the conditions the refugees face: Many refugees arrive exhausted after days walking in the bush and going without food or water, Dobbs said. Many women and girls said they were sexually assaulted during their flight. South Sudan has been threatened with an arms embargo if it refuses to accept 4,000 peacekeepers who will work to protect citizens and to end the civil war. Publication date: September 19, 2016 Almost exactly seven years from the day Philip Zodhiates allegedly helped Lisa Miller flee the country with her young daughter Isabella, he is set to stand trial for international parental kidnapping. Miller became a fugitive in 2009 after being embroiled in a custody battle with her former lesbian partner, Janet Jenkens. Zodhiates is charged with driving Miller and Isabella, then 7, to Rainbow Bridge in New York, where the mother and daughter escaped through Canada to an Amish Mennonite group in Nicaragua. Zodhiates trial has been set for Sept. 20 in Buffalo, New York. The prosecutor claims the case is about religious intolerance of same-sex relationships. Zodhiates, who has pleaded not guilty, maintains he helped Miller flee before a family court transferred custody of Isabella to Jenkens. A defendant cannot conspire to obstruct parental rights that do not exist, his lawyers said in a court filing. Miller and Jenkens moved to Vermont and entered a civil union in 2000, the same year the state legalized same-sex unions. In 2002, Miller conceived Isabella by artificial insemination. After the two dissolved their union in 2004, Miller became a Christian and renounced homosexuality. When she tried to cut off Jenkens from her court-ordered visitation with Isabella, a Vermont judge threatened to grant Jenkens full custody. Fearing she would lose her child, Miller turned to an Amish Mennonite community in her home state of Virginia for help. Pastor Kenneth Miller (not related to Lisa Miller) offered to help her get to the community in Nicaragua and orchestrated her escape. A Vermont court ordered Isabella to be transferred to Jenkens custody on Jan. 1, 2010, but by then, the mother and daughter had fled. Kenneth Miller was later sentenced to 27 months in prison for international parental kidnapping, a decision he appealed unsuccessfully. He began serving his sentence in March. Authorities believe Lisa Miller and Isabella, now 14, are still in Nicaragua, but the Mennonite community there claims it has lost contact with them. Although Millers case was among the first and most widely publicized custody battles between former same-sex partners, it was far from the last. A recent ruling in New York likely will usher in more cases of non-biologically related, non-adoptive adults vying for custody of children. The New York Court of Appeals granted unmarried partners of any sex equal rights to children in the case of a break-up, as long as they were together when the child was conceived. Courtesy: WORLD News Service Publication date: September 19, 2016 Racism is very, very real to those on its receiving end. The dilemma is how distant it can feel to those who are not on its receiving end and, thus, not confronted as vigorously as it should be. This was laid bare in a social experiment where a man (who spoke English) asked strangers in Lithuania to translate a Facebook message he received from Lithuanian to English. At the start of each encounter, the man says he has been in the country for two weeks and wants each Lithuanian to translate a strangers message he cannot understand. He asks: Please, can you translate this for me? On my Facebook page someone wrote it to me. I dont know the person. Handing the Lithuanians his tablet they eagerly begin reading the post. But then, as they read the message, they realize its content. Its a racist message. The ensuing reaction of the various translators, including that of a child, was arresting; captured in a short YouTube video, viewed nearly 4 million times. Suddenly, for the translators the hate is real. The empathy flows. The heart melts. But this is precisely what is missing from most of our lives. Racism is a concept, a hypothetical, a category. Its not an experience. And until it is, we may never rise up against it the way we should. So maybe watch the video again. And start feeling it. James Emery White Sources Click here to watch the experiment. Francis Scott, Heartbreaking video shows man asking strangers to translate a racist Facebook message hes received but they struggle to get the words out, DailyMail, July 21, 2016, read online. About the Author James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated, is available on Amazon. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, visit ChurchAndCulture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite. Massachusetts has become the latest state to approve protected class status for transgender persons, and churches should not expect any exemption from the law that goes into effect Oct. 1. According to the Gender Identity Guidance report by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, churches be can considered places of public accommodation and subjected to fines and penalties for not accommodating transgender persons in accordance with their gender identity. The push to revoke religious liberty protections for churches and faith-based organizations that object to the new definitions of sexuality and gender extends to the federal government, which recently issued its own report about ways to enforce the new cultural order. In the report, ironically titled Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties, U.S. Civil Rights Commission chairman Martin Castro made it clear no such coexistence could happen as long as Christians continue to use the terms religious liberty and religious freedom as code words for a host of hateful and discriminatory actions including Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance. The report, issued Sept. 8, examined the balance struck by courts at all levels in adjudicating claims for religious exemptions from otherwise applicable nondiscrimination law. In March 2013, the commission convened a panel of 11 legal scholars to examine the collision course of religious liberties outlined in the Constitution with the growing number of pro-LGBT municipal and state nondiscrimination laws. Today, as in the past, religion is being used as both a weapon and a shield by those seeking to deny others equality, Castro wrote in his summation of the commissions report. In our nations past, religion has been used to justify slavery and later, Jim Crow laws. We now see religious liberty arguments sneaking their way back into our political and constitutional discourse (just like the concept of state rights) in an effort to undermine the rights of some Americans. The recently amended Massachusetts nondiscrimination law would require churches to allow biological males or biological females to use the restroom and changing facilities that comport to their gender identity during any secular event. Violators could be fined up to $2,500 and face up to one year in prisonor both. But opponents object to describing churches as places of public accommodation. They are places of public worship, and this distinction is critical to understand and protect the constitutional rights of churches to speak and use their buildings only in ways that are consistent with their faith, Erik Stanley, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, told me. The public is not invited to a church to act as they please. Stanley said the fundamental nature of a church does not change when it opens its doors for events not associated with worship. To assume it does is to misunderstand the role of religion under the First Amendmentand that of church in society. Churches invite the public as a means of outreach and to evangelize, he said. Those outreach efforts do not translate them into places the government can regulate and thereby force churches to use their facilities or speak in ways that violate their faith. Government demands for compliance with laws antithetical to a faith-based ministrys tenets threaten that organizations ability to serve the community, according to Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Whelan, one of the 11 panelists invited to address the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, defended religious exemptions from nondiscrimination laws. In his statement to the commission, Whelan criticized President Barack Obamas hostility to religious liberty and moral propositions associated with traditional religious beliefs. The commissions report recommends narrowly crafting any religious exemptions to civil liberties. It also calls for uniform state and federal legislation clarifying that the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA) creates First Amendment Free Exercise Clause rights only for individuals and religious institutions and only to the extent that they do not unduly burden civil liberties and civil rights protections against status-based discrimination. States without RFRA statutes can only create exemptions deemed allowable by pre-RFRA standards which protect religious beliefs rather than conduct. States with RFRA laws should amend them so as not to unduly burden civil liberties and civil rights protections against status-based discrimination. Castros intent is clear. This generation of Americans must stand up and speak out to ensure that religion never again be twisted to deny others the full promise of America, he wrote. Stanley said the commissions report does not have the weight of law but those who want to deny the free exercise of religion can use it to their advantage. Whelan warned the view of churches role in society has changed. Religious institutions and believers are deemed to have value, and to be tolerated, only insofar as they serve the interests of the state and conform themselves to its norms, he wrote. In the progressive dystopia, in the name of diversity everyone must be the same. Courtesy: WORLD News Service Publication date: September 19, 2016 Shalom Disability Ministries, a Korean ministry that has been giving wheelchairs and medical equipment to various countries since September of 1999, will be carrying out its Sending Wheelchairs of Love project for the 34th time, sharing love with Burundi and China. For the past 17 years, the ministry has donated 10,553 wheelchairs and 43,290 other medical equipment. Over 34 projects, the ministry has offered help by sending a total of 53,843 medical equipment to over 50,000 people with disabilities in 12 different countries. This kind of amazing result was made possible first of all by Gods grace, and second by the help of the churches, organizations, and members of the Korean community, said Moses Park, the president of Shalom. With $200, we are able to purchase one wheelchair, and two sets of crutch-like medical equipment, allowing us to help three people. This year, Shalom Disability Ministries will be sending a total of 3,542 equipment, including 642 wheelchairs, 550 aluminum crutches, 100 medical walkers, 1,500 canes, and others. Masked Abortion Thug Destroys Pro-Life Display, Threatens Activist at Ohio University Event COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 19, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- On Friday Sept. 16, 2016 after hours of civil discussion, a male abortion advocate donned a mask and hood and began hammering at Created Equal's pro-life display with a club. See video below: Apparently, this pro-choice terrorist premeditated the attack by first mingling with his fellow abortion supporters. Then, suddenly he concealed his identity with a hood and mask and began swinging wildly at several of the abortion victim images. After vandalizing the display, the masked hoodlum squared-off with a Created Equal staff member in a clear attempt to threaten him with violence if he attempted to apprehend him. Law enforcement was immediately called to the scene. "Preborn defenders have been experiencing an increase in vandalism and violence at campuses across the country. Unfortunately, this attack could signal a new wave of violence towards pro-life advocates. Hooded and masked thugs behaving violently towards a discriminated minority brings back memories of the KKK; in this case, preborn babies are the object of the hatred. Abortion victims are already dead, so this lawbreaker acted out his hatred on the closest representation of the actual abortion victims themselves: the images of those victims. This seems eerily similar to the treatment these babies get from the abortionist. The only difference is this attacker used a club, not a scalpel or suction machine." Mark Harrington, National Director, Created Equal Unfortunately, this jack-booted miscreant escaped before law enforcement arrived. OU police have been provided the footage of the attack in an attempt to identify the suspect and charge him with criminal mischief and menacing. Diamond-Selling Band Journey's Jonathan Cain to Release 'What God Wants to Hear' Oct. 21 "I never had any idea how rich the Bible was with imagery. I got lost in it. It feels like I'm just starting to believe again." -- Jonathan Cain Contact: Johnnie Moore (for Jonathan Cain), 434-426-5310, Johnnie@theKcompany.co LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Jonathan Cain, longtime keyboardist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Journey, co-writer of the No. 1 digital catalog song in history, "Don't Stop Believin'," as well as writer of "Faithfully" and co-writer of "Who's Crying Now," "Open Arms" and many more international hit songs, will release his solo album, What God Wants to Hear, October 21 on Identity Records with The Fuel Music distribution. "Only God can take a mess and turn it into a message, a test into a testimony, a trial into a triumph, a victim into victory," says Cain, describing the heart behind the album's music. Cain, who continues to tour the world with Journey, one of the most popular American rock bands of all time, crafted his new solo album from his personal faith-journey that started in Chicago when, at a young age, he wanted to be a priest. His faith was challenged after he survived a horrific fire in third grade at his school, Our Lady of the Angels School, where 92 of his fellow students along with three nuns died that day. Cain found healing and redemption in music, and his long "journey" eventually led him back to the seminal faith of his youth. Cain's return to his faith coincided with discovering love and healing through Paula White, senior Pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, whom he married in April 2015. Leading worship at his wife's annual women's conference, Cain found a new joy in his music. "I never heard him sing like this," says White. "Something had shifted in him." "I've always been seeking out songs since I was young," Cain shares. "I never had any idea how rich the Bible was with imagery. I got lost in it. It feels like I'm just starting to believe again." The first single from his new album is available for download with preorder at iTunes beginning September 23. Cain is also exclusively offering, for a limited time, a free download of the bonus track, "Remove Every Veil," along with an introduction to the song from Pastor Paula White at jonathancainmusic.com What God Wants to Hear, was recorded at Addiction Sound, Cain's state-of-the-art studio in Nashville. The full track listing follows: 01) "Deeper Than Deep" 02) "Bold in Prayer" 03) "Rush into Me" 04) "Have Your Way with Us" 05) "In Your Waters" 06) "What God Wants to Hear" 07) "Sanctify Segue" 08) "Sanctify" 09) "Fall into You" 10) "This House" 11) "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" 12) "Why I Breathe" 13) "Because The Blood" * See album teaser at vimeo.com/174289859 * Read a * Read a recent interview with Cain in Parade Magazine. About Jonathan Cain: In 1976 Jonathan Cain released his first solo record, Windy City Breakdown. In 1979 he joined the band, The Babys, and in 1980 joined the rock band, Journey, rounding out the songwriting genius behind the defining album, Escape. Cain's signature piano, synth playing, and songwriting contributions with Journey, The Babys, and Bad English have earned him many Billboard hits, multiple gold, platinum, and Diamond-selling records, a Star on the Hollywood walk of fame, and the best-selling catalog rock song in iTunes' history ("Don't Stop Believin'"). Journey was named as the fifth best band in rock history in a 2005 USA Today opinion poll, and continues, to this day, selling out arenas worldwide. About The Fuel Music: Controversial Atheist Movie to Premiere at Noah's Ark Contact: Jen Thompson, Living Waters Publications, 800-437-1893 LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- The world premiere of "The Atheist Delusion," which claims to "destroy atheism with one scientific question," will be screened to a private audience while streaming live from within Ken Ham's recently opened Ark Encounter, the massive life-sized Noah's Ark in Northern Kentucky. Ray Comfort, the movie's producer, said, "From the start, we were concerned that people wouldn't take seriously a movie that 'destroys atheism with one scientific question.' But it does exactly that by scientifically confirming the existence of God. Having a respected, scientifically based organization like Answers in Genesis being willing to premiere it is such an honor." Thousands have already viewed the movie within the first two days of its pre-release as a paid download, but on October 22, its official release date, it will be streamed live from the Ark. Comfort said, "This film isn't likely to convince the average proud and closed-minded atheist. But countless others, tempted to believe the ridiculous lie of atheism, are open-minded, and will be convinced by seeing the irrefutable proof for the existence of God." The best-selling author and filmmaker, whose movies have been viewed by millions, added, "We would love for millions more to watch 'The Atheist Delusion,' and invite Christians to host the live-streaming event from their church or home. The world premiere will be highly evangelistic, as well as thoroughly encouraging, equipping, and inspiring to seasoned believers." The private event, hosted by Ray Comfort and Ken Ham, will be streamed live on AtheistMovie.com on October 22 at 8 p.m. (ET). At the same time the movie will also be released on YouTube. To view the movie before its official release, see www.AtheistMovie.com for details. To host a premiere go to: www.atheistmovie.com/host-live-premiere Interviews with Ray Comfort: JThompson@livingwaters.com 10 top tips for Christians from Pope Francis Pope Francis has spent a busy few days, meeting many people. He has been preaching, tweeting, speaking and reaching out with the gospel to Christians and beyond. Here are 10 of his best and latest words of wisdom. We will resurrect, like Christ. "A spiritualistic piety, a nuanced piety is much easier; but to enter into the logic of the flesh of Christ, this is difficult. And this is the logic of the day after tomorrow. We will resurrect like the risen Christ, with our own flesh." A homily at St Marta's at the Vatican last Friday. Corruption is as addictive as drugs. "Some behave with corruption as with drugs: thinking they can use it and stop using it when they want. It begins slowly: a tip from here, a bribe from there." The Angelus in St Peter's Square on Sunday. The world is tired of trendy priests. "The world is tired of lying spellbinders and, allow me to say, 'trendy' priests or bishops. The people sniff them out they have God's sense of smell and they walk away when they recognise narcissists, manipulators, defenders of their own causes, auctioneers of vain crusades." Addressing a group of new bishops in the Vatian on Saturday. As Christians, we are called to be missionaries of the Gospel As Christians, we are called to be missionaries of the Gospel. Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 18, 2016 No servant can serve two masters. "The journey of life necessarily involves a choice between two roads: between honesty and dishonesty, between fidelity and infidelity, between selfishness and altruism, between good and evil. You can not oscillate between one and the other, because they move on different and conflicting logics." Speaking on Sunday at the Vatican. Welcoming refugees is our greatest security against terror. "And so, I encourage you to welcome refugees into your homes and communities, so that their first experience of Europe is not the traumatic experience of sleeping cold on the streets, but one of warm human welcome. Remember that authentic hospitality is a profound gospel value that nurtures love and is our greatest security against hateful acts of terrorism." Speaking to fellow Jesuits in the Vatican on Saturday. To kill in the name of God is satanic. "There are Christians who are murdered, tortured, imprisoned, have their throats slit because they do not deny Jesus Christ. To kill in the name of God is satanic." At Mass for murdered French priest Father Jacques Hamel last Wednesday. Let us pray for peace! "Today, more than ever, we need peace in this war which is everywhere in the world. Let us Pray for peace!" On the eve of his visit to Assissi this week for the World Day of Prayer for Peace. Crooks love scams and hate honesty. "Crooks love the scam and hate honesty. Crooks love bribes, agreements done in the dark. This is worse than anything, because he believes he's being honest." Thanking Vatican Gendarmes for two centuries of service on Saturday. Flee from gossips and careerists. "Make sure your office never becomes a refuge for 'friends and friends of friends'. Flee from gossip and careerists." Speaking to his global ambassadors in the Vatican on Saturday. 15 dead after Muslim pilgrim boat sinks in Thailand An overcrowded boat carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river on Sunday, leaving at least 15 people dead. The boat was packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque when it hit a concrete barrier. According to the deputy governor of Ayutthaya, Rewat Prasong, a further 11 people are still missing and 14 are in hospital. The boat's captain is in custody and facing a charge of negligence after allowing the two-deck boat to become overcrowded, a police spokesman told AFP. "The boat has permission to carry about 50 people but it was carrying more than 100 people," said Ayutthaya police chief Sudhi Puengpikul. It was very close to the shore when it hit the concrete barrier and started to take on water. It is believed many of the dead were trapped on the lower deck. The Chao Phraya, which runs through Bangkok, is a commuting route filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya, whose riverside is studded with the remains of temples. Accidents are common on the river as safety regulations are seldom enforced. Traffic is growing because of a huge upsurge in tourism, driven in part by an increase in visitors from China. Amal Clooney and Boris Johnson to launch campaign to collect evidence of ISIS' 'abhorrent crimes' Amal Clooney and Boris Johnson will back a plan to collect evidence of ISIS' "abhorrent crimes" in the hope of one day bringing perpetrators to justice. The move expected at the United Nations meeting in New York on Monday would urge governments and NGOs to join a campaign to assemble evidence of crimes. A purported lack of evidence has been hailed as one reason not to declare ISIS' treatment of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities a genocide. Before his appointment as foreign secretary, Johnson repeatedly called for ISIS' crimes to be labelled a genocide. But since his promotion to the foreign office, a department traditionally very reluctant to use the term, Johnson appears to have softened his stance. The collaborative move with Clooney comes months after MPs voted unanimously to refer the case to the United Nations security council. In response, the foreign office minister Tobias Ellwood said the government would not do that because Russia, another permanent member of the security council, would veto the resolution. Ahead of the meeting Johnson said: "We have united to defeat Daesh, now we must unite to bring them to justice. That needs to include looking at ways for the UN to support the vital task of gathering evidence about their abhorrent crimes. "The global campaign will seek justice for all Daesh's [ISIS'] victims, bringing the international community together in defiance of Daesh's efforts to stoke division and hate." Clooney has been more consistent in her campaign for genocide to be declared at a UN level. On Friday the international human rights lawyer lambasted the organisation and said she was "ashamed" of its failure to "to prevent or even punish" ISIS for its crimes. In an address to the UN she spoke of her shame that "not a single member of ISIS has been prosecuted in a court anywhere in the world for crimes committed against the Yazidi" people. Clooney is set to act as counsel for the Yazidi community at the International Criminal Court (ICC), where investigations into possible genocide usually take place. But in order for the ICC to act, it must be instructed to move by the UN security council. Robert Clarke, Director of European Advocacy for ADF International, an organisation who have campaigned for the term genocide to be applied, condemned the UN for being "reluctant to act". He described Clooney's speech as "helpful" but said: "While Yazidis continue to suffer greatly at the hands of the terror regime, so too do Christians and other religious minorities. All victims deserve justice, and all perpetrators must be held to account." He added the UK's unwillingness to use the term genocide, which has significant legal and moral ramifications, has led to "doubt in the face of irrefutable evidence". He told Christian Today: "We hope that this increasing engagement at an international level marks a change, and that the UK will use all its influence to ultimately stop the killing." Anglicans divided over new bishops' group on homosexuality Conservative and liberal Christians have criticised a new bishops' group set up to discuss the issue of homosexuality. Some conservatives are upset that such a group has been set up at all. Liberal Anglicans are equally angry, complaining that the new Bishops' Reflection Group contains no members who have advocated a change in the Church's traditional teaching on marriage. Others however have welcomed its membership as faithfully representing Biblical teaching on gay sex. The group includes at least two prominent evangelicals, the Bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson and the Bishop of Maidstone Rod Thomas, former chair of the conservative Reform group. It also incudes three women bishops, Bishop of Stockport Libby Lane, Bishop of Crediton Dame Sarah Mullaly and Bishop of Dorking Jo Wells. It has been set up following two years of private "shared conversations" about sexuality in the Church of England, which has consistently opposed gay marriage and is legally exempt from ever having to perform a same-sex wedding ceremony. The group will make its first report to General Synod in February. Ian Paul, a member of the Archbishops' Council, told Christian Today: "This issue is about our doctrine of sex and marriage, and a whole host of other things along with it. To imagine this just affects one group in the church is blinkered. Secondly, yet again we have the mantra that the 'traditional' understanding of marriage is 'homophobic'. If we cannot move beyond these emotive stereotypes then there is little room for respectful debate." Canon Chris Sugden, of the conservative group Anglican Mainstream, told Christian Today: "The calling of bishops is to ensure that in sharing the love of God in Jesus, Christian churches are led by ministers faithful to biblical teaching. "The question facing the Church of England is not whether to amend the biblical teaching on marriage but how sensitively to pastor those in the church who find the calling to follow that teaching a particularly difficult challenge. "It is therefore proper for those who affirm the biblical teaching as bishops to be members of the new panel. It is likely that they will take evidence from many points of view in the church. We especially encourage them to take an evidenced based approach on how biblically orthodox Anglican churches in the evangelical, charismatic and catholic traditions exercise such sensitive pastoral care and how those who find the biblical teaching difficult receive it." The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon), which represents conservative Anglicans, mainly across the developing world, and takes a strong conservative view, said: "GAFCON UK is puzzled as to why the Church of England needs a 'Bishops' Reflection Group' on homosexuality." Gafcon said the Bible is universally clear. "We stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are same-sex attracted, and faithfully living according to God's revealed plan for human flourishing. "As pastors, teachers, friends, and neighbours we can have no other response. The Church of England needs to have the courage of its foundational convictions, return to them, and move on to its mission of calling the nation to turn to Christ as the only Saviour and Lord." Former Assemblies of God leader in Australia, Anthony Venn-Brown, now a gay activist, wrote: "Can you imagine a group of male church leaders discussing the role of women in the church without females present. We would call that misogyny." He added: "So when church leaders discuss LGBT people, relationships and the community without speaking with or spending time getting to know LGBT people it does beg the question why. What is there to fear? Why the exclusion? Is this another evidence of homophobia?" Jayne Ozanne, a prominent gay member of Synod, wrote on Facebook: "Unless I'm very mistaken there are no LGBTI voices on this group! I'm shocked but sadly not surprised. Have we learnt nothing?" She told Christian Today it was "demeaning" and that she was "dismayed". Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Twitter suggested how his divided flock might pray for him, and reminded them of the importance of charity. He tweeted: If ever you pray for me, please pray for wisdom, for patience, and for courage. Thank you so much. Justin Welby (@JustinWelby) September 18, 2016 Jesus said: Love one another. Love your neighbour. Love your enemy. Thats our responsibility to love. Justin Welby (@JustinWelby) September 19, 2016 Archbishop of Canterbury joins Pope Francis for interfaith World Day of Prayer for Peace The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby is travelling to Assisi in Italy for a World Day of Prayer for Peace hosted by Pope Francis tomorrow and attended by Christian leaders and representatives of other religions. The inter-religious peace gathering was initiated by Pope John Paul II 30 years ago. At the event tomorrow, Pope Francis will meet with Archbishop Welby and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, and stand alongside Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh leaders. The event comes ahead of a more formal one-to-one meeting between the Archbishop and the Pope early next month. The pair are set to celebrate evening prayer together on 5 October at the Basilica of San Gregorio al Celio and then hold private talks at the Vatican the next day. The San Gregorio al Celio church in Rome holds particular significance for Anglicans as it is said to be the place from which St Augustine of Canterbury was sent to evangelise Britain in 597 AD. The meeting between Welby and Pope Francis will be the fourth time an Archbishop of Canterbury has met with a pope at the church. Pope Francis has already met Welby twice in the Vatican, the first time on June 14, 2013 and the second on June 16, 2014. At their most recent meeting, the pair discussed, among other subjects, human trafficking, tackling global poverty, peace and reconciliation and Christian unity. The Assisi gathering forms the start of what has been dubbed the Pope's "ecumenical autumn", which also sees him fly to the predominantly Orthodox nation of Georgia 10 days later and then to Sweden at the end of the month to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The Pope is scheduled to be in Assisi for eight hours tomorrow. The sessions there will be streamed live here. Atheist pastor Gretta Vosper fights for her ministry A petition in support of atheist pastor Gretta Vosper, who was judged unsuitable for ministry by a United Church of Canada (UCC) committe, has reached more than 1,000 signatures. Vosper, minister of West Hill United Church in Toronto, has been candid about her atheism for several years. However, a 39-page report by the UCC's Toronto Conference Review Committee earlier this month concluded: "In our opinion, she is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit. "We have concluded that if Gretta Vosper were before us today, seeking to be ordained, we would not recommend her." However, Vosper has continued to receive the support of her congregation and the number of signatures to the petition has continued to grow. It urges the UCC to reject the recommendation of the committee, describing the process as "flawed and unfair" and implying her views are shared by large numbers of other clergy that it has "grave implications for Gretta Vosper, Westhill [sic] United Church, an unknown number of clergy within the denomination, many members of The United Church of Canada across the country, and the reputation of the denomination in the Canadian public". It speaks of the importance of valuing diversity and not "disenfranchising many seekers". At a meeting in Toronto last Thursday of the Toronto Conference's sub-Executive Committee where Vosper and her supporters had an opportunity to respond to the hearing, she told the Toronto Star: "This story is not about me. This story is about that group of people, because clergy who don't believe are all over the place, they just don't have a community that allows them to speak honestly about their beliefs." Vosper posted on her blog over the weekend about her response to the committee's verdict. She said: "The finding is the finding: I'm unsuitable. The Conference can't do anything about that. What they can do is try to work with the recommendations and decide whether to follow them or not. Personally, I'm not sure what room they have to work with when someone is found to be unsuitable, but I'll let them struggle with that. I've still a whole congregation's worth of ministry to attend to." She also provided a transcript of what she said at last Thursday's meeting, where she reiterated her call for the UCC to allow space for her to continue her ministry. Belgium's euthanasia spike is a 'warning bell' to UK, MPs told MPs have been warned not to try and change the UK law on euthanasia after figures from Belgium showed a startling rise in doctor-assisted suicides, particularly among those who did not have a terminal disease. In the 10 years since Belgium legalised assisted-suicide, the number of people using it to end their lives shot up eight fold. The biggest increases were among people older than 80 who did not have cancer and were not expected to die in the near future. The data from researchers at the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that most people who chose to end their lives prematurely were under 80 with cancer. Alistair Thompson from the campaign group Care Not Killing, which opposes assisted-suicide, said the figures sounded a "warning bell" to legislators in the UK. "It clearly shows that once you have crossed the rubicon and said doctors and nurses should be able to kill patients, you see an increase among all groups choosing this, not just mentally competent adults," he told Christian Today. "The UK law exists to protect vulnerable people regardless of age, regardless of mental capacity and it does a very good job." The total number of doctor-assisted deaths in Belgium over the decade after legalisation was 8,752, with a steady increase each year. In 2003, there were 235 euthanasia cases, representing 0.2 percent of nationwide deaths, and in 2013, there were 1,807 cases, which represented 1.7 percent of deaths. In 2013, people with cancer made up 69 percent of all cases, and 65 percent were under age 80. A spokesman for CARE, a Christian policy charity that has campaigned against a change to the UK law, said the figures were "deeply concerning". Director of parliamentary affairs Dr Dan Boucher told Christian Today: "Rather than creating a framework that enables people who don't feel valued - or who feel that the they are a burden - end their lives, society should be supporting the vulnerable, letting them know that their lives count." Last September MPs comprehensively rejected Labour MP Rob Marris' assisted suicide bill by 330 to 118. In the first vote on the issue in almost 20 years, Christian MP Fiona Bruce said the bill was so lacking in safeguards that "if this weren't so serious it would be laughable". Fellow Conservative MP and Christian Caroline Spelman added that "the right to die can so easily become the duty to die" and said the law already provided protection for the elderly and disabled. Christian Today approached Dignity in Dying, an opposing campaign group, for comment. Catholic Bishop of Aleppo: 'The Lord will bless us and give us his peace' The Catholic Bishop of Aleppo has spoken emotionally about how the Christian faith is still being practised strongly in the war-torn Syrian city, despite endless bombardment and a US strike on Saturday which killed dozens of Syrian soldiers. Bishop George Khazen told Agenzia Fides that on Sunday, "we celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving for the canonization of Mother Teresa. The church was full, the Bishops and faithful of all the Churches in Aleppo were present." He added: "As pastors, we are comforted by the sight of so many Christians who live the tremendous moment we are going through in faith. I get emotional when I think that thanks to their faith the Lord will bless us and give us his peace" The optimistic comments come after US-led coalition air strikes reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers at the weekend, endangering a US-Russian brokered ceasefire and prompting an emergency UN Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated. Bishop Khazen said that the truce "seems to be on the point of failing", adding that "no-one" in Aleppo believed that the US strikes were "a mistake". He said: "Even last night we heard the government aviation raids on [the] area in the hands of rebels. And certainly, no one here believes that the massacre of Syrian soldiers caused by the US bombing on a barrack was a mistake." The Bishop referred to conspiracy theories about the US having "created" Islamic State. "That air strike, which killed at least ninety soldiers, seems to confirm the ambiguity of the US choices in the Syrian scenario, and even the suspicions of those who say that the United States created the Islamic state and are using it," he said. "With all the tools and weapons at their disposal, that air raid could not have been an accident, since that barracks was not there yesterday". Meanwhile, a prominent Syriac Catholic church in Aleppo was damaged in a shell attack in violation of the ceasefire. The Syrian Arab News Agency filmed and reported the attack by the Free Syrian Army in the Al-Aziziyah District of northern Aleppo over the weekend. The missile appears to have hit the second floor of the church, the Cathedral of Our Lady, which is in a part of the city that has a large Christian population. Christian convert from Islam sent back to prison in Iran A Christian convert from Islam in Iran has been sent back to prison in spite of suffering long-term health issues. Maryam Naghash Zargaran, who has gone on hunger strike twice while in prison, had been released last month to get medical treatement after serving three years of a four-year sentence. On Saturday she was locked up again in the notorious Evin prison and had to cut short her treatment, according to World Watch Monitor. Amnesty International has criticised Iran's lack of adequate medical care in its prisons as "cruel". Zargaran is a convert to Christianity from Islam who was arrested in January 2013 in connection with her work at an orphanage alongside the Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, who has dual Iranian and US citizenship. He was also imprisoned but released in January this year and is now in the US. There has been a spate of arrests in Iran in recent weeks. A further five Iranian Christians were arrested at the end of August and there is growng concern for their safety, persecution charity Open Doors reported. Zargaran's health deteriorated considerably during the hunger strike, her blood pressure dropped, she had pains and numbness in her feet and suffered psychological issues as a consequence of her imprisonment. She ended the latest hunger strike at the request of her family at the beginning of August, said Open Doors, which is asking for prayers. Christians in Nigeria should join hands to rebuild nation torn by violence In churches around the world, faith leaders lead Christians in deepening their belief in God through prayers, services and other activities. In Nigeria, however, a bishop has an extra daunting task: ensuring that Christians living in Muslim-dominated communities are safe from persecution. According to a report by The Catholic News Agency, Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Diocese of Sokoto, located in northern Nigeria, recently visited the United States to raise awareness of the persecution of Christians in his country and appeal for help from American authorities and organisations. Kukah said the threat of persecution is very real among Nigerian Christians, who suffer from the attacks of organised Islamic militants and also the government's failure to ensure political and social order in the African nation. Among the incidents of hate crimes against Christians recently reported in Nigeria were the kidnapping of schoolgirls, and the bombing of churches. On top of these, Nigerian Christians have to deal with poverty and an unstable government. "Christians suffer disproportionate violence from Muslim extremists for reasons that very often have nothing to do with the Christian community," Bishop Kukah said. Worse, the Roman Catholic official said Christians suffer more when they try to get justice from persecution due to the bureaucratic processes in Nigeria. Due to this, he said Christians already feel like they are second-class citizens in their own country. While already facing so much sufferings, Nigerian Christians have a big role to play in reinstating peace and rebuilding communities in the African nation, the bishop said. "The primary responsibility of rebuilding our country rests with us," the bishop said, adding that the government of Nigeria should also strive to "appreciate the scope of the problem." He encouraged Christians in Nigeria to engage government officials and other communities towards cooperation in solving their common problems. Church officials lead thousands in marching for life in Berlin As some countries move towards the culture of killing innocent babies inside their mothers' wombs, some nations are still standing up for the right to life. Led by Church leaders, more than 7,500 residents of Berlin, the capital of Germany, took part on Saturday in the annual March For Life. The attendees of the march, organised by the Federal Association for the Right to Life, carried one message in their posters and banners: "No child is unsuitable." The participants of the march, who included both Roman Catholic and Protestant believers, were united in their call that the right to life should be protected from conception to natural death. Right to Life Association President Martin Lohmann noted an increase in the number of participants in this year's march compared to last year's. He also observed that Church leaders have become more active in the demonstration, prompting him to say that the pro-life movement is "growing and that's a good thing." Among the Church leaders who spearheaded the event were Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, who also celebrated the closing ecumenical Church service, Berlin's Archbishop Heiner Koch, and Auxiliary Bishops Matthias Heinrich of Berlin, Dominikus Schwaderlapp of Cologne, and Florian Worner of Augsburg. During the march, Archbishop Koch enjoined the demonstrators to help in every effort to ensure "that every human being can develop well, from their first moment in the womb to their final breath," according to the Catholic News Agency. Interestingly, the March for Life coincided with a pro-abortion demonstration organised by the Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination. In contrast with the thousands of people that joined the pro-life march, the pro-abortion event only drew 1,500 participants, according to Berlin police. The police also eventually stopped the pro-abortion event after deeming that it is blocking the peaceful event of the pro-life demonstrators. 'Counting On' star Derick Dillard reveals his 'spiritual birthday' and why every Christian needs to celebrate one "Counting On" star Derick Dillard, husband of Jill Duggar, celebrated his "spiritual birthday" last Aug. 31. The father of Israel David said observing that day was important for him because it signified that he was "born of the Spirit" and has officially accepted Jesus Christ into his life. "Each person who believes in Jesus for their salvation and makes Him the new Master (rather than self) of their life will be saved from their sin and be born spiritually," Dillard writes on his family's blog. "I grew up in a home that honored the one true God, the God of the Bible. Because of this, I realized as a young child that I was spiritually dead and that I desperately needed Jesus to save me." Dillard can still recall the day he welcomed Christ into his life. He said his spiritual life began 18 years ago when he was still a fourth grader. He acknowledged that he is far from perfect, but being a child of God means he is constantly seeking to live out every area of his life that would hope to honour his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. "The reason I am writing this is due in part to a particular practice of reflection that my parents encouraged me to engage in shortly after I became a Christian," explains Dillard. "Every year, on my spiritual birthday, they encouraged me to reflect on and examine the past year of my life in order to identify ways that I was becoming more like Christ, but also to recognize areas of my life that I needed to be more diligent in striving to be Christ-like." Dillard hopes other Christians will follow suit so they can assess their spiritual journey and consider what else they need to do in order to draw closer to God. Just like the ancient Israelites, who were delivered from bondage in Egypt, Christians should always be quick to remember where God has brought them from and what they are striving for, Dillard says. Iraqi Christian who fled ISIS in Mosul now facing UK deportation An Assyrian Christian who fled Islamic State is fighting a Home Office decision to deny him asylum and send him back to Iraq. Sarmad Ozan, a 25-year-old former deacon of a church in Mosul, left the northern Iraqi town when ISIS took over in June 2014. Despite the horrific conditions Christians face in the Middle East, officials in the UK Home Office have blocked his claim for asylum on the basis he could return to Kurdistan or Baghdad, according to an interview with Russia Today. Ozan said a "slow-motion genocide" was being committed against Iraqi Christians day-by-day. "We were living, before 2003, without discrimination between people. You live with everyone without asking about their religion or anything. But after 2003 it become more difficult. When you are a Christian, when they deal with you, they talk with you, it's in a different way," he said. "There are no Christians now in Mosul, a minority in Baghdad and the south, we are a minority everywhere inside Iraq and this is difficult for the people. They can make fake checkpoints to check for the Christian, they can kill them in the checkpoint." Ozan described the ISIS takeover of Mosul. He said at first they didn't kill anyone saying they only had an issue with the government, not ordinary people. He said that gave people who had fled the confidence to return to their homes before the real crackdown began. "But in the next month, in July, they announced in the mosque three options for the Christians inside Mosul. They say you should convert to Islam, or pay jizya, that's like a heavy tax, or be killed after this 24 hours. So every Christian family left Mosul that day." "They made checkpoints at the borders of Mosul where they checked identity cards, because your religion is on your identity card," Ozan added. "So whenever they see a Christian they grab everyone from the car and they take everything. So we left with nothing. We walked all that day towards Erbil. All the Christian families were walking that day. "We arrived at night. Young people slept on the pavements, some people in tents, the church halls. We stayed in different places. Then we found a place in a church hall." Ozan is unable to apply for asylum in Iraq's neighbouring Arab countries, but in 2015 he graduated with an engineering degree. He was then given a state bursary to study a masters in the UK. But after he arrived in Britain, violence spread across Iraq and his government scholarship money stopped, leaving him stranded. Feeling unable to return to the risk of death in Iraq, he applied for asylum. "I'm still appealing because it's impossible to go back to a place with nothing. Our house is taken by ISIS. Everything taken by ISIS. Even our neighbors are now supporting ISIS. So how can I go to a place where they are all supporting ISIS? It's like someone going back to die. That means if they want to send me back, they want to kill me," he said. "The situation there is unsafe and unstable. Even the Home Office admit that it is unstable inside Iraq and don't advise anyone to travel to Iraq, but they want us to go back." He added: "I want to live as a normal person. I want to live normally. Because from 2014 until now, it's two years, I'm just waiting and not doing anything. Our lives, all our Christian lives in Mosul, are ruined by ISIS and we are still not doing anything. We want to continue our lives." Millions of Christians to unite in prayer for revival Millions of Christians across the church denominations will be urged to join the Archbishop of Canterbury's prayer initiative ahead of Pentecost next year. Churches throughout the UK and around the world will unite to pray for more people to come to faith as the evangelism drive enters its second year. Millions could join in 2017 after the 'Thy Kingdom Come' enterprise saw more than 100,000 Christians gather in prayer in 2016. Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, Copts, Methodists, Orthodox Christians and members of free churches will unite under the Anglican umbrella after the presidents of Churches Together in England (CTE) announced on Monday they would accept the invitation to pray in the 10 days before Pentecost 2017. "We want to encourage our brothers and sisters in churches of all traditions to partner in praying 'Thy Kingdom Come' in the days leading up to Pentecost 2017," the presidents said in a statement. "There is no prescription about how we should pray; we hope each church will participate in a way that is authentic to them and where possible to engage in this with their partner churches in their area." They will write to their churches which range from Seventh-Day Adventists churches to Coptic Orthodox churches and encourage them to participate. "We pray to the Father that his family, called to be one in Jesus Christ, may see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to transform many lives and communities in our land," they said. Bishop Dr Eric Brown, the Pentecostal president for CTE, said: "What started off as a CofE event, is emerging as a global event." The Archbishop of Canterbury, another of the six presidents of CTE, said the 2016 movement had been "profoundly moving" and added: "As we look ahead to 2017 there is growing desire, as beautiful as it is remarkable, among people of so many denominations and nations to pray together for more people to know Jesus Christ. "I pray that Christians everywhere say yes to this movement of the Spirit, and come together as one in prayer. This is about asking God to fill us with fresh joy and confidence to be the witnesses to Jesus Christ that we are called to be as individuals and as churches so that we may share His life-transforming love with those around us." Archbishop Welby has also extended the invitation to all the Anglican provinces around the world. The other presidents of CTE are Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; the Revd Dr Hugh Osgood, Free Churches Moderator; the Revd Canon Billy Kennedy,who represents the New Churches, Quakers and the Lutheran and German-speaking Churches and Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, the President for the Orthodox Churches. Refugee Council blasts May's emphasis on border control as UN summit begins The Refugee Council has attacked the Prime Minister ahead of an unprecedented United Nations (UN) summit for refugees and migrants aimed at getting the 193 UN member states to agree a more coordinated approach to the international crisis. Theresa May is due to address the summit later today, and Number Ten has briefed certain newspapers that she will call for a greater distinction between refugees and 'economic migrants' and say that the UK has a "right" to control its borders. The Refugee Council said in a statement that May's approach was "deeply disappointing". It said: "According to media reports, the Prime Minister's speech will focus on border control, rather than saving lives as she calls for refugees' movements to be limited even further. At the moment, the vast majority of the world's refugees only get as far as the country neighbouring their own: the UN's Refugee Agency estimates 86 per cent of the world's refugees live in developing countries. In comparison, very few refugees seek safety in Europe." The statement went on: "Last September, in acknowledgement that such a system was unfair and unsustainable, European leaders agreed to relocate 160,000 refugees away from Italy and Greece to other countries to help ease the pressure. However the scheme has been painfully slow; in the last year, only around 4,000 refugees have been relocated. The UK has refused to take any at all." Last week, more than 50 charities, including the Refugee Council, called on the Prime Minister to use today's summit as an opportunity to commit to offering more refugees safe passage. "It's extremely disappointing that she appears not to have listened," the charity said. Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren said: "What we really need to see instead is the UK leading by example, adopting sustainable solutions aimed at saving refugees' lives and implementing a more equitable system for sharing responsibility for protecting them." Ahead of the summit, May said: "Across the world today, we are seeing unprecedented levels of population movement and we need to work together to find a better response, which focuses our humanitarian efforts on those refugees in desperate need of protection and maintains public confidence in the economic benefits of legal and controlled migration. "This is an urgent matter more people are displaced than at any point in modern history and it is vital that we provide ongoing support for those people most in need of protection...But we cannot simply focus on treating the symptoms of this crisis, we need to address its root causes too. While we must continue our efforts to end conflict, stop persecution and the abuse of human rights, I believe we also need a new, more effective global approach to manage migration." Meanwhile, in London's Parliament Square, charity campaigners have created a display of 2,500 life jackets depicting refugees who have died crossing the ocean into Europe. The charities, which include Help Refugees UK, said it would "remind leaders of the risks families have taken to reach safety, the need for solidarity with refugees, respect of their rights and more international responsibility sharing". They added that the summit was a "historic opportunity to garner the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale". 2,500 lifejackets placed in Parliament Square representing those who lost their lives trying to reach Europe pic.twitter.com/xvgVbBj7pd HelpRefugeesUK (@HelpRefugeesUK) September 19, 2016 The UN meeting comes ahead of a leaders' summit on refugees tomorrow, hosted by US president Barack Obama alongside Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden. The gatherings take place as the global refugee crisis reaches an apparent climax. According to the UN's figures, by the end of 2015 a record 65.3 million people had been driven from their homes by conflict and persecution, meaning that one in every 113 people globally is either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee. This is an increase of five million refugees in one year. According to some estimates, an average of 24 people worldwide were forced to flee every minute last year. "This is the first time the General Assembly has called for a summit at the Heads of State and Government level on large movements of refugees and migrants and it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response," the UN said. "It is a watershed moment to strengthen governance of international migration and a unique opportunity for creating a more responsible, predictable system for responding to large movements of refugees and migrants." David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary, yesterday called for the UK to take in four times as many refugees as it is currently pledged to take. "Frankly, the UK should be saying we'll take 20,000 or 25,000 a year, so four times the current level, 25 refugees per parliamentary constituency rather than just six, because countries like Canada are already doing that," he told Sky News. "So I think the UK could do more on the refugee resettlement side to match the frankly exemplary performance that the UK has on international humanitarian aid." Former Prime Minister David Cameron committed the UK Government last year to taking 20,000 refugees over five years. Syria crisis an opportunity to spread Christianity, aid group says The ongoing civil war in Syria has left the Middle Eastern country in shambles, with more than 11 million people, or half of the nation's pre-war population, either killed or driven away from their homes. Because of this, the Syrian civil war has arguably been called the worst humanitarian crisis in history since World War II. Amid this bleak situation in Syria, however, the Christian aid group Christian Aid Mission sees a silver lining. For the U.S.-based organisation, the current conflict in Syria is a good opportunity to share God's love to its people for them to discover the beauty of Jesus Christ's teachings. Steve Van Valkenburg, Christian Aid Mission regional director, described the current situation in Syria as a "family feud" and "basically an inter-Islamic squabble." He added that Christians can provide embattled residents a glimmer of hope in the midst of the conflict around them. "Refugees...see the Muslim-on-Muslim fighting, and then they see how the Christians are reaching out with love and caring that has to do something with their hearts," Valkenburg said, as quoted by the Middle East Eye. He said the influx of Syrian refugees in Europe also provides a good opportunity to introduce them to Christian teachings. The Christian aid group director said while some Syrian migrants may be "terrorist-minded," some of them can be inspired to embrace Jesus and find comfort in God's Words. "There is great opportunity for ministry among those people. They are basically going into Europe with nothing except scars and heartache and desperation, and it's a great opportunity to reach out," Valkenburg said. Recognising this potential, Christian Aid Mission is currently distributing copies of the Holy Bible in Arabic language to around 8,000 Syrian refugees housed in Turkey. The group is also working with 16 Syrian Christian organisations to ensure that the faithful in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation receive sufficient aid. Syriac church hit by rebel missiles in Aleppo A prominent Syriac Catholic church in Aleppo, Syria has been damaged in a shell attack in violation of the ceasefire. The Syrian Arab News Agency filmed and reported the attack by the Free Syrian Army in the Al-Aziziyah District of northern Aleppo over the weekend. The missile appears to have hit the second floor of the church, the Cathedral of Our Lady, which is in a part of the city that has a large Christian population. According to the news agency, there were 23 violations of the ceasefire in just one day in Aleppo last week. Several archeological sites that date back to the Crusades, along with mosques and churches, have been destroyed in the fighting, AINA reported. Aleppo pastor Fr Ibrahim Alsabagh told AsiaNews about "isolated incidents of violence" that cause distress to the civilian population. A proper truce which lasts is needed if populations are to recover, he said. Alsabagh said the church and bishop's resident had been targeted by rockets and mortar fire for a while. Aleppo's civilians are exhaused by the conflict, he added. The rocket hit the roof of the bishop's house, the clergyman said, and ended up in an empty guest room. "Neither the bishop nor his vicar were present at the time, and this prevented casualties or injuries. The damages to the building remain," he told AsiaNews. "Since the beginning of the truce, a relative palpable calm prevails. However, missiles and rockets against homes and churches have broken this apparent normality. They are sudden and maintain a climate of instability and insecurity." Washington and Moscow agreed a ceasefire in an attempt to halt the devastation in Syria's five-year war that has caused nearly half a million deaths and caused nearly five million refugees to flee abroad. Thousands more are still trapped in Aleppo and in desperate need of fuel, food and medical supplies. Aid convoys are unable to get through because of terrorist forces blocking the roads. Vast majority of Americans identify as Christian, say faith is very important to them A significant majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians and consider faith to be very important in their lives, though only a minority are "practising Christians" according to research conducted by the Barna group. The study showed that 73 per cent of respondents said they are Christians while 20 per cent identify as atheists or agnostics, 6 per cent adhere to other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism, and 1 per cent are not sure. The same proportion, 73 per cent, also agree that religious faith is very important in their life, with 52 per cent strongly agreeing and 21 per cent somewhat agreeing. However, only 31 per cent said they attended church at least once a month, a measure used by Barna to classify people as "practising Christians". Amid an ongoing debate in the US about whether it is a "Christian country" a debate which mirrors a similar one in the UK around 48 per cent of those surveyed fell under the category of "post-Christians". These are people who do not take part in activities such as Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance, and have disbelief in God or identify as atheists or agnostics. Individuals were catagorised as "post-Christian" when at least 60 per cent of their responses were positive on the scale testing lack of involvement in church practices and feelings of disbelief. The study also found that Christians are more generous than secular Americans, with as many as 96 per cent of practising Christians donating to churches and non-profit organisations, while only 60 per cent of atheists and agnostics did so. Some 94 per cent of practising Christians donated to churches. Three quarters of Americans said they prayed to God over the last week, and about 35 per cent had attended church in the seven days before they were polled. About 35 per cent of the Americans were catagorised by Barna as born-again Christians, 23 per cent were Bible-minded, and some 7 per cent professed evangelical faith. Evangelicals, described by Barna as a "small but influential" category, must meet the 'born again' criteria plus seven other conditions. Barna said: "These conditions include saying their faith is very important in their life today; believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; believing that Satan exists; believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches; believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today". Barna catagorised individuals as either "churched" active churchgoers who have attended a church service within the past six months, not including a special event such as a wedding or a funeral and "unchurched", who have not attended such a service. Under these definitions, a slight majority of adults 55 per cent are churched, while 45 per cent are unchurched. The study, aimed at testing what Barna called the "state of the church" in America, was conducted during the first half of 2016 with over 5,000 adults interviewed via internet and telephone across the US. The Barna group was established 30 years ago and says it has conducted "more than one million interviews over the course of hundreds of studies" on the issue of faith and other issues in the US. Some Houston-area auto dealers recently received replicas of a state war memorial that will honor Texas military service members who have served in the War on Terror -- the ongoing global conflict that began with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The 20-foot-tall memorial sculpture, called "The Price of Liberty," is scheduled to be unveiled Sept. 11, 2017, at the Texas state capitol. The sculpture features a likeness of the goddess of liberty statue atop the state capitol dome reaching for a soldier who is holding the hands of a woman and child. The arrangement is to symbolize a soldier saying goodbye to his family to go and fight. Houston-based Cheniere Energy has named a new leadership team. Jack Fusco, who in May was named Cheniere's CEO, said in a statement Monday that the new team "will help us achieve our vision to be recognized as the premier global LNG company." Among the changes, Michael Wortley will be promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer. Wortley will be responsible for Cheniere's "long-term financial strategy and increasing financial transparency," the company said. Anatol Feygin will be promoted to executive vice president and chief commercial officer, tasked with focusing on innovation and underwriting new LNG capacity. The changes are the latest in a series of executive moves at Cheniere. In February, the company's former CEO and co-founder, Charif Souki, resigned from the board about two months after he was ousted as CEO. In August, former Cheniere Executive Vice President Meg Gentle left the company to join Souki at his new company, Tellurian. If you read our Chemical Breakdown series on the poor oversight of Houston's repositories of toxic material, you already know that potentially dangerous stuff could be lurking in your backyard. That might be more common than it is in other Texas cities, according to a new analysis, because of Houston's longstanding resistance to zoning. The working paper, by economists at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Washington, takes a look at the distribution of commercial and industrial facilities throughout Chicago and several Texas cities to see how zoning had affected them over the years. Zoning typically separates buildings by their uses, so if it had any effect, you would expect to see a gradual segregation of residential, commercial, and industrial areas. This did in fact appear to have happened in Chicago since that city imposed its zoning code in 1923. Houston, naturally, served as a control case to see what happens when no comprehensive set of rules exists. Although a hazardous materials ordinance passed in 1996, preventing hazmat sites from locating in areas that are more than one-third residential, many of them were established in previous decades and aren't affected. Judging by the distribution of toxics-emitting facilities on a list maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency which you can see for Houston here the economists did find that polluters tend to be more densely clustered in other large Texas cities with fairly traditional zoning codes. In Houston, 65 percent of the city is within one mile of a facility in the toxic release inventory. That number is 30 percent, 44 percent, and 43 percent for Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas respectfully. Why is this an economics issue? The researchers also found that houses in single-family residential areas tended to be more valuable than those right next to manufacturing facilities. Though they didn't look at prices in Houston specifically, there's already a rich literature on how polluting facilities depress adjacent property values. Thus, it's possible that the diffuse nature of pollution sources in Houston may have made the city overall more affordable (rather than having industrial uses concentrated in one area, which creates adverse conditions mostly for the poor neighborhoods next door). Now, as with all working papers, this is just one data point in a universe of research around the impact of land-use regulation. The analysis is fairly rough, omitting the distribution of housing throughout the city. There also may simply be more polluters per square mile in Houston than there are in other cities; certainly there are some neighborhoods that host a lot more industry than others. And overall, I don't think Houston's lack of comprehensive zoning is the driving force behind its relatively cheap real estate. But it does seem logical that having pollution sources distributed throughout the city would also mean that more homes could potentially be exposed, making them less valuable as a result. A man has been arrested after a 41-year-old woman was critically injured when he ran over her four times with a pickup at an apartment complex parking lot last week in southeast Houston. Rogelio Alberto Guardado, 69, was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection to the incident which occurred about 11 p.m. Sept. 11 at 6767 Long Drive, according to the Houston Police Department. Houston Police Department The Houston Police Department is searching for Victor Chavez, who was last seen around noon on Monday. According to HPD, Chavez is 78 and has dementia. He was last seen by his family around 11:15 a.m. in the 6300 block of Sunnycrest in southeast Houston. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Normally having too many crawfish sounds like a good thing, that is, if you are on the Gulf Coast and its the spring and early summer. But up in Minnesota, state officials are monitoring an invasive species of crawfish that they worry could multiply and wreak havoc on the ecosystem. People here in Houston and the rest of the third coast crave the very thing that officials are trying to banish. RELATED: Invasive crawfish found in Tilde Lake in NW Minnesota According to that states Department of Natural Resources, two red swamp crawfish were recently found in Tilde Lake, which is northeast of Moorhead in northwestern Minnesota. Officials are on the hunt for the others now. Officials think that these mud bugs came from someones aquarium. In the ecosystem up north, the crawfish competes with existing native species for resources and food. Their burrowing habits cause trouble for areas not accustomed to them. They were accidentally introduced into the Great Lakes decades ago. They are sometimes sold as freshwater lobsters for display in aquariums. RELATED: Seafood restaurants in Houston that you have to try Fun fact: In the state of Minnesota its illegal to possess them or import them without a permit. You also cannot use them as bait or release them into the wild. Contrary to some thinking, there are actually crawfish boils in the Midwest, but we don't think that eating the creatures is as big a business or a regional pastime as here on the Gulf Coast. Some people still think of crawfish as stinky, ditch-dwelling water roaches. We just think that they go great with cold beer, sausage and corn. Maybe if the problem gets worse in Minnesota, a bunch of us can drive up there and have a few out-of-season boils. College Republicans at Texas said Sunday that it would support Donald Trump for president after chapters at Rice University and the University of Houston declined to endorse the Republican nominee. "Although the College Republicans at Texas have some reservations about Donald Trump, we are officially supporting him as our candidate for president," the University of Texas at Austin group said in a statement. "We do so because of the necessity of having conservative justices on the Supreme Court and we are against the election of Hillary Clinton." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A national animal welfare group on Monday notified Landry's Inc. it plans to sue the company if it doesn't take them up on an offer to find new homes for four white tigers they say are being forced to live in deplorable conditions at the company's Downtown Aquarium. Leaders of the San Franciso-based Animal Legal Defense Fund say the tigers have no access to sunlight, fresh air or natural surfaces and live in what amounts to a "Landry's sponsored dungeon" in the current exhibit at the aquarium known as the "Maharaja's Temple." The threat of legal action appears to be spurred by new standards under consideration by the Association for Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) that stipulate tiger exhibits include an outdoor space, natural vegetation, and reduced exposure to the public, none of which they say is available to Landry's white tigers. The Landry's aquarium is accredited by the AZA. By denying the tigers access to a more natural habitat, the group is alleging the company, owned by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, is violating the new AZA standards and the federal Endangered Species Act. "Tigers are complex apex predators with specific biological, environmental and enrichment needs," says Animal Legal Defense Fund executive director Stephen Wells. "Landry's, Inc. should stick to the restaurant business and leave the housing of tigers to those who are able to provide big cats with proper care and naturalistic habitats rather than sacrificing the well being of an endangered species for the sake of tourist dollars." An attorney for Landry's Inc. fired back at the Animal Legal Defense Fund saying they were outraged by "false" and "manipulative" statements made by the group and that they planned to sue it for defamation. The also defended the care of their tigers, Nero, Marina, Coral and Reef, which have been housed at the aquarium since it opened in 2003. The statement, issued by Steven L. Scheinthal, general counsel for Landry's Inc., reads in full: "We are outraged at the false and manipulative statements of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and its counsel. Landry's will not tolerate their libelous and slanderous conduct and will be filing a lawsuit against all such parties. The Downtown Aquarium has been an AZA accredited institution since it opened its doors in 2003 and has served as an educational experience for thousands of school children since its existence. "Our tigers receive the highest level of care and treatment and have always exhibited the signs of well-maintained animals. We are aware of the proposed changes to the AZA accreditation standards and once enacted, we will make every effort to comply to the new standards. If we are unable to make such changes, we will move our tigers to a new home but not to any of the sanctuary facilities suggested by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, as sanctuary facilities have been accused of violating the Animal Welfare Act as well as failing to prevent physical harm, provide adequate food, water, or medical care to their animals." Controversy has surrounded the tigers ever since the aquarium opened when some city officials voiced concerns about the logic of keeping big cats in an entertainment complex. But Fertitta put some of those concerns to rest by obtaining AZA accreditation and donating to worldwide tiger conservation efforts. For a facility to obtain accreditation, they must prove that they are providing quality animal care. Of the 2,800 animal exhibits in the United States only about 10 percent have AZA accreditation. The Houston-based aquarium's accreditation is good through 2020. An accreditation lasts for five years, though the AZA can review a facility before that time period is up if problems arise, said Rob Vernon, an association spokesman. "We are continually improving our standards and expect the facilities that receive our accreditation to meet those standards," he said. Still, animal welfare activists say that of the hundred or so tiger exhibits the AZA sanctions only two don't include outdoor space for the animals the Landry's aquariums in Houston and Denver. "It is really quite shocking that the AZA has two exhibits like this where clearly its only purpose is for the amusement of the visiting public," said Carney Anne Nasser, an attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. But rules may be changing for AZA facilities that keep tigers. The Animal Legal Defense Fund cites in their letter to Landry's a new AZA Tiger Care Manual which stipulates that all tiger exhibits include an outdoor space, natural vegetation, and reduced exposure to the public, none of which they say is available to the Aquarium's tigers. In the notice of intent to sue letter sent to Landry's, the group claims that only one or two tigers are allowed in the display area at a time while the others are confined in metal holding cages beyond the public's view. As a result of their environment, the white tigers excessively pant, pace, and have been overly aggressive at times, the group's letter states. "The dungeon-like conditions that the tigers are forced to endure at Houston's Downtown Aquarium harm their physical health and psychological wellbeing, and deny them much that is natural and important to a tiger," said Jennifer Conrad, a California-base big cat veterinarian. "It is cruel to confine complex, roaming carnivores such as tigers to a tiny, dark, artificial, unenriched enclosure where they never see any daylight, much less bask in sunshine, and are at risk for serious long term, debilitating injuries from being forced to live on slippery, unyielding concrete their entire lives." Last year, animal rights activists launched a petition drive to try to force Landry's to remove the tigers. A similar effort was undertaken in Denver where Landry's aquarium houses three Sumatran tigers Marah, Besar and Jalen. Pursuing a legal claim under the Endangered Species Act for a captive animal is a somewhat unusual move, though courts have recently shown a willingness to consider them. The act requires parties bringing lawsuits to give 60 days notice before they file a lawsuit. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is asking that Landry's allow them to move the tigers to an accredited sanctuary. Nasser said sanctuaries in California and Minnesota have agreed to take the Houston cats. In addition to Landry's, the group sent letters to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Interior, notifying them of their planned action. If Landry's does not agree to find new homes for the tigers, a lawsuit will be filed in 60 days, the letter states. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is being represented by Houston law firm Irvine & Conner. Despite its name, the Houston toad is no longer a resident of the city due to a loss of its habitat - and if conservation efforts do not hold, it may be gone from the Earth entirely. The Houston toad started losing its home around the mid to late 1960s due to drought and a rapidly growing city. By the 1970s, the amphibian had been almost entirely pushed out of its namesake city. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Houston woman accused of fatally stabbing her mother, then confessing to a friend while covered in blood, has a history of mental health issues, prosecutors said Monday. Veronica Gonzales appeared in court in a wheelchair where a judge set her bail at $50,000. The 32-year-old is charged with murder, accused of stabbing 58-year-old Virginia Gonzales around midnight Saturday. After the mother had been stabbed, Veronica Gonzales arrived at a friend's Sunnywood Drive house covered in blood and said she had killed the older woman because she had "imprisoned" her, prosecutors told state District Judge Vanessa Velasquez. The friend called police who went to the suspect's residence in a trailer park on Airline Drive two miles away and found the victim, dead from apparent stab wounds. They also recovered a 6-inch kitchen blade, police said. Assistant Harris County District Attorney Andrea Handley said the younger woman had a history with the county's mental health system and had recently been in Methodist Hospital, where she was prescribed medication for bipolar disorder. She had also been jailed before, once for fleeing police in a car and once for possession of cocaine. After hearing the allegations, the judge appointed a lawyer for Gonzales. Prosecutors did not say why she was in a wheelchair. Investigators at the scene of the crime said she did not have any major injuries, and witnesses reported seeing the two women together earlier in the day. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If you claim you're innocent, filming yourself with illegal drugs during a traffic stop doesn't help your argument. That's what Dominque Desha Green, 24, learned the hard way when he was pulled over in Dallas on Sept. 9. Green started a Facebook Live video while he was stopped, and can be seen apparently pulling cocaine out of his pockets while he was live. READ MORE: Mexican police found a 'homemade bazooka' that might have been used to fling drugs across the border "I''m getting pulled over sitting at the Autozone because I didn't use a turn signal (for) a hundred feet," Green said at the start of the livestream. "I'm not committing a crime, I'm just sitting here." Police asked Green for his driver's license, which he refused to show. He started arguing with the police officer and said, "I want to speak to your boss. That's like going to McDonald's and somebody gets your order wrong and you say 'I want to speak to your boss.'" The police officer responded, "I don't work for McDonald's." READ MORE: Deputy: Woman hid pot in girl's lunchbox during traffic stop Green ranted about his rights in the video while the officer waited for more police to arrive. "What'd I do? Being black on a Friday," Green said during the livestream. Before officers surround his car and arrest him, Green empties his pockets 10 minutes into the video and appears to hide cocaine in his car. Officers eventually arrested Green and told him he'd face a felony charge if he resisted arrest. READ MORE: Man allegedly caught with heroin after traffic stop Police used Green's video to charge him with drug possession, according to the Dallas Morning News. He was originally pulled over for failure to use a turn signal, failure to wear a seat belt and resisting arrest, according to the newspaper. Police said Green spit on an officer's face, tried to kick out a police car window and threatened to kill an officer and his wife during the arrest, according to the newspaper. The Dallas Morning News also reported that Green threatened to sexually assault an officer's daughter. Green now faces drug possession charges and harassment of a public servant, among other charges, according to the newspaper. Green was being held Monday in the Dallas County Jail on $229,500 bond. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Alien hunters have recently pointed out what appears to be a snake on Mars, claiming the reptile is capable of surviving the Red Planet's harsh environment. The snake-like rock formation is one of hundreds of "discoveries" made every year by UFO enthusiasts. This time, however, the sighting of a snake has raised questions for conspiracy theorists concerned over the authenticity of NASA's Mars rover operations. "I'll give you a hint, there is no rover on Mars," says one conspiracy theorist on Youtube. "These photos are taken in the desert. Likely in Nevada where area 54 is located." READ MORE: NASA's Mars rover captures epic land formations This is one of many online comments that help perpetuate a recent, growing conspiracy theory. "There is an increasing number of people who believe that NASA's rovers never left the Earth in the first place," said chemtrailsplanet.net, a community of conspiracy theorists. "The pictures they are allegedly sending back from Mars are taken in remote areas of our planet." Rover deniers say that a remote island in Canada used by NASA to mimic Mars' planetary conditions is doubling as a film stage for the images being sent "back" to Earth. As for the snake spotted in the Mars photo, it is evidence that NASA is accidentally capturing wildlife in its faked Mars photos. READ MORE: People can't stop spotting shoes on Mars Fortunately for NASA, the government space agency has decades of experience battling conspiracies. Since the 1960s, hoaxers have believed the moon landing was faked in order for the United States to win the space race against the Soviet Union. Others believed it was to increase NASA's funding, while others believed it was to draw attention away from the Vietnam War. Now, many of the same accusations seem to have followed NASA to its 21st century endeavors. The allure of alien life and government conspiracy might be too much for NASA to permanently shake, regardless of where humans go next. Click through above to see pictures of the Mars "wildlife" and other bizarre occurrences. -- THIS WEEK: Mondays hearing comes at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed a complaint last weekarguing that Texas was misleading voters and poll workers about acceptable voting procedures and who will be eligible to cast a ballot on Nov. 8. Obama administration lawyers say Texas is violating U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos Aug. 10 order requiring state officials accept a wider array of identification and spend at least $2.5 million informing voters of the changes after a federal appeals court ruled that the Republican-favored voter ID law, enacted in 2011, discriminated against minority voters, per the Austin American-Statesmans Chuck Lindell. -- ICYMI Mike Wards report: Would a President Clinton be better for the Texas GOP? Some Texas Republicans say they also feel left out by Trump. Instead of focusing their ire at Washington, many say they intend to direct more of their political energy at Republican officials in Austin to hold them more accountable, a change that could breed future divisions within the state party. Other grass-roots activists from League City to Plano, San Antonio to Longview echo the sentiment, saying the state party in coming years should focus more on ensuring that state government runs more efficiently and is more accountable to taxpayers. In several recent roundtable gatherings of grass-roots conservatives in North Texas and the Houston area, participants have voiced increasing frustration about what Republicanism will look like in five years as it works to keep its majority status in Texas while the state population trends younger and more diverse. >> Texas Monthlys Erica Grieder: America is grappling with an epidemic of moralizing -- Your #txlege read this morning: The Texas Observer interviewed outgoing Rep. Jim Keffer, who had this to say about MQS and Empower Texans: All you can do is meet them head on. A lot of times those groups dont have it right. They assume or they dont read the bill, or they just decided they dont like the author or whatever the case may be. I mean, you have to educate the floor real quick. If you get a wind of that happening, and you got time to work the floor and tell the truth or what the facts are or whatever, you got to do whatever it takes to do that. What I dont like, though, has morphed into or devolved into some of these groups being able to take stuff out of context or out-and-out lie about a bill. And you have a certain group that just accepts it without going and looking into the facts or what is going, on or talking to the author. Theres a group that just says its gospel and go on from that. Thats what is frustrating, and thats what you have to fight. Some of these outside groups, for their own agenda and for their own reason for being, theyll take an author they dont like and misrepresent his bill to House membership or Senate and sometimes prevail, and thats a shame. To me, its our duty to look at the facts and representing our district. >> "The Texas Ethics Commission says it's not clear if Attorney General Ken Paxton's office is willing to defend the agency in future litigation and, as a result, is asking budget writers for a huge pot of reserve cash if it has to hire outside lawyers to handle court fights. Commission officials will make their case Monday to staff from the Legislative Budget Board for an extra $300,000 during the 2018-2019 budget cycle to cover possible legal costs for private attorneys," per the Express-News' David Rauf. -- DONT MISS THIS: A dangerous job made more dangerous, by the Chronicles Matt Dempsey and Mark Collette.The fire department in the nation's fourth-largest city has no idea where most hazardous chemicals are, forgetting lessons learned in a near-disaster 21 years ago, a Houston Chronicle investigation has found. Less than a quarter of hazardous materials facilities with permits have been inspected. Little effort is made to find the ones skirting the rules or to help businesses that don't know what the rules are." >> Patrick, Abbott on the Trump train, but in different cars, Chronicle -- The Statesmans Jonathan Tilove profiles Texas SOS Carlos Cascos Secretary of state is a plum job, named by the governor, confirmed by the Senate, and then serving at the pleasure of the governor for as long as the officeholder likes. In his case that would be Greg Abbott, who, with great fanfare, announced a week after his election as governor in 2014, that Cascos, then freshly elected to a third term as Cameron Countys county judge, leading an overwhelmingly Democratic and predominantly Hispanic border county, would be his first appointment as governor. But, for all the legal and political tumult surrounding him, in a recent interview in his office on the first floor of the Capitol, Cascos appeared calm in the eye of the storm. ** TEXAS TAKE: THE PODCAST A Houston Chronicle investigation reveals that thousands of special-needs children in Texas are being turned away by a quietly imposed state policy, and the presidential race gets uglier than ever -- with a Texas twist. House Speaker Joe Straus outlines priorities for the next legislative session that are different than the Senate's. And then there's a brewing fight over union-dues deductions from government paychecks, and Rick Perry's dancing prowess -- or lack thereof. iTunes or Stitcher >> Houston Texans lobbyists have gifted almost $100K in tickets and food to state lawmakers, San Antonio Express-News CAPITOL DAYBOOK no meetings SPEED READ Naturalized US citizen from Afghanistan sought in NYC blast, AP Trump promises group in Houston help is coming on border security, Houston Chronicle Where Texans agree, Texas Monthly Fikac: Top Republicans support for Trump about more than this race, San Antonio Express-News A year after listeria scandal, Blue Bell still battling back, Austin American-Statesman Cartel murder strikes close to home for Trump girl on border, Houston Chronicle Treasurer accused of raiding police and fire pensioners account, San Antonio Express-News Regulatory road should be level for Uber, taxis, Houston Chronicle Legal fight over property taxes not as straightforward as it has been portrayed by Senate leadership, Quorum Report Don't seal borders, give Americans a raise, Houston Chronicle Some cant find new homes as demolition of Corpus public housing nears, The Texas Tribune Federal regulators investigate colonial pipeline leak, Wall Street Journal 3 brothers in south Texas, one a Border Patrol agent, charged in drug cartel-linked murder case, Los Angeles Times RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- Welcome to another week of this If you saw her in the back of the plane and she used the word bombs also, by the way. I heard I didnt see it but I heard I was criticized for calling it correctly, Trump told Fox and Friends in a telephone interview Monday. But what I said was exactly correct. I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news. (Politico) -- 50-day countdown begins with Clinton beating Trump on the air and on the ground. Will it matter? According to a POLITICO review of campaign spending, Hillary Clinton has invested seven times the amount of money on TV commercials as her Republican rival and has established twice as many field offices in many of the states that will decide who wins the presidency. In many battlegrounds, she has dozens more organizers than Trump. >> Clintons challenge: Rebuilding the Obama coalition, CNN -- Whos ready for 2020? Ohio Gov. John Kasich's war with the national Republican Party exploded into the open Sunday night, when his top adviser thrashed GOP leader Reince Priebus and hinted that the presidential election may be out of reachfor Donald Trump. The statement, issued on official campaign letterhead, followed remarks by Priebus earlier Sunday suggesting the party might block the Ohio governor from running for president again because he has refused to support Trump, per Politicos Kyle Cheney. -- Obama: Would be 'personal insult' to legacy if black voters don't back Clinton: Addressing the Congressional Black Caucus gala for the last time as president, Obama warned that while his name would not be on the ballot in November, all of the progress that the country has made over the last eight years was on the line. (CNN) >> Why Trump's Reversal Won't Put 'Birtherism' Behind Him, Bloomberg The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. 5 Braves land All-Lakes; 6 on All-Academic Cherokee finished atop the Lakes Conference volleyball standings this fall at 5-0 and claimed its first volleyball league title in... Raptors on to finals with win over Titans HOLSTEIN - The Class 2A #15-ranked Ridge View volleyball team hosted South Central Calhoun for the Class 2A Region 2... Warriors end season with win over Rebels SIOUX RAPIDS - The Alta-Aurelia football team traveled to face Sioux Central for their final game of the season and... Cherokee takes down Generals to finish season CHEROKEE - The Cherokee football team hosted Sibley-Ocheyedan on Friday and won 35-28 to finish out their season. The... While attending the Minneapolis trial of three Somali-Americans who sought to join ISIS, I had a moment that almost took my breath away. It came when the prosecutors displayed a photograph of one of the defendants wearing a security guards uniform. He was smiling. Work as a security guard was one of his occasional jobs. It was a photograph that represented the through-the-looking-glass quality of life in Minnesota. On Saturday night, another man wearing the uniform of a security guard went on a stabbing rampage at the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. St. Cloud is the heart of Minnesotas fourth-largest metro area, some 70 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and home to a large population of Somali immigrants. The perpetrator of the rampage has yet to be identified publicly, but based on an interview with his father, the Star Tribune has identified him as Dahir Adan, an African immigrant. St. Cloud chief of police William Blair Anderson noted that the perpetrator is reported to have shouted Allah in connection with the attacks, and to have asked potential victims if they were Muslim. Yet, Anderson declined to characterize the stabbings as a terrorist attack, declaring that the motive isnt known. We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this, Anderson said. Richard Thornton, FBI special agent in charge of the Minneapolis division, announced at a press conference with Anderson on Sunday that the bureau is investigating the incident as a potential terrorist attack. ISIS has claimed credit for the stabbings that injured nine before an off-duty officer killed Adan inside the malls Macys store. You can understand why Anderson preferred not to say more. It was only last yearcoincidentally, in St. Cloudwhen Governor Mark Dayton warned Minnesotans concerned about the states ever-growing Somali population to pack up and move on. Dayton weirdly instructed white, B-plus, Minnesota-born citizens to suppress their qualms about immigrant resettlement in Minnesota. If they cant, he added, they should find another state. Anderson, the police chief, evidently wants to stay put. Something is happening here and, while everyone knows what it is, no one in a position of power is willing to say it. Even the police chief is exercising his right to remain silent lest he be stigmatized as a bigot. By Sunday evening, law enforcement still hadnt identified the perpetrator. Even so, it wasnt too soon for the Council on American-Islamic Relations to speak up. After all, the putative civil rights outfit has business to take care of. Jaylani Hussein, CAIRs Minnesota executive director, said Sunday afternoon that we are definitely concerned about the potential for backlash in the community, both in the immediate run and the longer term. You can joke about the fear of Minnesotas Muslims over the backlash that tomorrows terrorist attack will bring. Here, were living it. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Achizitie de Servicii Tehnice de creare a plantatiilor forestiere de protectie din cadrul primariei Andrusul de Jos si a primariei Vadul lui Isac, r. Cahul Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that an explosion that rocked a crowded Manhattan neighborhood, injuring 29 people, doesnt appear to be linked to international terrorism, and he vowed that authorities would find and prosecute whoever was responsible. He noted that 1,000 additional law enforcement officers were being deployed after the Saturday night blast in Chelsea, a primarily residential neighborhood on Manhattans west side thats known for its art galleries and large gay population. He encouraged New Yorkers to go about their day as usual. Were not going to let them win, Cuomo said at the scene. Were not going to let them instill fear. The Democratic governor said the preliminary investigation didnt appear to show a link to international terror, and he noted that no terror group had taken credit for it. Authorities said the Manhattan blast didnt appear to be connected to a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in New Jersey that forced the cancellation of a charity run. He noted that the bombs included different materials. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that a second device that officers investigated four blocks from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a cellphone. The official, who was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. The device was removed with a robot and taken to a department firing range in the Bronx. The law enforcement official also said that the explosion appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. Photos from the scene show a twisted and crumpled black metal box. The blast happened on West 23rd Street, in front of a residence for the blind, near a major thoroughfare with many restaurants and a Trader Joes supermarket. Witnesses said the explosion at about 8:30 p.m. blew out the windows of businesses and scattered debris. Cuomo said Sunday that all the injured who were taken to a hospital after the blast had been released. He said most had been hit with glass or debris. Some New York City subway routes were affected by the explosion, which rattled some New Yorkers and visitors on the heels of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area. We felt it. We heard it, Gonzalez said. It wasnt like jolting or anything. Everyone just went quiet. Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at Vanity Nightclub at 21st Street and 6th Avenue, said he, at first, thought something large had fallen. It was an extremely loud noise. Everything was shaking, the windows were shaking, he said. It was extremely loud, almost like thunder but louder. The FBI and Homeland Security officials, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arson and explosive task force, were at the scene. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo toured the site Sunday. The White House said President Barack Obama was apprised of the explosion. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the nation needs to support its first responders and pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold, she said. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a bomb went off before officials had released details. He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows whats going on, Trump said. He continued, But boy we are living in a time we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. Its a terrible thing thats going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. A spokeswoman for Trump didnt respond to an email asking whether he was briefed about it before taking the stage. The Manhattan blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The run was canceled, and no injuries were reported. Also Saturday, at least eight people were injured at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in a stabbing attack. The suspect was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The police chief said the suspect asked at least one victim if he or she was Muslim. The investigation into the Manhattan explosion came as world leaders descend on the United Nations for a meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis and the Syrian conflict. The blast site is about 2 miles away. According to Dr. Gordon Woo, RMS terrorism expert, since the September 11, 2001 terrorism attacks more than 20 terrorist plots in and around New York have been thwarted by city and federal intelligence and law enforcement services. Dr. Woo said that the weekends incidents have implications for modeling terrorism risk. From what is known about the improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the cumulative death toll from these bombs might well have exceeded fifty, which is the threshold for classification as a macroterror attack in RMS models, Woo explained. A key statistic for terrorism insurers is the relative frequency of small IED plots compared to large vehicle bomb plots. The weekends event provides additional evidence to quantify this relative frequency and, in particular, it reflects a shift towards smaller sized IEDs. (Associated Press writers Jake Pearson, Ezra Kaplan and Maria Sanminiatelli in New York and Eric Tucker and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. XL Catlin Boosts Global Property Insurance Capacity to $400M To accommodate increasing property values around the world and more complex risks, XL Catlin extended its global property insurance capacity to $400 million (USD), a more than 25 percent increase from its previous $300 million capacity. XL Catlins enhanced capacity is available on a quota share or layered basis to meet a wide variety of commercial businesses and industries global and domestic property insurance needs. In addition to offering its new $400 million of property insurance capacity on a shared program, XL Catlin offers capacity up to $1 billion for clients who purchase 100 percent of their property insurance through XL Catlins Platinum Property program. General Star Launches Coverage for Unmanned Aircraft Systems General Star Management Company announced the availability of CGL coverage specifically designed to protect the manufacturers, distributors and operators of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). In addition, contingent coverage for unmanned aircraft systems operations conducted on behalf of the insured is available. Protection afforded by the Casualty Division is targeted to manufacturers, distributors and operators of hobby and commercial unmanned aircraft weighing up to 55 lbs. Operators must operate the devices within applicable FAA regulations and guidelines. Start-up as well as established entities are eligible for the new offering. General Star will entertain UAS operators including but not limited to: Use of unmanned aircraft for research, governmental or commercial purposes; Real estate surveyors using unmanned aircraft for aerial surveying; Professional photographers using unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes. Primary limits of $1M/$2M/$2M/$1M are available for manufacturers, distributors and operators. Excess limits of $2M in addition to the Primary limits are also offered. Contingent liability coverage for UAS operations conducted on behalf of the insured offers primary limits of up to $2M/$4M/$4M/$2M and $10M excess of underlying primary limits. Coverage for aircraft collision and for privacy violations arising out of UAS operation is included for manufacturers, distributors and operators. Written on an occurrence basis, the new protection contains no or nominal deductibles. Coverage is provided on a non-admitted basis by General Star Indemnity Company which is rated A++ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company and carries an AA+ Insurance Financial Strength Rating from Standard & Poors Corporation. General Star Indemnity Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Reinsurance Corporation, is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies. Property Drone Consortium Announces UAS Research Agreement with U.S. Department of Homeland Security The Property Drone Consortium (PDC), a collaboration that consists of insurance carriers, roofing industry leaders and supporting enterprises announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). The agreement will leverage the knowledge base, capabilities, and resources of the parties to the agreement to advance the understanding of the use of UAS for public safety missions. Together with the PDC, the CRADA will bring together the efforts of the DHS S&Ts First Responders Group and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers. CompWest to Offer Workers Comp Insurance to Artisan Contractors in California, Utah CompWest Insurance announced that it will offer workers compensation insurance for artisan contractors in California and Utah. This new segment provides agents with a service-oriented, long-term workers compensation solution for the growing needs of the construction industry. The program targets artisan construction operations with annual premiums between $25,000 and $250,000 in California and $15,000 to $150,000 in Utah. CompWest provides workers compensation insurance in California and select Western states, targeting customers in healthcare, manufacturing, professional services, retail, wholesale services, hospitality and artisan construction. Its focus on underwriting, specialized loss control and integrated claims management services brings policyholders assistance in minimizing injuries and reducing long-term insurance costs. More than seven years after an airline captain saved 155 lives by ditching his crippled airliner in the Hudson River, now the basis of a new movie, most of the safety recommendations stemming from the accident havent been carried out. Of the 35 recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board in response to the incident involving US Airways Flight 1549, only six have been successfully completed, according to an Associated Press review of board records. Fourteen of the recommendations issued to the Federal Aviation Administration and its European counterpart, EASA, are marked by the NTSB as closed-unacceptable. One has been withdrawn, and the rest remain unresolved. The movie Sully, which opened in theaters last week, celebrates how veteran pilot Chesley Sully Sullenberger, played by Tom Hanks, along with his co-pilot, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, ferry boat operators and first responders did their jobs with professionalism and competence, averting a potential tragedy. The plane lost thrust in both engines after colliding with a flock of Canada geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York. No one died, and only five people were seriously injured. The FAA was very upset back then that we made any recommendations at all, recalled Tom Haueter, who was the NTSBs head of major accident investigations at the time. They thought this was a success story. But to investigators, the event turned up problems. This could happen again and we want to make sure that if it does, there are some better safety measures in place, Haueter said. Recommendations that got an unacceptable response deal with pilot training, directions for pilots facing the loss of power in both engines, equipping planes with life rafts and vests and making it easier for passengers to use them, among other issues. The untold story of the Miracle on the Hudson was the part luck played in preventing catastrophe on that freezing afternoon in January 2009. The wind chill was 2 degrees and the water temperature was 41 degrees, raising the risk of cold shock, a condition in which people lose the use of their arms and legs, usually drowning within 5 minutes. It was sheer chance that the plane, an Airbus A320, was equipped with rafts, life vests and seat cushions that can be used for flotation. The equipment is only required on extended overwater flights, and not on Flight 1549s New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, route. The NTSB recommended requiring life vests and flotation cushions on all planes, regardless of the route. But the FAA responded that it was leaving that up to the airlines. The board also recommended that all passenger safety briefings by flight attendants include life-vest demonstrations, and that vest storage be redesigned for easier retrieval. Demonstrations are still only required on extended overwater flights, although many airlines include them on all flights. The boards investigation found that only 10 passengers retrieved their life vests and not all of them put them on correctly. Despite some changes by the FAA, the board says it still takes more than a few seconds to retrieve vests, which is all the time passengers will take to get them when exiting a plane filling with water. Because Flight 1549s descent was faster than the plane is designed to handle for a ditching, the underside of the aircraft was damaged when it hit the water. The two rear slides-rafts were submerged and unusable. That left only the two forward life rafts, which are designed to hold a maximum of 110 people well short of the 155 on board. Many of the passengers wound up standing on the wings as the plane gradually sank into the river. The NTSB recommended changing the location of rafts and slides that double as rafts to ensure capacity for all passengers, since its unlikely the rear rafts would be available. The FAA rejected that, saying that if Sullenberger had followed Airbus directions on descent speeds for ditching, the rear rafts would have been usable. The NTSB replied that the ability of pilots to achieve those descent speeds has never been tested and cant be relied on. Some passengers wound up using the inflated ramps as rafts even though theyre not designed for that. But passengers werent able to release the ramps from the plane, running the risk that the ramps would be pulled underwater along with it. The NTSB recommended requiring quick-release attachments for the ramps. The FAA rejected the advice, saying its analysis showed that the attachments were likely to be fully or partially underwater. NTSB said its investigation showed that wasnt the case. In the movie, immediately after Flight 1549s engines quit, first officer Jeff Skiles, played by Aaron Eckhart, began going through a checklist of procedures for restarting the engines. Pilots are trained to do that in an emergency when they dont know how to fix a problem, but Skiles was only able to get through a fraction of the checklist items before the plane landed in the river. The NTSBs investigation showed the procedures were designed for a dual-engine failure at a cruising altitude above 20,000 feet, high enough for pilots to complete the list while descending and still have time to regain altitude. But Flight 1549 collided with the geese at an altitude of only 2,818 feet. Among NTSBs closed-unacceptable recommendations are that the FAA require airlines to include procedures for a low-altitude, dual-engine failure in checklists and pilot training. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Lawyers who defend companies in product liability cases are celebrating an unusual order by a federal judge in Columbus, Georgia. In it, he told attorneys for the other sidethe ones who represent injured consumersthat he was going to crack down on frivolous claims, and that the penalty could come from their wallet. The five-page order appeared last week from Chief U.S. District Judge Clay Land of the Middle District of Georgia. He issued it in connection with hundreds of consolidated cases he oversees concerning a vaginal mesh device made by Johnson & Johnson unit Mentor Corp. thats designed to treat urinary stress incontinence. Now, its true that bashing plaintiffs lawyers for frivolous litigation is old hat. But the reason company lawyers are excited by Lands handiwork is that he placed the blame for such dubious claims on the procedures courts use to consolidate cases. Land, appointed to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said in his Sept. 7 ruling that hes had to waste judicial resources deciding motions in cases that should have been dismissed by plaintiffs counsel earliercases that probably should never have been brought in the first place. Enough is enough. From now on, he warned, he would impose sanctions, including possible money penalties, when dismissing such flimsy cases. The Washington Legal Foundation, a pro-business advocacy group, praised Land for his spot-on critique of the multi-district litigation process. Multi-district litigation, or MDL, is a procedural mechanism by which the federal courts group together related suitssuch as the Mentor vaginal mesh casesand put them under the supervision of a single judge. The idea is that the MDL judge can help the parties resolve certain pretrial issues the cases may have in common and thereby speed up a settlement, or trial. Judge Land observed that whatever the advantages of the process, there are also unintended consequences. One is that the tendency of MDLs to end in global settlements creates an incentive for the filing of cases that otherwise would not be filed if they had to stand on their own merit, Land asserted. In other words, attorneys with flimsy lawsuits jump on the bandwagon knowing theyll probably get a piece of the pie without anyone taking a hard look at their clients case. Such suits are often filed for claims that are too old and with only a minimal amount of evidence, he wrote. This phenomenon produces the perverse result that an MDL, which was established in part to manage cases more efficiently to achieve judicial economy, becomes populated with many non-meritorious cases, Land wrote, cases that likely never would have entered the federal court system without the MDL. Since 2010, tens of thousands of vaginal mesh cases have been filed against a half-dozen device makers in federal courts around the country. Johnson & Johnson has faced the most claims. To handle the vast caseload, MDLs have been arranged in New Jersey, West Virginia, and elsewhere. Women who have had mesh inserted to support sagging organs or treat incontinence have subsequently complained that the devices eroded and caused a variety of injuries. Judge Lands Mentor MDL began with 22 cases and grew to more than 850an explosion, he said, that appears to have been fueled, at least in part, by an onslaught of lawyer television solicitations. So far, Land has presided over three trials, decided about 100 summary judgment motions (aimed at throwing out lawsuits before trial) and presided over 458 confidential settlements. Plaintiffs have dropped 74 cases voluntarily. (The device in question was taken off the market in 2006.) From here on out, Land warned, plaintiffs attorneys should assume that hell make robust use of Rule 11, the federal court rule that provides for sanctions against attorneys. And he urged other judges to follow his example. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. The widow and children of a man who went to a rural Hawaii health center with a sore throat in 2013 and ended up dead will receive a $4.2 million settlement from the federal government, the widows lawyer said Wednesday. Antonio Marrero, 32, went to the emergency room of Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, where a doctor determined he had an abscess in his tonsils and arranged for him to see an ear, nose and throat specialist, lawyer Richard Fried said. Then the doctor decided to further evaluate him under sedation, but Marrero lost consciousness and died, Fried said. Before sedating him, the doctor should have known Marrero weighed nearly 300 pounds, which would make it difficult to protect his airway, the lawsuit filed by Fried said. There was no anesthesiologist there, and the doctor gave Marrero too much of the sedative drug, Fried said. At a news conference in Frieds office to announce the settlement, Marreros wife, Rachel, recalled her shock when she was told that the father of her three young sons had died. She told health center workers: He just had a sore throat, what do you mean he passed? After the news conference, the health centers executives hugged her and offered condolences. Our providers work tirelessly to assure that the best quality of care is given to our patients, and we grieve that in this case things occurred the way they did and we have this unfortunate outcome, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Bradley said. The executives declined to disclose the emergency doctors name, but the lawsuit named Dr. Robert Bonham. Bradley later released a statement from Bonham where he offered condolences and said he couldnt provide details about the case because of an ongoing formal review. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is conducting the review, Bradley said. Marrero said she was hopeful that the health center, known locally as the comp, will follow through with promised steps to make sure that a similar death never happens again. The health center implemented changes after the death, including a new emergency room director overseeing operations and a full-time chief compliance officer who is also an attorney. A new emergency room facility is scheduled to be completed within a year, though plans for that were underway before the incident, Bradley said. I dont hate or judge, Marrero said. I just hope that the comp does make everything better for other families. The federal government will pay the settlement because the center is a federally qualified community nonprofit health center thats insured by the Federal Tort Claims Act, said center President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Bettini. In exchange, we take anyone regardless of ability to pay, he said. Fried praised the settlement and said people living in west Oahus Waianae community should feel comfortable receiving care there. He noted that Bettini arranged for money to be set aside for the familys living expenses while they waited for the settlement, which was reached last year but required about a year of federal approvals. Marrero said her maintenance mechanic husband stayed home with his sore throat for about a week, struggling to eat and suffering fevers. When his vacation time ran out, he went back to work, where his employers advised him to seek medical attention, she said. He went right after work, and he never came home, she said. She called her husband a gentle giant who provided for his family. We had kids, got married, bought our house, she said. It was a dream come true for me. The structured settlement will pay a fixed monthly amount for the remainder of the lives of Marrero and her children, Fried said. One of the first things shes doing with the money is rebuilding their home that burned down just a few days before Christmas in 2014, she said. It wont ever bring my husband back, she said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. OBERLIN, Ohio - Fred Wilson, the New York-based conceptual artist who reshuffles artworks in museum galleries to reveal hidden biases and prejudices, has virtually taken over the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. In what he calls his largest combined exhibition to date, Wilson has paired a display of his own artworks in the museum's Ellen Johnson Gallery with a subversive reinstallation of the museum's holdings in its central sculpture court, its most impressive interior space. The result is an intellectually mischievous and deeply engaging romp through centuries of visual culture rearranged by Wilson to reveal narratives of race, power and identity typically ignored by traditional art history. "I'm always looking for that bit of denial about the things I'm seeing that I don't think are being talked about," Wilson said in a recent interview during a visit to the Allen. "Because the race issue has been a looming issue for a long, long time, I come back to it again and again." Wilson's big installation in the sculpture court hits you the second you pass through the front door of the Italian Renaissance-style building, designed by architect Cass Gilbert. Facing you just inside a glass vestibule is the museum's 1874 white marble bust of James Peck Thomas, who was born a slave but became a successful businessman. The sculpture was carved in Rome by Edmonia Lewis, whose father was black and whose mother was Native American. Arrayed beyond the sculpture and also facing the main entry to confront arriving visitors are more than a dozen large plaster casts of classic ancient Greek and Roman and Italian Renaissance sculptural masterpieces. There's a cast of the Venus de Milo, of Donatello's David, and of Verrocchio's David, too, plus a pair of Phidias' reclining goddesses from the Parthenon -- part of the horde of carvings hauled away from Greece to London by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. Wilson discovered the plaster casts in storage at the Allen during many visits over the past year in which he studied the museum's holdings to come up with the idea for the installation. He also added others to his display that were made by Oberlin-based stone carver Nicholas Fairplay. Discoveries in storage "My process is, I come in and look at everything and talk to everybody and look in storage," Wilson said. "Sometimes, my best ideas are right there in your face." One way to view the big installation is that all of Western art history leads to a climactic moment in which a black American artist in Rome could carve a white marble portrait in good neoclassical style of a black American man who rose from slavery to make a fortune. That's not the usual storyline of art history, to be sure. Wilson's idea is not that there's a right way or a wrong way for museums to operate. It's just that they usually focus on topics such as the development of national styles, or the succession of one artistic movement after another, without fessing up to the ideological assumptions behind such techniques. "They're telling a specific story, and the public doesn't know it," Wilson said. "There's no way to know that there isn't anything else to know. For me, that's the interesting spot that I like to put myself in." Born in the Bronx in 1954, Wilson described himself as a mix of "African, Native American, European and Amerindian" roots. Feeling like an outsider He said he often felt like an outcast growing up in predominantly white Yonkers, the Westchester County suburb just north of Manhattan on the Hudson River. "I am the way I am because there was a great desire to have friends and to be part of a community, and I didn't have friends," Wilson said. Wilson, however, discovered a love of art and museums while participating in an innovative educational program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His experiences led to post-college stints working as an educator both at the Met and the American Museum of Natural History. Review What's Up: Two big shows by installation artist Fred Wilson -- "Wildfire Test Pit" and "Black to the Powers of Ten." Venue: Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. Where: 87 N. Main St., Oberlin. When: Now through June 12. Artist talk: Wilson will speak at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3. For details, visit the museum website. Admission: Free. Call 440-775-8671 or go to oberlin.edu/amam/default.html. He said he was struck by the reality that works originating from the same cultures in Africa or the Pacific Northwest in America were displayed in completely different ways in the two museums. That gave him the idea for an installation he created in the 1980s for the Bronx Council on the Arts, in which he displayed works by the same 30 contemporary American artists in three different contexts. He had one gallery designed like an ethnic display at a natural history museum, one like a period room in an art museum, and one like a "white cube" space in a contemporary art gallery. Setting a course It was that show, and the warm critical response to it, that set Wilson on his path, and helped him win a MacArthur "genius" grant in 1999. Wilson calls his big installation at the Allen "Wildfire Test Pit," which he said refers to Edmonia Lewis's Native American nickname, Wildfire, and to the idea of making a test dig to explore an archaeological site. The installation unearths fragmentary texts from accounts of Lewis' life, and displays them on gallery walls next to artworks that call attention to America's troubled racial history. For example, Wilson had a collection of African sculptures displayed near a painting by the late Rev. Albert Wagner, the East Cleveland outsider artist whose style bears an uncanny resemblance to the adjacent sculptures. Diagonally across the gallery (and diagonally across from a bronze portrait bust of the abolitionist John Brown) is a trompe l'oeil painting of the handbill for the play performed at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The installation invites viewers to draw connections among these and scores of other objects chosen by Wilson, which draw unexpected connections and contrasts between mainline art history and the history of racial conflict in America. Studio works Wilson's other big display at the Allen is "Black to the Powers of Ten," a survey of the artist's own works from 2003 to 2014. Works on view include paintings of flags from which the colors have been subtracted in order to highlight the importance of color to their respective national cultures. Also on view are elaborate black glass chandeliers and layered Rococo mirror frames crafted to Wilson's specifications by glassmakers in Murano, Italy. Grave and somber, but also darkly elegant, the works conflate blackness and 18th-century Italian style in ways that raise questions about race, identity and history. At its core, Wilson's art is motivated by a certain kind of generosity and expansiveness. It's about creating a safe space to raise difficult questions about why museums do what they do - and whose history gets excluded as a result. "I've always felt really comfortable in these places," Wilson said, speaking of museums. "If you feel comfortable in a place, it's really easy to question it." SHHS.JPG The Shaker Heights School District received a C grade in the performance index category of the Ohio state report cards. Beachwood got a B, and Cleveland Heights-University Heights, a D. (Jeff Piorkowski/special to cleveland.com) BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Beachwood fared well in Ohio state report card grading released last week, earning a B in the performance index category, while the Shaker Heights District scored a C grade, and the Cleveland Heights-University Heights District, a grade of D. The state, for the third consecutive year, changed its testing and expectations of test grades, leading this year to an expected lowering of grades throughout Ohio's 609 districts. In the past, districts received overall grades, but during the current state testing transition, the performance index, a composite of test scores from multiple grades and subjects, is being used by many as the catch-all category by which to grade districts. In past years, it was not unusual for 75 percent of the state's district's to fall into the A- or B-grade categories. Beachwood, thus, is one of just 85 districts to get a B grade, while just two posted an A grade. In the 2013-14 school year, 37 received As, and 434 earned a grade of B. Solon City School District ranked number one in the state. Beachwood was found to have met 28 of 29 educational standards and scored an A in the "achievement" category, which measures how well students performed on tests, overall. Beachwood also earned A grades in the categories of "graduation", measuring those who graduate in four or five years, and in "indicators met," or the share of students meeting proficiency standards. The district scored a B grade in the category "prepared for success," which measures students' preparedness for work or college upon graduation. "We were pleased to see that our overall performance index was fifth highest in the entire state of Ohio," said Beachwood Superintendent Robert Hardis in an email response to cleveland.com, "but we know we can do even better. When asked what displeased him about the results, and his thoughts about the grading system, criticized by many district officials around the state, Hardis replied, "There were several areas of the report card where we did not earn an A. We recognize that the report card has many limitations in terms of its validity and its practical application, but ultimately we owe it to the Beachwood community, that steadfastly supports us, to strive for As." Last year, Beachwood earned an overall A grade and ranked third in Ohio. In 2013-14, it was eighth in Ohio with an A grade. The Shaker Heights School District was found to have met 12 of 31 standards and received a performance index grade of C. In 2015-16, it also earned a C grade, and ranked 282nd in Ohio. It's performance index rating dropped from 92.71 last year, to 87.77 this year. Shaker Heights earned an A grade in the category for "value added" for gifted students, and a B for its four-year graduation rate. It also received grades of F in "gap closing" (which measures how well a district is meeting the needs of its most vulnerable students in the areas of English, math and graduation); "Kindergarten through 3rd grade literacy"; "indicators met"; "overall value added" (a measure of growth by individual students); and "Kindergarten through 3rd grade literacy improvement." Shaker's "prepared for success" grade was C. "It is important to remember that one data point -- a state assessment administered last year -- does not define the quality of our our schools, our students, our teachers or our administrators," Shaker Heights Schools Superintendent Dr. Gregroy C. Hutchings, Jr. stated in a letter posted on the district's website. "In fact, the success of our students belies the scores contained on the State Report Card." Hutchings wrote of the three new state assessments in as many years, and noted, "With that kind of change, it is inevitable that scores go down. Not only do we have a new assessment every year, but the state's learning objectives and benchmarks have also changed. "We are pleased that the learning objectives are more rigorous, but it takes time to provide the professional learning necessary to meet those standards." Hutchings, who said the state scores were not a surprise to the district, added, "Shaker graduates are accepted into a wide variety of colleges and universities in the country, including all of the Ivy League institutions. Our SAT and ACT scores are well above state and national averages, as are the marks our students achieve on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. Our teaching staff is highly rated by the state." Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools had a performance index rating of 69.56, compared to 82.95 the year before. The district also received a D grade in 2014-15, placing it at a 537 state ranking, and a C in 2013-14. The district's highest grades this year were Cs in the categories "Kindergarten through 3rd grade literacy", "graduation"; and "Kindergarten through 3rd grade literacy improvement." It took F grades in seven categories, including "gap closing" and "indicators met." Its "prepared for success' grade was D. The district met four of 30 standards. A posting on the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools website states that the district showed improvement in the high school graduation rate and K-3 literacy. "We are pleased to see a significant increase in our graduation rate, and we expect that to continue to climb towards our goal of 90 percent," Superintendent Dr. Talisa Dixon stated in the posting. "The programs and process we have implemented with our strategic plan, including non-traditional options for students who are not excelling, are clearly producing results. "That is a credit to the hard work of our staff and students at the high school." It is stated on the site that the 2015 high school graduation rate for students who entered the school as ninth graders in 2012 was 85.7 percent, as compared to 81.3 percent the previous year. When asked about how the state report cards are now determined and the districts' results, Dixon, in an email to cleveland.com, stated she didn't wish to question too much at this time the state's measurements. "Like many school districts around the state, we are frustrated with some of our results because we have worked hard at showing growth and improvement through our strategic plan," Dixon stated. "We take full responsibility for our outcomes and we are committed to preparing ours students to achieve and succeed." For Ohio state report card grades for all districts, visit here. Solon schools The Solon school district ranks second in Ohio, behind Ottawa Hills, in the school report card GPA calculated by cleveland.com (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Whether students appreciate it or not, schools often include grade-point averages on report cards - offering an overall sense of accomplishments. But Ohio schools received no such GPA last week in their report cards from the state. Long gone are the old state-issued ratings such as excellent, effective or academic emergency. So, we decided to do for the schools what schools often do for students - calculate a GPA. Then we ranked the districts statewide based on the GPA. (See list below.) Is our ranking method perfect? No. Consider it one of many ways to compare your school to others. Ottawa Hills, outside Toledo, is the only perfect 4.0 district in the state, by our calculations. Solon checks in at No. 2 with a 3.8 GPA. Only 23 of 608 districts got a 3.0 or better. Most failed to get a 2.0, or the equivalent of a C. Cleveland and Warrensville Heights were the only districts to receive a 0.0-point GPA in our ratings. We calculated the GPAs by using the "component" grades the Ohio Department of Education reported for each of six areas deemed of special interest by the state. The component grades consider things like overall student achievement, how well districts do in helping lower-performing students improve and graduation rates. Use the link below to learn more about each of the five measures, or to see more complete grade details for each public school district or school building in Ohio. Note: highlighted districts are from Greater Cleveland-Akron. An earlier version of this chart used five component grades. It now includes all six. The GPAs have been recalculated. Rank District_short COUNTY GPA 1 Ottawa Hills Lucas 4.00 2 Solon Cuyahoga 3.80 3 Indian Hill Hamilton 3.60 Madeira Hamilton 3.60 5 Beachwood Cuyahoga 3.40 Miller City- New Cleveland Putnam 3.40 Rocky River Cuyahoga 3.40 8 Oakwood Montgomery 3.33 9 Aurora Portage 3.20 Highland Medina 3.20 Kalida Putnam 3.20 Mariemont Hamilton 3.20 Marion Mercer 3.20 Russia Shelby 3.20 Upper Arlington Franklin 3.20 16 Granville Licking 3.17 17 Bay Village Cuyahoga 3.00 Brecksville- Broadview Heights Cuyahoga 3.00 Fort Loramie Shelby 3.00 Hudson Summit 3.00 Maplewood Trumbull 3.00 Perrysburg Wood 3.00 Pettisville Fulton 3.00 24 Canfield Mahoning 2.83 Mason Warren 2.83 Springboro Warren 2.83 27 Botkins Shelby 2.80 Columbiana Columbiana 2.80 Ottoville Putnam 2.80 30 Bellbrook- Sugarcreek Greene 2.67 Bluffton Allen 2.67 Chagrin Falls Cuyahoga 2.67 Cuyahoga Heights Cuyahoga 2.67 East Holmes Holmes 2.67 Forest Hills Hamilton 2.67 Grandview Heights Franklin 2.67 Kings Warren 2.67 North Canton Stark 2.67 Orange Cuyahoga 2.67 Revere Summit 2.67 West Geauga Geauga 2.67 West Liberty- Salem Champaign 2.67 43 Avon Lorain 2.60 Bexley Franklin 2.60 New Albany-Plain Franklin 2.60 46 Beavercreek Greene 2.50 Jackson Stark 2.50 Mayfield Cuyahoga 2.50 New Bremen Auglaize 2.50 Newton Miami 2.50 Northmont Montgomery 2.50 Ross Butler 2.50 Spencerville Allen 2.50 United Columbiana 2.50 Versailles Darke 2.50 Wayne Warren 2.50 Wyoming Hamilton 2.50 58 Archbold Fulton 2.40 Lincolnview Van Wert 2.40 Mentor Lake 2.40 Olentangy Delaware 2.40 Poland Mahoning 2.40 63 Anna Shelby 2.33 Edgerton Williams 2.33 Independence Cuyahoga 2.33 Kirtland Lake 2.33 Lake Stark 2.33 Lexington Richland 2.33 Minster Auglaize 2.33 Old Fort Seneca 2.33 Olmsted Falls Cuyahoga 2.33 Pandora-Gilboa Putnam 2.33 Patrick Henry Henry 2.33 Southeast Wayne 2.33 Sycamore Hamilton 2.33 Tipp City Miami 2.33 Van Buren Hancock 2.33 78 Amherst Lorain 2.20 Cedar Cliff Greene 2.20 Kenston Geauga 2.20 Lowellville Mahoning 2.20 New Knoxville Auglaize 2.20 Northwestern Wayne 2.20 Perry Lake 2.20 South Range Mahoning 2.20 Western Reserve Mahoning 2.20 87 Allen East Allen 2.17 Anthony Wayne Lucas 2.17 Benton Carroll Salem Ottawa 2.17 Brunswick Medina 2.17 Centerville Montgomery 2.17 Chardon Geauga 2.17 Chippewa Wayne 2.17 Clear Fork Valley Richland 2.17 Copley-Fairlawn Summit 2.17 Crestview Van Wert 2.17 Delaware Delaware 2.17 Dublin Franklin 2.17 Elmwood Wood 2.17 Evergreen Fulton 2.17 Fairbanks Union 2.17 Franklin Monroe Darke 2.17 Girard Trumbull 2.17 Jackson Center Shelby 2.17 James A Garfield Portage 2.17 Louisville Stark 2.17 Marysville Union 2.17 Miamisburg Montgomery 2.17 Milford Clermont 2.17 Monroe Butler 2.17 North Royalton Cuyahoga 2.17 Norton Summit 2.17 Oak Hills Hamilton 2.17 Ottawa-Glandorf Putnam 2.17 Shawnee Allen 2.17 Southwest Hamilton 2.17 Steubenville Jefferson 2.17 Strongsville Cuyahoga 2.17 Talawanda Butler 2.17 Three Rivers Hamilton 2.17 Twinsburg Summit 2.17 Wayne Trace Paulding 2.17 West Branch Mahoning 2.17 Westlake Cuyahoga 2.17 Worthington Franklin 2.17 126 Antwerp Paulding 2.00 Arcadia Hancock 2.00 Arcanum-Butler Darke 2.00 Avon Lake Lorain 2.00 Ayersville Defiance 2.00 Big Walnut Delaware 2.00 Bloom-Vernon Scioto 2.00 Bloomfield-Mespo Trumbull 2.00 Bowling Green Wood 2.00 Central Defiance 2.00 Dalton Wayne 2.00 Danbury Ottawa 2.00 Dawson-Bryant Lawrence 2.00 Dover Tuscarawas 2.00 Eastwood Wood 2.00 Edison Erie 2.00 Edon Northwest Williams 2.00 Gahanna-Jefferson Franklin 2.00 Gibsonburg Sandusky 2.00 Goshen Clermont 2.00 Hopewell-Loudon Seneca 2.00 Howland Trumbull 2.00 Jackson Jackson 2.00 LaBrae Trumbull 2.00 Lakeview Trumbull 2.00 Lakota Butler 2.00 Liberty-Benton Hancock 2.00 Lordstown Trumbull 2.00 Manchester Adams 2.00 Marlington Stark 2.00 Maumee Lucas 2.00 McDonald Trumbull 2.00 Miami East Miami 2.00 Miami Trace Fayette 2.00 Mohawk Wyandot 2.00 Nordonia Hills Summit 2.00 North Olmsted Cuyahoga 2.00 Northeastern Defiance 2.00 Northwest Stark 2.00 Osnaburg Stark 2.00 Plain Stark 2.00 River Valley Marion 2.00 Southeastern Ross 2.00 Southington Trumbull 2.00 Southwest Licking Licking 2.00 Springfield Mahoning 2.00 Stryker Williams 2.00 Sylvania Lucas 2.00 Valley View Montgomery 2.00 Vermilion Erie 2.00 Wadsworth Medina 2.00 Wauseon Fulton 2.00 Waynesfield-Goshen Auglaize 2.00 Weathersfield Trumbull 2.00 West Muskingum Muskingum 2.00 Wheelersburg Scioto 2.00 Wolf Creek Washington 2.00 Woodridge Summit 2.00 184 Ada Hardin 1.83 Arlington Hancock 1.83 Barnesville Belmont 1.83 Benjamin Logan Logan 1.83 Bethel-Tate Clermont 1.83 Blanchester Clinton 1.83 Bloom-Carroll Fairfield 1.83 Brookville Montgomery 1.83 Bryan Williams 1.83 Buckeye Central Crawford 1.83 Centerburg Knox 1.83 Clinton-Massie Clinton 1.83 Clyde-Green Springs Sandusky 1.83 Columbus Grove Putnam 1.83 Continental Putnam 1.83 Coshocton Coshocton 1.83 Crestview Columbiana 1.83 Crestview Richland 1.83 Cuyahoga Falls Summit 1.83 Fairfield Butler 1.83 Fredericktown Knox 1.83 Galion Crawford 1.83 Geneva Ashtabula 1.83 Genoa Ottawa 1.83 Green Summit 1.83 Green Wayne 1.83 Hardin-Houston Shelby 1.83 Hicksville Defiance 1.83 Holgate Henry 1.83 Indian Lake Logan 1.83 Kettering Montgomery 1.83 Lakewood Cuyahoga 1.83 Leipsic Putnam 1.83 Licking Valley Licking 1.83 Loveland Hamilton 1.83 Madison Richland 1.83 Mapleton Ashland 1.83 Margaretta Erie 1.83 Mathews Trumbull 1.83 Maysville Muskingum 1.83 Mechanicsburg Champaign 1.83 Medina Medina 1.83 Millcreek- West Unity Williams 1.83 Minerva Stark 1.83 Monroeville Huron 1.83 National Trail Preble 1.83 New Philadelphia Tuscarawas 1.83 New Riegel Seneca 1.83 North Baltimore Wood 1.83 North Union Union 1.83 Northeastern Clark 1.83 Northridge Licking 1.83 Ontario Richland 1.83 Perkins Erie 1.83 Perry Stark 1.83 Port Clinton Ottawa 1.83 Rittman Wayne 1.83 Seneca East Seneca 1.83 Shelby Richland 1.83 Southeastern Clark 1.83 St. Henry Mercer 1.83 Troy Miami 1.83 Tuscarawas Valley Tuscarawas 1.83 Van Wert Van Wert 1.83 Wooster Wayne 1.83 249 Joseph Badger Trumbull 1.80 Manchester Summit 1.80 Oregon Lucas 1.80 Otsego Wood 1.80 253 Amanda-Clearcreek Fairfield 1.67 Bath Allen 1.67 Bellefontaine Logan 1.67 Bellevue Huron 1.67 Boardman Mahoning 1.67 Bright Highland 1.67 Brooklyn Cuyahoga 1.67 Buckeye Medina 1.67 Buckeye Valley Delaware 1.67 Celina Mercer 1.67 Clark-Shawnee Clark 1.67 Clay Scioto 1.67 Coldwater Mercer 1.67 Columbia Lorain 1.67 Cory-Rawson Hancock 1.67 Defiance Defiance 1.67 Delphos Allen 1.67 Eastern Brown 1.67 Fairfield Union Fairfield 1.67 Fairview Park Cuyahoga 1.67 Fayetteville-Perry Brown 1.67 Felicity-Franklin Clermont 1.67 Field Portage 1.67 Georgetown Brown 1.67 Heath Licking 1.67 Hilliard Franklin 1.67 Hubbard Trumbull 1.67 Johnstown-Monroe Licking 1.67 Jonathan Alder Madison 1.67 Lancaster Fairfield 1.67 Liberty Center Henry 1.67 Little Miami Warren 1.67 Loudonville- Perrysville Ashland 1.67 Napoleon Henry 1.67 New Lebanon Montgomery 1.67 New Richmond Clermont 1.67 Norwayne Wayne 1.67 Orrville Wayne 1.67 Paulding Paulding 1.67 Pickerington Fairfield 1.67 Pleasant Marion 1.67 Reynoldsburg Franklin 1.67 River View Coshocton 1.67 Riverside Lake 1.67 Tallmadge Summit 1.67 Tri-Village Darke 1.67 Triad Champaign 1.67 Upper Sandusky Wyandot 1.67 Valley Scioto 1.67 Vandalia-Butler Montgomery 1.67 Wapakoneta Auglaize 1.67 Washington Court House Fayette 1.67 Washington-Nile Scioto 1.67 Western Reserve Huron 1.67 Williamsburg Clermont 1.67 Windham Portage 1.67 Wynford Crawford 1.67 Yellow Springs Greene 1.67 311 Bristol Trumbull 1.60 Fairland Lawrence 1.60 Jennings Putnam 1.60 Northmor Morrow 1.60 Parkway Mercer 1.60 West Holmes Holmes 1.60 317 Ansonia Darke 1.50 Ashland Ashland 1.50 Athens Athens 1.50 Beaver Columbiana 1.50 Canal Winchester Franklin 1.50 Canton Stark 1.50 Cardinal Geauga 1.50 Champion Trumbull 1.50 Chesapeake Union Lawrence 1.50 Claymont Tuscarawas 1.50 Cloverleaf Medina 1.50 Colonel Crawford Crawford 1.50 Conneaut Ashtabula 1.50 Covington Miami 1.50 Crestwood Portage 1.50 East Muskingum Muskingum 1.50 East Palestine Columbiana 1.50 Eaton Preble 1.50 Edison Jefferson 1.50 Elgin Marion 1.50 Fairlawn Shelby 1.50 Fairless Stark 1.50 Fayette Fulton 1.50 Fort Frye Washington 1.50 Fort Recovery Mercer 1.50 Franklin Muskingum 1.50 Garaway Tuscarawas 1.50 Green Scioto 1.50 Greenon Clark 1.50 Hamilton Franklin 1.50 Hardin Northern Hardin 1.50 Harrison Hills Harrison 1.50 Huron Erie 1.50 Jackson-Milton Mahoning 1.50 Jefferson Ashtabula 1.50 Lakewood Licking 1.50 Lebanon Warren 1.50 Leetonia Columbiana 1.50 Liberty Union-Thurston Fairfield 1.50 Logan Elm Pickaway 1.50 Midview Lorain 1.50 Milton-Union Miami 1.50 Mogadore Summit 1.50 Newcomerstown Tuscarawas 1.50 Noble Noble 1.50 North Central Williams 1.50 Northwest Scioto 1.50 Northwestern Clark 1.50 Oak Hill Union Jackson 1.50 Oberlin Lorain 1.50 Pike-Delta-York Fulton 1.50 Piqua Miami 1.50 Plymouth-Shiloh Richland 1.50 Ridgewood Coshocton 1.50 Riverside Logan 1.50 Rootstown Portage 1.50 Rossford Wood 1.50 Southeast Portage 1.50 Southern Columbiana 1.50 Springfield Lucas 1.50 Springfield Summit 1.50 St. Bernard- Elmwood Place Hamilton 1.50 St. Clairsville- Richland Belmont 1.50 Strasburg- Franklin Tuscarawas 1.50 Struthers Mahoning 1.50 Teays Valley Pickaway 1.50 Trimble Athens 1.50 Triway Wayne 1.50 Tuslaw Stark 1.50 Union-Scioto Ross 1.50 Vanlue Hancock 1.50 Vinton County Vinton 1.50 Waterloo Portage 1.50 West Carrollton Montgomery 1.50 Westfall Pickaway 1.50 Willoughby- Eastlake Lake 1.50 Woodmore Sandusky 1.50 394 Bridgeport Belmont 1.40 Eastern Meigs 1.40 396 Adams County Ohio Valley Adams 1.33 Alexander Athens 1.33 Austintown Mahoning 1.33 Batavia Clermont 1.33 Berkshire Geauga 1.33 Berne Union Fairfield 1.33 Bethel Miami 1.33 Black River Medina 1.33 Brookfield Trumbull 1.33 Cambridge Guernsey 1.33 Cardington- Lincoln Morrow 1.33 Carey Wyandot 1.33 Clearview Lorain 1.33 Coventry Summit 1.33 Crooksville Perry 1.33 Danville Knox 1.33 East Knox Knox 1.33 Elida Allen 1.33 Fairfield Highland 1.33 Findlay Hancock 1.33 Franklin Warren 1.33 Frontier Washington 1.33 Gallipolis Gallia 1.33 Greenville Darke 1.33 Groveport Madison Franklin 1.33 Huntington Ross 1.33 Jefferson Madison 1.33 Kent Portage 1.33 Keystone Lorain 1.33 Lake Wood 1.33 Lakota Sandusky 1.33 Lucas Richland 1.33 Madison Butler 1.33 Madison Lake 1.33 Martins Ferry Belmont 1.33 Meigs Meigs 1.33 Morgan Morgan 1.33 Mount Gilead Morrow 1.33 Newbury Geauga 1.33 Northern Perry 1.33 Northwest Hamilton 1.33 Norwood Hamilton 1.33 Paint Valley Ross 1.33 Perry Allen 1.33 Reading Hamilton 1.33 Ridgedale Marion 1.33 Ridgemont Hardin 1.33 Riverdale Hancock 1.33 Salem Columbiana 1.33 Sandy Valley Stark 1.33 Shadyside Belmont 1.33 Shaker Heights Cuyahoga 1.33 South Central Huron 1.33 Southern Meigs 1.33 St. Marys Auglaize 1.33 Stow- Munroe Falls Summit 1.33 Tiffin Seneca 1.33 Tri-Valley Muskingum 1.33 Warren Local Washington 1.33 Westerville Franklin 1.33 Wickliffe Lake 1.33 457 East Liverpool Columbiana 1.20 South Point Lawrence 1.20 Swanton Fulton 1.20 460 Belpre Washington 1.17 Berea Cuyahoga 1.17 Bradford Miami 1.17 Brown Carroll 1.17 Buckeye Jefferson 1.17 Caldwell Noble 1.17 Carrollton Carroll 1.17 Circleville Pickaway 1.17 Clermont Northeastern Clermont 1.17 Conotton Valley Union Harrison 1.17 Deer Park Hamilton 1.17 East Clinton Clinton 1.17 Edgewood Butler 1.17 Fairborn Greene 1.17 Fremont Sandusky 1.17 Graham Champaign 1.17 Highland Morrow 1.17 Hillsdale Ashland 1.17 Indian Valley Tuscarawas 1.17 Ironton Lawrence 1.17 Jefferson Township Montgomery 1.17 Kenton Hardin 1.17 Liberty Trumbull 1.17 Logan-Hocking Hocking 1.17 Lynchburg-Clay Highland 1.17 Madison-Plains Madison 1.17 McComb Hancock 1.17 Minford Scioto 1.17 Mississinawa Valley Darke 1.17 Mount Vernon Knox 1.17 North Fork Licking 1.17 North Ridgeville Lorain 1.17 Norwalk Huron 1.17 Pymatuning Valley Ashtabula 1.17 Scioto Valley Pike 1.17 Sebring Mahoning 1.17 Sheffield- Sheffield Lake Lorain 1.17 Symmes Valley Lawrence 1.17 Toronto Jefferson 1.17 Tri-County North Preble 1.17 Twin Valley Preble 1.17 Walnut Township Fairfield 1.17 Wellston Jackson 1.17 Wellsville Columbiana 1.17 West Clermont Clermont 1.17 Western Pike 1.17 Western Brown Brown 1.17 Willard Huron 1.17 Winton Woods Hamilton 1.17 509 Adena Ross 1.00 Bucyrus Crawford 1.00 Carlisle Warren 1.00 Cleveland Heights- University Heights Cuyahoga 1.00 Crestline Crawford 1.00 East Guernsey Guernsey 1.00 Eastern Pike 1.00 Federal Hocking Athens 1.00 Finneytown Hamilton 1.00 Firelands Lorain 1.00 Gallia County Gallia 1.00 Garfield Heights Cuyahoga 1.00 Grand Valley Ashtabula 1.00 Greeneview Greene 1.00 Hillsboro Highland 1.00 Huber Heights Montgomery 1.00 Indian Creek Jefferson 1.00 Lisbon Columbiana 1.00 London Madison 1.00 Marietta Washington 1.00 Massillon Stark 1.00 Middletown Butler 1.00 New Boston Scioto 1.00 New Lexington Perry 1.00 New London Huron 1.00 Northwood Wood 1.00 Parma Cuyahoga 1.00 Portsmouth Scioto 1.00 Preble Shawnee Preble 1.00 Put-In-Bay Ottawa 1.00 Ravenna Portage 1.00 Rolling Hills Guernsey 1.00 Sidney Shelby 1.00 Tecumseh Clark 1.00 Upper Scioto Valley Hardin 1.00 Washington Lucas 1.00 Waverly Pike 1.00 Wellington Lorain 1.00 Wilmington Clinton 1.00 Zane Trace Ross 1.00 549 Ashtabula Ashtabula 0.83 Barberton Summit 0.83 Buckeye Ashtabula 0.83 Campbell Mahoning 0.83 Chillicothe Ross 0.83 Elyria Lorain 0.83 Fostoria Seneca 0.83 Greenfield Highland 0.83 Licking Heights Licking 0.83 Mad River Montgomery 0.83 Newark Licking 0.83 Newton Falls Trumbull 0.83 North College Hill Hamilton 0.83 Princeton Hamilton 0.83 Ripley- Union- Lewis- Huntington Brown 0.83 Rock Hill Lawrence 0.83 South Euclid- Lyndhurst Cuyahoga 0.83 Southern Perry 0.83 Streetsboro Portage 0.83 Urbana Champaign 0.83 Zanesville Muskingum 0.83 570 Alliance Stark 0.67 Bedford Cuyahoga 0.67 Dayton Montgomery 0.67 Lockland Hamilton 0.67 Maple Heights Cuyahoga 0.67 Montpelier Williams 0.67 Nelsonville-York Athens 0.67 Niles Trumbull 0.67 Sandusky Erie 0.67 South-Western Franklin 0.67 Switzerland of Ohio Monroe 0.67 Toledo Lucas 0.67 Union Local Belmont 0.67 Whitehall Franklin 0.67 Xenia Greene 0.67 585 Bellaire Belmont 0.50 Euclid Cuyahoga 0.50 Fairport Harbor Lake 0.50 Hamilton Butler 0.50 Marion Marion 0.50 Mt. Healthy Hamilton 0.50 Northridge Montgomery 0.50 Painesville Lake 0.50 Richmond Heights Cuyahoga 0.50 Springfield Clark 0.50 Youngstown Mahoning 0.50 596 Akron Summit 0.33 Cincinnati Hamilton 0.33 New Miami Butler 0.33 Trotwood-Madison Montgomery 0.33 Warren City Trumbull 0.33 601 Canton Stark 0.17 Columbus Franklin 0.17 East Cleveland Cuyahoga 0.17 Lima Allen 0.17 Lorain Lorain 0.17 Mansfield Richland 0.17 607 Cleveland Cuyahoga 0.00 Warrensville Heights Cuyahoga 0.00 Source: cleveland.com calculations based on five component grades assessed by the Ohio Department of Education for the 2016 Ohio school report cards. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man faces criminal charges after he sold a batch of heroin that killed a Lakewood man, investigators said. Delmar Jackson, 24, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs, heroin and fentanyl trafficking, drug possession and tampering with evidence. He is being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $250,000 bond following his arraignment Thursday. Jackson is accused of selling heroin to Tanya Modic, 33, of Lakewood, who gave the heroin to Ian Stetz, 30, according to police. Stetz used the drugs and died Aug. 9 at an apartment in the 15600 block of Detroit Avenue. Modic is also charged with drug possession and tampering with evidence. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner ruled that he died of acute intoxication by the combination of heroin and alcohol. Lakewood police seized six of Jackson's cellphones during the investigation. Those cellphones were sent to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for forensic analysis, police said. Jackson is on probation for possessing a weapon despite having a felony record and removing the identifying marks off the gun. He pleaded guilty to the charges in February and was sentenced to one year on probation. To comment on this story, visit Monday's crime and courts comments section. Cuyahoga County jail An inmate uses the phone at the Cuyahoga County Jail. (Sara Dorn, cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County judges, attorneys and others involved in the criminal justice system kicked off a review of the county's bail systems at a meeting Monday at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. Officials from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, the Cleveland police department, the suburban municipal courts and others gave presentations about the roles their agencies play in the bond-setting process. The gathering was the first formal meeting for committees that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John J. Russo organized in June to consider reforming the county's bail system. Russo formed the committees after cleveland.com launched Justice For All, a series highlighting inequities in the bail systems used throughout Cuyahoga County and ways that might make them fairer to all defendants. Approximately 50 people showed up Monday for the four-hour session. Here are four takeaways from the meeting: Computer systems hinder communication between law enforcement agencies: The outdated and inconsistent records systems used by law enforcement agencies in Cuyahoga County were an overarching theme of the presentations. The fractured systems prevent judges from accessing all of the information about a defendant that might be available through another agency in Cuyahoga County before they decide how to set bail. The slow pace of the data systems can also result in longer jail stays. The longer it takes law enforcement agencies to move a case through the system, the longer defendants who can't afford bail remain behind bars. For example, once a person is formally charged with a crime, a judge is assigned to their case. The assigned judge can, and often does, lower the bail that was set at the defendant's first court appearance. But hours of police work and communication between the prosecutor's office and the police department has to happen before the charges can be filed, a process that is slowed by Cleveland police's inefficient data system. "We know that we have made some progress, but as far as technology, we are still pushing paper," Deputy Cleveland Police Chief Ed Tomba said. In some instances, the police have to physically deliver documents. Russo also noted there are at least four different booking systems in Cuyahoga County. Shaker Heights Municipal Court Judge K.J. Montgomery, who presented on behalf of the 12 suburban municipal court judges, said some courts have "cobbled together two and three operating systems. "So could we use a universal system? Yeah, you betcha," she said. Limited resources prevent courts from giving defendants the attention they need: Montgomery questioned whether suburban municipal courts that are in many cases funded by cash-strapped local governments can afford to implement time-consuming procedures that would likely be necessary to reform their bail systems. "I'm not sure, in the municipal court environment, we have truly the time and attention that every single defendant needs," Montgomery said. Under the current system, municipal court judges are the first to set bail for defendants. They have "enormous caseloads," according to Montgomery, and admittedly limited information to make their decisions, which often result in them airing on the side of caution and setting bonds defendants can't afford. Courts that reform their bail systems often implement more thorough methods of weighing defendants' risks of committing crimes or skipping court if they're released, a change that would require new resources for administering the assessments. Cuyahoga County hopes to influence bail reform statewide: As Cuyahoga County officials begin looking at ways they could improve the bail system, the state of Ohio is considering changes to prevent bail from discriminating against people who can't afford it. An committee for the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission, an advisory group that makes recommendations to the Ohio Supreme Court, has been meeting this year to take a closer look at bail systems used throughout the state. Russo said he hopes his committees can help inform the state's review. "We may lead the state in at least researching and being a part of this third generation of bail reform," Russo said. Media pressure is pushing courts to self-reflect: Cleveland.com's Justice For All series prompted judges to question their own practices and policies, Montgomery and Cleveland Municipal Court Administrative Judge Ronald Adrine said. Montgomery said every municipal court judge is taking a closer look at how they monitor who is in the suburban jails and why since cleveland.com wrote about their bail-setting procedures. Adrine agreed that judges are feeling the public pressure. "I think the benefit of having a light shined on us is . . . they're asking a question but that question leads to others we need to be asking to make sure we are operating at optimal level," Adrine said. akron police.jpg A 61-year-old man was shot dead by an Akron police officer Sunday afternoon as he pulled an assault rifle from his car, police said. (File photo) AKRON, Ohio -- A 61-year-old man was shot dead by an Akron police officer Sunday afternoon as he pulled an assault rifle from his car, police said. The man was rushed to the Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. The incident started about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, when officers were called to an apartment building in the 1000 block of Florida Avenue for reports of a fight, Akron police said in a statement. The caller told police his 61-year-old neighbor had slammed his arm in the car door, police said. Officers found the neighbor in the parking lot behind the building. As they approached him, he walked to his car and reached for an assault rifle, police said. The man ignored officers' commands to stop, and started to pull the gun from the car, police said. One officer then fired several shots, hitting the man, police said. The officer, in his second year on the force, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office will release the victim's name. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. akron police.jpg Akron police are investigating after one of their officers was involved in a shooting Sunday afternoon on Florida Avenue near Kenmore Boulevard. (File photo) AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron police officer opened fire Sunday afternoon, wounding a person after responding to reports of a fight, according to police. The person was taken to Akron General Hospital. His condition was not immediately known. The officer was not injured. Police were called about 4 p.m. to a fight with injuries on Florida Avenue near Kenmore Boulevard, according to Akron detectives. The shooting came after officers got to the scene. It's unclear what led to the shooting. Akron police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are investigating. cleveland.com will update this post when more information becomes available. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. manhattan-bombing-suspect.jpg A four-photo combination provided by the New Jersey State Police shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is a suspect in connection with the bombing in New York on the night of Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, and a bombing that took place earlier that day on the New Jersey Shore, Police said. (New Jersey State Police via The New York Times) All around New York City, cellphones blared Monday morning with the dissonant, but familiar, tone of an emergency alert. But this time, the alert -- typically used for weather-related advisories or abducted children -- was different. For what is believed to be the first time, the nation's Wireless Emergency Alerts system was deployed as an electronic wanted poster, identifying a 28-year-old man wanted in connection with the bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey. Suddenly, from commuter trains to the sidewalks of Manhattan, millions were enlisted in the manhunt. The message, probably received by millions, nearly at once, was simple: "WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen." It roughly coincided with an appearance by Mayor Bill de Blasio at 7:30 a.m. on CNN, where he announced the name of the suspect and shared a photograph released by the FBI. Authorities simultaneously spread the image on Twitter, hoping to ensure that those receiving the alert around 8 a.m. and after on their phones would have no trouble finding the image of Rahami. The messages are targeted to a cellphone's location, so the alert Monday was received by those in New York City, but not those in all parts of the state. A spokesman for the State Police said the decision to release the message came from authorities in New York City; a spokesman for de Blasio said it was "a first" for such a purpose. There are three broad types of alerts in the national system: emergency alerts for storms and other threats to public safety; Amber Alerts, which seek to enlist the public in a search for an abducted child; and those issued by the president. Cellphone users can opt to block all but the presidential alerts. The emergency alerts can be sent to the national system by federal, state or local authorities who have been authorized to do so and can include shelter-in-place instructions or evacuation orders precipitated by "severe weather, a terrorist threat or a chemical spill," according to the Federal Communications Commission. In New York City, the alerts have been used eight times since 2012: three times during Hurricane Sandy, once to alert a travel ban during a 2015 winter storm and twice during the bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan, according to city officials. The first warning, on Saturday night, was directed at people in the Chelsea area, warning them to stay away from windows as police cleared an unexploded device from 27th Street. The second went across the city to assist in the search for Rahami. By late morning, law enforcement officials said Rahami had been captured. This story was written by J. David Goodman of The New York Times News Service. police tape.jpg Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, say a man wearing only red underpants and with "superhuman strength" fought with officers and tried to run them over with a patrol car. (File photo) BATON ROUGES, Louisiana -- A man with "superhuman strength" and wearing only a pair of red underpants fought with police and attempted to hit officers with a patrol car before finally being subdued, reports say. Police were called a residence at 4:30 p.m. Saturday by family members of Jeremy Wayne Saylor, 35, who told officers he was "tearing things up" and making threats, theadvocate.com reports. Saylor was high on mojo, a synthetic marijuana, police tell wafb.com. Police say Saylor charged at the the first officer to arrive, beating on the patrol car's hood and attacking when the officer opened the car door. The officer closed the door on Saylor's arm and pinned him, but Saylor then began punching the window, wafb.com reports. Other officers arrived and used a stun gun four times on Saylor but to no effect, police said. He then began fighting with officers and managed to get inside a patrol car. Saylor put the car in reverse and tried to hit the officers, but instead rammed into a mobile home, knocking it off its blocks. Police were then able to subdue Saylor. One officer had a minor knee injury in the scuffle. Saylor is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, resisting by force violence, felony theft of auto, and damage to property, theadvocate.com reports. He is being held in jail. To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section. Investigators at the scene of an encounter with the police and a suspect in Linden, N.J. Investigators at the scene of an encounter with the police and a suspect in Linden, N.J., Sept. 19, 2016. The man believed to be responsible for the explosion in Manhattan on Saturday night and an earlier bombing in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was taken into custody Monday after he was wounded by gunfire in the encounter, according to law enforcement officials. (Bryan Anselm/The New York Times) The man believed to be responsible for the explosion in Manhattan Saturday night and an earlier bombing in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was taken into custody Monday after he was wounded by gunfire in an encounter with police, according to law enforcement officials. The dramatic shootout on a rain soaked street in Linden, New Jersey, came after police issued a cellphone alert to millions of residents in the area telling them to be on the lookout for the suspect, who was described as "armed and dangerous." Photos from the scene showed a man believed to be Rahami laying on the sidewalk, hands cuffed behind his back and his shirt pulled up exposing his stomach and chest, with a police officer standing over him. Witnesses said they saw police shoot at a man who was running away. One person who was too rattled to give his name said the victim appeared to have been shot more than once and was "still twitching." He also said it appeared a police officer was shot. "Lotta' lotta' gunfire," said Derek Pelligra, manager of Linden Auto Body. Rahami, 28, was identified on surveillance video planting the bombs in Chelsea, both the device that exploded and another that did not detonate a few blocks away. He was described as a naturalized citizen of Afghan descent who had been living with his family in Elizabeth, New Jersey. It remained unclear there were other suspects who the police were searching for in the connection with the bombing. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who said Sunday that the attack did not appear to have a link to international terrorism, said new evidence might change that thinking. "I would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act," he said on CNN Monday morning. Rahami was born on Jan. 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is described as about 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair. A law enforcement official, who agreed to speak about the investigation only on the condition of anonymity, said they had conclusive evidence that Rahami was connected not just to the Manhattan explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood, but also to a bombing that took place earlier Saturday on the Jersey Shore. The city's police commissioner, James P. O'Neill, directed the entire patrol force of the New York Police Department -- 36,000 officers -- to step up their vigilance and be on the alert for Rahami. Dozens of officers and federal agents were zeroing in on locations in New Jersey. At the same time, more than 1,000 officers from the city police force's Critical Response Command and Emergency Service Unit were working to secure New York City landmarks, commuter hubs and other sensitive sites. By midmorning Monday, police had handled dozens of calls for suspicious packages. Hours before Rahami's name was released, police discovered five pipe bombs near a train station in Elizabeth, detonating one of them overnight as they sought to disarm them. FBI agents with dogs and Elizabeth police officers swarmed a residential neighborhood of low-rise apartment buildings, multiple family homes and small businesses. Law enforcement officers closed and evacuated La Bottega Dei Sapori deli and Sonia's Beauty, a salon to the left of the restaurant, as well as HR Computer and Communication Services Inc. The law enforcement official said that while there was no direct evidence yet linking Rahami to the Islamic State or al-Qaida, much about him remained unknown. "We don't know his particular ideology or what his inspiration was or whether he was directed or whether he was inspired," the official said. "We don't have any of that." "We have a lot to connect him to the Seaside Heights device, to the 27th Street device, to the 23rd Street device," the official added. "And in all likelihood the Elizabeth train station device -- which is a half-mile from his residence. So, the ideology, the connection to international terrorism, we might flesh that out as we go through the results of search warrants, looking for computers, discs, things like this. Search warrants that we did Sunday night at the residence in Elizabeth." "Here's a guy who has been involved" in a series of bomb-related episodes in close succession in crowded areas, the official said. "So we need to get him." Late Sunday, police stopped a car on the Belt Parkway near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn and took in five people who were connected to Rahami for questioning. Police chased down leads on both sides of the Hudson overnight, including the tip that led to the discovery of the pipe bombs in Elizabeth. Two men had walked out of Hector's Place Restaurant near the city's train station and found a backpack containing five explosives resting atop a municipal garbage can, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said. After finding that the backpack contained "wires and a pipe," the mayor said, the men dropped the item in the street and contacted the Elizabeth Police Department around 8:45 p.m. The police, in turn, called the Union County bomb squad, and the investigation was quickly turned over to the FBI and the New Jersey State Police, Bollwage said. The FBI then sent in a pair of robots and determined that the backpack held five bombs, some of which were pipe bombs, the mayor said. Around 12:30 a.m., the robots tried to clip a wire to disarm one bomb and accidentally detonated it, the mayor said. No injuries were reported. Bollwage, speaking at a news conference Monday morning, described how the Rahami family had issues with the city in the past, mainly surrounding the operation of their family restaurant, First American Fried Chicken. Rahami's father, Muhammad, opened the restaurant about a decade ago and employed his sons, the mayor said. It was open 24 hours a day, but neighbors complained about rowdy crowds that would gather at the place, often after midnight. Dean McDermott, who lives near the restaurant in Elizabeth, said he found patrons loitering in his yard and urinating in his driveway. Responding to the complaints, the City Council passed an ordinance that would force the restaurant to close late at night, the mayor said. "The City Council voted to shut it down at 10 p.m.," he said. "They kept getting complaints from neighbors, it was a distress to people in the neighborhood." The Rahamis did not comply, according to neighbors. On one occasion when police came to force the restaurant to close, one of Rahami's older brothers got in a fight with a police officer and was arrested. Before the case could be resolved, McDermott said, the son fled to his home country, Afghanistan. The mayor confirmed that the Rahami family sued the mayor, the City Council, some 20 police officers, claiming that he had been discriminated against because of his race and ethnicity. "It was neighbor complaints, it had nothing to do with his ethnicity or religion," the mayor said. "It had to do with noise and people congregating on the streets." A frequent patron of the restaurant, Ryan McCann, 33, said Ahmad Rahami was friendly and did not seem outwardly angry. Rather, McCann said, he was obsessed with fast cars, specifically Honda civics custom built to race. Rahami wore Western clothing, hung out on the sidewalk with friends and often slipped his regular customers free food, he said. "He's a very friendly guy; he gave me free chicken," McCann said. "He was always the most friendly man you ever met." McCann said that the family lived in an apartment above the restaurant and that Rahami had been taking over more responsibility at the restaurant. "Lately, it was just the son, I haven't seen the father in awhile," he said. To other customers, however, the Rahami family seemed reserved. "They seemed secretive, a little mysterious," said Jessica Casanova, 23, a neighbor. "They're too serious all the time." Another neighbor, Joshua Sanchez, 24, was also struck by the familial insularity inside the chicken restaurant he referred to as "the shack." "The dad and him would always be together at the shack, just them two, family business," he said. "They never hired people, it was just the father and the son all the time." This story was written by Marc Santora, William K. Rashbaum and Al Baker of The New York Times News Service. Olmsted Falls Vintage Marketplace photo Joanne Berger DuMound.jpg Vintage MarketPlace returns to downtown Olmsted Falls from noon to 5 p.m. this Sunday in its final event this summer. (Joanne Berger DuMound/special to cleveland.com.) OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio - Grant McDaniel put his EMS training in action, overlooking his own injury, to help someone else. Grant, 20, is a Cuyahoga Community College EMT student at the KeyBank Public Safety Training Center at Tri-C's Western Campus. The Olmsted Falls resident was involved in an accident on Columbia Road in July. The other motorist reportedly veered left of center and hit Grant's car head-on. Grant, 20, went to the aid of the motorist although he was injured in the crash. He provided medical assistance to the other driver until an ambulance arrived. Grant McDaniel According to a Tri-C news release, Grant said, "I quickly realized he wasn't in good shape, so I followed my training and held his head in a neutral position until help arrived. His mental status wasn't good. So I tried to get him to talk and stay lucid." Unfortunately, that driver died of his injuries at Southwest Community Health Center. Olmsted Township fire department honored Grant's efforts to save the driver's life. It held a ceremony last week. The department is familiar with Grant since he's completed most of his EMT training hours with its personnel. "We're all impressed with the poise he showed, the ability to jump into action despite being injured himself," Olmsted Township Fire Chief Pat Kelly said. "Grant is a fine young man. He has a quality about him where he wants to help people however he can." Grant suffered a hand injury in the accident, which required surgery and delayed his graduation from the EMT program. He completed his program requirements this month and was on track to graduate in August. Grant, your quick actions, despite your own injury, certainly show your dedication to your new career path. Congratulations on your being honored. MarketPlace finale - This Sunday is the final Vintage MarketPlace in downtown Olmsted Falls. The event runs from noon to 5 p.m. You'll find a few different vendors at this finale, as well as many of the ones who you've enjoyed over the summer. Why not check out the many vendors who bring some amazing creative crafts and items. Be sure to check out the stores at Grand Pacific Junction, Mill River Plaza and those in that area. And don't forget the food varieties available throughout the marketplace, too. Merit honoree - Olmsted Falls High School student Elijah Tomasch is a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. He has a chance to continue in the competition for a scholarship that will be offered to the winners in early 2017. Elijah is one of about 16,000 semifinalists who must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 90 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain the top status, with about half of them attaining a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. He was one of about 1.6 million juniors last year who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Quailfying Test that serves as an initial screening of program entrants. Congratulations, Elijah. Best wishes on your advancement toward being a Finalist. More inductees - Last week we introduced two Olmsted Falls grads who will be inducted into the Olmsted Falls High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Oct. 27. Here are two more who will be honored that day. Ron Smith Ron Smith, class of 1975, began his 38-year insurance career at the age of 19, joining Nationwide Insurance as the youngest principal agent hired in the history of the company. RJ Smith & Associates eventually grew from one office in Berea to form Consultative Insurance Group, a multi-state operation with five locations and 27 full-time associates serving over 10,000 clients. In 2013, Ron received a career lifetime achievement, the Nationwide Insurance "Hall of Fame Award," which recognizes the top two percent of agents in the country who have maintained that level of excellence for 20-plus years. Ron believes in giving back to the communities that he serves, and, as a result, earned Nationwide's "Agent Service Award" for the Midwest Region for his philanthropic efforts, including volunteering, leading and supporting a variety of causes dear to him, his associates and his clients. Greg Butcher Greg Butcher, '76, earned advanced degrees in business and mechanical engineering. He spent the majority of his career working for Stolle Machinery, the world's largest producer of can making equipment. Greg was appointed president of the company in 1999. He spent 20 years traveling globally for Stolle. He holds more than 25 U.S. patents related to easy-open beverage and food can ends. He has received numerous innovation awards and presented for Stolle at many technical symposiums. During the last 10 years, Greg successfully led the company through four private equity sales. He retired from Stolle in 2015 and now serves the company as a board member and advisor. Greg, Dawn, his wife of 38 years, and their two Labrador retrievers, divide their time among homes in Ohio and Naples, Florida. They have two grown children, both attorneys, and one grandson. The induction ceremony and dinner is Oct. 27 at the Donauschwaben German- American Cultural Center, 7370 Columbia Road. Tickets are $35 and available by contacting the Alumni Association, 440-427-6030 or ofhsalumni@yahoo.com. The final two of the new six inductees will be highlighted in next week's column. Wing night - The Olmsted Falls High School Post Prom has a Wing Night fundraiser from 7:30-9:30 p.m. this Saturday at Razzles, 27128 Bagley Road. Ticket are $20 and include wings, pizza, refreshments and dessert. There will be basket raffles, side boards, door prizes and DJ music. Tickets are available at the door. Library cards - September is National Library Card Sign-up Month. The Cuyahoga County Public Library system is encouraging kids to sign up for free library cards. It is also offering one-time fine forgiveness to children and teens who owe fines. Parent/caregiver signature is no longer required for children to sign up for a card. Why not take your child to the Olmsted Falls library to obtain a library card or erase a fine that may have accumulated. Young at Heart - This monthly group will meet at noon Sept. 27 in the St. Mary of the Falls Community Room. Following lunch, the speaker will be Sharon Pinzone, PhD, on the Life & Times of Mother Angelica. Reserve your spot by calling Judy Stasenko, 440-235-2222, Ext. 122, by Sept. 23. The cost of the luncheon is $9. Please bring, if possible, hair brushes and combs for Christian in Action clientele. Celebration - A very happy birthday to Jeanette Gillette, my mother-in-law, who is celebrating a birthday today - Thursday - and lives in the Sun Post-Herald coverage area. May you celebrate many more healthy ones. Happy birthday, Mom. Upcoming - The annual Falls Day in the Park is from 1-4 p.m. Oct. 2 at East River Park. More details in an upcoming column. To include news, tidbits, honors and activities in Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township, contact Joanne DuMound at jdumound@yahoo.com She also is available on Twitter @JoanneDuMound. The column's online version is at cleveland.com/olmsted, which has direct links for many news items. H. Armstrong Roberts | ClassicStock | Getty Images As this year's returning underclassmen readjust to dorm life, recently minted grads are beginning an independent life out in the world if they've landed a job. The good news is that this is the best job market in years, with employers expected to hire about 5 percent more people from the class of 2016 than the previous year, according to a recent report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. However, many employers "front load" their recruiting, association officials said, which means many offers may have been made last fall to secure hires who graduated in May. For those who've already received their diploma and are waiting to land a job, there is still hope. CNBC asked several career experts for their best advice on finding employment. Here's how to get started: Call career services Even after you've graduated, your school's career placement resources are a great asset. Career counselors can help you map out a job search, build a resume, polish your online image and be a sounding board. They're also the direct point of contact with employers who may have an internship or employment opportunity to fill, according to Paul McDonald, senior executive director at the staffing firm Robert Half. "These are people with real-time knowledge of career opportunities, and they're familiar with the unique aspects of the institution the student just attended," Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com's senior economic analyst, said earlier this year. "It's getting career assistance that you've already paid for." Reach out for a referral Once you've tapped into the professionals, try family, friends, neighbors and even acquaintances. LinkedIn offers a wealth of potential connections in your desired field. Dan Black, the director of recruiting at EY (formerly Ernst & Young), said he receives hundreds of messages from job hopefuls, which are welcome as long as they are targeted to the organization and the job candidate has the necessary qualifications. "If it's the 'post and pray' of this generation, the chances of me getting back are fairly slim. If, on the other hand, they include something specific about their studies and background, I will respond," he told CNBC. "I do find a lot of good talent that way." (EY said it will hire nearly 10,000 college students in 2016, up 3 percent from last year.) Fellow alumni are also a valuable resource, even graduates from two to three years ago, McDonald said earlier this year. "Find a mentor in your field and get their advice." Make the most of the downtime Rather than taking time off, Black advises students to use their days more effectively by getting additional certification without building up more education debt, like studying for the CPA exam or a securities licensing test for those interested in a career in finance. Adding those kinds of certifications to your resume "makes you a much more attractive candidate if and when things open up," he said. Some tests, like the CPA, may require additional classes or credit hours. In that case, it's an opportune time to complete those prerequisites, which can often be done online from home while you pursue your future career prospects. Consider any job at all Experts agree that doing some type of work is better than not working at all, so consider a temporary position or internship. "It does not bode well for prospective employees that say they couldn't find a job so they didn't go to work," Hamrick said. Plus, you can continue your search and build your network and skills in the meantime, McDonald said. For those who can't afford to volunteer or take an unpaid internship before they land a paying gig, any sort of side job, from barista to Uber driver, has its benefits, Hamrick said, including the development of customer-service and communication skills "you just might learn something you didn't expect to learn." New polls released this week suggests Hillary Clinton has a growing problem with millennial voters and that's a major concern for the Democratic presidential nominee. Both national polls and surveys in swing states show Clinton has seen a slide with voters younger than 35, particularly when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are factored in. A national Quinnipiac poll showed Clinton capturing 31 percent of the vote among voters 18-to-34 years of age and a slim 5-point lead over Trump. In August Clinton had 48 percent of that vote and a 24-point lead over Trump. A Fox News poll of the national electorate showed Clinton winning 37 percent of the youth vote and leading Donald Trump by 9 points. In August, the poll showed her support at 39 percent and leading Trump by 8 points. In Ohio, a CBS/YouGov poll showed Clinton doing better with voters under 30, winning 51 percent of them and holding 32-point lead on Trump. But that number was down from August when Clinton won 57 percent of that vote and a held a 38-point lead. A Detroit Free Press poll in Michigan showed a big dip among voters under 35. In the new poll she has 31 percent of that vote and a 7-point lead over Trump. In August she had 44 percent of that vote and a 24-point lead. More from NBC News: First Read: How the Email Saga Sums Up the Clintons 'You'll Have to Ask Him' Trump Campaign on 'Birther' Reversal Homeland Security Chief: Threat of Attack Keeps Me Up The lower numbers are a big problem for Clinton because Democrats need a lot of votes from the younger part of the electorate to offset losses they normally get with older voters. Consider 2012 when Millennials gave President Barack Obama his biggest numbers by far. He captured 60 percent of the under-30 vote in the national electorate, compared to just 37 percent that went for GOP nominee Mitt Romney. Obama did even better with that age group in Michigan and Ohio with 63% of the under-30 vote. It's an issue Obama himself addressed in his campaign appearance in Philadelphia last Tuesday. In trying to rally the coalition that elected him twice to get enthusiastic about backing Clinton, the president took a moment to address young voters: "And the young people who are here, who all you've been seeing is just the nonsense that's been on TV, you maybe don't remember all the work that she has had to do and all the things she has had to overcome and all the good that has happened because of her efforts. But you need to remember. ... She's in the arena and you can't leave her in there by herself, you've to get in there with her. You can't stay home because, you know, she's been around for a long time. Well you know what? This is not reality TV. Democracy is not a spectator sport. You don't tweet in your vote." "Give us both a fair hearing. Hold us accountable for our ideas. Both of us. I can't promise you'll agree with me all the time, but I can promise you this. No one will work harder to make your life better," the former secretary of state and U.S. senator said. At a rally at Temple University in Philadelphia, the Democratic presidential nominee touted her plans to reduce student debt burdens, promote renewable energy and fight mass incarceration, all crucial issues for young voters. She said she aimed to get millennials to find "something to vote for, not just against," amid the demographic's widespread opposition to both her and Republican Donald Trump . Hillary Clinton took her message to young voters in swing state Pennsylvania on Monday, aiming to court a key demographic she has struggled to capture. Clinton faces an increasingly tight race against Trump and may need to better energize young voters to beat him, as older voters typically lean Republican. Recent polls suggest she lags well behind President Barack Obama's support from young voters in 2008 and 2012. A Quinnipiac poll last week showed Clinton capturing only 31 percent of voters 18-to-34 years old, leading Trump by only five points. Her support fell from 48 percent in August, when she had a 24-point advantage over Trump. Some young voters have turned to either the Green Party's Jill Stein or the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson amid concerns about Clinton's integrity and commitment to progressive policies. Obama captured 60 percent of voters under 30 in 2012. Clinton will need young voters to turn out in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to win swing state Pennsylvania, where rural areas vote largely Republican. "Even if you're totally opposed to Donald Trump, you may have some questions about me. I get that. ... I will never be the showman my opponent is. And you know what, that's OK with me. I do spend a lot of time on the details of policy," Clinton said. Obama and others have tried to mobilize voters for Clinton recently as the race tightened. Obama said this weekend that he would consider it a "personal insult" to his legacy if black voters did not turn out for Clinton. Clinton's primary opponent Bernie Sanders, a popular figure among young voters, has also contended that this election is not the time to vote for a third-party candidate. Clinton on Monday outlined her own policies that appeal to millennials, like making public college more affordable, reducing racism in policing and sentencing and fighting climate change and pushing for renewable energy. She tried to contrast herself from Trump, highlighting his push for more fossil fuel production and his years-long "birther" campaign against Obama, which he relented on only last week. In particular, she stressed how close the race had become. Said Clinton: "Not voting is not an option. That just plays into Trump's hands, it really does." A 28-year-old suspected of playing a role in the bombings over the last three days in New York and New Jersey is being sought by law enforcement. Sources told NBC News officials are concerned an active terrorist cell with multiple players could be at work. Sources told NBC that Ahmad Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey was the man seen on surveillance video in New York's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night when a blast wounded 29 people. Another device, which did not explode, was found nearby. Authorities stopped a "vehicle of interest" in the New York blast last night near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York, the FBI said. Five people were being questioned. New York City has tightened security, as heads of state arrive for the United Nations general assembly this week. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered 1,000 state troopers and National Guard troops to the city. The naming of the suspect came hours after a backpack, appearing to contain pipe bombs, exploded near an Elizabeth rain station, as a police robot was examining it. The devices looked similar to one that exploded Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Meanwhile, a man who stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead was a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group's news agency said on Sunday. The attacker made references to Allah. The FBI is investigating Minnesota attack as a potential act of terrorism. The Minnesota rampage on Saturday was on the same night at the Chelsea bombing in New York City. All Hanjin Shipping chartered vessels that have completed unloading their cargo have been directed to cancel their charter agreements and return the ship to the shipowner, a judge at Seoul Central District Court said on Monday. Current delays in unloading cargo are incurring more than $2 million in charter fees daily, the judge added. The European Union official who slapped Apple with a $14.5 billion back tax bill signaled over the weekend she's not done yet with American companies that park profits offshore to lower their tax bills. Those profits swelled to some $2.4 trillion or about 14 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, according to new estimates released Monday. The EU's antitrust commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, was in Washington on Monday to meet with U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who has been bluntly critical of a series of EU investigations into taxes paid by American companies on profits held outside the U.S. Both Apple and the Irish government are appealing a ruling last month that the tech giant owes the Irish Treasury $14.5 billion, based on a government tax break that the EU ruling said qualified as "state aid." Such assistance amounts to an illegal subsidy under EU law, the ruling said. The resulting traffic delayed commuters for hours and left emergency vehicles slow in responding to 911 calls. Prosecutors said the two defendants planned the lane closures to take revenge on a mayor who refused to endorse Christie for re-election. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly are charged with conspiracy and fraud in a nine-count indictment alleging they arranged lane closings that caused gridlock on the heavily traveled George Washington Bridge. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is not expected to attend the trial this week of two former associates charged in the 2013 "Bridgegate" scandal, but the failed Republican presidential hopeful's shadow will loom over the proceedings. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks about his knowledge of a traffic study that snarled traffic at the George Washington Bridge during a news conference on January 9, 2014 at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey. The governor, at one time a leading Republican presidential hopeful, has not been charged in the scandal that nevertheless helped torpedo his hopes for nomination to the White House in 2016. In the three years since the scandal broke, Christie has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the plan to disrupt traffic on the world's busiest road bridge, despite speculation to the contrary. The trial could finally provide a definitive answer to the question of whether he knew about the alleged plot, and if so, when. "Bridgegate" took place after Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich declined to endorse the governor's reelection campaign in 2013. Christie was seeking support from local mayors to demonstrate bipartisan backing for a Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state, part of an effort to position himself for a 2016 White House bid. Prosecutors say the lane closures were ordered in September 2013 by Kelly, Christie's then deputy chief of staff; Baroni, then deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and David Wildstein, another Christie ally at the Port Authority who has since pleaded guilty. The GW carries more than 250,000 vehicles a day across the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan. The trio concocted a cover story, saying the closure was part of a traffic study, prosecutors contend. The shutdown lasted four days, while Baroni and Wildstein ignored increasingly frantic messages from the mayor, according to prosecutors. The ruse fell apart under scrutiny from journalists and the Democratic-controlled state legislature. In January 2014, emails and text messages were publicly disclosed that showed the officials' involvement, including an Aug. 13, 2013, email in which Kelly told Wildstein: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein, who is expected to be a star government witness, has previously said there is evidence that Christie was aware of the lane closures when they occurred. Jurors also may hear from Kelly and Baroni, as lawyers for both defendants have said they plan to testify in their own defense. The defense has suggested it will point the finger at others, including Christie, in arguing that Kelly and Baroni would never have acted on their own. In a pretrial motion, a lawyer for Baroni revealed that a former Christie aide said in a text message that the governor "flat-out lied" when he said during a 2013 press conference that none of his senior staff were involved in the scandal. A spokesman for the governor has said the text message does not disprove Christie's contention that he was unaware of the plot. Since abandoning his own candidacy for president, Christie has become one of Republican nominee Donald Trump's most visible supporters. Some of Aubrey McClendon's wine collection that was auctioned by Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. The last of Aubrey McClendon's wine collection sold for $8.4 million over the weekend, topping expectations and showing the quality, and quantity, of the late oil tycoon's wine cellar. All 1,057 lots of McClendon's wine were sold by Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. More than 1,000 bidders from 17 countries took part in the Chicago auction, with many bidding online, according to Hart Davis. The sale was expected to fetch between $5.1 million and $7.7 million. McClendon had already sold a large part of his collection over the years through several multimillion-dollar auctions. Between 2009 and 2013, Sotheby's sold more than $55 million of McClendon's wines, including a 2009 sale of 9,000 bottles. All told, McClendon and his estate raked in more than $63 million from wine sales. McClendon focused mainly on the highest quality Bordeauxs. But he also dabbled in Burgundys and top-quality California wines, including Harlan and Screaming Eagle. McClendon favored giant or "large-format" bottles like magnums, Jeroboams and Imperials, which he famously liked to share with business associates and friends. The top lot sold over the weekend was a case of three double magnums of 1989 Chateau Petrus that went for $65,725. Two lots, each including three double magnums of 1989 Chateau Haut-Brion (said to be McClendon's favorite), went for $35,850 each. Bottles of Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Cheval Blanc and Latour also sold well. McClendon, the charismatic co-founder of Chesapeake Energy , died in a car crash in March, hours after being indicted on federal charges of bid rigging. According to Bloomberg, Saturday's auction was held the day after the deadline to file what were expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars in claims against McClendon's estate. Dutch police are training bald eagles to attack drones. You read that correctly. Police in the Netherlands have been training juvenile bald eagles imported from North America to intercept small drones that appear suspicious or may pose threats, according to LiveScience. The Dutch National Police have been training the birds for the past year, and apparently received interest in their program from law enforcement in other countries, including the United States. The police have been collaborating with a private company called Guard from Above, which trains birds of prey to intercept drones. The rising use of civilian drones in the U.S. and around the world has sparked some controversy over privacy and safety, as well as questions over how their use should be regulated. The DNP plans to use the birds to attack a drone that might be seen as a potential threat, such as a drone hovering near a visiting diplomat or dignitary. The birds are trained to see the drones as prey, and will even have special "shoes" to protect their feet from injury, LiveScience noted. Agence France Presse also has a short video showing the eagles at work. The Farmer's Daughter Country Market has had to stop picking up the telephone. "Due to the overwhelming response we have received with regards to our job offer, we are unable to return phone calls," the office voicemail says. The response is impressive, given that its jobs will only pay between $10.70 to $12.00 an hour. But the job offer is padded with more than cash: In exchange for relocating to the small, remote island in Nova Scotia, Canada, a job at The Farmer's Daughter Country Market comes with two free acres of land, which the employee will own outright after five years of work. Maybe it's Trump. Or maybe it's the stress of living in an ever-connected world. Whatever it is, lots of folks seem ready to drop their current reality and settle into the rural town of Whycocomagh in Nova Scotia. "Incredibly tempting to leave this rat race of a city I have been living in for the past decade," said Adriano Belmonte, in response to the posting, who also asked that his application be considered. "As a single woman, I would love to do something like this. I'm getting fed up with all of the cement of Montreal, Quebec and I'm wanting to return back to back to my roots," said Karen Snair, another responder. Another responder made a full-on pitch: "Looking to move your way. Actually had a meal in your place a few years ago on vacation, have friends at Christmas Island," said Markuz Gunn. "My background is carpentry, my better half is retired from the hotel management field, with great baking skills. I also play about a dozen different instruments. We have been vacationing in Nova Scotia with our trailer every summer and have decide we must move to your area." The initial job post went up at the very end of August, and The Farmer's Daughter Country Market made its first round of three new hires in mid September. The new employees were eager to get started. "I am so thrilled to be heading to Whycocomagh," said Trish Tait in response to the Facebook post announcing her hire. "People I know from all across Canada are just as excited about this new opportunity as I am. I feel very fortunate and can't wait to get there to be a part of the Farmer's Daughter Country Market. See you all soon." Sonja Andersen and Kerry Walkins were also hired. The European Commission has opened in-depth investigations into corporate tax deals by member countries Poland and Luxembourg. On Monday, the European Union's executive arm announced that it was investigating a new Polish progressive tax on the retail sector and ordered its suspension until the investigation is concluded. The injunction on the collection of the tax means less revenue to the Polish budget, which is already under strain because of a series of government moves, notably monthly child-support payouts. PeskyMonkey | E+ | Getty Images "The Commission has concerns that the progressive rates based on turnover give companies with a low turnover a selective advantage over their competitors in breach of EU state aid rules," the EU executive arm said in a statement. The investigation concerns a tax adopted by Poland in July 2016, which applies to companies that operate in Poland and are active in the retail sale of goods. The tax entered into force on September 1, 2016, and no payments are due yet. Under the tax, companies in the retail sector would pay a monthly tax based on their turnover. Companies with a monthly turnover below 17 million zlotys ($4.41 million) would not pay any tax at all, those with turnover between 17 million zlotys and 170 million zlotys a month would pay 0.8 percent and those above 170 million zlotys would pay 1.4 percent. "The Commission does not question Poland's right to decide on its taxation levels or the purpose of different taxes and levies. However, the tax system should respect EU law, including state aid rules, and should not unduly favour a particular type of company, for examplecompanies with lower turnover," it said. Luxembourg and Engie Meanwhile, EU regulators Monday opened a probe into tax deals granted by Luxembourg to French electric utility company Engie , which they consider to have given the company an unfair advantage over others. The Commission said it had concerns that the tax rulings granted by Luxembourg since 2008 appeared to treat the same financial transaction as both debt and equity, leading to double non-taxation of companies in the GDF Suez group, as Engie was formerly known. "Financial transactions can be taxed differently depending on the type of transaction, equity or debt - but a single company cannot have the best of two worlds for one and the same transaction," Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, said in a statement. The financial transactions are loans granted in 2009 and 2011 between four companies in the GDF Suez group that can be converted into equity and bear zero interest for the lender. "The final result seems to be that a significant proportion of the profits recorded by GDF Suez in Luxembourg through the two arrangements are not taxed at all," the Commission said in a statement. Consumer rights activists take part in a march to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in Berlin, Germany, September 17, 2016. Fabrizio Bensch | Reuters BERLIN U.S. President Barack Obama was a subject of derision Saturday as hundreds of thousands of Germans across the country marched against a White House-backed trade deal. Politicians including Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been bought off by big corporations, demonstrators insisted as they marched down Berlin's Karl-Marx Allee, and that's why those leaders push so hard for free trade agreements. Despite claims from politicians and economists that trade deals yield universal benefits, the protesters argued that such agreements serve only to make corporate masters wealthier at the expense of the rest of the population. Saturday's protests railed against two deals: the proposed EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the unratified Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU. The demonstrators about 70,000 in Berlin and another 250,000 across six more German cities, according to organizers directed most of their ire against the U.S. deal. Arguments against TTIP sounded decidedly more anti-corporatist on the ground. "It's not good for our small farmers, our small companies, when the big companies get to rewrite the laws," said Annie, a 17-year-old Berliner who came out to the demonstrations with her classmates. Explaining that she likes the U.S. she studied there for several months Annie said it was the size and power of American companies that worried her. "Our region lives by small companies," she said. watch now Saturday's protests were diverse affairs: Old-guard socialists mingled with barefoot environmentalists, internet freedom fighters, political party representatives, taxation reformers, welfare workers, wildlife preservationists, anti-fascists, food safety campaigners and all manner of unionists. There was also a man dressed as an anti-American bald eagle. But even that demonstrator who brought out an effigy of Obama with texts declaring him a liar and murderer was fundamentally critiquing large corporations and their control over politicians when he declared in a sign that "TTIP and CETA is social murder dictated by the US." "Capitalism deprives us of all social foundations for life," said one of his signs, while another claimed the "American way of life" had come under the control of companies like Nike and Coca-Cola. "I guess it's a bit anti-American," Tom Erdmann, a 33-year-old Berlin native working with a trade union, told CNBC as he looked at the Obama likeness and accompanying signs. "I'm not OK with it," he added, echoing the signs posted at the event asking demonstrators to refrain from "racism, rightist populism and anti-Americanism." TWEET: "I guess it's a bit anti-American," said one anti-TTIP protestor when asked about this display. Erdmann attended the demonstration because he is worried about private companies' intrusion into public services such as education, he said. Still, Erdmann added, he also understands why there may be a streak of antipathy to the U.S. for some at the march. "Some people here are anti-American because it's easy they're an easy enemy, especially right now with the election," Erdmann said. The world has changed. Just over eight years ago, then-presidential candidate Obama received thunderous applause in front an estimated 200,000 in Berlin when he called for an era of global partnerships. "Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future," Obama said during that 2008 speech. "But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity." You cannot just say all Americans are bad, but I can understand when people hate big companies. Jonas Berlin student Drugmakers need to learn empathy and not try to defend price hikes that make drugs inaccessible, Andrew Witty, the chief executive of British pharmaceutical giant GSK, told CNBC. "In all circumstance, we need to be realistic and empathetic, we need to demonstrate better that we understand people are concerned about [drug pricing]," Witty told CNBC on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit 2016. "I'm not, for a second, going to sit here and defend any historical pricing position," he added. Drug prices have come under scrutiny in recent months after Mylan received public backlash for the sharp price increases the Epipen, an injection device to treat fatal anaphylactic shocks from food allergies or insect bites. The price of a two-pack Epipen has risen to nearly $600, from just $100 in 2007. watch now Republican former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told CNBC on Monday that Democrat Hillary Clinton has the "temperament" to find middle ground on the big issues facing the nation. Paulson said on "Squawk Box" he cannot support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. "I can't sign on to this sort of populism that's rooted in ignorance and fear and prejudice. I find it abhorrent." "It comes down to character and temperament, the ability to work across the aisle," he said. "I watched Secretary Clinton, when she was a senator, do that. You learn a lot when you're secretary of state. To me, I'd take that experience any day." Paulson did say he supports House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "I've been working hard to elect Republicans in the Senate and the House. I think it's very important we keep our leadership position [on Capitol Hill]." Paulson, who headed the Treasury during the presidency of George W. Bush and in the thick of the 2008 financial crisis, broke ranks in June, and said he's going to vote for Clinton. He said divided government is the best way to break the gridlock in Washington and enact the tax and entitlement reform needed to help restore the economy. watch now "We're not growing anything near our capacity ... whether it's 3 percent or 3.5 or 4 percent," he said. "But we're not going to get where we need to get unless you see big, difficult structural reforms in the U.S." The White House and Congress need to join the Federal Reserve in the fight to fuel growth, Paulson said, calling for fiscal firepower in the form of tax and entitlement overhauls, in addition to the Fed's monetary measures. "With interest rates where they are right now, they're not providing much juice," he said. He added that it doesn't matter when the Fed raises rates this week, December, or early next year the cost of borrowing money is going to be cheap "for a long time." He said he's concerned about market distortions from persistently low rates. "The forest-through-the-trees issue is this: Markets are focusing on whether interest rates should remain almost zero or go up to slightly more than almost zero," he said. Also, he added, "with growth slowing almost everywhere in the world, and with interest rates extraordinarily low, and with debt increasing, ... what tools are policymakers going to have to avoid and prevent a slide into a recession?" Paulson said. "We're in uncharted economic territory." The Fed's two-day September meeting starts on Tuesday. While policymakers are expected to hold rates steady, more and more central bankers favor a hike. That's putting extra attention on Wednesday afternoon's policy statement, economic projections, and Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who holds a post-meeting news conference. watch now Hillary Clinton said Monday the bombings in New York and New Jersey show the threat of terrorism is "real," and that Donald Trump's comments are being used as a terrorist recruiting tool. Authorities on Monday said they were searching for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old Afghan-born U.S. citizen, as a suspect in the bombings. On Saturday, a bomb exploded in the New Jersey shore town on Seaside Park, forcing the cancellation of a large charity race. Later in the day, a bombing in New York's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. Officers found a possible secondary device nearby. On Sunday, five additional explosive devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. "This threat is real, but so is our resolve," Clinton said at a morning news conference before a planned trip to campaign Philadelphia. "Americans will not cower. We will prevail." Regarding immigration, Clinton said she is in favor of tough vetting. "We need a better visa system," she added. "Let's not get distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric coming off from the other side," the Democratic presidential nominee said. She criticized her GOP rival's comments as providing fuel for terrorists. "We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam," she said. Clinton held the news conference in White Plains ahead of a planned trip Pennsylvania, an important swing state in the Nov. 8 election. Clinton will speak at Temple University as she vies for support from a key voting group: millennials. In polls, her support from this group has waned in recent weeks. Scyther5 | Getty Images Increasingly, security experts don't just want to know how a cyberattack happens, but what country the attack is coming from. Headlines about hacking incidents have become commonplace, particularly in the recent months leading up to the U.S. Presidential election. Whether it's breaches of voter registration systems, the Democratic National Committee, or the World Anti-Doping Agency, experts are feverishly trying to figure out who is behind the crimes. More specifically, they want to know whether a sovereign state could be supporting those attacks. Lately, they especially want to know if it's Russia. Experts say the WADA perpetrators were Russian hackers operating under the banner "Fancy Bear," with several U.S. officials pointing fingers at the Russian government specifically. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement with that group and other international cyberattacks. So how do experts assess whether a country could be behind a hacking operation? It's often simple economics. "I think that you can certainly make the argument that this group of repeat offenders, known as Tsar Team (Fancy Bear), is backed up by a government (allegedly Russian intelligence agencies), not only because of the substantial amount of money needed ... but also because of its level of coordination and sophistication," said Francesca Spidalieri, senior fellow for cyber leadership at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. watch now Other experts emphasize technological factors. Steve Grobman, CTO at Intel Security, told CNBC that a lot of the technology needed to execute an attack are available on the black market, for example, and are not necessarily all that expensive. "A better indication of who an attack can be attributed to," he said, "comes when you actually get to take a look at things like the source code and can understand the level of sophistication something was built with." Grobman's team analyzed a portion of the technical forensics associated with the World Anti-Doping Agency attack and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to definitively point the finger at the Russian government. "We investigated the technical details that were publicly available around the WADA hacking case and compared them against other technical indicators and TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures] we have gathered over the years," he said. "The amount of available technical details combined with some similar TTPs are not enough evidence in our opinion to attribute this campaign to a certain group or state-sponsored operation." Scott Borg, director and chief economist at U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, an independent, non-profit research institute, told CNBC that he's confident the attack was carried out by Russian groups tasked with spreading Russian President Vladimir Putin's political and military agenda. "This is as certain as anything can ever be in the cyber realm," he said. The power of computers and of a single determined individual to be able to cause great harm, even if they are not well-financed, is pretty astonishing. Matthew Prince CEO, CloudFlare Talk Like a Pirate Day emphasizes a romanticized version of maritime piracy that might be unrecognizable to the sailors who fall victim to pirates today. Take, for instance, the 2009 seizure of the Mr. Bean, a yacht that was taken by pirates in Thai territorial waters. Three pirates with knives and hammers boarded the ship, which was crewed by a British couple. The wife was held hostage for 12 hours and suffered serious injuries, while the husband was killed and thrown into the sea. Of the more than 7,100 piracy incidents recorded over the last two decades, about 100 involved at least one death, according to data from the International Maritime Organization. Often, pirates sneak onto docked ships and make a stealthy getaway with stolen goods before the crew notices. At other times, the alarm is raised by lookouts, and the crew can repel the invaders with weapons or by increasing the ship's speed. Her name is synonymous with all things home, from holiday hosting to decorating and wedding planning. That said, will the Martha Stewart name translate in China? The domestic diva is en route there now to find out. Sequential Brands , which owns the Martha Stewart brand, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba are announcing a partnership that kicks off with a Tmall Super Kitchen eventheadlined by the lifestyle guru herself. It's the beginning of what Sequential Brands CEO Yehuda Shmidman calls "the first step in a long relationship," the result of a "culmination of many months of discussion with Alibaba." In Shanghai on Tuesday, Stewart will give the keynote address at the inaugural exhibition with approximately 1,200 house-ware partners. Her address will also be broadcast live on Alibaba's media network. Stewart's keynote will share her philosophies on living and curating one's home, undoubtedly full of "good things," as the doyenne herself might say. watch now German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party suffered its second electoral rout in as many weeks on Sunday as voters rejected her open-door migrant policy. Nonetheless, analysts say it's too early to tell what the vote signaled for a German general election next year. In the regional state election in Berlin on Sunday, Merkel's CDU party saw its share of the vote slump to its lowest level since 1990 while the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party saw its share of the vote rise. Angela Merkel Emmanuele Contini | NurPhoto | Getty Images Projections from broadcaster ZDF gave Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party 18 percent of the vote, down from 23.3 percent in the last election in Berlin in 2011. The Social Democrats (SPD) a coalition partner with Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU) also lost support, falling to 22.4 percent from 28.3 percent, but it remained the biggest party in the vote and were likely to ditch the CDU from their current coalition in Berlin and join forces with the Greens, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, the AfD which was only created in 2013 but has seen its popularity grow rapidly throughout Germany gained 12.9 percent of the vote. The party is now represented in ten out of 16 states. The rise in the AfD's popularity has accompanied Merkel's controversial decision to allow over a million migrants to enter Germany in 2015 alone. The influx came during the height of Europe's migration crisis with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war in the Middle East making their way to Germany. The "open-door" migrant policy has left Merkel vulnerable to critics within the governing CDU-CSU coalition and from her political rivals, prompting concerns over whether she would have the groundswell of support to stand for general election in 2017. Questions for 2017 watch now The drubbing at the polls received by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party over the weekend reflects Europeans' growing distain for their established political parties, experts warn. Only 17.6 percent of Berliners voted for Merkel's CDU in this week's elections, while the relative newcomer of the anti-immigration AfD gained 14.1 percent. The Social Democrats came in first, as expected, with 21.6 percent of the vote. With German federal elections slated for next year, there is a rising chance that the next government will be a three-party coalition with the far-right AfD, according to the chief economist of ING-DiBA. "Given the new mildly put challenging environment and increased unrest in Germany's government, politics will remain at center stage in the coming months," Frankfurt-based Carsten Brzeski said in a note on Monday. Merkel's waning popularity is in part due to her open-door policy towards refugees fleeing the carnage in Syria and Iraq. Consequently, German net immigration reached a record high of 1.139 million last year. Even Merkel's sister party, the CSU, is demanding controls on Germany's annual refugee intake. watch now Echoes across Europe These immigration concerns are echoed in political unrest in other parts of Europe. A desire for the U.K. to control its own borders and immigration policy was one reason the majority of Britons voted to quit the EU in June. Next month, Hungary will hold its own referendum on whether to abide by EU quotas for accepting refugees. On Monday, hardline Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for EU military cooperation to control the flow of migrants into the region, according to media reports. Back in 2014, Switzerland voted by a slim margin to impose quotas on inward migration, in a referendum pushed for by right-wing populists. This put the country at odds with the EU, which insisted that free movement of people was part of the deal that allowed Switzerland preferential access to the single market. The situation is yet to be resolved. Across Europe, there are a multitude of other votes coming up. Not all elections in the region have heralded instability however. On Sunday, Vladimir Putin's party gained a large majority in parliamentary elections, pathing the way for Putin to run again as president in 2018, if he chooses. Uncertainty in Italy Less smooth running could be Italy's upcoming referendum on constitutional reform, on which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has staked his political future. "November has the potential to reintroduce the specter of political uncertainty in Italy," UBS strategists led by Lefteris Farmakis said in a report earlier this month. "Polling evidence regarding the referendum outcome is inconclusive at a time that the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement has become a serious challenger to the ruling PD." UBS said Italian bond yields were too low to accurately reflect the political risk from Italy's upcoming constitutional referendum. Italian 10-year bond yields have widened over the last two weeks, but pared back slightly on Monday, trading at 1.31 percent. watch now Austria and Spain signal upset Meanwhile, a re-run of Austria's presidential election was set for October 2, but was postponed due to faulty seals on postal ballots. This could be another destabilizing vote, with the far-right anti-migrant Freedom Party ahead in recent polls. Plus, Spain faces a third election this year, as acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy struggles to gain enough votes to form a government. Against this uncertainty, EU policymakers are struggling to draw a clear picture of the bloc's future post-Brexit. Italy's Renzi took to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday to complain after last week's EU summit in Slovakia. "At Bratislava we had a nice cruise on the Danube, but I hoped for answers to the crisis caused by Brexit not just to go on a boat trip," Renzi said, according to media reports. Barclays's chief economist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the EU was suffering from uncertainty in how to respond to the Brexit vote. "Our view is that the Bratislava roadmap clearly lacks ambition and reflects the divergence of views among member states on the response to the risk of disintegration following the Brexit vote. This, together with the conjunction of political challenges in some important member states, may contribute to a rise in uncertainties regarding the future of Europe and therefore a weakening of business confidence," Philippe Gudin, said in a report on Monday. President Barack Obama on Monday asked Americans not to succumb to fear after multiple recent attacks, pledging to keep fighting the so-called Islamic State terror group abroad and its ideology at home. Obama spoke in New York City following explosions there and in New Jersey and a separate stabbing of several people at a mall in Minnesota over the weekend. Obama did not say if authorities believe the attacks were inspired by ISIS or another international terror group. He added that the FBI is investigating the Minnesota attack as a "possible act of terror," but said authorities see no connection between it and the New York and New Jersey bombings. The attacks did not kill anyone, but injured dozens. "We are extremely fortunate and grateful that nobody was killed," Obama said. "They are trying to hurt innocent people, but they are also trying to inspire fear in all of us. ... We all have a role to play as citizens in making sure we don't succumb to that fear," Obama said. Cloud software vendors Salesforce.com and Workday are outpacing Oracle in many respects, without the legacy business to weigh them down. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM and Google combined control well more than half the worldwide cloud infrastructure services market, Synergy Research Group estimates. "What Oracle's doing different than any of the companies our strategy is really a whole suite of capabilities," Hurd told CNBC's " Squawk on the Street " on Monday. "Long run, we think suites will win. We think we're in a unique position to take advantage of that." Despite an uphill battle, Mark Hurd , one of Oracle 's CEOs, said he thinks the company's "all-in" strategy will win the cloud battle. But as companies increasingly move their software and databases off of in-house servers and into the hands of technology companies, the capability to have multiple layers of functionality within a single cloud provider will be key, Hurd said. "We have, of course, all of our Oracle technologies in our cloud," Hurd said. "But I don't think you're going to see customers wanting to deal with 50 clouds or 40 clouds or anything like that. I think it will actually be a few. Therefore, in our cloud, we have to keep lots of technologies available to our customers ... you'll see a whole suite of capabilities." Like a utility, cloud storage is getting cheaper and could quickly become commoditized meaning companies must start adding the kind of value that would draw an average small business to the cloud, Shelly Palmer, an author and business advisor, told CNBC's "Squawk Alley" on Monday "Truthfully, this entire industry is fighting not each other, but the future," Shelly Palmer,. "Where we are right now is where power was when everybody had a different kind of power company and there wasn't a municipal grid. At a certain point, these companies are going to have to offer something more than just storage and computing power." Hurd spoke from Oracle OpenWorld, the company's annual conference in San Francisco, which kicked off with pointed words from the company's co-founder and chief technology officer, Larry Ellison. The conference, which drew more than 60,000 people, comes as Oracle has agreed to buy NetSuite for $9.3 billion, as Oracle looks to expand beyond its core software license business. "Just look at the numbers," Hurd said. "Several years ago we made the decision, as part of this overall strategy, to go all in on the cloud. We changed our organization to do that. We changed our incentives to do that. ... We grew our cloud in Q1 [by] 82 percent." In a move befitting its name, Oracle is looking aggressively to the future to bolster its cloud computing offerings against market leader Amazon , Ellison said in a Sunday night speech. "Amazon's lead is over," Ellison said, according to USA Today. "Amazon is going to have serious competition going forward." Oracle also announced over the weekend the acquisition of Palerra, which will help the company provide cloud security services. Hurd said that improving security, performance and analytics on databases are all necessary as Oracle helps law enforcement with security. "We are really optimistic about our position in the cloud and our growing leadership in many of these services," Hurd said. CNBC's Ari Levy contributed to this report. watch now Vladimir Putin consolidated his position of power as Russian president Monday with results confirming that his allies in the lower house of parliament had comprehensively won elections. Putin's ruling United Russia party had 49 percent of the vote in 2011, but, but with 90 percent of the votes counted, that lead increased to 54.2 percent over the weekend. Reuters reported at 8.00 a.m. London time that the party was on track for a landslide with a possible 343 of the 450 seats available. This gives Putin's party a strong position in the parliament and a mandate to change the country's constitution. Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images After a deep recession in Russia, following international transactions and a dramatic fall in the price of oil, many would have expected the incumbents to weaken at the ballot box. But the results suggest a consolidation and a strengthening for United Russia in what is seen as a dry run for presidential elections in 18 months' time. Putin hailed the party's victory in a speech Sunday evening, but also alluding to the sharp slowdown in the Russian economy. "The situation is not easy, people feel that, and they want and hope that the political situation should be stable," he said, according to Reuters. While this would technically give the pro-Putin politicians more weight in the Duma, Timothy Ash, head of CEEMEA desk strategy at Nomura, was under no illusions as to where the real power lies. watch now Once authorities named Ahman Rahami a suspect in the New Jersey and New York bombings, Yelp users spammed a restaurant owned by his family. First American Fried Chicken, a fast-food place in Elizabeth, N.J., is owned by Rahami's family, according to The New York Times. As of Monday morning, dozens of new critical reviews ranging from detailing the "bomb" chicken to calling the entire Rahami family "terrorists" surfaced on Yelp. The crowdsourced business-reviewing website placed the restaurant's page on Active Cleanup Alert. The message blocking First American Fried Chicken reads: "While we don't take a stand one way or the other when it comes to these news events, we do work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer's personal consumer experience with the business." The negative comments also came on other social media platforms. Memes circulated on Twitter and a parody restaurant page surfaced on Facebook, linking to a news article about the bombing investigation as the company's website. CNBC was not able to reach First American Fried Chicken for comment. Facebook did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment regarding the First American Fried Chicken page. watch now Ask any apartment dweller in a crowded city and they'll likely tell you space is among their biggest issues. Those living in even smaller studios know the battle all too well some even shelling out monthly cash for storage units as a result just to make more room to live. Boston-based start-up Ori is out to solve those problems with a system that combines robotics and apartment-friendly modular furniture to transform small spaces in seconds. Think of it as a kind of retractable Murphy bed on steroids. The company's namesake Ori system is named for the Japanese word "origami," the art of folding paper, and literally does just that. The technology uses modular furniture and software that makes your furniture reconfigurable, transforming small spaces from living rooms into bedrooms and even workspaces with the push of a button. The system is designed for spaces between 300 and 500 square feet. "We wanted to make spaces in homes, offices and hotels much more functional and efficient but also more intelligent by bringing robotics into play," said founder and CEO Hasier Larrea. "When you have so many people moving into the same place, you need to start being more efficient about how you use the spaces." The Ori technology can be integrated into an apartment's Internet of Things ecosystem, syncing with any existing smart home or office device. CNBC Ori spun-off from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, which helps to accelerate start-ups and ideas focused on technologies for people to "create a better future." Larrea, who led the lab's architectural robotics research area under MIT faculty member Kent Larson, was inspired by the idea of merging robotics and furniture and having spaces adapt to the needs of people, instead of residents simply making due with the space they have in their apartments. More from iCONIC: 11 tech gadgets that were the next big thing before failing miserably Concierge sells to the highest bidder 7 cool start-ups that have snared millions The system is now in beta testing and is a business-to-business product. Ori is working with luxury developers Boston Properties, Skanska and Samuels Associates to install the furniture in high-end rentals in Boston. The start-up is working with designer Yves Behar on the furniture designs. The Boston models are being rented on Airbnb so Ori can comb over customer feedback and improve the system in the future. The system will expand into properties in Washington, D.C., and Seattle in the near future, with a hard launch in 2017, Larrea said. The start-up has raised an undisclosed seed round and is now actively fundraising again to raise money for its national launch. watch now watch now watch now All of Ori's product is manufactured in the United States, and Larrea said the furniture is actually more expensive to make than the robotics. Assembly is also simple the unit can be put together in just a day, Larrea explained. The biggest challenge for this MIT team was making the system feel and look personal. "We are robotics people and have created these amazing robots with amazing capabilities," he said. "But when you bring a system into a home, it can't look like a robot." Marc Benioff, chairman and chief executive officer of Salesforce.com Inc. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff has done his part to revolutionize the software industry, and he's far from done. Back when Benioff was a top executive at Oracle in the 1990s, salespeople stored client and prospect data on proprietary machines that required expertise to use. Marketing teams had separate tools as did customer support representatives. Data was siloed, limiting the capabilities of analysis and business intelligence software. Fast forward two decades and Benioff hast turned that model on its head. Salesforce is a $50 billion enterprise that businesses rely on to connect their sales, marketing, support and financials in the cloud a term that didn't exist when the company was launched in 1999. Rather than mimicking Oracle and trying to do everything, Salesforce has enabled scores of niche software developers to plug their apps into the platform and get instant access to many thousands of prospective customers. AppExchange, as it's known, features more than 3,000 products, some from companies that have built billion-dollar businesses on top of Salesforce. Now that Salesforce has over 150,000 businesses spending $8 billion a year on its customer relationship management (CRM) software and other products, Benioff is attempting to take the next giant step into the future. Enter artificial intelligence. watch now At next month's Dreamforce, Salesforce's mammoth annual customer conference that takes over downtown San Francisco, the company will introduce technology called Einstein, which it's describing as the "world's first comprehensive AI for CRM." On the company's second-quarter conference call in August, Benioff called it "AI for everyone." Salesforce executives on Thursday gave a group of reporters an early look at Einstein in preparation for the unveiling. The general idea, as the name implies, is that sales tools are getting a whole lot smarter. Who are the best prospects to call this week? Which leads are most likely to become prospective clients? Why am I getting outsold by my competitors in certain markets? How long will it take a deal to close? These are the types of questions that Einstein aims to answer, in turn leading to more frequent conversions and more efficient sales teams. The same technology can be applied to marketing, customer support and commerce data, thanks to a team of 175 data scientists and a string of deep technology acquisitions. Developers on AppExchange will get to utilize the same AI software in deploying their own apps. "Each and every product that we market and sell will be impacted by AI," said Alex Dayon, president and chief product officer at the San Francisco-based company. "It's really an investment for the long run." According to CB Insights, more than 30 private companies working to advance artificial intelligence have been acquired in the past five years, and Salesforce has been among the most active buyers along with Alphabet , Intel and Apple . Salesforce's Chief Scientist Richard Socher joined the company in April through the acquisition of deep learning start-up MetaMind. Salesforce vs. S&P 500 Investors know Einstein is coming but they've yet to get much detail on it. Of late, they haven't been so bullish. The stock has dropped 6.5 percent this year, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.7 percent. Still, the company is richly valued compared to its peers at 6.8 times revenue, compared with a price-to-sales ratio of 4.4 for Oracle, 5.4 for Microsoft and 1.8 for IBM , according to FactSet. "All eyes shift to Dreamforce in early October with the release of Einstein and discussion around long-term targets," Joel Fishbein, an analyst at BTIG, wrote in a Sept. 1 report, following Salesforce's earnings release. "The company has invested heavily in artificial intelligence (six deals in the past 12 months), and they believe imbuing their platform with machine learning will be the next catalyst for sustained growth." Fishbein has a buy rating on the stock and a $100 price target, 36 percent above Friday's close of $73.29. One major challenge for Salesforce is renewed competition from Microsoft . While the software giant badly trails Salesforce in CRM, Microsoft is using its dominance in other areas of enterprise technology along with its Azure cloud infrastructure and $100 billion-plus cash pile to regain relevance. Microsoft outbid Salesforce for LinkedIn , giving its customer database called Dynamics a huge data infusion. LinkedIn's network has more than 450 million members who have populated the site with their professional information, potentially providing a whole new way for Microsoft to target workers with relevant stories and connections. watch now Toxic haze that spread across Southeast Asia from Indonesian forest fires last year caused the deaths of about 100,000 people across the region, according to the first academic study of the health impact of the smog. The death toll was concentrated in Indonesia, which had about 92,000 excess deaths from persistent haze that choked the region between July and October, according to researchers at Harvard and Columbia. The study published on Monday in Environmental Research Letters, a leading academic journal, linked haze from the fires to about 6,500 deaths in Malaysia and 2200 in Singapore. The deaths were mainly caused by cardiovascular disease, though there were also some deaths from respiratory disease, the researchers say. More from the Financial Times: Indonesia's luxury goods market still weak Asean companies place big bets locally Duterte was 'involved in death squad' The researchers focused on adult mortality, and are now working on a further study to examine the impact on children. There was likely to have been an increase in child deaths from pneumonia in Indonesia due to the 2015 haze, according to Sam Myers, senior research scientist at Harvard School of Public Health and one of the study's authors. The findings are likely to fuel political tensions over the annual blight on the region, which is driven by Indonesian smallholders or plantation owners clearing land for farming and palm oil or paper production. Yuyun Indradi, a Greenpeace campaigner in Indonesia, said: "If nothing changes, this killer haze will carry on taking a terrible toll. "Industry and government must take real action to stop forest clearing and peatland drainage for plantations." US President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Asean Summit on November 22, 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed on Monday to step up cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law-enforcement channels after North Korea's fifth nuclear test, the White House said. U.N. diplomats say China and the United States have started discussions on a possible U.N. sanctions resolution in response to the test earlier this month, but Beijing has not said directly whether it will support tougher steps against North Korea. Obama met Li on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York. "Both leaders condemned North Korea's September 9 nuclear test and resolved to strengthen coordination in achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including by invigorating cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law enforcement channels on North Korea," a White House statement said. China is isolated North Korea's most important diplomatic backer and its biggest trading partner. U.S. stock-index futures ticked higher on Monday, as European stocks rallied on the back of a gain in oil prices. U.S. light crude futures rose by more than 1 percent to $43.67 per barrel early on Wednesday, boosted by media reports suggesting that major oil-producing countries could be close to a deal to stabilize crude output. Strong oil prices may support energy stocks on Wednesday. The first day of the week will be a quiet one for both U.S. economic data and earnings. The NAHB housing market index is due, along with results from Ascena Retail Group . Later in the week, all eyes with be on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Wednesday at the end of its two-day September meeting. Market consensus is for the Fed to hold its base rate at 0.25-0.50 percent. watch now Wells Fargo 's $185 million settlement over consumer fraud complaints, and Mylan 's EpiPen price hikes of 500 percent over nine years were all about corporate greed, said Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Washington-based Aspen Institute think tank. "[With] the anger in this country against big institutions, against government, against business, this kind of strokes it," he said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. "It makes us wonder why corporate America can't keep its mind on the fact that it's not just about seeing how much money they can make for themselves but seeing how they can serve customers," said Isaacson, former CNN chief and ex-Time magazine editor. The CEOs of Wells Fargo and Mylan are set to appear at separate hearings on Capitol Hill this week. Wells Fargo Chairman and Chief Executive John Stumpf appears at before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. John Stumpf, CEO, Wells Fargo Scott Mlyn | CNBC Stumpf will face questions about the bank's $185 million settlement over charges that employees boosted their sales targets and bonuses by opening accounts for unsuspecting customers. Last week, Stumpf told CNBC's "Mad Money" he holds himself accountable, but does not plan to resign. Wells Fargo last Tuesday said it would eliminate retail banking product sales goals, starting next year. Hours later, CFO John Shrewsberry blamed underperforming employees struggling to meet goals for the lapses. Speaking at a banking conference in New York, he said 10 percent of the 5,300 employees fired were branch managers or more senior staffers. "[Wells Fargo] should have smelled something was wrong there, just like EpiPen and Mylan should have smelled something wrong with what they're doing: jacking up something that kids need," said Isaacson, author of the best-selling biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. "When you're doing things like that, I wonder how do you go to sleep that well at night," he added. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, daughter of Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, goes in front of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday over why the cost of lifesaving EpiPens went up so much. Heather Bresch, CEO Mylan Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Addressing the public outcry, Bresch appeared in August on CNBC in an attempt to justify the repeated EpiPen price hikes from $100 retail in 2007 to more than $600. Mylan has taken steps to make EpiPens more affordable, including plans to launch a generic at a discount of more than 50 percent and to take half off branded EpiPens through a savings card for eligible users. "I don't think that they were doing it for any other reasons than simply to make more money right after a bonus structure went in that would have rewarded that for big executives," Isaacson said. Responding to CNBC's request comment, Mylan said the EpiPen is only one of 2,700 products the company manages, accounting for less than 10 percent of its revenues. "The targets set forth in the one-time special program were not and are not practically achievable based on pricing of any single product," the company said. "Our business performance is not reliant on any one product or region." A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to comment on Isaacson's comments. The European Union is likely to change its approach to handling Russia when its heads of state meet next month, analysts say, as support for economic sanctions wanes among its members and there is recognition that the peace process between Russia and Ukraine is not delivering. Mujtaba Rahman, Cliff Kupchan and Alex Bridau from risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note Monday that next month's meeting of the European Council would "signal the beginning of the end of (the) Minsk process" a fragile ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine brokered by France and Germany's leaders in 2014 and 2015 in a bid to stop an escalation of border violence between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces. The ceasefire looks vulnerable with both sides accusing one another of not complying with their side of the bargain such as a complete cessation of hostilities and local elections in separatist regions which has led to a tense political stalemate. (L-R) Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pose for a photo during their peace talks in Minsk, Belarus on February 11, 2015. Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images The EU responded to the skirmishes and Russia's apparent military support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine not to mention Russia's annexation of Crimea -- by placing sanctions on the country but these are up for renewal in January 2017 and are likely to be a source of contention too at the Council's meeting next month, analysts believed. Sanctions regarding the crisis in Ukraine include restrictive measures and asset freezes on entities and individuals deemed by the EU to bear "responsibility for actions which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine" were extended last week until March 2017. However, sanctions regarding the "illegal annexation" of Crimea are of a more economic (and, arguably, more damaging) nature. They include an import ban on goods from that region and restrictions on trade and investment. They are due to expire on 31 January 2017 at which point the EU will announce whether it will extend or revoke them. "EU sanctions easing against Russia in January 2017 is looking less likely, given Russia's lack of compliance against the Minsk benchmarks," Rahman, Kupchan and Bridau said. "However, Berlin and Paris recognize Minsk is not delivering; as such, October's European Council is likely to kick-start a debate on moving towards a more "step-by-step" approach, paving the way for sanctions easing after January," the analysts added. Lack of progress Overshadowing the flaws in the Minsk agreement is Europe's own divisions over what to do about sanctions and how to approach its blossoming relationship with Ukraine, a former Soviet country to which it wants -- much to the displeasure of Russia - to forge closer links. While countries in southern Europe, like Greece and Italy, favor relaxing sanctions, others are keen to continue the tough stance against Russia. Eurasia Group noted that, despite the divergence of opinion, the lack of concrete progress over the peace agreement couldn't be ignored. "The parties to Minsk are making very little progress against the peace plan's benchmarks. Fighting has currently subsided, but as in the past will likely again pick up," Summing up the key stumbling blocks, Eurasia Group's analysts said that "the Russian side insists that any agreement must protect the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers, either through a constitutional amendment giving the separatist regions wide autonomy or international guaranteeswhile the Ukrainians, on the other hand, insist that the return of border control in separatist-held areas and the withdrawal of Russian troops and weapons must precede a deal on decentralization and special status." Changing tack? The management of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has released the Primary Admission List for 2016/2017 academic session. The names of admitted candidates are contained on the attached pdf document (You can view this directly or download it on your device). INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES OFFERED PROVISIONAL ADMISSION FOR THE 2016/2017 ACADEMIC SESSION Candidates offered provisional admission are required to adopt the following guidelines to regularize their acceptance of the offer: -Visit the University of Nigeria website (unn.edu.ng) or portal (unnportal.edu.ng), log in your JAMB Registration number to generate and download a Payment Invoice which contains a Remitta number, the invoice will enable you to make payment at any Commercial Bank. -With the Payment Invoice, the candidate is requested to pay Twenty Five Thousand Naira Only (N25, 000.00) acceptance fee. Ensure that the Invoice number is keyed in appropriately at the Bank and obtain a confirmation slip containing youre your Confirmation number and Invoice number. -Visit the University of Nigeria website ( unn.edu.ng ) or portal (unnportal.edu.ng) again and login your JAMB Registration Number, the Confirmation Number and Invoice Number, then print the Admission slip and complete the Acceptance Form online. -Proceed with other fee payments and registration as indicated on the University of Nigeria website. FIND FILE ATTACHED BELOW: Download [. PDF] File View Larger Online Version Of This [. PDF] File One of the architects of the Ukrainian nation on note The National Bank of Ukraine issued a 20-hryvnia commemorative bank note on Sept. 1 in honor of the 160th anniversary of the birth of writer and poet Ivan Franko. The National Bank of Ukraine issued a 20-hryvnia commemorative bank note on Sept. 1 in honor of the 160th anniversary of the birth of writer and poet Ivan Franko. More than a writer, Franko is called one of the architects of the Ukrainian nation. The notes complement the 2006 coins dedicated to his 150th birthday. A million pieces will be printed, with 20,000 of them being packed in souvenir envelopes and sold by the banks representatives in Ukraine for 31 hryvnia each. At current exchange rates 20 hryvnia is the equivalent of 75 U.S. cents. Connect with Coin World: Sign up for our free eNewsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter The paper used contains Ukrainian flax that the bank claims reduces costs and adds strength. The predominantly green note also has color and motion shifting properties. It has a portrait of Franko on its face and an image of the Lviv Opera House on the back. These devices are also on the regular issue 20-hryvnia note in circulation since 2003, but the commemorative note has a slightly more modern appearance. This Proof 2016 Star Trek 1-ounce silver coin from the Perth Mint is the first high-relief Star Trek coin ever issued by any mint. The obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. Limited numbers of the 5-ounce silver Proof High Relief Star Trek coin are graded Proof 70 Ultra Cameo by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. and feature an original signature by William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk. The Perth Mints 2016 Star Trek 1-ounce silver bullion coin, the mints officially licensed bullion piece, carries a mintage limit of 50,000 coins. The obverse carries an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II created by Ian Rank-Broadley. The Perth Mint issued a two-coin set of Proof 2016 1-ounce silver coins that mark the 50th anniversary of the seminal original Star Trek television series. Both coins featured color. This packaging for a two-coin set of Proof 2016 1-ounce silver coins that mark the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek television series, a special transporter-shaped display case, is the same type used for Perths 2015 10-coin series that honored each of the captains and spaceships of every Star Trek television series. A variety of coins have been issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the television show Star Trek in 2016. Topical Topics column from the October edition of Coin World monthly: In recent years it seems like virtually every movie or television series that features superheroes or other iconic characters has been the subject of a commemorative coin or series issued by a world mint. But some of the subjects of these coins stand out from others and are of interest to more than just die-hard fans. That is certainly the case with the original Star Trek series that began 50 years ago on Sept. 8, 1966, on NBC. Connect with Coin World: Sign up for our free eNewsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter That series, the creation of Gene Roddenberry, ran for only three seasons, ending on June 3, 1969, but it was followed by an animated version and numerous feature films and successor television series that have given the Star Trek franchise a significant place in popular culture and inspired legions of fans known as Trekkies. Perhaps more importantly, the fictional 23rd century adventures of Star Trek also promoted interest in the U.S. space program and the study of astronomy and cosmology. And that is undoubtedly related to the fact that the first television series ended just before the U.S. changed the course of history with the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. Star Trek coins of Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint Two major world mints, the Perth Mint in Australia and the Royal Canadian Mint, secured licensing rights to issue Star Trek coins from CBS, which now owns the rights to the original series. Both mints have issued a considerable number of well-designed and expertly minted coins on the Star Trek theme. Capitalizing on several Canadian connections to the original Star Trek series, such as the fact that two actors, William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk, commander of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), and chief engineer Scotty, played by James Doohan, were both born in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint launched a series of 11 silver and gold coins in May on the 50th anniversary of the first series. RELATED: Captain Kirk strikes a coin as part of #StarTrek50 celebration Several of those coins depict the well-known Enterprise spaceship (arguably the most famous and recognizable science fiction spacecraft of all time), while others honor legendary episodes and the main characters of the series, which also included Spock and Lt. Uhura. The gold coin is in the shape of the delta shield that was worn by crew members. In 2015 the Perth Mint launched an extensive series of colored silver coins that focused not just on the original series but also on each of the successor television series. For each series there is a coin for the respective captain and spaceship. RELATED: Captain Kirk himself just took notice of Perth Mints Star Trek coins on Twitter It is noteworthy that the most popular coins are those that depict Kirk, Spock, and the original Enterprise. Latest Perth Mint coins Those coins were followed in 2016 by a series of silver and gold coins specifically for the golden anniversary of the original series. In July a set of two, colored, 1-ounce silver coins was issued, including one with an artistically compelling color portrait of actors Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in their roles as Capt. Kirk and Spock. They are shown holding a communicator and a tricorder, classic Star Trek gadgets, against a backdrop of stars, planets, and 23rd century space craft technology. The second coin shows the Enterprise flying through space at warp speed. While the coin with Kirk and Spock, having a 5,000-coin mintage, was also sold individually, the set was limited to 1,500 units and is the only way to obtain the colorized Enterprise coin. The sets, which sold out quickly, were sold in the transporter-shaped package that was also used for the two-coin sets issued in 2015. OPINION: Why you won't see a U.S. Star Trek coin series Then there is a 1-ounce silver bullion coin sold in capsules, like all Perth Mint bullion, that also shows the Enterprise and has a mintage of 50,000 coins. A total of 1,701 (the ship number for the Enterprise) of those coins were reserved for sale in Australia and sold in a special presentation card, so only 48,299 coins are available outside Australia. They are sold at bullion-related prices, and the carded coins also generate Australian tax revenue. By law a portion of all Australian coins must be reserved for sale within that country. Perths Makeila Ellis, who handles press inquiries for the mint, explained to Coin World: The Star Trek bullion coin was introduced to trial a licensed bullion coin. At this point in time it is not the first in a new series but is part of our overall range of 50th anniversary products. 30,000 of the coins were sold in the first two days. She also noted that the two-coin colored set was produced specifically for the First Commemorative Mint of the USA, which received half of the mintage of both products. As a result, North American buyers were not able to purchase those coins directly from Perth and were directed to U.S.-based distributors for Perth coins. Perth also released three high-relief coins that depict the Enterprise, including 1- and 5-ounce silver coins and a 1-ounce gold piece. The respective mintages are 6,000, 800, and 400, and each coin features the 50th anniversary logo. Another exclusive issue Ellis also said those coins are exclusive to GovMint in the United States (and also sold by Modern Coin Mart, which is owned by the same company, Asset Marketing Services). Both companies sold both ungraded and graded versions of these coins, including some that feature labels signed by Shatner. With a mintage of just 800 coins, and some of them reserved for sale within Australia, not many of the 5-ounce coins are available. Perth is perhaps the leading world mint when it comes to producing coins in high-relief, and these coins certainly meet the exacting standards of craftsmanship for which the mint has a well-deserved reputation. In September, Perth issued another silver coin, this one in the shape of the delta shield, that carries a mintage limit of 5,000 coins and features the 50th anniversary-delta shield logo. It comes housed in an acrylic display case. Science fiction and astronomy are undoubtedly topics that appeal to many coin enthusiasts, as previous Coin World articles have suggested, but over the long term, the success of the Star Trek coins will be shaped by how much crossover appeal exists between coin collectors and Star Trek fans. Veer Sangha made the most of practice tests for the college-entrance exam. "I mean, if you are strict with yourself and dont cheat yourself, you can get a good idea of what score you are going to get, he said. Types of obituaries The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories. A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form Family starts over after losing home, pets in Wooldridge fire The McComb family called Wooldridge home before losing everything material to wildfire. What hurt the most was the loss of their pet dog Olaf. Best of Business 2022: Learn Who Won Our 15th Annual Reader Poll Local professionals chose their favorite business and professional services, products, healthcare, dining and more. Find out who their top picks are. You might remember that I've written about my difficult relationship with Siri. As it's gone from bad to worse, I've thrown in the towel. She wins, and I oddly find it liberating to just let her do her own thing. My iPhone had to be reset last week, so any understanding that the experienced Siri and I had established was wiped out, and there I was, talking to an untrained Siri as responsive as my cat is to the word "no." She wasn't even trying, just throwing out random replies to my questions and toying with my commands. When my laptop told me the Find My iPhone app was disabled, I asked Siri to locate it. Instead, she called my childhood best friend, and instead of screaming "No! Stop!" (at least she's better at that than the cat or even the dog), I just let the call go through and spent an hour on the phone with a dear old friend I hadn't spoken to in two or three years. As we caught up, I told her about the "women and whiskey" story, and we both immediately said her grandmother's name. Gladys was a few inches shy of 5 feet, kept a purple rinse on her gray hair, chain smoked and took us to see "The Exorcist" when we were 11. I was terrified, but what I really should've been scared of was the little old lady in her old Buick Riviera, driving us all over the place with an ever-present cocktail in her hand. I would've pegged Gladys as a gin drinker (and I bet she wouldn't have turned down a martini), but I would've been wrong. "Whatever it was, it was brown," Penne said. So maybe it was brandy. Maybe it was sherry. But it could've been bourbon, could have been scotch. Might have been Tennessee whiskey. Whatever, she consumed enough of it to have earned a rebuke from Jack Daniel, who lived in a time when drinking women were frowned upon. But Gladys and her brown drink paved the path for women like me and the many more who answered me on Facebook when I asked who likes whiskey; you can read them all on my Facebook page. My favorite didn't come from a woman, but from Michael Hughes, who now lives in Oregon but used to work at Joe's Wines and Liquor: "In Memphis, every woman loves whiskey. That's one of the reasons I had so many women friends." CA Friday Lunch Join us at noon Sept. 30 at Acre, 690 S. Perkins, for another CA Friday Lunch. The food is great, and the restaurant and the patio are among the prettiest in town. CA Friday Lunch, which we've been doing every other week for about three months, is always fun. We meet at restaurants around town for a Dutch treat lunch and just visit, talk food and meet new friends. There are always a few reporters and/or editors from the paper and 25 to 30 guests. We keep the group small; email me and let me know if you'd like to attend so you can be on the list. Reach me at biggs@commercialappeal.com. Restaurant news I'll be on vacation next week, and there won't be a column, but it'll be back here Oct. 4. I checked with Mac Edwards, opening Brooks Pharm2Fork, and Brian Thurmond, opening 148 North, both on the square in Collierville. Both said to check back when I return, so don't expect to see either restaurant open before then. But soon, they say. Tim Bednarski, owner of Elwood's Shack, said he's still planning to open Elwood's Shells the week of Sept. 26. The seafood restaurant will be a large permanent food truck that will be parked next to the Shack at 4523 Summer (which is, we all know, in actually the parking lot of Lowe's). Coming events Join a host of local chefs at Wine and Dine on Sept. 25 at Tower Center, 5100 Poplar Avenue, at 6:30 p.m. The event, which benefits Special Olympics, is co-hosted by Kirby Wine & Liquors and chef Ryan Trimm of Sweet Grass. Guest chefs include Ben Smith of Tsunami; Andrew Adams of Acre; Felicia Willett of Felicia Suzanne's; Erling Jensen of Erling Jensen's; Jeremy Martin of Tuscany Italian Eatery; Jonathan Magallanes of Las Tortugas; Keith Bambrick of McEwen's; Kelly English of Restaurant Iris; Keith Clinton of Tower Center; Michael Hanna of Hanna farms; Tim Bednarski of Elwood's Shack; Mike Miller of Heritage Tavern & Kitchen; and Nick Rice of Restaurant South in Tupelo. Frost Bake Shop and Gibson's Donuts will provide the sweet stuff. Tickets are $100, which include food and wine; call 901-683-1271 for more information or to purchase tickets. Cookbook author and CA columnist Jennifer Chandler will host a luncheon with The Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 29 at The Kroc Center, 800 East Parkway S. Tickets are $40; $100 for patrons, who will receive special seating. All proceeds benefit the Salvation Army's Christmas Angel Tree program. For tickets and further information, call 901-748-2300. Recipe of the Week Everyone likes Mexican food, and the easier for a weeknight, the better. Quick and Easy Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Casserole Makes 5 servings. Ingredients 10 ounces chicken breast, cooked and shredded 16 ounces green chili enchilada sauce 4 ounce can chopped green chilies 12 ounces grated Monterey Jack cheese 1 cup sour cream 10 medium tortillas 3 green onions, chopped 1 medium tomato, chopped Directions 1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix chicken with 8 ounces green enchilada sauce, the green chilies and half the cheese. In another bowl, mix sour cream and remaining enchilada sauce. Pour half the sauce in a 9-by-13 inch baking dish. 2 Take a tortilla, top with a couple of tablespoons of the chicken mixture, then roll up and place on the sauce in baking dish. Continue until all tortillas are filled and rolled. 3 Pour remaining sauce over the top, then sprinkle on remaining cheese. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Top with cilantro, green onions and tomatoes before serving. Source: 30-minute One-Pot Meals, Joanna Cismaru Photos by Ed Rode/Special to The Commercial Appeal Lynne Tolley, the great-grandniece of Jack Daniel and a master taster at the distillery, says women make better tasters because they have a "keener sense of smell." She will host a whiskey tasting and dinner Thursday at The Peabody, part of the distillery's 150th anniversary celebration. By Jennifer Biggs of The Commercial Appeal Lynne Tolley, master taster and global ambassador for Jack Daniel's, is the greatgrandniece of the man himself. She was recently asked who, in the past or present, she'd choose to have a cocktail with above anyone else. "I said Jack Daniel, of course," she said. "I'd love to sit down and talk to him, but I tell you this: He would be shocked that so many women are drinking his whiskey. He died in 1911, and women didn't drink then unless they were sick and needed a tonic." Her favorite tonic, by the way, is a Manhattan, and she generally takes it with Gentleman Jack. She'll be in town to host a whiskey tasting and dinner at The Peabody, part of the distillery's 150th anniversary celebration. Five whiskeys will be sampled in the Corner Bar, followed by dinner featuring dishes from Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House, the Lynchburg, Tennessee, restaurant Tolley ran for many years. "I know the recipes, and I can't wait to see what The Peabody chefs will do with them," said Tolley, who has written several cookbooks. She's been a taster for Jack Daniel's for 25 years. Every Friday afternoon, if she's not traveling as the ambassador, she joins other tasters. "And about half of us are women," she said. "In my estimation, women are the best tasters, because the process is done by aroma and taste, and I think women have a keener sense of smell." Fred Minnick, author of several books on whiskey, including "Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch and Irish Whiskey" (Potomac Books; 2013) and the soon-to-be-released "Bourbon: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of an American Whiskey" (Voyageur Press; $25), says she's right. "There's science that proves it," he said. "They can't really say why, but it's probably due to the hormonal makeup of men and women. That's not to say that a woman will necessarily be a better than a trained man." But when it comes to whiskey making, not just tasting, Minnick says women have been critical to it through history, dating back to the invention of the alembic still around 3 A.D. by an Egyptian woman. Irish women, Scottish women and eventually American women were early distillers of whiskey. "Some of the most important women in American whiskey were bootleggers," Minnick said. "They were better at it than men if only for the reason that it was uncouth for someone to suspect a woman of bootlegging, and women learned to take advantage of that. "It even led to women becoming police officers, because when they finally realized women were bootlegging, there had to be female officers to search them." Today, women love their whiskey. In the 1990s, about 15 percent of whiskey drinkers in the U.S. were women, Minnick said in a 2014 interview with National Public Radio. Yet as 2014 came to a close, women represented 37 percent of whiskey drinkers. Memphians Susan Hensley Prichard and Cassie Buroughs are such aficionados that they're in a two-year whiskey sommelier program. Prichard heard about the class in Austin and signed her husband up for it. Philip Prichard II at the time worked for his family's business, Prichard's Distillery in Kelso, Tennessee. "Like lots of women, I was a vodka drinker," Prichard said. "I liked my cosmos. When I met Philip, I started drinking Tennessee whiskey and bourbon, but in a cocktail, not straight. I didn't have the palate for it." Then she decided she'd take the class, too. "Before the class, I didn't think I liked scotch, not until I drank really good single-malt. It was mind-boggling," she said. "After that I got really super excited about whiskey and started telling everyone about it, but so many of my women friends were still like, 'No, I don't like brown stuff.' "I knew then that I had to educate women about whiskey." But one female friend Buroughs was already convinced and also signed up for the sommelier class; she'll join the Prichards this week as they begin level 2 training. And they started a company, Whiskey Church Productions, to teach people about whiskey. They're a hosting company that does private tastings now, but they will hold their first public event in late October (details to come when they're finalized). Meanwhile, there's Tolley's tasting Thursday, when she will lead participants through samples of Gentleman Jack, Sinatra Select, Old No. 7, "Peabody Select" Jack Daniel's Single Barrel, and 150th Anniversary, 86 proof. It will be relaxed and interesting, a fun tasting, not as serious as the ones she does when she's working. At Friday tastings, Tolley and the other tasters sample three whiskeys, two from one barrel and one from another. The purpose of this panel is ensuring consistency from year to year, so if several tasters detect differences, that barrel goes back through distilling. She's also on the singlebarrel tasting panel, one of just six people who get to decide when a whiskey is ready to go from the barrel to the bottle. "They tested me, made me taste for a year before they let me get on that," she said. "I said, 'You have to be kidding me. I have Jack Daniel's genes, his taste buds.' And they said 'A year.'" Jack Daniels 150th Anniversary Dinner & Whiskey Tasting With Lynne Tolley, master taster. 6 p.m. Thursday at The Peabody Corner Bar and Capriccio Grill. Cost: $85 plus tax and tip. For reservations or more information: peabodymemphis.com or 901-529-4000. September 19, 2016 - Suzy Young with Meadow Wood Rescue adopts a 6-month-old puppy that was scheduled for euthanasia at the Memphis Animal Shelter. Memphis Animal Services Director Alexis Pugh announced a new system where Memphis Animal Services will no longer label and track breeds of animals in its shelter, possibly reducing breed-targeted euthanizations and preventing euthanizations because of mislabeling. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE September 19, 2016 - Memphis Animal Services Director Alexis Pugh announces a new system where Memphis Animal Services will no longer label and track breeds of animals in its shelter, possibly reducing breed-targeted euthanizations and preventing euthanizations because of mislabeling. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) September 19, 2016 - Suzy Young with Meadow Wood Rescue adopts a 6-month-old puppy that was scheduled for euthanasia at the Memphis Animal Shelter. Memphis Animal Services Director Alexis Pugh announced a new system where Memphis Animal Services will no longer label and track breeds of animals in its shelter, possibly reducing breed-targeted euthanizations and preventing euthanizations because of mislabeling. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) September 19, 2016 - Memphis Animal Services Director Alexis Pugh announces a new system where Memphis Animal Services will no longer label and track breeds of animals in its shelter, possibly reducing breed-targeted euthanizations and preventing euthanizations because of mislabeling. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) Related Coverage Memphis Animal Services director Pugh discusses problems, hopes for facility By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal Memphis Animal Services will stop labeling the breeds of new animals entering the city's shelter beginning Tuesday, pushing the city to the head of a growing pack of shelters hoping to reduce euthanasia rates by stopping breed discrimination during adoptions. MAS Director Alexis Pugh said the shelter will stop all breed labeling by Oct. 1, ending a practice where shelter employees would guess animals' breeds often incorrectly. It was a particular problem for dogs labeled pit bulls or German shepherds, she said. 'The ability to assess a true breed is flawed," she said at a news conference Monday in front of the shelter. "It's a best guess." Pugh, under fire from some rescue advocates for several recent botched euthanasia procedures at the shelter, said the new system was one of several changes aimed at increasing the shelter's survival rate, which was at 61.5 percent in August, up 5 percent from the same month last year. The new approach is supported by some local animal rescue advocates, who cheered during a contentious Memphis Animal Shelter Advisory Board meeting Wednesday when she mentioned labeling would end. "It's all about making small changes that add up to a bigger change," she said Monday. Pugh said MAS is putting the finishing touches on revisions to shelter policies that will add more checks to make sure animals aren't mistakenly euthanized, which happened to four puppies in July, leading to the suspension of two employees. The revisions will be made public by the end of this week, she said. In the board meeting last week, she called the problems at the shelter "systemic," and pleaded for patience from rescue advocates as she worked to overcome long-standing problems. "Folks are sad and they're angry about euthanasia," she said Monday. "And I get that because I'm sad and angry too." Since her appointment in May, Pugh has suspended, reprimanded or fired eight shelter employees, she said, pausing to count up the employees on her fingers. Strickland's appointment of Pugh, an animal lover with a background working for rescue groups, was meant to be a sign that his administration was serious about correcting the shelter's issues, which in the past have led to police raids and arrests. But some rescue advocates have criticized Pugh as not animal-friendly enough because of her stance that a no-kill city shelter isn't possible as long as the city takes in an average 30 animals a day. Instead, she wants to stop the practice of euthanizing animals for space and time in the shelter sometime in the next three years. SHARE By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal Tennessee's caucus of black state lawmakers is planning a "day of action" Tuesday to support a proposed Memphis ordinance decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators will begin the day with media interviews before a 12:30 p.m. news conference in City Hall along with meetings with Memphis City Council members, according to the caucus made up of Democrats. The announcement of Tuesday's events was sent by state Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis, who serves as Senate Minority Leader. The ordinance proposed by council member Berlin Boyd, which mirrors one under consideration in Nashville, would give police officers authority to charge people in possession of a half-ounce or less of marijuana a $50 fine or community service as opposed to the state's criminal law. Under Tennessee law, violators face a Class A misdemeanor charge punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. "We have made criminal justice reform a caucus priority, and this is a perfect example of the kind of issue that needs to be discussed," state Rep. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville, caucus chairwoman, said in a news release. "Statistics have shown that the impact of these low level drug offenses hits harder on poor and minority communities, saddling many with crippling criminal records and lessening their chances of employment, housing and other areas of life." Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said her office prosecuted about 300 marijuana-only charges last year. The ordinance is on the council's consent agenda Tuesday for the second of three readings before a final vote as early as Oct. 4. SHARE Democratic Sen. Reginald Tate of Memphis speaks during a Senate Education Committee hearing on affirmative action in public colleges and universities in Nashville on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal State Sen. Reginald Tate defended his decision Sunday to accept a free "education" trip to Europe from a Republican businessman known for his anti-Islam views, reiterating that he sought approval from state officials before taking the trip. Tate, a Memphis Democrat, was one of six state legislators who spent five days in Europe in fall 2011 on the tab of Andy Miller, a Nashville millionaire who is the leader of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition. The Southern Poverty Law Center says that group's anti-Islam views earn it a place on the law center's list of hate groups. Neither Miller nor the legislators ever reported the trip on their disclosure forms, which apparently is legal under state law since Miller is not a registered lobbyist. The trip only came to light because of an investigation by The Tennessean newspaper into Rep. Jeremy Durham, who was recently expelled from the state legislature. "I told you already. I don't have any problems with it. Hurry up and finish, because you're getting on my nerves now," Tate told a reporter during a telephone interview Sunday. Tate recently told The Tennessean that he vetted the trip with Drew Rawlins, executive director of the state Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. "I don't have any problems with any of it," the Memphis lawmaker said during Sunday's interview. "That's my answer to it. Do you have any problems with it?" Tate was joined on the trip by Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro; Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma; Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough; Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby; and then-Rep. Joe Carr, a Republican from Lascassas. The trip included stops in London, Brussels, Antwerp and Amsterdam. Tate said Sunday that the lawmakers spent much of their time meeting with government officials. "It was just an awareness of how this particular religion is spreading," Tate said, adding that he learned about the trip from Ketron. "We visited with leaders. We visited with the actual people that was experiencing it, that was affected by (radical Islam)." Tate added that the trip produced no legislation. "I don't think I brought back (anything) that I put into effect as legislation as far as it relates to Islam," he said. Shelby County Commission Chairman Melvin Burgess (left, with former chairman Terry Roland) has proposed a merger of the police and sheriff's departments. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal File SHARE Shelby County Commission Chairman Melvin Burgess' thoughts about possibly merging the Memphis Police and Shelby County Sheriff's departments makes sense, but, frankly, the idea is a nonstarter. This community, for decades, has been unable to get beyond the toxic rhetoric and disdain that emerges from opponents and proponents whenever a serious discussion about a major merger of a city and county government function occurs. It happened during the effort to merge the legacy Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools districts, and the last time there was serious talk about establishing a single Memphis-Shelby County law enforcement agency. Burgess, the son of a former MPD police director, broached the idea earlier this month while taping a local news show. While he said he has not done any research into whether merging the agencies is possible or legal (it is), he thinks the idea is worth exploring. On its surface, it is as attractive idea from the standpoints of government efficiency and the ability to uniformly attack crime in a coordinated way, plus possibly enhance community policing efforts throughout Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County. And, as Burgess noted, it could serve as a cost-efficient way to help Memphis deal with a deficit of about 400 police officers. The pros and cons of consolidated law enforcement have been debated for decades. Cities like Jacksonville, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Miami-Dade County; metro Nashville; Louisville, Kentucky, and Indianapolis, consolidated their police and sheriff departments, but it did not happen without some pain. Trying to mesh different internal cultures that impact how the departments go about protecting and serving residents can be contentious. So can efforts to standardize differences in pay, benefits and pensions. Those are the kinds of nuts-and-bolts issues that can make consolidation a hard sell to some law enforcement agencies and their employee unions. The biggest sticking point to any talk about merging the police and sheriff's departments is who would lead the merge agency the sheriff, who is the county's constitutionally designated chief law enforcement officer or the head of the police department. That debate helped scuttle any talk of consolidation the last time it was seriously discussed. Burgess should be congratulated for trying to have a discussion on how the community's crime and police manpower issues can be better addressed. But the who-would-be-in-charge question and the intractable suburban-urban animus would put this discussion on a road to nowhere. SHARE By Arthur Caplan The first of three planned presidential debates will take place at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, on Sept. 26. Maybe it's good the debate is slated for a gym. If Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are really serious about proving their physical vigor and stamina, they can do laps in the arena while they answer questions. Clinton, of course, had to leave a 9/11 commemoration in New York early last week, suffering from dehydration and a case of pneumonia. The infection had been diagnosed two days earlier, after she saw a doctor for a cough that had drawn intense interest from the ready-to-pounce conservative media. The only real health issue the illness raised is whether she had received the recommended vaccines to prevent pneumonia in people over 65 something the 70-year-old Trump should be asked, as well. The episode, and Trump's appearance on "Dr. Oz" and release of a letter from his own doctor summarizing a recent physical on Thursday, made it feel like the presidential campaign had been replaced by a plenary session at an American Medical Association conference. Doctors and pundits spent the week analyzing the candidates' health, weight and stamina. One medical wag even suggested that Clinton had fallen ill because Russian President Vladimir Putin had managed to have her poisoned, an extremely difficult diagnosis to make based entirely on TV footage and news photos. If the political furor over Clinton's pneumonia lingers longer than the illness which should clear up in a few weeks that would be a sharp break with history. Voters pay little attention to their own health, and up to now, they haven't paid much more to the health of the people who want to be president. Neither Clinton nor Trump is interested in demonstrating their health in any meaningful way, beyond showing that they're physically up to the demands of the job. Clinton sought to keep important medical information to herself; Trump chose to let Mehmet Oz tell us what he thinks we should know about how he is doing. With little evidence of serious health issues, how did the physical condition of the candidates grab center stage in this campaign? The political weaponization of medical diagnoses started with Trump as the target. A parade of Clinton allies this summer began offering, unsolicited, to pronounce Trump a pathological narcissist. This unsupportable assessment even made the cover of the Atlantic. Trump supporters in the conservative press, meanwhile, had been waiting for a chance to impugn Clinton's health ever since she was treated for a blood clot in a vein in her head in 2013. The psychological mudslinging on the left seemed to amplify the screwy diagnoses coming from the right some from people with licenses in something or other, some from campaign staffers and even some from physicians who had a relevant medical specialty. Without examining Clinton, talking to her or knowing her full medical history, conservative media outlets declared that she suffered from the effects of a stroke, many strokes, Parkinson's, epilepsy and various other maladies. To endorse Trump's fitness for office, his gastroenterologist wrote a letter late last year that said Trump would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency" and that his lab results were "astonishingly excellent." The doctor later admitted he had written the letter in five minutes while a limo waited outside his office to deliver it to Trump's campaign. Until Trump's release Thursday of a later letter and his interview with Oz, a surgeon who does not perform physicals, offered his show as an examination room, that was all we knew about Trump's physical condition. (He told Oz, "I feel as good today as I did when I was 30," and that his hand motions during campaign speeches are "a form of exercise.") Clinton's campaign put out its own health bulletin Wednesday, releasing a letter from her physician, Lisa Bardack, that described her pneumonia as "mild" and "non-contagious," and ran through her vital statistics, from blood pressure to cholesterol, essentially unchanged from a good review she released in July 2015. If we really care about Trump's or Clinton's health, the way to find out about it is not to ask them, their staffers, their doctors, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil or Dr. Who. It is to have them supply their medical histories and submit to a thorough examination by an independent panel of doctors from areas such as internal medicine, oncology, geriatrics, psychiatry and neurology. The panel could be appointed by the National Academy of Sciences or the National Institutes of Health. It would tell presidential candidates to show up in August for a two-day physical, with the results to be reported before the end of the month. It is not too late to ask the candidates to take a day or two and do this now, if we really are keen to know whether they are fit enough to serve. Is this sensible solution going to ever happen? No. Because while discussions of Clinton's pneumonia and Trump's weight make for employment for medical TV wanna-bes and help fill empty air on cable news channels, you don't need to be all that healthy to be president, much less a politician. For every muscular bodybuilder turned California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, there are hundreds of paunchy, stressed-out, overweight and possibly mentally impaired occupants of legislatures at all levels of government and in Washington's highest offices. Our candidates run for office while smoking, drinking, frequenting tanning booths, engaging in unsafe sex, skipping vaccinations, driving recklessly, avoiding exercise and abusing prescription drugs. Judging by election results, voters don't seem to care. We have had people in or near the White House with bad hearts President Dwight Eisenhower and Vice President Dick Cheney both had heart attacks while in office. We've had presidents who abused alcohol and pain medications, such as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and, before he took office, George W. Bush. And at least one president surpassed any missteps exhibited by Clinton, frequently stumbling, tripping or banging his head: Gerald Ford. Despite the sparring among candidates, doctors and surrogates over who has the better urine output or blood-pressure number, and despite the media's taste for solemn disquisitions on narcissism, coughing, obesity and pneumonia, the American people don't seem to care. Polls show voters aren't worried that either Trump or Clinton would be among the oldest presidents ever to take office (though a majority do want to see health records from the candidates, which most previous candidates have released). And while surveys show voters now think Clinton is less healthy than they used to, half of them say that won't affect which candidate they vote for. That's no surprise. Since most of us do little to heal ourselves, it is fair to predict that this election won't pivot on an arthritic hip. The same voters who will choose the next president are part of a population with escalating obesity rates, helmet-less motorcycle and bicycle operation, untouched treadmills, and billions of dollars in junk-food sales. Why would anyone expect the electorate to put vastly more importance on the president's health than on their own? The current obsession will pass. The election will be decided on other issues. Still, if we want to know more about the fitness of candidates for the presidency, the current approach to informing us clearly does not work. Independent, objective assessment by a panel of doctors is the right prescription if only the voters and the politicians would follow it. Arthur Caplan is the director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center's Department of Population Health. He wrote this for the Washington Post. GitHub, the popular code repository service, has to serve two masters. It's well-known for hosting popular open-source projects, but it's also working to acquire more large and small business users to privately store and manage their proprietary code. Those different constituencies sometimes need different things. But Chris Wansrath, the company's co-founder and CEO, told the company's annual user conference this week that building new features into GitHub isn't a matter of helping only one or the other. It showed in the new features introduced at the conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. One was Code Review, which lets users add comments to code that people want to add to a repository. It's designed to make it easier to manage discussions and help teams ship better code. GitHub also launched a lightweight project management feature called Projects and revamped the Profiles feature to make it easier to see how a user's contributions to a project have evolved over time. The company isn't above building features that primarily serve business customers. Wednesday's updates also included features like the ability to keep some parts of a company's source-code repositories off-limits to services that integrate with GitHub. For example, a tool that's only for managing issues can be written so that it doesn't ask for access to the source code in a repository. In a similar vein, organizations will be able to limit the repositories that a service integrated with GitHub can have access to. There are also some security enhancements coming for administrators, like the ability to force all the contributors working for their company to have two-factor authentication turned on. In the future, GitHub will also allow organizations that use its cloud-hosted service to use SAML for logging in with a single-sign-on provider. Prior to the conference, GitHub held a closed-doors meeting with a group of its large enterprise customers, who were excited about the new capabilities. Todd Berman, the company's vice president of product engineering, said in an interview that some of the features those customers were excited about were the same ones that open-source contributors had been looking for, like code review. What's more, unifying those tools across corporate and open-source environments may help businesses work with both open and closed-source software. "Given that open source is now being used in enterprises to a much greater degree, having features that work the same for private or public use makes a lot of sense," IDC program director Al Hilwa said in an email. "This means the same set of developers can work on different projects and leverage their skills." But it remains to be seen whether GitHub's feature development will drive enterprises to adopt it, especially when it's competing against other products. Most large enterprises already have systems in place to manage code bases and development, and it's hard to know whether they'll be willing to rip those out and replace them with GitHub. Tom Murphy, a research director at Gartner, said in an email that he doesn't think the changes will lead organizations to abandon their current systems. But Hilwa believes there's opportunity for GitHub because it's a good bet many companies haven't implemented modern source-control software. Does all this translate into a good business? Most things that people encounter every day are touched in some way by code that's been worked on in GitHub, Wansrath told the conference. But Murphy at Gartner said building developer tools isn't exactly a path to wealth for a company. "I believe GitHub has a lot of use, I dont believe that corresponds into account control or revenue," he said. "Developer tools is a commodity business. It is certainly disconcerting when your cellphone blares out a red alert warning; in my area the emergency sound is usually associated with imminent danger due to a tornado. The Wireless Emergency Alert system sends Amber alerts as well as extreme weather warnings, but on Monday morning for the first time WEA sent a Wanted poster emergency alert to millions of New Yorkers, asking for help in the manhunt for the Manhattan and New Jersey bombing suspect. The emergency cellphone alert read: WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen. First time something like has been done. Important added capacity. pic.twitter.com/9yOLS03JPx Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) September 19, 2016 After the mass alert went out, people took to Twitter to express their surprise over the blaring alert for a man suspected of a crime. Three hours later, Rahami was reportedly captured. The New York Times reported the mass alert coincided with Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing the name of the suspect on CNN as well as sharing a photo released in an FBI wanted poster. A law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Times they had conclusive evidence that Mr. Rahami was connected not just to the Manhattan explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood, but also to a bombing that took place earlier on Saturday on the Jersey Shore. Rahami was captured after a shootout in Linden, New Jersey, with police. He was shot and seen being loaded into an ambulance; two officers were also reportedly injured in the shootout. CNN reported law enforcement first identified Rahami through a fingerprint, but the cellphone connected to the pressure cooker also provided some clues. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he wouldnt be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act. The FBI said Rahami was born in Afghanistan, but is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Before Rahamis name was released, police found bombs near a train station in Elizabeth; some were pipe bombs. One of the devices exploded as the bomb squad attempted to disarm it with a pair of robots supplied by the FBI. The train station is a half-mile from Rahamis residence and police believe he is connected to the bombs. The FCC did not send the mass WEA alert. The agency said, WEA alert originators include other federal agencies (such as the National Weather Service) and state and local government authorities. Alerts from authenticated public safety officials are sent through FEMA's IPAWS system to participating wireless carriers. Over 100 wireless carriers participate in the emergency alert system, CBS reported. An alert went out on Saturday night to people geographically located near Chelsea, warning them to stay back from windows as police removed the exploded device from 27th Street. 29 people were injured after the blast on 23rd Street. It is unclear which agency decided to blast a manhunt warning to millions of phones. A spokesman for the New York State Police told the Times that the decision to release the electronic wanted poster came from authorities in New York City. Business Insider's Pamela Engel likened the alert to something out of a dystopian movie. Apple may sell more than 100 million iPhone 7s by the end of the year, analysts claim, with some predicting it will be the biggest-selling iPhone model yet. Initial stocks quickly sold out in the U.S., China and the UK across launch weekend how could media expectations have created such flawed expectations? Making the right call We have seen substantial anecdotal evidence that iPhone 7/7 Plus preorder demand is up year-on-year throughout the U.S. market, while 7 Plus preorder demand looks strong in multiple geographies based on wait time data from various Apple websites in international markets," Raymond James analyst, Tavis McCourt, told clients Friday. These results match some of the more positive predictions given within a range of previous analysis. For example, Mizuho Securities Senior Analyst Abhey Lamba predicted Apple would sell up to 230 million iPhone 7s across 12-months. Jackdaw Research analyst, Jim Dawson explained how compelling the upgrade is to those on iPhone 6 or earlier devices in an argument that also prophesied strong demand. The new Apple smartphone seems likely to drive a wave of Android to iPhone switching, despite the disappearance of the headphone jack. It seems clear that far from being "boring" the iPhone 7 Apple introduced hosts a range of advanced features, not least inclusion of the fastest mobile processor ever made available in a smartphone. Dont believe the hype The weirdly out of touch media also caused huge embarrassment to Apples arch-foe, Samsung. Prompted by reports claiming the new iPhone 7 would be boring, Samsung management chose to rush production of the Galaxy Note 7 series, opening themeselves up for the PR disaster within which they are currently embroiled. It is indisputable that the Galaxy Note 7 incident has become a huge plus for Apple, said IBK Investment & Securities analyst Lee Seung-woo. Samsungs brand appeal has taken a knock, not only has it been forced to recall its flagship device but that recall has been conducted in a clumsy fashion, as Bloomberg explains. People missed the facts Component vendors in South Korea had expected Apple to sell up to 85 million units of its new smartphone this year, but expectations have increased in consequence of Samsungs product disaster. Think about that in the context of something else that we knew before the launch of the device: Apple originally told component suppliers to aim for up to 80 million sales, what was missed is that this was the company's highest production target in about two years. In a sense it is a triumph of hope over hype. Prior to the Apple launch months of media reports had called the new device boring, not because it lacked major improvements but solely because it offered them up within the same basic form factor. The hubbub was heard at Apple's highest levels, Jony Ive obliquely referred to it during the launch event when he described iPhone 7 as the most evolved most singular version of the traditional design. What the pundits got wrong is that they favored form over substance, as John Gruber notes: There is a large contingent of pundits who apparently would be more excited about a new iPhone that looked entirely different but had the exact same components as the iPhone 6S than they are by the actual iPhones 7, which are shaped like the 6S but have amazing new components. I dont get that mindset at all. Its like being a car pundit and judging the new Porsche 911 with a 'meh' because it looks like the previous 911, and never even considering what its like to actually drive the new car. Behind the illusion It is difficult to account for the fundamental disconnect between the expectations set by the media and what is really happening, though the disconnect is far more obvious in political reporting. Like the latter, media seems to ignore what is really happening on the ground. There the reality is that shoppers hoping to buy a new iPhone 7 have been turned away disappointed from Apple Stores worldwide, because demand is so high. Think about the months of disconnect and surely it is possible that if reports had been more tuned into actual reality than attempting to meld opinion to create a new one, those customers would have got to the queue earlier and gone home happier because they would have known Apple was about to release the most successful smartphone model since the last iPhone. Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple? Apple TV? If you want to learn how to get the very best out of your Apple TV, please visit my Apple TV website. Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld. MIT is collaborating with two Dutch universities to create a small fleet of self-driving boats that will first be tested in Amsterdam to ferry commuters and goods about the city. The $27 million, five-year project named Roboat is expected to launch its first watercraft in the canals of the Dutch capital next year. The researchers are also working to create other "dynamic" craft and temporary floating infrastructure such as on-demand bridges and stages that can be assembled or disassembled in a matter of hours. Roboat is a collaborative project between MIT and researchers from Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University in Holland. "Roboat offers enormous possibilities," Arjan van Timmeren, science director at the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, said in a statement. "We'll also be exploring environmental sensing. We could for instance do further research on underwater robots that can detect diseases at an early stage or use Roboats to rid the canals from floating waste and find a more efficient way to handle the 12,000 bicycles that end up in the city's canals each year." Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions Self-driving "Roboats" could be used to form temporary floating infrastructure such as on-demand bridges and stages. While the university Roboat project is focused on watercraft for canals, private companies have been developing self-driving boats for a variety of other purposes for years. For example, Sea Machines in Boston builds autonomous control and navigation systems for the commercial marine industry. The company is on its third version of a heavy-duty autonomous workboat for offshore and nearshore operations. The Sea Machines V2 has robust enough stability for open ocean-floor surveying or to deploy geographically-sensitive acoustic positioning systems. The vessel has a propulsion system that can do 20 knots and pull three tons of cargo. Sea Machines Sea Machine's V2 autonomous boat has enough stability for open ocean-floor surveying or to deploy geographically-sensitive acoustic positioning systems. The vessel has a propulsion system that can do 20 knots and pull three tons of cargo. With a pilot house and helm, the V2 can be controlled autonomously as a robot or manually driven as a conventional boat. Saildrone, in Alameda, Calif., is building miniature sailboats that traverse the bay and shores to monitor fish stocks or gather environmental data, according to the MIT Review. This year, Rolls-Royce announced its vision for autonomous container ships that would traverse oceans sans crew. "Autonomous shipping is the future of the maritime industry," said Mikael Makinen, president of Rolls-Royce's marine division. "As disruptive as the smartphone, the smart ship will revolutionize the landscape of ship design and operation." Rolls-Royce An artist's rendering of a Rolls-Royce-built autonomous cargo ship. The technologies required for autonomous shipping, such as sensors and GPS, already exist and aren't the challenge for the industry, according to Rolls-Royce. The challenge is to find the optimum way to combine them reliably and cost effectively. For example, software that can help vessels decide what actions to take off sensor and camera data is still being perfected, according to the company, and regulations have yet to catch up to what is already possible. "To secure regulatory approval, as well as industry support and public acceptance, remote and autonomous ships will need to be at least as safe as existing vessels," the company said in a study. "They have the potential to reduce human-based errors but at the same time new types of risks will arise and will need to be addressed." Intent on getting in on the momentum building behind the cloud, Oracle Corp. is refocusing the company to become a top cloud player. The company is making that clear at its annual customer conference, Oracle OpenWorld, in San Francisco this week. During his opening keynote, Larry Ellison, Oracle executive chairman and chief technology officer, said the company intends to take on Amazon Web Services and its top position in the cloud market. "Amazon's lead is over," he said. "Amazon's going to have serious competition going forward." Steve Daheb, a senior vice president of Business Groups at Oracle, didn't come out and so clearly say that the company is focused on chasing down AWS, but he told Computerworld in an interview Friday that Oracle is all about the cloud. "I think Oracle is all in on cloud," he said. "If you look at the investments we're making -- billions of dollars, thousands of engineers I don't think there's an element of the company that hasn't changed to help make this transition." Cloud computing has been an ever increasing hot spot for enterprises. Companies may have started slowly, anxious about security and reliability issues early on, but they've largely overcome those concerns and are investing not only launching new services and apps in the cloud but also in moving legacy systems there. Earlier this month, for instance, 451 Research released a report noting that a majority of enterprises expect to be running their workloads in the cloud within two years. According to the report, the level of enterprise workloads in the cloud is expected to shift from 41% today to 60% by mid-2018, and 38% of enterprises say they will at least consider, if not prioritize, the cloud for all deployments. That's the booming market that Oracle wants to get in on. To that end, the company announced that it's launching a set of new cloud data centers, a low-cost infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering, and a new Oracle Dense Cloud IO bare metal cloud server product. On Sunday, Oracle said it was acquiring privately held Palerra, a vendor of cloud security services. Oracle also is in the process of acquiring NetSuite Inc., a business software services and cloud vendor, for $9.3 billion. "We're showing up with the right solution at the right time," said Oracle's Daheb. "Customers want someone who has a much more complete stack We do have the whole package ready. We have the industry's most complete offering. A lot of what we're offering at OpenWorld is enhancements, extensions to what we offer today." That, according to Daheb, is the trick. Many enterprises use multiple cloud vendors, such as one for Infrastructure as a service and another for software as a service and still others for integration tools and tools for big data, data analytics and security. "They don't have that full suite," Daheb said. "Customers are putting this stuff together. 'I'm using Amazon for some of this. I'm using Azure for some of this. I'm using someone else for cloud access management.' Someone has to put that all together." That someone, he said, is going to be Oracle. However, it may not be that easy. While Daheb said the company isn't playing catch up, industry analysts say that is exactly what Oracle is doing. "I think it is a necessary move, but there is still quite a bit of catching up to do," said Cassandra Mooshian, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Oracle is trying to move the needle in changing perception Perception is still the biggest hurdle for Oracle. There's still so much vendor lock-in associated with Oracle that I don't think they're really perceived as a true cloud player yet because the idea of cloud is one that is interoperable. ... Oracle still promotes the all-Oracle or, as I say, the red stack." Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, noted that when enterprises think about the cloud, they think about AWS, IBM, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce. Meanwhile, Oracle will have some work to do to get its name in the same breath as the top players. "Oracle should have started earlier on the cloud, but I give them credit for turning everything over to get there," Moorhead said. "They got a late start and need to compensate for that late start. And they really don't have a mature solution for the hybrid cloud." And if this doesn't work out for Oracle, Moorhead said he sees trouble ahead for the now-cloud-focused company. Matthew Scott is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent. Mental health was at the forefront of my campaign to become Kents new Police and Crime Commissioner. Why? Because for all the other challenges that modern day policing faces, responding to mental health incidents has now become one of the biggest pressures on policing resources. Forces across the country report that it is taking up substantial amounts of officers time as they are being deployed to incidents. When I was first selected to stand as the Conservative candidate in November 2015 around a quarter of police time in Kent was being spent dealing with cases involving mental health. This has now risen to around a third. I took up my position just over three months ago and have been gathering evidence on the impact this is having on frontline policing. Officers in Kent have been incredibly forthcoming and willing to share their experiences of such incidents, such as when two officers had to drive a vulnerable young person from Kent to Yorkshire to get the person the support they needed. Another more recent incident saw officers taking someone in mental health crisis to an out-of-county facility to find that the mental health bed promised had been given away before they arrived, forcing them to source another bed and travel again, covering a total of 120 miles. Each of these circumstances occupied two officers and a car for their entire shifts. Incidents like these prove to me that I was right to make mental health a priority. Where there is a risk of threat or harm, its absolutely right that the police are involved. In other circumstances they should not act in place of other services that should have been provided. I believe such instances add to the stigma, still sadly associated with mental health, that we have done so much to address. Kent Police is already taking action. It has counsellors from the mental health charity Mind in the control room who have been funded to talk to vulnerable members of the public phoning Kent Police, where appropriate. This has allowed call handlers and frontline officers more time to deal with crime. I have continued to fund this initiative and am looking at way of expanding it. I am holding a review of mental health and policing in Kent so that we can look at this and other ways to free up officer time and ensure people get the right support from the right public body. Ill be looking at the increase in detentions under the Mental Health Act, the use of police cells, and the street triage system, where nurses go out on calls with PCs. My review will also include and consult the NHS, social services, and others who are involved in the treatment of those with mental health conditions. Where necessary, there will be challenge as well. Responding to mental health incidents is a substantial issue and there will always be times where it is appropriate that a police response is dispatched. My ambition over the next four years is to find ways to reduce the amount of time Kent Police spend responding to incidents of mental health crisis, whilst ensuring that those in need of help get the support they need from the appropriate service. Nadhim Zahawi is a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and MP for Stratford On Avon. My constituency of Stratford on Avon contains three of the five grammar schools that Warwickshire County Council has retained. This means that I know very well the outstanding education they provide, the opportunities on offer for children from all backgrounds and the impressive outcomes that are delivered. However, I also know that this modern system of grammar schools is not a binary system of the have and the have nots; of success and failure. Instead, our system is one of success through multiple routes, whether you go to Alcester Grammar or Alcester Academy. And that is what this government is committed to delivering: a good school place for everyone, whether it is a maintained school, academy, free school or grammar. Education is the key to our success as our country, and our success as society. Everyone has to be given the opportunity to shine and achieve, and there must be more good school places provided if we are to provide every child with the best possible start in life, and the chance to make the most of their talents. Whether you support the reinforcement of selection into our education system or not, everyone wants the best possible outcomes from each one of our children. It is my view that part of this process is ensuring that different children are able to find and access the best route for them. I have always supported the efforts of the previous Government to increase the number of educational routes with Academies and Free Schools, and I firmly believe the new Government is on the right track to add another route, and increase the role of selection into our state education system. Too many critics like to claim that this is an effort to drag our country back to the 1960s that there will be a recreated system of grammars and secondary moderns. But this is a wilfully misleading and scaremongering description of the reality. This proposal is not about destroying our current system, but adding to it and ultimately enhancing it. As the Prime Minister said at PMQs last week, this proposal about levelling up, not levelling down. Allowing existing selective schools to expand and create new sites, or allowing non-selective schools to become selective in some circumstances only provides new potential routes to success for children rather than taking anything away. Grammars will be adding to a diverse state education system far removed from the binary system of the past, and offering a variety of opportunities that would have been unmatched by any school in the 1950s or 60s. All of this is provided by a wide selection of schools including academies, free schools and specialist music, technology and sport schools. Indeed, the addition of more selective schools will solve some of the problems we currently face. There are many brilliant state schools in this country, and there are some that are so good that parents are willing to make huge sacrifices to afford homes in their catchment area. This drives up house prices, and makes it a struggle for those without these means, no matter how much they save or what sacrifices they make to break into the area. This unfortunate selection by house price is a result of the natural urge of parents to get the best possible school for their kids, but it excludes those who struggle to make ends meet. Even the traditional argument that those who go to selective schools are less likely to be on free school meals than those at comprehensive schools in a similar area will be undermined by the requirement for new or expanding grammars to take a fair proportion of children from lower income households. And nor does the introduction of selection involve the construction of an impassable wall between schools, or segregation, as some over-excited members of the opposition have described it. The provision of opportunities to join the schools at 14 and 16 rather than largely at 11 means that there is no permanent exclusion, late developers can be included, and no one is left on a route that is inappropriate for them. There also appears to be less debate amongst the public on this issue than within the political world. In August YouGov found that 59 per cent support the lifting of the ban on creating new grammar schools, and just 24 per cent opposed. A subsequent poll by BMG showed that 60 per cent of voters believe that grammars enable children from less well-off backgrounds to achieve greater academic success. A Sky Data poll last week showed 60 per cent support for lifting the ban. Very few people advocate the removal of remaining grammar schools, even if they are uncertain about opening new ones recognising the success of existing schools. It is my view that these successes need to be more widely shared.. It has been unpleasant to see politicians and some media commentators impatiently telling supporters of grammar schools that they are wrong, especially as so many were given an opportunity through those schools themselves. We need more kids from every background getting a chance to do these jobs in politics and the media. Grammar schools can help deliver this goal in the future, as they did in the past. Theresa May declared her intention of junking George Osbornes surplus target in her first Conservative leadership election launch speech. The then Chancellor himself abandoned it a day later. And yesterday, Damian Green packed a lot of meaning into a small change of tense: the period of austerity meant that tough decisions had to be taken across the board, he said on The Andrew Marr Show. In other words, that time is now over. When Jeremy Corbyn fires off complaints about austerity, he is shooting at a target that no longer exists. We do not know what will replace Osbornes aim of achieving a surplus by 2020 itself a variation on that original Conservative manifesto pledge of 2010: we will safeguard Britains credit rating with a credible plan to eliminate the bulk of the structural deficit over a Parliament. Perhaps his successor will announce a plan of that kind in the Autumn Statement, since precisely how much of the deficit is structural and how much is cyclical is an unknown, and that hedging phrase the bulk of makes the vague commitment even vaguer. He is more likely simply to suck it and see: in other words, promise more infrastructure spending (perhaps picking up some of the ideas floated by Sajid Javid) hint at substantial deregulation post-Brexit, and aim for as much room for manouevre as possible on spending and borrowing. This would be controversial. The deficit hawks argue that a budget deficit of about three per cent of GDP is one thing, but that one of five per cent or so would be quite another. Because Government can borrow on easy terms now, they say, doesnt mean that it can do so indefinitely. Furthermore, they add, the Government and the Bank of England have over-reacted to post-referendum dangers of downturn: manufacturing has rebounded; so has services. Consumer spending has been buoyant; house price growth is stable. Morgan Stanley, which said that recession would happen in the event of a Brexit vote, now says that it wont. None the less, the economy is growing more slowly than it did pre-referendum. The Chancellor would be justified in not squeezing spending too tightly, and making the smooth delivery of Brexit his main priority. Either way, he should be thinking about ways of returning in the medium-term to a more sustainable economic model than one reliant on financial repression. Those deficit and surplus targets, so appealing at first glance, are actually part of the problem. Almost no-one believes the forecasts which claim they will be met; scarcely more believe that government intends to meet them. For example, Osbornes last Budget figures showed a deficit of 21 billion or so in 2018-19 turning itself into a surplus of 10 billion or so the following year. This assumption stretched credulity. Budgets should concentrate much more on the here and now, as well as on those things that the Government has greater control over, such as the levels of spending and taxation. Peter Hoskin once wrote on this site. In a very useful recent report, the IMF looked at the sorts of rules in operation around the world: it might be that a rule setting a target for overall spending might be more applicable to Britains current situation. The Chancellor faces the double challenge of maintaining as much flexibility as possible while simultaneously setting out a firm economic framework. SUBSCRIBE Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox. Continue Reading Below Advertisement But how defective are we talking, exactly? Do the airbags not fully deploy? Do they have a seam that inadvertently looks like a nipple while inflated? How bad could it be? At worst, they could only fail to save a life, right? Nope! Turns out they "may or may not shoot metal debris into the car cabin upon inflating." Takata uses a gas called ammonium nitrate to inflate their airbags quickly during accidents. The problem is that ammonium nitrate is volatile and breaks down over time. To quote the experts, it "may lose density especially in the presence of moisture or humidity. It is believed that in some circumstances, the density loss may lead to less predictable performance criteria." To put that in layman's terms, ammonium nitrate might explode directly in your face. Click 2 Houston The only way this could be any less effective is if the bag itself was just a giant whoopee cushion. Continue Reading Below Advertisement This is not merely a potential hazard, either; there have been at least 10 deaths in the U.S. and three overseas, and at least 100 injuries have been linked to these airbags. The company's known about it for a while, too. A former Takata engineer alerted them about this issue multiple times, but was ignored. Ammonium nitrate is now being phased out, like your crazy militant uncle Bob from your family's Thanksgiving dinner. However, your dealer is still legally allowed to sell you new cars with ammonium nitrate airbags, as long as they promise to do a recall before it becomes dangerous. Continue Reading Below Advertisement And an off-screen existential crisis by Robert Patrick. We've already mentioned how the "opening up Arnie's head" moment was done with Linda Hamilton's twin sister and a faked mirror -- but even by those standards, the famous foundry scene at the end was impressively low-tech. Remember when the T-1000 explodes into pieces of liquid metal, only for the droplets to start converging into the stern-faced embodiment of the phrase "smug dickhead"? TriStar Pictures Continue Reading Below Advertisement Ah, this is where the T-1000 merges with Saddam Hussein's dog, right? It's easily one of the most gut-wrenching, hope-sucking scenes in the movie, and totally embodies how unbelievably impossible this whole "killing murderbots from the future" thing really is. And all it took in reality was a blow-dryer and a beaker of mercury. What you're seeing above is a rewound shot of a pool of mercury being blown outwards by the dryer. Here's the same shot, but how it would have originally looked while being filmed: TriStar Pictures Continue Reading Below Advertisement ".kcab eb ll'I" We don't know what health and safety standards were like back in the early '90s, but we'd argue that splashing a quart of mercury around the set would have been more dangerous than anything we saw in the movie. It's certainly more dangerous than the pool of molten steel that's present in pretty much every shot -- in reality, it's a mixture of oil and sugar. On the plus side, this made the pool shine with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. On the down side, it kinda makes Robert Patrick look like he's having a major sugar rush in his dying moments. Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Applications & OS News Scale Computing, Information Builders Combine Forces To Offer Business Intelligence, Analytics Appliance Joseph F. Kovar Share this Hyper-converged infrastructure appliance developer Scale Computing and business analytics software developer Information Builders combined forces to offer a new appliance targeting the business intelligence requirements of small and midsize businesses. The two companies unveiled the Scale Analytics business intelligence and analytics appliance at the Midsize Enterprise Summit (MES) West conference, being held this week in Austin, Texas. The two companies actually came together on the joint solution after meeting at a past MES. MES is hosted by CRN parent The Channel Company. [Related: Scale Computing Targets Nutanix Xpress With New SMB Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Solution] The Scale Analytics appliance is a joint offering combining Indianapolis, Ind.-based Scale Computing's HC3 hyper-converged infrastructure platform with New York-based Information Builders' software. The software, called WebFocus Business User Edition, includes the company's business analytics solution, a portal for sharing information, a high-performance "sandbox" to let customers try different looks at the data to get different insight, and a scheduler, said Jake Freivald, vice president of marketing at Information Builders. The software was designed to help businesses make reports and charts and provide interactive visualization, Freivald told CRN. "It takes information from any number of sources and lets users -- who usually are not business analytics experts -- create their own charts and graphics and make them available to business users," Freivald said. "The Scale Computing hardware doesn't require a lot of IT support to maintain it, so it's easy to get the solution up and running without specialized personnel." The Scale Computing platform includes SSDs to provide the performance needed to do multiple transformations on the data, said Jason Collier, co-founder and chief evangelist at the company. It also provides the necessary disaster recovery, replication and scalability requirements, he said. The price includes one week of consulting, he said. "We decided to build an appliance all as part of a package costing about $50,000," he said. "It's affordable, and great for the channel." The bundled solution is available to channel partners of both companies, Collier said. "If a Scale partner sees an opportunity in business intelligence, it can join the Information Builders reseller program to sell the Business User Edition, and vice versa," he said. "There's an easy path for each company's partners to join the other's channel program." The two companies have separate deal registration programs but will work together to make sure the first partner to register a deal gets the appropriate benefits, Collier said. The two may also develop a joint deal registration program, he said. Arun Gollapundi, CEO of Systech Solutions, a Glendale, Calif.-based solution provider and Information Builders channel partner, said he has found that vendor's business analytics platform a good match for the requirements of his company's education, government, lower-tier manufacturing and small-business clients. Gollapundi told CRN that Systech works with a number of hardware platforms, including the business analytics solution from Netezza, which was acquired by IBM in 2010, and has not worked with Scale Computing before. "We have spent some time with Scale, and we like what we see," he said. "We want to go to market with that platform." Systech likes the bundled appliance approach to business analytics, Gollapundi said. "Our business is not about configuring hardware and software," he said. "Our business is about what to do with data. I'm happy to deploy an appliance while focusing on how to analyze and report on the data. That's the core function for us. The sooner we get to that, the better." Collier said Scale Computing and Information Builders met at a past MES conference where they started to explore the possibility of working together on a joint solution. "At MES, Scale Computing always get the 'Best Hardware' award, while Information Builders gets the 'Best Software' award," he said. "We had this crazy idea: We have the best hardware, they have the best software. Why not get together?" Cloud News Oracle Introduces Its First MSP Program Ahead Of OpenWorld Joseph Tsidulko Share this Oracle launched its first-ever managed services program Sunday, with 13 global systems integrators that have made deep investments in Oracle's expanding cloud portfolio as inaugural partners. Details of the new Oracle Cloud Managed Services Provider Program were first shared with partners at the Oracle Partner Network keynote, kicking off the company's OpenWorld 2016 conference in San Francisco. The formalized MSP channel, opening to partners a new business model through which to engage the software giant's customers, was driven by demand from customers looking to have their solution providers be a single source for delivering Oracle cloud products, added services, ISV solutions, technical support and all the billing around those products, Sanjay Sinha, vice president of platform products, told CRN. [Related: Oracle Q1: Cloud Business Up, But Software Business Flat While Hardware Revenue Plummets] Oracle, Redwood City, Calif., previously offered partner programs for VARs, systems integrators and ISVs but had never formalized a track around managed services. The rapid adoption of cloud, including a budding Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering, necessitated the program, he said. "Many [customers] don't have deep expertise in the public cloud. They're looking for partners that can offer these services and help them move to the cloud," Sinha said. "And they wanted one contract from the partners." While some channel partners already offer managed services around Oracle's cloud and on-premise products, the program empowers them to drive and consolidate that business, said Kimberly Lasseter, a senior director of Oracle's partner program. "This formalizes the model, adds benefits and some rigor to the criteria," Lasseter told CRN. Sinha said Oracle intentionally didn't set the bar high to enter the program based on the criteria of references, number of staff trained or revenue. "But it is high in terms of capabilities," he told CRN. Sinha hopes to see the program grow to more than 100 partners within its first year, with a large number of regional solution providers added to the mix, including a good fraction not currently involved in the Oracle ecosystem. The IaaS product has changed the skill set required of those partners, Oracle's Sinha said. Many customers are running a large percentage of non-Oracle workloads, including hundreds of open-source technologies, in Oracle's public cloud, necessitating the new batch of MSP partners to be proficient in migrating and managing products from a number of vendors. While the program is now open to regional solution providers who can meet its "strenuous criteria," Sinha said, the current 13 partners are all consulting and integration giants, including among them Deloitte, Infosys, Cognizant, Fujitsu, Tata Consultancy Services and Accenture. "It's the big guys," he said. "Off the bat, we wanted some feedback from experienced partners and a global presence." Accenture was the first of that crop to start offering managed services under a beta program, he said. Terri Strauss, managing director of Accenture's Oracle business, told CRN that the company's interest in helping pioneer the program was driven by customers looking for deep capabilities and assets around cloud migrations. "We have the unique skill set to offer joint clients the professional services to build, test, integrate and manage their journey to the cloud," Strauss told CRN. "Our clients are asking for this, and we are delivering it." The MSP designation enables Accenture to bring to customers the full range of its offerings -- from Oracle, other cloud providers and home-grown -- as cloud services, she said. Tata Consultancy Services, another global systems integrator with a large customer base running both Oracle and non-Oracle workloads, joined the MSP program to address the challenges of managing complex IT environments involving technologies from a variety of vendors, said Sunder Singh, global head of TCS' Oracle practice. "Customers also get worried with multiple integration and architectural challenges, which deter most of the existing customers to take a plunge to cloud," Singh told CRN. Cloud providers like Oracle have introduced MSP programs around their IaaS and PaaS products to help customers find a single systems integrator to manage a single environment for them, Singh said. The benefit to Oracle is the company can focus on advancing its cloud technology while leaving to the partners the nuances of how to bundle and integrate systems. "The [systems integrator] takes over the complete ownership on managing the pricing of any such managed service with the customer directly, hiding all complexity of licensee and subscription prices," TCS' Singh said. Sinha told CRN most of Oracle's largest partners have traditionally operated independent Oracle practices and cloud infrastructure practices. "This is galvanizing them to work together," he said of the new program. Security News Webroot Expands Network Security, IoT Capabilities With Acquisition Of CyberFlow Analytics Sarah Kuranda Share this Webroot is expanding its next-generation security capabilities toward the network, saying Monday that it plans to acquire machine learning analytics company CyberFlow Analytics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. CyberFlow, based in San Diego, is a network behavior analytics company with an offering called FlowScape for MSSPs and customers to use analytics and machine learning to detect anomalies and threats on the network, including around the Internet of Things. [Related: Sophos Extends Next-Generation Endpoint Security Capabilities With Intercept X Launch] Broomfield, Colo.-based Webroot focuses primarily on the next-generation endpoint security and threat intelligence markets, both of which are rapidly gaining steam. However, Chat Bacher, senior vice president of product strategy and technology alliances, said Webroot recognized that the company needed to expand its offerings to meet emerging network threat vectors around connected devices and the Internet of Things. As we look at the markets and explosion of new devices and attack vectors, we looked at it as a need to evolve along with that, Bacher said. Webroot has already been working to plant a stake in the Internet of Things security market, unveiling last year the launch of an IoT security toolkit and the appointment of John Sirrianni as vice president of IoT strategic partnerships. As the market for next-generation endpoint security continues to heat up, top companies have started to make acquisitions to expand their offerings and differentiate themselves against their competition, with the most recent example being Carbon Blacks July acquisition of next-generation antivirus company Confer. Bacher said the Confer acquisition was an example of EDR companies looking to add prevention capabilities, markets he said Webroot already had footholds in. He said the CyberFlow acquisition will allow the company to extend beyond those two markets and differentiate itself. From our perspective, this will allow us to leapfrog into the future. Our feeling is we have been there for a number of years, and we are looking at where we need to go into the future. We felt as though the right direction to go was this direction, Bacher said. Webroot will fully integrate the CyberFlow technology into its technology, Bacher said, starting with threat intelligence integration and then integrating it with Webroots endpoint security technology offerings. Partners can expect that integration to start rolling out in 2017, he said. For now, the product is available through a pilot program as a custom integration, the company said. Tom Caldwell, who had served as co-founder and president at CyberFlow and will now serve as senior director of software engineering at Webroot, said the two technologies make perfect sense and will work better together. Caldwell particularly highlighted CyberFlows machine learning and analytics for east-west network traffic, where Webroot primarily focuses on north-south traffic. Caldwell said all eight CyberFlow employees will join the Webroot team. That includes Caldwell himself and the companys other co-founder, Hossein Eslambolchi, and CEO Steve Nye. Stephen Brooks, president and CEO of Penn Systems Group, a Newtown Square, Pa.-based Webroot partner, said he is pleased with the strategy Webroot has been on, although said he hopes the company continues to invest in its endpoint security solution, particularly around ransomware capabilities. We are happy at this point with Webroot, Brooks said. Bacher said Webroot will continue to invest in its endpoint capabilities, as well as the network, going forward. Nanaimo hosted the Coral Princess on Sunday Sept. 18 and welcomed the Celebrity Infinity on Monday Sept. 19, providing back-to-back days of local economic impact for the Central Vancouver Island. President and CEO of the Nanaimo Port Authority, Bernie Dumas, said the back-to-back ship visits by Princess and Celebrity is proof the island is a preferred destination. We are so fortunate to be located in one of the most desirable destinations in the world and once travelers discover what we have here many plan to return. Our Island hospitality program with several partners is exceptional and I know from passengers feedback that our product is one of the best you can find anywhere, said Dumas. The Coral Princess was in port from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 2,000 passengers and 900 crew, sailing from Vancouver to Ft. Lauderdale. The Infinity was scheduled to be in port from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with 2,200 passengers. The ship is on an eight-day cruise round-trip from Vancouver. It is the ships second visit of 2016 to Nanaimo. We are delighted that both lines chose the Port of Nanaimo for local and regional shore excursions to the Alberni and Cowichan Valleys including the Parksville - Qualicum area, Dumas added. Economically, (each) cruise call will have an average immediate impact of over $300,000 to the region. Additionally, passengers seriously consider our destination for a future multi-day visit. A lawsuit filed on Friday by Tillage Commodities Fund alleges that SS&C Technology showed an egregious lack of diligence and care, when they fell for an email scam that ultimately led to hackers in China looting $5.9 million. Tillage says that SS&C didn't follow their own policies, which enabled the theft, but they actually assisted the criminals by fixing transfer orders that had initially failed. The lawsuit was filed early Friday morning, and the documents were posted online by the law firm representing Tillage in the case. "That SS&C is outside the purview of regulatory scrutiny and attempts to contractually exculpate itself from all but intentional wrongdoing creates a real issue for the whole industry," said Lisa Solbakken, managing partner of Arkin Solbakken & counsel to Tillage. CNBC covered the basics, but reading the allegations, it's clear that this case isn't just about the theft, it's about a systemic breakdown in corporate policy with regard to data and asset security. According to SS&C, who was the administrator for Tillage's fund, access to customer financials and information is "restricted and is controlled by identification, authentication and authorization control processes that are based on least privilege, need-to-do, need-to-know purposes." Tillage turned to SS&C to act as an independent third-party administrator for their fund. The did so because of the claims made by SS&C that they "own and maintain the best technology in the industry" and that as administrator, SS&C "assumes the operations, staffing, and systems risk from the fund." SS&C has internal guidelines directed towards detecting and defending against Business Email Compromise scams. Employees are told to check all the usual email fields (e.g., To:, CC:, From:, etc.) for signs of fraud or spoofing. In addition, SS&C required that four people sign-off on a transfer requests from the Tillage fund, and asked that Tillage verify disbursements by either appending an invoice to support the expense; or in the case of redemption, provide redemption letters and instructions from fund investors. As documented, the security policies that were in place should have prevented BEC attacks, but on March 3, 2016, something happened and those policies all failed. Around that time, scammers targeting Tillage's bank account started requesting transfers to the Hong Kong bank account of a "vaguely identified" technology company. The scheme was amateurish, the lawsuit says, including the use of an email account that spelled Tillage with three 'Ls' instead of two something that should've been spotted. Further, the emails contained "awkward syntax and grammatical errors which were wholly inconsistent with prior Tillage communications and which were entirely unclear in substance." For example, one of the emails stated simply: Can you please process the attached International Business Establishment. We are funding HAORAN TECHNOLOGY LIMITED. Please leave me a mail to confirm this and that the wire will go out today. Tillage says that three of the six fraudulent transfer requests referred to wiring money to investors, which implies fund redemption, but they were processed without the required redemption letters. Not to mention, the intended recipients were not investors in the Tillage fund. There were other policy issues, including missing CC requirements on the transfer requests, but the largest deviation was the fact that the transfers were to foreign entities that Tillage had no existing relationship with. The Tillage fund has never wired money outside of the U.S. SS&C has processed more than sixty legitimate wire requests for the Tillage fund since 2014, so the administrator would be aware of what normal day-to-day business transactions looked like. What about the policy to have four employees sign-off on a transfer? The lawsuit says that protocol was ignored. "SS&Cs formal wire approval process as described above requires four employees to sign off before the release of the wire. Yet, records indicate that the fraudulent wire request for $1.5 million processed by SS&C on March 16, 2016, was released at 1:18 EST a time before the time stamp showing the approval of the last two of the requisite four SS&C employees," the complaint states. Over twenty-one days, SS&C processed six fraudulent transactions, draining the Tillage fund of $5.9 million. But there's more to this story. The lawsuit says not only did SS&C fail to stop the theft; they assisted the criminals behind it by fixing flawed wire instructions. "As if these failures were not enough, SS&C actively and inexplicably assisted the perpetrator of this fraudulent scheme, by helping the perpetrator correct and clarify his or her initially flawed wire instructions," the lawsuit explains. "In particular, the first fraudulent email of March 3, 2016 had directed that funds be wired directly to a company called 'Haoran Technologies' and its account at Hangseng Bank in Hong Kong. Tom Martocci worked with other SS&C employees to amend and help correct the transaction, adding HSBC Hong Kong as the correspondent bank, and moving Hangseng Bank to be named the beneficiary bank." When those adjustments didn't correct the transfer problem and the wire was once again rejected, the lawsuit alleges that SS&C employees communicated this failure to the scammers, who amended the instructions and had funds wired to 'Away Technologies' via an account at HSBC Bank in Hong Kong. "SS&C also neglected to tell the Hong Kong police about its cooperative actions with the fraudster and how the wire recipients were changed through this communication. But for SS&Cs 'help,' the fraudster's effort to steal from SS&C's client would have been thwarted," the lawsuit adds. SS&C didn't notify Tillage about any possible fraud until March 24, two days after they started an investigation into the transfers. The lawsuit also accuses SS&C of making false statements to Hong Kong police that the transfer requests were made by known Tillage contacts, and that said requests were accompanied by signed letters of authorization. The lawsuit is seeking $10 million in damages, as well as other punitive damages and legal fees. Salted Hash has reached out to SS&C for comment, and we'll update this story should they respond. But the lesson here, assuming everything outlined in the lawsuit is true, is that procedures and policies are great, and they might work too but only if they're followed. Otherwise, they're just pieces of paper with words and boxes to check when it comes to compliance. Updated on 9/19 2:15pm with comment from counsel to Tillage. A donation to Sacred Heart University is aimed at closing the gender divide among future entrepreneurs. Sacred Heart announced recently a $25,000 donation from The Entrepreneur Source to fund scholarships for female students minoring in entrepreneurship. The Southbury consultant firm was founded by Terry Powell in 1984. Lori Tyll, vice president of operations at The Entrepreneur Source, has a son that attended the university. After the death of her husband, who frequently donated to Sacred Heart, Tyll retained a desire to support the university and approached Powell with the idea of funding a scholarship. It just made sense in a number of different ways, said Powell. Though entrepreneurship tends to be primarily focused on males, Powell said women have recently begun to embrace the field, and he hopes this scholarship opportunity will further encourage women students to start their own businesses. Dean John Chalykoff of the College of Business said he has noticed an imbalance between the number of female and male students studying entrepreneurship. About 80 to 90 percent of them were male, said Chalykoff, adding that he hopes this scholarship opportunity will encourage more women to get involved in and excited about entrepreneurship especially since this is the first entrepreneurship-related scholarship at the university. Its an opportunity the College of Business is thrilled to offer, Chalykoff said. Each year, the Lisa Powell Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund will be given to female business students enrolled in the Jack Welch College of Business at the university minoring in entrepreneurship. Candidates for the scholarship are expected to maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average. Lisa Powell was the daughter of Terry Powell and a devoted supporter of women in business. She worked at The Entrepreneur Source before she died last spring. During her time at The Entrepreneur Source, she worked on Women Empowered By Business, a project founded by Tyll that focused on empowering more women to be involved in franchising and business. Her involvement with Women Empowered By Business and her passion for supporting women interested in business and entrepreneurship made developing the scholarship fund an easy choice. Having the opportunity to honor her was an unexpected plus, Powell said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Metro-North Railroad officials had a warning for Tuesday morning commuters in the wake of a bomb blast in New York City and bombs found elsewhere along train routes: Be vigilant. All commuters should be on alert, Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan said. The railroad had no information that rail lines are being targeted for terrorism, but We are on increased security and coordinating with local law enforcement, he said. Several bombs were found over the weekend, including one that exploded Saturday night in New York City, injuring 29. Amtrak service was suspended Sunday evening, and railroad officials said all passengers were safe, all trains were brought into stations and passengers may seek alternate transportation. Limited service was restored early Monday. Ahmad Khan Rahami identified in an FBI bulletin as a man wanted in the weekend bombings in New York City and New Jersey was apprehended Monday in New Jersey after a gun battle. Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth, N.J., train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his family in Elizabeth, N.J., underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the New York area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism. In Connecticut, State Police spokeswoman Kelly Grant urged residents to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity by calling 911, texting TIP711 with the information to 274637 or by calling the Homeland Security tip line at 1-866-HLS-TIPS. But despite the threat, commuters Monday generally took a what can you do? attitude. Im not really worried, Tiania Pesante said at the Bridgeport train station. Im just going to hope for the best. I feel like if you think positive then positive comes back to you. She said she often commutes on Metro-North Railroad to her job in Stamford. Tanmay Tiwari, who spent the weekend in New Jersey with his sister, said terrorists will never stop him from going into New York City. A native of India, Tiwari came to the U.S. a month ago to study computer science at the University of Bridgeport. I cant stop enjoying and exploring places just because of a threat from a foolish person, he said at the Stamford train station. Margaret McManus, a Sacred Heart University student who was headed to New Rochelle from Bridgeport on Metro-North, said she rarely rides then train. McManus said she sometimes worries when shes going to Grand Central Terminal, but No, I dont really think about it. Latoya Watkins said she feels safer on Metro-North trains than on the New York City subways because she can see what is going on outside. The Bronx, N.Y., woman came into Bridgeport to visit her family. Honestly, I think its scary, Watkins said. As soon as you start to feel that maybe everything is OK, something pops up again. Stamford resident Chris Gabriel, who takes the train to New York about once a month, believes authorities and the media are overreacting. Realistically, its not as prevalent as in other countries, so for them to keep putting it on the media I think is a scare tactic to keep everybody in a heightened state of alert or awareness, he said at the Stamford station. OK, a bomb went off and people got hurt. Its bad, but to sit there and stop your life or overreact and say, lets not go here or there, I think its ridiculous. Another unconcerned commuter was Stamford resident Jenny Taylor. To be very honest, if its going to happen, its going to happen, she said. The guy was an idiot. He decided to do what he wanted to do and now hes caught. Stamford resident Soraty Cortes had a different opinion. She said she will avoid crowded areas in New York even more than she already does. Its definitely scary, very worrisome, Cortes said. Staff writer Frank Juliano and The Associated Press contributed to this story. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Every week I bump into someone on the train or at a store who says Hey Youre that train guy! Who knew that this job would come with such notoriety? While nobody seems to want my autograph, they all want to talk to the commuter advocate about their favorite transportation problem. How did I come to this commuter advocacy job? First, from a passion for trains, but also from a belief that even one person can provoke change. Every voice matters, especially when directed toward State Representatives and State Senators in an election year. Together our voices are powerful. Join the conversation on Facebook. Use the hashtag #GettingThereCT to chime in. Here are some of the questions Ive received: On our roads Why cant they get disabled cars and trucks off the road quicker, avoiding back-ups? Why dont they raise the speed limit on the interstates to reflect the real speeds that people drive? Why are the overhead lights on our interstates and parkways always burned out instead of illuminating the road for better nighttime safety? Why cant they keep truck inspection/weigh stations open 24 x 7? More Information Join the conversation on Facebook. Use the hashtag #GettingThereCT to chime in. See More Collapse Why are gasoline prices on the interstates service areas always higher than on local roads? Why do we have zone pricing for gasoline in Connecticut instead of letting competition determine the lowest price? On Metro-North Why do the train conductors hide in their compartments? Why doesnt somebody enforce the Quiet Car rules? Why has the state Department of Transportation waited so long to bring back the bar cars? Why do I have to stand all the way to New York at rush hour because DOT waited so long to order new cars that there arent enough seats? Why dont they have coffee carts run by Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks in the morning? Why isnt there a choice of first or business class seating on Metro-North? Why dont we have Wi-Fi? Amtrak does! Why cant we get a rebate on our ticket price when trains are late or service is canceled? Why are fares on Metro-North the highest commuter fares in the country? Why is there an eight-year waiting list for parking permits at my station? Why dont they just build more parking? Why do they charge a fee to get a refund on unused train tickets? And why do tickets even expire? Why isnt there a map at each station showing how to get to local businesses and landmarks without taking a cab? Why has CDOT taken more than three years to negotiate a contract to rebuild the Stamford parking garage, let alone start construction? Why are station waiting rooms kept locked on nights and weekends in the winter? Why cant lawmakers in Hartford be required to commute on Metro-North at rush hour before they vote on the DOT budget or fare increases? In our skies Why are airlines allowed to squeeze more people on planes, in tighter seats with no knee room? Is that really safe? Why do the airlines always lie to us about delays? Why cant families with screaming kids be seated in their own section, away from me? Why does the car service to the airport cost more than my flight? Seeking answers Over the years Ive found that even these simple questions all have complex answers. If the issues were easily addressed, theyd have been solved long ago. What are the questions that vex you about Getting There? Send them along and lets see if we cant help find the answers: Jim Cameron is a longtime commuter advocate based in Fairfield County. Contact him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them Boo! What are the scariest spots in Lake County? The old courthouse. A tea room in Mount Dora. Lake County has several places that are thought to be haunted. After a 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit Italy on Aug. 24, Memphis residents are worried the city is unprepared for a natural disaster of that magnitude. The city sits along the New Madrid Fault Line, which is famous for its 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes. Brian Blake, of the US Central Earthquake Consortium, said it is overdue approximately 70 years for a 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Eric Daub, a faculty member at the University of Memphis Center for Earthquake Research and Information, said there have been no significant changes in the New Madrid Fault. Some of the changes you might see are very small, Daub said. None of our data is telling us anything significant. Now, there are little earthquakes we feel all the time, but there is no way of telling when the next large one will come. Daub said residents of Memphis shouldnt be too worried, but should still take some precaution. You should be prepared. Take the events that happen across the world and learn from them. Daub said. Know that you have earthquake supplies and [know] if youre in an unstable building. People should worry more about being prepared than how large the next earthquake will be. Daub said older buildings are more vulnerable than modern buildings. A lot of times youll see a building that has a lot of open floor plans, but doesnt have the stability to withstand an earthquake, which results in the building collapsing, Daub said. Certainly older buildings are subject to damage. There are a lot of old buildings that werent built using modern seismic engineering. Roy Van Arsdale, professor of geology at the U of M, also said the buildings in Memphis are unprepared for such a catastrophe. If were talking about the 1811-1812 quakes, then the next one could be as large as 7.1, Van Arsdale said. However, to clear things up, it depends on where the rupture occurs. The closer we are, the more damage. My biggest concern is the unreinforced buildings in downtown Memphis. Theyre probably most vulnerable. The threat wasnt known when they were built. According to the US Geological Survey, the fault has earthquake danger zones in parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and South Carolina. David Woodard, junior at the U of M, said he feels Memphis isnt prepared because when he was in primary and secondary school they rarely prepared for earthquakes. I dont think any of us are that prepared. I know Im not, Woodard said. None of us here have ever experienced it. We think Itll never happen to us, but our buildings and everyday life would be affected, if it ever happened. U of M freshman Ryan Cox, 18, said Memphis doesnt seem prepared. My high school rarely did earthquake drills, so all I know is to get under a table when it starts shaking, but even with that Im scared, Cox said. Were just terribly prepared. It makes me feel unsettled because Ive never had to deal with that. New Orleans native and current Memphis resident, Tai Bierria, 20, said she feels Memphis is unprepared in the same way New Orleans wasnt prepared for its natural disaster in 2005. Memphis reminds me of New Orleans, Bierria said. New Orleans wasnt prepared for Katrina, so Im pretty sure Memphis wouldnt be ready for an earthquake. Just knowing were unprepared makes me scared. A 6.5 alone is huge, but to know a professor said we could be expecting one even larger is mortifying. Van Arsdale said that if the community did not have a response team ready in terms of hospitals, police, and firefighters then, thats when it would be in trouble. There have been a lot of emergency service and response preparations, which is a major part of a disaster, Van Arsdale said. To my knowledge our officials have done a wonderful job of preparing us. The University of Memphis received a $4 million grant Thursday for a project called mProv: Provenance-based Data Analytics Cyberinfrastructure for High-frequency Mobile Sensor Data that focuses on creating a framework to handle and transfer health data collected by mobile devices. Santosh Kumar, professor and Moss Chair of Excellence in Computer Science at the U of M, is the principle investigator leading the project. This [grant] reflects our growing reputation as a hub for mobile sensor big data and [mobile health] research as well as Dr. Kumars national and international reputation as a leader in this field, M. David Rudd, president of the U of M, said in a statement. It is the largest amount of money the National Science Foundation has ever awarded to the U of M. Kumar is currently working with data collected at the U of Ms Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to- Knowledge (MD2K). The office runs algorithms on human cues to determine health outcomes. With researchers across the United States studying mobile health, creating a way with mProv to easily store and transfer the data collected by MD2K could lead to significant breakthroughs in the field. Barbara Burch Kuhn, digital content and website specialist of the MD2K Center at U of M, said the office is currently studying how to use cellphone sensor data to break smoking habits and monitor fluid build-up in the lungs of individuals with congestive heart failure. Tennessee Congressman and Memphis native Steve Cohen commended the research when announcing the grant in a press release. Our students at the University of Memphis are a great resource for both our city and our country, Cohen said. This grant will help make research opportunities available that provide real-world, hands-on experience and pave the way for ground-breaking research on health data collection. I am pleased to see the continued federal investment in the University of Memphis. A crafty artist has tossed out her brushes and is painting with her hair instead. Human paintbrush Jayne Barker is the creator of the 'Dread Art' movement, where she uses the tips of her dreadlocks as paintbrushes. The 32-year-old from Melbourne can only paint six times a year because she needs to cut the paint-stained tips off after every Dread Art session. Scroll down for video Dread art: Melbourne artist Jayne Barker lets other painters use her dreadlocks as paint brushes Soft tips: Jayne started using her hair to paint after her partner noticed how the soft tips felt like brushes Jayne was encouraged to start Dread Art when her partner noticed the similarity between the tips of her dreadlocks and a paintbrush. 'It was initially noticed by my partner, who pointed out that my dreads had naturally formed like a perfectly soft paintbrush,' she said. 'It was a while before we acted on the idea. It wasn't until I moved to London in 2013 that we actually gave it a go and realised, this was a really unique and fun way to create art. 'I'll always be grateful for that initial idea for Dread Art and I'm so glad it's become a fun part of my life.' 'Sacrificial art': Jayne has to cut the tips off her hair after every painting session Collaborative: About six times a year Jayne will get together with other painters The process is a 'sacrificial art' because Jayne has to cut the tips of her hair off every time she painted with it, she said. 'We can only paint about six times a year because my dreads are naturally grown. 'It's a sacrificial art because after each painting session, I have to trim the ends.' Wonderful: Jayne said she was drawn to the idea as a unique and fun way to create art Fascinating: Painter Max Kaskamanidis was drawn to the challenging and experimental side of dread art Jayne is often joined by other Dread Artists who grab a dreadlock each and gather around her to paint. Dread artist Max Kaskamanidis said: 'When I began painting with Jayne's hair, I was fascinated by the uniqueness of it, and the challenges that it brought. 'Now I realise it's more about finding that response in our audience. Kids seem to think it's magical and that always makes the session for me.' David Lowe added: 'I love Dread Art for the exciting new concepts and techniques it introduces, and the relationships you develop through it. FEMAIL rounds up some of the newer Antipodean modelling faces 'The blue-eyed, blondeocracy ruling...has come to an end,' she said Australian models have long been synonymous with a very particular sort of beach babe style. No longer. According to esteemed fashion journalist and Australian fashion correspondent for style bible, Women's Wear Daily, Patty Huntington, Antipodean style - and the models that come with it - are changing. She famously recently said: 'The blue-eyed, blondeocracy ruling over Australian fashion has come to an end.' In its place is a varied, beautiful and revolutionary crop of models, including the likes of Vogue cover model, Fernanda Ly, and Samantha Harris. Changing face: Journalist Patty Huntington believes Australian fashion is changing - she said: 'The blue-eyed, blondeocracy ruling over Australian fashion has come to an end' Shifting: From Samantha Harris (left) to Yaya Deng (right), FEMAIL rounds up some of the Antipodean faces dominating the catwalks Yaya Deng is one such Antipodean model moving up the fashion ladders quickly. Born in Kenya, the 22-year-old beauty calls Sydney home. She has already modelled for the likes of Westfield, Peter Alexander and sunglasses brand, Le Specs, since appearing on The Face in 2014, and has also dabbled in acting, which she hopes to move further into in the future. Yaya won plaudits recently this year, when she urged young women to embrace their differences in the Westfield Autumn/Winter 2016 collection. The 22-year-old admitted that being unique was initially tough, but she added that it was also the key to her success. Moving up: Yaya Deng (picture) is one such model ascending the fashion ladder quickly - she has modelled for the likes of Westfield, Peter Alexander and sunglasses brand, Le Specs Inspiring: Yaya won plaudits recently this year, when she urged young women to embrace their differences in the Westfield Autumn/Winter 2016 collection Fernanda Ly is another Australian model in a hurry to the top. Since the 20-year-old from Sydney started modelling, she has walked for the likes of Louis Vuitton and appeared on covers of Vogue around the world. And though she keeps a relatively low profile on social media, when compared with the likes of fellow models, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner that is, that hasn't stopped the bubblegum-pink-haired model from being touted as the next big thing. Supermodel: Fernanda Ly (pictured) is another Australian model in a hurry to the top - since she started modelling, she has walked for Louis Vuitton and been on the cover of Vogue Australian model, Samantha Harris, has been a stand-out on the catwalks in recent years. She was also just the second Aboriginal model to grace the cover of Vogue. I don't understand why there aren't more young [Aboriginal] girls on the catwalk Samantha is not only successful, but also passionate about seeing more Indigenous women supported by the fashion industry. Last year, she said: 'Indigenous Fashion Week happened last year. I saw so many beautiful Aboriginal girls. I don't understand why there aren't more young [Aboriginal] girls on the catwalk.' The 26-year-old Queensland-born beauty most recently curated and modelled her own capsule collection with Westfield. Star of the show: Samantha Harris (pictured) has been a catwalk standout in recent times - she often speaks out passionately for Indigenous models and has been on the cover of Vogue Relative newbie, Magnolia Maymuru, 19, shot to fame recently, when she became the first Indigenous woman from a traditional community to become a finalist in Miss World. Since then, the woman from the Northern Territory has landed her first major gig as the face of Melbourne shopping centre, Chadstone. Magnolia recently commented that Samantha Harris (2010) and Elaine George (1993) are the only Indigenous Australians to have appeared on the cover of Vogue Australia in its 56-year history. Many hope that she will be the third. Change: Relative newbie, Magnolia Maymuru, 19, shot to fame recently, when she became the first Indigenous woman from a traditional community to become a finalist in Miss World Success: Since then, the woman from the Northern Territory has landed her first major gig as the face of Melbourne shopping centre, Chadstone Time: Magnolia recently commented that Samantha Harris (2010) and Elaine George (1993) are the only Indigenous Australians to have appeared on the cover of Vogue Australia History: Finally, Jenayah Elliott, 17, made the headlines when she became the first Aboriginal to compete in the US beauty pageant, Miss Teen Galaxy Finally, Jenayah Elliott, 17, made the headlines when she became the first Aboriginal to compete in the US beauty pageant, Miss Teen Galaxy, and the first Australian to finish in the top four. 'A small town girl from Halls Creek, who eight months ago was completely oblivious to the pageant world, had the privilege to walk on the international stage and represent my country,' Ms Elliott wrote of her experience. Burns survivor Dana Vulin has spoken frankly about her changing appearance and revealed her hopes for the future. Ms Vulin, 30, told Daily Mail Australia that she had a lot to be grateful for since she survived a horrific attack at her home in Perth, Western Australia, that almost took her life. 'I chose to live so I'm not going to decide to live and have a crappy life. I want to make the most of my life. I've not fought so hard for nothing,' she said. Dana Vulin has spoken frankly about her changing appearance and revealed her hopes for the future. For two and a half years Ms Vulin wore a compression mask on her face Ms Vulin has come a long way since that day in February 2012 when she was set on fire by Natalie Dimitrovska who was jealous Ms Vulin had spoken to her estranged husband at a party. Dimitrovska doused Ms Vulin with methylated spirits and set her alight in her own home in a horrific premeditated attack to 'ruin her pretty face'. Left with third degree burns to two-thirds of her body, Ms Vulin has spent the last four and a half years recovering. Ms Vulin (pictured recently at Kalgoorlie Fashion Week) has spent the last four an a half years recovering and has lost count of the number of procedures she's endured Ms Vulin was doused in methylated spirits and set on fire in her own home In June, she had yet another huge surgery. Ms Vulin explained she'd had three full thickness skin grafts, 'which is all the layers of the skin. They take three pieces of skin from my bottom legs and they put it into my elbow and my shoulder and my side.' She also had two procedures called 'z-releases' which involves her skin being cut in a z-shape to stop the skin 'banding' from the scars. Ms Vulin said her changing appearance was the result of a lot of hard work Ms Vulin said that she's been through so much since 2012 that she has 'honestly lost count' of the number of procedures she's endured. 'You've got more movement' she said, explaining that it enables the skin to heal in a different way, giving her greater flexibility. Ms Vulin said that she's been through so much since 2012 that she has 'honestly lost count' of the number of procedures she's endured. But this latest round won't be her last - she hopes to have a procedure to give her more mobility in her wrist later in the year. In recent weeks she hosted Kalgoorie Fashion Week in Western Australia Ms Vulin has come a long way since she famously removed the compression mask she'd been wearing for two and a half years on Channel Seven's Sunday Night - revealing her new face to the world. But Ms Vulin said her changing appearance was the result of a lot of hard work. 'I've worked day and night. I've gone above and beyond,' she said, explaining she'd tried an array of extra treatments. 'You've got to do the work yourself.' 'I've empowered myself,' she went on. 'I went and read and learned everything I could about burns and the skin's system and layers. I've tried everything.' She famously removed the compression mask she'd been wearing for two and a half years on Channel Seven's Sunday Night Ms Vulin said she was extremely grateful for her supporters - who number more than 8,000 on her Instagram page alone She said this included using a special cream on her face that is usually used to treat melanoma. She also has regular laser treatments. 'I always know that I'm always going to have scars,' she said. 'But I'm going to know that I tried everything. It helps me be more content - it helps me accept things more.' Ms Vulin said she was extremely grateful to her doctors and the hospital staff as well as to all her supporters - who number more than 8,000 on her Instagram page and 63,000 on Facebook - in helping her through her ordeal. She said that doctors warned her at first that she should 'never expect to look like Dana again' Now, she happily describes herself as a 'modern day Frankenstein' and says she is a 'walking advertisment for what modern medicine can do' Now, she happily describes herself as a 'modern day Frankenstein' and says she is a 'walking advertisment for what modern medicine can do'. 'I think it's so cool,' she said frankly. Referring to the incredible skin grafts she's endured she said: 'They've [doctors have] taken my right leg partially five entire times, and my left leg four and that's on my torso and arms. My groin is my armpits, my hips are my neck and my face is my skull. That is cool, hey?' She said that doctors warned her at first that she should 'never expect to look like Dana again'. 'My heart would not let me give up hope. So I kept fighting,' she said 'I knew logically that I couldn't look at Dana again but my heart would not let me give up hope. So I kept fighting,' she said. Now the survivor who recently hosted Kalgoorlie Fashion Week in WA is looking forward to 'just living' and being able to 'dress how I want and show my skin how I want'. But she said that even in her darkest times she had turned to her inner confidence. 'I've always had confidence,' she said. 'Even when I looked like a melted satay peanut. It's always come from within. 'I've always had confidence. Even when I looked like a melted satay peanut. It's always come from within,' Ms Vulin said 'Because I was happy and did know myself as a woman - those attributes got me through the darkest times.' She went on: 'I've worked so hard to be where I am. I feel like I've earned it. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I work hard. This is not a miracle. People think it's a miracle, but it's not. It's hard work and a lot of pain and persistence. 'When times are tough I remember how far I've come and who I am and what I've accomplished.' Ms Vulin, who describes herself as 'single but actively looking', also revealed she is dating again. Ms Vulin also revealed she is dating again, describing herself as 'single but actively looking' 'I didn't kiss anyone for four years,' she said. 'I've got a lot of life to make up for' 'I didn't kiss anyone for four years,' she said. 'I've got a lot of life to make up for. I'm just getting my body back, my life back, my face back. I've missed out on five years of my 20s.' She said that next year she will be releasing a 'no holds barred' book about her ordeal and that in five years' time she hopes to be doing more public speaking and charity work. 'But I definitely want a family,' she said, revealing she has three nephews and a niece who she describes as 'the lights of my life'. 'I'm not even sure if I can carry kids - the scar banding around my torso is all the way around. But you best believe I'm going to give it a go,' she said. 'Even if I get to an age where I've not met Mr Right, I'm going to try IVF and everything. I would love to do it with a partner but I'm not going to rely and wait around. I've got so much love to give.' Imagine a job that's stand-out requirement is speaking with a British accent? And partying. For a gang of British students being employed by UK clothing firm Jack Wills this summer on America's east coast, that was the very glamorous reality. The 18-24 brand, keen to show off 'British university life', handpicked a group of students from the UK to represent them as brand ambassadors in some of New England's wealthiest enclaves. Nice work, if you can get it: Ella Crockett, a 21-year-old student from Hertfordshire has spent the summer in some of the most exclusive areas of Massachusetts promoting brand Jack Wills The clothing firm, which was founded in 1999, is keen to raised brand awareness across the Pond, employing 'seasonnaires' such as Crockett (right) to help promote the company's reputation as the 'university outfitter' With seven stores already in the US, the American market is a key growth area for preppy brand Jack Wills For the high-end retailer, brand awareness is everything and good-looking young students who can mingle effortlessly among rich Americans in resort towns are worth their weight in gold. One such Brit, 21-year-old Ella Crockett, told The Times that she's had a 'once-in-a-million' summer working as a 'seasonnaire', pinballing between destinations such as Nantucket and Cape Cod, where well-heeled US families like to spend their summers. And all that's required of sociology student Crockett? To be British, to wear Jack Wills clothes and to generally spread the word about the brand at beach barbecues, pop-up stores and via her social media accounts. A quick look at Crockett's Instagram page could leave students who've worked in more pedestrian roles this summer green around the gills. Nice wheels: Crockett has been using social media to document her travels, including a snap of this branded 4WD You don't have to be British, but it helps: Jack Wills is hoping that by having British students/models at some of the east coast's most exclusive events will promote the brand It's an endless stream of Crockett looking glamorous - even when windswept - at destinations across New England. And of course, there are plenty of shots of the leggy blonde wearing Jack Wills' clothing. Crockett says it's been 'the summer of a lifetime' and that reality will be hard when she returns to Newcastle and her studies. She told the Times it's a dream job, as long as you're social skills are up to it: 'You've got to be the kind of person who can talk to anybody. It's about building relationships and networking.' The company, which is owned by Peter Williams and and Robert Shaw, began in 1999 and centres around British university style - although we're probably talking Oxbridge, rather than your local ex-polytechnic. The 'university outfitters' tag has stuck and sailed across the Pond, where wealthy US students are seduced by its preppy style. With seven stores in the US and hopes for more, brand awareness is everything and the company has often seen social media as the best way of getting attention. However, it hasn't all been quite so wholesome; the brand caused outrage earlier this year with images deemed too sexual. The UK's advertising watchdog ASA banned the ad, saying it used 'sexualised images and text', which was not appropriate for young people. And in winter, the same role switches to the world's flashest ski resorts It featured images of young men and women in their underwear drinking, dancing and cavorting on a bed and the text read 'Midnight mischief' and 'Whatever your choice, you can be sure it's what's underneath that counts'. The ads were sent out as a direct mailing in February as part of their spring catalogue. Jack Wills said the brand was aimed at 18- to 24-year-old university students and not younger teenagers. A young mother who raised 330,000 for a disabled mugging victim broke down in tears on television today as she discussed the legal action she has been threatened with over alleged unpaid debts. Katie Cutler, 23, campaigned in support of Alan Barnes who was viciously assaulted in Gateshead and was left with a broken collarbone in January last year. On today's This Morning, she told presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield she has now been put off fundraising for good causes as she has been left owing thousands to a PR company. Katie Cutler cried on today's This Morning as she appeared on the show to discuss her ordeal as she is now in debt after hiring a PR Katie became emotional as she told presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield that all she wanted to do was help people and make her daughter proud The beautician's voice broke with emotional as she said: 'I have done some nice things for people and I just want my daughter to look back and be proud.' Katie said she hired PR guru Claire Barber to help her launch a charitable foundation following the success of her campaign for Alan. But she said she never signed a contract with Claire and didn't realise she would have to foot the bill for her services herself. Now she says she is faced with being taken to a small claims court over an unpaid bill of 6,687. Katie said on the ITV daytime show that she sought Claire's help so more needy people could benefit following the success of her campaign for Alan. Katie said she wasn't aware she would have to pay Claire for her services as she thought the money would come from a charitable foundation she aimed to set up Katie Cutler, 23, campaigned in support of Alan Barnes who was viciously assaulted in Gateshead and was left with a broken collarbone in January last year Claire Barber, who runs the firm hired by Ms Cutler for publicity, claims the 23-year-old beautician 'just wanted to raise her own profile' She said: 'I wanted to get the charity out there and I thought I could do so much more good than I already had. 'I didn't sign a contract. I did know she came at a price. I thought it was pro bono till the foundation was set up, at no point was it discussed I would pay it myself.' Katie said she has paid Claire some money but she can't afford the thousands she owes as the beauty salon she used to run closed months before her involvement with Alan's story. Claire told FEMAIL he business has no choice but to take legal action in order to get what she is owed. She said: 'It's simple. Claire Barber PR were appointed in writing to handle the PR with coverage across every national newspaper and television station. 'After over a year and as a last resort CBPR understandably went to the Small Claims Court. This was Miss Cutler's chance to put in a defence but it was ignored.' Tears flowed from Katie as she became emotional during the interview The beautician told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about her recent ordeal On today's This Morning, Katie disputed a claim made by Claire that she was fame hungry and wanted her help to get on shows like Celebrity Big Brother. 'I never want to go on Big Brother, I am not comfortable sitting here right now,' she said of her second appearance on the daytime show. Her first appearance is one of the matters up for dispute in her fees owed to Claire, as the PR has billed her for accompanying her to the London studio last time she was on the show. Katie Cutler (left) raised 330,000 for Alan Barnes (right). She is now being chased over a 7,000 PR bill As previously reported in MailOnline, Katie has until tomorrow to find the money to pay Claire, who said her contract for the work was 550-a-day. Well-wishers have now set up another Go Fund Me page titled, 'Pay off Katie Cutlers PR Bill' so far raising more than 2,000 towards her fees. Katie, a mother-of-one, admitted she has 'dark days' is now going through a 'terrible ordeal'. The legal row has meant she struggles to sleep and devote time to her four-year-old daughter Gracie. 'Of course there are times when I wish I never got involved,' she told the Mirror. 'But then I think of the people I helped and I cannot regret it for long. 'The court wrangle has been such an ordeal as I have had to think about what the bailiffs could take away. 'And the worst part is that my little girl has just started school and I don't feel like I have been there for her.' Ms Barber, CEO of Claire Barber PR, claims she commissioned after the fundraising efforts for Mr Barnes Alan, who is just 4ft 6in, and registered blind, was pushed over and assaulted while putting his bins out. Claire, who runs Claire Barber PR, said: 'At that point Katie had a very busy beauty salon to run and wanted to maximise her profile. There was no charity.' However Katie denied the allegations and said the situation had 'become a mess', adding she never wanted to become famous and could not afford to pay PR fees out of her own pocket. Katie received a British Empire Medal for her charity work in last year's Queen's Birthday Honours. She told MailOnline: 'I'm just really upset about everything, it's a big mess.' The 23-year-old who has refuted the allegations, said the situation had 'become a mess', adding she could not afford to pay PR fees out of her own pocket She said she had hopes of setting up her own charitable foundation - but 'never got that far'. Katie, who has so far paid Claire 1,500, said: 'The majority of things in the bill had nothing to do with me or were given for free. 'When Alan's attacker was sentenced, the PR arranged a press conference with tea and coffee and she has charged me for that. 'I was invited to go to This Morning in London and Claire charged me for her trip to London. Things like that - I could go on. Alan Barnes (pictured) moved into a new home with the money raised for him by Katie Cutler after he was mugged 'My website and Facebook page were built up by a company free of charge. They got nothing out of it but she has charged me for it. 'That is what I am disputing. It's not a case of not wanting to pay, it's a lot of money and I don't have it. The agreement was she would get paid when a charitable foundation was set up. 'At no point did we agree that I would have to pay out of my own pocket. There was no way in a million years I would have that sort of money. 'I was put under pressure. 7,700 doesn't seem that much but it was over 14 days.' Yesterday she told The Sun: 'She mentioned getting her on Celebrity Big Brother and making her a celebrity.' She added she has since received threats from people calling her a 'greedy rat', and hoping she would 'break both legs'. She said: 'Katie Cutler employed Claire Barber PR to handle her PR in March 2015. 'Katie made two payments in June 2015, then proceeded to write all over social media her shock at getting our bill (which was agreed prior to any work undertaken). 'At this point we offered her a payment plan, but she wouldn't respond to anything. Claire Barber claims she was commissioned at 550-a-day 'As a small family business with an impeccable reputation and after over a year and still no payment, we had no choice but to go to the small claims court. 'Katie didn't respond with any defence to the small claims court either other than acknowledgement of papers. We are a small, hard working company and we are simply not able to carry this debt. 'We are incredibly shocked with the way Katie has belittled our hard work and devotion to the four-month project that Katie commissioned us for.' In the months after the mugging, Alan - who offered 10 towards Miss Cutler's fees - got a 'calling from God' to move to the Shetland Islands. But he decided to stay put and is now looking for another home in the Gateshead area. A first time mother has shared a powerful messaged on Instagram after she was shamed by her own parents for breastfeeding in public. Kelly Stanley, 23, was breastfeeding her nine-month-old daughter Maya in a restaurant when she claims her parents told her to 'cover up'. Following the incident a week ago Kelly, of Johnson City, Tennessee, took to her Instagram account to discuss her right to breastfeed freely. Kelly Stanley has taken to Instagram to share a powerful message about her right to breastfeed after her father told her to 'cover up' when she fed her daughter Maya in public She writes: 'Breastfeeding is a normal and natural thing, and if someone has a problem with me feeding my child whenever and wherever, that is THEIR problem. It should NEVER be the breastfeeding mom's problem. She continues: 'They (her parents) continued to say that I needed to be considerate of those who might be offended (men who sexualize breastfeeding )and I'm over here thinking it's the men who should be considerate and not sexualize breastfeeding. 'We need to stop making excuses for men and start expecting them to act like mature human beings who are capable of being in control of themselves.' Kelly had been out for dinner with her parents when Maya became hungry. When she fed her daughter her father threw a cloth at her because he was worried she might offend customers Kelly shared this message on her social media account after she said she was left feeling 'humiliated' and 'shamed' The powerful post, which was accompanied by the mother breastfeeding her daughter received over 6,000 likes and support from other mothers. Kelly is especially passionate about breastfeeding after Maya was diagnosed with a severe tongue and lip tie which made her unable to latch on to her mothers breast. After undergoing an operation Maya became able to breastfeed which Kelly said made her feel a sense of 'massive accomplishment' for her and her baby. Kelly says that breastfeeding Maya was a huge achievement as her daughter was born with a severe tongue and lip tie and was only able to latch on after having an operation Kelly (pictured breastfeeding Maya while doing yoga) says that her mother and father were more concerned about her offending the customers than Maya's need to be fed However she said she was left to feel 'humiliated' and 'shamed' after her parents reaction to her breastfeeding in public. The stay at home mother said: 'My parents were visiting and took my husband and I out to dinner. 'I nursed my child before leaving the house in hopes that she wouldn't need to nurse while we were at the dinner table, but in the middle of the meal she started to get irritable and was reaching for me and grabbing at my shirt. Kelly says that she is yet to received an apology from her father since the incident After her father threw the linen cloth at her Kelly says that she told him never to touch her while she was breastfeeding. Pictured: Maya in the family home 'It was obvious what she wanted, so I pulled my shirt down to nurse her. 'My dad quickly grabbed a linen cloth and shoved it at me while I was nursing my baby. 'I asked him "what he was doing?" and he told me to cover myself. His actions were shameful towards me and humiliating.' Kelly said she threw the cover back at her father and told him 'never to touch her, when she was feeding her child' to which she claims he complained that they were in a nice restaurant and that customers could see and instructed her to go to the car. I just didn't understand why he cared more about the customers than the comfort of his own daughter and granddaughter Kelly added: 'My mom stated that I was being inconsiderate of people who "don't want to see that," but I feel like I was being considerate of the other customers by not forcing them to listen to my crying infant during their meal. 'Both my parents know that I breastfeed and that I prefer to not use a cover. 'I was shocked to have some one so close to me not respect my right to breastfeed my child freely. It hurt more than if a stranger had done it. 'I just didn't understand why he cared more about the customers than the comfort of his own daughter and granddaughter.' Kelly claims her parents have tried to cover her once before at a restaurant and decided to take to social media to tell her story. She added: 'The reactions to my Instagram post have been extremely polarising. As well as many positive comments Kelly admits that her Facebook post attracted some hateful abuse Kelly says that she wants to change the fact that some men have a habit of 'sexualising' breastfeeding 'People are either really positive and supportive, or they are extremely negative and hateful. 'A lot of people obviously have very strong opinions about breastfeeding. 'For me struggling through those early days made me extremely grateful and proud of our breastfeeding relationship because it didn't come easily for either of us. 'So the fact that we were able to power through successfully was a major accomplishment for us.' Kelly said she hasn't received an apology from her dad but said he does now understand her position. She said: 'The fact that people think that breastfeeding needs to covered shows that many people see it as indecent. 'It is a mom's right to breastfeed freely.' It's a British high street stalwart and the first port of call for most women when they need a new zip, a suitcase or a set of writing paper. But earlier this summer, John Lewis revealed it would be unveiling its first-ever luxury clothing label - and the reaction from its customers was mixed. John Lewis - the 152-year-old store once dubbed 'Middle England's favourite shop - gave a sneak peek of the range earlier this summer and industry experts were conflicted whether it was the right move. John Lewis has unveiled its first-ever luxury clothing label to boost sales (and even Theresa May has snapped it up). Pictured: palmer//harding cotton side tie shirt in white, 120, cross front trousers in navy, 90 Dubbed modern rarity, the AW16 collection is the store's debut ready-to-wear label and promises to offer a move away from disposable, fast fashion and instead present a 'rare take on luxury with an ethos of fewer, better pieces.' The result? A 90-strong range of wardrobe staples - such as coats, trousers and shirts - created with sophisticated cuts and luxurious fabrics starting from 50. The team at John Lewis say they wanted to create a range that focused on pared back tailoring, luxurious knitwear and key outerwear in muted tones using the finest materials, such as Italian spun cashmere and heavy-weight sandwashed silks. The result, they say, is a range of wardrobe staples that are 'rare to find, will stand the test of time and will be cherished for years to come.' The 90-strong range of wardrobe staples - such as coats, trousers and shirts - have apparently been created with sophisticated cuts and luxurious fabrics starting from 50 (pictured: boiled wool coatigan in ivory, 100, drape front silk blouse in cream, 90, cashmere sweater in cream, 190, embellished sequin mini skirt in cream, 120) Dubbed modern rarity, the AW16 collection is the store's debut ready-to-wear label and promises to offer a move away from disposable, fast fashion and instead present a 'rare take on luxury with an ethos of fewer, better pieces' British high-street stalwart, John Lewis, is getting set to unveil its first-ever luxury clothing line - but with items costing up to 900, has it upped its game or let down its loyal fanbase? (Pictured: notch collar cashmere mix coat in camel, 325, funnel neck sweater in blush, 75, drape hem silk top in marble print, 120, fluid wide leg trousers in ivory, 110, ebony leather shoulder tote in taupe, 149) Prime Minister Theresa May plumped for the asymmetric 120 palmer//harding shirt at her reception at Downing Street 'We set off with a mantra of "fewer, better pieces", with the knowledge that our customers are wanting quality pieces that have design substance,' explains head of design, Jo Bennett, about the range that lands in-store and online on September 8. 'We wanted to create a brand that could cater for everyday modern classics in a luxe way pieces that are thoughtful, beautifully designed and crafted with care. I want our customers to feel that they are investing in a collection that celebrates and helps them to continue to build their own style.' And with the most expensive item in the collection - a long shearling coat - setting you back 900, it certainly is an investment. But it seems the collection was a success; sales figures are 'excellent', according to the brand, with a few famous faces already donning the range. Cashmere trench coat in camel, 550, embellished sequin camisole in gold, 120, embellished sequin mini skirt in gold, 120 Prime Minister Theresa May plumped for the asymmetric 120 palmer//harding shirt at her reception at Downing Street. She paired the top with black trousers by Amanda Wakeley, completing her outfit with a chunky white necklace and shoes from Russell and Bromley. The London Fashion Week event, which saw the likes of Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-Porter and chair of the British Fashion Council, Christopher Bailey, CEO of Burberry, and Vivienne Westwood join Theresa, has previously been hosted by Samantha Cameron, after she became an ambassador for the British Fashion Council. Adding an element of fashion kudos to the offering, the store will seasonally invite guest designers to collaborate (Pictured: long line cardigan in grey, 120, palmer//harding cotton belted long shirt in white, 150, silk and lace camisole in grey, 60, flannel wool culottes in grey, 100) Shirt designers Levi Palmer and Matthew Harding of the label palmer//harding have created this cotton belted long shirt in white, 150, for the range. The model wears it with a silk and lace camisole in grey, 60, and flannel wool culottes in grey, 100 The new range is all part of the bigger picture for the store, which competes with the likes of M&S, who recently enlisted Alexa Chung as a designer. Ed Connolly, the store's fashion buying director, said: 'Developing the womenswear proposition is a major strategic priority, as this is the area of the business we want to grow the fastest in the next five years. 'As well as constantly evolving the brands we carry, we've been building our fashion authority in recent years through our own labels; using designer collaborations and our in-house design team to great effect. modern rarity takes this ambition on again and represents our biggest ever investment in womenswear.' So what do the experts think? 'This is actually a really brilliant move from John Lewis. I'm really impressed with the collection, and the styling looks great too,' said fashion expert, Simon Glazin. 'With the closure of BHS, very much down to the fact the design team did nothing new for decades, and with the success of M&S' more luxury collections, it's good for John Lewis to up their game and offer something special to their customer. 'Granted, not many people will be buying the 900 shearling coat, but then not many of them will be made presumably. And often this is done to get some press, which is exactly what it has achieved. 'But look closely and you'll see separates that will transform a wardrobe: the chic wide leg trousers, the super-comfy knitwear, the understated sequins. There's something for everyone. 'The only thing I'm not keen on is the name. Anything with the word "modern" in it immediately ages itself. But I can forgive them this time, seeing as this first collection is just so gorgeous.' The new range is all part of the bigger picture for the store, which says the offering is a major strategic priority (pictured: palmer//harding cotton cape back shirt, 120, cigarette trousers in grey, 100) Alex Light, editor of whatalexwears.com, acknowledges the consumer shift but raises concern over the pricing and niche designers. She said: 'John Lewis is right - there is a definite shift away from fast fashion and women are looking more than ever to invest in season-transcending items that will stand the test of time. So a collaborative luxury line makes sense - providing it's the right partnership. Marc Jacobs has apologized for his response to accusations of cultural appropriation following his use of models in dreadlocks during his New York Fashion Week show. The designer became the target of online critics after the mostly white lineup of models - including Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid - featured in his Thursday show were fitted with cartoonish rainbow dreadlocks piled onto their heads. Following the show, Marc was hit with steady abuse on his social media pages with many accusing him of appropriating black culture. Starting something: Marc Jacobs' Spring 2017 collection was modeled during Fashion Week by mostly white models in dreadlocks, drawing accusations of cultural appropriation Responding: After his initial response to the uproar brought in a new wave of criticism, Marc took to Instagram to apologize for 'the lack of sensitivity' in his previous post In response to the uproar, Marc took to Instagram to share an image from the runway show and address the accusations with a statement that he has since admitted showed a 'lack of sensitivity'. Under strain: The designer had to make the second statement after becoming the target of furious critics In his original statement, the designer called the accusations 'nonsense', pointing out that the same people admonishing him don't 'criticize women of color for straightening their hair'. 'I respect and am inspired by people and how they look,' he continued, adding that he was 'sorry to read that so many people are narrow minded'. The response did nothing to quell the anger, however, leading to a new flood of criticism. Marc Jacobs said something incredibly ignorant, said one Instagram user. People of color who straighten their hair are ASSIMILATING to the white dominant culture because were never allowed to wear our natural hair in schools and jobs. Until girls here can wear their Afrocs and locs to school without being kicked out (use Google, learn something) stop saying hair is hair and other nonsense quotes. If youre all about stopping negativity listen to us who are offended! Another woman of color noted that she had natural straight hair and asked Jacobs if this meant she wasnt appreciating my culture. All the ladies: The models, including Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid (pictured), sported cartoonish, huge, multicolored wool dreadlocks Hitting out: The designer initially said the disapproval is 'nonsense', asking his detractors on Instagram (pictured) why they don't 'criticize women of color for straightening their hair' Another place: He has said that the look was first inspired by transgender Matrix director Lana Wachowski, who also starred in his spring/summer 2016 campaign (pictured is Gigi Hadid) Most black womens natural hair isnt good enough for the corporate or business world so we must stripped and cut down our natural hair for chemically straightened hair, she continued. After the plethora of new comments on his images, the designer has since shared another post, declaring 'I have read all your comments'. 'I thank you for expressing your feelings. I apologize for the lack of sensitivity unintentionally expressed by my brevity,' he wrote. 'I wholeheartedly believe in freedom of speech and freedom to express oneself though art, clothes, words, hair, music...EVERYTHING.' He added that while he does 'see' color, he said that it is simply 'a fact' that he does not discriminate. 'Please continue to express your feelings freely but do it kindly,' he concluded. 'Nothing is gained from spreading hate by name calling and bullying.' In initially describing his choice of look on the models, Marc said that it was inspired by rave culture, London 1980s fashion and Harajuku girls. All color: The designer said his collection was also inspired by rave culture, London 1980s fashion and Harajuku girls In agreement: Stylist Guido Palau said he didn't consider the look cultural appropriation but said he takes inspiration from every culture The designer said that the look was first inspired by transgender Matrix director Lana Wachowski, who also starred in his spring/summer 2016 campaign. But some furious Tweeters claimed that white people should be banned from wearing dreadlocks altogether. Olivia wrote: 'Why does Marc Jacobs think it's okay to put dreadlocks on white people?' Chris Coon added: 'Dreadlocks look better on blacks, give it up white people.' Dreadlocks are apparent in many different cultures, from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, to right through to modern day India, Africa and white counterculture. But in America, it is most closely linked to black culture and is sometimes used as a symbol of black pride. Stylist Guido Palau said he didn't consider the look cultural appropriation but said he takes inspiration from every culture. 'Style comes from clashing things. It's always been there if you're creative, if you make food, music, and fashion, whatever, you're inspired by everything,' he told The Cut after the show. 'It's not homogeneous. Different cultures mix all the time. You see it on the street. People don't dress head-to-toe in just one way.' It's that tricky time of year when the temperatures are dropping, but it's not quite time for the winter woolies yet. But it's no trouble to Princess Beatrice who showed how to nail trans-seasonal dressing in a nautical inspired ensemble at London Fashion Week. The newly single royal, 28, looked elegant in a navy and white midi skirt, which she teamed with a matching fine knit jumper. Scroll down for video Princess Beatrice who showed how to nail trans-seasonal dressing in a nautical inspired ensemble at London Fashion Week Beatrice was showing no sign of her recent heartache as she joked around with friends. She split from her long-term boyfriend Dave Clarke last month after 10 years together She completed the look with a pair of statement t-bar shoes with mottled gold heels. Beatrice looked to be in great spirits as she joked around with Saloni presentation with friends Marissa Montgomery, a TV presenter and founder of the fashion brand Rotten Roach. The pair were joined by stylist and girl-about-town Olivia Buckingham. Princess Beatrice of York with TV presenter and designer Marissa Montgomery and stylist Olivia Buckingham Beatrice admires the colourful clothes on display at the Saloni presentation Beatrice pulled off the trick of successful trans-seasonal dressing in a midi skirt and lightweight jumper Despite recently splitting from her long-term boyfriend Dave Clarke, Beatrice was showing no sign of recent heartache, as she waved her arms about in a cheering motion while laughing with her friends. However, she does appear to have taken the age-old step of getting a new post break-up hairdo. The royal's distinctive auburn locks were looking noticably lighter, appearing almost blonde as her hair tumbled around her shoulders. Beatrice's auburn locks were looking noticably lighter, perhaps after opting for a post break-up hairdo Princess Beatrice with Marissa Montgomery, looking perfectly co-ordinated in a combination of navy stripes and denim The royal certainly looked impressed by the vibrantly coloured clothing on offer She's also following the tried-and-tested formula of keeping busy, attending Dave Gardner's 40th birthday at Mayfair's LouLou's this weekend with her mother Sarah Ferguson. The previous weekend the social butterfly was spotted taking in the U.S. Open men's final in New York. After 10 years together, Beatrice called time on her relationship with Dave Clark, The Mail On Sunday reported last month. The couple reportedly quietly called time on their romance a month ago after the failure of long and exasperated 'make or break' talks centred on whether or not they should get married A source said: 'After ten years together, Beatrice and Dave had to wonder why they were not married. Two grieving parents have shared heartbreaking family photos taken with their newborn baby, who died just one hour after being born. Mother Hayley Rice, from Derby, said the photos, taken two days after daughter Sydney's death, 'really helped get us through the grieving process'. She and partner Kevin Martin are seen holding their tiny baby, as well as Hayley's daughters Charlie, 15, and Frankie, 11, who also hold their little sister in their arms. The images will spark debate between those who may think the photos are inappropriate and others understanding of the anguish of losing a child. Miss Rice added: 'Some people think it's a bit morbid, but if you've been through something like this then it's a service you really appreciate.' Hayley Rice and Kevin Martin hold their newborn baby Sydney who died an hour after birth Hayley's younger daughter Frankie, 11, cradles her tiny sister, two days after she died as a result of Edward's syndrome Little Sydney is cradled by her big sister Charlie, 15, in a heart-rending family photo Sydney suffered from chromosome abnormality Edward's syndrome, which was diagnosed during her 20-week scan. Doting parents Hayley and Kevin had prepared themselves for the worst but said the devastating loss was still heartbreaking when she passed away. Hayley, 34, from Derby, said: 'We hadn't planned to have a baby, but when I found out I was pregnant in August last year it was a lovely surprise. 'It was definitely a shock and took some getting used to, but it was a nice surprise and we were really happy and excited. 'I have two daughters from a previous relationship and Kevin has one, Megan, who's 11, but this was our first baby together - we couldn't wait for her to arrive. Heartbroken parents Kevin and Hayley, pictured, said they 'couldn't wait' for Sydney to arrive Grieving father Kevin cradles his youngest daughter during their last moments together Tiny Sydney died just over one hour after her birth, on April 11 this year 'When I went for my 12 week scan, an issue came up - they thought it was a problem with the bowel. We were told the baby would need to be delivered early and have an operation soon after birth, but other than that she would be fine.' But when Hayley and Kevin, 36, went back for a 20-week scan, doctors discovered further problems with baby Sydney's development. Hayley said: 'The second scan showed there might be more to it than doctors originally thought. 'I had an amnio test, and two days later results confirmed she had Edward's syndrome. Hayley has praised all the staff at Derby Royal Hospital, where Sydney was born, as 'amazing' Bereaved Hayley held on hope for Sydney but doctors told her that baby's condition was 'incompatible with life' 'The words the consultant used were that Sydney was "incompatible with life" - it was a shock to hear. 'All the staff at the hospital were amazing, but that phrase was quite haunting and has really stuck with me. 'Every time we went for a scan Sydney was growing and thriving, and we kept holding on to a bit of hope. 'But deep down we knew she wouldn't survive for long, and we wanted to spend quality time with her by holding her and loving her - not seeing her wired up to a machine in intensive care, not able to touch her. 'So we agreed to go with palliative care only, rather than invasive medical treatment.' Sydney's parents admitted that they had been 'prepared for the worst' Mother Hayley said she is 'so grateful' to have these photos of Sydney to look back on Parents Kevin and Hayley, pictured, said that initially they still held on to 'a bit of hope' Sydney was born at 10.07pm on April 11 2016, her dad's birthday, after Hayley was induced at 37 weeks. She died just over an hour after she was born at Derby Royal Hospital. Hayley, Kevin and their daughters spent two days with her before a midwife told them about charity Remember My Baby. Their team of volunteer photographers visit families across the UK who are going through the tragic loss of their child either before, during or shortly after birth. Hayley said: 'Because we'd been prepared for the worst we'd taken a lot of our own pictures - but we really liked the idea of having some nice, professional pictures taken too. Sydney, who had been diagnosed with Edward's syndrome, died just one hour after birth Sydney's mother Hayley insisted: 'A few months down the line you will want to look at those pictures' 'When they arrived four weeks later it really helped get us through the grieving process.' She added: 'You might not realise at the time, and you might not want to look straight away, but a few months down the line you will want to look at those pictures - it's the only memory we have. 'Having Sydney for an hour is more than I ever dreamed we would - and I'm so grateful we have these beautiful pictures to look back on.' When we think of red-carpet hairstyles, the first look that comes to mind is soft, voluminous waves. But at last night's 2016 Emmy Awards, a slew of stars bucked Old Hollywood convention, opting for sultry, sleek updos. The slick styles, seen on the likes of Emily Ratajkowski, Emilia Clarke and Tracee Ellis Ross, were not only incredibly gorgeous, but practical too. With the temperature reaching nearly 90 degrees yesterday in Los Angeles, hairstylists were tasked with creating looks that would withstand the heat and last from the red carpet to the after parties. Armed with gels and pomades, the looks proved to be bulletproof. A winning look: Hairstylist Christian Wood finished Emily Ratajkowski's elegant ponytail with a serving of the shine-inducing Uberliss Rituoil Side action: Priyanka Chopra's hairstylist Castillo said he chose the sleek look to complement her Jason Wu gown In addition to the weather, hairstylists also took their clients' designer gowns into consideration - many of which were form-fitting. 'Since the dress was custom-made, I really wanted the hair to be cohesive with the vision of the designer - sleek and chic,' said Castillo of the style he settled on for Priyanka Chopra, 34, who wore a red, one-shoulder Jason Wu gown. To achieve the Quantico actress' side-parted, low ponytail, Castillo used a flat brush to blow dry hair straight and then went over each section with the GHD Platinum Styler. He then applied a dollop of MOP Orange Peel Molding Cream from root to mid-shaft and brushed it through, before securing hair at the nape of her neck. Pro Christian Wood created a similar look on Emily Ratajkowski, 25, employing Uberliss Rituoil to give it a lustrous finish. The style was striking without overshadowing the model's smoldering blue-green eye make-up and Zac Posen mermaid gown. Shining bright like their diamonds: Tracee Ellis Ross, 43, and Ariel Winter, 18, both wore slicked back buns on the red carpet Turn the gel up to an 11: Gel and pomade helped give the hairstyles on stars like Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown, 12, and Julianne Hough, 28, hold and shine Also hitting the red carpet with their strands on sleek were Tracee Ellis Ross, 43, who wore hers pulled back tightly into a ballerina bun, Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown, 12, who is seriously working her grown-out pixie cut, and Julianne Hough, 28, who wore her blonde hair slicked back and down for the ceremony and then made a quick change for the after parties by tying the lengths into a low ponytail. Wearing a sparkly Yousef Al-Jasmi dress, Modern Family's Ariel Winter, 18, switched up her go-to red-carpet waves with a center-parted updo. 'I really wanted to make sure that her hair was super shiny to work with the shininess of the dress,' the actress' hairstylist Aviva Perea told hollywoodlife.com. 'I also wanted to make sure the chignon stayed in place for 12 hours to last through the parties, so the products I used were very important.' One of those key formulas was Matrix Style Link Super Fixer Strong Hold Gel, which he applied from roots to ends before twisting three sections of hair into one chignon at the nape of her neck. Another was Matrix Style Link Gloss Booster, which he used to give the look megawatt shine and to control flyaways. Game of combs: While the top of Emilia Clarke's hair was soft and wispy, the bottom was slicked back with styling gel from Leonor Greyl Hairstylst Adir Abergel, who created an updo that was slicked back at the sides and looser at the top for Emilia Clarke, 29, also stressed the importance of products. 'Normally, I'm not big on products but for this look, it's really key. This is a moment about texture; mousse gives a beautiful body to the hair and gel adds high shine,' he told instyle.com. The gel used here - applied on the sides of the bottom half of hair after he split lengths into two sections - is Leonor Greyl A l'Hibiscus Styling Gel. 'It's what makes the hair look so modern,' he said of the glassy texture. To take your own shine game up a notch, shop the key products used to achieve the Emmy Award's best sleek looks below. Fighting for op: Shelley Ross had a double mastectomy to remove a malignant tumor - then a battle for reconstruction surgery Former television chief Shelley Ross has urged the FDA not to deprive cancer victims of the breast reconstruction that saved her life Ross, who won three Emmy's and a Peabody Award at the helm of ABC, had a double mastectomy in 2013 after discovering a tiny lump in her breast - a malignant tumor. But what should have been a one-year recovery turned into a much longer ordeal. Like thousands of other women, Ross's body rejected her FDA-approved breast reconstruction (made of freeze-dried cadaver), meaning it rotted inside her and left her upper body disabled. The agony came to an end when she found a doctor to perform a one-shot fat injection, taking her own adipose fat and injecting it into her chest. She is now feels able-bodied and confident. However, new FDA draft guidelines propose strictly regulating fat transfers - making it incredibly difficult for cancer survivors to get the injection. Ross, alongside thousands of medics and plastic surgeons, has hit out at the agency, insisting 'we can't go back to the old days'. 'I went through hell having original reconstructions with FDA approval materials that made me so sick,' Ross told Daily Mail Online. 'So what good did that FDA approval do me? 'Now somebody wants to tell me that I can't use my own fat? 'I say butt out.' Ross has kept her personal struggle with the disease, related surgeries, and complications private for years. WHY MIGHT THE FDA BAN THIS KIND OF BREAST OP? The FDA proposal to limit fat transfer operations is a complex one. It is part of a wider attempt to crack down on bogus stem cell therapy clinics. There is general consensus across the board of scientists, regulators, plastic surgeons, and patients that a new approach is needed to prevent scammers. And the FDA is under mounting pressure to take action. Clinics routinely take advantage of vulnerable people who are putting their lives on the line to test this last-resort operation. The issue is in how to phrase rule that restrict such abuses without impeding other fields. Under the current proposed phrasing, cancer patients would be banned from using fat transfers for reconstruction because appearance isn't deemed breasts' 'primary function'. Ross is one of thousands who took issue with this proposal. Advertisement But now she is sharing her ordeal in a bid to raise awareness about the kind of struggles women face after cancer. Ross has a history of cancer in her family - 'every woman in the last two generations (on the maternal side of my family tree) has died of cancer' - so when she felt a painful little spot in her breast she didn't hesitate in calling her doctor. The lump was only 0.8cm, with clear margins around it, and no lymph node involvement. But, as Ross puts, she 'drew the short straw'. Her cancer was triple negative - an aggressive kind of cancer that has a tendency to break off and travel elsewhere in the body. She was also found to be BRCA-positive - the same as Angelina Jolie, meaning she had an 87 per cent risk of the cancer returning. It meant she needed six months of chemotherapy followed by a double mastectomy. 'It's the tiniest lump that anyone can find on a self examination. I literally thought "I'm not going to need anything",' Ross told the Mail. 'It turned out to be a hell of a lot of work.' The mastectomy itself went smoothly on April 16, 2013. Both of her breasts were amputated and she had a simultaneous reconstruction. This was done using tissue expanders held in place by internal slings, which are made of radiated, freeze-dried cadaver tissue. But a week later, while meeting victims of the Boston bombing for work, Ross 'could barely move, feeling toxic and weak'. Though doctors initially put it down to post-chemo weakness, that turned out not to be the case. Her body had rejected the slings, meaning they had disintegrated, and the cadaver tissue had begun to rot inside her. And so, exactly one month after her double mastectomy, she was wheeled back into the operating theater to have the reconstruction removed. The result: she was left with no breast tissue and her skin was scarred to her rib cage. It also meant she was no longer eligible for reconstruction. Distraught, and unable to lift her arms above shoulder height, Ross began searching for alternatives. She found an Italian doctor, who has developed a way of using a patient's own fat tissue to rejuvenate other parts of the body. The procedure is already commonplace in Italy, Australia, and China. It is legal in America (though not on insurance) but the Italian team is only just starting to train US clinics - and the initial focus is for use in orthopedics, to meet the burgeoning demand of baby boomers' knee problems. After researching the risks, Ross flew to Milan for the two-hour procedure, and now, two years later, she insists it was the best decision she's made. 'My husband was grilling my New York surgeons saying "what are the risks?" ...And they said: "It may not work",' Ross said. 'That was it... it may not work.' She had 370cc's of her own fat drawn from her abdomen and back, which were micro-fractionalized and injected into her breasts. The surgeon then reconstructed her breasts with permanent implants. It's the tiniest lump. I literally thought "I'm not going to need anything" Shelley Ross To correct post-chemotherapy injuries to Ross's shoulders, the surgeon then injected five cc's of micro-fragmented fat in one shoulder, and seven in the other. She was back in her hotel by the afternoon, and at a party in London by the weekend. 'My team did such a wonderful job that you couldn't even see my scars,' Ross told the Mail. 'We can't go back to the old days.' Ross fears the new FDA proposals will leave many women with limited options, and the risk of never getting a reconstruction. 'I have a strong voice. I can imagine someone who doesn't have my resources and just having to be disabled.' The FDA proposal to limit fat transfer operations is a complex one. It is part of a wider attempt to crack down on bogus stem cell therapy clinics. There is general consensus across the board of scientists, regulators, plastic surgeons, and patients that a new approach is needed to prevent scammers. And the FDA is under mounting pressure to take action. While most clinics are run by board-certified surgeons who do a good job, there are some which routinely take advantage of vulnerable people who are putting their lives on the line to test this last-resort operation. The issue is in how to phrase rule that restrict such abuses without impeding other fields. THE OPERATIONS SHELLEY ROSS UNDERWENT FIRST PROCEDURE WHICH FAILED The mastectomy went smoothly on April 16, 2013. Both of her breasts were amputated and she had a simultaneous reconstruction. This was done using tissue expanders held in place by internal slings, which are made of radiated, freeze-dried cadaver tissue. But a week later, while meeting victims of the Boston bombing for work, Ross 'could barely move, feeling toxic and weak'. Though doctors initially put it down to post-chemo weakness, that turned out not to be the case. Her body had rejected the slings, meaning they had disintegrated, and the cadaver tissue had begun to rot inside her. And so, exactly one month after her double mastectomy, she was wheeled back into the operating theater to have the reconstruction removed. It meant she was left with no breast tissue and her skin was scarred to her rib cage. It also meant she was no longer eligible for reconstruction. Shelley Ross had two different procedures - one failed, one successful - to reconstruct her breasts after a double mastectomy following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013 SECOND PROCEDURE WHICH WAS A SUCCESS Ross told the FDA she had the procedure done in Milan on December 30, 2013. She had 370cc's of her own fat drawn from her abdomen and back, which were micro-fractionalized and injected into her breasts. The surgeon then reconstructed her breasts with permanent implants. To correct post-chemotherapy injuries to Ross's shoulders, the surgeon then injected five cc's of micro-fragmented fat in one shoulder, and seven in the other. 'By mid-afternoon I was back in my hotel,' Ross told the FDA. 'Three days later, I attended a birthday party in London. Back home, I felt whole again. 'For a long time. I thought the treatment had not worked on my shoulders. It turned out to be a delayed response. 'After nine months I suddenly realized I could do this [lifts both arms up in front of her above her head]. And this [lifts both arms sideways above her head, stretching them backwards] pain free.' Advertisement Under the current proposed phrasing, cancer patients would be banned from using fat transfers for reconstruction because appearance isn't deemed breasts' 'primary function'. Ross is one of thousands who took issue with this proposal. Last week she was one of dozens of speakers who addressed the FDA at a conference in Washington, D.C., to rally against the guidelines and their phrasing. In her eight-minute speech, which is published in full on The Cure Alliance, Ross laid bare her personal ordeal in grisly detail. And at the end, she performed a simple demonstration. 'After nine months I suddenly realized I could do this [lifts both arms up in front of her above her head]. And this [lifts both arms sideways above her head, stretching them backwards] pain free,' she said to applause. 'Let's address safety and efficacy without building barriers. Let's embrace progress in a way that is more respectful and just,' Ross urged the audience. The FDA's public hearing was designed to crowdsource information from the public, investors, and medical professionals about HCT/Ps (human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products). There is already regulatory framework in place. However, the agency is requesting comments from all interested stakeholders before September 27 to decide on new guidelines that could refine this regulation. Speaking to the Daily Mail Online earlier this week, a spokesman clarified the FDA's decision to hold an open hearing, and what the next steps will be. 'Some HCT/Ps may be excepted from premarket review under certain conditions; those, meeting certain criteria, are regulated primarily to prevent the spread of communicable diseases,' the spokesman said. 'Still others with higher risk require premarket approval. 'This is a self-designation process. 'Determining the appropriate regulatory path can be challenging and the FDA understands the need for clear and effective guidance to assist sponsors of these products in understanding the requirements. 'When finalized, the guidance documents will represent the FDAs current thinking on how certain regulations apply to various HCT/Ps.' Jennifer Gray, 21, from Paisley, believed her nausea and headache were a result of drinking on a night out with her friends A student who thought she was suffering from a hangover actually had meningitis and died just a day later. Jennifer Gray, 21, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, believed her nausea and headache were a result of drinking on a night out with her friends. But just 24 hours later, the deadly infection overcome her body and was responsible for taking her life. And now her mother Edwina, 52, is desperate for other young people to become aware of the symptoms to make sure it 'doesn't happen to anyone else'. She told the Daily Record: 'Meningitis struck my family. It came for us like a bolt from the blue. 'It is the worst possible thing to happen to someone who has an only child. 'I just want people to know how fast the illness took her. One minute she was fine. The next minute she was brain dead.' Edwina added: 'I think the symptoms were so vague, it could easily have been a hangover. 'She was just her normal self but she was sick a couple of times. She had a sore head but she wasn't wanting any paracetamol.' Jennifer was a third year forensic science student at the University of the West of Scotland in Paisley. Throughout April she had suffered from a sore throat, cough and runny nose. But just 24 hours later, the deadly infection overcome her body and was responsible for taking her life. And now her mother Edwina, 52 (left), is desperate for other young people to become aware of the symptoms to make sure it 'doesn't happen to anyone else' While out with her friends on a night out on April 15, Jennifer went home after beginning to feel poorly. When waking up the next morning, the nauseous feeling remained - but both she and her parents assumed it was a hangover. I just want people to know how fast the illness took her. One minute she was fine. The next minute she was brain dead. Edwina Gray Her symptoms worsened the following day. After contacting NHS 24 she was told to go straight to the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Her father, Jamie, 55, escorted her there and she was sick in the car on the way. At hospital, she quickly began to lose consciousness and became agitated and delirious. She was rushed to intensive care and put into an induced coma as doctors organised a CT scan of her head. After her symptoms worsened, her father, Jamie, 55, (left) escorted her to hospital and she was sick in the car on the way. At hospital, she quickly began to lose consciousness and became agitated and delirious. She was rushed to intensive care and put into an induced coma The scan revealed swelling on her brain and a venous thrombosis which was deemed a life or death situation. Edwina, an occupational therapist, added: 'When I got there she looked really bad. She had deteriorated really badly. 'When we got her down to the hospital she was very quiet but she was losing consciousness when we got her there. That's when we started to worry.' Edwina said she was always aware of the threat of meningitis while Jennifer was growing up. But she added that it didn't cross her mind because she was no longer a child. She said: 'Obviously I knew about meningitis and the risks for teens and students but the symptoms were so vague and she didn't have a rash.' Edwina rushed to meet Jennifer and Jamie, 55, at the hospital shortly after they arrived. Surgeons attempted to relieve the swelling on her brain - but it was too late and she was declared brain dead. Doctors then warned the family that anyone in Jennifer's immediate company needed prophylactic medication as a result of the meningitis The hospital told the family they had never seen the illness move as quick as it had with Jennifer. She was then transferred to neurosurgery at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where doctors tried to revive her. Surgeons attempted to relieve the swelling on her brain - but it was too late and she was declared dead at 7.30pm. BE WISE TO THE SYMPTOMS OF DEADLY MENINGITIS Bacterial meningitis is very serious and can be deadly. Death can occur in as little as a few hours. Meningitis vaccines offer excellent protection, but they are not yet available for all forms. So it's vital to know meningitis symptoms and what to do if you suspect someone has meningitis or septicemia. Symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia: Fever and/or vomiting Severe headache Limb, joint or muscle pain Cold hands and feet and or shivering Pale or mottled skin Breathing fast or feeling breathless A rash anywhere on the body A stiff neck - less common in young children A dislike of bright lights - less common in young children Very sleepy, vacant, or difficult to wake Confused or delirious Seizures or fits may be seen Source: Meningitis Research Foundation Advertisement Her family were also told her cerebral spinal fluid was clear, indicating meningitis wasn't responsible for her death. They weren't told it was bacterial meningitis until the next day when the public health department told them. Doctors then warned them that anyone in Jennifer's immediate company needed prophylactic medication. Following her death, Jennifer was awarded a posthumous degree from the university she was studying at. Her organs were also used to save five people's lives, despite her parents not knowing she was on the donor list. The family have managed to raise 10,000 for the Meningitis Research Fund (MRF) since her death - as some friends and family will take part in the Glasgow 10k run in her memory. National Meningitis Awareness Week takes place this week. MRF Scotland Manager Mary Millar said: 'We are so grateful to Edwina and Jamie for raising awareness during Meningitis Awareness Week. 'Young people at university or college are particularly at risk of meningitis and septicaemia because they mix with so many other students, some of whom are unknowingly carrying the bacteria. 'Meningitis can develop suddenly and progress rapidly. Early symptoms include headache, vomiting, muscle pain, fever, and cold hands and feet. The global explosion of Alzheimer's disease has long been blamed on people living longer than ever before and population growth. But rates of dementia - especially among men - may be slowing down, new figures suggest. Over-65s in some western countries are now less likely to develop the debilitating disease than the generation before them, scientists found. Rates of dementia - especially among men - may be slowing down, new figures suggest Rates of the disease have even fallen by 20 per cent in as many years - as just 209,000 new cases were reported in Britain in 2015. In 1991, experts predicted the figure would have been 251,000. Rates have also slowed down in the US, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. And scientists believe quality-of-life improvements may could be the reason why. Some experts point to improved cardiovascular health stemming from a growing awareness of the dangers of smoking, obesity and a lack of exercise. Better blood pressure and cholesterol drugs may also play a role, researchers believe. Overall numbers will keep growing for now - albeit at a slower rate - as more and more people live longer than before. Over-65s in some western countries are now less likely to develop the debilitating disease than the generation before them, scientists found Keith Fargo, scientific director at the American Alzheimer's Association, said: 'These findings are promising, and suggest that identifying and reducing risk factors for Alzheimer's and other dementias may be effective.' While David Reynolds, from Alzheimer's Research UK, said: 'We have stemmed the flow, but we haven't stopped it.' The World Health Organization claims dementia affects 47.5 million people worldwide - with around 7.7 million new cases every year. Alzheimer's is the most common cause, responsible for 60-70 per cent of dementia cases. In developing countries, incidence rates may be underestimated and are likely to rise as medical care improves and more people make it to their 80s. The disease, which claimed actor Gene Wilder last month, typically progresses from forgetfulness to major memory loss and needing constant care Reynolds said: 'There are other things that have changed that may push it in the wrong direction. 'Diabetes and obesity have been rising rapidly over the last 20 years' He added that because of making ourselves less healthy it may either 'reduce the decline or even push up the rates of dementia'. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE The first sign of Alzheimer's disease is usually minor memory problems. For example, this could be forgetting about recent conversations or events, and forgetting the names of places and objects. As the condition develops, memory problems become more severe and further symptoms can develop. These can include confusion, disorientation, problems moving around, personality changes, low mood and hallucinations. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement The disease, which claimed actor Gene Wilder last month, typically progresses from forgetfulness to major memory loss and needing constant care. Towards the end, those afflicted can forget how to eat and are often unaware of time and place. Alzheimer's was first identified more than 100 years ago, but there is still no effective treatment or cure, and scientists disagree on its causes. A main culprit is thought to be the build up of protein plaques on the brain, though one can have Alzheimer's without it. Some recent studies have linked the condition to air pollution, fungus or even accidental transmission during a medical procedure. Brain stimulation is linked to a lower dementia risk - whether in the form of a challenging job, or simply filling out a crossword puzzle. A mother has spoken of her devastation after both of her twin boys were diagnosed with leukaemia. Logan and Regan Skinner, six, developed the devastating disease within a year of each other after their skin started to go yellow and began bruising easily. They were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which attacks the bone marrow and progresses rapidly. Now after four years of treatment, Logan has finished his chemotherapy with Regan set to end the treatment next month. The pair will now have regular checks including blood tests every four weeks for the next three years but doctors are hopeful they have both beaten the disease. Twins Logan (left) and Regan Skinner (right) were both diagnosed with diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia within a year of each other The brothers celebrated their sixth birthday recently after an intensive course of chemotherapy course which Logan (left) has finished and Regan is due to finish next month Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. The causes are not yet known but studies have found identical twins and brothers and sister are at an increased risk of the disease. Logan, who is six minutes older than his brother, first became ill when he was two. Ms Skinner took him to doctors who diagnosed him with the disease in August 2012. During his treatment, he developed potentially deadly septicaemia and thought she was going to lose him. 'One of the worst moments was when Logan was diagnosed with septicaemia,' she said. 'I just remember when I took him into hospital and when you see the nurses panicking and they are screaming for the doctors. We thought he might die now. 'Luckily they got him straight on treatment that's when you realise how serious it is. 'You think it won't happen to me or my kids and then you realise that you are not invincible and that's so scary.' Ms Skinner, who lives with her partner Darren, 24, and his two sons, said Logan's diagnosis put a terrible burden on the family, from Boston, Lincolnshire. But she said it became doubly hard a year later when Regan started bruising easily too. Identical twin Logan, pictured in 2012 before and after surgery, was diagnosed with leukaemia shortly before his brother Regan 'Regan was not unwell when he was diagnosed but he had got an identical bruise to Logan Mother Casey Skinner says both boys' diagnosis put a strain on the family but that they hope to be over the worst of it with treatment having been successful Talking about Logan she said: 'He had different infections for example in the ear and then I noticed that he was bruising a lot,' she said. 'I was playing with him one day, as he was swinging between my legs he hit his face and the bruise came up straight away. 'The next morning he was bright yellow and I thought he may be anaemic - it turns out he was anaemic but that was due to the leukaemia.' That day the doctors compared the twins' skin colour and sent Logan straight to Pilgrim Hospital in Boston. The social work student, who became pregnant with the pair when she was 18, said the diagnosis happened differently with Regan. But nevertheless, it was not long before their worst fears were confirmed. She said: 'Regan wasn't unwell when he was diagnosed but he had got an identical bruise to Logan. 'I went to get him tested and they said he had leukaemia too, so I had to go to the Queen's Medical Centre hospital in Nottingham to get that confirmed as well. 'They both had to have a test to see how high risk or low risk they are. Logan was high risk so he had to have a more intense treatment. Both dressed up as Captain America, the Make a Wish Foundation is supporting the family with a trip for Florida 'He was really bad - it made him really ill. I remember one day as soon as they pressed the go button on the chemotherapy he was so sick everywhere. 'I remember saying if Regan does get it I won't be as scared. It's not just life or death, you have to sit in a big hospital and I thought second time round I would be okay dealing with it. 'When I was told Regan did have the disease it hit me so hard. I wondered whether I would be able to look after both of them - but I got through it.' Logan was given six months of chemotherapy and Regan was given four months treatment, which he shall be ending shortly. The boys will also have to have a lumbar puncture, where fluid is drained from the spine, every 12 weeks to continue to fight their illness. Doctors will monitor them closely as the cancer is most likely to come back in the first year. But it has a high survival rate, around 70 per cent, which improves the younger the patient is. The family have been supported by charity Make a Wish Foundation which is paying for the family to go to Disneyland, in Florida. Kittens could give you a life-threatening disease with just a scratch, the CDC warns. Cats carry a rare bacteria in their mouths and claws called Bartonella henselae. While animals do not suffer ill effects, the bug can cause chronic infections in humans. And according to the CDC, side effects of the potentially deadly disease are getting worse. Cats carry a rare bacteria in their mouths and claws called Bartonella henselae. While animals do not suffer ill effects, the bug can cause chronic infections in humans A report published on Wednesday revealed 12,000 Americans a year succumb to 'cat-scratch disease', as it is officially known. It causes fever, fatigue, headaches, and swollen lymph nodes. In extreme cases it can even cause brain swelling and heart infections. Unfortunately, CDC researchers say the most cuddly felines - kittens - are the worst culprits. In a bid to curb the number of outbreaks, officials are urging cat owners not to cuddle their pets, and to wash their hands as often as possible. 'The scope and impact of the disease is a little bit larger than we thought,' Dr Christina Nelson of the CDC said. 'Cat-scratch is preventable. If we can identify the populations at risk and the patterns of disease, we can focus the prevention efforts.' The report tracked infection data between 2005 and 2013. It is the most comprehensive review of cat-scratch disease cases for 15 years. Researchers found 12,000 people are infected each year, 500 of whom require hospital attention. Cases are most common in the South, particularly among children. The disease comes from a bacteria which is passed from cat to cat. It is hard to trace the origin of how a particular cat got it. Many pick it up from flea feces. The CDC said there is some good news: cases of cat-scratch disease are decreasing. However, the people that do get infected are reporting more serious complications. Dr Aaron Glatt, chairman of medicine at South Nassau Community Hospital in New York, told NPR the rise in complications could be because more people are immunosuppressed today than 15 years ago. In a bid to curb the number of outbreaks, officials are urging cat owners not to cuddle their pets, and to wash their hands as often as possible 'Most of the people who get seriously sick from cat-scratch are immunocompromised. The classic example is patients with HIV,' Dr Glatt said. Dr Nelson believes it may simply be the case that infections were mis-categorized 15 years ago. Regardless, she warns owners to refrain from petting cats, especially kittens. 'Younger cats are more likely to have bacteria in their blood,' Dr Nelson said. To minimize your risk of infection, she said, your best bet is to live in a dry, hot state like Colorado. The report is the latest bit of bad news. Just last month, global medical experts warned dogs could cause sepsis in humans with just one lick. Younger cats are more likely to have bacteria in their blood Dr Christina Nelson of the CDC The warning came after an elderly British woman became critically ill after her dog licked her. The 70-year-old ended up in intensive care with multiple organ failure after contracting a rare infection from her Italian greyhound. It is thought bacteria which can live in cavities in dogs mouths was passed on to the woman from her pet because she often petted it closely and let it lick her. British doctors detailed in the online journal BMJ Case Reports how the woman, who was a non-smoker and rarely drank, nearly died after the infection caused her to develop sepsis. The condition occurs when the bodys immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight an infection. Known as the silent killer, sepsis can lead to organ failure and death without rapid treatment. A relative of the woman, who lived alone, had raised the alarm after she started slurring on the phone and then was unresponsive. Paramedics found her slumped semi-conscious in a chair and she was taken to hospital. At first her symptoms improved, but after four days she developed acute kidney failure and was admitted to intensive care. She recovered after two weeks of intensive care and antibiotic treatment and was discharged 30 days after she was first admitted. The womans case was particularly unusual because she had not been bitten or scratched by her dog. A new technique to spot lymphoedema involves injecting a tiny amount of green dye into the wrist or between the toes, where there are branches of the lymphatic system An injection of green dye is being used to reveal early signs of a common complication of breast cancer treatment, helping to prevent it. Lymphoedema, which causes debilitating swelling, affects more than 200,000 people in Britain and is caused by a problem with the lymphatic system, a network of tiny vessels that drains fluid lymph from the tissues into the bloodstream. If the fluid does not return to the bloodstream, it accumulates in the tissues, resulting in swelling, most commonly in the arms or legs. Left untreated, lymphoedema can lead to cellulitis, a potentially fatal skin infection characterised by pain, redness, swelling and heat. Lymphoedema can be caused by faulty genes or as a result of damage to the lymphatic system from certain diseases or treatment. By far the most common cause is damage to lymph vessels after cancer therapy such as surgery or radiotherapy. Up to 60 per cent of patients treated for breast cancer and 60 per cent of gynaecological cancer patients are estimated to develop lymphoedema. Until now it's only been possible to diagnose lymphoedema by monitoring visible changes in the limbs. Up to 60 per cent of patients treated for breast cancer and 60 per cent of gynaecological cancer patients are estimated to develop lymphoedema. File picture The problem is that by this time it can be too late for certain treatments to have any effect. Now, surgeons at Oxford Lymphoedema Practice have developed a new technology to spot it before swelling occurs and have started a screening project. They believe this could potentially prevent some cases of lymphoedema and early intervention makes treatments such as surgery more effective. The new technique involves injecting a tiny amount of fluorescent green dye (called indocyanine green ICG) into the wrist or between the toes, where there are branches of the lymphatic system. After 30 minutes, doctors use a handheld infrared camera to monitor its flow around the vessels, and the image is projected on to a screen. They say patterns in the way the dye moves and the speed it travels at can reveal changes in lymphatic function that indicate lymphoedema before swelling occurs. 'Traditionally, a patient would have had to develop swelling in their arm following breast cancer treatment before they were told they had lymphoedema, which would slowly get worse and for which there is no cure,' says Dominic Furniss, professor of plastic surgery at the University of Oxford and one of the founding partners of the Oxford Lymphoedema Practice. TINY TWEAKS: THINK OF A BANANA TO AID SLEEP Mellow yellow: They can help you sleep Think of a banana when you want to fall asleep, say researchers at Simon Fraser University, Canada. They found that serial diverse imagining picturing random words, places or people helps you to fall asleep because it's a distraction from negative or stressful thoughts. It seems thinking of a banana 'gets you into that imaginative, mind-wandering state'. Advertisement 'With early screening and diagnosis, the patient can opt for microsurgical reconstruction that cures the underlying disease.' Commenting on the new technique, Anne Dancey, a consultant plastic surgeon at Spire Parkway Hospital in Solihull, says: 'It means we can map lymphatics around the body, which allows us to pinpoint the areas that need treatment. 'It is a major leap in the treatment of lymphoedema.' Denise Hardy, a lymphoedema nurse at Kendal Lymphology Centre, adds that while the technology has clear benefits, 'scientific studies conducted to date are limited in terms of scope, duration and number. 'The other obvious drawback is cost and I'm wary of mentioning this technique to patients as it isn't available on the NHS yet.' Meanwhile, 'electric' acupuncture could reduce lymphoedema. Forty women who have the condition are being given acupuncture or no treatment in a trial at McMaster University in Canada. The acupuncture involves using a battery-powered device with two 'electric' needles on the end. The device is placed on the upper back and the needles are inserted close to the nerves that supply the limbs affected by lymphoedema. In a clinical trial by the manufacturer, four of 800 patients with osteoporosis had a spine fracture while taking the new drug - abaloparatide - after 18 months compared with six taking a standard treatment, Forteo A new drug that helps to rebuild bone might be more effective for osteoporosis than the standard treatment, say researchers. In a clinical trial by the manufacturer, four of 800 patients with osteoporosis had a spine fracture while taking the new drug abaloparatide after 18 months compared with six taking a standard treatment, Forteo. Drugs such as Forteo (known as Forsteo in the UK) and abaloparatide contain a synthetic version of parathyroid, which is a hormone produced in the body that causes bones to release calcium into the bloodstream. The calcium then 'fills' holes in weakened bones. Both drugs are given via a daily jab, but the new drug may be cheaper (Forsteo costs 300 a month). Could mussel 'glue' heal sick babies in the womb? Mussels could help improve surgery performed on babies while they're still in the womb. Molluscs produce strong silky threads called byssal threads, which they use to attach themselves to rocks. Scientists at the University of California believe that synthetic versions of the threads could be used as medical glue in surgery. Molluscs produce strong silky threads called byssal threads (above), which they use to attach themselves to rocks. Scientists at the University of California believe that synthetic versions of the threads could be used as medical glue in surgery Closing surgical incisions in foetal surgery (where anatomical birth defects are repaired before birth) is difficult because the womb is wet, so standard medical glue doesn't work. But mussel threads which are made of 'sticky' proteins work underwater, partly because they're quick-setting. The researchers have found the glue works in rabbits and will look into extending the study to humans. I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND... TO EASE THE PAIN Holding hands with someone you love reduces pain, say scientists at the University of Haifa in Israel. They tested this using heat on women's arms, asking them to hold the hand of a stranger when experiencing the pain and then the hand of their partner. Their partner's touch halved the discomfort registered possibly because empathy, sparked by love, reduced the brain's response to pain. Advertisement Horseflies do not just pierce the skin, but rip it open, which is why their bites are so painful Beat the bug bites This week: Horsefly bites These large flies do not just pierce the skin, but rip it open, which is why their bites are so painful. The bite could bleed and become sore, then red lumps may develop around the area. 'Try a weak over-the-counter steroid cream containing hydrocortisone,' says Andrew Wright, professor of dermatology at the University of Bradford. 'Don't use too much as it can produce allergic reactions. Ibuprofen gel will help with swelling.' If the fly was carrying parasites or bacteria that cause an infection, the bite can be extremely painful and the wound might ooze. If so, take an antihistamine tablet. Pharmacist Angela Chalmers says: 'Products such as Piriton contain chlorphenamine and have been found to work better with allergies as they won't end up making you feel drowsy.' Do this... run barefoot Run barefoot to boost your memory. Researchers at the University of North Florida tested people's memory before and after a 15-minute run. Results in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills showed that they scored better after running without shoes. It's thought running barefoot requires more intensive brain processes to avoid stepping on potentially harmful things and this enhances the exercise effects. Diuretics or water tablets are prescribed for high blood pressure and help to flush salt from the body by making you urinate (excess salt raises blood pressure) Don't try this at home... double-dosing diuretics Dr Helen Cowan, a nurse with a PhD in cardiac pharmacology, describes common medication mistakes. This week: Double-dosing diuretics One hard-working patient whose job it was to take care of others often wouldn't take her diuretics on busy days because she didn't want to keep leaving her patients to go to the bathroom. Diuretics or water tablets are prescribed for high blood pressure and help to flush salt from the body by making you urinate (excess salt raises blood pressure). She was on furosemide, a common diuretic. But to make up for missing a tablet, she was double-dosing on other days. That can cause torrential urine flow with the risk of a massive loss of potassium, and in turn damage to the heart, muscles and brain. In a shocking incident in Uttar Pradesh, a 35-year-old woman was allegedly raped, and then pushed out of a moving train while travelling through the Mau district. Though the rape was yet to be confirmed, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official told reporters that falling from the train resulted in the loss of the victim's leg. GRP official, Sudhir Singh told Mail Today: We are looking into the matter and the guilty will not be spared". A 35-year-old woman was allegedly raped, and then pushed out of a moving train while travelling through the Mau district. (pictured - Students hold a candle march protest against the rape of a 14-year-old girl on the Delhi-Kanpur highway). The woman, who was screaming in pain, was noticed by villagers this morning near Khazakhurd railway station. "She was lying without clothes, indicating that she might have been raped before being tossed out of the compartment," they said. The woman alleged that she was returning home in Shahganj area in adjoining Jaunpur district by Tamsa passenger train on Saturday night when two men allegedly raped her and then threw her out of the moving train. The villagers brought her to Khurhats district hospital, but since her condition was serious she was referred to Varanasi. Indian protesters hold candles during a demonstration against the release of a juvenile rapist in New Delhi (file pic) UP has earned the dubious distinction of recording the second highest number of crimes on railways after Maharashtra. Earlier this month, a college girl received serious head injuries after being pushed out of a moving train by a man attempting to snatch her purse in Bareilly. The incident occurred near Abhaypura railway station on the Lucknow-Lalkuan section when the girl was going to college with her sister. The woman, who was screaming in pain, was noticed by villagers this morning near Khazakhurd railway station (picture for representation only) Another woman passenger was robbed and thrown off a Lucknowbound express train by unidentified persons near Chitbaragaon railway station on Chappra- Varanasi section in Ballia district in August. As per National Crime Records Bureau data, there has been a 52 per cent rise in registered crimes on railways - from 25,737 in 2011 to 39,239 in 2015. After 17 soldiers died in one of the worst terrorist attacks on the Indian Armed Forces in recent years, New Delhi is considering swift and deadly retaliatory action against its enemies. The attack, on forces at a pre-dawn raid in Uri near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, was carried out by a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide squad, and has caused outrage across India and the world. There is a growing demand for assertive military action against Pakistan and its operatives in J&K. Scroll down for video... After 17 soldiers died in one of the worst terrorist attacks on the Indian Armed Forces in recent years, New Delhi is considering swift and deadly retaliatory action against its enemies Sources in the security establishment said many options are under consideration including surgical action at a tactical level on the LoC. Several high-level officers told Mail Today that the Sundays raid was the 'crossing of the threshold' which 'cannot be left unanswered'. Top sources in the ministry of home affairs told Mail Today that intelligence agencies have warned of another potential suicide squad in Kashmir : "Our information is that there is another group of terrorists launched to hit vital assets in or around Srinagar closer to Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharifs address at the United Nations General Assembly". The Army said the attack was bore similar signs to that of the attack on Pathankot air base in January this year by terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad. Soon after the news of Uri attack, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag rushed to Uri, followed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who was briefed at the Army's headquarters in Srinagar. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who postponed his scheduled visit to Russia and the United State, held an hour-long security review meeting in the wake of the Uri incident. The meeting was attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, top officials of Ministries of Home and Defence and Army and paramilitary forces. The issue of "retaliatory action" came up several times at the review meeting, sources said. About the retaliation, sources recalled that the Armys special forces had carried out an operation across the border in Manipur last year after terrorists gunned down 18 soldiers in Chandel. However, the officers added that the situation on LoC was completely different from the Manipur border even though it displayed strong political will. Protesting residents are clashing almost daily with security forces in the worst such violence since 2010 Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Ranbir Singh spoke to his Pakistani counterpart to convey serious concerns over the fact that some of the items terrorists were carrying had Pakistani markings. PM Narendra Modi assured that those behind the strike will not go unpunished with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called for the isolation of Pakistan as a "terrorist state". Leaders across the political spectrum, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, condemned the attack. Tents and other temporary shelters for the hundreds of soldiers stationed at the base near the de facto border with Pakistan caught fire in the raid The defence minister in Srinagar said that the sacrifice of 17 brave soldiers will not go in vain as he instructed the Army to take firm action against those responsible. Parrikar also visited the injured soldiers at the hospital in Srinagar and instructed the authorities to provide the best possible treatment. The four heavily-armed terrorists managed to enter an army administrative installation in Uri and launched attack with incendiary ammunition. Activists from Hindu hardline origination Shiv Sena burn a Pakistani flag during a protest after the attack Of 17, At least 13 or 14 soldiers who died were sleeping in the temporary structure and tents which caught fire after the terrorists lobbed grenades. The Armys quick reaction team responded and all the four terrorists were killed in a fierce gun battle lasting around three hours. The DGMO said that the terrorists were carrying four AK-47 rifles and four under barrel grenade launchers along with a large number of other weapons. Most of the troops who died belonged to 6th battalion of Bihar regiment which was moving into the area to replace 10 Dogra. The martyred soldiers were part of initial compliment which had arrived in the area. The fact that the terrorists chose this particular installation and that time when the soldiers were most vulnerable showed the level of planning and intelligence gathering, sources said. Rajnath Singh, who recently returned from Islamabad from a SAARC conference, said he was deeply disappointed with Pakistans direct-support of terrorism. The attack on the Uri Brigade headquarters, around 70 km northwest of Srinagar and close to Line of Control, is the second most deadly terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir after the Kaluchak attack of 2002. In Kaluchak 32 persons, most of them family members of Army personnel, were killed and over 60 wounded. Sources said the heavily-armed militants were well-trained in the use of global positioning system (GPS) gadgets with specific coordinates. Army DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said all four killed were foreign militants and had some items with them which bore Pakistani markings The militants possibly crossed a Jabla stream from Gowhlad hamlet to reach the back-end of the Armys administrative unit around 5:30 am from where the LoC is only six kilometers. The administrative unit is around 60 meters from 12 brigade headquarters, which is responsible for manning the LoC in frontier Kupwara and Baramulla districts. The attack on the Uri Brigade headquarters, is the second most deadly terrorist attack in J&K after the Kaluchak attack of 2002 where 32 people were killed and over 60 wounded At the time of the attack the 10-Dogra regiment was in the process of moving out and 6-Bihar battalion was replacing them. The unprecedented casualty figures were due to the transition tents put up for re-deployment of troops and the unit change, the sources said. The sources said the militants had managed to cut the barbed-wire barricades over the six foot brick wall and slipped the vigil of the army-men manning the bunkers, specially raised for the protection of the wall. The three militants were killed within the initial 15 minutes of the gunfight, the fourth was killed later. The army said 13 soldiers died as they were trapped in the tents and shelters that caught fire due to the explosives used by the militants. The injured were evacuated by the army choppers and taken to the base hospital at Badamibagh Srinagar. Uri: Chopper air lifting injured soldiers after Army Brigade camp was attacked by militants during a terror attack The fight between the militants and Army personnel continued till 8:30a.m. during which four militants were neutralised. Army DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said all four killed were foreign militants and had some items with them which bore Pakistani markings. "I would like to mention that all the intelligence agencies are working in close synergy with the security forces and regular inputs are received from concerned agencies and necessary action is being taken," the DGMO said. The Army chief and the Defence Minister who reached Srinagar after the news came were briefed by the Northern Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda and the Chinar Corps Commanders Lt Gen Satish Dua about the attack. According to defence spokesman, the defence minister was informed about the deployment and employment of the additional forces recently inducted into the Valley due to the prevailing unrest. Bid to create war-like situation: Mehbooba Condemning the deadly attack on the Army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said the attack was aimed at "triggering fresh violence and creating a war-like situation in the region." Mehbooba said the heightened tension in the wake of Uri attack was set to further vitiate the atmosphere in-and-around Jammu and Kashmir amid increasing Indo-Pak hostility." Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said the attack was aimed at "triggering fresh violence" "Unfortunately, people in Jammu and Kashmir, who are already mired in an agonizing situation shall have to bear the maximum brunt of the fresh attempts being made to step up violence and trigger fresh bloodshed in the State," she said. The CM added that J&K has always been the worst victim of Indo-Pak hostility and its people have been paying a colossal price for the same for the past over six decades. Mehbooba said the perpetrators of violence must understand that violent methods have yielded nothing in the past nor will these yield anything in future except adding to the miseries of the people. She expressed anguish over the attack and paid rich tributes to the slain soldiers. She extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and also prayed for early recovery of those injured in the attack. The attack on an army camp in Uri near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir has exposed the vulnerability of the security forces' anti-infiltration grid. The suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists not only managed to breach the border but also walked up to the army installation base, which is located around 6km from the Line of Control, slip past the vigil of the soldiers on guard, and inflict heavy casualties by attacking with incendiary ammunition. The army sources admitted that it was a major setback and the lapses would be addressed once the combing operation was complete. Pakistan rejected allegations that it was involved. 'India immediately puts blame on Pakistan without doing any investigation. We reject this,' foreign ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said There was clear intelligence that the terrorists were planning a big strike to exploit the prevailing situation in the Valley which has been locked down for over two months after the killing of Hizbul man Burhan Wani. Sources said that while the security forces were engaged in dealing with unrest of the local population in South Kashmir, the terrorists used the opportunity to regroup and consolidate their positions. Officials in New Delhi believe that the Pakistani handlers of the terrorists have played by the book by fomenting trouble in South Kashmir and waiting for an opportunity to strike in North Kashmir just when Islamabad was preparing to bring Jammu and Kashmir to the attention of the UN general assembly. The place of attack was chosen as Uri which has been one of the most conducive infiltration terrains because of its geographical location. Sources said that the terrorists could have positioned themselves inside the camp during the night itself. The target chosen was also one of the most vulnerable locations as it was an administrative area used by troops in transit for their operational deployment. At the time of the attack the 10-Dogra regiment was in the process of moving out and 6-Bihar battalion was replacing them. The unprecedented casualty figures were due to the transition tents put up for re-deployment of troops and the unit change, the sources said. Tents and other temporary shelters for the hundreds of soldiers stationed at the base near the de facto border with Pakistan caught fire in the raid The armed forces have a well defined security grid in Jammu and Kashmir for the anti-insurgency operations. Uri is at the centre of this grid as it is located on the line of control. Sources said that such attacks or attempts have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir in the past but this time the terrorists succeeded in inflicting heavy damage. The killing of 17 soldiers is simply unacceptable, said an officer. Many of these soldiers died of burns as the shelters they were housed in caught fire caused by the explosive ammo used by the terrorists. While the lapses will be probed, the post-attack response was much better compared to the Pathankot air base strike earlier this year as the army managed to gun down the four militants in three hours. In an even stronger response, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted: 'Pakistan is a terrorist state and should be identified and isolated as such' Army Chief Dalbir Singh, who was briefed about the internal security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, stressed on the importance of complete synergy amongst all security, intelligence and other government agencies to ensure calm and prevent the terrorists and other forces from moving with impunity and intimidating the populace. The officials said the army has taken a hit but managed to eliminate four terrorists within a few hours containing the damage. Intel warns of a third suicide squad Intelligence agencies have warned of a third militant squad currently at large in Kashmir and may strike vital assets in or around Srinagar within the next few days, after 17 soldiers were martyred in the Uri terror strike on Sunday. The first group of Pakistani militants had tried to attack the Brigade headquarters at Poonch on September 12. The terrorists were spotted and engaged by the security forces close to the mini-secretariat. A Kashmiri throws back a tear gas canister at Indian security personnel during a protest after Eid al-Adha prayers in Srinagar They too were heavily armed with assault rifles, under barrel grenade launchers, grenades and had succeeded in reaching the outer perimeter of the Brigade headquarters. The second group was successful in attacking the base at Uri, where 17 soldiers were gunned down and 23 were injured. Top sources in the ministry of home affairs told Mail Today: Our information is that another group of terrorists will try to hit vital assets in or around Srinagar, closer to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs address at the United Nations General Assembly". After the September 12 operation in Poonch, the intelligence agencies had issued a specific warning to military formations along the line of control (LoC) of a Border Action Team (BAT) raid to either behead soldiers or target their camps and convoys. "The teams were waiting across the LoC to cross over and carry out a hit. Our information is that two teams succeeded. One has already targeted the Uri camp and the other appears to be scouting for a soft target along the Uri- Srinagar highway or could have moved towards the Srinagar-Anantnag axis in South Kashmir, sources added. "There are similarities between the Poonch and Uri strike. In both instances the terrorists were moving towards the Brigade headquarters. "The brigade headquarters was clearly marked on their maps and they were similarly armed. Both groups were very well trained and fired with military discipline saving grenades and ammunition till the end," said another official. Though the Poonch infiltration group is believed to be a part of LeT, the one in Uri has been found to be of Bahawalpur based Jaish-e- Muhammed. JeM was also responsible for the attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot. The MHA has alerted the army, CRPF, BSF and Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP), both north and south of Pir Panjal, to be alert in the wake of the third suicide group being at large. The availability of tactical military intelligence with terrorists and their sleeper cells in Kashmir is also a cause for serious concern. The BJP, which mounted a severe attack on Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for his foreign trip, is now on the back foot for the exact same reason. A number of Delhi BJP leaders, including North Delhi Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar, are missing from Delhi, while the city reels under a massive outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. BJP MP from Northeast Delhi Manoj Tiwari, who went for a photo-op with AAP leader Kapil Mishra during a fumigation drive, is also on a five-day visit to Singapore. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta is on a 'foreign visit' with his family Tiwari is likely to return on Monday. Taking a strict note following criticism, the Delhi BJP unit has decided to seek clarification from its leaders who have been missing at this crucial time. Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar, who is reportedly in Venice, is likely to come back on Tuesday. Nayyar had gone to attend the Global Parliament of Mayors in The Hague from September 9 to 11. Incidentally, the areas under North Delhi Municipal Corporation are the worst hit by vector-borne diseases. BJP MP from Northeast Delhi Manoj Tiwari, who went for a photo-op with AAP leader Kapil Mishra during a fumigation drive, is now on a five-day visit to Singapore The Mayor will be asked to explain his prolonged absence from the city. It does not send across a right message when the Capital is facing a real crisis, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta is also on a foreign visit with his family. An aide of Gupta said that he would be returning to the Capital on September 20. Gupta left Delhi on September 10. Another BJP leader and South Delhi Mayor, Shyam Sharma had gone to Mehndi Balaji in Rajasthan on September 13, but was forced to cut short his visit and the return to Delhi the same day. India is suffering with more than 12,000 cases of chikungunya reported across the country The developments assume significance as the BJP had fiercely criticised Sisodia for not cutting short his Finland visit. The party had termed this highly insensitive and accused the AAP government for the acute crisis situation in Delhi. However, AAP leaders have hit back at the BJP saying that the three MCDs had completely failed to prevent the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. They also accused the BJP of indulging in petty politics over the issue. BJP leaders also questioned party MP Manjor Tiwaris absence from Delhi immediately after the controversial fumigation drive with Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra. Delhi is suffering after 1,057 cases of chikungunya were reported last week, up from just 64 reported last year Tiwari, a popular BJP face in Delhi, left for a fiveday visit to Singapore to perform at a music concert to celebrate the legends of Bollywood and Mangeshkar sisters. Bobby, a transgender sex worker, was nervous when she was offered a chance to become the face of traffic discipline in the nation's capital. I am a sex worker. I was hesitant when I got to know that I will be closely working with Delhi traffic cops and learn traffic rules. Although I accepted the chance, I was a bit worried about how it would work out," she told Mail Today. "To my surprise, this is going to change my life for good. I am quitting my profession as a sex worker and getting employed at a respectable place". Scroll down for video... Following on from a highly successful initiative in Mumbai, 20 members of Delhi's transgender community are set to work closely with Delhi Traffic Police and talk to violators at city traffic lights. Like Bobby, there are 20 other transgenders who are going to get a chance to work as traffic monitors in an initiative by the Delhi Legal Service Authority and Delhi Traffic Police. And the next time you violate a traffic rule in Lutyens Delhi, Bobby might be there to correct you. Dressed in ethnic clothing, the transgender enforcers will counsel traffic violators at city signals from October 9. While a similar initiative in Mumbai took social media by storm, the DLSA and Delhi Traffic Police are hopeful that the initiative will gain popularity among commuters. Delhi roads are notoriously dangerous and traffic cops need all the help they can get A similar exercise was carried out in Mumbai, where members of the trans community, draped in purple sarees discussed road safety at traffic signals "This unique initiative is an attempt to break ice and stereotypes people have about transgenders and at the same time educate them on traffic safety. "The move will help the transgender community gain confidence and inspire them to live life with dignity, said a senior DLSA official. A similar exercise was carried out in Mumbai, where members of the trans community, draped in purple sarees discussed road safety at traffic signals that became a rage on social media. Rizwan, who had earlier participated in the act in Mumbai, said, The same initiative cannot be replicated here as it attracted a lot of crowds and people even made fun of it. The Seatbelt Crew became all the rage on social media after their road safety experiment in Mumbai "This is going to be a different exercise. We will individually approach commuters and point out rules from the traffic manual that they would be found violating". "The two-day training with the traffic police has been very useful. We got to know so many things that commuters do not follow like wearing gloves and full length shirts to minimise chances of getting any injury in an accident. "The first thing I did after the training was over was talk to my sister who rides a two wheeler, said another participant. The Seatbelt Crew - Seatbelt Safety in Mumbai With this unique exercise, the participants believe that they have been given an opportunity to change the perception people have about them. Abhina Aher, a transgender activist told Mail Today: "People like us who have been begging on the signals have faced hatred, stigma and ignorance. The hands that were used for begging will now direct the traffic. "It is a revolution. We seek action from policy makers and not just promises. Our lives matter and so does our right to earn with dignity". With tears rolling down her eyes, Bangladeshi woman Tamanna Khan says: It was my mother who sold me to a trafficker in India, when I turned 18." She was rescued three years ago, by Akash who came to her as a customer, but was pained to see Tamana in a miserable condition, desperately asking for help. She escaped to her parental home in Dhaka, where her mother again tried to sell her. Victims of trafficking have to wait endlessly to fight legal battles (pictured for representation only) Tamanna then eloped with Akash, and the two eventually got married. But the mother, who had to already taken money from a trafficker, lodged a police complaint against Akash for kidnapping Tamanna. Today, Tamanna, 21, is making rounds of the court as she wants to stay with her husband, but, is unfortunately caught in legal tangle. Seema, 20, another Bangladeshi girl was trafficked by her uncle, who promised her a job in a bar. Instead, she was sold for Rs 2.5 lakh and raped by over a 100 men in five years. She was held captive, and was moved from one brothel to another. Of 150 girls rescued by an NGO in 2015, 23 were from Bangladesh (File picture of red light area) One day, she found herself on the Indo-Bangla border, guarded by BSF men. Seema says her mother does not know that she was trafficked and is now a part of flesh trade racket. Though she wants to go back to her family in Bangladesh, but is stuck with the long legal process. Similar story was narrated by teenagers Neela and Sheila, rescued by NGO in India, who have already waited for four years now, but their dream to return to Dhaka still looks distant. In 2015, the NGO filed a petition in High Court to fast track the cases of the trafficked girls. In Narendrapur, on outskirts of Kolkata, out of 150 girls in Sanlaap- a shelter home run by NGO, 23 are from Bangladesh. Their pain show on their faces -they have suffered a sense of betrayal in early childhood, their youth is dark and they are unsure of their future. But there is another connection. Most of them have been in these shelter homes for the past several years, fighting legal battles on their own. West Bengal is the hub of internal and cross-border human trafficking in India. It shares approximately 2,220 km of land border and 259 km of riverine border with Bangladesh, most of which is unfenced. This makes the cross-border trafficking of people, drugs, and fake currencies seamless. The districts vulnerable to cross-border human trafficking include North and South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Nadia, Malda, Cooch Behar. West Bengal is the hub of internal and cross-border human trafficking in India (File picture) The May-2012 Ministry of Home Affairs advisory on preventing and combating human trafficking in India dealing with foreign nationals says: It is seen that in general, the foreign victims of human trafficking are found without valid passports or visas." "If, after investigation, a woman or child is found to be a victim, she should not be prosecuted under the Foreigners Act. "If the investigation reveals that she did not come to India or did not indulge in crime on her own free will, the State Government / UT Administration may not file a charge sheet against the victim." The advisory includes - If the charge-sheet has already been filed under the Foreigners Act and other relevant laws of the land, steps may be taken to withdraw the case from prosecution so far as the victim is concerned. Advisories are often forgotten, and the ordeal does not end even if these women are rescued. These shelter homes often act as a solace, as often they wait for legal battles to conclude. They are unsure if they will be set free ever, even though they yearn for that. They do not know what awaits them, except for a flicker of hope. Eighteen brave soldiers have died. Of them, more than a dozen were sleeping in their barracks when four Jaish-e- Mohammad fidayeens attacked an Army camp. Thirty others were injured. Of them, at least 10 are critically wounded. Activists from Hindu hardline origination Shiv Sena burn a Pakistani flag during a protest after the attack From Pathankot, the scene of terror has now shifted to Uri. So, what would the Modi government do? Will it once again send a dossier to Islamabad, seeking justice for the crimes perpetrated on Indian soil? Or, will it invite Pakistani officials at Uri to have a firsthand look at the scene of terror, as was done at Pathankot? (Ironically, when the NIA wanted to visit Pakistan for investigations, it was roundly rebuffed!) Thankfully, the initial government response has been satisfying. Never in the recent past has one seen a more resolute and purposeful reaction from the government. While the party in power, the BJP, wants jaw for tooth, Union minister Jitendra Singh says that not responding to the terror would be cowardice. And rightly so, as the government must realise that it was chosen by people to act resolutely against Pakistan, and not just send dossiers after every act of terror. Tents and other temporary shelters for the hundreds of soldiers stationed at the base near the de facto border with Pakistan caught fire in the raid In fact, the biriyani diplomacy of the previous dispensation should not be replaced with the dossier diplomacy of this government. For, every act of not responding adequately to Pakistan further encourages the factions intent on harming India. Pathankot got us to Uri. Not acting on Uri will surely take us to something even bigger - and worse. India behaves the way it does for two reasons: One, we as a nation have failed to comprehend the true nature of the Pakistani state despite 68 years of incessant hostilities. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was an army general who served as the 6th President of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in 1988 Last week when India raised, for the first time, the Balochistan issue before the United Nations, some of our celebrated peace-niks, global citizens and woolly-headed liberals found their voices again, saying how a prosperous Pakistan is good for India. A few so-called experts, on the basis of few weeks of FAM trip experiences in Pakistan, fondly recalled how people there were just like us! They didnt even charge us a penny for the kebeb in Lahore after knowing that we are Indians, one Pakistan expert has told this writer. It is this kind of discourse that creates a make-believe divide of the Army versus the civilian, the masses versus the government. The question is: does it help India whether theres a military, or civilian regime? A look at Pakistans short history suggests the two work in tandem. Gen Zia-ul- Haq is blamed for the Islamisation of Pakistan Gen Zia-ul- Haq, for instance, is blamed for the Islamisation of Pakistan, but the fact is it was Zulfikar Bhutto, a leftist by orientation, who made Pakistan the Islamic Republic. It was the government of his daughter, Benazir Bhutto, which not only helped create the Taliban, but also was the first to recognise their rule in Afghanistan. As for Nawaz Sharif, he instituted death penalty for blasphemy, besides introducing the infamous Shariah Bill! Pakistan is an abnormal state, and its unifying factors are Islam and anti-India sentiments. The anti-India feeling flourishes in Pakistan not just because theres the Army but because theres a thriving civilian ecosystem which detests its eastern neighbour. An anti-India mindset at the top cant exist for long without a support base from the bottom. British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif talk during a bi-lateral meeting at the United Nations Building Former Pakistan Ambassador Rajiv Dogra recalls in his book, 'Where Borders Bleed', how an unnamed Pakistani foreign minister confided that his greatest wish was that God should place a nuclear bomb each on my palms... One I would drop on Bombay, the other on Delhi. Sadly, this is not an exceptional opinion in Pakistan. Khaled Ahmed explains this phenomenon in his latest book, Sleepwalking to Surrender: Dealing with Terrorism in Pakistan. Muslims produce their best men when they are not ruling the state they live in When Muslims acquire a state they go into a kind recidivist trance: Give us utopia or nothing, writes Khaled. Zulfikar Bhutto made Pakistan the Islamic Republic He later recalls how Pakistan accepts the discipline of economics while ideologically rejecting the concepts of banking and savings, and how one prominent nuclear scientist promises to produce electricity for all of Pakistan from one tamed jinn! The second problem which India faces vis-a-vis its western neighbour is we always deal with it from a defensive point of view. Oh, we cant be too aggressive with them, they have nuclear bombs! One would hear such discourses many a times. What our so-called experts fail to understand that there are over a dozen steps a government can take before going for a full-fledged war. India, for instance, can throw the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which unduly favours Pakistan, into the dustbin. Without shelling a single a mortar, India can make Pakistan crawl. Then, of course, we should leverage our economic might. Its time India sends a clear message to the world that Pakistan is a pariah state, a criminal enterprise as Sir Vidia Naipaul would famously call it. Do business with it and the Indian market is beyond you. Last but not least, why should Delhi buy weapons from any country which funds Islamabad? A Guwahati-based bullion trader has been arrested for smuggling 7,000kg of gold through the Indo-Myanmar border and bringing it to Delhi. A probe from revenue intelligence officials has revealed that the trader had made hundreds of smuggling trips, and is said to be the mastermind of Rs 2,000 crore smuggling racket. One Narendra Kumar Jain, found himself under suspicion when the Directorate of Intelligence seized his 10 kg gold consignment at IGI Airport early this month. A Guwahati-based bullion trader has been arrested for smuggling 7,000kg of gold through the Indo-Myanmar border and bringing it to Delhi Kumar and his Delhi-based aide, was then arrested and a number of private airline staffers are also being quizzed in this connection. Sustained interrogation revealed that Jain had made 617 trips to Guwahati for the purpose of smuggling gold over a period of past two-and-a-half years. So far, smugglers were known for using train and bus routes to carry smuggled gold into different parts of India. However, Jain had adopted a new modus operandi. He used to smuggle 24 carat purity gold bars into India. One Narendra Kumar Jain, found himself under suspicion when the Directorate of Intelligence seized his 10 kg gold consignment at IGI Airport early this month Once the gold bars were received in Guwahati, he would declare and book gold as valuable cargo in domestic flights between Guwahati and Delhi. Interestingly, he was using a particular private airline for this purpose. Investigations have revealed that the airline staffers knew that gold was being transported through the cargo. Jain has previous arrests for smuggling of gold. He was arrested by enforcement agencies in Guwahati in February 2015 for smuggling gold of about 12 kgs and was later released on bail. Sleuths are trying to identify the buyers of the smuggled gold suspected to be in the NCR region in adjoining states. Gold smuggling is a problem in India as it creates a market for black (un-taxable) money Intelligence suggests huge quantities of gold bars of foreign origin are being smuggled from Myanmar through Indo- Myanmar border adjacent to Moreh in Manipur and from Zokhawthar area in Mizoram. These activities relating to gold smuggling are continuing unabated. Detection of smuggling of gold through Indo-Myanmar border becomes difficult due to topography and porosity of the land border. After recently arriving back from his trip to Finland, Delhis Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was greeted with an ink attack by an angry political leader outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jungs office. The infuriated ink-thrower, Brijesh Shukla, 35, was arrested by Delhi Police. Sisodia had a 20-minute long one-to-one meeting with Jung at Raj Niwas on Monday morning. While Sisodia was addressing the media after meeting Jung, Shukla threw blue ink from the side which fell on Sisodias hands, forehead and shirt. The deputy CM was summoned by Jung on Friday night to return to Delhi immediately in the wake of the chikungunya and dengue outbreak. According to a source, Sisodia tried to explain to Jung about the importance of his visit to Finland and how the Delhi government can adopt the education system of foreign countries. Sisodia had gone to Finland with senior officials of the state education department last week to study its education system. Brijesh Shukla threw ink at Sisodia accusing him of abandoning the city He was criticised by the Opposition for wining and dining in a foreign country at a time when Delhi is reeling under the outbreak of vector-borne diseases. Both the BJP and Congress accused him of abandoning the city and touring at the public expense. The AAP and Sisodia, however, were unapologetic about the tour. Sisodia said he had gone to learn about Finland's education system and doesn't find anything wrong in it. Apart from discussing the education system, Jung raised concerns about the health situation in Delhi and asked Sisodia to ensure that the situation is under control, said the source. LG Jung summoned Sisodia to return to Delhi due to chikungunya and dengue outbreak I met the L-G and told him about the education system of Finland. I told him we can also do well in education and health in Delhi and no compromise should be made on these areas, he said. This was the first meeting between an AAP minister and the L-G after the two sides traded barbs after Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra failed to meet Jung last Saturday. Dengue and chikungunya have claimed at least 33 lives and affected more than 2,800 people in the national capital. Before meeting Jung, Sisodia visited Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence on Flag Staff Road. Kejriwal had also returned to Delhi after having a throat surgery in Bengaluru, so Sisodia apprised the CM about his visit to Finland. Later, addressing the media, Sisodia was startled by a splatter of ink that also fell on some reporters. He was seen wiping the stains on his shirt and arms with a white handkerchief. Reacting to the incident, Sisodia said: The Delhi government is committed to work on health and education. But the BJP and Congress have nothing to do with common residents of the capital. Their aim is to stop our initiatives and indulge in dirty politics. The ink-thrower was arrested and identified as 35-year-old Brijesh Shukla, the self-proclaimed founder of one Swaraj Janata Party. He said he is an angry citizen of Delhi concerned that public money was being wasted on tours. The BJP, however, questioned the timing of the incident. We condemn the incident. However, a question comes to the mind. Why do such incidents happen with AAP leaders whenever they are on the back-foot politically?" The Great British Bake Off is in full swing and is once again inspiring eager bakers to don their rolling pins and aprons and take to the scales. But baking can easily get expensive and once youve added up the ingredients and equipment it can end up costing you more than if you had just bought it made. Weve asked some baking experts their top tips for keeping down the cost while still creating successful showstoppers for every bake. Here are some of the best insider secrets from the experts and a few from the team, if you have any to add please leave them in the comments section. Cost cutting challenge: You can create star bakes without blowing your budget 1. Don't waste your money on shop-bought decorations Colourful sprinkles, gems and stars may look pretty but the costs soon add up. Instead Lily Vanilli, owner of the Lily Vanilli bakery in east London, suggests roaming through your kitchen cupboards and using the ingredients you already have. Nuts, fruit, fresh flowers and even cake crumbs are an easy, cheap way to decorate your bakes. 2. Stick to the recipe to avoid baking disasters Dont improvise with the instructions unless your baking skills are up to Mary Berrys standard. Lily warns that the second you take your eye off the ball and miss a step youre more likely to end up ruining the process, starting again from scratch and wasting all your ingredients. 'I genuinely don't see a huge difference in quality between branded packets of flour, and the supermarkets own brand' says Bee Berrie, owner of Bee's Bakery 3. Scones are cheaper than gateau so pick carefully what youre going to bake If youre making shortbread or scones youll only need a few basic ingredients but if youre opting for salted caramel brownies or a black forest gateau the cost of the ingredients will quickly add up. Scones are one of the cheapest things you can bake, according to a recent British Gas survey of 2,275 people who told it how much they spent on ingredients and how long baking the nation's 15 most popular bakes. Shortbread was the second cheapest followed by eclairs while the most expensive bakes were black forest gateau, followed by mini pork pies and swiss roll. A batch of scones will cost you 46p to make compared to 11.49 for a black forest gateau 4. Leftovers are there to be used or frozen for a later date Lily says before you chuck the excess away consider freezing it or reusing it in another recipe. If the recipe calls for egg whites, dont waste the yolks but freeze them and use them for custard at a later date and if it's egg whites you've got spare freeze them for the next time you need to make meringues. 5. Don't be fooled by pricey packet mixes It might be tempting to buy a packet mix for which you just need to add an egg to create a cake. But these are often far more expensive than buying the separate ingredients. A Victoria Sponge cake mix by Betty Crocker, for example, costs 2.25 equivalent to 52.9p per 100g and you'll need to add, water, eggs, jam and oil. But for 2.65 you can buy a 1.5kg pack of self raising flour (45p), a 1kg bag of caster sugar (1.20) and six free range eggs (1) which would be enough to make several cakes. Lily Vanilli says instead of shop-bought decorations it's cheaper to use what you already have such as nuts, flowers or fruit 6. Vegetable oil for butter and yoghurt for buttermilk If you havent got the ingredient the recipe calls for it might be possible to substitute it for something else. Buttermilk can be replaced with yoghurt, or you could make your own with milk and lemon juice, while vegetable oil can replace butter. A quick search online can suggest alternative ingredients to use. 7. Buy in bulk and don't bother with premium brands Bee Berrie, owner of Bees Bakery which specialises in wedding cakes, says she always prioritises what she spends her money on. To cut costs she buys large quantities of own-brand flours but shell always spend slightly more on free range eggs. Bee Berrie, owner of Bees Bakery, says there's not a huge difference between own and premium brand flour Whilst some flours are ground specifically for purpose such as pasta, and bread flour is more finely ground than standard flour, I genuinely don't see a huge difference in quality between branded packets of flour, and the supermarkets own brand,' she says. As the cost varies significantly between premium brands and own brand flours, by choosing the cheaper variety you can save quite a bit. We checked the price at a number of the leading supermarkets and while a 1.5kg packet of own-brand plain flour costs 45p at Tesco, or 3p per 100g, the 1kg premium brand product, McDougalls 00 grade premium sponge flour, was 1.65, or 16.5p per 100g. This was similar at all the major supermarkets (as you can see in the image below) with self raising flour and plain flour. Bee also told us there was no difference between using self raising flour in a cake or plain flour and baking powder, which is slightly more expensive. 'The only thing I've noticed is that the SR flour you buy will have been seized and mixed properly by the manufacturer, so the baking powder is guaranteed to be distributed evenly throughout the flour, whereas at home you might just shove a teaspoon of baking powder in and give it a bash around the bowl - so you might not get as even a rise in your cake' she says. Baker Bee Berrie says there's little difference between own and premium brand flours (prices sourced from MySupermarket.co.uk on Thursday 15 September) 7. You can often pick up a bargain in the 'world foods' aisle Before visiting the baking aisle at your local supermarket, try the world foods aisle. You can often pick up spices, nuts and tinned ingredients for half the price as you would elsewhere in the shop. 8. The 'use-by' date doesn't have to be religiously followed Dry goods will last longer than the use-by date states, says Lily, as will nuts and seeds stored in an airtight container. Toasting the nuts for around six to eight minutes on 180C will bring them back to life instantly. 9. Opening the door too often will ruin your baking and add to your energy bills Dont be tempted to open the oven door when youre baking, not only will it affect the bake, every time you open the door youre letting the hot air escape. It then takes longer for the oven to get back to the temperature you want it at, which will cost you more money in energy and could ruin whatever youre baking. Baking in bulk and freezing leftover cake is a good way to cut your overall baking costs 11. Replace baking beans with rice or lentils Instead of using baking beans when you're blind baking your pastry, rice, lentils nuts or anything else you've got your hands on can work. As long as it's something which won't be affected by 10 minutes in an oven then it will work. 12. Bake in bulk then freeze your cakes Bee also suggests baking in bulk, for example making two batches of brownies over two weeks and freezing one for a rainy day. Baking one large batch will save time, ingredients and electricity and most brownies, cookies, and cakes freeze for up to a month. 13. Cashback sites can cut costs when buying new kitchenware If youre buying new baking equipment, use cashback websites to cut your costs. The deals change regularly but you can often cut off a significant amount by using one. At Quidco right now there's six per cent cashback at ao.com, if you were looking to buy some new kitchen equipment, while TopCashBack pays 7.35 per cent at Morphy Richards. To get the cash you need to click the correct link on the cashback site so it can track your spending and most usually pay out in around a month. 14. You don't need the latest food mixer to make successful cakes Dont worry about jazzy bowls and fancy spatulas, work with what you have, says Bee who if called on to bake at a friends house has used pots and salad bowls before. Theres no need to spend all your savings on a beautiful pastel food mixer when a good old fashioned bit of bicep power works just as well - and goodness knows you'll have a few extra calories to burn off after baking anyway,' she adds. Bad bake: If you deviate from the recipe things are more likely to go wrong 15. Cover work surfaces in baking paper to minimise waste Before you begin, line your work surface with parchment paper advises Bee, especially if you're baking with kids. This way you can scoop up any spillages back into the bowl easily, avoiding wastage. 16. A wine bottle makes a great rolling pin If you haven't got the right equipment instead of splashing out, improvise. A rolling pin can be substituted for a clean wine bottle, a piping bag for a sandwich bag, for example. 17. Before you bin the baked Alaska remember almost anything can be salvaged If everythings gone wrong dont give up, says Bee. Star baker bakes don't have to cost the earth Don't waste what you bake - even if its a bit ugly! Its easy to trim off wonky edges, or use a cheese grater to shave off burnt edges. A great buttercream icing will hide many baking sins! she says. 18. Frozen fruit is cheaper and lasts a lot longer Fresh fruit can be costly and has a very short shelf life so instead use frozen fruit. It lasts for a very long time in the freezer and you avoid throwing out fresh fruit when it goes mouldy. 19. Borrow, don't buy, if you're not a regular cook Before splashing out on expensive equipment, see if you can borrow mixers, whisks or piping nozzles from your friends. It'll cut the cost and you can always repay them with some of your bakes. 20. Put down your credit card, the internet is full of free baking courses There are lots of baking courses around but the prices can add up quickly. Instead, Bee suggests learning new tricks and techniques from recipes and videos online, rather than enrolling in pricy courses. Rugby club chic: Fund boss Neil Woodford Interviewed by the BBC yesterday, squillionaire fund manager Neil Woodford sported his customary black sweatshirt and jeans uniform. Crop-haired Woodford, 56, is somewhat lacking in sartorial nous. 'Rugby club chic' is how one acquaintance describes his scruffpot appearance, though his choice of sweatshirt does at least change colour occasionally. Fellow fund manager, combustible ex-Jupiter boss, John Duffield, 77, buys identicial blue Marks & Spencer jerseys by the dozen, which he wears until the elbows fray. Currently 6.5m-a-year chief executive of the New York Times, bearded ex-BBC boss Mark Thompson's recently released book Enough Said: What's Gone Wrong With The Language of Politics? is hardly flying off the shelves. According to website Heat Street, the dreary-sounding tome sold just 482 copies in its first ten days of release in the UK. In the US, just 59 were shifted in its first week. How do busy chief execs have time to write self-important books anyway? Bank of England governor Mark Carney's dependable press spokesman Liam Parker is leaving to be Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's mouthpiece. Working for Boris should be livelier and therefore more alluring than for Carney, who can usually be relied upon to handle the media with customary smoothness. By contrast, foreign office mandarins remain braced for mischievous Bojo's first diplomatic clanger, due any time soon. Private Mayfair club Pasley-Tyler, ex-Kleinwort Benson banker Robert Pasley-Tyler's opulent Berkeley Square haunt for business executives, has lost its popular general manager, Chris Brannigan. The former Royal Scots Dragoon Guard has been poached by Theresa May to be her government relations director. Lt Colonel Brannigan helped overpower the Iraqi army at Basra in 2003. He may find Whitehall's nest of vipers an equally disagreeable bunch. JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon says he'd love to run for the White House one day. 'I would love to be President,' he growls. Bombastic, 18million-a year-Dimon, 60, certainly isn't short of political friends. He's pally with both the Clintons and the Obamas. LSE probe The planned merger between Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange is facing a more stringent EU probe after being referred to regulators for an initial review last month. A preliminary decision is expected at the end of this month. Under scrutiny: The planned merger between Deutsche Boerse and the LSE is facing a more stringent EU probe Swires 57m The Swire family, whose business empire includes Hong Kongs Cathay Pacific airline, have shared part of a 57m dividend, latest accounts show. John Swire & Sons issued the shareholder reward in the year profits fell to 579m while sales rose 5 per cent to 6.9bn. Tax trial Government plans to modernise tax returns by making them digital should be delayed and piloted first, says Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons Treasury committee. In a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond, he wrote: There remains considerable cause for concern with the proposals, better to get it right than to stick to a rigid timetable. Diageo cuts Smirnoff owner Diageo could make up to 400 of the 1,500 staff at its London headquarters redundant to cut costs. The firm, which owns Guinness, wants to save 166m annually. Marks threat French Connection boss Stephen Marks will face increased pressure to step down this week following years of dismal trading. Activist investor Gatemore Capital bought an 8 per cent stake and has been agitating for change at the top. Gatemore is likely to seize on any sales slump in tomorrows financial update. Shoppers up The number of shoppers rose 0.1 per cent last month asconsumers bought items for their summer holidays a sharp improvement on the 0.4 per cent fall seen in July, according to the BRC Springboard monitor. Unilever continued its 'green' spending spree yesterday amid reports that it was planning to buy Jessica Alba's household goods company for around 760million. The FTSE 100 giant, which owns Lynx body spray, is looking to appeal to a new generation of consumers who are shunning traditional brands in favour of products that are seen as 'natural'. Yesterday, Unilever agreed to buy the American company Seventh Generation, which is based in Vermont and specialises in making plant-based detergents and household cleaners. Green goddess: Unilever is reportedly interested in Jessica Alba's babycare firm Honest The deal comes amid speculation that the Dove Soap maker is attempting to buy Honest, the babycare company co-founded by Alba, the 35-year-old Hollywood actress whose films include Sin City and Fantastic Four. Unilever said it would not comment on speculation regarding Honest. But it described Seventh Generation as 'a pioneer in corporate responsibility and sustainable product innovations'. Nitin Paranjpe, president of Unilever's homecare business, said Seventh Generation had been successful in 'attracting new generations of conscious consumers'. Unilever chief executive Paul Polman, who was paid 8.9million in 2015, said last week the company wanted to buy burgeoning businesses, adding: 'An innovative company has to go outside as much as inside.' As the start of term draws near this years freshers will be busy packing their bags ready to embark on the next step in their adult life. The average student will lug as much as 2,150 worth of possessions along with them and one in ten will fly the nest belongings worth up to 4,000, according to M&S Bank. Despite the potential losses however, as many as 45 per cent of students have no insurance. Tempting Target: Students heading to university will lug as much as 2,150 worth of possessions with them, including expensive tech Unfortunately students are a magnet for thieves - one in ten students were a victim of crime last year, and four in ten thefts occurred during the first term. In addition half lose their personal belongings while in university accommodation, according to Sainsburys Bank. It is a top priority to make sure students start the year with the right cover. According to figures from Sainsbury's Bank, 91 per cent of students will travel to university with a smartphone and a laptop, but the expensive tech doesnt stop there. Nearly half (47 per cent) of students take an iPad or tablet, 37 per cent take a camera, and 35 per cent will take an iPod. Over a third will take their games console to amuse themselves when they are not studying and 15 per cent will take an e-reader device. With all of this tech lying around, those at university without insurance would have to shell out an average 1,566 to replace their gadgets that go walk-about. Heres how to make sure students are properly protected should the worst happen. Could you already be covered? If your children live at home outside of term time, first of all parents should check their existing policies to see if they have contents away from home cover. According to independent financial research company, Defacto, 90 per cent of policies with its 5 star rating have student belongings cover worth up to 5,000 included as standard. ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS Do you need to cover a bike or musical instrument? You might need to take out extra cover, or there may be strict rules on where it is kept. Are you covered for walk in theft? Most policies only cover you if you can prove forced entry, so you may have to extend your cover if you want extra protection. How long will replacement take? You don't want to be caught without a laptop for weeks when you have coursework due. Check what 'accidents and mishaps' are covered. Some insurance policies will cover you for spilling water on your phone but not for dropping it in the sink. Are you covered over the holidays? You will want to find out both whether you are covered for the possessions left in your room at university when you are not there and when you take your possessions home with you. Alan Sanderson of Sainsburys Home Insurance explains: Having the latest technology is important for students to keep up with their studies, but can be expensive. Parents should make sure their home insurance policy provides contents cover for their childrens student accommodation as this doesnt need to come at an additional cost, although jewellery and other valuable items may require additional cover. Make sure to check the limits however as these may be stricter than with a standalone policy. For example you may find there is no cover for accidental damage or personal possessions protection when students leave their room. Check the cap on pay-outs, there may be limits on the amount they will pay out in total or on specific items which wont cover any particularly expensive gadgets. Reading the small print will also make sure you are never caught out by exclusions - some companies require that you have a lock on bedroom doors to be covered. Parents will need to be aware however that while a low hassle option, you could end up shelling out more in the long run if you need to make a claim because premiums will increase - and you could lose any no claims discount built up. There may also be restrictions on the amount of children covered away from the home. Are you in halls? You could already be covered by the university Check with your halls when you move in, as it should also have an insurance policy in place with basic cover to protect your belongings. Again these policies typically have strict conditions and may be invalidated should you leave your door unlocked or if something is taken from communal areas. Hitting the books: Most students rely on laptops and tablets to help with their studies What about a standalone policy? A standalone policy is likely the most expensive option, but specifically designed cover for students is likely to have the most comprehensive cover. They are likely to have a lower excess than traditional home insurance - around 25 or 50 for a laptop replacement, rather than the usual 200. Some policies will exclude cover during university holidays when you are not staying in your room - you might want to buy additional cover to protect any books, bedding or clothes you leave behind. If you plan on taking out a policy use a price comparison site to search for the best deal, make sure to compare the level of cover rather than just considering the price. Check your student account as some banks may offer discounts on their own insurance cover. It could also be worth asking for a quote from specialist insurer, Endsleigh, which is recommended by NUS. What about just insuring expensive tech? One of the cheaper options is covering just your gadgets likely the most expensive items for a student to replace. These policies can be protect either a single item or a few of your most expensive bits of technology. They are offered by the likes of Endsleigh, Protect Your Bubble and Love It, Cover It. These policies are usually good for those wanting an assurance that their phone or laptop will be replaced quickly and they are covered for accidental damage. But beware, they can come with confusing terms and conditions that could catch you out - so read the small print. Don't forget, while gadgets might be the most expensive things you take to university, replacing other items such as clothing and personal effects will all add up. Nearly 20,000 asylum cases dating back at least nine years have not been resolved. Another 4,403 applications classed as standard immigration that were filed before March 2007 are still 'live', according to official figures. Theresa May spent much of her six years as home secretary wrestling with the immigration and asylum system. As of the second quarter of this year nearly 20,000 asylum cases dating from before March 2007 were still in progress Figures slipped out by the Home Office show that in the year to June there were a total of 36,465 asylum applications, up more than 10,000 on the previous 12 month period and the highest since 2004. But the number of initial decisions made on applications actually fell by 7 per cent year on year to 26,350 pushing up the backlog. As of the second quarter of this year, some 77,440 asylum cases were ongoing, with 20,300 awaiting an initial decision. Some 30,325 had been in progress for more than three years. Mrs May scrapped the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in March 2013 - partly because of its poor performance in dealing with the huge backlog in cases. Its functions were handed to three directorates within the Home Office - UK Visas and Immigration, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force. These three directorates collectively spend some 1.8 billion per year. In 2012, the department set up an 'Older Live Cases Unit' to deal with some 400,000 asylum and migration claims dating back to before March 2007 that were still in the system. This caseload was reduced to 41,000 cases after a review which removed errors, duplicates and individuals who had already left the country. But at the end of the second quarter of this year there were still 19,359 of the asylum applications outstanding after more than nine years. Another 4,403 immigration cases remained unresolved. Alp Mehmet, Vice Chairman of Migration Watch UK said: 'Whatever the reason for the growing backlog and failure to deal with old applications, it is simply unacceptable. 'If more resources are needed, the Home Office must say so and not push papers out of sight, in the hope the problem will go away. It won't.' Theresa May spent much of her six years as Home Secretary struggling to reform the immigration and asylum system A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government has worked to ensure that the legacy asylum claims made before March 2007 received a decision by the end of 2014. 'Where the decision was to refuse their claim these people should make arrangements to leave the UK and if they do not do so enforcement action may be considered. 'On top of this, we are now consistently meeting service standards on current applications. 'The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration highlighted this work in his report earlier this year.' The spokesman said the figures included some records where there was no evidence the individual was still in the country. Refugee Council spokeswoman Lisa Doyle said: 'It's extremely concerning that so many people are still waiting for a decision on their asylum claim, years after first applying. 'Behind these statistics are individuals, many of whom will have suffered extreme trauma, forced to live day to day in uncertainty while they await the outcome of what could be a life or death decision. Police are calling it the 'lowest of the low:' A man gave a fake $50 bill to a southeastern Michigan girl who was running a lemonade stand to raise money for Alzheimer's disease research. The man on a bike didn't buy anything last Sunday in Monroe, according to the Monroe News. He presented a note that said he was deaf and wanted to break the $50 bill into smaller bills. Maya Leachman told the newspaper: 'Its sad because the money was going to a good cause. I was a little mad.' A man gave a fake $50 bill to Maya Leachman (pictured left and right), who was running a lemonade stand to raise money for Alzheimer's disease research She and her mother didn't look closely at the phony bill until they counted donations later that day. Police Cpl. Terese Herrick told the newspaper: 'Hopefully, we'll be able to get him.' Maya, a fourth-grader, raised slightly more than $1,100 after accounting for the $50 loss. She was raising money in honor of her Alzheimer's disease-stricken grandfather, the Monroe News reported. Maya and her mother didn't look closely at the phony bill until they counted donations later that day (stock) Maya's mother Lisa Leachman told the news outlet: 'I was upset my child had to see that side of humanity.Its just sad that you have to teach your child that you cant trust everybody.' Maya's online donation page with Walk to End Alzheimer's says she is scheduled to attend the Walk to End Alzheimer's in Monroe on September 24. The page says: 'My name is Maya Leachman and I'm 8 years old. This is my third year walking in honor of my Papa Charlie who has Alzheimer's. 'I've never known him any other way so I've learned young to understand the struggles Papa has with this disease. I pray and hope for a cure.' Two years ago, the city of Adelanto, a crumbling outpost in California's Mojave desert, was facing a bleak future as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and struggled with double-digit unemployment. 'We were about to vanish, to be incorporated into another city,' says councilman John 'Bug' Woodard Jr. 'The place was dying and in total despair.' Today, however, the once-desolate town is firmly back on the map, having joined a handful of communities in California in embracing large-scale commercial cannabis cultivation -- a move that smells of success as the state prepares to vote in November on legalizing the use of recreational marijuana. Adelanto councilman John 'Bug' Woodard, Jr. stands on undeveloped desert land in the 'green zone', an area designated by the city for industrial scale marijuana cultivation Though California already allows the use of medical marijuana, the initiative to fully legalize the drug -- seen as likely to succeed -- is expected to transform the most populous state in the US and one of the world's largest economies into a new epicenter for cannabis, bringing in billions in revenue. According to the Arcview Group, a cannabis investment and research firm based in California, medical and recreational marijuana sales are expected to more than double to $6.5billion in the Golden State by 2020 if the drug becomes fully legal after November. Nationwide, the legal cannabis market -- which stood at about $5.7billion in 2015 -- is projected to reach more than $23billion by 2020, according to Arcview. Apart from California, several other states including Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will also vote on legalizing recreational marijuana on November 8, at the same time as casting ballots in the presidential race. A similar ballot measure in California failed in 2010 but support has grown since, with Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker among backers of the latest initiative, which has the support of 58 per cent of voters according to a recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. Red paint markings will guide preparations for the greatly increased electricity demands of a future marijuana farm in the 'green zone' The High Desert Detention Center sits across from a future marijuana farm in the 'green zone' Celebrities join scramble For Adelanto, the signs pointed to an opportunity too good to pass up. Last November, the town became among the first in California to permit medical marijuana cultivation. The decision to welcome marijuana growers led to a flood of high-end investors rushing to the town of 32,000 residents to buy up warehouses and plots of land in two so-called 'green zones' earmarked for cannabis cultivation, local officials say. 'All of a sudden, we have people driving over here in Bentleys to look at property,' said Woodard, 57, a real-estate agent with wispy shoulder-length hair who organizes an annual jazz festival in the desert. 'Here you have a building that was bought for $725,000 a couple years ago and now it's worth four million,' he added, pointing to an expanse of land dotted with warehouses surrounded by Joshua trees and brush. 'When you say Adelanto now, everybody knows where it is.' Among the celebrities who have reportedly joined the mad scramble to snag a producer license in the city, Woodard says, are rapper Snoop Dogg, one of reggae legend Bob Marley's sons, Ky-Mani Marley, and actor Tommy Chong, of cult comedy duo Cheech & Chong. The decision by Adelanto city officials to allow marijuana cultivation led to a flood of high-end investors rushing to buy up warehouses and plots of land in 'green zones' earmarked for cultivation City officials said they expect cannabis production to easily reach 100 tons annually once farming gets fully underway, bringing in much-needed tax revenue to the decrepit town until now known more for its three prisons than for being pot-friendly. Blossoming industry 'We are on the precipice of taking over the industry,' Jermaine Wright, a former pastor and member of the city council, said assuredly. 'We're doing what no other city has done when it comes to marijuana and this is going to bring in other businesses and manufacturing.' The city's cannabis ordinance stipulates that 40 to 50 per cent of the workforce must be drawn from the local population, a measure that should significantly reduce unemployment, local officials say. So far Adelanto, which means progress in English, has issued 35 licenses to grow cannabis and expects to hand out more in coming months, Woodard said. Dan Olson, who owns a company that manufactures air filtration equipment in one of the 'green zones', said he has seen the town transform as it prepares for the expected windfall from cannabis farming. 'I go out for a walk in the desert every morning and I can see the change,' said Olson, whose company has been in the city for 12 years. 'You now see all these cars with black tinted windows driving around and you see all these warehouses where the weeds have been pulled and you know it's going cultivation.' Christopher Goodman, 59, who is in the process of purchasing several warehouses in the city, said he expects to reap millions from his investment. 'The demand is here and the more people get educated about cannabis the more people will use it,' said Goodman, who was in the auto business before turning to cannabis farming several years ago. Within five years, a majority of ride-hailing company Lyft's rides will be in self-driving cars, the company's co-founder and president predicted on Sunday. John Zimmer also said that personal car ownership will come to an end because autonomous rides will become a cheaper way to travel than owning an automobile. He made the predictions in an essay on the future of transportation in urban areas. Technology, auto and ride-hailing companies are moving quickly toward self-driving vehicles. Within five years, a majority of ride-hailing company Lyft's rides will be in self-driving cars, the company's co-founder and president predicted on Sunday San Francisco-based Lyft is testing autonomous cars on the streets of San Francisco and Phoenix in partnership with General Motors. Its main competitor Uber is starting to carry passengers around Pittsburgh in autonomous cars with a human backup driver. Zimmer said autonomous cars will start out giving rides at low speeds, around 25 miles per hour, in limited areas with a number of restrictions. The cars also won't be able to operate in bad weather. 'As technology improves, these cars will be able to drive themselves in more and more situations,' Zimmer said. Autonomous cars and ride-hailing will be essential to helping cities handle an influx of residents in the coming years as the world becomes more urbanized, he said. Once that happens, there will be less need for parking, freeing up space for parks and other uses, Zimmer added. John Zimmer (pictured) also said that personal car ownership will come to an end because autonomous rides will become a cheaper way to travel than owning an automobile Zimmer's five-year prediction may be overly ambitious because the technology for cars that carry people on their own likely won't be ready for at least a decade, said Timothy Carone, a Notre Dame professor and author of Future Automation: Changes to Lives and to Businesses. Instead, Carone predicts that operators in remote locations will take control of cars if they run into situations they can't handle, similar to how the military pilots drones. 'Cars in New York or driving on superhighways can be autonomous but be monitored by someone at an Uber or Lyft center who can monitor many cars at once,' Carone said. The prospect of autonomous cars will change the business models for both Uber and Lyft, which now let riders use cellphone apps to summon independent human drivers with their own cars. A 66-year-old Italian tourist was trampled to death by an elephant after 'provoking' the animal when he moved too close to get a better photo, police said. Ferdinando Mocciola had been having breakfast with his wife in their tent when he left to photograph the elephant at a waterhole in Kenya's coastal region on Sunday. The businessman suffered serious injuries to his left leg and died after the elephant charged at him outside luxury Swara Camp in Kulalu Ranch, according to officials. A 66-year-old Italian tourist was trampled to death by an elephant outside luxury Swara Camp in Kenya on Sunday, pictured is an animal spotted at the resort the day before the attack Malindi Police chief Muchangi Mutava said the elephant attacked the tourist when he provoked it by moving closer to take photographs. 'He excused him while taking breakfast with the wife and proceeded to water point and started taking pictures, provoking the elephant that charged towards him and attacked him seriously wounding him,' Mr Mutava said. Mr Mocclola was pronounced dead at the camp before he could be airlifted to hospital. He was on a luxury safari with his wife and a group of friends, according to reports. Ferdinando Mocciola had been having breakfast with his wife in their tent when he left to photograph the elephant at a waterhole in Kenya's coastal region on Sunday He suffered serious injuries to his left leg and died after the elephant (stock) charged at him The businessman was originally from Avellino and spent many years living in Lodi, northern Italy. He built a successful carer and worked in a business that was key to Airpack packaging company. Both Mr Mocclola and his wife, who arrived in the country last month, were due to leave in two weeks when their tourist visa expires. Swara Camp, which is located in Tsavo East National Park, attracts hundreds of tourists a year due to its wide range of wildlife. The luxury resort boasts 12 tented suites with private bathrooms and a stunning pool The luxury resort boasts 12 tented suites with private bathrooms, all looking out onto the Galana River. It is the only camp in Tsavo East which has been accredited as an 'Eco-luxury Retreat of the World'. On the resort's website, it states: 'Thanks to its strategic location along the Galana River at the edge of the Park in the private Kulalu Ranch, you will be able to see a mesmerizing variety of animals that regularly come to drink from the river. 'You will be able to enjoy this breath-taking scenery from the comfortable sofas on the veranda or directly from the infinity pool.' Barack Obama has dismissed Donald Trump's campaign as being like a 'reality show' as he again said the brash billionaire was 'not qualified' to be president. In New York for this week's UN General Assembly, Obama spoke to supporters at a fundraiser at the home of restaurateur Danny Meyer and his wife Audrey. Rejecting Trump as the 'other guy' in the contest, he said the controversial candidate had 'no curiosity, no desire to get up to speed'. Scroll down for video Barack Obama again dismissed Donald Trump as being 'not fit' to become president. He is seen arriving in New York on Sunday Obama said Clinton had been disciplined and effective in every position she has held. they are pictured together in July at the Democratic National Convention The president reiterated his belief that Trump is 'not fit' to become Commander-in-Chief - with the election less than two months away. He told the audience: 'It's a infomercial. It's a reality show. It's tapping into some of our worst impulses... ones that divide us rather then bring us together. One's that seek to put down people who have been historically vulnerable opposed to lifting them up.' He has previously criticized Trump for his 'outright wacky ideas'. Referring to Clinton, who served as his Secretary of State, he said: 'This is somebody who is smart, who is tough and, most importantly, who cares deeply about making sure that this country works for everybody and not just a few. 'And she's displayed it again and again and again. And when I said that I think she is somebody who is as qualified as any individual who has ever run for this office, I meant it.' Obama referred to Trump s the 'other guy' in the contest, and said the controversial candidate had 'no curiosity, no desire to get up to speed' Obama has vowed 'to work as hard as I can' to help elect Clinton, in large measure to ensure the longevity of key parts of his legacy. Obama is pictured arriving in New York on Sunday ahead of the UN General Assembly this week where he was greeted by eight-month-old Desmond Hatfield-Rudin Obama said Clinton had been disciplined and extraordinarily effective in every position she has held. 'And then there's the other guy,' he said, drawing laughter. 'You all know him because he's from New York. Some of you may have done business with him... If you have, it doesn't sound like it's been a pleasant experience.' Obama went on to dismiss Trump. He said: 'He shows no interest in even gaining the rudimentary knowledge required to make really hard decisions on a day-to-day basis.' The president also suggested sexism in society could be hurting Clinton's White House bid. He said: 'There's a reason why we haven't had a woman president; that we as a society still grapple with what it means to see powerful women. 'And it still troubles us in a lot of ways, unfairly, and that expresses itself in all sorts of ways.' Obama said the November election shouldn't be close but predicted 'it will be.' The president suggested sexism in society could be hurting Clinton's White House bid Clinton has lost ground to Trump in some state and national polls in recent weeks and is looking to their first one-on-one debate a week from Monday as a chance to swing some momentum behind her. Obama has vowed 'to work as hard as I can' to help elect Clinton, in large measure to ensure the longevity of key parts of his legacy. The Meyers live less than a mile from the site of a bomb blast Saturday night that injured 29 people. Obama did not mention the explosion. The president campaigned for his former secretary of state last week in Philadelphia in his first solo appearance on her behalf. He is expected to spend much of October campaigning for her. The UN General Assembly in New York will be the president's eighth and final meeting and one of his last major appearances on the world stage before he leaves office in January. Three cancer patients claim they are being refused life-saving treatment because the NHS is saving up to pay for a controversial HIV drug. All suffer from the rare blood cancer Waldenstroms macroglobulinemia, which affects 4,000 Britons and can only be cured by stem cell transplants. They have each been told by doctors that the treatment has been suspended to ensure there is sufficient funding for the HIV drug. It follows a controversial High Court ruling last month in which a judge urged the health service to offer PrEP, the HIV preventive drug, to 10,000 sexually active gay men. Stressed: Sandra Renshaw with her sons Matt (17) Alex (14) and Daniel (13) at home in Hartley Kent PrEP is taken once a day and stops the virus from taking hold of the body if it is passed on. But the cost of prescribing the pill will be up to 20million a year and as such, the NHS has had to suspend funds for treatment of several rare illnesses. Not all of the cancer patients need treatment but if the disease is progressing quickly, the only option is a stem cell transplant which costs up to 26,000. One patient, Sandra Renshaw, 51, has just been told the treatment is on hold. The mother-of-three, from Hartley, Kent, was told it wouldnt be going ahead after returning from a holiday in France before an operation earlier this summer. When I came back I was told the transplant was on hold, she said. I havent asked how long Ive got. Im a head-in-the-sand kind of person, but no one would put themselves through this kind of stress voluntarily. It is very emotional and very difficult. Another patient, Harriet Scorer, 56, a single mother from Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, said: I was told point blank that because the NHS would probably have to fund PrEP, they could not now put me through stem cell treatment. The pharmacy consultant added: I have taken time off work, which I cant afford, and the only reason I have gone through this aggressive treatment, which has made me very sick, is to get me to transplant stage. I was told I would be fully fit by Christmas. Now I may just get two years survival. Ben Bradshaw, the former health minister, above, said if it is true 'that is cruel and totally unacceptable behaviour' One NHS consultant, who asked not to be named, has also been told he cannot have the treatment. The father-of-three said: I have endured six months of chemotherapy. I have worked for the NHS for 19 years, I could work for it for another 19 years if I was able. It saddens me that I cant access the recommended treatment for me. The psychological impact on me and my wife has been considerable. The patients are being treated at University College London Hospital and a spokesman confirmed the stem cell treatment was no longer available. Ben Bradshaw, the former health minister, said: If it is true that patients are being told this, that is cruel and totally unacceptable behaviour on the part of those telling them and on the part of NHS England for trying to play one group of patients off against another. The patients are being treated at University College London Hospital and a spokesman confirmed the stem cell treatment was no longer available Dr Michael Brady, medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, the HIV charity, said: It is deeply misleading, and disrespectful to all patients, to position PrEP as a threat to the other treatments being considered by NHS England. He added that HIV treatments were due to be considered by the health service but this was delayed due to NHS Englands series of U-turns and stalling tactics over its responsibility for HIV prevention treatment. Students at a high schools across New Zealand took a recent maths exam that was reportedly so difficult, many of them were unable to complete it. Year 11 students at Wellington Girls' College were one of the schools that sat the recent National Certificate of Education Achievement (NCEA) Level 1 Mathematics Common Assessment Task (MCAT) algebra exam, reported Stuff.co.nz. The algebra exam was set by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. Students at a high schools across New Zealand took a recent NCEA maths exam (pictured) that was reportedly so difficult, many of them were unable to complete it The NCEA Level 1 algebra exam (pictured) was set by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority Teachers at the Wellington Girls' College said the questions were so difficult that students were left 'shell shocked' and many were in tears. Questions in the algebra exam included solving equations such as: (i) The area of a rectangle is x2-x-2. If one side has a length x + 1 metres, give the second side in terms of x, where x is a positive number. or - (a) A parabola has the equation y=3x2-2x+5. What is the value of y when x=4? Margaret Priest, head of maths at Wellington Girls' College, told Stuff.co.nz the exam was poorly set and required a high level of literacy. 'We're teaching maths here, not literacy,' she said. The school has reportedly contacted the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to complain about the exam. Margaret Priest, head of maths at Wellington Girls' College, told Stuff.co.nz the exam (pictured) was poorly set and required a high level of literacy The school has reportedly contacted the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to complain about the exam (pictured) On Monday, Labour's education spokesman Chris Hipkins said a nationwide re-sit was something NZQA 'may need to consider'. However, the NZQA has reportedly already ruled this option out, saying there are no plans to initiate a reassessment exercise. As the exam is part of the NCEA, the answers won't be released until January 2017 when students in New Zealand get their results. On Monday, Labour's education spokesman Chris Hipkins said a nationwide re-sit of the exam (pictured) was something NZQA 'may need to consider' An NZQA spokeswoman said the MCAT assessment 'was developed by an experienced team with expert knowledge of mathematics assessment and reviewed by several current secondary school teachers'. 'This is part of the rigorous quality assurance process that backs all NCEA assessment to ensure that all students are assessed fairly and that all the NCEA qualifications they earn are credible,' a spokesperson said. The NZQA has reportedly already ruled a re-sit option out, saying there are no plans to initiate a reassessment exercise 'As part of the quality assurance process, a benchmarking exercise is carried out within days of the assessment taking place and a marking schedule is then provided to markers. 'This exercise involves checking around 1,000 student booklets to see how they answered the questions. If we find for example that a question was more difficult for students than expected, the marking schedule could and would be adjusted.' Backpackers required to complete regional work on Australian farms have claimed employers cheat the system by ordering the foreigners pay hundreds in rent each week while only giving them a handful of shifts. British backpacker Sophie Ferrier said she was delighted after securing a $21-per-hour fruit picking job in Queensland with $120 in rent each week for the farm accommodation. But the 23-year-old said she was only given a few shifts each week and barely made $2,000 or covered the required hours at the end of her three-month stay, The ABC reported. Some have also complained of the 'substandard' accommodation and photos reveal mouldy sinks and rows of tiny bunks with 'bed bugs'. British backpacker Sophie Ferrier (pictured) said she was delighted after securing a $21-per-hour fruit picking job in Queensland with $120 in rent each week for the farm accommodation Some have also complained of the 'substandard' accommodation and photos reveal mouldy sinks and rows of tiny bunks with 'bed bugs' Ms Ferrier was also required to pay an upfront fee of $250 as a deposit for the accommodation. 'The reason they were getting so many people in when there wasn't that much work was because people were going to be paying $120 a week,' she said. 'I think [the employers] knew that people would come, realise there's no work and on top of the $120 rent they received they also got to keep $250,' she said. German backpacker Johanna Kiessling had similar issues at a farm in Queensland's Lockyer Valley. She paid $200 in rent each week and picked tomatoes for just $7 an hour. Ms Kiessling said the room was tiny and had bed bugs. German backpacker Johanna Kiessling paid $200 in rent each week and picked tomatoes for just $7 an hour. She said the room was tiny (pictured) and had bed bugs Ms Ferrier was also required to pay an upfront fee of $250 as a deposit for the accommodation Many employer contracts have clauses stating if a backpacker decides to leave before the agreed end date, all bond and working visa forms 'will be null and void' While the Federal Government requires slips to prove employers are paying their staff at least $17.70 an hour, backpackers are often forced to fork out hundreds in rent to stay in 'substandard' housing. Many employer contracts have clauses stating if a backpacker decides to leave before the agreed end date, all bond and working visa forms 'will be null and void'. According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection website, those wishing to stay more than 12 months on a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) are required to complete 88 days of regional work in northern Australia. The work could be with aged or disability care or agriculture including plant and animal cultivation, fishing, pearling, tree farming or felling. Prices for a working visa start at $440. According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection website, those wishing to stay more than 12 months on a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) are required to complete 88 days of regional work in northern Australia (stock image) On Monday, Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce insisted a resolution on the backpacker tax is imminent. Coalition backbencher George Christensen reportedly told voters in his north Queensland electorate of Dawson he would turn independent if the government didn't back down on its plan to scrap tax-free thresholds for working holidaymakers. Mr Joyce says a resolution on the tax is imminent, insisting farmers will know what's happening in the next month or so. The so-called backpacker tax, due to start on January 1, will slug people on working holiday visas with a 32.5 per cent tax rate from the first dollar they earned, unlike other workers who don't start paying tax until their income exceeds $18,200. The changes would hit the agricultural sector hard, with about one in four workers on working holiday visas. On Monday, Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce insisted a resolution on the backpacker tax is imminent, insisting farmers will know what's happening in the next month or so The widow of a gangland killer has allegedly swung an object at a man and attempted to harm a woman at a petrol station while dressed in her pyjamas. Roberta Williams, widow of Carl Williams, became enraged on Friday afternoon at the Coles Express in Kensington, north-west Melbourne a witness has claimed to Herald Sun. She had parked in the driveway and a four-wheel-drive stopped behind after the car her daughter, Danielle, and granddaughter were in apparently broke down. Scroll down for video Roberta Williams, widow of Carl Williams, allegedly swung an object at a man and attempted to harm a woman on Friday afternoon at a petrol station - according to a witness A witness claimed Ms Williams, 47, retrieved an objected from the boot of a BMW in an alleged attempt to cause harm. 'I saw Roberta Williams open her boot and grab [an object] and try to swing it at some guy. She started swearing her head off and screaming and yelling,' the witness told Herald Sun. She allegedly swung the object at the man and attempted to harm a woman. It is unclear what apparently set off Ms Williams. In video of the confrontation, a woman holding a baby could be seen attempting to hold the 47-year-old back. A woman with a baby reportedly knocked on the window of Ms Williams' car as she drove off. Victoria Police have no record of the alleged confrontation on Friday afternoon The Coles Express in Kensington, north-west Melbourne, where the incident allegedly occurred Danielle Stephens is pictured in October last year, pregnant with her newborn Santana 'It was all a bit of a blur. I was just shocked,' the witness said. Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia there was no police record of the alleged incident. Ms Williams welcomed her first grandchild, Santana, in late December to her daughter Danielle. Danielle Stephens is one of three children Ms Williams had with her husband Dean Stephens before she married Carl later in life. The gangland figure was killed in a prison-yard in 2010. Daily Mail Australia has attempted to reach Ms Williams for comment. Ms Williams (pictured left in 2014) was married to gangland figure Carl Williams (right) Australia's first Muslim woman to be elected to parliament has caused a surge in popularity for a halal snack pack lapel pin after she was spotted wearing the brooch. Dr Anne Aly, who is the member for the West Australian seat of Cowan, posted a photo of herself wearing the accessory made by Perth designer HungryLaaLaa who sells her food-based creations on Etsy. After posting the photo, Dr Aly sent followers into a frenzy who asked her where they could get a pin like hers. Hers was a gift from a West Australian Labor member. Dr Anne Aly, who is the member for the West Australian seat of Cowan, posted a photo of herself wearing the halal snack pack accessory made by Perth designer HungryLaaLaa The pin features a halal snack pack, which is made up of halal doner kebab meat, chips and various sauces 'If you want to buy a pin, there are 50 more being made and all profits are going to Halal Food Bank [in Perth]. Take a look,' the MP wrote and posted a link to HungryLaaLaa's Instagram page. The halal snack pack has increasingly become an Australian food icon after Labor Senator Sam Dastyari asked One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to join him for the tasty treat on this year's election night. Mr Dastyari had congratulated Senator Hanson on her projected win of her senate seat before issuing his invitation. 'I will take you out for halal snack pack out in the western suburbs of Sydney whenever you want,' he said back in July. The halal snack pack has increasingly become an Australian food icon after Senator Sam Dastyari asked One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to join him for the tasty treat Since then, Senator Dastyari has been a keen spruiker of the dish - which made up of halal doner kebab meat, chips and sauces - and has even had a halal snack pack named after him But Senator Hanson was quick to rebuff his invitation, saying: 'It's not happening. Not interested in halal thank you... I don't believe in halal certification.' Since then, Senator Dastyari has been a keen spruiker of the dish - which made up of halal doner kebab meat, chips and sauces - and has even had a halal snack pack named after him. After Dr Aly caused such an online sensation with her pin, Senator Dastyari showed he could not be outdone in the halal snack pack stakes and posted a photo of the menu at Melbourne's The Yarra Hotel. The photo showed a menu item called the 'Dastyari Snack Pack'. 'Anne Aly MP making a move on the #HSP [Halal Snack Pack] turf by wearing a lapel pin. I see your lapel and raise you a menu,' Senator Dastyari tweeted, adding the hashtag: 'bring it on'. Pictured is Senator Dastyari enjoying a snack pack with his fellow MP Richard Marles The company that provides civilian investigators for the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) has almost trebled its turnover in three years to 20.5million, it has emerged. Red Snapper Recruitment is paid nearly 5million a year by the Ministry of Defence to provide staff, including ex-police officers, to the inquiry. The agency is owned by husband and wife Martin and Helen Jerrold, who live in a 2million home in Islington, North London. Agency: Martin and Helen Jerrold, owners of Red Snapper Recruitment, which provides staff for the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) The 5million annual cash injection came at a time when Daily Mail readers have donated 800,000 to help him challenge Sergeant Alexander Blackman's life sentence. Sgt Blackman - otherwise known as 'Marine A' - became the first British serviceman to be jailed for murder on a foreign battlefield after he killed a Taliban fighter. The insurgent he shot had already been mortally wounded attacking a British outpost. IHAT was set up by the Labour government in 2010 to examine allegations of murder and torture made by hundreds of Iraqi civilians. The majority of cases were brought to the unit's attention by law firms such as Public Interest Lawyers, which closed last month after being stripped of legal-aid funding over alleged irregularities. Company accounts show the couple were paid a dividend of 318,539 in the 12 months to May 31, 2014, the first year after Red Snapper won the lucrative IHAT deal. The next year's accounts, for the year ending May 31, 2015, show a further distribution of dividends of 320,260. The firm's profits have also risen in the two years since winning the IHAT contract from 181,980 in May 2013 to 1.1million in May last year. Mr Jerrold, 45, was forced to step into the spotlight last week to appear before a parliamentary select committee scrutinising the work of IHAT. Sergeant Blackman, 42, became the first British serviceman to be jailed for murder on a foreign battlefield Yesterday Mr Jerrold said: 'We are very proud to support the MoD but we were successful before winning the contract. 'This is as much to do with knocking down spurious claims [against British soldiers] and clearing them as it is about prosecuting the small minority who have allegations to answer.' Outcry as 3 soldiers face charges for killing Iraqi The decision to threaten a decorated major and two soldiers with manslaughter charges over the death of an Iraqi teenager 13 years ago triggered outrage last night. It emerged that the trio could be charged despite huge question marks hanging over an initial probe into the teenager's drowning. The soldiers two of whom are still serving were cleared of any wrongdoing over the death in 2006 after being dragged through a 'farcical' three-year military investigation. The decision to threaten a decorated major and two soldiers with manslaughter charges over the death of an Iraqi teenager 13 years ago triggered outrage last night The case against them was dropped only two days into a hearing after it emerged the prosecution's two key Iraqi 'eyewitnesses' had lied. But now the serving officer and soldiers have been warned they face a new prosecution over the Iraqi's death following a fresh investigation into historic cases. Last night, the decision was branded a 'betrayal' of war heroes that 'shames Britain'. 'This is disgraceful': Col Richard Kemp, who commanded British troops in Afghanistan Col Richard Kemp, who commanded British troops in Afghanistan, said: 'This is disgraceful given the flaws in the original investigation. It is ridiculous that soldiers should be hounded for 13 years of their lives after putting their lives on the line.' Lib Dem leader Tim Farron added: 'These men have already been investigated and cleared. This shames Britain.' The case was reviewed by the taxpayer-funded Iraq Historic Allegations Team. It centres on the death of Said Shabram, 19, who drowned in the Shatt al-Arab waterway near Basra in May 2003. At the time, it was claimed that he had been forced into the water at gunpoint by British troops as a punishment for an alleged theft. But the major, awarded two medals for bravery, is thought to have argued that Mr Shabram was pursued into the water by a mob and that he had tried to rescue the teenager. A probe ended in 2006 just two days into what was meant to be a 10-day hearing when defence barristers reportedly proved that the prosecution's two key witnesses had lied. A military dossier, leaked by a senior officer within the MoD, then shed light on a botched Royal Military Police investigation dogged by incompetence. It revealed how the prosecution's 'eyewitnesses' lied and were motivated by financial gain; that defence documents were allegedly 'lost' by Army prosecutors; there was doubt that the body presented at the post-mortem examination was that of the man the soldiers allegedly killed; that an Iraqi witness refused protection after supporting the soldiers may have been murdered by friends of the victim. The soldiers believed that was the end of the matter. But it was submitted to IHAT by the disgraced firm Public Interest Lawyers, which closed last month. Former Royal Marine Commandos show their support for judicial review of the conviction of Marine A Then last week, IHAT passed the case on to military prosecutors and recommended the three soldiers be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Service Prosecuting Authority is now deciding whether or not to charge the soldiers, all members of 32 Engineer Regiment at the time, and drag them before a court martial. The prosecution would be the first as a result of criminal inquiries carried out by the 147-strong body. It is the first time IHAT, investigating more than 1,500 allegations of wrongdoing by British troops, has recommended soldiers be charged with manslaughter. The major is now suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and is on sick leave. Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who called for IHAT to be shut down, said the new probe was a 'betrayal' and a 'self-inflicted disgrace'. In 2011 the MoD paid out a reported 100,000 in compensation to the family of the teenager. At the time the family were represented by Leigh Day law firm, but then PIL pursued a public law case against the MoD. It has also emerged that David Cameron had wanted to shut down IHAT when he was prime minister but was told he could not by Attorney General Jeremy Wright. Johnny Mercer told the Mail: 'David Cameron repeated to me what he had said in public previously that he wanted to shut IHAT down. But the legal advice from the Attorney General was that it simply couldn't be done.' There are fears that if Ihat does not conduct its investigations properly, the International Criminal Court will try soldiers for war crimes instead. Mr Wright has remained Attorney General in Theresa May's Cabinet. For more articles on the case, go to www.justiceforsgtblackman.co.uk The Liberal Democrats were last night accused of hypocrisy for demanding a second referendum on the Brexit deal eventually negotiated by the Government. Leader Tim Farron was accused of not being 'very liberal or democratic' after telling his members they were crucial in the fight for Britain's continued role in Europe. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr show yesterday: 'The deal that will be settled for the future of the United Kingdom's relationship with Europe the single market, free movement and everything else is utterly unclear. Leader Tim Farron was accused of not being 'very liberal or democratic' after telling his members they were crucial in the fight for Britain's continued role in Europe 'I doubt even Theresa May knows. There needs to be a referendum on that deal. That's the best option for staying in, it's also the best option for the whole of our society.' In a heated exchange, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said to Mr Farron directly: 'I believe in democracy do you respect the referendum result?' Nick Clegg will echo Mr Farron's comments in a debate at the Lib Dems' Brighton conference today as members will be asked to endorse a proposal to give the British people a referendum on the final Brexit deal, with the option of remaining in the EU. Mr Farron will say a vote for a departure is not the same as 'voting for a destination'. Tory MP Peter Bone said: 'It is strange they are called the Liberal Democrats when they refuse to accept a democratic decision. 'There cannot be another referendum on whether we come in or out. It is not very liberal or democratic. There is absolutely no need for a second referendum, in fact it will be ludicrous.' The motion comes as the party was slammed for calling for a post-referendum truth commission to police what campaigners say in elections and referendums. The proposal for what was denounced as an 'Orwellian quango' has been rejected by electoral authorities but the Lib Dems are pressing ahead with the idea, sponsored by MP Alistair Carmichael. In a heated exchange, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said to Mr Farron directly: 'I believe in democracy do you respect the referendum result?' Tory MP Luke Hall said: 'This is utter hypocrisy from the Liberal Democrats. The suggestion that the British people were duped into their Brexit decision is a patronising and misguided attempt to undermine the referendum result.Their contempt for the British people they're meant to serve is appalling.' Mr Farron said at conference fringe event yesterday that the Lib Dems would pick up disenchanted Labour voters. 'What I can affect is the growth and rebirth of our party, step into the place where Labour should be, providing a decent opposition across the country, and to be the voice for those people who think, not only Britain should stay in the European Union, but also people of all persuasions who think there should at least be a vote on the deal that comes next,' he declared. not 'very liberal or democratic' And in a speech today to the conference he will attack Jeremy Corbyn for failing to stand up for Britain's membership of the single market. He will say: 'The Liberal Democrats demand that the British people should have their say on the final Brexit deal in a referendum. 'Voting for a departure is not the same as voting for a destination. In the meantime we will fight for the best deal possible and that means that single market. 'Jeremy Corbyn has already thrown in the towel. He didn't make an effort to keep us in Europe and now he has made clear he won't fight for our membership of the single market.' David Cameron wanted to shut down the controversial Iraq Historic Allegations Team but was blocked by government lawyers. The former prime minister was keen to call a halt to the IHAT probes into murder, abuse and torture by British soldiers in Iraq, amid criticism of the treatment of veterans. However, the then-Attorney General Jeremy Wright 'vetoed' the move. David Cameron wanted to close down the the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, an MP has said The clash was revealed by Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, himself a former army officer. 'I went to see the then prime minister in March and he told me he wanted to shut it down but he had been ordered by the Attorney General that he couldn't,' said Mr Mercer. Mr Mercer told the Daily Telegraph he had gone to Attorney General Jeremy Wright himself, and received the same response. The MP left the meeting infuriated, calling the British position 'weak', before he started an inquiry into the treatment of veterans caught up in the IHAT. His disclosure will add to the sense of outrage that soldiers are being dragged through a process the government regards as discredited. Three servicemen are facing potential criminal charges comes despite the soldiers being cleared by a military hearing a decade ago. The group, one of whom is a decorated major, have been warned they could be tried for manslaughter of a 19-year-old who drowned in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion. MP John Mercer, left, was reportedly infuriated after Attorney General Jeremy Wright, right, told him it would be legally impossible to close down the IHAT A military investigation into the death in 2006 cleared the soldiers, two of whom are still serving, of wrongdoing. But the IHAT decided to recommend prosecution, a position branded a 'disgrace' and a 'betrayal' by critics. The Government-established criminal investigation into murder, abuse and torture claims linked to the six-year military mission has come under fire for its handling of some of the approximately 1,500 allegations it has received. Adding to the outcry over the suggested prosecution of the three soldiers, Colonel Richard Kemp called it 'disgraceful' Concerns have been raised over the 'industrial scale' of claims being lodged with IHAT supported by the legal aid system. The Government has defended the existence of IHAT and said the armed forces should be held to the 'highest standards' A spokeswoman said: 'We've seen our legal system abused to falsely impugn our armed forces and we are putting an end to that. 'Equally, our armed forces are rightly held to the highest standards and, whilst rare, where there are credible claims of criminal behaviour, we should investigate them. Stamping out the many spurious claims will mean IHAT is better able to focus on the few credible ones.' When IHAT was established in 2010, Britain faced going to the International Criminal Court if it was not seen to be properly investigating allegations of abuse. Yet many claim such a risk no longer exists, and point to the fact that almost all of the cases referred to IHAT have come through Public Interest Lawyers, which had to close after its legal aid was withdrawn. Former Commanding Officer Colonel Tim Collins, told The Daily Telegraph 'we have to show willing, to stop the ICC coming down on our heads. Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said the IHAT's recommendation for prosecution of three soldiers 'shames Britain' 'We can safely say that the depth and complexity of the lies that have been put in front of it show that it is right now to call it a day.' Adding to the outcry over the suggested prosecution of the three soldiers, Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British troops in Afghanistan, said: 'This is disgraceful given the flaws in the original investigation. 'It is ridiculous that soldiers should be hounded for 13 years of their lives after putting their lives on the line.' And Lib Dem leader Tim Farron added: 'These men have already been investigated and cleared. This shames Britain.' Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the latest attack put 'a very big question mark' over the truce's future. The Syrian ceasefire was in danger of collapse last night after the US admitted 'unintentionally' killing about 80 government troops in air strikes. The truce in place since last Monday between the Russian-backed Syrian government and US-backed rebel groups was designed to make both sides focus on fighting Islamic State. It was hoped that would then lead to democratic elections and an end to the civil war. But Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the latest attack put 'a very big question mark' over the truce's future. The US expressed 'regret' for the 'unintentional loss of life', which it said came as it was attacking IS in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Saturday. The US is not supposed to be assisting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's forces against IS so it is unclear why it was launching air strikes in the area. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said the attack showed 'that the White House is defending Islamic State'. Syria's foreign ministry said the strike was 'planned and deliberate' and suggested 'pre-co-ordination between IS and the US forces'. The air strikes were called off after the Russians notified the Americans they were hitting the Syrian military. The ceasefire deal, brokered by Russia and the US, is meant to allow 'unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access' to besieged areas. They had agreed that, if the truce held for a week, Russia and the US would bomb militant Islamist groups together. Britain has the right to control its borders and turn away the tens of thousands of economic migrants posing as refugees, Theresa May told world leaders today. At her first United Nations summit, the Prime Minister declared that the 'unprecedented' and 'uncontrolled' wave of immigration into Europe is not in the interests of the UK, the migrants themselves or the countries they leave behind. Mrs May rejected demands from some UN members and charities for Britain to throw open its borders. And she criticised the inaction of global leaders that has let the crisis spiral out of control. Government sources said she would stress that if public support for genuine refugees is to be maintained the system must be robust in rooting out abuse by economic migrants. Theresa May (pictured at the UN Assemly today) told world leaders that Britain has the right to control its borders The UN General Assembly, starting in New York today, will kick off two years of negotiations on a new global policy for migration and refugees. The UN is pressing for wealthy nations such as Britain to create more routes for economic migrants from poorer countries. But Mrs May stressed that the emphasis must be on the 'right of all countries to control their borders' not the rights of economic migrants to enter the UK seeking work. Government officials said she wanted the UN to accept this must be one of three key principles on immigration policy. Crucially, she also demanded a distinction is drawn between genuine refugees and economic migrants. The influx into Europe has been dubbed a 'refugee crisis', but Mrs May stressed many of them are in fact seeking work and should be treated as such with no automatic right to resettlement. The third rule she sought at meetings with US President Barack Obama, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and others is a declaration that refugees should remain in the first safe country they reach. In the case of Syria, Mrs May said this should be Lebanon or Jordan. At her first United Nations summit, Theresa May (pictured at the UN today) declared that the 'unprecedented' and 'uncontrolled' wave of immigration into Europe is not in the interests of the UK, the migrants themselves or the countries they leave behind Theresa May (pictured meeting world leaders at the UN today) rejected demands from some UN members and charities for Britain to throw open its borders Migrants are seen in a make shift camp known as the 'New Jungle' in Calais, France The PM also pledged tens of millions of pounds more from the foreign aid budget to support education and other projects in countries close to migrant hotspots. The aim is to drastically reduce the numbers trying to head to the UK by illegal routes. A restatement of the so-called 'first country rule' will also help Britain after Brexit. Brussels rules say a person must claim asylum in the first safe country they reach inside the EU, and can be sent back there if they travel onwards. MPs PUSH FOR 'HARD BREXIT' By Daniel Martin, Chief Political Correspondent for the Daily Mail Tory Eurosceptics are lining up to join a new 'hard Brexit' group that will campaign to ensure the Prime Minister does not compromise with the EU. Senior MPs, including former ministers Owen Paterson, Dominic Raab and Sir Gerald Howarth, have signed up to the 'Leave Means Leave' group. They will use their position on the backbenches to put pressure Theresa May to leave the single market completely, retaining full control of Britain's borders and ending the influence of Brussels on legislation. The group was set up by businessman Richard Tice a leading figure in the Leave.EU referendum campaign group who called for Mrs May to pull out of the single market even if there was no trade deal. 'Let's be clear: no deal is better than a bad deal,' he said. 'The British people made it clear that they wanted to leave the EU. There should be no compromise on this.' But the new body was savaged by former business minister Anna Soubry, a Remain supporter, who said leaving the EU with no trade deal would decimate industry. Advertisement Backing of this principle by the UN will reduce the temptation for countries such as Italy, Greece or France to simply wave migrants on to Britain once we leave the EU. Mrs May told the UN she believes her approach will be 'more effective' than the current system. She said: 'Across the world today, we are seeing unprecedented levels of population movement and we need to work together to find a better response, which focuses our humanitarian efforts on those refugees in desperate need of protection and maintains public confidence in the economic benefits of legal and controlled migration. 'But we cannot simply focus on treating the symptoms of this crisis, we need to address its root causes too. While we must continue our efforts to end conflict, stop persecution and the abuse of human rights, I believe we also need a new, more effective global approach to manage migration.' Her comments are a rebuttal to the likes of ex-Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, now head of the International Rescue Committee, who yesterday called for Britain to quadruple the number of refugees it grants asylum to. He said the UK should take up to 25,000 a year. A report by the Overseas Development Institute has predicted the UK faces 43,000 asylum applications this year costing the public purse 620million. There were about 39,000 asylum claims last year. Mrs May also called for a tightening of aviation security worldwide in the wake of terrorist atrocities such as the downing of a Russian Metrojet flight from Sharm el-Sheikh last October and the attacks at airports in Brussels and Istanbul this year. The PM will also use her trip to meet US businessmen in a bid to persuade them to invest in post-Brexit Britain. Theresa May (pictured at the UN today) criticised the inaction of global leaders that has let the crisis spiral out of control A police officer in charge of an elite Scotland Yard unit could face being sacked over pro-Brexit comments made on social media, it has been claimed. Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, a Ukip supporter, regularly hit out at Remain supporters, with one Facebook post on May 18 accusing them of 'personal greed'. The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards, which was handed information by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is looking into whether the 50-year-old 'crossed the line' with the posts. Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, a Ukip supporter, regularly hit out at Remain supporters, with one Facebook post on May 18 accusing them of 'personal greed' The 50-year-old's other statuses, made on a public page that did not contain details of his job, criticised former Prime Minister David Cameron, The Sun reported. His post on May 18 said: 'If you are voting Remain for "economic reasons" (viz personal greed) then I hope you enjoy your thirty pieces of silver.' Underneath was a meme from a page called 'The Rise of UKIP' accusing the media of orchestrating a 'blackout' on the migrant crisis before the June 23 Referendum. DCI Neville is thought to have asked about stepping down from his role, but this request was refused because he could face dismissal, The Sun noted. Neville's Super Recognisers team is an elite squad of around 200 London officers trained to identify criminal suspects. Psychologists are still baffled by their abilities, but officials say they have tripled the number of successful identifications they make every week and even helped prevent muggings, drug deals and assaults. Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, a Ukip supporter, regularly hit out at Remain supporters, with one Facebook post on May 18 accusing them of 'personal greed' DCI Neville decided to set up the unit in 2011 after realising that the police could identify criminals based on their DNA and fingerprints, but had nothing to help them find suspects solely by using their images. The team has so far been remarkably successful even outperforming facial recognition computer programs. They proved especially valuable during the London riots in summer 2011. After the violence subsided, Scotland Yard combed through hundreds of hours of surveillance video. So far there have been nearly 5,000 arrests and around 4,000 of those were based on police identifications of suspects from video images. The super-recognisers were responsible for nearly 30 per cent of the identifications, including one officer who found around 300 people. Two men have gone on a night-time crime spree assaulting two women, stealing a car, breaking into several businesses and stealing jewellery and mobile phones. Police say the rampage started around 8.20pm on Sunday when they went to a tavern in North Lakes, Brisbane, jumped behind the bar and kicked a 22-year-old female staff member before demanding money. While unable to open the cash register, they stole her jewellery and mobile phone. Police have released images of two men they wish to speak to in relation to the spree Both men in the images were described as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander As they fled the tavern, they stole another woman's handbag. Outside at a bus stop, one of the men punched a 16-year-old girl in the face before stealing her phone, police said. The 22-year-old suffered bruising and the 16-year-old was not seriously injured. Then, between 9-9.15pm, two businesses in nearby Murrumba Downs and Kallangur were broken into. A supermarket's glass door was smashed and the cash registers rifled through. Next, the glass door to a pizza outlet was smashed before food and drink was taken. A stolen red 1998 Honda CR-V was reported at all three scenes and it's believed a third person was driving it. Both men from the tavern robbery are described at Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Police are investigating. The pair stole jewellery, a hand bag and a mobile phone from patrons and staff at this Brisbane tavern President Barack Obama arrived in New York for his final appearance at the U.N. General Assembly - as the Syrian cease-fire agreement with Russia teeters on on the verge of collapse. Just over a week after Obama and Vladimir Putin's tense 'pull-aside' meetings on the bloody conflict at the G20 summit in China, the President flew into Manhattan ahead of his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday. The Syrian conflict will be a major topic of concerns at the assembly, after the UN security council was forced to call an emergency meeting Saturday over air strikes by the US-led coalition. Scroll down for video The Syrian conflict will be a major topic of concerns at the assembly, after the UN security council was forced to call an emergency meeting Saturday over air strikes by the US-led coalition (Marine One, with President Barack Obama aboard, arrives at the Wall Street Landing Zone in New York) President Barack Obama arrived in New York for his final appearance at the U.N. General Assembly - as the Syrian cease-fire agreement with Russia teeters on on the verge of collapse The President greets a young supporter eight-month-old Desmond Hatfield-Rudin, after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York Barack Obama shook hands with spectators as he arrived in the city ready for the U.N. General Assembly Russia had condemned the coalition forces for killing 62 Syrian soldiers and wounding 100 more in the strikes, claiming it had allowed ISIS to gain an advantage. The Pentagon claims Syrian soldiers were hit accidentally and that the pilots had 'believed they were striking a Daesh [Isis] fighting position'. The US envoy to the United Nations, Samantha Power, called Russia's demands to call the security council meeting 'a stunt'. 'If this airstrike was the result of a targeting error,' Russian major general Igor Konashenkov said in a statement, 'it is a direct consequence of the US side's stubborn unwillingness to coordinate its action against terrorist groups on Syrian territory with Russia,' Wall Street Journal reports. Putin had already announced over the summer he did not plan to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The Russian president is expected to send Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to address the assembly instead. Russia had condemned the coalition forces for killing 62 Syrian soldiers and wounding 100 more in the strikes, claiming it had allowed ISIS to gain an advantage (pictured is Obama giving a wave to the waiting crowd as he exits Marine One) The President (pictured leaving the jet) is expected to use his last U.N. speech to address the Syria issue U.S. President Barack Obama walked to Marine One as he departed for the United Nations General Assembly from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. earlier today Aside from the crumbling Syria cease-fire, Obama (pictured saluting troops as he boarded his aircraft) is also hoping to make some headway on North Korea Marine One departed from the South Lawn with US President Barack Obama traveling to New York City 'It's a much more dangerous world today than it was eight years ago,' said Jim Jeffrey, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq and deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush. Aside from the crumbling Syria cease-fire, Obama is also hoping to make some headway on North Korea. He is due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday where he is expected to request tougher action from Beijing on North Korea by cutting off their financial supply. In his final address at the U.N., Obama will also take stock of the foreign-policy agenda he first outlined in 2009 where he promised a 'new era of engagement' with America whose international reputation had fallen after the Bush era. Tense: Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama failed to agree on a solution to the Syrian civil war when they met last week Stand off: Obama expressed skepticism that Russia would keep to its side of the agreement 'When we went to the U.N. for the first time in 2009, the president focused on a number of critical priorities for the United States that were going to help define his presidency,' said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. 'And coming back eight years later, we believe that we made significant progress in a number of these areas.' Those goals have included securing the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. But one area which Obama has not delivered on is Iran where, despite securing the nuclear agreement, Iranians have continued to reject the President's attempts to boost relations. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will not even be in attendance at this year's assembly. Obama will also be hosting a Leaders Summit on Refugees this year, where world leaders will be expected to to provide solutions to the global refugee crisis. He is scheduled to meet President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, on Monday, whose country has been besieged by terrorist group Boko Haram, while on Wednesday, Obama will take part in a U.S.-Africa forum before meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. But the tense Syrian cease-fire is expected to dominate discussions. Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the bloody five-year conflict, which has left 300,000 people dead and forced millions to flee. In their final face-to-face meeting at the G20, before Obama leaves office in January next year, they agreed to keep up negotiations over a cease-fire agreement. Obama said the pair had a 'candid, blunt, business like meeting'. It comes as Syrian government troops - backed by Russia - resumed their siege of the city of Aleppo. A deal to provide aid to Aleppo's ravaged civilians and at least partially stop Russian and Syrian bombardments had looked likely on Sunday, before talks collapsed. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had been trying to broker a deal for weeks that would curb the violence between Assad's government forces and rebel forces backed by the US. The agreement hinged on the two sides agreeing to closer militarily coordination against extremist groups operating in Syria. But Obama expressed skepticism that Russia would hold to its agreement and talks were overtaken by developments on the ground. State media said Syrian government troops had taken an area south of Aleppo, severing the last opposition-held route into its eastern neighbourhoods. A 14-year-old boy from Afghanistan has been killed in a hit-and-run in Calais as he tried to board a moving lorry heading to the UK in a bid to join his brother. The child, who had been living in the Jungle camp for almost six months, was attempting to get on to the roof of the vehicle as it slowed on the main motorway approaching the port early on Friday. Witnesses said another boy was helping him but lost his grip and the lad fell to the road where he was hit by a car. Its driver failed to stop, the Guardian reported. The teenager, who has not yet been named, was described as 'polite and gentle' by friends and was said to be trying to join a brother already in the UK. This gives him the right to travel to Britain. Three migrants risk their lives clinging to the flat roof of the lorry as it prepares to move Children's charities say his death one of 13 near the port this year alone highlights the dangers asylum-seeking minors take each night. The young boy, who is the third child from the camp to have died, had an application for papers to allow him to travel to the UK made months ago. But as progress was slow, he had begun trying to stow away, it was reported. 'He had already started the legal process for family reunification, but he had been waiting for so long he lost faith in the system and thought his only option was to risk his life in order to finally reach safety,' said Annie Gavrilescu of charity HelpRefugees. There are more than 900 unaccompanied children some as young as eight living in squalid conditions in the camp where they are at risk of abuse. Many have family in the UK and make weekly attempts to reach them. Labour peer Alf Dubs, who persuaded the Government to introduce legislation pledging sanctuary for some unaccompanied child refugees, said he was shocked by the death. But since the amendment in the Immigration Act was passed earlier this year, no children have benefited. 'The Government must speed up the process of identifying the children eligible to join family members already in the UK,' he told the Guardian. The child had been living in the Jungle camp in Calais (pictured) for almost six months More than 100 children in the Jungle are believed to have legitimate grounds for asylum in the UK but issues of identification have prompted local authorities to consider sending experts. The Ugg boot is often criticised for being shapeless, sexless and deeply unfashionable. But now the footwear brand has teamed up with its equally controversial rival Teva to launch what has been described as the ugliest shoes ever made. The two designs of hybrid shoes fur-lined sandals and mid-calf, open-toed boots have been derided as hideous, monstrosities and the worst thing Ive ever seen. Ugg has teamed up with its equally controversial rival Teva to launch what has been described as the ugliest shoes ever made The two designs of hybrid shoes fur-lined sandals (pictured) and mid-calf, open-toed boots have been derided as hideous, monstrosities and the worst thing Ive ever seen From the reaction online, potential buyers are clearly struggling to follow the designers advice to suspend your disbelief. Many have joked about the boots resemblance to a medical foot brace, leaving the ankles in fur yet toes and arches exposed. Meanwhile, the fur lining of the sandals, seemingly designed for outdoor activities, would inevitably leave the wearer with sweaty feet. The sandal is being sold for 135 and the boot for 170 on the firms websites. The public was quick to criticise the shoes on social media. Austin Bauserman tweeted: The new Teva/UGG shoe collaboration looks like a hospital boot for a broken foot. Jon Stephens wrote: Want to ensure no one finds you attractive ever again? Buy these ummm, lets call them boots? From the reaction online, potential buyers are clearly struggling to follow the designers advice to suspend your disbelief Meghan Mazar asked: Can someone explain how these new monstrosities were approved by anyone with eyeballs in their head? But some in the footwear industry defended the collaboration of the two brands. Wendy Yang, of the shoe firm Deckers, told the Telegraph: Both brands have rich heritages on their own, so to have them as sister brands is really powerful. Its a new point of relevance and will push the limits of the brands known for their iconic products. The sandal is being sold for 135 and the boot (pictured) for 170 on the firms websites Ugg has frequently been attacked for its famous sheepskin boots, once owned by an estimated one in four British women. Fiona McIntosh wrote in the Daily Mail earlier this year: They are shapeless, sexless and make even the most slender of ankles look like mighty oaks. They are also, whisper it, more than a little common. The boots have also been criticised in the past as potentially bad for feet. Dr Ian Drysdale, head of the British College of Osteopathic Medicine, said: These boots are not designed for outside wear. Just because something becomes a trend or fashionable doesnt mean its good or right. Wild half-naked dancing, tight shorts, fake tan, synchronized dance moves and well-built men with tattoos - welcome to the notorious Defqon.1 festival. More than 25,000 revellers descended upon the International Regatta Centre in Penrith, Sydney on Saturday for a day of festivities. And it was clearly the marriage proposal, elaborate costumes and quirky dance moves that were taking centre stage at the hard style rave. The 2016 event had no shortage of bare chests and toned muscles as Instagram was flooded with thousands upon thousands of selfies and group shots. In keeping with the trend of years gone by, festival goers dressed up in everything from elaborate costumes, including fantasy characters, masks, and superheroes. Scroll down for videos Two women caught the attention of the crowd when they both danced in sync at Defqon One man wore a full beige-coloured body suit made out of latex, causing him to appear naked, flanked by two young festival goers in short shorts and crop tops at Defqon A woman was surprised when her boyfriend got down on one knee to proprose - she said yes As music lovers danced in their own worlds, one woman was surprised when her boyfriend got down on bended knee to propose - and she said yes. One man wore a full beige-coloured body suit made out of latex, causing him to appear naked, flanked by two young festival goers in short shorts and crop tops. Two women caught the attention of the crowd when they both danced in sync while others twirled and waved their arms in circular movements. One man went to extreme lengths to get a better view of the stage as he was pushed above the crowd in a large inflatable ball. Many dressed to impressed, with some going for the elaborate costumes they presumably planned for weeks ahead of the wild event. Most girls embraced the balmy weather by wearing short shorts and bikini tops while others had skull printed bandanas wrapped around their faces. Many showed off their elaborate costumes, presumably planned for weeks ahead of the day Two festival goers wore a furry panda costumes while others opted fantasy characters Many wore body-fitted costumes and latex, while others wore tiny shorts and crop tops One woman managed to get a toy baseball bat through the gates as she posed with a fireman Many opted for the skull printed bandanas wrapped around their faces as they danced Many twirled and waved their arms in circular movements as they danced to the music While some played it smart, opting to don their active wear to ensure they were both comfortable and fashionable for a day of dancing. Hundreds of men who have spent countless of hours working out in gyms for such an occasion also made the most of the weather. Tucking shirts into shorts and showing off tattoos was a common theme of the day. More unusual was the decision of one pair of friends to wrapped ribbons all the way up their legs in somewhat of a bondage-inspired dress up. Three men also proved that American-Indian head wear isn't just for women. One looked like he'd fit in better at the races than a rave as he wore a white blazer and trousers, while another showed off his tattoos as he sucked on a lollipop. One man went to extreme lengths to get a better view of the stage as he was pushed above the crowd in a large inflatable ball Revellers at the Defqon1 music festival wore a range of outfits as they partied at the hard style and dance rave in Sydney on Saturday Girls seemingly made the most of the balmy weather by wearing bikinis and crop tops, while one man went for more of a fantasy style outift After seemingly spending countless hours in the gym, these four men made the most of the opportunity to show off their bodies at the festival These two friends went with the unique mix of active wear and bondage-inspired ribbons wrapped around their legs Meanwhile, police arrested 77 people for drug-related offences at the event. Targeting anti-social behaviour, drug and alcohol offences and public safety, officers conducted a number of searches, returning 77 drug detections. Six people were charged with supplying a prohibited drug while more than 200 received medical treatment for drug and heat-related illnesses with six of those taken to Nepean Hospital for further treatment. Police also conducted 630 random breath tests, with eight people charged with drink driving and 44 people found to be driving whilst under the influence of drugs. Two men from this group showed that American-Indian head wear isn't just for women, while the man in the middle looked better dressed for a day at the races than a music festival Thousands took to Instagram to share their photos from the rave, whether they were shirtless and eating lollipops or dressed up with an American-Indian head piece The 2014 book The Russia-China Axis first revealed Vladimir Putin's remarks to an audience at a Moscow banquet in 2011 Russia's strongman president, Vladimir Putin, once bragged that his country was the only one in the world who could 'destroy America in half an hour or less.' The revelation was reported by Douglas E. Schoen and Melik Kaylan, the co-authors of a book published in 2014 called The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold War and America's Crisis of Leadership. It appeared most recently in an article by Amanda Macias of Business Insider. The authors recalled an appearance by Putin at a lavish banquet in front of a well-heeled audience in Moscow in 2011. At the time, Putin held the title of prime minister, and the elections of March 2012 that would re-install him as president were just a formality that was a mere months away. The premier used the occasion to laud his own 'indispensable leadership' before admonishing the United States. 'You ask me whether we are going to change,' he said to the Americans who were in attendance at the event. 'The ball is in your court. Will you change?' Putin then condemned the Americans for planning to build a missile-defense system something that the Russians consider a threat to their own national security. At the G20 summit meeting in China earlier this month, Putin (left) and US President Barack Obama held a tense meeting over a range of issues The Russian leader then bragged that the only reason Washington wanted relations with Moscow was because Russia could 'destroy America in half an hour or less.' Putin has had a testy relationship with US President Barack Obama. Washington has chafed at the Kremlin's military involvement in Ukraine and its support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the bloody five-year conflict, which has left 300,000 people dead and forced millions to flee. Russia, for its part, is suspicious of US and NATO aims in its traditional sphere of influence in Eastern Union and the old Soviet bloc. Putin has also been critical of the United States for attempting to 'export' its version of democracy to Iraq in 2003 and Libya in 2011. The Russian leader said last year that US interference in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries 'resulted in a brazen destruction of national institutions and the lifestyle itself.' 'Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty...and social disaster.' Syrian President Bashar Assad shakes hands with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Damascus, Syria, this past June At the G20 summit meeting in China earlier this month, Obama and Putin took sides on the topics of cyber-crime and Syria during an intense, 90-minute-long 'pull-aside' meeting. The pair had been photographed locked in a 'death stare' during the meeting, which occurred apart from the main discussions. The US president later explained he had been raising the issue of cyber attacks on America by Russian attackers, and the need to create rules to regulate how countries use the internet. He also likened the internet to a weapon, emphasizing the US's offensive and defensive military might as he explained their discussion. 'What we cannot do is have a situation in which this suddenly becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means,' he explained to press later on. He added that 'wisely, I think, we've put in place some norms when it comes to using other weapons.' The pair have also been talking about the civil war in Syria - but Obama admitted no solution had been found yet. The two leaders discussed Syria at closed multilateral meetings but could not reach a deal to ease fighting in the war-torn region. But in their final face-to-face meeting before Obama leaves office in January next year, he and Putin agreed to keep up negotiations over a cease-fire agreement. The US military said on Saturday that it may have accidentally struck Syrian army soldiers while attempting to carry out an air strike on ISIS. If confirmed, the strike would mark the first known direct American hit on Assad's forces in the country's five-year civil war. Russia's military said it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 soldiers were killed in the air raid and more than 100 wounded. US Central Command said the strike was immediately halted 'when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military'. The Syrian military said the airstrike hit a base in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour that is surrounded by ISIS, allowing the extremists to advance. The apparently errant strike could deal a crushing blow to a fragile US and Russian-brokered cease-fire that has largely held for five days despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides. The cease-fire, which does not apply to attacks on ISIS, has already been the subject of disputes between Moscow and Washington, with each accusing the other of failing to fully implement it. With his party's poll ratings tanking at something like 8 per cent, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron jutted his jaw at ill fortune yesterday morning. He drew the only conclusion a politician possibly can in such dreadful circumstances. 'We are,' he averred, 'in a very, very good place.' I loved that double 'very'. Do you think General Gordon said something similar before being hacked down in Khartoum in 1885? It's all going swimmingly, chaps. Oh, hello, there. Who's that white-robed chap pointing his scimitar at me? Mr Farron, right, tanned and tieless on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show with a little blond daub in the front of his Tintin quiff Mr Farron, tanned and tieless on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show with a little blond daub in the front of his Tintin quiff, declared that his party was the only answer to the current Conservative supremacy. As he spoke, his party faithful were hobbling down to Brighton for their autumn conference more walking sticks than in a box of Twiglets. Zesty, youthful, modern: these were not quite the words. Friends, I have seen the future and it doesn't look a bit like this lot. When you arrive at Lib Dem conferences there are always activists on the pavement handing out fliers to fringe meetings about trans-sexuality, the environment, veganism and so forth. If local hip-replacement surgeons and hearing-aid fitters got down there with their business cards they might fill their order books for months. And yet Mr Farron, leaning forward to show how immersed he was in the task, insisted that it was the Lib Dems, oh yes, who would 'build a progressive momentum'. Labour were goners, he argued. They hadn't a hope! With his party's poll ratings tanking at something like 8 per cent, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron jutted his jaw at ill fortune Jeremy Corbyn with his brigades of revolutionaries was a fading proposition, we were told. It would fall to the yellow perils, the dotty old Lib Dems (currently down to just eight members in the House of Commons, one of whom is Nick Clegg and at least three of whom are certifiably useless) to lead the People of Israel to freedom. Something like that, anyway. The Marr programme was at its very worst, moulding the entire show into some thesis about 'the death of liberalism'. The lazy, unspoken bias in this was outrageous. Andrew Marr conceded that the word 'liberal' was attractive, ie a good thing. Yet he projected the theory that, with Brexit looming and with Theresa May having become prime minister, we were not in 'a post-liberal world'. Ergo, Brexit and May were anti-liberal and a bad thing. As Farron spoke, his party faithful were hobbling down to Brighton for their autumn conference The BBC is so urban-Leftist, it probably did not even notice this casual prejudice. But this 'liberalism is finished' idea really won't wash. First, the Brexit vote (supported by 17.4million voters) was a tremendously liberating moment. It got us out of a stinkingly protectionist union and means we will now revert to being a sovereign democracy rather than being bossed about by unelected commissioners in Brussels. We will have a better chance to do free trade with African and Antipodean countries. Is that not liberal? Is plain-born Mrs May, with her meritocratic ideas, somehow less liberal than Etonian Mr Cameron? Are grammar schools not superbly liberal, given their ability to smash class barriers? Marr was using 'liberal' as a synonym for that old Mitford sisters code 'PLU' (People Like Us). Mr Farron wanted another referendum on our EU membership. 'We trusted the people on departure, we should now trust them on destination,' he said, looking pleased with this slippery soundbite. Marr asked if the Lib Dems would co-operate with other opposition parties to ensure that, for instance, there would be only one non-Tory candidate in the Witney by-election. Mr Farron wafted aside that idea. In some ways you had to admire the optimism with which Mr Farron, so prettily husky and earnest, presented his case. He shows the gallant resilience of a scoutmaster erecting tents despite a weather forecast of gales and torrential rain. There 'is every sign', he said, that he and his Lib Dems would in future form the 'positive, progressive, moderate opposition'. Anti-Muslim protesters have gathered outside the home of Ihsas Khan, the alleged stabbing terror attack perpetrator. The alleged ISIS-inspired attack Khan is charged with carrying out in Minto, south-west Sydney, has left grandfather and cabinet maker Wayne Greenhalgh, 57, with permanent damage to his hands and other injuries. A small group of 'vocal' protesters carried Australian flags and placards proclaiming 'Stop the Invasion' and 'Islamic refugees not welcome' during the gathering on Saturday, a week on from the attack. According to 7 News, they had gathered calling for a ban on all Muslim immigration. Anti-Islamic protesters, believed to be from the far-right Party for Freedom, gather outside the Minto, Sydney, home of terror attack accused Ihsas Khan, 19 A small group of protesters gathered in Minto with placards and Australian flags on Saturday Victim Wayne Greenhalgh, 57, is to speak about his ordeal with A Current Affair Mr Greenhalgh is reunited with the neighbours who came to his aid during the attack One member of the group, who appeared to be Nick Folkes from the far right group Party for Freedom, said: 'We don't to be swamped by Muslims and that's what's happening at the moment'. But one resident from the neighbourhood said: 'They're doing exactly what he [Khan] did for three days before he went off'. And Mr Greenhalgh, who is set to appear on A Current Affair, has urged people to not hate Muslims. According to witnesses, Khan's behaviour leading up to the attack on Mr Greenhalgh had becoming increasingly erratic. The attacker was captured on CCTV footage brandishing a large knife Mr Greenhalgh's neighbours came to his aid during the attack, holding off the attacker while they waited for police to arrive The moment Ihsas Khan was arrested by police. Circled in red is the alleged weapon used in the attack Mr Greenhalgh is a grandfather and a cabinet maker, and has suffered permanent damage to his hands Mr Greenhalgh is said to be recovering well mentally, but physically is 'messed up' He's reported to have been a 'religious fanatic' and was allegedly heard shouting 'Allah Akbar' and other Arabic words during the stabbing, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Khan also had schizophrenia, it was reported. Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said: 'We know that this person has strong extremist beliefs inspired by ISIS'. Before the attack, he would also allegedly preach in the street, wearing white robes and shouting verses from the Koran, according to reports. He has been charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder. Alleged terror attacker Ihsas Khan, 19, pictured in an earlier image Mr Greenhalgh was recovering well mentally, but was phyisically 'messed up', A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw said on Monday. He couldn't use his hands and had received two puncture wounds to his torso - one which penetrated his lung - and a large gash to his right arm during the attack. A doctor believed his two little fingers on his right hand would be 'ultimately useless to him', Ms Grimshaw said. 'He's a cabinet maker... he needs every cent that he earns to survive - to keep the family going.' His left hand was 'useless' to him because all the skin was stripped off his middle finger and he thought his left hand could 'come good', but not his right, she said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Party for Freedom for comment. An image from CCTV footage shows the moment Mr Greenhalgh (left) escaped his attacker into a nearby hair salon A retired FBI agent and his colleagues working on the JonBenet Ramsey murder case will name the person investigators believe killed the six-year-old girl 20 years ago. Forensic linguistic James Fitzgerald, along with other original investigators on the case, teamed up with new experts to re-examine the evidence of the unsolved case. Fitzgerald said he along with his cohort will name a suspect they believe murdered JonBenet as well as individuals who helped that person get away with the 1996 killing during the conclusion of a four-hour limited docu-series airing on CBS, Yahoo TV reported. Scroll down for video JonBenet, a child beauty queen (left and right), was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996. No charges were ever laid in her murder Retired FBI agent and forensic linguistic James Fitzgerald (pictured) said he and his colleagues working re-examining evidence in the case will name the person investigators believe killed her 20 yeas ago during a docuseries on CBS titled In The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey JonBenet, a child beauty queen, was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996. No charges were ever laid in her murder. In The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey, which airs on Sunday, investigators both new and from the original case re-examine evidence using today's technology and forensics. They rebuild the crime scene, conduct interviews and offer new theories on the case - particularly on the peculiar ransom letter found inside the family's house. Fitzgerald, who helped seek out Ted Kaczynski as the Unabomber, was involved in JonBenet's case as an FBI profiler and a forensic linguistic, focusing on the ransom note. The three-page ransom note claimed to have been written by a 'group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction'. It asked for $118,000 for the safe return of JonBenet, which is almost the exact value of a bonus that her father John Ramsey had received earlier that year. In the show, investigators will conduct interviews and offer new theories on the case - particularly on the peculiar ransom letter found inside the family's house FULL TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL JONBENET RANSOM LETTER Mr. Ramsey, Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We respect your bussiness (sic) but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession (sic). She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter. You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account. $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence a earlier pick-up of your daughter. Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for proper burial. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do (not) particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them. Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies. You can try to deceive us but be warned that we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart (sic) us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back. You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities. Don't try to grow a brain John. You are not the only fat cat around so don't think that killing will be difficult. Don't underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours. It is up to you now John! Victory! S.B.T.C Advertisement However, not many people knew that the father had received the bonus. The note read in part: 'Mr. Ramsey, Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We respect your bussiness (sic) but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession (sic). 'She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter.' In the show, Fitzgerald says he breaks down the letter, nearly sentence by sentence, 'painting a picture of what kind of a person may have done this.' 'Theres about five or six examples coming out on the show, which almost comes across as a mother talking to one of her children, so maybe that, subconsciously, was in fact happening here,' he told Yahoo TV. Fitzgerald, who has also been an advisor on Criminal Minds and Sleepy Hollow, said the first two words of the note, 'Listen carefully,' struck out as unusual during the investigation. Fitzgerald (pictured), who helped seek out Ted Kaczynski as the Unabomber, was involved in JonBenet's case as an FBI profiler and a forensic linguistic, focusing on the ransom note A replica of rooms in the house has been constructed in a 50,000-square-foot warehouse 'Right away, I said, "This doesnt even make sense." Grammatically its correct, the words were spelled right, but it was an unusual way to begin an alleged ransom communication,' he said. Ramsey also pointed out that after claiming they were a foreign faction, they misspelled the words business and possession. 'I believe both words were misspelled on purpose, because they both had to do with the double consonant "s," he told Yahoo TV. 'If youre going to misspell one word, youre probably going to, almost by accident, get the other word right.' He said at that point, he knew they had someone pretending to be someone they were not, noting within the first three sentences he was convinced it was not an 'authentic kidnapper.' 'This was someone doing his or her best to make themselves appear to be one of those entities, but it was clear that that was not the case,' he said. At the time the note was discovered JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, told police she found it on the stairway, which led to the discovery that JonBenet was missing from her bed. Fitzgerald said in the end of the re-investigation, he believes he and his colleagues have found the suspect in the unsolved murder case Despite the letter explicitly saying not to notify authorities, and despite the couple withdrawing the ransom money, Patsy still called 911 and frantically reported her daughter had been kidnapped. As the morning passed, the expected phone call from the kidnappers never arrived, and a few hours later, the child's body was located on the floor of the wine cellar. It was later determined the letter had been written on paper ripped from a notebook that Patsy kept in the kitchen. Experts had previously said the note was of similar handwriting to Patsy Ramsey but could not unequivocally say she was the one to have written it. Fitzgerald told Yahoo TV that investigators later learned the Ramseys financially could have paid a million dollars but noted the $118,000 was not a coincidence. He believes it was a 'red herring by the author' to make it look like it was an inside job, referencing the fact the amount was the same as John Ramsey's bonus. When concluding what the ransom note meant in terms of understanding who might have been involved in the murder, Fitzgerald noted the length of the letter suggested it was not a 'real criminal or real kidnapper.' He said while other ransom notes over the years have been about 50 to 60 words long, or shorter, the Ramsey note had about 385 words. 'Its clear that all of it could have been written in about three sentences,' Fitzgerald told Yahoo TV. 'This thing, instead, read like a Stephen King novelette, with people being beheaded and all kinds of nasty things happening to people,' he continued. 'The person who was writing this was truly out of his or her element, in terms of trying to be a real criminal or a real kidnapper.' CBS is investigating the JonBenet Ramsey murder in an upcoming six-part docuseries. Here John and Patsy Ramsey leave their lawyers office in 2000 Fitzgerald also noted the ransom letter was not ever a ransom letter and was 'part of a staged crime scene.' In the trailer of the miniseries, Fitzgerald says the series will hope to present a solution to one of the biggest U.S. crime mysteries. 'This little girl's homicide to this date has not been resolved. In my opinion, I think we can change that right now,' he says in the trailer. Fitzgerald told Yahoo TV that in the end of the re-investigation, he believes he and his colleagues have found the suspect in the unsolved murder case. He said taking a suspect into custody and convicting them in a court of law would be the ultimate end. 'Whether that happens or not is up to other people above and beyond the seven experts who worked on this show,' he said. Experts have also recreated the Boulder home of the Ramsey family to conduct their investigations. Here they look at a recreation of the smashed basement window But based on all the evidence, he said they feel 'very firm and very much convinced [about] who it is we're going to name at the end,' according to Yahoo TV. 'We feel very firm in rendering an opinion within the last 15 minutes of the show,' he added. As for why investigators feel it important to re-examine the case 20 years later, Fitzgerald said this is the closet thing they can get to justice being served or not. Investigators to be featured include retired FBI special agent Jim Clemente, forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz, forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee and James Kolar, the former chief investigation for the District Attorney in Boulder. The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey will air in two parts. Night one premieres on Sunday (8.30-10.30PM, ET/8-10PM, PT) and concludes on Monday, September 19 (9-11PM, ET/PT), on CBS. Science and maths teachers are taking courses such as African drumming, cheese making and playground supervision as part of their professional development. Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel was worried some principals and teachers preferred to take courses unrelated to their area of teaching, instead of focusing on new teaching techniques and developments in science and maths. He said this oversight was having an impact on the learning of students and their academic outcomes, The Courier Mail reported. Science and maths teachers may be taking courses such as African drumming, cheese making and playground supervision as part of their professional development Other professional development courses include AFL, mediation, PowerPoint seminars, domestic violence response training, ceramics and stencil screen-printing. According to research, only 30 per cent of Year Four students had a science teacher who had participated in professional development courses relevant to their discipline in the past two years. Teachers are meant to take at least 100 hours of professional development every five years but there is no requirement they be related to their area of teaching. Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham, who is set to meet with his state and territory counterparts this week, said Australians 'rightly expect' high teaching standards in schools backed by the most up-to-date skills and information. 'The Turnbull Government is committed to ensuring our record and growing levels of funding in schools is distributed according to need and used to support evidence-based initiatives proven to lift student outcomes,' Mr Birmingham said. 'As the OECD report last week made clear, Australia has a world-class education system with world-leading funding but there is clear room for improvement. Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel (pictured) was worried some principals and teachers preferred to take courses unrelated to their area of teaching Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham (pictured) said Australians 'rightly expect' high teaching standards in schools backed by the most up-to-date skills and information '[Dr Finkel] is absolutely right to highlight the importance of teaching quality as we know that great teachers, supported by an up-to-date curriculum and information and the right classroom tools can have a significant impact on students' success. 'That's why the Turnbull Government wants to link funding increases for schools to more than a dozen practical, "back to basics" reforms in our education system that evidence shows will lift the performance of our schools. 'We need to ensure every dollar in education is used as effectively as possible.' Australia's secondary school results in maths and science have fallen in international rankings. In 2012, the nation's maths results were ranked 17th in the world compared to fifth in 2003. Donald Trump was on the receiving end of several attacks by celebrities at the Emmy awards on Sunday night. After host Jimmy Kimmel made a crude joke about his home life with wife Melania several award winners took their turn to criticize the Donald. One comedy director compared him to Hitler while Julia Louis-Dreyfus apologized for the current political situation. But it was host Jimmy Kimmel led the way. During his opening monologue Kimmel, asked: 'If it wasnt for television, would Donald Trump be running for president?' 'No, he would be at home right now quietly rubbing up against his wife Malaria while she pretends to be asleep.' Host Jimmy Kimmel led the barbs aimed at Trump at the Emmys on Sunday and winners and presenters followed suit Kimmel said producer and president of MGM Television and Digital Group Mark Burnett (pictured), who created 'The Apprentice' was inadvertently responsible for the Trump candidacy He then turned his sights to Mark Burnett, who created the hit reality series 'The Apprentice', which gave Trump his infamous 'you're fired' catch phrase and a mainstream profile. ' Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore because we're living in one,' Kimmel said. He then joked that if Trump wins Burnett will be the first person over 'the wall'. Jill Soloway, who created the show 'Transparent', likened Trump to Hitler while backstage. While standing with the show's star Jeffrey Tambor, who won best actor, Soloway called the Republican nominee a 'monster'. 'Trump needs to be called out every chance we get as one of the most dangerous monsters to ever approach our lifetimes. Jill Soloway (right), who created the show 'Transparent' starring Jeffrey Tambor (left), likened Trump to Hitler backstage at the Emmys 'Hes a complete dangerous monster. Any moment I have to call out Donald Trump as the inheritor to Hitler, I will,' Soloway said 'Veep' star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said she was sorry for the current political climate, alluding to the fact her political satire show might have caused the Trump campaign 'Hes a complete dangerous monster. Any moment I have to call out Donald Trump as the inheritor to Hitler, I will,' she said. The show, which focuses on a transgender woman played by Tambor, recently delved into Nazi Germany and what it called 'other-izing' of groups of people. It explained that's how Hitler rose to power and on Sunday Soloway said Trump is doing the same. 'Right now, Donald Trump is doing the same thing. He is 'other-izing' people. He calls people pigs if they dont look like beauty pageant contestants. 'He blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems. He makes fun of disabled people. This is 'other-izing' with a capital O. It has been used in our history before to start and win wars,' Soloway said. Tambor agreed, adding: 'Ditto.' Earlier, 'Veep' star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said she was sorry for the current political climate, alluding to the fact her political satire show might have caused the Trump campaign. While accepting her fifth consecutive Emmy win for best actress in a comedy for 'Veep!', Louis-Dreyfus said her HBO show has 'torn down the wall between comedy and politics.' She also said she would 'rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it'. Kate McKinnon thanked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who she often plays on Saturday Night Live 'Our show started out as political satire but now it feels like a sober documentary,' she said. During an acceptance speech for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on 'Saturday Night Live', Kate McKinnon thanked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. McKinnon often portrays Clinton on SNL. When Courtney B. Vance was announced as the winner for actor in a limited series or a movie for his role as Johnny Cochran in 'The People v. O.J. Simpson', he closed his acceptance speech by saying: 'Obama out, Hillary in.' Aziz Ansari, who won the Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series for Master of None, made jokes about all the people of color getting 'kicked out' after claiming he was voting for Trump. Aziz Ansari, who won the Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series for Master of None, made jokes about all the people of color getting 'kicked out' 'Look, it's an election year and after careful consideration I decided I'm going with Trump, which is why I'm also recommending we get rid of all all Muslim and Hispanic nominees from the ceremony immediately. 'Wow, this would be so much easier if we were at the Oscars. 'Mom, dad, I know I just thanked you but you need to be escorted out right now. I'm so sorry 'America Ferrera, nice try chaning your name to "America". You're not fooling anybody. You're out,' Ansari said. Earlier in the year, Ansari wrote a scathing letter in the New York Times calling Trump 'scary' to him and his family. Katie Prager (left) and Dalton Prager met on Facebook in 2009 A young woman who is dying while in hospice care bid a tearful farewell to her husband who heroically worked to save her life even as his own was winding down. Dalton Prager, the husband from the real-life 'Fault in Our Stars' couple, died Saturday afternoon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, according to CNN. Prager, who was 25 years old, died from complications stemming from cystic fibrosis. Katie Prager, confined to hospice care in her Kentucky home, said goodbye to her husband on FaceTime. Debra Donovan, Katie's mother, said that her daughter told him that she loved him. 'We don't know if he heard her,' she said. He had recently received a lung transplant, but was diagnosed with lymphoma soon afterward. Complications from his treatments ensued and his health further deteriorated. Katie, who is also a cystic fibrosis patient who received new lungs, lives in a hospice care facility in Kentucky, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Both Katie and Dalton were afflicted with cystic fibrosis 'Dalton fought a long hard battle with cystic fibrosis,' Katie wrote on Facebook. 'He was a courageous fighter and 'give up' wasn't in his vocabulary.' In the two weeks before he died, Dalton had been in the intensive care unit on a ventilator. Katie's family wanted to have Dalton fly to Kentucky and recover there so that he could see Katie, but he was too sick to travel. The couple saw each other last on July 16, their fifth wedding anniversary. Their cases gained nationwide attention when in 2011, they married after a courtship on Facebook. Katie was stricken with cystic fibrosis as well as an infection known as Burkholderia cepacia. This dangerous bacteria is known to have adverse affects on the lungs and can cause death, even with treatment. She had contracted the bacteria after meeting Dalton, another CF patient. Doctors had warned Katie not to come into contact with other people afflicted with cystic fibrosis for fear that she would contract the bacteria. But she defied the doctor's recommendations and asked Dalton to visit her in Kentucky. Dalton was also a carrier of a dangerous bacteria, though this did not deter Katie from continuing to see him against doctors' orders 'I told Dalton I'd rather be happy like really, really happy for five years of my life and die sooner than be mediocre happy and live for 20 years,' Katie said earlier. 'That was definitely something I had to think about, but when you have those feelings, you just know.' In 2011, the couple married at the age of 20. The doctors' warning to Katie unfortunately came true, as she contracted the bacteria. Doctors had warned Katie, seen here with Dalton on their wedding day in 2011, not to come into contact with other CF patients since this would make her vulnerable to further illness Nonetheless, the couple soldiered on. Dalton underwent a lung transplant in November 2014 and was seemingly on his way to living a full life. But then it was learned that he had lymphoma. After completing treatment for the cancer, he was hospitalized with pneumonia and a viral infection. Katie would endure her own share of health challenges. Katie (right) defied doctors' orders, though she, too, would eventually contract the same bacteria that Dalton (left) was carrying Because there was only a limited number of hospitals in the country who knew how to cope with her condition, she was only able to find proper care at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. There was just one major problem the university was considered out of network, and neither Medicare nor Medicaid would pay for a life-saving lung transplant. As her health continued to decline, Dalton, who had already received new lungs, pleaded for help. 'They are turning my wife into a number, a statistic, a dollar sign. I cannot lose her. This can't be the end of our love story. Both Katie and Dalton received lung transplants. While Dalton's transplant was a success, Katie's was not, forcing her in and out of hospital before she was admitted to hospice care 'We are both ready to continue fighting but at this point we are running out of options and need your help. Please help me save my wife Katie.' Eventually, the UPMC received a limited permit to take her case, and a transplant was performed in July of last year. Unfortunately, the transplant failed, and doctors told her that they had no other ways to help her. While Dalton's lung transplant was a success, he would eventually contract lymphoma. After his successful treatment, however, he fell ill with pneumonia Since early September, she has been in hospice care in Kentucky. Katie has declined all medical treatments except for dialysis, which she needs due to kidney failure. 'Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong,' Katie told the Lexington Herald-Leader earlier this month. 'I just want to pass natural.' With her health failing, Katie has now resolved to live out her remaining days in hospice care in Kentucky. She has told doctors she will only agree to dialysis treatments so as to 'pass natural' Katie has started a crowdfunding campaign at YouCaring to help pay for her 'celebration of life' after she's gone. A mother-of-seven has told of the moment her family was 'destroyed' in front of her eyes at the hands of doctors at Canberra Hospital, in October 2011. It's taken five years but Jen Farrell, from Canberra, is finally ready to talk about the night her five-month-old son Billy died. A heartbroken Mrs Farrell not only blames the staff at the hospital for her son's death, but also for the tumultuous few years that have followed for her family. The 51-year-old says she, her husband Simon, 49, and in particular their young daughter Grace had their lives turned upside by the refusal of doctors to listen to a mother's intuition. 'It destroyed us all,' Ms Farrell told Daily Mail Australia. In 2011, Billy Farrell (pictured) died aged just five months old at the hands of doctors in Canberra Hospital Jen Farrell (left) says she and her husband Simon (right) were left devastated after his death. The couple moved to Queensland after their son's death, with Mrs Farrell saying she didn't leave the house for a year 'At the time Simon and I both had really nice jobs, we had a nice house and money to burn, but when Billy died we just lost our s***. 'We moved up to Queensland to get away but for the whole next year I couldn't leave the house - I just sat inside and cried.' Born with a congenital heart condition at 35 weeks, Billy was no stranger to hospital. Visits to Sydney's Westmead Hospital were common, but surgeons were pleased with the youngster's progress after a tough start to life. However that all changed in an instant when the newborn began screaming so fiercely one night in October 2011, that Mrs Farrell said it was 'like pain was shooting through him'. Unable to help her son, Mrs Farrell decided to rush him to nearby Canberra Hospital. That, she says, was the biggest mistake of her life. The couple have two other children, Grace (pictured) who is now 10 and William, four, who was named in memory of his late-brother Billy (pictured) was born at 35 weeks with a congenitive heart condition. He was on the road to recovery until one night in October 2011 when he began screaming uncontrollably Mrs Farrell said she rushed her son to Canberra Hospital because his oxygen levels were dropping - she says taking him there was the biggest mistake of her life 'I could tell his oxygen levels were dropping and I was panicking, so I jumped in the car and didn't even put him in a seat which is probably naughty but I didn't care. 'Once we were driving in the car he calmed down and went quiet, and I considered taking him back home to bed, but I thought I should be safe and head to hospital. 'If I had of just gone back inside it would've been OK.' Hurrying inside the hospital, Mrs Farrell said her screaming son was whisked away by doctors and nurses. Realising that Billy was running out of oxygen, Mrs Farrell urged the doctor to prioritise stopping her son's crying, but claims he 'arrogantly refused' and instead focused on Billy's heart condition. 'I said 'You've got to stop him crying, if you don't stop him crying he'll die',' Mrs Farrell said. ''Put him on some morphine and put him in a dark room and he'll calm down', I said.' But she claims the doctor rejected her intuition and knowledge of his condition, choosing to insert a drip instead of a nasal gastric tube like she requested. When the drip didn't work the doctor chose to use CPR, instead of a defibrillator as Mrs Farrell had also requested. With her son screaming with every push and prod of his tiny body, Mrs Farrell says she began to panic at the lack of care her claims were afforded by doctors. She told them that in an attempt to aid his heart condition, her son had previously been fitted with a heart shunt and that performing CPR would cause it to move and cut off blood to his body. But still she claims they didn't take any notice. Mrs Farrell claims that the doctor who treated her young son failed to listen to her about what was wrong with him. She believes that if she had just put him to bed, Billy would still be alive And so she urged them to call her son's specialist at Westmead, something she says they also refused. All the while Billy screamed as his little body was poked and prodded by doctors. Mrs Farrell claims the lack of attention doctors paid to her ultimately led to Billy's death. 'His screaming will haunt me to the grave,' Mrs Farrell told Kidspot. 'They gave him CPR for an entire hour from 11pm until midnight.' 'At midnight he was white like snow and there was no blood going through his body and his mouth was all twisted and he didn't even look like him.' In complete shock as she held her son for the last time, the Farrell's nightmare wasn't over. As they walked from the hospital the couple were chased after by a nurse who told them the doctor 'wasn't happy with how things had gone'. 'I said to her, 'He's not happy? What about us? We just lost a child.' Daily Mail Australia has approached Canberra Hospital for comment about Billy Farrell's death Since then the couple have welcomed another child into the world, William, who is now four and was named in memory of his late brother. The Farrell's have also since moved back home to Canberra and now, having finally found their feet, are hoping to fight for justice for Billy. 'I don't want money, I just want justice and I want this doctor to pay,' Mrs Farrell said. 'I also want to get some sort of rule in place like Ryan's Rule in Queensland so that a parent's instinct can be trusted. 'I don't want this to happen to us or anyone else ever again.' Three snakes have been captured entwined in 'ritualised combat' - and many more will be doing the same - because it's mating season. Lewis Rohun from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 says people shouldn't panic if they see fighting snakes - the behaviour is common when males seek out females as the weather warms up in spring. 'If the males cross paths and there's a female nearby they will fight to win the right to mate with that female,' he told the Sunshine Coast Daily. Snakes participating in 'ritualised combat' are likely to become more common as the spring snake breeding season gets underway in Australia A snake handler with three Keelback snakes who were found tangled together 'From my experience when the males are engaged in ritualised combat they're in a trance-like state and it takes a lot for them to be startled and to break up the fight.' Despite that, he recommended people give them a wide birth. If people needed them removed, he advised calling a snake catcher trained to avoid being bitten. Recently, snake catchers had been busy in the Sunshine Coast area as the weather warmed up and the snakes became more active. A snake with wounds to its side, believed to have been caused by fighting another snake These images show another pair of snakes in the act of fighting The trio of snakes found tangled together were Keelbacks and s nake catcher Matt George told Daily Mail Australia although three-way entanglements weren't as common, they did happen 'a few' times a year. In video of the trio, the handler explains two of the snakes had been mating and a third interrupted. It wasn't just Keelbacks mating, either - the majority of snake species were breeding, Mr George said. People could call snake catchers if they were uncomfortable with having snakes around, but the Keelbacks in the video weren't poisonous, he said. In fact, they were the only snakes in Australia which could eat cane toads, so they were good to have around, Mr George said. A grandmother who dobbed her own meth-addicted children into police said her granddaughter hid under the bed when she heard sirens because she was so used to her mother being arrested. Sarah* had spent months liaising with local police in an attempt to get both her adult children convicted so they would qualify for a court-ordered rehabilitation program. The woman, from Lismore in the NSW Northern Rivers, was forced to take informal custody of her four-year-old granddaughter in order to protect her from a cycle of trauma, Daily Examiner reported. Scroll down for video A woman from Lismore in NSW dobbed her adult son and daughter into police to get them off the drug ice (stock image) Sarah said the little girl 'was the one who suffered the most through this' in emotional damage. 'This little kid, every time she heard a police siren, would go and hide under the bed because mummy was going to get arrested,' Sarah told Daily Examiner. Sarah had been trying to get her daughter Nikki and son Joe, both in their mid-20s, into the Magistrate's Early Intervention Into Treatment (Merit), by dobbing them in to police. But her adult children were continually granted bail or their cases were adjourned. 'This little kid, every time she heard a police siren, would go and hide under the bed because mummy was going to get arrested,' Sarah said. She took informal custody of her granddaughter, aged four (stock image) 'Every one of [Joe's] petty crimes everything that we thought was bad enough for them to lock him up and get him straight enough, the Magistrate would just say: "It's not enough".' It wasn't until Joe allegedly threatened another user with a knife and vandalised his sister's home that he was considered for the fast-tracked treatment. 'With ice you can't get them to get help until they have hit rock bottom, and that's when they've lost everything, the house, the car, their friends who care, [and] alienated their family,' Sarah said. Both of Sarah's children are now clean. The little girl is back in Nikki's care and Joe is in a long-term rehabilitation program. Children were 'sliding though faeces' for up to half an hour after a boy defecated in a McDonald's playground in New Zealand, customers have claimed. Julian Rivers-Smith said the child defecated at the top of the slide on Saturday and several others got covered in it while their parents rushed out to tend to them. 'There was a mother clearly distressed screaming hysterically for [staff] to make it stop,' he wrote in a complaint on the restaurant's Facebook page. Children were 'sliding though faeces' for up to half an hour after a boy defecated in a McDonald's playground in New Zealand, customers have claimed He claimed instead of cleaning it up, staff took photos of the scene and one shared a video on Snapchat, and it was up to 30 minutes before it was cleaned up. Mr Rivers-Smith said staff at the Frankton, Hamilton, branch hosed the children down 'like cattle' when they finally attended to the mess. 'This all could have been avoided if the staff had been more responsive and dealt to the situation instead of just trying to sell more cheeseburgers,' he said. A diner claimed instead of cleaning it up, staff took photos of the scene and one shared a video on Snapchat, and it was up to 30 minutes before it was cleaned up Another customer, Sarah Lux, claimed in another Facebook post on Saturday that her son was one of the children who had slid through the faeces. 'A child had pooped on the slide in the playground, myself and multiple others informed different staff members that it needed to be cleaned up and finally after 20 minutes we finally found a lady that cared enough to clean it up,' she wrote. 'My son had been through it and has got it on his pants and another kid had even tasted it as he thought it was chocolate.' McDonald's admitted the incident took place, but said the complaint (pictured) was 'embellished' and contained many untrue claims by someone who was not present Another customer claimed in another Facebook post on Saturday that her son was one of the children who had slid through the faeces McDonald's admitted the incident took place and that staff should have responded quicker, saying it had 'no reason to doubt' Ms Lux's version of events. However, it said Mr Rivers-Smith's complaint was 'embellished' and that he was not even there to witness it. A spokesman said CCTV footage showed the first complaint was made at 2.50pm and another at 2.56pm and staff began cleaning it at 3pm. He denied staff took any photos or video, and said kids were at no point hosed down. Anthropologist Jane Goodall has said that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's behavior reminds her of male chimpanzees' 'dominance rituals'. Goodall spoke to The Atlantic, which said it had asked 'experts on intellectual and emotional persuasion how they explain Trump's success'. She told the website: 'In many ways the performances of Donald Trump remind me of male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals. Anthropologist Jane Goodall has said that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's behavior reminds her of how chimpanzees show dominance (2006 photo) 'In order to impress rivals, males seeking to rise in the dominance hierarchy perform spectacular displays: stamping, slapping the ground, dragging branches, throwing rocks. 'The more vigorous and imaginative the display, the faster the individual is likely to rise in the hierarchy, and the longer he is likely to maintain that position.' Goodall revealed to The Atlantic that while watching the debates she'll be thinking about a chimpanzee known as 'Mike' who is described in one of her books. Goodall's My Life with the Chimpanzees says that Mike kicked kerosene cans as a way of keeping dominance and scared his rivals, the website reported. Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are scheduled to face off in the first presidential debate September 26 at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. A fashion label has been slammed as 'ignorant' after a photograph of a bed in a car boot was uploaded on its social media account that appeared to make fun of homeless people. The picture was posted on New Zealand brand Stolen Girlfriends Club's Instagram page on Saturday night and has since been deleted. 'Just checked into the Airbnb,' the caption under the photo of a mattress in the back of car with pink sheets, dolls and curtains tied back with purple and pink ribbon. Fashion label Stolen Girlfriends Club has been slammed as 'ignorant' after this photograph of a bed in a boot appear on its Instagram account that appeared to make fun of homeless people The hashtags 'Airbnb' and 'five star' followed the caption, according to newshub. Social media users were quick to point out the offensiveness of the post but Stolen Girlfriends Club creative director Marc Moore said the post was meant to be a 'light-hearted' jab at Airbnb. 'Fashion label thinks it's funny to mock homeless people? Shame people think it's funny to make fun out of other people's terrible situations,' one man wrote. 'Bring awareness to the homeless crisis, take a stand as an organisation, be a leader. Don't be another shameful example.' One woman said: 'Oh my God. Ignorant and uncaring much? I suppose you are too busy profiteering to give a damn about the less fortunate.' New Zealand Coalition To End Homelessness's Corie Haddock questioned the timing of the post after some families were forced to live out of their cars during the colder months. Some of the creations from the label at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2014 A woman's dresses from the brand can cost up $489 and a man's T-shirt is priced up to $229. Pictured is a model wearing a piece from the 2014 collection 'It shows a lack of insight, a lack of social responsibility, but they are a fashion label so I guess it's not high on their priority list. It would be risque and they want to sell things, I suppose,' he told the New Zealand Herald. 'I think some homeless people would be offended by it when you consider the cost of some of the products that they sell.' A woman's dresses from the brand can cost up $489 and a man's T-shirt is priced up to $229. The label's creative director Marc Moore said he had seen the photo on microblogging site Tumblr and had re-used the image on Instagram. '[It was] intended as a light-hearted poke at being "catfished" on an accommodation website,' Mr Moore told Daily Mail Australia. 'You know, when you're looking for accommodation and the photos look amazing and you turn up to the place and it's nothing like the image. 'There was absolutely no intention of directing that post towards homeless people and it had never crossed my mind until I saw all the negative comments.' Mr Moore said he had 'absolutely nothing' against homeless people. Social media users were quick to point out the offensiveness of the post But Stolen Girlfriends Club creative director Marc Moore said the post was meant to be a 'light-hearted' jab at Airbnb. Pictured is a social media user's post about the photo A New Zealand homelessness group questioned the timing of the post after some families were forced to live out of their cars during the colder months. Pictured is another post Another social media user's reaction to the offending post made on Saturday night The label's creative direction Marc Moore said he had 'absolutely nothing' against homeless people. Pictured is an apology from the brand 'It's a serious and sad issue that affects not only New Zealanders but people all around the world,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'We would never intentionally direct something like this at the homeless, it would be insensitive and inhumane. 'It was bad timing on my behalf more than anything because locally there has been a media spotlight on the issue recently, totally unbeknownst to me. I never read the news because I find it so negative.' Mr Moore also thanked the people who had supported the label through the incident and 'clearly knew we'd never intentionally do something like this'. A wedding ring from more than 60 years ago has been found on a Perth road, sparking a search on social media for its owner. Musician Tony Croce spotted the simple men's gold band as he walked past a Coles supermarket in North Perth on Friday. It was engraved with the name 'Gabrielle' and the wedding date '28.5.55', making the nuptials 61 years ago. There was also an additional inscription that was being kept under wraps so the owner could prove it was theirs by quoting it. A wedding ring from more than 60 years ago has been found on a Perth road, sparking a search on social media for its owner Mr Croce's wife Stephanie Lee sent an army of social media sleuths on the hunt when her Facebook post about the find was shared more than 1,300 times. 'We would love to get this back to its owner - 61 years is a very long time to be married and now sadly without a ring to show it!' she wrote. 'Please share this post in the hope that a family member or friend might see it!' Ms Lee said she had notified Coles, WA Police and called nearby nursing homes and retirement villages, and planned to put up notices around the neighbourhood. Mr Croce's wife Stephanie Lee sent an army of social media sleuths on the hunt when her Facebook post about the find was shared more than 1,300 times She was also going to try tracking the owner down through marriage records. The find comes after another wedding ring was found in the ocean off Rottnest Island, near Perth, a few weeks ago. That ring was engraved with the names Lisa and Brendan but the owners were yet to be found. Shots broke out inside Macy's and assailant was killed by an off duty cop Nine were injured with one hospitalized for life-threatening injuries This is the man said to be responsible for the stabbing of nine people in Minnesota in an attack that ISIS has claimed responsibility for. Dahir A. Adan, 22, who was identified by his father to the Minnesota Star Tribune, was said to be a 'soldier of the Islamic state', according to an ISIS-linked news agency. A black and white photo from Adan's Facebook and reported by local media put a face to the name for the first time since Saturday night's attack. Adan immigrated to the United States from Africa, according to his father, and is of Somali descent. His father, Ahmed Adan, said Adan was born in Mombasa, Kenya, but did not say where the family immigrated from. Scroll down for video This is Dahir A. Adan, 22, the man believed to be responsible for the stabbings at a Minnesota mall on Saturday Isis released a statement today claiming responsibility for the rampage, which left seven men, a woman and a 15-year-old girl injured The suspect who went on a stabbing spree in a Minnesota mall on Saturday night was identified by his father as Dahir Adan, a 22-year-old college student He said they have lived in the United States for approximately 15 years and Adan was beginning his third year as a student at St. Cloud State University. Adan's father claimed no ties to ISIS or terrorism. Ahmed Adan's apartment, where his son lived with him, was raided by police on Sunday, according to the Star Tribune. ISIS-linked Amaq agency, which follows a pattern of ISIS-related media, claimed the attack was the doing of the terrorist group. Independent media groups in the United States were unable to verify the claims. Dahir reportedly asked people whether they were Muslim before stabbing those who didn't align themselves with the religion, a law enforcement source told CBS After reports of Adan being of Somali descent began to disseminate, the Somali and Muslim communities held press conferences expressing their sorrow for the victims. Mohamoud Mohamed, a spokesman for the Central Minnesota Islamic Center in St. Cloud, said the community in Minnesota had 'no connection' to ISIS. 'We are the victims of those terrorist groups. Islam is peace... I pray for the victims,' he said. The St. Cloud area is home to one of the state's largest Muslim immigrant populations and tensions have flared in the past. 'This has been a dark day; it is a day we will never forget. 'Let us unite as one Minnesota... Please let's spread love instead of hate. ISIS does not represent us. It does not represent Islam, and it does not represent Somalis,' community member Lul Hersi said. Nine people were injured at the Crossroads Mall in St Cloud, Minnesota, before the assailant was shot dead by an off-duty Avon officer Jason Falconer (pictured left and right) The state has been federally investigated in the past for having communities with ties to ISIS recruitment. According to CNN, earlier this year nine Somali-Minnesotans were convicted or pleaded guilty in a plot to travel to Syria and join ISIS. In previous years, a group of men left to join Al-Shabaab, a group which seeks to turn Somali into an Islamist state, CNN reported. 'We still dont have anything substantive that would suggest anything more than what we know already, which is this was a lone attacker and right now, were trying to get to the bottom of his motivations,' St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson told CNN. The FBI has labeled the attack a 'potential act of terrorism'. If Saturday's stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on US soil, said Karen Greenburg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law. The victims included seven men, one woman and a 15-year-old girl. Witness and police claim Adan made a reference to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before attacking nine people in Crossroads Mall on Saturday at 8pm. Adan allegedly had three previous encounters with police but most were minor traffic violations and none resulted in arrest. A hero cop shot Adan dead after he injured nine people during the knife attack. Off-duty policeman Jason Falconer opened fire at Adan, killing him. St Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said Falconer, a part-time officer in the nearby city of Avon who also owns a firearms training company, shot and killed the attacker five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call. Falconer (pictured) opened fire, but the attacker, who lunged at him with a knife, got up three more times, the police chief said Falconer opened fire, but the attacker, who lunged at him with a knife, got up three more times, the police chief said. 'He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life,' Anderson said. Falconer, who was praised for being 'at the right time and place,' specializes in training law enforcement and personal security guards, according to his company website Tactical Advantage. Abdul Kulane credited Dahir with being a good student who worked part time as a security guard, the St Cloud Times reported. Kulane also told the newspaper Dahir was last seen around 6pm when he said he was going to buy an iPhone from the mall. He added: 'The entire community are shocked by this incident...We would like to offer our sympathies to those affected, their families and the entire St. Cloud community. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson declined to call the attacks an act of terrorism on Saturday night, saying the motive for the attacks is unclear 'He was helpful to his family and as far as we know, he never had a violent history, as far as his family and the community can remember. He was a friendly and active community member. 'As far as the incident goes, we dont know what happened. All the information circulating in the media are speculations. It could involve a fight that led to this incident. It could be anything,' he said. St Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said the lone assailant, who was dressed in a 'private security uniform', entered Crossroads mall around 8pm last night. Sydney Weires saw one man with the back of his shirt drenched in blood, while another man who was bleeding from the face screamed: 'Get the f*** out!', she told the St Cloud Times 'That individual made some references to Allah and we confirmed that he asked at least one person if they were Muslim before assaulting them,' he added. Authorities have no reason to believe anyone else was involved in the attack. Three people remain in the hospital, with one victim suffering from life-threatening injuries, Mayor Dave Kleis said. Employees and shoppers were released after the mall was put on lockdown. It will remain closed on Sunday while the investigation continues with the help of the FBI. Authorities said the attack was not related to two separate explosions reported in New York City and the Jersey Shore on Saturday. Sydney Weires told the St Cloud Times she saw a security guard sprinting and yelling, 'Call the cops! Call the cops!,' after a loud scream broke out in the mall. She later saw one man with the back of his shirt drenched in blood, while another man who was bleeding from the face screamed: 'Get the f*** out!', Weires told the local paper. Danny Carranza grabbed his children from the play area near Macy's when he saw others running, the St Cloud Times reported. St. Cloud Hospital spokeswoman, Chris Nelson, said five victims were released and three remain hospitalized. All had non-life threatening injuries He made it out of the mall right after gunshots broke out, but his wife remained inside for several hours while the mall was on lockdown. Harley Exsted, who was traveling from Isle, Minnesota with Tama Exted, said: 'All of a sudden I heard "pop, pop, pop". 'I thought someone tipped over a shelf. All of a sudden these people started running. I just saw everybody running our way.' The couple were unharmed and said they helped another woman who was running from the scene to her car. Ashley Bayne was in the mall and told WCCO: 'I went closer to the mall entrance by J.C. Penney's and I was looking at some jeans and all the sudden people were just running in chaos. 'They were screaming, "Someone's stabbing people in the mall," and people were just really frantic and were running.' She recalled to the news outlet: 'When I got in my car to get out people were speeding out of there. 'By the time I left my coworker had texted me saying they had all gone into lockdown in the mall. A Twitter storm has erupted after a restaurant's attempt to hark back to the 'stylish days' of the British empire was labelled racist. British Colonial Co, which opened in Brisbane, Australia in July, described itself as 'inspired by the stylish days of the empirical push into the developing cultures of the world with the promise of adventure and refinement in a safari-style setting.' But social media users have reacted with fury at the restaurant's 'racism' as it described the days of the British Empire in a somewhat romantic fashion. Speaking of its decor inspiration, the restaurant's Facebook page and website said it was designed with the Empire in mind, with a 'wild mix of light bamboo or cane furniture, heavier pieces, plaids mixed with animal prints, dark floors next to white walls and paisleys mixed with chintzes'. Brisbane restaurant British Colonial Co (pictured) has prompted outrage on social media after the description on its website was labelled 'grossly racist' British Colonial Co, which opened in Hawthorn in July, described itself as 'inspired by the stylish days of the empirical push into the developing cultures of the world with the promise of adventure and refinement in a safari-style setting' The restaurant changed its description on Monday to read 'A refined and modern dining experience with the adventure of east meets west in a plantation style, club setting' Shortly after opening in July they described on Facebook how they had taken inspiration from as 'British Colonial Interior Design'. The post read: ''The sun never sets on the British Empire' is the oft-repeated quotation used when trying to explain British colonial style. In a nutshell, the style is a result of English citizens travelling the world during the empire's heyday, bringing with them typically heavy wooden furnishings and adapting to hot local climates with lighter local fare. 'These travellers also bought back exotic pieces from the Caribbean, India, the Far East and African as a way to show off how far they'd travelled. They tried to travel relatively light; campaign furniture (light, foldable and portable) also became part of the look. 'The results can mean a wild mix of light bamboo or cane furniture, heavier pieces, plaids mixed with animal prints, dark floors next to white walls and paisleys mixed with chintzes.' However, the website was altered today to read: 'A refined and modern dining experience with the adventure of east meets west in a plantation style, club setting.' One Twitter user questioned why the restaurant had been open for so long without anyone questioning what he labelled as 'gross racism' Another person on Twitter joked they were going to open a Mussolini-inspired pizza place after the recent controversy with two other Brisbane restaurants This person referenced the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Punjab, India, where protesters, and Baishakhi pilgrims were fired on by troops of the British Indian Army Reactions on social media to the initial description were outraged, with one person saying: 'Appears it's been open for months and no one has questioned its gross racism'. Another person commented: 'After the success of Uncle Ho and British Colonial Co. in Brisbane I'm pleased to announce I'm opening a Mussolini-inspired pizza joint next year.' Someone else said: 'I understand having a Raffles theme because you like the style, but to openly base your theme on imperialism????' Shortly after they opened in July, the restaurant said they had taken their inspiration from 'British Colonial Interior Design'. Pictured is one of the items on the menu - seared salmon, pont neuf potatoes and parsnip puree with a bacon crumb Another Twitter user referenced British author George Orwell, who was born in India One Twitter user even said: 'Maybe presenting diners with a firing squad to re-enact the Jallianwala Bagh massacre would make it more authentic.' The change to 'plantation style' wasn't good enough for one twitter user either who said 'doesn't make it any better'. British Colonial Co. told Daily Mail Australia they founded the restaurant on the principles of providing Brisbane foodies with relaxed, casual dining. This person acknowledged where the restaurant had taken their interior inspiration from, but questioned the way they had gone about it 'We believe that our decor and menu has great synergy with Brisbanes climate and the expansive palette of our clientele, who are looking for a melting pot of food and beverages to enjoy in a relaxed atmosphere.' 'We are therefore upset and saddened by todays media reports that our brand is causing offence and distress to some members of the community. This certainly was not our intention. 'As a small local business, we strive to be the best we can, and we are committed to improving our service wherever possible.' The restaurant (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia: 'We believe that our decor and menu has great synergy with Brisbanes climate and the expansive palette of our clientele, who are looking for a melting pot of food and beverages to enjoy in a relaxed atmosphere.' Just weeks ago, the thought of African Americans supporting Donald Trumps candidacy for president appeared to be a pipe dream. Now, the real estate mogul-turned Republican presidential nominee is making inroads in the black community, some of whose members may be growing skeptical of Hillary Clinton. According to the New York Post, Trump has seen a significant spike in support among likely African American voters. A new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California tracking poll shows that 19.6 percent of blacks back the New York billionaire. A new poll shows that GOP nominee Donald Trump (right) is attracting more African American support than before, though Hillary Clinton (left) still commands an overwhelming majority That is a marked improvement from the 3.1 percent support he had on September 10. Clinton, meanwhile, has seen a sharp drop in black support from 90.4 percent on September 10 to just 71.4 percent this week. The pollster said that the dip in support for Clinton began on September 11, the day that she was seen struggling to walk into a Secret Service van. When Clinton aides later acknowledged that she was suffering from pneumonia, questions about the candidate's health began to take center stage in the campaign. The latest figures are consistent with the most up-to-date polling that shows Clinton and Trump in a virtual tie. A newly released CBS News Battleground Tracker Poll showed that Clinton and Trump both stand at 42 percent support. Last week, Clinton was leading her Republican rival by 1 point. And over Labor Day weekend she was besting Trump by 2. Pollsters looked at surveys from New Hampshire, and then Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, along with Florida and Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina and the Western trio of Arizona, Nevada and Colorado 13 states total. The race looks pretty well baked, according to the likely with voters surveyed, with 73 percent saying they felt very strongly about their choice and another 19 percent saying they probably wouldn't change candidates. Just 7 percent said they felt 'somewhat strong,' and thus could still change their minds. More than half, 55 percent, of voters surveyed in those states want to see 'big changes' in the economy and politics in coming years, while another 43 percent would like to see some changes. Just 2 percent were OK with there not being much change. So while a huge majority would like to see change, voters were split on many other issues. For example, 39 percent said the economy was fairly good, while another 37 percent said the economy was fairly bad. Among those who thought the economy was good, the biggest chunk, 48 percent, gave credit to President Obama for giving it a boost, with very few, 5 percent, saying Congress was a 'big reason' for its improvement. Those who thought the economy was bad blamed Obama the most, 67 percent, followed by Americans' inability to find jobs, 60 percent. Fifty-four percent said Congress was a big reason too. When respondents were asked their opinion of what they thought when they hear the economy has improved, 42 percent responded that maybe that's the case for some, but 'it's not for people like me.' Another 53 percent said they don't hear people saying the economy has improved. He extended a lunch invitation to Senator Hanson but was turned down Father Rod Bower has slammed Pauline Hanson's 'radicalised Christianity' a month after her anti-Islam supporters stormed his Anglican church. The outspoken priest, whose provocative signs outside his Anglican Parish of Gosford have made him a hit online, laid into the One Nation leader in a speech on Monday. 'Pauline Hanson represents a form of radicalised Christianity that is willing to sacrifice Muslim children on the altar of her own political ambitions,' he said, according to The Age. Scroll down for video Father Rod Bower (L) has slammed Pauline Hanson's 'radicalised Christianity' saying One Nation's policies would harm Muslim children and make them more likely to be radicalised 'If her claim that she is only saying what the Australian people are thinking, then the Australian people have sadly missed over 4,000 years of human social evolution.' In his keynote address to an Islamic Council of Victoria breakfast, Father Bower said protecting children was the hallmark of the Christian and Muslim faiths. He said One Nation's policies would instead harm Muslim children and make them more likely to be radicalised. Father Bower then widened his criticism to all of politics, despairing about its frequent 'incoherent ramblings' and 'half-truths', but remained hopeful most Australians did not share those views. The outspoken priest's provocative signs outside his Anglican Parish of Gosford have made him a hit online Father Bower has earned a dedicated online following for the politically-charged signs frequently put up outside his church on the NSW Central Coast 'I believe that deep in the Australian soul there lies a decency that has, in recent times, been suppressed by an irrational fear encouraged by a small number of unscrupulous people,' he said. 'We are not a people without hope for the future.' Father Bower has earned a dedicated online following for the politically-charged signs frequently put up outside his church on the NSW Central Coast. Targets have included far-right Liberal MP Cory Bernardi for wanting to water-down hate speech laws He has hit out at the $160 million cost of the gay marriage plebiscite The signs frequently criticise government policy on refugees The church's Facebook page has more than 42,000 likes and an 'appreciation group' has more than 4,000 members. The signs usually criticise government policy on refugees and same-sex marriage, attacking racism and Islamaphobia, and promoting multiculturalism and interfaith solidarity. Targets have included far-right Liberal MP Cory Bernardi for wanting to water-down hate speech laws, the $160 million cost of the gay marriage plebiscite. It also hit out at Sonia Kruger's call to ban Muslim immigration and on Friday slammed Queensland Liberal George Christensen for saying many immigrants don't 'share Australian values'. His scathing attack comes a month after her anti-Islam supporters stormed his Anglican church and interrupted his Sunday morning sermon Dressed as 'Islamic extremists' in traditional robes, they lay down rugs and pretended to pray on their knees while the Koran played on tape He also extended olive branches to opponents like Pauline Hanson, earlier this month telling her 'you don't have to be part of the problem'. Father Bower's stands have also made him a target of groups like the anti-Islam Party for Freedom, whose members stormed his church last month. About 10 of them interrupted his Sunday morning sermon dressed as 'Islamic extremists' in traditional robes. They lay down rugs and pretended to pray on their knees while the Koran played on tape and one man shouted through a loudspeaker to sarcastically say they were showing 'cultural diversity, the rich tapestry of Islam'. Father Bower said the group 'terrorised' the congregation and 'violated our sacred space' and called it 'right-wing terrorism' Father Bower said the group 'terrorised' the congregation and 'violated our sacred space' and called it 'right-wing terrorism'. 'Sadly these hate filled people would have certainly claimed to be Christian on last Tuesday's census, but they know not Christ or his peace,' he wrote on Facebook. Two days later he gave an 'open, public and ongoing invitation' to Pauline Hanson to sit down with him in the spirit of goodwill, writing 'Pauline, how about lunch?' on his sign. One Nation instead palmed the invitation off to Senator Brian Burston, who lives on nearby Lake Macquarie, saying Ms Hanson was a Queensland senator. An organic chicken farm in Georgia is being plagued by bald eagles who are eating $1,000 worth of the poultry everyday. Will Harris, the fourth-generation owner of White Oak Pastures in the small town of Bluffton, had no idea when he converted the family farm to organic grazing that he would end up sharing his valuable birds with such impressive predators. Six years ago, there were no eagles at the organic farm and the 60,000 chickens were free to wander Harris' 2,500-acres, Audubon reports. An organic chicken farm in Georgia (White Oak Pastures is pictured) is being plagued by bald eagles who are eating $1,000 worth of the poultry everyday But the sheer size of the flocks began attracting the protected creatures who have grown in numbers every year. Now, there are as many as 78 bald eagles - each killing around four chickens a day. Harris estimates that the farm is losing around $1,000 in bird daily. 'I don't know how they spread the word,' Harris said. 'Must be on their eagle blogs.' Despite his frustration at the lost profits, there is little the farmer can do. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act makes it illegal for anyone to 'take' or kill the animals. Dozens of bald eagles (stock image) prey on $1,000 of live chickens every day The sheer size of the flocks of began attracting the protected creatures who have grown in numbers every year. Unable to destroy the eagles, or afford the costly methods to humanely scare them away - White Oak has already spent $5,000 on noisemakers which must be manually set off at dawn and dusk, Harris is currently resigned to his bleeding profits. 'You're supposed to give 10 percent to the church and we don't really do that, but we're giving 10 percent to nature,' he said. 'Everything we're trying to do, we're trying to emulate nature,' said Harris, who explains he had decided to take the organic route after believing his father's industrial livestock operation - where cattle are raised in small, enclosed areas, injected with antibiotics regularly, and eventually sent out to mass slaughterhouses - was cruel. But h e admits that the farm's natural approach can be frustrating at times. 'Sometimes it's imperfect and sometimes it sucks,' he added. One possible recourse would be to apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's program that reimburses farmers who incur losses from protected wildlife. There are as many as 78 bald eagles at the farm - each killing around four chickens a day. Harris estimates that the farm is losing around $1,000 in birds daily (stock image) But the standard of proof is high. They can demand video evidence and veterinary testimony - not that straight forward when it is for thousands of chickens a year. Another ingenious way the farm is trying to claw its profits back is actually by embracing its uninvited guests. White Oak has six guest cabins which have been regularly booked since Harris began posting pictures of the predators on the firm's Facebook page. White Oak Pastures sells its products to Whole Foods and farmer's markets all over the country. Harris believes the permanent solution to his eagle problem would be for other farms to adopt his natural, organic approach. With more free flocks of birds roaming Georgia, the bald eagles would disperse. A 16-year-old unlicensed driver has hit and killed a 60-year-old woman and 66-year-old man while their 25-year-old son has been left fighting for his life. The teenager was fleeing from police when the tragedy occurred at the intersection of Warwick and Ballantine roads in Warwick, Perth shortly after 7.30pm on Saturday night. Moments earlier, officers had tried to stop the white sedan on Warwick Road, but the driver accelerated away and police called off the chase stopped their attempt to chase it because of the way the Ford was being driven. Scroll down for video A 16-year-old unlicensed driver has hit and killed a woman, 60, and a man, 66, while their 25-year-old son has been left fighting for his life after the crash in Perth on Saturday night. The husband and wife, who Channel Nine named as as Kevin and Glenys, from Kingsley died when the vehicle speeding away from police crashed into the Nissan Pulsar they were passengers in. Their 25-year-old son, named as Michael, who was driving the Pulsar is in Royal Perth Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The police Internal Affairs Unit and Major Crash are both investigating. 'On the basis of information known to me at this point, the officers had good reason for attempting to stop that vehicle,' Deputy Commissioner Stephen Brown told reporters on Sunday. He said early advice was that the pursuit had ended before the crash happened. A 60-year-old Glenys (left) and 66-year-old Kevin (right) have died after the car they were riding in was hit by a 16-year-old unlicensed driver The couples 25-year-old son Michael, who was driving is fighting for his life in a Perth hospital The teenager was fleeing from police when the tragedy occured at the intersection of Warwick and Ballantine roads in Warwick, Perth shortly after 7.30pm on Saturday night 'What I do know is that our officers in that vehicle were appropriately trained and the class of vehicle that they were travelling in was right within our policies,' Mr Brown said. The teenage driver who fled the crash was later found and was charged with manslaughter. An 18-year-old woman who knows the 16-year-old was found at the crash scene and taken to Royal Perth Hospital with minor injuries. Police Minister Liza Harvey said there would be a thorough investigation into the incident. 'To the victims and the families of these victims, my heart goes out to them. This is such a tragic event and it's tragic for the officers involved as well,' she told reporters. The teenage driver who fled the crash has been found and was charged with manslaughter Five people arrested and five bombs located in New York on the weekend But they changed their minds at the last minute because they were tired They'd planned to eat earlier on the street where a bomb later exploded Hid on their bathroom floor for four hours, 'felt like the world was ending' Had to take shelter when a bomb was found right outside their hotel Two young Australian women hid in their hotel bathroom as New York was rocked by bomb blasts, a traumatic ordeal one said 'felt like the world was ending'. First, a bomb exploded about four blocks from where Sarah Pasini and Tully Humphrey were staying on 27th Street on Saturday night. Then, a pressure-cooker bomb was found outside their accommodation - right below their window - and they went into lock-down, the Herald Sun reported. Scroll down for video Sarah Pasini and Tully Humphrey, both from Melbourne, were too close for comfort in New York when bombs exploded and were found A 'pressure cooker' bomb found in New York during the weekend The bomb outside their hotel was found at 10.30pm and they spent a terrifying four hours hiding on the bathroom floor after the FBI recommended occupants take shelter. Ms Pasini had earlier heard a 'massive thud' that she initially thought was a gunshot. In fact, it was the first bomb exploding on 23rd street - where they'd planned to go for dinner. It had injured 29 people. Ms Pasini and Ms Humphrey had been in New York promoting their activewear brand, Tully Lou Tired, they had made a snap decision to eat closer to their hotel, the Herald Sun reported. 'We would have walked right past the pressure cooker,' Ms Humphrey said. Being on lock-down had 'felt like the world was ending,' she said. The duo, who had been in New York promoting their activewear label, Tully Lou, attempted to change flights and fly back to Australia as soon as possible, however, had no luck. Five people have been arrested after as many bombs were found in different suburbs in New York during the weekend, according to reports. FBI agents review the crime scene of remnants of bomb debris on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Ms Pasini and Ms Humphrey had to shelter on their hotel room bathroom floor after a bomb was found right outside 'CLINTON, INC.': The psychological biopic on Bill and Hillary will hit theaters just in time to impact the November election With the right lighting a twenty-something Virginia Clinton Bill's mom was a dead ringer for Monica Lewinsky. That realization alone, and all its Freudian implications, is enough to recommend 'Clinton, Inc.: The Movie,' a film adaptation of the 2014 book that will hit theaters on September 30. It turns out the future president's sexually undiscriminating but lovable and charming mother and the rock-steady but ambitious and intimidating grandmother who helped raised him formed maternal bookends that he would later reanimate with Lewinsky and Hillary Rodham. Hillary was the staid, grandmotherly figure from the beginning, the film suggests, the one who he could count on for comfort and security. Bill's endless string of one-night stands, including one woman he allegedly raped, were a reprise of the trysting situations in which he so often saw his mother, largely with future stepdad Roger, as he worked his way through boyhood. And as he progressed into manhood, we learn, Bill needed both the stability of his wife and the wildness of other women. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO POWER BEHIND THE THRONE: 'Clinton, Inc.' portrays Hillary Clinton as Bill's power-obsessed political fixer who taught him how to stonewall and lie despite being caught over and over with his hand in the sexual cookie jar THAT EXPLAINS IT: Monica Lewknsky (left) bears a striking resemblance to Victoria Clinton, Bill's promiscuous mother, whose bed-hopping with doctors likely means William Jefferson Blythe Jr. was not the future president's real father But far from condemning him, 'Clinton, Inc.' casts the boy from Hope, Arkansas in the same light as Alexander Hamilton, this year's unlikeliest political celebrity. They were both bastards from social and geographical backwaters Hamilton was born in Charlestown on the nowhere Caribbean island of Nevis and they both transcended their origins in world-shaping ways. The hits keep coming in this feature-length film from producer Doug Sain, who gave DailyMail.com the first sneak-peek over the weekend. Sain's '2016: Obama's America' became the second-highest grossing political documentary of all time. 'Clinton, Inc.' will see a limited release on 20 metro Chicago cinema screens before hitting 1,000 screens nationwide in mid-October, just in time to give voters a new version of plentiful old history to chew on. With help from Johns Hopkins University professor John Gartner, the film answers the question that logically follows on the unsuitably named Virginia's bed-hopping, much of which happened with doctors in a hospital where she worked. Gartner believes Bill may have called the wrong guy 'Dad' for his whole life. 'Because of Bill Clinton's own mother's promiscuity, it was likely that someone else was his biological father the biological father Bill never revealed,' Sain told DailyMail.com in an interview. And that, he said, presents a bizarre 'parallel between how he and Obama grew up.' CASHING IN CHITS: Hillary helped Bill maintain his political focus through scandal after scandal, the film explains, and was rewarded with a U.S. Senate seat in a state where she had never lived CONUNDRUM: Hillary (center, with Bill and 'Hamilton' creator Lin Manuel Miranda) never achieved anything without riding on her husband's coattails, meaning her feminist credentials are unearned 'Neither of them knew his biological father,' Sain explained. 'And they both were raised by these role models that they thought would teach them who they should be.' Gartner was not the first to name Bill's real dad as physician George Wright, but he does it on camera in a straight-ahead fashion that makes a compelling case including an anecdote about how the doctor changed where he took his annual vacations so he could be near Bill as he grew. The man usually acknowledged as Clinton's dad, William Jefferson Blythe Jr., was still on active duty in the U.S. Army until 8 months before his birth. At its heart, 'Clinton, Inc.' is a psychological study of the Clintons and what makes them tick, a welcome palate-cleanser from the politically driven and often reckless storytelling that was bound to crop up in the weeks before November's presidential election. Loosely based on the book by Daniel Halper, who now leads the New York Post's Washington, D.C. bureau and ably narrates much of the movie, the new adaptation leans heavily on Hillary, the Democratic nominee for president. Her White House run, filmgoers learn, is on the one hand an attempt to rehabilitate her family dynasty's image, and on the other a sort of payback for putting up with her lascivious husband for decade after decade. What's most interesting about it isn't what's most current. The film does a cursory roundup of the latest scandals in Clintonworld, including the Benghazi terror attacks, pay-to-play accusations leveled against the Clinton Foundation and her classified email scandal. THREE AMIGOS: Alexander Hamilton (left) overcame his illegitimacy to achieve greatness, Bill Clinton (center) likely never knew his biological father was a lascivious doctor, and Barack Obama (right) had a mother whose own promiscuity blurred his paternal lineage 'It's truth whack-a-mole with Hillary Clinton,' Townhall.com political editor Guy Benson quips in the movie. The filmmakers also rely on the voice of Dick Morris, a one-time Clinton insider whom the first couple tossed overboard after it was revealed that he allowed a toe-sucking prostitute to listen in on his conversations with the President of the United States. Morris calls the payoffs during Hillary's State Department tenure speaking fees for Bill and millions in buy-ins for the foundation 'thinly disguised bribes.' Morris was a close-up observer from the beginning, helping Clinton win his way into the Arkansas governor's mansion. As the Lewinsky scandal broke two decades later, he recalls, 'I urged Clinton not to lie to people. I said they'll forgive the adultery but not the perjury.' 'It was Hillary that said, "You gotta deny it, you gotta stand firm, you gotta be intransigent." And her advice always is to stonewall, to stand firm, not to yield an inch.' Her storied appearance on NBC's 'Today' show, in which she blamed the brewing tempest on a 'vast right-wing conspiracy,' the film explains, came the following day 'Lying,' Morris concludes, 'is her substitute for charisma.' SOURCE: New York Post Washington bureau chief Daniel Halper wrote the 2014 book that served as a blueprint for the film Hillary's most powerful role in the movie is that of Bill's immoral savior, rescuing him from himself over and over and enabling him to lie and cheat again and again. Her own mother Dorothy stoically endured an abusive husband's rantings and kept her own family together anyway, and Hillary followed her lead by looking the other way. Hillary's pre-ordained carpet-bagged coronation as a New York senator after they left the White House, singularly orchestrated by Bill, was her first cashed-in chit. She was planning her Senate run, in fact, while the U.S. Senate was deliberating on an impeachment vote that teetered on the edge of toppling Bill's presidency. A return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may be her final claim check for playing her role to a tee. 'To understand Bill and Hillary, don't think of a marriage,' Morris advises. 'Think of a racketeering organization.' The Clinton duo began as a hippie love story, to be sure, but morphed into a more savage lust for power in the film's telling. By the time she became America's first lady, Hillary had parlayed her feminist chic into control over the future of the nation's healthcare system, which she botched by arrogantly trying to steamroll Senate Republicans. But Bill was so in debt to her that he installed her in the West Wing of the White House and dared not infringe on her territory. Because Bill sensed that he needed to pull the Democratic Party back from the brink of full-scale liberalism, he put his weight behind the North American Free Trade Agreement, a political fossil that's in this year's vernacular as a bone that Republican nominee Donald Trump won't let go of. HEIRESS: Chelsea Clinton (left) was the glue that kept the Clintons' marriage from disintegrating over Bill's mistresses, and now she stands to inherit the family business, which the film describes as a combination of power-brokering and financial scheming NOT IMPRESSED: Former Clinton insider Dick Morris says Hillary Clinton's pathological dishonesty is 'her substitute for charisma' HAT-TIP TO TRUMP: 'Clinton, Inc.' will provide fodder for Donald Trump's campaign in the form of a scathing critique of the North American Free Trade Agreement as a tool for the Clintons to reap untold cash from big business In 'Clinton, Inc.'s' telling, NAFTA was an easy sell to then-House speaker Newt Gingrich because its purpose was to win cheap labor for big business. But Bill Clinton had an ulterior motive in capturing a new source of campaign fundraising from blue-chip companies that suddenly owed him. Many of the same companies, and their Washington lobbyists, backed Hillary when she ran for Senate. The filmmakers agree with Trump that NAFTA led to wholesale job losses, and suggest the president didn't care because America's working class would never cross the aisle and support an aging, feckless Senator Bob Dole in 1996. He was right, of course. And besides, now he had the backing of top Republicans from the NAFTA battle. The nation's working class emerged as the losers while the Clinton dynasty 'triangulated' itself and reaped the benefits. 'The Clintons are about power and about money. They're ruthless,' National Review editor Rich Lowry concludes. Clinton, Inc., the family business, has three iterations, Sain said. 'The first version was during their Arkansas years, the ideal. Then she becomes the U.S. senator and gets more power-hungry. That's version two.' 'Version three is her attempt now to become president.' NOT THE NEWS: The movie glosses over Hillary's more current scandals including the Benghazi terror attack and her clasified private emails Chelsea Clinton, the pair's adult daughter, is the heir to the throne even before Hillary wears a crown. Power and prominence, we're reminded, are generational. As she campaigns for her mother, Chelsea is hyper-aware that she stands to inherit a family business whose goal is to create wealth and political power. All the while, Bill and Hillary strut the trappings of a marriage based on a weird mashup of aw-shucks charm and conniving dishonesty. Voters, of course, will be the film's consumers. They'll come away exposed to the idea that aging baby boomers are looking to install a female president as the incarnation of social upheaval they stoked generations ago. But feminists in particular have a problem: Hillary Clinton reached the base-camp beneath her ultimate summit because of who she married. Bill made her first lady and furnished her with a Senate seat. Why? Because he always needed her, he always cared about her, and she has always lacked the raw political talent to earn it on her own. FAMILY MATTERS: Young Hillary Rodham (right) saw her mother Dorothy deny herself in a bid to keep an abusive marriage intact, and she later replayed that history to preserve her political future with the adulterous Bill (left) in part for Chelsea's sake 'They're co-dependent,' Sain told DailyMail.com, while cautioning that 'it's more complex than that.' 'They do very much love each other, but their own personal ambitions drive things as well.' Investors sank $1.5 million into making 'Clinton, Inc.,' which the MPAA has given a PG-13 rating. Lewinsky's blue dress makes a cameo, and there's ample talk about Bill's affairs although no appearance from alleged rape victim Juanita Broaddrick. Sain insisted that he didn't set out to put a divisive hit-piece on the big screen. 'When I made the movie it wasn't with the intent of trying to impact the election,' he said. 'We really tried to make it so that it would appeal to a wide audience.' Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has met with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney in New York to boost a campaign to help refugee women in the Middle East. Glamorous pictures of the powerful pair were posted to social media on Monday morning. 'Working w #AmalClooney raising awareness #Yazidi plight,' Ms Bishop wrote on Twitter. Scroll down for video Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has met with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney in New York to boost a campaign to help refugee women in the Middle East Glamorous pictures of the powerful pair were posted to social media on Monday morning Julie Bishop took to social media to reveal her meeting with Amal Clooney Some social media users chose to criticise her for her activities Ms Bishop also called for Daesh, known as Islamic State, to be brought to justice. In response to her tweet, the Foreign Minister was criticised for her party's policy for offshore processing of asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat. 'Never mind kissing up to celebrities, what about the refugees closer to home?' one person respond. Others complimented her for her elegant style. The Yazidi people have been massacred in a genocide by the Islamic State since 2014, which has seen at least 5,000 women abducted and raped - forcing them to flee the country as refugees. Mrs Clooney said she was 'ashamed' of the United Nations' failure to stop the genocide of the Yazidi people in a damning speech on Friday. Mrs Clooney married Hollywood actor George Clooney in September, 2014 (the couple is pictured in May in Vatican City) Laywer Amal Clooney and her actor husband George Clooney picture at the Cannes Film Festival in France Mrs Clooney introduced Nadia Murad, 23, a woman trafficked as a sex slave by ISIS when she was abducted in Iraq in 2014 and eventually escaped. Mrs Clooney was set to headline an Australian conference next month but cancelled the tour so she could travel to The Hague, the United Nations' International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court. She has represented Australian Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and journalist Mohamed Fahmy who faced imprisonment in Egypt along with Australian journalist Peter Greste. Mrs Clooney married Hollywood actor George Clooney in September, 2014. Ms Bishop is currently in New York with Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Mrs Clooney introduced Nadia Murad (left), 23, a woman trafficked as a sex slave by ISIS when she was abducted in Iraq in 2014 and eventually escaped mal Clooney, lawyer of the Canadian-Egyptian Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy and his Egyptian colleague Baher Mahmoud and Australian al-Jazeera English reporter Peter Greste, attends a court session in Cairo, Egypt in August 2015 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was told about a plan to close traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge as part of a political vendetta while the shutdown was happening, according to a witness who a federal prosecutor told jurors will testify. The trial comes three years after gridlock paralyzed a town next to the busy bridge, which connects New Jersey and New York City, for four days. Christie has contested claims that he knew of the plan for years, but this is the first time he has been accused of knowing about the scheme as it unfolded, according to the New York Times. Prosecutors said two former Christie allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, had sought political revenge against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who didn't endorse Christie for re-election. Scroll down for video New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was told about a plan to close traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge as part of a political vendetta while the shutdown was happening, according to a witness who will testify Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area bridges, tunnels and transit hubs. Kelly was Christie's former chief of staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna told jurors that another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in connection with the scandal last year, will testify he and Baroni made Christie aware of the plan during a September 11 memorial in New York in 2013, three days after the gridlock started. 'The evidence will show that ... they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned,' Khanna said. Christie has denied knowing about the scheme until well after it was carried out, and a taxpayer-funded report he commissioned absolved him of wrongdoing. He wasn't charged in the federal investigation. A message left at his office seeking comment wasn't immediately returned on Monday. Christie, an unsuccessful candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, conceded last week that the bridge scandal was a factor in GOP nominee Donald Trump's not picking him as a running mate. The trial comes three years after gridlock paralyzed a town next to the busy bridge, which connects New Jersey and New York City, for four days. Above, the George Washington Bridge on September 7, 2016 Defense attorneys spent considerable time in their opening statements castigating Wildstein, a former political blogger and high school classmate of Christie who they called the governor's hatchet man at the Port Authority. They characterized him as a vulgar, power-smitten opportunist aiming to ride Christie's coattails to Washington, D.C., at a time when Christie, about to easily win re-election in his heavily Democratic state, was seen as a top presidential hopeful. Kelley's attorney, Michael Critchley, called Wildstein and others in Christie's inner circle 'cowards who were addicted to power' and said Kelly, who had been deputy chief of staff for three months at the time of the lane closures, was a sacrificial lamb. 'The idea that Bridget Kelly is directing the affairs of the state of New Jersey is almost laughable,' he said. 'They wanted to throw her, in some sense, under the presidential bus.' Baroni's lawyer, Michael Baldassare, called Wildstein a liar and 'a horrible person, a vindictive individual who would destroy your life.' Gov. Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly leaves Federal Court after a hearing for jury selection in Newark Bill Baroni, center, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his attorney Michael Baldassare, center left, leave Federal Court after a hearing for jury selection in Newark on September 13 In the government's opening, Khanna described how crushing gridlock engulfed Fort Lee on four days beginning September 9, 2013, and how the defendants ignored Sokolich's texts, emails and voicemails seeking help. Kelly's 'Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee' email to Wildstein was sent Aug. 13, 2013, a day after she was notified Sokolich wouldn't endorse Christie, Khanna said. He added that although the lane realignment was Wildstein's idea, Wildstein 'will also tell you Kelly instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it. And the three of them worked hand in hand.' Critchley, Kelly's attorney, said Kelly regretted sending the email but it was merely joking banter taken out of context. He told jurors Kelly believed Wildstein's proffer that the three access lanes from Fort Lee to the bridge were part of a 'corrupt political deal' years ago and should be re-examined. Baroni and Kelly face counts of wire fraud, conspiracy, deprivation of civil rights and misusing an organization receiving federal funds, the Port Authority. The most serious charge in the indictment, wire fraud conspiracy, carries a maximum 20-year prison term upon conviction. The son of the digger driver suspected of killing and burying Ben Needham has revealed that he was secretly DNA tested to prove he was not the missing toddler. Valandis Barkas' father 'Dino' may have crushed Ben with his JCB digger near a farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos 25 years ago. Valandis insists his father had done all he could to help police with their inquiries when the 21-month-old went missing in 1991 and 'wouldn't harm an ant, let alone a little child'. Scroll down for video Tragedy: Ben Needham vanished in 1991 - a new witness has claimed that 'Dino Barkas (pictured), who died of cancer last year, may have killed him in an accident with his JCB digger But he has now revealed that police tested if he was Ben - even though he has black hair with dark eyes and Ben was blond with blue eyes. Mr Barkas told the Daily Mirror: 'I can't believe they asked me to take a DNA test of course I'm not Ben. 'A few years back the prosecutors asked me to give DNA and I said, 'No problem'. I gave DNA happily. 'At one stage the authorities thought I may have been Ben Needham myself. They wanted to rule that out.' Ben's mother Kerry admits it is 'extremely odd' that the son of the key suspect was checked. She told the newspaper: 'I had no idea that this had happened. It's so strange. I'm confused as to why they would want to test him. What made them think he would be Ben? Bereft: Ben's mother Kerry said she now truly fears her son is dead after 25 years believing he was still alive 'What had given them that idea? It's extremely odd. Over the years we have had many DNA tests carried out but I was unaware this was one of them'. Valantis, who two when Ben vanished, said he recalled his father telling the police that he noticed a car full of gypsies passing from the area at a high speed around the time Ben went missing. He said: 'My father has testified at the police about what he was doing at the time Ben went missing. 'He stayed there until late at night when the investigations started in order to help out if needed. 'He even gave DNA sample when asked by the authorities. He helped out the police authorities all those years, even though he was not well. 'They shouldn't accuse him of anything, especially now that he can not defend himself. 'I cannot understand why they bring up something that has been cleared so many years ago.' Police now fear missing toddler Ben Needham was killed by accident on the day he vanished 25 years ago and buried nearby. A new witness has come forward following a TV appeal in Greece four months ago, leading detectives to conclude he is dead after identifying where his body is probably buried, Ben's mother has revealed. Ben vanished on July 24, 1991, when Miss Needham, who was 19 at the time, left him with her parents Eddie and Christine Needham while she worked at a local hotel These leaflets are being distributed on Kos in the hope of finding Ben if he is still on the island and living under a different identity A specialist South Yorkshire Police search team will travel to Kos later this month and examine two sites that have not been searched previously. BEN NEEDHAM: HOW THE TRAGEDY UNFOLDED July 24, 1991 - Ben vanished around 2.30pm while playing outside the farmhouse in the village of Iraklis where his mother Kerry and grandparents were staying on holiday. His disappearance was reported to Greek police, who failed to put in place checks on ferries leaving the island for the mainland. July 25 - Builders working nearby give a statement saying they had seen a car, possibly a Suzuki Alto, parked near the farmhouse the day before. A woman was sitting in the back and two men in the front. That car has never been traced. July 26 - The police finally notify the authorities at the island's airport. A woman working at the airport recalls seeing a boy fitting Ben's description in the terminal on the day he went missing. September - The family finally return to England but the search for Ben goes on for the next 25 years. Advertisement The development raises more questions about the professionalism of the original Greek police inquiry, because after a worldwide hunt, detectives now suspect he could be lying yards from where he was last seen. The digger driver, Konstantinos 'Dino' Barkas, who was interviewed by police the day after Ben disappeared in July 1991, died from cancer last year. His 'friend' who has now come forward with fresh information reportedly saw the driver 'sweating and shaking' after returning from the police station. Barkas allegedly told the friend 'it's possible' there could have been a tragic accident. Kerry Needham said last week she was angry that the new witness had kept quiet for so long, adding: 'He could have ended this 25 years ago. I could have done something with my life instead of having my life on hold and not being able to do anything or focus on anything and living this nightmare. 'I could have probably forgiven that person back then but now, no. It's 25 years of misery to find out this ending. It's going to be difficult.' Miss Needham and her family are now steeling themselves for the possibility that police will finally solve the mystery and find Ben's remains. South Yorkshire Police have not spoken about the new information they have received but have confirmed a fresh dig will take place. Ben wandered off at around 2.30pm but police were not contacted for at least three hours because the grandparents thought he must be with Kerry's 17-year-old brother Stephen Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick, who is leading the inquiry, said: 'There will be planned operational activity at two locations on the island that have been identified as areas of interest to the investigation. We continue to keep an open mind and have updated Ben's family about certain lines of inquiry we're currently exploring.' The Home Office has provided 1.15million to pay for the current British investigation and funds are due to run out next month. If the latest searches prove fruitless, it's feared the mystery of what happened to Ben may never be solved. Ben vanished on July 24, 1991, when Miss Needham, who was 19 at the time, left him with her parents Eddie and Christine Needham while she worked at a local hotel. The boy's grandparents had emigrated to Kos. Ben wandered off at around 2.30pm and when the grandparents realised he wasn't there they searched the surrounding area. Police were not contacted for at least three hours because they thought he must have gone with Kerry's 17-year-old brother Stephen, who left the farmhouse on his moped around the time Ben was last seen playing. South Yorkshire Police - who have not ruled out murder - have spoken to the new witness and are taking his account seriously. They are now preparing to carry out a fresh dig in this area of Kos Police investigated but found no clues to explain what had happened. Over the years there have been hundreds of reported sightings of Ben and images showing what he would look like as he grew up have been released periodically. In 2012 the case returned to the headlines when South Yorkshire Police excavated land near the farmhouse where Ben was last seen, but no trace of him was found. Ms Jackson came to the public spotlight after outing her HSU predecessor belongings back on camera in front of reporters Sean Fisher died of a medical episode in Ms Jackson's home this year Ms Jackson was confronted walking outside court by Sean Fisher's family Ms Jackson was granted bail and will appear in court on Whistleblower Kathy Jackson, 49, was confronted outside court today by a dead man's family after she was granted bail charged with 70 counts of theft and deception offences from her time as boss of the Health Services Union. Ms Jackson was in Melbourne Magistrates Court today fighting 70 theft and deception charges after police allege she used the money to fund an expensive lifestyle of holidays and gifts during her time as boss of the HSU, the court heard on Monday. However, bizarre scenes erupted outside the court as Ms Jackson walked out on bail when she was met by the family of Sean Fisher. Kathy Jackson (above) enjoying a cigarette outside Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday Ms Jackson is walking outside Court after she was granted bail with strict conditions Allegations fly of assault while the family of deceased man Sean Fisher ask for his belongings A woman claims she was assaulted walking behind Ms Jackson's after she left court today Mr Fisher, 40, was found dead at Ms Jackson's Wombarra home in north Wollongong NSW earlier this year and today the family demanded his belongings back. 'Kathy, can you tell me when you're going to return the man who passed away in your home's personal property?' one woman asked. 'He passed away in your house, but you still haven't passed over his personal property it's very distressing for the family.' Ms Jackson was in Melbourne Court today fighting 70 theft and deception charges Police allege she used the money to fund a luxurious lifestyle of holidays and expensive gifts Accusations were swirling when one supporter of Sean Fisher's sister was seemingly bumped and she yelled out on camera that someone had assaulted her resulting in another lady claiming she was going to find a police officer. It is believed Mr Fisher was a friend of Ms Jackson's and police found he died from a medical episode and not from suspicious causes. Ms Jackson appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court today facing dozens of fraud-related offences over allegations she misused union funds during her time as HSU boss. Police compiled 5000 pages of evidence of Ms Jackson's alleged misuse of HSU funds Melbourne Magistrate Elizabeth Lambden granted Ms Jackson bail on Monday afternoon Police compiled 5000 pages of evidence, alleging Jackson used union funds to pay for her luxurious lifestyle. Recent details of trips to New York, London and Paris have all emerged reported the Herald Sun. Taskforce Heracles charged Ms Jackson last month with each alleged offence, which relates to a specific transaction over the last few years, the court heard. But on the Monday Melbourne Magistrate Elizabeth Lambden granted the defence lawyer Philip Beazley extra time to sift through the 5,000 page brief of evidence. Jackson is on bail and is due to return to court next year on January 24. Her bail was on the condition she would surrender her passport and remain in Australia, specifically living at her Wombarra home, with her passport already with a trustee after she filed for bankruptcy last year. She has also been told not to contact any prosecution witnesses warning she faces arrest if she breached these conditions. Jackson is on bail and is due to return to court next year on January 24, but is on strict bail The Federal court ordered Ms Jackson to repay $1.4m in civil damages back to HSU last year after she allegedly took union funds. Those funds were claimed to have been spent on clothes, groceries, liquor, fine dining, mortgage repayments and holidays. Parents and other caregivers who change a baby's diaper or bathe a child could be convicted of child molestation in Arizona. This comes following an oddly-worded ruling handed down by the Arizona Supreme Court last Tuesday, which interprets a state law to criminalize any contact between an adult and a child's genitals, Slate reported. The state supreme court heard a case involving an Arizona man who appealed his conviction of sexually molesting his step-daughter. Scroll down for video Parents and other caregivers who change a baby's diaper or bathe a child could be convicted of child molestation in Arizona, according to an oddly-worded ruling handed down in Arizona (file photo) His conviction was upheld by the court, and as part of their decision, the court ruled any sexual contact with a minor is molestation or sexual abuse. The state's sexual abuse laws do not require sexual intent in order to be charged. 'The statue says intentionally or knowingly having sexual contact. Well sexual contact is just the direct or indirect touching of the genital of something else of the child,' legal analyst Monica Lindstrom told KSAZ. 'That is where the changing of the diaper could come into play.' According to state laws, it forbids any person from 'intentionally or knowingly touching any part of the genitals, anus or female breast' of a minor under the age of 15. Laws define such contact as child molestation or sexual abuse and the statues do not require the 'touching' to be sexual in nature. This comes following an oddly-worded ruling handed down by the Arizona Supreme Court, which interprets a state law to criminalize any contact between an adult and a child's genitals This means parents and caregivers would be committing a crime by simply bathing children or changing their diapers. And those convicted under the statue could face five years behind bars. The dissenting justices noted that 'parents and other caregivers who have changed an infant's soiled diaper or bath a toddler will be surprised to learn that they have committed a Class 2 or 3 felony,' according to KSAZ. However in the 20-page state supreme ruling, the majority writes 'prosecutors are unlikely to charge parents, physicians and the like when the evidence demonstrates the presence of an affirmative defense.' But the majority also declined to rewrite the statues in order to require the state to 'prove sexual motivation, when the statues clearly contain no such requirement.' Defendants facing a case of this kind would have to prove their own innocence, instead of the state proving their guilt. The dissenting opinion said requiring the defendant to prove innocence, the state has 'shifted to the accused the burden of proving the absence of the very fact, sexual motivation, that distinguishes criminal from innocent conduct.' Fordham law professor John Pfaff also points out that the majority's logic ignores the reality of plea bargaining And with defendants having to prove their own innocence, parents and caregivers could face lengthy court battles to prove their was no sexual intent in child caring activities such as changing a child's diaper. Fordham law professor John Pfaff also points out that the majority's logic ignores the reality of plea bargaining, according to Slate. 'So courts emphasis on as-applied challenges seems misplacedseems to ignore reality of plea bargaining,' Pfaff tweeted on Friday. 'I also wonder if itll operate even more in the shadows: "take this plea for the drug deal or well tack on sexual abuse of your child,"' he added. 'No sane reasonable prosecutor is going to bring a case against parents or a guardian for changing their baby's diaper of helping the change their swimsuit,' Lindstrom told KSAZ. Warning: Lord Kinnock, 74, predicts he will not see the crisis-hit Labour Party take office again in his lifetime Neil Kinnock predicts he will not see the crisis-hit Labour Party take office again in his lifetime. The former leader, who fought against Militant in the 1980s, warns that Jeremy Corbyn is turning his party into a branch of the sectarian ultra-Left. Stretching back to the 1930s by any examination this is the greatest crisis the Labour Party has faced, Lord Kinnock told BBC1s Panorama, which is being broadcast tonight. Im 74, and unless things change radically, and rapidly, its very doubtful that Ill see another Labour government in my lifetime. He accused the Momentum faction that backs Mr Corbyn of endangering the standing and appeal of the Labour Party, which is why I regard them to be political foes. Mr Corbyn is expected to be re-elected leader on Saturday and take a stronger grip over his party. 'Selections' of MPs: Mr Corbyn, who is expected to be re-elected leader on Saturday and take a stronger grip over his party, appeared on ITVs Peston on Sunday yesterday He confirmed yesterday that he will seek to change the rules so that members can elect a proportion of the shadow cabinet and take up more seats on the partys ruling NEC. And he suggested that over the next few months there would be selections of MPs once the boundary review takes effect. Meanwhile, Unite boss Len McCluskey went further by insisting moderate MPs deserved to be deselected. Mr Corbyn told ITVs Peston on Sunday that it was not a veiled threat to point out that some Labour MPs may have to fight for their seats. There are going to be 600 new constituency Labour parties formed, as there will be for other parties, and they will go through a selection process, he said. He did not deny claims in the Mail on Sunday that he and his inner circle have discussed plans to oust Tom Watson from his elected position as deputy leader, alongside Labour general secretary Iain McNicol. The Labour leader said Mr Watson and Mr McNicol were obviously part of the discussion the group were having about the future of the party. Political fight: Mr Corbyn visits Caris Boxing Club in his Islington North constituency yesterday Mr McCluskey, the militant general secretary of Unite, told Panorama that opponents of Mr Corbyn should face deselection. MOMENTUM KIDS: CORBYN ENLISTS 'TINY TROTS' Hard-left activists from Momentum are signing up children to promote the cause of Jeremy Corbyn. A new group, Momentum Kids, is designed to increase the involvement of children, parents and carers in the Labour Party. The organisation, set up by two mothers in Stroud, Gloucestershire, has already been nicknamed Tiny Trots by Westminster insiders. Momentum Kids will expand across the Corbynite groups network of 150 local groups. One of its aims will be to ensure that single parents and sole carers have access to the cheap breakfast clubs, after school sessions and childcare they need to facilitate their political engagement. The initiative will also aim to increase childrens involvement in Momentum and the Labour movement by promoting political activity that is supposedly fun, engaging and child-friendly. Advertisement Some of the MPs have behaved absolutely despicably and disgracefully and theyve not shown any respect whatsoever to the leader, he said. They should be held to account. Clive Lewis, the partys defence spokesman, said there was a legitimate argument for deselections. You call it deselection well the other word for it is actually democratic election of your representatives in parliament, he told the Andrew Marr Show on the BBC yesterday. A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, to be aired tonight, has uncovered evidence that members of Momentum are pushing to oust moderates. The documentary filmed Mark Sandell, suspended chairman of Brighton and Hove Labour Party, saying local MP Peter Kyle had every good reason to feel nervous. Mr Kyle told BBC Ones Sunday Politics: There are people whove fought for other parties for their whole lives whove now joined in the last few weeks and theyre now trying to beat the Labour Party by getting rid of me. James Schneider of Momentum dismissed allegations the group were pressing for mandatory re-selections. He told Sky Newss Murnaghan programme: Momentum has been extremely clear all the way through, we are not campaigning for any deselection. The boy died in 2014 and Rivas pleaded guilty to murder last month When Juan Concha refused her demand she Veronica Rivas has already served two years of her 21-year sentence after being arrested in September 2014 A Californian woman was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison for intentionally drowning her toddler son after learning that she would have to split custody of the boy with his father. Veronica Rivas, 30, of Oceanside pleaded guilty to second degree murder and willful cruelty to a child three weeks before Friday's trial. Rivas drowned 21-month-old Elijah in the bathtub of her family's condo amidst a protracted dispute over the custody of the boy. Authorities understand that the woman placed Eljiah underwater until he stopped fighting and then raised his head out of the water allowing him to regain consciousness. Rivas then called the child's father, Marine Sgt. Juan Concha, demanding him to give up custody of the boy. When he said no she proceeded to drown the boy, prosecutors said. Elijah was drowned by his mother in September in 2014 aged just 21-months over a protracted custody dispute with the boys' father In court, Concha, 30, addressed Rivas as she held onto her son's stuffed blue elephant doll. 'Remember this?' the 30-year-old asked her. 'How do you kill a two-year-old? How do you hold Elijah's head underwater?' He told Rivas that 'young, innocent Elijah didn't do anything to you'. 'I hope you think about it every night and every morning,' he added. Concha also said he should be preparing to celebrate the boy's fourth birthday in November. 'How do you kill a kid?' Concha again asked. 'How do you hold Elijah's head underwater not once, but twice? Do you even care?' Shrine: A makeshift shrine with a yellow teddy bear and a bouquet of flowers was set up outside the house Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso told Judge Richard Monroy that Elijah was killed out of 'revenge and spite'. 'From the beginning, this baby was a pawn to her that she used to get back at Mr. Concha,' Grasso said. 'The minute he moved on she would not allow him to see the baby.' Drowned: Toddler Elijah Rivas would have been four this November. 'How do you kill a two-year-old?' his father asked Veronica Rivas Rivas accused Concha of abusing the boy five days after he formally asked for custody of the child. However after an investigation by three agencies, including Oceanside police and child social workers, the claim was dismissed as no evidence had been found. The day after she learned she would have to share custody of her child Rivas killed him. Grasso said Rivas poured herself a drink before filling up the bath tub upstairs as the toddler played in his diaper. Despite his young age Grasso said Elijah 'was a sturdy little guy, who fought, who struggled'. Rivas told police 'I had to put him down' for his own protection. The child's grandmother called 911 after failing to get through to the home. The police discovered Rivas unconscious in a room downstairs and was rushed to Tri City Medical Center. She was treated for an emergency, thought to be an attempted suicide according to neighbors, but this has not been confirmed by police. Detectives arrested Rivas at the hospital on Friday and transferred her to the Oceanside Police Department. Her family attended Friday's hearing, but did not comment. Six former British soldiers turned pirate hunters have issued a desperate plea to be released from an Indian prison after being jailed for five years for weapons offences. The six ex-paratroopers were working as mercenaries for US maritime company AdvanFort to protect ships from Somali pirates when they were arrested after entering Indian waters in October 2013. They were jailed in January for importing guns for jihadists although the punishment was branded a 'miscarriage of justice' by their families and politicians in Britain. Former para Nick Dunn, 30,who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has begged the British government to secure his release as well as five other veterans who were jailed in India in January on gun-running charges. He is pictured with his older sister Lisa, 37 Billy Irving, 35, left, and Ray Tindall, 41, are also among the veterans jailed in India They were all sentenced to serve five years in Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, pictured, where they are said to have to go to the toilet 'in a hole in the ground' The six who have a combined 74 years of service - are Nick Dunn, from Ashington; Ray Tindall from Chester; Paul Towers, from Yorkshire; John Armstrong, from Wigton, Cumbria; Billy Irving, from Connel, Argyll, and Nicholas Simpson, from Catterick, North Yorkshire. In a secret interview from prison in Chennai, India, Mr Dunn begged for help obtaining their release and said they would have fallen apart without their military training. He told The Sun: It is mental torture to be thrown in jail for a crime you didnt commit. If it wasnt for our military training we would have fallen apart. The Government needs to stand by us now like we stood by Queen and Country when we served. The six were providing anti-piracy protection when their ship - MV Seaman Guard Ohio, which had a crew of 35 - was detained and weapons were found. In the following months the charges were initially dropped, but the Indian authorities appealed against the decision and the men were detained in India. The authorities won their case in January earlier this year when the six were sentenced to five years in prison. All six men are badly missed back home. Mr Irving, 35, has missed nearly every day of his 18-month-old son William's life due to the ordeal while ex-sniper Mr Tindall is separated from his three children. Mr Tower's son Jordan, 22, set up a social media campaign 'Free the Beard', which his father joined in with by posing in a picture with the hashtag. Nicholas Simpson, 46, pictured with wife Tracy, 45, served in the army for 24 years and is currently separated from his two young sons (From left) Mr Simpson, Paul Towers, 52, Mr Tindall and Billy Irving were all working for US marine company AdvanFort when they were arrested in 2013 Meanwhile Mr Simpson, 46, is away from his wife Tracy, 45, and their two young sons, with his spouse describing the situation as a 'complete nightmare'. Mr Armstrong, 29, has endured a difficult time in prison and is understood to have lost three stone while suffering from several infections. A petition demanding their release has since been launched and signed by more than 375,000 people so far while 36,000 has been raised via a Just Giving page to help with legal fees. They are currently among 3,000 inmates in Puzhal Central prison living alongside rapists and murderers. It is understood the prisons facilities include toilets that are simply holes in the ground, with no toilet roll, while they sleep on concrete floors and have had to buy their own mosquito nets. Their daily meals are thought to consist of a boiled egg in the morning, followed by an omelette for lunch and chicken and vegetables for dinner. Mr Dunn - who sustained minor injuries in Afghanistan in 2007 when an armoured Land Rover he was travelling in was blown up - said he could hardly speak through tears when calling his mother to tell her he was going to jail. He added the idea that the six were a threat to Indian security was a joke because they had spent years fighting the very jihadists they were accused of helping. Mr Powers, left, came up with a hashtag to aid the campaign for their release, while John Armstrong, right, 29, has lost three stone in prison and been taken to hospital with infections Mr Dunn said the food was awful while temperatures can hit 50C but a ceiling fan provided to cool them down constantly shuts down due to power cuts. His sister Lisa, 37, who works for the police in a civilian role, told the Sun: These men risked their lives to help keep Britain safe for the rest of us. Now they need the favour returned. As reported by MailOnline, Ian Lavery, Labour MP for Wansbeck, said he will continue to campaign for constituent Mr Dunn and the other five men who have gone through what he called 'years of hell'. Speaking in January, he said: Sadly this bizarre judgment, charging the former British servicemen with the maximum penalty for handling arms, means the nightmare continues. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: 'Our staff in India and the UK remain in regular contact with all six men and are continuing to support them and their families, working to make sure their welfare is protected in prison. 'We recognise what a difficult time this is for those involved. We cannot interfere with Indias independent legal system, just as other countries cannot interfere with ours, but we will continue efforts to make sure this case is resolved swiftly. group Golden Dawn who are using food to recruit members Bragging about their tactics of 'whites helping whites' they want to copy Greek Outrage as National Action Scotland use free food to lure new supporters Neo-Nazis with the slogan Hitler was right were spotted on the streets of Glasgow giving free food to the homeless - as long as they are white. The National Action Scotland (NA) group have been trying to spread the word at a pop-up food bank on Argyle Street through whites helping whites. Anti-racism campaigners have been left outraged by the tactics and say NA have no interest in helping the poor. They warned the fascists were using free food to attract the vulnerable in our society and recruit them to spread their messages of hate. This tactic was used by the Nazis themselves who used food as a recruiting tool or to encourage people to gather in one place and listen. A more recent example is seen with the Greek fascist group Golden Dawn, who use street work and charity to try to gain credibility. With slogans 'whites helping white's they appealed to the homeless on the streets of Glasgow Anti-racism campaigners have hit out at the group trying to spur hatred with societies most vulnerable The group who were helped by the National Revival of Poland want to replicated the work of the Golden Dawn group in Greece According to the Daily Record, leading NA member Alex Davies has said: We want to replicate what Golden Dawn were doing in Greece. Their charity work, activism and social work has brought them a respect in the eyes of the Greek people. Thats what gained them those seats in parliament. The group with bases across the UK aims to 'ethnically cleanse Britain' NA, who have groups operating across the UK support Adolf Hitlers views and want to ethnically cleanse Britain. As claimed on its website they trialed the food bank at the end of August and have been relishing in the publicity since. Members of Greece's extreme right Golden Dawn party hand out milk, pasta, potatoes and olive oil to Greek citizens only But many people are not seeing through their sickening tactics and Nicola Hay, campaign manager at Show Racism the Red Card Scotland, told The Daily Record NAs only aim was to stir up hatred and division. She added: It is deeply worrying that they are preying on the most vulnerable in our society to spread hate, and further entrench the divisive climate we find ourselves in. Its not only the marginalised in society that National Action are preying on. National Association run training camps to spread its Neo-Nazi ideology particularly targeting young men They share slogans including 'Hitler was right' and continue to be blasted by anti-racism campaigners If you look at their website, they are also attempting to groom young people to adopt their philosophy of prejudice, discrimination and exclusion toward different others. There is no place for this type of hate. NA said they mounted the operation with the help of Polish fascists from the violent National Rebirth of Poland group. Members of the Greek extreme-right ultra nationalist party Golden Dawn signing the country's national anthem They announced on its website and social media: A small glimmer of hope appeared on the streets of Glasgow when National Rebirth Of Poland and National Action Scotland took to the streets together to feed and clothe the white homeless population. Its website is full of shocking images and slogans, including featuring a card with Dr Josef Mengeles face on it, who carried out gruesome and murderous experiments on children at the Auschwitz death camp in World War II, and the slogan: Save animals test on subhumans. A spokesman from Glasgow Police said: 'Around 2210hrs on 27 August 2016, police attended following a report of a demonstration at St Enoch's. 'Officers spoke to the parties involved regarding their conduct and behaviour relating to their involvement in a public demo. There was no criminality and the group dispersed.' Attacked: The girl, whose mother has requested is named only as Michelle, claims she was set upon outdoors in South London A 15-year-old was allegedly battered by five teenage girls who lured her into a trap and attacked her like animals before posting the footage online. The teenager, whose mother has requested is named only as Michelle, claims she was set upon outdoors in Stockwell, South London. The schoolgirl went to hospital after cracking her head open and suffering two black eyes, a swollen cheek and cuts on the Stockwell Park Estate. The group are said to have shoved Michelle to the ground and kicked her before stealing her shoes last Tuesday at 8pm. Her aunt Aieshsa Rozario, 32, said: Michelle was with a friend when the girls came along and said they wanted to talk to her. They tricked her into going over and the rest of the girls all jumped her. The reason they attacked her is because they wanted her to fight another girl with them. Shocking: The girl, 15, was allegedly battered by five teenage girls who lured her into a trap But she refused so they thought she was setting them up and beat her up instead. If she had not refused it would have been six people on someone else. The mother-of-one added: She doesnt even know the girl they were talking about, she just knows of her. They were kicking her in the head. The girls were filming Michelle while they were attacking her and put a video online to brag about what happened. Michelle is really nervous and shaken by it - she just looks like a bag of nerves. She is scared to go out and we do not want to let her out anyway. Whenever I watch that video it makes me feel really angry and a little bit sick. We want to bring these girls to justice. The girls were said to have attacked Michelle like animals before posting the footage online Horrifying: A video showing the alleged attack - which Michelles family claim was posted by the teenagers on Snapchat - has been viewed more than 14,000 times Her family, who do not live on the Stockwell Park Estate, said Michelle was in the area with a friend and knew her attackers but was not friends with them. Michelle was taken to St Thomas Hospital in Vauxhall by ambulance following the attack and checked over before being released later the same night. A video showing the alleged attack - which Michelles family claim was posted by the teenagers on Snapchat - has been viewed more than 14,000 times. Michelles mother, who has two children and did not wish to be named, said: I just feel heartbroken and disgusted. I couldnt even watch the video. I couldnt even listen to her screams and the kicks. The attack only lasted a couple of minutes, but Michelle said she felt like it was forever. Treatment: She went to hospital after cracking her head open and suffering two black eyes Injuries: The group are said to have shoved Michelle (pictured) to the ground and kicked her before stealing her shoes last Tuesday at 8pm It has left her really shaken up. I dont want her going out of the house in case they come back for her. She wants to continue with life but I am scared for her. We just really want these girls to be brought to justice before they do that to someone else, and this time kill them. For all they know they could have killed Michelle with a kick - they would never have known, they just wanted to act like animals. Five girls on one person - it is horrible. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: Police are investigating the assault of a girl in Stockwell. Officers were called to Stockwell Road, SW9 at approximately 8.10pm on Tuesday, September 13 to reports of a girl, aged 15, suffering injuries after being assaulted by up to five females. Cuts: Michelle's family said the schoolgirl was in the area with a friend and knew her attackers Michelle was taken to St Thomas Hospital in Vauxhall by ambulance following the attack and checked over before being released later the same night London Ambulance Service attended and the victim was taken to a South London hospital for treatment to minor injuries. Pictured before the attack: Michelle has been 'really shaken up', according to her mother One girl, 14, has been arrested on suspicion of GBH (grievous bodily harm), and has been bailed pending further enquiries to a date in early November. Enquiries into the circumstances continue. Officers from Lambeth investigate. Since 2007, housing association Network Homes has invested more than 139million regenerating the Stockwell Park Estate. A spokesman for SW9 Community Housing, which manages the estate and is part of Network Homes, said: From the video footage itself it is impossible to identify whether the incident took place on our estate. We have established that the girl who was assaulted is not a resident of the Stockwell Park estate. 'We are checking our CCTV footage and liaising with the local police to try to establish the full circumstances. Israeli security forces have been hit by seven knife attacks since Friday as Palestinians have increased the level of violence in disputed areas ahead of the Jewish New Year. In one attack in east Jerusalem, a 38-year-old female border officer was left fighting for her life after she was slashed in the neck. The woman's male colleague suffered minor injuries and was able to shoot the suspect, who is in a critical condition. Since Friday, Israeli security forces have shot dead five Palestians and one Jordanian who were engaged in knife attacks. The upsurge in violence is believed to have been linked to next month's Jewish New Year celebrations. An Israeli police woman is fighting for her life after being stabbed in the neck by a Palestinian from east Jerusalem, authorities have confirmed. The attack happened in the Old City A second officer received minor injuries while the attacker was shot and critically wounded Since last September, 34 Israelis and two Americans have been killed in stabbing, shooting and car ramming attacks, compared with 214 Palestinians over the same period Police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed the suspect is in his 20s and is from east Jerusalem. The double stabbing happened outside Herod's Gate, near a busy Palestinian commercial street. The weekend saw several attacks which followed an extended period of calm. Four Palestinians, one of whom held Jordanian citizenship, were shot dead over the weekend during assaults on Israelis, according to Israeli authorities. On Sunday a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli army officer in the chest outside a West Bank settlement before soldiers shot and wounded the attacker. The spike in violence spurred the Israeli military to send troop reinforcements to the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the potential for violence could rise as the Jewish high holidays approach. Palestinians have accused the Israelis of using excessive force in response to the attacks Four Palestinians have been shot dead over the weekend after launching knife attacks Palestinians are blaming the attacks on Israel's ongoing military occupation Since last September, Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis and two American visitors in stabbing, car ramming and shooting attacks. About 214 Palestinians were killed during that same period. Israel says the vast majority were attackers. Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of using excessive force or killing people who were not assailants. Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The Palestinians say it is rooted in nearly 50 years of military occupation and dwindling hopes for independence. Israeli security forces have dramatically increased security following the latest attacks According to Israeli officials, there have been eight attacks on their personnel since Friday The attack happened by the Herod's Gate entrance to the Old City in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a short distance from the Damascus Gate where a Jordanian was shot dead on Friday after trying to stab a police officer. Amman has disputed the Israeli account of Friday's incident, calling the shooting of 28-year-old Saeed Amro 'premeditated' and a 'barbaric act'. However, Israeli police released video footage of the incident in which Amro is seen approaching two officers holding a knife in each hand with his arms raised before being shot. A police spokeswoman said he was yelling 'Allahu Akbar' - God is greatest. Amro's body was handed over to Jordan on Sunday, police said. Meanwhile, one Palestinian was shot dead and another was wounded after attempting to stab two border police officers in Hebron. Several Palestinians have been shot by Israeli police and soldiers in response to the attacks Israeli security forces have increased security around the West Bank and Jerusalem Soldiers removed the body of one of the assailants during today's attack from Hebron Israeli secuirty forces have been questioning people in flashpoint areas near the attack scenes This man was detained near the site where two Israeli border security guards were attacked According to the police account, two male Hebron residents, aged 17-20, approached a security checkpoint at the shrine known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs. The two aroused the suspicion of the border policemen there, who asked them to step aside for inspection but the suspects did not respond. When the border policemen began approaching, one of the suspects pulled a knife and attempted to stab the forces, who in response shot at him while calling on the second suspect to move aside so he would not be hit. There have been seven attacks on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday Israeli police two suspects on the southern West Bank city f Hebron, pictured One of the men shot in Hebron survived until he arrived in hospital and died shortly afterwards The second suspect then pulled a knife and tried to stab the border policemen, who opened fire at him too, police said, noting one of their forces was 'very lightly wounded in his hand' during the incident. The Hebron attack was Monday's second and the seventh on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday, Israeli authorities say, shattering several weeks of relative calm. Police confirmed the second suspect died upon his arrival at hospital. Dane McNeill, 20, was stabbed to death before he was stuffed inside a suitcase and set on fire The trial of a woman and two men charged over the killing of a man who was stabbed to death before his body was shoved in a suitcase and set on fire have appeared in court. Haysem and Azam Charbaji are accused of forcing Dane McNeill, 20, to overdose on Xanax tablets before locking him in a bathroom and stabbing him to death in July 2014. After his death, Mr McNeill's body was stuffed inside a suitcase and set on fire, a court heard today. The brothers had allegedly sought advice from Haysem Charbaji's then-girlfriend, Lexy May Jamieson - who is charged as an accessory - on how to dispose of the body. Mr McNeill's charred remains were found in a park in Sydney in July 2014 and his body was so badly burned that it took days to identify him. Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen told a court in Sydney that Mr McNeill, a drug dealer, had gone round to the Charbajis' home to settle a debt, the Daily Telegraph reported. The brothers believed Mr McNeill's girlfriend owed them $3,000 after supposedly causing damage to their car. Ms Cunneen said witness Brendan Gallo, who was at the apartment, will testify that the Charbajis attacked Mr McNeill and stabbed him in the buttock. Azam Charbaji (pictured with Lexy May Jamieson) is charged with murdering Mr McNeill Haysem Charbaji (also pictured with Jamieson) is also charged with murder. Both brothers deny the charge Jamieson (pictured outside court today), 26, has denied advising the brothers on how to dispose of Mr McNeill's body The court will also be told that the brothers force-fed their alleged victim Xanax and locked him in a laundry room. The next day, the pair allegedly made him take more of the drug, the prosecutor said. She added that Mr Gallo will say he saw one of the brothers enter the bathroom with 'a ratchet' before hearing a 'massive scream'. Mr McNeill's was stabbed 11 times before he was shoved into a suitcase, which was then set on fire. Mr McNeill's cause of death is not known but a pathologist will tell the court that it was likely a combination of overdosing on Xanax and being stabbed, the prosecutor said. Mr McNeill's charred remains were found in a park in Sydney in July 2014 and his body was so badly burned that it took days to identify him The brothers believed Mr McNeill's (pictured left and right) girlfriend owed them $3,000 after supposedly causing damage to their car. A court was told that the brothers asked Jamieson (pictured outside court today) for advice on how to clean up the crime scene Ms Cunneen told the court that the brothers asked Jamieson for advice on how to clean up the crime scene and discussed burning the body 'to get rid of the DNA'. Jamieson, who was pregnant at the time, also allegedly told another witness the men 'scrubbed the f*** out of it ... bleached the whole house'. Haysem and Azam Charbaji, 24 and 25, both deny murdering Mr McNeill. Jamieson, 26, denies harbouring, maintaining and assisting the brothers. The man who filmed a police officer smashing his car has spoken of his 'terror' and revealed he refused to leave his vehicle because he did not feel safe. Leon Fontana was pulled over by officers in Camden, London, in a case of mistaken identity. The 25-year-old posted a video on Facebook showing the officer ordering him to get out of his car, which has since been viewed more than one million times. Scroll down for video Leon Fontana (pictured) was pulled over by officers in Camden, London, in a case of mistaken identity The dramatic video shows the officer outside the car asking the Mr Fontana to open the door The mechanic said he was 'scared' during the incident, adding the officer was 'very agitated and angry' Mr Fontana told The Sun he had not been in trouble with the police for nearly a decade. The mechanic said the incident took place on Friday evening in the Gospel Oak area of north London when he had gone out on an errand for his mother. He said he was 'scared', adding the officer was 'very agitated and angry'. In the video, the officer can be heard listening to a message over his radio informing him the driver only holds a provisional license - however Mr Fontana has had a full licence for more than two years. He told the paper: 'How he was acting was inappropriate and I was scared for my safety. 'They asked me who I am and I told them, I haven't been involved in the police since I was a youth, around eight years now. 'The public should feel safe and I didn't feel safe.' Afterwards he claims he was given no information about why he was stopped and if he would have to pay for the damage to his car, which he had to park up on a nearby street. Once the windscreen is smashed the officer pulls out what appears to be a pen knife and begins cutting the section of the screen out (pictured) The policeman repeatedly asks the driver to jump out of the car but he refuses to do so Mr Fontana, who said he spent the evening in hospital after getting glass in his eyes, said it was 'complete madness' and that he is 'still in shock'. He said: 'Every time he smashed the glass, fragments of glass were just ricocheting in my face.' The officer in the clip has since been put on 'restricted duties' and his use of force will be examined, the Met Police has said. Scotland Yard said officers stopped the car thinking the driver was of interest to them but later realised he was someone else. In the video, the furious officer can be seen yelling, kicking and yanking at the car door to try and force it open. He then starts hitting the side window with a baton at which point Mr Fontana says: 'I've got a licence. I've got a licence. I've got insurance. You're smashing this for no reason.' The officer continued to try and remove him from the car and alleges Mr Fontana is 'disqualified' and 'not allowed to drive' Scotland Yard said the footage would be investigated by officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) The officer then repeatedly strikes the windscreen, causing the glass to shatter, and then starts slicing around the damaged area with what appears to be a penknife. Mr Fontana tells him: 'You're smashing this for no reason. Look, look what they are doing to my car.' He says: 'What's the problem officer? Why ain't I allowed to drive the car?' But the policeman continues to try and remove him from the car, saying he is 'disqualified' and 'not allowed to drive'. He then gets out of the vehicle and is quickly surrounded by another officer. He says: 'Do you know what you just done?' to which the policeman replies: 'I've done absolutely nothing, I just need to know who you are.' The driver asks why the officer had smashed the car windscreen and he says: 'I can't see who you are in that car'. Once the windscreen is smashed the officer pulls out what appears to be a pen knife and begins cutting the section of the screen out Towards the end of the video, the officer calls him TJ, to which Mr Fontana replies: 'I am not TJ, I am not TJ.' He said it was a case of 'mistaken identity', describing what happened as 'a completely unlawful act'. 'For some reason the officer thought I was my cousin, even though I showed him my ID and took the keys out. 'He was just aggressive from the get go and then it was just 'smash, smash, smash'', he said. 'Even if I was someone who only had a provisional licence, that's not the way an officer should conduct themselves.' The video has been shared on Twitter and Instagram, where the officer's actions have been described as 'mindless vandalism and intimidation'. On Mr Fontana's Facebook page his friends have said 'this would never have happened if the driver was white'. Scotland Yard said a formal complaint has been made to the Metropolitan Police after the footage was circulated of the incident which involves two uniformed officers in the Camden area of north London. The police force said: 'On Saturday September 17, a formal complaint was received in relation to an incident where officers stopped a vehicle in Weedington Road, NW5, on Friday September 16. 'The footage continues to be subject to an investigation by officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) and the driver of the car has been spoken to by these officers. 'The officers involved in the incident have been identified and have been placed on restricted duties. 'Although the investigation is in its early stages, it has been established that the officers stopped the vehicle based on information relating to a man who is of interest to police. 'On conclusion of the incident the officers identified that the driver was not the man in question and he was not arrested. Criminal: Varga Viotel Vasile, 30, was jailed last year for 22 months - reduced to 16 months on appeal - and then sent home after he was released last December but sneaked back into Britain A Romanian who was deported for installing card skimming devices on cashpoints has been caught doing it again after sneaking back into the UK illegally. Varga Viotel Vasile, 30, was jailed last year for 22 months - reduced to 16 months on appeal - and then sent home after he was released last December. But on August 17, this year, Vasile was spotted by a member of the public fitting a skimming device on the cash dispenser at a Co-op in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He was back before a judge last week and jailed for more than two years. After he serves his sentence the Home Office will try to deport him again. Prosecutor Louise Pryke told Leeds Crown Court that Vasile had got out of a car which another man was driving. The skimming device consisted of a small camera, a card reader and a false front to disguise their capture of PIN numbers and card details for cloning later. The witness saw Vasile being driven away, took the registration and called the police. The car, which had been hired in Manchester was then stopped. Inside the vehicle a list of postcodes of all the locations of cash point dispensers in the Huddersfield and Liverpool, Merseyside, area was recovered. Miss Pryke said Vasile lied claiming he was simply in Yorkshire for a job. His previous convictions in the UK included burglary and theft. His previous skimming offences leading to his deportation had included targeting a Lloyds branch in Dartmouth, Devon. Mitigating Jeremy Barton said he had originally travelled to the UK intending to get work either as a mechanic or in construction but that had proved more difficult than he thought. He had got into debt and was approached about the skimming operation and became involved because of his financial problems. While in the UK he had fathered a girl, now aged about four and was desperate to find her. He had returned with that purpose not knowing where she now lives, his entry was illegal having used a different name and he once more became involved in offending to fund himself. Vasile, who was living in Salford, Greater Manchester, when arrested admitted being in breach of the deportation order and having articles for the use in fraud and was jailed for a total of two years and four months. Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said the operation was planned and sophisticated and he was only caught because of the observations of a public-spirited witness. He told Vasile: 'You no doubt hoped quite dishonestly to deprive decent, ordinary, hard-working people of funds from their bank accounts.' Britain and her Nato allies have no effective plan for protecting Europe if Vladimir Putin launches an attack, according to a former military chief. General Sir Richard Barrons warned that Russia could deploy tens of thousands of troops the alliance's territory within days, backed by aircraft and ships. By contrast it would take months for Nato forces to bring their power to bear. General Sir Richard Barrons said Britain and Nato had not put plans in place for responding to a Russian attack Sir Richard, who retired recently, said control of land and airspace could be lost before the 28 members managed to agree how to respond. The North Atlantic Council, the political decision making body of Nato, can authorise plans to be drawn up and training for a potential attack. But Sir Richard, a former chief of Joint Forces Command, said such preparations stopped after the Cold War because the threat had gone away, according to the Times. He complained that there was still no appetite for a revival despite the invasion of Ukraine, and evidence of massive Russian investment in war-fighting technology. He suggested that states such as France, Greece, Italy, Hungary and Germany were unwilling to offend Russia by stepping up planning. 'If you list all the military capability that Nato has, it has a lot more than Russia, but because most of it exists in this semi-dormant state there is a window of opportunity where ... Russia could use its smaller forces to tweak Nato in a way to which Nato would be very pressed to respond because it doesn't have any plans to do that,' Sir Richard said. President Vladimir Putin has been building up Russia's military capabilities over recent years Russian backed rebels have been fighting against the West-friendly government in Ukraine 'In the absence of consensus, largely between the north, the centre and the south, it drops down to the lowest common denominator and not much will happen.' The general said that efforts to deter Russian aggression by deploying UK and other Nato forces to Poland and the Baltic were undermined because they did not have any firepower. The troops apparently do not even have rules of engagement in the event of Russian attack. 'There is no force behind it, or plans or resilience ... It is an indication of how, at this stage in our history, I think many people have lost sight of what a credible military force is and requires. They think a little bit of posing or a light force constitutes enough and it isn't,' Sir Richard said. Sir Richard said that he was speaking out because he wanted a public debate on the threat posed by Russia and other states, which had been developing new capabilities. Over the weekend it emerged that Sir Richard sent a memo to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon just before he retired in August, in which he warned that UK forces had 'withered' and there was too much focus on eye-catching projects instead of basic capabilities. Advertisement A pipe-fitter has traded in his $65,000 job and is selling his house to live in a $6,000 renovated red school bus. Jeffrey Pryor, 42, from St Louis in Missouri, said he had a 'lifestyle of debt' and wanted to 'take back ownership of his life'. In a radical change of direction, he bought a school bus and spent 500 hours transforming it into a living space and workshop. He started by tearing out the seats, before installing flooring, insulation, a bath, bed, cooker, toilet, lighting, storage areas and a welder. He named his red bus 'Le Diable Rouge', French for 'the Red Devil'. Jeffrey Pryor, 42, from St Louis in Missouri, said he had a 'lifestyle of debt' and so bought a bus, which he has converted The former pipe fitter spent $6,000 renovating the bus - and it now includes a bed, cooking area and a tankless water heater His friends initially thought he was crazy but were impressed by his creativity and how roomy the bus was He he intends to live on wheels while studying for a joint undergraduate and master's degree in history. He is selling his $155,000 house. His friends initially thought he was crazy but were impressed by his creativity and the amount of space inside the bus, he said. 'People look inside and think it's the best thing they have ever seen. They are really inspired by it', he explained. 'The outside is really subtle, it just looks like a school bus, but inside it's incredible. 'I stripped out the seats, repaired the rust and upgraded some mechanical bits, then it was like building any other home. 'I used spray foam insulation, built walls and a roof, which was difficult as the roof is curved but it was worth it. 'I've installed a Pipe Acrylic Sipper tub that weighs 75lbs, converted a home tankless water heater, a composting toilet, made a bed with school bus chairs and a flip-top table, put in LED undershelf lighting, a wine rack, wine boxes for dresser drawers and reclaimed wood from wine boxes for decoration. 'I've made a power cord in case I need to use my welder, so that if I need to I can do work on the bus. It's fair to say I've done a lot of work to it.' The 42-year-old said: 'The outside is really subtle, it just looks like a school bus, but inside it's incredible' Mr Pryor ripped out the seats, repaired the rust and upgraded some mechanical parts of the bus before moving in Mr Pryor said he was inspired to live in the bus as he was 'living beyond his means' before and described it as 'like playing Russian Roulette'. He said he had met a homeless man on a beach in California who had previously been a CEO for a company, who had told him 'most people are one pay check away from being homeless'. 'Those words really stuck with me', he explained. 'In my job I could afford anything I wanted, but it was a trap, the more you buy, the more you owe. I don't want to be in that cycle anymore. 'I'm not saying everyone could live such a minimalist lifestyle, but you get to take ownership of your life back.' He said: 'I feel really excited to be living in it, I feel a big personal connection to it whenever I look at it' Describing his life as a pipe fitter, he said: 'It was a 6am until 3.30pm job and I hated every aspect of it. 'I realized something was missing in my life, I was going to my job and wasting time every day, I was overpaid and made a lot of money doing nothing. 'I want more out of life than that, I want to be challenged an have an impact.' He said he was looking forward to a minimalist lifestyle and was glad to be away from the temptation of spending more than you earn. 'Doing this has given me hope, freedom and a choice, so many people work really hard and still go into debt, it's the norm, you get stuck paying off your mortgage and then you die', he said. 'A world where the banks own everything is no way to live. I didn't come into this world owing money, I want to live free, rather than a life of debt and things I can't afford.' He added: 'I feel really excited to be living in it, I feel a big personal connection to it whenever I look at it in the driveway. Two teenagers who sparked a hoax terror alert in Paris after claiming suicide bombers were holding hostages in a church have boasted they 'did it for the thrill'. The 'hackers', aged 16 and 17, who are linked to a pro-Israel cyber terrorist, are facing criminal charges today following the incident on Saturday. Special forces police supported by soldiers and a helicopter were scrambled to the suspected emergency at a church in the Les Halles district. One of the teenagers arrested told BFM TV news channel: 'We said there had been hostages taken in the church and that there were ten North Africans with arms and suicide belts. Scroll down for video Two teenagers sparked a hoax terror alert in Paris on Saturday when they claimed suicide bombers were holding hostages in a church, pictured are police on the scene 'We did not think it would work. We just did it for the thrill and to become known. If people panic then that's their fault.' A high level warning was sent out on a terror alert app, with people being told to stay away from the area. It has been reported that the two teenagers are linked to Gregory Chelli, a French-Israeli who uses the codename Ulcan. Chelli is a member of the Jewish Defence League (JDL), a group banned in the USA and Israel because of its terrorist activity but which still operates openly in France. Special forces police supported by soldiers and a helicopter were scrambled to the suspected emergency at a church in the Les Halles district A high level warning was sent out on a terror alert app, with people being told to stay away from the area The 33-year-old, who is currently based in Israel, is known for targeting anyone he considers anti-Israeli, and for organising false alarms leading to police raids on his enemies, who are predominantly Muslim Arabs. After hearing about the fake terror alert, Chelli wrote on Facebook, saying: 'About the person who has swat the church and that we'll never find according to him. 'By continuing to investigate you, I saw that in fact you're not a Jew, you put "work has army of Israel" on fb only because you're a fan of mine. 'You even have anti-Semitic statements on a lot of post.' Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the teenagers, who have not been named, face charges for organising a 'malevolent act'. Mr Brandet said what they did was particularly dangerous 'in the context of the current terrorist threat' as they were 'diverting security forces' and 'endangering the lives of others'. Paris prosecutors said they had opened an investigation for 'imaginary crime reporting' and 'spreading false information'. France remains in a state of emergency following a series of attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaeda. The increase in violence has been accompanied by a number of JDL operatives being given prison sentences in Paris. In June, the group's leader, Joseph Ayache, was received a year in jail for leading a series of 'extremely violent and coordinated attacks' against pro-Palestine activists. But, like many JDL members, he escaped to Israel, which does not have an extradition treaty with France. Climbing the sacred site is highly discouraged by A group of three men are stranded on Uluru after attempting to climb the sacred Indigenous Australian site. The men, all aged 22, reportedly became stuck on the north side of the rock on Monday afternoon near the outlined climbing track, according to ABC. Although there is a steep climbing track on Uluru that is popular with tourists, participating is highly discouraged by Indigenous Australians, who insist the climb is disrespectful. A group of three men, all aged 22, became stranded on Uluru on Tuesday afternoon after attempting to climb the sacred Indigenous Australian site (stock image) The Northern Territory Emergency Services' vertical rescue team headed to Uluru around 2pm to retrieve the men, police said. The rescue team didn't reach the men until around 9.30pm. Officers said none of the men were injured and they all had water. The decision of the three men to make the dangerous trek quickly incited backlash online. Although there is a steep climbing track on Uluru that is popular with tourists, Indigenous Australians have asked visiting groups to respect the site and not participate (stock image) The decision of the three men to make the dangerous trek quickly incited backlash online 'Getting stuck on Uluru is the [Australian] equivalent of putting a native American headdress you bought at a festival on so tight you can't get it off,' one man wrote. 'Leave them there for a few more hours for being disrespectful,' another man said on Twitter. 'That will teach themhope they have to pay for their rescue, given they failed to pay respect to an Aboriginal sacred site,' a woman agreed. A woman dubbed the men 'muppets' after she posted a photo of a sign stating a rescue was in progress on Uluru. Nearly five million Britons had to cancel their bank cards last year as cyber fraud continues to rise. A new survey has suggested the scale of fraud in the UK with one in ten adults having to replace their credit or debit cards after a cyber-attack, identify theft or card cloning. As reported in the last two years some of the websites of large companies like Tesco, Asda, and Marks & Spencer have experienced data breaches and concerns were raised over the safety of customers saved card details. A new survey has revealed that nearly five million people had to cancel their bank cars last year as cyber fraud continues, but although we are starting to share our card details less online, we are often using the same pin and passwords for all our accounts According to the survey seen by The Times the average loss to bank fraud was 475, meaning that more than 2 billion was stolen in total. The research, by the polling company Populus and commissioned by comparethemarket.com , found that a third of bank fraud victims reacted to their experience by using cash or making fewer online transactions, which is likely to damage the digital economy but could mean a return to high street stores. The official crime rate nearly doubled this year after online fraud was included for the first time. The statistics show that Britons are 20 times more likely to be robbed via their computer than mugged in the street. Some banks have been seen to be sharing these warnings in recent advertising campaigns including Barclays Fraud Smart. It is claimed the police actively investigate fewer than one in 100 cyber frauds and only one in every 650 frauds ends in a conviction. Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at the University of Cambridge, told the paper: A typical police force has only one or two officers dedicated to cybercrime, so unless internet fraudsters get involved in terrorism or child porn they are almost guaranteed to get away with it. James Daley, of the consumer group Fairer Finance, commented: These figures show that cyber fraud has become a pandemic and the lack of investment in policing the problem is increasingly difficult to justify. Although banks refund most card frauds police forces are only able to convict one in every 650 cases due to a lack of investment Although banks refund most card fraud there are many other types of cyber fraud where victims dont get their money back. At the very least these people deserve to have their crime properly investigated. The last missing ship from the Battle of Jutland has been found in the North Sea 100 years after it was sunk in combat with Germany. HMS Warrior was recently discovered 90 yards under the sea a century after it was abandoned due to the heavy damage it took from enemy shelling. The Battle of Jutland is regarded as the only major naval battle of the First World War and involved 100,000 men and 250 ships, with almost 9,000 sailors killed on both sides during the 36-hour conflict. Scroll down for videos The wreck of HMS Warrior, pictured, has been discovered 100 years after it sank after being heavily damaged at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 Underwater cameras captured the vessel on the sea floor, with the rusted propellers visible, pictured The remains of Warrior were found in the sea halfway between Scotland and Norway It claimed the lives of more than 6,000 British sailors and 2,500 Germans, with the Royal Navy losing 14 ships and the then-German Empire losing 11. Warrior was heavily damaged during the battle in which 71 crew members lost their lives. According to a letter written by its captain Vincent Barkly Molteno, the ship came under fire from nine German ships for 17-and-a-half minutes before it retired from battle. The surviving crew of 743 were transferred to HMS Engadine, who also tried to tow HMS Warrior back to Britain. Because of the extensive damage and bad weather HMS Warrior had to be abandoned. It sank in an unknown position on June 1, 1916. Although it has been underwater for 100 years, museum experts said it remained in good condition and was an 'untouched time capsule' What was once a home for more than 700 sailors is now inhabited by fish and sea creatures The wreck was discovered between Scotland and Norway on August 24 by survey vessel M/S Vina on behalf of the Sea War Museum Jutland in Denmark. Footage showed it has become a home for fish and other sea creatures after lying untouched on the seabed for decades. Its propellers, gun turrets and part of the mast are visible in the video and experts believe the boat hit the sea floor mast-first after sinking. HMS WARRIOR AT A GLANCE Length: 505ft Beam (width): 73ft Draught (depth): 27ft Weight: 13,550 tonnes Propulsion: Four steam engines Top speed: 23 knots (26mph) Weapons: Six 234mm naval guns, four 191mm naval guns, 26 47mm artillery guns, three 450mm torpedo tubes Advertisement A spokesman for the museum said: 'Unlike the other wrecks from the Battle of Jutland, which show varying degrees of environmental damage and commercial salvage, HMS Warrior remains as an untouched time capsule with all of its contents still present, entombed in the upturned hull. 'The old armoured ship is for now, at least retaining its itegrity and is the last Jutland wreck in an untouched condition.' The spokesman added: 'The find was made on an expedition with M/S Vina from JD-Contractor for Sea War Museum in Thyborn in collaboration with Dr Innes McCartney of Bournemouth University. 'One of the tasks of the expedition was to find HMS Warrior. Hence, the search was based on the towed route and the official positions of the abandonment. 'In total 30 wrecks on the route were found and investigated, and HMS Warrior was the 27th wreck investigated. 'A multibeam survey of the wreck was conducted and video recordings were made with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) circumventing the wreck. More than 700 sailors were rescued as the armoured cruiser was abandoned but 71 were killed during the German bombardment Sea War Museum Jutland has since created a 3D image of the wreck, which hit the sea floor mast-first 'YOUR COURAGE WAS MAGNIFICENT' SAID WARRIOR CAPTAIN The captain of HMS Warrior - Vincent Barkly Molteno - wrote to his surviving sailors the day after it sank to commend them on their bravery. Captain Vincent Barkly Molteno, pictured, said he was proud of his men's courage during the battle A letter, kept by former Royal Navy head Lord Boyce, himself the grandson of Warrior petty officer Alfred Boyce, revealed the captain's pride in those under his command, according to the Guardian. In it, he wrote that his men 'behaved magnificently' and their 'courage had been magnificent' during the battle and that he had written to the Admiralty asking to keep his 700-plus crew together so he could captain them again. He also asked for 10 days leave for each of those who served on the sunken ship so they could go ashore, see friend and family and be 'cock-a-chest'. Captain Molteno manoeuvred the vessel out of harms way after the heavy attack from nine Germany ships, saving the lives of the majority of his crew. After the battle he was awarded the Order of St Anna by the Russians, recognising his bravery. Advertisement 'Along the side of the ship in several places it is possible to see the deck, where the base of several of the big gun turrets are visible. 'One of the ships masts is lying on the seabed on the ships port side. The mast was broken during the collision with the seabed, and the top part of the mast is folded under the wreckage. 'Thus, it was quite evident that the ship had hit the seabed upside down, and that the ship had sunk down onto the mast.' Lord Boyce, pictured, former head of the Royal Navy, has hit out at 'vandals' scavenging metals from sunken war wrecks and compared it to desecrating military cemeteries The discovery comes as former head of the Navy Lord Boyce has called for a crackdown on illegal scavenging of metal from wrecks on the seabed, comparing such action to stealing headstones from military cemeteries. Lord Boyce, whose grandfather Albert Boyce was a petty officer aboard HMS Warrior, told the Guardian: 'I absolutely believe that criminals should be pursued to discourage others as much as anything else. 'When an underwater grave is found, eg HMS Warrior, and it is given respect, it is good for the people in the navy today to know that one day they will be recognised if your boat is found and is being respected as a grave.' It is understood several wrecks from the Battle of Jutland have been raided for their bronze propellers and other precious metals, which can be worth up to 65,000 when melted down. The sunken ships that remain in the North Sea after the battle are supposed to be protected from British salvage crews under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, which made it illegal for them to be disturbed. The Ministry of Defence said it 'strongly condemned' the disturbance of any maritime remains and urged anyone who witnesses or knows of such action to report it. The new iPhone 7 may be water-resistant - but a technology vlogger decided to test whether it could survive after being frozen in Coca-Cola for 12 hours. Taras Maksimuk, from California, submerged the smartphone in a dish filled with the fizzy drink, before leaving it to set in the freezer. The video shows that he actually left it for nearly 17 hours before taking out the block of frozen coke. A technology vlogger decided to test whether it could survive after being frozen in Coca-Cola Taras Maksimuk, from California, submerged the phone in a dish filled with the fizzy drink He then used a hammer to gently break the ice and retrieve the iPhone 7. After finally getting the freezing cold phone out, he discovered that it was indeed still working. However, the iPhone 7 was working a lot slower than usual and the battery had drained from close to fully charged to 18 per cent. He compared the sound quality to another iPhone and found the phone that had not been frozen in the coke was much louder. He left the dish in the freezer for nearly 17 hours before taking out the block of frozen coke He then used a hammer to gently break the ice and retrieve the iPhone 7 Maksimuk also noticed that when he turned the screen of the phone off, there were brown circular marks on the screen - suggesting that some of the coke had got inside the phone. In another video, the vlogger tests out whether the iPhone 7 could survive being submerged in boiling water for seven minutes. He took it out of the pan to find that it was still fully functional. The iPhone 7 went on sale last Friday, with some Apple fans camping out for days in a bid to be one of the first to get their hands on the new smartphone. After finally getting the freezing cold phone out, he discovered that it was indeed still working However, the iPhone 7 was working a lot slower than usual and the battery had drained from close to fully charged to 18 per cent A Sydney grandfather who was allegedly stabbed by a 'religious fanatic inspired by ISIS' was approached by the young Muslim man hours before he was attacked. Wayne Greenhalgh, 59, was on a morning walk with his wife Bronwyn when Ihsas Khan, 22, eerily stepped off his verandah and came face-to-face with the pair. In an interview with ACA, Mr Greenhalgh recalled how he had initially thought Khan may have been approaching him to ask for directions, but became spooked when he turned around without saying a word and retreated to his red-brick home. He had no idea that come 4pm later that day, during a second walk down Ohflsen Road, Minto, the same man would allegedly stab him in the abdomen, chest and neck - leaving him in such a bad condition that surgeons doubted he would survive. Scroll down for video Wayne Greenhalgh, 59, has recalled the bizarre moment he came face to face with a man who allegedly nearly stabbed him to death - hours before he was attacked The grandfather and cabinet maker said he was walking with his wife and their dog (pictured) when Ihsas Khan, who has been charged with his attempted murder, silently walked up to him and stared at him in the face He had no idea that come 4pm later that day, during a second walk down Ohflsen Road, Minto, the same man would allegedly stab him multiple times in the abdomen, neck and hands. Khan was allegedly captured on CCTV footage brandishing a large knife Mr Greenhalgh was left with permanent damage to his hands (pictured) and other injuries 'We were about fifty metres from this fellas house (Khan's) and he came off his verandah - it looked like he was reading a little maroon bible,' Mr Greenhalgh said. 'As he was coming to me I whispered to my wife, 'I think he's going to ask us for directions to a shop or something". (But) he just came up to my face, closed his bible, turned around, walked away up to his driveway and went inside.' 'I said to my wife, "Christ, that was weird, I wonder what he wanted there? I thought he was going to ask me something. He didn't say a word ... Bloody hell!"' Mr Greenhalgh said that on his second walk of the day he watched on in horror as Khan sat on a fence outside his home and pulled a hunting knife from his backpack. He was then allegedly repeatedly stabbed by Khan, who witnesses claimed was shouting 'Allahu Akbar, this is a good day to die' during the alleged attack. After suffering multiple stab wounds Mr Greenhalgh managed to escape to a nearby property where he was taken into an adjoining hairdressing salon by the owner. An image from CCTV footage shows the moment Mr Greenhalgh (left) escaped his attacker into a nearby hair salon Mr Greenhalgh's neighbours came to his aid during the attack, holding off the attacker while they waited for police to arrive The moment Ihsas Khan was arrested by police. Circled in red is the alleged weapon used in the attack Alleged terror attacker Ihsas Khan, 19, pictured in an earlier image A local resident said she watched in horror as property owner Duyen Phan barricaded the entrance as Khan allegedly attempted to smash his way inside before local heroes intervened. Mr Greenhalgh was recovering well mentally, but was phyisically 'messed up', A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw said on Monday. He couldn't use his hands and had received two puncture wounds to his torso - one which penetrated his lung - and a large gash to his right arm during the attack. A doctor believed his two little fingers on his right hand would be 'ultimately useless to him', Ms Grimshaw said. 'He's a cabinet maker... he needs every cent that he earns to survive - to keep the family going.' His left hand was 'useless' to him because all the skin was stripped off his middle finger and he thought his left hand could 'come good', but not his right, she said. Khan has been charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder. A Current Affair captured the moment Mr Greenhalgh embraced neighbour Sivei Ah Chong, who came to his rescue and saved his life Teenage thugs fired a rocket at a blind three-year-old girls wheelchair which was also carrying two oxygen cylinders to help her breathe. Tilly-Mae Donovan, who also has Downs syndrome and two holes in her heart, was said to have been left in tears after the gang fired the screech rocket. The attack happened after her mother Claire had challenged four youths, aged 15 or 16, for aiming fireworks at a passing van in Harpurhey, Manchester. Scared: Claire Donovan with her daughter Tilly-Mae Donovan, who was said to have been left in tears after a gang of thugs fired the screech rocket at her wheelchair Shocking: Teenage thugs have fired a rocket at Tilly-Mae's wheelchair, which was also carrying two oxygen cylinders to help her breathe Mother and daughters: Ms Donovan had been going home with Tilly-Mae and her second daughter Gracie-Leigh, seven, who had just finished school on Friday afternoon The driver of the van remonstrated with the yobs before they fired a second rocket at the vehicle - but it missed and landed at Gracie-Leighs feet. Ms Donovan had been going home with Tilly-Mae and her second daughter Gracie-Leigh, seven, who had just finished school on Friday afternoon. When the mother remonstrated with the youths, they threatened to f***ing batter her and then fired a third rocket which landed beside Tilly-Maes wheelchair. The four youths ran off, leaving Tilly-Mae - who suffered a heart attack aged one and was left brain-damaged and blind - sobbing in her wheelchair. Ms Donovan, 24, said her older daughter had been heartbroken - and the firework could have hit the oxygen tanks and blown us all up. Terrifying: The four youths ran off, leaving Tilly-Mae - who suffered a heart attack aged one and was left brain-damaged and blind - sobbing in her wheelchair Dangerous: Ms Donovan, 24, said her older daughter had been heartbroken - and the firework could have hit the oxygen tanks on the wheelchair and blown us all up Ordeal: The driver of the van remonstrated with the yobs before they fired a second rocket at the vehicle - but it missed and landed at Gracie-Leighs feet She said: It was so loud. I saw the sparks and tried to move the wheelchair but it was too quick. As soon as it happened her arms went up and her lips pursed and she went into this horrible, dreadful crying. I picked her up to try to comfort her. It was awful. Shes heartbroken. Shes been through so much. Its just heartbreaking. I just broke down. The kids were in hysterics. It was just horrible. A Greater Manchester Police spokesman confirmed the force is investigating the incident after Ms Donovan made a 999 call from the scene. A Ukrainian beauty queen who left her Italian billionaire husband and was reported missing before turning up in New York has claimed he would have killed her if she hadn't fled. Italian businessman Gianluca Cervara contacted police in Milan after his new wife Anna Zaiachkivska - winner of the 2013 Miss Ukraine beauty contest - vanished in July after telling him she was going outside to get some fresh air. However, pictures then emerged on Instagram of Ms Zaiachkivska in the US with another man - prompting police to drop their investigation. Speaking to the New York Post last night, she said: 'If I stayed, he would kill me - if not physically, then my spirit. 'I stopped modeling because I thought he would respect me. I was his rag doll.' Anna Zaiachkivska with her husband Gianluca Cervara, who is suing her after finding out on social media that she had fled to the US after he had reported her missing to police. She claims she left the relationship, which had turned abusive The 24-year-old model claims she left because her husband had been violent towards her, while Mr Cervara is now suing her for non-compliance with their marriage contract, stating that she had violated their pre-nup agreement. But now she claims that when she left Milan, she had written to her husband telling him that she wanted to leave the relationship and that he knew exactly where she was going. Ms Zaiachkivska told the Post: 'He knew where I was. Hes trying to blacken my name because I left him. Freedom is more important than anything. 'I am at peace (in New York). I breathe freely when I walk down the street.' Ms Zaiachkivska met her husband, 45, at a friend's birthday dinner last summer after moving to Milan to further her modelling career. She had already walked in runway shows for the likes of Armani and landed campaigns with Ralph Lauren and Tods. Ms Zaiachkivska, who won the Miss Ukraine beauty contest in 2013, disappeared from her home in Milan after saying she was going for some fresh air. She later turned up in New York The model claimed she had been the victim of domestic violence, saying she was fed up of 'living in a golden cage' Just months later they wed in a registry office but had been planning a formal church wedding due to be held this month. However, Ms Zaiachkivska says not long after they got married she fled to her native Ukraine after the relationship became violent. Police interest in the case cooled after pictures emerged on Instagram of Ms Zaiachkivska with another man in New York She told Ukrainian website tochka.net: 'He raised his hands against me. 'The first time when he did it I ran away to my parents' house in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk. 'I did not tell them what the matter was. He came to get me, and I gave him a second chance, but during an argument he spat in my face, and I simply could not take it. 'I said I am going to leave him, but I changed my mind again. 'I had headaches for a week but Gianluca did not care about it. Finally I decided I needed to make changes as I was fed up of living in a golden cage and I ran away.' After finally deciding to leave, she claims she left her jewelry and paintings in Milan and a note telling her husband she was moving out. She says she took a train to Rome but once she got there, she decided she wanted to go to New York and found a friend to live with. But despite leaving all her possessions behind as well as a life where she lived in a Milan penthouse and holidayed in Monte Carlo, she has no regrets. However, Mr Cervara hit back and denied the abuse claims saying: 'Judging by her photos she is in New York and is working as a model there. 'She has lots of pretty photos taken in five-star hotels, she is posing with other men. She does not look unhappy at all. A 26-year-old man who was found dead at the bottom of a jagged cliff face has been identified two days after his body was spotted by fishermen. Ryan Foster, from Avalon, was found at the bottom of a cliff at Careel Headland Reserve, on Sydney's northern beaches, at about 10.15am on Saturday. Police are not treating Mr Foster's death as suspicious but want to speak to a man who was seen with him shortly before his death. Ryan Foster, from Avalon, was found at the bottom of a cliff at Careel Headland Reserve, on Sydney's northern beaches, at about 10.15am on Saturday Police are not treating Mr Foster's (pictured) death as suspicious but want to speak to a man who was seen with him shortly before his death Mr Foster, who is thought to have been a keen surfer, is believed to have accidentally fallen off the cliff after spending the weekend socialising in the area. Rescuers were winched down from a police helicopter but the 26-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. New South Wales Police have spoken to one man who saw Mr Foster not long before his death but have asked for help tracking down another, who was described as an 'acquaintance' of Mr Foster's. He is described as being a white man aged 30 to 40 years old and being about 183cm tall. The man was seen driving a light green hatchback. Officers are also trying to track down Mr Foster's car - a white Nissan Nivara with the registration CF35FN - which is missing. Police are still investigating Mr Foster's death but are not treating it as suspicious at this time. New South Wales Police told Daily Mail Australia that suicide was unlikely but had not been ruled out. Rescuers were winched down from a police helicopter but the 26-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene Police are still investigating Mr Foster's death but are not treating it as suspicious at this time. A rescuer is seen being winched down to the bottom of the cliff Friends paid tribute to Mr Foster, known affectionately as Rizza, on Facebook. 'My baby, see Rye-Rye how much everyone loved you. And please anyone that knows anything I need more closure on what happened to my boy,' Lisa Easson wrote. 'Love love love love love love you forever and ever, and if there is a waiting room in heaven please wait for me,' she added. Nik Scarpo Scarpin wrote: 'You will always be in our hearts Rizza. You're a legend. The joy you brought to each and every person you came in contact with my friend will never be forgotten. 'I know you're in a better place now and I'll see you in the other side my friend. I'll always cherish the times we had.' Police Inspector Craig Wonders told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Foster had previously lived on the northern beaches and had met friends in the area over the weekend. 'About 10.15am on Saturday, emergency services were called to Careel Headland Reserve following concerns for the welfare of a man in that area,' Insp Wonders said. 'Upon arrival, emergency services personnel found a man at the base of the cliff below Whale Beach Rd. 'Despite a quick response, the man was already deceased.' The Rahami family came to the U.S. as asylum seekers in the 1990s when Ahmad was about seven years old FBI officials said Rahami was not on any terror watch list but he had traveled multiple times to Afghanistan DailyMail.com exclusively revealed on Monday that Rahami had sued his local police for discrimination On Sunday, five more pipe bombs were found at the Elizabeth train station and were disarmed by police No one was injured in that incident Just hours before the Chelsea bombing, a pipe bomb was Fingerprints on a second unexploded bomb found blocks away led police to Rahami The pressure cooker bomb set off Saturday in New York City's Chelsea Advertisement Hours after being arrested in a shootout with police, the man wanted in connection to a series of bombings in the New York City-area this weekend has been charged. Ahmad Khan Rahami faces five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and two gun charges, authorities said Monday afternoon. Bail has been set at $5.2 million and he remains in hospital. Federal charges in the bombings have yet to be filed. The 28-year-old was arrested around 11am on Monday, after a bar owner in Linden, New Jersey found him passed out in the waterproofed lobby entrance to his business and called 911. When police arrived on the scene, Rahami brandished a weapon and started shooting at the cops - injuring four. Officers shot Rahami in the right shoulder and he was taken from the scene in an ambulance, handcuffed to a stretcher. Police released Rahami's picture Monday morning, saying he was wanted for questioning in connection to the Saturday bombings in New York City and Seaside Park, New Jersey, as well as the foiled bombing of the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station on Sunday. Law enforcement say it was fingerprints left behind on an unexploded pressure cooker bomb in Manhattan that led them to Rahami. Twenty-nine people were injured when another bomb placed a few blocks away was detonated Saturday night. Rahami wasn't on any terror watch lists but a childhood friend said that he started to change after going on a 'life-changing' trip to Afghanistan two years ago. Now that Rahami is in custody, investigators are now looking into whether he acted alone or was perhaps working with or for a larger terror network. All indications currently suggest that the series of attacks was a lone wolf attack, authorities said at an afternoon press conference. Scroll down for video Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was taken into custody on Monday after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey. He is seen above being taken from the scene on a stretcher Rahami is wanted for questioning in connection to two bombings and an attempted bombing in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. He is pictured slumped over in Linden, New Jersey after his arrest on Monday Authorities say Rahami was shot during the shootout on Monday, and is currently undergoing surgery for his wounds. he was conscious as he was taken from the scene A local bar owner called police after finding Rahami sleeping in the vestibule of his business late Monday morning When police responded to the scene, Rahami reportedly brandished a weapon and started shooting. Four cops were injured in the shootout but none of them are in critical condition According to the bandages on his body, it appears that Rahami was shot in the led and the arm on Monday Rahami was born in Afghanistan but spent most of his life in the U.S. and has since become an American citizen. A friend told reporters that he changed two years ago, after taking a trip to his native Afghanistan Witnesses told DailyMail.com that Rahami was found sleeping in the vestibule of a bar called Merdie's on Elizabeth Avenue. Bar owner Harry Barnes asked Rahami to move because he didn't want him to get injured by some broken glass on the ground. Barnes spoke to Rahami in Spanish, and Rahami answered in English. When the two locked eyes, Barnes recognized the man's face and ran across the street to another business he owns to call 911, neighbor Sandy Percoski said. When police showed up, Rahami pulled a gun and started shooting. One witness told the New York Times that the officers were shooting at Rahami as he was running away. The witness said Rahami was shot more than once and was 'still twitching' when he was arrested. Authorities say two Linden officers, Angel Padilla and Peter Hammer, were wounded in the confrontation. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening. Hammer, who suffered 'significant bleeding' according to CNN, left hospital at around noon Tuesday. Pictures from the scene show a man appearing to be Rahami laying on the ground, his shirt pulled up exposing his bulky physique, with his hands retrained behind his back. The mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey said that one of the officers injured in the shooting had been shot in the vest while another cop suffered an injury to his head caused by a piece of glass. None of the four injuries were considered critical. Rahami was also shot, and was taken from the scene in an ambulance, a gunshot wound noticeable on his right upper arm. Authorities later revealed that he had also been shot in the leg. As of Monday afternoon, Rahami was undergoing surgery for his injuries. Rahami is seen above in CCTV footage just before the second bombing Saturday evening in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City Investigators say they were able to identify Rahami (pictured above in three different pictures) from a fingerprint on a second pressure cooker bomb planted in Chelsea that didn't explode Above, the bar where Rahami was found Monday morning. The owner found the suspect sleeping in the vestibule, which is the weatherproofing anteroom seen covering the front door above FBI detectives were searching through Rahami's Elizabeth, New Jersey apartment Monday morning. Rahami also worked at his family's fried chicken shop on the first floor of the building In an afternoon press conference, FBI Special Agent William F. Sweeney said that Rahami had not been on their radar for terrorism. However, he was accused of domestic abuse 'some time ago' -allegations which were later recanted. He also traveled back and forth between the U.S. and Afghanistan. A childhood friend who spoke with the Boston Herald said that Rahami began to change after a trip to his home country two years ago. 'At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious,' Flee Jones, 27, said. 'And it was shocking. I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never seen him like this.' At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious. And it was shocking. I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never seen him like this. Flee Jones, childhood friend of Ahmad Khan Rahami Officials at the press conference said the five armed people who had been arrested in Brooklyn on Saturday have since been released from FBI custody. It was reported at the time that the five people in the car headed to JFK airport may have been related to the suspect. It's unclear if that is true. Officials refused to say whether charges could be filed against those five individuals. Mayor Bill de Blasio admitted at the conference that there's 'every reason to believe this was an act of terror'. At another press conference, President Obama praised the calm and collected reaction of locals in New Jersey and New York. 'Folks around here, they don't get scared. They go about their business every single day,' President Obama said. According to the FBI's wanted poster, Rahami is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan. Sources tell CNN that the Rahami family moved to the U.S. as asylum seekers in the 1990s, around the time that Ahmad was seven years old. But in recent years, Rahami has made 'multiple' visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Authorities told CNN that Rahami had spent a year, between 2013 and 2014, in Pakistan where he traveled to a Taliban stronghold. When he returned to the United States, he went through routine questioning but was not picked up as a potential terrorist. He was not placed on any terrorist watch list. He also married a Pakistani woman, CNN's Situation Room reported. Earlier Monday, FBI agents stormed Rahami's apartment in Elizabeth. The apartment is located above First American Fried Chicken, a restaurant that Rahami's family owns. Elizabeth was also the site of a foiled bomb plot on Sunday, after police found and deactivated five pipe bombs at the local train station. Neighbors told DailyMail.com that the family who live in the building had recently changed the way they dressed. Ahmad and the other men working in the shop had largely worn Western clothing - although his father's wife wore the hijab - until recently, one local, who did not wish to be identified, told Dailymail.com. 'Up until recently they wore regular clothes like us and then they started dressing in their culture's clothes,' they said. Rahami and his family actually sued the Elizabeth, New Jersey police in 2011, claiming the police force discriminated against them and tried to stop their fried chicken shop from holding late hours. Above, FBI agents search the home and business on Monday The city of Elizabeth won the lawsuit in 2012. The mayor said the lawsuit 'had nothing to do with his ethnicity or religion' and everything to do with 'noise and people congregated on the streets' DailyMail.com also revealed that Rahami sued his local police force in 2011 for discrimination. The lawsuit claimed that the local police tried to shut down their fried chicken business early every night. Ahmad his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and his brother Mohammad, brought the lawsuit together and said that local residents also racially abused them and said: 'Muslims don't belong here'. At a press conference on Monday, the mayor of Elizabeth revealed that the city had won the lawsuit. Rahami was said to be a 'class clown' in high school. Pictured above in a high school yearbook photo 'It was neighbor complaints, it had nothing to do with his ethnicity or religion,' the mayor said. 'It had to do with noise and people congregating on the streets.' Despite the legal battle with the local government, Rahami seemed to many to be quite Americanized. As a boy at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, he was a 'class clown' who messed around with classmates and talked sports, a friend told Buzzfeed News. 'He was in my 9th grade English class,' Hakeem Ezzouhairy, 27, of Maplewood, said. 'Very funny, class clown. Got along with everyone, was a very nice kid. 'Never would I [have] thought years later he would be capable of something like this.' That was a sentiment shared by Rahami's father, Mohammad Sr, who shook his haid and said 'No' when asked by MSNBC whether he knew of his son's alleged plot. And when asked whether he believed whether the allegations against his son might be true, the man said: 'Im not sure whats going on. Im not sure whats happening exactly. 'But I think so. Its very hard right now to talk, okay?' TIMELINE OF TERROR: HOW FBI MANHUNT UNFOLDED OVER 48 HOURS In just 48 hours New York and New Jersey have been shaken by a series of bombings and attempted bombings. Authorities are investigating the possibility that it could be the result of a terrorist cell operating in the city. that authorities believe may be the result of a terrorist cell operating in the city but current indications are that the blasts are the work of a lone wolf. Here's what happened and when SATURDAY 1) 9.30am: Pipe bomb detonated at military fun run near Seaside Park, New Jersey The pipe bomb exploded in a waste bin along the proposed route of the third annual Semper Five 5K run. The race had been delayed, so no one was hurt. Two other unexploded devices were found in the same garbage can. They were attached to flip-phone timers. 2) 8.30pm: First 'pressure cooker' bomb explodes on West 23 St in Chelsea, Midtown Manhattan, New York The bomb, which was placed in or near a metal trash dumpster at a building site, injured 29 people, including a boy of eight. One person was seriously injured, but all 29 were released from hospital by Monday morning. 3) 10pm: Unexploded second 'pressure cooker' bomb found on West 27 St in Chelsea A resident found a pressure cooker with a flip-phone timer outside her home and called in police. Two State Troopers located the bomb, which was taken to a police firing range in The Bronx to be defused. It was defused at 8pm Sunday. All evidence is being taken to Quantico for analysis. SUNDAY 4) 8.30pm: Five IEDs are found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey Two homeless men found a backpack in a wastepaper basket by a railroad bridge near Elizabeth Station. Upon spotting the bombs they ran to a nearby police station. Police then evacuated the area and brought in a robot to defuse the bombs. At 1am the robot cut the wrong wire, causing one bomb to detonate. No one was hurt, and the bombs were relocated. 5) 8.45pm: Five people stopped by FBI agents while driving through Brooklyn towards Verrazano Bridge FBI agents pulled over the group, who were driving an SUV, and detained them for questioning. On Monday NYC FBI assistant director William Sweeney Jr announced in a press conference that all five had been released without charge. He said at the same conference that Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, of New Jersey was the only suspect being considered in this case. Early reports indicated that the vehicle stopped by the FBI contained weapons and bomb-making equipment, but these details were not mentioned by Sweeney. MONDAY 6) 6am: FBI raids home of suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami in Elizabeth, New Jersey FBI agents struck the home of Rahami and his father above 'First American Fried Chicken' restaurant owned by the family at 104 Elmora Avenue. Soon after Rahami was named by the Bureau as a suspect in the case. 7) Noon: Rahami spotted in Linden, NJ, sleeping in a bar doorway Harry Barnes, owner of Merdies bar on Elizabeth Avenue, spotted Rahami sleeping in the doorway of his establishment. He asked the man to move in case he cut himself on broken glass, but when Rahami looked up, Barnes recognized him and ran to call police. Rahami fired on approaching officers, instigating a shoot-out in which he was wounded in the shoulder and arrested. Two officers were also injured. Advertisement RAHAMI SUED HIS LOCAL POLICE OVER DISCRIMINATION The prime suspect in the New York and New Jersey bombings sued his local police force and claimed they were persecuting him for being a Muslim. Ahmad Rahami said in a lawsuit that cops in Elizabeth, New Jersey subjected his and his family to discrimination and 'selective enforcement' based on their religion. The family - who used the name Rahimi in the legal papers - claimed that police tried to shut down their chicken restaurant, called First American, too early each night with 'baseless' tickets and summonses. Ahmad, 28, his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and his brother Mohammad, brought the lawsuit together and said that local residents also racially abused them and said: 'Muslims don't belong here'. The lawsuit was filed in 2011 and reveals that Ahmad has a long history of grievances with city officials, their local police force and people who lived close to them. Court records show that the complaint was dismissed with prejudice in 2012, meaning that it could not be brought again. At a press conference on Monday, the mayor of Elizabeth revealed that citizens complained when the fried chicken restaurant first opened because it was open for 24 hours and people congregated outside of it. The police tried to shut the store down at 10pm daily and that's when the Rahami family field the lawsuit. The city won the right to enforce the 10pm closing time in court, proving that it was a 'quality of life' issue. Advertisement Diners who ate at the restaurant say Rahami appeared to be taking over responsibility for the business from his father. Patron Ryan McCann says he has only positive memories of Rahami. 'He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary,' McCann told the BBC. 'I come in here about once every week or two, just to get something to eat. He's always in there. They never seemed out of the ordinary, they just Americanized. 'You would've never knew anything. He'd always talk about his cars. He loved Civics, he loved going fast, that's what he did, he'd talk about his cars,' McCann said. Another diner said that one of Rahami's brother once got into a fight with a police officer who came to shut down the restaurant by 10pm. That brother allegedly fled to Afghanistan before he could be prosecuted for assaulting an officer. The Rahami family is made up of Mohammad Sr, 53, his wife, two adult sons, Ahmad and Mohammad Qasim, 25, apparently known as Qasim, and two adult daughters, Aziza, and Zobyedh. Zobyedh is a student at a nearby campus of Rutgers University, studying towards a B.S. in public health. She is a writer on the university newspaper, the Daily Targum, and had previously worked as an assistant at the Asian American Cultural Center at the university, and had posted anti-Donald Trump material on social media. Neighbors on the same block as First American Fried Chicken told DailyMail.com that the family largely isolated from the community. One woman who lives in the street said: 'Mohammad [Ahmad] is a very nice man, always wearing white and he would pray in the back of the shop. 'I would wait at the counter for him to finish and he would come and take the orders.' She said that during a visit to the shop in the last few weeks, she had seen two new men behind the counter who she had never seen before and that Ahmad Rahami was cooking food in the back of the store. A young teenage boy who often worked in the store served her. She said the other men who were behind the counter spoke to Ahmad Rahami in a language the young boy didn't understand. An immediate neighbor, who refused to be identified, said: 'The last time I saw him was on Friday, in a blue car. He parked in front of my house in the blue car. 'He always parks in front of my house. I saw him in the shop not long ago. 'I see him maybe two times a week in the shop, but I always see him in that blue car.' Another neighbor said that the father was always in the shop working, and that the other brothers were not seen as frequently. Of the father, the neighbor said: 'He was clearly very devoted to his religion. He was very quiet and seemed very nice. You would see him praying sometimes.' Twenty-nine people were injured Saturday night when a pressure-cooker bomb exploded inside a dumpster in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Surveillance video reportedly shows the same man, believed to be Rahami, dropping off a bomb on that street, as well as another street where an unexploded IED was later found. After dropping off a duffel bag at the second location, on 27th street, two other men are seen taking a white garbage bag out of the duffel bag and placing it on the street. It's believed that the trash bag contained the second pressure cooker bomb. Authorities are now looking to speak to the other two men in the surveillance video, to see if they may be tied to the attempted attack. According to reports, the two men may have been thieves who made off with the duffel bag and left the trash bag behind. Late Sunday, two homeless men found a backpack inside a trash can near the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station - about a mile from the Rahami's fried chicken restaurant. The two men took the backpack to a train track underpass and opened the bag, finding five pipe bombs inside. The frightened men then ran to police and reported the bag. Police worked overnight to disarm the devices, but one of them exploded when a police robot cut a wrong wire. While the blast startled law enforcement, no one was injured in the blast. In addition to the bombing in Chelsea, and the thwarted attack at the Elizabeth train station, a pipe bomb was also detonated at a military charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey early Saturday morning. No one was injured in that incident. In an interview on CNN Monday morning, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the bombs have similarities suggesting 'there might have been a common linkage'. Cuomo had said Sunday that there was no evidence to suggest that the bombing was related to international terrorism, but he appeared to walk that back Monday. 'Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes,' he said. Cuomo says investigators have no reason to believe that there are further threats, but the public should 'be on constant guard'. Cuomo was at Manhattan's Penn Station to thank state troopers and National Guard members for their work protecting the public during and after the New York City and New Jersey shore town bombings. Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday's blast that injured 29 people in Chelsea, said the unexploded pressure cooker device appeared 'similar in design' to the bomb that exploded in Chelsea, but he didn't provide details. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the two New York City devices and the pipe bomb at the Jersey shore are connected. Cellphones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn't authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. It was actually fingerprints on the unexploded Chelsea device that led authorities to Rahami. There was no immediate word on whether the devices in Elizabeth were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City. Officials haven't revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it. Rahami is currently being held on $5.2 million bail. Police say he is refusing to cooperate with the authorities. Surveillance footage reportedly shows the same man, believed to be Rahami, dropping the pressure cooker bomb off in Chelsea, and another one a few blocks away that never exploded. Above, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (second right) survey the scene on Sunday Above is the second pressure cooker bomb found in Chelsea that never detonated. Investigators were allegedly able to identify Rahami from fingerprints on the device Two homeless men also found a backpack full of five pipe bombs near the Elizabeth, New Jersey rail station on Sunday. One of the devices accidentally went off as police were trying to disarm it. No one was injured in that incident The two homeless men were rifling through the backpack they found in a trash can on Sunday when they noticed the pipes and wires and immediately found police. Above, the scene on Monday morning Earlier Saturday, a pipe bomb went off at a charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey (above). No one was injured in that incident The FBI stopped an SUV with five armed people inside it on New Yorks Verrazano bridge in connection with Saturdays Manhattan bomb. It was previously reported that the people inside the car were members of Rahami's family. It's unclear whether that is the case, but police say all five have since been released from FBI custody On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said. Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260. The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a week earlier and that was schedule to hold a United Nations meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis in Syria. Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighborhood on the city's west side. One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his apartment when the blast went off. At first he thought it was thunder and lightning. 'Then all of a sudden, car horns went off, and I thought, "Oh, my God, this isn't lightning. This is too loud,"' Stanhope said. 'This is a bomb.' The US is aiding Afghan forces as they push back a Taliban insurgency with by firing back, according to a US Brigadier An Afghan official says at least eight Afghan police officers have been killed in two U.S. airstrikes in southern Uruzgan province in what was apparently a friendly-fire incident. Rahimullah Khan, a provincial operational commander, says the first airstrike killed one policeman at a security outpost outside the provincial capital of Tirin Kot, while the second, which struck the same area, killed seven others. 'An airstrike killed one police officer and when seven others returned to the security post, foreign aircraft carried out another raid, killing all of them,' he told VOA. After the attack: ID documents and cigarettes are strewn across the floor after the two strikes on the police outpost Khan says the airstrikes took place on Sunday afternoon around Tirin Kot. The Taliban have been advancing on the city in recent weeks. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed that U.S. forces carried out an airstrike, saying they sought to assist Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) who have been in combat with Taliban assailants in the area. 'We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF forces. U.S., Coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense, and in this case were responding to an immediate threat,' Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said. Terror monitor posted photos of the aftermath of the attacks in the outskirts of Tirin Kot Abandoned truck in the area of the US strike. US fighter jets have struck a number of Afghan police members and vehicles in friendly fire attacks since lending troops in the country's fight against the Taliban Tarin Kot is one of several provincial capitals in Afghanistan who have faced Taliban attacks in recent weeks as the assailants attempt to take control of the city. Insurgents managed to break through into the city earlier this month but were pushed back by Afghan forces-backed by US air power-shortly after. In June President Barack Obama gave further authorization to the U.S. military in Afghanistan to mobilize its air and ground support when needed to assist Afghan forces in its struggle against the Taliban. Last year Afghan officials claimed a US airstrike killed 11 counter-narcotics police officers on patrol in Garmsir district in the volatile Helmand province in a friendly fire incident. Risks of a nuclear disaster have been significantly underestimated, scientists have warned just days after the Government approved plans for the 18billion Hinkley Point C reactor. Experts from the UK and Switzerland said that the true cost of the project could be much higher because of the underestimated risks. They blamed the miscalculation on a conflict of interest of industry bodies who have a stake in the major investment going ahead. Risks of a nuclear disaster have been significantly underestimated, scientists have warned just days after the Government approved plans for the 18billion Hinkley Point C reactor in Somerset (pictured) Their estimations were based on flawed and woefully incomplete data, scientists wrote in the journal Risk Analysis as they called for more transparency in the nuclear industry. And according to the largest analysis conducted on the risks of nuclear accidents a disaster on the scale of Fukushima is more probable than not in the next 100 years. The worrying warnings come just days after Theresa May gave the final go ahead for work to begin on Britains biggest nuclear investment project in a generation at the Hinkley site in Somerset. A University of Sussex report warned that the global nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) lacks sufficient transparency. According to the largest analysis conducted on the risks of nuclear accidents a disaster on the scale of Fukushima (pictured) is more probable than not in the next 100 years The worrying warnings came just days after Theresa May (pictured meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit earlier this month) finally approved plans for Hinkley to go ahead after expressing concerns over Chinese involvement The IAEA collects national reports of nuclear accidents and assesses them for their threats to the public but the report warned that both the IAEA and national agencies have a conflict of interest in favour of expanding civil nuclear power. Benjamin Sovacool, from the University of Sussex, told The Times: It relates back to 'Atoms for Peace". The goal was to show that the atom could be a force for good not just evil. Because of that the IAEA has a strong promotional arm. Warning that national agencies were seriously underestimating the true costs of risks and under-reporting accidents at sites, he added: In Japan incidents where people got killed only came up years later. China has a strong interest in exporting nuclear technology and in keeping secrets. Writing in Risk Analysis, scientists warned: Given that the IAEA has the dual objective of promoting and regulating the use of nuclear energy, one should not take the full objectivity of the ... data for granted. How many did she kill? Mary Ann Cotton was hanged in March 1873 in Durham after being found guilty of murdering her stepson A woman believed to be Britains first serial killer is feared to have used arsenic to murder 21 people including 11 of her children and three husbands. Mary Ann Cotton was hanged in March 1873 in Durham after being found guilty of murdering her stepson, but she is said to have killed many more relatives. And the never-seen-before letters of Cotton that offer an insight into her final days have now emerged for sale 143 years later at an auction on Wednesday. Cotton - known as the 'Black Widow' - is said to have used arsenic to poison and kill three husbands, 11 of her 13 children, seven stepchildren, her mother, a lover and an inconvenient friend. Now letters cleared from her cell by the matron of Durham Jail are being sold for the first time at Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn, North Yorkshire. A renewed interest in Cotton was sparked in 2012 with the publication of a book by criminologist David Wilson, whose research was featured in the Mail. Update: One of the letters up for auction is from the Edwards couple, informing Cotton how the baby is doing on March 20 - just four days before she was executed Hopes for the future: The letter was addressed to my dear friend and said: I think it is my duty to write you a few lines and let you know how your little baby is getting on' And an ITV costume drama about her called Dark Angel, starring Downton Abbey actress Joanne Froggatt, is expected to be broadcast later this year. Cotton first married when she was aged 20 in 1852 and over the next few decades moved around the North East leaving a trail of dead family members behind her. Her crimes caught up with her when her seven-year-old stepson Charles, from her fourth, bigamous marriage to Frederick Cotton, died and suspicions were raised. Journalists investigated and found out about her dead husbands and children. The doctor who examined Charles then found his samples tested positive for arsenic. Cotton was arrested and taken to Durham Jail. But before her arrest she had worked as a nurse for smallpox sufferer John Quick-Manning and became pregnant by him. Her trial was delayed for several months so she could give birth. She nursed the baby, Margaret, in her cell until all her avenues of appeal had been exhausted. Another is a letter from William Lowrey, who had been Cottons lodger when she was arrested It describes her solicitor George Smith going to the house and taking her belongings to sell to cover her legal costs. It mentions him taking the bed, carpets, knives, forks and selling them Then, a week before her execution, she gave the infant to a couple she knew, William and Sarah Edwards, who adopted the girl. One of the letters is from the Edwards couple, informing Cotton how the baby is doing on March 20 - just four days before she was executed. It was addressed to my dear friend and said: I think it is my duty to write you a few lines and let you know how your little baby is getting on. We had many hundreds of visitors to see it and they say it is a fine one. Poor little thing it had a pretty good night but a better day. But you must not let it trouble your mind for it will be alright by Gods help. I may just say Mrs Edwards hopes we will all meet in a better world. Another is a letter from William Lowrey, who had been Cottons lodger when she was arrested. Collection: The letters and photograph have an estimate of 700, but Steve Stockton from Tennants Auctioneers said they could sell for several thousand pounds It describes her solicitor George Smith going to the house and taking her belongings to sell to cover her legal costs. It mentions him taking the bed, carpets, knives, forks and selling them. Others are from her solicitor and other lawyers about representing her and another promises money raised by a committee to pay for her defence. The letters and photograph have an estimate of 700, but Steve Stockton from Tennants Auctioneers said they could sell for several thousand pounds. He said: Its a very interesting story and has a great line of provenance. The vendors ancestor was the matron at Durham Jail at the time Cotton was there and the presumption is that she cleared out her cell after she was hanged. The items have been in the family ever since and have never been on the market. Theyve been hidden in drawers over the year, never seen in public until now. These are all letters written to her in the lead up to her trial. There are a few about her representation for the trial. She was pregnant when she was in jail and interestingly there is a letter from the couple who looked after her child telling her the baby was OK, which is quite ironic considering she was believed to have murdered most of her children. These items have got a great story behind them and theres a real human interest. It might be a bit gruesome and macabre but people are fascinated by serial killers and mass murderers. Two young children became the victims of gun violence in separate incidents in Florida Sunday. Investigators on Monday morning announced the arrest of a 16-year-old boy and the uncle of a four-year-old girl, who apparently found a gun under a bed in a Riviera Beach home overnight. According to police, the firearm discharged while the little girl, identified as Amirra Jacques, was playing with it at around 8.30pm, right before her bathtime. She was rushed to a hospital but died a short time later of a gunshot wound. Tragic: Amirra Jacques, four, shot and killed herself while playing with a gun she had found under a bed in her family's apartment in Riviera Beach, Florida Police in Riviera Beach have arrested and charged Amirra's uncle and a 16-year-old boy The girl's uncle was in the home at 1280 west 32nd Street when the shooting occurred. Police arrested Nathaniel Lowe, 25, and the teenager. They didn't explain the teen's relationship to the child. Uncle: Nathaniel Lowe, 25, has been charged with with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon Lowe is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. The 16-year-old boy is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, perjury and grand theft of a firearm. According to police, Lowe initially told them that an unknown person entered the home and fired the shot that killed Amirra. The 25-year-old told police he panicked because as a convicted felon, he could not be in possession of a gun, so he asked the teen to get rid of it. The firearm was stolen three years prior, according to investigators. Police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown told the Palm Beach Post that investigators questioned the people in the house on Sunday night. But she added that some people left the home near West Palm Beach right after the shooting. The 16-year-old suspect allegedly had disposed of the gun that killed the toddler at Lowe's request, but after being questioned by police he took them to a spot two streets away from the crime scene where the weapon was recovered, reported the station WPTV. It wasn't clear whether the teen is going to be charged as an adult. Lowe is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail on a $150,000 bond. His criminal record includes past convictions for attempted burglary, drug possession, vehicle theft, battery and carrying a concealed weapon. Another death: Across the state in Tampa, investigators are trying to determine how 17-month-old Amaya Shafi (left and right) was shot dead Amaya's parents (pictured) took her to a hospital, where she died a short time later. She was shot one time. Little Amaya sustained a fatal gunshot wound at the Clipper Bay Apartments on South Lois Avenue More than 200 miles away, across the state in Tampa, investigators are trying to determine how 17-month-old Amaya Shafi was shot dead, reported ABC Action News. Tampa police said in a news release that little Amaya sustained a fatal gunshot wound at the Clipper Bay Apartments on South Lois Avenue at about 4.12pm Sunday. Her parents took her to a hospital, where she died a short time later. She was shot one time with a gun owned by a relative. Investigators spent Sunday evening interviewing family members to try and piece together what had led to the shooting. As of Monday afternoon, no arrests have been made. Shocking video has emerged of two bulls colliding in a fatal clash of heads at an arena in northern Spain. The distressing accident occurred as the two half-ton animals were let loose in front of crowds at Sanguesa in Navarra. The bulls appeared to have suffered an instant death from the force of their impact after colliding head-on and keeling over on their backs. The incident happened as they were let loose in the ring after arriving from a farm near the city of Avila further south. They were due to be put to the test against a matador on Saturday before their untimely deaths. Sanguesa is currently celebrating its annual festival, during which revellers sprint in front of bulls through its streets like in nearby Pamplona's famous San Fermines. One critic of the blood sport said on social media: 'At least this spared them from being tortured slowly.' Shocking video has emerged of two bulls colliding in a fatal clash of heads at an arena in northern Spain The distressing accident occurred as the two half-ton animals were let loose in front of crowds at Sanguesa in Navarra This latest incident follows a string of high-profile bull fighting deaths across Spain. In July professional bullfighter Victor Barrio, 29, from Segovia was fighting in Teruel, Aragon, in eastern Spain when a bull speared him through the chest. The matador was taken to hospital unconscious but doctors could not do 'anything' to resuscitate him and save his life. That same month a mother-of-two died after she was gored by a heifer at a festival she was attending with her husband and one of her children. Sofia Lopez Gonzalez had tried to escape the animal behind railings after it was let loose in the streets of Moratalla in Murcia in south east Spain. But the 47-year-old was caught on its horn and suffered a fatal injury to her abdomen. She died a few hours later in hospital. The bulls appeared to have suffered an instant death from the force of their impact after colliding head-on and keeling over on their backs Irish authorities have seized 54 designer puppies at Dublin Port in the back of a van on their way to Holyhead and the British market. The puppies, which are worth around 35,000, were handed over to the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The charity spent much of the weekend interviewing potential new owners and all of the young dogs have been adopted. The dogs were rescued by the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals These dogs were among the 54 seized by Irish authorities who found them being smuggled The puppies were in the back of the van in Dublin Port without appropriate documentation The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has already rehomed the puppies Gillian Bird of the DSPCA told the Evening Herald there was a significant problem with dogs being illegally exported from Ireland to the UK market. She said the dogs are worth considerably more in the UK compared with their value in Ireland. She said: 'This is the seventh seizure in the last two months. That brings the total number of puppies found in that time to 150. 'On the market here, they would probably be around 200 or 250, but if you sell them in the UK, you could get 800 for them.' The dogs were worth an estimated 35,000 according to the DSPCA on the British market Since July, some 150 dogs have been seized being transported illegally through Dublin Port Disreputable dog breeders illegally export young puppies from Ireland to Britain None of the dogs found in the back of the van had the requisite pet passport and many were too young for international export. Authorities are investigating where the large consignment of dogs had originated and where they were headed. The haul included Beagles, Bichon Frise and Cocker Spaniels, which are highly prized in the UK designer dog market. A new wave of students started at university this week but there were the same old drunken scenes across the country. Teenagers were spotted crouching in alleyways and rowing with friends in wild scenes of drink and debauchery during Freshers' Week. In Manchester, home to 80,000 students, security has been increased to manage the mayhem. Teenagers were spotted crouching in alleyways and rowing with friends in wild scenes of drink and debauchery during Fresher's Week In Manchester, home to 80,000 students, security has been increased to manage the mayhem During the evening's festivities in Manchester this female student lost her shoes A new wave of students started at university this week but there were the same old drunken scenes across the country This reveller looks a little worse for wear outside the Tiger Tiger club in Manchester University bosses in the city have hired two security guards to act as 'visible guardians' during key dates in the first academic term, including Freshers' Week and Halloween. They will provide reassurance to residents while acting as 'professional witnesses' gathering evidence of anti-social behaviour - and presenting it to campus bosses who will then take action. The scheme is designed to end the rowdy parties which have plagued neighbourhoods for years. Local councillor Rebecca Moore said the move - thought to be one of the first of its kind - will be mutually beneficial to both students and neighbours. She said: 'They will act as a visible guardian and a professional witness who can gather evidence of any problems. Security moves in to calm down party-goers during the evening night out in Manchester The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University have now promised to fund patrols by security staff University bosses rejected a resident plan for a 'student levy' to fund patrols and security in the leafy suburb 'This scheme will be good for a lot of residents and for students as it will hopefully make them feel a bit safer. 'Most students are good neighbours and it's a shame that a minority cause problems. We hope this pilot scheme will be beneficial for everybody.' The pilot scheme will run until November 5. It comes after university bosses rejected a resident plan for a 'student levy' to fund patrols and security in the leafy suburb. Residents suggested that an annual 5 student levy could fund a 400,000 night patrol to tackle rowdy parties, crime and litter. But the idea was rejected by university bosses who said a scheme to tackle 'negative behaviour' were already in place. And police chiefs admitted that they would not be able to deploy sufficient numbers of officers to tackle the issues even if a levy was imposed. But the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University have now promised to fund patrols by security staff. Claims authorities won't approach someone with a 'massive bomb on his back' because of concerns about profiling Says rival Hillary Clinton 'wants hundreds of thousands of people to pour into this country and we have no idea who they are' Says campaign against ISIS is too 'gentle' and there is a need to 'hit them much harder over there' Trump spoke after a bomb exploded in Chelsea and another unexploded device was discovered in Manhattan, while authorities raided a site in New Jersey References New York bomb: 'I knew this was going to happen' Says local police are 'afraid to do anything about it' Says attacks will happen 'perhaps more and more all over the country' Republican Donald Trump is warning of a spike in terror attacks after a bomb placed under a dumpster in Chelsea exploded over the weekend, and is placing blame for the attack squarely on immigrants he called a 'vicious' threat. 'Theyre here. Were letting tens of thousands of people flow into this country,' Trump said Monday morning. 'Theyre bringing in many cases vicious cancer from within. This is something thats going to be so tough. And you know they stay together so nobody really knows who it is, whats happening. Theyre plotting. This has been going on for so long everybody knows it,' Trump said. Trump spoke just as the media announced authorities were looking for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan in connection with the bombing. Scroll down for video Republican presidential Donald Trump warned that terrorism 'is only going to get worse' and renewed his call for an immigration clamp-down in the wake of a bomb that exploded in New York over the weekend Asked about the bombing, which governor Andrew Cuomo has said isn't linked to international terrorism although he said Monday may have a 'foreign connection,' the candidate placed the blame squarely on dangerous immigrants, as well as his rivals. 'Well its a mess and its a shame. Were going to have to be very tough. I think maybe were going to be seeing a big change over the last couple of days,' Trump told 'Fox and Friends' in a call-in appearance. 'I think this is something that maybe will happen perhaps more and more all over the country,' Trump predicted. 'This is only going to get worse. This isn't going to get better,' he warned. Trump linked the bombing, which authorities continued to pursue with what ABC reported was a police raid in New Jersey Monday morning, with American weakness and with policies that allow migration from the Middle East. 'Yeah because weve been weak. Our countrys been week. Were letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands,' Trump said. 'They cant be properly vetted. Theres no way,' said Trump, who during his campaign has called for a temporary ban on Muslims but in a recent policy speech described a plan that would bar immigration from countries linked to terrorism until they could be properly vetted. Trump tweeted about the attack on Sunday Trump said the attack showed the 'Were not winning the war. Theyre winning the war,' Trump said of the campaign against ISIS Trump immediately turned to the rise of ISIS. 'If we would have taken them out, we wouldnt have it. Theyre very strong. Theyre in 28 countries right now,' he said. 'This was started by Hillary Clinton and her policies and Obama, when they got out of Iraq. This is what happened. This is a remnant of it. And its much more than a remnant,' Trump said. He said of the U.S. strategy overseas, which has included deployment of air power from an international coalition fighting in Iraq and Syria, 'Were not knocking them. Were hitting them once in a while. Were being very gentle about it.' 'Were not winning the war. Theyre winning the war.' Trump got pressed repeatedly by his normally non-confrontational hosts to more carefully define what he meant his policy would be by getting 'tough' with ISIS. 'These are sick, evil people that want to destroy this country,' Trump said. 'The way we coddle them and the way were afraid to say anything and were afraid to say what the problem is and who they are and they don't want to say radical Islam,they dont want to talk about radical Islam.' Donald Trump got pressed repeatedly Monday about what he meant by getting 'tough' with ISIS Pressed again about what he meant, Trump responded: 'Were going to have to hit them much harder over there.' 'You have to stop 'em from coming into the country,' Trump said. Trump got pressed a third time during the interview about what he would do. Trump said, 'Were gonna have to do something extremely tough over there.' 'Like what?' asked host Steve Doocy. 'Like knock the hell out of them,' Trump said. Trump tweeted on Sunday, 'Under the leadership of Obama & Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook!' Referencing the weekend attack in a Minnesota mall, Trump said: 'The guy in Minnesota is going around screaming his famous words and knifing people and slashing people, viciously slashing people. Just crazy. How they came into the country in the first place is beyond belief. Theyre here.' Trump issued a call for 'profiling,' which he said happened in Israel but doesn't occur here. 'You have to stop them from coming into the country,' Trump said. He repeated his claim that immigrants could be a 'Trojan Horse.' 'Theyre bringing in many cases vicious cancer from within. This is something thats going to be so tough. And you know they stay together so nobody knows whats happening. Theyre plotting.' Trump referenced the bomb attack in New York attack Sunday and linked it to his campaign's call for change Trump also responded to criticism that he announced that the attack was a bombing before law enforcement had revealed exactly what happened during the weekend explosion that caused terror in the streets but luckily only injuries and no fatalities. 'I was criticized for calling it correctly. What I said was exactly correct. I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news,' Trump said. Trump accused rival Hillary Clinton of endangering the country with her own policy of allowing refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria to migrate here. 'Hillary Clinton wants to allow hundreds of thousands of these same people they have such hatred and sickness in their hearts .. and she wants to allow hundreds of them,' Trump said. 'She wants more of them to come in.' He continued: 'Shes trying to prove that shes more liberal than Bernie sanders, okay? She wants hundreds of thousands of people to pour into this country and we have no idea who they are.' During his remarks about profiling, Trump pointed to Israel, but contrasted tactics to how local police operate. 'Our local police, they know who a lot of people are theyre afraid to do anything about it,' he said. 'They dont want to be accused of profiling.' Trump added: 'Do we have a choice? Look whats going on.' 'We're allowing these people to come into our country and destroy our country and make it unsafe for people. We're allowing these people to come in,' Trump said. Vince Cable (pictured) warned that holding a second vote 'raises a lot of fundamental problems' and urged the party to focus on the specifics of the upcoming Brexit negotiations Splits emerged in the Liberal Democrats today as former business secretary Vince Cable urged his party to ditch its policy of calling for a second EU referendum. Leader Tim Farron has made his policy of a second vote on EU membership central to the party's message as it tries to recover by attracting Remain voters. He wants Theresa May's final Brexit deal to be put forward to the public in a referendum, which the party would oppose. And former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said a second referendum was necessary to stop Tory backbenches forcing through a 'hard Brexit' as he accused the Government of being stuck up the 'Brexit creek'. But Mr Cable warned that plans to hold a second vote were 'seriously disrespectful and utterly counterproductive' and urged the party to focus on the specifics of the upcoming Brexit negotiations. He said the party, which has been the most consistent in its support for the EU, should consider what concessions it is willing to make on fundamental Brexit topics such as the freedom of movement. The former business secretary warned the party could find itself fighting a second referendum on the same side as Ukip if Mrs May put forward a soft Brexit option. Mr Cable, speaking at the Lib Dem party conference in Brighton, told the Press Association: 'The second referendum raises a lot of fundamental problems. 'What happens if you win? Is that binding? Do you have to do a third? 'Which side would we be on if there was a soft Brexit, would we support Theresa May or would we be with Nigel Farage voting it down? 'I don't think the second referendum is a panacea to anything.' Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg (pictured at the Lib Dem party conference in Brighton today) said a second referendum was necessary to stop Tory backbenches forcing through a 'hard Brexit' as he accused the Government of being stuck up the 'Brexit creek' Mr Cable added: 'I don't think it should be the issue we're leading on. 'I'm not criticising [Mr Farron], I would just like to see more emphasis on what it is we want from these negotiations rather than arguing about the tactics and the means. 'We must accept the public have voted on the matter. 'We have to negotiate and we have to set out what are the things we should make some concessions on, and freedom of movement is one, and what are things we're fighting for.' Meanwhile Mr Clegg used a short speech in the EU debate on a second referendum to bash his former coalition partners. He accused Mrs May of covering up the Conservative party's 'paralysis' over the EU by repeating the mantra that 'Brexit means Brexit'. 'Have you ever heard a more inane and disingenuous phrase in modern British political discourse?' he asked the Lib Dem party faithful in Brighton today. 'It is used of course robotically by Theresa May to cover up, to camouflage the indignity of the paralysis at the heart of this Conservative government.' He warned that 'swivel eyed' Tory backbenches will force Britain out of the single market which would do 'untold damage' to the UK economy and dismissed suggestions that the UK could secure a deal that maintains full access to the single market as well as curbing migration. Leader Tim Farron (pictured at the Lib Dem party conference in Brighton) has made his policy of a second vote on EU membership central to the party's message as it tries to recover by attracting Remain voters 'You cannot have untrammelled access to a single market, which remember is a single market of rules, without abiding in one shape or form by those rules. That is what will lead to gridlock in the next few years,' he said. 'That is why they find themselves up this Brexit creek, never mind that they don't have a paddle, they don't have a canoe, they don't have a map, they have absolutely no clue whatsoever. Mr Clegg, who has returned to the political frontline as Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, insisted it was essential for British prosperity to remain in the single market, which allows free movement of trade and labour. He warned that the two sides of the Tory brain were being torn between 'free trade and gunboat diplomacy'. 'Their paralysis is about to take a very serious turn. Under pressure from their more swivel eyed back benches and under pressure from the Brexit press and their own internal contradictions, they will move remorsefully towards a hard Brexit. 'Not only taking us out of the European Union, but taking us out of the single market as well. And when they do that they will do untold damage to the British economy. 'When the Conservatives do that we must remorselessly remind them that they can never dare say again that they are the party of business. 'And, more importantly, they can never say again, having done so much damage to our great country because of their obsession about Europe, they can never again say that they are a responsible party of government.' Meanwhile the deputy chief minister of Gibraltar warned that Brexit threatens up to half of the territory's workforce. He has also set fire to a Rolls Royce silver and a Hermes Birkin bag This is not first time Shields has destroyed a luxury item for a photo shoot Described shoot, for his 'Provocateur' series, as being a 'crazy' experience Celebrity photographer Tyler Shields has set fire to a $15,000 Louis Vuitton suitcase for his latest artistic project. Shields, 34, broke the hearts of millions of women around the world when he torched the vintage case in the name of art. He described the shoot - for his 'Provocateur' series - as being a 'crazy' experience. For his latest project, celebrity photographer Tyler Shields set light to a Louis Vuitton trunk He added: 'This is one of the last shots I did for my new book. It took me a few years to find the trunk as they are rare and not cheap.' This is not the first time Shields has destroyed a luxury item for a photo shoot. In 2012, he burned a $100,000 crocodile skin Hermes Birkin along with then girlfriend Francesca Eastwood, daughter of the famous actor and film director Clint Eastwood. The 34-year-old photographer is well known for his shock factor in producing his art Shields takes pictures of the Louis Vuitton suitcase up in flames - as part of his latest project Shields examines his work after it was printed out and blown up He has also wrecked a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes and a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow for his work. The shock photographer also famously pictured model Ana Mulvoy Ten fighting with an alligator over a Hermes bag. Shields, who was born into total poverty, shot to fame for his provocative snaps of stars like Demi Lovato, Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton. In a previous interview, he said: 'I think what people love about me is that I was a poor kid from Florida who had a piece-of-s*** camera. 'The point of it is that it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from; if you have a dream you can create anything you want in this world.' The photographer also used the suitcase for a series of other pictures He said it took him a 'few years' to find the trunk as they are rare and not cheap He is the Top Gear producer infamously punched by Jeremy Clarkson after the presenter flew into a rage upon being told no steak was available after filming. And Oisin Tymons first name will now be further associated with stormy scenes as the Met Office revealed it is in the list of this years severe weather systems. Other storm names for 2016/17 announced by the weather service today include the likes of Doris and Barbara, along with Kamil and Penelope. Fracas: Oisin Tymon (left) was hit by Jeremy Clarkson (right) in a bust-up in North Yorkshire It is the second year of the name our storms project by the Met Office and Met Eireann, which takes suggestions from members of the public. The new storm-naming season will begin next month and run until September 2017. Having been inundated with suggestions last year, the forecasters picked the latest names from the 10,000 entries they had already received. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of severe weather and ensure greater safety of the public. Storms are being named when they are deemed to have the potential to cause a substantial impact in the UK and/or Ireland. Decision time: Having been inundated with suggestions last year, the forecasters picked the latest names from the 10,000 entries they had already received Unlike during the pilot project, during the year ahead heavy snow and rain may be taken into account when deciding whether a storm is strong enough to be given a human name, although it will still need to be suitably windy. The names due to be assigned for 2016/2017 are Angus, Barbara, Conor, Doris, Ewan, Fleur, Gabriel, Holly, Ivor, Jacqui, Kamil, Louise, Malcolm, Natalie, Oisin, Penelope, Robert, Susan, Thomas, Valerie and Wilbert. Storms are not named using the letters Q, U, X, Y or Z in line with the naming conventions for hurricanes in the United States. Last summer it was revealed that the Met Office had lost its BBC weather forecasting contract 94 years after first using its services in a 1922 radio bulletin. Waves breaking on the sea front in Ardrossan, Scotland, as Storm Gertrude hits in January The Met Office said it was disappointed by the decision, but the corporation then hired MeteoGroup to save millions of pounds over the next seven years or so. In February Clarkson issued a formal apology to Irish Mr Tymon in a deal to settle a racial discrimination and personal injury claim against him. Mr Tymon launched the action against Clarkson and the BBC after the presenter gave him a bloody lip in a bust-up in North Yorkshire in March 2015. Clarkson is said to have flown into a rage after being told he could not order steak after a day of filming, calling Mr Tymon a lazy, Irish c*** during the fracas. She added that bombing the group was not enough and that the trial was needed because it is impossible to 'kill an idea' 'I'm ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help,' said Clooney Clooney said Nadia was taken captive as a sex slave at the age of 19 and at times raped by two men at once until she fell 'This is my job,' said Clooney, who added that she discussed the risks of her new case with husband George She spoke about her decision to take on such a risky case while appearing on Today Monday morning Amal Clooney is preparing to put ISIS on trial on behalf of a sex slave who was held An emotional Amal Clooney spoke about her latest high-profile case during an interview on Today Monday morning, revealing that she is preparing to take ISIS to court. The human rights lawyer appeared on the program alongside her newest client Nadia Murad, who was captured by the terrorist group when she was just 19 and became a sex slave. Clooney spoke about how Nadia was at times raped by two men at a time until she 'fell unconscious.' Nadia said that ISIS members killed six of her eight brothers and her mother when they stormed her town in the northern Iraq two years ago during the Yazidi genocide. 'I can't imagine anything worse being done by one human to another,' said Clooney. As for her motivation for taking on such a risky case, Clooney simply said: 'This is my job.' Scroll down for video Fighting back: Amal Clooney (above) is preparing to put ISIS on trial on behalf of a sex slave who was held captive by the group Reasons: 'This is my job,' said Clooney when asked why she took on the case, who added that she discussed the risks with husband George (couple above in May) The interview also featured parts of Clooney's speech to the United Nations last week, where she launched her campaign to try ISIS on crimes against humanity alongside Nadia. 'I wish I could say that I was proud to be here, but I'm not,' said Clooney as she appeared in front of the general assembly. 'I'm ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help.' She said during the interview that the risks that come with taking on the brutal terrorist group are far outweighed by the urgency to combat their unconscionable treatment of people, specifically women. 'I did feel a sense of outrage,' explained Clooney of learning about Nadia's story, and those of other young women and girls. 'It's been harrowing to hear the testimony of girls as young as 11 and 12, what's happened to them. And still we haven't done anything about them.' Nadia, her two sisters and some of her teenage female cousins and nieces were transported to the ISIS stronghold of Mosul after the 2014 attack on her village along with more than 150 other girls before being subjected to horrific sexual abuse. She said she would 'take herself off to another world' while being brutally raped during her speech in front of the United Nations, who named her a Goodwill Ambassador. ISIS members began to rape the girls while they were being transported to Mosul. Nadia told the United Nations Security Council in December: Along the way, they humiliated us. They touched us and violated us. They took us to Mosul with more than 150 other Yazidi families. In a building, there were thousands of Yazidi families and children who were exchanged as gifts. One of these people came up to me. He wanted to take me. I looked down at the floor. I was absolutely petrified. When I looked up, I saw a huge man. He looked like a monster. Brave women: Clooney said Nadia was taken captive as a sex slave at the age of 19 and at times raped by two men at once until she fell unconscious (Nadia and Clooney above) Horrors: 'I'm ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help,' said Clooney (Nadia above) Nadia was eventually able to escape some three months later, fleeing to the safety of a refugee camp before finding asylum in Germany. Her two sisters also managed to survive their horrifying ordeal and make their escape from the group. One is with her in Germany, while her other sister is in a refugee camp in Iraq with her two surviving brothers. Clooney said that after hearing the unfathomable situation Nadia went through, she knew that she had to take on the group in court, saying that just bombing the group is 'not enough.' 'You can't kill an idea that way,' said Clooney. 'I think one of the ways to take action against that is to expose their brutality and their corruption . And part of the way to do that is through trial.' She also said that many of those who have been victims of ISIS see Nadia as 'the future' and their 'only hope.' That is why she said both she and Nadia are risking their lives. Retaliation: Clooney said that bombing the group was not enough and that the trial was needed because it is impossible to 'kill an idea' (above at the UN last week) In awe: 'I don't think anybody can feel that they're being courageous compared to what Nadia's doing. It's no joke. This is ISIS,' said Clooney 'Yes I put my own life at risk, but i don't have a life without giving hop to other victims,' said Nadia. Clooney, who said she spoke with her husband George before taking on the case, added: 'I don't think anybody can feel that they're being courageous compared to what Nadia's doing. It's no joke. This is ISIS, and they have sent her very specific threats saying we will get you back . 'This is a direct quote: "We will do everything to you."' Clooney said that she and Nadia spent 'a couple of hours' sitting on the floor at her home speaking about what she had endured when they first met, and that George was just as 'moved' by the young woman's story as she was after that first talk. Downing Street has effectively sunk a plan to restore the Royal Yacht Britannia as a 'floating embassy' after Brexit - despite Boris Johnson signalling his backing for the idea. Tory MP Jake Berry has been leading calls for the ship, which entered service in 1954 and was decommissioned in 1997, to be brought back. He has suggested the yacht could become a great symbol of global Britain and help to negotiate trade deals as the UK adjusts to life outside the Brussels club. The Royal Yacht Britannia, pictured, could be turned into a 'floating embassy' under new plans Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, pictured, is reportedly considering using the boat to conduct trade deals around the world post-Brexit It played host to trade talks in the early 90s that reportedly brought in billions of pounds to the economy. MPs are due to hold a debate on the merits of the proposals next month. Sources close to Mr Johnson - a close ally of Mr Berry - have previously indicated that he is 'intrigued' by the idea and would be considering it. Asked about the issue at a briefing for journalists today, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the government was looking at enhancing its trade in 'a number of ways'. But the spokesman added: 'As far as Im aware, the recommissioning of Britannia is not on the agenda for that.' Making his call last week Mr Berry said around 3billion of trade deals were secured on board Britannia between 1991 and 1995. The Queen and Prince Philip, pictured aboard Britannia, used the vessel as their private yacht between 1954 and 1997 During its 43-year service she travelled more than one million nautical miles around the globe He said business leaders would be unable to resist the opportunity to discuss proposals aboard the exclusive yacht. Since her retirement, Britannia has been moored in the Port of Leith in Edinburgh and has served as a tourist attraction. The steam-propelled yacht spent 43 years in the service of the Royal Family and sailed more than one million nautical miles around the world. The ship is cared for by charity the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust and attracts around 300,000 visitors each year. British forces took part in a coalition air strike which is said to have left dozens of Syrian government troops dead. The Ministry of Defence said it was 'fully co-operating' with an investigation into what happened. The US military has already accepted it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against Isis forces on Saturday. Dozens of Syrian government troops, such as those pictured on patrol near Aleppo, are thought to have been killed in the strike over the weekend Russia warned that the strike by coalition aircraft - which it said killed at least 62 soldiers - had put the fragile ceasefire in Syria at risk. And Syrian president Bashar al-Assad today announced he was abandoning the truce as it had been undermined. One of the RAF's remote controlled Reaper drones is now known to have been part of the mission. 'We can confirm that the UK participated in the coalition air strike south of Dayr az Zawr on Saturday, and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation,' the MoD spokesman said. 'The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.' The statement came as Denmark disclosed that two of its F-16 fighters jets also took part in the raid, while Australia has said that its aircraft were also involved. A Syrian army source said the air strike had allowed Isis to gain ground in the area around the Syrian airbase, but that Syrian forces had regained most positions on the hilltop nearby with the help of Syrian and Russian air support. The ceasefire agreement with the US and Russia and came into effect in Syria on September, 12, but has not been fully implemented. The Pentagon said it was targeting what it thought was an Isis fighting position, but the air strike was halted when Russia informed them that they were instead hitting President Assad's forces. Moscow complained that the strike was 'on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance with Isis terrorists'. A remote controlled RAF Reaper drone is thought to have been involved in the strike The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party has accused Angela Merkel of being worse at her job - because she has no children. Frauke Petry, who has four children, said the German chancellor was unable to 'see beyond her own lifespan' because she had no offspring of her own. Merkel, 62, has never had children but her second husband, Joachim Sauer, has two adult sons from a previous marriage. Frauke Petry (left), who has four children, said the German chancellor (right) was unable to 'see beyond her own lifespan' because she had no offspring of her own Petry told Germany's Stern newspaper: 'I have four children and Merkel has none. 'Children help people to see beyond their own lifespan and that is exactly what Merkel does not do,' she added. Supporters of Merkel later took to Twitter to defend the underfire chancellor with one writing: 'It is not the absence of children that is to blame for Merkel's bad policy. Mothers are not better politicians, as Petry shows.' According to RT, Merkel once suggested that she did not regret not having children, telling n-tv 'It has just happened so'. It comes as Angela Merkel's party made historic losses in elections for the Berlin state parliament after a mayor warned of a resurgence of Nazis in Germany. Protesters are pictuted wearing masks showing the faces of Frauke Petry (left) and US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (centre) Many voters turned to the AfD, which with 13 per cent of the vote will enter the German capital's assembly for the first time, according to initial projections. Before the election, mayor Michael Muller had warned that a double-digit total for the AfD would' be seen around the world as a sign of the return of the rightwing and the Nazis in Germany'. On Saturday Merkel announced plans to jettison her 'we can do this' mantra about accommodating refugees as her poll ratings continued to slump. The son of West Australian's Premier Colin Barnett has moved on from his swimsuit model ex-girlfriend after their relationship ended with him being served a restraining order, to a single mum and Good Samaritan who offered 'food, warmth and friendship' to thieves targeting her neighbourhood. Sam Barnett, 27, split from Samantha Shvetsova, 29, in August after a trip to Shanghai, China turned sour after an alleged argument, which led to Mr Barnett being issued a 72-hour restraining order when he returned to the Perth airport. On Monday, Mr Barnett took to social media to announce that he had moved on to west Perth mum Sam De Sillery who made headlines this week after she placed a sign in her front yard offering help to people who had broken in several cars on her street by smashing the window. Sam Barnett (pictured), 27, the son of West Australian's Premier Colin Barnett, has moved on from his swimsuit model ex-girlfriend to Perth single mum and Good Samaritan 28-year-old Sam De Sillery Ms De Sillery (pictured) made headlines this week after she placed a sign in the front yard of her west Perth home offering food, warmth and friendship' to thieves targeting her neighbourhood Ms De Sillery placed a sign in her front yard offering help to people who had broken in several cars on her street by smashing the window (pictured) 'Coincidentally met Sam De Sillery a few nights ago,' Mr Barnett posted on Facebook, along with a news article about Ms De Sillery's act of kindness. 'Where I joking remarked "your a 9, one point deducted for personality." Before asking her to dinner. She obligedFast forward to this afternoon and I read this in the news. Clearly I was very wrong about the 9! [sic],' he said. Ms De Sillery, 28, said she decided to write the sign after noticing petty crime in her suburb of Mosman Park had increased. 'For those who keep breaking into my car, and keep smashing my neighbour's car windows, we are doing it tough,' she wrote. 'If it's food that you need, I will feed you. If you need warmth I have rugs, but most of all I can be your friend.' 'Coincidentally met Sam De Sillery a few nights ago,' Mr Barnett posted on Facebook, along with a news article about Ms De Sillery's act of kindness (pictured) Mr Barnett (left) and Ms Shvetsova (right) split in August after a trip to Shanghai, China turned sour The former couple had an alleged incident, which led to Mr Barnett (pictured) being issued a 72-hour restraining order when he returned to the Perth airport The property developer's spokesman said in a statement he would fight the restraining order, which ordered Mr Barnett to stay 20 metres away from Ms Shvetsova (pictured) Mr Barnett, who is the son of Premier Colin Barnett, dated Ms Shvetsova for roughly three months before their relationship ended. The property developer's spokesman said in a statement he would fight the restraining order, which ordered Mr Barnett to stay 20 metres away from Ms Shvetsova. His court date was deferred from August 18 to September 9 but it is believed Ms Shvetsova is seeking to extend the restraining order. Mr Barnett (right), who is the son of Premier Colin Barnett, dated Ms Shvetsova (left) for roughly three months before their relationship ended His court date was deferred from August 18 to September 9 but it is believed Ms Shvetsova (pictured) is seeking to extend the restraining order Mr Barnett told Daily Mail Australia in July no one believed he was dating the model, who has won titles such Australian Swimwear Model of the Year, when the pair first became an item. 'No one believed me, everyone knows who Samantha is and thought I wasn't being serious,' Mr Barnett said. 'My best mate messaged me and said ''whatever you do don't mess this one up''. '[Ms Shvetsova] has had a great impact on my life she is extremely focused where I tend to be all over the place. Ms Shvetsova previously said dating Mr Barnett was 'like being with an old friend.' He was discharged Sunday at 5 am and went home to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he is now recovering Gordon suffered a laceration on his back and abrasion on his abdomen and was taken to Mount Sinai West Someone ran into a CVS where staff said to take whatever supplies they needed to treat their injuries A bystander handed out paper towels to help those who were bleeding while waiting for an ambulance The Boston grad and his three friends heard a loud bang and then 'everything changed', Gordon said Harris Gordon, 22, was one of 29 people injured in the explosion in New York City Saturday night Advertisement A 22-year-old man on a quiet evening out with friends was left with lacerations on his back, abdomen and other cuts over his body after being caught up in the bomb that shook Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. Harris Gordon and his three friends were injured in the attack on Saturday night. A total of 29 people were hurt in the blast. Gordon needed nine stitches to patch up a laceration on his back. He also suffered an abrasion on his abdomen that is believed to have been caused by falling debris, and suffered cuts over his body. A photo taken that night shows Gordon on his hospital bed, with bandages wrapped around his torso. He was discharged from Mount Sinai West at 5am on Sunday morning and is now recovering. Scroll down for video Harris Gordon (pictured), 22, was left with laceration on his back that required nine stitches, abrasion on his abdomen and various cuts on his body after getting caught in the Manhattan explosion Saturday night Gordon (left) was on his way back from dinner with three friends (pictured with him) in New York City when they heard a loud bang, not long before 8.30pm It took 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, according to Gordon (pictured in a Facebook shot). In the meantime, he and his friends did what they could to tend to their injuries 'Just a short 24 hours ago I experienced the most surreal event of my life,' Gordon told the DailyMail.com. 'A bombing is incredibly random and you can never really expect yourself to be in the middle of it, but myself and three of my best friends were. I am grateful for how everything played out, from the incredible people on the street who helped us to the EMT first responders who helped us treat our wounds.' Gordon was on his way back from dinner with three friends when they heard a loud bang, not long before 8.30pm. Their quiet night on the town took a dramatic turn and they found themselves injured, waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Gordon said a bystander gave them a roll of paper towels to help with their injuries. Others ran into a nearby CVS, where staff told them to take whatever supplies they needed, no need to pay. 'If any of us had walked any faster things could have ended very differently, and I am thankful that my friends and I can walk away from this life changing night with just a few flesh wounds and some missing teeth,' Gordon added. Suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami (pictured), 28, was arrested Monday morning in Linden, New Jersey after a shootout with police officers Governor Cuomo said new information suggested the explosion could be related to international terrorism - a theory he had dismissed on Sunday. Suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested Monday morning in Linden, New Jersey after a shootout with police officers. Authorities had released an alert identifying him just a few hours earlier. 'Despite this horrible act, it was completely overshadowed by the amazing love and support of my friends and family,' Gordon continued in his statement. 'Thank you to all of you for your love and concern. I want to send my support to the other victims of this horrific event and pray for their families. 'We are all very lucky people and I really hope for our world to move forward from this, and stop these unnecessary and malicious acts that have affected the lives of innocent people much worse than I experienced. Again thank you all for your love!' Gordon previously told the DailyMail.com how he and his three friends found themselves at the site of the Chelsea bombing Saturday night 'Before, it was a normal night. I didn't think anything of it. It all happened so quick, Gordon said. But then, he added, 'everything changed'. 'Out of nowhere, there was smoke. I saw flames and glass falling. Me and my friends turned around and ran.' The four men, all Boston University grads, ran so fast that it took them only five seconds to get away from the scene. Authorities issued an alert Monday morning shortly before 8 am saying they were looking for Rahami. He is pictured being arrested in Linden, New Jersey after a shootout with police FBI released Rahami's picture Monday morning. They want to question him in connection to the bombing that occurred in Chelsea on Saturday night and the one that happened in New Jersey earlier that day Rahami (pictured after his arrest Monday morning) is a 28-year-old United States citizen of Afghan descent born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan, according to the FBI Authorities released this poster on Monday morning not long after Rahami's capture, showing he was apprehended. He is suspected of two bombings in New York City and New Jersey, and one attempted bombing in New Jersey One of his friend had a laceration on his leg. Another one lost hearing in one ear and it was coming back on Sunday morning. Gordon said it took 10 to 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. In the meantime, he and his friends did what they could to tend to their injuries. 'After we ran away, me and my friends kept looking at each other and finding random cuts that we didn't even realize were on ourselves,' he said. 'I had a cut on my back from broken glass and I didn't feel it at all in the entire night whatsoever. Someone had to point it out.' Authorities announced Monday morning they were looking for a suspect, 28-year-old Rahami, a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan. Pictured, officers investigate the scene in Chelsea on Sunday There was a loud bang, followed by flames, smoke everywhere and glass falling from buildings, Gordon said after getting caught in the explosion Saturday night. Pictured, investigators look through debris in Chelsea Gordon called his parents to let them know - both about the blast and that he was all right. 'People were swarming around, trying to see what happened,' Gordon said. He saw fire trucks and responders coming in. 'Some people provided us with paper towels, were incredibly helpful. They really cared about our safety,' Gordon said. But others had their phones out and kept asking what happened while all in the group were clearly injured, which he thought was inconsiderate. He and his three friends were taken to Mount Sinai West, on 58th Street and 10th Avenue, around 10:30 pm. There, police told them about the other people who got injured and filled them in on their conditions. 'They said for the most part their injuries aren't too bad and that they all went to different hospitals,' Gordon told the DailyMail.com. Officers let them know about the second device found on 27th Street between the Avenue of Americas and 7th Avenue. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (second from right), toured the site of the explosion that occurred on Saturday night in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Gordon and his three friends were taken to Mount Sinai West, on 58th Street and 10th Avenue, around 10.30pm. Pictured, firefighters arrive at the scene of the explosion Gordon said he and his friends didn't notice anything and it was just 'a normal night walking through the streets'. At the hospital, Gordon had scans to make sure he didn't have any internal bleeding or damage. He's not sure where the abrasion on his abdomen came from. 'I'm pretty sure it was some flying debris - maybe a piece of concrete, based on the mark on my shirt and the mark on my body,' he said. Gordon said he was 'very, very sure' the explosion was caused by a bomb. Officials now believe the explosion was caused by a homemade bomb. He was discharged from the hospital at 5am on Sunday and took an Uber to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he lives with his parents. All 29 injured were released from the hospital by that time, Cuomo said. A pipe bomb went off on Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, near a Marine Corps charity race. Five explosive devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Sunday night. Elizabeth was the last known residence of current wanted man Rahami. He was arrested Monday morning in connection with both the New York and New Jersey events. He is suspected of two bombings and one attempted bombing. Rahami is a 28-year-old United States citizen of Afghan descent born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan, according to the FBI. He is about 5 6 tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair. Officials believe he is the man who appears on surveillance videos rolling a duffel bag near the scene of the bombing in Chelsea. Witnesses told DailyMail.com that Rahami was found sleeping in the entryway of a bar. The owner of the venue, Harry Barnes, recognized Rahami's face and called 911. Authorities said they found fingerprints on the unexploded pressure cooker bomb in Manhattan, which led them to Rahami. Gordon said he didn't notice anything suspicious and it was just 'a normal night walking through the streets'. Pictured, police officers look for suspicious packages on Fifth Avenue Donald Trump is one point behind Hillary Clinton in Florida, the state which has to be won by the Republicans if they are to have a hope of winning the election. Trump is hot on the heels of Clinton in the state, at 40 per cent to her 41, according to a new poll published on Monday by The New York Times Upshot/Siena College. The Republican candidate is treading water thanks in large part because of the support he enjoys among white Florida voters - who support him by 51 percent to Clinton's 30 per cent. But Clinton far outweighs Trump among black and Hispanic voters - which could swing the diverse state in her favor. Scroll down for video Trump is hot on the heels of Clinton in Florida, at 40 per cent to her 41, according to a new poll published on Monday. The state is a must-win for the Republicans Trump paid a visit to Miami, Florida on Friday in an effort to shore up support among Cubans who account for an increasingly important chunk of the vote Forecasts from Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com show Trump gaining ground in recent weeks She polls at 61 per cent among Hispanics in the state, a huge lead over Trump's 21 per cent. Her lead among black voters is even larger, at 82 per cent to his 4 per cent. Florida's population demographics have changed rapidly in recent years, with a growing number of Hispanic voters. Around a quarter of the state's residents are of Hispanic or Latino origin, according to official figures. Trump has struggled to pick up support among the demographic, partly due to controversial policies including building a large wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and making Mexico pay for it. On Monday he said immigrants were 'bringing in many cases vicious cancer from within', following an announcement that authorities are looking for an Afghan-born U.S. citizen after a bomb placed under a dumpster in Chelsea, Manhattan exploded over the weekend. But in Miami on Friday he seemed to be trying to appeal to the Cuban vote, saying he would reverse all of President Barack Obama's executive actions normalizing relations with the Cuban government unless the Castro regime dramatically changed its approach towards human rights and political freedom. The Republican promised a cheering audience that he would 'stand with the Cuban people in their fight against Communist oppression.' If Trump fails in Florida his chances of making the 270 electoral college votes required to become president slump significantly. He would need to sweep hotly-contested states such as Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania in order to make up the slack. In contrast, while the region is important for Clinton the Democrats are thought to have other routes to making the 270 figure, due to the large states which they can count on voting blue. Clinton addressed reporters on Saturday about the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan while on her plane Clinton spent time on Friday at the 46th Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Legislative Conference, Washington D.C. She enjoys a significantly higher proportion of the black vote than Trump, at 82 per cent to his 4 per cent Statistician Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight blog on Monday put Trump's chances of winning the election at 40 per cent to Clinton's 60. The blog, which calculates its probabilities by simulating the election 20,000 times, has tracked Clinton's chances in a steady decline from a 79.5 per cent of winning in early August. Silver became known for his correct election predictions while at the New York Times, although he admitted he misjudged Trump's rise to the Republican nomination. Clinton had to take three days off from campaigning last week because of pneumonia. She is being held in Columbiana County Jail in Lisbon, Ohio, after pleading guilty to child endangerment charges She swears she was not on heroin as authorities await blood test results Pasek told DailyMail.com that she drank a single bottle of Redds Blueberry Ale and took part of a painkiller 'I made the worst mistake of my life, Pasek, 50, sobbed to DailyMail.com in an exclusive jailhouse interview The woman labeled heroin grandma insists she was not high on the drug when she was found passed out in a car with her boyfriend while her four-year-old grandson looked on from the back seat. Instead Rhonda Pasek says she had drunk a single bottle of Redds Blueberry Ale and taken part of what she thought was a Percocet-like painkiller because she was feeling so bad. I made the worst mistake of my life, Pasek, 50, sobbed to DailyMail.com in an exclusive jailhouse interview. Ill be paying for this until the day I die. Pasek tells DailyMail.com: I know how wrong I was, and there is no taking it back. I take full responsibility' I know how wrong I was, and there is no taking it back. I take full responsibility, she added. I accept the punishment they gave me, but I can tell you, it is nothing compared to how I am punishing myself. But she insists she is not a heroin junkie. They took my blood and the nurse told me there was not a trace of heroin in my system, she said. Police are still waiting for toxicology reports and say that, depending on what they reveal, she could face more charges. When asked about the allegations of heroin, Pasek rolled up the sleeves of her dark green prison uniform and showed her arms which had no sign of any trackmarks. Her public defender also told the local newspaper The Review that Pasek had tested negative for heroin and said no syringes were found in the car Pasek is serving 180 days in Columbiana County Jail in Lisbon, Ohio, after she pleaded no contest last week to child endangerment. She now knows she has a huge uphill fight ever to be allowed back in her grandsons life. The judge said I should never see him again, he wants no contact between us whatsoever Pasek blubbed. That isnt fair. The worst people get to see their family. That baby did nothing wrong. I am his mother as far as he is concerned. Its so unfair to him, she added. There was one girl they found with a needle in her arm with her kid in the back and she was allowed to get him back. Pasek insists she was not high on heroin when she was found passed out in a car with her boyfriend while her four-year-old grandson looked on from the back seat But, of course, there was no picture of her on the Internet. Pasek was in tears throughout the half hour interview with DailyMail.com which was conducted on a crackly line through a reinforced plate-glass window. She sat with 13 other women prisoners in a soulless room, painted in two shades of brown with a dirty green carpet. Both she and the reporter had only a backless metal stool, bolted to the ground to sit on. She invited DailyMail.com to conduct her only interview inside the 20-year-old lock-up. I was her first visitor after 11 days in jail and maybe her last. My sister wants to come to visit but I dont want to see any members of my family. I dont want anyone to see me like this, she said through her tears. Paseks case became a sensation after police in East Liverpool, Ohio, released two photographs taken after her boyfriend Jim Acord had pulled up behind a school bus on a steep hill in the town. She was already unconscious in the front passenger seat and turning blue. As police started to question Acord, he too passed out. Pasek is being held in Columbiana County Jail in Lisbon, Ohio, after pleading guilty to child endangerment charges Paseks four-year-old grandson whose mother, Reva McCullough, is a stripper and whose father, Paseks 25-year-old son Devon, has been accused of drug-dealing, but never charged looked impassively on from the rear seat. Authorities say the powerful image fully showed the horrors of the heroin epidemic that has swept Americas heartland, and decided against blurring the little boys face as, they claimed, it showed how impervious he had become to his grandmothers drug use. But Pasek insists that is far from the truth and the boy who was in her exclusive care for just six weeks after protracted custody battles was happy and well-adjusted living with her. When DailyMail.com visited her trailer in New Manchester, West Virginia, we found it stacked with new toys. Pasek admitted that most of September 7 is a blur. It was going to be a normal day, with me playing with the baby, she said. Now, I dont remember much of anything, she added. But she knows she was feeling ill in the morning and had the beer around noon at her home in New Manchester to see if it would make her feel better. She and Acord, whom she had been dating for about a year, later decided to go grocery shopping over the Ohio border in Calcutta. At some stage the two split the single pill, which she says was pink the same color as carfentanil, a deadly elephant tranquilizer that has been blamed for dozens of deaths after being mixed with heroin. The little boy, who has become the face of the heartlands heroin epidemic, has started a new life with his great aunt (above) and uncle in South Carolina I really didnt feel like going, but I knew I had to get food in, she said. Acord, 47, who is serving two consecutive 180-day terms for child endangerment and impaired driving, told cops he was taking her to the hospital in East Liverpool after she passed out. The next thing I remember I was being yelled at by the ambulance driver, said Pasek. She was screaming at me. And the police were screaming at me and shaking me and I wasnt fully aware of what was happening. Then they put me on a stretcher and they told me Jimmy was dead. I called over to him and he looked at me, and I said Hes not dead. Why did you tell me he was dead? Pasek is angry with East Liverpool authorities who decided to release the pictures. What they did was horrible, she said. I know what I did was wrong, but so was what they did. Their job is to protect and serve. Who are they protecting and serving when they plaster my little grandsons picture all over Facebook? But Pasek accepts she might not still be alive today if it werent for the first responders who arrived at the scene on St. Clair Avenue in East Liverpool. I just dont know, she admitted. Paseks case has focused attention on the drug epidemic that has spread in recent years in Ohio and other states. East Liverpool police chief John Lane told DailyMail.com he believes powder found in Acords Ford Explorer is carfentanil. That drug is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, which had typically been used to lace heroin. Just coming into contact with carfentanil can be fatal and drug-sniffing dogs have been known to keel over and die on the spot. The boy's mother, Reva McCullough, 25, said she wants her four-year-old son back. McCullough who now works at Tiffany's Dolls, a 'gentleman's club' in the Youngstown suburb of North Lima, Ohio, where she dances under the name Mercedes, says she no longer abuses crack cocaine or marijuana McCullough and Devon Pasek, the son of Rhonda Pasek, have two sons together. They are no longer together The drug is so potent that veterinarians typically wear face shields, gloves and other protective gear just a little bit short of a hazmat suit when preparing the medicine to sedate animals because even one drop splattered into a person's eye or nose could be fatal, Dr. Rob Hilsenroth, executive director of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians told the Associated Press last month. Paseks grandson has been at the center of a nasty battle between the two sides of his family virtually since the August day in 2012 when he was born in Delaware, where his parents, Devon Pasek and Reva McCullough were attempting to start a new life. Within days though, Revas grandparents, Dick and Barbara McCullough, persuaded them to return to Ohio, Rhonda Pasek told DailyMail.com. In court papers, the McCulloughs, now 85 and 84 respectively, claim the infant was soon virtually abandoned at their house. They claimed Reva, their granddaughter, abused crack cocaine and by the time the boy was four months old they had been granted custody. In court papers the couple claim Reva threatened to burn down their home, although Pasek insists that is not true. The McCulloughs declined to discuss the case with DailyMail.com. In an interview with DailyMail.com last week, Reva McCullough admitted abusing crack and marijuana but said she is now clean. She has three sons, two with Devon Pasek and a third with another man. She and Pasek are no longer together. In November, 2013, Reva and Devon applied for custody of their son, saying she has a stable and happy home life to offer the child and she and Pasek could offer a good environment within which to raise a child. They later withdrew their application. By August, 2014, Barbara and Dick McCullough began to worry about their ability to look after the growing boy. According to one report, they found they did not have the strength to lift the boy out of his crib. At the current time, while great-grandparents are physically and emotionally able to provide for the minor child, they are concerned about their ability to do so into the future due to their ages, they said. They asked that custody be transferred to their daughter and son-in-law, Lori and Terry Lane, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. But Rhonda Pasek objected and asked that she be given custody saying she is financially, mentally and emotionally able to look after him. The home of Rhonda Pasek in New Manchester, W.Va. In June 2015 Pasek was given partial custody, and within months she was asking for the McCulloughs to be held in contempt of court for refusing to hand the boy over at one point sending the minor child out of state with unknown relatives. She asked that the elderly couple be fined or even jailed. Eventually, Pasek was granted full custody on July 25, a little over six weeks before she was found unconscious. Judge Thomas Baronzzi acknowledged in his decision that the McCulloughs were critical of the lifestyle of Rhonda Pasek, adding: They indicate their belief that she continues to struggle with the abuse of alcohol. But the judge said there was no evidence that either her drinking or her diagnosed bipolar condition affected her ability to care for the boy. JUDGE DENIES BOYFRIEND JIM ACORD PLEA TO BE SET FREE Rhonda Pasecks boyfriend has made a heartfelt plea to be released from jail early rejected by a judge. Just a week after he was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 180 days, Jim Acord wrote to East Liverpool Municipal Court Judge presiding judge Melissa Byers Emmerling asking to be freed, saying he does not want to lose everything Ive worked so hard to achieve. I am so sorry I had to appear before you in court, he wrote to Byers Emmerling. I am a productive member of society, I have a good job and really hope to get back to it, Acord, 47, wrote in the letter obtained by The Review newspaper. I also have a home that I currently rent and maintain. I know I did do wrong and should be punished and my heart is broken, continued Acord, who lives in New Manchester, West Virginia. I sincerely didnt mean to disrupt or bruise that community. I have worked hard to be a better person and Im sure I have a ways to go. I know Ive done wrong and deserve to be made an example of, continued Acord. Im trying to say Im sorry for what Ive done and will forever have to live with my actions. Acord promised the judge she would never see him before her court again. I just need a chance to prove myself once again, he wrote. I got caught up trying to help the wrong people and everything going on around me. Maybe I can help others with my experience and be useful to you. However in jail Im no use to anyone. Help me so Im not homeless and a vagabond. He also included a line from the Book of Genesis: Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. In denying his request, Byers Emmerling said she believed Acords term of 360 days in county jail was appropriate for the seriousness of his crime. Advertisement Baronzzi insisted that Devon Pasek, the boys father, should have no contact with his son. That was hard, Rhonda Pasek said. He was effectively asking me to choose between my son and my grandson, the two lights of my life. The boy is now being cared for by the Lanes in Myrtle Beach. I just hope hes happy, but I dont think he is, Pasek said in her interview. A mother is fighting to keep her Marine son on life support after doctors declared him brain dead when he was shot in the head in South Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department says 19-year-old Carlos Segovia was shot once in the back of the head while sitting in a car Friday night in the 2100 block of 31st Street. He had just been at his girlfriend's house. According to KABC-TV police say a vehicle pulled up beside Segovia's Dodge Charger, and one or more people opened fire on Segovia. He is currently in California Hospital Medical Center on life support and police tell the Los Angeles Times that Segovia has little to no brain function. Scroll down for video On life support: The LAPD says 19-year-old Carlos Segovia was shot once in the back of the head while sitting in a car Friday night. He had just been at his girlfriend's house A picture of Segovia in his hospital bed has been shared on Facebook. An American flag covers the bed 'A Marine never gives up': Segovia's mother, Sandra Lopez, is fighting to keep her son on life support when doctors want to turn the machine off However his mother, Sandra Lopez, is fighting to have him transferred to a different hospital where there is less pressure to take him off life support. 'My son did not sign into the Marines to give up,' Mrs Lopez told KTLA. 'A Marine never gives up. I know what my son is going through. So I choose to ask the doctor to take another test and they refuse to do that.' A family friend tells the Times that Segovia, who spends his free time volunteering with LA on Cloud 9, where he helps homeless people and animals, was on leave from Camp Pendleton near San Diego and was visiting family and friends in Los Angeles. He had joined the Marines six months ago. A friend posted these photos to Facebook of people holding the Marine's hand in his hospital bed Carlos Segovia was shot once in the head near 31st Street and Western Avenue at about 11.30pm Friday. He was not in uniform when he was shot, according to authorities The 19-year-old was home on military leave and visiting his girlfriend when he was shot on this street in South Los Angeles 'He was here this weekend to help clean up streets or do whatever they were going to do,' said a family friend. Police say Segovia wasn't in uniform during the shooting, and no suspects have been identified. Investigators also don't have a motive. Segovia's friend and roommate Claudia Perez broke down in tears as she spoke with TV crews Perez is pictured above with Segovia in a Facebook photo. Police say Segovia wasn't in uniform during the shooting, and no suspects have been identified Segovia spends his free time volunteering with LA on Cloud 9, where he helps homeless people and animals. he is seen above speaking with a homeless man Segovia's friend Claudia Perez, with whom he was staying for the weekend, broke down in tears as she spoke with TV crews. She told CBS Los Angeles: '(I was) expecting him to come home on Friday and he didn't show up and waking up to the phone call that he was shot in the head was unreal.' She added to KABC: 'All I know is someone did this to him. They didn't think about anything - who he was, who he is. It just hurts us, you know?' His friend Andre Quezada added: 'Being a Marine is a tough job, it's tiring and the time that he does get to rest he doesn't rest, he comes over here and helps volunteer for the homeless.' LA on Cloud 9 also shared this photo of Segovia helping out homeless people as part of his volunteering work Part of his volunteering work with Cloud 9 also includes caring for animals A cancer survivor is planning to sue a hospital after its surgeons wrongly connected her colon to her vagina prompting her to regularly break wind. Jasminka Velkovska was undergoing cancer treatment at the September 8th hospital in the Macedonian capital Skopje three years ago. The hospital had agreed to pay Velkovska 25,700 in compensation following the badly botched surgery. Jasminka Velkovska, pictured, underwent surgery in the Macedonian capital Skopje three years ago when bungling surgeons managed to attach her colon to her vagina Verlkovska had surgery for colon cancer when medics failed to remove the bad cells The unfortunate plumbing accident left Verlkovska breaking wind through her vagina However, the hospital has refused to pay the entire total, forcing Velkovska to appear on national television where she explained her embarrassing condition. The hospital operated on Velkovska to remove a carcinoma from her colon. Unfortunately, the surgeons missed the bad cells and reattached the colon to the wrong part of her anatomy. She told local TV: 'While I was recovering, doctors came and asked me if I was passing gas, and I said yes, but its coming out of my vagina. 'They told me that it would soon pass and I would be ok, but stuff had started to come out of my vagina and I was feeling scared and it was all very unpleasant.' Staff at the September 8th Hospital took her for an X-ray scan, which showed that her colon and her vagina were indeed tied together - and worse, her carcinoma was still there. Velkovska needed to have surgery again to remove the growth but she opted for it to take place in another hospital. Her lawyers and hospital management then reached an agreement outside of court, whereby she would be handed a sum of 25,700 in compensation for her ordeal. But Velkovska said the money has still not been paid in full and that there are still 8,600 that have not been paid. Hospital Manager Sasho Stojcev claimed that the hospital cannot pay the damage without a court order, adding that the compensation was only partly covered by their insurance company. The remaining 8,600 Stojcev says, does not have to be paid off by the hospital. This is reportedly because the compensation was not fully covered by the insurance company and the document allegedly does not state who exactly should pay it. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton also plans to meet el-Sisi as well as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko 'They seem to think its important to maybe meet me' It's his first meeting with a foreign leader since his surprise trip to Mexico Donald Trump is set to meet with the military-backed leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as world leaders converge for the annual UN General Assembly meeting Donald Trump is planning to meet with the president of Egypt in New York, in his first stab at international diplomacy since his surprise trip to Mexico where he promoted a border wall and met with the Mexican president. Trump on Monday was unusually tight-lipped when asked about the meeting with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, which takes place as world leaders descend on New York for the annual meeting fo the UN General Assembly. 'I dont want comment on who Im meeting with,' he told 'Fox and Friends.' 'I will say with all of the folks being in New York, I made a lot of calls from a lot of different people on the basis that Im doing well and, you know, they seem to think its important to maybe meet me,' Trump said. Trump continued: 'But I dont want to comment specifically on who. But a couple of people are coming over. Ive already met with a couple.' Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is planning to meet with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in New York The meeting was reported by Reuters. Trump's meeting will be his first chance to try to show his diplomatic skills since his surprise trip to Mexico, where he met with president Enrique Nieto Pena. The two gave a joint press conference afterward, but Trump faced criticism when it was revealed he failed to press Pena Nieto on making Mexico pay for the wall during their private meeting. Making Mexico pay is one of Trump's main campaign planks, and he mentions it at his rallies. Pressed on Fox about whether he has met with other world leaders, Trump used couched language more typical as coming from the tightly-controlled White House briefing room than from his usual wandering TV call-in appearances. 'I just dont wanna comment on specifically who they are,' Trump said, adding that he thinks he'll be able to share the information later. 'Lets put it this way: itll be a very interesting day or two,' he said. Al-Sisi is backed by the Egyptian military and took power after the ouster of elected president Mohammad Morsi The meeting is Trump's second foray into diplomacy since meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto Hillary Clinton also plans to meet with al-Sisi, along with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, pictured here when he was foreign minister and Clinton was secretary of state FAMILIAR FACE: Clinton spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York Hillary Clinton, who traveled the globe as secretary of state, announced last week that she is set to meet with el-Sisi, as well as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as she hopes to use the UN gathering to flash her diplomatic credentials. Trump has said he'll work with el-Sisi, someone he said understands 'this ideology of death that must be extinguished. El-Sisi took power in 2013 following protests calling for the removal of elected Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi was elected after protests forced the removal of Hosni Mubarak, who had longtime U.S. backing as a stabilizing force in the country a top recipient of U.S. military aid. Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and his later statements that he would temporarily bar immigrants from countries linked to terrorism. Clinton's meeting with Poroshenko, the Ukrainian leader, is likely to call attention to Trump's statements of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government backed separatists in Ukraine during the annexation of Crimea. Clinton's move to meet with el-Sisi drew protests from human rights activists, Politico reported. Her naked body was found washed on the banks of a river a week later Palmer was last seen in Logan south of Brisbane in October last year A forensic examination is being conducted on the blue Ford XR6 sedan a car over the death of 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer The car seized by police in the investigation over the death of schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer previously belonged to her foster father. The blue Ford XR6 sedan, owned by the young girl's foster father, was taken by Queensland police for forensic examination last week, according to a report by Nine News. Tiahleigh, 12, was last seen being dropped off by her foster carer in the morning at Marsden State High School, south of Brisbane on October 30 last year. Scroll down for video A blue Ford XR6 sedan, previously owned by the foster father of murdered schoolgirl Tialeigh Palmer, has been seized by police last week Police are conducting a forensic examination of the vehicle in relation to the death of Tialeigh (pictured) whose body was found a week later on the banks of the Pimpana River The schoolgirl's naked decomposing body was found on November 5, along the banks of the Pimpana River, 40 minutes away from her school. The car was reported to have been sold off to its current owner who has no link to the matter. Police renewed their appeal for information during the 'relentless' investigation, after a blue-coloured Ford XR6 was seized on Tuesday. Police are asking anyone who saw the vehicle on a road near the Pimpama River last October to come forward. Detective Inspector Mark White ruled out the owner of the vehicle being a suspect. 'As a result of extensive ongoing investigations police have today seized a vehicle of interest which will be forensically examined.' Det Supt White said. There were at least 20 officers working on the high-profile case on a day-to-day basis. 'There's still a lot of work to be done. Today's development is only one small step in the direction we are going.' He reiterated there was a $250,000 reward for information leading to the successful prosecution of those responsible, which includes an indemnity but not for the principle offender. 'We have conducted numerous enquiries, different lines of enquires, this (asking if anyone saw the car) is just one those enquiries,' he told reporters. He said there had been a number of people identified as persons of interest. A group of fishermen found the 12-year-old's naked decomposing body on the banks of the Pimpama River in south-east Queensland on November 5 Julie Pemberton, Tiahleigh's former foster carer previously told Daily Mail Australia the late child had run away on occasion while she was in her care. 'She did run away a couple of times in my care like most kids do but she was never gone for more than two hours,' Ms Pemberton said 'She'd been running away a lot more frequently this year and I don't know why,' she added. Tiahleigh's death resulted in a review earlier this year leading to a change in reforms for children who go missing from out-of-home care, reported Nine news. Under the existing protocols police took almost a week before they released a missing persons alert. A $250,000 reward is on offer for information leading to the successful prosecution of those responsible for the 12-year-old's death But all 29 recommendations admitted in a Queensland Family and Child Commission report were implemented. 'The report highlights that more can be done to improve whole-of-government systems and ensure more timely and co-ordinated responses for children missing from out-of-home care,' Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in July. The Facebook page that was set up to find Tiahleigh when she was still considered a missing person is still operational. ISIS stole around 23 human organs of its dead and injured members in the Iraqi province of Nineveh for the purpose of trafficking after airstrikes left the organisation in desperate need of cash. A source on the ground told Iraqi News on Sunday that in order to acquire quick finances to stay afloat the militant group has resorted to dismembering its deceased and injured assailants. 'Special medical unit of the organization proceeded to steal human organs for about 23 ISIS militants of those who slept in the hospitals of Nineveh,' the source said. Lucrative: The terror organisation reportedly set up a specialist organ-smuggling division whose sole responsibility is to sell human hearts, livers and kidneys on the lucrative international black market 'What has been stolen from those members included the kidneys, intestines and more; they were transferred under tight control to affiliated hospital on the outskirts of the city. ' The source, who has asked to remain anonymous for their own safety, said the terror faction started to dismember its members after increased air strikes from the US and Russian forces wiped out a number of its oil reserves-the main source of revenue for ISIS. 'This came after the loss of the majority of sources of financial funding, particularly with regard to crude oil, which it provides about 80% of the imports of the terrorist organization,' the source added. Findings from a US-based analysis firm, HIS, revealed earlier this year that the group's daily oil output has dropped from 33,000 barrels to 21,000 barrels. Its revenue was hovering around $80 million per month but that fell to $56 million in March after chunks of their territory was bombed and seized in raids. ISIS gets its revenue from oil, taxes, drugs sales and now organ smuggling. Its brutality continues to be documented in propaganda videos 'Islamic State is still a force in the region, but this drop in revenue is a significant figure and will increase the challenge for the group to run its territory in the long term,' IHS senior analyst Ludovico Carlino said in a report. The terrorist organization has also lost about 22 percent of its territory since the middle of 2014. This means now around 6 million people are under the the group's rule, as oppose to 9 million two years ago, leading to a substantial loss in taxes. A report by al-Monitor news website, citing an Iraqi ear, nose and throat doctor named Siruwan al-Mosuli, said the group started to engage in organ trafficking back in 2014. Despite losing territory and access to essential oil supplies ISIS still performs summary executions of so-called dissidents He told the site that ISIS commanders have hired foreign doctors to run an extensive organ trafficking system from a hospital in the captured city of Mosul, northern Iraq, that is already beginning to generate huge profits. It claims the terror organisation has even set up a specialist organ-smuggling division whose sole responsibility is to sell human hearts, livers and kidneys on the lucrative international black market. '[Al-Mosuli] said that lately he noticed unusual movement within medical facilities in Mosul Arab and foreign surgeons were hired, but prohibited from mixing with local doctors,' the report's author wrote. 'Information then leaked about organ selling.' The terror faction has lost control of 22% of the territory it held in 2014 forcing it to look for other funding methods The report went on: 'Surgeries take place within a hospital and organs are quickly transported through networks specialized in trafficking human organs. Mosuli said that the organs come from fallen fighters who were quickly transported to the hospital, injured people who were abandoned or individuals who were kidnapped.' A pregnant woman has been killed after a gunman pulled up alongside the parked car she was sitting in and shot her dead in Chicago's South Side. Parasha Beard, 19, was six months pregnant and also has a four-year-old daughter. Medics managed to deliver the baby girl who has been named Miracle. Beard was parked in the vehicle with a man who is reportedly Miracle's father on 87th Street and Marquette Avenue when the shooting happened. Police believe another vehicle pulled up alongside and a man with dreadlocks fired multiple shots before fleeing. Shot dead: Parasha Beard, 19, was six months pregnant and also has a four-year-old daughter Police are seen on Chicago's South Side at the scene of the shooting on 87th Street and Marquette Avenue A close-up of the bullet holes can be seen in the vehicle where Parasha Beard, 19, was sitting with a 26-year-old man who is reportedly the father of the newborn baby Beard's mom Crystal Jones, pictured, said: 'They shot her up in front of my house in broad daylight. I just want justice and peace' According to the Chicago Tribune Beard's mom Crystal Jones said: 'Thank God that her baby that she was pregnant with is surviving right now. 'Thank you God, have mercy on me.' The baby girl, due in December, was delivered at Comer Children's Hospital and has been named Miracle. Beard was shot in the neck and was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Her mom added: 'They came and ended her life in broad daylight. 'They shot her up in front of my house in broad daylight. I just want justice and peace.' Beard's ex fiance Jayles Lewis Garrett took to Facebook Live claims he has a 'prophetic gift' and had warned her what would happen He ex fiance Jayles Lewis Garrett took to Facebook Live to express his heartache and claimed that he had a 'prophetic gift' and had warned her what would happen. In a rambling seven-minute video Garrett claimed the newborn child could possibly be his baby and said: 'Laugh at me all you want to but I hear from God and I have a prophetic gift and everything that happened to her. I told her it was going to happen and how it was going to happen.' He adds: 'See a lot of people see me and because of my past they dont take me seriously and when I had my church no one supported me that much.' He said people take him as a joke but he added hey, I hear from God. He adds: 'This possibly could be my baby. Its a possibility it could be mine. If it is I am going to make sure that baby is taken care of.' Garrett posted this photo to Facebook with the caption 'the very last picture me & Parasha took' Garrett also posted this photo of the two of them with the caption: 'Even through all we've been through its so not easy to say goodbye to you even though we've had our ups and downs and to be someone that I shared 3 years of my life with someone that I proposed to and asked to be my wife even though it didn't happen the love never left. I love you Parasha RIP and I promise that sinaya and angel will be alright' However the 26-year-old man who was in the vehicle with Beard is reportedly the baby girl's father, according to abc7. His name has not been released but he sustained neck and chest wounds and is in a critical condition in Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Police say they believe he has ties to gangs in the city. Garrett, who says he has a minister's licence and preaches, continued on Facebook: 'The baby is fine. She was only six, seven or eight months (pregnant) but the baby is definitely okay.' He also shared old photos of them together on Facebook. In one he captioned it: 'Even through all we've been through its so not easy to say goodbye to you even though we've had our ups and downs and to be someone that I shared 3 years of my life with someone that I proposed to and asked to be my wife even though it didn't happen the love never left. I love you Parasha RIP and I promise that sinaya and angel will be alright.' He also said that he had 'messed up' in the past and had been accused of stalking Beard but he wasn't. He said he sent her messages warning her what would happen as 'God had told him'. The shattered windows of the vehicle are seen above. Police have launched an investigation but say there is nobody currently in custody in connection with the shooting Beard was sitting in a parked car on 87th Street and Marquette Avenue in Chicago's South Side, pictured A tribute to Beard was posted on ResidentUnited SaveHousing Facebook's page Andrew Holmes, a community activist working with the family, said Beard was 'very, very happy about being a new mom'. A tribute to Beard was posted on ResidentUnited SaveHousing Facebook's page saying: 'Crystal Jones, Keisha K-luv Jones and Family. I am deeply saddened by the loss that you and your family have encountered. My heart goes out to you all during this difficult time and may our prayers serve as comfort to you and your loved ones. The man Beard was with in the car also sustained neck and chest wounds but is in a critical condition in Northwestern Memorial Hospital, pictured Now police have launched an investigation but say there is nobody currently in custody in connection with the shooting. It is believed that Beard lived in the area, where she had been shot and worked at restaurant Portillo's in the nearby suburb of Skokie. Advertisement A demonstration in Parliament Square that was given special permission by Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan has provoked anger today. Around 2,500 lifejackets have been laid out across the site usually reserved for military memorials in an all-day protest - despite a three-hour limit on such events imposed by the Mayor's office. It was organised by charity the International Rescue Commission - whose president is former Labour MP and foreign secretary David Miliband - urging the UK to do more to help those fleeing war torn countries by giving them a home here. But many have criticised the 'misjudged' display and said it will encourage more people to risk their lives in dangerous crossings to Europe. It came just hours after Theresa May warned Britain has the right to turn away tens of thousands of economic migrants posing as refugees. Around 2,500 lifejackets have been laid out in Parliament Square today, pictured, to urge the UK government to do more to help refugees leaving Africa and the Middle East for Europe The square, pictured, often reserved for military memorials, requires special permission from Sadiq Khan's office for protests The demonstration was organised by charity the International Rescue Committee to coincide with a UN summit on the crisis Celebrity protestor: Actress Juliet Stevenson shows her support for the Refugee lifejackets display in Parliament Square Peter Bone, Conservative MP and former chairman on the All Party Group on Human Trafficking, said the protest was counter productive as it would 'condemn more people to death' by encouraging them to risk their lives coming to Europe. He said: 'If this protest is highlighting the fact that there are these evil criminal gangs out there giving people fake life jackets then that is fine and an important point. But if it's saying we should bring more people to the UK then it is just going to encourage more and more people to put themselves in danger and more men, women and children will lose their lives.' He added: 'What we really need to do is look after people closer to where they a fleeing home in the first safe country nearby, which is what the British government has been doing and I think they should be praised for that. 'Eventually fighting will stop and they will be right there nearby so they can go home again. We are seeing people with the best intentions making this worse by saying we should have lots more people come to the UK. 'But really by doing that you are encouraging these evil trafficking gangs to get involved and that message needs to stop. We need to tackle these gangs mercilessly.' Speaking on Twitter, Richard Jarrett said: 'Migrant situation very worrying. However this is so misjudged. Like saying "if one had of these you would have survived." #lifejacketlondon' Twitter user kingisgod added: ' All those self righteous bleeding heart's at #lifejacketlondon why don't u (sic) lay sleeping bags down to represent all homeless here.' StefanJC added: 'Let's house our own people before we let any refugees in #LifeJacketLondon.' Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, a leading campaigner against migrant traffickers said: ' This protest is inappropriate and in poor taste. The square is a place for remembering British soldiers who died in battle such as the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme which took place earlier this summer. Mr Elphicke, who represents Dover and Deal, also asked why the protest was allowed to carry on for longer than the normal three-hour limit. Sanj Srikanthan, the IRC's director of policy and practice, denied the charity was politicising a humanitarian issue and said the seriousness of the situation was 'there for all to see'. The charity - who worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and fellow charities World Vision and Migrant Voice on the display - gathered 2,500 used lifejackets worn by adults and children who have crossed the sea between Turkey and Greece and arranged the huge display across the green. The display, which will be cleared by 6pm today, is a reflection of a larger 'graveyard' in Greece where there are more than 10,000 lifejackets on a beach. It comes as the United Nations Migration Summit began today in New York, with 193 countries approving a new document aimed at providing a more 'humane and co-ordinated' response to the refugee crisis. Mr Srikanthan said: 'Nothing we are doing is misrepresenting any facts. It's happening. We are not talking about migrants, we are talking about refugees. Visitors walked around the 'graveyard' of lifejackets, pictured, arranged to resemble a similar scene in Greece, where many people have arrived after crossing the Mediterranean Sea The lifejackets are made up of both adult's and children's sizes with some of the latter branded with Disney stickers A spokesman for the charity denied it was politicising a humanitarian issue and said the crisis was there for all to see Speaking on Twitter, Richard Jarrett, left, said: 'Migrant situation very worrying. However this is so misjudged. Like saying "if one had of these you would have survived." #lifejacketlondon'. StefanJC, right, added: 'Let's house our own people before we let any refugees in #LifeJacketLondon.' Twitter user kingisgod added: ' All those self righteous bleeding heart's at #lifejacketlondon why don't u (sic) lay sleeping bags down to represent all homeless here.' 'This is a way to represent the crisis in a way that is communicable to the public. There are 10,000 lifejackets in Greece and people see them every day. It's not politicising an issue, this is there to be seen.' Mr Srikanthan added the protest had three aims - calling on world leaders to provide a 'solution' to the international crisis, boost humanitarian aid and solving conflicts in Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan to stop the tide of people fleeing their homes. He said the display - which has also been described as a poignant by several visitors - represented the 'tragedy of the modern refugee' - with Disney stickers visible on some of the children's lifejackets. The charity is also calling for the UK to take 25 refugees per political constituency. The Mayors office said it was considered a promotional activity and was therefore exempt from the three-hour rule. A spokesman said: Given Londons proud history of welcoming refugees and migrants from all over the world, the Mayor gave permission for an event that highlights the plight of those fleeing war and persecution. WHAT IS THE INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE? It might sound like something from a certain famous children's puppet show, but the International Rescue Committee serves a serious purpose around the world. Founded in 1933, it offers emergency aid to refugees and those displaced by war, while also helping to set up health, sanitation and education programmes in war-torn countries. It began as the International Relief Association, founded by the Communist and Socialist parties of Germany before the rise of Hitler prompted the organisation to move to Paris. Since then it has merged with counterparts in the US, Spain and Poland to form its current body, which contains several separate divisions tackling specific issues such as female refugees, those affected by ethnic cleansing and disaster relief. Some of the notable conflicts it has provided aid in include aiding Kurdish refugees who fled Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the First Gulf War, those affected by the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian War and helping Kosovar refugees moving to Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro after the attack by then-Yugoslavia. Its president is former Labour MP and foreign secretary David Miliband, who resigned his seat in 2013 to take up the position. Advertisement As reported by MailOnline, it is believed around 20 refugees die per day crossing the Mediterranean Sea, with more than 3,000 lives lost so far already this year, a figure reached in July. As a result, 2016 will be the third successive year where more than 3,000 lives have been lost crossing the Mediterranean. In 2014, the 3,000 mark was passed on September 21, while last year it was October 15. According to the International Organisation for Migration, 242,179 migrants and refugees have successfully arrived in Europe by sea during 2016. Founded in 1933, the IRC has a long history of aiding those either fleeing war-torn countries or caught up in the aftermath of conflicts such as Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq by helping people to find asylum or providing health and education programmes at home. It is believed around 20 refugees die per day crossing the Mediterranean Sea, with more than 3,000 lives lost so far already this year The protests aims are to call for the UK government to do more to house refugees, boost humanitarian aid and do more to stop the conflicts that prompt people to flee their home countries Under laws brought into force in 2011, campaigners no longer have to inform the police if they are going to set up a demonstration in Parliament Square. The Police Reform & Social Responsibility Act 2011 was designed to make peaceful protest easier in the vicinity of Parliament, although demonstrations including tents, sleeping equipment and noise amplifiers are still banned. Meanwhile, the UN has backed the 22-page 'New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants,' a non-binding agreement designed to boost resettlement of refugees and humanitarian aid in war-torn countries. Opening the summit, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders to commit to 'upholding the rights and dignity of everyone force by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life.' The animal's trainers had to be called to lure it back to its circus enclosure was tracked down 0.6 miles away to the outskirts of the city It was first spotted in a car park in Ramnicu Valcea An elephant was on the loose in a city in southern Romania for a number of hours after it escaped from its cage at a circus and then when missing as police tried to track it down. Police were alerted after locals spotted the elephant wandering around freely on the city streets of Ramnicu Valcea, Valcea County. However when officers arrived at a car park, near a commercial center, it was nowhere to be seen so search squads were called to locate the wandering giant in the city of 93,000 people. Big surprise. The elephant was first spotted in the car park of a commercial center before going missing for a number hours Surprisingly for such a large animal, it reportedly took police a few hours to locate the elephant. It was found on a nearby hill, 0.6 miles (1 km) away from the place where it was initially spotted. Police found that the elephant had escaped from its cage at a circus located next to the commercial centre on Thursday. Officers didn't have the know-how to herd the beast and it was eventually re-captured by caretakers from the circus. 'Policemen with circus employees surrounded the area, and the trainer managed to calm the animal and bring it back to the circus,' said Alina Teodorescu a Valcea county police spokesman. When questioned by police about how the animal managed to escape, circus staff reportedly refused to acknowledge their mistake. They reportedly told police that the elephant was deliberately released in order to enjoy the nearby hills and to eat some fresh grass. The police investigation reportedly proved this statement to be false and the circus was fined for allowing to escape. An Ohio man accused of murdering three women and kidnapping another is now being investigated in connection with two other slayings, sources say. Shawn Grate, 40, appeared in a video bond hearing in Ashland on Monday and pleaded not guilty in the murders of 43-year-old Stacey Stanley and 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith, whose bodies were found in his home last week. Grate also pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping a third woman 'to engage in sexual activity'. However, on top of leading police to the body of a woman who has not been identified, Grate is being looked at as the prime suspect of two other unsolved murders in Ohio. Shawn Grate, 40, pictured, is scheduled to appear in court in Ashland on Monday for a competency hearing after being charged Friday with kidnap and murder The body of Rebekah Leicy body was found March 16 in Ashland County, 2015, behind a large tree on County Road 1908. She died from a drug overdose Led away: Shawn Grate in Ashland Police custody after he led officers to the bodies of three women in Ashland and in Mansfield According to News Net 5, Grate has admitted to authorities that he was involved in the murder of Rebekah Leicy in 2015, as well as the 2007 slaying of a Marion woman. Leicy, 31, a known prostitute, had last been seen January 22, 2015; she was reported missing on February 6 of that year. Police said a Columbia Gas employee was checking gas wells on County Road 1908 just south of Route 30 in Mifflin Township that March when he found Leicy behind a tree. She died from a drug overdose involving cocaine, morphine and buprenorphine. Grate has provided police with information about the murders of Leicy and the Marion County victim, the source told the station, but specific details have not been released. Grate was arrested on Tuesday after police received a 911 call from a woman who reported that she had been kidnapped and was being held, in fear of her life. Officers who rescued the alleged victim from the Ashland house found the bodies of two women in it and an adjoining property. The bodies were then identified as Elizabeth Griffith, 29, and Stacey Stanley, 43. Grates then led law enforcement to a burnt out property in Mansfield, 40 minutes away, where he claimed to have killed another woman and from which a female body has been recovered. However the woman has not been identified and police have not said how she died. No charges have been filed in that case. At the weekend, a former partner of Grate - the mother of one of his several children - spoke to DailyMail.com about the years of abuse she suffered at his hands. She said: For a while the relationship seemed perfect to me. I was infatuated with him. He showed me attention, he was charming he said what he knew you needed or wanted to hear. I was in love with him. But hes a very jealous man and hes very controlling. People would tell me to leave him, to get out, that he was bad news and I would deny that he ever did anything to me even when he was hurting me real bad. Pictured is the home where police said the two bodies were found He was arrested on Tuesday after police received a 911 call from a woman who reported that she had been kidnapped and was being held, in fear of her life The bruises would always be somewhere you couldnt see my legs or stomach or something. But I always thought I could fix things. I had a child - I thought I had to fix things and be with him. Now I look back and it chills me because I truly believe that if I hadnt got out when I did I wouldnt be sitting here talking to you today. It is several years since she last had any contact with her former lover but to this day his ex has genuine concerns that the career criminal who worked with accomplices on several occasions could somehow harm her or her family She explained: Hes where he belongs now but he knows people. Who knows what he could have done if he wanted to? Im talking now because people need to know what hes capable of but I wont be named because I need to protect my family. Authorities said a third body was then found Tuesday in neighboring Richland County after Grate confessed to killing the woman in June. Pictured is the remains of a burned out home near where police found the third body Certainly she knows he is capable of cruelty and violence. She recalls: I thought he was a normal person at first but the signs were always there. He would say, You look great but youd look better if you were 20lbs lighter. That was a big thing for him, he would tell me, You should be 115lbs. And even when he goofed around and play wrestled or punched me it was harder than it should have been, he would knock me back and I would think, Thats not right. She cant remember the first time he hit her or how he broke her down emotionally and mentally to the point where she began to obey him out of fear of what would happen if she did not. But she said: Sexually he was very degrading and controlling. A lot of things were forced but I would do what he told me because if I didnt I never knew what would happen. In a classic pattern of abuse Grate tried to isolate her from friends threatening male friends in particular if they spoke to her. Stacey Stanley (left and right) was last seen on September 8, with a flat tire at a gas station in Ashland, Ohio. Her body was later found at a house a few blocks away On one occasion he shredded items of her clothing to prevent her from going out, taking a knife to a jacket and destroying it then hanging it back in the closet so she only discovered what had happened when she went to put it on. She said: Sometimes he would hit me, he punched me in the stomach when I was pregnant. Sometimes he would throw things or punch holes in walls. One time he cut up my old High School photos. One time he hid in the back of my car and popped up when I was half way home. That was very very disturbing to me. He did things like, wed be driving down the road and one time he just pulled up the brake and we spun, just spun out of control because Id said something I wasnt meant to say or he didnt like. She never saw him drunk or do drugs she said: He was just mean. It would never come from nowhere it would start as an argument but then just escalate. Eventually the degradation and abuse, along with the fact that Grate could never seem to hold down a job, became too much to bear. Elizabeth Griffith (pictured), 29, has been identified as the second woman found dead in an Ohio home this week Today, she says, she cannot recall what proved her breaking point only that she told him: I cant do this anymore. Im leaving. By then she had gone to the police at least once. She moved into a friend's house and Grate followed her there, cutting all the telephone wires to prevent either woman for calling for help and telling her, Thats how much I love you. Attractive and well-spoken, she is visibly shaken at the memories that have come flooding back since news of Grates arrest broke earlier in the week she added: Its chilling. I was in awe of him for a while. You would never have thought that the man I first met could be capable of what he went onto do to me because he was so charming. But for me to look back on it all now with more understanding you can definitely see how this situation now is where it could lead. I know that at the moment everything is only alleged but he followed a classic path of physical, mental and sexual abuse. He was a serial killer in the making and right now I feel hes where he belongs. Im thankful I got out and thankful he has no part in his childs life. Eli Pilat, 14, a ninth-grader at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, was hit by the train in Newton on Friday night A high school freshman has been killed after he was hit by a commuter train while trespassing on the tracks. Eli Pilat, 14, a ninth-grader at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, was hit by the train in Newton on Friday night. His grandmother, Maryann, said the family had been 'crying for three days' following the tragedy. Eli had just started a job at the Honey Dew Donuts near his home and had hopes of becoming manager. His mother, Erica, said he was with friends when the train hit him. Speaking to the Boston Globe, she said: 'He was so passionate about music and art. He was creative, kind and funny. He'll always hold a special place in my heart.' His father, David, described his son as a 'super creative, super smart kid. He was a true friend to people and a beautiful soul'. Pilat had a 10-year-old sister and a younger brother, who is six. Principal of his school, Bella Wong, informed pupils about Elia's death. She said: 'While we were just getting to know (him) here at (Lincoln-Sudbury), we were already beginning to appreciate his love of music and strong sense of self-advocacy. 'I extend out deepest sympathy and compassion to (his) family during this time of grief for their tragic loss.' Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police said the teen was trespassing on the tracks when he was hit by a Worcester/Framingham train at around 8.45pm on Friday Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police said the teen was trespassing on the tracks when he was hit by a Worcester/Framingham commuter train at around 8.45pm on Friday. Cases of shared mental breaks have been recorded globally since 1955 A paranoid Australian family who sparked an interstate man hunt after fleeing their home to hide from an unfounded threat against their lives are one of many groups from around the world who have been affected by 'shared delusions'. The Tromps - including father Mark, mother Jacoba, son Mitchell and daughter's Riana and Ella - were unable to explain what exactly caused the bizarre 'off grid' road trip that left two of them receiving psychiatric help in a mental health facility. Mark, 59, was found in a confused state wandering a highway five days after he urged his family to leave their phones, credit cards and passports at their Silvan home, east of Melbourne, and jump in the car so they could evade a mystery threat. Many speculated the family had been under the influence of psychoactive drugs, others suggested they were in financial trouble, mentally disturbed or caught in the grips of a sinister cult, but experts believe they experienced a shared mental break. Scroll down for video The Tromps were unable to explain what exactly caused the bizarre 'off grid' road trip that left two of them receiving psychiatric help in a mental health facility (Pictured from left to right: Riana, Mark, Jacoba, Mitchell and Ella) Similar to unsubstantiated tales of long eared 'goblins' terrorising a family in Kentucky, or accounts of a UFO attacking a car in Perth - medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew claims the Tromps were victims of 'small group panics'. 'Most episodes involve normal, healthy people who, as a result of a series of unusual events, grow paranoid and literally scare themselves after growing convinced that their lives are in imminent danger,' he told Psychology Today. He said fatigue and fear causes members - who are often influenced by a prominent member in the group - to become emotionally unstable, which makes them more suggestible and further limits their power to critically assess the situation. 'Within this atmosphere of fear, members begin to redefine everyday objects and events in a new light,' he said. 'It is within this context that a car backfiring, may be perceived as a gunshot, or rustling in the bushes is mistaken for a monster or hostile gang member.' Professor Bartholomew said those affected by shared delusions are often influenced by a prominent member in the group - in the Tromp's case father Mark A timeline of events before Mark was found wandering a highway near Wangaratta Airport THE TROMP FAMILY'S OFF-GRID VACATION Monday, August 29 The Tromp family abandon their redcurrant farm in Victoria and flee the town in their family station wagon without any bank cards or mobile phones. Son Mitchell, 25, is found to have a mobile phone and it is thrown from the vehicle east of Melbourne. Tuesday, August 30 Mitchell becomes concerned with his parent's 'delusional' behaviour and leaves the family trip at Bathurst before boarding public transport home. Mark, 51, his wife Jacoba, 53, and their two daughters Ella, 22, and Riana, 29, continue travelling to the Jenolan Caves. Ella and Riana allegedly steal a utility truck and leave their parents in Goulburn. The sisters become separated in the regional town and Riana is found in a catatonic state hiding in the back of a local man's utility truck. The 29-year-old was taken to hospital and treated for a stress-related illness. Ella started travelling back to the family home in the stolen vehicle. Police visit the family farm after the couple are reported missing. Wednesday, August 31 Ella and Mitchell arrive home separately and are met by police. Officers spot the family station wagon in Victoria's north-east and a man, believed to be Mark, flees the vehicle and runs into a nearby park but is not found. Thursday, September 1 Jacoba is found 'dazed and confused' in Yass after separating from her husband. She was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a stress-related illness. Mitchell reveals his parents were paranoid and afraid when he abandoned the trip. Friday, September 2 Jacoba was transferred to Goulburn hospital where Riana is undergoing treatment. Saturday, September 3 Mark was found wandering the streets near the Wangaratta airport in 'good health' and was taken into police custody. Advertisement Professor Bartholomew said the Sutton family from Kentucky, in America's mid-west, left their home riddled with bullet holes in 1955 after fooling themselves into thinking there were creatures with huge heads, glowing eyes and pointed ears coming for them. The various members of the family - made up of seven adults and three children - reported spotting the creatures near the house or peering through the window over a period of three hours, resulting in the family opening fire on the perceived threat. Police became involved in the incident - referred to as the Hopkinsville goblin encounter or the Kentucky space goblins - at about 11pm after the family made a break for it and drove to the nearest police station for back up. But upon returning to the rural farmhouse, police found no evidence of the three-foot-tall intruders and left just after 2am. The various members of the family - made up of seven adults and three children - reported spotting the creatures near the house or peering through the window over a period of three hours, resulting in the family opening fire on the perceived threat A police officer who interviewed the family concluded they had seen a flock of Great Horned Owls which have similar physical descriptions and aggressive defend their nests after dusk The ordeal did not end there, with police being called back to the scene after the mother claimed to have seen one of the creatures lurking near the window. A police officer who interviewed the family concluded they had seen a flock of Great Horned Owls which have similar physical descriptions and aggressive defend their nests after dusk. 'After the owls were scared off by the gunfire, fatigue and imagination appears to have taken over and the terrified occupants were soon firing at shadows and rustling in the bushes,' Professor Bartholomew said. Another incident believed to be spurred on by a shared delusion dates back to 1978 when two suspected drug dealers became paranoid their house was being watched, resulting in another one-sided gun battle. A man known as Masters and his friend Cordell noticed half of a discarded gum wrapper on the roof, while the other was strewn near a pile of wood - further fueling their suspicions they were being watched through the widows. Another incident believed to be spurred on by a shared delusion involve two suspected drug dealers who became paranoid their house was being watched like Mark Tromp (pictured) Instead of fleeing their home like the Tromps, Cordell and Masters took a stockpile of weapons and attempted to defend their property from the perceived threat (Pictured: Tromp home) After spotting a 'kid' in camouflage clothing, Cordell gave chase and yelled a threat to the other people he believed were hiding nearby that he was armed and willing to shoot. The pair ended up recruiting another friend, Hamby, after concluding they were under siege. The duo continued reporting noises and claimed to see shadowy figures throughout the night, and as their exhaustion grew so did their delusion. Cordell told police he had shot and killed a man he saw hanging from a window of the house, explaining in details the gurgling noises his victim made as he died. But there was no blood spatter, body or witnesses that could corroborate his story - only destruction and empty shell cartridges scattered throughout the empty house. Another Australian family captivated the nation with claims they survived an extra terrestrial encounter in January 1988. Another Australian family - the Knowles - captivated the nation with claims they survived an extra terrestrial encounter in January 1988 (Pictured: Patrick, Faye, Sean and Wayne) The family claim a UFO picked their car (pictured) up as they were driving across the Nullarbor Faye Knowles had been driving for around thirteen hours from Perth to Melbourne with her three sons - Wayne, Sean and Patrick - when Sean became convinced he spotted a UFO floating in the sky above the Nullarbor Desert. He notified the rest of his sleeping family before growing increasingly fearful that the spaceship was following his family causing him to speed off down the highway. The family then claimed a sponge-like object lowered down and lifted the car off the road as a grey mist slowly seeped into the vehicle. 'I wind down the window and it was on top of the roof ... it all come inside the car like smoke - we thought we were dead,' Faye Knowles said. 'I wind down the window and it was on top of the roof ... it all come inside the car like smoke - we thought we were dead,' Faye Knowles (pictured) said 'I swear to God I am not lying... the car started going out of control and it was like smoke... and gasses started coming in,' Patrick added 'I swear to God I am not lying... the car started going out of control and it was like smoke... and gasses started coming in,' Patrick added. Me and my brother started to go crazy. I thought it was going in my head. It felt like My brain was getting sucked out.' Two truck drivers came upon the family in a distressed state after they claimed to have changed a tyre that was busted when the UFO dropped them. The car was covered in a thick layer of ash and there was a dent on the roof, but it was found to be clay and salt from the road. 'Given the lack of corroborating physical evidence, and the frightened state of the occupants, it appears that family members, fatigued from a long trip, under the cover of darkness while traveling on an unfamiliar road, mistook an anomalous light for an extraterrestrial space craft that they believed was pursuing them,' Professor Bartholomew said. Kim Kardashian has blasted the Wall Street Journal as 'dangerous' after it published an advert that downplayed the Armenian genocide - which claimed 1.5million lives. The reality TV star hit back by taking out her own advert in the New York Times in which she voiced her frustration at the 'lies' being spread by the rival publication. She also questioned whether the ad, paid for by Turkic Platform, would have made it to print if it had denied the Holocaust or pushed a 9/11 conspiracy theory. In the advert titled, 'Genocide Denial Cannot Be Allowed,' Kardashian lamented how the WSJ was able to 'profit' from mass killings carried out by Turkey. Kim Kardashian has blasted the Wall Street Journal as 'dangerous' after it published an advert that downplayed the Armenian genocide, pictured with her sister Khloe at a memorial last year 'For a trusted publication to profit from genocide it's shameful and unacceptable,' she wrote. 'Why is it that every time we take one step forward we take two steps back.' The mother-of-two described the WSJ's actions as 'reckless, upsetting and dangerous'. Turkic Platform's advert, which was printed on April 20, was emblazoned with the slogan: 'Truth = Peace'. The reality TV star hit back by taking out her own advert in the New York Times (left) after being shocked by Turkic Platform's advert, which was printed in the WSJ on April 20 (right) It cites genocide-denial website, FactCheckArmenia.com, which claims the Armenians started the conflict and that fewer than 1.5million were killed. Kim responded, saying: 'Many historians believe that if Turkey had been held responsible for the Armenian genocide, and reprimanded for what they did, the Holocaust may not have happened. 'In 1939, a week before the Nazi invasion of Poland, Hitler said, 'Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?' 'We do. We must. We must talk about it until it is recognized by our government because when we deny our past, we endanger our future,' Kardashian continued.' Kim Kardashian has blasted the Wall Street Journal as 'dangerous' after it published an advert that downplayed the Armenian genocide - which claimed 1.5million lives Kim and her sister Khloe visited eternal flame of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex on the outskirts of Yerevan, Armenia, last year The reality TV star hit back by taking out her own advert in the New York Times in which she voiced her frustration at the 'lies' being spread by the rival publication Back in April, the WSJ defended its use of the ad, saying it regularly includes 'provocative' viewpoints. 'We accept a wide range of advertisements, including those with provocative viewpoints,' a spokesman said. 'While we review ad copy for issues of taste, the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers.' But Kim, who penned the full-page ad with the Armenian Educational Foundation, did not accept that argument, saying the publication was merely 'spreading lies'. 'Advocating the denial of a genocide by the country responsible for it that's not publishing a provocative viewpoint, that's spreading lies,' she wrote. Khloe and Kim walk out of the Mother Armenia monument while sightseeing in Yerevan in April, 2015 'If this had been an ad denying the Holocaust or pushing some 9/11 conspiracy theory, would it have made it to print? 'When we allow ourselves to be silenced by money, by fear and by power, we teach our children that truth is irrelevant. 'We have to honor the truth in our history so that we protect their future.' She even delved into her own experience and said both her and her family were 'no strangers to BS in the press'. But Kim said she felt she could not 'brush' the advert off. 'Money talks, and right now its talking crap,' she wrote. Kim and her sister Khloe visited eternal flame of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex on the outskirts of Yerevan, Armenia, last year to commemorate the 100th anniversary since the genocide. The Armenian ancestors are on the Kardashian familys father's side - his family emigrated to the United States from an area that now lies in Turkey. THE KARDASHIAN FAMILY'S CONNECTION TO ARMENIA Kim Kardashian and her family travelled to Armenia as the country prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24. During the eight-day trip, the family group and a film crew visted Yerevan's genocide memorial and Armenia's National Archives to see documents about the Kardashian family ancestors. Robert Kardashian, father of Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Robert Jr, was a third-generation Armenian American. The celebrity lawyer, who passed away in 2003 just eight weeks after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, passed on his pride in his heritage to his family, who have been vocal about their Armenian roots. Robert's ancestors fled the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century, thanks to a 'prophet' who urged them to uproot to America. Known at the time as the Kardaschoffs, in Russian style, the family made their way from their home village of Karakale in the late 19th Century to German ports. From there, they travelled to a new life in America on the passenger vessels SS Brandenberg and SS Koln. By doing so, they escaped the triple horror of the First World War from 1914-18, the 'Armenian Genocide' starting in 1915 - exactly a century ago this year - and the Russian Revolution in 1917. Among those fleeing Erzurum - then in Armenia, and ruled by last Russian Tsar Nicholas II was family patriarch Hovhannes Miroyan and Kim's great great grandfather, born in 1844. He married Luciag Chorbajian, born in 1853. The couple wed in Erzurum, which is now in Turkey, in 1867 but escaped along with their daughter Vartanoosh Mironyan, born in 1886, in the early 20th century. Vartanoosh's distinctly blonde daughter Haigoohi Arakelian - known as Helen, born in America in 1917, the year the Bolshevik Revolution rocked the Russian Empire - was Kim's grandmother, who later married into the Kardashian clan. The glamorous and 'dynamic' Helen wed Arthur who ran the largest meat-packing business in southern California. Helen's son Robert married Kris Houghton and fathered the 21st Century's biggest reality TV stars Kourtney, Khloe, Robert Jr and most famous of all - Kim. Their mother Kris eventually married Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner and together they raised two more TV personalities, Kendall and Kylie. Advertisement Robert Kardashian, father of Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Robert Jr, was a third-generation Armenian American. During Kims eight-day trip at the beginning of April of last year, Kim and her family and film crew visited Yerevan's genocide memorial and Armenia's National Archives to see documents about her ancestors. At the memorial, the sisters, and at one point Khloe was seen wiping tears away as she stood in silence with her two Armenian cousins. The Kardashians also met the Armenian Prime Minister during the visit and she dug deeper into her family roots. Kim then took time to visit the overgrown ruins of her modest ancestral family home, complete with rusted sheet metal walls, no roof, and piles of rubble and debris littering the site. Turkey denies the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians, in what is now Turkey, in 1915 at the height of the First World War. Turkey contends those who died were victims of civil war and unrest. Turkey also insists the death toll has been inflated. Relations with Armenia are still blighted by the dispute. Hillary Clinton defended naturalized U.S. citizens and urged the nation not to 'turn on each other' after the FBI announced it was seeking a New Jersey man born in Afghanistan in connection with the bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey. The Democratic presidential candidate said Trump's rhetoric has been 'seized on by the terrorists' in their recruitment. 'We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists,' Clinton said. 'We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them but we're not going to go after an entire religion,' she added. The Trump campaign fired back immediately on what it called Clinton's 'disgusting attempt to distract from ISIS failures.' 'Hillary Clinton's comments today accusing Mr. Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, it's also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on ISIS. If Clinton really wants to find the real cause of ISIS, she needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror,' fumed Trump communications advisor Stephen Miller. Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton referenced 'millions of law abiding peaceful Muslim Americans' living in the U.S. as law enforcement urgently sought an Afghan-born suspect in connection with the New York bombing A spokesman for Clinton said Trump's campaign 'can call it whatever they want' - their campaign 'will continue to call it out as Donald Trump continues his reckless campaign.' Clinton national press secretary Brian Fallon said in a statement rebutting Miller that Trump has 'made dangerous and irresponsible statements that experts say play directly into the hands of ISIS and its perverse ideology. 'We know from independent analysis by counterterrorism experts with years of experience that ISIS supporters want him to win and that his rhetoric has been used for recruitment,' Fallon said. 'We can't have someone in the Oval Office who can so easily play into the hands of terrorists.' Clinton stressed in her remarks that millions of Muslims and naturalized citizens were 'law-abiding' people, just hours after Republican Donald Trump warned of the threat posed by immigrants from war-torn countries 'pouring into our country' and said immigrants were 'plotting' while predicting more attacks. 'We chose resolve not fear. We will not turn on each other or undermine our values. We'll stand together because we are stronger together in the face of this threat and every other challenge,' Clinton said, invoking her campaign theme while standing inside an airport hanger outside her campaign plane. Taking a few brief questions after her statement, Clinton was immediately asked about the latest developments in the investigation into the bombing that injured 29 in Manhattan. A police hunt has begun for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan in connection with the bombing. 'It is true that a suspect of interest has been identified, and we need to do everything we can to support law enforcement as they track him down to to determine what role if any he played in these events,' Clinton said, using measured language of the legal system. Hillary Clinton spoke to reporters Monday amid new developments in the New York and New Jersey bomb cases She then pivoted to defend immigrants, referencing a policy clash with Trump that has been central to the campaign. 'But let us remember there are millions and millions of naturalized citizens in America from all over the world. There are millions of law-abiding peaceful Muslim Americans. This is the kind of challenge that law enforcement can be and is prepared to address, namely going after anyone who would threaten the United States.' 'Let us be vigilant but not afraid. We have faced threats before,' Clinton said. She referenced the Sept. 11th attacks, carried out mostly by foreign visitors traveling on short-term visas. 'Let's remember what happened on 9/11. These were not refugees who got into airplanes and attacked our city and our country,' she said. 'So lets not get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear coming from the other side. This is a serious challenge. We are well equipped to meet it. And we can do so in keeping with smart law enforcement, good intelligence and in concert with our values.' Clinton called herself 'the only candidate in this race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield' Just hours earlier, Trump said 'weak' U.S. policies, including immigration from war-torn Syria, were to blame for the terror threat. 'Yeah because we've been weak. Our country's been week. We're letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands,' Trump told Fox and Friends. 'They can't be properly vetted. There's no way,' he said. 'They're bringing in many cases vicious cancer from within. This is something that's going to be so tough. And you know they stay together so nobody knows what's happening. They're plotting,' he said. Trump blamed Clinton and President Barack Obama for creating an environment in which lone wolf terrorists could operate later on Monday. 'Today, Hillary Clinton showed again that she will say anything - and blame anyone - to shift attention away from the weakness she showed as Secretary of State,' he said in a statement. 'The Obama-Clinton doctrine of not taking ISIS seriously enough has emboldened terrorists all over the world.' Clinton says extremists want Trump to win because he will pursue policies that will make it easier for them to mobilize. The Republican said Monday radicals are 'hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes President so that they can continue their savagery and murder.' 'I will bring an end to these senseless acts of violence,' he pledged. Would-be terrorists 'will be stopped. We will not look the other way.' Republican Donald Trump on Monday called immigrants a 'cancer from within' and warned that immigrants 'pouring into the country' pose a threat. His campaign blasted Clinton, saying her 'comments today accusing Mr. Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, it's also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on ISIS' As the latest terror threat showed the prospect of roiling the race, and at a minimum shaping the first presidential debate next week, Clinton called herself 'the only candidate in this race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield.' 'We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists,' Clinton said, 'in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists and violent terrorists, people who number in maybe the tens of thousands, not the tens of millions.' 'They want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning it into a religious conflict,' Clinton said. Continuing she stated, 'We know that Donald Trump's comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists. We've heard that from former CIA director Michael Hayden, who made it a very clear point when he said Donald Trump is being used as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists. 'We also know from the former head of our counterterrorism center Matt Olsen that the kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr. Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries,' Clinton continued. Ahmad Khan Rahami has been taken into custody after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey Monday morning Hayden, the former CIA and NSA director told Al Jazeera in March, 'You don't have to be president for that kind of statement from someone so prominent in the American political system to have already made Americans less safe.' He responded in the affirmative when asked whether that made Trump a recruiting sergeant for ISIS. Clinton vowed tough tactics, saying, 'This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower. 'We will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists,' she said and stressed cooperation with law enforcement. 'It is crucial that we continue to build up trust between law enforcement and Muslim American communities.' The Democratic presidential candidate and former New York senator offered her 'full support' for law enforcement officials and said she's spoken to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. Clinton said, This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower. We will prevail. We will defend our country and we will defeat the evil twisted ideology of the terrorists. Trump tweeted that President Obama and Hillary Clinton have pursued policies that led to 'more attacks at home than victories abroad' The former secretary of state again pushed for an intelligence surge with the United States allies to help identity terrorist threats and more cooperation between the US government and Silicon Valley. On the ground, she advocated for an accelerated air campaign, more support for Kurdish forces and intense diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria. Working closely with our allies and our partners to keep us safe must be the top priority for our next commander in chief, she said. Clinton said she would talk about the global fight against ISIS in her bilateral meetings tonight with world leaders who are in town for the United Nations General Assembly, Gun-carrying officers will stand guard outside Canterbury Cathedral in Kent (pictured) after an increase in the number of international terror attacks and a rise in national threat levels Armed police will patrol Canterbury Cathedral from today in the latest tightening of security following terror attacks in Europe. Gun-carrying officers will stand guard outside the iconic place of worship after an increase in the number of international terror attacks and a rise in national threat levels. The Cathedral - founded in 597AD - was rebuilt by William the Conqueror and is one of England's oldest Christian buildings surviving the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Blitz. Extra patrols will also guard Bluewater shopping centre and Dover's port although Kent Police stress there was no direct threat to the Cathedral or other sites. The move follows a Home Office announcement that all police forces in England and Wales should increase firearms patrols to protect the public. Kent Deputy Chief Constable Paul Brandon said: 'As of today we will deploying armed officers at a number of iconic site across the county. 'We're doing the initial patrolling today from within the resources we have, supplemented with overtime, but are actually in the process of recruiting a number of new firearms officers to be deployed to other parts of the county.' DCC Brandon added: 'We continue to regularly review the threat levels in the county in consultation with the Home Office to ensure we provide the most appropriate protection for the people of Kent. 'While we are not expecting a direct threat to the county, we do want to make sure that should circumstances change quickly, we are adequately prepared. 'Some of the locations extra patrols will visit include Canterbury city centre including the Cathedral, the Port of Dover and Bluewater, and we want the public to know what we're doing to protect them and not to panic if they see officers with firearms or tasers on patrol. Gun-carrying officers similar to those pictured above will stand guard outside Canterbury Cathedral hip after an increase in the number of international terror attacks and a rise in national threat levels 'An increase in firearms and taser patrols at key locations around the county will help us to continue to provide a first class service to the people of Kent.' But finding enough armed police to man the cathedral and large shopping centres while also increasing the ranks at the Port of Dover may prove difficult, Kent's crime commissioner Matthew Scott warned last week. He said: 'It is a challenge because you are asking someone, in the most severe circumstances, to take someone's life and that isn't something that every officer feels comfortable putting themselves forward for. 'We don't have huge numbers of firearms officers, but the ones we do have we must ensure that they have the best training and best equipment to go out and do the jobs they do.' The armed officers will also carry tasers. The heightened security measures come days after a failed car bomb attack targeted Notre Dame cathedral. A 19-year-old woman was charged with attempted murder for stabbing a police officer on duty outside the cathedral earlier this month. In July an 84-year-old priest was killed by ISIS-inspired terrorists while he delivered mass in a church near the northern French city of Rouen. Owen Smith has admitted he did not want to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership this summer - as he heads for humiliating defeat. The former shadow work and pensions secretary also candidly admitted that some of his language during the campaign had been 'crass and ugly'. Mr Smith is widely expected to be put to the sword by the veteran left-winger when the result is declared this weekend. Owen Smith said he had wanted to wait longer before challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership There has been speculation that Mr Corbyn could even end up winning a bigger mandate than last September after activists flocked to his support. In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Smith made clear that he would not have chosen to trigger a leadership battle now. However, he said he had no option but to stand once Angela Eagle had laid down the gauntlet to Mr Corbyn in the wake of his dire performance in the EU referendum. 'I wasn't in favour of there being a challenge, but once a challenge had been made then I felt I needed to stand because I felt that I had something to say about the future of the Labour party, and a lot of other people in the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] felt that about me, which is why they asked me to stand,' Mr Smith said. Asked whether that meant he would have liked Mr Corbyn to stay in post for longer, he replied: 'Yes, is the honest answer.' Mr Smith expressed regret over a series of clumsy comments, including saying he wanted to 'smash' Theresa May 'back on her heels'. 'The language I've used on a couple of occasions has been crass and ugly, and I've learned through this that language matters incredibly much,' he said. 'And even if your policies are right then you can undermine them and yourself very easily, especially in a contest that has been as sharply fought and observed as this one.' Speculation is mounting that Mr Corbyn and his left-wing allies will seek revenge on moderate Labour MPs is he does emerged triumphant on Saturday. Mr Corbyn, seen posing at a boxing club in Islington this weekend, is expected to land a knockout blow in the leadership contest Mr Corbyn has again refused to rule out deselection efforts against rebels, and Unite boss Len McCluskey has said he is actively in favour of them. The leader has also confirmed that he met with senior supporters to discuss whether there was any prospect of removing his deputy Tom Watson, who has urged him to step down. But Mr Watson has insisted he will fight any bid to eject him, saying: 'Bring it on.' CONTEST IN LAST FEW DAYS Voting in the Labour leadership contest has entered its final few days. The result of the contest will be announced at 11.45am on Saturday. The winner will be named at the venue in Liverpool where the party is staging its autumn conference. But most people already believe the outcome is a foregone conclusion - with support from activists likely to mean Jeremy Corbyn trounces his rival. The party could then descend into a fresh bout of infighting as scores are settled with moderate MPs. Advertisement Speaking before news of the secret plotting surfaced, Mr Watson told The House magazine: 'No one exists in democratic office forever. If there's a move to nominate another candidate and trigger a deputy leadership race, then let's bring it on. 'But I'm not entirely certain it would be a useful expenditure of collective political energy, particularly after the summer we've had.' Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn has been ridiculed for saying he doesn't eat biscuits because he is 'anti-sugar' - even though he is famous for his love of jam. The Labour leader ended up in a tangle after decrying biscuits on 'health grounds' during a question and answer session on Mumsnet. Politicians are always asked a light-hearted question about their favourite biscuit when they feature on the chat site. Mr Corbyn wrote: 'I'm totally anti-sugar on health grounds, so eat very few biscuits, but if forced to accept one, it's always a pleasure to have a shortbread.' But users quickly pointed out that his hatred of sugar seemed to contradict his jam-making hobby. 'Hang on. How can a person be anti sugar when one of their hobbies in making JAM?!' wrote one. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has announced the ending of the country's fragile ceasefire blaming rebel groups for undermining the truce. The seven-day ceasefire was breached several times with counter claims over who was responsible for the violence. However, Syria's military command declared the US-Russian-brokered truce at an end. Syrian military officials declared the seven-day truce brokered by the US and Russia is over The truce was negotiated to allow civilians to flee front-line areas and allow aid deliveries The uneasy truce allowed civilians to leave their homes and look for food in areas like Homs Syrian officials claimed 'armed terrorist groups' used the ceasefire to rearm while continuing to attack government-held areas. The United Nations accused the Syrian regime of blocking aid shipments to rebel-held areas, which was a breach of a major part of the deal. After months of negotiations, the United States and Russia agreed on September 9 to call for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and the joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria. The ceasefire ran into trouble at the weekend when rebel-held districts of Aleppo came under a barrage of air strikes and the US-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in an attack that Washington said was unintentional. This empty bus was supplied to evacuate people from the Waer district in Homs The frontier between rebel and government-held territories was quiet earlier this afternoon Areas on the frontline such as this in Jouret-al Shiah in Homs have been destroyed Speaking on Syrian state TV, Bashar Assad said that the airstrike of the U.S.-led coalition against his troops was meant to support ISIS. Assad described the attack that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour as a 'blatant American aggression'. Assad made his comments Monday during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hossein Jaberi Ansari. Ansari said Tehran will 'give all possible support' to Syria in its war against terrorism. Iran is one of Assad's strongest supporters. The US military said after Saturday's airstrike that it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against ISIS. Britain, Denmark and Australia have since admitted that their planes took part in the airstrike - which Moscow says killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers. The Syrian government claimed rebel groups have breached the ceasefire at least 300 times. US Secretary of State John Kerry said meanwhile that the terms had not been met for a key aspect of the deal - US-Russia cooperation against jihadists in Syria. Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy, pictured, accused rebels of not respecting the ceasefire Kerry - who brokered the deal along with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov - said in New York that Russia had failed to meet its side of a deal to enforce the truce, but that Washington was willing to keep working on it. Under the terms of an agreement, the US military would set up a joint cell with Russian forces to target Syrian jihadists if the ceasefire held. Kerry had earlier insisted the ceasefire was 'holding but fragile'. He told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that American officials were 'meeting now with the Russians in Geneva. That process is continuing and we'll see where we are in the course of the day'. However, Russia's defence ministry appeared to bury hopes that the truce would last past Monday night. In a televised briefing, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said: 'Considering that the conditions of the ceasefire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally.' He said 'the main issue' was that non-jihadist rebels had not been separated from Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate on the ground. Violence increased across the country on Monday, with fierce clashes reported east of Damascus and one child killed in regime shelling on the edges of Aleppo. Since September 12, 27 civilians, including nine children, have been killed in areas where the truce had been set to take hold, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller is pleading with a judge to allow her to take a trip to Mexico - just a few months before she is due in court on bankruptcy fraud charges which could carry a sentence of five years in prison. Miller, known for her controversial teaching methods and exuberant personality on the reality show, filed documents on Thursday which have been exclusively reviewed by DailyMail.com. The TV personality has asked for permission to travel overseas for two days in October as part of her work. She pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud in June, after being charged with illegally trying to hide $775,000 in U.S. income from the Lifetime network reality show and spin-off projects during her Chapter 11 bankruptcy. She is facing up to 5 years in prison and a $5 million fine. Scroll down for video Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller has filed documents with a judge to allow her to take a trip to Mexico Miller, pictured arriving at a Pittsburgh court with her lawyers last November, is due in court this December for sentencing on bankruptcy fraud charges. She is facing up to 5 years in prison and a $5 million fine She was originally due to be sentenced on October 11 but this has been postponed until December 2. Dance Moms follows the lives of mothers and their daughters caught up in the world of competitive dance. Miller is known for her outrageous teaching methods, including throwing chairs, smashing microphones and shouting at her charges and their mothers. Miller originally filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010, claiming debts of more than $356,000 USD, including a $200,000 USD mortgage on a Florida home and a $96,000 USD mortgage on her dance studio. But she fell foul of the law because claiming bankruptcy protection allowed her to receive more favorable terms on her mortgage, despite allegedly earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Dance Moms show and its spin-offs. Miller is also facing currency charges after she allegedly tried to conceal $120,000 in Australian dollars which she was bringing into the United States Miller is known for her outrageous teaching methods on Dance Moms, including throwing chairs, smashing microphones and shouting at her charges and their mothers Since the lawsuits were brought against her, LA-based Miller is required to ask the court for approval for any international travel Miller is also facing currency charges after she allegedly tried to conceal $120,000 in Australian dollars which she was bringing into the country. She allegedly split the money into several plastic bags, which several friends carried through in August 2014. Amounts of more than $10,000 brought into the United States must be reported. In the documents the reality star said she needs to travel to San Diego later this month, then Dublin, California a week later. The last stop is Tijuana, Mexico from October 8-9. Southern Charm star Jennifer Snow has taken her newly born son home after what she has described as, a tumultuous first few days, DailyMail.com has learned. The 35-year-old Charleston realtor gave birth to James Ascher by C-section last Monday morning. But for Jennifer and her boyfriend of ten years, Lee James, the joy of her first child was impacted by stress and anxiety as Ascher, as he will be known, was diagnosed with a brain encephalocele - a rare neural tube defect early in her pregnancy. The day before the scheduled C-section was due to take place Jennifer posted a message on her Instagram feed asking for her friends and fans continued prayers and support as it was known that her baby would need to undergo surgery in the days following his birth. Southern Charm star Jennifer Snowden (left and right), 35, was taken into hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday morning to give birth to her and her boyfriend Lee's son, James Ascher James Ascher, who they plan to call by his middle name, was delivered by an elective C-section at 7.15am Now she has revealed that, after more than a week in a Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit, she has been able to take her son home. Posting of her joy she wrote: Ascher was born on Mon 9/12 @7.50am. He is doing great & we are now home after a tumultuous 1st few days. He is a strong little man. She went onto promise that she would post pictures of him soon but said that, for the time being, she just wanted him to have some time to himself, and claimed that even her friends have yet to see her little boy. For Jennifer the return home is an outcome for which she has prayed throughout her difficult pregnancy. The day before she went into hospital she took to Instagram to share her belief that the encephalocele on Aschers brain had been miraculously healed in the womb a belief she based on his 2nd fetal MRI, which appeared to show a marked improvement in his condition. WHAT IS ENCEPHALOCELE? Encephalocele is a rare birth defect of the neural tube - a narrow channel that closes during the third and forth weeks of pregnancy to form the brain and spinal cord. Encephalocele is a sac-like protrusion of the brain and membranes that form when the neural tube does not close copmletely during the pregnancy, allowing an opening for the sac to develop. Approximately 340 babies are born with the condiion in the United States each year. Experts estimate that only half of the children with encephaloceles survive to birth. The defect is treated with surgery to place the protruding part of the brain and membranes back into the skull and closing the opening in the skull. Neurological problems caused by the defect, however, may still be present and long-term treatment depends on the child's condition. Source: CDC Advertisement She wrote: Weve been on a crazy emotional trajectory with this little guy but are so blessed by the news from 7/28 & hopeful that this prognosis remains the same, or God willing, even better once hes born & the doctors can evaluate him more. It is five months since Jennifer revealed on Twitter that her unborn child - who will go by his middle name - had been diagnosed with a brain encephalocele, a rare birth defect of the neural tube that affects the brain. Only half of babies who have encephaloceles survive to birth. Last year just 340 babies were born with the defect in the United States. According to a source close to the couple: 'Jennifer had a C-section yesterday morning but the baby was immediately placed in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and will have to undergo surgery within a few days.' It is an outcome that Jennifer openly prayed would be different. On Sunday, the eve of her son's birth, Jennifer took to Instagram to share her belief that the encephalocele on Ascher's brain 'has continued to be miraculously healed in the womb, which was evidenced by his 2nd fetal MRI on 7/28'. She continued: 'We've been on a crazy emotional trajectory with this little guy but are so blessed by the news from 7/28 & hopeful that his prognosis remains the same or, God willing, even better once he's born & the doctors can evaluate him more.' According to the source: 'Lee, her mom and many friends are at the hospital with Jennifer supporting her.' Fellow Southern Charm star, Kathryn Dennis, 24, is one such friend. Fans of the show have watched over recent seasons as Jennifer - once simply the woman accused of sleeping cast cad Thomas Ravenel's bed 'several times' - evolved from being a source of friction between the cast's most combustible couple, Kathryn and Thomas, to Kathryn's meddlesome friend and surprising ally. During her pregnancy, Snowden received advice from Kathryn, who already has two children, according to All About Tea. Jennifer promises that she will post pictures of him soon Jennifer wants him to have some time to himself, and claims that even her friends have yet to see her baby Jennifer revealed on Twitter that her unborn child - who there are no photos of yet - had been diagnosed with a brain encephalocele, a rare birth defect of the neural tube that affects the brain Jennifer has already filled Ascher's closet with clothes, preparing for her son's September arrival Jennifer shared photos Clemson University-themed baby clothes on Instagram, saying she's 'determined' to make him a fan of the school's football team Jennifer also told her followers that decorating Ascher's nursery (pictured) has been the 'MOST fun' of any decorating project she's done 'Her advice has been to enjoy it, the whole thing: being pregnant and then being a mom as it's the most rewarding relationship you'll ever have. That part I'm especially excited about,' she said. Similarly Ravenel, 54, who had once been outspoken in his distrust of and disdain for Jennifer in the past, has been respectful and restrained since news broke of Jennifer's pregnancy, its complications and her decision to see it through to term. During the reunion show earlier this year the former Republican politician voiced his support for Snowden and praised her decision to carry the baby to term. In recent months Jennifer has charted the excitement and uncertainty of her surprise pregnancy across Instagram and Twitter. Announcing the pregnancy in April she admitted that, for both her and Lee, the news came as a 'complete surprise'. At a baby shower earlier this summer, Jennifer revealed that while they named their son James, he will go by his middle name, Ascher Because baby Ascher was born with encephalocele, he will have to undergo surgery in a matter of days Announcing the pregnancy in April Jennifer (second from left) admitted that, for both her and Lee (left), the news came as a 'complete surprise' She told Bravo that she and Lee were going to name their son James III, after Lee's grandfather and Lee's birth name. The family, however, plans to call baby James by his middle name - Ascher. The baby was due on Lee's father's birthday, making it 'a very special due date indeed', Snowden told Bravo. But she was, she said, 'ecstatic' about having a little boy. She wrote: 'I absolutely LOVE little boys, always have, starting with my youngest brother Gray's birth when I was 11. 'I think I've kind of been a mom in my own eyes since then, so this has been a long time coming!' Fellow Southern Charm star, Kathryn Dennis (second from right, with the rest of the cast), 24, has reportedly already visited Jennifer (third from left) at the hospital Across her pregnancy Jennifer has posted pictures of the nursery that awaits Ascher at her Charleston home, the baby clothes she has bought and been given, told of how her dogs are going to be cared of by a relative to allow her to tend to her newborn without distraction and, amid it all, asked friends and fans to pray for her child's health. With no way of knowing the severity of her unborn child's condition or how it would affect the baby while still in utero, Jennifer and Lee had faced the agonizing decision of whether or not to continue with the pregnancy post diagnosis this spring. Speaking to the Daily Dish back in April Jennifer explained: 'Although the future is to a degree uncertain for our baby, I have a pure sense of weightlessness about the stresses or fear of his future and I attribute that to faith and prayer alone.' She added: 'One thing I do know is that he has one, a future, because of my decision to keep the little guy around and I couldn't be more thrilled to meet him, no matter what mountains we will have to climb together.' A police officer has been arrested for battery and fired from his job after he was caught on camera dragging a handcuffed suspect along the ground before kicking him. Robert Wallow, 47, who worked for Gretna Police in Louisiana, was captured on CCTV responding to a burglary in April. There he arrested a suspect who walked out of the building with his hands on his head before laying down on the floor to be detained. Robert Wallow, 47, who worked for Gretna Police in Louisiana, was captured on CCTV responding to a burglary in April Video showed Wallow walking over to the suspect who was lying face down on the ground before dragging him by the arms and kicking him in the chest Robert Wallow (pictured) was arrested and charged after the footage emerged However, recently footage emerged of Wallow making the arrest outside a business building, which prompted an internal investigation by Gretna Police. The video showed Wallow walking over to the suspect who was lying face down on the ground before dragging him by the arms. He then places handcuffs on the suspect's wrists and ties them behind his back before he proceeds to kick the man in the chest. Later as other officers arrive on the scene, Wallow can be seen using his foot to move the suspect, who is still on the ground. After the footage emerged, Wallow was arrested and booked into Jefferson Parish Jail on Friday. Later as other officers arrive on the scene, Wallow can be seen using his foot to move the suspect, who is still on the ground After the footage emerged, Wallow was arrested and booked into Jefferson Parish Jail on Friday Gretna Deputy Police Chief Anthony Christiana told WGNO: 'The actions were not pretty.' He also added that it was Wallow's first infraction while working as a police officer. Meanwhile a second officer has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation takes place. The divorce between Tara Subkoff and Urs Fischer is getting contentious, with the actress turned director reportedly demanding $10million from her sculptor ex. The former couple both appeared at a closed-door court hearing earlier this month, and afterwards one source told the New York Post: 'Urs would like to settle the case. Hes not ungenerous. Hell do right by the child and even right by her, but her level of greed or avarice is really high.' Subkoff, 43, appeared in court with the couple's four-month-old daughter Grace George, who was born in May. The actress was six months pregnant when Fischer, 43, filed for divorce this past January, a little over a year after the two were married in a private ceremony. In June, Subkoff said that Fischer did not attend Grace's birth and had yet to meet his daughter. Pay up: Tara Subkoff, 43, is asking for $10million in her divorce from Urs Fischer (couple above on November 2015) Bad timing: Subkoff gave birth to their daughter Grace in May, and the child and Fischer now have a relationship according to a source close to the artist (Grace above) The September 7 hearing ended with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper urging the couple to agree to a settlement, with the two next scheduled to appear in court of October 5. The source, who is close to Fischer, said that the artist now spends time with his daughter but that Subkoff 'sets up barrier after barrier.' 'She says, if you want to see the kid you have to see me,' claimed the source. Details of the divorce have been ordered sealed by Judge Cooper. Subkoff burst onto the scene back in the mid 90s with roles in films including When the Bough Breaks, Freeway and All Over Me. She also starred alongside best friend Chloe Sevigny in the 1998 Whit Stillman film The Last Days of Disco. Subkoff then took a break from acting and teamed up with her friend Sevigny once again to launch the clothing line Imitation of Christ in 2000. She and designer Matt Damhave made recycled fashion by purchasing vintage clothing and then reworking them, sewing every piece of the collection by hand. The label was sold in 2007 for a reported $2million, and went out of business a year later. Gal pal: Poor timing: Fischer, 43, filed for divorce while Subkoff was pregnant with their first child (above in March 2015) Men: Subkoff previously dated Jimmy Fallon (left in 2002), Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry. She was engaged to Tom Hooper (right in 2011) Subkoff started directing in 2012 with the short film Magic Hour, which starred Sevigny. Subkoff then followed that up one year later with the short Future/Perfect starring Milla Jovovich. Then, last year she released her first full length feature, #Horror. The film starred many of Subkoff's friends including Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, and Stella Schnabel. The film opened to unimpressive reviews, with The New York Times saying: 'The audience, given not an ounce of human warmth nor one person to care about, finally has no choice but to cheer for the anonymous cyberbully who wants them all dead.' Fischer helped Subkoff with the film, which the two discussed in a somewhat tense interview with New York this past January. The couple wed in a private ceremony in October 2014 and later celebrated with a party attended by friends including Scarlett Johansson, artists Hope Atherton and Francesco Clemente, and Sevigny. Around that time Fischer put his loft apartment in Manhattan's East Village on the market for a very pricey $9.95million. The two then moved to Soho, where they lived with Fischer's 7-year-old daughter from his first marriage to artist Cassandra MacLeod. Big draw: Fiwscher has had solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Brant Art Foundation in Greenwich, and Centre Pompidou in Paris (above at his Madame Fisscher exhibit in Venice in 2012) Not so cuddly: In 2011, his 23-foot sculpture of a bronze teddy bear with a lamp called Untitled (Lamp/Bear) (above) sold for $6.8 at Christie's New York Subkoff was previously linked to Jimmy Fallon, Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry. She was also engaged to Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper, who she dated just before Fischer. In a 2015 profile of Subkoff in W, a former boyfriend told the magazine: 'If it serves her larger goal, she will beg, borrow, and steal. Shes not malicious, but after a while all the drama does become exhausting.' Sevigny meanwhile said in that same piece: 'Tara will stop at nothing to make something happen. We all come into the world with a sensibility, and Taras is the ability to make grand gestures. She never thinks about practicality, but she is good at finding people who can help her.' Fischer, who was born in Switzerland, is both a photographer and a sculptor. Artnet reports that 14 of his works have sold for over $1million, and he has had solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Brant Art Foundation in Greenwich, and Centre Pompidou in Paris. Michael Delceppo disappeared from his home in Cranbourne North, south west of Melbourne, late on Saturday Police are searching for a teenager who vanished from his home in suburban Melbourne over the weekend. Michael Delceppo disappeared from his home in Cranbourne North, south west of the city, late on Saturday. Victoria Police said Michael was not wearing shoes when he left the home and was wearing a black hoodie - the same one he has on in a photo released by his family. The boy's disappearance is out of character and police and his family are concerned about his welfare. Michael is 170cm tall, with a large build and collar-length dark brown hair. Police in Illinois are searching for a missing 13-year-old girl and her two-week-old son who are believed to be traveling with the teen's stepfather. The Madison County Sheriff's Office on Sunday sent out an endangered missing person alert stating that Katherine Derleth and her newborn son, Christopher Ray Derleth, were last seen Saturday evening in Edwardsville, Illinois. The people with whom Derleth and her son had been staying contacted the authorities at around 9.30am Sunday when they discovered that Katherine and baby Christopher were not in their room. Missing teen mom: Authorities in Illinois are searching for 13-year-old Katherine Derleth (left) and her two-week-old son, Christopher, who have been missing since Sunday morning Investigators believe the young mother and son are accompanied by Christopher M Derleth, reported the Belleville News Democrat. On Monday, the 39-year-old man was charged with aggravated kidnapping and child abduction. Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said during a press conference that a 'no contact order' had been previously issued against Mr Derleth barring him from interacting with his stepdaughter, who at one point had lived with him. Police say the trio may be headed for West Virginia in a green 1997 Mercury Villager minivan with Illinois plates E833201. Stepdad sought: Officials believe Derleth and her son are traveling with the teen's stepfather, 39-year-old Christopher M Derleth Katherine Derleth is described as 4 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 95lbs, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her baby son is 1-foot-9, weighing 8lbs, with brown hair. The teenager's stepfather is 6 feet 1, 160 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. Mr Derleth is known as an avid camper, and law enforcement officials say the family may be staying at a rural camp ground or low-end motel. Anyone with information on the family's whereabouts is being asked to call the sheriff's office at 618-692-4433. Police would not release any additional details about Katherine Derleth's living situation, or the identity of the biological father of her child. Officials revealed Monday that the newborn may be in need of medical treatment, as is the young mother. According to the scant information available on social media, the elder Christopher Derleth is married and has at least six children. The four, all aged 21 to 23, are currently being questioned by detectives Thai police said they were found with 96 fake 20 notes and marijuana Four British holidaymakers have allegedly been caught with bundles of forged pound notes which they were accused of exchanging for Thai currency at local bureaus. The four, aged 21 to 23, are currently being questioned by detectives following their arrest at a rented flat on the island of Ko Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand. Officers arrested them after complaints from local exchange bureaus, and when arrested they said that the four had an additional 96 fake 20 notes, as well as 2.11 grams of marijuana, in their possession. Colonel Somchai Noppasri, commander of the Koh Phangan police, is leading the investigation and said the four, thought to be from Lancashire, were cooperating. Scroll down for video The four, aged 21 to 23, are currently being questioned by detectives following their arrest at a rented flat on the island of Ko Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand Colonel Somchai Noppasri, commander of the Koh Phangan police, is leading the investigation and said the four were cooperating He named them as British citizens Adam Carter, 21, Thomas Moore, Luke Swainston-Thomas, and Bradley Turner Paul, all 23. They are believed to have told officers that they had bought the currency with them from the UK, and admitted going to several local exchange agencies. They have been charged with owning and passing fake foreign currency and possession of illegal drugs. Last week, British ex-soldier Lance Whitmore, 28, was charged with possession of ecstasy and handed a 50-year sentence by a Thai court after pleading guilty. Carey Mulligan (pictured) told a conference in New York that she is 'ashamed to British' Actress Carey Mulligan has said that she is 'ashamed to be British' because she believes the UK isn't doing enough to help refugees in Calais. The 31-year-old, who played Kitty Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, was speaking at a conference in New York to discuss the migrant crisis. But she said she felt the way the British government had dealt with the '600 unaccompanied minors' at the French port is an embarrassment. Ms Mulligan, who is married to Mumford and Sons frontman Marcus Mumford, is the latest celebrity to wade into the refugee crisis. She told The Telegraph: 'There is literally no excuse for what is going on there. It's shameful. 'And I'm very proud to be British, and think we do great things, and it is worth remembering that we are one of the biggest donor countries. 'But because of our inaction when it comes to 600 unaccompanied minors in Calais, it makes me ashamed to be British.' The actress, who won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the film An Education, is also an ambassador for the charity War Child. She also said that she wanted applications to enter the UK 'not to languish for months and months and months'. Ms Mulligan added that children who have the right to be in Britain should be reunited with their family members who are already in the UK. Ms Mulligan feels the UK is not doing enough to resolve the issues in Calais, France (pictured) The actress, who also appeared in the hit show Doctor Who, was in New York at the same time as the annual General Assembly of the United Nations. Rob Williams, the chief executive of War Child, told the migrant conference that he wanted to see a 'serious commitment' and for there to be 'global plan' or action for children. There are currently 65 million refugees in the world, more than half are children and one in five are from Syria. Ms Mulligan added that she only wanted to work alongside a charity she felt passionate about and her first trip to a refugee camp was in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A group of partying pensioners have shown age is no obstacle to getting your groove on. The dancing grandparents have become an internet hit in Russia after they were caught swinging around to electronic music at a festival. In one comical scene an elderly man and woman cared little for the dozens of youths present during the 'City Day' celebrations in Volgograd. These partying pensioners show age is no obstacle to getting your groove on The duo twirled around to the nightclub hit 'Animals' by Martin Garrix. With thumping bass music blasting from the speakers the grandparents made sure they were the centre of attention. Though the pair of dancing stars were not the only elderly boppers impressing the crowds that day. An elderly man and woman cared little for the dozens of youths present during the 'City Day' celebrations in Volgograd Another grandmother was also recorded thoroughly enjoying the occasion. She pumped her fist up in the air to pop hits, and later even started jumping around to heavy rock music too. The woman stood out from the crowd of children and younger men and woman, not nearly as brave as she. Neilson Smith, 41, has been cleared of rape following a week-long trial A teacher who taught at the school which appeared in the Channel 4 series Educating Cardiff was today cleared of raping a woman after a night out. Neilson Smith, 41, met the woman at a nightclub where teachers from the school were celebrating their Christmas party. A court heard he offered to take the 24-year-old woman home in a taxi from the Tiger Tiger bar in Cardiff city centre - just weeks after the TV series ended last year. Millions of Brits tuned in to watch the eight-part series on the life at Willows High School in Cardiff. It was the latest in the hit TV series following Educating Yorkshire, Essex and the EastEnd. But after the party at the busy venue, Smith was accused of later raping the woman in her own bed after she got 'hopelessly drunk'. Matthew Cobb, prosecuting, said Smith was at the party with staff from the school. Cardiff Crown Court heard he took the woman back to her home on December 4 last year after she had been drinking with other friends for several hours. Mr Cobb said: 'The young woman was hopelessly drunk. After that Smith took advantage of her and raped her. 'She remembers going out to the bar but after that, next to nothing else. 'She remembers nothing and her condition worsened. She was being sick and was escorted out of Tiger Tiger by Smith. Smith, a teacher at the school, was with the woman at the Tiger Tiger bar in Cardiff (pictured) Millions of Brits tuned in to watch the series on the life at Willows High School in Cardiff 'She went into a taxi but remembers nothing of being taken home. She remembers waking up in her bed with Smith raping her. 'She was in no condition to consent to any sexual activity.' Mr Cobb said CCTV images showed the woman was 'absolutely hammered', at one point falling over with her head 'lolling around' and later being sick on a table inside the club. The woman - who cannot be named - told the jury she was 'paralysed with fear' after waking up to find Smith having sex with her. She said: 'I thought he was old enough to be my father and tried to push him off.' But Smith denied the allegations - saying he had taken her home in a taxi because he was 'concerned for her wellbeing' and claimed their sex was consensual. He said he thought the woman was merely 'tipsy' and said despite her slurred speech she was able to speak in full sentences. Smith said: 'She was certainly not comatose.' The popular show was the latest in the hit TV series following Educating Yorkshire, Essex and the EastEnd He said she went straight to bed after they arrived at her home, and after giving her a glass of water and a bucket to be sick in he went to watch television in her front room. Smith then said it was when he checked to see if the woman was well that she came on to him. He said: 'She asked if I would stay and a little while later she touched me. 'She came on to me and we had a bit of a fumble and engaged in some sort of sexual activity for a few minutes. 'I was struggling to perform and it ended after that.' It took the jury four and a half hours of deliberations to find Smith not guilty after a week-long trial. Hillary Clinton called the race for the White House 'depressing' as she took the stage at a Pennsylvania university. Clinton was speaking to an audience packed full of students, as she tries to win over younger voters. 'Politics can be discouraging,' the Democratic nominee said in a speech at Temple University. 'This election in particular can be downright depressing sometimes,' she said to scattered laughs. Hillary Clinton clutched the hand of an aide as she went up the steps following a speech to students at Temple University in Pennsylvania Clinton is making a concerted effort to improve her standing with younger voters after polling showed her losing support within the demographic to Libertarian Gary Johnson 'But it matters, it really does. It matters for our families, our communities, our country and the world. Our most cherished values are at stake.' Clinton was speaking on Monday, less than a week after she had to take three days out due to pneumonia. She needed a helping hand up the steps after delivering the speech - although that could have been due to the heels she was wearing. Clinton came to Philadelphia to make her pitch to young people. It was the second time she's campaigned at Temple since July. Clinton was making a concerted effort to improve her standing with younger voters after polling showed her losing support within the demographic to Libertarian Gary Johnson. 'I need you as partners, not just for winning this election, but for driving real change,' she said at the event, which her campaign said would emphasize the 'stakes of the election for millennials.' Clinton promised young people a 'seat at the table' if she is elected and urged them to 'get off the sidelines' and vote for her as a rejection of Republican candidate Donald Trump. 'This is going to be close. We need everyone off the sidelines. Not voting is not an option. That just plays into Trump's hands. It really does,' she said to a group of 300 students who were invited to the event by the campaign. Some 300 more attendees from the university watched from an overflow room. 'I need you as partners, not just for winning this election, but for driving real change,' she said at a Temple University event which her campaign said would emphasize the 'stakes of the election for millennials' Barack Obama won 60 percent of voters under the age of 30 in the 2012 election. Clinton had half that in a recent Quinnipiac poll, and Johnson and Trump were hot her tail. To counter the drop-off, the Democratic presidential candidate's camp has been deploying its top surrogates to college campuses around the country. First Lady Michelle Obama campaigned for her at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, on Friday, while Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine campaigned at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan earlier in the week. 'Elections arent just about who votes but who doesnt vote. And that is especially true for young people like all of you,' the First Lady told a cheering crowd in Fairfax, Virginia Friday. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke at two events in Ohio on Clinton's behalf, on Saturday and Sunday, which targeted millennials. Clinton came to Philadelphia to make her pitch to young people. It was the second time she's campaigned at Temple since July Clinton's rival in the primary, Bernie Sanders, was also in Ohio over the weekend campaigning for his party's presidential nominee at Kent State and the University of Akron. At an event last Wednesday in Philadelphia, the president asked the young people who propelled him into the White House to give Clinton a chance. 'All you've been seeing is just the nonsense that's been on TV, you maybe don't remember all the work that she has had to do and all the things she has had to overcome and all the good that has happened because of her efforts,' Obama said. He told them to remember 'she's in the arena,' however,'and you can't leave her in there by herself.' 'You've to get in there with her. You can't stay home because, you know, she's been around for a long time,' he said. 'Well you know what? This is not reality TV. Democracy is not a spectator sport. You don't tweet in your vote.' Bernie Sanders, 75, is older than Clinton, but he has been vouching for the 68 year old Clinton among younger millenial voters, who have been abandoning Clinton in recent polls The Democratic White House hopeful's polling among the younger population has been struggling, and accounts for some of Trump's gains on her. Her lead among those 35 and under fell from 24 points late last month to just 5 points in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. In a Fox News poll, her lead was just 9 points over Trump in the same group. The Quinnipiac poll had Clinton beating Johnson by just two percentage points among those 18 to 34 years old, 31 to 29 percent. Green Party candidate Jill Stein was at 15 and Donald Trump was at 26. The loss of support brought Clinton's lead over Trump in a four-way race down to two points, 41 to 39, compared to 48 to 35 in a hypothetical two-way race. The Democrat was sporting heels that day as she embarked on a campaigning blitz in Pennsylvania A Thursday New York Times poll also had Clinton's support dropping with Johnson and Stein in the race. She led Trump by 46 to 44 percent. But with Johnson and Stein included, the two main candidates were tied at 42 per cent.Clinton is 68 and Trump is 70. Clinton's lead among millennials has also been dropping in battleground states, including Colorado and Michigan. Sanders said Friday that young voters should think hard about a protest vote this year because either Clinton wins or Trump does. On MSNBC, before holding a rally in New York for congressional candidate Zephyr Teachout, Sanders told potential no-shows to ' think about what the country looks like and whether you're comfortable with four years of a Trump presidency.' 'I would just simply say to the millennials, to anybody else: Look at the issues ... stay focused on the issues of relevance to your life.' A number of big-name corporations have donated to the Clinton Global Initiative, which kicked off today in New York City and is the last of its kind, as Bill Clinton slowly steps away from his foundation in case wife Hillary Clinton wins the White House. Corporate sponsors include Hewlett-Packard, McDonald's and Western Union, with the CGI also partnering with Microsoft, Cisco and Procter & Gamble. And while the confab isn't nearly as CEO-studded as in years past, bosses from Sony, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco and Unilever are slated to speak. The Clinton Global Initiative is part of the Clinton Foundation, which has become controversial within the context of the presidential campaign as Hillary Clinton's rival Donald Trump and his allies have pointed fingers at the charity, suggesting there was some pay-to-play when the Democratic nominee was secretary of state. Scroll down for video Former President Bill Clinton kicked off a final Clinton Global Initiative today in New York as he begins winding down his foundation's work in case Hillary Clinton wins the White House Former and perhaps future first daughter Chelsea Clinton was on hand at the Clinton Global Initiative today, which still attracted a handful of corporate donors amid pay-to-play claims Hillary Clinton's emails show Clinton Foundation donors getting access to her top aides, but no correspondence has yet to prove that special favors by government employees were carried out. Still yet, this year's conference is a diminished version of itself. Yes, there are celebrities, world leaders and CEOs, but it's not the power players meet-up that once warranted a Forbes article on what to wear, as even Hillary Clinton likely for political purposes is skipping out, like she did last year. Gone are the Republicans like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, now tasked with running Trump's transition team, and Carly Fiorina, who ran for president as well who have appeared in the past. Not coming is President Barack Obama, even though he's in New York for the U.N. General Assembly and is attending a number of political fundraisers. And also vanished are some corporate sponsors from years before including The Coca-Cola Company, Monsanto, ExxonMobil, Deutsche Bank and Samsung. Instead, a liberal favorite, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, will appear on a panel. Chief executive officers coming include Kazuo Hirai of Sony, Sir Andrew Witty of GSK, Paul Polman of Unilever and John Chambers, Cisco's former CEO who's now the company's executive chairman. The celebrities in attendance are all liberal stand-bearers. There's U2 frontman Bono and actor Ben Affleck, along with rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who helped Hillary Clinton campaign during the Democratic primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders in New Jersey. Bill Clinton lamented having to give up his foundation, and in turn CGI, during an interview recorded last night with NPR. 'It's hard, but, you know, if Hillary is elected I'm looking forward to it,' he said. 'And you know, we always say in response to our critics, that nobody in my family ever took a penny out of this foundation and put millions of dollars in,' Clinton said, trying to set the record straight. But over the course of the interview he also admitted that at least some of the Clinton Foundation donors probably did so to gain access to the Clintons, with a Clinton White House 2.0 in mind. 'Well, since we had more than 300,000 donors it would be unusual if nobody did,' Bill Clinton said. 'It was natural for people who've been our political allies and personal friends to call and ask for things,' Clinton said. 'And I trusted the State Department wouldn't do anything they shouldn't do, from a meeting to a favor.' A teacher in Fresno, California was arrested last week and charged with multiple sex crimes after authorities learned that she was having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students. Justine Nelson, 30, was booked and released on Thursday, and will be facing one count of oral copulation with a minor and two counts of possession of child pornography. ABC 30 reports that Nelson, who is married, confessed to the police that she and the boy had a relationship after her arrest. Scroll down for video Trouble" Justine Nelson (above) is accused of performing a sex act on one of her 14-year-old students three times last spring in her classroom Getting away: Nelson then allegedly sent nude photos to the student over the summer, which he posted online (Nelson and an unknown male leaving jail on Thursday) Nelson's relationship with the teenager began last spring while he was a student in her class according to investigators with the Fresno Police Department. The two allegedly engaged in sexual activity at Tenaya Middle School, where Nelson is a part-time teacher. She performed a sex act on the boy three times according to police. Nelson is then accused of sending the boy nude photos over the summer. Nelson (above) in her mughsot The victim is now in high school and no longer attends Tenaya Middle School, where as of now Nelson still has a job. He posted the photos online, and some of his fellow students saw the naked pictures sent by Nelson, prompting the vice principal of the school to call police. 'The whole thing is sad. Just what she did, totally sad. That victim will be impacted for a long time, it's just ridiculous,' said Lieutenant Joe Gomez of the Fresno Police Department. Nelson was filmed as she left the police station on Thursday and got into a waiting car that was being drive by an unknown man. She looked stoic and did not speak as she made her way into the vehicle. Repercussions: The Fresno Unified School District said they will take 'swift action' if these allegations turn out to be true (Tenaya Middle School above) When a reporter approached her asking if she had any comment, the man screamed out the window: 'Maybe get your story right. Get your story right!' The reporter than asked what the real story was, to which the man again screamed: 'Get your story right!' The two then drove off from the jail. Lieutenant Gomez said the department is still investigating to see if there may be moire victims. The Fresno Unified School District released a statement last week, saying: 'Allegations of this nature are extremely disturbing and do not reflect the high professional standards the district expects from staff. Pictured: The 14-year-old boy from Afghanistan killed in the Calais Jungle camp after trying to stow away on a lorry This is the 14-year-old boy killed in a hit-and-run in Calais when a lorry driver 'swerved left and right' as he clung to the roof and flung him into oncoming traffic. The child, from Afghanistan, had been in the infamous Jungle camp for six months when his 17-year-old cousin helped him onto the roof as the lorry slowed on the motorway approaching the port on Friday. In a bid to stowaway and join his brother in the UK, he clung to the roof but the lorry swerved in the road to shake him off and he was reportedly run over by three or four other lorries. Other migrants rushed to help the boy, described as 'kind and gentle' by friends but he died at the scene. The lorry did not stop, the Guardian reported. He had applied to come to the UK to join his brother - which is permitted under reunification laws - months ago but started trying to stow away because progress so slow, a Calais charity said. Aid group Care4Calais claimed he had fled his home country after the Taliban prevented him from attending school and tried to force him to join them and become a suicide bomber. His father feared for his life so sent him away to Europe in search of safety. He travelled from Iran to Turkey, then up through Bulgaria, Serbia, Germany and into France, a spokesman said. The boy, who has not yet been identified, was the third child to have died in the camp and the 13th person to die there this year alone. Children's charities say his death highlights the dangers asylum-seeking minors take each night. 'He had already started the legal process for family reunification, but he had been waiting for so long he lost faith in the system and thought his only option was to risk his life in order to finally reach safety,' said Annie Gavrilescu of charity HelpRefugees. Three migrants risk their lives clinging to the flat roof of the lorry as it prepares to move French authorities have pledged the shantytown will be totally torn down by the end of the year, but the camps population has continued to spiral. But the number living at the camp has topped 10,000 for the first time - 10,188 - after a 12 per cent increase from last month, the latest census produced by Help Refugees found. Some 1,179 of the inhabitants are children, with 1,022 of these unaccompanied a staggering 51 per cent jump since August - and some as young as eight live in the squalid conditions, where they are at risk of abuse. More than 100 children in the Jungle are believed to have legitimate grounds for asylum in the UK but issues of identification have prompted local authorities to consider sending experts. Miss Gavrilescu added: With an impending eviction there is currently no plan for safe accommodation for the children remaining in the camp. Those still stuck in the Calais Jungle report increasing instances of self-harm, police violence, deteriorating mental health, insufficient food, inadequate accommodation and feeling hopeless.' The child had been living in the Jungle camp in Calais (pictured) for almost six months Sudanese migrants are now the most numerous, making up 43 per cent of the camps population, followed by 33 per cent who came from Afghanistan. Just one per cent are from both Syria and Iraq. There are more than 1,000 unaccompanied children some as young as eight living in squalid conditions in the camp where they are at risk of abuse. Many have family in the UK and make weekly attempts to reach them. Labour peer Alf Dubs, who persuaded the Government to introduce legislation pledging sanctuary for some unaccompanied child refugees, said he was shocked by the death. But since the amendment in the Immigration Act was passed earlier this year, no children have benefited. 'The Government must speed up the process of identifying the children eligible to join family members already in the UK,' he told the Guardian. Police in Georgia have arrested a 68-year-old on a bestiality charge after he was allegedly caught having sex with a relatives dog outside. Reinaldo Diaz, of Statesboro, was taken into custody last Tuesday after police received a tip that he had been spotted naked behind a residence straddling a black-and-white pit bull. According to police, officers arrived on the scene and saw Diaz engaging in a sexual act with the male pit bull at around 4.40pm on September 13. Sick crime: Reinaldo Diaz, 68, of Georgia, has been charged with bestiality after police say they caught him in the act of engaging in a sexual act with a pit bull Investigators initially met up with witnesses who recorded video and took pictures allegedly showing Diaz assaulting the dog, which was lying on its back in the rain, reported the Statesboro Herald. The elderly man, whose nose looks severely disfigured due to some unknown condition or prior injury, was described as being completely naked while molesting the canine. The owner of the dog is a woman who is related to Diaz by marriage and lives next door to Diaz's apartment. Police said the pit bull was not injured in the assault. The animal was returned to its owner, who was not aware of the encounter with Diaz. Diaz was arrested and booked into the Bulloch County Jail on a charges of bestiality, cruelty to animals and third-offense public indecency. According to records, Diaz had been convicted twice before of public indecency. The blaze at the camp - home to 4,400 - came after rumours of deportation A huge ship will be used to accommodate thousands of migrants on Lesbos after the detention centre where they were being held was destroyed in a riot sparked by rumours they were about to be deported. More than 4,400 people living at the site fled as flames ripped through the camp during an outbreak of violence. Teams of riot police were dispatched to the Greek island to restore order with nine migrants arrested. Blaze: More than 1,000 migrants living on the Greek island of Lesbos are to be housed on a boat after fire destroyed much of its largest camp (pictured) Nine migrants have been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire at camp Moria (pictured), which houses more than 4,400 This morning Moria locals (pictured) held a protest outside City Hall over what they see as a migrant invasion A passenger ferry will be chartered as a floating detention centre, providing temporary accommodation while the camp is restored. Officials on the popular holiday island last night demanded the immediate evacuation of all migrants who they claimed had brought recurrent problems. Christiana Kalogirou, governor of the region that includes Lesbos, said she had repeatedly warned the Greek government that camps on the Aegean islands were dangerously overcrowded. 'Residents are complaining refugees have converted the beach and the palm tree forest into a wasteland,' added Evangelos Violatzsis, the president of the nearby village of Panagiouda, told MailOnline. He added: 'They are also concerned about possible damage to buildings and petty thefts. We demand the immediate decongestion of Moria and Kara Tepe [nearby village].' Dramatic images showed women fleeing from the fire with babies in their arms. Carrying what little belongings they own, families scrambled out of the camp as the fire destroyed 50 tents, three containers, clothing, footwear and trees. Residents are complaining refugees have converted the beach and the palm tree forest into a wasteland Evangelos Violatzsis, president of the nearby village of Panagiouda Ten fire trucks carrying 30 firefighters rushed to tackle the blaze. They stood by helplessly for half an hour as dozens of migrants brawled between them and the inferno. By the time the fire was put out at around midnight, four hours after it began, at least 60 per cent of the camp was incinerated. Many of its inhabitants returned to find their tarpaulin homes and humble possessions in cinders. The Moria camp is overcrowded with 4,400 people living there when there is only meant to be room for around 800. The number of migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey has doubled to 1,000 in the past week as Turkey's controversial 5billion EU deal to take migrants back from Greece threatened to collapse. Up to 4,000 migrants were forced to flee the overcrowded Moria camp (pictured) as the blaze tore apart their tarpaulin homes and tents The fire (pictured) was put out at around midnight, four hours after it began As migrants returned to their charred belongings and makeshift homes, officials have complained the arrivals have laid waste to the once-picturesque area According to one official, locals have complained migrants (pictured) are turning 'the beach and the palm tree forest into a wasteland' Officials have also complained the camp (pictured today) is 'dangerously overcrowded', saying it 'can host 800 people and it has 3000' Thousands of refugees returned to the camp this morning (pictured) to find their makeshift homes and possessions in cinders Many of the refugee families will now be moved to a vessel which will be moored in the port and will arrive on Wednesday. Greece's Shipping Minister Thodoris Dristas said: 'The ship will have a capacity of over 1,000 and it will be used as a hostel in order to ease the situation after yesterday's incident. He said refugees travelling as families would be housed first and another ship will be needed, but did not mention if there were plans to charter one. Everything is in chaos... The sewage has ended up in the river once again. Nikos Trakellis, president of Moria Teams of riot police were dispatched to the Greek island following the brawl which sparked the camp fire. Police said the men taken into custody came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Senegal, Syria and Cameroon. Locals in Moria gathered outside City Hall on Monday morning to protest against the new arrivals. Nikos Trakellis, village president, told MailOnline: 'We have had enough. Nothing - except for a police presence - has been done. 'Everything is in chaos. The sewage has ended up in the river once again.' 'What is going to happen now that winter is coming? Where are they going to go? They are trapped. Moria locals (pictured outside City Hall) have demanded the immediate removal of migrants from the island Echoing the anger of his constituents (pictured), the village president told MailOnline: 'We have had enough' Many of the refugee families (pictured, inspecting the damage to the camp) could now be moved to a boat moored on the islands port 'In the winter, they are going to vandalise homes in order to stay warm or find something to eat.' Before the fire broke out, hundreds of migrants protested over the painfully slow pace of registering and relocating the thousands living in the overcrowded camp. Zaharie, 35, from Sudan said: 'I've been waiting for three months and I want to leave. Open the borders!' In the winter, they [migrants] are going to vandalise homes in order to stay warm or find something to eat Nikos Trakellis, president of Moria Biral, 26, from Eritrea said he has been in Moria for eight months and he cannot stand it anymore. He added: 'We eat potatoes or spaghetti every day and it is not enough for everyone. We stand in the queue under the sun. 'Something has to be done immediately, the Afghans are fighting with the Africans, there are complaints all the time, and we need peace and security. More than 5,000 are awaiting for their asylum requests to be approved on Lesbos island alone. One hundred unaccompanied minors have recently been transferred from Moria to the PIKPA refugee camp run by volunteers. As many as 1000 unaccompanied minors have been moved from Moria to the PIKPA camp (pictured) run by volunteers Vilal, 17, from Pakistan, who has been moved to the PIKPA camp, desceibed Moria as a 'jail' They included 15-year-old Ali from Pakistan, who has lived in Moria for eight months and described it as a 'jail'. Vilal, 17, who is also from Pakistan, has called the squalid camp home for nine months. He said: 'Moria is very bad and we want to go out. We want to be interviewed for our asylum request'. Witnesses said members of Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party provoked the protesting migrants by singing nationalist slogans. Regional governor Christiana Kalogirou said she has repeatedly warned the government that camps on the east Aegean islands were dangerously overcrowded. Hundreds of migrants (pictured, watching the camp fire) protested over the painfully slow pace of registering and relocating them Officials have warned the migrants will 'vandalise homes' in the winter in a desperate bid to stay warm and find something to eat 'They [migrants] are sick of waiting... They don't know when their asylum claims will be processed,' said of the migrants in the overcrowded Moria She told local TV: 'On the islands of the northeast Aegean, facilities have a capacity of 5,450 places but more than 10,500 people are there. There is an immediate need to take people off the islands because things will get even more difficult.' More than 60,000 migrants and refugees are stranded in transit in Greece and those who arrived after March 20 have been restricted to five Aegean islands under a European Union-brokered deal to deport them back to Turkey. Regional officer Stratis Kitelis said 'under no circumstances' should they build new camps which he described as 'prisons of human souls'. Many migrants are believed to have travelled 25km to the city of Mytilene, where they slept on the streets without food, water or shelter. Officers are investigating whether the migrants at the base started the fire today Local Greeks living in the 11th Century city held their own protest over the increasing number of refugees and immigrants flooding into the town. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the condition of Greek migrant camps, pointing to overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions. Sixty five young immigrants and refugees have arrived on the northern Aegean islands in the last 24 hours, with 38 landing on the shores of Lesbos. More than 13,000 in total are believed to be living on five islands in facilities built to house fewer than 8,000. Donald Trump's momentum in the poll is also aiding the candidate in the money chase with Hillary Clinton, as the Republican closes in on the $100 million milestone for campaign cash raised on line. For years Republicans have eyed the online fundraising success of Barack Obama, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and other Democrats who built online fundraising operations. Sanders, the Vermont Senator, used constant online contributions to fuel a a stiff challenge to Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Now Republican Donald Trump, who made millions in boardrooms and through complex licensing arrangements, is approaching parity with Clinton in terms of his total number of donors. Republican Donald Trump has been cultivating small contributors as he flies around the country, while also adding big bucks fundraisers to his schedule Trump has 2.1 million donors, nearly as many as Clinton, who has 2.3 million, despite decades cultivating supporters, including through her unsuccessful but prolonged losing 2008 campaign. Trump may already have passed the $100 million mark for contributions from those giving less than $200, Politico reported. His amount from smaller donors is expected to go well beyond what 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and 2008 nominee John McCain got. Trump feeds his internet haul with constant online appeals to supporters, in a tone that has hints of the candidate's stye. One on Monday read: 'The media keeps asking what Im doing to prepare for my debate. Heres my answer: While Hillary is listening to a team of psychologists and advisors to teach her what to say, Im turning to the very people who got me where I am today YOU.' Trump makes explicit appeals for cash through email appeals to his supporters Trump's podium invariably contains a sign urging people to text him, a method of building a list of supporters for contributions Trump has assembled 2.1 million donors. But it's not clear they are Republican loyalists who would support the party in his absence The candidate had a head start in fundraising with pre-established branding and near universal name recognition. The candidate campaigns in his own plane while trailed by the press Another email appeal went, 'In 9 days, I get the honor of fighting for you in the first presidential debate against Crooked Hillary Clinton.' In a tactic Republicans once mocked when it was first employed by Obama, an email appeal with a picture of Trump entices potential donors with the prospect of face time. 'I wanted to give you one last chance to enter to win dinner with me before the contest closes in 24 hours. Well fly you out to one of our fundraisers where youll get dinner with me as my special guest,' the Trump appeal writes. Meanwhile, Trump has mocked Hillary Clinton for holding big-dollar events in Los Angeles and the Hamptons. It is no surprise that Trump has a loyal base that is willing to contribute, given how he has been able to draw crowds throughout the campaign. Operatives aren't so sure whether this will translate into party pocketbook loyalty. 'I dont know how much these Trump donors if he doesnt win want to give to the RNC,' an operative told the publication. The campaign is eager to promote the small dollar donors, much as Sanders touted the average contribution price during his campaign. The Trump camp's efforts are aided by a media policy that keeps pool reporters away when he flies to fundraisers. His campaign typically doesn't disclose the name of the host of fundraisers he attends or the total amount raised. was speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York Spy chiefs will for the first time be tasked with helping to block illegal immigration routes into the UK. Theresa May has asked the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to run covert operations against people-smuggling gangs. She wants the intelligence bosses to help find evidence that could secure convictions and end the horrifying inhumanity of modern slavery in the UK. British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses delegates as she delivers a keynote speech on the refugee crisis at the United Nations General assembly in New York Normally, the spy agencies activities are limited to terrorism and the most serious organised crime. But, speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Mrs May said she wanted people-smuggling and exploitation to be elevated to the same level. The Prime Minister said the world was experiencing unprecedented levels of immigration and mass displacement of people. She urged a string of world leaders to do more to tackle the problem at its sources pledging tens of millions of pounds of British aid to those who agree to help. Just as the criminals cross borders, so we need a radical new approach that crosses borders sharing intelligence and joining up investigations, Mrs May said. This is standard in the case of drugs trafficking and the trade in illegal firearms and there is no excuse for our law enforcement authorities failing to do this when it comes to modern slavery. We owe it to the innocent men, women and children tricked into a life of hard labour and abuse to rid our world of this evil. Just as it was Britain that took an historic stand to ban slavery two centuries ago, I am determined that the United Kingdom will once again lead the way in defeating modern slavery and preserving the freedoms and values that have defined our country for generations. The Home Office estimates there were between 10,000 and 13,000 potential victims of modern slavery in the UK in 2013. The Prime Minister said the world was experiencing unprecedented levels of immigration (pictured, a lorry in Calais) Mrs May revealed she has set up a Government task force to deal specifically with the problem. It will include Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Justice Secretary Liz Truss, Attorney General Jeremy Wright, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid and Aid Secretary Priti Patel. Also present will be the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Charles Farr. Those who have agreed to help include Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, MI5 head Andrew Parker, MI6 boss Alex Younger and GCHQ director Robert Hannigan. Interpol and Europol are also signed up despite claims before the referendum that Brexit could end co-operation. Mrs May will announce that the Government is pouring 33million from the foreign aid budget into high-risk countries, from where victims are smuggled into the UK. In her maiden speech to the UN today, the Prime Minister will insist Britain will not turn its back on the world post-Brexit. She will also say the UN has a vital role in tackling the greatest threats, such as global terrorism. He is asking Carrey to pay all his legal fees, the cost of the suit, the cost of White's burial and punitive damages to the contrary, Carrey 'never paid a dime' of White's funeral expenses The estranged husband of Cathriona White has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against actor Jim Carrey. Mark Burton claims in court papers filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles that Carrey illegally obtained and then distributed Ambien, Popranolol and Percocet to White. Bottle of those three pills were found in White's home along with her lifeless body in September of last year. They were all prescribed however to Arthur King, an alias used by Carrey. However, Carrey's lawyer, Marty Singer, has called the lawsuit a shameless shakedown and says his client is blameless. In the court papers, Burton also paints Carrey as being incredibly controlling of White and claims that he texted her after her death to make it seem as though she had stolen the pills in order to save himself from a possible police investigation. White's autopsy, which was released in July, showed that she died from a fatal overdose of prescription pills including Ambien, Popranolol and Percocet. Scroll down for video Happier times: Mark Burton is suing Jim Carrey for the wrongful death of Cathriona White (White above with Carrey in May 2015) Allegation: Burton (above), who was White's estranged husband at the time of her death, claims Carrey illegally obtained and distributed pills to White 'On information and belief, after White committed suicide, and in an effort to cover-up his conduct and complicity in her death, CARREY sent a bogus text message on September 27, 2015 to White (who was already deceased) pretending as though he had misplaced the drugs and insinuating the White may have taken them from CARREY,' reads Burton's complaint. Burton, 49, also takes issue with the fact that despite Carrey and his assistant having a surveillance camera set up at White's residence, neither of them checked on the woman or alerted authorities despite the fact that she had not left her residence in 24 hours. He then states that if Carrey had not seen White leave the home for 24 hours and believed she had stolen his drugs he would have called law enforcement after she did not return his text. In the complaint Burton claims that White passed away 'on or around September 24' of last year, with her body being four four days later. Burton claims in the court papers that Carrey did not in fact pay for any of White's funeral expenses, despite reports that said he funded her burial ceremony back in Ireland. 'CARREY and his handlers made considerable efforts to publicize his supposed generosity as it related to the death of White,' reads Burton's complaint. 'They did so, on information and belief, in an effort to paint CARREY as a "grieving good guy" as opposed to an individuals who had illegally obtained and provided the drugs that killed White.' Burton claims however that in the end Carrey 'never paid a dime of the funeral expenses' and 'reneged on his promise after learning that White had left a minimal amount of money to her family.' Carrey was one of the pallbearers at White's funeral in Ireland, which he attended with his daughter Jane. Burton is asking Carrey to pay for all burial expenses, his lawyer's fees, the costs of the suit and punitive damages. He has requested a jury trial and is being represented by Michael Avenatti. Morning: Burton also claims that despite reports to the contrary, Carrey 'never paid a dime' of White's funeral expenses (above with his daughter Jane) Final resting place: The entrance to to Cappawhite graveyard in Ireland, where White was laid to rest (above) White married Burton on January 15, 2013 at the Heavenly Bliss Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The wedding took place a few months after White's father had died and she had apparently been unable to leave the United States for the funeral, as she did not have legal immigration status. A wedding would have regularized her status. 'I understand that she and Mr Burton were going to divorce but they were still officially married at the time of her death so he is her official next-of-kin. However, he can cede his right to her possessions to her family if he wishes,' Ed Winter, the assistant chief of the Los Angeles coroners office, told The Times of London. He also said that many of White's friends were not even aware of the fact that she was married, despite the fact that he was listed as next-of-kin on the death certificate. White and Burton worked together on the short films The Online Gamer: Zombies and The Online Gamer: Wedding, with Burton working as a cameraman and White the makeup artist. Burton had been living in Oregon at the time of White's death. He is believed to be a Scientologist. White had been taking classes at the Celebrity Center shortly before her death, and even posted a photo of herself in a sauna doing the detoxification program for her purif. Tagged: Mark Burton was photographed by Cathriona White in an Instragam post in summer 2014, where he is second from left in tinted safety glasses. She captioned it: 'Friends that shoot together, stay together!' Work: The couple also worked together on the short films The Online Gamer: Zombies and The Online Gamer: Wedding (Buron above) White had broken up with Carrey just a few days before she took her own life, and wrote about the break-up in a note she left behind. The report on her death shows that White had told friends prior to her death that she was 'madly in love' with Carrey and that their relationship was a 'rollercoaster'. It states that she tied her identity to Carrey's and that if she felt he was 'slipping away' from her she would become 'depressed'. According to the report White's lifeless body was found in her bed dressed in a red T-shirt and black underwear surrounded by prescription bottles. She had a cell phone in her hand. The pretty brunette had penned a suicide note and a longer letter in the hours before her death and carefully laid out her wishes. Wrestling with her emotions she left the note and the letter, which she placed in an envelope addressed to 'Jim Carrey co/Nicole (Montez, Carrey's personal assistant)' on the dining room table. White wrote to the actor: 'I've spent 3 days now in disbelief that you're not here. I can go on brokenhearted and try to put the pieces back. I could, I just don't have the will this time. 'I'm sorry you felt I wasn't there for you. I tried to give you my best part.' Discussing details of her funeral, she said matter-of-factly: 'I don't really know about burial or that sort of thing. You are my family so whatever you choose will be fine.' She added, asking for forgiveness: 'Please forgive me. I'm just not for this world.' White also asked for her belongings to be sold and given to her family. She signed off the note with 'Dewdrop' - presumably a pet name given to her by Carrey. Sad days: White (above in selfies she posted to Instagram shortly before her death) had recently split with Carrey when she took her own life Back at it: White posted a photo of herself in a sauna (above) doing the detoxification program for her purif Before taking her life, White also carefully packed up items belonging to her ex-husband Burton and marked the box as being his property. Investigator Kelli Blanchard said in her report that White did not have any other injuries and her body showed early signs of decomposition - suggesting she had been dead for a number of days. The report stated that she had no known mental health issues in the US but that friends said that she did have 'depressive qualities' and may have attempted to overdose on pills around two and half years before. Friends initially became worried when White, originally from County Tipperary, Ireland, 'signed off' on her Twitter account on September 24, four days before her body was found, and wasn't heard from afterward. That same day she sent what would be her last text message - a request asking if Carrey was awake, and if so whether he could call her. White and Carrey had a three-minute FaceTime call a couple of hours later. That was the last activity on her phone. It appears that following that call White slumped into a deep depression and locked herself away in the home. It was an investigator who found the text message sent by Carrey the day before White died asking if she knew where his painkillers were, as he couldn't find them under the sink. It stated that there was a full prescription under an assumed name, 'Arthur King', with anti-inflammatories for the star's back and that the bottles were no longer there. White never replied. Family: White with her mother, sister and brother on her sister's wedding day (above) According to the report, her body was found by friends who had gone to her residence after a third party told them she had broken up with Carrey the week before. Dennis Bradshaw and his wife Lena had gone to the home with Montez after not hearing from White after the split. They tried to gain entry through the front door, but found it locked. They eventually managed to gain entry through a side door, after calling her cell phone and hearing it ring inside. Dennis Bradshaw found Carreys number on White's phone and called him to tell him the woman was dead. One friend, Jenny Burpee, told police that White had 'depressive qualities,' and that when she and Carrey had broken up in 2013, White had 'literally' not eaten or slept for a year afterwards. White got back to her usual self in the six months after that; Carrey reconnected with her and they started dating again in 2014, Burpee said. She also recalled how White had overdosed on pills around two to two-and-a-half years ago and had been found by another assistant of Carrey's at the time. The document confirmed that White was previously married to Burton, who said that he was aware that his former wife suffered with depressive episodes and had spoken about suicide. Lidl plans on opening up stores in the United States by 2018 along the East Coast - from New Jersey to Georgia The German grocery store Lidl which has 10,000 stores in Europe is now planning to open in the U.S. Lidl, which is like a cross between Walmart and Trader Joe's, is to open stores from 2018. Customers can expect big discounts on groceries, household appliances, clothes, and furniture. Lidl has caused such an impact with its rock bottom prices in the UK that it has forced the country's biggest supermarkets to dramatically slash prices and even lay off workers to stay competitive. The arrival of the chain into the United States could likely force supermarkets here to follow suit. In the UK, Lidl has forced it big competitors such as Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury's to slash their prices in order to remain competitive Stores including Food Lion, Bi-Lo, Winn Dixie, and dollar stores such as Dollar General and Family Dollar, could be forced to lower their prices as Lidl expands. Walmart's Neighborhood Market could feel the greatest pressure of all, as Lidl stores will be of similar size, highly price competitive, and highly fine tuned to offer a relevant, convenient store experience. Lidl has already broken ground on a US distribution facility and headquarters in Virginia, which will cost about $200million, and it has staked out four possible store locations in the Richmond, Virginia, area. The company has also snatched up leases in dozens of cities, according to local-news reports, and it's seeking store managers in areas including Burlington County, New Jersey; Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; and Augusta, Georgia. Walmart's Neighborhood Market and Trader Joes have most to fear with Lidl's arrival Lidl has become a threat to the grocery industry because of its insanely cheap prices and emphasis on fresh food. The stores are small, easy to shop, well located, and emphasize key categories such as fresh produce and prepared foods. The chain manages to keep prices low by limiting inventory to a small selection of private-label items rather than traditional supermarkets which carry several different brands of a single product. There is also much less by way of branding, presentation and customer service with many of the store's products displayed in their shipping cartons to make restocking quick and easy. Many of Lidl's good are kept in their original packaging which means less workers are needed on the shop floor and allows for quick and easy restocking It means that less workers are needed on the sales floor. Lidl also saves money by requiring customers to bring their own shopping bags and bag their own groceries. The chain also offers appliances and furniture, and a couple of years ago began to enter the fashion world with a women's clothing collection that saw fuax leather jackets for less than $20. Since the launch, Lidl has introduced a men's collection, a line of handbags, and a fitness brand. The American stores will offer fresh meat, produce and bakery items, as well as a wide selection of household goods. The company has conducted a good deal of market research in the U.S. and is hiring local talent in the markets it is operating in. He's charged with five counts of attempted murder and two gun charges morning in Linden, N.J. - two officers were injured in shoot-out Rahami used a firearm when he was cornered by police on Monday His father Mohammad Snr. denied all knowledge of the terror plot Rahami also went on three separate trips to Pakistan including a year, between 2013 and 2014, where he traveled to a Taliban stronghold Friends described him as a 'class clown' who changed after a trip back to Afghanistan two years ago She said he hated the U.S. military and homosexuals in Western culture to Afghanistan for months at a time and was critical of America Maria, who was his high school sweetheart, says her ex would disappear Criminal court documents show Ahmad Rahami was arrested for stabbing someone in the leg and The 28-year-old man suspected of planting bombs in Manhattan and New Jersey over the weekend was previously arrested for stabbing a person in the leg and possession of a firearm in 2014, DailyMail.com has learned. But a grand jury let him walk, despite a warning from the arresting officer that Rahami was likely 'a danger to himself or others.' Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was arrested on Monday in Linden, N.J., after a manhunt ended in a shootout with police, was also a deadbeat dad who didn't like America and hated gays, according to the mother of his young daughter. Rahami is accused of planting multiple homemade bombs in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, which injured 29 on Saturday night, as well as explosives near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. that were disarmed by law enforcement on Sunday. Scroll down for video Firearm possession: Ahmad Rahami was arrested on Monday morning after a shootout with police. He had been arrested before for firearms possession and an alleged stabbing Firearm charge: This was the criminal complaint brought against Ahmad Rahami which alleged possession of a firearm Also arrested: This was the criminal complaint brought against Rahami for allegedly stabbing someone in the leg. A grand jury declined to indict him This was not the first arrest for Rahami, a New Jersey resident who emigrated from Afghanistan and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Criminal court filings obtained by DailyMail.com show he has previous arrests for assault and gun charges. However, in that case a grand jury failed to indict Rahami and he was let back out onto the streets. On August 22, 2014, Rahami was arrested for aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a knife after allegedly stabbing an individual named Nasim Rahami in the left leg in an 'attempt to cause serious bodily injury.' A neighbor told Haaretz newspaper that Rahami has a brother named Nasim Rahami, while the case was classified as domestic violence in the complaint and arrest warrant. Rahami was also arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm 'with a purpose to use it unlawfully against the person or property of Nasim Rahami'. 'Clown': Ahmad Rahami ( left, and on his arrest mugshot for attempted murder, right) was once a class clown - but now he's under arrest in connection with the New York and New Jersey bomb attacks Rahami (pictured in his year book in 2007) is said to have changed after returning from a trip back to Afghanistan According to the arrest warrant, 'the officer has reason to believe that the person [Ahmad Rahami] is a danger to himself, others, or property.' But despite the warning, Rahami was never charged by a grand jury, according to officials at the criminal court division of the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth, N.J. Rahami came over to America with his family as asylum seekers in 1995, when he was seven years old. At high school he became known as the 'class clown' before he went to work at his family's chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey from 2002. But his former partner - and mother to his child - described Rahami as a deadbeat dad who failed to pay his child support and had a deep seated mistrust of the West. Maria, who declined to give her first name, told FoxNews.com that she and the 28-year-old had been high school sweethearts after they met at Edison High School. While he was critical of American culture compared to the strict Islamic rules of his homeland, Maria never believed he'd never go as far as to hurt innocent people. 'He seemed standoffish to American culture, but I never thought he would cross the line,' she said. 'I never thought he would do something like this,' she said through tears. 'I think he was brainwashed.' The couple had a child together but Maria said that Rahami would fail to pay his child support and would take trips back to Afghanistan - staying weeks or even months at a time. Shot: Rahami was shot in the arm and leg before being arrested Monday. He had become 'serious' and 'closed off' after a visit to Afghanistan, one childhood friend said Captured: This was the moment Ahmad Rahami was arrested after a shoot-out Monday. Friends said he only became religious after visiting Afghanistan years ago Right before their daughter was born, Maria said Rahami had been stuck in the Middle Eastern country after authorities seized his passport although she says she was never clear as to why. The last trip that Maria, 26, was aware of Rahami went back to his homeland was nine years ago - when he brought back a new wife and another child. But while they were together, she says he would often compared American culture to life in Afghanistan, saying how 'there weren't homosexuals in Afghanistan.' He was also heavily critical of the military, once pointing out a military character as 'the bad person' to his young daughter. Maria wouldn't reveal why she and Rahami broke up but did say that she did not want him anywhere near their daughter. 'I didn't want him to see my daughter,' she said. 'If he loved her, he would have paid child support. My greatest fear is that he would try to take my daughter.' Other friends describe noticing a marked change in Rahami after he returned from a long trip back to the Middle East two years ago. 'At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious,' his friend Flee Jones, 27, told the Boston Herald. 'And it was shocking. I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never seen him like this.' Confused: Rahami's father, Mohammad Sr (right) said he didn't know of his son's alleged plans, and that he's 'not sure what's happening exactly' Jones told The New York Times that after returning Rahami became 'a completely different person' who was 'closed off' and started praying in the back of the family's chicken restaurant. Rahami has made 'multiple' visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years. Authorities told CNN that Rahami had spent a year, between 2013 and 2014, in Pakistan where he traveled to the city of Quetta - a hotbed of extremist groups. While there he stayed with family in refugee camps, authorities confirmed. He also visited Karachi in 2005, and an unknown region in 2011. When he returned to the United States, he went through routine questioning but was not picked up as a potential terrorist. He was not placed on any terrorist watch list. He also married a Pakistani woman, CNN's Situation Room reported. One friend told CNN that Rahami's father had wanted him to go back to Afghanistan to learn discipline. Amarjit Singh, a limousine driver and high school friend of the bomber, said there had been a lot of tension between Rahami and his strict and traditional father. Singh told the New York Times that Rahami at high school had been a popular teen, who wore jeans and sweatshirts like his Western friends but also listened to music from Afghanistan and would go to the Mosque to pray once a week. His lifestyle would often bring the teen into confrontation with his religious father - particularly after Rahami had a child with unmarried Maria. 'The two of them would argue,' Singh said. 'There seemed to be a lot of tension.' Rahami's father Mohammad Sr, 53, has denied all knowledge of his son's terror plot. When asked by MSNBC whether he knew of his son's alleged plot, he shook his head and replied 'No'. Reporters asked whether Mohammad Snr. believed whether the allegations against his son might be true. He said: 'I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure what's happening exactly. 'But I think so. It's very hard right now to talk, okay?' A neighbor to the family, former Marine Jonathan Wagner, told Haaretz that he'd known the family for two decades and went to school with a brother of Rahami - named Nasim. Family business: The Rahami family owned and ran First American Fried Chicken. The suspect was often seen serving in it, while his father, Mohammad, was a constant presence. He claimed that the bomber's father 'used to be a Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.' 'He is from the same city where I was deployed as a marine,' he said. A Mujahedeen is the term for one engaged in Jihad. There is no evidence that Mohammad Snr. engaged in any terror-related activities. Wagner said that Mohammad Snr. used to say the Taliban was ruining Afghanistan. And a person who appeared to be related to Rahami and apparently shared his home posted pro-Islamist militancy images on Facebook, AOL reported. The site said someone of the same name as Rahami posted an image of foreign fighters training in Syria along with a quote by Khalid Bin Walid, named in the Koran as a military commander and companion of the Prophet Muhammad. The quote reads: 'I bring the men who desire death as ardently as you desire life.' Rahami himself had little social media presence that law enforcement could find. 'He's a little bit of a wraith, a ghost,' a law enforcement official said. Ahmad and the other men working in the shop had largely worn Western clothing - until recently, one local, who did not wish to be identified, told Dailymail.com. However, his Pakistani wife had always worm the traditional hijab/ 'Up until recently they wore regular clothes like us and then they started dressing in their culture's clothes,' they said. But as a boy at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, he was a 'class clown' who messed around with classmates and talked sports, a friend told Buzzfeed News. 'He was in my 9th grade English class,' Hakeem Ezzouhairy, 27, of Maplewood, said. 'Very funny, class clown. Got along with everyone, was a very nice kid. 'Never would I [have] thought years later he would be capable of something like this.' That was a sentiment shared by Rahami's father, Mohammad Sr, who shook his head and said 'No' when asked by MSNBC whether he knew of his son's alleged plot. And when asked whether he believed whether the allegations against his son might be true, the man said: 'I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure what's happening exactly. Ahmad Rahami had lived in these Perth Amboy, New Jersey apartments up until three months ago Investigators have searched the home Ahmad Khan Rahami in Elizabeth, New Jersey FBI agents are seen carrying out evidence from the home of the bomber in New Jersey Mohammed Rahami (R), the father of Ahmad Khan Rahami has denied all knowledge of the terror plot And despite the horrors he would be accused of, some said he was friendly in the restaurant. Ryan McCann, a local who ate at the shop, told BBC Worldwide: 'He'd always talk about his cars. He loved Civics, he loved going fast, that's what he did, he'd talk about his cars.' But Rahami and his family didn't fit perfectly into the Elizabeth community. In 2011 his father brought a lawsuit on his own behalf and that of his two sons against his local police department, claiming they discriminated against him for being Muslim. The lawsuit was filed by Mohammad Sr., 53, and Ahmad's brother Mohammad Q Rahami. In the lawsuit, the Rahamis claimed that a chicken restaurant the family owned - America First Fried Chicken - was selectively targeted by law enforcement for staying open past 10 p.m., despite having a permit to operate. The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Newark, says that the family are from Afghanistan and are all Muslims who have owned the chicken restaurant since 2002. They alleged that for two years beginning in April 2009 they were unfairly targeted for staying open past 10pm despite being permitted to do so. The lawsuit says that the police had a 'reckless disregard and deliberate indifference for plaintiff's constitutional rights of liberty, due process and equal protection'. The Elizabeth police department allegedly 'embarked on a course to harass, humiliate, retaliate against and force their business to close at 10pm'. Evidence: Teams continued to investigate West 23 Street Monday. Evidence indicted Rahami was the New York and New Jersey bomber, the FBI claimed Monday Damage: The explosion injured 29 people and caused a large amount of damage. Other bombs were found in NY and New Jersey, all of which have been blamed on Rahami The lawsuit also claimed that the officers told them there was 'too much crime around here' and that the area around the restaurant was 'known for criminal activity'. One of Ahmed's brothers got into a fight with a police officer who tried to shut down the restaurant, BBC Worldwide reported, but fled to Afghanistan before he could be prosecuted. The Rahamis alleged they were being subject to 'selective enforcement' that was 'solely based on an animus against plaintiff's religion, creed, race and national origin'. They claim that as a result of the police shutting them down at 10pm, despite other businesses being allowed to stay open at that time, they suffered economic hardship. The court documents confirm that Ahmad was also arrested for obstruction of justice, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, although they do not specify when or what the outcomes were. The family also claimed that they suffered racist abuse at the hands of James McDermott, the owner of Dean Relay Press and Radio, a photo agency that is near to the Rahami's chicken restaurant. He allegedly told them: 'You are Muslims...Muslims make too much trouble in this country.' McDermott is alleged to have told them that 'Muslims should not have businesses here', 'Muslims are trouble' and 'Muslims don't belong here'. He rejects all claims. The 11 count lawsuit names the City of Elizabeth, the Elizabeth Police Department, six Elizabeth police officers, chief of police Ronald Simon and police director James Cosgrove. They say the harassment was 'baseless and without probable cause' and breached the family's constitutional rights. The Rahamis claimed that it also claim it was 'discrimination', 'false arrest' and 'abuse of process' that left them suffering distress, embarrassment and damage to their reputation. Court records show that the complaint was dismissed with prejudice in 2012, meaning that it could not be brought again. McDermott told DailyMail.com that the claims against him were absolutely untrue. Elizabeth Mayor J Christian Bollwage said in a press event Monday that the closures were effected by local authorities because the restaurant was attracting a noisy crowd late at night, causing a 'quality of life issue.' The case was dismissed with prejudice. The Rahami family is made up of Mohammad snr, 53, his wife, two adult sons, Ahmad and Mohammad Qasim, 25, apparently known as Qasim, and two adult daughters, Aziza, and Zobyedh. Zobyedh is a student at a nearby campus of Rutgers university, studying towards a B.S. in public health. She is a writer on the university newspaper, the Daily Targum, and had previously worked as an assistant at the Asian American Cultural Center at the university, and had posted anti-Donald Trump material on social media. Neighbors on the same block as First American Fried Chicken told DailyMail.com that the family largely isolated from the community. One woman who lives in the street said: 'Mohammad [Ahmad] is a very nice man, always wearing white and he would pray in the back of the shop. 'I would wait at the counter for him to finish and he would come and take the orders.' She said that during a visit to the shop in the last few weeks, she had seen two new men behind the counter who she had never seen before and that Ahmad Rahami was cooking food in the back of the store. Family: Among the Rahami family is daughter Zobyedh, who is a public health student at nearby Rutgers University Plea: The suspected bomber's sister issued this appeal on social media. A young teenage boy who often worked in the store served her. She said the other men who were behind the counter spoke to Ahmad Rahami in a language the young boy didn't understand. Another neighbor said that the father was always in the shop working, and that the other brothers were not seen as frequently. Of the father, the neighbor said: 'He was clearly very devoted to his religion. He was very quiet and seemed very nice. You would see him praying sometimes.' Federal authorities launched a public manhunt for Rahami, after reportedly spotting him on surveillance video planting the homemade pressure-cooker bombs in Chelsea on Sunday. His fingerprints were also allegedly found on one of the explosives. Rahami, who was described by authorities as 'armed and dangerous,' was captured on Monday morning after he was reportedly discovered sleeping on a street in Linden, N.J. He opened fire on police when they approached, and was wounded in an ensuing gunfight before being taken into custody around 11 a.m. Federal authorities said they have not found any indication yet that Rahami was operating as part of a larger terror cell and are still investigating whether there was a potential foreign link for the terror attack. Rahami is currently being held on $5.2 million bail and remains in hospital. Police say he is refusing to cooperate with the authorities. He is charged with five counts of attempted murder, and two gun charges. He and his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and his brother Mohammad, brought a lawsuit against local police for harassment in 2011 The father of the man accused of a spate of bombings in New York and New Jersey has denied all knowledge of the terror plot. Ahmad Rahami was an 'Americanized' asylum seeker who moved to the United States aged seven with his family in 1995. A 'class clown,' he worked at his family's chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey from 2002 and loved to chat about fast cars. But that all changed after he returned from a trip to his home country of Afghanistan. Friends told the Boston Herald he was transformed and came back 'real religious'. The 28-year-old was arrested Monday after a shoot-out with cops for planting a series of explosives that injured 29 people, police say. Today, his father Mohammad Sr, 53, denied all knowledge of the plot. Scroll down for video 'Clown': Ahmad Rahami (pictured left, and right in 2007) was once a class clown - but now he's under arrest in connection with the New York and New Jersey bomb attacks Captured: This was the moment Ahmad Rahami was arrested after a shoot-out Monday. Friends said he only became religious after visiting Afghanistan years ago When asked by MSNBC whether he knew of his son's alleged plot, he shook his head and replied 'No'. Reporters asked whether Mohammad Snr. believed whether the allegations against his son might be true. He said: 'I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure what's happening exactly. 'But I think so. It's very hard right now to talk, okay?' But as a boy at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, he was a 'class clown' who messed around with classmates and talked sports, a friend told Buzzfeed News. 'He was in my 9th grade English class,' Hakeem Ezzouhairy, 27, of Maplewood, said. 'Very funny, class clown. Got along with everyone, was a very nice kid. Confused: Rahami's father, Mohammad Sr (right) said he didn't know of his son's alleged plans, and that he's 'not sure what's happening exactly' Mohammed Rahami (R), the father of Ahmad Khan Rahami has denied all knowledge of the terror plot 'Never would I [have] thought years later he would be capable of something like this.' 'At one point he left to go to Afghanistan, and two years ago he came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious,' added Flee Jones, 27. 'And it was shocking. I'm trying to understand what's going on. I've never seen him like this.' Jones told The New York Times that after returning Rahami became 'a completely different person' who was 'closed off' and started praying in the back of the family's chicken restaurant. One friend told CNN that Rahami's father had wanted him to go back to Afghanistan to learn discipline. Rahami made 'multiple' visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan CNN reported, although it's not clear whether this was before or after his transformation. He also married a Pakistani woman, CNN's Situation Room reported. Shot: Rahami was shot in the arm and leg before being arrested Monday. He had become 'serious' and 'closed off' after a visit to Afghanistan, one childhood friend said Destruction: This was the scene on West 23rd Street, Midtown Manhattan, on Monday after Saturday's bomb attack. Rahami came to the US as an asylum seeker aged seven Damage: The explosion injured 29 people and caused a large amount of damage. Other bombs were found in NY and New Jersey, all of which have been blamed on Rahami Evidence: Teams continued to investigate West 23 Street Monday. Evidence indicted Rahami was the New York and New Jersey bomber, the FBI claimed Monday And a person who appeared to be related to Rahami and apparently shared his home posted pro-Islamist militancy images on Facebook, AOL reported. The site said someone of the same name as Rahami posted an image of foreign fighters training in Syria along with a quote by Khalid Bin Walid, named in the Koran as a military commander and companion of the Prophet Muhammad. The quote reads: 'I bring the men who desire death as ardently as you desire life.' Ahmad and the other men working in the shop had largely worn Western clothing - although Mohammad's wife wore the hijab - until recently, one local, who did not wish to be identified, told Dailymail.com. 'Up until recently they wore regular clothes like us and then they started dressing in their culture's clothes,' they said. And despite the horrors he would be accused of, some said he was friendly in the restaurant. Ryan McCann, a local who ate at the shop, told BBC Worldwide: 'He'd always talk about his cars. He loved Civics, he loved going fast, that's what he did, he'd talk about his cars.' Business: Ahmad, 28, his dad and one of his brothers brought a lawsuit against local cops, saying they targeted their Elizabeth, NJ, restaurant (pictured) because they're Muslim But Rahami and his family didn't fit perfectly into the Elizabeth community: in 2011, they filed a lawsuit against local police, saying they subjected him and his family to discrimination and 'selective enforcement' based on their religion. The family claimed that police tried to shut down their chicken restaurant, called First American, too early each night with 'baseless' tickets and summonses. Ahmad, 28, his father Mohammad Sr, 53, and his brother Mohammad, brought the lawsuit together and said that local residents also racially abused them and said: 'Muslims don't belong here'. The lawsuit was filed in 2011 and reveals that Ahmad has a long history of grievances with city officials, their local police force and people who lived close to them. Five years later, Ahmad has been held over his alleged involvement in the New York and New Jersey bombings. The lawsuit, filed in the federal court in Newark, says that the family are from Afghanistan and are all Muslims who have owned the chicken restaurant since 2002. They allege that for two years beginning in April 2009 they were unfairly targeted for staying open past 10pm despite being permitted to do so. The lawsuit says that the police had a 'reckless disregard and deliberate indifference for plaintiff's constitutional rights of liberty, due process and equal protection'. The Elizabeth police department allegedly 'embarked on a course to harass, humiliate, retaliate against and force their business to close at 10pm'. The lawsuit claims that the officers told them there was 'too much crime around here' and that the area around the restaurant was 'known for criminal activity'. One of Ahmed's brothers got into a fight with a police officer who tried to shut down the restaurant, BBC Worldwide reported, but fled to Afghanistan before he could be prosecuted. The Rahamis alleged they were being subject to 'selective enforcement' that was 'solely based on an animus against plaintiff's religion, creed, race and national origin'. They claim that as a result of the police shutting them down at 10pm, despite other businesses being allowed to stay open at that time, they suffered economic hardship. The court documents confirm that Ahmad was arrested for obstruction of justice, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, although they do not specify when or what the outcomes were. The family also claims that they suffered racist abuse at the hands of James McDermott, the owner of Dean Relay Press and Radio, a photo agency that is near to the Rahami's chicken restaurant. Utterly untrue: James McDermott, the news photographer and local accused of making racist remarks in the case, said the Rahamis' claims against him were false and that he complained about the takeaway when it became a hangout for youths who used his yard as a bathroom He allegedly told them: 'You are Muslims...Muslims make too much trouble in this country.' McDermott is alleged to have told them that 'Muslims should not have businesses here', 'Muslims are trouble' and 'Muslims don't belong here'. He rejects all claims. The 11 count lawsuit names the City of Elizabeth, the Elizabeth Police Department, six Elizabeth police officers, chief of police Ronald Simon and police director James Cosgrove. They say the harassment was 'baseless and without probable cause' and breached the family's constitutional rights. The Rahamis claimed that it also claim it was 'discrimination', 'false arrest' and 'abuse of process' that left them suffering distress, embarrassment and damage to their reputation. Court records show that the complaint was dismissed with prejudice in 2012, meaning that it could not be brought again. McDermott told DailyMail.com that the claims against him were absolutely untrue. Elizabeth Mayor J Christian Bollwage said in a press event Monday that the closures were effected by local authorities because the restaurant was attracting a noisy crowd late at night, causing a 'quality of life issue.' 'Mohammad Rahami was operating in violation of some local ordinances, he operated way beyond closing time and it became a hangout for kids,' he said. 'I made complaints about it and he took offense at that. The city took him to court for his violations and then he sued the city, the police officers that were involved and me as well. We won the case. 'He was supposed to close at 10pm, he was staying open illegally until four or five o'clock in the morning. 'He wouldn't let the kids in there drinking soda use the restroom and tell them to go around the corner so they would come around and use my driveway as a bathroom, that's what I took the biggest offense at. 'Other than the lawsuit, I kept away from them.' He said that the backyard, which was shielded by a high fence, was quiet. Plea: The suspected bomber's sister issued this appeal on social media. Family: Among the Rahami family is daughter Zobyedh, who is a public health student at nearby Rutgers University 'There was a lot of people coming and going from there, I couldn't tell who was customers and who was family,' he said. McDermott said that the claims that were made in the lawsuit that 'Muslims should not have businesses here', 'Muslims are trouble' and 'Muslims don't belong here' are completely untrue. McDermott, who owns Dean Relay Press and Radio agency, said that after years as a news photographer, nothing surprises him anymore. The family had lived above the fried chicken shop since it opened in 2002. It is unclear when they arrived from Afghanistan and whether they arrived all at once or separately. The Rahami family is made up of Mohammad snr, 53, his wife, two adult sons, Ahmad and Mohammad Qasim, 25, apparently known as Qasim, and two adult daughters, Aziza, and Zobyedh. Zobyedh is a student at a nearby campus of Rutgers university, studying towards a B.S. in public health. She is a writer on the university newspaper, the Daily Targum, and had previously worked as an assistant at the Asian American Cultural Center at the university, and had posted anti-Donald Trump material on social media. Neighbors on the same block as First American Fried Chicken told DailyMail.com that the family largely isolated from the community. One woman who lives in the street said: 'Mohammad [Ahmad] is a very nice man, always wearing white and he would pray in the back of the shop. 'I would wait at the counter for him to finish and he would come and take the orders.' Family business: The Rahami family owned and ran First American Fried Chicken. The suspect was often seen serving in it, while his father, Mohammad, was a constant presence. She said that during a visit to the shop in the last few weeks, she had seen two new men behind the counter who she had never seen before and that Ahmad Rahami was cooking food in the back of the store. A young teenage boy who often worked in the store served her. She said the other men who were behind the counter spoke to Ahmad Rahami in a language the young boy didn't understand. An immediate neighbor, who refused to be identified, said: 'The last time I saw him was on Friday, in a blue car. He parked in front of my house in the blue car. 'He always parks in front of my house. I saw him in the shop not long ago. 'I see him maybe two times a week in the shop, but I always see him in that blue car.' Another neighbor said that the father was always in the shop working, and that the other brothers were not seen as frequently. Of the father, the neighbor said: 'He was clearly very devoted to his religion. He was very quiet and seemed very nice. You would see him praying sometimes.' Karl Stefanovic was notably absent from the Today show on Tuesday following revelations he split with his wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn. The Channel Nine host put on a brave face and fronted the Today program on Monday but was tight lipped on his marital situation. Stefanovic was missing from the Today panel on Tuesday morning, leaving news reader Sylvia Jeffreys to step in to host with Lisa Wilkinson. They briefly made mention of his absence at the beginning of the show saying he was tidying up a 60 Minutes story. 'He had a couple of loose ends on a story he's finishing, so he'll be back in the chair tomorrow,' Wilkinson said. Scroll down for video Karl Stefanovic and his wife Cassandra Thorburn have been married for 21 years and have three children - Jackson, 16, Ava, 11, and 10-year-old River Nine also told Daily Mail Australia Stefanovic was absent due to filming for 60 Minutes. He was pictured leaving Nine's studios in Willoughby on Monday morning in his white Mercedes after news broke at the weekend of the couple's split. The 42-year-old kept his windows - and retractable roof - rolled up and did not stop or get out of the car to answer questions from the media about his marital situation. His wife was spotted taking their three children - Jackson, 16, Ava, 11, and 10-year-old River - to school. Stefanovic is rumoured to have moved out of the family home and is staying at the $20 million Bondi home owned by his friend James Packer as he and Thorburn 'try to work their marriage out'. They met in the 1990s while Stefanovic was working with WIN television and Thorburn was employed by the ABC in Rockhampton. He said they met at a Melrose Place party. Stefanovic was missing from the Today panel on Tuesday morning, leaving news reader Sylvia Jeffreys to step in to host with Lisa Wilkinson Karl Stefanovic was in no mood to chat as he rolled out of Channel 9 in his Mercedes on Monday morning after filming the Today show Sylvia Jeffreys stepped in for Karl Stefanovic on Tuesday morning. Nine said Stefanovic was off filming a story for 60 Minutes 'She told me I looked preppy,' Stefanovic revealed last year. 'She said: 'I suppose that's how you got your job in television, because of your pretty-boy looks'.' Karl recently claimed Cassandra quit her high-flying job at the ABC to look after the couple's children. 'She gave up a promising career at the ABC and I'm forever thankful and tremendously appreciative of that,' he revealed last year. 'Cass wanted to be at home, and wants to be there now, and we're very lucky to be in a financial position where we can do that.' 'Cass wanted to be at home': Karl recently spoke about how Cassandra gave up her career at the ABC to look after the couple's children Stefanovic has reportedly moved out of his family home in recent weeks and is staying at his friend Packer's $20 million Bondi apartment (pictured) The couple met in the 1990s while Stefanovic was working with WIN television and Thorburn was employed by the ABC in Rockhampton 'But should she ever want to go back to work, then of course she can.' Friends close to Karl and Cassandra were 'stunned by the separation', the Herald Sun reports. 'The most important thing for Karl and Caz right now is their children,' a family friend said on Sunday. Five years ago he caused a stir at the 2011 Logies when he thanked his wife during his risque Most Popular Presenter acceptance speech. 'She has been a great influence on my life and has also got the best arse I have ever seen,' he said. Daily Mail Australia has approached Karl's management for comment. He was pictured leaving Nine's studios in Willoughby on Monday morning in his white Mercedes after news broke at the weekend of the couple's split The 42-year-old kept his windows - and retractable roof - rolled up and did not stop or get out of the car to answer questions from the media about his marital situation Everywhere you look at the Lib Dem conference, there are signs saying Open, Tolerant & United. Like heck. Late afternoon, I ambled down to a Spokespeople Q & A session on Brexit, where a panel of Nick Clegg, Tom Brake MP and two Lib Dem peers was promised. A steward on the door peered at my conference pass for which I had paid a smarting 25 and denied me entry. No press! she declared, even though the session had been advertised as being open to all. Pull the other one - the Lib Dems' spirit of openness did not include journalists Readers, I may thus have become the first punter ever turned away from a Tom Brake speaking event. Normally they beg people to listen to his dribblings. You can see why the Lib Dem leadership might not want the outside world to hear what activists thought about Brexit. One of the first members I met yesterday was a cheerful soul from Lincolnshire who told me he was a member of Lib Dems for Leave. He hinted that lots of folk had quit in protest at the leaderships gluey devotion to Brussels. Much of the morning was devoted to a set-piece debate about the EU which concluded with a vote in favour of a second EU referendum. Great idea! More than 17 million people have just voted comprehensively for out, yet the party with Democrat in its name wants to block that. The Tories were up Brexit creek, roared Cleggy. But the Lib Dems were soon in the creek themselves. Retired Old Testament prophet Sir Vince Cable opposed a second referendum the party should accept the voters verdict. Norman Lamb MP, who has a Norfolk seat, said 59 per cent of his local voters wanted Brexit. Campaigning for a second referendum would be disastrous to his prospects, he said. Back in the conference hall, former MP Evan Harris made a speech in which he scorned opinion polls and popularity. That way madness lies, he averred. Dr Harris may be an expert on lunacy. Some speakers in a debate on the welfare cap made Jeremy Corbyn sound sane. They raged about how it was not moral to try to control welfare spending in that way. It is mired in Coalition-think! shrieked a heavily tattooed woman from Yorkshire. Spanking applause greeted this and she was embraced with fervour after marching back to her seat with the gait of a Soviet paratrooper. Yet in the trade area outside there was evidence the Coalition may not have been quite so unpopular. A trim-looking Clegg was signing copies of his autobiography and the queue of book-buyers stretched about 30 yards. Hell make a tidy little profit on that hardback. Capitalism is a fine thing, is it not, Nick? Mr Clegg was not the only former leader making himself apparent. That fool Paddy Ashdown was everywhere, blustering away, narrowing his eyes so much that he looked like a rabbit with mixy. Predicting a general election next summer Lord Ashdown, in stargazer mood, said: 'All the constellations come in line next year' Lord Ashdown, one of several Lib Democrats who happily sit in the unelected Upper House, has gone into theatrical hypershift, venting heavy groans and gasps and clutching his brow when asked to analyse the great issues of the day. A seer in Rodin pose. After a lunchtime fringe meeting where he railed against the bloody Tories and predicted they would split before Labour, he came rhino-charging into the press room, barking right, right, lets do it here!. He proceeded to yack away about how Mrs May was facing a bloody mess and how she had a problem with her MPs. At least she has some. All the constellations come in line next year, he said, blurting out an assertion that there will be a general election at the start of summer 2017. Constellations, indeed. Astrologer Ashdown. He is one of those nincompoops who, the less they know, the more they talk. MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' team Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski met with Donald Trump at Trump Tower in an effort to patch up their relationship, which has deteriorated as of late. CNN first reported news of the meeting, while the Trump campaign and NBC News have stayed mum. The trio reportedly discussed Trump coming back on the show and doing an interview, but nothing was decided on, sources told CNN. Scroll down for video Presidential contender Donald Trump (left) and Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski (right) have carried on a very public feud in recent months On one day, after Mika Brzezinski suggested that Donald Trump was acting drunk, he called her 'neurotic' and a 'not very bright mess' Donald Trump also threatened to expose a rumored relationship between the two co-hosts, who are now both divorced The meeting comes after a very public friendship soured right before viewers' eyes. As Scarborough and Brzezinski became more and more critical of Trump's behavior in the presidential spotlight, the Republican candidate returned fire by calling the hosts, mainly Brzezinski, a number of insults on Twitter. For example, opening up the show on Monday, August 22, Brzezinski suggested that at a campaign stop over the weekend Trump, a teetotaller, had appeared drunk. 'Let me just say, he belts it out like, honestly, like he's had a lot to drink,' she noted. Trump then fumed on Twitter. 'Tried watching low-rated @Morning_Joe this morning, unwatchable! @morningmika is off the wall, a neurotic and not very bright mess!' the billionaire wrote. Scarborough jumped in and came to his co-host's defense. 'Neurotic and not very bright?' he wrote. 'Look in the mirror.' Donald Trump has sent out a number of tweets attacking the 'Morning Joe' hosts, people particularly critical of Mika Brzezinski calling her 'crazy' and 'very dumb' among other insults 'Morning Joe' host Joe Scarborough has basked in the good ratings light boosted by his public feud with Donald Trump The billionaire also suggested that the two co-hosts, who are both divorced, were dating each other, threatening to expose their relationship. 'Some day, when things calm down, I'll tell the real story of [Scarborough] and his very insecure long-time girlfriend [Brzezinski]. Two clowns!' Trump said. The beef started several months earlier in the cycle, with Trump claiming May saying the show had gone 'really hostile' ever since he stopped doing regular appearances, the billionaire said. In June, Trump remarked that Brzezinski had 'gone wild with hate.' 'Joe is Joe,' he also pointed out. 'They lost their way!' In August, Trump noted 'Morning Joe's' 'weakness is its low ratings,' adding that he heard that Scarborough 'went wild' against former New York City Mayor Giuliani and the Second Amendment. 'Just heard that crazy and very dumb @MorningMika had a mental breakdown while talking about me on the low ratings Morning Joe. Joe a mess!' Trump tweeted in September. Meanwhile Scarborough has continued to criticize the GOP nominee's campaign and penned multiple op-eds for the Washington Post critical of it. All the while, Morning Joe has basked in the light of getting a ratings boost from the war, thanking his 'crazy, obsessive fan,' Donald Trump. The shockingly slow progress in Sergeant Alexander Blackmans (pictured) fight for justice was branded an outrage yesterday The shockingly slow progress in Sergeant Alexander Blackmans fight for justice was branded an outrage yesterday. Senior MPs condemned a series of delays that have dogged the Royal Marines challenge to his life sentence. Sergeant Blackman, who has now spent nearly three years in prison for killing a dying Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan, lodged an application for an appeal last December at the Criminal Cases Review Commission. But, as the Mail revealed yesterday the bureaucrats nine months on have still not decided whether to refer his case to the Court of Appeal. They have not even sent a psychiatrist to visit him in prison to verify expert evidence that he was suffering combat stress at the time of the 2011 incident. It is now a year since Daily Mail readers rallied to the veteran Marines cause by raising an incredible 800,000 to fund his new legal team. Yesterday Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, a former major in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, said: It is an outrage. This guy is still in prison a year on, after all the good work by Daily Mail readers. It is becoming a travesty. This guy served his country. If it is proved he was under combat stress, then he needs help, not to be left rotting in prison. MP Richard Drax demanded action from Justice Secretary Liz Truss. The former Coldstream Guards captain has tabled a Parliamentary Question asking her to urge the CCRC to speed up its investigations. He told the Mail: Theres still no sign their investigation is anywhere near completion. Meanwhile, a former highly distinguished Marine rots in prison. Fellow MP Richard Benyon, a member of the Commons defence select committee, said the authorities needed pull their finger out to address what is being perceived as a miscarriage of justice. Last December, Sergeant Blackmans loyal wife Claire (pictured together), 44, delivered a seven-volume application to the CCRCs offices, accompanied by 500 supporters James Gray, another member of the committee, said: Whatever the outcome, it must be hastened, because an unreasonable delay must be putting huge pressures on him and his family. Sergeant Blackman, 42, became the first British serviceman to be jailed for murder on a foreign battlefield. He shot a gunman in Helmand in September 2011, after the Taliban fighter had been mortally wounded storming a British outpost. A Mail investigation exposed how vital evidence was withheld from his court martial. We revealed a high-flying colonel had quit his commission in disgust at his treatment; and that the sergeant was not offered the possibility of a manslaughter charge on the basis of diminished responsibility. Yesterday Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, a former major in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, said: It is an outrage' Blackman and his troop were suffering psychological stress after being left isolated and under-manned on the 2011 tour from hell in which seven Marines were killed and 45 maimed. Last December, Sergeant Blackmans loyal wife Claire, 44, delivered a seven-volume application to the CCRCs offices, accompanied by 500 supporters. The application, prepared by his new legal team, contained eight compelling reasons why he deserves an appeal, including two psychiatric experts saying he was suffering from combat stress disorder. But the CCRC has so far failed to send its own psychiatrist to assess him. And the case officer examining his application was recently promoted, with the file being handed to a colleague. Finally, two barristers who represented him at the court martial have refused to be interviewed by CCRC officers saying they are acting on legal advice although they have supplied written evidence. The CCRC said the criticisms were not fair. A spokesman added: The CCRC would like to stress this application is being progressed as efficiently and thoroughly as possible. For more articles on the case, go to www.justiceforsgtblackman.co.uk Britain is to pay private security companies up to 80million to police ports in northern France. The Home Office is advertising for firms to beef up security at Calais, Dunkirk and the Eurotunnel terminal, to stem the flow of illegal migrants. Under the contract, private guards will carry out round-the-clock searches on UK-bound lorries, and act as temporary custody officers for migrants caught trying to reach Britain illegally. New images of the Jungle refugee camp have revealed the scale of the Calais migrant crisis as Britain prepares to build a 13ft wall to stop migrants jumping on to UK-bound trucks The deal has a potential value of up to 80million over three years ten times the amount the contract was worth when it last came up for tender in 2011. It comes less than a fortnight after it emerged British taxpayers are to fund a 2million wall at Calais to help keep illegal migrants out. The 13ft-high Great Wall of Calais was branded a scandalous waste of taxpayers cash. Latest figures reveal the number of migrants at the so-called Calais Jungle has topped 10,000 for the first time. Charlie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, last night urged French authorities to do more to bring the situation under control. He said: It is essential we have maximum border security at Calais to protect tourists and truckers, but the priority must be to make sure the Jungle is dismantled we have to tackle the causes of the crisis. Obviously there is an arrangement where we assist with security at Calais, but the French should also be contributing. We need more security at Dover too to stop guns, weapons and people being smuggled, but we dont get a contribution from France for that. Now it has been revealed that Britain will also pay 80million over three years for a security deal to keep illegal immigrants out Tory MP Peter Bone said: I dont know why the French government thinks the British taxpayer should be bailing them out to do something that is their responsibility. They should be embarrassed and ashamed. Just imagine if it were the other way round, and the French government were paying us the equivalent of 80million a year because we could not control the border at Dover. The Prime Minister would have to resign the next day. Fellow Conservative MP Philip Davies said: It really isnt good enough for France to be incapable of providing security in their own country and for British taxpayers to be footing the bill for them. I wonder how much French taxpayers are paying the UK for having to clear up their mess when illegal immigrants get into the UK. Not a fat lot, I suspect. The Home Office contract says the successful bidder will have to provide 40 authorised search officers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at the Eurotunnel site and at Calais and Dunkirk. Three of the staff must be trained as detainee custody officers, who will have responsibility for arrested migrants until French police can take over. The contractor will also provide electronic search equipment and sniffer dogs. The Home Office contract says the successful bidder will have to provide 40 authorised search officers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year A Home Office spokesman said the contract expanded existing routine work done by private security staff. Pictured: Amber Rudd has had to defend plans in Parliament The Home Office last night played down the move. A source acknowledged ministers were looking for an expanded level of service after 84,000 migrants were caught trying to enter the UK illegally at the ports last year. But he said the 80million figures was the maximum possible value, with the final bill likely to be significantly less. A Home Office spokesman said the contract expanded existing routine work done by private security staff. Specialist search contractors have successfully played a vital role in protecting our borders for over a decade, he said. They perform initial checks allowing our Border Force officers to focus on the highly skilled work they are trained to do. Calais and the Channel Tunnel are key destinations for thousands of the more than one million migrants and refugees who illegally entered Europe last year from Turkey and North Africa. Last month, holidaymakers were warned to avoid Calais after motorists were targeted by gangs with chainsaws and metal bars. The latest census by Help Refugees found 10,188 are living in the Jungle camp, a 12 per cent increase on last month. Some 1,179 are children 1,022 of whom are unaccompanied. Charity workers yesterday called on the Government to do more to help child migrants after a Afghan boy of 15 became the youngest to die near the camp while attempting to reach Britain. He was entitled to come to the country as he already had an older brother living here, but was killed while climbing on top of a lorry over the weekend after becoming frustrated with delays. French authorities have pledged the slum will be totally torn down by the end of the year. A man is identified in a letter as the 'seventh man' in Cambridge spy ring A man connected to Britains most notorious spy scandal cannot be named, a judge has ruled. His identity must remain secret even though historians say he could be the seventh man in the 1950s Cambridge spy network that included traitor Kim Philby. Judge Peter Lane ruled that the suspects name cannot be revealed as he is still alive and it was quite possible that personal relationships could be jeopardised, and there was no pressing need to identify Cold War defectors. Kim Philby held a press conference in 1955 to deny he was a Soviet spy and said: 'I have never been a communist'. But eight years later the game was up and he fled to Moscow WHAT WAS THE CAMBRIDGE SPY RING? They were known as the Cambridge spy ring because they all went to university in the city in the 1930s. They all sympathised with communism and were recruited by the KGB before World War II. They handed over vital information during the war and continue to work for the Soviets right during the early years of the Cold War. But in 1951 Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, believing their cover had been blown, fled to France before finally turning up in Moscow. The press speculated feverishly about who else was involved and in November 1955 Kim Philby - who had lived with Burgess - held a press conference to deny he had ever been a communist. Anatoly Golitsyn, a KGB spy who defected in 1961, provided further evidence which pointed towards Philby and in 1963 he fled from Beirut and turned up in Moscow. Meanwhile back in London Anthony Blunt had confessed to being 'the fourth man' but was offered immunity and was only unmasked in 1979. John Cairncross, a Bletchley Park codebreaker, was identified as the 'fifth man' in 1990, shortly before his death. Last year author Andrew Lownie claimed the 'sixth man' was a brilliant MI6 physicist, Wilfrid Mann, who allegedly leaked nuclear secrets to the USSR, allowing them to build an atomic bomb. Mann had died in 2001. The identity of the 'seventh man' remains a mystery. Advertisement The man is named in a letter held in the National Archives in Kew, South West London. Its existence was traced by historian Andrew Lownie but he was denied the right to see the letter following a Freedom of Information request. That decision was upheld in the publication yesterday of Judge Lanes first-tier tribunal ruling. Historians criticised the ruling, saying possible social embarrassment was no reason for shielding a traitor from exposure. Philby was a high-ranking MI6 official who had been recruited by Soviet intelligence in the 1930s. He betrayed Britain for years before defecting to Russia in 1963 and was responsible for the deaths of scores of British agents. He had come under suspicion after fellow traitors Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to Moscow in 1951 but was officially cleared of involvement in 1955, by which time he had quit MI6. He died in Moscow in 1988. A series of names have since been associated with the Burgess-Philby-Maclean spy network. In 1979 Anthony Blunt, a former head of the Queens art collection, was revealed as the fourth man and John Cairncross, a Bletchley Park codebreaker and Soviet double-agent during the Second World War, has often been cited as the fifth man in the ring. Donald Maclean (right) fled to the Soviet Union in 1951, fearing he was about to be unmasked but Anthony Blunt (left) was granted immunity in 1964 and went on to work as the Queen's personal adviser on art Guy Burgess (pictured, left) defected in 1951, and died, an alcoholic, 12 years later. That same year Philby (right) defected. He lived in Moscow until 1988 and said he missed only English mustard and Worcester sauce Burgess died in 1963, Maclean and Blunt in 1983 and Cairncross in 1995. Last year Mr Lownie suggested that physicist Wilfrid Mann, who died in 2001, was a sixth member. Other names linked to the spy ring have included intelligence officer Leo Long, former MI5 deputy head Guy Liddell, academic Andrew Gow and philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Judge Lane did say that the suspect named in the letter is not George Blake, another Soviet double agent who escaped from prison in Britain in 1966. Blake, now 93, still lives in Moscow. Mr Lownie said: It may be the person who is being protected is an official who gave advice in confidence, but it looks like the National Archives, and then the Information Commissioner, simply refused to reveal details which might be embarrassing, even though there was a strong public interest on an important historical case. John Cairncross (pictured, left) was identified as the 'fifth man' in 1990, five years before his death. Last year Wilfrid Mann (right) was named as the 'sixth man' in a book by Andrew Lownie Professor Anthony Glees, director of security and intelligence studies at the University of Buckingham, said: There is something fishy here. It could well be that this person is a traitor, and if that is so there needs to be an explanation. You should not use official secrecy to prevent embarrassment, and traitors should absolutely not be protected. Australian comedian Magda Szubanski has engaged in fiery exchange with Deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash over the divisive gay marriage plebiscite. Szubanski hit back at Senator Nash as she defended the Federal Government's position on the plebiscite on Monday night's episode of Q&A. Senator Nash argued the plebiscite gave 'every single Australian the right to have say' on the marriage equality issue. Scroll down for video Australian comedian Magda Szubanski has engaged in fiery exchange with Deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash over the divisive gay marriage plebiscite But Szubanski disagreed saying the $160 million to run the poll could be better spent on a plebiscite on aged care or superannuation and wanted a parliamentary vote on the issue. When Senator Nash refused to back down, Szubanski asked her: 'One simple question: Do you think I'm equal to you?' 'Of course I do,' Senator Nash replied. 'If I was your daughter and I'm being gay, would you think that I should have the right to be married?' Szubanski questioned. 'I've been asked this question a lot over the last 12 months and my response was that view is still the traditional view of marriage,' Senator Nash said. 'I love my children regardless of what they every brought home, for me would make absolutely no difference at all. Szubanski hit back at Senator Nash as she defended the Federal Government's position on the plebiscite on Monday night's episode of Q&A Szubanski has been a vocal LGBTIQ supporter after coming out in 2012 on national television 'I completely respect your view and your desire to see that as equality.' But clearly dissatisfied with Senator Nash's response, Szubanski snapped back, saying: 'But you won't give me my rights. Thanks for nothing.' Szubanski has been a vocal LGBTIQ supporter after coming out in 2012 on national television. She also spoke about why marriage equality was so important to the LGBTIQ community. 'Every time they knock back those bills in parliament, how do you think we feel?' Szubanski said. Senator Nash was on the panel along with Szubanski and rock icon Jimmy Barnes 'We know it's telling us were lesser. That contributes to the lack of self-esteem and the self-harm that LGBTIQ people have done to ourselves for decades.' The comedian also used her personal connection with fellow panellist and Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes as an example. 'Now Jimmy and I are actually family. I'm the godmother of his granddaughter,' Szubanski said. 'He's a Scottish migrant, I'm a polish-Scottish migrant. His wife is Thai, I'm a lezzo. A retired High Court judge has been paid 66,000 to write a report about Scotland Yards shambolic VIP child-sex probe but the public will get to see only selected findings on the orders of Britains most senior policeman. Sir Richard Henriques is receiving 1,100 a day to conduct a review of Operation Midland, which was commissioned by Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe in February. Sources with knowledge of his soon-to-be-completed report say it will not be a whitewash and will contain damning criticism of the probe into allegations of serial murder and rape made by a suspected fantasist known as Nick. Sir Richard Henriques (pictured) is being paid 1,100 a day to write a report about Operation Midland, Scotland Yard's bungled inquiry into allegations against VIPs It is expected to highlight key failures in Operation Midland, which will be hugely embarrassing to Sir Bernard and his senior officers. But Sir Bernard has insisted he will make only its key findings and recommendations public. This has infuriated relatives and supporters of those falsely accused of rape and murder by Nick, who want the entire dossier released. Scotland Yard said it expected to receive Sir Richards report early next month and that the force was paying the former judge 1,100 a day. It said Sir Richard had clocked up 60 days work between February and July. The final bill for his work which includes examining other non-recent sex investigations into VIPs is expected to be in the region of 100,000. Operation Midland, which cost more than 2million, was wound up in March 15 months after a senior Met officer publicly described Nicks allegation as credible and true. The report is expected to be embarrassing reading for Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe (pictured) But detectives did not find a shred of evidence to support his extraordinary claims and critics accused Scotland Yard of conducting a disgraceful witch-hunt. Hounded war hero Lord Bramall, the 92-year-old former Army chief whose home was raided over Nicks baseless claims as he ate breakfast with his terminally ill wife, is said to want Sir Richards report to be made public. The widow of former Home Secretary Leon Brittan investigated by the Met over Nicks alleged lies also wants it shared with the public, as does former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, falsely accused of serial rape and murder by the fantasist. Last night Mr Proctor told the Mail: Despite my and other requests to Sir Bernard and to Sir Richard to publish the report in full so there can be full transparency, it remains a private and personal report with secrecy its main focus. Sir Bernard himself will summarise this report for publication in his own words and for his own purposes. The terms of reference, the retired judge, the format and the publicity surrounding this report were determined by the arch culprit, Sir Bernard. It is not independent of the Met but a part of their PR cover-up trying to whitewash how they wrongly regarded and crassly investigated the allegations of a fantasist, Nick. It is understood Sir Richards report will address whether the search warrant to raid Lord Bramalls home was issued lawfully, whether it was necessary for 20 police officers to ransack his home at dawn and also the delays in informing him of the allegations. The retired judge, who met Lord Brittans widow Diana during the summer, is also expected to examine whether it was necessary for the police to raid the Tory peers two homes in connection within weeks of his death in January last year. Police have identified the burned and dismembered body of a female student that was found in a Texas park this week. Jacqueline Vandagriff, 24, of Frisco, was identified after an autopsy by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner following the grim discovery on Wednesday. Grapevine police said they have arrested Charles Dean Bryant, 30, near his house in Haslet on Sunday. He is charged with capital murder and is being held on a $1million bond. Scroll down for video Jacqueline Vandagriff (left) was found burned and dismembered in a Texas park this week. Charles Dean Bryant (right) is charged with her murder In a statement, police said that firefighters in Grapevine had responded to a fire in Acorn Woods Park at around 6.30am on September 14 and discovered the body. After officers worked around-the-clock to investigate the case in several cities in north Texas, they arrested Bryant at around 2.30pm on Sunday. Grapevine Police Sgt. Robery Eberling said Vandagriff was last seen leaving a bar in Denton with Bryant at around 11pm on Tuesday. Her body was found the following morning. We have video of them at a bar together, Eberling said, according to CBS DFW. Vandagriff (above) was a junior at Texas Womans University in Denton, where she was studying nutrition And we were able to talk to employees of that bar and they have us a name of a suspect, and we just followed the trail from there. According to his Facebook page, Bryant works at Procore Fitness. The Vandagriff family released a statement thanking the extraordinary efforts of the Grapevine police department, FBI and all law enforcement agencies who assisted in the investigation. We would also like to thank our friends, family and the friends of our daughter Jackie for all their support in this difficult time, the statement added. Vandagriff was last seen leaving a bar in Denton with Bryant (above) at around 11pm Tuesday Vandagriff was a junior at Texas Womans University in Denton, where she was studying nutrition. The schools Vice President for Student Life Monica Mendez-Grant paid tribute to Vandagriff in a statement on the schools website. The death of a student affects the entire TWU community, and I know that all of us send our deepest sympathy to Jacqueline's family and friends, she said. Jacqueline exemplified the spirit of learning and service that is the hallmark of our TWU community. A decorated Army major has become so tormented by a decade-long legal witch-hunt in Britain that he is volunteering to face a war crimes trial in the Hague. The officer, who is on sick leave for stress, is facing a possible manslaughter prosecution after being hounded over the death of an Iraqi teenager in Basra 13 years ago. He has become so exasperated that he has told Defence Secretary Michael Fallon he would rather hand himself in to foreign prosecutors. The officer, who has not been named, is on sick leave for stress, is facing a possible manslaughter prosecution after being hounded over the death of an Iraqi teenager in Basra 13 years ago (file picture of British soldier in Iraq) In a letter to Mr Fallon, he said he would welcome an intervention by the International Criminal Court which normally tries dictators for genocide because there was a better chance of a fair trial. He said the ICC would be able to finally and definitively put to rest this 13-year witch-hunt that seemingly has no end. The majors dramatic gesture came as the Government was accused of hanging soldiers out to dry and sacrificing low-ranking servicemen in the investigation into historic allegations in Iraq to spare those higher up the chain of command and ministers from scrutiny. Yesterday, Downing Street said it wanted the inquirys work to be wrapped up by 2019, but did not suggest it should be scrapped despite the growing anger over the treatment of British troops. The major, who has post-traumatic stress disorder and is on sick leave because of the stress of repeated investigations, was cleared of any wrongdoing over the death of the Iraqi in 2003 along with two other soldiers in a hearing in Basra in 2006. But taxpayer-funded investigators opened up a new probe into the teenagers death after being passed the file by disgraced law firm Public Interest Lawyers. After more than a year of questioning him and his comrades, the Iraq Historical Allegations Team or Ihat set up by the Government in 2010 referred the case to the service prosecuting authority. Last week they recommended that he and his two comrades one of whom is still serving be tried for manslaughter in the first case of its kind. The major, who does not want to be identified, wrote to Mr Fallon in August about his torment. His letter, seen by the Daily Mail, came after he was told that if soldiers did not face Ihat and the British justice system, they could be tried in the Hague in the Netherlands. The major want to be tried in the International Criminal Court (pictured) in The Hague because he believes he'll have a better chance of getting a fair trial He said: You mentioned the ICC and how Ihat was a useful way of avoiding that eventuality. Personally, I would welcome the ICCs involvement and an opportunity to finally and definitively put to rest this 13-year witch-hunt that seemingly has no end. In fact, if it would make things easier, I am willing to travel to the Netherlands and hand myself in, as there is probably more chance of a fair and timely trial there, because in the UK there is no judicial process. Last night it emerged that his colleagues were also considering handing themselves in to the ICC because they had no faith in the British justice system. His friend said: He and other soldiers believe the only way they can end the witch-hunt is by going to an independent court. He and his colleagues think they would be dealt with more fairly. The majors lawyer Hilary Meredith, said: He has told me that he is considering handing himself in to the ICC. The soldier wrote to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon (pictured) about the foreign intervention he is hoping for The Ministry of Defence has argued that if Ihat did not investigate then soldiers would be open to referral to the ICC, something this Government is determined to avoid. But yesterday it emerged that the ICC was examining whether to investigate those military commanders higher up the chain and officials in the Government rather than ordinary soldiers. The ICC opened up a preliminary investigation into Britains role in Iraq after it was submitted a document in 2014 by Public Interest Lawyers and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. The document, seen for the first time, refers to the British governments investigations, saying: These efforts have, without fail, looked only at the bottom of the chain of command, and have systematically shielded from prosecution those bearing the greatest responsibility for the crimes. Commenting on the report, Tory MP Johnny Mercer, said: This is an appalling betrayal of our soldiers. It is hanging the soldiers out to dry so they dont take on the Government, ministers and senior ranks. Ihat needs to close down. Criminals face one trial and that is it, these soldiers are facing two or three investigations. The majors lawyer said 200 soldiers had contacted her and were very worried they are going to be arrested. Ihat is looking at around 1,500 cases of alleged criminality by British troops during the Iraq war. This is the shocking moment a Chinese air passenger stood underneath her plane in protest after she and her husband missed their flight. The pair were late for their Air China flight at Beijing Capital Airport on September 14 and airport staff refused to let them on board, reports the People's Daily Online. After barging past the security staff, the man went to negotiating with the ground crew while the woman stormed the runway in a desperate bid to stop the aircraft. They have been detained for five days by police. Not very happy: The upset woman stood underneath the flight she wanted to board in Beijing Capital Airport on September 14 The woman's husband went to negotiating with the ground crew in a bid to board the plane The couple rushed directly to the plane after cabin crew refused to let them on board flight CA 1519, which was bound for Shanghai. The woman was said to be incredibly emotional when she was told that she could not board the flight as she had arrived too late. Despite being denied entry, the woman pushed past the airport staff and entered the runway. The woman resorted to standing under the plane with her suitcase in an attempt to block the aircraft from moving. The flight was delayed for about 20 minutes by the incident. Angry passenger: The woman was pictured sitting underneath the plane in protest Five days detention: Police arrived at the scene and detained the woman and her husband Beijing Capital International Airport confirmed the incident to MailOnline through a statement. The statement read: 'On the morning of September 14 at around 9.30, two passengers of flight CA1519 failed to board the aircraft by the boarding time. 'Ignoring the intervention, they insisted on boarding the aircraft. The airport staff happened to notice it.' The airport also confirmed that the couple had been taken away by the police for investigation. This is the terrifying moment a gigantic tidal wave crashed into and flooded a populous city in China. The tidal bore on the Qingtang River in east China's Zhejiang province left roads in downtown Hangzhou submerged in water on September 18, reports the People's Daily Online. Qiantang tidal bore waves are one of the largest in the world and can reach as much as 30 feet above the surface of the water. This is approximately the height of a three-storey building. Gigantic: The waves can be seen crashing into a building in the centre of Hangzhou A big clear up needed: The waves completely submerged roads and pavements Thousands of people turned out to witness the annual spectacle yesterday in different cities of Zhejiang province as the tidal waves battered provincial capital Hangzhou, which has around nine million residents. In the footage, the giant waves can be seen crashing into the city centre, completely submerging pavements. The Qintang tidal bore usually falls on the 18th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar which converts to September 19 on the Gregorian calendar this year. However due to the recent typhoon, the waves were one day early. Crashing waves: The Qintang tidal bore usually falls on the 18th day of the eighth month Swimming: Parts of Hangzhou city centre was left completely flooded by the tidal bore People watch one-line tidal bore of the Qiantang River in Haining City on September 18 Waiting for the waves: Crowds of visitors and local residents waited to watch the tidal bore of the Qiantang River in Haining city near Hangzhou Impressive! Tidal bore surges past a barrier on the banks of the Qiantang River yesterday Dramatic tidal movements can be seen in the period leading up to this date as well as afterwards. The prescribed date is traditionally considered the time when the gravity effect from the pull of the sun and the moon is at its most intense. The bore travels some 62 miles (100km) from Yanguan Township to Hangzhou. There were reports of minor injuries. A 30-year-old man fainted after being hit by the wave in Qiantong, according to iFeng. There was one reported injury where a man was swept some five metres (16 feet) by the powerful waves. Incredible: Visitors and local residents watch as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier Chinese border control have caught smugglers trying to bring in hundreds of new iPhone 7 handsets on the same day the product launched. Smugglers were caught crossing over from Hong Kong to Shenzhen in southern China with phones hidden in their trousers and tied around their waists, reports the People's Daily Online. According to border control, on September 16, they confiscated more than 400 units of the iPhone 7 and 7 plus estimated to be worth some three million yuan (344,787). Caught: One man was caught smuggling the mobile phones in his socks and around his waist Didn't get away with it! He had even stuffed the items down his socks to avoid capture The phones were seized on September 16, the same day that the iPhone 7 and 7 plus went on sale in Hong Kong and mainland China. According to reports, customs in Futian port in Shenzhen stopped the first suspicious passenger in the arrivals hall and found that he was carrying five new iPhone 7 phones. Throughout the day, the numbers of those attempting to smuggle the models into China increased. Pictures show the extreme measures people go to in order to smuggle the items out of Hong Kong and into the mainland. Seized property: Throughout the day of the iPhone launch, customs seized handsets Between 6.30 and 7pm, customs seized some 190 mobile phones According to reports, one phone per traveller is permitted and those with multiple handsets are accused of smuggling. At 4pm, customs seized another 44 handsets from 10 people. But peak smuggling time was between 6.30pm and 7pm where customs seized 190 new iPhones from seven people, all of whom strapped the new handsets on their bodies. By the end of the day, customs had seized some 400 units. The customs office said that when items like these are confiscated they usually either put them up for public auction, transfer it to relevant authorities or destroy the items. In this case, the customs office say they will put the items up for auction. This is the bizarre moment a couple exchanged two giant gold pythons instead of rings at their wedding banquet in China. The couple who both claimed to be wildlife lovers, held the wedding banquet at a hotel in Jilin province on September 16, reported People's Daily Online. The pair say their pythons, weighing 30kg (66 pounds) and 15kg (33 pounds) respectively, are the souvenirs of their relationship. The bride, Jiang Xue, is holding a 33-pound gold python to the groom at the wedding banquet in Jilin province, north-east China After exchanging the python, the couple hugged each other. The groom said the purpose of the ceremony was to promote wildlife protection The 24-second video is posted on Weibo page 'Things around Jilin' a day later. It first shows the groom, with a gold python wrapped around his neck, facing his bride. With the help of a bystander, the groom pulled another giant python out of a blue cabin. The snake the bride gave the groom weighed 33 pounds and is the smaller of the two reptiles The groom is seen holding a 66-pound python, which is later used to wrap around the bride The groom is then seen handing over the python to the bride. She then wraps the python around her neck. The couple, each of whom had a snake wrapping around them, then hug each other. The groom, known as Wu Jianfeng, said he is an animal lover. He said the purpose of exchanging the python with his wife is to promote wildlife conservation. 'Don't beat python if you see them in the countryside. They are very gentle,' said Wu at another video posted on Miaopai, a short-video sharing platform in China. Wu gave the 66-pound snake to his wife Jiang Xue while Jiang presented Wu a 33-pound animal. The couple keep the snakes as pets. They also reportedly raise spiders, lizards, pythons and birds. The two pythons look like giant golden necklace wrapping around the couple The couple discovered the two gold pythons in the countryside of Jilin City in 2015, according to a follow-up report People's Daily Online. They were believed to be intentionally released for religious purposes. Wu took them home and took care of the two pythons. He saw them as 'relationship souvenir' for him and his wife. The gold python is an albino mutant of the Burmese python. A grown-up may reach a length of 23 feet. It is a rare species. Although it is not on the National Key Protected Wild Animal List, Chinese citizens are not allowed to keep wild wild animals as pets. After the photos and videos went viral online, the two pythons were seized by forestry public security bureau in the morning of September 18, the report said. The pythons currently staying at a local wild animal rescue center. More than 120 unfinished villas have been left abandoned for over two decades in one of China's most modern cities. The deserted village poses a stark contrast to the nearby skyscrapers in Shenzhen, a fast-growing metropolis bordering Hong Kong, reported the Huanqiu.com, an affiliation to People's Daily Online. The empty structures are getting swallowed up by mother nature and parts of it have been converted into farmland. Modern vs. abandoned: A 'ghost town' has emerged in China in the middle of a modern city Deserted: 124 unfinished villas have been abandoned in Shenzhen's Longgang District View from above: The buildings, which were designed to be luxury villas, have been deserted for over 20 years The buildings are situated in the Longgang District of Shenzhen, where a two bed-room flat could cost 3.6 million yuan (413,744). Pictures have emerged online showing the dire conditions of the village. Vines climb the walls of the unfinished houses, weave through the windows and creep along the red-brick ruins. Local reports claim that these properties were designed to be luxury villas. There are 124 of them and they occupy 30,000 square metres (323,000 square feet). The properties were built by the Shenzhen-based Baojiaxing Real Estate company in 1992, but they were abandoned when the developer ran out of money, according to Guangdong Public Channel. Greenery: The striking pictures show the buildings being swallowed up by mother nature Mother nature: Vines climb the walls of the unfinished houses and wave through windows Derelict: Parts of the empty complex have been converted into farmland by residents The abandoned village has apparently attracted a number of farmers from nearby cities. One man, surnamed Lei, told a reporter from Guangdong Public Channel, that he and his family moved into this area in 2009. Lei said they supported themselves through farming and they pay rent to the local village comittee. An officer from the Shenzhen Urban Planning Bureau said they buildings had been earmarked to be demolished, however the bureau was still waiting for the approval from authorities. The same officer said a school and a park would be built on the site. Green jungle: The deserted village is a stark contrast to the nearby high-rises in Shenzhen You know a hotel room feels good when all you want to do is wrap up in the fluffy bath robe, snuggle under the covers and order room service. But you know when a hotel rooms great when you love it so much you want to take the whole thing home with you. Pull up a chair: The cosy library at Firmdale's Ham Yard Hotel in London's Piccadilly Thankfully, groups such as Soho House and interior designers like Kit Kemp are now creating collections theyre not only using for their own hotels but for those of us who like the idea of living with a little five-star luxury at home. Luxury hotels inspiring the interiors world is of course nothing new thing remember in the nineties when we all coveted the minimalist sanctuaries of pure white, from floor to ceiling, with barely-there furniture and flowing gossamer curtains, pioneered by Philippe Starcks designs for Ian Schragers Paramount, Delano and Sanderson hotels? Or the trend for wild wallpaper lining a feature wall thats still not quite gone away? The real impact came though when British designer Ilse Crawford and Soho House founder Nick Jones heralded the era of cosy country house chic when Babington House opened in Somerset in 1998. The appeal of home: Babington House in Somerset helped to popularise the country house look Its a look thats stuck long, buttoned sofas to languish on, cosy velvet armchairs to curl up in with a book or martini, four poster beds and a thousand-thread-count bedlinen to dream in; walls painted in slightly dirty ochre, grey, petrol blue and dark green hues; a mix of quirky paintings in mismatched frames on the walls and a vintage chair thrown in for added interest. Its a style thats also at the heart of the groups new Soho Home Collection (sohohome.com) inspired in response to not only needing to furnish its own house hotels (there are 17 to date, from London to Berlin, Manhattan to Istanbul, with five more in the pipeline), but by the constant requests from people asking how they can replicate the look at home. Bedside delight: The specially angled lamps at sumptuous Soho House in New York Nothing says Soho House more than our crystal glasses, the pattern inspired by vintage wallpaper print and named after the Barwell Barn at Soho Farmhouse, says Vicky Charles, Head of Interior Design for Soho House & Co. The thought theyve put into creating the ultimate hotel experience has extended into the design of the range, from the George Smith handmade Chesterfield sofas to the bedside lighting. Our lamps are designed not to wake the person next to you in bed they have a dim light that can easily be angled so that it pinpoints your book, rather than flooding the room, says Charles. Alternatively, Darlings of Chelsea also does a good range of deep-buttoned leather sofas, from 1,200 (darlingsofchelsea.co.uk). At the The Pigs various dreamy countryside escapes in Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset and Devon., the look isnt overdesigned but instead all about the unique pieces weve collected that makes each space feel as it its evolved over time, says Judy Hutson, co-founder and designer with husband Robin. No two hotels feel the same, nothing is too shiny, it feels very personal. Pattern at the Pig: Bert's Box at The Pig in the New Forest where ziz-zag tiles are a feature The same ethos applied to the new Berts Box at The Pig in the New Forest we kept it simple, working with just two materials, reclaimed timber and monochromatic zig zag tiles to flow throughout, making it feel big, lovely and luxurious, says Bert & Mays Lee Thornley. Fun piggy fabrics by Emily Bond (available at John Lewis) add a light touch. For Kit Kemp, Design Director of Firmdale Hotels whose own collections of wallpapers and fabrics, available through Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com), evolved because, "I like fabric designs that breathe often I see designs from other manufacturers that are too tight and busy in their repeats, she says. She loves fabric on walls it gives such a tailored feel to the room, but never use more than one large fabric repeat in a space, she advises. A textured treat: One of the rooms at Firmdale's Soho House in London A contrast of colours gives it a zing, a small geometric looks very smart, but how you mix it is up to you. Art plays a major role in Kemps designs too lucky for us, Conran for M&S has produced a range of cushions printed with designs by one of her favourite British artists, the late Breon OCasey, from just 15. At A-list favourite Claridges, we hear guests love the Sleepeezee mattresses, made to the hotels specifications (sleepeezee.co.uk) so much one royal visitor ordered 40 for his own palatial home. The hotels Deco tub chairs by Linley (davidlinley.com) are much ordered too, but if the 4,000 price tag is a bit steep, Oliver Bonass just as sweet little velvet Le Cocktail, 425, or Tub chair, 445, will do the trick (oliverbonas.com). Time to sit comfortably: One of the David Linley Deco tub chairs used at Claridges Finishing touches are key too a cosy throw (like the new Loch Lomond check by Lorraine Kelly for JD Williams throw, 19, jdwilliams.co.uk), interesting artwork (try the vintage prints from King & McGaw, from 14.95, kingandmcgaw.com), and a groovy lamp in a neon bright like Habitats Tommy double-headed desk or floor lamp, from 50 (habitat.co.uk) will complete the picture. As to applying the practical ingredients of what makes a great hotel room also work at home, Kemp (whose latest hotel The Whitby will open in midtown Manhattan this December), says a generosity of scale, a good bed (and a good light to read by), somewhere to sit and put on your shoes and a place to sit, like a window seat, to watch the world go by are all key. Two Galaxy Note 7 phones have caught fire in China, according to reports on social media. It comes two weeks after the launch of the highly-anticipated Galaxy Note 7 phone, Samsung was forced to recall 2.5 million devices worldwide While the some of the models are known to have a manufacturing flaw that damages its battery, Samsung has previously said Chinese phones were safe to use. This is because they use a battery that is different from the ones found in devices sold elsewhere. Scroll down for video Just two weeks after the launch of the highly-anticipated Galaxy Note 7 phone, Samsung was forced to recall 2.5 million devices worldwide (example pictured). Samsung has now said that the fault may stem from a subtle manufacturing error in the lithium ion batteries WHY WERE THE BATTERIES EXPLODING? Lithium batteries are use in a range of consumer electronic devices, favoured by manufacturers because they are lightweight and pack much more energy into a small space than other power cells. But storing so much energy in a tiny space, with combustible components separated by ultra-thin walls, makes them susceptible to overheating if exposed to high temperatures, damage or flaws in manufacturing. If the separators fail, a chemical reaction can quickly escalate out of control. Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile president told reporters in Seoul: 'The flaw in the manufacturing process resulted in the negative electrodes and the positive electrodes coming together.' It is unclear how Samsung failed to discover the battery problem before launching the Note 7. Advertisement If confirmed, the Chinese incidents would be the first such incidents in the world's largest smartphone market. Samsung said it was investigating one of the reported cases. A user of Chinese social media posted messages on Sunday saying a friend's Note 7 caught fire over the weekend. This comes as the company starts to replace some of the 2.5 million handsets that have been recalled across the world. The user told the Associated Press the Note 7 was bought on 1 September through the JD.com e-commerce site. The man, who asked not to be identified by name, said the phone started to heat up and vibrate late Saturday night, then exploded and emitted black smoke. Samsung contacted the owner on Sunday and offered to take back the phone in exchange for a refund, but the owner refused, according to the friend. He said he and the owner didn't want to be identified by name. A second account on a separate social media account said an owner's phone exploded Sunday while the person was playing a game on it. That account gave no contact information for the user or details of where the person lives. The Note 7 phones have a powerful 3,500 milliampere hour battery, whereas the Galaxy S7 smartphone, which has a slightly smaller body than the Note 7, features a 3,000 mAh battery GALAXY NOTE 7 SPECS 5.7inch curved screen Measures 153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9mm, weighs 169g (5.96 oz) MicroSD card expansion slot that holds up to 256 GB Available in black onyx, silver titanium, gold platinum and blue coral Built with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Display is a super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen USB-C charger port 64 GB of internal storage, with 4 GB RAM Non-removable Li-Po 3500 3,500 mAh battery Water-resistant phone body and S Pen Advertisement JD.com said Samsung is conducting an internal review on the first case. Samsung did not respond to emails seeking comment. Samsung launched the Note 7 phone in China on 1 September amid a growing number of reports of the phones catching fire overseas. The following day, Samsung announced it would stop sales of the Note 7 phones in 10 countries. An executive said sales in China would continue because Note 7 phones sold there used a different battery than those linked to problems elsewhere. Samsung, however, is now beginning to recall 1,858 Note 7 phones in China, according to a notice dated 14 September from the country's product quality agency. Samsung said those phones were distributed before September 1 to give consumers hands-on experience. The recall in China applies to phones made between 20 July and 5 August. The Note 7 debuted to rave reviews in August thanks to its speed, new software features and - not least - the estimated nine hours it would run between charges HOW LITHIUM ION BATTERIES WORK IN YOUR PHONE Lithium ion batteries have three basic parts - a positive cathode, a negative anode and a chemical layer in between known as an electrolyte. The electrolyte allows electrical charges flow between the electrodes. In lithium ion batteries, the cathode is usually lithium cobalt oxide while the anode is made from graphite. When your battery charges, electrons entering at the anode attract lithium ions, which then nestle in sites between the graphite's carbon layers. During use, lithium atoms at the anode start losing their electrons, allowing electrons to zip through the circuits in the phone to provide power. Meanwhile, lithium ions journey through the electrolyte to be reunited with electrons at the cathode. These processes keep going until all ions reach the cathode, causing that dreaded flashing battery symbol. Every time your battery uses 100 per cent of its charge, known as its capacity, it has been through a single charge cycle. Each charge cycle, however, reduces the battery's total capacity by a tiny amount. Advertisement 'I felt terrible when I heard about the battery explosion only days after I had bought my Note 7,' Kim Jung-Nam told AFP after receiving the replacement. 'But I liked that the company acted very quickly and decisively about the whole thing... so I decided to trust it once more,' he said. Analyst Lee Seung-Woo of Seoul-based IBK Investment & Securities said the recall may eventually cost Samsung up to 3.3 trillion won (2.5 billion/$2.9 billion), potentially denting future smartphone sales and forcing the company to spend more on marketing. The success of the recall is seen as crucial to Samsung retaining brand loyalty and preventing customers defecting to arch-rival Apple's new iPhone 7 or cheaper Chinese-made models. A Samsung spokeswoman confirmed the firm had started to offer the replacement handsets in South Korea and several European nations including Britain today - and would follow suit in the US on Wednesday and expand to other markets by next week. The company began offering replacements for users in Canada and Singapore last week and is set to start soon in other nations including Mexico, Taiwan, New Zealand the United Arab Emirates. But with only a trickle of customers visiting stores in Seoul today for their replacements, the fate of the much-hyped handset remained unclear, although consumers in the South Korean capital were sympathetic. Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile president, said an investigation revealed a 'tiny error' in the manufacturing process for the faulty batteries in the Note 7s. But only a trickle of customers visited stores in Seoul today for their replacements, so the fate of the handset is unclear From 'Starry Night' to 'Sunflowers', Vincent van Gogh's iconic style of painting is instantly recognisable. While van Gogh was praised as a genius after his death, his mental stability has long been a subject of debate. Medical professionals and art historians have now concluded that van Gogh suffered from a form of psychosis, although they could not pinpoint the underlying cause of his mental illness. From Starry Night to Sunflowers, Vincent Van Gogh's iconic style of painting is instantly recognisable. While many people have praised Van Gogh as a genius, his mental stability towards the end of his life has been questioned particularly after he cut off his own ear WHAT IS PSYCHOSIS? Psychosis is a mental health problem that causes people to perceive or interpret things differently from those around them. This might involve hallucinations or delusions. The combination of hallucinations and delusional thinking can often severely disrupt perception, thinking, emotion, and behaviour. Psychosis isn't a condition in itself it's triggered by other conditions. It's sometimes possible to identify the cause of psychosis as a specific mental health condition, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Psychosis can also be triggered by traumatic experiences, stress, or physical conditions such as drug misuse. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement The theory comes from a group of 35 international psychiatrists, doctors and art historians, who recently met at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The experts debated their ideas, which were sometimes 'fierce', according to Louis van Tilborgh, a professor of art history at the University of Amsterdam. Mr Tilborgh told The New York Times: 'It's difficult to make a diagnosis, so the real progress we've made is that specialists in the field are talking about it, and they've never done this before.' Van Gogh was born in 1853, and died in 1890 of a gunshot wound, which was apparently self-inflicted. His illness has been the subject of much speculation, with some people suggesting he suffered from bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, highlighting incidents such as when he cut off his own ear. Now for the first time, the Van Gogh Museum gathered all the medical evidence of his case, as well as some personal letters, to provide the panel of experts a basis for their debate. The findings were presented to the group by Arko Oderwald, a lecturer in philosophy and medical ethics at the Vrije University Medical Centre in Amsterdam last week. He said that the experts had ruled out a number of mental illnesses, and instead, suggested that van Gogh had suffered from psychotic episodes. They did not give an explanation for the underlying cause of this mental illness. In the past, it has been suggested that van Gogh suffered from lead poisoning after nibbling on paint chips. One of the symptoms is swelling of the retinas which can cause one to see light in circles like halos around objects - this can be seen in paintings like The Starry Night Mr Werner Strik, a professor of psychiatry and director of the University Hospital of Psychiatry, in Bern, said: 'Psychosis is a syndrome, a combination of symptoms. 'The essential symptoms for psychosis that we agreed on that he had were hallucinations, acoustic hallucinations, optical hallucinations and also delusions, hyper-excitation with confusional states, incoherent speech and unclear memory about the episodes.' He added that the evidence suggests that van Gogh did not suffer from schizophrenia, because 'schizophrenia is a long-lasting, chronic disease without insight, without introspection, without the fear of relapse.' This does not fit the profile of van Gogh's illness, he said. Scientists have found what could be the bones of some of the last surviving Neanderthals in Western Europe. And it appears our ancient cousins were far smarter than researchers believed. A recent study has revealed a collection of beads made from animal teeth, shells and fragments of ivory unearthed alongside the bones in a cave in central France. Fragments of bone (pictured) found in the cave in the same layers of earth as the beads have been difficult to identify but new research has been able to show they belonged to a young Neanderthals who appears to have still been breast-feeding when they perished WORLD'S OLDEST BLING Neanderthals may have created and worn the world's first jewellery 130,000 years ago. Eight talons belonging to a white-tailed eagle were found at Krapina in Croatia. Researchers say multiple cut marks and signs that they were polished suggest they were used to create a necklace or bracelet. They were found at site once inhabited by Neanderthals. Dr David Frayer, an anthropologist at the University Kansas who led the study of the talons, said they appear to have been made into symbolic jewellery 80,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe. Advertisement '[The specimens] are among some of the latest Neanderthals in western Eurasia, and possibly candidates to be involved in gene flow from Neanderthals into anatomically modern humans (or vice versa),' the team wrote. However, Neanderthal remains discovered in Gibraltar have been dated to 29,000 and 34,000-years-old, making it the last known refuge of the now extinct human relative, although there is some controversy over those dates. The latest study focused on fragments of bone found alongside the beads, which are thought to have been worn as part of a necklace, at the Grotte du Renne in Arcy-sur-Cure in central France. First unearthed in excavations between 1949 and 1963, anthropologists have argued about who created the necklace beads ever since. The beads, which were found alongside stone tools and bone fragments, have been dated to around 42,000-years-old and credited to a mysterious group called the Chatelperronian Culture. Some experts believe they were made by modern humans who were sweeping across Europe at around this time and credited the beads of Cro-Magnon man. However, the bones found in the cave were too small to be easily identified. Beads shaped from animal teeth, shells and fragments of ivory (pictured) seem to have been made by Neanderthals. They were found alongside bones that have now been identified as belonging to this extinct species of early humans The beads were found during excavations at Grotte du Renne (pictured) alongside fragments of bone that have now been identified as belonging to a Neanderthal Researchers have now turned to modern protein analsysis techniques to answer the puzzle. They found that the chemical composition of collagen in the bone fragments appeared to match those of Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Jean-Jacques hublin, director of the department of human evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, said: 'The process of replacement of archaic local populations by modern humans in Eurasia is still poorly understood as the makers of many palaeolithic tool-kits of this time period remain unknown. 'This type of research allows us to extract unrecognisable human fragments out of large archaeological assemblages and to revisit the mode and the tempo of this major event in human evolution with fresh material.' The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also performed other analysis to help them identify the bones. They used mitochondrial DNA which is a type of genetic material passed down through the maternal line only and found the 28 previously unidentified bone fragments found in the cave belonged to a single individual with Neanderthal ancestry on their mother's side. NEANDERTHALS WERE SMART, SOPHISTICATED AND ARTISTIC Neanderthals first emerged around 280,000 years ago, spreading to inhabit much of Europe and parts of Asia, but they eventually died out 40,000 years ago. The reason for their demise was often put down to being a more primative species of human that was unable to compete against the more sophisticated Homo sapiens. The view of Neanderthals (reconstruction pictured) has changed in recent years due to new research They were depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold lands of ice age Europe. However, a series of discoveries are now putting Neanderthals into a new light. Stone tools discovered at sites they inhabited suggest they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination. A 60,000-year-old multi-purpose bone tool unearthed in France also suggests Neanderthals understood how to use bones to make useful devices A recent discovery by researchers at the Museum National d'Histories Naturelle in Paris suggests that Neanderthals may have built homes using the materials they found around them. They discovered a 26 feet wide building created 44,000 years ago from mammoth bones. Many of the bones had also been decorated carvings and ochre pigments. Cross-hatched engravings found inside Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar are also thought to be the first known examples of Neanderthal rock art. DNA analysis has also shown that Neanderthals carried the same genes that are thought to have enabled modern humans to speak. Eight talons found at a 130,000 year old Neanderthal site in Krapina in Croatia are also thought to be the world's first jewellery, and may have been worn as a necklace. Now the latest evidence mounting in favour of a more sophisticated view of the ancient humans is the structures found 1100 feet (330 metres) deep into a cave in France. Advertisement While previous genetic studies have found that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, together with the protein analysis, it suggests the individual was a Neanderthal. Collagen in the bones of modern humans contain high amounts of an amino acid called aspartic acid. More ancient human species, however are rich in a different amino acid called asparagine. DNA studies in Neanderthals has also shown their genes are likely to produce asparagine rich types of caollagen. The beads have either had small holes drilled at one end or grooves cut where they would have been bound (pictured). Anthropologists have in the past been split over whether they were created by Homo sapiens or Neanderthals The bones and beads were unearthed in a cave at Arcy-sur-Cure in France (shown on map) The researchers also found the collagen was a form high in nitrogen isotopes, which is usually only found in children who are breast feeding. This, the scientists argue, suggests the fragments of bone in the cave likely belonged to a young child who was still being breast fed. Frido Welker, an anthropologist at the Max Planck Insittute for Evolutionary anthropology and the University of York, who was the lead author of the study, said: 'To differentiate between modern humans, Neandertals and Denisovans on the basis of ancient protein research provides really exciting opportunities for future research into the origins of our and their evolutionary history. 'These ancient hominin proteins in Pleistocene bones hold valuable phylogenetic and physiological information.' According to some experts, Neanderthals (reconstruction pictured) lacked the cognitive ability to have sophisticated culture and jewellery, but new research suggests otherwise Eagle talons found at a site inhabited by Neanderthals in Croatia are the earliest example of jewellery yet discovered and date to around 130,000 years ago The researchers were also able to use radiocarbon dating on the bone fragments, showing they date to around 42,000 years ago the same as the beads. Together they say this proves the Chatelperronian jewellery and tools were created by Neanderthals. This suggests these now extinct prehistoric early humans were more than capable of the sort of cognitive abilities some argue is the sole realm of our own species. Last year archaeologists revealed they had discovered the world's oldest jewellery at a site in Croatia, which is thought to date to 130,000 years ago. Eight eagle talons appear to have been polished and strung on a necklace more than 80,000 years before modern humans are thought to have arrived in Europe. The talons, which appear to have been used as symbolic jewellery, were found at a site where Neanderthal remains have also been found. While Star Trek-style teleportation is still a long way off, researchers have revealed a major breakthrough in the field of quantum travel. Two separate teams have transferred quantum information over several miles of fibre optic networks in an urban network. The results could lead to more secure bank accounts, a faster internet and possibly even open the door to the controversial idea of human teleportation. Scroll down for video One of the potential applications for quantum teleportation is a network of quantum computers (illustrated) and a 'quantum internet' that is far faster and much more secure than current networks WHAT IS ENTANGLEMENT? When atoms are 'entangled' the measurement of one of the atoms will not only cause it to 'pick' one state, but it will also instantaneously cause the atoms it is entangled with to do the same, even if that atom has not been measured itself. This means we automatically know information about all the atoms that are entangled at once, just by measuring one, and it does not matter how far apart in space the two entangled atoms are. This strange concept is at the heart of quantum computing and the source of the potential speed up of a quantum computer compared to a classical computer for certain algorithms. Advertisement Quantum teleportation depends on a phenomenon called quantum entanglement, which allows connections to be made between atoms, with their information being sent to others far away. The entangled particles are connected in such a way that the action of one directly affects the others, even if they are separated over large distances. Albert Einstein called this 'spooky action at a distance.' Previous studies have shown atoms teleporting across a room, and light being teleported across the Danube River in Austria. Now two separate studies, published today in Nature Photonics, have shown quantum teleportation is feasible through optical fibres across cities. The new research is a step towards building a 'quantum internet', which would be faster, more efficient and more secure than the networks we rely on today. Human teleportation was a feature seen in Star Trek (pictured). Some experts have said breakthroughs in quantum teleportation could eventually lead to human teleportation Quantum teleportation seems like science fiction in the sense that the state of a particle is destroyed at one location but imprinted on another remote system - without the two particles ever interacting. Long-distance quantum teleportation using a fibre network is more secure than through the air, but it requires independent light sources, and this presents a technological challenge. The light beam from one source needs to stay indistinguishable to the light beam from the other source after travelling through several miles of fibre. In one study, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai demonstrated the effect over optical fibres in Hefei, China. HOW QUANTUM TELEPORTATION WORKS How quantum teleportation works is complicated, but an analogy for the principle behind it may help. Let's say there are two people, Alice and Bob. Alice wants Bob to have a photon that's in the same 'state' as her photon, which we'll call photon P. For the sake of this analogy, we can pretend that the 'state' is a colour, and photon P is yellow. A third person named Charlie sends out two entangled photons, photon A to Alice and photon B to Bob, which behave as if they are part of the same whole. Both of these photons start out as blue. Alice's two photons, P, which is yellow, and A, which is blue, 'collide.' Alice measures the photons as they annihilate one another. Although P and A are destroyed in the crash, P's yellow colour is preserved. Because photon A and photon B are entangled, the yellow colour is 'teleported' to B. But in order to get photon B to become yellow, as photon P originally was, Alice needs to send Bob two bits of information to B the 'classical' way - for example, by sending pulses of light over an optical fibre. When Alice measures the state of her photon, Bob's photon changes state as well, as if flipping a switch. But Bob cannot know how the switch flipped unless Alice sends him the bits of information classically. Bob does not know that his photon has changed to yellow without that additional information. This Nasa cartoon demonstrates the principle of quantum teleportation using an analogy. Alice wants Bob to have a photon that's in the same 'state' as her photon Advertisement In the second, researchers from the University of Calgary designed another set-up to demonstrate the effect in Calgary, Canada. Each of these experiments is split over three distinct locations, traditionally named Alice, Charlie and Bob, to mimic the structure of future quantum networks. The two experiments separately demonstrated using optical fibres for quantum teleportation is possible across the length of cities. The Calgary study was able to demonstrate the effect across an urban fibre network measuring 3.8 miles (6.2km). In theory, the technique could be scaled up to work across any distance, which could lead to the development of a fibre-based quantum internet connecting major cities. 'Combined, these two experiments clearly show that teleportation across metropolitan distances is technologically feasible, and undoubtedly many interesting quantum information experiments in the future will be built on this work,' said Frederic Grosshans, writing in an accompanying Nature article. Grosshans, a researcher in quantum computing at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, was not involved in the research. WILL IT EVER BE POSSIBLE TO TELEPORT HUMANS? Critics have argued there are too many atoms in the human body to translate into physical data, teleport and then re-arrange in order. There is also the argument that in order to transport a living object, it would have to effectively die and come back to life. But Professor Michio Kaku has previously said the breakthroughs needed to transport humans instantly have already been made. He believes a teleporter could become a reality as soon as the end of the century and it's only a matter of time before we will be 'beaming' across the universe. The physicist is a professor at City University in New York. Advertisement The results of the two papers could have implications for cryptography, which involves transmitting information securely, including communications between Earth and spacecraft. For example, if Nasa is communicating with astronauts on Mars, it will not want to have hackers break the encrypted channel and give them false information. Quantum teleportation can also be used to make systems such as bank accounts more secure over longer distances. 'Undoubtedly many interesting quantum information experiments in the future will be built on this work,' said Grosshans. 'For the longer term, the two papers demonstrate that the possibility of quantum networks that span a city are a realistic proposition, which is an exciting vision for the future.' 'A relatively near term application would be some variety of quantum cryptography,' Grosshans told MailOnline. 'Allowing communications secure against future technical progress, the messages cannot be recorder and decrypted by a powerful computer in the future. 'I can imagine this kind of applications be used in 10 to 20 years or never, depending on the evolution of classical cryptography and the research on quantum computer.' One possible result of this research is human teleportation. Professor Michio Kaku (pictured) has previously said the breakthroughs needed to transport humans instantly have already been made. He believes a teleporter could become a reality as soon as the end of the century Professor Michio Kaku has previously said the breakthroughs needed to transport humans instantly have already been made. He believes a teleporter could become a reality as soon as the end of the century and it's only a matter of time before we will be 'beaming' across the universe. The physicist is a professor at City University in New York. 'You know the expression "Beam me up Scotty"? We used to laugh at it,' he said. 'We used to laugh when someone talked about teleportation, but we don't laugh anymore.' 'Quantum teleportation already exists [and] I think within a decade we will teleport the first molecule.' He continued that, as humans we already do this at an atomic level, reports The Express. Our brains respond differently when we expect to be dealing with an artwork, compared to when we expect to be dealing with reality Study says we must distance ourselves from art works to appreciate them While not everyone considers an unmade bed to be a work of art, our judgement is affected by being told that it is. A neuroscience study lends support to the 200-year-old art theory first put forward by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Judgement, published in 1790. According to the new research, being told that something is art automatically changes our response to it, both on a neural and a behavioural level. Tracy Emin's My Bed on display at the Tate Liverpool. According to the new research, being told that something is art automatically changes our response to it, both on a neural and a behavioural level HOW THE STUDY WORKED A group of 24 students was asked to evaluate a series of pictures while their brain activity was measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG). This involves small sensors being attached to the scalp in order to measure brain activity. Half of the pictures were deemed 'pleasant' and the other half were 'unpleasant'. The participants were told that the pictures were either works of art or photographs of real-life events. At the end of the test, they were asked to rate each image according to likability and, attractiveness. The team measured the level of electromagnetic activity in the brain's cortex between 0.6 and 0.9 seconds after looking at the picture. In a second experiment, the researchers added a third factor into the test. Along with works of art and real events, pictures could also be designated as scenes from films or documentaries. Advertisement Researchers at Erasmus University in Rotterdam asked a group of 24 students to evaluate a series of pictures while their brain activity was measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG). This involves small sensors being attached to the scalp in order to measure brain activity. Half of the pictures were deemed 'pleasant' and the other half were 'unpleasant'. The participants were then told that the pictures were works of art or photographs of real-life events. At the end of the test, they were asked to rate each image according to likability and, attractiveness. The team measured the level of electromagnetic activity in the brain's cortex between 0.6 and 0.9 seconds after looking at the picture. This showed that the amplitude of the stimulus was much greater when the the participants were told that the picture depicted a real-world event, compared to when they were told it was a work of art. The works of art were rated as being more likeable than the real pictures. 'This work suggests that when we expect to be dealing with an artwork, our brain responds differently than when we expect to be dealing with reality' said lead researcher Noah van Dongen from Erasmus University. 'When we think we are not dealing with reality, our emotional response appears to be subdued on a neural level. 'This may be because of a tendency to 'distance' ourselves from the image, to be able to appreciate or scrutinize its shapes, colours, and composition instead of just its content. 'We know that our brains may have evolved with 'hard-wired' mechanisms that allow us to adjust our response to objects depending on the situation. 'What this work indicates, is that Kant's two century old theory of aesthetics, where he proposed that we need to emotionally distance ourselves from the artwork in order to be able to properly appreciate it, might have a neurological basis and that art could useful in our quest to understand our brain, emotions, and maybe our cognition.' The study lends support to the 200-year-old art theory first put forward by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Judgement, where he said that we need to emotionally distance ourselves from the art in order to be able to properly appreciate it In a second experiment, the researchers added a third factor into the test. Along with works of art and real events, picture could also be designated as scenes from films or documentaries. The study found that the neurological effect on emotional response completely vanished after the third factor was added. 'The results of this modified experiment indicate that the effect of context is more complex than it might seem,' explained Mr van Dongen. 'It might be that too much or too ambiguous information reduces the neurological effect. 'We are just beginning to understand our automatic emotion regulation and more research is necessary to bring its nuances to light.' If you really want someone to remember what you tell them, forget emailing or phoning. Speaking face-to-face and making eye contact is far better at helping get a message across, a study has found. While the power of eye contact has been known for some time, researchers had been puzzled as to why it makes a difference. Now researchers believe being confronted by a pair of eyeballs makes us relate information to the thing we care about most ourselves. While the power of eye contact has been known for some time, researchers had been puzzled as to why it makes a difference. Now researchers believe being confronted by a pair of eyeballs makes us relate information to the thing we care about most ourselves WHY EYE CONTACT IS IMPORTANT Being confronted by a pair of eyeballs makes us relate information to the thing we care about most ourselves. Being looked at makes us think about what the other person is seeing. And by making us focus our attention inwards, it helps us relate directly to the new information, the researchers from France and Finland said. It makes us act in a more pro-social, altruistic way because we care about our own reputation. Advertisement Previous research had claimed that seeing a pair of eyes makes us more aroused, helping us to remember better. But this would not explain all the effects of being looked at. As well as making information more memorable, we also act in a kinder and less anti-social way and act more honestly when we can see a pair of pupils looking at us. And the effect is so strong that it even works when looking at a picture of a pair of eyes. Now researchers believe that being confronted by a pair of eyeballs makes us relate information to the thing we care about most ourselves. Being looked at makes us think about what the other person is seeing. And by making us focus our attention inwards, it helps us relate directly to the new information, the researchers from France and Finland said. Stock image ALTRUISTIC PEOPLE HAVE MORE SEX Forget going to the gym and buying sexy underwear - if you want to have more sex, what you really need to do is become a nicer person. According to a recent study, altruistic people are more successful in the bedroom, particularly if they are men. Whether it's hooking up or settling down, being more likely to help others makes people enjoy more sexual relations over their lifetimes. In the paper published in the British Journal of Psychology, a research team led by Professor Steven Arnocky, psychologist at Nipissing University studied the links between people's sexual history and how kind they are. 'This study is the first to show that altruism may translate into real mating success in Western populations, that altruists have more mates than non-altruists,' said Professor Pat Barclay, from the University of Guelph, who also worked on the study. 'It appears that altruism evolved in our species, in part, because it serves as a signal of other underlying desirable qualities, which helps individuals reproduce,' Professor Arnocky added. Advertisement Being looked at makes us think about what the other person is seeing. And by making us focus our attention inwards, it helps us relate directly to the new information, the researchers from France and Finland said. It makes us act in a more pro-social, altruistic way because we care about our own reputation. Professor Laurence Conty of the University of Paris 10, France said: The direct gaze has the power to enhance the experience that the information present in the situation is strongly related to ones own person. Processing stimuli in relation to oneself acts as an associative glue for perception, memory, and decision-making. This automatically modulates current information processing and related decisions, improving, for example, memory performance. The effect even works when there are a pair of printed eyes on a poster, for instance, his colleagues write in the journal Consciousness and Cognition. Professor Nathalie George from the French Brain and Spine Institute in Paris explained this is because self-involvement in information processing also heightens the salience of concerns about being a target for others social evaluation and, consequently, concerns about ones self-reputation. 'These concerns lead to adopt pro-social, altruistic behaviour. Professor Jari Hietanen, from the University of Tampere, Finland said: The belief of being watched by another is embedded in the perception of the direct gaze. 'Such a belief has become an intrinsic property of the direct gaze, based on both human evolution and overlearning during early life. The researchers note that babies have a preference for people who gaze at them directly, as opposed to other directions. Amsterdam is well known for its vast waterway, which has a total of 165 canals, with a combined length of over 62 miles (100km). While boats already regularly operate on the waters, the city is now looking to the future of transportation self-driving boats. The Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) has today announced a new five-year research plan, under the name 'Roboat', to explore the possibility of autonomous floating vehicles. Amsterdam is well known for its waterway, which has a total of 165 canals, with a combined length of over 62 miles (100 kilometres). While boats do regularly operate on the waters, the city is now looking to the future of transportation self-driving boats (artist's impression) WHAT WILL ROBOATS DO? AMS has collaborated with researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University ad Research to create the Roboats. The boats will be used to: - transport goods and people - make on-demand bridges and stages - gather data on water quality, air quality and noise - clear the canals from floating waste - dredge out the 12,000 bicycles a year which end up in the canals Advertisement AMS has collaborated with researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University and Research to create the Roboats. Carlo Ratti, a principal investigator from MIT, said: 'Imagine a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people. 'But also think of dynamic and temporary floating infrastructure like on-demand bridges and stages, that can be assembled or disassembled in a matter of hours.' The boats will also gather data on environmental aspects like water quality, air quality and noise, and provide more efficient ways to clear the canals from floating waste or dredging out the 12,000 bicycles a year which end up in the Dutch city's canals. The programme has 25 million (21.4 million) in funding, and aims to have a working prototype on the canals by 2017. As well as the autonomous boats, the Roboat project will also look to create data-gathering robots to help with public health issues. These will be based on work by MIT, which has looked at putting sensors in sewer systems to monitor diseases such as influenza or diabetes. As well as transporting goods and people, the boats will provide a more efficient ways to clear the canals from floating waste or dredging out the 12,000 bicycles a year which end up in the Dutch city's canals (artist's impression) Speaking to The Verge, Arjan van Timmeren, AMS's scientific director, says the aim is to create a 'predictive model for potential outbreaks.' He added that the project will also explore the commercial application of these systems, in the hopes that the technology could be sold to outer cities. For example, Roboat is also partnering with the US city of Boston, where sea levels have risen by 10 inches (25 centimetres) since 1921. To deal with the effects of these rising sea levels, architects have previously suggested converting some of Boston's streets to canals, reducing the impact on the city's defences. The next step after this could be to introduce self-driving boats. As we walk down a street, our brains unconsciously record details of our surroundings and the distance we have travelled to help us recall them later. Now researchers believed they have seen the building blocks of these memories as they are being formed. Scientists were able to watch the brains of mice light up as they walked on a treadmill and as they then later rested. Scientists claim to have seen the building blocks of memories as they are created. They used fluorescent proteins in the neurons of mice, which lit up sequentially as the animals ran on a treadmill and later the same patterns would light up when they rested (pictured) WHAT DO RATS DREAM OF? They have a reputation for having keen noses and a voracious appetite for cheese, but it seems rats obsession with food continues even when they are asleep. Researchers have found the brains of resting rats rehearse journeys they need to take in order to reach a tasty treat. The findings suggest that rats do dream, and when they do, it seems they dream of food or at least how to get to it. In a series of experiments, neuroscientists at University College London examined the activity of neurons in the hippocampus of the brains of rats. The animals were first allowed to view food in a location in a simple T-shaped track that they could not access. They were then allowed to rest in a separate chamber before being allowed to walk along the track to reach a piece of honey-coated rice. The researchers found 'place cells' in the rats hippocampus which act to help generate a mental map in the brain - fired in exactly the same order when they were resting and when they were walking along the track to reach the food. This suggests the animals were imagining walking along the track while they were resting, even though they had not done so yet. Advertisement They found the neurons appear to fire in the same sequence while resting as they did when on the treadmill, as if the animal is mentally retracing its steps. It shows that the brain seems to encode distance in a certain way and may help to explain how we attach memories of experiences to individual places or time. Dr Rosa Cossart, a neuroscientist at the Institut de Neurobiologie de la Mediterranee in Marseilles, France, and her colleagues believe these may be the building blocks of memories as the mouse retrieves them. This sort of replay when resting is thought to be a crucial step in the formation of memories and perhaps helping the animal make decisions in the future. Speaking to MailOnline, Dr Cossart said: 'It is known that reactivations occurring during quiet rest can have a role in action planning or decision making.' The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Science, added a fluorescent protein to the neurons of five mice so they would light up when they were active. This allowed them to monitor the activity of more than 1,000 neurons in each mouse as they walked and rested. While researchers have used implanted electrodes to monitor the activity in the brains of mice before, using fluorescent proteins allowed the researchers to observe activity over a far larger part of the brain. When the mice were running on a treadmill a series of neurons light up in sequential patterns. Dr Cossart said: 'The activity we recorded during running is a representation of the distance travelled in the mouse hippocampus.' When the animals were resting, however, they saw the same cells light up but in a much faster way. These seemed to persist even for several days after they had been on the treadmill. The flourescent protein enabled researchers to watch as individual neurons fired (example pictured). The neurons activated in distinct patterns as the mice ran on treadmills but when they were resting the activity was replayed at greater speed and in chunks They also appeared to light up in sequential blocks that corresponded to particular fragments of the run, almost like they were fast forwarding through their journeys, recalling chunks of their time on the treadmill at a time. This may also help the neurons to strengthen or weaken their connections over time depending on how important the memory is, a process known as synaptic plasticity. Dr Cossart added: 'The replay is thought to occur faster to allow for synaptic plasticity to occur between the neurons involved.' Surprisingly the neurons for each piece of the memory were also mixed up throughout the hippocampus rather than being right next to each other. Instead they seemed to fire in distinct patterns, triggering neurons in other parts of the brain as it recorded the time and distance on the treadmill. However, the animals were not given any other sensory input, such as changing scenery, smells or sounds, like they would get in the real world. This would suggest the memories formed then may be a lot more complex as these senses get mixed in with different distances. Kamran Diba, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, told New Scientist that it was surprising to see an experience broken down into segments during recall. We've all had that feeling that somebody is watching us even if we're not looking directly at their eyes. Sometimes we even experience a feeling of being watched by someone completely outside our field of vision. But how can we explain this phenomenon without resorting to psuedoscientific explanations like extrasensory perception - or a 'sixth sense'? Dr Harriet Dempsey-Jones, a Postdoctoral Researcher in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford explains how our minds can play tricks on us. Sometimes we experience a feeling of being watched by someone completely outside our field of vision. Dr Harriet Dempsey-Jones, a Postdoctoral Researcher in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford explains how our minds can play tricks on us WHY EYE CONTACT IS IMPORTANT Being confronted by a pair of eyeballs makes us relate information to the thing we care about most ourselves. Being looked at makes us think about what the other person is seeing. And by making us focus our attention inwards, it helps us relate directly to the new information, the researchers from France and Finland said. It makes us act in a more pro-social, altruistic way because we care about our own reputation. Advertisement The mechanism that detects eyes and shifts our attention towards them may be innate newborns just two to five days old prefer staring at faces with direct gaze, for example, (over averted gaze). It's not just our brains that are specialised to draw us to the gaze of others our eyes are also exceptionally formed to catch attention and easily reveal the direction of gaze. Indeed, our eye structure is distinct from almost all other species. The area of our eye surrounding our pupil (the sclera) is very large and completely white. This makes it very easy to discern the direction of someone's gaze. In many animals, by contrast, the pupil takes up a lot of the eye, or the sclera is darker. This is thought to be an adaptation to camouflage the eye in predators cleverly hiding the direction of gaze from potential prey. But why is gaze so important that it needs all this specialised processing? Basically, eyes provide us with insights into when something meaningful is happening. One study found that dogs in a shelter that gaze at humans while furrowing their inner brows (momentarily making their eyes look larger) get adopted significantly faster than dogs that didn't (stock image) Shifts in attention from another person are able to, almost reflexively redirect our attention in line with their gaze. Our heightened attention to gaze is thought to have evolved to support cooperative interactions between humans, and is argued to form the foundation for many of our more complex social skills. Disturbances of normal gaze processing are seen across a wide range of conditions. For example, people on the autistic spectrum spend less time in general fixating on the eyes of others. DO WE HAVE HIDDEN SUPERVISION? The human eye is considered to be a wonder of evolution, yet despite decades of study, scientists have been unable to pinpoint just how good people are at seeing in the dark. But now a new study has revealed that our eyes may be far better than we could possibly have imagined in dark conditions. It found that the human eye is capable of detecting as little as a single photon - the subatomic particles that make up light - hitting the retina in a dark room. The findings suggest the human eye is far more sensitive than had previously been imagined and raises the prospect that humans could have better night. Advertisement They also have more trouble extracting information from eyes, such as emotion or intentions, and are less able to tell when someone is looking directly at them. On the other extreme, highly socially anxious people tend to fixate on eyes more than those with low anxiety, even though they show increased physiological fear reactions when under the direct gaze of another. You may not realise it, but eye gaze affects something so primitive as our psychological reactions to other people. It is a large cue in establishing social dominance. Also, here's a tip: direct gaze makes people appear more trustworthy and attractive (you're welcome). This also seems to apply to animals. One study suggested that dogs may have evolved to adaptively react to our gaze preferences. It found that dogs in a shelter that gaze at humans while furrowing their inner brows (momentarily making their eyes look larger) get adopted significantly faster than dogs that didn't. It's not just our brains that are specialised to draw us to the gaze of others our eyes are also exceptionally formed to catch attention and easily reveal the direction of gaze. Indeed, our eye structure is distinct from almost all other species Gaze also helps unconsciously regulate turn-taking in our conversations people more often than not look away while talking (as compared to when listening), and we typically exchange a mutual gaze with our partner to indicate a changeover between talking and listening. Try messing with this natural gaze flux you will probably weird out your conversational partner. The truth about gaze detection Because the human eye gaze is optimised for easy detection, it is often easy for us to work out whether someone is looking at us. For example, if someone sitting right opposite you on the train is looking at you, you can register the direction of their gaze without looking directly at them. However, it turns out we can only reliably detect such gaze within four degrees of our central fixation point. However, we can use other cues to tell when someone is looking at us in our peripheral vision. Typically we also rely on the position or movement of their head (such as a turn towards you). We also rely on head or body cues when the potential watcher is in the dark or is wearing sunglasses. But, interestingly, you may not be right about being watched as often as you think. It turns out that in uncertain situations, people systematically overestimate the likelihood that the other person is looking at them. This may be an adaptation to prepare us for interactions that are about to occur, particularly if the interaction may be threatening. But what about the feeling that someone outside your field of vision, such as behind you, is watching? Is it really possible to 'sense' that? This has long been a source of scientific investigation (the first study on this was published in 1898) probably because this idea is very popular. Some studies have found that up to 94 per cent of people report that they have experienced the feeling of eyes upon them and turned around to find out they were indeed being watched. Because the human eye gaze is optimised for easy detection, it is often easy for us to work out whether someone is looking at us. For example, if someone sitting right opposite you on the train is looking at you, you can register the direction of their gaze without looking directly at them Sadly for those who wish we were X-men, it appears much of the body of research supporting the 'psychic staring effect' appears to be suffering from methodological issues, or unexplained experimenter effects. For example, when certain experimenters act as the watcher in these experiments, they seem to be more 'successful' at getting people to detect their stares than other experimenters. It is almost certainly an unconscious bias, perhaps due to initial interactions with the experimenter. Memory biases may also also come into play. If you feel like you are being watched, and turn around to check another person in your field of view might notice you looking around and shift their gaze to you. When your eyes meet, you assume this individual has been looking all along. Situations where this happens are more memorable than when you look around to find no one looking at you. However, sources say the firm rushed production in order to beat Apple The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco highlights the challenge of packing more power into much thinner phones, all while rushing for earlier release dates. Shortly after its release, reports emerged that the Note 7 handsets were exploding and experts now believe the real culprit was Samsung's urgency to be beat Apple. Once rumors surfaced that Apple's latest device wasn't set to be the year's biggest innovation, Samsung executives 'pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features'. Scroll down for videos Shortly after Samsung released the Galaxy Note 7, incidents surfaced that handsets were exploding. Although explosions are due to overheating batteries, experts believe the real culprit was Samsung's urgency to be beat Apple BEATING APPLE FOR A PRICE Many believe that the root of the exploding batteries comes from Samsung's rush to beat Apple. While employees scrambled to meet the early launch date, suppliers also stretched their work hours and were under more pressure than usual. Samsung executives agreed to move production ahead of schedule in order 'launch a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers' and take advantage of Apple's letdown, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Samsung was able to pack the Note 7 with a range of cutting-edge technology in just a short time. This includes a high-resolution screen that stretches around the edges, iris-recognition security and of course, a faster charging battery. But within a few days of the launch, reports surfaced that the Note 7's battery was bursting into flames. Advertisement This group of executives, which includes mobile chief D.J. Koh, agreed to move production ahead of schedule in order 'launch a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers' and take advantage of Apple's letdown, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. By doing so, Samsung was able to pack the Note 7 with a range of cutting-edge technology in just a short period of time. This includes a high-resolution screen that stretches around the edges, iris-recognition security and of course, a faster charging battery. However, this accelerated production came at a cost. On August 2, Samsung took the stage in New York to unveil its 5.7 inch handset, a place where the firm also saw an opportunity to take a stab at Apple. 'Want to know what else it comes with?' teased Samsung's vice-president of marketing, Justin Denison. 'An audio jack. I'm just saying.' Within a few days of the launch, it appeared Samsung was eating their own words after reports surfaced that the Note 7 was bursting into flames. Just a month after the launch, Koh held a press conference in Seoul, South Korea where he announced the recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 devices that would eventually be replaced with a new and safe Note 7. Although the firm was praised for its quick thinking, it was also criticized for announcing these plans prior to establishing a strategy on how to gather millions of phones in 10 countries and get each person a replacement. This group of executives, which includes mobile chief D.J. Koh, agreed to move production ahead of schedule in order 'launch a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers' and take advantage of Apple's letdown, the iPhone 7 (pictured) In the meantime, Samsung had short-term solutions such as shutting phones off and not using them to a software patch that prevents batteries from overheating. 'This is creating an enormous problem for the company -- for its reputation and ability to support its customers when there's a problem,' David Yoffie, a management professor at Harvard Business School and board member at Intel Corp, told Bloomberg. While employees scrambled to meet the early launch date, suppliers also stretched their work hours and were under more pressure than usual. One supplier told Bloomberg that 'it was particularly challenging to work with Samsung employees this time, as they repeatedly changed their minds about specs and work flow'. WHY WERE THE BATTERIES EXPLODING? Lithium batteries are use in a range of consumer electronic devices, favored by manufacturers because they are lightweight and pack much more energy into a small space than other power cells. But storing so much energy in a tiny space, with combustible components separated by ultra-thin walls, makes them susceptible to overheating if exposed to high temperatures, damage or flaws in manufacturing. If the separators fail, a chemical reaction can quickly escalate out of control. Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile president told reporters in Seoul: 'The flaw in the manufacturing process resulted in the negative electrodes and the positive electrodes coming together.' It is unclear how Samsung failed to discover the battery problem before launching the Note 7. Advertisement 'Some Samsung workers began sleeping in the office to avoid time lost in commuting.' But with all the sweat and tears, the firm believed they had come out on top. The Note 7 devices were shipped to carriers all over the world in time for an early launch and one executive even said they had time to test the handsets in May, which is 'the typical amount of time to check its capabilities'. However, it wasn't until the devices reached customers were they deemed ticking time bombs. In a case shortly after the release, one man shared a video of a charred Note 7 on YouTube. Within a few days of the launch, it appeared Samsung was eating there own words after reports surfaced that the Note 7's battery was bursting into flames. After the recall announcement, the firm told people to not use their Note 7 devices at all THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 RECALL The world's largest maker of mobile phones recalled 2.5-million units of its top-of-the-range model more than two weeks ago, after batteries began catching fire while charging. But users snubbed the South Korean electronics giant's offer of a temporary replacement until new Note 7s became available, and there seemed to be little urgency among consumers for the permanent fix offered. The success of the recall is seen as crucial to Samsung retaining brand loyalty and preventing customers defecting to arch-rival Apple's new iPhone 7 or cheaper Chinese-made models. A Samsung spokeswoman confirmed the firm had started to offer the replacement handsets. The company began offering replacements for users in Canada and Singapore last week and is set to start soon in other nations including Mexico, Taiwan, New Zealand the United Arab Emirates. But with only a trickle of customers visiting stores in Seoul today for their replacements, the fate of the much-hyped handset remained unclear, although consumers in the South Korean capital were sympathetic. The recall dealt a major blow to the firm's reputation and raised alarm among airline, with several banning passengers from using the device on board. South Korean users have time until March 2017 to hand in their phones for a replacement but Samsung is hoping a software update that will limit battery recharges to 60 percent of capacity will jolt consumers into returning their handsets. The recall crisis erupted as Samsung finds itself squeezed by competition from Apple in the high-end market and Chinese rivals in the low-and mid-end segment. Advertisement 'Hey YouTube,' Ariel Gonzalez says. 'Be careful out there. Everyone rockin' the new Note 7, it might catch fire y'all.' Another was from family in St. Petersburg, Florida, who reported a Galaxy Note 7 phone left charging in their Jeep caught fire and destroyed the vehicle. And most recently, a six-year-old boy was burned after a Samsung phone 'exploded' in his hands. 'This is a crisis and a blow to Samsung's image,' said Kim Sang Jo, economics professor at Hansung University in Seoul. 'Clearly there were procedural missteps and the company will have to restore consumer and investor confidence.' About two weeks ago, the US aviation safety officials warned passengers not to turn on or even charge a Note 7 during while one the plane, after numerous incident reports surfaced. The family said the phone, which was plugged in here, was engulfed in flames which quickly consumed the rest of the vehicle The Federal Aviation Administration also told passengers not to put smartphones in their checked bags, citing 'recent incidents and concerns raised by Samsung' about the devices. Delta Air Lines Inc, the No.2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, said it is still studying the issue. 'Delta is in constant contact with the FAA and other bodies in its run of business as a global airline,' spokesman Morgan Durrant said in a statement. 'We will comply with any directive and are studying this matter. Safety and security is always Delta's top priority.' New York and New Jersey have both asked Samsung users to shut their phones down while riding public transportation until every faulty Note 7 has been replaced. HOW LITHIUM ION BATTERIES WORK IN YOUR PHONE Lithium ion batteries have three basic parts - a positive cathode, a negative anode and a chemical layer in between known as an electrolyte. The electrolyte allows electrical charges flow between the electrodes. In lithium ion batteries, the cathode is usually lithium cobalt oxide while the anode is made from graphite. When your battery charges, electrons entering at the anode attract lithium ions, which then nestle in sites between the graphite's carbon layers. During use, lithium atoms at the anode start losing their electrons, allowing electrons to zip through the circuits in the phone to provide power. Meanwhile, lithium ions journey through the electrolyte to be reunited with electrons at the cathode. These processes keep going until all ions reach the cathode, causing that dreaded flashing battery symbol. Every time your battery uses 100 per cent of its charge, known as its capacity, it has been through a single charge cycle. Each charge cycle, however, reduces the battery's total capacity by a tiny amount. Advertisement Although Samsung voluntarily recalled 2.5 million devices worldwide, the announcement seemed to fall on deaf ears as many stores and carriers continued to sell them. The US Consumer Product Commission was then forced to step in and recall the one million in the US, where some 92 incidences of batteries overheating have been reported. Samsung rushed to produce and ship the Note 7 devices and one executive even said they had time to test the handsets in May, which is 'the typical amount of time to check its capabilities'. However, it wasn't until the devices reached customers were they deemed ticking time bombs GALAXY NOTE 7 SPECS 5.7inch curved screen Measures 153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9mm, weighs 169g (5.96 oz) MicroSD card expansion slot that holds up to 256 GB Available in black onyx, silver titanium, gold platinum and blue coral Built with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Display is a super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen USB-C charger port 64 GB of internal storage, with 4 GB RAM Non-removable Li-Po 3500 3,500 mAh battery Water-resistant phone body and S Pen Advertisement The US notice affects around one million of the global total of 2.5 million handsets being recalled, which has cast a cloud over the South Korean electronics giant and world's largest smartphone vendor, reports AFP. The recall is the largest the smartphone industry has ever witnessed, however, Samsung did receive a pat on the back from others in the technology industry for the firm's speed and decisiveness, reports The New York Times. 'I thought, 'How is it that this is happening?' ' Jennifer Shecter, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports, told The New York Times. Shecter said the group found an inconsistent response to the recall across America, as some stores and carries continued to keep selling the Note 7 even days after Samsung made the recall announcement. 'Samsung made an announcement, but the government wasn't involved, there wasn't a clear message, there wasn't an approved remedy and there wasn't a clear fix,' she said. Samsung has started an exchange program for Galaxy Note 7 owners in the UK and Ireland today, which allows them to trade in their ticking time bombs for safe smartphones. 'Samsung is fully confident that the battery issue has been completely resolved in the replacement Note 7 devices that will be available to customers in UK and Ireland from this week,' said the firm in a statement. The tech company added that while there had only been 'a small number of reported incidents, safety is the number one concern. 'Our absolute priority is the safety of our customers that's why we are asking all Galaxy Note 7 customers to act now and exchange today,' said Conor Pierce, vice president of IT & Mobile at Samsung UK & Ireland. My heart pounding, I tentatively reach out to stroke the cool skin of a 4ft-long anaconda that has just been hauled from the Amazon. Our three naturalist guides wrestle with the majestic snake while attempting to grin for our photos as we look on in a state of excitement and shock. It is just another incredible day on our four-night luxury cruise exploring the Peruvian Amazon, one of the most beautiful and isolated places on earth. As morning dawns, we awake to the lush greenery of the worlds biggest rainforest passing slowly outside our bedroom window as we sail towards the Yanallpa River When we step off the plane in Iquitos, the main city in the region, which is accessible only by water or air, we are not sure what to expect. The stifling heat and the humidity leave our palms damp and, as night falls, we are reminded why it is called the rainforest: it rains and rains. But staff on-board the Aria Amazon, our cosy, five-star ship with room for just 32 guests plus crew, have plenty of distractions including a three-course taster menu, unlimited wine and an array of exotic Amazonian fruits. The passengers, mostly raucous Americans with huge cameras, include a handful of British and an incredibly attentive and friendly Peruvian crew. As morning dawns, we awake to the lush greenery of the worlds biggest rainforest passing slowly outside our bedroom window as we sail towards the Yanallpa River. That morning, on our simple but sturdy motorised skiffs, we mount Indiana Jones-style expeditions deep into the trees, spurred on by the calls of monkeys and exotic birds. Because we went in the wet season well, the wetter season much of the land is flooded. We glide under treetop canopies, watching spider monkeys dart along branches above. Iridescent butterflies flutter by and indolent sloths turn their heads towards us as our guides impersonate their mating calls. The rainforest is home to nearly a third of the worlds species. Look around quickly and you see nothing. Concentrate, and scarlet macaws and noisy night monkeys appear as if by magic. They are oblivious to our boat chugging through the water. There is also a surprising amount of river traffic. Whole communities live along the bank, sustained by the ecosystem. The rainforest is home to nearly a third of the worlds species. Look around quickly and you see nothing. Concentrate, and scarlet macaws and noisy night monkeys appear as if by magic Most have adopted simple lifestyles that complement the natural harmony of the jungle. We visit Belen, a village of floating houses, schools and bars we even see a floating dog kennel. As the skiffs loaded with hundreds of bananas sail past, children and women washing clothes stare. Sadly, we also spot loggers and industrial fishers and see first-hand the damage they do. As we explore the 8,000sq mile Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, we watch people fishing. They wave at us, proudly holding out their catches for the click-click of our cameras. Then we visit them in their villages where we hand out pens, paper and clothes and they sell us necklaces made with beads and piranha teeth. The most spectacular moment of our trip comes as dark falls. Night brings a different kind of magic to the rainforest. As the sun drops, the deafening cacophony of howler monkeys, night birds and buzzing insects reaches an almost unbearable volume. That night, near the Yanayacu Lake, we watch thousands of fireflies wink in the darkness as our skiff negotiates the river. Night is also the best time to search for caimans. These smaller cousins of the crocodile are best spotted by their eyes, which glow red in torchlight. We manage to catch a spectacled caiman and black caiman, both babies. The guides hand them to us to hold gently. Our cruise finishes with an evening trip to watch a sunset as schools of ancient species of pink and grey dolphins breach the placid waters near our boat. As we return to the Aria, our crew have prepared lectures for us and a party. They are talented musicians and play us Beatles songs on pan pipes and guitars as we salsa the night away. When it comes to booking a holiday in America, our thoughts often turn to the land to the cities, mountains, beaches, canyons, deserts and national parks of this giant country. But the U.S. is also fabulous from the water. With 12,479 miles of coast, and inviting islands galore, it is a haven for superb cruise escapes. Heres our top picks: Awash with colour: Autumn in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire Winning West Coast Whats the attraction? Americas long Pacific flank combines sunny California with the mysterious forested shores of Oregon and Washington making for two cruises in one. The cruise: Norwegian Cruise Line has a Pacific Coastal voyage scheduled for April 30, 2017. This five-night sailing will begin in Los Angeles and stop in San Francisco before forging north in search of Canada and Vancouver Island. Shore thing: San Francisco will be a highlight the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz in the bay below; the Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid; the chic Mission district. Details: From 1,082pp, with flights, Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.co.uk, 0333 241 2319). Fall for New England Whats the attraction? The north-east of the U.S. is endlessly pretty in Fall, as autumn spreads through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The cruise: Celebrity Cruises is offering a 14-night Canada & New England Cruise which will leave New York (from Cape Liberty cruise port in New Jersey) on October 2 flitting up to Nova Scotia, tracing the edges of Maine and Massachusetts, and pausing in Boston. Shore thing: The cruise will also call at Portland in southern Maine its a city with an impressive maritime past, where the Portland Head Light has guided incoming vessels since 1791. Price: From 1,273 a head, not including flights, Celebrity Cruises (celebritycruises.co.uk, 0844 493 2043). British Airways (ba.com, 0344 493 0787) flies to New York Newark from 629 return. Another sailing is scheduled for September 10, 2017. The cruise will also call at Portland in southern Maine its a city with an impressive maritime past, where the Portland Head Light has guided incoming vessels since 1791 East Coast Thrills Whats the attraction? Americas Atlantic side is abuzz with history in old colonial states such as Virginia and South Carolina while Florida is always a reliable hot-weather oasis. The cruise: Regent Seven Seas Cruises will set sail on a 14-night Montreal to Miami Odyssey on October 21, 2017. This detailed itinerary will tick off New England and New York plus the Florida harbours Port Canaveral and Jacksonville. Shore thing: Norfolk. This Virginia city on the coast is a gateway to the heritage sites of Jamestown (founded in 1607) and Williamsburg (in 1632) both key early chapters in the American story. Price: From 5,879pp, with flights, Regent Seven Seas Cruises (rssc.com, 02380 682 280). Bite the Big Apple Whats the attraction? There is no more classic a cruise experience than a transatlantic sailing, coming into New York right under the majestic Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The cruise: That stalwart of New York voyages, Cunard, has a seven-night Big Band Ball Cruise on the Queen Mary 2 scheduled to slip out of Southampton on November 19 this year. As the name hints, this will be a week of music and style. Shore thing: There is only one stop. But it is hard to complain when that stop is New York the Empire State Building soaring, the fabulous shops of Fifth Avenue twinkling. Price: From 999pp, including flights home, Cunard (cunard.co.uk, 0843 374 2224). Caribbean Beats Whats the attraction? It is sometimes forgotten that portions of the scenic Caribbean are U.S. Territories, making for a joyful mix of beach beauty and starred-and-striped enthusiasm. The cruise: Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has a 32-night Caribbean Discovery voyage, sailing in and out of Southampton, planned for November 12, which calls at Puerto Rico plus idyllic St Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Shore thing: San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, where cobbled streets recall the Spanish colonial era of the 16th century, and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro still guards the port. Price: From 3,199 a head (no flights necessary), Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines (fredolsencruises.com, 0845 591 2461). San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, where cobbled streets recall the Spanish colonial era of the 16th century, and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro still guards the port Ice, Ice Baby Whats the attraction? Alaska is an America of a different kind; raw, rugged, tinged with winter, glaciers laced across its landmass although it can be surprisingly warm in summer. The cruise: Royal Caribbean is running a nine-night Alaska Northern Glacier trip which will leave Vancouver on May 17, 2017, and follow the Inside Passage waterway to Juneau and Skagway, and the Hubbard Glacier. Shore thing: Sitka, an Alaskan port so intriguingly remote that, between 1804 and 1867, it was the Russian town of New Arkhangelsk. It faces the Pacific from Baranof Island. Price: From 665pp, not including flights, Royal Caribbean (royal caribbean.co.uk 0844 493 4005). Air Canada (aircanada.com, 0871 220 1111) flies from London Heathrow to Vancouver, from 665 return. The same airline offers flights from Anchorage (at the end of the cruise) to Vancouver, for 124 one way. Aloha Hawaii Whats the attraction? The eight main islands of the Hawaiian archipelago are America at its most gloriously tropical visibly volcanic, and basking in a permanent summer. The cruise: Princess Cruises has a 15-night Hawaiian Islands jaunt planned for April 8, 2017 sailing from San Francisco to Hawaii (The Big Island), Oahu (Honolulu), Kauai (Waimea Canyon) and Maui (the beaches of Lahaina). Shore thing: Honolulu. The Hawaii state capital is a shard of metropolitan cool in the mid-Pacific, where the sands of Waikiki Beach meet the sombre history of Pearl Harbor. Trek on a Glacier Head to Juneau in Alaska with Norwegian Cruise Line and the shore excursion options include a four-hour glacier trek. Chilly, but wind and waterproof outerwear, boots, gloves, ice axes, gaiters, crampons, harnesses and helmets are provided, and youll be whisked to the start of the trek by helicopter. Participants must be 12 years and over (ncl.com). Head to Juneau in Alaska with Norwegian Cruise Line and the shore excursion options include a four-hour glacier trek Fly a fighter jet If the sedate nature of cruising is making you long for breakneck speed, head to Russia with Crystal Cruises. The cruise lines shore excursion team specialises in more unusual outings, and during stopovers in St Petersburg passengers can sign up for a flight in a MIG fighter jet. Wannabe Top Guns will fly out of a Moscow military base before boarding the aircraft and zooming over Moscow at twice the speed of sound. The drawback? It will cost you around 35,000 (crystalcruises.co.uk). Try polar diving Sea squirts, lobsters, peacock worms and urchins are just some of the creatures youll spot on one of Ocean Expeditions polar diving sessions in the Arctic and Antarctic. Divers, who must be fully PADI qualified and must have done cold-water and dry-suit dives before, will dive under the shallow ice and along the glacier walls, reaching a depth of 20 metres. Participants must bring their own dry suit (oceanwide-expeditions.com). Spend the night on ice Book a place on Gane and Marshalls Antarctic Peninsula Cruise and youll have the opportunity to spend two nights camping on ice. You can explore the surrounding area on a guided hike or paddle past the glaciers in a kayak (ganeandmarshall.com). Book a place on Gane and Marshalls Antarctic Peninsula Cruise and youll have the opportunity to spend two nights camping on ice Try a high-wire act High wire rope courses are popular, but if you fancy upping the fear factor, consider Chukkas Adrenaline High Wire Challenge & Zip, one of the excursions offered to Carnival Cruise Lines passengers stopping off at Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Caribbean Rhythms Experience a less familiar Caribbean aboard Holland Americas Zuiderdam, sailing first from Floridas Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas before heading south to the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao, where temperatures hover around a balmy 28c. Then its onwards to the historical port city of Cartagena in Colombia, Colon on the Caribbean coast of Panama, Puerto Limon in Costa Rica and Lake Gatun, the half-way point on the Panama canal. Top Tip: Check out the Zuiderdams collection of original art and antiquities, including works by Andy Warhol and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Winter cruises are just the ticket to help you banish winter blues and get some sunshine Shore Thing: While away a day at Half Moon Cay Holland Americas private island in the Bahamas. Feed the rays at Stingray Cove, ride a horse into the surf, visit the nearby aqua park, or just pootle around this white, sandy adventure playground. Heres How: Thirteen nights cost from 1,969 pp including flights and pre-cruise hotel stay. Departs January 24, 2017 (hollandamerica.com, 0843 374 2300). Down Mexico Way Departing from Los Angeles or San Francisco, Princess Cruises offers nine itineraries along Mexicos Pacific coast over the winter season, calling at ports such as Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan and including several exciting shore excursions such as whale-watching in Cabo San Lucas, sport fishing in Manzanillo and a zip-line adventure in Puerto Vallarta. Top Tip: Cabo San Lucas is one of the best places to go to see dolphins and whales as they migrate off the Baja coast. Shore Thing: Hop on a boat at Puerto Vallarta and head to the remote Yelapa Island, walk through the jungle to the Cola de Caballo waterfalls or just relax on the gorgeous sandy beach. Heres how: The ten-night Baja Peninsula & Sea of Cortez cruise costs from 1,345pp including flights. Departs January 7, 2017 (princess.com, 0843 374 2401). A Flock of Canaries Spend day one of this Colourful Coasts adventure exploring Santa Cruz in Tenerife, with its extensive menu of tapas joints, vineyard-clad Orotava Valley, and local wildlife park. Thomson Majesty will set sail the following morning for Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, followed by Santa Cruz de la Palma, before looping up to Funchal in Madeira (dont miss the exotic fruit and flower market here), then across to the popular windsurfing spot of Agadir in Morocco. Top Tip: Dont be bashful about bargaining in Agadirs tempting souk, the third biggest in North Africa and stuffed with ceramics, silver jewellery, leather goods, lamps, banana slippers, saffron and other spices. Shore Thing: The Bandama crater in Gran Canaria, which is over 3,000ft wide, is one of the few inhabited volcanic craters in the world. Heres How: Thomson Cruises seven-night Colourful Coasts cruise costs from 610pp, including flights and gratuities. Departs January 13, 2017 (thomson.co.uk, 0871 230 2800). Dont be bashful about bargaining in Agadirs tempting souk, the third biggest in North Africa and stuffed with ceramics, silver jewellery, leather goods, lamps, banana slippers, saffron and other spices Summer Down Under Embark on P&Os Aurora in Sydneys iconic harbour, and cruise across to Auckland, the so-called City of Sails, New Zealands capital Wellington, Akaroa near Christ-church, Scottish-influenced Dunedin and the World Heritage fjords of the south west. Youll continue across the South Pacific via Fiji, Apia and Hawaii, before finally after a 26-night voyage sailing under San Franciscos majestic Golden Gate Bridge. Top Tip: Ever wanted to travel back in time? You will do just that when the ship crosses the International Date Line. Shore Thing: Ogle the colourful marine life, wave at turtles and visit shipwrecks 100ft below the Hawaiian seas in an Atlantis Submarine, one of the worlds largest underwater passenger vessels. Heres How: The cruise costs from 3,599pp with P&O including 80pp on board spending, international flights and a hotel night in San Francisco. Departs March 1, 2017 (pocruises.co.uk, 0843 373 0111). Panama Canal Trip The modest-sized Saga Sapphire eases through the Panama Canal twice on her 66-night Central American Discovery cruise. Other opportunities on this grand voyage to Latin America include exploring Mayan ruins in El Salvador, basking in Caribbean sunshine (perhaps from one of the boats two rooftop hot tubs), boarding a restored vintage train to see wildlife in Costa Rica, and an overnight stay in Havana. Top Tip: Let friends at home know when youll be passing along the Panama Canal; theyll be able to watch your boat via the shore webcam. Shore Thing: Climb Dunns River Falls in Jamaicas Montego Bay. The 600ft waterfall, which famously appeared in the James Bond film Dr No, cascades down giant limestone steps into the Caribbean Sea. Heres How: The cruise costs from 9,821pp with Saga, including tourist visa, VIP transfers from home, gratuities and insurance. Departs Southampton January 11, 2017 (travel.saga.co.uk, 0800 50 50 30). Climb Dunns River Falls in Jamaicas Montego Bay (pictured). The 600ft waterfall, which famously appeared in the James Bond film Dr No, cascades down giant limestone steps into the Caribbean Sea Asian Explorer This two-week Asian voyage covers urban jungles and lush tropical rainforests. Leaving behind the futuristic skyline of Hong Kong, the Seabourn Sojourn sails via Xiamen, Chinas main port for exporting tea, the coral reefs of the Hundred Islands National Park in the Philippines and Borneos bustling city of Kota Kinabalu with its water village on stilts, before docking in Singapore. Top Tip: Pass a day at sea in the ships famous spa. Covering 11,400sq ft and spanning two decks, its the largest on any luxury cruise. Try the scented water shower and the aromatherapy sauna, or rent the private cabana with its massage tables, hot tub and room service. Shore Thing: Brave the spooky caves and dramatic stalactites along the underground river at Puerto Princesas Subterranean River National Park in the Philippines. Heres How: A 14-night China and Philippine Archipelago cruise with Seabourn from 3,472pp. Departs February 18, 2017 (seabourn.com, 0843 373 2000). Cuban Rhapsody Previously off limits to U.S. passengers, Cuba is now cruisings hottest ticket. The 170-passenger Star Flyer clipper yacht built along traditional lines with teak decks, polished woods, gleaming brass and 16 billowing sails is cruising at its most romantic. This winter (and next) she sails between Havana and Cienfuegos on seven to 11-night itineraries that include a nights hotel stay in both cities, a cruise around the Cuban coast and the Cayman islands. Cuba calling: Cubas varied coastline as seen from the Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca in Santiago de Cuba, the capital of Cubas south-eastern province Top Tip: Got a head for heights? Climb the rigging, safely harnessed by the crew, to the lookout platform half way up the mast. Join the Captain on the deck for his daily story time with seafaring tales of tall ships and the men who sailed them. Youll feel as if youve been cast in a period drama. Shore Thing: Step ashore on Isla de la Juventud, once a haven for pirates and adventurers, including Francis Drake and Henry Morgan, and the setting for Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island, and explore the caves containing 213 ancient Indian pictographs. Heres How: The cruise costs from 1,185pp for seven nights with Star Clippers, excluding flights (starclippers.co.uk, 0808 231 4798). Sensational streets: Lively Havana is known for its vintage cars Cruising with Lions Fred Olsens new Exotic Fly-Cruises collection has seven brand new itineraries for Boudicca and Black Watch. One example is a 14-night Cape Town Cruise Safari with big five spotting at the Kariega Game Reserve in Port Elizabeth, crocodiles and hippos at Richards Bay, penguins and bottlenose dolphins at Penguin Island, and fur seals on the Cape. Top Tip: Pay a visit to South Africas first post office, an 800-year-old milkwood tree in Mossel Bay. Legend has it that in 1500, a sailor placed a message in an old boot and tied it to one of the trees branches. It was found seven years later. Shore Thing: Near the thriving port town of Richards Bay is the Shakaland Zulu Village, where guests can take part in a beer drinking ceremony, learn beadwork and pottery, listen to rhythmic drumming and watch a traditional ritual led by a Sangoma leader (a Zulu shamen). Heres How: The cruise costs from 1,699pp with Fred Olsen. Departing January 11, 2018 (fredolsencruises.com, 0800 0355 242). Latin Beat Cast off from Rio in the wake of the Carnival and sail on board the Regent Seven Seas ship Mariner north to colonial Recife. The ship then turns sharp left for a lengthy detour along the Amazon as far as Manaus, known as the Paris of the Jungle and famous for its grand opera house. Crossing the Equator, the ship heads towards the Caribbean via the old penal settlement of Devils Island followed by the more familiar islands of Barbados, St Lucia and Puerto Rico, before docking in Miami. Top Tip: Sign up for the (included) Smithsonian Institute enrichment programme of lectures and discussions with art historians, authors and former diplomats. Shore Thing: Not exactly shore but the boat trips to see the wildlife along the tributaries, estuaries and creeks are rich and rewarding. Heres How: 21 nights, departing March 8, 2017, cost from 7,393pp including flights, drinks, wi-fi and gratuities, with Regent Seven Seas (rssc.com, 02380 682280). ALL ABOARD There are more than 2,000 ports around the world. At only 50ft wide, Depoe Bay in Oregon, bills itself as the smallest Advertisement Indian Silver Service Next February will see the first ever cruise ship visit to Bangladesh. On Silverseas Silver Discoverers 16-day voyage from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Kolkata, India, guests can explore remote villages, drop in to local schools, watch local seamstresses weave authentic fabrics, visit the only organic tea plantation in Sri Lanka and spot white-bellied sea eagles and kingfishers around the Andaman Islands. Top Tip: Bring binoculars Silver Discoverer has an on-board ornithologist to help you spot rare birds. Shore Thing: At the Bay of Bengal, potter in an inflatable boat along the winding, narrow waterways of the Sundarbans with the worlds largest mangrove forest which is home to about 350 Bengal tigers. Heres How: Silverseas Silver Discoverer departs on a 16-day voyage from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Kolkata, India on February 11, 2017. Fares cost from 13,550 pp based on double occupancy of the View Suite, including return economy class flights, all drinks, gratuities and wifi (silversea.com, 0844 251 0837). Arabian Romance The capital of the Emirates, Abu Dhabi, may be less prominent on the tourist map than glitzy Dubai, but its relatively recent oil discovery has transformed the city from a fishing village into a thriving metropolis but one still with a historical legacy. Celebrity Cruises ten-night Arabian Coast Immersion on Constellation gives guests the chance to explore the city (including the famous Qasr al-Hosn mosque, also known as the White Fort), before sailing on to Omans capital Muscat (whose name means safe anchorage), the pretty port town of Khasab, and finally, Dubai. Top Tip: Visit the super-cool bar Crush, where you can sample caviar and classic and rare vodka pairings at an ice-topped bar and watch the juggling bartenders. Shore Thing: Adventurer Ben Fogle has teamed up with Celebrity Cruises to create the new Abu Dhabi Great Adventure shore excursion, which includes a 4x4 Jeep experience, a camel ride across the desert, and sandboarding on the dunes before refuelling with local cuisine under the stars. So youve decided on a Caribbean cruise but dont know which ship to choose or when to go? Dont worry. We have the answers unpacked. What are my options? The variety of cruise lines sailing in the Caribbean is enormous, from floating cities that carry 6,600 passengers to dreamy yachts with just 112 shipmates. Almost every cruise line in the world has ships there in winter, and several stay year-round. Summer can be a great time to cruise (but be aware of hurricanes see below) and flights are less costly as it is out of season. Fabulous flamingos: Elegant locals posing on a beach in Aruba Family cruises Want to take the children along too? Check out Disney Cruise Line (disneycruiseline.co.uk), Carnival Cruise Line (carnival.co.uk), Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.co.uk), MSC Cruises (msccruises.co.uk) and Royal Caribbean International (royalcaribbean.co.uk). All have floating resorts in the Caribbean year-round that are packed with fun things to do. From climbing walls to zip-wires and water slides that will satisfy even the itchiest little feet. Others to consider include Princess Cruises (princess.com), Holland America Line (hollandamerica.com) and P&O Cruises (pocruises.com). Their ships have kids and teen clubs that entertain youngsters with games and activities. Princess Holland America and P&O sail the Caribbean between October and spring. A touch of class If something smarter appeals, Celebrity Cruises (celebritycruises.co.uk) is a purveyor of modern luxury. Its big ships are classy without being stuffy; great for couples and with kids and teens clubs, too. Celebrity sails the Caribbean in winter, but starting in 2017 it will have a ship sailing to the islands from Miami all-year round. Viking Ocean Cruises (vikingcruises.co.uk), Azamara Club Cruises (azamaraclub cruises.co.uk), and Oceania Cruises (oceaniacruises.com) offer such luxuries as complimentary alcoholic or soft drinks with meals and free speciality dining, and have mid-size ships that make the Caribbean home. Pure indulgence Fancy the intimacy of a small ship? The swish six-star lines Silversea (silversea.com), Seabourn (seabourn.com), Regent Seven Seas Cruises (rssc.com) and SeaDream Yacht Club (seadream.com) all sail the Caribbean in winter. Their ships hold between 112 and 750 passengers and with all drinks and gratuities included in the cost of the ticket, you can treat yourself to non-stop wine and beer without worrying about the budget. Swanky line Crystal Cruises (crystalcruises.co.uk) also includes drinks and gratuities in the price, but its ships are bigger, holding up to 1,070 passengers. For a touch of romance, Star Clippers (starclippers.co.uk) and Windstar Cruises (windstarcruises.com) have tall sailing ships where you can cuddle up under the canvas as you cruise from one small island to the next. On a tight budget? Thomson Cruises (thomson.co.uk/cruises) has affordable air-inclusive prices on child-friendly ships that sail exciting itineraries from Barbados and Jamaica. Prices start from 820pp for a one-week Mayan Treasures cruise from Montego Bay, Jamaica, departing December 6, 2016, including flights. Celestyal Cruises (your cubacruise.com) sailings around Cuba are also great value but you need to factor in the cost of flying from the UK to Havana. Variety Cruises (varietycruises.com) has two yachts in Cuba for between 42 and 72 passengers that are perfect for a casual holiday in the sun.] When to go High season in the Caribbean is winter, when the hurricanes and rains have passed, but this is also when the islands are busiest and prices are highest. Spring and autumn are pleasant, with warm weather, little rainfall and fewer crowds. Summer is hurricane season, the weather is humid and there is more chance of rain (June tends to be the wettest month), but it is a popular time with families as they can make the most of the long flight by booking a longer cruise or pairing the voyage with a week in a land-based resort. As this is a tropical climate, temperatures dont change much, staying in the mid to high 20s in the day. Cruise lines launch their winter itineraries with discounts, on-board credit and perks such as free drinks packages, so try to cash in on these. The earlier you book, the lower the air fares Stormy weather You can get tropical storms before June 1 and after November 30, but these dates officially mark the hurricane season. The Eastern Caribbean (St Thomas, St Maarten) is most likely to be hit in August to September; the Western Caribbean (Grand Cayman, Jamaica) can be affected between August and November. Hurricane paths Generally the south-east has fewer hurricanes, and the south-west and north-east are hit more often. The Dutch ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao), Trinidad and Tobago lie just outside the hurricane belt. Barbados also tends to escape the storms. Will we be hit? The advantage of being on a ship if a hurricane is forecast is that the captain can navigate out of its way. That might mean the itinerary has to change. Booking tips As early as possible if you know what you want, especially if you are tied to specific dates, such as school holidays. Cruise lines launch their winter itineraries with discounts, on-board credit and perks such as free drinks packages, so try to cash in on these. The earlier you book, the lower the air fares. If you can be flexible, it might be worth hanging on for late deals, but a higher air fare might wipe out any savings you make on the cruise. Specialist agents such as Cruise 1st (cruise1st.co.uk) or Iglu Cruise (iglucruise.com) get good deals from the cruise lines and can also help find the best air fares if flights are not included in your chosen package. What to pack You are going to a tropical country so take T-shirts, shorts, swimming cossies and suncream. Youll want smart casual gear for most evenings, but if your ship has formal nights men need a dinner jacket or dark suit. A cocktail dress is fine for ladies. The Majestic Maldives A trip to the Maldives 1,190 heavenly islands sprinkled across the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka neednt mean spending a fortune on a pricey water villa. A seven-night cruise aboard a traditional dhoni fishing boat not only explores some of the countrys more overlooked regions but also delves deep into the heritage of this patch of paradise. Focusing on the resort-free southern atolls, where fishing villages havent been replaced by glossy hotels, this voyage of cultural discovery spends time in the capital Male a mini metropolis of mosques and markets before travelling to remote corners where life remains untouched by tourism. A trip to the Maldives 1,190 heavenly islands sprinkled across the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka neednt mean spending a fortune on a pricey water villa Hot ticket: The four-cabin vessel moors alongside deserted islands for some of the worlds best snorkelling (keep watch for turtles and giant manta rays gliding through the technicolour coral reefs) and beside sandbanks for beachside barbecues. On the menu: yellowfin tuna caught by the friendly crew that day. Delicious. Top spot: Experience a slice of local life at the village of Felidhoo (population 400) and listen to the traditional bodu beru (big drum) folk music. Details: Explore Worldwide (explore.co.uk, 01252 883687) offers a seven day cruise to the Maldives from 1,599pp including flights and meals. Enchanted Evenings in the South Pacific The South Pacific is a piece of gorgeous handiwork. Embrace its beauty on a ten-day cruise on the 1,011-cabin Sun Princess, which sets sail from the Australian city of Brisbane bound for the island nations of New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Hot ticket: There is a wide variety of experiences on offer at every port of call. That means everything from horse riding through coconut-scented valleys, and visiting traditional cattle farms, to game fishing on Espiritu Santo island and catching a glimpse of the wreckage of the SS President Coolidge ocean liner which sank in 1942. Sea days are no less delightful with a spa, theatre and martini bar on-board the 15-deck ship to keep every kind of passenger pampered and entertained. Top spot: A dip in Champagne Bay, famed for its pink sand beaches, coconut palms and bubbling freshwater springs. Details: Princess Cruises (princess.com, 0843 374 4444) offers a ten day cruise through the South Pacific from 2,428pp including flights and meals. The South Pacific is a piece of gorgeous handiwork. Pictured: Young women in a village on Vanatu Carnival at Sea Prepare to party. This 18-day South American adventure, departing from Buenos Aires and ending in Barbados, travels north along the Brazilian coast, pausing at some of the continents most intoxicating destinations, including the bohemian Uruguayan capital Montevideo and the former penal colony of Devils Island in French Guiana. If that doesnt get your pulse racing, then the worlds biggest party will. Hot ticket: Book the February departure and youll experience two days of carnival chaos in Rio de Janeiro. Stand at the top of Sugar Loaf mountain, stroll along Copacabana beach and dance the night away in Ipanema. When you need to recover from all the samba dancing and caipirinhas, unwind on the tropical shores of Buzios, the next port of call just two hours away. Top spot: A journey along the Coconut Highway to the exotic beaches and quiet fishing village of Praia do Forte near the colonial city of Salvador in north-east Brazil. Details: Silversea (silversea.com, 0844 251 0837) offers an 18-day cruise in South America and the Caribbean from 7,310pp, including flights, meals and drinks. Tale of Two Oceans A trip along the Panama Canal is just one of many highlights on this 15-night Holland & America cruise. The fun starts in Florida and ends on the other side of the States in California with an abundance of adventure along the way. Hot ticket: Explore the cobbled 16th-century plazas in Cartagena, Colombias most atmospheric city, before bathing in waterfalls, hiking around active volcanoes and spotting alligators in Costa Rica. Feast on vigoron, a popular dish of pork, boiled yuca (a type of cassava) and cabbage in the port town of Corinto in Nicaragua and soak up the sun on the long Mexican peninsula of Baja, California. Alternatively, explore its rugged desert interior on a thrilling jeep excursion to the oasis village of La Candelaria. Top spot: The star sight of the trip is, of course, traversing the Panama Canal, a 77km (47-mile) feat of engineering, completed in 1914. The iconic crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific takes in colonial towns and scenic manmade lakes. Details: Holland and America (hollandamerica.com, 0843 374 2300) offers a 15-night cruise to the Panama Canal from 2,599pp including flights, meals and drinks. Oriental Odyssey Think Thailand has the monopoly on stop-in-your-tracks beaches in south-east Asia? Think again. Set sail from Singapore on the family-friendly Celebrity Constellation cruise ship to some of the regions most idyllic shores and a fair few historical hotspots. The 14-night trip travels north to Vietnam, pausing at the coastal resort of Danang and the ancient city of Hue, which was the countrys capital during the 19th century, before moving onwards towards the rainforests of Borneo and the Philippines via exotic Hong Kong. Hot ticket: With 7,170 islands (it would take almost 20 years if you visited one per day) the Philippines could rival anywhere on Earth for the best beach in the world prize. But dont dismiss its more developed corners, principally the capital Manila with its 16th-century fortress built by the Spanish. Top spot: Far from the madness of Manila is Boracay, a sliver of an island that is fast becoming the Philippines number one tourist attraction. And, with its dazzling looks, it is not hard to see why. Step back to a gilded era by combining a cruise with a luxury train heres our pick of the best. Adriatic Elegance Croatia's coastline is endlessly beautiful. The iconic city of Dubrovnik should be familiar to fans of the hit TV series Game Of Thrones as Kings Landing, the home of the infamous Iron Throne. Your arrival here will be a fantasy of your own if you opt to approach on the wind-powered Star Clipper, with its 16 billowing sails, two outdoor pools and en-suite cabins. Guests cast off from Venice after a three-leg rail journey Eurostar from London to Paris, TGV to Lausanne (where there is an overnight stop) and then another train to Italys iconic city of canals and bridges Guests cast off from Venice after a three-leg rail journey Eurostar from London to Paris, TGV to Lausanne (where there is an overnight stop) and then another train to Italys iconic city of canals and bridges. Then its cameras at the ready for the journey south into Croatia the walled town of Kotor, the pretty island of Korcula, the terracotta roof towns of Piran in Slovenia and Mali Losinj with Dubrovnik waiting beyond. After disembarking in Venice, its back home by train via Turin and Paris. Top tip: Toast the holiday at London St Pancrass snazzy 314 ft champagne bar the longest in Europe. Shore thing: Near Dubrovnik, guests have the chance to visit the village of Mali Ston, the oyster capital of Croatia. Details: The 12-day Venice And The Dalmatian Coast trip costs from 3,760 pp, setting off on September 20, 2017 (greatrail.com, 01904 521 936). Ibiza Idyll Ibiza is a party island but on one particular package offered by Great Rail, guests can enjoy its quieter quarters. Journey by Eurostar to Paris, then on by train to Barcelona for an overnight stop and time to wander the citys labyrinthine Gothic Quarter. Then its all aboard the Celebrity Silhouette. Ibiza is the first stop, where you can visit the Unesco-listed capital Ibiza Town and its impressive 13th-century cathedral. Marseille, Cannes and Nice follow, plus the Tuscan seaport Livorno and Rome. The trip ends with rail transfers from Turin to London via Paris. Top tip: Splash out on a hot stone massage in the Celebrity Silhouette spa. Shore thing: Take a tour of Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. Details: The 12-day Classic Western Mediterranean Cruise costs from 2,195 pp, setting off on September 13, 2017 (greatrail.com, 01904 521 936). Vote for Venice The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is, for many, the pinnacle of luxury travel. On this excursion, it transports guests to the Celebrity Constellation in Venice where they embark on a voyage to Dubrovnik, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Valencia and Barcelona (from where you fly back home to the UK). The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is, for many, the pinnacle of luxury travel Top tip: Jeans and trainers are banned on the Orient Express, so think of this as a chance to shine. Some men wear a dinner jacket and bow tie. Shore thing: A visit to Budva in Montenegro, a beautiful old town. Details: This 15-night trip, in collaboration with Celebrity Cruises, costs from 3,529 pp, leaving on September 24, 2017 (iglucruise.com, 020 3696 9451). A Royal Revival Alternatively, catch the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express to Venice and hop on to Cunards elegant Queen Victoria, before it makes waves to Dubrovnik, Corfu, Katakolon, Heraklion and Athens. On board, theres a lavish theatre, white-gloved afternoon tea service and a wood-panelled library. Return is by plane from Athens. Top tip: Dance at one of the Queen Victorias grand balls. Shore thing: Michelin-starred Hydra restaurant in Athens serves traditional dishes with modern twists. Details: A nine-night Venice Simplon-Orient-Express Plus Med Cruise package costs from 3,549 pp, setting off on July 6, 2017 (planetcruise.co.uk, 023 9280 9451). Take the Plunge The Royal Clipper is a truly spectacular sight. Her 42 sails amount to 56,000 sq ft and have earned her the Guinness World Record for the largest square-rigged ship in service. On a cruise planned for next summer, guests board in Civitavecchia, near Rome. Arrive in Italy by taking the Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris (Standard Premier class) and the Frecciarossa high-speed trains to the Italian capital, with a night in Turin. The Royal Clipper stops at the Corsican town of Bonifacio, Sardinias Alghero, charming Calvi and Monaco. Return to London by train from Cannes. Top tip: Dive into the sea from the Royal Clippers platform at the stern. Shore thing: Take a boat from Bonifacio to the uninhabited French island of Lavezzi, which has a pristine beach and tiny inlets great for snorkelling. High Society The Amalfi Coast fits perfectly with fine wines, culinary excellence and a yacht to call home. All this and more can be found on board SeaDream II just dont call it a ship. Its a yacht, with only 110 passengers, who tend to be a discerning bunch. The popular Wine Voyages include complimentary tastings and a chance to hear what the experts have to say about grapes in the region. This all leads to the Winemakers Dinner, featuring a special menu complemented by top cuvees. The Amalfi Coast fits perfectly with fine wines, culinary excellence and a yacht to call home You embark in Rome and call in at Bonifacio in Corsica, before heading along the Amalfi Coast, across to Capri and then back to Rome. Star turn: The American writer Gore Vidal had a house high above Amalfi, and towards the end of his life he seldom left it. You, on the other hand, can tour the coast in a Mercedes sedan arranged by your on-board concierge. Harbour love: Less is more with SeaDream II, which means that, unlike larger cruise ships, you can dock at the pier in the centre of Positano. Details: A seven-night Amalfi Coast Wine Voyage on SeaDream II, departing on June 10, 2017, costs from 3,383 pp, including return flights with British Airways, overseas transfers, all meals and drinks, gratuities and port taxes via SeaDream (seadream.com, 0800 783 1373). The Coast at a Clip The magnificent tall ship Royal Clipper is the biggest head-turner of them all as it nips in and out of ports and harbours during the Mediterranean season. This sleek and elegant sailing ship whose design is an echo of the trading clippers of the 19th century calls at Amalfi and Sorrento, visits the islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Lipari, sails past the volcanic island of Stromboli, and anchors in the Bay of Taormina, Sicily, on a seven-night sailing. Star turn: The ships captain, attended by uniformed crew, will perform a sundown marriage blessing, with the Amalfi coast as a backdrop. Why not? This is where billionaire Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan went on honeymoon. Harbour love: Take the classic panoramic drive up from Amalfi to Ravello, where Greta Garbo famously wanted to be alone. Details: Star Clippers (starclippers.co.uk, 0808 231 4798) has a seven-night sailing from Rome on board the Royal Clipper, departing on June 10, 2017, from 1,575 pp, including all meals and port charges. Maiden Sailing Become one of the first people to experience Silverseas new flagship, Silver Muse, on which there will be almost as many crew as guests (it holds 596 passengers). In spring 2017, this fine vessel will make its maiden voyage, followed by a 14-day cruise leaving Monaco on April 19, taking in Marseille, Barcelona, Mallorca, Trapani, Valletta and Taormina before heading along the Amalfi Coast and on to Rome, before finishing in Nice. Top-notch lecturers will be on hand with intriguing discussions as various ports of call loom. Each suite has butler service. John Steinbeck, an Amalfi Coast regular in the Fifties, said: Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isnt quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone Star turn: John Steinbeck, an Amalfi Coast regular in the Fifties, said: Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isnt quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone. Harbour love: Youll be in Sorrento for 24 hours. Make sure you join the famous passeggiata at sunset, when locals walk arm in arm, dressed to thrill. Details: Silversea (silversea.com, 0844 251 0837) offers 14 days on Silver Muse from Monaco to Nice, departing April 19, 2017, from 5,535pp, including all meals and certain wines. Flights not included. Easy-Going Charmer Anyone who thinks cruises should cut back on the pomp and ceremony will love life on board Europa 2, courtesy of the German company, Hapag-Lloyd. Twenty-one knots and no tie is the catchphrase. Its family-friendly, too, with children aged 12 and under cruising for free if sharing a cabin with their parents. The ten-day Dolce Vita and Savoir-Vivre cruise leaves Venice on July 1, 2017, and heads first to the Ionian Islands in Greece, before making its way along the Amalfi Coast, across to Corsica, then on to Portofino, Nice and Monaco. Star turn: Hercules was thought to have taken control of Amalfi so he could offer it to a woman with sapphire-coloured eyes. Harbour Love: In Capri, you will be taken to the legendary Blue Grotto. Make sure you sample the local buffalo mozzarella. Details: Hapag Lloyd (hl-cruises.com) offers its ten-day Venice to Monaco cruise on MS Europa 2 from 5,267 pp, departing June 30, 2017. Caught on Camera The 21-day Mediterranean Nights round-trip cruise from Monte Carlo includes a Marina Day in Amalfi, when you can leave the ship to explore or simply remain on board to gape at the magnificent coast. You will meet cruisers from all around the world, and lecturers who really know their stuff. Seabourns fleet of ships are smaller than many others, guaranteeing exceptional personal service. Star turn: There is a chance to link up with expert photographer Geoff Steven, who will help you take the best pictures of your trip. Harbour Love: Book for July and you can check out the Ravello Music Festival, with its concerts in churches and halls dotted around this fabulous hilltop town. Greece was one of the greatest ancient civilisations. You can still admire its might from on deck, says Harry Mount. Revelations Aplenty Athens is a fine beginning for any journey into Ancient Greece. Noble Caledonia runs a Classical Greece & Aegean Islands cruise which starts with the Acropolis, before sailing on the MV Aegean Odyssey to Nafplio, a town full of Venetian history, in the Peloponnese. From there, you can visit the ancient citadel of Mycenae. Then it is on to Santorini the island formed from a volcanic crater and Cretes Minoan palace at Knossos. Minoan Palace ruins at Knossos: The palace ruins tell of a highly advanced and organized civilization with beautiful frescoes, running water, and flushing toilets After the Crusader stronghold of Rhodes, you visit the temples on Delos, one of the tiniest, most sacred of the Greek islands. Then its time for evening drinks in the millionaires playground of Mykonos. On unspoilt Patmos, visit the Cave of the Apocalypse, where John the Apostle reputedly wrote the Book of Revelations. Then it is inland to Thessalonica, Greeces second city, with its exceptional Byzantine remains. A trip to the monasteries of Meteora, perched on airy mountain peaks, is followed by a last day on the island of Skiathos. Top tip: Aim for a drink on deck just before sunset, when the Greek islands turn an epic shade of orangey-pink. Star turn: Mycenae, which was home to Agamemnon, the Greek leader in the Trojan War. Perched on a hilltop in the middle of the Peloponnesian plain, it gives the most picturesque, stirring evocation of Ancient Greece. Details: Sailing October 5-18, 2017, this cruise costs from 2,445 pp. Price includes flights, two nights accommodation in Athens (with breakfast), all meals on board, selected wines with dinner, shore excursions, lectures, tips and taxes (noble-caledonia.co.uk, 020 7752 0000). Colossal Canal Swan Hellenics Inspiring Islands and the Corinth Canal voyage begins in Athens with a tour of ancient treasures, including the Acropolis. Then the Minerva sails through the steep-sided Corinth Canal, a miracle of 19th century engineering. Next stop is Kefalonia, the seductive Ionian island that was the setting for the novel Captain Corellis Mandolin. Roman Emperor Nero (67 AD) broke the ground for the Corinth Canal, but the project was then abandoned for over 1,800 years The cruise takes you on to the Albanian town of Sarande and the well-preserved Greco-Roman town of Butrint. The Minerva sails past the active volcano of Stromboli, before docking in Catania, Sicilys second-largest city, which is crammed with baroque palazzi and churches. Then its down to Malta for an overnight stay in Valletta. A visit to Zakynthos and its Venetian fortress follows, before pretty Patmos beckons. ALL ABOARD Roman Emperor Nero (67 AD) broke the ground for the Corinth Canal, but the project was then abandoned for over 1,800 years. Advertisement The final stop, the island of Tinos, is home to the Church of Panagia Evangelistria. With its Virgin Mary icon, aptly it has been called the Lourdes of Greece. Top tip: The lectures by Nigel McGilchrist, an expert on Greece, who has written a 20-volume series of cultural guides to its islands. Star turn: Valletta, the Maltese capital. Walk around the Grand Harbour, fortified by the Knights of St John in the 16th century, and visit the cathedral with its two Caravaggios. Details: Sailing October 14-27, 2017, from 2,417 pp. Price includes flights, transfers, tips, on-board meals and taxes (swanhellenic.com, 01858 897875). Back to Antiquity For those who want to go deep into the past, the Cities of Antiquity & the Holy Land voyage offered by Viking Cruises dissects yesteryear in detail. It starts with Rome and Naples, crosses to Crete, then sails to Israel for Jerusalem and Haifa. Limassol on Cyprus combines lovely beaches with Crusader castles. From Rhodes where the capital, Rhodes Town, still sings of the medieval era, you make for Mykonos, the tiny Cyclades island, which is crammed with Venetian history. Finish amid the ancient heritage of Athens. Top tip: Be on deck as you approach and leave Naples the view of the Bay of Naples, with Vesuvius looming above, is one of the great vistas of the world. Star turn: Herculaneum tends to be far emptier than Pompeii, but it gives just as gripping a snapshot of Roman life in 79AD, when Vesuvius erupted and created a freeze-frame. Details: March 11-25, 2017, from 4,990 pp. Price includes flights, transfers, meals, wine and beer with dinner (vikingcruises.co.uk, 0800 298 9700). Best of the West Voyages To Antiquity sells a 27-day Grand Western Mediterranean cruise, which begins in Seville and heads to Cordoba for its Great Mosque. A trip down the Guadalquivir River takes you to the sherry country of Cadiz and on to the Alhambra in Granada. After the Roman amphitheatre at Cartagena, sail for Sicily and the Greek temple of Segesta. Malta appears on the horizon in the form of Valletta, as does Sicily via Syracuse, Taormina and Palermo. From Sorrento, visit Pompeii or Herculaneum, before a tour of Rome. From Olbia in Sardinia, head for the Corsican harbour of Bonifacio. From here, Napoleons (first) exile island of Elba awaits. Then come the Renaissance gems Pisa and Florence. From Marseille, you can visit the Papal Palace in Avignon, before a last stop in Nice. Top tip: The Aegean Odyssey has a library stocked by the Oxford bookseller Blackwells. Star turn: Segesta has what may be the perfect ideal of the Greek Doric temple set in splendid isolation overlooking the spreading plains of Sicily. Details: Sailing May 11 to June 6, 2017, from 4,800 pp. Price includes flights, transfers, meals, wine with dinner (voyagestoantiquity.com, 01865 302550). Voyages To Antiquity takes passengers to Renaissance gems Pisa (pictured) and Florence. From Marseille, you can visit the Papal Palace in Avignon, before a last stop in Nice Into the Aegean For a shorter escape, the Treasures of the Aegean cruise by Seabourn covers the ancient Mediterranean succinctly. From Piraeus, you sail to Naxos, the biggest of the Cyclades, then to the lively town of Agios Nikolaos on Crete. Next comes Turkey for Marmaris and Kusadasi for a day trip to Ephesus. Bozcaada is a Turkish secret, a tiny island that played a part in the Trojan War. End your trip in Istanbul, which is still rich in the echoes of Constantinople. Top tip: Passengers can pre-buy fine wines. Star turn: Naxos is glorious: visit the vast Temple of Apollo. Details: Sailing July 29 to August 5, 2017, from 2,799 pp. Flights are extra (but can be booked). Transfers included if you book your hotel through Seabourn. Shore excursions not included. No tipping expected (seabourn.com, 0843 373 2000). Cant decide when to set sail for the Med? Dont panic. Help is at hand. With our seasonal guide, you can enjoy this fabled seas wonderful waters at any time of year. Spring Aboard The Allure of the Cote d'Azur Few corners of Europe are as glamorous as the Cote DAzur that golden stretch of (largely) southern France where St Tropez, Nice and Cannes all gleam. Few corners of Europe are as glamorous as the Cote DAzur that golden stretch of (largely) southern France where St Tropez (featured), Nice and Cannes all gleam The cruise: There is no bad time to visit this gilded part of the Mediterranean. But a cruise scheduled by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines for next spring may be a persuasive reason to pack your most fashionable outfits. Details: The 16-night Sun, Sea & Monaco Grand Prix voyage will slip in and out of Southampton in time for the chicest day of the Formula 1 season. Departing on May 19, 2017, the cruise is priced from 2,199 pp, including those must-have race tickets (fredolsencruises.com, 0845 591 4836). Sea it All While numerous areas of the Mediterranean are ideal for cruising, you can with a long enough voyage see most of it in one go. The cruise: P&O Cruises will run a wide-ranging 24-night adventure that is due to cast off its moorings just as the new year moves into its first warm phase. It encompasses Malta, Croatia and Italy, and will help to shake off the winter. Broad horizons and cocktails on deck will make you feel very spring-like. Details: P&Os Malta, Croatia and Italy voyage will depart from Southampton on March 27, 2017, finish in Valletta, and call at Barcelona, Marseille, Corsica, Rome, Venice and Dubrovnik en route. It is priced from 1,469 pp, including flights home from Malta (pocruises.com, 0843 374 0111). Summer Sizzlers Spanish Fiesta For all its familiarity to Britons, Spain is a country of vast diversity, from cosmopolitan Barcelona to the breezy Balearic islands of Mallorca and Ibiza. But why this time of year? Because Spain is almost as much a part of the British summer as strawberries at Wimbledon and rainclouds in June. Its food, weather and coast are irresistible as August hits its stride. For all its familiarity to Britons, Spain is a country of vast diversity, from cosmopolitan Barcelona to the breezy Balearic islands of Mallorca (pictured) and Ibiza The cruise: Royal Caribbean has a Western Mediterranean Cruise set to depart on August 6, 2017. This eight-day foray begins and ends in Rome, but it focuses on Spain with Barcelona, Mallorca and Ibiza all featured. Details: Priced from 1,101 pp, not including flights (royalcaribbean.co.uk, 0844 493 4005). Alitalia (alitalia.com, 0333 566 5544) flies from Heathrow to Rome from 90 return. Divine Greece A country of numerous islands scattered across the Mediterranean, Greece might have been created as a cruise destination by a divine hand. Well done, Zeus! The likes of Santorini where the famous volcanic cliffs appear to plunge into the sea look wonderful in any month, but the blueness of the water in July and August is intoxicating. The cruise: Norwegian Cruise Line will run a seven-night Greek Isles voyage on the Norwegian Star, leaving (and later returning to) Venice on July 23, 2017. Greece will dominate the itinerary Corfu, Santorini and Mykonos are all evocative ports of call. Details: From 799 pp, cruise only; from 1,242 with flights (ncl.co.uk, 0333 241 2319). The Ancient World The Mediterranean has long been a cradle of civilisation, with the Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires all flourishing on its shoreline. Historic landmarks make for splendid photographs. And tumbled churches and epic amphitheatres always look their best in summer pale sandstone pressed against bright skies. The cruise: Princess Cruises has a seven-day Greece & Turkey voyage planned for July 29, 2017. It will start amid the soaring heritage of Rome, call at Naples for the time-travel experience of Pompeii, then stop in Greece for Athens, and Turkey for Istanbul and Ephesus. Details: From 949 pp, not including flights (princess.com, 0843 374 4444). British Airways (ba.com, 0344 493 0787) flies from Heathrow to Athens from 63 one-way and 124 return. Autumn Glories Croatia Without Crowds This Balkan states fractured coastline is among the most beautiful portions of seafront in Europe, bejewelled with cities such as Split, Dubrovnik and Rijeka. Dubrovnik, with its honey- coloured medieval walls, is a vision but it can be crowded in summer. Go later in the year for quieter streets and uninterrupted views. Dubrovnik, with its honey- coloured medieval walls, is a vision but it can be crowded in summer. Go later in the year for quieter streets and uninterrupted views The cruise: Swan Hellenic has cabins available on a 15-day Hidden Beauties of the Adriatic cruise that will depart from the Italian city of Trieste on September 17, 2017. It will gaze at Croatia Split, Dubrovnik, Korcula island en route to Athens. Details: From 2,997 pp, not including flights (swanhellenic.com, 01858 897 421). Ryanair (ryanair.com, 0843 504 7252) flies from Stansted to Trieste from 17 single, 44 return. British Airways (ba.com, 0344 493 0787) flies to Athens from 63 one-way and 124 return. BUTLERS ON CALL TO CATER TO EVERY WHIM Heavenly hideaway Hidden at the top of eight of its ships, including Breakaway and Escape, Haven is Norwegian Cruise Lines most exclusive accommodation. All guests in this bracket have the services of a personal butler and concierge, plus priority access to on-board entertainment. The Haven also has its own private pool, sun deck, lounge and restaurant (ncl.co.uk). Suite life The Regent Suite on Regent Seven Seas Cruises Seven Seas Explorer is one of the largest on any vessel. But you wont lose your bearings it has its own butler. Covering 4,443 sq ft, this two-bedroom playground has a spa, lobby, dining area, Steinway piano and a wraparound balcony for sunset views (rssc.com). Light Fantastic Regents Seven Seas Explorer has almost 500 chandeliers including an enormous oval crystal example in the lobby and a gorgeous blue droplet light feature in the Compass Rose restaurant. More than an acre of granite (and an acre of marble) were used for the ships floors, counters and walls. And works by Picasso and Chagall are among the vessels 2,500 pieces of art (rssc.com). Relax in Luxury Holidays are all about relaxation. At least, thats the idea. So, on Seabourn cruises, an army of attendants is always waiting to make sure you switch off. Stewards welcome you to your home-from-home with champagne and canapes, and are ready to answer all your crucial questions, such as which designer soap you prefer. This expert team is on hand throughout your cruise, whether you need help booking a table for lunch or cant muster the energy to draw your own bath (seabourn.com) Advertisement Turkey's Cool Coves The Mediterraneans easternmost section is blessed with some of its finest coastline Turkeys south-west corner dazzles in relaxed resorts such as Bodrum and Fethiye. The third season of the year, when the peak heat of summer has dissipated, is also a prime time to enjoy Turkeys little bays and coves under sail via the wind-powered slow travel of a traditional gulet cruise. The cruise: Peter Sommer Travels sells a range of voyages on these genteel wooden vessels. A Walking And Cruising The Lycian Shore jaunt from October 1-15, 2016, will explore the Bay of Fethiye and take in the abandoned Greek ghost town of Kayakoy, with passengers able to explore the landscape on foot as well as admire it from the deck. Details: From 3,775 pp, not including flights (petersommer.com, 01600 888 220). easyJet (easyjet.com, 0330 365 5000) flies to Dalaman from five UK airports. Return fares from Manchester start at 132. Winter Wonders Alluring Islands They may be parts of Italy and France respectively, but Sardinia (the second largest island in the Mediterranean) and Corsica (the fourth largest) are destinations in their own right abuzz with rugged scenery and lots of great places to eat. Better still, the southerly waters around the islands are still nicely warm in November. The cruise: Cunard has a 17-night Spain and France trip set to leave Barcelona (and later finish in Southampton) on October 29, 2016. The name is deceptive, though. The trip also visits Sardinias capital Cagliari, as well as its Corsican counterpart Ajaccio. Details: From 999 pp, including flights (cunard.co.uk, 0843 374 2224). Festive Italy This long-legged star of a country is a year-round option for cruises and very accessible to ships. Rome may be inland, but the port of Civitavecchia serves it ably. Time your escape from Britain right and you could be away for Christmas... The cruise: Italian specialist Costa offers a festive seven-day Marvellous Mediterranean trip that will depart from Barcelona on December 24, 2016. As well as Christmas cheer, this tinsel-strewn jaunt will provide stops in the north Italian ports of La Spezia and Savona, as well as spending time in Rome. Advertisement As one of the most visited cities on earth it's tough to find a photo of London that no one has taken before. But Lukas Spencer is making a name for himself by snapping pictures of the capital from the skyline, rather than of it. Over the past year, Spencer has been exploring the capital by night to capture these amazing and unique images. Lukas Spencer takes a look over the edge of a building in the City of London, which is part of his photo series on the capital's skyline One of the roof-toppers climbs up a shaft in London. The climber is part of a team of explorers and photographers who explore and shoot across the world A roof-topper peers over the edge of the ArcelorMittal Orbit at the Olympic Park in London Spencer, who is originally from Coventry, discovered his love for rooftop photography five years ago and is now part of a team of explorers and photographers who explore and shoot across the world. He said: 'Every one of the photographs in this series were captured in London over the course of the past year. 'Most of the photographs were from the City of London and Canary Wharf. 'My favourite shot is the sunrise looking out across the Thames towards to the 02 Arena.' Spencer is particularly drawn to the city's skyline because of the scale of building work that has been taking place in recent years The sheer number of cranes and construction projects is the main draw for rooftop photographers in London He added: 'The sheer size and location of the rooftop offered one of the best views of London and the sunrise itself was absolutely beautiful.' Spencer is particularly drawn to the city's skyline because of the scale of building work that has been taking place in recent years. He said: 'London is understandably the best place to visit in the UK for the purpose of rooftopping; no other City in the UK offers roof-topping views and opportunities like the capital. 'The sheer number of cranes and construction projects is the main draw - just arriving into London gets the adrenaline pumping as the whole city feels like your personal playground for the night. 'Locations vary from the high rooftops that tower above the city streets below, to the shadowy depths of London via the use of its relatively unknown tunnel system, as well as disused Underground tracks.' Locations vary from the high rooftops that tower above the city streets below, to the shadowy depths of London's Underground system This show shot of the sunrise looking out across the Thames towards to the 02 Arena is Spencer's favourite picture A group shot of roof-toppers looking out over the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London A shot of the lit up Olympic Stadium captured from the ArcelorMittal Orbit by Lukas Spencer Unsurprisingly, with a photo shoot that takes place at night on some of the city's tallest buildings, a lot of work goes into preparing for each picture. Spencer said: 'A lot of preparation goes into the shoot before I even get to the capital. 'This involves scouting potential locations as well as figuring out potential access points to make everything run as smoothly as possible. 'My first rooftop was nearly five years ago - albeit a small, three-story rooftop in my home town. 'Since then, things have progressed tremendously fast - especially over the course of the past year where I have visited Asia twice.' A fearless daredevil climbs a crane at a construction site that overlooks the Gerkhin in the City of London Two men look out over the City of London skyline at night from a construction site that over looks the Gerkhin Although his favourite place to photograph is London, Spencer now has his eye on far more exotic locations for his future projects. He said: 'Every climb is a unique experience in which I leave with not only photographs, but also crazy stories that go hand-in-hand with explores of this nature. 'I aim to take this as far as I possibly can and I'm currently travelling in Hong Kong and China, visiting as many locations as possible and I to travel to Dubai and the US soon.' He has lived in 35 countries in the last 5 years, and employs hundreds Could this just be the perfect job? An American tech entrepreneur has launched a thriving $100million-a-year global company - with not a single office - in which he actively encourages his employees to travel as much as they want to avoid 'burn-out'. Breanden Beneschott, a Princeton University graduate who has himself lived in more than 30 countries over the past five years, runs Toptal, a firm which matches clients with freelance designers and engineers. Breanden Beneschott (pictured), a Princeton University graduate who has himself lived in more than 30 countries over the past five years, runs Toptal, a thriving firm with no offices There is a catch of course. You have to be talented in order to join his ranks. Very talented. Mr Beneschott hires less than three per cent of the thousands of freelancers who apply each month. And you can see why he's so popular. He tells Business Insider of his radical approach as a boss: 'Traveling constantly and going to new places and feeling refreshed daily - as opposed to sitting in an office and staring at a clock in a cubicle - your life kind of becomes your work and your work becomes your life.' Mr Beneschott, who co-founded Toptal with engineer Taso Du Val (left), travels as he works and encourages the freelance software engineers he employs to do the same An intrepid traveller himself, he is also a competitive polo player who travels light - generally with his laptop, a ten-pack of black t-shirts, and sporting gear As part of his no-office-hours policy, traditional 'meetings' are never scheduled. If a client needs something, they can just 'ping' the freelancer on Skype at any time of day or night. Rather than being a slave to their jobs, his freelancers, Mr Beneschott explains, have figured out how to be available around the clock 'while living a hell of a life'. Mr Beneschott, who co-founded Toptal with engineer Taso Du Val, has hundreds of employees based in far-flung, ever-moving locations around the world, and clients including Gucci and Airbnb. An intrepid traveller himself, he is also a competitive polo player who travels light - generally with his laptop, a ten-pack of black T-shirts, and sporting gear. Rather than being a slave to their jobs, his freelancers, Mr Beneschott explains, have figured out how to be available around the clock 'while living a hell of a life' Mr Beneschott (pictured) employs hundreds of people from more than 30 countries worldwide who use Skype to communicate Writing for The Huffington Post this year and reflecting back on one of his very first jobs, he recalls: 'My life quickly became a mechanized routine of self-torture as I tried my hardest to pass the day so I could get the hell out. I hated being in an office. I hated staring at that clock.' None of his employees now are suffering the same fate. This week it was revealed that a traveller with aspirations to live out the experiences of Tom Hank's character in the Terminal, had fashioned an airport into his home. Raejali Buntut, 33, spent nearly three weeks enjoying buffet meals, comfortable seating and hot showers in executive lounges in Singapore's Changi airport by using forged boarding passes. But like many before him, he was caught red-handed and swiftly uprooted from his temporary abode. Here are some of the other people who have taken up residence at airports: Getting into character: Many people have tried to live out the film, the Terminal (above) by taking up residence at airports Raejali Buntut Raejali Buntut, 33, spent nearly three weeks living the high life in executive lounges in Singapore airport by using forged boarding passes. After missing a flight, the businessman slept on seats, enjoyed breakfasts, lunches and dinners of his choice, watched TV and used the showers. The Malaysian resident downloaded images of passes issued by Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines before using image-editing software on his laptop to insert his name, a false flight number and destination. He then sent them to his mobile phone. He forged no less than 31 passes and used them at nine lounges. It is not clear why he decided to stay at Changi airport but eventually lounge staff became suspicious and he was arrested. He was accused of 'blatantly lawless behaviour', charged with forgery and jailed for two weeks. Raejali Buntut, 33, spent nearly three weeks living the high life in executive lounges in Singapore Changi airport (pictured) Anthony Delaney Anthony Delaney ate, showered and slept at Gatwick, leaving only to pick up his Jobseeker's Allowance over the course of three years. Lewes Crown Court was told that Delaney moved into Gatwick's South Terminal in 2004 after losing his job as a chef and falling on hard times. His presence did not go unnoticed and he was stopped by security staff more than 30 times. Even when he was barred under airport authority by laws in March 2005, he continued to return. He was made the subject of an Asbo the following year banning him from Gatwick for five years, but repeatedly ignored it. Anthony Delaney ate, showered and slept at Gatwick, leaving only to pick up his Jobseeker's Allowance over the course of three years On one of the three occasions when he was jailed for breaching the order, he served 95 days then returned to the airport as soon as he was released. Delaney also admitted stealing baggage and had been caught stealing CDs from a WH Smith store at Gatwick. The court heard that Delaney, who appeared smartly dressed in the dock, did not suffer from mental health issues and is not addicted to drugs or alcohol. Peter Knight, defending, said Delaney's old job in Buckinghamshire was 'well paid' and his employers provided accommodation. When he lost it, he moved back to Sussex, where he had lived most of his life, but found it difficult to support himself or find a job without a permanent address. It was said he started using the facilities at the airport out of 'desperation'. German mother and daughter A German mother and daughter were discovered living at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus in 2015. According to Greek-language newspaper Phileleftheros, the two women willingly lived in the airport's car park for 15 months. Staff at thehub claimed the mother and daughter were regularly seen entering the building to use the bathrooms. A German mother and daughter were discovered living at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus (pictured above) in 2015 The pair arrived on the island of Cyprus from Israel in August 2014 as their visas had expired and instead of continuing back home to Germany, they stayed in the Mediterranean city. The German Embassy, police and airport officials reportedly offered to assist the pair to help them to return to Germany but their intervention was refused. Staff at the airport said the mother and daughter refused aid. Under European law there is no reason to expel EU citizens from a country if they have not committed a crime. Katrina Smith and Alan Lane In February 2015, MailOnline reported on middle class UK couple Katrina Smith and Alan Lane who had ended up sleeping rough at Heathrow. Katrina and Alan, then aged 62 and 73, were homeless, rootless, a hair's breath from destitution; two of a growing band of middle-class rough sleepers at Heathrow, who choose the safety, warmth and relative comfort of its terminals over the freezing cold and danger of the streets. Hundreds of people contributed to a Go Fund Me page after reading of how Alan and Katrina had been forced to move out of their home in Poole, Dorset, after a string of poor financial decisions and bad luck left their savings and income chewed up by debt. In it together: In February 2015, MailOnline reported on middle class UK couple Katrina Smith and Alan Lane who had ended up sleeping rough at Heathrow Rodrigo Ben-Azul Rodrigo Ben-Azul was stranded in an airport for more than two months in 2013. The Spanish tourist was familiar sight at Santiago Airport, in the capital of Chile, after he ran out of money. He told newspaper PubliMetro that he arrived in the South American country in November to 'resolve a dispute' with family members that lived there. But, after failing to work out the issue, he returned to the terminal and spent eight weeks - including Christmas and New Year - waiting for relatives in Spain to send him money for his return flight. Airport workers said his daily routine involved pushing abandoned luggage trolleys back into their spaces so he could claim the money. At night he found a 'small corner' to sleep. During the day he spent his time looking for food in dustbins and cigarette ends which could still be smoked. Eram Dar In 2008 Eram Dar revealed to the Mail On Sunday that she at spent 18 months living at Heathrow's Terminal One with all her possessions in a blue canvas bag. By day she said she would window shop and read discarded newspapers and at night she would sleep on the floor between an American Express currency exchange booth and a Wall's ice-cream vending machine on a corridor that led to Terminal One from the underground. She said simply: 'Living at Heathrow is like being in a good hotel. It is warm, very clean and you don't get bothered. I think I'm very lucky to be here.' Eram was born into a middle-class home in Enfield, a suburb of North London, and went to a good school. No place to go: In 2008 Eram Dar revealed to the Mail On Sunday that she at spent 18 months living at Heathrow's Terminal One with all her possessions in a blue canvas bag She passed five O-levels and studied law, intending to become a solicitor. In the end, she did not finish her training and became a legal secretary. With a good income, she moved out of home and rented her own flat. But, then she became ill, with psoriasis shattering her confidence. She explained: 'I couldn't go to work very easily. It was all over my arms and my hands.' 'I had problems paying the rent, and then I was evicted by the private landlord. I ran back to my flat from the court and packed my bag. I only took what I could carry.' By now, Eram's father had died, her mother had Alzheimer's disease and she was put in sheltered council housing. The family house had been sold. Meanwhile, her four half-sisters didn't want to help, and her elder half-brother had emigrated to Canada. At night Eram would sleep on the floor between an American Express currency exchange booth and a Wall's ice-cream vending machine She continued: 'I had no one really. One friend, called Harry, that was all. I left my big suitcase with him and moved onto the streets taking my blue bag. It took me some years to hear about Heathrow. 'I liked it here immediately. I have never felt lonely because there are so many people. 'The airport feels quite secure. In fact, you could say that it's cheap and cheerful.' On the money front, Eram managed to acquire a Freedom Pass (normally available to the over-60s but also given to the homeless in London) which meant she could travel anywhere in the city by bus. Once a week, she visited to the Samaritans headquarters in central London to collect a Giro cheque of 60 in benefits. She added: 'The cash goes nowhere. Buying food at the airport is expensive.' Mehran Karimi Nasseri Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee, lived in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris, from 26 August 1988 until July 2006. He claimed he was expelled from Iran in 1977 for protests against the Shah and after a long battle, involving applications in several countries, was finally given refugee status, so he could choose any European country. He embarked on a trip to England, claimed he was mugged and had his documents stolen, was allowed to fly from Paris but promptly returned. Mehran Karimi Nasseri (right) who calls himself Alfred Mehran, was a stateless person stuck in transit for 16 years. He inspired Steven Spielberg's movie 'The Terminal' starring Tom Hanks (left) Because of a lack of proof about his situation, he was arrested for attempting to enter the country illegally and lost papers meant the French had no country of origin which they could return him to. The police returned him to the confines of the airport and he lived there until he was hospitalised for a condition. He is now believed to be living in Paris. He wrote a memoir of his time in Charles de Gaulle, called The Terminal Man, which helped form the backbone of the Tom Hanks comedy drama, directed by Steven Spielberg. Heinz Muller Heinz Muller from Germany, reportedly dumped by a Brazilian woman he met on the internet, was found living in an airport in South America. He was reported as having run out of money, with airport workers taking him meals from the food court. The 46-year-old former pilot apparently passed the time wandering the airport in Campinas, an industrial city about an hour's drive from Sao Paulo, or using his laptop perched on a luggage cart. Kicked out: Heinz Muller from Germany, who was reportedly dumped by a Brazilian woman he met on the internet, was found living in an airport in South America Muller arrived in Rio de Janeiro on October 2, 2009. Most European tourists are allowed to stay three months in Brazil, which gave Muller until early January 2010 before he faced deportation. He declined offers to stay at shelters or in housing offered by nonprofit groups. Muller washed himself in the airport bathrooms and slept on chairs in the airport's only terminal. Low pay and tiny rooms were among the things he found tough to handle A cruise ship worker has opened up about the alleged low pay, cramped rooms and incestuous behaviour he experienced at sea. The employee, known as Blake, worked in the casino of two different boats - one luxury the other budget. He said one of the most shocking things he discovered was that most of the staff would sleep with each other 'and for the most part nobody was loyal to anyone'. Smile for the camera: A cruise ship worker has opened up about the 'hellish' six years he spent on the high seas, with low pay, cramped conditions and incestuous behaviour (stock image) He recalled in a candid piece for Thrillist: 'I remember there was a couple on one ship everyone was sure were going to get married, and when the guys contract was up a month before hers was, he took a plane back to Uruguay to wait for her. 'Before he landed, she was with somebody.' Blake said on his first contract as a dealer he was paid $950 a month but his tips were all counted against his wages. So, if he made 730 ($950) in tips, he would not be paid any extra on top of that amount. But the casino worker said he wasn't the worst off, and he knew some room stewards who were on as little as 150 ($200) a month. Another thing that Blake found difficult to deal with were the cramped living conditions. Jumping ship: The employee, known as Blake, worked in the casino of two different boats - one being a luxury liner and the other catering to passengers on a budget (stock image) He revealed that he shared a 48sq-ft bedroom with another man, which is just over half the size of a regular guest room. In a bid to save space, he said he learned how to pack light and tight by 'stacking, rolling, and stuffing your entire life into a narrow locker.' On the guest front, Blake said he discovered the 'super-wealthy can be terrible'. He recalled one incident where he had one US seafood magnate who loved to play dice. One night a woman accidentally knocked his dice after he threw them, and he lost a few hundred dollars. You are never given a full night's sleep in ten months. We averaged four or five hours a night (that's after 12 hours of labor) Continuing the story, Blake wrote: 'He nudged me and says "Watch, Im gonna make this b**** cry," and proceeded to rip into her with a loud, obscenity-laced tirade until she actually started sobbing.' Blake said although the man was 'horrible', he did leave a tip - which many passengers failed to do. Blake isn't alone in his complaints. One American who tried life on the high seas penned a warts-and-all book about his experiences. Brian David Bruns now lives in Las Vegas, but before settling down he abandoned everything at the age of 30 to chase a fellow female cruise worker to sea and became the first American in Carnival Cruise Line history to complete a full contract without quitting. The result of his experience was a tell-all book, Cruise Confidential, documenting what it's really like to work on a ship. In an interview with MailOnline Travel the best-selling author and former cruise waiter touched on some similar themes to Blake. He said maintaining a high level of customer service on board a cruise ship was often very testing, especially when it came to those who loved to complain or the 'raucous drunks'. While remaining as professional as possible, and flashing that trademark smile, behind closed doors, crew got the chance to let off steam about their daily dealings. 'Different nationalities may have their own pet names, but generally they revolve around how fat Westerners are, in particular Americans,' said Bruns. 'In the restaurants we regularly referred to the guests as "cow animals". Makes sense because they are very large, very gentle, and stand around eating all day. 'As for passengers' annoying behavior, I think the only thing that's actually a problem is when they are too drunk. A few still have... social issues, thinking they are a first class passenger on Titanic, but the overwhelming number of passengers are great. 'In my books I do describe how one particularly horrible fat, grotesque familycoupled with the cruise lines bizarre refusal to treat her medical conditionbrought my assistant waitress into a complete mental breakdown in the middle of dinner. It was one of the worst moments of my entire life.' One of Bruns' main concerns is how workers are only recognised as a cog in the machine, which he described as being 'owned by the corporation'. He said many cruise ship workers - including himself - would work 100 hours a week for 15 weeks at a time. 'The work is constant and also very menial. In America, for example, we have empowered employees: they have rights, a voice, a modicum of respect. Crew members at sea have none of those things,' he said. Bruns' books have proved hugely popular 'As a waiter on Carnival's Legend I worked over 100 hours a week for 15 straight weeks, after which I stopped counting. Crew work seven days a week without a day off for up to ten months. 'Pay is not commensurate with hours worked, hence the lack of First World crew. Sailing international waters and flying flags of convenience allow cruise ships to break labour laws found in First World nations. 'That's why cruise ship employees are almost unanimously from Third or Second World nations, barring entertainers and a few vendors, such as Steiners. 'Cruise lines claim this as an issue of the past, but "official" 80-hour weeks ignore the extra work crew must continue in order to avoid being fired. 'On Legend I was given two lunches off every eight days. Otherwise I worked breakfast, lunch, dinner every single day, and sometimes also midnight buffet. 'The worst part of the job is being "owned" by the corporation. They control what you eat, when you eat, when you can go use the toilet, how cold it is in your cabin, everything. If you've already worked 12 hours that day and they need you for another four, you work it no questions asked. 'Also annoying is how your day is structured: you are never given a full night's sleep in ten months. We averaged four or five hours a night (that's after 12 hours of labor). Most crew will nap when they can because after months of that you're in perpetual zombie-mode.' MailOnline has contacted Carnival for comment on Brian David Bruns' experiences. Jeffrey Tambor won for Transparent a second year in a row Veep took home Outstanding Comedy Series as Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth consecutive Rami Malek took home his first Emmy ever in the Lead Actor in a Drama Series Advertisement The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story and Game Of Thrones were the biggest winners of the night at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday evening. The FX series took home the Outstanding Limited Series or Movie gong while the highly-popular HBO programme earned the final prize of the night Outstanding Drama Series at the 68th annual event held at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Game Of Thrones also made history on Sunday night as they won three awards during the televised portion of the show bringing its total to 38, which is one more than previous all-time record holder Frasier. Scroll down for video Gorgeous in green: Sarah Paulson was excited as she accepted the gong for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday evening Another one: Game Of Thrones ended the night by accepting the Outstanding Drama Series prize for top honours of the night The emotional high-note occurred when the People v. OJ Simpson's Sarah Paulson apologised to Marcia Clark directly while accepting the gong for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. The 41-year-old actress portrayed the real-life prosecutor in the FX biographical drama series and addressed the crowd. She said: 'I along with the rest of the world have been superficial and careless in my judgement and I am glad to be able to stand here today in front over everyone and tell you I'm sorry.' Group effort: Ryan Murphy accepted the Outstanding Limited Series prize which topped off a very successful night for The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story Lovely ladies: As the 41-year-old portrayed real-life prosecutor Marcia Clark, she not only brought her as a date but also apologised to her during the acceptance speech Proud: The 63-year-old author gave Sarah a big hug when her name was called Warm embrace: The real-life prosecutor was the first to congratulate the big winner Aww: During her speech, Sarah said: 'I along with the rest of the world have been superficial and careless in my judgement and I am glad to be able to stand here today in front over everyone and tell you I'm sorry' Victory kiss: During the Governors Ball after party Sarah planted a kiss on Marcia's cheek This was her first win at the Emmys after being nominated five times previously in various American Horror Story miniseries along with a 2012 nomination for TV Movie Game Change. Sarah was not the only big winner as her co-stars Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown won the Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, respectively. During his acceptance speech Courtney had a sweet dedication for his wife of nearly 20 years Angela Bassett. Mr Cochran! Courtney B. Vance was excited as he took home the Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie gong All for you: He dedicated the win to his wife Angela Bassett and pointed his shiny new trophy toward her as he walked off Loved up: The two talented stars walked the red carpet together as they have been married for nearly 20 years Fantastic: Sterling K. Brown accepted the Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie award Big moment: During his acceptance speech Sterling said: 'A lot of you may not have known who I was, but you checked the box anyway. And that makes me very, very happy' Bowing down: Presenter Terrence Howard showed respect to the veteran actor before handing over his prize Tough loss: Sarah and Sterling both credited each other in their acceptance speeches as they were a part of the prosecution team in the FX drama The 56-year-old actor said: 'Last but not least, to the woman who rocks my chain thank you Angela Bassett, this one's for you girl.' Sterling was very gracious in his acceptance speech as he said: 'A lot of you may not have known who I was, but you checked the box anyway. And that makes me very, very happy.' The FX series also won the biggest prize possible as they won the Outstanding Limited Series or Movie gong. Game of wins: Executive Producers David Benioff (second from left) and D.B. Weiss (pointing) accepted the last gong of the night Pretty as a peach: Emilia Clarke was joined on stage by creator George R.R. Martin Tops: With their win at the end of the night, Game Of Thrones has set the record for most Emmys, bringing it to a total of 38, which is one more than Frasier Epic: The fantasy-based drama just wrapped up its sixth season They received a total of 22 nominations, good for second behind HBO series Game Of Thrones in all categories. American Crime Story had already won four gongs at the Creative Arts Emmys going into the event. Not to be forgotten Game Of Thrones received the most nominations and earned arguably the biggest prize of the night. The show concluded with the highly-popular series being presented with the Outstanding Drama Series prize. Game Of Thrones had the most total nominations but the second most at the event to the FX series with six but had the most nominations total including the creative arts, directing and writing ones with 23. 'Thank you Hillary!': Kate McKinnon won the Supporting Actress in a Comedy series gong at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday Inspiration: She thanked Hillary Clinton as they appeared on a episode of Saturday Night Live last year Time to celebrate: She was presented with the award by Joel McHale and Kristen Bell as the two ladies shared a sweet smooch during the trophy exchange Golden girl: Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth consecutive gong in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category for Veep Group hug: The cast and crew embraced Executive Producer David Mandel after his hilarious speech while accepting the Outstanding Comedy Series trophy In charge: The 55-year-old actress has received plenty of critical-acclaim and been rewarded with plenty of gold statues for her comedic role in the HBO series Legend: Jeffrey Tambor took home the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy prize for the second year in a row Happy times: Jeffrey greeted presenter James Corden with a kiss while accepting his shiny new prize Thoughtful: In his speech, the 72-year-old actor urged executives to cast more transgender talent as his character is transgender in the Amazon series Another big winner was Kate McKinnon who couldn't help but thank Hillary Clinton for helping her earn her shiny new trophy. The 32-year-old actress won the Supporting Actress in a Comedy series gong at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards which kicked off on Sunday evening. She won the award for her various characters on Saturday Night Live with her signature one being the former New York Senator. Dapper: Rami Malek won his first Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama category for his role in Mr. Robot 'Please tell me you are seeing this too': The 35-year-old actor channelled his character Elliot Anderson during his acceptance speech On a role: Tatiana Maslany won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for Orphan Black for the second year in a row Gushing: The 30-year-old stunner expressed her happiness with being involved in the show as she said: 'I feel so lucky to be on a show that puts women at the center' Overcome with emotion she thanked her loved ones and even had a special shout-out for the Democratic president hopeful as she said: ' Thank you Ellen Degeneres, thank you Hillary Clinton.' Last year, the 68-year-old Democratic nominee joined Kate who was dressed up as her during a bar sketch on the live comedy show. The first gong of the night went to Louie Anderson as he won the prize for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Baskets. A dream in tangerine: Regina King looked fantastic as she accepted the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie award for American Crime Excited: The first gong of the night went to Louie Anderson as he won the prize for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Baskets Dynamic duo: Anthony Anderson and Tracy Ellis Ross presented Louie with the award 'We got a long way to go': Alan Yang urged more Asian-Americans to get into showbusiness as he and Aziz Ansari accepted the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series award How is this still a thing? John Oliver happy accepted the Outstanding Variety Talk Series gong for Last Week Tonight Dynamic Duo: Keegan-Micahel Key and Jordan Peele accepted the Outstanding Variety Sketch Series award Sweet moment: Key shared a laugh with funnyman Damon Wayans Triumphant: Patton Oswalt dedicated his Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special award to his daughter and late wife Exxited: Director Jill Soloway accepted Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the Transparent episode Man on the Land As he plays the mother of the main character, Christine Baskets, he joked: ' I have not always been a very good man, but I play one hell of a woman!' In the least surprising win of the night, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth consecutive gong in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category for Veep. The 55-year-old comedienne made a joke about how their comedy has influenced this presidential election before hitting an emotional high point. Shimmering: Laverne Cox was one of the star presenters It's Cookie! Taraji P Henson looked fantastic in a sequined number Talented pair: Liev Schreiber and Keri Russell also presented together No Scandal here: Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn spoke at the event Ready to pop: Kerry proudly flaunted her burgeoning baby belly Her voice began to crack as she dedicated the win to her late father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday. Her show Veep also received the biggest honour in comedy, Outstanding Comedic Series, as Executive Producer David Mandel had a hilarious speech and had an interesting dedication as he said: 'This is for chubby jews from the Upper Westside wherever you are' Another repeat winner with Transparent's Jeffrey Tambor who took home the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series gong for the second year in a row. It's a match: Tom Hiddleston and Priyanka Chopra presented together Going green: Comedy duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler matched Back in black: Allison Janney presented one of the biggest gongs on the night Going for the gold: Claire Danes and Bryan Cranston presented Stunning: Rami joined actress Abigail Spencer Fresh: Randall Park and Constance Wu looked great Hilarious: Comedienne Leslie Jones had some fun on the stage with the accountants from Ernst & Young Having fun: Kit Harington and Andy Samberg presented Will you? They did a fake proposal gag Dapper: Kiefer Sutherland and Larry David also presented The Fonz! Henry Winkler presented the In Memoriam segment Pretty: Tori Kelly played a beautiful song on stage during that segment Host with the most: Jimmy Kimmel opened up the gala with a hilarious monologue Stinging: His arch-nemesis Matt Damon came out to pour salt in the wound after Jimmy lost out to John Oliver You had to be there: A funny moment came with the host took away what was supposed to be Maggie Smith's Outstanding Support Actress in a Drama Series from presenters Minni Driver and Michael Weatherly Winner: Downton Abbey's legendary actress Maggie was not in attendance to receive her prize as she has previously skipped out on the award show Thoughtful: Jimmy along with the cast of Stranger Things handed out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by his mother Talented: Actors Actors Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo - pictured from left to right - kept the crowd entertained with a song and dance to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars hit Uptown funk before it began The 72-year-old actor showed his respect to his fellow nominees as he said: 'There is no best actor, alright, I am so honoured to be in this category with these artistic killers.' Rami Malek was a first time winner as he took home the coveted Outstanding Actor in a Drama gong for his role in Mr. Robot. The 35-year-old actor channelled his character Elliot Anderson as the first thing he said at the podium was: 'Please tell me you are seeing this too.' The annual gala was hosted by ABC late night chat show host Jimmy Kimmel. Winner, winner! Sarah brandished her award backstage Cast & Crew of Veep, winner of Outstanding Comedy Series, pose in the press room The cast and crew of Game of Thrones winners of the award for outstanding drama series pose in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards Director Jill Soloway (L), winner of Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the Transparent episode 'Man on the Land' and actor Jeffrey Tambor Aziz Ansari (R) and Alan Yang, winners of the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Award for Master of None Advertisement The brightest stars of the small screen were out in force on Sunday for one of the hottest nights on the Hollywood calendar - the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. And Priyanka Chopra, Sofia Vergara and Emily Ratajkowski turned every head on the red carpet outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles in stunning red, white and blue gowns. Emily made sure her first time at the star-studded ceremony was a night to remember. Scroll down for video And the award for best dressed goes to: (L-R) Priyanka Chopra, Sofia Vergara and Emily Ratajkowski shone in red, white and blue at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday The 25-year-old highlighted her slim but curvy figure in an elegant royal blue strapless mermaid gown with a show-stopping train. Emily was Project Runway judge Zac Posen's date for the evening, so naturally wore one of his designs. The model turned actress teamed the stunning dress with blue eyeliner and chandelier earrings, pulling her dark hair into a slick updo. Meanwhile Sofia sizzled on the red carpet in a white Atelier Versace gown which clung to her voluptuous figure and boasted sheer silver panels across the stomach, chest and thighs. Simply stunning: Emily looked incredible in the Zac Posen frock, which highlighted her slim but curvy figure Drama queen: The model turned actress teamed her gown with a slick ponytail, heavy eyeshadow and striking blue eyeliner His muse: The 25-year-old was Zac Posen's date for the evening, and walked hand-in-hand with the fashion designer The 44-year-old Modern Family star curled her auburn locks and wore them in a half updo, adding dramatic dark red lipstick and winged eyeliner. And Quantico star Priyanka, 34, who was presenting, twirled for the cameras in her flowing one-shouldered scarlet Jason Wu number, which she teamed with matching lipstick. Red appeared to be a lucky colour for the evening, as Best Actress in a Drama Series winner Tatiana Maslany (who wore Alexander Wang), Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner Kate McKinnon (in custom Nha Khanh Atelier) and Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner Regina King (in Elizabeth Kennedy) all rocked scarlet pieces. Curves ahead: Sofia highlighted her voluptuous figure in a tight white and silver frock by Atelier Versace Ready for her close-up: The 44-year-old Modern Family star curled her auburn locks and wore them in a half updo, adding dramatic dark red lipstick and winged eyeliner A family affair: Sofia brought her 24-year-old son Manolo along as her plus one, and he looked dapper in a black suit Check me out: Priyanka Chopra twirled for the cameras in her one-shouldered red chiffon gown by Jason Wu Scarlet woman: The 34-year-old, who presented with Tom Hiddleston, matched her flowing dress to her lipstick All eyes on her: The crowd and the cameras went wild when they caught a glimpse of Quantico star Priyanka Ariel Winter turned up the heat in a sparkling silver sequined Yousef Al-Jasmi frock over a nude slip, which she paired with matching sandals and a sleek bun. The 18-year-old Modern Family star was followed by her on-screen sister Sarah Hyland, who made a fashion statement in an embroidered strapless white Monique Lhuillier dress with a train, over black trousers. Sarah Paulson, who won Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for The People vs. OJ Simpson, arrived with Marcia Clark as her plus one and apologised to the 63-year-old in her acceptance speech. Her time to shine: Sarah Paulson stood out in a shimmering and low-cut green Prada gown which was embellished with jewels Plus one: The 41-year-old brought Marcia Clark, who she portrayed in The People vs. OJ Simpson, as her guest for the evening Picture perfect: Kristen Bell nailed her look for the evening in a low-cut printed Zuhair Murad gown Golden girl: Claire Danes, who was once again nominated for Homeland, showed off her flawless red carpet style in a gold Schiaparelli design Mamma mia: Pregnant Scandal star Kerry Washington hugged her baby bump in a cut-out black gown by Brandon Maxwell The 41-year-old looked incredible and made sure everyone knew it was her night to shine in her plunging green Prada gown, which was adorned with sequins and embellished with jewels. Claire Danes, who was once again nominated for Homeland but lost out to Tatiana Maslany, showed off her flawless red carpet style in a gold Schiaparelli gown with cut-out panels across the back. Shooting straight to the top of the best dressed list was presenter Kristen Bell, who picked a beautiful Zuhair Murad printed gown with a low-cut neckline. Turning up the heat: Ariel Winter left little to the imagination in her silver sequined Yousef Al-Jasmi gown over a nude slip The excitement begins: The red carpet was buzzing with photographers and fans as the 18-year-old made her arrival Making a fashion statement: Sarah Hyland stood out in an embroidered white strapless frock over black trousers, both of which were by Monique Lhuillier Taking the plunge: Kirsten Dunst, who was nominated for Fargo, flashed her ample cleavage in a low-cut sparkling black Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci Haute Couture dress No surprises here: As usual, Heidi Klum went for a racy look, showing cleavage, abs and legs in a cut-out silver dress by Michael Kors All hail Khaleesi: Game Of Thrones' Emilia Clarke looked beautiful in her classic Atelier Versace gown And Game Of Thrones star and nominee Emilia Clarke went for classic glamour in a slinky pale pink Atelier Versace number. Meanwhile her co-stars Sophie Turner (who wore Valentino) and Gwendoline Christie both looked lovely as they kept it simple in little black dresses, and Maisie Williams matched her bold floral Markus Lupfer frock to her theatrical eyeliner. Meanwhile Gwendoline finished off her glamorous ensemble with a chic smokey eye courtesy of make-up artist Stoj, who used Lancome products to create the subtle look. 'Gwendoline's look is chic and classic,' Stoj explained. 'We decided on a beautiful, clean look to complement her dress.' Several stars opted for silver, including Heidi Klum, who showed off her cleavage, legs and abs in a cut-out creation by Michael Kors. Too cute: Stranger Things' (L-R) Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Millie Bobby Brown (in RED Valentino) arrived together British beauties: (L-R) Gwendoline Christie, Joanne Froggatt (in Stella McCartney) and Sophie Turner (in Valentino) all shone in black Coordinated: Best friends Amy Poehler (left, in Pamella Roland) and Tina Fey (in Oscar de la Renta) both wore green dresses for the star-studded event Mellow yellow: Empire actress Taraji P. Henson was a ray of sunshine in her bright yellow Vera Wang gown How does she do it?: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Ellie Kemper looked incredible in Jenny Packham just a month after giving birth House Of Cards star and nominee Robin Wright also flashed her long legs in Reem Acra, and Padma Lakshmi was clad in a backless long-sleeved Naeem Khan dress which was covered in sparkling sequins. Amy Schumer, who sported Vivienne Westwood and was joined by sister Kim Caramele, and Kirsten Dunst (clad in Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci Haute Couture) both decided to keep it classic in black. But despite their winning looks, they each lost out in their respective categories, Among the other stars playing it safe in glamorous black gowns were Best Actress in a Comedy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who wore Carolina Herrera), pregnant Kerry Washington (who wore Brandon Maxwell), Tori Kelly (who wore Paule Ka), Allison Janney (who wore Badgley Mischka) and Joanne Froggatt (who wore Stella McCartney). Channelling old Hollywood glamour: Laverne Cox was dazzling in her slinky and low-cut golden Naeem Khan gown Sister act: Amy Schumer looked lovely in black Vivienne Westwood, and brought along her sister and best friend Kim Caramele Dynamic duos: Emmy Rossum (in Wes Gordon) was there to support her Mr. Robot writer fiance Sam Esmail (L), while Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany (in Alexander Wang) was joined by partner Tom Cullen Shining star: Padma Lakshmi was dazzling in her long-sleeved and floor-length silver sequined creation by Naeem Khan Silver siren: Robin Wright may not have won during the ceremony, but she certainly left an impression in her Reem Acra frock Elsewhere best friends Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, who shared the prize of Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Saturday Night Live, wore green in very different ways, with Amy in Pamella Roland and Tina in Oscar de la Renta. Leading the way on the red carpet outside Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater was America Ferrera. The 32-year-old presenter ensured all eyes were on her as she dazzled in a Seventies style navy sequined gown with a low-cut neckline, by Jenny Packham. She's a pro: Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who once again took home the prize for Lead Actress In A Comedy Series, kept it classic in black Carolina Herrera Red hot: (L-R) Regina King (in Elizabeth Kennedy), Julianne Hough (in Armani) and Kate McKinnon (in custom Nha Khanh Atelier) were feeling all bright in scarlet frocks So in love: Jerry Seinfeld was joined by his gorgeous wife of almost 20 years, Jessica Hot stuff: (L-R) Tracee Ellis Ross (in Ralph Lauren), Michelle Dockery (in Oscar de la Renta) and Julie Bowen (in Lela Rose) all picked white creations Best friends: Tracee goofed around on the red carpet with her Black-ish co-star Anthony Anderson America styled her dark hair in soft waves and finished off her glamorous look with smoky eye make-up. It was hard to believe Ellie Kemper gave birth just over a month ago, as she showed off her slender frame in a textured yellow Jenny Packham dress, looking like a ray of sunshine. Nominee Taraji P. Henson, who wore Vera Wang, and presenter Minnie Driver also stood out in bright yellow. Retro rules: America Ferrera, who is presenting during the evening, picked a plunging navy Seventies style Jenny Packham gown which was adorned with sequins New look: Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams, 19, teamed a floral Markus Lupfer frock with theatrical make-up and a fringe They're gems!: Jane Krakowski (L) and Mandy Moore (in Prabal Gurung) stood out in jewel tone creations on the red carpet What a cute couple: American Crime's Felicity Huffman (in Tony Ward) and Shameless' William H. Macy goofed around for the cameras Cheeky: William couldn't resist grabbing his wife's bottom as they cuddled up together for photos Crazy about each other: The actors will be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary next year A-list couple: John Travolta, who lost out in the Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie category to his co-star Sterling K. Brown, was joined by wife Kelly Preston Laverne Cox dazzled in a gold Naeem Khan gown, while Emmy Rossum (in Wes Gordon), Tracee Ellis Ross (who wore Ralph Lauren), Michelle Dockery (in Oscar de la Renta) and Julie Bowen (who wore Lela Rose) all opted for white creations. Meanwhile William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman goofed around on the red carpet as they posed for photos together. Felicity looked gorgeous in a nude Tony Ward gown with white lace detailing while William sported a grey suit with a black shirt and satin tie. How low can you go?: (L-R) Shiri Appleby (in Diane Von Furstenberg), Kathryn Hahn (in Wai Ming) and Judith Light took the plunge in textured gowns So happy: Courtney B. Vance, who won Lead Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series, was supported by wife Angela Bassett Longtime loves: James Corden posed with wife of four years Julia Carey (L), while Bryan Cranston was joined by wife of 27 years Robin Dearden New parents: Terrence Howard and wife Mira Pak, who just welcomed son Hero, cuddled on the red carpet Dynamic duos: While injured Rupert friend was joined by new wife Aimee Mullins, Rami Malek posed with co-star Carly Chaikin Coordinated couple: Viola Davis's husband Julius Tennon wore a bright pink bow tie which matched her eye-catching Marchesa gown The pair were both hoping for a win, with William nominated for Lead Actor In A Comedy Series for Shameless and Felicity up for Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie for American Crime, although sadly neither of them took home the Emmy. Giuliana Rancic was the first to arrive and looked as though she had just stepped out of a fairytale in a delicate pink caped Georges Chakra Couture gown complete with a train. The 42-year-old Fashion Police star, who wore her honey-coloured hair in a ponytail and added smoky eyes and pink lips, was covering the red carpet arrivals for E!. Prints charming: Constance Zimmer (left, in Monique Lhuillier) and Olivia Culpo were in the spotlight in their patterned creations They've got the bright stuff: (L-R) Hannah Murray (in Philosophy), Minnie Driver and Connie Britton (in Talbot Runhof) captured attention in primary colours In the navy: Abigail Spencer (left, in Jenny Packham) and Lily Tomlin picked sumptuous dark blue designs Co-stars: The Night Manager's (L-R) Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman and Hugh Laurie attended the event together They're winners on the red carpet: (L-R) Neve Campbell (in Christian Siriano), Allison Janney (in Badgley Mischka) and Tori Kelly (in Paule Ka) stunned in elegant black gowns Nothing but a number: Mom star Allison, 56, was joined by her 36-year-old boyfriend Philip Joncas It was a hot day in Los Angeles and one fan in the bleachers had to be wheeled out on a stretcher by paramedics after becoming dehydrated, Page Six claimed. Fortunately the woman in question appeared to be OK despite the scare, and water was provided by staff to anyone who asked for it. Jimmy Kimmel acted as host of this year's ceremony, and delighted the audience with peanut butter and jam sandwiches which he claimed were made by his mother, complete with personalised notes. One very good-looking couple: The Americans stars Keri Russell (in Stephane Rolland) and Matthew Rhys, who are in a relationship off-screen, put on a tactile display for the cameras Men of the moment: (L-R) Kit Harington and Aziz Ansari posed solo on the red carpet, while Liev Schreiber was joined by son Samuel Kai Bringing sexy back: Lindsey Vonn wore a backless wine red dress with daring ruched detailing Hand-in-hand is the only way to land: David Benioff, who won a writing prize for his work on Game Of Thrones, held on tight to his actress wife Amanda Peet, who dazzled in Altuzarra Best supporting wives: David Schwimmer (L) and Jordan Peele were joined by their glamorous other halves, Zoe Buckman and Chelsea Peretti Ooh la la: Mr Robot star Portia Doubleday risked a wardrobe malfunction in her Armani Prive dress The nominees were announced in July, and while Game Of Thrones was a big winner after landing the most nominations, The People vs. OJ Simpson also came out on top. As well as taking home the honour of Outstanding Mini-Series or Movie, the smash hit show won Lead Actor, Lead Actress and Supporting Actor for Courtney B. Vance, Sarah Paulson and Sterling K. Brown respectively in the same category, and also took home a writing gong. Mr Robot's Rami Malek was shocked to be named Best Actor in a Drama Series, after receiving his first ever Emmy nomination for his role as Elliot Alderson. Similar styles: Natasha Lyonne (left, in Sally LaPointe) and Kaitlin Doubleday had similar ideas in mind for their red carpet looks Quirky couple: Orange Is The New Black star Natasha was joined by her boyfriend Fred Armisen Feeling bold: Anna Chlumsky, who recently gave birth, picked a pink frock with a dramatic train Bright young things: Modern Family's (L-R) Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, Jeremy Maguire, Rico Rodriguez and Nolan Gould were all in attendance Chest a glimpse: Grace Gummer (left, in Galvan) and Constance Wu both took the plunge in eye-popping designs Three is the magic number: Transparent actresses Gaby Hoffmann (L) and Alexandra Grey (C) posed with the show's creator Jill Soloway Playing it safe: Also rocking black were (L-R) Miranda Otto, Stephanie Corneliussen, Lili Taylor and Carol Kane The 35-year-old beat House Of Cards' Kevin Spacey, Bloodline's Kyle Chandler, Ray Donovan's Liev Schreiber, The Americans' Matthew Rhys and Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk. And it was another surprising - but much-deserved - win in the Best Actress in a Drama Series category. Tatiana Maslany beat out Empire's Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis for How To Get Away With Murder, Homeland star Claire Danes, Robin Wright for House Of Cards and and Keri Russell from The Americans to take home the prize for her various roles on Orphan Black. Women in white: Meanwhile (L-R) Aimee Teegarden, wearing a KaufmanFranco gown, Trace Lysette and Sandra Lee shunned colour in white Thrilled to be here: Scandal star Tony Goldwyn (L) was seen sharing a laugh with Black-ish beauty Yara Shahidi (in Clara Rotescu) Veteran actors: Jon Voight (L) and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner Louie Anderson were on the red carpet Stand by your man: No doubt Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul was comforted by wife Naomi after his loss Loud and proud: Brightly printed dresses ensured that Amy Landecker (L) and Alexandra Billings stood out Just the two of us: (L-R) Brittany Lopez (in Kaufmanfranco) and Christian Slater, Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro and David Miller and Ryan Murphy made for dynamic duos Talent runs in the family: Julianne Hough and her brother Derek brought their father Bruce to the ceremony Game Of Thrones took home one of the night's top honours in the form of Best Drama Series, and also won awards for writing and directing. Meanwhile it was no surprise to see Veep take home Best Comedy Series. Leading lady Julia Louis-Dreyfus additionally won Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the fifth year running for her portrayal of Selina Meyer. VIPs: (L-R) Alia Shawkat, Niecy Nash and Maura Tierney were ready to party the night away Twice as nice: Tony Hale was joined by wife Martel Thompson (L), while Henry Winkler and wife Stacey coordinated looks Sealed with a kiss: Mark Burnett shared a sweet smooch with Roma Downey as they posed up together Rising stars: Black-ish Jenifer Lewis (L) was joined on the red carpet by her bright young co-stars Miles Brown and Marsai Martin Once upon a time: Giuliana Rancic, 42, looked like she had stepped out of a fairy-tale in a delicate pink Georges Chakra Couture gown Fighting fit: Jessie Graff managed a karate kick in her red gown and heels as she posed for photgraphs A lot of leg: Zuri Hall (L) and Charissa Thompson dared to bare in black gowns with high slits Jeffrey Tambor took home the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series prize once again for Transparent, having previously won the award last year, and the show won another prize for Directing for a Comedy Series. In the supporting drama categories, Bloodline's Ben Mendelsohn and Maggie Smith of Downton Abbey fame came out on top. Meanwhile Louie Anderson won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for Baskets, and Kate McKinnon broke down in tears after winning Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Saturday Night Live. Going for gold: Transparent's Emily Robinson looked like a princess in her tiered tulle Carolina Herrera gown with gold sequins Split decision: Suzanne Cryer (left, in Christian Siriano) and Holly Taylor both wore floor-length white numbers with slits up one side Bright and beautiful: (L-R) Renee Bargh, Keltie Knight and Debbie Matenopoulos stood out in bold dresses Anything goes: Nancy O'Dell (L) and Liz Hernandez went for very different looks for the occasion Flashing the flash: Porsha Williams went for an unusual look in a cut-out black top and trousers Stunner: TV host Diana Madison wowed in a stunning red gown with a racy split along her endless legs Keeping it suave: Lawrence Zarian (L) and Mario Lopez went for classic suits Another notable winner during the evening was Regina King, who took home Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the second year running for American Crime. Elsewhere Last Week Tonight With John Oliver was named Best Variety Talk Series, Key & Peele won Best Variety Sketch Series, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride won Best TV Movie and The Voice was named Best Reality Competition Program. Meanwhile Grease: Live and The Night Manager each took home prizes for directing, and a shocked Patton Oswalt sweetly paid tribute to his late wife as he accepted the award for Best Writing for a Variety Special. TV's finest: Big winners (L-R) Sarah Paulson, Tatiana Maslany and Julia Louis-Dreyfus posed backstage with their trophies A huge honour: Rami Malek (L) and Louie Anderson looked delighted as they held up their Emmys Another one for the mantelpiece: Jeffrey Tambor planted a kiss on Transparent creator Jill Soloway as they held up their trophies They've done it again: The cast and crew of Veep celebrated after winning Outstanding Comedy Series for the second year in a row Another win: Game Of Thrones won Outstanding Drama Series for the second year running A star-studded affair: The red carpet was rolled out and the Microsoft Theater was packed with A-listers It's been a secret kept for 27 years, but now Noelene Hogan, Crocodile Dundee's Paul Hogan's ex wife, has revealed the truth. 'He doesn't speak to me,' Noelene, 76, told Woman's Day, and revealed that the couple didn't speak for 17 years after the break up. The bitter divorce between the couple when Paul left his wife in 1990 for his much-younger Crocodile Dundee co-star, Linda Kozlowski. Scroll down for video In happier times: Paul Hogan and his ex-wife Noelene at the premier of Crocodile Dundee in 1988. Noelene has now claimed after their bitter divorce in 2014, the couple haven't spoken for 27 years At the time of the break-up, the mother-of-five Noelene and Paul put on a civil front, with the actor's first wife claiming the two 'still speak.' Yet clearly that wasn't the case. Noelene - who now has 10 grandchildren - has poked fun in the past about her ex-husband and Linda's relationship, which came to an end in 2014. 'I had him when he was young, virile and handsome,' she said at the time. Looking lovely: Noelene kept her silence about the couple's messy break-up, after Paul left her for his much-younger co-star, Linda Kozlowski 'He's still got a good butt and good legs, but she's got him in older times when all he wants to do is sit around the house and not go out. 'I was the one who had the best years of his life.' The reason for setting the record straight now is because Noelene is concerned about how she will be portrayed in a new television series about her life - that she only just found out about. Former flame: Noelene has broken her silence after finding out a mini-series about Paul's life was going to be aired, and is worried about how she will be portrayed The mini-series is aptly named Hoges - Paul Hogan's nickname. In the show, Paul's former flame will be played by Playschool's Justine Clarke, and the iconic actor will be played by Josh Lawson. Marny Kennedy, an up-and-coming actress, will play a young Noelene. The show is also set to see Packed To The Rafters' star Ryan Corr as Hoges' best friend John "Strop" Cornell. Winners & Losers star Laura Gordon will play Linda, and Puberty Blues actor Sean Keenan will play Paul in his younger years. In 2014, following his split with Linda, Paul opened up to Herald Sun about his secrets to love. 'If you're real lucky, they'll stick around for a long time. If not, you move on,' he stated. 'I haven't given up.' As for Noelene, the Northern Beaches-based blonde married second husband Reg Stretton in 2000. She's the Emmy award-winning TV host from Byron Bay. And Renee Bargh made sure all eyes were on her as she stepped out at the 2016 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. The 29-year-old wore a stunning scarlet hued figure hugging gown by Cappellazzo Couture which featured corset detailing, enhancing her tiny waist. Scroll down for video Racy in red: Renee Bargh made sure all eyes were on her as she stepped out at the 2016 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday Looking every inch of a star, she teamed the dress with a pair of two-toned nude and red Christian Louboutin heels. She wore her honey blonde locks out and her makeup simple with just a hint of nude lip and smokey eye. Renee finished off the look with minimal jewellery and a red satin choker around her neck which drew attention to her perfectly sun-kissed decolletage. Superstar: Looking every inch of a star, Renee teamed the dress with a pair of two-toned nude and red Christian Louboutin heels Known for her glamorous displays, last week she stepped out at New York Fashion Week wearing a stunning lace number. The dress, which was long sleeved, ended at the top of her thighs and drew attention to the television presenter's tanned and toned pins. She accentuated her long legs with a pair of nude strapless heels. Simply stunning: Renee finished off the look with minimal jewellery and a red satin choker around her neck which drew attention to her perfectly sun-kissed decolletage A beaded hem and sleeves added a playful touch to the glamorous dress, which she appeared to wear over a black slip. Renee let the dress do most of the talking as she kept her makeup looking natural, save for a classic dark lip. Shaking it: The 29-year-old showed off the beaded hem and sleeves of her dress in a playful video shared with her social media followers She shared photos of her glamorous night out with her near 72,000 Instagram followers. In one image, she appeared with Misha Collection designer Michelle Aznavorian and model friend of Kim Kardashian, Jasmine Sanders - better known as Golden Barbie. In the second photo, the bubbly blonde showed off her playful side as she shimmied in her dress - showing off the beaded detail. Roly-poly retailer Sir Philip Green always looms large at his London Fashion Week shows for Topshop. Yesterday Sir Shifty, who has become a pariah after selling BHS to a serial bankrupt for 1, was, however, conspicuous by his absence. BHS has since been put into administration, with the loss of 11,000 jobs. Lady Kitty Spencer, Lottie Moss and Ellie Goulding attend the Topshop Unique show during London Fashion Week Green, who still has his knighthood, is usually a staple at Topshops catwalk presentations. But his vast space on the front row was taken by a trio of blondes, whose unsmiling demeanours gave the impression that they were hostages in a kidnap video. Sir Shifty, who has become a pariah after selling BHS to a serial bankrupt for 1, was conspicuous by his absence at London Fashion Week Model Lottie Moss seemed to be there instead of her half-sister Kate, who is something of a muse to the odious Green. It's unclear why pop star Ellie Goulding, who sang at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding reception, felt the need to attend. Lady Kitty Spencer, the niece of Princess Diana, definitely should have known better. Super-tanned Green has been spending his summer on his yaught Lionheart, which is estimated to be worth 100million and has its own helipad. Recently emerged pictures showed him dousing himself in copious amounts of champagne at a party off the Greek island of Mykonos. But the fashion show's theme was more down to earth, with Topshop targeting ordinary people interested in high street clothes, rather than the fashionista elite. The retail giant boasted of its achievement in getting fashion from runway to retail, saying it was leading the 'democratisation' of London Fashion Week. Anthea Turner's ex-husband, Grant Bovey, is finding business success elusive. The former bankrupt has accumulated trading losses of 2.6million at his music app company, MSTY Ltd. Ongoing losses in 2014 were 622,677, indicating a 2 million loss last year. 'MSTY is a high-tech company that requires significant investment during its early years,' Bovey tells me from Ibiza. 'They take a few years to start generating revenue, which is not unusual for tech companies.' Bovey, 55, is the majority shareholder in the business, which allows users to send tunes by text message, with former BBC golden girl Anthea owning 12 shares. She was granted a divorce last October after discovering he was having an affair with an interior designer 26 years his junior. Bovey, who was on Celebrity Big Brother this year, was declared bankrupt in 2010 after his buy-to-let business collapsed with debts of 50million and discharged a year later. Just weeks after critics poured cold water on Sir Kenneth Branagh's West End production of The Entertainer, the real stuff poured through the ceiling of the Garrick Theatre on Friday. 'They announced that the interval would be extended while a leak was fixed,' says an audience member. At the nearby Apollo, the ceiling caved in during a 2013 show, injuring 88 people. 'There wasn't any panic on Friday,' insists my man in the cheap seats. 'Although we did have a rummage for our umbrellas.' Poldark caught up a creek without his paddle As Ross Poldark, Aidan Turner is a passionate lover, miner and scyther of his fields, but he does not appear to be a rower. Seen here filming for the third series in Cornwall, his oar was missing its paddle. The producers were using old-fashioned trickery to make sure the rowing boat did not travel very far. As Ross Poldark, Aidan Turner is a passionate lover, miner and scyther of his fields, but he does not appear to be a rower Aidan managed to see the funny side when he finished the shoot. Disappointingly for his female fans, he remained fully clothed in a floor-length trench coat. Nimby Tom Bradby's batty plan News At Ten presenter Tom Bradby made a song and dance about a proposed housing development near his 1 million home, calling it an 'absolute abomination'. Happily, his own property plans have been given the green light. Test Valley Council has allowed him to go ahead with major works at his Hampshire bungalow, creating a pool house and a ground-floor extension to include a dining room, sitting room and bedroom. The first-floor extension will feature a study and bedroom with en-suite and dressing room. There is one condition, however: he must take special measures to protect the local bats from death or injury during the construction work. 440k boost for SamCam's OBE stylist Controversially awarded an OBE in David Cameron's resignation honours, Isabel Spearman has another reason to celebrate. After being awarded an OBE, Samantha Cameron's stylist Isabel Spearman has another reason to celebrate The stylist who was paid 60,000 a year as special adviser to Cameron's wife Samantha can look forward to a 443,000 boost. Her husband, Mark Crocker, is in line to receive the sum after property firm Clifton Securities and Partners Ltd, of which he owns a quarter, went into voluntary liquidation. Spearman (pictured near left with SamCam) posed in a glossy magazine this weekend to promote her new image consultancy, yet complained about being described as a stylist. She has sported an array of eye-catching outfits during London Fashion Week so far. But Ashley James decided to push the fashion boundaries even further on Sunday, as she headed to the David Koma showcase in an unusual fleece number. The 29-year-old showed off the quirkier side to her style as she arrived at Soho's BFC Show Space in a teal fleece and clashing blue leather skirt. Scroll down for video Quirky: Ashley James, 29, pushed the boundaries at the David Koma LFW event on Sunday in a teal fleece and clashing skirt combo The former Made in Chelsea star embraced the dwindling London sunshine in a bold turquoise jacket, formed entirely of soft and fluffy fleece material. Trying to nail the colour-clash trend, Ashley paired the coat with a cornflower blue and black leather mini skirt, decorated with buttons down the front. Despite the odd colouring, the A-line number cinched in at her waist to add flatter her figure in the bulkier look. Chilly? The former Made in Chelsea star embraced the dwindling London sunshine in a bold turquoise jacket, formed entirely of soft and fluffy fleece material Adding to the look's unconventional style, the Londoner paired the ensemble with a pale pink box handbag and a pair of black ankle boots - decorated with a striking embroidered face complete with a set of red lips. She kept her look glamorous with tight curls and a smoky eye as she headed to event with fellow DJ and gal pal Charlotte De Carle. The brunette looked equally as glamorous in a silk navy jumpsuit, patterned with dainty yellow florals, and a bronze shoulder bag. The pair posed up a storm together before taking their seats to view the London-based designer's SS17 collection - which mixed classic monochrome silhouettes with flashes of neon green and yellow. Gal pals: Accompanying Ashley to the event was fellow DJ and gal pal Charlotte De Carle, who looked chic in a navy silk jumpsuit Ashley and Charlotte have been inseparable recently, attending a whole variety of Fashion Week showcases together including Paul Costelloe and Aquascutum. However as well as being a fashion fan, Ashley has admitted previously that she relies on her housemate Charlotte for much more personal things, too. The blonde, admitting she struggled with body dysmorphia in her youth, told MailOnline of her best friend: 'I live with Charlotte and since living with her Ive never had a panic attack around my body, which I used to. 'Its a horrible thing because I lost perception of my own body and how I looked, so even though I knew I was wearing size eight clothes my eyes would see me as fat.' Bright spark: David Koma's SS17 installment mixed classic monochrome silhouettes with flashes of neon green and yellow He's known for his smooth Southern accent and signature catch phrase, 'Alright, alright, alright'. But in his latest film called Sing, Matthew McConaughey puts on an Australian accent as he voices the character of a koala. Speaking to news.com.au, the 46-year-old said: 'Australians are not offended that I played a koala bear! Australians dont get offended by things like that!'. Scroll down for video New role: In his latest film called Sing, Matthew McConaughey puts on an Australian accent as he voices the character of a koala The Hollywood actor has previously spent time in Australia, for professional and personal purposes. The genetically blessed star, who filmed Fool's Gold on Queensland's Gold Coast before its 2008 release, claims he has worked '11 odd jobs' during his time Down Under, including roles as a barrister's assistant and a boat marine service mechanic. Meanwhile the film's director Garth Jennings, stands by his choice to cast Matthew for the role. Character: Matthew voices a koala named Buster who owns a struggling theatre in the upcoming animated feature 'As I got into that area of where animals originated from, I got into all kinds of narrative problems and it became about what I didnt want the film to be about,' he said about his decision to not be bound by choosing just an Australian actor to voice the marsupial. 'It was more about finding personality. So I wanted this tiny ball of fluff to have the biggest, most infectious enthusiasm that you could imagine and I wanted that from Matthew.' Matthew voices a koala named Buster who owns a struggling theatre in the upcoming animated feature. Familiar with Australia: The genetically blessed star filmed Fool's Gold on Queensland's Gold Coast with Kate Hudson before its 2008 release And the Magic Mike star has no doubt been very proud of his involvement in the project. Taking to Twitter earlier this year, he shared a link to the film's trailer, along with the message: 'bout time I made one for the kiddoscheck it out..SING #singmovie (sic)'. Earlier this month the actor attended the Toronto International Film Festival premiere for the flick alongside his gorgeous wife Camila Alves. Emmys host Jimmy Kimmel made it clear right up front that he wasn't impressed that Maggie Smith, the dowager doyenne of Downton Abbey wasn't at Sunday's awards show in Los Angeles. During his opening monologue, the comedian pointed out that the British actress had been nominated nine times for one of television's highest honors and won three times. But she had never been there in person to collect her Emmy. Scroll down for video Not having it! Emmys host Jimmy Kimmel took Maggie Smith's supporting actress in a drama trophy in protest at the veteran British star not being at the show in person to accept it So when her name was read out as the winner of the award for outstanding supporting actress in a drama, he wasn't having any of it. 'No, no, no!' he interrupted as he walked across the stage and grabbed the Emmy out of presenter Minnie Driver's hands. 'We're not mailing this to her.' He then turned to the camera brandishing the shiny gold trophy and said: 'Maggie, if you want this, it will be in the lost and found.' Sunday night's win was the 81-year-old actress's fourth, having won twice before for her performance as Violet Crawley in Masterpiece Theatre's costume drama, as well as taking home the outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie for My House In Umbria in 2003. Give it here! After Minnie Driver read out Smith's name, the comedian dashed on stage and grabbed the Emmy out of her hand as co-presenter Michael Weatherly watched Protest: 'Maggie, if you want this, it will be in the lost and found,' Kimmel quipped before leaving the stage with the award 'This year for the first time ever you must be present to win...it's called the Maggie Smith rule,' Kimmel quipped at the start of the telecast. As for why the revered stalwart of British television was absent, he said: 'This year she had a Sunday ceramics class she couldn't get out of.' Kimmel went on: 'She's Downton Absent is what she is... what is wrong with us? Why do we keep nominating this woman?' 'If you want an Emmy, you'd better hop on a plane right now and get your dowager countass over here.' Much lauded: It was Smith's third supporting actress win at the Emmys for her portrayal of Dowager Countess Violet Crawley in the drama Downton Abbey, pictured. She also has a lead actress Emmy for the 2003 TV movie My House In Umbria Kimmel pointed out to the audience that Smith had shown up to collect her two Academy Awards, for The Prime Of Miss Brodie and California Suite back in the 1970s, and also picked up her Tony Award in 1990 for the Broadway play Lettice and Lovage. She was the one to watch in the street style stakes during New York Fashion Week, last week. And once again Jessica Hart has stolen the show as she attend the shows in London. The Aussie model turned heads in a very low-cut black dress as she headed to the Preen By Thornton Bregazzhi show on Sunday. Scroll down for video Best foot forward: Jessica Hart turned heads in a little black dress as she attended London Fashion Week Spring/Summer collections 2017 in London on Sunday Walk this way: The blonde beauty showed off plenty of cleavage and her slim pins in a little black dress The blonde beauty showed off plenty of cleavage and her slim pins in a little black dress. The frock also featured a cinched-in waist that accentuated her tiny mid-section. The popular gap-toothed model teamed the garment with a thin black choker, simple gold jewellery and her favourite chunky lace-up Louis Vuitton boots, which she was spotted wearing several times in New York. The statement piece to her look, however, was the fluffy backpack she carried over one shoulder. Slender: The frock also featured a cinched-in waist that accentuated her tiny mid-section All-black everything: The popular gap-toothed model teamed the garment with a thin black choker, simple gold jewellery and her favourite chunky lace-up Louis Vuitton boots Jessica kept her long, light blonde locks natural, falling well below her shoulders. She wore a smack of bold red lipstick and kept the rest of her makeup natural. An all-black ensemble seems to be Jessica's go-to look. In the FROW: Jessica Hart sat front row at Preen by Thornton Bregazzi's London Fashion Week show Ready for her close-up: The in-demand model kept her make-up to a minimum, apart from a smack of bright red lipstick Last week, the model donned a long-sleeved black dress by designer Thakoon to the Daily Front Row Awards and the same Louis Vuitton black boots. She teamed her outfit with a small black Charlotte Olympia handbag, shaped in the form of a cat face. The model has also made her love of animal print known. Walking on the wild side: On Sunday evening, the blue-eyed babe cut a striking figure when she opted for a long-sleeved leopard print mini dress to sit front row at both Paul Smith and Charlotte Olympia's London Fashion Week shows The fash pack: Jessica hung out with Charlotte Dellal, Poppy Delevingne, and Derek Blasberg at the 'Vogue - Voice of a Century' book launch on Sunday Blonde ambition: Jessica and Poppy Develingne strike a pose for the paps at the exclusive Vogue event On Sunday evening, the blue-eyed babe cut a striking figure when she opted for a long-sleeved leopard print mini dress to sit front row at both Paul Smith and Charlotte Olympia's London Fashion Week shows. Sitting next to Jessica in the front row at Paul Smith was Olivia Palermo and Chelsea Leyland. After the shows, the blonde bombshell attended the book launch of Vogue - Voice of a Century, dressed in the same chic outfit. Dressed to impress: The models showed off their slim pins, with Jess opting for a mini dress and Poppy wearing tight pale blue ripped jeans Gal pals: The stylish Australian model hugged London-based Poppy at Vogue's book launch, held at a private members' establishment The book celebrates Vogue Britain's centenary year, and the event was hosted by Alexandra Shulman at 5 Hertford Street - a private members' establishment. She slung the same Charlotte Olympia patent black kitty bag over her shoulder. All in the name of fun: Jessica has had a huge month, attending both New York Fashion Week and now London Fashion Week Loving a laugh: Poppy and Jess hung with celebrity fashion designer Matthew Williamson Her dress once again had a plunging neckline, showing off some cleavage. She teamed the sexy dress with strappy black heels, her usual thin black choker and wore a simple gold necklace and bracelet. She appeared to be having a 'wild' night - hanging out with fellow model Poppy Delevingne, and fashion designers Matthew Williamson and Henry Holland. Australian supermodel Shanina Shaik is known for her flawless skin. And on Monday, the Victoria's Secret model revealed the secrets behind her glowing complexion, posting a video to Instagram. Indulging in a facial which included radio frequency and micro needling, Shanina is seen undergoing the treatment at a salon in LA. Scroll down for video It's in the glow! On Monday, the Victoria's Secret model showed the secrets to her glowing complexion, posting a video to Instagram Shanina - who is of Lithuanian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian heritage - looked relaxed and content as she received the treatment, which she revealed was completely painless. She captioned the post: 'Thankyou Dr.Kassiabian for my beautiful glowing skin!' Micro needling stimulates collagen growth and is often used to treat fine lines, wrinkles, scars and skin pigmentation with little or no downtime. Pain free: Shanina - who is of Lithuanian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian heritage - looked relaxed and content as she received the treatment, which she revealed was completely painless Meanwhile, Shanina has been in Australia recently with her fiance DJ Ruckus, with the pair helping to celebrate her mother Kim's birthday. While in Australia the DJ - whose real name is Gregory Andrews - will be meeting her father for the first time. About the meeting, DJ Ruckus said he both excited and nervous. Bondi girl: Shanina was recently in Australia and posted a pic on Instagram of her looking radiant on Bondi Beach He told The Daily Telegraph: 'I haven't met her father yet, which is a very big ordeal. I'm not too concerned though as he's a very nice guy. And I'm not a bad dude. I'm excited.' She and Ruckus became engaged in January, with the DJ popping the question while they were on holidays in the Bahamas. Shanina - who has modelled for the likes of Seafolly and Chanel - opened up about their wedding to Who Magazine recently. Down Under: Shanina has been in Australia recently with her fiance DJ Ruckus, with the pair helping to celebrate her mother Kim's birthday She told the publication about her wedding dress, saying it will be 'simple and sleek and a bit bohemian'. 'For me the most glamorous day of my life will be my wedding day. I just want to look beautiful and feel like a goddess,' Shanina said. Earlier this year she said the pair will have a 'location wedding,' telling Daily Mail Australia it will most likely be on a beach. The pair are currently based in the US, with Shanina in New York. Teresa Giudice on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey showed that time in prison hardened her heart. The 44-year-old reality star despite her Italian 'family first' philosophy refused to reconcile with cousins Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri. Teresa's friends had strong armed her into a lunch meeting with her two blacklisted family members. Hardened heart: Teresa Giudice told her estranged cousins Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri that her heart had hardened on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey 'I just want to be left alone, I don't want to be hurt anymore,' Teresa told them sternly during the lunch meeting. 'Just because I'm in the public eye again, all of a sudden you guys are coming around,' she complained, accusing them of not attempting to contact her while she was in prison. 'I want to cut the cancer out,' Teresa told her cousins. 'We're not cancer,' retorted Kathy sadly. Lunch meeting: Rosie and Kathy had lunch with Teresa in hopes of renewing their relationships with her Not ready: Teresa told her cousins that she was not ready to spend time with them as her brother Joe listened on 'My heart has got hardened, can you please respect that,' frowned Teresa, who declared that she detests Kathy's husband Richie. 'I don't enjoy his companyhe's a negative person,' she grumbled. 'Every time I'm around your husband he's always got something negative to say,' she told Kathy. Happier times: Rosie, Terea and Kathy were shown in a throwback photo getting along Hard truth: Rosie was forced to accept that Teresa was not ready to restore ties with them They trio failed to find a resolution and Teresa burst into tears during her car ride home with brother Joe. 'I'm sick of it,' she sobbed. The show opened with Siggy Flicker promising to help Rosie and Kathy repair their soiled relationship with Teresa. So long: Rosie and and Teresa exchanged a half-hearted hug as they went their own ways Getting emotional: Teresa cried in the car after the meeting as her brother Joe tried to console her 'It's a tough one, but it's what I do for a living and you know what? I'm up for the challenge,' announced Siggy, a 49-year-old author and relationship expert. But Teresa became defensive when Siggy and Jacqueline Laurita attempted to broach the subject. 'With all due respect to both of you, I don't f***ing get involved in your family life, so please don't get involved in mine,' she barked. Family life: The reality star earlier told friends Siggy Flicker and Jacqueline Laurita to stay out of her family business Adding: 'My father's involved now, she called my dad a coward'. 'I don't want to f***ing hear it,' she griped. Teresa was also worried about her husband Joe, who was crumbling about his looming prison stretch for fraud. 'Women are stronger than menwith me, I didn't really even think about it,' the ex-con told her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga. Getting along: Melissa Gorga and sister-in-law Teresa were enjoying their improved relationship Trip talk: Teresa was talked into going on a Vermont trip by Melissa and Siggy Teresa was also concerned that wine-loving Joe would struggle with a prison-induced detox. 'He's been drinking every day, otherwise he can't go to sleep at night,' she said. Kathy's husband Richie stirred the pot by suggesting that Joe doesn't love Teresa as much as he loves Kathy. Making a statement: Richie kissed his wife Kathy while making a point about Teresa's marriage Looking on: Joe looked on as Richie took a swipe at his sister's marriage 'What a d*** thing to say,' huffed Melissa, as the others shouted at him. 'Your tongue doesn't have bones but it could break bones,' raged Joe Gorga, in both Italian and English. Rosie lost her temper. Not cool: Melissa took Richie to task for his comment about Teresa's marriage 'Fight me, because I'll fight you back!' she yelled, claiming that everyone unfairly blames Kathy for their problems. Rosie later became regretful of her many screaming fits. 'I know my faults,' she cried. Lost it: Rosie lost her temper during the get together Working out: Teresa met up with brother Joe at the gym and agreed to the lunch with Rosie and Kathy At the gym: Dolores Catania meanwhile was at her own gym that she's trying to grow In happier news Jaqueline's daughter Ashlee was ecstatic after her boyfriend, Pete, proposed on the New Jersey shoreline. 'It's so perfectyou did so good,' she wept as she saw the ring. Ashlee rushed straight home to tell her mother who burst into tears. 'That's my daughter, wearing an engagement ring,' beamed the 46-year-old proudly. Shoreline proposal: Pete proposed to Jacqueline's daughter Ashlee on the New Jersey shoreline Looks engaged: Ashlee flashed her engagement ring to her mother after saying yes Melissa, 37, went to the botox clinic with her husband Joe, also 37, to help with his migraines. 'Imagine how cute he'll be when he's got no wrinkles on his forehead,' she giggled. RHONJ continues next week on Bravo. They were the best of friends during the first few weeks of The Block. But on Monday night's episode, the bond between couples, Chris and Kim and Julia and Sasha came to a shattering end. During the airing of the show, Chris hit out at the ladies after they refused to give up 1.3 metres of their brick wall, which they shared. Scroll down for video Not happy: The Block's Chris hit out at Julia and Sasha on Monday night after the couple refused to give up 1.3 metres of their brick wall, which they shared 'I am done with them. At the end of the day they have stabbed us in the back and we are done with them,' he angrily stated. 'It was a real slap in the face,' Chris continued, while Kim added: 'The hardest thing to get around was that we were such close friends with Julia and Sash.' 'I just thought they were better people. But I can hold my head up and say we are not like that,' she said as she burst into tears. Not impressed: He angrily said: 'I am done with them. At the end of the day they have stabbed us in the back and we are done with them' Anger: Chris added: 'I just thought they were better people. But I can hold my head up and say we are not like that' Following the disagreement, Sasha admitted she had felt bad about upsetting Kim and Chris but hoped they would move on from their decision. 'They are p****d. They are really angry. I thought they would be upset but I didn't think they would be angry and they are angry,' she explained. 'Chris is extremely angry. I sent a text apologising but they aren't interested. 'Maybe it will take some time for them to see our point of view. Maybe they will maybe they wont.' Sad: Following the disagreement, Sasha admitted she had felt bad about upsetting Kim and Chris but hoped they would move on from their decision Trying their best: She later explained: ' I sent a text apologising but they aren't interested. Maybe it will take some time for them to see our point of view' Julia added she felt bad about ruining their tight bond with the pair while she tried to justify her actions. 'We just had to weigh it up and you never know how it is going to go on auction night. You can never pick it,' she said. Earlier in the episode, Sasha told Kim and Chris they had decided not to share the brick wall because 'at the end of the day, it's a competition'. 'We really think everyone should have the same opportunity,' she began to tell the pair. At each other: Earlier in the episode, Sasha told Kim and Chris they had decided not to share the brick wall because 'at the end of the day, it's a competition' Reasoning: Sasha continued: 'We think you guys are really lucky because you chose level five and you have bigger dressing rooms and bigger square metres and all of that which will benefit you guys in the sale' 'We had a long hard think about it and we know it was probably difficult for you guys to come and ask but we put some pros and cons to both. 'We have to think long term and we have to think end game for what is going to be the best benefit for us to sell this apartment.' Sasha continued: 'We think you guys are really lucky because you chose level five and you have bigger dressing rooms and bigger square metres and all of that which will benefit you guys in the sale. 'In saying that, we think we need to keep the 1.5 metres. We are so sorry.' With tears in their eyes, Chris hit out: 'Were you thinking about the end game every time I have come over here to help you pray your room, put your bed together, drag your mattress down when you couldn't do it yourselves? Done: With tears in their eyes, Chris hit out: 'Were you thinking about the end game every time I have come over here to help you pray your room, put your bed together, drag your mattress down when you couldn't do it yourselves?' Attracting trouble: Drama seemed to follow Chris everywhere during Monday's episode, after he was rushed to hospital for stitches 'It is half our space. It is just because you got in first,' he concluded. But it seemed the drama followed Chris everywhere during Monday's episode, after he was rushed to hospital. The armature builder was sent to the emergency room for stitches to his head after he 'had a battle with a plumber's clip'. He explained: 'I tried to fight a plumbers clip that was hanging down the stairwell but it got the first punch in and it opened me up quiet bad. 'It was always going to be me who does something stupid like this,' he laughed. Accident: The armature builder was sent to the emergency room for stitches to his head after he 'had a battle with a plumber's clip' She was the giggly Disney-obsessed romantic who failed to find love on The Bachelor. But Janey Birks seems happier than ever dressing up as princess characters and entertaining children for a living. After a brief appearance on the hit reality show, the 27-year-old is back doing what she loves, and earns up to $280 an hour for each gig. 'I woke up like this': Former The Bachelor contestant Janey Birks seems happier than ever dressing up as princess characters and entertaining children for a living Showcasing her love for all things fairytale, the 27-year-old painted a rainbow pattern across her forehead and tinted her hair to match in a snap she posted to Instagram on Saturday. 'It must be the weekend because #iwokeuplikethis,' she wrote alongside the photo. In another post, the Queensland native shared a photo from the Brisbane Pride Festival on Sunday. Leggy: The Queensland native, second from left, shared a photo from the Brisbane Pride Festival on Sunday Flaunting her chiselled calf muscles and toned thighs in a black metallic skirt, her ample assets could also be seen bulging from under her white tank top. She completed her look with a black choker, while throwing her long brunette locks over her left shoulder. The Janey became a fan favourite after leaving her bejewelled heel with Richie on the first night of The Bachelor, getting her Cinderella moment later during the cocktail party, when The Bachelor returned her 'slipper'. In an interview with Popsugar last month, she spoke about her obsession with everything related to Disney. Still looking for Prince Charming! The Bachelor reject Janey Birks looked in happy spirits while dressed as Rapunzel 'I literally live and breathe it,' she said. 'I do my kids' parties so fairy tales are like my livelihood. Maybe I've taken it too far.' Janey works as a childrens entertainer for A Princess Wish Kids Parties. Although this is believed to be her weekend job, Janey is also an experienced dancer and specialises in ballet after graduating from Queensland Dance School of Excellence. Dancing queen: The 27-year-old, who hails from Queensland, is paid to dress up as iconic Disney characters where she earns up to $280 an hour for each gig - she is also an experienced dancer and specialises in ballet According to the childrens party website, The Bachelor reject has taken her work overseas, entertaining crowds in Tokyo and Hong Kong. It was in this time where I befriended many fairytale characters that I hope to bring to life for your princes and princesses, she wrote. In addition to running my parties I also currently teach dance, mostly to children aged 2-6, she added. A Princess Wish is my creation, incorporating my love of kids, entertaining and my fascination with magic and fantasy. They are two of Australia's most successful models and turn heads on and off the catwalk. And on Monday, Jennifer Hawkins and Megan Gale dressed to impress - showing off their equally stunning figures in stylish ensembles ahead of Australia's Next Top Model Season 10, set to air on Tuesday night. Jennifer, 32, and Megan, 41, and their fellow judge Alex Perry all attended a photo call at Fox Studios in North Ryde. Dressed to impress: Jennifer Hawkins and Megan Gale dressed to impress - showing off their stunning figures and style ahead of Australia's Next Top Model Season 10, on Monday Former Miss Universe Jennifer flaunted her statuesque figure in an all-black ensemble, featuring a sleeveless top with two cut-outs on each side that exposed her trim torso. The attire also had a plunging neckline, exposing a hint of the Myer ambassador's ample cleavage. She complemented the chic top with tight, long black trousers and strappy pointed black heels. Chic: Former Miss Universe Jennifer flaunted her statuesque figure in an all-black ensemble, featuring a sleeveless top with two cut-outs on each side that exposed her trim torso She accessorised with a simple silver necklace, and no other jewellery or accessories aside from her whopping engagement and wedding ring from husband, Jake Wall. The entrepreneur was sun-kissed all over her body - most likely a result of tanning with her Jbronze by Jennifer Hawkins self-tanning range. She kept her makeup natural, with only a touch of nude lipstick, and her locks fell well below her shoulders in a slight wave. Bronzed beauty: The entrepreneur was sun-kissed all over her body - most likely a result of tanning with her Jbronze by Jennifer Hawkins self-tanning range Meanwhile, Megan complemented her curves by wearing a figure-hugging matching shirt and skirt. The mother-of-one tucked the navy cut-out blouse smartly into her three-quarter length chic shirt. The plunging neckline showed a subtle hint of Megan's cleavage. Stunning: Meanwhile, Megan complemented her curves by wearing a figure-hugging matching shirt and skirt The former David Jones ambassador opted for a statement skirt, which hugged her hips and thighs and fanned out just below her knees in pleats. She accessorised her look with nude pointed heels, and stunning costume silver jewelled earrings. The Perth-born beauty let her brunette tresses fall in a natural wave, resting on her shoulders. Au natural: Megan kept her makeup natural, with a hint of bronzer on her cheeks and a touch of eye shadow And like her co-star, Megan kept her make-up natural, with a hint of bronzer on her cheeks and a dash of eye shadow. As for Alex, the famous fashion designer wore a tight Dsquared2 black shirt with a large emblem on the front, black jeans and black boots. There has long been rumours of a rivalry between the equally beautiful Jennifer and Megan. But Megan, who also hails from Perth, recently hit back at the rumours, revealing that she finds the speculation rather disappointing. 'I didn't so much find it annoying as I found it disappointing,' she told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday. Fashion royalty: Australia's Next Top Model Season 10 judges Jennifer Hawkins, Alex Perry and Megan Gale will grace TV screens tomorrow night when the reality series' first episode airs Keen to shut down the gossip, Megan expressed her frustration with the persistent rumours. 'It would be fair enough if it was true and something had actually happened that people had witnessed and said, "Well, there's a rivalry there,"' Megan said. 'When it's fabricated out of absolutely nothing and we're painted as these women who hate each other, it's disappointing,' she added. This is not the first time Megan has attempted to put the suspicion to rest. Earlier this year, she told Marie Claire that the rivalry simply 'never existed'. Rumours of a feud began when the pair both represented rival department stores - David Jones and Myer - at the same time. Jennifer is still an ambassador for Myer. Madison Clark played a dangerous game of favourites on Sunday's episode of Fear The Walking Dead. In a bid to find her lost son Nick she was willing to endanger the whole group of hotel survivors, including her own daughter Alicia. The distraught mother [played by Kim Dickens] turned on the lights of the Rosarito Beach Hotel, their safe hold, to attract her son's attention. Lost son: Madison Clark put her group in jeopardy in a bid to find her lost son on Sunday's episode of Fear The Walking Dead Her wayward child, Nick, had previously left to join a Mexican death cult lead by Luciana [Danay Garcia]. After hearing a rumor that Nick [Frank Dillane] could be just 15 miles away Madison took the deadly chance. This infuriated her daughter Alicia [Alycia Debnam Carey] who was sick of her mother risking peril for Nick's sake. 'Turn it off,' she demanded as Madison lit up the hotel's vast signage. Mother and daughter: Alicia confronted her mother over putting them in danger Lit up: Madison turned on the lights of the Rosarito Beach Hotel in an attempt to grab Nick's attention 'The whole world can see usall the people you wanted to stay away, you're inviting,' she raged. 'I'm here, why isn't that enough?' Alicia asked angrily. The lights soon attracted attention from Travis, Madison's boyfriend [Cliff Curtis] who had departed from the group to look over his crazed son Chris [Lorenzo Henrie]. Not enough: Alicia asked her mother why she wasn't enough for her Saw the light: Travis spotted the hotel lights at the end of the one-hour episode The scene of solo Travis seeing the hotel lights before they went out was the cliffhanger for next week's episode. The show, titled PIllar Of Salt, opened with Francisco [Alfredo Herrera] fleeing from La Colonia with his wife Ana and their sick daughter. A zombie was stabbed in the head and its cut up bowels were used for camouflage. On the move: Francisco and his family covered themselves in zombie blood as they fled La Colonia Drenched in blood the trio escaped toward a settlement near El Descanso, but they were soon intercepted by armed gunmen from the supply warehouse. 'I think I know you, from the supermarketwhere is the Oxy?' demanded one gunman. At Madison's hotel settlement the grieving mother of the zombie bride stabbed Victor in a surprise attack. Looks familar: One of the gunmen from the supermarket recognized Francisco after they intercepted him 'You took my daughter from me,' she yelled, before being captured and restrained by Madison's lackeys. 'I understand grief but this is a bit extreme,' said Victor, as he bled profusely and demanded alcohol to ease his pain. Madison vowed to keep the woman locked up to protect the colony. Surprise stabbing: The mother of the zombie bride stabbed Victor Strand Knock knock: Victor opened his hotel door and was quickly stabbed by the zombie bride's motherfor her mercy killing On her own: Alicia while taking care of Victor said she raised herself as her mother was always tending to her drug addict brother Nick The local pharmacies had been looted so the team were forced to find drugs to save Victor in a dangerous zone. At the warehouse Madison and Elena attempted to swap iced fish for medical supplies. They overheard the gunmen describing a boy with 'ratty hair' who 'brings them drugs'. 'Is his name Nick?' screamed Madison, who almost blew the deal with her outburst, thus endangering Victor's survival. Lost it: Madison lost it when she thought the warehouse traffickers knew Nick Surf lessons: Alicia got a surf lesson as the hotel survivors were getting along They escaped with the drugs, but no more intel about Nick. Meanwhile Nick considered leaving the La Colonia group, but his girlfriend, Luciana, refused. 'I'm the boss now, and I say we stay,' she asserted. Going strong: Luciana and Nick meanwhile were going strong in La Colonia Trouble in paradise: Nick tried to persuade Luciana to leave with him but she refused Nick tried to persuade the cult's leader, Alejandro, to make a trade with the gunmen for water, but the offer was rejected. 'I concern myself with our survival, that's all I care about,' said stubborn Alejandro [Paul Calderon]. Nick then attempted to make the trade behind Alejandro's back. Cult figure: Alejandro shot down Nick's idea to trade for water Got a plan: Nick hatched a plan behind Alejandro's back to trade for water 'We need water, more people are going to die,' he told a conspirator. Alone by the ocean Ofelia Salazar [Mercedes Mason] slaughtered a zombie before entering an abandoned restaurant. A flashback revealed her ex-fiance Will proposing to her in that location. She's back: Ofelia was back in action after abandoning the hotel group Ring on it: A flashback showed Ofelia being proposed to at a restaurant Good time: Ofelia beamed during her engagement Back in her truck she kissed her trusty crucifix, and reminisced about her immigrant mother. 'I understand now,' she said mysteriously. Fear The Walking Dead continues next week on AMC. She's not afraid of stepping out in risque outfits. And Jesinta Campbell has done it again, this time going braless in a black lace crop top in Sydney on Monday. The 24-year-old's model figure was highlighted to perfection in the eye-catching number, which barely contained her ample assets. Racy in lace: Jesinta Campbell flaunted her ample assets as she stepped out braless in a black lace top for a stroll in Sydney on Monday But it was her decision to go braless for the outing that demanded attention, as she gave passers-by more than a glimpse of her busty cleavage. The Australian model turned heads in the daring number, which also revealed a hint of her toned midriff. The girlfriend of AFL star Lance 'Buddy' Franklin teamed the racy top with ripped blue jeans with holes around her knees, as she shaded her eyes in a pair of over-sized sunglasses. Prodigious: The 24-year-old isn't afraid to flaunt her figure in risque outfits Busty babe: The blonde beauty teamed the low cut top with ripped jeans and tanned sandals The David Jones ambassador finished her off-duty look with a pair of strappy sandals while wheeling a leopard print luggage bag as she ambled along the footpath. Her long ombre locks were ever-so-slightly tousled and were left to fall over her slender shoulders. She continued the low-key theme by sporting minimal make-up for her latest appearance. Low-key: The model showed off her flawless skin as she sported minimal make-up What's that? The Australian model appears to have spotted something down her top Meanwhile, the former Miss Universe Australia recently added to her career highlights when she secured an ambassador role with skincare line Olay. It marks a significant milestone for the Jesinta, who recently signed with international talent company IMG. Jesinta said: 'I am so excited to be working with Olay, its such a respected brand that aims to make women feel good about themselves, which I love. Stoic: The brunette beauty ambled along the footpath and let her wet hair fall over her slender shoulders Perfection: The model figure was highlighted to in the eye-catching number, which also flashed a glimpse of her midriff He's searching for the nation's next big runway sensation. But Australia's Next Top Model judge Alex Perry doesn't believe social media is where he'll find his candidates. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia ahead of the Fox 8 program's premiere on Tuesday night, the 53-year-old fashion designer branded Instagram modelling as 'appalling'. Scroll down for video Not a fan: Australia's Next Top Model judge Alex Perry doesn't believe social media is where he'll find his candidates 'It's appalling. I can take like 500 photos of myself and filter them and face tune them and I can pick out one that I'm going to look really good in... but 'I'm not a model,' he explained. Perry said that while these girls rely on filters and other digital features to look picture perfect, the 'old school' scenario involves a photographer and lighting, and 'it's like you are photogenic or you're not'. 'It's not these weird filters on Snapchat and all of a sudden it just hazes over everything and you go "Oh I look really good here",' he added. Disapproves: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia ahead of the Fox 8 program's premiere on Tuesday night, the 53-year-old fashion designer branded Instagram modelling as 'appalling' - pictured with Jennifer Hawkins and Megan Gale 'So I don't have any time for Instagram models at all.' Fellow judge Megan Gale agreed with Perry, saying: 'It [Instagram] probably doesn't give a fully accurate variation' of what a model is capable of. 'Like old school when you have a modelling portfolio you have to have a vast array of different shots that aren't all here that are filtered within an inch of their life,' she said. 'Now you can take 100 selfies of yourself and edit it down to try and make it perfect.' Contestants: Vitoria Triboni (L) and Jordan Simek (R) are two of the contestants in the Top 13 of Australia's Next Top Model this year Social media stunner: Vitoria certainly loves to strike a pose on her Instagram account Online sensation: Jordan is also a fan of posting photos on social media The show's third judge and also host Jennifer Hawkins said that social media was a great tool for models to utilise once their careers have kicked off the ground. 'I think Instagram and social media is great, and once you have a profile you can kind of pick and choose what you put out there.' Alex agreed before reiterating that Instagram is 'not to tell you if you're beautiful or not after you can manipulate everything'. Mixing it up: Megan Gale is the newest judge this year, joining Alex Perry and host Jennifer Hawkins 'Last year we got an Instagram girl. One of the girls who came into the house was from Instagram and we looked at all these photos [and thought] "But what do you look like?",' he added. This year the three judges on the reality show will be joined by Cheyenne Tozzi and Jordan and Zac Stenmark who will be mentoring the contestants. Australia's Next Top Model premieres on Tuesday at 7:30pm on Fox 8. Perrie Edwards was reportedly in a hot new romance with Our Girl heartthrob Luke Pasqualino, but it seems the pair have already gone their separate ways. The pair were only pictured on their first date a month ago, but according to The Sun, they have decided to just be friends. Luke, 26, is currently busy filming Snatch in Manchester and a source told the paper: 'Lukes made it known theyre definitely not together. Scroll down for video All over? Perrie Edwards was reportedly in a hot new romance with Our Girl heartthrob Luke Pasqualino, but it seems the pair have already gone their separate ways Luke, 26, is currently busy filming Snatch in Manchester and a source said: 'Lukes made it known theyre definitely not together' 'Hes been laughing at the rumours with crew and was overheard telling people theyre just friends and have never been a couple.' MailOnline has contacted a rep for Perrie, 23, and Luke for comment. The news comes after Little Mix star Perrie admitted that she drinks plenty of alcohol on first dates for a bit of Dutch courage. Honest: The news comes after Little Mix star Perrie admitted that she drinks plenty of alcohol on first dates for a bit of Dutch courage She made the revelation as the group were quizzed on dating etiquette byBuzzfeed. When asked if it was unacceptable to have more than two alcoholic drinks on a first date, Perrie replied: 'Definitely not, I drink loads on the first date! I have pre-drinks!' Meanwhile, bandmate Jesy Nelson, who's engaged to Rixton's Jake Roche, answered: 'It didnt work out well for me. Well, it did. In the end.' Perrie, who was previously engaged to Zayn Malik, also revealed she thought it was ok to kiss on a first date, and she didn't mind if her date didn't pay. However, the beauty surprisingly admitted she wouldn't have the confidence to make the first move when it came to a kiss. She recently confirmed her budding romance with Luke to Mirror Online. While she has kept coy about her new romance, she confirmed the pair were seeing each other as she explained it was 'going alright'. Oh dear: Perrie recently confirmed her budding romance with actor Luke Pasqualino but it appears to be over before it has begun However, she still considers herself to be a single lady as she went on to tell the publication she was still keeping her options open. After admitting she wanted a 'honest, fit, hunky man', she added: 'I said in the group chat I'd love to do speed-dating, it'd be so much fun! Total jokes.' Last month, Little Mix celebrated their fifth anniversary with a performance at V Festival. Speaking after a trademark energetic performance, Jesy said: 'It's a very, very special day for Little Mix because we are celebrating our five-year anniversary and we are still going strong.' The girl group opened their 50-minute set with Salute, followed by their Sean Paul collaboration Hair, which they remixed with Willow Smith's Whip My Hair. It is the first year they have played V and they dedicated Secret Love Song to "the gay community" and followed it up with Wings, How Ya Doing, and a cover of Beyonce's Run The World. It's been a tumultuous journey for The Bachelor's newest couple Richie Strahan and Alex Nation. But despite public uproar in response to Richie's decision to choose Alex over Nikki Gogan, the pair have seemingly turned a blind eye to the backlash online and are enjoying one another's company. In their second social media public post since the finale aired, Richie uploaded an selfie of himself with Alex, captioned: 'Moments like this.' Scroll down for videos Loved up! Despite public uproar, Richie Strahan and Alex Nation have seemingly turned a blind eye to The Bachelor fans disappointment sharing another smitten post to Instagram on Monday The Bachelor recently dubbed 'Australia's most hated man' by a disappointed fan appeared happy with his decision - unfazed by negative comments from fans of the show. The photo was in black and white and saw Richie cuddling up to Alex who planted a kiss on his cheek for the photo. The pair appeared to be completely smitten and cut casual figures as they lay together in each other's arms. Alex was sporting a leather jacket and what appeared to be minimal make-up, while Richie wore a beanie and denim shirt. Meant to be: The Bachelor Australia winner Alex Nation has shared her first social media post featuring beau Richie Strahan, since Thursday night's grand finale episode Following her lead: Richie later shared the same photo, along with a gushing message The picture comes just days after Alex shared her first social media post of the couple, since the grand finale episode. Taking to Instagram, the 25-year-old mother-of-one shared a loved-up snap of the pair, in which Alex's arms were seen wrapped around her 32-year-old boyfriend. 'In a weird and wonderful world, I found you. I found love, friendship and happiness (sic). 'Rich, I wouldn't change a thing! Here is to many more adventures and experiencing life together. I'M SO BLOODY EXCITED!!! I love you. 'I followed my heart': The Bachelor Richie broke his silence about the controversial season finale on The Project on Friday, revealing he does not understand the fan backlash 'To our family and friends and to all those who have supported us, we honestly can not thank you enough. It truly means the world to us.' In the image, Alex was seen wearing a striped sweater, while Richie appeared to be sporting a grey T-Shirt. The post comes after Richie was dubbed 'Australia's most hated man' by online trolls after choosing Alex over fan favourite Nikki Gogan on The Bachelor finale. Richie finally broke his silence during an interview with The Project, revealing he does not understand why there is so much negative feedback. 'I came to this experience not knowing what to expect': Alex Nation (right) was also quizzed about the negative online response to the final result 'I have gone down this pathway twice now in the hope of falling in love and meeting a remarkable woman. 'And now I've done that and I've met Alex and followed my heart, and people are upset and saying things like 'you've made the wrong decision. 'I only had one decision to make, and that was Alex,' he added, beaming at his new girlfriend. 'You should have consulted Twitter as well as your heart', one panelist joked. Burn! Similar comments flooded Richie's Instagram page, with one fan writing: 'Richie lost' Richie and Alex have received thousands of abusive messages on social media since Thursday night. And many angry fans claimed Richie made the wrong decision by rejecting Nikki. Alex was also quizzed about the negative backlash from Bachelor fans and said: 'For me, I came onto this experience not knowing what to expect. 'I met an incredible man and at the end of the day this was Richie's journey and he had to follow his heart,' she added. 'They're two young people in love': When asked on Channel Ten's The Project whether the backlash against Richie's and Alex was deserved, Nikki quickly replied: 'No' Runner-up: Richie ditched Nikki Gogan (pictured) and chose Alex instead in the finale After The Bachelor finale aired on Thursday, disgruntled fans 'trolled' Richie and Alex on social media about his 'poor decision'. 'How does it feel being the most hated man in Australia?' asked one disgruntled fan in a comment to Instagram. Another fan commented: 'Richie lost.' Torn apart: The emotional final episode saw a tearful Nikki admit she hopes that Alex and Richie will be 'incredibly happy together' 'It was a different energy': The Bachelor's Nikki Gogan (left) realised she was not the winner the moment she held Richie Strahan's hands on Thursday night's finale Despite the public backlash runner-up Nikki Gogan has remained gracious in her defeat and even supported the new couple although adding that she is 'still raw' from the experience. 'Oh, no, Richie and Alex don't deserve any sort of backlash. They're two young people in love and that's a beautiful thing. 'I'm sure that once the nation gets over the shock, they'll start backing the beautiful couple they are 100 per cent.' She's only just arrived in Europe for her girls' trip, starting their adventures in Monaco. And now former Bachelorette star Sam Frost is making her way to Italy's Milan, going on a road trip. The 27-year-old blonde shared a shot to Instagram on Monday as she soaked up the ocean view from a cliff, wearing tiny denim shorts and a baggy white top. Scroll down for video Soaking up the view: Former Bachelorette Sam Frost shared a shot with fans via Instagram on Monday as she made her way to Milan, on an road trip with her friends The transeasonal look highlighted the radio personality's trim frame, with her slim pins just in view. The breakfast radio host had her locks tied back off her face and into a bun and wore dark tinted sunglasses. Beaming as she held onto a railing behind her, Sam is seen grinning as she glances off-camera to look at her surroundings. Holiday mode: At the weekend Sam flew to Monaco, where she met up with friend Rachael Smith (L) Sam captioned the shot: 'Road Tripping to Milan, Italy. Sneaky little tourist snap on the way,' adding a dancing emoticon. The trip via car is approximately four hours. At the weekend Sam flew to Monaco, where she met up with a female friend, Racael Smith. She shared a shot online of the pair, with Sam looking sun-kissed and wearing a plunging top that exposed part of her bra. See-ya! Last week, Sam took to Twitter and announced she was on a well-earned break 'With my lady love,' Sam captioned the shot. Last week, Sam took to Twitter and announced she was on a well-earned break. 'I'm now officially on holidays!!! Seeeee-yaaaaaa,' she wrote online. It remains unclear exactly when Sam left Sydney to head overseas, but her boyfriend Sasha Mielczarek flew solo at the races on Saturday at Randwick Racecourse. Her man: It remains unclear exactly when Sam left Sydney to head overseas, but her boyfriend Sasha Mielczarek flew solo at the races on Saturday at Randwick Racecourse In July, the pair returned from overseas together where they enjoyed a short trip to Bali. That same month she sent out a worrying tweet to her online trolls after another bullying incident. She wrote online: 'To the fake accounts heavily trolling me online & into my personal life. If you wanted to break me.. Congratulations you have won. #broken.' It came after she read an open letter to her bullies live on her radio show, saying she gets bullied 'on a daily basis' online. She recently stunned when she attended New York Fashion Week. And on Sunday, former Neighbours star Sarah Ellen took a fashion risk when she went braless in a sheer lace blouse, , leaving very little to the imagination. The 18-year-old actress stepped out in the white top, along with a red jacket and short denim skirt for London Fashion Week. Scroll down for video Daring to bare! On Sunday, former Neighbours star Sarah Ellen took a fashion risk when she went braless in a sheer lace top at London Fashion Week The blonde beauty paired the thigh-skimming skirt with gold glitter shoes. She had her peroxide blonde locks out in loose tousled curls and showed off a golden tan. Sarah wore make-up including dewy foundation, blush and a pink lip. Pretty: The peroxide blonde had her locks out in loose tousled curls and showed off a golden tan Those heels: The blonde beauty wore a short denim skirt and teamed the look with gold glitter shoes Sarah was joined by a female friend on the day and walked the street with blogger Caroline Daur. It comes after she made a style statement at New York Fashion Week. Despite her contract having ended with Neighbours, Sarah shared with The Daily Telegraph in July, that she loved playing the daughter of Scott and Charlene Robinson. 'It's my first TV acting role, so I'm lucky to start with such an iconic show. I love the cast and everyone on set; they're like a big, happy family,' she told the publication. On her debut, the budding actress received a congratulatory message from her on-screen mother, played by Kylie Minogue. What's next? Despite her contract having ended with Neighbours, Sarah shared with The Daily Telegraph in July, that she loved playing the daughter of Scott and Charlene Robinson As Australia gears up for the new season of the Bachelorette, the original Sam Frost, has relived her road to reality TV fame. Speaking to Mamamia in a podcast published on Monday, Sam revealed why she signed up for The Bachelor in the first place, how Blake Garvey broke her heart and how going on The Bachelorette changed her life. The now 27-year-old radio personality admits she applied for season two of The Bachelor in the hopes of 'shaking things up' in her ordinary life. Scroll down for video Eye opening! Sam Frost reveals why she signed up for The Bachelor, how Blake Garvey broke her heart and how going on The Bachelorette changed her life ahead of the second season of the show And things were certainly shaken and stirred when she 'won' the heart of Blake, got engaged and then promptly dumped for second runner-up Louise Pillidge. Re-counting the crushing moment she realised what was happening, Sam said: 'We were just in a meeting with the executive producer, the publicist, myself and Blake and he was saying "I don't know what to do when the finale comes out" and I was really confused. 'And our publicist literally said "what are you trying to say? Are you breaking up with Sam? Are you saying it's over?" 'And then they turned to me and said "Sam what is going on?" and I said "I dunno, don't look at me, I'm not the one talking"'. Heartbroken: Blake Garvey (L) was in front of producers when he told Sam (R) he no longer wanted to be with her, just weeks after proposing during the pre-taped finale in South Africa The tidal wave of questions which followed started with Blake admitting that he was in love with Louise Pillage, the woman who had come third on the show. Left humiliated, Sam retreated from the public eye and said that her whole world shifted. The sudden and dramatic end to her fairytale romance came with a silver lining when producers noticed Australia fall in love with Sam's honesty and she was asked to be the first Bachelorette. At first Sam admitted she was not open to the idea and needed time to get over what had happened with Blake but when the opportunity 'kept presenting itself' she agreed. Silver lining: When producers noticed Australia fall in love with Sam's honesty and she was asked to be the first Bachelorette, which she finally agreed to after the opportunity 'kept presenting itself' Good advice: Sam admits that she felt it 'straight away with Sash' telling Georgia Love (pictured) to follow her heart because The Bachelorette could 'change her life' forever 'One of the most unique experiences': Sam admits being on The Bachelorette was unlike anything she has ever done or will do again and wishes Georgia luck for the new season While dishing out advice to new Bachelorette Georgia Love, Sam described the show as 'one of the most unique experiences' to be a part of. She also stressed that she knew Sasha was The One from the moment they met and encouraged Georgia to listen to her instinct. 'I felt it straight away with Sash and I turned into a nervous wreck,' she said in the podcast Earlier this year, Sam who herself experienced a humiliating break up at the hands of Blake in 2014 showed her support for Louise when she parted ways with Blake. Supportive: Earlier this year, Sam who herself experienced a humiliating break up at the hands of Blake in 2014 showed her support for Louise Pillage Taking to twitter, Sam weighed in on the break up shortly after the news of their split came to light, saying: 'I just hope Lou is ok & staying strong'. Sam, famously became engaged to the auctioneer after she received the final rose during the 2014 series of The Bachelor, but was left in the lurch after her soon-to-be husband decided to drop her in favour of staring up a relationship with Louise. It was Sam's unceremonious jilting that prompted producers to cast her as Australia's first Bachelorette in 2015. Since then, Sam's life has become nothing short of a fairytale, with the petite brunette nabbing herself a new boyfriend and a dream job hosting 2DAY FM's morning radio program with comedy icon Rove McManus. His romance with Little Mix songstress Perrie Edwards has reportedly ended. But Luke Pasqualino, 26, seemed to have put his heartbreak aside as he kept busy filming his upcoming new drama Snatch in Manchester on Monday morning. Taking to the streets of the northern city, the Our Girl actor looked tense in a dapper ensemble before being joined by his co-star Rupert Grint. Scroll down for video Suave star: Luke Pasqualino, 26, looked tense as he filmed scenes for his new drama Snatch in Manchester on Monday morning, following news his romance with Perrie Edwards has ended With a striped shirt, fitted navy jacket and grey trousers held in place with black braces, Luke looked the epitome of old Hollywood suave. The former Skins star looked deep in thought as he chatted on the phone during a grueling day of filming, before jumping out of a parked van seemingly shouting across set. Hot on his tails was former Harry Potter actor Rupert, who looked quirky in his eye-catching ensemble. Dressed in a patterned shirt, bow tie, red blazer and two-piece grey suit, the 28-year-old definitely stood out as he shared a laugh with his co-stars during a cigarette break. Looking dapper: Luke looked the epitome of old Hollywood suave as he wore a striped shirt, fitted navy jacket and grey trousers held in place with black braces Deep in thought: The Our Girl star chatted with his co-stars, including Joe Hurst, during a break from filming Luke is currently one of the most sought after actors in Britain and recently enjoyed a steamy smooch session with Mark Wright's wife Michelle Keegan onscreen in the debut of BBC drama Our Girl. Meanwhile, other actors set to feature in the forthcoming show include Dougray Scott as jailbird Vic Hill and former Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick as club owner Sonny Castillo. Snatch will adopt a formula previously employed to great success by the makers of cult show Fargo by using a film of the same name as a jumping off point for a new range of characters and plot developments. The show is scheduled to air on the Sony owned streaming service Crackle - currently unavailable in the UK. Ron is that you? Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint will play posh con man Charlie Cavendish for his latest acting endeavour Dressed to impress: Donning a patterned shirt, bow tie, red blazer and two-piece grey suit, the 28-year-old definitely stood out from the crowd But despite his luck with the ladies on screen, Luke has not been so successful in the romance department in real life, as it was reported that his new romance with Perrie Edwards had already ended. The pair were only pictured on their first date a month ago, but according to The Sun, they have decided to just be friends. A source told the paper: 'Lukes made it known theyre definitely not together. Single lady? The Little Mix singer is reportedly single again after splitting from her rumoured beau Luke It's all over: A source said: 'Lukes made it known theyre definitely not together' 'Hes been laughing at the rumours with crew and was overheard telling people theyre just friends and have never been a couple.' MailOnline has contacted a rep for Perrie, 23, and Luke for comment. The news comes after Little Mix star Perrie admitted that she drinks plenty of alcohol on first dates for a bit of Dutch courage. She made the revelation as the group were quizzed on dating etiquette by Buzzfeed. When asked if it was unacceptable to have more than two alcoholic drinks on a first date, Perrie replied: 'Definitely not, I drink loads on the first date! I have pre-drinks!' Honest: The news comes after Little Mix star Perrie admitted that she drinks plenty of alcohol on first dates for a bit of Dutch courage Meanwhile, bandmate Jesy Nelson, who's engaged to Rixton's Jake Roche, answered: 'It didnt work out well for me. Well, it did. In the end.' Perrie, who was previously engaged to Zayn Malik, also revealed she thought it was ok to kiss on a first date, and she didn't mind if her date didn't pay. However, the beauty surprisingly admitted she wouldn't have the confidence to make the first move when it came to a kiss. She recently confirmed her budding romance with Luke to Mirror Online. While she has kept coy about her new romance, she confirmed the pair were seeing each other as she explained it was 'going alright'. Oh dear: Perrie recently confirmed her budding romance with actor Luke Pasqualino but it appears to be over before it has begun However, she still considers herself to be a single lady as she went on to tell the publication she was still keeping her options open. After admitting she wanted a 'honest, fit, hunky man', she added: 'I said in the group chat I'd love to do speed-dating, it'd be so much fun! Total jokes.' Last month, Little Mix celebrated their fifth anniversary with a performance at V Festival. Speaking after a trademark energetic performance, Jesy said: 'It's a very, very special day for Little Mix because we are celebrating our five-year anniversary and we are still going strong.' The girl group opened their 50-minute set with Salute, followed by their Sean Paul collaboration Hair, which they remixed with Willow Smith's Whip My Hair. It is the first year they have played V and they dedicated Secret Love Song to "the gay community" and followed it up with Wings, How Ya Doing, and a cover of Beyonce's Run The World. London Fashion Week served as a suitably glamorous backdrop for Jenna Colemans first public appearance following reports of a year-long secret romance with Victoria co-star Tom Hughes on Monday afternoon. The actress, 30, stunned in a floral patterned shift dress as she made an entrance at the Erdem runway show, shortly before the Canadian brand unveiled their Spring-Summer 2017 couture collection. With flared wrists and a peplum hemline the dress proved to be a front row highlight, and Jenna ensured it commanded attention by opting for limited accessories. Scroll down for video Stepping out: London Fashion Week served as a suitably glamorous backdrop for Jenna Colemans first public appearance following reports of a year-long secret romance with Victoria co-star Tom Hughes on Monday afternoon The star completed her ensemble with a pair of strappy red velvet heels, while a delicate silver handbag, dispensed with upon her arrival at the event, rounded things off. Gemma was in high spirits as she rubbed shoulders with model Daisy Lowe and fellow actress Dianna Agron at the event, just hours after her relationship with on-screen love Tom, 30, was revealed by the Mail On Sunday. The couple are understood to have been secretly dating since last summer, before they began filming their roles as the young Queen Victoria and the love of her life, Prince Albert. Here she comes: The actress looked stunning in a floral patterned shift dress as she arrived at the Erdem show on day four of the bi-annual event Eye-catching: With flared wrists and a peplum hemline the dress proved to be a front row highlight, and Jenna ensured it commanded attention by opting for limited accessories Natural beauty: Jenn'a understated look drew attention to her naturally pretty features And in a suitably royal twist, Prince Harry played an unwitting matchmaker after making a move on Jenna at a polo match last summer that left Tom so jealous he pursued Jenna for himself. Sources close to the couple say they have deliberately kept their romance below the radar because they are deeply private people. Theyve been together for months, on and off since last summer, said one friend. Tom dumped his long-term girlfriend to be with Jenna and she chose to be with him even though Prince Harry was very keen on her. What started as an affair became a very serious romance. Three's company: The brunette star was joined by model Daisy Lowe (L) and fellow actress Dianna Agron (R) Finishing touches: The star completed her ensemble with a pair of strappy red velvet heels In the mix: Gemma was stepping out just hours after her relationship with on-screen love Tom, 30, was revealed by the Mail On Sunday Last week the pair were seen at The Electric, the Notting Hill branch of exclusive club Soho House, where they cosied up together in the members area after attending a dinner hosted by Glamour magazine. The couple stayed until closing time and were seen wrapped up in each others arms as they left together in the same taxi. A fellow guest said: They were giggling together and very affectionate. One friend was joking about how they are perfect for each other as they are both short. Victoria has maintained an edge over Poldark in the ratings, with more than five million viewers tuning in to last weeks episode, in which the sexual tension between the pair grew during a passionate joint piano recital. Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes are said to have been dating for a year after he became jealous when Prince Harry asked her out A source close to Jenna said: The reason the chemistry is so tangible is because they are dating in real life. Those scenes are very real. They are completely hooked on one another. The actors fuelled rumours that their relationship was more than strictly professional when they were seen dining for two hours together in London a fortnight ago. They wanted to keep it quiet because they didnt want their professionalism called into question, said the source. Also Tom was dating another actress when he met Jenna and it was all a bit messy. The actors first met three years ago while filming BBC2 drama Dancing On The Edge. At the time, Jenna was dating Game Of Thrones star Richard Madden and Tom was living with actress Ophelia Lovibond in Hampstead, North London. Sources say Tom set his sights on Jenna last year during a polo match in Ascot, when she was photographed with Prince Harry. Ironically Harry is largely responsible for them getting together, says the friend. Jenna caught Harrys eye at the polo. They flirted and spent the evening together and Harry took her number and they saw each other a couple of times. The pair's chemistry has helped ITV's drama rival Poldark on the BBC, shown in the same Sunday evening slot Tom was also on the scene and made it very clear that he wasnt happy about Harry making a move on Jenna. They got together shortly afterwards. Jenna, who has starred in Emmerdale and Doctor Who, has spoken fondly of working with Tom, saying: It is wonderful because we are very old friends and immediately we have the same tone, the same ideas, and instantly that connection feels very strong. She has also revealed how they became close while filming the drama last winter, and told how Tom taught her to play the piano ahead of that steamy scene. She said: Ive wanted to learn for ages so it was the perfect opportunity. He is an amazing musician. The pair spent months in each others company filming Victoria, including learning to waltz and horse-ride together. They first set tongues wagging in June when they were seen leaving a party in London in the same taxi. In the days since it was announced that The Great British Bake Off no longer has a home at the BBC, a number of UK figures have voiced their opinions on the matter. And Sherlock creator Steven Moffat has now added his voice to fray, attacking show makers Love Productions for reportedly demanding 25 million a year from the BBC. Steven, who scooped an Emmy on Sunday, told the Press Association of bids to buy Sherlock: 'We have had offers, that's not what it's about. It should never be about that. I think the BBC was quite right not to reward greed. It's wrong.' Scroll down for video Speaking out: Steven Moffat has praised the BBC for refusing to bow to the 'greed' of The Great British Bake Off makers Love Productions And he shared his thoughts with an international audience, when he mentioned the baking show during his Best Televsion Movie Emmys acceptance speech. While collecting honours for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, he said on stage: 'Thank you to the BBC, who we love above all bakery. British people will get that.' Over the weekend, Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli also shared his dismay at the show's controversial move from the BBC to Channel 4. Vocal: Joined onstage by Rebecca Eaton, Sue Vertue and Amanda Abbington at the Emmys, he also spoke out on the subject during his award acceptance speech Bruno, who has been a judge on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing for 14 series, said he was 'disappointed' and the channel switch could 'damage' the show. He said he disagreed that the hit programme needed to move to Channel 4 in a 75 million deal, according to The Sun. The charismatic dance choreographer felt ad-breaks and sponsorships could certainly have an impact. And added that his friends and show presenters Mel Giedroyc, 48, and Sue Perkins, 46, were right to stick with the corporation rather than head for a big money deal. Stars: Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc have been the stars of the cookery competition since its inception 'I think Mel and Sue quite rightly, they are great girls, decided to stay with the BBC,' he said. It is still not known whether Bake Off judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry will follow suit, after they are reportedly being offered a huge 1 million each to join Channel 4. On whether the popular judging duo should or would stay, Bruno said: 'I don't know, that is their decision.' Syaing put: Steven also revealed that he has had offers to take Sherlock to other networks Talking at the BBC America BAFTA Los Angeles TV Tea Party, the dancing judge added he was saddened because the corporation had built the show up from the ground. He said: 'The Bake Off started quite a few years ago and as much as the production company created the format the BBC nurtured and worked on it for many years to make it the hit the hit that it has become.' The GBBO's makers, Love Productions, have been criticised for doing the deal without confirming the appointment of its stars. 'Disappointed': Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli fears Bake Off's move to Channel 4 could 'damage' the show Speaking to The Sun about the takeover, Bruno added: 'I think it could damage them a little bit. Good luck to them. 'I am disappointed and I think most of Britain is.' The flamboyant Italian returns to Strictly with Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell and Len Goodman, who is appearing on his last series as head judge. His comments follow a string of disapproving remarks from fellow celebrities, MPs and broadcasters over the Bake Off change-up. Broadcaster Jeremy Vine said: 'Sorry Channel 4 but Bake Off without Mel and Sue, and without the BBC platform, is just a piece of burnt toast.' While Lord Alan Sugar said: 'I feel sorry for BBC One they invested years in making Bake Off popular and the greedy disloyal format owner has sold it to Ch4.' Question Time presenter David Dimbleby, on the other hand, slammed his employers for offering such a big offer for the show even though they lost out, saying it did not provide 'value for money.' They had a very public relationship and then a very public break-up. But apparently there are no hard feelings between actor Tom Hiddleston and pop sensation Taylor Swift. The 35-year-old actor revealed on the red carpet at the 2016 Emmy's that he and Taylor are still friends. Shake It Off! Tom Hiddleston revealed on the red carpet at the 2016 Emmy's that him and Taylor Swift are still friends While walking the red carpet at the illustrious event in LA, Hiddleston revealed the pair are on good terms. When asked if him and Taylor were amicable since the split he replied: 'Yes. Yes, we are,' with a smile when asked by People. Tom and Taylor broke up earlier this month after a brief three month romance. Still friends! While walking the red carpet at the illustrious event Hiddleston revealed the pair are on good terms Very soon after Taylor's break-up with Calvin Harris after a year of being together, Tom and Taylor confirmed their relationship and were pictured together on several occasions. Meanwhile the British actor looked dapper as he went solo to the star-studded Emmy's ceremony on Sunday. He was a nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor in Limited Series or Movie. No heartache here: Meanwhile the British actor looked dapper as he went solo to the star-studded Emmy's ceremony on Sunday Big night: He was a nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor in Limited Series or Movie Good duo: He also presented the Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special category, with actress Priyanka Chopra his Night Manager director Susanne Bier He also presented the Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special category, with actress Priyanka Chopra his Night Manager director Susanne Bier. Apparently Hiddleston and Priyanka put on a very flirty display at the AMC Emmys after party after getting close presenting the award earlier in the night. Getting cozy: Apparently Hiddleston and Priyanka put on a very flirty display at the AMC Emmys afterparty after getting close presenting the award earlier in the night A source told E! : 'Tom had his arm around her and held her close. Afterwards, Tom and Priyanka talked closely and were holding hands at one point for a few moments. 'Priyanka fixed Tom's bow-tie and then the two kissed on both cheeks. They proceeded to put their phone numbers in each other's phones before embracing in a long hug and several kisses on the cheek.' While her sexy image and stripper past are elements of her life she openly discusses, Amber Rose has faced criticism for subsequently speaking out as a feminist. And the 32-year-old beauty is now firing back at her naysayers, telling MailOnline exclusively that they attack her because they have no understanding of feminism. 'Those people don't understand what being a feminist means,' she said. 'It doesn't upset me, but it can become frustrating. Scroll down for video Striking back: Amber Rose has hit back at critics who say her stripper past and sexy image disqualify her from speaking out as a feminist 'They contradict themselves by saying my past makes me not good enough for something. They would never tell a man he can't do good and try to help people because of his past. More double standards.' Amber, who founded the annual Slutwalk to call for an end to rape culture, added of what being a feminist means to her: 'It means to want equality.' As for the barrage of negativity she often faces on social media, the Philadelphia native said: 'I ignore it and I kill them with kindness.' Lesson learned: The 32-year-old beauty tells MailOnline that those who slam her don't truly understand what feminism is all about Co-parent: The star co-parents her three-year-old son Sebastian with ex-husband Wiz Khalifa The Amber Rose Show host is currently juggling a busy career with life as a single mother to three-year-old Sebastian, her son with rapper ex-husband Wiz Khalifa. She said of their co-parting with such demanding schedules: 'We both just do it. As parents we put Sebastian first. If I don't have him Wiz does. 'We also do family days a lot so our baby can see we still love each other even though we're not together. That's co-parenting.' Stylish: The star has teamed up with online retailer Missguided to launch a new clothing range Dressed to impress: The line, which features a range of sexy ensembles, launched on Monday And while she admits that her love life is currently 'non-existent', there is one man putting her through her paces, thanks to her stint on Dancing With the Stars. She said of her dance partner: 'Maks [Chmerkovskiy] is a really good teacher so rehearsals are of course tough. 'They are also very fun, we laugh the whole time. I'm learning a lot and grateful for it. I want to give it my all and really just do my best. Bear-y, bear-y nice! To promote the launch, Amber has posed for a range of smouldering shots Talk about it! The Philadelphia native recently launched her chat show, The Amber Rose Show 'It's all very exciting! I'm just glad to be a part of such an amazing show.' As well as competing for the coveted mirror ball trophy, Amber has also turned her hand to fashion, collaborating with online retailer Missguided for a new range. To promote the collection, which launched on Monday, the star is seen highlighting her breathtaking curves in a variety of sexy ensembles. Demi Moore looked youthful in Los Angeles on Sunday. The 53-year-old Ghost actress paired a striped top with overalls and Converse sneakers, an outfit that any of her three daughters - Rumer, Tallulah and Scout - might wear. The ex-wife of Ashton Kutcher was picking up Mexican food with a male friend in Los Angeles. Cool chick: Demi Moore looked youthful as she and a male friend picked up some food in Los Angeles on Sunday A bit peckish: The pair were seen picking up some Mexican food from a restaurant She beat the Californian evening chill by adding a black sweater to her outfit. The St Elmo's Fire actress sported natural-looking unkempt hair as she donned a pair of black rimmed sunglasses. The brunette beauty added a pair of converses to her look and a black handbag. Demi has a very busy year with work as the talented actress currently has two projects in post-production and she's also filming a movie right now. Accessorize: The brunette beauty added a pair of converses to her look and a black handbag She is currently filming Rock That Body alongside Kate McKinnon and Scarlett Johansson. A male stripper ends up dead at a Miami beach house during a bachelorette party weekend. Colton Haynes, Ty Burrell and Zoe Kravitz also star in the comedy, drama. The film is set to be released next summer on June 23 2017. She looks the same today! The former Brat Packer seen in 2008 Blind is a film that is in post production which tells the story of a novelist. A novelist was blinded in a car crash that killed his wife. Several years later he rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman. She is the leading lady alongside Alec Baldwin and Dylan McDermott. It is out later this year, but the date is not confirmed as of yet. Another one of her films is in post production, titled Love Sonia. It follows the story of a young girl's journey through the world of international sex trafficking. She is already a full-blown fashion designer after making a fortune from her acting career. And yet Mary-Kate Olsen still finds time to fit in being a competing equestrian as well. On Saturday the 30-year-old Elizabeth & James designer looked focused as she jumped in the The American Gold Cup in North Salem, New York. Her husband of one year, the 47-year-old Olivier Sarkozy, did not seem to be present. On a high: Mary-Kate Olsen was seen competing at The American Gold Cup in North Salem, New York on Saturday The competition is one of the most prestigious and iconic equestrian sporting events in the world of International Show Jumping. This year's show was held at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, NY. Olsen was scheduled to ride three different horses during the event. Serious about this: The competition is one of the most prestigious and iconic equestrian sporting events in the world of International Show Jumping Olsen failed to crack a smile, which meant she was just zoning in on the challenge. She last competed in the Hamptons. The Full House vet wore white jeans and a black jacket wit black boots and helmet. It looked as if the New York Minute actress wore no makeup. Riding high: Olsen failed to crack a smile, which meant she was just zoning in on the challenge. She last competed in the Hamptons Normally her husband is with her at these events, but it seemed as if he missed this one. They wed in 2015 during a small ceremony in NYC after a 2014 engagement. Olivier is the half brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is wed to model Carla Bruni. M-K's twin sister Ashley is thought to be dating artist George Condo, 59, meaning the petite stars have a thing for older men. She's a successful designer as well as actress, having released her second show-stopping collection for Lipsy this week. And Michelle Keegan proved her new status as a style icon on Monday, arriving at The One Show in one of her signature chic ensembles. The brunette beauty, 29, looked gorgeous in a turtle neck checked dress and thigh-boots, flashing her slender pins as she headed to the chat show to promote Our Girl. Scroll down for video Check her out! Michelle Keegan, 29, looked gorgeous in a turtle neck checked dress and thigh-boots as she headed to The One Show on Monday Throwback: The dress, which held a 1960s retro feel, featured a white high-neck ribbed top attached to a woolen black and white plaid mini skirt Promoting her new clothing line, Michelle sported a funky micro-mini dress from her new Lipsy range as she headed in for her interview. The dress, which held a 1960s retro feel, featured a white high-neck ribbed top attached to a woolen black and white plaid mini skirt. While the long-sleeved number remained demure and classy, the former Coronation Street actress gave a subtle glimpse of her enviably toned and tanned legs as the mini skirt fell to above her knee. Put a ring on it: Michelle flashed her glittering engagement rock as she headed into the BBC studios, given to her by now-husband Mark Wright Chic: Michelle kept the look comfy and casual by sweeping her hair up into a chic ponytail Grateful: Michelle happily signed autographs and took photos for her adoring fans outside the studios Keeping very much on trend, the wife of Mark Wright then added a pair of black heeled suede boots, retaining the look's vintage feel through her accessories. Not ever without a touch of glamour of course, the star finished her ensemble with a luxurious Chanel shoulder handbag, made with chic quilted grey leather, and her glittering engagement rock. Michelle kept the look comfy and casual by sweeping her hair up into a chic ponytail, but styling it into a bouffant at the crown to amp up the glamour. It's designer, dahling: Not ever without a touch of glamour of course, the star finished her ensemble with a luxurious Chanel shoulder handbag Glamour girl: Keeping very much on trend, the wife of Mark Wright then added a pair of black heeled suede boots, retaining the look's vintage feel through her accessories The natural beauty looked truly radiant, showing off her flawless complexion and flashing her winning smile as she headed in to the BBC studios to promote her new show Our Girl. The drama follows Michelle's military medic character Georgie Lane leaving her life (and love) in Manchester for a six-week humanitarian tour on the border between Kenya and Somalia. Debuting earlier this month, the show has been met with rave reviews from adoring fans on Twitter and critics alike. Working woman: She looked truly radiant, showing off her flawless complexion and flashing her winning smile as she headed in to the BBC studios to promote her new show Our Girl But first, let me take a selfie! Michelle even showed her excitement about her chic outfit on her Instagram page, flashing her winning smile in the snap However proud husband Mark Wright, 29, proved himself to be her ultimate super-fan, gushing over his 'sensational' wife on the social media site and admitting she 'astounds' him 'more every day'. Writing on his Twitter page, TV presenter Mark said: 'WOW WOW WOW !! #OurGirl unbelievable !!. 'This one @michkeegan astounds me more every day.... Truly sensational performance !!' Number one fan! Proud husband Mark Wright, 29, gushed about his 'sensational' wife on Twitter, admitting she 'astounds' him 'more every day' Excited: Debuting earlier this month, her new show has been met with rave reviews from adoring fans on Twitter Despite receiving such high praise for her turn in the military drama - and even being touted for a Hollywood role - Michelle admitted to MailOnline recently that she is happy where she is. She confessed: 'I mean it is absolutely amazing to hear people saying that. As an actress it is what you want to hear. That being said, I am absolutely loving my current filming project where I play Tina Moore and I had a once in a lifetime experience shooting Our Girl out in South Africa. I want to carry on playing roles that are right and I feel passionate about. 'At the moment Im very happy where I am and focusing on Our Girl and Tina and Bobby so well have to see what happens after that.' Sitting pretty: Michelle's slender thighs were on display as she had her interview Getting along famously: The TV star had a friendly chat with host Alex Jones Gal pals: Michelle placed her hand gently on Alex's arm and smiled brightly as they spoke She has worked hard to carve out a career for herself on the silver screen. And Lily-Rose Depp looked every inch the Hollywood starlet as she attended the Paris premiere of her new film La Danseuse at the Cinema Gaumont Opera on Monday night. The 17-year-old rising star stunned in a chic sequin mini dress and retro T-bar pumps as she beamed on the red carpet. Scroll down for video Seriously stylish: Lily-Rose Depp looked every inch the Hollywood starlet as she attended the Paris premiere of her new film La Danseuse at the Cinema Gaumont Opera on Monday night The daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis was the epitome of retro glamour in the understated dress which featured a flirty flapper hem. She wore her glossy caramel tresses in an artfully tousled updo and emphasized her striking peepers with bronze eyeshadow and lashings of mascara. Clearly in high spirits, the giggling model was joined by her co-stars Soko, and actor Gaspard Ulliel. Sartorial flair: The 17-year-old rising star stunned in a chic sequin mini dress as she beamed on the red carpet Natural beauty: She wore her glossy caramel tresses in an artfully tousled updo and emphasized her striking peepers with bronze eyeshadow and lashings of mascara Pout: The daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis was the epitome of retro glamour in the understated dress which featured a flirty flapper hem The teen appeared to have a great rapport with Soko, who looked ethereal in an irreverent blushing pink gown with floral embellishments. Her jet black hair was styled in a severe side-parting that contrasted perfectly with Lily's unfussy topknot. La Danseuse is a French musical drama based on the novel by Giovanni Lista, and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Keeping good company: The teen appeared to have a great rapport with Soko, who looked ethereal in an irreverent blushing pink gown with floral embellishments Contrasting: Soko's jet black hair was styled in a severe side-parting that clashed perfectly with Lily's unfussy topknot Despite attracting attention in the fashion world, Lily Rose appears to be carving out a successful path as an actress, with the project marking her fourth major movie in two years. The Chanel muse featured in the fantasy French drama Planetarium alongside Hollywood star Natalie Portman. She also starred in Kevin Smith's comedy-horror films Tusk and Yoga Hosers, alongside her acting father. What are you looking at? The giggly pair exchanged a secret wry glance Double trouble: The rising teen star also posed with actor Gaspard Ulliel Meanwhile, her famous father Johnny will reportedly be playing the late detective Russell Poole in a thriller about the unsolved murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.. According to Screen Daily, Good Films producer Miriam Segal will introduce an adaptation of Randall Sullivan's 2003 book LAbyrinth to buyers at this week's Toronto Film Festival. The who-done-it flick is the 53-year-old Oscar nominee's first casting since his divorce from Amber Heard. Three's a crowd! Director Stephanie Di Giusto and actress Soko joined Lily on the red carpet While London Fashion Week is in full swing, Rita Ora popped up in Milan on Monday for her own stylish outing. The Brit beauty looked sensational in a black velvet suit as she left the Melia hotel to in the city to head to a TEZENIS fashion show. The face of the brand looked in great spirits as she stopped to snap selfies with fans in her ultra luxe look. Suits you: Rita Ora looked sensational in a black velvet suit as she left the Melia hotel to in the city to head to a TEZENIS fashion show Rita showed a hint of skin in her head-to-toe black ensemble, ditching the shirt underneath her sharp suit. The velvet jacket accentuated her trim waist with its tie detail nipping her in. Matching trousers and heels finished the ensemble, while Rita added to the edgy vibe by slicking back her short blonde locks to showcase a full face of makeup. Poster girl: The face of the brand looked in great spirits as she stopped to snap selfies with fans in her ultra luxe look Teasing: Rita showed a hint of skin in her head-to-toe black ensemble, ditching the shirt underneath her sharp suit As well as striking some sultry poses, Rita broke out the grin for some fun snaps with fans before jumping in her car. As well as her collaboration this year with TEZENIS, the blonde beauty was recently revealed as the new face of America's Next Top Model, replacing the long-serving host Tyra Banks. The busy star has also been focusing on her long delayed second album with Warner Music, following a legal battle with Jay Z's label Roc Nation. Say cheese! As well as striking some sultry poses, Rita broke out the grin and funny faces for some snaps with fans before jumping in her car Looking glam: Rita added to the edgy vibe by slicking back her short blonde locks to showcase a full face of makeup Expert: Rita made sure the waiting fans had the perfect snap 'I just signed a new deal. I can't wait! I'm so excited, so this year [new music is coming] for sure,' Rita gushed to VH1 at the MTV VMAs last month. 'I'm recording it in London, so I've definitely just kept it back to where I'm from, you know?' And who I am and everything that I've become up to this point and just working with my friends and basically just making a record that I want my friends to dance to.' Bit of bling: Statement gold hoop earrings were the finishing touch to her look Strike a pose: Rita showed off her super sharp look before heading to her glam event Busy lady: As well as her collaboration this year with TEZENIS, the blonde beauty was recently revealed as the new face of America's Next Top Model However the start of her second album has not run completely smoothly - after she was forced to hit out at claims she is the woman Jay Z allegedly cheated on Beyonce with, as implied by her new album Lemonade. After speculation that she was 'Becky with the good hair' mentioned in the song Sorry, the Hot Right Now songstress spoke to Vanity Fair about the 'rude and disrespectful'. She said on the matter: 'First and foremost, Jay Z is my inspiration and one of my idols - lyrically, musically, business-wise. I still look up to him and his wife every day. Beyonce was one of my biggest idols growing up. Back to the music: The busy star has also been focusing on her long delayed second album with Warner Music, following a legal battle with Jay Z's label Roc Nation Long time coming: 'I just signed a new deal. I can't wait! I'm so excited, so this year [new music is coming] for sure,' Rita gushed to VH1 at the MTV VMAs last month 'That (pin) was a present from Katy Perry. Maybe I was the only one seen wearing it, but there were others. As for the rest of it, I'm oblivious, I'm just not the gossip queen. Finishing her tirade, she continued: 'I find it incredibly rude and disrespectful to women in general (when) we get accused of something that's basically against the important part - the music.' It can be tough getting around Los Angeles with a car, but Caitlyn Jenner found one way to evade the city's notoriously congested traffic. The 66-year-old reality star took her light aircraft out for a day of flying on Sunday. Caitlyn was all geared up with her head set strapped on as she sat inside the cock pit with her seat belt fastened across her body. Beats traffic! Caitlyn Jenner got behind the pilot's seat of her beloved light aircraft for a day of flying on Sunday Ready for take off! Jenner soared over the airport in her plane Clad in a blue top which showed off her shoulder, Caitlyn gave her undivided attention to the task at hand as her aircraft sat on the runway. The star wore her hair down as she also sported a pair of glasses. Caitlyn started taking flying lessons after winning gold in the 1976 Olympics, according to a profile done on the Olympian on AOPA.org. The star told the website that 'learning to fly the airplane was easy...It was everything else one has to learn that was challenging.' All clear! Clad in a blue top which showed off her shoulder, Caitlyn gave her undivided attention to the task at hand as her aircraft sat on the runway Spreading her wings! The star wore her hair down as she also sported a pair of glasses The reality star has even recruited her mother Esther in on her hobby. Last month, Caitlyn shared a photo of her and her mother smiling as they sat inside the cockpit of her aircraft. 'Look who's flying my plane!!' Caitlyn wrote in the caption, suggesting her mother had taken the reigns. Crystal clear? The 66-year-old was all geared up with a headset Taking to the skies! Jenner was pilot for a day as she got inside her beloved light aircraft Back in April, Caitlyn shared a photo of a cup of coffee sitting on top of her plane. 'A few of my favorite things! #coffeeforthewin #traveltuesday,' she wrote in the caption. Caitlyn, meanwhile, is back in Los Angeles following a trip to Washington, D.C., where she lobbied for LGBT rights. Safety first: The reality star was fastened into her aircraft with a red seat belt The E! star shared a photo of herself in the nation's capital; she captioned it: 'Big day at Capitol Hill. @m_hoov and I got to chat with a few #Republican reps about #LGBT issues. It's a time for change!' While she is slated to appear on upcoming episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, her own reality show - I Am Cait - was recently axed. After a two-season run on E!, the series was canceled due to poor ratings. Double the fun! Caitlyn's mother Esther joined her daughter in on a flight inside the aircraft last month They have been peppering the FROWs of various London Fashion Week shows. And Charlotte Dawson and Olivia Buckland were out on the town once more as they headed to the Vin & Omi showcase at the Trade Union Congress on Monday night. The 23-year-old Ex On The Beach star wore a boldly-coloured mini dress adorned with patchwork detail while her Love Island companion, 24, went super sexy in a royal blue velvet blazer dress. Scroll down for video Sizzling: Charlotte Dawson and Olivia Buckland (right-left) were out on the town once more as they headed to the Vin & Omi showcase at the Trade Union Congress on Monday night Charlotte, who is the daughter of late comedy legend Les, was bound to make an impact on the star-studded show as she wowed in the bold mini dress. The patchwork design created an eye-catching finish while the high rise hem meant that her endless legs also drew attention. She paired the look with knee-high suede boots with fringing extending along the length of the shoe while the teetering heel boosted her height. Taking to Instagram to share her ensemble with her 66,800 followers she admitted it was not her usual style but was loving the look all the same. All things bright and beautiful: The 23-year-old Ex On The Beach star wore a boldly-coloured mini dress adorned with patchwork detail while her Love Island companion, 24, went super sexy in a royal blue velvet blazer dress Chic: Taking to Instagram to share her ensemble with her 66,800 followers she admitted it was not her usual style but was loving the look all the same "Not my usual but love it": She wore her brunette tresses in a dead straight style cascading below her waist in length while her make-up was typically heavy-handed with her tan particularly deep in colour She wore her brunette tresses in a dead straight style cascading below her waist in length while her make-up was typically heavy-handed with her tan particularly deep in colour. Charlotte burst on to screens last month as she entered Ex On The Beach's all-star fifth season as the ex-flame of Gary "Gaz" Beadle of Geordie Shore fame. She was seen growing closer to Celebrity Big Brother winner Stephen Bear before he unceremoniously dumped her in favour of Lillie Lexie Gregg. Beautiful blue: One such star came on Monday night as she soaked up next season's fashions with Olivia Buckland from this year's Love Island Since departing the villa she has become a regular on the reality star party circuit, often seen out with fellow TV stars. One such star came on Monday night as she soaked up next season's fashions with Olivia Buckland from this year's Love Island. Olivia found fame earlier this year when she starred on the ITV2 dating show and began seeing hunky Alex Bowen, who she recently moved in with. Fashion fiend: She has christened herself something of a fashionista since her departure from the programme and even shares details of her outfits on Instagram with the self-created hashtag: 'Olive's outfits' Legs eleven! Olivia found fame earlier this year when she starred on the ITV2 dating show and began seeing hunky Alex Bowen, who she recently moved in with She has christened herself something of a fashionista since her departure from the programme and even shares details of her outfits on Instagram with the self-created hashtag: 'Olive's outfits'. On Monday she opted for a royal blue blazer dress with bold red stilettos added in to boost her height and add a pop of colour to the ensemble. Her plunging dress showed off a hint of cleavage and she was quick to post an image of the look with her 914,000 Instagram followers before she headed to the show. Other stars to attend the show included Lizzie Cundy and Kiss FM DJ Pandora Christie. Feeling blue: Her plunging dress showed off a hint of cleavage and she was quick to post an image of the look with her 914,000 Instagram followers before she headed to the show Advertisement She has been one of the world's top models since she was discovered at the tender age of 14. And Kate Moss proved on Monday that decades later, she could still steal the spotlight. The 42-year-old model stunned in a brown silk paisley gown as she made a fashionably late arrival at the Business of Fashion #BoF500 Gala Dinner hosted by The London Edition, which celebrates the people that shape the global style industry. Scroll down for video Effortless: Kate Moss, 42, stunned in a brown silk paisley gown as she made a fashionably late arrival at the Business of Fashion #BoF500 Gala Dinner on Monday The Croydon-born beauty looked effortlessly beautiful in a loose-fitting floor length gown, made of soft bronze silk. The dress was incredibly sophisticated and mature, featuring a high-neck and floor skimming hem to keep her famously slender body concealed. Printed delicately on the fabric was a darker metallic paisley pattern, which shimmered beautifully as it caught the light. Bronze goddess: Printed delicately on the fabric was a darker metallic paisley pattern, which shimmered beautifully as it caught the light Forever chic: Adding a hint of her usual quirkiness to the elegant draped look, the blonde paired the frock with a pair of pearl pointed stilettos adorned with black spots Adding a hint of her usual quirkiness to the elegant draped look, the blonde paired the frock with a pair of pearl pointed stilettos adorned with black spots. Scraping her hair completely off her face and keeping make-up minimal Kate, who has graced the cover of Vogue magazine almost 40 times, displayed her naturally show-stopping beauty for all to see - which catapulted her to fame, and to the status as a 'shaper' of the industry that the dinner celebrates. Accessorising with simple silver drop earrings and a bronze clutch bag, Kate truly showed how effortless glamour was done as she smouldered for the cameras with ease. Glowing: Scraping her hair completely off her face and keeping make-up minimal Kate displayed her naturally show-stopping beauty for all to see Style icons: Kate and Alexa Chung sat together at the dinner, representing two of the faces being celebrated at the event who have 'shaped' the fashion industry Fashionable friends: Kate cosied up the night's host, The Business of Fashion editor-in-chief Imran Amed Pals: Kate Moss and British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman wrapped their arms around one another as they partied together Close: The fashionable friends shared an intimate conversation over dinner Also at the event as one of the best-known fashionistas was Alexa Chung. The former T4 presenter, 32, added vibrancy to the carpet in a bright lilac mesh gown, adorned with red and monochrome flowers. Retaining her trademark put-together style, the frock featured a formal work-wear collar and remained demure with long sleeves, despite its semi-sheer material. Lilac dream: Alexa Chung, 32, showed off her sartorial flair in a lilac mesh dress The designer also added a slick of red lippy for a bold pop of colour - picking up on the dress' floral highlights as only a fashion expert would. Finishing her look sartorially, the brunette dressed her feet with a pair of black court shoes, fastened by multiple buckled straps. The purple outfit marks one of Alexa's most knockout looks yet, having hit the FROW at a whole host of glamorous events across the duration of LFW, including House of Holland, Proenza and Burberry, which had taken place earlier on Monday evening. Co-ordinated: The designer also added a slick of red lippy for a bold pop of colour - picking up on the dress' floral highlights as only a fashion expert would Workwear-chic: Finishing her look sartorially, the brunette dressed her feet with a pair of black court shoes, fastened by multiple buckled straps Dazzling: Stylish Alexa had changed from her glitzy outfit at the Burberry LFW show earlier that evening - but retained her trademark glamour in her second feminine look Not one to outfit repeat or to miss an opportunity to showcase her killer style, Alexa changed for the BoF dinner - having turned heads in a seriously glitzy mini dress at the fashion show. As well as the two British style icons, the bash was attended by a whole host of fashion-loving celebrities. Freida Pinto also came dressed for the fashionable occasion, in an enchanting pink midi dress layered beneath a chic trench coat. The Slumdog Millionaire actress, 31, looked gorgeous in the satin pleated shirt dress, which softly cascaded down to the hem. Picture of elegance: Freida Pinto also came dressed for the fashionable occasion, in an enchanting pink midi dress layered beneath a chic trench coat Layering: Freida added a pretty cornflower blue coat which was decorated with an unusual mirror and painting print Transforming something classic into a modern style, the Mumbai-born beauty layered a classic long-line coat over the top, which was of a pretty cornflower blue and decorated with an unusual mirror and painting print. Representing the boys was famously fashion-forward rapper will.i.am. The 41-year-old Pump It rocker cut an incredibly suave figure in a full black suit, with white piping. Maintaining his usual trendier style, he of course added a set of sunglasses and a slick black hat to jazz up his look. Let's hear it for the boys! Rapper will.i.am cut an incredibly suave figure in a full black suit, with white piping Cosy: He sat next to writer and editor Eva Chen at the dinner which centred around a star-studded guestlist Following on from the fashion elite were models Taylor Hill and Arizona Muse. Brunette beauty Taylor showcased her incredible model figure and seemingly endless legs in a sleek black jumpsuit. Posing with her derriere to the cameras, the model then revealed the outfit's saucy backless detailing, featuring a single glitzy strap down her slender frame. Arizona Muse meanwhile opted for the pyjama-chic trend in a striped silk mini dress with a playful dropped hem. Business in the front... Brunette beauty Taylor showcased her incredible model physique and seemingly endless legs in a sleek black jumpsuit Stylish trio: Designer Mary Katrantzou opted for simple black for the fashionable bash while stylist Martha Ward (in Burberry) and entrepreneur Natalie Massenet chose colourful prints Late night chic: Arizona Muse meanwhile opted for the pyjama-chic trend in a striped silk mini dress with a playful dropped hem Oh so chic: US fashionista Olivia Palermo sparkled in her gorgeous embellished top and cropped trousers while model and artist Alexandra Richards was pretty in a bronze number Pals: Ben Pundole, Olivia and designer Nicholas Kirkwood added some style chic to proceedings Strike a pose: Natalie Massenet Arizona Muse and Charlotte Dellal mingled at the star-studded party They're in fashion: Martha Ward and Caroline Issa cosied up for a super stylish snap inside the London EDITION hotel Say cheese! Models Ajak Deng (C) and Taylor Hill made sure to remember the night with plenty of selfies Fashionable crowd: Kate, Imran Amed and Alexa Chung enjoy dinner Bottoms up! Alexa leaned into her pals for a snap while their glasses got refilled High spirits: Kate, Imran Ahmed and Alexa were very giggly as their best moments were captured on the night Posing up a storm: Kate and Imran cosied up for yet another picture All together now: Guest, Imran Amed, Alexa Chung, Erik Torstensson, Natalie Massenet, will.i.am and Eva Chen Towering: Kate towered above her pal in leopard print killer heels and her oriental inspired gown Turning heads: Kate turned the sidewalk into her catwalk as she excited photographers Blinging: She accessorised with a diamond bangle and earrings Model stats: She showed off her model bone structure under minimal make-up Old pals: She chatted with British Vogue Editor-In-Chief Alexandra Shulman She has been enjoying a lavish trip away to Bali this week. And Skye Wheatley, 22, brought the term 'decadence' to a whole new level as she bathed naked in a spa bath full of rose petals on Monday. With a frangipani delicately nestled in her fair mane, the former Big Brother star took to Instagram with a daring photo of herself posing nude while enjoying her floral bath. Scroll down for video Luxury: Skye Wheatley, 22, brought the term 'decadence' to a whole new level as she bathed naked in a spa bath full of rose petals on Monday Facing away from the camera with her hands resting on the tub, Skye made sure to flaunt her noticeably small waist and bronzed complexion. In the caption she wrote: Thanks to @thesintesajimbaran for spoiling me with all the beautiful flowers so I could bathe in them #flowerbath #paradise #spabath.' She also praised her boyfriend Cameron McCristal for his skills behind the camera, writing: 'thanks Bae for all your amazing photography.' Lounging about: Hours later, Skye slipped on a barely-there bikini for another luxurious photo of herself floating in her hotel's swimming pool Hours later, Skye slipped on a barely-there bikini for another luxurious photo of herself floating in her hotel's swimming pool. With Cameron presumably behind the camera, Skye is seen posing with her back arched and her arms extended above her head as she floated on a large blue pool bed. In the caption, she simply wrote: 'Lol sorry last one.' Zesty! It's the latest in a slew of bikini-themed Bali updates from Skye, who also posed for a photo in a neon orange number as she emerged from a swimming pool earlier on Monday It's the latest in a slew of bikini-themed Bali updates from Skye, who also posed for a photo in a neon orange number as she emerged from a swimming pool earlier on Monday. On Sunday, she showcased her curvaceous frame once again, this time as she posed in her hotel room wearing a balconet-style bikini emblazoned with a blue and purple floral print. Taking Skye's lead? Cameron has also been sharing his fair share of swimwear shots on Instagram, having posed while sunbathing shirtless in the pool on Monday Cameron has also been sharing his fair share of swimwear shots on Instagram, having posed while sunbathing shirtless in the pool on Monday. He also dedicated a photo to his on-and-off girlfriend Skye in a loved-up snap on Monday evening, which pictured the enamoured pair cuddling up for a selfie at an outdoor restaurant. 'Dinner dates and sun sets with this one @skye.wheatley', cooed Cameron in the caption. Boko Haram atrocities haunt Cameroon's displaced "Boko Haram butchered nine people in front of me. That day I decided to leave my village," says Rachel Daviguidam, still devastated by the carnage she witnessed in September 2015. One year on and this 30-year-old Cameroonian is still unable to get the images out of her mind. And this mother of seven cannot see herself returning to her village of Golvadi in Cameroon's Far North, an area that has suffered multiple attacks by Boko Haram jihadists based just across the border in Nigeria. Cameroonian displaced women at a food distribution center in Koza, in the extreme northern province, west of the Nigerian border, on September 14, 2016 Reinnier Kaze (AFP/File) Over the past year, Daviguidam and her husband and children have been living in Koza, a small town surrounded by mountains about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Maroua, capital of the Far North region. Around 200,000 Cameroonians from the region have fled their villages in fear of the violence carried out by militants from Boko Haram, who last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. Jihadists in this region kill, they torch entire villages, they loot and they steal livestock. Sitting on the ground in Koza's stadium, this young mother cradles her youngest, who is just three months old, occasionally breastfeeding him. Around her sit other displaced families. - 'Life became intolerable' - Nearby, hundreds of people are waiting in line to receive food handouts from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Over the past 15 months, the ICRC has organised food deliveries in Koza in a bid to combat malnutrition, says Ibrahim Dit Falke, a local who works for the organisation. "Each household receives a package of 50 kilos (110 pounds) of rice, 25 kilos of maize flour, 25 kilos of black-eyed peas, 10 litres (20 pints) of oil, a kilo of salt and 12 kilos of enriched flour," he says. In this area where many of the displaced have gathered, there have been numerous cases of malnutrition, some of them severe. "We are in an area dominated by farming and agriculture, where most households make their living through agriculture," Dit Falke says. "When you cut a household off from its fields, you cut it off from its livelihood." As the food is handed out, Daviguidam, who comes from a Christian family, recounts her story. "Life there became intolerable," she says. "For three months, they would come to my house and flog me and my children," she explains. "They said we were pagans. "They demanded that we convert to Islam but we didn't want to." If at the start, the Nigerian jihadists were only targeting Christians, they soon stopped making any distinction between Christians and Muslims, she says, as she gets up to go and collect her food package from a Red Cross volunteer. - 'I can't cope' - "I am happy to receive this gift," smiles another woman, Veved Nadama carrying a sack of rice on her head, as two other women help her carry the rest of the supplies. For the past two years, this 25-year-old has lived in Koza since she fled the border town of Kerawa, which is home to 50,000 people and has been regularly targeted by Boko Haram. "When they killed two pupils in the village, my husband and I decided to leave," says the mother of two. "There was shooting all the time. We weren't able to sleep in our home, we preferred to hide in the bush." Another of the displaced, Yauba Sumbi, says he's grateful for the sense of security in Koza, but like many others, he is haunted by what he witnessed. "I am traumatised. I saw dead people, people with their throats cut," he says. "I can't cope anymore." He fled the border town of Amchide in 2014 with his wife but only two of his children. "On the day we left, our neighbourhood was stormed by Boko Haram and there was shooting. We walked for three days and three nights through the bush" to reach Koza. While part of the family managed to escape, he has had no news about his five other children who were unable to get out. "I don't know if they are alive or dead, if they are in Nigeria or Cameroon," he says. "God only knows." Around 200,000 Cameroonians from the region have fled their villages in fear of the violence carried out by militants from Boko Haram Reinnier Kaze (AFP) Thais search for missing as 18 die in pilgrim boat accident Divers pulled at least two bodies from the bowels of a submerged river boat Monday after the overcrowded vessel carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river, leaving 18 people dead. The accident happened on Sunday afternoon near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong currents. Scores of people lined the bank Monday as divers plunged into the swollen, brown waters for the grim task of searching the partially-submerged pleasure boat for the missing. Bystanders watch as rescue team members work next to a ferry which capsized the day before, in the Thai province of Ayutthaya, on September 19, 2016 Lillian Suwanrumpha (AFP) Distraught relatives wept as the body of an eight-year-old boy was pulled from the wreckage and laid in a white plastic sheet, an AFP team on site reported. The boy was later followed by the corpse of a woman who had been found downstream and was brought to shore on the back of a jet ski. Rescuers used a white board to keep track of those still missing including six children. Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong later said the confirmed death toll stood at 18 with 12 missing and 14 hospitalised. The dead were not thought to include any foreigners. The boat's captain is in custody and faces a negligence charge after allowing the double-decked vessel to become overcrowded, police told AFP. "The boat has permission to carry about 50 people but it was carrying more than 100 people," said Ayutthaya police chief Sudhi Puengpikul. Disaster struck as the boat returned from a memorial for a Muslim scholar at an Ayutthaya mosque. Television footage showed the boat stopping abruptly as it appeared to hit the concrete bank, and sinking in seconds. Thai broadcasters showed desperate scenes of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people. - Safety lapses - Many of the dead were trapped on the lower deck of the boat, which ran into trouble agonisingly close to safety. Officials said its proximity to the bank may have prevented the toll from being even higher. Despite its wealth compared to regional neighbours and huge tourism sector, accidents are common on Thailand's public transport network. Safety regulations are often weakly enforced, including on boats, with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common -- particularly in busy tourist areas. According to the World Health Organization, Thailand has the world's second highest road fatality rate after Libya. The Thai junta has got tough on breaches of many laws, but has so far failed to fix the chronic safety lapses in the country's transport system. The Chao Phraya, the main river that flows through Bangkok, is a key commuting artery, filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital whose riverside is studded with the remains of Buddhist temples. Thailand's reputation as the "Land of Smiles" has suffered in recent years amid accidents, crimes against foreigners and political unrest. But visitors keep coming. A record high of nearly 30 million travelled to the kingdom in 2015, a number boosted by a surge in mainland Chinese tourists, with some 33 million expected this year. The junta government this week said they expected tourism to account for as much as 17 percent of GDP this year. Graphic locating Ayutthaya in Thailand where at least 15 peopel were killed when a boat sank on September 18, 2016 - (AFP Graphic) A rescue diver (R) is helped by his colleagues while looking for missing persons after a ferry capsized the day before, in the Thai province of Ayutthaya, on September 19, 2016 Lillian Suwanrumpha (AFP) Palestinian family seeks to make a ripple with a tipple Nearly 20 years ago, Nadim Khoury created the first Palestinian brewery. Now, with his son Canaan, he wants to add Palestine to the map of the world's wines. In 2013, after Canaan returned from studying in the United States, they founded a winery in the village of Taybeh set in the hills of the occupied West Bank. The Khourys, a Christian family, are one of only a handful of significant producers of wine in the Palestinian territories, along with the Salesian priests from the Cremisan monastery near Bethlehem. A Palestinian youth displays grapes at a vineyard in the mostly Christian West Bank village of Taybeh on August 16, 2016 Abbas Momani (AFP) "Since the time of Christ, people have made wine in the Holy Land," said Nadim Khoury, whose given name in Arabic refers to a sometimes tipsy meal companion, a character who can be found as far back as pre-Islamic poetry. "My grandmother and grandfather pressed grapes at home," added Nadim's daughter Madees. Their descendants now want to "increase production and improve quality," she said. Around 20 varieties of grapes are grown in the West Bank and account for a key part of Palestinian agriculture, second only perhaps to olives. Vine-dotted terraces cling to steep hills, while in kitchens across the territories, the fruit is used for desserts and consumed freshly squeezed. Their leaves, stuffed with rice or meat, are a staple of family meals and holiday feasts. Vineyards cover about five percent of cultivated land in the West Bank, and annually produce more than 50,000 tonnes of grapes, according to the Palestinian agriculture ministry. - An act of faith - But Palestinians, 98 percent of whom are Muslim, produce little to no wine, despite the West Bank being far from devoid of it. Some 400,000 Jewish settlers have moved to the land Israel occupied in 1967 in a situation never recognised by the international community. And these settlers have established more than 20 vineyards across the region. For Khoury, producing a Palestinian wine is as much a matter of taste as an act of faith in the Palestinian cause. Christians also represent 90 percent of the population of Taybeh -- one of the highest concentrations in the West Bank. Every year the Khourys produce 30-35,000 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah red and white wines made from local grapes, using oak barrels imported from Italy and France. Farther south, near the city of Hebron known as one of the most conservative in the West Bank, the "Zeini" grape is cultivated. At the vineyard nearly 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) above sea level, they make a fragrant wine that is fermented and aged in steel tanks -- perfect for the summer heat of the Palestinian hills and as an accompaniment to grilled chicken. The Khourys are now seeking recognition of the Zeini as the first Palestinian grape. Helping to sort the fruit on a conveyor belt leading to a mechanical press, Madees says they want to help publicise Palestine, despite the state still not having received full recognition from the United Nations. As such, exporting a wine from "Palestine" is far from easy. - In US by Christmas? - "The free trade agreements with the United States, for example, say the 'West Bank' but not 'Palestine', so we had to change our labels," said Nadim Khoury. The front of the bottle says "Palestine" but the label on the back of the bottle reads "Taybeh, West Bank". "God willing, before Christmas our wine will be sold in the US," said Khoury. He is, he says, proud of his "great achievement of having kept the name of Palestine". The Palestinian territories suffer from a lack of organised industries and regulations, so it took two years to get the Palestinian Authority label required for export. The environment is favourable to viticulture, said Ghassan Cassis, who farms in the family vineyards in Bir Zeit near Ramallah, selling the grapes to Nadim Khoury for pressing. "We are 750 metres above the sea, humidity and dew evaporate quickly and the sunshine is good," said Cassis, who trained in Australia before coming home. However, he bemoans the lack of skilled labour in the sector. Khoury, meanwhile, is realistic about the future of Palestinian viticulture. "Latrun, which was a Palestinian city of wine until the 1967 war, is now in Israel and produces a wine sold as Israeli," he said. The monastery of Cremisan has for years been under pressure from the nearby separation wall built by Israel in a bid to protect Israelis from attackers from the West Bank, he said. Khoury said he worries that Taybeh could one day become "the only traditional winery in Palestine". Palestinian Nadim Khoury displays a glass of the locally made Nadim wine at his winery in the mostly Christian West Bank village of Taybeh on August 16, 2016 Abbas Momani (AFP/File) Guam's Catholic Church in crisis over child sex claims A Vatican administrator has urged Rome to remove the head of the Catholic Church in Guam over child sex allegations, warning the scandal could bankrupt the church in the deeply religious Pacific territory. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai was sent to Guam three months ago to investigate the accusations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who denies any wrongdoing. In a statement read out at church services across the island on Sunday, Hon said he had asked the Holy See to dismiss Apuron after the cleric refused to stand down voluntarily. The Vatican has been urged to remove the head of the Catholic Church in Guam over child sex allegations Christophe Simon (AFP/File) "I can assure you that the gravely serious allegations against Archbishop Apuron will continue to be dealt with... a canonical trial," the statement said. "His Holiness, Pope Francis, is monitoring the proceedings," he added. The allegations date back to the 1970s, with at least four former alter boys saying they were molested by Apuron, then a parish priest. Apuron, who has headed the Agana archdiocese since 1986, has not been charged with any crime. Hon's statement did not directly address the veracity of the allegations, instead expressing sorrow over the issue of clerical child abuse. "On behalf of the church, I want to apologise personally to the survivors of sexual abuse everywhere who have suffered so much at the hands of clergy," he said. "We cannot undo the betrayal of trust and faith and the horrendous acts that the clergy have committed against the youngest and the most innocent amongst us." In response to the scandal, Guam's legislature last week unanimously passed a bill allowing child sex abuse victims to take their cases to court, regardless of when the alleged crime was committed. "Victims often need many years to overcome the pain of their abuse and time to obtain the courage needed to speak out about the abuse that they have suffered," the bill's author Senator Frank Blas said. However, Hon said he would lobby Governor Eddie Calvo not to sign the bill into law, arguing it would have "damaging unintended consequences" for the church in Guam. He said a slew of lawsuits about allegations dating back decades would likely leave the archdiocese bankrupt, as happened to 13 dioceses in the mainland United States. "Bankruptcy will mean the forced sale of church properties that currently house our schools and social services," he said. "That will have a devastating effect on education and charitable work." Instead, Hon proposed a fund to provide financial compensation for victims and the establishment of a task force to ensure children were protected. "I submit that we can and must do these things without destroying all the good being done for our community by our church, both laity and clergy," he said. US presidential campaign front and center at Emmys The race for the White House took center stage at the Emmy Awards with plenty of jabs at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who was compared to Adolf Hitler, and a shoutout to Hillary Clinton. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who won her fifth consecutive statuette for her role as president in HBO's "Veep," set the tone for the evening by jokingly apologizing for "the current political climate." "I think that 'Veep' has torn down the wall between comedy and politics," she said as she accepted her award. "Our show started out as a political satire, but now it seems like a documentary. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (pictured) set the tone for the evening apologizing for "the current political climate" Frazer Harrison (Getty/AFP) "So, I certainly do promise to rebuilt that wall and make Mexico pay for it." Host Jimmy Kimmel also pulled no punches, at one point referring to Trump's wife Melania as "Malaria." "If it wasn't for television, would Donald Trump be running for president?" Kimmel said. "No. He would be at home quietly rubbing up against his wife Malaria while she pretends to be asleep." Kimmel later fake-blamed uber-producer Mark Burnett -- who brought Trump's "The Apprentice" to the small screen -- for the billionaire's political rise. "Thanks to Mark, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore, because we're living in one," the late night host quipped. - 'Inheritor to Hitler' - But perhaps the strongest denunciation of Trump came from "Transparent" creator Jill Soloway, who likened the bombastic tycoon to Hitler. "He is a complete dangerous monster and any time I can call out Trump for being an inheritor to Hitler, I will," Soloway told reporters backstage after accepting her award. She went on to blast Trump for "Otherizing people with a capital O." "He calls women pigs if they don't look like beauty pageant contestants, he blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems, he makes fun of disabled people," she said angrily. "Veep" producer David Mandel also blasted Trump, saying that if he dared use similar rhetoric as that of the divisive candidate on the HBO comedy, he would be fired. "I find the level of discourse in this campaign to be horrific," he said. "Its been a crazy year of politics." Emmy-winning comedian and writer Aziz Ansari took a more humorous line, saying he wanted everyone to know that "after careful consideration, I decided I am going with Trump, which is why I am saying we should get rid of all Hispanic and Muslim actors." - Jeb! - The politically charged show also featured a surprise cameo from ex-presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, who appeared as a limo driver in a pre-taped sketch segment, asking Kimmel what it's like to be nominated. Bush's brief appearance came at the end of a skit parodying several Emmy-nominated shows including "Modern Family," "Veep" and "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story." Bush appeared in the vignette as a limo driver hailed by Kimmel as he frantically sought a ride to the annual television awards show in downtown Los Angeles. "I'm in between jobs right now," says Bush, sporting a cap. "You know you can make $12 an hour driving for Uber?" He then asks Kimmel what it's like to be nominated -- a self-effacing nod to his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, which was eventually won by Trump. Comedian John Oliver, who won an Emmy for outstanding variety series for "Last Week Tonight," promoted humor in the current political climate as much-needed. "Sometimes it can be a soothing balm on an open sore," he said. On the other end of the political spectrum, "Saturday Night Live" star Kate McKinnon -- who plays Clinton on the show -- won the Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy, and thanked the Democrat in her acceptance speech. Clinton tweeted back: "Congratulations on your Emmy, Kate! Big fan of yours, too" -- with a photo of McKinnon portraying her. Host Jimmy Kimmel also pulled no punches, at one point referring to Trump's wife Melania as "Malaria" Kevin Winter (Getty/AFP) Perhaps the strongest denunciation of Trump came from "Transparent" creator Jill Soloway (pictured), who likened the bombastic billionaire to Hitler Frazer Harrison (Getty/AFP) Bombs found in New Jersey after string of US attacks US police found multiple improvised explosive devices in New Jersey, one of which detonated, the FBI said Monday as investigators probed three attacks carried out on US soil in one day. Authorities say there is no evidence the attacks were coordinated but their timing in less than 24 hours raised fears about security -- already a major issue in the country's deeply divisive presidential election battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In the latest incident, "there was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices" found at the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station, tweeted the FBI's Newark office after the devices were found late Sunday. Police investigate the scene of an explosion on New York's West 23rd Street on September, 18, 2016 Kena Betancur (AFP) "In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated," the FBI said, adding that nobody was injured. Earlier the mayor of the city of Elizabeth, Chris Bollwage, told journalists that two men had found the package late Sunday and informed authorities after noticing "wires and a pipe." Police had already been investigating a Manhattan bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast. New York went on full alert, deploying nearly 1,000 extra state police and National Guardsmen to airports, bus terminals and subway stations as President Barack Obama arrived in the city ahead of Tuesday's opening of the UN General Assembly. - NYC bomb injures 29 - Twenty-nine people were injured when a bomb exploded in New York's upmarket Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night, damaging buildings, shattering glass and sending shrapnel flying across the street. Police uncovered a second bomb four blocks away and defused it safely, before sending it to the FBI in Virginia for forensic examination. Both bombs were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones, Christmas lights and explosive compound, The New York Times reported late Sunday, citing law enforcement officials. The paper also said, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, that federal authorities detained and were questioning five people with possible links to the New York bombing. The FBI's New York branch tweeted that officers "did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest" but "no one has been charged with any crime." In New Jersey on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can on the route of a Marine Corps run before the start of the race, causing no injuries but forcing its cancellation. On Sunday, rail services in that state were suspended between Newark airport and Elizabeth as reports of the suspicious package there emerged. In the Midwest, an assailant reported to be Somali-American went on a stabbing spree in a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injuring nine people before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. US authorities said the motive of all three attacks was unclear, but officials quickly identified them as terror-related. "If you look at a number of these incidents, you can call them whatever you want: they are terrorism though," New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie, a member of the Trump campaign, told CNN. - 'No ISIS connection' - "A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but it's not linked to international terrorism," Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday after touring the scene of the explosion in Chelsea. "In other words, we find no ISIS connection, etcetera," said Cuomo in reference to the Islamic State group. But he also stressed the lack of an international terror link was preliminary. There was no claim for the bombings in Manhattan or New Jersey, but a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS "soldier" carried out the Minnesota stabbings. Clinton, whose lead in the polls has taken a dip, condemned what she called "apparent terrorist attacks." Trump meanwhile tweeted his "best wishes and condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing." - 'References to Allah' - Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials stress that the United States is safer from terror plots that originate from overseas but more at risk from the lone-wolf attack perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda. In Minnesota, FBI agent Rick Thornton confirmed that federal agents were investigating the stabbing as "a potential act of terrorism," as local media identified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American. Police confirmed that the assailant asked some victims whether they were Muslim before attacking them and made "references to Allah." "In many of these cases, we don't know until two, three or four days later whether or not there is a terrorist link," warned New York Congressman Peter King in a CBS television interview. Explosions in New York and New Jersey New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (C) and Mayor Bill de Blasio speak with a resident while touring the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York on September 18, 2016 Justin Lane (POOL/AFP) People stand outside the scene of a stabbing at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota on September 17, 2016 Duterte foe ousted from probe into Philippine killings The leading critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drug crime was ousted Monday as head of a Senate investigation into the campaign, which has cost thousands of lives. Senator Leila de Lima said her probe into the surge of killings since Duterte took office on June 30 had been derailed after his allies voted to remove her as head of the Senate justice committee. De Lima, a former justice secretary and human rights chief, had launched the Senate probe. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (C) delivers a speech before members of the Scout Rangers regiment at a military training camp in San Miguel town, Bulacan province, north of Manila, on September 15, 2016 Ted Aljibe (AFP/File) It heard explosive allegations last week from a former hitman that Duterte ordered hundreds of killings when he was mayor of the southern city of Davao and even shot one victim himself. The government described the allegations as lies. On Monday pro-Duterte senators who control the legislative chamber charged that de Lima's investigation was ruining the country's image and voted to remove her as head of the justice committee. De Lima blamed Duterte for her ousting, telling ABS-CBN television: "I know I will continue to be crucified because the president himself wants that... ever since I initiated the inquiry into his extra-judicial killings." "I don't know what will happen now, whether this inquiry into the extra-judicial killings will at all be credible," she said, warning the other senators would try to conceal the president's culpability. On Sunday Duterte asked for a six-month extension for his war on drugs, saying there were too many people involved in the narcotics trade. He won May elections by a landslide, after vowing to kill 100,000 criminals and rid the country of illegal drugs in six months. - Street killings - "I did not realise how severe and how serious the drug menace was in this republic until I became president," Duterte, 71, told reporters late Sunday in Davao. Launching his crackdown was like letting "a worm out of the can" he said, adding that he wanted "a little extension of maybe another six months" to try and finish the job. "Even if I wanted to I cannot kill them all," Duterte said, adding a new police list of drug suspects would be unveiled. Among the apparent victims of the war of drugs was a daughter of the late British baron Lord Moynihan, police said Monday. Maria Aurora Moynihan, 45, was shot by unknown attackers who left her by the side of a Manila street on September 10. Her killers left a cardboard sign accusing Moynihan of being a "drug pusher for celebrities", Chief Inspector Tito Jay Cuden told AFP. The victim was on bail while facing charges of possession of illegal drugs following a February 2013 suburban Manila police raid. In a speech in Davao late Monday, Duterte brushed off any possible investigations into his crime war, which has attracted strong international criticism. "Whether there will be a thousand investigations or (UN chief) Ban Ki-moon comes here, I don't give a shit," he said. "I don't care whether there is a thousand hearings everywhere... I will not stop until the last pushers on the streets are fully exterminated," he said. "Congress can have their own show. Go ahead, be my guest," he said dismissively. Roman Catholic church bishops warned Monday that giving Duterte an extension would result in more summary killings. "In the campaign, he categorically said that the drug problem would be solved in six months or he will step down, But of course he is not a man of (his) word," Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo was quoted as saying on the bishops's website. An activist holds a banner in front of Philippine National Police headquarters during a protest condemning extra-judicial killings related to President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign against drugs, in Manila, on August 24, 2016 Noel Celis (AFP/File) Taiwan politicians break ranks to meet with Beijing A group of opposition officials from Taiwan have bypassed the government and travelled to China on a bridge-building trip as relations with Beijing turn frosty under new president Tsai Ing-wen. Observers say the meeting is a move by China to up the pressure on Tsai and an attempt to woo a public wary of closer ties with Beijing. China has severed all official communication with Beijing-sceptic Tsai and her new Democratic Progressive Party government (DPP), which came to power after a landslide victory in January over the Kuomintang (KMT). Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen observes the annual Han Guang life-fire drill, in southern Pingtung, on August 25, 2016 Chou Rung-Ji (Pool/AFP/File) Although Taiwan is self-governing, Beijing still sees the island as part of its territory to be reunified. But Tsai has refused to acknowledge the concept that there is only "one China" -- a precondition Beijing says is necessary for cross-strait dialogue to resume. The delegation of eight local-level chiefs who met a senior Beijing official Sunday back the "one China" concept. Following the meeting China promised to promote agricultural trade, technology and tourism with those counties who had sent representatives. Six of the delegates were from the KMT and two were independents. Taiwan's presidential office was not informed in advance of the delegation's trip, spokesman Alex Huang told AFP, adding that prior notification is not required by law. Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of China's top political advisory body, praised the county leaders in the meeting for their efforts to "promote peaceful development of cross-strait relations", according to a statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO). Political analyst Francis Hu said the meeting was a push by Beijing to win over the Taiwanese public, who became increasingly wary of warmer ties with Beijing under the previous KMT government, fearing the island's sovereignty was being eroded. "This is a tug-a-war of public opinions and China is putting its chips on the KMT," said Hu, head of Tunghai University's political science department. Beijing is trying to send the message that if Taiwan officials accept the "one China" concept, they will be rewarded economically, he said. KMT officials have in the past met with mainland politicians in Beijing, but Sunday's meeting was the highest-profile since Tsai took office. Former president Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT forged eight years of rapprochement with Beijing under the so-called "1992 consensus" -- a tacit agreement that there is only "one China" but each side is allowed its own interpretation. But voters who felt they did not benefit from closer China ties turned their backs on the KMT in general elections earlier this year. President Tsai was voted in on the promise of making Taiwan proud of its identity once more and diversifying trade away from Beijing. But she has been battling falling popularity and a raft of protests since taking office in May as the economy continues to stagnate and she struggles to unite factions within her own party and the government as a whole. Exploding phone battery: Samsung begins S.Korea exchange Samsung rolled out replacements for Galaxy Note 7s plagued by exploding batteries in South Korea on Monday, but only a handful of customers appeared to have taken the opportunity to swap their handsets. The world's largest maker of mobile phones recalled 2.5-million units of its top-of-the-range model more than two weeks ago, after batteries began catching fire while charging. But users snubbed the South Korean electronics giant's offer of a temporary replacement until new Note 7s became available, and there seemed to be little urgency among consumers for the permanent fix offered on Monday. A South Korean employee works to provide replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones at a telecommunications shop in Seoul on September 19, 2016 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP) The success of the recall is seen as crucial to Samsung retaining brand loyalty and preventing customers defecting to arch-rival Apple's new iPhone 7 or cheaper Chinese-made models. A Samsung spokeswoman confirmed the firm had started to offer the replacement handsets in South Korea and several European nations including Britain on Monday -- and would follow suit in the US on Wednesday and expand to other markets by next week. The company began offering replacements for users in Canada and Singapore last week and is set to start soon in other nations including Mexico, Taiwan, New Zealand the United Arab Emirates. But with only a trickle of customers visiting stores in Seoul on Monday for their replacements, the fate of the much-hyped handset remained unclear, although consumers in the South Korean capital were sympathetic. "I felt terrible when I heard about the battery explosion only days after I had bought my Note 7," Kim Jung-Nam told AFP after receiving the replacement. "But I liked that the company acted very quickly and decisively about the whole thing... so I decided to trust it once more," he said. The recall -- the first involving Samsung's flagship smartphone -- dealt a major blow to the firm's reputation and raised alarm among airline, with several banning passengers from using the device on board. South Korean users have time until March 2017 to hand in their phones for a replacement but Samsung is hoping a software update that will limit battery recharges to 60 percent of capacity will jolt consumers into returning their handsets. The recall crisis erupted as Samsung finds itself squeezed by competition from Apple in the high-end market and Chinese rivals in the low-and mid-end segment. Analyst Lee Seung-Woo of Seoul-based IBK Investment & Securities said the recall may eventually cost Samsung up to 3.3 trillion won ($2.9 billion), potentially denting future smartphone sales and forcing the company to spend more on marketing. Cambodia PM vows to 'eliminate' opponents who protest Cambodia's strongman premier vowed on Monday to "eliminate" his opponents if they push ahead with plans for nationwide protests against an ongoing government crackdown that has sparked international alarm. The latest rhetoric, some of Prime Minister Hun Sen's strongest in recent months, ratchets up worsening political tensions in the kingdom, which will hold national elections in 2018. Rights groups have accused long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration of arresting scores of critics and tying up other opponents in legal cases. Hun Sen, a former army commander who defected from the Khmer Rouge, has dominated Cambodian politics for the past 31 years Wang Zhao (AFP/File) The main opposition party's deputy leader Kem Sokha has been holed up for weeks in his office, sleeping on a makeshift bed. He was handed a jail sentence earlier this month for refusing to appear in court over an alleged sex scandal prosecution that the opposition say is politically motivated. His party has threatened to hold nationwide demonstrations if moves are made to arrest him or if the crackdown continues. "Don't threaten (me) with demonstrations in exchange for talks. No way, youngest brother!," Hun Sen said at a university graduation ceremony Monday, in a characteristically lengthy speech. "This is not just a warning, it is more serious than a warning because it is an order to eliminate those who destroy security and social order," he said, adding that foreign countries had no right to criticise his administration. Last week a group of 36 states -- including the European Union and the United States -- issued a joint statement saying they were "deeply concerned" about escalating political tensions in Cambodia. Hun Sen, a former army commander who defected from the Khmer Rouge, has dominated Cambodian politics for the past 31 years. His administration claims it has brought much needed peace and stability to a nation ravaged by civil war. But opposition groups have gained ground in recent years amid growing disillusionment with endemic corruption, rights abuses and political repression. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) accuses Hun Sen of denying it a majority by rigging the 2013 election in his favour, a charge the premier denies. CNRP's top leader and Hun Sen's chief rival, Sam Rainsy, has spent nearly one year in self-imposed exile to avoid arrest warrants he claims are politically-motivated. More than a dozen of opposition figures, including two MPs, are currently in prison facing charges, while more than 20 political activists and rights workers have faced legal action over the past year. Four land activists were sentenced on Monday to six months in jail each for allegedly insulting public officials during a protest in 2011. Gay pride: China activists fight 'conversion therapy' Telling his wife he was gay was never going to be easy. But Yu Hu never thought it would see him committed to a mental hospital and fed a cocktail of drugs to "cure" him. Yu's wife readily agreed to a divorce, but his own family were nowhere near as tolerant. They arranged for medical personnel to seize him, throw him into a van and strap him to a hospital bed. Xiao Tie, executive director of the Beijing LGBT Centre, pretends to inject a patient with a mock syringe during a protest outside the Haidian District Court, during a hearing of a landmark case on 'gay conversion' treatment Greg Baker (AFP/File) For 19 days, he was given a mix of unidentified medications, with staff threatening to beat him if he refused to take them, all in the name of "curing" him of his orientation. The 32-year-old was only released when his boyfriend and LGBT activists contacted police in Henan province. Now Yu is suing his captors, the latest in a series of legal battles aimed at banning supposed "gay conversion therapies". "They must be brought to justice, being gay is not a crime, but what they did to me is," Yu said. "This isn't only happening to me, and this must stop." Yu still has nightmares about the episode last October. His demands are simple: an apology from the hospital and an acknowledgement homosexuality is not a disease to be cured. The case is due to be heard on Wednesday. - 'We try to educate doctors' - Homosexuality is legal in China, but was only taken off the list of psychiatric disorders in 2001. While Chinese attitudes to homosexuality have become more accepting in recent years, especially in larger cities, discrimination is still rife. Government censors banned gay characters on television in March, with new guidelines decreeing: "No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on." Many Chinese are their parents' only children as a result of the country's often brutally enforced family planning policies, so parental expectations of marriage and grandchildren tend to exacerbate pressures on gay men and lesbians. Some enter into "cooperation marriages" with a knowing partner in order to satisfy their family's demands. People who undergo conversion treatments -- either voluntarily or after submitting to family pressure -- spend about 20,000 yuan ($3,000) on average, according to the Beijing LGBT Center, although some see their costs spiral upwards as doctors encourage more sessions. In Chongqing, fees are about 4,000 yuan for a course -- almost as much as the city's average monthly salary -- which can include solitary confinement and even chemical castration. But authorities are more interested in policing activists than clinics, said campaigner Sha Sheng, whose group has helped hundreds of gay men and lesbians after they found themselves in debt and trapped in Chongqing facilities. "Even though a court has said this is wrong, it's hard to fight against gay conversion therapy when the police are constantly shutting down our activities," said Sha. Other activists are trying to convert the medical providers. "We try to educate doctors, introduce them to homosexual people and show them its not an affliction to be gay," said Joelle Yao, an activist at the Beijing LGBT Center. "A lot" of doctors leave the sessions with a "completely different view on homosexuality" she said, adding that Chinese prejudice was more often born of ignorance rather than religious conviction, making it easier to address. But the task remains huge. "We can't reach everyone," she said. "China is just too big." Xiao Tie, executive director of the Beijing LGBT Centre, holds a mock syringe during a protest outside the Haidian District Court, as the court begins hearing a landmark case on 'gay conversion' treatment Greg Baker (AFP/File) Orphaned baby koala finds fluffy toy friend An orphaned baby koala in Australia has found solace cuddling a fluffy toy marsupial in the absence of his mother as he recovers from the trauma of her death. Nine-month-old Shayne's mother was recently hit and killed by a car in Queensland state as he clung to her back. Rescuers found the joey had been thrown 20 metres down the road by the impact and was being chased by crows. Shayne, a baby koala who has found comfort cuddling a toy koala in the absence of his mother after she was killed by a car as he clung to her back, recovers at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital Ben Beaden (AUSTRALIA ZOO/AFP) The baby was taken to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, run by the family of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, where doctors said he was overcoming his terrifying ordeal with the help of a toy koala as he learns to be independent. "Shayne has no injuries as a result of the accident, instead, hes dealing with the loss of his mum and the vital life lessons he needs to learn in order to become an independent, wild koala, hospital director Rosie Booth said Monday. At the hospital Shayne, his black button nose and bushy ears visible above the soft pink blanket he was swaddled in, clung onto the back of the toy koala as he might his real mother. Its very fortunate that we had an observant rescuer who found Shayne and brought him into us because he wouldnt have lasted even a day in the wild by himself at his young age -- now he gets a second chance at life," Booth said. The much-loved koala has been under increasing threat across Australia in recent decades, particularly from habitat loss, disease, dog attacks and bushfires. The hospital treats an average of 70 to 80 koalas every month. A 2012 national count placed total Koala numbers at around 330,000, though their treetop habitat makes accurate assessment difficult. Thousands flock to Indian Himalayas for rare Buddhist festival Hundreds of thousands of monks, devotees and tourists have flocked to India's remote Ladakh region for a rare Buddhist festival, dubbed the "Kumbh Mela of the Himalayas" by promoters. Dancers in bright, silk costumes and striking headgear performed to drum and pipe music as part of the festival being held in a mountain village to commemorate the 1,000th birth anniversary of Buddhist saint Naropa. The Indian saint and scholar is heralded by followers for starting a rich tradition of Buddhist philosophy in the 11th century. Hundreds of thousands of monks, devotees and tourists have flocked to India's remote Ladakh region for a rare Buddhist festival Money Sharma (AFP) Held only once every 12 years, the Naropa Festival draws huge numbers of Buddhists, especially those from the Drukpa branch which is traditionally practised in Ladakh and Bhutan. Among those in the crowd in Hemis village for the week-long festival was award-winning Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh. India is renowned for its numerous religious festivals - including the main Kumbh Mela pilgrimage for Hindus held every 12 years - during which masses of devotees gather at sacred rivers and temples in often chaotic scenes and in searing temperatures. In contrast, the Naropa Festival is being held in the tranquil Himalayan village that includes a palace and monastery, located some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the region's main town of Leh. A highlight of the week-long festival that started on Friday was the display of the sacred Six Bone Ornaments - believed to have belonged to Naropa - in an hours-long outdoor ceremony. The Drukpa spiritual leader or the Gyalwang Drukpa unveiled the ornaments - which include a crown, earrings and a necklace - to scores of chanting maroon-robed monks and devotees seated under colourful umbrellas as prayers were performed. "I come from south India. Now I came here to see this festival... there are many people (who) came by airplane and from south India and other countries," Sonam Phuntsok, a monk from India's southern city of Bangalore, told AFP. "(It's a) very nice place here. And the weather is very good. Lots of people came here, I'm very happy." Another highlight is the ceremonial unfurling of a huge silk tapestry of Tibet's patron saint Padmasambhava. The brocade, known in Tibetan as a thangka, was last exhibited in 2004. Hundreds of thousands of villagers, monks and tourists flocked to India's mountainous region of Ladakh for a Buddhist celebration held once in 12 years, popularly known as the 'Kumbh Mela of the Himalayas' Money Sharma (AFP) Buddhist monks talk at the Naro palace during the Naropa festival, popularly known as the 'Kumbh Mela of the Himalaya', a Buddhist gathering that takes place once every twelve years at Hemis village in Leh Money Sharma (AFP) The Naropa Festival is being held in the tranquil Himalayan village that includes a palace and monastery, located some 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the region's main town of Leh Money Sharma (AFP) India's Modi thrashes out response to deadly Kashmir raid India's prime minister on Monday summoned top security advisers to thrash out a response to a deadly raid on a Kashmir army base blamed on militants from Pakistan, amid calls for tough action against the nuclear-armed nation. Narendra Modi has vowed to punish those behind the attack in which gunmen hurling grenades stormed a base, killing 17 soldiers in the worst such attack in over a decade. An 18th soldier died in hospital on Monday. The Hindu nationalist prime minister promised during his election campaign to take a hard line over Kashmir and has faced calls from army veterans -- and even some in his own party -- for military action against Pakistan. An Indian army soldier salutes the coffins of colleagues killed in a gunbattle with militants at the army headquarters in Srinagar on September 19, 2016 INDIAN ARMY (AFP) On Monday he summoned his national security adviser and military leaders to formulate a response, which media reports said could include air strikes on training camps on the Pakistan side of the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir. But security experts say India lacks the military capabilities to take on its neighbour in the divided Himalayan region, already tense after weeks of violent clashes between police and demonstrators protesting at Indian rule. "It's not like the US conducting air strikes in Syria to tackle ISIS that's hundreds of miles away from home ground, Pakistan is next door," said Ajai Sahni, executive director at the Institute of Conflict Management think-tank in Delhi. "India knows it can't sustain a 15-day war against Pakistan and Pakistan knows it can't sustain a similar war against India." Local media also urged caution, with the Indian Express saying calls for military action were "easier made than acted upon". - 'Right to respond' - Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but both claim it in full. The two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since gaining independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. India regularly accuses its arch-rival of arming and sending rebels across the heavily militarised border that divides Kashmir between the two countries, to launch attacks on its forces. Ranbir Singh, the army's director-general of military operations, said the markings on some of the material recovered from the slain militants showed they had come from across the border, while insisting India had the resources to adequately respond to Pakistan. "The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in the hinterland," he said at a media briefing Monday. "...We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our own choosing." On Sunday Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused Pakistan of "continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups" and called for it to be internationally isolated. As the war of words intensified on Monday, Pakistan's army chief Raheel Sharif said his forces were "fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat". Islamabad meanwhile accused New Delhi of trying to deflect attention from weeks of unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir with what it called "vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements". "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the Indian-occupied Kashmir since the death of Burhan Wani," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement. - Wreath-laying - Sunday's attack followed weeks of protests sparked by the killing of the popular rebel leader in a gunfight with security forces. At least 87 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between protesters and security forces, the worst unrest to hit Kashmir since 2010. On Monday more than 50 people were injured when security forces fired tear gas and pellet guns at protesters who defied a curfew in southern Kashmir, according to local police. Sunday's attack was one of the bloodiest on soldiers since an armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989. Militants killed 30 soldiers and their families in a suicide attack in Kaluchak area in 2002. On Monday soldiers paid tribute to their colleagues, most of whom died when their tents and other accommodation caught fire, at a wreath-laying ceremony in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. The Indian army has blamed Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which was implicated in an audacious attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in the northern state of Punjab in January that left seven soldiers dead. That attack dashed hopes of a revival of peace talks, which have been on ice ever since. Rebel groups which have been fighting Indian troops in Kashmir since 1989 seek either independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. Soldiers have been deployed in the territory for decades and currently number around 500,000. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting. India has said Pakistan-based militants were behind the attack on an army camp in the disputed Kashmir region Tauseef Mustafa (AFP) The militant attack on an Indian Army camp in Kashmir was one of the bloodiest on soldiers since an armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted in 1989 Tausef Mustafa (AFP) Tunisia water shortages spark 'thirst uprising' warning Activists are warning of a potential "thirst uprising" in Tunisia following protests over severe water shortages after one of the North African nation's driest summers on record. Residents in the interior are suffering long water supply cuts, reservoirs are running dry and farmers are seeing significant losses, adding to social tensions in a country still struggling with instability since its 2011 revolution. The Tunisian citizens' water observatory, known as Watchwater, warned last month the country could face a "thirst uprising" reminiscent of the protest movement that spread across Tunisia nearly six years ago. The Sidi Salem dam near Testour, in Tunisia's northwest Beja region has particularly low water levels due to a 30 percent drop in rainfall this year Fethi Belaid (AFP) "The failure to find urgent and serious solutions will increase protests across the country," it said. Water scarcity has long been a problem for Tunisia, but in recent years the challenge has been exacerbated by growing urbanisation and increasing demand from agriculture and industry. This year has seen the country particularly hard-hit, with rainfall -- Tunisia's main water source -- down by some 30 percent, the state secretary for water resources and fishing, Abdallah Rabhi, told AFP. In August, the agriculture ministry warned Tunisia would be facing a "catastrophic" situation if it did not rain by the end of the summer. The few rainstorms since have not been enough to replenish groundwater reserves or reservoirs. Agricultural losses for this year have already reached nearly two billion dinars ($900 million/800 million euros), according to the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries. - Call to 'pray for rain' - The ministry of religious affairs has even called on the people to "pray for rain". Since mid-May, the authorities have announced more than 700 water supply cuts. Officially they last from several hours to three days, but Alaa Marzouki of Watchwater said that in some regions the cuts have lasted nearly a month. Protests have erupted in several affected areas, with the water shortages adding to the frustrations of many residents who feel their concerns are being ignored by authorities in Tunis. At one demonstration in the northwestern town of Fernana earlier this month, protesters gathered at a local pumping station and threatened to disrupt supplies to the capital, according to local media reports. "Economic protests resembling those that sparked the 2010 Jasmine Revolution are spreading throughout Tunisia and may grow into nationwide civil unrest," the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute warned in a report this month. In the southwestern Gafsa region, local farmer Mabrouk said frustration was growing. "We are suffering," said Mabrouk, who declined to give his last name. "We had to buy a water tank for 30 dinars for what we use and what our animals use. We've sent requests to the government but they remain unanswered. All we can do is wait for rain, God willing." Tunisia has some 30 dams and reservoirs that provide irrigation of agricultural land and drinking water, but by the end of August their reserves were less than 40 percent of what they were at the same time last year, Rabhi said. - 'Very dangerous situation' - Some, like the Nabhana reservoir in central Tunisia, are completely dry. At the Sidi Salem dam near Beja in northern Tunisia, reserves are about half what they were last year. "You have to go back to 1993-1994 to find such a level," said the dam's manager, Cherif Gasmi. "If rain does not come by the end of September... we will have to tap the dam's strategic reserves and that's a very dangerous situation," he said. Groundwater levels in areas without dams have also fallen, in some cases by 25 percent, said Mohamed Dahech, the CEO of SONEDE, the national water supply authority. With consumption increasing by an average of four percent a year, SONEDE has urged Tunisians to use less water. But Marzouki of Watchwater said more needed to be done. "The state has not put in place the necessary strategies," he said, pointing in particular to decrepit water pipelines that leak 10 to 30 percent of supplies. SONEDE's Dahech said a major issue is unpaid bills, which have reached the equivalent of some 60 million euros so far this year. The government has promised a raft of measures, including unblocking several dam projects and the construction of three desalination plants in the south. Water scarcity has been exacerbated in recent years by growing urbanisation and increasing demand from agriculture and industry Fethi Belaid (AFP/File) Syria truce 'to end Monday evening' The Syria truce deal brokered by the United States and Russia is set to expire Monday evening at 7:00pm (1600 GMT), a senior military source in Damascus told AFP. "The Syrian army had announced a freeze on fighting until Sunday night, but as Russia announced an extension, it will end on Monday at 7:00pm (1600 GMT)," the source told AFP. "We do not know if the truce will be extended again," he added. A Syrian man stands in the rubble following an air strike in Aleppo's rebel-controlled Karm al-Jabal neighbourhood on September 18, 2016 Karam Al-Masri (AFP) The ceasefire deal came into force on the evening of September 12, with Syria's army announcing a freeze on fighting across the country. The main battlefronts subsequently saw a marked reduction in violence, but clashes broke out late last week in the central provinces of Hama and Homs, as well as east of Damascus. The deal was further strained by US-led coalition strikes on Syrian army positions in the east that killed dozens of government soldiers. And on Sunday, the first air strikes since the ceasefire began hit rebel-held districts of the battleground city of Aleppo, killing one woman. Residents of eastern Aleppo have been waiting desperately for promised aid deliveries into their neighbourhoods. Pakistan court delays hanging of mentally-ill man Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday delayed for one week the execution of a man who had been declared insane by government doctors, after rights groups urged the government to halt the hanging. "A mentally ill prisoner who was due to be hanged Tuesday morning has received a seven-day stay from the Supreme Court of Pakistan," Justice Project Pakistan, an independent rights group, said in a statement. Imdad Ali had been scheduled to die at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday in a prison in the city of Vehari despite having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, it said. Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after gunmen stormed a school in 2014, leaving 150 dead Aamir Qureshi (AFP/File) "His execution was stayed pending a hearing on 27 September, but he could still be executed as early as next week," it said. Human Rights Watch also urged Pakistan on Monday to halt the hanging, saying the execution would violate its international legal obligations. Ali, who is aged around 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious cleric in 2002. HRW opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, its country representative Saroop Ijaz told AFP. "But in this case it also violates Pakistan's international legal obligations," Ijaz said, referring to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Islamabad ratified in 2011. "Imdad (Ali) has no insight into his punishment or condition or the idea of penalty. Executing someone who does not understand the punishment he or she is being awarded is simply harrowing and serves no criminal justice aim." Separately, a psychiatrist who examined Ali over several years and declared him insane in 2012 had said he was shocked at news of the imminent execution. "He is a declared insane person," said Tahir Feroze Khan. "To hear about his death warrant is shocking news for me." A medical report seen by AFP said Ali's speech was incoherent, he frequently spoke and laughed to himself, and he suffered from paranoia and delusions of grandeur. Despite being officially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the Lahore High Court last month rejected arguments that Ali should not be executed because of his illness. "His killing would signify in a grim way all that is wrong with the Pakistani justice system," added Ijaz. Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after suffering its deadliest-ever extremist attack, when gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 and killed more than 150 people -- mostly children. Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but later extended to all capital offences. Deadly clashes in Myanmar threaten rebel peace bid At least eight people have been killed and thousands displaced by clashes in southeast Myanmar, rebels and border forces said Monday, violence that threatens to undercut the new government's push for peace. Fighting broke out this month between government troops and an ethnic rebel splinter group known as the DKBA in Karen state, near the border with Thailand. More than 4,000 people have fled the violence so far. A boy looks at Karen National Union (KNU) soldiers practicing at Oo Kray Kee village in Karen State near Thailand-Myanmar border on January 30, 2012 Pornchai Kittiwongsakul (AFP/File) Video footage sent to AFP showed dozens of women and children packed into a monastery, some handing out food packages from aid groups while others rifled through piles of donated clothing. The clashes come just weeks after Aung San Suu Kyi's government held a landmark summit aimed at ending almost seven decades of ethnic insurgencies. The Nobel laureate has made brokering peace with the patchwork of armed minorities fighting the state a priority. But ongoing fighting in Kachin and Shan states overshadowed the talks and ending the complex, protracted conflicts is expected to take years. The fresh fighting further south adds to the uncertainty. An officer from the DKBA, who asked not to be named, told AFP that four of their soldiers had been killed and five wounded in recent days. Meanwhile, Major Naing Maung Zaw from Myanmar's Border Guard Forces (BGF), said several of their troops had been hit by landmines planted by rebels. "Four soldiers from the Myanmar Tatmadaw and our (border guard forces) were killed and some 40 injured by the fighting in the past few days," he told AFP. "Many soldiers from our side were killed and injured in the beginning because we gave time for villagers to flee from the area before we started fighting back." Distrust of the Tatmadaw, as the army is known, runs deep among ethnic groups after decades of oppression under the former military junta. On Friday seven Myanmar soldiers were jailed for killing villagers in Shan State, a rare punishment for abuses by the army. The DKBA are a small Buddhist group, estimated to number in the hundreds, who split from the mainly Christian Karen National Union in the early 1990s. The much larger KNU, which has signed a ceasefire with the government, warned the fresh fighting threatened to derail fragile peace talks in the region. Congolese rebel leader on 12th day of hunger strike Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda was Monday on the 12th day of an unprecedented hunger strike in his detention cell in The Netherlands, refusing to attend his war crimes trial. The once feared rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo has not appeared in the courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since September 7. He is the first defendant before the tribunal -- set up in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes -- to ever go on hunger strike and his protest is vexing judges who have ordered his trial must go on in his absence. Congolese former rebel Bosco Ntaganda has denied 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out of savage ethnic attacks carried out by his rebel Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo in 2002-2003 Michael Kooren (Pool/AFP/File) "How long can this situation last? Is it the kind of justice we want before the International Criminal Court?" said his lawyer, Stephane Bourgon, in a statement sent early Monday. "We can't ignore the absence of the accused whose current state of health is rapidly deteriorating." Ntaganda, who has been held in the ICC's detention unit in the seaside suburb of Scheveningen since he surrendered in 2013, has also told his lawyers to stop acting for him. Once dubbed The Terminator, Ntaganda has denied 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out of savage ethnic attacks carried out in the DR Congo by his rebel Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) in 2002-2003. With Ntaganda again absent from the courtroom, Judge Robert Fremr said the detention centre's medical officer had reported early Monday that Ntaganda "shows fatigue, but no alarming physical or mental symptoms." The medical officer had concluded Ntaganda was fit to be transferred to the courtroom to attend in his trial. - 'Disruptive' actions - Fremr again denounced Ntaganda's actions as "disruptive", calling them "self-induced" and adding "the chamber sees no reasonable alternative but to continue the proceedings." Ntaganda is protesting the judges' refusal to ease restrictions on his visitors -- imposed due to fears about witness tampering. In a rambling statement read to the court last week, he said he had lost hope of ever seeing his wife and children again without the presence of court and security officials. The standoff has left the court in a quandary, although ICC officials told AFP they would not force feed him. "The court has an internal protocol that is being applied. Mr Ntaganda is being seen regularly by medical professionals and will not be force fed," the ICC said. Ntaganda's trial opened in September 2015 after he walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been mired for two decades in ethnically-charged wars, as rebels battle for control of its rich mineral resources. UN aid chief 'pained' Aleppo aid remains blocked The UN's humanitarian chief said Monday he was "pained" that aid convoys had not deployed to eastern Aleppo, as a ceasefire in Syria teetered on the brink of collapse. The delivery of desperately needed supplies to Aleppo's rebel-held east and besieged areas across the country was a key component of the truce agreed by the United States and Russia that came into force last week. But UN trucks carrying life-saving supplies destined for Aleppo have been stuck in a buffer zone between the Turkish and Syrian borders since early last week. Syrian children look at the damage following an air strike in Aleppo's rebel-controlled Karm al-Jabal neighbourhood on September 18, 2016 Karam Al-Masri (AFP) "I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care," said a statement from Stephen O'Brien, who heads the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA). The US-Russia deal included specific measures aimed at getting aid into eastern Aleppo. The pact called for Syrian troops to withdraw from the Castello Road supply route into the city, which regime forces seized in early July, cutting off aid to Aleppo's east. The UN has said its trucks would not roll until Washington and Moscow signalled that the Castello Road was clear and safe. Addressing the UN rights council on Monday, the head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, sounded a further call for "unimpeded, sustained and rapid humanitarian access to all those in need." "Roadblocks made of red tape are just as effective as roadblocks made of weapons of war," he told the council. Meanwhile, fears mounted Monday that the fragile truce was failing. Regime ally Russia and the US, which backs some opposition groups, have blamed each other for cracks in the ceasefire. Moscow and Damascus have blasted Washington over airstrikes that killed scores of Syrian soldiers on Saturday in Deir Ezzor, which is partly held by the Islamic State group. The Pentagon has conceded that Syrian troops may have been hit in the raid targeting IS. Syria's envoy to the UN in Geneva, Hussam Edin Aala, charged in the rights council that the US strikes were "planned and deliberate." Syria's fragile ceasefire Jordanian voters sceptical ahead of general election Patriotic music and songs praising Jordan's King Abdullah II boom from a white tent pitched in Amman by candidates standing in Tuesday's parliamentary election. Dozens of supporters mill about, sipping bitter black coffee or biting into syrup-drenched pieces of konafa, a traditional Arabic sweet. But their hearts are not quite in it. Supporters attend a campaign conference for Jordan's National Alliance for Reform in Amman's Sweileh district Khalil Mazraawi (AFP) Hani Ajour, 55, says he has "no faith in the election". "Unfortunately the results are known in advance. The government puts its cronies in parliament and after the vote campaign promises are forgotten," he adds. But Ajour also admits that he will vote on Tuesday and cast his ballot for a "friend", one of several candidates on a tribal list. Jordan's electoral system gives disproportionate clout to rural districts, which are less populated than the cities but tend to return tribal candidates loyal to the monarchy. The Phenix Center, a local pollster, said that 32 percent of Jordanians would vote for a family or tribe member, while 27 percent believe that voting is a national duty. Mohammed, who worked for the interior ministry for 30 before retiring, does not belong to either category. "They're all hypocrites. Believe me, elections in Jordan are a big lie," he says, declining to give his full name. Mohammed says he has visited the tent every day since campaigning began out of a sense of "duty" to support a candidate from his tribe, but also that is determined not to vote on election day. "Even if my father rose from his grave to stand in the elections, I wouldn't vote for him," he says. With the exception of the opposition Islamists, who can count on grassroots support, other candidates rely on tribal and family connections. Experts expect that the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, will win around 20 seats in the 130-seat parliament, making it the largest opposition force. The IAF boycotted elections in 2010 and 2013 in protest at the then electoral law which played in favour of pro-government and tribal candidates, but decided to stand this year after the law was amended. - Campaign pledges ignored - In past elections, Jordanians complained of alleged vote rigging and vote buying and denounced the MPs they voted for, saying they failed to deliver on election pledges to improve their lot. Habib Lotfi, an electrician, is among those who says he will vote "because it is my electoral right", but he also says he is not happy with the system and the candidates. "Most of the candidates work for personal gain, not to improve people's lives," he believes. Shopkeeper Bilal Shalabi agrees. "It's always the same -- the deputies who get elected don't work for the good of the people. The exact opposite: they pass laws imposing new hardships on us," he says. Unemployment in the kingdom is 14 percent, with the under 30s who represent 70 percent of the population of 9.5 million the worst hit, official statistics show. However, unofficial estimates put the number of jobless as high as 30 percent. Last year growth slumped to 2.4 percent, down from 3.1 percent in 2014, and the prices of most goods, electricity, fuel and other services are constantly rising. Jordan, stuck between Iraq and Syria, has borne the brunt of the conflicts ravaging its two neighbours and over the years has received a steady influx of refugees. Despite the challenges facing the tiny resource-poor kingdom, some voters remain optimistic. Sawsan, a blonde woman in her 30s, says she did not vote in the past two elections. But she will this time, and says she will cast her ballot for "emerging new groups" of candidates. "I've seen new groups entering the political arena with new programmes. I'm hoping for big changes, actually, and that's why I've decided to vote this time," she says. Samer Qobain, 40, adds: "Democracy can't be built in a day. "It's true that our elections are always dominated by money and tribal relations more than political debate, but bit by bit we're trying to change things." Supporters attend a campaign conference for Jordan's National Alliance for Reform in Amman's Sweileh district Khalil Mazraawi (AFP) A Jordanian woman walks past campaign posters for candidate Khaled al-Jaarah in the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp north of Amman, ahead of September 30 parliamentary elections Khalil Mazraawi (AFP) New surge of violence sees more Palestinian knife attacks Palestinian knife attacks against Israeli police left two assailants shot dead and three officers wounded on Monday as a new surge in violence raised concerns ahead of Jewish holidays. There have been eight similar incidents since Friday, coming after Palestinians wrapped up the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha last week and as Israel tightened security ahead of major Jewish holidays in October. The upsurge has shattered several weeks of relative calm. Israeli security forces evacuate a wounded Palestinian who was shot during a reported stabbing attack against Israeli officers in Hebron on September 19, 2016 Hazem Bader (AFP) In Monday's first attack, a Palestinian stabbed two police officers in annexed east Jerusalem before being shot, Israeli authorities said. A 38-year-old policewoman was in serious condition in intensive care with a stab wound to her neck, while a policeman in his mid-40s needed treatment for moderate stab wounds. The Palestinian attacker was in serious condition after being shot in the head and limbs at the scene, near the walled Old City's Herod's Gate. He was identified as Ayman Hassan Al-Kurd, 20, from Ras al-Amud in east Jerusalem. Surveillance video distributed by police showed the attacker approach the officers from behind before forcefully stabbing them. Palestinian shops along the same street were ordered closed by police after the attack, shopowners said. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the closures were ordered for officers to search the area, but some shopowners said it seemed like punishment for the stabbing. "Police told us: 'Either you close or we'll close your shops by force'," fruit and vegetable merchant Samer al-Meswali, 38, told AFP. - 'Assailant subdued' - Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevy said locals should realise they have a stake in events. "It cannot be that there is an incident like this and life goes on as if nothing happened," he told Israeli Channel Two television. The US Consulate General in Jerusalem warned all US government employees and their families to avoid the Old City until further notice. A few hours after the Jerusalem attack, there was fresh violence in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Two Palestinians, aged 21 and 17, tried to stab Israeli border police near a flashpoint holy site before being shot, police said. One of the attackers was killed on the spot while the other later died from his wounds. One officer was "very lightly wounded in his hand", police said. After nightfall, a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier but he "subdued the assailant without the use of fire," an army statement said. While the assailants are believed to have acted on their own, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Qanoua on Monday said the Islamist movement that runs Gaza welcomed the attacks. He called them "a natural response to the crimes of the Israeli occupation against our people". On the eve of Monday's attacks, the Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it said were increased Israeli security measures in Hebron, Jerusalem and elsewhere, including new checkpoints and closing off villages. An Israeli security official, on condition of anonymity, said tensions may be increasing because of Palestinian "online incitement" against Jewish visits to Jerusalem's Old City and its Al-Aqsa mosque compound. - Tension over holy site The compound is the third holiest site for Muslims and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. The Jewish holidays see an increase in Jewish visitors to the site. UN Mideast envoy Nickolay Mladenov urged both sides "to take measures to preserve calm and avoid escalation, especially during the upcoming" holidays. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his nearly year-long order barring members of parliament and ministers from the volatile site. Clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa compound last year during the Jewish holidays amid Muslim fears that Israel was planning to change the rules governing the site, claims Netanyahu vehemently denied. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid stoking tensions. The site is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel seeks to assert further control over it. Far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition have called for Jewish prayer rights at the compound, while hardline groups favour construction of a third Jewish temple there. Since October, 229 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest. Israeli border police patrol a street following a Palestinian stabbing attack near the Herod's Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, on September 19, 2016 Menahem Kahana (AFP) A Palestinian stabbed two Israeli police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City before being shot Hazem Bader (AFP/File) Israeli medics carry an injured man following a Palestinian stabbing attack near the Herod's Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, on September 19, 2016 Menahem Kahana (AFP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has extended a nearly year-long order barring members of parliament and ministers from visiting the Al-Aqsa mosque compound Ahmad Gharabli (AFP/File) 17 dead in DR Congo clashes ahead of opposition rally At least 17 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Monday when clashes erupted ahead of a planned opposition rally in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, a minister said, warning the toll could rise. It was the worst violence in Kinshasa since January 2015 when a police crackdown on another opposition protest left several dozen people dead. The clashes began during the morning several hours before the rally, which authorities later cancelled, was to have taken place. Hundreds of Congolese demonstrators took part in an opposition rally in Kinshasa on September 19, 2016 Eduardo Soteras (AFP) Demonstrators were to demand the resignation of President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001. Opponents fear he is planning to extend his rule unconstitutionally. Speaking to reporters, Interior Minister Evariste Boshab described the violence as an attempted "uprising" and said the victims included 14 civilians and three police officers. "By midday (1100 GMT), the sad and painful provisional toll from these barbaric and savage acts... (stood at) 17 dead, among them three police officers, one of whom was burnt alive, and 14 civilians who were involved in looting," he said. The main opposition parties had called for a nationwide demonstration to "give notice" to Kabila, whose mandate expires on December 20. Although Kabila is banned by the constitution from running again, he has not made any move to schedule elections, fuelling fears he will seek to extend his stay in office. In May, the Constitutional Court said Kabila could remain in office in a caretaker capacity until an election is held, triggering a wave of angry protests. - 'Not acceptable' - France on Monday described the unrest as "very dangerous and extremely worrying" and urged Kabila to lay out a clear timetable for a vote. "What matters is the date of elections," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "If they're delayed endlessly, that means that Kabila intends to stay in power," he said. "That's a situation that is not acceptable." Former colonial power Belgium called in a foreign ministry statement for "restraint" and urged all political groups to "quickly" organise elections. So far, there has been no move to schedule elections and at this stage, it appears practically impossible to organise a poll before the end of the year. A fringe opposition group has been meeting with the government in a bid to organise a schedule for elections, but veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi has refused to participate in the talks which are due to end on Saturday. Last week, Amnesty International accused Kinshasa of the "systematic repression" of those seeking Kabila's departure. - 'A failed uprising' - Monday's rally had been due to start in Kinshasa in the early afternoon, but during the morning, scuffles broke out between stone-throwing youths and anti-riot police. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of stone-throwers as they tried to march on parliament ahead of the demonstration, which was promptly cancelled by the authorities. "Kinshasa just experienced an uprising which ended in failure," Boshab said, accusing demonstrators of "deliberately" ignoring a schedule which had been agreed with the authorities. Government spokesman Lambert Mende had earlier told AFP that two policemen were killed in violence against the ruling party's offices in the volatile Limete district. A Catholic nun said one of the policemen had been "burnt alive". Government officials also accused the opposition of "targeted looting", while private security officials said there had been several looting incidents involving banks and Chinese-run shops in the south of the city, which is home to some 10 million people. - 'Kabila, get out!' - Earlier, youths were seen hurling stones at police on the city's main avenue as plumes of smoke rose into the air from burning tyres and from a car and a minibus that had been set alight. "Kabila, get out!" they shouted as they waved the blue-and-white flags of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which is headed by Tshisekedi, 83. Party spokesman Bruno Tshibala told AFP he had seen four bodies in the office of an allied party. Activists were also seen burning a giant poster of Kabila in which he appealed for the two sides to resolve the crisis through "dialogue". And a diplomatic source reported clashes in several places along the road to the capital's airport. An AFP photographer and a journalist working for French radio station RFI were briefly detained by the security forces while they covered the clashes. They were beaten several times and eventually released. However, the AFP photographer's confiscated memory cards were not returned. A demonstrator holds stones during an opposition rally in Kinshasa, on September 19, 2016 Eduardo Soteras (AFP) China ship owners pay up for Australia reef disaster The owners of a Chinese ship that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 2010 agreed to pay Australia Aus$39.3 million (US$29.6 million) on Monday, in a settlement dismissed by conservationists as "woefully inadequate". The fully-laden coal carrier Shen Neng 1 hit a shoal in April 2010, leaking tonnes of heavy fuel oil and threatening an ecological disaster. While a catastrophe was avoided, the huge ship gouged a three-kilometre (1.8-mile) scar in the coral and was stranded for nine days before salvage workers refloated it. Conservationists said the incident highlighted the environmental risks to the Great Barrier Reef, particularly from shipping Australian exports to China Sarah Lai (AFP/File) The ship's owner, Shenzhen Energy Transport Co Ltd, and its insurer refused for six years to accept responsibility to make restitution before striking Monday's out-of-court settlement. "Our ongoing actions to pursue funds to clean up the pollution sends an unambiguous signal that damage to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area is unacceptable," said Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg. He added that the settlement showed Australia would "use every available means to pursue ship owners who are negligent in causing damage to the reef". But Greenpeace Australia slammed the deal, calling it "woefully inadequate". "The government has said the full clean-up will cost more than Aus$140m so to settle for such a small figure is disappointing," said Greenpeace's Pacific reef campaigner Shani Tager. "While we welcome the end of this six-year saga, it has to serve as a reminder that accidents happen. It's clear that coal and the reef don't mix and the government needs to do more to protect this precious place." The funds will allow the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to remove toxic anti-fouling paint and rubble, which will allow the reef to be restored, the government said. But it will be a long haul, with the anti-fouling paint containing a highly toxic component which is now banned from use. "Impacts to marine life on the seafloor could potentially last for many decades if the toxic anti-fouling paint remains in place," Frydenberg said. The ship's owner had argued the reef was self-healing and the company should not have to pay the bill. An Australian investigation in 2011 blamed a tired chief mate for the accident. It also found the ship's safety management system did not contain procedures or guidance in relation to the proper use of passage plans, including electronic route plans. Singapore Michelin-starred hawker seeks $1.5 mn expansion deal A Singapore food hawker who was awarded one Michelin star in July is seeking an international expansion deal which he hopes can bring him at least Sg$2 million ($1.47 million). Malaysian-born Chan Hon Meng, who was recognised for his soya sauce braised chicken, told AFP on Monday he wants a partner who can make him an international franchise, "like KFC". He cited as models Asian brands like Hong Kong's Tim Ho Wan and Taiwan's Din Tai Fung, which have both won one star. Singaporean chef Chan Hon Meng prepares meals for customers at his Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle stall in Singapore on July 22, 2016 Roslan Rahman (AFP/File) Since Chan was awarded the star, several investors have approached him with expansion plans. But Chan said he turned them down because they either lack overseas operating experience or cannot meet his conditions. "I'm hoping that I can get a Sg$2 million payout, if not at least company shares to match. I want the brand to go into the overseas market and I want it to be run like a franchise, like KFC," he said. Chan said he is now in talks with a global food and beverage company which has offered him generous conditions including share options. He declined to name it. Chan made headlines when he became one of two hawkers awarded one star by the Michelin guide when it launched its inaugural Singapore edition. A plate of chicken and rice costs just Sg$2.50 ($1.80), making it one of the world's cheapest Michelin-starred dishes. Since the award, Chan's stall in a muggy food court in Singapore's Chinatown has seen long queues with diners waiting up to three hours. Fame has come at a cost for his regulars. China lashes out at Japan's South China Sea plans China is "disappointed to the point of despair" with Japan's conduct in the South China Sea, it said Monday, after Tokyo announced it may set up training patrols with the US in the contested region. China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital waters in the face of rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly turned reefs in the area into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. In a speech last week Japanese defence minister Tomomi Inada called China's actions a "deliberate attempt to unilaterally change the status quo, achieve a fait accompli, and undermine the prevailing norms", according to a transcript released by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Chinese warships conduct naval exercises near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea in May 2016 Inada said Japan would increase its engagement in the South China Sea through joint training cruises with the US Navy, exercises with regional navies and capacity-building assistance to coastal nations. Japan's conduct in the South China Sea "makes one feel disappointed to the point of despair," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing Monday, before accusing Japan of meddling in a situation that ought to be resolved via "direct negotiation between involved parties". Japan was attempting to confuse the situation in the region Lu said, adding the island nation had "even resorted to deception in attempts to impose its own views" on the issue on other countries. Japan has a separate territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Last week, China sailed four coastguard vessels into that contested region, sparking complaints from Japan that the Asian giant was escalating tensions. Japan is a key US ally, and is boosting defence ties with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations that have their own territorial disputes with Beijing over the South China Sea. In recent months, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has criticised China for rejecting a July ruling by an international tribunal that found Beijing's extensive claims to the waters had no legal basis. US 'friendly fire' kills eight Afghan police A US air raid has killed eight Afghan policemen who were battling the Taliban, officials said Monday, the first apparent "friendly fire" incident since American forces were given greater powers to strike at insurgents. The incident happened on Sunday in the Tali area of the southern province of Uruzgan, where the Taliban recently attempted to overrun the provincial capital Tarin Kot in a major security breach. "The first air strike killed one policeman. When other policemen came to help, they came under a second air strike, killing seven of them," Rahimullah Khan, highway police commander in the southern province, told AFP. Mohammad Sediq, a policeman who survived the attack in Uruzgan province, said their forces were "engaged in close fighting" with the Taliban when they were bombed Aref Karimi (AFP/File) "It could not be unintentional," Khan added. Mohammad Sediq, a policeman who survived the attack, said their forces were "engaged in close fighting" with the Taliban when they were bombed. The NATO command centre in Kabul confirmed US warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted individuals posing a threat to Afghan forces. "US forces conducted two air strikes against individuals firing on... our Afghan partners in Tarin Kot on 18 September," NATO spokesman Charles Cleveland said in a statement. "We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking (Afghan) forces. US, coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense, and in this case were responding to an immediate threat." Civilian and military casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the 15-year campaign against Taliban insurgents, prompting harsh public and government criticism. A US air strike killed up to 10 Afghan soldiers in July last year at an army checkpoint in Logar province south of Kabul, one of the deadliest episodes of "friendly fire" by foreign forces in recent years. NATO officially ended its combat mission in December 2014, but US forces in June were given more power to strike at the insurgents as President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign. The new authority gave the US-led NATO troops greater latitude to order air strikes in support of Afghan troops. Earlier this month Afghan forces backed by US air strikes mounted an offensive to flush out Taliban insurgents encircling Tarin Kot. Afghan forces repelled the attack hours later, bolstered by reinforcements. Uruzgan, a remote province with a huge opium production, is one of the biggest flashpoints in the Taliban insurgency that erupted after a US-led invasion brought down their regime in 2001. While "friendly fire" incidents involving foreign coalition forces are a volatile issue in Afghanistan, UN statistics show that the Taliban are responsible for most deaths. US 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan New York bomb suspect charged with attempted murder An Afghan-born American was charged Monday with attempted murder after being shot and captured in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey, thrusting security fears into the heart of the election. Saturday's attacks, which wounded 29 people in Manhattan and cancelled a US Marine Corps race in New Jersey, came on the same day that a Somali-American with possible links to the Islamic State extremist group went on a stabbing rampage in Minnesota, wounding nine people. President Barack Obama, in New York at the UN General Assembly with world leaders, called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sparred over how best to combat terror attacks. Law enforcement officers secure the area where they arrested terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami following a shootout in New Jersey, on September 19, 2016 Jewel Samad (AFP) Obama stressed that investigators saw no connection between the East Coast bombings and the Minnesota stabbings, where police said the assailant made "some references to Allah" in carrying out the attack. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was initially spotted by a police officer outside a bar in Linden, New Jersey around three hours after the FBI released his mugshot and described him as "armed and dangerous." When the officer approached the suspect, he immediately whipped out a handgun and shot the officer in the torso, hitting his protective vest, said acting Union County prosecutor Grace Park. In a subsequent police shootout, Rahami was shot multiple times outside an auto repair shop, several blocks west of the bar, she said. The handgun was recovered at the scene and Rahami was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery, officials said. Neither the first officer nor a second hit in the head by a fragment of bullet suffered life-threatening injuries, the prosecutor said. Rahami was stretchered into an ambulance in the town of Linden, wearing a bloodied bandage on his right arm and moving his head moments after being taken into custody. - $5.2 million bail, wife in Pakistan - He was charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and on two unlawful weapon possession counts, Park announced. A judge set bail at $5.2 million. Little is known about a suspect, who was not on the authorities' radar before the attacks. Born in Afghanistan, he worked at his family's fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and is a US citizen. Investigators will now focus on whether he had co-conspirators and on his motive in allegedly bombing New York's Chelsea neighborhood and detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a US Marine Corps race. Another pressure cooker device was found and defused close to the scene of the Manhattan blast, and five pipe bombs were discovered late Sunday in a trash can in Elizabeth. These were also defused. Rahami had traveled "extensively," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN, visiting his homeland and Pakistan, where he had a wife. "But we don't have any associations at this time with ISIS, Taliban, etc that would explain this behavior," the governor added. Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials say lone-wolf attacks perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda are the greatest terror threat to the homeland. "I have no indication there is a cell operating in the area," senior FBI official Bill Sweeney told a news conference in New York. New York mayor Bill de Blasio said authorities were not currently looking for any other suspects in connection with an "act of terror." - Clinton, Trump at loggerheads - Rahami was apparently seen in surveillance footage taken in Chelsea before the bomb went off. Separate footage broadcast by CBS purported to show Rahami dragging a large bag down a street in the district. Rahami's family sued Elizabeth in 2011, accusing the city and local police department of religious and ethnic discrimination in forcing them to close their chicken restaurant by 10:00 pm. The suit was settled in 2012 in the city's favor, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. "What happened is not in any fashion a representation of the Muslim community or the Muslim faith. He is a sick, deranged young man," said Salaam Ismial, a social worker at a local mosque. Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the New York or New Jersey bombs, a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS "soldier" carried out the Minnesota stabbings. The suspect, identified by police as 20-year-old Dahir Ahmed Adan, injured nine people in a shopping mall in St Cloud before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The Somali American had been a high-achieving student with no known history of violence. On the election trail, the attacks fanned acrimony in an already deeply divisive campaign, with Democrat Clinton touting experience and patient determination and Republican Trump demanding radical change. Clinton, whose lead in the polls has dipped less than 50 days before the election, said the United States needed to invest "more time and more resources" in confronting the lone-wolf threat. "I will bring an end to these senseless acts of violence," Trump said. "We will not allow political correctness and soft-on-terror, soft-on-crime policies to threaten our security and our lives." Explosions in New York and New Jersey Kun Tian, Vincent Lefai (AFP) Ahmad Khan Rahami is a US citizen who was born in Afghanistan in 1988 Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was shown stretchered into an ambulance, sporting a bloodied bandage on his right arm and moving his head with his eyes open in the New Jersey town of Linden Jewel Samad (AFP) NYPD Police Commissioner James O'Neill (C) holds up a picture of Ahmad Kahn Rahami on September 19, 2016, with the text "Apprehended" written on it, at a press conference in New York William Edwards (AFP) A 22-year-old Somali-American injured nine people in the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St Cloud, Minnesota before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer Stephen Maturen (Getty/AFP) Philippine militants got ransom for Norwegian, say analysts A notorious kidnapping-for-ransom gang in the strife-torn southern Philippines enjoyed another lucrative payday when it released a Norwegian hostage after a year in captivity, analysts said Monday. A bearded and bedraggled Kjartan Sekkingstad was released Saturday on a remote southern island after what analysts said was almost certainly a payment in the thousands of dollars after the Abu Sayyaf demanded millions. The Philippine and Norwegian governments have denied paying ransom for the release of Sekkingstad, while highlighting their efforts to secure his freedom after the kidnappers had beheaded two of his fellow hostages, both Canadian. Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad said he was "treated like a slave" in the hands of Islamic militants in the Philippines Security analysts said the Abu Sayyaf would never release a hostage without ransom. "There was a ransom payment negotiated by intermediaries of the family with diplomatic help. My information is 30 million pesos ($625,000) was paid," said Rodolfo Mendoza, senior analyst of Manila-based Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research. "Hostage-taking is the Abu Sayyaf's fund-raising activity," Mendoza, a former police general, told AFP. Sekkingstad's brother Odd Kare Sekkingstad declined to comment when asked by AFP about reports of a ransom. His sibling was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from a tourist resort in September 2015, alongside a Filipina who has been freed, and the two Canadians who were beheaded in April and June. Philippine authorities have said the Norwegian was freed due to a military offensive which President Rodrigo Duterte ordered against the militants, and with the help of a separate Muslim rebel group holding peace talks with the government. Duterte himself had said last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid for Sekkingstad's release. "The Norwegian, that's already paid," Duterte told reporters. "I don't know (where the money came from), maybe my bank," he said in jest when asked who paid the ransom. Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College in the United States, told AFP there was no doubt ransom was paid. "The (Abu Sayyaf) did not release him out of the goodness of their hearts... governments have to deny paying ransoms, as it incentivises more hostage-taking. But often governments will use third parties." The payment would allow Abu Sayyaf to buy more guns through the black market, Abuza added. The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the nation's worst terror attacks, is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. Based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and listed by the US as a terrorist organisation, some of its leaders have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. In 2014 the Abu Sayyaf boasted of receiving 250 million pesos for two German hostages it freed after six months in captivity. In 2013 the militants also released an Australian ex-soldier after holding him for 15 months, with a local politician who acted as a negotiator saying ransom was paid. Assad calls raid that hit Syria army 'flagrant American aggression' President Bashar al-Assad on Monday described the deadly US-led coalition raid on his forces in eastern Syria at the weekend as "flagrant American aggression". Speaking to Iran's deputy foreign minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Assad accused world powers of supporting "terrorist organisations" in Syria like the Islamic State jihadist group. "Every time the Syrian state makes tangible progress either on the ground or towards national reconciliation, anti-Syrian states increase their support of terrorist organisations," Assad said in comments published by state news agency SANA. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "The latest example of this is the flagrant American aggression on one of the Syrian army's positions in Deir Ezzor to the benefit of Daesh" on Saturday, he added, using the Arabic acronym for IS. The US-led raid on Saturday evening hit a Syrian army post near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces have been fighting off IS jihadists since last year. At least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the strike. The Pentagon admitted it may have hit Syrian troops but said it had been tracking an IS position there. "Anti-Syrian forces are expending all their energy and capabilities to prolong the terrorist war against Syria," Assad said. The Syrian government has accused the US-led coalition -- which has been bombing IS in Syria for more than two years -- of carrying out an "intentional" strike to support IS in the area. In a phone interview from Damascus on Sunday, senior Assad adviser Buthaina Shaaban told AFP that the government "believes that the strike was intentional". First Miami zone of local Zika spread now 'clear': officials Health authorities Monday lifted a travel warning for the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood -- site of the United States' first local Zika outbreak -- after the governor declared no evidence of active transmission of the virus there in the last 45 days. However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still urged pregnant women to consider postponing all non-essential travel to south Florida's Miami-Dade County as a precaution. The threat posed by Zika is far from over in the United States. On Friday, Florida officials tripled the size of the area of Miami Beach where Zika is actively spreading locally. A mosquito control inspector sprays pesticide to kill mosquitos as part of the US fight to control the Zika virus outbreak in Miami, Florida in August 2016 Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File) Florida has counted more than 835 cases of Zika, which can cause devastating birth defects, including microcephaly, when an infant's brain and skull are abnormally small and malformed. The United States and its territories have tallied 20,870, according to the CDC. But on a small scale, the news was positive in Wynwood, the popular arts district that was the first area in the country to report evidence that Zika was spreading locally in a section about one-square mile (2.5 square kilometers) in size. "No new cases of locally transmitted Zika have been reported in the Wynwood-designated area since early August," said the CDC in a statement. "And low numbers of mosquitoes have been found in traps there for the past several weeks since aerial application of the larvicide Bti and the adulticide Naled." Therefore the federal agency modified its August 1 warning which urged women who want to become pregnant or who are pregnant to avoid travel to the Wynwood neighborhood, north of downtown Miami. - 'Fight not over' - Wynwood was considered an area of active Zika virus transmission from June 15 to September 18, 2016. Anyone who traveled to the area in that period "should wait at least eight weeks before trying to get pregnant," said the CDC. Even though the travel warning has been lifted, the CDC continued to urge pregnant women and their partners who live in or travel to the area to take steps to avoid mosquito bites. "Pregnant women and partners of pregnant women who are concerned about potential Zika virus exposure may also consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade County," added the CDC. "While today's news is great, the fight is not over," said a statement by Florida Governor Rick Scott. "We have more than 93 cases of locally acquired Zika in Florida and on Friday, we extended the Miami Beach Zika zone to an area of about 4.5 miles." Eighteen babies in the United States have been born with Zika-related birth defects. Scott also lamented the government's inability to agree on a funding package for Zika. "Florida may have been the first location to have locally transmitted Zika, but we will not be the last," he said. "I expect Congress to immediately pass a funding bill." US President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in emergency funding in February. Lawmakers have been unable to agree on a smaller, $1.1 billion measure to pay for preventive measures, research into vaccines and to assist women whose fetuses are infected during pregnancy. Zika can be spread by the bite of a mosquito or via sexual contact. There is no vaccine to prevent it. Often, the symptoms are mild and include body pain, red eyes and a rash. Four out of five people report no symptoms at all, making the infection particularly difficult to prevent. Trump, Clinton show deep differences after US attacks A rash of attacks on US soil put national security center stage in the presidential campaign Monday, with Hillary Clinton seeking to show a steady hand and Donald Trump saying America needed to be tougher on terror and immigration. The starkly different responses from the dueling White House hopefuls came after a bombing in New York, a mass stabbing in Minnesota and a New Jersey pipe blast -- all on Saturday. They also came less than 50 days before Election Day. The attacks distilled contrasting approaches on national security and in campaign style, with Democrat Clinton touting experience and patient determination -- and Republican Trump channeling outrage and demanding radical change. Law enforcement officers secure the area where they allegedly arrested terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami following a shootout in Linden, New Jersey, on September 19, 2016 Jewel Samad (AFP) At an airfield hangar draped with US flags, Clinton sought to show she has the temperament, smarts and experience needed to be the commander-in-chief. In brief remarks, Clinton toured a gamut of terror-related issues -- from radicalization to policing -- before calling for public resolve and a government "intelligence surge" to counter disparate and diffuse plots. "This threat is real, but so is our resolve," said the former secretary of state, in a presidential-style address that preceded President Barack Obama's own remarks seeking to reassure the American public. Clinton juxtaposed her role in the Obama administration's killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with a highly charged accusation that Trump's right-wing rhetoric had helped the Islamic State group. "The rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS," she said, adding it plays into the hands of those "who are looking to make this into a war against Islam." ISIS is another acronym for the Islamic State group. Trump's chosen platform was not the podium, but the bully pulpit -- a television news chat show popular with conservative voters, underscoring how central the media has been to the real estate tycoon's improbable campaign. He sought to convince Americans that these latest attacks -- which left about 40 injured -- are an inevitable result of Clinton and Obama's lax anti-terror and immigration policies. "Our country has been weak. We're letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands. I've been saying you've got to stop it," Trump told Fox News. Doubling down, he later told a rally in Estero, Florida that "these attacks and many others were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system." An Afghan-born American man, a suspect in the bombings in New York and New Jersey, was shot and taken into custody Monday. The Minnesota stabbing attack was carried out by a 22-year-old Somali-American with possible links to the Islamic State group who was shot and killed by an off-duty cop. - Commander-in-chief - The political repercussions of the attacks are hard to predict. Neither candidate moved markedly in the polls after June's deadly massacre in an Orlando nightclub or the string of attacks in Europe. According to a Fox News poll published prior to the weekend, 46 percent of voters have more confidence in Clinton regarding questions of terrorism and national security, versus 45 percent who prefer Trump. But the latest attacks come a week before the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York. Presidential debates are often important staging posts, crystalizing election campaigns as voters shift from getting to know the candidates to imagining them in the Oval Office. Both Trump and Clinton on Monday tried to show they are ready to sit behind the Resolute Desk. The UN General Assembly taking place in New York has proved a canvas for both candidates to show they can act on the world stage. Clinton and Trump are slated, separately, to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Clinton has additional meetings with Japan's Shinzo Abe and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko. Trump has tried to counter his image as a diplomatic neophyte. He recently visited Mexico and on Monday indicated he had already met "a couple" of world leaders in New York. "I've had a lot of calls from a lot of different people on the basis that I'm doing well," he said. "I've already met with a couple. I just don't want to comment specifically on who they are." But the Republican has faced questions about why he told a rally in Colorado about the bombing in New York before local authorities had confirmed details of the explosion. Both candidates get security briefings from the intelligence services. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Estero, Florida on September 19, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP) World's oldest fishhooks found in Japan: researchers Fishhooks found on a southern Japanese island date back some 23,000 years, making them among the world's oldest fishing implements, researchers said Monday. The hooks were discovered in Sakitari Cave on the southern end of Okinawa island several years ago, said Masaki Fujita, chief researcher for the study and a curator at Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum. "And we have finally concluded that the geological layer in which the fishhooks were found was formed 23,000 years ago," Fujita told AFP. Fishhooks discovered in Sakitari Cave in Okinawa, southern Japan, and which date back some 23,000 years, according to researchers, in a picture provided by Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum on September 19, 2016 The hooks, made of the shells of sea snails, were ground into a shape resembling a crescent moon and may have been used to catch parrotfish or eels. They are of comparable age or older than similar fishhooks reported from Timor, also in the Pacific, the researchers said in an article published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study also suggested that advanced maritime techniques existed in the Asia-Pacific much earlier than previously thought, Fujita said. "It's amazing to know that the fishing technique that we have now could be the same as the one in ancient times," the researcher said. Obama warns Americans must not 'succumb to fear' President Barack Obama Monday called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" after bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey and a mass stabbing incident in Minnesota over the weekend. "Even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive both in preventing senseless acts of violence but also making sure that we find those who carry out such acts and bring them to justice, we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don't succumb to that fear," he said. Obama stressed that investigators at this point saw "no connection" between the incidents on the East Coast and the Minnesota stabbing. Disease outbreak kills 19 in rain-hit Sudan: minister An outbreak of water-borne disease has killed at least 19 people and sickened scores more in Sudan's rain-ravaged states of Blue Nile and Kasala, a minister said Monday. Since June, heavy rain and flooding have hit several states of Sudan, killing at least 100 people, destroying thousands of homes and submerging many villages. "In the past three weeks, 19 people including children have died from water-borne diseases like diarrhoea," Health Minister Bahar Idris Abu Garda told AFP. Hundreds of people suffer from water-borne diseases every year across Sudan given the lack of access to clean drinking water Albert Gonzalez Farran (UNAMID/AFP/File) Seventeen died in the state of Blue Nile and two in Kasala. So far 632 cases of people suffering from diarrhoea have been registered across the country, said Abu Garda, without specifying the type of disease. "Our laboratories confirm that using polluted water was the main reason for this disease to spread," he said, adding that the situation was now under control. Humanitarian workers had expressed concerns about the impact of flooding on the health of those affected as they were unable to deliver aid to them in the initial days of flooding. They said illnesses that cause diarrhoea had been incubating since incessant rainfall commenced. Many people had to wade through waist-deep water to reach safety or get supplies during the floods. Hundreds of people suffer from water-borne diseases every year across Sudan given the lack of access to clean drinking water. Britain says took part in Syria strikes that sparked US-Russia row Britain said on Monday that it took part in US-led air strikes on Syria that sparked a major US-Russia row threatening a fragile ceasefire in the war-torn country. "We can confirm that the UK participated in the coalition air strike south of Deir Ezzor on Saturday, and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation," a defence ministry spokesman said. "The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units," the spokesman said. An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the "Rampagers" of US Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 83 launches from the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) in the Mediterranean Sea on June 6, 2016 MC3 Bobby J. Siens (US Navy Office of Information/AFP/File) Russia said the strikes killed 62 Syrian soldiers and injured around a hundred others, accusing the US of undermining a ceasefire deal struck in Geneva a week ago. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the number of regime troops killed was at least 90. Washington said coalition forces believed they were hitting a fighting position held by the Islamic State jihadist group but has also said it will investigate the incident. Britain's Press Association news agency reported that an unmanned Reaper drone may have been involved. Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens. War crimes investigators seek access to Syrian refugees in Europe UN war crimes investigators on Monday asked European countries to "remove barriers" to their work by giving them unhindered access to newly arrived Syrian refugees. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which has been investigating human rights violations and war crimes in the country for the past five years, warned that the shift in refugee flows towards Europe had complicated its job. "It has become more difficult to access victims and witnesses with fresh information," commission chief Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has warned that the shift in refugee flows towards Europe had complicated its job Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) "We are appealing to countries inside Europe hosting newly arrived Syrian refugees to grant us access and remove any barriers to our work," he said, as he presented the commission's latest report to the council. Pinheiro refused to specify which European nations he was referring to, telling reporters only that the commission had been "in contact with several countries," adding that the investigators had received "assurances that we will have some positive answers." The investigators have never gained access to Syria itself, instead relying on nearly 4,600 interviews in the region and from Geneva, as well as pictures, medical records and other documents for its findings. Pinheiro stressed Monday the importance of accessing new arrivals from Syria, who could help the commission document new phases in the drawn-out conflict that has cost more than 300,000 lives. Their testimonies could prove essential to investigators compiling confidential lists of suspected war criminals and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. The aim would be to use the information they gather in future prosecution, including at the International Criminal Court. The commission's appeals to refer Syria to the ICC have however stalled in the UN Security Council. Commission member and veteran former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte voiced frustration Monday at the lack of accountability for the horrendous crimes committed in Syria. "I think it's time that the Security Council is doing something, because it is incredible after five years (there is) no justice for the victims," she told reporters. Investigator Vitit Muntarbhorn meanwhile said the commission was probing allegations that "incendiary weapons", including phosphorus and napalm, were used in three different locations in Syria. In its 12th report, published earlier this month, the commission said it was investigating claims that chlorine gas, a chemical weapon, was used in Aleppo in April. Muntarbhorn said they were also investigating another possible use of chlorine gas last month, but did not specify the location. A separate UN investigative panel concluded last month that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and one in 2015. It also found that Islamic State group jihadists had used mustard gas to attack the town of Marea in Aleppo province in August 2015. Two Syrian women and a boy wait in front of Oncupinar crossing gate, near the town of Kilis, to return to Syria on February 9, 2016 Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) Kerry: Terms not yet met for US-Russia cooperation in Syria The United States declared Monday that Russia had failed to meet its side of a deal to enforce a seven-day truce in Syria, but that Washington was willing to keep working on it. Under the terms of an agreement struck earlier this month in Geneva, the US military would set up a joint cell with Russian forces to target Syrian jihadists if the ceasefire held. US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters: "We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods." US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a meeting in New York, on September 19, 2016 Kena Betancur (AFP) Under the terms of the Geneva agreement, the US was supposed to rein in opposition forces and Moscow was to ensure its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad halt attacks. Kerry had earlier said that this ceasefire was "holding but fragile" but that the other half of the agreement -- that Assad allow UN aid convoys to besieged areas -- was incomplete. The Syrian military, meanwhile, has announced that after seven days it was ending its participation in the ceasefire, blaming the rebels for repeated breaches of the truce. Kerry, who was meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, reacted testily to the declaration, but implied there was time to save the deal. "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this," he said, in brief remarks to reporters. "And I think it's, as I said yesterday, time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods that are necessary for access. "So we just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods, and let's see where we are. We're happy to have a conversation with them," he said, of the Russian side. Under the deal, if fighting had been reduced significantly over seven das and aid had got through, the US and Russian militaries were to have set up a joint targeting cell in Geneva. This would enable more accurate strikes on the Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly the Al Nusra Front. EU tax move on Apple not anti-US bias: Vestager Europe's powerful Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday that the EU order for Apple to pay $15 billion in taxes did not represent any bias against US companies. Speaking hours after the European Union launched an in-depth probe into alleged sweetheart tax deals between French gas group Engie and Luxembourg, Vestager said the new case was evidence that the EU was going after all tax evaders. "If you look at our practice, then you cannot find a US bias. You cannot find the statistics to back up any kind of bias," she said in Washington. European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager says the EU is going after all tax evaders Yuri Gripas (AFP) The European Commission, the EU executive arm, last month ordered Apple to reimburse a record 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in unpaid taxes in Ireland. That came after US companies, including Starbucks, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, have come under probes over the low profits tax they pay in Europe due to alleged sweetheart tax deals with certain governments. When the Apple ruling was announced late last month, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew criticized it as unfairly targeting US companies. Vestager, speaking at a news conference ahead of a meeting with Lew, said that of some 150 such tax rulings made by the European Commission since 2000, only two percent involved US companies. She also said the tax hit on Apple was not a reprisal against US regulators' imposition of multibillion-dollar fines on European banks for violating US sanctions on other countries and for their involvement in the massive US subprime mortgage bond crisis. Last week the US Justice Department proposed a record $14 billion fine against Deutsche Bank for its selling of high-risk mortgage bonds before the 2008 financial crisis. Canada security agencies helped Syria in torture cases: documents Canada's spy agency and federal police quietly cooperated with Syrian military intelligence in the post-9/11 torture of three Canadians, documents revealed by public broadcaster CBC showed Monday. The three men were arrested by Syrian military intelligence during trips abroad from 2001 to 2004, suspected of Al-Qaeda links. Each claimed upon return to Canada that he had been tortured, and that Canadian security officials had supplied their captors with intelligence and questions to pose to the detainees. Each of the three Canadians tortured post-9/11 claimed upon return to Canada that Canadian security officials had supplied their captors with intelligence and questions to pose to the detainees Lars Hagberg (AFP/File) All three men have also claimed their innocence. According to heavily redacted files obtained by CBC, it all started with a post-9/11 emergency meeting of the top brass of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to discuss terror threats. At the top of a list of suspects was Abdullah Almalki, a Syrian-born electrical engineer who ran an electronics exporting business. He was targeted because he had spent time in Afghanistan working for a charity linked to Ahmed Said Khadr -- a known associate of Osama bin Laden. Michel Cabana, who was in charge of covert surveillance and is now RCMP deputy chief, described Almalki in a memo as "a procurement officer for Bin Laden and the El Quaida (sic)." Although a case officer said he found nothing overtly suspicious about Almalki "other than the fact that he is an arab running around," documents showed Canada shared its concerns with Damascus. Cabana wrote that "it would be prudent... to begin the planning for a potential interview of Almalki by Syrian officials based on questions derived from the (RCMP task force)." Canada's ambassador to Damascus at the time, Franco Pillarella, arranged for questions to be hand-delivered to Syrian agents. Almalki told the CBC he falsely confessed under duress to belonging to Al-Qaeda and being the "left-hand man of Osama bin Laden." This was relayed back to the RCMP. Ahmad Elmaati, a truck driver, also came under scrutiny because he spent time in Afghanistan and because in 2001 US border officials found a map of nuclear and disease-control buildings in Ottawa. His supporters have said it was a delivery map. The documents showed that the RCMP worried that consular officials had discovered his 2001 arrest in Syria and might reveal the RCMP's covert surveillance. Two months later Elmaati was flown to Egypt where the torture continued for three more years. In the case of Muayyed Nureddin, a principal at an Islamic school in Toronto, CSIS issued a bulletin to foreign intelligence services requesting his arrest. A 2008 independent inquiry led by retired Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci concluded that Canada's spy agency and federal police force had been "indirectly" responsible for the three men's mistreatment. - Lawsuit pending - A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale declined to comment on this latest information in the case, citing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by the three men against Ottawa. Their case is scheduled to go to trial in 2017. The revelations come after Goodale said Canada continues to use foreign intelligence that may have been derived from the use of torture in some cases, if there is an "imminent security threat." Although CSIS was ordered to stop doing so in 2009 following a public outcry, the following year a ministerial directive made exceptions for "exceptional circumstances." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is reviewing those security protocols. Rebel-held east Aleppo bombarded as Syria truce ends Heavy bombing pummelled rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Monday, an AFP correspondent in the city said, less than two hours after Syria's army announced the end of a week-long truce. Air strikes hit five eastern neighbourhoods of the battleground city, while heavy shelling was heard coming from Aleppo's southern outskirts. Ambulances with wailing sirens zipped through the eastern half of the divided city, the correspondent said, describing the bombardment as "non-stop." A Syrian man stands in the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike in Aleppo on September 18, 2016 Karam al-Masri (AFP/File) The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, also reported that shells and rockets were raining down on the northern city. Syria's armed forces announced an end to the week-long truce on Monday evening, accusing rebel groups of violating the ceasefire more than 300 times. Under the US-Russia deal, fighting would halt across Syria and humanitarian aid would reach desperate civilians -- particularly in devastated eastern Aleppo. AFP's correspondents in the city had reported calm over the first few days of the truce, but violence escalated sharply at the weekend. The first raids since the ceasefire came into force hit the city on Sunday, leaving one woman dead. And a child was killed in regime shelling on Aleppo's outskirts earlier Monday. UN says C.Africa clash killed six people The UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic on Monday revised a death toll for weekend clashes in the heart of the nation down to six. "The total number of people killed was six," MINUSCA force chief Herve Verhoosel said in a statement, adding that an investigation into the deadly violence was under way. A police source told AFP on Sunday that at least 20 people had been killed and several more injured since Friday in clashes pitting ex-Seleka rebel fighters against the anti-Balaka militia. Violence in the Central African Republic over recent years has claimed thousands of lives and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, even if the presence of French and UN troops has gone some way to improving security Pacome Pa Pabandji (AFP/File) "Ex-Seleka" is the term used for remnants of the supposedly disbanded alliance of mainly-Muslim armed groups which seized power in the CAR in late 2013. The groups fought vigilantes from the mainly Christian anti-Balaka (machete) militia before being chased from the capital the following year. On September 16, in Ndomete in the centre of the country, "ex-Seleka members clashes with the anti-Balaka", MINUSCA said, adding that peacekeepers "dispersed fighters from both sides." "These clashes left four people dead," the peacekeeping force said. Two other people died in Kaga Bandoro some 10 kilometres (six miles) to the north, after the houses of several peacekeepers were looted, MINUSCA said. In a statement on Sunday, the UN mission said it had sent troop reinforcements to Kaga Bandoro and the village of Ndomete, which was particularly affected by the violence, "to prevent any deterioration of the situation." Kaga Bandoro is the fiefdom of the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC), an ex-Seleka splinter group. It is led by Noureddine Adam, who faces international sanctions for his alleged role in intercommunal killings in 2013 and 2014. Trump to meet with Egyptian president Monday: campaign Donald Trump will meet Monday in New York with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Republican presidential candidate's first meeting with a leader from the Muslim world. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had already scheduled a meeting with Sisi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, which kicked off Monday with a summit on the global refugee crisis. Trump has called for "extreme vetting" of refugees entering the United States along with a ban against people from "terrorist nations." When Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi convene, it will be the Republican presidential candidate's first meeting with a leader from the Muslim world Mandel Ngan (AFP/File) Trump's meeting with Sisi will take place at the end of the day, according to a campaign official. He was supposed to travel first to Fort Myers, Florida for a rally. He had alluded to meetings with foreign leaders in an interview with Fox television earlier in the day. "I don't want to comment specifically on who but a couple of people are coming over. I've already met with a couple," he said. But the meeting with Sisi appeared to be a response to Clinton, a former secretary of state who announced last week she would be meeting with the Egyptian leader as well as Ukraine's President Petro Porochenko. Gambia leader replaces minister with coup plotter Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has fired his interior minister and replaced him with a military officer previously convicted of plotting a coup against him, in the latest unpredictable move from the west African strongman. A press release read over state television on Sunday night said longtime minister Ousman Sonko would be replaced "with immediate effect" by Momodou Alieu Bah, who helped mount a 2006 coup against Jammeh. Jammeh has fended off several attempted coups since coming to power in 1994 via the same method. President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia has fended off several attempted coups since coming to power in 1994 Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File) Bah had previously served as finance director for the Gambia's armed forces, and hails from Lamin, a village close to the capital, Banjul. He was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2006 following the attempted overthrow but granted amnesty in 2010 after he testified during the trial of the chief of defence staff of the Gambia Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Lang Tombong Tamba. Bah's sacked predecessor Sonko was previously a member of the presidential guard and protected Jammeh when he was threatened with a separate coup attempt in 2000, rather than joining other guards mounting an insurrection. Sonko had served as interior minister since 2006 except for his brief 2012 appointment as ambassador to Spain -- a decision that Jammeh reversed one week later. Sonko's profile was still available to view on the Gambian government's website on Monday, but had disappeared by the evening. Last week the United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was "alarmed" by reports of violence against protesters, and the torture and unexplained deaths of detainees in the Gambia, warning of "serious repercussions of any further decline in the situation". Jammeh is expected to win a fifth term in a December election, and his regime is regularly accused by rights groups of arranging the forcible disappearance of opponents. Iran's president in Cuba to meet Castros Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Cuba Monday for a visit in which he was expected to meet counterpart Raul Castro and his older brother and predecessor Fidel. Rouhani said ahead of the one-day visit that he wanted to stop in Cuba, a "friendly and revolutionary country," on his way to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The visit follows one in August by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said Iran sees this as "a very opportune moment" to reinforce its ties with the communist island. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said ahead of the one-day visit that he wanted to stop in Cuba, a "friendly and revolutionary country," on his way to the United Nations General Assembly in New York Officials are due to sign a series of deals, expected to include one on energy. Cuba is keen for oil as its key supplier, Venezuela, has dramatically cut its once generous discount sales amid an economic crisis. United mainly by their shared history of enmity with the United States, Iran and Cuba often back each other in the international arena. Tehran has vocally condemned the US embargo on Cuba, and Havana has supported Iran's right to a civilian nuclear program. US refuses to throw in towel on Syria ceasefire Even as a new barrage of bombs and shells pummeled besieged Aleppo once again on Monday, the United States refused to abandon efforts to broker a ceasefire. US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed annoyance that Russia had publicly declared a week-old ceasefire "pointless" without consulting Washington. And he insisted that Moscow must work harder to rein in its Syrian ally, even as regime forces returned to the offensive around the northern city of Aleppo. Syrian children look at the damage following an air strike in Aleppo's rebel-controlled neighbourhood of Karm al-Jabal on September 18, 2016 Karam Al-Masri (AFP/File) A meeting of the 23-nation International Syrian Support Group was called for Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to build support for the truce. But Kerry was forced to admit the week-old ceasefire -- which he protested was "holding but fragile" -- had not led to a significant delivery of humanitarian aid. And that Russia has not upheld its end of a ceasefire deal which would have seen Moscow and the US set up a military coordination cell. Kerry told reporters: "We have not had seven days of calm and of delivery of humanitarian goods." Under the terms of their agreement, the US was supposed to rein in opposition forces and Moscow was to ensure its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad halted attacks. But the Syrian military announced Monday that after seven days it is ending its participation in the ceasefire, blaming the rebels for repeated breaches of the truce. Apparently errant US-led air strikes at the weekend, which Moscow says killed 62 Syrian soldiers, likely didn't help. Kerry reacted testily to the declaration, but implied there was time to save the deal. "It would be good if they didn't talk first to the press but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this," he told reporters. "And I think it's, as I said yesterday, time to end the grandstanding and time to do the real work of delivering on the humanitarian goods. "So we just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods, and let's see where we are. "We're happy to have a good conversation with them and see how we proceed," he said, of the Russian side. After Kerry went into more bilateral meetings, the State Department issued a statement to clarify the US position and insist on the need for more consultations. - Continued attacks - "Despite continued attacks by the regime on opposition positions, we have witnessed a measure of reduced violence over the last week," spokesman John Kirby said. "But we have not seen a sustained flow of relief supplies. Indeed, deliveries only began today and only then in limited areas." "We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities, while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance. "We will be consulting with our Russian counterparts to continue to urge them to use their influence on Assad to these ends." Kirby noted the Syrian declaration that the ceasefire is over. But he added: "Our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regime's compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position." French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault sounded pessimistic, but said the US-Russian dialogue was the only opportunity on offer to end the fighting. "It must retain a glimmer of hope," he said. "It is the only basis the international community can draw on." Under the deal, if the level of fighting had dropped for seven days and aid had gotten through, the US and Russian militaries were to have set up a joint targeting cell in Geneva. That would enable them to carry out more accurate strikes on the Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly the Al Nusra Front. US and Russian officers met Monday in Geneva, but the defense ministry in Moscow said it would be "pointless" to continue the truce in the face of rebel violations. Mali unveils restored mosque nearly destroyed by jihadists The doors of a revered 15th-century mosque hacked apart by jihadists in Mali's ancient city of Timbuktu four years ago were unveiled on Monday restored to their former glory. The "secret door" of the Sidi Yahia mosque in the fabled caravan city fell victim to a spree of destruction in 2012 by Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine, one of several radical Islamist groups which seized key northern cities that year. Around 100 Malian political and religious leaders, diplomats and representatives from world heritage body UNESCO gathered for a ceremony, held with a heavy security presence, an AFP journalist at the scene reported. Workers pose in front of newly unveiled Sidi Yahia mosque doors on September 19, 2016, which were destroyed during a spree of destruction in 2012 by Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine Sebastien Rieussec (AFP) "This is a very important day," said the mosque's imam, Alphadi Wandara. "Since (the days) of our forefathers, for centuries the door has been like that: closed." Muslim prayers were recited for the mosque, which has been on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites since 1988. UNESCO craftsmen had spent five months restoring the doors this year. Former teacher Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi, who took part in wrecking Timbuktu's holy shrines as well as the mosque's doors, is currently awaiting a sentence on war crimes charges in The Hague for his actions. Sidi Yahia was among several sites in Timbuktu attacked by Ansar Dine, which considered the city's mausoleums idolatrous according to their strict interpretation of Islam. Timbuktu youth leader Salah Maiga told AFP he had witnessed the jihadists' campaign with his own eyes. "For us it is a symbol, which was destroyed in plain view," he said. "We were there with these barbarians, these lawless people without religion, who claim to speak in the name of Islam," Maiga added, saying he hoped for justice in Mahdi's case. Mahdi has admitted the charges against him and prosecutors are asking for a jail term of 11 years at his sentencing on September 27. Ansar Dine picked out Mahdi to head its "Hisbah" brigade, which policed infractions of Islamist behaviour in Timbuktu. Revered as a centre of Islamic learning during its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries, Timbuktu in northern Mali is also known as the "Pearl of the Desert". Thieves lead police to NY pressure cooker bomb Thieves inadvertently helped police find a bomb in New York's fashionable neighborhood of Chelsea, it emerged Monday after the suspect wanted for planting the device and detonating another was arrested. The pressure cooker device was discovered on 27th Street late Saturday -- four blocks away from the site where a similar bomb exploded, wounding 29 people. "We have a video of two persons who picked up the bag, took the device out of it and then walked off with the bag," New York chief of detectives Robert Boyce told a news conference Monday. Members of an FBI Evidence Response Team collect pieces of evidence from the scene of bomb explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City John Moore (Getty/AFP) "They looked like there were two gentlemen just strolling up and down Seventh Avenue at the time," Boyce added. "Once they picked up the bag, they seemed incredulous they had actually picked this up off the street." Police are now urgently trying to track down and speak to the two witnesses. It was "difficult to say right now" whether the thieves inadvertently pulled a wire on the device, which may have disabled the bomb, Boyce said. But a police spokesman told AFP they did not disarm the device, which was later safely defused by law enforcement and sent to the FBI for analysis. In the neighboring state of New Jersey, two homeless men also found the backpack that contained five pipe bombs overnight in Elizabeth, the hometown of Afghan-born suspected bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami. The men picked the bag up hoping it might contain something valuable and walked down the street before realizing there was something wrong, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. The homeless men found the package going through a garbage can, Bollwage was quoted as saying. But when they noticed wires and a pipe, they dropped the bag and went straight to the police. Officers later disarmed the nest of bombs, accidentally detonating one of the devices in the process, but causing no injuries, the FBI said. Liberation of Iraq's Mosul could come quickly President Barack Obama said Monday that US-backed Iraqi troops could be in a position "fairly rapidly" to liberate the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. But, speaking ahead of talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the US leader warned: "This is going to be hard, this is going to be challenging." The IS group seized Mosul, Iraq's cosmopolitan and religiously mixed second city, in June 2014 in a lightning offensive through the north and west of the country. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (C) speaks during a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama on September 19, 2016, in New York Jim Watson (AFP) The defeat exposed deep flaws in Iraq's military, but since then a US-led coalition has sent military advisors and attack jets to bolster the government side. The United States alone now has 4,460 troops in the country, backed by hundreds more from Western allies, advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces. "We feel confident that we will be in a position to move forward fairly rapidly," Obama said, vowing to fight "right at the heart of the ISIL operation in Mosul." "This is going to be a challenging battle, Mosul is a large city," he warned. Minnesota attacker was high-achieving student Dahir Ahmed Adan, the Somali American named as the perpetrator of the weekend stabbing rampage in Minnesota, was a high-achieving student with no known history of violence. Adan -- who police said was 20 years old, but community members said was 22 -- was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman after Saturday's attack, which the Islamic State group claimed as the work of one of its "soldiers". Members of St Cloud's close-knit Somali refugee community expressed shock that one of their own had stabbed 10 people at a mall in the city 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of the state capital St Paul. Police in St Cloud said the attacker was dressed in a private security guard uniform and had made "some references to Allah" before the stabbing spree at Minnesota Mall Stephen Maturen (Getty/AFP) Adan's father, in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said his son was born in Kenya but grew up in the United States. He said he had "no suspicion" of his son having any ties to terrorism. The younger Adan graduated with honors from a local high school and was attending a nearby university, said local Abdul Kulane. "He worked part-time as a private security officer," Kulane told a Sunday news conference. "He was helpful to his family and as far as we know, he never had a violent history, as far as his family and the community can remember. He was a friendly and active community member." Adam Hammer, a spokesman for St. Cloud State University, told AFP that Adan's "intended" major was information systems. Hammer said Adan's last semester at the college was in the Spring of this year, and he had not registered for the Fall semester. Kulane said "the families are grieving and are in dismay... And the entire community (is) shocked by this incident." A news agency with ties to IS claimed the St Cloud attack was carried out by a jihadist "soldier," and President Barack Obama said Monday that the FBI was investigating the incident as a "potential act of terrorism." Police in St Cloud said the attacker was dressed in a private security guard uniform and had made "some references to Allah" before the stabbing spree. "He asked at least one person if they were Muslim," St Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson told a news conference. The Minnesota attack came the same day as bombings in New York and New Jersey, which stoked terror fears less than 50 days before the US presidential election. Police wounded and captured a 28-year-old Afghan-born American in connection with those attacks. Pro-painkiller echo chamber shaped policy amid drug epidemic For more than a decade, members of a little-known group called the Pain Care Forum have blanketed Washington with messages touting prescription painkillers' vital role in the lives of millions of Americans, creating an echo chamber that has quietly derailed efforts to curb U.S. consumption of the drugs, which accounts for two-thirds of the world's usage. In 2012, drugmakers and their affiliates in the forum sent a letter to U.S. senators promoting a hearing about an influential report on a "crisis of epidemic proportions": pain in America. Few knew the report stemmed from legislation drafted and pushed by forum members and that their experts had helped author it. The report estimated more than 100 million Americans roughly 40 percent of adults suffered from chronic pain, an eye-popping statistic that some researchers call deeply problematic. The letter made no reference to another health issue that had been declared an epidemic by federal authorities: drug overdoses tied to prescription painkillers. Deaths linked to addictive drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet had increased more than fourfold since 1999, accounting for more fatal overdoses in 2012 than heroin and cocaine combined. FILE - This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. For more than a decade, members of a little-known group called the Pain Care Forum have blanketed Washington with messages touting prescription painkillers' vital role in the lives of millions of Americans, creating an echo chamber that has quietly derailed efforts to curb U.S. consumption of the drugs, which accounts for two-thirds of the world's usage. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File) An investigation by The Associated Press and The Center for Public Integrity reveals that similar feedback loops of information and influence play out regularly in the nation's capital, fueled by money and talking points from the Pain Care Forum, a loose coalition of drugmakers, trade groups and dozens of nonprofits supported by industry funding that has flown under the radar until now. Hundreds of internal documents shed new light on how drugmakers and their allies shaped the national response to the ongoing wave of prescription opioid abuse, which has claimed the lives of roughly 165,000 Americans since 2000, according to federal estimates. Painkillers are among the most widely prescribed medications in the U.S., but pharmaceutical companies and allied groups have a multitude of legislative interests beyond those drugs. From 2006 through 2015, participants in the Pain Care Forum spent over $740 million lobbying in the nation's capital and in all 50 statehouses on an array of issues, including opioid-related measures, according to an analysis of lobbying filings by the Center for Public Integrity and AP. The same organizations reinforced their influence with more than $140 million doled out to political campaigns, including more than $75 million alone to federal candidates, political action committees and parties. That combined spending on lobbying and campaigns amounts to more than 200 times the $4 million spent during the same period by the handful of groups that work for restrictions on painkillers. Meanwhile, opioid sales reached $9.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a health information company. "You can go a long, long way in getting what you want when you have a lot of money," said Professor Keith Humphreys of Stanford University, a former adviser on drug policy under President Barack Obama. "And it's only when things get so disastrous that finally there's enough popular will aroused to push back." Obama gave his first speech on the opioid epidemic last fall. In July, Congress passed its first legislation targeting the crisis, an election-year package intended to expand access to addiction treatment. But the law includes little new funding and no restrictions on painkillers, such as mandatory training for prescribers, a step favored by federal advisory panels. Obama administration officials say they have tried to strike a balance between controlling the harms of opioids and keeping them available for patients. "We did not want to deny people access to appropriate pain care," said Michael Botticelli, Obama's drug czar. "We were all trying to figure out what the balance was, and that's still the case going forward." Painkillers are modern versions of ancient medicines derived from the opium poppy, also the source of heroin. Prescription opioids were long reserved for the most severe forms of pain associated with surgery, injury or terminal diseases like cancer. That changed in the 1990s with a surge in prescribing for more common ailments like back pain, arthritis and headaches. A combination of factors fueled the trend, including new medical guidelines, insurance policies and pharmaceutical marketing for long-acting drugs like OxyContin. The drug's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $600 million in fines in 2007 for misleading the public about the risks of OxyContin. But the drug continued to rack up blockbuster sales, generating more than $22 billion over the last decade. Despite having no physical address or online presence, the Pain Care Forum hosts high-ranking officials from the White House, Food and Drug Administration and other agencies at its monthly gatherings. Purdue's Washington lobbyist, Burt Rosen, co-founded the forum more than a decade ago and coordinates the group's meetings, which include dozens of lobbyists and executives. Purdue declined to make Rosen available for interviews and did not answer specific questions about its lobbying activities or financial support for forum participants. Purdue said it supports a range of advocacy groups, including some with differing views on opioids. "In practice and governance, the Pain Care Forum is like any of the hundreds of policy coalitions in Washington and throughout the nation," the company said in a statement, adding: "Purdue complies with all applicable lobbying disclosure laws and requirements." While Purdue, Endo Pharmaceuticals and other members have maintained the forum does not take policy positions, the AP and Center for Public Integrity's reporting shows the group's participants have worked together to push and draft federal legislation, blunt regulations and influence decisions around opioids. Opioid drugmakers say they are striving to improve the safety of their products and how they are used. They point to new harder-to-crush pills and initiatives that, among other things, allow states to share databases designed to spot "doctor shopping" by patients. Elsewhere, experts are reevaluating the effectiveness of opioids for most forms of chronic pain, noting little long-term research. "The biggest myth out there is that there's a conflict between reducing our dependence on opioids and improving care for patients in pain," said Dr. Caleb Alexander, co-director of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. "It's an artificial conflict, but there are lots of vested interests behind it." ___ 'THE EPIDEMIC OF PAIN' By spring 2014, the figure that 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain was getting new attention: as a talking point for the nation's top drug regulator. The head of the FDA used the statistic to illustrate the importance of keeping painkillers accessible, despite the escalating toll of opioid addiction and abuse in American communities. In an online essay, then-Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said reducing the toll was a "highest priority," but that her agency had to "balance it with another major public health priority: managing the pain that affects an estimated 100 million Americans." That line populated her speeches and interviews for months. But Michael Von Korff of the Group Health Research Institute, whose research contributed to the statistic, said the number has no connection to opioids. Instead, he said, it mostly represents "people with run-of-the-mill pain problems who are already managing them pretty well." Von Korff's work is funded by federal, foundation and health insurance sources. He also is an officer with Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a group that's pushing for restrictions on the drugs. Pain Care Forum participants spent nearly $19 million on lobbying efforts that included the legislation requiring federal research on pain and the Institute of Medicine report that first highlighted the figure. Concerns about the use of the statistic in connection with opioids and ties between some of the report authors and the pharmaceutical industry were covered by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2014. Nearly half the experts assembled by the Institute of Medicine to write the 364-page report had served as leaders in Pain Care Forum-affiliated groups, such as the American Pain Foundation, the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine all supported by industry funding. Hamburg said in an email that the report was "another piece of scientific literature that helped inform the broader field," which her agency had no role in producing. The Pain Care Forum discussed the legislation that led to the report at its first meeting in February 2005, according to notes by one of the group's principal members, The American Pain Foundation. Memos from the now-defunct foundation are among hundreds of documents obtained through public information requests by the AP and the Center for Public Integrity from the city of Chicago, which accused six drugmakers of misleading the public about opioid risks in an ongoing lawsuit. In June 2006, the forum organized a Capitol Hill briefing headlined "The Epidemic of Pain in America." Briefing materials included statements like: "Appropriate use of opioid medications like oxycodone is safe and effective and unlikely to cause addiction in people who are under the care of a doctor and who have no history of substance abuse." Attendees were asked to support a bill from then-Congressman Mike Rogers, which would later be rewritten by the forum and reintroduced in 2007 and 2009, according to the memos. It called for the Institute of Medicine now a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to develop a comprehensive report on pain in America. Parts of the legislation eventually passed with Obama's sweeping health care overhaul of 2010. Rogers, a Republican from Michigan, received at least $310,000 in contributions from forum groups from 2006 to 2015, which went to his campaign and to a leadership account that he could use to donate to his peers. He left office last year. Rogers rejected the idea that he was influenced by the contributions, and said he began working on pain issues as a state senator after helping his brother through a series of back surgeries. "I think they said, 'This guy is a champion, he's doing something we believe in and we want to support guys like that,'" he said. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who together introduced the Senate version of the bill, received more than $360,000 and $190,000 respectively from forum participants. Staffers for Hatch did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Dodd, who left office in 2011, said in a statement: "Sen. Hatch and I worked together to increase awareness and understanding of this serious medical condition in the hopes of providing relief to the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic pain." Phil Saigh, the executive director of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said he informed the Pain Care Forum years ago that his group did not consider itself a member of the coalition. Yet the academy has continuously appeared in directories of forum participants since 2006, including as late as 2013, the most recent documents available. The academy and the American Pain Society say some of the funding they receive from drugmakers is in the form of grants used for expenses tied to educational meetings and events. Both organizations also operate separate "corporate councils," in which companies are granted meetings with physicians in exchange for annual payments up to the $20,000 range. Jennifer Walsh, a spokeswoman for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, said, "We stand by our report, the committee, and the process that produced it." Experts who could personally profit from reports are prohibited from serving on its committees, she added. But the academies, which advise the federal government on scientific and medical topics, declined to release financial disclosure forms completed by panelists. Those on opposite sides of the opioids debate agree that the report raised important points about pain treatment, including warnings about the risks of painkillers. Still, some report passages called for expanding their use: "Regulatory, legal, educational and cultural barriers inhibit the medically appropriate use of opioid analgesics." At the time, one in five U.S patients who visited a doctor for pain already received an opioid prescription, according to national estimates. After the report's release in June 2011, the American Pain Foundation received $150,000 from Purdue to promote its findings through the Pain Care Forum. The foundation planned "congressional briefings and hearings" and "meetings with the leadership of various federal agencies," according to a November 2011 letter. The foundation closed the next year. Senate investigators had asked about the nonprofit receiving nearly 90 percent of its funding from industry. Meanwhile, a handful of lawmakers tried to draw attention to rising rates of painkiller abuse. In 2010, then-Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., co-founded the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, which focused on educating lawmakers about drug abuse. She clipped newspaper stories from her colleagues' home states, but recalled, "They'd just say 'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' and move on to more pressing matters." Bono, whose family had dealt with opioid addiction, drafted legislation in 2010 designed to curb opioid prescribing by requiring the FDA to limit the labeling for OxyContin and related drugs to "severe pain." OxyContin had long been marketed for a broader indication listed on the label as "moderate-to-severe pain." According to Bono, a Purdue lobbyist visited her and threatened to pull back on its state-level funding for drug abuse initiatives. "They were just letting it be known that if I didn't play nicer with them, they could cause some things to happen that I wouldn't like," she said. Purdue said in a statement that it met with Bono to support "her efforts to stop prescription drug abuse." The company says it does not oppose measures that "improve the way opioids are prescribed," even when they could reduce sales. Former Rep. Bill Brewster, D-Oklahoma, a contract lobbyist for Purdue at the time, said in an email that he recalled the conversation as "cordial and constructive." Purdue spent nearly $800,000 on lobbying efforts that included Bono's bill and subsequent versions of it. Pain Care Forum participants gave her campaigns more than $60,000 from 2006 through 2012. Bono's bill, the Stop Oxy Abuse Act, never received a congressional vote or hearing, even after Republicans regained control of the House in the November 2010 elections. She lost her congressional seat in 2012. ___ 'WHAT'S A REGULATOR TO DO?' In June 2012, a senior FDA official gave a presentation to the Pain Care Forum titled: "FDA and Opioids: What's a regulator to do?" For several years, the FDA had been developing risk-management plans to reduce misuse of long-acting opioids like OxyContin. With oversight of drugmakers and their marketing efforts, the agency seemed perfectly positioned to tackle the problem. But the plans that the FDA laid out lacked the major reforms suggested by the agency itself in 2009, when it announced the initiative. Instead of mandatory certification training for doctors and electronic registries to track opioid prescriptions to patients, the FDA official outlined much milder steps: Drugmakers would fund optional classes for prescribers and supply pharmacy brochures to patients about opioid risks. Over several years, the FDA seemed to have backed away from any significant restrictions. "It was my observation that the staff at FDA had really bought into the idea that pain was greatly undertreated in the United States," said Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, former chief medical officer with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, a federal health agency. As early as December 2008, the Pain Care Forum was developing a strategy to "inform the process" at the FDA, according to meeting minutes from the American Pain Foundation. When the FDA sought public comment on how to proceed, the forum helped generate more than 2,000 comments opposing new barriers to opioids, according to a 2010 foundation memo. Additionally, the forum produced a 4,000-signature petition opposing electronic registries for opioid prescriptions, which advocacy groups said would stigmatize patients. Finally, in July 2010, the FDA assembled a panel of outside advisers primarily physicians to review its plans to manage opioid risks, including voluntary doctor training. During a comment period, several members of the public warned it was a mistake. Dr. Nathaniel Katz, a former FDA adviser turned pharmaceutical consultant, traveled from Boston to implore the panel to support tougher requirements. "The days of prescribers not being trained how to safely prescribe the number one medication in the United States have to be brought to an end by you today," said Katz, who had previously chaired the FDA panel, according to a meeting transcript. Ultimately, the panel voted 25-10 against the measures developed by the FDA, saying they would have little effect on opioid abuse. But the FDA put them in place anyway, one month after the agency briefed the Pain Care Forum on the plans. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels. Agency officials said they decided that requiring certification for opioid prescribers would have been overly burdensome and disrupted care for patients. "You can't imagine the bitter screeds we hear from the prescribing community about the paperwork involved," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA's drug center. She added that the opioid crisis fundamentally stems from individual prescribing decisions, saying, "We don't regulate medical practice." In the last two years, the FDA has placed several limitations on opioids, including adding new bolded warnings to immediate-release opioids such as Vicodin and Percocet. But prescriber training remains optional, even after a second FDA advisory panel again recommended the step earlier this year. Woodcock says the agency is still weighing that recommendation. Currently, states such as Massachusetts are imposing their own physician-training requirements, a development that Katz attributes to a lack of federal action. "The FDA failed to make a decision that could have averted many of the thousands of deaths we're seeing per year," Katz said. "So when people continue to die and communities continue to be devastated, then others will arise to do the policing." ___ CHARTING A 'SAFER COURSE' It was a federal agency hundreds of miles from Washington that finally sidestepped the influence of the pain care lobbyists. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, located in Atlanta, overcame threats of congressional investigation and legal action to publish the first federal guidelines intended to reduce opioid prescribing earlier this year. Essentially, the agency said the risks of painkillers greatly outweigh the benefits for the vast majority of patients with routine chronic pain. Instead, the guidelines said, doctors should consider alternatives like non-opioid pain relievers and physical therapy. For more than 15 years, CDC officials have tracked the precipitous rise in painkiller overdoses, which has been followed by a similar surge in heroin deaths. The CDC called the painkiller trend an epidemic in 2011, pushing Washington officials to do the same. The agency's director, Dr. Tom Frieden, labeled opioids "dangerous medications" that "should be reserved for situations like severe cancer pain." When the CDC drafted its opioid guidelines, it moved quickly and quietly, initially giving outside groups just 48 hours to comment on draft guidelines distributed last September. Opioid proponents said the guidelines were not based on solid evidence and criticized the CDC for not disclosing outside experts who had advised the effort, alleging that they included physicians who were biased against painkillers. One pharma-aligned group, the Washington Legal Foundation, said the lack of disclosure constituted a "clear violation" of federal law. And a longtime Pain Care Forum participant now known as the Academy of Integrative Pain Management asked congressional leaders to investigate how the CDC had developed the guidelines. A House committee asked the CDC to turn over documents about its advisers, but staffers said the probe did not uncover any violations. Some of the most vigorous pushback came from Pain Care Forum affiliates embedded in the federal system. Under the 2010 pain legislation backed by the forum, the NIH had created a 19-member panel to coordinate pain research made up of federal officials, civilian physicians and pain advocates. At the group's December meeting, panelists with connections to the Pain Care Forum called the CDC's approach "horrible" and "shocking." Dr. Richard Payne, a former board member of the American Pain Foundation, questioned whether the experts advising the CDC had "conflicts of interests in terms of biases, intellectual conflicts that needed to be disclosed." Payne himself had received more than $16,240 in speaking fees, meals, travel and other payments from drugmakers, including Purdue, between 2013 and 2015, according to federal records. Myra Christopher, a long-time Pain Care Forum participant, said the panel should inform the CDC that it could not support the opioid guidelines and that their release should be delayed. Christopher holds a chair at the nonprofit Center for Practical Bioethics, which receives funding from opioid drugmakers, and her position was established through a $1.5 million gift from Purdue. Both she and Payne also served on the Institute of Medicine panel on pain in America. Christopher and Payne said they were thoroughly vetted before serving on the panel and disclosed their past work and activities. Federal officials who oversee the panel responded that all members met federal requirements to serve, including completing financial disclosure forms, though the NIH said those cannot be publicly released. One week after the NIH panel's critique, the CDC said it would delay finalizing its guidelines to allow more public comment and released a list of advisers. One of 17 "core experts" advising the agency reported serving as a paid consultant to Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, the law firm suing multiple opioid drugmakers on behalf of the city of Chicago. In March, the final guidelines appeared. The first recommendation for U.S. doctors: "Opioids are not first-line therapy" for chronic pain. It was a statement considered common practice by many doctors as recently as the early-1990s, a decade before the Pain Care Forum formed in Washington. "We're trying to chart a safer and more effective course for dealing with chronic pain," Frieden said. "We don't expect any magic. We don't expect things to be better in 15 months when it's taken 15 years to get this much worse." ___ Reporters Geoff Mulvihill of The Associated Press and Liz Essley Whyte of The Center for Public Integrity contributed to this report. ___ Follow Perrone on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AP_FDAwriter and Wieder at http://twitter.com/benbwieder Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, poses for a photo in Stanford, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Regarding the political influence of pharmaceutical companies, the former adviser on drug policy under President Barack Obama says, "You can go a long, long way in getting what you want when you have a lot of money. ... And it's only when things get so disastrous that finally there's enough popular will aroused to push back." (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, poses for a photo in Stanford, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Regarding the political influence of pharmaceutical companies, the former adviser on drug policy under President Barack Obama says, "You can go a long, long way in getting what you want when you have a lot of money. ... And it's only when things get so disastrous that finally there's enough popular will aroused to push back." (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) FILE - In this Wednesday, July 6, 2016 file photo, Gloucester, Mass., Police Chief Leonard Campanello, joined by other members of law enforcement from around the country, talks to media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., after meeting with senior Obama administration officials to discuss the urgent need for resources to address the nationwide prescription opioid and heroin epidemic. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) Dr. Nathaniel Katz, a former adviser to the Food and Drug Administration, and currently CEO of Analgesic Solutions, stands for a photograph at the company's offices in Natick, Mass., on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. In 2010, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to implore an FDA panel to support tougher requirements to manage opioid risks. "The days of prescribers not being trained how to safely prescribe the number one medication in the United States have to be brought to an end by you today," said Katz, according to a meeting transcript. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Dr. Nathaniel Katz, a former adviser to the Food and Drug Administration, and currently CEO of Analgesic Solutions, stands for a photograph at the company's offices in Natick, Mass., on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. In 2010, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to implore an FDA panel to support tougher requirements to manage opioid risks. "The days of prescribers not being trained how to safely prescribe the number one medication in the United States have to be brought to an end by you today," said Katz, according to a meeting transcript. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) FILE - This Oct. 14, 2015, file photo shows the Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md. The FDA on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, granted tentative approval to the first drug for muscular dystrophy, following an intense public campaign from patients and doctors who pushed for the largely unproven medication. The FDA cleared Sarepta Therapeutics Exondys 51 for a rare form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a deadly inherited disease that affects boys. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) FILE - In this Friday, July 20, 2007 file photo, demonstrators march along Main Street in Abingdon, Va., to raise awareness about the abuse of OxyContin. From 2000 to 2016, prescription opioid abuse has claimed the lives of 165,000 Americans, according to federal estimates. (David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP) FILE - This Tuesday, May 8, 2007 file photo shows the Purdue Pharma offices in Stamford, Conn. In 2007, the company pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $600 million in fines for misleading the public about the risks of OxyContin. But the drug continued to rack up blockbuster sales. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File) FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 file photo, FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg speaks during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington. By spring 2014, the figure that 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain was getting new attention: as a talking point for the nation's top drug regulator. Hamburg used the statistic to illustrate the importance of keeping painkillers accessible, despite the escalating toll of opioid addiction and abuse in American communities. But Michael Von Korff, whose research contributed to the statistic, said the number has no connection to opioids. Instead, he said, it mostly represents "people with run-of-the-mill pain problems who are already managing them pretty well." (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) Presidential politics plays big role at Emmy Awards NEW YORK (AP) Since it often seems like the most entertaining limited series on television, there was little surprise that the presidential campaign made its presence felt at the Emmy Awards. Jokes and politicking took place onstage and off Sunday. Former Republican candidate Jeb Bush made an appearance in Jimmy Kimmel's opening comedy skit and Hillary Clinton tweeted congratulations to her impersonator, Kate McKinnon of "Saturday Night Live." Julia Louis-Dreyfus, accepting her fifth consecutive best actress Emmy for HBO's "Veep," jokingly lamented that real politics is beginning to resemble the Washington world her comedy series pokes fun at. Jill Soloway winner of the award for outstanding directing for a comedy series for Transparent poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) "Our show started out as political satire," she said, "but now it feels like a sober documentary." She promised to rebuild the wall between comedy and politics and "make Mexico pay for it." Yes, Donald Trump was a featured player at the Emmys. Host Jimmy Kimmel pointed out the man in the audience who made Trump a television star. "Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore, because we're living them," Kimmel said. Burnett cast Trump in "The Apprentice," the hit series that gave him a catchphrase ("you're fired") and a larger public profile. Both Kimmel and Burnett, who accepted an award later for another one of his shows, "The Voice," joked about that series' stars being future Supreme Court nominees. It wasn't much of a surprise to hear Trump didn't have many friends in Hollywood. Courtney B. Vance did some politicking after accepting an Emmy for his role in "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story." ''Obama out," he said. "Hillary in." Aziz Ansari referenced some of Trump's controversial comments about minorities in a brief routine, jokingly suggesting his parents had to be thrown out of the hall. "America Ferrera," he said to the actress. "Nice try changing your name to America. Out!" Emmy winner Jill Soloway, creator of "Transparent," told reporters backstage that Trump was a dangerous monster. "Any moment that I have to call Trump out for being an heir to Hitler, I will," Soloway said. Bush poked fun at Trump, but mostly at himself in a skit where he portrayed the limo driver for Louis-Dreyfus. "Did you know you can make $12 an hour driving for Uber?' he said to Kimmel. Bush asked Kimmel if he was a nominee for an Emmy award, and when Kimmel said yes, Bush said, "Wow, what's that like?" He told Kimmel that if he ran a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice. "That was a joke," he quickly added. Bush's limo had a "Jeb! 2016" bumper sticker with the "16" crossed out and replaced by "20." McKinnon, a tearful winner of a supporting actress award in comedy for her work on "Saturday Night Live," thanked Clinton upon accepting. Her brittle portrayal of the Democratic nominee is one of her signature roles on the NBC comedy. On Twitter, Clinton returned the compliment. "Big fan of you, too!" Clinton tweeted later, with a clip of McKinnon impersonating her. ___ Associated Press writers Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles and Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report. Host Jimmy Kimmel appears at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Kate McKinnon arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Veep at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Bald eagle nursed back to health released into wild GRAFTON, W.Va. (AP) An injured bald eagle that was nursed back to health in northern West Virginia has been released back into the wild. Media outlets report more than 200 people gathered Saturday for the release of Liberty. The Fairmont-based West Virginia Raptor Rehabilitation Center cared for the young bald eagle. Center found Michael Book says the bird was brought to the center before the July 4 holiday after being found at a Kingwood car dealership. It had previously suffered tissue damage from a collision, and Book says it was dehydrated. Leslie Jones jokes about her Twitter woes at Emmy Awards NEW YORK (AP) Leslie Jones went to one of the most public of stages the one at the Emmy Awards to joke about her privacy woes on social media. During a routine Sunday saluting Ernst & Young accountants, the "Saturday Night Live" actress addressed three of the firm's representatives. "Since you good at keeping things safe, I got a job for you my Twitter account," she said. "Put that in the vault, please." Representatives of Ernst & Young appear on stage with Leslie Jones, right, at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) The "Ghostbusters" star had been harassed with racist messages on social media and her website was hacked in late August. Her passport, a driver's license, multiple nude photos and other private information was posted online. Julia Louis Dreyfus honors her father at Emmys LOS ANGELES (AP) Julia Louis-Dreyfus managed to make people at the Emmy Awards laugh despite personal heartbreak. The actress, who won her fifth consecutive trophy as leading actress in a comedy series for "Veep," took digs at Donald Trump and thanked the show's producers two days after the death of her dad. She revealed the family news at the end of her speech Sunday. "I'd like to dedicate this to my father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday," she said. "And I'm so glad that he liked 'Veep' because his opinion was the one that really mattered. Thank you." Julia Louis-Dreyfus winner of the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Veep poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Louis-Dreyfus, a billionaire businessman and art collector, died at 84. Julia Louis-Dreyfus winner of the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Veep poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Kvitova, Sock confirmed for Hopman Cup PERTH, Australia (AP) Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Olympic gold medalist Jack Sock are the latest players confirmed to compete at the Hopman Cup in January, one of the key warm-up events for the Australian Open. They'll join Roger Federer, who earlier this summer announced he would play in the exhibition event for the first time in 15 years. Kvitova, who helped lead the Czech Republic to victory in the 2012 Hopman Cup, will partner with Adam Pavlasek for the Czech team, while Sock will represent the United States alongside Coco Vandeweghe, making her debut in the mixed-team event. The Czech and American teams were announced Monday, along with the other teams to take part in the 2017 event: Australia, Britain, France, Spain and Germany. The players for those teams have yet to be decided. Federer, who decided to sit out the rest of this season following his loss in the Wimbledon semifinals to protect his surgically repaired left knee, will play for Switzerland with partner Belinda Bencic. He teamed with Martina Hingis to win the event in 2001, then played the following year with his now-wife Mirka Federer. Study estimates 100,000 deaths from Indonesia haze JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Indonesian forest fires that choked a swath of Southeast Asia with a smoky haze for weeks last year may have caused more than 100,000 deaths, according to new research that will add to pressure on Indonesia's government to tackle the annual crisis. The study by scientists from Harvard University and Columbia University to be published in the journal Environmental Research Letters is being welcomed by other researchers and Indonesia's medical profession as an advance in quantifying the suspected serious public health effects of the fires, which are set to clear land for agriculture and forestry. The number of deaths is an estimate derived from a complex analysis that has not yet been validated by analysis of official data on mortality. The research has implications for land-use practices and Indonesia's vast pulp and paper industry. The researchers showed that peatlands within timber concessions, and peatlands overall, were a much bigger proportion of the fires observed by satellite than in 2006, which was another particularly bad year for haze. The researchers surmise that draining of the peatlands to prepare them for pulpwood plantations and other uses made them more vulnerable to fires. FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 file photo, students ride on a boat on their way to school while haze from wildfires blanket the Musi River in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Indonesian forest fires that choked a swath of Southeast Asia with a smoky haze for weeks in 2015 may have caused more than 100,000 premature deaths, according to new research that will add to pressure on Indonesia's government to tackle the annual crisis. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File) The estimate of early deaths linked to respiratory illness and other causes covers Indonesia and its neighbors Singapore and Malaysia. It dwarfs Indonesia's official toll of 19 that included deaths from illness and the deaths of firefighters. However, the possible scale of serious health consequences was indicated by a statement from the country's disaster management agency in October that said more than 43 million Indonesians were exposed to smoke from the fires and half a million suffered acute respiratory infections. The study considered only the health impact on adults and restricts itself to the effects of health-threatening fine particulate matter, often referred to as PM2.5, rather than all toxins that would be in the smoke from burning peatlands and forests. The bulk of the estimated deaths are in Indonesia, by far the most populous of the three countries and the country with the biggest land area affected by haze. The fires from July to October last year in southern Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo were the worst since 1997 and exacerbated by El Nino dry conditions. About 261,000 hectares of land burned. Some of the fires started accidently, but many were deliberately set by companies and villagers to clear land for plantations and agriculture. Rajasekhar Bala, an environmental engineering expert at the National University of Singapore, one of five experts who reviewed the paper for The Associated Press and were not involved in the research, said the study is preliminary and involved a "very challenging" task of analyzing the sources and spread of fine particulate matter over several countries and a lengthy time frame. Even with caveats, it should serve as a "wake-up call" for firm action in Indonesia to curb peatland and forest fires and for regional cooperation to deal with the fallout on public health, he said. "Air pollution, especially that caused by atmospheric fine particles, has grave implications for human health," he said. Frank Murray, an associate professor of environment science at Australia's Murdoch University, said the death estimates are not "precise health outcomes" but their overall scale should trigger intensified efforts to deal with the crisis. The study is a major contribution to addressing an international problem, he said. The study finds there is a high statistical probability that early deaths ranged between 26,300 and 174,300. Its main estimate of 100,300 deaths is the average of those two figures. It predicts 91,600 deaths in Indonesia, another 6,500 in Malaysia and 2,200 in Singapore. The researchers involved in the study say the model they developed can be combined with satellite and ground station observations to analyze the haze in close to real time. That gives it the potential to be used to direct firefighting efforts in a way that reduces the amount of illness caused, they say. The annual fires have strained relations between Indonesia and its wealthier neighbors Singapore and Malaysia, who are at the mercy of winds that carry the haze into their territory from Sumatra. But the brunt of the crisis is faced by millions of Indonesians in Sumatra and Kalimantan, many of them poor and with little or no means to protect themselves from the blanket of smoke. "Particles penetrate indoors, and housing in Indonesia is very well ventilated, so I don't think there is any avertive behavior that people there could have taken that would have been effective," said Joel Schwartz, an air pollution epidemiologist at Harvard who co-authored the study. "In Singapore, if you close all the windows and turn on the air conditioning you get some protection, which may have happened." The Indonesian Medical Association's West Kalimantan chapter said Indonesia faces an overall decline in the health of future generations with social and economic consequences if the situation is not tackled. "We are the doctors who care for the vulnerable groups exposed to toxic smoke," said Nursyam Ibrahim, deputy head of the West Kalimantan chapter of the association. "And we know how awful it is to see the disease symptoms experienced by babies and children in our care." Howard Frumpkin, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, said it is possible the health consequences are greater than indicated by the study because higher incidence of certain health problems in developing countries could make populations more susceptible to the effects of fine particulate matter. ____ Follow Stephen Wright: twitter.com/stephenwrightAP Who rocked the Emmys red carpet: Washington, Paulson, Culpo From Kerry Washington's daring, elegant baby bump to Anna Chlumsky's barrel-shaped, um, dress, the Emmys red carpet was a mixed bag of color and silhouette. Some highlights: ___ Kerry Washington arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) WHO ROCKED THE BUMP? Washington, deep into her second pregnancy, has been tight-lipped about her due date but the end is clearly near. She dressed for two in a custom, daring black Brandon Maxwell strapless gown with cutouts above the waist and a long train. "She got the proportions just right," said Rickie De Sole, fashion market director for W magazine. "It was sexy but not overtly sexy. That's why she's so successful on the red carpet. It was unexpected and fun." Washington, often forced to hide her pregnancies with big coats and big bags on "Scandal," wore her hair big, loose and curly, further enhancing the look. Joseph Katz, a Beverly Hills stylist, also loved it. "What a chic look. I love what she did with her hair. It was just so cool." ___ WHO ROCKED THE GREEN? Sarah Paulson did, in an emerald long-sleeve, plunging-neckline Prada so heavily encrusted she looked otherworldy. "It also felt very unexpected," De Sole said. "Very red carpet but modern in its silhouette." It was a huge statement as she walked Sunday's carpet in Los Angeles with the real-life Marcia Clark, the character she played on FX's "People v. O.J. Simpson." She paired her short straight locks with a modular pair of long earrings with jewel earrings that matched her yellow locks. The dress, Katz said, was a perfect match for her fair skin. "It went with her coloring perfectly," he said. Paulson was nominated in two categories, winning actress in a limited series or movie. ___ WHO JUST ROCKED Olivia Culpo, whose biggest claims are being crowned Miss USA in 2012 and once dating Nick Jonas, was in purple eye makeup and the perfect little dress from Zac Posen. It suited her frame and fit her beautifully, hitting above the ankle. It was embellished with varying shapes of white, sewn-on sequins against a neutral tone that went to sheer at the hem. And it was strapless, offering a sexy lift in the chest with ample cleavage. The look hugged until just above the waist, opening a tad to a skirt that still flattered but allowed for movement. Her hair was tight and back, lending a starry, starry night quality overall. ___ WHO ROCKED THE TWIRL? Priyanka Chopra had THE most fun on the carpet at the Microsoft Theater, twirling there and again onstage as a presenter with Tom Hiddleston. The "Quantico" star wore a one-shoulder custom Jason Wu in red with a Chanel red lip color that was a winning match. The dress separated into two sections at the shoulder, had one cutout on the same side and was belted at the waist. It included a long, full train. Her dark hair was parted on the side and was fastened into a sleek, low ponytail. Chopra kept her jewels to a minimum, but they came with a hefty price tag: a $1 million worth from Neil Lane, to be exact. They included 10-carat diamond-and-platinum drop earrings and a 10-carat diamond-and-platinum emerald cut ring. "It just popped on the red carpet," Katz said. "She did a great twirl. That's what the carpet is about, showing the flow and the movement. She just nailed it." Added De Sole: "She had a very bright red lip that just made the whole thing pop. With all the black dresses on the red carpet, you can't miss the girl in red." ___ WHO DID NOT ROCK? Sorry, Anna Chlumsky. We really are. We know you gave birth in July, but your stylist done you wrong. Chlumsky, from "Veep," wore a sacklike mini dress that was barrel-shaped, pulling in at the hem. It had huge pieces of drapery-esque fabric that fell off each shoulder, culminating in chunky half-cape, half-train (wreck). The dress had a bumpy texture and was a blush pink color. "That, um, yeah, it wasn't flattering," Katz said. "The color was pretty. She definitely took a risk." ___ GUYS WHO ROCKED Rami, Rami, Rami. Malek, Malek, Malek! On a good day, you're merely cute. In your Dior Homme white linen and wool blend two-button white dinner jacket, you were the most, with your cousin as your date. The jacket was paired with a black bow tie, black wool tuxedo trousers and a white cotton wing-tip collar shirt, leaving your big Elliot Alderson "Mr. Robot" deep blue eyes to do the rest. "He looked amazing," De Sole said. "Clearly he's really into fashion." Added Katz: "He looked really cute in the white dinner jacket. For guys, it's all about fit and proportion. It fit him really, really well. Wearing a white jacket like that takes some guts to step out there and he did it. Very cool." Malek won an Emmy on his first nomination, for outstanding lead actor in a drama. Another gutsy dude: Terrence Howard of "Empire," in a Lucious Lyon-worthy, black-and-white plaid dinner jacket with a black lapel and TV test-pattern bow tie. ___ This story has been corrected to remove the reference to Howard being nominated for an Emmy for "Empire." Kerry Washington, left, and Tony Goldwyn present the award for outstanding writing for a limited series, movie or a dramatic special at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Sarah Paulson winner of the award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or a movie for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story poses in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Sarah Paulson, left, and Marcia Clark arrive at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Olivia Culpo arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Olivia Culpo arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Priyanka Chopra arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Priyanka Chopra arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Anna Chlumsky arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Anna Chlumsky arrives at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Carly Chaikin, left, and Rami Malek arrive at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Rami Malek accepts the award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for Mr. Robot at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Suspect is shot and captured in New York-area bombings LINDEN, N.J. (AP) A New Jersey police officer responding to a call about a hoodied vagrant curled up asleep in a bar doorway roused him and quickly recognized the bearded face of perhaps the most wanted man in America. Ahmad Khan Rahami identified in an FBI bulletin just hours earlier as a man wanted in the weekend bombings in New York City and New Jersey pulled a gun, shot the officer and triggered a running gun battle in the street that ended with Rahami wounded and in custody Monday, authorities said. A bloodied Rahami was loaded into the back of an ambulance, just 50 hours after the first blast that started it all. Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park. (Nicolaus Czarnecki/Boston Herald via AP) /The Boston Herald via AP) Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the New York area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said officials have every reason to believe the series of bombings "was an act of terror," though investigators said Rahami's exact motive isn't yet clear. With Rahami's arrest, officials said they have no indication there are more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they are still investigating. Still, after a whirlwind investigation that put Rahami in custody in just two days' time, "I'm a lot happier today than I was yesterday," New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said. The probe started when a pipe bomb blew up Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured. Then a shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack exploded Saturday night in New York's Chelsea section, wounding 29 people, none seriously. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away. Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. Late Monday, a hospitalized Rahami was charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with the shootout and was held on $5.2 million bail. Federal prosecutors said they were still weighing charges over the bombings. It wasn't known if Rahami had an attorney. Messages left for family members were not immediately returned. Rahami lived with his family above their fried-chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, and his relatives have clashed with the city over closing times and noise complaints they said were tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment. A childhood friend, Flee Jones, said Rahami had become more religious after returning from a trip to Afghanistan several years ago. Still, some of the family restaurant's customers said that while Rahami was devout, he was more likely to talk about his interest in cars than to mention faith. William Sweeney Jr., the FBI's assistant director in New York, said there were no indications Rahami was on law enforcement's radar at the time of the bombings. Authorities zeroed in on him as the potential bomber after a fingerprint and DNA obtained from one of the New York sites and "clear as day" surveillance video from the bombing scene helped identify him, according to three law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami but were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might later face charges. The law enforcement officials said at least one of Rahami's relatives was in the car, which appeared headed toward Kennedy Airport in New York after coming from New Jersey. Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late Monday morning, when a bar owner reported someone asleep in his doorway. Jack Mazza, co-manager of nearby V.C.M.R. Truck Services, said the bar owner came over exclaiming about the sleeping man, and Mazza walked over to see a man curled up with a sweatshirt hood pulled over his head in the rain. "He looked like a bum," Mazza said. After an officer arrived and recognized Rahami, Rahami shot the officer, who was saved by his bulletproof vest, authorities said. More officers joined in a gun battle that spilled into the street. Another police officer was grazed by a bullet. Authorities said neither officers' injuries were life-threatening. Peter Bilinskas said he was standing by his desk at his Linden bowling-supply shop when he heard what sounded like gunfire and saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand. As a police car pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him, Bilinskas said. As the East Coast was rattled by the bombings, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall Saturday before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. Authorities are investigating it as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group, welcomed Rahami's arrest. The organization and the Afghan Embassy in Washington condemned the bombings. Around the time Rahami was captured, President Barack Obama was in New York on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He called on Americans to show the world "we will never give in to fear." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for using "whatever lawful methods are available" to get information from Rahami, mocked the fact that he would receive quality medical care and legal representation, and called for profiling foreigners who look like they could have connections to terrorism or certain Mideastern countries. Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said her rival's anti-Muslim rhetoric gives "aid and comfort" to Islamic terrorists by helping them recruit fighters. Rahami's father, Mohammad, and two of Rahami's brothers sued the city of Elizabeth in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring their restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, to close early because of complaints from neighbors that it was a late-night nuisance. The Rahamis charged in the lawsuit that they were targeted by neighbors because they are Muslims. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 because one of Rahami's brothers had pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Ahmad Rahami working there more. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," McCann said. ___ Pearson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Dake Kang and Michael Catalini in Elizabeth; Tom Hays in San Francisco; and Eric Tucker, Alicia A. Caldwell and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park. (Moshe Weiss via AP) Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park. (Nicolaus Czarnecki/Boston Herald via AP) Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, and New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neill, center, arrive for a news conference to announce the arrest of bombing suspect Ahmad Kahn Rahami, right, shown on a display, Monday Sept. 19, 2016, at police headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) This undated photo provided by the FBI shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was taken into custody Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, after a shootout with police in New Jersey, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. (FBI via AP) Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park. (Moshe Weiss via AP) This undated photo provided by the New Jersey State Police shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park. (New Jersey State Police via AP) This frame from surveillance video released by the New Jersey State Police shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park over the weekend. (New Jersey State Police via AP) Police officers stand on Elizabeth Ave., in Linden, N.J., near where an Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was taken into custody after being wounded in a shootout with police, authorities said, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) FBI agents walk around the roof outside an apartment during an investigation at a building Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Elizabeth, N.J. FBI agents are searching the apartment that is tied to Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning in the New York City bombing. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) This poster provided by the FBI shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in bombings that rocked a Manhattan neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town. (FBI via AP) Crime scene investigators work at the scene of Saturday's explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Israeli police: 2 Palestinian attackers killed in West Bank JERUSALEM (AP) Two Palestinians were killed on Monday as they tried to stab Israeli police in the West Bank city of Hebron while a third Palestinian was shot and wounded after stabbing and wounding two Israeli police officers in Jerusalem, police said. The two attacks followed a bloody weekend in which four Palestinians were killed while attacking Israelis, according to Israeli authorities, raising fears of a return to the near-daily Palestinian attacks seen at times over the the last year. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that in Hebron, two assailants tried to stab soldiers guarding a checkpoint, lightly wounding one officer before the troops opened fire, killing the attackers. Israeli border police officers search a Palestinian man near the scene of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. A Palestinian assailant stabbed two police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City early on Monday and was shot, police said, following a bloody weekend that shattered weeks of relative calm. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) The officers were securing a holy site known to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, Samri said. Earlier Monday, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City before being shot and critically wounded, Samri said. A 38-year-old female police officer suffered wounds to her neck and was badly injured, Samri added. A second officer, aged 47, was recovering from injuries. Samri said the assailant is in his 20s and a resident of east Jerusalem. The Jerusalem attack occurred outside Herod's Gate, near a bustling commercial avenue of east Jerusalem. Police ordered the shops in the area closed Monday. Over the weekend, four Palestinians, one of whom held Jordanian citizenship, were shot dead during assaults on Israelis, according to Israeli authorities. Jordan has demanded a detailed explanation from Israel about the killing of 28-year-old Said Amro by Israeli forces. Israeli police said Amro rushed out of Jerusalem's Old City armed with knives and tried to stab officers before being shot dead. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the Jordanian Foreign Ministry "invited" Israel's ambassador for a discussion of the incident. Since last September, Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis in stabbing, car ramming and shooting attacks. About 216 Palestinians have been killed in the same period. Israel says most were attackers, but the Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of using excessive force and killing people who were not assailants. The spike in violence over the weekend spurred the Israeli military to send troop reinforcements to the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the potential for violence could rise as the Jewish high holidays approach. Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders compounded on social media sites. The Palestinians say it is rooted in nearly 50 years of military occupation and dwindling hopes for independence. This week Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where he plans to meet with President Barack Obama. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is visiting New York this week as well, where he is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and to address the General Assembly. Israeli border police officers search a Palestinian man near the scene of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. A Palestinian assailant stabbed two police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City early on Monday and was shot, police said, following a bloody weekend that shattered weeks of relative calm. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Israeli border police officers stand guard near the scene of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. A Palestinian assailant stabbed two police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City early on Monday and was shot, police said, following a bloody weekend that shattered weeks of relative calm. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Israeli border police officers stand guard near the scene of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. A Palestinian assailant stabbed two police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City early on Monday and was shot, police said, following a bloody weekend that shattered weeks of relative calm. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Men carry the body of Said Amro during his funeral in his hometown of Al-Mogheer, Jordan, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Jordan has demanded a detailed explanation from Israel about the killing of Amro, a 28-year-old Jordanian, by Israeli troops last week. Hundreds attended Amros funeral, chanting Death to Israel. Israeli police have said Said Amro came out of a gate of Jerusalems Old City with a knife in each hand, shouted "God is Great" and rushed at officers before being shot dead. (AP Photo/Omar Akour) Search ongoing in Lake Superior for 3 missing boaters CHASSELL, Mich. (AP) Authorities are searching Lake Superior for three boaters, including a 9-year-old boy and his father who didn't return from a fishing trip. Family members called police when the boaters didn't return for a fish fry Saturday night. The trio had departed from Michigan's Upper Peninsula U.S. Coast Guard Ensign Michael Jenkins says the search continued Monday morning by boat and helicopter. He says a small craft advisory was in effect on the lake, with 1-foot waves reported. State police Sgt. Jamie Patterson says the lake may have been a bit choppy Saturday but the weather was "pretty decent." Steve Chartre and his son, Ethan, are from Ishpeming. They were with 61-year-old Keith Karvonen of Atlantic Mine. Hawaii lawmakers promise reform for confined fishermen State and federal lawmakers are promising to improve conditions for hundreds of foreign fishermen working in Hawaii's commercial fleet, and at least one company has already stopped buying fish from the boats following an Associated Press investigation that found the men have been confined to vessels for years without basic labor protections. Whole Foods halted buying seafood caught by foreign crew until it's clear the men are treated fairly. On Sunday, the Hawaii Seafood Council said that starting Oct. 1, the Honolulu Fish Auction will sell fish only from boats that have adopted a new, standardized contract aimed at assuring no forced labor exists on board. The AP report found commercial fishing boats in Honolulu were crewed by men from impoverished Southeast Asia and Pacific Island nations who catch prized swordfish, ahi tuna and other seafood sold at markets and upscale restaurants across the country. A legal loophole allows them to work on the American-owned, American-flagged boats without visas as long as they don't set foot on shore. The system is facilitated by the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection. Fishermen stand on a boat at Pier 38 in Honolulu, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. State and federal lawmakers promised to improve conditions for hundreds of foreign workers confined to boats in Hawaiis commercial fishing fleet for years without basic labor protections. Meanwhile, Whole Foods has stopped buying seafood from those vessels until its clear the men are treated fairly. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) While many men appreciate the jobs, which pay better than they could get back home, the report revealed instances of human trafficking, tuberculosis and food shortages. It also found some fishermen being forced to defecate in buckets, suffering running sores from bed bugs and being paid as little as 70 cents an hour. On Capitol Hill, Hawaii's congressional delegation U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz along with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, all Democrats said they were exploring legislative solutions after being startled by the findings about the state's $110 million industry, which ranks fifth among the country's highest-grossing fisheries. "It is completely unacceptable that the inhumane treatment of any workers, foreign or not, is legal under U.S. federal law," Hirono said in a statement. In Honolulu, state Rep. Kaniela Ing, chair of the Ocean, Marine Resources and Hawaiian Affairs committee, asked state Attorney General Doug Chin to weigh in on whether boat owners should be regulated under Hawaii rules. If so, Ing said there would likely be an injunction ordered to halt labor or business violations. If not, he said he would introduce legislation to protect the workers, who labor up to 22 hours a day. "That loophole doesn't mean it's OK to treat them like slaves," Ing said. Chin said he was reviewing the request. The Hawaii report is part of the AP's ongoing investigation into human trafficking and labor abuse in the global seafood industry. Last year, reporters found some fishermen locked in a cage on the remote Indonesian island of Benjina . Others were buried under fake names. Their catch was traced to the United States, and the reporting led to more than 2,000 slaves being freed. Federal law requires that U.S. citizens make up 75 percent of the crew on most commercial fishing vessels in America; the fleet in Hawaii has an exemption carved out years ago, largely by lawmakers no longer in office. "We always would want workers to have decent working conditions," said Hawaii Gov. David Ige. He added that the AP report "highlighted how sometimes people fall in a loophole and they don't get the full protections of labor laws that most of us enjoy." After the story was published, boat owners in Hawaii and seafood sellers quickly formed a task force which they said was creating a universal contract. They said they are working with buyers and government officials. "I am confident that through this process we will ferret out any vessel from the fleet that is involved in forced labor, labor abuse or substandard working conditions and treatment of the crew," said John Kaneko of the Hawaii Seafood Council. The investigation found the fishermen are paid as little as $350 a month, but many also get small bonuses, lifting their monthly pay to $500 or $600. A lucky few earn a percentage of the catch, making it possible to triple their wages. Most of the approximately 700 crewmembers in the Hawaii fleet are from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and the tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Because they have no visas, they aren't allowed to fly into the country, and are instead picked up at foreign ports and brought to Honolulu by boat. Some crewmembers are from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and carry green cards because of a special relationship with the U.S. A few are locals from Hawaii as well. They are allowed to leave the docks when they come in after their three-week fishing trips, but the rest are detained on board by captains who are legally required to keep their passports. Neither U.S. Customs nor the boat association could provide a detailed breakdown of crew nationalities. John Myking owns two boats and has been fishing for more than 30 years. He crews his vessels mostly with men from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, but also sometimes hires workers born and raised in the state. He said their pay can range anywhere from $800 to $2,000 a month when the fish are biting, to sometimes much less depending on the catch. He is considering adding Indonesian crew to one of his boats because he says it's hard to find local fishermen, but added he believes the men should be allowed to fly into Hawaii and be given visas to leave their ships. He condemned labor abuses. "If there is a problem with guys being abused, I definitely agree it should be straightened out," he said, adding that many foreign fishermen return to Hawaii repeatedly over many years to work on the fleet. "I guess there are a few bad apples here and there." The boats dock occasionally at ports along the West Coast, including San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, but mainly at Piers 17 and 38 in Honolulu. Their catch ends up at eateries and seafood counters across the country, from Roy's restaurants to markets like Whole Foods and Costco. Companies that responded condemned labor abuse and said they would investigate. Whole Foods is suspending sales from boats with foreign crew, but will continue to buy seafood from "local, day-boat fishermen with proven fair labor practices," such as vessels with just one or two workers, often friends or relatives, said spokeswoman McKinzey Crossland. Environmental, labor and anti-trafficking advocates called for reform. Kris Coffield, executive director of the Honolulu-based anti-trafficking group IMUAlliance, said he's been receiving complaints from foreign fishermen for the past three or four years. "Among the fishermen we've worked with, there are questions about whether there's debt bondage going on," he said. To get their jobs, some workers have to pay exorbitant fees to agencies that they will never be able to pay back, Coffield said. Debt bondage is a form of modern-day slavery by the State Department's definition. In a statement, the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking called for the gaps in law and policy to be closed. "Until the United States puts its own house in order," it said, "it will be difficult to convince other governments to seriously combat modern slavery in their own countries." ___ AP reporters Cathy Bussewitz, Caleb Jones and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report. ____ Follow Martha Mendoza and Margie Mason on Twitter at: @mendozamartha and @MargieMasonAP ___ Read the entire Seafood From Slaves series: http://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/ Fishermen stand on a boat at Pier 38 in Honolulu, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. State and federal lawmakers promised to improve conditions for hundreds of foreign workers confined to boats in Hawaiis commercial fishing fleet for years without basic labor protections. Meanwhile, Whole Foods has stopped buying seafood from those vessels until its clear the men are treated fairly. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) Jordan election seen as small step toward democratic reform AMMAN, Jordan (AP) Jordan's parliament election on Tuesday is being touted as proof that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms despite regional turmoil and security threats. Officials point to new rules of voting and the participation of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood for the first time in almost a decade. But critics argue that this year's electoral reform ostensibly meant to strengthen political parties has fallen short and that the revised system continues to favor King Abdullah II's traditional tribal supporters. They expect the parliament being chosen Tuesday to be similar to the outgoing one largely an assembly of individuals with competing narrow interests, widely dismissed by Jordanians as ineffective in dealing with endemic unemployment and other crises. Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Officials say Jordans upcoming parliament election shows that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms, while critics argue that new voting rules have fallen short and wont deliver change. In Tuesdays vote, more than 1,200 candidates compete for 130 seats and the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, participates for the first time in almost a decade. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh) Such a legislature is still a long way from what Jordanians have long been told would be the goal of gradual reform a strong parliament with a say in choosing the government, now the exclusive domain of the king. The new election rules are "a step forward, but it is not yet enough to create a serious breakthrough on the reform track," said analyst Oraib al-Rantawi. The rules replace the "one man, one vote" system that was introduced in 1993 and weakened political parties. In Tuesday's election, Jordanians will choose 130 members of parliament, with 15 seats reserved for women, nine for Christians and three for minority Chechens and Circassians. More than 4 million Jordanians over the age of 17 are eligible to vote, more than twice the number in the 2013 election, when voters had to pre-register. Under the new rules, the country is divided into 23 districts, and voters choose candidates from competing lists in their district. In all, 1,252 candidates are running on 226 district lists. Voters can select one or more candidates on a list. Only six percent of the lists are affiliated with a specific political party, 11 percent have some party representatives, 39 percent are independent and 43 percent are based on tribal affiliations, according to the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-based non-partisan group that seeks to promote democracy. "The majority of voters base their voting habits on tribal affiliations, community roots and identity rather than approaches to policy," the group said. The most organized party is the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, a veteran opposition movement linked to the regional organization of the same name. The IAF competed in 2007, but boycotted parliament elections in 2010 and 2013, arguing the electoral system was unfair. The Brotherhood has suffered setbacks in the region and in Jordan in recent years, in part because of a backlash of various governments to the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. In Jordan, ideological arguments split the group into rival factions, with one recognized by the government as the official Brotherhood. The original group has been outlawed in Jordan, but its political arm, the IAF, remains legal. Al-Rantawi said he believes the IAF is running in this election despite misgivings about the system to avoid becoming irrelevant. The mood among supporters was subdued at an IAF election rally over the weekend in Sweileh, a neighborhood in the capital, Amman. The outdoor gathering on a sandy lot drew a few hundred people, but several back rows of plastic chairs remained empty. IAF spokesman Murad Adayleh said his party would push for economic and educational reform. "Our role will be to uncover the government's wrong policies and address any mistakes," he said, dismissing suggestions that a vocal, but small IAF faction could inadvertently serve as democratic window dressing. Adayleh, who is also a candidate, said he expects his party will win between one-fourth and one-third of the seats. Al-Rantawi said he believes about 30 seats are in play for political parties, including about 20 for the IAF, and that the remaining 100 seats would be split among individuals. Other parties are less well known nationally, including leftists, centrists and conservatives. A debate among candidates from nine parties, held over the weekend at a hotel in Amman, rarely got beyond generalities, such as calls for lowering unemployment. One of the newcomers on the scene, the Maan List, campaigned for separation of religion and state, still a relatively provocative idea in the conservative, overwhelmingly Muslim kingdom. Candidate Mohammed Numan, a pediatrician, called for ending what he described as a culture of shaming those not considered devout enough. Growing voter apathy may be a key factor this year. In an IRI poll in April, 87 percent of 1,000 respondents said the outgoing parliament didn't accomplish anything worthwhile and more than half said they were somewhat or very unlikely to vote. The survey had an error margin of 3.5 percentage points. Voter turnout in 2013 was 56 percent, said analyst Ayoub Al-Nmour of Al-Hayat, a civil society group that monitors elections. This year, the percentage of those casting ballots will likely be lower because the pool of eligible voters nearly doubled, though turnout could be higher in absolute terms, he said. Some voters are discouraged by unequal representation. For example, the urban district of Zarqa, with 1.8 million people, including large numbers of Jordanians of Palestinian origin, gets 11 seats in parliament, the same number as the tribal Karak district, with just 300,000 residents, said Al-Nmour. Mohammed Momani, the government spokesman, said the new voting system is a significant step toward political reform. "The fact that Jordan is actually holding elections ...in a region that is full of blood and fight and weapons that in itself is important," he said. "It shows the strength of this country, and the credibility of its institutions and the reform process." U.S.-based analyst David Schenker said Jordan invests in regular elections in part to polish its image in the eyes of Western military and financial backers. "We know that the West has a special regard for Jordan, and we know that Jordan, because of this high regard ... is able to charge very high rent," said Schenker, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank. "It costs money to do these elections and there are some risks involved, but for Jordan it's important to display that the kingdom is different from other Arab states," he said. ___ Associated Press writers Khetam Malkawi and Sam McNeil in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Officials say Jordans upcoming parliament election shows that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms, while critics argue that new voting rules have fallen short and wont deliver change. In Tuesdays vote, more than 1,200 candidates compete for 130 seats and the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, participates for the first time in almost a decade. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh) Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Officials say Jordans upcoming parliament election shows that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms, while critics argue that new voting rules have fallen short and wont deliver change. In Tuesdays vote, more than 1,200 candidates compete for 130 seats and the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, participates for the first time in almost a decade.. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh) Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Officials say Jordans upcoming parliament election shows that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms, while critics argue that new voting rules have fallen short and wont deliver change. In Tuesdays vote, more than 1,200 candidates compete for 130 seats and the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, participates for the first time in almost a decade. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh) Election posters are on display in the capital, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Officials say Jordans upcoming parliament election shows that the pro-Western monarchy is moving forward with democratic reforms, while critics argue that new voting rules have fallen short and wont deliver change. In Tuesdays vote, more than 1,200 candidates compete for 130 seats and the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, participates for the first time in almost a decade. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh) Victim: Mall attacker emotionless; leaders urge 'rise above' ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) One of the victims wounded in a stabbing at a central Minnesota mall says the man who carried out the attack showed no emotion and his eyes looked blank. Ryan Schliep, one of 10 people who suffered wounds that were not life-threatening before the attacker was fatally shot, told WCCO-TV that the man "just walked right at me" before striking quickly and penetrating the skin of his scalp. "He looked just blank in the eyes like he wasn't even there," Schliep said shortly before being released from a St. Cloud hospital. Somali-American leaders hold a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in St. Cloud, Minn., to address the stabbing and shooting incident that happened Saturday at Crossroads Center Mall. A man in a private security uniform stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall Saturday, reportedly asking one victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer shot and killed him in an attack the Islamic State group claimed as its own. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP) Authorities are treating Saturday's stabbings at Crossroads Center Mall as a possible act of terrorism, in part because an Islamic State-run news agency claimed that the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. But it wasn't immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said Monday the attack appeared to be the work of a single individual and there was no sign that the attacker, identified as 20-year-old Dahir Adan, was radicalized or communicated with any terrorist group. President Barack Obama said the stabbings had no apparent connection to weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey. Because Adan was Somali, leaders of the state's large Somali community acknowledged the prospect of a "long winter" for their people after the stabbings, but warned not to quickly accept the terrorism connection. "We cannot give ISIS and other terrorist organizations more air time and propaganda without real facts," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Minnesota chapter. Little is known about Adan, who was identified Sunday by his father, Ahmed Adan, and then by St. Cloud police Monday night. He had only a traffic ticket on his record, was apparently out of work after his job as a part-time security guard ended and hadn't enrolled in college since the spring semester. Adan was wearing a security guard's uniform during the attack. A spokesman for the family, Abdi Wahid Osman, read from a statement expressing condolences for the injured and anyone else who was impacted. "As we mourn the death of our son, Dahir Adan, who was very dear to us, we are in deep shock as everyone else is in the state of Minnesota," the statement said. Federal officials released no new information Monday on the investigation into the stabbing, which was stopped by an off-duty police officer just minutes into it. FBI Special Agent in Charge Rick Thornton has said authorities were digging into Adan's background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts and electronic devices and talking to people he knew. Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali population, an estimated 57,000 people. Both Anderson and Gov. Mark Dayton warned against a possible backlash due to the stabbings, especially in St. Cloud, where Somalis in the 65,000-resident city about 65 miles (104 km) northwest of Minneapolis have spoken about mistreatment in the past. "I implore the citizens of St. Cloud and the citizens of Minnesota to rise above this incident and remember our common humanity," Dayton said. "It's going to be tough times. We know it's going to be a long winter for this community," said Haji Yusuf, who is part of UniteCloud, a local group founded to tackle racial and ethnic tension in the city. Last year, St. Cloud school officials met with Somali parents, community elders and students after Somali-American students walked out to protest their treatment. One student had said Somali-Americans were called Islamic State members and had their headscarves pulled off, and a photo posted on social media of a Somali-American student who was using a wheelchair after breaking her leg with a caption that said she was "disabled in ISIS." Five years earlier, CAIR's Minnesota chapter asked for a federal civil rights investigation into allegations that Muslim students had been harassed at two St. Cloud high schools. A 2011 agreement resolved the case, but the U.S. Department of Education still was monitoring the case last year. In 2013, CAIR called on police in nearby Waite Park to reject a training program about Somalis because a flier unfairly suggested the activities of al-Shabab a militant group in east Africa that has had success in recruiting Somali-Americans in Minnesota are supported by most Muslims. If the stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil. Adan was employed by the security firm Securitas, and was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux factory near the mall, Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale said. His father, speaking through an interpreter, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he was 22, but court records and a driver's license database showed his age as 20. Police also said he was 20. A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student majoring in information systems, but hadn't enrolled since the spring semester. Yusuf, who has spoken with Adan's parents, said Adan went to the mall to pick up an iPhone. Yusuf said Adan seemed happy when left the home, which was the last time his parents saw him. A person at the T-Mobile store where Yusuf said Adan had gone declined to comment or take a message for his supervisor. Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon who was there shopping, began shooting the attacker as he was lunging at him with the knife, Anderson said, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. Avon Police Chief Corey Nellis said Monday that Falconer owns a firing range and is the city's firearms instructor. "If I was going to ask anybody to fire ... live rounds in a crowded mall, I would trust his abilities next to anybody's," Nellis said. The mall reopened Monday after being closed Sunday. ___ Forliti reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski and John Mone contributed to this report from St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Jeff Baenen contributed from Minneapolis. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the Electrolux facility is near, but not in the Crossroads Center mall at St. Cloud. It also has been corrected to reflect that Adan's age to 20, rather than 22, and to reflect that Yusuf's group is UniteCloud, rather than OneCloud. People stand near the entrance on the north side of Crossroads Center mall between Macy's and Target as officials investigate a reported multiple stabbing incident, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, in St. Cloud, Minn. Police said multiple people were injured at the St. Cloud shopping mall on Saturday evening in an attack possibly involving both shooting and stabbing. The suspect is believed to be dead, St. Cloud Police Sgt. Jason Burke told the St. Cloud Times. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP) Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Center for American-Islamic Relations Minnesota, talks with reporters during a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at Lake George, in St. Cloud, Minn., expressing the Somali-American community reaction to the Crossroads Center attack. (St. Cloud Times/Jason Wachter via AP) St. Cloud, Minn., Police Chief William Blair Anderson and other officials hold a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, giving updated information on the Crossroads Center incident at the St. Cloud Police Department. A man in a private security uniform stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall Saturday, reportedly asking one victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer shot and killed him in an attack the Islamic State group claimed as its own. (Jason Wachter/St. Cloud Times via AP) Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, from left, Gov. Mark Dayton, St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson, and St. Cloud Mayor David Kleis hold a press conference after meeting at St. Cloud City Hall Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Authorities are treating Saturdays stabbings at Crossroads Mall, as a possible act of terrorism, in part because an Islamic State-run news agency claimed that the attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State who had heeded the groups calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP) Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton listens during a press conference with St. Cloud Mayor David Kleis, left, at St. Cloud City Hall, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP) Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa. We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant. 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Joel Osteen Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ... Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ... Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? 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If successful, the operation could mark a major turning point in the campaign to defeat the extremist group. Neither leader glossed over the immense difficulty of the battle ahead as they met in New York on the sidelines of a U.N. summit. Still, Obama said he and Abadi were confident that Iraq's military and the U.S.-led coalition could make progress in Mosul "fairly rapidly," adding that he was hoping for progress by year-end. "This is going to be hard. It's going to be challenging. It will require resources," Obama said. But he professed confidence that more territory can be wrested from the militants, in part because he said "the Iraqi forces are getting more confident." President Barack Obama turns to leave after speaking about the bombings in New Jersey and Manhattan and the stabbing attack in Minnesota, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Abadi, speaking in English, echoed Obama's timeline for retaking Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the extremist group's stronghold in the country. He called the group a "huge threat" to Iraq's stability. "We hope within the next few months we're going to kick Daesh out of Mosul," Abadi said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. He added: "They must be crushed on the ground." The aggressive timeline reflects Obama's hopes of notching another major victory against IS before he leaves office in January and hands the conflict off to his successor. Donald Trump and other Republicans have blamed Obama's decision to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq for fueling the extremist group's formation and its growth into the world's most serious terrorist threat. Both leaders want to move quickly in Mosul to take advantage of recent momentum against IS in Iraq and the perception that the extremists' morale is waning. In neighboring Syria, the chaotic civil war continues to hamper the fight against IS, but in Iraq, the extremists have lost half the territory they once held, according to the U.S. Capturing Mosul, the last major city IS controls in Iraq, would constitute both a symbolic and strategic defeat to the militants. The U.S. and its partners hope a successful Mosul offensive will set the stage for eventually ousting the group from Raqqa, the largest IS-held city in Syria and the de facto capital of the group's self-declared caliphate. Yet military experts have warned that retaking Mosul is an incredible arduous task that plays to the extremist group's advantages, including its ability to embed among civilians. The battle will require huge numbers of troops and street-by-street combat. In preparation, Iraq's military has been amassing troops and retaking a string of towns in the vicinity of Mosul. Equally daunting to military planners is the prospect that the battle could displace some 1 million people. Washington considers the Iraqi government's handling of the displacement as a major test of reconciliation in Iraq, given the blend of sectarian groups with an interest in the northern city's future. To the Obama administration's relief, Abadi has proven to be a more inclusive leader than his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, whose sectarian approach led many Iraqi Sunnis to see IS as a more welcoming alternative. Obama said he and Abadi had focused on ensuring that food, water and shelter are available for those displaced and that Mosul can be quickly rebuilt, so that desperate residents don't turn to "extremist ideologies" for relief and allow the Islamic State group to return. "A lot of our work today has been focused on making sure that that happens," Obama said. Obama's meeting with the Iraqi leader marked the start of a hectic week of diplomacy as he makes his final appearance as president at the annual U.N. gathering. Even as he and Abadi focused on recent progress in Iraq, the situation was growing grimmer in Syria, where President Bashar Assad's military on Monday declared the end to a week-old cease-fire and a U.N. humanitarian aid convoy was hit by airstrikes. The president also held a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in which both countries condemned North Korea's recent nuclear test and pledged closer coordination on addressing the nuclear threat from Pyongyang. Obama also discussed climate change, the global refugee crisis and terrorism during a phone call with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta. ___ Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP. President Barack Obama greets people in the tarmac as he arrives on Air Force One at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, N.Y., Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, en route to a Democratic National Committee event. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) President Barack Obama arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Pro-Kremlin party wins big majority in Russian parliament MOSCOW (AP) President Vladimir Putin sees the governing party's huge gain in parliamentary elections as a vote of confidence in his government, despite a low voter turnout which suggests broad public apathy and dismay with the political process. United Russia, the main party supporting Putin, expanded its grip on parliament, winning three-quarters of the seats, the Central Elections Commission said Monday. "The results of the vote reflect our citizens' reaction to attempts of foreign pressure on Russia, to sanctions, to attempts to destabilize the situation in our country from within," Putin said. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at United Party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Early results on Sunday are reported to show Russia's ruling United Russia party winning in the parliamentary election amid allegations of election violations. (Yekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP) He pledged to continue a foreign policy "devoid of any signs of aggressiveness, but with unconditional observance of our national interests and securing the nation's defense capability." Russia-Western ties have remained badly strained over the Ukrainian crisis, with the United States and the European Union slapping Moscow with sanctions over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for the pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine. With 93 percent of the ballots from Sunday's vote counted, the United Russia party was on track to get 343 of the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, CEC head Ella Pamfilova said. She said she expected no significant change in the results when the final count is announced Friday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "once again received a massive vote of confidence from the country's people." Turnout, however, was distinctly lower than in the last Duma election in 2011 less than 48 percent nationwide compared with 60 percent. In Moscow, just 35 percent of those eligible cast ballots. The immense gain of more than 100 seats for United Russia, which held a majority in the previous parliament, raises it above the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution on its own. United Russia's gains came at the expense of three other parties that had largely complied with the Kremlin's wishes. The Communists will have 42 seats in the new Duma, a sharp drop from 92, the nationalist Liberal Democrats 39 and A Just Russia 23. Two other seats were won by candidates from small parties and one by an independent. In contrast to the two previous elections, only half the seats in this election were chosen by national party list; the others were contested by single-seat districts. While the new system allowed more opposition candidates to compete, the overwhelming Kremlin control over nationwide TV networks that eschewed any criticism of the government meant that Putin's critics had little chance to deliver their message to a broad public. "These elections were not fair, because there were no equal conditions for those who were allowed to participate," said Mikhail Kasyanov, a former Russian prime minister who leads the liberal opposition party Parnas. It was left outside parliament with less than 1 percent of the vote. The humiliating defeat of Putin's liberal foes sent shivers through the ranks of the opposition, already weakened by years of relentless Kremlin efforts to muffle dissent. "I feel scared for my children I want them to live in Russia, but not this one, which I have seen over recent years and which grew even stronger last night," said Dmitry Gudkov, a candidate for the liberal Yabloko party. He blamed his defeat in a Moscow constituency on voter apathy. The election observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe pointedly said that Russians felt widely disengaged from the political process. The mission criticized reporting on national TV channels owned or controlled by the state for focusing overwhelmingly on the incumbent authorities. The observers also noted "self-censorship encouraged by the restrictive legal and regulatory framework." Marietta Tidei, one of the heads of the observer mission, said Pamfilova's leadership of the election commission, which began five months ago, "has given election stakeholders confidence that the elections can be well-run, yet the low-key campaign shows an overall lack of (public) engagement." The U.S. State Department also noted Monday that the election commission "administered the elections transparently," but added that it shares OSCE observers' concern about limitations during the candidate registration process, misuse of administrative resources by some local authorities during the campaign and harassment of opposition members. Allegations of violations also came from around the country on election day, including charges of ballot-box stuffing and "carousel voting" in which people are transported to several locations to cast multiple ballots. Pamfilova said state investigators had launched a criminal probe of one voting district, where video from a closed-circuit camera appeared to show a poll worker carefully dropping multiple ballots into the box. She promised that reports of other alleged violations would be investigated and that results from three precincts could be annulled. Anger over widespread fraud in the 2011 election sparked large protests in Moscow that unsettled authorities by their size and persistence. The Kremlin responded with a slew of harsh laws that introduced hefty fines and prison sentences for participants in unsanctioned rallies and tighter restrictions for non-government organizations. There have been no protests this time. ___ Natalia Suvorova in Moscow contributed to this report. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the United Party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. President Vladimir Putin, who formally is not a United Russia member, turned up at its election headquarters shortly after the first results were announced and congratulated the would-be lawmakers. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, speak at United Party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. President Vladimir Putin, who formally is not a United Russia member, turned up at its election headquarters shortly after the first results were announced and congratulated the would-be lawmakers. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, speaks to United Russia party activists at party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Early results on Sunday seem to predict Russia's ruling United Russia party winning in the parliamentary election amid allegations of election violations. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, speak at United Russia party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. President Vladimir Putin, who formally is not a United Russia member, turned up at its election headquarters shortly after the first results were announced and congratulated the would-be lawmakers. (Yekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP) A woman reads her ballots while being visited by a mobile election committee, which visits those people that are not able to walk to polling stations, in the village of Gusino, outside Smolensk, western Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) An elderly Russian woman checks her ballot at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia's weekend parliament elections take place under new rules although Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are widely expected to retain their positions in the national parliament. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) Lawmaker and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov listens to a journalist's question in the party election headquarters after the parliamentary election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Early results on Sunday seem to predict Russia's ruling United Russia party winning in the parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left, speak at United Russia party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. President Vladimir Putin, who formally is not a United Russia member, turned up at its election headquarters shortly after the first results were announced and congratulated the would-be lawmakers. (Yekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP) Election commission workers empty ballot boxes after a Russian parliamentary election in Simferopol, Crimea, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 following the months of unrest that drove out Ukraine's Russia-friendly president. (AP Photo/Anton Volk) Election commission workers count ballot papers after a Russian parliamentary election in Simferopol, Crimea, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 following the months of unrest that drove out Ukraine's Russia-friendly president. (AP Photo/Anton Volk) Russian President Vladimir Putin, right center, and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, left center, visit United Russia party's election headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. President Vladimir Putin, who formally is not a United Russia member, turned up at its election headquarters shortly after the first results were announced and congratulated the would-be lawmakers. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) A woman reads pre-election leaflets at a polling station in Smolensk, western Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Election commission officials carry a mobile voting box to a voter's home in the village of Gusino, outside Smolensk, western Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) A woman reads her ballots while being visited by a mobile election committee, which visits those people that are not able to walk to polling stations, in the village of Gusino, outside Smolensk, western Russia, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Marietta Tidei, head of OSCE PA Delegation, left, and Ilkka Kanerva, OSCE Special Co-ordinator, attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. The election observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe pointedly noted that Russians felt widely disengaged from the political process. The mission criticised the news reporting on national TV channels, which are owned or controlled by the state, for focusing overwhelmingly on the incumbent authorities. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) Ilkka Kanerva, OSCE Special Co-ordinator attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. The election observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe pointedly noted that Russians felt widely disengaged from the political process. The mission criticised the news reporting on national TV channels, which are owned or controlled by the state, for focusing overwhelmingly on the incumbent authorities. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, holds the Cabinet meeting in Moscow's Kremlin on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (Alexei Nikolsky/Pool Photo via AP) Experts urge Hungary to end 'benevolent segregation' of Roma BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) Hungary should end the "benevolent segregation" of Roma children in schools, experts on the protection of national minorities said Monday. A report by advisers to the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights body, said the practice of separate classes for Roma where they are meant to "catch up" before continuing in mainstream education is ineffective and discriminatory. The report noted a 2015 ruling by the Kuria, the supreme court, which "effectively declared segregation of Roma pupils legal in schools run by religious groups." The advisory committee said in the report that it was "deeply concerned by this development running diametrically contrary to principles of integration and equal treatment" and highlighted a rise in the segregation of Roma schoolchildren in recent years. Roma make up an estimated 8 percent of Hungary's population of nearly 10 million. A combination of extreme poverty, unemployment and inadequate housing shorten the life expectancy of the Roma by 10 years compared to the Hungarian average, the report said. On other topics, experts also found that the "uncompromising stance" on migration by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government "has fueled xenophobic and intolerant attitudes against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants." A survey, for example, found that 46 percent of Hungarian adults believed no asylum seekers should be allowed to enter the country. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Among the positive developments, the experts noted a significant rise in scholarship amounts awarded, including to Roma children. "Various support schemes coupled with the hard work of the persons concerned, have resulted in the emergence of a small educated Roma elite capable of formulating and voicing Roma concerns," the report said, also observing that only 1 percent of Roma children continue to study after high school. Map exhibit honors 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death BOSTON (AP) A new exhibit honoring the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death has opened at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. "Shakespeare's Here and Everywhere" is among numerous events around the world celebrating Shakespeare's legacy. The exhibit examines the Bard's most famous works through historic maps and images. It aims to show how authors, mapmakers and readers during Shakespeare's time saw the world around them. The exhibit, which runs through February, features 30 items arranged geographically, spanning Europe, Africa and Asia from classical times through the Renaissance. Shifting Cuban voters could be the difference in Florida MIAMI (AP) Francis Suarez comes from a long line of civic and political leaders who have formed the Republican bedrock in south Florida's Cuban community for a half-century. Yet the 38-year-old Miami city commissioner hasn't decided whether he will vote for his party's presidential nominee. And he's not alone. Many Cuban-Americans express solidarity with other Latin-Americans who see Donald Trump as anti-Hispanic. Still others hear in Trump's nationalistic populism echoes of the government strongmen they once fled. "There are aspects of Trump that appeal to parts of the Cuban-American culture: strong leadership, the ability and willingness to say bold things," says Suarez, the son of a former Miami mayor and a potential chief executive himself. The concern, Suarez says, comes when Trump's boorishness, bullying and slapdash policy pronouncements "cross the line from bold to wild, unpredictable." In this Sept. 16, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. Republicans are still counting on strong support from the Cuban-American community in south Florida as they try to win back the White House. But the GOP-Cuban alliance is softening, and Trump could speed the process. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) How those misgivings influence the votes of hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans could tilt the nation's most populous presidential battleground state and, depending on circumstances elsewhere, determine whether Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the election. Roberto Rodriguez Tejera, a well-known Spanish-language radio and television host in Miami, says he won't endorse Trump or Clinton, arguing neither has engaged in genuine, personal outreach to average Cuban and other Hispanic voters. But Tejera asks his audiences to compare Trump's assertions that "I am your voice" and "I alone can solve" societal ills to the initial appeals of authoritarian rulers like Cuba's Fidel Castro and the late Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. "It goes well beyond immigration to the very nature of our Latin-American problem," Tejera said in an interview. "Many of us remember how it starts. It starts with questioning institutions. Then you destroy institutions you being the only person in the world who can save the nation from collapse." Fernand Amandi, a Democratic south Florida pollster, estimates the Cuban-American vote could approach 8 percent of the 8 million-plus ballots cast in Florida in November. Amandi said Cuban-Americans are "the only Hispanic group in the country" to support Trump over Clinton in preference polling, but not by a margin victorious Republican nominees have managed. Trump aides note support from some elected officials and volunteers within the Cuban-American community, but Trump adviser Karen Giorno said his strategy ultimately considers Cuban-Americans as it does anyone else: "They are worried about safety and security. They are worried about the economy. They are worried about drugs on the street. They are worried about the same things other Americans are worried about." Suarez, the Miami commissioner, applauds that approach, but he says it doesn't account for some Cubans-Americans who are thinking of themselves, for the first time in presidential politics, as aligned with immigrants from Mexico and the nations of Central and South America a collective class of people who have never enjoyed Cubans' favored immigration status. "Some Cubans don't consider themselves Hispanic," says Amandi, the Democratic pollster. But now, says Republican pollster Dario Moreno, Trump has made immigration a "symbolic issue" that penetrates the Cuban psyche. "Anti-immigration rhetoric is taken as anti-Hispanic," Moreno said, "and you see that even among the old Cubans" who were the first to arrive in Florida as refugees after Castro came to power in 1959. Clinton certainly sees an opening. In the last week, she launched an advertising blitz featuring the endorsement of Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-American Republican and commerce secretary for President George W. Bush. Speaking in Spanish, Gutierrez calls Trump dangerous and says: "For me, it's country first, and then party." One of the GOP's top financiers, health-care billionaire Mike Fernandez, recently called Trump an "abysmally unfit candidate" and endorsed Clinton. Other prominent Republicans Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and U.S. Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen have said they will not support Trump, though they've stopped short of endorsing Clinton. Tejera, the broadcaster, says heavyweights like Gutierrez and Fernandez "won't move one vote," but their public backing of a Democratic nominee is a striking development in Cuban-American politics. For decades, the equation was simple: U.S. politicians of all persuasions blasted the Castro government and supported the trade embargo first imposed under President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. Despite mostly bipartisan agreement, initial Cuban arrivals to the U.S. aligned overwhelmingly with Republicans, largely out of anger at Kennedy's handling of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion intended to topple Castro in 1961. Yet many in that generation have died or are old, and their children and grandchildren, along with more recent Cuban immigrants, aren't as hard line or simply don't vote exclusively on "the Cuba question." "We're starting to see them think and vote like everybody else, not be driven by a single issue," says Moreno, the Republican pollster and a professor at Miami's Florida International University. Exit polls in the 2012 election found Cuban-Americans essentially split between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, less than a decade after George W. Bush won the Cuban vote overwhelmingly. Obama has since normalized diplomatic relations with Havana, traveled to the island for a state visit and called on Congress to lift the trade embargo. Clinton has forcefully ratified Obama's stance. Until last week, Trump effectively endorsed it, as well, with vague qualifiers that he'd get "a better deal" than Obama. Yet on Friday in Miami, he reversed himself, embracing the hard-liners' longstanding views and promising to roll back Obama's actions unless the Castro government expanded political freedoms on the island. Rudy Fernandez, 43, who spent almost a decade working at the Republican National Committee and in the White House under George W. Bush, doesn't mention Cuba when explaining why he will choose between Clinton and Libertarian Gary Johnson. Rather, he argues that Trump has been "deeply divisive" and adds a common GOP establishment critique that the billionaire "is not a Republican ... not a conservative" and "lacks the temperament required for the job." To be clear, Clinton doesn't have a lock on Cuban-American votes Trump may lose. Amandi notes that Clinton's Spanish-language media presence began months later than Obama's general election efforts. Tejera dismissed Clinton's south Florida outreach as "meeting with the usual Democratic officials and donors" and perhaps the highest-profile Republicans who can't abide Trump. Then there's Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's re-election campaign. Moreno described Rubio, the son of Cuban refugees, as a "role model in the Cuban-American community the way Barack Obama is in the African-American community." Rubio trounced Trump in Miami-Dade County in the March presidential primary, despite Trump's easy statewide win. Brian Ballard, a top Florida lobbyist in Tallahassee and a Trump fundraiser, predicted Rubio will attract Cuban-Americans who will then vote for Trump, even though he mocked the senator earlier this year as "Little Marco." Back at Miami City Hall, Suarez says that's possible, but he argued Cuban-American Republicans are just as likely to see Rubio as an easy out: They can abandon Trump and still call themselves party loyalists, like always. "A presidential election of this magnitude," Suarez said, "the electorate is going to make up its mind all on its own." ___ Senate's odd couple forge unlikely alliance on environment WASHINGTON (AP) The oddest of Senate odd couples California Democrat Barbara Boxer and Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe have accomplished something highly unusual in this bitter election year: significant, bipartisan legislation on the environment that has become law. Boxer, a staunch liberal, calls climate change the "greatest challenge to hit the planet," battles against offshore drilling, rails about the dangers of nuclear power and has pushed to restrict greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Inhofe proudly calls himself an unabashed conservative who dismisses global warming as a hoax and famously tossed a snowball on the Senate floor to prove his point. "It's very, very cold out," he said last February as he lobbed the ball toward the Senate president, an incident that makes Boxer cringe. FILE - In this May 19, 2016, file photo, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., embraces the committee's ranking member Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. One is a Brooklyn-born, northern California liberal who carved out time in a two-decade Senate career to write a politics-sex-and-power thriller or two. The other is an unabashed conservative from Oklahoma who flies planes and famously challenged the hoax of climate change by tossing a snowball on the Senate floor. The oddest of Senate odd couples, Boxer and Inhofe, has accomplished something highly unusual in an election-year, real bipartisan environmental legislation that has become law. Working closely together, and frequently gushing about the other, the two have succeeded where few have. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Yet somehow, the two have managed to become friends and political partners, working closely together to find common ground and frequently gushing about the other. Earlier this year, Inhofe and Boxer shepherded a sweeping bill to impose new regulations on tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products, from household cleaners to clothing and furniture. It was the first update of the law in 40 years. The unlikely alliance played key roles on a 5-year, $305 billion bill to address the nation's aging and congested transportation systems that President Barack Obama signed into law in December. And last week, the pair secured overwhelming support for a $10 billion water projects bill that includes more than $200 million in emergency funds to address a lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and other cities. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., compares Boxer and Inhofe to "an old married couple who've sort of learned to live with each other's idiosyncrasies. They raise their eyebrows, but get past it for the sake of the entire partnership." The senators have known each other since their days in the House in the 1980s. "I've worked with Barbara a long time. And we like each other personally," says the 81-year-old Inhofe. Boxer, 75, says their friendship has its limits, but is real: "One is Venus and one is Mars, let's be clear," she said on the Senate floor. "People wonder how can we possibly bridge the divide," she mused as the Senate debated the water bill. "And it is a fact that on certain issues we can't. There is a lesson there. ... We have never, ever taken those differences and made them personal. We respect each other and we don't waste a lot of time arguing." Or as Inhofe put it in an interview, "She has every right to be wrong." The alliance's success stands in stark contrast to the fierce partisanship that has consumed Capitol Hill and grown increasingly worse as the Nov. 8 election approaches. Republicans and Democrats who once had high hopes for criminal justice reform, for instance, and even the basic business of individual spending bills have accepted the reality that little will be done. Meantime, Inhofe and Boxer plow ahead together. "We both like to finish what we started and get things done," said Inhofe, a former real estate developer and Tulsa mayor who still pilots a small plane. The pairing "sends an important signal to everybody that you don't have to make differences personal and attack someone personally," the Brooklyn-born Boxer said in an interview. Boxer, who carved out time in a two-decade-plus Senate career to write politics-and-power novels, said lawmakers "need to, while holding your ground and not compromising your core beliefs, find ways to get things done." Inhofe's status as the Senate's top climate-change doubter has made him the environmental movement's archenemy, but his fondness for political give-and-take has won him another unlikely Senate ally: Vermont's Bernie Sanders. Sanders, like Boxer a passionate advocate for action to slow climate change, lost a hotly contested race for the Democratic presidential nomination this year. He shocked many supporters when he announced at a town hall this spring that the Republican he likes the most is Inhofe. The revelation might ruin Inhofe's political career, Sanders joked. "There'll be a 30-second ad: 'Sanders said he likes this person!'" Sanders said, calling Inhofe "a decent guy" and a friend. Inhofe returns the compliment and said the men became friends after arguing for hours on the Senate floor over a bill on oil drilling. "I won. He lost," Inhofe said. But he said Sanders later told him: "This is what we should be doing in the Senate debating issues." Boxer, who is retiring after a 34-year congressional career, said colleagues from both parties have noticed her partnership with Inhofe and called it a model. One of those admirers is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican not known as overly sentimental. "I hate to see the Boxer-Inhofe team come to an end," he said last week. ___ Follow Matthew Daly: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC With some gas stations dry, pipeline works to send more fuel ATLANTA (AP) Gas prices spiked and drivers found "out of service" bags covering pumps as the gas shortage in the South rolled into the work week, raising fears that the scattered disruptions could become more widespread. The shortage is blamed on a pipeline rupture and leak of at least 252,000 gallons (954,000 liters) of gas in Alabama. The pipeline company has two main lines and said Monday that it is shipping "significant volumes" on the second of the two lines to limit the impact of the interruption on the other line. Colonial Pipeline said supplies have either been delivered or are on their way to locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. A gas pump is covered with a plastic bag during a fuel outage at a station in Smyrna, Ga., Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Gas prices spiked and drivers found "out of service" bags covering pumps as the gas shortage in the South rolled into the work week, raising fears that the disruptions could become more widespread. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal issued an executive order Monday aimed at preventing price gouging. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Still, some motorists discovered bone-dry pumps. Lindsey Paluka, 28, stopped at a Shell gas station in the East Atlanta neighborhood only to find a gas pump handle covered by a black garbage bag. "I'm definitely on empty, so I'm going to have to figure something out," she said. Alpharetta, Georgia-based Colonial has acknowledged that between 252,000 gallons (954,000 liters) and 336,000 gallons (1,272,000 liters) of gasoline leaked from a pipeline near Helena, Alabama, since the spill was first detected Sept. 9. It's unclear when the spill actually began. According to a preliminary report, it wasn't possible to immediately pinpoint the leak, partly because highly flammable benzene and gasoline vapors hung in the air and prevented firefighters, company officials and anyone else from being near the site for more than three days. State workers discovered the leak when they noticed a strong gasoline odor and sheen on a man-made retention pond, along with dead vegetation nearby, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in the report. The report does not identify the cause of the leak. The agency, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is investigating the leak in a section of the pipeline constructed in 1963, it said. Environmentalist David Butler said no fuel made it into the nearby Cahaba River. From an ecological standpoint, the spill couldn't have happened at a better place or time because the terrain funneled the fuel into the pond and the water was low enough in the small lake to enable it to hold the gas, said Butler, of Cahaba Riverkeeper. "We averted a disaster this time," said Butler, who has been to the spill site and is monitoring the response. Colonial Pipeline said over the weekend that it was beginning construction of a temporary pipeline that will bypass a leaking section of its main gasoline pipeline in Shelby County, Alabama. In a statement Monday evening it said it expects the temporary pipeline to be running by the end of the week with no specific day given. Near the site of the rupture, trucks rumbled along a rural road. Retiree Lawrence Barnett, who lives a few miles from the pipeline, felt the impact of the spill Monday when he drove to Fox Valley Mart to buy regular gas for a piece of farm equipment and found the nozzles covered in black and yellow plastic bags. Several miles away, police guarded the entrance to a Colonial Pipeline terminal beside Interstate 65. Tanker trucks like those used to haul fuel were parked around the property, and a steady stream of trucks came and went through the gate. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley toured Colonial Pipeline's emergency response center, located in a luxury resort hotel about 12 miles from the pipeline breach, and spent much of a news conference Monday praising the company's response. A disaster drill was coincidentally held last year near the scene of the spill, he said, and that helped the company plan and execute a response that included about 700 people so far. Bentley said gas prices in parts of the state rose 20 cents over the weekend, but the governor said he didn't consider that price gouging. "It changes overnight sometimes that much," he said. In Georgia, AAA reported the price of regular gas jumped more than 5 cents from Sunday's average of $2.26 to just over $2.31. The average price a week ago was around $2.10. "Oh yeah, I've noticed that the prices have just gone up, I mean, through the roof!" said Tom Wargo at a gas station northeast of Atlanta. Wargo runs a nonprofit organization that supplies pet food to people in need, and spends much of his time on the road. He just returned from a road trip to Louisiana, where he helped people after the floods there, he said. "I tried getting gas yesterday and a lot of the stations had no gas at all, except diesel," Wargo said Monday. AAA Carolinas said the average price for a gallon in North Carolina was $2.16 up from $2.05 last week. In South Carolina, a gallon was selling for an average of $2.04. That's an increase of 13 cents from last week. In the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area, the price of regular gas jumped 6 cents in one day, AAA reported. In North Carolina, Attorney General Roy Cooper urged North Carolina consumers to report gas prices that seem unreasonably high. Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley said investigators are checking reports of gas being sold at $5.89 a gallon and another offered at more than $4 a gallon. A North Carolina law makes it illegal to overly inflate prices for critical goods and services during the emergency or abnormal market disruption declared on Friday. Violators can be fined up to $5,000. ___ Associated Press Writers Kate Brumback and Kathleen Foody in Atlanta; Alex Sanz in Suwanee, Georgia; Jay Reeves in Helena, Alabama; and Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina contributed to this report. A sign informs customers of a gas outage at a station in Smyrna, Ga., Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Gas prices spiked and drivers found "out of service" bags covering pumps as the gas shortage in the South rolled into the work week, raising fears that the disruptions could become more widespread. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal issued an executive order Monday aimed at preventing price gouging. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Gasoline prices are increasing across the South following a pipeline break in Shelby County, Alabama. This QuikTrip gas station in Duluth, Georgia, seen on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, has run out of unleaded gasoline. The governor of Georgia said Sunday his office hasn't received any complaints of gas shortages within the state after a pipeline spill in central Alabama, but some gas station employees have said they've had to close because they're out. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) Gasoline prices are increasing across the South following a pipeline break in Shelby County, Alabama. This QuikTrip gas station in Duluth, Georgia, seen on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, has run out of unleaded gasoline. The governor of Georgia said Sunday his office hasn't received any complaints of gas shortages within the state after a pipeline spill in central Alabama, but some gas station employees have said they've had to close because they're out. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) Gasoline prices are increasing across the South following a pipeline break in Shelby County, Alabama. This QuikTrip gas station in Duluth, Georgia, seen on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, has run out of unleaded gasoline. The governor of Georgia said Sunday his office hasn't received any complaints of gas shortages within the state after a pipeline spill in central Alabama, but some gas station employees have said they've had to close because they're out. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) Gasoline prices are increasing across the South following a pipeline break in Shelby County, Alabama. This QuikTrip gas station in Duluth, Georgia, seen on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, has run out of unleaded gasoline. The governor of Georgia said Sunday his office hasn't received any complaints of gas shortages within the state after a pipeline spill in central Alabama, but some gas station employees have said they've had to close because they're out. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) A sign informs customers of a gas outage at a station in Smyrna, Ga., Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Gas prices spiked and drivers found "out of service" bags covering pumps as the gas shortage in the South rolled into the work week, raising fears that the disruptions could become more widespread. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal issued an executive order Monday aimed at preventing price gouging. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A QuikTrip gas station pump in Duluth, Ga, is seen Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, has the store has run out of unleaded gasoline. Gasoline prices are increasing across the South following a pipeline break in Shelby County, Ala. Colonial Pipeline said it was working "around the clock" to repair the break and supplies have either been delivered or are on their way to locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) A sign informs customers of a gas outage at a station in Smyrna, Ga., Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Gas prices spiked and drivers found "out of service" bags covering pumps as the gas shortage in the South rolled into the work week, raising fears that the disruptions could become more widespread. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal issued an executive order Monday aimed at preventing price gouging. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Aid convoy attacked as Syria says cease-fire failed BEIRUT (AP) A U.N. humanitarian aid convoy in Syria was hit by airstrikes Monday as the Syrian military declared that a U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed, and U.N. officials reported many dead and seriously wounded. The U.S. initially brushed off Damascus' assertions and said it was prepared to extend the agreement, while Russia after blaming rebels for the violations suggested it could still be salvaged. But late Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby called the convoy attack an "egregious violation" of the week-long cease-fire and said the U.S. "will reassess the future prospects for cooperation with Russia." FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, file photo, activists in Syria's besieged Aleppo protest against the United Nations for what they say is its failure to lift the siege off their rebel-held area. A fragile cease-fire, brokered by the United States and Russia and now in its seventh day, has mostly held despite numerous violations. Banners read in Arabic: 'Hunger better than humiliation,' one banner read. 'X the UN'. (Modar Shekho via AP) U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said initial reports indicate that many were killed or seriously injured in the convoy attack, including Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers. A Red Crescent warehouse was also hit and a Red Crescent health clinic was reported to be seriously damaged, he said. O'Brien called the attacks "sickening" and said he was "disgusted and horrified." He stressed that all parties received notification of the convoy, which was carrying aid for about 78,000 people. U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance to the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. Initial estimates indicated that at least 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers. The Syrian Civil Defense, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure. They posted images of a number of vehicles on fire in the dead of the night. A video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrived on the scene. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the U.N. envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was "bombarded." Egeland added, "It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses." O'Brien, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said there is no excuse "for waging war on brave and selfless humanitarian workers," and warned that if they were deliberately targeted "it would amount to a war crime." Elsewhere at least 20 civilians, including a 1-year-old girl, were killed in fresh airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city and surrounding areas, according to the Observatory. And Russia said government positions in southwestern Aleppo came under attack from militant groups, including a massive barrage of rockets. The week-old cease-fire had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country. Its future will be at the top of the agenda of a meeting Tuesday morning of about 20 countries supporting opposing sides in the Syria conflict, including the U.S. and Russia, that belong to the International Syria Support Group. In the wake of the Syrian military declaration, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the first stage of the truce which called for a week of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid to several besieged communities had never really come to fruition. Earlier in the day, Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that the truce was "holding but fragile." The State Department initially said it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Spokesman Kirby called on Russia, which is responsible for ensuring Syria's compliance, to clarify the Syrian position. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement late Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the cease-fire threatens to thwart the agreement. The cease-fire came into effect on Sept. 12. Under terms of the agreement, the successful completion of seven days of calm and humanitarian aid deliveries would be followed by an ambitious second-stage plan to set up a joint U.S.-Russian coordination center to plan military strikes against the Islamic State group and a powerful al-Qaida-linked militant faction. But from the start, the truce has been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations. Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The U.N. accused the government of obstructing the delivery while Russian officials said rebels opened fire at the delivery roads. Rebel forces and activists say government planes have bombed areas that are under the truce agreement, including rebel-held parts of Aleppo. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Syrian Observatory, and four civilians were killed in government-held areas. There were no independent reports of civilian deaths on the government side since the cease-fire came into effect. By Monday, both the Syrian government and prominent opposition activists were speaking of the truce as if it had already failed. George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid. "Hundreds of thousands of people in Aleppo are waiting for this truce to allow aid to enter the city," he said, adding that aid trucks are still waiting on the Turkey-Syria border. "I believe that the truce is clinically dead." The Syrian military statement placed the blame on the rebel groups. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists. "This step (cease-fire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed. But the armed terrorist groups didn't take it seriously and didn't commit to any of its articles," the military command statement said. "The armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared truce system and mobilized terrorists and weapons and regrouped to continue its attacks on civilian and military areas." A major rebel groups in Syria, Nour el-Din el-Zinki, said soon after the Syrian military declaration that the government, Russia and Iran, another major ally of President Bashar Assad, are responsible for the truce's failure. "The regime of Bashar Assad had no real intention to commit to the truce. Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo," the group said in a statement sent to reporters. Earlier Monday, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. "With the rebels failing to fulfill conditions the cease-fire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless," Rudskoi said. Rudskoi said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started. The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strike by the U.S.-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour. Syria and Russia blasted Washington over the attack. The Saturday airstrikes involved Australian, British and Danish warplanes on Syrian army positions. The U.S. military said it would not intentionally hit Syrian troops, and that it came as it was conducting a raid on IS positions. Russia's military has said it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 wounded. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes. Assad said Monday the airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition against his troops were meant to support the Islamic State group, calling the attack a "blatant American aggression." ___ Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Bassem Mroue and Philip Issa in Beirut, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report. FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 file photo, smoke rises over Saif Al Dawla district, in Aleppo, Syria. Residents in the rebel-held districts of Aleppo have a reprieve from the incessant bombings by Syrian government warplanes and the promise of an end to the crippling siege that has left produce stalls bare. (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo, File) Australia's busiest container port leased for $7.3 billion SYDNEY (AP) An Australian-led consortium has won a 50-year lease on the country's busiest container port for 9.7 billion Australian dollars ($7.3 billion), officials announced Monday. The Lonsdale consortium, which includes multinational firm Global Infrastructure Partners LLC and Australia's sovereign wealth fund, among others, secured the lease for the Port of Melbourne in a deal expected to create thousands of jobs and boost investment in local infrastructure projects, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. The lease is the latest in a series of port privatizations in Australia in recent years. Last year, the prime minister was forced to defend the leasing of the strategically important port of Darwin on the country's north coast to the Chinese government-linked Landbridge Group. The Darwin deal attracted criticism because the port is near an important military base where up to 2,500 U.S. Marines train as part of increasing U.S. defense resources in the Asia-Pacific region. The Melbourne port lease was only expected to fetch around AU$7 billion, said Victoria Treasurer Tim Pallas, who signed the contracts on Monday. "I think we've been very lucky in terms of timing ... couldn't have picked a better time to go to the market," Pallas told reporters. "To say it was a good day and this was a pleasant surprise would be a mild understatement." Ten percent of the lease's value, or around AU$970 million, will be invested in regional and rural infrastructure projects, Andrews said. Deputies in Florida search for owner of 600-pound hog GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) Deputies in Florida are searching for the owner of a 600-pound hog that was found roaming around. Local news organizations report that Alachua County deputies found the domestic hog Sunday after getting reports of the animal running at large. Deputies caught the hog using a rope and took it to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office Livestock Impound. The sheriff's office said in a news release that the 600-pound Hampshire hog appeared to be in good health. The animal will be put up for auction if its owner doesn't claim it. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Political consultations were held between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Iran on September 18 in Tehran. The Armenian delegation was chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, while the Iranian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia & Pacific Affairs Ibrahim Rahimpour, press service of the Armenian MFA informed Armenpress. A wide range of issues related to further development of Armenian-Iranian relations were discussed. The sides emphasized the necessity of maintaining security and stability in the region. A special attention was paid to the implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic projects. Issues related to the cooperation in legal framework, cultural, humanitarian sectors, as well as within the framework of the international organizations were discussed at the meeting. Armenian Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan met also Iranian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Morteza Sarmadi. At the meeting the sides summarized discussions over issues of bilateral interest and outlined the further steps. The Latest: UN says many killed in Syria aid convoy attack BEIRUT (AP) The Latest on the developments in Syria, where a Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire, now in its seventh day, is hanging in the balance after numerous violations (all times local): 4:20 a.m. The United Nations says initial reports indicate that many people were killed or seriously wounded in airstrikes on a convoy carrying aid to a rebel-held area northwest of Aleppo including volunteers with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian Military General Staff, speaks to the media at a Russian Defense Ministry building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Rudskoi said that it has become "meaningless" for the Syrian government forces to observe the U.S.-Russia-brokered truce in view of continuous rebel violations. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) Humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said in a statement late Monday that a Red Crescent warehouse was also hit and a Red Crescent health clinic was reportedly severely damaged. O'Brien said he is "disgusted and horrified" by "these sickening attacks" which he condemned in the strongest terms. He said all parties received notification of the convoy, which was carrying aid for some 78,000 people, and trucks were clearly marked as humanitarian. O'Brien said there is no excuse "for waging war on brave and selfless humanitarian workers," and warned that if they were deliberately targeted "it would amount to a war crime." ____ 3:40 a.m. France is urging the United States to release details of the Syrian cease-fire agreement it reached with Russia to a meeting Tuesday of about 20 key nations that support opposing sides in the conflict in Syria. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault questioned why the U.S. is refusing to disclose the details, including how the cease-fire would be monitored, when Russia wants to release them. "It's good faith and sincerity and that's what this meeting must have, including from Washington," he said. "There are too many hidden agendas." Ayrault called Tuesday's meeting of the International Syria Support Group "a positive step" but said France doesn't want the result to be just a statement. He said all participants should contribute to controlling or monitoring the cease-fire and getting humanitarian aid to thousands in desperate need. ____ 3:20 a.m. France says an independent commission's finding that Syrian government forces were behind at least two chemical weapons attacks must not be "swept under the rug." Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters Monday on the sidelines of U.N. meetings that "it would be a mistake," especially for victims of chemical attacks, and the Security Council must "not close their eye on this issue." The council failed to agree on Aug. 30 on whether Syria merited sanctions over the use of chemical weapons, with Russia questioning the commission's evidence which also blamed the Islamic State group for one attack. "It is an immediate threat for peace and security on the international level that goes way beyond this year and a strong response is for sure needed," Ayrault said. ____ 12:15 a.m. A Syrian activist monitoring group says that 12 aid workers and truck drivers were killed when their humanitarian aid convoy was hit by airstrikes in Aleppo province. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside the country, reported the casualty figures on Monday. The report could not be independently verified. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the UN envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the Syrian Red Crescent convoy carrying U.N. supplies had been "bombarded." Egeland added, "It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses." ___ 10:15 p.m. An official with the Syrian Red Crescent says aid trucks operated by the group and destined for a rebel-held area in Aleppo province has been hit by an airstrike, as warplanes resumed their bombings in Aleppo province. The aid convoy was part of a routine dispatch from government-held Aleppo to rural rebel-held parts of the province. There was no immediate comment from the government. A U.N. official said the report is still being verified. The official had earlier told The Associated Press there will be no U.N. staff with a planned convoy to the area. It was not clear if they were the same convoys. Civil Defense volunteer Ibrahim Alhaj said rescue efforts at the scene of the attack continue. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack. A volunteer with the Red Crescent says the aid convoy with U.N. participation was hit in Uram al-Kubra. The officials and the volunteer all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. Sarah El Deeb and Philip Issa in Beirut, Albert Aji in Damascus ___ 10 p.m. The Russian military says that militants from al-Qaida's branch in Syria are attacking government positions in Aleppo. The Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria said the attack late Monday followed a massive rocket and artillery barrage. It said the militants are attacking Syrian army positions near a military academy and living quarters on southwestern outskirts of Aleppo, adding that the Syrian troops are fighting to repel the attack. The fighting comes as the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire in Syria was left hanging by a thread by escalating violence. Syria's military declared Monday that the week-long truce was over as the government and opposition traded accusations over mounting violations. The U.S. said it's prepared to extend the fractured truce, and Russia, after blaming rebels for the violations, suggested it could still be salvaged. ___ 9 p.m. France says the U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire in Syria has proven "particularly weak" and must have the support of the international community if it is to be implemented. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters Monday that the cease-fire is nevertheless a "glimmer of hope" because it's the only basis for stopping the fighting. Speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, he called for a "strengthened and renewed dialogue between the United States and Russia," but said "we can't limit the dialogue to two countries." He stressed that "it's extremely difficult" to implement such an agreement without international support. As for the future of Syria's President Bashar Assad, Ayrault said it's impossible for him to lead a united Syria in peace, and predicted "chaos" if he remains in power. Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations ___ 8:45 p.m. The U.S. says it's prepared to extend Syria's fractured cease-fire despite numerous violations and the Syrian military's announcement that the truce is over. The State Department said Monday that it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Spokesman John Kirby noted the Syrian announcement but stressed that the cease-fire arrangement was agreed by the United States and Russia. He says Russia, which is responsible for ensuring Syria's compliance, should clarify the Syrian position. Kirby says that although there were truce violations by all sides, the level of violence overall had been reduced over the past week. ___ 8:30 p.m. Russia's Foreign Ministry says the failure of Syrian rebels to adhere to a weeklong truce brokered by Moscow and Washington "threatens the cease-fire and U.S.-Russian agreements." The ministry statement was issued Monday, after the Russian military said that continuing rebel violations made it "meaningless" for the Syrian army to respect the deal. The Syrian military said earlier Monday that the cease-fire had expired. The ministry's warning appears to signal that rather than declaring the truce dead, the military declarations represented an 11th hour attempt by Moscow to pressure the United States to move quicker on implementing the deal. The agreement envisages creating a joint U.S.-Russian center that would coordinate strikes against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked militants, but Washington says conditions aren't ready for that yet. Both sides are alleged to have repeatedly violated the agreement over the past week, and aid has yet to be delivered to besieged, rebel-held parts of Aleppo -- a key opposition demand. ___ 8:15 p.m. Syrian activists and residents of the northern city of Aleppo are reporting airstrikes on rebel-held districts hours after the Syrian military declared that a cease-fire had expired. The activist-operated Aleppo Media Center says suspected government warplanes dropped bombs on a number of rebel-held neighborhoods. Mohammed Khandakani, a resident, says one of the bombs fell near his house in the center of the city. The cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia went into effect a week ago, but both sides have been accused of violating it on dozens of occasions. Activists and residents also reported airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday. The military said insurgents had failed to adhere to the agreement. ___ 6:30 p.m. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has delivered humanitarian aid to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Syria's central Homs province. It says a joint convoy of 45 ICRC, Syrian Arab Red Crescent and U.N. trucks delivered nearly 17,000 food parcels as well as 1,000 bulk food rations to the town of 84,000 residents on Monday. Talbiseh is besieged by government forces. A humanitarian convoy last reached the town in July, the ICRC said. The ICRC says it also delivered materials to repair the town's water network as well as hygiene products. ___ 6:20 p.m. Syria's military command has declared the U.S-Russian brokered cease-fire over, blaming the country's rebel groups for undermining the agreement. In a statement Monday, the Syrian military said that "armed terrorist groups" repeatedly violated the cease-fire which came into effect last week. It said the armed groups also took advantage of the truce to mobilize and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas. The statement said the rebels wasted a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed. Activists and rebel groups also accuse the government of violating the cease-fire. The U.N. said the Syrian government has obstructed the delivery of aid, a key component of the deal. ___ 5:40 p.m. Secretary of State John Kerry says the week-old truce in Syria brokered by the U.S. and Russia is "holding but fragile" despite persistent violence and a lack of aid deliveries to besieged communities. Speaking Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Kerry said some humanitarian assistance is moving but it's too soon to say if it will meet the requirements of the cease-fire deal. The truce took effect last Monday with the goal of creating a joint U.S.-Russia military facility to coordinate airstrikes on the Islamic State group and an al-Qaida affiliate. That was to be set up after seven days of reduced violence and sustained aid deliveries to Aleppo and other areas. Although Kerry professed hope, U.S. officials said Monday conditions were still not right to set up the Joint Implementation Center. ___ 4 p.m. Syrian state TV is quoting President Bashar Assad as saying that the airstrike of the U.S.-led coalition against his troops was meant to support the Islamic State group. Assad described the attack that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour as a "blatant American aggression." Assad made his comments Monday during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hossein Jaberi Ansari. Ansari said Tehran will "give all possible support" to Syria in its war against terrorism. Iran is one of Assad's strongest supporters. The U.S. military said after Saturday's airstrike that it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against IS. Britain, Denmark and Australia have since acknowledged that their planes took part in the airstrike which Moscow says killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers. ___ 3:50 p.m. The Russian military is warning that for Syrian government forces, observing the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire has become "meaningless" in view of continuous rebel violations of the truce. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff, says the rebels killed 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers since the truce took effect a week ago. He claimed on Monday that the Syrian government forces have observed the truce unilaterally, despite the continuing rebel violations. The Syrian government forces have in fact also repeatedly been accused of violating the truce. Rudskoi accused Washington of failing to fulfill its obligations under the truce deal most importantly to separate the U.S.-backed opposition units from al-Qaida's branch in Syria. He says that amid the rebel violations, "it has become meaningless for the Syrian government forces to unilaterally observe the cease-fire." He didn't explain whether this means Moscow is opting out of the cease-fire and giving the Syrian government the free hand to freely use force again. ___ 3:05 p.m. Britain's Ministry of Defense has confirmed that it participated in a coalition airstrike over the weekend that killed dozens of Syrian troops even as it stressed it would never intentionally target Syria military units. The U.S. military has said it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group on Saturday. The strike has threatened an already fragile U.S.- and Russia-brokered cease-fire that has largely held despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides. MOD says it can "confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition airstrike in Syria, south of Deir el-Zour on Saturday, and we are fully cooperating with the coalition investigation." ___ 2:45 p.m. Syrian state TV is reporting that government warplanes are attacking positions of the Islamic State group in eastern Deir el-Zour province. The station says Monday's airstrikes targeted IS positions in areas such as the Tharda Mountain, overlooking the airport of the city of Deir el-Zour. The areas hit are close to Syrian army positions that were targeted on Sunday by the U.S.-led coalition. Australian and Danish warplanes were involved in that attack on Syrian army positions. Russia's military has said that it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 wounded. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes. ___ 1:45 p.m. A Syrian activist group says 92 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire a week ago. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that 29 children and teenagers are among those killed, as well as 17 women. The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The truce excludes IS and al-Qaida-linked militants. Uncertainties are prevailing about the truce, which is now in its seventh day. The Syrian army said in a statement last week that the cease-fire would last until midnight Sunday but it's not clear if the U.S.-Russia-brokered deal set a time limit for the truce. There have been remarks from the Syrian military in Damascus that the truce might be extended by 72 hours. ___ 11:40 a.m. Denmark says two of its F-16 fighter jets took part in the U.S.-led air raid that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers over the weekend. In a Monday statement, the Danish military says it will cooperate fully with the coalition investigation into the airstrikes in eastern Syria on Saturday. After the incident, the United States said it may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group. The Danish Armed Forces say it is "regrettable if the coalition mistakenly hit" government forces instead of IS militants. They say the raid was halted immediately when information came from Russia that the Syrian military had been hit. ___ 11:35 a.m. A senior Syrian opposition figure says the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire that went into effect in Syria a week ago is now "clinically dead." George Sabra of the High Negotiations Committee told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in opening roads for aid to enter besieged rebel-held areas. Seven days after the cease-fire went into effect, aid convoys have not been able to reach besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo. On Monday, the opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on Sept. 12. Syrian state media said there were 32 violations by rebels on Sunday alone. The Syrian army said in a statement last week that the truce will last until midnight Sunday. ___ 11:10 a.m. Turkeys' president has announced a new push by Turkish forces and Syrian rebels aimed at capturing a town held by the Islamic State group. Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Syrian opposition forces, backed by Turkish troops and tanks, are determined to advance toward al-Bab to clear the region of terror threats. The Turkish leader said on Monday that the offensive will last until the area "is no longer a threat" to Turkey. Last month, Turkey for the first time sent tanks across the border into Syria to help rebels clear territory of IS militants and to contain the expansion of a Syrian Kurdish militia. Erdogan's announcement comes as a fragile cease-fire, brokered by the United States and Russia and now in its seventh day, has mostly held despite numerous violations. Less than stellar reviews for Rome's 5-Star neophyte mayor ROME (AP) The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Rome's mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters' sights on the next destination for what he calls their "mission impossible airplane" soaring into national power. But early reviews of the new 5-Star mayor, Virginia Raggi, have been anything but stellar, leading some to wonder if her bumbling administration might end up eclipsing the Movement's dream of having one of its own in the premier's office. Raggi, a 38-year-old lawyer whose political resume before becoming Rome's first female mayor consisted of a stint as a city councilwoman, swept away Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic candidate in a mayoral election runoff in June to become the "anti-party" 5-Star's most prominent local office holder yet. FILE - In this Tuesday Feb. 2, 2016 file photo, Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment 5-Stars Movement, performs in Milan, Italy. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File) Three months into the job, Raggi is struggling to assemble her team at the city hall atop ancient Capitoline Hill. Her choice for chief of staff exited after an uproar over an exorbitantly high salary, an embarrassment for the Movement, which rails against the political elite. While Rome sinks in debt, Raggi still is sifting through resumes to pick a budget czar. The local mass transit agency, ATAC, has taken to cannibalizing buses for spare parts because suppliers have stopped filling orders over unpaid bills. One hot day this summer, 800 buses broke down along their routes. Meanwhile, children in a rundown, outlying part of town took to amusing themselves on school vacation by counting rats near a trash container. "Fifteen, 16. Sixteen rats, guys," one boy says in a much clicked-on video the children made and posted on the internet. Rome's patronage-tainted garbage collection agency, AMA, needs fixing, making Raggi's choice for city environment commissioner another critical one. But earlier this month, Raggi told Parliament's watchdog commission on criminal infiltration of environmental activities that she had known for two months that her pick for the job, a woman who had served for years as a consultant to the trash agency, was under investigation. Commission officials said Rome prosecutors told them they are investigating the commissioner for suspected unauthorized management of handling of refuse. It was a dismaying admission for the Movement, which boasts of transparency and insists that its office-holders step down if they are implicated in criminal probes. Instead, Raggi has dug in, refusing to fire the commissioner. "Let's go forward, with courage. We will change Rome and the country," Raggi wrote on her Facebook page Friday. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for an interview. For sure, Raggi inherited a monumental mess. Rome's previous mayor, a Democrat, resigned midway through his term when some in his own party lost faith he could rescue the city from years of moral and physical filth. The mayor before him, a former neo-Fascist street fighter, has been implicated in a scandal involving allegations that local politicians, bureaucrats and criminal gangs schemed to profit off lucrative city contracts. Grillo's forces are widely expected to be Renzi's chief challenger for the premier's office in parliamentary elections in 2018, or perhaps sooner, if the center-left leader's government stumbles on an ambitious reform agenda that has alienated some in his Democratic Party. So opinion polls are being closely watched to see if Raggi's inexperience might erode Movement support nationwide. Recent polls indicate her rocky start could have cost the 5-Stars a few percentage points. Grillo himself is ineligible for public office because of a manslaughter conviction resulting from a car accident. Grillo has promised to closely monitor Raggi's performance, essentially rebuffing some loudly grumbling lawmakers and city councilmembers who worry the mayor could taint the Movement's reputation for change and improvement and are starting to wonder if she should go. For now, Romans wearily wait for better times. "These are problems that piled up over the years, so you need to give (Raggi) time," 5-Star supporter Maria Vicentini said while waiting for her bus at a stop across from City Hall. "The broken buses need to be repaired. All the garbage rot must be removed." Vicentini added that the moral rot exposed in the corruption scandals "also needs time" to be removed. Waiting at the same bus stop, lifelong Roman Sergio Fiormonte says he is not dissatisfied with Raggi, but allows "that nothing has changed from the last mayor to the one now." Ticking off the familiar traffic, public transportation, and trash collection problems, Fiormonte, who describes himself as apolitical, ventured: "I think you need a magic wand to resolve them" after decades of what he called "non-administration." Possibly tarnishing the 5-Star sheen could be a flurry of closed-door huddles over what to do about Raggi, including one led in Rome by Grillo with members of the Movement's "directorate." In the past, the Movement, keeping to a promise to supporters, has streamed important meetings live. Massimo Franco, a political analyst for the Corriere della Sera newspaper, told The Associated Press that while Raggi is off to a "fragile" start, she will hang in there "because there isn't a true alternative." The Movement's rank-and-file, who pick candidates online instead of in traditional primaries, also are likely to prove fiercely loyal to their office-holders, according to Erik Jones, a professor of European Studies and International Political Economy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna. "They don't judge them on their governing prowess," Jones said. Instead, "they judge them on their authenticity." ___ Frances D'Emilio is on twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi attends a press conference presenting the European Mobility Week at Rome's Capitol Hill. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File) FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi, center, arrives for a press conference to present the European Mobility Week at Rome's Capitol Hill. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File) In this Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 photo, Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi, left, attends a press conference presenting the European Mobility Week at Rome's Capitol Hill. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016 Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi, left, and Turin's Mayor Chiara Appendino wave to journalists from the balcony of Rome's City Hall. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP) FILE - In this Monday, June 20, 2016 file photo, Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi waves at the end of a press conference in Rome after being elected. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (Alessandro Di Meo/ANSA via AP) FILE - In this Thursday, June 23, 2016 file photo, Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi waves to reporters as she leaves the Rome's Vittoriano Unknown soldier monument, after laying a wreath. The day the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement triumphed in Romes mayoral election, its exultant founder, comic Beppe Grillo, immediately turned his supporters sights on the next destination for what he calls their mission impossible airplane soaring into national power. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File) Kenya: World court has no jurisdiction in Somalia dispute THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Kenya says that the International Court of Justice has no jurisdiction in a case filed by Somalia covering a dispute over potentially oil-rich seabed off the two countries' Indian Ocean coasts. Somalia launched a case with the United Nations' highest judicial organ in 2014 asking it to rule on the maritime border between the east African states, saying that diplomatic efforts to resolve the disputed boundary had failed. At a preliminary hearing Monday, Kenya argued that the world court has no jurisdiction because there are two other methods for resolving the dispute a 2009 memorandum of understanding between the two countries and a United Nations maritime treaty. Private review of Tyre King's body finds he was shot 3 times COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The 13-year-old boy fatally shot by Columbus police last week was struck three times, according to findings by a medical examiner hired by the teen's family to evaluate the body. Police have said Tyre King was shot multiple times after he ran from an officer investigating a reported armed robbery and pulled out a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. The official findings of the county coroner have yet to be released. Dr. Francisco Diaz, a medical examiner from Michigan, conducted the two-hour review of Tyre's body on Sunday on behalf of the boy's family. Demonstrator Aramis Malachi-Ture Sundiata, center, speaks during a rally for Tyre King on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. Police said King was fatally shot Wednesday by Columbus police after he ran from an officer investigating a reported armed robbery and pulled out a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Diaz said he did not conduct an autopsy, but was hired to do an independent review of the gunshot wounds. "I just evaluated, took measurements and made notations as to the characteristics of the wounds," Diaz told The Associated Press. Diaz, a medical examiner in Michigan's Wayne County and forensic pathologist at the University of Michigan, determined Tyre was shot three times. Police cannot comment on Diaz's examination pending the release of the official coroner's report, said police spokesman, Sgt. Rich Weiner. The investigation is ongoing. The coroner in Franklin County, home to Columbus, has said Tyre's autopsy was complete but she has not yet released details, including where he was shot. Dr. Anahi Ortiz did not immediately respond to an email request for comment about Diaz's findings. Also on Monday, more than 100 demonstrators gathered outside Columbus City Hall to call for an independent investigation into the shooting and urge police to spend more on violence-prevention programs. "I can only hope and wish that they take the time to understand that our children cannot keep dying, at the hands of anyone whether it's police (or) regular street violence. Something has to be done," said Stacey Little, a 31-year-old Columbus resident and a member of the group People's Justice Project. Tyre's relatives also want an independent investigation. "We appreciate the support in the quest to find the truth here," family attorney Sean Walton said of the demonstration. Authorities say the police investigation will be presented for a grand jury to decide whether charges are merited against Bryan Mason, the officer who shot the teenager. The head of the local police union says Mason did what he had to do in that situation. Mason met or exceeded standards in a performance evaluation from May, according to records AP obtained Monday through a public records request. The evaluation notes that Mason maintains composure under stress and demonstrates "exceptional verbal skills" in defusing "potentially hostile situations." Witnesses reported that a group of people one witness suggested there were seven or eight robbed a man of $10 at gunpoint Wednesday night east of downtown Columbus. Authorities say officers investigating the report spotted several males who matched the description of the suspects and tried to talk to them, and that Tyre and another robbery suspect ran. That other suspect, Demetrius Braxton, told The Columbus Dispatch that he was with Tyre on Wednesday night and that the boy wanted to rob someone for money and had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. Braxton was interviewed then and released without charges, but he was arrested on a robbery charge Saturday afternoon near the Ohio State University campus, Columbus police said. Braxton, 19, was to appear in court on Monday, but his defense attorney questioned the release of his client's juvenile records and successfully requested that a judge waive his initial court appearance. Braxton remained held without bond. Another hearing is set for Sept. 27. Defense attorney Marcus Ross declined further comment about Braxton after Monday's hearing. Police have said they're still looking for others who may have been with Braxton on the night Tyre was killed. Braxton told the newspaper that he ran away with Tyre, and police told them to get down. He said they did, but then Tyre got up and ran and was shot. Columbus police have refused to comment on how Braxton's recollection compares with officers' accounts. Juvenile records show Braxton got probation in a case of attempted rape after a judge issued the juvenile-court equivalent of a conviction in 2011. Demonstrators rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Marcus Ross, attorney for Demetrius Braxton, appears before Judge Eileen Paley on his client's behalf at Franklin County Municipal Court, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus police arrested Braxton on a robbery charge Saturday afternoon. Braxton is linked to the 13-year-old Tyre King who was shot fatally by Columbus police after an alleged robbery. Braxton had told The Columbus Dispatch that he was with King on Sept. 14 and that King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm and wanted to rob someone for money. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Judge Eileen Paley listens to Marcus Ross, attorney for Demetrius Braxton, as he appears on his client's behalf at Franklin County Municipal Court, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus police arrested Braxton on a robbery charge Saturday afternoon. Braxton is linked to the 13-year-old Tyre King who was shot fatally by Columbus police after an alleged robbery. Braxton had told The Columbus Dispatch that he was with King on Sept. 14 and that King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm and wanted to rob someone for money. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Marcus Ross, attorney for Demetrius Braxton, appears before Judge Eileen Paley on his client's behalf at Franklin County Municipal Court, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus police arrested Braxton on a robbery charge Saturday afternoon. Braxton is linked to the 13-year-old Tyre King who was shot fatally by Columbus police after an alleged robbery. Braxton had told The Columbus Dispatch that he was with King on Sept. 14 and that King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm and wanted to rob someone for money. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Marcus Ross, attorney for Demetrius Braxton, appears before Judge Eileen Paley on his client's behalf at Franklin County Municipal Court, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus police arrested Braxton on a robbery charge Saturday afternoon. Braxton is linked to the 13-year-old Tyre King who was shot fatally by Columbus police after an alleged robbery. Braxton had told The Columbus Dispatch that he was with King on Sept. 14 and that King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm and wanted to rob someone for money. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrators rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrator Aramis Malachi-Ture Sundiata, left, hands a list of demands to a security guard intended for city officials after a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrator Ciara Humphrey, right, holds a sign during a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrators holds their hands up in support during a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrators take a knee during a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrators take a knee during a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrators take a knee during a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrator Andrea Lacey rallies for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrator Tammy Fournier Alsaada raises her fist at a rally for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Demonstrator Colleen Kishman rallies for Tyre King, the 13-year-old Ohio boy who was fatally shot by Columbus police, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, outside City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. King was shot after being confronted by police investigating a robbery. Police claim King had a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) South Africa says OK to university fee hikes, amid protests JOHANNESBURG (AP) South Africa's government says universities in the country can increase fees by no more than 8 percent next year, despite student warnings that they would protest against any new hikes. Blade Nzimande, the education minister, said Monday that financial constraints make it impossible to provide free higher education, as some protesters have demanded. Student leaders at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg say they will protest against the government's announcement. Classes were already suspended at the University of Cape Town on Monday because of recent protests. A student from the University of Cape Town claps her hands as she and other students chant and sing as they gather to discuss possible student fee increases at there campus in Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. South Africa's government says universities in the country can increase fees by no more than 8 percent next year, despite student warnings that they would protest against any new hikes. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) In 2015, South African university students staged large demonstrations against proposed fee hikes, extracting a government concession that there would be no fee increases this year. Sporadic unrest, including the burning of buildings and vehicles, continued on some campuses this year. Students from the University of Cape Town chant and sing as they gather to discuss possible student fee increases at there campus in Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. South Africa's government says universities in the country can increase fees by no more than 8 percent next year, despite student warnings that they would protest against any new hikes. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) Students from the University of Cape Town chant and sing as they gather to discuss possible student fee increases at there campus in Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. South Africa's government says universities in the country can increase fees by no more than 8 percent next year, despite student warnings that they would protest against any new hikes. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) Students from the University of Cape Town chant and sing as they gather to discuss possible student fee increases at there campus in Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. South Africa's government says universities in the country can increase fees by no more than 8 percent next year, despite student warnings that they would protest against any new hikes. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) Students from the University of Cape Town chant and sing as they gather to discuss possible student fee increases at there campus in Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. South Africa's government says universities in the country can increase fees by no more than 8 percent next year, despite student warnings that they would protest against any new hikes. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam) Padre Pio's heart on display in US, 1st time outside Italy LOWELL, Mass. (AP) The heart of St. Padre Pio will be on display in Massachusetts this week, marking the first time the religious relic has ever left its home in Italy. The Sun reports (http://bit.ly/2cJfSVK ) that the heart will be first made available for viewing Wednesday at the Immaculate Conception Church in Lowell. The Rev. Paul Soper says honoring the relics of saints is ancient practice in the Roman Catholic faith. St. Padre Pio was a Capuchin friar best known for possessing the Stigmata, or wounds of Jesus Christ. He died in Foggia, Italy, in 1968 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. The body of St. Padre Pio is believed to be partially incorrupt. The heart can also be seen at locations in Boston and Braintree this week. ___ Court to rule on same-sex marriage in conservative Romania BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) They met in Central Park, fell in love, and now are happily married. But there's a catch. The same-sex marriage of Adrian Coman and Claibourn Robert Hamilton is not recognized in Coman's native Romania. They have petitioned Romania's Constitutional Court to recognize them as married, which would be a landmark and surprising ruling. Commentators predict the court will reject their case on Tuesday. The couple's lawyer, Iustina Ionescu, said Monday that she hoped the court would "put an end to homophobic sentiments and apply the constitution equally." She said the ruling had implications for non-traditional families such as cohabiting couples and one-parent families. "Not allowing them to be a family goes against the right to a family." Clay Hamilton, left, and Adrian Coman, a US-Romanian gay couple who got married in Belgium and seek legal recognition of their status in Romania smile during an interview with the Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, July 22, 2016. Commentators predict the court, scheduled to rule Tuesday on the marriage of U.S. graphic designer Claibourn Robert Hamilton and Romanian human rights activist Adrian Coman, will vote against the motion, amid opposition from the influential Romanian Orthodox Church and public disapproval of same-sex relationships.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Romania's constitution defines marriage as a union between "partners," but a church-backed group is campaigning for a referendum to change that to "a man and a woman." The case comes as European Union member Romania tries to balance European norms and the demands of the conservative and influential Romanian Orthodox Church. Cristian Parvulescu, dean of the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, predicted Monday that "the court will make a political rather than a judicial ruling." Journalist and commentator Dan Turturica says it would be "revolutionary" for the court to recognize the union. Yet U.S. graphic designer Hamilton, 44, has told The Associated Press that his experience in Romania had been "nothing less than compassion, friendliness and warmth and I'm grateful for that." The pair appeared in Romanian media during their visit in July and their upbeat, eloquent and relaxed manner generally attracted positive attention. One restaurant owner recognized them, gave them a bottle of champagne on the house and wished them success. Success may elude them yet. On July 20, the Constitutional Court ruled that a church-backed group could seek to amend the constitution to limit marriage to male-female couples. If parliament agrees in a vote that may come later this year, there would be a referendum. Coman, 45, and San Antonio native Hamilton are used to battles. They married in Belgium in 2010, eight years after meeting in New York, and Coman went to Romania's consulate in Brussels hoping to get the marriage legally recognized. He remembers consular staff huddled in discussion as they pored over the marriage certificate, before telling him the marriage would not be recognized. "It was not my home that day," he told AP in a July interview in Bucharest. "I was very sad and humiliated." The legal fight for recognition in Romania began in 2012 after plans to relocate to Romania for work were shelved due to a refusal by immigration authorities to recognize the marriage. Coman told The AP they also have plans to retire there. As things stand, Hamilton can get only a 90-day visa to be in Romania and would have difficulty getting permission to work. Coman also says he wants the pair of them to be recognized as a family when they visit Romania. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 2001 and attitudes to have relaxed, but aversion to same-sex relationships remains. The New York-based couple refrains from holding hands in Romania, a society in which public expression of affection is common. "I am afraid it would attract hostility perhaps," said Coman. "An act of love and affection (can be seen) as defiance." In private, they are very demonstrative. Coman's mother, Camelia Coman, a draftswoman and newspaper copy editor, is supportive. She recalls how her son, then 24, told her he wanted to tell her something, which she intuitively guessed. They both burst into tears. Coman's father also supports him. "I want mothers to know that it is enough to love and know your child," she said. "Society has a mentality that is close to medieval at times." FILE- In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 file photo, a gay rights activist speaks to gendarmes during a rally supporting same sex marriages in Bucharest, Romania. Commentators predict the court, scheduled to rule Tuesday on the marriage of U.S. graphic designer Claibourn Robert Hamilton and Romanian human rights activist Adrian Coman, will vote against the motion, amid opposition from the influential Romanian Orthodox Church and public disapproval of same-sex relationships(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File) The Latest: Family of mall stabbing suspect 'devastated' ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) The Latest on the knife attack at a Minnesota mall being investigated as a potential act of terrorism (all times local): 8:10 p.m. The family of a man who went on a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall has issued a statement expressing condolences to the 10 people injured and anyone else who was affected. Somali-American leaders hold a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in St. Cloud, Minn., to address the stabbing and shooting incident that happened Saturday at Crossroads Center Mall. A man in a private security uniform stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall Saturday, reportedly asking one victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer shot and killed him in an attack the Islamic State group claimed as its own. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP) A spokesman for the family of 20-year-old Dahir Adan read from a statement Monday that said the family is "devastated by the incomprehensible tragic event. The statement also said the family is in "deep shock." Adan's father has identified him as the mall attacker who was eventually shot dead by an off-duty police officer. Federal investigators say they're looking at the attack as a potential act of terrorism. ___ 6:40 p.m. A community activist says a man who went on a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall that injured 10 people had gone to the mall to pick up a pre-ordered iPhone. Haji Yusuf, community director for the social tolerance group UniteCloud, has been working with the family of 20-year-old Dahir Adan. Adan's father has identified him as the mall attacker who was eventually shot dead by an off-duty police officer. Yusuf told WCCO-TV that Adan had gone to Crossroads Center to get a new phone and "was very happy" upon leaving home. He says Adan's family doesn't know what happened. A person who answered the phone at the T-Mobile store where Yusuf said Adan had ordered the phone declined to comment or take a message for his supervisor. ___ 4:35 p.m. Police have identified a 10th victim in the weekend stabbing at a central Minnesota mall. St. Cloud police say that while they were reviewing security footage as part of their investigation into Saturday's stabbing at Crossroads Center mall, they found another man had been hurt. Due to the nature of his injuries, the 21-year-old man did not tell police or initially seek medical attention. The other nine victims have all been released from the hospital. The attack ended when the suspect, who was identified by his father as Dahir Adan, was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Federal investigators say they're looking at the attack as a potential act of terrorism. ___ 4:10 p.m. Islamic State militants rarely miss a chance to claim at least partial credit for apparent terrorist attacks on U.S soil, though they haven't staged planned attacks here. Terrorism experts say they're eager to precisely because they apparently haven't carried out carefully planned attacks here and because in terrorism circles, your influence is often ranked by numbers of attacks. Karen Greenberg, the director of the Fordham Law School's Center on National Security in New York, says some militant groups are more reluctant about associating themselves with attackers unless it is clear they adhere to their core beliefs. An Islamic State-run news agency claimed on Sunday that the attack at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was a "soldier of the Islamic State," but authorities say there's no sign yet he was radicalized or communicated with any terrorist group. The speed with which IS weighed in may also say something about a competition for recruits between the Middle East-based IS and the east Africa-based militant group al-Shabab, which has recruited Somali-Americans from Minnesota with some success in recent years. ___ 4:05 p.m. The man who stabbed nine people before being shot and killed at a Minnesota mall had nothing more than a minor traffic citation on his record. Dahir Adan was killed by an off-duty police officer minutes into the attack Saturday night at the mall in St. Cloud. None of the nine people suffered life-threatening wounds. Court records show Adan was stopped in August for a traffic violation and cited for no proof of insurance. Adan didn't pay the fine when it was due and was sent a late notice just days before the attack. Court records show he owes $342. The court record and a driver's license database show Adan as 20 years old. The Star Tribune earlier reported Adan's age as 22, based on his father speaking through an interpreter. ___ 3:15 p.m. One of the nine people wounded in a stabbing at a central Minnesota mall says the man who carried out the attack showed no emotion and his eyes looked blank. Ryan Schliep of Willmar says he initially saw the attacker with a girl on Saturday and thought they were playing around. But he realized the situation was serious when the man "just walked right at me." Schliep tells WCCO-TV that the attacker stabbed him in the head and Schliep fell to the ground. The knife hit Schliep's skull, and just missed his brain. Schliep and the eight other victims have all been released from the hospital. Federal investigators say they're looking at the attack as a potential act of terrorism. ___ 12:40 p.m. A Minnesota police chief says the part-time officer who fatally shot a man stabbing people at a St. Cloud mall was "the right person, at the right place, at the right time" to prevent the attack from getting worse. Avon Police Chief Corey Nellis said at a news conference Monday that Jason Falconer "was the person who needed to be there." Falconer was shopping at Crossroads Center on Saturday night when he shot a man who stabbed nine people and then lunged at Falconer with a knife. Falconer owns a firing range and is the firearms instructor for the city of Avon. Nellis said: "If I was going to ask anybody to fire ... live rounds in a crowded mall, I would trust his abilities next to anybody's." Since Falconer has not been on the police schedule for some time, he has not been put on administrative leave. The FBI is investigating the stabbings as a potential terrorist act. Falconer was not at the news conference. ___ 12:15 p.m. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson says there's nothing yet to suggest that it more than "was a lone attacker" that stabbed nine people at a Minnesota mall over the weekend. Gov. Mark Dayton said at a Monday news conference said the state will help however it can and asked citizens of St. Cloud and the state to "rise above" the incident. Dayton met with St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis and other city officials before the news conference. Kleis said it's been a trying time for the city and said he has tremendous respect for the off-duty officer who shot and killed the attacker. Nine people were injured in Saturday's stabbing attack; all have been treated and released. Federal investigators say they're looking at the attack as a potential act of terrorism after the Islamic State claimed the suspect had heeded its calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition. The motive is unknown. ___ 11:30 a.m. Uniformed security guards are visibly present at a Minnesota shopping mall that has reopened after a man stabbed nine people in what authorities are investigating as a potential terrorist incident. There was a steady trickle of shoppers into the Crossroads Center in St. Cloud after the doors opened Monday. The mall was closed Sunday while authorities investigated Saturday night's incident, which ended when an off-duty police officer shot and killed the suspect. Adnan Alasker, who was in town from Saudi Arabia to visit his son at St. Cloud State University, said he feels badly about the violence. He says all people are brothers and equal regardless of their religion. Mall officials declined to comment Monday, referring questions to police. All nine people who were attacked were treated at a hospital and released. ___ 11:15 am. President Barack Obama says there is no apparent connection between the stabbings at a mall in Minnesota and the bombings in New York and New Jersey. The president on Monday echoed FBI officials, who have said they're investigating Saturday's stabbing of nine people at a St. Cloud mall as a potential act of terrorism. Gov. Mark Dayton, who traveled to St. Cloud, says Obama called him Monday morning to express concern about the stabbing and offer any assistance. Dayton says the president told him to convey his "deep appreciation" for the work of investigators and the police officer who stopped the attacker. The man, whom his father has identified as 22-year-old Dahir Adan, was fatally shot by an off-duty officer at Crossroads Center mall. ____ 10:35 a.m. The man who was fatally shot by an off-duty officer after stabbing nine people at a Minnesota mall this weekend had worked as a security guard for a store near the mall. Electrolux Home Products' spokeswoman Eloise Hale said Monday that the man was an employee of the security firm Securitas and was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux facility. That assignment ended in June. Officials said the man, whom his father has identified as 22-year-old Dahir Adan, was dressed as a security guard when he stabbed people Saturday. The city's police chief said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. It isn't clear whether Adan was radicalized. All of those who were injured have been released from a hospital. This item has been corrected to show that the Electrolux facility is not in the Crossroads Center mall at St. Cloud. ___ 6:15 a.m. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton plans to travel to St. Cloud to meet with city officials about the weekend stabbing at a local mall that is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism. Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith are scheduled to meet with St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis on Monday morning. Authorities say seven men, one woman and a 15-year-old girl were stabbed and injured by a young Somali man who was dressed as a private security guard when he entered the Crossroads Center mall Saturday. He appeared to be wielding a kitchen knife. The city's police chief said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. The rampage ended when the man was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. ___ 1:20 a.m. Authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a central Minnesota mall as a potential act of terrorism, a finding that would be the realization of long-held fears of a domestic attack there. The state is home to the nation's largest Somali community, which has been a target for terror recruiters in recent years. The possibility of an attack on U.S. soil has been a major concern for law enforcement. The motive for Saturday's attack at a St. Cloud mall is still unclear, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton said Sunday the stabbings were being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism." The Islamic State also claimed responsibility, though it wasn't immediately clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand. People stand near the entrance on the north side of Crossroads Center mall between Macy's and Target as officials investigate a reported multiple stabbing incident, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, in St. Cloud, Minn. Police said multiple people were injured at the St. Cloud shopping mall on Saturday evening in an attack possibly involving both shooting and stabbing. The suspect is believed to be dead, St. Cloud Police Sgt. Jason Burke told the St. Cloud Times. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP) Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Center for American-Islamic Relations Minnesota, talks with reporters during a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at Lake George, in St. Cloud, Minn., expressing the Somali-American community reaction to the Crossroads Center attack. (St. Cloud Times/Jason Wachter via AP) The Latest: Congressman: Bomb suspect asked for visa help NEW YORK (AP) The Latest on explosive devices being found in two states (all times local): 7:30 p.m. A New Jersey congressman says that the Afghan immigrant arrested in the New York-region bombings contacted his office from Pakistan in 2014 to help get his pregnant wife a visa. Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of New York and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park. (Ed Murray/NJ Advance Media via AP) Rep. Albio Sires (SEE' reese) said that Ahmad Khan Rahami emailed his office from Pakistan in 2014 seeking help because his wife had an expired Pakistani passport. Sires said his office wrote a letter to the U.S. embassy in Pakistan to check on the status of the case and that the woman eventually received a visa. He says he doesn't know if she ever came to the country and the FBI didn't answer when asked on Monday. Sires says he contacted the FBI about the encounter on Monday after Rahami was named as a person they were seeking for questioning. Rahami was captured in Linden after being wounded in a gun battle with police. ___ 6:30 p.m. The Afghan immigrant arrested in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town is now facing attempted murder charges over his dramatic capture. Ahmad Khan Rahami was wounded in a gun battle with Linden, New Jersey, police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway. He was charged in Union County with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer. He was being held on $5.2 million bail and remained at a hospital. It wasn't known if Rahami had an attorney. Messages left with phone numbers listed for family members weren't returned. Federal charges in the bombings have yet to be filed. Authorities say two Linden officers were wounded trying to arrest Rahami. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening. ___ 5:20 p.m. President Barack Obama is praising law enforcement in New York for "outstanding" work in capturing the man sought for questioning in bombings in New York and New Jersey. He says it was remarkable that Ahmad Khan Rahami was apprehended so quickly. Obama says he spoke by phone on Monday with some of the officers involved in the operation in New Jersey and that they're in good spirits. He says he also spoke to an officer involved in the response to stabbings in Minnesota. Obama has said the stabbings are being investigated as an act of terrorism. Obama spoke after a previously scheduled meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (HY'-dahr ahl ah-BAH'-dee) in New York. ___ 3:30 p.m. A law enforcement official says fingerprints and surveillance video helped investigators identify the man suspected of setting off bombs in the New York area over the weekend. The official says Ahmad Khan Rahami is seen in surveillance footage "clear as day" at the scene of the Saturday night bombing in Manhattan. The official says investigators were also able to recover his fingerprints from the scene. Another law enforcement official says investigators pulled over a car "associated" with Rahami when it appeared headed toward an airport Sunday. It had three men and two women in it. A third law enforcement official says Rahami wasn't on any terror or no-fly watch lists but had been interviewed for immigration purposes. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the case. Associated Press writer Jake Pearson in New York contributed to this report. ___ 2 p.m. A federal law enforcement official says three bombs found in New York and New Jersey over the weekend had one component in common: a flip-style cellphone. The official says a pipe bomb that exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, was constructed with a threaded pipe and black powder. The official says two devices found in New York City included pressure cookers, similar to the devices used in the 2013 attack the Boston Marathon that killed three and wounded hundreds of people. The device that exploded contained residue from the commercially available explosive compound Tannerite. One of those bombs went off, injuring 29 people. The other didn't explode. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the ongoing investigation. Associated Press writer Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington contributed to this report. ___ 1:50 p.m. Investigators probing bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey say they've found no evidence so far that the suspect in the attacks was part of a broader terrorist cell. New York City's mayor and police commissioner also say no other suspects are being sought at this time. Ahmad Khan Rahami was shot Monday in an exchange of gunfire with police in Linden, New Jersey. The assistant director of the FBI's field office in New York, William Sweeney Jr., said in a news briefing that "there is no indication that there's a cell" in the area. The officials say evidence links Rahami to bomb blasts on Saturday in a New Jersey shore town and in Manhattan. Mayor Bill de Blasio said that, based on current information, "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror." ___ 1:25 p.m. Authorities say a man whom a law enforcement official says is regarded as the "main guy" behind explosions in New York City and New Jersey is undergoing surgery after a shootout with police. Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said Ahmad Khan Rahami was shot in the leg. She says that two officers injured in the shootout have noncritical injuries. A law enforcement official says they plan to look into whether any other associates had a role or knowledge. The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Linden police Capt. James Sarnicki says one officer was shot in his bulletproof vest and another was grazed by a bullet that Rahami fired into his car. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. ___ 1:10 p.m. A law enforcement official says investigators regard Ahmad Khan Rahami as the "main guy" behind explosions in New York City and New Jersey but plan to look into whether any other associates had a role or knowledge. The official says investigators are not seeing connection between the explosions and a separate stabbing attack at a mall in Minnesota. President Barack Obama likewise said earlier Monday that investigators see no connection between the bombings and the stabbings. The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, also said Rahami was not believed to be on federal terror watch lists at the time of the explosions. Rahami was arrested after a shootout with police Monday in Linden, New Jersey. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. ___ 12:50 p.m. Relatives of a man in custody after explosives were found in New York and New Jersey filed a federal lawsuit in 2011, claiming they and their family business were targeted because they are Muslims. In the lawsuit, Mohammad Rahami and two of his sons claimed that starting in July 2008, Elizabeth police and city officials improperly tried to restrict the their fast-food restaurant's hours. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 because one of Rahami's brothers had pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was arrested after a shootout Monday in Linden, was not part of the lawsuit. The family claimed that baseless citations were issued against them, spawned by complaints filed by residents who disliked them and made anti-Muslim comments to them. ___ This item has been corrected to show the father's last name is Rahami, not Ruhami; the item has also been corrected to show that one of Rahami's brothers pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant, not father. ___ 12:10 p.m. Authorities say the man wanted for questioning about bombs found in New York and New Jersey was found sleeping in a bar hallway before his arrest. Linden, New Jersey, Mayor Derek Armstead says the owner of a bar found the man sleeping in his hallway Monday morning. He says the man was initially presumed to be a vagrant, but police officers who responded quickly realized it was Ahmad Khan Rahami. Armstead says the man pulled out a handgun and fired at the officers, hitting one in a bulletproof vest. The man then began firing as he ran down the street and police shot him in the leg. The man was conscious when he was taken away in an ambulance. Linden police Capt. James Sarnicki says three police officers were taken to the hospital. One was hit by shrapnel and another had high blood pressure. ___ 11:55 a.m. President Barack Obama says investigators are focusing on a "person of interest" in the New York and New Jersey bombings, but see no connection to the stabbings in Minnesota. Obama says the country is "extremely fortunate" nobody was killed in the bombings. He says he's spoken to the governors of New Jersey and New York and pledged all needed federal assistance. He spoke around the time police in New Jersey arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Authorities were looking for him to question him about the bombings. The president is echoing FBI officials who have said they're investigating the Minnesota stabbings as a potential act of terrorism. Obama is urging Americans to report suspicious activity to law enforcement. Obama is in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering. ___ 11:35 a.m. A law enforcement official says the Afghan immigrant wanted in connection with explosions in New York City and New Jersey has been taken into custody following a shootout with police officers. The official says two officers were shot in the encounter in Linden, New Jersey. The person wasn't authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Authorities were looking for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage says county authorities told him that the officers shot in Linden are expected to be OK. He says one was struck in a protective vest and the other in the hand. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. ___ 11 a.m. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says investigators have no reason to believe that there are further threats, but the public should "be on constant guard." Cuomo was at Manhattan's Penn Station to thank state troopers and National Guard members for their work protecting the public during and after the New York City and New Jersey shore town bombings. Cuomo says he spoke to President Barack Obama on Monday. He says the president also expressed appreciation for the work of first responders. Authorities are seeking a man for questioning in both bombings. He is 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the FBI executed a search warrant on Monday morning. ___ 9:45 a.m. Police have connected the New York City and New Jersey shore town bombings and say the same man is being sought for questioning in both. New Jersey State Police say that information comes from the FBI. Authorities are seeking 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the FBI executed a search warrant on Monday morning. An explosion in Manhattan on Saturday injured 29 people. A pipe bomb also exploded Saturday in Seaside Park ahead of the race for Marines and sailors, but no one was injured. The apartment search began after one of five devices found at the nearby Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it. No one was injured. ___ 9:05 a.m. The White House says President Barack Obama was briefed throughout the night and early Monday on the investigation into bombs found in New York City and New Jersey. Spokesman Josh Earnest says the White House is following the situation closely. He says Obama will comment publicly "relatively soon." He was expected to comment Monday afternoon after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (HY'-dahr ahl ah-BAH'-dee) on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. An explosion Saturday night in New York City injured 29 people. FBI agents are also investigating the discovery Sunday of five devices in a backpack near a New Jersey train station. ___ 8 a.m. New York's governor now says it looks like the Manhattan bombing could be an act of terrorism with a foreign connection. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the statement Monday after the New York Police Department said authorities were searching for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the bombing. He is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan. Cuomo says: "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes." On Sunday, Cuomo had effectively ruled out a link to international terrorism, saying there was no evidence to suggest that. The bomb went off Saturday in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. All have been released from a hospital. Authorities are still investigating whether that bombing is linked to explosive devices found nearby in Manhattan and in two sites in New Jersey. ___ 7:45 a.m. The New York Police Department says it is looking for a 28-year-old man for questioning in the New York City bombing. The NYPD tweeted Monday morning that authorities were seeking Ahmad Khan Rahami. He is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan. Bill de Blasio says he could be armed and dangerous. An explosion in Manhattan on Saturday injured 29 people. Gov. Andrew Cuomo had said earlier that it didn't appear to be linked to international terrorism. A pressure cooker device was also found blocks away, but it didn't explode. Authorities were trying to determine if they were connected. A pipe bomb also exploded Saturday in a New Jersey shore town ahead of a 5K. No one was injured. And on Sunday night, five explosive devices were found near an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station. ___ 2 a.m. Authorities are questioning several people as they try to determine any possible connection between an explosion in a bustling New York City neighborhood, an unexploded pressure-cooker device found blocks away and a pipe bomb blast in New Jersey. FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser says agents stopped "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" of the Manhattan explosion Sunday night. She said no one has been charged. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Saturday night blast in Manhattan that injured 29 people didn't appear to be linked to international terrorism. Cell phones were discovered at the site of both bombings. Authorities say the New York City bomb contained residue of an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. Evidence teams investigate at the scene of Saturday's explosion on West 23 Street in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in New York. An Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was captured Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. INFO 2016 international conference of the International Network of Financial Services Ombudsman Schemes has been kicked off in Yerevan. More than 70 delegates from over 30 countries are taking part in the conference, reports Armenpress. The theme of the conference is Defining Individuality Going Global which highlights the influence of each states national and cultural features on the ombudsmens professional activities. The conference participants are financial ombudsmen, prominent lawyers, former judges and political figures from the EU member states, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa, Chile and other states. Financial System Mediator of Armenia Piruz Sargsyan welcomed the conference participants and said a number of contemporary issues related to the features of mechanisms of solving disputes in various states financial systems will be discussed at the conference. In particular, we are going to discuss the maintenance of balance between confidentiality and transparency, the scope of the ombudsmens jurisdiction, the reconciliation principles, the dilemma between ombudsmans decisions being mandatory or voluntary, the justice in different legal systems and other issues, she said. Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments Douglas Melville representing Canada highlighted that a number of group discussions will be held at the conference which will enable the participants to carry out effective exchange of experience. We will discuss topical issues at the conference, we will try to understand the existing issues of the field. Specialists from various states have arrived here and I hope the exchange of experience will enable to understand how to resist to current challenges, he said. The Office of the Financial System Mediator has organized a number of cultural events which aim to present Armenia and the Armenian cultural heritage to the conference participants. The Latest: Police arrest 2 after girl shoots self with gun MIAMI (AP) The Latest on two children who were fatally shot in separate incidents in Florida (all times local): 8:20 a.m. Investigators in Florida say a 4-year-old girl in Palm Beach County died after shooting herself with a gun she apparently found under a bed in her home. The girl died Sunday night following the shooting in Riviera Beach, which is near West Palm Beach. On Monday morning, investigators announced they've arrested a 16-year-old and the girl's uncle. Police tell news outlets that the gun discharged while Amirra Jacques was playing with it about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Police say the teenager then discarded the firearm. The uncle, Nathaniel Lowe, is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a felon. The teen is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, perjury and grand theft of a firearm. ______ 6:51 a.m. Police in Florida are investigating the fatal shootings of two young children on both sides of the state. The shootings occurred Sunday at an apartment complex in Tampa and at a home in Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County. Tampa police said in a news release that a 17-month-old child was shot at the Clipper Bay Apartments about 4:12 p.m. Sunday. The child later died. Investigators were interviewing family members late Sunday and said additional details wouldn't be available until Monday. Riviera Beach police spokeswoman Rose Ann Brown told local news outlets that several people, including the mother, were inside the home Sunday evening when the 4-year-old girl was fatally shot. Brown says investigators questioned several people but that others left immediately after the shooting. For apathetic Dems, Obama offers himself as motivation WASHINGTON (AP) For Democrats lulled into apathy by the uninspiring presidential election, President Barack Obama is offering himself as motivation. He's not just validating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or holding up his record as a reason for voters to keep the White House in his party's hands. Obama wants his supporters to see anything less than a vote for Clinton as a sign of disrespect to the nation's first black president. "I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election," Obama said Saturday during an impassioned address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual dinner. "You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote." While greeting well wishers after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, President Barack Obama reaches out to Desmond Hatfield-Rudin, eight months old, of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) The president was speaking specifically to an audience of African-American leaders, but his broader message is aimed at all corners of the young, diverse coalition that twice propelled him to the White House. While Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by wide margins with young voters, blacks and Hispanics, party leaders are deeply concerned that turnout among those groups will fall short of what she needs to win. "The president knows firsthand how important it is to not take a single vote for granted," said Jennifer Psaki, Obama's communications director. She said Obama would spend the coming weeks taking his message to "African-Americans, young people, old people and anyone who needs an extra boost to remember what is at stake." Obama aides say the president has grown increasingly frustrated this year by the indifference to Clinton among some Democrats, especially given what he sees as an unacceptable alternative in Trump. That frustration has been particularly acute with black voters who tell Obama they're saddened by the end of his presidency but aren't enthusiastically rallying behind the candidate who would safeguard most of his work. "He knows when he ran, it was a great source of inspiration," civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson said. "People cannot just limit the inspiration to his presidency." When Obama met with advisers in August to start planning his remarks for the Congressional Black Caucus event, he made clear he wanted to light a fire under that group of voters. "My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot," Obama said in Saturday's address. In the years following Obama's historic 2008 victory, Democrats have puzzled over how to turn out the president's coalition of supporters when he's not on the ballot. The party saw the consequences of failing to do so in 2010 and 2014, when Democrats suffered sweeping defeats in the midterm elections. Clinton's campaign has banked in part on disdain for Trump being a strong motivator for Obama supporters, particularly given the Republican's role in questioning whether the president was born in the United States. Trump acknowledged for the first time last week that Obama was born in the U.S., but did not apologize for falsely suggesting otherwise. While Trump may infuriate Obama supporters, Democrats say Clinton's struggle to give voters reasons to turn out for her is dampening party enthusiasm. "It's really hard to motivate Democrats with a negative," said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. She said young voters in particular are less likely to be motivated by the prospect of voting against a candidate they dislike than for one they support. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that among likely voters age 18 to 39, Clinton has a 23-point lead over Trump - the same edge Obama had with younger voters over Republican Mitt Romney at this stage of the race four years ago. But Obama's lead amounted to 59 percent of young voters, while Clinton's is just 47 percent, suggesting she may not be to run up the score with these crucial voters. Indeed, 25 percent of likely voters ages 18-39 say they will vote for either Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Clinton advisers contend they still have time to bolster Democrats' views of the former secretary of state. The campaign is paying particular attention to younger voters this week, with Clinton set to spotlight her plans for lowering education costs during a speech Monday at Temple University in Philadelphia. The Clinton campaign has also deployed Michelle Obama, the popular first lady, to vouch for the Democratic nominee with young voters. During a campaign stop last week at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, Mrs. Obama shared her own frustration about voters who can't seem to muster the same enthusiasm for Clinton as they did for her husband. "When I hear folks saying that they don't feel inspired in this election, well let me tell you, I disagree. I am inspired," Mrs. Obama said. Both of the Obamas are expected to be active campaigners in October, with a particular focus on Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Clinton campaign is eager to dispatch them around crucial registration deadlines and during early voting windows. But White House cautioned that the president, with a busy day job of his own, would not be a daily fixture on the campaign trail in October. The work of wooing his supporters this year still falls to the candidate whose name is on the ballot. _ AP Polling Editor Emily Swanson contributed to this report. _ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC With President Barack Obama aboard, Air Force One rolls along a taxiway after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) President Barack Obama smiles at a baby as he greets people as he arrives on Air Force One at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, N.Y., Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, en route to a Democratic National Committee event. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) The Latest: Clinton vows to protect Wells Fargo customers WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT): 12:05 p.m. Hillary Clinton is telling Wells Fargo customers she will work to protect them, in the wake of allegations that bank employees opened millions of unauthorized accounts to meet aggressive sales targets. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, left, listens to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, during a meeting at the Lotte New York Palace hotel in New York, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki) Clinton writes that she was "deeply disturbed" by the allegations. She says that while the country's economy relies on a strong and safe banking system, "the culture of misconduct and recklessness" that preceded the 2008 financial crisis "too often persists." Clinton is pledging to "defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," to offer "real consequences" for Wall Street firms that break the law and to make sure no financial institution is "too big to manage." Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf will appear before Congress Tuesday. __ 10:20 p.m. Donald Trump's campaign is saying the Republican nominee told Egypt's president that he has "high regard for peace-loving Muslims." Trump met Monday night with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at the United Nations General Assembly. Trump promised El-Sissi that, were he to be elected, the United States would be "a loyal friend" to Egypt, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the Republican's campaign. He also said they shared a "common enemy" when fighting "radical Islamic terrorism." The summary of the meeting makes no mention of whether Trump discussed his plan to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants from entering the United States. Trump has also proposed banning immigration from countries affected by terrorism. It is not clear if Egypt is included on that list. __ 9:25 p.m. Donald Trump is meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at the United Nations General Assembly. Trump was joined by two advisers, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. When reporters were ushered into the room, Trump was sitting to el-Sissi's right and awaiting a translation from Arabic. El-Sissi was suggesting that the world was suffering from a crisis of extremist ideology, according to a later translation. It was not clear if Trump would discuss his proposed Muslim ban with the Egyptian president. El-Sissi met with Hillary Clinton earlier in the evening. Clinton's campaign says they discussed counterterrorism efforts, economic development and human rights, and Clinton asked the Egyptian leader to release American citizen Aya Hijazi, who has been imprisoned since 2014. ___ 9:10 p.m. Hillary Clinton is meeting with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko at a hotel in New York City as world leaders gather for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Russia's aggression toward neighboring Ukraine is a major topic at the U.N. this week. Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014 following months of unrest that drove out Ukraine's Russia-friendly president. Before the meeting, Clinton told Poroshenko she was looking forward to discussing "the very real problems and threats from Russian aggression and anxious to know how we can be supportive of those efforts." ___ 8:16 p.m. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in New York. Abe is a strong advocate for the 12-nation deal. Like President Barack Obama, he is urging the U.S. Congress to approve it. Clinton opposes the TPP. Abe made his views on TPP plain during a speech earlier Monday. But his spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura declined to characterize the discussions with Clinton on the issue. During their 50-minute meeting, he said they also discussed security issues in the Asia-Pacific, the U.S.-Japan alliance and economic empowerment of women. Kawamura said Clinton requested the meeting, and that Abe has no meeting planned as yet with Republican nominee Donald Trump. Abe is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. ___ 8:10 p.m. Hillary Clinton met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at a New York City hotel Monday night. Both were flanked by advisors. As journalists entered the room, Sissi said through a translator that his country is on a path to building up a "new civil society, a new modern country that upholds the rule of law, that respects human rights and liberties." Clinton did not speak in the brief moments while journalists were in the room. Clinton's Republican rival, Donald Trump, is expected to meet with Sissi later Monday. ___ 6:48 p.m. The moderator of the critical first presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump has chosen a trio of topics for the Sept. 26 event: America's direction, prosperity and security. The Commission on Presidential Debates says moderator Lester Holt will follow a format that calls for six 15-minute time segments. Each topic will get two segments, according to the commission. The 90-minute debate will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and begin at 9 p.m. EDT. ___ 6:41 p.m. Hillary Clinton is affirming her commitment to a strong relationship between the United States and Japan. The Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Monday during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. She said the relationship between the United States and Japan is "absolutely critical to the peace and prosperity of not only of Asia, but the entire world." Clinton said she looked forward to discussing a number of issues, from "North Korea to maritime security." Abe spoke through a translator, saying the relationship is of "increasing" importance amid security concerns in the Asia-Pacific region. Clinton is also meeting with several other leaders Monday. ___ 5:00 p.m. Donald Trump says that the United States must "use whatever lawful methods are available" to obtain information from the suspected New York and New Jersey bomber "to get information before it's no longer timely." Trump also noted that Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized citizen originally from Afghanistan, will be received high-quality medical care and be represented by a high-quality lawyer. Some members of his packed crowd in Fort Myers, Florida, shouted, "Hang him!" He says that, because of how long it takes to try someone, "in the end, people will forget and his punishment will not be what it once would have been." ___ 4:33 p.m. Donald Trump is blaming poor immigrant screening for a trio of recent attacks and says his administration would enact policies that would solely admit immigrants "who love our country." Speaking at a packed rally in Fort Myers, Florida, Trump did not say how he'd screen for that. But he declared that, "You can't have vetting if you don't look at ideology." The GOP nominee says recent attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota are examples of how poor screening puts all Americans in danger. And he is repeating his call for "extreme" vetting that would include an assessment of whether potential immigrants share American values. ___ 4:31 p.m. Newt Gingrich is defending Donald Trump for deeming Saturday night's explosion "a bomb" before law enforcement officials did. Gingrich, opening for Trump at a rally Monday in Florida, said the Republican nominee was "telling the truth" and was "describing a bomb as though it were a bomb." Trump said "a bomb went off in New York" moments after he stepped off his plane at a rally in Colorado Saturday night and before New York officials did. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, criticized Trump, saying "it's important to know the facts about any incident like this" before making public declarations. Clinton also called it "a bombing" after receiving a briefing on the incident. Trump campaign officials have declined to say whether Trump had been briefed before stepping off his plane Saturday. ___ 4:21 p.m. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine says he will continue to highlight Donald Trump's recently reversed position on whether President Barack Obama was born outside the United States. Speaking to students at a rally in Iowa State University Monday, Kaine said Trump's acknowledgement last week that Obama was born in the country doesn't make up for the GOP presidential candidate's years of being one of the nation's most prominent advocates of the so-called "birther" conspiracy. Kaine said Trump had taken the country back to "the most painful chapter" in the country's history, and compared Trump's birther position to the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous pro-slavery 1857 Dred Scott decision. "I'm not letting this thing go," Kaine said. ___ 3:50 p.m. Donald Trump says recent attacks in three states should be "a wake-up call for every American." The Republican presidential contender made the comment in a statement released Monday. He warned that terrorists are rooting for Hillary Clinton to win the presidency so "they can continue their savagery and murder." Trump promised that "political correctness" would not shape his policies if elected. He said earlier in the day he supports racial profiling to help prevent terrorist attacks at home. In the statement, he also renewed his support for "extreme vetting" for legal immigrants coming from troubled regions and reminded voters he would not grant entry to Syrian refugees. Trump warned that failing "to get smart and get tough fast" could make the weekend's attacks "the new normal." ___ 3 p.m. Former President Bill Clinton is hosting his final gathering of the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual meeting of world leaders, philanthropists and celebrities. The Clinton Foundation is facing election-year scrutiny, with Republicans accusing Hillary and Bill Clinton of using the organization to enrich themselves and give donors special political access. In an attempt to quiet critics, Bill Clinton says he will step down from the foundation board if his wife is elected president. He has also said 2016 marks the last CGI meeting, regardless of the outcome of the November election. ___ 2:50 p.m. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is rejecting Hillary Clinton's assertion that Donald Trump and other GOP leaders are encouraging terrorists by asserting the U.S. is at war with Islam. Pence told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Monday that it's "weak and feckless" foreign policy from Democrats that "emboldens" Islamic State fighters. The Indiana governor told Limbaugh during a phone interview that the U.S. is indeed "at war with the ISIS caliphate," using an acronym for the Islamic State group. He said Democrats won't say so because of "political correctness." Pence also repeated a common Republican claim that the Islamic State grew because President Barack Obama withdrew ground forces from Iraq. Obama did withdraw troops, but the withdrawal process was initiated by President George W. Bush's administration. ___ 1:45 p.m. The former wife of billionaire Oklahoma energy tycoon Harold Hamm is hosting a fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, less than a week after her ex-husband chaired one for Republican Donald Trump. Sue Ann Arnall is hosting a reception with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine on Friday at her home in Oklahoma City. The ex-wife of Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm, Arnall was awarded nearly $1 billion in a divorce settlement in 2014. Hamm was one of the chairs of a private fundraiser in Norman on Saturday for Trump and has been an outspoken supporter of the New York real estate mogul. Donors listed as chairs for Friday's event with Kaine are expected to contribute $50,000. The minimum contribution is $1,000. ___ 1:30 p.m. Hillary Clinton says that "everyone needs to get off the sidelines" in this election. At a campaign event geared toward young people in Philadelphia Monday, the Democratic presidential nominee stressed the close race and asked for more support, saying that "not voting is not an option." Clinton characterized Republican Donald Trump as a divisive figure, stressing the fact that he has not apologized to President Barack Obama for repeatedly questioning if he was born in the United States. She also questioned Trump's business record, saying she was "facing a candidate with a long history of racial discrimination in his businesses." Clinton received loud applause when she said: "We have got to stand up to this hate." ___ 1:25 p.m. Donald Trump's tax plan may cost an additional $1.5 trillion. That's according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. The additional price tag is because the Trump campaign has been publicly silent about how the plan would treat businesses classified as "pass-throughs." The campaign has hinted it would give these firms a major tax break, but not made that clear. So the Tax Foundation estimated the cost under each scenario. It's either $4.4 trillion or $5.9 trillion. Last week Trump promised voters that his tax math "works." Economists said then that was not likely because he was counting on record-setting growth to pay for his plan. ___ 1:20 p.m. Hillary Clinton says she understands that young voters still may have questions about her. Speaking at a Philadelphia university Monday, Clinton made her case to millennial voters, noting that "even if you are totally opposed to Donald Trump, you may still have some questions about me. I get that." Clinton said she would "never be the showman my opponent is." But Clinton asked the audience to compare policies from her campaign and from Republican rival Donald Trump's. She also promised "no one will work harder to make your life better." Clinton's campaign has acknowledged it has work to do to win over younger voters, who were part of President Barack Obama's winning coalitions, but who have been slower to embrace Clinton. Clinton stressed plans to create jobs and improve college affordability. ___ Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, shakes hands with Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, left, as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton watches in New York, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton poses for photographs with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in New York, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, right, in New York, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves at a campaign stop at Temple University in Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Germain Arena, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Ft. Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi participate in the session, "Partnering for Global Prosperity," at the Clinton Global Initiative, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes as selfie as she meets with attendees during a campaign stop at Temple University in Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at Temple University in Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) NASCAR's Regan Smith skips race to attend daughter's birth JOLIET, Ill. (AP) NASCAR driver Regan Smith has welcomed his second child after skipping this weekend's race in order to be with his wife as she went into labor. Smith left the Chicagoland Speedway ahead of Sunday's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 and returned home to North Carolina to be with his wife, Megan. He says on Twitter that Eliza Grace Smith was born Sunday afternoon. He posted a picture of Megan and the baby, calling them, "The two most beautiful girls I've ever laid my eyes on." NASCAR says the couple had a son, Rheet Lee Smith, last year. FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2016, file photo, Regan Smith stands by his car in his garage during a practice session for the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. Smith skipped the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, to attend his daughter's birth. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File) Pakistan urges UN to call on India to stop Kashmir violence ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistan has called on the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to press India to halt more than two months of violence in Kashmir. The appeal comes a day after suspected rebels attacked an Indian army base in Kashmir, killing 17 soldiers. The Foreign Office said Monday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sent letters to the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France asking them to intervene. Sharif says the violence is a threat to international peace and security. An activist of Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party points a trident to a photograph of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as they protest against Sunday's attack at an Indian army base in Kashmir, New Delhi, India, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. India accuses Pakistan of training the militants in its territory, then helping them to infiltrate into the Indian side. Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only gives political and diplomatic support to the rebels. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) The disputed Himalayan territory is split between Indian and Pakistani areas of control. Both nuclear-armed states claim Kashmir in its entirety. Chinese woman thought missing was killed in hit-and-run PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) Police say a Chinese woman reported as missing in New Jersey was apparently the victim of a hit-and-run. Authorities say 69-year-old Xufeng Huang had been visiting her daughter in Princeton last week when she disappeared. Her family reported her missing Thursday night. On Saturday morning, officers found her dead in woods about 15 feet to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) from the road. Investigators say they believe she was struck by car about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from her daughter's home. Israel asked for explanation about killing of Jordanian man AL-MOGHEER, Jordan (AP) Jordan has demanded a detailed explanation from Israel about the killing of a 28-year-old Jordanian by Israeli troops last week. Israeli police have said Said Amro came out of a gate of Jerusalem's Old City with a knife in each hand, shouted "God is Great" and rushed at officers before being shot dead. The state news agency Petra says Jordan's information minister met Monday at the Foreign Ministry with the Israeli ambassador to Jordan and asked for explanations. Men carry the body of Said Amro during his funeral in his hometown of Al-Mogheer, Jordan, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Jordan has demanded a detailed explanation from Israel about the killing of Amro, a 28-year-old Jordanian, by Israeli troops last week. Hundreds attended Amros funeral, chanting Death to Israel. Israeli police have said Said Amro came out of a gate of Jerusalems Old City with a knife in each hand, shouted "God is Great" and rushed at officers before being shot dead. (AP Photo/Omar Akour) Also Monday, hundreds attended Amro's funeral in the town of al-Mogheer, chanting "Death to Israel." Amro's cousin Ramzi says his relative was "assassinated in a mean way." Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994, but the deal remains unpopular among Jordanians, in part because of Israel's continued rule over Palestinians. Ohio sheriff: Suspect in slayings confessed to other killing A man linked to the slayings of three women has confessed to killing a fourth woman who had been selling magazines door-to-door about 10 years ago, a sheriff said Monday. Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey said he believes authorities in the north-central Ohio counties where the suspect lived are dealing with a serial killer and he would not be surprised if there are more victims. He said 40-year-old Shawn Grate told investigators that he killed a woman in her mid-20s who was selling magazines sometime between 2003 and 2005. Grate said he abducted the woman, stabbed her and dumped her body, Bailey said. This photo provided by Ashland County Sheriff Office shows Shawn M. Grate. Grate, was arrested Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, in Ashland, Ohio in connection to the investigation of a rescued abductee and the discovery of the remains of two people in the home where he was arrested. (Ashland County Sheriff Office /The Times Gazette via AP) "He was telling us this was the first woman he killed," the sheriff said. "It's hard to believe there aren't others out there." The body of the still-unidentified woman was found in 2007 near Marion, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Ashland, where Grate was arrested last week after a woman called 911 and said she was being held inside a home. Police freed the woman and then found two bodies inside the supposedly unoccupied home in Ashland. Authorities said a third body was then found in neighboring Richland County after Grate confessed to killing her. The first two women found dead were identified as 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith, of Ashland, and 43-year-old Stacey Stanley, of Greenwich. The body of the third woman, who died in June, hasn't been identified. Authorities haven't said how any of those women died. Grate on Monday appeared by video for a hearing where his attorney entered not-guilty pleas for him to murder charges in the killings of Griffith and Stanley. He also pleaded not guilty to kidnapping in the abduction of the woman who called police. A court document accuses Grate of kidnapping her "to engage in sexual activity." The sheriff in Marion County said Grate was in jail last week when he mentioned that he had killed a woman there. Grate told investigators that he abducted the door-to-door saleswoman because she had sold magazines to his mother but failed to deliver them, Bailey said Monday. The sheriff said Grate told them exactly where he dumped the body and that he burned the corpse to cover up any evidence. Grate, he said, knew details that were never released to the public. Volunteer firefighter saves man trapped in burning vehicle NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (AP) Police say a Connecticut volunteer firefighter used a tire jack smash a window and rescue a man trapped inside a burning vehicle. The South Windsor volunteer was driving along state Route 15 in North Haven around 6:30 a.m. Sunday when he saw the flaming car on the shoulder. State police say Sandeep Ahuja had struck a guard rail and crashed into a tree, which ignited his vehicle. Ahuja was freed before the car became fully engulfed. With Ahuja's passenger still trapped inside, the volunteer firefighter used the jack to break the window and pulled the man to safety. The Latest: Parents took girl to hospital after shooting MIAMI (AP) The Latest on two children who were fatally shot in separate incidents in Florida (all times local): 9:30 a.m. Police in Tampa have released the name of the 17-month-old girl who died in a shooting at an apartment. Investigators said in a news release on Monday that Amaya Shafi was shot on Sunday afternoon at the Cllipper Bay Apartments in Tampa. According to the news release, her parents took her to a hospital, where she died a short time later. She was shot one time. Police say no arrests have been made but an investigation continues. No further details were immediately available. _____ 8:20 a.m. Investigators in Florida say a 4-year-old girl in Palm Beach County died after shooting herself with a gun she apparently found under a bed in her home. The girl died Sunday night following the shooting in Riviera Beach, which is near West Palm Beach. On Monday morning, investigators announced they've arrested a 16-year-old and the girl's uncle. Police tell news outlets that the gun discharged while Amirra Jacques was playing with it about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Police say the teenager then discarded the firearm. The uncle, Nathaniel Lowe, is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a felon. The teen is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, perjury and grand theft of a firearm. ______ 6:51 a.m. Police in Florida are investigating the fatal shootings of two young children on both sides of the state. The shootings occurred Sunday at an apartment complex in Tampa and at a home in Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County. Tampa police said in a news release that a 17-month-old child was shot at the Clipper Bay Apartments about 4:12 p.m. Sunday. The child later died. Investigators were interviewing family members late Sunday and said additional details wouldn't be available until Monday. Riviera Beach police spokeswoman Rose Ann Brown told local news outlets that several people, including the mother, were inside the home Sunday evening when the 4-year-old girl was fatally shot. Brown says investigators questioned several people but that others left immediately after the shooting. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Made in Armenia-2016 Expo of Armenian goods and services was officially opened in Yerevan. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, Ministers, business representatives attended the opening ceremony, reports Armenpress. Acting Minister of Economy of Armenia Artsvik Minasyan said in his speech this exhibition allows Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to show their economic power by combining their efforts. This is the military parade of economy ahead of the 25th anniversary of Armenias Independence. We are able to address several messages through this exhibition. Firstly, regardless of what kind of external and domestic challenges are formed, our producers are able to and can create goods. They are able to give not only just the production, but also a product conforming to international competitiveness. The second message is addressed to all of us, the Armenian worldwide: acquiring and using high-quality Armenian product enables to strengthen our countrys economy, he said. The third message, according to the Minister, is addressed to the foreign and domestic investors. He said by investing in Armenias economy it is possible to multiply the profit. Executive Director of Armenia Development Fund Karen Mkrtchyan said more than 300 companies from Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are taking part in the Expo. Companies from food, jewelry, alcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals, mining, the information technology and a number of sectors are taking part in the Expo. I think this Expo will put the basis for the big investment projects. It is one of the largest events of the past 25 years representing Armenias production potential, he said. Made in Armenia-2016 mainly aims to present the existing potential and the development opportunities of Armenias industry, contribute to revealing new markets. The Latest: 50 migrants rescued off western Greece LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local): 9 p.m. Greek authorities say 50 refugees or other migrants have been rescued off western Greece after issuing a distress call from their crippled sailboat. A woman sweeps a path among the tents at the Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens, which hosts about 600 refugees and migrants on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. The European Union's border agency says the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands has increased significantly over the last month. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) The merchant marine ministry says the migrants were picked up by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship off the island of Zakynthos following a search and rescue operation involving four vessels. The sailboat was abandoned at sea. The migrants, who were reported to be in good health, appeared to have been heading for Italy. Their nationalities were not immediately available. They were being transferred late Monday to a port on Zakynthos. ___ 8:40 p.m. Greek police say a large fire has swept through a big camp for refugees and other migrants on the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos, forcing its evacuation. None of the more than 4,000 people in the Moria camp was reported injured in Monday's blaze, which damaged tents and prefabricated housing units. Police were investigating the possibility that some of the residents started the fire. Crowding and long delays in processing of asylum requests have repeatedly caused tension at Moria, often among different ethnic groups. A total 5,400 migrants and other refugees live on Lesbos, which was the main destination for the more than a million people who reached Greece's eastern islands from Turkey since the beginning of 2015. There is organized accommodation for 3,500. ___ 6:10 p.m. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says there is no basis to link the fight against terrorism to policies on immigration. Renzi told reporters Monday in New York that "establishing a connection between security and immigration at the moment isn't there in reality in the facts. That's that." He said terrorists who arrived in Europe "didn't come on boats but in comfortable airplanes." He said the "extreme" outskirts of European cities do see radicalization "but it's not the refugee camp, it's the prison" where radicalization more likely occurs. Renzi, who has made plain his disappointment with the outcome from last week's EU informal summit in Slovakia, also said: "If Europe continues this way, we'll have to organize ourselves autonomously on immigration." ___ 3:20 p.m. Serbia's customs officers have discovered three migrants from Afghanistan hidden in two cargo trucks with Macedonian license plates that were heading toward the European Union. Customs authorities said the migrants were discovered early Monday at the Serbian border with EU-member Croatia. Two migrants were hiding in a truck bound for Italy, while the third one was in a truck heading to Germany. Authorities said that the customs officers looked into the trucks after their drivers suspected someone had climbed into them when they stopped earlier at a nearby gas station. Migrants fleeing war and poverty have been looking for ways to enter the EU countries illegally after countries closed their borders for free entry in March. Thousands remain stuck in the Balkan countries. ___ 2:10 p.m. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is urging governments to improve reception conditions for migrants in order to address anti-immigration backlash. In a report on international migration released on Monday, the Paris-based international organization recommended countries address the local impact of the arrival of migrants. The OECD said "large and sudden" inflows of migrants are often concentrated in the most disadvantaged areas and that governments should scale up public services in those areas. The organization is also suggesting that countries step up international cooperation and is urging the international community to "significantly increase its effort in terms of resettlement". Migration flows increased by 10 percent in 2015 across the OECD area, which is made up of 35 leading industrial countries from all around the world. ___ 12:55 p.m. Several dozen refugees have staged a protest in an asylum center in Slovenia, complaining that the EU nation is slow in processing their asylum requests. The refugees gathered outside the asylum center in the capital Ljubljana on Monday, holding a banner reading "We are Human Beings." They are demanding a meeting with Slovenia's interior minister. The refugees have also complained over what they described as bad living conditions in the center. One migrant told Slovenia's public broadcaster that "these are not normal conditions." Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants passed through Slovenia last year at the height of Europe's migrant crisis. Slovenia and other countries along the route closed their borders for migrants in March. Slovenian police say 321 refugees and migrants remain in the Alpine country. Some 2500 lifejackets worn by refugees who made the sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios are displayed in what the organisers called a "Lifejacket Graveyard" in Parliament Square, London, backdropped by the Houses of Parliament, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. The display was organised by Snappin' Turtle Productions and supported by refugee charities to coincide with the first ever United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants taking place in New York later today. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Leaders approve refugee document at UN UNITED NATIONS (AP) World leaders and foreign ministers from 193 countries have approved wide-ranging document aimed at providing a more humane and coordinated response to the refugee crisis. The 22-page "New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants," is not legally binding and lacks concrete commitments but calls on countries to protect refugees' human rights, boost humanitarian aid and increase resettlement of refugees. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the day-long session Monday, calling on world leaders to commit to "upholding the rights and dignity of everyone force by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life." Bosnian Serbs will hold referendum despite court's ban SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) Defying the country's constitutional court, Bosnian Serbs said Monday they will hold a referendum on a disputed national holiday in their autonomous region. The Sept. 25 referendum will ask residents of Bosnia's Republika Srpska region whether they agree the 'statehood' day of the Serb mini-state should remain Jan. 9. The Court ruled the date discriminates against Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats since it falls on a Serb Orthodox Christian holiday. Bosnian Serbs declared in 1992 the creation of their own state within Bosnia on Jan. 9, which is the traditional Serb Patron Saint's Day. During the war that followed, they expelled non-Serbs from the territory they controlled with the aim of making it part of neighboring Serbia. Although Republika Srpska ended up not independent but an autonomous region of Bosnia, they still celebrate Jan. 9 as a national holiday. For non-Serbs living there the date is a symbol of their expulsion and a sign that Republika Srpska is still a place meant just for Serbs. The court banned the referendum on Saturday but Bosnian Serb prime minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said Monday it will be conducted anyway. Bosniaks fear the disputed referendum is a test for a more serious one in 2018 on Republika Srpska's independence from Bosnia. Western officials have urged Republika Srpska to cancel the vote as it challenges the rule of law and Bosnia's peace agreement. The U.S. embassy in Sarajevo threatened "consequences" without specifying what those would be. An international body overseeing the implementation of Bosnia's peace accords, the Peace Implementation Council, stated earlier no part of Bosnia has the right to secede. The Russian representative withdrew support for the statement, siding with the Serbs. Russian support for the referendum was reaffirmed Monday by the Russian ambassador to Bosnia during a meeting with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, according to a statement from Dodik's office. The two discussed Dodik's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday. Uncertain future for refugees stranded on Greek islands CHIOS, Greece (AP) Nourhan Isso's timing was bad. The Syrian student who fled Aleppo crossed the Aegean from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek island of Chios on March 20 with her mother, hoping they would quickly move on through Europe. But unbeknown to them, the date marked a turning point in Europe's refugee crisis. Under an agreement between the European Union and Turkey, anyone arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey on or after March 20 would be held there and face being returned to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. Had they travelled a day earlier, their prospects might have been slightly brighter. They could have been among those sent to camps on the mainland, or perhaps one of the hundreds of thousands who managed to cross into central and northern Europe while Balkan borders were still open. In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, a Syrian man looks at his mobile phone inside his tent at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens. Most of the people at the camp arrived in Greece in March, crossing to Lesbos and Chios just ahead of an agreement between the EU and Turkey that took effect. Under the deal, anyone arriving on Greek islands from Turkey on or after March 20 would be held on the island and face being returned to Turkey. Balkan countries began restricting crossings of their borders in early 2016, and shut them completely in early March, stranding tens of thousands of people in Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Instead, 21-year-old Isso found herself among more than 13,000 people stranded on the Greek islands, facing an uncertain future. About 3,300 are on Chios, where there is provision for just 1,100 spots. They must apply for admissibility to the asylum system in a procedure that can take months, and some refugees there said their second interviews were not scheduled until January 2017. "We don't know our future or our life in the future," said Isso, standing outside her tent in Souda camp, a collection of tents and prefabricated huts housing nearly 1,000 people in a moat outside the old city ramparts. "If you don't have hope you cannot live. It's death." Isso and her mother, Havin Had Hannad, have applied for admissibility. Isso's 23-year-old brother Ali had made it to Germany earlier and is living in Hamburg, but is sick. Hannad said she has been fast-tracked through the procedure because of her sick son and could travel to Athens and potentially even Germany, but she doesn't want to leave her daughter alone. Isso herself is waiting to hear back on her application after her interview about two months ago. "When we go to ask what happens for my case, they say: 'you must wait, you must be patient.'" It's the same for Afghan teacher Javid Raoufi, who also arrived on Chios on March 20. "It is very bad luck for me," said Raoufi, who has been teaching mathematics to refugee children in the camp. Had he arrived the previous day, he says, he could have left the island for Athens. "And I don't know, maybe from Athens we can go ... to another country." It is the uncertainty of the waiting that weighs most on many of the refugees, and the camps are rife with rumors. "It's like jail here," said Mohamoud Alou, a 29 year-old Syrian Kurd from Damascus who arrived on March 29 with his wife and daughter and has been living in Chios' Vial camp ever since. "Many people talk: maybe the boarder will open, maybe we will go, maybe we will stay here in Greece, maybe we will be returned to Turkey. But we don't know what happen to us." As a Kurd, the prospect of being returned to Turkey terrifies him. "If I return to Turkey, they'd say I am terrorist," he said. A decades-long conflict between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey has claimed thousands of lives. Hostilities resumed last year after a two-and-a-half year cease-fire. Yet the fate of those migrants who arrived in Greece before March 20 is not all that different. Despite promises by European countries to take in refugees from Greece, only a fraction of promised relocations have taken place. Balkan countries began restricting crossings of their borders in early 2016, and shut them completely in early March, stranding tens of thousands of people in Greece. The border closures also stranded others in various Balkan countries along the route. To date, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are stuck in Greece, housed in camps across the country as well as in apartments rented by charities or squats organized by volunteers. Plans for a binding EU quota system to share the responsibility of hosting refugees fairly has met resistance from several countries, most notably Poland, Hungary, The Czech Republic and Slovakia. Under an emergency relocation program, nearly 3,000 people have been transferred from Greece to other European countries instead of the 33,000 that should have been relocated by now, said Giorgos Kyritsis, spokesman for the government's crisis committee on migration. "In other words a tenth of the figure that was foreseen and for which the European countries and the European Union have committed," Kyritsis said. "There are 7,000 people who are ready and waiting for their relocation, so it appears on this issue the other European countries and the entire EU that signed the agreement with Turkey have not fulfilled their obligations, whereas Greece has carried out all its obligations," he added. Ednan Varbori, an Iraqi Kurd, fled his home about eight months ago after it was attacked by Islamic State group fighters. He crossed into Turkey and from there to Chios. After 25 days, he was transferred to Ritsona camp on the mainland as authorities emptied the island camps to make way for those who would arrive from March 20 onward. Services are basic in Ritsona, which consists mainly of tents. But authorities are gradually constructing more permanent wooden structures as winter approaches. And Varbori is grateful he is at least safe. "Here we feel we live in peace because there is no terrorist here," he said. "But life here is complicated." Varbori applied for asylum in Greece. "If someone asks me why you don't want to go to Germany or France or another country, I say all Europe is the same, and if I be in Greece or another country, it's no different," he said. "I want to work and have a good life. But his application, like so many others, is dragging. "I went to the interview and they were supposed to give me an answer but it has been delayed," Varbori said. Now all he can do is wait. "Actually, I'm grateful to everybody who has helped us, and the whole world knows the conditions that we're living in." ___ Fotiadis reported from Ritsona camp, Greece. Theodora Tongas and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed. In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, a Syrian mother and her children walk among tents at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens. Most of the people at the camp arrived in Greece in March, crossing to Lesbos and Chios just ahead of an agreement between the EU and Turkey that took effect. Under the deal, anyone arriving on Greek islands from Turkey on or after March 20 would be held on the island and face being returned to Turkey. Balkan countries began restricting crossings of their borders in early 2016, and shut them completely in early March, stranding tens of thousands of people in Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016 photo, Syrian men walk among tents at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens. Most of the people at the camp arrived in Greece in March, crossing to Lesbos and Chios just ahead of an agreement between the EU and Turkey that took effect. Under the deal, anyone arriving on Greek islands from Turkey on or after March 20 would be held on the island and face being returned to Turkey. Balkan countries began restricting crossings of their borders in early 2016, and shut them completely in early March, stranding tens of thousands of people in Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, a Kurd Syrian mother gives cough syrup to her child at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens. Most of the people at the camp arrived in Greece in March, crossing to Lesbos and Chios just ahead of an agreement between the EU and Turkey that took effect. Under the deal, anyone arriving on Greek islands from Turkey on or after March 20 would be held on the island and face being returned to Turkey. Balkan countries began restricting crossings of their borders in early 2016, and shut them completely in early March, stranding tens of thousands of people in Greece (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) World leaders at UN approve plan for refugee crisis UNITED NATIONS (AP) World leaders on Monday approved a declaration aimed at providing a more coordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis that has strained resources and sparked divisions from Africa to Europe. The issue of what to do about the world's 65.3 million displaced people took center stage at the U.N. General Assembly with leaders from the 193 member states taking part in the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. Advocacy groups worried that the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees an outcome document which contains no concrete commitments and is not legally binding falls short of what is needed, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a refugee during the Korean War, hailed it as historic. United States Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during the Summit for Refugees and Migrants at U.N. headquarters, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) "Today's summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility," Ban said. Around the world, there are currently about 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. The agency defines refugees as people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants choose to move in search of a better life. Philippe Bolopion, deputy director of global advocacy for Human Rights Watch, said the international community still had a long way to go in dealing with the crisis. "I would say if you measure this document by what is at stake here, it certainly falls short of the mark. We're facing an historic crisis and the response is not historic," Bolopion said on the sidelines of the meeting. He added that in many areas refugee protections were backsliding with a growing number of countries trying to turn back refugees in violation of international law. "Is the outcome document up to the challenge? No, unquestionably it's not. Does that mean the summit is pointless? No, because it's precisely at moments like this that you need to regroup," Bolopion added. The declaration seeks to standardize responses to refugee situations and provide better education prospects for the children who make up over half of the world's refugees. It also looks to improve working opportunities for refugees who are now spending nearly 20 years in exile on average. There are also plans for a campaign to combat xenophobia. All of this may prove an uphill struggle at a time when refugees and migrants have become a divisive issue in Europe and the United States. "The overall climate is not very favorable to receiving refugees in many parts of the world but on the one hand, states committed to this so we can remind them of their obligations. On the other hand, states, just like us, need a more predictable way of responding to the refugee crisis that's what this New York declaration proposes," Fillipo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Associated Press. Grandi said he disagreed with criticism that the declaration lacked concrete commitments. He said it expands the concept of refugee response beyond humanitarian aid like food, medicine and tents to include things like education and jobs. Still, advocates for refugees expressed disappointment that the U.N.'s need for consensus meant that the stronger provisions in the declaration had been watered down. Several countries shot down an earlier draft of the declaration that called on nations to resettle 10 percent of the refugee population each year, something that has led several human rights groups to criticize the document as a missed opportunity. The U.S. and a number of other countries also objected to language in the original draft that said children should never be detained, so the agreement now says children should seldom, if ever, be detained. More concrete progress is expected at a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that are in line with U.S. goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for 1 million youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced. "Both summits are crucial to raising awareness of refugee and migration concerns, and both events are designed to harness the political will of member states to address the global refugee and migration crises we are all facing," said U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby, speaking in Washington. ___ Associated Press Writer Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report. United States Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during the Summit for Refugees and Migrants at U.N. headquarters, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) In this Sept. 16, 2016 file photo, hundreds of life jackets line the shore of the New York City waterfront in the Brooklyn borough of New York, placed there by advocates with Oxfam America to draw attention to the refugee crisis. Many of the life jackets used for the action had been collected on beaches in Greece after being used by adult and child refugees. The undertaking was a prelude to the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants. The question of what to do about the worlds 65.3 million displaced people takes center stage at the UN General Assembly Monday, Sept. 19, when leaders from around the globe converge on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2016 file photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents in a camp in the town of Saadnayel, in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon. The question of what to do about the worlds 65.3 million displaced people takes center stage at the United Nations General Assembly Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, when leaders from around the globe converge on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File) FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2015 file photo, a man carries a girl in his arm as they arrive with other migrants just after dawn on a dinghy after crossing from Turkey to the island of Kos in southeastern Greece. The question of what to do about the worlds 65.3 million displaced people takes center stage at the United Nations General Assembly Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, when leaders from around the globe converge on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2015 file photo, refugees and migrants arrive on an inflatable vessel from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. The question of what to do about the worlds 65.3 million displaced people takes center stage at the United Nations General Assembly Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, when leaders from around the globe converge on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios, File) Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, right, talks with Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa before leading a meeting addressing the large movement of refugees and migrants, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship John McCallum addresses the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber of the United Nations, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Jean-Marc Ayrault, minister for Foreign Affairs for France, speaks during a meeting addressing actions and cooperation on the large movement of refugees and migrants, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) Police arrest 2 after young girl fatally shoots herself MIAMI (AP) Two young Florida children were killed in separate weekend shootings, including a 4-year-old girl who was shot while playing with a gun that she found on a bed, authorities said Monday. Investigators on Monday announced the arrest of a 16-year-old boy and the uncle of 4-year-old Amirra Jacques, who apparently found a gun on a bed in a Riviera Beach home Sunday night. The gun discharged while the girl was playing with it. She was taken to a hospital but died a short time later. The girl's uncle, Nathaniel Lowe, 25, originally told officers that someone entered the home through an open door and fired a shot, striking the girl, Riviera Beach police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said. But investigators determined that the girl shot herself and the 16-year-old discarded the gun two blocks away, Brown said. The teen led detectives to the gun. Lowe is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Florida Department of Corrections records show that he was sentenced in February to 22 months of probation for attempted burglary. He is in jail, with bail set at $150,000. The teen is charged with culpable negligence, tampering with evidence, perjury and grand theft of a firearm. Authorities did not explain his relationship to the girl. It wasn't clear whether the teen will be charged as an adult. Records didn't say whether Lowe has a lawyer. No further details were immediately available. Across the state in Tampa, investigators are trying to determine how 17-month-old Amaya Shafi was killed. Tampa police said in a news release that she was shot at the Clipper Bay Apartments about 4:12 p.m. Sunday. Her parents drove her to a hospital, where she died. The Latest: Defense attacks feds' case in bridge trial NEWARK, N.J. (AP) The Latest on the George Washington Bridge trial (all times local): 2:50 p.m. The former deputy chief of staff to Republican Gov. Chris Christie was a "minnow" compared to others who knew about or had a hand in closing access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013. FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2016 file photo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly leaves Federal Court after a hearing for jury selection in Newark, N.J. Three years after gridlock paralyzed a New Jersey town next to the George Washington Bridge for four days, two former allies of Gov. Chris Christie are going to trial. Jurors will hear opening statements Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Newark in the case against Bill Baroni and Kelly. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File) That's what jurors heard Monday from Bridget Kelly's attorney during opening statements at her fraud and corruption trial. Kelly worked for Christie in the governor's office. She and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive director Bill Baroni also is on trial. Baroni and Kelly are charged with using Port Authority property the bridge to cause gridlock in the town of Fort Lee for a political vendetta against the town's mayor. Kelly's attorney Michael Critchley told jurors the government "went after a whale and caught a minnow." ___ 12:45 p.m. Defense attorneys are attacking the government's chief witness at the trial of two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie charged in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal. A jury is hearing opening statements in Newark in the trial of former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive director Bill Baroni. They are accused of closing access to lanes to punish a mayor for not endorsing Christie. Former Port Authority official David Wildstein has pleaded guilty. Prosecutors say Wildstein will testify he and Baroni "bragged" about the traffic problems to Christie during the third day of the four-day shutdown. The Republican governor has said he didn't know about it. Baroni's attorney says Wildstein is vindictive and a habitual liar. ___ 12:15 p.m. Federal prosecutors say New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was told about the plan to close traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge on the third day of the four-day shutdown. In opening statements Monday, the prosecution told jurors that former Port Authority official David Wildstein would testify that he and former bridge authority executive Bill Baroni "bragged" about the traffic problems in Fort Lee and the mayor not getting his calls returned. The prosecution says the discussion took place at a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York in 2013. The shutdown began Sept. 9. The Republican governor has denied knowing about the scheme and wasn't charged. Christie's office has not responded to a request for comment. Wildstein pleaded guilty last year. ___ 11:05 a.m. Federal prosecutors tell a jury in New Jersey that two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie abused their power when they closed traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in an act of political revenge. Opening statements began Monday in the trial of former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and former bridge authority executive Bill Baroni. Prosecutors say along with former bridge authority official David Wildstein, Kelly and Baroni closed the lanes to create gridlock to punish a mayor for not endorsing Christie. Wildstein pleaded guilty last year and will testify. Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna (VEE'-koss KHAN'-uh) told jurors Monday that while the lane reduction idea was Wildstein's, Kelly "instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it." Christie wasn't charged. ___ 10 a.m. A trial for two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has begun three years after gridlock paralyzed a New Jersey town next to the George Washington Bridge for days. Jurors began hearing opening statements Monday in Newark in the case against Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the agency that operates the bridge, and Kelly was Christie's deputy chief of staff. They're charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, deprivation of civil rights and fraudulently using an agency that receives federal funds. The most serious charge carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence. They're accused of causing traffic jams near the bridge to punish a local Democratic mayor who didn't endorse Christie and claiming it was a traffic study. Both say they violated no laws. The Republican governor wasn't charged. ___ 1 a.m. Three years after gridlock paralyzed a New Jersey town next to the George Washington Bridge for four days, two former allies of Gov. Chris Christie are going to trial. Jurors will hear opening statements Monday in Newark in the case against Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the agency that operates the bridge, and Kelly was Christie's deputy chief of staff. They're charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, deprivation of civil rights and fraudulently using an agency that receives federal funds. The most serious charge carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence. They're charged with causing traffic jams near the bridge to punish a local Democratic mayor who didn't endorse Christie, and claiming it was a traffic study. Both say they violated no laws. Christie wasn't charged. FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016 file photo, Bill Baroni, center, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his attorney Michael Baldassare, center left, leave Federal Court after a hearing for jury selection in Newark, N.J. Three years after gridlock paralyzed a New Jersey town next to the George Washington Bridge for four days, two former allies of Gov. Chris Christie are going to trial. Jurors will hear opening statements Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Newark in the case against Baroni and Bridget Kelly. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File) IAEA chief: NKorea nuclear test violation of UN resolutions VIENNA (AP) The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says North Korea's fifth nuclear test is a "clear violation" of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Yukiya Amano, opening the IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna on Monday, called for North Korea to allow the return of inspectors, who were last there in April 2009. He says "we keep on training them, updating the verification plan, and we can send them back in short notice." Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan addresses the media during a news conference after a meeting of the IAEA board of governors at the International Center in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) He would not comment on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's call for North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile plans immediately, but called North Korea's test earlier this month "deeply troubling and regrettable." He says "these activities of nuclear testing and launches of missiles are a serious threat to northeast Asia and beyond." Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan rubs his eye as he addresses the media during a news conference after a meeting of the IAEA board of governors at the International Center in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) At least 17 dead amid opposition protests in Congo's capital KINSHASA, Congo (AP) Street clashes between security forces and demonstrators opposed to President Joseph Kabila left at least 17 dead in Congo's capital Monday in a dramatic sign of mounting tensions after officials sought to delay the upcoming election until next year. Some view a delay as a way for Kabila to prolong his rule beyond the end of his mandate in late December, as he is able to stay in power if there is no election to choose a successor. "Today is a warning. He must leave by December," protester Salomon Kaba said. The bodies of people killed during election protests lie in the street, as Congolese troops stand near by in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) Protesters threw stones and set tires and vehicles ablaze, according to witnesses. Interior Minister Evariste Boshab confirmed that three police officers were among the dead, including one who was burned alive. An Associated Press photographer saw at least four civilian bodies with gunshot wounds in the streets. Government spokesman Lambert Mende called the demonstrations a pre-meditated criminal act. "This wasn't a demonstration at all but an attempt to unleash civil war in the city of Kinshasa," he said. "The authorities decided to put an end to the protest and disperse it." Eva Mwakasa, a member of the opposition coalition La Dynamique, said it was difficult to give a death toll as protesters had been dispersed by tear gas. For months, observers have questioned whether Congo could hold the presidential vote as scheduled on Nov. 27. The country's electoral commission had indicated that the voter list would not be formalized before July 2017. Over the weekend, the commission made an official request to the country's constitutional court for a delay of the vote. Kabila, who came to power after his father's assassination in 2001, has yet to announce whether he will pursue another term in office, though the constitution prohibits it. The violence comes amid growing fears that the delay could lead to prolonged unrest in Congo, a nation as vast in size as Western Europe. The mineral-rich but largely impoverished country suffered back-to-back civil wars until 2003, and previous instability has drawn in armies from neighboring countries. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the violence and urged "all concerned political leaders and their supporters to refrain from any further violence." He called on authorities to ensure that security forces exercise maximum restraint while responding to protests, and for political leaders to address their differences "peacefully and through dialogue." While the ruling party has held talks as part of a national dialogue, many of the top opposition figures have not taken part. In recent days, the ruling party has floated the idea of a unity government with opposition members until the next elections, though the proposal would keep Kabila in charge during that period. Demonstrations also have erupted outside the capital. Human Rights Watch said police fired live bullets Friday in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi. Their report released Sunday also described a series of arrests targeting members of the opposition in recent days. "The decisions President Kabila and his government will make in the coming weeks can make all the difference for Congo's future," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "This is a critical opportunity for the country to strengthen democracy, the rule of law and human rights for its own future and for the entire region." ___ Associated Press writers John Bompengo in Kinshasa and Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report. People stand near burning debris during election protests in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) The body of a man killed during election protests lies in the street, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) Men break off bits of rock during a protest in Kinshasa in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) A family pass near Congolese riot police during a protest in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) A woman looks at the body of a man killed during election protests in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) A man crosses a road near burning debris, during election protests in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) A man stands next to a burnt out car after a protest in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) Congolese troops try and control crowds of people during an election protests in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) People walk near burning debris during election protests in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) Riot police remove a slab of rock used to block a road during a protest in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital. The protests were organized by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December. (AP Photo/John Bompengo) Pakistan stays execution of mentally ill man MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) A Pakistani official says the supreme court has temporarily stayed the execution of a mentally ill man. Imdad Ali was convicted in a 2001 murder case and has exhausted all appeals. A clemency request to Pakistan's president was rejected, and Ali was to be executed on Tuesday. But Prison Superintendent Syed Babar Ali said Monday that he received an order to halt the execution until the top court hears a petition next week. The two men are not related. Safia Bano displays the picture of her husband Imdad Ali, a death row prisoner, while she sits with other family members in Burewala, in central Pakistan, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. A rights group and the family of Ali, a mentally ill man on death row in Pakistan have pleaded with the government to halt his execution. Imdad Ali was convicted in a 2001 murder case and has exhausted all appeals. (AP Photo/Asghar Ali) Justice Project Pakistan and the prisoner's family have called on the government to halt the execution. A state-appointed doctor has diagnosed Ali with schizophrenia and declared him unfit to be hanged. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The exhibition of items produced by the Syrian-Armenians was held in Yerevan on September 19 by the initiative of the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora and Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians Issues NGO. Acting Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan attended the event. She said the Syrian-Armenians have a great input on the development of Armenias economy. The evidence is todays exhibition. You will see their hand-made works in different sectors and such jewelry, carpets, grocery that were not in Armenia yet. They filled also that economic gap. I would like to express my gratitude to the Syrian-Armenians for the activities. I am also happy that by this way they are able to convey their skills to us, she said, Armenpress reported. Hranush Hakobyan said they are trying to make such exhibitions regular since the participants can earn money in this way and meet their upcoming living expenses. Man gets wedding ring back, 37 years after losing it in sea MADRID (AP) A gold wedding ring lost over 37 years ago has been returned to its owner after a scuba diver found it in the waters off the eastern coastal city of Benidorm last month and began a social media search. Diving instructor Jessica Cuesta gave the ring back to Agustin Aliaga Monday at his bar in a village near the northeastern city of Zaragoza. After finding the ring last month, Cuesta posted a photo of it on Facebook and gave the date inscribed on it Feb. 17, 1979. She asked people to share the post and more than 80,000 people did, with word finally reaching Aliaga and his wife Juani Sanchez. Amal Clooney discusses effort to legally fight Islamic State NEW YORK (AP) Amal Clooney is pushing for the United Nations to investigate and prosecute Islamic State group commanders for genocide. Clooney wants IS group leaders tried over the killings. The British lawyer appeared on NBC's "Today" show in an interview broadcast Monday alongside a Yazidi woman who was captured by the IS group in 2014 but escaped. The woman, 23-year-old Nadia Murad, says she was raped and she prayed for death while in captivity. Murad was named a UN goodwill ambassador last week. The UN estimates that some 5,000 Yazidi men have been killed by IS group militants and thousands more people have been taken into captivity. FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2016, file photo, British lawyer Amal Clooney attends a press conference with former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed in London. Clooney is pushing for the United Nations to investigate and prosecute Islamic State commanders for genocide. Clooney wants IS leaders tried over the killings. The British lawyer appeared on NBCs Today show in an interview broadcast Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, alongside 23-year-old Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman who escaped after being captured by IS in 2014. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File) Things to know about Somalis in Minnesota MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The stabbings at a Minnesota mall, attributed to a young Somali man, are being treated by federal investigators as a potential act of terrorism after the Islamic State claimed the suspect had heeded its calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition. While a motive for Saturday night's attack isn't clear and it isn't clear whether the attacker was radicalized, authorities in Minnesota have struggled for years to stem recruiting of young Somali men by the Islamic State and east Africa-based militant group al-Shabab. Here are things to know about Somalis in Minnesota: ___ Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Center for American-Islamic Relations Minnesota, talks with reporters during a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, at Lake George, in St. Cloud, Minn., expressing the Somali-American community reaction to the Crossroads Center attack. (St. Cloud Times/Jason Wachter via AP) LARGEST POPULATION IN U.S. Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali community. Many who fled the long civil war in their east African country were drawn to the state's welcoming social programs. Census numbers put the state's Somali population at about 57,000. The largest share of that group has settled in the Minneapolis area, including one neighborhood near the University of Minnesota campus that's been dubbed "Little Mogadishu" in reference to Somalia's capital. But significant numbers have also settled in St. Cloud, Willmar and other smaller cities. ___ TERROR RECRUITING In the past decade, Minnesota has struggled with terrorist groups luring some of its young Somali men overseas. The problem first surfaced in 2007, when more than 20 young men went to Somalia, where Ethiopian troops propping up a weak U.N.-backed government were seen by many as foreign invaders. Al-Shabab, classified as a terror group by the U.S. government, wooed young Americans with jihadist videos that appealed to patriotic and religious ideals. In more recent years, the Islamic State has also found recruits in Minnesota, with authorities saying roughly a dozen have left to join militants in Syria. Nine Minnesota men face sentencing this fall on terror charges for plotting to join the Islamic State group. If Saturday's stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil, said Karen Greenburg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law. ___ CONCERNS, EFFORTS TO STOP RECRUITING Federal officials have said one of their biggest fears was that a radicalized American who left the country to join the Islamic State or al-Shabab might return home to carry out attacks on U.S. soil. That was before the Islamic State began urging "lone wolf" attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led coalition against their group. Stopping recruiting has been a high priority, with law enforcement investing countless hours in community outreach and the state participating in a federal project designed to combat radical messages. It was not immediately clear if the extremist group had planned Saturday's attack or knew about it beforehand. In the past, IS has claimed attacks that are not believed to have been planned by its central leadership. ___ COMMUNITY ACTIVISM Alabama school locked down after threat of clowns showing up IRONDALE, Ala. (AP) Another Alabama school was on lockdown after a social media post warned of clowns showing up to the campus. AL.com (http://bit.ly/2cNAxEO ) reports that Shades Valley High School in Irondale, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) east of Birmingham, was locked down Monday after a student alerted authorities to Facebook posts hinting that clowns might show up to the school. Irondale police Officer James Lewis, a school resource officer, says "there was no threat." Lewis says authorities spoke with the student who reported the Facebook posts, which have since been removed. Lewis says the soft lockdown is a precaution only, and there is no disruption to classes. Greek shipwreck bones can build ancient mariner's profile ATHENS, Greece (AP) Archaeologists excavating one of the richest shipwrecks of antiquity said Monday that they have found a 2,000-year-old depth measuring device, and human bones that could help build an ancient mariner's genetic profile. The 1st century B.C. wreck of a large freighter discovered off the southern Greek island of Antikythera more than a century ago has yielded an ancient astronomical computer, marble statues, tableware and thousands of other artifacts. Human bones were found there before, but that was before DNA testing was available. The discovery of remains that old on the seabed is unusual. The Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is conducting the excavation with the Greek culture ministry, said that if enough viable DNA was preserved, the bones could shed light on the shipwreck victim's ethnicity and geographic origin. "Archaeologists study the human past through the objects our ancestors created," said excavator Brendan Foley, a marine archaeologist with Woods Hole. "With the Antikythera shipwreck, we can now connect directly with this person who sailed and died aboard the Antikythera ship." Archaeologists also discovered a sounding lead a roughly bell-shaped lead object weighing 50 kilograms (110 pounds). Attached to a rope and lowered from a ship, it measured the depth of the sea and also brought up samples of the seabed that gave the ship's master useful information for anchoring. "This humble instrument was of vital importance for safe seafaring in antiquity," a culture ministry statement said. A similar device was found in the Antikythera wreck during the first excavation, in 1900-1901. Utah state senator's summer visit to Iran sparks firestorm DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) A Utah state senator who traveled to Iran last week has set off a firestorm there, where hard-liners accuse him of being "part of a major Western project to infiltrate" the country as authorities imprison others with ties abroad. And that was even before knowing that Sen. Jim Dabakis is gay a crime in Iran that can carry the death penalty. For his part, the Salt Lake City-based art dealer said such cross-cultural exchanges will help relations between Iran and the U.S., which have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2015, file photo, Democratic state Sen. Jim Dabakis, speaks during a news conference in Salt Lake City. Dabakis, who traveled with his partner to Iran in the summer of 2016, has set off a firestorm in Islamic Republic, where hard-liners accuse him of being part of a major Western project to infiltrate the country. Dabakis is gay -- a crime in Iran that can carry the death penalty. But the Salt Lake City-based art dealer says such cross-culture exchanges are essential to the two nations forming a lasting peace. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) "You don't make peace with your friends," Dabakis told The Associated Press on Monday. "Rather than rubbing up against each other in the Strait of Hormuz and having tension because of domestic political affairs in both countries... let there be this people-to-people beginning of understanding." Dabakis said he and his partner traveled to Tehran and Isfahan for six days after being invited by the Iranian travel industry. He said he got a visa through the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, which handles Iranian affairs. He added that he listed his occupation on the application as both an art dealer and a state lawmaker in Utah's part-time legislature. "Sometimes diplomacy is too important to be left up to the diplomats," Dabakis said. But things have grown rather undiplomatic since the Democrat returned home and gave an interview about his trip to local Salt Lake City television station KUTV . The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard, seized on the interview. It quoted a hard-line lawmaker on Sunday who described Dabakis' visit as "part of a major Western project to infiltrate into the country." On Monday, the pro-reform newspaper Arman quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, as saying his committee was not told of Dabakis' visit. Responding to Dabakis' description of being welcomed by average Iranians on his trip, Boroujerdi offered this: "Iranians' main slogan is 'Down with the USA,' and it shows Iranians do not love Americans." Dabakis said since he traveled as a private individual, he didn't feel like he needed to inform "the Ministry of Anything," though he said he "felt bad" about the growing mess his visit caused. He said a previous visit he made in 2010 caused no problem and he hoped a planned trip in May would still happen. Iran, a nation of 80 million people governed by a democracy overseen by Shiite clerics, isn't a monolith. Many Iranians enjoy aspects of Western culture, seen through illegal satellite dishes or over internet connections that subvert government censorship. But many are still waiting to see any of the benefits of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers including the U.S. trickle down to them. A majority of Iranians believe relations with America have not improved since the deal and nearly three-fourths of Iranians hold very unfavorable views of the U.S. government, according to poll results released in July by the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies. Meanwhile, tense encounters have increased between Iranian forces and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf . Iran's security services also have arrested dual nationals in the country, accusing them of spying based on secret evidence. Asked about his own chances of being detained on the trip, Dabakis said "a person would have to be an idiot not to recognize there is some risk." He also said gay rights issues did not come up on his trip and were "not on the agenda." But he stressed his own experience moving to the Soviet Union and brokering art deals and culture exchanges during the fall of Communism. Asked how he'd respond to those who'd consider him naive for entering the realm of tense international diplomacy, Dabakis offered this: "Remember, it was pingpong that broke that wall of tension with the Chinese." ___ Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell . Trump tax plan may cost $1.5 trillion more than he says DENVER (AP) Donald Trump's tax plan may cost $1.5 trillion over the next decade more than he has projected and skew even more to the wealthy, according to a nonpartisan analysis released Monday. Trump released his tax plan last week his third attempt to sketch out a workable proposal telling voters to check his math. "It works," Trump promised, estimating the cost at $4.4 trillion and claiming that record-setting economic growth would prevent the cuts from increasing the deficit. Trump was relying on estimates from the Tax Foundation, which supports lower taxes, when he pitched the plan to the public. But he left unclear a key detail regarding businesses that are classified as "pass-throughs." Mostly small businesses but occasionally very large ones incorporate so their profits are taxed as personal income, rather than business proceeds. In this Sept. 16, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. Republicans are still counting on strong support from the Cuban-American community in south Florida as they try to win back the White House. But the GOP-Cuban alliance is softening, and Trump could speed the process. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) At issue is whether Trump's plan for a flat 15 percent corporate tax rate applies to so-called pass-throughs. The Tax Foundation said his campaign indicated to them those rates would not apply. But the National Federation for Independent Business told the New York Times the GOP's nominee's team assured them pass-throughs would get the lower rate. The Trump campaign has not commented, forcing the Tax Foundation to issue two estimates. Should Trump allow pass-throughs to be taxed at 15 percent instead of the 33 percent that many otherwise would be assessed his plan would cost $5.9 trillion over 10 years, the analysis found. That's $1.5 trillion more than Trump predicts. Trump would condense the income tax structure into three brackets, establish the flat 15 percent business tax and cap deductions at $200,000 per household. The foundation estimates that the cuts would trigger growth that would reduce its actual to $2.6 trillion -- or $3.9 trillion with the pass-through provision. They'd create up to 2 million more jobs but also disproportionately benefit the wealthy, who could receive 10 percent more income, which would leap to 16 percent under the pass-through. Chicago hot dog king may own WWII Japanese commander's tooth CHICAGO (AP) The founder of a Chicago hot dog empire thinks he may have a gold tooth that belonged to a Japanese World War II admiral who orchestrated the Pearl Harbor attack and will "do whatever it takes to find out." Dick Portillo, founder of the Portillo's fast food chain, was on 2015 trip to Papua New Guinea where U.S. pilots shot down Japanese naval commander Isoroku Yamamoto's plane when the tooth surfaced in the mud. A clan that owns the site confiscated the tooth, but later turned it over for $14,000. "If it comes to be true, it's peanuts compared to the value that I would look at," Portillo told the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2ck4eBC ). "If it doesn't, you win some and you lose some." Portillo said he is working to authenticate the tooth, including contacting dentists and a research librarian. He said it also may be possible to have DNA extracted from a tiny human tooth bit in the gold. Japanese naval historian Yukoh Watanabe has his doubts. Watanabe, who wrote a 2015 book on Yamamoto, said it's unclear whether the commander's dental records exist. He also noted that multiple people were on the plane. "I have to say that it is little possibility it belonged to Adm. Yamamoto," Watanabe wrote in an email to the newspaper. But as a fellow romantic of history, he added: "I also hope the gold tooth belongs to Adm. Yamamoto." Portillo said he wasn't looking to make money, adding that he would like give the tooth to the Japanese government and make a documentary. "The value to me is the fun, the experience of doing that, the fact that I had a lot to do with it, and history," he said. ___ Federal court OKs Christian prayers at county board meetings RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Elected officials may open public meetings by praying according to their chosen religion as long as they don't pressure observers to join in, a divided federal appeals court ruled Monday. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split 2-1 in deciding that the Rowan County commission had a constitutional right to open meetings with prayers. The prayers included almost exclusively Christian references and the commission's five members invited audience members to stand and participate. The court which decides constitutional disputes involving Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina said prayers opening meetings of legislative bodies are as old as the country and aren't limited to neutral religious statements or references to a generic God. As long as the board's five members didn't proselytize or disparage religious beliefs, they were constitutionally protected, the court ruled. "Not only are the legislators themselves the intended 'congregation' for legislative prayer, but the practice carries special meaning to the thousands of state and local legislators who are citizen representatives," Judge G. Steven Agee wrote in the court's opinion. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that it is appropriate for local clergy to deliver predominantly Christian prayers at town meetings in Greece, New York. Different in the Rowan County case was that the prayers were offered by the commissioners themselves. The court also had to determine whether their invitation for the audience to join in prayer should be seen as coercive. "Adults are not presumed susceptible to religious indoctrination or pressure simply from speech they would rather not hear. Thus, there is limited risk that disenchanted listeners would be affected by mere contact with lawmaker-led legislative prayer," Agee wrote. "The Board's legislative prayer practice amounts to nothing more than an individual commissioner leading a prayer of his or her own choosing." The American Civil Liberties Union sued Rowan County commissioners in 2013 because none of the prayers starting more than 140 meetings over a 5 -year span mentioned a religion other than Christianity. The ACLU said Monday it would ask for a review of the case by all 15 judges on the appeals court. In a strongly worded dissent, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, said the case captures the reason why the country's Founding Fathers wrote the separation of church and state into the Constitution. "When the state's representatives so emphatically evoke a single religion in nearly every prayer over a period of many years, that faith comes to be perceived as the one true faith, not merely of individual prayer-givers, but of government itself," wrote Wilkinson, who was nominated to the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. "When a seat of government begins to resemble a house of worship, the values of religious observance are put at risk, and the danger of religious division rises accordingly." ___ Dalesio reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. ___ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/alanna-durkin. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The preliminary investigation of the criminal case filed under the Article 219 and 235 of the Criminal Code of Armenia over the Police station seized by the gunmen on July 17 continues in the Special Investigation Service of Armenia. 31 people were among the gunmen, the Investigation Service informed Armenpress. 18 more people assisted the gunmen by trying to join them. One of them was Artur Sargsyan who not only managed to brought food to the gunmen, but also he carried out active operations aimed at keeping the medical workers hostage in the Police station. He was armed and personally kept them hostage. 15 of the supporters to the gunmen are arrested. The investigative operations are underway to clarify the details of killing 3 police officers A. Vanoyan, Yu. Tepanosyan, G. Mkrtchyan, to reveal the murderers. Investigation is also underway to clarify the details of keeping 10 police officers hostage. Additional information will be provided about the investigation results. Ken Burns says new Nazi documentary evokes refugees' plight KEENE, N.H. (AP) When Ken Burns screened clips of his latest documentary at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a fearful woman approached him and asked, "Is this going to happen to us again?" The documentary, "Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War," tells the story of a Wellesley, Massachusetts, couple who rescued refugees and dissidents in Europe before and after the start of World War II. It airs on PBS on Tuesday, the day Democratic President Barack Obama and other world leaders host a summit aimed at securing new commitments to support today's refugees. The parallels to today weren't lost on Burns, who co-directed the film with the couple's grandson Artemis Joukowsky. "It's about sacrifice, and it's about cost," Burns said. "We live in a very narcissistic age, and people don't make those gestures, or at least we live in a media culture that does not isolate and focus on people who make these kinds of selfless gestures without the PR attached to it." He added: "And it's about resonance, because we now find ourselves in a refugee crisis in the world that is only second to the second World War, and we've got to figure out what we're going to do and what kind of people we are. Are we going to be guided by fear and demagoguery, or are we going to be guided by compassion, love and sacrifice?" The film explores the lives of Unitarian minister Waitstill Sharp and his wife, Martha Sharp, who were asked by church leaders in 1939 to travel to Czechoslovakia to help people trying to escape Nazi persecution. The Sharps left their two young children at home, expecting to return in a few months. Instead, their mission lasted almost two years and involved harrowing encounters with Nazi police. Together, the Sharps saved about 130 scientists, journalists, doctors and children. Several of those children, now grown, poignantly describe their experiences in the film. Joukowsky said it was "almost a therapeutic process" for them to tell their stories. "Most of us romanticize World War II ... as a victory of good over evil, but the truth is, for the people who were in it and were fighting and doing what the Sharps were doing, it was a terrible process of really acknowledging they couldn't rescue all the people they wanted to," Joukowsky said. "I think my grandparents at the end of their lives felt very confused and reluctant to praise themselves or talk about the good thing they had done." Joukowsky grew up knowing little about his grandparents, who had divorced and remarried by the time he was born. It wasn't until after his grandmother's death in 1999 that he learned their remarkable story, in large part through the work of researchers connected to Keene State College. The chair of Keene State's department of Holocaust and genocide studies, Paul Vincent, said he shares Burns' hope the film will be viewed with an eye toward current events. The Latest: Woman killed in Philadelphia rampage is ID'd PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Latest on the Friday overnight shooting rampage in West Philadelphia (all times local): 2:35 p.m. Authorities have identified a woman killed during a shooting rampage in Philadelphia as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants. Police say Sara Salih was fatally wounded while sitting in a vehicle Friday night with a 36-year-old man, who was also shot. The pair was apparently targeted at random by 25-year-old Nicholas Glenn. Glenn had already shot city police Sgt. Sylvia Young and two other civilians in the Friday overnight attack. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (http://bit.ly/2cprBbj ) Sara's father heard the gunshots from the family's apartment but didn't know his daughter had been shot and killed until after he got home from work Saturday afternoon. Glenn was killed in a shootout with police that also injured a responding officer. Police say all the injured are expected to survive. ___ 3:30 a.m. A police officer shot during shooting rampage in Philadelphia last week has been released from a hospital. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 says University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller was released on Sunday after receiving treatment for gunshot wounds to his hip and ankle. Investigators say Miller was shot confronting a gunman who had already shot city Police Sgt. Sylvia Young and four civilians one of whom died in the Friday overnight attack. Authorities say the gunman later identified as Nicholas Glenn subsequently died in a shootout with responding officers. Police say Glenn had a note that expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer. Suspect Nicholas Glenn was killed after a shootout with police officers Salih was killed in a shooting that injured two officers and three civilians She was described by authorities as the daughter of Ethiopian The woman killed during a shooting rampage that wounded two police officers in Philadelphia has been identified as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, authorities said. Sara Salih was shot seven times while sitting in a Nissan Altima Friday night with a 36-year-old man, who was shot in the arm and chest. Beyan Salih, 62, Sara's father, heard the gunshots from the family's apartment during the Friday overnight attack. Thinking nothing of it, he went back to bed and hurried to his job as a parking lot attendant the next morning. Scroll down for video Sara Salih (pictured) has been identified as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants who was killed during a shooting rampage in Philadelphia on Friday night Sgt. Sylvia Young (pictured), 46, with the Philadelphia police was injured along with officer Ed Miller He didn't know his daughter had been shot until after he got home from work Saturday afternoon, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. That's when he was told she had died. 'I didn't know,' he said, sobbing on his front porch. 'How could she be gone? How could this happen?' Sara's sister, Fatima Salih, said Sara was a newborn when the family immigrated to Philadelphia in 1992 and that she had attended school in southwest Philadelphia. Fatima Salih described Sara as 'outgoing and outspoken,' with dreams of becoming a paralegal. Bullet holes can be seen in Young's police vehicle following the rampage, where she was shot up to eight times directly in her protective vest Salih was killed after she was shot seven times in the torso. Pictured the scene of the shooting 'She always loved dreaming about the future,' Fatima Salih said. Authorities say the 25-year-old Glenn apparently targeted Salih and the man she was with at random. Moments before Salih was shot, police say, suspect Nicholas Glenn had fired about 18 shots at veteran police Sergeant Sylvia Young as she sat in her patrol cruiser on a West Philadelphia street corner. Authorities said Glenn opened fire on a Philadelphia police officer then went on a shooting rampage, injuring a second officer, killing a woman and wounding three other people before he was shot and killed by police overnight Friday He then randomly fired five shots at two bar employees, a 42-year-old man and 41-year-old woman, as he ran down the street. Glenn later died in a shootout with responding officers. Glenn also shot one of the responding officers, University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller. Miller was treated for gunshot wounds to his hip and ankle and was released from the hospital Sunday. Four Philadelphia Eagles players visited before his release. Young was shot in her shoulder, arm and chest and remains hospitalized in stable condition. Police say all the injured are expected to survive. Investigators say Glenn had a note that expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer at the time of the attack. He fired at least 51 shots during the rampage and was armed with more ammunition, authorities said. NYC's new police boss successfully handles first big test NEW YORK (AP) It took James O'Neill more than three decades as a cop to ascend to the top of the nation's largest police department, but only a little more than day to get his first real test. O'Neill's first full day as New York City's police commissioner ended with him racing to the scene of an explosion Saturday in the Manhattan's bustling Chelsea neighborhood that injured 29 people. He immediately took charge of the investigation, offering the nation its first, up-close look at his no-nonsense, just-the-facts management style. And less than 40 hours later, a suspect was behind bars, believed to be responsible for the blasts in both New York and earlier in a New Jersey shore town. FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2016 file photo, New York City Police Department Chief of Department James O'Neill speaks during a news conference, in New York's City Hall. O'Neill's first full day as New York City's police commissioner ended with him leading the response to an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, that wounded 29 people. It offered the nation its first look at the no-nonsense, just-the-facts style that has long been O'Neill's calling card. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) "It's a pretty tough way to start in my new position," O'Neill acknowledged Monday at a news conference detailing the capture of 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami. "But I was just so proud of what I saw that day," he said. "The work that was done together, how it was done, all the agencies, the level of cooperation was impressive." The 58-year-old known to his colleagues as Jimmy Is a measured departure from the media-savvy style of his more political predecessor, William Bratton. In news conferences, O'Neill largely deferred to Mayor Bill de Blasio and his department chiefs, stuck mostly to what investigators knew and didn't know, and didn't even change expression, even when talking about the fast, successful arrest. "I have to say it was absolutely a seamless transfer of leadership," de Blasio said of the new commissioner. "He took over command of the situation on Saturday evening - was entirely on top of the action." If O'Neill sounds more like a police officer than a bureaucrat, it comes naturally. From his start as a transit patrolman in 1983, he worked his way up through the ranks, most recently serving as the 36,000-officer department's top chief. In fact, taking the civilian commissioner's job was the first time in his career that he was no longer required to wear the NYPD uniform. "It's just that I've been wearing this uniform for almost 34 years. Now it's really starting to hit me," O'Neill told The Associated Press in an interview last week on the eve of his formal, official swearing-in Friday. A public ceremony Monday came just a few minutes before the news conference on Rahami's arrest. The Brooklyn-born O'Neill makes no secret of approaching the most powerful job in local law enforcement differently from Bratton, who cultivated an image as a crime-fighting innovator in stints running police departments in Boston, Los Angeles and two times in New York. "If you talk to anyone who's ever known me, they'd say we're different people," O'Neill said of Bratton, who is leaving to work as a private security executive. "I think my way's a little different not better, not worse. ... I don't need a big personality. I just do it one person at a time." He's also open about a mid-career crisis that had the potential to put him on an early retirement track. It came in 2008, when, as the head of a narcotics unit, he was transferred amid allegations that informants were being paid with drugs instead of cash. Four narcotics investigators ended up facing criminal charges, and hundreds of criminal cases were affected, with prosecutors forced to dismiss charges or vacate convictions. "I wasn't happy about it," O'Neill said about the situation. But by nature, he couldn't leave. "I thought about it, but I love being a cop," he said. "I love the NYPD." O'Neill continued rising through the ranks until Bratton's return, when the new commissioner tapped him as his successor. He concedes the complexities of fighting conventional crime and protecting the city against terrorism are daunting. A wake-up call came when he saw the degree of outrage during protests amid the fallout from a grand jury's decisions not to prosecute in the killings of unarmed black men in New York City and Missouri. Before the wave of outrage, "Were we always loved? No," he said. "But we were never vilified in that way." The reaction made him more convinced the NYPD needed to push forward with a neighborhood policing program designed to give patrolmen more time to walk around and mix with the communities that they police rather than staying in their cars and only responding to 911 calls. His message at police roll calls was simple: "Remember why you became a cop and we'll get through this." As an insider, O'Neill will have police officers' trust, said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. "The benefit of O'Neill is that he came up through the ranks, through the precincts. And there's a bond with that that gets formed over time," Mullins said. "I think the rank-and-file would like to see him succeed." Some activists, mindful of the NYPD's sometimes-fractious relationships with minority communities, took a cautious approach. "We're prepared to hold O'Neill's feet to the fire, just as we did with Bratton," said Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, a member of Communities United for Police Reform. Amnesty International calls on Argentina for plan on Syrians BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Amnesty International on Monday called on Argentina to implement a plan to welcome Syrian refugees fleeing their country's civil war. President Mauricio Macri has said he intends to allow more than 3,000 Syrian refugees to resettle in the South American country, but so far the plan has stalled. Organizations and members of the Argentina's Syrian community are pressuring Macri's government to keep its promise. "I think the Argentine state has the good intention to help in this humanitarian crisis, but it is limited (by resources). But for us, the economic excuse is not valid," said Leah Tandeter, head of international justice for Amnesty International's local branch. Syrian refugee Nairbouz Baloul poses for a portrait inside a subway station in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, where Amnesty International set up a mock-up Syrian home for commuters to visit. Argentina's President Mauricio Macri pledged earlier in the year that the country would receive 3,000 Syrian refugees escaping from war. Baloul, 29, arrived one month ago from Latakia. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano) The rights organization on Monday displayed a replica of a Syrian home in a busy subway stop of the Argentine capital. Images of bombings were projected on screens on its windows in an effort to call attention to the more than 4 million Syrians who have sought refuge abroad since civil war erupted in 2011. World leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week will discuss the fate of the world's 65.3 million displaced people at the first summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. Rio judge seizes assets of official Olympic broadcaster RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Brazilian justice has blocked assets of the company that serves as the host broadcaster organization for the Olympic Games. The decision announced on Monday impacts any financial resources, trucks, equipment and furniture used in Brazil by Spanish-based company Olympic Broadcasting Services, known as OBS. The objective of Brazilian authorities is to assure "compensation for possible damages to workers hired by OBS", the ruling says. The company can still appeal the decision. A Brazilian athlete holds her countries flag during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Investigators that moved the suit claim that OBS has to pay damages to overworked employees of its operations at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games, which ended on Sunday. OBS is a company created by the International Olympic Committee in 2001. It produces and transmits live radio and television coverage of every sport from every venue. The company said in a statement that it was taking all legal measures in its defense, but did not comment on the accusations since the case is under judicial review. "OBS takes pride in ensuring that regardless of where the Games take place the professionals participating in the operation are provided with working conditions which are in line with the best practices of the industry at an international level," the statement said. More than 7,000 professionals from more than 70 different countries worked for OBS during the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games. Eduardo Paes the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro applauds as Sir Philip Craven President of the IPC hands the Paralympic flag to the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. (Simon Bruty/OIS, IOC via AP) Mother-of-three Dinya Farmer, 49, was driving down State Route 51 in Phoenix, when she was followed by a truck before crashing into a freeway median. She later died in hospital Police have released a transcript of the 911 call made by a terminally ill woman who was killed after being chased along a freeway by three men in a pick-up truck. Mother-of-three Dinya Farmer, 49, was driving down State Route 51 in Phoenix, Arizona, in the middle of rush hour, when she made the emergency call saying she was being followed by a white pick-up truck. She later died in hospital after gunshots were fired and she crashed into a freeway median. Police are still trying to determine the motive behind the attack earlier this month, and investigators have said the circumstances of the shooting do not point to random violence or a traffic dispute. Now police have released a transcript of the 911 call Farmer made while she was being followed by the truck. It reveals that she gave the operator a description of the suspicious vehicle before saying she was nervous and asked: 'What should I do?' She said the men tried to approach her earlier and that they kept following her on the freeway. Finally, she shouts, 'They're right next to me.' The transcript said a noise could be heard on the phone. The operator asked repeatedly, 'Ma'am, are you there?' But police said 911 operator could hear gunshots before the call was disconnected. After the crash, Farmer was rushed to hospital in an extremely critical condition, where she died from her injuries. She had recently been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Debris is seen around Farmer's car as police investigate the scene. Police have released a transcript of the 911 call Farmer made while she was being followed by the truck A bullet hole is seen in one of the window's of Farmer's vehicle. She asked the 911 operator what to do while she was being followed, just moments before she was shot Police and emergency workers are seen covering the scene with a yellow sheet on the road Authorities are now hunting for the truck, which was described as having ladder racks and a toolbox on it. Police said Farmer described the suspects to be three Hispanic males. Four other vehicles involved in two to three other minor collisions related to the shooting were also found by police, Sgt Johnathan Howard told Fox 10 Phoenix. Howard said two of the vehicles' occupants were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries. Meanwhile Farmer's aunt, Debra Beldone spoke out saying she had been left devastated by her niece's murder. Farmer had been living with Beldone for the last year following her cancer diagnosis. 'I can't believe it, I'm still numb, I don't know whether to cry, laugh or run into the wall,' she told KPHO. Beldone said Farmer, who had three daughters aged 16, 17 and 25, was on her way home when she was killed. Authorities are now hunting for the truck, which was described as having ladder racks and a toolbox on it 'Its just sad for me, to have someone to take her life on the way home, she was by herself.' 'When she got diagnosed with this cancer and it didnt seem to get any better, we just knew shed have loved ones around her when the time came.' 'To be on the 51, by herself, afraid, and I know she was, it's just devastating.' Beldone said Farmer was stylish and 'always smelled great', a designer who loved to decorate and 'loved her girls, loved her family'. 4 sentenced to life for slaying of reserve police officer CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) Four people convicted in the slaying of a reserve police officer in Virginia have been sentenced to life in prison. News media outlets report that Daniel Mathis was sentenced to life plus 132 years for the death of 45-year-old Waynesboro Reserve Police Capt. Kevin Quick. Shantai Shelton and Mersadies Shelton were each sentenced to life in prison plus 82 years and Kweli Uhuru was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years. In February, a jury found the four guilty of murder and kidnapping. UC Berkeley reinstates Palestine history class after outcry BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) University of California, Berkeley administrators on Monday reinstated a Palestinian history class amid an outcry over its suspension last week. The school's social science dean announced in letter to faculty that the ethnic studies class was reinstated after the teacher revised the course description. Social science dean Carla Hesse suspended "Palestine: A Colonial Settler Analysis" after receiving a complaint from Jewish and civil rights groups that the course syllabus appeared to describe a politically motivated, anti-Semitic class. Hesse suspended the class, saying it wasn't properly vetted to ensure it wasn't espousing a single political viewpoint. The suspension triggered protests from critics who said the action threatened academic freedom. Hesse said the class was reinstated after the teacher revised the syllabus. The dean said she didn't ask for changes of the course's content. The one-unit class is taught by student Paul Hadweh, who said the class was suspended without consulting him. "The university threw me under the bus, and publicly blamed me, without ever even contacting me," Hadweh said in a prepared statement. "To defend the course, we had to mobilize an international outcry of scholars and students to stand up for academic freedom. This never should have happened." Hadweh is represented by attorney Liz Jackson of the organization Palestinian Legal. Jackson said the changes to the syllabus were "cosmetic" and that Hadweh and Palestinian Legal is "considering all of its options," including a possible lawsuit. The dean said she suspended the class for review after discovering that neither she nor the chair of the ethnic department had seen or approved the course syllabus. Jackson said the class meets on Tuesday nights and had met for the first and only time on Sept. 6 before the class was suspended. She said she expects it will convene Tuesday. Last week, a letter signed by 43 Jewish and civil rights groups said the course description, speaker lineup and Hadweh's affiliation with pro-Palestinian groups show a politically motivated class. "A review of the syllabus of 'Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis' reveals that the course's objectives, reading materials and guest speakers are politically motivated, meet our government's criteria for antisemitism, and are intended to indoctrinate students to hate the Jewish state and take action to eliminate it," the letter stated. The revised class syllabus says the "course will examine key historical developments that have taken place in Palestine from the 1880s to the present, through the lens of settler colonialism." Hadweh is a senior who says his family is from Bethlehem, six miles south of Jerusalem. Islamic State claiming attacks reflects influence obsession CHICAGO (AP) Islamic State militants rarely miss a chance, however tenuous the link, to claim at least partial credit for apparent terrorist attacks on U.S soil, from June's deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, to the stabbing of 10 people in a Minnesota shopping mall Saturday. They're eager to precisely because they apparently haven't carried out carefully planned attacks here and because, in terrorism circles, your influence is often ranked by numbers of attacks, terrorism experts say. "If they can't claim attacks, they can't get recruits and can't raise money," according to Dan Byman, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Some militant groups, including al-Qaida, are more reluctant about associating themselves with attackers unless it is clear they adhere to their core beliefs, Byman said. But Islamic State appears to be less discriminating, requiring little information about attackers, said Karen Greenberg, the director of the Fordham Law School's Center on National Security in New York. "If they find out the person is Muslim that alone might be enough for them to claim credit," she said. Other groups may also pause to gauge whether an attack crossed certain lines of brutality, something that Byman said isn't an issue for IS, whose calling card has been extreme violence. An Islamic State-run news agency claimed on Sunday that the attack at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was a "soldier of the Islamic State: who had heeded calls for attacks in nations in the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. But authorities say there's no sign yet that the attacker, identified by his father as Somali immigrant Dahir Adan, was radicalized or communicated with any terrorist group. The speed with which IS weighed in may also say something about a competition for recruits between the Middle East-based IS and the east Africa-based militant group al-Shabab, which has recruited Somali-Americans from Minnesota with some success in recent years, but has seen allegiances switching increasingly from al-Shabab to Islamic State, Greenberg said. No militant group has claimed credit for the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey. A naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family was captured Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police. Islamic State has claimed at least partial credit for at least four attacks in the United States over the past two years, including the Minnesota one, according to the Center on National Security. Aside from Minnesota, the others are: June 12 attack on the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse by an American-born Muslim Omar Mateen. IS claimed partial credit via one of its news services the day after he fatally shot 49 people, according to the center. During the attack, Mateen offered allegiance to Islamic State during a 911 call. Dec. 2, 2015, attack in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead. The center said IS claimed credit days after news reports said alleged attackers Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik had pledged allegiance to Islamic States. May 3, 2015, attack by two gunmen in Garland, Texas, during an exhibit of images of the Prophet Muhammad. IS claimed responsibility on Twitter and through its news services. __ YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The representatives of the Republican Party of Armenia won in the local self-government elections in 161 communities on September 18, Chairman of RPA Organizing Committee Ruben Tadevosyan told Armenpress. He said the Party actively participated in the elections held in 237 communities in Armenia. Of course, we have nominated candidates not in all communities, but we have nominated and supported also the candidacy of non-party people. More than 20 of them won in the elections, he said. The RPA candidates were unable to win in nearly 20 communities. Tadevosyan considered it a normal phenomenon since it occurred under fair competition conditions. He reacted to the news which says the RPA lost in the local elections. He said it doesnt correspond to reality. He said the reality will become clear for everyone if they compare the representation and results of other parties. Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Prosperous Armenia party, Civil Contract party and the Armenian Renaissance have also won the elections in some local communities. Where they stand: Trump, Clinton clash on Islamic extremism WASHINGTON (AP) Bombings in the New York region and a stabbing attack in Minnesota have thrust Islamic extremism into the forefront of the 2016 election just a week before the first presidential debate, with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton offering dramatically different visions of how to fight it. Trump has embraced aggressive rhetoric in a plan that's short on detail, but centers on limiting immigration both legal and illegal and dispensing with "politically correct" policies that currently block racial profiling and the use of torture. Clinton has offered policies that would focus on leveraging alliances and improving relationships with Muslim communities at home while working closely with technology companies to crack down on propaganda and communication that encourages "lone wolf" attacks. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves at a campaign stop at Temple University in Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) There are limits, of course, to what the White House can do to prevent extremist attacks at the local level, where local law enforcement remains the first line of defense. Yet the occupant of the Oval Office will have the power to set the course of the nation's approach to fighting the threat of such attacks at home and abroad. Here's a look at each candidate's prescription: ___ IMMIGRATION TRUMP: His plan to combat illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration is the centerpiece of his plan to address Islamic extremism. Trump has repeatedly called for a moratorium on accepting Syrian refugees. His position is part of a broader stance on immigrants that has ranged from imposing a complete ban on foreign Muslims entering the United States "until we know what the hell is going on" to "extreme vetting" and an ideological test for would-be immigrants from regions plagued by Islamic extremism. CLINTON: She has said she would expand President Barack Obama's refugee program from accepting 10,000 to about 65,000 Syrian refugees annually. This would be in addition to the tens of thousands of refugees accepted from around the world every year. Clinton says she would continue to use the existing system to vet the background of immigrants and refugees, an effort that can take years to complete. More broadly, she supports creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally, so long as they are not violent criminals. ___ FIGHTING THE ISLAMIC STATE ABROAD CLINTON: She has said she would not authorize sending ground troops to Syria or Iraq to take on the Islamic State group, instead favoring a plan to intensify the current coalition air-strike campaign. She also would increase diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving Syria's civil war and Iraq's sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, which fueled the group's rise, and has pledged to improve cooperation with European intelligence agencies to halt extremist networks. She has also called for an "intelligence surge" that would include Arabic speakers with deep expertise in the Middle East and a closer partnership with regional intelligence services. TRUMP: He has said repeatedly that he wants to "bomb the hell out of ISIS." Trump spent months on the campaign trail suggesting he had a secret plan to defeat the Islamic State group in May, he deemed it a "foolproof way of winning" but has added he does not want to reveal it because it would tip off extremist leaders. Earlier this month, he instead suggested that, upon his election, he would give generals "30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for defeating ISIS." He has said he'd send ground troops to the Middle East to fight the Islamic State group, in addition to the 5,500 there now, but has wavered on how many. ___ DOMESTIC ATTACKS TRUMP: He has repeatedly endorsed racial profiling in the United States as a counterterrorism tool. Trump has not released any specifics as to how U.S. law enforcement would use profiling, or how he would require it as president, but said Monday that authorities have no choice but to use racial profiling and noted it is a tool Israel uses to combat Islamic extremists. He said "politically correct" policies currently prevent police from keeping Americans safe. The New York billionaire also believes local law enforcement agencies should monitor mosques, saying in June that it should be done "respectfully." CLINTON: She wants local law enforcement to develop improved relationships with Muslim community leaders, who she said are best positioned to recognize extremists in their communities. Clinton has argued that racial profiling is generally ineffective and demeaning to the people being profiled. She has promised to boost federal support for local law enforcement, a move she cites as a key to her strategy. And she supports a law that would prohibit people on the terror watch list from being able to purchase firearms. ___ CYBERSECURITY TRUMP: He has not articulated a policy for addressing cybersecurity, an area national security officials cite as one of the most significant threats to the nation. Asked by an ally earlier in the month to explain his approach to cybersecurity, Trump said "cyber is so big" and later noted it's becoming "more important." On Monday morning, when asked about websites that offer directions on how to build bombs, he said people who post such sites "should be arrested immediately." CLINTON: She has called on U.S. technology companies to be more cooperative in countering extremist propaganda, tracking social media patterns and incepting encrypted communications. She supports the creation of a National Commission on Encryption to help tech companies and the government find a balance between privacy and security concerns. Clinton said in an August speech that she would treat a cyberattack from an adversary "like any other attack" against the United States. She has called on the government to work with private institutions to protect against cyberattacks from countries like Russia and China, while vowing to modernize the nation's electric grid to address its vulnerabilities. ___ CLASH ON TORTURE CLINTON: Clinton has condemned the use of torture as an interrogation technique. During her first presidential run, Clinton briefly suggested that its limited use in extreme circumstances could save lives, but by September 2007 she categorically ruled it out, saying "it cannot be American policy, period." She has also suggested that it doesn't work and, in a March speech at Stanford University, warned that "it puts our own troops and increasingly our own civilians at greater risk" by promoting retaliation. TRUMP: He has repeatedly come out in favor of using torture. "What do you think about waterboarding?" he asked the crowd at a June rally in Ohio. "I like it a lot. I don't think it's tough enough." He has on other occasions suggested that he would authorize techniques that were "a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." Waterboarding, used during the Bush administration on detainees after 9/11, was later outlawed by Congress in a law signed by Obama. ___ COALITION BUILDING TRUMP: He has made "America First" a key campaign slogan and has suggested he would pull back on international relationships. Earlier this year, he suggested that he would consider pulling the United States out of NATO, because it was "obsolete" and "costing us a fortune." In July, he raised the possibility he would not automatically defend NATO allies unless those nations have "fulfilled their (financial) obligations to us." He also advocated for a stronger ties with Russia, saying "wouldn't it be nice" to have warmer relationship with that nation. CLINTON: She has pointed to a need to build international coalitions. In a reference to Trump's approach, she warned last month that, "You don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon." She called NATO one of "the best investments" the United States has made and has pledged to remain a member of the military alliance. And she has pointed to her coalition-building record as secretary of state, including an 18-month effort to impose sanctions on Iran in an effort to hinder its nuclear programs. Scavengers have close encounters with bombs in NYC, NJ NEW YORK (AP) Two sets of scavengers played roles in the investigation of the bombing rampage that terrorized people in New York and New Jersey over the weekend, authorities said Monday. On Sunday night, two homeless men grabbed a backpack left in the trash near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, only to discover that it contained several apparent pipe bombs. The men quickly reported the find to police, Democratic Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said. A day earlier, two men walking down a New York City street made off with a rolling backpack that someone had left on the sidewalk about 15 minutes earlier. Evidence teams investigate at the scene of Saturday's explosion on West 23rd Street in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in New York. Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted in the bombings that rocked Chelsea and a New Jersey shore town was captured Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) But before they walked away, they removed a pressure cooker that had been concealed inside it, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. The pressure cooker later was found by state police troopers after a similar device exploded nearby, injuring 29 people. The unexploded device was then examined for clues to the bomber's identity. Police found out that the two men had handled the device only when they looked at surveillance video. "They looked like they were two gentlemen just strolling up and down Seventh Avenue, at the time," Boyce said. "Once they picked up the bag, they seemed incredulous that they had actually picked this up off the street, and they walked off with it." Asked if it was possible that the scavengers, in handling the bomb, might have jostled it enough to disable its trigger, Boyce said he couldn't say for sure. "It's difficult to say right now if they at all, inadvertently perhaps even, pulled a wire," Boyce said. He said the men were being sought as potential witnesses. Earlier Saturday, a pipe bomb blew up in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured. An Afghan immigrant wanted in the bombings was captured Monday after being wounded in a gunbattle with police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway, authorities said. His arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and a photo of him. Virginia governor spotted with Willie Nelson _ and his weed BRISTOW, Va. (AP) Posing for pictures is part of every governor's job. Posing with a can of marijuana not so much. But Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe did just that, inadvertently, when he went to greet country music legend Willie Nelson this weekend. A picture posted on Twitter shows McAuliffe and Nelson, who was performing in Virginia. On the table between them is a can of Willie's Reserve, Nelson's brand of marijuana that's sold in Colorado and Washington. Marijuana possession is illegal in Virginia. McAuliffe Spokesman Brian Coy said the governor spent about 10 minutes in Nelson's trailer and didn't realize what was on the table. Michelle Obama has promised to continue to push for the right's of women and teenage girls around the world, even after she has left the White House. 'More than 62 million girls around the world are counting on us to be their voice,' Obama said. 'And I intend to continue speaking out on their behalf not just for the rest of my time as first lady but for the rest of my life. And I hope that you all will join me.' The U.S. First Lady took to the Broadway stage on Monday night to host a concert for the spouses of global heads of state to deliver her message that would see more girls educated across the world. The heartfelt speech was helped along by some big Broadway voices from female-centric shows currently performing on the Great White Way including The Color Purple, Waitress, Wicked and Beautiful. First lady Michelle Obama hosted Broadway Shines A Light on Girls' Education in New York Tony award winner Cynthia Erivo performed a number from The Color Purple, one of a number of female-centric shows on Broadway currently Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, of Jordan, spoke at the event which was held at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York Television host Stephen Colbert, U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and broadway actress Cynthia Erivo stand on stage at the Monday night event Songs from the show Waitress were also performed. The show is the first-ever Broadway musical with an all-female creative team The concert was held at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre the normal home of The Color Purple as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, which encourages world leaders to provide education opportunities to millions of girls globally who do not attend school. 'When people hear stories of girls who aren't in school, they want to help. And as spouses of world leaders, so many of us here in this room have a platform that we can use to tell these stories and bring people together to take action for these girls. Because people will pick up the phone when we call,' Obama said. The event, emceed by TV talk show host Stephen Colbert, took advantage of the gathering of world leaders in New York for the opening of the 71st United Nations General Assembly. Cynthia Erivo, far right, sang a song from The Color Purple. In the show, the she speaks of her right to pursue the dream of a bountiful life, as she rises above desperate circumstances Michelle Obama embraces broadway actress Cynthia Erivo after her powerful solo number First lady of Malawi Gertrude Hendrina Mutharika, one of 50 spouses present, spoke on stage The First Lady has vowed to continue pushing for women's rights even after she leaves the White House More than 50 spouses attended, along with public school children and girl scouts who packed the theater. Colbert joked that Michelle Obama is one of the most admired women in the world 'despite her constantly telling everyone to eat their vegetables.' She hit the stage to a thundering ovation. Remarks also were made by three girls from Jordan, Pakistan and Malawi about the work in their home countries still needed for adolescent girls, as well as songwriter Sara Bareilles, Jordan's Queen Rania, and Gertrude Mutharika, the first lady of Malawi. Bareilles, who wrote the songs Brave and Love Song,helped create the musical Waitress, the first-ever Broadway musical with an all-female creative team. She joked that she didn't even notice that at first. 'What a gift that was that I was given an opportunity to be so seen and so empowered and so trusted and so reflective of my environment that I actually for a moment forgot to notice how rare it was,' Bareilles said. 'That is my wish for girls all over the world: That they get the chance and the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the world around them.' The 90-minute event included the 2016 best actress Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo singing a powerful I'm Here from The Color Purple, Jennifer DiNoia and Carrie St. Louis singing For Good from Wicked, the performers Charity Angel Dawson, Stephanie Torns and Jenna Ushkowitz singing A Soft Place to Land from Waitress, and a medley of songs by Carole King led by Chilina Kennedy. Rhode Island asked to return suspect in officer death to NC RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has signed paperwork to bring a man arrested in Rhode Island back to the state to face a first-degree murder charge in the killing of a police officer. McCrory said in a news release that bringing 23-year-old Irving Fenner back to North Carolina is vital to the investigation into the death of 38-year-old Shelby police Officer Tim Brackeen. Fenner refused extradition last week. His next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14. 2 priests found dead after being kidnapped in Mexico MEXICO CITY (AP) Two priests were found dead Monday, hours after they were abducted in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz. The Veracruz state prosecutors' office said the two men were kidnapped Sunday in the northern Veracruz city of Poza Rica. Their bodies were found dumped in a field by a roadside Monday. A third man who was abducted with them, identified as the priests' driver, was later found alive and put under protection, officials said. The Mexican Council of Bishops identified the dead men as priests Alejo Nabor Jimenez Juarez and Jose Alfredo Juarez de la Cruz. They were kidnapped from a low-income neighborhood where they served. "We express our pain and indignation at the violence committed against them," the council said in a statement. "In these moments of pain and powerlessness in the face of the tragic violence we pray to the heavens for the eternal rest of our brothers and ask Our Lord for the conversion of their killers," the statement added. "From the authorities, we expect an investigation clear up these acts and that those responsible be brought to justice." The area around Poza Rica has been the scene of drug gang violence for years, though it is not clear why the priests were targeted. CenturyLink reducing workforce by 7 to 8 percent CenturyLink says it is cutting more than 3,000 jobs to lower its costs. The Monroe, Louisiana-based telecommunications company said Monday that it expects to lay off about 7 to 8 percent of its 43,000 employees. That would be roughly 3,000 to 3,400 jobs. CenturyLink Inc. said it is seeking to first trim its headcount on a voluntary basis. Employees who take voluntary severance packages can participate in outplacement assistance programs. Uruguay rejects demand by hunger-striking ex-Gitmo detainee BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Uruguay's government on Monday rejected an ultimatum from a former Guantanamo prisoner who is on a hunger strike demanding to leave the South American country. Abu Wa'el Dhiab has been on a hunger strike for more than a month to press his demands to leave Uruguay, which took him in along with five other former Guantanamo prisoners in 2014. He wants to join his wife and children in Turkey, where they are refugees, or in another nation. Dhiab gave the government until Sunday to deliver a proposal for him leaving. But Christian Mirza, the government's liaison with the six resettled detainees, said there was nothing concrete to offer him yet. A street vendor passes a sign that reads in Spanish "A place in the world for Jihad and his family" placed by demonstrators in downtown Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. Former Guantanamo detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab from Syria, also called Jihad, is on a hunger strike, threatening to die if he is not allowed to reunite with his family elsewhere, after he was resettled in Uruguay. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico) "The ultimatum and the last video that he recorded didn't go well" with officials, Mirza said before entering the apartment where Dhiab has been living in Montevideo. Mirza said Lebanon, Qatar and Turkey have rejected taking in Dhiab. Late in the day, a friend told reporters outside the apartment building that Dhiab would extend his deadline until next Monday to give the government more time. The friend, Alejandra de Bittencourt, also said Dhiab would drink water until that time. Dhiab briefly fell into a coma last week and has been hospitalized twice, but asked to return to the apartment, where he continues to reject any food or liquid. Late Friday, an activist group calling itself Vigil for Jihad Dhiab posted the latest in a series of YouTube videos it has made of Dhiab, this one showing him delivering his ultimatum while speaking in English. He said he would resume drinking liquids if Uruguayan officials met his demand to help reunite him and his family within seven days. He gave the government until Sunday to respond. Dhiab was released from the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in December 2014, but could not return to Syria due to the civil war there. Two men arrested over murder of mother of nine and nephew Detectives investigating a double fatal shooting of a mother of nine and her nephew have arrested two men on suspicion of murder. Annie Besala Ekofo, 53, and Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo, 21, were gunned down at a flat in north London in what is feared to have been a case of mistaken identity. Scotland Yard said they arrested a 20-year-old man in the early hours of Saturday who has since been released on bail. Mother of nine Annie Besala-Ekofo and nephew Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo died after suffering gunshot wounds A second man, aged 24, was arrested on Sunday and taken into custody at a north London police station. Both were arrested on suspicion of murder. The Met revealed it has also been established that Mr Kalikaka-Ekofo, a psychology student, died from a gunshot wound to the head. His post-mortem was carried out at Northwick Park Hospital Mortuary on Saturday. A post-mortem examination for Mrs Besala is yet to take place. Officers were called to the scene on Elmshurst Crescent, East Finchley at around 6.25am on Thursday to reports of two people injured at the address. On arrival they found they were suffering from gunshot injuries and both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. At the time of the killings four other people, including a child, were also at the property but were not harmed. On Saturday Scotland Yard said it had found "no evidence to suggest Mrs Besala or Mr Kalikaka-Ekofo were the intended targets of the shooting". Detectives said they were keeping an open mind as to the motive for the attack - as well as investigating whether anyone else associated with the address was the target. Mr Kalikaka-Ekofo's father, Patrick Ekofo, said his son "never looked for trouble". Mrs Besala was described as a "wonderful and loving mother and wife" who was "glue that kept everyone together" in a statement from her relatives. Record-breaking Game Of Thrones wins best drama at Emmy awards Game Of Thrones toasted a record-breaking night at the Emmys, while Dame Maggie Smith triumphed for Britain at the TV awards. The show, based on George RR Martin's novels, has now scooped 38 Emmys, beating Frasier's record of 37 to become the most-awarded narrative show in Emmy history. Downton Abbey actress Dame Maggie stayed away from the Los Angeles ceremony but won a best supporting actress gong for her role as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the hit period drama. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington with the awards won by Game Of Thrones at the Emmys (AP) Her rivals included Game Of Thrones stars Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams, but the 81-year-old went on to land another Emmy to her bulging trophy cabinet - her third for her Downton role alone. Host Jimmy Kimmel joked during his opening monologue that the veteran actress should have made an effort to be at the event, having not attended in previous years either. "I f you want an Emmy you better hop on a plane right now and get your Dowager Count-ass over here," he joked. When her name was announced as winner, he walked on to the stage to take Dame Maggie's trophy, saying: "No, no, no, no, no. We're not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this, it'll be in the lost and found." British comedian John Oliver, who made his name on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, won outstanding variety talk show for satirical programme Last Week Tonight. He beat big names including James Corden, Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon to the gong. Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, the much-anticipated Victorian era-set special featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which left some viewers puzzled when it was broadcast on New Year's Day, received the television movie award. Cumberbatch had been nominated for his acting role in the special, but went away empty-handed. Sherlock writer Steven Moffat brought The Great British Bake Off controversy to a US audience when he received the award, saying : "Thank you to the BBC, who we love above all bakery. British people will get that." Tom Hiddleston left without an award after being nominated for his role in The Night Manager, the thriller based on the John le Carre novel. But the British-US miniseries did scoop a directing gong, for Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. Sky Atlantic fantasy Game Of Thrones was named best drama series and picked up gongs for outstanding writing and directing at the event in Los Angeles, although there was disappointment for British heartthrob Kit Harington as well as Headey, Clarke and Williams. The TV drama based on the murder trial of OJ Simpson, The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, was also honoured with a host of acting awards and was named outstanding limited series . Julia Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy for her role in the political satire Veep, which was named best comedy series, and paid a heartfelt tribute to her father following his death on Friday. The US star fought back tears as she collected the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series award, saying: " I'm so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered." It is the fifth time in a row Louis-Dreyfus has won the award for her role in the US version of BBC comedy The Thick Of It. Jeffrey Tambor won best lead actor in a comedy series for his role in the Amazon series Transparent and urged the TV industry to provide more opportunities for transgender actors. "Please give transgender talent a chance," he said. "Give them auditions. Give them their stories." Rami Malek was named best lead actor in a drama series for his role in Mr Robot, while Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama series for her performance in BBC America series Orphan Black. The 68th Emmy Awards took place at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. The BBC welcomed the wins for Sherlock and The Night Manager. Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, said: "Huge congratulations to Sherlock and Susanne Bier, the director of The Night Manager, for their outstanding Emmy wins. "It's a testament to the sheer quality and excellence of their work." Sue Vertue, executive producer for Hartswood Films, said: "Sherlock is a passion project so the work is its own reward - but it's nice that there are other rewards too. We are so glad to know that people enjoy the show almost as much as we enjoy making it." Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Veep at the Emmys (AP) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Successful business-lady and founder of Jessica brand, Jessica Vartoughian will arrive in Yerevan. She will deliver a master-class in Armenia for cosmetologists and some dozens of specialists of the sphere at the initiative of Helios Podology center of hand and foot care. On September 23 at the Double Tree by Hilton hotel in Yerevan Jessica Vartoughian will share her experience and knowledge with Armenian specialists, who can register at Helios Podology center for participation, calling +374 10 505099, +374 11 770188. Long before nail salons were found on every corner, there was Jessica Vartoughian, the woman who would become known as The First Lady of Nails. Jessica opened the first-ever nails-only salon and revolutionized nail care with a technique that was ahead of its time. Her pioneering spirit and business savvy helped pave the way for the multi-million dollar nail care industry to become what it is today. Now founder & CEO of Jessica Cosmetics International, Inc., Jessica is considered the foremost authority on cultivating beautiful natural nails, an achievement reflected in her extensive line of popular nail care product. The seeds of Jessicas success were planted early. As a child growing up in Romania, Jessica was instilled with the importance of looking well groomed. At 17, Jessicas family had to flee Romania. After relocating to Los Angeles, in need of a vocation and speaking no English, Jessica enrolled in beauty school and somewhat reluctantly began doing manicures. It wouldnt be long, however, before she realized she had found her true calling. Jessica educated herself on the anatomy of the nail. She believed nails must be cared for and maintained like the skin with a regimen unique to the individual. Focusing on natural nail care, she developed a passion for upgrading the manicure experiencemaking it sophisticated and luxuriousfor both the client and the professional doing the work. Jessica opened her own salon, the Jessica Nail Clinic in Beverly Hills in 1969. It was the first-ever nails-only salon and it enabled Jessica to teach her cutting-edge technique to professionals she called Nail Cultivists.She inspired them to pass the knowledge on to the customer, a practice she believes in to this day. Her approach garnered her legions of fans including high-profile celebrities like Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross, as well as longtime client Nancy Reagan, whom Jessica regularly visited in the White House to do her nails. As her success continued to grow, Jessica launched Jessica Cosmetics, a product line based on her innovative philosophy of treating the nail from the foundation. Today, the line boasts a wide assortment of treatment products, over 230 Custom Colours, Effects, the GELeration Soak-Off Gel System, Zen Spa Pedicure, and Fusion 2.5.2 Pedicure. Jessicas products are found in top salons in 60 countries worldwide, and Jessica remains at the forefront of nail care as its most trusted source. The Jessica Brand has been present in Armenia for 7 years. The only official representative of the brand are Helios aesthetic medicine and Helios Podology hand and foot care centers. Junior doctors are taking their fight to the High Court today in a bid to block the Government's decision to introduce a controversial new contract. Campaign group Justice for Health is accusing the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of seeking to impose 'unsafe and unsustainable' terms and conditions as part of his plans for seven-day NHS services in England. Lawyers for the doctors are expected to argue in a two-day hearing in London that Mr Hunt has not only acted unlawfully but 'misled Parliament'. The medics contend his decision to impose the contract lacks a sound or rational foundation. Mr Hunt hit back at the accusations on Monday night, saying the High Court challenge should be dismissed. Doctors in the campaign group Justice for Health are taking the dispute to court today The dispute over the contracts has already led to thousands of operations and appointments being cancelled since strikes started in January. Until now, the longest strike has only last two days. But next month, when the new contract is due to be introduced, thousands of junior doctors are planning the first five-day walk-out. The medics are arguing that, although Mr Hunt is entitled to 'recommend' a new contract, he is attempting to go significantly further even though he has no power to decide the terms and conditions under which the NHS and other bodies should employ junior doctors. The group's founding members are all junior doctors - Dr Nadia Masood, Dr Ben White, Dr Fran Silman, Dr Amar Mashru and Dr Marie-Estella McVeigh. The group raised 151,625 from 5,113 donations from a crowdfunding page to bring a High Court judicial review. Their solicitor Saimo Chahal, from law firm Bindmans, described them as 'incredibly brave' in seeking to hold Mr Hunt to account. Ms Chahal said: 'They are fighting not about conditions of employment but about issues which lie at the heart and soul of the NHS.' Dr Silman said: 'We have spent the last year trying to explain to Jeremy Hunt why the contract is flawed, and why it is irrational to continue with imposition, given the current staffing and funding crisis in the NHS. The campaign group raised more than 150,000 through crowdfunding to bring their case to High Court 'Mr Hunt has ignored doctors' concerns, and so we are forced to turn to the courts.' Thousands of members of the public have offered the doctors money via crowdfunding website Crowd Justice to bring their case. Their dispute with the Government led to the first full walkout strikes of their kind in British history. Junior doctors rejected the latest contract offer put to a referendum by the British Medical Association (BMA) in June. The Health Secretary decided to impose the contract, leaving junior doctors complaining that their concerns had been ignored. Mr Hunt told Parliament that the NHS needed certainty, including in light of the UK's decision to leave the EU. Responding to the latest development on Monday, Barrister Clive Sheldon QC, who led Mr Hunt's legal team, told Mr Justice Green in a written statement: 'The claim is wholly without substance.' He said Mr Hunt had felt that a new contract should be introduced by the NHS. May admits UK role in coalition air attack on Syrian troops Theresa May said the UK would "never intentionally strike or focus on Syrian forces" after Britain admitted being part of a coalition air attack that has been claimed to have killed dozens of Bashar Assad's troops. The Prime Minister said the UK would co-operate with the investigation by the US-led coalition into the attack on Saturday near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The United States has accepted its aircraft may have accidentally hit a Syrian government position during an attack on Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh, which is not covered by the ceasefire agreement. It is understood Britain's participation involved an unmanned RAF Reaper drone (MoD/PA) Australia and Denmark have also said that their planes were involved in the strike. It is understood Britain's participation involved an unmanned RAF Reaper drone. Speaking at the United Nations HQ in New York, Mrs May told broadcasters: "The UK was part of the coalition air strike that took place. We are now part of the investigation and it's right that this is properly investigated. "But, from the UK's point of view we are there to deal with Daesh, to deal with the terrorist threat that is Daesh. "We would never intentionally strike or focus on Syrian forces. "But there is an investigation taking place and we will be contributing to that investigation fully." Russia - president Bashar Assad's main foreign backer - said it had been told by the Syrian government that 62 of its troops had been killed in the strike. The Syrian military said the coalition aircraft had hit a base which was surrounded by IS - enabling the militants to overrun their positions. The incident lead to furious exchanges between Russia and the US at the UN, with the ambassadors of both countries storming out of an emergency session of the Security Council. Vitali Churkin, the Russian ambassador who called the meeting, said it was suspicious the incident had happened just two days before US and Russian forces were supposed to begin co-ordinated strikes against the Islamists and that it had left a "very big question mark" over the peace deal. US ambassador Samantha Power expressed regret for the loss of life but dismissed the summoning of the Security Council as a "stunt", accusing Moscow of "moralism and grandstanding" that was "uniquely typical and hypocritical". Doctors must declare private health earnings under 'transparency' plans Doctors will have to reveal the amount of money they earn from private work under new plans to help bolster transparency. NHS England chairman Sir Malcolm Grant told The Times that the extent of private work carried out had been "under the radar" for too long and "we are looking into something that is quite a touchy subject". A spokesman for NHS England, which is trying to increase transparency, said every hospital is to publish a register of consultants' outside earnings from April in a drive to unearth potential conflicts of interest. Every hospital will publish a register of consultants' outside earnings from April It is believed that about half of England's 46,000 NHS consultants do private work, on top of average earnings of 112,000 a year. NHS England will be launching a major consultation on proposals to strengthen the management of NHS conflicts of interest and to clamp down on inappropriate behaviour. It comes as a NHS review has raised fears that some senior doctors may be handing over too much work to junior colleagues or spending a lot of time on private work. Britain to ratify Paris climate change deal 'before end of year', May tells UN The UK will begin the process of ratifying the global climate change agreement within weeks, Theresa May said, as she used her first speech to the United Nations to stress that the UK remained a global player following the Brexit vote. Mrs May said the UK would complete the process of ratifying the Paris agreement by the end of the year. The Prime Minister told the gathering of world leaders in New York that the UK remained a "confident, strong and dependable partner internationally". Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the United Nations General Assembly (AP) She said: "We will continue to play our part in the international effort against climate change. "And in a demonstration of our commitment to the agreement reached in Paris, the UK will start its domestic procedures to enable ratification of the Paris agreement, and complete these before the end of the year." The command paper leading to the ratification will be laid in Parliament after it returns from the conference recess next month. Mrs May said when Britons backed Brexit "they did not vote to turn inwards or walk away from any of our partners in the world". "Faced with challenges like migration, a desire for greater control of their country, and a mounting sense that globalisation is leaving working people behind, they demanded a politics that is more in touch with their concerns; and bold action to address them." Mrs May stressed that the UK was committed to the target of spending 0.7% of gross national income on overseas aid and the Nato commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence. The UN general assembly has been dominated by the migration crisis and Mrs May has set out the principles guiding her approach - including that refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and nations have a right to protect their borders. She also called for a better distinction between genuine refugees and economic migrants. She said: "By ensuring a managed and controlled international migration response - and at the same time investing to tackle the underlying drivers of displacement and migration at source - we can reject isolationism and xenophobia, achieving better outcomes for all of our citizens - and particularly for the most vulnerable." Mrs May said the world's leaders must acknowledge the concerns felt around the world about the pace of globalisation. "We must never forget that we stand here, at this United Nations, as servants of the men and women that we represent back at home," she said. "And as we do so, we must recognise that for too many of those men and women the increasing pace of globalisation has left them feeling left behind. "Faced with challenges like migration, a desire for greater control of their country, and a mounting sense that globalisation is leaving working people behind, they demanded a politics that is more in touch with their concerns; and bold action to address them." A senior UK source said Mrs May's address, her first major speech on foreign policy, showed her view that "the more we do earlier on overseas, the better we can protect people at home". Her belief was that "foreign policy should be about how best do you serve British interests," the source said. Fourteen kidnapped Nigerian oil workers freed - police ONITSHA, Nigeria, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Nigerian police have freed 14 kidnapped oil workers in the restive southern Niger Delta region, which has been hit by a series of militant attacks on oil and gas facilities, police said on Sunday. Kidnapping for ransom is a common problem in some parts of Nigeria and the southern Delta energy hub has seen an increase in crime since the start of attacks by militants calling for more oil wealth to go to the impoverished region. Gunmen seized the 14 workers at the start of the month on a road between the towns of Omoku and Elele, around 50 km (30 miles) from the city of Port Harcourt, Rivers state. The workers are employees of Nigerian oil company Nestoil. "We secured their release in batches. Five were released yesterday while seven were released in the early hours of today," said Nnamdi Omoni, spokesman for police in Rivers state. The remaining two had been released earlier. "As a result of our pressure on the kidnappers our men had a shootout with them but none of the kidnappers was killed or arrested," he said, without giving further details. "No ransom was paid." GE brings off-the-shelf biotech drug factories to Ireland By Ben Hirschler LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - General Electric is digging deeper into biotechnology with plans to build four prefabricated drug factories in Ireland, bringing to Europe a low-cost manufacturing concept it first pioneered in China. The U.S. conglomerate, better known for making jet engines and turbines, said on Monday it would invest 150 million euros ($167 mln) in a biopharmaceutical campus in county Cork. The new factories on the site will be owned and run by GE customers. The GE BioPark Cork site is expected to create 500 jobs by the time it is fully operational, in a boost for Ireland, whose low tax rates have helped it attract top drug companies. GE reckons its off-the-shelf modules are 25 to 50 percent cheaper than the traditional plants needed for making complex biological medicines. They can also be constructed in just 18 months rather than the typical three years. The first such GE prefab factory was built for JHL Biotech in China, where it recently started operations. Pfizer has also a so-called KUBio unit going up in China. Both these factories are designed to produce cut-price biosimilars, or copies of expensive biotech drugs. Demand for such biosimilars is set to increase as patents expire on top-selling injectable medicines like AbbVie's Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and Roche's breast cancer treatment Herceptin. KUBio factories offer GE a way to build up its presence in biotech medicine, which it sees as a central plank of its life sciences business. GE life sciences sales reached $4 billion in 2015, out of total GE Healthcare revenue of $18 billion. GE technology is already used to make leading antibody drugs and the company also aims to become a big supplier in the emerging field of cell therapy. GE is expected to start building the factories in Cork next year. The investment is a boost for Ireland whose low tax regime has come under scrutiny. The Irish government is set to appeal against a 13-billion-euro back tax demand imposed by the European Commission on technology giant Apple, fearing it could undermine the country's long-established policy of attracting multinationals with low taxes. Venezuela says OPEC, non-OPEC oil stabilizing deal "close" CARACAS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were "close" to reaching a deal to stabilize oil markets and that he aimed for a deal to be announced this month. Venezuela says OPEC, non-OPEC oil stabilizing deal close By Deisy Buitrago MARGARITA ISLAND, Venezuela, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching a deal to stabilize oil markets and that he aimed for a deal to be announced this month. OPEC members may call an extraordinary meeting to discuss oil prices if they reach consensus at an informal gathering in Algiers this month, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said during a visit to Algeria, the country's state news agency, APS, reported on Sunday. Maduro, an oil price hawk who was speaking at the end of a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on Margarita Island, Venezuela, where diplomats also met to discuss the oil market, said a deal was imminent. "We had a long bilateral meeting with Rouhani. We're close to a deal between OPEC producer countries and non-OPEC," Maduro told a news conference. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who attended the summit, said Tehran supported any move to stabilize the global oil market and lift prices, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry news agency, SHANA. Venezuela has been seeking an oil deal for years as its state-led economy reels under low oil prices, and has often said it was close to reaching an agreement. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria from Sept. 26 to 28. Non-OPEC producer Russia is also attending the forum. Maduro revels in support from Zimbabwe, Iran as critics decry failed summit By Deisy Buitrago and Girish Gupta MARGARITA ISLAND, Venezuela, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reveled in support from leftist allies during a summit of a Cold War-era bloc that wrapped up on Sunday, but critics pilloried him for hosting unpopular leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and for failing to draw many world leaders. It appears only around a dozen heads of state from the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement made it to the meeting held on the Caribbean island of Margarita, just off Venezuela's coast, in a blow for a government keen to bolster its international legitimacy. Authorities did not supply a list of attendees. Maduro, hit by low popularity amid a deep economic crisis, hailed the meeting as a triumph. "This summit, we can say, has been a total success, a victory of Bolivarian diplomacy," Maduro told a news conference minutes after closing the six-day event, referring to Simon Bolivar, Latin American independence hero and idol of the socialist revolution in Venezuela. The movement was formed in 1961 by nations wanting to avoid aligning with the United States or Soviet Union though has dwindled in relevance over the years. The most high-profile heads of states in attendance at Margarita were Mugabe, Cuba's Raul Castro, and Iran's Hassan Rouhani, who passed on the presidency of the group to Venezuela on Saturday. Venezuelan authorities promoted the hashtag #TheWorldWithVenezuela on state broadcasts in a bid to show a domestic audience that Caracas had international support, as Venezuela suffers a severe economic crisis with shortages of basic goods, many complaining of hunger and a high murder rate. The opposition decried spending state funds on a lavish summit during the crisis and many expressed outrage that Mugabe - called a dictator by rights groups - was welcomed with open arms. "This so-called summit  is a devastating failure," read a statement from Venezuela's opposition coalition. "It ratifies (Maduro's) international isolation, his diplomatic ineptitude and the world's rejection of a regime that is a global symbol of corruption and incompetence." Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, used the forum to denounce U.S.-led air strikes he said had killed 83 Syrian soldiers, saying they were aimed at sinking a fragile U.S.-Russia ceasefire plan. Others leaders lambasted imperialism and pledged their support to Maduro. Many also called for a reform of the United Nations. Oil up as Venezuela sees output deal, Libya suffers clashes By Mark Tay SINGAPORE, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Monday after Venezuela said that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching an output stabilizing deal and as clashes in Libya raised concerns that efforts to restart crude exports could be disrupted. Brent crude futures were trading at $46.39 per barrel at 0046 GMT, up 62 cents, or 1.4 percent, from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up 63 cents, or 1.5 percent, at $43.66 a barrel. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC countries could be announced this month. OPEC members may call an extraordinary meeting to discuss oil prices if they reach consensus at an informal gathering in Algiers this month, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said during a visit to Algeria, the country's state news agency, APS, reported on Sunday. "We had a long bilateral meeting with Rouhani. We're close to a deal between OPEC producer countries and non-OPEC," Maduro told a news conference. Iran's August crude exports jumped 15 percent from July to more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd), according to a source with knowledge of its tanker loading schedule, closing in on Tehran's pre-sanctions shipment levels of five years ago. Clashes in Libya, which halted the loading of the first oil cargo from Ras Lanuf in close to two years, also raised fears of a new conflict over Libya's oil resources. Eastern Libyan forces said they had reestablished control over two oil ports where an ousted faction launched a counter-attack on Sunday, briefly seizing one of the terminals. Brent and WTI prices were dragged to multi-week lows on Friday amid worries returning supplies from Libya and Nigeria would add to the global supply glut. Concerns over growing supplies remain a bugbear on sentiment as U.S. crude production continues to rise. U.S. drillers added oil rigs for an 11th week in the past 12, in the week to Sept. 16. Drillers added two oil rigs in the week to Sept. 16, bringing the total rig count up to 416, the most since February. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Theresa May will criticize the West's response to the migration crisis when she addresses world leaders later, reports BBC. At a UN summit in New York, she will call for a greater distinction between refugees and people trying to enter a country for economic reasons. The PM will also say refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and stress that nations have a right to control their borders. The UN says a record number of people have been displaced by conflict. It estimates that 65.3m people were either refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of 5m in a year. The UN summit for refugees and migrants is aiming to agree a "more humane and coordinated approach". May will warn "unprecedented levels of population movement" risks undermining public confidence in the economic case for legal migration. She will argue that refugees should seek asylum in the first safe country they arrive in because the current trend of onward movement exposes them to increased danger and benefits criminal gangs. Such an approach would bar EU countries from allowing migrants to travel onwards from countries like Greece, Italy and France through Europe to Britain. Speaking ahead of the summit, May said resources should be focused on "refugees in desperate need of protection". She said the UK was "already playing its part" but promised to "step up our efforts" with more financial assistance. "But we cannot simply focus on treating the symptoms of this crisis, we need to address its root causes too. "While we must continue our efforts to end conflict, stop persecution and the abuse of human rights, I believe we also need a new, more effective global approach to manage migration." Defending the UK's approach, the Home Office said the government had pledged 2.3bn in humanitarian aid to Syria and neighbouring countries and are providing nearly 70m in response to the Mediterranean migration crisis. "This government has been at the forefront of the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria," it said. "We have committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees through our Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme over the course of this parliament - we are on track to achieve that and have already provided refuge to more than 2,800 under this route. "Under the new Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme we will also bring 3,000 individuals to the UK over the same period." As well as speaking at the UN event, chaired by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, May will also take part in a summit on refugees hosted by US president Barack Obama on Tuesday. In London's Parliament Square, campaigners have created a display using lifejackets worn by refugees crossing the sea into Europe. Charities behind the temporary installation said it would "remind leaders of the risks families have taken to reach safety, the need for solidarity with refugees, respect of their rights and more international responsibility sharing". They said the summit was a "historic opportunity to garner the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale". Taiwan stocks rise over 2 pct on bargain-hunting TAIPEI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose more than 2 percent on Monday as investors hunted for bargains after a long weekend and five straight sessions of falls. The main TAIEX index was up 2.1 percent at 9,090.61 as of 0142 GMT after closing down 0.4 percent on Wednesday. Taiwan's financial markets were closed on Sept. 15 and 16 for the Mid-Autumn Festival holidays. The electronics subindex rose 2.9 percent, while the financials subindex gained 1.3 percent. Bellwether heavyweights chipmaker TSMC and electronics maker Hon Hai were up 4.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. Chinese second-tier city prices continued to soar in August BEIJING, Sept 19 (Reuters) - China's home prices rose at a faster pace in August, suggesting that tightening measures imposed by a growing number of cities on overheated markets have yet to show significant effects. A robust recovery in home prices and sales, thanks to a flurry of government stimulus measures, gave a stronger-than-expected boost to the world's second largest economy this year, but eye-popping home price rises in bigger cities have raised fears of overheating. Average new home prices in 70 major cities climbed 9.2 percent last month from a year ago, accelerating from July's 7.9 percent rise, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) on Monday. The NBS data showed 64 of 70 major cities tracked by the NBS saw year-on-year price gains, up from 51 in July. Prices in second- and third-tier cities are rising at an alarmingly sharp rate, and speculation was rising that more cities would impose more stringent controls to discourage overeating. The coastal city of Xiamen outperformed long-time top performer Shenzhen and had the sharpest price spike, with prices surging 43.8 percent from a year earlier, faster than the 39.2 percent rise in July. The inland city of Hefei was the second-fastest growing market according to the survey, with prices rising an annual 40.3 percent in August, versus a 33.8 percent gain in July. With the buying frenzy spilling over from first-tier cities to other parts of the country, more affluent second- and third-tier cities such as Xiamen, Nanjing and Wuhan have stepped up restrictive measures, hoping to deter speculators and cool prices. Housing authorities from the eastern city of Hangzhou announced on Sunday that it will begin to restrict home purchases as of Sept. 19. Families who are not registered as residents and already own one or more houses in certain districts cannot purchase another home, either new or pre-owned. Prices in the southern boomtown Shenzhen rose 36.8 percent from a year ago, slowing from 40.9 percent in July. Shanghai and Beijing prices rose 31.2 percent and 23.5 percent on-year, quickening from 27.3 percent and 20.7 percent in July. Month-on-month gains rose to 3.6 percent and 3.5 percent from 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent in July. First-tier cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai have tightened downpayment requirements for second homes and raised the eligibility bar for non-residents to purchase properties. Despite signs of a broadening recovery, many small cities still have a large glut of unsold homes. Prices in the rustbelt city Dandong recorded the biggest fall at 2.1 percent, compared with 2.4 percent in July. Official data showed that mortgage loans remained the major driver of China's overall loan growth, accounting for more than 70 percent of bank loans in August. The rapid rise in property loans over the past few months has been a notable cause of concern among analysts. In Hungary's migrant vote, only the turnout is in doubt By Marton Dunai and Krisztina Than ASOTTHALOM, Hungary, Sept 18 (Reuters) - On a recent evening on Hungary's border with Serbia, a fleet of police trucks raced along the dusty boundary. A heat sensor trained on the razor wire fence had picked up migrants approaching, officers explained. The migrants, about two dozen in number, quickly split up and went back deep into Serbian territory, police said. It was a scene that has played out many times in the months since Europe's migrant crisis erupted. "The human traffickers are never idle. Their night-vision drones watch our patrol system. They take advantage as soon as we redeploy our forces," said police commander Zsolt Gulyas. Hungary's border with Serbia is relatively calm these days, in contrast to scenes last September when hundreds of thousands of migrants crossed Hungary on the way to western Europe. That was before Hungary erected a razor wire fence. "We have created a system that works," said Gulyas, referring to the fence and the thousands of police and soldiers who guard the border day and night. Hungary allows 30 people per day into two transit zones where they can submit an asylum request. Anyone who breaches the border is escorted back through gates in the fence if caught within 8 km. Rights group Helsinki Committee says the system is unsustainable. "The new Iron Curtain is a slap in the face for human rights and Hungary's European values," said co-chair Marta Pardavi. With only weeks left until an Oct. 2 referendum on whether Hungary should reject EU migrant quotas, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who opposes immigration into the EU, has largely managed to seal the Serbia-Hungary border to migrants. This in turn has cemented support for his Fidesz party. A poll by government-friendly think tank Szazadveg earlier this year said 79 percent of Hungarians supported the border fence. The government has started fortifying the fence with a second barrier. "We lose our European values and identity the way frogs are cooked in slowly heating water. Quite simply, slowly there will be more and more Muslims and we will no longer recognise Europe," Orban told parliament on Monday. FRONT AND CENTRE Opposition politicians and some analysts say that by keeping the issue of migration front and centre, Orban is trying to divert attention from problems elsewhere - education, healthcare and corruption. "Fidesz' support goes up when the debate is about migration, it goes down when it's about other issues. It is vital for Fidesz to keep the migration issue on the agenda," said Csaba Toth, director of the think tank Republikon Institute. The main challenger to Orban's Fidesz is the nationalist, anti-immigrant Jobbik party. It is far behind Fidesz in the polls - a recent survey put Jobbik's support at 10 percent, versus 28 percent for Fidesz - but Jobbik could benefit from any perceived softening of the government's stance on migrants. Like Fidesz, Jobbik has asked Hungarians to reject EU quotas. But its leader Gabor Vona has said Orban should resign if participation falls below the minimum required to make the vote valid. By law, the turnout must exceed 50 percent. At the border, the political antagonism between Jobbik and Orban's Fidesz takes a more muted form. The mayor of Asotthalom, a village on the Serbian border, is Jobbik vice chairman Laszlo Toroczkai. He said that when the government announced it would build the fence last year it was the "happiest day of my life". For more than a year Asotthalom was on the route travelled by tens of thousands of migrants on their way to Germany. "By September 2014 migration had became so massive that I realised nothing but a serious military force and a physical fence could stop this invasion," said Toroczkai. Standing beneath the razor wire coils, which he says he championed, he told Reuters he was no longer worried for his family, who live on a farm close to the border. LIBERAL VOICES LARGELY SILENT Leftist and liberal parties have been wrong-footed by the migrant debate. The Socialists have urged Hungarians to boycott the referendum, which they say serves Fidesz' interests - but Socialist chairman Gyula Molnar said he would support Orban against quotas imposed by the EU. The latest polls show participation may or may not break the 50-percent mark required by law, but the result seems to be beyond doubt. TIMELINE-Caisse public transit project in Montreal Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following timeline charts the schedule for Quebec's pension fund, the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, to finance and oversee the construction of a new 67 kilometer (41.63 miles)public transit system in Montreal, the third largest automated transportation system in the world behind those in Dubai and Vancouver. JANUARY 2015 - The Caisse announces the creation of CDPQ Infra, its new infrastructure arm which will work with the Quebec government to provide critical infrastructure in the province. Under the agreement, the government will select projects for the Caisse to consider and it will assess their commercial viability and tell the government if it wants to invest or not. The government makes the final decision on whether to proceed. JUNE 2015 - Quebec's parliament authorizes the implementation of CDPQ's business model. APRIL 2016 - CDPQ Infra announces plans for a new integrated public transport network linking downtown Montreal, South Shore, West Island, North Shore and the airport. It will invest C$3 billion in the project and wants the federal and provincial governments to contribute the remaining C$2.5 billion required. CDPQ Infra begins consultation process with stakeholders. AUGUST 2016 - Public hearings assessing the environmental impact of the project begin. END OF 2016/EARLY 2017 - Final decisions from provincial and federal governments on whether to invest EARLY 2017- Construction expected to begin. Poland - Factors to Watch Sept 19 Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours): DATA Poland's statistics office to release August industrial output, retail sales and PPI data at 1200 GMT. MINUTES The central bank will publish minutes from the September meeting of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Council at 1200 GMT. FX LOANS The Finance Ministry proposed a new ordinance which increases risk weight for banks with Swiss franc-denominated mortgages in their portfolios to 120 from 100 percent, Rzeczpospolita reported. According to analysts, such a move, aimed at forcing banks to offer their clients voluntary re-denomination their mortgages into zlotys, will mean that banks have to retain 3.4 billion zlotys ($881.72 million) of additional capital. RETAIL SALES TAX European Commission has decided to start procedure aimed at checking whether retail sales tax introduced in Poland by the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is consistent with the European law, Rzeczpospolita daily reported, quoting unnamed sources based in Brussels. The Commission is looking into Poland's bank tax too, the daily also said. TAURON Poland's second biggest utility Tauron plans to cut carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2020 compared to 2015 as it builds new coal-fueled power station for around 6 billion zlotys, which will be more effective due to modern technologies, the company's CEO told wSieci weekly. GAS PRICES Gas prices may rise next year due to the new law which forces importers to keep obligatory inventories, which mean higher costs for them, Rzeczpospolita said. COAL MINES Poland's biggest coal firm PGG plans to simplify the system of miners' salaries and benefits, reduce the payment of coal equivalent and pay out its extra salary only if it makes an annual profit, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily said. EDF Poland's state-run utilities, including PGE, PGNIG and Energa submitted an offer to buy France's EDF local heating assets on Friday, but it does not have to be accepted as the bidding process has closed and EDF already started negotiations with other investors, Rzeczpospolita daily said, quoting unnamed sources. ****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** Petra Diamonds expects up to 24 pct rise in 2017 production Sept 19 (Reuters) - Petra Diamonds Ltd said it expected production to rise up to 24.3 percent in 2017 from a year earlier and grow further to hit 5 million carats (mcts) in 2018, a year earlier than expected. The diamond miner forecast production to rise to 4.4-4.6 mcts in the year ending June 30, 2017 from 3.7 mcts in the corresponding period a year earlier. Turkey's Erdogan: Syrian rebels don't want interference from U.S. forces ISTANBUL, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army does not want interference from U.S. special forces, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, blaming the "behaviour" of U.S. officials for exacerbating tension with the rebels. Erdogan made the comments at a news conference in Istanbul before departing for New York, where he is due to address the United Nations General Assembly. China big city home prices surge in August adding to worries BEIJING, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Shenzhen lost its place as the hottest spot in China's property market in August, but the tech boomtown bordering Hong Kong remained one of the major cities driving rapid price growth as concerns mount over funds pouring into property. Prices for new homes rose 36.8 percent in Shenzhen from a year ago, cooling from 40.9 percent in July, allowing the coastal city of Xiamen to take over as the city in China with the fastest rising prices. More broadly, the average new home price in 70 major cities climbed an annual 9.2 percent, up from 7.9 percent in July, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Monday. The same data showed 64 of 70 major cities tracked by the NBS notched year-on-year price gains, up from 51 in July. "Sharp price gains were propped up by just a few overheated cities, mainly the four first-tier cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen," said Rosealea Yao, an economist at Gavekal Dragonomics. Prices in top performer Xiamen surged 43.8 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from a 39.2 percent in July. The inland city of Hefei was the second-fastest, with prices rising 40.3 percent in August, versus a 33.8 percent in July. Shenzhen, which had led the league for price rises since April 2015, is still the most expensive city, with house prices averaging 54,478 yuan ($8,104) per square metre, according to Fang.com, China's largest real estate website. To put things in perspective, a 120 square metre apartment in central New York and Tokyo would cost $18,499 and $13,825 per square metre on average, according to the Global Property Guide. Analysts say Shenzhen's slowing but still spectacular property price growth during August might be due to its high base - and values have still to peak. "Shenzhen is also the tech hub of China where many listed companies are headquartered, thus many people have secured funds from the stock markets and have the capital to invest in property," said Zhang Yiping, macroeconomic analyst at China Merchants Securities. "Land supply is scarce, and Shenzhen's population is mainly young people, who have an urgent need to buy houses." Official data showed prices rose 31.2 percent from a year ago in Shanghai, the country's financial hub, and 23.5 percent in the capital Beijing, both rising faster than in July. And according to the Fang.com website, average prices in August rose to 43,420 yuan ($6,459) per square metre in Shanghai, while they rose to 38,926 yuan ($5,790) in Beijing. "UNSUSTAINABLE" Yao warned that prices had ballooned to "unsustainable levels", and that ample credit and relatively relaxed property policies would continue to drive prices higher. When there were similar surges in China's property market a few years ago, Yao noted that 47 cities had imposed restrictions on home prices, but this time round only a half dozen had imposed restrictions. Demand-side restrictions, she said, had proved futile. "Credit stimulus in the beginning of this year played a huge part in driving up prices. How to limit the liquidity in the market should be a primary concern for the government," Yao said. Chinese policymakers have expressed concerns over mounting debts from an over-inflated property market of late, with the central bank's chief economist urging more steps to curb capital flowing into property. Official data showed that mortgage loans remained the major driver of loan growth, accounting for more than 70 percent of bank loans in August. The rapid rise in property loans over the past few months has raised concern among analysts. Prices in second- and third-tier cities are also rising sharply as the buying boom spills over, favouring more affluent second- and third-tier cities such as Xiamen and Nanjing. In an effort to deter speculators and to cool prices, housing authorities from the eastern city of Hangzhou announced on Sunday that it would begin to restrict home purchases. Families which are not registered as residents and already own one or more houses in certain districts will not be allowed to purchase another home, either new or pre-owned. Despite signs of a broadening recovery, many smaller cities still have a glut of unsold homes. Prices in the rustbelt city of Dandong, for example, recorded the biggest fall at 2.1 percent, compared with 2.4 percent in July. Britain's Dairy Crest sees first-half profit ahead of last year Sept 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Dairy Crest Group Plc said on Monday that it expects first-half profit to be ahead of last year, helped by higher sales volumes across its brands. The butters, spreads and cheese maker said it sees combined volumes for the six months ending Sept. 30 across brands like Cathedral City, Country Life and Clover ahead of last year. The company reported a pretax profit of 13.1 million pounds ($17.07 million) for the first half of 2015. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. American-Armenian investor Tigran Papikyan together with his German partner intends to launch a production of detergents in Armenia. Armenpress reports they attended Made in Armenia Expo-2016 to better familiarize themselves with the Armenian market and characteristic features of setting a business. It is documented that in hospitals death toll among patients caused by bacteria transmission via hands is the highest. We want to launch a production of detergents in Armenia and raise the awareness among people that disinfecting hands by those preparations is a must. In Germany the death toll in hospitals caused by bacteria transmission is fourfold higher than deaths caused by car crashes, Papikyan told Armenpress. He mentioned that those detergents are based on alcohol, and there is no technological innovation here. The important thing is to raise awareness among people and make the product accessible for the public. We have decided to first cooperate with hospitals, and later with the places where people usually gather, Papikyan said, adding that a research has revealed that the English economy suffers millions of dollars losses due to sickness among teachers and children. Papikyan assured that if they succeed in launching the production, it will create 100-150 jobs with an investment of some millions of euroes. I am interested in doing something in our country by developing its capacities. Besides, we can use the opportunities of the EAEU market, since the Armenian market is not so large, the investor mentioned. To the question what is necessary to bring to life their plans, Papikyan answered that he is still waiting for the opinion of his German partner, who is a specialist in the sphere and has similar productions in a number of European countries, as well as the Philippines. He is familiarizing himself with Armenia, its opportunities. Everything will be clear after he shares his opinion with me. WH Ireland says Kuwaiti investors looking to buy stake (Sept 19) Sept 19 (Reuters) - Financial services company WH Ireland Group Plc said on Monday that Kuwaiti European Holding Group (KEH) was considering buy a stake in the company. KEH was close to announcing an agreement to buy nearly 30 percent of WH Ireland shares, and may consider acquiring the London-listed company entirely, Sky News had reported on Saturday. http://bit.ly/2cWGKPN WH Ireland, which offers private wealth management, wealth planning and corporate broking services, did not provide details of the potential deal in its statement. Slovak Republic - Factors To Watch on Sept 19 BRATISLAVA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Slovak Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA======================== Real-time economic data releases.................. Summary of economic data and forecasts......... Recently released economic data................ Previous stories on Slovak data.......... **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/1C/events-overview ==========================EVENTS=============================== BRATISLAVA - The Finance Ministry will release its updated economic growth forecast. Related stories: ==========================NEWS================================ BREXIT: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are ready to veto any Brexit deal that would limit their citizens' rights to work in Britain, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday. Story: Related stories: UKRAINE-RUSSIA: Ukraine is doing less than Russia to meet its obligations under the Minsk peace plan, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday, stepping up calls for the European Union to end sanctions against Moscow. Story: Related stories: EU: European leaders, struggling to overcome an historic crisis following Britain's vote to leave the EU, agreed on Friday to explore closer defence cooperation and boost security at their external borders, but could not hide deep divisions over refugees and economic policy. Story: Related stories: For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX Main currency report TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets News editor of the day: Jason Hovet on +420 224 190 476 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) WH Ireland says Kuwaiti investors looking to buy stake (Sept 19) Sept 19 (Reuters) - Financial services company WH Ireland Group Plc said on Monday that Kuwaiti European Holding Group (KEH) was considering buying a stake in the company, sending its shares up as much as 28.7 percent. KEH was close to announcing an agreement to buy nearly 30 percent of WH Ireland shares, and may consider acquiring the London-listed company entirely, Sky News had reported on Saturday. http://bit.ly/2cWGKPN WH Ireland, which offers private wealth management, wealth planning and corporate broking services, did not provide details of the potential deal in its statement. KEH, an investment company focused on property, health and leisure businesses, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British stockbroker would not be the first to attract investment from the Middle East. The biggest shareholder in WH Ireland's rival Panmure Gordon & Co is Qatari investment bank QInvest, with a 43.43 percent stake, according to Thomson Reuters data. WH Ireland, which has a market capitalisation of 26.9 million pounds ($35.10 million) as of Friday's close, was fined 1.2 million pounds by Britain's financial regulator in February, for inadequate controls to prevent trading abuses. The Financial Conduct Authority also banned the company from taking on new customers in its corporate broking division until May 4. The division is focused on small- and mid-cap companies. Shares in WH Ireland were up 23.3 percent at 129.99 pence at 0725 GMT. Turkey-backed rebels could push further south in Syria, Erdogan says By Orhan Coskun and Seda Sezer ANKARA/ISTANBUL, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Turkey-backed rebels may extend their zone of control in northern Syria by pushing south and are now targeting the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Turkey's "safety zone" in the region could eventually span an area of 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles), Erdogan told a news conference before departing for New York where he was due to address the United Nations' General Assembly. Ankara launched its operation in northern Syria known as "Euphrates Shield" last month, aiming to clear Islamic State from Turkey's Syrian border area and to stop the advance of Syrian Kurdish fighters. So far, it has secured a thin wedge of land along its border. "As part of the Euphrates Shield operation, an area of 900 square kilometres has been cleared of terror so far. This area is pushing south," Erdogan said. "We may extend this area to 5,000 square kilometres as part of a safe zone." Turkey has long argued for the need for a "safe zone" or a "no-fly" zone along its Syrian border, with the aim of clearing out Islamic State and Kurdish fighters and stemming a wave of migration that has fuelled tensions in Europe. But Western allies have so far balked at the idea, saying it would require a significant ground force and planes to patrol, marking a major commitment in such a crowded battlefield. Erdogan said on Monday the Turkey-backed rebels - a group of Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the loose banner of the Free Syrian Army - were now focused on capturing the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab. "Jarablus and al-Rai have been cleansed, now we are moving towards al-Bab... We will go there and stop (Islamic State) from being a threat to us," he said. CONTROL OF AL-BAB Gaining control of al-Bab, which lies on the southern edge of what Ankara sees as its potential buffer zone, is crucial to Turkey's plans to keep the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in check, analysts say. Ankara's challenge now is to turn the fractured Free Syrian Army into a coherent force as a counterweight to the YPG. Turkey, a NATO member and part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria, regards the Washington-backed YPG as a terrorist group and an extention of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Ankara worries that advances by the YPG will embolden insurgents in its largely Kurdish southeast. Erdogan has frequently castigated the United States for its support of the YPG. On Monday he accused Washington of exacerbating tension in the region, referring to an incident last week when a small number of U.S. forces entered the town of al-Rai but were forced to withdraw after the Free Syrian Army rebels protested against their presence. The U.S. special forces entered the town to coordinate air strikes against Islamic State. "The Syrian army did not and does not want interference from U.S. special forces," Erdogan said. "Unfortunately, the behaviour of U.S. officials has pushed the FSA to this point," he said, in what appeared to be a reference to Washington's support of the YPG. Separately, Turkey's military said on Monday it hit Islamic State targets in northern Syria in air strikes a day earlier, targeting barracks and an ammunition store. India mulls response after deadly Kashmir attack it blames on Pakistan By Fayaz Bukhari and Rupam Jain SRINAGAR, India/NEW DELHI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - India said on Monday it had the right to respond when and where it chose to a deadly attack on an army base in Kashmir, after blaming Pakistan for the raid that killed 18 soldiers. The assault, in which four gunmen burst into a brigade headquarters in the town of Uri before dawn on Sunday, was among the deadliest in the disputed Himalayan region and has sharply raised tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals. Army officials said the critically wounded had been flown to New Delhi and one had died in hospital. Most of dead and wounded suffered severe burns after their tents and temporary shelters caught fire from incendiary ammunition while they were sleeping. Senior Indian politicians, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh who called Pakistan "a terrorist state", were quick to warn of action against Islamabad, putting pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a tough line. The head of military operations of the Indian army, Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, said India had the desired capability to respond, without elaborating. "We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our own choosing," Ranbir Singh told reporters, adding that the army had seized equipment from the Uri base with Pakistani markings. Pakistan accused India of apportioning blame before it had properly investigated. "Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modi's government," the prime minister's foreign affairs adviser said in a statement late on Sunday. The Pakistan army said that India was promoting a "hostile narrative". Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, is at the heart the neighbours' seven decades of mutual distrust. Two of their three wars since independence from Britain have been fought over the region. India's portion of Kashmir has been under a major security lockdown during more than two months of protests sparked by the July 8 killing of a popular young commander of a Kashmiri militant group. LIMITED OPTIONS India's options to hit back at Pakistan appeared limited, as they carried the risk of escalation. India held back from military retaliation when a Pakistan-based group killed 166 people in a 2008 rampage through Mumbai, for fear of igniting a broader conflict, and opted instead for a diplomatic offensive to isolate Islamabad. An attack on another Indian base near the border with Pakistan in January also drew a measured response, but the casualty toll was lower than in Sunday's raid. The concern is that Modi's government has signalled a lower threshold for retaliation against attacks from Pakistan than the previous Congress government, which adopted a policy of "strategic restraint". Among the military options that India could consider are artillery strikes on Pakistani army positions it alleges are used for helping militants cross over into its part of Kashmir, military experts say. But that would imperil a 2003 ceasefire along the frontier, although it has frayed in recent years. A second option on the table would be sending special forces inside Pakistan to attack guerrilla training camps, although that was a high-risk gamble that could easily go wrong, the experts said. Modi held talks with leaders of his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at a cabinet meeting on how to respond. "Our first priority is to fortify every defence base and it is shocking that one of our strategic locations was hit," a senior aide told Reuters. EYEBALL TO EYEBALL Indian troops searched three ravines that cut across the de facto border in mountainous terrain near Uri, which a senior army official said the militants were believed to have used to sneak into Indian-administered territory. Reinforcements were also sent to patrol one of the world's most heavily militarised frontiers, where Indian and Pakistani forces stand eyeball to eyeball in places and sometimes exchange fire, the army official added. A weekly bus service between Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir and Muzaffarabad, the capital on the Pakistani side, operated as normal on Monday, however. The bus passed through Uri and passengers waited at the frontier ready to cross. The United States, United Kingdom and France condemned the attack and said they stood with India in its fight against "terrorism". India was ranked fifth in the world in terms of military strength, according to a 2015 assessment by Credit Suisse based on data from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and Global Firepower, compared to 11th for Pakistan. Pakistan has an estimated 120 nuclear warheads against India's 110, according to the Arms Control Association. India has long blamed Pakistan for playing a role in the 27-year long insurgency against its rule in Jammu and Kashmir, its only Muslim-majority state. Singh, the army general, said Sunday's assault bore the hallmarks of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. But he did not offer evidence tying the attack to the group. Led by Islamist hardliner Maulana Masood Azhar from Pakistan's Punjab province, Jaish-e-Mohammed was blamed for the January air base raid as well as a 2001 attack on India's parliament that nearly led to war. Pakistan denies sending fighters into Indian-administered Kashmir. No one has yet claimed responsibility and other Pakistan-based militant organisations like Laskhar-e-Taiba have been accused of plotting attacks in India. Pakistan has called on the United Nations and the international community to investigate atrocities it alleges have been committed by Indian security forces in Kashmir. The UN is preparing to hold its annual general assembly in New York, where Kashmir is likely to be on the agenda. Egypt in talks to obtain $2 bln in financing from China CAIRO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Egypt is in talks with China to obtain $2 billion in financing, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kojak said, without giving further details. "All the details are with the central bank," he said. Cambodia sentences four rights activists to six months in prison PHNOM PENH, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Four women land rights activists were sentenced to six months in prison by a court in Cambodia on Monday for insulting and obstructing public officials during a 2011 violent land rights protest. Seizure of land for development is a major cause of protests in Cambodia and other countries in the region, including Laos. Last year was the deadliest on record for land rights campaigners, with more than three people killed each week protesting agribusiness firms, loggers, mining firms and hydro-electric dams, according to London-based NGO Global Witness. The court in the capital Phnom Penh found activists Tep Vanny, Heng Mom, Kong Chantha and Bo Chhorvy guilty following a three hour trial and sentenced them to six months in prison over a protest in November 2011 which turned violent. Suong Sophal, a lawyer for Phnom Penh Municipality told the court that the four women joined the protest in 2011, blocked roads, insulted and hit officials at the scene. Two security guards were injured, he said Following the verdict, the activists yelled "injustice! injustice! injustice!" Tep Vanny has been in pretrial detention since last month over a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen's house. The other three activists remain free. All four have a month to appeal the verdict. Activists Vanny and Chantha said they would appeal. "I did not commit the crime," Vanny said. Around 50 protesters gathered outside the court on Monday calling for the case to be dropped while hundreds of police deployed to keep the peace looked on. UN seeks access to Syrian refugees to probe war crimes By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - U.N. investigators reported on Monday they found it increasingly difficult to interview newly arrived Syrian refugees in Europe and urged countries to allow access to them to help document suspected war crimes. Their inquiry panel, which says it has a confidential list of suspects on all sides who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity, called again for major powers to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. "We are appealing to countries inside Europe hosting newly arrived Syrian refugees to grant us access and remove any barriers to our work," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told the U.N. Human Rights Council. He declined to name the countries hampering investigators' access to Syrian refugees. Most have gone to Germany and Sweden while others remain stuck in Greece and Italy seeking asylum. "Time is of the essence, particularly if the Commission is to continue preparing well-documented reports on the current situation in the country, rather than reports of a historical nature," Pinheiro said. Vitit Muntarbhorn, a panel member, said it was investigating allegations of chlorine gas being used in the Maqsoud area of Aleppo in April and also of chemical weapons used in August. It was also looking into alleged use of incendiary weapons - both "phosphorus and napalm" - in the Syrian cities of Hama, Homs and part of Damascus, he told Reuters. The panel said earlier this month that it had a database of some 5,000 detailed interviews and information, some of which is being shared with European governments seeking to prosecute their nationals fighting as foreign militants in Syria. "There have been cases of successful prosecution which our information has aided," Pinheiro told the 47-member Geneva forum on Monday without elaboration. Carla del Ponte, a panel member and former U.N. war crimes prosecutor, said: "We need a formal investigation to be done as soon as possible. Time is passing and we must be ready for a future tribunal. Don't forget, 'no peace without justice'." "I think it's time that the Security Council is doing something because it is incredible after five years, no justice for the victims," she told reporters. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday that U.S. coalition air strikes which hit Syrian army positions near Deir al-Zor on Saturday were a "flagrant aggression". Syrian Ambassador Hussam Eddin Aala, addressing the rights council, denounced "this treacherous, deliberate, pre-planned American aggression" that he said had killed dozens of Syrian soldiers and paved the way for an Islamic State attack. European shares bounce back as banks, energy companies rise By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Monday, marking a slight rebound after two straight weeks of losses, as gains in banking and energy company shares lifted the region's stock markets. The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which had fallen to a six-week low on Friday, rose 0.7 percent. The STOXX 600 remains down by 7 percent so far in 2016. A rise in the shares of heavyweight banking stocks, which had slumped on Friday following a threatened $14 billion fine on Deutsche Bank from U.S. authorities, added the most points to European stock markets. Royal Bank of Scotland rose 1.3 percent, as Investec raised its rating on the stock to "hold" from "sell". However, Deutsche Bank fell another 1.3 percent, extending losses following an 8.5 percent slump in the stock on Sept. 16. Analysts at U.S. bank Citigroup said while battered bank stocks represented a tempting investment opportunity, buying into the sector would nevertheless represent the "world's biggest contrarian trade." "History says 'Buy' but our key message is do not 'Underweight' the sector," said Citi analysts, led by Jonathan Stubbs, in a note to clients. Firmer oil prices also propped up markets, with the STOXX Europe 600 Oil & Gas index advancing 1.6 percent. Oil prices rose on Monday after Venezuela said OPEC and non-OPEC producers were close to reaching an output deal, and as clashes in Libya raised concerns that efforts to restart crude exports could be disrupted. "Firmer oil prices are helping things a bit," said Rupert Baker, a European equity sales executive at Mirabaud Securities. Syrian crisis lifts asylum seekers to post-war high - OECD PARIS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The refugee crisis unleashed by the Syrian conflict has pushed the number of asylum seekers globally to a post-war record high, lifting overall migration flows, the OECD said on Monday. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 35 member states saw the number asylum seekers double in 2015 to 1.65 million, the body said in its annual International Migration Outlook. "We're at a historic moment. When we look at 2016, we see an increase in the number of asylum seekers, even if the flow is lower," said Jean-Christophe Dumont, the head of the OECD's International Migration Division. Nearly one in every four asylum seekers came from Syria last year followed by Afghanistan at 16 percent. Three quarters of the total sought asylum in the European Union, with Germany getting the lion's share, the OECD said, citing figures from the United Nation's refugee agency. The migrant crisis has caused immigration to become a major political issue in many European countries and especially in Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party has suffered electoral losses as voters rejected her open door policy for refugees. The surge in refugee numbers has lifted overall international migration flows to OECD countries, reaching 4.8 million in 2015, the Paris-based organisation estimated. That marked a four percent increase from 2014, and brought the number of migrants to levels not seen since 2007, before the global financial crisis broke out. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The alarm calls made by NGOs and mass media about electoral frauds during the September 18 local elections in Armenia have been reviewed by the Police, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Police of Armenia. The Police have received 119 alarm calls from NGOs, mass media and citizens about electoral frauds on the eve, the day and after the elections. Out of the 119 calls, materials are being collected over 116 incidents, 2 criminal cases have been filed and the initiation of one criminal case has been rejected due to insufficient evidences. Investigations are underway. Afghan police killed by U.S. air strike- Afghan officials By Mohammed Stanekzai LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed as many as eight Afghan policemen outside the embattled provincial capital of Uruzgan province, Afghan officials said on Monday, as security forces, supported by U.S. strikes, battle resurgent Taliban militants. An initial air strike late on Sunday killed one policeman, while a follow up strike targeted first responders, killing at least seven, said Rahimullah Khan, commander of the reserve police unit in Uruzgan. Another official, Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammed Qawi Omari, put the death toll at six but also reported the police were killed by a foreign air strike. The U.S. military command in Kabul confirmed its warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted "individuals firing on, and posing a threat to" Afghan national security forces. "We don't have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF (Afghan national defense and security forces)," U.S. military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement. "U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defence and in this case were responding to an immediate threat." Afghan officials said they were investigating the attack and were in contact with the U.S.-led coalition. Afghan security forces, supported by American air strikes and international military advisers, are battling Taliban militants who have fought a 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul. Philippine c.bank ordered to return recovered money to Bangladesh MANILA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A Philippine regional trial court has ordered the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to return to the Bangladesh central bank a recovered portion of the $81 million that was stolen from the bank earlier this year, a government lawyer said on Monday. The court has declared Bangladesh as the rightful owner of the funds, totalling $15 million, Ricardo Paras III, chief state counsel of the Philippines' Department of Justice, said while reading a copy of the court's ruling to a Reuters reporter. Unknown hackers tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in Manila. During a Philippine Senate hearing into the heist which ended in May, a casino junket operator claimed to have received $35 million of the stolen funds but only returned $15 million. It is not clear what happened to the remainder of the money. Bangladesh had to file a petition staking its claim to the money before it could be turned over to them. "(The) court ordered the release of the cash now in the BSP vault in favour of the People's Republic of Bangladesh," Paras told Reuters. Putin firms control with big win for Russia's ruling party By Andrew Osborn and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin cemented his supremacy over Russia's political system when his ruling United Russia party took three quarters of the seats in parliament in a weekend election, paving the way for him to run for a fourth term as president. Opposition activists and European observers questioned how free and fair the vote had been, however, although there were no immediate signs the result might spark street protests of the kind which erupted after the last such election in 2011. With most votes counted, United Russia, founded by Putin almost 16 years ago after he first became president, was on track on Monday to win 76 percent of the seats in Russia's Duma, the lower house of parliament, up from just over half in 2011. That would be its biggest ever majority. Putin's spokesman called it "an impressive vote of confidence" in the Russian leader and dismissed critics who noted a sharp fall in turnout. Around 4 million fewer Russians voted for United Russia compared to 2011, data from the Central Election Commission showed, while overall turnout fell to 48 percent from 60 percent, exposing growing apathy about a political system and elite which critics say tolerates no genuine opposition. Liberal opposition parties failed to win a single seat. Dmitry Gudkov, the only liberal opposition politician to hold a seat before, said he had been beaten by a United Russia candidate whose chances he said had been lifted by poor turnout. "The question now is...how to live with a one-party parliament," Gudkov said. European election monitors said the vote was marred by numerous procedural irregularities and restrictions on basic rights. Russian officials said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Near complete results showed especially low turnout in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where protests against Putin erupted after the last parliamentary election in 2011. Putin and his allies have since tightened protest laws and made life difficult for civil society groups which take money from outside Russia, branding them "foreign agents." VOTE FOR STABILITY Presiding over a government meeting at the Kremlin on Monday, Putin hailed the election result, saying it showed voters still trusted the country's leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine. "The result is a good one for United Russia. At a time of difficulties, considerable uncertainty and risks, people naturally choose stability and trust the leading political force," said Putin. "The results ... are also citizens' reaction to external attempts to pressure Russia, to threats, to sanctions, and to foreign attempts to stir up the situation in our country." Putin's aides are likely to use the result as a springboard for his own re-election campaign in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed whether he will seek another term. United Russia won 343 seats of the total of 450 in the Duma, the Central Election Commission said, after 93 percent of ballots had been counted. That is up from 238 seats in the last parliamentary election and enough to allow United Russia to unilaterally change the constitution, though Putin can run again for the presidency under the existing one because he was prime minister between his second and third terms. Other parties trailed far behind. According to the near complete official vote count, the Communists were on track to come second with 42 seats, the populist LDPR party third with 41, and the left-of-centre Just Russia party fourth with 21 seats. All three tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues and avoid direct criticism. Among voting irregularities witnessed by Reuters were several people voting twice in one polling station in the Mordovia region of central Russia. Official results in another area showed a turnout double that recorded on the spot. Ilkka Kanerva, special coordinator for the elections from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the OSCE had noted some improvements, including greater transparency when it came to administration. But he said the overall picture was beset by problems. "Legal restrictions on basic rights continue to be a problem. If Russia is to live up to its democratic commitments, greater space is needed for debate and civic engagement," he said. REFLECTED GLORY Speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed on Sunday night, Putin said turnout, which was 12 percent lower than the 2011 vote, was "not as high as we saw in previous election campaigns, but it is high." His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the "overwhelming majority" of voters had come out for Putin in "an impressive vote of confidence". It would be wrong to call the turnout low, he said, adding that it was higher than in most European countries. Leonid Volkov, a prominent opposition activist, said he thought the scale of fraud was comparable to 2011 and that more than a third of the some 28 million votes which United Russia won had been "made up." The return of an old voting system, under which half, rather than all, deputies were drawn from party lists with the other half decided by votes for individuals, boosted United Russia's seats. It says the vote was clean. Near final results gave it 140 seats via the lists and 203 from the constituency system. Members of the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, are chosen by politicians in Russia's more than 80 regions who, in most cases, are loyal to United Russia. The party benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who, after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, consistently wins an approval rating of around 80 percent in opinion polls. Most voters see no viable alternative to Putin and fear a return to the chaos and instability of the 1990s, the period immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many voters are also persuaded by the Kremlin narrative, frequently repeated on state TV, of the West using sanctions to try to wreck the economy in revenge for Moscow's seizure of Crimea, the Ukrainian region it annexed in 2014. Death toll from Friday's Central African Republic clashes was six -U.N. DAKAR, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Six people were killed last week in Central African Republic in fighting between rival armed groups, the country's U.N. peacekeeping mission and the government said on Monday, revising down an earlier toll. The violence on Friday pitted fighters from the mainly Muslim Seleka group against the Christian anti-Balaka militia in two northern towns, Ndomete and Kaga Bandoro. The anti-Balaka formed in 2013 in response to the toppling of then-president Francois Bozize by the Seleka. Presidential spokesman Albert Mokpeme initially put the death count at 26, but on Monday cut that figure to six, matching the U.N.'s toll. "MINUSCA (the U.N. mission) can only confirm at this stage a total of six deaths," its spokesman Herve Verhoosel said, adding that the clashes were being investigated. The country has been plagued since 2013 by inter-communal and inter-religious clashes, which have persisted since President Faustin-Archange Touadera was sworn in in March after an election widely portrayed as a step towards reconciliation. Congo anti-government march turns violent in capital, 17 dead By Kenny Katombe and Amedee Mwarabu KINSHASA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Congolese police on Monday clashed with protesters marching against what they claim is a bid by President Joseph Kabila to extend his mandate, killing at least 17 people and prompting a threat of further sanctions from the United States. The protest, attended by thousands, came at a time of growing local and international pressure on Kabila to step down when his term of office legally ends in December. The opposition accuses him of plotting to extend his tenure in the central African copper producer by delaying elections that were supposed to be held in November until at least next year. His supporters deny this. "The sad and painful death toll from these barbaric and extremely savage acts is as follows: 17 dead of which three were policemen," said Interior Minister Evariste Boshab, condemning "the use of violence to incite disorder and chaos". United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed the death toll and urged Congolese national security forces to exercise restraint. The president of opposition party Reformist Forces for Union and Solidarity (FONUS) Joseph Olenga Nkoy said 53 people were killed in the clashes while a local rights official said 25 protesters were shot. Earlier on Monday, a Reuters witness saw a crowd burning the body of a police officer in the Kinshasa suburb of Limete in an apparent act of retaliation for police gunfire. Angry crowds torched the offices of politicians loyal to Kabila and tore down giant posters of the president, chanting in French: "It's over for you" and "We don't want you". Rights groups reported dozens of arrests of protesters and journalists in the capital as well as in Goma and Kisangani, where anti-government marches also took place. A government spokesman confirmed the detention of opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who suffered a head injury during the march. By mid-afternoon, most protesters had been dispersed and the streets in the normally bustling city centre were quiet. But in a sign that further unrest could be ahead, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi called for further protests in a statement late on Monday. "(The opposition coalition) calls upon the Congolese population from this day forth to intensify and amplify the popular mobilisation every day until December 19," said a spokesman for Tshisekedi's UDPS party, referring to the day Kabila is officially due to step down. Kabila's supporters also plan a loyalty march this weekend, according to a statement released on Sunday. "VERY DANGEROUS" Monday's march was sparked by anger over a decision by the election commission last week to petition the constitutional court to postpone the next presidential vote. The vast, mineral-rich central African state has never seen a peaceful transition of power. Western observers and donors fear that growing political instability could mushroom into armed conflict in a country plagued by militias, especially in its lawless eastern regions. Millions of people died in regional wars in Congo between 1996 and 2003 that drew in armies from half a dozen countries. The United States on Monday threatened to impose additional sanctions on those responsible for violence and repression -- an outcome Kabila is seeking to avoid. It imposed targeted sanctions on a Kinshasa police chief in June. Dozens of people died in similar protests against Kabila last year. Police said in a statement that officers had been warned to use restraint ahead of Monday's march, adding that it would punish those who did not comply. But Human Rights Watch said government repression has intensified in the period leading up to the clash. "Today's march shows that the security forces have not switched their tactics and are still clamping down on anyone opposed to Kabila," said Ida Sawyer, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. She added that three children were shot in Goma during the clashes. In another sign of growing scrutiny of Kabila's government, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday described the situation in Congo as "extremely worrying and very dangerous", adding that European nations will discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions. The African Union urged parties in Congo to seek a solution to the current political impasse through talks. In a further sign of growing tensions between Washington and Kinshasa, the U.S. embassy said on its Twitter feed that it was "outraged" by the harassment of its special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Thomas Perriello, at Kinshasa's airport. Sweden's AIK swap kids for pensioners in mascot parade STOCKHOLM, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The players' parade before the Swedish league match between AIK and Gefle on Sunday went a lot slower than normal as the Stockholm club replaced the usual child mascots with some of their oldest supporters. At 86 years old, former UEFA president Lennart Johansson was the youngest of the 11 pensioners who led the AIK players on to the field at the Friends Arena after the club decided to honour their senior members. "It's a lovely gesture," said 96-year-old Ake Jigstedt, the oldest one. "I've been a member since 1936 and I think this is something extra special." Hedge funds turn strongly bullish on U.S. natural gas: Kemp By John Kemp LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Hedge funds have built their largest bullish position in U.S. natural gas for more than two years amid signs the gas glut is being eroded quickly and the market could tighten in 2017. Hedge funds and other money managers have amassed a net long position in the two main futures and options contracts on NYMEX and ICE equivalent to 2,293 billion cubic feet of gas (http://tmsnrt.rs/2cBLUlL). The net long position has almost quadrupled over the last four weeks, and is now at the highest level since June 2014, according to an analysis of data released on Friday by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Positioning has been shifting steadily from bearish to bullish since November 2015 but the pace of adjustmnet has accelerated sharply. The most recent weekly increase in the net long position was the third-largest since the start of 2010 (http://tmsnrt.rs/2cXCfsd). The majority of the adjustment has come from the short side of the market, where hedge funds with bearish short positions betting a fall in gas prices have scaled them back. Hedge fund short positions have declined by the equivalent of 1,127 billion cubic feet, or 40 percent, in the last four weeks. By contrast, long positions have risen just 544 billion cubic feet, or 16 percent. Hedge funds are reacting to signs the gas market is rapidly rebalancing from oversupply in 2015 towards a potential deficit in 2017 ("U.S. natural gas market rebalancing well underway", Reuters, Sep 16). Low gas prices have gradually eroded the excess supply by causing production growth to stall and go into reverse while encouraging record consumption by power producers. Rebalancing has been accelerated by unusually hot weather across the most populous parts of the United States this summer. Temperatures and airconditioning demand have been far above normal almost continuously since the end of May ("U.S. natural gas market rebalances on hot weather, low prices", Reuters, Aug 19). Working gas stocks have risen by just 1,022 billion cubic feet so far this injection season, compared with an average increase of 1,594 billion cubic feet at this point during the previous five years. Stocks have risen by just 160 billion cubic feet in the last four weeks compared with 309 billion cubic feet over the same period in 2015 and a five-year average of 266 billion cubic feet. LIQUIDATION RISK Winter 2016/17 is likely to be colder than the record warm winter of 2015/16 which should increase gas consumption. Looking to 2017, more gas-fired power plants are scheduled to come into service, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (U.S. power producers maximise gas burn at expense of coal", Reuters, Aug 31). Most of the new gas-fired generating capacity will be combined cycle power plants designed for baseloading rather than steam turbines or combustion turbines operating at peak times. The implied increase in gas consumption will tighten the market even further unless gas prices rise to stimulate more drilling and stimulate some shift from gas combustion back to coal in 2017. Hedge funds have already anticipated and likely accelerated the price rise by accumulating a large long position in futures and options. The calendar average futures price for gas delivered in 2017 has risen to $3.14 per million British thermal units from a low of $2.14 back in December 2015. The fundamental outlook for prices looks fairly strong at present, but the emergence of a large hedge-fund long position has increased the risk of a price reversal if position holders try to take some profits. The net long position amassed by hedge funds over recent weeks is large by the standard of the last five years, though below the peaks reported in 2013/14. So, while fundamentals should continue to support higher gas prices into 2017, liquidation risk has increased substantially and is a negative factor for prices in the short to medium term. Indonesia's tax office plans to bill Google for five years of back taxes with the total topping more than $400 million for 2015 alone. The tax office alleges PT Google Indonesia paid less than 0.1 percent of the total income and value-added taxes it owed last year. Muhammad Hanif, head of the tax office's special cases branch said its investigators went to Google's local office in Indonesia on Monday. Indonesias tax agency plans to bill Alphabet Inc.s Google unit for up to $380 million in back taxes and fines that the search giant allegedly owes from 2015 Googles tax bill including fines for 2015 could be as much as 5.5 trillion rupiah ($418 million) Asked to respond to Hanif's comments, Google Indonesia reiterated a statement made last week in which it said it continues to cooperate with local authorities and has paid all applicable taxes. If found guilty, Google could have to pay fines of up to four times the amount it owed, bringing the maximum tax bill to 5.5 trillion rupiah ($418 million) for 2015, Hanif said. He declined to provide an estimate for the five-year period. Most of the revenue generated in the country is booked at Google's Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Google Asia Pacific declined to be audited in June, prompting the tax office to escalate the case into a criminal one, Hanif said. 'Google's argument is that they just did tax planning,' Hanif said. 'Tax planning is legal, but aggressive tax planning - to the extent that the country where the revenue is made does not get anything - is not legal.' The tax office will summon directors from Google Indonesia who also hold positions at Google Asia Pacific, Hanif said, adding that it is working with the Indonesian police. Globally, it is rare for a state investigation of corporate tax structures to be escalated into a criminal case. Indonesias move also comes amid growing scrutiny into the tax affairs of big-name tech firms. In August, the EU demanded Ireland recoup $14.5 billion of unpaid taxes from Apple Inc. It normally takes at least three years for an Indonesian court to make a decision on a tax criminal case, said Yustinus Prastowo, executive director of the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis. The tax office is planning to chase back taxes from other companies that deliver content through the internet (over-the-top service providers) in Indonesia, Hanif said. The Indonesian communication and information ministry is working on a new regulation for OTT providers, and the tax office has proposed that a company with a 'network presence' in Indonesia should also be subject to taxation. Total advertising revenue for the industry is estimated at $830 million a year, with Google and Facebook Inc accounting for around 70 percent of that, according to Hanif. Air strikes hit aid convoy as Syria says ceasefire over By Tom Perry and John Davison BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Syrian or Russian aircraft struck an aid convoy near Aleppo on Monday and killed 12 people, according to a war monitor, as the Syrian military declared a one-week truce brokered by the United States and Russia over. The United Nations confirmed the convoy was hit but gave no details on who carried out the attack or how many died as world leaders converged on New York for their annual U.N. gathering under the shadow of fresh violence in the Syrian civil war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the attacks were carried out by either Syrian or Russian aircraft, adding that there had been 35 strikes in and around Aleppo since the truce ended. A humanitarian aid group said the death toll was higher. Fourteen Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers were killed, Elhadj As Sy, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a U.N. summit. At least 18 of 31 trucks in a U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy were hit along with an SARC warehouse, said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The convoy was delivering aid for 78,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Urm al-Kubra in Aleppo Governorate, he said. U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien said initial reports indicated many people had been killed or seriously wounded, including SARC volunteers, and that if the "callous attack" was found to be deliberate it amount to a war crime. "Notification of the convoy ... had been provided to all parties to the conflict and the convoy was clearly marked as humanitarian," he said in a statement, calling for an immediate, independent investigation. The attack appeared to signal the imminent collapse of the latest effort by the United States and Russia to halt Syria's 5-1/2-year-old civil war. "We don't know if it can be salvaged," said a senior Obama administration official of the effort by the United States and Russia, which back opposite sides in the conflict. "At this point the Russians have to demonstrate very quickly their seriousness of purpose because otherwise there will be nothing to extend and nothing to salvage," the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, added. Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with its air force. The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment on the attack. But Syria's army said the seven-day truce period had ended. It accused "terrorist groups," a term the government uses for all insurgents, of exploiting the calm to rearm while violating the ceasefire 300 times, and vowed to "continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability". A local resident told Reuters by phone that the trucks were hit by about five missile strikes while parked in a centre belonging to the Syrian Red Crescent in Urm al-Kubra, a town near Aleppo. The head of the centre and several others were badly injured. KERRY'S GAMBLE The week-old attempt at a ceasefire, negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, could be the final attempt by U.S. President Barack Obama to negotiate an end to Syria's civil war. Kerry called on Moscow to halt Syrian government airstrikes, including on aid convoys, and indicated that the United States had not received official word from Russia that the ceasefire deal was dead. "The Russians made the agreement. So we need to see what the Russians say," Kerry said before meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in New York. "But the point - the important thing is the Russians need to control Assad, who evidently is indiscriminately bombing, including of humanitarian convoys." The United Nations said that only Washington and Moscow could declare it over, as they were the ones who originally forged the deal. The air strikes appeared particularly heavy in insurgent-held areas west of Aleppo, near the rebel stronghold of Idlib province. And in eastern Aleppo, a resident reached by Reuters said there had been dozens of blasts. "It started with an hour of extremely fierce bombing," said Besher Hawi, the former spokesman for the opposition's Aleppo city council. "Now I can hear the sound of helicopters overhead. The last two were barrel bombs," he said, the sound of an explosion audible in the background. Abu al-Baraa al-Hamawi, a rebel commander, said the most intense bombardments had taken place in areas west of Aleppo, the same area where the aid convoy was hit. "The regime and Russians are taking revenge on all the areas," he said. Russian and U.S. officials met in Geneva on Monday to try to extend the truce, and the International Syria Support Group - the countries backing the Syria peace process - was scheduled to meet on Tuesday in New York to assess the agreement. RETURN TO THE BATTLEFIELD But like the Syrian army, the rebels spoke of returning to the battlefield. The coordinator of Syria's main opposition group said on Monday the ceasefire never took hold and called on the world to put an end to the "criminality" of the Syrian government. "There was no ceasefire to begin with for us to say whether it failed or succeeded," Riad Hijab, general coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee, told reporters. Aid was delivered to the besieged town of Talbiseh in Homs province on Monday, the Red Cross said, for the first time since July. The convoy brought in food, water and hygiene supplies for up to 84,000 people, it said. But most aid shipments envisaged under the truce have yet to go in. The United Nations said it had received government approval to reach nearly all the besieged and hard-to-reach areas where it sought to bring aid, but access to many areas was still constrained by fighting, insecurity and administrative delays. Already widely violated since it took effect, the ceasefire came under added strain at the weekend when Russia said jets from the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria. Assad called that incident "flagrant aggression". Washington called it a mistake. The ceasefire is the second negotiated by Washington and Moscow since Russia joined the war in September 2015. But while it led to a significant reduction in fighting at the outset, violence has increased in recent days and aid has mostly failed to arrive. Plans to evacuate several hundred rebels from the last opposition-held district of Homs city have also overshadowed the agreement, with rebels saying it would amount to the government declaring the ceasefire over. The Homs governor said the plan had been postponed from Monday to Tuesday. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia and the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message to the President of United Russia party and head of the Executive Dmitry Medvedev on the occasion of the partys victory in the State Duma elections. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the RPA, Sargsyan particularly mentioned, Honorable Dmitry Anatolyevich, I heartfully congratulate you on the victory in the RF State Duma Elections. The results of the election confirm the high reputation your party enjoys. The Russian citizens expressed broad support for the policy pursued by the United Russia aimed at the countrys social-economic development and increasing its international reputation. I reaffirm our readiness to continue the inter-party dialogue based on mutual trust, aiming to reinforce the whole spectrum of Armenian-Russian allied relations. Honorable Dmitry Medvedev, I wish you health and new successes. With respect, SERZH SARGSYAN Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia. Israeli forces kill Palestinian assailant, police say, as violence surges JERUSALEM, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian assailant and wounded another in the West Bank on Monday, police said, and two police officers were stabbed in East Jerusalem in a resurgence of violence now in its fourth day. Palestinian street attacks that began nearly a year ago had largely waned in recent months, but a series of assaults since Friday have raised alarm in Israel of a new wave of bloodshed in the run-up to the Jewish New Year holiday next month. In the latest violence, two Palestinians who tried to stab Israeli paramilitary border policemen in the town of Hebron, a flashpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, were shot by the force, Israeli police said. One of the men was killed and the other critically wounded, police said. The incident occurred near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews and Muslims, who refer to it as the Ibrahimi Mosque. The death raised to five the number of alleged attackers - four Palestinians and a Jordanian - killed since Friday in incidents in which Israeli authorities said at least nine Israelis have been wounded. Earlier on Monday, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two police officers, one of them a woman who sustained serious injuries, in East Jerusalem, police said. The second officer, a man, shot and wounded the assailant. At least 216 Palestinians have died in violent incidents since October 2015 in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of them, 145 were identified by authorities as assailants while others were killed during clashes and protests. Palestinians, many of them acting alone and with rudimentary weapons, have killed at least 33 Israelis and two visiting Americans in the attacks. Palestinians have accused Israel of using excessive force and say that some of those killed posed no threat or had no intention of attacking anyone. In some cases, Israel has opened investigations into whether excessive force was used. Palestinian leaders say assailants have acted out of desperation over the collapse of peace talks in 2014 and Israeli settlement expansion on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Egypt expects 2-3 IPOs in first year of privatisation plan - NI Capital CEO CAIRO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Egypt expects to privatise two or three state-owned companies via listings on the stock exchange in the first year of a privatisation programme, the chief executive of government-owned NI Capital said on Monday. The programme will last for three to five years and will start with state-owned oil companies but will also include state-owned banks, said Ashraf El-Ghazaly. NI Capital is a government-owned, privately managed financial institution that is part the National Investment Bank. It acts as a consulting authority for the government and manages governmental investment funds. The state owns vast swathes of the economy, including three of its largest banks along with much of its oil industry and huge parts of its real estate. The economy has been struggling to recover since a popular uprising in 2011 drove foreign investors and tourists away. Years of political instability has hit growth in the Arab world's most populous state and halved its currency reserves. Syria's Assad says U.S. strikes "flagrant aggression" BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that U.S. coalition air strikes which hit Syrian army positions near Deir al-Zor on Saturday were a "flagrant aggression". He said the incident which involved the U.S.-led coalition fighting against Islamic State showed an "increase in support for terrorists by countries opposing Syria," state media quoted him as saying. Weakness at home hobbles once-powerful Merkel in Europe By Noah Barkin BERLIN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - It is hard to think of what more Angela Merkel could have done over the past weeks to nudge fellow European leaders towards a post-Brexit consensus. In the run-up to Friday's EU-27 summit (the bloc minus Britain) in Bratislava, the German chancellor met personally with 24 of her 26 counterparts. She travelled to Warsaw, to Tallinn, to Prague, to Paris and to the Italian island of Ventotene. In the end, all the careful consulting, the earnest effort to show everyone that Germany was not setting the agenda on its own, came to nothing. Bratislava was a flop. France's Francois Hollande and Slovak host Robert Fico played along, describing the rather thin summit conclusions, dubbed the "Bratislava Roadmap", as a step forward. But Italy's Matteo Renzi and Hungary's Viktor Orban began attacking the document before the ink was dry. "I don't know what Merkel is referring to when she talks about the 'spirit of Bratislava'," Renzi said at the weekend. "If things go on like this, instead of the spirit of Bratislava we'll be talking about the ghost of Europe." For nearly a decade, Merkel has been setting the direction in Europe. The bloc's response to the euro crisis was made in Berlin. So was the Minsk deal for eastern Ukraine, and last year's EU-Turkey pact to cut the migrant flow to Europe. But Bratislava showed that Merkel's deepening woes at home, underscored by the abysmal result for her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a regional vote in Berlin on Sunday, is eroding her influence beyond German borders. "Merkel is discovering in the aftermath of the refugee crisis that she doesn't have too many friends in Europe. And she needs friends and allies on a lot of issues," said a former senior EU official who worked closely with the chancellor during the euro crisis. The official, who declined to be identified, said he saw no alternative to Merkel in the CDU, in Germany or in Europe. Still, he believes resistance to German leadership will only grow. Merkel is the face of German austerity and of open European borders -- the two policies that are energizing populist parties across the bloc, and, officials in some European capitals whisper, may have swung the British vote towards Brexit. WEAKENED FIGURE The chances of Merkel hunkering down and trying to win a fourth term in an election next year remain high despite a string of state election setbacks and a damaging spat with her Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), over her welcoming refugee policy. At an unusually self-critical news conference on Monday in which she acknowledged lingering divisions in Europe on refugees, she declined to say whether she would be a candidate. But if she does run and win, she will do so as a weakened figure at home and in Europe. That could have implications on a range of European fronts. Already, Berlin finds itself on the back foot on economic policy, forced to accept the toothlessness of EU budget rules in the case of deficit-violators Spain and Portugal, and the easy money policies of the European Central Bank. Merkel has also conceded defeat in her year-long quest to convince Berlin's EU partners to accept migrant quotas, agreeing in Bratislava to let eastern European states off the hook by embracing their proposal of "flexible solidarity" in the refugee crisis. Despite that, Orban felt the need to condemn her policies as "self-destructive and naive". Holding the EU together on sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis could be the next test of German influence. Despite another flurry of shuttle diplomacy by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German officials acknowledge in private that they are being forced to think about alternatives to the Minsk deal, to which the lifting of sanctions is tied. "The question is how you transform Minsk into something else," one official said. "It has become an increasingly frustrating exercise which has political costs for those involved." Renzi and Orban, who pushed back against Merkel in Bratislava, are among the biggest sceptics in the EU of the economic and financial sanctions imposed on Moscow two years ago for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and support for rebels in the east. Over the weekend, Slovakia's Fico called the sanctions "ineffective" and damaging to the EU. Russia, he told Reuters in an interview, had done more than Ukraine to meet its commitments under Minsk. FRENCH VOTE KEY The other big test for Merkel and the EU is Brexit, the elephant in the room in Bratislava. Her preference since Britain's referendum in June has been to seek a deal with London that keeps the British close. But here too, she faces powerful headwinds, particularly from the French, who are promising to make Brexit as painful as possible for the British. The Berlin-Paris relationship, for decades the driver of closer European integration, may hold the key for how the bloc copes with a new era of disintegration. It could also help determine whether Merkel continues to play an important role in shaping policy in Europe or becomes a weakened, more isolated figure. Hollande, who stood loyally by her in Bratislava, is widely expected to be pushed out of office in the spring. If he is replaced by Alain Juppe, the centrist former prime minister, then some see a chance for Merkel to reestablish a degree of consensus and direction for Europe. "In the best of all worlds, you will end next year with Chancellor Merkel and President Juppe. Then Germany and France could become the motor of more Europe again," said the former EU official. But if the winner of the French election is former President Nicolas Sarkozy, some fear that all bets are off. When they ruled together in Berlin and Paris between 2007 and 2012, Merkel and Sarkozy overcame a rocky start, gravitating towards each other over years of intense crisis-fighting. By the end, they were known by the collective moniker "Merkozy". But in recent months, Sarkozy positioned himself in opposition to Merkel on many of the big issues that count, from refugees and national identity, to Turkey, Russia, Brexit and even climate change. "The divide with Sarkozy has become vast," said one senior German official. "If he is elected it could be a huge problem for Merkel." Syria's Assad says U.S. strikes "flagrant aggression" BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that U.S. coalition air strikes which hit Syrian army positions near Deir al-Zor on Saturday were a "flagrant aggression". He said the incident which involved the U.S.-led coalition fighting against Islamic State showed an "increase in support for terrorists by countries opposing Syria," state media quoted him as saying. The United States expressed its "regret" over the incident, which Russia said killed scores of Syrian troops. It has raised tension between Washington and Damascus's chief ally Moscow, who brokered a ceasefire which after a week appears to be in tatters. Assad said countries opposing his government, which include the United States, European and Sunni regional powers, were doing "all in their power" to keep the five-year civil war going. Hurricane Paine forms off Mexico, seen weakening before landfall MEXICO CITY, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Hurricane Paine formed in the Pacific more than 300 miles off the coast of Mexico early on Monday and is forecast to begin weakening later in the day, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Mexico has no coastal warnings in effect for Paine, which is expected to weaken substantially before it hits the upper portion of the Baja California peninsula by early Thursday, the Miami-based center said. At 0900 GMT, Paine was 340 miles (547 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, blowing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (121 kilometers per hour) and moving northwest at 15 mph (24 kph), the NHC said. ICC judge refers Kenya govt to body overseeing court for non-cooperation AMSTERDAM, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Kenya has failed to comply with its obligations to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in the case of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, a judge ruled, referring the country for non-compliance. Swiss utility Axpo to post 2016 loss on pumped storage writedown By John Miller ZURICH, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Government-owned Axpo, Switzerland's biggest utility, forecast another full-year net loss after taking 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.43 billion) of writedowns on its pumped storage dams and other facilities. Axpo booked a 540 million franc impairment on its new 1,520 megawatt Linth-Limmern pumped storage plant, launched this month. Built in the Swiss Alps, the plant acts as a power storage system by pumping up water at night and releasing it by day. Its profitability strongly depends on the difference in prices for base load electricity and prices during peak consumption times, but abundant daytime solar power has reduced that spread to below the level to operate the plant profitably. "Even though this power plant is immensely important for the security of supply in Switzerland, it cannot be operated profitably in the coming years," Axpo said in a statement. Axpo also wrote down the the value of its production plants and made provisions for energy supply contracts as European wholesale power prices sank to 13-year lows in the first quarter and have since recovered only to levels of a decade ago. Consequently, Swiss utilities - whose power costs more to produce than they can sell it for on the European market - have written off billions of dollars worth of facilities, with no relief in sight. "The year-on-year contraction of around 30 percent in European wholesale prices for electricity is a clear sign that the price slump will last longer than expected a year ago," Axpo said. Axpo, whose loss last year hit nearly 1 billion francs, began construction on the 2.1 billion franc Linth-Limmern project five years ago. It had hoped to sell power from it across Europe at times of high demand and high prices. Instead, a flood of new renewable energy sources in particular in Germany, coupled with laggard demand, have conspired to drive the price of electricity to levels where Linth-Limmern will be a money-loser for years to come. Fellow Swiss utility Alpiq huge Nant de Drance pumped storage dam faces similar challenges. Syrian rebel evacuation from Homs delayed but governor vows to press on BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The governor of Homs pledged on Monday to pursue the planned evacuation of several hundred Syrian rebels from their last foothold in the city, despite opposition from insurgent groups and the near collapse of a wider ceasefire. Rebels earlier warned that the evacuation plan, which they say would amount to the government forcibly displacing people after years of siege and bombardment, would sink the fragile Syria ceasefire. That truce came close to collapse later on Monday. It was unclear how this would affect an evacuation. Similar deals have been carried out even as fighting between government and rebel forces has continued through much of the country. The district of al-Waer in Homs, home to 60,000 people, is besieged by the government, which has sought to conclude local agreements with rebels to win back full control of strategic areas in western Syria. Homs Governor Talal Barazi said "logistical obstacles" had delayed the evacuation of some 300 rebels who had been expected to leave al-Waer on Monday, but he was confident it would go ahead successfully. "This is the fifth time that fighters and their families are evacuated from Homs," he told journalists there. "All previous evacuations were successful, and this one will be too." The postponed plan would be implemented in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the United Nations, he said. Rebels from al-Waer have previously been given safe passage to the insurgent-dominated province of Idlib in northwestern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the main reason behind the delay was that the route to Idlib was not safe. "Neither the U.N. nor the regime was able to secure the route," the Britain-based monitoring group said. Syrian state media blamed the delay on the United Nations, saying it had blocked the plan citing bogus security issues. Osama Abu Zeid, an opposition acivist in al-Waer, said it was highly unlikely the evacuation would take place on Tuesday. A negotiations committee there agreed with the government last year that the United Nations would be present, he said. People refused to evacuate otherwise. "We have no trust in the regime," Abu Zeid said. "That's why people won't leave." He said that those expected to evacuate included some rebels, but were mostly people in need of medical attention, including cancer patients and amputees. In a statement on Sunday, however, rebel groups warned the United Nations against "sponsoring or carrying out" evacuation deals. Rebels say the al-Waer plan is part of a government strategy to oust civilians from areas that have been held by the opposition through the more than five-year-old civil war. Explaining what had caused the delay, Barazi said earth berms and concrete barricades needed to be removed from the exit route to ensure rebels reached their final destination. He said this could be Idlib province or the border with Turkey. In Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian journalists fear squeeze on free press By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta GAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept 19 (Reuters) - On Sept. 1, half a dozen Hamas security officials called at the home of Mohammed Othman, a young journalist in Gaza who had written several probing articles. They seized two laptops, two mobile phones and took Othman away for questioning. Twenty-four hours later, after what he described as an intense interrogation, the 29-year-old was released, but not before he had been asked to sign a document promising not to criticise Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, or its security services. Othman says he refused. "They were telling me things trying to scare me and influence me," he told Reuters the day after his release, describing being slapped around during the detention. "I discovered the reality is worse than I thought." The Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza said Othman was detained by internal security on a warrant issued by the prosecutor's office, and denied he was mistreated. "We have great respect for the rights of journalists to work freely and write everything," the head of the office, Salama Maarouf, told Reuters. "The general policy is to allow journalists to work freely and not to touch their rights." Despite that, media monitoring and human rights groups say press freedom is under threat in the West Bank and Gaza, with both Hamas and Fatah, the Western-backed party that runs the West Bank, increasingly wary of journalists and bloggers who write critically or seek to expose wrongdoing. "(They) are arresting, abusing and criminally charging journalists and activists who express peaceful criticism of the authorities," Human Rights Watch said in a report in August. "Both Palestinian governments, operating independently, have apparently arrived at similar methods of harassment, intimidation and physical abuse of anyone who dares criticize." The Independent Commission for Human Rights reported that 24 people in the West Bank and 21 in Gaza were arrested in 2015 for criticising Palestinian authorities or writing about forbidden topics. MEDIA CLAMPDOWN Veteran Palestinian journalists say the situation is worsening. For years their biggest fear was the Israeli military, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in the past year has shut down two radio stations in Hebron. But now it is just as often the Palestinian authorities clamping down. "There was a great hope that under Palestinian rule media freedom would flourish," said Emad Saada, 50, who has worked for the Palestinian daily newspaper al-Quds for 25 years. "But violations and restrictions against the freedom of the press continued in one way or another and the media has begun to suffer from a dual threat: the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian authority." The result, journalists say, is an increasing amount of self-censorship. With reporters and bloggers being detained for weeks and in some cases suffering physical harm, others are thinking twice about how probing they want to be. "The factor of self-censorship has turned into a security man sitting inside the minds of journalists, telling them what to write and what not to write," said Fathy Sabbah, the Gaza correspondent for London-based Al-Hayyat newspaper. "There is caution among many journalists and bloggers," he said, adding that, conversely, there was also more risk-taking among some who are determined not to back down. In Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt for nearly a decade, journalists say Hamas has grown steadily more uncomfortable with criticism since it seized full control of the territory in 2007. In the West Bank, rights groups say the number of cases of journalists being harassed is higher. Ragheed Tbeisa, a 23-year-old reporter for the Al-Quds news network and Palestine Post, was detained for 18 days last month, shortly after publishing a report about electricity shortages in Qalqiliya. He said he was held in a cell alone for nearly the whole time, with just three hours of interrogation. Asked how it would affect his work he said: "The influence may be that someone will stop writing, or the opposite, it would give someone a motive to continue to write what he believes." Asked about the detention of journalists in the West Bank, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's security services said there was no new effort to curtail criticism. "We do not have a policy to chase or crack down on the freedom of the media," said Adnan al-Dmairi, adding that journalists should complain if they felt restricted. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. government has mistakenly granted citizenship to at least 858 immigrants who had pending deportation orders from countries of concern to national security or with high rates of immigration fraud, Armenpress reports, citing Toronto Sun, an internal Homeland Security audit released Monday. The Homeland Security Departments inspector general found that the immigrants used different names or birthdates to apply for citizenship with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and such discrepancies werent caught because their fingerprints were missing from government databases. The report does not identify any of the immigrants by name, but Inspector General John Roths auditors said they were all from special interest countries those that present a national security concern for the United States or neighbouring countries with high rates of immigration fraud. The report did not identify those countries. In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the findings reflect what has long been a problem for immigration officials old paper-based records containing fingerprint information that cant be searched electronically. DHS says immigration officials are in the process of uploading these files and that officials will review every file identified as a case of possible fraud. DHS officials identified an additional 953 people who had been naturalized despite outstanding deportation orders, though auditors couldnt determine if those immigrants had digital fingerprints on file or not. Roths report said fingerprints are missing from federal databases for as many as 315,000 immigrants with final deportation orders or who are fugitive criminals. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not reviewed about 148,000 of those immigrants files to add fingerprints to the digital record. The gap was created because older, paper records were never added to fingerprint databases created by both the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service and the FBI in the 1990s. ICE, the DHS agency responsible for finding and deporting immigrants living in the country illegally, didnt consistently add digital fingerprint records of immigrants whom agents encountered until 2010. The government has known about the information gap and its impact on naturalization decisions since at least 2008 when a Customs and Border Protection official identified 206 immigrants who used a different name or other biographical information to gain citizenship or other immigration benefits, though few cases have been investigated. Roths report said federal prosecutors have accepted two criminal cases that led to the immigrants being stripped of their citizenship. But prosecutors declined another 26 cases. ICE is investigating 32 other cases after closing 90 investigations. ICE officials told auditors that the agency hadnt pursued many of these cases in the past because federal prosecutors generally did not accept immigration benefits fraud cases. ICE said the Justice Department has now agreed to focus on cases involving people who have acquired security clearances, jobs of public trust or other security credentials. Mistakenly awarding citizenship to someone ordered deported can have serious consequences because U.S. citizens can typically apply for and receive security clearances or take security-sensitive jobs. At least three of the immigrants-turned-citizens were able to acquire aviation or transportation worker credentials, granting them access to secure areas in airports or maritime facilities and vessels. Their credentials were revoked after they were identified as having been granted citizenship improperly, Roth said in his report. A fourth person is now a law enforcement officer. Roth recommended that all of the outstanding cases be reviewed and fingerprints in those cases be added to the governments database and that immigration enforcement officials create a system to evaluate each of the cases of immigrants who were improperly granted citizenship. DHS officials agreed with the recommendations and said the agency is working to implement the changes. Brazilian airlines shaken by Ireland tax haven listing By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian airlines are up in arms over a decision by Brazil's tax authority to list Ireland as a tax haven, which means about 1 billion reais ($306 million) in new taxes on aircraft leases for carriers struggling to regain profitability. "The impact is brutal," said Eduardo Sanovicz, head of Brazilian airline association ABEAR, who will meet on Tuesday with tax authorities in Brasilia to try to reverse the surprise tax decision taken without consulting the airline industry. Sanovicz said 60 percent of the 520 aircraft flying commercially in Brazil are leased from companies registered in Ireland, where they enjoy favorable tax rules. Brazil's tax authority announced on Thursday it was adding Ireland, Austria, Curacao and Saint Martin to its list of countries denominated as tax havens. Companies based there will have to start paying a 25 percent tax rate on transactions with Brazilian companies, costing airlines about 1 billion reais ($306 million) on leasing contracts that are signed for up to 10 years, Sanovicz said by telephone. Shares of carrier Gol Linhas Aereas SA fell 12 percent last week on the decision. Brazilian airlines are reeling from high jet fuel costs and the drop in demand for air travel due to Brazil's two-year recession, and say they have no room to pass additional taxes along to ticket prices. The companies complain jet fuel accounts for 37 percent of airfares compared to an average 27 percent worldwide, mainly due to the ICMS sales tax collected by Brazilian states. The world's second largest mining company, Brazilian iron ore giant Vale SA, will also be affected by Brazil's listing of Austria as a tax haven, adding to its woes resulting from low iron prices that are down 50 percent since 2014. Vale owns Salzburg, Austria-based subsidiary Vale International Holdings GMBH, which is used as a holding company for various international assets. Vale and other Brazilian companies have used holding companies in countries such as Austria with low corporate taxes to reduce their tax burden on overseas assets and subsidiaries. Brazil's JBS SA, the world's largest meatpacker, is also considering a planned global reorganization, basing the headquarters of a new company in Ireland and listing its shares in New York. Battered by war, Syria's wheat crop halved this year to new low By Maha El Dahan and Lisa Barrington ABU DHABI/BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Syria's wheat harvest nearly halved to 1.3 million tonnes this year, the lowest in 27 years, as fighting and poor rainfall further degraded the farming sector and the nation's ability to feed itself. The government of President Bashar al-Assad was forced to tender this summer for an unprecedented 1.35 million tonnes of imported wheat from political ally Russia to ensure supply of the flat loaves that are a staple for the Syrian people. Before the five-year-old civil war, Syria was a wheat exporter producing four million tonnes in a good year and able to export 1.5 million tonnes. Now wheat and bread have become an integral part of the war, with wheat farms, seed distribution, milling and bakeries all affected. The Damascus government subsidises bread for the areas it controls and aid agencies offer supported prices in some areas, but Syrians in other parts of the country suffer bread shortages and high prices. "You know why most people carry weapons? Because of bread," said Mahmoud al Sheikh, a health worker from a besieged part of Damascus. "Hunger makes people sell themselves to the armed groups so they can eat and bring food to their families." Al Sheikh, speaking to Reuters by telephone from the capital's Eastern Ghouta suburb, said earlier in the year his besieged area scarcely saw bread. "Sometimes there's no bread at all. People start to make bread from barley ... It goes on like this for months. People eat cabbage instead - it's enough to test your faith. Really, people's situations become miserable," he said. The Syrian war has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis, allowed for the rise of the Islamic State group and drawn in regional and major powers. THE MOST VULNERABLE Perilous transport routes have meant the Syrian state has struggled to buy from traditional "bread-basket" areas which lie outside government control. As of August, 9.4 million Syrians were "food insecure", said Adam Vinaman Yao, deputy Syria representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This is over half of about 17 million people thought to still live in Syria. "The prices of basic agriculture products drastically increased thus reducing access by most consumers and especially the most vulnerable strata of the population," Yao said. The 1.3 million-tonne wheat output estimate given by the FAO compares to 1.7 million tonnes cited by a government source, but is higher than one million given by the opposition. The opposition interim government, allied with the main opposition political body the Turkey-based Syria National Coalition, carries out technical and administrative functions of government from within opposition-held Syria. Two dry spells, one in December and the other between mid-February and mid-March helped to cut the 2016 crop down from the 2.44 million tonnes in 2015, when most areas had ample rainfall. In areas were there was rain, like the northeast province of Hasaka which accounts for almost half the country's wheat production, only 472,000 hectares were planted out of a planned 706,000 hectares due to the security situation, Yao said. There has been heavy fighting in Hasaka as an alliance of Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led air strikes pushed Islamic State militants out of some territory this year. "WE NEED FERTILISER" With Islamic State to its south and west, and closed borders with Turkey and Iraq to the north and east, the Hasaka area, in a semi-autonomous region of northeastern Syria controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, has suffered shortages of fuel and farming goods, Ekrem Hisso, a former local government head told Reuters. "We need fertiliser but there isn't any. And even when we can find it, one tonne this year has reached the price of five tonnes of wheat," Faisal Hassan, a farmer from the Ras al-Ain countryside in Hasaka province said. "Production per hectare used to be up to 40 bags of wheat, but during the war years production has been around 20 bags per hectare," Hassan said. The outlook for wheat is not good. For the coming 2016/2017 planting season the government-run General Organisation for Seeds Multiplication only managed to distribute 30,000 tonnes of wheat seed compared to 450,000 tonnes prior to the war. Of the country's total wheat production this year, only around 400,000 tonnes were procured by the government, a source at the General Organisation for Cereal Processing and Trade (Hoboob), the state body responsible for wheat, said. The figure is far short of the one to 1.5 million tonnes needed to provide bread to government-held areas of Syria. WHEAT FROM RUSSIA Hoboob is holding an import tender for one million tonnes of Russian wheat with a deadline of Sept. 19 and has already purchased 350,000 tonnes of Russian wheat, a reflection of the country's pressing import needs. Syria's bread-basket provinces of Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, which account for nearly 70 percent of total wheat production, are outside government control, but farmers can sell their wheat to the state if they reach collection centres. The small procurement figure comes despite the government raising the price it pays local farmers for wheat. In areas controlled by rebel groups, excluding Islamic State and the Kurdish YPG, 500,000 tonnes of wheat was produced before war erupted. "But in this 2016 season it is very, very low and does not exceed 100,000 tonnes. This is because of many reasons, the most important being the war raging in these areas," said Hasan al-Muhammad, head of the wheat agency run by the Syrian Interim Government opposition and also called Hoboob. Al-Muhammad said in those areas, farmers were selling for $285 a tonne, around $65 a tonne higher than the state Hoboob's prices, but stressed quantities were limited. Bakeries are also hard hit by the crisis in wheat output. "We mostly depend on aid in the form of flour given to us by (aid) groups or by getting flour on the black market," said Abu Karam, manager of a public bakery recently hit by an air strike in rebel-held Idlib. Abu Karam's bakery can afford to sell a one kg packet of loaves for 50 Syrian pounds (10 U.S. cents) because of free flour from aid groups. Without this, the same batch would cost at least 200 pounds. Abu Karam stressed the importance of affordable bread. "The situation in Syria is getting worse and worse ... citizens cannot secure their daily sustenance; so they depend on bread at all times," Abu Karam said. "They eat it with nothing other than simple things like olive oil or tomatoes. All families, poor and rich, eat bread morning, noon and night." ($1 = 517.5 Syrian pounds) After bomb blasts, Clinton, Trump trade charges on national security By James Oliphant PHILADELPHIA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Republican Donald Trump of aiding Islamic State recruitment, while Trump said she had helped weaken national security as bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey resonated on the U.S. presidential trail. Both candidates for the Nov. 8 election tried to use the weekend attacks to flex their credentials to protect America as world leaders gathered in security-heightened New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Clinton said Trump's rhetoric against what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism" was helping Islamic State recruit more fighters. "We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists," she told reporters in White Plains, New York. ISIS is an acronym used for Islamic State. Trump fired back by saying Clinton bore some responsibility for the violence by not persuading President Barack Obama to leave a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq when she was his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Obama and the Iraqi government failed to reach agreement at the end of 2011 on extending a U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, and most American troops were withdrawn. Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration. "Her attacks on me are all meant to deflect from her record of unleashing this monster," Trump told a large crowd in Fort Myers, Florida. The campaigns weighed in after the bomb incidents and a stabbing attack at a mall in central Minnesota. In the most serious incident, a bomb went off in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, injuring 29 people. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found nearby. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb went off in Seaside Park, New Jersey. On Monday, an Afghanistan-born American suspected in some of the incidents was arrested in nearby Linden, New Jersey, after a gunbattle with police. Authorities had said earlier they wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, about the Chelsea and Seaside Park bombings. The incidents, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, put the United States' most populous city on edge. Trump, who has in the past talked of the need for a resumption of harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding for terrorism suspects, said authorities need to "get information" from the bombing suspect "before it comes no longer timely," but that instead he would probably be coddled. "Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room. And he'll probably even have room service knowing the way our country is," he said. 'COMMANDER IN CHIEF TEST' At a speech in Philadelphia on Monday, Clinton called for vigilance. "This is a fast-moving situation and a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world," she said. Trump seized on a government report that said 858 immigrants from countries with which the United States has national security concerns who were pegged for deportation were mistakenly granted citizenship. He said the report showed the need for tighter control over who gets into the United States. "Immigration security is national security," Trump said in Fort Myers. Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who worked on the National Security Council under Republican President George W. Bush, said Clinton was trying to argue Trump did not pass the commander in chief test. "When bad news happens, she wants to be able to say, this is why you need a steady hand on the tiller," Feaver said. The renewed focus on terrorism came as Clinton and Trump prepared for their first debate next Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, east of the city. With world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. conclave, Clinton was expected to meet leaders of Japan, Egypt and Ukraine later on Monday, while Trump was expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting Islamic State mainly through air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Trump, who has based much of his campaign message on arguing that the United States is no longer safe and that he alone can protect the nation, told Fox News on Monday morning that he expected more attacks. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," he said. Bowing to pressure, U.S. FDA approves Sarepta's Duchenne drug By Toni Clarke and Natalie Grover Sept 19 (Reuters) - Bowing to pressure from patient advocates, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy even though an outside panel of experts and the agency's own reviewers questioned the drug's efficacy. The FDA's lead reviewer, Dr. Ronald Farkas, recently quit the agency after issuing a scathing report criticizing the quality of the data presented by Sarepta Therapeutics Inc, developer of the drug Exondys 51, known also as eteplirsen. Sarepta's stock nearly doubled to $56.18 on news of the decision. Farkas's departure highlighted sharp divisions within the agency. He and other scientists were opposed by Dr. Janet Woodcock, the agency's powerful head of pharmaceuticals, who argued for approval, according to a summary of the dispute. In an email to staff on Monday, Woodcock said the approval "reflects FDA's ability to apply flexibility to address challenges we often see with rare, life-threatening diseases - while remaining within our statutory framework." The drug treats a subset of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare, progressive genetic disorder that hampers muscle movement, eventually killing most sufferers by age 30. The subset includes about 13 percent of all DMD patients, or some 1,300 to 1,900 patients in the United States. FDA scientists, including Dr. Ellis Unger, director of the drug evaluations division overseeing the product, appealed Woodcock's planned decision to an internal disputes board, according to a publicly available summary of the dispute written by FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on Sept. 16. The agency's acting chief scientist, Dr. Luciana Borio, also did not believe Sarepta's data supported approval, Califf's summary stated. Nonetheless, Califf decided to "defer to Dr. Woodcock's judgment and authority to make the decision." "I find no basis for a view that Dr. Woodcock was unduly influenced by involvement with the patient community or other external pressures," he wrote. He added, however, that "serious shortcomings present in the eteplirsen development program should not be allowed to establish a broad precedent for therapeutic development in rare diseases." Simos Simeonidis, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, described the approval as "one of the most perplexing regulatory decisions in recent history." The FDA approved Sarepta's drug under its so-called "accelerated" approval pathway in which a product is approved based on data believed to predict a clinical benefit. That benefit must be proven by the company in a subsequent clinical trial. "It will be years before we find out the outcome of that trial," Simeonidis said, adding that Sarepta "now becomes one of the most attractive mergers and acquisitions targets in biopharma." PATIENT ADVOCATE PRESSURE This is the second time in just over a year that the FDA has bowed to patient pressure to approve a drug despite scant scientific evidence showing it worked. Last August the agency approved Addyi, a pill to boost libido in women with low sexual desire. A coalition of women's groups backed by the manufacturer, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, packed an advisory committee meeting with women who testified to their desperate need for the pill. Woodcock said at the time that the agency was "committed to supporting the development of safe and effective treatments for female sexual dysfunction." The drug carries a boxed warning saying it can cause fainting and extremely low blood pressure and that it should not be used with alcohol. Analysts said the approval of Exondys 51 bodes well for similar approvals elsewhere in the world. Tim Lugo, an analyst with William Blair, estimated the drug will generate global peak annual sales of close to $2 billion. The FDA also granted Sarepta a rare pediatric disease voucher representing a commitment by the FDA to review a new drug developed by Sarepta within six months rather than the standard 10 months or more. The voucher can be sold to another company. Michelle Gilson, an analyst at Oppenheimer, estimates the voucher could be worth roughly $350 million, which could be used to fund the launch of the drug. France arrests teenager seen behind false hostage alert PARIS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Police have arrested a teenager believed to have been behind a false security alert at the weekend that triggered a major police operation in central Paris, a judicial source said on Monday. More than 100 police officers, including elite units, rushed to the capital's busy Chatelet shopping district on Saturday after a call that claimed hostages had been taken inside the Saint Leu church. Seven months before a presidential election, France is on edge following a string of militant attacks from the northern region of Normandy to the southern French Riviera, including the knifing of an elderly Catholic priest at his altar. "In these tense times, those who come up with these sick jokes ... deserve to be punished severely," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters. French weekly L'Obs on Sunday said on its website it had made contact with two teenagers believed to be 16- and 17-year-olds, who played the news magazine a tape of what they said was their call to the police. "The initial idea was to 'swat' a mosque, but after Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray we figured it would work better if we targeted a church," the pair said, referring to the town in Normandy where two would-be jihadists murdered the priest. Germany's Gabriel clinches majority for EU-Canada trade deal WOLFSBURG, Germany, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Germany's vice chancellor has secured the backing of his Social Democrats (SPD) to vote in favour of a trade deal between the European Union and Canada, a person present at the party's convention on Monday told Reuters. Sigmar Gabriel, who is also economy minister, has championed the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), the EU's most ambitious trade deal to date. But he faced opposition from some left-wing members of his party. The majority vote in favour of the accord by the SPD, junior partner in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, clears the way for Germany to give the agreement the green light. Libya's NOC calls for end to blockade of western oil pipelines TRIPOLI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) called on Monday for the reopening of pipelines from major oil fields in the south west of the country. Last week the NOC said it would restart exports from the eastern "Oil Crescent" ports of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Zueitina, which were seized on Sept. 11-12 by forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar. NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla has said he hopes developments at the Oil Crescent ports could herald a breakthrough in efforts to revive production across the country. He has called for a "new phase of cooperation" between Libya's factions, and for the end of the blockade as a political tactic. "The events in the Oil Crescent must have made it clear to everybody that the use of blockade as a tactic in (Libyan) politics is a dead end," Sanalla said on Monday. Protests by the southern branch of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) that shut the pipelines had cost $27 billion in lost production, he said. Libya is highly dependent on oil export revenues and needs to revive production to prevent economic collapse. Armed conflict, political disputes and damage to infrastructure have left oil output at a fraction of the of 1.6 barrels per day (bpd) it was producing before a 2011 uprising. The NOC wants to revive production from less than 300,000 bpd to 600,000 bpd within a month and at least 900,000 bpd by the end of the year, though those targets face major political and security challenges. On Sunday Haftar's forces repelled a counter attack at Es Sider and Ras Lanuf by an armed faction that previously controlled the terminals and had blockaded them for several years. A tanker that had docked in Ras Lanuf - the first to do so since at least late 2014 - was withdrawn to a safe distance because of the clashes. The tanker, the Seadelta, and a second tanker, the Syra, were off Ras Lanuf on Monday and a port official said loading was due to start late afternoon. The NOC says its production targets depend on it receiving fresh funds for its operating budget, on the ports staying open, and on a blockade of pipelines from the south western Sharara and El Feel fields ending. A pipeline connecting El Feel to Zawiya refinery was closed in November 2014 and a pipeline connecting Sharara to the Mellitah complex was shut in April 2015. If the pipelines were reopened, Sanalla said the NOC could increase production from the two fields to 250,000 bpd by the end of the year and to 365,000 bpd by the middle of 2017. Angolan sovereign fund targets 8 pct return with farm investments LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Angola's sovereign wealth fund has started investing in local state-owned farms to make them commercially viable for producing and exporting soft commodities, the fund's chairman Jose Filomeno dos Santos said on Monday. The fund, known by its Portuguese acronym FSDEA, has recently secured a concession of seven large farms in the country covering some 72,000 hectares, it said in a statement on its first quarter investment update. "We have to add new management to each of the farms, determine which crops will be produced, expand irrigation systems - basically making them as efficient as possible so they can produce competitively and allow us to have products that can compete within Angola and even outside," dos Santos told Reuters in a telephone interview. The farms, which currently produce oil seeds, grains and meat, should yield a return on investment of 8 percent or more over 10 years on an annualized basis, dos Santos said. "Soft commodity prices are recovering, and that reflects how the world is: a growing middle class ... that creates additional demand. We will look at those aspects when we decide which crops to choose." While the FSDEA investment relates to domestic farmland, some sovereign funds have purchased agri-businesses overseas, while many Gulf investors have snapped up African farmland in order to secure access to food production. Angola aims to model the FSDEA on sovereign wealth funds such as Singapore's Temasek, which took over a number of assets such as the city state's port - one of the largest in the world - that were previously held by the government. "We are getting a wider pool of assets that were once state-owned transferred to the sovereign wealth fund for commercial management and which are very interesting because they can generate a lot of revenue but also because they can help the country in its social and economical development," dos Santos said. The FSDEA expects to take over more such state-owned assets by year-end, he added, but declined to give details. The fund had $4.56 billion under management at the end of the first quarter of 2016, according to the statement. Germany's Gabriel gets green light to support EU-Canada trade deal By Holger Hansen and Caroline Copley WOLFSBURG, Germany, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Germany appeared set on Monday to back an ambitious trade accord between the European Union and Canada after the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in the ruling coalition, overcame left-wing resistance to the deal within his party. The SPD decision paves the way for EU member states to approve the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) next month before Brussels signs the accord with Ottawa on Oct. 27. Left-wing SPD members had argued that CETA would undermine workers' rights and environmental standards, but party leader Sigmar Gabriel said it represented the EU's best chance to shape globalisation in the interests of ordinary people. "It's a really good day for the SPD but especially for the implementation of rules for globalisation," Gabriel told a news conference after two thirds of delegates at an SPD congress backed a compromise deal over CETA. Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor and economy minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-led coalition, has staked his political future on securing SPD backing for CETA. Failure at Monday's congress, would have likely scuppered Gabriel's chances of standing as the SPD candidate for chancellor in national elections due in October 2017. This might have unleashed a damaging power struggle within the SPD at a time when it is badly trailing Merkel's conservatives in opinion polls. The coalition's popularity has also suffered following Merkel's decision last year to open Germany's borders to more than one million migrants. In a joint statement, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Canada's Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said they were committed to making "formal clarifications" on parts of the accord where there are still concerns. "CLARIFICATIONS" Freeland later said neither side wanted to make changes. "We are not reopening CETA. The negotation is final, it is concluded," she told Canada-based reporters on a conference call. The clarifications, she added, would offer further guidance as to what the deal would encompass. These include areas such as the delivery of public services, labour rights, environmental protection and an investment dispute settlement mechanism. CETA aims to eliminate tariffs on 98 percent of goods immediately and also encompasses regulatory cooperation, shipping, sustainable development and access to government tenders. It will require the approval of the European Parliament before taking effect, prior to ratifications by national parliaments which could take five years or more. SPD critics of CETA see it as a blueprint for a parallel trade deal the EU is trying to negotiate with the United States, which is known as TTIP. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on behalf of the President of the USA Barack Obama and the American people, sent a congratulatory message to the Armenian people on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Armenias independence. Armenpress reports, citing the official website of the United States Department of State, Kerrys statement runs as follows, On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I want to extend my congratulations to the people of Armenia as you celebrate the 25th anniversary of your nations independence on September 21. The United States deeply values its warm friendship with Armenia and with all of you. In the past quarter century, Armenia has made great progress, and my government looks forward to continuing to work closely with you in support of shared prosperity, strong democratic institutions, the rule of law, and regional peace. We appreciate Armenias consistent support for effective international peacekeeping operations and its leading role in responding to the Syrian refugee crisis. We are also grateful for the presence in the United States of a vibrant and highly-accomplished Armenian-American community. On this special day, I offer best wishes to all Armenians for a peaceful and prosperous year to come. Saudi Arabia crude exports rise to 7.622 mln bpd in July ABU DHABI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's oil exports rose in July as the kingdom pumped record high levels of crude, keeping the global market well supplied. The world's largest oil exporter has been maintaining high output levels since mid-2014 despite a global supply glut, in line with a strategy of defending market share against rival producers. Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in July rose to 7.622 million barrels per day from 7.456 million bpd in June, official data showed on Monday. The kingdom produced a record high 10.673 million bpd in July, up from 10.550 million bpd in June with the increase due to summer demand and requests from customers. However, its output slipped in August to 10.63 million bpd, industry sources have said. Export data for August is not yet available. Several members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have called for an output freeze to rein in an oil glut that triggered a price collapse in the last two years, hitting the revenues of major producers. In the past, analysts have persistently discounted the possibility that OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria and Libya will agree to production curbs as they protected market share, but some analysts have become more hopeful an agreement can be reached. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and other major oil producers were close to reaching a deal on price stability that could be announced later this month. Saudi Arabia's domestic crude inventories totalled 281.463 million barrels in July, down from 289.445 million in June, data provided by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) showed. JODI compiles data supplied from oil-producing members of global organisations including the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Saudi Arabia's oil inventories peaked last October at a record high 329.430 million barrels but have declined since as the country has drawn down its stockpile to meet domestic demand without impacting its exports. As it expands oil product exports, the kingdom has been feeding more crude to domestic refineries. Domestic refineries processed 2.611 million bpd of crude in July, up from 2.381 million in June. Exports of refined oil products in July totalled 1.367 million bpd versus 1.371 million in June. State oil firm Saudi Aramco has stakes in more than 5 million bpd of refining capacity at home and abroad, placing it among the global leaders in making oil products. Militants blow up NPDC oil pipeline in Niger Delta - youth leader ONITSHA, Nigeria, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Militants have blown up a crude oil pipeline operated by Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC in the Niger Delta, a youth leader said on Monday, the latest in a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the restive region. GRAINS-Drier U.S. weather pressures corn; soybeans up for 3rd straight session By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A turn to drier harvest weather in much of the U.S. Midwest weighed on corn prices on Monday, while soybeans rose for a third straight session. Chicago wheat gained modestly, held in check by corn's slide and an ongoing disruption in Egyptian wheat imports. Drier weather in southern and eastern areas of the Midwest should help crops dry this week and allow for early harvesting, according to MDA Weather Services. Rainy weather last week sparked a rally in corn and soy. "It looks to me like we have five days of sunshine for all but the northern parts of the corn belt," said Roy Huckabay, executive vice-president of The Linn Group brokerage. Chicago Board of Trade most active December corn dropped 1-3/4 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $3.35-1/4 a bushel at 12:17 p.m. CDT (1717 GMT) after reaching a near one-week high of $3.40 early in the session. Corn sagged last week following monthly USDA crop forecasts that confirmed the prospect of a huge harvest, before recovering at the end of the week. "There's a lot of people in the trade saying (corn) could go down a whole lot more. That's part of the reason people seem so willing to jump on the sell-corn bandwagon," Illinois-based farmer consultant Matt Bennett said. Chicago November soybean contract climbed 4-1/2 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $9.70-1/2 a bushel after hitting a one-week high of $9.81-1/4. Spillover strength from Malaysian palm oil, a rival oilseed that rose on Monday on expectations of tight stocks, lifted soybeans, Huckabay said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday reported export inspections of 755,120 tonnes of soybeans, less than the 1 million to 1.3 million tonnes expected. Weekly crop progress data to be released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the market close will give an indication of rain disruption to harvesting. The ratings will likely show no change in weekly condition ratings for corn and soybeans, according to a Reuters poll. Chicago December wheat edged up 1-1/4 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $4.04-1/2 a bushel. Peru, BlackRock in talks on infrastructure financing LIMA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Peru is in talks with BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, about obtaining infrastructure financing, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said Monday after meeting with the company's chief executive officer Larry Fink. In comments by phone to local TV channel Latina, Kuczynski said he was taking advantage of his stay in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly this week to promote infrastructure projects that his government wants to push out. "Right now I'm sitting with Mr. Fink, the head of BlackRock," Kuczynski said. "They're interested in doing financing in Peru on infrastructure, and I'm in talks with them about that." Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former Wall Street banker who narrowly won June's presidential election, did not mention any project in particular and stressed that contracts would be awarded through competitive auctions. BlackRock representatives had no immediate comment. The New York-based company has about $5 trillion under management and has said it is eager to grow in places like Peru. Kuczynski's comments come as his government aims to halve the country's $69 billion infrastructure funding shortfall by the end of his five-year term and BlackRock prepares to launch a private equity infrastructure fund in Latin America this year. BlackRock reported $752 million in assets under management for Latin America infrastructure equity investments and had 26 dedicated employees to the effort as of March 31. Global mineral exporter Peru is one of Latin America's fastest-growing economies, with gross domestic product expected to expand by about 4 percent this year. But roads, sewage treatment plants and other basic infrastructure are lacking in scores of districts. Kuczynski's centrist government wants to increase private investments in infrastructure to 6 percent of gross domestic product by 2021 from the current 4.5 percent, Finance Minister Alfredo Thorne said last week. Kuczynski has pledged to ensure that every town in Peru has running water. He also has been promoting a commuter railway for Peru's central coast to connect districts in metropolitan Lima, as well as new refineries and ports to bolster the country's exports of copper, gold and zinc. SoCalGas completes more California Aliso Canyon natgas well tests By Scott DiSavino Sept 19 (Reuters) - More wells passed safety inspections at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Los Angeles, Southern California Gas Co said on Monday, but the company has more work to do before it can inject gas into the giant field the utility shut last fall due to a massive methane leak that was not plugged until February. Under state law, SoCalGas cannot inject gas into Aliso Canyon until the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) approves the company's testing of the 114 wells at the facility to ensure their safety. Several local groups want the storage field permanently shut, as do many residents who had to evacuate their homes due to the leak. SoCalGas is owned by California energy company Sempra Energy and Aliso Canyon is the biggest of its four storage fields. It supplies natural gas to homes and businesses in Southern California, including power plants and refineries. According to its latest report on Sept. 16, SoCalGas said 23 wells passed all safety tests, 15 awaited test results and 76 were temporarily out of operation. All wells must either pass all tests or be taken out of service before DOGGR can call a public meeting. Since DOGGR must give the public 15 days notice before a meeting, SoCalGas could not start injecting gas into Aliso Canyon until some time in October at the earliest. SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride could not speculate on when the company may complete tests and return the storage facility to service. He said the company has completed all tests on 25 wells and 23 have received final DOGGR approval. In addition to DOGGR, the California Public Utilities Commission must also determine the field is safe to operate. The PUC has directed SoCalGas to maintain a minimum withdrawal capacity at Aliso Canyon to minimize the risk of gas shortages that could result in electricity outages. Once enough wells have passed all tests and received DOGGR approval to meet the PUC's withdrawal requirements, Gilbride said SoCalGas will temporarily plug the remaining wells and take them out of service. Once those wells have been plugged and isolated from the reservoir, SoCalGas can request authority to resume injections, he said. At that point, DOGGR and the PUC would be able to undertake their review and certification process, which will include a public hearing, as provided by Senate Bill 380, prior to SoCalGas resuming injections, he said. Syrian opposition says Russia, Syrian govt violated truce NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said on Monday that because Russia did not respect the terms of a ceasefire in Syria, brokered by Washington and Moscow, the Syrian government also violated it. UN Syria envoy outraged by attack on aid convoy GENEVA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, voiced outrage on Monday at an attack on an aid convoy heading to the divided northern city of Aleppo. "Our outrage at this attack is enormous ... the convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians," de Mistura said, in a statement emailed to Reuters by his spokeswoman in Geneva. An aid convoy was struck while traveling to Urm al-Kubra in Aleppo governorate, a United Nations spokesman said on Monday in New York. Suspected Boko Haram militants kill six in northern Nigeria ambush - army ABUJA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed six people in an attack on a commercial convoy being escorted by the army in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, the military said on Monday. Boko Haram has killed more than 15,000 people and displaced 2.4 million across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating a state based on a radical interpretation of Islamic law. Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said suspected elements of the group who were foraging for food had ambushed troops escorting the commercial vehicles from Damboa to Maiduguri, a journey of around 50 miles (80 km). "Unfortunately, five civilians lost their lives at the incident and another died on the way to the hospital," said Usman. "Three soldiers also sustained injuries." Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the start of last year, but has been pushed out of most of that territory by the Nigerian army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries. The militants have nevertheless continued to carry out suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad. GRAINS-Soybeans rise for third straight session on technical buying By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 19 (Reuters) - U.S. soybeans rose on Monday for a third straight session, boosted by strength in vegetable oil markets and technical buying. Corn turned higher on chart-based buying and Chicago wheat finished mixed, held in check by an ongoing disruption in Egyptian wheat imports. Chicago November soybean futures climbed 6-1/2 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $9.72-1/2 a bushel after hitting a one-week high of $9.81-1/4. Soybeans and corn sagged last week following monthly U.S. government crop forecasts that confirmed the prospect of a huge harvest, before recovering at the end of the week as rains delayed the Midwest harvest. On Monday, forecasts of a turn to drier harvest conditions led to some selling, before late technical buying buoyed soybeans and corn. "Fund managers figure there's nothing new here, we've seen the most bearish production estimates, so they're ready to move on," said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at INTL FCStone. Spillover strength from Malaysian palm oil, a rival oilseed that rose on Monday on expectations of tight stocks, also supported soybeans, said Roy Huckabay, executive vice-president of The Linn Group brokerage. Chicago Board of Trade most active December corn added 1/4 cent to $3.37-1/4 a bushel after reaching a near one-week high of $3.40 early in the session. Technical buying supported corn, after it did not retest last week's lows, Suderman said. Weekly crop progress data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the market close showed a lag in harvesting. Nine percent of U.S. corn was harvested as of Sunday, down from the five-year average of 12 percent for this time of year and 11 percent expected by the trade. Four percent of U.S. soybeans were harvested, down slightly from 5 percent on average, matching expectations. Chicago December wheat edged up 3/4 cent to $4.04 a bushel, but back months eased. STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Armenian delegation was chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, while the Iranian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia & Pacific Affairs Ibrahim Rahimpour, press service of the Armenian MFA informed. A wide range of issues related to further development of Armenian-Iranian relations were discussed. The sides emphasized the necessity of maintaining security and stability in the region. A special attention was paid to the implementation of bilateral and multilateral economic projects. Issues related to the cooperation in legal framework, cultural, humanitarian sectors, as well as within the framework of the international organizations were discussed at the meeting. Armenian Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan met also Iranian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Morteza Sarmadi. At the meeting the sides summarized discussions over issues of bilateral interest and outlined the further steps. We, the undersigned, call for the immediate release of Khurram Parvez, a distinguished and courageous human rights defender, and write in support of the statements issued by advocate Parvez Imroz. As we write this, Khurram Parvez has been remanded to preventive custody in a sub-jail in the highly militarised Kupwara district of Kashmir. He is expected to be produced before the court on September 21, 2016. An executive magistrate in Srinagar issued the order against Khurram Parvez, invoking Sections 107 and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) (pertaining to detention for breach of peace and design to commit a cognisable offence). The actions against Parvez are symptomatic of the escalated repression in Kashmir by institutions of state since July 8. Unrest in Kashmir. (Photo credit: PTI) We note with horror that since July 2016, over 80 persons have been killed, over 11,000 persons have been injured, over 1,000 persons have been arrested and over 100 ambulances have been attacked. For 70 days now, curfew has been imposed in various parts of Kashmir. Pellet cartridges with about 400-500 pellets each have been fired, aimed above the waist, permanently blinding youth at civilian protests. Communication systems have been repeatedly shutdown; mobile internet and pre-paid calls have been repeatedly banned, post-paid phone lines have been suspended for a number of days, and even newspapers have been shutdown for a couple of days. The rights to freedom of speech and movement and the right to dissent and self-determination are being imperiled. We are gravely concerned by the repeated abrogation of international law and the disregard for India's constitutional provisions, and by the unceasing targeting of civilians and the continued denial of their civil and political rights. We urge that the above conditions of collective internment within Kashmir require urgent attention and intervention. The undersigned: 1. Abdul R. Jan Mohamed, Professor, English Department, University of California, Berkeley 2. Ahmed Sohaib, Jamia Millia Islamia 3. Amitava Kumar, Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English, Vassar College 4. Angana Chatterji, Feminist Scholar 5. Ania Loomba, Catherine Bryson Professor, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania 6. Arundhati Roy, Author 7. Ather Zia, Anthropology and Gender Studies Program, Assistant Professor, University of Northern Colorado 8. Basharat Peer, Writer 9. Basil Fernando, Asian Human Rights Commission 10. Bijo Francis, Asian Human Rights Commission 11. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Chair and Distinguished Professor, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Dean's Professor of the Humanities, Syracuse University 12. Deepti Misri, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder 13. Dibyesh Anand, Professor of International Relations, University of Westminster 14. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Professor of English and University Distinguished Scholar, Montclair State University 15. Gautam Navlakha, Member of People's Union for Democratic Rights. 16. Ghazala Jamil, Jawaharlal Nehru University 17. Ghazi Shahnawaz, Jamia Millia Islamia 18. Gloria Steinem, Co-founder Ms. Magazine, Writer, Feminist Organizer 19. Goldie Osuri, Associate Professor in Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Warwick 20. Haley Duschinski, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Law, Justice & Culture, Ohio University 21. Harsh Mander, Writer and Activist 22. Kavita Krishnan, Politburo Member, CPI (ML)-Liberation and Secretary, All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) 23. Mallika Kaur, Lecturer, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley 24. Manisha Sethi, Jamia Millia Islamia 25. Mansi Sharma, Activist 26. Mary Aileen Diez Bacalso, Secretary General, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances 27. Mihir Desai, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India and Mumbai High Court 28. Mirza Waheed, Novelist 29. Mohamad Junaid, The Graduate Center, City University of New York 30. Mona Bhan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, DePauw University 31. Mridu Rai, Professor of History, Presidency University, Kolkata 32. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics Emeritus, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 33. Paola Bacchetta, Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Pedagogy, Department of Gender and Women's Studies, University of California, Berkeley 34. Paramjit Kaur Khalra, Patron, Khalra Mission Organization 35. Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University 36. Piotr Balcerowicz, Professor and Chair of South Asia, University of Warsaw 37. Rahul Govind, Delhi University 38. Rajvinder Singh Bains, Counsel, Punjab High Court and Haryana High Court 39. Richard M. Buxbaum, Professor Emeritus, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley 40. Ruchira Gupta, Women's Right Activist, Founder of Apne Aap and Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Global Studies, School of Professional Studies, New York University 41. Sanghamitra Misra, Delhi University 42. Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker 43. Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, Anhad 44. Shahid Lone, Research Scholar, Jamia Millia Islamia 45. Shohini Ghosh, Sajjad Zaheer Professor, AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia 46. Shubh Mathur, Independent Scholar 47. Suddhabrata Sengupta 48. Suvir Kaul, A. M. Rosenthal Professor, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania 49. Tanweer Fazal, Jawaharlal Nehru University 50. Teesta Setalvad, Civil Rights Activist, Journalist and Educationist 51. Urvashi Butalia, Writer 52. Veena Das, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University The time for talking is over. This is what I wrote here a year ago after a series of Pakistani proxy terror attacks: "National security advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will host his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz in New Delhi for talks on August 23, 2015. When he meets Aziz, Doval should stop exchanging dossiers. His message should be short and sharp: 'Last chance. After this, our guns will do the talking.'" That time has arrived. In January 2016, India's resolve was tested again with the Pathankot terror attack. Instead of executing a proactive strategy following that attack, India blundered. We invited a joint investigation team (JIT) from Pakistan that included Inter-Services intelligence (ISI) officers to probe the Pathankot strike. That's akin to inviting Chhota Shakeel to probe Dawood Ibrahim's 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. After the terror strike on an Army camp in Uri on September 18 that killed 20 Indian soldiers (with several critically injured jawans still in hospital), there are signs that - finally - an inflection point has been reached. India's strategic security triumvirate - national security advisor Ajit Doval, defence minister Manohar Parrikar and home minister Rajnath Singh - knows that Uri- and Pathankot-type terror strikes will continue till a significant cost is imposed on Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism. Proxy terrorism is a low-cost, low-risk strategy for Pakistan. It loses none of its regular army soldiers. Instead suicide bombers drawn from young radicalised men in poor families are used as fodder. It can't be business as usual. (Photo credit: Reuters) The rewards are many for a Pakistan that is an economic also-ran with a GDP one-tenth of India's. Its Punjabi-led military is tied up fighting multiple insurgencies within Pakistan. Proxy terror allows Islamabad to keep India off-balance with minimum effort and at minimum cost to itself. Historically India has never retaliated militarily against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Islamabad rattles its nuclear sabre periodically to ensure that India's political and military establishment is silenced after every terror strike on Indian soil. The country's "peace constituency", including Track 2 regulars, has long been subverted by ISI largesse. Islamabad's nuclear threat is of course bogus as my article here on September 4, 2015, pointed out. Pakistan has gamed Washington for 15 years, and India for much longer, with its nuclear bluff. After Uri, this charade must end. As I wrote on these pages and in Mail Today, "Pakistan has proved that terrorism pays. It extracts billions of dollars from the United States even as it funds terrorist groups that kill American soldiers. India is the biggest victim of this toxic US-Pakistan axis of convenience. America will always stop short of declaring Pakistan an outlaw state. Rawalpindi is thus emboldened to use jihad as an inexpensive means to counter India's conventional military superiority. "Talking about terrorism, won't stop terrorism. Only imposing an unacceptable cost on Pakistan will. India imposed such a cost on cross-border mortar shelling. It has reduced dramatically over the past year. Proxy terrorism is obviously a more complex challenge, but the same basic principle of deterrence and inflicting pain applies. Peace through strength has worked on the border. It can work on proxy terrorism if a clear-eyed policy on Pakistan is applied consistently." The Indian Army has borne the brunt of Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks for years. Political will is now needed to give the Army a free hand. Lightning cross-border raids can inflict punishment on Pakistani terror assets with manageable risk of escalation. There will be outrage in Rawalpindi and threats of a nuclear conflict. Ignore the bluster. Short, sharp military strikes by the Indian Army will impose costs on Pakistan with no credible possibility of a wider conflict. Just as India silenced Pakistani mortars on the LoC by imposing 10x level of casualties on its Rangers, inflicting pain is the only way to deal with a terror state. Talk less, act fast Following the Uri terror strike, home minister Rajnath Singh said: "Pakistan should be indentified as a terrorist state." In a meeting held by the prime minister with key ministers, the NSA and the Army chief on September 19, it was decided to "isolate Pakistan in every diplomatic forum." For the rest of the world to take that intent seriously, an immediate downgrading of Pakistan's diplomatic status is necessary. Countries don't have full diplomatic relations with terrorist states. Downgrade the Pakistan high commission in Delhi to consular status. Expel high commissioner Abdul Basit. Recall India's high commissioner in Islamabad. International precedents for such actions abound. Withdraw Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan: you can't call for a country to be designated a terrorist state and still retain MFN status for it. Meanwhile, build up our covert operations capabilities. Ajit Doval has had 28 months to do this. The clock is ticking. These must supplement the short, sharp surgical strikes that should be launched in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) which is legally Indian territory. Most Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists are trained in PoK. India's cross-border military raids should focus on destroying terror infrastructure, however mobile and temporary, on what is Indian soil. The gruesome attack on an Indian Army base in Kashmir this week has renewed calls for a more purposeful approach from New Delhi on Pakistan. Critics charge that the Modi government has been found alarmingly short of answers in tackling Islamabad, even as terrorists from across the border perpetrate one attack after the other. The criticism isn't invalid. The Modi government has blown hot and cold in equal measure on Pakistan, suggesting a lack of coherence within India's foreign policy establishment. New Delhi's stated policy has been to suspend all dialogue with Pakistan, until Islamabad cracks down on terror camps on its soil. Yet, talks have happened, and with no abatement in terrorism. Meanwhile, the Indian government has been able to offer no more than strong words of condemnation and promises of "action" as the status quo rolls on. What's hurt India the most has been its constant vacillation in dealing with Pakistan. India's foreign policy has swung from being hawkish to dovish, seemingly at whim. Following the Uri attacks, home minister Rajnath Singh called for Pakistan to be "isolated", labelling it "a terrorist state". Such language is uncommon in Indian diplomacy, but there is a certain legitimate case to be made for it. The links of some elements in the Pakistani state to terrorist groups has been proven for years. As far back as in 2006, a British defence ministry think tank charged that "Pakistan (through the ISI) has been supporting terrorism and extremism". In 2010, leaked records of US intelligence agencies suggested strong links between the ISI and militant groups in Afghanistan. And perhaps most damningly, Pakistan shields a UN designated terrorist in Hafiz Saeed. If North Korea, Iran and Cuba spent years ostracised by the international community, it seems rather inconsistent that Pakistan is treated as a major regional power. But Pakistan isn't North Korea (and India certainly isn't South Korea). Pakistan's strategic value in Asian geopolitics has rendered isolation largely unrealistic. Pakistan remains one of the few countries in the world with strategic ties to almost all major powers, from the United States to Russia and China. Despite recent cuts in aid owing to fallouts over counterterrorism, the US still sends as much as $320 million in security aid alone to Islamabad. And any attempts to isolate Pakistan globally will drive China to be more hawkish and protective in Pakistan's defence. Beijing has already invested heavily on an infrastructure project connecting its Western provinces to Pakistan's southern coastline - and most pointedly, a significant part of it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. And last year, China voted against India's appeals at the UN to censure Pakistan. This really is an "all-weather" alliance. Just this month, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif controversially met Kashmiri separatists shortly before leaving for the UN General Assembly session. (Photo credit: AP) Let's face it: India has no bargaining chips at present to counter Pakistan with. The best form of "isolation" India can manage is to impose economic sanctions on Pakistan. But its impact is likely to be weak. In 2014, India's trade with Pakistan amounted to under $2.5 billion; by contrast, China traded almost $13 billion worth of goods with Pakistan that year. India's trade with Pakistan makes up less than five per cent of Pakistan's total trade. New Delhi has to develop pressure points vis-a-vis Islamabad if it is to frame a coherent and purposeful response and actually take "action" against terror groups in the region. That means making hard choices. Take the Pakistan military, for instance - an institution notorious for its widely publicised patronage of militant groups targeting India, but also an unlikely starting point. In a path-breaking book enquiring into Pakistan's military economy in 2007, Ayesha Siddiqa wrote that the Pakistani army controls as much as one-third of all heavy manufacturing and seven per cent of private assets. In all, retired and serving military officers run secret industrial conglomerates worth as much as $40 billion, according to Siddiqa, ranging from manufacturing complexes to petrol pumps. Pakistan's military businesses, many run underground as they are, provide a vulnerable bargaining chip for India, waiting to be exploited. Many of these businesses are run privately by high-ranking former and serving officers, and like all businesses in the modern globalised world, they view India as a lucrative market for investment. Yet, India's self-imposed freeze on dialogue with the Pakistani army means that none of those businesses have a stake in India. If Pakistan army officers had deep private economic interests in India, the Pakistan army would likely be less comfortable with terrorism across the border. Additionally, New Delhi would also be well-advised to engage with Pakistan's civil society to root out political propaganda directed against India across the border. Much of Islamabad's policy towards India is sustained on a web of ideological poison, portraying New Delhi as an existential threat to Pakistan. The propaganda has effectively made the peace process prohibitively costly for political leaders across Pakistan's spectrum. No individual reflects this better than the prime minister himself: in an interview to journalist Karan Thapar in 2013, Nawaz Sharif spoke of India as a potential friend and ally, and promised to investigate the ISI's role in 26/11 if elected to office that year. Yet, in the three years that have passed, no such probe has taken place. Worse, tensions have risen under Sharif's watch as his government has turned increasingly hawkish. Just this month, Sharif controversially met Kashmiri separatists shortly before leaving for the UN General Assembly session. The pre-dawn attack by the Pakistani fidayeen on a military base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, had a numbing familiarity to it. Heavily armed attackers trained for the single mission of their lives - to kill as many security forces as they could before being killed in combat. In this case, 17 Indian Army soldiers were killed in the fire-fight which lasted three hours before the four attackers were gunned down. This has been the template for hundreds of fidayeen attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, introduced by Pakistan after the Kargil War of 1999 to shore up a dying local insurgency. Suicide attackers have been the weapon of choice in several recent attacks including those outside of J&K, from Mumbai on November 26, 2008, Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district last year and the Pathankot airbase attack on January 1 this year. The one aspect that stands out in this attack - the single largest loss of lives in recent years after the June 4 attack in Manipur where 18 soldiers were killed - is use of incendiary ammunition. This is ammunition composed of highly combustible chemicals, designed to set fire to buildings, bunkers and vehicles. The Army officials say the terrorists fired "incendiary ammunition along with automatic fire of small arms that led to Army tents/ temporary shelters catching fire". The use of incendiary ammunition in the Uri attack is extremely significant. Unusually, all four terrorists had Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGLs) with their AK-47s (not more than one or two in a group would carry UBGLs). The Russian-made GP-25 "Kostyor" (bonfire) fitted under an AK-47 fires a single 40 mm grenade shell to a distance of 400m. A skilled user can lob five-six grenades a minute. A barrage of incendiary grenades from four terrorists could create a conflagration in a very short time. File photo of a slain terrorist with an AK-47 equipped with a GP-25 Under Barrel Grenade Launcher. Inset, A cross-section of a GP-25 incendiary round. The terrorists carried over 50 such grenades and fired 17 rounds at the camp. The terrorists had come with a very specific plan to kill the highest number of troops in the shortest possible time. They displayed an ability to home on, locate and exploit vulnerability - in this case troops sleeping in temporary accommodation. This suggests a higher level of intelligence and training beyond the pale of a group like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (which the Indian Army says carried out the attack). The masterminds of this attack were evidently quick to learn from the June 4, 2015 ambush by Manipuri militants on an Indian Army convoy. Eighteen soldiers were killed, many of them severely burnt, after fuel trucks they were riding in were hit by militant fire. Incendiary ammunition is not as easily available as regular AK-47 ammunition or grenades. The Indian Army uses white phosphorous incendiary grenades but these are extremely difficult to store and maintain. The army's director general of military operations lieutenant general Ranbir Singh told media in the capital that he spoke to the Pakistan DGMO to convey India's "serious concern" over the recovery of "certain items with Pakistani markings on them". It is not yet known what these items were, whether military stores or provisions. Unfortunately, no terrorists survived the attack to reveal the magnitude of the planning, preparation and training. Eight months after the deadly Pathankot airbase attack, where India lost seven security personnel, there has been another attack - again on Indian soil and killing 18 Indian soldiers. The perpetrators and sponsors of both attacks are known to everyone and cannot be hidden behind fig leaves of deniability from Islamabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the good and bad fortune of having a fawning media enthusiastically defending every move he makes, irrespective of consequences, because consequences can easily be blamed on 60 years of Congress rule, intolerance of the liberal lobby and if nothing else works, on Jawaharlal Nehru. Modis foreign policy flip-flops began from the day of his swearing-in, when he invited Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif for the ceremony. Hawkish TV studios heaved a sigh of relief in the early part of his tenure in August 2014, when foreign secretary-level talks were cancelled because the Pakistan high commissioner in India invited the Hurriyat leaders. Studios hailed the move as consistent with his aggressive campaign against UPAs Pakistan policy in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In reality, this one decision raised the stature of discredited leaders of the Hurriyat, desperate for legitimacy and recognition. They had been interacting with Pakistan for decades. The compulsion to appease galleries on the eve of elections in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra was more pressing than to have a consistent Pakistan policy in place. And then there was the Ram Madhav inflicted pressure of Mission 44 in the Jammu & Kashmir elections too. The following year saw a complete change in Modis Pakistan policy. It began with a "chance encounter" between Modi and Sharif at the Paris climate change conference, followed by a meeting between the national security advisers of the two countries in Thailand. Sushma Swaraj later attended the "Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process" in Islamabad in December the same year. Then came Modis inexplicable "stopover" in Lahore on December 25, 2015, enroute from Kabul to Delhi - ostensible to wish Sharif a happy birthday and also attend his grand-daughters wedding. The hawks were stunned but sheepishly hashtagged the move as #BirthdayDiplomacy and criticised the Congress for its unenthusiastic reaction. Social media celebrated the sanskari PM for touching the feet of Sharifs mother. Those who had earlier derided every sane voice on India-Pakistan as the "Biryani Brigade" started dancing to the birthday tune. In less than a week, India faced a horrifying attack at the Pathankot airbase from Pakistan-trained and sponsored terrorists. More humiliating than the attack was the invitation to the joint investigation team to enter and inspect the airbase. Studio warriors continued to overlook the price India is paying for the governments inconsistent Pakistan policy. Home minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Pakistan to participate in the SAARC interior ministers conference led to a greater humiliation for India than any other faux pas had so far. Firstly, only Sri Lanka and Bhutan were represented by their interior ministers. The rest had sent their deputies or bureaucrats. Secondly, in his desperation to impress Don Quixotes back home, Singh got into a verbal duel with his Pakistani counterpart, Nisar Ali Khan. He then had to beat a hasty retreat after losing the duel. Troubleshooters back home declared that Pakistan had blacked out Singhs speech. The truth is that as per SAARC convention, speeches are not made public. PM Narendra Modi had stunned the hawks by wishing his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif a very happy birthday last year. (Photo credit: India Today) The mention of Balochistan in the Independence Day address by Modi further reflects India's knee-jerk diplomacy vis-a-vis Pakistan. We run the risk of being painted by the same brush with which we wish the world to paint Pakistan. Diplomacy is the art of not stating what one does and not doing what one states. Modis Balochistan blunder reminds us of Morarji Desai who had fatally affected the Research & Analysis Wing's work in Pakistan by sharing with (then president) Zia-ul-Haq the findings about Pakistans nuclear establishment at Kahuta. The Uri attack comes within a fortnight of yet another faux pas by India. The high commissioner to Pakistan confirmed the PMs participation in the SAARC summit in November, only to be denied the same by the ministry of external affairs back home. Uri has witnessed the highest number of casualties of security forces since Kaluchak in 2002. Even as the government prepares to send evidence of Pakistans involvement in the Uri attack to the world, social media digs out quotes of bravado of PM Modi who as chief minister of Gujarat had ridiculed the UPA government for going soft on Pakistan. "If Pakistan has entered your country and attacked Mumbai, why is the minister going to America, crying Obama Obama go to Pakistan," CM Modi had thundered before he won the elections. Whenever there is such an attack, there is immense pressure on the government to act, whichever government there is. Studio warriors do their own bit in rattling a government already beseeched by multiple ramifications of available options to respond to such an attack. Yesterdays (September 19) verbal response of the government and its non-state actors has further pushed Modi into a corner, in which he will find himself with limited options. If the UPAs problem was that the government did not speak enough to the media, this government has a problem of "talking too much". From Jitender Singh to Ram Madhav (both senior BJP leaders), everyone stopped short of announcing the exact time of attack on Pakistan. Television loved the "strong" statements from the government. With the Uttar Pradesh polls round the corner, one only hopes that members of this government as also those controlling it from outside, do not allow the Pakistan policy from getting impacted by domestic electoral compulsions. During the last phase of UPA-II, an editor told me: "The problem with your government is that you guys take television too seriously. Stop watching TV and all your problems will come to an end." An attack on Uri Army base by four militants suspected to be infiltrators from across the border killed at least 17 soldiers on Sunday morning. More than a dozen soldiers are also critically injured. The daring assault has come not long after the Pathankot attack in January this year, when six militants brought the critical airbase to a standstill for four days and killed seven soldiers. Since May 2002, when 22 armymen were killed in Kaluchak army camp, these types of audacious attacks by militants on Indian army bases had become quite rare. However, this is not so anymore and due to the increasing frequency of fidayeen strikes in the last two years, the Indian Army is losing a larger number of its highly trained soldiers. It is not that there is only an increase in the number of militant attacks on Indian Army camps, there is also an increasing number of fatalities due to firing across the Line of Control. According to Uppsala Conflict Data Programme, best estimated fatalities due to cross-border shelling was only one in 2008 and 2009, 20 in 2010, four in 2011, six in 2012, 20 in 2013, but the number leaped to 43 in 2014 and 29 in 2015. These figures clearly show that after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, there is no more hesitation by suspected Pakistan-based militants to directly attack Indian Army bases. Not only that, shelling from across the border has also become more lethal. So, Pakistans military establishment clearly does not hesitate anymore in challenging India. This is quite surprising when some one revisits how Modi and the Sangh Parivar had launched an acerbic attack against the Manmohan Singh government for its so-called soft-policy of "keep talking" to Pakistan. Modi had promised that after coming to power, he will follow a muscular strategy that will frighten Pakistan from supporting Kashmiri militant groups and engaging in cross-border shelling. In the style of Donald Trump, Modi never elaborated on this frequently proposed and heavily-hyped muscular approach. A few days after Modis surprising stopover at Lahore to greet the Prime Minister of Pakistan on his birthday, Pakistan-based militants launched a daring attack on the strategically critical Pathankot airbase. After this embarrassment, Indias highly garrulous defence minister Manohar Parikkar thundered in front of a gathering of army officers, promising to inflict similar pain on the perpetrator. However, the only follow up by the Modi government on Pathankot was to allow a team of Pakistani officials to visit the airbase; and India is till waiting for a return invitation. Similarly, this time after the brutal killing of a large number of armymen in Uri, Modi on his Twitter handle vowed to punish those who are behind this "despicable attack". His confidante on Kashmir issue, Ram Madhav, went one step ahead in clarifying this retaliation strategy: No more strategic restraint; For one tooth, the complete jaw. Modi and his minions are engaged in these tough talks hoping they will be able to keep the hardline support base happy at home. At the same time, they know there are serious limitations in taking any direct military action against nuclear-armed Pakistan. Even a surgical action against militant camps on the other side of the LoC can spiral out of control. India has to take a huge risk if it ever decides to send its armed forces into Pakistani territory. This limitation was clearly exposed not only after the terror attack on Indian Parliament, but even at the time of the Kargil War. Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar used to attack the Manmohan Singh government for its so-called soft policy of "keep talking" to Pakistan. (Photo credit: India Today) Thus these blusters by Modi are fast exposing its hollowness in front of Pakistan. Before the election, Modi had made the UPA governments so-called failed Pakistan policy a major poll plank, but after taking over the reins, he has reduced Indias Pakistan policy to a joke. No one, including Modi, knows what it is. Manmohan Singhs Pakistan policy, which was frequently vilified by the Sangh Parivar, was based on two simple principles: Keep talking to Pakistan at various levels even in sensitive periods; and at the same time engage in creating an inclusive and broad international voice against its use of terror groups as strategic assets. After the May 2014 election, on the policy of talking to Pakistan, Modi has adopted a framework based on whims and self-glorification, not taking careful consideration of institutional experiences and also ignoring the critical stakeholders in the process. This strategy has been successful in providing a few headlines, but has caused serious damage to the working procedures for engagement the two countries had developed in a very difficult security environment. The UPA governments policy of creating a broad and inclusive international voice against Pakistans support for terror groups has also been seriously compromised because of Modis decision to openly join the US alliance against China in the region. This has brought China closer to Pakistan and India's hope to isolate Pakistan internationally has evaporated. Modis continuing missteps in his bilateral dealings with Pakistan have thoroughly exposed Indias missing policy vis-a-vis its critical neighbour. This has broadened the space for Pakistan to manoeuvre more for its increasing strategic gains. At the same time, Modis hubris in rejecting Indias age-old policy of "non-alignment", and enthusiastically becoming a US ally has given Pakistan the much-needed and reliable support from China. Thus, Pakistan has become increasingly at ease in not hesitating to challenge India. Its armed forces at the international border at regular intervals provoke India with unprovoked shelling. Its security establishment does not anymore bother to keep its strategic terror assets under leash, rather directly or indirectly encourages them to launch daring attacks on the Indian military establishment, such as the one in Uri. For this growing confidence of Pakistan to take on India, no one but Modis thoughtless diplomatic moves are to be blamed. October 25, 2022 17:10 Dollar falls, euro rises The American dollars (USD) exchange rate against the Armenian dram (AMD) comprised AMD 400.91/$1 in Armenia on Tuesday; this is down by AMD 1.42 from Monday in the country, according to the official website of the Central Bank of Armenia, news.am informs. A former student at an upstate New York college has been indicted on felony charges for allegedly sending threatening notes to a professor last year. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday that Amjad Hussain, 23, of Elmira, has been charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime and one count of fourth-degree criminal solicitation. According to the state attorney general's office, Hussain allegedly sent two notes in April 2015 in which he threatened to harm a State University of New York at Potsdam professor and the professor's family. He used homophobic and racist images and language in the notes, Schneiderman's office said. After Hussain was arrested in November 2015, he asked an unnamed individual to deliver a third threatening note with homophobic and racist language to the professor. Hussain was arraigned Monday in St. Lawrence County Court. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released under probation supervision. An order of protection was issued to prohibit him from having any contact with the victim. Hussain's next court appearance is scheduled for noon Tuesday, Oct. 11. If convicted, Hussain faces up to four years in prison for each felony charge. "Nobody should be made to feel unsafe or subject to harassment in their workplace, least of all our state's hardworking, dedicated teachers," Schneiderman said in a statement. "This indictment sends the message, loud and clear, that racist and homophobic threats will be treated with the utmost concern, and those responsible for such harassment will be held accountable." Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. provides technical, professional, and construction services. The company's Aerospace, Technology, Environmental and Nuclear segment offers scientific, engineering, construction, nuclear, environmental, and technical support services to the aerospace, defense, technical, and automotive industries. Its Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities segment develops/rehabilitates plans for highways, bridges, transit, tunnels, airports, railroads, intermodal facilities, and maritime or port projects; develops or rehabilitates critical water resource systems, water/wastewater conveyance systems, and flood defense projects; and provides engineering design, construction management, design build, and operations and maintenance. This segment also designs and constructs buildings; offers consulting, engineering, procurement, construction management, and delivery services for life sciences clients; and provides services relating to modular construction and other consulting and strategic planning services, as well as offers services in containment, barrier technology, locally controlled environments, building systems automation, off-the-site design, and fabrication of facility modules. The company's Energy, Chemicals and Resources segment offers services relating to onshore and offshore oil and gas production facilities, processing facilities, gathering systems, and transmission pipelines and terminals; feasibility/economic studies, technology evaluation, conceptual engineering, front end loading, detailed engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, and commissioning services; and engineering, procurement, and construction solutions. This segment also provides services, such as manufacturing complex, expansions, modifications, and management of plant relocations; construction management and field construction services; and services to operate and maintain facilities. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Some 60 years ago, the businessmen of Port Byron, writing as the Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to the the State of New York asking that a Erie Canal Museum be built around the ruins of Lock 52. The new Thruway had cut through the northwest corner of the village, and those cars and trucks that once used Route 31 now passed by at 60 mph without a notice of Port Byron. The businessmen could see what was going to happen to the numerous gas stations and other traveler stopovers in the village. So they asked the state to build a museum around the remains of the old lock that sat right on the side of the Thruway. In this way, people might come to the village and the local businesses. Well, it took 60 years, but the idea has come true. The Erie Canal Heritage Park at Port Byron, a large park with access from both the Thruway and Route 31, is now open. It will be open for a limited time this fall, closing at the end of October. It will reopen next spring. Right now, it is limited in what it offers in the way of interpretation and information, but it allows people to get in there and see what was built. I want want to ask if this is the end or is this the beginning? The state has made a $10 million investment in Port Byron and Mentz. It has put the port back into Port Byron. So is this a beginning where we have conversations as to what we do as a community to embrace this new Park? Andrea Seamans has done a great job building support for a friends organization, many who are now working at the park's visitors center. But what else? Do we talk with our friends in Weedsport and Montezuma about what opportunities we have to enhance a tourism experience, such as a re-watered canal? Do the business-people take a hard look at the downtown area and say to someone that what is there is simply not inviting to new businesses or shoppers? And then take steps to correct the issues that we all see? At the Lock 52 Historical Society we have been looking at this new park as a great opportunity. When we write grants we always point to the fact that we have this new and exciting investment in our community. We have used this opportunity to write a grant to build a new website. Now at least when someone googles Port Byron they will find a nice and inviting website that will tell them something about the village and town. We are trying to get information about the village out there so that people who are visiting might want to stay a while and look around at the historical sights we have. And hopefully they stay for a meal, or an ice cream cone, or shop for groceries. We have a fantastic opportunity to tell and share our local history. Remember the last two words in the park title: Port Byron. Working with the new Heritage Park, our history can find a huge new audience who never heard of Port Byron before. But in all these opportunities I can also see a great danger for our small historical society. The new park is not a replacement for the Lock 52 Historical Society. The missions are vastly different. It will be easy for people to get excited about volunteering and giving money to the heritage park, forgetting that the work of preserving local history falls to our small historical society. We need members and volunteers and donations as much as the new heritage park does, so our story is not lost. So I ask, is this the beginning or the end? The following companies are subsidiares of Johnson & Johnson: 3Dintegrated ApS, ALZA Corporation, AMO (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Beijing Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Guangzhou Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., AMO ASIA LIMITED, AMO Asia Limited (Korea Branch), AMO Asia Limited Taiwan Branch (Hong Kong), AMO Australia Pty Limited, AMO Australia Pty Limited (New Zealand Branch), AMO Canada Company, AMO Denmark ApS, AMO Development LLC, AMO France, AMO Germany GmbH, AMO Groningen B.V., AMO International Holdings Unlimited Company, AMO Ireland, AMO Ireland Ireland Branch, AMO Italy SRL, AMO Japan K.K., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, AMO Netherlands BV, AMO Nominee Holdings LLC, AMO Norway AS, AMO Puerto Rico Manufacturing Inc., AMO Sales and Service Inc., AMO Singapore Pte. Ltd., AMO Spain Holdings LLC, AMO Switzerland GmbH, AMO U.K. Holdings LLC, AMO United Kingdom Ltd., AMO Uppsala AB, AUB Holdings LLC, Abott Medical Optics, Acclarent Inc., Actelion Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals US Inc., Actelion Treasury Unlimited Company, Akros Medical Inc., Albany Street LLC, Alios BioPharma, Alza Land Management Inc., Anakuria Therapeutics Inc., Animas Diabetes Care LLC, Animas LLC, Animas Technologies LLC, AorTx Inc., Apsis, Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, Atrionix Inc., Auris Health, Auris Health Inc., Backsvalan 2 Aktiebolag, Backsvalan 6 Handelsbolag, Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. Ltd., BeneVir BioPharm Inc., Berna Rhein B.V., BioMedical Enterprises Inc., Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., Biosense Webster Inc., Branch of Johnson & Johnson LLC (RU) in Kazakhstan, C Consumer Products Denmark ApS, CSATS Inc., Calibra Medical LLC, Campus-Foyer Apotheke GmbH, Carlo Erba OTC S.r.l., Centocor Biologics LLC, Centocor Research & Development Inc., Cerenovus Inc., ChromaGenics B.V., Ci:Labo Customer Marketing Co. Ltd., Ci:Labo USA Inc., Ci:z Holdings, Ci:z. Labo Co. Ltd., Cilag AG, Cilag GmbH International, Cilag Holding AG, Cilag Holding Treasury Unlimited Company, Cilag-Biotech S.L., CoTherix Inc., Coherex Medical Inc., ColBar LifeScience Ltd., Company Store.com Inc., Conor MedSystems, Cordis International Corporation, Cordis de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Corimmun GmbH, DePuy Hellas SA, DePuy International Limited, DePuy Ireland Unlimited Company, DePuy Mexico S.A. de C.V., DePuy Mitek LLC, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Products Inc., DePuy Spine LLC, DePuy Synthes Gorgan Limited, DePuy Synthes Inc., DePuy Synthes Institute LLC, DePuy Synthes Leto SARL, DePuy Synthes Products Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales Inc., Debs-Vogue Corporation (Proprietary) Limited, Dutch Holding LLC, ECL7 LLC, EES Holdings de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., EES S.A. de C.V., EIT Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europe) GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, Ethicon Inc., Ethicon LLC, Ethicon PR Holdings Unlimited Company, Ethicon Sarl, Ethicon US LLC, Ethicon Women's Health & Urology Sarl, Ethnor (Proprietary) Limited, Ethnor Farmaceutica S.A., Ethnor del Istmo S.A., FMS Future Medical System SA, Finsbury (Development) Limited, Finsbury (Instruments) Limited, Finsbury Medical Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics International Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics Limited, GH Biotech Holdings Limited, GMED Healthcare BV, GMED Healthcare BV (Branch), Global Investment Participation B.V., Guangzhou Bioseal Biotech Co. Ltd., Hansen Medical Deutschland GmbH, Hansen Medical Inc., Hansen Medical International Inc., Hansen Medical UK Limited, Healthcare Services (Shanghai) Ltd., Hickory Merger Sub Inc., I.D. Acquisition Corp., Innomedic Gesellschaft fur innovative Medizintechnik und Informatik mbH, Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, J & J Company West Africa Limited, J&J Pension Trustees Limited, J-C Health Care Ltd., J.C. General Services BV, JJ Surgical Vision Spain S.L., JJC Acquisition Company B.V., JJHC LLC, JJSV Belgium BV, JJSV Manufacturing Malaysia SDN. BHD., JJSV Norden AB, JJSV Produtos Oticos Ltda., JNJ Global Business Services s.r.o., JNJ Holding EMEA B.V., JNJ International Investment LLC, JOM Pharmaceutical Services Inc., Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy (Holding) Limited, Janssen BioPharma LLC, Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Limited, Janssen Biologics B.V., Janssen Biotech Inc., Janssen Cilag C.A., Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A., Janssen Cilag S.p.A., Janssen Cilag SPA, Janssen Development Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Diagnostics LLC, Janssen Egypt LLC, Janssen Farmaceutica Portugal Lda, Janssen Global Services LLC, Janssen Holding GmbH, Janssen Inc., Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Korea Ltd., Janssen Oncology Inc., Janssen Ortho LLC, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Proprietary) Limited, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Janssen Pharmaceutica S.A., Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceutical Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. Japan Branch, Janssen Products LP, Janssen R&D Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Scientific Affairs LLC, Janssen Supply Group LLC, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., Janssen Vaccines Branch of Cilag GmbH International, Janssen Vaccines Corp., Janssen-Cilag, Janssen-Cilag (New Zealand) Limited, Janssen-Cilag A/S, Janssen-Cilag AG, Janssen-Cilag AS, Janssen-Cilag Aktiebolag, Janssen-Cilag B.V., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Lda., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Ltda., Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Janssen-Cilag International NV, Janssen-Cilag Kft., Janssen-Cilag Kft. Branch Office, Janssen-Cilag Limited, Janssen-Cilag Manufacturing LLC, Janssen-Cilag NV, Janssen-Cilag OY, Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceutical S.A.C.I., Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o., Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd, Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd (Branch), Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag s.r.o., Janssen-Pharma S.L., Jevco Holding Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson (Angola) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson (Egypt) S.A.E., Johnson & Johnson (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Jamaica) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Kenya) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (DHCC Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (JAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. Service Center (DAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Mozambique) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (New Zealand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Thailand) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Trinidad) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, Johnson & Johnson - Societa' Per Azioni, Johnson & Johnson AB, Johnson & Johnson AB Eesti filiaal (Branch), Johnson & Johnson AG, Johnson & Johnson AG (Zuchwil Branch), Johnson & Johnson Belgium Finance Company BV, Johnson & Johnson Bulgaria EOOD, Johnson & Johnson China Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Thailand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer B.V., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health Care Switzerland Branch of Janssen-Cilag AG, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Holdings France, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (Dominican Republic Branch), Johnson & Johnson Consumer NV, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Services EAME Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Del Paraguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson Dominicana S.A.S., Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc., Johnson & Johnson European Treasury Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Finance Limited, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH (Branch Office), Johnson & Johnson Gateway LLC, Johnson & Johnson Gesellschaft m.b.H., Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Guatemala S.A., Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Commercial and Industrial S.A., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Consumer Products Commercial Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Hemisferica S.A., Johnson & Johnson Holding GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Inc., Johnson & Johnson Industrial Ltda., Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited, Johnson & Johnson International, Johnson & Johnson International (Belgian Branch) (European Logistics Center), Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Branch), Johnson & Johnson International Financial Services Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson K.K., Johnson & Johnson Kft., Johnson & Johnson Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Korea Selling & Distribution LLC, Johnson & Johnson LLC, Johnson & Johnson Lda, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Johnson & Johnson Limited (Sri Lanka Branch), Johnson & Johnson Luxembourg Finance Company Sarl, Johnson & Johnson Management Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Proprietary) Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical B.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America L.L.C., Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical S.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.C.S., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.p.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical SAS, Johnson & Johnson Medical Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Ankara Branch), Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Izmir Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East - Scientific Office, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ - LLC (Lebanese Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Ghana Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Kenya Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC Branch (TSO) (Saudi Arabia Branch), Johnson & Johnson Morocco Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson NCB (Belgian Branch), Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB, Johnson & Johnson Pacific Pty Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Panama S.A., Johnson & Johnson Personal Care (Chile) S.A., Johnson & Johnson Poland Sp. z o.o., Johnson & Johnson Poland sp. z o.o. oddzial w Warszawie "Consumer", Johnson & Johnson Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. Korea Branch, Johnson & Johnson Pty. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Romania S.R.L., Johnson & Johnson S.A., Johnson & Johnson S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson S.E. Inc., Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson SDN. BHD., Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision India Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson UK Treasury Company Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ukraine LLC, Johnson & Johnson Urban Renewal Associates, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson de Argentina S.A.C. e. I., Johnson & Johnson de Chile Limitada, Johnson & Johnson de Chile S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Colombia S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson de Uruguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Venezuela S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Ecuador S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Peru S.A., Johnson & Johnson do Brasil Industria E Comercio de Produtos Para Saude Ltda., Johnson & Johnson for Export and Import LLC, Johnson & Johnson s.r.o., Johnson Y Johnson de Costa Rica S.A., Johnson and Johnson (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson and Johnson Sihhi Malzeme Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, LTL Management LLC, La Concha Land Investment Corporation, Latam International Investment Company Unlimited Company, Legal Entity Name, MDS Co. Ltd., McNEIL MMP LLC, McNeil AB, McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., McNeil Denmark ApS, McNeil Healthcare (Ireland) Limited, McNeil Healthcare (UK) Limited, McNeil Healthcare LLC, McNeil Iberica S.L.U., McNeil LA LLC, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, McNeil Panama LLC, McNeil Products Limited, McNeil Sweden AB, Medical Device Business Services Inc., Medical Devices & Diagnostics Global Services LLC, Medical Devices International LLC, Medos International Sarl, Medos International Sarl succursale de Neuchatel (Branch), Medos Sarl, MegaDyne Medical Products Inc., Menlo Care De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Mentor B.V., Mentor Deutschland GmbH, Mentor Medical Systems B.V., Mentor Partnership Holding Company I LLC, Mentor Texas GP LLC, Mentor Texas L.P., Mentor Worldwide LLC, Micrus Endovascular LLC, Middlesex Assurance Company Limited, Momenta Ireland Limited, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata UG (haftungsbeschrankt), Netherlands Holding Company, NeuWave Medical Inc., Neuravi Limited, Novira Therapeutics, Novira Therapeutics LLC, NuVera Medical Inc., OBTECH Medical Sarl, OGX Beauty Limited, OMJ Holding GmbH, OMJ Ireland Unlimited Company, OMJ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Obtech Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals NV, Ortho Biologics LLC, Ortho Biotech Holding LLC, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, Orthospin Ltd., Orthotaxy, PT Integrated Healthcare Indonesia, PT. Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, Patriot Pharmaceuticals LLC, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pharmadirect Ltd., Pharmedica Laboratories (Proprietary) Limited, Princeton Laboratories Inc., Productos de Cuidado Personal y de La Salud de Bolivia S.R.L., Proleader S.A., Pulsar Vascular Inc., Regency Urban Renewal Associates, RespiVert Ltd., RoC International, Royalty A&M LLC, Rutan Realty LLC, SYNTHES Medical Immobilien GmbH, Scios LLC, Sedona Singapore International Pte. Ltd., Sedona Thai International Co. Ltd., Serhum S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Elsker For Mother & Baby Co. Ltd, Shanghai Elsker Mother & Baby Co. Ltd Minghang Branch, Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sightbox LLC, Sodiac ESV, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Company, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Partnership, SterilMed, SterilMed Inc., Surgical Process Institute Deutschland GmbH, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Limitada, Synthes GmbH, Synthes Holding AG, Synthes Holding Limited, Synthes Inc., Synthes Medical Surgical Equipment & Instruments Trading LLC, Synthes Produktions GmbH, Synthes Proprietary Limited, Synthes S.M.P. S. de R.L. de C.V., Synthes Tuttlingen GmbH, Synthes USA LLC, Synthes USA Products LLC, TARIS Biomedical, TARIS Biomedical LLC, TearScience Inc., The Anspach Effort LLC, The Vision Care Institute LLC, Tibotec LLC, Torax Medical Inc., UAB "Johnson & Johnson", UAB Johnson & Johnson Eesti Filiaal (Estonian Branch), Vania Expansion, Verb Surgical, Verb Surgical Inc., Vision Care Finance Unlimited Company, Vogue International, Vogue International LLC, Vogue International Trading Inc., WH4110 Development Company L.L.C., XO1, XO1 Limited, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Beijing Branch Office, Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Shanghai Branch Office, Zarbee's Inc., and Zarbee's Naturals. Read More State Street Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide. The company offers investment servicing products and services, including custody; product accounting; daily pricing and administration; master trust and master custody; depotbank services; record-keeping; cash management; foreign exchange, brokerage and other trading services; securities finance and enhanced custody products; deposit and short-term investment facilities; loans and lease financing; investment manager and alternative investment manager operations outsourcing; performance, risk, and compliance analytics; and financial data management to support institutional investors. It also engages in the provision of portfolio management and risk analytics, as well as trading and post-trade settlement services with integrated compliance and managed data. In addition, the company offers investment management strategies and products, such as core and enhanced indexing, multi-asset strategies, active quantitative and fundamental active capabilities, and alternative investment strategies. Further, it provides services and solutions, including environmental, social, and governance investing; defined benefit and defined contribution; and global fiduciary solutions, as well as exchange-traded fund under the SPDR ETF brand. The company provides its products and services to mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, and investment managers. State Street Corporation was founded in 1792 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Morgan Stanley is the 6th largest financial institution in the US. The company is ranked 61st on the Forbes Fortune 500 list and is the 39th largest bank in the world. A financial holding company, Morgan Stanley provides a full range of financial services to clients around the world. Morgan Stanley was formed in 1935 as a result of the Glass-Steagall Act. Glass-Steagall separated commercial and investment banking in a way that forced the then-largest bank J.P. Morgan & Co to split into two groups. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to retain the commercial side of the business while partners Henry S. Morga, grandson of J.P., and Harold Stanley took the investment end. In its first year, Morgan Stanley did 24% of the IPO business and maintains a lions share of the market to this day. The original company existed and grew through acquisitions until 1987 when it merged with Dean Witter Discover & Co. The new Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co existed for 14 years until 2001 when the name was shortened back to Morgan Stanley. The bank is credited in part with both beginning and ending the financial crisis of 2007/2008. The Process Driven Trading unit lost $300 million in one day due to a short-squeeze that popped the bubble in the housing market. After teetering on the brink of failure Morgan Stanley agreed to become a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve, a key factor in the original decision to split from parent J.P. Morgan & Co. Ironically when given the chance, present-day J.P. Morgan refused to buy Morgan Stanley but that was for the better. Today, Morgan Stanley operates through three segments via offices in 41 countries and employs more than 75,000 people. Revenue in 2021 topped $49 billion and total assets topped $1.15 trillion. The operating segments are Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. The Institutional Securities segment is by far the largest and most profitable. It offers a range of services and products for businesses, institutions, and entities that include capital raising, strategic advisory, underwriting, advice on M&A, restructuring, and real estate. The Wealth Management segment provides brokerage and investment advisory services for individuals and employers. The services include brokerage, financial planning, company stock-plan administration, insurance, mortgage loans, lines of credit, and retirement planning. The Investment Management segment provides investment products to a range of institutions, organizations, corporations, and governments. Yelp Inc. operates a platform that connects consumers with local businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's platform covers various local business categories, including restaurants, shopping, beauty and fitness, health, and other categories, as well as home, local, auto, professional, pets, events, real estate, and financial services. It provides free and paid advertising products to businesses, which include cost-per-click search advertising and multi-location Ad products, as well as enables businesses to deliver targeted search advertising to local audiences; and business listing page products. The company also offers other services comprising Yelp Reservations that provide online reservations for restaurants, nightlife, and other venues directly from their Yelp business pages; Yelp Waitlist, a subscription-based waitlist management solution that allows consumers to check wait times and join waitlists remotely, as well as businesses to manage seating and server rotation; Yelp Knowledge program that offers business owners local analytics and insights through access to its historical data and other proprietary content; and Yelp Fusion, which offers free and paid access to content and data for consumer-facing enterprise use through publicly available APIs. In addition, it provides content licensing, as well as allows third-party data providers to update and manage business listing information on behalf of businesses. Further, the company offers its products directly through its sales force; indirectly through partners; and online through its website, as well as non-advertising partner arrangements. It has strategic partnership with Grubhub for providing consumers with a service to place food orders for pickup and delivery. Yelp Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan. Read More SKANEATELES Twice as many people attended Skaneateles American Legion Post 239's second annual National POW/MIA Recognition Ceremony Day as the previous year this is a trend that Post Commander Eric Amberge said he would like to see continue. These types of ceremonies are held throughout America at Legion posts, he said. The National League of Families proposed the third Friday of September as a national day of remembrance for servicemen and women either held as prisoners of war or missing in action. Some posts just focus on Vietnam, Amberge said, noting that that was the era when the trend to bring awareness to POW/MIAs began. Amberge read President Barack Obamas 2016 proclamation regarding the national recognition of POW/MIAs to begin the ceremony. The United States does not leave anyone behind," Obama wrote. "And we do not forget those who remain missing. We will never stop working to bring home those who gave everything for their country nor cease in our pursuit of the fullest possible accounting for all who are missing. This is a subject Amberge has experience with. After his service in the Air Force, he was asked to work as a contractor on a joint task force for a full accounting of every missing soldier. Its really like an archeological dig, he said. It takes a lot of scientific professional analysis. In front of the Legion post, where the ceremony took place under the flags at half-staff, there was a small, round table with a single empty chair in front of a place setting to represent the imprisoned or missing person being absent. After a fall-in by Amberge, Post Chaplain, Patrick Taylor gave an invocation. Vietnam War veteran John Moran explained the significance of each detail at the round table, which now had two armed Vietnam veterans standing guard. The table is round, symbolizing how the POW or MIA is alone against the oppressor. There is a white tablecloth for purity of the individual. The table is set for one because it is one person against the oppressor. There is a yellow ribbon representing the yellow ribbons worn on the lapels of those who want a proper accounting of POW/MIAs. One red rose represents the blood that can be shed in sacrifice for ones country. There is a slice of lemon on the place-setting to represent the bitter fate of being captured or missing in a foreign land. There is a pile of salt, representing all the tears of those that never came home as well as their families tears. A small black bible represents the faith that has comforted so many. An inverted glass is a reminder that they cant be here to toast with their friends. There is a candle for hope that the loved one will find their way home, and an American Flag reminds that many will never return and have paid the supreme sacrifice to ensure freedom. The flag of the American Legion reminds that this organization has pledged a full accounting to those that are missing. Finally, the chair is empty symbolizing that comrades are missing. Representative from World War II through the Gulf War stood up to recognize that specific conflicts servicemen and women missing in action or taken as prisoners of wars. The gathering, which consisted mostly of servicemen, a few wives and Sons of the American Legion, recognized those from World War I, as that generation has almost entirely passed away with the centennial of the war's end coming up in 2018. World War II had 73,000 missing in action. Our motto was no man left behind, World War II veteran Marshall Skiff said. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, son of Skaneateles, was the highest ranking POW in World War II, Amberge said. His wife was well cared for here. Wainwright was born in Walla Walla, Washington, but shipped out while living in Skaneateles. His wife remained here during the war, and there was a parade upon Wainwright's return in the village of Skaneateles. Amberge suggested people watch the movie Douglas McArthur, as Wainwright is featured in the film. There are 7,841 still missing in action and unaccounted for from the Korean War. Al Coates was an air force navigator/bombardier training stateside on a Strategic Air Command B 36 during the Korean conflict. He said he will always remember a fraternity brother of his, Bob Carroll, who was shot by a sniper on the day they signed the armistice. Retiring from the Army at the rank of colonel, Bill Conole spoke of Skaneateles Jeffrey Shumway being one of the 1,602 that went missing in action in Vietnam. He recommended U.S. Sen. John McCains book Faith of My Fathers as an account of a POW's experience during the Vietnam War. He was shot down October 1967 and remained imprisoned until 1973. When offered an early release, he adhered to the strict code among the prisoners of war of first in, first out. Gulf War veteran Bob Herrmann, accompanied by his daughter, Amber, 13, said the three MIAs from the Gulf War have now been confirmed killed in action, quoting Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. "They didn't want to go to war," Herrmann said. "They didn't want to leave their families, but when their country asked them to, they did because they thought it was the right thing to do." The rifle squad consisting of four Sons of the American Legion fired three rounds into the air before "Taps" was played to conclude the solemn ceremony. JORDAN Katie Hinman was 12 years old when Jordan hosted its first fall festival in 1946. The event was much smaller back then, she described. Hosted near the heart of the village, Hinman said the main attraction of the first annual fall festival was an auction of a variety of items, like car parts and household appliances. Hinman said she managed a popcorn stand back then. And as the festival celebrated its 70th year this weekend, the Jordan native now 82 was still working a food stand, this time at a pastry booth. Jordan Fall Festival celebrates 70 years of family fun JORDAN Continuing its tradition of family fun and, of course, the greased pole race, the J Jordan's three-day extravaganza concluded on Sunday with some of the festival's most popular events, the greased pole climb contests and an antique and classic car show. As they have in the past, proceeds from the festival will be donated to a variety of agencies, including the Jordan Pool, the local food bank and the Jordan Bramley Library. Hinman said the event has grown a lot since 1946. The festival is now held along Beaver Street, while the auction from the inaugural event only lasted around 10 to 15 years, having died off when yard sales grew popular, Hinman said. This year's festival also featured hay rides, a chicken barbecue and performances by several local groups, including the Jordan-Elbridge High School marching band and the Jordan-Elbridge Community Band. "You can't argue with success," Hinman said. Shirley Drummond first got involved with the fall festival with her husband in 1964 when they moved into the area from Rhode Island. She first started as an attendant for a booth called the Treasure Chest, which sold donated pieces of jewelry at very low prices popular with children looking for a gift for mom, Drummond said. She later served as the festival's chair for 25 years until stepping down after 2011. On Sunday, Drummond was back at the festival, saying one of her favorite parts about it other than the food is catching up people in the community that she does not get to see too often. "When September comes, it's time for the fall festival," Drummond said. "It's a community fundraiser and it's what you do in Jordan." Now Drummond, 86, hoping more volunteers get involved to continue the tradition. She and Hinman both said the majority of the festival's volunteers are either the elderly or younger teens, and Drummond would like to see more middle-aged individuals get involved. "Everybody from the community can benefit from this," Drummond said before adding, "It's a wonderful community event and we really need to keep it going. So many organizations benefit from it and we can't lose that." LONDON Men with early prostate cancer who choose to closely monitor their disease are just as likely to survive at least 10 years as those who have surgery or radiation, finds a major study that directly tested and compared these options. Survival from prostate cancer was so high 99 percent, regardless of which approach men had that the results call into question not only what treatment is best but also whether any treatment at all is needed for early-stage cases. And that in turn adds to concern about screening with PSA blood tests, because screening is worthwhile only if finding cancer earlier saves lives. Theres been no hard evidence that treating early disease makes a difference, said Dr. Freddie Hamdy of the University of Oxford, the studys leader. Because we cannot determine very well which is aggressive cancer and which is not, men and clinicians can both be anxious about whether the disease will progress, he said. And that pushes them toward treatment. Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, welcomed the results but said it would be a struggle to convince men diagnosed with early prostate cancer in the U.S. to skip surgery or radiation. He said he often suggests monitoring but its a challenging process to explain to people that certain cancers just dont need to be treated. Our aggressive approach to screening and treating has resulted in more than 1 million American men getting needless treatment, said Brawley, who had no role in the study. The research was published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was paid for by Britains National Institute for Health Research. The study involved more than 82,000 men in the United Kingdom, aged 50 to 69, who had tests for PSA, or prostate specific antigen. High levels can signal prostate cancer but also may signal more harmless conditions, including natural enlargement that occurs with age. Researchers focused on the men diagnosed with early prostate cancer, where the disease is small and confined to the prostate. Of those men, 1,643 agreed to be randomly assigned to get surgery, radiation or active monitoring. That involves blood tests every three to six months, counseling, and consideration of treatment only if signs suggested worsening disease. A decade later, researchers found no difference among the groups in rates of death from prostate cancer or other causes. More men being monitored saw their cancers worsen 112 versus 46 given surgery and 46 given radiation. But radiation and surgery brought more side effects, especially urinary, bowel or sexual problems. PSA testing remains popular in the U.S. even after a government task force recommended against it, saying it does more harm than good by leading to false alarms and overtreatment of many cancers that would never threaten a mans life. In Europe, prostate cancer screening is far less common. Other experts said scientists should focus on how to figure out which cancers are so slow growing they dont need treatment and those that do. We need something to allow us to identify men with aggressive disease earlier, said Dr. Malcolm Mason, a prostate cancer expert at the charity Cancer Research U.K. He said the study confirmed that for men in the early stages of the disease, there is no wrong treatment decision. Some participants who had surgery or radiation said they didnt regret it, despite learning now that they probably could have done just as well without it. Tony Hancock, 60, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer eight years ago in Newcastle, said he originally wanted to have his disease monitored but the study assigned him to have surgery. Within about 24 hours, I persuaded myself that it was the best option, he said. I started to think, How could you live like that, knowing theres a cancer growing inside you and youre not doing anything about it? Although he suffered side effects, including some incontinence and pain, Hancock was glad he had the surgery. Psychologically, I know the cancer has been removed because my prostate is gone, and Ive never looked back since then. Douglas Collett, a retired construction worker from Cromhall, said he was horrified when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It hit me like a sledgehammer, the 73-year-old said. My initial reaction was to get rid of it. But after reading up on the risks and benefits of surgery and radiation, Collett said he was relieved to have been assigned to the monitoring group, and he feels more men should be fully informed about the various strategies. Maybe the first option shouldnt be surgery or radiotherapy, he said. Im quite happy to have avoided any of those side effects. I feel just fine now, so maybe I never needed anything else. Sierra Club hosts Barak Brashear presenting Enjoying and Protecting Our Natural Areas, an introduction to the skills and ethics of Leave No Trace, at 7 p.m. Thursday in the downstairs meeting room of St. Mark Lutheran Church at 100 Alderman Road. (434) 973-0373. University of Virginia Alumni More Than the Score Lecture Series will present Alice Raucher, architect for UVa, who will speak on Groundswork: Building on the Past, Planning for the Future, a discussion on current projects in the Office of the Architect, including the ongoing stewardship of the Academical Village and historic buildings, from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Alumni Hall at 211 Emmet St. S. (434) 982-4491. Charlottesville Symphonys pre-concert lecture series Know the Score hosts McIntire Department of Music Professor Richard Will speaking at 7:15 p.m. Friday in Minor Hall Auditorium on UVa Grounds. (434) 924-3052. Miller Center offers the American Forum with Russell L. Riley presenting Inside the Clinton White House at 11 a.m. Wednesday at 2201 Old Ivy Road. (434) 924-7236. Osher Lifetime Learning Institute hosts Lynn Rainville presenting Remembering the Great War: Virginias World War I Efforts from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Friday at Meadows Presbyterian Church at 2200 Angus Road. (434) 923-3600. International Rescue Committee hosts David Leblang presenting a talk on the global immigration crisis from noon to 1 p.m. Friday in the McIntire Room of Central Library at 201 E. Market St. (434) 979-7772. Piedmont Virginia Community College Career Services offices will begin a series of panel discussions with Bob Pflugfelder of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Central Virginia, Christy Williams of James River Grounds Management and Ellen Missana of the Curry School of Education about career fields in the business sector from noon to 12:45 p.m. Wednesday in the Bolick Student Center at 501 College Drive. (434) 961-5231. Updated at 6:53 p.m. The four accused gang members convicted of killing Waynesboro Reserve police Capt. Kevin Quick received four life sentences Monday. In February, Daniel Mathis, Shantai Shelton, Mersadies Shelton and Kweli Uhuru, also known as Travis Bell, were convicted of the abduction and murder of Quick, as well as racketeering charges related to several robberies in Louisa County. The group is part of the 99 Goon Syndikate, a sect of the Bloods street gang, according to prosecutors, and used proceeds from the robberies to further their gang. In Charlottesvilles federal court Monday, Mathis sat with his sisters, Mersadies (who recently changed her name to Maisha Love Uhuru) and Shantai, whispering to one another, while Uhuru was seated several chairs away. Ahead of the sentencing, the defense for the four defendants urged U.S. District Judge Glen E. Conrad to approve a motion for acquittal based on their claim that the prosecution failed to prove the existence of an enterprise. Mathis attorney, Frederick Theodore Heblich Jr., argued that the prosecution had not adequately proven that the 99 Goon Syndikate actually is a subset of the Bloods and subsequently said there was no evidence showing that the robberies were committed for the benefit of a gang. Holding to the jurys decision, Conrad denied the motions and said it was clear to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecution had adequately proven the existence of a criminal enterprise. The jury apparently believed that at least some of the crimes were part and parcel of a racketeering conspiracy, Conrad said. It had a common purpose and operation. Some elements may have been stronger than others, but it still qualified as an enterprise in the jurors minds. There were rules for how to live their lives, he said, referring to notebooks found in a defendants home depicting reported gang rules and obligations. Conrad said he would produce an opinion to address all of the issues presented in the motion for acquittal. Before the sentencing hearings began, a victim impact statement written by Yadi Weaver, the mother of Quicks daughter, was read in court. In her letter, Weaver spoke about the difficulty of living without Quick and the love he had for his 3-year-old daughter, who was just an infant when he was killed. These evil people entered into our lives and murdered Kevin, Weaver wrote. It wrecked our family and others, including their own families. Kevin loved his daughter more than anyone or anything in this world, she said. I am scared and, most of all, heartbroken. Quicks daughter, who was in the courtroom Monday, does not yet quite understand why her father is gone, Weaver wrote, but she sings to him in heaven every year on his birthday. Why Kevin? He had so much to live for, Weaver wrote. My daughter will never be able to walk down the aisle at her wedding with her father at her side. Mathis, who was convicted of abduction and murder in Quicks death, as well as weapons and robbery charges, was sentenced to four life terms, plus an additional 132 years. When asked if he would like to make a statement in court, he replied with a quick, No, thanks. Shantai and Mersadies Shelton were both convicted of similar charges and each was sentenced to four life terms with an additional 82 years. Uhuru, who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Quick, as well as racketeering charges, was sentenced to four life terms with an additional 10 years. All four also will be required to each pay $5,000 in fines, as well as restitution of $12,369 $400 of which will be paid to the estate of Quick, in reparation for the money stolen from his bank account with his ATM card. Speaking after the hearings, U.S. Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. said he met with Quicks family and friends to thank them for allowing the justice system to bring them some closure. Kevins family has been through so much throughout this process and I thank them for their strength, their patience and their faith in our office for handling this very difficult case, Fishwick said. We all know these sentences wont bring Kevin Quick back to his family, his friends or co-workers. Knowing that these individuals will spend the rest of their lives in prison cannot heal the wounds of losing a loved one, but I do hope it brings some level of closure to Kevins family to know that this very strong coalition of law enforcement standing behind me justly and righteously found the individuals responsible for the senseless death of their son, their brother, their husband. Fishwick also said the case raised the issue of the continued presence of gangs in Central Virginia and said it is important to drive them out. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Huber said he is confident law enforcement has wiped out the 99 Goon Syndikate, but other gangs will take their place. Waynesboro Police Chief Michael Wilhelm, who knew Quick from his time as a reserve police captain, said the sentences were commensurate for the crimes committed against Quick and his family. "Today was a bittersweet day for Kevin's family, friends and coworkers," Wilhelm said. "This has been a very long and emotional process that has taken a toll on everyone. I only hope that today's events can bring some measure of closure for everyone who has been affected by this horrible tragedy. Kevin will be missed, but never forgotten." On Jan. 31, 2014, Quick drove to an Albemarle County apartment complex to see his infant daughter, but once he reached the parking lot, he was abducted and eventually shot to death. Police found his body on Feb. 6 in the woods along the boundary of Fluvanna and Goochland counties. Three other accused members of the gang convicted of racketeering charges will be sentenced next month. Anthony Stokes and Halisi Uhuru, also known as Gert Wright and no relation to Kweli Uhuru, are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13 in federal court in Roanoke. Devante Bell is set to be sentenced Nov. 18 in Charlottesville. Gov. Terry McAuliffe is proud to talk about sealing business deals over craft beer. Over the weekend, McAuliffe huddled with an important visitor over a different type of recreational substance. While meeting with outlaw country star Willie Nelson at a concert in Bristow, McAuliffe was photographed with a can of Willie's Reserve, Nelson's brand of marijuana that's sold in Colorado and Washington but is unmistakably illegal in Virginia. Willie Nelson's wife, Annie Nelson, posted the photo on Twitter Saturday night with the message "UH-OH Trouble!" McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor stopped by Nelson's trailer while thanking several performers at Farm Aid 2016, an annual festival meant to benefit family farmers. Coy said McAuliffe, who opposes marijuana legalization, visited Nelson for 10 minutes or less and "had no idea" what else was in the trailer. "He was not and still is not aware of whatever was on the table or anywhere around him and wouldn't know marijuana or related paraphernalia if it walked up and shook his hand," Coy said. "He's cool, but he's not that cool." Annie Nelson, who directed her original tweet at McAuliffe and CNN commentator Paul Begala, said in a follow-up message: "One of them did not imbibe-guess which one!!!" Coy said McAuliffe has "never touched a drug in his life." Virginia is in the process of adopting regulations to allow limited production of cannabis oils for medical use by people who suffer from seizure disorders, but the state has not embraced recreational or medical marijuana. Broader legalization or decriminalization bills die routinely in the General Assembly. Gov. Terry McAuliffe is proud to talk about sealing business deals over craft beer. Over the weekend, McAuliffe huddled with an important visitor over a different type of recreational substance. While meeting with country music legend Willie Nelson at a concert in Bristow, McAuliffe was photographed with a can of Willies Reserve, Nelsons brand of marijuana thats sold in Colorado and Washington but is unmistakably illegal in Virginia. Willie Nelsons wife, Annie Nelson, posted the photo on Twitter on Saturday night with the message UH-OH Trouble! McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor stopped by Nelsons bus while thanking several performers at Farm Aid 2016, an annual festival meant to benefit family farmers. Coy said McAuliffe, who opposes marijuana legalization, visited Nelson for 10 minutes or less and had no idea what else was on the bus. He was not and still is not aware of whatever was on the table or anywhere around him and wouldnt know marijuana or related paraphernalia if it walked up and shook his hand, Coy said. Hes cool, but hes not that cool. Annie Nelson, who directed her original tweet at McAuliffe and CNN commentator Paul Begala, said in a follow-up message: One of them did not imbibe-guess which one!!! Coy said McAuliffe has never touched a drug in his life. Nelsons publicist, Elaine Schock, said she could not comment Monday because Nelson was traveling and unreachable. Virginia is in the process of adopting regulations to allow limited production of cannabis oils for medical use by people who suffer from seizure disorders, but the state has not embraced recreational or medical marijuana. Broader legalization or decriminalization bills routinely die in the General Assembly. In 2015, there were 20,881 marijuana-related arrests in Virginia, according to the Virginia State Police annual crime report, making up 59.6 percent of the states total drug arrests. A study released last year by the pro-decriminalization Drug Policy Alliance found significant racial disparities in marijuana arrests, with African-Americans arrested at three times the rate of whites despite similar rates of marijuana use. Though Virginia has seen no major legalization push, McAuliffe has indicated in the past that he does not see minor marijuana possession as a disqualifier from public service. Last year, McAuliffe stuck up for former Roanoke City Councilman Court Rosen, who was facing a possession charge, according to the Roanoke Times. McAuliffe had appointed Rosen to the states Commonwealth Transportation Board, and the governor said he would not remove him over the marijuana charge. Still, the high-energy governor is on record saying hes never gotten high. Never touched a drug in my life, never smoked pot, McAuliffe said in a 2011 interview with online news site Lorton Patch. Can you imagine me on drugs? Id be jumping off skyscrapers! (804) 649-6839 This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. Grocery shopping is about to get easier for time-pressed Walmart shoppers in Fredericksburg and Culpeper. The discount retailer, which dominates the areas grocery market, will launch its free online grocery pickup service Monday at three of its Virginia Supercenters. They include the ones in Fredericksburgs Central Park and in Culpeper. The other location is in Dulles. The Supercenter in Southpoint II in Massaponax will get it later this year, according to store manager Ed Husn. Walmart is offering the service as a way to save customers timeand to compete for market share in the increasingly crowded online grocery business. It first tested curbside pickup of online grocery orders in several cities, including Denver, Phoenix, then began rolling out the service nationwide. Stores in Richmond and Virginia Beach were the first to offer it in Virginia. Our customers have told us that grocery pickup is a game changer, Phillip Keene, Walmarts director of communications for the Southeast, said in a news release. They are now able to complete their grocery shopping in a matter of minutesbetween errands or on their way home from an after school activitywithout even unbuckling their seat belts. Heres how the new service works: Customers visit walmart.com/grocery online or through the Walmart Grocery mobile app, enter their ZIP code to select a local store and begin creating their shopping lists. During checkout, they select a time to pick up their orders. Walmart employees, called personal shoppers, fill the orders. The customer parks in a reserved space marked in orange at the store. They then call a number to alert an employee, who will retrieve the prepared order and load it in the customers car. Same-day pickup is available: orders placed by 2 a.m. will be available for pickup from 8 a.m. and orders placed by 10 a.m. will be available from 1 p.m. Pickups can be scheduled seven days a week, up to three weeks in advance. Walmart grocery pickup is a free service, requiring a minimum order of $30. Prices are the same as in the store. LONDON - England - Carey Mulligan, a deeply socialist actress has vowed to donate all her millions and go and live in Afghanistan. Im not like those other actresses who are all talk and never do anything. This time Ive given all my money to charity and will live in a tent in Afghanistan because Im so ashamed of Britain and their stance with refugees, Ms Carey Mulligan told the Daily Telegraph. The actress who lives in a 6 million mansion in Highgate, London rarely talks to foreign people and solely hangs around other successful white actors. I was in Claridges and this little dark boy came up to me. He spoke some strange language and smelled rather awful. I was astounded at first as I had never encountered a darkie talking to me. I only star in period dramas where everyones white. Anyway, I gave the boy a hurried smile before he was thrown out of the building. That night whilst dining at La Gavroche, I felt a pang of guilt, maybe I should have given the boy a few pennies. Ms Mulligan further states that Britain needs to invite all the worlds refugees into the country, but not in any neighbourhoods where rich luvvies live. We couldnt possibly have that. Imagine walking out of your mansion and seeing these poor peasants from this or that land walking about. House prices would plummet. The sale of her current property is currently going well and Ms Mulligan hopes the Afghans she meets will be pleasant, especially the Taliban. I sincerely hope they have something like the Garrick club in Afghanistan. Somewhere, where I can relax and enjoy a few champagne cocktails, Ms Mulligan, revealed before being chauffeured away in her top of the range Bentley. Kandahar awaits Please Donate In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation. Racist PayPal Tries to Close Down My Blog As you can see from this article PayPal have removed my blog. I would therefore ask people to make any future donations to the following: Name of Account: Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre Account No: 04094107 Sort Code: 09-01-50 Reference: Web donations Homestead National Monument of America has been visited by more than tourists recently, as seasonal vacationers whose migration pattern sent them through the fields overlooking the prairie have gained attention. Monarch butterflies can be seen from the entrance and paths of the Homestead as those who stopped by the park witnessed hundreds of them flying around landing from flower to flower as the butterflies get ready for their journey south. One of the days last week there were just hundreds out in front of the Homestead, said Homestead Ranger Susan Cook. Weve been able to take some really neat photos and anyone who has been out on the prairie has been commenting on how beautiful they all are. According to the United States Forest Service, Monarchs from eastern North America will travel to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico to hibernate for the winter, while butterflies from western North America will travel to California. In their migration it seems they decided to make a pit stop at the Homestead, to the delight of rangers and park visitors. Usually there are butterflies in the area during this time of the year, but it looks look weve had a lot more than we normally do, Cook said. We will get all kinds of butterflies throughout the summer, but we just have never have seen so many together like this in quite a while. She said that at one time there were hundreds in the tall grass in front of the Heritage Center, as their orange and black wings colored the prairie. While the butterflies are still all around the Homestead for the moment, she estimates that they will probably be gone by the next cold spell. London: Volkswagen supercar brands Bentley and Lamborghini have dropped out of the Paris Motor Show next week as their German parent is reining in spending on auto exhibitions to cushion costs from its emissions scandal. One year after admitting it used illegal software to rig diesel emissions tests, Volkswagen is cutting costs across the group to fund a strategic shift in the business and to cover billions of euros in fines and payments linked to its scandal. Bentley said on Monday it was skipping the crowded Sept. 29-30 show and would instead focus on small events to market more directly to buyers. Lamborghini said it was revising strategy regarding auto show attendance, including the choice of locations where the Italian brand wants to be. Car-shows cost millions of euros as brands strive to outshine one another. VW will dispense with a glitzy gala in Paris and instead present stationary cars with a focus of speeches on design, a spokesman said. Gandhinagar: SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya today said the stressed assets level in the banking sector will come down once the key industrial sectors start functioning at their optimum capacity. During a media interaction, the SBI chief said that most industrial units are working at 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity against the desired 80 to 85 per cent. "NPAs will start coming down as the demand comes back in the economy and then you see more and more capacity utilisation, which is still sub-optimal. Be it manufacturing units or power plants, most of them are running at around 60 to 65 per cent of their capacity," Bhattacharya said. "When this comes up to 80 to 85 per cent capacity, you will definitely see NPAs coming down," she said when asked about Non Performing Assets (NPAs). She was here to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of SBI's Local Head Office (LHO) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near here. The 14-storey tower will come up at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Upon completion, current LHO in Ahmedabad will be shifted here. During her visit at the GIFT City today, Bhattacharya also inaugurated SBI's IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at International Financial Services Centre (IFCS) in the GIFT Special Economic Zone. Commenting on the recent announcement about the merger of SBI and its subsidiaries, Bhattacharya said the merger is essential in the wake of tough competition from Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). "The merger is essential, because today banking is evolving at very fast rate. You face competition from not only other banks, but also from NBFCs. In order to sustain profitable growth, it is important for us to consolidate, because small organisations do not have such strength or capital," she added. Commenting on a recent report that employees of some banks are depositing money from their pockets into Jan-Dhan accounts, Bhattacharya said, "I am not aware of this fact. It is not something which happens in our bank, and I can assure you on that." The Railways have decided to put in place the flexi fare system for premier trains Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi from September 9. The base fare for these trains will be on flexi fare system, according to railways.(Photo: File) The Indian Railway decided to put the flexi-fare system in place for premier trains including Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi from September 9 onward. Under this system, the base fares would increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold. Quite naturally, residents were being forced to buy tickets at a price quite higher than what previously prevailed. In fact, last week, the average price of one-way ticket for Kalka Shatabdi was ranging between Rs 750 and Rs 900; whereas, the same ticket would cost around Rs 620 before the system was introduced. At the same time, tickets for the Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi were sold between prices, Rs 880 and Rs 1,110, as reported by Hindustan Times. People from varied backgrounds are finding it difficult to cope with the new rates. A software engineer, Arindam Roy, said, One cannot plan an instant trip as the ticket will be highly-priced. And for a distance such as that between Chandigarh and Delhi, one rarely plans for months. Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to express their shock over the Uri attacks. Mumbai: In one of the worst attacks on the Indian Army, 17 soldiers were killed when militants attacked the Army brigade headquarters in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri on Sunday. Four attackers were killed in the ensuing operations, but the incident left the country in shock and grief. Ministers and political leaders have condemned the attacks and have expressed their condolences all throughout Sunday and several Bollywood stars also took to Twitter expressing shock at the incident and paying tributes to the families of the brave soldiers. Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Anupam Kher, Shekhar Kapur, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar among others were the ones who lent support to the families with their tweets. Mumbai: An FIR was registered by the Versova police against popular stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma for allegedly violating the Environment Act, on Monday. Sharma apparently dumped debris near mangroves behind his bungalow, in suburban Versova and also undertook illegal construction near it, according to the police. Mumbai suburban District Collector Deependra Singh Kushwah had directed officials to conduct a survey to find if Sharma violated the Act by dumping debris near the mangroves. After the survey, the Andheri talathi filed a police complaint. "We have recorded a case under Sp LAC (special local Acts) No 87/16 U/S 15 (1)(2) Environment Act against Sharma," Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe told PTI. The complainant also submitted the mangrove cell report to police, he said. The bungalow number 71 at Four Bungalows area in Andheri (West), Mhada Colony, was purchased by Sharma from a businessman on November 7, last year, and the actor had allegedly carried out some illegal alterations. Prior to this, the Oshiwara police had last week registered an FIR against the actor under section 53(7) of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP), for alleged unauthorised construction at his flat in suburban Goregaon, based on a complaint by a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official. Sharma had kicked up a controversy earlier this month by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by an official of BMC which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also at his apartment in suburban Goregaon. He had also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet posted on September 9. Sharma has nearly 63 lakh followers on his Twitter handle and since he tagged the Prime Minister, the tweet generated sharp reactions from all major political parties, with an eye on the forthcoming civic elections. The actor was speaking at the 'Pink' success press meet. Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan has reacted to the Uri terror attack and he minced no words. The actor, who was speaking at the 'Pink' success press meet, said that hes been deeply affected bu the Uri terrorist attack. Elaborating on his feelings regarding the gruesome terror strike that saw the death of 17 Jawaans, the actor said, Its a very sad news and it deeply saddens me. I hope our government will take some strict action against the perpetrators. The actor is currently basking in the unanimous critical acclaim coming his way after the release of Pink. The film also stars Tapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Angad Bedi. Earlier, Bachchan had also tweeted condemning the attacks. Other Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar also reacted to the attacks. Mumbai: Katrina Kaif was presented with the Smita Patil Memorial Award for Best Actor by the socio-cultural and educational organisation Priyadarshini Academy in Mumbai on Monday. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari honoured the actress with the award. After accepting the award, Katrina said, The world of cinema, not just Indian cinema, is often called a mans world, it is changing, but the change is slow. So I believe it is a matter of great pride that we have an award that acknowledges and recognizes the contribution of women in cinema. This award honours the memory of one of the greatest and most accomplished actors, whose roles served as an inspiration in the lives of millions of women." "As an actor, the love of the people is the biggest reward of all, but when there is recognition from the industry in the form of an award, for me, it is very overwhelming. I can promise that my attempt is to be truthful and sincere to the craft which has largely given me my purpose in life over the last few years. The audience, who has given me so much love and support over these last few years, I hope I can continue to make them proud of me, and to deserve their love and support as they have always given me. The news of Katrina being given this award had spread around, more so because of the trolls that made fun of the actress who is not quite known for her acting skills. But there is no denying the fact that Katrina has been around in the industry for almost 13 years, acting with the biggest superstars in some of the biggest hits. Katrina, however, sneaked out of the press conference after receiving her award without answering questions. Juhi Chawla was also honoured with an award at the event, which was presented by Union Minister Suresh Goyal. Mumbai: Charmian Carr, The Sound of Music star, who played the role of eldest Von Trapp daughter Liesl, has been battling with a rare form of dementia and breathed her last in Woodland Hills, California on Saturday. Other than her role as Liesl in the iconic movie The Sound of Music, Carr had managed to woo her audience with yet another spectacular performance in the TV movie 'Evening Promise opposite Anthony Perkins. Kym Karath, who played the role of younger sister Gretl in the film, took to Twitter to express grief over the loss of her sister. Carr, who was also into design business, had written two books revolving around her character Liesl named Forever Liesl and Letters to Liesl. On social media, her fans have also extended their condolences to the deceased actors family and friends. Vishnu Vishal ventured into production with Velainnu Vandhutta Vellakaran, which raked in profits for his company. The actor has announced his second production venture with debut director Muruganandam which started shooting on September 7. The Jeeva star has now revealed that he has roped in Catherine Tresa of Madras fame to be his romantic interest in this yet-to-be-titled film. We narrated the one-liner to Catherine Tresa a month back and brought her on board. Her character in the film always teases me. Her role will have certain mannerisms of a guy! Talking about his character, When compared to my previous films, this will be a difficult role as it would require me to do comedy. I need to improve my modulation and body language to bring out the humour. We are planning to wrap up the film in November, he adds. Vishnu, who is dubbing for Suseenthirans Maaveran Kittu currently, added that his long-pending film Veera Dheera Sooran in which he was also supposed to be sharing screen space with Catherine, has got shelved The film was lying in the cans for almost a year and the producer has some financial issues. We had around 30 days of shoot left, but unfortunately the project has been dropped. Otherwise, Catherine has Kadamban and Khiladi No 150 (in Telugu), while Vishnu Vishal will once again team up with director Ram of Mundasupatti fame. And the twains shall meet when Anita Peter dons the role of an orphan Brahmin girl in the upcoming film Haviss directed by Sharadhamani. Anita, a multi-tasker based in Hyderabad, is the quintessential modern girl who loves dressing in western clothes and has a very modern outlook on life. But when she plays the role of Gayathri in Haviss, she will be transforming her real life persona to make way for her reel character. Though diametrically opposite, Anita and Gayathri have one trait in common an inner strength that makes them stand up and fight for their beliefs and to break free from set conventions. It was late actor-dancer Monishas mother Sreedevi who informed her about the role in Haviss. The film is set in the 1950s and looks at the beliefs, customs and superstitions prevalent in the Brahmin community. Anita says, I found a lot of elements very attractive when I heard the story. I am not supposed to apply any make up in this film. See for me, acting is about playing a strong role rather than standing in one corner in a commercial film. This film will give me a chance to explore myself and my character at a deeper level. I play a Brahmin girl who goes through trying situations but she is not meek. The beautiful woman is ready to go to any lengths to add authenticity to her character including shaving off her lovely locks for the film. She reasons, For the theatre audition for the role of a mad woman; I ate a plantain- skin and all to add authenticity. I believe that as an actor, I should deliver what is required for the role. I am not Anita in the film, I am Gayathri and if it is required, I will go bald. In fact, I was adamant that I will shave my hair off if required rather than adopting any artificial means. A talented dancer, Anita has always been naturally inclined to arts right from her schooldays. She is also an accidental model, I was standing by a road in Bengaluru and a jewellery owner came to me and asked if I could be part of an international ad. After getting the go-ahead from my husband, I said yes and thats how I became a model. Anita has also acted in a serial and a telefilm. She is also a theatre artiste. The response you get is instant and I am very serious about theatre, she reveals. Incidentally, Anita was also a part of the Mrs Kerala contest where she was amongst the top 10 contestants and won a sub-title. Acting is no doubt the icing on the multi-layered cake. You would expect a district Bishop to be installed in the grandest of metropolitan edifices, perhaps in Denver or Topeka or at least Omaha. Surprise! Zion Lutheran Church was the scene of a very historical occasion. Years ago - on Sept. 27, 1981, Rev. Wayne Weissenbuehler, choose the The Cathedral in the Cornfield for his installation as Bishop. One reason he chose Zion was because it was an excellent representation of a rural Lutheran Church. It took 16 months to build the Zion Lutheran Church - Pickrell 100 years ago. The members of Zion Lutheran Church are celebrating the building by taking one Sunday a month for those same 16 months, only 100 years later, to focus on different features or areas of the church. The focus of the September 25 service will be The Cathedral in the Cornfield. The public is invited to join us on Sunday, Sept. 25, at Zion Lutheran Church at 10 a.m., as we reminisce about the installation with guest Pastor Bill Jurgens, assisted by Sharon Oltman Schuster. Pastor Jurgens served at Zion Lutheran Church from 1974 to 1994. Also, join us on Oct. 2, at the 10 a.m. service, as guest Jack Reents, son of Rev J B Reents, will be sharing remembrances of Reents 43 years (1902-1945) as Pastor at Zion. Actress Kajal Aggarwal did an item song in the recently released hit film, Janatha Garage, because of her friendship with the lead actor, Jr NTR. The actress received a good amount of remuneration for it and was even approached for a few more item songs, but according to a source, she rejected those offers. It is believed that she accepted the song in Janata Garage at a time when her films were not doing well. With the super success of the song and film, the actress is back in the limelight once again. With high confidence, Kajal now wants to concentrate on her career. She is the leading lady opposite Chiranjeevi in his 150th film, Khaidi No. 150. She is also paired opposite Rana Daggubati in a film directed by Teja, for which shooting will soon commence. Chennai: With northeast monsoon nearing, fear triggers among residents as the state recorded over 1,200 dengue cases and five cases of death. Doctors, on the other hand, ask residents to be cautious, as there is a possibility of outbreak of other epidemics during the monsoon. Along with simple infections, fever, cold and cough that strike during monsoon, people are also exposed to the more serious Hepatitis A infection, said doctors. Dr Madhuri Prabu, neonatal pediatrician of Motherhood hospital, said, Hepatitis A virus usually takes 14-28 days to incubate and the most common symptom of a Hep A infection is jaundice, fever, loss of appetite, weakness, diarrhoea and nausea. The severity of symptoms is slightly more in older children (6 and above) with 70 per cent of those infected suffering from jaundice. Even though children and adults, who have been previously vaccinated against Hepatitis A, are practically at very low risk, doctors suggest people to be aware of symptoms. People with poor hygiene, people living with an infected individual are at high risk of acquiring Hepatitis A infection. Maintaining proper hygiene, proper hand wash, washing food thoroughly before eating, drinking boiled water and getting vaccinated are the best ways to prevent a Hepatitis A infection, she added. Dr Rex Sargunam, president of Tamil Nadu Health Development Association, stressed on the importance of streamlining storm water drains, to control the spread of dengue. Aedes aegypti, which transmits dengue, breeds in fresh water sources like stormwater drains. Corporation and local communities should take collaborative efforts to drain the stagnate water and close the drains. Oil should be poured on stagnate water to prevent breeding, he added. As the flight range of Aedes aegypti mosquito is not more than 100 metres, it will be confined to a particular place and is easy to eliminate, he added. If transmitted to pregnant women, the virus attacks the fetus developing mental disorders among the baby. As his body was kept at the Royapettah GH morgue, his lawyer S. Ramaraj was prevented by the police from entering the premises to have a look at his client's body Chennai: The Swathi murder accused, P.Ramkumar killed himself on Sunday by biting a live wire in Puzhal jail where he was lodged. His death brought an abrupt end to the sensational case of the gruesome slaughter of the young techie on the Nungambakkam railway station platform on June 24. He was brought dead here. And his body was shifted to the morgue, Royapettah Government hospital dean told this newspaper at around 6 pm on Sunday, confirming his death. The mechanical engineering graduate was 26. Ramkumar had allegedly killed Swathi (24), working with Infosys in Mahindra City and residing in Choolaimedu in the city, while she waiting to catch a suburban train to go to work at around 6.40 am on June 24. Police said he was stalking her and she had rejected his proposal. He hacked her to death. Ramkumar had been staying in a lodge Choolaimedu looking for a job since March this year and had noticed Swathi and also followed her. Puzhal jail sources on Sunday said Ramkumar was lodged in hospital block inside the prison complex. Usually 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm is meal time for prisoners. And at the hospital block all the prisoners will be lodged in a dormitory kind of hall. They are allowed to walk around the hall and also in the verandah. At around 4.45 pm he went near the loosely fitted electric switchboard on the verandah wall. He pulled off the front portion of the switchboard, grabbed the wires and bit them. He died on the spot due to electrocution, sources noted. Though some inmates rushed towards him with blankets and other things to rescue him, everything was over by the time they got near the electrocuted prisoner. Slackness in supervision by warders on duty could be the reason for not preventing the suicide. But it looks like Ramkumar had planned this and was waiting for the right time, a jail official added. As his body was kept at the Royapettah GH morgue, his lawyer S. Ramaraj was prevented by the police from entering the premises to have a look at his client's body. The entire hospital premises were sealed by the cops. Chennai: Refusing to believe that P. Ramkumar, the lone accused in techie Swathi murder case, committed suicide, lawyer S.P. Ramaraj on Sunday alleged that his client's death was a planned murder and that the Tamil Nadu Police are trying to push the truth under the carpet. This was a planned murder. Ramkumar had no intention of committing suicide. He was never involved in the murder. From day one, we have been maintaining that he was being framed in the case, Mr Ramaraj told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday evening. Mr Ramaraj, a former district magistrate who was defending Ramkumar in the case ever since he was arrested on the night of July 1 from his village near Tirunelveli, also alleged that the police framed Ramkumar in the sensational case to protect the real accused. Recalling his interactions with Ramkumar after he was lodged in Puzhal prison, Mr Ramaraj said his client was under pressure from prison authorities and police since he was not the real accused. Soon after the news spread about Ramkumar attempting suicide, Mr Ramaraj said, he did try to contact authorities in Puzhal prison about the reports. They told me that Ramkumar has become indisposed due to food poisoning and is being take to Royapettah Government Hospital. But, an hour later, media channels flashed that he was brought dead to the Hospital from the Puzhal prison, the lawyer alleged. If Ramkumar had attempted suicide, why did not the prison authorities inform me when I called them? Why did they hide the fact from me? This clearly indicates that there is something amiss. I have always been maintaining that Ramkumar was being framed in Swathi murder case, he claimed. Mr Ramaraj also said he would discuss with parents of Ramkumar and decide the future course of action. We will take up the matter at appropriate forum, he said and claimed that a fact-finding team that went into the murder found several discrepancies in the police theory. Hyderabad: The NGT, which has been hearing a petition against construction of APs new capital Amaravati in a flood-prone area, expressed doubts over the AP governments plans to elevate the 10,000-acre capital city to protect it from the Krishna river and the Kondaveeti Vaagu. The NGT wondered whether it would be viable to elevate the capital city over such a large extent. The NGT heard two petitions, filed by retired IAS officer E.A.S. Sharma and Mr Bolishetty Satyanarayana. Senior advocate Sanjay Parekh, who argued for the petitioners, told the NGT that Kondaveeti Vaagu floods about 13,500 acres. The three-member NGT bench headed by Justice Swatantra Ku-mar asked Mr Parekh whether the AP government had plans to elevate the land. Mr Parekh said the environment impact assessment stated that it would be elevated. Madhubani: At least 35 passengers were killed and over a dozen others feared dead when a bus fell into a roadside pond in Bihar's Madhubani district on Monday. The accident took place at Basaitha chowk under Bennipatti police station in Madhubani, about 50 km from the district headquarters. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Benipatti Nirmala Kumari said search and rescue operations are on. About 65 passengers were on board the bus. Some of them swam to safety while over a dozen are feared to have been killed. The private bus was on way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when the mishap took place on state highway. Villagers angry over delay in reaching of crane pelted stones on police team on way to the accident spot. The SP and other policemen are stranded at the accident site and waiting for police reinforcement to reach the spot. Meanwhile, in Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed deep sorrow over death of passengers in the bus mishap at Madhubani. The CM said in a statement that reason of the accident was being looked into. He instructed officials to speed up relief and rescue operation. Kumar instructed Revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and Panchayati Raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident spot. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) has reached the mishap site. The CM issued instruction to provide all possible assistance to victims of the bus tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sadness over the bus mishap and said his thoughts were with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. "Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Bihars Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," he tweeted. New Delhi: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who is facing allegations of sexual harassment, on Monday went to the Jamia Nagar police station to surrender, but the police there refused to arrest him. "We will not arrest him now. Whatever he is doing is of his own accord. We will go by our investigation," a senior police officer said. The Okhla MLA had said police are "under pressure" to arrest him and today he said they didn't arrest him due to "public pressure". However, senior police officials rubbished the charges. Mr Khan had reached the Jamia Nagar police station with scores of his supporters around 1.30 pm today and asked the policemen to arrest him. "It is the victory of common people. The police didn't arrest me because of public pressure," he said. The AAP MLA had alleged the police want to arrest him in a false case. "I requested them to not do so since I am personally involved in the ongoing fogging work in my area, but they said they are under pressure. I will be courting arrest at Jamia Nagar police station," he had said on Saturday. Mr Khan's sister-in-law had last week registered a sexual harassment case against him at the Jamia Nagar police station. A case under sections 354(A)(sexual harassment), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Mr Khan and the woman's husband. New Delhi: The national capital on Sunday continued to reel under the chikungunya outbreak, its worst in the last six years, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a fervent appeal to all to shun politics and jointly tackle the menace of vector-borne diseases on a war-footing. Dengue and chikungunya complications have claimed at least 33 lives this season and affected over 2,800 people. Kejriwal, who on Sunday returned from Bengaluru after a throat surgery, in a brief video message, made a plea to "set aside politics" and "declare an all-out war against the mosquito menace". "Mosquitoes don't know who belongs to which party. Leaving politics behind, all should come together to fight the menace. We kept on saying MCD did not perform its duties. But since it has not, let's do it together. Let us all work together," he said. A visibly feeble Kejriwal said he has ordered procurement of as many fogging machines needed to battle out this crisis. Earlier in the day, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung visited several hospitals across the city to take stock of their preparedness in dealing with the rising number of chikungunya and dengue cases in the national capital, and stressed on "special attention" to the elderly. His visit came a day after the AAP government accused him of adopting a "casual approach" in dealing with the health crisis in the city. Meanwhile, Delhi government today launched a mass awareness drive to motivate people to clear out stagnant water in residential and public building premises, even as the city continued to battle rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes breed in clear water and flower pots, coolers, tyres and bird feeders and other utensils are common places where breeding is found. But, amid call for eschewing politics to fight this health crisis together, the debate over whether chikungunya can lead to death today assume a bit of a political colour. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said city Health Minister Satyendar Jain's statement that people cannot die of chikungunya "shows his insensitivity and ignorance". Jain has been reiterating that "as per medical literature chikungunya cannot cause death," and accused media of spreading panic. "According to the 2015 report of WHO (World Health Organisation), 191 people in North America and South America had died of chikungunya," Maken said. According to municipal figures, the current outbreak of chikungunya is the worst in the last six years. "In 2011, the total number of cases for chikungunya was 107, 6 (in 2012), 18 (2013), 8 (2014) and 64 last year. No deaths were recorded in these five years," a civic official told PTI. Health experts say the sudden "upsurge" of the disease this year could be a result of "evolution" of the viral strain. Union Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar visits one of those injured during the violence over the Cauvery row in the city on Sunday Bengaluru: While the Congress and JD(S) in Karnataka are demanding the Prime Minister's intervention in the Cauvery row to bail out the state, which is reeling under drought, BJP leaders have clearly ruled out any such possibility. Holding the state government responsible for its inept handling of the issue in court, two Union Ministers - Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman and Mr H.N. Ananth Kumar have asked the state to fight it out in the courts constitutionally. Speaking to reporters after visiting Mr Pradeep, who was injured in the police firing during the recent Cauvery related riots in the city, Mr Ananth Kumar asked the state to do its homework properly, before going to the Supreme Court. In the next two days, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee will be meeting to take a decision. The Supreme Court is seized of the matter. At this juncture, it is not possible for the Prime Minister to intervene. The State should fight the battle constitutionally,'' he said. Claiming that the state governments handling of the case before the Supreme Court was to blame for the debacle, he said instead of explaining to the Apex Court the distress situation in Karnataka, the state government had volunteered to release water. This resulted in the Supreme Court directing the state to release water to TN. We should not engage in politicking on the issue,'' Mr Ananth Kumar said. Speaking on the sidelines of the BJP Mahila Morcha conference here, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman echoed the same view. New Delhi: Overruling differences between the two states, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Monday ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water per day to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and September 30. Despite day-long discussions, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu failed to reach an agreement on the quantum of water to be released. Union Water Resources Secretary and Chairman of the committee Shashi Shekhar used his power asking Karnataka to release 3000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from September 21 to 30. "They have not agreed. The two states are free to challenge this order in the Supreme Court when it takes up the matter tomorrow or they can agree with the order before the court," Shekhar told reporters after the meeting. The supervisory committee in its previous meeting on September 12 had failed to arrive on a decision on quantum of water release for want of adequate information which was to be made available by the river-basin states. It had asked them to provide the information by September 15. The Supreme Court had on September 5 asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for 10 days to Tamil Nadu to ameliorate plight of farmers there. The interim order led to protests in parts of Karnataka, especially in Mandya district, considered the hotbed of politics over Cauvery issue. Shekhar said he took the decision keeping in mind various factors such as need for drinking and irrigation water in Karnataka and summer crop in Tamil Nadu. He said while the panel will next meet sometime in October, it will take a call on the release of water to Tamil Nadu after September 30 as and when required. Though the two states failed to agree on the quantum of water release, they agreed that from February 2017 onwards, it should meet every month to take stock of the situation till the Cauvery Management Board comes into being. The matter related to the proposed board is pending before the apex court. The committee also agreed to put in place a protocol for the proposed real-time transmission of river water flow data among the committee secretariat (in Delhi), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The Central Water Commission is working on devices which will be placed at various points to provide real-time data. Lack of credible data makes it difficult for the various parties to arrive at a consensus. At the meeting, while Karnataka "vehemently" opposed release of any water, Tamil Nadu requested for release of water as ordered by the Cauvery water dispute tribunal. Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday embarked on a two-day tour to the United States. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oracle will be signed during the tour. Under the MoU, the IT giant will assist the state in the 'Smart Cities' Mission. Fadnavis has undertaken this tour on an invitation from Oracle and it is the first the time that the company would be signing an MoU with an Indian state, a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. "The Chief Minister will address a global audience in 'Open World', a programme organised by Oracle. This is the first time a Chief Minister would get the opportunity to address a gathering at an event of this magnitude," an official from the CMO said. "The company will play an important role in the government's 'Smart Cities' mission. The Kalyan Dombivili Municipal Corporation, Mira Bhayander and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporations will get the benefit from Oracle in terms of technology, thereby helping them in the Smart Cities mission," said the official. Oracle will also develop a Centre of Excellence (CoE) that will help in the 'Smart Cities' mission, he added. According to the official, Fadnavis is scheduled to meet California Governor Jerry Brown along with several officials from different IT companies and apprise them of the initiatives taken by the Maharashtra government under the 'Ease of Doing' business programme. Principal Secretary of IT department Vijay Kumar Gautam and Kaustubh Dhawse, an officer on special duty in the CMO, have also gone with the Chief Minister. New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia was attacked with ink on Monday outside Lieutenant General Najeeb Jungs residence by a man who claimed that he was upset over the AAP leader undertaking a tour of Finland at a time when the city was grappling with a health crisis. When Sisodia was about to get into his car after talking to media persons, Brijesh Shukla threw ink at Sisodia which splattered across his arms and on a portion of his forehead. Sisodia said the ink attack on him was reflection of the "dirty politics of Congress and BJP". Shukla, a resident of north east Delhi's Karawal Nagar, has been detained by police. He said he was angry with the Deputy Chief Minister for visting Finland at a time when the city was grappling with rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. Jung had summoned Sisodia early from his Finland trip as Delhi saw a spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases. However, Sisodia returned on the pre-decided date. Sisodia had earlier met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who had also returned to Delhi after having throat surgery in Benagluru. Reacting to the attack, Sisodia said, "Delhi government is committed to working on health and education. But Congress and BJP are working on ink. They have nothing to do with Delhiites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is the dirty politics of BJP and Congress." He also challenged the BJP-ruled civic bodies to clear the "filth across the city" and hit out at Congress for "ruining" the city's education and health sector during its term. "This is merely a diversionary tactic adopted by them since we are focusing on development," he said. Over a thousand cases of chikungunya have been reported from the national capital this year, the highest in six years. 17 Army jawans and officers were killed and twenty more wounded in Uri close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla district on Sunday. (Photo: AP) New Delhi: Determined to use a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response to Uri attack, India is likely to expose Pakistan before the world community by furnishing it with actionable evidence regarding its sponsoring of terrorism and press for isolating the nation. India is also planning to hand over to Pakistan evidence of the four terrorists using Pakistani-marked weapons, food, energy drinks and GPS trackers which they carried to enter Jammu and Kashmir from across the Line of Control. Indications in this regard came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a nearly two-hour meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and other top officials to discuss India's response. Top brass of the government is convinced that India has to launch a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response and expose Pakistan in international forums like the UN, whose General Assembly is in session, official sources said. Read: Uri terror strike: Narendra Modi's SAARC appearance remains doubtful As part of the plans, the Director General of Military Operations will hand over all the evidence linking Pakistan's involvement in Uri attack to his Pakistani counterpart shortly. At the meeting where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was conspicuously absent, the top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri, the sources said. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief, who visited Kashmir after the terror attack yesterday, also apprised the Prime Minister about their observations, they said. Heavily-armed terrorists, believed to be from Pakistan-based JeM, had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. India has reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with the Prime Minister strongly condemning it. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasise on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. The Home Minister and the top officials reviewed the security situation across the country, particular along the western border -- from Punjab to Gujarat, the sources said. Read: Uri attack: Nobody can tolerate terrorism, says Ansari Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said India will carefully decide its future course of action in the aftermath of the terror attack in Uri and will not do anything on the basis of what Pakistan says. "We must not pay heed to Pakistan's reaction. Everything is in front of the people. We will take our next steps carefully. It does not matter what Pakistan says," he told reporters here. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said Pakistan has become a hub of terrorism and is resorting to subversive activities as it cannot win an open war with India. "Pakistan has become a big center of terrorism and is resorting to subversive activities as it cannot win an open war with India," he said on the sidelines of a programme in Guwahati. "Pakistan is encouraging terrorism and that is a serious matter. We want both the countries to go forward on the path of development peacefully," the Union HRD minister said. A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will reach Uri on Monday and begin its inquiry into the deadliest attack on the Army in 14 years. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday paid tribute to the martryed jawans by laying wreaths on the coffins of the martyred soldiers at a somber ceremony held at headquarters of the Chinar Corps. In a major terror attack, 18 Army jawans and officers were killed and 19 more wounded in Uri close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla district on Sunday. All the four terrorists involved in the pre-dawn attack at an Army base in the area were also killed in Armys retaliatory fire, ending a 5-hour-long fight at around 8 am. A group of four heavily armed militants attacked a battalion centre close to the Armys 12 Infantry Brigade headquarters on the peripheries of Uri town, 102-km northwest of capital Srinagar, around 3 am. The area falls in close proximity to the LoC from three sides-Hajipir, Kamalkot and Kaman post and the 12 Infantry Brigade is spread over a couple of dozen acres of sloppy land midst pine woods on both sides of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road. The firing stopped at 8 am after all the terrorists were neutralised. Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) held Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists responsible for the attack and said that weapons with Pakistani markings were found on the dead terrorists. India blamed Pakistan for the attack, an allegation which Pakistan angrily refuted. Pakistan claimed that India's charges were "totally baseless and irresponsible." Pakistan claimed that India had a 'history of blaming Pakistan' after every terror attack. Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that Pakistan should be declared a terrorist state. Military experts have called for India to keep open the military solution to Pakistani aggression across the border, after the Uri attack. New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday said India should launch "surgical bombardment" on terrorist training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to retaliate against the attack on the Army base in Uri. Swamy, who met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier in the day, said the terror attack and the killing of jawans at "Pakistan's behest" represents a paradigm change in the "reckless disregard and audacity" of Pakistan which requires a "sharp retaliatory response" most urgently. He told Parrikar that a "surgical bombardment" of terrorist training camps in PoK is one such step and essential to meet Indian people's expectation from a strong government for which the people had voted in 2014, a statement by Swamy said. He also sought immediate withdrawal of unilateral most-favoured nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan for trade. Swamy said Pakistan's embassy should be immediately downgraded and the ambassador be sent back. He also suggested that China and Israel should be taken into confidence and persuaded to support India's retaliatory actions against Pakistan. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an Army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. Mohammad Shahabuddin being greeted by supporters after being released on bail after 12 years of imprisonment in Bhagalpur. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from controversial RJD leader Shahabuddin on a plea challenging the bail granted to him by the Patna High Court in a murder case. The apex court, however, did not grant any interim stay on operation of Patna High Court's bail order and said "We intend to give him (Shahabuddin) a hearing also. List it on Monday". The bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy asked Bihar government to serve its notice on Shahabuddin and fixed the matter for hearing on September 26. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons have been killed in two separate incidents, said Shahabuddin is a "notorious criminal" and his reign of terror is in Bihar "in general" and Siwan "in particular". "There are 58 criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin and out of them he has been convicted in eight cases," he said. Shahabuddin had been granted bail recently by the High Court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, son of Prasad and the sole eye-witness to the cold-blooded murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan. The RJD leader had already been convicted in the twin murder case and the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence. The Patna High Court, in its bail order, considered the fact that the trial in Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was jailed at Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail. During the hearing, the apex court asked Bhushan as to whether he was seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shahabuddin or he was challenging the Patna High Court order. "I am challenging the Patna High Court order granting him bail," Bhushan replied and referred to various case laws to highlight the point that criminal antecedent of an offender should be considered while granting the bail. Terming Shahabuddin as a "class-A history sheeter who cannot be reformed", the lawyer said that High Court should not have granted bail to the leader. Bihar government also supported the submission of Bhushan and rather went a step ahead while seeking issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. The apex court had on September 16 agreed to hear the plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to gangster-turned-RJD leader Shahabuddin. Bihar government standing counsel Gopal Singh had earlier said the High Court had failed to follow its own order of February asking the trial court to preferably complete the trial in the Roshan murder case within nine months. The state government had also said that HC ignored the crucial aspect brought by it earlier that key witnesses did not turn up to depose in these cases due to fear and the clout wielded by the dreaded gangster, who before pronouncement of judgement in the murder case of Prasad's two sons, allegedly conspired from the jail to eliminate his third son, Rajiv Roshan, the prime witness in the case. It had contended that the High Court overlooked the apex court judgement, which had held as correct its decision to conduct the trial of cases against Shahabuddin from jail itself considering the threat to witnesses. In his plea, Prasad has said the High Court's September 7 order granting regular bail to Shahabuddin "suffers from total non-application of mind" as it had "completely lost sight of the facts that Respondent No 2 (Shahabuddin) is a dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him." The plea further said that on May 13 this year, journalist Rajdev Ranjan was killed in Siwan and it was alleged that Shahabuddin was behind his killing also. In August 2004, Girish, Satish and their eldest brother Rajiv Roshan, the three sons of the petitioner, were picked up by henchmen of the gangster and taken to his native village Pratappur, where they were drenched in acid. Both Girish and Satish died but Roshan, who witnessed the killings, managed to escape. However on June 16, 2014, Roshan was also allegedly murdered and Shahabuddin was arrested for this killing on November 17, 2014. Slain scribe Rajdev Ranjan's wife had also moved apex court seeking transfer of the probe and trial in the murder case to Delhi from Siwan, alleging that media reports have shown two absconding killers of her husband in the company of Shahabuddin and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav. She has sought relief including a direction to CBI, to which probe has been transferred, to take up the probe forthwith in view of the fact that the proclaimed offenders, Mohd Kaif and Mohd Javed, were spotted with Shahabuddin and the Minister at a place where several cops were also present. An army officer paying tribute to the soldiers who were killed in Uri attack, at a wreath laying ceremony in Jammu. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Indo-Pak relationship will not be same again and India's patience with the neighbour is running out, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday as the government weighs its options following the deadly Uri terror attack. With voices, including within the BJP, calling for retaliatory action against Pakistan following the Uri terror attack, the Union Law and Information Technology minister said the Modi government will take appropriate action keeping in the mind the national interest. Asked about reports of India weighing options likes surgical strike in Pakistan territory, he told reports that such matters are not discussed with the media. "Our relationship with Pakistan will not be same again. Our patience is running out. There is a limit to patience. The government will consider strategic and diplomatic options and take a decision," he said. To a question that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing criticism for the gap between his tough rhetoric when BJP was in the opposition and his government's action vis-a-vis Pakistan, Prasad said BJP's policies are in tune with the national interest. The opposition parties should keep politics away from this matter, he said. BJP National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the government will do whatever it has to in the national interest and it is serious about the issue. "If something has to be done, it will be done. There is no need to talk about it," he said, adding that it will take action at an appropriate time and has been fully behind Army on such matters. "Whether to respond to Pakistan diplomatically, economically or by some other means is a decision which the government will take," he said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister met President Pranab Mukherjee to brief him on the developments related to the Uri terror attack, hours after he discussed the issue with senior ministers and top officials. Modi went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening and apprised the President of the details related to the attack on the Army camp that took place yesterday, official sources said. The Prime Minister's meeting with the President came hours after he chaired a meeting on the Uri attack with senior ministerial colleagues top officials. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh, and senior officials of the ministries of Home and Defence. Modi had yesterday asserted that "those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished." Special Operation Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel move inside the Army Brigade camp during a terror attack in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi/ Srinagar: The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide squad that killed 17 Army soldiers at its 12 Brigade headquarters in Uri on Sunday had carried along with their arms and ammunition a mission plan which was written down in Pashto. According to reports, the map retrieved from the terrorists revealed that they were to kill unarmed troops, then storm a medical aid unit near the brigade administrative block and blow themselves up in the officers' mess. The terrorists came from the banned terror group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) that recently started working under Jaish command and calls itself "Guardians of the Prophet". The cadre operates directly under JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, who India released during the 1999 IC-814 hijack crisis. On Sunday, the suicide squad attacked the administrative block where unarmed soldiers were refilling diesel in barrels from fuel tanks. The terrorists lobbed 17 grenades in three minutes, which ignited the dump. 13 soldiers were killed instantaneously and 32 soldiers were critically injured. But the terrorists got disoriented by the due to smog and the fire and headed straight for the soldiers' barracks. One of them was gunned down by a Dogra soldier, whereas the others were killed when commandoes stormed the barracks. Samba: 10-year-old Vansh, the eldest of the two sons of Havildar Ravi Paul Salotra, is aware that his father was martyred in Uri terror attack but that has only strengthened his resolve to don the olive greens to serve the nation and avenge the killing. Ravi Paul of 10 Dogra Regiment was one of the 18 brave soldiers who lost their lives while fighting the four terrorists who attacked the Army Brigade Headquarters in Uri sector of Baramulla district on Sunday. He had served the Army for 23 years. Besides Vansh, 42-year-old Ravi Paul is survived by his wife Geeta Rani and another son Sudansheesh (7) and 80-year-old mother. Because of Ravi Paul's death, a pall of gloom has descended on his native Sarwa village in Ramgarh sub-sector of Samba district. My father used to call early in the morning. Yesterday he called us and we spoke in length on various issues. He asked me to concentrate on my studies so that I could fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor in the Indian Army, said Vansh, a class 6th student. When asked whether he was aware of what tragedy has befallen on the family, Vansh, carrying two plastic tricolours, said his father laid down his life for the sanctity of the national flag. "Yes I know that my father laid down his life for this tricolour and I will fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor in the Army so as to avenge the killing of my father, he said. Ravi Paul's two brothers have also served in the Army. In this sleepy Sarwa village of over 120 families, there are many who have donned the olive green uniform at one stage of their life. Majority of the people in our village are either serving in the Army or have served at one stage of their life. Out of six brothers, my three brothers were in Army and Ravi Paul was the youngest to join the Army," said Joginder Lal Salotra, elder brother of Ravi Paul. He described Ravi Paul as a very jolly and friendly person who used to mingle with everybody in the village. Whenever he used to come on leave, people used to meet him as he always narrated the stories about his tenure in the Army, Lal said. He said Ravi Paul used to make sure that he calls his family everyday. Mohan Lal Salotra, another brother of the martyr soldier, said he has not only lost a younger brother but a friend who used to share every secret of life with him. I also served in the Army and after retirement I joined Defence Security Corps (DSE) and I am currently posted in Ludhiana. Though I was elder to Ravi, we were like good friends who used to talk each other daily. "September 17 was the last time we spoke and yesterday when I tried to call him, the line could not go through. Later in the afternoon, somebody called me to inform that my brother has made the supreme sacrifice for the nation, Mohan Lal said. He said his brother wanted both of his sons to become doctors and join the Indian Army to serve the nation. Now it is our duty to make sure that the dream of our brother is fulfilled. Since the news of the martyrdom of Ravi Paul spread, thousands of villagers and relatives started pouring in to the house of the martyr soldier to express their solidarity with the bereaved family. We urge the Centre to even stop trade with Pakistan through Attar-Wagah land route. We are ready for ending trade ties with the neighbouring country, which is responsible for such an attack. (Photo: PTI) Chandigarh: Punjab traders dealing in import and export of goods with Pakistan on Monday sought a fitting reply in the aftermath of Uri attack, threatening to end Rs 3,000 crore worth of trade with the neighbouring country for the "heinous act". "Time has come for India to take strict and swift action against Pakistan which is responsible for the Uri terror attack that left our several soldiers dead," Amritsar-based trader and President of Federation of Dry Fruit and Haryana Commercial Association, Anil Mehra said. "The Modi government should suspend all sorts of ties with Pakistan in response to the terror attack unleashed on Indian soil," Mehra suggested. Noting that there is a great amount of anger against this terror attack, which left 18 soldiers dead, Mehra said traders in Punjab are ready to end trade ties with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route. "We urge the Centre to even stop trade with Pakistan through Attar-Wagah land route. We are ready for ending trade ties with the neighbouring country, which is responsible for such an attack. For us, the country comes first and then comes trade. We will do something else for our livelihood," said Mehra. Traders asserted that it is Pakistan which is the most dependent on India for import of goods like vegetables, including tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices, cotton yarn and the like. Pakistan exports cement, gypsum and dry fruits to the country via the Attari-Wagah land route. "If we today stop sending tomatoes which has been the major export item to Pakistan, they will face immense shortage of this perishable commodity. Moreover, if we do not import dates from Pakistan, they will not find buyers for this," he added. Traders further said Pakistan had not even allowed export of onions to India last year when the country was facing shortage. India then imported onions from Afghanistan. Pakistan allows import of 137 items from India through Attari-Wagah. As per estimates, the total volume of trade between the two nations via Attari-Wagah is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore per annum. India and Pakistan had resumed cross-border movement of trucks in October 2007 after a gap of sixty years from Attari check post at Amritsar in India to Wagah border in Pakistan. An integrated check-post was set up on the Attari-Wagah border in 2012 at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore for smooth movement of traffic. The violence over the Cauvery crisis has brought back the focus on pro-Kannada organisations and their commitment to Kannada and Karnataka. To trace the DNA of these organisations, Deccan Chronicle caught up with T.A. Narayana Gowda, president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, popularly know as KaRaVe one of the biggest pro-Kannada organisations. Sitting at his chamber in the Gandhi Nagar headquarters, Mr Gowda spoke about various issues and the recent violence in the city. Here are excerpts of his interview. Many feel the city earned a bad name after violence, arson and looting happened last week. What do you feel? Violence does not benefit anyone. Our image has been dented, I dont deny it. When movements are led by organisations or an individual it can be controlled. When the common man is agitated and if he comes onto the streets, it is difficult to control the mob. Many unforeseen hands also played a role in last weeks violence. Unforeseen hands..Who are they? We have evil and wicked people in the city and they might have done it. I cant say who they are. And I cannot rule out workers of some political parties exploiting the situation. After the first ruling, we observed a state-wide bandh. No organisation indulged in any violent act in the first 10 days of the agitation. If violence by pro-Kannada organisations was to happen, it could have happened on the bandh day on September 9. I feel the beating up of a Kannadiga in Tamil Nadu might have enraged people. To add to it came the SCs second ruling. The common man got carried away. From the common man to police, all suspect the hand of pro-Kannada organisations. The commitment of pro-Kannada organisations is being questioned. This was not the first time we saw violence over Cauvery issue. In 1991 too it happened. Some even claimed late Bangarappa sponsored it. About last weeks violence too, we hear a lot of conspiracy theories. Our workers might have committed small mistakes like pelting stones at lorries. But, I vouch for them. They never indulged in violence, arson and looting. The police had arrested over 1000 people. If your argument was true, I would have received calls from workers seeking my intervention. There are CCTVs in many traffic signals. You can see the footage and verify. Even police are saying pro-Kannada organisations were not involved. Yes, going by the signature yellow shawl, you can say our people were involved. Actually, anybody can wear it. That might have misled people to misunderstand us. Then, whats the objective of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike? We work for the state. On many occasions our agitation has been victorious. One case I can refer to the securing of D-Group jobs in railways for local people. After Mamata Banerjee became railway minister, she changed the rules giving priority to localites in D-group jobs. Out of 4700 posts, 3800 Kannadigas got jobs. Even in IT and BT, the footprint of Kannadigas has gone up from 5 per cent to 25-30 per cent because of our fight. We do not indulge in violence, its not our aim either. You say your organisation is ethical. But inputs from the police and intelligence wing suggest that workers of pro Kannada organisations including KaRaVe indulge in unethical practices like taking loans from bank and ransacking bank branches when they are asked to repay them. How fair is it? Anyone can obtain a loan. If you take loan, you have to repay it. Whenever I get calls of this nature, I tell banks to seize the vehicles. Every month, I call for state, district bodies meetings. I keep telling my workers that people observe us when we are in public life. So, I caution them if they indulge in such acts. On the other side, many goons not associated with us do indulge in such acts in the guise of KaRaVe activists. Do you check their background when people come to join your organisation? At the taluk level, taluk presidents will check the background. Similarly, hobli and district presidents do the same job at their level. We give a form and they have to fill all the details. We ask them specifically if they have cases pending in any station or court. Whats the social profile of your workers and what is KaRaVes strength now? We generally get people in the age group of 17-35 years. We have 65 lakh registered members and 14882 branches across the state. Majority are from old Mysuru region and north Karnataka. Majority of them are from the middle class. There seems to be a sharp contrast between what you say about your workers and what we see outside: Many KaRaVe workers own high end vehicles and big bungalows. This gives an impression that they earn money through extortion. Why dont you think otherwise. Around Bengaluru, land prices have shot up. If our workers do real estate business and buy cars, whats wrong in it? If he is into extortion, you are right, police are free to take action. If an Andhraite or a person from Rajasthan can come here and grow rich, why cant a Kannadiga grow rich? I tell my workers they should not possess anything unethically. A Marwari can run a money laundering business. But we look down on Kannadigas if they do the same business. Then, what do you say about politicians and their followers? Bengaluru has truly grown to become cosmopolitan. Even foreign nationals reside here. Whats your attitude towards outsiders? We are for a live and let live policy. They can come and work. But, our demand is they should respect our culture. I give you one example. The other day, I took the statistics of IBM. In its Hyderabad office, nearly 70 per cent of employees are Andhraites and in Chennai, Tamilians account for 80 per cent. In the Bengaluru IBM office, only 20 per cent of the workforce are Kannadigas. Still, we do not create a commotion. All we say is: Since you are here, try to accommodate our people. You have 65 lakh members, you are a strong organisation. Do you have political ambitions? There is tremendous pressure on us to establish a regional outfit. We knew two national political parties are causing a lot of damage to the state. You see Tamil Nadu. Both regional parties keep the national parties on a leash and get their work done. In the past, parties which promised to drop cases against our workers came to power and turned their back on us. So, we cant trust these parties. But we need time to establish a true regional party. Tom Campbell It is fascinating that foreign policy, defense, healthcare, tax reform, government gridlock, human rights, the national debt or even violence and terrorism issues have taken a back seat to the topic of immigration in this election. Our country has always had fears and concerns surrounding immigration, no doubt going back to when Native Americans saw Spanish and British ships off their shores.Throughout our history we've passed laws and regulations as to who can and cannot legally enter our nation, but let's us begin this discussion with the passage of the 1921 Emergency National Quota law, which limited the number of immigrants entering the U.S. each year to 350,000 and capped immigration to three percent of that nationality already in America, based on the 1910 census. Laws were tweaked in the intervening years, but the landmark legislation that changed immigration was the Immigration Act of 1965, which eliminated the nationality quotas.The 1965 act, initially billed as only a minor change in policy, had far-reaching consequences. It removed restrictions to Asians and Africans, inspired partly by the civil rights movement. It gave preference to northern and western Europeans over southern and eastern Europeans. Immediate relatives and immigrants possessing special skills like ministers, foreign medical graduates, researchers and professors, among others, were exempted from any quotas or limitations. Faced with a burgeoning number of Hispanic and Latin American immigrants (some 47 percent of all immigrations) the law imposed immigration quotas on Latin America. Stymied by the ability to enter legally, floods of people did so illegally. According to the 2011 census projections, the non-Hispanic white population decreased from 75 percent in 1990 to 63 percent.Immigration has become an emotionally charged campaign issue. Concerns and, to a lesser extent fears, are real and reflect poorly on a government that has ineptly dealt with the problem. Building a wall between our country and Mexico is a manifestation of the frustration many citizens feel, even though the project is prohibitively expensive and not likely to solve the overall immigration problem. Similarly, the proposal to deport hundreds of thousands is both prohibitively expensive and would be a logistical nightmare.Repercussions from this lack of a well-defined and realistic immigration policy are being felt throughout, most especially in states like North Carolina, that experience a huge influx of both legal and undocumented immigrations. It is placing incredible strains on schools, social services, healthcare agencies and public infrastructure, creating work overloads and budget shortfalls at state and local levels.Immigration is a federal problem. Congress has been either unwilling or unable to find solutions that will assure that we admit people needed in high-tech and even manual laborers while also providing reasonable, measurable and controllable access to our country.We can and we must demand solutions that keep our doors open without being unduly burdensome to those already here. We can be both humanitarians and responsible realists.With the exception of those Native Americans we are all immigrants and thankful to be so. Let us remember the plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty proclaims, Soldiers guard outside the Army base which was attacked suspected militants in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The Army on Monday said it reserves the right to respond to any cross-border terror attack "at the time and place of our own choosing", a day after the Uri strike that was blamed on a Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed sparking calls for exercising military options. The Army also said it has the desired capability to respond to any blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us. The remarks by Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh came at a time when some security experts and political leaders have called for targeting terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) after the attack that left 18 soldiers dead and over two dozen injured. "The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us," Lt Gen Singh said in a statement to the media at the South Block. Army soldiers who were martyred during a terrorist attack at Uri. (Photo: PTI) "We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing," he added. Lt Gen Singh's remark was identical to the statement given by then Army chief Gen Bikram Singh in 2013 after the January 8 violation of the Line of Control (LoC) in which one jawan was beheaded and the other had his throat slit. "We'll give them a fitting reply...we will respond at a time and place of our choosing," he had said. Following the Pathankot attack earlier this year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also said the same. However, top Army sources said that action will be taken but nature and timing of it will not be revealed at the moment. "There should be an element of surprise which is not there at the moment as Pakistan will be prepared for a retaliation. The Indian Army of course has its strategy in place and will do its job," the sources said. Army displays arms and ammunition recovered from the four fidayeen militants who attacked Army brigade Camp at Uri. (Photo: PTI) Parrikar had been briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt Gen DS Hooda and Lt Gen Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar yesterday about the incident and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. The briefing included discussions on the soft points and how the terrorists managed to get in. Defence sources had said possible "action plan" was also discussed about how the Army can respond to the attack. Sources said the decision will be taken at a higher level on the kind of action to be taken but this would be highly confidential. Today, Parrikar met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and later had a meeting at his office with Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Meanwhile, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said the total recoveries from the slain terrorists is four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, 39 Under Barrel Grenade Launcher grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPSs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings. Sand artist Subala Maharana creates sand sculpture to pay tribute to soldiers who were killed in terror attack at Uri Army camp. (Photo: PTI) Lt Gen Singh said infiltration attempts by terrorists have shown a marked increase in comparison to the past 3-4 years. "In 2016, there have been 17 infiltration bids eliminated by the Indian Army along the Line of Control. Of a total of 110 terrorists eliminated in J&K, 31 have been killed while they were attempting to cross the Line of Control," he said. It actually indicates a desperate attempt from across the Line of Control to infiltrate more terrorists into Kashmir with a view to create disturbance and foment unrest in our area, he added. The officer said the last two infiltration attempts - September 11 in Punch and and September 18 at Uri were successfully thwarted by the Indian Army by killing of four terrorists in each of the operations. An army officer paying tribute to the soldiers who were killed in Uri attack, at a wreath laying ceremony in Jammu. (Photo: PTI) SRINAGAR: Notwithstanding heightening tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of Sundays deadly terror attack at an Army base in Uri, the cross-LoC peace bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad plied as per schedule on Monday. The bus with eight passengers on board left Srinagar at about 6 am and reached the Salamabad transit point in Uri at 9.30 am before they could cross over to the other side of the de facto border after completing immigration and custom formalities. It may be noted that Salamabad is located at a few kilometers from the Armys 12 Infantry Brigade headquarters which came under the sneak militant attack a day ago, leaving 18 soldiers dead and over 20 wounded. Of the eight passengers, three were residents of Kashmir Valley who went across to meet their relatives whereas the remaining five were those from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir who returned home after spending a couple of weeks with their relatives in the Valley, officials said. The Karvan-e-Aman or the Caravan of Peace is a weekly bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad which began in April 2005 as a major confidence-building-measure between India and Pakistan. The Uri-Chakoti corridor like Poonch-Rawlakot crossing point in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir is used for both travel and trade services between the two sides. End it Meanwhile, demanding concrete and decisive action following the Uri terror attack, VHP chief Pravin Togadia said the bodies of terrorists should not be buried but burnt on a heap of garbage in public view. He also sought that dialogue with Pakistan at all levels should be called off while trade agreements, including water treaty should be cancelled. Avoid Nehrus mistakes: Shankaracharya Dwarkapeeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati on Monday cautioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to commit the mistake of taking a leaf from Nehrus China policy while dealing with Pakistan. India has paid a heavy price for the Panchsheel treaty by Nehru. PM is repeating the same mistakes by making friendly overtures to Pakistan. We hoped the PM would review the flawed policies pursued by the Manmohan government towards Kashmir and Pakistan and frame the right foreign policy basis of which should be interest of India the Shankaracharya said. The present mess in Kashmir and recent two major terrorist attacks on army bases in Jammu and Kashmir are reflections of failure of diplomacy by the Centre. Hence, the PM should now focus on preparing the country psychologically and militarily for war with Pakistan instead of moving around the world on diplomatic missions, he said. New Delhi: Exiled Baloch dissident leader Brahamdagh Bugti, who has been at the forefront of the Baloch movement against Pakistan, on Monday said in Geneva he will soon apply for asylum in India. He also said his Baloch Republican Party has decided to approach the International Criminal Court against Pakistani army generals who have committed heinous human rights abuses in the restive Pakistani province. Government sources in New Delhi had recently said they have no such information on Bugtis move to seek asylum in India. Bugti, the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed by Pakistani forces ten years ago, said he will file the asylum application to the Indian government through the countrys embassy in Switzerland soon. "We have decided to formally file asylum papers to the Indian Government soon. We will follow the legal process for the application," the Baloch dissident was quoted by news agencies as telling reporters in Geneva. Bugti is currently living in exile in Switzerland. Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has directed the Telangana state government to grant permission under Section 20 of the Telangana Education Act, 1982 to the B.Ed. colleges set up by the petitioners. Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao was allowing a batch of petitions questioning the action of the universities in the state in refusing to grant affiliation on the ground that the State of Telangana had not issued Government Order granting permission under Section 20 of the AP Education Act, 1982 as adopted by the Telangana. After perusing the legal position and case laws, the judge held that the state government has no power to reject the prayer of an institution for grant of permission or to overrule the decision of the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE). The judge said that once the NCTE had granted recognition, it is deemed and implied that it has satisfied itself that the institution in question has adequate financial resources, accommodation, library, qualified staff and laboratory required for proper functioning of the institution for a course or training in teacher-education. The judge ruled that therefore it was not open to the state government now to refuse permission to the B.Ed. courses set up by the respective petitioners on the ground that there is no adequate qualified staff to impart teacher education in these colleges. The judge also ruled that it was not open to the government to refuse permission to the petitioner colleges on the ground that starting colleges will not be in the interest of students. While directing the state government to grant affiliation to the colleges, the judge directed the Telangana State Council of Higher Education to include the petitioner colleges in the second phase of process of web-counselling for allotment of students in B.Ed. course for the academic year 2016-17 in view of the recognition granted to them by the NCTE. Hyderabad: G. Prakash, 23, died at Osmania General Hospital on Sunday night as no ventilator support was provided to him. Prakashs friend Mr Rajesh said, We wasted two hours at Gandhi. First the doctors took time to examine his condition and then they just said that the machine was not working and to go to OGH. There was no proper explanation about his injuries and what was his condition. Another friend of the victim, Mr B. Raju said, We wasted another two hours at OGH and by the time we could decide what to do, he was no more. The doctors were not concerned about saving the life of the patient. They didnt examine how serious his injuries were and what could be given till senior doctors arrived. There was no step taken to save him. Only time was wasted and we were asked to go from one place to another. Interestingly, there are 40 ventilators in OGH and six of them are new, which are lying idle and are on stand-by as they are used in the operation theatres. These are available at night for use in the emergency wing, but there is no proper communication between the various departments of the hospital. A senior doctor said, There are eight ventilators in the acute medical ward, 11 in the respiratory unit, and the others are divided among the various units. At present, 10 beds are empty in the acute medical care and there are three ventilators lying idle in that unit too. Five ventilators are old and cant be used but have still been kept in the hospital. But the problem is there is no proper communication between the RMOs and also the emergency wing who do not discuss the situation at the ground level with each other on a daily basis. Due to this reason, patients are sent away, which is very wrong. Superintendent of OGH Dr G.V. Murthy was not even aware of the situation at the emergency wing and the protests that were carried out on Sunday night by Prakashs friends. It was only when calls were made and the situation explained that Dr Murthy said, We have sufficient ventilators in the hospital and no patient must be sent back because of lack of a ventilator. There are too many touts on the premises and they try to take away patients to private hospitals. I am going to strictly ask all RMOs to coordinate and update each other regarding where a ventilator can be taken for an emergency patient. Later, however, Dr Murthy said that he had held an internal inquiry in which doctors in the emergency wing and the resident medical officer on duty stated that they had not denied ventilator to any patient. The death of Prakash did not occur inside the hospital premises, according to the duty officers. Despite that we have asked for all the records to be checked, he said. While the protocol exists in hospitals, revising them from time to time is important. Also, in government hospitals, once a department is allotted a ventilator, they are not keen to give it to another department as they are scared that when a patient needs the equipment and it is not available, they will lose the patient. For these reasons, there is no clear communication from one department to another, explained hospital sources. Gandhi Hospital superintendent Dr K.J. Reddy refused to comment on the dysfunctional CT scanner as the case was not recorded in the emergency department. Right panel steps in, seeks explanation The State Human Rights Commission on Monday served notice on the health principal secretary over the death of G. Prakash allegedly due to negligence. The was filed by advocate Soma Raju who stated that both Osmania and Gandhi medical failed to save the patient. Mr Raju said, Prakash was brought in time to the hospital but instead of attending to him the emergency wing at both Gandhi Hospital and Osmania General Hospital failed to save the patient. They did not even give him basic treatment or put him in emergency care... they sent the patient from one corner of the city to another. Army displays arms and ammunition recovered from the four fidayeen militants at Uri on Monday. (Photo:PTI) New Delhi: Determined to use a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response to Uri attack, India is likely to expose Pakistan before the world community by furnishing it with actionable evidence regarding its sponsoring of terrorism and press for isolating the nation. India is also planning to hand over to Pakistan evidence of the four terrorists using Pakistani-marked weapons, food, energy drinks and GPS trackers which they carried to enter Jammu and Kashmir from across the Line of Control. Indications in this regard came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a nearly two-hour meeting with home minister Rajnath Singh, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, finance minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and other top officials to discuss Indias response. Top brass of the government is convinced that India has to launch a calibrated, multi-layered and strategic response and expose Pakistan in international forums like the UN, whose General Assembly is in session, official sources said. As part of the plans, the Director General of Military Operations will hand over all the evidence linking Pakistans involvement in Uri attack to his Pakistani counterpart shortly. At the meeting where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was conspicuously absent, the top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri, the sources said. The defence minister and the Army Chief, who visited Kashmir after the terror attack on Sunday, also apprised the Prime Minister about their observations, they said. Later, Prime Minister met President Pranab Mukherjee to brief him on the developments related to the Uri terror attack, hours after he discussed the issue with senior ministers and top officials. Modi went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and apprised the President of the details related to the attack on the Army camp. The Prime Minister had on Sunday asserted that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished. New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi extremely unlikely now to visit Islamabad for the SAARC summit in view of the ghastly Pakistan-sponsored terror attack at the Army base in Uri, Pakistan is now suddenly facing a disadvantage diplomatically since the terror attack has come as clinching proof of Indias case on Islamabad backing terror in J&K. But with the Pakistan Army throwing down the gauntlet, the Modi Government also decided after a series of meetings on Monday that all steps would be taken to diplomatically isolate Pakistan globally amid clear indications that Indo-Pakistan ties will not be the same again. India's position was further bolstered globally, with Russia, France, Canada and Afghanistan too on Monday condemning the attack and the United Nations saying the perpetrators should be brought to justice. As already reported by this newspaper, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj who will lead the Indian delegation to the UN General Assembly and will address the UNGA on September 26 is expected to raise the Uri terror attack in a big way to drive home the point on Pakistans open support to terrorism. In a statement mentioning Indias stand that the attack was carried out from Pakistan-controlled territory and calling for a probe, Moscow said, We strongly condemn the terrorist attack. France said, After the Pathankot attack earlier this year, this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. Lucknow: After slamming the Congress for hiring he services of political strategist Prashant Kishor in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Samajwadi Party has got Steve Jarding, world-renowned political consultant from Harvard University, to handle their 2017 election campaign. Steve Jarding is a campaign manager and political consultant of Democrats in US, has been advising the Samajwadi leaders on a number of issues. He has been redesigning the publicity campaign of the Akhilesh governments welfare schemes and it was on his advice that Bollywood actor Vidya Balan was signed up to endorse Samajwadi Pension Yojana. According to him, the Samajwadi Pension Scheme has reached far and wide across of the state but the problem is the beneficiaries do not know whether it is a state scheme or central scheme. I suggested to the chief minister to redesign publicity programmes and campaigns, he said. The consultant is finalising the micro-level management of electioneering for SP. He said that Akhilesh Yadav had a strong connection with the youth and people in the rural areas look up to him as someone who is dedicated to development. Security has been beefed up on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border at Attibele near Bengaluru. BENGALURU: In view of the Supreme Court hearing the petition related to Cauvery water dispute, the city police have made elaborate security arrangements across the city. To avoid a repeat of September 12 when violence rocked the city, the police have beefed up security, especially in areas that witnessed arson and police firing last week. The police have extended the prohibitory orders that were enforced on September 12 till Sunday. The central police forces that were called in for bandobast following the protests, are still camping in the city and will be used on Tuesday as well. As many as 16 companies of central forces, including three companies of Sashastra Seema Bal, three companies of Border Security Force, one company of Indo-Tibetan Border Police will be deployed on Tuesday. Apart from the 15,000 civil policemen, 30 platoons of City Armed Reserve police, 114 quick response teams, 2,000 home guards, 270 Hoysala patrolling vehicles and 400 Cheeta bikes will be deployed. Besides, a SWAT vehicle will also be stationed to prevent protesters from going berserk. Besides, 320 surveillance cameras have been installed in sensitive areas of the city to monitor the situation. Citys top police officials held a meeting on Monday and discussed the security measures that have to be taken on Tuesday. The city police were on a high vigil on Monday as well in the wake of the Cauvery Supervisory Committee meeting that was held in Delhi. Heavy police deployment was made at Majestic bus station, Satellite bus station on Mysuru Road, Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station and other places. The police also conducted flag marches at Kamakshipalya, Sunkadkatte, Kaveripura, Vrushabhavathinagar, Austin town, Neelasandra, Anepalya, Shanthinagar, Richmond Town and other areas. No sale of liquor today Tuesday will be a dry day with City Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh issuing orders prohibiting the sale of liquor in the jurisdiction of Bengaluru city police commissionerate, in view of the Supreme Court hearing on petitions related to the Cauvery water dispute. In an order issued on Monday evening, Mr Megharikh ordered closure of wine shops, bars, pubs and all places where liquor is sold. The order will be in effect from 6 am on Tuesday till 1 am on Wednesday. However, exemption has been given to clubs, star hotels and military canteens. The order stated that anti-social elements took advantage of the situation on September 12 and created a law and order problem under the influence of alcohol. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed search engine websites like Google India, Microsoft India and Yahoo India to take steps to block sex determination advertisements to ensure that female infanticide does not take place. Passing this order on a petition by Sabu Mathew George, the bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C. Nagappan said, In our considered opinion, they are under obligation to see that the doctrine of auto block is applied within a reasonable period of time. It is difficult to accept the submission that once it is brought to their notice, they will do the needful. It need not be over emphasised that it has to be an in-house procedure/method to be introduced by the companies, and we do direct. Counsel for the petitioner, Sanjay Parikh opposed the submissions on behalf of the search engines and intermediaries and said expansive interpretation has to be placed under Section 22 of the PNDT Act and the websites should be made responsible for the advertisements popping up on use of certain key words. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar also said it is the responsibility of the service providers to take steps to block the websites. The bench directed the matter to be listed for final hearing on November 16. In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic? Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm. Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice." Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad on Monday set up a committee to inquire into the suicide of Nelli Praveen Kumar, a Master of Fine Arts first year student, on Saturday last. The six-member panel has been given two months to examine the reasons behind the suicide and suggest means to prevent them. The panel will be headed by Prof. B. Kamaiah, dean, School of Economics as chairman and has anti discrimination officer Prof. Sarat Jyotsna among others. The deputy dean of students welfare is the convener. On Monday some students gave a representation to the administration seeking compensation to Kumars family. Sons of Havildar Ravi Paul who was martyred in Sundays terrorist attack at Uri Army camp, at their native village, Sarwa in Samba on Monday. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Even as kin of the soldiers martyred in the Uri terror attack sought justice and exemplary action against the perpetrators, Union Minister and former Army chief V.K. Singh on Monday said that though the lacunae which led to the attack at an army base in Uri need to be investigated, he advised the Indian Army to decide on its response coolly with proper planning. The mother of a soldier killed in the attack at the army camp in Uri demanded justice and strict punishment for the perpetrators as a pall of gloom descended on his village in West Bengals Howrah district. I demand justice and strict punishment for those who killed my son, mother of Gangadhar Dolui said. My son rang me up a few days ago. He said he is alright. I dont belive that he is no more, the grieving mother said. Another soldier Biswajit Garai, who hailed from South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, was also killed in the terror attack in Uri. Meanwhile Mr Singh, who is Minister of State for External Affairs, said, having seen the army closely, I feel, it needs to be analysed as to what happened there...It needs to be investigated how the incident took place and what were the lacunas. From the Armys side, alertness is required. The Kashmir situation needs to be thought about. The action has to be taken without getting influenced by emotions, anger. It has to be taken coolly and with proper planning, Mr Singh added. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have already spoken about the action which will be taken. Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Government does not want to take any knee-jerk reaction in the wake of terror attack in Uri allegedly by terror groups based in Pakistan while it was considering various options. Sources said there will be no knee-jerk reaction anytime soon even though 18 soldiers. Action will be taken only after proper planning, coordination, exploring all options and taking everyone concerned into confidence, sources said. They recalled that in the case of Mynamar last year, the Army carried out an operation along the border against NSCN-K militants involved in the killing of 18 soldiers in Manipur in June, 2015 only after a week. Here, we have a hostile Pakistani establishment. So any hasty action is completely ruled out, a source said. Hyderabad: The situation regarding funds of Rs 450 crore announced by the Central government for construction of capital city Amaravati faces the same predicament as funds released by the Centre for development of backward districts. The Centre had released Rs 1,050 crore for the construction. While releasing these funds, the Centre had told the state that the funds were for construction of government buildings such as Secretariat, Raj Bhavan, High Court and others. Later, directions from Delhi, the state sent utilisation certificates Rs 750 crore. In this, the state listed the expenditure incurred for the construction of temporary secretariat at Velagapudi, the expenditure for land pooling, annuity payment for the land owners who gave their land for construction of capital city and also the amount paid to consultants. The Central government was not impressed. It again asked for details of expenditure for the construction of capital city. The Finance minister told the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) to send the UCs and pointed out that unless it submitted the UCs for Rs 1,050 crore, the Centre will not release any more funds for capital construction. The Central government, in a communication recently, said, Release of Rs 450 crore has also been approved as assistance for the capital city. However no utilisation certificate has been submitted for the funds of Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 550 crore in 2015-16 released for construction of capital city. The counsel told the bench that he would file a proper application in this regard. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Monday took strong exception to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for casting "aspersions" on a judge for hearing a case relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which CBI has filed an appeal against his acquittal by the trial court. The court came down heavily on Kumar for seeking transfer of the matter to another bench, saying "we do not understand why you do not want to get over with the hearing". Kumar's counsel told a bench of Justices Gita Mittal and P S Teji that the matter should be transferred to another bench of the high court as Justice Teji had heard this case when he was a trial court judge and was showing "keen interest". "We do not like allegations and aspersions. How dare you say keen interest was shown there in the matter? If the court is insisting on hearing a matter, that does not mean it is showing keen interest," the bench told Kumar's counsel. "This matter is pending in the court. The matter relates to an incident which had happened in 1984. We have to get over with the matter," the bench said. "What we do not understand is that why you do not want to get over with this hearing. We are sitting here with an open mind. We are very conscious and we only follow the law," the bench told Kumar's counsel. To this, the counsel told the bench that he would file a proper application in this regard. However, the bench asked the advocates representing other accused, who have challenged their conviction in the case, if they had any "apprehension about justice from this court". Responding to this, the lawyers said they want the matter to be heard by the bench and have no such apprehensions. The bench granted three days to Kumar's counsel to move an application in this regard and posted the matter for hearing on October 3. At the fag end of hearing, the court asked senior advocate R S Cheema, who is representing the CBI, about the reasons for delay in this case. "The FIR in this case was registered in 2005. These five murders (related to this case) were never investigated properly earlier," Cheema said. CBI has moved the high court challenging the acquittal of Kumar in a case relating to killing of five Sikhs, Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh, all belonging to the same family, by a mob in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar area during the riots. While acquitting Kumar, the trial court in 2013 had held five others guilty and awarded varying jail terms to them for being part of the mob that killed the Sikhs. Ex-councillor Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal were given life term, while the remaining two, former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokkar, were given three-year jail term each for their lesser roles. They have also challenged their conviction before the high court. Besides CBI, victims' family members Jagdish and Nirpreet Kaur had also challenged the trial court order in the case. The trial court had acquitted Kumar in the 31-year-old case saying he deserved the "benefit of doubt" as key witness Jagdish Kaur did not name him as an accused in her statement given to the Justice Ranganath Mishra panel in 1985. CBI, in its appeal before the high court, has alleged that the trial court had erred in acquitting Kumar as it was he who had instigated the mob during the riots that broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. The case against Kumar, a former Lok Sabha MP from Outer Delhi, and others was registered in 2005 on a recommendation by Justice G T Nanavati Commission. CBI had filed two charge sheets against him and other accused in January 2010. The CSC had also decided to set up a network for data collection, which will send real-time online data to the four states involved - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala. Chennai: The Cauvery Supervisory Committee will meet on Monday in New Delhi to decide the quantum of water to be released to states that share water from the river Cauvery. The panel has been studying the data submitted by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to arrive at a solution. The committee headed by Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar will meet for the second time in two weeks as the last meeting was inconclusive for want of adequate information from both states on several issues. As both states submitted the data sought by the CSC, senior officials said the information received is being studied and the committee may defer its decision if the information provided is found to be inadequate. The states have made available information which the panel had sought during its last meeting and the same is being studied now. The panel will not pass an order in haste. The committee will have to defer its order, if the data turns out to be inadequate to arrive at a fact-based and right decision, the source said. At the last meeting, both states could not produce adequate information relating to withdrawal of water, its utilisation, allegations of withdrawal when it was not permitted, variation in rainfall and its impact on the actual run-off over a period spanning 29 years. The CSC had also decided to set up a network for data collection, which will send real-time online data to the four states involved - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala. Chennai: Despite the only accused in the case, P. Ramkumar, ending his life, the Chennai Police will go ahead and file charge sheet in the sensational murder case of techie Swathi that sent shockwaves across Tamil Nadu. However, the case will not last long since the main accused is no more. Sources in Chennai Police said they are in the process of completing the charge sheet in the case and they will file the documents before the Metropolitan Magistrate as planned. When the Magistrate asks us (Police) to produce the accused in person, we will inform the court that the accused is no more and will produce the death certificate as an evidence to prove his death, a senior police official said. Once chargesheeting is over, it will not be business as usual as all charges will be abated and the case will be close. As per the criminal procedure, once accused dies during the investigation/trial, the charges will be abated. As the accused no longer lives, the case also will be closed, a lawyer said. The sensational murder case was handed over to the Chennai Police four days after the murder took place on June 24 following no headway made by Railway Police in its probe. As the police remained clueless, the Madras High court had intervened in the matter and pulled up the police for not expediting the investigation and arresting the accused. After the intervention of the Madras HC, the investigation gained momentum and during door-to-door investigation in Nungambakkam area, the police stumbled upon a clue received from the staff in SS Mansion, which led to the arrest of Ramkumar in his native village in Meenatchipuram, on July 1. Amidst tight security, he was brought to Chennai and admitted in Royapettah GH, from where he was remanded to Puzhal prison. In an effort to complete the investigation, the police collected vital evidences from witnesses and other incriminating evidences to nail him. The cops also collected statements from Ramkumar, who allegedly confessed to the crime. Post-mortem today Ramkumar was allegedly brought to the hospital with several wounds. According to a report released by the hospital, his post-mortem will be conducted on Monday morning between 9 and 11. The post-mortem will be videographed, stated a report. The can with the expiry date printed in it. Chennai: A Tasmac Elite shop in Adyar was found selling expired imported can beer. When the beer from Holland priced at Rs 270 per can was poured into a glass it looked like orange coloured juice with precipitation at the bottom and some flakes in between. It tasted awful said a shocked customer. Tasmac, (Tamil Nadu state marketing corporation) the government owned liquor distribution chain, manages purchase and sale of liquor in the state. The expired beer which looks like a glass of orange juice. When this reporter went and picked up a can of Royal Dutch Post Horn beer on Sunday from the Tasmac Elite shop located in Gokul Arcade in Adyar, which sells mainly premium branded and imported liquors, also found the shop selling such expired beer. According to the company seal found on the bottom of the can, the beer manufactured in 2015, expired in June 2016. When asked, the sales persons at the shop said they were aware that the particular batch of Royal Dutch brand beer had expired. But we are asked to sell it telling the customers that the beer can be consumed up to 24 months from the manufacturing date, a salesman said displaying a brochure. The particular brand of beer is being imported and sold to Tasmac by a Delhi based firm named Aquavitae Imports Pvt Ltd, says a sticker found on the beer can. It is not clear who is pushing the sales teams at the Tasmac to sell expired beer. It is possible that somebody is procuring expired beer at very cheap rate and pushing the same into Tamil Nadu market through Tasmac. Somebody is certainly getting additional profit by selling expired imported beer, noted a customer. Age can destroy beer. The liquid breaks down, the proteins fall out, the hop character goes away and the beer tastes stale and oxidized. There will be floaters in beer and also yeast sediments. Such beer should be avoided, says a liquor expert. Chennai: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Sunday announced a slew of measures including funds for carrying out renovation at churches and refurbishing and renovating mosques. She also revealed that funds have been earmarked for the welfare of Adi Dravidar and tribal students and farmers. Recalling that her party (AIADMK) had during the run up to the May Assembly election, assured to provide funds to carry out renovation at churches, Ms. Jayalalithaa said a sum of Rs 1 crore would be allotted for the purpose. She also referred to a similar assurance for refurbishing and repairing mosques and darghas under the Waqf Board by creating a corpus. At present, the government disbursed Rs 60 lakh per annum for renovation of mosques and darghas under Waqf Board. Now, in tune with the electoral promise, a corpus will be createdI have ordered the release of Rs 3 crore for the corpus fund, Ms. Jayalalithaa said and added that through such initiatives, the places of worship of minorities would get a facelift. The CM also unveiled welfare measures for members of the SC and ST communities, including quick electricity connections to 1,000 Adi Dravidar (SC community) farmers. And for the benefit of students, she ordered the construction of a hostel building for a Tribal residential school at Karumanthurai in Salem District, and increased the strength of girl students in the school to 200 from 135. Smart Class Rooms would be set up in 25 schools for tribals at an outlay of Rs 1.29 crore. Ordering electricity connection for pumpsets to 1,000 SC farmers under a plan to provide quick power supply, she said the aggregate deposit of Rs 7.50 crore that has to be remitted to TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation) by the ryots would be borne by state-run Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation Limited. "This year alone, more than 9,000 kids died due to this," the note said. (Photo: Twitter) Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav on Monday observed a day-long 'maun vrat' (silent protest) over the issue of malnutrition, which the party claimed, had taken the lives of "over one lakh children in the last 12 years". He observed the protest at the Congress office here to highlight the issue. "More than one lakh children died due to malnutrition in the state since last 12 years despite the government spending over Rs 22 billion to tackle it under different schemes every year," a statement issued by the party on the occasion said. "This year alone, more than 9,000 kids died due to this," it said. Referring to Sheopur, where senior Congress leader and MP Jyotiraditya Scindia yesterday visited to highlight the issue, the party claimed that from April 1, 2014 to January this year, 1,280 children have died due to the menace. Meanwhile, Yadav told by writing on a slate, "It is really painful that so many children died in the state because of malnutrition." "Six to seven kids from Sheopur were admitted in the Red Cross hospital today. A delegation of senior Congress MLAs will be going to the region soon to assess the situation," he wrote. Efforts to contact the government officials concerned proved futile. Chennai: Come Wednesday, Chennai Metro rail services to the Airport will most likely be rolled out for public. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Union minster Venkaiah Naidu will most likely inaugurate the new section of the Metro line via video conferencing on September 21. The confirmation will likely come on Monday, a senior official of the Chennai Metro told Deccan Chronicle. The 9-kilometer long stretch connecting Little Mount to Airport via Guindy will also provide a direct ride between citys famous bus transport hub CMBT and the city airport. The line was already fit to be open for operations but was incessantly delayed. Now that the dates are near, it will benefit commuters, an official added. The Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) of Southern Region inspected the stretch in the last week of July and gave his nod, and asked for a few changes after inspection. Amid speculations of the line being thrown open for public being rife, a number of test rides and checks have been taking place on the stretch in the past few weeks. The 9-km corridor is part of the Airport-Washermenpet corridor, which has now to be extended up to Thiruvottiyur. "All the information will be computerised," she said in a statement. Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Monday proposed to create database of movable and immovable assets of the temples in the state as part of its series of initiatives in the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said such assets of temples include metal and stone idols besides land and buildings. "All the information will be computerised," she said in a statement. GIS and GPS will be used for documenting temple property, she said, adding, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) will be used to give a fillip to temple administration. Apart from it, 241 temples will be added to an existing scheme to ensure at least one time pooja a day is performed in these places of worship. Already 12,504 shrines were benefiting under this scheme where the aim is to ensure that proper pooja are conducted at least once in a day, she said. The state government will provide Rs 2.16 crore to the devotees' contribution of Rs 24.10 lakh for conducting one time pooja, she said. Allocation of funds for making new wooden temple cars, purchase of required pooja material for a number of temples, construction of 'Annadana' halls and rest areas for devotees and increase in pension for temple staff were also part of the initiatives announced by the Chief Minister. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As Kochi Metro is getting ready for commissioning next year, the state police is gearing up to provide a foolproof safety cover exploring foreign models. Government sources said a high-level delegation led by additional chief secretary (home) Nalini Netto would be visiting cities like Lyon and Paris in France to study the safety models in place. The state plans to have a greenfield security policy for the metro. Though the delegation, which also included state police chief Loknath Behera, was scheduled to visit Lyon and Paris this week, it had to be postponed as VVIPs including the Prime Minister are expected to come down to the state for the BJP national meet in Kozhikode over the weekend, said sources. The Kochi Metro had got some similarities with the metro rails of Paris and Lyon. Hence we plan to visit those regions so that it would help us design a foolproof security cover for Kochi too, Mr Behera told DC. With the Kochi Metro scheduled to commence its first phase operation between Aluva and Maharajas College by March, the police is considering various options, including setting up a separate security division with police officers on deputation. Metro is obviously vulnerable to security threats. Security of passengers as well as the infrastructure are equally important. We need to have fool proof security cover at the metro stations, on the moving trains and major installations like the tracks to avert any sabotage attempts, he said. Even if one discounts the war gaming in news television studios and the civilisational conflicts being played out daily on social media, it is apparent that the aftermath of the Uri attack is not the same as that of the Pathankot raid in January this year. True, there is enough in common between the two incidents. In Pathankot, an Indian Air Force base was invaded by a terror militia. In Uri, an Indian Army camp was targeted. In both cases, the victims were men in uniform, rather than civilians. Yet, that is where the similarities cease. The sheer number of soldiers killed in Uri 18 makes this a bigger political-management challenge for the Narendra Modi government. The public anger and grim mood in the ranks of the Army are understandable. Seldom if ever in peacetime has the Indian Army lost so many soldiers in one day. There is the sense that an assault of this nature, so close to the Line of Control, would have required logistical support and meticulous planning that could only have come from military backing by (sections of the) Pakistani state. After Pathankot, the Modi governments response was reasoned and measured. In part, this was a result of the up-and-down relationship with Pakistan since India called off the foreign secretary-level talks in the summer of 2014 on the Hurriyat issue. Specially given that troubled history and certain diplomatic missteps in 2014-15, the Indian government was keen not to be seen as impetuous and spoiling for a fight. As such, it absorbed the Pathankot blow. It even allowed Pakistani investigators, including an officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to travel to Pathankot. Subsequently, the investigation died away. Pakistan did not offer reciprocal access to Indian investigators and did not make available Jaish-e-Mohammad suspects. Given this backdrop, today the Modi government will be justified in believing it has paid its dues. It also knows it doesnt have the political space for a measured and reasoned response on the lines of its post-Pathankot behaviour this time as well. After Uri, the pressure is that much more. Something greater than strong statements and rhetorical flourishes will be demanded. In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modis self-identification as a tough leader who will not shy away from punitive action and from imposing costs on those who threaten Indian lives and institutions, the government will not have the leeway of previous governments or indeed of this government itself till a few months ago. The question is: what does do something amount to? A full-scale war is out of the question and not on the menu of options, but neither is no action at all in the defensive belief that escalation is inevitable and in that sense a nuclear Pakistan is left holding a permanent veto. The Modi government has indicated it doesnt quite buy the escalation is inevitable logic. That was one of the principles prompting its deployment of the Balochistan card. It seems to be convinced of the idea that it is possible to call Pakistans bluff, to a certain extent at least. What does this mean in practice? Any punitive action, any attempt to impose costs, will need to be publicly recognised as such and will need to have a certain visibility. Given this, to suggest covert operations and mysterious incidents in Pakistan could be resorted to provided India has the intelligence backup and agents on the ground for such a project in the first place is beside the point. It may not satisfy immediate public outrage. In that sense, the demands of Mr Modis political capital and of a longer-term strategy of weakening terrorist groups and rogue institutions within Pakistan by building assets in that country are not necessarily on the same timeline. It is crucial to distinguish between retaliation and response, in a narrow and exact sense of those words. Retaliation, as in a neutralisation of the specific groups and masterminds behind the Uri attack, may not be logistically feasible. Response, as in an action in perhaps another theatre territorial or in terms of domains is more likely and could perhaps be expected. Ironically, this would probably suit the Pakistan Army and help it get even more leverage over the already weakened Nawaz Sharif government. While Islamabad-based observers deny it strongly, Indian diplomats feel a part of the reason for repeated provocations from Pakistan could be to build a case for Gen. Raheel Sharif to stay on as Army Chief, rather than retire later this year. It may be pertinent that the global community has probably factored in the possibility of a muscular response from India, rather than bet on continued forbearance. There are three reasons for this. First, it was acknowledged after 26/11 that India could not be held back time and again. At some point its government any government would need to concede ground to public sentiment. Second, following Mr Modis election, it was apparent that his product-differentiation from the predecessor government would put him under greater pressure following a terrorist strike. Third, frankly the world is less cautious, less politically correct and less and less reined in by coherent global leadership. September 2016 is not September 2001; it is not even November 2008. There is a diminishing of the Wests ability and desire to urge individual countries to turn the other cheek when confronted by armed actors motivated by some form of Islamism. That gives Mr Modi greater room than was available to Manmohan Singh and Atal Behari Vajpayee. How does he plan to use that autonomy? Truth is stranger than fiction. The complexity of world politics throws up surprising combinations. The teamwork between two unlikely bedfellows, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama, to try and resolve the grinding Syrian war is a prime example. Although the latest ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and the US has unfortunately unravelled, such initiatives are positive omens because Mr Putin and Mr Obama are cooperating against the odds. Given the overall misgivings between Russia and the US on numerous fronts, why exactly are they essaying a puzzling tandem in Syria? Great powers do not view the entirety of their foreign relations in crude black and white or zero-sum game terms. They segment one issue from another and resort to quid pro quos that serve broader goals. Mr Putin was never interested in getting bogged down in endless war in Syria. To him, Syria was a test case of Russias return as an acknowledged great power, which must be included at the high table as a decision-maker to resolve the crisis. Western attempts to exclude him and to impose a solution in Syria prompted him to intervene directly by inserting the Russian military and altering the local balance-of-power in favour of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Once the limited goal of shoring up the Syrian state apparatus from collapsing was achieved, Mr Putin hinted at withdrawing the Russian military and opened a more vigorous diplomatic track with Mr Obama. The strategy was to render Russia indispensable and then pursue a grand bargain with the Americans that would prove Mr Putin as Mr Obamas equal in stature and importance. To Mr Putin, who has been demonised in the West as a thug and a tyrant, what matters is not American love or praise but respect. He is now getting it, however grudgingly, in Syria. For Mr Obama, the Syrian war and the menace of the Islamic State (ISIS) that emanated from it are haunting phenomena as he winds up his presidency. A believer in diplomacy rather than military force, he is looking to salvage his legacy in the ashes of Syria through deals with Mr Putin that vindicate his policy approach of avoiding overseas military entanglements. Moreover, having made a bold diplomatic overture to Iran on its nuclear programme and sealed that deal, the American President is averse to blindly supporting Irans prime rival, Saudi Arabia, which wants perennial war in Syria until Mr Assad is overthrown. Mr Obama has overruled anti-Iranian and pro-Saudi conservative voices within the US establishment who argue that Tehran and its proxies like the Shia militant outfit Hezbollah pose a bigger threat to the US and Israel than ISIS. The pragmatic understanding Mr Obama struck with Mr Putin in 2013 to avert deploying the US military in a frontal attack on the Assad regime after its alleged use of chemical weapons indicated how he does not mind a duet with Mr Putin, notwithstanding anti-Russian hawks with Cold War instincts in the American administration and the gaps of trust with Russia that Mr Obama candidly admits. The Pentagon openly objected to the US coordinating militarily with Russia and has been overruled by Mr Obama. The intense engagement between US secretary of state John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to pave the ground for a political transition in Syria is thus a product of political will from their respective bosses who have kept Cold War-remnant tendencies in check in Washington and Moscow. Sadly, the crumbling of yet another Syrian ceasefire suggests that not all elements of this multi-dimensional war can be fixed by great power accords. There are local grievances relating to the dynastic rule of the Assad family, the domination of the state apparatus by the minority Alawite Shias, the self-determination ambitions of the Kurdish groups, and the alienation that Sunnis across the border in Iraq feel towards what they perceive to be an ethnically discriminatory regime in Baghdad. Syrians and Iraqis across ethnic lines are frustrated with endemic corruption, misgovernance and lack of personal security. The artificial nature of nation-state boundaries are under challenge not just by jihadists but ordinary civilians caught in a war that respects no borders. None of these resentments can be satiated through a top-down deal hammered out by Russia and the US sitting in a backroom in Geneva. But if great powers act responsibly, stop further militarising heavily armed local actors, and restrain their proxies from extreme behaviour, they can constitute the necessary confidence-building prerequisites before longer-term peace and justice are addressed. In the decade of the 1970s, the US and the Soviet Union undertook a spell of diplomatic detente and helped end or thaw some simmering proxy armed conflicts of that era. Parallels between Cold War detente and todays US-Russia engagement have limits. We are currently in a multipolar world where several regional hegemons and powers are competing for influence and leverage. It takes more than a tango by Russia and the US to calm the Syrian imbroglio. Even if Irans close ally Russia and the Saudi bosom ally US pair up, there is little sign of detente between Tehran and Riyadh, which are waging turf wars not just in Syria and Iraq but also in Yemen. Washington lacks the means to convince all anti-Assad armed groups to de-escalate. Many of these rebels are out of American control and dance to the varied tunes of their paymasters in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain who detest Iran the most. Turkey, which has lately made up with Russia and Iran, is also not amenable to American diktats. A divided West Asia with clashing interests is fuelling the Syrian quagmire and undermining the best intentions of Mr Putin and Mr Obama. Still, if the outside principals Russia and the US display maturity, moderate their bilateral duelling, and consummate the tantalising prospect of jointly attacking ISIS, Al Nusra and other hardline jihadists, one can expect Arab, Persian and Turkish actors to redraw their plans and emerge in favour of peace. Unity at the pinnacle in international affairs matters as a signal to spoilers at the regional and local levels that their global backup systems are depleting or shifting priorities. Mr Obama and Mr Putin, who have no love lost between them, must continue demonstrating nobler purpose and sagacity which are the only ways forward for Syrias salvation. VIVOTEK has announced a new stereo network camera for retail solutions, the SC8131. Featuring dual-lens design with VIVOTEKs self-developed 3D Depth Technology, the SC8131 provides precise tracking and a high counting accuracy of up to 98 per cent. The camera integrates with VIVOTEKs central management software, VAST, enabling real-time data transfer and comprehensive analysis reports. Furthermore, the SC8131 now is implemented in Asian and Latin American shopping centers and fully integrated with Wavestore Video Management Software (VMS) with more integrations expected in the near future. As we move into a new era of IP surveillance, VIVOTEK is proving that the contribution of the network camera extends beyond purely security applications, said William Ku, Spokesman and Vice President, Brand Business Division, VIVOTEK Inc. By allocating R&D resources into people-counting analysis, weve created the new stereo network camera, SC8131, which allows retailers to accurately measure visitor traffic and helps to drive business growth. Accurate Traffic Analysis Using the 3D Depth Technology with up to 98% accuracy rate, the camera can distinguish individuals or groups, adult or children, and filter out carts, and strollers. Furthermore, it obtains bi-directional counting on a definable flow and tracking a moving path, avoiding double counting caused by u-turns. Improve Staff Management When retailers recruit security staff or part-time employees to manually count traffic they tend to produce a less than satisfactory result. With VIVOTEKs SC8131, these valuable human resources now can be managed more efficiently while producing far higher levels of accuracy. Optimize Operating Decisions The SC8131 enhances business intelligence via VIVOTEKs central management software, VAST, which produces dedicated counting reports. These real-time reports can be exported by schedule or for areas in a line chart, bar graph or pie chart and directly exported into Snapshot. And all the data can also be exported to Microsoft Excel for analysis. VAST also provides a counting function, which secures counting data all the time, even during unexpected network or power disruption. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. It is also expected to come with a 3490mAh battery with support for Qualcomms Quick Charge 3.0. The highly-anticipated Xiaomi Mi 5S smartphone powered by Snapdragon 821 processor is expected to release on September 27. Xiaomi Mi5S teaser The China-based electronics company Xiaomi is slated to organise an event at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing on September 27, and based on a recent teaser released by the company with a big S has surfaced speculation, that the event is set to unveil Xiaomis upcoming Mi 5S model powered by Snapdragon 821 processor. To recall, the smartphone was earlier tipped to feature a 5.15-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution and will be powered by a Snapdragon 821 processor clubbed with 6GB RAM. The smartphone will also have Adreno 530 GPU and will have 256GB of internal storage capacity. In addition, the Mi 5S will come equipped with 16MP rear camera with f/1.9 aperture and 4-axis optical image stabilisation (OIS). It is also expected to come with a 3490mAh battery with support for Qualcomms Quick Charge 3.0. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The attack was carried out by suspected gunmen of Boko Haram on bicycles. (Photo: AFP) Kano, Nigeria: At least eight people were killed outside a church in a suspected Boko Haram attack carried out by gunmen on bicycles in northeast Nigeria, local residents said on Monday. The attack happened shortly after morning service on Sunday in Kwamjilari village, about 30 kilometres east of the town of Chibok, in Borno state. "Some of the worshippers remained around the church and the gunmen opened fire and eight men died," said Luka Damina, from nearby Kautikeri village, where locals fled. "Unknown to the residents, the gunmen had stationed some of their comrades on the road leading out of the village and they shot anyone who tried to flee. Many people ran into the bush with gunshot wounds. But so far we can only confirm eight deaths," an official said. The attackers set fire to homes and fields of maize that were almost ready for harvest, according to a local chief in Kautikeri, who also said eight people were killed. The chief said soldiers were later deployed to Kwamjilari from Chibok -- the scene of a notorious kidnapping in 2014 when more than 200 schoolgirls were seized. A similar attack in the area last month left 10 people dead and saw 13 others kidnapped, while homes were looted and set on fire. Both raids bear the hallmarks of Boko Haram Islamists, who have frequently attacked villages, churches and mosques across northeast Nigeria and beyond since 2009. Nigeria's military maintains it now has the upper hand against the insurgents in a conflict that has left at least 20,000 dead and made more than 2.6 million people homeless. But such sporadic attacks underline the continuing difficulty in securing remote rural areas. Identified as Valle, the cop, said that he fantasised about eating flesh and wanted to cook and eat his wife. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) New York: An ex-cop from United States who had been jailed in 2012 for plotting to rape, murder and eat the flesh of his ex-wife, has said that he has been receiving a lot of offers from women, after his escape from jail term. Dubbed as 'cannibal cop', Gilberto Valle, claimed that he has been receiving a lot of attention from his female fans on social media, according to a report in the Mirror. Identified as Valle, the cop, said that he fantasised about eating flesh and wanted to cook and eat his wife. Valle was set free by a court after the judge overturned the decision of convicting him. He said that after he was set free by the court, many of his admirers reached out to congratulate him. The judge had overturned his case terming it as 'fantasy role-play.' Valle said that his admirers reached him to congratulate him for his escape from prison term, but he would ask them for dates. "Many reached out because they are interested in my case. I started chatting more with a few of them and eventually asked me some on dates," Valle was quoted as saying. "I like meeting women who already know everything about me, so I dont have to suddenly drop this bomb on them," he added. Across party lines, more than six-in-ten (63 per cent) think the country should increase spending on national defence, just six per cent want to decrease it and 20 per cent want to keep it at current levels. (Photo: Representational Image/PTI) Washington: More than three-fifth of Indians support use of military force to defeat the scourge of terrorism, according to a latest Pew Survey released on Monday which said that about half of the respondents disapprove of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Pakistan policy. "With roughly half (52 per cent) the Indian public worried that ISIS poses a major threat to their country, about six-in-ten Indians (62 per cent) believe that overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism around the world. Just 21 per cent say relying too much on such force creates hatred that leads to more terrorism," said Pew Research Center in its report running into 40 pages. While 68 per cent of the respondents feel that India is playing a more important role in the world than it was doing 10 years ago, the Pew Research Center in its annual survey, which was conducted among 2,464 respondents from April 7 to May 24, said half of the respondents disapprove of Modi's management of India's volatile relationship with Pakistan. His Pakistan policy is approved by just 22 per cent, said the survey which was conducted in the months after the terrorist attack at the Pathankot Air Force base coming from across the border. "Notably, however, more than half of BJP supporters (54 per cent) and a plurality of Congress party adherents (45 per cent) disapprove of the prime ministers handling of relations with Pakistan," the report said. In the handling of China, supporters of Modis own party, the BJP, are more likely than adherents of the Congress party to favour his conduct of bilateral relations. Pew said Indians are ready to support more defence spending. Across party lines, more than six-in-ten (63 per cent) think the country should increase spending on national defence, just six per cent want to decrease it and 20 per cent want to keep it at current levels. Notably, Indians who see China's growing military power as a very serious problem are more likely than those who see Chinas growing military power as a less serious threat to favour increased military spending, it said. According to Pew, the Indian public's satisfaction with the direction of the country has increased 36 percentage points since 2013, the year before Modi took power. The survey found that Indian public's views on the economy have improved by 23 points. And belief that today's children will be better off financially than their parents is up eight points. The survey said that Modi continues to ride a wave of good feeling (81 per cent) about the way things are going in India, the state of the domestic economy and his own stewardship of the country. In 2015 Pew Survey, Modi's approval rating was 87 per cent. Modi's favourable rating of 81 per cent is followed by that of Sonia Gandhi (67 per cent), Rahul Gandhi (63 per cent) and Arvind Kejriwal (50 per cent). Modi has the lowest unfavourability rating of 16 per cent followed by Arvind Kejriwal (27 per cent), Sonia Gandhi (31 per cent) and Rahul Gandhi (32 per cent). Like Modi, the ruling BJP has an approval rating of 80 per cent, followed by Indian National Congress (67 per cent) and Aam Admi Party (47 per cent). About half or more of the public approves of Modi handling of a range of domestic problems facing the country: helping the poor and dealing with unemployment (both 62 per cent), handling terrorism (61 per cent) and dealing with corruption (59 per cent). And roughly half or more of Indians in the survey approve of Modis leadership style: 56 per cent believe he cares about people like them, 51 per cent say he stands up for what he believes and 49 per cent say he brings people together and gets things done, Pew said. Pew said Indians also favour toughness in dealing with the world. "Nevertheless, Indians give priority to issues at home. By more than two-to-one (53 per cent to 23 per cent) they believe that India should deal with its own problems and let other nations deal with theirs. This public preference for a focus on domestic issues reflects ongoing concerns about a range of issues: Roughly eight-in-ten Indians believe crime, corrupt officials, a lack of employment opportunities and terrorism are very big national problems," Pew said. Observing that only about a third (31 per cent) of the public expresses a favourable opinion of their emerging Asian rival, Pew said these positive views are down 10 percentage points in the past year, but unchanged from 2014. "Another 36 per cent voice an unfavourable opinion and 32 per cent have no opinion. Large majorities say Beijing poses serious challenges for India. Seven-in-ten of those surveyed believe that Chinas economic impact on India is a serious problem, including 45 per cent who voice the view that it is very serious. Nearly half (48 per cent) of Indians think Chinas relationship with Pakistan poses a very serious problem for India," Pew said. Pew said eight-in-ten Indians believe their economy is doing well, up 16 points since 2014. And 35 per cent of Indians today say the economy is very good. People in the northern states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh express the most satisfaction (71 per cent) with the direction of the country. Those living in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the least satisfied (55 per cent). Roughly four in-ten living in the north say the economy is doing very well (42 per cent), while people living in the western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh (26 per cent) and in the south (30 per cent) are less likely than those in the north to believe the economy is performing very well. People living in the eastern part of the country in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal are more confident (83 per cent) than those in the north (62 per cent) and west (70 per cent) about prospects for the next generation. Crime (82 per cent), lack of employment (81 per cent), corrupt officials (80 per cent) and terrorism (78 per cent) are the top four national problem, according to the respondents surveyed by the Pew Poll. On Modis popularity, Pew said while he continues to have a favourable rating of 81 per cent, the share of Indians with a very favourable view of Modi is down 11 percentage points in the last year. In both 2015 and 2016, Modis lowest approval rating (53 per cent) was for his handling of communal relations. On India US relationship, more than half (54 per cent) of Indians approve of Modi's dealings with Washington. Just 15 per cent disapprove, it said. "Notably, public approval of Modis handling of America is down 12 percentage points since 2015 despite his having visited the US more than any other country during his premiership," Pew said. World leaders are expected to adopt a political declaration as an outcome document at the summit, during which the UN will see a new addition to its family, a dedicated migration agency. (Photo: AFP) United Nations: Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar will attend several meetings at the UN, including a high-level summit on refugees and migrants aimed at addressing the unprecedented crisis. Akbar will attend various summits being organised at the high-level segment of the 71st UN General Assembly that opens on Monday. He will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts of different nations on the sidelines of the session. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive in New York on September 24 to address the General Debate on September 26. Akbar, who arrived in New York from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Venezuela, will address the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, which will kick off the high-level week. The India-US-Afghanistan trilateral will also be convened in New York later this week. The summit is the first time that the General Assembly has called for a meeting at the Heads of State and Government level on the topic and "it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response", the world body said. World leaders are expected to adopt a political declaration as an outcome document at the summit, during which the UN will see a new addition to its family, a dedicated migration agency. Leaders of the UN and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will sign an agreement to officially make IOM a related agency of the UN system. Akbar is also expected to attend other high-level summits and meetings during the week. On September 21, the Assembly will hold a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, which has become one of the biggest threats to global health and endangers other major priorities, such as human development. On the same day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will make a pitch for an early entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change by convening a special event at which countries can deposit their ratification instruments with him. On September 22, there will be a high-level segment of the General Assembly to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development. A total of 195 leaders including 86 Heads of State, a Crown Prince, five vice presidents and 51 ministers will address the General Debate. About 1,100 requests for bilaterals have been put through, apart from the ones with Ban and 545 meetings have been requested, which include special side events and regularly scheduled meetings. Ban, who will have 124 bilaterals, will participate in 62 events. With Ban's second five-year term expiring on December 31, this will be his last high-level week as the UN chief. The war in Syria will also take centerstage during the high level week with world leaders taking stock of the cessation of hostilities in the troubled country. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Syria is one of the most complex and dynamic humanitarian crises in the world today. Since March 2011, more than a quarter of a million Syrians have been killed and over one million have been injured. Another 4.8 million Syrians have been forced to leave the country, and 6.5 million are internally displaced, making Syria the largest displacement crisis globally. When Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and his Democratic challenger, former state Rep. Linda Coleman, met on September 13 for their first and only debate broadcast statewide , their sharp differences of opinion on House Bill 2 were, not surprisingly, the primary focus of subsequent media coverage.But Forest and Coleman also disagreed sharply on another high-profile issue - school choice - that affects far more North Carolinians, as students, parents, educators, or taxpayers. As voters make their decision in a few weeks about the lieutenant governor race, I think they should take the candidates' views on education policy into account perhaps more than any other.As was discussed at the debate , which was held at Barton College and co-hosted by the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL) and the Wilson Chamber of Commerce , the office of lieutenant governor is not particularly powerful. Decades ago, when Democrats dominated the General Assembly, lieutenant governors weren't just ceremonial presiding officers in the state senate. They actively controlled its operations.Not anymore. I would argue that because the lieutenant governor automatically serves on the State Board of Education, it is on education that he or she has a real opportunity to shape policy outcomes.Forest, an architect and community leader before being elected to the office in 2012, has championed parental choice and other school reforms enacted in recent years. During the IOPL debate, he said the state's recent expansion of charter schools would increase accountability for results. "When a charter school fails," Forest pointed out, "we can shut it down, but when public schools fail, we throw more money at it."The lieutenant governor further argued that students trapped in poor-performing public schools deserved other options. Forest asked this question:if it would better meet student needs?Coleman gave her answer.she said,She gave the example of Christian schools that, reflecting their deeply felt beliefs, do not enroll openly gay or lesbian students. Should students be eligible to spend tax dollars at such schools?This is a complicated issue. While it makes sense to minimize the extent to which taxpayers are forced to finance institutions or causes they might find objectionable, politicians are often inconsistent on this point. For decades, tax dollars have flowed to Catholic hospitals, liberal activist groups, fundamentalist churches that operate day care centers, and university professors who actively promote Marxism in their teaching, research, and activism.To the extent any subsidy of such beliefs or practices is incidental - because taxpayer funds are specifically used to deliver services such as health care and education - I think common sense, and arguably the First Amendment, should preclude discrimination on the basis of viewpoints or religious practice. As Forest argued during the debate, the need to address the educational challenges facing at-risk students is so compelling that we ought to focus on what gets results, not what makes us comfortable.North Carolina's embrace of parental choice and school competition has been one of the most significant policy shifts over the past four years. The state now ranks sixth in the nation in educational freedom, up from 22nd in 2012. My reading of the empirical evidence suggests that, over time, educational freedom will boost achievement, graduation rates, and post-graduation success.It's not all we need to do to improve schools. Forest and Coleman also discussed teacher pay, digital learning , and other important issues. But making progress on them need not involve walking back North Carolina's notable advances in school choice. Want to know more? You can find video of the IOPL debate online , as well as informative websites from the two campaigns. Don't overlook the race for lieutenant governor. Cast an informed vote. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. (Photo: AP) New York: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday met US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York, amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion, Radio Pakistan reported. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif, who is in New York to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, on Monday called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. On Board Special Aircraft: Asserting that nobody can tolerate terrorism, Vice President Hamid Ansari on Monday said the attack in Uri is totally unacceptable and these kinds of "tactics" will eventually lead to a lot of "unpleasantness". "It's the view of everybody in the country and that is my view also that this (attack in Uri) is totally unacceptable, totally condemnable and this kind of tactics will eventually lead to a lot of unpleasantness. What action the government of India takes you will hear about it from the government of India," Ansari told reporters while on his way back from Venezuela after attending the 17th NAM Summit. Asked with terror attacks continuing unabated was India's restraint being tested, he said, "Well I don't know whether the term restraint is there. If one is attacked, we shall respond in our own judgement and the manner of response is something that is left to the concerned authorities of the state but there is no question of restraint or tolerance. Nobody can tolerate terrorism." He said anybody can be a victim of terror and the whole issue is that innocent civilians are being targeted. "So tomorrow any one of us can be the victims of terror, "Ansari said. Earlier, condemning the Uri attack in a statement the Vice President had said, such attacks are the result of the use of cross border terrorism by "one particular country" in the region and India would deal with such provocations in a "befitting manner". Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. Talking about India's strategy at the UN General Assembly session, Ansari said, "It has been a part of our general approach that the question of terrorism has to be flagged on all forums." "I am not privy to what the External Affairs Minister is going to say, I have not seen the text but I am sure that this is a subject that will figure very prominently in her statement to the general assembly. And of course there will be you can anticipate some form of a vicious attack from the other side, there will be rights of reply, the usual pattern which goes on in the general assembly debates," he said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the General Debate on September 26. On India's strong protest lodged with NAM over Pakistans support to terrorism, Ansari said "something was said by one delegation which was contrary to the practice of NAM and specifically objectionable to us". He said since NAM does not have a practice of rights of reply, it was thought at best to register India's position in a formal communication for which Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar has addressed the chairman of the conference. Talking about the NAM summit, Ansari said that as founders of the movement it was a matter of some satisfaction for Indiathat the great majority of countries in the world have found NAM of relevance even today. "Yes there was a different agenda in 1961, the core of the agenda remains the same. But the world has changed and the agenda for the next three years has also been spelt out. The goals do not anywhere conflict with the core agenda of NAM as it was spelt out in 1961. So it is reflective of a very genuine matter of interest and concern," he said. "The point that we made and made it quite emphatically was that the core issue is sustainable development and no development is possible unless there are conditions of peace in societies, that is one. Secondly, development is to be made by the autonomous decision of each country. I cannot dictate to another country, nor can another country cannot dictate to me," he asserted. Ansari said the three points of the theme of the conference -- form a kind of triad in which the essential requirement for development is security and sovereignty. "In that context we raised the question both in my intervention and in my meeting with the chairman of the conference about the concern that is being expressed worldwide and the concern being expressed by us repeatedly about what terrorism is doing to the world. And if you read the final document you will see that the three longest sub items in it are terrorism, another is sustainable development goals and the third is what the situation in what the world calls Middle East, we call West Asia," the Vice President said. "So I think the centrality of terrorism as an impediment to development has been well flagged and when I met the chairman of the conference the President of Venezuela (Nocolas Maduro), he took that point really well and some of the language that was used in the bilateral meeting has found its way into the final document," he said. Asked about a paragraph in the Margarita Declaration of the NAM summit about unilateral sanctions on which NAM has spoken off, Ansari said, "There is a mechanism which is admissible in international practice of sanctions coming through the security council because that reflects the generality of opinion of the international community. Now unilateral sanctions over and above that we have seen they are not very productive, they are indiscriminate." Ansari also said the his bilateral meetings with President Maduro, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Cuban president Raul Castro and Nepalese Vice President Nanda Kishor Pun went really well. He said in his meeting with President Rouhani, the point was emphasised that India and Iran being neighbouring countries having common interest in peace, security and development are opening a new chapter of cooperation, both economic cooperation and cooperation to make sure that regional security is adequately addressed. Law enforcement officers are seen at the scene of an explosion on West 23rd Street in New York. (Photo: AFP) New York: Three attacks carried out in the United States on a single day -- a New York bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast -- were under investigation on Sunday for potential terror links. Authorities said there is no evidence that the attacks were coordinated but their timing in under 24 hours raises fears about security -- already a major issue in the countrys deeply divisive presidential election battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Twenty-nine people were injured when a bomb exploded in New Yorks upmarket Chelsea neighbourhood on Saturday night, damaging buildings, shattering glass and sending shrapnel flying across the street. A second bomb was uncovered by police four blocks away and defused safely, before being sent to the FBI in Virginia for forensic examination. Both bombs were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones, Christmas lights and explosive compound, The New York Times reported late Sunday, citing law enforcement officials. CNN reported that officials had obtained surveillance videos showing the same man near the site of the explosion and where the undetonated device was found, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement sources. Hours earlier, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south in New Jersey, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can on the route of a Marine Corps run before the start of the race, causing no injuries but forcing its cancellation. In the Midwest, an assailant reported to be Somali-American went on a stabbing spree in a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injuring nine people before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. US authorities said the motive of all three attacks was unclear, but elected officials quickly identified them as terror-related. If you look at a number of these incidents, you can call them whatever you want: they are terrorism though, New Jerseys Republican governor Chris Christie, a member of the Trump campaign, told CNN. Obama arrives in NY A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but its not linked to international terrorism, Democratic New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday after touring the scene of the explosion in Chelsea. In other words, we find no ISIS connection, et cetera, said Cuomo in reference to the Islamic State group. But he also stressed the lack of an international terror link was preliminary. New York went on full alert, deploying nearly 1,000 extra state police and National Guardsmen to airports, bus terminals and subway stations as President Barack Obama arrived in the city ahead of Tuesdays opening of the UN General Assembly. There was no claim for the bombings in Manhattan or New Jersey, but a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS soldier carried out the Minnesota stabbing. IS has repeatedly called for attacks on countries in the US-led coalition bombing the extremist group in Syria and Iraq. This should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups, said Clinton, using another acronym for IS. The Democratic nominee, whose lead in the polls has taken a dip, condemned what she called apparent terrorist attacks. Trump, who described the blast in New York a bombing more than 12 hours before officials or police, tweeted his best wishes and condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing. In Minnesota, FBI agent Rick Thornton confirmed that federal agents were investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism, as local media identified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American. References to Allah Police confirmed that the assailant asked some victims whether they were Muslim before attacking them and made references to Allah. While all 29 people who were injured in the New York bombing have been released from the hospital, three of those hurt in Minnesota remain hospitalized, officials said. Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation? What was it? New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference. We do not know, he added, calling on residents to be vigilant. Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials stress that the United States is safer from terror plots that originate from overseas but more at risk from the lone-wolf attack perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda. In many of these cases we dont know until two, three or four days later whether or not there is a terrorist link, warned New York Congressman Peter King in a CBS television interview. New York: President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will strategize about the upcoming offensive to take back the northern city of Mosul when they meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Increasingly, and not without irony, Iraq has become the bright spot in Obama's campaign against the Islamic State group, though profound challenges remain. In neighbouring Syria, the chaotic civil war continues to plague efforts to defeat IS extremists, but in Iraq, cooperation with Abadi's forces has helped the US-led coalition wrest back half the territory that IS once held, according to the US. Yet a key city remains under IS control: Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the extremist group's stronghold in the country. An intensely difficult urban fight to oust IS from Mosul is expected to ramp up in the next two to three months, following recent victories in reclaiming other Iraqi cities including Fallujah and Ramadi. Some 1 million people could be displaced by the battle in Mosul, U.S. and U.N. officials say. Washington considers the Iraqi government's handling of the displacement to be a major test case for reconciliation in Iraq, given the blend of sectarian groups with an interest in the northern city's future. "We've always believed that progress on the battlefield needs to be accompanied by continued political progress among Iraq's different communities," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said ahead of the meeting scheduled for Monday. He said that Obama and Abadi planned to discuss preparation for an "effective and sustainable campaign to liberate Mosul." The session comes at a critical time for Obama, who has just a few months left in office to make progress against IS before passing on the conflict to his successor. The Obama administration considers Abadi to be a major improvement over the sectarian approach of his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, though Abadi has faced serious domestic political challenges in recent months. Obama's meeting with the Iraqi leader marks the start of a hectic week of diplomacy as he makes his final appearance as president at the annual U.N. gathering. Obama also planned to meet Monday with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and socialize with U.S. diplomats who work at the U.N. He was also to raise money in private for Senate Democrats, a day after holding another fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential nominee was holding her own program of meetings with foreign leaders attending the U.N. summit as she works to portray herself as more presidential than Republican Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Obama will give his farewell speech to the General Assembly, meet with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and co-host a summit on the refugee crisis stemming largely from the Syria conflict. The U.S. has told invited countries they must show up with significant commitments in hand to resettle and support more refugees. Obama planned to take part Wednesday in a U.S.-Africa forum and meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos before returning to Washington. Around 150 passengers were on the double-decker boat when it hit the bank and sank. (Photo: Twitter) Bangkok: An overcrowded tourist boat carrying Muslim pilgrims was being piloted recklessly before it capsized, killing at least 15 Thai people, officials said on Monday as divers and other rescuers searched for 11 people still missing. The accident happened on Sunday on the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage site located some 80 km (50 miles) north of the Thai capital of Bangkok. The double-decker tourist boat carrying around 100 Thai Muslims on a pilgrimage tried to overtake a sand barge and ran into a barrier, police said, causing the boat to capsize. Eleven people are still missing and police divers resumed their search early on Monday. No foreigners were believed to be among the dead. The boat was 50 passengers over its capacity at the time of the accident, police commander Surapong Thampitak told Reuters on Monday. The boat's driver will be charged with reckless driving causing loss of life and overloading the boat beyond its safety limit, said Surapong. The driver was detained on Sunday night and was being questioned by police, he said. "We are searching for around 11 missing people today," Ayutthaya Deputy Governor Rewat Prasong told reporters. The accident came as Thailand expects to welcome a record 33 million visitors this year. Road and boat accidents involving tourists are common in Thailand, where safety standards are sometimes well below international norms. However, accidents barely make a dent on Thailand's tourism industry, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise lacklustre economy. A series of bomb blasts in southern Thailand have also had little impact. One of those attacks on Aug. 11-12 killed four Thais and wounded dozens, including foreigners. Police have blamed the bombings on Malay Muslim insurgents operating in Thailand's far south. Kjartan Sekkingstad was released Saturday on a remote southern island after what analysts said was almost certainly a payment in the thousands of dollars after the Abu Sayyaf demanded millions. (Photo: AP) Manila: A notorious kidnapping-for-ransom gang in the strife-torn southern Philippines enjoyed another lucrative payday when it released a Norwegian hostage after a year in captivity, analysts said Monday. A bearded and bedraggled Kjartan Sekkingstad was released Saturday on a remote southern island after what analysts said was almost certainly a payment in the thousands of dollars after the Abu Sayyaf demanded millions. The Philippine and Norwegian governments have denied paying ransom for the release of Sekkingstad, while highlighting their efforts to secure his freedom after the kidnappers had beheaded two of his fellow hostages, both Canadian. Security analysts said the Abu Sayyaf would never release a hostage without ransom. "There was a ransom payment negotiated by intermediaries of the family with diplomatic help. My information is 30 million pesos ($625,000) was paid," said Rodolfo Mendoza, senior analyst of Manila-based Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research. "Hostage-taking is the Abu Sayyaf's fund-raising activity," Mendoza, a former police general, told AFP. Sekkingstad's brother Odd Kre Sekkingstad declined to comment when asked by AFP about reports of a ransom. His sibling was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from a tourist resort in September 2015, alongside a Filipina who has been freed, and the two Canadians who were beheaded in April and June. Philippine authorities have said the Norwegian was freed due to a military offensive which President Rodrigo Duterte ordered against the militants, and with the help of a separate Muslim rebel group holding peace talks with the government. Duterte himself had said last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid for Sekkingstad's release. "The Norwegian, that's already paid," Duterte told reporters. "I don't know (where the money came from), maybe my bank," he said in jest when asked who paid the ransom. Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asian security expert at the National War College in the United States, told AFP there was no doubt ransom was paid. "The (Abu Sayyaf) did not release him out of the goodness of their hearts... governments have to deny paying ransoms, as it incentivises more hostage-taking. But often governments will use third parties." The payment would allow Abu Sayyaf to buy more guns through the black market, Abuza added. The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the nation's worst terror attacks, is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. Based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and listed by the US as a terrorist organisation, some of its leaders have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. In 2014 the Abu Sayyaf boasted of receiving 250 million pesos for two German hostages it freed after six months in captivity. In 2013 the militants also released an Australian ex-soldier after holding him for 15 months, with a local politician who acted as a negotiator saying ransom was paid. Paris: A young French Muslim woman who lost three family members in the July 14 jihadist attack on Nice made an impassioned plea Monday not to confuse the Islamic faith with terrorism. Yasmine Bouzegan Marzouk, 21, told a national ceremony in tribute to the French victims of terror attacks that they were carried out by "barbarians who do not follow the law, faith or religion". "On July 14th, this national holiday, our lives were changed forever," she added, her voice breaking with emotion as tears streamed down her face. "We are from a Muslim family and no one should make the link (between Islam and the attacks)," she said. Bouzegan Marzouk, who herself survived the attack, recalled how one of her relatives, 13-year-old Mehdi Hachadi, was crushed under the wheels of the truck that sped through the crowd on the Nice waterfront. "The life of a child who had such a promising future was snatched away. He was brought up in the Muslim faith which says we should respect others and show tolerance," she said. The truck was driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian who the Islamic State group said was one of its followers. Marzouk called on French President Francois Hollande "and his successors" to "put a halt once and for all to these acts of savagery... so that the terror to which French citizens are subjected will end and hatred can no longer be stoked by different religions." Hollande listened grim-faced to the list of 230 French people killed in terror attacks at home and abroad in the past 12 months. They included the 130 cut down in Paris by IS gunmen and suicide bombers on November 13, 2015, and the 86 killed in Nice. Addressing the rain-swept ceremony at the Invalides, Hollande said France was at "war". He announced a reform of the 30-year-old system to compensate victims of terror attacks and their families, saying, "This war has produced so many victims that the authorities' response and the rules for compensation cannot remain unchanged." France remains on high alert for attacks. Police flooded into the Les Halles shopping district of Paris on Saturday after a national alert system broadcast warnings that a hostage-taking was under way. It turned out to be a false alarm. In contrast to the two previous elections, only half the seats in this election were chosen by national party list; the others were contested by single-seat districts. (Photo: AFP) Moscow: The Kremlin's power-base party took an overwhelming victory in national parliament elections, winning three-quarters of the seats, the head of the Central Elections Commission reported on Monday. With 93 percent of the ballots from Sunday's vote counted, the United Russia party was on track to get 343 of the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, CEC head Ella Pamfilova said. She said she did not expect the results to change significantly in the count of the remaining ballots. It's an immense gain for the party that already held a majority in the previous parliament -- soaring by more than 100 seats. The party now has enough to amend the constitution on its own. The three other parties that had been in the previous parliament and that largely cooperated with United Russia will also be in the new Duma, though all in reduced numbers. The Communists will have 42 -- a sharp drop from 92 -- the nationalist Liberal Democrats 39 and A Just Russia 23. Two other seats were won by candidates from small parties and one by an independent. In contrast to the two previous elections, only half the seats in this election were chosen by national party list; the others were contested by single-seat districts. Turnout was distinctly lower than in the last Duma election in 2011 -- less than 48 percent nationwide compared with 60 percent. Complaints of violations came from around the country, including ballot-box stuffing and so-called "carousel voting" in which voters are transported to several locations to cast multiple ballots. Pamfilova said the national Investigative Committee had launched a criminal probe of one voting district, where video from a closed-circuit camera appeared to show a poll worker carefully dropping multiple ballots into the box. Pamfilova said other violations reports would be looked into and that results from three precincts could be annulled. Anger over widespread fraud in the 2011 election sparked large protests that unsettled authorities by their size and persistence. In her statement to the police, the victim said that at one point her boyfriend stabbed her in the neck with so much force that the tip of the knife broke. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Brighton, England: A 19-year-old teenager who was stabbed more than 100 times by her boyfriend in front of her two-year-old son, survived the attack by playing dead. According to a report in the Daily Mail, the victim said that she was attacked by her violent partner after she refused to serve him a glass of water. She survived the attack when she played dead to escape the torment and managed to crawl out of the house and get into an empty bus. She was found in an unconscious state by the bus driver, who then alerted the police. Police immediately responded to the emergency and reached the spot. They then called the paramedics, following which the victim was taken to a nearby hospital. Speaking on her condition, doctors said that both her lungs were punctured and that she would require around 500 stitches for the wounds. The victim's son was rescued by her neighbours. He was said to be in a shocked state. In her statement to the police, the victim said that at one point her boyfriend stabbed her in the neck with so much force that the tip of the knife broke. Initially the accused dismissed domestic violence claims, but was proved guilty of the crime during a trial at the Lewes Crown Court in England. The accused has been jailed for 20 years. Moscow: Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed a vote for "stability" after his ruling party won a record number of seats at parliamentary polls amid a low turnout. The Kremlin's United Russia scooped three quarters of the seats in the 450-member State Duma after bolstering its tally to over 54 percent at a nationwide vote Sunday, securing a majority despite the longest economic crisis of Putin's 16-year rule. But the vote was marred by the lowest turnout for a parliamentary election in Russia's post-Soviet history, suggesting many are increasingly turned off by the Kremlin's total control over public discourse and posing potential questions over legitimacy. "For United Russia this was a good result," Putin told his government on Monday. "Given the current difficulties, the large amount of uncertainty and risks, people undoubtedly chose stability." Sunday's election followed a tumultuous few years that have seen Russia seize the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, sparking its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War, and the start of a military campaign in Syria. And despite a bruising recession that has hit average Russians hard, Putin's approval rating remains around 80 percent. Although he has not yet announced he is running, the strongman leader now looks set to stroll to victory in presidential elections in 2018. Vote for Putin Pro-Putin parties were always expected to cruise to victory given the Kremlin's almost complete dominance of the media -- but the scale of United Russia's majority took some observers by surprise. "It's obvious that the overwhelming majority of those who voted de-facto voiced support for the president," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Three other parties -- which made up the last parliament and all back the Kremlin -- were the only ones to clear the five-percent threshold needed for representation. The Communists and the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party both won just over 13 percent, while A Just Russia received around six percent. No genuine opposition candidate appeared to have made it into the Duma for its new five-year term. Yabloko and Parnas, liberal parties critical of Putin, failed to secure enough votes for a seat. "The new parliament won't be a legitimate representative body representing the will of interests of the citizens of the county," Parnas head Mikhail Kasyanov said in a statement. "It will remain an instrument for retaining control of power in the hands of Putin and his team." Overall interest in the vote was down dramatically after a low-key campaign that was dubbed the most boring in recent memory. Only 47.8 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, compared with 60 percent in 2011, with many viewing the Duma as a toothless rubber-stamp chamber. Urban elites appeared to have felt especially frozen out with the turnout in the biggest cities Moscow and Saint Petersburg below 30 percent. Not free and fair Looming large over this election was the spectre of mass protests over vote-rigging following the last legislative polls in 2011, which grew into the biggest challenge to Putin since he took charge in 2000. The Kremlin was desperate to avoid a repeat this time round and has cracked down on the right to protest while making a show of stamping out electoral fraud. Human rights advocate Ella Pamfilova took over from the previous scandal-tainted election chief but the opposition accused her of ignoring violations even when they were caught on camera. Golos independent election monitors said in a statement on Monday that "there were fewer incidents of gross direct falsification than in 2011" but that the vote was "far from what can truly be called free and fair" because of the ruling party's domination of the campaign. Pamfilova admitted there were problems in several regions but said that "the level of transparency was incomparably higher than in the previous electoral campaign." Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said that while the handling of the vote was more transparent than before, "greater space is needed for debate and civic engagement". The poll also caused a diplomatic spat with Ukraine as residents on the Crimea peninsula elected candidates to Russia's parliament for the first time since Moscow annexed the region in 2014. Around Russia, elections for regional heads also showed Kremlin stalwarts dominating. In the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, strongman Ramzan Kadyrov claimed some 98 percent in the first vote on his decade-long rule after rights groups complained criticism was ruthlessly silenced during his campaign. 1. Teachers learn best from each other. 2. There is power in diversity; the more diversity, the richer the outcome. 3. Less is more: seminars are simple/low tech, with attention given to "uncovering material" instead of "covering" it. 1. Thou shalt provide equal time: Talk often but not so much; facilitators will keep strict time and intervene if an alpha talker emerges. 2. Thou shalt not whine, gripe, or tell war stories. 3. Thou shalt mutually enforce commandments 1 & 2. Here is a dirty little secret: I am a teacher at a community college, but I have never taken an education course. The same is true for most of my colleagues at the college level. We all have majored in our "subject," but many of us have had no education in the area of our primary job responsibility.Many readers may think that's a good thing. Someone who has majored in linguistics, for example, will certainly have a deeper understanding about reading than an education major. But developing an understanding of a subject and being able to teach it to others are two very different skill sets. Just ask any college student at any university-even the most elite. We've all sat through classes in which teachers have been, well, horrible.A classic example of such bad teaching is Ben Stein's lecture in the movie. Thanks to modern technology, today's teachers no longer rely on the "chalk and talk," as Stein does in that comedic scene. But modern teaching is not much better. Instead, students are subjected to "death by PowerPoint." It is omnipresent in the college classroom.Excessive use of PowerPoint creates a passive learning environment that contributes to lower success and retention rates. In this Business Insider article, Paul Ralph argues that universities should ban PowerPoint because it "makes students stupid and professors boring." Ralph says that "overreliance on slides has contributed to the absurd belief that expecting and requiring students to read books, attend classes, take notes and do homework is unreasonable."Our schools do try to help us improve our craft and avoid the issues identified by Ralph. My school, Wake Technical Community College, requires instructors to take 30 hours of professional development (PD) each year. But the problem is that traditional professional development seminars tend to focus on technology and policy. Those are important areas, but they're not drivers of excellence in teaching and thus student retention and success.That's why a few of my colleagues and I recently organized the Wake Tech Great Teaching Seminar. It provides a different type of professional development, with one main goal: better teaching. We're offering one seminar this fall over three days: August 16 and October 13-14.Our effort is inspired by the Great Teachers Movement, which has a record of success spanning 45 years. The Movement's approach to professional development started in the private sector as a way to promote change in large, hidebound organizations. In 1969, Roger Garrison adopted the approach for faculty at Westbrook College in Portland, Maine. Thanks to a grassroots effort, these seminars are now offered at hundreds of community colleges throughout the United States. (Click here for a history of the Great Teachers Movement and examples of seminars.)This conference is different and works surprisingly well because there is no pre-planned agenda. There is no top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to delivering information. As organizers, we simply do not know the needs of our participants.Instead, the conference operates on the premise that the best people to discuss a given subject are those who are interested in it. The agenda emerges from the actual needs of the participants in a bottom-up fashion, an approach that relies on large and small group break-out sessions that encourage peer-to-peer reflection.The small group sessions are based on a "homework" assignment. Each participant writes a paragraph or two on teaching innovation and a problem, such as "What can I do about cell phones in the classroom?" In these sessions, each instructor gets time to discuss an issue that is important to him or her and exchange ideas with other participants.For example, in a session I attended, an instructor talked about her experience "flipping" a class (her students listen to recorded lectures before class and then devote class time to mastering the material and discussing key issues). While I had heard of flipped classes, I hadn't mustered the courage to try such a teaching approach until I spoke with an instructor who lived through it. Now I have not only learned about flipped courses in greater detail, but also networked with a colleague who can give me advice when lessons don't go as planned.No experts are invited to this conference. They are not needed. The premises of the Great Teachers Movement are very simple:Here, "diversity" refers to teaching discipline. Participants are put into small groups with others who have as little in common with them as possible. This avoids informational cascades, more commonly known as "group think." And finally:Our seminar uses no PowerPoint presentations or overhead projectors. We have a paper easel that provides a very simple agenda of eating and meeting times. And instead of having an expert conjecture about the problems faculty are facing, the seminar gives faculty the opportunity to talk about their unique problems and to receive specific solutions-ones that can be immediately implemented into the classroom.Everything we do remains positive and productive. One way this is achieved is by heeding the following "commandments":My colleagues-who have come together from disciplines as diverse as emergency medical science, radiography, baking and pastry, computer science, chemistry and mathematics-and I are encouraged by the success of our seminar so far. This year it is being funded through a generous private donation and college resources. We'd like to continue the seminar annually and are hopeful that we can acquire more outside funding to promote the Great Teaching principles at other regional community colleges and even some high schools.Outside of obligatory department meetings, teachers often operate within their own silos. Sure, we see a lot of students. But interactions with other instructors? Not so much. The Wake Tech Great Teaching Seminar will help to break down silos and promote networking and the exchange of ideas. Ultimately, better teaching will lead to increased student engagement, retention, and success rates. And that's why we're here. Moscow: Russia's ruling party on Sunday looked set to dominate a new parliament made up of Kremlin loyalists after a state exit poll gave it almost 45 percent in nationwide elections. Russian state pollster VTsIOM put President Vladimir Putin's United Russia on 44.5 percent, ahead of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party on 15.3 percent, the Communists on 14.9 and A Just Russia on 8.1. "We can confidently say that United Russia has won," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on state television, adding that the party would have an "absolute majority" in the new legislature. The four leading parties -- which made up the last parliament and all back the Kremlin -- were the only ones that cleared the five percent bar to claim half the seats up for grabs. After a change to the election law the other half of the deputies in the 450-seat legislature are being elected on a constituency basis, with the pro-Kremlin parties also expected to dominate. As of 1815 GMT, United Russia MPs had won in 66 of 76 constituencies, the central election commission said. Opposition party Yabloko received 3.5 percent of the vote, missing the threshold required to enter parliament. The Parnas opposition party, headed by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, got 1.2 percent of the vote. The turnout of the vote three hours before polls closed stood at just under 40 percent, significantly down from the last parliamentary elections in 2011. Students arriving at school on Monday were handed pamphlets from the education ministry commemorating the triumph of democracy on July 15 and in memory of the martyrs as well as their usual school books. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Istanbul: Turkish schools reopened Monday for the first time since July's attempted coup, following a summer which saw tens of thousands of teachers sacked or suspended over alleged links to the plotters or to Kurdish rebels. As more than 18 million children began the new term after the summer break, Huseyin Ozev, president of the Istanbul teachers' union, told AFP there were fears the academic year would begin with "chaos" because of huge staff shortages. After a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara embarked on a massive crackdown, dismissing and detaining tens of thousands within the judiciary, the police and the education system over alleged links to the putschists. Students arriving at school on Monday were handed pamphlets from the education ministry commemorating "the triumph of democracy on July 15 and in memory of the martyrs" as well as their usual school books. Pupils were being shown two videos about the coup, the ministry said, including footage of Erdogan reading the national anthem alongside images from the night of the coup showing tanks and war planes firing in the capital Ankara. One video shows the moment when people took to the streets in their thousands in Istanbul and Ankara to counter the coup attempt, which claimed nearly 270 lives, among them 24 putschists. In schoolyards, students observed a minute of silence for the victims and a prayer was said. Authorities have blamed the coup attempt on Erdogan's arch-enemy, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, and followers of his moderate Islamic "Hizmet" (Service) movement which encourages its members to work in the public sector. Gulen, who lives in self-exile in the United States, strongly denies any involvement in the coup, and the mass crackdown on his alleged supporters has sparked alarm among Turkey's Western allies. We are teachers, not terrorists Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned teachers not to "tolerate" those working for Gulen -- whose movement it refers to as the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) -- or the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "Dear teachers, never tolerate among your colleagues those who serve FETO or the separatists," Yildirim said in a televised speech during a visit to a school in the eastern province of Erzincan. Union chief Ozev warned that children's education could suffer if inexperienced teachers were called in to fill the staffing shortages after the crackdown. Speaking to AFP, he said the school year was likely to be characterised by "general chaos" due to the fact "there are 40,000 to 50,000 vacancies and no preparation on the side of the ministry of education". Cigdem, a teacher in Istanbul, attacked the sackings and suspensions as opportunism as she defended her colleagues. "We won't them let do that, we will not let down our schools. We are not coup-mongers or terrorists, we are teachers." Don't touch my teacher Tens of thousands of staff in the education sector have been suspended or dismissed for alleged links to Gulen, while another 11,500 teachers suspected of links to the PKK were suspended earlier this month. The PKK, which has waged a insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is considered as a terror organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. There have been almost daily attacks by the PKK since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, while Turkish authorities have stepped up their military campaigns in the restive southeast in response. In Kurdish-majority Diyarbakir, nearly 100 teenage students held a sit-in to protest against the suspensions in the city's main square shouting slogans including "We want our teacher back". One student wore a T-shirt reading "Don't touch my teacher", and was among nearly 30 detained forcefully by police, an AFP correspondent said. The detentions came after the students refused to stop their demonstration, which is banned under the three-month state of emergency imposed a few days after the failed putsch. ISIS has been portraying children as suicide bombers and terrorists in their propaganda videos since a long time. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Al-Raqqa: In an attempt to expand their Caliphate, the dreaded Islamic State group is providing training to school children in the Syrian city of al-Raqqa, said activist group, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. According to a report in the Independent, the terror group has been working systematically to indoctrinate school children. They are sabotaging the education process for their own good, the activist group claimed. The group also alleged that when ISIS took over Raqqa in 2014, they closed all schools, burnt textbooks and forced teachers to take repentance courses, threatening them not to teach the old curriculum. After a brief period of time, schools were reopened. However, most of the subjects were banned by ISIS. Instead, children were being given lessons on Sharia. They were also taught Arabic language. The increasing ISIS influence in Syrian schools has been confirmed by those people who have fled the country and escape ISIS. Their testimony reveals how the terror group taught children to make and use bombs in schools. ISIS militants used to send children home with Caucasian dolls that were dressed up in orange jumpsuits and were asked to 'behead them' as part of their homework, a report said. This is not the first time ISIS has used children for their activities. They have been portraying children as suicide bombers and terrorists in their propaganda videos since a long time. Earlier this year, Quilliam, a UK-based think tank released a detailed report titled 'Children of Islamic State', which reveals how ISIS recruits children and then gives them jihad training by indoctrinating them at school, and sometimes at home too. These children are provided with rigorous training to become lethal fighters of the terror group. They are then brought into into the terror group. The report also focuses on how these jihadi children are inculcated with extremist values since their birth, or when they are too small to distinguish between right and wrong. Tagged 'blank slate' by militants, these kids are also provided with extreme martial arts training. Dubai: Two Indian men were charged in a Dubai court on Monday after they allegedly kicked a co-worker to death in a drunken state. According to a report in Khaleej Times, the two men, both in their 40s, and all three of them were carpenters. Other workers spotted the two men assaulting the victim. The duo attempted to flee, but one of them was caught, and handed over to the police. The other accused was arrested from his accommodation. At 1:30am we were informed about an attack incident at Dubai Investment Park. We met two workers there and they said they were heading to their accommodation at 11:30 am on February 13 when they saw the two accused kicking the victim in the head. The two witnesses got close to where the accused stood in a sandy yard and saw the victim lying down bleeding from the head. They smelled like alcohol, a police officer familiar with the case reportedly said. The victim was taken to a hospital where he was operated upon, but succumbed to his injuries. The man died due to excessive bleeding from a wound on the head caused by a blunt object, doctors said. The case was reported on February 14 and the next hearing will be on October 20. Israeli border police officers search a Palestinian man near the scene of a stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city. (Photo: AP) Jerusalem: A Palestinian stabbed two Israeli police officers outside Jerusalem's Old City Monday before being shot, authorities said, as a new surge in violence raised concerns ahead of upcoming Jewish holidays. It was the sixth such incident since Friday, coming after Palestinians wrapped up Eid al-Adha celebrations and as Israel tightened security ahead of Jewish high holidays in October. The upsurge has shattered several weeks of relative calm. After Monday's incident, a 38-year-old policewoman was in serious condition from a stab wound to her neck, the Shaare Tzedek hospital said. A policeman in his mid-40s was being treated for moderate stab wounds, and the Palestinian attacker was in serious condition after being shot in the head and limbs, the Hadassah hospital said. Police identified the perpetrator as a Palestinian in his 20s from east Jerusalem and said he had followed the officers before attacking them. He was shot by the policeman he stabbed, a statement said. The attack happened by the Herod's Gate entrance to the Old City in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a short distance from the Damascus Gate where a Jordanian was shot dead on Friday after trying to stab a police officer. Amman has disputed the Israeli account of Friday's incident, calling the shooting of 28-year-old Saeed Amro "premeditated" and a "barbaric act". However, Israeli police released video footage of the incident in which Amro is seen approaching two officers holding a knife in each hand with his arms raised before being shot. A police spokeswoman said he was yelling "Allahu Akbar" -- God is greatest. Amro's body was handed over to Jordan on Sunday, police said. Tension at holy site Monday's was the sixth attack on Israeli security forces or civilians since Friday, according to Israeli authorities. The army called the recent escalation "further testament to the ongoing influence of incitement on the Palestinian street and social media networks". An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also noted the possibility of a "copycat effect" of one attack influencing another. The official said tensions may be increasing because of the "online incitement" of Palestinians regarding Jewish visits to the Old City and Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The compound is the third holiest site for Muslims and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. The Jewish holidays see an increase in Jewish visitors to the site in east Jerusalem. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his nearly year-long order barring members of parliament and ministers from visiting the volatile site. He "instructed that a response team be established to refute disinformation about Israeli policy on the Temple Mount", his office said. Clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa compound last year during the Jewish high holidays amid Muslim fears that Israel was planning to change rules governing the site, claims Netanyahu vehemently denied. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid stoking tensions. The site is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it. Far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition have called for Jewish prayer rights at the compound, while hardline groups favour construction of a third Jewish temple there. Since October, 227 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count. Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes. Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest. The agreement, negotiated by top diplomats from government backer Russia and the United States, saw an initial drop in fighting across the country after it came into force on September 12. But violence began to escalate late last week. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Damascus: Syria's armed forces on Monday announced an end to the week-long ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia, blaming rebel groups for its failure. "Syria's army announces the end of the freeze on fighting that began at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on September 12, 2016 in accordance with the US-Russia agreement," the statement carried by state news agency SANA said. The truce "was supposed to be a real chance to stop the bloodshed, but the armed terrorist groups flouted this agreement," the statement said. It accused rebel groups of carrying out more than 300 truce violations across the country and of failing to "commit to a single element" of the deal. A military source had earlier told AFP that the ceasefire deal was set to expire at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Monday evening. The agreement, negotiated by top diplomats from government backer Russia and the United States, saw an initial drop in fighting across the country after it came into force on September 12. But violence began to escalate late last week. Syria's armed forces "exercised the highest degree of self-restraint while facing violations by terrorist groups," the statement said. "The Armed Forces confirms its intention and determination to continue fighting terrorism to restore security and stability to Syria." China has repeatedly denounced what it views as interference by the United States and its ally Japan in the South China Sea. (Photo: AFP) Beijing: China on Monday accused Japan of trying to "confuse" the situation in the South China Sea, after its neighbour said it would step up activity in the contested waters, through joint training patrols with the United States. Ties between Asia's two largest economies have long been overshadowed by arguments over their painful wartime history and a territorial spat in the East China Sea, among other issues. China has repeatedly denounced what it views as interference by the United States and its ally Japan in the South China Sea. Japan will also help build the capacity of coastal states in the busy waterway, its defence minister said last week during a visit to Washington. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said countries in the region had reached a consensus that the South China Sea issue should be resolved through talks between the parties directly involved, and that China and Southeast Asian countries should jointly maintain peace and stability there. "Let's have a look at the results of Japan's throwing things into disorder over this same time period ... trying to confuse the South China Sea situation under the pretence of (acting for) the international community," Lu told a daily news briefing, when asked about Japan's announcement. Japan's actions have simply pushed other countries away from it, and it has failed to compel other nations to see its point of view, he added. "China is resolute in its determination to protect its sovereignty and maritime interests," Lu said. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which ships carrying about $5 trillion in trade pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims in the sea, which is also believed to be rich in energy resources and fish stocks. In July, an arbitration court in the Hague said China's claims to the waterway were invalid, after a case was brought by the Philippines. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling. Bugti had in the past applied for Switzerland citizenship, but it was rejected by the government. (Photo: Facebook) Islamabad: Geneva: Exiled Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti, who has been at the forefront of the Baloch movement against Pakistan, on Monday said he will soon apply for asylum in India. Bugti, the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed by Pakistan forces 10 years ago, said he will file the asylum application to the Indian government through the country's embassy here soon. "We have decided to formally file asylum papers to Indian Government soon. We will follow the legal process for the application," he told reporters in Geneva. Bugti is currently living in exile in Switzerland. He also said his Baloch Republican Party has decided to approach the International Criminal Court against Pakistani army generals. Bugti said Baloch Republican Party has also decided to file case against China at the International Court of Justice and to do it, the party will approach India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh for help. Last month, Bugti had thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raising the issue of the situation in Balochistan in his Independence Day speech. Sikhism is the only religion that has sanctified its association with trees by remembering its most sacred shrines with the names of different species of trees. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Lahore: For the first time, Pakistani authorities have allowed an Indian Sikh to permanently display images of 'sacred trees' of Gurdwaras of India and Pakistan at Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib. "On the request of former bureaucrat and writer DS Jaspal, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (which looks after holy places of minorities in Pakistan) has given permission to him for permanent exhibition of his work at Nankana Sahib Gurdwara," ETPB spokesman Amir Hashmi said. He said this is the first time that an exhibition of an Indian Sikh is allowed for permanent display at any Gurdwara in Pakistan. The exhibition at the Gurdwara, situated about 80 km southwest of Lahore, is likely to open during a festival in connection with the birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in mid of November. "I will showcase a permanent exhibition of images of sacred trees at Gurdwara Janam Asthan Nankana Sahib which will draw the attention of not only Sikhs but all nature lovers to the rich natural heritage and highlight importance of preserving our depleting tree and forest wealth," Jaspal said after his meeting with ETPB Chairman Siddiqul Farooq on Sunday. Jaspal is the author of 'TRYST with TREES' Punjab's sacred heritage, a pictorial documentation of 58 sacred and historical Sikh shrines in India and Pakistan named after 19 species of trees, like Gurdwara Tahli Sahib; Gurdwara Nim Sahib, Patiala; Gurdwara Babe di Ber Sahib, Sialkot; Gurdwara Ritha Sahib; Gurdwara Lahura Sahib and Ghavindi Lahore. Jaspal was honoured with 'Siropa', an honourary dress, by Farooq for his research on sacred trees of Sikh religion. Jaspal said though love and respect for nature and environment were common to every faith, the naming of sacred shrines after trees was unique to the Sikh religion. "Sikhism is the only religion that has sanctified its association with trees by remembering its most sacred shrines with the names of different species of trees. No less than 19 species of trees have the honour of more than 50 of the most sacred and historical shrines being named after them," he said. Islamabad: Ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has written to the permanent members of the Security Council over the Kashmir issue saying it is a "constant source of tension and instability" posing a threat to world peace and security. Sharif has written to the Heads of Government/State of China, France, Russia, the UK and the US regarding "grave human rights violations" in Kashmir, Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday. "The letters emphasise the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir, on regional, as well as international peace and security," it said in a statement. Sharif wrote the "non-resolution of the Kashmir issue is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security". Last week, Sharif met Hurriyat leaders from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK) and had assured them that he would "emphatically highlight" the Kashmir issue at the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Highlighting the 'violations' of international human rights and humanitarian laws in Kashmir, Sharif in his letters asked the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfil their responsibility with regard to the Kashmir issue, which he said is one of the oldest internationally recognised unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UNSC. Despite the passage of more than 68 years since the adoption of multiple resolutions, the people of Jammu and Kashmir still await the implementation of these resolutions which promised them the right to self-determination to be exercised through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, he wrote. Sharif urged the permanent members of the Security Council to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir and honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people. Imdad Ali, who is aged around 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious cleric in 2002. (Photo: AP) Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday delayed for one week the execution of a man who had been declared insane by government doctors, after rights groups urged the government to halt the hanging. "A mentally ill prisoner who was due to be hanged Tuesday morning has received a seven-day stay from the Supreme Court of Pakistan," Justice Project Pakistan, an independent rights group, said in a statement. Imdad Ali had been scheduled to die at 5:30 am on Tuesday in a prison in the city of Vehari despite having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, it said. "His execution was stayed pending a hearing on 27 September, but he could still be executed as early as next week," it said. Human Rights Watch also urged Pakistan on Monday to halt the hanging, saying the execution would violate its international legal obligations. Ali, who is aged around 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious cleric in 2002. HRW opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, its country representative Saroop Ijaz told AFP. "But in this case it also violates Pakistan's international legal obligations," Ijaz said, referring to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Islamabad ratified in 2011. "Imdad (Ali) has no insight into his punishment or condition or the idea of penalty. Executing someone who does not understand the punishment he or she is being awarded is simply harrowing and serves no criminal justice aim." Separately, a psychiatrist who examined Ali over several years and declared him insane in 2012 had said he was shocked at news of the imminent execution. "He is a declared insane person," said Tahir Feroze Khan. "To hear about his death warrant is shocking news for me." A medical report seen by AFP said Ali's speech was incoherent, he frequently spoke and laughed to himself, and he suffered from paranoia and delusions of grandeur. Despite being officially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the Lahore High Court last month rejected arguments that Ali should not be executed because of his illness. "His killing would signify in a grim way all that is wrong with the Pakistani justice system," added Ijaz. Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after suffering its deadliest-ever extremist attack, when gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 and killed more than 150 people -- mostly children. Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism, but later extended to all capital offences. The country has executed over 400 people since resuming hangings in December 2014, according to new research by Reprieve, a British anti-death penalty campaign group, although only a tiny fraction have been for terror charges. Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda on Monday cancelled his scheduled visit to the UN to address the concerns of ethnic groups over the new Constitution, which he said must be open to amendments as the Madhesi-based communities are still dissatisfied. Prachanda was supposed to fly to New York on Monday to take part in the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly leading the Nepalese delegation. He had returned home on Sunday on completion of his four- day tour to India. "The Prime Minister decided not to leave the country after voices were raised from several quarters that he is required to work towards addressing the concerns and grievances raised by the Madhesi, Tharu and ethnic minority groups," reads a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. On behalf of the government of Nepal, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat will lead the country at the UN, it said. Sources said it was high time that the prime minister focussed on implementation of the Constitution and carry out reconstruction work of the damaged structures, so he decided to cancel the foreign trip. Meanwhile, addressing a programme in Nepal Army pavilion in Kathmandu to mark the Constitution Day, Prachanda said the statute can mature only after timely amendments to cater to the needs of the people. The Constitution must be open to amendments as the Madhes-based communities are still dissatisfied with the existing one, he said. The Madhesis, who are mostly of Indian-origin, say that the Constitution is discriminatory to their interest and marginalises them politically. The Prime Minister congratulated the people of Nepal as the nation marked the first anniversary of achieving the decades-long dream of promulgating a people-written Constitution. He also said the government was active towards holding elections at all three tiers including local, provincial and federal levels and would soon announce the dates for them. President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Deputy prime ministers, ministers, high-ranking government officials, chiefs of diplomatic missions, among others were present on the occasion. Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its "reign of terror" in Kashmir by a spate of "vitriolic" and "unsubstantiated" statements following the terror attack in Uri that killed 17 soldiers. "Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of Sunday's attack" in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government. Read: Peace cannot be achieved without resolving Kashmir issue: Pak at NAM "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation" in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. He said that the situation in Kashmir is not of Pakistan's making but a direct consequence of "illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100 thousand deaths". "Nobody has been spared the brute state force including the elderly, wounded patients in hospitals as women and children. This should awaken international conscience," Aziz said. Reacting to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement Pakistan is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated, Aziz said that it was deplorable that the Indian Minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. "The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up India's reign of terror in Kashmir, the statement said. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. Aziz, in his address at NAM summit in Venezuela as the Pakistan delegation head, had said peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council. Aziz in a statement "called for a just settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people, as enshrined in the United Nations Security Council Resolution, which was an essential pre-requisite for peace in South Asia". Foreign Office (FO) in a statement today said that in line with Pakistan's stance, the outcome document clearly opposes attempts to equate "legitimate" struggle for the right to self-determination with terrorism. FO said that Aziz's statement at the NAM Summit also condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Aziz also said that Pakistan is ready to share its counter terrorism experience with other NAM countries. In view of new alignments and re-alignments that are redefining the global geo-strategic and political landscape, Aziz also proposed to setup a high-level panel to undertake a thorough review of the priorities of NAM, with a view to making it a 'Movement of Solidarity' that safeguards the interests of developing countries. Soldiers guard outside the Army base which was attacked Sunday by suspected militants at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: AP) Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif met his top commanders on Monday and said the military was "watchful" towards the security imperatives of the country in the wake of "hostile narrative" by India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. The Corps Commanders' Conference - held in Rawalpindi and chaired by Gen Sharif - reviewed external and internal security situation and operational preparedness of the army, the army said in a statement. "Taking note of a hostile narrative being propagated by India, COAS (Gen Sharif) said that we are fully cognizant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan," the statement said. "Armed forces of Pakistan are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat," he said, expressing his satisfaction over operational preparedness of the army. "Pakistan's armed forces together with our resilient nation have surmounted every challenge and will thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan in future as well," Gen Sharif said during the meeting. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. The religious ones may also call it the effect of the 'Gayatri Mantra' (a highly revered mantra from Rig Veda). Sacked following alleged charges of corruption and land grabbing among others, former Uttar Pradesh minister for mining Gayatri Prajapati would in all likelihood be taking oath of office and secrecy in the next few days. Incidentally it would be Prajapati's fourth oath in the past three years. Prajapati had been inducted for the first time in the Akhilesh cabinet in its first expansion as a minister of state in February 2013, a year after SP was swept to power. Five months later in another cabinet reshuffle, Prajapati had been promoted as minister of state with independent charge. Six months later another cabinet reshuffle took place and this Prajapati was again promoted and made a cabinet minister. He all along had the charge of the mining department, considered to be very lucrative. Though Prajapati, an MLA from Amethi assembly segment in Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi, was sacked barely hours after Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav removed Akhilesh as the state unit head of the party, his dismissal was on the cards after the Allahabad high court ordered a CBI probe into the allegations of illegal mining in the state. Prajapti, whose name figured in the BPL list in 2002, in his affidavit filed with the Election Commission during the 2012 assembly polls, had declared properties worth rs. 1.83 crore. Social activists here alleged that Prajapati had amassed wealth worth several hundred crores through illegal means. SP sources said that Akhilesh was reluctant to take Prajapati back into the cabinet as he feared that it could dent his image and provide the opposition an issue to attack him. Sources said that both Mulayam and Shivpal Singh Yadav were in favour of Prajati's return. Prajapati had met Mulayam in Delhi on the day he was sacked and also remained closeted with Mulayam after the latter rushed to the state capital following crisis in the family. BJP state unit president Keshav Prasad Maurya and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi sharply criticized Akhilesh for deciding to reinstate Prajapati in his cabinet. Where are the charges of corruption now?, Rahul asked at a meeting in Jhansi. A 30-year-old auto driver was killed and 10 others injured after a drunk student rammed luxury car into 12 parked auto rickshaws in Chennai on Monday, according to reports. The student who was driving the Porsche car and his friend have been arrested by the Chennai Police. The incident occurred when they were returning from a party. Details awaited. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting attended by top ministers and other officials over the deadly terror attack in Uri. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting. The top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri in which 17 soldiers were killed, official sources said. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief had visited Kashmir after the terror attack yesterday. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with the Prime Minister strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. The Home Minister, who had yesterday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that "for one tooth, the complete jaw" should be the policy after the attack. Pakistan today accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its "reign of terror" in Kashmir by a spate of "vitriolic" and "unsubstantiated" statements following the terror attack in Uri that killed 17 soldiers. "Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterday's attack" in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government. "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation" in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. He said that the situation in Kashmir is not of Pakistan's making but a direct consequence of "illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100 thousand deaths". "Nobody has been spared the brute state force including the elderly, wounded patients in hospitals as women and children. This should awaken international conscience," Aziz said. Reacting to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement Pakistan is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated, Aziz said that it was deplorable that the Indian Minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. "The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up India's reign of terror in Kashmir, the statement said. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. Aziz, in his address at NAM summit in Venezuela as the Pakistan delegation head, had said peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council. Aziz in a statement "called for a just settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people, as enshrined in the United Nations Security Council Resolution, which was an essential pre-requisite for peace in South Asia". Foreign Office (FO) in a statement today said that in line with Pakistan's stance, the outcome document clearly opposes attempts to equate "legitimate" struggle for the right to self-determination with terrorism. FO said that Aziz's statement at the NAM Summit also condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Aziz also said that Pakistan is ready to share its counter terrorism experience with other NAM countries. In view of new alignments and re-alignments that are redefining the global geo-strategic and political landscape, Aziz also proposed to setup a high-level panel to undertake a thorough review of the priorities of NAM, with a view to making it a 'Movement of Solidarity' that safeguards the interests of developing countries. An FIR was today registered by Versova police here against popular stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma for alleged violation of the Environment Act. Sharma allegedly dumped the debris near mangroves behind his bungalow in suburban Versova and also undertook illegal construction near it, police said. Mumbai suburban District Collector Deependra Singh Kushwah had directed officials to conduct a survey to find if Sharma violated the Act by dumping debris near the mangroves. After the survey, the Andheri talathi filed a police complaint. "We have recorded a case under Sp LAC (special local Acts) No 87/16 U/S 15 (1)(2) Environment Act against Sharma," Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe told PTI. The complainant also submitted the mangrove cell report to police, he said. The bungalow number 71 at Four Bungalows area in Andheri (West), Mhada Colony, was purchased by Sharma from a businessman on November 7 last year and the actor had allegedly carried out some illegal alterations. Prior to this, the Oshiwara police had last week registered an FIR against the actor under section 53(7) of Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP), for alleged unauthorised construction at his flat in suburban Goregaon, based on a complaint by a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official. Sharma had kicked up a controversy earlier this month by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by an official of BMC which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also at his apartment in suburban Goregaon. He had also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet posted on September 9. "I am paying Rs 15 cr income tax from last 5 year n still i have to pay Rs 5 lakhs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi (sic)," Kapil had said in the tweet. "Yeh hain aapke achhe din? @narendramodi (are these your good days)," he sought to know in another tweet, referring to Modi's 2014 poll slogan of "good days are ahead". Sharma has nearly 63 lakh followers on his Twitter handle and since he tagged the Prime Minister, the tweet generated sharp reactions from all major political parties, with an eye on the forthcoming civic elections. A suspicious backpack, containing up to five improvised explosive devices, was found at a New Jersey train station today, one of which exploded while a police robot was examining it, a day after a powerful blast injured 29 people in an upscale New York locality. "There was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices at the Elizabeth Train Station in NJ," FBI's Newark office tweeted after the suspicious backpack was found last night near the Elizabeth train station. "In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated. There are no injuries and law enforcement personnel are at the scene processing evidence," it added. Federal and local authorities were also investigating another suspicious item in the vicinity, CNN reported. The backpack was noticed in a trash can by two men, who reported it to the police after they saw "wires and a pipe" in it, Chris Bollwage, mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey, said. "This was an explosive device containing as many as five explosives. Based on the loudness, I think people could have been severely hurt or injured if they had been in the vicinity." Bollwage said he was "extremely concerned for the residents of the community" if "someone could just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it." The explosion was the second in New Jersey since yesterday. Another pipe bomb went off yesterday in a trash can in Seaside Park, New Jersey. As many as 29 people were injured after a blast in Chelsea district of Manhattan, New York, yesterday, while a second bomb that was discovered nearly four blocks away was defused successfully by the bomb disposal squad. The New York explosion was determined to have been an "intentional act," authorities said, adding, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was clearly "an act of terrorism," although it hadn't been linked to an international terrorist group. "A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity," said Cuomo, who ordered 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard members deployed across the city. Security had already been tightened in the city for the ongoing UN General Assembly, but the presence of officers throughout New York City after the blast will be "bigger than ever," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Several law enforcement officials told NBC News that they are concerned that an active terrorism cell with multiple players could be at work in the New York-New Jersey area. Officials said that the suspicious device discovered Sunday night in New Jersey appeared appeared similar to a device that exploded earlier Saturday morning in Seaside Park. New Jersey Transit has suspended service between Newark Airport and the Elizabeth station, and Amtrak suspended service along parts of the Northeast Corridor. Congress today targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Uri terror attack, holding him "singularly responsible for the complete disarray" in the government's policy vis-a-vis Pakistan, and dared him to act against Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for "a massive intelligence and operational failure". "The Uri terrorist attack, which has been propagated, planned and executed by Pakistan, is the result of failure of the political leadership of the Modi government. Reports clearly point towards a massive intelligence and operational failure inside the government," Congress' chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here. He asked Modi to show courage of conviction by fixing responsibility and accountability for this "complete failure". "India's borders & National Security has been under siege for last 2 years. Def Min. should be held accountable (sic)," he tweeted earlier in the day. Surjewala said yesterday's terror strike on an Army base in which 18 soldiers were killed "is an attack on our national conscience and perpetrators of the attack should be brought to book at the earliest". He took a swipe at the government's policy vis-a-vis Pakistan and said it should approach the international community for imposing comprehensive sanctions on Pakistan which harbours global terror network and uses terrorism as an instrument of state policy. "Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Narendra Modi consistently counselled the Congress government to 'stop writing love letters to Pakistan'. Modiji used the oft-quoted rhetoric of '56-inch chest' as also 'bringing 10 heads back in lieu of one', besides asking the government to 'answer Pakistan in the language they understand'. "Time has come for us to remind Narendra Modi of his 'jumlas' and rhetoric once again. Since becoming the Prime Minister of the country, Modi has indulged in saree-shawl diplomacy to impromptu visits to Pakistan to attend wedding celebrations and birthday parties with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif," he said. "The truth is that the Modi government's Pakistan policy is based on wholesale confusion rather than pragmatic and decisive cohesion. "Modi is singularly responsible for this complete disarray of foreign policy wherein a renegade, pariah nation like Pakistan, which is harbinger of global terror network and which stood isolated amongst international community on account of sustained policy of the Congress-led UPA government, is trying to project itself on international arena as a player for regional stability in Southeast Asia," he said. Surjewala said India's borders and national security "have been under siege for last two years". "There have been over 900 border ceasefire violations by Pakistan in J&K. India has borne the brunt of unchecked terrorist attacks coming from Pakistan in Udhampur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Pampore leading to heavy casualties of Army and police, including senior most officers," he told reporters. "After the grave provocation of terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase, the Modi government invited a Pakistani investigation team to Pathankot headed by the dreaded ISI. Pakistan not only brashly refused to permit a bilateral visit of Indian investigating team, it shockingly accused India of engineering the Pathankot airbase attack and killing its own soldiers," he said. He said the Modi government "appears to have learnt no lessons" which finally resulted in the cowardly Uri attack. He also questioned why the government did not take preventive measures to pre-empt the Uri attack if there was information available from different agencies. "Modi government needs to answer as to why no preventive measures were taken to pre-empt the Uri terror attack if there was credible information available from different agencies and security experts, more so considering the vulnerability of the Uri Brigade area and also its proximity to Line of Control," he said. Surjewala also sought to know why the soldiers were housed in tents when two military buildings were vacant. "Why were soldiers housed in tents when two military buildings were vacant and available, which led to casualties? Who leaked information regarding troop movement and changeover, that is that the 10-Dorgra Regiment was in the process of making space for 6-Bihar Regiment? Isn't it not a clear cut failure of command and control structure in the Modi government," he asked. Taking a dig at Parrikar, he said the Defence Minister is "busy threatening fellow Indians like Aamir Khan" and asked whether the priorities have gone wrong for the government. "He (Parrikar) is busy attacking fellow Indians and passing intemperate remarks against everybody rather than doing his own responsibility. The responsibility, if any, lies at the doorsteps of the Modi government and at doorsteps of Manohar Parrikar, the Defence Minister of the country, who has proved himself to be a utter and complete failure," Surjewala said. In one of the deadliest attacks on the Army in recent years, 17 jawans were killed and 19 others injured as heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday. Four militants involved in the terror strike were killed by the Army. Surjewala said the government must also take appropriate steps at the international fora so that Pakistan is declared as a "terrorist state". Replying to a question, he said, "The government must tell the people of the country about the complete and total operational and intelligence failure. Any investigation that needs to take place must take place, but it should not be for the purpose of brushing issues under the carpet which is usually done by the Modi government." "More so, we demand responsibility and accountability must be fixed," he said. Asked if Congress will back action like what the USA did in case of Osama bin Laden, Surjewala said, "The government has to take a call on what kind of operational action it will take. Whatever action is taken, which is in the national interest and against terrorists and those who patronise them...not only Indian National Congress, all parties will support the government." Asked if Congress sees any link between India raising the Balochistan issue and the Uri attack, he said, "Pakistan- occupied Kashmir is very much an integral part of India and if there are human rights violations in Balochistan and if the Army there has been accused of mass rapes, that's an issue which successive Indian governments have raised from time to time. To link the terror attack coming from Pakistan to the Balochistan issue is uncalled for. Responsibility lies at the doorsteps of the Government of India to protect its borders as also its citizens." Asked whether the Centre should grant asylum to exiled Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti, he said, "The government will have to take note of the same. I am certain that in accordance with our procedures as also our stand on national and international fora, the government will take an appropriate call on the issue." Attacking Parrikar, he said, "Will Prime Minister show courage of conviction and fixing responsibility and accountability for this complete failure, particularly that of his Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is more of a Swayamsevak, than holding the serious and responsible position of the Defence Minister of the country?" He said on behalf of the people of India, Congress calls upon Modi to traverse the distance from 'rhetoric' to 'reality', from 'projection of self' to 'protection of national interest'. "Uri terror attack demands a firm and appropriate response from Indian Government to punish the guilty," he said. A Kashmiri student was today expelled from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for posting "objectionable" comments on Facebook over the terror attack on the army base in Uri. AMU Vice Chancellor Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah took a "very serious view" of the issue and expelled the student, who was pursuing M.Sc in Organic Chemistry, after personally probing the matter, university spokesman Rahat Abrar said. "Lt Gen Shah said that there is no scope whatsoever at AMU for tolerating any incident which smacks of anti-national sentiments," the spokesman said. The student, Mudassar Yusuf from Srinagar, had offered his apologies to the Vice Chancellor yesterday for posting the comments stating that he was "carried away by sentiments", according to university sources. However, the university authorities decided to go ahead with his expulsion keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter, the sources said. BJP Lok Sabha Member from Aligarh, Satish Kumar Gautam had also written to the Vice Chancellor demanding stringent action against the student for his Facebook post. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan- based JeM had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. A 28-year-old naturalised US citizen of Afghan descent is being sought by authorities in New York with regard to investigation in the powerful explosion that rocked an upscale Manhattan locality here yesterday, injuring 29 people. "The FBI is asking for assistance in locating Ahmad Khan Rahami," FBI New York said in a tweet. "Rahami is a US citizen of Afghan descent born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is about 5.6' tall, has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair," the FBI tweet added. Rahami is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion that occurred yesterday in Chelsea district of Manhattan, New York, and injured 29 people, it said. A second bomb that was discovered nearly four blocks away was defused successfully by the bomb disposal squad. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Rahami could be "armed and dangerous". "We need to get this guy in right away. My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them," de Blasio told CNN. The New York explosion was determined to have been an "intentional act". Earlier, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was clearly "an act of terrorism," although it hadn't been linked to an international terrorist group. "A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity," said Cuomo, who ordered 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard members deployed across the city. Security had already been tightened in the city for the ongoing UN General Assembly, but the presence of officers throughout New York City after the blast will be "bigger than ever," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Meanwhile, the federal authorities were also investigating whether the New York blast had any links to the suspicious backpack, containing "multiple explosive devices", that was found at a train station in New Jersey today. One of the devices detonated while robot police was trying to disarm the device. Australia today returned to India three sculptures, including a third century rock carving, which were stolen and smuggled out of the country. Arts Minister Mitch Fifield handed over artefacts -- Seated Buddha, a 900-year-old stone statue of Goddess Pratyangira and a third century rock carving of Worshippers of Buddha -- to Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at Canberra-based prestigious National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Receiving the artefacts, Sharma said that the gesture of returning art pieces has taken the relationship to a new level as the artworks carried an emotional value for India. "Our sincere thanks to government of Australia and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister Fifield and the National Gallery of Australia for the gesture of returning these three antiquities, which will carry a big message of the relations between two countries," Sharma said, adding that the artworks will now be placed in National Museum in India. The NGA had bought the artefacts allegedly from disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor in 2005. Kapoor is currently lodged in Trichy Central Prison. "This is the ethical demonstration of NGA...This process in which Indian and Australian governments are working together is a testimony of quality and health of the bilateral relations," Fifield said, adding there were at least seven more objects in questions which the NGA is currently probing. The ceremony was also attended by Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri. The ceremony took place in the gallery which houses almost 5,000 pieces of Asian art. Last year, the NGA research team examined new photographic evidence from the French Institute of Pondicherry that indicated a sculpture of Goddess Pratyangira which was bought for USD 247,500 was in India in 1974. This contradicts the dealer-supplied provenance, suggesting the NGA was supplied with false documentation and it was likely to have been illegally exported from India. It is believed that the work has now been reported missing to the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police, NGA said. The Buddha carving was bought for USD 595,000 and the NGA was provided with and had verified new photographic evidence that indicates the sculpture was in India as late as 1990s. "This new evidence means the NGA cannot legally or ethically retain these works, and returning them to India is unquestionably the right thing to do," NGA Director Gerard Vaughan said. In 2014, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi two antique statues of Hindu deities which were stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu before being bought by art galleries in Australia. In June this year, the US had returned over 200 cultural artefacts estimated at USD 100 million to India. Meanwhile, Sharma also met Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Keith Pitt MP and discussed various bilateral issues of mutual interest. Sharma, who is on an official visit to Australia from September 18 to September 20, yesterday attended an event in connection with 'Confluence-the Festival of India' at the iconic Sydney Opera House. The Karnataka High Court today granted bail to former Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao's son, Ashwin Rao and nine others in the Lokayukta extortion case. Justice Ratnakala also granted bail to former Lokayukta PRO Syed Riyaz and Bhaskar, an associate of Ashwin Rao, who was arrested by SIT in Hyderabad in July last year based on an FIR filed against him by Lokayukta police. Shankare Gowda, Srinivasa Gowda, Ashok Kumar, Narasimha Murthy, Hotte Krishna, Rajashekar and Mohd Sadiq Basha were the others who secured bail. Earlier, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the case, had moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to the accused by the Karnataka High Court. It had filed charge sheet against the accused, including Ashwin Rao alias Ashwin Yarabatti. After the final hearing, the apex court on April 2 set aside the Karnataka High Court order granting bail to the accused by observing that they were at liberty to move the trial court for grant of bail since the Lokayukta police had filed charge sheet against them. The charge sheet was filed in an extortion case registered by the SIT on the basis of a complaint lodged by government engineer M N Krishnamurthy, who had alleged that he was asked to pay Rs one crore by the accused to prevent a raid on him by Lokayukta police. According to the charge sheet, Riyaz, who was suspended from his post of PRO of Lokayukta soon after his arrest, is the main accused. The alleged scam came to light after the then Lokayukta superintendent of police, Sonia Narang wrote a letter to Lokayukta Registrar about the complaint she received from an executive engineer, who alleged that someone from Lokayukta office demanded Rs one crore in bribe to avoid a raid. Despite widespread protests and censure, Bhaskar Rao refused to resign from his post until the state Assembly moved a motion against him. Bhaskar Rao resigned in December 2015, four months after his son was arrested. On August 5, Rao was chargesheeted for abetting illegal gratification to influence a public servant, concealing evidence and being part of a criminal conspiracy to cover up and protect the offenders. He is a former high court CJ. After Rao's resignation, the post of Lokayukta has remained vacant as the governor had rejected the name of S R Nayak proposed by the state government. The government is yet to finalise another candidate. The giant panda has long languished on the endangered species list, but an international monitoring group finally had some good news for it. The pandas were removed from the endangered list, along with the Tibetan antelope. But the monitors issued a grim warning about the fate of the eastern gorilla, which has moved one step closer to extinction. It also said that the plains zebra has become near threatened because of hunting. The new designations were announced recently in a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a leading environmental group that tracks the status of plant and animal species. Giant pandas are national symbol in China, their native habitat, and the IUCN said that efforts by the Chinese government to reverse the slide of the population, using forest protection and reforestation, had been successful. The pandas new designation is vulnerable. The conservation union said researchers have cautiously increased estimates of the panda population in every study since 1985, but data from the most recent survey conducted from 2011 to 2014 removed any uncertainty about the rebound by the species. That study found an estimated 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, not counting cubs younger than 18 months old. The one remaining source of concern, however, is a big one. The IUCN warned that climate change could destroy more than 35% of the animals bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, leaving its future in doubt. Whereas the decision to downlist the giant panda to vulnerable is a positive sign confirming that the Chinese governments efforts to conserve this species are effective, it is critically important that these protective measures are continued, and that emerging threats are addressed, the group wrote in its giant panda assessment. China said it was less optimistic about the animals progress, however. The State Forestry Administration disputed the conservation groups decision in a statement, saying pandas struggle to reproduce in the wild and live in small groups spread widely apart. If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the populations and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss, and our achievements would be quickly lost, the forestry administration said. Therefore, were not being alarmist by continuing to emphasise the panda species endangered status. The eastern gorilla has been a lot less lucky. The group changed the status of the species, one of the six great apes, from endangered to critically endangered after what it called a devastating population decline of more than 70% in the past 20 years. The species lives in the mountains and jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda and southwest Uganda, and the group said long-term conflict in that part of Africa was responsible for the sharp decline in the gorillas numbers. The spread of firearms and militants in the wider region has also lead to an uptick in poaching and made it dangerous for conservation groups to access the area. The eastern gorilla is composed of two subspecies whose combined population is now estimated to be fewer than 5,000, the group said. One subspecies has fared better than the other. The estimated population of Grauers gorilla has declined by 77% since 1994, from 16,900 individuals to just 3,800 in 2015. The second subspecies, the mountain gorilla, has actually added to its numbers in recent years, the group said, but its population is still estimated to be only 880. To see the Eastern gorilla one of our closest cousins slide toward extinction is truly distressing, Inger Andersen, the director general of the IUCN, said in a statement. Conservation action does work and we have increasing evidence of it. The Canadian Armed Forces Snowbirds will return to Sidney this week for the Wings of Freedom Air Show on Saturday and Sunday. When the nine Canadair CT-114 Tutor jets performed in Sidney in 2009, the two-day show was cut short by weather. Motivated by the truncated show, Bryan Prevost, who had lobbied for the jets to come to the Montana town the first time, applied for the Snowbirds to return to Sidney. His efforts paid off again he learned in December the Snowbirds would migrate to the small Montana town. This year's show will be dedicated to the memory of Phil Petrik, who founded and ran Richland Aviation until his death in 2014. Petrik performed aerobatics at air shows across the country before he settled down in Sidney. He encouraged many other pilots in the area to get their licenses and learn to love the sky, Prevost said. The cost of bringing the airshow to Sidney required at least 30 sponsors and the support of the town's local government, Prevost said. It's worth it, though, to bring such skilled and entertaining pilots to the Big Sky, Prevost said. Prevost rode with the Snowbirds after getting to know some of the pilots from their 2009 show. He said he worked for three months to lose 25 pounds before the flight. "Then I got there, and they didn't even weigh me," Prevost said. The flight was incredible, Prevost said. He marveled at the precision and skill of each member of the team. The glass canopy of the planes didn't provide much relief from the heat of the sun, and Prevost said by the time he landed, he was covered in sweat. But he would lose another 25 pounds to ride with one of the pilots again. "Even watching from the ground, it is something you don't want to miss," Prevost said. The team performs from May to mid-October each year, visiting various cities in North America. The jets fly at speeds up to 370 miles per hour in tight formations at times there are just four feet of distance from one plane's wing to the next. Gates open at 10 a.m. for the event at the Sidney-Richland Airport. The airshow on each day starts at 1 p.m. and ends at 4 p.m. Seven other private pilots will perform at the show. Concessions will be available, and spectators are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and sunglasses. Tickets can be purchased in Sidney at the Sidney-Richland Airport, Yellowstone Bank and Reynolds Market. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 6 to 14. Children younger than 5 are admitted for free. Those wishing to attend the event who live outside Sidney can call the Sidney Chamber of Commerce at 406-433-1916. Terming the Cauvery Supervisory Committee order to release 3,000 cusecs of water a day to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and September 30 as "dissappointing" and a "blow", Karnataka government today said it would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court tomorrow. "The decision of the committee is disappointing to us, tomorrow we are challenging it in the Supreme Court...the Supervisory committee's decision is another blow to the state," Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters here. "We are repeatedly facing injustice, Chief Minister and the Cabinet will decide on next course of action to be taken," he said. "...if the judgements that are coming out are causing injustice to us repeatedly, our state government will have to take some decision," he said. As Karnataka and Tamil Nadu failed to reach an agreement on the quantum of water to be released, Union Water Resources Secretary and Chairman of the committee Shashi Shekhar today directed Karnataka to release 3000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from September 21 to 30. Soon after the development, sporadic protests were reported from different places, especially in Mandya district, the epicentre of the Cauvery agitation, where protesters blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. Following today's order and with the issue again coming up before the Supreme Court tomorrow, elaborate security arrangements have been made by the state government. Parameshwara, who chaired the meeting of senior police and Home Ministry officials said, "We have discussed security arrangements to be made to prevent any untoward incidents, they (police officials) will do necessary arrangements." Chief Minister Siddaramaih also chaired a meeting in which the Home Minister, DGP Omprakash, city Police Commissioner N S Megharikh and other senior officials were present. To ensure that no untoward incident occurs, senior police officials said 15,000 police personnel along with Karnataka State Reserve Police, City Armed Reserve Police, Rapid Action Force as well as Quick Reaction Teams have been deployed all over city. Issuing a warning against rumour mongering, officials said prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC would be in place in the city till September 25. Authorities have also prohibited sale of liquor and opening of bars, wine shops and pubs from 6 am to 1 am tomorrow in the commissionerate limits. Violence had erupted in the city on September 12 with dozens of buses and lorries with Tamil Nadu number plates being set on fire as mobs vented their fury over reports of some incidents of attack on Kannadigas and their properties there. It had flared up soon after the apex court gave its amended order, directing Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu till September 20. Both opposition parties BJP and JD(S) have said that government should not agree to release water to Tamil Nadu. State BJP President B S Yeddyurappa has urged the state government not to release water to Tamil Nadu "no matter what the consequences are". "The state government must say it is well-nigh impossible due to existing circumstances and stick to this stance in the interest of the people in general and farmers in particular," he said. Russia, France, Canada and Afghanistan today joined several other countries in condemning the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 Army personnel even as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Expressing their solidarity with India in its hour of loss, the countries said they stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism. Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said, "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the Army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counter-terrorism efforts." Condeming the attack, France said it "remains at India's side in the combat against terrorism. It calls on every State to fight effectively against terrorist groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries." France also recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir, a French Foreign Ministry statement said. France called for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. The Deputy Spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development in Paris said, "After that of Pathankot earlier this year, this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. "More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge. As underscored by the President of the French Republic during his India visit in January this year, all countries must effectively combat terrorism emanating from their territory or from territories under their control." He also asserted that nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combated everywhere with the same determination. Hoping that the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice, the UN Secretary General said re-establishing stability and preventing any further loss of life will be the priority of "all involved". Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said, "The Government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the Government of India in the fight against terrorism." Condemning the attack, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said the countries that use terrorism as instrument of foreign policy, should not only be isolated but also held accountable for taking away innocent lives. Noting that his country, which has been a victim of terrorism for a long time, can "share the pain", he said it was high time that international community chalks a new course of action to "effectively and actively" deal with the countries which use terrorism as state policy. The US and UK had also condemned the attack yesterday. He has travelled far and wide visiting over 100 countries, owns business and has an unflinching passion to take up challenges. He is currently on a mission to spread the eternal force of Saint Mother Teresa on screen, with the Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF). Gautham Lewis, aged 39, a native of West Bengal, was afflicted by polio when he was barely a few months old. He was lucky to survive, as polio was claiming one in every five newborns in the 1970s. The dreaded virus had left the lower part of Lewis body immobile. When his biological parents could not raise him due to financial constraints, it was Shishu Bhavan, the childrens home run by Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, that gave him shelter. Lewis life took a twist when he was adopted by Patricia Lewis and went to live in London, United Kingdom. Gautham recalled his tryst with Mother as Mother Teresa is called that he was not just feeling lucky to be blessed by the great soul, but also for infusing strength to break the barrier of crippled by destiny. As Gautham explains, he owns Freedom in the Air at UK, a flight training academy for physically challenged people, a digital marketing company, besides producing films and pursuing his passion for photography. On Monday, Gautham was in Mangaluru for the launch of a three-day Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF) at St Agnes Special School at Bendore. It was the same school Mother Teresa had visited in the city during her life time. Speaking to reporters, Gautham said, When Mother was canonised as a saint at Rome, I came down to Kolkata to celebrate the occasion. For me, the sky is the limit, as told by Mother. Gautham, who has done his mite during polio eradication drive in India, says, in future, he will return to India, but temporarily. I want to buy a home either in Kolkata or any part of West Bengal, so that I can spend six months in Kolkata and an equal period of time in UK, says Gautham. Twitter India, part of the popular micro-blogging platform Twitter, has decided to wind up engineering work at its development centre in Bengaluru, impacting half of its workforce. In a written reply to queries dent by DH, a spokesperson from Twitter India stated that the decision is part of the normal business review, and has decided to stop the global engineering work at the Bengaluru development centre. Engineering is a key part of our global company, and we continue to focus our programmes and efforts on improving the core product experience for our users, worldwide. We thank the impacted individuals for their valuable contributions, and are doing as much as we can to provide them a respectful exit from our company, stated the spokesperson. Twitter India has multiple offices and their operations include sales support to marketing, to media partnership, to business development, and to other areas. Only the Bengaluru office has engineers. The company didn't reveal the split of employees. The spokesperson also made it clear that Twitter remains committed to India as a strategic market for users, partners and advertisers. Today, India is one of our fastest growing markets worldwide, and we continue to invest in key initiatives to further expand our audience, increase user-engagement, and drive revenues in this important market, the spokesperson stated. The spokesperson also revealed that over 80% of Twitter users are on mobile, and the company offers a mobile advertising platform to businesses of all sizes in India, from brand marketers to SMB advertisers. Video is the main advertising product for Twitter, which provides the highest engagement and return on investment (ROI) for marketers, the spokesperson stated. San Francisco-based Twitter acquired Bengaluru-based mobile startup ZipDial for around $40 million in 2015, which helped it set up an engineering centre here, with the help of the ZipDials 50 employees. Though the company pruned the team, it later added more Android developers, a media partnership manager, a site reliability engineer and support engineers. Valerie Wagoner, the CEO of Zipdial, was heading the centre initially. The heads of more than 20 mutts across the state, in unison, demanded a National Water Policy (NWP) and intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in solving the ongoing Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Expressing their solidarity with the protesters in Mandya on Monday, the seers said that the mutts have always supported farmers and will continue doing so. Adichunchanagiri seer Nirmalanandanatha Swami urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to lead a delegation of experts to meet the PM, and offered to accompany the team. The agreement for water between the two states, that was signed in 1924, should be renewed taking into account the current environmental conditions, rainfall, watershed areas, he said. Suttur seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami said, The conspiracy of the British, who were instrumental in signing the agreement, has turned into a bane for Karnataka. The courts verdict has affected the farmers and the government should come to the aid of the farmers at this juncture. The elected representatives should be ready even to resign if that would help the state to wade out of the crisis. Siddalinga Swami of Siddaganga Mutt, Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami of Koodala Sangama Panchamasali Mutt, Bebi Mutts Trinetra Mahanta Shivayogi Swami and Sri Ramakrishna Ashramas Muktidananda Swami participated in the protest. MP C S Puttaraju and, MLAs N Cheluvarayaswamy and Ramesh Bandisiddegowda were present. The Centre wants to build a consensus among political parties on the course of action to be adopted against Pakistan following the Uri attack. Senior ministers of the BJP are likely to engage leaders of various political parties and inform them about the ground situation as well as the terror strike in Uri Brigade headquarters, a move that emerged after high-level meetings involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress, according to party leaders, wants the government to engage them too in finalising the strategy as they have past experience in dealing with such situations. Though there is a chorus for a surgical strike on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the government is weighing all options. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said India will carefully decide its future course of action. We will take our next steps carefully. It does not matter what Pakistan says, he said. At the same time, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said India will have to respond and punish the perpetrators of the attack and can no more take it lying down. The hardline by a section of the BJP leaders was first articulated by party General Secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday, when he advocated for one tooth, the complete jaw and said, the days of so-called strategic restraint are over. Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar said Pakistan has reduced itself to pariah status in international community due to its hypocrisy and terror sponsorship. The Uri attack highlights Pakistans desire to use poison instead of dialogue. We will never accept the use of brutality in international affairs, he said. Another Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, however, wanted a probe into the lacuna which led to the attack at the army base. A former army chief, Singh wanted the army to decide on its response coolly with proper planning. Having seen the army closely, I feel, it needs to be analysed as to what happened there...It needs to be investigated how the incident took place and what the lacunae were. Alertness is required from the armys side, Singh said. For the second time in the past four days, buses plying between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were stopped a few kilometres away from the inter-state border on Hosur Road on Monday. Drivers refused to cross the border as tension prevailed in the border areas in view of a protest by pro-Kannada groups over the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Hapless passengers had to get down from the buses, walk a few kilometres and take buses on the other side of the border to reach their destinations. Most of the Tamil Nadu State Road Transport Corporation and private buses were stopped near Attibele near Hosur, some two km from the border. Even private vehicles including motorcycles bearing Tamil Nadu registration were not allowed to cross the border. People from Karnataka, mainly Bengaluru, who are employed in Hosur and other parts of Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu were put to hardship due to non-availability of transport services. Some volunteers distributed water packets and also served food to people who were stranded near Attibele on the Karnataka side and also to those who had to walk long distances to find alternative transport facility. Passengers had faced a similar ordeal on September 16 when a bandh was observed in Tamil Nadu. On Monday, vehicles, especially trucks proceeding towards Mysuru from Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu were stopped on the highways near the inter-state border. Similar situation prevailed in Sathyamangalam in Erode district. With the Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Monday directing Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs water to Tamil Nadu daily till September 30, tension continued to prevail in the border areas with people fearing another round of agitation. The state government will on Tuesday challenge in the Supreme Court the Cauvery Supervisory Committees order for further release of water to Tamil Nadu. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Home Minister G Parameshwara, however, did not specify whether Karnataka will comply with the committees order directing the state to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu every day for the next 10 days. The order of the supervisory committee is extremely disappointing. Grave injustice has once again been rendered to the state. The committee has inflicted yet another blow on the state, Parameshwara told reporters after holding a meeting with top police officials to review the security arrangements in the state in the wake of the CSC order. Indicating that there could be a hardline decision in the coming days, Parameshwara said the state Cabinet might have to take a firm or different stand in the wake of repeated injustice to Karnataka with regard to the Cauvery issue. The Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Wednesday. Siddaramaiah, who had toured Chamarajnagar district during the day, returned to the state capital on Monday evening. He held a meeting with the home minister. However, he refrained from making a statement on the CSC order. The chief minister will be in Bengaluru on Tuesday, according to his official programme. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said Karnatakas legal team would examine the Supervisory Committees order to take further decisions. I am told that our team is still waiting for a copy of the order of the committee, in New Delhi. The Supreme Court is going to hear our plea challenging the 2007 tribunal order, next month. Our decisions now should not go against the state, Jayachandra said. Meanwhile, In Delhi, Karnataka Water Resources Minister M B Patil on Monday said the state will explain to the Supreme Court its inability to release any more water due to low storage in its reservoirs. He told reporters, Our officials have explained about the difficulty in releasing any more water to the neighbouring state at the Supervisory Committee meet. Since Tamil Nadu will get water from the Northeast monsoon from next month, they need not worry about shortage of water, the minister said. The minister, who was here for the past three days, also held a meeting with state officials and the Karnataka legal team about the latest order of the Supervisory Committee and also the matter to be raised in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, where the Cauvery issue will come up for hearing. Water release to Tamil Nadu stopped The officials of the KRS dam stopped the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu on Monday afternoon, reports DHNS from Mandya. According to the dam authorities, as per the Supreme Courts direction, Karnataka should have released water till September 20. The water released from the dam will reach Biligundlu, the contact point between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, by Tuesday and thus, the crest gates were closed on Monday. A bill that allowed Fish, Wildlife and Parks to raise license fees to generate more revenue was a controversial measure in the last Legislature, but since going into effect in March there seems to be no opposition among hunters and anglers to paying more. It doesnt appear weve had any buyer resistance to the license fee increase, Jeff Hagener, director of the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, told the Environmental Quality Council on Thursday. And people buying licenses are buying more licenses, he added. On track Halfway through the fiscal year sales of fishing and hunting licenses are tracking close to what FWP estimated in its fiscal note for the legislation. The increase in fees was designed to add $5.7 million to FWPs annual budget. Of help to the agency is that hunting and fishing license sales seem to be slowly trending upward after dipping, said Hank Worsech, FWP License Bureau chief. Sales for hunting licenses fell after FWP stopped selling doe deer licenses and cut back antelope licenses in Eastern Montana after steep declines in those animal populations following the severe winter of 2011. That was followed by an outbreak of disease that thinned white-tailed deer numbers in the region. Earlier this year FWP also saw a small spike in elk license sales after instituting its first late hunt, called a shoulder season, Hagener said. Those shoulder seasons have been expanded to more hunting districts this season, which could further increase license sales. Also, as out-of-state hunters have returned to Montana, nonresident combination hunting licenses are selling earlier out of concern that there may no longer be a surplus, Hagener said. New fees New this year for those buying hunting licenses is whats called a basic hunting license that all hunters must purchase for $10; they are $15 for nonresidents. Other increases under the new legislation included a jump from $750 for nonresident tags for moose, sheep, goats and bison to $1,250. Even with the $500 increase Worsech said there was no decrease in nonresident applications for the permits. I dont think price is a driver for those tags, Worsech said. Especially for bighorn sheep. We have record rams coming out of the Breaks. And our prices are still lower than surrounding states. Nonresident fishing license fees went up from $60 a year to $86. Resident fishing licenses increased from $18 to $21. Review As part of the bill that allowed the increase in fees is a stipulation that license fees be reviewed every four years, allowing the agency to be more agile in responding to increasing operating costs. Previously the Legislature reviewed FWPs license fee structure every 10 years. FWP and many sportsmen and women lobbied hard for the increase. About two-thirds of FWPs funding comes from the sale of fishing and hunting licenses. Even so, the Legislature trimmed FWPs original request. Without the increase the agency was predicting a deficit of $90 million by 2026. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department was confronted with a similar situation in 2013 as hunting and fishing license sales declined. Unable to convince the Legislature to allow a license fee increase the agency carved more than $6 million from its budget. Prior to asking for a fee increase Montana FWP cut $1.2 million from its budget, none of which comes from the general fund. Seven percent of the WGFD funding comes from the state general fund. This month WGFD cut another $1.2 million from its budget proposal to the Wyoming Legislature. Part of the problem that state wildlife agencies like Montana and Wyoming are dealing with is funding nongame projects and the fact that more residents and nonresidents enjoy wildlife yet contribute little or nothing to their management. Thats prompted state wildlife agencies to consider other sources of funding from those who arent just hunters and anglers. The problem has been how to acquire those dollars. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Centre to inform them about the action taken against cow vigilantism, following a complaint it received citing at least 15 attacks on people this year. Delhi-based lawyer K R Subhash Chandran had approached the NHRC last month seeking action against such groups, armed with data in which he claimed that at least three people were killed and around 40 physically attacked by cow vigilantes. Acting on the complaint, the NHRC has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to take appropriate action within eight weeks. The authority concerned is directed to take appropriate action within eight weeks and inform the complainant of the action taken in the matter, the NHRC communique to the MHA said. The complaint submitted to the NHRC said the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq at his home in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, on September 2015 on suspicion that he consumed beef was followed by rash of attacks by cow vigilante groups across north India. At least three people have been killed this year so far, and several beaten, flogged and subjected to severe indignities. Recently in Gujarat, the flogging of Dalits for skinning a dead cow has triggered spontaneous street protests by the Dalits and minorities, it said. The Supreme Court verdict on Singur helped Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to pull a publicity coup, but the victory seems to have backfired. Citing the apex court ruling, people from other areas who faced similar acquisition have raised demands for compensation and the return of land. While land losers at Burdwan, Siliguri and Purulia raised their voice against forcible land acquisition by the Left in the last few weeks, on Monday, the demands echoed much closer home at Rajarhat New Town. Around 500 farmers joined hands to press for the same demands in the eastern fringes of Kolkata. Land for the township was acquired by the erstwhile Left Front government in 2000, making way for the upcoming satellite township. Claiming to be farmers from the erstwhile agricultural area, they demonstrated outside HIDCO Bhavan, headquarters of the states nodal agency for housing infrastructure development, also the administrative authority for the township. Surrounding HIDCO headquarters, they raised slogans and demonstrated with placards, demanding the return of their land. They claimed their land was forcibly acquired and the compensation paid was much below the market rate. They demanded that land lying fallow should be returned to them with compensation for the land where construction has taken place. Protesters claimed that notices for acquisition were put up back, but no public hearing was ever held. They also cited a speech Mamata gave at a public meeting in Rajarhat in November 2010, around six months before she came to power. In her address, she demanded that the government develop 10% of fallow land and return the rest to the farmers. Mohamad Abdullah, a leader of Mondays agitation, claimed that despite forcible acquisition for New Town, much of the land has been lying unused. A large portion of land was acquired without our consent. If land at Singur can be returned, we can also have ours back, Abdullah said. A local court on Monday gave the son of deceased DySP, M K Ganapathi (in pic), 10 days to file objections to the B report filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the case pertaining to the officers suicide. First Additional Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) judge, Annapoorneshwari, asked advocate Prasanna Kumar representing Ganapathis son, Nehal, who has filed a private complaint, whether he had any objection to the report. The advocate submitted that he would submit the objections after getting a full copy of the report. Accordingly, the court gave time till September 29. Ganapathi, working in the office of IGP (western range) in Mangaluru, was found hanging at a lodge in Madikeri on July 7 shortly after he gave a television interview accusing former Home Minister K J George and IPS officers A M Prasad and Pronab Mohanty of harassing him. The case was taken over by the CID which submitted the 535-page B report to the court on Saturday, exonerating the trio from all responsibility for Ganapathis suicide. No member of Ganapathis family son Nehal, wife K K Pavana, father Kushalappa and brother Machaiah attended the hearing. Local advocate, Amruth Somaiah, who had so far represented Nehal, didnt appear for him. Prasanna Kumar, a lawyer from Bengaluru, represented him. Legal experts said that if Nehal submitted objections to the report, the case would continue or else would be closed. Speaking to DH later, Nehal said they would submit the objections after consulting the lawyer, but would not demand a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. The CID probe failed to give justice to us. I have lost all hope of getting justice. We are not going to demand a CBI probe either, he said. Nehal said that his lonely battle for justice badly affected his studies. When my father committed suicide by holding George and the IPS officers responsible, everyone was with us. But once the minister resigned, they all deserted us. If I continue the fight for the CBI probe, my future will be at stake, he said. When asked about a petition in the High Court filed by his grandfather and uncle for CBI enquiry, Nehal said that he was not aware of it. I and my mother have already suffered a lot, he said. CBI probe: HC adjourns plea The High Court on Monday adjourned the petition filed by father and brother of M K Ganapathi, seeking directions to the state government to hand over the probe into Ganapathis suicide to the Central Bureau of Investigation, reports DHNS from Bengaluru. M K Kushalappa and M K Machaiah have contended that they wanted a fair investigation and hence the probe should be entrusted to the CBI. The government has argued that the father of Ganapathi himself had admitted that the latter committed suicide. It claimed that the petitioners were expressing doubts over the fairness of the investigation when the CID had completed the probe. Justice S Abdul Nazeer adjourned the hearing to Tuesday. With the NDA governments support, a group of scientists is now comparing the Ganga water with that of Narmada and Yamuna rivers to find out if the Ganga contains anything special. The analysis, researchers said, will help establish if the river, considered holy by millions of Indians, contains something that imparts non-putrefying properties to it, and if there was any scientific truth behind the myths associated with the Ganga. Nagpur-based National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), one of the laboratories under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, began the study first solely on the Ganga with funding from the Ministry of Water Resources. But, it was decided later to sample the Narmada and Yamuna and compare them with the Ganga to avoid any religious overtone, NEERI director Rakesh Kumar said here. The scientists will collect samples at 10-15 points along the Narmada and Yamuna and analyse them. The Ganga was sampled at 35 places in the past one and half years. The entire report would be presented to the Ministry of Water Resources by December 2016, Kumar told DH. Three other CSIR laboratories National Botanical Research Institute and Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, both in Lucknow, and Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, are part of the effort. The researchers have tested the river waters for dissolved oxygen content, presence of microbes and bacteriophage as well as chemical elements. The presence of vegetation and their influence are also being scrutinised under this study, costing Rs 4 crore. However, this is not a standalone research effort. The Indian Council of Medical Research submitted a proposal to the government to test if the Ganga water has some clinical benefits. The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, IIT Roorkee and Benaras Hindu University have research projects exploring the so-called non-putrefying properties of the Ganga. Several scientists researching on the special power of the Ganga water suggest the presence of a high concentration of many varieties of bacteriophage a type of virus that eats bacteria behind its unique properties. This was first documented by British scientist Earnst Hankin in the 1890s. Others believe in the existence of an unknown agent or mystery factor, dubbed as Brahm Drabya (divine elixir). Last November, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences organised a scientific conference, where RSS leader Krishna Gopal cited references from Akbarnama and Hankins 1896 reports to underline the presence of bacteriophage activity in the mighty river. New research needs to be conducted to further renew this claim, Gopal had stated. After a series of high-level meetings, the army has made it clear that it is capable of responding to terror tactics. We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our own choosing, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said here on Monday. The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control (LoC) and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us, he said. Lt Gen Singh, one of the senior-most officers in the army, made the governments position known after day-long consultations between the political establishment, security and intelligence agencies. Meanwhile, the death toll in the Uri terror strike touched 18 on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to decide on the strategy amid calls for using military option against terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials attended the meeting, during which all the options were assessed. Sources said New Delhi is for a calibrated and strategic response and would want to expose Pakistan in the international fora with actionable evidence. Parrikar and army chief Gen Dalbir Singh, who visited the garrison town in north Kashmir on Sunday, also had a separate meeting with Modi at his 7, Race Course Road residence where they apprised him of the ground situation. In the evening, Modi met President Pranab Mukherjee, reportedly to brief him on the security review and the road ahead. However, there is no official word on what transpired between the two. DGMO gives update Giving an update on the Uri operation, Lt Gen Singh said four AK-47 rifles, four under-barrel grenade launchers, 39 under-barrel grenade launcher grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPSs, two map sheets, two matrix sheets (a type of navigational aid), one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings were recovered from the militants. The infiltration attempts by terrorists have shown a marked increase compared with the past three-four years. In 2016, there have been 17 infiltration bids eliminated by the army along the LoC. Of a total of 110 terrorists eliminated in Jammu and Kashmir, 31 have been killed while they were attempting to cross the LoC. It indicates a desperate attempt from across the LoC to infiltrate more terrorists into Kashmir with a view to create disturbance and foment unrest in our area. The last two infiltration attempts on September 11 in Poonch and September 18 at Uri have been successfully thwarted by the Indian Army by killing four terrorists in each of the operations, Lt Gen Singh said. Low-flying drones hovering in the sky will now identify those who defecate in the open in some rural areas in Haryana. After Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, district authorities in Yamunanagar in Haryana are now deploying drones to put an end to the practice of open defecation in rural areas. Interestingly, certain areas in Haryana have been witnessing a pattern of sorts where people still go out into the open to defecate even though many of them have functional toilets at home. This has left authorities flummoxed, which is why officials say, this tendency has to be curtailed. Yamunanagar lost the race to be declared an Open Defecation Free district to two others in the state, perhaps, also because of this unexplained pattern of rural people going out in the open to attend natures call. The government has now found the solution to the problem to use drones. Officials said drones will fly for four hours in the morning daily in at least six villages in Yamunanagar. These flying objects, fitted with cameras will collect data for authorities to take appropriate action. The utilisation of drones for this purpose, for now, is being done on a pilot basis. Depending on the response of villagers, the number of drones will be increased and extended to other rural areas in the state. But the initiative has a flip side. Cameras on drones recording people defecating in the open could invite the anger of the villagers. Top district officials involved in the process said the task may give rise to other challenges. The success of this new initiative will hinge upon the confidence and support of the villagers. To deal with unforeseen situations and ensure that the plan works smoothly to meet the desired objectives, the district administration has constituted a committee comprising village locals and officials. EAST HELENA, Mont. For one little girl at Radley Elementary School, the last day of August was one of terrifying back-to-school jitters. It's moments like this when principal Joe McMahon knows he can call on Governor, reported the Independent Record. There's nothing like a lick on the hand, a friendly nudge and a wagging tail to chase a child's tears and anxiety away. Now 7 months old, Governor, who started at the school last year, is already a beloved staff member. On the first day of school, he was in Vashti Teders' special education classroom, Room 24, sticking his head out the door for friendly greets and meets. But once he's on call, he dons his blue service vest and he's all business, which is helping kids get through hard, emotional times. Dressed in his vest, he padded down to the front door with Teders to greet the little girl. As Teders gently spoke with her and introduced Governor, the girl gradually relaxed enough to walk down the hall to Room 24. Ten minutes later, she was able to tell Governor to sit, pet his head and give him treats. A wobbly smile finally flitted across the girl's face. As Governor worked his magic, fifth grade teacher Liz Townsend looked on from the hallway. "Isn't that cool?" she said. "The kids get around him and calm down immediately. He's a very popular fellow." Within a few minutes, the girl was able to walk Governor down the hall to her classroom and then walk in on her own. Governor sits by children during school assemblies to help them calm down, said McMahon. And when children are screaming, crying or striking out, Governor can walk in and calm them much faster than any of the staff, said Teders. Some children used to take 45 minutes or longer to calm down, say Teders and McMahon, but Governor can do it within about 5 minutes. "It is phenomenal to watch," said Teders. "He has an innate ability to comfort people." "It's been a great experience," she added. "He's been here since he was 10 weeks old. He loves coming to work. He's probably the most excited employee here." "My job is to think outside of the box," said Teders. "I have to be a Mary Poppins. I love that about my job." Governor just happened to be one of her out-of-the-box ideas that two Carroll College Anthrozoology students and the Helena Kennel Club made happen. "We had to be open that it may not work," Teders said, but he's exceeded all expectations. Governor and his job description seem to be unique in Helena area schools, say both Teders and Erica Feuerbacher, a professor in the Carroll College Anthrozoology Department. In fact, Teders can't find any school district in Montana using a dog like Governor. Teders calls him a "facility dog." He's not really a "service dog" because he works with all of the students as needed, instead of one specific person. And he's not quite a "therapy dog," she said, because he learns specific tasks for special needs. So he's more a blend of a service and a therapy dog, thus his special job description. "He does amazing things," said para educator Debbie Dunlap. "It's just instinct. He seems to know when kids need extra reassurance. He's such a blessing to us." Edging out the traditional chalk-and-talk method of teaching, schools had forayed into tech-based classrooms with smartboards and more. Neighbourhood tuition teachers in Bengaluru are now jumping into the fray, using the tablet as an interactive, content-rich platform to teach, monitor and assess a childs learning. About 2,000 city students are now part of a unique system that links their curriculum and daily tuition classes with assessment by tutors and monitoring by parents. The tool that makes this interactivity possible: A Wi-Fi enabled affordable Android tablet, fed by content loaded by education startup, Vidyanext. The students -- from ICSE, CBSE and State Grades 4 to 11-- take lessons in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology from tutors located at a 10-minute walk from their homes. This proximity of the students, tutors and parents is what makes the network work, explains former Microsoft employee Pradeep Singh, who started Vidyanext with American serial entrepreneur, Will Poole. How does the tablet-based learning exactly work? A tutor on the Vidyanext platform, Shiv Kumar explains: For 40 years, I took tuititions the normal way: Using the textbooks, asking contextual questions and assessing. But tablet-based tutoring has brought in interactive videos to simplify concepts. Through the tablet, students could also clear doubts any time. Interactive learning They could post questions and expect responses quickly, view video lessons multiple times to understand concepts better. Today, most students are computer-savvy from a very young age. They love to use tablets. Their involvement in assignments is voluntary unlike before, says Kumar. Students do not always understand a concept in the first instance, points out Indumathi, another tutor. Teachers cannot repeat classes due to time constraints. The videos, worksheets, quizzes and flashcards built into the tablet content addresses this issue, she elaborates. Continuous assessment of a student gets simpler when his / her performance in tests, problem-solving notes and other jottings are uploaded. Teachers and parents could then access this data on the tablet through a secure login. Even if a tutor quits, parents can search for another in their neighbourhood through the system. The new tutor can access all the records of the chapters completed, tests done and more, says the startup founder, Pradeep Singh. Over 1,100 retired teachers, ex-army officials, housewives and college students are part of the tutor network, launched in Bengaluru last year. The drive to clear encroachments on stormwater drain will intensify from Tuesday. The drive will be carried out in Srinivasapur, Harohalli, Kadugondanahalli and Myadarahalli, where the total encroachment is about 3,000 square metres. However, on Tuesday 1,650 square metres of encroachment will be cleared and the drive will continue for at least a week, in these locations. Sources in the BBMP said at present, the civic agency is focusing only on vacant sites where the stormwater drains pass. However, a small house will be razed in Myadarahalli. We will start the drive from morning at these places. The Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force and the local police will assist us in the drive, said a Palike officer. BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad had convened a meeting to strategise the drive. 15 September 2016 (UN) In a new report, the United Nations refugee agency said that more than some six million school-age children under its mandate have no school go to and that refugees are five times more likely to be out of school than the global average. This represents a crisis for millions of refugee children, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a news release issued by his Office (UNHCR). Refugee education is sorely neglected, when it is one of the few opportunities we have to transform and build the next generation so they can change the fortunes of the tens of millions of forcibly displaced people globally, he added. According to the agencys new report, Missing Out: Refugee Education in Crisis, only half of refugee children have access to primary education, compared with a global average of more than 90 per cent. And as these children become older, the gap further widens: only 22 per cent of refugee adolescents attend secondary school compared to a global average of 84 per cent. At the higher education level, just one per cent of refugees attend university, compared to a global average of 34 per cent. These findings are particularly pertinent as next week, global leaders will be gathering in new York for two major relevant meetings: the UN General Assemblys Summit for Refugees and Migrants on 19 September, and, the very next day, a Leaders Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis, hosted by United States President Barack Obama. In the release today, UNCHR said that at both summits, it will call on governments, donors, humanitarian agencies and development partners, as well as private-sector partners, to strengthen their commitment to ensuring that every child receives a quality education. Underlining the discussions will be the target of Sustainable Development Goal 4, [to] ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning, an aim that will not be realized by 2030 without meeting the education needs of vulnerable populations, including refugees and other forcibly displaced people, the UN agency stressed. Sheer gravity of the challenges The report also revealed that the global school-age refugee population remained relatively stable at 3.5 million between 2001 and 2010, but since then, it has grown on average by 600,000 children and adolescents annually. In 2014 alone, this population grew by 30 per cent. While noting that governments, UNHCR and its partners have made progress in enrolling more numbers of refugees in school, the agency said that the sheer increase in the number new refugees makes actual progress a daunting task. Given the recent numbers, UNHCR estimates that an average of at least 12,000 additional classrooms and 20,000 additional teachers are needed on an annual basis. Furthermore, the agency highlighted that refugees often live in regions where governments are already struggling to educate their own children. They face the additional task of finding places for schools, trained teachers and learning materials for tens or even hundreds of thousands of newcomers, who often do not speak the language of instruction and have frequently missed out on three to four years of schooling. According to the report, more than half of the worlds out-of-school refugee children and adolescents are located in just seven countries: Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey. The Syrian crisis the face of the dire situation Exemplified by the crisis in Syria, the report further shows how conflict has the potential to reverse positive education trends. Presenting the figures, the UN agency notes that while in 2009, 94 per cent of Syrian children attended primary and lower secondary school, by June 2016, only 60 per cent are in school, leaving 2.1 million children and adolescents without access to education in the country. In neighbouring countries, more than 4.8 million Syrian refugees are registered with the agency, amongst them around 35 per cent are of school-age. In Turkey, only 39 per cent of school-age refugee children and adolescents are enrolled in primary and secondary education, 40 per cent in Lebanon, and 70 per cent in Jordan. This means that nearly 900,000 Syrian school-age refugee children and adolescents are not in school, noted UNHCR. Shedding light on refugee situations receiving less attention The UNCHR report also looks at some of the more protracted refugee situations that receive less attention. For instance, in Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya, the report profiles the remarkable story of a young South Sudanese girl, Esther, who has caught up on multiple years of missed education to reach the last year of secondary school. Only three per cent of children in Kakuma camp are enrolled in secondary school, and less than one per cent make it to higher education. Given the fact that the average length of displacement for a refugee in a protracted situation currently stands at 20 years, the report calls for donors to transition from a system of emergency to multi-year and predictable funding that allows for sustainable planning, quality programming and sound monitoring of education for refugees and national children and adolescents. Story of a young refugee who is now a volunteer teacher The report concludes with the inspiring story of Nawa, a Somali refugee who only started her education aged 16 at a community learning centre in Malaysia. Under four years later, she is due to start a foundation course at university while giving back to her school as a volunteer teacher. Nawas story proves it is never too late to invest in refugee education, and investment in one refugees education means the entire community benefits, said High Commissioner Grandi. Is there anything better than having a couple of beers at the bar and knowing you wont have to leave when hunger strikes? Its a beautiful thing when restaurants and bars combine to bring you delicious food along with your drinks. When you find yourself at one of these establishments, save plenty of room for a meal. Iron Horse Bar & Grille in Gardiner The Iron Horse overlooks the Yellowstone River, so its certainly a scenic spot. But thats not all theyve got going for them. The staff definitely doesnt scrimp on the quality of the food (or the strength of the drinks). The Elk Nachos and Buffalo Burgers are delicious, and you cant go wrong with their dinner specials. Hooligans Sports Bar in Billings Hooligans might be known for their whiskey, but their pub grub is also worth trying. Between the Irish Nachos (they use potato chips) and the classic Bangers & Mash, you certainly wont leave hungry. Hooligans also serves breakfast on the weekends for those who like to get an early start on their drinking. Plonk Wine Bar in Bozeman and Missoula Plonk has received a lot of positive press since they first opened in Bozeman in 2004, and for good reason. While they do have an outstanding wine list (and a full bar for those who arent fans of vino), its the food that really makes them stand out. The menu includes all the classics youd expect from a wine bar, like cheese platters, as well as heartier items like French dips and meatball subs. The Edgar Bar The Edgar Bar is the gem of the tiny town of Edgar. Go for the drinks, but definitely stay for the steaks or the burgers. Theyre unreal. The Mint Bar & Grill in Lewistown Theres a running joke that the mark of a good mid-sized Montana town is a Mint Bar & Grill on Main Street (Belgrade, for one, also has a Mint). None of them are likely to disappoint, but the food menu at the Mint in Lewistown is more appealing than anything on the drink menu. By Rachael Bale 29 August 2016 PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines (National Geographic) Years ago Christopher Tubo caught a 660-pound blue marlin in the South China Sea. The fishing was good there, he says. Tuna fishermen would come home from a trip with dozens of the high-value fish as well as a good haul of other species. Here theres none of that, he says, looking toward the Sulu Sea, the Philippine sea where hes been fishing for the past four years. His two boats, traditional Filipino outriggers called bancas, float in the shallow water nearby, new coats of white paint drying in the sun. Tubo is sitting on a wooden bench in front of his home, which perches on stilts above the bay. One of his four kids wraps an arm around his leg. Worn T-shirts and shorts flutter on clotheslines behind them. Glancing over at his wife, Leah, and the other children, he says, Its just chance, whether or not we can feed our families now. Tubo lives in Puerto Princesa, a city of 255,000 on Palawan, a long finger of an island that faces the Sulu Sea and the Philippine archipelago to the east and the contested South China Sea to the west. Hes one of the nearly 320,000 fishermen in the Philippines who have traditionally made their livelihoods from the South China Seaand one of a growing number who are now fishing in other waters because of increasing Chinese interference. Beginning around 2012, China adopted a more assertive posture in the seas long-running territorial dispute, building military installations on contested islands and increasingly using its coast guard to intimidate fishermen from other countries. It was after a Chinese coast guard vessel attacked a friends fishing boat with water cannons that Christopher Tubo stopped fishing the South China Sea. One minute youll see an airplane, the next thing theres a naval boat, he says, describing how the Chinese attempt to keep fishermen from other countries out of the disputed area. If we kept going over there, maybe we wont be able to go home to our families. As they see it, its theirs now, and Filipinos are forbidden, says Henry Tesorio, an elected councilor for a fishing village in Puerto Princesa. Vietnamese fishermen could say the same thing. Some 200 Vietnamese from the island of Ly Son, 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the mainland, reported being attacked by Chinese boats in 2015, according to local Vietnamese government officials. [more] By Fabiola Sanchez 7 September 2016 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Carlos Parra used to love waking up to see his pet albino boxer, Nina. Now, seeing her skeletal body on the floor next to his bed has become a daily reminder of the economic crisis engulfing Venezuela. His other dogs thick fur barely hides her ribcage as Parra struggles to feed his pets after losing his job at a shoe store. Its terrible to sit and eat, see them watching me with hunger, and not be able to do anything, said the 30-year-old. As Venezuelas economic crunch worsens, food shortages and rising poverty are forcing once middle-class Venezuelans to do the unthinkable: let their pets starve or abandon them in the streets. No figures are available, but activists and veterinarians say they are seeing a growing number of dogs and cats abandoned at parks, shelters, and private clinics. In Caracas it has become common to see purebred dogs rummaging in the trash or lying outdoors, filthy and gaunt, in posh neighborhoods. The animal protection and control center in the capitals Baruta neighborhood saw as many as 10 animals abandoned each day this summer, head veterinarian Russer Rios said. Up to about a year ago there were almost none. Now people just leave them here because they cant take care of them, Rios said. Shelters are running classes teaching pet owners to look for food substitutes in the hopes of helping them maintain their pets through the crisis. At one private shelter in the working-class Caracas neighborhood of El Junquito, a popular alternative for dogs that would never have been considered in better times is chickenfeed. We have to give it to them because theres nothing else, Katty Quintas, a part owner of the Funasissi shelter, said as three skinny cats looked on hungrily from the top of a refrigerator. The shelter is now home to more than 200 cats and dogs. One of the countrys largest animal shelters is run by Mission Nevado, a government program set up by socialist President Nicolas Maduro and named in honor of independence hero Simon Bolivars four-legged sidekick, dubbed Nevado for its white, snow-like fur. Program veterinarian Angel Mancilla said the shelter, which currently houses about 100 cats and dogs, has collapsed under the influx. Were crying every day. You leave each day feeling traumatized, Mancilla said. [more] Carter County officials identified three family members on Monday who died in a private airplane crash Saturday in the southeast corner of Montana. Sheriff Neil Kittelmann said the victims are 64-year-old Timothy Brown, 35-year-old Tricia Brown and 13-year-old Theodore "Teddy" Brown. The family owned hotels in Marathon, Fla. and Harbor Springs, Mich. Kittelmann said the airplane was registered in Florida and the adults had Florida driver's licences. He said their twin-engine Beechcraft Baron crashed Saturday at about noon in a grassy area bordering a field about 12 miles south of Boyes. The aircraft took off from Billings Logan International Airport and was likely headed to Michigan because the Browns had asked for weather conditions between Billings and Harbor Springs. Miriam Riesland owns the property neighboring the crash scene and was one of the first people to reach the wreckage. She said the plane crashed near the Carter and Powder River county line in an area visible from a county road. The man who lives closest to the crash discovered the plane at about 2 p.m. while checking on cattle. She accompanied him to look for survivors. The aircraft was heavily damaged with at least one missing propeller and the scene was littered with debris. Riesland checked the pilot's pulse but when she discovered he was dead she immediately returned home to notify emergency personnel. "I didnt know there was two other bodies in there. It was such a mess," Riesland said. Kittlemann said a medical examiner autopsied the bodies in Billings on Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash. The plane will be moved to either Bozeman or a facility in Arizona for analysis. COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho Federal prosecutors have their first guilty plea in a multi-state drug trafficking case involving at least 20 people, including a Coeur d'Alene gastroenterologist and his family. The Spokesman-Review reports that Geena Milho pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to distribute heroin, oxycodone and methamphetamine. Milho and 10 others were indicted by a federal grand jury in Coeur d'Alene on April 19. In a plea agreement, Milho admitted she was part of the group that prosecutors say was headed by Loren Toelle, the wife of Stanley Toelle. He's a gastroenterologist who worked at Kootenai Health. He's charged with conspiracy to launder money. Prosecutors say the group transported drugs from Nevada and California to Idaho, Washington, Montana and North Dakota from 2009 until early this year. While cruise collections might still keep their swanky nickname instead of just owning up to the Spring season categorization Italian Fashion House GUCCI has collaborated once again with fashion photographer Glen Luchford. This time the celebrated photographer worked on labels CRUISE 2017 film celebrating the collection shown in the beginning of June in London. The Spring 2017 collection by Gucci showed the labels Creative Director Alessandro Micheles has truly a unique take on maisntream. The runway show presented more than 90 new Gucci mens and womens looks. It is hard to imagine Michele actually worked for thirteen years as part of the Gucci design team, the Rome born designer who finished his education at the renowned Accademia di Costume e di Moda started his fashion career in the mid 90s. In these two decades behind the scenes Michele was also an important part of the Rome based Fendi design team. Nevertheless the fashion scene was hardly welcoming to Michele, mostly due to the fact he was hard to see as a replacement for the glossy direction set by his predecessors Frida Giannini and Tom Ford. from MMSCENE Magazine September 2016 Issue; The Michele Effect & Gucci Article. For the Cruise Short Film, Gucci Team and Glen Luchford head out to British countryside to shoot in an astonishing Victorian era castle. The campaign video takes place in the grounds and interior of Chatsworth, features a striking cast including legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave. See the full film after the jump: Creative director Alessandro Michele Photographer Glen Luchford Art director Chris Simmonds Music: The Undertones My Perfect Cousin Damian ONeill, Michael Bradley. 1980 Zain Group is collaborating with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Facebook to provide free, open and high-speed Wi-Fi internet connectivity to refugees in the Kingdom of Jordan for five years. This life-empowering service is being provided to refugees and surrounding local communities in key areas identified by the UNHCR, and forms part of the its Connectivity for Refugees initiative. More than 724,000 refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Jordan, originating mainly from neighbouring Iraq and Syria, two countries facing ongoing internal unrest that has resulted in the massive displacement of large populations. The connectivity project backed by Zain Group, UNHCR and Facebook will offer unlimited, 24/7 outdoor and indoor Wi-Fi access points through Zain Jordans high-speed 4G mobile network, initially in four primary locations across the Kingdom: the Princess Basma Centre in Sahab in greater Amman; the Al Khaledeya Centre in Mafraq; the Princess Basma Centre in Tafileh; and the Princess Basma Centre in Karak. Reliable internet connectivity is critical to supporting the efforts to make the lives of the refugees as comfortable and dignified as possible, allowing them to maintain contact with their loved ones back in their home countries, amongst other things. The refugee centres already offer assistance to refugees and vulnerable Jordanians in the form of psychological support, recreational activities, informal education as well as economic empowerment programs and life skills development. The centres also host regular Help Desks run by UNHCR staff in order to address refugee needs such as registration, documentation, health referrals, financial assistance, and protection counselling. In addition, they provide assistance to refugees with special needs and offer various life-enhancing workshops. All these services will be impacted positively by the provision of sound internet connectivity within the centres. Scott Gegenheimer, Zain Group CEO and a Broadband Commissioner said, As a regional telecommunications provider that has a history of operating in and helping communities in conflict zones, we are well aware of the transformational power connectivity plays in improving the quality of life of people. In addition to staying in touch with loved ones, this initiative will enable refugees in Jordan to stay informed with news concerning their circumstances as well as empowering them to utilise the power of the internet to enhance their economic livelihoods, bringing some peace of mind and dignity to their dire situation. Alan Vernon, Lead for UNHCRs Connectivity for Refugees Programme, said, Not only does internet access directly improve the well-being of refugees, but it also enables UNHCR and its partners to communicate more effectively with refugees and deliver improved support to their communities. Kevin Martin, Facebooks Vice President of Mobile and Global Access Policy, and a Broadband Commissioner said: Everyone in the world including the millions of refugees who have been displaced from their homes - deserves access to the opportunities of the internet. Our hope is that by collaborating with the UNHCR and Zain Group, refugee communities in Jordan will now be able to connect with their families and friends, share information, and become part of the global digital community. This multi-stakeholder collaboration addresses several of the 17 ambitious Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted one year ago by 193 world leaders at the United Nations meeting in September 2015 aimed at ending poverty, protecting the planet, and ensuring the prosperity for all in the coming 15 years. This latest partnership touches on several of the SDGs, namely Goal 17, which addresses technology, capacity building and multi-stakeholder partnership targets as well as Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, and the promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all. Norwegian group Telenor and Saudi operator STC are both considering whether to continue their operations in Malaysia. The fiercely competitive market has led Telenor to weigh up options for its 49% stake in Malaysian operator Digi. These options could include forming a joint venture with an Asian operator or shifting the stake entirely; the holding its valued at around $4.6 billion. Telenor has only just begun reviewing its options so is unlikely to reach a decision any time soon, but its decision was prompted by challenging market conditions which led to a 4% drop in revenue for the operator in Q2 following lower sales of handsets. The operator also revealed that it has seen ARPU drop in Malaysia by around 6% due to continued price pressure on international traffic and domestic data, combined with decline in voice revenues. Telenor does have a strong presence in other Asian markets, including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand. Meanwhile, Saudi Telecommunications Company is mulling over whether to sell its holding in market leader Maxis to a pension fund or other investor. It has not initiated any formal auction processes and may in fact choose to retain the assets. STC holds its stake in Maxis via its 25% interest in holding company Binariang GSM, which is the majority shareholder in the Malaysian operator. This translates to STC having an effective interest of 16.2% in Maxis, valued at roughly $1.8 billion. Binariang is also the majority shareholder in Indian operator Aircel, which is in the process of merging with Reliance Communications. Data from GSMA Intelligence shows that the countrys three largest operators are very evenly matched in terms of subscribers numbers, demonstrating how competitive the market is. Maxis leads the market with 12.8 million connections, while Digi has 12.3 million and Celcom 12.1 million. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have pledged to honor the ban on the promotion of sex-determination tests in India Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have reportedly agreed to block ads for services in India that determine a babys sex before birth. According to a report by Bloomberg, all three companies have pledged to honor bans on the promotion of sex-determination tests and related products. Google also reached out to the publication and said that it has taken action to prevent searches and have its advertising comply with local laws. This includes disabling auto-complete predictions for relevant terms on its site and displaying a warning that pre-natal sex determination is illegal in India. Yahoo said that it cannot comment on the matter as it is subjudice, while Microsoft did not respond. Earlier this year, the court had approached the companies regarding the display of advertisements related to prenatal sex determination, which is banned in India. The court had told the companies to abide by the law cease their operations in the country. The companies had initially said that sweeping bans on offending keywords would also result in non promotional content like research reports and news articles being blocked. Prenatal sex determination was banned in India in 1994 in an affort to curb female foeticide and infanticide in India. According to the 2011 census, India has 943 females for every 1000 males in the country. Mineral explorer Bezant Resources raised 1.189m through a share placement and subscription on AIM to fund further development at its platinum and gold mines in the Choco region in Colombia The miner raised 1.189m, before expenses, by a placement through Beaufort Securities, of 38.4m shares of 0.2p each, and a subscription for 21.05m shares of 0.2 each by new and existing investors. Both had a new share price of 2p, a 27.3% discount. The placing and subscription are conditional on admission to trade on AIM on 30 September, which will represent about 30.29% of the company's enlarged issued share capital, or 196.2m ordinary shares, with none in treasury. Hong Kong based Tomori Enterprises invested 250,000 for 12.5m subscription shares. On admission to AIM, Tomori will have about 46.6m shares representing about 23.76% of the enlarged ordinary share capital. Bezant's geologists and mining engineers are to work alongside Exumax, a mining specialist which has about six years' experience operating alluvial mining projects in Colombia and imported the first specialist mining equipment from New Zealand to be used specifically for near-surface production operation, to test the first alluvial gravels for free platinum and gold at the FKJ083 licence in Columbia. The company also said that certain directors will receive a settlement of a proportion of their outstanding directors' fees and salaries from various time periods from 1 June to 19 September through the issue of new shares. Shares in Bezant Resources were down 9.45% to 2.49% to 1519 BST. Real Good Food announced its expansion in the US on Monday through the creation of new subsidiary Renshaw Americas. Renshaw Americas has secured a five-year lease on a 18750 sq ft. warehousing facility in Rockaway, New Jersey, which the company said was an ideal location for onward distribution and its close proximity to the port of Newark. Renshaw Americas will initially employ a commercial team of four and will act as a sales and distribution hub to sell cake decorating products from the Real Good Food stable initially across the USA and Canada and eventually on a wider scale across the rest of the Americas. Important products will include sugar paste, coverings and frostings from Renshaw in the UK and the full range of Rainbow Dust Colours products. In addition, the group said it has rebranded its Real Good Food Europe division as Renshaw Europe. Chairman Pieter Totte said: "The USA and Canada are very important markets for our cake decorating business. It already accounts for around 10% of our overall export sales and by establishing a permanent presence we believe there is scope for future growth and improved margins with operating efficiencies and better supply chain management. We can now ship in bulk quantity directly to a storage and distribution facility in an optimal location for onward distribution. This leads to manufacturing efficiencies in our factories in the UK and ultimately better customer service and improved margins." At 0950 BST, the shares were up 1.4% to 37p. Indonesia could slap Google with a $400m tax bill for last year alone, amid an investigation into possible illegal tax avoidance that has been stepped up in the wake of the European Commission's tax battle with Apple. Indonesia's tax authorities plan to claw back five years of back taxes from the Alphabet Inc company, according to a Reuters report citing a senior tax official. Taking confidence from Europe's 13bn tax bill for Apple, which has been followed by reports on Friday of a $120bn bill in Japan, Indonesia's tax office has escalated the issue to a criminal investigation after Google Asia Pacific declined to be audited. Google Indonesia paid less than 0.1% of the total income and value-added taxes it owed last year, according to calculations made by the Indonesian tax office, with most of the revenue generated in the country booked through Google's Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Google said it continues to cooperate with local authorities and has paid all applicable taxes. Reuters reported that Muhammad Hanif, head of the tax office's special cases branch, said he planned to pursue back-tax claims from other companies that deliver content through the internet in Indonesia. Fighting around Libya's key crude oil ports at the weekend led to prices for the commodity creeping higher on Monday. Clashes in the country and an announcement from Venezuela about a deal to stabilise markets pushed Brent crude futures to $46.32 per barrel, up 55 cents from their previous settlement. The Petroleum Facilities Guards and the Libyan National Army had been disputing the Sidra and Ras Lanuf ports over the weekend, as oil traders looked on. Production of oil in the country currently stands at around 300,000 barrels per day, and reports suggest that could be increased if ports are open and secure. Meanwhile, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro also said that a deal could be imminent between members of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries. "We had a long bilateral meeting with [Irans president Hassan] Rouhani. Were close to a deal between OPEC producer countries and non-OPEC," Maduro told a news conference. Venezuela's economy is reliant on oil revenue for growth and has been stymied by the falling prices of oil. Stocks in London rose in early trade, rebounding from losses on Friday as investors shifted their attention to upcoming central bank meetings. At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 1.1% to 6,785.12. At the same time, oil prices advanced. West Texas Intermediate was up 1.7% to $43.77 a barrel while Brent crude was 1.4% higher at $46.43. Rebecca OKeeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said: After a torrid last week, investors will be pleased to see markets rebound this morning, with European equities on the rise ahead of the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve decisions on Wednesday. With the expectation of no action in the US until at least December, the major market moving news is likely to be from Governor Haruhiko Kuroda - with investors hoping for significant intervention and forward guidance, including a further cut to rates. In corporate news, Workspace edged up after announcing that it has been granted planning permission for the redevelopment of Stratford Office Village, which was valued at 14m in March. FTSE 250 Property developer Segro was also on the front after it sold its Heston and Airlinks industrial estate near Heathrow for 79.5m to Capital Industrial. Sky was a high riser as Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equalweight. On the downside, outsourcer Mitie Group tumbled after it warned that full year profits would be materially lower than expected due to a drop-off in higher margin contracts in the first-half and the cost of new efficiency programmes. HICL Infrastructure was weaker as it announced a proposal to raise 76m through an issue of ordinary shares. On the data front, there are no major UK releases due but in the US, the NAHB housing market index is at 1500 BST. Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,775.50 0.97% FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,934.89 0.47% techMARK (TASX) 3,515.17 0.58% FTSE 100 - Risers Glencore (GLEN) 189.90p 2.65% Sky (SKY) 861.00p 2.50% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,010.00p 2.42% Anglo American (AAL) 832.30p 2.20% Tesco (TSCO) 172.85p 2.10% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,647.00p 1.92% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 577.00p 1.82% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,490.00p 1.77% Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,318.50p 1.71% Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 215.20p 1.70% FTSE 100 - Fallers Capita (CPI) 962.50p -0.93% TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,066.00p -0.09% SABMiller (SAB) 4,440.00p -0.00% Shire Plc (SHP) 5,095.00p -0.00% London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,735.00p 0.00% Informa (INF) 731.50p 0.00% CRH (CRH) 2,486.00p 0.08% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 419.30p 0.10% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,687.00p 0.30% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 3,254.00p 0.40% FTSE 250 - Risers Centamin (DI) (CEY) 140.30p 4.16% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,565.00p 3.64% Ascential (ASCL) 274.60p 2.58% Kier Group (KIE) 1,294.00p 2.54% Hunting (HTG) 429.80p 2.27% JRP Group (JRP) 122.80p 2.25% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 259.40p 2.21% Ibstock (IBST) 163.70p 2.18% Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,081.00p 2.16% Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 196.60p 1.87% FTSE 250 - Fallers Mitie Group (MTO) 202.20p -24.83% Assura (AGR) 56.70p -2.16% HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd (HICL) 176.60p -1.73% IP Group (IPO) 189.10p -1.72% CMC Markets (CMCX) 231.10p -1.66% Hastings Group Holdings (HSTG) 227.90p -1.43% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 2,500.00p -1.22% Pagegroup (PAGE) 336.90p -1.20% Countryside Properties (CSP) 240.00p -1.11% Big Yellow Group (BYG) 745.00p -1.06% The City would lose a key power that makes it a global financial hub under a hard Brexit scenario, the head of the German central bank has warned. Britain would be stripped of the right to authorise banks and other finance companies to operate across the remaining 27 European Union nations unless it remained in the European Economic Area, Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank said. - The Times Britain is in prime position to strike a new trade deal with the US outside the EU, former trade minister Lord Francis Maude believes. The UK is keen to do more deals post-Brexit, and the US is the countrys biggest national trading partner making a new treaty an attractive prospect. - Telegraph Demand for emerging market exports has hit a new post-crisis low, with US imports from China dropping sharply in July in the latest sign that the engine of growth for the worlds developing economies is sputtering. The US has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise gloomy global economy and one of the few sources of growth for emerging market exporters, which last year saw exports of goods and services fall for the first time since the global financial crisis, according to figures from the UN. - Financial Times Four managers in five believe that the Brexit vote will push Britain into recession in the next 18 months, while a separate survey has found business confidence hitting a four-year low. British executives think overwhelmingly that the decision to leave the European Union will have a negative impact on the economy, according to a poll by the Chartered Management Institute. - The Times Business confidence has been dragged to a four-year low amid rising concerns over economic uncertainty and a slowdown in demand following the EU referendum result. Expectations that sales, orders and profits will grow over the next six months slipped to 12%, down from 38% in January, according to Lloyds Banks Business in Britain report. - Guardian Banks are waking up to an imminent funding crisis as new rules designed to make money-market funds safer threaten to cause a dollar cash crunch among some of the worlds largest lenders. In a little over two months nearly $250 billion has been withdrawn from prime dollar money-market funds that provide short-term loans to banks. - The Times Rolls-Royce is cutting more than 200 management jobs, the latest in a series of losses as its chief executive attempts to turn around the British engineering giant. The most recent episode in Rolls lengthy restructuring under Warren East, who was appointed as chief executive last year, was announced to staff last week. - Telegraph Deutsche Borse and the London Stock Exchange Groups plan to create Europes largest exchange group is set to face an in-depth investigation by Brussels following fears that the companies would have limited time to answer authorities initial concerns. European antitrust officials held a meeting last Wednesday with the exchanges outlining market concerns about the deal but the watchdog has not shared its own thoughts, according to two advisers familiar with the discussions. The exchanges will probably only find out close to the end of the EUs initial investigation on September 28, the advisers said. - Financial Times Britain risks being left behind in the 5G race to build smart cities unless the government overhauls outdated planning laws, one of the countrys most senior telecoms executives has warned. The outgoing head of mobile carrier O2 called on the UK to rethink the way it is planning to install the ultrafast fixed and wireless broadband networks required to support technologies of the future such as driverless cars. - Financial Times The company behind Stansted, Londons third-busiest airport, is to call on the Government to lift restrictions on passenger numbers as it ramps up its campaign to expand and eventually build a second runway. Charlie Cornish, chief executive at Stansteds owner, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), said the company was planning to apply officially in the coming months to have its so-called planning cap, which limits it to handling 35m passengers a year, raised. - Telegraph Chinas huge credit binge has increased the risk of a banking crisis in the worlds second biggest economy in the next three years, according to global financial watchdog. An early warning of financial overheating the gap between credit and GDP hit 30.1 in China in the first quarter of this year, a report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said on Sunday. - Guardian/Reuters First-time buyers hoping to snap up a bargain after the Brexit vote could be in for a shock with figures showing new sellers in England and Wales asking 3.3% more for typical starter homes than a month ago. The latest monthly report by property website Rightmove showed asking prices for newly listed homes were 0.7% higher now an average of 306,499 September than in August. - Guardian The offshore online betting industry is set to be hit with a 50 million bill to help to fund the racing industry. By the end of next month racing chiefs believe that the government will have a structure to replace the outdated levy system reckoned to have cost horse racing 150 million in lost income since the turn of the decade. - The Times The boss of EDF Energy has conceded that the French group has no plan in place to finance the next step in its nuclear programme after Hinkley Point. The contentious scheme to build the worlds most costly nuclear power station in Somerset was approved by the government last week. The deal was hatched as the first of a trio of new stations, with reactors also to be built by EDF and China General Nuclear, its partner, at Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex. - The Times McDonalds could face an order to pay nearly $500m in back taxes to Luxembourg, according to a Financial Times analysis of an investigation by Brussels into state-supported tax avoidance. Last month the European Commission imposed a 13bn tax penalty on Apple in Ireland, triggering a storm of protest from Washington and corporate America. As the commission steps up its crackdown on so-called sweetheart tax deals, two US multinationals McDonalds and Amazon are potentially next in line. - Financial Times Britain will forgo nearly 27,000 jobs by the end of the decade if it does not press ahead with the HS2 high-speed rail project between London and Birmingham, a report by Albion Economics has claimed. Amid increasing demands for the 50 billion project to be scrapped, the railway and construction industries have calculated for the first time how many people they will take on. - The Times Carmakers are shifting their research centres to eastern Europe following the Brexit vote to lower costs and maintain unfettered access to European markets. Recruitment firms are on the lookout for skilled staff and senior executives who can lead research and development teams in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. - Guardian 5 things we learned from Ohio State-Penn State Ohio State moved to 8-0 with a 44-31 win over Penn State. Here's what we learned about the Buckeyes from their performance Saturday in Happy Valley. Members of Wyoming Equality celebrated as the courts ruled same-sex marriage was a right. But shortly after wedding bells began ringing, grant funding to the states largest gay advocacy and social organization began to dry up. Everybody thinks the LGBT community has equal rights, which we dont, said John King of Laramie, who is taking the helm of Wyoming Equality. We have to rely on a donor base more than ever so. Basically, were counting on donors. Were counting on membership, and were counting on events. King, a corporate pilot, is the new chairman of Wyoming Equality, which has 300 members, as previous chairman Jeran Artery is stepping down after six years. As many as 11,600 Wyomingites are LGBTQ, and one of Kings goals as the new chairman is to persuade many of those people to join Wyoming Equality, he said. The main thing I hope to do at Wyoming Equality is focus on the infrastructure, just to make sure everythings running as efficient as possible, he said. I hope we can make the organization grow and become more powerful. King said his strengths are business, organization and behind-the-scenes work. Other board members including Artery, who will stay on at least through the 2017 legislative session, will focus on advocacy. Board members will also lobby the Wyoming Legislature against bills they deem discriminatory and in favor of a non-discrimination law. They are also working on non-discrimination ordinances throughout Wyoming cities and towns. While gays and lesbians can legally marry, they can also still be fired for their sexual orientation. Artery said hes stepping down because its time for new leaders. One of my things is I never want an organization to get stale because someone stays on as chairman too long, he said. Wyoming Equality is 24 years old. During most of that time, it has been a social organization gathering the gay community for events such as drag queen bingo games and Rendezvous, the yearly five-day campout in the Medicine Bow National Forest. Artery started lobbying as the Wyoming Legislature increasingly debated bills that were affecting the everyday lives of the LGBT community. Under Artery, Wyoming Equality was a plaintiff in a court case that ultimately resulted in a federal judge striking down the states ban on gay marriage in 2014. I feel like that cemented Wyoming Equalitys name into the history books, and Im very proud of that, he said. A federal court ruling expected later this month could upend the relationship between the two tribes on the Wind River Reservation. The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes share the reservation in central Wyoming, and since 1987 had used a Joint Business Council to work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to contract services. The Northern Arapaho withdrew from the joint council in 2014 intending to negotiate directly with the BIA. But in a federal lawsuit filed in February, the tribe claims the BIA has continued to contract reservation-wide services with the joint council, despite it now being composed solely of Eastern Shoshone members. The BIA now assert that the JBC continues to exist as a joint council with one only participate: the (Shoshone Business Council), the tribes attorneys wrote in a court filing. Federal Defendants unlawfully attempt to consolidate the two Tribes into one, without the consent of either. The tribal court, reservation game and fish department and other entities have been run by the JBC under what are known as 638 contracts. While the federal government is legally required to provide certain services to recognized tribes, 638 contracts allow tribes to operate such services independently while using federal funds. With the existing contracts set to expire at the end of September, Northern Arapaho attorneys have asked the court to block the federal government from reasserting control over services currently managed under 638 agreements. Specifically, the Northern Arapaho want to be able to operate their own tribal court while the BIA is preparing to set up a Court of Indian Offenses in the absence of an agreement between the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone to continue operating the existing tribal court. A judge heard arguments in a Great Falls, Montana, courtroom Wednesday and is expected to issue a ruling on Sept. 26 addressing the Northern Arapahos request to run its own court and on a federal motion to dismiss the case. But stretching beyond the tribal court, the Northern Arapaho argue they should not be required to jointly operate any reservation services with the Eastern Shoshone. That could lead to a bumpy transition as two court systems, two sets of hunting and fishing regulations and other administrative structures would be duplicated in the same geographic area. Despite working to contract government services through the Joint Business Council for nearly 30 years, there has long been tension between the two tribes. While the Northern Arapaho make up roughly 70 percent of the Native American population on the reservation, they have complained that the federal government has historically favored the Eastern Shoshone. The Northern Arapaho said the joint council was squandering their time and creating barriers to the tribes economic development when they withdrew from it in 2014. But the Eastern Shoshone have insisted the Northern Arapahos withdrawal did not dissolve the joint body. In minutes of a Joint Business Council meeting included in court documents, Eastern Shoshone Business Council member Clint Wagon tells an oil company representative that the Northern Arapaho do not need to be consulted independently. At this time, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe will be managing business transactions through Joint until the Northern Arapaho come back to the table, Wagon said. So are you saying we dont need the Arapahos to sign off on this lease? the company representative asked. Not at this time, Wagon replied. The tribes unsuccessfully attempted to mediate the dispute in June. Mediator Robert Blaeser noted in a July email the deep roots of the dispute. We cannot change the past, Blaeser wrote. The question is whether the parties are willing to look forward for the good of their people.Follow local government reporter Arno Rosenfeld on Twitter @arnorosenfeld The Great British Bake-Off could go the way of Top Gear after losing presenters Mel and Sue in its 75million move to Channel 4, says a De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) media expert. The BBCs flagship motoring show was savaged by viewers when radio presenter Chris Evans took over in a relaunch of the programme following the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Last week the BBC announced its popular cookery competition was to move to Channel 4 after it could not agree a new deal with producers Love Productions. Presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins are not moving with the show. Dr Paul Smith, of Leicester Media School, said it would be interesting to see whether it was the format of the show or the presenters which proved the most popular. He said: One of the interesting things we have seen is the importance of format to contemporary TV. Rather than the channel owners making the programmes, we see them relying on independent producers who create programmes in a formulaic way. Is the value the format itself or it is the presenters involved in that particular version of the show? We have seen a similar situation with Top Gear with the BBC trying to relaunch that programme without star presenters. I think it will be a poison chalice for whoever takes over. We saw what happened with Chris Evans on Top Gear. RELATED NEWS Find out what DMU has to offer at the next Open Day Chance to channel industry experts earns DMU students vital skills Students help Channel 4 News broadcast EU referendum debate live from DMU Dr Smith was being interviewed on BBC Radio Leicesters Jonathan Lampon programme which focused on the media coverage of the move, which was featured on the front pages of many of the national newspapers. Click here to listen again. He said: Whats certain that it is a big blow for the BBC. Its one of the few programmes that was able to bring the bring the nation together for a shared viewing experience. In one of the worst terror attacks on the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir, 17 soldiers were killed and 19 injured on Sunday morning when four heavily armed fidayeen militants stormed into the administrative buildings and store complex of an infantry battalion in Uri, home of the 12 Infantry Brigade, near the Line of Control (LoC). The four terrorists were neutralised after a three-hour long gunfight. As per the initial probe, the militants belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack, Army chief General Dalbir Singh and defence minister Manohar Parrikar flew to Srinagar to take stock of the situation. A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held at his 7 Race Course Road resident, with home minister Rajnath Singh, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, finance minister Arun Jaitley, Army chief Dalbir Singh, and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. According to reports, the leadership said that a military offensive would be a knee-jerk reaction and India might refrain from something like that. The more doable options are an artillery offensive at the Line of Control on terror camps. Discussing India's counter to the Uri attack, senior Cabinet ministers said that a diplomatic offensive at the upcoming UN meet in New York will be India's immediate response. "Intelligence-based offensive targeting Uri masterminds is doable too," sources told CNN-News18. Meanwhile, the Indian military is determined to turn the heat on Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri base attack, The Times of India reported. The Indian Army for its part has reportedly resolved to use concentrated artillery barrages and sniping operations and has formally requested the Modi government to consider ''limited but punitive'' cross-border strikes to send a message to Pakistan, which it holds responsible for the attack. ''Yes, there will be retaliation from the other side but it can be dealt with,'' The Times of India reported a source as saying. The Centre is hoping that all major political parties will be onboard with whatever decision the Modi government takes against the perpetrators of the Uri attack. Reports also said that the Centre might call for an all-party meeting to discuss the future course of action. "No decision will be taken in a hurry," sources told TV channels. The central leadership also hoped that Uri terror attack won't be politicised for brownie points. The United States meanwhile condemned the attacks. ''The US strongly condemns terrorist attack on Indian army base in Kashmir and we extend our condolences,'' US Secretary of State John Kirby Tweeted. Consolation awards Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav announced financial assistance of Rs20 lakh each to the families of jawans from UP who lost their lives in attack. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announces Rs5 lakh for the families of soldiers from the state who lost their lives in Uri, while Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced Rs10 lakh for the families of soldiers from the state who lost their lives in the attack. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the 92 Base hospital to meet soldiers injured during the attack on Sunday. ''My son was 22 years old. He was a junior. Normally seniors are sent there, why was my son sent to that spot? Government should condemn this and ensure strict punishment to those who have killed my son,'' said the father of one of killed soldier G Dalai. ''Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son. He called me on Thursday, said I will go from here ... bombs are being thrown. .. they will kill us,'' said Dalai's mother. The Donegal Road Safety Working Group will launch a major plan to deal with road safety issues in Donegal this afternoon. The Donegal Road Safety Plan 2016-2021 launch will be held at Donegal County councils offices in Lifford at 1.30am and will be officially launched by the Cathaoirleach, Cllr Terence Slowey. Details of the five year plan are eagerly awaited in Donegal where road deaths and injuries continue to be a major issue and concern for so many. The Donegal Road Safety Working Group is an interagency group consisting of Donegal County Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, An Garda Siochana, Road Safety Authority, Donegal Youth Service, Donegal ETB, Pro Social Drivers Programme and HSE Ambulance Service. These agencies meet on a monthly basis to develop and implement road safety initiatives and campaigns. The Road Safety Plan sets out the priorities for improving road safety in County Donegal. The Plan will consolidate and build on the achievements of the previous plans and will be achieved by a series of objectives, Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Evaluation. Some of the initiatives include promoting cross border co-operation on road safety, continuing to develop the road safety road show, review speed limits in accordance with National guidelines and legislation, high visibility enforcement targeting errant road user behaviour, drink driving and the non wearing of seatbelts. The Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Terence Slowey, explains that the plan focuses on the efforts of all involved in road safety and highlighting the need for community support for its full implementation. Donegal County Council has an important role to play in promoting road safety and the Donegal Road Safety Plan 2016 to 2021 will focus on the reduction in road collisions through Education, Enforcement, Engineering and ongoing Evaluation. Actions and targets are set to allow progress to be reviewed over the lifetime of the plan. The Plan also seeks to encourage every member of the community to play their part in reducing road collisions by taking responsibility for their own behaviour as road users. I would like to thank all those agencies who participated in the formulation of the Plan which will raise public awareness on the important issue of Road Safety. The Chief Executive of Donegal County Council, Seamus Neely welcomes the new plan, acknowledging the contributions from all members of the Donegal Road Safety Working Group. I am delighted to see the publication of the latest Road Safety Plan for the County and I believe that this plan is a very important step towards improving the safety for all road users. We all have to take responsibility for our actions. This road safety plan gives us a direction to follow towards safer roads for our communities. Inspector Michael Harrison from An Garda Siochana believes "Reducing the number of deaths and injuries on Donegals roads is a responsibility we all share. Enforcement of road traffic laws will continue to play a critical role in the new Road Safety Plan as An Garda Siochana seeks to ensure that fewer lives are lost and serious injuries sustained as a result of preventable tragedies. The awareness activities listed under the Educational measures will seek to change the attitudes of the next generation of road users through programmed initiatives in schools, colleges, Youthreach and ETB Centres. Dr Sandra Buchanan, Donegal ETB and Member of the Working Group explains "Education has a key role to play in ensuring that our next generation of road users are fully aware of the dangers and implications of dangerous and inappropriate driving. Donegal ETB looks forward to working in partnership with all the agencies to successfully deliver the objectives of the Plan." Gareth Gibson, Donegal Youth Information Manager says Donegal Youth Service are members of the DRSWG and are supportive of all initiatives and campaigns. Through our direct links with young people in our projects, information centre and work with the Donegal Youth Council we are committed like all other DRSWG members to doing all we can to ensure the effective implementation of this plan, with a view to making the roads of Donegal a safer place to be for all." Brian ODonnell, Donegal Road Safety Officer says, This is an important day for road safety in Donegal as we launch the new Road Safety Plan. Progress is being made but Donegal continues to pay a heavy price on its roads with far too many people killed or maimed as a result of road traffic collisions. We must keep educating drivers and reminding the public of their responsibilities as road users and highlight that the key to making roads safer in Donegal rests with the people and communities in the county. Road safety is everyones responsibility. I want to take this opportunity again to appeal to all road users to redouble their efforts in road safety as any progress we have made can be erased very quickly. The Donegal Road Safety Working Group at their monthly meeting will monitor the Plans progress and review indicators that will measure the activities under each relevant objective. The Road Safety Plan can be downloaded at www.donegalcoco.ie under Publications. More details later today on the contents of the plan. October is National Bullying Prevention month. We have all heard the phrase bullying, but what does it actually mean? Bullying is defined as unwanted aggressive behavior; observed or perceived power imbalance; repetition of behaviors or high likelihood of repetition. Bullying is unfortunately a reality for far too many in our communities both young and old. Much like any other form of violence, bullying is not isolated to any particular age group, gender or demography. Just about everyone of us can look back in our lives and recall a time where either we were personally bullied or witnessed one of our friends or schoolmates being bullied. Its hard to believe that with all of the advancements and awareness, this type of behavior still exists, but it does and with the advent of social media, it had actually gotten much worse. This is because unlike in the past, the bully not only impacts your life on the playground or classroom; they now are able to follow you into your personal life due to the constant presence of social media. There is good news in that we have learned a great deal about what creates these bullies and how to neutralize their ability to isolate and intimidate. The key is for those in authority to respond to reports of bullying immediately to show without question that bullying will not be acceptable. That message needs to follow to our homes with the messages we send our children not only by what we say but by our own actions in how we treat fellow adults. Bullying is without question a learned behavior. It is learned on the playground, in the classroom and follows through to the workplace and social interactions as adults. We need to send a strong message to our own children, a message of empathy and compassion not of ridicule and rumor. Who are at risk of bullying the most? Typically those who are bullied have one or more of the following risks: Are perceived as different from their peers, such as being overweight or underweight, wearing glasses or different clothing, being new to a school, or being unable to afford what kids consider cool Are perceived as weak or unable to defend themselves Are depressed, anxious, or have low self esteem Are less popular than others and have few friends Do not get along well with others, seen as annoying or provoking, or antagonize others for attention However, even if a child has these risk factors, it doesnt mean that they will be bullied. The important lesson is that we as adults set the tone for how the next generation will interact with each other. Chances are if we show acceptance of others, our children will show acceptance of others. If we engage in demeaning others or spreading rumors, our children will follow suit. So often we as adults underestimate the influence, we have not only on our own children but even those who dont know us but witness our behavior. While school or workplace policies are an important component, the only way to truly decrease bullying is by denying the bully their victim. We do this by raising strong, confident, resilient children, and speaking out and supporting those who find themselves on the receiving end of this type of behavior. We are all teachers in life lessons and we teach by our actions. Lets all be aware of what we teach. CHEYENNE, Wyo. Local, state and federal agencies are training how to handle an anthrax outbreak or other public health emergency in Wyoming. During an exercise on Saturday in Cheyenne and Casper, the agencies learned how to deal with people who are scared and how they can help them. Gus Lopez, director of the Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department, said the simulations in his district required about 120 volunteers. "It's huge. That's why we're preparing to be ready in any kind of emergency, not only in Laramie County," Lopez said. The agencies have to learn how to bring order to chaos during an emergency. Wendy Braund, state health officer and Public Health Division administrator for the Wyoming Department of Health, said it requires preparation and training. "As you can imagine, (there is) a high level of anxiety of folks concerned that they would be getting sick and potentially dying from an infectious agent. And so you can't necessarily count on people to act right when they're worried, you know, and that's just human nature," she said. Braund said the organizations hold a similar large-scale simulation every five years. The multiple organizations involved in the simulation will try to improve emergency response procedures based on what officials learned from this exercise, she said. "We have to do exercises like this to make sure we're prepared and to learn from exercises, so that we know what to do better next time," Braund said. Ronald Moede was born on December 21, 1934, in Rio Creek, WI. The son of the late Fred and Emily (Hanamann) Moede, he married Bonnie Neinas in Brussels on June 4, 1960, and they were married for 62+ years. He was a life-long resident of Rio Creek and was an innovative dairy farmer. He owned and managed a large dairy operation, Meade Manor Farms, which had been homesteaded by his grandfather, August Moede, in 1895. The log cabin home, barn, and herd grew to become one of the larger dairy farms in Kewaunee County under his guidance. Upon his retirement, it evolved into Meade Manor Pet Clinic, a vet service for small animals, but the land continued to flourish and produce. Ron graduated from Casco High School, Class of 1952 and Graham School for Cattlemen, Kansas. He was a member of the Wisconsin Holstein Breeders, Kewaunee County Holstein Breeders, and the National Holstein Association. He was a charter member of the Algoma FFA Alumni. His family exhibited champion dairy cattle at local, state, and national dairy cattle shows. In 1984, in Madison, the Wisconsin FFA named him Outstanding Farmer and in 1995, he was named and honored at the Wisconsin State Fair as a Century Farmer. He served as an elder in his church for many years as well as a trustee and various committee appointments. In his younger days, he was active in dartball and also high school sports. He received the Algoma Honorary Chapter Farmer Award, and the Unified Board Business Award. In his retirement, he drove school bus for 15 years for the Algoma School District and was a member of the Great Lakes Sports Fishermen. A hobby later enjoyed was his chicken farming. He raised a small flock of chicken, and he enjoyed passing out extra eggs to friends and relatives when the supply was greater than the family could handle. He was an avid sports fan and he and Bonnie attended both Packers Super Bowl games in 1996 and 1997, and also the Milwaukee World Series in 1983. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, both here and in upper Michigan and Minnesota. He even got Bonnie to go along with him to Lake of the Woods on the Canadian border to do some ice fishing. He held Packers season tickets since 1960 and at the time they bought their tickets they were allowed to pick out where they wanted to sit on the sidelines --there were no end zone seats yet-- and the tickets cost $5.00 a piece! He traveled through most of the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii as well as traveling to the Caribbean and Europe. He enjoyed a summer place in Door County for 20 years. He told many stories of farming with his dad and the fact that at the age of 12, he had his own team of horses to work with on the farm. Responsibility came early as he was left in charge whenever it was necessary for his parents to be gone for a few days. He learned to drive a truck at an early age and often drove himself to school in 8th grade and parked the vehicle a few doors down at a relatives. This was because chores need to be done before and after school. The first tractor purchased was in 1937. In his retirement, he had it restored and displayed in local fairs and tractor shows. He would tell of shocking grain and threshing crews traveling from neighbor to neighbor and the wonderful table his mother would set full of food. A vivid memory was the day WWII ended. The whole neighborhood and working crew quit in the early afternoon (unheard of) and celebrated With beer and music! Even the clergy arrived and joined in. It was a day to remember! In his lifetime he went from horses and the depression, to the digital age and unimagined luxuries. There was no electricity and no running water in his youth and now he had wireless phones, computer screens in his vehicles, along with heated steering wheels and heated seats. Who would have thought that back then. Ron is survived by his wife Bonnie; son Robert (Debbie Harms) Moede; grandson Michael and granddaughter Megan; siblings, Terry (Jane) Moede, Paul (Roxie) Moede; sisters-in-law, Diane Fontaine, Sheila (Don) Baudhuin; and brothers in-law, Dan (Mary) Neinas. He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Emily Moede; sister, Marilyn (Arno) Schneider; father- and mother-in-law, Herman and Madeline Neinas, and brother-in-law, Gary Fontaine. Visitation will be held at Kinnard Funeral & Cremation Services Algoma, on Friday, October 7, 2022, from 4-7:30 pm with a prayer service at 6:30. Visitation will continue on Saturday, October 8th at St. Johns Lutheran Church Rankin, from 9-11:00 am. Funeral service will be held at 11:00 am with Dr. Rev. Christopher Jackson officiating. Burial to follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Online condolence message may be shared at KinnardFCS.com. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Kewaunee County 4-H Dairy Fund and the Projection Screen Fund at St. Johns- Rankin. Home Four wheelers Honda Launches CR-V Special Edition In Thailand Will India Be Next? oi-Kennedy Paul The fifth-generation Honda CR-V is getting ready to be launched later this year or probably early 2017. Now, the Japanese automaker has launched the special edition of Honda CR-V in Thailand with subtle changes. {photo-feature} Home Four wheelers One Austrian Company To Build Four Top End Luxury Cars Under One Roof oi-Rajkamal An Austrian based company called Magna Steyr is reportedly gearing up to build cars for four top end brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, and Jaguar Land Rover in its factory located in Graz, Austria. {photo-feature} Home Four wheelers Renault India Now Offering Kwid & Duster Models In Nepal oi-Ajinkya Renault wants to take maximum advantage from the 'Made in India' initiative. The French manufacturer today announced that the company has commenced export of the Kwid and Duster models to Nepal. Currently, the Kwid and Duster are Renault's best selling models in the Indian market. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Prime Minister of Nepal congratulated Sumit Sawhney, the CEO and Managing Director of Renault India Operation. The Prime Minister also promised complete support to Renault in Nepal. Currently, Renault vehicles will be sold through Advanced Automobiles, which is part of the Vishal Group. The new dealerships in Nepal will follow the Renault Store concept. Every customer's need will be addressed by Renault Nepal dealerships.Value of the brand, products, services, and accessories will be delivered in the most effective manner by Renault Nepal representatives. Hatchbacks and SUVs are growing segments within Nepal. The Duster and Kwid models from Renault will take complete advantage of this situation. Both models are expected to attract young buyers in Nepal to a global automotive brand like Renault. If you fancy trying out a night out with a difference in a venue that that has housed patriots, paupers, volunteers, agitators, smugglers and petty thieves whilst witnessing secret weddings, executions and daring escapes then a visit to The Oriel Centre, Dundalk Gaol is a must when Ireland's Greatest Storyteller Eddie Lenihan will enchant you with Tales of Magic, Myth and Mystery in the lead up to Halloween on Saturday 22nd October 2016. Eddie Lenihan is a living legend to all who remember being entranced by his 'Ten Minute Tales' which were broadcast on RTE and for his series on BBC Radio. Eddie is one of the few practising Seanchai remaining in Ireland and is particularly well known for his tales of Irish folk heroes, fairies, fallen angels and other supernatural beings as recorded in Irish mythology, folklore and oral history. The Seanchai doesn't just tell his stories - he believes in them. He talks of the fairies, 'the good people', 'them', 'the other crowd', as more than the inhabitants of tales from the past. They look, he says, just like the rest of us - which means they can't be easily identified! He will be supported on the night by one of Irelands most talented traditional musicians Sean Walsh. In the past Sean has toured with Comhaltas Concert Tour Of Ireland and Britain and also featured in a BBC Radio Ulster documentary about Patrick Kavanagh so his performance one not to be missed. So if you want to experience a night of spooky tales with one of Irelands greatest storytellers Eddie Lenihan on Saturday 22nd October 2016 in one of Dundalks most unique venues then log onto www.orielcentre.ie or phone 042 9328887 for tickets as soon as possible as tickets are limited. Other date at the Oriel Centre to keep in your diary is Saturday 12th November when the Oriel Centre will welcome a performance by the internationally lauded and revered jazz and blues legend, Mary Coughlan. Tickets for this show are a must and are now available online at www.orielcentre.ie. By shifting away from a focus on individual capabilities, emphasising company values and providing staff with a pleasant and supportive work environment, Employsure has produced excellent results, according to founder and managing director, Edward Mallett. Last month, the employment relations and WHS solutions provider ranked thirteenth in BRWs 2016 Most Innovative Companies List and was named the 21st best place to work in Australia among companies with 100 or more employees by Great Place to Work. Mallett said Employsures workforce of nearly 400 employees receives more than 2,800 advice calls per week from its client base of 10,500 businesses. He attributed the companys strong growth, since launching in 2011, to its unique performance equation. The equation, performance = capabilities x values2, ensures staff are constantly empowered and company values remain at the centre of everything, he said. By removing the focus of performance from being centred on capabilities, Employsure has seen an increase in staff satisfaction, retention and ultimately, an increase in overall business results. A cookie cutter approach to work and culture simply will not cut it in the age of innovation and start-ups. By embedding innovation at the core of our work, we are able to create a unique work environment for our team along with personalised and tailored solutions to suit each client. Mallett provided Dynamic Business with insights into the work culture and strategies that fuel results at Employsure: Weve built a culture of empowerment Employsure is a disruptor in every sense of the word. We are providing Australian businesses with a new and more efficient way to deal with their workplace relations issues. We have brought together a team of elite professionals into one place, offering our clients access to their expertise around the clock. Prior to Employsure, time-strapped business owners had to individually access this kind of support, generally in a costly manner. As a company we have challenged the status quo, and have built a culture where we empower our people to do the same. We only employ people who want more than a job and want to be part of something bigger to truly support Australian business owners. The fact that our staff work with people from very different fields adds to our culture of openness, adaptability and transparency, which we focus on heavily through our culture-focused recruitment and performance appraisal approaches. Training is also fundamental. Being a new type of business, we are asking our people to learn new skills every day, so we have to support them on this journey. We introduced a strong team ethos at an early stage We are committed to providing our employees with a workplace they can be proud to be a part of. Having seen firsthand the impact culture can have on team morale and performance, we recognise its pivotal nature. When taking part in the Great Places to Work study, our engagement score was well over 90%. In addition, our Glassdoor reviews show 4.6 star rating and a 91% recommendation rate which is, I believe, directly connected to this. We have established a culture where individualistic tendencies and pure capability do not thrive. This has helped build a strong team ethos in a short space of time. Introducing this at such an early stage of the company, despite the demands of rapid growth, has been crucial to our success. Our recruitment team drives success and culture Recruitment is critical to our culture. In fact, we have made the recruitment team the gatekeeper to Employsures culture and success. They are responsible for driving and governing values based recruitment for us, ensuring that we only take on people who are culturally aligned, and then invest in leading, learning and development to cultivate high levels of capability. I try to present staff with a compelling story As a professional services business, our team is our business. Without them, we do not have a service. Understanding how to relate to everyone as an MD has been a learning experience for me. For a lot of founders, the vision and strategy courses through your veins, sometimes for many years before the business even gets going, and it can be assumed that everyone else feels the same and shares your vision. The reality is that you need to express this to the team, presenting a compelling story and helping them understand what you hope to build together. I try hard to achieve this now and hope that our team would agree that we are all well aligned. Recognition indicates our strategies are sound Our vision to 2020 is to set solid foundations for all businesses, starting with fair and safe workplaces. We know from our own experience that this is a crucial building block for growth. Being deemed a Great Place To Work reinforces that our strategies for building a strong culture are sound, however the benefit comes from actually investing in people and culture. By keeping Employsure a pleasant and supportive place to work, excellent results ensue. The Democrat walked door-to-door in Evansville, a red-leaning town in the reddest of states, asking for votes. She approached a house where the owner was cleaning the garage. Im not running for a particular party," Debbie Bovee said, introducing herself. "I have a special interest and the interest is the people. Her party affiliation already puts Bovee at a disadvantage. What's more, she made the ballot only after a write-in campaign and is facing an incumbent who's on his third stint in the Wyoming Legislature. But theres another factor in the House District 36 race this year. Bovee's Republican opponent is Gerald Gay, who caused a storm of anger last week after questioning the dependability of women workers, despite his own record of absences in the Legislature. Gay also suggested women were at least partially responsible for Wyoming's gender-wage gap, one of the worst in the nation. Suddenly, the write-in candidate with seemingly no chance had one. Sonja Jeffers, the woman cleaning the garage in Evansville, wasn't happy with her representative. My daughter is a teacher, Jeffers said. She really works hard and has a family. Jeffers said it was different for her when she had young children. She was a stay-at-home mother. But you worked hard, Bovee said. It just seemed demeaning, Jeffers said of Gays comments. The woman continued talking, about all of the people in Wyoming who work hard, and about other issues important to Bovee from Medicaid expansion to economic diversification. I hope I can count on your vote, Bovee said at the end. Jeffers is a registered Democrat who she said shes voted for Gay, a Republican, twice. But she wont vote for him on Nov. 8 he crossed the line, she said. Yes, you can, Jeffers said, as the two shook hands. On Friday, Gay said reporters misrepresented his views, although the transcript of one of the interviews he gave, with progressive advocacy group Better Wyoming, was published online. Gay declined to clarify what he actually meant, saying he had to leave his house. The Star-Tribune reached Gay at home, even though on Friday one of the legislative panels that he serves on the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee was meeting in Saratoga. The newspaper asked him in a text message why he wasnt at the meeting and whether he wanted to continue the interview at a later time. He did not respond. Before he ended the interview with the Star-Tribune on Friday, Gay said his campaign is using a mix of television advertising, as well as his attending town hall events and knocking on doors to meet with voters. I dont know if she has a chance of winning or not, he said. I think its really funny that the Democratic Party couldnt find a candidate to run against me from March, April, May the candidate season then runs a write-in campaign after the deadline (for filing for public office) was over. And shes missed all the transparency stuff, the financial reporting deadlines. State law requires two separate campaign finance reports from candidates during the primary and general election periods. Because she entered the race late, Bovee filed no reports during the primary. That means Gay wont find out how much his opponent has raised until late into the election season, when the next batch of reports are due. Thats kind of an anathema to the Democratic Party, he said. Theyre the ones who push reporting and transparency. Bovee, a political newcomer, said her campaign has received a boost after Gays comments about working women went viral. You know, our Facebook page suddenly got well over 100 hits. I cant tell you how many, she said. My daughter sat here reading them, constantly reading them, and couldnt keep up. And they were all comments on how disgusted the people were with his comments. They were from men, they were from women. They were from all over the country, actually. Bovee also said more people have donated money. On Wednesday, about two days after Gays interview with Better Wyoming went online, she said she received about $400 in contributions from 11 people. People are now asking me for yard signs, she said. The response has been huge. But Bovee said she cant sit back. The district, which runs roughly west of Wyoming Boulevard in the neighborhoods near Beverly Street and includes most of Evansville, is heavily Republican. And she entered the race relatively late, having won a write-in campaign in the August primary. There are more than twice as many Republicans than Democrats in HD36: As of Friday, 1,969 people were registered GOP, 737 were Democrats, 392 were unaffiliated and 40 belonged to other parties, according to the Natrona County Clerks office. But the Natrona County Democratic Party thinks its a winnable race, said Eric Nelson, a party leader who tried to unseat Gay in 2014. Were super happy Debbie stepped up, he said. Gerald, by making those comments, has shined the light of who he really is." In Wyoming, everyone is busy. They dont have much of a chance to look at who their representative is. This is a Republican state, so sometimes I think that they just default to the R (on the ballot), if theyre registered as a Republican. But that could change, since Gays opinions dont represent the way people think, Nelson said. Gay defeated Nelson by just 168 votes in 2014. Nelson said he built a base of support during his campaign that he has mobilized to help Bovee. But controversies can fade just as quickly as they explode. The support might help, but Bovee is still facing an incumbent Republican in a district where Democrats are the minority. Two days after Gays comments, Bovee knocked on doors in her district and met a man who told her he would never vote for a pinko socialist Democrat. Then he shut the door in her face, she said. I do think its put a boost to my campaign, she said of Gay's comments. It doesnt mean Ive won. By supporting the local start-up ecosystem, angel investors not only stem brain drain but keep IP in Australia. According to Trevor Folsom, co-founder of Sydney-based start-up generator Investible, problems arise when investors are seduced by opportunities that see them invest too heavily and too early. This month, Investible launched First Angel, a 12-month educational program aimed at honing the early-stage investing skills of eager yet time-poor angel investors and arming them with the confidence to make well-informed investment decisions. As part of the program, participants agree to invest $25,000 while Investible provides the due diligence, education and scale, with access to a portfolio of start-up opportunities from both within Australia and the US. Driven by Elisa-Marie Dumas, Investibles Head of Partner Development & Corporate Innovation and the former CEO of Springboard Enterprises, First Angel complements the Club Investible program, which sees participants invest $100,000 into early-stage, high growth startups. Folsom spoke to Dynamic Business about the purpose of Investibles programs and the importance of conducting due diligence. What demographic do your educational programs target? Club Investible is made up of a broad range of angel investors including, VCs, large private equity funds, private offices, active angels, senior corporate executives, existing entrepreneurs and other high net worth individuals. Much like Club Investible, for the First Angel program, we are seeking active angels who are committed to building broad sustainable portfolios in this asset class. First Angel is not about first time investors. First represents first money into investments where there is the greatest level of returns. We are not a club of potential investors. We are a club of committed investors who are aligned in their thinking and share the value of supporting and following good founders. What will investors take away from First Angel? This is an immersion program that is very experiential. Investors will be guided through the entire investment lifecycle, utilising a methodology consisting of 15 key components. These components have been developed from the collective years of experience from our 25+ investors. This program will help investors assess a range of both qualitative and quantitative attributes depending upon the stage of the business. For example, for pre-revenue stage businesses, investors tend to place more emphasis on qualitative elements such as founders and business models. Then, as they gain traction, investors begin to look at quantitative elements such as customer behaviour and validation. Ultimately, this program provides a framework to help investors minimise the risk in the investment process. What questions should people ask before investing? There are many questions angel investors should ask. These include: Why is the founder doing this? What is the problem they are solving? Why is the founding team qualified to solve it? How did they get to where they are? What is the use of funds? What level of validation and traction have they been able to demonstrate? What is their exit strategy? What are some common mistakes angel investors make? Investors can be seduced by one opportunity (looking for that unicorn) and invest too heavily and too early before creating a broad diversified portfolio. Its not a great outcome if the business runs out of cash because they either didnt raise enough or ran out too early and cant raise again. Investors also often back the wrong founding team and under-research the validation of the business model or product. An astute angel investor will get under the hood quickly to assess those things. How important are angel investors to local start-ups? Angel investment helps us stop the brain drain and keeps IP and human capital in this country. Some of the best Australian start-ups are sitting in Silicon Valley with US only investors. Strong investor commitment creates sustainability within this asset class and makes it easier to source capital locally, therefore, solving the risk associated within the Valley of Death (the gap between seed and later stage capital). These early stage Australian companies also happen to employ more people than the larger companies. The entreprenaissance is here to stay. The days of the traditional workforce are becoming a fading memory as SMEs evolve. To operate in a lean and efficient manner, and achieve the agility necessary to navigate treacherous waters, businesses are having to build greater flexibility into their employment models. The evolving dynamics of the modern workforce create challenges and unless human resource and payroll departments adapt, the business could be left behind. Technology can certainly help modern SMEs to improve their HR and payroll operations, but as always, addressing the challenges requires an understanding by HR leaders of the issues at hand. The modern workforce The modern workforce is no longer comprised of a fleet of 40 hour-per-week employees who commute from their homes to the office and back again each day. Todays employees exist in several different capacities full time, part time, mobile and contingent. The latter, also known as freelancers or contractors, is becoming a larger percentage of many organisations workforce. True contractors, while not considered employees, still need to be managed as if they are. They must be considered as a part of a companys total workforce, especially when assessing strategy and allocation of resources. This is more an issue for human resource departments, versus payroll. The use of contractors is highly beneficial and allows a company to scale their workforce up or down as needed to best suit their business goals and current market conditions, affording them flexibility and agility. Despite their non-permanent status and affiliation with the company, they must be considered and assessed as part of the total workforce. Many organisations run into difficulties when trying to maintain and manage them as a separate entity and resource. Rise of the mobile employee Face-to-face time with employees is becoming a thing of the past. Todays workforce is growing much more mobile. For many industries, often an employee can capably work from any place if they have a phone and internet connection. Increasingly, they are able to achieve both with a single device, which can create challenges for HR when it comes to management of these employees. While most people arent going to try to generate copy or reports on a mobile, mobile phones are allowing people to take care of business just about anywhere, at any time. One HR manager at a client SME reports she spends part of her morning commute approving leave and other requests right from mobile phone, using an app that is part of her companys cloud-based HR and Payroll software. Yes, allowing employees to work from anywhere, ideally their homes, can be a double edged sword, but when managed properly, the bottom line benefits are real. Companies do not have to invest in infrastructure to support these workers space, desk, phone line, network connections and electricity to power it all which results in leaner operating costs. A challenge, however, is assessing their productivity and ultimately, value to the company. In many industries, productivity can be hard to measure. If a person is working from home, and brainstorming an idea for a new product or strategy, while laying on their sofa, is that still considered productive? HR must rely on their ability to select and hire employees that, in addition to being actual contributors, are trustworthy and can handle the responsibilities of their role when there isnt hands on supervision. While many can handle this, some cannot, which makes management of this part of the workforce potentially difficult. Another challenge facing HR with the mobile workforce is liability. Is the workplace responsible should an employee slip and fall, in their own home while they are working? What about if they should develop chronic back pain from sitting in a dining room chair, instead of proper desk chair? In many countries, rules and regulations place the onus of responsibility to maintain a proper and safe work environment squarely on the employer. However, the rules become much more complicated when they have little to no oversight into a work-from-home employees workspace. HR leaders must carefully weigh the pros and cons of each mobile worker and the potential for liability on situations over which they may not have control. International Remote/Branch Offices Todays workforce is not only spread throughout a city or region, but across countries and continents. This introduces risk and compliance issues about which HR must be aware and adherent. The regulations governing the handling of employee and customer data, especially in regards to privacy, vary from country to country. For instance, in a company headquartered in Australia, with branch offices in Singapore and the United States, HR must be aware of the local laws and regulations within each of those countries. In addition, they must also make sure that those branch offices operate within compliance of those local laws. A privacy regulation that may not be enforceable in Australia, but is in Singapore, can still result in the Australian entity being held liable for a violation in another country. Diversification Whereas many companies aim to diversify their product portfolio and the markets they serve, todays modern companies must also place value on their corporate culture and diversifying their workforce itself. Diversity exists in many ways from a wide age range among employees, to ethnicity, cultures, values and orientations and it is in an organisations best interest to embrace diversity and consider it very much a business tool. To maintain diversity in the workforce, HR must also understand how the different groups work and think. Some older employees, such as from the baby boomer generation just want to work hard, get their jobs done and collect a paycheck. To them, a job is a job. On the other hand, many of todays millennials prefer to feel a part of their company and greatly value the notion that they are contributing to the greater good of the world at large. This causes this group to take into consideration the fundamentals of the company itself. Diversity and having a wide range of people from all walks of life working towards a common goal is extremely beneficial to the company. Todays more successful HR departments embrace the diversity of their workforce and even celebrate it. When executed properly, it spawns creativity, learning, a stronger knowledge base and ultimately, greater agility for the organisation. SMEs that remain agile are also adaptable and therefore capable of reacting faster to market changes, etc. In many ways, it can be concluded that diversity creates stability. At the end of the work day, it really all comes down to understanding the challenges at hand, and also understanding the organisations workforce assets. Once an understanding of the resources as a whole and their capabilities are gained, managing them to be in a position to be successful, stops being a possibility and becomes a probability. About the author Marjukka Maki-Hokkonen is the President (ANZ) of NGA Human Resources, a provider of HR operations and payroll solutions As with any online activity, running an ecommerce business can leave you exposed to a variety of risks. Before you launch your new venture, take some time to understand the risks of selling online, and how best to deal with them. [Note: This article is Part 4 in a seven-part series by Chris Dahl providing an essential guide to setting up your ecommerce business. Read Part 1: Ecommerce Success Begins With Laying Solid Foundations, Part 2: Ecommerce partners: whos right for you?, and Part 3: Accepting online payments: the essentials.] With a strong product offering and digital presence, your venture could see a ton of sales in just a short time. Whether you stay successful is another matter. An excess of fraudulent orders could see you hemorrhaging thousands of dollars in chargebacks, while the ramifications of poor website security could have a severe impact on your brand. Fortunately, this is only a worst-case scenario. The services available to startup businesses these days offer numerous safeguards against known threats. Its easier than ever to establish sound business practice and a solid infrastructure from the very beginning. Lets explore how. What is a chargeback? A chargeback is when a cardholder disputes the sale made on their card. This is ordinarily because they claim not to have authorised the transaction or made that particular purchase. The cardholder contacts their bank or credit association and demands their money back. Chargebacks are an insurance feature, designed to protect cardholders in the case of admin errors, unreceived deliveries or faulty goods being supplied. The downside is the challenge they present to your business when issued as a result of fraud. What is fraud? Fraud occurs when a person intentionally misleads for personal gain. Because online purchases dont require the cardholder to be physically present, a customers identity can be masked, increasing the chances of your business engaging with customers who arent the people they claim to be. If a lost or stolen card is used to place an order, the true cardholder may request a chargeback, leaving your business with an expensive lesson in risk management, especially if the goods have already been delivered. Fraud isnt limited to customers using other peoples cards, however. Cardholders themselves may request chargebacks, even if they legitimately placed an order and their goods arrived as described. This is known as chargeback fraud, or friendly fraud. What is information theft? Information theft is a general term describing unauthorised access to private data. Its most often talked about in the context of identity theft, where someone pretends to be you in order to conduct fraudulent activity under your name. But information theft may also include the stealing of trade secrets (industrial espionage), secure documents (document theft), or any other files and data that could be used against you. As an ecommerce business, your primary concern should be for the security of your website and customer data, ensuring malicious third-parties cant gain access to your databases or eavesdrop during a payment transaction. How to minimise risk when selling online Know your customer before accepting their order Knowing your customer (KYC) is sound advice as well as standard industry practice helping you stay protected from fraudulent transactions and costly chargebacks. KYC is a business owners due diligence, which should involve: collecting basic customer information, assessing the risks of dealing with each customer, and keeping records of a customers transactions to help determine the risk in future. Just as a restaurant owner would think twice about serving a dine and dash customer a second time, an ecommerce business can take reasonable steps to prevent being duped by fraudulent customers using stolen credit cards. KYC measures come included in the services provided by ecommerce and online payment platforms. When shopping around, youll find varying degrees of assistance in the KYC process, so be sure to ask what a provider can do to help you protect your business. Adopt clear and consistent communication practices As strange as it sounds, some cases of fraud are accidental. Its not unusual for a cardholder to forget theyve placed an order by the time the charge appears on their credit card statement. This is made worse by bank statement descriptions that are hard to recognise. For example, if your website is named Candles & Aromatherapy Supplies, but the transaction is listed under your company name Smith Holdings Pty Ltd, its likely your customer wont recognise the charge. Ensure you can accurately specify the charge description on your customers bank statements. Otherwise, make sure you let your customers know what they can expect to see. A clear and consistent approach to communication can be as simple as a one-liner in an order confirmation email, listing your company name. Ensure your payment platform is secure Even with the facilities available to business owners today, some websites still ask their customers to send payment details via email or through a non-secure web form. In these cases, all it takes is an email- or eavesdropping-based hack to steal that customers identity for making fraudulent purchases. A secure payment platform eliminates this risk, and safeguards against other types of unauthorised activity. If youre setting one up yourself, youll find all the security requirements outlined in the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS), covering network security, data protection, vulnerability management, access controls, security monitoring, and policies governing how your staff can contribute to keeping your business and systems safe on a day-to-day basis. As you can imagine, full PCI-DSS compliance is a hefty challenge for startups and small businesses. The most practical approach when starting out is to find a PCI-complaint payment provider offering an infrastructure that handles the entire process on your behalf. Without needing to handle credit card data on your own site or servers at all, you can reduce both the time and costs involved in offering a properly secured service. About the author CHEYENNE One debate has been scheduled for the candidates vying for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat before the November general election. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that unless candidates can agree to another event, the only debate will happen on Oct. 20 in Casper. Republican Liz Cheney, Democrat Ryan Greene, Libertarian Lawrence Struempf and Constitution Party candidate Daniel Cummings are scheduled to participate in the debate sponsored by the Casper Star-Tribune and Wyoming PBS. Last month, Greene suggested five debates among the candidates to give residents across the state more opportunities to attend debates. "The idea was that we wanted one in every corner of the state and one in Casper," he said Friday. Greene criticized the Cheney campaign for not agreeing to more debates. "I think she's shutting the door on the people," he said. The Cheney campaign forwarded a request for comment to the state Republican Party, which has been handling the debate planning for the campaign. Matt Micheli, the state GOP chairman, said having one debate for the general election is normal for Wyoming but there have been exceptions. Micheli said Wyoming voters prefer to meet candidates in person as they travel around the state. The debate will take place at the Casper College Music Building's Wheeler Hall. What we thought we knew about lice are all lies Myth 1: Lice or kuto dont fly because they dont have wings. I really thought lice could fly and so if someone is infected with lice, it could fly out or get flown by the wind and transfer to one head from another. Truth: Lice have 6 feet. They only crawl, not even hop out of one head from the other. They can do stay and live in the pillow, sofa, couch, jeepney bus or taxi seat up to 7 days to find another human host. Myth 2: No matter how hygienic you are and no matter how many times you take a bath a day, you can still get lice. Truth: Lice are parasites, they can be easily transmitted through direct contact with an infested person or object. Lice or kuto can live up to 30 days in a human head and that the female lice can lay up to 100 eggs in their lifetime! Myth 3: Only kids studying in public school can get lice kids from private and exclusive school dont. Wrong! If you employ a house help and this house help (kasambahay/ katulong) either goes for day-off at their place once in awhile. She could get infected with their infected neighbors or kids which in turn can get your kids and you and your family infected! This was the truth in my case, just a few weeks ago, I was shocked to have found out that my daughter got head lice. I found out about it when I saw her scratching her head frantically. Then I realized it has been awhile since I saw her hair as neatly comb as before. My daughter have straight thick long black hair so I have to inspect her head and lo and behold! I found a lot of nicks (lisa ) and lice (kuto) and nymph (kayumad) on her head. I panicked and went to Mercury Drug to ask the pharmacist for head lice treatment shampoo. They have two choices, one was the more expensive one and stronger formulation, the other was Lamoiyan Corporation Licealiz head lice treatment shampoo. I immediately shampooed my daughters hair and found about 5 big fat black lice (female) and a couple of nymps and a number of lice. I also treated her head again after two days to make sure its all clear of infestation. And because we sleep together in one room, I had to use the shampoo myself just to make sure I dont get infected. Coincidentally I was tapped to join the Kilusang Kontra Kuto mommies #KKKmoms for the Licealiz Head Lice Prevention Campaign. This was Lamoiyan Corporations health education campaign designed to help communities all over the country to address the problem of kuto (lice). A study by DepEd in 2009 revealed that about 8 million public school students aged 7 to 12 years old were infested with head lice, said Dr. Arlene Bertuso , an entomologist and professor from the UP Manila College of Public Health. Because this problem easily affects a huge number of people, I can say that kuto really is a social concern that needs to be addressed by the whole community, said Balbina Borneo, President of MCNAP. Head lice may not be deadly but the stigma associated with having them makes kuto infestation a public health problem worthy of concern. Large infestation on ones head can cause severe itchiness and infection of the scalp if too much scratching was done. Plus kids with kuto are subject to bullying and teasing leading them to miss school for days at a time. That said , we, the #KilusangKontraKuto #KKKmoms went to Bagong Nayon Elementary School to witness how Licealiz goes on with their head lice prevention campaign. They held workshop for the moms and guardians of the school kids , gave away Licealiz headlice treatment shampoo to the kids and also did an actual shampooing session with the students. It was such a chilling experience to have seen how many lice they get in just one head! Its horrific! Celebrity mom Love Anover also shared her experience dealing with head lice. It was funny to learn that she herself went through the same experience as I did. Her daughter got infected through their house help who has been keeping a community of lice on her head and she didnt even know she has it. We were told that some people dont even know they have lice because some gets used to the biting and the lice saliva that they dont get the irritation and reaction of itchiness anymore. When I was a child, we only used suyod, which was quite inefficient in getting all the lice out. For my daughter, it was great to knw that we have something clinically tested and proven to remove lice, Love Anover said. As September dubbed as lice prevention month, Licealiz will continue arranging shampooing programs and activities for public school students all over the country and will be posting educational materials on head lice and how to fight them on their Facebook page https://web.facebook.com/licealiz/videos/1268699833162733/ How about you what lies about lice have you heard especially when it comes to getting rid of them? Whats your story? I would love to know on the comment section below! Stay gorgeous everyone! CHEYENNE Police are investigating after a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot in Cheyenne on Saturday night. The Wyoming News reports that the boy was shot once in the upper chest and neck area. Deputies have not taken anyone into custody. The Laramie County Sheriff's Department is searching for a second teenage boy in relation to the shooting, but could not confirm if he is the same age as the victim or if he is armed. It's not known if the shooting was intentional or accidental. Authorities have not released the identity of the victim. Laramie County Community College is about half a mile away and on lockdown as a precaution. Sir Suma Chakrabarti welcomes reforms in energy and financial sectors, announces record EBRD investment in 2016 The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Sir Suma Chakrabarti, visited Bulgaria on 18-19 September 2016 for talks with top officials and business partners. During the visit, President Chakrabarti met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, Minister of Finance and EBRD Governor Vladislav Goranov, Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petrova and Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova. He also held a roundtable discussion with representatives of the business community. President Chakrabartis discussions focused on the EBRDs investment in the country, the governments reform agenda and the role the Bank can play to help address remaining challenges and promote investment in cooperation with the authorities. President Chakrabarti welcomed Bulgarias recent actions to strengthen the stability of its financial sector and promote the liberalisation of the energy market. He reconfirmed the EBRDs commitment to support these reforms with investment and technical advice. President Chakrabarti said: The government has done a very good job of preserving economic stability. We have been encouraged by the firm action taken to strengthen the financial and power sectors. The high level of EBRD investment this year is a strong testimony to our support for this reform agenda. Continued reforms and an improved business climate will unlock further investment, including by the EBRD. Earlier this year, in its largest transaction in Bulgaria to date, the Bank provided a 300 million loan to the Bulgarian Deposit Insurance Fund to contribute to a more stable banking sector. The EBRD also invested 80 million in a Eurobond issued by Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) as part of the governments comprehensive reform plan to restore the financial viability of the electricity sector and to promote the liberalisation of the energy market. Stepping up cooperation in the energy sector, in particular with regard to energy efficiency, power distribution and gas infrastructure, was the focus of the meeting with Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova. In addition, President Chakrabarti discussed the business climate with local and foreign investors. Corruption, poor compliance with the rule of law, and the insufficient capacity of public administration were identified as major challenges hindering further investment in the country. At the request of the authorities, President Chakrabarti offered tailored assistance under the Banks Investment Climate and Governance Initiative which supports reform-minded governments and businesses to increase transparency, good governance and healthy competition. In a meeting with the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, the President welcomed the capitals ambition to become a green city with modern and efficient urban transport and infrastructure. He reiterated the Banks availability to support, structure and implement much-needed municipal infrastructure projects that will improve quality of life in Bulgarias main city. While in Sofia, President Chakrabarti also signed a 5 million loan to Elana Agrocredit, a business that provides lease financing for local farmers seeking to acquire agricultural land. This year the EBRDs investment in Bulgaria will rise to over 500 million, a seven-year record. In the coming years, the Bank will aim to keep the level of investment at about 200 million annually, in response to local demand. To further reinvigorate investment and growth in Bulgaria and other EU member states where the EBRD invests, the Bank is organising a conference in Budapest on 9-10 November 2016, which will be attended by the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev among other decision-makers. To date, the EBRD one of the largest institutional investors in Bulgaria has invested over 3.4 billion in more than 230 projects in the country. Some 80 per cent of the Banks investments in Bulgaria are in the private sector. The Banks strategy in Bulgaria focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises, through improved efficiency, governance and innovation; strengthening financial sector intermediation; and narrowing the infrastructure gap through commercialisation, reform and efficiency. The EBRDs operations in the country are headed by Larisa Manastirli, who also attended the meetings. Back in March of this year, the city of Flint announced that it intended to file a lawsuit against the state of Michigan in the Court of Claims over the poisoning of the citys drinking water with the powerful neurotoxin lead. There were no immediate plans to do so but they needed to be on record so that option remained open. This past week, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver made it known that they did, in fact, plan to file the lawsuit. Thats when Shortly after that, the Receivership Transition Advisory Board, the oversight board that is still the de facto government there, sprang into action and changed to rules to prevent Flint from moving forward with the suit, a move that only became public this week.: Days after Flint Mayor Karen Weaver served notice that her city might file a lawsuit against the State of Michigan over the Flint drinking water crisis, the state removed Flints ability to sue. Though Flint has not been under a state-appointed emergency manager since April 2015, the state still exerts partial control over the city through a five-member Receivership Transition Advisory Board, whose members are appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder. The board moved quickly to change the rules under which Flint is governed so that the city cannot file a lawsuit without first getting approval from that state-appointed board. In other words, Flint cannot sue the state without getting the state to sign off on it first. Thats how democracy works in Michigan if you dont toe the line established by our patriarchal Republican leaders. Make no mistake, the state may be moving away from Emergency Managers theyre now called school Chief Operating Officers in some places but Emergency Management is alive and well all the same. When local governments and school districts are not allowed to make their own decisions, democracy has been revoked in favor of a state takeover. It may be technically legal but it sure isnt American in spirit. 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But the antibiotics often prescribed usually wind up doing much more harm than good, killing off healthy bacteria with the bad ones. While antibiotics do have their place in medicine, why not think about reaching for a natural solution when you can? Here are 10 natural antibiotics that youve probably already got lying around your kitchen. 1. Garlic By eating a few cloves of garlic each day, you can effectively fight off all sorts of bacteria, viruses and infections. Studies have even found that garlic can assist in areas as severe as AIDS symptoms, diabetes and high blood pressure. (source). Its also a great help in relieving the effects of colds, flus and toothaches. It doesnt hurt that organic garlic is also quite affordable. Cooking it into a meal is not good enough, however; to maximize its full antibiotic properties, youll need to crush the garlic and eat it raw. A great way to try this is in a salad, soup or even drink. 2. Onions Onions are closely related to garlic and have similar health benefits, reducing pain and inflammation as well as illnesses like colds and flus. (source). Similar to garlic, youll get the best results by eating onions raw. Cooking onions releases many of their healthiest nutrients, robbing your body of their help. 3. Grapefruit Seed Extract Graprefruit seed extract, referred to as GSE, is conventionally used as an anti-microbial compound. It has shown great promise in preventing the growth of various fungi and bacteria, even being recommended for use in bathroom cleaning. (source). Youll need to dilute the extract when using it. The site Ive linked to above lists a few helpful pointers for determining how much extract you need for specific applications. 4. Horseradish Horseradish gives your body energy; this stuff is potent. Horseradish helps your body defend itself against potential illnesses. It also promotes healthy blood circulation and has antibiotic properties when broken down in the stomach. Horseradish can treat everything from urinary tract infections to kidney stones and bronchitis. (source). Consume it raw (blended or juiced) or diced up with a light amount of vinegar for best effects. 5. Vitamin C Vitamin C can be found in a wide variety of fruits including oranges and pineapples. Its known for its ability to strengthen the immune systemthats why orange juice is so relieving when youve got a cold. Vitamin C works wonders in areas of skin repair and prenatal health. (source). Getting your hands on a 100 percent natural organic orange juice is one way to consume vitamin Calso consider eating an orange or two a few days each week. Read page 1 6. Manuka Honey Manuka honey is made by bees in New Zealand and, like other types of honey, contains peroxide which gives it its antibiotic properties. This property is present in many other honeys, its just that New Zealand has marketed their honey better than anyone else. It also contains several other antibiotic components that are not found in other types of honey such as methylglyoxal. (source). The downside to manuka honey is that it can be a bit costly. You can find it at Whole Foods or online for about $50 a bottle. 7. Cinnamon Cinnamon can help lower blood sugar in folks dealing with adult onset diabetes tendencies. It also contains antibiotic properties and can help treat yeast infections. (source). There are many ways to consume cinnamon. One of my favorite is to simmer Sri Lankan cinnamon bark in a pot of water and pour the contents into a mug. You can then refrigerate the drink and consume it over several days. Quite refreshing. 8. Apple-Cider Vinegar Apple cider vinegar contains malic acid, known to possess antibiotic properties. It can assist greatly in preventing and relieving a sore throat helping to kill the germs that cause the condition. (source). 9. Ginger Its incredibly common for ginger to be used in the treatment of flus and colds. Its also great for treating an upset stomach and for nausea as well as treating muscle and joint pain. There is reason to avoid consuming ginger in very large amounts if you are expecting to be pregnant, however; some experts fear it may lead to miscarriage. (source). 10. Eucalyptus When placed on skin, eucalyptus has many antiseptic properties. Its also commonly used in teas and inhaled to fight coughs. Its also great at killing fungus. (source). Sustainia and the UN Global Compact announced Monday a unique global partnership that is committed to building the worlds biggest interactive platform for sustainable solutions. The Global Solutions Platform aims to inspire global companies to develop new products, business models and partnerships that can help reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable solutions can be found in every corner of the globe. From solar-powered water purification to sneakers made from plastic waste, they all make our world a cleaner, greener and fairer place. Unfortunately, they are fragmented and often poorly understood. In response to this challenge, UN Global Compact and Sustainia have announced a new strategic partnership which is committed to creating the worlds biggest virtual showroom, putting sustainable solutions just one click away. The Global Solutions Platform is designed to be the go-to place for business leaders seeking connections and inspiration, for investors seeking new opportunities and for authorities in need of credible private partners. The full platform will launch in early 2017. The Global Solutions Platform will be a global focal point for product and business model innovation. It empowers business leaders and entrepreneurs to take leadership in this new landscape which demands solutions to global challenges, Erik Rasmussen, CEO of Sustainia, said Monday. Sustainia brings more than five years of experience in the solutions sector to this new partnership. Since 2012, the company has worked extensively to identify the most promising sustainable solutions and global trends, presented each year in its flagship publication, the Sustainia100. These are solutions that turn food shortages into effective agriculture, unemployment into targeted education programs and digital jobs, and polluted cities into sun-powered, green metropolises. In five years, more than 4,500 solutions have come onto Sustainias radar and these solutions will provide the initial foundation for the ambitious new platform. Support from leaders worldwide According to a 2016 UN Global Compact-Accenture study, 87 percent of global CEOs believe that the UN Sustainable Development Goals represent an essential opportunity to rethink approaches to sustainability. A further 49 percent of CEOs claim that sustainability issues are already part of board-level discussions and express the need for integrating sustainability into their strategic planning. Therefore, the new platform will bridge growing awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals with the practical solutions business leaders need in order to implement their sustainability plans. The announcement was made at the UN Global Compact Private Sector Forum, an annual event attended by senior business leaders in order to further business action on sustainable development. The full platform will be rolled out in the spring and will be supported by a global solutions campaign that will give business leaders an opportunity to submit their sustainable solutions for inclusion. Norway has announced plans to kill more than two-thirds of its remaining wolves, justifying the action as protection for livestock. The plan has sparked outrage by conservationists. Three wolf packs, including pups, will be shot by hunters during Norways annual hunting season, which runs from Oct. 1 to March 31. Last year, 11,571 people applied for licenses to kill just 16 wolves. This seasons allotment would mark the largest wolf kill in the country since 1911. This is an outright mass slaughter. Something similar we have not seen in nearly 100 years, when the policy was that all large carnivores would be destroyed, Nina Jensen, CEO of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of Norway, told The Guardian. To shoot 70 percent of the wolf population is not worthy of an environmental nation. She goes on to note, This decision includes a wolf family in Letjenna who have not taken or eaten one sheep since they established themselves there in the winter of 2011/2012. In Norway, farmers release about 2 million sheep to open grazing lands. Of these, estimates are that 120,000 go missing each year. Those lost include natural accidents, being hit by cars and trains, and predators including wolves and wolverines. Estimates for the numbers lost to wolf predation vary from 380 to 1,800 and may be influenced by Norways compensation policy. Along with many other European countries, Norway compensates farmers for livestock losses due to wolves, creating an impetus for inflated numbers. Europe has an estimated population of 13,000 wolves, with about 400 in Scandinavia. Protection for European wolves varies by country. Sweden and Norway have often been at odds in their approach to wolf management, where Norwegians former government minister in charge of environmental issues, Erik Solheim, said in 2011, Everyone knows that the wolf doesnt pay attention to borders. Wolves from Sweden can come into Norway and do great damage, and therefore it would help if can cooperate on this. Solheim is currently Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program. In Western Europe, Spain has a population of 2,000-3,000 wolves, but can be hunted in most areas. Italys 600-700 wolves are protected and the population is growing at about six percent a year. Countries in Eastern Europe including Poland, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Turkey have populations ranging from 700 to 7,000. Wolf skins for sale at the Bergen fish market in Norway. Credit: Wikipedia Commons Conservation biologist Crystal Crown writes, It does appear that Norwegian farmers have a vendetta against wolves that is not rooted in fact, but rather fear and hate. If anything, the culling program could serve to reinforce these fears by making the farmers feel justified. She notes that Norway maintains its wolf population at around 20 animals, calling it artificially low numbers. The wolf hunt in Norway comes as a recent study, published Sept. 1 in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, questions the effectiveness of predator control on livestock protection. Livestock owners traditionally use various non-lethal and lethal methods to protect their domestic animals from wild predators. However, many of these methods are implemented without first considering experimental evidence of their effectiveness in mitigating predation-related threats or avoiding ecological degradation, states the report. It remains to be seen whether the protests by the WWF and others will have any impact on Norways plans. In conjunction with the Save the Sundarbans protest today at the UNs headquarters in New York City, were revealing in this EcoWatch exclusive that Friends of the Earth U.S. obtained documents that suggest the U.S. Export-Import Bank, Ex-Im Bank, which is supported by taxpayer dollars, is considering financing the Orion-Khulna coal plant near the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Mangroves in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Mohammad Rakibul Hasan The struggle for climate justice in Bangladesh, however, did win an important battle in July. Responding to public pressure from advocacy groups, Ex-Im Bank is no longer considering financing for a coal plant proposed to be built outside Bangladeshs capital city of Dhaka, one of the largest cities in the world. This coal plant, known as the Orion-Dhaka project, would burn coal just a few miles outside Dhaka, poisoning the air and water of 17 million people. While it remains unclear if the Orion-Dhaka project will move forward without U.S. financing, Ex-Im Banks withdrawal represents an important victory for protecting people and the climate. Battle Won, But Fight Continues While activists celebrate this decision, our celebration is short-lived. We have reason to believe that Ex-Im Bank will finance another coal plant in Bangladesh. According to media reports, the Bangladeshi company Orion Group, originally claimed to have secured financing for not one, but two coal projects in Bangladesh from Ex-Im Bank. The second coal plant, known as the Orion-Khulna project, is proposed to be built 14 kilometers from the Sundarbans, the worlds largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Sundarbans, which spans the border of India and Bangladesh, is home to endangered species like the Bengal tiger and Irrawaddy dolphin, and provides a home and livelihoods for upwards of 6 million people. Sundarbans Tiger Reserve. Dibyendu Ash The coal plant would greatly damage the Sundarbans surrounding ecosystem, threaten the human rights of thousands and contribute to runaway climate change. Indeed, as a nation, Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in the world; its people cannot afford for any more coal to be burned. Mangroves in Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Dibyendu Ash An Op-Ed that Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg wrote about his trip to Bangladesh in February of 2016 demonstrates Ex-Im Banks interest in financing projects there. Indeed, under Hochbergs tenure, Ex-Im has supported more than $650 million in U.S. exports to Bangladesh. The status of the Orion-Khulna coal plant is currently unknown, since Ex-Im Bank has provided so little information about its involvement in the project. However, recent news indicates the Orion-Khulna project could move forward soon. Another massive coal project proposed to be built near the Sundarbans, the Rampal coal plant, just secured financing from Indias Export-Import Bank. According to local Bangladeshi groups, if the Rampal project proceeds, Orion-Khulna will follow soon after. Another reason for Americans to be concerned about this international issue is one of the largest U.S. corporations, and a serial environmental polluter and tax evader, General Electric (GE), is slated to receive U.S. Ex-Im financing for its involvement in the construction of the Orion-Khulna coal plant. GE is no stranger to controversy. GEs poor environmental track record includes polluting the Hudson River with toxic waste water from 1947 to 1977 and supplying the nuclear reactors that faltered and led to the Fukushima nuclear plant explosion in 2011. GE, one of the long-running top beneficiaries of Ex-Imthe second largest recipient of Ex-Im financing after Boeing, is contracted to supply the turbine generators for the Orion-Khulna coal plant. Since acquiring the French power company Alstom, GE has expressed a renewed interest in coal throughout the world, including in Southeast Asia. Troubling FOIA Revelations Now, present day, here is why the new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents matter: the heavily redacted FOIA documents we obtained reveal further evidence to support the claim that U.S. Ex-Im Bank is considering financing for the Orion-Khulna project and that GE is involved. Excerpt of FOIA document FOE U.S. acquired that reveals Ex-Im Bank Charirman Fred Hochberg met with GE officials while in Bangladesh in February, 2016. Friend of the Earth U.S. They show that Ex-Im Bank was in talks as late as February 2016 with Bangladeshi government officials and GE about coal projects, which most likely include the Orion-Khulna coal plant. The FOIA documents show that during Ex-Im Bank Chairman Hochbergs February visit to Bangladesh, he met with high-ranking officials from Bangladeshs power ministry and energy sector, including the energy advisor and directors from GE. GEs alleged involvement in the Orion-Khulna project and expressed interest in building more coal projects in Southeast Asia suggest that Hochberg very likely discussed financing the Orion coal projects in these meetings. In addition, a note that merely said Adani coal project, was scribbled on a document from the meeting between Fred Hochberg and GE officials. Adani Group is an Indian conglomerate made up of various subsidiary companies, including Adani Mining, which operates in Australia, Indonesia and other coal-rich countries. This leads to troubling speculation that Australian coal from the controversial Adani-owned Carmichael coal mine and the Abbott Point coal export terminal, which poses grave threats to the Great Barrier Reef, could supply the coal for Orions coal projects in Bangladesh. India has indeed recently said they plan on increasing their coal exports to Bangladesh. This statement further supports the theory that the coal used for the Orion coal plants will come from Adanis problematic Australia coal projects. As it happens, Ex-Im Bank is also considering financing Adanis Carmichael coal mine project. Although pure speculation, if Adanis coal projects in Australia ended up supplying coal for the Orion projects in Bangladesh, the U.S government would be entangled in climate disaster and social and environmental destruction across multiple levels. Undermining Obamas Climate Legacy Given the recent actions the U.S. has taken to address climate change, its very troubling that the U.S. government is still considering financing coal projects at all. Supporting new coal development greatly undermines President Obamas much-touted climate legacy, including his commitment under the Climate Action Plan to restrict financing coal plants overseas and the recent formal U.S. commitment to the Paris agreement, which aspires to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and thus rules out any question of U.S. investment in coal. This also raises questions about what other fossil fuel projects Ex-Im is considering financing. Grassroots Pressure, Applied Globally Despite the schemes of Big Business and bad political actors, people around the world are successfully challenging the coal equation. Ex-Im Banks response regarding the Orion-Dhaka project came as a result of pressure from activists and civil society groups in Bangladesh and the U.S., who sent more than 156,000 petition signatures to Ex-Im Bank in late June. The petition asked Ex-Im Bank to publicly reject financing for Orions coal projects. A strong grassroots movement in Bangladesh is fighting to protect the Sundarbans from coal development. There have been two marches over the past several years attended by hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh. Bangladeshis march 155 miles to protest the construction of various coal plants near the Sundarbans, March 2016. Mowdud Rahman Most recently, a student was arrested for posting a comment on Facebook criticizing the Bangladeshi governments support for the Rampal coal plant. The people have spoken: New coal development is toxic to our environment and human health, and we refuse to accept the status quo anymore. The fight to protect the Sundarbans is not only gaining momentum in Bangladesh, it has become an international issue. This past year Save the Sundarbans protests have been held in Paris, Washington DC, Atlanta and New York. Atlanta chapter of Bangladeshi environmental group holding a Save the Sundarbans protest at the Indian Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 2016. Mohammad Nasir Uddin Environmental groups and South Asian-American groups deliver more than 156,000 petitions to U.S. Ex-Im Bank in Washington DC, June 2016. The Sierra Club NY chapter of Bangladeshi environmental group holding a Save the Sundarbans protest in Queens, New York, August 2016. Mohammad Nasir Uddin This growing movement came full circle today, when environmental groups and local Bangladeshi and Indian-American activists held a Save the Sundarbans protest in New York City while President Obama and Bangladeshs Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended a UN General Assembly meeting. Protesters called for the Sundarbans to be protected and for an end to harmful coal projects in Bangladesh. To honor the U.S.s commitment to fight climate change and preserve a livable planet for future generations and for the sake of the people and wildlife who call the Sundarbans home in Bangladesh, U.S. Ex-Im Bank must publicly reject financing for the Orion-Khulna coal plant, once and for all. Due to years of illegal poaching and loss of habitat, tigers are now functionally extinct in Cambodia, conservationists conceded for the first time Wednesday. RT if you want to see Cambodia increase its commitment to wild tigers! https://t.co/WOkYuad3n3 x #doubletigers pic.twitter.com/bq2nSk93RG WWF Tigers (@WWF_tigers) April 5, 2016 According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Cambodia, the last tiger seen in Cambodias wild was in 2007 from a hidden camera set up in the Eastern Plains Dry Forest Landscape in Mondulkiri Protected Forest. Today, there are no longer any breeding populations of tigers left in Cambodia, and they are therefore considered functionally extinct, the conservation group said in a statement. The AFP reported that Cambodias dry forests used to be home to scores of Indochinese tigers, but intensive poaching of both tigers and their prey has devastated the population. But in a major effort to save the iconic species, on March 23 the Cambodian government approved its Cambodia Tiger Action Plan that would import tigers from abroad and introduce them to the Mondulkiri Protected Forest. Keo Omaliss, a government official in charge of wildlife, told the Associated Press that Cambodia is considering negotiating with the governments of India, Malaysia and Thailand to bring at least seven to eight tigers to live in the forest to breed and repopulate. This would be the worlds first transnational tiger reintroduction and will be based on best practices developed from successful tiger reintroductions within India, WWF-Cambodia said. Un Chakrey, communications manager for WWF-Cambodia, told the New York Times that the tigers could be introduced as soon as 2020. The AFP reported that the new habitat will be protected against poachers by strong law enforcement and action to protect the tigers prey. The entire project is estimated to cost $20-50 million. The Cambodia Tiger Action Plan also follows the objective of 13 tiger range countries to double the number of wild tigers in the world to more than 6,000 by 2022, which is the next Year of the Tiger. The global aim is also known as Tx2. The 13 Tx2 countries are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. Representatives from these countries will meet at the 3rd Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in New Delhi next week to discuss the Tx2 plan. This conference comes at the critical halfway point in the Tx2 goal, the WWF says. There have been great successes so far, with tiger numbers increasing in Nepal, India, Russia and Bhutan, however Southeast Asia is facing a tiger crisis with poaching at unprecedented levels. It is feared that some countries could lose their tigers if immediate action isnt taken. With only six years left, decisions made at this meeting will determine whether the Tx2 goal of 6000+ tigers by 2022 is met. The current global population of wild tigers is estimated to be less than 3,200, meaning they are nearly extinct worldwide. Tigers are currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCNs) Red List. According to the IUCN, the animals currently inhabit less than 6 percent of their historic range with a 42 percent decline since 2006. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE Family of Wolves Shot Dead in Oregon Researchers Celebrate First Live Encounter With Sumatran Rhino in Borneo for 40+ Years Leonardo DiCaprio Faces Deportation Threat After Criticizing Indonesias Palm Oil Industry 3 Vaquitas Found Dead: The Most Endangered Marine Mammal in the World The worlds last three northern white rhinos, which all reside at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, are unable to breed because they are directly related to each other. Northern white rhino. Photo credit: Erico Hiller, GoFundMe Scientists hoping to save the critically endangered species, are turning to stem cells to aid reproduction. They plan to make stem cells out of adult rhino skin cells through a process called iPS, induced pluripotent stem cells. Lab-grown stem cells of this kind are pluripotent, meaning they can make any type of cell in the body. Scientists plan on creating northern white rhino sperm and egg cells with this method. Those cells can then be combined to form embryos, a NowThis video reported. The formed embryos will be placed in a surrogate female northern white rhino, who will hopefully carry them to term. Scientists are not sure if this process will work, but its one of the last chances the northern white rhino has of avoiding extinction. The use of the pluripotent cells will allow for the development of genetic diversity within the species, which is needed to reproduce in the future. DNA of a dozen northern white rhinos, which has been preserved in genetic banks in Berlin and San Diego, will be used in this project, according to the projects GoFundMe page. The northern white rhino originally ranged over parts of northwestern Uganda, eastern Central African Republic, southern South Sudan and northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Poachers reduced their population from 500 to 15 during the 1970s and 1980s. From the 1990s through mid-2003, the northern white rhinos population recovered, but not to original levels. By mid-2003 there were 32 animals in the wild. The population was then once again reduced by poaching until there were only 5 to 10 animals left in the world. White rhinos are especially vulnerable to poaching because they are relatively unaggressive, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The last three northern white rhinos are watched 24/7 by guards. This rhino species cannot be found in any zoos. A World Rhino Day reminder there's only one male northern white rhino http://t.co/AdLWbQl3Jd pic.twitter.com/trUKENTlLa The Independent (@Independent) September 22, 2015 As of 2011, the species is considered probably extinct. There have been no sightings of wild northern white rhinos since 2006. Rhinos were hunted by poachers for their horns, which are used for many purposes. Powdered horn is used in traditional Asian medicine for illnesses from hangovers to cancer, WWF said. Horns are also in demand simply as a symbol of wealth in societies such as Vietnam. One kilo of rhino horn sells for $60,000 on the black market, according to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Northern white rhino. Photo credit: Khalil Baalbaki, ZOO Dvur Kralove Southern white rhinos, the only other species of white rhinos, has rebounded significantly. WWF reports their population is 20,000 or more. Watch this NowThis video for more information on the conversation efforts for the northern white rhinos: [facebook https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNowThisNews%2Fvideos%2F1077895962300527%2F&show_text=0&width=560 expand=1] YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: 5 Species Bouncing Back From the Brink of Extinction Tigers Declared Extinct in Cambodia Eastern Monarch Butterflies at Risk of Extinction Huge News for Elephants: U.S. Bans Ivory Trade (Photo: REUTERS / Olivia Harris)Czech priest Tomas Halik (L) acknowledges Jack Templeton, son of John Templeton, the founder of the Templeton Prize, during the 2014 Templeton Prize award in London March 13, 2014. Halik, a Catholic priest whose theology of paradox invites believers and atheists to dialogue won the 2014 Templeton Prize, worth .83 million, for his work affirming the spiritual dimension of life. In the past, U.S. presidential elections how religion affects the voting has often been a news headline grabber and signs remain that belief differs in the two main political parties the Republicans and the Democrats. The United States was often taken to be a contrary case to the general decline of religion in the West. But this week Newsweek carried a story titled, "Are Americans becoming as godless as Europeans?" It said that religious affiliation, church attendance and belief in God have all fallen in the United States. The story was based on one on the London School of Economics U.S. Centre site in which David Voas and Mark Chaves find that religiosity is decreasing in the United States, and for the same reason that it has been falling elsewhere. They comment that Americans are not becoming less religious over their lives; rather, the more religious generations born in the early 20th century are dying off and being replaced by newer generations that are less likely to be religious. Their findings are similar to those reflected in recent research carried out on U.S. voters' attitudes by the Pew Research Center. Voas is Professor and Head of the Department of Social Science at UCL Institute of Education, University College London. Chaves is Professor of Sociology, Religious Studies and Divinity at Duke University. Their article is based on the paper, 'Is the United States a counterexmaple to the secularization thesis?' in the American Journal of Sociology Taking religious belief as an example, they say only 45 percent of young adults aged 18-30 have no doubt about God's existence, compared with 68 percent of people aged 65 and over. The overall level of belief under erosion as people born early in the 20th century are replaced by those from subsequent generations with weaker religious convictions. The authors says that declines in traditional religiosity aren't offset by increasing vitality elsewhere. "It's true that the 'spiritual but not religious' phenomenon has expanded in recent years. This diffuse spirituality may provide a growing market for certain kinds of religious products, such as self-help books with spiritual themes, but it isn't offsetting religious decline, re-energizing existing religious institutions, or providing a foundation for new forms of religious collective action." RELIGIOUS DECLINES IN US SIMILAR TO EUROPE They noted that it is not just religious decline that makes the United States similar to Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or most of Europe. "It's also the way that secularization has occurred mainly, and in some cases entirely, because each successive generation is slightly less religious than the one before." Still they say the religiosity of the United States has impressed observers since the early 19th century, and American levels of religious involvement remain strikingly high compared to those in virtually all highly developed countries. Pew's research also notes that the U.S. religious landscape also has been shifting over the past few decades. One of the most fundamental changes has been the increase in the share of voters who do not affiliate with a religion (from 8 percent in 1996 to 21 percent in 2016). The increase in the share of voters who do not identify with a religious group is occurring faster within the Democratic than Republican Party, moving the religious profiles of the two coalitions further apart from one another. In 2016, nearly three-in-ten (29 percent) Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters are religiously unaffiliated describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular." That is up from just 10 percent in 1996. Overall, 11 percent of Democratic voters are white mainline Protestants, 10 percent are white Catholics and 8 percent are white evangelical Protestants. All three of these groups make up much smaller shares of all Democratic voters than they did in 1996. Black Protestants make up 15 percent of all Democratic voters and Hispanic Catholics account for 6 percent; there has been no decline in the shares of these two groups. Shifts in the composition of the Republican Party have been more modest and GOP voters are now even more likely than Democratic voters to affiliate with a religion than they were 20 years ago. About a third (35 percent) of Republican voters are white evangelical Protestants, 18 percent are white Catholics, 17 percent are white mainline Protestants and 12 percent are religiously unaffiliated. The share of GOP voters that is unaffiliated has risen six points since 1996. There has been little change in the share of all GOP voters who are white evangelical Protestants or white Catholics over the past two decades, but the share who are white mainline Protestants has declined 12 points. Applying to a college is one of the most daunting tasks an applicant faces. It is necessary to get it right to make sure you secure a place at your desired institute. Students should ensure they have all the requisite documents. Go through the institutes website to check all the requirements. University websites generally have an FAQs section which answers most queries applicants may have. One of the crucial aspects of the admissions process is the statement of purpose ( SOP ). An SOP is a part of the application that allows you to tell a university what makes you special. It is an opportunity for prospective students to promote themselves. A good SOP should include the rationale for why a student wants to study at a specific university, explain why they want to study their chosen course and give an overview of the relevant (non-academic) experience. An SOP helps universities decide which candidates are best suited to a particular course. In addition, writing it allows students to reflect on what they want to study. An SOP should include an introduction, what you have done related to the subject that isnt already on the application form; work experience, placements and relevant activities at school/university; interests outside of school/university, particularly those that show you are responsible and reliable; your goal of attending university and a memorable closing comment. It should be yours (not copied from somewhere else) without jokes, says Lisa Blenkinsop, head of international recruitment at UKs Staffordshire University. Also, dont rush. Universities look for a number of things within an SOP, including: motivation and commitment, an understanding of the course, literacy (an SOP will be checked for spelling, punctuation and grammar) and enthusiasm to go beyond the syllabus. Positive language should be used. Words like achieved, developed, initiative, discovered, enthusiasm, commitment, energy, fascination, adaptable are encouraged, she adds. A number of students use internet search engines to find answers. It is important to not Google the question to see what others have written. Colleges want something unique from you, so no matter the topic or question, tie the essay back to yourself. It is also crucial to know your audience. Admissions representatives from diverse backgrounds, of all ages, will read your statement. Make sure you are relevant to them, says Tammy S Conard-Salvo, associate director, Writing Lab, Purdue Online Writing Lab. Aruna Dasgupta, country adviser for the University of South Florida, says applicants should use good, simple English and the application should reflect sincerity and clarity. Speak from your heart, not from a book of quotations. The latest attempt by researchers to determine the impact of educational technology investments on student achievement suggests that federal E-rate program subsidies that schools receive are unlikely to improve student test scores. This new study could fuel debates about the link between technology investments and student achievement. But several ed-tech experts said the premise of the study is largely misguided and some of the methodology is flawed. The researchconducted by scholars at Clemson Universitys Department of Economics and the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policyshows no direct correlation between the use of annual E-rate subsidies and SAT scores in North Carolinas public schools. In North Carolina, composite SAT test scores fell as E-rate funding increased. That led the researchers to suggest that districts arent getting the return on investment that they should from spending thousands of dollars on added technology in their classrooms. The argument that was made to increase the [E-rate] funding up to $4 billion per year was that there was a positive outcome, said Thomas Hazlett, a professor of economics at Clemson and one of the studys authors. We need to show increased test scores to be able to support the next $4 billion of investments. But suggesting that the districts are not getting a valuable return on investment based solely on SAT scores is a conclusion full of problems, several experts said. To begin with, both K-12 leaders and the Federal Communications Commission agree that the intended purpose of the E-rate program from the very beginning has always been to provide a level playing field for all school districts in terms of access to technology, not as a direct means to increase test scores. Plus, they say it is problematic to suggest that E-rate funding would have a direct link to test scores, because there are so many other factors that influence academic performance. Mixed Picture The findings show that as E-rate funding rose in North Carolina during the 2009-2013 period, average mathematics SAT test scores actually dropped from 493 to 481. The average written SAT test score also dropped from 454 in 2009 to 448 in 2013. However, average critical reading SAT test scores saw a slight increase. While the study claims to adjust for demographic differences, it does not clearly outline which factors are being used to distinguish a wealthy school district from a poorer school district. Academic Return From the E-rate? A new study conducted by researchers at Clemson and Georgetown universities attempts to examine the link between the E-rate program and student achievement. The study: COMPARES rising E-rate investments with SAT scores for students across North Carolina between 1999 and 2013; rising E-rate investments with SAT scores for students across North Carolina between 1999 and 2013; EXAMINES the performance of students in Mooresville, N.C., a district with an international reputation for its extensive use of digital learning; the performance of students in Mooresville, N.C., a district with an international reputation for its extensive use of digital learning; BASES its conclusions on the performance of students in 374 high schools in 119 districts; its conclusions on the performance of students in 374 high schools in 119 districts; CONCLUDES that, in most cases, the correlation between E-rate funding and SAT scores is negative; that, in most cases, the correlation between E-rate funding and SAT scores is negative; SUGGESTS that policymakers need to take a harder look at the return on investment from the E-rate program. Source: Clemson University, Georgetown University The study also specifically examined the Mooresville County schools, a district with an international reputation for its extensive use of educational technology. The results from Mooresville present a mixed picture. They show that as E-rate funding rose in North Carolina during the 2009-2013 period, average mathematics SAT test scores for the district dropped to a low of 499 in 2012 before returning to 520 in 2013. The average written SAT test scores in Mooresville dropped to a low of 457 in 2011 before returning to 482 in 2013. Additionally, the average critical reading SAT test scores dropped to a low of 478 in 2011 before returning to 500 in 2013. The article attempts to correlate SAT performance with federal E-rate program spending, said Brendan Desetti, the director of education policy at The Software & Information Industry Association. However, only about half of all high school students take the SAT and the majority of test takers are not low-income students. The E-rate program, on the other hand, provides subsidies for broadband connectivity to schools and libraries based on the number of low-income individuals served. Higher-income students, those more likely to participate in the SAT, are also shown to be more likely to have access to high-speed internet and other technology outside of the classroom. Other studies cloud the picture about the impact of technology investments on student achievement. For instance, a 2015 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that ed-tech investments made in 31 countries did not lead to improved student achievement. However, a Michigan State University meta-analysis released in 2016 showed a link between improved test scores and access to computers. EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit working to bring internet to every classroom in the United States to enhance digital learning opportunities, has been a big advocate for E-rate funding across the country. The most important thing with the E-rate program is for it to continue to focus on how we are achieving the goals and to make sure that schools and school districts (the beneficiaries) have the tools that they need to be the most effective purchasers of broadband that they can be, said Evan Marwell, the founder and CEO of EducationSuperHighway. They can ensure that the taxpayers money is used in the best way possible. Study Fundamentally Flawed The FCC overhauled and modernized the E-rate program in late 2015 by using data to drive its policy changes. In collaboration with educational nonprofit organizations, the FCC felt the need to move the program away from basic telephone lines to fiber-optic broadband connectivity. The policy changes expanded the options school districts had to build up their Wi-Fi infrastructure. Most educational experts say todays classrooms must be both broadband and Wi-Fi-capable to allow teachers and students to use technology in the most effective ways. According to data gathered by EducationSuperHighway, 5 million public schools had broadband in 2014. That number grew to 27 million public schools in 2015. This increase can largely be attributed to the FCCs modernization of the E-rate program, according to ed-tech experts. FCC data also caused the agency to make all of its E-rate data pertaining to whos buying what, from whom, and at what price open to the public. As a result, the cost paid by schools for broadband has been cut in half since 2014, from $22 per megabit to $11 per megabit. I think that overall the study [by Clemson and Georgetown] is fundamentally flawed, said Marwell. The E-rate program has made a level playing field by providing every student and teacher in the country with equal and efficient access to the Internet. The E-rate program is about access, not achievement. The people who know teaching and learning the best are in the classroom and improving learning for children. FCC officials echoed Marwell. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 directed the FCC to provide schools and libraries with broadband, which is exactly what the E-rate program is doing, said Mark Wigfield, deputy director of the office of media relations at the FCC. While we cant comment on the studys analysis of educational outcomes, the demand for E-rate funding from schools and libraries makes it clear that access to broadband is essential to learning today. CHAMBERLAIN, S.D. -- High atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, Chamberlains newest resident has found her new home. After two years of planning, designing and creating the 50-foot-tall stature, called Dignity, the project culminated with a celebration of the time and hard work that went into the effort. More than 200 people converged on the Chamberlain rest stop on Interstate 90 to recognize the states newest landmark, a stainless steel statue depicting a Native American woman draped in a star quilt. Black Hills area artist and South Dakota artist laureate Dale Lamphere, who designed the sculpture, and Norm and Eunabel McKie, who commissioned Dignity, were on hand to celebrate the completion of the project Saturday. Two years after the McKies announced a $1 million gift to support the project, Norm McKie was impressed with the final product that now watches over the city of Chamberlain. And I think Dale outdid himself, McKie joked. I didnt think he was going to do this this well. At 50 feet, Dignity towers over nearby trees and structures, and is easily visible for passers-by on Interstate 90. And Lamphere was happy to have played his part in adding something new to the South Dakota skyline. My intent for this is to have the sculpture stand as an enduring symbol of our shared belief that we are in a sacred place and that we are all sacred, Lamphere said. Im humbled and so grateful to have this chance to contribute to the future landscape of South Dakota and the Great Plains. For his contribution to South Dakota, one speaker, Dr. Richard Gowan, called Lamphere and his team geniuses of engineering. Chaplain Herb Cleveland, of Rapid City, also offered his appreciation to the McKies and Lamphere for their work to make the dream of Dignity a reality. To you, Eunabel, and Norm McKie, we say thank you so much for this wonderful gift, for it is the epitome of what we believe in, Cleveland said. And Dale, my old friend, what a genius you are. You captured that idea, that became a dream, that became a plan and now is a gift and a part of reality. Following the list of speakers, blessings and traditional Native American songs and dance, Gov. Dennis Daugaard took the stage to recognize those who helped bring Dignity to Chamberlain. After recognizing Lamphere and his team, as well as the McKies, Daugaard suggested Dignity may become the third well-known landmark in South Dakota. This is very meaningful to our state, Daugaard said. In addition to being the state of Mount Rushmore and the state of Crazy Horse, I believe the prominent location of Dignity and the visibility that she offers to so many millions of travelers who will be moving up and down Interstate 90, I think well soon become not just the state of those two stone monuments, but also this beautiful metal sculpture as well. Already the dominant feature on the Chamberlain skyline, Dignity is also backlit by LED lights that will glow in the night sky, making it visible to drivers passing through Chamberlain in all hours of the day. The first lighting of the statue was scheduled to be held following the initial ceremony on Saturday evening. And while the 50-foot statue stands atop a bluff and is susceptible to South Dakotas occasionally harsh winds, Lamphere and his crew have already accounted for any possible problems. Within the blue star of Dignitys quilt are separate diamonds that shift with the wind on ceramic bearings, allowing wind to flow freely through the sculpture. One of several speakers during the well-attended Saturday event in Chamberlain was State. Sen. Troy Heinert, of Mission. Heinert, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said he was invited to comment on how Dignity could improve race relations in South Dakota. With the country more divided than ever, according to Heinert, he said Dignity will serve as a reminder for those who visit to return to the time when life was lived with humility, respect, compassion, and of course, dignity. Heinert said much of the old way of life has been erased by government policies and racism, and he hoped Dignity would serve as a way to bring South Dakotans together in a polarizing political climate. Thankfully, with her help, we can make that change, Heinert said. I believe that she was sent here to open our hearts and our minds. Her outstretched arms are inviting us into her blanket where we can learn from each other, acknowledge our differences and celebrate our similarities. North Dakota Farmers Union this week sent 44 people to participate in the National Farmers Unions legislative fly-in to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness in Congress about the worsening farm economy. NDFU President Mark Watne said the 275 participants in the fly-in will visit every member of Congress to tell them about the 63 percent decline in farm income from 2014 to 2015. Defining the problem is the first step; the harder part is finding a way to fix it in time to save family farms and rural communities, he said. Were getting a lot of understanding about the issue, he said. But were not getting a real good set of solutions. Andy Swenson, farm and family resource management specialist at North Dakota State University, said 2007 to 2012 were very good years for farm income, with 2012 being a tremendously profitable year for farmers. Those conditions helped pull more young people back to the farm. But average net farm income went from $76,404 in 2014 to $28,600 last year. Now, it doesnt even provide income for one family let alone two, Swenson said. Cost of production increased a lot from 2004 to 2013, and though it has started to come down, it hasnt dropped as far as the prices farmers are getting for their crops, according to Swenson. Its been a sharp reversal of fortunes, and, hopefully, the balance sheets were solidified in those goods years so you have a little cushion, said Swenson, adding that those in a good situation coming out of the strong years likely can refinance their obligations at least for the next year. But Watne worries that producers especially young ones without enough equity or a strong enough balance sheet might be out of luck when it comes time to get operating loans. If you cant give them equity, youre going to have a problem, Watne said. Swenson said the 2014 Farm Bill did away with direct payments, which paid some producers regardless of situation, which helped make up for poor prices or yields. However, Swenson and Watne said those programs have not kept up with the cost of production. Nobody could really plan for this much of a drop in prices, Watne said. While solutions are hard to come by, Watne has a few ideas. He says he believes the level of support in farm programs should be based on the cost of production. Additionally, he believes the American people need to be shown the benefit of the nations food system and the importance of having a broad base of farmers rather than be reliant on other countries or a concentrated system of a few producers. Farmers Union members at the fly-in are asking members of Congress to support the Renewable Fuel Standard and to make sure the Department of Justice is adequately considering whether mergers among agricultural companies are producing monopolies. Additionally, they are asking for more prudence in trade agreements that have often left American farmers and ranchers with more negatives than positives. Swenson said such downturns in farm income are cyclical and usually correct themselves. Fewer people will produce crops for low prices, reducing supply, while low prices lead to increased demand. They say low prices will cure low prices, he said. Keeping costs down in ways that wont hurt yields will be important, as will looking for crops with a brighter outlook, according to Swenson, who said corn and wheat two of North Dakotas biggest crops have taken the biggest price hits, but others have remained marginally stronger and allow for better chances to at least break even. Production costs should decrease somewhat for next year, he said. The tough farm economy likely will cost the state some producers, though time will tell how many, Swenson said. Strong yields, including a record corn yield and strong wheat yield, should help balance things out. Its bad, Swenson said. Could have been really bad. Candidates from the Republican and Libertarian parties are vying for the position of state auditor. There is no Democratic-NPL contender in the race. Josh Gallion, Republican Josh Gallion, the Republican candidate for state auditor, says audits are not something to cringe at; rather, they are critical tools to improve government and ensure sound practices are being utilized. Gallion, 36, is a first-time candidate who works for the North Dakota Public Service Commission as accounting manager and director of the agency's weights and measures program. He says on the campaign trail, there seems to be a gap between peoples expectations of what government functions should be and actual state agency objectives. A lot of people are expressing concerns over state government, Gallion said. We need to bridge that gap. A native of Spokane, Wash., Gallion came to North Dakota as a member of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Minot. There, he met his wife, Becky. They have two children. Gallion earned a bachelor's degree from Dickinson State University and a master's degree from the University of North Dakota. Prior to joining the PSC, he spent nearly three years as a program manager and financial officer at the Drivers License Division of the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Gallion said his military and government experience would serve him well in the auditors office. He advocates limited, accountable and responsive government, which can be achieved through new ideas and not simply by throwing more money at it. He said the PSC utilizes private industry for some of its operations, a method that could create more flexibility in other areas of state government. It allows us to expand and contract (when necessary), said Gallion. I think everyone understands that, in our state, we have some fiscal issues. While Gallion conceded this would be an uphill battle, he said he would consider asking the Legislature to double the staff of the states performance audit division. He said adding two or three people to that division would allow two performance audits to be done at once. In light of recent reviews such as those to the Department of Human Services and Department of Trust Lands, he said having more staff could improve the agencys ability to conduct performance audits while not ramping things up to the point of scrutinizing agencies to death.. Roland Riemers, Libertarian Libertarian candidate Roland Riemers calls the state auditor's race one of the more interesting of this election cycle, even though it may not be getting much attention. I would look at ways to reduce the size of the auditors office, said Riemers, adding that government is growing too rapidly. I pledge to reduce the auditors office budget by 5 percent per year. Riemers, a former state Libertarian Party chairman, has run for statewide office several times, including for governor in 2004 and 2012. He ran for Grand Forks County Sheriff in 2010 and for the U.S. Senate in 2006. He received 5.3 percent of the vote in the secretary of states office race in 2014. Without a Dem-NPL candidate in the auditor's race, Riemers said he could get much more of the vote and end up with the highest percentage for a North Dakota Libertarian Party candidate. Riemers, owner of Affordable Apartments in Grand Forks, said more efficiencies could be achieved in the auditor's office. He added the same may be said of other state agencies as well, so it would be a good idea to expand the number of performance audits the agency conducts. Todo lo que necesitas saber para comenzar tu dia Suscribirse implica aceptar los terminos y condiciones There have been numerous reports on several Galaxy Note 7 units exploding lately. In the most recent report, a Florida man has sued Samsung after his Galaxy Note 7 exploded while in his pocket. The man, Jonathan Strobel of Palm Beach County, had his Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in his right front pocket back on September 9 when the device quite literally exploded. After suffering second-degree burns on his leg due to the incident, the Florida man opted to sue the tech giant. Despite the worldwide recall initiated by Samsung for its Galaxy Note 7 devices, Strobel's lawsuit against the tech giant is the first legal case from a consumer that is directed at the South Korean tech conglomerate. The Florida man's lawsuit is seeking around $15,000 in damages. The Note 7 smartphone was not reasonably fit, suitable, or safe to the ultimate operators or consumers for its intended or reasonably foreseeable purposes when manufactured, and Samsung knew or in the exercise of due care should have known that the Galaxy Note7 cell phone would create a foreseeable risk of harm to users," part of Strobel's case against Samsung read. While Samsung has formally admitted that it was well aware of Strobel's incident, the tech giant has not released its official statement about the incident, asserting that it does not "comment on pending litigation." Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 has become the center of a worldwide recall that has dealt a massive blow to the prestige and reputation of the South Korean tech giant's flagship phablet. When it was released, critics and users alike lauded Samsung for creating arguably its best phone yet. Indeed, numerous reviewers even speculated that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 would be the top Android phone of the year, well ahead of its competition, and even beating Google's first self-branded smartphones, the Pixel and Pixel XL. Alas, the Note 7's rise to prominence suddenly hit a brick wall, with dozens upon dozens of units being reported to have burst into flames. As of date, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) stated that there have been multiple reports of Note 7-related incidents. "Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage, including fires in cars and a garage," the CPSC stated. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man suspected of being behind the recent terror attacks in New York and New Jersey over the last few days, has been finally apprehended. Two officers were injured in his capture, but there were no fatalities. The 28-year-old Rahami's arrest happened on Monday, in Linden New Jersey. By then, police were already on the lookout for Rahami, after he left his fingerprints on an improvised bomb that authorities were able to trace. Rahami seemed to be lying low in New Jersey when local police were given a tip that a suspicious man was sleeping in the doorway of a local bar, according to Capt. James Sarnacki of the Linden Police Department. Immediately, the police mobilized and found the suspect in the area. "When I was at the scene, initially, he was conscious and awake," Sarnacki said. Sarnacki further stated that events quickly escalated once the police made contact with Rahami. "One of the officers tried to rouse him. The gentleman on the ground picked up his head, and the officer saw that he had a beard and resembled the wanted person from the poster from the bombings," he said. Upon seeing the officer, Rahami quickly pulled out a gun and fired, striking the officer in the abdomen. Another officer was shot in the hand. Fortunately, the officer who got the brunt of Ramahi's assault was wearing a bulletproof vest. As Rahami attacked the officers, the rest of the Linden police returned fire, hitting the suspected terrorist multiple times. By the time Rahami was finally retrieved, his right shoulder bloody and was seen to be bandaged. Rahami became a person of national interest after his fingerprints were retrieved from an improvised pressure cooker bomb that authorities were able to discover. Authorities were also able to link the bombings to Rahami through cellphones that were designed to be wired to some of his bombs. The businesses of Mahmoud Abbas and his sons By Yoni Ben Menachem The succession battle in the Palestinian Authority has become very elemental since Mahmoud Abbas rejected the request of four Arab states Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to mend fences with his bitter rival Muhammad Dahlan. Some of those states want to see Dahlan as the next PA chairman. Although some in Fatah view Abbas' rejection of the Arab request as an act of "political suicide," Abbas does not show signs of stress. At the urging of Egypt and Jordan, which fear Hamas, he called off the elections in the territories and consented to a return to Fatah by some of Dahlan's people. As far as Abbas is concerned, he has complied with most of Egypt and Jordan's requests. Yet, still, he is not prepared to countenance Muhammad Dahlan. PA Prime Minister Riyad al-Maliki claims that relations with Arab states are in perfectly good order. Last week Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), a member of the PLO Executive Committee, revealed the way in which Abbas became PA chairman. It perhaps sheds light on how the next PA chairman, in the absence of elections in the territories, will be appointed. In an interview with the Palestinian news agency, Amad, on September 10, 2016, Qurei said that he was the one who proposed Abbas as a candidate for the post and took him to Yasser Arafat, then on his deathbed at the Mukata in Ramallah the evening before he was flown to the hospital in Paris. In the conversation Arafat did not suggest that Abbas should be his replacement; nor, however, did he express opposition to Abbas, with whom he had had sharp disagreements in the past. The conversation was friendly, and the issue of succession was not raised at all. Qurei said that after Arafat's death, all the members of the Fatah leadership agreed to Abbas' appointment as successor because they trusted him. The Abbas Family's Businesses Mahmoud Abbas, his wife (front row, bottom right), son Yasser (top left), son Tareq (top right), and their families. Photo taken in 2005. The bitter succession battle within Fatah and the fact that Abbas rejected the Arab states' request concerning Dahlan has impelled the interested parties to reveal publicly the power-wealth nexus of Abbas and his sons. Senior officials in Fatah and in Arab states sense the PA chairman's political weakness and are now leaking information to the media about his governmental corruption. In a report published on September 11, 2016, the Egyptian journalist Hussein Yousef of Al-Masri Al-Youm highlighted the business activity of Abbas and his two sons, Yasser and Tareq. Although his report gives a good deal of information on the topic, the Palestinian social networks have already been posting various material on the Abbas family's corruption for quite a while. Yousef's report describes the family's business empire, which is based on Abbas' own commercial ties and his connections with states and large companies worldwide, all of which benefit his two sons' business concerns. Abbas' two sons own a large business consortium called "Falcon" that has taken over the West Bank's commerce and its labor market. Abbas supports the group, and he has arranged many favorable conditions that give it advantages over other companies. The Falcon concern has several constituent companies: The Falcon tobacco and cigars company. The Falcon electricity and mechanical contracting company (it has branches in the West Bank, Jordan, and the UAE). Abbas has mustered $890,000 in assistance for it. The Falcon international media company. The Falcon general investment company, whose profits total $60 million. The Al-Mashrek insurance company, which has 11 branches in the territories with a worth estimated at $35 million. The Al-Khayar al-Awal company for projects and development, headed by Yasser Abbas. The Al-Masri Al-Youm report claims that the Abbas family has accumulated its wealth over many years and that Muhammad Rashid, who was Yasser Arafat's economic adviser, told him that Abbas had misappropriated a sum of at least $100 million. Yousef asserts that Tarek Abbas has smuggled antiquities from the territories abroad and has dealt in land and the selling of commercial concessions. Dahlan, Erekat, Fayyad, Rajoub? Dahlan alleges that Abbas is hiding away a sum of $600 million out of the $1.4 billion that then-Prime Minister Salam Fayyad transferred to him after Arafat's death. In an interview with the Jordanian website Amon on June 8, 2016, Dahlan said it was he who had arranged work for Abbas' two sons with Fayyad at a monthly salary of $5,000, yet today their wealth comes to $300 million These dollar figures well explain why Abbas, despite his advanced age, clings to his post and seeks a suitable successor who will safeguard his two sons' economic empire after he retires. The Abbas family's corruption is the hot topic in the territories. It is clear that whoever succeeds Abbas will need to put the house in order and clean up the governmental corruption. At first, Abbas wanted to appoint his trusted ally Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, as his successor. Erekat, however, is considered a figure who is weak and lacking credibility and popularity in the territories, and who would well have served the family's interests after Abbas' departure as well. Abbas' bid to appoint Erekat encountered strong opposition by Fatah Central Committee members led by Jibril Rajoub, who sees himself as the successor, and Erekat had to declare that he was renouncing the post. Since then the PA chairman has been seeking a different candidate to succeed him. Another aspirant is rumored to be General Majid Freij, head of the Palestinian General Intelligence, who is also considered a close associate of Abbas. So far, though, Abbas has made no move to promote him, such as appointing him as PA deputy chairman. Apparently, he fears going too far in ruffling the feathers of the Fatah leadership and the Arab states, which want to see Dahlan as the next PA chairman something that would likely be to the Abbas sons' detriment in the future. Yoni Ben Menachem, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. He served as Director General and Chief Editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Home Whither those withering "bombshells," Mr. Assange? By John W. Lillpop Until Hillary Clinton's dramatic meltdown during ceremonies marking the 15th anniversary of the deadly attack of he World Trade Center by "Religion of Peace" terrorists, the political fortunes of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton seemed to favor the Democrat Clinton, due, in large measure, to the bias and prejudice of the liberal media against all things Republican, particularly candidate Donald Trump, and corresponding illogical sympathy for the ultra-liberal Democrat, Hillary Clinton. So solid was the apparent Clinton advantage that she reportedly took time from the day-to-day grind of campaigning and fundraising to pick out drapes, carpeting, furniture and other amenities for the Oval Office, which was all but certain to be at the beckon call of the first female president in US history, for the next four years, at least, and perhaps longer, if the American people saw fit to grant her a second term. It was during this grueling time that conservative spirits pummeled to an all-time low, as the prospects for a third (or more) Obama term threatened the sanity of those who believe in the tenets of the US Constitution and the rule of law. Pundits warned that those counting on an unexpected indictment were chasing fairy tales, as were those who thought that a "medical episode" might turn the tables on Hillary. There was one slight glimmer of hope for political justice and that was in the person of Julian Assange, of WikiLeaks fame, who promised to release "bombshell" documents concerning Hillary, soon. As reported, Mr. Assange said the following: During an appearance on FOX News Channel's Hannity, WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange told host Sean Hannity he has some new bombshell documents that will likely be unveiled beginning next week. The documents, which pertain to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign, have been described as "significant" and that it will come in a "significant" quantity. Assange has been teasing an "interesting" release ahead of the Nov. 8 general election in media interviews for weeks. "The first batch is reasonably soon, we're quite confident about it now," he said. "We might put out some teasers as I don't want to promise anything because we want to see how the formatting goes, but we might put out some teasers as early as next week or the week after." That "promise" by Assange was issued on September 7 and has yet to be fulfilled. Since then, Hillary had her infamous medical episode on September 11 and seems to have lost her footing on the entire issue of her health. As a result, Donald Trump has soared in the polls and is once again on the offensive. Still, Julian Assange has an obligation to release that "significant" information about Clinton as soon as possible in the name of truth and holding candidates for high elective office responsible. Again, the question that must be answered is, "Whither Those Withering Hillary "Bombshells," Julian? John W. Lillpop is a California-based writer. 2016 John W. Lillpop Home A treasonous, bipartisan strategy for creating the New World Order By Michael Moriarty Here is George H. W. Bush, one of the major participants in the American bipartisan conspiracy to sell out the United States and hand its freedom and independence over to A New World Order, a universally governing body to be run by the United Nations. Here is that same traitor giving the "cut his throat" sign for stopping Donald Trump's campaign to "make America great again". If America is "great again", The New World Order, run by the United Nations, is an utter impossibility! To lead the United States and the American population, without their really knowing it, into A New World Order?! To entrap America in a ruling machine consisting entirely of foreign laws created by the United Nations and enforced by a combination of foreign leaders and treasonous Americans?! That's beyond simply a felony. You hang people and citizens who wish to betray their country so shamelessly, People, all of the "Republicans In Name Only", the entire R.I.N.O. Bush family and most of the members in both Houses of Congress, are committing fully and firmly to the merciless establishment of The New World Order. It would seem that Donald Trump doesn't want a New World Order not until after he makes America "great again". I firmly believe that the American Constitution and Bill of Rights are the only possible future for the entire human race. I would certainly buy a New World Order run under the authority of those documents. Apparently this New World Order Coalition, with the disturbingly malevolent presence of George Soros in it, just wants America destroyed. Soros helped put Barack Obama into office and is reluctantly supporting Hillary Clinton in this coming election. Vladimir Putin, who, as I've said, does not want a New World Order, apparently wants George Soros, "Dead or Alive". Why? Soros tried to do with Russia what he is now doing successfully with America: "Destroying the economy!" Obama is Soros' hand-picked President and President Obama is certainly helping this fugitive from Russian justice, George Soros, destroy the American economy and virtually end any sense of national sovereignty within the United States. Here is Bill O'Reilly on the same subject! In that video, we see Hillary Clinton saying: "We need people like George Soros!" In The New World Order there is no such thing as "treason" unless, of course, you are an opponent of The New World Order. Those people, like myself, are obviously among Hillary's "Deplorables". "I've been a "deplorable" ever since I blew the whistle on the Clinton Attorney General, Janet Reno. Hillary, Bill and Janet won! I lost. A blessing in disguise, however. Things in America only got worse and worse. And Canada, where I moved to, was fit and healthy under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The George Soros fallout finally invaded my shelter in Canada with the election of The New World Order Puppet, Justin Trudeau. George Soros, even with twice the multi-millions he owns, would have been helpless in the United States without the invaluable assistance of George H. W. Bush and his New World Order. Obama is a criminal puppet of George Soros! The Bush Family?! Laura Bush, George W.'s wife, wants Hillary Clinton for President! Her father-in-law, George H. W. Bush, wants Donald Trump's throat slit. And so it goes with the New World Order Republican Party. How can both Obama and the Bushes get away with such disloyalty?!?! Such seemingly homicidal treason?! Because it's the time Of The New World Order!! And a Republican Congress collapsed in submission before the impeachable treason committed by President Barack Obama. God willing Donald Trump will win the Presidency and again set the United States as the standard for individual freedom on this Earth! Without the United States, the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and its Bill of Rights?! The Human Race has no insurance of individual freedom! Under the United Nations?! What will reign is tyranny. Why do I say that? It is tyranny under Obama and the Bush Republican Party that is reigning now! Its only real and substantial American opposition? Donald Trump. Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty. Home Employment application* By William M. Briggs Dean Baquet and Sam Dolnick New York Times New York, NY Re: Climate Change Editor Dear Misters Baquet and Dolnick: Please accept my application for the position of Climate Change Editor, the details of which I saw online. About the material your paper has been printing about global warming, I've concluded that you guys need me as badly as Bill Clinton needs an audience. Better, just as you want in a new editor, I'm "obsessed with finding new ways to connect with readers and new ways to tell this vital story." For instance, here's an angle you haven't so far considered. We could show readers that global warming models have failed at higher rates than Larry King's marriages. Budget forecasts by President Obama are more accurate than the temperatures predicted by global climate models (GCMs). A smart man would trust a GCM as much as he would a politician's campaign promise. Five'll get you twenty, your readers don't know how lousy the models are. And I'd bet my first-year's salary (I heard you pay well) that they'll cheer when reminded that it was once a firm scientific principle that rotten models imply busted theories. In this case, it means the existence of serially unskillful GCMs are nearly certain proof that carbon dioxide is not the demon gas it's been painted. We'd run this headline: "Wonderful News: Global-Warming-Of-Doom Proved Almost Surely False." We'd lead with a cheering paragraph that we don't need to be as nearly panicked as your (and I hope soon my) paper has been. I know what you're thinking. Same thing our readers will be thinking. "But how can this be? I thought it was certain that the world was soon to end unless massive government programs were instituted." We'd have them hooked! Guaranteed boost in circulation. I envision a series in which we expose the schemers, hangers-on, band-wagoners, activists, fund-raisers, self-deluded, egos (I almost said "politicians," which would have been redundant), and even frauds and bamboozlers whose claimed knowledge of fluid physics on a rotating sphere is as artificial as that thing perched on Donald Trump's cranium. Let's call out these folks who have turned "climate change" into an unhealthy living. How many times have we heard psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, economists, and other un-trained scientifically ignorant (I use this word in its technical sense) academics lecture us on the horrors that await us under "climate change," when they wouldn't know a cloud parameterization from a sigma coordinate? I'll tell you: too often. I do know, though. It is the Times's tremendous luck that I'm at liberty, ready, and willing to take on this monumental task. Together we can screw people's heads back on straight and get them to worry about something really important. Like the rise of politics dictating science and the corrupting influence of money. I am an actual bona fide scientist. I have published actual articles in the Journal of Climate, among many others. My specialty is in the value and goodness of models, and the expense and badness of bad science. I've written a best-seller (my mom bought two copies) on the subject: Uncertainty: The Soul of Modeling, Probability &Statistics. I know this is a presumptuous questions, but if I get the job can I get this reviewed in the Book Review? Might boost sales. Climate models have the stink of old garlic on them, but they smell like the purest roses next to the putrescence of some models loved by academics driven beyond their ability to resist to publish (or perish). There is limitless material we can mine, exposing scientism, correcting massive over-certainty, putting science back on rational grounds. Given its tone, it's understandable if you think this application is a lark. It isn't. I'm earnest. If offered, I'd take the job and do better with it than anybody else you'd find. With me, you're assured of always getting my true and honest opinion. Bonus: Roger Kimball called me "the civilized world's most amusing statistician." Here's a list of pieces I've written at The Stream: https://stream.org/author/williammbriggs/. All these were meant for a general audience. And I have hundreds at my place: http://wmbriggs.com. Many of these are more technical or difficult, and do not illustrate how I'd write for a Times audience; nevertheless, they give you an idea of the scope and range of my interests. I look forward to hearing from you. I can start any time. I'm only a few blocks north of your offices. Sincerely yours, William M. Briggs *Update: In case it's not clear, I did apply for the job officially, and this really is the letter I sent. (c) 2016 William M. Briggs. This is Mr. Briggs' first contribution to Enter Stage Right. At last word he has yet to assume the job offered by the Times. Home Expression equates to freedom By Dale Schlundt How much influence the average citizen has on the policies of our government is a common debate. As our politicians seem so far removed from the everyday lives' of the masses, one has to question how society sways elected officials towards a desired direction. Awareness of the issues is without a doubt vital and activism is just as important. How we achieve both has been consistent throughout American history. That being public forums, gatherings, and the press. Despite this evolving through different formats over time, newspapers, radio, television, and today social media, the fundamental effects have not been altered. Public widespread knowledge, as well as debate of an elected official's actions or proposals, equates to influence over such. It gives the populace more than simply a mere voice to be heard, but a role as a decision maker in political affairs. One can see these tools being utilized in Colonial America and into the present. The trial of John Peter Zenger is the perfect example of one of the early debates on the power, legal aspects, as well as the fear government officials have of expression in the early 18th century. Zenger, a printer accused of publishing writings in the New York Weekly Journal illustrating the wrongdoings of the governor, William Cosby, was put on trial. The significance of the trial was that the printer was acquitted by his peers. Not because of his innocence or lack of under the laws of the time, in this case seditious libel. Rather, because of the jury's realization that the ability to publicly highlight as well as critique a government's actions at any level shifts the balance of power to the people. As eloquently stated by James Alexander in the publication and referring to the oppression of the governor at odds with public critiques at that time, "The loss of liberty in general would soon follow the suppression of the liberty of the press; for it is an essential branch of liberty, so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole. Even a restraint of the press would have a fatal influence. No nation ancient or modern has ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves." As most historians have argued, the outcome is notable because it set a precedent. The importance of any precedent, is that it typically changes some aspect of society that is understood to be difficult to alter. They can be found in multiple contexts, legal, social, and others. More to the point, advantageous or not, with this new change it often proves difficult to revert back to the status quo. In considering the aforementioned story, one has to question that despite our social and cultural advancements, how may it be applied to 21st century policy? The question of freedom's limits and the role public expression plays in enhancing them has been a continued debate throughout the entirety of the American historical record. Civil liberties consistently evolve in contemporary America. This may be illustrated by the ongoing controversy of government intervention in American's lives in an effort to keep them safe from terror. In 2013 Edward Snowden, a contractor for the National Security Agency, brought to light the proof of large-scale surveillance and record keeping on communications of U.S. citizens. The lack of any real probable cause was a consequential issue. Snowden argued that a society cannot have absolute security along with progressive freedom, a justification for his course of action. However, the more relevant idea one should take away from this story is the resulting new precedent and the catalyst for such. As of 2015, the result has been that lawmakers passed new legislation, the USA Freedom Act. This does re-new certain aspects of the Patriot Act, which initially enhanced the legality of surveillance with a goal of inhibiting terrorism. Leading to what many argued a context that allowed for a regression of citizen's rights. Nevertheless, the Freedom Act places more narrowly defined limitations on this needed federal surveillance. Greater transparency, advocacy for the citizen's privacy, and more focused surveillance are a few of its hallmarks. While longstanding rights of the citizenry have been strengthened, Snowden's means to achieve this end continue to be debated. As many high level officials argue the proper legal channels would have led to a resolution, one should question a few aspects. Why would any administration and government agencies who were aware of, partially aware, and/or mandating this overreach, in turn reveal this breach of trust to the electorate? The very people that awarded them or their superior's a station in government. Again, making someone aware of something that they are already aware of, does not coincide with a new result. Still, the catalyst for this legislative compromise, the Freedom Act, was multifaceted. Snowden was not the first to voice these concerns, two vital elements were still missing in order for effective legislation to occur. The first was the wealth of proof to corroborate the accusations. Snowden's leaked documents from the NSA provided this evidence. The second, perhaps the most important, is the very tactic that has enhanced freedom throughout all civilization. This being public awareness and the debate that follows. In a phrase, the press. While media in all contemporary formats contributed to this extensive dialogue, The Guardian, in 2013 was the forerunner. With widespread awareness of this breach of trust in this modern era, what elected official can justify asking for a future vote, while failing to act? Truly equivalent to the Weekly Journal's work, close to three centuries earlier. Where in the midst of the Zenger Trial, the colonial public concluded that the status quo was unacceptable, based the prominent dialogue occurring at the time. Two vastly different topics separated by time and scale of the regions involved, yet both under the same umbrella of freedom. Ultimately, a new 21st century national precedent was set in regards to surveillance. However, without the press and public expression found within it, there is no opportunity to even disagree with this point. I always ask my students which they believe, do laws dictate changes in society or does society dictate laws? Most correctly argue the latter. Despite laws or their absence that contradict the consensus of the masses, history proves that public advocacy will indeed direct legislation as well as comprehensive changes in society over time. The various eras in U.S. history give countless examples, from Lewis Hine's work on the use of child labor, to contemporary journalists covering the uprooted lives of non-combatants in the conflicts around the world. Today, how news and public opinion reaches the masses shows a changing context, as social media affords individuals with a voice to create change. Along with social reform, public dialogue is the also the barricade that serves to keep your government at bay. Free speech is the catalyst that leads to all progression and the retention of freedoms. Yet, by its inferred meaning, your first amendment is undoubtedly the very liberty that protects your first amendment. Free speech is always defended by expression. Thereby, in an effort to advance our democratic ideals, let us remember to continue express them. Dale Schlundt holds a Master's Degree in Adult Education with a concentration in American History from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dale has taught at Northwest Vista College, Our Lady of the Lake University, and is currently a faculty member at Palo Alto College. Home Tim Kaine: Catholic of convenience By Michael R. Shannon One surefire way to spot an election year is to check Tim Kaine's closet. If he's been rummaging around inside, looking for his clerical collar, someone is going to be voting in November. This time Kaine is being introduced to a new, nationwide electorate as the senator from Virginia joins Hillary Clinton on the Democrat ticket. Kaine's role in 2016 is an expansion of his usual Virginia performance as "designated Christian." His nationwide rollout as the theological counterpoint to Hillary's aggressively secular reputation generates unintentionally funny coverage. Kaine's being a Christian and a Democrat is so novel, it's newsworthy! The media's sympathetic coverage treats publicly announcing your belief in God is a disability that successful politicians work to overcome. That's why a candidate caught with a church bulletin in his briefcase is geometrically more frightening to the Bernie Bros and the rest of the pagan Democrat base than Tim Kaine in a turban and a suspiciously bulky down jacket in August. Independents are the real target for Kaine and that's why he's being introduced to them like he's a man of the cloth. Already the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio have called him a "devout Catholic" and other publications talk about his "[balancing his] catholic faith with Democrat politics." Yet somehow over the years when Kaine's faith is weighed in that balance it always tilts toward Democrat orthodoxy and Christian heresy. The truth is Tim Kaine is a devout Catholic like Judas was a devout follower of Jesus. Judas' willing participation in one big death rent the curtain guarding the Holy of Holies, while Kaine's equally willing participation in millions abortion deaths rends our social fabric today. Kaine finesses the Bible and his Catholic church's prohibition against abortion with the same shuffle that Mario Cuomo tried in the 70's. Kaine claims to be "strongly opposed" to abortion, but according to the Monitor, "he describes these convictions as personal beliefs. In accord with the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion, he doesn't think the government has the right to dictate such an intimate decision for women." What this means is for Kaine when it comes to deciding how he will respond to the life or death of the unborn a judicial robe trumps priestly vestments. Kaine is both wrong and actively misleading the public. Deciding to become a vegan is a personal belief. Belief in the sanctity of innocent life is being obedient to the call of Christ. A person who sincerely personally opposes abortion doesn't have a 100 percent voting record with the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood. Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis spent five days in jail defending the sanctity of marriage. Tim Kaine doesn't have the courage to cast five votes to defend the sanctity of life. There is nothing preventing Kaine from voting his conscience and opposing public funding for abortions. Or allowing Christian organizations to decide what medical procedures the company will cover, but Kaine's votes are laid before the altar of abortion. There is nothing preventing Kaine from joining thousands of other Catholics during the Right to Life March, yet the event somehow never makes it on his calendar. The issues where Kaine does choose to highlight his flexible faith mark him as a Comintern Catholic who has adopted the Left's "social justice" agenda. In Kaine's view God needs to get with the program and move faster. Like ISIS, he wants to use the power of government inaugurate a paradise on earth, only without the public executions. If men won't change their hearts on their own Kaine, like Hillary, is happy to do it for them. Marvin Olasky talks about college students functioning in an environment hostile to their belief when he says: "The milder form of surrender is to see the Bible as personally meaningful but irrelevant to public discussion. That's also destructive to faith in Christ's lordship." The same admonition applies to Kaine. Kaine is a Catholic as long as it's convenient. But faith always takes a seat in the back of the bus when it starts to interfere with his career as a Democrat professional politician. It's time to tell Kaine he can't have it both ways. If his faith isn't strong enough to guide his voting record and his witness on issues that affect God's kingdom, then he needs to leave his clerical collar in the closet and stop clinging to Jesus' coattails. Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!). Home Threat risk modeling, which involves identifying, quantifying and addressing security risks associated with IT systems, is a big part of the job for security professionals. Fortunately, numerous threat risk models have been developed. Some are geared toward specific purposes (such as web application development), but can be adapted in other ways and for other uses. Some are simple and can be applied immediately by a neophyte. Others are in-depth and complex, requiring dozens of pages of dense reading to even begin to understand how to apply them. Many, of course, fall somewhere in between. In this, the first of a two-part series, we will cover three popular methodologies for threat modeling STRIDE, DREAD and CVSS addressing the individual quirks of each one. (And if you can also read part two on selecting a threat risk model, which looks at Trike, OCTAVE and MIL-STD-882E.) The aim of this series is to highlight the important points of each, enabling you to decide which method or methods are right for you and to get started in assessing risk using your method(s) of choice. STRIDE Straightforward and brutally to the point, STRIDE was developed by Microsoft several years ago. It is discussed at length in what is perhaps the seminal work on STRIDE, a November 2006 MSDN Magazine article, Uncover Security Design Flaws Using the STRIDE Approach. STRIDE mnemonically identifies six risk categories for assessed threats: Spoofing [identity] identifying authentication threats [identity] identifying authentication threats Tampering [with data] identifying threats to data integrity [with data] identifying threats to data integrity Repudiation Information disclosure identifying data stewardship threats and data leaks identifying data stewardship threats and data leaks Denial of service identifying threats to availability identifying threats to availability Elevation of privilege identifying authorization vulnerabilities While allowing for easy compilation of categorized threat lists, there is not much more to STRIDE than that; even Microsoft employees have acknowledged its weaknesses. STRIDE has a number of cross-correlations for example, escalation of privilege (E) tends to imply spoofing and loss of non-repudiation, and could imply tampering, information disclosure, and denial of service, observed Microsoft marketer David LeBlanc in a 2007 blog. Ouch every vulnerability category we had, all in one bundle. Redundancy and lack of rigor notwithstanding, LeBlanc went on to defend STRIDE as but one useful tool in the security researchers toolbox. The fact that it isnt a rigorous classification doesnt mean that it isnt useful, wrote LeBlanc. It is useful in helping people focus the debate about what to do about some specific problem. STRIDE is one of two techniques that LeBlanc and colleague Michael Howard documented in their book, Writing Secure Code. The other particularly common in web testing is DREAD. DREAD DREAD (an apt name indeed for a threat rating system) mnemonically outlines the five categories of risk that it measures: Damage [potential] [potential] Reproducibility Exploitability Affected users Discoverability If we look at the five components, we see that none of these are highly correlated one of them does not imply the other, blogged LeBlanc in defending the model. This means we have independent factors, which is one of the strongest criteria for a solid model. In modern DREAD methodology, for each threat identified from a threat model, each category is assigned a score of one, two or three; the higher the number, the higher the risk. (Some threat assessors give Discoverability the highest score for existing applications as a matter of convention assuming that a threat will be discovered.) The five numbers are then added up, giving you a total score. A risk score in the five to seven range is considered low, while a risk score in the 12 to 15 range is considered high. Writing about DREAD and other threat-model considerations in his new book, The Car Hackers Handbook, security researcher Craig Smith recommends leaving the entire scoring results visible in your risk report so that the person reading the results can better understand the risks. This allows security teams assigned to address those risks to more quickly narrow their focus to reduce risk to an acceptable level. I feel [DREAD] applies a bit better to physical threat modeling than STRIDE, yet has the same simple design, said Smith in an email interview. Once a company has a system like DREAD under their belt, they could easily upgrade their process to a more advanced scoring system if needed. To be certain, the greatest benefit of DREAD is that it is simple and straightforward in both application and interpretation, while highlighting priority areas. It also offers flexibility; it can be readily applied and adapted to almost any situation even one not specific to programming, networks or IT in general. Smith acknowledges, however, that DREAD may not be a detailed enough risk methodology for some security professionals. For them, Smith specifically recommends CVSS. CVSS CVSS or Common Vulnerability Scoring System might be seen as the antithesis to DREAD and STRIDE in terms of simplicity. It uses 14 metric groups: six base groups, three temporal groups and five environmental groups: Environmental factors take into account organizational priorities. For example, if availability is more important than confidentiality, confidentiality risks will be modified downward and availability risks modified upward. take into account organizational priorities. For example, if availability is more important than confidentiality, confidentiality risks will be modified downward and availability risks modified upward. Temporal characteristics use complex equations to account for the characteristics of a vulnerability that change over time. use complex equations to account for the characteristics of a vulnerability that change over time. Base metrics are initially weighted on a scale of zero through 10 and then modified based upon the temporal and environmental metrics.? Unsurprisingly, CVSS can be problematic and unwieldy. The history of DREAD can shed some light here. In its original incarnation, DREAD categories were scored on a scale of zero through 10 as CVSS is today but this method fell out of favor for some logical and readily apparent reasons. If we apply some obvious tests, we find that a damage of one, and all other factors 10 (a well-known nuisance, e.g., pop-ups) gets weighted the same as a discoverability of one and everything else 10 (hard to sort out, but causes the heat death of the universe). This is an obvious malfunction, conceded LeBlanc. Next, whats the difference between discoverability of six and seven? Who the heck knows? I dont. This led to the simplifying of DREAD to a ternary scale. Meanwhile, dozens of documentation pages are needed to explain how CVSS works. What it offers in detail, CVSS also offers in complexity which, in turn, adds its own flavor of risk on top of the very risks the security researchers are attempting to assess. CVSS is more complex than DREAD or other five-point ranking systems, but you will have a more detailed picture when you [are] done as to the exact nature of the vulnerability and risk, said Smith. Nonetheless, Smith emphasized that he usually recommend[s] DREAD. I would rather see a simple threat model done than a more complex one attempted and never finished, said Smith. Getting an organization comfortable and willing to regularly use threat models is more important than having a complex system nobody wants to use. Final Point on Threat Risk Models and Preview of Part Two It is important to remember that there is no best threat-rating system. While each methodology has its own strengths and weaknesses, the best system for any given project ultimately depends on the particular project and the particular people involved. Next up we will cover Trike, MIL-STD-882E and OCTAVE. Joe Stanganelli, principal of Beacon Hill Law, is a Boston-based attorney, corporate communications and data privacy consultant, writer, speaker ?and bridge player. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeStanganelli. This resource is no longer available This resource is no longer available. Return to previous page. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Hi everyone, I'm in the process of applying for the Canada France 3D Work Holiday Visa with the Toronto Consulate and have a few questions, especially to those members who have recently applied for the visa. 1) what is the application process time? Is 4 weeks a sufficient amount of time from application to date of departure? 2) re: proof of financial resources, has anyone successfully applied with a guarantor letter? 3) would including a limited term employment contract be beneficial for my application? 4) would including a plane ticket be beneficial for my application? 5) what is a national security number? Also, has anyone experienced extreme frustration in dealing with the consulate? I've sent email, called and left voicemail - received no reply to my email or voicemail. The rare time the phone was answered, the person I spoke with was only able to answer my question on how long it takes to reply to email (3 days) as they don't answer visa questions. After 5 days I phoned again, asked when my email would be answered; I was asked for my name and after a brief pause was simply informed they would answer my email. It's been a few more days and there still isn't an answer. I'd greatly appreciate any tips, advice, and suggestions in this visa application process. Thanks! More than 200,000 people have signed petitions started in a bid to persuade the UK Government to negotiate a free movement treaty with Australia, New Zealand and Canada.It has always been a sore point that people from these three Commonwealth countries with hundreds of years of historic and cultural links with the UK need a visa to live and work in the country yet those from European Union member countries did not. This could change now that the UK has decided to leave the EU. The petitions suggest there is support for more freedom for people from these countries to move to the UK to work and live.Almost 162,000 have signed the petition started by the Commonwealth Freedom of Movement Organisation (CFMO) and a separate parliament e-petition has more than 45,000 signatures.Shared culture, language and values are the reasons in favour of a freedom of movement between the countries, according to the parliamentary petition, an argument shared by the CFMO.Citizens from the UK, Australia and New Zealand can already travel to Canada without a visitor visa provided they have a passport, are healthy, have the money to support themselves and do not have a criminal record and campaigners would like to see this kind of system agreed with all the countries involved.We have the opportunity to advance our immigration policies, as four independent nations, and re-establish the free movement protocols that have lay dormant in our parliaments for so long, the opportunity to establish free movement between the newly independent United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, said CFMO founder James Skinner.The opportunities ahead of us are limitless. We have the chance to generate greater prosperity and greater relations between our four nations, and all it takes is the diplomatic cooperation of our governments to strive for a greater future for us and generations to come, he added.He revealed that support for the move is coming from a wide variety of people that include ordinary members of the public as well as high profile politicians and diplomats.Also supporting the idea is Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. On a visit to London she said that the ability to work, travel and study in the UK and vice versa is an essential part of the close relationship between the two countries.Should we be in a position to conclude a free trade agreement after Brexit well then obviously improved access can be the subject of a free trade agreement. Australia is a significant investor in London in particular and the UK is a significant investor in Australia so we have an interest in ensuring that this relationship endures and thats one way that it will do so, she explained.There is concern that is has become harder and more costly for Australians to move to the UK. Indeed, the number of Australians living and working in the UK has fallen by 40% since 2008. Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans have been affected by the general policy in the UK to restrict immigration from non EU countries. Bad Headlines Follow Palestinian Terror | Main | LA Times' Joshua Mitnick Casts Palestinian Attackers as Victims September 19, 2016 As Abbas Denies Palestinian Incitement, US State Department Attests to Phenomenon On Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas insisted that the latest wave of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis is a natural consequence of despair. "Dont trust those who say there are efforts to push them or incite them," he said of Palestinian attackers. "Rather, they have lost hope." This argument, which shifts responsibility for Palestinian violence away from the attackers and toward the victims, is favored by some journalists and activists (even when the facts show something else). But only days before Abbas's comments, a U.S. State Department notice announcing sanctions on a Hamas terror leader attested to the alarming reality of Palestinian incitement. The notice focused on Fathi Ahmad Mohammad Hammad, who is responsible for, among other terrorist activity, inciting the next generation of Palestinians to hate and kill. According to the State Department, Hammad "established Al-Aqsa TV, which is a primary Hamas media outlet with programs designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters and suicide bombers upon reaching adulthood." No wonder Hamas officials have dismissed the idea that Palestinian attackers are driven by despair. They work hard to inspire anti-Jewish terror attacks and, unlike their Fatah counterparts (who also incite attacks and also focus on indoctrinating Palestinian youth), are not shy about publicly admitting it. CAMERA has previously faulted the news media for ignoring or downplaying Palestinian incitement. After John Kerry pointedly said incitement was to blame for the murder of Jews praying at a synagogue, for example, New York Times journalists initially reported on the Secretary of State's newsworthy comments, but then scrubbed all reference to them from their article. And a recent article by AFP pitted "analysts," who according to the wire service don't name incitement as relevant to Palestinian violence, against "Israel," which claims it is this despite the fact that plenty of analysts agree that incitement fuels violence. Posted by GI at September 19, 2016 12:28 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment The Mexican Attorney Generals Office says it has located four of the victims kidnapped from a bus last week near the Texas border and has information about the location of a fifth. The four victims told investigators that after their bus was forced off the highway west of the border city of Nuevo Laredo, they were taken to a remote location, stripped of their belongings and abandoned, according to a news release from Mexican federal prosecutors. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate One of the easiest ways to end up on Texas death row is to kill a cop. Stickup artist Robert Jennings did just that, brazenly gunning down police Officer Elston Howard during the 1988 robbery of a Houston pornography shop. In his almost three decades on death row, Jennings slid through multiple appeals, glumly moving closer to an ignoble end in the Huntsville death house. Then on Sept. 2, 12 days before Jennings scheduled lethal injection, judges at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped the execution with a 5-4 vote. The stay marked the sixth consecutive time since May that the judges halted an execution. While the court offered no immediate explanation for its decision, Texas lawyers active in capital appeals have hailed the vote as evidence that the top criminal court has grown more sensitive to possible death penalty flaws. If true, they argue, the court would be in step with a national pulling away from capital punishment a movement that could lead to the penaltys abolition. The Jennings decision came as top state and national judges increasingly have spoken out against the death penalty and the number of executions and new death sentences in Texas the nations leading capital punishment state has plummeted. What connects these recent stays of execution, said Jim Marcus, co-director of the University of Texas Capital Punishment Center, are serious flaws that undermine the integrity of the prior proceedings, including junk science, inadequate counsel and unconstitutional jury instructions. These problems are not new. What appears to have changed is that a more careful scrutiny of Texas defective death penalty process has resulted in greater intolerance. A Houston death penalty advocate, however, countered that death penalty foes and appellate lawyers have misread the significance of the stays, the tenor of popular opinion and the reason behind declines in death sentences and executions. Stays of execution are the rule, not the exception, said Dudley Sharp. Most cases have a series of stays prior to execution or reversal. Six cases in a row may be a mathematical anomaly, not a trend. Sharp said the number of death sentences has declined because fewer capital murders have been committed since the 1990s. He also attributed the decline in executions to the limited availability of drugs needed to carry out punishment. The drop in executions is due to the legal and supply problems of the lethal injection drugs, which is easily overcome by a change in execution method or state prison systems having their own internal compounding pharmacies. The first five Texas stays were granted to permit the condemned to pursue DNA testing, develop claims related to decadeslong stays on death row and establish that counsel improperly failed to investigate and present mitigating evidence. Since Texas introduced lethal injection in 1982, 537 killers have been put to death. The annual total, though, has declined sharply from a high of 40 in 2000 to six this year. If three remaining planned executions take place and no new cases are added the 2016 execution tally will be the lowest since 1996. Nationally, reports the Associated Press, 2016 executions may fall to a 25-year low. With the Texas Legislatures addition in 2005 of the life without parole option in capital cases, the number of new death sentences also dropped. Last year, Texas juries assessed three death sentences; so far this year, only two. While Gallop pollsters report that 61 percent of Americans support the death penalty, a Public Religion Research Institute survey found less than half favored executions when life without parole was an option. Former Gov. Mark White, who oversaw 19 executions in his 1983-87 term, suggested that a growing recognition of problems in the states capital punishment procedures has led to the death penalty being used less and less. While he philosophically supports the death penalty for the worst of the worst, he conceded that some innocent people may have been executed in Texas and cited a desperate need to correct the systems failings. There are multiple pitfalls, he said, from commission of the crime to collecting evidence to apprehension of the suspect to the manner in which they are interrogated to the way a prosecutor selects a jury. Judge Elsa Alcala, a Gov. Rick Perry appointee to the Court of Criminal Appeals, also has highlighted what she perceives as serious deficiencies in the Texas capital protocol. We see cases over and over again where 10, 20 years later you find problems, she wrote in a June opinion in the case of Julius Murphy, a Bowie County man convicted of robbery-murder. Alcala stopped short of calling for capital punishments abolition, but in July, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg observed that the ultimate punishment is fading away. Most states dont have any executions, she told the Associated Press. The executions we have are very heavily concentrated in a few states and even a few counties within those states. Last year, Ginsburg joined Justice Stephen Breyer in opining that the death penalty probably is unconstitutional. allan.turner@chron.com This papier-mache Halloween lantern is actually horrifying Most jack-o'-lanterns are made from pumpkins, but this particular papier-mache pear is a unique, antique find. From pumpkin picking to Farmageddon, enterprising farmers have capitalised on the US-influenced appetite for all things Halloween and are reaping the rewards. "While farmers continue to struggle to profit from traditional farming practices alone, more and more are looking to diversify,"says James Barker, Associate Solicitor at leading law firm Kirwans. "Halloween offers the perfect opportunity for those who want to dip their toe in the water to create Halloween-related events at their farm without committing themselves fully to year-round activity. "Whether its spooky fun days, pumpkin festivals, or fright night-type activities, there are lots of ways to explore new opportunities around Halloween. "However, even farmers staging a one-off event have a responsibility to ensure that the public remain safe, so they should seek specialist advice to make sure that they have the necessary legal and insurance documents in place." Here, James lists his top tips for famers hoping to reap the Halloween harvest. 1) Ensure your premises are safe Under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 the landowner has a duty to make sure visitors which they invite upon the premises are reasonably safe. If, for example, a visitor slipped on water in a food area in the farm and the farmer had not implemented a reasonable system of inspection of cleaning (e.g. hourly cleaning rotas), then they would be held liable. Carry out risk assessments, implement a regular system of cleaning and inspection, and educate your staff about the importance of sticking to a strict cleaning routine to reduce the risk of injury or food poisoning to the lowest level possible. 2) Do your homework before offering catering Providing refreshments and meals can provide a good additional stream of income, but you must register with your council who will need to inspect and approve the premises before you can go ahead. Failure to do so is classed as a criminal offence which can result in prosecution, so put this at the top of your to do list. 3) Check that you have the relevant insurance As well as the usual buildings and contents insurance, you should consider public liability, product liability, and employers liability insurance (necessary to cover even family members who help out on a casual basis). 4) Provide staff training No matter how diligent your staff are, they will need to be given relevant training if they are to take on new roles during this period. Make sure you put the proper training in place to give them the tools that theyll need to carry out the work. This is particularly important if food and drink is to be served as part of your new business venture, as there are a number of health and safety issues that anyone providing catering needs to be aware of. 5) Review staff contracts Your staff may also need new employment contracts to take into account this added element to their roles. Seek advice from an employment solicitor to make sure you meet all employment requirements. 6) Make sure the landowner is happy If youre a tenant farmer, discuss your plans with the landowner and check your tenancy agreement. In most cases, diversified uses shouldnt be a problem; however, it is important to make sure that it is allowed as a change of use of the land can sometimes have inheritance implications for the landowner. If you happen to be the landowner, hold frank and open discussions with your tenant from the start, and keep your insurer in the loop, to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the direction in which the new business is heading. 7) Ensure you abide by the regulations of your new sector Each sector is governed by their own regulations, and it is crucial that you can demonstrate an adherence to them. Check which ones apply to your new revenue stream now to ensure youre not penalised later. The Princes Countryside Fund has announced a grant funding pot of over 600,000 to support vital rural initiatives. The charity, which aims to improve the prospects of family farm businesses and the quality of rural life across the UK, wants to encourage rural enterprise projects across the UK. Ranging from enhancing community services, providing training opportunities for young and unemployed people and projects that focus on developing stronger, more sustainable farm businesses can apply for a grant of up to 50,000. As part of its vital role in responding to countryside crises, the Fund is also opening up specific funds to help support the winter flood recovery. The Fund is also opening up specific funds to help support the winter flood recovery Organisations that are supporting farmers, rural businesses and communities following the severe storms in December 2015 across Cumbria, Lancashire, Herefordshire, Northumberland and North Yorkshire, Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland can apply. Reflecting the growing need in rural communities, the Fund released its greatest number of grants to date earlier this year with 21 projects funded. Since being founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2010, the Fund has distributed over 7 million to 182 projects across the UK, helping more than 200,000 people. 'Vital boost' to rural initiatives Clare Crookenden, grants manager for The Princes Countryside Fund, said: "Since 2010 our grant programme has provided a vital boost to people and grassroot organisations who are working hard to protect and enhance the countryside. "Weve been able to support innovative and diverse projects, ranging from inspiring young people to develop their skills and pursue a rural career to strengthening rural businesses who have been hit hard in recent years. "Our grant programme has been made to available to help improve the lives of people living and working in the countryside. "Community shops, libraries and pubs and the people that support them add vibrancy and strength to rural communities and we are committed to help. "Action is needed to give rural communities the chance to provide the vital services that they rely on and to ensure all of us benefit from retaining a vibrant countryside." Submissions open on Monday 19 September and close on Thursday 13 October and applicants can visit the Trust's website to check their eligibility and found out how to apply. Further meetings are planned in the coming weeks to discuss what Wales should look to achieve through the UK's Brexit negotiations. The Welsh government has been urged to take full advantage of the 'momentous decision' to build new a consensus between farming, environmental, animal welfare, consumer and other interests. "I was delighted to take part in four recent workshops arranged by the Welsh government involving all parts of the agricultural industry and wider interest groups," said TFA Cymru Chairman, Dennis Matheson. TFA Cymru Chairman Dennis Matheson "Two further meetings are also planned over the coming weeks which will seek to condense the discussions which have taken place into an agenda for action which will be presented to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths AM. "In comparison to discussions in England, Wales appears to be streets ahead." "We must take full advantage of the momentous decision made by the British people to leave the EU to build a new consensus between farming, environmental, animal welfare, consumer and other interests and we congratulate the Welsh Government for facilitating discussions towards just that." Capitalising on the Welsh brand Mr Matheson said the biggest risks Wales faces from Brexit is the lack of imagination in taking full advantage of the freedoms that leaving the EU could provide. "From discussions so far it does seem to me that the Welsh Government is very much alive to these opportunities which can only be a good thing for Welsh agriculture, the environment and our future well-being as a nation," said Mr Matheson. "TFA Cymru has a specific concern about ensuring upland farmers within Wales receive help and assistance in producing high quality livestock, much valued environmental management and wider ecosystem services. "Wales is blessed with an extraordinary upland landscape managed by farmers for centuries. These areas have always been challenging to farm but are even more so in the context of modern markets. "We must find a sustainable way to ensure that active farmers in these areas are properly rewarded both for the high-quality food they produce and the wider public benefits which society properly demands, said Mr Matheson. "I am also very pleased to be meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs later this week to highlight some of the specific issues for the tenanted sector of agriculture," concluded Mr Matheson. A woman has died after a crash involving a tractor on a farm in Denbighshire, North Wales Police has said. Emergency services were called to the farm on the outskirts of Corwen just after 20:00 BST on Sunday. The female driver was pronounced dead at the scene, a police spokesman confirmed. The Health and Safety Executive and the coroner's office have been informed. Just last week, a man died after an accident on a farm in the Dungannon area of Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is believed the accident involved a piece of farm machinery. John Gregg and Eric Holcomb vying for the governorship By Diego Flammini Assistant Editor, North American Content Farms.com Agriculture is a key issue for Democratic candidate John Gregg and Republican candidate Lt. Governor Eric Holcomb, who are running to be the next Governor of Indiana. According to the Tribune Star, both candidates were asked the same questions during recent interview requests. Gregg attended in person and Holcomb provided his answers via email through his communications team. A question directly related to agriculture asked the candidates how they would approach agricultural regulation and policy. Most farmers are good stewards of the land. But we have to have common sense regulations, Gregg said according to the Tribune Star. We cannot not have them. And our regulations have common sense and should be geared at getting the bad actors: those people who do pollute, those people who do cause problems. We need to bring both sides together and come up with some plans to move forward. John Gregg, left and Eric Holcomb are running to be the next Governor of Indiana. I will not waiver in my support of this industry. We hear repeatedly from diverse agricultural businesses that they like Indianas firm but fair and predictable agricultural regulatory framework, Holcomb replied. Indiana has found that right balance between proper and appropriate regulation of operations like CFOs (confined feeding operations) and the need to continue to strengthen important sectors of our economy. Gregg or Holcomb will replace current Governor Mike Pence, who Donald Trump selected as his vice president should he win the White House. Annual profitability is almost always decided as the long, hot months of summer come to an end. As cattle work to escape summer temperatures and still gain efficiently, the bottom line for producers is at stake. Take a look at these tips to ensure you are optimizing your feed efficiency as we move into the upcoming cool seasons. 1. Define efficiency appropriately Choosing an exact and agreed upon definition for efficiency among producers is never easy. Should an efficient operation simply focus on increasing the output of milk or carcass weight compared to days on feed? Or should metrics, such as overall cost of gain, feed conversion ratio or overall feed costs, play a more significant role in determining true profitability? Though there may be disagreement among producers, there are two constants in defining an efficient operation. The first is determining what exactly is the total sum of inputs needed to drive a specific output, and if that could be done better. Unfortunately, many potential inputs may be unseen or unknown by a producer, such as more efficient management techniques, new technologies to implement or unforeseen environmental concerns, among many others. The second part of an efficient operation is to ensure that current practices promote a viable and profitable system for the foreseeable future. Producing efficiently with diminishing long-term returns only hurts the industry as a whole. 2. Use technology to manage your diet Using technology to promote efficiency is a growing opportunity for producers. At Alltech, recent developments in regard to in vitro fermentation have yielded encouraging news. The Alltech In Vitro Fermentation Model (IFM) is a diagnostic tool that simulates rumen fermentation and evaluates the nutritional value of a total mixed ration in terms of digestibility and end products of fermentation. Recently, demonstrations have been done using IFM to test the nutritive quality of pasture grasses in Florida. Test samples of grass were sent to the Alltech IFM lab in Brookings, South Dakota, and were tested both with and without the Alltech Feed Efficiency technology, Fibrozyme. Fibrozyme is a unique hemicellulose-degrading enzyme that enhances the rate of digestion in the rumen of beef cattle. Functionally, what the IFM shows is that, when used in a ration, Fibrozyme can immediately begin breaking down the cell wall fraction of plant fiber in the rumen environment. This quick action jump-starts fiber digestion by providing bacteria with both available nutrients and easier access to other plant structures. These types of technologies and feeding models can help producers drive efficiency for their operations. 3. Know what lies ahead 2017 will be marked as a year of major changes. On Jan. 1, the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) will be implemented in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration to apply veterinary oversight to a broad range of products used in animal feed, such as antibiotics. The VFD will promote the judicious use of antibiotics in an effort to mitigate the public health threat of antibiotic resistance. The VFD will restrict any antibiotic use for growth promotion or feed efficiency. Once the changes are in full effect, it will be illegal to use medically important antibiotics without a veterinary prescription, and antibiotics will only be available for use to prevent, control or treat a specifically identified disease. Producers need to plan ahead and begin to look at alternative production methods that promote profitable efficiency in line with the VFD regulations. 4. Get more for your efforts Efficiency doesnt just mean getting the most from your cattle; it also means finding markets and opportunities that help you get the highest return on your investment. Be selective in choosing the best suppliers and accreditations. Know the expected return on investment and aggressively pursue these premiums for your cattle. Remember, feed represents up to 70 percent of your operations costs make the most out of every dollar you spend. Alltech recently partnered with Where Food Comes From, the parent company of IMI Global, and became their first Feed Verified partner. Fifteen Alltech technologies were verified through this program for clear, direct use in all verified natural, antibiotic-free, Non-Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC), GAP certified and Non-GMO Project Verified programs. Producers using these technologies can now efficiently benefit from the premiums found from supplying cattle to the European Union or other specialty markets. 5. Continue to ask around! Lastly, but certainly not least, continue to look around and ask questions about how production can be done better, especially as we transition to a time with daily temperature swings that can create stress for cattle. At Alltech, we are taking challenges head-on through a series of informative, free webinars for producers. Listen to a recording of our most recent webinar here, which focused on: Understanding how to spot the signs of heat stress in beef cattle. Learning how nutrition can impact heat stress. Implementing strategies to manage heat stress. Improving overall cattle performance. Our next webinar on Sept. 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET will focus on what the Veterinary Feed Directive means for ruminant producers. Learn more and sign up to join us at http://go.alltech.com/vfd-webinar-signup. For more information on these strategies, contact your Alltech representative or visit www.alltech.com/beef or www.alltech.com/dairy. Editors Note: This commentary is sponsored by Alltech, Inc. For more information on animal health and nutrition, go to:www.alltech.com This commentary is for informational purposes only. The opinions and comments expressed herein represent the opinions of the author--they do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Farms.com. This commentary is not intended to provide individual advice to anyone. Farms.com will not be liable for any errors or omissions in the information, or for any damages or losses in any way related to this commentary. By Ronald T. Schuler Many alfalfa producers look to harvest their alfalfa as intermediate (about 30 inches 30 inches 5 feet) square bales. This is an excellent method for handling dry alfalfa hay especially if it is going to be marketed. Because the intermediate square bales are denser than small square and large round bales, the recommended storage moisture is two to three percent less than small rectangular bales. Recommended bale moisture levels for storage with minimal losses may be difficult to attain in humid Wisconsin weather conditions. Harvesting large square bales above 17 percent moisture will require a preservative for good bale storage or plastic wrap may be used to maintain forage quality. Preservative Research Results (Wisconsin) In 1997 and 1998, Shinners studied preservatives and ventilation holes for intermediate square bales at moistures from 14 to 28 percent. The preservatives were propionic acid and a bacterial inoculent. Ventilation holes of three and five inches in diameter were two treatments evaluated for reducing dry matter loss and maintaining forage quality. Four different trials or cuttings were evaluated. Following are his findings: Bales treated with propionic acid remain higher moisture during storage, Propionic acid produced less heating at the higher moisture content, Ventilation holes in the bales did not produce less heating. None of the methods reduced dry matter loss, and Dry matter loss was less than 4% when baling at moistures below 16%. Bale Wrapping Research Results (Wisconsin) At the Lancaster Agricultural Research Station, plastic wrapping of intermediate bales was evaluated for bales at 21 to 40% moisture during 1997. Undersander and others studied the effect of time between baling and wrapping and the number of plastic layers. Following are their results: Bales (800-1200 lbs) need to have 2 to 3% less moisture at baling than small squares, Bales should be wrapped within 24 hours after baling, Plastic wrapping bales at 21 to 38% moisture adequately preserved them, and Four layers of 1.5 mil plastic (50% overlap, twice over) was adequate. Bale Silage Storage Using Plastic (Wisconsin) In a study conducted in the late 1980s, Straub and others evaluated plastic covers, bags and wrap with round bale silage. The plastic covers were used to protect the bales stacked three high in a triangular formation. Bale bags were designed to enclose one bale each. Also the use of propionic acid was evaluated. They found: Bale wrapping produced the most reliable results, and A preservative is needed with bale bags and covers. Limited research results are available on bale tubes and line wrapping. The key to their success will be their ability to seal the bales and prevent any air from getting inside the plastic. Preservative Recommendations Some preservatives that have been used are anhydrous ammonia, inoculants and buffered propionic acid. Although anhydrous ammonia costs less, handling and safety problems make propionic acid a better preservative. The recommended application rates for large square bales are listed in Table 1, where the propionic acid concentration is 75 to 80 percent. If the acid concentration is less more chemical will need to be added. If the solution contains other acids such as acetic or citric acid, it will be less effective than a solution containing only propionic acid. Acetic acid is considered to be about one third as effective as propionic acid. Therefore, you would need three times more acetic acid to have the same effect as the recommended rate of propionic acid. For bacterial inoculants, the manufacturers recommendations should be followed. The estimated cost for the acid solution is about $1.20 per pound. The cost of the spraying system including a pump, tank, valve, nozzle and other miscellaneous parts should added to the values in Table 1 but should be less than $1.00 per ton. Costs will be less when the acid is purchased in the off season in large quantities. The key to selecting the correct application rate will be determining the forage moisture content. An accurate method must be used and good representative samples must be obtained. There can be a large variation in forage moisture in the windrow so sampling will be very important. Source:uwex.edu "It would be great if we could get about 10,000t of this in the first year, but we are just wanting to get a foot in the door for now. This will give growers another option for selling their pulses." "They are constantly upgrading their infrastructure whereas Australia is missing out - we are no way near the same level of investment in the supply chain," he said. Some of the other buyers were DM Cornish, Katanning, who bought the second $1700 equal second top price ram among his team of four; near neighbour NC Flugge & Co, bought 10 rams; Phil & Hella Crossley, Woodanilling, bought six; and WM & CM Robertson, Boyup Brook, paid up to $1500 for three to be another notable buyer. In the second year of the sale under the Helmsman auction format, bidding was solid resulting in a $3025 average for the day and a gross of $24,200 with further negotiations after the fall of the hammer. The future of Fauquier Times now depends on community support. Your donation will help us continue to improve our journalism through in-depth local news coverage and expanded reader engagement. Support What was it like to be an Oath Keeper? John Zimmerman can tell you First the good news. The Netherlands ranked fifth on the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, up from eighth last year, and now trailing only Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and New Zealand on the CPI. On TIs latest Bribe Payers Index, the Netherlands ranked highest, meaning companies from the Netherlands were perceived as bribing abroad the least. Now the not-so-good news. According to TI, enforcement by the Netherlands against overseas bribery is limited. That compares to other countries such as Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the U.S., which have enforcement characterized by TI as active. Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Italy, and Norway all have moderate enforcement, TI said. Several well-known Dutch companies have been involved in bribery abroad. SBM Offshore and Ballast Nedam entered into out-of-court settlements in the Netherlands. More recently, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service entered into a settlement with Russian telecom company VimpelCom, headquartered in the Netherlands. It was part of a joint settlement with the U.S. DOJ in which VimpelCom and its subsidiary paid $397.6 million to resolve DOJ and SEC enforcement actions for bribing a government official of Uzbekistan. Authorites earlier this year raided the Hague offices of Royal Dutch Shell. The company is reportedly under investigation for corruption in Nigeria. All those actions came after the OECD Working Groups December 2012 Phase 3 Report on the Netherlands (available here in pdf). It expressed concerns about efforts regarding the active investigation and prosecution of corruption by Dutch citizens or Dutch companies abroad. But in its Follow-up to the Phase 3 Report & Recommendations released in May 2015 (available here in pdf), the OECD Working Group said the Netherlands had demonstrated significant progress fully implementing 11 of 22 recommendations and partially implementing six others. From December 2012 to May 2015, the Netherlands opened seven new foreign bribery investigations, bringing the total number to 16 since the entry into force of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Ten of these are ongoing investigations and four have been closed. The remaining two investigations are the cases mentioned above of the Dutch companies SBM Offshore and Ballast Nedam. SBM Offshore agreed to a $40 million fine and a $200 million disgorgement for illegal payments in Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Brazil. Ballast Nedam agreed to pay 17.5 million ($19,7 million) to resolve the Dutch enforcement action. As part of the Ballast Nedam case, KPMG Accountants NV agreed to pay a 3.5 million ($3.9 million) fine and 3.5 million in confiscation for accounting misconduct in connection with overseas bribery. The OECD also flagged 24 other foreign bribery allegations that apparently werent investigated. * * * In the next post, Ill talk about recent amendments to the Dutch Criminal Code that are helping authorities prosecute overseas bribery. Ill also discuss Dutch civil remedies used to fight graft. _____ Cathalijne van der Plas, pictured above, is an associate partner at Hocker Advocaten in the company law division. Cathalijnes practice is international in nature, consisting in large part of civil fraud and asset recovery matters. Shes a contributor of FraudNet, the network of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) which provides support to victims of commercial fraud (international or otherwise). Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington couild have done to have had the great slueth himself on hand after has claiming her handbag was stolen when she went to collect her Emmy award. Amanda Abbington The 42-year-old actress had joined her castmates in accepting the accolade for Outstanding Television Movie for 'Sherlock: The Abominable Bride', but when she returned to her seat in the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, her belongings were no longer there. She tweeted: "Thanks for the lovely tweets re; the Emmy's. So pleased we won! Cool, right? "However, we went up to collect the Emmy, did some press, came back to my seat and some b*****d had nicked my purse from under my seat. Nice "Had my phone and driver's licence in it. So whoever took my purse, I hope some terrible Karmic s**t happens to you. How c***py is that.(sic)" And Amanda - who has two children with her 'Sherlock' co-star Martin Freeman - even waited until everyone had left the building after the show to check it hadn't been handed in to staff by mistake. When a Twitter user suggested it could have accidentally been kicked away from her chair and then given to staff, she replied: "No, I hung around until everyone had left the auditorium. Nothing there." Emmy Awards producers hire seat fillers to take up empty chairs during the ceremony, but it is unclear whether or not Amanda's was occupied when she took to the stage. Laura, a popular, social media obsessed college student accepts a friend request from a mysterious girl who has no other friends on her own page. When the girl starts to misinterpret their brief acquaintance for a close friendship, Laura tries to distance herself from her and unfriends her. A demonic presence then starts to haunt Laura and it wants to make her feel lonely by killing all those closest to her. Friend Request One thing this film does well is the slow degeneration of the life of the central character- Laura. It begins with an attractive woman, with an equally boyfriend, a number of friends and an active social life and presence on social media. Laura's existence gradually unravels and it's all out of her control. It highlighted the similar helplessness one feels when you realise the vastness and dangers of the internet in the event of something going wrong. Sadly, the film followed the same technique as most horror films do now- build up the tension and release it with a cheap scare. I came out of the film with more concern over who I would accept a friend request from in future. This was not for fear of a demonic presence in my house- but more because of how free and easy it is to accept a friendship from someone online without knowing a lot about them. If the point of the film was to showcase the dangers of being careless on the internet then it delivered. I think the movie was a good way to encourage younger people to be cautious online, however it didn't scare me or make me turn on all the lights in my house when I got home, (that's just my personal gauge of how good a horror movie is- you might have a different technique). I thought the cast put in strong performances, especially Alycia Debnam-Carey, who was convincing in the lead role and it was good to see William Moseley in an adult role- as the last time I saw him on the big screen was in The Chronicles of Narnia. The dialogue was realistic between the characters and the music was genuinely creepy. The film was reminiscent of Candyman for me- in that the victims knew they didn't have a lot of time left when the insects started to appear. It was disappointing that the movie didn't adopt something fresh to alert the audience to the appearance of the demon. When Laura explores the page of the mysterious girl- her posts come to life and messages and posts appear on the screen throughout so you do become immersed in the world of the characters. It's just a shame that the scares made you jump and showed you the demon early on rather than making you use your imagination. One to tick off the list but sadly it offers nothing new to the horror genre. by Lucy Moore for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Princess Eugenie and her boyfriend reportedly flew to Queen Elizabeth's home in Scotland over the weekend to ask for her blessing on their forthcoming engagement. Princess Eugenie The loved up couple spent two days at the monarch's Balmoral Castle because Eugenie's cousin Prince Harry was hosting a shooting party to celebrate his 32nd birthday, but it's believed Jack Brooksbank took advantage of the time by asking his lover's famous grandmother for her approval. An insider at the Castle told The Sunday Express newspaper: "You could call this weekend a rite of passage for Jack. There is no way he would be invited to stay with the Queen unless he was being welcomed into the royal fold and the bosom of the family." However, a friend of Jack admitted that he was riddled with nerves ahead of his visit to Balmoral. The pal explained: "You could say he was somewhat apprehensive about going to Balmoral. But Jack has no side to him and will just be himself." Although the pair - who have been dating for six years - are yet to make an official announcement, it's believed Jack is hoping to put a ring on Eugenie's finger by the end of 2016. Eugenie and Jack are also planning to move into a three-bedroom cottage in Kensington Palace, London, next year. The 26-year-old royal currently lives in a four-bedroom apartment in St James' Palace, London, which she shares with her sister Princess Beatrice at the moment. Eugenie and Jack met at a ski resort in Switzerland, in 2010. Queen Elizabeth's cousin has become the first member of the royal family to come out as gay. Queen Elizabeth The 90-year-old's relative Lord Ivar Mountbatten - the great-great-great-grandson of the late Queen Victoria - has revealed he's found love again following his split from his ex-wife Penny, with whom he has three children, five years ago, but this time it's with a man. Speaking to the Daily Mail newspaper, he said: "Being a Mountbatten was never the problem, it was the generation into which I was born. "When I was growing up, it was known as 'the love that dare not speak its name', but what's amazing now is how far we have all come in terms of acceptance. "'Coming out' is such a funny phrase but it's what I suppose I did in a rather roundabout way, emerging to a place I'm happy to be. I have struggled with my sexuality and in some ways I still do; it has been a real journey to reach this point." Ivar has been dating his boyfriend James Coyle since last year when they met in the Swiss resort Verbier in March 2014 when his beau mistook him for a guide he had skied with earlier that day. Ivar has known since he was a teenager that he was bisexual but he "didn't want to go there because there would have been so much grief." He explained: "I never thought I would get married because I didn't want to be untruthful. Penny was aware before we got married. I told her I was bisexual, that my attraction went both ways. She was understanding and I will always be grateful to her. We had a lot of fun, we have three fabulous daughters and I don't regret any stage of my life. "Ultimately, Penny did not feel sufficiently loved and she wanted more from a husband than she could get from me. Given my sexuality, I was quite surprised she married me in the first place. It was brave. Perhaps she thought she could change me but in the end she realised she couldn't." Michelle Keegan was left fearing for her life over the weekend when a vicious brawl broke out just inches away from her. Michelle Keegan The 'Our Girl' actress frantically ran down the steps of 100 Wardour Club in London on Saturday (17.09.16) night when a mystery man attempted to lunge through security and get to her. An onlooker told The Sun Online: "It looked like he was trying something and security was stopping him from either talking [to her] or getting a picture [with her]." The security guards pinned the gentleman down as the 29-year-old beauty was whisked away by her protective pals. However, it's not known whether the man - whose identity is not yet known - was with Michelle and her friends or if he was trying to get to the actress for a sinister reason. Meanwhile, Michelle - who is married to presenter Mark Wright - has had a tough few months recently as she spent eight weeks in South Africa earlier this year filming her new war drama 'Our Girl' She said of the experience: "It was emotionally draining and very tiring but I had the best time and I, obviously we were there for two months, thought I might get a bit homesick after a week but I'm not joking I loved every single second of it. It was a life experience for me but it was amazing." However, Michelle - who portrays Lance Corporal Georgie Lane in the BBC One drama - believes shooting the new series has cured her fear of heights as she had to go up in a helicopter. Speaking during a Facebook Live chat, she said recently: "We did (film) the helicopter (scenes) in the air, we were harnessed in and I'm actually quite scared of heights but I think after this I was fine with them. I wanted to go back up again." Home textiles producer, the Northwest Company has clinched a five year agreement with the University of Texas. This agreement which also includes 289c Apparel, gives the exclusive right to Northwest Company to manufacture and market Texas University Longhorn products like blankets, throws, bedding, bath and beach products, as well as accessories.Northwest will offer a variety of Texas University Longhorn products, which will be retailed in leading and independent retailers in the US as well as its ecommerce website. Home textiles producer, the Northwest Company has clinched a five year agreement with the University of Texas. This agreement which also includes 289c Apparel, gives the exclusive right to Northwest Company to manufacture and market Texas University Longhorn products like blankets, throws, bedding, bath and beach products, as well as accessories.# "Teaxas University is known for having a strong, tight knit community and tremendous amount of school spirit, which is something worth bringing continuity to. As we have been a partner with them for more than two decades, we are very happy about expanding this relationship," Ross Auerbach, president at Northwest Company said. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Columbus Consulting International (CCI), which offers consultancy services to retailers, has extended their relationship and involvement in the Fashion Institute of Technology's (FIT) Global Fashion Management graduate program seminar series. This year's event runs from September 19-28, with Columbus holding an interactive session on the 26th.Focusing on non-profit retail institutions, Columbus offers students with real world critical situations that the company may have been called upon to resolve as retail specialist consultants. Columbus Consulting International (CCI), which offers consultancy services to retailers, has extended their relationship and involvement in the Fashion Institute of Technology's (FIT) Global Fashion Management graduate program seminar series. This year's event runs from September 19-28, with Columbus holding an interactive session on the 26th.# This gives them direct insight into the kinds of challenges that our customers face on a day-to-day basis, Rich Pedott, partner at Columbus Consulting said. We support the students in their situational analysis and final strategies, and compare those to the actual resolutions provided by our consulting team to the client. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Global petrochemicals producer and Thailand based Indorama Ventures said it has completed the integration of its Indian subsidiary Micro Polypet Private Limited with another Indian company Dhunseri Petrochem Ltd. The PET production capacity of the joint venture company is now 700,000 tons per annum, making it the second largest PET producer in India.According to IVL, the potential for growth in the PET industry in India is significant given that per capita consumption is currently at 0.6 kilograms per annum as against 2.6 kilograms per year in China and 10.9 kilograms per annum in the US. Global petrochemicals producer and Thailand based Indorama Ventures said it has completed the integration of its Indian subsidiary Micro Polypet Private Limited with another Indian company Dhunseri Petrochem Ltd. The PET production capacity of the joint venture company is now 700,000 tons per annum, making it the second largest PET producer in India.# The joint venture will gain from significant synergies as being the sole producer of PET Resin in Northern and Eastern India and with all its manufacturing sites being effectively integrated with third party PTA suppliers, IVL added.The milestone is an important step in driving IVL's strategic priorities forward while bringing together two leading companies with complementary strengths, brands and experiences, Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of IVL said. India is a very large country with a well-educated and booming middle class that will embrace the modern, hygienic lifestyle offered by PET packaging. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The Myanmar ministry of industry which had initially mooted the idea of creating a special zone for textile and garment industry earlier in August has decided to allocate 3,000 acres of land for the project. The project was earlier planned to be setup near Tadaoo in Mandalay, but challenges of transportation, forced the ministry to find another place. We have discussed the first part of the project. The union government plans to provide 3,000 acres of land for the special zone and we are now choosing the project area, U Thein Lwin, general manager at the ministry of industry, told Myanmar Business Today. The ministry of industry had formed the Myanmar Textiles Manufacturers Association in June to strengthen the development of the textile and garment sector by bring all textile-related business under one umbrella. The special zone will collectively organise all textile-related businesses at the same place, which will be advantageous for the sector, U Myo Aung, member of the Myanmar Textiles Manufacturers Association said. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India In its September report , USDA has forecast world cotton production in 2016/17 at 102.5 million bales, marginally above its August forecast, but 6 per cent higher than the previous season's crop of 96.4 million bales. Global cotton use in 2016/17 is forecast at 111.2 million bales, 1 percent higher than the 110.1 million bales in the prior two seasons.For India, the 2016/17 crop of 26.5 million bales is near that of last season, but cotton area is forecast to drop more than 8 per cent. However, prospects for higher yields are projected to keep India's output stable. In its September report, USDA has forecast world cotton production in 2016/17 at 102.5 million bales, marginally above its August forecast, but 6 per cent higher than the previous season's crop of 96.4 million bales. Global cotton use in 2016/17 is forecast at 111.2 million bales, 1 percent higher than the 110.1 million bales in the prior two seasons.# In China, although a record yield of 1,633 kg per hectare is forecast for 2016/17, China's 2016/17 cotton crop is projected at only 21 million bales, the lowest production estimate since 2000/01.According to USDA, Pakistan's production is estimated to rise to nearly 8.3 million bales in 2016/17 based on a rebound in yields that are forecast above average at 748 kg per hectare.The top five cotton consuming countries, China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Bangladesh are projected to account for a combined 74 per cent of 2016/17 world cotton mill consumption. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India VANCLEAVE, Mississippi -- Multiple people were injured, including three who were airlifted to other hospitals, after a truck flipped and caught fire in Vancleave Sunday night. According to Jackson County Chief Deputy John Ledbetter, a Ford Ranger driven by 22-year-old Randy Harris of Vancleave, was traveling north on Seaman Road near the county landfill around 8:30 Sunday night when the truck left the roadway, struck several pine trees, flipped on its side and caught fire. A paraplegic passenger in the truck 22-year-old Anthony Taylor of Vancleave, was trapped inside. Harris and several witnesses worked to upright the truck to free Taylor. Once Taylor was removed from the vehicle, he was taken to Singing River Hospital and from there airlifted to a hospital in Brandon. One of the bystanders who worked to free Taylor, Chip Cole of Pascagoula, was burned and airlifted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile. A third person, 22-year-old Dustin Allgood of Lucedale, was also severely burned trying to help and was airlifted to a Jackson hospital. Harris and another bystander, Leodis Howze of Vancleave, were both transported to Singing River Hospital, where they were treated and released. The accident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at 228-769-3063 or 228-769-3014. HON PM BAINIMARAMA - HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON MOVEMENT OF REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS Heads of States and Governments,Excellencies and distinguished delegates,Bula vinaka and a very good morning to you all.The issue that confronts us is one of the most vexed and painful for any nation that values human rights - the great suffering we have all witnessed as a result of the mass movement of refugees and migrants from troubled parts of the world.I come from a nation that markets itself as the place where happiness finds you. And we pride ourselves as a people who have big hearts and caring natures, especially for those in distress.Fiji makes a disproportionate contribution to United Nations Peacekeeping because we feel very strongly about the need to protect defenceless ordinary people in trouble parts of the world. So the tragedy that has unfolded as large numbers seek refuge from areas of conflict tugs at the heartstrings of every Fijian.On their behalf, I appeal to the world to approach this crisis in a manner that places human rights and human dignity above all else. The defence of borders and the orderly flow of people are important considerations. But the welfare of ordinary men, women and children caught up in events beyond their control and seeking better lives elsewhere must be uppermost in all our minds.Last September, when we unanimously endorsed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we committed ourselves to quote -facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies. Unquote.Distinguished delegates, we clearly need a more concerted and more holistic global approach if we are to have any hope of achieving this goal. And address the growing crisis of large movements of people in various parts of the world who are escaping violent conflict, poverty and inequality.First and foremost, we need maximum cooperation between governments and multilateral agencies to work closely with those nations that are affected to improve conditions for their citizens and stem the flow of people in the first place.The great powers have a special responsibility in this area - to use their influence to promote stability in areas of conflict and refrain from using them for wider strategic advantage. In the case of Syria, we are now seeing a degree of cooperation between the United States and Russia to address the crisis there and Fiji warmly welcomes this development.As time goes by, we are also bound to see greater movements of refugees and migrants triggered by climate change, disasters and environmental degradation. The issue of climate change displacing large numbers of people is of particular concern to Fiji.We are in a region of the world that is especially vulnerable to the extreme weather events and rising sea levels caused by global warming. And we are already beginning to consider a worse-case scenario in which three low-lying Pacific nations Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands - are submerged altogether.Fiji has offered to give refuge to the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu our closest neighbours if that worse case scenario eventuates. But we are clearly going to need the assistance of the rest of the world to do so.As a global community, we also face the complex task of establishing a legal framework for these mass movements of climate refugees to take place. Fiji has set up a modest specialist unit funded by itself - to research the various legal issues arising from climate change refugees. And I urge you all to support this initiative and come and work with us and complement the resources we have already allocated to this project. There is a clear imperative to do so.Distinguished delegates, I repeat: only by working together in a more concerted manner can the global community tackle the grave crisis that now confronts us.The mass movement of refugees and migrants in various parts of the world poses one of the greatest challenges of modern times. We need to engage proactively with those governments whose policies are forcing their people to leave. We need to do all we can to head off conflict before hostilities erupt and people feel that they have no choice but to leave. We must do more to assist those countries that are struggling economically and create the jobs and opportunities that keep people where they are. And where we cannot do so, we must work together more effectively to minimize the disorderly flow of refugees and migrants and maximise their orderly resettlement.We must develop safe, legal and regular avenues for ordinary people in need to find refuge for themselves and their families. And develop better ways to integrate them into other societies and become valued citizens of their adopted homes.Governments must also work together more effectively to confront the people smugglers, those who prey on the hopes and dreams of ordinary people for commercial gain. Along with the drug trade, the pernicious trade in people across borders is a grave threat to international security and demands zero tolerance the world over.Excellencies, Fiji commends those nations that have opened their doors to large numbers of refugees. We especially commend those governments that have shown leadership on this issue at great political risk and have come down on the side of conscience and have upheld humanitarian values rather than give way to expediency. We must listen to those voices who preach compassion and inclusion rather than those who preach xenophobia and call for doors to be shut.Our common humanity demands a much better response to this crisis than the world has displayed thus far. Even in the far off Pacific, we hear the cries of the displaced. Those who have lost their loved ones, their homes and their futures in their own countries and have set out to find better lives elsewhere.We hear the cries of those who have lost their loved ones before they reach safety, including the untold thousands who have drowned in the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans. And we hear the cries of those who are unfairly treated in detention centres including in our own region with no hope and no way out.Excellencies: our common humanity demands that we must heed these cries and work together more holistically and more effectively to address this crisis. And to do so with the utmost urgency.I thank you. Shahrukh Khan starrer Main Hoon Na which released in 2004 went on to be a superhit. The film was different and saw SRK romancing Sushmita Sen. The songs, storyline and the plot were accepted by the audiences. When asked if there's a sequel to the film in the making, Farah Khan responds as, "If someone gives me a great idea, I would love to make a sequel to MHN. Among my films, MHN is one of the most loved (by fans). Despite my other movies doing better in terms of money, I, too, love this film the most. But to make a sequel, the story has to be really special. Currently, I don't know how to take the story of MHN forward. Maybe it is because my movies never have loose ends. So, I don't want to create a franchise, just for the sake of it." Hot For Teacher Sushmita Sen played the role of a hot teacher in the movie Main Hoon Na. Her role id remembered even till date by the audiences. Unforgettable None can forget Sushmita Sen's oomph factor in Main Hoon Na. She looked like a Million bucks! Amrita-Sushmita While Amrita Rao was paired opposite Zayed Khan, Sushmita was paired along Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh Khan The opening scene of Shahrukh Khan coming out from the railway station was the highlight of the movie. Slaying It! Shahrukh Khan slayed it with his looks as a student in Main Hoon Na & the second half saw him as a soldier in the Indian Army. Head Over Heels! Shahrulh Khan falls in love with his own teacher Sushmita Sen and the song sequence is way too funny and hilarious. Shahrukh-Zayed Zayed Khan played the role of a 'long haired cool dude' in the movie Main Hoon Na, later chops his hair due to pressure from his mom. Good Chemistry The chemistry between Shahrukh Khan and Sushmita Sen in Main Hoon Na was way beyond amazing! No Sequel Folks Unfortunately there would be no sequel for Main Hoon Na confirms film-maker Farah Khan. Remember Team Captain Vidya From Chak De India? This Is How She Looks Now! Farah Khan said that a lot of people still talk about the movie whenever they meet her, "Audiences still remember all the characters, including those of Satish Shah and Bindu." She also said that sequels becoming a hit are very rare, "they are fun, but rarely has a sequel beaten the popularity of the original, even in Hollywood." Remember Poonam Dhillon? This Is How Beautiful Her Daughter Paloma Dhillon Has Grown Up To Be! "The only thing the sequel always makes is more money. Maybe Dhoom 2 (2006) was better (story-wise) than the original Dhoom (2004). But I feel, usually, franchises simply cash in on the success of the original," quipped Farah Khan. Priyanka Chopra Talks About 'Showing Off Her Bra'! Critically acclaimed action movie Mad Max: Fury Road, which had bagged the prestigious Academy Awards in various categories, is all set to gear up for a prequel than having a sequel. The upcoming installment of Miller's Mad Max series will try to focus on the story before Lone Hero played by Tom Hardy meets Charlize Theron's character portrayal Furiosa. It will try to build up on the early life of both the characters in the saga. As per the reports, the prequel is already in the pre-production stage in Australia. However, the shooting for the movie is all expected to roll on later this year. Starcast is expected to remain the same for the movie with addition of a few new faces. It's though still unclear if the director George Miller will be available for the upcoming prequel as he had earlier hinted at taking a break for some time from the Mad Max franchise. However, it didn't necessarily suggest, he won't return at all. However, there is still no official confirmation from George Miller or Warner Bros about the lead and it is expected to come out only after the list of casts gets finalized. While the shooting location for the movie is expected to be in and around the Broken Hill. Namik In Qubool Hai Namik Paul debuted with 4 Lions' Qubool Hai. He was seen playing the role of Ahsaan (Armaan's friend and Sanam's third husband) in the fourth season of the show. He was later replaced by Rohan Gandotra. Namik's Education... He hails from Dehradun and did his schooling from Mussoorie. He went to the US to complete his graduation. He worked with a media house to turn into a reporter, but he decided to quit and try his luck at the showbiz industry. Namik Had To Struggle To Bag His First Role! Namik has worked for NDTV., he had also done a few advertisements. Like many actors, Namik too, had to struggle a lot to bag his first role. In an interview, he had said that to win a role in the show, he had to give several auditions! Namik Worked For Media Before... He was modelling in Delhi, joined media house, and later moved to Bombay. In an interview, he said, "I was always aspired to be actor from school and college days used to theatres then. I took up some advertisements and then I started attending acting workshops and dance classes." Namik Auditioned For EDKV In December After making a few connections, he was called for the audition of Ek Duje Ke Vaaste and later bagged the show! Well, we must say, we are happy to have the new angry young man in the telly town. What say guys?? Namik's Rapid-Fire... In an interview to a leading daily, Namik answered these rapid-fire questions... First crush: It was my fifth grade teacher who was also a model. Favourite line on the sets: "What's the scene?" Namik's Favourites... Things you cannot do without on the sets: Water. I drink ridiculous amount of water. Favourite food on the sets: Maggi, toast and Coca Cola! Favourite corner on the sets: My room. Namik In Free Time.... When asked what he does when he gets free time, he was quoted by a website as saying, "Since we have sometime night shifts so whenever I get free time I like to sleep." Namik Likes To Work Out In Gym! He further added, "I do like to get out and work out in gym and have some personal work in our free time. Just some time back I went out with friends after a long time." Namik's Family... About his family: Namik's father is a retired IAS officer. His mother is a lawyer and social right activist. His sister and brother-in-law are lawyers as well. Moscow Natalia Kalinina Tel: +7 495 7879828 Email: natalia.kalinina@hktdc.org Hong Kong Beatrice Lam Tel: +852 2584 4049 Email: beatrice.hy.lam@hktdc.org HONG KONG, Sept 18, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, John Tsang and Deputy City Mayor of Almaty, Yerlan Aukenov met at the Hong Kong Business Luncheon on 16 September in Almaty to promote closer economic ties between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan, in light of the potential opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiative. Attended by 250 members of Almaty's business community, the event was the second stop, after the capital Astana, for Hong Kong's first high-level official delegation to the country, organised by the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).Leaders in Hong Kong's finance, logistics and infrastructure sectors such as Octopus Holdings Limited, PCCW Global Limited, as well as organisations such the Financial Services Development Council, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited formed the 30-plus strong delegation.Hong Kong is an international gateway to and from the Chinese mainland for finance, logistics and trading. The delegation visited Kazakhstan's key financial, logistics and infrastructural facilities and met leading local companies to explore business and investment partnership opportunities between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan, including DAMU Logistics, Halyk Bank, the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the KASE Stock Exchange.The Hong Kong Advantage: turnkey solutionsKazakhstan, being a key hub in Central Asia, can play a crucial role in linking markets along the routes covered by the Belt and Road Initiative and, in turn, accelerate its own development programme. To support this growth, Hong Kong offers an ideal platform to provide turnkey solutions in international financing, logistics and infrastructure services.Addressing Almaty business leaders at a luncheon, Mr Tsang highlighted that both places share a promising future under the Belt and Road Initiative. He said that there is a clear synergy and benefits for both places to enhance cooperation in finance, trade as well as logistics, to achieve more under the Initiative. He suggested that Kazakh companies make good use of Hong Kong's unique strengths to expand their business and venture further into the vast Chinese mainland and global markets.HKTDC is ready to helpAlso speaking at the luncheon were Mr Aukenov and HKTDC Assistant Executive Director Stephen Liang.Commenting on the mission, Mr Liang said, "This was a rewarding mission. As the Belt and Road Initiative, which was first announced by President Xi Jinping here in Kazakhstan in 2013, opens up more opportunities, we look forward to bringing the business communities of Hong Kong and Kazakhstan closer together."A highlight of this trip was a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the HKTDC and Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) on 14 September. Under the agreement, the HKTDC will further promote investment projects in Kazakhstan through its Belt and Road Portal (www.beltandroad.hk). Both organisations will also mutually support delegations visiting Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. In addition, the Hong Kong Securities Association also entered into a MOU with AIFC, aimed at establishing a platform for long term communication and organising activities to stimulate projects for mutual interest and benefit of both parties.He added that there are many opportunities for closer ties between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. "After all, both places have borders with the Chinese mainland, and both have strategic locations along the Belt and Road - Kazakhstan as a link between China and Europe, and Hong Kong as a gateway to Southeast Asia and beyond." He said the HKTDC stands ready to support companies from Kazakhstan and around the world to access the Belt and Road opportunities through Hong Kong with its wide range of services including legal, financial, logistics, infrastructure and real estate services.In June 2013, an MOU was signed between the HKTDC and the National Export & Investment Agency (KAZNEX Invest) to enhance bilateral trade and foster closer business ties between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. Since then, the HKTDC has organised four business missions, leading more than 70 delegates to Kazakhstan and arranged more than 500 business matching meetings.In the past two years, more than 700 trade buyers form Central Asia, most of them from Kazakhstan, visited the HKTDC's trade fairs to source quality products.As well as the business luncheon in Almaty, the HKTDC also hosted a luncheon in Astana on Wednesday (14 September) which attracted more than 200 business and government leaders. During the Astana leg of the visit, the delegation attended briefings from KAZNEX Invest and Astana Innovation. They also visited KTZ Express and Astana International Financial Centre.HKTDC Photo Link: http://bit.ly/2clxciMAbout HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The HKTDC is the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and services providers. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China and throughout Asia. The HKTDC also organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in overseas markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdcTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdcLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. SOUTHAMPTON, England, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In the most comprehensive chemical comparison to date between smoke and e-cigarette emissions, scientists at British American Tobacco ("BAT") have found evidence that e-cigarette vapour* has significantly lower levels of toxicants than conventional cigarette smoke. Analysis of vapour emitted by the Vype ePen - a commercially available e-cigarette manufactured by Nicoventures, a company owned by BAT, - revealed that toxicant levels in e-pen vapour were 92 to 99% lower (depending on which regulatory list of toxicants is used) than in cigarette smoke. The findings were published today inChemical Research in Toxicology,a peer-reviewed publication by the American Chemical Society. While not representative of all vaping products, the findings reinforce a growing body of research establishing the potential for e-cigarettes to reduce the public heath impact of smoking. The research is the first in a series of scientific papers from BAT on the risk assessment of e-cigarette vapour to be published in the coming months and throughout 2017. Dr Kevin McAdam, Head of Next Generation Product Risk Assessment at British American Tobacco said: "For us, it's essential that our consumers know the products they are using are of the highest quality. As a result, we believe it is important to look at and evaluate the components of the vapour that is emitted and this is a vital first step to understanding the true risk reduction potential of e-cigarettes. "Despite millions of people using e-cigarettes (the current estimate in Great Britain is 2.8 million), very little research exists on the chemical make-up of the vapour. BAT is committed to setting the bar on standards for product safety and quality based on robust scientific assessments. That's why we have invested more than 500 million in researching and developing a range of products for consumers looking for less risky alternatives to cigarettes." Many in the public health community believe e-cigarettesoffer great potential for reducing the public health impact of smoking.Public Health England, an executive body of the UK Department of Health, recently published a report saying that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes. Similarly,The Royal College of Physicianshas said that the public can be reassured that e-cigarettes are likely to be much safer then smoking and that they should be widely promoted as an alternative to cigarettes, though called for additional research.Cancer Research UK, Action on Smoking and Health, and the British Heart Foundation are also of the view that e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than smoking. BAT plans to follow this chemistry assessment with a series of tests examining the biological impact of vapour on human cells, due to be peer-reviewed and published over the coming year. Notes to Editors: *Vapourrefers tothe makeup of the aerosol produced by an e-cigarette. In this instance it has been compared to cigarette smoke. The results demonstrate the much simpler composition of Vype e-pen e-cigarette vapour in comparison to smoke. Research findings and Methodology British American Tobacco tested for a total of 142 compounds, including those listed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as harmful or potentially harmful (HPHC), and by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Health Canada. The products tested were Vype ePen Blended Tobacco flavour and the Kentucky Reference Cigarette 3R4F. The products were puffed using puffing robots in separate rooms and the emissions collected. Because the levels of some constituents in e-cigarette vapour were anticipated to be very low, the air was also tested to eliminate the possibility of contamination and false positives. Independent contract labs were commissioned to quantify the following emissions: carbon/nitrogen oxides, carbonyls/dicarbonyls, alcohols/di-alcohols, phenols, o-heterocycles, chlorinated dioxins/furans; volatile, substituted and, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons; amides, azines, aromatic and aliphatic amines, nicotine & related compounds, nitrosamines, metals and radionuclides (shown below). Comparison of toxicant emissions between Vype ePen and 3R4F were conducted on a per-puff basis. The results revealed a reduction of 99% for WHO and FDA truncated lists, and over 92% for the full FDA HPHC list. Three aerosol constituents were measured at higher per-puff levels in e-cigarette vapour than from 3R4F - propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerine (VG) and menthol.PG and VG are used to make e-liquid and menthol is used as a flavour. About British American Tobacco: British American Tobacco is the world's second largest public tobacco group by global market share, with brands sold in over 180 markets and employing over 50,000 people. About Next Generation Products (NGP): The NGP division of British American Tobacco is focused on increasing consumer choice through developing a range of less risky nicotine and tobacco products for adult smokers including Tobacco Heating Products, Vapour products and Licensed Medicines. For more information seehttp://www.goVype.comandhttp://www.bat-science.com. About Tobacco Harm Reduction: The only way to avoid the risks associated with tobacco use is not to consume tobacco at all, and the best way to reduce the risks is to stop using tobacco. However, the concept of harm reduction is increasingly being considered in relation to tobacco use. Harm reduction is about finding practical ways to minimise the health impact of an inherently risky activity or behaviour, without seeking to stop it entirely. It is a key element of BAT's business strategy and is being discussed by some regulators. An example of harm reduction in action is the use of seat belts and airbags in cars. We think it's important to work towards producing consumer-acceptable, potentially reduced risk products. We believe that tobacco regulatory policies should include harm reduction approaches for the millions of adults globally who will continue to consume tobacco products. Next-generation sourcing solution debuts at China's definitive sign event SHANGHAI, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Doors open to the 14th edition of the SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA events, which will play host to the long-anticipated debut of the 'O2O2O Solution', jointly developed by UBM and Alibaba's B2B business units -- including Alibaba.com and 1688.com, the leading platforms for online wholesale trade of the Alibaba Group. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408244 Photo -http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408246 Photo -http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408247 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408245LOGO The solution represents a significant achievement since the two parties announced their strategic partnership in December 2015 to create the next generation of B2B trade sourcing experiences. By integrating the online and offline trading scenes, resulting in unprecedented convenience for buyers to search and contact sellers, arrange meetings and place orders online, the 'O2O2O Solution' is expected to reshape the B2B trading experience. The SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA events will be held from September 19-22 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). The 'O2O2O Solution' display at SIGN and LED CHINA encompasses a 350+ square meter booth space that includes interactive demonstrations of the O2O2O Solution System, VIP meeting rooms and lounges, an experiential wall showcasing the Trade Assurance program by Alibaba B2B-- a program aiming to boost trust between buyers and sellers engaged in cross-border trading-- and a fully dedicated O2O2O Solution Concierge Team to help facilitate business matchmaking. The full 'O2O2O Solution' encompasses the best qualities of the online and offline worlds of trade sourcing. For SIGN and LED CHINA, all participating exhibitors were given online product and company showrooms by Alibaba B2B through the O2O2O Solution System, allowing potential buyers to search and view their listings, contact the exhibitors, and even request a meeting ahead of the event. The 'O2O2O Solution' experience continues live onsite at SIGN and LED CHINA, where both exhibitors and visitors can meet face-to-face in the lounge, in private meeting rooms, or even at their booths. Onsite visitors can also better search for best-fit suppliers on the spot, with the help of the O2O2O Solution Concierge. Finally, reflecting the unique nature of the final 'O' in 'O2O2O Solution', both buyers and sellers can place orders online while enjoying all the logistical and Trade Assurance benefits offered through the Alibaba.com network. "The year-long collaboration between Alibaba B2B and UBM culminates with our launch of the 'O2O2O Solution' in Shanghai this week," said Jime Essink, President and CEO UBM Asia. "Through our strategic partnership we have discovered the keys which unlock a greater potential for enabling better trade sourcing through the online and offline world." "We are excited to see the collaboration yield fruit with the official launch of the 'O2O2O Solution'. We look forward to working with an influential partner like UBM to bring unprecedented trading experiences to the B2B community," said Kevin Ren, General Manager, Alibaba.com. "We are honored to play host to the debut of the 'O2O2O Solution'," said David Tang, Managing Director of UBM Trust and organizer of SIGN and LED CHINA. "Through this collaboration between UBM and Alibaba B2B, we are able to offer new added value for our exhibitors and visitors. For example, the online showroom further enhance our exhibitors' business opportunities, allowing our visitors and buyers to better search and meet their next supplier or business partner in China!" SIGN & LED CHINA 2016-- China's definitive sign event and the co-located LED CHINA -- the world's largest event dedicated to the entire LED industry chain -- will host over 900 participating brands, covering all areas of sign technology. The latest in laser engravers, fiber cutters, indoor and outdoor large-format printers and the best in LED displays and technology from the region can be found at SIGN and LED CHINA. Show hours are from 9:30a.m. - 6:00p.m. from September 19-21 and from 9:30a.m. - 3:00p.m. on September 22. To learn more about visiting the fairs this week and experiencing the 'O2O2O Solution' please visit: http://expo.alibaba.com http://www.signchina-sh.com http://www.ledchina-sh.com Contacts Christine Chen Marketing Manager UBM Trust Co Ltd. T: +86-20-3810-6261 x 866 E: chrsitine.chen@ubm.com Ben Veechai Regional Director International Marketing, UBM Asia Ltd T: +852-2516-1691 E: ben.veechai@ubm.com Crystal Liu Alibaba Group T: +852-6378-5626 E: crystal.liu@alibaba-inc.com About UBM Trust (www.ubmtrust.com) UBM Trust is a joint venture company of UBM Asia, which is owned by UBM plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange. We have extensive experience in organizing large-scale exhibitions covering different industries in China, as well as organizing Chinese enterprises to participate in famous fairs abroad. Our flagship events serve the sign and LED industries. Among the definitive exhibitions of their kind in the world, these two events have become an important catalyst for the development and upgrading of China's sign and LED industries, offering a comprehensive one-stop trading platform for exhibitors and visitors. We take pride in providing professional high-quality services to our customers. About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com) Owned by UBM plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organizer in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face trade exhibitions and associated print/online products for over 2,000,000 quality sellers and buyers from all over the world. Most recently, UBM Asia was awarded 'Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organiser Award' in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016. About Alibaba.com The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com) is the leading platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in other countries. Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States and Thailand. Regulatory News: This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160918005040/en/ United Company RUSAL Plc (Paris:RUSAL) (Paris:RUAL): Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. UNITED COMPANY RUSAL PLC (Incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability) (Stock Code: 486) CONTINUING CONNECTED TRANSACTIONS LONG-TERM CAPACITY RSE CONTRACTS Reference is made to the announcement of the Company dated 12 November 2013 and the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013 in relation to the Previously Disclosed E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates. The Company announces that through the matching process (as further explained below) arranged by the TSA, five Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts with a term of 15 years were entered into between members of the Group, as buyers (represented by the FSC), and Krasnoyarskaya HPP, an associate of En+, as seller (also represented by the FSC). Due to inadvertent oversight, the Company did not fully comply with the announcement requirement in respect of the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules in a timely manner. As the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are relatively new kind of capacity supply contracts with a term of 15 years and their terms are not consistent with the terms under the short-term E&C Contracts with En+'s associates or the miscellaneous E&C Contracts with En+'s associates as disclosed in the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013, the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts will be proposed to be approved in a stand-alone resolution at the EGM. BACKGROUND Reference is made to the announcement of the Company dated 12 November 2013 and the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013 in relation to the Previously Disclosed E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates. The Company announces that through the matching process (as further explained below) arranged by the TSA, the following 15-year renewable-source energy contracts were entered into between members of the Group, as buyers (represented by the FSC), and Krasnoyarskaya HPP (represented by the FSC), as seller (the "Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts (i) contract between OJSC RUSAL Bratsk and Krasnoyarskaya HPP dated 24 January 2014; (ii) contract between Joint Stock Company Rusal Novokuznetsk and Krasnoyarskaya HPP dated 24 January 2014; (iii) contract between Joint Stock Company RUSAL Sayanogorsk and Krasnoyarskaya HPP dated 24 January 2014; (iv) contract between Boguchansk Aluminium Smelter and Krasnoyarskaya HPP dated 30 June 2015; and (v) contract between LLC RUSAL Energo and Krasnoyarskaya HPP dated 30 March 2016. LONG-TERM CAPACITY RSE CONTRACTS The Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts relate to renewable sources of energy and were entered into in accordance with the governmental regulations requiring all participants in the electric energy wholesale market to purchase capacity by entering into standard form of contracts. The terms (including the mechanics of price determination and duration of contract being 180 months) of such renewable sources of energy contracts are determined by the Market Council and are published on the website of the Market Council. The terms of the renewable sources of energy contracts are non-negotiable by the parties. The price of capacity to be sold under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts is determined by the TSA in accordance with procedures established by the rules of determination of the price of capacity of the generating facilities using renewable energy sources, approved by the Resolutions of the Russian Government and the rules of the electric energy wholesale market as follows: Please see the accompanying document for the full text of the formulas. The monthly volume of capacity which the seller undertakes to supply and the buyer undertakes to accept and pay for (the "Contracted Capacity Volume") is determined by the TSA for each month of the capacity supply period in accordance with the electric energy wholesale market regulations, based, among other parameters, on the value of installed capacity of the generating facility of the seller and the number of the participants of the wholesale market for each month. The exact volume of capacity to be supplied and accepted is notified to the sellers and the buyers through the TSA. The overall contractual capacity volume may not exceed the capacity volume specified in a Long-Term Capacity RSE Contract. The sellers cannot require any increase of the Contracted Capacity Volume. The payment under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts is made in cash via bank transfer in accordance with the procedure and deadlines established from time to time by the electric energy wholesale market regulations then in effect. The actual monetary value of capacity purchased for the years ended 31 December 2014 and 2015 and the first six months of 2016 under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts was nil, nil and USD0.36 million, respectively. The FSC facilitates the transactions by matching the suppliers and the buyers. Accordingly, the Group may enter into such Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts with independent third parties or connected persons only through the TSA/FSC. Given that it is for the TSA to control the matching of the suppliers and the buyers, for these renewable sources of energy contracts, the Group does not take the lead in determining the identities of the counter-parties. Therefore the Company is of the view that the prices under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are no less favourable to the Group than those offered by independent third parties. Furthermore, the Company believes that the prices and the duration of the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts which are based on the above rules and regulations are normal commercial terms given that these terms and conditions are, eventually, prescribed in accordance with the Resolutions of the Russian Government equally applicable to all participants of the electric energy wholesale market and cannot be changed by the parties to the contracts. THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TRANSACTION AMOUNT Pursuant to Rule 14A.81 of the Listing Rules, the continuing connected transactions contemplated under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts and the Previously Disclosed E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates should be aggregated, as they were entered into by members of the Group with the associates of En+, and the subject matter of each contract relates to the supply of electricity and capacity by the associates of En+ to the Group. REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE TRANSACTIONS The Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are for supply of capacity produced by qualified generating facilities using renewable sources of energy. As certain members of the Group are participants in the electric energy wholesale market, if they did not enter into the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts, they would be considered to be in breach of the governmental regulations of the electric energy wholesale market. A consequence of such breach is that the members of the Group which are registered as participants of the electric energy wholesale market would be excluded from the list of such participants. If that were the case, such members of the Group would be prohibited from purchasing electricity and/or capacity on the wholesale market and would be required to purchase electricity and/or capacity from the retail market at a higher price, substantially increasing the costs for the Group. The Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) consider that the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are on normal commercial terms which are fair and reasonable and the transactions contemplated under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are in the ordinary and usual course of business of the Group and in the interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. It is expected that members of the Group may continue to enter into new long-term capacity RSE contracts with En+ Associates from time to time on the same terms as described. None of the Directors has a material interest in the transactions contemplated under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts save for Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who are directors of En+, which hold more than 30% of the issued share capital of Krasnoyarskaya HPP. Mr. Deripaska is also indirectly interested in more than 50% of the issued share capital of En+. Accordingly, Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova did not vote on the Board resolutions approving the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts. LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS Krasnoyarskaya HPP is an associate of En+ which is a substantial shareholder of the Company. Therefore Krasnoyarskaya HPP is a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules. Accordingly, the transactions contemplated under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts constitute continuing connected transactions of the Company. Due to inadvertent oversight, the Company did not fully comply with the announcement requirement in respect of the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules in a timely manner. As the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are a relatively new kind of capacity supply contracts with a term of 15 years and their terms are not consistent with the terms under the Short-term E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates or the Miscellaneous E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates as disclosed in the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013, the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts will be proposed to be approved in a stand-alone resolution at the EGM. Details of the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts, including the explanation by the independent financial advisor as to why a contract period exceeding 3 years is required and its confirmation that it is normal business practice in Russia for contracts of this type to be of such duration, will be included in the circular on the Proposed 2017, 2018 and 2019 Annual Caps for Continuing Connected Transactions, which is expected to be issued by the Company in the end of September 2016 or early October 2016. PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina. Krasnoyarskaya HPP is a hydroelectric power station. DEFINITIONS In this announcement, the following expressions have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires: "associate(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "Board" the board of Directors. "Company" United Company RUSAL Plc, a limited liability company incorporated in Jersey, the shares of which are listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange and on the Moscow Exchange. "connected person(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "continuing connected transactions" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "Director(s)" the director(s) of the Company. "En+" En+ Group Limited, a company incorporated in Jersey, a substantial shareholder of the Company. "EGM" the extraordinary general meeting of the Company expected to be held in October 2016 in Hong Kong "E&C Contract(s)" electricity and capacity supply contracts "FSC" Joint-Stock Company "Financial Settlement Center", a wholly-owned subsidiary of the TSA, created for the purposes of determination of cross-liabilities of wholesale electricity market participants, organization of the system of payments and payment guarantees on the electricity wholesale market. "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries. "Krasnoyarskaya HPP" JSC Krasnoyarskaya Hydro-Power Plant, a hydroelectric power station controlled by En+ as to more than 30% of its issued share capital. "Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange. "Market Council" Non-Commercial Partnership Market Council "Mr. Deripaska" Mr. Oleg Deripaska, an executive Director. "Previously Disclosed E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates" the series of electricity and capacity supply contracts entered into between members of the Group and the associates of En+, as disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 12 November 2013 and the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013. "Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates" the proposed annual caps for the electricity and capacity supply contracts with En+'s associates for the three years ending 31 December 2107, 2018 and 2019. "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. "substantial shareholder" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "TSA" Joint-Stock Company "Trading System Administrator of Wholesale Electricity Market Transactions", an authority established by the Market Council. "VAT" value-added tax By Order of the Board of Directors of United Company RUSAL Plc Aby Wong Po Ying Company Secretary 19 September 2016 As at the date of this announcement, the executive Directors are Mr. Oleg Deripaska, Mr. Vladislav Soloviev and Mr. Siegfried Wolf, the non-executive Directors are Mr. Maxim Sokov, Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev, Mr. Len Blavatnik, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, Mr. Maksim Goldman, Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Daniel Lesin Wolfe, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya, and Ms. Ekaterina Nikitina, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Matthias Warnig (Chairman), Mr. Philip Lader, Dr. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mr. Mark Garber, Mr. Dmitry Vasiliev and Mr. Bernard Zonneveld. All announcements and press releases published by the Company are available on its website under the links http://www.rusal.ru/en/investors/info.aspxhttp://rusal.ru/investors/info/moex/ and http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/press-releases.aspx, respectively. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160918005040/en/ Contacts: United Company RUSAL Plc Regulatory News: This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160918005042/en/ United Company RUSAL Plc (Paris:RUSAL) (Paris:RUAL): Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. UNITED COMPANY RUSAL PLC (Incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability) (Stock Code: 486) RENEWAL OF ANNUAL CAPS OF CONTINUING CONNECTED TRANSACTIONS Reference is made to certain continuing connected transactions relating to electricity and capacity supply and aluminium sales described in the prospectus of the Company dated 31 December 2009, the annual reports of the Company for each of the three financial years ended 31 December 2013, 2014 and 2015, the announcement of the Company dated 27 September 2011, the circular of the Company dated 12 October 2011, the announcement of the Company dated 12 November 2013, the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013 and the announcements of the Company dated 28 March 2014, 19 November 2014 and 19 September 2016. Certain members of the Group contemplate entering into three new long-term electricity supply agreements to replace the existing long-term electricity and capacity supply agreements. Moreover, since certain existing continuing connected transactions with respect to electricity and capacity supply and with respect to aluminium sales shall continue and the Company also expects that additional electricity and capacity supply contracts and additional aluminium sales contracts may from time to time be entered into between members of the Group on one part, and Mr. Deripaska's Associates and En+'s Associates on the other, the Company would like to announce the proposed annual caps for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019 for all these continuing connected transactions. As the applicable percentage ratio(s) with respect to the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates are more than 5%, the transactions under these contracts will be subject to reporting, annual review, announcement and independent Shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules.As the applicable percentage ratio(s) with respect to the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates are more than 5%, the transactions under these contracts will be subject to reporting, annual review, announcement and independent Shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. 1. INTRODUCTION Reference is made to certain continuing connected transactions relating to electricity and capacity supply and aluminium sales described in the prospectus of the Company dated 31 December 2009, the annual reports of the Company for each of the three financial years ended 31 December 2013, 2014 and 2015, the announcement of the Company dated 27 September 2011, the circular of the Company dated 12 October 2011, the announcement of the Company dated 12 November 2013, the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013 and the announcements of the Company dated 28 March 2014, 19 November 2014 and 19 September 2016. As disclosed in these publications, certain members of the Group are parties to a number of existing continuing connected transactions with respect to electricity and capacity supply and with respect to aluminium sales. Since certain existing continuing connected transactions with respect to electricity and capacity supply contracts and with respect to aluminium sales shall continue and the Company also expects that additional electricity and capacity supply and additional aluminium sales contracts may from time to time be entered into between members of the Group on one part, and Mr. Deripaska's Associates and En+'s Associates on the other, the Company would like to announce the proposed annual caps for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019 for all these continuing connected transactions. 2. E&C CONTRACTS (a) Long-term Electricity Supply Contracts with En+'s Associates As previously disclosed, members of the Group have entered into the following long-term electricity and capacity supply contracts (together "Existing Long-Term E&C Contracts on 1 December 2009, OJSC RUSAL Bratsk ("BrAZ"), a subsidiary of the Company, and Irkutsk Joint Stock Power and Electricity Company ("Irkutskenergo"), a power generating company controlled by En+ as to more than 30% of its issued share capital, entered into a long-term electricity and capacity supply contract pursuant to which BrAZ agreed to purchase electricity and capacity from Irkutskenergo for a period of nine years from 2010 to 2018. Fifty percent of the price under the contract must be paid before the 15th day of the month of supply and the remaining fifty percent of the price must be paid before the 25th day of the month of supply. The consideration is satisfied in cash via wire transfer. The actual monetary value of electricity and capacity purchased for the year ended 31 December 2015 and the first six months of 2016 under this contract was USD126.7 million and USD67.3 million respectively; on 15 November 2009, OJSC SUAL, a subsidiary of the Company, and Irkutskenergo entered into a long-term electricity and capacity supply contract pursuant to which OJSC SUAL agreed to purchase electricity and capacity for Irkutsk aluminium smelter, a branch of OJSC SUAL, from Irkutskenergo for a period of nine years from 2010 to 2018. Fifty percent of the price under the contract must be paid before the 15th day of the month of supply and the remaining fifty percent of the price must be paid before the 25th day of the month of supply. The consideration is satisfied in cash via wire transfer. On 31 December 2014, OJSC SUAL, BrAZ and Irkutskenergo entered into an addendum pursuant to which all rights and obligations under this contract were transferred from OJSC SUAL to BrAZ. The actual monetary value of electricity and capacity purchased for the year ended 31 December 2015 and the first six months of 2016 under this contract was USD64.7 million and USD33.3 million respectively; on 4 December 2009, OJSC RUSAL Krasnoyarsk ("KrAZ"), a subsidiary of the Company, and JSC Krasnoyarskaya Hydro-Power Plant ("Krasnoyarskaya HPP"), a hydroelectric power station controlled by En+ as to more than 30% of its issued share capital, entered into a long-term electricity and capacity supply contract pursuant to which KrAZ has agreed to purchase electricity from Krasnoyarskaya HPP for a period of eleven years from 2010 to 2020. As disclosed in the announcement dated 19 November 2014, supply under the agreement dated 4 December 2009 between KrAZ and Krasnoyarskaya HPP has been suspended by Krasnoyarskaya HPP. Certain members of the Group propose to enter into three new long-term electricity supply agreements to replace the Existing Long-Term E&C Contracts ("En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts"), the details of which are as follows: (i) BrAZ and Irkutskenergo, propose to enter into a long-term electricity purchase contract pursuant to which BrAZ agreed to purchase electricity from Irkutskenergo for a period of ten years from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2026. The overall contractual amount of electricity to be supplied each year is as follows: Year 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Electricity Supply Volume (million KWh) 7,297.08 7,297.08 7,297.08 7,317.072 7,297.08 7,297.08 7,297.08 7,317.072 7,297.08 7,297.08 The contract price (tariff) for the electricity under this long-term contract is determined on the basis of the following: In place of text box: Please see the accompanying document for the full text of the formulas. (ii) BrAZ and Irkutskenergo, propose to enter into a long-term electricity purchase contract pursuant to which BrAZ agreed to purchase electricity from Irkutskenergo for a period of ten years from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2026. The overall contractual amount of electricity to be supplied each year is as follows: Year 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Electricity Supply Volume (million KWh) 17,896.68 17,896.68 17,896.68 17,945.712 17,896.68 17,896.68 17,896.68 17,945.712 17,896.68 17,896.68 The contract price (tariff) for the electricity under this long-term contract is determined on the basis of the following: In place of text box: Please see the accompanying document for the full text of the formulas. (iii) RUSAL Energo Limited Liability Company ("RUSAL Energo"), a subsidiary of the Company, and EuroSibEnergo Joint Stock Company ("EuroSibEnergo"), a power generating company controlled by En+ as to more than 30% of its issued share capital, propose to enter into a long-term electricity purchase contract pursuant to which RUSAL Energo agreed to purchase electricity from EuroSibEnergo for a period from 1 November 2016 to 31 December 2025. The overall contractual amount of electricity to be supplied each year is as follows: Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Electricity Supply Volume (million KWh) 4,146.05 12,404.160 12,404.160 12,404.160 12,438.144 12,404.160 12,404.160 12,404.160 12,438.144 12,404.160 The contract price (tariff) for the electricity under this long-term contract is determined on the basis of the following: In place of text box: Please see the accompanying document for the full text of the formulas. The prices for the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts are agreed between the parties (subject to the Wholesale Market Rules which have indirect influence on the calculation of the total cost of a user's consumed electricity in connection with the contracts concluded by such a person) and are not subject to regulation by the Non-Commercial Partnership Market Council ("Market Council"), that organises an efficient system of trading on the wholesale and retail electricity and capacity market in Russia and which is responsible for the organisation and functioning of the electric energy wholesale market. Performance of the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts is subject to their registration with the Joint-Stock Company "Trading System Administrator of Wholesale Electricity Market Transactions" ("TSA") a governmental authority established by the Market Council. EuroSibenergo PLC, the parent company of EuroSibEnergo and Irkutskenergo, will also provide a guarantee and indemnity in respect of EuroSibEnergo and Irkutskenergo's obligation under the En+Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts respectively. As shown above, the cost of electricity to be supplied by Irkutskenergo and EuroSibEnergo is based on a formula which is tied to the market prices of electricity at discount. The formula was determined through arm's length negotiation between the parties and so far as the Company is aware, it is a common market practice to adopt similar formula in similar price calculations. These En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts will be entered into with the respective counterparties separately after arm's length negotiations on the terms including these formulas. While these formulas are not intended to be universally applied to all long-term electricity supply contracts, the Group may take into account the same principles of linking the cost of electricity with the parameter such as the market price of electricity in arriving the formulas for any other long-term electricity supply contracts in the future (whether with independent third parties or connected persons). On this basis, the Company takes the view that the pricing terms based on the above formulas reflect normal commercial terms. The market price (being the price on the spot day-ahead market) is determined by the TSA based on the bids/tenders from suppliers of electricity and buyers of electricity. TSA determines the price for each hour. TSA was created as a commercial operator of the wholesale electricity and capacity market for the purposes of organisation of trading on that market, namely organisation and execution of transactions on the circulation of electricity, capacity, and other objects of trade, the circulation of which is allowed in the wholesale electricity and capacity market. Its activities include: (i) organisation of wholesale trading in electricity and capacity; (ii) registration of bilateral purchase and sale of electricity and capacity contracts; (iii) maintaining a database about the actual production of electricity and capacity and their consumption in the electric energy wholesale market; and (iv) working with organisations of technological infrastructure in order to forecast the volume of production and consumption of electricity and maintain technical quality parameters, stability and security of supply and some other. The website of TSA is http://www.atsenergo.ru (and the contents of which do not form part of this announcement). For illustration purpose, among the various information available at the TSA website, the information which relates to the long-term electricity supply contracts with En+'s Associates includes the results of trading (including the results of competitive selection and volumes on the spot market), the volumes under different kinds of contracts (e.g. regulated contracts) etc. It is expected that members of the Group may continue to enter into new long-term electricity supply contracts with En+'s Associates from time to time. (b) Short-term E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates Members of the Group, including BrAZ, KrAZ, Rusal Energo, RUSAL Sayanogorsk, Rusal Novokuznetsk and SUAL enter into, from time to time as part of their ordinary course of business, short-term E&C Contracts with duration not exceeding one year with companies controlled by En+, including Irkutskenergo, LLC "Avtozavodskaya CHP", EuroSibEnergo and Krasnoyarskaya HPP. The electricity and capacity supplied under these short-term E&C Contracts are derived from the plants operated by Irkutskenergo, Krasnoyarskaya HPP and also derived from LLC "Avtozavodskaya CHP". The whole volume of electricity and capacity (excluding electricity and capacity supplied to residential users) is supplied at prices determined under the competitive procedure. Such prices are determined based on the bids/tenders from suppliers and customers of electricity through TSA, on the capacity through the system operator and such prices are generally considered as market prices. TSA facilitates the transactions by matching the suppliers and customers. The regulations of the Russian Government (which are statutory requirements that the parties should comply with) set out the procedures pursuant to which such market prices shall be arrived. Accordingly, the Group may enter into such short-term E&C Contracts with independent third parties or connected persons only through TSA. Given that it is for TSA to control the matching of the suppliers and customers, for these short-term E&C Contracts, the Group does not take the lead in determining the identities of the counter-parties. Therefore, the Company takes the view that the prices under such short term E&C Contracts are no less favourable to the Group than those offered by independent third parties. There are exceptions to the above price determination procedures which include contracts for supply of capacity with suppliers working in the forced regime. Such contracts require capacity to be sold at tariffs prescribed by the Russian authorities and calculated on the basis of the mechanism approved by the Russian Government. The list of suppliers working in the forced regime is determined by the relevant Russian authorities from time to time based on the economic situation of each such supplier. Currently the members of the Group have not entered into any short-term E&C contracts with suppliers in the forced-regime which are also connected persons of the Company. However, should any of the Company's supplier being connected person be registered by the Russian authorities as a supplier working in the forced regime, the members of the Group would be obliged to acquire capacity at tariffs prescribed by the Russian authorities. Payment under each of these contracts is made by installments in accordance with the regulation of the Market Council. The consideration is satisfied in cash via wire transfer. In addition, members of the Group, including LLC "SUAL-Kremniy-Ural", OJSC "South Ural Cryolite Plant", OJSC "Ural Foil" and JSC "RUSAL SAYANAL", enter into, from time to time as part of their ordinary course of business, short-term E&C Contracts not exceeding three years with LLC MAREM+ ("MAREM+"), a company controlled by En+, for the supply of electricity and capacity purchased on the electric energy wholesale market. The purchase of electricity and capacity on the electric energy wholesale market is effected at a price which is determined daily (for electricity) and monthly (for capacity), based on the trading results at the electric energy wholesale market, and subject to unpredictable external fluctuations (including, without limitation, weather factors, river stream flow rates, hydro-power plant output storage, transborder cross-flow planning, provision for reserves by power generation facilities, scheduled equipment repairs, fuel price fluctuations, details of fuel regime for "endpoint" heat power generation facilities, economic efficiency of bids submitted by producers, technological processes of power generation facilities' equipment, and effect of state regulation on the market model). The price under these contracts is derived from the electric energy wholesale market price determined under the regulations of the Russian Government which are statutory requirements that the parties should comply with. More particularly, MAREM+ purchases the electricity and capacity at the electric energy wholesale market and then re-sells to the buyers at prices not higher than those allowed under the regulations of the Russian Government. The reason for such E&C Contract is that due to geographical and other issues such as the low volume involved, certain members of the Group may not be able to purchase electricity and capacity directly from the electric energy wholesale market and therefore have to do so through the re-sellers in the market. In such circumstances, the Group will seek offers from different re-sellers (who shall include independent third party(ies) where available) by tender and choose the most competitive offer which will be based on the more profitable terms rather than identities of the offeror. Therefore, the Company takes the view that the prices under such short term E&C Contracts are no less favourable to the Group than those offered by independent third parties. Payments are effected by tentatively scheduled installments during each month, with the final payment effected in the middle of the month following the month of billing. The consideration is satisfied in cash via wire transfer. Members of the Group also from time to time enter into short-term E&C Contracts with LLC "Irkutskaya Energosbytovaya Company" ("Irkutskenergosbyt"), a company controlled by En+ as to more than 30%, for the supply of electricity and capacity purchased at the wholesale electricity market on normal commercial terms (including the pricing terms) regulated under the regulations of the Russian Government (as more particularly explained below) which are statutory requirements that the parties should comply with. Irkutskenergosbyt, similar to MAREM+, is a re-seller of electricity and capacity except that Irkutskenergosbyt is a "provider of last resort", namely a commercial organization which is obliged under the Russian legislation to conclude an E&C Contract with any customer or its agent applying to it. The sales premium of Irkutskenergosbyt is regulated by the regional authority of the Irkutsk region. For geographical and other issues such as the low volume involved, customers may not be able to purchase the required electricity and capacity from anyone in the electric energy wholesale market at all. Under the regulations of the Russian Government, the "provider of last resort" must supply the electricity and capacity to such customers in a particular region in order to ensure that those customers are able to purchase the necessary electricity and capacity. Under such circumstances, under the regulations of the Russian Government, the "provider of last resort" shall supply the electricity and capacity according to the tariffs, regulated by the government whether or not the counterparties are independent third parties or connected persons. Therefore, the Company takes the view that the prices under such short term E&C Contracts are no less favourable to the Group than those offered by independent third parties. Payment under each of these contracts is made by installments during each month of supply. The consideration is satisfied in cash via wire transfer. The actual monetary value of electricity and capacity purchased for the year ended 31 December 2015 and the first six months of 2016 under the above contracts was USD107.8 million and USD42.4 million respectively. It is expected that members of the Group will continue to enter into short-term E&C contracts with associates of En+ from time to time. Consistent with the Company's past practice, the relevant member of the Group will enter into a written agreement with the relevant En+'s Associate for each of such contracts separately. Each of such written agreements shall set out the basis of the calculation and the terms of the payments to be made (which shall be generally in line with the terms described above), the fixed period for the agreement (which shall not exceed three years other than the terms as determined by the Russian Government and/or Russian authorities) and reflect normal commercial terms. Under each of such contracts, the price at which the electricity and capacity to be supplied will be at a price which is not less favourable to the Group than the price at which the Group obtains electricity and capacity of similar nature from independent third parties having regard to the quantity and other conditions of the transactions. As disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 28 March 2014, on 27 March 2014, the framework agreement, governing the electricity and capacity transactions including transactions under the short-term electricity and capacity supply contracts with En+'s associates was signed. An addendum to the existing framework agreement will be entered into which will cover the short-term electricity and capacity supply contracts with En+'s associates for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019. Pursuant to the framework agreement, definitive written agreements to be entered into from time to time for the short-term E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates (and for the miscellaneous E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates, as the case may be) shall be on normal commercial terms in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations and in no event shall the terms be less favourable to the Group than the terms at which the Group obtains electricity and capacity (and transmission of electricity and other ancillary services, as the case may be) of similar nature from independent third parties having regard to the quantity and other conditions of the transaction, and shall be consistent with the relevant terms as disclosed in this announcement for the short-term E&C Contracts (and the miscellaneous E&C Contracts, as the case may be). Prior to entering into each short-term E&C Contract which requires the Board's approval or a public disclosure, the Directors will hold a board meeting to consider and, if thought fit, approve such contract taking into account the fairness and reasonableness of such contract and whether it complies with the requirements of the Listing Rules (if required) and is in the best interest of the Company and the Shareholders as a whole. The Directors will also ensure that such contract would contain the terms (including the pricing terms) as described in this announcement. Different rules and regulations of the Russian Government apply to govern the pricing terms of different short-term E&C Contracts because those contracts are different in nature. There is no unified fixed pricing formula covering all the short-term E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates. The Company believes that the prices based on the aforesaid rules and regulations are normal commercial terms given that, according to the aforesaid rules and regulations, the prices are determined based on the following: (i) most of the variables are determined by TSA (website: http://www.atsenergo.ru, the contents of which do not form part of this announcement) based on the existing supply and demand for electricity and capacity on the market which are publicly disclosed on its website; (ii) certain variables are determined by the regional/local authorities based on the rules for the calculation of tariffs (i.e. mandatory in nature); (iii) certain variables are determined by "provider of last resort" based on such provider's sale and purchase of the electricity and capacity on the retail market; and (iv) certain variables are taken from the estimated supply and demand of the electricity and capacity in Russia prepared by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (a governmental authority) (the "Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (c) Miscellaneous E&C Contracts with the En+'s Associates The Group has also from time to time entered into miscellaneous electricity and capacity transmission contracts with OJSC "Irkutsk Electronetwork Company" ("IENC"), being a company controlled by En+ as to more than 30% of its issued share capital. The payment for electricity and capacity transmission is determined by the tariffs stipulated by the Tariff Service of the Irkutsk region (an executive authority of the Irkutsk region in the sphere of government regulation of tariffs including electricity and capacity transmission tariffs) which are statutory requirements that the parties should comply with, and which are uniform for all consumers (tariffs are differentiated depending on voltage levels). The tariffs are uniform to all customers whether or not the supplier is an independent third party or a connected person, the Company takes the view that the prices under such miscellaneous E&C Contracts are no less favourable to the Group than those offered by independent third parties. Payments are effected by tentatively scheduled installments during each month, with the final payment effected in the middle of the month following the month of billing. The consideration is satisfied in cash via wire transfer. The actual monetary value of electricity and capacity transmission services purchased for the year ended 31 December 2015 and the first six months of 2016 under these contracts with IENC was USD113.9 million and USD55.6 million respectively. It is expected that members of the Group will continue to enter into miscellaneous electricity and capacity transmission contracts with associates of En+ from time to time. Consistent with the Company's past practice, the relevant member of the Group will enter into a written agreement with the relevant En+'s Associate for each of such contracts separately. Each of such written agreements shall set out the basis of the calculation and the terms of the payments to be made (which shall be generally in line with the terms described above), the fixed period for the agreement (which shall not exceed three years) and reflect normal commercial terms. Under each of such contracts, the price at which the services to be supplied will be at a price which is not less favourable to the Group than the price at which the Group obtains services of similar nature from independent third parties having regard to the quantity and other conditions of the transactions. As disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 28 March 2014, on 27 March 2014, the framework agreement, governing the electricity and capacity transactions including the transactions under the miscellaneous electricity and capacity transmission contracts with En+'s associates was signed. An addendum to the existing framework agreement will be entered into which will cover the miscellaneous electricity and capacity transmission contracts with En+'s associates for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019. Pursuant to the framework agreement, the definitive written agreements to be entered into from time to time for the miscellaneous E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates shall be on normal commercial terms in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations and in no event shall the terms be less favourable to the Group than the terms at which the Group obtains transmission of electricity and other ancillary services of similar nature from independent third parties having regard to the quantity and other conditions of the transaction, and shall be consistent with the relevant terms as disclosed in this announcement for the miscellaneous E&C Contracts. Prior to entering into each miscellaneous E&C Contract which requires the Board's approval or a public disclosure, the Directors will hold a board meeting to consider and, if thought fit, approve such contract taking into account the fairness and reasonableness of such contract and whether it complies with the requirements of the Listing Rules (if required) and is in the best interest of the Company and the Shareholders as a whole. The Directors will also ensure that such contract would contain the terms (including the pricing terms) as described in this announcement. (d) Long-Term Capacity Supply Contracts with En+'s Associates As previously disclosed, the members of the Group as buyers, including BrAZ, Rusal Energo, RUSAL Sayanogorsk, Boguchansk Aluminium Smelter and Rusal Novokuznetsk enter into, from time to time as part of their ordinary course of business, the capacity supply from renewable sources of energy contracts with a term of 15 years with companies controlled by En+ as sellers, including Krasnoyarskaya HPP ("Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are entered into in accordance with the governmental regulations requiring all participants in the electric energy wholesale market to purchase capacity by entering into standard form of contracts, the terms (including the mechanics of price determination and duration of contract of 180 months) of which are determined by the Market Council and which are published on the website of the Market Council. As a participant in the electric energy wholesale market, if the members of the Group did not enter into the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts, they would be considered to be in breach of the governmental regulations. A consequence of such breach is that the members of the Group which are registered as participants of the electric energy wholesale market would be excluded from the list of such participants. If that were the case, the members of the Group would be prohibited from purchasing electricity and/or capacity on the electric energy wholesale market and would be required to purchase electricity and/or capacity from the retail market at a higher price, substantially increasing the costs of power supply for the Group. The terms of the standard form Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are non-negotiable by the parties to the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts. The monthly volume of capacity which the seller undertakes to supply and the buyer undertakes to accept and pay for ("Contracted Capacity Volume") is determined by the TSA for each month of the capacity supply period in accordance with the electric energy wholesale market regulations, based, among other parameters, on the value of installed capacity of the generating facility of the seller, the number of the participants of the electric energy wholesale market for each month. The exact volume of capacity to be supplied and accepted is notified to the sellers and the buyers by the TSA. The overall contractual capacity volume may not exceed the capacity volume specified in a Long-Term Capacity RSE Contract. The sellers cannot require any increase of the Contracted Capacity Volume. The price of capacity to be sold under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts is determined by the TSA in accordance with procedures established by the rules of determination of the price of capacity of the generating facilities using renewable energy sources, approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation and the rules of the electric energy wholesale market. The payment under the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts is made in cash via bank transfer in accordance with the procedure and deadlines established from time to time by the electric energy wholesale market regulations. The actual monetary value capacity purchased for the two years ended 31 December 2014 and 2015 and the first six months of 2016 under these contracts was nil, nil and USD0.36 million respectively. The Company believes that the prices and the long term of the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts which are based on the aforesaid rules and regulations are normal commercial terms given that these terms and conditions are, eventually, prescribed in accordance with the Resolutions of the Russian Government equally applicable to all participants of the electric energy wholesale market. It is expected that members of the Group may continue to enter into new long-term capacity RSE contracts with En+'s Associates from time to time on the same terms as described. Historical transaction figures for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates For the three years ended 31 December 2013, 2014 and 2015 and the first six months in 2016, the amount purchased under the E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates was USD 635.2 million, USD 530.5 million, USD 413.1 million and USD198.6 million respectively. Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates The Board has considered and proposes the following annual caps in respect of the transactions under the E&C Contracts entered into/to be entered into with En+'s Associates for the years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019: Period Annual Cap Year ending 31 December 2017 USD 833 million (net of VAT and determined at the USD/RUB exchange rate as 1/70) Year ending 31 December 2018 USD 887.3 million (net of VAT and determined at the USD/RUB exchange rate as 1/70)) Year ending 31 December 2019 USD 941.3 million (net of VAT and determined at the USD/RUB exchange rate as 1/70) The Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates were calculated on the basis of (i) the abovementioned historical figures; (ii) the estimated amounts for the contracts which the Group as purchaser of capacity is required to enter into with the relevant connected persons under the rules for purchase of capacity in the wholesale electricity supply market in Russia; (iii) the expected energy demand for our aluminium smeltering processes for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019; (iv) expected increase of the transmission and electricity tariffs in Russia as the prices under the miscellaneous E&C Contracts are determined by reference to tariffs and (v) changes of the market rules. Reasons for and benefits of entering into the E&C Contracts The Group enters into E&C Contracts with both independent third parties and connected persons from time to time, taking into account various factors including the availability of such supply and service in the particular region and the terms and conditions and quality of such supply and service. The Company considers that the E&C Contracts will help secure a stable source of supply of electricity and capacity for the aluminium smelters of the Group. In particular, for the long-term electricity supply contracts, taking into account the discount of market prices helps to reduce the effect of volatility in the market price of electricity on the Group's margins. As disclosed by the Company previously, Krasnoyarskaya HPP stopped supplying electricity under the long-term contract between KrAZ and Krasnoyarskaya HPP in November 2014. In March 2015, KrAZ filed a claim against Krasnoyarskaya HPP in the Russian "arbitrazh" court seeking, among other things, an order requiring Krasnoyarskaya HPP to supply electricity as provided by the long-term contract. The courts, in the first and appellate instances, concluded that the monthly applications signed by the parties and registered with the TSA form the only enforceable basis for such electricity supply. That eventually meant that the long-term contract between KrAZ and Krasnoyarskaya HPP was determined in the proceedings as unenforceable. Since the other two long-term E&C contracts between BrAZ and Irkutskenergo and between OJSC "SUAL" and Irkutskenergo are, save for the pricing formula, similar to the long-term contract between KrAZ and Krasnoyarskaya HPP, the Company's subsidiaries face a risk that Irkutskenergo may refuse to supply electricity at the prices or in the volumes fixed in the existing long-term E&C contracts. Should such risk materialize, it would leave the Company's principal smelters with little or no legal recourse. Since late 2014, the Company has been in negotiations with En+ group companies to mitigate the risks and ensure the stable supply under predictable prices. Since the long-term relationships in the area of electricity and/or capacity should be viewed in their entirety and not on a contract-by-contract basis, En+ proposed to renew these relationships based on the current economic circumstances and memorialize them under the new En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts. The principal advantage of the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts is that such supply agreements would fix the electricity price at a rate which is 3.5 percent below market prices. The En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts would provide for the long term and maximally secure pricing of electricity and more effectively protect the interests of the Company in terms of continuity of supply under these contracts. Failure to enter into the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts would leave the Company's subsidiaries potentially either having to purchase electricity on the open market pursuant to short term supply arrangements or to enter into longer term electricity supply agreements at less advantageous prices than those being offered by En+. For the short-term E&C Contracts, they cover different circumstances under which the relevant members of the Group require the supply of electricity and capacity and help to ensure that the relevant members of the Group will have the electricity and capacity as required in different regions under different needs. For the miscellaneous E&C Contracts, namely provision of E&C transmission services, IENC is the only entity available for the transmission of electricity in Irkutsk region and therefore the relevant members of the Group are required to enter into the miscellaneous E&C Contracts with it. The Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are one of the tools of recently introduced Russia's new capacity-based renewable energy support scheme and are compulsory for participants of the wholesale electric energy market. Failure to conclude such contracts results in exclusion of a company from the electric energy wholesale market that means that such company would have to acquire the electricity/capacity at less favourable retail market prices. There is a standard prescribed form for such contracts which is published on the website of the Market Council which must be strictly followed. The terms for such contracts, including the period for such contracts being 180 months, are established by the Russian Government and are the same for any company. The Company considers that En+'s Associates are reliable business co-operation partners for the E&C Contracts, the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts and the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts and the entering into of the E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates is beneficial to the business of the Group. The Board (including the independent non-executive Directors) considers that the E&C Contracts, the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts and the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are on normal commercial terms, in the ordinary and usual course of business of the Group and the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts, the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts and the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates are fair and reasonable and in the interests of the Company and the Shareholders as a whole. 3. ALUMINIUM SALES CONTRACTS As previously disclosed, members of the Group have entered into aluminium sales contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates. Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates Mr. Deripaska, the president of the Company and an executive Director, indirectly controls more than 30% of each of (i) LLC Tradecom, (ii) Limited Liability Company Krasnoyarsk Metallurgical Plant ("LLC KraMZ"), (iii) members of the group of Open Joint Stock Company "GAZ" (the "GAZ Group") including LLC Trading and Procurement Company GAZ ("LLC GAZ") LLC Avtokomponenty-GAZ Group, OJSC "UMZ", JSC Autodiesel, JSC Automobile Plant URAL, and (iv) Joint Stock Company "Barnaultransmash," ("OJSC Barnaultransmash"). Each of these companies is therefore an associate of Mr. Deripaska. Therefore, transactions among members of the Group and associates of Mr. Deripaska including LLC Tradecom, LLC KraMZ, members of the GAZ Group (including LLC GAZ, LLC Avtokomponenty-GAZ Group, OJSC "UMZ", JSC Autodiesel, JSC Automobile Plant URAL), and OJSC Barnaultransmash, discussed below, constitute continuing connected transactions of the Company under the Listing Rules. (a) LLC Tradecom and LLC KraMZ On 14 December 2006, the Group through UC RUSAL TH, entered into a long-term contract to supply aluminium to LLC Tradecom for a period until December 2021. Pursuant to the contract, the Group would supply aluminium to LLC Tradecom at arm's length prices tied to the price of aluminium on the LME. The basis of determination of the price is provided for in the long-term contract. The price is calculated as the one-month average aluminium LME price plus transportation expenses and a premium (for higher grades of aluminium, namely above A7 grade) or discount (for lower grades of aluminium, namely below A7 grade), the amount of which is defined depending on the percentage of aluminium in an ingot. There is no prescribed formula in determining the aforesaid premium or discount, if any. This is the approach what had been agreed by the parties well before the Company's listing on the Stock Exchange. According to the regulations of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Company cannot amend such approach and must apply it under such contract. The consideration under the contract must be prepaid. As disclosed in the Company's announcement dated 18 March 2011, a substitution agreement was signed by UC RUSAL TH, LLC Tradecom and LLC KraMZ on 17 March 2011 pursuant to which LLC KraMZ substituted LLC Tradecom as the buyer to the above long-term supply contract. The consideration for the aluminium supplied under this contract (as supplemented) to LLC KraMZ during the year ended 31 December 2015 and the first six months of 2016 amounted to USD115.9 million and USD59.6 million respectively. The consideration was satisfied in cash via wire transfer. (b) Members of GAZ Group and OJSC Barnaultransmash On December 17, 2012, Limited Liability Company RUSAL RESAL ("RUSAL RESAL"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a short-term contract for supply of secondary aluminium to OJSC Automobile Plant URAL for the period until December 31, 2013, at arm's length prices defined on monthly basis. Since December 2, 2014, the payment under the contract is made by 100% advance payment. The said contract was to be renewed automatically for another calendar year unless the parties declare their intention to terminate it. Automatic renewal was prescribed for not more than two times. The total remuneration for aluminium supplied under the said contract to OJSC Automobile Plant URAL during the year ended December 31, 2015, amounted to USD 0.1 million. On December 17, 2012, RUSAL RESAL entered into a contract for supply of secondary aluminium to OJSC "UMZ" for the period until December 31, 2013, at arm's length prices defined on monthly basis. Since December 2, 2014, the payment under the contract is made by 100% advance payment. The said contract was to be renewed automatically for another calendar year unless the parties declare their intention to terminate it. Automatic renewal was prescribed for not more than two times. The total remuneration for aluminium supplied under the said contract to OJSC Ulyanovsk Motor Plant during the year ended December 31, 2015, amounted to USD 0.3 million. On December 10, 2012, RUSAL RESAL entered into a contract for supply of secondary aluminium to OJSC Autodiesel for the period until December 31, 2013, at arm's length prices defined on monthly basis. Since December 2, 2014, the payment under the contract is made by 100% advance payment. The said contract was to be renewed automatically for another calendar year unless the parties declare their intention to terminate it. The total remuneration for aluminium supplied under the said contract to OJSC Autodiesel during the year ended December 31, 2015, amounted to USD 1.5 million. On December 10, 2012, RUSAL RESAL entered into a contract for supply of secondary aluminium to OJSC Avtokomponenty GAZ Group for the period until December 31, 2013, at arm's length prices defined on monthly basis. 100% advance payment is made within 60 calendar days after the date of supply (shipment) of the goods. Since December 1, 2014, the terms of payment were 100% advance payment. The said contract was to be renewed automatically for another calendar year unless the parties declare their intention to terminate it. The total remuneration for secondary aluminium supplied under the said contract to OJSC Avtokomponenty GAZ Group during the year ended December 31, 2015, amounted to USD 2 million. As of December 31, 2015, the four above-mentioned contracts were not renewed by RUSAL RESAL. Currently, it is planned to enter into similar contracts for the year ending December 31, 2016, with the following companies: OJSC Avtokomponenty GAZ Group, OJSC UMZ, JSC Autodiesel, OJSC Automobile Plant URAL. Similar contracts are also planned for signing in 2017, 2018 and 2019. On January 1, 2013, the Group, acting through RUSAL Trading House, entered into framework agreements with members of GAZ Group (including OJSC Autodiesel, OJSC Automobile Plant URAL, OJSC UMZ and OJSC Barnaultransmash) under which the Group agreed to supply aluminium and alloys at arm's length prices defined on monthly basis until December 31, 2015. The payment under the contract was made by 100% advance payment. The said agreements were extended to February 28, 2016 for the three years ended 31 December 2013, 2014 and 2015 and the two months ended 29 February 2016, the Group, acting through RUSAL Trading House, signed addenda to these agreements on sale of aluminium and alloys with OJSC Autodiesel, OJSC Automobile Plant URAL, OJSC UMZ, and OJSC Barnaultransmash; The Company also signed similar contracts in 2016. The total remuneration for aluminium supplied under the said contracts to members of the GAZ Group for the three years ended 31 December 2013, 2014 and 2015 and the two months ended 29 February 2016 amounted to USD38,297,571.39. The payment was made in cash by bank transfer. On March 3, 2016, the Group, acting through RUSAL Trading House, entered into framework agreements with members of the GAZ Group, under which the Group agreed to supply aluminium and alloys at market prices defined on monthly basis until December 31, 2016, where the price for alloys is defined in accordance with the following formula: P LME (Al) fixed premium (from March to December 2016), price for grade A7: LME PA7, LME average quotation of London Metal Exchange Cash Settlement High Grade Primary Aluminium (LME) during the quotation period 'month pre-preceding the month of supply' (M-2) in USD/tonne excluding VAT. Relevant request for application of the said pricing was sent to the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia. 100% of the payment under the agreements is payable within 20 days after date of shipment. The Group, acting through RUSAL Trading House, signed addenda to these agreements on sale of aluminium and alloys with LLC Avtokomponenty GAZ Group, OJSC Autodiesel, OJSC Automobile Plant URAL and OJSC UMZ; besides, the Company plans to sign similar contracts with members of GAZ Group for 2017, 2018 and 2019. The total remuneration for aluminium supplied under the said contracts to members of the GAZ Group from March to June 2016 amounted to USD3,595,535.50 respectively. The payment under the agreements was paid in cash by bank transfer. The price for the aluminium sales contracts (regardless whether the counter-party is a connected party or not) is linked to the price of aluminium on the LME, namely the price on the LME plus a premium for the higher sorts of metal (namely for aluminium above grade A7), or a discount below the price on the LME for the lower sorts of metal (namely for aluminium below grade A7). There is no prescribed formula in determining the aforesaid premium or discount, if any. Under these contracts, the price for the primary aluminium is the average aluminum price quoted at the LME for one month taken within a two-month period preceding the day of delivery. The other kinds of aluminium are priced on the same basis and with a premium of up to 5% for the higher sorts of metal (namely for aluminium above grade A7) may be added. The maximum amount of the premium and the conditions of granting discount, as well as the basis for determination of the price are prescribed by the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (the details of which are set out below) and is applicable to all aluminium sales contracts regardless of whether the counterparties are independent third parties or connected persons in comparable circumstances. The factors affecting the amount of premium or discount include product type, geographical market where the product is sold, quantity, terms of delivery, current market trends (referring to various publicly available sources like Metal Bulletin and/or conclusions of independent market analysts) and terms of payment and are based on normal commercial terms. In some cases the cost of transportation services, reflecting the transportation cost of the Company, are included in the price charged to the customers. On the basis of the above, the Company believes that the price at which the aluminium to be supplied will be at a price which is not less favourable to the Group than the price at which the Group supplies aluminium of similar nature to independent third parties. The variation depends on the percentage of aluminium in the metal. Based on the Company's understanding, the aforesaid basis in determining the prices for these contracts (namely linking to the price of aluminium on the LME, namely the price on the LME plus a premium for the higher sorts of metal, or a discount below the price on the LME for the lower sorts of metal) is a normal market practice throughout the global aluminium industry. The terms of payment and pricing mechanism as mentioned above are set out in detail in the Aluminium Sales Contracts with LLC Tradecom and with RUSAL RESAL. For other Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates, any other aluminium sales contracts with connected or non-connected parties, the terms of payment and pricing mechanism as mentioned above are regulated by the relevant resolutions of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service, a Russian governmental authority, introduced at the time of the merger which resulted in the creation of the Company. The objective was to prevent the Company from using its market share to impose unfair prices or premiums on its customers within Russia. The resolutions are not incorporated into the contracts. However, the Company must fulfill the requirements as they are mandatory statutory regulations for the Company. The Company shall apply the formulae under the resolutions for the purpose of calculating the prices when dealing with independent third parties or connected persons. Moreover, under the relevant resolutions of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service, if the Company offers a discount to a customer (no matter it is an independent third party or a connected person) in respect of an aluminium product, the Company is obligated to offer the same discount to its other customers (no matter they are independent third parties or connected persons) in respect of the same product under a comparable transaction, otherwise the Company will be in breach of the relevant resolutions. The Company believes that such prices for these Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates reflect normal commercial terms as the Company shall apply the same formulae in arriving at prices when dealing with customers who are independent third parties or connected persons. The aggregate consideration received for the aluminium supplied to each of the companies referred to above, which are Mr. Deripaska's Associates, for the year ended 31 December 2015 and the first six months of 2016 was approximately USD128.0 million and USD62.9 million respectively. It is expected that members of the Group will continue to enter into aluminium sales contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates from time to time. Consistent with the Company's past practice, the relevant member of the Group will enter into a written agreement with the relevant Mr. Deripaska's Associate for each of Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates as mentioned above separately. Each of such written agreements shall set out the basis of the calculation and the terms of the payments to be made (which shall be generally in line with the terms described above), the fixed period for the agreement (which shall not exceed three years) and reflect normal commercial terms. Under each of such contracts, the price at which the aluminium to be supplied will be at a price which is not less favourable to the Group than the price at which the Group sells the aluminium of similar nature to independent third parties having regard to the quantity and other conditions of the sales. As disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 28 March 2014, on 27 March 2014, the framework agreement, governing the transactions under the aluminium sales contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates was signed. An addendum to the existing framework agreement will be entered into which will cover the aluminium sales contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019. Pursuant to the framework agreement the definitive written agreements to be entered into from time to time for the aluminium sales contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates shall be on normal commercial terms in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations and in no event shall the terms be less favourable to the Group than the terms at which the Group supplies aluminium of similar nature to independent third parties having regard to the quantity and other conditions of the transaction, and shall be consistent with the relevant terms as disclosed in this announcement for the Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates. Prior to entering into each Aluminium Sales Contract with Mr. Deripaska's Associates which requires the Board's approval or a public disclosure, the Directors will hold a board meeting to consider and, if thought fit, approve such contract taking into account the fairness and reasonableness of such contract and whether it complies with the requirements of the Listing Rules (if required) and is in the best interest of the Company and the Shareholders as a whole. The Directors will also ensure that such contract would contain the terms (including the pricing terms) as described in this announcement. Historical transaction figures for Aluminium Sales Contracts A breakdown of the approximate historical transaction figures for the Aluminium Sales Contracts is as follows: With respect to Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates: For the three years ended 31 December 2013, 2014, 2015 and the first six months in 2016, the aggregate consideration received by members of the Group under the Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deriparska's Associates was USD248.1 million, USD234.4 million, USD128.0 million and USD62.9 million respectively. Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts The Board has considered and proposes the following annual caps in respect of the transactions under the Aluminium Sales Contracts for the years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates: Period Annual Cap Year ending 31 December 2017 USD 361 million (net of VAT) Year ending 31 December 2018 USD 371 million (net of VAT) Year ending 31 December 2019 USD 507 million (net of VAT) The Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts were calculated on the basis of the historical figures and anticipated changes in the quantity of aluminium supplied by the Group due to an expected increase in demand from Russian purchasers. Reasons for and benefits of entering into the Aluminium Sales Contracts As a part of the Group's ordinary course of business and antimonopoly requirements to supply aluminium to Russian purchasers, members of the Group have entered into long-term and short-term Aluminium Sales Contracts in Russia. According to the antimonopoly requirements, the Company must supply aluminium to Russian purchasers, otherwise the Company will be subject to fines. It is common for industrial concerns to enter into long-term supply contracts for raw materials to ensure that production would not be interrupted. Given that the price of the aluminium supplied under these Aluminium Sales Contracts is based on the market price of aluminium, the Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) are of the view that these contracts are entered into on normal commercial terns and have been entered into in the usual and ordinary course of business of the Group and are in the interests of the Company and the Shareholders as a whole. The Board (including the independent non-executive Directors) considers that the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts are fair and reasonable and in the interests of the Company and the Shareholders as a whole. 4. LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS As at the date of this announcement: En+, which is controlled by Mr. Deripaska as to more than 50% of the issued share capital, is interested in more than 40% of the issued share capital of the Company; Mr. Deripaska, an executive Director and the president of the Company, is, directly and indirectly (including through his interest in En+), interested in more than 40% of the issued share capital of the Company. Accordingly, each of En+ and Mr. Deripaska and their respective associates is a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules and therefore transactions as mentioned above between each of them on one part and members of the Group on the other constitute connected transactions of the Company under the Listing Rules. (a) E&C Contracts As the applicable percentage ratio(s) with respect to the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates are more than 5%, transactions under these contracts will be subject to reporting, annual review, announcement and independent Shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. (b) En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts As the applicable percentage ratio(s) with respect to the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts (on an aggregate basis with the other E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates) are more than 5%, transactions under these contracts will be subject to reporting, annual review, announcement and independent Shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. (c) Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts As (i) the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts are a new kind of capacity supply contracts with a term of 15 years and their terms are not consistent with the terms under the short-term E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates or the miscellaneous E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates as disclosed in the circular of the Company dated 13 December 2013; and (ii) the applicable percentage ratio(s) with respect to the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts (on an aggregate basis with the other E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates) are more than 5%, transactions under these contracts will be subject to reporting, annual review, announcement and independent Shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. (d) Aluminium Sales Contracts As the applicable percentage ratio(s) with respect to the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates are more than 5%, transactions under these contracts will be subject to reporting, annual review, announcement and independent Shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. 5. APPROVAL BY INDEPENDENT SHAREHOLDERS The Company will seek independent Shareholders' approval in respect of (i) the entering into of the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts; (ii) the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts; (iii) the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates and (iv) the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates (together, the "Relevant Proposals") at an extraordinary general meeting ("EGM"). Any Shareholder with a material interest in the Relevant Proposals will not vote on the relevant resolutions at the EGM. In view of the interests of Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maksim Sokov and En+ in the E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates and Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates, they and their respective associates will abstain from voting in relation to the resolutions approving each of the Relevant Proposals. In accordance with the Listing Rules, an independent board committee ("IBC") was established by the Company to give recommendations to the independent Shareholders in respect of the Relevant Proposals. An independent financial adviser ("IFA") has been appointed to advise the IBC and the independent Shareholders in relation to the Relevant Proposals. Regarding the En+ Long-Term Electricity Supply Contracts and the Long-Term Capacity RSE Contracts, the IFA will also explain why a longer period is required and to confirm that it is normal business practice in Russia for contracts of this type to be of such duration. A circular containing: (a) further details of the continuing connected transactions relating to the Relevant Proposals; (b) the letter from, and recommendations of, the IBC in respect of the Relevant Proposals; (c) the letter from the IFA to the IBC and the independent Shareholders in respect of the Relevant Proposals; and (d) the notice convening the EGM will be despatched by the Company to its Shareholders as soon as possible and is expected to be within 15 business days after the publication of this announcement. 6. GENERAL The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina. Irkutskenergo is a power generating company. EuroSibEnergo is a largest Russian vertically integrated and privately held energy company managing 18 power plants, and a participant in the electric energy wholesale market. LLC "Avtozavodskaya CHP" is principally engaged in supply of electric and thermal energy. Krasnoyarskaya HPP is a hydroelectric power station. LLC "MAREM+" is principally engaged in sales of electricity and capacity. LLC "Irkutskenergosbyt" is principally engaged in sales of electricity and capacity. IENC is principally engaged in transmission and distribution of electricity. LLC KraMZ is principally engaged in metallurgy. GAZ Group is principally engaged in production of autobuses and auto components. LLC "GAZ" is principally engaged in car production. LLC Avtokomponenty-GAZ Group is principally engaged in production of auto components. OJSC "UMZ" is principally engaged in production and industrial goods sale, including automobile and boat motors, motor-pumps, engines, consumer goods, spare parts to engines and cars; implementation of installation and construction works, production of construction materials, designs and buildings, engineering implementation in construction; trade and purchasing and intermediary activity. JSC Autodiesel is principally engaged in production of diesel engines of a universal purpose, couplings, transmissions, spare parts to them, and also stationary units on their base. JSC Automobile Plant URAL is principally engaged in production of all-wheel drive heavy-load cars. OJSC "Barnaultransmash" is principally engaged in machinery. 7. DEFINITIONS In this announcement, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the following meanings: "Aluminium Sales Contracts" the Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates "Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates" the aluminium sales contracts entered into between members of the Group as sellers and Mr. Deripaska's Associates as buyers from time to time; details of the subsisting contracts are set out in the section headed "3. Aluminium Sales Contracts" in this announcement "associate(s)" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Listing Rules "Board" the board of Directors of the Company "Company" United Company RUSAL Plc, a company incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability, the shares of which are listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange "Controlling Shareholder" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Listing Rules "Director(s)" the director(s) of the Company "E&C Contract(s)" electricity and capacity supply contracts "E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates" the E&C Contracts entered into from time to time with En+'s Associates; details of the subsisting contracts are set out in the section headed "2. E&C Contracts" of this announcement "En+" En+ Group Limited, a company incorporated in Jersey which is the Controlling Shareholder of the Company "En+'s Associate(s)" associate(s) of En+ "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries from time to time "Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited "LME" the London Metals Exchange "Mr. Deripaska" Mr. Oleg Deripaska, the President and an executive Director "Mr. Deripaska's Associate(s)" associate(s) of Mr. Deripaska "Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts" the Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates "Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates" the proposed annual caps for the Aluminium Sales Contracts with Mr. Deripaska's Associates for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019 "Proposed 2017/2018/2019 Caps for E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates" the proposed annual caps for the E&C Contracts with En+'s Associates for the three years ending 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019 "RUB" Russian Rubles, the lawful currency of the Russian Federation "Shareholder(s)" holder(s) of the share(s) in the Company "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited "USD" United States dollars, the lawful currency of the United States of America "VAT" value added tax per cent By Order of the board of directors of United Company RUSAL Plc Aby Wong Po Ying Company Secretary 19 September 2016As at the date of this announcement, the executive Directors are Mr. Oleg Deripaska, Mr. Vladislav Soloviev and Mr. Siegfried Wolf, the non-executive Directors are Mr. Maxim Sokov, Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev, Mr. Len Blavatnik, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, Mr. Maksim Goldman, Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Daniel Lesin Wolfe, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya, and Ms. Ekaterina Nikitina, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Matthias Warnig (Chairman), Mr. Philip Lader, Dr. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mr. Mark Garber, Mr. Dmitry Vasiliev and Mr. Bernard Zonneveld. All announcements and press releases published by the Company are available on its website under the links http://www.rusal.ru/en/investors/info.aspx, http://rusal.ru/investors/info/moex/ and http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/press- releases.aspx, respectively. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160918005042/en/ Contacts: United Company RUSAL Plc LONDON, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Liv Tyler's 2nd capsule for Belstaff captures the heady vibe of the English countryside at the end of the 60s and the rock'n'roll characters drawn to it at the time. Silhouettes reference the free-spirited women who were part of that scene, ie Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull. This combined with Liv's feminine style and her love of Belstaff's military archive pieces result in a capsule that is strong, feminine, playful. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408518 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408519 ) The palette reflects the summer countryside - taking a cue from Liv's break-out film Stealing Beauty by Bertolucci - rich with neutrals and washed-out denim, while a floral motif on black gives an edge. Soft tactility is at the heart of the collection, in a cropped leather biker with epaulettes (inspired by a blouson from Belstaff's archive) to a sage-green suede skirt suit. A four-pocket trench in structured cotton hints at Pallenberg's style while a cape-like coat from Belstaff's archive has been reinvented in a lightweight linen blend for a looser, more contemporary femininity. Military influence is also visible in a 4-pocket trench and a cape, both water-repellent. Military buttons also feature in a striped knit and cropped regalia jacket. Such structured pieces are juxtaposed with more relaxed shapes like a 4-pocket denim dress referencing Belstaff's heritage outerwear and matching wide-leg cropped jeans and a bold polka-dot silk top and wide trousers that Liv took from Katherine Hepburn. The Amira bag from Liv's AW16 capsule has proved so popular it's been reproposed in suede and other colours. A studded sandal completes the look. ACROSS THE WILDERNESS BELSTAFF SS17 Belstaff's SS17 collection celebrates an epic 5,500-mile bike journey across America by the Van Buren sisters in 1916, who campaigned for women in the armed forces and paved the way for the female vote. This collection draws upon the military and moto-style apparel they wore while referencing the landscapes they crossed, alongside more feminine silhouettes. "This year marks 100 years since the Van Burens' trip - which really brings home how progressive they were. We wanted to tap into such force of nature, expressing their strength alongside their femininity through the clothes" explains Delphine Ninous, Belstaff Collection Creative Director. 4 looks from the Men's SS17 collection were also included. To recreate the mood of the journey and the US wilderness, models were positioned in front of deserted plains scenes. Gavin Haig, Belstaff CEO said: "Belstaff has always attracted and dressed daring and independent characters with a yearning to venture free - testing both theirs and the brand's limits. The Van Buren sisters are a perfect example of this spirit, and this collection they've inspired delivers on the brand's key attributes: protection, function and style - without compromising on femininity." Outerwear and Leatherwear are key as expected, but softs take on a new importance. Lingerie details are a big influence, such as draping across bust and asymmetric hemlines. Key pieces include cotton shirts and silk dresses with ruching - a feature throughout. Jerseys are moto-inspired; pants feature contrast red and white side stripes; knitwear is lightweight and feminine yet inspired by military undergarments. Belstaff introduces a hi-top trainer here in white and silver. Belstaff and Imatta (a market leader in manufacture and distribution of luxury eyewear) announce today that they have signed an agreement for Belstaff eyewear. The first collection launching Spring 2017 takes inspiration from Belstaff's DNA, balancing tradition and innovation. Classics like the Aviator have been revisited with Belstaff's signature wax leather across the bridge (removable) along with introduction of new shapes like a round lens with metal mesh on sides (again removable). The deal is for sun and optical frames, all handmade in Japan using the finest materials. The collections will be carried globally in Belstaff stores, select departments, fashion and travel retails, as well as independent opticals. AcrossTheWilderness @Belstaff About BELSTAFF: Belstaff is a modern British heritage brand steeped in the spirit of adventure, protecting independent spirits to venture free. In Belstaff, the fearless explorer and the stylish alike will discover clothing for a contemporary lifestyle influenced by Belstaff's rich 92 year history, yet firmly rooted in the present and forever forward-looking. Belstaff is headquartered in London and showrooms reside there and in New York, Milan and Munich. Belstaff is currently sold through its flagship on New Bond Street, and twelve stores in Europe, the United States and Asia, through select wholesale distribution worldwide and on http://www.belstaff.com BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The leader of Canadian union Unifor reportedly said thousands of factory employees will strike at two General Motors Co. plants if the sides miss a Monday night deadline for a new contract. A strike would affect an engine and transmission plant in St. Catharines, Ontario, near Niagara Falls. Unifor President Jerry Dias reportedly said that several weeks of formal talks with GM officials haven't resulted in 'anything meaningful' on the union's No. 1 goal: securing commitments for future production at the two Canadian plants. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. SEOUL, South Korea, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this month, Editage launched a new abstract and cover letter development service for Korean authors. Many authors, particularly for whom English is a second language, often struggle to construct effective abstracts and impressive cover letters. Authors can now use the services of subject-matter experts to create an effective abstract and present their study in the best possible light. With research and development under the spotlight in Korea, the launch of this new service by Editage comes at an exciting time for the Korean scientific community. "Being a communications company, it is natural for us to have a strong and open two-way communication channel with our clients, which enables us to understand their needs and offer them exactly what they require," explained Basil D'souza, Vice President of Academic and Publisher Relations, Client Services, at Editage. "Abstract and cover letter development, which are also available in combination with our editing services, will enable authors to present a clear, concise, and informative abstract that highlights the novelty and significance of their study. The service is designed to cater to both early career researchers and experienced authors and professors." An abstract summarizes the important aspects of a study and a cover letter sets the tone for the manuscript and creates the first impression. With increasing competition in academia, journals screen and reject thousands of manuscripts. Journals decide whether to consider a study for publication based on the content and quality of the abstract. Korean researchers now have the opportunity to get logically structured, well-written abstracts developed for their manuscripts, and consequently improve their chances of successful publication. Besides providing researchers with comprehensive publication support, Editage has been actively conducting educational workshops and seminars at many Korean universities. About Editage: Editage, the flagship brand of Cactus Communications (CACTUS), is well recognized in the publication and academic communities, globally. Apart from working with individual researchers, Editage partners with publishers, journals, academic societies, and pharmaceutical companies worldwide to assist them in creating compelling, high-quality scientific publications. Editage is also dedicated to author education through its comprehensive author resources website Editage Insights. Cactus Communications offers many services such as English language editing, translation, transcription, and medical communication. Please visit http://www.editage.com Media contact: Hridey Manghwani Manager, Public Relations, Editage Phone: +1 (877) 334-8243 Email: PR@cactusglobal.com Related Links http://www.editage.co.kr IRW-PRESS: Western Uranium Corporation: HALLGARTEN & COMPANY startet Research Coverage von Western Uranium Corporation HALLGARTEN & COMPANY STARTET RESEARCH COVERAGE VON WESTERN URANIUM CORPORATION Western Uranium Corporation ("Western Uranium" oder das "Unternehmen") (CNSX: WUC und OTCQC: WSTRF) ist erfreut, dass Hallgarten & Company mit dem Coverage des Unternehmens in einem am 07.09.2016 veroffentlichten Research-Bericht begonnen hat. Der vollstandige Bericht kann unter dem folgenden Link heruntergeladen werden: http://hallgartenco.com/file.php?path=Mining&filename=Western%20Uran ium_Sept2016.pdf Wir freuen uns auch mitteilen zu konnen, dass George Glasier, Chief Executive Officer und Board Director von Western Uranium am 11.09.2016 von Collin Kettell bei Palisade-Radio interviewt wurde. In dem Interview ging es um die folgenden Themenbereiche: Der Uransektor, der Vanadiumsektor und Western Uraniums Produktionsplane unter Verwendung der Ablation Technologie im Jahr 2017. Das Interview ist abrufbar unter: http://palisaderadio.com/835-2/ Uber Western Uranium Corporation: Western Uranium ist ein angehender Uranproduzent mit Projekten in USA. Im Jahr 2014 erwarb Western Uranium Uran und Vanadiumliegenschaften in Colorado und Utah. Western Uranium Corp. ist an der Kanadischen Wertpapierborse (CNSX: WUC) und (OTCQC: WSTRF) notiert. Mehr Informationen zu den Projekten und dem Unternehmen finden Sie unter: http://www.western-uranium.com/ Kontakt: Western Uranium Corporation George Glasier President and CEO Office: 970-864-2125 gglasier@western-uranium.com Western Uranium Corporation Michael Skutezky Chairman of the Board Office: 416-564-2870 mskutezky@western-uranium.com Certain information contained in this press release constitutes forward-looking information (as defined in the Securities Act (Ontario)) and forwarding-looking statements (as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Western Uranium Corporation (Western)). Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur, be achieved or has the potential to. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of each of Western to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Western believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. This information speaks only as of the date of this press release. In particular, this press release may contain forward-looking information pertaining to the following: the likelihood of the benefits to be derived from the Black Range transaction (the Transaction); the rationale of the Transaction; the estimates of each of Black Ranges and Westerns mineral resources; expectations regarding the milling of ores and associated cash flows; expectations with respect to the enhanced recoveries and efficiencies with respect to the application of the Ablation Mining Technologies (Ablation). There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These factors are not and should not be construed as being exhaustive. Statements relating to mineral resources are deemed to be forward-looing information, as they involved the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral resources described can be profitably produced in the future. The forward-looking information contained in the press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources: This press release may use the terms measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. Inferred mineral resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resource may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resource will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS: The operating parameters and recovery estimate derived from field trials have been developed by Western utilizing internal and skilled third party resources. No technical report developed in accordance with NI 43-101 standards has been undertaken to confirm such parameters and recoveries, therefore cannot be relied upon. Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release constitutes " forward-looking statements " as such term is used in applicable United States and Canadian laws. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any other statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as " expects " or " does not expect " , " is expected " , " anticipates " or " does not anticipate " , " plans, " estimates " or " intends " , or stating that certain actions, events or results " may " , " could " , " would " , " might " or " will " be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and should be viewed as " forward-looking statements " . Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the actual results of exploration activities, variations in the underlying assumptions associated with the estimation or realization of mineral resources, the availability of capital to fund programs and the resulting dilution caused by the raising of capital through the sale of shares, accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this news release and in any document referred to in this news release. Certain matters discussed in this news release and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Federal securities laws. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Many of these factors are beyond the Company ' s ability to control or predict. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and that could impact the Company and the statements contained in this news release can be found in the Company ' s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities. Die englische Originalmeldung finden Sie unter folgendem Link: http://www.irw-press.at/press_html.aspx?messageID=37735 Die ubersetzte Meldung finden Sie unter folgendem Link: http://www.irw-press.at/press_html.aspx?messageID=37735&tr=1 NEWSLETTER REGISTRIERUNG: Aktuelle Pressemeldungen dieses Unternehmens direkt in Ihr Postfach: http://www.irw-press.com/alert_subscription.php?lang=de&isin=CA95984 W1095 Mitteilung ubermittelt durch IRW-Press.com. Fur den Inhalt ist der Aussender verantwortlich. Kostenloser Abdruck mit Quellenangabe erlaubt. ISIN CA95984W1095 AXC0045 2016-09-19/09:05 MUNICH, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingram Micro today announced a strategic channel alliance with Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. As a premier distribution partner, Ingram Micro will help to accelerate the rapid growth that Cradlepoint has achieved and extend their regional market share in Europe. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406411LOGO ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406410LOGO ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT. Mark Chlebek, Senior Director Advanced Solutions EMEA, Ingram Micro, said: "Cradlepoint's world-class networking technology complements our solutions portfolio perfectly. By leveraging our combined technical capabilities and expertise across verticals that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability such as retail, hospitality, public sector and transportation, we will continue to lead the market for value-added solutions." George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "Ingram Micro's dedicated excellence in serving the channel has set the pace for a great partnership and Cradlepoint's further geographic expansion." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "We are looking forward to driving new business opportunities alongside Ingram Micro for our mutual vendor partners." About Ingram Micro Ingram Micro helps businesses Realize the Promise of Technology'. It delivers a full spectrum of global technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Deep expertise in technology solutions, mobility, cloud, and supply chain solutions enables its business partners to operate efficiently and successfully in the markets they serve. Unrivalled agility, deep market insights and the trust and dependability that come from decades of proven relationships set Ingram Micro apart and ahead. More athttp://www.ingrammicro.com. Alex Brown alexander.brown@ingrammicro.com About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places, and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedised M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile, and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security, and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organisations around the world - including 75 percent of the world's top retailers -rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. More athttp://www.cradlepoint.com. Hubert Da Costa hdacosta@cradlepoint.com DUBAI, UAE, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingram Micro today announced a strategic channel alliance with Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. As a premier distribution partner, Ingram Micro will help to accelerate the rapid growth that Cradlepoint has achieved and extend their regional market share in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406411LOGO ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406410LOGO ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT. Dr Ali Baghdadi, Chief Executive, Ingram Micro, Middle East, Africa & Turkey said: "Cradlepoint's networking technology is world-class and fits perfectly within our portfolio. We will leverage our combined technical capabilities and expertise to build value-added solutions for tactical customer segments and vertical markets that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability." George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "Ingram Micro's dedicated excellence in serving the channel has set the pace for a great partnership and Cradlepoint's further geographic expansion." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "We are looking forward to driving new business opportunities alongside Ingram Micro for our mutual vendor partners." About Ingram Micro Ingram Micro helps businesses Realize the Promise of Technology'. It delivers a full spectrum of global technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Deep expertise in technology solutions, mobility, cloud, and supply chain solutions enables its business partners to operate efficiently and successfully in the markets they serve. Unrivalled agility, deep market insights and the trust and dependability that come from decades of proven relationships set Ingram Micro apart and ahead.http://www.ingrammicro.com Svetlana Sorokina svetlana.sorokina@ingrammicro.com About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places, and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedised M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile, and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security, and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organisations around the world-including 75 percent of the world's top retailers rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected.http://www.cradlepoint.com Hubert Da Costa hdacosta@cradlepoint.com BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The European Central Bank releases the current account figures for July at 4:00 am ET Monday. Ahead of the data, the euro showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the euro fell against the U.S. dollar, the yen and the pound, it rose against the Swiss franc. As of 3:55 am ET, the euro was trading at 0.8534 against the pound, 1.0941 against the Swiss franc, 1.1159 against the U.S. dollar and 113.88 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. OXFORD, England, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announces the launch of two new journals: Materials Today Chemistry and Materials Today Energy. These journals are the latest addition to Elsevier's Materials Today family; a growing collection of six branded titles, and an extended family of over 100 publications in materials sciences and related fields. Materials Today Chemistry and Materials Today Energy are multi-disciplinary journals focused on two of the largest areas of materials science. Both titles will publish original research articles, short communications and reviews, and articles will be made available on ScienceDirect and MaterialsToday.com. Leading the new energy-focused title is Editor-in-Chief Professor Chun-Sing Lee from the City University of Hong Kong. "Our quality of living is closely related to how we can harvest, convert and store energy in an efficient, safe and clean manner. Although great progress in energy-related technologies has been achieved, more work is urgently needed; all of these technologies are closely related to the development of new materials" commented Prof Lee. "With extensive and increasing international research on advanced materials for energy applications, the editorial team expects to see high demand and rapid growth of Materials Today Energy over the next few years." Meanwhile, Professor Xian-Zheng Zhang from Wuhan University China is at the helm of Materials Today Chemistry, as the Editor-in-Chief. Materials chemistry is one of the fastest developing areas of science, covering the application of chemistry-based techniques to the study of materials. Prof Zhang described his excitement at being involved in the new title; "I am delighted to be leading one of the two newest Materials Today journals. Materials Today Chemistry will provide researchers with a new forum for the discussion of ground-breaking results in materials chemistry and related disciplines, and is expected to become one of the leading publications in the field." The new publications join a wide range of materials science and related journals, including the flagship journal Materials Today, Applied Materials Today, Materials Today: Proceedings, and the sound science publication Materials Today Communications. Find out more about the Materials Today family of journals. About Materials Today Materials Today is dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience. Supported by Elsevier, we publish journals that provide authors and readers with comprehensive coverage across materials science, spanning ground breaking discoveries to highly specialized research; offering exceptional diversity, high quality peer review, rapid publication, maximum visibility and the widest choice. www.materialstoday.com About Elsevier Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Research Intelligenceand ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com Media contact Stewart Bland Elsevier +44-1865-843124 s.bland@elsevier.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - An explosion in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people on Saturday night. In another incident, a backpack that appeared to contain pipe bombs exploded early Monday in New Jersey as a police robot examined it. The blast was the second in New Jersey since Saturday morning. Near the boardwalk in Seaside Park, New Jersey, a garbage can exploded minutes before the Marine Corps charity run began. The officials are investigating the incidents. As per reports, five people were being questioned by the FBI early Monday, officials said. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly told that as per early indications, the explosion at 23rd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue in Manhattan was an intentional act. But, there's no specific and credible threat against New York City at this time from any terror organization, he added. Shortly after Saturday night's explosion, a second suspicious device was found a few blocks away on 27th Street. It was a pressure cooker, with dark-colored wiring sticking out, connected by silver duct tape to what appears to be a cellphone, the officials said. The device was sent to the NYPD Bomb Squad facility at Rodman's Neck Range in the Bronx. At both the sites, surveillance videos recorded the same suspicious person. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered for deployment of 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard members across the city. Security had already been tightened in the city for the U.N. General Assembly. Meanwhile, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the backpack with devices was found in a wastebasket outside a neighborhood pub, said the city's mayor Chris Bollwage. The FBI Newark tweeted that it was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices. Bomb technicians arrived on scene and a robot was sent to examine the devices. The device was detonated in a controlled setting, it is said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de DK Energy US, the EDF subsidiary tasked with growing Dalkia's business in the United States, has acquired Groom Energy Solutions LLC. Established in 2005, Groom Energy delivers commercial and industrial solutions that offer a comprehensive service spanning everything from advising to designing, building, maintaining and financing projects designed to enhance energy efficiency. The company provides nationwide coverage in the US. Over the last decade, Massachusetts based Groom Energy, has forged a reputation as a specialist in energy efficiency. Groom Energy offers optimized solutions to customers who are ready to cut their energy bills and curb their carbon footprint. Clients include regional and national names in the retail, refrigeration, hotel and food-processing industries. The US energy services market is growing over 10% a year for industrial customers. Groom Energy will benefit from Dalkia's support and technological innovations developed in Europe to promote energy efficiency for these customers using measures such as decentralized production and remote management of HVAC facilities. Jon Guerster, CEO of Groom Energy Solutions: "I am delighted to join EDF and open up real growth opportunities for Groom Energy Solutions employees as part of a group that understands our business, our approach and our view of the market. We share Dalkia's service culture, which will allow us to reach our full growth potential Jean-Michel Mazalerat, Dalkia Chairman and CEO: "I am particularly proud of this US acquisition, which is further proof of the commitment and hard work of our international business development teams. I would like to wish everyone at Groom Energy Solutions a warm welcome to the group. They will help us develop our solutions in the United States while continuing to innovate in managing the way electricity is used. This is a huge milestone in our international business development, in a key country with strong growth potential where the EDF Group has already established a presence with a workforce of more than 1,600 people DK Energy US, provider of energy services DK Energy US, a subsidiary of the EDF group, is tasked with developing in the United States the business of Dalkia, one of the leading providers of energy services in France. DK Energy US offers its clients tailor-made solutions scaled to fit each building, city, municipality, region and industrial site. DK Energy US rises to the challenge of the energy transition and provides its clients with expertise covering the entire energy chain, from energy supply to optimisation of their energy consumption, as well as operation and maintenance of installations. All DK Energy US's solutions are paired with energy efficiency commitments and long-term performance guarantees. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005214/en/ Contacts: Groom Energy Solutions Eric Steele, 508-456-4555 esteele@groomenergy.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Wesgroup Properties announced today the names of several prominent retail tenants joining Vancouver's largest mixed use master-planned community, River District Vancouver. Located on the banks of the Fraser River at Boundary Road and Marine Drive in South Vancouver, River District Vancouver blends 7.2 million square feet of residential space with 230,000 square feet of retail space and 140,000 square feet of office space, signifying a shift towards a thriving urban community in this previously industrial area. To date 500 residents have moved in to River District Vancouver, with a further 1,100 homes projected for completion by Summer 2018. Following this exciting residential growth, Wesgroup Properties is proud to announce the next layer of community development in the area, welcoming the following retail offerings to meet the area's growing interest and demand: Save-On-Foods, TD Bank, Westminster Savings and Starbucks. "A home is centred around the kitchen because that's where life happens; similarly River District Vancouver was designed to centre around things like restaurants, banks and coffee shops because those are the foundations of community life," says David Wesik, VP of Operations and Corporate Development at Wesgroup. "Welcoming these retailers to River District Vancouver is an exciting step towards creating a complete community and establishing the overall residential and economic impact that River District Vancouver will have on the South Vancouver landscape." "We're very excited about building a brand new 38,100 sq.ft. Save-On-Foods in River District, Vancouver's newest community," said Darrell Jones, President, Save-On-Foods. "River District Vancouver will be home to a fantastic array of retail shops and restaurants, maximizing convenience for residents and neighbours, and we are looking forward to being part of it. As a local company with strong Western Canadian roots, it's a privilege to contribute to the ongoing retail and commercial development of Metro Vancouver." With the involvement of these leading retail tenants, River District Vancouver will become an amenity-rich community for its residents starting Spring 2017. About Wesgroup Properties Wesgroup Properties is a Vancouver-based real estate development company with a proven history of innovation and award winning design. Recognized for a noble social conscience, entrepreneurial spirit and long-sightedness, Wesgroup Properties works hard to create valuable opportunities for all employees, customers and neighbours. To learn more about Wesgroup Properties visit www.wesgroup.ca. Contacts: Media Contact Laura Mitchell Talk Shop Media Laura@talkshopmedia.com 604.738.2220 WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTC PINK: CBIS), a U.S. company specializing in the development of cannabis-based medicines, announces that its President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder, Mr. Raymond C. Dabney, was a principal participant in the groundbreaking African Healthcare Infrastructure Roundtable and a U.S.-Africa Policy Forum. This Forum was Co-Chaired by His Excellency Hage Geingob, the President of Namibia, and Ambassador Andrew J. Young. Key participants in this forum included Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs, and former U.S. Representative to the African Union; and Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. State Department. Over more than 25 years, CFA became established as a leading organization in the United States committed to educating and mobilizing the U.S. public and interested persons throughout the African Diaspora on policies that directly impact Africa. Mr. Dabney served as a Co-Chair of this year's CFA Series, along with Ambassador Andrew J. Young, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; the Honorable Ronald V. Dellums, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; Congresswoman Karen Bass; Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Director of the National Museum of African Art; and Mr. Mohammed Kachallah, Acting Director General of the Nigeria-based Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa. Mr. Dabney also serves as a Member of CFA's Board of Directors and African Healthcare Infrastructure Committee. These events were part of the Constituency for Africa's annual Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series from September 12-17th in Washington, DC. For the U.S.-Africa Policy Forum, held at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, Mr. Dabney was a principal participant in a robust discussion on African healthcare issues, and contributed to the development of specific policy recommendations that will be presented to the next U.S. administration. The recommendations developed -- for the next U.S. administration -- for strengthening Africa's healthcare infrastructure included the creation of a Centers for Disease Control in Africa; treating healthcare infrastructure in Africa as a national security issue; tapping more into the skill-set, knowledge, expertise and experience of the African Diaspora; strengthening African regional and sub-regional institutions; and developing robust surveillance systems for non-communicable diseases, that are increasingly becoming the new African epidemics. "The full set of recommendations will be released by CFA in its final report in the next few weeks. I fully support the outcome of CFA's U.S.-Africa Policy Forum, and see the recommendations as a useful guideline for the next administration. Furthermore, by aligning our business strategy with these recommendations, we can be sure that our drug development initiative in Africa will positively contribute to the strengthening of Africa's healthcare infrastructure, as well as to economic development, job creation, and technology transfer," said President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder, CBIS, Mr. Raymond C. Dabney. As well, Mr. Dabney delivered remarks at CFA's Roundtable on Strengthening Healthcare Infrastructure in Africa at the African Union (AU) in Georgetown, and was one of a select number of principal participants in CFA's U.S.-Africa Policy Forum. At the Healthcare Roundtable, Mr. Dabney spoke about Cannabis Science's drug development initiative in Africa, and met with key stakeholders in government, private sector, and academia. "By actively participating as a principal in the Healthcare Roundtables, we bring our entrepreneurial vision for commercial activities in Africa, in partnership with Africans. These engagements will continue to cultivate existing and new relationships with experts who can add value to Cannabis Science's business through their knowledge in the areas of research and development, clinical studies, market access, and legal and regulatory matters," concludes CBIS CEO, Mr. Dabney. About Cannabis Science, Inc. Cannabis Science, Inc., takes advantage of its unique understanding of metabolic processes to provide novel treatment approaches to a number of illnesses for which current treatments and understanding remain unsatisfactory. Cannabinoids have an extensive history dating back thousands of years, and currently, there are a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific publications that document the underlying biochemical pathways that cannabinoids modulate. The Company works with leading experts in drug development, medicinal characterization, and clinical research to develop, produce, and commercialize novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment for illnesses caused by infections as well as for age-related illness. Our initial focus is on skin cancers, HIV/AIDS, and neurological conditions. The Company is proceeding with the research and development of its proprietary drugs as a part of this initial focus: CS-S/BCC-1, CS-TATI-1, and CS-NEURO-1, respectively. Forward-Looking Statements This Press Release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. A statement containing words such as "anticipate," "seek," intend," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Some or all of the events or results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not occur. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based drugs. Cannabis Science, Inc., does not undertake any duty nor does it intend to update the results of these forward-looking statements. Safe Harbor Statement. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a 'safe harbor' for forward looking statements. Certain of the statements contained herein, which are not historical facts are forward looking statements with respect to events, the occurrence of which involved risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by various factors. Information concerning potential factors that could affect the company are detailed from time to time in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3057381 Cannabis Science, Inc. Dr. Allen Herman Chief Medical Officer (CMO) allen.herman@cannabisscience.com Tel: 1-888-263-0832 Cannabis Science, Inc. Investor Relations Teresa Misenheimer teresa@cannabisscience.com Tel: 1-888-263-0832 Cannabis Science, Inc. Mr. Raymond C. Dabney Director, President & CEO, Co-Founder raymond.dabney@cannabisscience.com Tel:1-888-263-0832 CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- NXT Energy Solutions Inc. ("NXT Energy" or the "Company") (TSX: SFD)(OTCQB: NSFDF) announces that a formal proposal has been submitted to the Petroleum Resource Development Secretariat (PRDS) of Sri Lanka by NXT Energy's representative Shine Quests FZC. In a press release issued on September 15th, it was disclosed that a pre-funded project proposal titled 'Project SHINE' has been submitted to the Sri Lankan Government to provide Multi-Client survey data of the Mannar basin. A key part of Project SHINE will be the use of the Stress Field Detection (SFD) Technology from NXT Energy Solutions Inc. that will provide a unique data set that will help Sri Lanka's ambition to realize potential new hydrocarbon revenues much sooner than using conventional methods alone. "NXT technology is new and innovative, and we will be evaluating their proposal with interest. The fact that oil and gas companies have committed to pre funding the proposed survey, is indicative of positive sentiment towards the hydrocarbon potential of Sri Lanka, and we hope to translate this to higher bid activity during our next licensing round," PRDS Director General Saliya Wickramasuriya is quoted as saying in the company press release. George Liszicasz, President and CEO of NXT commented "we are very excited to work with Shine Quest FZC and PRDS on this important project for the Sri Lankan hydrocarbon industry. We are looking forward to a positive response to Shine Quests' proposal from the Sri Lankan government, which will be for the largest SFD survey ever undertaken. We hope to start our SFD program before the end of Q4." Additional relevant details of the 'Project SHINE' will be announced as they become available. For more details on the press release and Project SHINE, please see more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/568165/Govt--calls-investors-for---48m-east-coast-oil-searchsthash.zHiLFeAb.dpuf For further information about NXT, please contact NXT's Head office at info@nxtenergy.com NXT Energy is a Calgary based company whose proprietary Stress Field Detection ("SFD") survey system utilizes quantum-scale sensors to detect gravity field perturbations in an airborne survey method which can be used both onshore and offshore to remotely identify areas with exploration potential for traps and reservoirs. The SFD survey system enables our clients to focus their hydrocarbon exploration decisions concerning land commitments, data acquisition expenditures and prospect prioritization on areas with the greatest potential. SFD is environmentally friendly and unaffected by ground security issues or difficult terrain, and is the registered trademark of NXT Energy Solutions Inc. NXT Energy provides its clients with an effective and reliable method to reduce time, costs, and risks related to exploration. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may include forward-looking statements. When used in this document, words such as "intends", "plans", "anticipates", "expects" and "scheduled", are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties, and although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of factors can cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Risk factors facing NXT Energy are described in its most recent MD&A for the period ended 30th June 2016, which has been filed electronically by means of the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") located at www.sedar.com. Such forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them, either publicly or otherwise, to reflect new events, information or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities law. Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) nor the OTC QB Markets accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: NXT Energy Solutions Inc. Bev Stewart V-P Finance & CFO 403-206-0807 info@nxtenergy.com www.nxtenergy.com Bill Mitoulas Investor Relations Manager 416-479-9547 bmitoulas@nxtenergy.com Kin Communications Investor Relations 1-866-684-6730 / 604-684-6730 sfd@kincommunications.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Walk or talk like a real pirate and you stand a chance to win some free doughnuts. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (KKD) said that participating shops in the U.S. and Canada will celebrate 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' on Monday, September 19. The doughnut chain said that any customer who talks like a pirate will receive one free original glazed doughnut, while people who dress like a pirate will receive one dozen original glazed doughnuts. Qualifying pirate costumes must include three pirate items, such as an eye patch or bandana. Krispy Kreme said that no purchase is required to take part in 'Talk Like a Pirate Day.' For the first time ever, this year guests can also use a custom Krispy Kreme Snapchat pirate filter to digitally 'dress' like a pirate. Guests who show their Snapchat image to a team member at a participating Krispy Kreme shop will qualify for a dozen original glazed doughnuts. Krispy Kreme's 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' was created following a social trend in 2012, while the Snapchat campaign was introduced to honor the social beginnings of the occasion day. Jackie Woodward, chief marketing officer of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts said, 'Talk Like a Pirate Day has become one of our guests favorite days of the year, and this year they will have the opportunity to take part in this day socially using our Snapchat filter. As this day is all about fun, we see it as a natural extension of our offers to get free Original Glazed doughnuts.' Krispy Kreme said that two 'Pirate Doughnuts' are available ahead of 'Talk Like a Pirate Day.' The Pirate Doughnut is a filled doughnut decorated with a pirate face, while the 'Skull and Crossbones Doughnut' is topped with chocolate icing and finished with white icing and a skull candy piece. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The International Atomic Energy Agency's latest projections for 2030 show nuclear power maintaining its contribution to the global energy mix at the present level, in the low scenario. In the high-growth scenario, use of nuclear power could grow by about 56 percent, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said Monday while addressing the Agency's Board of Governors in Vienna. Currently there are 450 nuclear power reactors in operation in 30 countries today. Sixty reactors are under construction. There have been nine new grid connections so far this year. Construction has started at Unit 6 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China, while Unit 3 of the Ikata nuclear power plant in Japan has resumed operations, Amano said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. PHOENIX, AZ--(Marketwired - September 19, 2016) - In the news release, "College HUNKS Hauling Junk and Moving Opens 2nd Phoenix Location," issued Thursday, July 7 by College Hunks Hauling Junk, we are advised by the company that the subhead, "College H.U.N.K.S. Franchisee Dana Burton Has an Impressive Resume, and She Plans to Use Her Expertise to Build Leaders", has been removed as it is erroneous and does not relate to the rest of the release. Complete corrected text follows. College HUNKS Hauling Junk and Moving Opens 2nd Phoenix Location PHOENIX, AZ -- July 07, 2016 -- College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk and Moving -- which has been featured on "Blue Collar Millionaire," "Shark Tank," and other primetime shows -- has opened a location in west Phoenix, the second area location for the fast-growing brand. The company provides local moving, junk removal, donation pickups and more. Scott and Lori Harvin own the H.U.N.K.S. location in west Phoenix. (H.U.N.K.S. stands for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable Service.) The couple recently moved to Phoenix from New Jersey to be close to their daughters, two of whom are in college in the area, with another in Los Angeles. They fell in love with the brand when they were in New Jersey, and also saw that there was a lot of room for the company to grow in Phoenix. "Phoenix is such a tremendous, thriving city, with an enormous need for professional movers and junk removal," Scott Harvin says. "College H.U.N.K.S. stands out through our friendly, professional, stress-free approach, and thanks to the excellence of our team members." Professional service The company stands out by recruiting team members who want to be much more than movers -- they want to be leaders. Harvin says he looks forward to helping his team build entrepreneurial and professional skills that will help them advance within his organization, launch successful careers in their chosen fields, and start their own businesses. Scott Harvin is no stranger to entrepreneurism. Before starting his College H.U.N.K.S. location, he was a commercial printer. He started his first business out of a basement at the age of 22 and grew it into a $14 million-a-year enterprise. When the pace of technological change made the printing industry difficult, he started looking for other options. The beauty of moving and junk removal is that the business is needed everywhere, and the technology of picking up items, handling them carefully and moving them to a new location doesn't change. The major variable is the quality of the company doing the work -- and this is where College H.U.N.K.S. shines. "We're committed to hiring great people and delivering 'WOW' service," Scott Harvin says. "Our business is based on setting goals, fostering teamwork, and taking the extra steps that make a real difference for customers." Harvin's business is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. You can reach it at (623) 734-1412 or http://locations.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com/az/avondale.html. To learn more about College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk franchise opportunities, visit www.collegehunksfranchise.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/16/11G114572/Images/Scott_Harvin_and_Lori_Harvin_College_Hunks_Jauling-b280dcde7394a5e3813840f76f7c9955.JPG Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLNFSMSELM College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk 866-766-0540 Danielle Wright Kimble Danielle.wright@chhj.com Frank Morrison frank.morrison@chhj.com Wednesday September 21st, 2016 at 6 PM (CET) Regulatory News: Adocia (Paris:ADOC) (Euronext Paris: FR0011184241 ADOC) will provide a business update for investors and growth perspectiveson a conference call to be held: Wednesday September 21st, 2016 at 6pm (CET) Dial-in number: +33 01 70 77 09 27 The transcript will be available in French and in English on Adocia's website www.adocia.com Please note that the conference call will be held in French. The following speakers will conduct the call: Gerard Soula, President and CEO President and CEO Olivier Soula, R&D Director Deputy General Manager R&D Director Deputy General Manager Valerie Danaguezian, CFO CFO Remi Soula, Director of Business Development Intellectual Property About ADOCIA Adocia is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in the development of innovative formulations of already-approved therapeutic proteins. Adocia's insulin formulation portfolio, featuring four clinical-stage products and one preclinical product, is among the largest and most differentiated in the industry. The proprietary BioChaperone technological platform is designed to enhance the effectiveness and/or safety of therapeutic proteins while making them easier for patients to use. Adocia customizes BioChaperone to each protein for a given application in order to address specific patient needs. Adocia's clinical pipeline includes four novel insulin formulations for the treatment of diabetes: two ultra-rapid formulations of insulin analogs (BioChaperone Lispro U100 and U200), a rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U100) and a combination of insulin glargine and a rapid-acting insulin analog (BioChaperone Combo). Adocia is also developing an aqueous formulation of human glucagon (BioChaperone Glucagon), combinations of insulin glargine with GLP-1s (BioChaperone Glargine Dulaglutide and BioChaperone Glargine Liraglutide) and a concentrated, rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U500), all of which are in preclinical development. In December 2014, Adocia signed a partnership with Eli Lilly for the development and commercialization of the BioChaperone Lispro projects. Adocia aims to deliver "Innovative medicine for everyone, everywhere." To learn more about Adocia, please visit us at www.adocia.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919006006/en/ Contacts: Adocia Gerard Soula, Tel.: +33 4 72 610 610 Chairman and CEO contactinvestisseurs@adocia.com or Adocia Press Relations Europe MC Services AG Raimund Gabriel, Tel.: +49 89 210 228 0 adocia@mc-services.eu or Adocia Investor Relations USA The Ruth Group Tram Bui, Tel.: +646.536.7035 tbui@theruthgroup.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- TOMAGOLD CORPORATION (TSX VENTURE: LOT) ("TomaGold" or the "Corporation") is pleased to report that is has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire, pursuant to a takeover bid, business combination or similar transaction, all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Metal Resources Ltd. (OTCBB: RMES) ("Red Metal"), namely 34,290,302 common shares, as well as all of the common shares of Red Metal that may be issued upon the exercise of any options, warrants or other convertible securities after the formal filing of the transaction but before its closing (the "Transaction"). The proposal would be that such Red Metal shareholders will receive in exchange an aggregate consideration of CAD$3,250,000 payable through: (i) the payment in cash of the Red Metal's debts for a maximum amount of CAD$500,000; and (ii) for the remainder of the aggregate consideration, the issuance of class "A" common shares of the capital stock of TomaGold at a price that is the higher between the average market price over the 20 days before the execution date of the Definitive Agreement and of CAD$0.15, subject to a maximum price of CAD$0.20. The parties to the transaction are at arm's length. The LOI includes customary provisions, including non-solicitation of alternative transactions, the right to match superior proposals and the closing by TomaGold of a financing of CAD$700,000 before the closing of the Transaction. The parties have agreed to a break-up fee of CAD$175,000 (i) payable to TomaGold if Red Metal is in default of this LOI and if a superior proposal is accepted by Red Metal's shareholders, and (ii) payable to Red Metal if TomaGold does not complete the Transaction for reasons other than discovering an issue with their confirmatory due diligence. Red Metal owns, or has the option to own, 100% of three projects (Farellon, Perth and Mateo) located in the prolific Candelaria iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) belt of Chile's coastal Cordillera, host to Freeport McMoRan's Candelaria Mine and Anglo American's Mantoverde Mine. Farellon property (100% interest in six claims and option to earn a 100% interest in two claims) The Farellon property is located 150 km southwest of Copiapo, Chile, and consists of eight mining claims totalling 1,234 hectares in the Carrizal Alto mining district, more precisely 3 km southwest of the historic Carrizal Alto mine. It is easily accessible year-round by dirt roads and is located close to power, water and a major urban centre, Copiapo, with a readily available mining workforce. Historical records indicate that copper mining commenced at Carrizal Alto in the 1820s and continued on a significant scale, mostly by British companies, until 1891 when disastrous flooding occurred and mines closed. Historical reports indicate that the larger mines were obtaining good grades over significant widths in the bottom workings at the time of closure. It is estimated that during this period, over 3 million tonnes with grades in excess of 5% copper and widths of 8 m was extracted, including a large quantity of direct shipping mineralized material at 12% copper (Source: Ulriksen, C. (1991), Carrizal Alto Mining District, Vallenar, III Region, Chile, 7 p.). Work completed to date on the Farellon property has been focused on a 1.6 kilometres stretch of mineralized veins hosted in a 10 to 25-metre-wide shear zone, a further 2.5 kilometres of this shear zone have been explored on surface and show similar geology and mineralization on surface as the zone that has been previously drilled. A total of 6,992 metres of drilling was completed in three programs along a 1.3 km strike length. The following table summarizes the best results obtained to date. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From To Length Cu Au HOLE_ID (m) (m) (m) (%) (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAR-96-007 25 34 9 1.05 0.38 FAR-96-009 72 83 24 1.01 0.57 FAR-96-009 62 65 3 2.24 0.67 FAR-96-015 59 79 20 0.98 0.99 FAR-96-015 99 109 10 1.02 0.18 FAR-96-022 29 39 10 1.31 1.53 FAR-96-022 100 108 8 2.49 3.72 FAR-96-023 132 147 15 1.42 0.60 FAR-96-024 33 36 3 2.89 0.94 FAR-96-025 65 85 20 1.22 0.97 FAR-09-B 75 86 11 0.67 1.35 FAR-09-C 73 103 30 0.79 0.55 FAR-09-C 77 82 5 4.16 2.57 FAR-11-001 36 49 13 2.51 0.35 FAR-11-001 36 44 8 3.95 0.53 FAR-11-001 37 43 6 5.09 0.64 FAR-11-006 80 112 32 1.35 0.99 FAR-11-006 84 96 12 2.18 2.10 FAR-13-002 47 54 7 2.15 0.28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The table above shows grades and widths of mineralization which are consistent with historic drilling results and have also given valuable geological information showing multiple veins and the potential for wide zones of economic mineralization. The true width of the drill hole intersections cannot be determined from the information available, as it was RC drilling. In 2014, Red Metal entered into a contract with a Chilean artisanal miner allowing the artisanal miner to mine on the Farellon property in return for a 10% net sales royalty. In January 2015 the artisanal miner first started selling mineralized material to ENAMI, a Chilean national mining company, and has since sold 9,953 tonnes of sulphide mineralized material grading 1.82% Cu, 6.56 g/t Ag and 0.25 g/t Au, as well as 1,813 tonnes of oxide mineralized material grading 1.56% Cu (Source: RMES Annual and Quarterly Reports). In April 2015, the artisanal miner received all the necessary permits allowing them to increase their operations from 500 tonnes per month to 5,000 tonnes per month. Continued expansion of the Farellon property's small-scale mining operation, through minimal capital expenditures, could significantly increase revenues and provide important geological and metallurgical information. Perth property (100% interest) The Perth property consists of 12 mining claims totaling 2,245 hectares in the Carrizal Alto mining district. It is contiguous to the Farellon project, but geologically different. The property has been known to host gold and copper mineralization since the early 1900 when it was part of the Carrizal Alto mining complex. Modern exploration on the property started in 2008 and multiple surface mapping, trenching and drilling programs have been completed since then. More than 12 mineralized veins have been identified on the property. Significant results obtained from surface channel sampling are listed in the table below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au Cu Sample ID Northing Easting Elevation Length g/t % ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 778 6895914.00 308888.00 772 Reconnaissance 16.50 2.87 1962 6893308.58 308065.74 648 1.10 15.26 0.93 1977 6895153.72 308780.84 714 2.10 14.43 0.72 2938 6895006.00 308352.00 888 0.50 14.00 3.62 1960 6893313.57 308068.57 648 1.10 9.77 1.36 2975 6894308.00 308364.00 727 0.40 8.92 1.84 1903 6892715.11 307888.80 588 0.60 8.52 1.56 1952 6892720.24 307889.38 588 1.50 8.37 2.14 1961 6893307.92 308066.42 647 1.10 8.14 2.83 1923 6893265.79 308261.54 622 0.30 7.60 1.04 1921 6893260.81 308515.88 638 0.40 7.38 2.43 1913 6893501.66 308143.50 687 0.60 6.73 7.16 252 6892373.78 307952.33 581 0.35 6.48 1.32 1821 6896660.00 309450.00 671 1.10 5.86 4.09 1813 6896586.00 310019.00 584 1.30 5.71 2.88 3037 6895254.00 308254.00 901 0.30 5.26 8.76 2951 6894414.00 308406.00 741 0.55 4.89 2.08 1972 6895140.00 308797.00 778 1.20 4.75 1.68 1975 6895151.55 308790.60 757 1.40 4.47 5.90 2007 6897060.00 309956.00 563 1.50 4.07 3.78 1905 6893092.03 308001.35 660 0.80 3.13 3.98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mateo property (100% interest) The Mateo property is a copper-gold-silver project consisting of 14 mining and exploration claims totaling 1,184 hectares located approximately 10 km east of Vallenar. The property has undergone limited modern exploration including surface and underground RC drilling and artisanal mining on three separate mine sites, the Irene, Margarita and Santa Theresa mines. During August through October 2011, Red Metal carried out an in-depth geological mapping and sampling program on the property. A total of 138 reconnaissance samples were collected. The highest assay values returned from reconnaissance samples were 21 g/t Au and 10.3% Cu but more common values were between 1-3 g/t Au and 1-3% Cu. Detailed mapping identified nine significant mineralized zones where further work is recommended. David Grondin, President and CEO of TomaGold, stated: "This is a great transaction for TomaGold, as we are adding high-quality assets with strong exploration potential to our portfolio of properties. We are also diversifying our asset base into copper-gold properties in the world's leading copper producing country. Moreover, this transaction will enable us to become a producer and generate cash flow on a short-term horizon." This LOI will automatically terminate without further action by TomaGold or Red Metal and be of no further force and effect upon the earliest to occur of: (a) the entering into of the Definitive Agreement; (b) the mutual written agreement by TomaGold and Red Metal; and (c) the 60th day following the date that this letter agreement is fully executed, or such later date as may be agreed to in writing by TomaGold and Red Metal. The Transaction is subject to applicable shareholder, court and stock exchange approvals and the satisfaction of certain other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature. The technical content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Andre Jean, Eng., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About TomaGold Corporation TomaGold Corporation is a Canadian-based mining exploration company whose primary mission is the acquisition, exploration and development of gold projects in Canada and abroad. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. The statements in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements". Readers are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual developments or results may vary materially from those described in such "forward-looking" statements. Contacts: TomaGold Corporation David Grondin President and Chief Executive Officer (514) 206-7727 www.tomagoldcorp.com EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- For the third year in a row, Liberty will be featured by Canadian Business and PROFIT on the 28th annual PROFIT 500, the definitive ranking of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies. Published in the October issue of Canadian Business and at PROFITguide.com, the PROFIT 500 ranks Canadian businesses by their five-year revenue growth. "It's an honour to be recognized in the PROFIT 500 again this year," says Managing Partner, Nathan Baldry. "Our successes and growth each year can be attributed to our loyal customers and hard working staff. Surrounding ourselves with good partners and key relationships has allowed for consistent and steady growth these past 10 years." "Companies become a part of the PROFIT 500 through innovative thinking, smart strategy and sheer grit," says James Cowan, Editor-in-chief of PROFIT and Canadian Business. "These firms demonstrate what Canadian entrepreneurs can achieve, both at home and across the globe." About PROFIT and PROFITguide.com PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success is Canada's preeminent media brand dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. For 34 years, Canadian entrepreneurs across a vast array of economic sectors have remained loyal to PROFIT because it's a timely and reliable source of actionable information that helps them achieve business success and get the recognition they deserve for generating positive economic and social change. Visit PROFIT online at PROFITguide.com. About Canadian Business Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-serving, best-selling and most-trusted business publication in the country. With a total brand readership of more than 1.1 million, it is the country's premier media brand for executives and senior business leaders. It fuels the success of Canada's business elite with a focus on the things that matter most: leadership, innovation, business strategy and management tactics. We provide concrete examples of business achievement, thought-provoking analysis and compelling storytelling, all in an elegant package with bold graphics and great photography. Canadian Business-what leadership looks like. About Liberty Incorporated in 2005, Liberty is based in Edmonton, Alberta and provides security, automation, video surveillance and seniors care solutions to residential, commercial and healthcare customers across Canada. We have installed over 40,000 residential and commercial systems in 9 provinces and 3 territories. Liberty also services over 90 Health Care facilities in Western Canada. With an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, Liberty is an Alberta Venture Magazine Fast Growth 50 and PROFIT 500 Fast Growth Company. Learn more about Liberty at http://www.libertysecurity.ca Simple / Safe / Smart Contacts: Media Contact Liberty Security Mimi Ngo 780.988.7233 x 122 marketing@libertysecurity.ca Further investments in R&D, including Nanocyclix (+34%) Launch of Oncodesign's first clinical study evaluating a radiotracer of mutated EGFR-receptor Strategic Experimentation partnership agreed with IPSEN First milestone reached in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Cash burn limited to 0.6 million in the first half of 2016 Regulatory News: ONCODESIGN (Paris:ALONC) (FR0011766229 ALONC), a biotechnology company serving the pharmaceutical industry in the discovery of new therapeutic molecules to fight cancer and other serious illnesses with no known effective treatment, has reported its results for the first half of 2016. million Unaudited figures H1 2016 H1 2015 Change Experimentation revenue 4.70 4.57 -3% Discovery revenue 1.03 1.42 -27% Total revenue 5.74 5.99 -4% Other operating revenue 0.10 0.41 -76% Total operating revenue 5.84 6.40 -9% Operating costs (8.48) (7.43) n/a Operating profit/(loss) (2.64) (1.03) n/a Net profit/(loss) (1.77) (0.26) n/a Cash position (at June 30) 8.5 9.4 Philippe Genne, Oncodesign's CEO and founder, commented: "Our first-half 2016 performance was in line with our strategy and our goals. Our results reflected the downturn in our Discovery revenue, which was boosted by a milestone payment from UCB in the first six months of 2015, our ongoing investments in our Nanocyclix platform and the development of our Experimentation business. From a qualitative standpoint, our strong expansion in North America and Asia, our new Experimentation partnership with IPSEN and the extension of our proof-of-concept service offering, turning it into a broad full service drug discovery offering, have opened up fresh growth prospects. In the Discovery segment, the extension of our patents in the United States and Europe has consolidated our technology. We are actively pursuing our programs, including with Bristol-Myers Squibb, which has identified an initial target as part of our collaboration, and RIPK2 concerning which talks about appropriate agreements are continuing with pharmaceutical partners. During the first half of 2016, we thus achieved key objectives that will support our development, and so we can look ahead to the second half of 2016 with a great deal of confidence." Higher Experimentation revenue and first key milestone reached under the agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb in Discovery Experimentation revenue rose 3% to 4.70 million. Despite a more competitive environment in the market for the preclinical evaluation of anti-cancer therapies, especially in Europe (36% of sales), revenue surged higher in North America (22% of sales) and Asia (21% of sales), with growth running at 52% and 412% respectively. What's more, the strategic service partnership agreed in May 2016 with IPSEN did not have a material impact on first-half revenue. At June 30, 2016, Oncodesign had an order backlog of 7.1 million, up 65% on its level at December 31, 2015. Of this total, the guaranteed minimum receivable by Oncodesign under its long-term partnership with IPSEN, which should make a larger contribution to second-half 2016 revenue, accounted for 3.7 million. First-half 2016 Discovery revenue came to 1.03 million, compared with 1.42 million in the first six months of 2015 when Oncodesign received a milestone payment from UCB upon the exercise of its option to acquire the global rights to a selection of highly specific Oncodesign molecules in the treatment of neurological diseases. Even so, the first half of 2016 was underpinned by a first milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb after the selection of a first target. To recap, Oncodesign may earn payments under this partnership of up to 80 million per target plus progressive royalties on future sales and additional payments linked to the commercial performance of each product. Ramp-up in R&D efforts and start of clinical trials of Oncodesign's first molecule reflected in interim results In the first half of 2016, Oncodesign posted an operating loss of 2.64 million, compared with a loss of 1.03 million in the first half of 2015. This trend reflected the ramp-up in R&D efforts, which grew 20% in the first six months of 2016. The Nanocyclix kinase inhibitor research platform was a particular focus. Investments in this technology platform rose by 34% from 1.21 million to 1.61 million, representing 64% of total R&D expenditure. A first molecule from the Imakinib (pharmaco-imaging) program has gained authorization for the commencement of clinical trials. It is a ligand radiotracer of the mutated EGFR receptor. The first NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) patients are due to be enrolled by the end of September 2016 in a clinical trial running for 18 to 24 months. Mutations activating EGFR kinase, responsible for resistance to standard NSCLC treatments, are found in 10% to 15% of patients, and there are expected to be approximately 1.3 million of them by 2022 in Europe, North America and Asia. As the first radiotracer of this type, it would open the way for a new range of imaging biomarkers, which are set to play a crucial role in the development of precision medicine. Personnel costs rose 14%, with the workforce averaging 102 over the first six months of the year, compared with 76 a year earlier. This represented an increase of 34%. External costs came to 0.7 million over the first half, up 24% compared with the first six months of 2015. These costs, the bulk of which were devoted to scientific subcontractors, flowed from the ramp-up in R&D expenditure on the Nanocyclix platform. Purchases of materials and supplies declined 21% from 1.22 million in the first half of 2015 to 0.95 million in the same period of 2016. The bulk of this reduction came in the Experimentation business, translating into a significant increase in its value-added over the period. Lastly, after taking into account a 20% increase in the research tax credit to 0.84 million, financial income from treasury investments and a negative currency impact arising from Bristol-Myers Squibb's payment of $3 million in January 2016, the net loss came to 1.77 million, compared with a loss of 0.26 million in the first half of 2015. Limited and controlled cash burn In the first half of 2016, Oncodesign only used 0.6 million in cash despite the increase in R&D expenditure over the period. Given the 0.30 million advance repayable by Bpifrance for the IMODI project (leading French industrial personalized medicine consortium), net cash at June 30, 2016 stood at 8.5 million ahead of the impact of the forthcoming repayment of the 1.7 million research tax credit and effective receipt of the milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb on July 8, 2016. Oncodesign continues to manage its cash tightly, reflecting the resilience of its diversified and integrated business model. Next financial publication: Full-year 2016 revenue, Tuesday January 31, 2017 (after the market close) About Oncodesign: www.oncodesign.com Founded over 20 years ago by Dr Philippe Genne, the Company's CEO and Chairman, Oncodesign is a biotechnology company that maximises the pharmaceutical industry's chances of success in discovering new therapeutic molecules to fight cancer and other serious illnesses with no known effective treatment. With its unique experience acquired by working with more than 600 clients, including the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, along with its comprehensive technological platform combining state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry, advanced animal modelling and medical imaging, Oncodesign is able to predict and identify, at a very early stage, each molecule's therapeutic usefulness and potential to become an effective drug. Applied to kinase inhibitors, which represent a market estimated at over $40 billion in 2016 and accounting for almost 25% of the pharmaceutical industry's R&D expenditure, Oncodesign's technology has already enabled the targeting of several promising molecules with substantial therapeutic potential, in oncology and elsewhere, along with partnerships with pharmaceutical groups such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ipsen and UCB. Oncodesign is based in Dijon, France, in the heart of the town's university and hospital hub. It has 108 employees and subsidiaries in Canada and the USA. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919006191/en/ Contacts: Oncodesign Philippe Genne, Tel: +33 (0)3 80 78 82 60 Chairman and CEO investisseurs@oncodesign.com or NewCap Investor & Press Relations Julien Perez Nicolas Merigeau, Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 98 52 oncodesign@newcap.eu MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Critical Elements Corporation ("Critical Elements" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CRE)(OTCQX: CRECF)(FRANKFURT: F12) and Natan Resources Ltd ("Natan") (TSX VENTURE: NRL) are pleased to announce that the Phase 1 exploration program for Duval Project in Northern Quebec is being finalized, and the Company has commenced its program in the field. The Duval Project is contiguous to and along strike with the Whabouchi project of Nemaska Lithium Inc. ("Nemaska") who recently reported encountering a new lithium-bearing zone in the south-western end of the planned pit area (see Nemaska press release dated September 6, 2016). Nemaska reported that this new zone has been intersected in multiple drill holes at up to 500 m vertical depth, and is located at the south-western end of the pit area, approximately two kilometers from the north-eastern boundary of Duval 2,459 hectare property. The Company and Natan have contracted Consul-Teck Exploration Inc. of Val-d'Or as operator of the project. This first phase of exploration will consist of a detailed mapping and sampling program over a grid designed to cover the entire property, over the course of approximately 4 weeks. There has been no historic Lithium focused exploration on the Duval property, however it is believed that the continuation along strike and onto the property of the similar geology as at Whabouchi, indicates the potential to locate Lithium bearing pegmatites. Upon completion of the Phase 1 program, an updated NI 43-101 report will be completed for the property. Pending the results of the program and the recommendations of the report, the Company is fully financed to advance the program through the exploration cycle quickly. Jean-Sebastien Lavallee (OGQ #773), geologist, shareholder and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release. CLOSING OF FIRST DRAWDOWN - HELM AG The Company also announces that it has closed the transaction for the first drawdown under the credit facility agreement signed on September 19, 2016, with HELM AG. This drawdown in the amount of $1,500,000 will have a term of five years and will bear 12% interest per year. In connection with this initial drawdown, HELM AG received 2,500,000 non-transferable warrants allowing it to acquire the same number of common shares of the Company at a price of $0.77 per share. All the securities issued under the private placement are subject to a mandatory hold period of four months plus one day following the closing of the private placement. The Credit Facility will allow the Corporation to fund its feasibility study on the Rose lithium-tantalum project. This transaction is subject to regulatory approval. ABOUT CRITICAL ELEMENTS CORPORATION A recent financial analysis (Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Rose lithium-tantalum Project, Genivar, December 2011) of the Rose project based on price forecasts of US$260/kg ($118/lb) for Ta2O5 contained in a tantalite concentrate and US$6,000/t for lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) showed an estimated after-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 25% for the Rose project, with an estimated Net Present Value (NPV) of CA$279 million at an 8% discount rate. The payback period is estimated at 4.1 years. The pre-tax IRR is estimated at 33% and the NPV at $488 million at a discount rate of 8%. (Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability). (The preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature). (See press release dated November 21, 2011.) The conclusions of the PEA indicate the operation would support a production rate of 26,606 tons of high purity (99.9% battery grade) Li2CO3 and 206,670 pounds of Ta2O5 per year over a 17-year mine life. The project hosts a current Indicated resource of 26.5 million tonnes of 1.30% Li2O Eq. or 0.98% Li2O and 163 ppm Ta2O5 and an Inferred resource of 10.7 million tonnes of 1.14% Li2O Eq. or 0.86% Li2O and 145 ppm Ta2O5. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Critical Elements Corporation Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, P.Geo. President and Chief Executive Officer 819-354-5146 president@cecorp.ca www.cecorp.ca Investor Relations: Paradox Public Relations 514-341-0408 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK--(Marketwired - September 19, 2016) - The Scottsdale Mint Biblical Coin Series highlights stories from the Bible. Some of the stories include The Good Samaritan, The Last Supper, The Ten Commandments and more. The Valley of Dry Bones, depicting Ezekiel's vision that represents the rebirth of Israel, is the fifth release of 2016 and the 11th release of the overall Biblical Series. This 2 oz coin is cast from .999 fine Silver with antique finishing and a high relief, rimless design. The reverse depicts Gustave Dore's illustration of Ezekiel overlooking a field of skeletons and corpses coming back to life. The obverse features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by the weight, face value and purity. The edge is engraved with the unique serial number given to each coin. "The Valley of Dry Bones is another phenomenal addition to this dramatic series," APMEX Vice President of Merchandising Andrew Martineau said. "This epic design from Gustave Dore captured in Silver stays true to what we have seen from the entire series so far. We are very excited to see what the rest of the series has in store." With a limited mintage of 1,499, the 2 oz Silver Valley of the Dry Bones coin is the perfect addition to the Biblical Series. Each coin comes with a certificate of authenticity, listing minting specifications and a unique serial number matching the laser-engraved number on the coin's edge. The certificate also features the story of the Valley of Dry Bones and Gustave Dore's artwork, "The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones," the design was based from. The Scottsdale Mint issues the coin by the authority of the island of Niue, where it is legal tender. This beautiful coin is now available for purchase at APMEX. About APMEX, Inc. For more than 15 years, APMEX has been one of the nation's largest Precious Metals e-retailers. Boasting over $7.7.5 billion in transactions, APMEX was recently ranked the #1 Specialty E-Retailer and #42 out of 500 e-retailers by Internet Retailer Magazine. APMEX has the largest selection of bullion and numismatic items provided by a retailer, boasting more than 10,000 products. Product offerings include all U.S. Mint bullion such as Gold, Silver and Platinum American Eagle coins. APMEX also sells products from leading mints around the world including The Royal Mint, Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint and many others. APMEX is a member of the American Numismatic Association, the International Precious Metals Institute and the Industry Council for Tangible Assets. For additional information, visit www.APMEX.com or call (800) 375-9006. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/19/11G114723/Images/709x300-PR-image-for-Biblical-Dry-Bones-64d9475a2cefb52ab6ec844fbe9ab199.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/19/11G114723/Images/115x1115-PR-image-for-Biblical-Dry-Bones-fc5cd268004182289feb3d897cb5ec10.jpg Whitney McCown Whitney.McCown@apmex.com The global super-junction metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) marketis expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 13% during the forecast period, according to Technavio's latest report. In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the global super-junctionMOSFET market for 2016-2020. Based on application platform, the market has been segmented into the following: laptop adapters, desktop PCs, flat TVs, lighting supplies, server power supplies, and others. In 2015, the laptop adapters segment was the highest revenue-generating application segment in the global super-junction MOSFET market, accounting for a share of close to 22%. "One of the key factors for the high growth in the laptop adapters segment is the increasing integration of rapid charging features in laptops. Reducing weight and dimension of the laptops with lower levels of power loss and heat dissipation are also some of the factors contributing toward the growth of this segment," says Navin Rajendra, an industry expert at Technavio for research on semiconductorequipment Technavio hardwareandsemiconductor research analysts segment the global super-junction MOSFET market into the following regions: APAC EMEA Americas CAGR comparison of different regions 2016-2020 Geography CAGR (2016-2020) EMEA 14.85% APAC 14.01% Americas 7.03% Source: Technavio APAC: largest super-junction MOSFET market The consumerelectronics industry is growing rapidly in APAC, especially in countries such as China, Japan, and India, thereby fostering the demand for super-junction MOSFETs. Consumer electronic goods such as flat TVs, smartphones, notebook computers, and mobile phone adapters use discrete power semiconductors such as super-junction MOSFETs. "The market in APAC will grow significantly during the forecast period because of the increasing demand for super-junction MOSFETs from semiconductor manufacturers in countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan," says Navin. APAC will dominate the global super-junction MOSFET market during the forecast period. The super-junction MOSFETs market in APAC was valued at USD 351 million in 2015 and will reach USD 676.1 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 14% during the forecast period. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=52633 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Super-junction MOSFET market EMEA The super-junction MOSFET market in EMEA was valued at USD 208.7 million in 2015 and will reach USD 417 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of close to 15% during the forecast period. Since 2009, the European Union has promoted the use of the wind and solar power to produce electric power. In addition, the introduction of government regulations to use renewable energy sources for the production of electric power has accelerated the demand for super-junction MOSFETs. Super-junction MOSFETs are especially useful when electric power is generated from fluctuating sources. The value of super-junction MOSFETs per megawatt of installed output is a number of times higher than conventional coal-fired or nuclear power plants. Furthermore, the use of super-junction MOSFETs in photo voltaic (PV) systems is increasing in EMEA, mainly because of the falling prices of solar panels and government-backed programs. The European Union has adopted the eco-design directive to develop electric motors for greater energy efficiency. All these developments in EMEA will drive the super-junction MOSFET market in this region during the forecast period. Super-junction MOSFET market in the Americas The super-junction MOSFET market in the Americas was valued at USD 90.4 million in 2015 and will reach USD 126.9 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 7.03% during the forecast period. The market in the Americas is growing at a slow pace mainly because of the presence of a small number of semiconductor manufacturers in the Americas. In addition, semiconductor manufacturers in the Americas will shift their production sites to APAC to minimize their cost structure and expand their production facilities. The top vendors in the global super-junction MOSFET market highlighted in the report are: Fairchild Semiconductors Infineon Technologies STMicroelectronics NV Toshiba Vishay Intertechnology Browse Related Reports: Global Semiconductor IP Market 2016-2020 Global Power Management ICs Market 2016-2020 Global Front End of the Line Semiconductor Equipment Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160919005598/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- T5 Data Centers ("T5" or the "Company"), innovators in providing state-of-the-art, customizable and highly reliable computing support environments, today announced the completion of an equity recapitalization of T5@Dallas and T5@Portland facilities with an investment from ICONIQ Capital, LLC ("ICONIQ Capital"). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Located in the key Dallas and Portland metropolitan areas, both properties are 100% leased and will continue to be operated and managed by T5. The properties will remain under the T5 brand as part of the Company's portfolio of nine data centers across a nationwide footprint and T5 will continue to hold a meaningful ownership stake in the properties. "We are excited to begin this strategic relationship with ICONIQ," commented Pete Marin, President & Chief Executive Officer for T5. "The recapitalization of equity at T5@Dallas and T5@ Portland marks an important milestone for the Company and demonstrates our ability to attract the highest caliber capital partners as we continue to grow our portfolio of top tier data centers nationwide." "The T5 team has an exceptional track record operating world class data centers and servicing blue chip customers with their strategically located industry leading facilities," said John Sauter, Managing Director of Real Estate at ICONIQ Capital. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in these premier assets and we look forward to partnering with T5 to meet the critical demand needs of the Dallas and Portland areas that are being driven by new and emerging technologies and the ubiquity of cloud-based connectivity." Cushman & Wakefield and Moelis & Company LLC acted as financial advisors to T5 in connection with the transaction. CIT Bank, N.A. agented a credit facility and HFF advised on the debt placement for ICONIQ Capital. About T5 Data Centers T5 Data Centers is a leading national data center owner and operator, committed to delivering customizable, scalable data centers that provide an "always on" computing environment to power mission critical business applications. T5 Data Centers provides enterprise colocation data center services to organizations across North America using proven, best-in-class technology and techniques to design and develop facilities that deliver the lowest possible total cost of operations for its clients. T5 currently has business-critical data center facilities in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Portland with new projects announced in New York, and Colorado. All of T5's data center projects are purpose-built facilities featuring robust design, redundant and reliable power and telecommunications, and have 24-hour staff to support mission-critical computing applications. About ICONIQ ICONIQ Capital is a global multi-family office and merchant bank for a core group of influential families. The firm provides a full spectrum of investment advisory services, serving as a thought partner and trusted advisor to its client base. For more information, visit www.t5datacenters.com. Contact: Aaron Wangenheim T5 Data Centers (415) 292-7700 aaron@t5datacenters.com OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Members of the media are invited to attend an exclusive preview and meet the curators of the brand new exhibition Icons of Knowledge: Architecture and Symbolism in National Libraries. Created by the architects Daniel V. Rauchwerger and Noam Dvir, and originally presented at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the exhibition will explore the architecture of national libraries and their complex and fascinating relationship to a nation's culture and history. Drawing on historical materials collected from libraries and architects from around the world, it features examples like the majestic Baroque interiors of the Austrian National Library and Neoclassical masterpieces like Biblioteca Nacional de Espana, the Post-Soviet construction boom as displayed in Belarus' National Library, as well as recent ultramodern projects in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This exhibition will be on display at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St., Ottawa, starting September 22. WHAT: Media preview of Icons of Knowledge: Architecture and Symbolism in National Libraries WHEN: Wednesday, September 21 at 10:00 a.m. WHERE: Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St., Ottawa Contacts: Media Relations Library and Archives Canada 819-994-4589 BAC.Media.LAC@canada.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Airbnb has reportedly acquired Trip4real, a Spanish travel platform that connects travelers with locals who arrange tours and activities for their visit. Airbnb signed the deal over the weekend, according to Venture Beat citing Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. 'We are delighted to join the Airbnb family. Airbnb and Trip4real share a vision of a different kind of travel experience that is local and authentic. We have an exciting future together. We will continue to operate as a standalone business in the near term, and there will be no immediate impact on our experience hosts or current bookings,' said Trip4real founder Gloria Molins, in an emailed statement to Venture Beat. Trip4real was founded in 2012. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but El Confidencial estimates the acquisition price as between $5.6 million and $11.1 million. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. EVERLAM at Glasstec: Hall 10, Stand 10/B34 LUXEMBOURG, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of Glasstec, EVERLAM announced today the launch of EVERLAM' QUIET, its new acoustic PVB offering and a key addition to its portfolio of quality products and services. EVERLAM' QUIET is an acoustic solution combining a high-performance product with the superior level of technical expertise that is the company's trademark. EVERLAM' QUIET is a three-layer PVB that can be laminated in single or multiple glass configurations, bringing extra sound insulation and comfort to building occupants while minimizing the weight of the glass structure. It also ensures optimum processability on laminators' lines. Produced according to the EVERLAM standards of absolute quality and consistency, it is backed by the company's outstanding customer service and technical support. It will be presented at Glasstec (Hall 10, Stand 10/B34). Harald HAMMER, EVERLAM CEO, commented: "I am proud of EVERLAM's innovative spirit, proactivity and capacity to bring value-added solutions to the market. We are confident that EVERLAM' QUIET will create great interest from the market as it combines a state-of-the-art acoustic product with our outstanding customized technical service, offering unique value to our architectural customers." Paul Van Lierde, Director Technology at EVERLAM said: "The expansion strategy for R&D capabilities that we have in place to accelerate our new product development program is the right path forward. EVERLAM' QUIET is a significant step to build our portfolio of high-performance products that makes us stand out on the market place." About EVERLAM EVERLAM is an innovative manufacturer of high-quality polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer for laminated architectural safety glass, dedicated to proposing high-value solutions, comprising quality products that are supported by outstanding technical expertise. Its portfolio includes EVERLAM' CLEAR, EVERLAM' WHITE and EVERLAM' COLORED PVB interlayer, as well as EVERLAM' QUIET, its new acoustic offering. EVERLAM' PVB interlayer (formerly sold in Europe under the trademark Butacite) is used by glass laminators worldwide to produce attractive, durable and high-performance architectural laminated glass products. The company's commercial headquarters and technical center are located in Mechelen, Belgium. Its production plant is in Hamm Uentrop, Germany, where its PVB interlayer has been manufactured for over 25 years. All sites are ISO 9001 certified. EVERLAM was spun out of DuPont in 2014 and is wholly owned by GVC Holdings, a growth equity investment company specializing in the chemicals industry. For more, please visit www.everlam.com. CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Antler Hill Oil & Gas Ltd. (the "Corporation" or "Antler Hill") (NEX: AHO.H), a capital pool company listed on the NEX, is pleased to announce details concerning its proposed qualifying transaction involving a proposed business combination with PetroPhoenix Capital Corp. ("PetroPhoenix"). PetroPhoenix is a privately held company incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) ("ABCA") and operates as an oil and gas exploration and development company with various working interests in producing properties in the State of Kansas. Antler Hill entered into a letter agreement with PetroPhoenix dated September 13, 2016 (the "Letter Agreement") pursuant to which Antler Hill and PetroPhoenix intend to complete a three cornered amalgamation (the "Transaction") whereby Antler Hill will incorporate a new wholly owned subsidiary which will amalgamate with PetroPhoenix to form a new company (the "Resulting Issuer"). Under the Letter Agreement Antler Hill will complete a one for ten (1:10) consolidation of all of its issued and outstanding common shares (the "Consolidation") and the parties will complete the following exchange of securities, at a deemed issue price of C$0.31818 per common share, for an aggregate purchase price of C$5,000,000: i. each outstanding PetroPhoenix common share, being 5,000,000, shall be exchanged for 3.1429 common shares of the Resulting Issuer ("Resulting Issuer Common Shares"), resulting in an aggregate issuance of 15,714,376 Resulting Issuer Common Shares; and ii. each one (1) outstanding Antler Hill common shares will be exchanged for one (1) Resulting Issuer Common Share, resulting in an aggregate issuance of 1,100,000 Resulting Issuer Common Shares. All currently outstanding stock options of Antler Hill shall be cancelled at or prior to closing. It is intended that the Transaction, when completed, will constitute the qualifying transaction of the Corporation pursuant to Policy 2.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. (the "TSX Venture") Corporate Finance Manual. The Transaction is subject to the policies of the TSX Venture relating to qualifying transactions. Antler Hill will hold a special meeting of its shareholders on or before the closing date to obtain authorization for the Consolidation and to change its name to "PetroPhoenix Resources Ltd.". Following completion of the Transaction, it is anticipated the Resulting Issuer will be classified as an oil and gas issuer. About PetroPhoenix PetroPhoenix is a private Alberta corporation with its head office in Calgary, Alberta. PetroPhoenix, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, PetroPhoenix Oil Corp., a corporation incorporated in the State of Kansas, USA, has interests in 16 oil and gas wells located in Lane and Graham Counties, Kansas. All of the properties are operated by Flatirons Resources LLC, a private issuer headquartered in Denver, Colorado. According to a report prepared by William E. Richardson, P.E. of ROEC, Inc. of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a qualified reserves evaluator under National Instrument 51-101, as of July 1, 2016, proved remaining net reserves for the Company are estimated to be 93.2 thousand barrels of oil (MBO) which represent a 15 percent discounted net present value (PV15) of US$1,556,699. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Company Reserves and Value by Reserve Category ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reserve Category MBO MMCF PV15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PDP 93.1 0.0 US$1,556,699 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PDNP 0.0 0.0 -0- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PUD 0.0 0.0 -0- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Proved 93.1 0.0 US$1,556,699 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reserve estimates are in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 And COGEH definitions. The net present value disclosed above is before tax and does not reflect State and Federal income tax, and may not represent the fair market value of the reserve estimates. PetroPhoenix received no revenue for gas production from these properties. Future basis product prices are from Chapman Petroleum Engineering Ltd. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) guidance as of January 1, 2016. The basis oil price is adjusted for gravity and transportation (price differential) to calculate the net wellhead price for PetroPhoenix. PetroPhoenix is authorized to issue an unlimited number of common shares and an unlimited number of preferred shares, of which only 5,000,000 common shares and no other securities are issued and outstanding. To date, PetroPhoenix has raised C$5,500,000 from its directors, officers and insiders, a portion of which was used to acquire the properties. Summary of the Proposed Qualifying Transaction Pursuant to the arm's length Letter Agreement, and subject to the terms and conditions thereof, Antler Hill and PetroPhoenix have agreed to complete the Transaction to form the Resulting Issuer. Pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the parties have agreed to use their "commercially reasonable efforts" to cause Antler Hill to complete a private placement (the "Antler Hill Private Placement") of a minimum of 3,142,875 common shares at a price of C$0.31818 per common share for gross proceeds of a minimum of C$1,000,000 to close concurrently with the Transaction after giving effect to the Consolidation. The parties acknowledge that Antler Hill reserves the right to engage an agent (the "Agent") to act as agent on a "commercially reasonable efforts" basis for the Antler Hill Private Placement and in connection therewith will pay a cash commission to the Agent in an amount to be determined. The proceeds of the Antler Hill Private Placement will be used to fund a portion of PetroPhoenix's costs of the Transaction, continuing operating expenses, and for general working capital purposes. Upon completion of the Consolidation, Transaction and the Antler Hill Private Placement, the Resulting Issuer will have issued and outstanding approximately 20,256,609 Resulting Issuer Common Shares and stock options entitling the holders thereof to purchase up to 2,025,661 Resulting Issuer Shares. This figure includes shares to be issued to finders in respect of their services to PetroPhoenix but does not include any securities that may be issued to an agent or sponsor in connection with the Transaction. Summary of Proposed Directors, Officers and Insiders The board of Antler Hill will consist of four directors: Vic Luhowy, who is currently a director of the Corporation, and the following three nominees of PetroPhoenix: Damien Thenin, Michael Rivett Carnac and John Harkins, provided the TSX Venture does not object to such nominations and such persons are eligible to act as directors pursuant to the requirements of the ABCA. After the closing of the Transaction, the officers of the Resulting Issuer will be appointed by the Board of Directors of the Resulting Issuer and will include Damien Thenin as President and Chief Executive Officer and Darren Moulds, as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. The following is a description of the backgrounds of the proposed directors and officers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Damien Thenin, Age 37, Mr. Thenin has 14 years of international and Proposed President, CEO, and domestic experience in the oil and gas Director industry, consulting for various companies including Shell, BP, Total, Saudi Aramco, KNOC, Nexen, Africa Oil, Cenovus Energy and MEG Energy. He graduated from the Nancy School of Geology, France, with a Master's degree in Engineering and Earth Sciences in 2003. He specializes in 3D interpretation and modeling technologies in addition to traditional geoscience methods to promote exploration and early pre-development projects. Most recently, he was a cofounder and director of Emzed Exploration Services Inc., a private consulting company. Mr. Thenin is also the President of GeoDT Consulting Inc., a private consulting company. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darren Moulds, Age 40, Mr. Moulds has served as Chief Financial Proposed Chief Financial Officer for a number of public and private Office and Corporate Secretary oil and gas issuers. He currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Sonoro Energy Ltd. (SNV TSXV) and Horizon Petroleum Ltd. (HPL TSXV) and has been Chief Financial Officer of a number of other public oil and gas entities having assets all over the world. Prior thereto, Mr. Moulds was the controller of Centurion Energy Ltd. and a manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC. Mr. Moulds has been involved in debt and equity raises throughout North America, the United Kingdom and Norway. Mr. Moulds holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan and holds a Certified Public Accountant designation from the State of Illinois. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victor Luhowy, Age 68, Mr. Luhowy has been the Chairman and a Proposed Director Director of Antler Hill since August 2012 and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer since 2013. Mr. Luhowy has over 45 years of experience in the petroleum industry. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Engineering in 1971 and obtained an MBA from the University of Calgary in 1992. Most recently he has been President and Chief Executive Officer of BelAir Energy Inc. and President and Chief Executive Officer of Mystique Energy Inc. Mr. Luhowy is a Director of BlackPearl Resources Inc. and President and Director of Bel Air Petroleum Management Ltd., a private consulting company. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Rivett-Carnac, Age 33, Mr. Carnac has over 10 years international Proposed Director commercial oil and gas experience, most recently as Legal Manager of Worldwide Petroleum Services (Singapore) Limited, Transition Resources Limited, CaribX Limited and Vela Energy Limited, all of which are private oil and gas companies with interests in international resource projects. Mr. Carnac holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Bristol. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Harkins, Age 60, Mr. Harkins has over 36 years of oil and gas Proposed Director industry experience domestically and internationally. He has successfully led equity and debt financings and corporate restructuring efforts. Mr. Harkins is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Greenfields Petroleum Corporation (GNF TSXV), and an independent Director of Strategic Oil and Gas (SOG TSXV). Mr. Harkins holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Toronto. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The foregoing directors and officers will be insiders of the Resulting Issuer. In addition to the directors and officers, Aumbry Holdings Ltd., the holding company of Michael Rivett-Carnac, and Arcadia Park Trust, a trust formed under the laws of Jersey, each of which will hold greater than 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Resulting Issuer upon completion of the Transaction, will also be insiders. Information Concerning Antler Hill Antler Hill is a capital pool company listed for trading on the NEX board of the TSX Venture. Antler Hill currently has 11,000,000 common shares outstanding, stock options outstanding to acquire 1,100,000 Antler Hill common shares at a price of C$0.05 per share until April 22, 2020. As at June 30, 2016, Antler Hill had cash and near cash assets, net of liabilities, of approximately C$130,000. Additional Information and Description of Significant Conditions to Closing The completion of the Transaction is subject to the approval of TSX Venture and all other necessary regulatory approval. The completion of the Transaction is also subject to additional conditions precedent, including completion of the Antler Hill Private Placement, the Founders Financing, the PetroPhoenix Private Placement, shareholder approval of Antler Hill and PetroPhoenix, satisfactory completion of due diligence reviews by the parties, execution of a definitive agreement, board of directors approval of Antler Hill and PetroPhoenix, and certain other usual conditions. When a definitive agreement between Antler Hill and PetroPhoenix is executed, which is expected to occur shortly, in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture, Antler Hill will issue a subsequent press release containing the details of the definitive agreement and additional terms of the Transaction, including information relating to sponsorship, summary financial information in respect of PetroPhoenix, and to the extent not contained in this press release, additional information with respect to the P&NG reserves information of PetroPhoenix and pro forma share capital of the Resulting Issuer. The Transaction will be an arm's length transaction as none of the directors, officers or insiders of Antler Hill own any interest in PetroPhoenix and none of the directors, officers or insiders of PetroPhoenix own any interest in Antler Hill. Sponsorship of Qualifying Transaction Sponsorship of a qualifying transaction of a capital pool company is required by the TSX Venture unless exempt in accordance with TSX Venture policies. Antler Hill intends to apply for an exemption from the sponsorship requirements. There is no assurance that Antler Hill will ultimately obtain an exemption from sponsorship. Reinstatement to Trading Trading of the Antler Hill Common Shares will not resume until all documents required by the TSX Venture have been filed. Antler Hill will issue a further news release when TSX Venture has received the necessary documentation and trading of the Antler Hill Common Shares is to resume. The TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements As indicated above, completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSX Venture acceptance and shareholder approval. The Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Information Circular to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Corporation should be considered highly speculative. Neither the TSX Venture nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture) has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Neither PetroPhoenix nor Antler Hill will update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Antler Hill. The securities of Antler Hill being offered have not been, nor will be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements. This release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities in the United States. Contacts: Antler Hill Oil & Gas Ltd. Vic Luhowy Interim President & CEO (403) 860-4225 vic@davincibb.net Toronto, Ontario and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2016) - Intertainment Media Inc. (TSXV: INT) (OTC Pink: ITMTF) (FSE: I4T) ("Intertainment" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has secured a bridge loan in the aggregate principal amount of $107,000 from certain arm's length parties to the Company (the "Lenders") bearing interest at a rate of 1.0%, accruing monthly and payable upon the earlier of September 19, 2017 or upon demand by the Lenders. The Corporation is in the process of securing additional loans in the amount of up to a maximum principal amount of $300,000. As security for the payment of the Company's obligations and for the fulfilment and satisfaction of all covenants and agreements made, the Company has entered into a general security agreement with the Lenders pursuant to which the Company has granted the Lenders security interest, which security is subordinated to the existing secured indebtedness of the Company, in respect of all of the Company's present and after acquired property. The Company has received approval for the grant of Security from a majority of the holders of outstanding principal amount of secured convertible debentures of the Company. The proceeds will be used by the Company for working capital and general administrative purposes. Contact For further information on the Company please contact: info@intertainmentmedia.com Forward Looking Information This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Actual timelines associated may vary from those anticipated in this news release and such variations may be material. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. (TSXV") and applicable Canadian securities regulators. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the Proposed Consolidation and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwired - September 19, 2016) - In the news release, "New ActiveYards(R) Showroom Opens in Melbourne, Florida" issued earlier today by Barrette Outdoor Living and ActiveYards, we are advised by the company that the boilerplate for Superior Fence & Rail has changed. Complete corrected text follows. New ActiveYards(R) Showroom Opens in Melbourne, Florida CLEVELAND, OH -- September 19, 2016 -- A Florida-based ActiveYards dealer, Superior Fence and Rail, has opened a brand new showroom in Melbourne, FL. Owned by franchisee Todd Paroline, the new location at 2778 N Harbor City Blvd will service business and retail customers in the surrounding area with ActiveYards vinyl and aluminum fencing. The showroom allows customers to have a complete hands-on shopping experience as they begin the process of selecting their ActiveYards fencing. Paroline encourages customers to stop in and view the ActiveYards brand, the products and services available, look through different fence samples and meet installers and team members. Signage throughout the showroom will explain ActiveYards features and benefits, product specifications and available colors, styles and designs. Also included is a flat screen t.v. video loop which will highlight the ActiveYards story and the unique product ingenuities offered (http://activeyards.com/ingenuities). Customers can map out and create and create their own fence project with their "idea center" to see what their yard will look like. An estimator tool is also available for determining how much each project will cost, and materials needed. A large warehouse is in the back of the building. Sales associates are there to help with customer selection, and to answer product and installation questions. "We've been in the area for many years, in a different location. This new location was picked because it is on one of the busiest roads in the county, has ample showroom space, a large warehouse, and paved outdoor storage. All of our employees followed us from our old store. We have been in business for over 10 years and continue to see growth, so we anticipate hiring more employees from the area as we grow," said Paroline. "With this increased space, we have started to carry more products in our warehouse, especially aluminum, which has increased our sales to professional installers, landscapers, handymen, and independent fence installers. Having a large supply of fence parts has been a good opportunity for us to build relationships with local professional installers which has led to growth in our vinyl and aluminum fence categories," added Paroline. "I am extremely excited for Todd and his team. They have created the first ActiveYards fence store in Florida which gives them a competitive advantage in the market. The store is a great way for the consumer to shop for their fence project," said Jennifer Welsey, Regional Sales Manager, ActiveYards. Available inventory includes the ActiveYards EZFence2Go' system which can be purchased directly at this location, ideal for DIY customers. Packaged in kits, this system represents a high-quality but cost effective solution for those customers with a do-it-yourself mindset. With a fast and effective installation method that takes customers from selection to preparation and then assembly in 3 easy steps, EZFence2Go is the best way to enhance a property with an ActiveYards fence system. With flexible delivery and assembly options, customers can pick up orders and manage the installation themselves. Superior Fence & Rail is pleased to use ActiveYards products, the premier manufacturer of high quality fencing systems. ActiveYards is a true U.S. manufacturing operation in that their systems start from raw materials, are fabricated to a specification, and then shipped to an exclusive network of exclusive dealer partners like Superior Fence & Rail. About Superior Fence & Rail: Superior Fence & Rail is Florida's premier fence installation and fence retail company, serving businesses and families throughout the state. Superior Fence & Rail's 9 locations also provide wholesale fence and supplies. About ActiveYards : ActiveYards is a proud brand of its parent company, Barrette Outdoor Living (BOL). Barrette Outdoor Living is the North American leader in consumer fence manufacturing. Barrette currently produces and markets exterior home products under a variety of leading brand names through specialty retailers, home centers and lumberyards. BOL is an independent subsidiary of Barrette. BOL currently employs 1,550 people and the Barrette parent company employs 3,000. BOL has a head office in Cleveland, OH with the parent company headquartered in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada. The company is privately owned and operated by the third generation of the Barrette family. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/19/11G114801/Images/AY_inside_wall-863e1711ac31a9b3911351e5e7455ee9.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/19/11G114801/Images/AY_Inside_room-00f1481c167084cd9d2a8c7180b137b3.jpg Contact: ActiveYards activeyards@us.ebarrette.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- AirIQ Inc. (TSX VENTURE: IQ) is pleased to announce the signing of an order for 1,000 GPS units with a major construction company in California, U.S. "We are thrilled that we have been awarded this blanket agreement," said Michael Robb, President and Chief Executive Officer of AirIQ. "This order is a testament to our Customer's belief in the benefits of the AirIQ solution to help them manage their assets, increase efficiencies and save time and money," continued Mr. Robb. The Customer will utilize AirIQ's solution to manage their large construction fleet to monitor fleet maintenance, engine hours and driver safety. In addition, the Customer will implement AirIQ's API to integrate with its own internal administrative systems. AirIQ will fulfill the Customer's order in multiple shipments throughout 2016 in accordance with the Customer's installation schedule. About AirIQ AirIQ currently trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol IQ. AirIQ is an intuitive web- based platform that provides fleet operators and vehicle owners with a suite of asset management solutions to reduce cost, improve efficiency and monitor, manage and protect their assets. Services are available online or via a mobile app, and include: instant vehicle locating, boundary notification, automated inventory reports, maintenance reminders, security alerts and vehicle disabling and unauthorized movement alerts. AirIQ's office is located in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. For additional information on AirIQ or its products and services, please visit the Company's website at www.airiq.com. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information based on management's best estimates and the current operating environment. These forward-looking statements are related to, but not limited to, AirIQ's operations, anticipated financial performance, business prospects and strategies. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "hope", "goal", "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. These statements are based upon certain material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking statements, including AirIQ's perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Such forward-looking statements are as of the date which such statement is made and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from future results expressed, anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changes in market and competition, technological and competitive developments and potential downturns in economic conditions generally. Therefore, actual outcomes may differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Other than as may be required by law, AirIQ disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of such information, future events or otherwise. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: AirIQ Inc. Michael Robb President and Chief Executive Officer (905) 831-6444 mrobb@airiq.com NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - September 19, 2016) - Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE MKT: CLM) announced today that the subscription period for its rights offering to holders of the Fund's common stock will commence shortly after the record date. The Fund is issuing to its stockholders non-transferable rights entitling the holders to subscribe for an aggregate of 7,242,819 shares of common stock. Each stockholder is to be issued one right for each whole share owned on the record date, September 23, 2016. The rights entitle stockholders to acquire one share for each three rights held. The subscription period will commence shortly after the record date, and will expire at 5:00 p.m., EDT, on Friday, October 21, 2016, (the "Expiration Date") unless extended. The actual subscription price per share, as determined on the Expiration Date, will be the greater of (i) 107% of the net asset value per share as calculated at the close of trading on the Expiration Date or (ii) 90% of the market price per share at such time. Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. is a closed-end, diversified management investment company and is registered with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission ('SEC") under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. is traded on the NYSE MKT LLC under the trading symbol "CLM". The Fund's investment adviser is Cornerstone Advisors, Inc., which also serves as the investment adviser to another closed-end fund, Cornerstone Total Return Fund, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CRF). For more information regarding Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. or Cornerstone Total Return Fund, Inc. please visit www.cornerstonestrategicvaluefund.com, and www.cornerstonetotalreturnfund.com. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. An investment in the Fund is subject to certain risks, including market risk. In general, shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount from their net asset value and at the time of sale may be trading on the exchange at a price that is more or less than the original purchase price or the net asset value. An investor should carefully consider the Fund's investment objective, risks, charges and expenses. Please read the Fund's disclosure documents before investing. In addition to historical information, this report contains forward-looking statements, which may concern, among other things, domestic and foreign markets, industry and economic trends and developments and government regulation and their potential impact on the Fund's investment portfolio. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the factors set forth in the Fund's disclosure documents, filed with the SEC, and actual trends, developments and regulations, in the future and their impact on the Fund could be materially different from those projected, anticipated or implied. The Fund has no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful under the securities laws of any such state. Please consider the Fund's investment objective, risks and charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus, which contains this and other information about the Fund, can be obtained by calling toll-free at (800) 581-4001 and should be read carefully before investing. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Sanatana Resources Inc. ("Sanatana" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: STA) has reached a settlement with its former director, Barry Fraser, regarding amounts due to him. For cash payment of $65,000 and issuance of 1,000,000 common shares, the Company settled an obligation to pay $56,000 in director fees and a success fee of $103,494 on the sale of the Watershed Property. The common shares issued will be subject to a hold period of four months and a day from the date of issuance. The debt settlement is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. About the Company Sanatana Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company. With an experienced management team and board of directors, the Company has the ability required to identify, develop and fund economic mineral properties. Sanatana is based in Vancouver and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX VENTURE: STA). SANATANA RESOURCES INC. Peter Miles, President and Chief Executive Officer Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information Some of the statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "intends", "is expected", "potential", "suggests" or variations of such words or phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond Sanatana's control. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Sanatana Resources Inc. Mr. Peter Miles President and Chief Executive Officer (604) 408-6680 investor@sanatanaresources.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/19/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, today announced an investment of over $39.6 million in 14 innovative clean technology projects across Canada. The projects, which are being carried out in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, span several sectors, including waste management; energy, exploration and production; power generation; energy utilization; and agriculture. Minister Bains also announced $5.5 million in new funding for three previously funded Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) projects. The announcement was made at DarkVision Technologies Inc., which will receive $3 million in SDTC funding for the development of oil and gas well imaging technology. Projects are funded through SDTC's SD Tech Fund. This investment is part of the Government of Canada's support of clean technology to diversify Canada's economy, open access to new international markets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create well-paying middle-class jobs for Canadians.The Government of Canada has allocated a total of $915 million for the fund to invest in pre-commercial Canadian clean technology projects that have the potential to meet market demand and to achieve Canada's environmental and economic goals in priority areas. Quotes "Through today's investments, we hope to reinvigorate energy innovation in this country. We want to see all industries, all sectors, indeed all Canadians, including the middle class, benefit from this country's amazing potential for long-term growth and success. We imagine a Canada leading the world out of this period of slow growth." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "The investments announced today by Minister Bains demonstrate clean technology's ability to deliver tremendous economic and environmental opportunities to Canadians. SDTC works to bring economically viable innovations to market. The goal is to support globally competitive Canadian companies that produce tangible environmental benefits that also make Canada's economy more competitive." - Leah Lawrence, President and CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada "DarkVision is pleased to receive this level of SDTC funding and support for the rollout of our downhole imaging technology. Our product helps oil and gas operators resolve critical problems in their wells that create inefficiencies. We are excited to work with both SDTC and our consortium partners in bringing this technology to market and helping the oil and gas industry in Canada lower its costs, become more competitive and reduce its environmental footprint." - Stephen Robinson, CEO, DarkVision Technologies Inc. Quick facts -- Budget 2016 provides for an additional $50 million over four years, beginning in 2017-18, to Sustainable Development Technology Canada for the SD Tech Fund. -- SDTC is an arm's-length foundation created by the Government of Canada to promote sustainable development and support projects that develop and demonstrate new technologies to address issues related to climate change, air quality, and clean water and soil. SDTC invests in Canadian companies that, through their innovative technologies, contribute positively to Canada by creating quality jobs, driving economic growth and protecting the environment. -- As of December 2015, SDTC had approved investments of over $840 million in clean technology companies across the country. -- DarkVision has won numerous awards, including first prize in the 2014 BCIC-New Ventures Competition for the B.C. high-tech start-up with the most potential. Associated links -- Sustainable Development Technology Canada -- DarkVision Technologies Inc. -- Budget 2016: An Innovative and Clean Economy -- Clean Technology, Innovation and Jobs - Let's Talk Climate Action -- Natural Resources Canada - Let's Talk Clean Resources -- Canada's Innovation Agenda Follow Minister Bains on social media. Twitter: @MinisterISED BACKGROUNDER Sustainable Development Technology Canada approved projects British Columbia Axine Water Technologies Inc. Sector: Waste Management Project Title: Electrochemical Treatment of Recalcitrant Industrial Wastewaters Funding: $2,000,000 DarkVision Technologies Inc. Sector: Energy, Exploration and Production Project Title: Downhole Imaging System for Alberta In-Situ Oil Sands Wells Funding: $3,000,000 Illusense Inc. Sector: Energy, Exploration and Production Project Title: Laser-based Technology for Inspection of Oil and Gas Pipelines Funding: $1,600,000 Saltworks Technologies Inc. Sector: Waste Management Project Title: Removal and Destruction of Ammonia from Wastewaters Funding: $4,000,000 Schneider Electric - Solar Sector: Power Generation Project Title: SmartESS Inverter Funding: $1,803,186 Sepro Mineral Systems Corp. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Sepro Continuous Gravity Concentration Technology Funding: $440,000 Ontario Advonex International Corporation Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Bio-derived Base Oil for Automotive and Industrial Lubricants Funding: $4,250,960 e-Zn Inc. Sector: Power Generation Project Title: Long Duration Energy Storage Technology for Solar Energy Funding: $700,000 Hatch Ltd. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Blast Furnace Dry Slag Atomization and Recovery Funding: $561,200 Rockport Networks Inc. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Energy-Efficient Photonic Networking Funding: $4,635,000 Opus One Solutions Energy Corporation Sector: Power Generation Project Title: Transactive Energy Network Funding: $5,353,500 Quebec Aeponyx Inc. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Development of an Optical Circuit Switch for Telecommunication Applications Funding: $1,900,000 Group NanoXplore Inc. Sector: Energy Utilization Project Title: Reducing the Footprint of Electric-Motor-Driven Systems, by using Graphene-Enhanced Engineering Plastics Funding: $3,300,000 Manitoba Farmers Edge Inc. Sector: Agriculture Project Title: Automated Decision Support System for Precision Agriculture Funding: $6,107,563 Additional SDTC investments for previously announced projects Ranovus Inc. Project Title: Efficient Data Center Interconnect New SDTC Funding: $3,650,000 Total SDTC Funding: $7,898,681 Temporal Power Project Title: Distributed Grid-Scale Energy Storage New SDTC Funding: $1,100,000 Total SDTC Funding: $5,247,236 Hydrostor Project Title: Underwater Compressed Air Energy Storage Demonstration New SDTC Funding: $800,000 Total SDTC Funding: $2,971,011 Contacts: Philip Proulx Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development 343-291-2500 Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca Depop, a London, UK and Roncade, Treviso, Italy-based mobile, social shopping app, closed a 7.4m funding round. Backers in the round, which valued the company at 38.6m, included Balderton Capital, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Creandum, Red Circle Investments and Lumar. The company intends to use the funds to further expand in the US market and grow its community. Developed in H-FARM in 2011 from an idea of Simon Beckerman, Depop allows users to sell and buy from their smartphone, set up their own stores, follow interesting people and discover unique items. It currently has 4.7 million users in Italy, UK and Central America, with 230k new ones joining every month, an average of 1.6 million new objects uploaded per month, 500k items sold per month corresponding to over 5m, and 70 staff members. FinSMEs 19/09/2016 Purple, a Manchester, United Kingdom-based intelligent spaces company, raised $7m in debt and equity finacing. The package includes a growth loan secured from Boost&Co, which totals $3.9m, and additional funds contributed by existing investors. The company intends to use the funds to recruit in excess of 100 new development and sales employees at existing locations, including offices in the UK, Spain, the US, Singapore and Australia, and more international locations as they open. Led by Gavin Wheeldon, CEO, Purple leverages artificial intelligence to provide a real-time analytics and marketing platform for venues and businesses to engage with visitors and understand the use of physical spaces, learn more about their location, and help them to take action. With 18 million users across 134 countries, the company works with a range of brands and venues, including Molson Coors, Legoland, Jaguar, United Wireless Arena, City of York and TUI. It currently employs over 90 full time staff. FinSMEs 19/09/2016 By Nisha Susan Befikre, starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, has quite a bit of kissing in its promos. The Censor Board might stand in their way when it comes to kissing in the film itself: according to "sources" quoted by DNA, the Board is apprehensive about how several kisses could possibly be given a go-ahead when earlier instances of kissing in other films have been trimmed or at times, cut out. But perhaps the film might find an altogether unexpected champion in Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, who told DNA, "They have to be seen within the films context. As far as I know, Befikre is set in Paris, the city of love where public affection is normal." This is entirely unexpected from the head of a board that has in the past blurred out bras, mild cussing, a reference to having an Indian figure, and stopped the Indian release of the very watery 50 Shades of Grey. Is this the beginning of a Softer, Gentler Pahlaj? Is it that a cure has finally been found for dyspepsia? We dont know, but Nihalanis new context-loving global yardstick excited us tremendously. Might the censor allow films that portray activities that are location-appropriate? Join Raj and Simrans sexual adventures as they travel the world according to Pahlaj Nihalani. Japan In Japan, Raj and Simran would explore Shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage, where the ropes are so beautiful that the bonds are irrelevant. They will also watch a little tentacle porn and get a little excited by a sharp katana or two, all the while trying not to look and sound like a much reviled 'weeboo', someone who has confused Japanese anime with Japanese culture. Brazil In Rio, Raj and Simran will try to figure whether a Latin lover requires any Latin. Perhaps learning to say 'Peccavi' (I have sinned) is enough Latin for any rambunctious couple who have full intentions of learning to samba on the beach with a mental soundtrack of 'Senorita' from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (that was flamenco in Spain but sab ek hi hai). They will get Brazilian waxes and Raj will buy a thong. In Rio, having learnt from Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, Raj and Simran will not smash up the city and claim to have been mugged and want their mummies to buy them new wallets. Britain In UK, aka Britain aka London which has always, always been Raj and Simrans real and natural home, they will maintain a stiff upper lip while having a shag or two. Raj will think of all the compulsorily blonde Brit back-up dancers he is sure are waiting to throw themselves at him. Simran will not expect an orgasm. She will lie back and think of Brexit. South Africa In South Africa, Raj and Simran will go off sex altogether because they are so scared of Zulu dancers wearing feathered headdresses which is what all 53 million South Africans are. Australia Raj and Simran will go down under on the roof of the Sydney Opera House. Dubai They will do it while wadi-bashing in an all-terrain vehicle and while being Islamophobic on the escalator of a mall. Poland In Poland, Raj and Simran will avoid Imtiaz Ali. Thailand In Thailand, which consists of two places, Bangkok and Phuket, Raj and Simran will do it in a speedboat and do it with ping-pong balls. They will also laugh at people who offer them a happy ending because waise what other kind of ending is there. Because they are really not Ek Duje Ke Liye. Switzerland Raj and Simran will do nothing because its a neutral country. Italy In the actual Italy (which is very similar to Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Hungary) Raj will feel at home with men who love their mothers. He will try to feel jaunty on a scooter which he didnt ride even he was 18 and he had no other mode of transport. Riding the Vespa while in possession of a newly shaved chest will give Raj a cold. Simran will also catch a cold after wading into all the fountains, trilling out, Raj! Come here. Hurry up! This way they can be together as lovers tend to do. Raj may try to tell her that none of those fountains were the Trevi, but they both know ki sab ek hi hai. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is an online womens magazine ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's Rs 6,057 crore IPO, the first public offering by an Indian insurer, has hit the primary market starting today in a price band of Rs 300-334 per share. This will be the country's second biggest IPO in terms of size after the Coal India public issue, which raised Rs 15,000 crore via the capital market route in 2010. The private life insurer, majority owned by ICICI Bank, has already raised Rs 1,635.33 crore from the 40-odd anchor investors on Friday, with some of the marquee names such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Nomura, Government of Singapore, UTI MF and HDFC Standard Life, among others. While the IPO closes on 21 September (Wednesday), below are some of the interesting facts about the insurer that investors can go through before putting in their bids. 1) The public offer comprises of up to 18,13,41,058 equity shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, including a reservation of up to 1,81,34,105 equity shares (10 percent of the offer) for the shareholders of ICICI Bank. The offer would constitute 12.63 percent of the company's post-offer paid-up equity share capital. The parent ICICI Bank holds 67.52 percent while Prudential Corporation Holdings owns 25.83 percent stake in the company. The company offers range of life insurance, health insurance and pension products & services. 2) In November 2015, ICICI Prudential sold 6 percent stake to Azim Premji and Temasek Holdings for Rs 1,950 crore, which then valued the company at Rs 32,500 crore. Currently, at the upper end of the price band of Rs 334 a share, the insurance company is now valued at Rs 47,857 crore, which is 3.4 times its embedded value as of March 2016. 3) Of the country's 23 private sector life insurance entities, ICICI Prudential Life's market share stood at 21.9 percent in FY16 as against 16.1 percent in FY12. During the quarter ended June 30, 2016, market share among all insurance companies in India and among private sector life insurance companies in India was 11.2 percent and 23.3 percent, respectively, a Moneycontrol report said. 4) The private life insurer's gross premium income in the last fiscal (2015-16) jumped by 25.2 percent to Rs 19,164.4 crore on year and 23.16 percent in FY15 to Rs 15,306.6 crore, respectively. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year (2016-17), the company's gross premium income stood at Rs 3,560 crore, up 14.4 percent over Q1FY16. Last financial year, the company's profit rose by just 0.75 percent on year at Rs 1,652.7 crore as against 5 percent to Rs 1,640.35 crore in FY15. In the quarter ending 30 June 2016, profit was up 2 percent at Rs 405 crore over the first quarter of FY16. 5) The company's claims settlement ratio for individual death claims improved to 96.2 percent in FY16, which is the highest compared with nearest private sector competitor. The insurer has been paying annual dividends since fiscal 2012, while it has declared an interim dividend of 1.10 per share and a special dividend 1 per share for the quarter ended June 2016. 6) For ICICI Pru Life, unit linked insurance products accounted for 82.6 percent of retail annualised premium equivalent in FY16 and 75.2 percent in Q1FY17. Its annualised premium equivalent from unit linked insurance products increased from Rs 2,210 crore in FY14 to Rs 4,179 crore in FY16, the Moneycontrol report said. As of June 2016, it had Rs 1.09 trillion of assets under management. 7) As of June 2016, ICICI Pru Life had 1,24,155 individual agents and as of 12 July, bank partners had 4,606 branches, with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi accounting for over 55 percent and 56.1 percent of total received premium from new business retail policies in FY16 and the three months ended June 2016, respectively. 8) However, select brokerages feel ICICI Life's valuations appear stretched and the share sale may not offer much of a listing gains. Kotak Institutional Equities, an arm of Kotak Securities Ltd, values ICICI Pru at Rs 41,000 crore or Rs 285 a share, which is 5-16 percent lower to the IPO price band, a Mint report said. Angel Broking with a neutral rating on the IPO believes all the positives are priced in. While the firm has enough scope for business growth in future, we believe the issue is fully priced in and, hence, we have a neutral rating on the issue, Mint report quoted Angel Broking's analyst Siddharth Purohit as saying. Data contribution by Kishor Kadam The Cauvery Supervisory Committee, headed by Ministry of Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar on Monday directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from 21 September to 30 September. Despite the day-long discussions, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu failed to reach an agreement on the quantum of water to be released. "They have not agreed. The two states are free to challenge this order in the Supreme Court when it takes up the matter tomorrow or they can agree with the order before the court," Shekhar told reporters after the meeting. The supervisory committee, in its previous meeting on 12 September, had failed to arrive at any decision for want of adequate information which was to be made available by the river basin states. It had asked them to provide the information by 15 September. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had submitted to the committee data about withdrawal of water, its utilisation, variation in rainfall and its impact on the actual run-off over a period of 29 years in their respective Cauvery basin areas, according to a source. Besides Shekhar, chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry and Central Water Commission chairman are members of the committee, formed to implement final award of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The Supreme Court had on 5 September asked Tamil Nadu to approach the committee over the issue. On that day, the apex court had asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for a period of 10 days to Tamil Nadu to ameliorate plight of farmers there. Karnataka will have to release 3,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu daily between September 21 and 30: Shashi Shekhar SC order is for Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs of water till 20th Sept, my order is from 21st till 30th: Union Water Resources Secretary ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Meanwhile, Karnataka, which is the upper riparian state, approached the Supreme Court on 11 September seeking modification of its order. A day later, the court modified the order, reducing the quantum of water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states to 12,000 cusecs per day until 20 September, when the SC will hear the matter again. Last week, the SC order had led to large-scale protests in Bengaluru. With inputs from PTI Two civilians have been killed in the police firing near the Kaziranga National Park on Monday, after locals clashed with police over an eviction drive in the area, according to ANI. Following a Gauhati High Court order to evict settlers from three villages Deurchur Chang, Banderdubi and Palkhowa the state government decided to go ahead with the drive and remove the settlers living around the edges of the national Park, according to a report in The Assam Tribune. The report further stated that the government had deployed more than 1000 security personnel to avoid a stand-off with the locals, who are opposing tooth and nail, the government's drive to evict them from their homes. Section 144 had also been imposed in the area as a preventive to measure to curb the outbreak of violence, according to ANI. Another report by the Hindustan Times said that the eviction drive was initially scheduled for Wednesday but was preponed by the government to avoid any untoward incident and building up of a local movement against the drive. However, despite the security measures put in place, two people have died in the stand-off while more than 40 civilians have been injured according to CNN-News18. Meanwhile, ANI also reported that around 18 police personnel have also been injured in the clashes. According to the Hindustan Times report, the officials claimed they had the orders to evict more than 250 families in the area while the Assam forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma said, that the drive was in the greater interest of the wildlife and biodiversity of the Kaziranga National Park. Those who do not have patta land too would be compensated after considering all the factors, the report quoted the minister as saying. Taking cognisance of the increasing cases of poaching in the national park, the Gauhati High Court had taken the view that the villagers settled around the area will be well acquainted with the territory of the park and hence would be in a position to aid and abet poaching in the area, according to The Assam Tribune report. "There has been persistent and repeated reporting of poaching of rhinoceros, elephants and other wild animals. The habitants in Kaziranga National Park would be well acquainted with the areas and animal movements, therefore they alone would be in a position to do poaching successfully or abet poaching by others. The concept of national park in the Wild Life Act contemplates that there should be no human habitation," the court order was quoted by The Telegraph. A peasants' rights organisation, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) has been opposing the high court's order stating that the villagers living in the area have not encroached upon the land but the boundaries of the park have been extended into the villages, as reported in The Telegraph. The same organisation has been demanding for compensation and a proper rehabilitation for the peasants, warning that "Singur like situation" may arise if the government stays adamant at evicting the villagers, according to The Assam Tribune report. KMSS' chief Akhil Gogoi had earlier pleaded with the Government not to go ahead with the eviction drive, demanding an extension period of three months for the families to decide their future, according to Times of India. However, another report by The Telegraph quotes a resident as saying that many of the people living in the area are branded as Bangladeshi immigrants by authorities and locals. "Wherever we go, we will be hunted down as Bangladeshis and not allowed to live in peace," the report quotes a villager as saying. Questioning the order to evict them on the argument that they were squatting illegally on the National Park's land, a resident asked that why did the government then hand out land pattas in the region. The report also points out that the area has a government lower primary school which ahead of the eviction drive had been shut down. By Silvio Grocchetti As many as 17,681 women were in prisons at the end of 2014, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The percentage of female inmates has remained steady over a 30-year timeframe: 4% of total inmates, the same as in 1985. Women imprisoned increased by 4% over three years to 2014 compared to a 9% increase in the general prison population over the same period, when it increased from 385,000 inmates to 418,000, leading to overcrowded prisons, IndiaSpend reported in September 2016. Puducherry reported the largest increase of female inmates between 2012 and 2014, 133%, followed by Bihar (18%), Jharkhand (16%) and Chhattisgarh (14%). Uttar Pradesh (3,572), Maharashtra (1,430) and West Bengal (1,317) had the highest number of female prisoners, according to the NCRB report. Only 17%or 3,001women were lodged in prisons for women; the highest proportion, 43%, were in district jails, followed by 33% in central jails. As many as 798 female prisoners (5%) are foreigners. As many as 51 female prisoners died behind bars in 2014; 46 were natural deaths while two were suicides. The highest number of deaths were in Uttar Pradesh (11, including two suicides), followed by Maharashtra (seven), and Punjab (five). 1,800 children growing up in prisons As many as 1,817 children were living in prisons with their mothers 1,596 women at the end of 2014. As many as 1,320 children (73%) were living with under-trial mothers. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of children growing up in prisons, 428, followed by West Bengal (298) and Bihar (166). Letting a child grow up in prison is a controversial provision that has sparked debate: Children are allowed to live with their jailed mothers until the age of six in India. Growing up in restricted spaces, children sometimes miss any sort of education and may not be able to recognise what is obvious to other children, such as the difference between an elephant, a needle and a tractor, BBC reported in November 2005. The Supreme Court issued guidelines for basic rights to be observed in prisons lodging women with children in 2006. It stated that children should not be deemed as convicts and should be provided with food, clothing, separate utensils, adequate sleeping facilities, and other necessary facilities. (Grocchetti is a multimedia journalist and has a BA degree from Napier University, Edinburgh.) Uri, Jammu and Kashmir: Imran Shah was sleeping in the attic of his house in Parampila village overlooking the bowl-shaped Uri town when a sudden explosion woke him up at 5.30 am on Sunday morning. He went back to sleep thinking that it was the army carrying out firing drills across the river Jhelum, just 500 meters from his house in the northern most part of Uri. But, minutes later, he was shaken out of his sleep again by the rattling gunshots and loud explosions which continued for almost thirty minutes before that brief lull. As the explosions continued, I woke up and told my father the army camp has caught the fire, Shah, 16, told Firstpost on Sunday morning outside his house as plumes of smoke continued to rise from three spots from the Armys 12 Infantry brigade in the border town of Uri in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. At 6 am, there were several explosions one after the other and we left the house," Shah said, "My neighbours gathered outside their houses and then someone said militants have attacked the army camp,'' he added. Another Uri resident Shareef Khan, said he mistook the loud explosions for shelling from across the Line of Control (LoC) Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), something which was normal till late Nov 2003, when a ceasefire between India and Pakistan provided the much-needed relief from the daily shelling for the residents of this town. Villages failing along the LoC in Uri have been at the cross-hairs of Pakistan artillery many times in the past after the start of militancy in Kashmir in 1989, but a fragile peace prevailing on the LoC since 2003 has changed the live of thousands of people who have been living on the edge for decades. The shells would land in the market, and crash on residences of people. In 1999, the shells fired from the PoK sides also reached the brigade headquarters, where militant made one of the most brazen forays to date in the more than two-decade old militancy in Kashmir. But never had armed militants, in the past, from across the LoC launched such a daring attack on the Army headquarters here or in the main town of Uri. "When the explosions happened, I rushed to check on my mother in another room,'' Khan said. ''It was about 5.30 am then I heard the blast again and went to the mosque,'' he added. Khan also said that by the time he had returned home, it was clear that something terrible was happening inside the brigade headquarters.'' Then word spread that militants had stormed the headquarters. Sunday's attack on 12 Infantry Brigade, the first in more than two decades of conflict in valley, was carried out by four alleged Jaish militants, who, intelligence sources said, had infiltrated hours before the attack. The attack on this garrison town has come as surprise and shock for the people and security officials. Uri town is ringed by mountains from all sides and has a strong fence with latest sensors and lights that shine real bright in the night, making it easy for the army patrols to detect human movement. The sensors and thermal imagers also make it almost impossible for the infiltrators to sneak in without risking detection and elimination at the earliest. Yet, the puzzle of how four heavily armed militant could sneak into the rear side of the brigade and blast their way into the barracks of sleeping soldiers and unleash death has baffled many. The terrorists fired incendiary ammunition along with automatic fire of small arms that led to army tents, temporary shelters catching fire,'' said Director General Military Operations (DGMO), Lt Gen Ranbir Singh.'' The tents located in the complex were to house additional troops inducted due to routine turnover of units. Since the terrorists had some items with Pakistani markings, I have spoken to Pakistan DGMO and conveyed our serious concerns on the same, Singh said. The militants, according to intelligence sources, crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in the wee hours and rolled over from the top of the hill to reach the base of the barracks where the soldiers were sleeping in two tents. The soldiers were sleeping in tents for paucity of space, an army officer told Firstpost. 6 Bihar was to replace 10 Dogra and because of the paucity of space, the soldiers were sleeping in a tent as there was not enough space to accommodate the soldiers," he said. The terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on the sleeping Jawans and threw grenades towards the tents that caught fire, The lives of the residents of Uri and army are intertwined. The latter is also a source of livelihood for many locals many who literally thronged the entrance of the brigade headquarters in front of the heavy posse of reporters and TV channels covering the attack live. Syed Abdul Majeed, a resident of Uri town, said in the peak militancy years, there used to be daily skirmishes on the LoC between militants and security forces. But the militants never barged into army camps in the main town. When I heard militants have attacked the camp I could not believe it, Majeed told Firstpost as helicopters airlifting injured soldiers hovered over the town with the number of dead soldiers increasing steadily. By 11 am, 17 soldiers were confirmed dead and 25 others injured. The condition of two soldiers remained critical at the armys base hospital in Srinagar. Taha Rashid, who was sitting outside the signboards reading, stop, 200 meters from the headquarters, said he heard soldiers crying for help after two tents caught fire and as explosions continued one after another. I dont know why the soldiers were inside tents when attacks took place,'' he said. '' The tents smouldered for hours after they caught fire.'' Initial reports indicate the militants crossed the LoC early morning and straight away headed for the camp. As far as I understand this group of militants entered Kashmir and carried out the attack the same day, an intelligence officer said. In Srinagar, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the attack saying the deadly attacks was aimed at triggering fresh violence and creating a war-like situation in the region. Mufti said the heightened tension in the wake of Uri attack is set to further vitiate the atmosphere in and around Jammu and Kashmir amid increasing Indo-Pak hostility. Unfortunately, people in Jammu and Kashmir, who are already mired in an agonising situation shall have to bear the maximum brunt of the fresh attempts being made to step up violence and trigger fresh bloodshed in the State, she said. Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Monday announced a financial aid of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of two soldiers from the state killed in the terror attack in Uri in Kashmir and assured them all help from his government. Das paid tribute to the martyrs and said his government is with their families in this hour of grief and their martyrdom will not go waste, an statement said. They will be accorded a state funeral, he said, adding jawans from Jharkhand have never remained behind in making sacrifices for the country. The two soldiers were among 17 killed during the terrorist attack on the army base in Uri on Sunday. In an all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to discuss the response to the deadly Uri attack, it was decided that Pakistan will be isolated diplomatically at every international grouping. Sources: PM Level meeting gives nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. #UriAttack ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 ANI reported that India will present all actionable evidence at international bodies if the need arises. Sources: India to present all actionable evidence if required at international bodies #Uriattack ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Pakistan has accused India of misleading the world to cover up its "reign of terror" in Kashmir by a spate of "vitriolic" and "unsubstantiated" statements. Sartaj Aziz, the adviser to Pakistan prime minister on foreign affairs, said: Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. He further said that that it is deplorable that the Indian Minister (Rajnath Singh) chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting a proper investigation. Singh had tweeted on Sunday that Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such." Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 18, 2016 ANI quoted some sources as saying that the evidence of Pakistans involvement in the Uri attack are the GPS tracker movements which can be traced back to the country, Pashto literature and Pakistani army even marked the arms to be given to Pakistan at DGMO level. Pakistani media reported that the Uri terror attack was staged. An article in The News International also spewed vitriol at Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W). The Pakistan media blamed India for the Uri attacks, saying its timing was suspicious because it coincided with Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif heading to the UN General Assembly to talk about Kashmir. In his Firspost piece, Sreemoy Talukdar too suggested isolating Pakistan globally as a response to the Uri attack. He also suggests lobbying hard to make it a pariah nation and call for debilitating sanctions. Apart from this, the article suggests that on the military front, India should take a proactive stance and launch counter-ops to demolish terror-training camps across the LoC using local intelligence inputs. With inputs from PTI. Keep reading, bonus is there () Hometown Visit (1) - Sergeant Li, where's the washroom? Gradually, a girl's face turned clearer in front of my eyes. You come round? Oh, so great! The girl spoke in excitement. Very good. So now we leave him to you. I turned to look. A ranked officer stood up from beside and walked away to join a dozen of soldiers passing by. What happened? I still felt very dizzy. You lost consciousness when a shell exploded nearby. Fortunately, you didn't get wounded badly. A shrapnel hit your helmet. You were lucky. It came along a tangent line and hit the tangent point at the top of your helmet. Had it hit the middle of the helmet, your neck could have been broken. Who told you that? Sergeant Li, the leader of your squad. The medic said you might have lost part of your memory for a short while. Who is that officer just now? That's Captain Lei Xiong, machine gun company . Where am I? Four Banks Warehouse . The girl replied. And who are you? Yang Huimin , girl scout. I just crossed Soochow Creek and came here to deliver a national flag to Colonel Xie and you guys. I'm, girl scout. I just crossedand came here to deliver a national flag to Colonel Xie and you guys. Colonel Xie? Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan . The girl helped me to sit up and lean against the wall. Do you need water? I, It's better to drink some. Here. Yang Huimin unlidded a water bottle and passed to me. Thanks. I returned it to her after drinking. Much better now. You come here alone? Yes. Just for delivering a national flag? It's important, isn't it? Well, I see all those Japan's Sun Flags around here every day and also a few Union Jacks dot on the other bank of Soochow Creek whereas there's no single national flag of China, I feel sad and furious. It's our land, it's the land of China. Is it right to any Chinese that the gangster's flags and invader's flags are everywhere and no ours is seen? You are darn right. Thank you so much! Appreciated! You are hero, a heroine. No, I just did what I believe is right. Facing a heroine, how was I supposed to hide myself in the corner while I hadn't got seriously injured? I struggled to stand up. Are you all right? She helped to hold my arm. Yes, I'm totally fine. A young girl like you even can be this courageous. One day, I will You will catch Matsui Iwane or even Katsuki Kiyoshi for us? Who? Never mind. I was joking. Here. She collected a helmet from beside, put it on my head and buckled it. Ha! A soldier again. Thanks. Uh, where's my Here. All your gears are here. She walked to a pile of stuffs a few yards beside on the ground and picked up a rifle and an infantry pack first. I walked fast towards her to collect the gun and then put the pack on my back. Your bayonet, grenades, bullet clips, shovel, and, what is this? Sun glasses? Where did you get this? I don't know. It's mine? I took a look outside. Wait. Why is it so quiet now? Attack stopped. Guess those Japanese really need to take a break as you guys have already repelled six attacks. It's awesome! Well done! All Shanghai citizens are excited! The girl smiled while still studying the glasses. The job you've done is extraordinary. It's so heroic, so patriotic, so amazing! Oh don't mention it too much. Actually, Mr. Cao Juren also offered a helping hand in it. Who? Cao Juren? Yes, that newspaper reporter. I know him. I think he is my relative, well, indirect relative. I'm hailing from Shaanxi while he is from Shanghai or Zhejiang. Oh yah? Yah, he's a relative to my relative's relative. The girl laughed. No, no, I'm not lying. Serious. The girl was still laughing. Then every one is every one's relative after all. Where are we? I mean, where exactly are we in the warehouse? Third floor. We are facing north. Colonel Xie has talked to Captain Lei about blocking all the openings on the ground floor around midnight except keeping the south exit open. Oh, Major Yang wounded too. Who? You really lost part of your memory. Major Yang Ruifu , 1st Battalion, 524th Regiment. And Corporal Chen Shusheng sacrificed when he carried a dozen of grenades and pulled the strings after rushing into a group of Japs trying to blow the corner of this building. Chen Shusheng? I was greatly touched at the words. What a hero! His blood is not shed for nothing, but for our nation's independence and freedom. His death is heavier than Mount Tai. He will be put into our Valhalla after the war and will be memorized by us, by our sons, grandsons, great grandsons, and on and on. We lowered our heads, praying in silence for the martyr's soul resting in peace. Is he a Nationalist or a Communist? I lifted up my head. Nationalist, Communist, or neither this nor that, does it matter? No, I'm just asking. Where's Sergeant Li and my squad? They are downstairs, on the ground floor. I saw them there when Colonel Xie asked Captain Lei to show me around. All right, I want to go back to join them now. Are you sure? Yes. I come with you. No, you stay here. Look, now you are not as familiar as I am with this warehouse. I just walk you through there. You want to see the national flag? It's also there, downstairs. Colonel Xie says we will put it above the roofing. Right now, he is in the meeting with captains and lieutenants. I'm not sure if injured Major Yang is in the meeting or not. I also heard Colonel Xie ask people to find certain string and a very long flag pole. So, before that, if you still want to take a close look at the flag. Come with me. All right, all right. Fully armed, I came downstairs with Yang Huimin and nodded to the soldiers we came across. Each pair of eyes gleamed with bravery, constancy, and fortitude. The openings of the ground floor were not fully blocked yet, but preparation work was well ongoing. The air was permeated with mixed smells of sulphur and certain scorched material. Outside the warehouse flames were still burning at some places and many things couldn't be seen clearly as they were covered under heavy black fume. There, that's Sergeant Li, the one with a white scarf around his neck. He said it's just a slight scratch. And the other two are Wang Wenchuan and Wan Lianqing . Yang Huimin pointed at the three soldiers smoking cigarette behind the somewhat damaged fortifications outside the warehouse. You can report to Sergeant Li after his smoking. But now, come, let me show you. She pulled me aside and nodded to a national flag placed on a big table. See? People already put it on this pole. We can use it when we launch attack and charge. But Colonel Xie says we need a very long pole and we hoist the national flag atop the building so that the people of Shanghai can see our flag from afar. What do you think? That's a great idea. I replied in joy, feeling the national flag of Republic of China after I used a corner of my uniform to wipe my fingers clean enough. I will be present at the flag-raising ceremony and salute to the flag when everything is made ready. Me too. The girl's eyes turned damp. We will fight until the day of victory. We will. And Captain Lei says I gestured to Yang Huimin to turn down and asked in a very low voice. Sssh Did you hear?I gestured to Yang Huimin to turn down and asked in a very low voice. What is it? She murmured. Just Sergeant Li and his guys chatting. Nothing else. No, that's not what I'm asking. I heard something else. Wait here. Let me take a look outside. I unslung my rifle and walked on light steps towards the opening where Sergeant Li and the other two were standing nearby. They were still smoking and chatting in a low voice and didn't notice me coming outside. I looked around, but couldn't get a clear view because of heavy smokes all around. Then I heard certain noise again, from the left side. It was clearer and closer. I rubbed my eyes. In vagueness, I saw some shadows moving over. The reinforcement should come from south or east if any, but not from north or west. My Confucius' mother! I shouted out at my loudest voice, Japs! From left! The nearest Japanese soldier jumped out of darkness and rushed towards me. He was too close for me to take aim. When I pulled the trigger, nothing happened! A bayonet was thrusting towards my chin. I dodged aside by instinct in split-second, but lost the balance and fell on the ground. When I looked up, Sergeant Li had already been grappling with that Jap. Attack incoming! Straight ahead! Someone was shouting almost at the same time of the roars of machine guns and rifles and the explosions of grenades. I didn't know how to re-load the gun. I was so nervous that I wanted to pee. Both Sergeant Li and the Jap rolled down to the ground, but Sergeant Li was under the Jap. Yang Huimin was seen rush out and wave the flag in the air. But she hadn't told me where I could find the washroom. I wanted to pee, I wanted to pee. I couldn't hold it any more. I couldn't hold it, I couldn't Excuse me, Sergeant Li! Where's the washroom? Notes: 01. Sergeant Li, where's the washroom?: 02. Captain Lei Xiong, machine gun company: 03. Four Banks Warehouse: 04. Yang Huimin: 05. Soochow Creek: 06. Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan: 07. Matsui Iwane: 08. Katsuki Kiyoshi: 09. Cao Juren: 10. Major Yang Ruifu: 11. Coporal Chen Shusheng: 12. Valhalla: 13. Wang Wenchuan: 524 14. Wan Lianqing: 524 New Delhi: The Army on Monday said it reserves the right to respond to any cross-border terror attack "at the time and place of our own choosing", a day after the Uri strike that was blamed on a Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM sparking calls for exercising military options. The Army also said it has the desired capability to respond to any blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by them. The remarks by Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh came at a time when some security experts and political leaders have called for targeting terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) after the attack that left 18 soldiers dead and over two dozen injured. "The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us," Lt Gen Singh said in a statement to the media at the South Block. "We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing," he added. Lt Gen Singh's remark was identical to the statement given by then Army chief Gen Bikram Singh in 2013 after the 8 January violation of the Line of Control(LoC) in which one jawan was beheaded and the other had his throat slit. "We'll give them a fitting reply...we will respond at a time and place of our choosing," he had said. Following the Pathankot attack earlier this year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also said the same. However, top Army sources told PTI that action will be taken but nature and timing of it will not be revealed at the moment. "There should be an element of surprise which is not there at the moment as Pakistan will be prepared for a retaliation. The Indian Army of course has its strategy in place and will do its job," the sources said. New Delhi: Congress on Monday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Uri terror attack, holding him "singularly responsible for the complete disarray", and asked if he would act against Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. "India's borders & National Security has been under siege for last 2 years. Def Min. should be held accountable (sic)," Congress' chief spokesman Randeep Surjewla tweeted. In a series of tweets, he attacked Modi and the Centre over the terror strike on an Army base in which 17 soldiers were killed on Sunday. "Will PM Modi show courage of conviction by acting against those responsible in his own command & control structure including his Def Min.? (sic)" Surjewala asked. "Will PM Modi concede that #UriAttack happened on account of a massive intelligence failure? Despite Poonch incident, why were we unprepared? "EAM (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Ji is conspicuous by her absence on foreign policy. Isn't PM Modi singularly responsible for the complete disarray?" he asked. Surjewala wondered that while Modi has said that the attack won't go unpunished, "will he traverse the distance from rhetoric to reality by firm & appropriate response?" "Will ModiGovt tell who leaked info of troop movement and changeover? Why were jawans in tents and not in two empty buildings?" he attacked. He said the attack is the "final wake up call" for thegovernment which should ask the international community to impose sanctions against Pakistan. "Test for all Nations who oppose terror & stand with India," he said. Taking a dig at Parrikar, he said the Defence Minister is "busy threatening fellow Indians like Aamir Khan" and asked whether the priorities have gone wrong for the government. In one of the deadliest attacks on the Army in recent years, 17 jawans were killed and 19 others injured as heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday. Four militants involved in the terror strike were killed by the Army. India is aghast at the wanton killing of 19 soldiers in Sunday's Uri terror attack, one of the worst strikes on a military centre in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade. The soldiers were martyred in the proxy war after 4 heavily-armed terrorists stormed the army camp in the town, as reported by CNN News18. As the initial investigations by the Army have indicated the role of the Pakistani jihadist terror outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed in the attack, the motive behind this nefarious strike is self-evident. The terror goons who butcher the innocent children, women and elderly people in their own Islamic country, because they are not perfect in faith, are easily enticed to attack the Indian army. The terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed or any other violent jihadist outfit in Pakistan wreak violence in a crazy bid to earn martyrdom or what they glorify as Shahadat. Its the biggest lure for them to get free and direct entry to Jannah (heaven). But we cannot wash our hands of this mindless martyrdom, underestimating these gullible, indoctrinated or naive youths. Veteran Lt Gen of Indian Army Prakash Katoch has rightly pointed out in an earlier Firstpost article: We cant brush the issue under the carpet simply under cover of misguided youth, terrorists use children and women as shields and the like. What about the parents of the children are they under terrorist threat or are they getting radicalised as well, and if so why and how. In this context, Prakash Katoch has asked very pertinent questions: Dont they need to be addressed? Has the state ever talked to religious maulvis and religious preachers since they are crucial to radicalisation and de-radicalisation? Should they not be talked to periodically, to review the situation and make course corrections, as required? It cannot be denied that Indian ulema the religious guides of Muslim youthhave been vehemently opposed to the brainless acts of violence including the Pakistani terror attacks juxtaposed with jihad and martyrdom. Recently, Mufti Mohammed Salim Noori, the spokesperson of a leading Indian Islamic seminary stated in his fatwa that, the terrorists like Hafiz Saeed are beyond the pale of Islam. He wrote the harshest words against Saeed stating that he spilled innocent blood in the name of religion and that it is sin for the common public to listen to his hate speeches a Firstpost article has detailed it. But these condemnations have proven ineffective in the series of wanton jihadist bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir. The more strongly they condemn, the more deadly attacks the Pakistani Jihadists launch on the valley. Terribly, the Pakistani Jihadists such as Jaish-e-Mohammed have attached greater religious sanctity to their terrorist designs on India. Their war cry of ghazwa-e-hind (Islamist expedition against India) is entirely based on six fabricated prophetic sayings (hadiths). The most common among them is the one that is attributed the Prophets companion Hazrat Abu Huraira (r.a): Abu Huraira (r.a) said, The Messenger of Allah promised us the conquest of India. If I was to come across that event, I will spend my soul and wealth. If I am killed then I am among the best of martyrs. And if I return then I am Abu Huraira (RA) who has been freed from the fire of hell. Hadiths like this have extensively been quoted in Pakistan where the jihadist ideologues and extremist maulvis have tempted the Muslim youths to participate in the ongoing proxy war against India. The founder and leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Maulana Masud Azhar often exhorts the virulent doctrine of ghazwa-e-hind in his speeches. Another jihadist ideologue in Pakistan, Maulvi Irfan ul Haq also uses this Hadith to misguide the Pakistani people fomenting hatred against India as land of kufr. He ranted in his sermon: You see, God eliminated kufr and shirk (idolatry and polytheism) from the entire Arab peninsula. But polytheism and idolatry were yet to be uprooted from the rest of the world. Therefore, in his final days, the Prophet issued an order. He said, There will be a Ghazwa (Islamic battle) in India, in which a group of my Ummah would participate and they will be granted a position equal to that of my foremost followers. In this jihad, some people will be killed and some others will be arrested. After achieving the conquest, the group will join the army of Isa Ibn-e-Maryam (Jesus) in Syria He further says: Abu Hurairah wished to reach their position, but the Prophet did not respond to his plea and remained silent. Imagine, how fortunate the Pakistanis are who would participate in the Prophetic Battle for India (Ghazwa-e-Hind). One wonders how come this is conceived as a Ghazwa, which terminologically means an Islamic battle in which the Prophet himself participated. The Pakistani maulvi himself explains it: See! Here the word ghazwa has been used. Needless to tell the intellectual gathering over here as to why has it been termed ghazwa when the Prophet (pbuh) is no more now to participate in this battle physically? Simply, because it is none other than Prophets own mission. So, you have to carry on this Prophetic mission. Thus, the jihadist Pakistani cleric Maulvi Irfan ul Haq avers that Pakistan has been created for Ghazwa-e-Hind. He exhorts that this is an honour that Allah has bestowed on Pakistanis, and this is the cause that led to the establishment of Pakistan. However, he laments that majority of us (Pakistani Muslims) do not even know what Ghazwa-e-Hind is. This is precisely why you Pakistanis are criticised by all the evil forces and especially by Indian people. For they know very well why this country has been established. They fully understand why this nation has emerged. But you people do not have the faintest idea about it, the Maulvi states in his speech. Clearly, all this was stated relying on the fabricated and misconstrued sayings attributed to Prophet or his companions. Therefore, we cannot overlook the radical Pakistani clergy breeding for the terrorists taking arms to strike India. While it is an obnoxious religious design to eliminate all infidels from the Indian sub-continent, one cannot reject its implication as part of the proxy war that Pakistan has launched. This intellectual war against India is going on in so many ways. Scores of print and online magazines are freely available to the Pakistani youths enchanting towards war against India. Jihadist organs in the Pakistani literature are still flourishing with an onslaught of radicalization. Take a look at Jaish-e-Muhammads magazine in Urdu entitled Jaish-e-Muhammad, Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistans Urdu magazine Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad, an extremist monthly in English, "Azaan", many other extremist Islamist magazines in Urdu like Al-Shariat, Sada-e-Mujahid Hateen, Murabetun, Al-Qalam, Rah-e-Wafa and Zarb-e-Momin etc. These are some of the many instances of how Pakistani jihadist ideologues resort to Quran and Hadith in an attempt to brainwash the common Pakistani youth. The Pakistani Islamist outfit Islam ke sipahi (the soldiers of Islam) published an article 'Ghazwa-e-Hind: Mujahideen will conquer India'. Quoting run-of-the-mill and brazenly concocted prophetic traditions, the author, the chairman of Islam Ke Sipahi, buttresses his point: India is a fitna (evil), which is being supported by the Zionists to destroy Muslims. This has turned into a proxy war where the Zionists fund and support India to destroy the Muslims. India itself was a Muslim country until the British invaded it and before they left they gave all the power to the Hindus and tried their best to bring the Muslims down, thanks to Allama Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Pakistan Movements efforts that Muslims got Pakistan. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, when the Pakistani terrorists attacked the administrative block of the Indian Army killing 19 and injuring over two dozen soldiers, they all seemed well-spirited. It was a bloody war of Ghazwa-e-Hind by the people of Jinnah to go straight to Jannah (heaven). Reportedly, the Uri terrorists belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammed, as the Director General Military Operations Lt. Gen Ranbir Singh told the media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has decided not to travel to Pakistan for the Saarc Summit, has pledged that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished. But what about the theological terror creators who provide the doctrinal basis for the militants turning terrorists and going haywire? What is the state administration planning to do about it? I repeat the question that the veteran Lt Gen of Indian Army has posed: Has the state ever talked to religious maulvis and religious preachers since they are crucial to radicalisation and deradicalisation? Should they not be talked to periodically, to review the situation and make course corrections, as required? Doing something serious about it will be one of the befitting tributes to the martyrs of the Uri attack. The author is a scholar of Comparative Religion, Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies. Views are personal. He tweets at @GRDehlvi. Email: grdehlavi@gmail.com Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has picked Williamson M. Evers, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Gerard Robinson, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to be on his presidential transition team for education, according to multiple sources. Evers served as an assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Education from 2007 to 2009, and also was an adviser to former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in 2007 under President George W. Bush. Robinson served as Floridas education commissioner from 2011 to 2012, and has also served as Virginias education secretary and as the president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. Neither the Trump transition team nor the Trump campaign responded to requests for comment. Both Evers and Robinson referred questions about their positions to the Trump campaign. Trumps Growing Interest in Education The Trump campaign has been creating a decent amount of education-related news recently, after several months in which Trump mostly made only cursory mentions of the topic. On Sept. 8, Trump outlined his plan to create a $20 billion federal school choice program for students in poverty, and also backed merit pay for teachers. And on Sept. 13, he unveiled a suite of child-care policies that include six weeks of paid maternity leave and tax credits for child-care costs, among others. Last month, he hired Rob Goad to serve as his education adviserGoad is a staffer for Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., and has worked extensively on K-12 choice issues for the Indiana Republican. Evers has an extensive background in academic standards. He was appointed by two former California governors, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to serve on two separate standards commissions. And hes been a big critic of the Common Core State Standards. In a 2015 op-ed for Education Week, for example, Evers said advocates of the common core were subverting a key aspect of the American civic system : The common cores promoters are endeavoring to suppress competitive federalism. The common cores rules and its curriculum guidance are the governing rules of a cartel. The common cores promoters and their federal facilitators wanted a cartel that would override competitive federalism and shut down the curriculum alternatives that federalism would allow. Hes also written about struggling schools, mathematics, and school funding, among other topics. Evers has served on a county board of education in California, where hes also been on the board of directors for a charter school. Trump has consistently opposed the common core . Robinson resigned as the Florida chief four years ago after a difficult year in office. He left the job not long after a controversy surrounding a precipitous drop in proficiency rates on the state writing examthe state board responded by lowering the pass score on the test. Some also criticized the state education departments handling of Floridas A-F accountability system on Robinsons watch, and how he handled English-language learners with respect to A-F school grades. At AEI, Robinson focuses on school choice, regulatory issues, and the role of for-profit institutions in education, among other topics. In an August op-ed for U.S. News and World Report, Robinson argued for a new set of priorities to drive education , including entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the antithesis of the bureaucratic model that has been a hallmark of the one best system for more than 100 years. The time is ripe for more entrepreneurial ways to deliver teaching and learning in pre-K-20 education. This endeavor, however, requires a herculean shift in values. An entrepreneurial approach sees a problem as an opportunity; a bureaucratic approach sees an opportunity as a problem. Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H, last June. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . New Delhi: The much-talked about Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2010 may be introduced with sweeping amendments in the Monsoon session of Parliament. The changes include permitting the lease of Wakf properties for commercial purposes up to 30 years from the existing three years cap but the government is not convinced with the arguments by a section of Muslim organisations that Wakf properties should be allowed to be sold out. "We have accepted most of the recommendations and suggestions of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha and some other stakeholders on the Wakf Bill. Most probably it will come in the next session of Parliament," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told a conference of state minority ministers. He also said that the select committee of Rajya Sabha to which the bill was referred last year, has also taken on board the suggestions given by the states. The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in May 2010. The select Committee of Parliament has suggested modification of some 19 clauses of the Bill. Some of amendments suggested by the committee included removal of power of Wakf boards to even mortgage any Wakf property. At the same time it also suggested that the Wakf boards should be empowered to lease Wakf property for short periods at market rent in the interest of the community. Suggesting strong penal provision for those encroaching the Wakf properties, the Committee has also recommended that if Wakf land already acquired is not put to use within one year for the public purpose for which it was acquired, than it shall revert back to the Wakf Board. It has also suggested a review of Wakf lands acquired since 1995 to ascertain whether they have been put to the use for the public purpose for which they were acquired. PTI By Deepika S Earlier this week, reports emerged that 24 policewomen from a unit in the Delhi police had accused an officer and his staff of sexually harassing them in the workplace. One woman who had complained about the officer to his higher-up said she was harassed openly after the officer was let off with a warning. An inquiry was set up only after five months, when the allegations were made public. Its only the latest in a series of incidents that highlight what working conditions are like for many women in the police force. While its widely known that Indian police personnel function under high levels of stress, with long shifts, pressure from superiors, low funding and low salaries, it is incidents like the one in Delhi that constantly remind us that while being in the police grants its personnel a degree of power, policewomen are as vulnerable to assault and workplace harassment as women in the rest of the population. In January this year, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh cleared a plan to introduce 33 percent reservation for women among fresh recruits to the central police forces. But plans for it had been brewing beforehand, and Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had written to Singh in March 2015, asking for one-third reservation for women in the force to address violence against women. Its an interesting line of reasoning, and Gandhi isnt alone in deploying it: three days ago, in an article on women police in Tamil Nadu, former CBI director RK Raghavan mentioned that all-women police stations in the state were set up to deal with complaints made by women, and women personnel in various states police departments had been inducted over time to specifically cater to the special needs of women. Its commendable that womens needs are being taken into account within the police system. But considering just over 6 percent of Indias 17.22 lakh police personnel are women, when women police are considered necessary primarily to deal with other women, its as if the gender imbalance within the police and its consequent limiting of opportunities for women isnt seen as a problem in itself. And that the job of being sensitive to women victims of crime is a job only women officers can cater to. According to a 2015 report on Indian policewomen by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, apart from problems like the shortage of toilets for policewomen on duty and the absence of childcare facilities, women officers were typically given desk jobs or tasks away from frontline policing, which hindered the advancement of their careers. Less than 1 percent of women occupied senior ranks within the force; almost 90 percent served as constables. The report also mentions male culture within the force, and how with policing being seen as a mans job, women are seen as inherently inferior, leaving them pressured to work doubly hard to counter negative perceptions about their capabilities. And from interviews with junior women staff, the authors of the report found that sexual harrasment in the workplace was considered normal. It affirms much of what we learned from Priyanka Dubeys heartbreaking three-part series on India policewomen in 2014, beginning with a close examination of the incident in Latehar in rural Jharkhand where a police constable was raped, and then threatened with dismissal for not being able to protect herself despite being a policewoman. The policewoman told Dubey: We never held a pistol in our hands. We are trained only in holding a danda (wooden stick), and not even properly. Our training was never a matter of concern since most of us are not considered capable of doing any serious work. But how can we protect others or even ourselves without any proper training? In her piece on women officers, Dubey quotes CID Inspector Poonam Lata: No matter how competent we are, seniors think Ladies hai. Pata nahi kar payegi ya nahi! Even if our male counterpart is not serious about work, even if he is a habitual drunkard, he will be made station-in-charge. Not us. In her final piece in the series, Dubey follows up on cases in which women officers complained of harassment or assault, to find little action taken in their support. It explains why policewomen might take the drastic step of attempting to take their lives while serving in the force. Cases like the death of R Vishnupriya, the 27-year-old Deputy Superintendent of Police in Tamil Nadu given the task of solving the murder of Gokulraj and allegedly under pressure from superiors, and the suicide attempt of Sub-Inspector Roopa Tembade in Karnataka after alleged harassment by a higher-up are extreme reminders of the limited options available for redressal. In his piece titled The seamy side of women police force in Tamil Nadu, Raghavan expresses his disappointment at the way women police wings have acquired notoriety for harassing men and for their lack of integrity, and at the way women investigators use foul language and often cross limits. Though he acknowledges the challenges they face, their actions he refers to do not sound different from interactions with male police. Working honestly and with integrity should be expected of every police officer, and poor working conditions do not excuse corruption or a disregard for human rights. But its unfair that Raghavan seems to expect policewomen to serve as morally upright Florence Nightingales in khakhi, catering to womens special needs. Perhaps the question to ask in Raghavans case is not why policewomen are disappointing him, but, to modify his phrase, who will cater to the special needs of Indian policewomen. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is an online womens magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between. Lucknow: In fresh signs of strain in Samajwadi Party, a number of youth leaders close to Akhilesh Yadav on Monday quit hours after state party chief Shivpal Yadav expelled seven youth leaders, including three MLCs, threatening the fragile truce in the faction-ridden ruling party. Sunil Singh Sajan, Anand Bhadauria and Sanjay Lathar all MLCs were shown the door for making "derogatory remarks" against party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, indulging in anti-party activities and indiscipline by Shivpal, who also cracked the whip on other youth leaders of the pro-chief minister camp. Besides the MLCs, state chief of SP youth brigade Mohd Ebad, state president of SP yuvjan sabha Brijesh Yadav, national president of SP youth brigade Gaurav Dubey, and state chief of chatra sabha Digvijay Singh Dev were sacked from the party on similar grounds by Shivpal. Taking strong exception to the tough action, a number of youth office bearers of the party's front wings spontaneously resigned, claiming that "Akhilesh" is their "undisputed" leader. "Akhilesh ji is our undisputed leader. We joined politics under his leadership. We did not indulge in indiscipline. We are even ready to give our life from him," an angry Brijesh said. Digvijay aired similar sentiments, saying they believe in the policies of Netaji (Mulayam) and will continue to work for Samajwadi Party. "We only apprised Netaji of our views in favour of Akhilesh," he said. High drama unfolded in the VVIP Guest House area where two youths of SP chatra sabha climbed atop a TV transmission tower to protest the mass sacking. Protests against the decision were reported from some districts as well. After taking the decision, Shivpal visited CM's residence and both the leaders had closed door talks. A meeting of legislators and party district presidents has been called by Shivpal on Tuesday to discuss the party's strategy for the Assembly elections due early next year. Meanwhile, Shivpal, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme, gave a tough message to party cadres saying, "Strict action will be taken against all those who indulge in indiscipline." New Delhi: Months after he called the Prime Minister an "ISI agent", Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra on Sunday wondered if there is a "secret deal" between Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif due to which the nation was suffering. In a blog written after the Uri terrorist attack, which has left 17 soldiers dead, Mishra said it's clear now nothing is working out between India and Pakistan and no back channel diplomacy is of any use. "Time has come, India should know is there a secret deal between Modi and Nawaz Sharif? Time has come to make public what has been discussed and decided between the two during various secret and not-so-secret meetings (sic)," he said. He said Indians have right to know the "secret of cosy, brotherly and loving friendship between Modi and Sharif". "As we pay homage to our 17 brave soldiers, the real question is...is India paying price of a secret deal between Modi and Sharif??? (sic)" Mishra asked. The AAP minister said despite the Pathankot terror attack in January, the "friendship" between the two prime ministers continued and "ISI (Pakistani spy agency) was invited" to probe the Pathankot attack. After a Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan visited the Pathankot terror attack site in April, Mishra had called Modi an "ISI agent". "Do we have a ISI agent as PM now? It's very serious the way PM is surrendering to anti-India forces?" Mishra had then tweeted. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars national ambition appears meshed in the politics over the ban on liquor and release of former MP and don of Siwan district Mohammad Shahabuddin. Like a bird entangled in a net, Kumar will thrash around to try fly again, but the two issues prohibition and Shahabuddin have brought to the fore the weaknesses inherent to his politics that will continue to be a drag on him. Kumar, though, can hope for temporary relief. Should the Supreme Court cancel Shahabuddins bail, media stories about his disdain for law, the ruthless murders he allegedly plotted and ordered or committed, and the structure he created parallel to that of the state, will certainly peter out. Nevertheless, the damage to Kumars image has been irreparable. This is because the debate over whether the Bihar government was complicit in Shahabuddins release has dented the moral authority of Kumar. He is seen, rightly or wrongly, to have succumbed to the pressure his ally, Lalu Prasad Yadav and his party Rashtriya Janata Dal mounted on him to script Shahabuddins flamboyant drive into freedom. This narrative also explodes the myth that Kumar can restore the primacy of law amidst the pulls and pressures of the coalition government he heads. Worse, Shahabuddins description of Kumar as chief minister of circumstances has underscored the fragile nature of his support base. Can a chief minister who cannot be his own man in his own state hope to play a prominent role outside it? Can Kumar make a success of his pet project of prohibition to use it as a trigger for his launch at the national level? Indeed, prohibition and the phenomenon of dons Shahabuddin is the most notorious among the many who stalk Bihar are linked in ironical ways. The power and influence of dons are telling evidence of the moribund state structure and the abject failure of state policing. Yet it is on this administrative machinery that Kumar has to depend upon for the success of his prohibition policy. Over the five months of prohibition, the Bihar government seized a little over a lakh of litres of liquor, both country-made and IMFL included. In the same period, 13,839 people have been arrested for flouting prohibition laws, of whom nearly 4000 were in August alone. These figures suggest there are more people who are surreptitiously trying to quench their thirst for liquor than before. We all know that seizures of any kind represent a small fraction of the illegitimate trade in them. Stories about liquor flowing from neighbouring states abound. The states revenue collection has plunged from Rs 897 crore, between April and June 2015, to Rs 42.27 crore for the same period this year. Ironically, prohibition will have provided the bahubalis a new mode of gathering illegitimate wealth. In his recent study of the communal violence that visited Agarpur, Vaishali district, in 2015 published in the Economic and Political Weekly Mohammad Sajjad, associate professor of history at Aligarh Muslim University, points to the phenomenon of young men who earn their livelihood through dalali (brokering or fixing). These men, says Sajjad, are the link between the village community and the state. They act as facilitators in the interface between people and development officers, and the police also work through them. These criminals (dalals) pass on information about well-off villagers from whom money can be extorted through various mechanisms. They have been patronized either by dons such as Munna Shukla, Anand Mohan Singh, Shahabuddin, Pappu Yadav, or by the close aides of these worthies. These dalals levy what the late journalist Arvind N Das called the rangdaari tax. Sajjad quotes Das thus, Rangdaar means one who can exercise dominance. It is as simple as that: Since a person is in a position to extract cash, he will It is the brutal share of the king of the jungle. Given the presence of extra-legal entities in just about every village and they, in turn, owing allegiance to powerful dons such as Shahabuddin it would be naive to assume that they wouldnt defy the prohibition law to make extra bucks. This, in turn, underscores yet another irony while prohibition has provided a potential new avenue of earnings for dons and rangdaars, those fond of liquor will not only have to pay black market rates but also run the risk of doing time in jail. Even the innocent will be harassed, as Bihars prohibition law has provisions making family elders criminally liable for children tippling, and even companies can be held to account for an employee storing or drinking liquor on the premises where he or she works. There cant be a bigger example of travesty of justice than this. You have the police gunning for people who love a peg or two, but who dare not bring dons to justice. Shahabuddins release underscores this cruel irony. Prohibition has never succeeded anywhere in the world. Given the rot in its administrative structure, Bihar cant possibly emerge as an exception. Kumars overweening ambition to play a role at the national level has also soured his relationship with Lalu Prasad Yadav. Not only has Kumar arrogated to himself the credit for the 2015 Bihar Assembly victory, he has unilaterally fanned out to neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Kumars chances of notching spectacular electoral successes there is remote. What he seeks for himself is the role of principal architect of an anti-BJP front, of which the Congress has to be necessarily the lead player. (Should the Congress fail in its revival bid, Kumar could also hope to become Prime Minister in 2019.) A stronger Kumar or an enduring bond between him and the Congress militates against Prasads interest. Not only will it weaken him, but also undermine his goal of transferring his still-formidable support base to his children. For instance, Muslims and others inclined against the BJP are likely, as of now, to vote in 2019 for an alliance which has the Congress, as its national presence, even though shrinking rapidly, makes it most suitable to provide an alternative to the NDA government at the Centre. This is why the bonhomie between Kumar and the Congress has stung Lalu, evident from his statement that Rahul Gandhi is unfit to become Prime Minister. It is his way of warning the Congress, as also reminding Kumar, that they cant possibly ignore him. Indeed, Kumar couldnt have had another stint as chief minister without forging an alliance with Prasads RJD, which won nine seats more than the JD(U) did in 2015. In all this there is a message to Kumar a person nursing a national ambition must first bolster his own strength. Kumar hasnt on his home turf of Bihar. His national ambition is simply not in proportion to his strength. This, the Shahabuddin episode has underscored, as will Kumars prohibition plan in the future. The Chief Minister of Bihar cant lose the plot in Bihar and still hope to win India. The author is a journalist based in Delhi. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, is available in bookstores. Jind: BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini on Sunday said Rajya Sabha should be abolished immediately as it was set up by the British to serve their own interest. Hitting out at Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Cabinet Minister OP Dhankar, he alleged that only those aspirants who were provided with leaked questions papers of the Haryana Civil Services (HCS) exam got chosen in the final list. Speaking at a function in Pindara village in Jind, Saini also alleged that the BJP government in Haryana is working under the pressure of Dhankar and the party's state president Subhash Barala. Without motioning Jat reservation issue, the MP said it is a mockery of the system if those who are highly prosperous and have all resources, do not respect the Supreme Court order, jam railway tracks and ask for reservation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will not travel to Pakistan in November for the Saarc Summit. It has been confirmed to Firstpost by an authoritative source that the decision to stay away from visiting Pakistan has already been taken. An announcement on sending a ministerial representative instead will be made closer to the date. The decision against Modis attendance was taken weeks before Sundays Uri attack by Pakistani terrorists. Post-Uri attack, however, there is no way that Modi could be persuaded to travel to Islamabad. Earlier, Afghanistan and Bangladesh had indicated their intentions not to attend the Saarc meeting in Islamabad. In recent weeks, Bangladesh did not attend the Saarc home ministers' conference in Pakistan, and after home minister Rajnath Singh got a cold welcome, finance minister Arun Jaitley excused himself from the meeting of finance ministers. Indias decision to call Pakistans bluff has a history. It is a natural outcome of developments in recent weeks when Pakistan has adopted a highly aggressive strategy on Kashmir and is openly fomenting trouble in the Valley. The Nawaz Sharif governments refusal to discuss terrorism and instead be narrowly focussed on its pet subject of the Kashmir Valley, its continued role in fomenting terror violence there and its disruptive attitude towards Saarc have convinced the Modi government that the Pakistan visit would be futile. The Saarc agenda has anyway been sabotaged by Pakistan and it refuses to allow greater integration among nations of South Asia the worlds most poorly connected region. The Saarc connectivity plan was sought to be blocked by Pakistan at the Kathmandu summit, but at Modis behest all other countries except Pakistan joined it. On his part, Modi went out of his way to woo Pakistan, but just hours after he flew out of Lahore in January this year, there was an attack on the Pathankot base and it took three days to kill the well-armed terrorists holed up inside. India tried to negotiate with the Sharif government and even hosted a Pakistani team in Pathankot to share inputs on the role of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists. The fact that Pakistan failed to act on these inputs embarrassed the Modi government, which was criticised for allowing Pakistanis access to an Indian Air Force base. In fact, the Pakistani government was soon pressured by the ever-dominating army to toe its line on India policy. The Kashmir issue that was given lip service treatment by the civilian government until some months ago was picked up by the military to be given greater exposure globally. India has also decided to aggressively publicise Pakistans role in spreading terror in the South Asian region. Modis specific reference to Pakistan spreading terror at G-20 summit in China, and Rajnaths demand to have Pakistan labelled a terror state are in line with Indias strategy to turn the heat on Islamabad. New York: With Kashmir high on his agenda Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly where he would enunciate Islamabad's position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New York's Kennedy International Airport by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, the Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's delegation includes Tariq Fatemi Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule including addressing the 193-member Assembly on 21 September and meeting at least ten world leaders among other activities. He said the Prime Minister would specifically focus on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir particularly the "continuing grave violations of human rights" taking place there. The Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister would call on the international community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, Prime Ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon. US Secretary of State John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister's Office confirmed on Sunday that Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. A statement released by Netanyahu's office said the two are likely to discuss "the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East and the way to promote peace and security together," Xinhua reported. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss "the need for genuine advancement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the face of deeply troubling trends on the ground". The meeting will allow "an opportunity to discuss the stalwart ties between the US and Israel, as recently underscored by the finalization of our new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with Israel, the single largest pledge of military assistance in US history," he said. "Additionally, the leaders are likely to discuss continued implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and other regional security issues," Earnest added. Last Wednesday, the two allies signed a military aid agreement, which is expected to give Israel as much as $38 billion a year over 10 years. Washington: The Syria and Islamic State policy of President Barack Obama is working as the terrorist outfit is shrinking in its occupied space, Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine said on Monday. "We have dramatically improved in the last year. And the proof is in how much ground ISIS has lost," Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. A year ago, Kaine was highly critical of Obama's Syria policy and described it as a joke. It's no longer the case, he said. "A year ago, I think you remember, we had a small force that we were trying to put into Syria. And the opening of that was a dismal failure. But now we're taking the fight to ISIS to defeat and destroy them," he told CNN. "If you look at what's happened in the last year, ISIS' territory has dramatically shrunk because of a significant uptick in cooperation between the US, the Iraqi military, the Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq, the Kurds in Northern Syria and the Syrian opposition," Kaine said. Russia can demand that Syria stop its atrocities against its civilians. Russia has always had the ability to mandate a ceasefire, because they're there in Syria. They're Syria's chief backer, he said. At the same time, he hoped that Moscow will stick to the table, stick to the ceasefire agreement, because that's what's necessary to solve this humanitarian crisis. Responding to questions, Kaine acknowledged that situation has deteriorated in Iraq. "In Iraq, it spiraled downward. And then, in Syria, where we didn't have troops, it spiraled downward because of the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad. We can't make governments govern wisely," he said. "But what we need to do is, when terrorists pose a threat to allies or to the United States, we need to engage in punishing activity to destroy them. We are now on track to defeat ISIS on the battlefield. But we have got to be sharing intelligence with our allies, so that we can keep America and our allies safe," Kaine said. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia would accept a Yemen-style power transition in Syria if it were decided by the people, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Thursday, the latest statement seemingly aimed at distancing the Kremlin from President Bashar al-Assad. The United States is seeking Russia's support in getting Assad to step aside but Mikhail Bogdanov said the president's fate was "not a question for us" but for the Syrian people. "Application of the so-called Yemen scenario to resolve the conflict in Syria is possible only if the Syrians themselves agree to it," Bogdanov said, according to the Interfax news agency. "The Yemen scenario was discussed by the Yemenis themselves. If this scenario is discussed by Syrians themselves and is adopted by them, we are not against it." Street protests against Assad that began 15 months ago have evolved largely into armed insurgency as he stepped up efforts to crush dissent. Two reported massacres of civilians by pro-Assad forces since May 25 have heightened Western calls for Assad to make way for a democratic transition. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday that Russia "most decisively condemns the barbarous acts of violence", referring to a reported massacre in Mazraat al-Qubeir that killed 40 women and children. Moscow has used its U.N. Security Council veto and other tools to protect Assad, who has given Russia a firm foothold in the Middle East and is a buyer of Russian weapons. The Kremlin position has shielded him from condemnation by the council and parried Western and Arab efforts to push him from power. U.S. President Barack Obama told G8 nations including Russia last month that Assad must leave power and pointed to Yemen as a model for a potential transition. Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh ceded power in February to a transitional administration led by his vice president after a year of mass protests against his autocratic rule and increasing armed anarchy. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Western and Arab nations meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday that a transition strategy in Syria must include Assad's full transfer of power, a senior State Department official said. CONSTANT CONTACT Clinton is sending Fred Hof, a senior State Department official who works on Syria, to Moscow. Hof will meet Russian Foreign Ministry officials on Friday, Lukashevich said. The senior U.S. official suggested Clinton was trying to lay down minimum benchmarks for how a Syrian transition could unfold with the hope that Russia might back it. Lukashevich told a weekly briefing Russia was "conducting very active dialogue with the (U.S.) administration" on Syria and said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in "constant contact not only with ... Annan but also with Hillary Clinton." "This is a normal process in terms of searching for optimal variants for strengthening the international coalition in support of Kofi Annan's plan," Lukashevich said. The central plank of Annan's plan was a ceasefire that never took hold. Lukashevich did not assign blame for the killing at Mazraat al-Qubeir but called it a "provocation with the aim of disrupting the fulfilment of the Annan plan". He avoided a direct answer when asked whether Russia had offered Assad asylum. Speaking to reporters in Astana, Lavrov reiterated support for a broad meeting on the crisis in Syria, including western states and regional powers such as Iran and Turkey, in order to encourage Syrian commitment to the Annan plan. "The goal is...to agree among external players, without Syria, that since we had supported the Annan's plan, we all will use our influence on every Syrian group, government, different opposition groups, to push them in ... the direction of stopping military action and (toward) dialogue," he said. Lavrov said Russia was actively trying to court the Syrian opposition to press them to seek a resolution to the violence. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials have maintained that Moscow is not out to protect Assad and is open to his exit from power if this arises from a Syrian political dialogue without foreign interference. Bogdanov said Assad's fate was not Russia's to decide. "This is not a question for us, it is a question for the Syrian political forces and society," he said. In a statement during a visit to Beijing by Putin, a regional security alliance led by Russia and China said it opposes military interference, forced power handovers and unilateral sanctions in dealings with Middle East states. (Additional reporting by Gleb Byranski and Thomas Grove, Editing by Robert Woodward) Drunk Driving Vehicular Manslaughter Charge Welcome to FindLaw's DUI Law series. If you have been charged with a DUI, know someone who has, or just want to know about the law and how to protect your rights during a DUI stop, please come back each week for more information. Getting home after a couple beers may seem simple enough. But drunk driving can lead to accidents, and those accidents can be fatal. All of a sudden what seemed so simple now has devastating consequences. Here's what happens when a simple DUI becomes vehicular manslaughter. Vehicular Manslaughter Laws In order to differentiate between intentional killings (murders) and unintended homicides, many states use the phrases voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Though details can vary from state to state, involuntary manslaughter generally defined as the unintentional killing of a person that is the result of recklessness, criminal negligence, or some misdemeanor or low-level felony. When it comes to cars, some states have specific statutes covering manslaughter involving reckless or careless driving. Ohio, for instance has three levels of vehicular manslaughter laws: Vehicular Manslaughter: Causing the death of another person or their unborn child while operating a motor vehicle as the result of a misdemeanor traffic violation; Vehicular Homicide: While operating a vehicle, causing the death of another person in one of the following ways: (1) negligently; or (2) as the proximate result of committing a speeding offense in a construction zone. Aggravated Vehicular Homicide: While operating a vehicle, causing the death of another person in one of the following ways: (1) as a proximate result of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs; (2) recklessly; or (3) as the proximate result of committing a reckless operation offense in a construction zone. DUI Laws As you can see from Ohio's statute, all it takes to go from a simple DUI into DUI manslaughter is a fatal accident. While some states may require prosecutors to prove driving drunk is inherently dangerous and reckless, others like Ohio include driving while intoxicated in their vehicular manslaughter statutes. Therefore, causing a fatal accident while driving drunk could easily lead to vehicular manslaughter charges. There may be defenses to involuntary manslaughter you can plead, but many are hard to claim in DUI scenarios. If you've been charged with DUI vehicular manslaughter, your best bet is to contact an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. Related Resources: Same old story; another terrorist attack albeit this time more heinous in Uri using incendiaries to burn the wounded, and higher number of casualties. There events have been dissected, conferences held, prime minister warned the perpetrators, home minister cancelled his US trip, DGMO talked about Jaish-e-Mohammad JeM involvement on national TV, there was a flurry of officials sent to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), TV debates, proclamations about what needs to be done, Raheel Sharif brought out his 'nuclear' approach, so on and so forth. Could we have consigned bodies of the four terrorists to flames (they burned our soldiers, didnt they?), televised it and showed live to the world have you not been harping terrorists have no religion? But this apart, are we going to do anything beyond 'Artomacy' (artillery bombardment and diplomacy)? If that is all then our civilian areas will also be targeted by Pakistani artillery and mortars. And, while you may be happy about the diplomatic isolation of Pakistan, there will be more cautionary remarks by the US (sanctions you must be kidding!) to go after terrorists organisations, China will hug Pakistan more tightly end of the story. The Hurriyat separatists would be mighty amused, as would the ISI and their terrorist proteges. When will we learn that we have to fight our own war? The global powers, themselves using proxy forces, will go by their own national interests. Have we not understood why foreign intelligence related to Pakistan is coming to us piecemeal, as and when it suits the interests of the country providing it? Following the January terrorist attack on the IAF base at Pathankot, the editorial of Washington Times of 6 January titled Islamic terrorists open a new front said, Just what the civilised world needs, a new front in the war against radical Islamic terrorism: Two terrorists were killed this week in an attack on the Pathankot Indian Air Force Base. Of the 1,67,221 terrorist related fatalities in period 2001-2015, only 2.2 percent were suffered by US and Western Europe which included 11 September 2001 attacks; which is a is happy situation, while 75 percent of those killed were in 25 Muslim-majority countries. Significantly, Ashley Tellis of Carnegie Endowment had said in 2012, India being continuously subjected to terror actually suits many India is a sponge that absorbs global terror. Also, post the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008, Tellis recommended to a Senate panel that US must go for the evisceration of the LeT and allied terrorist groups with or without the cooperation of Pakistan. But there is hardly any pressure on Pakistan. Pakistan was as big a country with nuclear weapons in 2001 when Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State threatened Pakistan to join the global war on terror (GWOT) or they would be bombed into stone age. Late MK Dhar, former Joint Director IB wrote in his book Open Secrets Indias intelligence unveiled published in 2005, I continued to advocate for an aggressive and proactive counter and forward intelligence thrust against Pakistan. My voice was rarely heard and mostly ignored. The Pakistani establishment is a geopolitical bully. The best response to blunt such a bully is to take the war inside his home. India has allowed itself to be blackmailed by Pakistan even before it went nuclear. The sabre rattling of coercive diplomacy, which is nothing but sterile military power, cannot convince the Islamist Pakistani Establishment that India can take the border skirmishes inside their homes and hit at the very roots of the jaundiced Islamist groups. Dhar was obviously referring these recommendations while he was in service, much before he wrote the book post retirement. Similarly, Jaswant Singh, former Foreign Minister and Defence Minister wrote in his book A Call to Honour, Terrorism in India as an aspect of our current history, now virtually an ideology, a new tool of coercion in the conduct of internal and external relations has redefined both internal and international relations has redefined both inter-state and intrastate dynamism. There are issues here that we have, sadly, neither sufficiently grasped nor addressed. Whatever we have done has been ad hoc. This is a sure recipe for ultimate failure. If any more proof was needed we are a soft state, Armys sub-conventional warfare doctrine, preamble of which was signed by Defence Minister AK Anthony, is confined to its own side of the border. So, how should India respond? Sure the diplomatic pressure must be accelerated including at the UN to isolate Pakistan. Conventional PGM strike at carefully selected target(s) too is an option that would also call Pakistans nuclear bluff once for all. The two-way porosity of the LoC should also be exploited to hit the enemy hard. But the most important issue is to understand that conventional response is no match to asymmetric and irregular war. Diplomatic efforts sure should be accelerated to get Pakistan declared terrorist state, terror organisations blacklisted and getting their leaders isolated and declared terrorists. But such measures do not suffice by themselves. You cannot protect your house without effective policing in streets. We need to take control of Pakistans fault-lines, which are so many one can actually pick and choose. Special forces have been employed in conjunction national intelligence agencies to good effect by USA, UK, France, Israel, Germany and China, but despite being subjected to terror for decades and continuing voids in strategic intelligence this has not happened in India. We have a host of special forces that must be used in conjunction intelligence agencies to control Pakistani fault-lines since these forces operate without or with ambiguous signatures. Their tasks no more focus solely on direct action but span continuous strategic intelligence and shaping the environment in own national interest, in addition to politico-military actions at the strategic level. Unless this is acknowledged and put in motion, we will never be able to respond to asymmetric threats appropriately. Concurrently there is need to synchronise global political, intelligence, military, cyber and diplomatic efforts towards identifying, isolating and stemming the specific sources of financial and armed support to terrorist organisations. When Zia-ul-Haq ushered in Wahabism, he set Pakistan on the trail to consume itself through Islamic radicalisation. Raheel Sharif will be remembered for letting in the PLA, setting Pakistan in the path of US-China strategic competition on land, similar to what's happening on the waters of South China Sea. But while that takes its own time, we should be prepared to fight the sub-conventional on our own steam. The author is a veteran Lieutenant-Gene ral of the Indian Army More than forty per cent of young singletons in Japan are virgins, according to a new study that highlights concerns about the countrys demographic challenges. Japans demographic challenges are well-known: Its home to the worlds oldest population and has a shrinking birthrate and an astonishing number of single people. And it seems that, despite government efforts to incentivise marriage and child-rearing, things arent quite trending in the right direction. According to the Japan Times, a new survey of Japanese people ages 18 to 34 found that 70 percent of unmarried men and 60 percent of unmarried women are not in a relationship. It gets worse: Around 42 percent of men and 44.2 percent of women admitted that they were virgins. The study is carried out by Japans National Institute of Population and Social Security Research every five years. The organization has noted a marked trend since its first foray on questions of relationships and sex in 1987, when it found that 48.6 percent of men and 39.5 percent of women surveyed were unmarried. In 2010, 36.2 percent of men and 38.7 percent of women in the 18-34 age bracket said they were virgins. The number of children among couples who have been married for between 15 and 19 years averaged a record low this year. The Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said it wants to raise the nations fertility rate from 1.4 to 1.8 by 2025. Its offering better child-care services and tax incentives for married couples, though such programs have yet to bear statistical fruit. Most people surveyed said they want to get married at some point. Its just not clear when. They want to tie the knot eventually. But they tend to put it off as they have gaps between their ideals and the reality, Futoshi Ishii, head researcher for the study, told Japan Times. Thats why people marry later or stay single for life, contributing to the nations low birthrate. This is not unique to Japan in various parts of the developed world, economic uncertainty is reshaping the way millennials and other young people conceive of their sex lives and marital choices. But its particularly pronounced in the Asian nation, where experts and government officials have spent the better part of a decade fretting over the countrys population decline and, as WorldViews once put it, sexual apathy. A booming industry surrounds Japans growing condition of loneliness, a phenomenon at once quite particular to the Japanese, yet also a glimpse into a future where many people live atomized lives mediated exclusively through personal technology. There was one clearly positive indicator in the survey: For the first time, the proportion of women returning to work after having their first child in Japans once notoriously patriarchal society exceeded 50 percent. Independent.co.uk Cash-strapped Nigerias Federal Government is demanding $635million from two multinational oil companies, Agip and Total for undeclared crude oil shipped out of the country between 2011 and 2014. Two cases have been filed at the Federal High court in Lagos by senior lawyer and Senior advocate of Nigeria, Professor Fabian Ajogwu, who had handled several cases for the Federal Government on aviation, defence, energy, and financial services. Hearing will begin next week before Justice Olatoregun Isola. And there are indications that Ajogwu will also be filing claims against other multinationals, such as Chevron and Exxon-Mobil The Nigerian Government in the two cases is claiming $490,517,280 from TOTAL E&P NIGERIA LIMITED and $145,848,102 from NIGERIA AGIP OIL COMPANY LIMITED. The statements of claim filed before the court are accompanied by the sworn affidavits of three US based professionals. The Nigerian Government contends that sometime in 2014,it realised a decline in its oil export revenue. This necessitated an intelligent gathering of data, which showed that part of the reasons for the decline was the under-declaration of crude oil shipments made by some major oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria. Professor David Olowokere, a US citizen who is the lead Analyst at Loumos Group LLC, a technology and oil and gas auditing firm based in United States of America, Jerome Stanley, a counsel in the law firm of Henchy & Hackenberg, a law firm based in United States of America and head of the legal team engaged by Loumo Group LLC, made the court statements. The third deponent is Micheal Kanko a citizen and resident of the State of Arizona United States of America, who is the founder and the current Chief Executive Officer of Trade Data Services Company. A forensic analysis of export records from Nigeria and the import records from respective ports of entry at the United States of America used by Agip and Total showed discrepancies. The volume of crude Oil declared to have been exported from Nigeria, was less than what was declared to have been imported into United States of America via the same shipment by the same vessel on the same bill of lading. Some other shipments were not declared by the defendants to the requisite authorities, particularly the pre-shipments inspection agents. In some instances, the crude oil shipments were completely undeclared. The plaintiff (Nigeria Government ) alleged further that all crude oil and gas shipments /exports from Nigeria are required to be declared and inspected by pre -shipment Agents appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria of revenue due from the crude oil shipments. The inspection records are to be deposited with ministry of finance Nigeria . The Nigeria Government averred that high-technology information technology system including satellite tracking systems were deployed by consultants in gathering the various validated information establishing the shortfalls in the export declarations and the import declaration in the country of destination. Court documents showed that 57 million barrels of Nigeria crude oil was illegally exported by TOTAL E&P NIGERIA LIMITED, NIGERIA AGIP OIL COMPANY, CHEVRON and other companies and sold to buyers in the United States of America between January 2011 and December 2014. The revenue due to Nigeria as a result of this under-declaration and non-declaration is $12,722,600,327($12.7billionDollars) which translates to N2,493,629,664,092(2.5Trillion Naira) at an official rate of 197 Naira to one US Dollar In one of the instances cited, TOTAL E&P NIGERIA LIMITED shipped crude oil using a vessel by name TRIATHLON to Tostsa Total oil Trading SA of San Felipe Plaza-Suite 2100,5847SAN FELIPE, 770557-HOUSTON United States at the port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America with a bill of lading number TCVMTRIATIA 1388. The shipment was not declared to the relevant authorities resulting in the shortfall of 968,784 barrels of crude oil in the value of $106,566240 as revenue to the Government, Another under-declared crude oil was estimated at 491,850 barrels with a value of $54,103,500. It was shipped aboard a vessel named NORTH STAR and sold to BP Products North America of 501 Westlake Park Boulvard, Houston, TX 77079 United States, at port of Texas City, with bill of lading DROESVD23091101. On two different occasions 768,990 barrels of crude oil, valued at $84,588,910 was loaded on a vessel named AUTHENTIC. It was Shipped to Socap international limited of Cannons court, 22 Victoria Street, Hamilton, HM12.Bermuda at the port of Chester Pennsylvanian, United States bill of lading ALMYSVDM17041101 and17041102 The Nigerian government seeks an order of the court compelling Total E&P Nigeria Limited to pay into the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, $245,258,640 being the total value of the missing revenues from the shortfall /under-declared/undeclared crude oil shipments of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Government also wants the oil firm pay General damages of $245,258,640 and Interest on the said sum at the rate of 21 percent per annum until the entire sum is liquidated. The case has been adjourned till next week for hearing . In a separate suit, the Federal Government of Nigeria alleges that NIGERIA AGIP OIL COMPANY LIMITED on 16 June 2014 lifted crude oil on board the vessel named VALUE. The firm shipped the cargo to Philadelphia Energy Solutions of 1735 Market street Philadelphia, PA USA at the port of Wilmington, Delaware, United States of America with Bill of lading number SEUK9HA21304143. Government claims that the shipment was not declared to relevant authorities resulting in the shortfall of 175,334 barrels of crude oil in the value of $38,573,561as revenue to Federal Government of Nigeria. On 27 June,2011,Nigerian Agip Oil Company limited lifted crude oil on board a vessel named COSMIC and shipped same to ENI TRADING &SHIPPING B.V. of Strawinskylaan 1641-Tower C/16 1077C XX. Again, government claims that the shipment was not declared to the relevant authorities resulting in a shortfall of 467,614 barrels of crude oil in the value of $107,274,990 as revenue to the Federal Government Despite letters written by the legal representative of the Federal Government for payment of the shortfall, the company had failed to make any payments to the Federal Government. The Federal Government of Nigeria now claims against Nigeria Agip Oil company limited: *An order compelling the company to pay into Federal Government of Nigeria so account with central bank of Nigeria the total sum of $145,848,551being the total value of the missing revenues from the shortfall/under declared/undeclared crude oil of the Federal Government *Interest at the rate of 21percent per annum until the entire sum is liquidated. *General damages in the sum of $145,848,551.and the cost of this legal action. There are imminent claims against other Oil exploration companies including Chevron. NAN The Union Political Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) Secretary Dr Salai Lian Hmung Sakhong was quoted as saying the meeting focused on what sections of the agenda should be treated ethnically, regionally and topically at the launch of the national-level political dialogue. The national-level dialogue is expected to commence in January as the Union Peace Conference is reportedly scheduled for February. Google had announced Duo video calling app and Allo chatting app at its I/O developer conference in May this year. The company launched Duo which has crossed 10 million downloads in just one month. Now it looks like Allo is about to go official. Popular tipster Evan Blass aka @evleaks has posted in a tweet saying that Google will officially launch Allo this week on September 21. Allo is a standalone messaging app that has Googles search engine built right into it. The app comes with Google Assistant integration and uses your phone number as your primary identification and you can optionally link your Google ID as well. Allo also comes with several emojis as well as custom stickers that were developed with the help of artists. These stickers cater to different users based on their region for example whether they are based in India, UK or USA. One of the important features of the Allo is the built in search which allows a user to type @google followed by the item he/she wishes to search and Google retrieves search results from the web based on that. This means you dont have to leave the chat windows to check out information that is relevant to a particular conversation. I am personally excited for Allo as it looks promising and it will be interesting to see if the app has the potential to replace your primary chat app. [HTML1] Google is about to come into the scanner by Indonesias tax department for a potential tax bill of more than $400 million for 2015, according to a latest report from Reuters. Google could face the bill if it is found to have avoided tax payments, a senior tax official told Reuters. As per Indonesian tax office Google Indonesia paid less than 0.1 percent of the total income and value-added taxes it owed last year. Most of the revenue generated in the country is booked at Googles Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Muhammad Hanif, head of the tax offices special cases branch, said its investigators went to Googles local office in Indonesia but Google Asia Pacific declined to be audited in June. Googles argument is that they just did tax planning, Hanif said. Tax planning is legal, but aggressive tax planning to the extent that the country where the revenue is made does not get anything is not legal. Hanif estimated Googles tax bill including fines for 2015 could be as much as 5.5 trillion rupiah ($418 million). He also added that the government had also asked to examine the tax reports of the Indonesian offices of Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook. Source Apache (APA -0.63%) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC) share many similarities. Both are large, diversified independent oil and gas producers that operate in several geographies. Those parallels are one reason why Anadarko made an offer to buy Apache late last year. However, it is their subtle differences that make one company a better buy over the other at the moment. Battle of the balance sheets If there is one lesson investors learned during the downturn, it is the importance of having a strong balance sheet. Here's how these two oil giants compare. Company Credit Rating Total Debt Debt/Enterprise Value Cash on Hand Apache BBB/Baa3 $8.7 billion 28% $1.2 billion Anadarko Petroleum BBB/Ba1 $15.7 billion 34% $1.4 billion For the most part, both companies have relatively comparable balance sheets, though Apache's is a bit better. Not only does it have less proportional debt, but it has a slightly better credit rating. That is after Moody's downgraded Anadarko's credit rating below investment grade earlier this year citing its "high debt levels relative to cash flow." While the rating agency also downgraded Apache, it maintained an investment grade rating because of its "sizable cash balance, aggressive reductions in capital spending which has limited anticipated negative free cash flow in 2016 and 2017, and only modest debt maturities through 2020." That slight edge gives Apache the win in this battle. Battle of the asset base Next, let's drill down into the portfolios of the two oil giants, first taking a look at where both currently get the bulk of their production: As that chart shows, both companies currently get the bulk of their production from U.S. onshore oil and gas plays. For Anadarko, its biggest production driver is DJ Basin in Colorado, where it produced an average of 234,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) last quarter, primarily from the gas-rich Wattenberg Field. Because of that, the bulk of the company's U.S. onshore production is natural gas, with oil only accounting for 26% of its domestic onshore output. Meanwhile, the company's positions in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, onshore in Algeria, and offshore in Ghana supply more oil, resulting in oil accounting for 38% of the company's total production. Contrast this with Apache, which gets a much larger portion of its output from its international operations. Furthermore, higher-margin oil accounts for 53% of its overall production, mainly because the bulk of its U.S. onshore production comes from the oil-rich Permian Basin. Meanwhile, both its position in Egypt and the North Sea are primarily oil producers. When we compare these two head-to-head, the greater geographic diversification and oil-weighted production give Apache the close win in this category. A look at the upside Anadarko is working hard to bolster both its geographic diversity as well as its oil production. Internationally, the company is moving forward with the Mozambique LNG project, which will add significant production when it comes online. Meanwhile, it has several other exploration projects in Africa that could drive international production growth in the coming years. Furthermore, Anadarko recently spent $2 billion to bolster its position in the Gulf of Mexico. It not only doubled its current production but added 20 near-term growth opportunities and 15 exploration projects. In addition to that, the company has two compelling oil-rich growth drivers in its U.S. onshore business: the Delaware Basin and the DJ Basin. The company believes it can double its sales volumes from these two resource plays over the next five years at current oil prices due to their compelling economics. As a result, Anadarko estimates that it can grow its production by a 10% to 12% compound annual rate through 2020 as long as oil is over $50 a barrel. Apache, on the other hand, sees most of its growth coming from North American onshore plays going forward. Like Anadarko, it has a compelling position in the Delaware Basin, including the recently discovered Alpine High play. In addition to that, it has upside from its positions in the Midland Basin and STACK/SCOOP plays in the U.S. as well as the Duvernay and Montney shale plays in Canada. That said, Apache has yet to put out a production growth target, so while it has an abundance of captured resources, its development path is unclear. Anadarko's international growth, increasing oil content, and visible upside gives it the win over Apache in this category. Investor takeaway For some investors, Apache's slightly better balance sheet and stronger current portfolio make it a better buy. However, for investors who are looking for upside, Anadarko is the better option. It has visible double-digit production growth on the horizon, the bulk of which is weighted to oil. That makes it stand out from Apache, which not only doesn't have a clearly discernable path forward at the moment, but doesn't have Anadarko's margin upside. One of the U.S.' biggest oil producers is also the state that's leading the nation in adding wind to its electricity generation. In this segment from Industry Focus: Energy, The Motley Fool's Sean O'Reilly and Taylor Muckerman explain where Texas is today in terms of wind and renewables compared to other states, where they're going in the future, and how Texas became such fertile soil for the renewable energy industry. A full transcript follows the video. This podcast was recorded on Sept. 1, 2016. Sean O'Reilly: I wanted to talk about the state that is leading the nation in adding wind capacity to its mix of electricity generation. Surprising to some, the answer is Texas. Taylor Muckerman: Yeah, one of the biggest oil-producing states. Although, oil isn't really used for power in the U.S., but they produce a lot of gas down there, as well. O'Reilly: You've been aware of this for a while. Can you walk me through where they are now, relative to other states, and what you think their plans are for the future? Muckerman: Yeah. Here's a state that basically generates about 16% of electrical generating capacity with wind as of April of this year. It's a state that's also been reliant on coal and natural gas for quite a while. When George Bush was the governor, and then Rick Perry was the governor -- O'Reilly: Bush actually pushed a lot of this through, didn't he? Muckerman: Yeah, they allowed for freer markets, and the capital markets to do as they will. West Texas is where he's from, a very windy area of the country. So, he understood that that could be a potential boon for the state. So, they freed up a lot of things, provided some state and federal subsidies for these things that have wound down, or are winding down. So, you've seen this massive uptick in wind power and solar power. If you look at 2001, renewables are about 2% of Texas' energy source. In 2016, right now, as I mentioned, you're looking at 16% from renewables -- that's wind, solar, and hydro. Fossil fuels shrinking from 92% to 79%. The largest fossil fuel producing state in the lower 48 ... O'Reilly: Also the leader in wind power. Now, they're hoping to catch California with solar. California is currently the leader in solar installations. But they're hoping to catch up there, too, right? Muckerman: Yeah, they're trying. You see, they are 10th place right now in solar capacity. They're looking to maybe creep up to second in the next five years. California, obviously, a very sunny state. I think it's bigger than Texas, is it? So, it has equal or similar land mass. So they have the same opportunity there. But they're looking at 19,000 megawatts of solar capacity to be built within 15 years, up from 500 megawatts today. That's a big increase. O'Reilly: When I saw this, what popped back into my mind was, do you remember about eight years ago, T. Boone Pickens was pushing his Pickens plan? He actually had a cool map. It showed the United States, and they had it color-coded based on average wind speed, and basically the corridor from The Dakotas down to Texas, he described it as the "Saudi Arabia of wind," and how we should just build a bunch of wind turbines throughout that entire section of the country. Muckerman: That was a total on about face by Pickens and his energy powerhouse. But yeah, you're looking at some of these facilities being 45 acres big. O'Reilly: That's enormous! Muckerman: That's pretty massive for solar. And to see a state that most people associate with ... I would be surprised if a lot of people even thought that any solar was going on down there. And that's kind of eating a company like NRG Energy's (NRG 2.22%) lunch, because, traditionally, coal and natural gas, they're trying to get into renewables, but because of this surge in renewable energy production, energy prices for producers are falling. And it's not the only reason NRG Energy has been struggling. It's a very convoluted business model. It caught a lot of hedge funds off guard in the last couple years. But they're losing out on the pricing power. Since our arrival to Los Angeles about fourteen months ago, my wife, Lily Fierro and I have taken multiple trips down south to Long Beach for various comicbook events that we have covered for Forces Of Geek. Long Beach Comic Con and Comic Expo are both circled on our calendars way in advance as they are not only expertly produced events but also events that are positively influenced by the Long Beach comics community, who always bring a lighter, less Los Angeles-intense vibe to the myriad of geeky offerings happening on their schedules. These experiences have been so engaging that we became curious as to what film programming was like in Long Beach, so on a recent trip, we attended the smartly curated Cambodia Town Film Festival, where we spoke at length with the festivals co-founder director, Caylee So, and where we saw the remarkable Canadian-produced documentary, Last Of The Elephant Men, which centers on the Bunong people of Cambodia and their relationships with the local population of elephants. You might imagine that a documentary with such a niche topic like that of Last of the Elephant Men has would be lost in the programming schedule for a more general film festival audience, and you would most likely be correct with that assumption, but the Cambodia Town Film Festival, which just completed its fourth iteration, understands its community very well; its community can boast of being the second largest population of Cambodian immigrants outside Southeast Asia (Paris being number one). This connection with the community was clearly evident earlier in the day after a screening of Camp 32, a documentary about a Melbourne Australian man who revisits the labour camp that he was interned in as a six year old during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, when the panel discussion with the filmmaker became an opportunity for the audience, many of whom personally suffered from the brutality of the regime, to open up about their own experiences. Films that could invoke this kind of response were definitely on the minds of the festivals creators, as Caylee So explained the origins of the festival: My friend Prach Ly, who is the other co-founder of the film festival, is one of Cambodias first hip-hop artists. He raps about Cambodian history, and a lot of his lyrics are about the genocide and things related to it, but he grew up in Long Beach, and as he is also an avid film-lover who does a lot of work in the community, he wanted to make a film festival happen here for almost a decade. He and I met while I was doing my MFA in film production and directing during my third year at school. Prach approached me and said that he thought that it was the right time to start a film festival, and he asked me if I would want to be on the selection committee, which I was thrilled to do as that meant that I could have an excuse to watch more Cambodian cinema. So, we started having conversations about the logistics of putting it together and realised that getting submissions for our festival was the first priority, and thus we began connecting with the Cambodia International Film Festival, which is based out of Phnom Penh. We looked at their programming and picked out films that we would love to have at our festival the following year, and if I liked a particular film, I also began my outreach towards the filmmaker who made it with the thought of how a Q&A related to their work would benefit our community, and thats what happened with our screening of Camp 32 earlier today. We so appreciated Caylees statement here about viewing film programming as a way to not only bring cineastes together but also open up discussions about issues contained within the Cambodian community as far as the sustained impact of the brutality of the Khmer Rouge. Though there was some wonderful programming at this years festival that had no reference to the tyranny of Pol Pots rule, there were still a handful of documentary and narrative films like Camp 32, where the protagonists had to cope with the personal damage caused by the Khmer Rouge, and the Last of the Elephant Men, where the policies of that government still affect Cambodians today in a way that most people are not aware of outside of Cambodia. Last of the Elephant Men, directed by Arnaud Bouquet and Daniel Ferguson, focuses on the Bunong (Pnong) people of the Mondulkiri region of Cambodia and their connection to the elephants that are integral to their faith and livelihood. For the films narrative construction, we follow three of the Bunoung people, Mrey, Duol, and Mane, by observing their particular association and relationship with the elephants. We first meet the aged Mrey, who is known to the Bunong people as an elephant catcher and shaman of sorts. In the past, Mreys lot in life was to capture and domesticate wild elephants and to teach others the craft of their use as beasts of burden. Though he clearly is a chain smoker, Mrey believes that his failing health is due to his years of enslaving elephants for servitude, and he hopes that his quest to locate three of the elephants he had once taken from the jungle will be the right sacrifice needed to keep him alive. We then meet Mane, a middle-aged woman who lives in the capital city and is searching for the elephant that her family sold years ago during a desperate time in their lives. At the same time, she is also struggling to help the Bunong people as their land is being taken away from them by corporate interests. Duol is a young man who sees no future in education and leaves school in order to become a mahout, or a elephant wrangler, with the hopes of using the animal to give rides to tourists to make money to help his family. When the family elephant becomes seriously ill, Duol and his uncle believe that the animals health issues are due to the familys repurposing of this wild animal for this spirit-crushing, money-making venture and seek out Mrey for advice as to how they can appease the spirits so that their elephant can regain its health. As a younger man, Mrey, because of his skill in capturing elephants, had to hide from the forces of the Khmer Rouge as they sought out elephants for the purpose of using them to clear roads and farm labor, but when those tasks were completed, and the animal had lost its strength, the soldiers would usually kill the elephants for their ivory and for food, causing the population to severely dwindle. The Khmer Rouge grotesquely tortured and killed thousands of people, leaving survivors with a legacy of horrific experiences, but by massacring the elephants during their rule, they forever compromised the financial and spiritual lives of future generations who can still feel the regimes effects today. Though Mane does not need to rely on elephants for economic survival like Mrey and Duol, she will be forever plagued by the guilt and sadness of selling what she describes as a member of her own family. Directors Bouquet and Ferguson naturally weave together the lives of Mrey, Duol, and Mane in a way that never feels overtly divisive, and although I wouldve preferred more of a view into each characters life outside of their contact with the elephants that matter to them, I was thankful for the unobtrusive and balanced look at their stories in the construction of the narrative. I so respect the decision of the directors to avoid the overused technique of including a mocking over narration to comment on the typical exploitative nature of tourists who use the elephants for the own recreation while on vacation; this exclusion decision allows you as the viewer to analyze the complexity of the role of elephants in Cambodian society and spirituality on your own. The elephants at tourist sites in Cambodia are widely available as a service, and it is understandable that when tourists are presented with an abundant transportation and touring option that they would use that service, but when placed against Mane and her familys effort to locate her familys elephant, the tourists jovial attitudes appear apathetic to their suffering. In contrast, by watching Duols story, we also understand that using the elephants for tourist rides is one of the few ways that the Bunong people can sustain themselves, but this also carries problems because tourists are not informed of the spiritual value of elephants and the proper sacrifices that need to be made to the reigning spirits when an elephant is used for work. Unlike their contemporaries, Bouquet and Ferguson do not foolishly attempt to offer a solution to the complex plight of the Bunong people, for, given their history and their currently industrializing society, nothing is just black and white. Mrey, Duol, and Mane do what they can to rectify their particular situations, and we, as the audience, can simply try and empathize with their lives while we watch. Thankfully, the Cambodia Town Film Festival allowed us to see Last of the Elephant Men with an audience who, after the lights come on, can share their opinions of this documentary with a knowledge that comes from their own personal experiences. For more details visit cambodiatownfilmfestival.com Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Skype Email Hey, you know Ahmad Khan Rahami, right? Yeah mate, google that mug. He's our man, tell us if you spot him. The real text message, sent to New Yorkers using an emergency response system, was a little less casual: "WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 911 if seen." But it's annoyed critics of sloppy policing and convinced some area Muslims that it's not a good day to be out on the streets. The wireless emergency alert system is for Amber Alerts, alerts from the President, and imminent threats to public safety. It's a bad idea to use such a rudimentary, text-only, in-your-face alert system to directly deputize 13m people in the search of a man with a common Arab name. It provides no useful contextual information, warns of no imminent danger. It essentially deputizes the five boroughs and encourages people to treat anyone who looks like he might be named "Ahmad Khan Rahami" with suspicion. In a country where people are routinely harassed and assaulted for just appearing to be Muslim, this is remarkably ill-advised. Shoutout to my fellow brown persons who originally planned on taking the subway to the airport today with luggage pic.twitter.com/Lz0tiiD7uv kenyatta cheese (@kenyatta) September 19, 2016 It's a good example of how something's intended strengthsemergency management systems, terror legislation, and so forthare exposed as weaknesses when the authorities abuse them in the hope of a quick collaring or easier prosecutions. They should know that whatever their intentions, the result of this foolish message would be a "Muslim hunt" more suited to a subreddit than the streets of New York City. I can't help but wonder how useful Amber Alerts are in this format, too. America, if you see the man in the photograph and fitting the physical description, you know what to do. Update: he's in custody. It's a bad time to run a national job board. One by one, major job websites are getting spun off, bought up, or going out of business, including a few that dominated the industry since the early days of the dot-com boom. At the same time, thousands of niche job websites are still chugging along. But, just like the big boys, niche websites need to adapt to modern recruiting practicesand that's good news for the small businesses that use them. By some estimates, the United States has 3,000 to 5,000 job boards serving specific industries, professions, or geographic areas. By staying laser-focused on their respective niches, they've been able to weather the storms that have been shaking up the major players. "Small job boards will always be around because small businesses rely on them heavily," said Chris Russell, self-professed 'Mad Scientist of Online Recruiting' and job board consultant and owner of Rec Tech Media and CareerCloud. "Without them, they'd have no way to advertise." You could pin the upheaval that's upending major job boards on the economy, evolving tastes, and mobile phones (like the one you might be using to read this column). As job growth swelled after the recession and competition for people with in-demand skills grew, it wasn't enough just to post an opening on a job board and pray that job seekers would find it. Companies turned to other tactics, including employee referrals, more sophisticated applicant tracking systems (ATS), upgraded career pages, and recruiting campaigns for mobile devices and social media. The percentage of new hires coming from job boards and job board aggregator sites has dropped to between 27 percent and 37 percent, with some industry estimates putting it even lower. As companies diversified their recruiting spending, the job board field got more sophisticated and competitive. Indeed built a category-busting job listings aggregator that was fashioned after Google. LinkedIn showed up with a business-oriented social network that had a job board built in. Sites such as Glassdoor combined job listings with crowdsourced reviews. Just being a job board wasn't good enough anymore. Let's Make a DealFlash forward to 2016. SimplyHired sold its assets to Indeed's Japanese parent company and went out of business. Microsoft won a bidding war for LinkedIn after the latter forecast future revenue from recruiting software and other services would be lower than expected. After years of dwindling sales, Monster accepted a $429 million buy-out offer from Dutch-based staffing giant Randstad Holding, though the beleaguered company's largest shareholder is arguing that the price is too low and is threatening to hold up the deal. In the latest development, broadcast and digital media company Tegna, Inc. recently announced that it was evaluating options for selling its 53 percent stake in CareerBuilder, which just bought benefits administration company Workterra. CareerBuilder did so to become a more diversified HR tech company that's less dependent on its mainstay job board business. The announcement might have been a direct response to several newspaper chains, including content curation and monetization company tronc, Inc.formerly known as Tribune Publishing Co. and a CareerBuilder co-ownerpulling their online jobs listings business from CareerBuilder and giving it to rival RealMatch. All of this activity will affect larger employers more than the small businesses that couldn't afford to advertise on big job boards in the first place. While small companies have spruced up the career pages on their websites and set up Twitter and Facebook accounts to attract job hunters, job boards still represent 60 to 80 percent of what they spend on recruiting, according to Russell. Changing With the TimesLike their big brothers, small job boards are beefing up their offerings to appeal to customers who want more than just a service for advertising job openings. One example of this is Gary's Job Board, a two-year-old trucking industry site that lists approximately 2,000 truck driver job openings per month, in and around Denver and surrounding states. Gary's owner Eric Haney said the job board's main competition is Craigslist. To distinguish what he offers, Haney allows drivers who are looking for work to post profiles anonymously and only reveal their identity to carriers with openings in which they're interested. In addition to the job board, Haney offers an ATS called "Safety as a Service" that trucking companies can use to recruit and manage drivers and store employee files. As job boards such as Haney's add features, vendors of other kinds of HR tech are building job board functions into their platforms so customers don't have to shop for them elsewhere. Employee scheduling software maker Shiftboard sells a Premium tier of its service, with a job board feature that customers can use to advertise openings internally. By changing a few settings, customers can make the job postings public, enabling employees at other Shiftboard clients to see them, if those companies allow it, and vice versa. Eric Seeder, Technical Product Specialist at Shiftboard, said the feature is popular with hospitality companies that operate multiple hotels in a given area and don't mind losing employees to sister organizations. It's also popular with organizations that use large numbers of volunteers for seasonal or annual events because, according to Seeder, those people like to know about other opportunities for volunteer work in their areas. With small job boards changing with the times, small business owners and one-person human resources (HR) departments have to keep up. Companies that are re-evaluating what they've been usingor hiring for the first time in a whileshould weigh all of the options. Uncover new job sites for a specific industry or niche by looking at trade associations and professional organizations, which often link to job boards serving their members. Russell maintains a list of about 1,000 niche job boards on his CareerCloud website. When evaluating job sites, find out what online traffic a job board getsunique visitors a month is a typical measureto gauge how many eyeballs a subscription fee might earn. When considering fees, find out about discounts for long-term subscriptions and what else might be offered, including banner ads, email campaigns, and other extras. Though niche job boards remain integral to their recruiting efforts, small employers have to be more proactive in their efforts because job seekers expect it, said Russell, who has built close to 100 job boards and worked as a recruiter. He recommends companies flesh out their websites, attend job fairs, recruit on local college campuses, and use Instagram and Twitter to get the word out. "Job seekers have been trained to research and find out more information about what it's really like to work somewhere," he said, "so you need to give them information that tells a story about yourself." This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. The sale of Australia's biggest general cargo terminal, Port of Melbourne, was awarded to a group led by QIC Private Capital for about A$9.7 billion ($7.29 billion), the Victorian state government said on Monday. "We believe this investment brings significant diversification benefits for our clients as a landlord port with a well defined regulatory regime in a globally scarce infrastructure subsector," QIC Global Infrastructure Head Ross Israel said in a statement released by the Victorian government. QIC is part of the Lonsdale Consortium, which won the 50-year lease of the port. The group also includes the investment arm of the Queensland state government, Australia's sovereign Future Fund, New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners, Canada's Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement System and the California Public Employees' Retirement System. The consortium was advised by Gresham Partners and Credit Suisse with Herbert Smith Freehills as legal adviser. The transaction is due to close on Oct. 31. The other bidder was IFM Investors Pty Ltd, Australia's biggest pension fund investor, with Macquarie Group's Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Dutch pension fund manager APG Asset Management NV. The sell-off is part of Australia's more than A$100 billion privatization program, where state and federal governments are trying to cut debt and bankroll capital works by selling "mature" infrastructure assets. Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison last month rejected bids for electricity distributor Ausgrid from Chinese state-owned group State Grid and privately run Hong Kong group Cheung Kong Infrastructure <1038.HK>, citing national security concerns. ($1 = 1.3300 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Cecile Lefort; Editing by Stephen Coates) Image source: Getty Images. One certainty about the future is that it's cloaked in uncertainty. Nevertheless, Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM)management has graciously provided investors with a few peeks behind the cloak. Out with the old... In June, Newmont announced that it will be selling its stake inPT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, which operates the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia. Representing 4% of Newmont's gold reserves at the end of 2015, the Batu Hijau mine was one of the company's more expensive operations. At $965 per gold ounce, Batu Hijau's all-in sustaining costs (AISC) were the third highest of Newmont's 12 gold-producing mines in 2015. But it was strained relations with the Indonesian government that most likely led the company to leave the country. Identifying several benefits on the company's second-quarter conference call, management believes Newmont will emerge as a much stronger company following the closing of the transaction. According to Gary Goldberg, Newmont's president and CEO, besides mitigating risk, the deal "improves the underlying business by monetizing future production to fuel further balance sheet and portfolio improvements." The deal includes cash proceeds of $920 million, which Goldberg says "will be used to repay debt and self-fund our best projects." ... and in with the new While Newmont is bidding farewell to operations in Indonesia, it will soon be welcoming gold production at two new mines: Merian and Long Canyon. Construction of the Merian mine has come in $100 million below initial budget estimates. Image source: Newmont Mining corporate website. Located in Suriname, the Merian mine is about90% complete, while gold production is expected to begin before the end of 2016. Estimating production to fall between 400,000 and 500,000 ounces on average for the first five years of production, management believes Merian may prove to be of substantial value for years to come. On the recent conference call, management stated, "We also continue to see strong exploration results, both beneath the current pit and elsewhere in the concession." About 80% complete, the Long Canyon mine, located in Nevada, is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2017. Management is forecasting production for the Long Canyon mine to average between 100,000 and 150,000 ounces for the first five years of production; moreover, the AISC is expected to fall between $500 and $600 per gold ounce. Decisions, decisions With numerous projects in varying stages of development, Newmont has its sights set on projects as far as 10 years away from actual gold production. The decision to pursue development of a project,however, is influenced by many factors, and there's no guarantee that each project in the pipeline will make it through to execution. By the end of 2016, management expects to announce its decisions regarding the approval of two expansion projects at its Ahafo mine in Ghana: the Ahafo Mill Expansion and the Subika Underground mine. Image source: Getty Images. According to management's estimates, the Ahafo Mill Expansion would contribute gold production of 75,000 to 100,000 ounces on average for the first five full years with production beginning in 2018. The Subika Underground, on the other hand, has the potential to produce between 150,000 and 200,000 gold ounces on average for the first five full years Although investors can expect to soon learn management's intentions regarding its projects in Ghana, they will have to wait longer to hear about operations in South America. When asked about the future of the company's Conga project -- where Newmont suspended construction operations in 2011 under political pressure -- in Peru, management revealed that it has "put Conga on the shelf for now." Elaborating further on the project, Gary Goldberg commented, "I don't see us in the current price environment, in the current social climate moving that project forward before 2020." Despite its lack of interest in Conga, management is looking closely at expanding operations at another project in Peru: Yanacocha, the largest gold mine in South America. Conducting definitive feasibility studies of Quecher Main, management estimates that this could extend the life of Yanacocha mine, translating to 200,000 ounces of gold production from 2019 through 2024. Management expects to announce its decision regarding the project in 2017. The takeaway A global leader in the gold-mining industry, Newmont is taking a big step in further strengthening its positioning by selling its stake in the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia. And with a strong pipeline of projects in varying stages of development, the company is well-positioned to prosper even more in the future. Investors will surely want to monitor the company's announcements regarding decisions to move forward or not with expansion projects, for these could provide great insights into where the company is headed. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Scott Levine has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Apache Corp. Apache (NYSE: APA) and Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) share many similarities. Both are large, diversified independent oil and gas producers that operate in several geographies. Those parallels are one reason why Anadarko made an offer to buy Apache late last year. However, it is their subtle differences that make one company a better buy over the other at the moment. Battle of the balance sheets If there is one lesson investors learned during the downturn, it is the importance of having a strong balance sheet. Here's how these two oil giants compare. Company Credit Rating Total Debt Debt/Enterprise Value Cash on Hand Apache BBB/Baa3 $8.7 billion 28% $1.2 billion Anadarko Petroleum BBB/Ba1 $15.7 billion 34% $1.4 billion Data sources: Company investor presentations and press releases. For the most part, both companies have relatively comparable balance sheets, though Apache's is a bit better. Not only does it have less proportional debt, but it has a slightly better credit rating. That is afterMoody's downgraded Anadarko's credit rating below investment grade earlier this year citing its "high debt levels relative to cash flow." While the rating agency also downgraded Apache, it maintained an investment grade rating because of its "sizable cash balance, aggressive reductions in capital spending which has limited anticipated negative free cash flow in 2016 and 2017, and only modest debt maturities through 2020." That slight edge gives Apache the win in this battle. Battle of the asset base Next, let's drill down into the portfolios of the two oil giants, first taking a look at where both currently get the bulk of their production: Data source: Company press releases. Chart by author. Note: In thousands of barrels of oil equivalent per day. As that chart shows, both companies currently get the bulk of their production from U.S. onshore oil and gas plays. For Anadarko, its biggest production driver is DJ Basin in Colorado, where it produced an average of 234,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) last quarter,primarily from the gas-rich Wattenberg Field. Because of that, the bulk of the company's U.S. onshore production is natural gas, with oil only accounting for 26% of its domestic onshore output. Meanwhile, the company's positions in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, onshore in Algeria, and offshore in Ghana supply more oil, resulting in oil accounting for 38% of the company's total production. Contrast this with Apache, which gets a much larger portion of its output from its international operations. Furthermore, higher-margin oil accounts for 53% of its overall production, mainly because the bulk of its U.S. onshore production comes from the oil-rich Permian Basin. Meanwhile, both its position in Egypt and the North Sea are primarily oil producers. When we compare these two head-to-head, the greater geographic diversification and oil-weighted production give Apache the close win in this category. A look at the upside Anadarko is working hard to bolster both its geographic diversity as well as its oil production. Internationally, the company is moving forward with the Mozambique LNG project, which will add significant production when it comes online. Meanwhile, it has several other exploration projects in Africa that could drive international production growth in the coming years. Furthermore, Anadarko recently spent $2 billion to bolster its position in the Gulf of Mexico. It not only doubled its current production but added 20 near-term growth opportunities and 15 exploration projects. In addition to that, the company has two compelling oil-rich growth drivers in its U.S. onshore business: the Delaware Basin and the DJ Basin. The company believes it can double its sales volumes from these two resource plays over the next five years at current oil prices due to their compelling economics. As a result, Anadarko estimates that it can grow its production by a 10% to 12% compound annual rate through 2020 as long as oil is over $50 a barrel. Apache, on the other hand, sees most of its growth coming from North American onshore plays going forward. Like Anadarko, it has a compelling position in the Delaware Basin, including the recently discovered Alpine High play. In addition to that, it has upside from its positions in the Midland Basin and STACK/SCOOP plays in the U.S. as well as the Duvernay and Montney shale plays in Canada. That said, Apache has yet to put out a production growth target, so while it has an abundance of captured resources, its development path is unclear. Anadarko's international growth, increasing oil content, and visible upside gives it the win over Apache in this category. Investor takeaway For some investors, Apache's slightly better balance sheet and stronger current portfolio make it a better buy. However, for investors who are looking for upside, Anadarko is the better option. It has visible double-digit production growth on the horizon, the bulk of which is weighted to oil. That makes it stand out from Apache, which not only doesn't have a clearly discernable path forward at the moment, but doesn't have Anadarko's margin upside. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Moody's. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Preliminary figures released Monday show Connecticut's monthly unemployment rate declined slightly in August, from 5.7 percent to 5.6 percent, but an economist at the state's largest association of businesses called the jobs report a disappointment. According to a business survey administered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state added 300 jobs in August. However, its unemployment rate remains three-tenths of a percentage point higher than it was a year ago. Peter Gioia, an economist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said the report was "bitterly disappointing." "On one hand, we get tremendous news like Pratt & Whitney's announcement of up to 8,000 new Connecticut jobs over the next decade," he said. "Yet, just as we're celebrating that, these numbers show the state economy's foundation needs to be fortified." Pratt & Whitney, a jet engine maker, will hire 25,000 people worldwide over the next decade, and about one-third will come from Connecticut, company president Robert Leduc said last week. The planned hiring is due partly to the need to replace retiring workers. Andy Condon, director of the Department of Labor research office, said that while the state's unemployment rate has stubbornly remained steady for the past eight or nine months he sees positive signs. He noted how the state's labor force is growing, with more people finding jobs. "We appear to be doing better than last year," he said, referring to payroll figures. Connecticut has recovered about 81 percent of the nonfarm jobs it lost during the March 2008-February 2010 labor employment recession. Gioia noted how the state's job recovery rate is the lowest in New England. Education, health services and government added jobs in August, while the construction sector experienced losses for the third consecutive month. There also were job losses last month in the professional and business services sector and the financial activities sector. The report noted how the estimated 1,700 jobs added in July had to be revised to a loss of 800 jobs. Condon said the change was due to additional information collected from employers by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For nearly a decade, the CIA kidnapped people from over 20 countries, held them without trial or counsel, and viciously tortured them, sometimes to death but the only person to serve jail time for the program is the man who blew the whistle on it, and that's thanks in part to Obama's insistence that "Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past." The survivors of CIA torture and the families of the people the CIA murdered have been stymied in their attempts to get justice in the US courts, because the CIA cites national secrecy and shuts down any attempt to make them account for their crimes. Al Jazeera's Fault Lines has interviewed some of the survivors of CIA torture, and the family and friends of one of the CIA's murder victims. Their harrowing stories may never be heard in a US court, but if you live in the USA, these crimes were committed in your name, by people whose salaries you pay, and you have a duty to learn what was done to these people, especially as the Republican presidential candidate has signalled his enthusiastic support for reviving and broadening this program if he wins. We've heard about a smaller room where prisoners were occasionally taken. Did you see it? It was a cell. Or rather, it was a grave. There was a rod that hung from the highest ceiling. It was all covered in blood. They would hang the prisoner's hands from the ceiling, with this rod. So the prisoner's toes would barely touch the floor. I was hung from this place for a day and a half, and my leg was broken. The blood went down to my leg so it got swollen. It was frightening. For a day and a half, I did not drink water or use the bathroom or pray. I was naked. The entire time we were in this place, the most dangerous thing I was thinking of was that they had no red lines.They could do anything hit, kill, they could do anything. Because there were no human rights, no humanity, no principles, no ethics. This is what was scary about this place. There were no limits, there were no standards as far as how these people would act. No one was holding them accountable or supervising them. The dark prisoners: Inside the CIA's torture programme [Fault Lines/Al Jazeera] (via Naked Capitalism) Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) CEO John Stumpf is headed to Capitol Hill this week as his company finds itself in the midst of a scandal in which some of its employees created more than two million unauthorized customer accounts. However, Dick Bove, banking analyst at Rafferty Capital Markets, said Stumpfs trip to the Hill is perhaps a step too far. Thats not a small deal. What Im saying, however, is at this point, its still a victimless crime. No one was hurt by it. Some people paid $25 they shouldnt have paid, but theyll get that money back. To take this thing all the way up to the Senate and House seems to be an extreme reaction, Bove said. Bove, who has a sell rating on the stock, told the FOX Business Networks Ashley Webster on Varney & Co. on Monday he believes the scandal will blow over, drawing a comparison between Wells Fargo and Fifth Third (NASDAQ:FITB), a Cincinnati bank that ran into trouble several years ago. It actually took two to three years to straighten out the companys culture, so it became more service oriented as opposed to sales oriented. I think the same thing will happen at Wells Fargo, he said. Wells Fargo customers filed a class-action suit in U.S. District Court in Utah on Friday, accusing the bank of invasion of privacy, fraud, negligence, and breach of contract. Since news of the scandal broke, Wells Fargo fired 5,3000 employees due to improper selling, and the bank said it will eliminate product sales goals by January 1. Bove suggested an outsider like billionaire investor Warren Buffett could take seats on the companys board in an effort to help turn Wells Fargos ship away from the scandal. I think there has to be an outside organization that comes in and takes a look at all of the systems in Wells Fargo and I think there has to be some, if you will, gifts to customers, to get them back on track, he said. Wells Fargo shares have shed more than 8% since news of the scandal broke on Sept. 9. HBO's "Game of Thrones" conquered the Emmy kingdom Sunday, honored as top drama for the second consecutive year and becoming the most honored prime-time TV series ever on a night of surprises and sharp political jabs. HBO's "Veep" repeated as best comedy series and its star, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, won a record-breaking sixth Emmy as best comedy actress. Jeffrey Tambor's trophy as top comedy actor for "Transparent" also was his second. But the top drama acting trophies were far from predictable: Rami Malek of "Mr. Robot" and Tatiana Maslany of "Orphan Black" were the winners, both overcoming heavyweight competition. "Games of Thrones," the fantasy saga based on George R.R. Martin's novels, received a total of 12 awards Sunday and at last weekend's technical arts ceremony for a cumulative 38, besting "Frasier" by one to claim most prime-time series awards ever. The Emmys proved more adroit than the Oscars at recognizing and honoring diversity in Hollywood's top ranks, with trophies going to minority actors and behind-the-scenes artists. RISING BUILDER OPTIMISM A more upbeat sales outlook from homebuilders could be a good sign for small business, and in turn, the economy. Sales of new and already occupied homes help spur sales of building supplies, home furnishings, landscaping and other items. Some economists believe that small companies in a number of industries won't begin expanding and hiring with more enthusiasm until the housing industry shows more signs of strengthening. The survey released Monday by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo & Co. showed builders' confidence is the highest it has been in nearly a year. An index compiled by the group and bank stands at 65 for September, up from a downwardly revised reading of 59 last month. Readings above 50 indicate more builders, who include many small businesses, view sales conditions as good rather than poor. The index has been mostly at 58 since rising to 61 in January. The last time it reached 65 was October of last year. A component of the index that assesses builders' outlook for the next six months rose to 71 from August's 65. Sales of new U.S. homes rose in July to the fastest pace in nearly nine years. ONLINE REVIEWS People who write reviews on sites like Yelp!, Google and TripAdvisor are getting some government reinforcement of their rights to speak freely in their posts. The House passed the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016, which prohibits businesses from requiring their customers to agree to not post negative reviews about goods or services. Some companies have demanded that customers agree to what are known as non-disparagement clauses in sales contracts. A similar version of the House bill is pending in the Senate. And the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a case brought by a Washington state locksmith against Yelp! The lawsuit contended that Yelp! was liable for negative comments posted by a reviewer. The appeals court ruled that because Yelp! disseminates reviewers' comments and ratings does not mean that it created the posted content. SMALL BUSINESS PERSON AWARDS Nominations are being accepted for the Small Business Administration's awards including National Small Business Person of the Year. The awards, which also include exporter of the year and small business contractor and subcontractor honors, are given out during Small Business Week, scheduled next year for April 30 through May 6. The Small Business Person of the Year is selected from winners of competitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Information about the awards including submission forms and criteria for the selection of winners can be found on the SBA website: www.sba.gov/nsbw/awards _____ Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joyce-m-rosenberg An Afghanistan-born American suspected of carrying out the weekend bombing in New York City that wounded 29 people and planting other bombs in New York City and New Jersey was in custody after a gun battle with police on Monday. Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, was captured in Linden, New Jersey, about 20 miles (32 km) outside New York, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters. He said two officers were shot and that Rahami was wounded and taken by ambulance to a local hospital. The attacks came as world leaders prepared to gather at the United Nations in New York for the annual General Assembly this week, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing incidents, two U.S. officials told Reuters. The motive behind the bombings was not immediately clear, though New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described it as an apparent act of "terrorism." The United States has seen a series of large-scale attacks, including mass shootings in Orlando, Florida, and San Bernardino, California, over the past year. "Yesterday there was no hint of any connection foreign terrorism.... But there may very well turn out to be a link to foreign terrorist organizations, and that we'll find out today or in the coming days," Cuomo told a news conference in New York on Monday. Police in Linden received a call about a man sleeping in a doorway and when one officer, who recognized the person as the bombing suspect, tried to rouse him, Rahami opened fire and hit the officer in the abdomen. The officer was wearing a bullet proof-vest, said Linden Police Captain James Sarnicki. Rahami also fired through the windshield of a patrol car, wounding another officer. The wounds to both officers are not thought to be life-threatening, he said. Local resident Romel Johnson, 46, said he was near the scene and heard about 10 to 12 gunshots in Linden, followed by the arrival of more police cars and an ambulance. Earlier on Monday, New York police had released a photo of Rahami and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said. In addition to the two incidents, officials are probing a backpack containing bombs found in a New Jersey train station on Sunday, and an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb located blocks away from the Chelsea blast site. No one was injured in the other blasts. As reports of Rahami being taken in custody were being released, U.S. President Barack Obama said he saw no connection between the explosions and a separate weekend incident where a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead. He said authorities are investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism. The man in the Minnesota incident, who has not been officially identified, was described a "soldier of the Islamic State," the militant group's news agency said on Sunday. "At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in New York and New Jersey," Obama, who was in New York for the U.N. meeting, told reporters. He added he had spoken to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. "The FBI is investigating the Minnesota incident as a potential act of terrorism. We will direct the full resources of the federal government to make sure that the investigation goes forward aggressively," he said. CHELSEA BOMBING Federal authorities believe that the explosion in Chelsea, where another explosive device was found nearby, was linked to as many as six explosive devices found just outside New York in Elizabeth, Homeland Security officials told Reuters. No one was injured in the Saturday morning explosion along the route of a running race in Seaside Park, about 60 miles (97 km) south of Manhattan, New Jersey State Police said. Before the suspect was captured, the two U.S. presidential candidates weighed in on the New York bombing. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," Republican nominee Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said the United States needed to work with its allies to combat global terrorism and that the country should launch an "intelligence surge" to detect attacks before they are carried out. A Federal Bureau of Investigation poster described Rahami as a resident of Elizabeth, where agents were executing a search warrant on Monday morning after explosive devices were found at a train station in that city, Mayor Bollwage told CNN. The raid in Elizabeth came hours after an explosive device left near a train station there blew up when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, the mayor said. It was one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site. (By Joseph Ax and Mica Rosenberg; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Julia Edwards, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington, Roberta Rampton and Hilary Russ in New York; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Scott Malone and Alan Crosby) Indonesian forest fires that choked a swath of Southeast Asia with a smoky haze for weeks last year may have caused more than 100,000 premature deaths, according to new research that will add to pressure on Indonesia's government to tackle the annual crisis. The study by scientists from Harvard University and Columbia University to be published in the journal Environmental Research Letters is being welcomed by other researchers and Indonesia's medical profession as an advance in quantifying the suspected serious public health effects of the fires, which are mostly set to clear land for farming. The number of deaths is an estimate derived from a complex analysis that has not yet been validated by analysis of official data on mortality. Image source: Flickr user Jayson Shenk. Sixty yearsyoung today, Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) F-104 Starfighter won't be eligible for early retirement for two more years (although in fact, the last F-104 was retired from service in 2004). Designed to intercept and shoot down Warsaw Pact fighters in the 1950s, the Starfighter was built for one thing: speed. "Sharp as the blade of a dagger," Lockheed called it, with "thin seven-foot wings" that didn't produce much drag, the F-104 was the first fighter to hit Mach 2. Germany loved it so much that it ordered up 1,000 units, and made the Starfighter the core of the 1970s-era Luftwaffe. Despite its space-age looks, the F-104 Starfighter was eventually superseded by more versatile aircraft, such as Lockheed Martin's own F-16 Falcon (which went on to become the world's most popular fighter jet). The last F-104 Starfighter rolled off Lockheed's assembly lines more than 35 years ago. Yet today, the Starfighter is getting a new lease on life. The fighter jet that resembled a rocketship when it was invented 60 years ago is being reborn -- as a rocketship in its own right. Rocketships 'R' Us A few months back, I told you about a handful of companies that have begun rising up to create a new space industry, launching cheap, disposable "microsatellites" into space at a fraction of the cost that SpaceX charges for a launch -- or that Lockheed itself charges to launch larger satellites. With names like Rocket Lab, Vector Space Systems, and Firefly Space Systems, they conjure up images of everything from early 1950s high school rocketry to early 2000s mainstream sci-fi. Since these start-ups are privately funded for the most part, few people have even heard of them -- but already, they're beginning to shake up the space industry. One of the smallest of this handful of micro caps is tiny CubeCab-- a company I dismissed in June as "so new its website doesn't even list a physical address." And yet, what CubeCab lacks in physicality, it makes up for in the audacity of its business plan. Like a Phoenix reborn (flying like a bat out of hell) You see, CubeCab has a plan to revive the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter as a launch vehicle for transporting tiny "CubeSat" microsatellites into space. The plan works like this: In cooperation with Florida company Starfighters, Inc., which owns a fleet of about a half-dozenreconditioned Starfighters, CubeCab will pack customers' CubeSats into rockets weighing about 22 pounds each. (Most of that will be fuel. A "1U" CubeSat weighs only about three pounds, and measures four inches on a side. CubeCab will be launching "3U" CubeSats, which are basically three "1Us" glued together.) Each CubeSat-carrying rocket will attach to one of the Starfighter's wing-mounted weapons pylons. A Starfighter so equipped will then launch from the ground and fly a "parabolic flight profile,"topping out anywhere from 60,000 to north of 100,000 feet above ground. At the apex of that route, the Starfighter will fire its rocket, providing the added oomph needed to boost its satellite payload to orbital velocity. At that point, its payload delivered, the Starfighter will turn tail, return to Earth, and land -- ready for refueling and launching the next microsat. Lather, rinse, and repeat CubeCab hopes to achieve quick turnaround times on its launches, and to provide quick service to its customers as well -- "30 days from order to launch," says Chief Operating Officer Dustin Still. Although CubeCab has no need for a dedicated spaceport, rocket launch pad, or booster, it still needs to finish development of its on-board delivery rocket. It expects to complete this task in time to begin launch operations in 2018, the same yearVector Space begins launching, and about a year after Rocket Lab begins operations. Around the same time, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic should begin test launches of its own microsatellite delivery service, LauncherOne. Why all the sudden interest, and from so many companies? Economics. CubeCab says it costs only about $1 million to acquirea used Starfighter, and it's perhaps another $1 million to reconditionit for use as a launch platform. CubeCab plans to charge "only $250,000" per CubeSat launch. So even if it owned the Starfighters outright, its investment could probably be repaid in under a dozen launches. Outsourcing the actual ownership of the launch vehicle to Starfighters, Inc., Cube Cab should begin making money even faster. As for CubeCab's rivals, by and large they're developing entirely new vehicles to put satellites in orbit, and accordingly, charging a lot more for the service (even if not quite so much as SpaceX or Lockheed). On the other hand, most of these rivals are also developing more robust launchers, capable of putting (somewhat) larger satellites into orbit. One thing they all depend on to make money in this business, though, is a fast tempo, permitting them to launch rockets at a pace heretofore unseen in this business. Whether any of them will be as fast as a Starfighter remains to be seen. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Rich Smithdoes not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him onMotley Fool CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handleTMFDitty, where he's currently ranked No. 280 out of more than 75,000 rated members. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ - New Privacy Policy When oil prices drop, the oil industry tends to see a flurry of M&A activity. The sector saw it in the '90s with mergers such as those of Exxonand Mobil -- and in the past few years, M&A activity is bubbling up again. In this week's episode of Industry Focus: Energy, Sean O'Reilly and Matt DiLallo look at some of the biggest M&A activity from the past few years, and a few companies that are pretty promising acquisition targets. Also, the hosts explain just what's so special about the Permian that every other company is buying land setting up camp in it. A full transcript follows the video. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. This podcast was recorded on Sept. 15, 2016. Sean O'Reilly: This episode of Industry Focus is supported by Wunder Capital, an investing service that allows individuals to invest in solar projects across the United States. Earn up 11% annually while diversifying your portfolio, curbing pollution, and combating global climate change. Create an account for free at wundercapital.com/fool. Wunder Capital: Do well and do good. Welcome to Industry Focus,the podcast that dives into a different sector of the stock market every day. Today isThursday, Sept. 15, 2016, so we're talking about energy, materialsand industrials. I am joined today viaSkype by Motley Foolcontributor Matt DiLallo. Hi, Matt! How's your week going?Matt DiLallo: Going really well. How's yours?O'Reilly: It's still hot here in D.C.,as you might imagine. You're down there in South Carolina, so youprobably sympathize.DiLallo: Oh, yeah, it's very, very hot here.O'Reilly: I can't thank you enough for joining meon today's show. For our listeners that may not befamiliar with your work, you're one of our more prolific energy and materials writers. The space has been ...I think active is probably the right word,these past few weeks, in terms of M&A announcements. You hadApachewith that find. There's been lots ofnews coming out of the oil and gas sector. AndI could not wait to get your thoughts onwhat's been going on. Before we get into recent events, can you give us some context as to where the oil industry is today, and what we've seen in the past in terms of M&A,when these conditions last existed?DiLallo: Sure. One of the things I really like about the oil and gas industry is that, M&A, it's just fun for some reason to see big deals go out. Any time oil prices go down,there seems to be this huge wave of M&A. Back inthe late 1990s, that's when all the big oil companies were created, and it was all due to this M&A boom after OPEC overshot with oil supplies,andBPboughtAmoco, andExxon boughtMobil,andChevronboughtTexaco, so you had all these big oil and gas mergers. It seems to me like we're getting ready for thatto happen again. We just had [Royal Dutch] Shellbuying BG, and midstream companies, pipeline companies, they're doingtons of mergers and acquisitions. Andthe Permian Basin --O'Reilly: I still can't believeSpectra [Energy], by the way.DiLallo: Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. And that's the thing, a lot of these,you're not going to see coming,but we can kind of tell, maybe, who's for sale and who's going to be buying. That's what's interesting. For example, both Canadian companiesTransCanadaandEnbridge, they just made deals. TransCanada bought Columbia Pipeline, and Enbridge bought Spectra. What'sinteresting about those is that they're both natural gas pipeline companies in the U.S., and those are oil pipeline companies in Canada. It kind of shows where they're looking, in the future. And then,as far as U.S. companies, we just had Energy Transfer Partners(NYSE: ETP), they tried so hard to getWilliams [Companies] (NYSE: WMB), and that deal blew up, but their CEO, Kelcy Warren, he's like, "We're gearing back up for deals," they have an M&A strategy. So we know there's something coming down the pipeline with Energy Transfer. He said they wouldn't go hostile again, and that was one of the problems, he went against what Williams wanted, and forced them into a deal, and that didn't work. So they'll probably do friendly deals goingforward. It's definitely one to watch.O'Reilly: I can't believe how long that dragged out. Really quick, taking a step back -- in your opinion, with what we've seen over the last 20-30 years, and it's funny you brought up the late '90s. My mom always talks about that summer, I think it was 1998, when gas was below $1 a gallon. She would always talk about that. Do you think all these mergers are the strong buying the weak when they're down? The whole sector is down, but the strong will survive, and they're just picking things up on the cheap? Or is it moretrying to squeeze efficiencies out of operations, whichoften means buying another playerwhere there's a complimentary nature to it?DiLallo: I think it's both. Given that asset values are down,companies are out there lookingfor cheap valuations. For example, a pipelinethat they would have had to pay 12 or 14 times earnings for a couple years ago, they can get for 11 or 12. That's whatSouthern Companydid when they bought a pipeline -- they joint-ventured withKinder Morgan(NYSE: KMI). There are thesegreat deals out there because of valuations. For example,Enterprise Products Partners, they just went after Williams, and their whole deal was, they wanted to get in on the cheap, but they saw a good way to link their pipelines together. Andthat's one of the things with pipeline companies, this network effect. For example, Williams has this greatpresence in the Marcellus Shale, and Enterprise has a pipeline that takes NGLs, ethane and propane, down to the Gulf Coast. If you can link those two, you can save money.O'Reilly: Andit's a better value proposition for your customers; all kinds of good things happen.DiLallo: Yeah. So there's going to be a lot of those,where company is going to look for a spot in their value chain that they're missing, andwho has that, and can I get a great deal on it? So,I think that's going to be one of the big drivers going forward. And then, there are companies out there that are known dealmakers.Kinder Morgan, half of the growth they've beenable to accomplish since they went public has been M&A. And theyhaven't done a deal since they bought themselves, they bought all their pipeline companies --O'Reilly: [laughs] Since they bought themselves!DiLallo: Yeah, 2014 or something like that. So they have to beout there looking. They've sold some assets lately,but a transformative deal couldaccomplish a lot for Kinder Morgan,and possibly restart dividend growth. So I definitely think they're out there looking.O'Reilly: Gotcha. You'retalking a lot about Williams and Enterprise. What about poor Kinder Morgan?DiLallo: Their problem right now is they had too much debt. They want to get their leverage metric below 5 times EBITDA. Right now it's at 5.3. It's on the higher end of even what most pipeline companies have. There aretwo ways of going about that. They can sell assets to get that number down, or they can buy a company that doesn't have as high debt, so a stock-for-stock deal, andthat could push their leverage metric down. I think that could be something they're looking at.O'Reilly: They already did do that sale, what was it, a month ago? Was that with Williams? Oh, no, it was Southern Company. So,they're doing a little bit of that.DiLallo: Andthat was big for them.O'Reilly: What did they get? $2-3 billion?DiLallo: I believe it was like $1.5 billion in cash, and then they handed over half of the debt. So it knocked their leverage metric down below ...O'Reilly: So that's obviously good.DiLallo: Yeah,it was a good deal.O'Reilly: OK. Before we move on to talking about someattractive takeover targets,I wanted to take a moment to talk brieflyabout our sponsor. We're probably not going to be using oil forever. What if you could helpcombat global climate change, and make money at the same time? 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Wunder Capital: Do well and do good. So, Matt,obviously there are a bunch of players in the oil and gas space,particularly pipelines, that have been pretty acquisitive lately. But, we are, of course, investors here at the Fool. So,more important,what do you see you around the bend in terms of potential takeover candidates?DiLallo: First of all,it's hard to predict these. Like Spectra energy, that came out of nowhere. So, in one sense, your better bet is to buy a strong company and hold on to that. But there are some really good, strong companies thatI think would make good takeover targets. They're just strong companies in general.O'Reilly: Either way, you'll win. That's the bottom line.DiLallo: Yeah. Absolutely. Williams is one of those. It's beaten downbecause it had so many problems with the Energy Transfer merger. Now,we know that Enterprise Products Partners was interested in them. They just walked away. However, Williams said they weresurprised by that announcement, and that their boardwould always consider a strategic alternative like a merger,if that was a good way to create value. So, Idon't personally think that Williamsis going to be a standalone company forever.I really think it would fit wellwith a Kinder Morgan, possibly.O'Reilly: They'reno longer the biggest. That was the big outcome of the Spectra deal, right?DiLallo: Yeah.Spectra wasapparently considering Williams a couple months ago. AndKinder Morgan is always interested. Another one I like,and it's not very well known, isTarga Resources. They did a Kinder Morgan thing where they had an MLP and they brought it in-house. They've done a lot over thepast couple of months to lower their leverage. Wementioned earlier that Kinder Morgan's leverage is 5.3 times debt to EBITDA. Targa's is 3.6. A lot lower. So, if a Kinder Morgan bought them, and they paid all stock, it would lower their leverage metrics. And it also has greatpositions in the Bakken and the Permian Basin. So it would feel some gaps fora company like Kinder Morgan,or a company like Enterprise Products Partners, which lacks in those two areas. Targa was almost bought out by Energy Transfer in 2014. The deal just fell through. That's when Energy Transfer switched to Williams --O'Reilly: Why do you think all these deals are falling through?DiLallo: A lot of it had to do with oil prices. Companies werefreaking out about how low it was going to go. In Energy Transfer's case, they did a poor jobnegotiating. They wanted to do an all-equity deal,but Williams wanted some cash. In order to pay that cash, Energy Transfer needed to take on $6 billion in debt, and the market didn't like that, because debt in a falling market is a bad --O'Reilly: Right, and that's why KMI had to cut theirdividend last year. They had that credit rating scare and everything.DiLallo: Yeah. That's really what did in the Energy Transfer-Williams deal; it was debt. Companies that don't have a lot of debt,they're going to be highly valued.O'Reilly: Gotcha. I'm looking at Targa here. They've beenfree cash flow-positive,and they've stayed that way this whole time. Yields arepretty darn attractive, are you pretty sure that's safe as well?DiLallo: It looks like it. Like I said, they have low levels of debt,they don't have a whole lot of capital projects going forward, and they're primarily fee-based. Last I checked, it was 78% fee-based.O'Reilly: So not the highest,but that's pretty good.DiLallo: Yeah.O'Reilly: Very good. Talk to meabout the Permian, because ...how do I put this ... thiswhole time, we've been talking about how if they'remerging, it's mostly stock. That's what the deal was with Spectra. Deals are falling through because of debt worries and all this stuff. And it seems like every day --it's not, but it definitely seems like it --I come into the office and I check my oil and gas news,and somebody did something in the Permian. And that's kind of been the story for a year now. For ourlisteners who don't know --the Permian Basin is basicallythe huge geological formation in West Texasthat extends into Oklahoma. Every day. EOGjust had that $3 billion deal, or maybe $2.5 billion,they bought that private company therein the Delaware Basin,which is actually just a subsection of the Permian. Mr. DiLallo, why iseverybody cutting everywhere but the Permian?DiLallo: Because it's economicat current prices. There'sso much oil. Just forsome history, the Permian Basin has been producing since 1929. It's this oldlegacy oil basin. However, they had beengoing down vertically to drill wells. So they would get a couple hundred barrels a day from these wells,and it was fine and good. However,once they switched over the horizontal drilling,it was like this a-ha moment, where they could pull out more oil in six months than they were getting out in decades.O'Reilly: Andit's even better than the Eagle Forddown there in South Texas?DiLallo: Yeah. It's not as oily as theEagle Ford or the Bakken,but it's the combination of how muchthey can pull out and the cost. Inthe Bakken, it might cost $10 million to drill a well, but they're going to get a million barrels of oil over the lifetime of the well, so theeconomics work out, at a certain oil price. Now,in the Permian, they can get, like, 2 million barrels of oil equivalent, it's oil, gas, and NGLs, for $6-7 million. So,the economics are just so much betterwhen you have that combination. So,that's drawing all these companies in,and they're buying up as much land as possible,because the economics or so goodat current prices that they can drill. You have companies likePioneer Natural Resources(NYSE: PXD), they'restill growing production. Now,we have an oversupply of oil in the country,and yet they're growing production. At first it was 10%, then it was 12%, now it's 13% this year. Part of that isefficiency gains,and part of it is that it's just so good,they're able to get more oil than they initially thought, and that's what'sdrawing all these companies in. And like you mentioned, they're just buying things up,and they're paying a ton of money.O'Reilly: Yeah,I can't believe some of these numbers. Do you want to share a few of them?DiLallo: Pioneer Natural Resources, they just bought land from Devon [Energy]. It was 28,000 acres for $435 million. It's about $15,000 an acre. And that'spretty good, compared towhat some of its peers are paying. ThisPDC Energy, just last month, they bought 57,000 acres for $1.5 billion, which is about $26,000 an acre. That's $10,000 more an acre. And thenConcho Resources(NYSE: CXO), they paid $1.265 billion for 40,000 acres. That's $40,000 an acre. Theprices just keep going up.SM Energy, they just paid roughly $40,000 an acre for a deal. So you have these companies that are paying big dollars,because even with that initial investment, they'restill going to make a ton of money. And then you have EOG, they only paid like $7,000-8,000 an acre for great land,because they were able to negotiate an amazing deal. It just shows thatcompanies are willing to pay a ton of money for Permian land.O'Reilly: Gotcha. Thenext question, obviously, then becomes,are there companies that you likethat are in the Permian right nowin a meaningful way?DiLallo: Yeah. Whodoesn't like companies in the Permian these days? Pioneer Natural Resources, they'reone of the leaders in the Permian. But I did some math on them. It's a $32 billion company, and they have about 800,000 acres in the Permian.O'Reilly: That'sthe enterprise value, right? That'sstock market value plus debt. So the whole kit and kaboodle?DiLallo: Yeah. If you do the math on that, their acreage in the Permian is worth about $40,000, which ispretty high compared to some of the other metrics.And then I did some math and some of the other ones. One that stood out to me was Concho resources. They're worth about $20.5 billion, and they have almost 700,000 acres. If you do the math, that's just less than $30,000 an acre. If you're looking for a value compared to Pioneer Natural Resources, Concho stands out. And then, another one I saw that really stood out wasEnergen.They're about a $6 billion company, and they have 225,000 acres. If you do the math on that, it's about $26,000 an acre. So if I was a company that was looking for an acquisition, I would look at these and say, "I can get Energen for $26,000 an acre,that's much better than if I bought a private deal." Or, "Man, I can scoop up Concho and just get this whole ton of land out there."O'Reilly: Before we head out here, for thedisparity, is Pioneer just more efficient than Concho or Energen, therefore theenterprise should be worth more, even thoughthe land itself is the same? Oris it that they have better acreage in the Permian?DiLallo: There'sa little bit of that. Now, Pioneer does have some land in the Eagle Fordand some other places, so that wouldchange the value. They also have higher production. So there's a lot of factors. So this is just a back-of-the-envelope number. But Pioneeris also well known by investors, they're the leader with thethe Midland Basin, which is the eastern portion,so they're at a premium price these days. And then there'ssome others.Diamondback Energyisvery popular these days. Their valuation, from my math, is almost $80,000 an acre. That's because they'regrowing so fast, and investors really want that growth. But if you look in the middle,sometimes you can find some interesting targetsthat are doing the same thing. Pioneer isgrowing their production by about 15%. Concho, they believethey can grow their production by 20%. So you're still getting that really good growth, you're gettingpretty good economics. For investors,maybe they're never a takeover target,but they still look like a good long-term investment.O'Reilly: Awesome. Well, Matt,thank you for your thoughts. I can't thank you enoughfor joining me on the show today.DiLallo: No problem.O'Reilly: Have a good one.DiLallo: You, too.O'Reilly: That's it for us, folks. We would like to give a special shout-out to our producer,Austin Morgan, who's behind the glass as we speakworking his video and audio magic. Ifyou're a loyal listener and have questions or comments,we would love to hear from you. Just email us at industryfocus@fool.com. Once again, that's industryfocus@fool.com. Asalways, people on this program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Foolmay have formal recommendations for or against those stocks,so don't buy or sell anything based solely on what you hear on this program. For Matt DiLallo, I am Sean O'Reilly. Thanks for listening, and Fool on! Matt DiLallo owns shares of Enterprise Products Partners and Kinder Morgan. Matt DiLallo has the following options: short January 2018 $30 puts on Kinder Morgan and long January 2018 $30 calls on Kinder Morgan. Sean O'Reilly has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan and Spectra Energy. The Motley Fool owns shares of Devon Energy, and EOG Resources. The Motley Fool recommends Chevron, Enterprise Products Partners, and Southern Company. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Democrat Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Republican rival Donald Trump of helping Islamic State militants recruit more fighters as bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey made national security a top concern on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. Trump, meanwhile, said Clinton's "weakness" while Democratic President Barack Obama's secretary of state had emboldened terrorists worldwide to attack the United States. Both candidates tried to use the attacks to flex their national security credentials, with world leaders gathering in security-heightened New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Clinton said Trump's rhetoric against what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism" is helping Islamic State, also known by the acronym ISIS. "We know that a lot of the rhetoric we've heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists," she told reporters in White Plains, New York. The Trump campaign responded by saying Clinton bears some responsibility for the violence by not persuading Obama to leave a residual force of U.S. troops in Iraq when she was his secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Obama and the Iraqi government failed to reach agreement at the end of 2011 on extending a U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, and most American troops were withdrawn. Trump has sought to tie Clinton to the decisions of the Obama administration. "Hillary Clinton's weakness while she was secretary of state has emboldened terrorists all over the world to attack the U.S., even on our own soil. They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes president so that they can continue their savagery and murder," Trump said on Facebook. He did not give specifics. The campaigns weighed in after the weekend of bomb incidents and multiple stabbings in central Minnesota as the Nov. 8 election loomed closer. In the most serious incident, a bomb went off in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, injuring 29 people; an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found nearby. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb went off in Seaside Park, New Jersey, further south of the city. On Sunday night, as many as six explosive devices were found by a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, just west of New York. On Monday, an Afghanistan-born American suspected in some of the incidents was arrested in nearby Linden, New Jersey, after a gun battle with police. Authorities had said earlier they wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, about the Chelsea and Seaside Park bombings. The incidents, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, put the United States' most populous city on edge. In central Minnesota, a man stabbed nine people at a mall on Saturday before being shot dead by an off-duty policeman. On Sunday, Islamic State claimed responsibility, calling the man "a soldier." The FBI said it was investigating the attack as a potential act of terrorism. Reuters could not verify the claim of responsibility. Trump throughout much of the last year has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. On Aug. 31, Trump said, that, if elected, he would suspend immigration from "places like Syria and Libya" and would order a list of regions and countries be drawn up from which "immigration must be suspended until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place." At a speech in Philadelphia on Monday, Clinton called for vigilance. "This is a fast-moving situation and a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world," she said. The renewed focus on terrorism came as Clinton and Trump prepared for their first debate next Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, east of the city. With world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. conclave, Clinton was expected to meet leaders of Japan, Egypt and Ukraine later on Monday while Trump was expected to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. A U.S.-led coalition has been fighting ISIS mainly through air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Trump, who has based much of his campaign message on arguing that the United States is no longer safe and that he alone can protect the nation, told Fox News on Monday morning that he expects more attacks. "I think this is something that maybe will ... happen more and more all over the country," Trump told Fox News. Asked if he was saying there would be more attacks, he replied, "Yeah, because we've been weak. Our country's been weak." (Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson, Alana Wise and Emily Stephenson in Washington, writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) With the 2016 presidential election fast approaching, former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham weighed in on who Donald Trump should consider as his potential Department of Energy Secretary. Well, I think thats up to Donald Trump if he is elected, but recently Gov. Christie made statements to large groups of major CEOs indicating that theyre looking for people from outside of Washington, from the CEO ranks, Abraham told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo. Abraham then named one potential contender for the position. That might mean somebody like Harold Hamm, whos been the top energy advisor to Donald Trump or somebody else in the CEO world of energy. Hamm, Chairman and CEO of Continental Resources, (NYSE:CLR) runs one of the largest independent oil companies in the U.S. The recent terror events in New York and New Jersey over the weekend may also boost the emphasis on national security, that includes oversight of the U.S. energy grid, Abraham noted. The Department of Energy overseas nuclear security and the security of the electricity grid and so on, so maybe youd start looking at somebody who has a kind of background in security that might be tapped for other posts like Homeland Security or whatever, Giuliani or somebody like Rudy for a position like this, not because theyre energy experts but because they can keep us safe and secure in the most important of areas, energy delivery he said. After 1954's landmark Brown v Board of Ed ruling, America's (largely racially segregated) cities began racially integrating their schools by busing black kids to white neighborhoods, a project that hit its stride at the start of the 1970s. It worked. Despite isolated violence (in Boston, for example), the black kids who went to the better funded white schools, where the teachers were better trained and where the students were not uniformly more likely have been traumatized by poverty, did better on their test scores. They got into college more often. They got better jobs. They lived longer. In a single generation, educational integration closed half of the black-white achievement gap a gap that had been centuries in the making, since African-Americans' ancestors had been kidnapped and enslaved and punished with death if they attempted to learn to read or write. But then America stopped. After a single generation of remarkable progress, America switched tracks, focusing on doing anything except letting poor black kids go to school with white kids (poor white kids are significantly more likely to grow up in wealthy white neighborhoods than black people, including wealthy black people). These policies did not work. The achievement gap reasserted itself with gusto. Black educational outcomes and all that is correlated with them, including college opportunities, good employment, pensions, home ownership and life-expectancy plummeted. When black teenager Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer from Ferguson's notoriously violent and corrupt police force, his distraught mother Leslie Mcspadden said, "You took my son away from me. You know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many!" Michael Brown was one of the rare graduates from the Normandy school district, a district that was so terrible, underfunded and mismanaged that it eventually had its accreditation yanked, triggering an obscure Missouri law that required the district to pay to educate its kids in other districts and to transport them there. To sabotage this, Normandy chose a district 30 miles away: the 85% white Francis Howell district. Normandy students who wanted to go to Francis Howell had to get up at 5 AM every day to get to class (Normandy bypassed a better-performing school district a mere 5 miles away). On this week's This American Life podcast (MP3) journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones tells the wrenching story of Normandy and Francis Howell, and makes it a microcosm for the state of black education and opportunity in America. The podcast complements her 2014 reporting for Pro Publica, in which she presents the devastating, irrefutable data that shows that America deliberately abandoned education for black children, and that this policy is ongoing today, thanks in large part to the white parents who react with literal and figurative violence at the prospect of these victimized, forgotten children being integrated with their own kids. In case you doubt this, there's tape in the This American Life program of the Francis Howell parents, racist-dog-whistling at volume and speed, all the while insisting (predictably) that they are not racist. Be sure to listen to the podcast all the way to the end. After a year of integration, the state of Missouri dissolved and reconstituted the Normandy district, wiping its record of educational sins clean with a legal fiction later overturned by a court and dragging all the kids who'd been getting up at 5AM, facing down racist slurs to wrest a public education for themselves. The new district is on its third superintendent in three years. Charles Pearson has never been in charge of a school district before, and his plan for rebuilding Normandy is identical to every failed plan for rebuilding other black school districts in America. When Nikole Hannah-Jones asks him why his plan will work now, when it has failed every other time it was ever attempted, his response is frank and heartbreaking. Nikole Hannah-Jones Can I just say, with all due respect, I've had this conversation with superintendents and principals in districts that look just like Normandy and schools that look just like Normandy for more than a decade. Charles Pearson Sure. Nikole Hannah-Jones And you can look at districts and schools with the same racial makeup in every urban community across the country, and the same thing is said. We know what we need to do. But the schools do not turn around. Typically, an entire district does not turn around. Charles Pearson That's because an entire district has never turned around. It has never happened. But that doesn't relieve us of the charge to attempt to do it. So you're right. It hasn't been done. However, our obligation to attempt to do it, it still remains. The kids are here. So you're right. It hasn't been done, but it's our watch. Nikole Hannah-Jones So then, knowing that, knowing that in these high poverty segregated districts these students aren't doing well, is it possible for a black child in Missouri to get an equal education? Charles Pearson Wow, what a great question. The answer right now? I really don't know. The Problem We All Live With [This American Life] School Segregation, the Continuing Tragedy of Ferguson [Nikole Hannah-Jones/Pro Publica] (Image: Michael Brown, left, attends a small Normandy High School graduation ceremony in August. Eight days later, he was dead; Normandy Schools Collaborative/Daphne J. Dorsey) CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Global oil supply of 94 million barrels per day needs to fall by about a tenth if it is to match consumption, Venezuela's Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said on Monday. Del Pino, whose country is pressing for OPEC and non-OPEC producers to reach a deal to bolster crude prices, said a "fair price" would be around $70 per barrel. "Global production is at 94 million barrels per day, of which we need to go down 9 million barrels per day to sustain the level of consumption," he said in an interview with state oil company PDVSA's internal TV station. Del Pino is also president of PDVSA. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching a deal to stabilize oil markets. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria from Sept. 26 to 28. Non-OPEC producer Russia is also attending the forum. (Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Global oil supply of 94 million barrels per day needs to fall by about a tenth if it is to match consumption, Venezuela's Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said on Monday. Del Pino, whose country is pressing for OPEC and non-OPEC producers to reach a deal to bolster crude prices, said a "fair price" would be around $70 per barrel. "Global production is at 94 million barrels per day, of which we need to go down 9 million barrels per day to sustain the level of consumption," he said in an interview with state oil company PDVSA's internal TV station. Del Pino is also president of PDVSA. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were close to reaching a deal to stabilize oil markets. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria from Sept. 26 to 28. Non-OPEC producer Russia is also attending the forum. (Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Many automotive critics though Jeep had lost its way when it introduced the car-like Compass and Patriot models in 2007, but the platform twins have combined to be one of the brand's top sellers, and a single replacement for both of is on the way. While its official reveal is still a few weeks away, its been spotted without camouflage in Brazil, one of the countries in which it will be produced. Local automotive website Autoo caught it at a photo shoot on the streets of Sao Paolo, and snapped a few shots of its own. The four-door crossover doesn't look much like a Patriot, instead blending styling elements from the current Compass and Grand Cherokee. It will slot into the lineup between the Cherokee and Renegade, and be built on a stretched version of the latters chassis. One thing thats not yet known is what the American market version will be called. Jeep CEO Mike Manley has said it will stick with either Compass or Patriot, but not yet which, although the Patriot has been the better-seller this year. However, the vehicle in the photos appears to to have the Compass name on its side, along with Limited on the tailgate, signifying its trim level. All will be revealed soon, however, as the USA-bound, Mexican-made version of the new car is scheduled to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. ---------- Jeep Renegade Test Drive: After trying to hitch a ride to the Emmys with James Corden and the cast of "Modern Family in the show's opening skit, host Jimmy Kimmel wound up in a limo driven by former GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Did you know you can make $12/hour driving for Uber? Bush, wearing a chauffer's cap, asked Kimmel. Upon learning Kimmel was nominated for an Emmy, Bush the Uber driver gave him some advice. If you run a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice, Bush deadpanned before adding, Jimmy, that was a joke, and shave that wig off your face, you godless Hollywood hippie. SLIDESHOW: Best and worst red carpet outfits It was the first of many political jokes and statements of the night, as the presidential election draws near. Kimmel and many of the night's winners set their sights on GOP candidate Donald Trump, while a few gave shout outs to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Kimmel targeted producer Mark Burnett, who helped make Donald Trump a TV star with his Apprentice franchise. Many have asked whos to blame for Donald Trump and Ill tell you who, he's sitting right there, that guy Mark Burnett, Kimmel said. Thanks to Mark Burnett we dont have to watch reality shows anymore , were living in one. WINNERS LIST: All the night's big awards Who do you have lined up to fill in the spot on the Supreme Court, Kimmel cracked. Miley Cyrus or CLo?" When Mark Burnett accepted an Emmy for his reality show "The Voice," he got back at Kimmel by inviting viewers to watch the show this week to see vocal judges Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keyes: "Your next Supereme Court justices." Later backstage, Burnett joked with reporters that Trump was probably in contact with Kimmel. Im sure Donald was emailing Jimmy Kimmel saying thanks for the free publicity," Burnett laughed. Matt LeBlanc hits on Emilia Clarke, kind of Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth Emmy Award for best comedy actress for her role in "Veep." In accepting the award, Louis-Dreyfus said she'd like to apologize for the current state of American politics. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate," she said. "I think that 'Veep' has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary." She promised to "rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it." Aziz Ansari, who won an Emmy for the Netflix series Master of None, mocked Trumps proposed Muslim immigrant ban. After careful consideration, Ive decided Im going with Trump which is also why Im recommending we get rid of all Muslim and Hispanic nominees from the ceremony immediately, he said. Mom, Dad you need to be escorted out right now. But some others were not in a joking mood. Transparant creator Jill Soloway, speaking to reporters backstage after winning her Emmy, compared Trump to Hitler calling the canddiate The most dangerous monster to ever approach our lifetime. Hes a complete dangerous monster and at any moment that I have to call him out for being an inheritor of Hitler, I will. Courtney B. Vance won for best actor in a limited series for the show "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story." Vance won for his portrayal of late defense attorney Johnny Cochran, and the series won three acting awards on Sunday, including Emmys for Sterling K. Brown and Sarah Paulson for their portrayals of prosecutors Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark. Both Vance and Brown gave prominent shout-outs to their wives, and Vance ended his acceptance speech with a political message, shouting, "Obama out! Hillary in!" Kate McKinnon won the Emmy for best supporting actress on a comedy series for her role on "Saturday Night Live," in which she played among others, Hillary Clinton, who she thanked. Finally, at the end of the show, Kimmel gave one more nod to Nov. 8: We finished before the election came! FOXNews.com's Blanche Johnson and the AP contributed to this report. Jason Lee is the latest celebrity to announce his exit from Scientology. The "My Name is Earl" star, who moved to Denton, Texas with his wife Ceren Alkac and their children in 2015, confirmed he no longer practices Scientology in a a new interview. Lee squashed rumors that he moved to Denton to open a Scientology center, the actor told local outlet The Dentonite. "...being that we dont practice Scientology, and that we arent particularly interested in opening religious centers in general, we have no plans to open a Scientology center," he said. "Quite a few rumors about me/us floating around but none of its true, he added. "We're not here to buy up or change or take over Denton, put some kind of personal stamp on it. We're just here like anyone else who wants to be a part of Denton's very cool creative community, and to be involved and perhaps help where we can." Lee isn't the only high-profile star to announce they're exit from Scientology; actress Leah Remini, director Paul Haffis and more have defected from the controversial Church. Amal and George Clooney are on the same page when it comes to her sometimes dangerous work as a human rights attorney. The 38-year-old glamorous Oxford graduate recently gave a rare televised interview in which she discussed representing Nadia Murad -- a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who was sold as a sex slave to an ISIS commander -- in an International Criminal Court. Amal is making the legal case to world leaders and diplomats for taking ISIS to court for genocide. Obviously, the high-profile nature of the case is an aspect of her work that she and George don't take lightly. WATCH: George and Amal Clooney Look Glamorous as Ever on Italian Date Night "You know, this is something I discussed with my husband before I took on something like this," Amal tells NBC News' Cynthia McFadden. "We did discuss it, and we are aware of some of the risks involved, of course." Still, she says the A-list actor understands why she wanted to take on such an important case. "He met Nadia too, and I think he was moved for the same reasons," Amal shares. "And he understood. I mean, this is my work." Amal clearly feels passionate about representing Nadia, who she says represents hope and a voice for other survivors. "I can't image anything worse being done to one human to another," Amal says about her client's harrowing experience of abuse. "I just met her and I thought, 'I can't walk away from this.' ... I think what she's doing is amazing." Of course, George's support should come as no surprise, given his outspoken involvement in politics. In March, the couple shined a spotlight on the refugee crisis in Syria when they sat down with three refugee families to hear their stories in Berlin. WATCH: George and Amal Clooney Go for Stylish Motorcycle Ride in L.A. Last May, the "Hail Caesar!" actor gushed about his stunning and accomplished wife during a candid sit-down with ET. "I'm always very proud of her when I see her speaking at the International Court of Appeals in Strasbourg, you know, with her robe on," he admitted. "It's very impressive." "She's an amazing human being," he also said when asked why he fell in love with Amal. "And she's caring. And she also happens to be one of the smartest people I've ever met. And she's got a great sense of humor. There's a number of reasons why." Women whose insurance covered the entire cost of birth control were more likely to use prescription contraceptives and to choose more-effective long-term methods than women subject to copays, a new U.S. study found. The study confirmed what Dr. Aileen Gariepy told Reuters Health she and other gynecologists have long known: when insurance lifts the cost barrier, women will choose more expensive contraceptives with better odds of preventing pregnancy, such as intrauterine devices or IUDs. Gariepy is a professor at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and was not involved with the study. She praised the research for highlighting the benefit of the 2012 mandate in the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, that most private health plans pay in full for prescription birth control. "This paper shows that the ACA is a win for women and their families," Gariepy said. "I'm hopeful that this study means we are going to have fewer unintended pregnancies," said Caroline Carlin, the study's lead author and a health economist at the Medica Research Institute in Minneapolis. "We know that the health of women and children is greatly increased when we can reduce unintended pregnancies," she said in a telephone interview. The Health Affairs study is one of the first to analyze if and how the contraceptive mandate in the ACA (also known as Obamacare) changed women's decisions about contraception, the authors write. Previous studies have shown that before the mandate, women were price sensitive about contraception. Long-term methods like IUDs, contraceptive implants and sterilizations have significantly higher upfront costs relative to shorter-term methods, like birth-control pills. In the current study, researchers examined medical and pharmacy claims from 2008 to 2014 for more than 27,000 adult Midwestern women of reproductive age working for 486 employers who eliminated out-of-pocket spending for prescription contraception. The researchers also analyzed claims during the same period from nearly 2,900 women covered by one of 13 employers who had not complied with the ACA contraceptive mandate. Women eligible for no-cost prescription birth control increased their use of prescription contraception by nearly 8 percent, after controlling for age and other demographic variables, Carlin said. Two-thirds of the increase came from pricier, long-term methods, like IUDs, she said. Researchers saw a similar trend toward long-term contraceptive methods in the group subject to copays, but the trend was weaker. "We think the shift toward long-term methods is critical because it's easy to forget to take a pill or to not use your diaphragm," Carlin said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the IUD and a hormonal rod inserted under the skin of the arm the most effective reversible long-term contraceptives and estimates they fail less than 1 percent of the time. Short-term methods, such as birth-control pills, patches and hormonal vaginal rings fail 9 percent of the time, the CDC estimates. The failures usually stem from women using the methods inconsistently or incorrectly. Although the cost for an IUD could save women money in the long run, the initial outlay before the ACA mandate made it difficult for some women to afford long-term contraceptives, Gariepy and Carlin said. Before employer compliance with the ACA contraception mandate, women had to pay an estimated $192 a year for birth-control pills - but they could split that into smaller, monthly payments. By comparison, they would have to pay $235 for an IUD, in a single payment. Prior research has estimated that the ACA mandate saved women as much as $1.4 billion in out-of-pocket spending on birth-control pills alone in 2013, the authors write. "Not all contraception is created equal. There are differences in effectiveness and cost. And we've always known it affects what women choose," Gariepy said. "This data helps show the decreased out-of-pocket cost to women and the increased use of more effective contraceptive methods," she said. "And that's a win for all of us," Women's health activists on Friday cheered a ruling by India's top court ordering the government to shut down "sterilization camps" within three years following the deaths of hundreds of largely poor rural women across the country. In a judgment on Wednesday, the Supreme Court said 363 women died between 2010 and 2013 during or after surgery in sterilization camps due poor management by local authorities which included doctors using dirty equipment and expired drugs. It called on the federal government to ensure the country's 29 states and seven union territories halt the camps, provide adequate compensation for victims and their families, and hold negligent doctors accountable. Activists have long campaigned for better regulation of sterilization camps - where women are gathered for mass surgeries to sever or seal their fallopian tubes - and more investment in alternative forms of contraception. "We welcome the Supreme Court judgment which we consider a landmark one. Providing quality services to and upholding the dignity of women will now be placed strongly on the national agenda," said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India (PFI). "This judgment has the potential to shape India's family planning program into a program of national significance." India's efforts to rein in population growth have been described as the most draconian after China. Birth rates have fallen in recent decades, but population growth is still among the world's fastest. According to a study by PFI, 85 percent of the country's family planning budget for 2013/14 was spent on promoting and conducting sterilizations on women. Only 1.5 percent was spent on other forms of contraception. The world's top sterilizer of women, India came under global scrutiny for its sterilization drive in November 2014 when 15 women died and scores of others were hospitalized after surgery at a sterilization camp in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh. Investigations found the deaths in Bilaspur district were due to unhygienic conditions, dirty medical instruments and equipment and an overall lack of care for the patients who were poor tribal and low-caste women. Authorities have put in place guidelines and are training health workers on conducting safe and sanitary surgeries, but incentivised, target-driven sterilization continue. Doctors, nurses and health workers receive cash incentives for promoting and carrying out sterilizations. Patients are also given compensation - ranging from 600 rupees ($10) to 1,100 rupees ($17) for tubectomies and vasectomies respectively. The Supreme Court ruling was in response to a civil petition filed by women's health activist Devika Biswas alleged widespread mismanagement at camps in various states. The ruling mentioned how a doctor sterilized 53 women over a period of two hours "in an unprofessional and unethical manner" in a village school in the eastern state of Bihar in January 2012. The sterilizations were conducted under torch light with the women laying on school desks, the surgeon did not have any gloves and there was no running water available, it said. The patients, it added, were also not given any pre-operative tests, counseling and were not aware of the potential dangers and outcomes of sterilization. "A sterilization surgery does not appear to be complicated and yet several deaths have taken place across the country over the years," said Justice Madan B. Lokur in his order. "Undoubtedly, this needs looking into by the Government of India and the state governments and remedial and corrective steps need to be taken." The Canadian province of Manitoba, a big piglet exporter to the United States, has confirmed its first case in three months of the deadly PED hog virus, amid concerns that dirty trucks may be carrying the virus across the border. Manitoba's government confirmed on its website the Sept. 14 case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea on a sow farm. The latest case, and all others in the province dating back to 2014, are located in the province's southeast region. The Manitoba hog industry had complained in May when Canada's food inspection agency revived a requirement that trucks delivering pigs to U.S. farms be washed before returning to Canada. Three Manitoba infections in spring fueled concerns among Canadian farmers and veterinarians that commercial U.S. washes are contaminated with the virus. There is no evidence of this, however. Two years ago, during a U.S. outbreak of the virus that ultimately killed 8 million pigs, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspended the rule requiring that trucks carrying swine be washed in the United States before returning to Canada. The agency ended the exemption after U.S. infections of the virus had dropped due to better farm sanitation and animal immunity. Manitoba's neighboring province of Ontario has confirmed 14 PED cases this year between January and June. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Bernadette Baum) The Canadian province of Manitoba, a big piglet exporter to the United States, has confirmed its first case in three months of the deadly PED hog virus, amid concerns that dirty trucks may be carrying the virus across the border. Manitoba's government confirmed on its website the Sept. 14 case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea on a sow farm. The latest case, and all others in the province dating back to 2014, are located in the province's southeast region. The Manitoba hog industry had complained in May when Canada's food inspection agency revived a requirement that trucks delivering pigs to U.S. farms be washed before returning to Canada. Three Manitoba infections in spring fueled concerns among Canadian farmers and veterinarians that commercial U.S. washes are contaminated with the virus. There is no evidence of this, however. Two years ago, during a U.S. outbreak of the virus that ultimately killed 8 million pigs, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspended the rule requiring that trucks carrying swine be washed in the United States before returning to Canada. The agency ended the exemption after U.S. infections of the virus had dropped due to better farm sanitation and animal immunity. Manitoba's neighboring province of Ontario has confirmed 14 PED cases this year between January and June. Technologists have a dismal pattern: when it comes to engineering challenges ("build a global-scale comms platform") they rub their hands together with excitement; when it comes to the social challenges implied by the engineering ones ("do something about trolls") they throw their hands up and declare the problem to be too hard to solve. Jigsaw is a Google spinout that began life as Eric Schmidt's do-nothing "think/do tank," Google Ideas. But under leadership of Jared Cohen, the organization has morphed into an incubator devoted to not just "advanc[ing] the best possibilities of the Internet but to fix the worst of it: surveillance, extremist indoctrination, censorship." The organization has released a set of free and mostly great tools that make strides on these lines: Uproxy lets people behind censorwalls use their friends' internet connections as proxies to get around them; Project Shield uses Google's serverfarms to let political dissidents get the message out in the face of state-actor denial-of-service attacks; Montage helps human rights groups crowdsource analysis of Youtube videos; Password Alert catches phishing attempts on Google logins; Redirect Method shows videos by people who regret joining terrorist groups to people looking for extremist material, with surprising success; and Conversation AI is an experimental system to help filter/moderate troll-floods like those directed at Gamergate targets like Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian. But Jigsaw isn't without its weaknesses and criticisms. Many people blame Cohen for promoting Haystack, a profoundly flawed and dangerous communications tool that the State Department urged on dissidents during the Arab Spring (Cohen denies it); while Wikileaks and Julian Assange accuse Cohen of being a front for the US State Department's "regime change" projects, as Cohen is a veteran of State and had a prominent, high profile career there. On the social/technical side, there's good reason to be skeptical of machine-learning approaches to troll-fighting. From spam-filters to parental controls, systems of automated censorship have a dismal track record, and while Conversation AI performs well at times, it has some really troubling failure modes. A lot will depend on how it is implemented, and what kinds of human judgment is in the loop. But on the plus side, Jigsaw seems aware of these issues, and has sourced some pretty high-quality training data ("130,000 snippets of discussion around Wikipedia pages" and "17 million comments from [New York] Times stories, along with data about which of those comments were flagged as inappropriate by moderators"), though it doesn't seem to have plans to make that data public for people who want to independently audit the sampling methodologies, a prerequisite for good technical work that's as old as the scientific method. Conversation AI builds on a very successful project, Riot Games' League of Legends, where a combination of software-based controls, sanctions, nudging and moderation have created a multiplayer gaming environment that has markedly less harassment and abuse than its rivals. Jigsaw's methodologies are a mixed bag, but in places they're very good, as with their inclusion of people who are on the receiving end of abuse, censorship, and related problems, early and continuously through their design and development and refinement process. At one recent meeting, Cohen leans over a conference table as 15 or so Jigsaw recruitsengineers, designers, and foreign policy wonksprepare to report back from the dark corners of the Internet. "We are not going to be one of those groups that sits in our offices and imagines what vulnerable populations around the world are experiencing," Cohen says. "We're going to get to know our users." He speaks in a fast-forward, geeky patter that contrasts with his blue-eyed, broad-shouldered good looks, like a politician disguised as a Silicon Valley executive or vice versa. "Every single day, I want us to feel the burden of the responsibility we're shouldering." We hear about an Albanian LGBT activist who tries to hide his identity on Facebook despite its real-names-only policy, an administrator for a Libyan youth group wary of government infiltrators, a defector's memories from the digital black hole of North Korea. Many of the T-shirt-and-sandal-wearing Googlers in the room will later be sent to some of those far-flung places to meet their contacts face-to-face. "They'll hear stories about people being tortured for their passwords or of state-sponsored cyberbullying," Cohen tells me later. The purpose of these field trips isn't simply to get feedback for future products, he says. They're about creating personal investment in otherwise distant, invisible problemsa sense of investment Cohen says he himself gained in his twenties during his four-year stint in the State Department, and before that during extensive travel in the Middle East and Africa as a student. Cohen reports directly to Alphabet's top execs, but in practice, Jigsaw functions as Google's blue-sky, human-rights-focused skunkworks. At the group's launch, Schmidt declared its audacious mission to be "tackling the world's toughest geopolitical problems" and listed some of the challenges within its remit: "money laundering, organized crime, police brutality, human trafficking, and terrorism." In an interview in Google's New York office, Schmidt (now chair of Alphabet) summarized them to me as the "problems that bedevil humanity involving information." INSIDE GOOGLE'S INTERNET JUSTICE LEAGUE AND ITS AI-POWERED WAR ON TROLLS [Andy Greenberg/Wired] next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 State officials in Florida on Friday tripled the active Zika transmission zone in the trendy seaside community of Miami Beach after five new cases of the mosquito-borne virus believed to cause a severe birth defect were identified in the area. The active transmission zone grew from 1.5 square miles to 4.5 square miles and consists of a large portion of the popular tourist destination, Florida Governor Rick Scott said in a statement on Friday evening. Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine told the Miami Herald that the city will begin truck-spraying of larvicide in the zone on Saturday. "We have a serious problem," he told the newspaper. "Once again, we must take all reasonable and safe action to eliminate this. This is a problem." The zone was expanded after the Florida Department of Health identified five cases in the area involving three women and two men who all experienced symptoms within one month of each other. The cases bring the total of non-travel related Zika cases in Florida to 93 and in Miami Beach to 35, the governor said. Three weeks ago, federal health officials warned pregnant women not to travel to Miami Beach because Zika has been shown to cause the severe birth defect known as microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems. The Zika virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil. Adding to concerns are current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that recommend men wait six months after being infected with Zika before trying to have children to avoid passing the virus to a pregnant partner through semen. The governor also said on Friday he expects the Zika zone to be lifted on Monday in Wynwood where aggressive mosquito control and community outreach measures have been effective after several cases of Zika were confirmed recently in the neighborhood, north of Miami. Scott also announced that he will authorize an additional $10 million in state funds to fight Zika and reiterated his call for Congress to provide more federal resources and funding. "Every minute that passes that Congress doesn't approve funding means more time is lost from researching this virus to find a vaccine to help pregnant women and their developing babies," he said. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 When he was 5, Chris Jones almost died drowning at a hotel pool in Columbus, Ohio, but officer James Poole Sr. saved him. Today, about 20 years later, 24-year-old Jones has gotten the chance to thank Poole for saving his life and making him the father of a 5-year-old child himself, Fox 32 Chicago reported. Police officers arranged the meeting after Jones saw a photo of Poole on the Columbus Division of Police Facebook page and commented on the post. He wrote that he thought Poole was the man who saved his life, and if so, he wanted to meet him and introduce him to his 5-year-old daughter. Poole saw the comment and helped make the in-person introduction possible. "Two sergeants who watched the reunion were brought to tears," Denise Alex-Bouzounis, PIO of the Columbus Police Department, told Fox 32 Chicago, "We put the good and the bad out on social media. This reunion was just what our community needed." Jones reportedly told Poole, I never would have become a father without his help. If drug-resistant infections in people and animals are allowed to spread unchecked, some 28 million people will fall into poverty by 2050, and a century of progress in health will be reversed, the World Bank said on Monday. By 2050, annual global GDP would fall by at least 1.1 percent, although the loss could be as much as 3.8 percent - the equivalent of the 2008 financial crisis - the Bank said in a report released ahead of a high-level meeting on the issue at the United Nations in New York this week. The rise of "superbugs" resistant to drugs has been caused partly by the increased use and misuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of people and in farming. "We cannot afford to lose the gains in the last century brought about by the antibiotic era," Tim Evans, the World Bank's senior director for health, nutrition and population, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "By any measure, the cost of inaction on antimicrobial resistance is too great, it needs to be addressed urgently and resolutely," he said. Greater quantities of antibiotics are used in farming than for treating people, and much of this is for promoting animal growth rather than treating sick animals, economist Jim O'Neill said in a report in May commissioned by the British government. The O'Neill report estimated that drug-resistant infections could kill more than 10 million people a year by 2050, up from half a million today, and the costs of treatment would soar. LIVESTOCK Farmers too will be greatly affected. The bank estimates that by 2050, global livestock production could fall by between 2.6 percent and 7.5 percent a year, if the problem of drug resistant superbugs is not curbed. "Investments are urgently needed to establish basic veterinary public health capacities in developing countries," Evans said. Improved disease surveillance, diagnostic laboratories to ensure a disease is identified quickly, inspections of farms and slaughterhouses, training of vets, and oversight over the use of antibiotics are also needed, he said. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates 60,000 tonnes of antimicrobials are used in livestock each year, a number set to rise with growing demand for animal products. One of the most important ways to curb the spread of drug resistant microbes in food is to promote good farming practices, said Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer of FAO. "I think this is where we can do most of our prevention - better knowledge on hygiene, vaccination campaigns, so these animals do not get sick and need antimicrobials (drugs)," Lubroth said in an interview from Rome. Public demand for food that is uncontaminated, and better training of health professionals - doctors and vets - are also vital to help contain the problem, he added. Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies also need to do more to treat their waste, he said. The World Bank estimates that an investment of some $9 billion a year is needed in veterinary and human health to tackle the issue. "The expected return on this investment is estimated to be between $2 trillion and $5.4 trillion ... or at least 10 to 20 times the cost, which should help generate political will necessary to make these investments," Evans said. A farm in Albany, Oregon, is offering yoga classes with goats. Portland is probably mad it didn't think of it first. The Oregonian reports it all started when a yoga instructor asked if she could host a class on Lainey Morse's No Regrets Farm. Morse's six goats invited themselves to the class, and Goat Yoga was born. And if that sounds weird, consider that the Goat Yoga wait list is 500 people deep, according to the CBC. Morse says people are "just absolutely losing their minds" for it. She thinks her goats "add a level of happy and fun" to what is "supposed to be very strict meditation." Morse, a former photographer, was diagnosed with a chronic disease and got divorced last year. Her goats helped her through it. "Do you know how hard it is to be sad and depressed when there are baby goats jumping around?" she asks. She thinks her goats provide therapy to Goat Yoga attendees in the same way. She tells KATU they're a "great distraction" from what's going on in the world. The only downside to doing yoga with goats? The animals tend not to hold their poop until after class and will occasionally try to eat the yoga mats. Morse eventually wants to use her goats to help people who have been abused, suffered a loss, or have disabilities. ("Rage yoga" is also now a thing.) This article originally appeared on Newser: People Are 'Losing Their Minds' for Goat Yoga next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 For as long as she can remember, 20-year-old Olivia Ames has taken multiple baths daily to try to relieve her itchy, scaly skin that cant be soothed with creams, and even after undergoing two leg surgeries to improve her movement, she still must use canes to walk. Ames, who was born with the genetic disease Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome (SLS), is uncomfortable, but statistically, her individual case is unique in and of itself. While the severity and variety of SLS symptoms varies, most patients also suffer from some degree of intellectual disability, said Dr. William Rizzo, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who is thought to be a leading SLS expert in the United States. Although Ames copes with ichthyosis, the rare condition that causes her skin discomfort, as well as limb spasticity another common SLS symptom she attends college and suffers from no mental problems. I am an optimistic person, Ames, who attends Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, told FoxNews.com. I always look on the bright side of life, and even though there are obstacles in my life, I dont let them slow me down or stop me. SLS affects an estimated 1 in 200,000 patients worldwide, making it a rare disease by the National Institute of Healths (NIH) definition, and thus few studies have been conducted to identify treatment or a cure. Ames recently enrolled in a randomized controlled clinical trial for a possible SLS treatment to help treat ichthyosis, and the small study appears to have promising results, Dr. Todd C. Brady, president and CEO of Aldeyra Therapeutics, which funded the trial, told FoxNews.com. But Rizzo, the lead author, and also a physician at Childrens Hospital of Omaha, said the findings are early and very tentative. Ames also believes she received the placebo because her symptoms didnt improve from the drug. I just hope that in the future there will be a cream or a pill that will help my itching completely, Ames said. The itching is the worst at night, when shes lying down to go to sleep and her mind tends to wander. It would be so nice to not have to think about the itching. Rizzo began studying SLS in the 1980s, when he became interested in its biochemical properties namely the accumulation of fatty aldehydes, a lipid found in low levels in the bodies of healthy individuals, but a substance that accumulates in SLS patients. SLS is marked by several inherited mutations in the ALDH3A2 gene, which causes a fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase deficiency. This deficiency prevents fatty aldehydes from being oxidized into fatty acids, thus causing problems in molecules and leading to SLS symptoms. We think [the cause of SLS] is the accumulation of that fatty aldehyde harming the function of other molecules in the cell, said Rizzo, who was among the researchers who discovered SLSs enzyme defect in 1987, and was the first to clone the gene and describe its mutations in 1995. In his years of treating patients like Ames, Rizzo has most commonly seen doctors misdiagnose SLS as cerebral palsy (CP), a catch-all diagnosis for patients who suffer with limb spasticity. But its the ichthyosis, which patients are sometimes diagnosed with singularly, that often differentiates SLS from CP, he said. SLS patients typically go to the dermatologist to address skin itchiness, only to realize later that common creams and topical treatments are ineffective. They also often undergo surgery to improve movement. Ames has tried both to no avail. Her mother, Stephanie Ames, of Watertown, Massachusetts, said Olivia underwent her first leg surgery at age 7. The procedure involved bilateral femoral osteotomies wherein surgeons rotated, cut and re-angled her femurs, and a couple of tenotomies, wherein her tendons were surgically cut to loosen the muscles. At age 11, Ames had another surgery to further loosen her muscles, including the adductors and the calves. While the first procedure helped Ames walk better, the second appeared to do more harm than good. After the one in second grade, I could not walk perfectly, but I could walk for myself, Ames said. But after the surgery in fifth grade, I was in my wheelchair immediately after the surgery then I graduated to a walker, and now Im still using the canes, so I cant really walk unassisted. However, Ames said she considers ichthyosis the most uncomfortable symptom of SLS. I have tried all kinds of creams, and taking baths and long soaks, and nothing really helps. They help with the look of my skin, but they dont really help with the itching, she said. Sometimes, Ames physical appearance causes other people to discriminate. Stephanie recounted a family trip to Paris when Olivia was 11 and the waiter at a restaurant handed everyone at the table a menu except for Olivia. So I said to him in French, She reads, and he gave her a menu as well, Stephanie said. Despite what can be often severe symptoms, SLS patients seem to have a relatively normal life span. Thats the first question Stephanie asked the doctor when Ames was diagnosed with the disease around age 2, after Ames showed noticeable delays in some motor skills such as walking. Even then, Ames had itchy skin, which prompted her mother to give her several daily baths. After seeing multiple specialists, when she was a toddler Ames met a neurologist who began piecing her symptoms together and sent her to see Rizzo. Rizzo conducted the testing on Ames and officially diagnosed her when she was 2 years and 4 months old, Stephanie said. Ever since, the family has stayed in touch. As Rizzo continues to study SLS, families like the Ameses who are coping with the disease firsthand also keep looking for a solution. Stephanie said Olivia has also begun meeting with a new dermatologist who they hope will be able to offer a remedy. Meantime, theyre awaiting results of the clinical trial Ames participated in. Were really interested in anything that moves SLS forward, Stephanie said. Ames, meanwhile, plans to continue busying herself to distract from the itchiness. At school, she is part of a Bible study group, and she has signed up for gospel choir and glee club. Shes leaning toward studying early childhood education. I really want to work with kids with disabilities because I think I could really help them because I know what theyre going through, she said. Every week, Fox News contributor Karl Rove wraps up the last week in politics and offers an inside look at the week ahead. Events Continue to Intrude: Pressure cooker bombs in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood, pipe bombs in northern New Jersey, and a knife wielding Somalia-American in Minnesota are powerful evidence the U.S. faces a rising threat of global Islamic terrorism. What does this mean politically? When terrorism intrudes more heavily into the campaign, it tends to help Donald Trump, who calls the threat by its name and promises tough action. Even before police confirmed that it was a bomb in New York and not an accident, Trump declared it was a bomb. He later tweeted, Under the leadership of Obama & Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook! ... Saturday's attacks show that failed Obama/Hillary Clinton polices [sic] won't keep us safe! Hillary Clinton may now be recognizing the political impact of terrorism on the campaign since she, too, issued a tough statement saying, I strongly condemn the apparent terrorist attacks and pledging we will not rest until we bring those responsible to justice. She called for the defeat of ISIS and other terrorist groups and referred to her comprehensive plan to do that, reminding Americans they have faced threats before, and our resilience in the face of them only makes us stronger. But Clinton later made a mistake by disputing Trumps claim that terror attacks in the U.S. are on a rise. Ordinary Americans are right to think the country is more at risk for Islamic-inspired and often directed attacks. This is another reason that when the issue is terrorism, many swing voters are inclined to think the answer is Trump. After a Few Good Weeks, Trump Falls Off The Wagon: When the Washington Posts Bob Costa asked Trump Wednesday if he thought President Obama was born in the United States, Trump answered, Ill answer that question at the right time. I just dont want to answer it yet. He also waved off a statement by his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, that Trump now accepts that Obama was U.S. born, saying, Shes allowed to speak what she thinks. Trumps re-involvement in the birther movement put him squarely in the fever swamps, taking the short end of an issue where 80 percent of the American people think hes wrong. Trump tried to close Friday by saying President Obama was born in the United States, period. But he and his campaign then claimed the birther issue was first raised by Hillary Clintons 2008 campaign with Conway pointing to a statement by Clintons former manager that a volunteer in Iowa was spreading the issue eight years ago. But theres a big difference between the candidate and her campaign raising the issue and a volunteer doing it. Team Trump should avoid putting themselves in a place where every Trump supporters actions and words could be laid at the feet of the candidate. Also on Friday, Trump discarded his script and extemporized at a Miami rally, suggesting Clintons Secret Service detail should have their guns taken away and then we will see what happens. Its never good for a candidate to sound like he expects violence. With the debate a week away and the election only 50 days off, Trump must remember the voters he needs are not like his hard core base, who might respond to red meat like that (though even many of them may winch, too). Swing voters desperately want change but worry Trump is too risky. His rhetorical flourish that she should have to face the campaign trail with unarmed Secret Service agents heightens the concerns of the voters Trump needs to win. Race Tightens More: In the last week, the RealClearPolitics average has tightened from 45.9% Clinton, 43.1 Trump last Monday a 2.8% margin for Clinton to 44.9 Clinton to 44% Trump, a 0.9% margin, this Monday. The movement largely occurred because of events the week before last, when Clinton was under fire over her emails, special favors for Clinton Foundation donors, and keeping her diagnosis of pneumonia from the public. The race is probably a little wider than a point since the RealClearPolitics average includes the LA Times/USC Tracking Internet poll which has suspect methodology and gave Trump a seven-point lead. Even so, Trump has wiped out more than 80 percent of the lead Clinton enjoyed in early August. In the RealClearPolitics average of state polls, Trump now leads in Florida by 1%, Ohio by 1.2%, and Iowa by 4.3%. In late May, Trump was surprised when told he had a shot at Iowa. Hes also ahead in Maines Second District by 5.4% (Maine and Nebraska award Electoral votes by congressional district). In addition, Trump trails in North Carolina by only 0.8% and in Nevada by 0.7%. The former was carried by Mitt Romney in 2012, the latter by Obama. But: Trump still has a narrow path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. If he carries North Carolina and the rest of the Romney states PLUS Florida, Ohio and Iowa, hes at 259 Electoral votes. If he takes Nevada, hes at 265. But then he must win Pennsylvania or Michigan or Virginia, which would give him 285, 282 or 278 respectively. Today, the RealClearPolitics average has him behind in the Keystone State by 6.6%, in Michigan by 5.2%, and in Virginia by 3.5%. While these margins are smaller than they were at this time last month, the race has not closed as much in these three battlegrounds as it has nationally. If he loses all three states, then his last option might be to win the four Electoral votes of New Hampshire (where he trails by 5%) plus the one Electoral vote from Maines Second District. The would move him from 265 to 270, unless Clinton snakes away the Electoral vote from Nebraskas Second District that President Obama won in 2012. If that happened, then it would be Clinton 271 to Trump 269. Imagine the presidential election could come down to how the residents of Bangor, Maine and Omaha, Nebraska vote. What a year. We interrupt our regular dispatches on mendacity, chaos and polarization to bring you this special bulletin: Good news is breaking out across the country! True story. Despite a push from the American wing of the anti-American movement to get traitor Edward Snowden a pardon, nobody holding important power is buying it. Not the president, not the Congress and neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump. They all demand that Snowden come in from the Russian cold to face criminal charges under the Espionage Act, making this a rare moment of national political unity. It is a thing of beauty worth celebrating, all the more so because the stakes are so high. Imagine if it were a partisan wedge issue. Even a crack in the wall would give fuel to an idea that is extremely dangerous to Americas national security. That was the message sent by the House Intelligence Committee, which unanimously adopted a report saying Snowden did tremendous damage. In a bipartisan letter, the panel scoffed at claims Snowden was a hero who acted out of conscience, saying he was a disgruntled employee whose leaks of military programs helped Americas enemies. To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here. Islamic radicals are once again waging jihad on American soil and President Obama is AWOL. There have been attacks in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and a charity run for Marines. Among the victims -- an eight year old child and a 15-year-old girl. Click here to join Todd's American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives! And the only reason we're not talking about massive casualties is because of alert citizens and the incompetence of the jihadist. America is under siege and yet, our commander-in-chief remains silent. On Saturday night -- just moments after the bombings -- the president was bashing Donald Trump at the Congressional Black Caucus gala and cracking jokes about the Islamic State. The president was cracking jokes while New Yorkers were digging shrapnel out of their bodies. On Sunday he flew to New York City to attend a posh fund raiser for Hillary Clinton -- less than a mile from where the Chelsea bomb exploded. He made no mention of the attack in his remarks to wealthy donors. And to my knowledge he made no hospital visits. The White House seems to be treating the horrific events of this past weekend as if it was simply a normal day in America. Not only has President Obama not defeated ISIS -- but now they are here -- living among us -- and more than willing to blow us up in the name of Allah. But instead of calling out the president's fecklessness -- the mainstream media attacked Donald Trump -- for having the gall to call the bomb a bomb. Mr. Trump is the only person who had the courage to call for a temporary ban on immigration from places that are hotbeds of radical extremism. But the mainstream media called him Islamophobic. What part of "they want to kill us all" does the media not comprehend? Hillary Clinton told a press gaggle there are millions of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims. That's nice to know. But we're concerned about the ones that want to blow us up. On Election Day you need to answer this one question -- who do you trust to protect you and your family from the Islamic radicals? Gary Johnson -- the pot-head? Jill Stein -- tree-hugger? The lady who had to be shoved head first into a van? Or Donald Trump? Think long and hard -- because the safety of your loved ones is on the line. Be safe, America. Donald Trump says he wants to end the Obama citizenship controversy so he can return to making America great again," but accusations about bigotry and other personal attacks at his and Democratic rival Hillary Clintons campaigns in recent days appear to be taking precedence over policy with Election Day in just seven weeks. When African-Americans came here in 1619 they could not be citizens, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine told Fox News Sunday. So for five years when Donald Trump has pushed this bigoted lie that the African American president of the United States is not a U.S. citizen, so many people connect that to the most painful time in American history. To be sure, Trump, the Republican presidential nominee and first-time candidate, was for years at the forefront of the so-called birther movement, which argued Obama was born in Kenya, therefore not a U.S. citizen. The debate faded in 2011 when Obama made public a birth certificate document from Hawaii. However, the issue resurfaced last week when Trump stalled for days about whether Obama was indeed a citizen, saying Friday that Obama indeed was but blaming associates of the Clinton campaign for starting the so-called birther issue. On Sunday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway seemed to prolong the issue, or at least part of it, when she continued to argue the issue started with people connected to the Clinton campaign, in its hard-fought 2008 Democratic presidential primary with Obama. It was used as a smear against Senator Obama by Clinton campaign associates, and by the way, not a bunch of summer interns who just got it all wrong and were a little bit too ambitious, Conway told NBCs Meet the Press. These were chief strategists, pollsters, long-term confidants who were pushing this. The race between Trump and Clinton, the Democrat nominee, has tightened in recent weeks, after a series of Trump missteps in August resulted in a drop in polls numbers that some political analysts suggested were insurmountable. Trump during that time was critical of a Muslim woman whose son, an Army captain, was killed in Iraq. The woman, Ghazala Khan, stood silently on the Democratic National Convention stage while her husband attacked Trump. But most polls now show Trump having closed Clintons single-digit lead. A Fox News poll released Thursday shows him trailing Clinton by just 1 percentage point among likely voters in a four-way ballot. Clinton receives 41 percent and Trump 40 percent, with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 8 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 3 percent. In the head-to-head matchup with Clinton, Trump leads up by 1 percentage point. Clinton, a former first lady and New York senator, has struggled from nearly the start of her 2016 White House bid to gain voters trust, in large part over revelations she used a private server system as secretary of state to send and receive official emails. And an FBI investigation into the matter found at least parts of several of the emails contained classified information. Her campaign has also be dragged down by emails that suggest staffers at her familys Clinton Foundation were seeking favors at the Clinton-run State Department for high-dollar donors and Clinton saying in recent days that half of Trump supporters are deplorables. A poll released in July by the nonpartisan Gallup firm found Trump and Clinton are currently among the worst-rated presidential candidates of the last seven decades. The poll found Trumps highly unfavorable score was 42 percent, compared to 33 for Clinton. It also noted that 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater previously had the highest negative score -- 26 percent. We have a candidate who clearly represents the unpopular policies and unpopular themes of the last eight years as well as the old policies from the 1990s, public affair consultant Tony Reiss told FoxNews.com on Sunday. On the other side, we have Donald Trump, a candidate who is tapping into the frustration that most Americans feel toward politicians right now. As Trump continues to roll out his agenda and rise in the polls well see further negativity come from the Clinton campaign and it shouldnt surprise anyone that Trump responds in-kind. Conway also said Sunday that Trump is moving on to all the things he talked about (last) week including tax reform and child care tax credits. Donald Trump has talked about every policy issue that there is, she continued. We have a few more to go. Trump indeed gave a significant policy speech last week on improving child care in the United States, in large part through rewriting the tax code, including allowing parents to deduct such expenses. He also proposed six weeks of paid maternity leave to companies and employers that dont offer maternity leave. Clinton laid out her plan earlier in the campaign. Were in the final weeks of a campaign and both candidates will do whatever they think is going to move the needle in their favor, Reiss said. Personal attacks, policy attacks or harsh contrasting, at this stage in the campaign nothing is off the table. President Obama, after staying mum over the weekend on the explosions in New York and New Jersey and the stabbing spree in Minnesota, emerged Monday to thank law enforcement and first responders for their efforts and then scolded the media for their reporting. I would ask that the press try to refrain from getting out ahead of the investigation, Obama said in New York. While praising the FBI and other law enforcement, he said, It does not help if false reports or incomplete information is out there. Its unclear what exactly Obama was referring to, though he notably did not describe the attacks in New York City and New Jersey as terrorism. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has used that description, which was widely reported. Obama, rather, referred to the explosions a pipe bomb that went off in New Jersey and another device that exploded Saturday in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, injuring 29. Our prayers go out to all of those who have been injured. We want to wish them a speedy recovery, Obama said, vowing to make sure justice is done. The president made no mention during his remarks of emerging reports that the man sought in connection with the bombings, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was taken into custody. Fox News is told Rahami was taken into custody after a shootout with police on Monday morning. Obama, meanwhile, described the separate stabbing attack in St. Cloud, Minn., as a potential act of terrorism. In that incident, a young Somali man went on a stabbing spree, injuring eight people the Islamic State claimed responsibility via ISIS-related media. Obama said at this point, they see no connection between the Minnesota attack and the incidents in New York and New Jersey. Until Monday morning, Obama had been publicly silent on the attacks, even as he swung by a fundraiser Sunday night just blocks from the scene of the Chelsea explosion. A transcript of his remarks showed he stuck to politics during the fundraiser, at the Gramercy Park home of restaurateur Danny Meyer and his wife. He talked about gains in the economy and his foreign policy accomplishments and went on to blast Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. We now have one candidate in this race who is prepared to carry on that same type of governance. I have had the opportunity to work with Hillary Clinton, he said. And then there's the other guy. This guy is not qualified to be president. And he shows no interest in even gaining the rudimentary knowledge required to make really hard decisions on a day-to-day basis. There's no curiosity, there's no desire to get up to speed. It's an infomercial. Trump tweeted that under Obamas leadership, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook! According to officials, the president has been receiving regular updates on the explosion in New York City as well as the ongoing investigation in New Jersey. Aside from the Chelsea explosion, authorities are investigating a pipe bomb blast over the weekend in New Jersey and five explosive devices later found at a New Jersey train station. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was criticized Monday by the Trump campaign for describing the terror challenge as a narrative threat. When it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight, a narrative fight with them. A narrative battle. And what ISIL wants to do is they want to project that they are an organization that is representing Islam in a fight and a war against the West, and a war against the United States. That is a bankrupt, false narrative, Earnest had told CNN. When the White House says we are in a narrative fight against ISIS just days after a series of apparent terror attacks on U.S. soil we should all be very concerned, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement. Diminishing the threat the Obama administration has allowed to materialize on its watch puts us all at risk and is another reminder that we need new leadership in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism. The Afghanistan-born suspect taken into custody Monday in connection with weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey had prior contact with authorities, two government sources told Fox News. The sources said there was a domestic dispute, and the complainant also voiced suspicions that Ahmad Khan Rahami may have radical learnings. The FBI followed up on the claims as part of a Guardian lead, which is a post-9/11 system designed to track new information and run it to ground. In Rahamis case, Fox News was told there was not enough to pursue, and the original allegations were withdrawn. There's nothing to indicate currently, he was on our radar, we had a report of a domestic incident some time ago, the FBIs New York Assistant Director in Charge Bill Sweeney told reporters about the incident. The allegations were recanted and I don't have any other information. We'll keep digging. At a press conference in Elizabeth, N.J., law enforcement officials also said the suspect was not on the radar of local law enforcement, but the restaurant his family owned had inspection issues and there was friction between the family and the community between 2002 and 2012. Two sources said the FBI is now focused on Rahami's overseas travel, and at least three trips to his native Afghanistan. A law enforcement source said the frequency of the trips was not suspicious at the time because of his family ties, and the number of trips did not suggest Rahami had outside help to pay for the flights. A second law enforcement source backed up the account, adding the FBI is now investigating who Rahami met with and whether they planted the seeds of radicalization. Rahami immigrated to the U.S. legally with his family when he was 7 years old. A naturalized U.S. citizen, Rahami was wanted for questioning regarding explosions in three locations -- Seaside Park, and Elizabeth, N.J., as well as New York City. The attack in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday injured 29. Rahami was taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday morning. Two sources tell Fox News that the suspect was identified in the surveillance video from the Chelsea blast. Rep. Peter King, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, explained how the evidence apparently ties Rahami to the three locations. The two bombs in Chelsea, and the bombs in South Jersey appear to be constructed by the same people as far as the material is used, the way in which they're constructed; Christmas lights and all that was identical, he said. Rahami was born in Afghanistan in 1998 and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. His last known address is Elizabeth, N.J., where the investigation continues. After a security conference in Washington, the secretary of Homeland Security said his team is not ruling out terrorism. We have to be vigilant concerning the lone-wolf actor, the self-radicalized actor that can strike with little or no notice, Secretary Jeh Johnson said. Separately, Fox News is told that the attacker in a weekend stabbing spree in Minnesota was unknown to federal officials and not on their radar prior to the attack. Fox News Catherine Herridge and Matthew Dean contributed to this report. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed sharply Monday in the wake of weekend attacks across three states that rocketed national security back to the forefront of the campaign, with the Democratic nominee accusing her opponent of giving aid and comfort to the enemy and Trump saying terrorists are praying Clinton gets elected. The Republican nominee, at a rally Monday afternoon in Florida, went on to say the attacks in New York City, New Jersey and Minnesota were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system and accused Clinton of pushing the most open-borders policy of any presidential candidate in history. Immigration security is national security, Trump said. The rally followed a full day of political crossfire -- as the candidates balanced statements of gratitude for the hard and effective work of law enforcement responding to the incidents with hard-edged attacks on each others national security credentials. Clinton, speaking earlier in New York, said shes the only candidate in the race who was part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield. She repeated her call for an intelligence surge, and at a separate speech in Philadelphia said the fast-moving situation is a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world. But she drew a fierce response from the Trump campaign after saying in New York that her opponent's rhetoric has been seized on by terrorists, and used to cast the Wests fight as a war against Islam. She cited past statements from other intelligence and counterterror officials in claiming Trumps comments are used for recruitment -- and the kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr. Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, responded during an interview with Rush Limbaugh, saying, the only thing that gives comfort to our adversaries is weakness. He questioned whether Clinton and President Obama know were at war. In a blistering statement on Facebook, Trump said: Hillary Clinton's weakness while she was Secretary of State, has emboldened terrorists all over the world to attack the U.S., even on our own soil. They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes President - so that they can continue their savagery and murder. The attacks continued Monday afternoon between the candidates aides, with statements and counter-statements being blasted out at a steady clip that underscored how close Election Day seven weeks off really is. Trump spokesman Jason Miller called the attacks a wakeup call, and said: Our enemies neither fear nor respect Hillary Clinton, and as a nation, that is dangerous, and it is disgraceful. He also described Clinton's earlier comments as tantamount to an accusation of treason, saying her remarks were beyond the pale and an effort to distract from her horrible record on ISIS. Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said: For most of his campaign, Donald Trump has made dangerous and irresponsible statements that experts say play directly into the hands of ISIS and its perverse ideology. Amid the political war of words, authorities on Monday were able to capture suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was wanted in connection with the Saturday bombing in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, as well as an explosion the same day in New Jerseys Seaside Park and a foiled attack Sunday night near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. Separately, a young Somali man went on a stabbing spree in St. Cloud, Minn., over the weekend, injuring eight. The Islamic State claimed responsibility via ISIS-related media, though President Obama said that at this stage, officials see no connection between that attack and what happened in New York and New Jersey. Trump, meanwhile, pointed to the incidents to renew his call for extreme vetting of immigrants from turbulent regions. He told Fox News Fox & Friends the threat is a cancer from within. Donald Trump revived his calls for tightening immigration following a rapid-fire succession of terror attacks involving foreign-born suspects spanning from Minnesota to New York and New Jersey, describing the threat as cancer from within. The Republican presidential nominee, in an interview Monday morning with Fox News Fox & Friends, pointed to the latest threat in doubling down on his criticism of his Democratic opponent wanting to boost refugee admissions. Hillary Clinton wants to allow hundreds of thousands of these same people, Trump said. Trump has called for extreme vetting for U.S.-bound immigrants and for a temporary suspension of all immigration from certain countries with a history of terror proposals his critics have blasted as overly broad. The Obama administration, meanwhile, wants to boost the total number of refugees to the U.S. next year to 110,000, a nearly 30 percent increase. Clinton specifically wants to increase the number of Syrian refugee admissions from 10,000 to 65,000. Trump questioned whether refugees can be property vetted. Clinton also addressed the attacks, speaking to reporters Monday on the tarmac at Westchester Airport in New York. This threat is real, but so is our resolve, Clinton said. She said she supports tough vetting but noted that millions of law-abiding Muslims and other naturalized citizens are in the country. Let us be vigilant, but not afraid, she said. Investigators are still looking for answers about the individuals involved in the attacks and explosions over the weekend. Authorities have taken into custody 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the weekend explosion in a Manhattan neighborhood that injured 29 people. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded Monday that investigators could no longer rule out international terrorism. Authorities were still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found over the weekend in two states: the Manhattan explosion, an unexploded pressure cooker device blocks away, a pipe bomb blast at a Jersey shore town and five explosive devices at a New Jersey train station. Further, a young Somali man went on a stabbing spree Saturday in St. Cloud, Minn., injuring eight people the Islamic State claimed responsibility via ISIS-related media. The attacker was shot and killed by an off-duty officer. Clinton, for her part, issued a statement Sunday afternoon condemning the apparent terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey and New York. I pray for all of those who were wounded, and for their families. Once again, we saw the bravery of our first responders who run toward danger to help others. Their quick actions saved lives, she said. Law enforcement officials are working to identify who was behind the attacks in New York and New Jersey and we should give them the support they need to finish the job and bring those responsible to justice -- we will not rest until that happens. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack in Minnesota, and this should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups. Clinton cited her comprehensive plan for confronting the terror threat, including launching an intelligence surge to help identify and thwart attacks before they can be carried out, and to spot lone wolf attackers. She said the U.S. also needs to work with Silicon Valley to counter propaganda and recruitment efforts online. Trump also complained Monday that police are afraid to act to stop these kinds of plots because they dont want to be accused of profiling. Were not winning the war, theyre winning the war, he said. This is only going to get worse, he said. Trump took to Twitter to decry the current administrations record on thwarting terror attacks, saying its time to change the playbook. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Donald Trump has been saying that the upcoming debates are part of a rigged system, so I decided to press him on it. How, after all, could he object to the four network moderators well before the events? He has said that Chris Wallace treated him fairly in interviews, he recently made his only CNN appearance in months with Anderson Cooper, and Ive never heard him complain about Lester Holt. Turns out Trump knows how to work the refs in advance. And he did so by invoking the avalanche of press criticism, mostly from the left but also in the mainstream media, over Matt Lauers questioning of him and Hillary Clinton in that NBC forum. It was unfair, in my view, but unrelenting. No one, he suggested, wanted to become a Lauer-like pinata. Its called gaming the system, Trump said in a Media Buzz interview, like Bobby Knight, he would hit the referee, well they're hitting Matt Lauer and they're trying to game the system, they want, and I think it's terrible but they want the host to go after Trump. I followed up: But do you think that Lester Holt or Martha Raddatz or Anderson Cooper or Chris Wallace will be pressured into being unfair? Sure, Trump said. I think thats whats happening right now. He is laying the groundwork for post-game complaints if he thinks the debates, starting with next Mondays faceoff on Long Island, dont go well. I interviewed Trump five times during the primaries, and those sessions were full of harsh criticism for the media. But he still ratcheted it up, even taking partial credit for the medias approval rating plunging to a record low 32 percent in a new Gallup poll. Frankly, I think I had something to do with it, but Im very proud of it, Trump told me. I think the media is disgraceful, Trump said. I think they're unbelievably dishonest, and Im not talking about you and Im not talking about certain people, because Ive got tremendous confidence and tremendous respect for certain reporters, et cetera, but a large portion of the media is disgustingly dishonest, and I could name every one of them that are that way, and probably someday I will, but they should be ashamed of themselves. He particularly went off on the New York Times and CNNthe Clinton News Network, in his parlancein response to my questions. The Donald, whether in real estate or politics, has always been a media-centric figure. Some critics think the media created his candidacy, a simplistic view that misses his mastery of television, willingness to risk endless interviews and how even negative coverage helps him drive his message. Trump has faced an avalanche of negative headlines in recent weeks and yet has closed the gap nationally against Clinton, who has been having her own problems. One reason, clearly, is that hes become a more disciplined candidate. When Trump hit his roughest patch during the summer, it was because his offhand comments and insistence on picking fights kept hurting him. These unforced errors included attacking a Gold Star family, jokingly invited Russian hackers to find Clintons deleted emails and suggesting that Second Amendment people might stop Clinton after she was elected. When I asked about his more scripted speechifying, Trump acknowledged that I have somewhat adjusted, but then circled back to his detractors. The media was not treating statements fairly. I mean they would chop them up and shorten the statement, and it didnt sound proper, or it didn't sound as good when they did that, it was very unfair, now Im doing it a little bit differently, Trump said. But even if you buy his analysis, Trump was giving his media adversaries ample fodder. Of course, he went off script late last week, both by renouncing his five-year-old stance on birtherism (while hurling unsubstantiated charges at Clinton on the subject) and wondering what would happen if her bodyguards disarmed (in making a point about gun control). When Trump adheres to his new team's script, he tends to do better in the polls. But as time goes by he can't help but say what he thinks--which will be a particular challenge in the debates. The U.S. Air Force has officially named its futuristic long range bomber the B-21 Raider. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced the results of the services naming contest during a speech at the Air Force Associations Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland Monday. Today I want to recognize three Airmen who answered the call to be a part of a new Air Force legacy and name our new bomber, she said. The first two submitted proposals that captured the essence of the bomber force and they are the winners of our contest. Lt. Col. Jaime I. Hernandez, 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron commander, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas and Tech. Sgt. Derek D. White, emergency management craftsman, 175th Civil Engineering Squadron, Maryland Air National Guard, were named as contest winners. The third Airmen James recognized was retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, who took part in the famous Doolittle raid on Japan in 1942, which forced the Japanese to recall combat forces for home defense. James described Cole as one of the greatest men of his generation. The designation B-21 recognizes the aircraft as the militarys first bomber of the 21st century. Built by Northrop Grumman, the B-21 Raider will let the Air Force launch from the continental U.S. and deliver airstrikes on any location in the world. The Air Force is planning to introduce the aircraft in mid-2020s. Earlier this year the Air Force unveiled the first concept image of the bomber, which resembles the B-2. The newest additions to the Dutch National Police (DNP) are North American "immigrants": bald eagles that are specially trained to take down airborne drones. The initiative is a first for law enforcement, according to DNP officials. They announced in a statement, released Sept. 13, that the DNP is currently the only police force in the world to include raptors on its roster for drone defense. For the past year, the DNP has tested eagles' prowess against flying drones, collaborating with a private company called Guard from Above that trains raptors to snatch drones out of the sky. The tests were so successful, the DNP reported, that the police force recently purchased juvenile bald eagles that it plans to train. Agents will work with the eagles hand in glove literally, because eagle talons are extremely sharp. [Send in the Eagles! Dutch Police Use Avians to Deter Drones | Video] The young eagle recruits have wingspans that currently measure about 3.3 feet long. When the eagles are fully grown, their wings could extend between 5.9 and 7.5 feet. The DNP expects that the eagles will be ready for action in about six months, according to the statement. Michel Baeten, an operational manager for the DNP, told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) that using birds of prey is one of several methods Dutch police employ to combat drones, alongside electromagnetic pulses and laser technology. Baeten called eagles "one of the most effective countermeasures against hostile drones," the AFP reported. So, what drones might be considered "hostile"? These aerial vehicles could be a threat, for instance, to visiting diplomats, as the DNP demonstrated Sept. 9 in a mock "attack." In the department's test setting enacted on video a man playing a VIP emerged from a motorcade at a public location. As he greeted people, a drone flew toward him, and it was quickly intercepted by a trained bird. The eagle-eyed trainees are taught to see drones as prey and respond accordingly, officials said in the statement. Just as eagles capture prey and bring it to their nests, the trained eagles not only disable the drones but also relocate a safe distance from crowds. Tough, scaly skin on eagles' feet protects them against bites from most of their usual prey, and likewise protects them from being harmed by small drones' propellers. Larger drones, however, might prove more damaging. The DNP reported that the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) will design a special "claw protector" called klauwbeschermer, in Dutch that it will use to keep the eagles from being injured in the line of duty. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. There truly is a cruise for everyone. From Holy Land sailings to voluntourism" trips, travelers are discovering ways to make the world their church, while sharing and applying their faith on vacation. And the market is a healthy one. Faith-based cruising has been a growing category for EO for a number of years, says Mark Yeh, director of sales and marketing development for Educational Opportunities Tours, a faith travel specialist. EO Tours has seen year-over-year growth in cruising for more than five years. This includes domestic and Mediterranean cruises. We added faith-based European river cruises with AmaWaterways over four years ago, and bookings have grown every year. When I attended a Lutheran church, a group of pastors and parishioners took a cruise off the coast of Alaska, and we hosted our own Sunday service. On the same cruise, a large group of Jewish passengers brought aboard their own cutlery for kosher meals, and an elevator was programmed to stop at every floor on Saturday so they did not have to push the buttons, which is prohibited on the Sabbath. Many cruise lines schedule chaplain-led religious services, and some have dedicated chapels onboard. Princess Cruises, for example, has a Hearts & Minds venue that it uses for weddings, Catholic Mass and religious services for many denominations. EO Tours works closely with Celebrity, AmaWaterways, Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line to select the kinds of ships that work best for groups, select and build itineraries and excursions that are attractive to our groups and provide the facilities and service to guarantee a unique and remarkable experience, Yeh adds. EO has churches, clergy, individuals and ministries from a wide range of faith groups that cruise with us United Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics, non-denomination churches and more. They may use cruises for different purposes, but they all like to cruise. The Holy Land is an especially popular trip, though accessibility is currently limited due to political unrest and terrorism throughout the Middle Eastern region. But when things are stable, destinations include Turkey, Israel and Egypt the Fertile Crescent where travelers can follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, from his birthplace in Bethlehem to his baptism in the Jordan River, from his ministry in Galilee to the crucifixion in Jerusalem. They can witness the Egypt of Moses the land of the pharaohs and pyramids and they can retrace early Christian history and the scholarly path of the Apostle Paul. The archaeological sites of Ephesus, Turkey; Corinth, Greece; Philippi, Greece; Rome, Italy and more remain; bringing to life their corresponding books of the Bible: Ephesians, Corinthians, Philippians and Romans. While travelers can reserve Holy Land cruises on their own, religious theme cruises can enhance the journey. Theme Cruise Finder currently lists 50 faith-based charter sailings that provide a deeper dive into theology. EO is chartering AmaWaterways for its "Lutheran Reformation Cruise & Tour" that quickly sold out for its Nov. 4 sailing this year since 2016 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luthers Reformation. Yeh says spots on next year's Lutheran Reformation cruise are already filling up fast. But not all religious theme cruises are historical-- or far from home. Norwegian Cruise Line will host a Catholic womens retreat and a Catholic singles cruise, both in the Caribbean, next year. For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are several Book of Mormon Lands voyages leaving domestic ports this year and in 2017. And in January, the Christian band MercyMe will spend a week performing and mingling with their fans aboard Holland America Lines ms Koningsdam in the Caribbean. Also next year, an Alaskan cruise with Christian musical artist Amy Grant and a Sandi Patty & Friends voyage in the Caribbean are planned. Travelers can also enjoy celebrating religious holidays at sea. Disney Cruise Line is starting to prepare for Christmas and Hanukkah on all four of its ships. Besides its festive activities, dressed-up characters and decor, services will be held on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve, and every day from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1 for Hanukkah. Meanwhile, a new cruise line called Fathom is putting the Parable of the Talents words Well done, good and faithful servant! into action for people traveling to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The Fathom experience is about learning, understanding, immersing and human flourishing, explains Tara Russell, president of Fathom and global impact lead for Carnival Corporation. In the Dominican Republic, travelers participate alongside locals on community-based projects. In Cuba, travelers engage in authentic cultural immersion activities. Fathom is designed to unite and inspire in a world that lately seems so divided. There is no doubt that we are stronger together. And that togetherness is an important part of this journey for travelers and for locals. Fathom calls it impact travel, and it provides a strong foundation to enable travelers to translate faith into action, adds Russell. Thoughtfully tailored, fun and engaging onboard programming, combined with our long-term vision of expanding possibilities in both the lives of the travelers and the communities which we touch allows Fathom travelers to be part of pioneering this new type of travel. Fathom has already hosted several faith-based groups onboard its Adonia, and many more are considering charters. Says Russell, Fathom embraces the good in every human being and welcomes travelers of every faith. From small church groups to large ministry organizations and families, the Fathom experience allows groups to put love in action. Faith cruises are cost competitive, too. Yeh says EO Tours fares are comparable to those of many cruise lines. A trip to the Holy Land through EO starts at about $2,800 per person for a 10-night sailing, for example. And even when theyre not, Yeh says travelers will still get their money's worth. Select cruises will have guest speakers, musicians, workshops, exclusive excursions included and other features. We also serve the customers from the time of their first inquiry until they get home and are thinking about their next journey. Groups have found they can hold meetings at certain times of the year on cruises for prices that are competitive with hotels and conference centers. Sometimes they save money, often they save on the amount of effort needed to plan an event and they almost always have a unique destination for their event. For those looking for even more, Inspiration Cruises & Tours offers several additional options. Maine police hunt for woman missing from Walmart parking lot By , Maine state police are looking for a 34-year-old woman, poring over surveillance video and financial records for clues in the two-week-old disappearance. The police said Valerie Tieman, of Fairfield, vanished on Aug. 30 after going to a local Walmart in a red pickup truck with her husband. She was reported missing Sept. 9 by her parents, who live in South Carolina. At this point theres a lot of things that were going to do, Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland told WABI-TV. Theres surveillance video from Walmart, financial records. We will talk to friends and family, obviously the husband. The station reported that Tieman's husband, Luc Tieman, was cooperating with investigators. What hes telling us is that on Aug. 30, they went to the Walmart parking lot. He went inside the store and left her inside that red truck and when he got back from the store, she was missing, McCausland told the station. The station asked McCausland why Tieman waited to contact police. I dont have an explanation as to his inaction, he said. Tieman told the Kennebec Morning Sentinel that his wife has run off previously, but did not elaborate. He told the paper they married in 2014. URL https://www.foxnews.com/us/maine-police-hunt-for-woman-missing-from-walmart-parking-lot Five people detained by law enforcement after their vehicle was stopped near the Verrazano Bridge on Sunday night were questioned and released, FBI officials said during a Monday news conference. The group was detained after their vehicle was identified as a "vehicle of interest" in the New York and New Jersey bombing investigations. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the prime suspect in the trio of weekend bombings, was captured in Linden, NJ after a gun battle with police on Monday morning. Officials took an interest in the vehicle stopped on the Verrazano after it was seen leaving a location "associated with Rahami," authorities said. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that authorities weren't currently searching for any other suspects in the bombing case. The assistant director of the FBI's field office in New York, William Sweeney Jr., said "there is no indication that there's a cell" in the area associated with Rahami. The bombing on Saturday night in New York's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. Two other attempted attacks on Saturday morning and Sunday night -- both in New Jersey -- did not result in any injuries. Authorities were frantically searching Lake Superior for three boaters Monday, including a 9-year-old and his father, who didnt return from a fishing trip. Family members called police when the trio who departed from Michigans Upper Peninsula didnt return for a fish fry Saturday. According to Upper Michigan Source, one man was identified as Keith Karvonen. The other two identities werent released. Cmdr. Carolyn Moberley of the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday evening that the search would go on overnight. There was still no sign of the boat early Monday. State police Sgt. Jamie Patterson said the lake may have been a bit choppy Saturday but the weather was "pretty decent." "We're concentrating our search right now from the Gay area, all the way down to Baraga, and over towards the Huron Islands," Marquette Coast Guards Patrick Brown said. "But if you have any information, from any area, then definitely call." The boy and his father are from Ishpeming. They were with a 61-year-old man from Atlantic Mine. The search involves state police, the U.S. and Canadian coast guards and local police. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. lifted a lockdown Monday morning after a reported suspicious vehicle on the installation was identified as not being a threat, a spokesman for the school told Fox News. Officials began a search for a vehicle after a "concerned citizen" reported seeing a man "who fit the description" of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the person wanted by authorities in connection with the New York and New Jersey bombings, Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker said. The man was eventually identified as a resident of West Point. "Once the report of a suspicious vehicle was made, appropriate security measures were taken," Kasker said. "Authorities at West Point continue to work directly with their county, state and federal counterparts in all matters of security. West Point officials are encouraged by the active roll citizens are taking to say something when they see something. West Point is located about 60 miles north of New York City, where a bomb exploded Saturday evening, injuring 29 people. Authorities are still hunting those responsible for that attack. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report. The man who police nabbed and shot Monday after a day-long dragnet in connection with a series of terror attacks in and around New York was a bad father who disliked America, hated gays and took long trips to his homeland of Afghanistan, according to the mother of his young daughter. Maria, whose full name is being withheld by FoxNews.com, said her high school sweetheart, Ahmad Khan Rahami, didnt pay child support and often railed against American culture. The 26-year-old, who spoke after her grandmother called her for a reporter who produced his press credential and identified himself at the grandmothers home in Elizabeth, said she had not seen Rahami in two years. "He would speak often of Western culture and how it was different back home, she said. How there weren't homosexuals in Afghanistan. "He seemed standoffish to American culture, but I never thought he would cross the line," she added. Rahami, 28, was identified by authorities early Monday, following a weekend of possibly related bombings in Seaside Park, N.J., and the Chelsea section of Manhattan. In addition, five homemade bombs were found in Elizabeth late Sunday, including one that was detonated by police. Authorities told Fox News Rahamis fingerprint was found on an unexploded bomb discovered in Manhattan Saturday night, and it is believed the same person or persons were behind the bombs, none of which caused fatalities. Five men detained in connection with the probe after a traffic stop in Brooklyn were released Monday, and authorities said they do not believe the bombs were the work of a terror cell. Maria recalled one chilling exchange in which the father of her child a class clown in high school demonstrated his hatred for the U.S. military. "One time, he was watching TV with my daughter and a woman in a [military] uniform came on and he told [their daughter], 'That's the bad person,'" she said. It was not clear when Rahamis family came to the U.S., but officials said Rahami, who worked at one of his familys restaurants, First American Fried Chicken, in Elizabeth, is a U.S. citizen. That restaurant is now closed after long-running code-enforcement problems with city inspectors, according to Elizabeth officials. Rahami was taken into custody late Monday morning after a shootout with police in Linden, N.J., near Elizabeth after the FBI circulated a wanted poster. No one was killed in the shootout, and Rahami was seen being placed in an ambulance just before noon. At Edison High School, where Rahami and Maria met, Rahami got along with classmates and was known as the class clown, she said. But he often criticized American culture, comparing it to the strict Islamic code of his homeland. "I never thought he would do something like this, she said through tears. I think he was brainwashed. Maria recalled that Rahami would often go back to Afghanistan to see family, and would stay for weeks, or even months. Right before their daughter was born, Rahami was in Afghanistan and had trouble returning because authorities in Afghanistan confiscated his passport for unknown reasons, Maria said. The last time Maria knows that Rahami visited his homeland was nine years ago. He brought back a wife and another child, she said. Maria did not say what prompted their breakup, and cut the interview short saying she did not want to speak to a reporter. But she did say she did not want Rahami around their daughter, whom she did not name. "I didn't want him to see my daughter, she said. If he loved her, he would have paid child support. My greatest fear is that he would try to take my daughter." The family of the Muslim bombing suspect who was arrested following a shootout with police in New Jersey Monday sued their city and local police force in 2011, charging they were harassed over their faith. Ahmad Rahami and his family, which had owned First American Fried Chicken, in Elizabeth, N.J., since 2002, claimed in a federal lawsuit that local cops subjected them to discrimination and 'selective enforcement' based on their religion. They claimed police tried to shut down their restaurant before 10 p.m. with a barrage of summonses and visits. "Despite their legal right to keep the restaurant open past 10 p.m., defendants, each and every one of them, with reckless disregard and deliberate indifference to plainiffs' constitutional rights of liberty, due process and equal protection embarked on a course of conduct to harass, humiliate, intimidate, retaliate against and force plaintiffs to close their business by 10 p.m. by filing complaints, tickets, summonses ...," read one line from the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The family charged the local police department's "selective enforcement of an ordinance...were based solely on animus against plaintiffs' religion, creed, race and national origin." Two of the suspect's brothers, Mohammad K. Rahami, Jr. and Mohammad Q. Rahami, were arrested in 2009 after they tried to record their conversation with officers. The 11-count lawsuit named the City of Elizabeth, the Elizabeth Police Department, six Elizabeth police officers, chief of police Ronald Simon and police director James Cosgrove. The complaint was dismissed in 2012. Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said Monday the restaurant closed because late night noise from the restaurant was "quality of life issue." Deputies in Florida are searching for the owner of a 600-pound hog that was found roaming around. Local news organizations report that Alachua County deputies found the domestic hog Sunday after getting reports of the animal running at large. Deputies caught the hog using a rope and took it to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office Livestock Impound. The sheriff's office said in a news release that the 600-pound Hampshire hog appeared to be in good health. The animal will be put up for auction if its owner doesn't claim it. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact officials. The FBI launched a raid Monday morning in Elizabeth, New Jersey, at an apartment belonging to Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan linked to the New York and New Jersey bomb blasts, investigators said. Undercover agents and members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force were taking part in the raid above a chicken restaurant. The home was roughly one mile from the site where investigators found five suspicious devices, one of which exploded, outside a train station. Bomb dogs went from car to car and trash can to trash can along a residential street. Officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and New Jersey State Police were also seen at the raid. The suspicious devices turned up in a backpack early Monday morning. One exploded when a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. The discovery came a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said two men called police and reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package after finding it in a trash can around 8:30 p.m. Media at the scene reported hearing a loud explosion and smelling gunpowder at around 12:40 a.m. Monday after Bollwage said earlier that the Union County bomb squads robotic device indicated that the package couldve been a live bomb. There was no report of injuries following the explosion. Bollwage said the FBI and state police would decide how to remove the devices. New Jersey Transit service was suspended early Monday between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, and New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New York Penn Station, officials said. Riders reported being stuck on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains for hours Sunday night, while some trains moved in reverse to let passengers off at other stations. Also on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5K run. Officials said it didn't appear that those two incidents were connected, though they weren't ruling anything out. Fox News' Leland Vittert, Meghan Welsh and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Islamic State militants rarely miss a chance, however tenuous the link, to claim at least partial credit for apparent terrorist attacks on U.S soil, from the June's deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, to the stabbing of nine people in a Minnesota shopping mall Saturday. They're eager to precisely because they apparently haven't carried out carefully planned attacks here and because, in terrorism circles, your influence is often ranked by numbers of attacks, terrorism experts say. "If they can't claim attacks, they can't get recruits and can't raise money," according to Dan Byman, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Some militant groups, including al-Qaida, are more reluctant about associating themselves with attackers unless it is clear they adhere to their core beliefs, Byman said. But Islamic State appears to be less discriminating, requiring little information about attackers, said Karen Greenberg, the director of the Fordham Law School's Center on National Security in New York. "If they find out the person is Muslim that alone might be enough for them to claim credit," she said. Other groups may also pause to gauge whether an attack crossed certain lines of brutality, something that Byman said isn't an issue for IS, whose calling card has been extreme violence. An Islamic State-run news agency claimed on Sunday that the attack at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was a "soldier of the Islamic State: who had heeded calls for attacks in nations in the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. But authorities say there's no sign yet that the attacker, identified by his father as Somali immigrant Dahir Adan, was radicalized or communicated with any terrorist group. The speed with which IS weighed in may also say something about a competition for recruits between the Middle East-based IS and the east Africa-based militant group al-Shabab, which has recruited Somali-Americans from Minnesota with some success in recent years, but has seen allegiances switching increasingly from al-Shabab to Islamic State, Greenberg said. Islamic State has claimed at least partial credit for at least four attacks in the United States over the past two years, according to the Center on National Security. Aside from Minnesota, the others are: June 12 attack on the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse by an American-born Muslim Omar Mateen. IS claimed partial credit via one of its news services the day after he fatally shot 49 people, according to the center. During the attack, Mateen offered allegiance to Islamic State during a 911 call. Dec. 2, 2015, attack in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead. The center said IS claimed credit days after news reports said alleged attackers Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik had pledged allegiance to Islamic States. May 3, 2015, attack by two gunmen in Garland, Texas, during an exhibit of images of the Prophet Muhammad. IS claimed responsibility on Twitter and through its news services. __ Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm The Latest on the Friday overnight shooting rampage in West Philadelphia (all times local): 2:35 p.m. Authorities have identified a woman killed during a shooting rampage in Philadelphia as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants. Police say Sara Salih was fatally wounded while sitting in a vehicle Friday night with a 36-year-old man, who was also shot. The pair was apparently targeted at random by 25-year-old Nicholas Glenn. Glenn had already shot city police Sgt. Sylvia Young and two other civilians in the Friday overnight attack. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (http://bit.ly/2cprBbj ) Sara's father heard the gunshots from the family's apartment but didn't know his daughter had been shot and killed until after he got home from work Saturday afternoon. Glenn was killed in a shootout with police that also injured a responding officer. Police say all the injured are expected to survive. ___ 3:30 a.m. A police officer shot during shooting rampage in Philadelphia last week has been released from a hospital. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 says University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller was released on Sunday after receiving treatment for gunshot wounds to his hip and ankle. Investigators say Miller was shot confronting a gunman who had already shot city Police Sgt. Sylvia Young and four civilians one of whom died in the Friday overnight attack. Authorities say the gunman later identified as Nicholas Glenn subsequently died in a shootout with responding officers. Police say Glenn had a note that expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer. Police say Young was shot in her shoulder, arm and chest. She's hospitalized in stable condition. A black man fatally shot by a white Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer responding to a stalled vehicle had no weapon on him or in his SUV, the city's police chief said Monday. An investigation is underway into Friday's shooting death of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan said, as the department prepared to release dashcam footage of the shooting. "We will achieve justice in this case," Jordan said. Meanwhile, family members and community leaders who have viewed the footage said it clearly shows that Crutcher's hands were in the air when he was shot. "We saw that Terence did not have any weapon. Terence did not make any sudden movements. We saw that Terence was not being belligerent," one of the attorneys for the family, Damario Solomon-Simmons, said at a news conference separate from one police held. Tulsa Police Sgt. Shane Tuell confirmed that relatives were shown the recordings Sunday ahead of the planned public release. "We wanted them to see it before it was released so they wouldn't be blindsided by it," Tuell said. "We wanted to be able to have that intimate time with them, with their attorney, to see if they had any questions or concerns. "With something of this magnitude, we're trying an approach that we believe is necessary to further that transparency." About a dozen protesters gathered outside the Tulsa County courthouse on Monday morning, waving signs that read, "This Stops Now" and "Not Going, Keep Protesting." They also chanted, "Hands up, don't shoot." One protester, Tulsa resident Mark Whited, said more needed to be done to "bridge the mistrusts" between communities. Authorities said the shooting occurred after an officer stopped to investigate a vehicle in the middle of a road. Police said Crutcher approached after officers arrived to assist. Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie has said Crutcher refused orders to put up his hands. Police say Tulsa officer Betty Shelby fired the fatal shot, while officer Tyler Turnbough used a stun gun on Crutcher. Both officers are white, MacKenzie said Monday. Authorities say two sets of lucky scavengers played roles in the investigation of the bombing spree that terrorized people in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. On Sunday, two homeless men grabbed a backpack left in the trash near an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station, only to discover it contained apparent pipe bombs. They reported the find to police. A day earlier, two men walking down a New York City street made off with what looked like an abandoned wheeled backpack. Police say before the men walked away with the bag they removed a pressure cooker and left it behind. The pressure cooker later was found by state police troopers after a similar device exploded nearby. An Afghan immigrant wanted in connection with the bombings has been captured. Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web Authorities have identified the woman killed during a shooting rampage that also wounded two police officers as the 25-year-old daughter of Ethiopian immigrants. Sara Salih was shot seven times while sitting in a vehicle Friday night with a 36-year-old man, who was shot in the arm and chest. Moments before, police say, suspect Nicholas Glenn had fired about 18 shots at veteran police Sgt. Sylvia Young as she sat in her patrol cruiser on a West Philadelphia street corner. He then randomly fired five shots at two bar employees, a 42-year-old man and 41-year-old woman, as he ran down the street. Glenn later died in a shootout with responding officers. Beyan Salih, Sara's father, heard the gunshots from the family's apartment during the Friday overnight attack but didn't know his daughter had been shot until after he got home from work Saturday afternoon, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported (http://bit.ly/2cprBbj ). That's when he was told she had died. "I didn't know," he said, sobbing on his front porch. "How could she be gone? How could this happen?" Sara's sister, Fatima Salih, said Sara was a newborn when the family immigrated to Philadelphia in 1992 and that she had attended school in southwest Philadelphia. Fatima Salih described Sara as "outgoing and outspoken," with dreams of becoming a paralegal. "She always loved dreaming about the future," Fatima Salih said. Authorities say the 25-year-old Glenn apparently targeted Salih and the man she was with at random. Glenn also shot one of the responding officers, University of Pennsylvania police officer Ed Miller. Miller was treated for gunshot wounds to his hip and ankle and was released from the hospital Sunday. Four Philadelphia Eagles players visited before his release. Young was shot in her shoulder, arm and chest and remains hospitalized in stable condition. Police say all the injured are expected to survive. Investigators say Glenn had a note that expressed hatred for law enforcement and a probation officer at the time of the attack. He fired at least 51 shots during the rampage and was armed with more ammunition, authorities said. ___ Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com The attack on a Syrian aid convoy in Aleppo that left at least 14 dead "raises very serious questions" about Russia's ability to deliver its end of the ceasefire agreement, according to a senior administration official Monday who said the Obama administration ultimately holds Russia responsible for the incident. The official called the incident an "outrageous attack on non-combatants," adding that it was a "difficult and trying day" in Syria, while raising doubts about the fragile ceasefire negotiated earlier this month between Russia and the United States. "We don't know if it can be salvaged," said the official. Syrian or Russian aircraft carried out the attack, according to the official but declined to be more specific. At least 14 aid workers were killed, and 18 of the 31 aid trucks were struck in the airstrikes, according to officials with the United Nations. U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. The Syrian government said the ceasefire agreement was effectively over Monday, while in New York, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed hope that it could be salvaged. Kerry will meet with members of the International Syria Support Group, known as the ISSG, headed by the United States and Russia to find a diplomatic solution to the five-year Syria civil war which has claimed over 400,000 lives. After blaming the Russians for the attack on the aid convoy, the meeting is expected to be contentious. France's foreign minister once again Monday called for the full text of the ceasefire agreement between Russia and the United States to be released. "Documents have been shared with our partners," said the official, but acknowledged there were "operational details" that could not be shared. "There was never any secret about it," the official added. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the U.N. envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was "bombarded." Egeland added, "It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses." U. N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen O'Brien called on "all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by international humanitarian law." The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province. The White Helmets first responder group posted images of a number of vehicles on fire in the dead of the night. A video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrive on the scene. A Red Crescent official in Syria confirmed the attack, but said no further information was available. Elsewhere at least 20 civilians were killed in fresh airstrikes on rebel-held Aleppo city and the surrounding areas, according to the Observatory. And Russia said government positions in southwestern Aleppo came under attack from militant groups, including a massive barrage of rockets. With the week old cease-fire in danger of unraveling, both Moscow and Washington have indicated a desire to try and salvage the agreement which had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country. The State Department said that it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Spokesman John Kirby said Russia, which is responsible for ensuring Syria's compliance, should clarify the Syrian position. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement late Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the cease-fire threatens to thwart the agreement. The cease-fire came into effect on Sept. 12. Under terms of the agreement, the successful completion of seven days of calm and humanitarian aid deliveries would be followed by an ambitious second-stage plan to set up a joint U.S.-Russian coordination center to plan military strikes against the Islamic State group and a powerful Al Qaeda-linked militant faction. But from the start, the truce has been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations. Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The U.N. accused the government of obstructing the delivery while Russian officials said rebels opened fire at the delivery roads. Rebel forces and activists say government planes have bombed areas that are under the truce agreement, including rebel-held parts of Aleppo. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. The group said four civilians were killed in government-held areas. There were no independent reports of deaths of civilians on the government-side since the cease-fire came into effect. By Monday, both the Syrian government and prominent opposition activists were speaking of the truce as if it had already failed. George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid. "Hundreds of thousands of people in Aleppo are waiting for this truce to allow aid to enter the city," he said, adding that there are aid trucks still waiting on the Turkey-Syria border. "I believe that the truce is clinically dead." The Syrian military statement placed the blame on the rebel groups. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists. "This step (cease-fire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed. But the armed terrorist groups didn't take it seriously and didn't commit to any of its articles," the military command statement said. "The armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared truce system and mobilized terrorists and weapons and regrouped to continue its attacks on civilian and military areas." One of the major rebel groups in Syria, Nour el-Din el-Zinki, said soon after the Syrian military declaration that the government, Russia and Iran, another major ally of President Bashar Assad, are responsible for the truce's failure. "The regime of Bashar Assad had no real intention to commit to the truce. Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo," the group said in a statement sent to reporters. Earlier Monday, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. "With the rebels failing to fulfill conditions the cease-fire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless," Rudskoi said. Rudskoi said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started. The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strike by the U.S.-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour. Syria and Russia blasted Washington over the attack. The Saturday airstrikes involved Australian, British and Danish warplanes on Syrian army positions. The U.S. military said it would not intentionally hit Syrian troops, and that it came as it was conducting a raid on ISIS positions. Russia's military has said that it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 wounded. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes. Assad said Monday the airstrikes of the U.S.-led coalition against his troops was meant to support the Islamic State group, calling the attack a "blatant American aggression." Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 A same-sex couple has asked Romania's Constitutional Court to legally recognize them as married, which would be a landmark and surprising ruling. Commentators predict the court will reject their case this week. Political scientist Cristian Parvulescu on Monday predicted that "the court will make a political rather than a judicial ruling." Journalist Dan Turturica says it would be "revolutionary" for the court to recognize the union. U.S. graphic designer Claibourn Robert Hamilton and Romanian rights activist Adrian Coman are seeking to be recognized as married a position opposed by the influential Romanian Orthodox Church and most of the public. A ruling is expected Tuesday. The couple's lawyer Iustina Ionescu said she hoped the court would "put an end to homophobic sentiments and apply the constitution equally." Experts on the protection of national minorities are urging Hungary to end the "benevolent segregation" of Roma children in schools. A report by the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights body, says the practice of separate classes for Roma where they are meant to "catch up" before continuing in mainstream education is ineffective and discriminatory. Roma make up an estimated 8 percent of Hungary's population of nearly 10 million. The report issued Monday also finds that the "uncompromising stance" on migration by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government "has fueled xenophobic and intolerant attitudes against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants." Among the positive developments, the experts noted a significant rise in scholarship amounts awarded, including to Roma children, and found a "perceptible drop" in the number of anti-Semitic incidents. This article is archived and available in its entirety for free for registered members only. Please login or register to read more. At the last Pitti Fragranze exhibition, Maria Candida Gentile has presented Lankaran Forest a new fragrance for her regular collection, which was created last year as a special launch for the Buta Festival of Azerbaijani Arts and originally released as a limited edition in sophisticated Lalique bottles. The first edition of Lankaran Forest (2015). In December 2014, Gentile visited Azerbaijan, where she found the inspiration for this new fragrance: the forest near Lankaran, a city located on the coast of the Caspian Sea, and famous for its huge areas strewn with ironwood trees (Parrotia persica), which have a very strong timber and often grow entwined with the branches of other trees. She also found there the bitter orange bush and this unusual terrain gave her the idea of creating a composition in which the bitterness of citrus would be shaded with the woody nuances of a dreaming forest. "It was a very strange feeling: the woven branches of old trees spreaded an incredible energy, I felt it almost physically. Later, in the thicket, I saw the fruit of bitter orange and when I tried it, the sweet smell filled in the air. So I understood the direction in which Lankaran Forest would develop: it describes the feeling of being in a magical, unearthly forest" Maria Candida Gentile. Along with this fragrance, Gentile showed two more works: Elephant & Roses (which premiered at Pitti Fragranze in 2015) and Rrose Selavy, presented at this year's Esxence in Milan. Now at the last Fragranze, the perfumer was able to add Lankaran Forest to the regular collection of the brand. The new fragrance at Pitti Fragranze (2016) Lankaran Forest is about taking deep breaths in a dark forest; about trees whose tops whisper something secret to the heavy clouds; about chthonic songs of damp earth. In this fragrance, icy air touches the snow-white skin of bitter orange and citrus fruit peels, folded in half to give off the fragrant, sweet oil; all of the perfume is like a stockade with long spikes of unnamed plants, a path which leads to nowhere. Gentile made this fragrance, in which bitter citrus fruits, wild herbs and intertwining old trees are intimately connected with each other, very innate (which is in her style), while having no explicit references to natural perfumes (which is fine). This is a "grounding", meditative creation, and it is unusual due to the fact that the role of the pendulum here is given not to incense or other resins, as in many "contemplative" works, but to the oil of bitter orange with its quarrelsome, caustic, sometimes frankly difficult character and it hasn't been tamed, but is very intelligently woven into the olfactory narrative: the transparent woody background and crystal foliage support it. Beside them, it sounds even cleaner, louder, shriller. Cleanliness is almost the main characteristic of Lankaran Forest: this is the first fragrance of the brand which is transparent from the very first seconds: no forcing of the atmosphere, no weight of natural ingredients or artful patchouly-resinous accords, which are loved by Maria Candida and for which her style can be described with the word "crafty". Juliett Ptoyan is a perfume journalist who collaborates with several glossy magazines, organizes perfume workshops and regularly writes for her own blog, bouquetjuliet Generation NEXT Franchise Brands Releases August Bookings Company Reports August Bookings of $1,815,000 From 13 Franchises Sold Throughout August, 2017 SAN DIEGO, CA - (Marketwired - Sep 19, 2016) - (OTCQB: VEND) - Generation NEXT Franchise Brands announced today that the company closed out August with $1,815,000 in franchise bookings. The performance marks the continuation and expansion of their newly-launched frozen yogurt robot kiosk concept Reis & Irvy's. The Reis & Irvy's Froyo Robot concept accounted for 52 units sold in August and represented the addition of 13 new franchisees. Since its launch in May, 2016 Reis & Irvy's has appointed 59 new franchisees. Generation NEXT now maintains a network of 305 total franchisees between both its franchise brands, including Fresh Healthy Vending which operates 246 franchises. "I am excited to report that we are continuing our already solid start to fiscal 2017, which has seen the completion of our recent name change and the launch of our second franchise concept. We have recorded $7,199,000 of deferred revenues since the launch of Reis & Irvy's," said Nick Yates, Chairman of Generation NEXT Franchise Brands. "Our quest now is to match these amazing robots with even more amazing locations for our franchisees." That quest is one that Reis & Irvy's will be kicking into high gear almost immediately. In fact, beginning next month, the brand will be launching a comprehensive messaging campaign across multiple platforms that include print advertising (with multiple cover stories), strategic online marketing, national event sponsorships and location-focused messaging aimed at marrying Froyo Robots together with the ideal location. "Our Froyo Robots revolutionize the customer experience within any location they are placed," says Paul Schmidt, Chief Marketing Officer for Generation NEXT Franchise Brands. "Whether it's a mall, movie theater, grocery store, hospital, convenience store, tourist attraction or college campus, a Reis & Irvy's Froyo Robot enhances the customer environment and allows us to provide endless opportunities to both our franchisees and to their respective host locations. Opportunities that go well beyond profitability, but rather forge greater customer retention, increased traffic and brand loyalty. That is the core foundation for our newly focused brand campaign and one which we are excited to announce." For more information on Generation NEXT Franchise Brands or their family of brands including Reis & Irvy's, Fresh Healthy Vending or 19 Degrees, please visit www.gennextbrands.com or call toll free 888-902-7558. This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. No Reis & Irvy's franchises will be sold to any resident of any state until the offering has been exempted from the requirements of, or duly registered in and declared effective by, such state and the required FDD (if any) has been delivered to the prospective franchisee before the sale in compliance with applicable law. Currently, the following states in the United States regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you reside in one of these states, or even if you reside elsewhere, you may have certain rights under applicable franchise laws or regulations. About Generation NEXT Franchise Brands Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, based in San Diego, California, is a publicly traded company on the OTC Markets trading under the symbol: VEND. Generation NEXT Franchise Brands is parent company to Fresh Healthy Vending LLC, the market's leading healthy-choice vending machine franchise, Reis and Irvy's LLC, the world's first robotic frozen yogurt vending kiosk and 19 Degrees, a corporate-focused frozen yogurt kiosk brand. The Company hosts a combined total of 305 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision. Generation NEXT Franchise Brand's stock is traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol: VEND. Cautionary note on forward-looking statements Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. While the Company believes that expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that goals, results and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, terms and availability of financing, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. In addition to statements, which explicitly describe risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with such terms as "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "feels," "anticipates," "proposes," "proposed," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Generation NEXT's actual results are described in Generation NEXT's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-Q's for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2016, December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on Generation NEXT's current beliefs and expectations. Generation NEXT undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE Generation NEXT Franchise Brands Media Contact: Generation NEXT Franchise Brands info@gennextbrands.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Great Place to Work and Fortune Name Build-A-Bear Workshop One of the 2016 Best Workplaces for Women for Second Consecutive Year September 19, 2016 // Franchising.com // ST. LOUIS For the second consecutive year, Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. (NYSE: BBW) - an interactive destination where guests can make their own personalized furry friends - is one of the 2016 Best Workplaces for Women, according to global research and consulting firm Great Place to Work and Fortune. Build-A-Bear Workshop ranked No. 3 out of 100 companies on the list, which is based on employees assessments of communications with management, options for development and training, and support for work/life balance, among other factors. The ranking also takes into account how well-represented women are within the workforce overall and in management and executive positions. Build-A-Bear was selected among hundreds of companies vying for a spot on the list. Both women and men at Best Workplaces for Women feel their employers provide ample opportunities to grow and advance in their careers, and provide them with the flexibility they want to balance their work and personal lives. Cultivating an environment in which all employees can thrive, in both their work and personal lives, is important to us, said Sharon Price John, chief executive officer, Build-A-Bear Workshop. As a company founded by a woman and led by talented men and women, we are thrilled to be named a Best Workplace for Women and honored to be among so many incredible companies on the list. Build-A-Bear Workshop also ranked as a best workplace on the 2016 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list by Great Place to Work and Fortune for the eighth consecutive year. The Best Workplaces for Women ranking is part of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and Fortunebased upon employee survey feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. To see the full list of the Best Workplaces for Women, [http://reviews.greatplacetowork.com/2016-best-workplaces-for-women]. To see the schedule for all of our workplace lists and for more information on how to apply, visit Great Place to Works website. About Build-A-Bear Founded in St. Louis in 1997, Build-A-Bear, a global brand kids love and parents trust, seeks to add a little more heart to life. Build-A-Bear Workshop has approximately 400 stores worldwide where guests can create customizable furry friends, including company-owned stores in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and China, and franchise stores in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Mexico and the Middle East. The company was named to the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the eighth year in a row in 2016. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW) posted a total revenue of $377.7 million in fiscal 2015. For more information, visit buildabear.com. About the Best Workplaces for Women Published together with our partner Fortune, the 100 Best Workplaces for Women rankings are based entirely upon feedback from more than 137,762 women at Great Place to WorkCertified companies. Women completed our anonymous Trust Index survey, answering questions about how frequently they experience the behaviors that create a great workplace, including, for example, their assessment of how fairly they're treated regardless of gender, the quality and authenticity of communications with managers, and equitable pay and promotion practices. Womens anonymous responses resulted in a total score for each company, which was compared to the benchmark for organizations of that size, and ranked accordingly. Results from the survey are highly reliable, having a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of 6% or less. Winning a spot on this list indicates the company has distinguished itself from peers by being a great place to work for women, and has a workplace where women have high representation in the total employee population and in management positions. The 100 companies with the highest employee ratings and female representation were selected for the list. About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, including Best Workplaces lists and workplace reviews, Great Place to Work provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In the United States, Great Place to Work produces the annual Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For" and a series of Great Place to Work Best Workplaces lists, including lists for Millennials, Women, Diversity, Small and Medium Companies and over a half dozen different industries. Follow Great Place to Work online at www.greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US. SOURCE Build-A-Bear ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Bowalley Road Rules The blogosphere tends to be a very noisy, and all-too-often a very abusive, place. I intend Bowalley Road to be a much quieter, and certainly a more respectful, place. So, if you wish your comments to survive the moderation process, you will have to follow the Bowalley Road Rules. These are based on two very simple principles: Courtesy and Respect. Comments which are defamatory, vituperative, snide or hurtful will be removed, and the commentators responsible permanently banned. Anonymous comments will not be published. Real names are preferred. If this is not possible, however, commentators are asked to use a consistent pseudonym. Comments which are thoughtful, witty, creative and stimulating will be most welcome, becoming a permanent part of the Bowalley Road discourse. However, I do add this warning. If the blog seems in danger of being over-run by the usual far-Right suspects, I reserve the right to simply disable the Comments function, and will keep it that way until the perpetrators find somewhere more appropriate to vent their collective spleen. *M*ake what you will of this. In the modern era of partisan polarization, which can be dated back to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, only the presid... Blue Copper Capital Corporation Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary in Business Blue Copper Capital is celebrating its ten year anniversary and reveals some of its big wins and challenges it faced getting this far. Growth has been steady which has enabled it to grow to four locations More information can be found at http://bluecoppercapital.com/ -- Blue Copper Capital is celebrating their tenth Anniversary, which commemorates ten years of steady growth. There were challenges along the way, but with investor support and professional advice they got past the five year hurdle most start-ups face. This is a huge milestone for the Calgary Alberta-based financial business, which has provided assistance to young singles, and couples starting out in a new career since 2006. Blue Copper Capital got it's start in 2006 when founder Dave Chen decided to fund new apprentices needing tools and transportation. As a young entrepreneur he recognized the difficulty many young people face starting out. Good credit has to start somewhere and Dave decided to take a chance on people who not only believed in themselves by spending the typical four years in an apprentice program, but who are future leaders in local communities. One of the earliest challenges Blue Copper Capital faced was marketing, which was a challenge until they found a good SEO company to promote them online. While every business faces challenges, some, like Blue Copper Capital are fortunate enough to enjoy real successes, wins and victories too. One such victory came when they set up the first official store front in Calgary in the summer of 2012. Dave Chen, President at Blue Copper Capital was also quoted when discussing another big win. "One of the high points of Blue Copper Capital's history was when a local Alberta journalist interviewed me about the company vision. The subsequent article went viral on news sites, blogs and social media, getting a lot of positive attention for us and also attracting new investors." Blue Copper Capital's Founder, Dave Chen says "We're delighted to be celebrating our ten year anniversary. I believe the secret to getting this far in business today is looking after the customers needs first and providing service in the confidential manner we do." Blue Copper Capital currently consists of 12 employees and has big plans for the upcoming year. One of their core objectives is to become known as a leader in supporting more young people starting out in their chosen career. Blue Copper Capital would also like to thank friends, customers and all its partners for their well wishes on this happy occasion. More information on the business can be found at http://bluecoppercapital.com/ For more information, please visit http://bluecoppercapital.com/ Contact Info: Name: Dave Chen Organization: Blue Copper Capital Corporation Address: 5809 Macleod Trail South West, Calgary, AB T2H 0J9 Phone: +1 403 250 0232 Release ID: 132940 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) UK clear that violence is unacceptable but the Congolese people's right to peaceful protest must be respected I am deeply concerned about the violence around protests in Kinshasa and other cities including reports that a number of civilians and policemen have been killed. I urge both the DRC Government and opposition parties to take measures to calm the situation. The Congolese people's democratic right to peaceful protest must be protected. The DRC's constitution is clear that the democratic aspirations of the Congolese people should be met through elections, particularly Presidential elections. This is also the unanimous view of the UN Security Council. The United Kingdom regrets that these elections have not been called, 3 months before the end of the President's term, as the Constitution requires. I call on all sides to reach agreement urgently on a date for Presidential elections as soon as possible in 2017.The UK has made clear that it stands ready to support the DRC's electoral process both financially and diplomatically. However the primary responsibility for organising elections rests with the Government of the DRC. One of the greatest legacies President Kabila can leave his people is a peaceful and democratic transition of power, the first in the DRC's history. We urge President Kabila and his government to rapidly deliver on this responsibility. 8+% CAGR Growth to Be achieved By Vaccines Market Reaching $48.03 Billion by 2021 Vaccines Market to surge at a healthy rate in the next five years, know what makes the Vaccines industry a booming sector -- The report "Vaccines Market by Technology (Live Attenuated, Toxoid, Conjugate, Inactivated & Subunit, Recombinant), Disease Indication (Pneumococcal, Influenza, HPV, Hepatitis, Rotavirus, DTP, Polio, MMR), End User (Pediatrics, Adults) & Type - Forecasts to 2021" Projects the market to Surge at a CAGR of 8+% and hit $ 48.03 Billion by 2021 Based on end-users, the vaccines market is segmented into paediatrics and adults. The pediatrics segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market in 2016. Increasing prevalence of diseases in children and the rising number of awareness programs to promote vaccination will drive the growth of this market. Browse 89 market data Tables and 55 Figures spread through 158 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Vaccines Market by Technology (Live Attenuated, Toxoid, Conjugate, Inactivated & Subunit, Recombinant), Disease Indication (Pneumococcal, Influenza, HPV, Hepatitis, Rotavirus, DTP, Polio, MMR), End User (Pediatrics, Adults) & Type - Forecasts to 2021" http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/vaccine-market-by-technology-types-trend-analysis-by-various-classes-live-attenuated-subunit-toxoid-conjugate-dna-recombinant-vector-synthetic-dentritic-vaccines-and-by-indications-i-market-report.html Geographically, the vaccines market is dominated by North America, followed by Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW). Growth in the North American segment is primarily driven by rising government funding for vaccine research in the North American countries. On the basis of disease indication, the vaccines market is segmented into pneumococcal disease, influenza, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP), hepatitis, rotavirus, varicella, meningococcal disease, polio, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, and others. Pneumococcal disease segment is expected to account for largest share in 2016. This is attributed to the high incidence of pneumococcal infections and increasing initiatives by government organization for immunizations. The major factors contributing to the growth of the vaccines market include high prevalence of diseases, rising government and nongovernment funding for vaccine development, and increasing focus on immunization programs. Furthermore, increasing R&D spending and new vaccine development activities by companies is another major factor driving the growth of this market. The Companies profiled in this report are Pfizer, Inc. Glaxosmithkline, PLC. Merck & Co., Inc. Sanofi Pasteur CSL Limited Emergent Biosolutions, Inc. Johnson & Johnson Medimmune, LLC. (A Subsidiary of Astrazeneca) Astellas Pharma Inc. Serum Institute of India Now avail Discount on this Report at : http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/discount?rname=110437 The report provides insights on the following pointers: Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the vaccines market. The report analyses the vaccines market by technology, type, disease indication, end-users, and regions Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on the upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and new product launches in the vaccines market Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of the market strategies, geographic and business segments, and product portfolios of the leading players in the vaccines market Market Development: Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyses the market for various vaccines across geographies Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new vaccines, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the vaccines market Request a Sample Copy of This Report Now at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/request-sample?rname=110437 Nih Funding for Vaccine Research, 2012-2016 (USD Million) Market Size, By Technology, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Conjugate Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Examples of Inactivated and Subunit VaccinesInactivated and Subunit Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Live Attenuated Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Toxoid Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Recombinant Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Vaccines Market Size, By Type, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Monovalent Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Multivalent Vaccines Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Pneumococcal Disease, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for DTP, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Influenza, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market for Hpv, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Meningococcal Disease, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Polio Market Size, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Rotavirus, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Hepatitis, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for MMR, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Varicella, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Other Diseases, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) Market Size for Pediatrics, By Region, 2014-2021 (USD Million) For more information, please visit http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/vaccine-market-by-technology-types-trend-analysis-by-various-classes-live-attenuated-subunit-toxoid-conjugate-dna-recombinant-vector-synthetic-dentritic-vaccines-and-by-indications-i-market-report.html Contact Info: Name: Ritesh Tiwari Organization: RNR Market Research Source: http://marketersmedia.com/8-cagr-growth-to-be-achieved-by-vaccines-market-reaching-48-03-billion-by-2021/133001 Release ID: 133001 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Attorney Brian L. Webb Selected As A Leader In Law For 2016 By The Idaho Business Review The Idaho Business Review's Leaders in Law award recognizes the qualities and dedication of those individuals whose leadership, both in the legal profession and in the community, has had a positive impact in Idaho. -- Each year, The Idaho Business Review recognizes Leaders in Law, nominated and decided by their peers. The purpose of this award is to recognize the quality, leadership, dedication, excellence, hard work, and compassion of individuals in the legal profession, who's efforts have had a positive impact on the Idaho community. Murray Feldman, partner at Holland and Hart and a 2014 honoree, described his selection criteria, "You need to be a leader, not just have the potential to be one three or five or 10 years down the road." Anna Eberlin, an associate attorney at Holland and Hart and 2015 honoree, described the 2016 award winners as "very impressive". She cited examples of leadership and volunteer work in her batch of nominees, which she said, "are amazing." This year the votes have been tallied, and leaders can now be named. Out of the thousands of lawyers considered in the State of Idaho, only 21 legal professionals were selected to receive this award. Among the recipients this year is Attorney Brian L. Webb of the law firm Brian Webb Legal. Attorney Brian Webb says, "I would like to thank the Idaho Business Review, the selection committee members, and former honorees for voting for me. My commitment to the Idaho community runs deep, I feel it a privilege to live and work here in Boise. Thank you again for placing your trust in me and my staff." An awards reception is slated for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 17 in the Idaho Room in the Eighth and Main building in downtown Boise. A magazine featuring the 2016 Leaders in Law will be published in the Idaho Business Review on Nov. 18. For more information please visit: www.idahobusinessreview.com About Brian Webb Legal Brian Webb Legal is a legal firm specializing in premier and seasoned mediation, negotiations or litigation in the areas of business, real estate, tax, family, criminal, and immigration law. For more information, please visit http://www.brianwebblegal.com/ Contact Info: Name: Brian Webb Organization: Brian Webb Legal Address: 839 E. Winding Creek Dr. Ste 102 Eagle, Idaho 83616 Phone: 208-331-9393 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/attorney-brian-l-webb-selected-as-a-leader-in-law-for-2016-by-the-idaho-business-review/132942 Release ID: 132942 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Rachel Stoltzfus offers Simple Amish Love for Free on Kindle through 9/19/2016 Amish author, Rachel Stoltzfus offers Simple Amish Love for free on Kindle from 9/17/2016 through 9/19/2016. This is the first book in her Christian romance series, Simple Love. Amish book lovers will be delighted with this wholesome Amish romance. -- Amish romance lovers looking for a delightful Amish book can purchase Simple Amish Love by Rachel Stoltzfus for free on Kindle through September 19th, 2016 (and for free afterwards with a Kindle Unlimited subscription). This is Book 1 of the Simple Love series. The book is regularly priced at $2.99. It is also available in Paperback for $6.99. In Simple Amish Love, after her rumspringa, Annie Fisher returns to her Amish community to take her Kneeling Vows and find a husband. And when handsome Mark Stoltzfus wants to court with her, it seems like everything is going to plan. But when a stalker tries to ruin Annie's relationship, readers will be riveted, wondering if she is strong enough to stand up for herself and her new relationship. Readers can learn more about this Christian romance book here: http://familychristianbookstore.net/index.php/2016... Amish author, Rachel Stoltzfus strives in her fiction to present a fair and honest representation of a love that is both romantic and sweet. Readers will find this book wholesome, absorbing, and ultimately inspirational. Readers have raved about Rachel Stoltzfus's Simple Amish Love: About the book, Amazon reader, Anna Elizabeth, says: "This is a heartwarming story that left me smiling and feeling uplifted. It's an easygoing read that moves along in a laid back, easy way. The main characters are very nice and they have an air of authenticity." A second Amazon.com reader, Kathryn, raves, "This series is just great and keeps you interested and wanting you to keep reading to the end. The author knows how to keep a person interested." And about Simple Amish Love, a third Amazon.com reader, Phyllis Rowe exclaims: "A great book to read if you love to read a true Amish love story. I recommend that book as a great read." Readers can learn more about Simple Amish Love here: http://familychristianbookstore.net/index.php/2016... Simple Amish Love is being offered for free on Kindle (and for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription). through 9/19/2016. It is regularly priced at $2.99. It is also available in paperback for $6.99 through Createspace, Amazon.com and other online book distributors. About Global Grafx Press: Global Grafx Press was founded in 1997. This Christian book distributor is known for publishing great Western romance novels, Christian nonfiction, and Amish books. They are committed to helping readers find the best, clean Christian books online and hope that their readers enjoy browsing their Christian Bookstore. Those interested in learning more about Global Grafx Press can do so at http://familychristianbookstore.net. For more information, please visit http://familychristianbookstore.net Contact Info: Name: Book Maven Organization: Global Grafx Press Address: 823 Old Westtown Road, Suite B1 Phone: 267-530-1611 Release ID: 133091 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Detroit Buick GMC Dealer Zubor Buick GMC Celebrates 34th Year Anniversary Zubor Buick GMC, located in Taylor Michigan celebrates 34 years in business as a Buick GMC dealership in Michigan. This event begins September 19th and continues through the 30th , with all vehicles priced to sell included with some genuine hometown hospitality! -- Zubor Buick GMC, a certified Buick GMC dealership located in Taylor Michigan, serving all of the Detroit area, celebrates their 34th year Anniversary beginning September 19th thru the 30th. Special "Blowout" pricing will be offered on all vehicles in their lot. The celebration will be taking place at Zubor Buick GMC, 14000 Telegraph Rd, Taylor, MI, 48180 and for more details and information...contact 734.946.8112. Thru the years, Zubor Buick GMC has had the opportunity to serve the Metro Detroit area by providing value to all who have chosen to visit their store. Zubor believes that each and every customer or visitor should be treated like family with the respect, honesty and integrity they deserve...and their reviews reflect exactly that. Zubor maintains a very comfortable atmosphere, with no high pressure by any of their employees, allowing their visitors and customers to be in charge in making the decisions on their own merit. As a leading Buick dealership, special pricing will be available on all 2016 and 2017 models, including the Buick Cascada, Buick LaCrosse and the New Buick Envision. Zubor is also a top rated GMC dealer and with that comes a great selection of 2016 and 2017 models with special pricing, including the GMC Acadia and the GMC Sierra. Zubor's used car lot in Taylor has a great selection of quality used cars, as well as certified used GM vehicles...all with "blowout" pricing! In need of a little help financing...Zubor's financial team will help get the financing needed to obtain the vehicle of choice. On the Zubor Buick GMC website a special link is provided to help start that process and it's called "Get Pre-Approved In Seconds". Store information such as hours and directions, inventory and pricing can also be viewed on their website. A gala event for sure, complete with refreshments, friendly atmosphere and special "Blowout" pricing...visit Zubor Buick GMC at http://www.zubor.com. "This is the time of year that we generously give back to the community with our sale, so whether you are looking, purchasing or just visiting...we welcome you to stop by and see us during this special event." - B. Meyers | Zubor Buick GMC For more information, please visit http://www.zubor.com Contact Info: Name: Bill Meyers Organization: Zubor Buick GMC Address: 14000 Telegraph Rd Phone: 7349468112 Release ID: 132994 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Food Blogger Announces Coconut Flour Breakthrough According to Regina Braun - renowned health food recipe blogger - working with coconut flour is different from wheat flour but not impossible to work with once her breakthrough is understood. -- Regina Braun - a popular health food blogger - announced today that she will be publishing an eBook containing dozens of her most popular coconut flour dessert recipes. These are all recipes she developed - from scratch - to substitute her favorite desserts otherwise made using wheat flour. According to Braun "Coconut flour has very unique characteristics. So the real challenge - for me - wasn't coming up with recipes to make, but rather getting the ingredients and ratios right for it to behave and respond the way I needed it to." Braun went on to explain how coconut flour - although fairly readily available in most chain stores today - is not yet popular in the general public. "People are aware of it. They know it exists and some - seeking an alternative to wheat flour - will buy it and attempt to use it like regular flour, and quickly learn it has a completely different temperament." "Coconut flour - unlike most grain flours which are starches - consists of fiber mainly." Braun continued "For this reason it is extremely hygroscopic. Meaning it soaks up a lot of liquid. This can make it very difficult to work with, especially when you are just starting out." She noted - however - how after dozens upon dozens of trial and errors she finally had a breakthrough moment that allowed her to use coconut flour with consistent success after. "I'll never forget that afternoon. I gave my husband two different pieces of pancakes to try and asked him to guess which one was made from coconut flour. Him - being very picky about new and experimental foods - pointed at the wheat flour one. My heart skipped a beat!" Braun giggles "When asking which one he preferred, he pointed at the coconut flour one. In that moment I knew that I was on to something big. Many many tests later I managed to break it down to a science which has enabled not only me but dozens of other people to replicate my success." The challenge - according to Braun - is to accept coconut flour for its uniqueness. "Forget everything you know about baking with wheat flour! Those rules and ratios don't work with coconut flour. And don't use your Grandma's recipes, that have been handed down for generations, trying to replace the wheat flour in them with coconut flour. It won't work! Use recipes that have been specifically developed for coconut flour. Or if you are feeling experimental, take the ratio guideline from my ebook as a starting point to develop your own new recipes." To learn more about how coconut flour works or to check out Braun's indepth guide to creating delicious coconut flour dessert, go to: http://leelalicious.com/sales/ For more information, please visit http://leelalicious.com/sales/ Contact Info: Name: Konrad Braun Organization: SEODagger.com Address: P.O. Box # 1230, Black Diamond, Alberta Canada Phone: 9284448514 Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjjSNugEYWk Source: http://marketersmedia.com/food-blogger-announces-coconut-flour-breakthrough/133204 Release ID: 133204 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Philadelphia Drug Lawyer: Weed Still Sched I; Drug Attorney Needed if Arrested Philadelphia drug lawyer site anticipates DEA announcement about rescheduling marijuana will not come until 2017. For more information or to receive a free consultation with a top Philadelphia drug attorney, go to PhiladelphiaDrugLawyers.com or call (215)867-5077 today. -- Philadelphia Drug Lawyer has announced that marijuana is expected to remain a Schedule I substance, at least until 2017. According to the DEA, the ruling on potentially reducing it to a Schedule II substance was to come through earlier this year. However, the agency has opted not to provide a response thus far. Visit PhiladelphiaDrugLawyers.com or call (215)867-5077 to speak with an experienced Philadelphia drug lawyer now. The greatest difference between a Schedule I and a Schedule II substance is that Schedule I substances are believed to have the high potential for abuse and have no medicinal value in the government's eyes. This includes hard drugs, like LSD, ecstasy, and heroin. Schedule II substances still have the high potential to be abused, but they do have medicinal value. Common medications that have this classification include Ritalin, Adderall, and Oxycodone. With marijuana still being considered a Schedule I substance, possession of it and trafficking is a very serious offense and comes with harsh penalties at a federal level. This classification also limits what research can be done on it to determine what medical benefits it may have. Although the federal government has agreed to not prosecute people for marijuana crimes in states that have legalized it, which means more research is carried out in these states as well, a national reclassification would make this possible across the entire country. Those accused of marijuana crimes are urged to seek the help of a skilled Philadelphia drug lawyer by calling (215)867-5077 or visiting PhiladelphiaDrugLawyers.com today. The FDA has been called upon to make a recommendation on rescheduling marijuana before, both in 2001 and 2006. Each time, the agency reported that marijuana did not meet the criteria necessary to be reduced to a Schedule II substance. This includes guidelines with no clear measurements, such as having an "adequate" number of studies on efficacy and safety, as well as having "qualified experts" who accept that the substance has medicinal value. Experts believe that with the legalization of marijuana in many states, the FDA now has adequate evidence to change its schedule. However, the FDA delivered its recommendation to the DEA approximately one year ago and the DEA has not made any announcements yet. They're expected to provide a ruling in 2017. About Philadelphia Drug Lawyers Philadelphia Drug Lawyers provides the public with information relating to drug crimes, individual rights, defense strategies, and news. The site also provides access to some of the area's leading drug attorneys, with each offering free case evaluations to those accused of drug-related crimes. For more information or to receive a free consultation, visit PhiladelphiaDrugLawyers.com or call (215)867-5077 today. For more information, please visit http://philadelphiadruglawyers.com/talk-to-us/ Contact Info: Name: Philadelphia Drug Lawyers Organization: Philadelphia Drug Lawyers Phone: (215) 867-5077 Release ID: 133257 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. News / National by Staff reporter While addressing a rally in Pretoria on Saturday opposition leader Joice Mujuru was reportedly confronted by two protesters, who were demanding answers for her role in the post-war atrocities that conservative figures claimed killed 20 000 innocent civilians under the guise of hunting down a few dozen "dissidents".Mujuru added that Mugabe should shoulder the blame for the sporadic outbreaks of xenophobia normally blamed on South Africans."It (xenophobia) is a reaction from South Africans because their space is being taken," she said.The ZimPF leader, who is in South Africa urged Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to take part in future elections."We know we have people who have left Zimbabwe without sufficient papers to warrant their stay here. We are aware that the situation has not been good for them at home and even here. For us we think registering to vote and come home during elections."This is why people are engaging in protests to create an even electoral playfield to give Zimbabweans the dignity they hoped for when they fought for liberation. I have come to engage them and hear their voices as well as understand their situation," Mujuru said.With Mugabe under pressure to reverse "toxic" policies blamed for investor flight, Mujuru said if she wins the next elections her policies would allow for investments from all corners of the world."We would want to put in place policies that reward everyone. If people want to invest they should know they will reap rewards, but the investment should also help the generality of Zimbabweans," the former VP said. A Wanstead businessman, who claimed to trade in fine wines but instead conned investors to fund a lavish lifestyle, has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for a 350,000 fraud. Jonothan Jeremiah Piper, 30, who owned Embassy Wines UK Limited and previously traded as a land and diamonds salesman, pleaded guilty to failing to pay tax and National Insurance on his earnings for six years and of conning investors out of thousands of pounds. HMRC investigators discovered Piper had been living the high life, first as a land broker and diamond dealer and later as a wine merchant, despite his claims that he was living at home with his parents and not earning. Instead, he was driving around in luxury cars, including a Bentley and a Range Rover, living in an expensive rented flat and had bought hundreds of pairs of expensive trainers. In total Piper pocketed more than 51,000 in income tax and National Insurance contributions from his undeclared earnings, between 2008 and 2014. Investigators discovered Piper was also under investigation by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) after investors complained they had been mis-sold expensive wine collections and had either not received the wine they were promised or were deceived in respect of the expected returns. Many investors were then persuaded to sell their wine collections to Pipers company, but did not receive the promised payment. An investigation by BEIS found that the self-professed fine-wine broker, who was disqualified as a director for 11 years back in November 2015, had not traded legitimately at all and had set up the company to simply con investors out of about 300,000. John Cooper, assistant director of the fraud investigation service at HM Revenue & Customs, said: Piper was looking to make easy money and although he had no experience or qualifications, he set himself up as a high-quality trader in diamonds and then in expensive wines. He thought he was above the law, exploiting the tax system and conning unsuspecting investors out of thousands of pounds. Ian West, deputy chief investigations officer at BEIS, said: Mr Piper cynically attempted to dissolve his company Embassy Wine (UK) Limited without notifying his creditors of his intention or complying with the three month trading restriction prior to any application for the striking off/dissolution of a company, to mask his fraudulent activity. It was established that he had defrauded his companies unsuspecting clients of in excess of 295,000 in a wine investment scam carried out, in conjunction with other frauds against the revenue, to fund his expensive lifestyle. He now has to face the serious consequences of his criminal lifestyle. Confiscation proceedings to recover the proceeds of his crimes are ongoing. News / National by Staff reporter PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has abandoned a whole generation of Zimbabweans and it will take a new administration to go through the painstaking exercise of documenting them, opposition leader Joice Mujuru has said.Mujuru, former Vice-President in Mugabe's government before she was forced out at the end of 2014, told a South African television station that victims of an army crackdown in Matabeleland and Midlands in the 1980's, popularly known as Gukurahundi, were still suffering while in exile."We have heard harrowing tales of what Zimbabweans are going through. Qualified Zimbabweans have abandoned their professions to become waiters, while others die in abject poverty. For a freedom fighter like myself, this is not what we expected when we fought," she said.Mujuru suggested the 92-year-old leader was now out of touch with reality."My worry is whether President Mugabe knows what his people are going through? Does he have the real picture? That his people have had to dig for food in dumping grounds, children as young as four and veterans of the liberation struggle from the Zipra side."Some are victims of Gukurahundi and have no documentation ran away from home and now have families here. It is no longer about politicking, this is reality. We are not coming here for political mileage, but to try and help South Africa deal with a problem we have created up there," she said. Large caps have underperformed in the second half of this year you heard it here first. The market has been so focused on whats happened since the Brexit vote on June 23 that its missed the bigger picture since the start of July. More of which later. The immediate referendum aftermath saw sterling plummet, a sell-off in domestic stocks and a rally in dollar-earning, internationally focused large caps. In June, this meant mid caps as measured by the FTSE 250 index had their worst ever month relative to the FTSE 100. June was also the third-worst month for the FTSE Small Cap index relative to the blue-chip index. This dynamic has meant headlines championing investing in mega caps with international earnings. On the face of it, this thesis has a strong foundation. With sterling weakening, avoiding UK plc and backing firms where the majority of revenue comes from abroad keeps investors away from domestic uncertainty. When sentiment is so negative its uncomfortable to be a contrarian Jonathan Miller, Morningstar This sharp swing comes after years of outperformance for mid and small caps, which had already been underperforming since the start of 2016. The area has been a sweet spot for active fund managers. Morningstar gathers all the portfolio holdings of active funds, and when these are aggregated for its UK Flex-Cap Equity sector, about half the exposure is in large caps. The other half is spread across mid and small caps. Given this dynamic, and the fact that around 80 per cent of the FTSE All-Share index is made up of large caps, active managers have struggled in the first half of the year. The FTSE 100 gained 6.1 per cent, mid caps dropped 5.7 per cent and the UK Flex-Cap Equity sector fell 4.7 per cent. The uncertainty following the referendum caused a rapid, negative spiral in risk appetite, and a number of surveys in July showed sharp contractions. The tone of headlines on this side included, crush the nations economy and terrifying charts. When sentiment is so negative its uncomfortable to be a contrarian. However, when you dig into the numbers, the large cap surge took place during a matter of days following the vote. Subsequently, from July 1 to the time of writing (September 9), its a different story. Morningstars UK Flex-Cap Equity sector rallied 11.7 per cent, mid caps gained 10.6 per cent and the FTSE 100 index was only up 5.2 per cent. So mid caps, as well as small caps, have bounced back in the second half of the year. This sharp reversal has also seen active managers outperform the FTSE All-Share index by 5.5 percentage points. There are of course many ways to slice data. And for clarity, when you bring these two time periods together, active managers are up 6.4 per cent year to date versus a gain of 10.2 per cent for the FTSE All-Share. But the point here is that if you listened to the herd and made your move a few days after the vote, your switch into large caps has meant youve underperformed. The chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority has issued a note of caution on equity release. Speaking to the Pensions and Savings Symposium in Scotland, Andrew Bailey said some saw the product as expensive and complicated. His speech addressed the problem of how savers can put aside enough money for their retirement in a low-rate, low-growth environment. Mr Bailey disagreed with his former Bank of England colleague Andy Haldane, who notoriously said property was better than pensions. An alternative he suggested was using housing to fund retirement through downsizing or equity release. But Mr Bailey did express some concerns about this particular product. He said: An alternative approach, again best viewed within the lifetime model, is that rather than save for housing and retirement income at the same time, people would use the former to fund the latter. The distinction here with my earlier point on the weighting of property investment in a portfolio is that here the focus is on how much they invest in their own dwelling over their lifetime. Some argue that the costs of equity release, both up front and compounded over time, are relatively high for the individual which signals a note for caution. Others, however, can point to potential benefits, especially for those who want to remain in homes theyve worked and paid for over their lifetime. My note of caution here would be that while the approach has an appeal in terms of the lifetime investment pattern, the accompanying financial instrument is made much more complicated by the need again consistent with the lifetime model to embed in it a no negative equity guarantee. Equity release sales have been soaring recently, with homeowners over the age of 55 withdrawing a record 8.2m of housing wealth every working day between April to June, as quarterly lending surged past 500m for the first time since the Equity Release Council began keeping records. Mr Bailey said investing in property rather than a pension could be self-defeating because it would fuel the Financial Policy Committees concerns about household indebtedness. He said: If the effect of increasing the demand for housing as an asset to own is to push up the cost of ownership, an increase in holdings of housing as pension assets will tend to increase the real cost, and thus household indebtedness. Mr Bailey added that retirement saving and pensions is one of the largest issues we face but said it needed to be considered broadly. Volunteers working with flood-hit farmers are among those invited to apply for a share of 600,000 from the Princes Countryside Fund (PCF). The fund, which aims to improve the prospects of family farm businesses and the quality of rural life across the UK, opened for applications on Monday (19 September). Projects and organisations working with rural communities and seeking to develop stronger, more sustainable farm businesses, can apply for a grant of up to 50,000. See also: Princes fund to help 1,500 vulnerable small farms As part of its vital role in responding to countryside crises, the fund is also opening up specific funds to help support the winter flood recovery. Applications are invited from organisations that are supporting farmers, rural businesses and communities following last years winter floods. Severe storms This includes communities hit by severe storms in December 2015 across Cumbria, Lancashire, Herefordshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Since being founded by the Prince of Wales in 2010, the fund has distributed more than 7m to 182 projects across the UK, helping more than 200,000 people. PCF grants manager Clare Crookenden said this year had seen the fund release its greatest number of grants to date, with 21 projects funded. Since 2010 our grant programme has provided a vital boost to people and grassroots organisations who are working hard to protect and enhance the countryside. Supported projects ranged from initiatives inspiring young people to develop their skills and pursue a rural career to farm businesses which had been hit hard in recent years. Grant programme Our grant programme has been made to available to help improve the lives of people living and working in the countryside. Community shops, libraries and pubs and the people that support them add vibrancy and strength to rural communities and we are committed to help. Action is needed to give rural communities the chance to provide the vital services that they rely on and to ensure all of us benefit from retaining a vibrant countryside. The closing date for applications is Thursday 13 October. For full details, and eligibility criteria, visit the Princes Countryside Fund grant programme webpage. Farm minster George Eustice has ruled out any reversal of the hedgecutting ban in August, insisting there will be no changes at least until after Brexit. The extension of the hedgecutting ban by one month has been deeply unpopular with farm contractors. Typically, contractors would follow combines round in August and trim hedges immediately after harvest. See also: Hedgecutting ban Leadsom asked to change dates But the August ban was introduced in England last year as part of EU regulations to protect nesting birds on farms. Northamptonshire farm contractor Bob Rutt said the ban cost him up to 8,000 again in lost income this summer, as he was forced to sit it out in August. The hedgecutting season reopened on 1 September for six months, but Mr Rutt said some farmers and landowners were turning to two- or three-year cutting cycles and turning down offers of work. No changes to ban However, in a letter seen by Farmers Weekly, Mr Eustice has insisted there will be no changes to the policy in the immediate future. Tom Pursglove, Conservative MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, wrote to Mr Eustice in late July on behalf of his constituent Mr Rutt, requesting a Defra review of the ban. In his reply sent on 15 September, Mr Eustice, who campaigned for the UK to leave the EU in the referendum, writes: I understand the impact the hedgecutting dates has had on your constituent and sympathise with the problems he has encountered. There will be no immediate changes until we leave, the current EU arrangements for farming and our environment remain in place. Mr Eustice explains that during consultations on the new CAP, the NFU argued strongly that sowing oilseed rape and temporary grass were key farming activities that needed to continue in August. More than 2,000 claimants were able to take advantage of this opportunity in 2015 and derogations are available again this year, he writes. Effect on yellowhammers In a handwritten note at the end of the letter, Mr Eustice says there is evidence that trimming hedges in August has an effect on yellowhammers and other wonderful species. In response, Mr Rutt told Farmers Weekly: They are listening to the RSPB, which is criticising farming. It is not actually this country that is killing them [nesting birds] off. Mr Rutt said the August trimming ban unfairly singles out farming and does not take into account other factors, such as an increase in raptors, domestic cats and fewer food sources in Africa for migrating birds that travel to the UK to breed. He advises landowners who require cutting derogations for August 2017 to apply no later than January to avoid disappointment. NFU vice-president Guy Smith said: The NFU have always questioned the science as to whether there is a significant detrimental impact on nesting birds from August hedgetrimming. If there are any environmental gains, they do not seem proportionate to the extra cost and inconvenience the ban causes farmers. However, where hedgecutting in February/March or bi-annual cutting suits a farmers field management then we recognise there are clear benefits to wildlife. I notice my hedges at home are full of hips and haws at the moment which I am keen to keep in place as I know its a good winter larder for birds in the hungry post Christmas months. A woman has died following a tractor crash on farmland in Denbighshire. Emergency services were called to the farm shortly after 8pm on Sunday evening (18 September) to reports of a single vehicle collision on the outskirts of Corwen. A spokesman for North Wales Police said: Police received a report via the ambulance service of a collision involving a tractor on agricultural land. Sadly the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. See also: Young farmer killed in machinery accident North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and a team from North East Wales Search and Rescue (Newsar) were also called to the scene. Newsar posted on Facebook: On Sunday night Newsar volunteers were called by North Wales Police to assist with the recovery of a deceased casualty following an incident with a tractor in a difficult-to-access location near Corwen. Fifteen volunteers attended. The team sends our condolences to the deceaseds family and friends. Both the Health and Safety Executive and HM Coroner have been informed. Officers are investigating the collision and police enquiries are now under way. North Wales Police are not yet in a position to release details of the deceased. Leadership Cherokee participants use teamwork to overcome obstacles Blacksburg and Gaffney High students attempted to keep their balance Thursday while working together in teams to overcome obstacles on indoor climbing walls and a low ropes course. A total... Graduates boot camp Anna Grace Cooper graduated October 7, 2022, from the United States Coast Guard boot camp at the USCG Training Center in Cape May, NJ. Cooper successfully completed eight weeks of... Students working with city to roll-out bike program Several Limestone University students are now collaborating with officials from the City of Gaffney to roll-out and manage a new bikeshare pilot program that will soon become a reality. As... ENGAGEMENT Archie and Diane Fowler of Blacksburg announce the engagement of their grandson, Blakely Clayton Fowler of Beaufort, South Carolina, to Jordan Lee Hudson, also of Beaufort. The bride-elect is the... News / National by Staff Reporter THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) staff members are fugitives who committed crimes in South Africa and Namibia, Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has revealed.Without mentioning names, Mphoko said the anti-corruption body will never be effective in its current composition."There are some officials who ran away from Namibia and South Africa after they committed crimes. They will be arrested if they go back to those countries but they have positions in the Anti-Corruption Commission. Such a commission will never be effective" Mphoko declared in Bulawayo on Sunday.In July, a massive 19 of its investigators were suspended on a litany of allegations ranging from fraud, insubordination to leaking information to outsiders, The suspensions are with immediate effect will be in force for three months.The 19 were Antony Gonga, Victor Masimba, Ishmael Mukwasi, Adamu Welemu, Augustine Mahwana, Sydney Ushe, Emmanuel Mutunami, Francis Chuma, Forbes Mupotsa, Isaac Takawira, Cain Madiye, Charles Charuma, Matthew Sithole, Charles Sepe, Esnath Katsamba, George Murwisi, Rufaro Kunyenda, Soneni Chavizha and Bersten Matope.According to the ZACC statement issued it said the 19 had been suspended on allegations of "fraud, corruption, insubordination, failure to obey lawful instructions, absence from duty without official authority, divulging information to outsiders in violation of the Official Secrecy Act as well as giving false information to outsiders about the commission.""We wish to notify our stakeholders that the above mentioned officers shall not be conducting any business on behalf of ZACC for the next three months. ZACC wishes to advise the public that it shall not be liable for any transaction or business conducted by the above mentioned until their suspension is lifted." Story Highlights Data based on daily interviewing July 11-Sept. 18 Americans report hearing more varied information about Trump Significant majority getting information about candidates each day PRINCETON, N.J. -- Americans' reports of what they have read, seen or heard about Hillary Clinton over the past two months are dominated by references to her handling of emails while she was secretary of state. By contrast, Americans' reports of what they have read, seen or heard about Donald Trump over this same period have been more varied and related to his campaign activities and statements. These findings are based on an ongoing research project conducted by Gallup together with the University of Michigan and Georgetown University. Gallup conducted more than 30,000 interviews with U.S. adults from July 11-Sept. 18 to measure Americans' daily recall of what they read, saw or heard about the two major party candidates. The word maps use font size to indicate the relative frequency of which specific words appeared for each candidate over the past 10 weeks. Americans' frequent mention of "email" in response to the question about Hillary Clinton are followed by "lie," "health," "speech," "scandal" and "foundation," the latter referencing recent concerns about conflicts of interest with the Clinton Foundation. The top substantive words Americans use when reporting on Trump include "speech," "president," "immigration," "Mexico," "convention," "campaign" and "Obama." Though Clinton has attacked Trump on several issues related to his character, no specific words representing negative traits have "stuck" to Trump the way the word "email" has to Clinton. Instead, Americans' recollection of information about Trump shifts in response to his campaign schedule, speeches, comments and the resulting controversies that sometimes arise from those comments. This conclusion is reinforced by an analysis of changes in what Americans recall about the candidates over time. Americans have most frequently used the word "email" to describe Clinton in eight of the 10 weeks of this project so far. The only two times when this was not the case were the week of the Democratic National Convention, when "convention" became the most frequently cited word, and this past week, when mentions of Clinton's "health" and "pneumonia" rose to the top of the list. The most frequently mentioned words for Trump have changed during the campaign, and these words often reflect his actions and travels as well as what he says about his opponent or President Barack Obama. In early August, Americans' most recalled words were associated with his comments about the Muslim parents of a fallen U.S. soldier, and then in the second week of August words associated with his claims that Obama started ISIS. Later, Americans used words associated with Trump's travel to Louisiana to view flood damage, and more recently his trip to Mexico. This past week, "health" was the second most frequently used word associated with Trump. What Have You Read, Seen or Heard About Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the Past Several Days? Most Frequently Used Words Top Words Used in Response to: "What Read, Seen or Heard About Hillary Clinton?" Top Words Used in Response to: "What Read, Seen or Heard About Donald Trump?" Health Pneumonia Sick Issue Obama Health Bear President Email Lie Scandal Interview Mexico Immigration President Speech Email FBI Release Lie Mexico Immigration Speech President Email Foundation Scandal Lie Immigration Change Campaign Policy Email Foundation Lie Health Campaign Speech Louisiana Change Email Lie Foundation Tax Obama ISIS Amendment Second Email Lie Convention Campaign Family Muslim Ryan Son Convention Email Democratic Speech Russia Email Convention Speech Email President Convention Pick Convention Speech Republican Wife Email Sanders FBI Scandal President Pick Pence Mate Gallup Most Americans Hearing News About the Presidential Candidates On most days over the past 10 weeks, at least 60% and often 70% or 80% or more of Americans said they were aware of having read, seen or heard information about the candidates in the past few days. Over this period, an average of 76% recalled information about Trump, compared with an average 73% for Clinton. In early July, Americans were more likely to report getting information about Clinton than Trump. Trump then became more prominent in Americans' minds during the GOP convention in July, rising to the point where 81% recalled hearing about him. Clinton gained more attention than Trump again during the Democratic convention, peaking at 82% recall. Soon after the conventions, however, Trump regained the lead on this recall measure and remained on top throughout the entire month of August and early September. Americans' reports of hearing news about Clinton jumped during the week of Sept. 12 after she fell ill at a 9/11 memorial service, announced that she had pneumonia and took a brief break from the campaign trail to recuperate. Clinton's 84% recall average for Sept. 12-18 -- reflecting the intense focus on her health and brief withdrawal from the campaign trail -- is the highest so far, slightly besting the percentages recorded for her and Trump during their conventions. Implications This project's objective is to understand the dynamics of the presidential campaign from the U.S. public's perspective, expanding the typical journalists' and pundits' assessments of the race and the two major party candidates. While research often tracks Americans' opinions of the candidates or their changing vote intentions, few studies have assessed what information the public is absorbing from the campaign on a daily basis. With the enormous expansion of news sources and information available in today's environment, it is no longer possible to assume that what traditional news outlets cover is what is getting through to the public. Many Americans now get information about the candidates from social media, bloggers, partisan news sources, television, radio, the internet and social networks. The "read, seen or heard" data reported here encompass all of this election-related information. This project will continue through to the election. Upcoming reports will look at differences in what subgroups of the population report about the candidates as well as the relationship between these reports and views of the candidates. Lisa Singh is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University; Stuart Soroka is a professor of communication sciences and political science at the University of Michigan; and Michael W. Traugott is a professor of communication studies and political science at the University of Michigan. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted beginning on July 11, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 500 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on each weekly samples of approximately 3,500 national adults, the margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Learn more about how the Gallup U.S. Daily works. Story Highlights 31% say creating new jobs is the most important issue facing governments Healthcare, agriculture and education are also top priorities Improving security and electricity rank lower WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. and African leaders meet this week at the second annual U.S.-Africa Business Forum to focus on increased trade and investment -- two prerequisites for the job creation that residents across sub-Saharan Africa currently see as the most important priority for their governments. Africans' Top Priorities Now I am going to read you a list of issues the government of [country] could address in the next 12 months. Please tell me which is the most important issue the government should address. Median % New jobs 31 Healthcare 16 Agriculture 13 Education 12 Corruption 9 Security 5 Electricity 4 Other 2 Asked among adults aged 15 and older in 21 countries in 2016 In 2016, Gallup asked residents of 21 African countries which, out of seven issues, is the most important for their respective country's government to address in the next 12 months. Jobs is easily the top issue, with a median of nearly one-third across all countries saying their government should prioritize creating new ones. At least one in eight Africans mentioned improving healthcare (16%), agriculture (13%) and education (12%). Although corruption, security and electricity are important issues throughout the region, fewer Africans mention them. Mauritius, Botswana, Republic of the Congo Value Job Creation Most Residents in 13 countries rated job creation as the most pressing issue, including about half of the population in Mauritius (51%), Botswana (47%) and Republic of the Congo (46%). According to Trading Economics, Mauritius' unemployment rate in early 2015 was as high as 8.7% but dipped to 7.6% in January 2016. Botswana, which has historically relied on the diamond industry to fuel its economy, is expected to have an unemployment rate of over 22% according to Trading Economics. According to the World Bank, sputtering global commodity prices in sub-Saharan Africa caused economic growth to shrink to 3.4% in 2015 from 4.6% in 2014. Earlier this year, the World Bank also lowered its 2016 forecast to 2.5%, down from the 3% it estimated at the beginning of the year. The 2.5% economic increase would be the lowest since the global financial crisis. Job Creation in Africa Asked among adults aged 15 and older Job creation is top issue % Mauritius 51 Botswana 47 Republic of the Congo 46 Democratic Republic of the Congo 38 Ivory Coast 38 Mauritania 37 Senegal 36 Guinea 36 Togo 33 Ghana 32 Nigeria 31 Benin 27 Cameroon 27 2016 Healthcare a Top Issue in Africa; Security a Concern in Some Areas After creating new jobs, Africans would like to see their governments address healthcare. Burkinabes are the most likely to mention this as the top issue (31%). Healthcare is also a top issue for upwards of one in five in Togo (24%), Ivory Coast (22%), the Republic of the Congo (21%), Cameroon (20%) and Mauritania (20%). This largely reflects the tough, ongoing fight in Africa against many diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. In 2016, two-thirds of the world's new HIV infections were in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). More than 90% of the world's newly diagnosed malaria cases are also in Africa. According to the WHO, of the world's 20 countries with the highest maternal mortality rates, 19 are in Africa. Healthcare in Africa Asked among adults aged 15 and older Healthcare is top issue % Burkina Faso 31 Togo 24 Ivory Coast 22 Republic of the Congo 21 Cameroon 20 Mauritania 20 Sierra Leone 18 Guinea 17 Liberia 16 Senegal 16 Benin 15 South Sudan 15 Madagascar 14 Malawi 13 2016 Adults in Kenya (24%), South Sudan (19%), Madagascar (18%), Ethiopia (18%) and Mauritius (12%) are among the most likely to say improving security is important. Kenya's government has been fighting the militant group, known as Al-Shabab since 2012; South Sudan has been ravaged by civil war for the last few years; and anti-government protesters in Ethiopia this year have had several fatal clashes with security forces. But Mauritius residents wanting more security is perhaps surprising -- the island nation in the Indian Ocean is a tourist hot spot, visited mostly by Europeans. According to the U.S. State Department, Mauritius has a crime rating of "medium" and its capital city, Port Louis, which has a population of 150,000, has a lower crime rate than most American cities that are similar in size. Bottom Line Many of the issues Africans see as the most important -- including healthcare and agriculture -- are on the agenda for government leaders at this week's summit, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The major focus is on increasing "commercial and financial ties" between U.S. and African countries. Diversifying African economies, strengthening human capital and fighting corruption will be important ingredients in forging strong partnerships with private American companies and U.S. government organizations. Jobs, education and healthcare in Africa are all related, and an agreement in one sector could help boost progress in another. Survey Methods Results are based on face-to-face interviews with 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older in each country, conducted in 2016. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error ranges from 3.4 to 4.3 percentage points. The margin of error reflects the influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. Story Highlights Confidence in judicial branch highest, at 61%; up eight points Democrats fuel six-point increase in executive branch rating Confidence in legislative branch still low, but improved PRINCETON, N.J. -- Americans express as much or slightly more confidence in each of the three branches of the federal government than they did in 2014 and 2015, when their confidence fell to record or near-record lows. Public confidence in the judicial branch has recovered to 61% after slipping to 53% in 2015. Meanwhile, since 2014, confidence in the executive branch has climbed eight percentage points to 51%, and confidence in the legislative branch has improved seven points to 35%. Confidence in each government branch is now similar to where it stood in 2013, but is still well below the averages in Gallup's annual trend since 1997 (68% for the judicial branch, 55% for the executive branch and 49% for the legislative branch). The latest results are based on Gallup's 2016 Governance poll, conducted Sept. 7-11, and represent the percentage of Americans saying they have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of confidence in each branch of government. At the other end of the scale, 24% of Americans currently say they have no confidence in the executive branch. Another 20% have no confidence in the legislative branch, while just 9% have no confidence in the judiciary. The remainder have "not very much" confidence in each branch or express no opinion. Democrats More Confident Than GOP in the Presidency, Judiciary The recent increase in public trust in the executive branch largely comes from Democrats' rising confidence, which jumped from 77% in 2015 to 84% this year, consistent with President Barack Obama's improved job approval ratings. By contrast, increased confidence in the legislative branch has occurred about equally among Republicans and Democrats, although confidence remains in the 30% range among both groups. After plummeting in 2015 to 43% -- likely in reaction to Supreme Court decisions essentially upholding the Affordable Care Act and legalizing gay marriage -- Republicans' confidence in the judicial branch has increased to 51%. However, it remains below pre-2015 levels. Democrats' confidence in the judiciary is now at 71%, up from 64% in 2015. Americans' Confidence in Three Branches of Government, by Party ID How much trust and confidence do you have at this time in [the executive branch headed by the president/the judicial branch headed by the U.S. Supreme Court/the legislative branch, consisting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives] -- a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or none at all? 2014 2015 2016 % % % Executive branch Republicans/Lean Republican 16 16 18 Democrats/Lean Democratic 77 77 84 Legislative branch Republicans/Lean Republican 28 32 37 Democrats/Lean Democratic 28 28 34 Judicial branch Republicans/Lean Republican 60 43 51 Democrats/Lean Democratic 67 64 71 Recent trend Gallup Government Seen as More Capable of Handling Problems In the same poll, Gallup asked Americans about their confidence in the federal government to handle domestic and, separately, international problems. Here too, declining confidence since 2011 and 2012 appears to have arrested, and confidence has started to trend upward. Currently, 49% of Americans are confident in the government to handle international problems, up slightly from 45% a year ago and 43% in 2014. Confidence in the government to handle domestic problems is now at 44%, up from 38% in 2015. As with partisan confidence in the executive branch, increases in public trust in the government to handle domestic and international problems are mainly a function of higher trust among Democrats. This likely reflects their support for Obama in his final year in office after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and other Republican candidates for office have attacked his leadership. Democrats' confidence in the government to handle domestic problems has risen by 11 points over the past year, to 64%, and has increased by 10 points to 72% for international problems. Republicans' confidence in the government to handle each dimension is unchanged. Americans' Trust in Federal Government to Handle Problems, by Party ID How much trust and confidence do you have in our federal government in Washington when it comes to handling [international problems/domestic problems] -- a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or none at all? 2014 2015 2016 % % % Domestic problems Republicans/Lean Republican 26 24 26 Democrats/Lean Democratic 58 53 64 International problems Republicans/Lean Republican 26 29 27 Democrats/Lean Democratic 64 62 72 Recent trend Gallup Bottom Line After several years of Americans' confidence in the federal government -- particularly in the White House and Congress -- wasting away, confidence has rebounded some. This is mainly because Democrats are feeling more positive. Republicans' views of the executive and legislative branches have not changed much; their confidence in each remains low. But their confidence in the judiciary has rebounded some after dropping sharply a year ago. These trust ratings are highly political, with Democrats and Republicans' views especially dependent on the party occupying the White House. The current pattern of high Democratic confidence and low Republican confidence will likely continue if Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election. Conversely, partisan confidence levels could reverse if Trump prevails. Meanwhile, confidence in the Supreme Court is mainly dependent on the nature of its big decisions. Any more cases that deeply disappoint the political right could send its confidence rating back down. Otherwise, it seems on course to recover. Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Sept. 7-11, 2016, with a random sample of 1,020 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. Story Highlights 71% trust local government, compared with 62% for state Republicans have greatest trust in both levels of government WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the past 15 years, Americans have expressed more confidence in their local government than their state government to handle problems. Similar to polls since 2013, about seven in 10 (71%) say they have a "great deal" or a "fair amount" of trust in local government to handle problems, compared with about six in 10 (62%) who say the same for their state government. These data were collected as part of Gallup's Sept. 7-11 Governance poll, just two months before a dozen state gubernatorial elections and thousands of state legislative races take place alongside the presidential election. Americans express much greater confidence in their local and state governments than they do in the executive and legislative branches of federal government. Confidence in state government roughly ties confidence in the judicial branch (61%), including the Supreme Court. Trust in local government has been fairly steady since Gallup first polled Americans on the topic in 1972, ranging between 63% in that year to as high as 77% in 1998 amid good economic conditions for the country at large. Confidence in state government, however, has varied more, from as high as 80% during the relative good economic times of 1998 to as low as 51% in 2009 as the economy soured after the 2008 Wall Street financial crisis and many states faced revenue shortfalls. GOP Confidence in State Government Has Waned, but Remains Strongest From 1997 to 2011, differences in political partisans' views of state government have not varied tremendously -- though Republicans generally displayed slightly greater confidence than Democrats in state government, usually ranging from three to eight percentage points higher. But after losing a large number of governorships in 2008, Republicans have since made a significant rebound, earning a dozen additional state governors' offices, bringing their total to 31. With so many gubernatorial victories, Republicans' confidence in state government soared past Democrats' in 2012, rising to a 15-point advantage in 2013. Their trust in state government has been tempered in the past three years, however, ebbing from 73% in 2014 to the current 66% -- still slightly higher than for independents (62%) and Democrats (58%). Republicans could give their representation at the state level particular significance because their party is not in control of the presidency, therefore leaving state governors to promote the party's platform as executives of individual states. Two-Thirds or More of Each Party Group Expresses Trust in Local Government Similar to their confidence in state government, Republicans have generally expressed more trust than Democrats in local government -- this was the case in all but three polls Gallup has taken since 1997. Overall, however, solid majorities of all three party groups have expressed confidence in their local governments. Currently, three in four Republicans say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in local governments, compared with 71% of independents and 66% of Democrats. Bottom Line Despite Republicans' high trust in state and local governments, even independents and Democrats have had fairly high confidence in these lower levels of government -- especially compared with their confidence in the federal government's executive and legislative branches. Majorities of each party group have had confidence in both the state and local levels of government in Gallup's trend in nearly every poll since 1997. This is likely related to the increased value of state residents' votes in local and state elections, paired with the more direct interaction they have with these governments in their everyday lives. This greater familiarity may make lower levels of governments seem more trustworthy. Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Sept. 7-11, 2016, with a random sample of 1,020 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. View complete question responses and trends. Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Release Date, News & Update: Microsoft Unlikely to Release Device in October 2016? Impressive Specs & Features Revealed Some reports are claiming that the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 will be released before the end of 2016. Most of them are pointing at an October release during the Windows 10 Devices event. A number of top features are expected including 4K display and a new Intel chipset. It may also cost a $100 more than Surface Pro 4 because of the Kaby Lake processors and an upgraded Windows 10 OS. As per International Business Times, Microsoft is planning to boost the devices with some pretty mind-blowing features. The processors are also expected to better Microsoft Surface Pro 5's battery life and it something that fans really want to see. However, few reports suggest that the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 may not be available till March 2017 if Mirosoft wants to include the Intel Kaby Lake processors in the device. Even though Intel has already released the Y and U Kaby Lake processors, its most powerful batch will be released by the end of this year. The company wants to compete with Apple's MacBook Pro 2016, writes Mobile & Apps. The Kaby Lake processors are expected to have a 14-nm manufacturing process that will provide the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 with enhanced cooling technology and 40 percent improved performance. Moreover, Microsoft will probably not release the device without the Windows 10 Redstone 2 update. The update is expected to be ready by spring of 2017. Thus, this too points towards a 2017 release of the Microsoft Surface Pro 5. Apart from the Kaby Lake processors and Windows Redstone 2 update, the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 is expected to have 4K resolution, PixelSense display panel and 21-inch, 24-inch and 27-inch screen options. Rumors suggest the device will sport a 16GB RAM with Surface AIO graphics unit. A 16MP rear and 8MP front camera are also expected. There is no official confirmation from Microsoft as to the specs, price and release date of the high-anticipated Microsoft Surface Pro 5. Stay tunes on GameNGuide for more updates! Criminal Minds Season 12 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Will Thomas Gibson Return? Series Coming To An End? News of Thomas Gibson being fired from "Criminal Minds" season 12 was a hot topic over the Internet. The series creators received backlash from fans of the crime drama series, calling for others to boycott the show. Now creators are torn between asking Gibson to continue his role as Gibson or they may lose a lot of viewers. Thomas Gibson Fired Fans will no longer see Thomas Gibson in "Criminal Minds" season 12 after being unceremoniously dismissing the actor following a bout on the set with a writer. Series creators have yet to announce who would replace Gibson in the upcoming season. However, many fans did not take the Gibson's sacking too kindly. They started an online trend #NoHotchNoWatch on Twitter and Instagram, Inquistr reported. Could this signal the end of the show? Thomas Gibson was a series regular season 1. The actor playing the character of Aaron Hotchner will reportedly appear in the first two episodes of "Criminal Minds" season 12. Many fans cringed at the prospect of replacing Gibson, overshadowing other good news about the series. Gibson reportedly had an on-set altercation with a one of the writers, prompting the showrunners to suspend the actor for two episodes. However, they then decided to fire the actor altogether much to fans protests and anger. You ready for Season 12? pic.twitter.com/1ShBfHmh82 Criminal Minds (@CriminaIMQuotes) September 15, 2016 Will Thomas Gibson Return? While the franchise is expected to introduce new characters in "Criminal Minds" season 12, fans just can't be stopped from expecting that Thomas Gibson might return. Australian Network News listed reasons why Gibson should return aside from the strong public demand. While the writers took his criticisms negatively, the website took it as a sign of his dedication to his craft. Though it resulted to one ugly physical bout, Gibson was adamant that he only wanted the best for the series. Fans aren't sure now if Thomas Gibson will return for "Criminal Minds" season 12. If he won't, will the show's ratings be endangered? Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comments below. "Criminal Minds" season 12 will air on September 28, 2016, on CBS. Check out the trailer below. Outlander season 3 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Jamie & Claire To Reunite, Showrunners Hint Two Major Deaths? "Outlander" season 3 latest spoilers hint of a possible death of two major characters according to executive producer. While the hit Brittish series is yet to announce its air date, fans are hungry for details regarding the upcoming season. Aside from two major deaths, fans are in for some steamier scenes too. Jamie & Claire Meet Again GamenGuide previously reported that "Outlander" has been renewed for a third and fourth season, following the books "Voyager" and "Drums of Autumns" by Diana Gabaldon. The cast and crew are currently in Scotland, shooting scenes at Craigmillar Castle in Edinburgh. "Outlander" season 3 spoilers state that the truth behind what really happened at the battlefield of Culloden will be revealed next season. Aside from this, the executive producer recently dropped a bomb, hinting two major deaths next season. @ginatibbitts I can... but I won't... Ronald D. Moore (@RonDMoore) September 17, 2016 Executive Producer Ron M. Moore recently engaged in discussion over Twitter, hinting bits and details on what's coming in "Outlander" season 3, per International Business Times. As expected, the conversation took a turn towards Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire's (Caitriona Balfe) reunion. While the writer wasn't really forthcoming, he teased fans that the star-crossed lovers will definitely see each other. Aside from the highly-anticipated reunion, the showrunner also confirmed that "Outlander" season 3 will show more sexy scenes. Who Will Die Next Season While Ronald D. Moore confirmed some details regarding "Outlander" season 3, there are still other things that he can't answer. He admitted that some decisions haven't been made and the production is still sorting out the scenes especially in ships and in Jamaica. He further added that these scenes won't be filmed until 2017. Aside from the reunion of Jamie and Claire, another spoiler for "Outlander" season 3 say that two major deaths will happen next season. "There are at least two major deaths expected in this battle," said a quote as reported by CSN regarding the possible deaths next season. Starz has not revealed the exact air date of "Outlander" season 3. Stay tuned for more updates on "Outlander" season 3. Officers & Directors Last month, Benton Habitat for Humanity announced Joe Whinnery as its new president and Van Melick as vice president of its board of directors. In addition, Terry Neumann and Carl Christianson recently joined as board members. Whinnery retired seven years ago from a career in parks operations and management for the City of Corvallis. He now spends much of his time serving on the Habitat board and its Home Repair Committee. Joe and his longtime partner, Karen, are active residents of their community of Wren. Melick is a mortgage broker for Directors Mortgage. He is the father of two children and has lived in Corvallis since 2002. He formerly was director of Food for Lane County. Neumann spent the last 25 years as the owner and operator of the Corvallis Grocery Outlet in partnership with his wife, Jan. After retiring last year, he became a licensed Realtor and Broker for Keller Williams Mid-Willamette Realty. Christianson purchased his fathers general contracting and remodeling company, G. Christianson Construction, in 2014. He grew up in Corvallis and attended Crescent Valley High School. People on the Move Keller Williams Realty recently announced the addition of Diana Liktor to the Wilson Team at its Corvallis Market Center. The newest Buyers Agent on the team, Liktor is well-versed as an agent, having begun her career in Budapest. Originally from Hungary, she has been in Oregon nearly 15 years. Liktor can be reached at 503-347-4605 or dliktor@kw.com. The Corvallis Market Center is at 1121 N.W. Ninth St. Oregon State Credit Union recently named Gail Lichtenthaler, previously assistant branch manager at the credit unions Ninth Street branch, as its branch manager for the Sunset location. The Sunset branch opened last month inside the new Operations Center at 4800 S.W. Research Way in Corvallis. Lichtenthaler started with Oregon State Credit Union in 2012 as assistant branch manager in Philomath after serving as branch manager of the Chase Bank location in the Corvallis Fred Meyer. Her customer service experience includes tenures with both Nordstroms and Starbucks. Lichtenthaler is an Oregon State University graduate and has been active in Benton and Linn county communities for the past 30 years. Take a Bow Luanne Barnes, director of Volunteer Services at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, recently was recognized for her contribution to the volunteer management profession. Barnes was given the Four Leaf-Clover Legacy Award by the Mid-Valley Volunteer Managers Association. Each year the association recognizes volunteer administrators for their contributions to the profession and to their colleagues, and for their promotion of quality volunteer experiences in Benton, Linn, Polk, Marion and Yamhill counties. Barnes was presented with the legacy award on International Volunteer Managers Day for her service of more than 25 years. Barnes joined Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center as the volunteer services department manager in 1991. Throughout her career, Barnes became a certified administrator of volunteer services and director of Volunteer Services, overseeing the operations of the volunteer services department, Good Sams Gifts and the liaison to the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center Auxiliary. Foster Farms, a West Coast poultry producer, announced last month that its board of directors has appointed Laura Flanagan president and chief executive officer, effective Aug. 29. Foster Farms has a plant in Corvallis. Flanagan, 48, most recently was president of the ConAgra Foods Snacks Division, one of North Americas leading suppliers of packaged foods. She will succeed Ron Foster, grandson of company founders Max and Verda Foster. Foster previously announced his plans to step down. He will remain a Foster Farms owner and member of the board of directors. Before taking leadership of the Snacks Division, Flanagan was president of ConAgras Convenient Meals Division from 2008 to 2011, revitalizing and expanding key brands. Before joining ConAgra, Flanagan was vice president and chief marketing officer of Tropicana Shelf Stable Juices at PepsiCo and, from 1996 to 2005, held brand-management positions at General Mills and PepsiCo. Earlier, she was a manufacturing engineer at Saturn Corporation. She earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University in 1996. Flanagan is on the board of directors of Core-Mark International. News / National by Staff reporter The judge president, Justice George Chiweshe has postponed hearing of another application challenging the ban of demonstrations in Harare.The ban was proclaimed on the 16th of September by the police in terms of Section 27 of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).Justice Chiweshe postponed the hearing and ordered the applicant, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya of Zimbabwe Devine Destiny to file heads of argument before the 21st of September.Magaya is being represented by Mr Tendai Biti and Mr Dzimbabwe Chimbgwa.The state represented by Mrs Fortune Chimbaru is also expected to file a response by the 23rd of this month.Before postponing the matter, Justice Chiweshe indicated that this application is very important hence the parties must be afforded ample time to file their papers.In his application, Bishop Magaya argued that the proclamation and notice on the ban by the police is in breach of sections 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66 and 67 of the constitution of Zimbabwe.The applicant want the court to declare section 27 of POSA unconstitutional.In his founding affidavit, Bishop Magaya said on 23 September, they intended to hold a march and present a petition to parliament against alleged police brutality and violence.He said as a church organisation, they are not covered by POSA, further indicating that they were not consulted before the issuance of the public notice.The ban of demonstrations by the police follows public violence that occurred during protests by different political parties under the name National Electoral Reforms Agenda (NERA).The demonstrations led to the destruction of property in the capital, among them ZBC and police vehicles. Corvallis may be feeling just a little more crowded today, thanks to the approximately 3,600 students who moved onto Oregon State Universitys campus Sunday. According to the university, around 5,000 students will be living on campus this year across the university's 15 residence halls, one new residential recovery house and two apartment complexes. You can really feel the shift from summer to fall with the students coming in, said Jennifer Vina, director of marketing and communications for University Housing and Dining Services. And bringing that many students onto campus in one day is a massive undertaking that involves 500 volunteers and the Oregon State Police managing traffic by temporarily converting some campus area streets into one-way streets. Its really a campus-wide effort, said Vina. Vina said they schedule students with a time to come check in and move into their dormitory to try to make the process smoother, and volunteers help them with unloading. We still want people to have an intimate welcoming experience, she said. According to Vina, UHDS staff members even monitor campus webcams to look for spots where things are crowded; the west side of campus has the highest density of students, so its a area of particular focus for them. She added that they are constantly trying to improve the process of moving in students. We start planning for move-in the day after our last move-in, she said. Vina said UHDS is introducing some new programs this year to try to encourage sophomores and above to stay on campus. The former UHDS office space on the bottom floor of Hawley and Buxton halls has been converted into a space only for sophomores and above in engineering. The seventh floor of Bloss Hall has been devoted to graduate students. According to Vina, both spaces were filled. Weve spent a lot of time thinking about how we can have good experiences for sophomores and above, she said. Evan Clow, an 18-year-old from West Linn who plans to study mechanical engineering, moved into Finley Hall on Sunday and said the process went well. We had a lot of help, he said. Now its just unpacking and figuring out where all my stuff is going to go. (It was) a lot less stressful than I thought it would be. Conor Egan, a friend of Clows who is also from West Linn, moved into the same hall a week early because he is in the marching band and had to be on campus for practice. Egan, an 18-year-old who plans to study mechanical engineering and musical performance, helped Clow set up his room Sunday. Everyones been super helpful, Egan said. He said the impact of moving away from home was only just starting to sink in after a week he still felt like he was on a short trip and about to return home. But his parents dropping him off was a weird moment, he said. Its a little off-putting when youre all situated and theyre like Alright, Im heading out, Egan said. Clow agreed the full weight of the change did not kick in immediately. But he said hes looking forward to starting a new phase of his life. Im more excited about it than I am nervous, he said. The Philomath City Council opted to hold off on approving a resolution that would adopt the Oregon Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan during its Sept. 12 regular meeting. The hazards mitigation plan looks as susceptibility to various natural disasters and breaks down what each community can do to reduce the severity of how it impacts residents. The Benton County plan includes addendums on each jurisdiction in the county, including Philomath, Corvallis, Adair Village, Monroe and North Albany. Chris Workman, Philomath city manager, said the hazard mitigation plan has two real benefits. One, the funding for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) comes through a lot nicer when regions and jurisdictions have a plan adopted, he said. But then also, the biggest one is really the flood insurance. The CRS (Community Rating System) drops pretty dramatically when you have a plan in place. The second point doesnt matter much to Philomath, however, since the city does not participate in the CRS program. Workman said the document, which goes through a lengthy review, includes information about facilities in each jurisdiction that may be in harms way, but does not require specific actions. Were not putting any money toward any repairs or any projects, Workman said. Its really just an advisory document that we can utilize. Its a tool for us to use as we make plans when we start looking at budgets in future years. Garry Black, Philomaths public works supervisor, has been involved with the process on a local level. The plan goes through updates every four to six years. Workman said he had talked to the hazard mitigation plans committee about a presentation before the council but it couldnt be arranged for this month. Workman said the group is willing to go through this with a very Philomath-centric view on it, but also more general hazard mitigation and disaster resiliency planning. The states Interagency Hazard Mitigation Team oversees and maintains the FEMA-approved plan. The hazard mitigation teams establishment dates back to March 1997 following disastrous debris flows that occurred during the winter of 1996-97. That winter, eight people in Douglas County were killed when heavy rains, snowmelt, saturated soil and flooding combined to create debris flows and landslides. City councilor Doug Edmonds and mayor Rocky Sloan said they preferred to see the presentation before moving on to a resolution. In other news from the meeting, city finance director Joan Swanson gave a few details on an Urban Renewal District water and sewer project that is planned for next year in late spring or early summer on Main Street. To do that project, were going to need to borrow some money, she said. A meeting was to have occurred later last week with the citys finance committee for discussion on issuing bonds and preparing a resolution to be forwarded to the council for approval. Swanson said the project will cost approximately $3.4 million. We are looking at possibly refinancing our 2009 Full Faith in Credit series, Swanson said. If we do that, theres a different rate, but our average rate is about 4.25 and the rates now about 2.8 or so. We might be looking at saving a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Thats one thing well be discussing with the finance committee and hope to bring forward. So that might be pretty exciting for the city to be able to refinance at a lower rate. Also from the Sept. 12 meeting: Xan Augerot, Benton County commissioner candidate, attended the meeting to see whats happening in Philomath as the November election approaches. Augerot is going up against Republican Jerry J. Jackson Sr. of Philomath for the seat. The city council approved out-of-state travel for Workman, a requirement in the city managers contract, for a trip to Kansas City, Missouri, for the International City Managers Associations annual conference that runs Sept. 25-28. City recorder Ruth Post, who is active with the Philomath Public Art Council, invited councilors to an event later in the week to dedicate a new piece of artwork in Dale Collins Readerboard Park. The art council paid a stipend to the artist through a Philomath Community Foundation grant for the piece to remain for two years. Post said a fundraising effort will be launched to purchase it outright. Swanson said auditors found no issues with the citys finances. An attempt is being made to bring them to the council for a report in November. News / National by Staff reporter An Indian businessman has been robbed of US$40 000 cash by a group of thieves at his shop in Harare.Police confirmed the robbery, saying investigations are underway to apprehend the culprits.Police Acting Senior Staff Officer - Press and Public Relations, Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said the Indian businessman, whose name has been withheld, was robbed by a gang of thieves who were reportedly driving a blue Mercedes Benz without registration numbers."Investigations are underway but the police will not rule out that the syndicate involves internal employees," he added.Chief Superintendent Nyathi appealed to the public and business people to bank their money to avoid such incidents.Observers noted that the incident which comes at a time the monetary authorities are working around the clock to create a banking culture prompts for a need to investigate local businesses banking cultures as they are accused of contributing to the cash crisis.The robbery also sends a clear message to those holding on to large sums of cash of the risk of falling prey to such syndicates. Division of labour with Berlin : State Parliament unites behind Bonn Bonn Members of the State Parliament have unanimously backed a motion to strengthen Bonns standing. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken The State Parliament in Dusseldorf has united behind Bonn prior to the expected status report by Federal Building Minister Barbara Hendricks (SPD) on the division of labour between Bonn and Berlin. The members of parliament decided unanimously to back a cross-party motion demanding a strengthening of the federal city as a location for government and the UN in the interests of the federation, state and region. In the spring, the motion failed after the CDU did not support it. It argued some of the wording was too soft. The decision by the State Parliament of the largest federal state across all party lines is the desired, important signal to Berlin and the Federal Government, said Rolf Beu, State Member of Parliament for the Green Party. The decision makes clear that Bonn, as a location for the federal government and the UN institutions, is very important to North Rhine-Westphalia. City, region and state united behind the instrument to strengthen Bonn as a location, including a demand that all federal ministries remain on the Rhine. The division of labour within the ministries works and is also much more cost-effective in the long term than the complete move [of all ministries to Berlin] constantly being floated by the other side, said Mr Beu. Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. News / Regional by Thobekile Zhou HOOKERS operating at the Victoria Falls Truck Stop might soon pay entry fees to the facility as the city fathers are fed up with the influx.The area in question is used by cross-border drivers who are a hit with prostitutes as they spend several nights at the facility while waiting to be cleared by border officials.Councillors took the matter to a full council meeting are put forward the proposal."Maybe the council should charge a certain fee for one to enter the truck stop so as to reduce the number of ladies of the night who frequent the truck stop and maybe we can raise money as well," said one councillor.Victoria Falls Mayor Councillor Sifiso Mpofu said municipal police should arrest all females seen loitering at the facility at night. Design Under Lenovo, Motorola has been aggressively releasing devices this year and they are following a standard design for all the 2016 Motorola smartphones and the Moto E3 Power is no exception. It comes with a plastic body, which is absolute in these days for a budget smartphone. On the other hand, the Redmi 3s comes with the all-metal body, which is good to see in an entry-level smartphone. Having said that, the Redmi 3s looks almost like the company's most successful Redmi Note 3, which is also the best selling smartphone in India, for Xiaomi. The Redmi 3s has a clear advantage in the design segment with its all-metal body. Display Display wise, there is nothing to speak about both the smartphones as they feature a 720p display and of 5-inch in size. Also, they are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 technology. The Moto E3 Power also has an oleophobic coating on top of gorilla glass 3, which protects it from smudges and scratches. Hardware This is where things get interesting. The Xiaomi Redmi 3s comes with a powerful and relatively new chipset, which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset and is an octa-core one. Also, the smartphone is available in two variants, one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and the other one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The Moto E3 Power comes with a MediaTek MT6735 chipset and 2GB of RAM. In this case, clearly, the Redmi 3s Prime is the winner. Click Here for New Android Smartphones Best Online Deals Camera The camera on the Moto E3 Power has been upgraded to 8MP from the previous 5MP seen on the Moto E2 but is nowhere in competition with the Xiaomi's Redmi 3s as it comes with a 13MP rear camera. Motorola also added a front facing camera of 5MP on the Moto E3 Power, but it also lags behind the Redmi 3s with 8MP front facing shooter. Battery 'Big batteries on a budget' are the tagline we are giving to these smartphones. The Redmi 3s packs 1 4,100mAh battery, and the Moto E3 Power comes just behind and packs a 3,500mAh battery, which is good to see. Both the smartphone don't have support for a quick charge, which is understandable. Software The Motorola Moto E3 Power, as usual, ships with a near stock Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, which is a clear advantage when compared to the Xiaomi's MIUI on Redmi 3s. Also, Motorola will upgrade the E3 Power to Android Nougat in future. Verdict Motorola smartphones have been good ever from their reentrance in the Indian market, but Xiaomi's Redmi 3s is as good as any budget phone till date. And, Redmi 3s is also the best battery device on a budget. If you want a clean and stock Android, just go for the Moto E3 Power, which can also be able to deliver good battery life with its 3,500mAh battery. Opinion / Columnist Recently I attended the Silent Protest in Birmingham protest on 10th September 2016 and another demonstration in London on 16th. Yes I have been busy of late. I was there and I was one of those protesters. It may appear like a small action many miles away from the source of all our problems as Zimbabweans. For us in the diaspora it is one of the ways we can show solidarity with our fellow citizens back home. We are the voice of the voiceless masses back home that are being brutalised for taking part in peaceful demonstrations. Our people are being abducted, intimidated, harassed and made to disappear simply for expressing their political views. We owe it to them to highlight their plight.There are demonstrations and protest marches everywhere by Zimbabweans where ever they are. Most of them are about why Mugabe must go. While we were protesting it got me thinking. Are we not a bit too late in saying Mugabe must go. Mugabe is gone or almost gone. Look at the man; he is now barely a shadow of his former self. The man is now a bag of bones with a coffin made to measure (I know I will die someday but all I am saying is that my coffin has not been ordered yet). Mugabe's coffin has been ordered and delivered! Yet here we are all screaming Mugabe must go! Go where? The man is gone. After him what next?It is about time we sang a different tune. I suggest we change the lyrics to Mnangagwa must go. Why Mnangagwa one might ask. He is the heir-apparent, the president-in-waiting. Darling of the Chinese, British and Americans amongst other distant admirers. They want Mnangagwa to take over not because he is an angel or saviour but because they do not know the man or understand Zimbabwean politics. They are either naive or plain stupid. The 'anybody but Mugabe' solution is no solution. Do they know the real Emmerson 'Crocodile' Mnangagwa? He has been Mugabe's right hand man for more than four decades. His hands are dripping with the blood of the innocent as much as much as Mugabe's. Starting with over 20 000 Gukurahundi genocide victims right through to the documented and undocumented disappearances of political opponents. Where is Itai Dzamara? Mugabe and Mnangagwa know exactly where his remains are buried? If Mugabe must go, so should the Crocodile that killed willy-nilly at His Master's orders.I can understand why the Chinese want Mnangagwa as they have no qualms supporting repressive regimes. After all they are one such repressive regime which does not bother with human rights and freedom of expression. They would prefer a strongman like Mnangagwa who can control and suppress Zimbabweans in order to allow the Chinese to exploit the rich natural resources in Zimbabwe. The Chinese want to avoid war in Zimbabwe as that might disrupt them from peaceful plundering of our nation's resources.What I do not understand is why the British and Americans are buying into the Mnangagwa presidency strategy. Did they not learn anything from their once cosy relationship with Mugabe whom the British knighted in 1994. If they think that Mnangagwa will bring political stability and economic revival, then they real have no clue. Mnangagwa is just as clueless as Mugabe when it comes to uniting Zimbabweans and changing the economic fortunes of the country. I say this is another wrong move. What they should do is to speak to Zimbabweans who know that there is no difference between Mugabe and Mnangagwa. To support a Mnangagwa presidency is to resurrect Mugabe's ghost and to maintain the status quo.I urge all Zimbabweans to oppose vehemently this succession plan aimed at crowning Mugabe's principal disciple, Emmerson Mnangangwa. Mnangagwa must be stopped from assuming the presidency at all costs and by any means. I would go further and say Zanu pf in its totality should be stopped from forming the next government in 2018 or preferably long before 2018. The whole rotten system established by Mugabe and Mnangagwa since 1980 needs uprooting and discarding. We need a fresh start. Let us be ready for a better post-Mugabe era. There is no guarantee that the day Mugabe goes to heaven or to the Hague all will be restored to normal. Zimbabwe's future rests on what you and I can do to a greater extent and what outsiders do to a lesser extent.Nobukhosi Moyo - MDC-T Activist, pro #ThisFlag , pro #MyZimbabwe , Zim Human Rights Activist. Coalition halts airstrike in progress against possible Syrian military position Release No: 16-072 Sept. 17, 2016 September 17, 2016 RELEASE #20160917-27 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAMPA, Fla. Earlier today Coalition aircraft conducted an airstrike south of Dayr Az Zawr, Syria. Coalition forces believed they were striking a Da'esh fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike. The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military. The location of the strike is in an area the coalition has struck in the past, and coalition members in the Combined Air Operations Center had earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike. It is not uncommon for the Coalition Air Operations Center to confer with Russian officials as a professional courtesy and to deconflict Coalition and Russian aircraft, although such contact is not required by the current U.S. Russia Memorandum of Understanding on safety of flight. Syria is a complex situation with various military forces and militias in close proximity, but coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit, officials said. The coalition will review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned. U.S. Central Command CENTCOM Communication Integration Phone: (813) 529-0220 CENTCOMCCCIMediaDesk@mail.mil NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-329-16 September 17, 2016 Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook on Coalition Airstrike in Syria The Department of Defense continues to gather information on a coalition airstrike in Syria earlier today. While we are still trying to determine all the facts, if we mistakenly struck a Syrian military position we regret doing so, especially the loss of lives. As Centcom previously disclosed, the coalition aircraft conducting the mission believed they were striking ISIL forces near Dayr Az Zawr. In addition, the coalition air operations center earlier in the day notified Russian officials that coalition aircraft would be operating in that area, and no concerns were voiced at that time. We will review all aspects of this strike to determine what if any lessons should be learned. In the meantime, the coalition's effort will remain focused on delivering ISIL a lasting defeat. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/947848/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Militants attack village in Central African Republic, kill 26: Officials Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:44AM A militant raid on a village in the Central African Republic (CAR) has left 26 villagers dead in the worst instance of bloodshed in recent months, an official says. Militants from the Seleka group attacked the village of Ndomete, near the town of Kaga-Bandoro, about 350 km (220 miles) north of the capital, Bangui, on Friday. Reports of the attack, however, emerged on Saturday. "There were 26 victims the village chief was among the victims," Albert Mokpeme, a spokesman for the presidency, said on Saturday. "It was a massacre," he emphasized. Officials are concerned that the incident could revitalize the dormant acts of vendetta between the mainly Muslim Seleka militants and rival Christian anti-Balaka militias. In early 2013, Seleka toppled the then-President Francois Bozize, who was replaced by Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia, the first Muslim to hold the presidency in the CAR. Christian militias reacted by engaging in large-scale attacks against the minority Muslims. A fifth of the population was forced to flee to safer regions as the impoverished nation was plunged into violence along ethnic and religious fault lines. Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the resource-rich country, as it suffered its biggest crisis in its half-century of independence during the period of violence in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, some 11,000 peacekeepers were deployed by the United Nations (UN) to the country as part of the established United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). "MINUSCA regrets the loss of human life and the wounded that were recorded and also denounces attacks against the humanitarian community and United Nations personnel," the UN said following the Friday bloodshed. On July 23, 2014, Seleka and anti-Balaka representatives signed a ceasefire agreement in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, but the country has not yet emerged from its bloody past. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi jets pound western Yemen afresh, drop cluster bombs Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:22AM Saudi warplanes have conducted fresh aerial assaults on several provinces in western Yemen, using cluster bombs in their attacks. Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel reported that the Saudi jets targeted al-Dhahir and Shada'a districts of Sa'ada province on Sunday with six cluster bombs, but there is still no word on possible casualties. Cluster bombs are banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), an international treaty that addresses the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm caused to civilians by cluster munitions through a categorical prohibition and a framework for action. Additionally on Sunday, two areas in Ta'izziyah district, situated in the southwestern Ta'izz province, came under Saudi strikes. Saudi aircraft further hit a town in Amran Province. A Bridge in nearby al-Mahwit province was also targeted in the air raids. Moreover, Harad district of Hajjah province and Nihm district of the Sana'a province witnessed similar Saudi airstrikes. Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the toll at 10,000. The offensive was launched to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and its allies and reinstate the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The Houthis took state matters in their own hands after the resignation and escape of Hadi, which threw Yemen into a state of uncertainty and threatened a total security breakdown there. According to a recent survey, conducted by the Yemen Data Project, a group of academics and human rights activists, Saudi airstrikes hit 3,158 non-military sites between March 2015 and the end of August this year. The findings, published by The Guardian, further exposed that there were 942 air raids on residential areas, 114 on markets, 34 on mosques, 147 on school buildings, 26 on universities and 378 on transport sites over the course of the bombardment. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Militants attack India base in Kashmir, kill 17: India army source Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 6:21AM Militants in the Indian-administered Kashmir have reportedly attacked an army headquarters in the region's north, near the de facto border with Pakistan, killing at least 17 troops. Indian army sources said on Sunday that around four to six militants staged an attack on the army base in the town of Uri near the Line of Control with Pakistan. The sources added that a gunfight that started with the militants several hours ago is still ongoing and the death toll may rise. Four militants have already been killed and army helicopters have been deployed to the site to evacuate over a dozen soldiers injured in the predawn attack, according to the sources. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on social media that political and military authorities in the region, as well as other senior officials, were monitoring the developments. Singh tweeted that the urgent situation had forced him to cancel his planned trip to Russia and the United States. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted to the incident by ensuring that the perpetrators of the "cowardly terror attack" would be punished. "I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi said in a series of tweets. The restive Muslim-majority region has witnessed an increase in mass protests and violent attacks since early July, when Burhan Wani, a top figure in a pro-independence group, was killed in a shootout with Indian troops. Tens of thousands of government troops have been deployed to the region and nearly 80 people have lost their lives in the ensuing crackdown. The government crackdown has failed to halt the protests against Indian rule in Kashmir. Kashmir has been at the heart of a bitter territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, ever since the region gained independence from British rule in 1947. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran rejects Saudi claim on Yemen arms transfer Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:30AM Iran has dismissed Saudi Arabia's "unfounded and undocumented" allegation that the Islamic Republic is funneling arms into Yemen. The Islamic Republic of Iran's Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN), in a statement released on Saturday, categorically rejected the claim made in a September 14 letter by Saudi Arabia to the UN Security Council concerning the alleged transfer of weapons to the Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah fighters and the violation of UN Resolution 2216 by Iran. "Unsubstantiated claims can be seen in Saudi Arabia's letter, claims that no impartial body has ever been able to prove," the Iranian mission's statement read. "This is while Saudi Arabia has for over a year and a half been involved in a full-scale, unequal war which is devoid of logic against the people of Yemen and has perpetrated undeniable crimes against the country's defenseless civilians, children and women," the statement read. "Saudi Arabia, which, while destroying Yemen's infrastructure, has no compunction about attacking hospitals and schools, is accusing Iran of breaching international resolutions while it (Riyadh) has violated international rules and civilian rights on numerous occasions based on documented reports," the statement further read. The Iranian UN mission said it was surprising that Saudi Arabia was complaining to the Security Council about the use of weapons in Yemen while it has itself spent tens of billions of dollars on the purchase of munitions to be used against the people of Yemen. It said Iran does not believe there is a military solution to the Yemeni crisis and "has always demanded an end to hostilities and disagreements [there] through dialog and recourse to lawful and peaceful mechanisms." Saudi Arabia has been pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll in the war at about 10,000. The offensive was launched to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally who has resigned as Yemen's president. A recent survey by a group of academics and human rights activists revealed that Saudi Arabia targeted 3,158 non-military sites in Yemen between March 2015 and the end of August this year. The findings, published by The Guardian on Friday, further revealed that there were 942 air raids on residential areas, 114 on markets, 34 on mosques, 147 on school buildings, 26 on universities and 378 on transport sites during the mentioned period. UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said last month that the death toll from the Saudi military aggression could rise even further as some areas had no medical facilities, and that people were often buried without any official record being made. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India Vows Punishment For Kashmir Base Attack September 18, 2016 India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to punish those responsible for what he called a "despicable" and "cowardly" attack on an army base in Indian-administered Kashmir. The military says at least 17 soldiers and four of the attackers were killed in the September 18 pre-dawn assault in the town of Uri. Officials said an unspecified number of militants carrying guns and grenades infiltrated across the de factor border with Pakistan before attacking the base. No group has claimed responsibility. But Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh wrote on Twitter that he was "deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups." "There are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of [the] Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped," he also said. Indian military officials said all four gunmen killed were "foreign terrorists," and that initial investigations suggested they belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based militant group that has been active in Kashmir for more than 15 years. Pakistan rejected allegations that it was involved, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria saying, "India immediately puts blame on Pakistan without doing any investigation." The attack comes as the Himalayan region has seen its largest anti-India protests in recent years since the killing on July 8 of a popular rebel commander by Indian troops. More than 80 people have been killed in clashes between residents and security forces. The Muslim-majority region is divided between India and Pakistan, but most people in the Indian portion favor independence or a merger with Pakistan. Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/indian-soldiers- militants-killed-in-kashmir-attack/27997979.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO to Deploy 4,000 Troops in Baltic Region by May 2017 Sputnik News 17:27 18.09.2016 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) plans to station four battalions totaling 4,000 troops in the Baltic region by May 2017, NATO Military Committee Chairman Petr Pavel said on Sunday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The statement was made following the meeting of the NATO leaders in Croatia's Split this weekend. "With these four battle groups, we are not talking exclusively about a training presence. This force is to serve as a deterrent and if necessary as a fighting force. The rules will be different," Pavel said cited by The Wall Street Journal adding that the deployment will be carried out by May 2017. NATO has been boosting its military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European states, since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, citing Russia's alleged interference in that conflict as justification for the move. At the NATO summit in Warsaw on July 8, the Alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said that the military bloc would strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe on a rotational basis with four battalions in Poland and in the Baltic nations. The United States will lead the troops in Poland, while the United Kingdom will head the battalion in Estonia, Germany the one in Lithuania, and Canada that in Latvia. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Claims It Targeted Daesh on Day Coalition Bombed Syrian Army Sputnik News 16:30 18.09.2016 The US-led coalition said it targeted Daesh terrorists in Syria on Saturday. Some of the airstrikes were carried out in Deir ez-Zor, where the coalition's aircraft attacked the country's army on the same day. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The US-led coalition has carried out 12 strikes against Daesh in Syria, the US Department of Defense said Sunday. "U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterdayAttack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria," the Department of Defense said in a statement, citing Operation Inherent Resolve officials. Three of the strikes, which were conducted on Saturday, were carried out in Deir ez-Zor, destroying Daesh oil trucks and damaging several supply routes, according to the statement. The attacks took place on the day when coalition planes hit Syrian army positions at a military airport near Deir ez-Zor, which is besieged by Daesh. The US Central Command said that Syrian forces were mistaken for Daesh fighters. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attacks saying they killed 62 servicemen and injured 100 more. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, including Daesh, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russia. The government-held city of Deir ez-Zor has been under siege from Daesh since July 2014. The US-led coalition has been carrying out anti-Daesh strikes since September 2014 without Syrian government consent. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 17 Indian Soldiers Killed in Militant Attack in Indian Kashmir By Anjana Pasricha September 18, 2016 Seventeen Indian soldiers have been killed and nearly 20 wounded in the deadliest attack mounted by militants in two decades on an Indian army base in Kashmir, close to the border with Pakistan. Officials say four heavily armed commandos using guns and grenades stormed the army camp early Sunday in Uri, which lies west of Indian Kashmir's capital, Srinagar. An army statement said four militants were killed. A search is under way for others possibly hiding in the area. The gunbattle lasted for several hours and explosions could be heard throughout, according to local reporters. In a series of tweets, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned what he called the "cowardly terror attack." He said "I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished." The U.S. also strongly condemned the attack. Army officials said casualties were heavy because many of the soldiers died in a fire that engulfed the tents and temporary shelters where they were housed. Helicopters evacuated the wounded soldiers to hospitals in Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir. Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that in wake of the terror attack in Uri, he has postponed planned upcoming visits to Russia and the United States. The assault comes as Indian Kashmir reels under violent protests that have left nearly 80 civilians dead. The attack Sunday could further heighten tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which both claim all of the Himalayan region. Hours after the attack, India's deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Nirmal Singh, accused Pakistan. "This is a proxy war. Pakistan is trying to find ways to foment trouble in Kashmir," said Singh. Sunday's assault took place nine months after a militant raid on an air base in Pathankot in Punjab state killed seven Indian soldiers. That attack brought relations between India and Pakistan to a low point as New Delhi blamed that attack on Pakistan-based militants. Islamabad denies any role in supporting cross border terrorism. Former major general Dipankar Banerjee, who heads the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi, called Sunday's attack a major concern. "This government unlike in the past has committed themselves to a response on such provocative acts and therefore the response will be harsh. There will be escalations of tensions along the line of control in Kashmir," he said. Kashmir is a heavily militarized region that has been the trigger for two of the three wars between India and Pakistan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S., Coalition Continue Counter-ISIL Strikes in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 19, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 16 strikes in Syria: -- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed two ISIL oil tanker trucks and an oil tanker trailer and damaged three supply routes. -- Near Shadaddi, a strike destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle. -- Near Raqqah, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle-bomb factory and an oil tanker truck. -- Near Ayn Isa, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed a vehicle, a command-and-control node and an artillery system. -- Near Mara, eight strikes engaged five ISIL tactical units and destroyed seven fighting positions, three improvised bombs, three vehicles, a mortar system and a command-and-control node. Strikes in Iraq Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 12 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government: -- Near Huwayjah, two strikes destroyed two ISIL improvised-bomb factories. -- Near Qaim, a strike destroyed an ISIL building. -- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed two vehicles, a fighting position, a mortar system and two tunnel entrances. -- Near Qayyarah, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an improvised weapons facility, a vehicle-bomb factory, an ISIL headquarters building and two vehicles, also suppressing a rocket-launcher system. -- Near Ramadi, two strikes destroyed an ISIL headquarters building, a mortar system, two supply caches and four rocket rails. -- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle and suppressed a mortar system. -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a medium machine gun and suppressed a rocket-propelled-grenade system. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat it poses to Iraq, Syria, the region and the wider international community. The destruction of targets in Syria and Iraq further limits ISIL's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese Media Warns US-Japan 'Fishing for Trouble' in South China Sea Sputnik News 21:17 18.09.2016(updated 05:25 19.09.2016) China's Xinhua news suggests that Japan has "ulterior motives" for intervening in the South China Sea including cozying up to the United States and garnering influence towards its own territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands. In an editorial by Chinese State owned news agency Xinhua on Saturday the government of Xi Jinping appeared to be levying a direct threat to the Japan for crossing what it labeled a "red line" by participating with the United States in joint "Freedom of Navigation" naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea waters to which Japan has no territorial claim. "As keeping martime order in the South China Sea is a shared duty of the region's coastal states, the huge interest an outsider like Japan has shown in following in the footsteps of the United States can hardly be justified," said the editorial questioning Tokyo's motives. "Whether Japan is truly seeking regional peace and security or just fishing in the troubled waters by increasing military presence in the South China Sea is not a hard question to answer," the editorial continued. The commentary argued that Japan's true interest in the South China Sea is to use it as a bargaining chip in its own dispute with China over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands in the East China Sea. "On this issue, Japan has left no stone unturned in stirring up the waters to cause tensions with, for instance, its recent plan to cheaply sell arms to India in return for the latter's voice against China." The editorial comes in response to Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada's announcement on Thursday that Japan will be expanding its presence in the South China Sea and will be engaging in "joint training cruises with the US Navy and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies." The dispute over the South China Sea centers on a ruling by The Hague arbitrational tribunal after the Philippines unilaterally sought arbitration over the disputed waters. The tribunal ruled against China's longstanding claim to the waters through which some 40% of the world's shipborne trade transits through each year and under which lies some of the world's largest deep water oil and natural gas finds. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address World leaders at UN summit adopt 'bold' plan to enhance protections for refugees and migrants 19 September 2016 With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, world leaders came together at the United Nations today to adopt the New York Declaration, which expresses their political will to protect the rights of refugees and migrants, to save lives and share responsibility for large movements on a global scale. At the opening of the UN General Assembly's first-ever Summit for Refugees and Migrants, delegations adopted the landmark Declaration, which contains bold commitments both to address current issues and to prepare the world for future challenges, including, to start negotiations leading to an international conference and the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018, as well as, to: Protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status. This includes the rights of women and girls and promoting their full, equal and meaningful participation in finding solutions; Ensure that all refugee and migrant children are receiving education within a few months of arrival; Prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence; Support those countries rescuing, receiving and hosting large numbers of refugees and migrants: Work towards ending the practice of detaining children for the purposes of determining their migration status; Find new homes for all refugees identified by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as needing resettlement; and expand the opportunities for refugees to relocate to other countries through, for example, labour mobility or education schemes; and Strengthen the global governance of migration by bringing the International Organization for Migration (IOM) into the UN system. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Member States saying: "Today's Summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility." He said the adoption of the New York Declaration will mean that "more children can attend school; more workers can securely seek jobs abroad, instead of being at the mercy of criminal smugglers, and more people will have real choices about whether to move once we end conflict, sustain peace and increase opportunities at home." Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly, pledged to take forward the commitment of the membership "to begin a process leading to a global compact on migration, as well as to support a global compact on refugees. I will be urging Member States to maintain their high levels of ambition throughout these processes, and to always reach for the higher ground. The fate of millions of refugees and migrants rests with us." Mogens Lykketoft, President of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, emphasized that all countries must do their part in responding to the global challenge. "The desperation and suffering of people in flight tugs at our collective conscience, and compels us all to act compassionately to forge a global response to what is clearly a global challenge," he said. Calling on all partners to support implementation of the Declaration's commitments, Mr. Lykketoft also welcomed the Secretary-General's campaign to counter xenophobia and intolerance. He said: "In the face of a changing world, it is vital that we do not give in to fear, but that we strive to maintain our principles and common humanity." As called for in the Declaration, the Secretary-General also launched a new campaign called 'Together Respect, Safety and Dignity for All' to "respond to rising xenophobia and turn fear into hope." He urged "world leaders to join this campaign and commit together to upholding the rights and dignity of everyone forced by circumstance to flee their homes in search of a better life." Also today, the Secretary-General and William Lacy Swing, the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, signed the new agreement by which IOM officially becomes a related organization of the United Nations system, thus strengthening the comprehensive global approach to migration. When he addressed the opening session, Mr. Swing, said three elements had made the landmark agreement possible: global trends, trust and timing. Migration is driven by factors including demography, disasters, the digital revolution, technology, North-South disparities and environmental degradation, and is indeed a priority for all Governments. The world also faces an unprecedented series of simultaneous, complex and protracted crises and humanitarian emergencies. Meanwhile, wide-spread and growing anti-migrant sentiment and policies has led to the "cruel irony that those fleeing terror and conflict are themselves being accused of terrorism and criminality." Outlining IOM's approach, he said migration is inevitable owing to those drivers, necessary if economies and societies are to flourish and desirable if policies are responsible and humane. "To do so will require changing the toxic migration narrative and learning to manage cultural, ehnic and religious diversity," he emphasized. Also speaking at the opening session, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein underlined that the Summit and its outcomes should be reduced to speeches, feel-good interviews and self-congratulation. "The bitter truth is this Summit was called because we have been largely failing," he stressed and added that: "It is shameful [that] the victims of abominable crimes should be made to suffer further by our failures to give them protection." The UN rights chief underscored that change is possible if the global community acts collectively on this vital subject. However, he also warned that in many countries, people working to ensure the rights, safety and dignity for all peoples are facing grave challenges "by race-baiting bigots, who seek to gain, or retain, power by wielding prejudice and deceit, at the expense of those most vulnerable." Pointing to the individuals who continue to pursue extremism and divide people, the UN rights chief said: "We will continue to name you publicly. You may soon walk away from this hall. But not from the broader judgement of 'we the people', all the world's people not from us." UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi highlighted that the Summit is an extraordinary opportunity to have real impact for refugees. Emphasizing the importance of the New York Declaration, Mr. Grandi said that it marked an unprecedented political commitment and that "it fills what has been a perennial gap in the international refugee protection system that of truly sharing responsibility for refugees, in the spirit of the UN Charter." The top UN refugee official also pledged to work with world leaders to manage forced displacement and called on governments to provide political engagement, funding and concrete acts of solidarity in support of host countries and pursuit of solutions for refugees. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), speaking also on behalf of the Global Migration Group, noted its growth as it reached its tenth anniversary. The Group stands ready to support Member States, within the framework of the new development agenda, in implementing their existing commitments, as well as those made today through the New York Declaration. Describing the Group's approach as people-centred, human-rights-based and gender-responsive, she said it recognized, in particular, the cultural and economic value that women and girl migrants contributed to societies, as well as the importance of specific national policies to protect and safeguard their rights, which are often grossly violated. In his address, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the international community could not allow criminals to exploit the biggest refugee crisis as a business opportunity. Welcoming the Declaration's recognition that refugees and migrants in large population movements are at risk, and that States must combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling, he said: "It is, most of all, a question of respect." Every single person on the move is entitled to protection, he said. Criminal law obliged States to investigate and prosecute crimes, as well as to protect the rights of victims. To date, 156 countries had made human trafficking a specific criminal offence, and while implementation remained a challenge, 142 countries had committed to stopping migrant smuggling. "For justice to be done, we need States to respect their own law," he emphasized. For his part, Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, said that, in addition to increasing funding for refugees, the Group has dramatically increased its data collection on migrants and has found, for example, that early intervention can have great impact, since half the number of existing refugees had been in their current situation for less than four years. Among other efforts, the World Bank Group was helping host countries to improve the business climate with the aim of creating jobs, and was looking for longer-term solutions such as increased agricultural output in areas where refugees had settled. Much is riding on the Summit as the outcome would have a bearing on everyone's future, he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh sympathizer killed by US police after stabbing 8 people Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:12PM A man in the US state of Minnesota has been killed by police after stabbing 8 people in a shopping center, an attack that was later claimed by the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group. The attack took place on Saturday night, when the knife-wielding attacker, who was dressed in a private security uniform, went on a rampage inside a mall in St. Cloud at around 8 pm before being gunned down by an off-duty police officer. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack later in the day, stating that the attacker had responded to its call for carrying out attacks in countries that are involved in an international anti-terrorism effort in Syria and Iraq. All but one of the injured sustained non-lethal injuries and were expected to be released from the hospital soon. St. Cloud police chief William Blair Anderson said it was not clear if the attack was linked to terrorism as police were looking for the suspect's possible motives. The off-duty officer who shot the assailant said the man asked at least one of the victims if they were Muslim before stabbing them. While the attacker's identity was not released to the media, police said they had three previous encounters with him, most of which were minor traffic violations and none led to an arrest. The mall was put on a lockdown following the attack and would be closed until further notice. Authorities said those remaining inside the mall were expected to be released early Sunday. The stabbings took place in various locations across the mall, including corridors, businesses and common areas. Witnesses also reported hearing gunshots, but it was not clear if what they heard was related to the same incident. "The entire mall is an active crime scene," Anderson noted, adding that St. Cloud "won't be the same" after the stabbing spree. St. Cloud is a small town located about 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and has a population of about 67,000 people. The attack followed two suspicious explosions that ripped through New York and New Jersey earlier in the day. The stronger explosion happened in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, injuring at least 29 people. The New Jersey explosion went off in a garbage can on the route of a Marine Corps charity run. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Explosion injures at least 29 people in Manhattan, New York Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:3AM At least 29 people have been injured in an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, the fire department says. The explosion happened at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue on 23rd Street, the fire department tweeted. "None appear to be life-threatening at this time," the department added. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the incident was "an intentional act." But he said there was no evidence of a "credible and specific threat" to the city. "We do not see a link to terrorism." "It is too early to determine what the incident was caused by. We believe it was intentional. A full investigation is under way," he added. Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, "Full state resources have been made available for this investigation. We are closely monitoring the situation and urge New Yorkers to, as always, remain calm and vigilant." The explosion is believed to have come from a dumpster in an area teeming with restaurants, bars and pedestrians. Police said they found a secondary device, apparently a pressure cooker, at West 27th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenue. There was also duct tape, a note or some sort of paper with writing attached, as well as cords that came out of the pressure cooker. The White House said in an announcement that President Barack Obama was briefed on the explosion. "The president has been apprised of the explosion in New York City, the cause of which remains under investigation. The president will be updated as additional information becomes available," the White House said. "It was really loud, it hurt my eardrums. My 10-year-old boy was sat in the back seat of the car, and the explosion blew the back window out," said Tsi Tsi Mallett, who heard the explosion while driving her car nearby. Neha Jain, another person, who lives in the neighborhood, said, "Pictures on my wall fell, the window curtain came flying as if there was a big gush of wind. Then we could smell smoke. Went downstairs to see what happened and firemen immediately told us to go back." The incident came a few hours after another explosion happened Saturday morning in a New Jersey beach town, which left nobody injured. The officials said the explosion, which went off in a garbage can, likely was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps charity run. Police found three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together near the boardwalk in Seaside Park. Only one of the devices, which were rudimentary with some type of timer, detonated, two federal law enforcement officers said. The New York mayor said there is no immediate indication that the blast is related to the one in Manhattan. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said the Nassau County Police Department is on heightened alert following the two explosions. "Although there is no known imminent threats to Nassau County, police are monitoring these attacks along with federal, state and local authorities," a statement from Nassau County officials read. "Nassau County Police are intensifying patrols in all areas of mass transit, critical infrastructure, and will increase patrols at significant public events." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Minnesota Mall Attacker Identified as Somali-American By VOA News September 18, 2016 The man who stabbed nine people at a mall in the northern U.S. state of Minnesota has been identified as a 22-year-old Somali-American. The leader of the Somali community in the state told VOA Somali service that the suspect, who was shot and killed by police during the attack Saturday, was Dahir Adan. Abdul Kulane said Adan was known to the community, was working as a part-time security officer, and was a "smart and reliable person." Kulane said he did not know the motives or the full picture behind the attack. He said he thought the stabbings had no links with terrorism, despite a claim by an Islamic-run news agency that the attack was carried out by a "soldier of the Islamic State." Adan's father, Ahmed Adan, told the Star Tribune newspaper that police told him Saturday night his son, Dahir, died at Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud. He said police didn't mention the attack on the mall, but they seized photos and other materials from the family's apartment. Authorities have not publicly identified the attacker, whom they say was killed by an off-duty policeman. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the stabbings as a "potential act of terrorism." Police Chief William Blair Anderson said the assailant made references to Allah during the knife attack at the Crossroads Center, and even asked if one person was a Muslim. Anderson stopped short of calling the attack an act of terrorism, saying the motive is not yet clear. "We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this," he said. IS has encouraged so-called "lone wolf" attacks, but it also has claimed past attacks that are not believed to have been planned by the group. St. Cloud is about 110 kilometers northwest of Minneapolis, the state's largest city. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New York Explosion's Motive Unknown, Investigation Continues By Ken Schwartz September 18, 2016 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says people will have to patient to get the full story behind Saturday night's bombing in Manhattan that injured 29 people in one of the city's busiest neighborhoods. "We have more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this. Was it a political motivation? A personal motivation...we don't know yet." A law enforcement official told the Associated Presses that investigators are not putting much stock into a claim of responsibility posted earlier Sunday on the Tumblr social media website. Tumbler has since taken down the post and has not made any comments. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the blast was an "act of terrorism," but said there is no evidence of "international terrorism." Cuomo said another 1,000 police and National Guard troops will patrol New York's subway system "just to err on the side of caution." Meanwhile, all 29 people hurt in the blast are out of the hospital. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted his "warmest regards, best wishes and condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing." He had earlier said it is time to get "tough, smart, and vigilant." Democrat Hillary Clinton strongly condemned the New York bombing along with other "apparent terrorist attacks" Saturday in Minnesota and New Jersey. "I am confident we will once again choose resolve over fear," she said. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson again reminded people that they can also fight terrorism by reporting anything suspicious to police, repeating the slogan "if you see something, say something." Saturday's apparent bomb exploded outside a building in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, where some of the city's most popular restaurants and bars are located. The blast left the streets covered with glass and debris. A closed circuit television picture showed windows being blown out of storefronts and parked cars while pedestrians ran for safety. It is unclear why the Chelsea neighborhood was targeted. Much of Manhattan has been especially busy with residents and tourists taking advantage of the late summer weather, and hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries arriving this week for the United Nations General Assembly. United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told VOA that officials assess security needs inside the U.N. complex on a daily basis. "Outside of the gates, we are in the hands of the host country, at the federal and local levels," he said. "We appreciate their work and, no doubt, they are doing their utmost to keep everyone safe," he added. Chelsea resident Michelle Katz told VOA she was in bed when something sounded "like a bomb exploding or a truck driving into a building." Two minutes later, "there were endless sirens," Katz told VOA. Another witness, Denise Coles, said the bomb went off as she was pulling into a parking place. "I turned the car off and that's when we heard the explosion. It was like you could feel it inside of you. I looked down the block and I saw the smoke coming out." "We're fortunate that this didn't happen during the week, like a work day, a Monday or Tuesday," said Steven Faria, who works at a nearby veterans' hospital. "With all the people that work in this area, I think the casualties would have been twice as many people." City and federal law enforcement also are investigating an unexploded device found just a few blocks from the Chelsea bomb. Police say it looks like a pressure cooker attached to a cell phone and wires in a plastic bag. The New York blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in a trash bin in a New Jersey beach town Saturday 135 kilometers away, forcing the cancellation of a charity foot race involving thousands of runners. No one was hurt and De Blasio and Cuomo have said there is no evidence linking the two incidents. VOA reporters Margaret Besheer, Esha Sarai, Ramon Taylor, Steve Herman, and Celia Mendoza contributed to this report from New York. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NY, New Jersey Bombings Suspect Arrested By VOA News September 19, 2016 A man sought by police in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey on Saturday is in custody following what has been described as a shootout with police. Law enforcement officials said Ahmad Rahami, 28, was detained in Linden, New Jersey, late Monday morning. CNN showed video of a man it said was Rahami, conscious and on a stretcher with what appeared to be a bloodied right shoulder, being loaded into an ambulance. Authorities later said he was undergoing surgery for a leg injury. Two police officers and Rahami sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the shootout, local authorities said. Police were searching for anyone linked to four explosives-related incidents in the last three days, including a blast Saturday night that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Rahami is the sole person believed to be involved in the New Jersey and New York explosions. "There is no other individual we are looking for at this time," he told reporters at a news conference after Rahami was detained. As local officials have publicly debated for two days how to label the bombings, de Blasio said Monday: "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror." Local and federal police announced their search for Rahami early Monday. Police say Rahami, a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent, was last known to live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, about 6 km from where he was detained in Linden. Local media reports say his family ran a restaurant there on the first floor of their home. The FBI said Rahami is wanted for questioning in the Chelsea explosion, which happened around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, as well as in another bombing hours earlier in Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 135 kilometers south of New York City. Explosives detonated in a trash bin there just before the start of a 5-kilometer foot race. No one was hurt in that blast. The FBI and police in New York have also been searching for possible links between the Saturday blast in Chelsea and another explosive device found a few blocks away that did not detonate. The second device, recovered a short time after the first went off, involved a pressure cooker with a cellphone attached to it. Police safely removed it from the area and said Sunday they blew it up in a controlled explosion. Yet more devices were found late Sunday in a backpack in a trash can at a train station in Elizabeth, located just outside New York. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said one of the devices exploded as police tried to disarm it with a robot. The incident briefly disrupted train service throughout the region, along one of the country's busiest rail corridors. Speaking from New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, President Barack Obama said investigators have not established any connection between the New York and New Jersey blasts and a mass stabbing in Minnesota on Saturday that injured 9 people. The suspect in that incident was fatally shot by police officers at the scene. Chelsea blast On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated that the Chelsea bombing was an "act for terrorism," and said there may be a "foreign link," despite his claim Sunday that were was no connection to "international terrorism." Authorities stopped a "vehicle of interest" on a highway in the Brooklyn section of New York late Sunday, and the FBI said it questioned five people inside, but no one had been charged with any crime. All 29 people wounded in the Chelsea blast have been released from the hospital. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump tweeted about the attacks Monday. FBI technicians are examining evidence from both of the New York bombs at a lab near Washington. Tom Sanderson, director of the Transnational Threats Program at the Washington-based Centers for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told VOA he expects investigators will learn a good amount from those tests. "Someone's DNA is going to be on some component of that pressure cooker bomb," Sanderson said. Many questions remain New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio cautioned Sunday a lot of work remains to figure out the motivation behind the bombing. "Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation, what was it? We do not know that yet," he told reporters. New York Governor Cuomo said an extra 1,000 police and National Guard troops would patrol the New York subway system as a precaution during a week that is especially busy for New York, with hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries visiting this week for the U.N. General Assembly. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told VOA that officials assess security needs inside the U.N. complex on a daily basis. "Outside of the gates, we are in the hands of the host country, at the federal and local levels," he said. "We appreciate their work and, no doubt, they are doing their utmost to keep everyone safe," he added. VOA reporter Victor Beattie and United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report from New York. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Police Name Suspect In New York And New Jersey Bombings Trending News: Everything You Need To Know About The Weekend's Flurry Of Attacks Why Is This Important? Because American was attacked in three different states over the weekend. Long Story Short Police have taken a number of people into custody and are searching for Ahmad Khan Rahami as a suspect in both the New York City and New Jersey bombings that happened over the weekend. Another seemingly unlinked attack occurred in Minnesota when nine people were stabbed has been claimed by Islamic State terrorists. Long Story Update: The suspect who is believed to be connected with the bombings in New York and New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, has been detained and taken to hospital following a shootout with police in Linden, NJ, reports CNN. Rahami was shot in the shoulder and taken to hospital in an ambulance. During the shootout, a police officer was shot in the vest and another was hit in the hand. Both are reportedly doing fine. Ahmad Khan Rahami, suspect in NY & NJ bombings, seen being loaded into an ambulance https://t.co/xQKQoLv7XQ https://t.co/MvXSlYgc6T CNN (@CNN) September 19, 2016 America was under attack this weekend in three different states that much we know. But exactly by whom is still under heavy investigation. The largest attack came in New York City's Chelsea district on Saturday when a bomb exploded in the street, injuring 29 people. Twenty-six of the injured were released from hospital shortly after. Surveillance footage shows that the bomb was placed under a garbage bin on the street. Police have named a suspect in connection with the bombing, but we don't know yet if he was the one who placed the bomb. The suspect is on the run and his name is Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old Afghani-born U.S. citizen. Police say he's expected to be armed and dangerous. Just hours after the Chelsea bombing, another explosive device that appeared to be a pressure cooker with wires and a cell phone attached was found several blocks away. Police were able to diffuse that device at a shooting range nearby without incident. BREAKING PHOTO! Here is the second device found by a NYSP Sgt. At 27 street and 7 Ave. investigation is ongoing pic.twitter.com/x7o9Rr30I3 New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) September 18, 2016 Earlier on Saturday, a bomb exploded minutes before a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Fortunately, there were no injuries, but officials say if it had gone off just minutes later, it could have caused a lot of damage. And then on Sunday night, a backpack with up to five bombs inside was found in Elizabeth, New Jersey. While the police robot was trying to finger through it, it exploded. No humans were injured. RAW VIDEO: Device found near N.J. train station explodes while bomb squad robot was attempting to disarm it. https://t.co/XxLncOV5Ve The Associated Press (@AP) September 19, 2016 Police are investigating these incidents in New York and New Jersey as a possible terror cell, according to CNN. Another attack over the weekend a stabbing in a Minnesota mall, has not been linked with these, but allegedly has terrorist connections. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for this attack, which left nine people injured. The suspect in the stabbings has been named as 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan. There is still so much we don't know but it's safe to say these attacks will play a major role in the elections. We'll keep you updated with any major developments. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Do the attackers intend to influence the election? Disrupt Your Feed Sending our moral support to the residents of New York, New Jersey and Minnesota who must be on edge right now. Drop This Fact The attack in New York and New Jersey as well as the stabbing attack in Minnesota all took place within a 12-hour period on Saturday. China to conduct brain-computer interaction experiments on Tiangong-2 People's Daily Online (People's Daily Online) 13:38, September 18, 2016 Tiangong-2, China's first space lab in a real sense, was successfully launched into space on Sept. 15. A brain-computer interaction test system, developed by Tianjin University and installed in the lab, will conduct a series of experiments in space. Ming Dong, the leader of the research team in charge of the brain-computer test system, said that brain-computer interaction will eventually be the highest form of human-machine communication. China will conduct the first ever space brain-machine interaction experiments, ahead even of developed countries. The brain-computer interaction test system in Tiangong-2 boasts 64 national patents. The research team has long been devoted to the research of brain-computer interactions, previously developing two idiodynamic artificial neuron robotic systems that can help with the rehabilitation of stroke patients. The brain-computer interaction technology will also help Tiangong-2 astronauts to more easily accomplish their assigned tasks. For instance, Ming explained that brain-computer interaction can transfer the astronauts' thoughts into operations, while at the same time monitoring their neurological function. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Acquires Vicious 1,553MPH Su-35 Multirole Fighter Jets From Russia Sputnik News 21:22 17.09.2016(updated 06:17 18.09.2016) The first four Su-35 fighter jets from a 24 aircraft arms deal between the two allies are to be delivered before the end of the year according to a statement by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant. This week the governor of Khabarovsk Krai, a federal area located in the Russian Far East, said in a statement during the opening of a new aircraft production plant that China will receive the first four Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter jets in consideration of a 24 aircraft deal between Moscow and Beijing signed in November of 2015. From 2016 to 2018, the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production plant will build and deliver a total of 24 Su-35 combat jets to China, the governor said according to RIA news agency as part of the agreement first forged between the parties in late 2015. The Diplomat explains that the "the Su-35 is a Fourth++ generation, twin-engine, highly maneuverable multirole fighter jet powered by two AL-117S turbofan engines. The Russian aircraft's powerful turbofan engine is also the most likely reason why China is interested in acquiring Su-35 fighters." The fighter jet has a maximum speed of 1,553 MPH (2500kmh) with advanced dry thrust and afterburner capabilities that enhance the aircraft's dogfight maneuverability and semi-stealth design that makes it possibly the most lethal fighter jet in the sky. The Su-35 is Russia's top air-superiority fighter, until the fifth-generation PAK-FA stealth fighter comes into production, with a clear maneuverability edge over existing fighter jets and a limited radar cross section after adjustments were made to the engine inlets and canopy as well as a series of modifications including the use of "radar-absorbent material" that gives the flanker a stealth-like profile. The fighter jet comes armed with K-77M radar-guided missiles with a range of over 120 miles (193km) providing pilots with standoff capabilities ensuring pilot protection, an R-74 infrared-guided missiles that allow for targeting by a pilot using a helmet-mounted optical sight, and a thirty-millimeter cannon with 150 rounds for dogfight battles. The acquisition of the Su-35 by the Chinese is a major boon for the country's defense as well as its avionics industry. China has worked to produce its own turbofan akin to the Su-35's, known as the WS-10 turbofan, but it continues to underperform the Russian-made AL-117S. If China is able to reverse engineer the technology they may be able to rapidly overcome their avionics gap with the West. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China-Russia Drills Highlight Converging Interests; Undercurrents Remain By William Ide September 19, 2016 China and Russia have just held their first round of joint exercises in the South China Sea, including an island-seizing and island landing drill as well as anti-submarine and air defense maneuvers. In China, the exercises have been hailed as a key milestone in ever closer ties between the two countries, but analysts cautioned while Moscow and Beijing are seeing their interests converge and opportunities for cooperation, the relationship is still far from being a strategic alliance, even if China would like to package it that way. Passing ships in the night The joint naval training between China and Russia was held nearly two months after an international tribunal ruled against Beijing's claims to most of the disputed and resource-rich waterway. One key aim was sending a signal to the United States and others. "[This is] clearly a demonstration of new strategic interests and that Russia and China, and both together if need be, will be stakeholders of the South China Sea," said Alexander Neill, a Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore. This year's exercises in Asia were the fourth the two navies have held. Last year, the two conducted joint maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea, part of what China sees as a regularized effort to forge cooperation between the two militaries. While China's President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin may see eye-to-eye on regional security environment, be it challenging the U.S. role in the South China Sea or opposing South Korea's deployment of the U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD missile system, their convergence of interests is more like ships passing in the night, Neill said. "As Russia strategically declined in its comprehensive national power, China has arrived strategically on the globe and there is a sort of a crossing point, a period of time where there will be shared mutual interests," he said. Regional footprint Russia has been shifting its attention more to the Pacific and to Southeast Asia in recent years, as the sting of sanctions has started to have an impact on Moscow. Its decision to participate in the drills in the South China Sea is but the latest highlight of that shift. "Russia has been beginning to build up its presence in the Far East during the past few years and they want to have a footprint somewhere in the South China Sea," said Alexander Huang, an assistant professor at Taiwan's Tamkang University. "It may be a gesture, may not militarily meaningful, but that is definitely [aimed at sending] a signal to the United States." That common interest in challenging the United States does not necessarily mean that Moscow wants to cooperate solely with Beijing. Huang noted that while Russia agreed to participate in this year's joint exercises in the South China Sea, the drills were held away from more contentious hot spots, perhaps in a bid or in part not to antagonize the Philippines or Vietnam, which have competing claims in the area. "Also, when you move forces far away from the coastline or land-based projection area, then you would need [aircraft] carriers, Huang said. "And that is more complicated. So, probably they were not comfortable with doing that this year." Aligned, but not Chinese analysts argue the relationship will only become stronger and it is U.S. containment that is drawing the two closer. A commentary in China's party-backed Global Times Monday said the joint exercise highlighted how China and Russia can cooperate on core interests. "Russia was met with economic sanctions for annexing Crimea, and only China can alleviate Moscow's burdens. China was contained by the United States and Japan in the East and South China Seas, and only Russia is strong enough to ease China's pressure," the commentary said. The article also said the drills highlighted how the China-Russia strategic collaboration was more than just an alliance, adding that bilateral cooperation and mutual political trust have developed to a high level. Just as state media focus on the opportunities both sides have to grow relations, analysts note the relationship has always been plagued with mistrust and undercurrents, and continues to be, regardless of whether it is China's expansion into Central Asia or Russia's arms sales to Beijing. "It suits China to play up the degree to which Russia is aligned with them in the South China Sea at this point in time; but, that doesn't mean that they are aligned," said Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Research Center at the University of Sydney. Townshend said the alignment in interests the two are seeing is more of a diplomatic one. If Russia was seen as an alliance partner with China in the region, that would hurt its defense interests in the region, he adds. "Russia sells sophisticated, not just any old weapons, sophisticated weapons to the Vietnamese who are obviously on the other side of the South China Sea disputes with China, and so Russia certainly doesn't want, as well as others in the region, to come down too strongly on China's side of the dispute," he said. Joyce Huang contributed to this story. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, S.Korea, Japan Urge 'Even Stronger' Pressure on N.Korea After Nuclear Test Sputnik News 03:24 19.09.2016 The United States, Japan and South Korea condemn North Korea's latest nuclear test, calling for "even stronger" pressure on Pyongyang, foreign ministers of the three countries said in a statement. MOSCOW (Sputnik) US Secretary of State John Kerry, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday. "The Ministers noted that the DPRK's flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions expressly prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs requires even stronger international pressure on the regime. North Korea's provocative actions are further deepening its isolation and undermining the needs of its people, who suffer greatly at the hands of the regime," the statement said, as quoted by the US State Department. According to the statement, the officials discussed the UN Security Council's work on imposing more sanctions against North Korea and "other possible measures of their own, in particular ways to further restrict revenue sources for the DPRK's missile and nuclear programs." On September 9, Pyongyang carried out a nuclear test at its northeastern nuclear test site. The nuclear experiment is believed to be the fifth and the largest since North Korea started pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs, drawing condemnation from the international community. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian minister says Pakistan 'terrorist state' Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:53PM Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called arch-rival Pakistan a "terrorist state" in the wake of an attack on an army base in Kashmir, where nearly 20 Indian soldiers were killed. Singh said on social media that Pakistan should be isolated from the international community as a state supporting terrorist groups. "Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such," Singh said in a message posted on Twitter on Sunday. The Indian minister said he was disappointed with "Pakistan's continued and direct support" for terrorist groups. He also stated that the assailants "were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped." Singh did not, however, specify whether the attackers were local fighters or infiltrators across the Line of Control (LoC), which divides parts of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir administered by India and neighboring Pakistan. The urgent situation has forced Singh to cancel his planned trip to Russia and the United States. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reacted to the deadly incident. He has said that the perpetrators of the "cowardly terror attack" would be punished. "I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished." Indian army sources earlier said on Sunday that about four to six militants had carried out the deadly attack on the army base in the town of Uri near the Line of Control. According to the sources, four militants were killed and army helicopters had been deployed to the site to evacuate over a dozen soldiers injured in the predawn attack. The restive Muslim-majority region has witnessed an increase in mass protests and violent attacks since early July, when Burhan Wani, a top figure in a pro-independence group, was killed in a shootout with Indian troops. Tens of thousands of government troops have been deployed to the region and nearly 80 people have lost their lives in the ensuing crackdown. The government crackdown has failed to halt the protests against the Indian rule in Kashmir. Indian troops are in constant clashes with armed groups seeking independence across Kashmir, which has been at the heart of a bitter territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, ever since the region gained independence from British rule in 1947. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India's Rafale Fighter Jets to Serve as 'Strategic Delivery System' of Nukes Sputnik News 21:12 18.09.2016(updated 05:16 19.09.2016) India pushed forward the completion of the long-delayed deal for the French fighter jets after determining that the aircraft fulfills a vital strategic purpose the delivery of nuclear weapons. India and France are expected to announce the Inter-Government Agreement (IGA) for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in the coming days with New Delhi expediting the process at long last after identifying the French warplanes as serving a critical strategic function the delivery of nuclear weapons. The purchase comes as the Indian Air Force fleet, comprised mostly of Russian MiGs, is reaching the end of their service and with the military only fulfilling 32 fighter jet squadrons despite defense planning calling for the existence of 42 squadrons. The 36 Rafale fighter jets, however, do very little to fill the capability gap that China is expected to face in the coming years with the jets only filling two squadrons collectively. India looks to fill their growing Air Force capability gap not with the Rafale fighter jets, but rather with indigenous Tejas fighter jets as well as American F-16 warplanes under the "Make in India" program with a view towards turning their defense industry into a domestic economic driver. The question then was why would India bother to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets requiring a subset of pilots to be trained specifically to fly the stealthy 4.5 generation aircraft that has been described as perhaps the most lethal aircraft in the sky today when it does so little to address the country's crushing military aviation needs. The answer was disclosed on Sunday when, according to Indian government officials speaking to British newspaper The Sunday Express on the condition of anonymity, explained that even in small numbers the Rafale can be "used as an airborne strategic delivery system" for the country's nuclear arsenal. "The French Air Force, Armee de l' Air, is shifting from Mirages to Rafale for its nuclear strike role this year. They have already started the process, and although our nuclear delivery systems are different from theirs, it does tell us that the Rafale is suited for the task," explained the defense official. "The French Mirage-2000s have been modified for the delivery of our strategic arsenal. France has continued to provide maintenance, spares and technical support for these Mirages, which may not have been the case with some other foreign countries. We expect the same degree of cooperation from France when we modify and use the Rafales for that role," explained another defense official. After a series of negotiations over the 36 fighter jets the two sides came to terms weeks ago on a final price of $8.78 billion for the group of jets or an astronomical unit cost of nearly $244 million per aircraft. In order to seal the deal, France offered to invest 50% of the value of the deal in offsets to India. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran says US to OK its plane purchases Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:7PM Iran says it has been told that the US Treasury Department will approve licenses for global aviation giants such as Airbus and Boeing to export planes to the country within the next weeks. "Today we are expecting that (approval) by the end of September for Boeing, Airbus and ATR," Iran's Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told the CAPA Iran Aviation Finance Summit in Tehran. Fakhrieh Kashan emphasized that the Treasury approval was expected to be issues by the end of August and warned that any failure by the US to approve the licenses would breach a nuclear deal that Iran sealed with the P5+1 group of countries the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany last year. On a related front, Iran's Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi told reporters that Tehran the Islamic Republic hopes that the US Treasury would soon move to facilitate purchases of planes by the country. Akhoundi further emphasized that the strong participation by aviation companies in the CAPA event shows that all businesses in this industry want the US to move ahead with approving sales of planes to Iran. The Iranian minister further emphasized that Tehran has no problems in providing the required funds for its planned purchases of planes. He added that the country is ready to proceed with other aviation companies over purchases of planes. Any new negotiation with the companies, Akhoundi emphasized, will nonetheless depend on a much-delayed move by the US Treasury to lift restrictions in dealing with the Islamic Republic. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Absolute distrust in US important part of Iran's soft power: Leader Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:41PM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says absolute distrust in hegemonic powers topped by the United States is an important component of Iran's soft power and this distrust must increase on a daily basis. The Leader made the remarks in a meeting on Sunday with commanders and high-ranking officials of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Tehran. Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the issue of "distorting the components of the Islamic establishment's soft power" and said, "Absolute distrust in global hegemonic powers, which today are symbolized by America, is one of the elements of the Islamic Republic of Iran's soft power." The Leader added that absolute distrust in Washington was the outcome of rationality stemming from thought and experience, saying, "We have seen the issue of America's hostility during long years after the [victory] of the [1979 Islamic] Revolution and [also] during the recent nuclear negotiations and in other issues." Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that protecting the country's security inside and outside Iran's borders was one of the fundamental duties of the IRGC. Noting that in addition to security and defense sectors, the IRGC also plays an important role in different other fields such as construction, development, providing aid to the needy as well as issues related to culture and art, Ayatollah Khamenei said such measures should continue to be taken and the general public must be informed of them. The Leader stated that the IRGC must not be content with its progress in the fields of science and technology and must not stop breaking new grounds as the enemy keeps changing its means and making advances. The Leader then described maintaining the country's security as a very important issue, which prepares the ground for spiritual and material progress of the entire nation. "Protecting internal and foreign security is among the IRGC's [most important] duties and if there is no external security and the enemy is not stopped outside the borders, internal security would also be lost." Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that the Iranian Armed Forces must boost their power on a daily basis in order to counter military threats against the Islamic Republic, saying, "'Defense and military power' and 'striking fear and terror' in the [heart of the] enemy have been and will be the only factors that fend off any military threat." Mentioning faith as the main factor behind strengthening the country's defense capability, the Leader said this is the real meaning of asymmetric warfare, because in spite of having state-of-the-art tools and equipment, it lacks faith. Ayatollah Khamenei further stated that denying the concept of the country's independence and considering it as equal with isolation were among major cases of distorting the components of the Islamic establishment's soft power. "The main reason behind denying the concept of independence is to follow [regional] orders delineated by the arrogant powers, which unfortunately, some people are knowingly or unknowingly repeating this issue," the Leader added. Stressing that "independence, culture and [religious] beliefs" shape a nation's identity, Ayatollah Khamenei urged Iranian officials to remain vigilant in the face of the enemy's plot to infiltrate into and dominate the country. "Americans insist that we negotiate with them on issues related to West Asia region, particularly [the ongoing situations in] Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. What is their real goal behind these requests for negotiation? They have no goal but to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran's presence in the region as the main factor behind America's failures," the Leader said. Referring to certain remarks about the need to negotiate with the United States about regional issues, Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Negotiations with America are not only fruitless, but also harmful," because they will clear the way for US infiltration. The Leader further stated that enemies are angry with the Iranian nation because the Islamic Republic is a source of inspiration, adding, "despite all pressures, sanctions and threats," the movement of the Iranian nation has become more transparent and braver on a daily basis. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IAEA already in posession of data on centrifuges under JCPOA : Iran Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:20AM Iran says it has already provided the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the data on the specifications of its centrifuges and rotor tubes as agreed under last year's nuclear deal, rejecting reported new demands for such information. Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi made the remarks following a Friday report by the Associated Press about a draft European Union statement demanding that Tehran share full details of its manufacture of centrifuge parts with the UN. The text will be delivered next week at a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), AP added. Kamalvandi, however, said based on the July 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), "Tehran was required to provide (the IAEA) with a series of details about its centrifuges and rotor tubes; and we have already done that." "Of course, one or two member states of the European Union may have their own view points, which are not the definitive opinion of the entire bloc," he added. He also described the AP report as "mere propaganda" aimed at undermining the positive atmosphere created by the IAEA reports confirming Iran's commitment to the JCPOA. The AEOI official further pointed to the latest regular report issued by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano earlier this month, saying it confirms Tehran has offered the required data to the UN nuclear agency. "We agreed from day one over the amount of information needed on our centrifuges and rotor tubes," said Kamalvandi. Additionally on Saturday, the AEOI released a statement, saying that a media outlet, which has a history of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic, is seeking to create a negative anti-Iran atmosphere by publishing reports attributed to the EU. The latest report by the IAEA, which is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the nuclear deal, said Tehran has not exceeded the limits set in the accord on its low-enriched uranium and heavy water stockpile, Reuters reported. According to the Associated Press, the report also said Iran had started building rotor tubes for centrifuges. "Related technical discussions" with Tehran on the rotor tube manufacturing were underway, AP cited the confidential report as saying. The JCPOA does not prevent Tehran from manufacturing such parts, but has placed certain restrictions. The IAEA monitors how many rotor tubes are being built and for what models of centrifuges to make sure they are being produced only in quantities and for machines agreed under the JCPOA. The nuclear accord was inked between Tehran and the P5+1 group of world powers, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany on July 14, 2015. The deal, which took effect in January, ended decades of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. In April, Amano hailed Iran for respecting the nuclear accord, saying the Islamic Republic has even gone beyond its obligations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Displaced Iraqi families begin returning to Fallujah Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:44PM Displaced residents of the Iraqi city of Fallujah have begun returning to their homes, some three months after armed forces fully liberated the flashpoint city from the grips of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. According to Sohaib al-Rawi, the governor of the western province of Anbar, 40 families were cleared to come back on Saturday after they passed background checks for having possible links with Daesh. Their home districts were declared safe. Rawi added that some 200 other families also returned to the suburbs on Saturday. Fallujah, a major city in Anbar, which is located about 65 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad, fell to Daesh in January 2014 but was fully retaken on June this year after weeks of an intense counter-terror operation. Once populated by some 300,000 residents, the city now resembles a ghost town, ragged from conflict, but hopeful to embrace its people and become vibrant again. Only a small number of the city's neighborhoods, particularly in the north, have so far been cleared from explosives and booby-traps left behind by Daesh terrorists. The southern parts of the city, which sustained much more damage than the northern parts, still need to be cleared of planted explosive devices before other families are allowed to return. The provincial capital city of Ramadi was also fully liberated in December last year, but due to massive destruction caused by Daesh and the explosives left behind by the terrorists the city still remains largely uninhabitable. Over a hundred civilians lost their lives by planted explosives in Ramadi as they initially tried to return to their homes without permission from authorities. The incidents prompted the government to turn away other incoming families for safety reasons. After retaking these two cities, Iraqi forces further tightened the noose around Daesh in the volatile province and began retaking more towns and villages, leaving Daesh with sparse presence in Anbar. The government forces are now largely heading north, preparing for a highly-anticipated offensive against Daesh in Mosul, the capital of the northern province of Nineveh, and the terror group's last remaining urban bastion in Iraq and its de facto capital in the Arab country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Calendar of Events Want to know whats happening on campus? Youve come to the right place! From musical performances and thought-provoking lectures to signature events and the Privateers next big game, this new visual calendar gives you an overview of events at the University of New Orleans. Libyan forces claim control of oil port Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:11AM Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have allegedly launched an attack against those of General Khalifa Haftar, a renegade general, claiming to have taken back control of an oil port terminal in the country's so-called oil crescent in the east. The Libyan military spokesman, Ali al-Hassi, made the announcement on Sunday, saying the clashes erupted over the seizure of the al-Sidra terminal near Ras Lanuf port, both of which had been captured by Haftar's forces less than a week ago. Ras Lanuf and al-Sidra are capable of handling 700,000 barrels of oil per day. The GNA almost entirely dependent on oil revenues for its income. On September 11, forces loyal to Haftar captured the Mediterranean ports of Ras Lanuf, al-Sidra, Zueitina and Brega. Western countries denounced the assaults on the ports, warning that they will seek a UN Security Council resolution aimed at preventing the "illicit" exports of oil from Libya. Libya had two rival governments from mid-2014 up to December 2015. The two governments reached a consensus on the formation of the GNA in December 2015, after months of UN-brokered talks in Tunisia and Morocco to restore order to the country. Libya, however, continues to be gripped by political strife and violence. Since 2011, when long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled, Libya has been the scene of increasing violence. Gaddafi, the uprising against whom was also aided by a NATO military campaign, was soon killed by militants. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libyan Military Repels Militants' Attack on Oil Crescent Sputnik News 16:54 18.09.2016(updated 16:55 18.09.2016) The Tobruk-based government managed to repel an attack by jihadists on an area known as Libya's oil crescent. RAJMA (Sputnik) The forces led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the armed forces loyal to Libya's Tobruk-based parliament, have repelled an offensive by militants against an area known as Libya's oil crescent with its major oil terminals located on the Mediterranean shore, the general's spokesman Khalifa Obeidi told Sputnik on Sunday. "A sleeping jihadist cell has become active in Ras Lanuf [Mediterranean town in northern Libya] not far from the port. The armed forces have responded to its actions," Obeidi said adding that militants have failed to capture any areas and the oil crescent has remained under Haftar's army control. Earlier in September, Haftar gained full control of the oil crescent area, though, militant groups, allied with the unity government in Tripoli, have launched a counterattack. Libya has been in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a civil war broke out in the country and long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown, and the country was contested by two rival governments the internationally-recognized Council of Deputies based in Tobruk and the Tripoli-based General National Congress. The United Nations helped to bring about a ceasefire in late 2015 and on March 31 the UN-backed unity government took office in Tripoli. The government has so far failed to unite the country. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Toll from Pakistan mosque attacks rises to 36 Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:23PM Pakistani officials have updated the death toll from an attack by the Taliban militants on a mosque in the northwest of the country, saying 36 are now confirmed killed as the result of the incident. Naveed Akbar, the deputy chief of Mohmand tribal district administration, said Sunday that eight children were among those dead in the attack on Friday which targeted the mosque in an area bordering Afghanistan. "We have now compiled a list of victims of the blast, which includes 36 dead and 27 injured. At least, eight children below the age of 10 years are among the dead," Akbar said, adding, "Many children were hit in the blast because they were praying in the last rows in the mosque" where the attack took place. A curfew has been in the place since the Friday attack on the mosque in Mohmand. A faction of Taliban, called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), said it carried out the attack to target the local vigilante forces. It said those forces had killed 13 of JuA members and arrested several others in 2009. The assault was one of deadliest hitting Pakistan's volatile northwestern regions in recent times. Vigilante groups, mostly comprised of tribesmen and known as the peace committees, have been assisting the government in the fight against pro-Taliban militants since JuA was formed in 2007. The military intensified the anti-Taliban drive in June 2014 days after an attack by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on an airport in the southern port city of Karachi. However, the deadliest of all attacks came in December that year, when 150 people, mostly children, were killed in an assault on a school in the city of Peshawar. Islamabad says its military operations have mostly succeeded in wiping out militant bases in tribal areas although sporadic attacks have continued. Thousands of people have been killed over the past years as a result of the surge in militancy in Pakistan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IS Claims Rare Fatal Attack on Pakistani Soldiers By Ayaz Gul September 18, 2016 Islamic State militants have claimed the assassination of three Pakistan military personnel in the country's northwestern city of Peshawar. Provincial authorities say that the slain soldiers were traveling on a narrow road in the Khazana area Sunday when armed motorcyclists ambushed their vehicle. Authorities have launched an investigation and several suspects have also been taken into custody in connection with the fatal attack. A website linked to IS claimed responsibly for what appears to be the first assault on the powerful Pakistan military by the Middle East-based group. IS, which controls areas in Syria and Iraq, has claimed several other attacks around the country since launching its extremist activities in the region early last year. Sunday's attack came days after the military announced it has "forestalled" IS expansion into Pakistan and arrested more than 300 of its operatives, including Syrians and Afghans. "They tried to make an ingress, and they failed and they have been apprehended so far," according to the army spokesman, Lieutenant General Asiam Bajaw. He told reporters earlier this month the detainees were plotting attacks on government, diplomatic and civilians targets. Meanwhile, Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA), a breakaway faction of the anti-state Pakistani Taliban, has also claimed it was behind the violence. VOA could not immediately verify either claims. The attack took place in an area of Peshawar that is close to the volatile Mohmand Agency, one of the seven semiautonomous tribal districts on the Afghan border. On Friday, a suicide blast ripped through a crowded mosque in Mohmand, killing more than 30 people and wounding dozens others. JuA claimed it carried out the bloodshed. Last month, the United States designated JuA a global terrorist organization, saying the group has staged multiple attacks on civilians, religious minorities, military personnel and law enforcement, and was responsible for the killing of two Pakistani employees of the U.S. consulate in Peshawar in early March. Pakistani officials allege the terrorist group operates out of Afghan border areas and receives support from the intelligence agency of the neighboring country, charges Kabul denies. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Subs to Don New Generation Noise Absorbing Tiles Sputnik News 18:25 17.09.2016 Russia has launched the production of advanced noise absorbing materials for its fourth-generation nuclear submarines, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported, citing Techmash Concern's press service in Moscow. "The lightweight and better quality tiles we are now making in Cheboksary boast better noise absorbing qualities than their Western analogues. Moreover, the use of high technology will make their production less labor consuming and, therefore, cheaper," Techmash's CEO Sergei Rusakov said. The noise adsorbing tiles attached to a nuclear submarine's hull make it virtually undetectable to enemy sonar and other detection systems. The new material will be primarily used on Borei and Yasen-class fourth generation nuclear missile submarines and Russia's latest diesel-powered Lada-class subs. Meanwhile, Russia's fifth-generation submarines will use anti-sonar composite materials to hide them from enemy detection systems. "The structure and composition of these new multilayer composite materials will significantly reduce the sonar signals reflected from submarine, isolate working mechanisms from vibrations, and so on," Valery Polovinkin, an adviser to the general director of the Krylov State Research Center, told Izvestia. He also said that, due to the composite material's high internal loss factor, enemy sonar would simply be unable to pick up the required level of signal while the material's sound absorption characteristics would minimize the spread of vibrational energy. The use of composite materials would reduce the weight of the submarine's structures, increase its reliability and reduce operating costs since composites don't corrode and need no paint. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Elections for State Duma, regional bodies in Russia Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:0AM Elections have begun in Russia for the State Duma, which is the lower house of the Russian parliament, as well as dozens of municipal and regional bodies. The voting, which will take about 22 hours in all of Russia's 11 time zones, started in the far eastern region of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at 08:00 local time on Sunday (2000 GMT Saturday). More than 110 million registered voters are eligible to take part in the vote. Fourteen political parties are taking part in the parliamentary elections. Elected members of the State Duma will serve a term of five years. The United Russia (UR) Party, led by President Vladimir Putin's longtime ally, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, has 238 (53%) of the 450 Duma seats and holds the majority in more than 80 regional parliaments. Meanwhile, alleged voting violations have been reported in the Altai region of Siberia, where young people had allegedly cast ballots in the name of elderly people unlikely to come to polling booths. The head of Russia's elections commission, Ella Pamfilova, said the votes in Altai would be annulled if the allegation of vote fraud there was confirmed. The UR Party is the most popular party in the country, ahead of the second-place Communist Party, with around a popularity of around 20 percent. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and up to 1,500 journalists from 154 media outlets, including 85 foreign ones, are covering the Russian elections. The first exit polls for the ongoing polls are due on Sunday at 1800 GMT. Meanwhile, the United States has denounced the Sunday Duma elections planned on the Crimean Peninsula, saying it "does not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome, of the Russian Duma elections planned for Russian-occupied Crimea." Crimea unified with the Russian mainland in 2014 after a referendum and its residents are set to vote in the Sunday polls in their first Russian elections. "Our position on Crimea is clear: the peninsula remains an integral part of Ukraine," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement issued on Friday. Ukraine, too, has said it will not recognize the results of the votes in Crimea. The United States and its Western allies have imposed sanctions against Moscow over the Crimean unification with Russia and what they say is Russian support for pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies any such support and has imposed retaliatory sanctions on the West. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Putin's Party Retains Power in Sunday's Parliamentary Elections By VOA News September 18, 2016 Early election results show Russia's ruling party has won Sunday's parliamentary election, amid reports of election violations and visible voter apathy in the country's two largest cities. With more than 22 percent of the ballots counted, President Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party had more than 50 percent of the vote, with the Liberal Democrat Party trailing with 15 percent of the vote, the Communists 14 percent and A Just Russia about 6 percent. The chief of the Russian Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, said in a televised briefing that she sees no reason to nullify results in any location in the country, despite reports of election fraud. Pamfilova conceded, however, that the election "was not sterile," adding that reports of ballot stuffing were confirmed in three polling stations. As expected, the ruling United Russia Party will retain its absolute majority in Russia's lower house, State Duma. United Russia, led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a loyalist of President Vladimir Putin, has 238 of 450 Duma seats and dominates the more than 80 regional parliaments. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe sent more than 400 observers to Russia to monitor the election, about double that of 2011 when the OSCE sent 215 to monitor the parliamentary poll. Analysts have seen the voting as a likely referendum on Putin's expected 2018 run for re-election. Putin and United Russia were riding a wave of nationalist support over Crimea and ongoing military actions, with state-run media ignoring critics or branding them as traitors. Kremlin supporters have so far valued what is seen as tough leadership more than concerns about which direction that authority is taking Russia. Half of parliament will be decided by people voting for individuals, with the other half drawn from party lists. The last parliament was elected on party lists alone. The perceived fairness of the election could be a critical factor in whether protests arise following the voting. Massive demonstrations broke out in Moscow after the last Duma election in 2011, challenging authorities with their size and persistence. Complaints of election violations already were increasing Sunday as voting was proceeding across a country with approximately 110 million registered voters and 11 time zones. While casting his ballot, the leader of Russian opposition People's Freedom party or PARNAS Mikhail Kasyanov said he expected multiple cases of election fraud to be registered during the poll. "This is not surprising although the authorities promised and swore it to be the most fair, the best election," he said. "But it is not so, it is as we expected. Let's see what the level of fraud will be, I expect it to be high." The Interfax news agency quoted Ilya Shablinsky, a coordinator of observers for the presidential Council on Human Rights, saying that information about violations was coming constantly from various regions. An election monitoring group, Golos, also said it was receiving complaints of violations. A video posted on YouTube appeared to show a poll worker in the southern Rostov region dropping multiple sheets of paper into a ballot box. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Crushing Victory, Low Turnout -- Six Russian Election Takeaways September 19, 2016 by Steve Gutterman The ruling United Russia party won the September 18 State Duma elections by a landslide, according to official results. United Russia is on track to win well over 300 seats in the lower house of parliament, far more than the 238 it holds now. The three other largely loyal parties in the current Duma will also remain, while liberal Kremlin opponents were kept out. Here are six key takeaways from the elections: Putin's Tightening Grip President Vladimir Putin said the dominant United Russia party got a "good result" -- and that may be an understatement. With well over 300 State Duma seats in the hands of his loyal party, according to projections, Putin heads into the 2018 presidential election with even tighter control over the legislature -- one of the chief tools of his rule. He can use the Duma at will to enact legislation designed to protect his hold on power, guarantee its extension, and thwart potential rivals. Putin at any rate would have no problem winning a new six-year Kremlin stint if he seeks reelection, as expected. But under the constitution he would be unable to run again until 2030, when he will be 78, making him something of a lame duck the moment his fourth term begins. A constitutional majority makes it easier for Putin to rewrite the rule book -- whether he wants to engineer a trouble-free succession, remain president for life, or choose some other path to maintain power. Turnout Trick Works... With Russia's economic problems denting the reputation of a party whose strong suit has always been Putin's support, the Kremlin uncorked several measures to keep United Russia from losing its hold on the Duma. Chief among them, observers say, were efforts to ensure a low overall turnout, including by moving the elections from December to September, shortening the campaign, and catching voters at the tail end of summer when they would be less likely to vote. This gave more weight to the ballots of voters vulnerable to manipulation, such as state workers, soldiers, and even psychiatric-hospital patients. This tactic appears to have worked: Official nationwide turnout was 47.81 percent, far short of the 60 percent recorded in 2011, when the state had to turn to what critics say was massive fraud to boost United Russia's result, sparking big protests that unnerved the Kremlin. Turnout was even lower in big cities where government opponents and Russians eager for change are concentrated: About 35 percent in Moscow, a record low, and even lower in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg. ...Or Does It? For United Russia, the low turnout comes at a potentially high price in terms of legitimacy. When putting down liberal opponents, Putin frequently touts the importance of majority rule, but the simple mathematics of this election mean that the Duma will be representing less than half of Russia's voters for the first time in its post-Soviet history. Low turnout means that while United Russia will have more seats in the new Duma, its popular mandate is weaker than it was before. That may not be much of a headache for Putin, who is enjoying approval ratings above 80 percent and can use that popularity gap to keep United Russia in line by reminding the party that it serves at his pleasure -- not the other way around. But the low turnout creates another problem for Putin. While the Kremlin cast these elections as a step forward for democracy, it has left millions of Russians without a voice, potentially reinforcing the feelings of powerlessness and disenfranchisement that fueled the protest movement of 2011-12. Opposition Blues For the first time since 2003, half the 450 Duma seats were filled by direct elections in individual "single-mandate" district races rather than by party list. This change was tantalizing for Kremlin opponents because it cracked the door to the Duma open, in theory enabling independent candidates -- and those whose parties had no chance of clearing the 5 percent threshold in the party-list voting -- to win seats. In practice, that didn't happen: Not a single liberal opposition candidate won a seat. Dmitry Gudkov, the last liberal opposition lawmaker left in the current Duma, lost a Moscow race to Gennady Onishchenko, a controversial and Kremlin-loyal former chief public-health official, and Maria Baronova, one of several candidates backed by exiled former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, also fell short. The elections leave both politicians and citizens who oppose Putin with no clear answer to a question that divided the opposition before the vote: Is it better to take part in the elections, hoping to force change against the odds, or to steer clear of what Kremlin foes like Garry Kasparov call a sham in which any participation only plays into Putin's hands. Meanwhile, the Kremlin is likely to claim that it took a step toward greater democracy and point at the result as evidence that its liberal opponents have little public backing. Hidden Threat? While no liberal opposition figures won a Duma seat from a "single-mandate" district, several candidates whose resumes suggest they will be staunch Putin loyalists did. Along with Onishchenko, they include anti-gay-rights St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov and pro-Kremlin TV journalist and executive Pyotr Tolstoi. But the revival of the "single-mandate" races could pose a threat to Putin's power, at least in the long run. Some Kremlin critics argue that because they had to win votes and outperform specific opponents, these Duma deputies will be more independent -- and less likely to toe the line -- than those who are beholden to United Russia after being granted seats based on their places on a party list. Foreign Factor After evidence of widespread violations in the December 2011 State Duma elections sparked street protests and criticism from the West, the 2016 vote -- the first since Putin's return to the presidency in 2012 after four years as prime minister -- was seen as a chance for the Kremlin to mend its reputation by holding a clean vote. It came at a crucial time, with Russia seeking to decrease its isolation and shed Western sanctions over its aggression in Ukraine by dismantling U.S. and EU unity over the measures. Longtime rights activist Ella Pamfilova replaced the previous Central Election Commission chief, Vladimir Churov, whose seeming ability to conjure up votes for the Kremlin earned him the nickname "the magician." But the elections appear unlikely to sway foreign governments that see Putin's Russia as deeply undemocratic. There are plenty of allegations of fraud, ranging from multiple voting and ballot-stuffing, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) findings were far from a vote of confidence: The head of the OSCE monitoring mission said the biased state media, the Kremlin's tightening grip on civil society, and restrictions on basic rights marred the election. In Western eyes, its legitimacy is also undermined by the fact that voting was held in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 after deploying troops and staging a referendum condemned by a majority of countries. The United States said on September 17 that it "does not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome, of the Duma elections planned for Russian-occupied Crimea." Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-elections- six-takeaways/28000428.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh claims has shot down Syrian plane in Dayr al-Zawr Iran Press TV Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:11PM The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has claimed to have shot down a Syrian military aircraft, killing its pilot, in Syria's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr. Amaq, a news outlet affiliated to Daesh, said in an online statement released on Sunday that the jet came down in Jebel Tharda area, near the Dayr al-Zawr military air base. The air base, along with some other government-held districts, has been besieged by Daesh over the past year. The Syrian army has confirmed the downing of the warplane, saying it had been on a mission against Daesh when it was shot down. On Saturday two US F-16 and two A-10 jets warplanes entered the Syrian airspace from Iraq and conducted at least four airstrikes against Syrian army positions near Dayr al-Zawr airport. Over 60 Syrian soldiers were killed and a hundred others were injured. The Pentagon later said in a statement that the attack had been launched against wrong targets and that the US jets "believed they were striking a Daesh" position. The deadly attack drew strong condemnation both from the Syrian government and Russia. Moscow began airstrikes against Daesh in Syria in September 2015 upon a request from Damascus. Syria's Foreign Ministry has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the US airstrike. Russia's Foreign Ministry has said the US airstrike was "on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance" with the Takfiri terrorists. It said the incident was a result of Washington's "stubborn refusal" to cooperate with Moscow in fighting Daesh, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch formerly known as al-Nusra Front, and "other terrorist groups." The deadly US airstrike could threaten a recent deal between Moscow and Washington on an end to the conflict in Syria. Russia and the United States agreed on the milestone deal in the Swiss city of Geneva on September 9. The deal, which went into effect on September 12 and was initially agreed to last seven days, calls for increased humanitarian aid for those trapped inside the embattled northwestern city of Aleppo. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Russian and US aircraft are to launch joint airstrikes and pound the positions of Takfiri terrorists in Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria Militant Attacks Intensify Despite US-Russia Truce Deal - Defense Ministry Sputnik News 17:52 18.09.2016 Militant attacks against Syrian government troops are on the rise, despite the new Russia-US brokered ceasefire, which only the Syrian government is strictly adhering to, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The situation is especially grave in Aleppo, where militants have used the lull in fighting to relocate military equipment and combatants, he added, noting that movements of armored vehicles and cars have been recorded in the besieged eastern Aleppo and in the city's suburbs. "Only Syrian government forces have adhered to the ceasefire over the past six days since it came into effect. There has not been a single contact regarding the ceasefire with so-called moderate opposition representatives. All our appeals to the United States to provide us with moderate opposition contacts or to influence them have not yielded any results. On the contrary, the number of militant attacks against Syrian army positions and against residential areas is increasing," Konashenkov said. These developments confirm Russia's warnings about terrorists regrouping to prepare for another large-scale offensive, Konashenkov stressed, accusing the United States of failing to separate terrorists from moderate opposition and to exert influence on the latter. "Therefore, a week after the ceasefire agreement, the complete absence of any kind of US influence and contacts with the moderate opposition both on the ground in Syria and in the Western capitals is apparent," he said. Humanitarian access, along with seven days of reduced violence, is a condition of the Syria ceasefire agreement announced last week by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Ambassador to UN: Emergency Meeting a 'Stunt,' Blasts Russia and Assad 'Game' Sputnik News 02:55 18.09.2016(updated 09:31 18.09.2016) The United States Ambassador to the United Nations took a truculent tone during the emergency meeting on Saturday accusing Russia of bombing civilians and blaming the Assad regime for the rise of ISIS calling the meeting "grandstanding," a "stunt," and a "game" after 80 Syrian Army forces were killed in a US-Led airstrike. During the emergency UN Security Council meeting on Saturday called by Russia only hours after a US-led airstrike degraded Syrian Army positions leading to the death of some 80 soldiers and "paving the way" for a major Daesh offensive, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations refused to offer remorse but instead laid the blame for the crisis in Syria directly at the feet of the Russian Aerospace Forces who she says is "bombing civilians" and the Assad regime who she claims gave rise to Daesh. "Why are we having this meeting tonight? It is a diversion from what is happening on the ground. If you don't like what is happening on the ground then you distract. It is a magician's trick we encourage the Russian Federation to have emergency meetings with the Assad regime and deliver them to this deal," said an aggressive Samantha Power. "What Russia is alleging tonight is that somehow the United States is undermining the fighting against ISIL. The Russian spokesperson even said that the United States might be complicit in this attack This is not a game," said the diplomat before going into details on the United States fight against the terror group. "The Syrian regime that bills itself as the fighter against ISIL let the group grow and grow. ISIL took root and prospered right next to the Assad regime," said Power. "The best way to fight ISIL and al-Nusra Front is to stop bombing civilians and deliver the Assad regime. Assad's tactics have been a gift to terrorists. There is a better way forward, but Russia really needs to stop the cheap point scoring and grandstanding and focus on what matters. The implementation of something that we have negotiated in good faith with them." "We regret the loss of life, but since 2011 Assad's regime have been striking Syrian civilians relentlessly," exclaimed the American diplomat in an attempt apparently to justify the violation of the ceasefire or to downplay the urgency of the meeting at hand. Some who watched the statements by Samantha Power described it as the US Ambassador to the United Nations blaming Assad for US warplanes bombing his forces. The verbal assault offered by Samantha Power looks to do little to quell growing tensions between the United States and Russia, the latter of which wonders if the ceasefire deal was negotiated in good faith after Syrian forces were decimated by American airstrikes on Saturday. Russia also argues that the so-called "moderate" rebels, with whom the United States has aligned themselves with, have intensified rather than drawn back attacks since the ceasefire began on September 12. The Obama administration finds itself in a tricky predicament regarding the rebels who have outwardly aligned themselves with the al-Nusra Front terror group, formerly Syria's al-Qaida affiliate, under the umbrella group "The Army of Conquest." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address White House Regrets 'Unintentional Loss of Life' after Bombing Syrian Forces Sputnik News 02:07 18.09.2016(updated 12:07 18.09.2016) An Obama administration official offered an official statement of regret for the loss of life caused by a US-led airstrike against Syrian Army positions in violation of a ceasefire -- an attack that led the Russian Foreign Ministry to wonder whether the White House is aiding Daesh. The Obama administration offered a formal apology for the "unintentional loss of life" after an airstrike conducted against Syrian forces on Saturday killing at least 80 soldiers loyal to the Assad regime. The airstrike came only five days into the breakthrough ceasefire agreement between the United States and Russia that called for the two parties to coordinate strikes and for the Obama administration to levy more pressure against the so-called moderate rebels to disband from al-Nusra Front terrorists. The attack was immediately condemned by both the Russian and Syrian Foreign Ministry, but the diplomatic row intensified after the US Central Command released a statement saying that while the airstrike was unintentional, they had previously notified Russia of the intent to strike. Russia vehemently denies the claim that they were notified that a strike was pending against the Syrian Army base in Deir Ez-Zor. In the statement, the White House also expressed a commitment to adhering to the ceasefire agreement despite the tragic airstrike. Speaking before the United Nations Security Council during an emergency meeting on Saturday, the United States Ambassador to the international body Samantha Power reiterated America's apology for the unintentional Syrian military deaths reiterating the word "regrets." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Deeply Concerned With US-Led Coalition Strike on Syrian Forces Sputnik News 00:09 18.09.2016(updated 00:33 18.09.2016) Moscow is deeply concerned with the US-led coalition's strike against the Syrian army near Deir-ez-Zor, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The attacks by the coalition planes near the Deir ez-Zor airport were first reported by the Syrian army earlier on Saturday. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attacks saying they killed 62 servicemen and injured 100 more. The attack was later confirmed by the US Central Command, which said that Syrian troops were mistaken for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. "We are deeply concerned that the strikes were carried out directly against the Syrian army, which was consistently destroying IS forces," Zakharova said Saturday. The United States had not warned Russia about plans to carry out an operation in the area, she added, noting that Washington may therefore be avoiding its commitments to separating militants from moderate opposition. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, including the IS, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russia. The government-held city of Deir Ez-Zor has been under siege from IS since July 2014. The US-led coalition has been carrying out anti-IS strikes since September 2014 without Syrian government consent. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US-Led Coalition Used 4 Planes, 1 Drone in Deir ez-Zor Strike - Russian MoD Sputnik News 00:01 18.09.2016(updated 00:24 18.09.2016) The US-led coalition in Syria used four aircraft and a combat drone to carry out Saturday's attack against Syrian government forces near Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria said Saturday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The attacks by the coalition planes near the Deir ez-Zor airport were first reported by the Syrian army earlier on Saturday. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attacks saying they killed 62 servicemen and injured 100 more. The attack was later confirmed by the US Central Command, which said that Syrian troops were mistaken for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. "Today, at 17:00, two US Air Force F-16 planes, two A-10 planes and an unmanned combat aerial vehicle carried out airstrikes on key Syrian army defense positions around six kilometers [3.7 miles] south of the Deir ez-Zor airport," reconciliation center head Vladimir Savchenko said. The Russian operation commander contacted the Combined Joint Operations Center in Qatar after being notified by the Syrian side about the attack, he added, noting that the strikes then ended at 17:50. "After the strikes, Islamic States fighters started an offensive in the area. Heavy fighting continues. From 19:00, Russian Aerospace Forces planes are supporting Syrian army units by striking IS targets. A total of 10 strikes have been carried," he said. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, including the IS, which is outlawed in many countries, including Russia. The government-held city of Deir Ez-Zor has been under siege from IS since July 2014. The US-led coalition has been carrying out anti-IS strikes since September 2014 without Syrian government consent. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian MoD Confirms US-Led Coalition's F-16, A-10 Jets Attacked Syrian Army Sputnik News 20:53 17.09.2016(updated 14:13 18.09.2016) The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that Syrian army positions were attacked by two F-16 fighter jets and two A-10 ground attack aircraft of the US-led coalition. "Today at 17:00-17:50 Moscow time, international anti-Daesh coalition (two F-16 and two A-10 jets) carried out four strikes on Syrian government forces' units encirled by Daesh near Deir ez-Zor airport. The coalition's aircraft entered Syrian airspace from the side of the Iraqi border," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. Earlier in the day, the General Command of the Syrian army accused the US-led coalition of bombing the Syrian army's positions in Deir ez-Zor. As a result of the attack, 80 Syrian soldiers were killed and some 100 others were injured, according to information received from the Syrian command in Deir ez-Zor, he said. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Daesh terrorists launched an offensive soon after the US-led coalition aircraft attacked the Syrian government forces. "If this airstrike was carried out due to an error in the coordinates of the targetm it is a direct consequence of US side's unwillingless to coordinate its actions against terrorist groups with Russia," the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman emphasized. Konashenkov said that fighting with terrorists has been taking place near the Deir ez-Zor airport. The news comes amid a ceasefire in Syria agreed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on September 9. The ceasefire stipulated by the US-Russia agreement came into force on September 12. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian War, Refugee Crisis to Dominate UN Meetings By Margaret Besheer September 18, 2016 World leaders will gather Monday in New York to tackle two of today's biggest global challenges: the war in Syria and the refugee crisis it has created. They will meet at the annual U.N. General Assembly. This will be Barack Obama's final such gathering as U.S. president, and it also will be the last for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose decadelong tenure at the helm of the organization will end December 31. Across the planet, there are a staggering number of refugees and displaced persons: 65 million men, women and children. They are on the move because of conflict, natural disasters or extreme poverty. On Monday, the U.N. chief will convene a special summit about their plight, with the aim of addressing the root causes and agreeing on separate global compacts in the next two years on refugees and migrants. "I sincerely hope that, through this summit meeting on Monday, we will have a framework on how we can share these responsibilities," Ban told reporters recently. "No one country can address this issue. Therefore, there should be global responsibility and global compassion on addressing this issue." But before the summit has even taken place, some NGOs are already saying it will be ineffective. Opportunity missed "The U.N. had initially proposed an ambitious plan, but the European Union, Russia and China were among those who sacrificed refugees' rights for national self-interest and missed a massive opportunity to back a global solution to the crisis," said Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International. The U.N.'s initial plan was to ask governments to resettle 10 percent of the world's refugees each year. But in the summit's outcome document, there is no requirement that countries take specific numbers of people. On Tuesday, Obama will co-chair a leaders summit on refugees, along with leaders from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden. Some 20 million of the world's displaced population are refugees. This conference will focus on increasing refugee financing, doubling the global number of resettled refugees through legal channels, and expanding work and education opportunities for them. A pledge is required for governments to participate in the meeting. "We are not going to solve the refugee crisis on Tuesday," said Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. "But I think you will see an important show of political will from leaders around the world." Summit co-host Germany is on the front lines of the refugee and migration crisis in Europe. Last year, the nation took in over 1 million refugees, and in the first six months of this year, 460,000 refugees have arrived from Syria, the source of most of the world's refugees. Germany's U.N. Ambassador Harald Braun said Berlin wants to see the summit address all issues related to the crisis, "meaning the situation in the countries of origin, transition and integration, as well as the return of refugees." Preventing a lost generation The leaders summit hopes to make progress in providing education for displaced children, raising by 1 million the number of refugee children in schools worldwide. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is the U.N.'s global education envoy, said there are 30 million displaced children worldwide, 10 million of whom are refugees. "The majority of them are not going to school at all," he told reporters. Two million of them are Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, while another 2 million are in Syria, where "none of them are getting the education they need." The costs of educating refugee children are often minimal. In Lebanon, Brown said, it is only $10 a week per child, and he urged leaders to pledge the necessary funding at the summit. Bloodshed in Syria Leaders realize that the human exodus from Syria will not end until peace and stability are restored. A nearly week-old deal between Russia and the United States to reduce the violence and distribute aid is still a work in progress, but its success or failure is likely to be a large part of discussions in New York. The Security Council will hold a high-level session on Syria on Wednesday, which could issue a statement or adopt a resolution endorsing the deal, if it is still holding. Members of the International Syria Support Group will also be in New York and could decide to meet. The group's members are those foreign powers and global organizations who began talks in Vienna in October 2015 to try to resolve the Syrian conflict, following previous peace initiatives had failed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address What Now for Syria? By Jamie Dettmer September 18, 2016 The U.S.-Russia negotiated cease-fire in Syria that was negotiated over the heads of militias battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad appears Sunday to be all but dead. Insurgent leaders and observers of the Syrian conflict warn the legacy of the truce will be to add to the increasingly poisonous relations between the rebels and Washington. They argue the consequences of the cease-fire will be to diminish what scant leverage the United States has left with moderate and Islamist rebels, driving them into closer collaboration with militant groups. The cease-fire deal has backfired, they say, when it comes to trying to separate Western-approved rebel militias from one of the two jihadist groups Washington and Moscow agreed to target, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra before are branding and formal break with al-Qaida. Under the cease-fire terms the United States and Russia were to this week begin a joint air campaign against Fateh al-Sham, a group rebels credit as essential in the defense of besieged Aleppo. On the eve of the cease-fire going into effect, an airstrike, presumed by rebels to have been made by American warplanes, struck a meeting of rebel leaders and killing, among others, Abu Omar Saraqib, a major Fateh al-Sham commander. Goals vs. consequences Moscow has been pressing Washington publicly to do more, with Russian General Viktor Poznikhir accusing the Americans of "not taking the necessary measures to carry out its obligations," and warning that "a breakdown of the cease-fire will be on the United States." For U.S. officials it is the blocking of international aid by the Assad regime that is wrecking the cease-fire. But some analysts say the truce never had a chance from the start. "The focus on al Nusra was a disastrous decision, whatever one thinks of them," says Lebanese-American journalist Michael Young, opinion editor of Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper. "By targeting the most effective force in the anti-Assad coalition, the U.S. has put itself in a position where it is seen by the Syrian rebels as collaborating with the Assad regime.And in all honesty is that not what they really want? A decisive shift in the military balance that can end this war?" Many rebel leaders suspect the cease-fire displays a U.S. desire for the war to end on any terms or at least with a begrudging acceptance of Assad remaining as president. U.S. officials deny the claim. They maintain that in agreeing to the truce deal they were seeking to alleviate a dire humanitarian crisis by trying to get international aid to 250,000 people in the encircled parts of rebel held eastern Aleppo and to an estimated six million people in other besieged areas of Syria. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, says the cease-fire plan was misconceived from the start. "The agreement was based on a false premise, that the U.S. has more control over the armed opposition than it in fact does, and in that way it gave credence to Russian views that we control the opposition," he said. "This isn't the Cold War or the 19th century, where all the major players in armed conflicts like this are the pawns of Great Powers. Russia can obviously influence the Assad regime, but the U.S. has very little control over the opposition." Washington control likely lessened Rebel groups were meeting Sunday to decide their next steps, but they say they would be weakened considerably on the battlefield, if they were to separate from Fateh al-Sham and its allies.And they question what Washington wants them to do, walk away from territory they control jointly with Fateh al-Sham, which would give Assad a military opening, or start fighting them when they are better armed? "What the U.S. doesn't understand is that Fateh al-Sham's formal break with al-Qaida has satisfied many rebel groups," says General Salim Idris, a former commander-in-chief of the Western-approved Free Syrian Army."I don't trust the break is genuine, I think it came far too late in this war.But many others do trust them." With aid not reaching Aleppo, Idris, says the cease-fire's days are numbered and it would be hard for the United States to re-build trust with rebels. What happens when or if the cease-fire breaks down?Aron Lund, an analyst with the Carnegie Middle East Program, says, "Whether it would be much different than before the truce deal would, I imagine, depends on how the breakdown happens and what that would do to U.S.-Russian diplomacy, which has been absolutely central to the international discussions about how to handle Syria." Michael Young reckons in the aftermath of a formal breakdown in the cease-fire, Syria will return to the war logic that preceded the truce, which he argues Damascus was never really interested in. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK admits taking part in Syria airstrikes that killed scores of troops Iran Press TV Mon Sep 19, 2016 1:45PM Britain is the latest country to acknowledge its participation in the airstrikes that reportedly killed 83 soldiers in the Syrian city of Dayr al-Zawr on Saturday. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed on Monday that UK drones participated in the airstrikes against a Syrian military airbase in Dayr al-Zawr. The MoD also said it is cooperating with the US-led coalition to investigate the incident. "We can confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition airstrike in Syria, south of Dayr al-Zawr on Saturday and we are fully co-operating with the coalition investigation," an MoD spokesman said. The so-called coalition has been conducting airstrikes in Syria since 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The air raids by the US Air Force and its allies have already caused a war of words between Russia, Syria and the United States. Russia and Syria accuse Washington of deliberately launching the strikes to help the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group advance in the area. The Syrian General Command referred to the incident as a "serious and blatant aggression" against the Syrian army, adding that it was also "conclusive evidence" that the US-led coalition is supporting Daesh militants. Russia also blasted the attack, with Vitaly Churkin, Moscow's ambassador to the UN, saying that the US airstrikes did not seem to be a mistake. However, the White House has rejected the accusation, saying the air raids were unintentional. Australia and Denmark have also announced their aircraft were among a group of Western warplanes that targeted the Syrian forces. The attack is likely to endanger an already shaky ceasefire deal, which was agreed by the US and Russia and came into effect in Syria on Monday 12 September. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian, Russian jets pound Daesh positions in Dayr al-Zawr Iran Press TV Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:47AM Syrian and Russian jets have attacked Daesh positions in Dayr al-Zawr following a US bombing which killed 62 government troops in the eastern town and allowed the Takfiri group to make gains. Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV said the attacks on Monday wiped out several Daesh positions and inflicted heavy losses. Two arms depots and several oil tankers of the Takfiri group were destroyed in the airstrikes. Daesh controls large parts of Dayr al-Zawr city as well as most of the province for which it is the capital. The terrorist group chiefly relies on oil fields in the province to fund its atrocious war in Syria. The Syrian army has been fighting it out against Daesh for the control of a key military airbase there. Syrian troops came under heavy US aerial bombardment on Saturday, which Damascus says was premeditated. Dayr al-Zawr has been effectively under a Takfiri siege since early 2015 but the terrorists have suffered major setbacks over the past few months during which the Syrian army has liberated several areas. On Sunday, a senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Damascus believed the US airstrike in Dayr al-Zawr was "intentional." "None of the facts on the ground show that what happened was a mistake or a coincidence," Buthaina Shaaban told AFP. The Pentagon has said the attack was carried out mistakenly even though it allowed Daesh to take over some parts of the region. The Takfiri group said on Sunday it shot down a Syrian warplane near the city. State media confirmed a plane had been shot down and its pilot killed, but did not say who was responsible. Russia said the airstrikes "if they, as we hope, were not taken on orders from Washington -- fall between criminal negligence and direct pandering to Daesh terrorists." Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin called the strike a "bad omen" for the US-Russia deal to halt Syria's war. On Monday, a seven-day ceasefire declared by the Syrian army expired at midnight, with no immediate announcement of its extension. The "regime of calm" was announced on Sept. 12 following a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia. The government has accused foreign-backed militants of numerous violations of the ceasefire, the second this year. Turkish warplanes bombed northern Syria, the Turkish military said in a statement on Monday, claiming that targets used by Daesh as shelter, ammunition store and military headquarters were hit in the airstrike. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nusra Terrorists Launch Attack on Assad Forces Outside Aleppo Sputnik News 21:44 19.09.2016(updated 21:57 19.09.2016) According to the Russian military, terrorists with Nusra Front have launched an offensive against the Syrian Army in the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo. After intense shelling, the Syrian Army is attempting to prevent the terrorist group from breaking through to the city's center. "The Syrian troops are engaged in heavy defensive fighting to prevent terrorists from breaking through to the center of Aleppo," the Russian Center for Syrian reconciliation said. The shelling by tanks, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and mortars continued for roughly half-an-hour. Earlier on Monday, the Syrian Army declared an end to the ceasefire, citing repeated breaches by rebel groups. "The ceasefire regime should have been a real chance to stop bloodshed, but units of terrorists did not adhere to any of the points of the agreement," SANA news agency quoted Syrian Army General Command as saying. "The number of ceasefire violations surpassed 300." The statement added that the Syrian government forces made very effort to comply with the peace plan, agreed to by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on September 9. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Military Declares US-Russian Negotiated Cease-Fire Over By VOA News September 19, 2016 Syria's military command has declared the U.S.-Russian negotiated cease-fire over, blaming the country's rebel groups for undermining the agreement. The Syrian military says "armed terrorist groups" repeatedly violated the cease-fire that came into effect last week and used it to mobilize and arm, while attacking government-held areas. It said the rebels wasted a "real chance'' to stop the bloodshed and did not indicate whether the truce would be reinstated. Activists and rebel groups also accuse the government of violating the cease-fire. The United Nations said the Syrian government had obstructed the delivery of aid, a key component of the deal. The U.N. emergency relief coordinator says he is "pained and disappointed" convoys have not reached Aleppo where as many as 275,000 people are in need of food, water and medical aid. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, humanitarian aid deliveries were expected to reach civilians in eight or more locations in Syria. U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien reiterated the world body's demands that it be allowed unimpeded access to deliver supplies and evacuate those in need of critical medical attention. "The people of Syria have suffered long enough. Millions of Syrian civilians continue to face horrific deprivation and violence, especially those trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas," O'Brien said in a statement. Humanitarian deliveries to Aleppo were one prong of a cease-fire deal reached between the United States and Russia on September 9. Kerry blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government Sunday for blocking aid deliveries and said Russia must do more to put pressure on him. Assad needs to respect the cease-fire and "let the joint implementation center get set up so Russia and the United States can coordinate in order to avoid the kind of terrible thing that happened yesterday that we all acknowledge and regret." Kerry was referring to the deadly U.S.-led airstrike Saturday that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers. The U.S. military said it may have unintentionally hit the Syrian soldiers while targeting Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria. Assad said U.S.-led coalition airstrikes which hit Syrian army positions near Deir al-Zor Saturday were a "flagrant aggression," according to Syrian state media. The incident showed an "increase in support for terrorists by countries opposing Syria," he was quoted as saying. Russia's defense ministry said rebel violations made it "pointless" for government troops to uphold the truce. The U.S.-Russian cease-fire agreement for Syria "remains the only hope to resolve the conflict, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said earlier Monday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 8 Taiwan local government leaders visit Beijing (update 2) ROC Central News Agency 2016/09/18 23:35:51 Beijing, Sept. 18 (CNA) Eight city and county government leaders of Taiwan held a "breakthrough" meeting with Beijing officials Sunday, urging China to seek ways to "reset and restart" cross-strait ties. Hsu Yao-chang (), magistrate of Miaoli County, said his delegation was calling for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to choose a "broad avenue" on which economic, tourism, cultural and agricultural cooperation between Taiwan and China can be continued as they need to face international competition in these areas. He said if cross-strait ties continued to be deadlocked, it will hurt both the government and the people. "Our visit to Beijing is a breakthrough since the new government was launched in May," he added. Hsu, of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), made his appeal to Zhang Zhijun, China's Taiwan Affairs minister, who reiterated that the "one China" principle embodied in its "1992 consensus" with Taiwan is the political foundation on which cross-strait exchanges will be conducted. Because the Democratic Progressive Party's Tsai Ing-wen (), who was sworn in as president on May 20, refused to acknowledge the existence of such a consensus, China has cut off all official channels of communications with Taiwan. The new situation since May 20 has created "grave influences and impacts on" every aspect of cross-strait exchanges, making certain cities and counties in Taiwan "feel uneasy," Zhang said, explaining the background of the current visit by eight predominantly Kuomintang politicians. All but two of the eight visiting leaders are from Kuomintang-led cities or counties, including Hsinchu County's Chiu Ching-chun (), Nantou County's Lin Ming-chen (), Lienchiang County's Liu Tseng-ying (), New Taipei's Deputy Mayor Yeh Hui-ching () and Taitung's Deputy Magistrate Chen Chin-hu (). The other two, Hualien County's Fu Kun-chi () and Kinmen County's Deputy Magistrate Wu Cheng-tien (), are independents. These eight local government leaders have one thing in common, Zhang said. "They all acknowledge the '1992 consensus' and support the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan Strait ties and they hope the hard-earned fruit of cross-strait development will be cherished rather than damaged." Hsu proposed that Chinese cities and counties identify their counterparts in Taiwan to engage in city-to-city or region-to-region cooperation by stabilizing trade and investment exchanges that can be expanded to tourism and other areas. For instance, Hsu said, both sides can design in-depth tour packages for each other. Both sides can work together to promote quality farm produce and specialty foods in each other's market, to create a win-win situation for people working in these lines of work, he added. Because the Taiwan delegates were putting forth concrete proposals to "put cross-strait exchanges back on track," Chinese officials in charge of tourism, commerce, marketing and even quarantine were on hand to listen and respond to the Taiwanese leaders' concerns. According to Zhang, the Taiwanese local government leaders did make "some proposals and requests" including suggestions for pushing ahead certain cooperation and exchange projects. "At the meeting, we replied to their requests based on broad principles. The Taiwan Affairs Office and other government agencies will undertake a serious study of their proposals before coming back to them with concrete answers," he said. Zhang said as long as the political foundation of the "1992 consensus" remains solid, cross-strait exchanges can still be pushed forward. China's response to the eight pan-blue camp local government heads and deputy heads was quick and positive. By late Sunday, after their meeting with Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Chinese government announced it was ready to expand cooperation with these eight administrative areas of Taiwan. In an 8-point statement, Beijing said it welcomes these eight cities and counties to organize activities in China to promote their farm produce and specialty foods; it also would like to see them form a "tourism promotion alliance" to attract Chinese to visit their cities and counties. Chinese government agencies and cities will also cooperate with these Taiwanese cities and counties in the areas of green energy, high-tech industry and smart city, while encouraging Chinese public and private sectors to work with their Taiwanese counterparts in the eight cities and counties to develop creative industries. Back home in Taipei, DPP politicians were not happy about the KMT government leaders' "defection" to China. Wu Ping-jui (), DPP legislative caucus whip, said the "1992 consensus" has been rejected by Taiwan's mainstream public opinion as shown in the latest election results. In January, Taiwan's voters handed the KMT a double whammy by giving the DPP's presidential candidate Tsai and Legislature candidates landslide victories, ushering in an era of DPP in control of both the executive and legislative branches of government. But that does not mean the Taiwanese public completely rejects the "1992 consensus," in which both sides of the Taiwan Straits agreed that there is only one China on earth, but each side can interpret its meaning in its own way. For Taiwan, that "one China" is the Republic of China. "The '1992 consensus' is not a part of mainstream public opinion in Taiwan. It is not good that KMT city and county leaders have visited China in a gesture of defection," Wu said. Huang Wei-che (), a DPP lawmaker, said making an effort to attract Chinese tourists to Taiwan is a good thing. "And yet, if the number of Chinese tourists coming to Taiwan has declined, it has been caused by political factors rather than by what Chinese officials claim is a lack of friendship from the Taiwanese people or poor safety regulations that had caused a tragic tour bus fire that killed all passengers inside," Huang said Liao Kuo-tung (), KMT legislative caucus whip, said these local government heads had the people's future in their minds during their visit to China. "The DPP government should think of ways to break through the current impasse, finding words that would convince China to work with it to bring cross-strait exchanges back on track," Liao added. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) was alarmed by the Chinese government's rapid response to the eight local governments' requests, saying that only through normal cross-strait exchanges and interactions can bilateral ties be expected to develop in a "benevolent cycle." The MAC advised China to "think cautiously," reiterating its call for China not to attach political strings to engaging in trade, investment, tourism, academic and city-to-city exchanges with Taiwan. The MAC hinted that China has made "inappropriate intervention" in Taiwan affairs by doling out incentive packages separately to the opposition-led cities and counties. (By Lawrence Chiu, Liu Kuan-ting, and S.C. Chang) Enditem/ke/sc Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey military pushing south after bombing northern Syria Iran Press TV Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:2AM Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey-backed militants would seek to capture more areas in northern Syria by pushing further south. "As part of the Euphrates Shield operation, an area of 900 square kilometers has been cleared of terror so far. This area is pushing south," Erdogan said, referring to the operation that got underway on August 24. He also expressed his ambition to extend the so-called safe zone, from an earlier declared area of only 98 kilometers, to a staggering 5,000 square kilometers, stretching from the town of Jarablus to the city of A'zaz. "We may extend this area to 5,000 square kilometers as part of a safe zone," the Turkish president told a press conference before heading to New York where he is due to address the United Nations General Assembly. Erdogan added that Turkish-backed militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army are now crawling towards the Daesh- seized town of al-Bab. "Jarablus and al-Rai have been cleansed. Now we are moving towards al-Bab. We will go there and stop (Daesh) from being a threat to us," he said. Meanwhile, the Turkish military says its fighter jets have bombed the positions of the Daesh terrorist group in northern Syria. Turkey's military said on Monday that the airstrikes had targeted three Daesh positions used as shelters, ammunition depots and military headquarters in northern Syria on Sunday. Ankara deployed troops and tanks to northern Syria on August 24 in a declared bid against Daesh as well as Kurdish militants. Syria, which has been fighting foreign-backed militancy since March 2011, has denounced the Turkish incursion as a breach of its sovereignty. Last month, Turkish tanks entered Syria to allegedly strike Daesh terrorists in Jarablus, and its air force along with US-led military coalition aircraft pounded targets in and around the city. The Turkish claims that it is hitting terrorists in Syria come as reports indicate that Ankara has been supporting the anti-Damascus militants inside the Arab country. Just on Monday, the Syrian News Channel, also known as Alikhbaria Syria, said Ankara had sent two trucks carrying steel pipes used for manufacturing mortar shells to militants in northern Syria. Citing Turkey's Demokrasi newspaper, the report said the truckloads had been sent to the Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham formerly known as al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham groups in the northwestern city of Idlib. The report added that the steel pipes were produced in a factory in the Turkish city of Iskenderun. The report also quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the shipments had been transferred to the militants under the protection of Turkish military forces. Turkey is said to be among the main supporters of the militant groups operating against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Don MacNeil, chief operating officer of GTT, about its company restructuring after coming out of Chapter 11 and its strategic roadmap for the next 12 months. Diving into Danvilles rich history and going back to the beginning was a project that began in June when the future of the Long Mill Dam was being discussed. Speaking from a historians standpoint, an in depth analysis of the Dan River needed to be done to establish just how historic the dam was. Thats when the study of the dam turned into understanding that the dam itself is not Wynnes Falls, but instead the area that was known as Wynnes Falls expanded from roughly above the current-day Union Street Dam to the state line. Danville was established somewhere along the Dan River in the vicinity of Main Street at the King Memorial Bridge originally with 200 acres to the south for settlement. This portion of information I believed to be a theory until I could otherwise find some form of verification. Land grants and deeds were acquired from Lunenburg County and Brunswick County that verified William Wynne purchased land from the Virginia Colony during the time Thomas Jefferson was governor. In 1738, Brunswick County extended into land later divided off into the city of Danville and Pittsylvania and Halifax counties. Around the time I began studying William Byrds 1728 work, History of the Dividing Line, I reached out to Dr. David Snead and Dr. Sam Smith, professors of history at Liberty University, to seek out more information about the area. Both professors were of great help and support while I sought more to back up what I believed to be a theory. They recommended to me a couple local sources in addition to the help of Shelly Bailess, LU Online Academy History Faculty Chair who recommended to me Maud Carter Clements, The History of Pittsylvania County. What I discovered as work continued was much of what we know about Danvilles origins has been passed down by word of mouth. Edward Pollocks, 1885 Survey of Danville, for example leans heavy on stories of Danville from some of the most notable citizens of the time such as Harry Wooding and some that were passed down about George Dame. Without hard evidence such as deeds, grants, journal entries or news articles, it is difficult to prove any of this as fact. Therefore, I exhausted every courthouse and newspaper from Danville to Richmond. I also went to Mike Huggins in the city engineers office and sought out any early maps of the city I could review that included Wynnes Falls. No maps were inscribed, Wynnes Falls. However, there was one map of the Richmond & Danville Railroad that included a marking for the river that states low water along this stretch of the river. This is an important documentation that describes the state of the river and verifies that more than 125 years ago, the Dan River was still low through there and hasnt varied. With that, this portion of the river was used to ford and the town grew from this spot. A trading post was established here and in 1793, the town of Danville was incorporated. At one time, Wynnes Falls was farthest point in the country that the English would settle as there were constant threats from Native Americans. As more people came and settled, more land surrounding Wynnes 200 acres was purchased and the area became a hotspot for the agrarian lifestyle. After exhausting numerous books, articles, journals, court documents, engineers maps and collaborating with area historians, I concluded that Wynnes Falls was named so for the area roughly between Robert Woodall Nissan to the state line. No documents came out and specifically said, this area was Wynnes Falls. However tracing the citys age is relatively simple. The oldest area of the city is located along Main Street in the vicinity of the King Memorial Bridge. This location has been the home to multiple structures from residential to industrial over the past 250 years and the city grew from here. Danville is a very old, historical Southern Virginia town that has much forgotten history due to fires, floods, and even word-of-mouth history that has been twisted over the years. What we know about the city can be traced back through four counties and directly at the Dan River. Perhaps we will never know the exact location of the first settlement; however we do know the location of William Wynnes original 200-acre land grant that became Danville. Bell reports for the Danville Register & Bee. Concise letters 250 words or fewer on topics of local interest will receive first consideration for publication. All letters are subject to editing for language and clarity. Mailing Address: Letters to the Editor, The Register & Bee, 700 Monument St., Danville, VA 24541 Letters submitted by mail must include the writer's name, signature, address and a daytime phone number. Fax: (434) 799-0595 Email: letters@registerbee.com Or submit a letter via our online form: Submit a letter VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Sep 19, 2016) - Savant Explorations Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SVT) ("the Company") announces that it intends to raise up to $105,000 by way of a non-brokered private placement, subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance. The private placement will consist of the sale of up to 7,000,000 units at a price of $0.015 per unit, with each unit to consist of one common share and one-half (1/2) of a share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant to entitle the holder to purchase an additional common share at a price of $0.05 for a period of two years from closing. The private placement is not subject to any minimum subscription, and certain insiders of the Company have agreed to participate, with full particulars of such participation to be included in the news release announcing the closing. The proceeds will be used by the Company for administration expenses, property maintenance costs (including taxes) and for general working capital. The securities issued pursuant to this private placement will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from closing. Blue Moon Polymetallic VMS "Zinc" Project, California Management will focus its attention on advancing the Company's 100% owned high-grade polymetallic VMS "Zinc" (Zn-Cu-Pb-Au-Ag) deposit located within the Foothills Massive Sulphide Belt 22 miles east of Merced in Mariposa County, California. A report detailing the resource is available on the company's website and on SEDAR. Savant is currently reviewing various strategic options to advance the project including partnership under an earn-in joint venture structured deal or proceeding on its own upon completion of additional financing. 2016 Annual General Meeting The Company recently held its 2016 Annual General Meeting in Vancouver. Resolutions passed at the meeting included the re-appointment of Hay and Watson as auditors, approval of the Company's incentive stock option plan, and the re-election of Directors David Douglas, Reg Advocaat, and Rupert Legge. A resolution allowing for the consolidation of share capital (up to 1 new for 10 old) received 66% approval but fell just short of the 66.6% required for passing. Chilean Office The Company's Chilean office and subsidiary were shut down and sold to local investors thus avoiding an extensive and costly wind up of operations. All Chilean properties were either dropped or sold with the subsidiary. Stock Options The Company has approved the granting of stock options to Directors and Officers of the Company for the purchase of 1,600,000 common shares of Savant. The options are granted pursuant to the Company's Stock Option Plan and have an exercise price of $0.05 per share, a term of five years and are fully vested. More information on the Company's activities is available at the Company's web site at www.savantexplorations.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. THUNDER BAY, Sept. 19, 2016 - Red Metal Resources Ltd. (OTCPINK:RMES) ("Red Metal") is pleased to report that it has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") to sell, pursuant to a takeover bid, business combination or similar transaction, all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Metal Resources Ltd. , namely 34,290,302 common shares, as well as all of the common shares of Red Metal that may be issued upon the exercise of any options, warrants or other convertible securities after the formal filing of the transaction but before its closing (the "Transaction"). The proposal would be that such Red Metal shareholders will receive in exchange an aggregate consideration of CAD$3,250,000 payable through: (i) the payment in cash of the Red Metal's debts for a maximum amount of CAD$500,000; and (ii) for the remainder of the aggregate consideration, the issuance of class "A" common shares of the capital stock of TomaGold at a price that is the higher between the average market price over the 20 days before the execution date of the Definitive Agreement and of CAD$0.15, subject to a maximum price of CAD$0.20. The parties to the transaction are at arm's length. The LOI includes customary provisions, including non-solicitation of alternative transactions, the right to match superior proposals and the closing by TomaGold of a financing of CAD$700,000 before the closing of the Transaction. The parties have agreed to a break-up fee of CAD$175,000 (i) payable to TomaGold if Red Metal is in default of this LOI and if a superior proposal is accepted by Red Metal's shareholders, and (ii) payable to Red Metal if TomaGold does not complete the Transaction for reasons other than discovering an issue with their confirmatory due diligence. Red Metal owns, or has the option to own, 100% of three projects (Farellon, Perth and Mateo) located in the prolific Candelaria iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) belt of Chile's coastal Cordillera, host to Freeport McMoRan's Candelaria Mine and Anglo American's Mantoverde Mine. Farellon property (100% interest in six claims and option to earn a 100% interest in two claims) The Farellon property is located 150 km southwest of Copiapo, Chile, and consists of eight mining claims totalling 1,234 hectares in the Carrizal Alto mining district, more precisely 3 km southwest of the historic Carrizal Alto mine. It is easily accessible year-round by dirt roads and is located close to power, water and a major urban centre, Copiapo, with a readily available mining workforce. Historical records indicate that copper mining commenced at Carrizal Alto in the 1820s and continued on a significant scale, mostly by British companies, until 1891 when disastrous flooding occurred and mines closed. Historical reports indicate that the larger mines were obtaining good grades over significant widths in the bottom workings at the time of closure. It is estimated that during this period, over 3 million tonnes with grades in excess of 5% copper and widths of 8 m was extracted, including a large quantity of direct shipping mineralized material at 12% copper (Source: Ulriksen, C. (1991), Carrizal Alto Mining District, Vallenar, III Region, Chile, 7 p.). Work completed to date on the Farellon property has been focused on a 1.6 kilometres stretch of mineralized veins hosted in a 10 to 25-metre-wide shear zone, a further 2.5 kilometres of this shear zone have been explored on surface and show similar geology and mineralization on surface as the zone that has been previously drilled. A total of 6,992 metres of drilling was completed in three programs along a 1.3 km strike length. The following table summarizes the best results obtained to date. HOLE_ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Cu (%) Au (g/t) FAR-96-007 25 34 9 1.05 0.38 FAR-96-009 72 83 24 1.01 0.57 FAR-96-009 62 65 3 2.24 0.67 FAR-96-015 59 79 20 0.98 0.99 FAR-96-015 99 109 10 1.02 0.18 FAR-96-022 29 39 10 1.31 1.53 FAR-96-022 100 108 8 2.49 3.72 FAR-96-023 132 147 15 1.42 0.60 FAR-96-024 33 36 3 2.89 0.94 FAR-96-025 65 85 20 1.22 0.97 FAR-09-B 75 86 11 0.67 1.35 FAR-09-C 73 103 30 0.79 0.55 FAR-09-C 77 82 5 4.16 2.57 FAR-11-001 36 49 13 2.51 0.35 FAR-11-001 36 44 8 3.95 0.53 FAR-11-001 37 43 6 5.09 0.64 FAR-11-006 80 112 32 1.35 0.99 FAR-11-006 84 96 12 2.18 2.10 FAR-13-002 47 54 7 2.15 0.28 The table above shows grades and widths of mineralization which are consistent with historic drilling results and have also given valuable geological information showing multiple veins and the potential for wide zones of economic mineralization. The true width of the drill hole intersections cannot be determined from the information available, as it was RC drilling. In 2014, Red Metal entered into a contract with a Chilean artisanal miner allowing the artisanal miner to mine on the Farellon property in return for a 10% net sales royalty. In January 2015 the artisanal miner first started selling mineralized material to ENAMI, a Chilean national mining company, and has since sold 9,953 tonnes of sulphide mineralized material grading 1.82% Cu, 6.56 g/t Ag and 0.25 g/t Au, as well as 1,813 tonnes of oxide mineralized material grading 1.56% Cu (Source: RMES Annual and Quarterly Reports). In April 2015, the artisanal miner received all the necessary permits allowing them to increase their operations from 500 tonnes per month to 5,000 tonnes per month. Continued expansion of the Farellon property's small-scale mining operation, through minimal capital expenditures, could significantly increase revenues and provide important geological and metallurgical information. Perth property (100% interest) The Perth property consists of 12 mining claims totaling 2,245 hectares in the Carrizal Alto mining district. It is contiguous to the Farellon project, but geologically different. The property has been known to host gold and copper mineralization since the early 1900 when it was part of the Carrizal Alto mining complex. Modern exploration on the property started in 2008 and multiple surface mapping, trenching and drilling programs have been completed since then. More than 12 mineralized veins have been identified on the property. Significant results obtained from surface channel sampling are listed in the table below. Sample ID Northing Easting Elevation Length Au g/t Cu % 778 6895914.00 308888.00 772 Reconnaissance 16.50 2.87 1962 6893308.58 308065.74 648 1.10 15.26 0.93 1977 6895153.72 308780.84 714 2.10 14.43 0.72 2938 6895006.00 308352.00 888 0.50 14.00 3.62 1960 6893313.57 308068.57 648 1.10 9.77 1.36 2975 6894308.00 308364.00 727 0.40 8.92 1.84 1903 6892715.11 307888.80 588 0.60 8.52 1.56 1952 6892720.24 307889.38 588 1.50 8.37 2.14 1961 6893307.92 308066.42 647 1.10 8.14 2.83 1923 6893265.79 308261.54 622 0.30 7.60 1.04 1921 6893260.81 308515.88 638 0.40 7.38 2.43 1913 6893501.66 308143.50 687 0.60 6.73 7.16 252 6892373.78 307952.33 581 0.35 6.48 1.32 1821 6896660.00 309450.00 671 1.10 5.86 4.09 1813 6896586.00 310019.00 584 1.30 5.71 2.88 3037 6895254.00 308254.00 901 0.30 5.26 8.76 2951 6894414.00 308406.00 741 0.55 4.89 2.08 1972 6895140.00 308797.00 778 1.20 4.75 1.68 1975 6895151.55 308790.60 757 1.40 4.47 5.90 2007 6897060.00 309956.00 563 1.50 4.07 3.78 1905 6893092.03 308001.35 660 0.80 3.13 3.98 Mateo property (100% interest) The Mateo property is a copper-gold-silver project consisting of 14 mining and exploration claims totaling 1,184 hectares located approximately 10 km east of Vallenar. The property has undergone limited modern exploration including surface and underground RC drilling and artisanal mining on three separate mine sites, the Irene, Margarita and Santa Theresa mines. During August through October 2011, Red Metal carried out an in-depth geological mapping and sampling program on the property. A total of 138 reconnaissance samples were collected. The highest assay values returned from reconnaissance samples were 21 g/t Au and 10.3% Cu but more common values were between 1-3 g/t Au and 1-3% Cu. Detailed mapping identified nine significant mineralized zones where further work is recommended. This LOI will automatically terminate without further action by TomaGold or Red Metal and be of no further force and effect upon the earliest to occur of: (a) the entering into of the Definitive Agreement; (b) the mutual written agreement by TomaGold and Red Metal; and (c) the 60th day following the date that this letter agreement is fully executed, or such later date as may be agreed to in writing by TomaGold and Red Metal. The Transaction is subject to applicable shareholder, court and stock exchange approvals and the satisfaction of certain other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature. The technical content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Caitlin Jeffs, P Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Red Metal Resources Ltd. Red Metal Resources is a mineral exploration company focused on aggressive growth through acquiring, exploring and developing copper-gold assets in Chile. Our projects are located in the prolific Candelaria iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) belt of Chile's coastal Cordillera, host to Freeport-McMoRan's Candelaria Mine and Anglo American's Mantoverde Mine. Red Metal is a fully reporting US public company quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol RMES. For more information, visit www.redmetalresources.com. About TomaGold Corporation TomaGold Corp. is a Canadian-based mining exploration company whose primary mission is the acquisition, exploration and development of gold projects in Canada and abroad. Except for the statements of historical fact, the information contained herein is of a forward-looking nature. Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by statements containing forward-looking information. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on statements containing forward looking information. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We may use certain terms in our press releases, such as "measured," "indicated," and "inferred" resources, which the SEC guidelines generally prohibit companies from including in their filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 10-K, which may be obtained from us, or from the SEC website. Contact Red Metal Resources Ltd. Caitlin Jeffs, P.Geo, CEO 807.345.7384 www.redmetalresources.com Toronto, Ontario / TheNewswire / September 19, 2016 - Latin American Minerals Inc. ("LAT" or the Company") (TSX-V: LAT) today announced that it has launched a 10,000 metre drill program to further explore the 6 prominent gold targets on its 15,020 hectare, Paso Yobai gold property in Paraguay. Six prominent gold targets 95sq km surface gold anomaly 18,000 point soil survey and 106 kms of CSAMT geophysics Extensive expert review Company owned and operated drill Experienced driller Previous drilling completed in 2012 (see press release dated July 24 2012) included the following highlights: -DDH-BT-08: -true width 22.0 m with 4.20 gpt gold including 5.69 m with 11.24 gpt, beginning at surface; -true width 2.13 m with 94.6 gpt gold including 0.7 m with 271.2 gpt at 34.6. m vertical depth; and -true width 2.7 m with 107.7 gpt gold including 0.47 m with 611.07 gpt at 83.3 m vertical depth. The current drill program has begun with a single rig, owned by the company and operated by a seasoned driller who is a LAT employee and is fluent in Spanish The driller has worked in South and North America, including Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Chile, Panama and Argentina. Technical advice on the drill program is being provided by Dr Quinton Hennigh, a world renowned economic geologist with more than 25 years of practical experience with similar gold systems. (See press release dated 22nd August 2016.) Paul Sarjeant, P Geo, the Company's Qualified Person is also on site providing direct input into the program. Mr Sarjeant has more than 25 years of experience managing mineral exploration and development projects around the world. Basil Botha, Chairman and CEO said; "We have hired the best minds in the industry to independently review the extensive geophysical, geological and geochemical data resulting from the work completed to date at Paso Yobai. This analysis has resulted in the current drill program, which will focus on the six large surface gold targets and geophysical anomalies that we want to better understand at this time. All indications are that this is a large alkaline gold system. This first round of drilling will help us prioritize each target and determine where to focus attention for the next phase of exploration. Running our own drill with a seasoned driller will dramatically reduce our drilling costs." Click Image To View Full Size LAT's Paso Yobai Project, includes the fully permitted and producing Independencia Mine at the southern end of the Paso Yobai property. Qualified Person The scientific and technical information in this news release has been approved by Paul Sarjeant, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. About the Company Latin American Minerals Inc. is a mineral exploration and gold mining company which holds its core gold and diamond projects in Paraguay. The Company is currently expanding its Independencia Mine gold processing plant to encompass vat-leach gold recovery from mineralization extracted in open pit bulk mining activities at its fully permitted mining concession. Management has identified six gold zones for drill testing on the Company's adjacent exploration claims, which is part of the Company's 15,020 hectare Paso Yobai gold project. For more information, please contact: Basil Botha, CEO & Chairman Toronto: (1-416) 363-0841 or Vancouver: (1-604) 418-3856 E-mail: information@latinamericanminerals.com Website: www.latinamericanminerals.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. SHARE By Rashda Khan, Rashda.Khan@gosanangelo.com/@rashda_SAST The city of San Angelo Development Corp. is giving $603,050 to encourage local company CalTech Software Systems, Inc. to grow. CalTech, located at 940 Arroyo Street, started in a San Angelo garage in 1988 and currently has offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Tyler, Austin and Kansas City with 99 employees. Now CalTech will expand in their home city, where it will add to its force of 38 full-time employees, two part-time employees and one intern. In return for COSADC's award, the company will add "between 15 and 100 new employees" and also make a minimum capital investment of $100,000 in San Angelo. The company must hire and retain these new employees for at least three years, or face repayment. "This is San Angelo tax money and we want to keep them, and help them grow, right here in San Angelo," said Councilwoman Charlotte Farmer, at the council meeting where the COSADC award was approved. It's about the community investing in companies and companies investing in the community, said CalTech's Chief Executive Officer Will Welch. "We're growing throughout the country, but these are the types of smart decisions COSADC is making that makes us or any other company evaluate where to hire," he said. He added that he and his business partner, Chief Financial Officer Brent McCasland, are Angelo State University graduates and are always happy when they can help the community whether it's by creating jobs or supporting good causes and organizations with volunteers and donations. About 95 percent of the company's management jobs are in San Angelo. CalTech specializes in providing information technology services for banks and other financial businesses. The new positions will have starting salaries of at least $30,000 per year, plus benefits and performance bonuses. Texas Monthly included CalTech in its list of Best Companies to Work for in Texas three years in a row: 2014, 2015 and 2016. Welch credits the business' success to employees. "CalTech has been extremely fortunate in all the communities we serve," he said. "But primarily we have great people." He added the company hires people who align with CalTech's culture and values, which include integrity, excellence, commitment and being dynamic. "We can teach the IT side tech side to anyone," Welch said. "We can't teach work ethic and values, and that's what we look for when hiring." For more information or to apply, check out CalTech's website: www.caltech.com/ New Business Coming Council also approved COSADC to accept an offer from INVERMEX, LLC for the purchase of about 4.25 acres at the Business & Industrial Park at a sales price of $29,000 per acre. The exact size and configuration of the parcel will be determined by an actual grounds survey, but COSADC staff estimate a revenue of about $123,250. Invermex is a developer in Eagle Pass considering future development in the area, said Roland Pena, the city's economic development director. In other business ... Airport on the Agenda There's a buzz of activity around the San Angelo Regional Airport/Mathis Field. An item was added to the Tuesday City Council agenda on Friday, which is outside of the 72-hour notice required by law. The item will be considered in closed executive session, where council will deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to an aeronautical services company at the airport. "I'm not saying anything until council gives me direction," said Luis Elguezabal, the airport's director. "I'm going to brief council and if they tell me to start negotiating, I'll start negotiating." Pena said COSADC is working to develop and sustain a diversified economy in San Angelo. EDITOR'S NOTE: Council member Harry Thomas, SMD 3, recused himself from discussion and voting on the CalTech item as his son works for the company. COSADC board member Scott Tankersley likewise absented himself during CalTech proceedings, as he is a longtime employee of the company. SHARE An old joke about lawyers starts with someone saying divers found 500 of them on the bottom of the ocean. "It's a start," goes the reply. Now let's turn to journalists. What if you found 500 of them on the bottom of the ocean? That's easy. You had always figured they would devise a means to sink even lower. After all, they are not lazy, even if their actions are at times questionable. You can't call Sean Hannity lazy, can you? I mean he is boiling over with energy as he gives Donald Trump verbal hugs, reinterprets his fumbles to make them brilliant insights and somehow espies depths where the water is too shallow to dampen the soles of your shoes. Has he signed on as campaign manager yet? Does he love Trump more than Trump's own children do? I don't mean to be picking on Fox News, which has fine journalists in such people as Brit Hume and Chris Wallace, for instance. It is often more balanced than people suspect and remains a needed antidote to the progressive leanings of the mainstream networks. Hannity is a commentator and is not bound by the rules of straight-news reporters, but he is still going overboard. I've always figured him for a good, honest, capable guy, but temper it, fellow, temper it. Right now he is almost outdoing Bill O'Reilly. Awhile back, the excellent columnist Charles Krauthammer tried to tell the Fox News TV host it was not permissible for Trump to say in a nationally televised debate that he planned to kill the families of Islamic State members. O'Reilly said it was not so awful because Trump was just doing it to win the election. Maybe his next book will be called "Killing Reflectiveness." "PBS NewsHour" is one of my favorite news shows except that it is right now giving me grief. It is acting little different from all the commercial outlets that devote endless attention to who is or is not ahead in the polls, what the strategy of the day is, and what is working or not working in the campaigns. All of that can be interesting if it is not overdone, but issues of character, competence and policies matter so much more than guesses about outcomes. The "NewsHour" still does worthy stuff, of course, as do so many other news outlets that then go overboard time and again, as in supposing Trump's talk about President Barack Obama being the "founder" of the Islamic State was meant to be taken literally when he would immediately follow up by saying that Obama made things easier for the terrorist group by withdrawing troops from Iraq "Founder" was a metaphor, although not a good one. Trump stumbles about in the use of language. A better metaphor would have been to say Obama "opened the door." Trump daily shoots himself in the foot, and for the media to shoot him there when he doesn't is not exactly adherence to high standards. Nor is the effort of some to say there are no serious ethical and other implications about the Clinton emails and the Clinton Foundation. Maybe this election year is so crazy that it inspires the condition in all who pay attention. The latest nuttiness is journalists apparently thinking that their kin serving as moderators in a presidential debate should correct the perceived missteps of the candidates. That may be their role in journalistic interviews, but it is not their role as moderators. It is up to the candidates themselves. Cool the self-deification, folks. Government is only trusted by 19 percent of the people. Journalism does better. It is trusted by 22 percent. There is far more good than bad in an enterprise that overall shines, but let's stick the bad in a bag, OK? Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Contact him at speaktojay@aol.com. SHARE The following editorial appeared in Monday's Chicago Tribune: An existential question is facing modern consumers: paper or plastic? No, not grocery bags. Money. OK, OK, we know that American dollar bills are actually made of fibers, not paper. We have some. But over the last six years, Americans have been reaching more and more for their credit and debit cards and passing over cash. The U.S. stands at the tipping point, perfectly pitched to tumble after Sweden, Singapore and the Netherlands to become another cash-averse nation. But while those in Scandinavia and Singapore have embraced their digital wallets only 1 in 5 payments is made using cash in Sweden many Americans still cling to currency. In 2013, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that while noncash payments have been on a slow, steady rise, cash still accounts for more than a quarter of all U.S. payments. Debit and credit card transactions are more telling for our future, though; 53 percent of payments were made using plastic. It's not hard to see why. Digital transactions are clean, simple and accurate. There is no worry of miscounted or misplaced change. Mobile apps make it easy to check bank accounts and credit card balances, create budgets, track spending, send money to friends and family, and even pay bills. ... Cold cash has another drawback: Criminals like it. Thanks to its anonymity and portability, cash is an efficient way for crooks to keep transactions off the books. In a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff listed crimes facilitated by paper money: racketeering, extortion, money laundering, drug and human trafficking, corruption of public officials and terrorism. In May, the European Central Bank announced that it would phase out its 500-euro bank note at the end of 2018. Europe's chief law enforcement officer, Rob Wainwright, argued that the bill made it too easy for criminals and terrorists to fund their illegal activities. ... That's not to say that digital money isn't susceptible to crime. We're all familiar with credit card fraud. But cutting out cash especially bills worth more than $20 could hobble crime bosses. Creating a completely cashless society wouldn't come without a few hiccups; we'd have to learn to walk that fine line between security and privacy. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., nearly 9.6 million American households don't have bank accounts. Those households present a challenge. Some of the "unbanked," as the FDIC calls them, prefer to keep their money close, away from the prying eyes of banks. Others face some impediment to opening an account, such as job or income loss, which means they might be left behind during a digital revolution of our monetary system. Then there are those sticky questions we haven't yet asked ourselves about going cashless: How do we give spare change to street musicians? The homeless? What happens during a natural disaster? What will grandparents send in birthday cards? We don't want those Washingtons to disappear from our wallets at least not yet. Small bills are essential to everyday transactions. The way to ease us into a new era of digital denomination is to take a page from the Europeans' book: Slowly phase out higher bills. We'll find new ways to honor Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Franklin other than $50 and $100 bills. SHARE By USA TODAY LINDEN A bloody shootout on a New Jersey street ended Monday with the capture of a suspect in the bomb blast that wounded 29 people Saturday in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, authorities said. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, and two Linden police officers were wounded in the gunfight hours after authorities found more explosives at a New Jersey train station, raided an apartment nearby, issued a wanted poster and began to link the blast with other bombs. The intense manhunt came to a swift conclusion after Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan, was found sleeping in the doorway of a bar, Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said. Rahami shot the responding officer who was wearing a protective vest in the abdomen, Armstead said. Rahami then began shooting indiscriminately along Elizabeth Avenue, the police said, and another officer was injured in the hand. More officers joined the gunbattle, and Rahami was shot in the leg and arm before being taken into custody, police Capt. James Sarnicki said. "We have reason to believe this was an act of terror," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. He added: "There is no other individual we are looking for right now." The FBI wanted poster, issued hours before the arrest, warned that Rahami "should be considered armed and dangerous." Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said he believed Rahami would be charged with shooting the police officers Monday in Linden. As far as bomb-related charges, were going to take a lot of care, and a lot of time before proceeding to court. FBI Special Agent William Sweeney said there was no indication that Rahami was part of a terror cell. Rahami's last known address was listed in neighboring Elizabeth, and federal authorities conducted a raid there Monday at an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant operated by Rahami's father. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said a traffic stop conducted by FBI agents in New York City led to the search warrant for the apartment in Elizabeth. The search did not immediately reveal evidence that explosives had been assembled there, a federal law enforcement official told USA TODAY. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said investigators were searching for other possible locations the suspect may have used. Officials were scouring Rahamis communications to determine whether others may have assisted in the alleged planning, construction and the selection of targets. "Most folks make the assumption that parole boards are no longer on the scene, says Edward Rhine, director of the parole release and revocation project at the University of Minnesota. Though this is true in the federal corrections system, almost all states still have parole boards. And most of those boards still wield a great deal of control over who stays in prison, whos let out and who gets sent back for violating the terms of his release.As youve likely read in the newspaper or heard on your nightly news station, these boards dont always make the best decisions. Unfortunately, although efforts have been made to improve them, there is still a long way to go. In more than half of the states, one obstacle is the lack of adequate qualifications for the men and women who are selected -- generally by governors -- for these positions. You might think that there would be a high bar for people who hold the keys to prison cells in their hands. In fact, out of 45 states that responded to a survey run by the University of Minnesota, 19 indicated that they had no mandated qualifications at all. In other words, a high school dropout could conceivably be appointed. Of the 25 states that had mandated qualifications, 10 required a college degree but no pertinent experience. Only 14 required some years of experience in criminal justice or aligned fields of endeavor.On the more positive side, risk assessment tools are making their way into parole systems, incorporating data to analyze the likelihood of recidivism. The data gives the parole board more support to estimate the potential [of an individual] to commit a crime, says Jeff Anderson, manager of the Office of Research and Planning at the Michigan Department of Corrections. Among the factors used in various states risk assessments are whether the inmate was convicted of a violent crime; the age of first offense; the number of violent and nonviolent crimes committed in the past; educational levels; history of criminal acts in the potential parolees family; and employment history.This is critical information. The No. 1 goal when an inmate is released is that he or she pose no danger to society.Michigan began to change its parole approach almost a decade ago. It had become clear that heinous crimes had led Michigans parole board to be acutely risk averse in its work and that was one of the reasons the prison population was escalating. In 2007, the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative was put in place statewide. This program, while heavily reliant on predictive data, also focuses on the role of education in preparing a prisoner for parole. Often, states have experienced difficulties when they release prisoners who have not acquired sufficient life skills to function well in society. Without those skills, parolees are more likely to fall into old habits, including drug use and crime.In studying the data pulled together by the initiative, Michigan discovered other important findings. For example, the corrections department learned that it was unwise to release inmates right before the weekend: Weekends tend to be party times, with little opportunity to seek employment and more opportunities to get into trouble.Pennsylvania has been a national leader in the use of risk assessment information to guide parole decisions. Bret Bucklen, director of planning research and statistics for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, notes that he has a staff of 10 researchers to work with the data and that the parole department has seven. Most states, he says, are lucky if they have one or two.Another way in which Pennsylvania is a standout is its growing use of non-prison facilities for parolees. These are somewhat less expensive resources for men and women who dont need prison-quality security, but arent ready for life on the streets. Every contract for one of these facilities is based on the performance of those placed in its charge. According to Bucklen, a facility is evaluated based on recidivism rates. If the rate falls below 15 percent, the facility earns a bonus. If the rate climbs above 20 percent, it is put on a warning status. The second time, the state cancels the contract. Contracts are reviewed every six months.While Pennsylvania and other states are relying ever more on sophisticated risk assessments, the mere existence of these tools doesnt mean that a parole board necessarily has to follow their guidance. The lure to seem tough on crime can be very potent. According to aarticle this past June, the New York State Parole Board routinely ignores state laws and regulations that require it to consider an inmates rehabilitation, and to use a sophisticated risk assessment tool. Because the board members have broad discretion it has been difficult to hold them accountable.Even when states do rely heavily on algorithms to help select good candidates for parole, that information isnt always passed on to prisoners. In Utah, for example, so-called rationale sheets were used to tell inmates whether the data led to a recommendation to release them or not, but nothing more. It was minimal in information, says Kade Minchey, audit manager at the Office of the Legislative Auditor General in Utah.The opacity of this information prevented the prisoners who were turned down for parole from understanding behavioral patterns that might have led to this outcome. It didnt help them to recognize the ways in which better behavior might help them achieve parole -- and succeed in life. Utah is currently working on providing more information to its potential parolees.The idea behind these management trends is not to make it easier for prisoners to win parole but to help parole officials be more precise and informed about the decisions they make. Ohio Gov. John Kasich flatly ruled out voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election but also said he was "no closer" to voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.Kasich, one of Trump's former rivals in the Republican primary, was pressed by Chuck Todd on "Meet The Press" whom he would vote for. He quickly shot down the idea of casting his vote for the Democratic presidential nominee."No, of course not," Kasich said in the interview that aired Sunday.But when asked if that meant he would vote for Trump instead, the Ohio governor didn't offer a similarly straightforward answer."No, I'm not closer," Kasich said. The Supreme Court of Virginia shot down GOP push Thursday to hold Gov. Terry McAuliffe in contempt of court over felon voting rights restorations.The decision seems to finalize a partisan court battle over just how the McAuliffe administration can go about restoring voting rights in Virginia. That allows the governor to move forward with a process that has restored voting rights to more than 19,000 people in the past month.Republican legislators called on the court in early September to force McAuliffe to "show cause" and prove he hadn't violated the court's previous order in this case, which had struck down mass restorations that the governor rolled out in April.Speaker of the House William Howell and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, who sued to have that initial mass order ruled unconstitutional, argued that the governor's subsequent move to restore rights with hasty individual orders didn't include enough of a case-by-case review to satisfy the court's order.They suggested in a Sept. 1 filing that the governor was in contempt, and they essentially asked the court to revisit the case, calling for discovery as part of the show cause proceedings.The court denied that request Thursday.McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said that, absent any further word from the court, the administration is moving "full speed ahead" to process individual restorations for the 200,000-plus people it once hoped to cover via the mass orders.Howell, R-Stafford, said in a statement Thursday that he was disappointed, but that he respects the court's decision.Carl Tobias, the Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond, said he be believes this draws the court fight over restorations to a close."I do not see what more the GOP can do to stop them," Tobias said in an email.In his statement Thursday, Howell promised "a robust discussion" during the coming General Assembly session, which starts in January, about how to change the state constitution's language on felon voting. He called the current language, "vague, vulnerable to executive overreach, and insufficiently transparent." He said that McAuliffe "stretched the bounds of the Virginia Constitution."Virginia's constitution disenfranchises all people convicted of a felony unless the governor restores their right to vote. It does so with brief language that doesn't lay out a process for governors to follow: "No person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless his civil rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority."McAuliffe argued that this language didn't prohibit him from restoring rights all at once to every felon in Virginia who had finished his or her sentence and supervised release. Howell and Norment, R-James City, argued that no previous governor had done this, and they said other language in the constitution indicates that individual reviews are required.The court sided with the legislators, but didn't lay out a process. Since that July 22 decision McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 12,500 people who registered to vote after his mass order restorations, plus another 7,000 people who requested restoration. His administration has said each case gets reviewed in a process similar to the one used by former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.Norment has proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove the governor's power to restore voting rights, making restoration automatic instead for non-violent felons. The legislature would decide what crimes qualify as non-violent under his proposal, and violent felons would not have an avenue for restoration.McAuliffe and other Democrats have blasted this plan. The state party called on Republicans Thursday to drop the idea and called the court's decision "a milestone in the fight to restore voting rights to thousands of Virginians."Howell has said Norment's plan will be one of several reviewed as the General Assembly mulls this issue.Changing the constitution would require two majority votes in the General Assembly -- one in 2017, and another in 2018 -- followed by voter approval in a statewide referendum.McAuliffe said in a statement Thursday that restoring voting rights is "morally the right thing to do," a case he has made for months."It is my hope that the court's validation of the process we are using will convince Republicans to drop their divisive efforts to prevent Virginians from regaining their voting rights and focus their energy and resources on making Virginia a better place to live for the people who elected all of us to lead," the governor said in his statement.Attorney General Mark Herring, whose office defended the governor's restoration process before the court, said in his own statement Thursday that the GOP contempt motion "was completely baseless and I'm glad the Supreme Court dispatched it so quickly." Americas pornographic film industry, largely based in California, scored a win Tuesday, evading a ballot measure that opponents say would have cost millions of dollars in annual tax revenue for the state.Under the ballot initiative, known as Proposition 60, all actors in pornographic films produced in the state would have been required to wear condoms. The measure would have also required producers to pay for actors to get testedand vaccinated against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Perhaps most controversial, the law would have allowed anyone -- in or outside the state -- to sue a porn producer for failing to comply with the law if Californias Occupational Safety and Health Department doesnt act on the complaint within 21 days.The race hasn't officially been called, but the measure currently trails 54 percent to 46 percent, with 91 percent of precincts reporting.The regulations, critics said, would have been onerous and resulted in adult film productions leaving the state en masse.In 2012, Los Angeles County passed similar regulations. Voters there approved Measure B, a law requiring adult film actors to wear condoms. The next year, permits for adult films in the county dropped 90 percent. Thereported in 2014 that many pornography companies were taking their business to other counties in California, Florida, Nevada and even Eastern Europe.There is every indication that when faced with regulations and penalties, the industry either ignores them or moves out of county lines, said Phil Curtis, director of government affairs for APLA Health, which opposes the upcoming statewide measure.California actually already has a law requiring condom use in adult films. It's been in place since 1992, but is filled with loopholes that make it unenforceable. Prop. 60 would have made the existing law enforceable and closed those loopholes.Its an issue that has divided AIDS prevention groups while simultaneously garnering bipartisan support among the state's political parties.The measure was spearheaded by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The group has been controversial among the LGBT community because it advocates for condom usage and against the use of medication known as PrEP, for pre-exposure prophylaxis, that can prevent HIV for high-risk individuals, including gay men.Other supporters of the bill say it's a matter of public health and safety. Testing alone is insufficient protection, said Fred Wyand, a spokesperson for the American Sexual Health Association.This standard, which uses proven methods to reduce the risk of STI transmission, will protect the health of adult film industry employees while also promoting the well-being of their communities, the association said in a statement.But opponents said the bill wasn't just excessively burdensome -- it was unnecessary. The pornography industry already has a testing program in place that appears to work well. There have only been two documented cases of HIV contracted on set in the past decade, and one was in Nevada. A 2014 study found that 23 percent of adult actors have contracted STIs, whichis actually lower than the national norm: Half of all Americans will contract some form of STI in their lifetime. We understand the concept of worker safety, but we feel that the industry is doing a pretty good job. If the penalties are onerous enough on the industry, itll drive the industry out of the state, or worse, the country, said Curtis of APLA Health.If the porn industry were to ever leave California, the state would stand to lose millions of dollars in annual revenue. Los Angeles County alone could lose an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 jobs. That may be why the state's Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties all opposed the measure.Most AIDS organizations in the state oppose it as well, as do the Transgender Law Center, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the San Francisco Medical Society. No major newspaper has come out in support, andandall have written in opposition to Prop. 60. The Department of Public Works for the City of Manchester (N.H.) will test out the use of automated solid waste collection. Manchester's Board of Mayor and Alderman recently approved a pilot program to test one automated truck. The program is set to begin in spring 2017, reports Waste 360. Manchester's Environmental Programs Manager Mark Gomez told New Hampshire Public Radio that the city pays $300,000 annually in Workers' Compensation claims for trash collectors and loses 4,500 hours per year. These automated trucks are expected to increase worker safety. On Friday, in the morning, at the Port of Brisbane, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC received a briefing on operations, toured facilities and met staff. Following, at Parliament House, Brisbane, the Governor attended the Order of Australia Association, Queensland Branch 2016 Secondary Schools Citizenship Awards Presentation where His Excellency presented awards and addressed guests. In the evening, at the United Service Club (USC), Spring Hill, the Governor attended the USCs annual Patrons Dinner where His Excellency unveiled the South African War and Korean War Honour Board and addressed guests. Description GIS 19 September 2016 : Prospective students in medicine will be required to enrol only in the 198 medical institutions, including professional bodies, from 39 recognised countries, listed by the Medical Council of Mauritius for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. The list will be effective as from 1 January 2017. The announcement was made by the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Mr Anil Gayan, at a press conference on Friday 16 September 2016 in Port Louis. According to the Minister, the closed list of recognised medical institutions aims at raising the quality of health care by standardising the level of education acquired by Mauritian medical students. A survey has established that some 187 Mauritian students are presently enrolled in 34 universities across the world, of which 24 do not feature on the recognised list of medical institutions for the purpose of registration. Students who have already embarked on medical studies in institutions that do not appear on the list would be given a derogation and considered for registration to the Medical Council, said Mr Gayan. Moreover, the Minister called on medical students to undertake their clinical training in a teaching hospital affiliated to the university where they are registered. Failure to do so may result into the Medical Council of Mauritius refusing to grant recognition of the basic medical degree/diploma of the medical students for the purpose of giving provisional registration as Pre-Registration Trainee under the Medical Council Act, the Minister cautioned. The necessity for medical practitioners to follow a 12-hour Continuing Professional Development Course or Training Programme (CPD) was also on the agenda of the press conference. As from 1 August 2016 CPD has been made mandatory for all serving registered medical and dental practitioners in Mauritius. Failure to do so will lead to removal from the annual list of general practitioners and specialists published under section 30 of the Medical Council Act i.e. those who are authorised to practise medicine during the year. Speaking on pre-registration training, which is a crucial condition for medical students to determine their registration as medical practitioners and subsequently their practice, the Minister pointed out that the National Board of Examinations of India will be conducting the assessment of the pre-registration trainees in mid-October. The two-tier shift system which has been implemented on a pilot basis as from 1 April 2016 will be extended to all hospitals, and for the success of that endeavour some 310 doctors will be recruited soon, said the Minister. Colin wrote for Government Technology and Emergency Management from 2010 through most of 2016. (TNS) The Hawaii Department of Transportation is looking to charge motorists for the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of gas they buy at the pump under a proposal that would overhaul the way the state collects taxes to fund road repairs.A mileage-based tax system could possibly replace the states fuel tax, which currently makes up 33 percent of the state Highway Fund.The Transportation Department recently secured a $4 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration to conduct a major three-year demonstration project that will test the road usage charge. The state will provide $1.5 million in matching funds.The demonstration project would include nearly every vehicle in the state, according to the Transportation Departments federal grant application, which was released Thursday following a records request from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.The Transportation Department didnt respond to interview requests to discuss the program. Spokeswoman Shelly Kunishige said by email that a test run of the program will be optional and that billings will be simulated. But details of how the department would carry out the program werent available, except for the broad concepts in the grant application.A formal adoption of the program is expected to require approval from the Legislature, which could come during the 2019 legislative session, according to the timeline in the departments grant application.The proposal comes as the Transportation Department is struggling to raise more money for its Highway Fund.Earlier this year, the Legislature rejected a proposed hike in the gasoline tax that was expected to increase costs for a typical motorist by about $83 a year. Also rejected were increases in vehicle registration fees and the vehicle weight tax.The department argued that the hikes were needed due to declines in gas tax revenue brought on by greater fuel efficiency and the increasing popularity of hybrid and electric cars. Statewide, taxes from fuel consumption are not expected to keep up with the increasing costs of maintaining and repairing roads.The hikes were expected to bring in about $75.3 million in added revenue annually to the Transportation Department. But lawmakers criticized the department for a history of inefficiency, poor contract management and a track record of allowing hundreds of millions of federal dollars to languish unspent.Some lawmakers questioned whether the increases would actually translate into improved roads.Gov. David Ige said he planned to push again for the gas tax hike next year, but the proposed per-mile usage charge may eventually eclipse debates over gas tax increases.Its not yet clear how much motorists would be charged under such a program, or how much added revenue it would bring in to the state. But the Transportation Department indicated that the mileage charges could provide it with a more stable revenue stream.Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, said Thursday he hasnt yet seen the new tax proposal, but noted that it appears to be the result of an underlying public policy conflict in Hawaii. While the state is seeking to dramatically reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, it depends on the purchase of gasoline to fund road maintenance.People are relying on gasoline less, which is supposed to be a good thing, said Yamachika. Its working, much to the chagrin of DOT.A second demonstration project with approximately 500 people per county would test different methods of reporting mileage, such as using smartphones or other technologies that are placed inside vehicles, according to the departments grant application. The department will also explore different payment methods.The Transportation Department plans to collect, store, transmit and use vehicle data and periodic odometer readings from 1.1 million motorists as a foundational aspect of the project, through the periodic motor vehicle inspection process, according to the grant application.The data would be used to generate prototypical billings tailored to each motorist, showing the road use charge, federal, state and county fuel taxes and other fees.The road use charges could end up replacing federal and county fuel taxes, according to the application.Hawaii is one of a handful of states looking at implementing road usage charges, more traditionally known as tolls, to make up for falling gas tax revenues and increased road repairs under a program signed into law last year by President Barack Obama.Oregon has been at the forefront of efforts to implement a road usage charge. Under its voluntary OReGO program, motorists are charged 1.5 cents per mile and can receive credits on their bill for the fuel tax they pay at the pump.Michelle Godfrey, the education and outreach coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said Tuesday that motorists in the OReGO program can pay less or more than they would in gas taxes based on the fuel efficiency of their vehicle.This allows us to get away from a funding source dependent on the consumption of fossil fuels, she said.Godfrey said that the public reaction to the program has been mixed.Anytime you are talking about a tax there is automatic resistance, she noted.But she said that drivers have surprisingly become less worried about privacy issues relating to GPS devices that track their mileage, and another key concern, that the tax would unfairly burden rural drivers, hasnt proved to be necessarily true.Ultimately, the Transportation Departments proposal will require buy-in from state lawmakers. Sen. President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Joe Souki both submitted letters in support of the demonstration project, according to the departments grant application, but other lawmakers told the Star-Advertiser that this is the first they are hearing of the idea.Kouchi suggested that the program could create a more equitable system for motorists, where drivers of electric cars are paying their fair share for road maintenance.This will help them get some data so that we will be able to get a little more information available for the discussion about what is appropriate for the electric vehicles to pay, he said.Rep. Matt LoPresti (D, Ewa Villages-Ocean Pointe-Ewa Beach), vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said Thursday he hadnt been briefed on the project, but its something that he would have a hard time supporting at this time.The biggest concern I have with a proposal like this is regarding how it seems to punish people who live further out and seems to punish those who live in rural communities and people living in the only place they can afford to live, he said.LoPresti said he was particularly concerned with the bedroom communities that are being developed in Ewa Beach and Kapolei.They are not putting jobs out there, he said. Meanwhile, people are made to buy houses there because they cant afford it elsewhere. Negative Load Growth Dont Invest Reducing Demand No Certainty (TNS) Theres a joke among energy experts that electrical infrastructure is so outdated Thomas Edison would know his way around a modern-day substation.Problem is, it might be true.Across Missouri and, indeed, around the country electrical utilities are grappling with ways to modernize the grid, much of which is showing its age.Some substations will be 90 years old when theyre replaced, says Tom Byrne, Ameren Missouris senior director of regulatory affairs, if the current pace of replacement continues. Underground electrical infrastructure in downtown St. Louis, he said, may even reach 100 years in age by the time its updated with modern technology.The challenge, as Byrne will tell you, is how to pay for those improvements in a timely manner. As state-regulated monopolies, utilities must seek approval for the rate increases needed for infrastructure and other costs. In Missouri, however, the regulatory approval process can make it years from the time a project is completed until its costs are recovered.That delay is called regulatory lag, and it was one of the main topics of discussion in Jefferson City on Tuesday, when utility insiders, regulators and other experts came together at a meeting hosted by the state Public Service Commission to assess what policy levers can be adjusted to improve Missouris energy landscape.Utility representatives described the difficulties of funding improvements in their industry a problem that they say has been compounded by declining revenue from their customer base, as technologies such as energy-efficient appliances and rooftop solar panels have helped reduce overall electrical demand, or load.We cant rely on load growth to pay for new facilities, said Byrne. He said Ameren has experienced negative load growth in each of the last nine years, not including usage by Noranda Aluminum, formerly the states largest energy consumer, which closed its New Madrid smelter earlier this year.So that utilities and, by extension, the grid dont end up effectively being punished for growing trends in efficiency, many say new regulatory and revenue models should be explored. Policy tools exist that state officials may look to borrow from in the upcoming legislative session.Some of the main options discussed Tuesday include alternate funding structures aimed to combat regulatory lag. Missouri, for instance, does not allow utilities to recover their costs until after projects are completed and in service. Some states do the opposite, granting rate increases to utilities in anticipation of funding planned improvements to the grid. Most states have at least some system in place to buffer against lag.Ashok Gupta, a Kansas City-based senior energy economist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Missouri is one of the handful of states that handles rate cases solely on a retroactive basis and that also has to process them so frequently. Gupta says those distinguishing features, and the lack of certainty they create for utilities, send a clear signal: Dont invest in Missouri.While some are pushing for a full reversal of that system, developing hybrid pricing models based on a combination of utilities historic and projected costs is a compromise that has generated interest from multiple players. Use of interim rates during rate cases was another alternative receiving some vocal support.Another technique mentioned, called decoupling, would change incentives for utilities, aiming to break the direct link between revenue and electricity sales. Decoupling could also be part of a system where annual rate adjustments are made if utilities meet certain metrics for factors like reliability and efficiency.Rob Hack, a representative of Kansas City Power & Light, said decoupling must be a part of any change. He said Kansas City Power & Light fell short of its authorized earnings by $340 million from 2006 to 2015, blaming the gap on the broader trend of declining use per customer.Others say financial incentives for efficiency shouldnt target utilities alone, but should also seek to further reduce energy demand from the customers side of the meter.We should be valuing investments on the customer side just like investments on the utility side, Gupta said, adding that consumer-oriented incentives may be much more cost effective.He said he has seen progress in the states approach to energy efficiency overall, with Public Service Commission Chairman Daniel Hall proposing minimum efficiency requirements be implemented something Gupta said Missouri has not yet tried.But not everyone sees regulatory lag as a purely negative thing. James Owen, the director of the state Office of Public Counsel, is open to reform, but says the current system provides watchdogs such as his office with the time necessary to police utility finances and ensure that fair prices are set for consumers.It gives us a chance to open their books, said Owen. There are inefficiencies. There is improper management. Im not saying its intentional it happens.Other regulators from the Office of Public Counsel and the Public Service Commission disputed some of the assertions made by utilities at the meeting, such as the systemic effect of regulatory lag on revenue and the extent of declining load growth in the state.To some experts, Tuesdays summit raised broader questions about what regulators should incentivize the utilities to aim for. Some said a change is needed to give utilities the certainty needed to plan investments for the long run without the constant stop-and-go of backward-looking rate cases.Do you want a regulatory structure that provides little incentive for investment? asked Byrne.A long-term plan of state energy goals, Gupta said, would be a good place to start.It just freezes you when you dont have clarity or certainty, said Gupta. Things dont happen at random, theyre part of a plan. I know some people dont like the word plan, but with infrastructure, you need one.He is optimistic that conditions in Missouri are ripe for change, especially once a new governor takes office.Im a believer that we need more change rather than less and I think were more likely to see it in the first year of a new administration rather than the last year of an old administration, Gupta said. (TNS) A spate of hacking attacks has put U.S. states on edge ahead of Novembers presidential vote as election officials rush to plug cybersecurity gaps with help from the federal government.Nine states have asked for cyber hygiene scans in which the Department of Homeland Security looks for vulnerabilities in election authorities networks that are connected to the internet, according to a DHS official who asked not to be identified because the information isnt public. With less than two months before the election, DHS wants more states to sign up.The threat primarily from foreign hackers or intelligence agencies affects states that are reliably Democratic or Republican as well as key battlegrounds including Pennsylvania and Ohio, officials and cybersecurity experts said. While hackers may not be able to change the actual outcome from afar, they could sow doubts by manipulating voter registration websites, voter databases and systems used to track results on election night.Were certainly on high alert, said Dean Logan, the registrar-recorder and county clerk in Los Angeles County, the nations biggest electoral district. Across the whole network of services and online applications for the county there are frequent indications of attempts to get into those systems.Most states use voting equipment that can generate a paper record, allowing for audits or recounts if the result is close or tampering is suspected. Among the exceptions is Pennsylvania, which both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are targeting as a priority.The electronic voting machines in 50 of Pennsylvanias 67 counties leave no paper trail, according to Verified Voting, a California-based nonprofit that monitors voting methods. Many of those counties use touch-screen machines, which are especially vulnerable, according to Andrew Appel, a computer science professor at Princeton University who stores in a warehouse the old voting machines that his research teams have hacked over the past dozen years.Though the touch-screen machines arent connected to the internet where hackers can do damage from around the world someone with physical access to the devices could employ techniques such as inserting a cartridge carrying malware that could reprogram their software, he said. Similar machines are used in Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.Theres no way to know that they have been hacked, Appel said. And theres no way to recover what the vote should have been, and theres no way to know that the votes may be wrong.Marian Schneider, Pennsylvanias deputy secretary for elections and administration, said her state is taking advantage of DHSs offer to scan computer systems and is considering hiring a contractor to bolster cybersecurity.Were going to be making sure that there are no exploitable vulnerabilities in our systems, said Schneider, whose agency oversees everything from state voter registration databases to aggregating local election results.In a recent simulation, Symantec Corp. said its workers were able to easily hack into an electronic voting machine. It was possible to switch votes as well as change the volume of data, said Samir Kapuria, senior vice president and general manager of Symantecs cybersecurity group.It was pretty vulnerable to multiple attacks both physically as well as when that information got transmitted upstream for the tabulation systems, Kapuria said, without providing the machines maker or saying where it is used. Symantec is working with the manufacturer to make improvements, he added.DHSs major concern isnt necessarily a hacker changing ballots on Election Day, but an actor stirring up enough confusion in the election infrastructure as to undermine public confidence in the vote, according to the agencys official.In an Aug. 1 speech in Columbus, Ohio, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that hes afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest, and he said cheating would be the reason if he loses Pennsylvania.The DHS cyber hygiene assessments are quick tests that let states know of holes they should urgently fix. The department also is in talks with some states to do on-site visits to scan election authorities internal networks that arent linked to the internet. But with less than two months to go, few states will receive such a deep dive. States have told the feds it would be disruptive at this point to examine individual voting machines, so DHS will have to save those tests for after the election.Concern about election tampering rose after hackers attacked servers at the Democratic National Committee and related organizations, taking internal emails and data that were made public on the WikiLeaks website. The revelations prompted DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign days before Clinton was formally named the partys nominee.The FBI has high confidence recent attacks were orchestrated by Russia, according to a person familiar with the agencys probe. President Vladimir Putin has rejected the accusations.FBI Director James Comey has said his agency is working very hard to understand whether a foreign government is hacking U.S. systems in order to influence elections or other national affairs.Working against foreign hackers is the sheer complexity of the decentralized U.S. electoral system, which has about 9,000 separate jurisdictions where citizens go to vote.The beauty of the American voting system is that its diverse among the 50 states and its clunky as heck, Comey said Sept. 8 at a conference in Washington. It is hard for an actor to reach our voting processes.Besides the voting machines, hackers looking to cause chaos on Election Day could alter voter registration records and electronic poll-books, used to verify voters identities at precincts. Local jurisdictions also worry about hackers tampering with websites that tell people where to vote or provide other information about the voting process.During Californias June presidential primary, a number of voters in Riverside County found that their party affiliations had been changed, according to District Attorney Michael Hestrin. He said it appeared hackers accessed voter-registration data. In some cases, voters even found their race, address and birth date changed, Riverside County Republican Party Chairman Scott Mann said. Others didnt find themselves in poll-books, Mann said.Meddling with systems that tabulate and report the votes on election night whether state election boards or media organizations is another potential entry point for those wanting to cause mischief and undercut public confidence.Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a two-term Republican, said the states elections systems have been modernized with cybersecurity upgrades in recent years, and theres been nothing thats occurred thats given us any alarm.Even before the FBI warned state officials last month to improve election security, Husted said his office consulted with the agency and with the states cybersecurity experts. It even had the National Guard try to hack into Ohios election system to identify any vulnerabilities.Everything that we should be doing, we were already doing before these alerts came about, Husted said in an interview in Columbus. If you waited until the FBI called two weeks ago, then you were late. A case brought against a German magazine is likely to be won by Michael Schumacher's family. Meedia, a media-specific German publication, reports that the family took action against the Bunte weekly following a cover edition claiming the F1 legend "walks again". In a Hamburg court, lawyers this week asked the judge to assign EUR 100,000 in damages for the false story. "He cannot walk," Schumacher family lawyer Felix Damm is quoted as saying. The judge indicated that the awarding of cash damages is likely. "Realistically, there will be," the judge reportedly said. "A minimum of EUR 40,000." A verdict is not expected until October. (GMM) Sep.18 (GMM) Nyck de Vries thinks it is only "a matter of time" before he gets his own chance at a career in formula one with McLaren. The 21-year-old Dutchman, part of McLaren's development programme, said recently that he hopes Stoffel Vandoorne's promotion means he now moves up a rung on the ladder. De Vries has now told the Dutch publication Helden: "At the moment there are no seats free. "Next year Stoffel Vandoorne makes his debut so I have to wait for my chance, but it's a matter of time I think," said the GP3 frontrunner. "If I keep performing well, my chance will come. (Fernando) Alonso's contract expires late next year -- perhaps there is space, we'll see." (GMM) When asked what Liberty Media's plans are for F1, the sport's incoming executive chairman answered: "No more Liberty Media. "It will be formula one," Chase Carey told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag in Singapore. Behind the engine noise at the glitzy night race, Carey has been meeting with F1 teams. "It's incredibly exciting to be here," the American admitted. "It's my first time in formula one." Bild am Sonntag reports that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was with Carey on Friday, but not on Saturday -- when Carey met with team bosses. It is fuelling rumours that Ecclestone, 85, is on the verge of quitting. The Briton's old ally Max Mosley hinted at the potential development in an interview with Sky, and now Ecclestone confirms: "Max knows me very well. "If by chance things are going what I don't think is the right way - I may well be wrong - then I will disappear for sure," he warned. According to Speed Week, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff confirmed that talks with Carey have been taking place in Singapore. "I met him," he said. "He brings a lot of experience from the US, you can feel that he is very interested in our sport and he said 'I will ask you a lot of questions'. "I like that -- it's the right attitude," Wolff added. (GMM) A power struggle between Bernie Ecclestone and F1 newcomer Chase Carey is continuing to shape up. Observers in Singapore at the weekend reported obvious tension between the pair in the wake of the Liberty Media buyout and American Carey's appointment as chairman. Ecclestone is said to be staying as chief executive for three more years, but when asked about that by British television Sky he answered: "Let's see. We'll see." One interpretation is that Carey will play the role of apprentice for a time before fully taking over, but the 21st Century Fox executive told F1's official website: "I am a bit too old to be an apprentice." The opening salvos of the Liberty Media era have been obvious, with 85-year-old Ecclestone clearly unhappy. Told that he has to work with Carey, he insisted: "The only thing I have to do is die and pay my tax. Short of that I don't have to do anything." But Carey is still hinting that the Ecclestone era is over. "Sure, that (running F1) is not a task for a committee, as committees tend to become bureaucratic, but there also can't be a dictatorship -- even if probably here they are used to it," he said in Singapore. And Carey also said: "Certainly Hollywood is good training for dealing with unique personalities. "With all credit to Bernie, he's had enormous success -- the world admires Bernie for the business that he has built. But I still think that there is another level that we can take formula one to." What does seem clear is that Mercedes' Toto Wolff will not be stepping in to replace Ecclestone as chief executive. "I will not do it," he is quoted by Osterreich newspaper, standing with fellow Mercedes chief Niki Lauda. "We both work together here and we want to keep working together here." (GMM) Donald Trump gets most everything wrong. Yet another instance was when he attacked Ford Motor Co. last week for announcing it will move small-car production to Mexico. "We shouldn't allow it to happen," Trump said during a speech in Flint. "They'll make their cars, they'll employ thousands and thousands of people not from this country and they'll sell the cars right through our border. No tax, no nothing, and we'll have nothing but more unemployment in Flint and in Michigan." Typical demagoguery, but incorrect, as RedState points out: "Ford has increased its job count in the US by 50% in the last five years. Furthermore, while it has moved its big truck production into the U.S., they say they will continue to make their small car product here as well, despite moving some of it to Mexico. In fact, the cars they're producing in Mexico are their less popular, and less profitable models." And, by the way, Ford has been building cars overseas since 1911, according to this history: "The first non-North American Ford assembly plant was opened by Percival Perry at Manchester, England, in 1911. The company expanded into the southern hemisphere by opening an assembly plant in Buenos Aires in 1914. During World War I, Canadian-made Fords served as ambulances for Canadian troops, British-made Fords carried ammunition, and American-made Fords accomplished many tasks for Americans. To meet the growing post-war market. Ford opened two new assembly plants, one in Copenhagen and one in Cadiz. By 1924, Ford had opened assembly plants at Trieste, Antwerp, and Stockholm. The company replaced its Copenhagen plant with a larger waterfront structure in 1924 as well, because Copenhagen was to serve as Ford's gateway to Russia and the Baltic countries. In 1925, Ford opened an assembly plant in a suburb of Paris and the following year a plant in Berlin. Meanwhile, Ford of Canada paralleled the growth of its parent in the U.S., adopting the five-dollar day and expanding across the country, opening branches in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, and Vancouver. Farther south, the Ford Motor Company opened assembly plants in Brazil and Mexico. Ford entered the Asian market in 1922, building an assembly plant at Yokohama, Japan." Just saying. GREENWICH It is a world, mysterious and haunting, where electricity, the Internet, pharmaceuticals, international borders and most of the human population decimated by a flu pandemic are gone. The question I tried to address in Station Eleven is what would we miss? said author Emily St. John Mandel. What would we long for and try to recreate if all of the trappings of civilization were to fall away? On a rainy Monday morning, Mandel spoke about her acclaimed fourth novel to an assembly of all Greenwich Academy and Brunswick School high school students. The book was summer reading for students in grades nine through 12 at both schools and is the subject of the upcoming Greenwich Reads Together townwide event. The power of the novel lies in more than its ability to frighten us about an impending apocalypse, said Edwina Foster, English Department chair at Greenwich Academy, who helped select the novel as the summer reading for both schools. Its power lies also in the important questions the novel asks: How do we retain our humanity in the face of crisis? What meaning and purpose can and does art provide us? What kinds of beauty can be found in a damaged place, amongst damaged people? Station Eleven follows a traveling band of Shakespeare performers on their journey through what is left of society. The book was a New York Times and international bestseller and was chosen as one of the top 10 books of the year by the Washington Post and TIME magazine. It was the 2015 winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In her lecture, Mandel described what it was like to write a post-apocalyptic novel. It was kind of a fascinating and frankly terrifying exercise because if you are writing something like that, you find yourself noticing everything around you in a way that you maybe hadnt before, said Mandel. I found myself looking at every detail of this fairly fragile apparatus of technology that surrounds us that is civilization. She also described her extensive research of pandemics in preparation for writing the novel as unsettling; and explained her choice to use William Shakespeares play King Lear as a main thread through the novel. Lear is, on some level, a play about losing absolutely everything, she said. You know, as the book opens everyone in the theater that night is just on the verge of losing absolutely everything, in most cases, including their lives. Lear just seemed like an appropriate echo of that. Mandel, who spent two and a half years writing Station Eleven, opened the floor to questions from the students. A lengthy queue soon formed, with curious students asking the author about a range of subjects from the role of religion in the novel to, If you were in Station Eleven, do you think you would survive? Mandel laughed and said she thought the survival of individuals in such environments was based purely on chance. The novel, filled with plot twists and mysterious clues, left one Greenwich Academy student wondering, what was Mandels intended message? With Station Eleven, I tried not to have one really clear message, said Mandel. We come at books through this kind of subjective vision or experience, based on other books weve read. So I kind of think the readers relationship with Station Eleven is almost none of my business. I think five different people could take away five different ideas. Many students of both schools had further opportunity to ask questions of the novelist in two smaller sessions later in the day during their normal English classes. The novel is so appealing because readers like to think about how they would respond to a particular scenario and I think Station Eleven invites that, said Foster. Youre showing kids good writing, youre showing kids good storytelling and all of that is key. We wanted a summer reading book that would encourage kids to keep reading and I think this book does that. emunson@hearstmediact.com; @emiliemunson This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH With Labradors, poodles and burly St. Bernards, thousands of pet-lovers turned out to show off their four-legged friends in Greenwich on an muggy, overcast Sunday afternoon. By midafternoon, 3,500 people turned out at Adopt-A-Dogs 29th annual Puttin on the Dog (and cat) festival in Roger Sherman Baldwin Park. The event, which raises money for the groups rescue and adoption efforts, featured dozens of vendors and competitions throughout the day. Adopt-A-Dog places about 150 dogs a year in new homes. At Adopt-A-Dogs adoption tent, potential owners scouted out potential additions to their household that were up for adoption, including Bulbosaur, a 3-year-old pitbull mix rescued from the recent floods in West Virginia, and Squirtle, a 50-pound border collie mix who was adopted during the seven-hour event. Kelly Dugan, an adoption coordinator for the group, said the dogs available for adoption are evaluated for temperament and behavioral tendencies, so the shelter workers and volunteers can best match them to families. How easy it is to find a dog a home can depend on age and a lot of times breed, Dugan said. We want to find the perfect fit for each dog. With hundreds of dogs wandering the several fairways of vendor tents and enclosures for displays and competitions, owners themselves said the event was most exciting for their pets. Just having dogs meeting dogs makes it a huge social event, said Andrew Volga, the owner of a purebred golden retriever named Scooby. Bonnie Kennedy, of Greenwich, a volunteer at the event, said that she adopted a chihuahua mix three years ago named Spike from Adopt-A-Dogs Westchester County kennel. My main reasoning is that they need homes, said Kennedy. Im older now and I dont want a puppy and there are a lot of retired people who look for older dogs that they can handle. The organization has a kennel just over the Greenwich border in Armonk, N.Y., which can house up to 35 dogs at once. In addition to a total of 38 dogs currently up for adoption, the group also took applications Sunday for dibs on a 7-week-old litter of 10 English mastiff boxer mix puppies. Donna Nives, the events founder, said while the first ever event drew a healthy 1,500 paying customers 29 years ago, she has been pleasantly surprised by its continued growth among dog lovers. The financial need of the group is constant: paying for veterinary care, evaluation of potential adoptable dogs, and acclimating dogs so they might be suitable candidates for new homes. We always need support, whether it is money or volunteers, said Nives. Were also interested in teaching the next generation with this event that an animal is not something you should give away. Owning a dog is a commitment; it is a pleasurable commitment, but they should be a part of the family. mcassidy@scni.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Offending some party colleagues might help Christopher Shays build his resume for a gig in a Hillary Clinton administration. Shays was vilified by fellow Republicans for his endorsement last month of Clinton - just as he was when he voted against Bill Clintons impeachment in 1998. But Shays, a former Fairfield County congressman, said there is no quid pro quo. Im not trying to get a job with the Clinton administration, Shays told Hearst Connecticut Media. Do I want to help her be effective? Absolutely. But that doesnt entail a job. Thats not how some GOP diehards loyal to Donald Trump interpreted Shays comments last week in a Politico story about Republicans expecting to have a seat at the table in a Clinton White House. It wouldnt just be token positions, Shays told Politico. No sooner did Shays conjecture go viral than some fellow Republicans lashed out, with former gubernatorial candidate and Trump organizer Joe Visconti Tweeting out Shays personal cell phone number. All is fair in love and war, Visconti said. You want to push for Hillary. Come on, man. Shays said he used to give out his cell number on his congressional business cards, so its no big deal. He explained that he couldnt just sit on his hands the way some Republicans are this year. The thought that Donald Trump and the people around him will define the Republican Party to me is sickening, Shays said, adding that a Trump victory in November would be the ruin of the GOP. As far as Im concerned, its like A Wonderful Life, if the banker won. Raising Kane Its never too early to start sizing up the 2018 prospects for governor, but deductive reasoning seems to be the best approach. Because who isnt thinking about running? Now you can add Rob Kanes name to the list. The four-term Republican state senator and deputy minority leader pro tempore won a recent gubernatorial straw poll over a stable of GOP contenders that included Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and Peter Lumaj, the partys 2014 nominee for secretary of the state. Full disclosure: the straw poll was conducted by Republicans in Bethlehem in Kanes district during the towns annual country fair. Kane also represents Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington, Oxford, Seymour, Southbury, Middlebury, Woodbury and Watertown, where he resides. Apparently, I ran away with it, Kane said. Its certainly very flattering and enthusiastic, and is something I would now consider. Kane is the owner of KarTele Cellular Phones, a Waterbury retailer of remote starters, alarms, stereos and wireless technology for cars. I think what people recognize is that Im a small business owner, Kane said. I use and show common sense. I stand up for what I believe in. Musical chairs Sen. Dannel P. Malloy? Not so fast. One popular theory is that if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, her Yale Law School classmate, Richard Blumenthal, would be on Clintons short list for attorney general. That would create a domino effect, with some speculating that Malloy as governor could appoint himself to fill a vacancy in Blumenthals U.S. Senate seat. Well, its an urban legend. See, in 2009, Malloys predecessor, Republican M. Jodi Rell, ceded the authority of the governor to fill a Senate vacancy. In Connecticut, a special election is called, said Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the secretary of the states office. It follows the standard process for a special election. A special election would have to take place within 160 days of a vacancy under legislation Rell signed at the time. This issue last came up in 2000, when Joe Lieberman ran simultaneously for re-election to the Senate and for vice president as the running mate of Al Gore. Of course, it turned out to be a moot point. So much for the scenario of Malloy, who has two more years left in his second term of governor, sliding into Blumenthals seat for six years. GREENWICH Dr. Claire Esposito went to Honduras as a young medical student in 1991, tasked with writing a report on how a medically underserved rural community copes with limited resources. Twenty-five years later, the Greenwich physician, who graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, keeps coming back to the Central American nation. Esposito, an anesthesiologist who works at Bridgeport Hospital, recently returned from a mission in Tela, Honduras, helping to create new housing for 14 families displaced by a road project. She said her trips to Honduras were a part of her life she could not live without. I just felt an attraction to the place and the people. And theyre my friends now, said Esposito. Besides the rewards of helping people, she said there were other attractions. Its beautiful. The natural beauty is unparalleled. One of the finest coral reefs in the Western Hemisphere is there. Theres a rare macaw, beautiful ruins, the Indian culture, the African culture. Its really an interesting place to be, she said. The community where she works is relatively safe, removed from the drug gangs that are a source of violence elsewhere in Honduras. Esposito said living in Greenwich was an incentive to broaden her vision and help others. Theres a sense of duty. Certainly, living in Greenwich, and being in this country, and having a job and a roof over my head, thats like a winning lottery ticket. I have an obligation to share, she said. She has a house in Honduras and has coordinated medical groups offering aid to the public. Visiting doctors, nurses and dentists served up to 100 patients a day on her front porch. Esposito has been partnering with a nonprofit organization, Food For The Poor, on a housing project that is providing clean and safe housing for a dozen or so families in the village of Tela. They know what works, she said. Angel Aloma, Food For The Poors executive director, said the doctors work would have a significant impact. For generations, these families in Tela have lived with the uncertainty of the changing tides and now they will have newly built homes in a nice community. There arent enough words to express their gratitude to Dr. Claire Esposito for helping to make this dream a reality for them and the future generations to follow, he said in a statement. The doctor said it was a learning experience to spend time in poor rural communities. The next meal is not a guarantee, she said. I have a better appreciation of how difficult life can be. My depth of appreciation has grown. Toby Cecchini makes a Cosmo at Long Island Bar, in Brooklyn. Photo: M. Cooper The following is an excerpt from A Proper Drink: The Untold Story of How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized Drinking World, a new book by Robert Simonson that will be published this week by Ten Speed Press. All the bars that tried on the cocktail thing in the 1990s, in both New York and London, relied heavily on two drinks. The first was the Martini, the one drink that everybody, however ignorant of American drinking history, recognized as the epitome of a cocktail. The other drink order that New York cocktail bartenders of the 1990s could be assured of fielding on each shift was of more recent vintage. The Cosmopolitan is a simple drink. It is basically a variation on the Kamikaze, made of Absolut Citron (which was released the same year the drink was created, 1988), fresh lime juice, Cointreau, and cranberry juice cocktailthe thing that gives the drink its famous pink color. It became internationally famous for a variety of reasons, not least of which was that it served as the primary form of sustenance for the four female characters on the HBO series Sex and the City. But the real importance of the Cosmopolitan is not how it became famous and popular, but that it did become famous and popular. It is the only cocktail of its era that succeeded in becoming an international household word. The Martini was retro; however popular the drink was in the 1990s, the name was a throwback, a reminder that cocktail cultures heyday was in the past. The Cosmopolitan alone illustrated that the cocktail could be a thing of today. Its amusing, then, that the drinks most convincing claim of ownership belongs to a contrarian who for many years refused credit. Toby Cecchini is a querulous skeptic who likes to downplay his profession any chance he gets. He remained happily ignorant of the leaps mixology made during his first two decades as a bartender, from the mid-80s to the mid-00s. Rip Van Winkle-like, he woke up to the revolution he had helped set in motion only when his bar Passerby closed in 2008, and some of his younger colleagues dragged him out of the shadows and set him up as an idol and forefather. Cecchinis post-Passerby role in the brave new cocktail world was complicated. Young bartenders respected his veteran status and his writings (including the memoir Cosmopolitan). But they hated the drink he created on principle. Struck by some Oedipal urge, they sought to kill the thing on which many of their careers had been built. Cecchini remembered, Years and years of bartenders saying: You! You invented the Cosmopolitan, you fuck! And Id be like, Im sorry, man. The finished drink. Photo: M. Cooper Bartenders rage toward the drink didnt stem entirely from a cool kids knee-jerk urge to knock the trendy and popular, or from the natural hatred all bartenders feel toward any drink theyre forced to make countless times. It was more that the drink required two artificial ingredients flavored vodka and cranberry juice cocktail that they, as artisans, had foresworn. Fake wasnt in the modern mixologists toolkit. Many cocktail bars didnt carry cranberry juice cocktail just so they wouldnt be able to make Cosmopolitans. It was a hard thing to own such a hated drink. So for many years Cecchini shirked his connection to it, developing the kind of cranky attitude toward his early work that Orson Welles had for Citizen Kane late in his career. That changed, though, as bartenders attitude toward the cocktail began to relax, and as the number of credit hogs rose. Cecchini still stands by the story of the drinks birth that he laid down in Cosmopolitan. A fellow bartender at Odeon had friends from San Francisco who introduced her to a Bay Area drink called the Cosmopolitan. She told Toby about the cocktail. The Cosmopolitan was a kind of drink made of rail vodka, Roses lime juice, and Roses grenadine that was making the rounds of gay bars in San Francisco in the early 80s, he said. He didnt think much of it, and began tinkering. I simply gave it the same treatment we were giving our Margaritas at the time, with is using fresh lime juice and Cointreau, and I swapped out the grenadine for a little Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail, which is what we were using in Cape Codders. And it became the staff drink. I remember being puzzled when the customers began to order one. How do you know about our staff drink? And I became really puzzled as I visited other bars and noticed this small diaspora around downtown New York and seeing people make it wrong and badly. The final irony of the Cosmopolitan is that it was invented in pre-cocktail-revival days, when no one was looking for a new classic cocktail. And todays revivalists, who so desperately want to create new classics, have so far failed to put out anything even approaching the Cosmo in notoriety. Im not sure well ever have a Cosmopolitan again, said Philip Duff, an international cocktail consultant and authority who has seen thirty years of cocktail trends come and go. It was beautifully seeded by that television series, and we were all so hungry for it. Lenovo now takes pre-orders for the Yoga Book in the US, priced from $499.99 After having gone on pre-order in the UK last week, Lenovo's Yoga Book is now ready to impress those in the US as well. The 2-in-1 is up for pre-order straight from Lenovo's online store in the US. The Android version is priced at $499.99, while the one running Windows will set you back $549.99. Both variations will start shipping on October 17. You can choose between Gunmetal Grey and Champagne Gold color options. The Yoga Book turned a lot of heads when it was unveiled at IFA, especially thanks to its innovative Halo Keyboard that appears only when it's needed. The surface is pressure sensitive so it also doubles as a writing surface. Take a look at our hands-on report for more details. Source 1 Source 2 | Via These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. After Canada, replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 stock has begun arriving in the United States as well. Reports are pouring in that Best Buy has started notifying users that their new unit is ready for pick up. As is the case with Canadian units, the new Note7 stock arriving in the US also features a small black square on the box label - there is no blue S on the box, and the battery indicator stays white as well. The development is inline with the South Korean company's promise that replacement units will be available in the country "no later than September 21." The time-frame was revealed following the US CPSC announcing an official recall of the phablet. In case you don't already know, Samsung has already announced that it will resume sales of the smartphone on September 28 in South Korea. Source 1 2 | Via Proactively From the Sea; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity. Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 09:44, 30 OCT 2022 When it comes to recruiting the very best candidates, employers are often missing out on one crucial group of people who can bring great qualities to any firm: scientists. Australian companies should consider hiring scientists because they can be an asset to almost any workforce, Australias Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, told HC. As well as being hard-working and extremely bright, those within the scientific field have the ability to solve complex problems quickly with minimal resources, he said. A good science and engineering degree teaches critical thinking, advanced IT, data gathering, problem solving and management all of which are adaptable skills that enable graduates to identify their first job and succeed in a 50-year career, he said. What company wouldnt want those traits in an employee? The days of expecting a job directly linked to your undergraduate degree are over, he told HC, with massive increases in the number of students undertaking tertiary education making this impossible. As students acquire deep discipline skills through formal training, this makes it simple for them to learn new skills on the job over and over again. Similarly, employers must recognise the benefits in hiring employees with critical thinking skills, and the ability to adapt to constantly changing working environments, Finkel said. Candidates with degrees in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) are a good starting point for employers seeking the best candidates. In fact, some of the big accounting firms already recognise the benefits of this demographic, he said. KPMG now recruits more than a third of its graduate intake from so-called non-traditional fields: from electrical engineering through to molecular biology. Josh Stein, Democratic candidate for North Carolina Attorney General, will be the keynote speaker at the Fall Rally of the Watauga County Democratic Party on Saturday, October 8, in the Central Dining Hall at Appalachian State University. The rally is hosted by the ASU College Democrats. The rally will kick off at 5:00 p.m. with a barbecue dinner (vegetarian option available) and will feature other local and district Democratic candidates. Watauga Democrats will also be inducting their 2016 honorees into the local partys Hall of Fame. Josh Stein has been a North Carolina state senator since 2009, serving throughout his tenure on the Judiciary I committee as well as other standing committees of the Senate. He became something of a YouTube star for speeches he made opposing Republican voting law changes and the Republican budget in 2013. North Carolina political pundit Gary Pearce of Talking About Politics named Stein as the Democratic MVP for his courage and conviction and political skills during the 2013 long session, and both his Democratic and Republican colleagues have named Stein the most effective Democratic senator. Prior to his election to the Senate, Stein served as Senior Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection from 2001-2008, prosecuting cases against predatory and pay-day lenders and fighting rate increases imposed by monopoly utilities. Stein has been named Legislator of the Year by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, by the NC Sustainable Energy Association, by the AARP of North Carolina, by the Metro Mayors Association, and he has received other legislative awards from Equality NC, the NC Association of Educators, the Sierra Club, and the NC Justice Center. Tickets to the Watauga Democratic Fall Rally are $10 each and are available in advance at party headquarters (744 W. King St., Boone) or at the door. You may call 828-355-9656 for further information. The Central Dining Hall at ASU is adjacent to Rivers Street. There will be free parking that evening in the Rivers Street parking deck, with direct access via the elevated walkway on the 2nd floor to the rally site. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket (HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges in a scheme involving illegal stock sales and false financial filings of a company that makes containers for growing marijuana. An SEC investigation found that William J. Sears orchestrated the scheme along with his brother-in-law Scott M. Dittman, who was the CEO and sole officer at Fusion Pharm Inc. while Sears concealed his control from behind the scenes. Sears and Dittman hired Cliffe R. Bodden to help them create fraudulent corporate documents that enabled Fusion Pharm to issue common stock to three other companies controlled by Sears, who then illegally sold the restricted stock into the market for $12.2 million in profits while hiding the companies connection to Fusion Pharm. Sears transferred some of his illegal proceeds back to Fusion Pharm so the money could be falsely reported as revenue, and the company issued press releases and financial reports that misled investors to believe the revenue came from sales of the containers called PharmPods. Sears, Dittman, and Bodden as well as Fusion Pharm and Searss other three companies agreed to settle the SECs charges with monetary sanctions to be determined at a later date. The SEC barred Sears and his three companies, Dittman, and Bodden from participating in any future penny stock offerings, and Sears and Dittman are permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company. Dittman also is permanently suspended from appearing and practicing before the SEC as an accountant, which includes not participating in the financial reporting or audits of public companies. Sears and Dittman misled investors by recording and trumpeting revenues for purported sales of PharmPods when they were really just round-tripping money from illegal stock sales by hidden affiliates, said Julie K. Lutz, Director of the SECs Denver Regional Office. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Colorado today announced criminal charges against Sears and Dittman. The SEC separately instituted an administrative proceeding against attorney Tod A. DiTommaso. The SEC Enforcement Division alleges that he issued attorney opinion letters for Sears and Dittman falsely stating that unrestricted shares in Fusion Pharm could be issued into the market when in reality it was restricted stock. The matter will be scheduled for a public hearing before an administrative law judge, who will prepare an initial decision stating what, if any, remedial actions are appropriate. One of the demonstrators, a man born in 1990, has been arrested in connection with the incident after turning himself in to the law-enforcement authorities, according to a press release from the Helsinki Police Department . He is tentatively suspected of assault and grossly negligent homicide. The Helsinki Police Department has confirmed the death of a young man who was assaulted during a demonstration organised by the Finnish Resistance Movement outside Helsinki Railway Station on 10 September, 2016. Teemu Kruskopf, the chief inspector in charge of the pre-trial investigation, reveals in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat that the victim, a man born in 1988, was interviewed in hospital following the assault. He said that he walked by [the demonstrators] and spit. He said there was no other reason for why he was attacked, says Kruskopf. The press release indicates that the offender and other demonstrators left the scene shortly after the assault, leaving the victim lying on the ground. The victim died one day after he was discharged from hospital, on 16 September. The Helsinki Police Department reminds in its press release that the pre-trial investigation is in progress and some details of the incident and the course of events remain unknown. People who witnessed the incident are consequently asked to contact the investigators by phone or e-mail. The incident has fuelled demands that the activities of far-right extremists are put to an end. Ville Niinisto, the chairperson of the Green League, lashed out at the ruling parties for downplaying the threat posed by far-right organisations and racism in Finland. It is clear that we have been silent on the activities of neo-Nazis for too long in Finland. Neo-Nazis have a violent, subversive and racist ideology. The Finnish Resistance Movement uses the threat of violence deliberately as a deterrent, he writes on Facebook, referring to violent incidents linked to the far-right organisation in Helsinki, Jyvaskyla and Oulu. It is high time to intervene in organised violent activities. For too long have the ruling parties been silent on how the social climate in Finland has given way to racist discrimination. The current legislation, he points out, provides the means to intervene in the activities of such organisations. Paula Risikko (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, has assured that the lawfulness of extremist organisations will be examined in collaboration with the Police of Finland and the Office of the Prosecutor General. The activities of extremist organisations, she added, are currently monitored by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo). Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Timo Jaakonaho Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Fine Gael rebels are seeking support for a secret ballot as they plot the downfall of Enda Kenny as party leader, the Herald has learned. A number of TDs held talks the weekend as they prepared to crank up the pressure within the party over Mr Kenny's leadership. It comes after Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday warned against any "further displays of disunity". Motion Despite the warning, a consensus is growing around the prospect of tabling a no-confidence motion in Mr Kenny at a parliamentary party meeting in late December, according to sources. The timing of the motion would ensure that the upcoming Budget is passed through the Oireachtas. These TDs are insisting the ballot be held in secret. While there is an acceptance Mr Kenny would defeat a no-confidence motion, the view among some rebels is that he would be badly damaged. They hope the Taoiseach will be forced to consider stepping aside during the Christmas recess. They know that more TDs will need to be on board if the motion is to have a significant impact. One TD involved in the discussions described the proposal as "high risk", but said it was "imperative" that a motion was tabled before the end of 2016. A second TD said he believed Mr Kenny would win a motion, but the mere tabling of one would prove extremely damaging. "He [the Taoiseach] won't be able to say he didn't see this coming," said the rural backbencher. "We've made it perfectly clear we aren't happy." There is significant anger within the party over Mr Kenny's offer for backbenchers to "shadow" ministers in order to gain experience. An explosion that rocked a crowded Manhattan neighbourhood, injuring 29 people, does not appear to be linked to international terrorism, New York governor Andrew Cuomo has said. Mr Cuomo said 1,000 extra law enforcement officers would patrol the streets after the blast in Chelsea, a primarily residential neighbourhood on Manhattan's west side that is known for its art galleries and large gay population. He encouraged New Yorkers to go about their day as usual. "We're not going to let them win," Mr Cuomo said at the scene. "We're not going to let them instil fear." Firing The Democratic governor said the preliminary investigation did not show a link to international terror, and he noted that no terror group had taken credit for it. Authorities said the Manhattan blast did not appear to be connected to a pipe bomb explosion earlier on Saturday in New Jersey that forced the cancellation of a charity run. He noted that the bombs included different materials. A law enforcement official said a second device that officers investigated four streets from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a mobile phone. The official said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. The law enforcement official also said that the explosion appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. Witnesses said the explosion, at about 8.30pm local time, blew out the windows of businesses and scattered debris. Mr Cuomo said that all the injured who were taken to hospital after the blast had been released. Some New York City subway routes were affected by the explosion, which rattled some New Yorkers and visitors on the heels of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area. "We felt it. We heard it," Mr Gonzalez said. "It wasn't like jolting or anything. Everyone just went quiet." Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at Vanity Nightclub at 21st Street and 6th Avenue, said at first he thought something large had fallen. "It was an extremely loud noise. Everything was shaking, the windows were shaking," he said. "It was extremely loud, almost like thunder but louder." The White House said President Barack Obama was made aware of the explosion. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said that the nation needed to support its emergency services staff and to "pray for the victims". "We have to let this investigation unfold," she said. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a "bomb went off" before officials had released details. He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows what's going on," Mr Trump said. "But boy we are living in a time - we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. "It's a terrible thing that's going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant." The scene of the fatal crash between Adare and Patrickswell Photo: Photo Press 22 A mum and dad have been left devastated after their three-year-old daughter died in a horrific crash over the weekend. The little girl, named locally as Kellycia Nudiri, suffered major head injuries when she was thrown from the family's car in an accident on the M20 in Limerick on Saturday evening. The girl's twin brother and her parents were also in the car, but they were not seriously injured. The car is understood to have swerved while travelling along the motorway between Adare and Patrickswell at around 4.45pm on Saturday. It's believed it had tried to avoid another car that mounted the motorway's central reservation barrier. The little girl was thrown from the car. Emergency responders performed CPR on the girl, but she was later pronounced dead at University Hospital Limerick. Injured The three men in the other car were also taken to hospital but were not injured. The girl's family are believed to be from the Democratic Republic of Congo, but had been living in Limerick city. They had recently moved to Abbeyfeale, close to the Limerick-Kerry border. A friend of the Congolese family said: "It's very sad. They are a quiet and respectful family. "They could not find accommodation in Limerick city so they moved to Abbeyfeale about six or seven months ago." Members of the wider Congo community here have been supporting the family, with many travelling to Limerick to rally around the family. Meanwhile, locals are still reeling from the shock since the news broke on Saturday night. Fianna Fail justice spokesman Niall Collins lives close to the scene of the crash in Patrickswell. "There has been a number of fatalities on this stretch of the motorway over the years," he said. "Given the weekend's events, I'll be asking the National Roads Authority to review this section of motorway, with a view to carrying out a safety audit," he added, expressing his sympathies to the family. Crashed The tragedy came a day after a 20-year-old man died when the car he was driving crashed on Friday in Carstown, Co Louth. Jack Matthews was just 200 yards from his home when the crash occurred. JOHNSON CITY East Tennessee State Universitys Alliance for Continued Learning (ACL) will offer a wide range of classes and activities during the fall session beginning Tuesday, Sept. 20, and ending Wednesday, Oct. 26. Sessions are from 10 a.m. to noon every Tuesday and Wednesday. To give new members an opportunity to become acquainted with the group, the ACL will welcome all participants at a continental breakfast on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 9:30 a.m., at Food City, 940 N. State of Franklin Road, followed by a welcome and update on ETSU by Dr. Wilsie Bishop, vice president for Health Affairs at ETSU. The ETSU BucsWorth Mens Choir will be performing on opening day, as well. All classes will be held at Food City, in the upstairs meeting room. Others speakers include Dr. Ron Roach, chair of the ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies, offering Remembering, Recording and Reimagining Life in a Railroad Town and Dr. Michele Crumley from the Department of Political Science, who will speak on Putins Russia. Dr. Fred Alsop will explain the ETSU Biological Sciences EagleCam, and Dr. Robert Means Jr., dean of the Quillen College of Medicine, will offer The State of Health Care in the United States. Dr. Jennifer Adler will talk about 19th Century Protestants and the Holy Land. Dr. Robert Seebacher, music director and conductor of the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra, will present Revolutionary Symphonic Music of the Early 1800s. Other speakers include Doug Murray, whose topic will be Homeless Veterans in East Tennessee. George Collins, who helped establish the Magnavox Heritage Association in Greeneville, will trace the development of Magnavox. Dr. John Rankin will present the Iron Duke, the Military Career of the Duke of Wellington. Fred Sauceman will discuss Southern barbecue and Dr. Tony Cavender will present The Use of Medicinal Plants in Southern Appalachia. Sponsored by the ETSU Office of Professional Development, the ACL is member-powered, member-driven and member-governed. Participants decide the study groups, forums, classes and other activities to be held, identify leaders for the sessions and elect officers. No educational prerequisites, examinations or grades are involved in the courses. Participants may register with a $45 early registration fee until Sept. 17, and then the fee increases to $50. Paid registration allows participants to attend any or all sessions. For more information or a schedule of classes, call the ETSU Office of Professional Development at 423-439-8084 or visit www.etsu.edu/professionaldevelopment, then click on community groups. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346. Crye-Leike Real Estate Services announced that Jason Perdue of Ooltewah has become affiliated with Crye-Leike's Ooltewah branch office. As a realtor and affiliate broker, Mr. Perdue serves the real estate needs of buyers and sellers in and around Hamilton County. He specializes in residential real estate, with a focus on investment properties and helping first-time homebuyers. Prior to joining Crye-Leike, Mr. Perdue worked in the automotive industry, bringing to Crye-Leike and his real estate business over 12 years of customer service experience. Mr. Perdue is a member of the National Association of Realtors, Tennessee Association of Realtors and Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors. CryeLeike Real Estate Services, the nations sixth largest residential real estate brokerage firm and the largest in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and the MidSouth, has eight branch and franchise offices located in Southeast Tennessee available to serve buyers and sellers. For further information about real estate in Hamilton County, visit CryeLeikes Ooltewah branch office, at 5913 Main St., Ste. 107, Ooltewah. Affiliate broker Jason Perdue may be reached at (423) 331-7923, or jason.perdue@crye-leike.com. Fall Book Fair is open all week. Students and their families can shop for books and more. For more information contact Mike Collier, mcollier@clevelandschools.org. The Yates Primaryis open all week. Students and their families can shop for books and more. For more information contact Mike Collier, 423-479-1723 Mayfield Elementary Open House and PTO Meeting on Tuesday , 6:30 pm . Students and their families are invited to visit classrooms and tour the building. 423-472-4541, rstephens@clevelandschools.org . hosts. Students and their families are invited to visit classrooms and tour the building. Financial Aid/FAFSA Meeting for seniors and their parents on Tuesday , 6:30-7:30 pm in the Betsy Vines Theater. Learn more about the new FAFSA opening day. For more information contact Whitney Harden, wharden@clevelandschools.org. Cleveland High School Counseling Office will host afor seniors and their parentsin the Betsy Vines Theater. Learn more about the new FAFSA opening day. For more information contact Whitney Harden, 423-478-1113 Join the Lady Raider Volleyball Pink-Out as the team hosts the Lady Raider Pass, Set, & Cure Game against Ooltewah on Thursday in the Raider Arena. The team will make a contribution to the Mary Ellen Locher Foundation, a charity that gives scholarships to children of breast cancer survivors and those who have lost parents to this cancer. Game times are Freshmen 4:15 , JV 5:15 , and Varsity at 6:15 . Open House on Thursday , 5:00-6:30 pm . Students and their families are invited to visit classrooms, meet teachers, and shop at the Book Fair. For more information contact Mike Collier, mcollier@clevelandschools.org. Yates Primary hosts. Students and their families are invited to visit classrooms, meet teachers, and shop at the Book Fair. For more information contact Mike Collier, 423-479-1723 Ross/Yates Fall Festival will be Thursday , 6:00-8:00 pm . Students and their families will have a fun, memorable night with the bounce house, face painting, obstacle course, and more. will be. Students and their families will have a fun, memorable night with the bounce house, face painting, obstacle course, and more. Click here for more information on dinner and ticket costs. PTO Meetings: Cleveland Middle - Tuesday , 1:30 pm Mayfield - Tuesday , 6:30 pm The days are shorter, but not the list of things you can do. Kevin Claude Daniel McCann Erika Dawn Gregory Julie Lynn Musgrave Justin A. Malamphy Previous Next A traffic stop initiated by Bradley County Sheriff Erik Watson on 25th Street resulted in the arrest of four defendants, who have been charged with drug offenses. Sheriff Watson observed a green vehicle traveling northbound in two lanes for several hundred yards with no indicator of an attempt to switch lanes. Contact was made with the driver of the vehicle whose drivers license was discovered to be revoked. Sgt. Santos and his K-9 partner Max responded to the scene, because the occupants would not give consent to search the contents of the vehicle. After K-9 Maxs positive alert on the passenger floorboard, a substance believed to be marijuana was located in the same area; further search resulted in two sets of digital scales being found in the trunk area of the vehicle as well. Additionally when deputies searched two females who were occupants of the vehicle, a bag of a white powder substance was found along with two individually packets of white crystalline substance.The defendants below have been charged with these criminal offenses from the traffic stop.Kevin Claude Daniel McCann, 31Failure to maintain laneNo insuranceDriving on revokedPossession of methamphetamine for resalePossession of Schedule II for resaleFelony drug paraphernaliaErika Dawn Gregory, 25Possession of Methamphetamine for resalePossession of Schedule II for resaleFelony drug paraphernaliaPossession of Schedule IIPossession of Schedule VIJustin A. Malamphy, 25Possession of Methamphetamine for resalePossession of Schedule II for resaleFelony drug paraphernaliaPossession of Schedule IIPossessionf of Schdule VIJulie Lynn Musgrave, 42Possession of Methamphetamine for resalePossession on Schedule II for resaleFelony drug paraphernaliaPossession of Schedule IIPossession of Schedule VI The U.S. Department of Education has noted that the number of students entering teacher preparation programs in college is down by 1/3 since 2009. The current environment has become less than inviting for teachers. Test scores are being misused by politicians and journalists to maintain their own job security. Neither the politicians nor the journalists who misuse test scores are willing to speak to the following problems with their logic. 1. Most teachers with good test scores have years when the same "good" practices produced bad test scores. Every good teacher will agree that the system is deeply flawed. 2. Researcher John Hattie has recently pointed out that a large measure of a students academic attainment is caused by home environment. (52 percent of a standard deviation if you want specifics) 3. Schools with lower levels of student achievement have higher levels of student non-participation on the test being used to measure the teachers. That is, high numbers of students stop taking the test early or dont take it at all. The state scores these tests as failures. Recent reports by journalists in Hamilton County and recent comments by politicians in Hamilton County reveal a basic misunderstanding of testing in Tennessee. I contend that schools can fail and the problem of a failing school must be addressed. However, I understand that often a failing school is a product of a failing community. The journalists and politicians cant fix the community so they go after the school. Im afraid that we will continue to lose good teacher candidates in this current, non-thoughtful, environment. Steve Robinson Former HCDE Principal Back Alley Productions, at The Mars Theatre, 117 N. Chattanooga St. in LaFayette, will hold open auditions for its Christmas play, Its A Wonderful Life, on Friday from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and Saturday by appointment from 1-9 p.m. All ages are invited to audition. Review for It's A Wonderful Life: The play is set in small-town Bedford Falls on Christmas Eve of 1945 and follows the life of George Bailey, whose dreams of traveling and adventure are repeatedly squashed by countless setbacks. At his lowest point, he contemplates ending it all, until his guardian angel Clarence Odbody intervenes by showing him what the world would be like if he had never been born. The heart-warming tale is based on the critically acclaimed Frank Capra film starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. The script is very traditional to the original movie script. Visit the website at www.backalleyproductions under the audition tab to learn more. Roles: George Bailey - the "everyman" of Bedford Falls Clarence Odbody - Angel, Second Class Mr. Gower - proprietor of the drug store Young George - age 12 Harry Bailey - George's younger brother Mother Bailey - George's mother, kind and matronly Aunt Tilly - George's aunt and wife of Uncle Billy Violet Peterson - flirtatious proprietor of a beauty salon Bert - a patrolman Ernie - a mail carrier Uncle Billy - George's uncle and business partner Mary Hatch - George's love interest and later wife Henry F. Potter - cynical and miserly business man that owns most of the town Mr. Potter's Goon - his right-hand man Mr. Potter's Secretary - ever-faithful to him Mrs. Hatch - Mary's mother Sam Wainwright - childhood friend of George turned successful entrepreneur Miss Andrews - a townsperson Mrs. Thomson - a townsperson Mr. Martini - proprietor of the bar Mrs. Martini - his wife Miss Carter - a bank examiner Newspaper Boy - age 10 Pete Bailey - George's oldest son, age 12 Tommy Bailey - George's son, age 10 Zuzu Bailey - George's youngest daughter, age 7 Mr. Welch - the school teacher's husband Janie Bailey - George's daughter, age 9 The show performances will run Dec. 2-18. Read through will be Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. Rehearsals will be Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 8, then will begin Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays on Oct. 17, from 6-9 p.m. There will be three school or special group shows on Dec. 8, 9, and 16 at 10 a.m. at a discounted rate. The show run time is two hours which includes a 15 minute intermission. Group coordinators who would like to reserve groups seats should contact 706.996-8350 to reserve a spot. Like the group on Facebook to stay informed on other BAP shows and auditions. Its a Wonderful Life is licensed through Playscripts.com and is adapted by Doug Rand. Based on the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, and Jo Swerling. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ About Hinduism Today Magazine is a nonprofit educational activity of Himalayan Academy with the following purposes: 1. To foster Hindu solidarity as a unity in diversity among all sects and lineages; 2. To inform and inspire Hindus worldwide and people interested in Hinduism; 3. To dispel myths, illusions and misinformation about Hinduism; 4. To protect, preserve and promote the sacred Vedas and the Hindu religion; 5. To nurture and monitor the ongoing spiritual Hindu renaissance; 6. To publish a resource for Hindu leaders and educators who promote Sanatana Dharma. The rage over the attack on an army camp at Uri is palpable in this town on the India-Pakistan border that isnt unfamiliar with the spectre of terror. A bunch of marauders had attacked the Indian Air Force Base here on January 2 this year. It took a long gun battle to eliminate them. A few months earlier, in July 2015, a police station was similarly attacked in nearby Dinanagar thats part of Gurdaspur bordering Jammu and Kashmir. As news trickled in of the armed assault on the army camp, the residents here were livid, seeking retribution; the refrain being that Pakistan be given a taste of its poison. The sentiment matched with that of Ram Madhav, the BJP-RSS points person for Kashmir. Amid reports of high casualties in the camp near the line of control in Baramulla, he said the days of strategic restraint are over.... Read | What next? Heres how India can respond to the Uri terror attack But experts with whom I spoke on phone from here advocated equanimity in the face of the grave provocation. A veteran Kashmir watcher associated with the government in Srinagar had more questions than answers from New Delhis standpoint: Howd they respond to it? If they dont, theyd embolden the aggressors and their anti-India audience in the Valley. If they do, it will be akin to fighting fires within and on the border. The gravity of the crisis is at once a throwback to Mumbais 26/11 and the 2001 attack on Parliament that had resulted in massive troop buildup on the Indian and Pakistani side. The 1999 Siachen war triggered by infiltration from the other side remained localised. That wouldnt be the case if we resort to a full scale military response to avenge Uri, cautioned an official who held key positions at the time. The Army Brigade camp that was attacked by militants in Uri. (PTI Photo) As Uri has been orchestrated in the run up to the United Nations General Assembly session starting later this month, a wise option for India could be to stick to the line taken after a high-level review of the Uri attack. Pakistan is a terrorist state. It should be identified and isolated as one, said home minister Rajnath Singh. Ostensibly aimed at inflaming north Kashmir that has been relatively calmer, the Uri episode is evidence of the military dimension of Islamabads proclaimed moral, political and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri right to self determination. Its tactical value for Pakistan is in showing the protesting youth as its puppets, making a political engagement with them more difficult for New Delhi in terms of its popular acceptance in the rest of India. Read | Civilians in Kashmir may bear the brunt of Uri army base attack Nawaz Sharif will undoubtedly raise the valleys internal turmoil at UNGA to show it as a pending dispute; a human rights issue requiring international intervention. But his country lacks today the traction it once had with the global community on Kashmir, perceived as it is as an exporter of terror across countries. Uri will affirm that image of Pakistan, fetching India an empathy it wouldve missed in the backdrop of recent excesses in Kashmir. Whatever decision is taken should be thought through calmly, said Indias former High Commissioner to Pakistan Satinder Lambah. In previous wars including the one in Siachen, Islamabad sought to project Kashmir as a nuclear flashpoint in South Asia to draw world powers into the dispute India describes as bilateral. Waging a war isnt an option. Itll make us walk into that trap, argued another diplomat. The best way forward is to seek sanctions against them. That alone will bring on their knees the perpetrators of terror and their patrons in the Pakistani establishment. Click here for full coverage on Uri attack The death of Satish Kumar Norge in Chhattisgarh in Saturday, allegedly in police custody after being picked up following a tiff with an official at an electricity sub-station, brings out several layers of dysfunctioning in our body politic. First, its been a usual tale of police brutality. Norge had gone to the electricity sub-station to complain about no power supply for three days in the area he lived, but still when there was no resumption in power supply despite a promise by an official, he went again, and following a quarrel with the official, the police were called in to pick him up. What is next heard is that he called his family from the police station to complain about being beaten up, and four hours later he was dead. Read: Police harassment: Murder suspect ends life in MP, brother critical Police excesses have been a continuing feature in India and Chhattisgarh, plagued as it is with Maoist problems, has had more of them. The behaviour of the police in this case is only a microcosm of the way the strong arm of the State conducts itself all over the country. Speaking in the context of the UP police, Justice Anand Narain Mulla had said in the 1950s that the police in India were the most organised criminal force in the country. Though the comment was expunged from the court records, whenever there has been a reference to police brutality, this remark has sprung up. In Gora, published in 1910, Tagore was a bit more sarcastic in saying that police investigation following a burglary or theft was a more unfortunate thing for the people than anything the miscreants could have done. Its been 69 years since independence but the police in India have not shed the mentality of being an instrument of oppression and suppression. There have been successive commissions to reform the police but the efforts have been mostly unavailing so far. The National Crimes Record Bureau data show more than 1,200 people died in police custody between 2001 and 2013. Read: Malwan custodial death: No evidence, but Hari Chavan was put in lock-up Second, the deportment of the police is closely wired into the social power structure in which the police operate, and in this respect also things have remained very much what they were in the colonial days. Successive pieces of writing, including that of Jawaharlal Nehrus Autobiography, have brought this out. And, it should not be forgotten that there is social pressure acting on the police to behave in certain ways. The death of Norge, a Dalit, is now being interpreted in terms of caste terms because the officer he had had a run-in with is a Thakur. It has been observed that instead of being neutral, law-enforcers are biased in favour of their own communities in the case of a dispute between people of different communities. And since in rural or semi-rural areas, there is a sectarian segregation in residential patterns, such flare-ups are highly common and so is police partiality. Senior officers have said they are following all procedures in ordering an inquiry into the matter. The Chhattisgarh government has announced monetary relief for the deceaseds family. While these are good, they are no guarantee that such things will not happen again. One way to prevent them is to educate the police force. The government can consider another commission specifically for this. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When Maithripala Sirisena won the presidential elections in Sri Lanka in early 2015, followed by Ranil Wickremesinghe taking over as Prime Minister, New Delhi was delighted. The previous regime led by Mahinda Rajapakse had hurt Indias two core interests in the island by refusing to politically address Tamil discontent, and inviting a greater Chinese role in the island. Delhi encouraged elements of the Sri Lankan polity both Sinhalese and Tamil opposed to Rajapakse, to come together. It hopes that the ruling coalition in Colombo will deliver a political solution broadly acceptable to Tamils. Indias current approach of quiet involvement to nudge Sri Lanka towards a resolution of its ethnic dispute has emerged out of decades of experience. Delhi has kept a hands-off policy. It has actively armed the rebels. It has pushed a peace accord. It has sent in the military to fight the rebels. It has disengaged. The past guides present policy, and also offers lessons for Indias engagement elsewhere in the region. Getting involved Why does India get involved in ethnic disputes in neighbouring states? Two factors are important. One, do these ethnic groups have roots elsewhere in India? And two, does the issue has a strategic fallout for India? said SD Muni, JNU professor emeritus who has been given Sri Lankas highest civilian award. In Sri Lanka, both issues were present. From the 40s to the 60s, the major issue was of the statelessness of Indian Tamils. But as the ethnic conflict grew, the Sri Lankan Tamils too leveraged their strong cross-border ethnic links. And there was a strong strategic component, as India wanted leverage over Colombo and was apprehensive over the role of third countries especially US earlier, and China now. Constantino Xavier of Carnegie India, a scholar on Indias role in neighbourhood crises, believes that a certain liberal democratic impulse has also guided Delhi. India may have had to prioritise relationships with dictatorships in the short term, but it knows that there is no alternative to democratisation and inclusiveness in the long term. Arming rebels, keeping peace There was a history of discrimination against Tamils. A Sinhala-only policy was introduced in 1956. Non Sinhalese-speakers suddenly found themselves as second class citizens, and Tamil recruitment in government fell. The 1972 constitution entrenched the Sinhala-Buddhist character of the state. Tamil students found it difficult to get admissions in universities. When a Tamil party fighting on the plank of secession did well in the 1977 elections, inter-community relations dipped, military operations were launched, and serious anti-Tamil rioting broke out, the most serious in 1983. All of this was creating ripples across the Palk Straits. Many Tamil rebels set up camps in Tamil Nadu. India now began arming Tamil radicals. Academic Sumantra Bose writes, This decision was partly motivated by an aspiring regional hegemons desire to flex its muscles in its neighbourhood, and partly was a response to the outrage expressed by south Indias own Tamil population. There was a shift under Rajiv Gandhi. As JN Dixit, Indias then high commissioner to Colombo, has written, Gandhi believed that India must assume a more impartial stand between the Sinhalese and Tamils. This was clearest in 1987. When Colombo blockaded Jaffna, India unilaterally airdropped food supplies to Jaffna peninsula but in a manner that depicted hard power. The air ops had the impact of moderating President JR Jayawardene who agreed to the Thirteenth Amendment (which would guarantee a degree of devolution to the North and the East). India and Sri Lanka signed an accord, and Delhi then sent in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to enforce the accord. LTTE however resisted it. The operation failed, IPKF had to beat a humiliating retreat, and commentators have drawn different lessons from it. Getting engagement right What went wrong? One view, articulated recently by diplomat Hardeep Puri in his book , Perilous Interventions, is that the IPKF was based on too many assumptions. Then Army chief K Sundarji told the PM that India could neutralise LTTE in two weeks; Research and Analysis Wing chief AK Vermas broad sense about the Tigers was these are our boys...and so they will listen to us. In addition, Indias ability to underwrite the agreement needed cooperation from both sides, and this was missing. The second view is the problem was in the nature of the accord. As V Suryanarayan notes in the Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy, It would have been better if the agreement had been signed between Colombo and Tamil parties, with India guaranteeing its implementation. Consultations with Tamil parties were done in haste, with absolutely no guarantee of their compliance. In the end, the mediator became the key actor and the villain. India had succeeded in uniting the arch rivals, Sinhalese regime and Tamils, in their opposition to IPKF. The third view holds that India should not have sent boots on the ground but hard power should have been exercised. Carenegies Xavier says, There is a spectrum of coercive instruments between disengagement and military intervention. This includes clear signalling, articulating red lines, sequencing threats, developing leverage with opposition groups. And then there is a fourth view. Once we were in, we should have stayed the course till the amendment was implemented, says Muni, admitting it is a minority opinion. The Sri Lanka experiment scarred India. And the engagement cost Rajiv Gandhi his life, when LTTE decided to extract revenge for IPKF and prevent him from coming back to power. India going through internal political changes, economic reforms, and the Kashmir crisis dramatically disengaged in the 1990s. It has not got militarily involved in the neighbourhood since. Sri Lanka had shown both that India would inevitably have to get engaged into a dispute across its borders, and the perils of that engagement. Today, Delhis policy seeks to avoid extremes, and is banking on the current Colombo coalition to deliver meaningful devolution. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Startup Week will take place Oct. 3-7 and organizers have announced the kickoff speaker, Kay Koplovitz, managing partner at Springboard Growth Capital, chairman of Springboard Enterprises, and founder and former CEO of USA Networks. Ms. Koplovitz will get the weeks activities underway on Monday, Oct. 3, at 11:30 a.m. in Miller Plaza with a presentation sponsored by EPB Fiber Optics. The sponsors bringing Ms. Koplovitz to Chattanooga are Mike and Meg Aiken, Chambliss Startup Group and Henderson, Hutcherson and McCullough. The first woman ever to head a television network, Ms. Koplovitz is the founder and former CEO of USA Networks. She is credited for creating the business model for cable television networks that changed the course of television history. Since 2000, Ms. Koplovitz has led Springboard Enterprises, a non-profit accelerator that has trained 627 women-led companies in technology and life sciences to raise capital, as founder and chairman. More than $7.2 billion has been invested in the companies, and to date the portfolio has had over 160 exits including 15 IPOs. Earlier this year, Ms. Koplovitz co-founded Springboard Growth Capital to invest in Springboard Alumnae companies, leveraging the strong brand, deep entrepreneur relationships, and extensive mentor network built by Springboard Enterprises over 16 years. We are so excited to welcome Kay Koplovitz to Chattanooga and are thrilled to be able to kick off the week of 150+ events with such a dynamic, influential speaker, said Nichole Abruzzise, Startup Weeks project manager. Ms. Koplovitz was appointed by President Clinton as chairman to the bipartisan National Womens Business Council from 1998-2001 and currently serves on corporate boards of CA Technologies, Time Inc., and ION Media Networks. She is the author of Bold Women, Big Ideas: Learning to Play the High-Risk Entrepreneurial Game, and Been There, Run That, an anthology of best practices from Springboard Enterprises expert network of leaders. Ms. Koplovitz speaks regularly on subjects ranging from womens leadership, entrepreneurship, capital formation, the advancement of women in business, impact investing, the importance of creating a human capital ecosystem, and the transformation of the media. She frequently appears on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business News, and in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Forbes and numerous digital news sources. EPB will livestream the kickoff presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8BIX3PchjA EPB is also sponsoring Basecamp throughout Startup Week. Basecamp will be located at Waterhouse Pavilion in Miller Plaza and serves as a central meeting hub and event location. Attendees can view the full Startup Week schedule and customize their own personal schedule at startupweekcha.com. India is seething about Sundays attack at Uri, where 17 soldiers lost their lives. The Narendra Modi government is contemplating its strategy. There is a measure of febrile anticipation about what a BJP-led regime in Delhi will do. The Prime Minister and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said the attack will not go unpunished the latter even added that restraint in the face of repeated terror attacks betrays inefficiency and incompetence. This is a serious moment in India-Pakistan ties. Every step and mode of signalling will have a bearing on whether the situation escalates or defuses. There are five things that the government can do in a crisis situation like this. 1 Avoid the crowd. Frenzied reactions on social media that call for a hardline response in line with the establishments instincts can be heady and gratifying, but they can also be misleading and often not in the countrys interest. A descent into instability is not what India needs, not least its economy. 2 Understand the strategic consensus that there are no easy military options. Measures like surgical airstrikes on militant camps, covert action and lining up troops on the border are either difficult to execute or run the risk of escalating conflict, not a sight that the international community or financial markets will respond encouragingly to. Its worth noting that even conservative Indian hawks who push for immediate reprisals are not very forthcoming about specifics. 3 India is better off focusing its energies elsewhere. It will need to unravel the forces responsible for the attack and continue efforts to rally international opinion against Pakistan. The diplomatic and institutional battle to project Pakistan-based terrorists as threats to global security is an ongoing process and Delhi will need a set of deliverables that the international community can work towards in order to exert more pressure on Islamabad. These will be more effective in the long-term than merely condemnatory statements at international fora. 4 There is no getting away from the fact that Uri was a serious security lapse. How a camp so close to the Line of Control was so vulnerable must be examined and questions asked about steps taken at military installations after the attack at Pathankot. 5 There is, not least, the crisis in Kashmir to attend to which is the context in which Uri happened. The Centre needs a strategy that protects security forces from militants and it needs a political strategy that addresses the ongoing unrest. There is an inordinate emphasis nowadays on the need to be aggressive in our response to challenges. In the process of being muscular, India must not lose sight of its equities and squander its strengths. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The militant attack on an Indian Army base at Uri in Baramullah district in north Kashmir early on Sunday had more casualties than probably what even its planners had expected. This is because of secondary effect: 13 soldiers were burnt to death in their tents and shelters. The incident has impacted the nations psyche forcefully, and justifiably so. The call for retribution against Pakistan is intense. It will have to be satisfied as Pakistans carefully crafted policy of calibration to avoid crossing Indias tolerance level has gone awry. This happened twice before, after the attacks in Mumbai and on Indias Parliament. Yet, this time the effect on the public has been stronger because of the cumulative impact of the Pakistani-sponsored attacks in Poonch on September 10 and then Uri, and the 72-day-long street agitation in Kashmir, which has paralysed governance and disempowered the political community. Click here for full coverage of Uri The Uri incident is unlikely to have much effect on the Armys unconventional task except enhancement of security. The real impact will be in the military-diplomatic relations with Pakistan. For a change, however, both Indian generals and diplomats want action against Pakistan. But they do not want a knee-jerk response but a planned offensive with strategic impact. Read: Heres how India can respond to the Uri terror attack The conceptual nature of this response should be hybrid. It can start with a diplomatic one, but it should be energetic enough to make an impact on world capitals. Pakistan attempted this strategy after the Burhan Wani incident but its diplomatic stature is low and so the effect has been marginal. Indias experienced diplomatic corps has a large number of well-connected, veteran ambassadors and they must be used for this high-energy campaign. The United Nations General Assembly starts today and the platform must be used to name and shame Pakistan. At the very least, sanctions should be demanded against Pakistan. Post-Uri, one fallout is certain: There will be no revival in the peace process or normalisation of relations with Pakistan. Militarily, there are several options but launching a conventional operation against a nuclear neighbour must be weighed against potential dividends. The escalatory aspects resulting from actions that are lower in the ladder of options could lead to conventional limited or calibrated operations. Surgical trans-LoC strikes: The Army has the capability to launch and absorb any response but the nation must be prepared for a near-permanent abrogation of the informal ceasefire that has been going on from November 2003. The impact of this on people living near the LoC will be huge. Between 2003 and 2016, India did little to protect villagers from shelling. Sooner than later, the J&Ks political class will demand stoppage of hostilities. So the will to continue the fight against Pakistan has to remain intact. Read: Avenging Uri: Seeking global sanctions against Pak Indias best option? Deeper strikes by Special Forces: Such strikes are an invitation for escalation of hostilities to a higher level and so this can only be a standby option. Unconventional use of 4th Generation Warriors: This has been suggested by Gen Shankar Raychowdhury but it is not easy. Clandestine sub-conventional operations in undetermined areas will need time and energy and such operations have to be planned much in advance. This proxy war in Kashmir will not end soon and so the government must develop capability for such a response. Hybrid warfare: India is facing this type of warfare and needs to develop a response. Strategic communication and information warfare to target people in Pakistan has become a compulsion. Whichever is the response of the Indian government, the question that must be asked is this: Is that response something the Deep State has itself desired from its actions? For example, a study must be done to see whether we gain from the abrogation of the ceasefire or it is to Pakistans tactical advantage to enable infiltration. Read: India jumps the gun: Pak media criticise knee-jerk reaction after Uri attack Last, but not the least, the government must take stock of the LoC fencing and surveillance equipment because most of them are more than 15 years old and not designed for daily use. The Centre must tell us when it last procured the thermal-imaging devices. Over the years, we have gained experience but critical audit of such tactical measures must be done regularly. The Uri attack is a wake-up call for the strategic security community. If push comes to shove, the most robust of options will form the essence of Indias response. Gen Syed Ata Hasnain is former GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps. He earlier commanded the Uri brigade. He is now associated with Vivekananda International Foundation and Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies The views expressed are personal Chief whip of Congress in Lok Sabha, Jyotiraditya Scindia, squarely blamed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government for the child malnourishment deaths and poor health services in Sheopur district, especially in tribal areas. Scindia demanded an independent agency be appointed by the government to probe the situation leading to deaths, rampant corruption and unproductive utilization of resources. Two children died on September 16, taking the toll to 20. Earlier, officials had confirmed the death toll at 18, with 10 in Vijaypur block and 8 in Karahal block. The infant mortality rate, according to the 2014 sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey, is 57 and 35 for rural and urban areas. The situation is worse than the Emergency period. Rampant corruption in the implementation of government schemes is taking its toll on the mid-day meal scheme and on the fight to eradicate malnutrition, he told a gathering on Sunday. The former union minister reached Sawai Madhopur early on Sunday morning and visited those villages which recently reported malnutrition deaths. Scindia, who visited malnourished children at the district hospital, asked the government to wake up from slumber and take prompt steps to check malnourishment. The need of the hour is saving the lives of children. Children in many parts of the state, including this region, are dying due to malnutrition and other ailments. Barring the woman and child development (WCD) minister, none of the state ministers visited these places or took stock of situation, he rued. Scindia urged Union WCD minister Maneka Gandhi and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to take stock of situation in Sheopur. The Congress is prepared to cooperate with the government And if the government didnt act, the Congress will take the peoples fight to street. Earlier, a 2006 survey by Unicef revealed that nearly 94% infants in Sheopur were malnourished out of whom 15 % were critically malnourished. But the government failed to take necessary steps. There is a shortage of nutritional rehabilitation centres, he added. In Bhopal, state Congress president Arun Yadav and several other Congress leaders will sit on dharna and observe silence at the state Congress office at Link Road no. 1 on Monday to protest what he said the state governments indifferent attitude towards the problem of malnutrition and deaths caused by it. The party men will observe the protest from 11.30 am to 4 pm. Arun Yadav said in a statement on Sunday the state government was spending Rs 2,200 crore every year for eradication of malnutrition but the figure of deaths caused by malnourishment was growing by the year. He said death of more than 18 kids was a glaring example of state governments failure and massive corruption in the government machinery. The number of suicide cases, prompted by mental illness, has increased by 128% in Madhya Pradesh last year in comparison to the year before, the state crime records bureau (SCRB) report, released by the MP police, has revealed. There were a total 1,227 cases of suicide on account of alleged mental illness in 2015 in comparison to 538 cases recorded in 2014. A recent study conducted by National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in co-ordination with All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), Bhopal, has found that 15 per cent of the total population in the state are suffering from major or minor mental health issues. Of the total 1,227 cases in 2015, 861 were men and 366 women. The districts which recorded the highest number of suicides are Khargone with 95 cases, Mandla with 71 cases and Panna with 61 cases. They were followed by Katni and Sehore districts with 58 and 53 cases respectively. The bigger districts in the state such as Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur recorded 36, 21, 31 and 48 cases respectively in the year 2015. Speaking to Hindustan Times on the issue, psychiatrist, Dr Satyakant Trivedi, said that lack of proper treatment leads to a spurt in number of suicides. Almost 80% people who commit suicide owing to mental illness go untreated to avoid stigma in the society. Even after being detected with mental illness, people fear visiting psychiatrists as they fear being tagged as mad. Another reason which prompts people to fall prey to mental illness is substance abuse, said Trivedi. Other major reasons include a stressful job schedule and lack of family time. There are only about 70 psychiatrists for 7.25 crore population of Madhya Pradesh which also adds to the concern, said Trivedi. He further told HT that people should be made more aware about the symptoms and effects of various mental illnesses. The government should initiate tele-consultancy by psychiatrist for people suffering from mental illness in small towns. They should also include the subject in the school curriculum. Only when the children get to know about the disorders in their formative years, they can create awareness about it in a holistic manner, said Trivedi. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has done some vibrant comic roles and mouthed hilarious dialogues, gleefully retorted to Justice Markandey Katjus criticism of the actor having nothing inside his head. He (Katju) is right I dont have anything inside my mind. He is right...My head is khalas (finished), Bachchan said when asked about the comment made on him by the former Supreme Court Judge, known for his hard-hitting and often controversial views on a rash of issues. At a time when the veteran actor is receiving praise for his performance in Pink, a social thriller which revolves around the issue of womens empowerment, Justice Katju had a different take on his on-screen talent. On September 17, the ex-Judge posted on his his social media page, Amitabh Bachchan is a man with nothing in his head, and since most mediapersons praise him, I doubt there is anything in their heads too. We were in same school. He was my senior. There is no rivalry, said the 73-year-old actor in response to a question at a press conference. Watch trailer for Pink: Follow @htshowbiz for more Actor Vidya Balan, who recently contracted dengue and has been advised complete bed rest by her doctors, took to Twitter early Monday and thanked fans for their concern. Vidya, who recently returned from a film shoot in the United States, also wrote that she was not admitted to any hospital and has been at home throughout. Good mornin all ..Thank you for d genuine concern,wishes,prayers,love & jokes .Ive been resting at home and am recovering well . vidya balan (@vidya_balan) September 19, 2016 Earlier, sources had told Hindustan Times that Balan will take a break from shooting Kahaani 2, her upcoming film that also stars Arjun Rampal, for at least a month. Read: All you need to know about showbiz Officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted a thorough inspection of Balans sea-facing residence, Praneta Apartments at Juhu, to find potential mosquito-breeding spots. Two spots were found on an upper floor and one on the ground floor, in a flat that belongs to Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor, who recently moved in there. BMC insecticide officer Rajan Naringrekar said, On the upper floor, one breeding ground was found in a plastic flowerpot and another under a tarpaulin cover, put up for the monsoon, on an attached terrace. The ground-floor breeding spot was inside a defunct swimming pool in which rainwater had accumulated, creating favourable conditions for mosquitoes to breed. Naringrekar added that both offenders will soon receive notices for failing to keep tabs on the breeding grounds. Follow @htshowbiz for more A chopper ride or a gourmet testing session on a helipad or a tree-house stay instead of the usual pack of sweets are among a number of innovative gifts that could come your way this Diwali. Moving away from traditional sweets and gift vouchers, companies, including Flipkart, Larsen & Toubro, Procter & Gamble, InMobi and Amazon, among others, are looking at unique gifting experiences to retain talent. A dinner on yacht with family, pizza making session in a luxury hotel for kids, exclusive movie screening for the entire family or the opportunity to record your own song are also on the cards. According to Chennai-based employee engagement firm BI Worldwide, the approach towards rewards is based on the science of behavioural economics, which shows that 70% of decisions taken by humans are driven by emotions. Companies have understood that the rewards efficacy is measured by creating lifetime memories, which have a high re-consumption value every time that memory is shared or recalled, against cash incentives that are short term, said Siddharth Reddy, CEO at BI Worldwide. Gifting or rewarding employees is no more a casual decision, human resource experts said. We are consciously designing experiences. The idea is to gift memories to good performers as part of a long-term retention strategy, said Manoj Biswas, human resource head at Larsen & Toubro, which plans to offer vineyard tours, tree-house stays, sky diving and gourmet testing sessions to employees in the coming festival season. The average budget does not exceed R8,000-10,000. In turn, we receive calls and letters to show gratitude from spouses and kids of our employees! InMobi, a mobile advertising and discovery platform backed by Japans Soft Bank, plans to reward employee referrals with a maximum budget of $20,000, and a minimum of $500. Gifting a movie ticket or cash is passe. The new way to reward good employees is to surprise them by gifting customised vacations, including beer festival in Berlin, trip to Bali, Mongolia or Europe, said Kevin Freitas, HR leader at InMobi. Every time the employee would see the pictures, he/she would recall his ex-employer... Its a deal to win a great performer for life. Several gifting solution providers, such as Giftxoxo, WittyGift and Gifting Happiness, work with companies to provide customised gifting options at lowest possible prices. The average spending of an employer does not exceed R7,500, but the value of the gift looks nothing less than R25,000, said Sumit Khandelwal, co-founder, Giftxoxo. It offers experiential gifting solutions to almost 500 companies, including P&G, Flipkart and Boston Consultancy Group, among others. The minimum price to design an experiential gift is around R2,500. In the last one month, queries from companies have gone up, added Khandelwal. Companies, including Flipkart, BCG, Microsoft and P&G, did not respond to mails sent by HT. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Max group chairman emeritus Analjit Singh is a relaxed man. A firm believer in introducing professional managers to run the group, Singh, who launched Max in 2001, has the joy of seeing his three children carve out interesting roles for themselves. His son, Veer, runs Vana, a wellness centre with emphasis on ecology. Veers sister, Piya, has chosen to be a Maxs patient and family care resource without direct business responsibility. Their youngest sibling, Tara Singh Vachani, is MD and CEO of Antara Senior Living, a part of Max India. Antara Senior Living creates residential communities for senior citizens with the aim of creating an enjoyable and active lifestyle for its residents. Tara is busy giving final touches to her maiden project, Antara Housing, a residential community for senior living in Dehradun and home to the 650-crore property. Mentored by Singhs trusted group leaders - Rahul Khosla, president, Max Group and Mohit Talwar, MD, Max Financial Services and Max India - the three siblings are ready to take the groups vision forward. Tara is married to Sahil Vachani, a former investment banker with Citigroup in London and co-founder, Dixon Appliances, a contract manufacturer of consumer appliances. Having joined Max a year ago, Sahil will be looking at the manufacturing business, along with the new ones real estate, education and investment, all of which come under Max Ventures. At the moment, Sahil is expanding Max Speciality films, which makes plastic films used in food and beverages packaging. We want to expand beyond just food packaging, into high-technology polymer business, as China is becoming more expensive and India has an opportunity, he says. Max Ventures first real estate project is coming up in Dehradun on a five-acre campus. It is different from other apartments -- according to rules, the property can have 400,000 sq-ft of built-up space, but this has only 100,000 sq-ft. It is designed to offer more open space and better amenities. The education business focussed on primary and secondary education is yet to take off. The investment arm has made it first investment in Azure Hospitality, which owns the MamaGoto restaurants. In January, the Max group went through a recast, splitting into three listed entities Max India, Max Financial Services and Max Ventures. The split also saw Vachani joining Max Indias board as a director. At this moment I am a bit overwhelmed as I am at the cusp of the next big change, says Vachani. Her focus is Antara. For the next 18 months, she will spend 80% to 90% of her time on it, and re-visit the ventures business plans. The Dehradun property, she says, will make 100 crore less than what was spent. She hopes to recover that amount from the next facility, but she has learnt her lessons after having to rework Antaras plans again and again to adhere to government rules and burgeoning costs. So the next facilities will be closer to urban areas, have larger communities with more people living in it, and the company will partner with banks to provide people loans to buy flats. She talks of shareholder value, return on investment and improving lives. It will be foolish to cut, copy and paste the Dehradun model to build other facilities, she says. The groups life insurance business, which recently got merged with HDFC Life, was carved out to be a separate business under Max Financial Services. I dont see myself getting involved in the life insurance company so the destiny of that company will evolve without us, says Vachani. (This story was changed in several places for accuracy) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It is the up next thing in official communication. Enterprise apps (there are just two of them in India) Flock and WorkApps are set to change the way people communicate at workplaces. They are the Whatsapp and WeChat of workplaces These two personal messaging apps changed the way people interact, allowing them to share pictures, videos and website links (also within chat groups). In the US, Slack is trying to bring about a similar change, by cutting down on office emails. The application allows you to chat with colleagues, share PowerPoint presentations, create teams, have discussions with people sitting in different parts of the town and the world and do video conferencing, all through one app, making work more effective and efficient. Besides Slack, theres Face at Work, Facebooks enterprise app. It does not have personal posts, games or ads, but instead offers newsfeed, work chat (instead of messenger), groups, and video and voice chat. In some ways, Flock is the Indian counterpart of Slack, though founder and CEO Bhavin Turakhia refutes the follower tag. Flock as a thought process started much before Slack came into existence, says Turakhia. Since its alfa launch in September 2014, Flock has got 250,000 downloads, and a daily active user base of 30,00-40,000. An analysis of data collected by the company shows that 60% of its users have halved their email usage, while 10% have done away with in-person meetings. The company is further looking to cash in on the 300 million active internet users in India. But there will be a lot of competition, admits Turakhia. In offices, there are normally three buckets for collaboration apps the first is for productivity, through task management, time-keeping and efficient work-flow. The second bucket, where Flock sits, is communication apps like emails and instant messaging. The third bucket is of accounting, sales monitoring and payroll software. But Flock also integrates the first and third bucket. The payroll department can send play slips through a Flock chat, and the sales team can set and send individual sales targets. The better the integration with other apps, higher is Flocks chance to succeed in the market, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO and chief analyst at technology consultancy Greyhound Research. Flock is a repository of disparate apps, including Dropbox, Google docs, Twitter, Trello, Github, Jira and Bitbucket. It is also easy to use once an organisation has subscribed to Flock, employees can download the app and use it for free. Flock will charge $3 per user (which it doesnt at the moment) in case users want to preserve data beyond a month. Flocks domestic rival, WorkApps, on the other hand, falls under the first category of enterprise apps. Launched three months ago, it already has large companies, including like HDFC, UTI, Piramal, THub and Prudent, as customers. All these companies are realising that emails are not always the best way of communication, says Rudrajeet Desai, founder and CEO, WorkApps. The application allows you to create, assign and grade tasks, form groups for discussions, and do performance analysis all on a single platform. For example, on an average, to open a bank branch, 170-180 people are required. All these people can be present on WorkApps and will stay updated without having to read emails. The app also allows you to summon a person for a specific job, even if her number is not stored, as it contains details of everyone. According to Desai, managing tasks at workplaces is the most difficult part of the job. Technology can help in reducing the burden, and also improve productivity by 20% to 25%. Flock, meanwhile, has moved up another level. It offers a personal chat assistant, or a chat bot, to users. It notifies the user when an assigned task is done, can create a to-do list, set reminders, and even order a cup of coffee. The only catch: it cant get you your cuppa. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON MUMBAI: A 20-year-old man, Udaykumar Prasad, allegedly committed suicide at Andheri (East) metro station in Mumbai on Sunday morning. Train services were disrupted as a result of the incident. A 20-year-old man committed suicide at Andheri (East) metro station on Sunday morning. Train services were disrupted as a result of the incident. The deceased, Udaykumar Prasad, a resident of Bihar, was waiting at the Sakinaka metro station to get on a train to Ghatkopar. Senior police inspector Avinash Dharmadhikari of Sakinaka police station said when the train arrived, he jumped in front of it and came under its wheels. He was rushed to Rajawadi hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The police found his voter identity card from his wallet that ascertained his identity. The man is from Shripurihari village in Madhubani district of Bihar. No suicide note was found on him. A panchnama was conducted. Cops are trying to contact his relatives through their counterparts in Bihar. Police said that it was a case of suicide and that they are probing to find out why the man killed himself. The officers will also investigate into lapse of security, if any. A Mumbai Metro One spokesperson said, At 9:20am on Sunday, a youth jumped in front of a Versova-Ghatkopar train at Sakinaka station. The train was retracted. Services were disrupted and running in short loops and on a single track. Normal traffic resumed at 10:45am. USDA Rural Development State Director Bobby Goode on Monday announced funding for seven water and waste water projects across Tennessee. Rhea County and the Watts Bar Utility District were included. The funding is available through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program, which provides assistance and financing to develop drinking water and waste disposal systems for communities with 10,000 or fewer residents. Our agency is providing over $8.5 million in grants and loans to small rural communities in Tennessee to improve water systems, Mr. Goode said. Investments in water projects have a huge impact on the citizens and businesses in the area. Last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making investments to improve water and waste infrastructure for 168 small towns across the country, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with a total investment of $283 million. Strong infrastructure is critical to keeping America's communities of all sizes thriving, and USDA is proud to partner with the National Rural Water Association to help improve the livelihood of our smallest towns by providing access to reliable water and wastewater systems," said Mr. Vilsack. "Projects like these are critical to the economy, health and future of rural America, and today 19 million residents now have improved water and wastewater services in their communities thanks to investments USDA has made since 2009." Those communities in Tennessee receiving the grants and loans are: Hartsville-Trousdale County $1,850,000 Loan $619,400 Grant City of Lobelville $470,000 Loan $180,000 Grant City of Loretto $536,000 Loan $100,200 Grant North Utility District of Rhea Co. $45,000 Grant Town of Selmer $2,413,000 Loan $805,000 Grant South Giles Utility District $300,000 Loan Watts Bar Utility District $1,050,000 Loan $350,000 Grant Monday's funding builds on USDA's historic investments in rural America over the past seven years. Since 2009, the agency has assisted more than 1.5 million Tennessee families and businesses in 230 communities in all 95 counties of Tennessee, investing more than $6.6 billion through affordable loans, loan guarantees, and grants. For more information on USDA Rural Development programs available in Tennessee contact the State Office at 615 783-1300, or online at www.rd.usda.gov/TN. CHENNAI: A man who was accused of hacking an Infosys employee to death at a railway station in July was found dead in his prison cell in a case of suspected suicide on Sunday. Preliminary reports said Ramkumar, a 22-year-old engineer, bit a live wire jutting out of a switchboard in his cell in Puzhal prison. He was taken to hospital where he was declared brought dead, sources said. Ram kumar was accused of murdering 24- year-old Swathi while she was waiting to board a train to work at the Nungambakkam railway station. According to then Chennai police commissioner TK Rajendran, Ramkumar was infatuated with the victim and was angered by her rejection. He was arrested in August after CCTV footage showed him near the crime scene following Swath i s murder. He had attempted to slit his throat at the time of arrest. His parents demanded a CBI investigation into his death. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Four people were injured when six robbers opened fire after their attempt to rob two grocery shops in east Delhis Khichripur was foiled by locals on Sunday. The robbers barged into the shops but when the shopkeepers resisted and raised an alarm, the robbers ran, firing indiscriminately. Locals said the robbers fired seven rounds from more than two pistols before fleeing the crime scene. One of the robbers was chased and caught by locals. His accomplices, however, managed to flee the area after brandishing their weapons to scare the public. The crime was captured on a CCTV camera installed at one of the nearby shops. Those injured in the firing included Ashok Bhomraj, owner of a grocery shop, his son Mohit and two passersby. All of them were taken to a nearby hospital. One of the passersby, who was not identified, was shot in the abdomen. He underwent a surgery. All the four injured are out of danger. Locals told police that around 5pm, six men arrived outside the shops with weapons. Their associates were waiting for them on two motorcycle son the main road. They went inside the shops and asked them to hand over the cash. As the shopkeepers resisted and raised an alarm, the robbers panicked and opened fire, said the officer. The CCTV footage shows one of the robbers, involved in the firing, trying to triple ride on a motorcycle. However, he lost balance and fell off the bike. In the process, he also pulled down his associates. A local resident rammed his car into the motorbike to stop them. Soon locals overpowered one of the robbers. He was identified as Kartik. He was thrashed by the public before he was handed over to the police. Two country-made pistols and a stolen motorcycle were recovered from him. We have identified the robbers and a hunt is on in Delhi and the NCR. A case of attempt to murder and robbery has been registered at the Kalyanpuri police station, said DCP (east), Rishipal. NEW DELHI: A special pest control train, a joint project of the Northern Railway and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, has not run this year. The train was running for the past five years during monsoon and sprayed mosquito repellents and insecticides along the railway tracks. Officials said this year the south civic body has not heeded to repeated requests by Northern Railways to jointly conduct fogging along rail tracks to combat the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in the Capital. It exposes the corporations claims that it has taken all preventive measures to control mosquito breeding, when the city has witnessed over 1,000 cases each chikungunya and dengue. The special train runs along the Ring Railway route-- that connects major rail routes to city localities. The railways have been requesting the corporation to start the exercise for the past 20 days, said divisional railways manager (DRM), Delhi, Arun Arora. The civic body officials said they were not well equipped to start the service before September 23, he said. We have our resources ready. If the corporation asks us to start it now, we can run it even now, he said. Seeing the situation worsening in Delhi, my departments health officials have been in regular touch with the corporation employees. The Northern Railways launched a week-long cleanliness drive Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat drive on September 17. We contacted the corporations then too as we thought it would be a good idea to launch the train on the day of the drive, he said. A senior corporation doctor said the train is effective as it runs on the Ring Railway route, a high-risk zone with heavy a lot of encroachments. SDMC commissioner, Puneet Goel, however, said it was a usual drill. We launch our train in the third week of September, he said. Leader of the opposition in the south Corporation, Farhad Suri, said, If it is a crisis situation then we need to take extraordinary decisions Why is that we wake up only after a crisis? I have been asking senior SDMC officials to launch the train for the past month, but they have woken up now , he added. Railways allow the civic body to use its train and tracks while the corporation provides equipment and materials. The spraying machine can cover areas up to 50 metre radius. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Lieutenant governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung directed officials to deploy more doctors in city hospitals and fever clinics according to need to deal with the spurt in cases of chikungunya and dengue, which have claimed over a dozen lives this month. Jung took stock of the preparedness of fever clinics, hospital wards and labs in Lok Nayak, Bara Hindu Rao and the GTB hospitals on Sunday. He interacted with doctors and patients, and told the health secretary to keep him updated. The L-Gs visit comes a day after a war of words with the Delhi government over his direction to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to cut short his Finland visit in the wake of the spurt. Water minister Kapil Mishra had alleged that Jung refused to meet them on Saturday when he and health minister Satyendar Jain went to his office following the directive. There have been 1,057 confirmed cases of chikungunya cases and 10 deaths due to the infection in the Capital till September 10, according to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. There have been 1,158 confirmed cases and four deaths related to dengue September 10. According to Lok Nayak Hospital medical superintendant (MS), Dr JC Passey, 76 out of the 200 beds dedicated to chikungunya and dengue patients are occupied. Most patients come to the hospital from central Delhi, with 10% patients from neighbouring states such as Uttar Pradesh. He also informed the L-G that apart from one death last month, there has been no fatalities and that chikungunya patients do not always require hospitalisation. The MS also said that as per their data, the ratio of chikungunya to dengue patients this year is 4:1, a statement from L-Gs office said. The ground zero of a crippling chikungunya outbreak in Delhi is in the backyard of the countrys premier hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Ayur Vigyan Nagar, a residential colony housing doctors and staffers from AIIMS, and neighbouring Gautam Nagar and Masjid Moth recorded the highest number of chikungunya cases in Delhi this year, according to data of municipal agencies till September 10. After Dwarka, which has officially reported 20 cases, Ayur Vigyan Nagar, with 18, is the second worst affected neighbourhood in Delhi, where the Safdarjung Hospital is also located. NEW DELHI: With children studying in corridors and two different classes running in one classroom of a school in Sonia Vihar, the Delhi High Court has told the Delhi government to come up with a plan which does not compromise on the students quality of education. The high court issued an order to the principal secretary (education) to lay out a plan to shift students to other schools in the area and has directed the government to file a report on the plan by October 21. The Government Girls/Boys Senior Secondary School in Sonia Vihar runs in two shifts. The morning shift for girls has a total 4,529 students and the boys shift has 3,190 students. There are 41 rooms in the school, out of which some are utilised for administrative purposes, which leaves with at least 100 students in one classroom. Twenty-two under-construction rooms will be ready in the next 6 to 7 months. HT had on July 17 reported about the Government Girls/Boys Senior Secondary School in Sonia Vihar, north-east Delhi being in a dismal state. The court has observed that despite the construction of new rooms, it will not be enough to fit the number of students enrolled in the school. That is the reason the court has asked the government to come out with a plan. They have also been asked to examine the possibility of plying school buses to transport student from Sonia Vihar to adjoining schools, said Khagesh Jha, a lawyer and member of NGO Social Jurist. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Covered with a thick coat of green moss and hyacinth, made worse by floating pieces of idols immersed in the waters during Ganesh Visarjan, the banks of Yamuna are intense mosquito-breeding spots, health experts say. Thousands of devotees immersed idols on Wednesday and Thursday. Corporations and Delhi government agencies started cleaning the Yamuna on Friday. But breeding along the riverbanks has worsened as some idols and broken pieces float away and resurface near on the banks, say experts. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito which causes dengue, can breed in water as little as five millilitre. Containers, cups and broken idols are ideal for breeding. After the immersion, some idols are not fished out. They surface on the banks. These broken pieces often hold water and breed mosquitoes, said senior researcher at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT Delhi, Shalini Ramachandran. She said no advisory was issued to the public about protecting themselves from mosquito bites near the water body, especially in the wake of the disease taking an epidemic form. Public awareness and education plays a major role in reducing mosquito breeding, said director of an environmental health programme at Maulana Azad Medical College, Dr TK Joshi. Environmental degradation, such as unchecked hyacinth formation, contributes to breeding, Joshi said. Building more hospitals and health care units is not the sole solution... Unless basic cleanliness and civic conditions are maintained, with every passing year, cases and deaths will keep increasing. Joshi said. South Delhis Shaheen Bagh is an example of how people are falling prey to the heavy mosquito breeding along the Yamuna banks. Twelve-year-old Muskan and 38-year-old Nazish (MLA, Amanatullah Khans sister-in-law) are two deaths reported from here. Civic bodies health officials said they held awareness drives in the area before the onset of monsoons. But hyacinth and moss on the banks has contributed to the spike in cases in the neighbourhood, they said. The flood and irrigation department is supposed to clear hyacinth and moss. But that has not happened, said a corporation health official. The department failed to clear the weeds despite many reminders, he said. The irrigation department refused to comment. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Delhi Police Monday registered an FIR against another AAP MLA, Sahiram Pehalwan, for allegedly thrashing a local in Tughlaqabad. Police said they received a complaint from local resident Yogender Bidhuri at around 10.45 am alleging that he was beaten by the MLA when he objected to a road being built outside his house. Bidhuri in his complaint told police that when he had tried to stop some men from illegally building a road, Pehalwan and his two associates reached the spot, and thrashed him. Bidhuri, who was allegedly was beaten by sticks and sharp objects informed police after which he was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre for treatment. Bidhuri, 36 is a resident of Churiya Mohalla in Tughlaqabad. Police said they have registered an FIR under sections 324 (causing hurt with dangerous weapons), 341 (wrongful restraint) and criminal intimidation (506 IPC) at the Okhla police station. An officer said they have identified Pehalwans two alleged associates named Lalit and Subhash. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who returned from Finland late on Sunday night, is likely to meet Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung at his office on Monday, sources said. Earlier on Friday, Jung had directed Sisodia to cut short his educational tour and return to the capital to manage the dengue and chikungunya outbreak. Sisodia left for Finland on September 13 on an educational trip with senior officials of Delhi governments education department, which followed criticism from opponents for choosing to travel abroad at a time when vector-borne diseases have gripped the city. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal too was in Bengaluru since September 13 for throat surgery. He returned to the city on Sunday. The L-G order came on a day when pictures of Sisodia in Finland were aired on TV. Sisodia, however, said it was not a sin to study the schooling system of other countries to fix the problems in Delhis education system. Taking on the L-G, Delhi ministers on Saturday questioned Jung for being on leave. Health minister Satyendar Jain and tourism and water resources minister Kapil Mishra went to meet Jung at his office in the morning, but could not as the L-G was not available. The L-Gs office, however, refuted their charges with officials saying the ministers arrived at the office without seeking a prior appointment or even intimating him of their visit. On Sunday, Jung took stock of the preparedness of fever clinics, hospital wards and laboratories in Lok Nayak, Bara Hindu Rao and the GTB hospitals. At least 15 people have died of chikungunya-related complications in Delhi hospitals. There were 1,724 reported cases in the national capital till September 11, the last day to which data is available with the Union ministry of health and family welfare. Hours before he smeared ink on deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Brijesh Shukla told his son he was going for an important work. Shuklas family members had no idea then that he will be in the news. My father left home saying he had some important work. We could not speak much. Later, I saw television and it was shocking, his son Shivam said. A resident of Karawal Nagar, Shukla was into real-estate business before forming the Swaraj Janta party. Neighbours said Shukla is a social worker who is often heard saying that he will contest elections again. Other members of the Swaraj Janta Party at his house in north east Delhis Karawal Nagar said that Shukla acted in his personal capacity. Shuklas family members claimed he was upset with the AAP government and may have taken the step. Before this, Shukla led a protest on August 11 outside chief minister Arvind Kejriwals house. On social network, Shukla appears to be an old critic of the Aam Aadmi Party. The self-proclaimed president of Swaraj Janata Party has been critical of the AAP leadership and the government in his tweets posted on the partys Twitter handle. Be it chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia or PWD minister Satyendar Jain, all are at the receiving end of the tweets posted on the handle @SwarajJanata that has Shuklas photos as display and cover pictures. Pictures of protest by the front outside the chief ministers residence in the past have also been shared on this twitter handle. Shukla contested as an independent from Mustafad assembly seat in December 2013 elections. He secured 1,740 votes in the election which was won by the then sitting Congress legislator Hasan Ahmed. As per the election affidavit filed by Shukla in 2013, two cases were registered against him under different sections of IPC including 420, 478, 468, 506 and 341. A man hurled ink at Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia outside the lieutenant governors house on Monday, apparently angry over the governments poor handling of the citys ongoing public health crisis, ANI reported. The event came as Delhi reels under one of the biggest outbreak of mosquito-borne viral diseases, dengue and chikungunya, with many questioning the adequacy of the measures taken to contain the situation. At least 16 people have died of chikungunya and 17 of dengue in the city. More than 2,000 other patients are admitted in city hospitals , many of them from neighbouring states. Television visuals showed ink hurled at Sisodia while he was talking to reporters outside L-G Najeeb Jungs house. Jung had summoned Sisodia who was on a study tour in Finland over a letter two days ago. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia interacts with journalists after a man threw ink on him outside L-G Najeeb Jungs residence in Delhi. (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo) Sources in the L-G s office said Sisodia had sought an appointment with Jung Friday morning after returning from Finland late at night. This isnt the first time an Aam Aadmi Party leader has faced an ink attack. A woman hurled ink at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal during an event to mark the odd-even road rationing scheme in January. Police detained the man and identified him as Brijesh Shukla. He claims to be the national president of one Swaraj Abhiyan party, based out of Karawal Nagar. We have detained him and are awaiting an official complaint from the Aam Aadmi Party to make the registration of the FIR and make the formal arrest, said deputy commissioner of police (north) Madhur Verma . The AAP said the ink throwing was part of a concerted effort to discredit the party. Probably throwing ink at @msisodia was Farzi Rashtrawadis attempt of taking revenge of Pak attack on our soldiers, said party leader Kumar Vishvas. How come an individual claiming fake anger on @msisodia was aware that he will be at LG House ? Why anger not directed at BJP's MCD ??? Nagendar Sharma (@sharmanagendar) September 19, 2016 SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ooltewahs Lady Owls won three matches, split one and lost one in last weekends Siegel Invitational in Murfreesboro. The Lady Owls (22-9) defeated Hendersonville 25-20, 25-17; knocked off Riverdale 25-17, 25-23 and Tennessee High 25-14, 25-21. They split with Dyersburg 25-23, 20-25. The lone loss was at the hands of Harpeth Hall 25-19, 25-22. Ooltewah will host District 5-3A rival Walker Valley on Tuesday and observe senior night as well. STATISTICS Ooltewah lost to Harpeth Hall 19-25, 22-25 Sidney Killingsworth -- 9 kills, 3 digs, 1 block Courtney Swafford -- 1 ace, 5 digs Shelby Sutton -- 2 kills, 5 digs Macy Milliken -- 2 kills, 11 assists, 1 dig, .5 block Audrey Jennings -- 1 dig Cheyanne Sales -- 2 kills, 4 blocks Jadyn Raschke -- 2 digs Sydney Alleman -- 1 assist Mabry Carpenter -- 5 digs Tyler Sullivan -- 1 kill Anna Maria Novelli -- 1 kill, 4 digs, 1 block Ally Chernak -- 5 digs Ooltewah defeated Hendersonville 25-20, 25-17 Sidney Killingsworth -- 7 kills, 1 ace, 2 digs, 5.5 blocks Courtney Swafford -- 9 digs Shelby Sutton -- 2 kills, 1 ace, 7 digs, .5 blocks Macy Milliken -- 1 kill, 10 assists, 4 digs Audrey Jennings -- 1 kill, 5 digs Cheyanne Sales -- 3 kills, 1.5 blocks Jadyn Raschke -- 5 digs Sydney Alleman -- 4 assists, 1 ace Tyler Sullivan -- 1 block Anna Maria Novelli -- 4 kills, 1 dig, .5 block Ally Chernak -- 2 digs Ooltewah defeated Riverdale 25-17, 25-23 Sidney Killingsworth -- 10 kills, 2 digs, 3 blocks Courtney Swafford -- 2 aces, 3 digs Shelby Sutton -- 1 kill, 4 digs Macy Milliken -- 2 kills, 9 assists, 1 ace, 6 digs Audrey Jennings -- 1 kill, 1 dig Cheyanne Sales -- 4 kills, 1 dig, 3 blocks Jadyn Raschke -- 7 digs Sydney Alleman -- 6 assists, 3 digs Mabry Carpenter -- 1 dig Tyler Sullivan -- 1 kill, 3 digs Anna Maria Novelli -- 1 kill Ally Chernak -- 3 assists, 5 digs Ooltewah defeated Tennessee High 25-14, 25-21 Sidney Killingsworth -- 7 kills, 1 ace, 4 digs, 3 blocks Courtney Swafford -- 9 digs Shelby Sutton -- 1 kill Macy Milliken -- 1 kill, 13 assists, 1 ace, 5 digs Audrey Jennings -- 2 kills, 1 dig Cheyanne Sales -- 3 kills Jadyn Raschke -- 10 digs Mabry Carpenter -- 1 ace, 5 digs Tyler Sullivan -- 1 kill, 1 ace, 1.5 blocks Anna Maria Novelli -- 4 kills, 1 block Ally Chernak -- 4 assists Ooltewah split with Dyersburg 25-23, 20-25 Sidney Killingsworth -- 18 kills, 1 ace, 5 digs Courtney Swafford -- 12 digs Shelby Sutton -- 3 kills, 5 digs Macy Milliken -- 3 kills, 23 assists, 1 ace, 9 digs, .5 block Cheyanne Sales -- 1 kill, 2 digs, 4 blocks Jadyn Raschke -- 1 ace, 8 digs Mabry Carpenter -- 2 digs Tyler Sullivan -- 6 kills, 3 aces, 1 dig, .5 block Anna Maria Novelli -- 4 kills, 1 dig Ally Chernak -- 7 assists, 2 digs (Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44) In the squabble in the Samajwadi Party with uncle pitted against nephew and son taking on the father, governance seemed all but forgotten. That the differences between leaders can hold the party and government hostage raises the issue of the lack of inner party democracy in many political parties. The Congress holds inner party elections but often not on time. The BJP has internal elections as do the Left parties. But the rest are basically run at the whims and fancies of a strong leader. The Shiv Sena has never ever had an internal election. Rather Bal Thackeray made the rules as well as settled the succession issue in favour of his son with somewhat disastrous results with the nephew breaking away and forming his own party in a fit of pique. Read: Akhilesh and Shivpal will work together under my guidance: Mulayam The BSP does not have inner party elections, nor is there any succession plan or even a viable deputy. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the DMK, the AIADMK, the Trinamool, the RJD and the Janata Party (Secular) are run as personal fiefdoms and elections, if they can be called that, end up in choosing a leader by `consensus. During state and general elections, the candidates are not chosen in a transparent manner, rather the party leader and his or her coterie do the selection. UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadavs interview to this paper, in which he says SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will decide who the partys CM candidate will be in 2017, bears this out. Now it can be argued that this is an internal party matter and that a party has every right to do as it pleases. Read: Kejriwal has abandoned all principles: Shanti Bhushan But it has an important effect on the quality of candidates put forward before the electorate. India really needs a model where party members will be able to choose their candidates in constituencies and not have them decided by a ruling clique. The Election Commission has made it clear that there have to be elections for party functionaries but in most cases a consensus is forced and nothing really changes. There have been several committees which have suggested political reforms in order to introduce intra-party democracy in elections for important party positions, fund raising and spending and facilitating the rise of younger talent. The 170th report of the Law Commission has dwelt at length on this. Read: Party democracy a sham, AAP tickets given to parachute leaders: Dr Gandhi Political parties control the state apparatus, decide on the spending of public funds and frame legislative mechanisms and are considered the bedrock of democracy. So, it is imperative that as part of the strengthening of governance and finessing electoral reforms, intra-party democracy be institutionalised. The problems of letting leaders settle things among themselves unmindful of the voters who elected them is all too evident in the family saga which was played out for days on end in the SP case in UP and which seems to have abated slightly now. With several top positions lying vacant in the headquarters of Maharashtra and Goa circle of the Department of Post, a Mumbai-based industry body has urged the Centre to fill up the vacancies immediately. At present, the top most position of Chief Post Master General (CPMG), its deputy Post Master General (PMG) as well as the Directors of the Postal Services of Mumbai, Nagpur and Aurangabad are lying vacant since months in the Maharashtra and Goa circle. The Bharat Merchant Chamber, which is the premier body of textile merchandisers in the megapolis, has penned a letter to Union telecom minister Manoj Sinha, apprising him of the situation. It has also urged the minister to immediately fill up these positions, especially the ones at the iconic General Post Office in Mumbai. Read more | Bank of Maharashtra is hiring: 1300 vacancies Since these major posts are lying vacant, not only the deliveries of the postal articles are adversely hampered, but we found that officers and employees feel sorry over the discarded attitude of the government, claimed Chambers trustee Rajiv Singal. Nobody knows whom to approach for lodging grievances against the erring employees, he added. As per the letter, dispatched by Chandrakishor Poddar, the President of 56-year-old chamber, they came to know that CPMG Ashok Dash has been transferred and no one has replaced him. Additionally, the post of Post Master General and Directors of several postal services are also lying vacant since so long, reads the letter. Mumbai being the financial capital of the country, can not be overlooked. This (vacancies) is creating problems in the deliveries and if continues, it would result in crumbling down of the Postal system as a whole, it added. Confirming the top most posts are lying vacant, a senior officer said, Yes, posts are lying vacant, which has subsequently, left other officers overburdened. As per the official, the appointment of the CPMG has been cleared. Delhi High Court on Monday asked a private school in New Delhi why it was not abiding by a court order directing it to admit a disabled minor boy in Class 1 under the economically weaker section (EWS) category. Now, there is a direction of this court (single judge), passed under ... (an article of) the Constitution of India, you follow that, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra said, asking why it has not complied with the order. The courts observation came during the hearing of an appeal by Siddharth International Public School challenging the single judges August 26 order, which had asked it to admit the boy on the ground that he was legally entitled to a seat in the institution. Read more: How 54 model schools in Delhi are making a difference The single judge had issued the direction on the schools plea against a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) order which had asked it to admit the physically disabled boy in class 1 under EWS or disadvantaged group (DG) category, for which 25% seats are to be kept reserved, by giving him age relaxation. The school had contended before the single judge that MACT lacked jurisdiction to pass such an order which was issued on a plea by the childs mother. Agreeing with the school on this point, the single judge had set aside the tribunals direction, but adopted the order and directed the institute to admit the boy. Challenging the single judge order, the counsel for the school had submitted that there were no vacant seats under EWS category and the boy has already got admission in another school during the pendency of the writ petition. The division bench reserved its judgement on the plea, saying it will consider all the aspects raised in the writ petition and pass the order. The single judge had made it clear that the directions in the present case were passed to rehabilitate an accident victim who also belongs to an EWS/DG category. There is nothing to suggest that in present case, justice and law cannot dwell together. After all, one should not forget that the purpose of all law is justice. Gurgaon Around 100 homebuyers on Sunday protested against real estate firm Today Homes outside the house of the managing director of the company in New Delhi over alleged delay in delivery of flats. The buyers submitted a memorandum at the developers house in Friends Colony. Today Canary Greens project, located in Sector-73 in Gurgaon, took off in 2010. Most of the agreements were signed in 2011 and the possession was due in 2014. However, the developer has not yet handed over flats to the buyers. The protesters claimed that the project, which is spread across 11 acres, involves around 450 buyers. They alleged that the developer had assured them that their concerns will be looked into, but homebuyers alleged that no action has been taken so far. We do not have clarity on the developments here. The flats were supposed to be handed over to us in 2014. Even though we have paid 90% of the cost, we have still not got the possession, said Rajeev Goel, who has bought a flat in the project. The developer has been asking more money. There is no parking space for is even tough we have paid for it, said Arup Pandey, who has also bought a flat in the project. The protestors claimed that none of the buyers has received either the flat or compensation for the delay in hand over. We are being cheated. We have spend our lifes saving in the house but now we have to pay both rent for our accommodation as well as installments of the house loan. Despite all the problems, we have not got possession of our dream house, said Basant Bhumka, another homebuyer. Senior citizens are the worst sufferers because of the delay in the handover of the flats as they do not have any other option, said Amit Raheja, also a homebuyer. The developer, meanwhile, said the company is trying to solve all grievances of the investors and the flats will be delivered next year. A company spokesperson said the company is talking to the buyers and are trying to find solutions to their problems. The spokesperson also said that the delay has happened due to the reasons beyond the control of the company. One of the major reasons for the delay is that the contractor of the company has become bankrupt, the spokesperson said. The company will start delivering flats of the project from April 2017, he added. Read more: Haryana notifies VAT at 1% for developers, contractors SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Women safety in the otherwise bustling Industrial Model Township (IMT) in Manesar, off the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway, has been an issue of concern . More so after private security guards were removed two years ago. In the absence of police personnel, streetlights and CCTV cameras, moving in the area post dusk is a daunting task for women working in industrial units there. The murder of a woman and a girl, whose bodies were found in a plot near the township on Monday morning, has once again exposed the flaws in the security system of the area. A few days ago, a number of women working in different industrial units at IMT shared their security concerns through videos on social media groups. Citing lack of security arrangements in the township, these women pointed out how it was nearly impossible for them to venture out of their offices post sunset. We do not dare to come out on roads after sunset. Mischief mongers on two-wheelers with no registration numbers are always on the prowl. Some of them pass lewd remarks while others snatch bags, said a woman who works at a company in Sector 7. Spread over nearly 3,000 acres, the township comprises over 2,000 companies, most of them production units. Of the 1.5 lakh employees that work there, nearly 20,000 are women, according to the figures compiled by industry associations. The number of snatching cases rises after seventh of every month when we get our salaries. We have requested police for help several times, but in vain. The risk of being attacked by bike-borne men is increasing by the day, said another woman in the video. Till two years ago, private security guards were deployed in the township. The security guards were removed two years ago. We have been asking police to at least provide us some PCR vans and CCTV cameras. We are still waiting for any action by police, said Manoj Tyagi, general secretary, IMT Industrial Association. A week ago, office bearers of the industry association met policemen to formulate a security plan for the industrial township. At the meet, it was decided that the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation limited (HSIIDC) will provide some vans to police for patrolling. We are working on improving the security apparatus. HSIIDC will give some vans for patrolling and CCTV cameras will soon be installed in the area, said assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Manesar, Dharamveer Singh. Police data suggest that the area records one snatching incident every two days. The actual figure, the industry association claimed, is much more as most such cases are not registered. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Multiple Oscar-winning action film Mad Max: Fury Road is reportedly set to get a prequel instead of a sequel. The fifth installment of George Millers Mad Max saga will explore the story before Tom Hardys lone hero meets Charlize Therons Furiosa, reported Aceshowbiz. The prequel is reportedly in pre-production. It is expected to start shooting in Australia later this year. Its unclear whether or not Miller will return for this prequel if the rumour is true. He previously said that he would take a break from the Mad Max saga although it didnt necessarily mean that he wouldnt return for another movie because he still had two more stories to tell. Follow @htshowbiz for more English filmmaker Guy Ritchie is in talks to direct the next James Bond movie. The 48-year-old star is currently in Los Angeles where he is set to hold talks with producer Michael G. Wilson about taking over the franchise from Sam Mendes, reports mirror.co.uk. A source said: Guy has moved up the shortlist and is now the front runner. Hes meeting Michael this week to try to do a deal and see if they can agree on a shared vision for the film. Guy is under serious consideration for Bond 25 and this LA trip should help take this further. He doesnt have Sams artistry, but Guy is a fast-paced, stunt-based director who knows his stuff. He also has on his side the ability to keep calm and balance a big budget, the source added. Mendes has directed Skyfall and Spectre in the spy franchise, but revealed in May that he will not return for another movie as he wants to work on something new. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Magnificent Seven is a movie about fighting against Donald Trump, according to star Ethan Hawke. While accepting his Donostia Award for lifetime achievement at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, the 45-year-old actor said that the titular characters in his latest film would apparently join forces to defeat Trump, reported Ace Showbiz. I bet Donald Trump would like the film. But he doesnt know that what the film is actually about is people gathering together to defeat him, Hawke said when asked about the message of Antoine Fuquas western classic remake and if he thought the US Republican presidential candidate would like it. I like to say that Peter Sarsgaard plays Donald Trump in this film. Sarsgaard portrays a corrupt industrialist named Bartholomew Bogue in the remake of 1960s western movie which starred Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner. Meanwhile, Trump, who will take on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Novembers US presidential election, is known for his controversial comments, especially those aimed at Mexicans and Muslims. The Magnificent Seven will arrive in theatres on September 23. Follow @htshowbiz for more Two people, including a woman, died in police firing during a drive to evict illegal settlers, many alleged Bangladeshis, near the 430 sq km Kaziranga National Park on Monday morning. The All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) termed the eviction drive inhuman and called for a highway blockades across the state in protest. The Gauhati high court had in October last year ordered eviction in three villages Bandardubi, Deosursang and Palkhowa near KNP. The area, about 200 km east of Guwahati, falls in Nagaon district. The eviction was scheduled for Wednesday, but the Nagaon district authorities advanced it reportedly to prevent the settlers resistance from building up. District officials said more than 1,000 security personnel were sent to Bandardubi and adjoining Deosursang and Palkhowa areas to help in the eviction drive. While a few Assamese families had shifted ahead of the drive, others tried to prevent the eviction team from entering their area. Two people, identified as Anjuma Khatun and Fakhruddin, died in the melee that ensued. At least 10 others were injured. When the situation turned violent, we resorted to firing tear gas shells but we did not fire a single shot, a police officer said, declining to be quoted. Shamsher Singh, deputy commissioner of Nagaon district, said stampede killed the two people. The people were instigated by a group. Their leaders may be arrested if a probe links them to the death of the two people. Officials said they had instructions to evict some 190 families in the area where section 144 had been imposed as a precautionary measure. The eviction, Assam forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma said, is in the greater interest of the wildlife and biodiversity of Kaziranga. Besides, the eviction is being carried out as per the order of the High Court. The indigenous people with land-holding papers had moved out much before the eviction drive but a section is creating an adverse environment to cause trouble, but we have asked the authorities to take care so that people are not hurt, health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. He added that the government would provide compensation to the people within 40 days of the eviction. Those who do not have patta land too would be compensated after considering all the factors. But peasant leader Akhil Gogoi said the people should have been allowed to remain until an alternative arrangement was made. Where will these people go? The government is trying to create a Singur-like situation near Kaziranga, he said. Assam Congress president Ripun Bora, who had visited the area, said the eviction was inhuman. We understand Kazirangas natural wealth needs protection, but not at the cost of human lives and misery. We condemn the eviction and demand alternative settlement for the people. Bandardubi resident Nurul Islam said they never knew they were illegal settlers. After living here for 60 years, we are suddenly asked to go somewhere else. What is the guarantee that we will not be hounded as Bangladeshis wherever we are made to relocate? The AAMSU indicated the drive was specifically targeted at the minority community. We have asked our supporters to block highways to protest the inhuman eviction, a union spokesperson said in communique. The evicted villagers, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, said they were descendants of paddy farmers the British had settled more than a century ago along Assams river banks and water bodies to grow more rice. Forest officials said encroachment on the fringes of Kaziranga has been a major hurdle to checking poaching of rhino and other animals in the park. Encroachers of suspect nationality are also involved in illegal fishing inside Kaziranga wetlands and felling of trees. Declared a protected area in 1905 when there were barely a dozen one-horned rhinos alive, Kaziranga was upgraded to a national park in 1974. Conservation efforts led to the increase in the population of rhinos, tigers and wild buffalos made the government expand Kazirangas buffer zone. Over the years, 429.49 sq km were added to Kaziranga across six parts. The first, fourth and sixth additions to the park are under heavy encroachment of suspected illegal migrants. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three of the 17 soldiers killed in a militant attack in north Kashmirs Uri town belonged to Bihar and their bodies will be sent back to their respective homes for final rites on Monday afternoon, the army said. The soldiers who died include sepoy Rakesh Singh from Baddja village of Kaimur district, Naik SK Vidyarthi from Boknari village in Gaya and havildar Ashok Kumar Singh from Raktu village in Bhojpur district. As news spread of the devastating attack the worst strike on the army in years a pall of gloom engulfed the villages. Mathura Yadav, Vidyarthis father, was distraught, while his mother Kunti Devi wailed, surrounded by relatives. At Ashok Kumar Singhs residence, the situation was similar, with friends and relatives arriving to console the bereaved family. Bihar regimental centre (BRC) commandant Brig N Rajkumar said the soldiers bodies would be brought to Varanasi and taken to the respective villages by road. There has been slight change in the schedule. The route chart that we have got is from Varanasi, where the bodies would be flown in. We are also sending our representatives to Varanasi and working out the logistics, he said. The bodies may arrive in the late afternoon, though we dont have the exact timing at present. There were anxious moments at the BRC on Sunday as visitors started pouring in as soon as the news about the Uri attack broke. We didnt have the exact details. It was a tragic incident and the only piece of information we initially had was about the number of casualties. That was 17 from two regiments - 6th battalion of the Bihar Regiment, and 10th Dogra. Now, we have got some details officially and we are planning accordingly, said the commandant. Formed in 1941, the Bihar regiment played a pivotal role to push back Pakistani infiltrators in the 1999 Kargil war. The regiment has a stellar history of service, resulting in decorations such as the Maha Vir Chakra, Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra to jawans and officials. We salute the martyrs. This is the hallmark of the Indian soldier. He never even blinks, come what may. We pay our heartfelt condolences to the families of martyrs, who laid down their lives in the line of duty, Rajkumar added. A soldier is always prepared for such challenges, which can come up anytime and in any form. On August 6, 2013, Bihar Regiments 21st Battalion was attacked by Pakistani intruders in Poonch. Five soldiers lost their lives in an attack on an Indian Army post at Chhakan da Bagh along the Line of Control (LoC). SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The public is invited to attend a free public lecture by nationally recognized contemporary painter, Alyssa Monks. Monks will be at Townsend Atelier teaching a 3-day workshop with one evening open to the public. Through slide presentation, Ms. Monks will talk about her work, her painting process and her journey as an artist. Considered one of the best realist painters in the country, Monks earned her B.A. from Boston College and she studied painting at Lorenzo de Medici in Florence. My intention is to transfer the intimacy and vulnerability of my human experience into a painted surface. I like mine to be as intimate as possible, each brush stroke like a fossil, recording every gesture and decision. Ms. Monkss paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including Intimacy at the Kunst Museum in Ahlen, Germany and Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820-2009 at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York. Her work is represented in public and private collections, including the Savannah College of Arts, the Somerset Art Association and the collections of Howard Tullman, Danielle Steele and Eric Fischl. Ms. Monks has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Painting three times and is a member of the New York Academy of Arts Board of Trustees. She is currently represented by Forum Gallery in New York City. Alyssa currently lives and paints in Brooklyn, NY An Evening with the Artist: Lecture with Alyssa Monks will take place Saturday, Oct. 15 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Townsend Atelier, The Arts Building, 301 East 11th Street, Chattanooga. It is open to the public free of charge. For more info, call 423-266-2712. The Samajwadi Partys (SP) new state president of Uttar Pradesh, Shivpal Yadav launched a counter-attack on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati in Lucknow on Sunday, saying she has been unnerved by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. In his first address to the party workers after a week-long feud with Akhilesh, Shivpal said, Akhilesh Yadavs image and works have unnerved her. She is very jittery because of the unrest and exodus she is facing from her flock. She should concentrate on containing it. Shivpals riposte came after Mayawati had attacked SP national president Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier in the day saying that he had made his brother (Shivpal) a sacrificial goat. The newly appointed boss of the SPs UP unit also defended Mulayam saying struggles and principles were the cornerstones of his politics. For much of last week, bad blood between Akhilesh and Shivpal had threatened to split the Samajwadi Party before Mulayam restored some kind of order. Akhilesh ended up restoring two of the three portfolios he had taken away from Shivpal and accepted his uncle as the partys chief in UP. Also on Sunday, Shivpal issued a statement on the terror attack on Uri army camp in Kashmir. Calling the incident unfortunate, he paid tribute to the martyred soldiers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi must take firm steps to prevent a repetition of such an incident. The countrys security must assume top most importance, he said. Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti on Monday said he will seek asylum in India. Bugti, president of the outlawed Baloch Republican Party and the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, has been living in self-imposed exile in Switzerland since his grandfather was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army a decade ago. His decision to apply for asylum in India comes days after media reports showed the Pakistani government had sped up the process of obtaining Interpols red warrants against the Baloch separatist leader. My understanding is that the move by Pakistan comes in response to the references on Balochistan made by the Indian Prime Minister, analyst Akbar Zaidi said. In a first for an Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had hit out at Pakistan in his Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort, raking up alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. I want to tell all that I got tremendous response from people belonging to Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The way they have complimented me (for the stand in an all-party meeting), I am grateful to them, the PM said. The mention was in line with the governments decision to hit back at Pakistan for allegedly stoking unrest in the Kashmir Valley. Modi said the time had come to expose the plight of people and the atrocities committed by Pakistan. Bugti had lauded Modis reference to Balochistan as the most powerful statement in the last seven decades. It is for the first time that an Indian Prime Minister has spoken. We believe that India should have taken this step a long time ago, he said, adding that he is convinced about Balochistans freedom. I am thoroughly indebted to Prime Minister Modi ... for raising the voice of Baloch people in his Independence Day address. Bugti has claimed widespread human rights violations by Pakistan against the Baloch. He said use of aerial bombardment and deadly gases have become routine, and Balochistan has become the world capital of missing people. We are political people. We want to solve this with peaceful means. But there is no way we are going to be part of the Pakistan any more. We want freedom of Pakistan, he said. Bugti reportedly plans to travel around the world on Indian papers and campaign against Pakistan. The Baloch Republican Party has also decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani army generals at international criminal courts. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Overruling differences between the two states, the Cauvery Supervisory Committee ordered Karnataka on Monday to release 3,000 cusecs water per day to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and September 30. Despite day-long discussions, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu failed to reach an agreement on the quantum of water to be released. Union water resources secretary and chairman of the committee Shashi Shekhar asked Karnataka to release 3000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from September 21 to 30. They have not agreed. The two states are free to challenge this order in the Supreme Court when it takes up the matter tomorrow or they can agree with the order before the court, Shekhar told reporters after the meeting. The supervisory committee in its previous meeting on September 12 had failed to arrive on a decision on quantum of water release for want of adequate information which was to be made available by the river-basin states. It had asked them to provide the information by September 15. The Supreme Court had on September 5 asked Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for 10 days to Tamil Nadu to ameliorate plight of farmers there. The interim order led to protests in parts of Karnataka, especially in Mandya district, considered the hotbed of politics over Cauvery issue. Shekhar said he took the decision keeping in mind various factors such as need for drinking and irrigation water in Karnataka and summer crop in Tamil Nadu. He said while the panel will next meet sometime in October, it will take a call on the release of water to Tamil Nadu after September 30 as and when required. Though the two states failed to agree on the quantum of water release, they agreed that from February 2017 onwards, it should meet every month to take stock of the situation till the Cauvery Management Board comes into being. The matter related to the proposed board is pending before the apex court. The committee also agreed to put in place a protocol for the proposed real-time transmission of river water flow data among the committee secretariat (in Delhi), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The Central Water Commission is working on devices which will be placed at various points to provide real-time data. Lack of credible data makes it difficult for the various parties to arrive at a consensus. At the meeting, while Karnataka vehemently opposed release of any water, Tamil Nadu requested for release of water as ordered by the Cauvery water dispute tribunal. The Cauvery Supervisory Committee will meet on Monday to decide on the quantum of water to be released to Tamil Nadu and other states. This will be the second meeting this month after a Supreme Court order asking Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water every day for next 10 days to neighbouring Tamil Nadu sparked off an agitation by farmers in Karnataka. At the earlier meeting chaired by Union water resources secretary Shashi Shekhar on September 12, the committee tried to reach a conclusion but neither Tamil Nadu nor Karnataka agreed to the amount of water that would be acceptable to both. During the discussions, it was found that certain information related to unauthorised withdrawal of water was unavailable, and hence the committee decided against passing an order that was not backed by data. It was decided that the Central Water Commission would draw up a new protocol of online collection of data of rainfall and flow of water on a real-time basis, which would be shared with the concerned states. The meeting was attended by chief secretaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry and senior officials of Kerala. The Cauvery dispute has been ongoing for decades. The Centre constituted the Cauvery Water Tribunal in 1990, which after hearing both sides for years in its final award in 2007 gave 419 tmc ft for Tamil Nadu and 270 tmc ft for Karnataka. Kerala was awarded 30 tmc ft and Pondicherry 7 tmc ft. But both governments challenged the decision in the Supreme Court. Read | Cauvery water row explained: Why Tamil Nadu, Karnataka fight over river usage? With inputs from ANI Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the Uri attack as another attempt to destabilise the Valley, adding that its always the people of the Valley who lose in the hostility between the two nations. She said that the attack was aimed at creating a war-like situation between India and Pakistan. The fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri, at a time when 86 people have been killed in clashes, might affect the ongoing unrest in Kashmir in multiple ways, say observers. Security forces might start crushing civilian protests in the ongoing unrest in a more aggressive way. There are already reports of militants leading protests and saluting the Pakistani flag. Counter-insurgency operations in the Valley were suspended after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 and the army and paramilitary forces have been working overtime to contain the unrest since then. The Uri attack might serve as a handle to crack down on protesters amid reports that the region has seen a spurt in infiltration bids across the Line of Control in the last few months. Click here for full coverage of Uri attack In the unrest that unfolded after Wanis death, police have claimed that there were multiple instances of weapons being snatched from them, grenades lobbed and police stations set on fire. But many fear that if security forces respond with an iron-fist approach in tackling the unrest, Kashmiri civilians might bear the brunt of the same. Well-known Srinagar-based political scientist, Professor Noor Ahmad Baba, told HT, How the attack will impact the ongoing situation is all speculation at this point. But yes, it might considerably affect the psyche of the security personnel. Read | In the line of fire: Why Uri is vulnerable to militant attacks Mufti, in a press statement issued on Sunday, also said, Unfortunately, people in Jammu and Kashmir, who are already mired in an agonising situation, shall have to bear the maximum brunt of the fresh attempts being made to step up violence and trigger fresh bloodshed in the state. Officials in the states security establishment feel that an Uri like attack boosts the anti-India sentiment, which is ripe in a large section of Kashmiri society. A protester throws a stone during a protest in Kashmir, Srinagar. (Reuters File Photo) A police officer posted in south Kashmir, the epicentre of the ongoing unrest, said on the condition of anonymity, Of course, the anti-India protesters, the stone pelters will be happy today. The attack may act as an inspiration, an encouragement for their activities. But a senior journalist, who did not wish to be named, said that the effect on anti-India protesters would have been greater had the location of the attack been in the Valleys heartland instead of a border area like Uri. He also pointed out that the militants killed were not local Kashmiri men and hence would not receive public sympathy like Wani or his associates. Read | Uri attack: Is India getting impatient with Delhis strategic restraint? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Congress on Monday questioned the absence of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj from a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the situation after Sundays deadly Uri attack that left 18 soldiers dead. EAM (external affairs minister) Sushma Ji is conspicuous by her absence on foreign policy. Isnt PM Modi singularly responsible for the complete disarray? Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said. Swaraj, then in opposition, made headlines when in January 2013 she asked for 10 Pakistani heads after two Indian soldiers were killed one of them beheaded in a cross-border raid in Jammu and Kashmir. The minister has been silent on Uri, even on Twitter, where she is very active and has 5.9 million followers. It was not a meeting of the cabinet committee on security, which comprises the Prime Minister, home minister, finance minister and external affairs minister, Swarajs ministry officials said. The meeting was, however, attended by home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, national security adviser Ajit Doval and army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag among others. As an opposition leader, Swaraj took a stringent line on Pakistan and often accused the Manmohan Singh government of going soft on terror and the neighbouring country. She had called for a tough response after the January 2013 raid. The Modi government is under similar pressure to act against Pakistan after the audacious strike on the army base in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Prime Minister are you not weak? If you are strong, the country needs proof of it, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari told mediapersons in Delhi. Swaraj will lead Indias charge at the United Nations general assembly, where she will talk about Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in keeping with Indias plans to isolate the neighbour diplomatically. She will address the assembly on September 26. Gujarat Dalit rights activist, Jignesh Mevani and 200 supporters, who were demonstrating outside the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, were detained on Monday. Two women members of the rights group, who are fighting for land allocation to Dalits, reportedly fainted and their health deteriorated during the detention. The Dalit activists were taken to Shahibaug Police headquarters around 11.30 am and Mevani alleged that no medical help was provided for several hours. The activists had been demanding land for Dalits in the Dholka region of Ahmedabad district, allotted to them under the Agricultural Land Ceiling (ALC) Act for many years. There are 331 allottees in Saroda village of Dholka under the ALC Act, most of whom are Dalits. When requests for medical help to the police reportedly failed Mevani posted his protest through his Facebook page. He asserted, Gujarat Model: pathetic, obnoxious and disastrous. Even after an hour of fainting ... women are not being taken to hospital .... These women ...are bona fide owners ...We are all under detention and ready to face anything. He also added, Ye andolan ab rukne wala nahi (this agitation wont stop now)...we want our land at any cost. Mevani said land allotment to Dalits in the region had remained on paper for years. He threatened the district collector that if the allotment process was not initiated immediately, the activists would launch a rasta roko (road block) agitation from the busy Income Tax Crossroads in Ahmedabad. Mevani was also rounded up hours before a public demonstration that he had announced in protest against the murder of a Muslim youth, Mohammed Ayyub, in the city allegedly by cow vigilantes last week. He had given a call for Dalit-Muslim unity and stated that just like the Muslims had supported the torture victims of Una, the Dalits would also back them. He had termed the killing of Ayyub on September 12 by cow vigilantes as Dadri-2 comparing it with the lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh on charges of cow slaughter earlier this year. There was shock and disbelief on the face of Sangeeta Devi, whose faith in goddess Parvati had stood rock solid all these years. Less than a fortnight after celebrating Teej, a Hindu festival for the wellness of her husband, Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh, she learnt of his death on Monday morning in the terror attack on an Army camp in Uri. Devis world has come crashing down since her son broke the news. She has turned hysterical and has been fainting intermittently. Such was her condition that she had to be taken from Bhojpur to a doctor in Raktu Tola village under Piro sub-division of Ara, nearly 125 kms west of Patna, and administered intravenous fluid. The slain soldiers father, Jagnarain Singh, 80, a farmer, looked fixated as he sat with stony eyes. For the octogenarian, this was the second such tragedy in the family. His eldest son Kamta Singh, who was also a soldier, was killed in a similar terror attack in Rajasthan on September 6, 1986. Sangeeta Devi mourns after she was informed about her husband Havildar Ashok Kumars death in Uri attack. (HT Photo) Yet despite the misfortune, Singh had encouraged his grandson, Vikas Singh, son of the slain havildar, to join the army because the zeal to serve the country runs in the family. At Boknari village in Gaya, about 117km south of Patna, slain soldier Naik Sunil Kumar Vidyarthis eldest daughter, Arti, 14, demanded that her fathers real killers be punished even as she continued to sob. We should retaliate in the same manner as Pakistan did. Unless we attack them, Pakistan will never learn the lesson, said Arti, adding she was proud of her father who sacrificed his life for the country. My son, during his last visit to Boknari some two-and-a-half months back, had promised me to celebrate this Dussehara at home with all family members and relatives. He had also assured me to get out ancestral house repaired during his Dussehara vacation. But God willed otherwise, said the soldiers inconsolable father Mathura Yadav. Mathura Yadav, father of slain soldier Naik Sunil Kumar Vidyarthi. (HT Photo) Mere Lal Babu (Vidyarthis nickname) ko bulao Sab jhooth bol rahen hain. Mera babu ladai par gaya hai. Wo Dussehra mein zaroor aayega (call my son Lal Babu My son has gone to fight for the country They are all lying about his death. He had promised me to come during Dussehra), cried the soldiers mother Kunti Devi. We got a call from an army officer of Danapur Cantonment at around 6pm on Sunday when we were at Chandauti. My mother told us about the tragedy and we soon informed our grandfather, said Arti. Her two younger sisters, Anshu (12), student of class six at DAV Cant, and Ashika, a kindergarten student, were simply inconsolable. The soldiers one-and-a-half year old son, lying in his uncles lap, is too young to fathom the tragedy that has struck the family. Combination image of slain soldiers Ashok Kumar Singh and SK Vidyarthi. (HT Photo) Lal Babu was the hero of our village and was an inspiration for the youth here. Right from his school days at the government middle school, Boknari, to the MSY College in Gaya, he was a good student. He used to guide students and encourage them to join the army, which he said was the best way to serve the nation, Rahul, a village youth said. Sepoy Rakesh Singh of Kaimur was also among the 17 soldiers killed in the terror attack. Slain Sepoy Rakesh Singh with his family. (HT Photo) Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of each of the three deceased soldiers from the state. More than 18,300 passengers were affected due to cancellation of flights in August while IndiGo and Vistara did not cancel any services last month, according to latest official data. As many as 9,989 passengers of Air Pegasus -- which did not operate a single flight last month -- were impacted by the cancellations in August. Incidentally, the revised compensations norms for flight cancellations/delays and denied boarding for cancelled flights, which has been increased multi-fold, also came into effect from August. As per the revised norms, airlines have to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 or booked one-way basic fare plus fuel charge, whichever is less for cancelled/ delayed flights having a block time of up to one hour in addition to refund of ticket, in case a flier has not been informed by the carrier as per the DGCA norms. In the case of an airline cancelling/delaying its flight over one hour but up to two hours the compensation amount stands at Rs 7,500 or booked one-way basic fare plus fuel charge, whichever is less, besides the refund amount, according to the revised norms. Similarly, an amount of Rs 10,000 or booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, whichever is less, is now the compensation for flights having a block time of more than two hours. Block hours refer to the period when an aircraft pushes back from its departure gate till the moment it reaches the arrival gate. These hours are used to calculate an airlines on-time performance (OTP) besides determining the compensation in the eventuality of a flight getting cancelled or delayed. Data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today showed that a total of 18,353 passengers were affected by flight cancellations. Depending on the situation, passengers were refunds, flights were rescheduled and refreshments provided. After Air Pegasus, the number of passengers affected by flight cancellations was from Air India. Last month, the number stood at 3,634 for the national carrier, followed by SpiceJet (1,470) and Air Costa (1,219). Faced with financial woes, Air Pegasus has suspended operations. As per the data, 1,156 passengers of Jet Airways and Jet Lite were impacted by cancellations. 408 and 330 fliers of Air Carnival and AirAsia respectively were affected due to cancelled flights in August. In case of denied boarding, airline are supposed to pay an amount equal to 200 per cent of booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, subject to maximum of Rs 20,000, in case airline arranges alternate flight that is scheduled to depart within 24 hours of the booked scheduled departure, as per the revised norms. An amount equal to 400 per cent of booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, subject to maximum of Rs 20,000, is to be paid to a flier in case airline arranges alternate flight that is scheduled to depart beyond 24 hours of the booked scheduled departure, as per the revised norms The day the terrorist siege of Pathankot airbase ended in January, Pakistan condemned the attack and said it was working on leads provided by India about the perpetrators. A day later, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and said terrorists always try to derail the bilateral peace process. The contrast in Pakistans response to the terror attack on an army base in Uri that killed 17 soldiers on Sunday couldnt be more striking. There has been no offer of cooperation and the only civilian Pakistani leader to respond foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz has not even condemned the attack. Heres how Pakistans response to the Pathankot and Uri attacks has differed: Pathankot attack *Soon after Indian troops ended the siege at the airbase on January 4 and Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed was blamed for the attack, Pakistan condemned the attack and said it was in touch with the Indian government and is working on the leads provided by it. Pakistan also said the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process and sought a cooperative approach to counter terror. * On January 5, Sharif called Modi and said terrorists try to derail any serious effort to bring peace between the two countries. He also said Pakistan would investigate in detail on the leads and information provided by India. * On January 8, Sharif meet senior military and intelligence officials and reviewed progress made in investigating the leads provided by India. The following day, Sharif told US secretary of state John Kerry that Pakistan was swiftly carrying out an investigation and would bring out the truth. * On January 13, Sharif chaired another meeting to review the probe into the Pathankot attack and a statement said several individuals belonging to JeM had been apprehended and offices of the terror group were being traced and sealed. Sharif also decided to send a special investigation team to Pathankot to gather additional information. * The Pakistani special investigation team visited India during March 27-April 1 and was also allowed into the Pathankot airbase. However, the investigation has not been closed and it is still not known what action has been taken against the JeM operatives who were reportedly apprehended. Uri attack * Hours after the attack on the army camp that killed 17 soldier on September 18, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria rejected Indias assertion that the JeM was behind the strike and said India has a history of blaming Pakistan immediately after a terror attack, which always proved wrong in investigations. Zakaria said India was using different tactics to divert the worlds attention from the situation in Kashmir. * A statement issued on September 19 by Sartaj Aziz, advisor on foreign policy to Sharif, again rejected Indias assertion that Pakistan was involved in the Uri attack and accused New Delhi of trying to divert attention from the Kashmir issue. Aziz, dwelt more on the situation in Kashmir and did not condemn the Uri attack. There was also no offer of cooperation to probe the assault. * Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif chaired a meeting of his Corps Commanders on September 19 and described Indias reaction to the Uri attack as a hostile narrative. He said his troops were prepared to respond to the entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat. * Also on September 19, Prime Minister Sharif wrote letters to the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council China, France, Russia, the UK and the US about grave human rights violations in Kashmir. The letters also referred to the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir on regional and international security. Full Coverage| Uri terror attack SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Erlanger Health System has earned Perinatal Care Certification from The Joint Commission. Erlanger is the second hospital in Tennessee to achieve this certification, which recognizes Joint Commission-accredited hospitals committed to achieving integrated, coordinated and patient-centered care for mothers and their newborns. Achieving this certification recognizes an organizations commitment to healthy mothers and healthy babies, said Wendi Roberts, RN, BA, MS, CLNC, executive director, Certification Programs, The Joint Commission. The certification gives providers an unparalleled advantage when it comes to preparing mothers for labor and delivery, while also being able to help them if complications arise. Erlangers main hospital on Third Street and Erlanger East Hospital on Gunbarrel Road underwent separate, rigorous, onsite reviews to assess its compliance with certification standards for perinatal care. During the review, Joint Commission experts completed an independent evaluation of Erlangers perinatal health care services, focusing on the following key requirements: Integrated, coordinated patient-centered care that starts with prenatal and continues through postpartum care Early identification of high-risk pregnancies and births Appropriate management of mothers and newborns risks Patient education and information about perinatal care services, helping mothers make informed health care decisions We are delighted to receive Perinatal Care Certification from The Joint Commission, the premier health care quality improvement and accrediting body in the nation, said Traci Josephsen, MSN, MSW, NP-C, RNC, Erlanger Clinical Administrator for Women's Services. By achieving this certification, we are focused on ongoing quality improvement processes to improve care for mothers and newborns, added Lindsay Krcelic, MHA, Erlanger Assistant Vice President for Womens and NICU Services. Established in 2015, Perinatal Care Certification is awarded for a two-year period to Joint Commission-accredited hospitals. The chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, on Monday expressed grief over the loss of lives in the Uri militant attack. Commenting on the death of 18 soldiers in the attack on an army base camp in Uri, Geelani said, We as human beings feel pain and with sincere heart believe to promote universal brotherhood. We never derive pleasure from human sufferings, and the forces personnel that lost their lives were humans. This is perhaps the first time that Geelani, a doggedly pro-Pakistan hawk among the separatists, has mourned the killing of security personnel in Kashmir. At the same time, he slammed politicians for creating a war-like situation. Geelani also flayed the media for adding fuel to an already volatile situation. Taking a dig at local stooges, he said in a bid to gain favours from their masters, they blamed Pakistan without assigning any logic. He said the reactions were natural but we need to maintain sense and balance while giving vent to our emotions. With around 450 soldiers, the Indian Army and the United States army participated in a joint military exercise in Uttarakhand in a bid to share experiences and techniques. The soldiers were part of classroom sessions where they were learning defence skills. Other joint exercises included rappelling, aiming at targets at the reflex shooting range and participating in jungle lane shooting, apart from sharing technical information about the weaponry used by both armies. (Picture courtesy: Indian Army) The Indian Army and the United States army participate in a joint military exercise in Uttarakhand in a bid to share experiences and techniques. (Picture courtesy: Indian Army) This is the 12 edition of Indo-US joint military exercise that was first held in 2004. A similar exercise was held at Chaubatia in 2014. Last year, the joint military drill was organised at Joint Base Lewis McChord in the US. (Picture courtesy: Indian Army) According to officials, the exercise curriculum is planned and soldiers from both nations are initially made to get familiar with each others organisational structure, weapons, equipment and tactical drills. (Picture courtesy: Indian Army) Subsequently, the training advances to joint tactical exercises, wherein the battle drills of both the armies are coherently unleashed. The training will culminate with a final validation exercise in which troops of both countries will jointly carry out an operation against terrorists in a fictitious but realistic setting, according to an official statement. Last year, armies of both the nations met at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in the US.. (Picture courtesy: Indian Army) This is the 12th edition of the exercise in the Yudh Abhyas series that started in 2004 as part of US Army Pacific partnership programme. (Picture courtesy: Indian Army) India held a trilateral naval exercise was with US and Japan close to the South China Sea in June. American and Indian Army soldiers click selfies at Chaubatia in Uttarakhand. (Rajeev Kala/HT Photo) Read | Indian American woman soldier bridges the gap between US and Indian army SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON India-Pakistan relationship will not be same again and Indias patience with the neighbour is running out, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday, as the government weighed its options following the deadly Uri terror attack. With voices, including those within the BJP, calling for retaliatory action against Pakistan following the Uri terror attack, the Union law and information technology minister said the Narendra Modi government will take appropriate action keeping in the mind the national interest. Asked about reports of India weighing options likes surgical strike in Pakistan territory, he told reports that such matters are not discussed with the media. Our relationship with Pakistan will not be same again. Our patience is running out. There is a limit to patience. The government will consider strategic and diplomatic options and take a decision, he said. To a question that Prime Minister Modi is facing criticism for the gap between his tough rhetoric when BJP was in the opposition and his governments alleged lack of action against Pakistan, Prasad said BJPs policies are in tune with the national interest. The opposition parties should keep politics away from this matter, he said. BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the government will do whatever it has to in the national interest and it is serious about the issue. If something has to be done, it will be done. There is no need to talk about it, he said, adding that it will take action at an appropriate time and has been fully behind army on such matters. Whether to respond to Pakistan diplomatically, economically or by some other means is a decision which the government will take, he said. India moved on Monday to diplomatically isolate Pakistan as part of retaliation to a militant attack on an army base in Kashmir, but the plan appeared set to run into a wall of resistance from a defiant Islamabad. After a two-hour meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some of his top ministers decided against any knee-jerk reaction and, instead, backed moves to present evidence of Pakistans complicity at global fora. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was absent from the meeting to draft a response to Sundays attack that saw heavily armed militants sneak into the base in Uri and kill 18 soldiers before security forces shot them. The head of military operations of the Indian army, Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, said India had the desired capability to respond, without elaborating. We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at a time and place of our own choosing, Singh told reporters. While India weighed its options, Pakistan seemed readying to pre-empt the diplomatic offensive. In signs of estrangement, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote letters to the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council China, France, Russia, the UK and the US about grave human rights violations in Kashmir by Indian forces. Islamabad made no offer of cooperation to investigate the Uri attack, as was done by it in the aftermath of a similar deadly raid on an air base in Punjab in January. The only civilian Pakistani leader to respond foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz did not even condemn the attack. Aziz dwelt more on the situation in Kashmir, especially the unrest triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. Its army chief Raheel Sharif hit out at Indias hostile narrative, saying his country was fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat. At a session of the UN human rights council in Geneva on Monday, India asked Pakistan to stop supporting violence and terrorism and vacate its illegal occupation of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. New Delhi also brought up alleged human rights violations in Balochistan the persecution of minorities, including Hindus. As calls grew for a counter-strike against Pakistan and militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which India believes orchestrated the attack, New Delhi also decided to push for more terror elements based there to be brought under UN sanctions. Foreign minister Swaraj will also bring up the attack at United Nations general assembly later next week. Although New Delhis options to hit back at nuclear-armed Pakistan appeared limited, government sources said a strong message to Pakistan could include surgical strikes against inimical assets along their de-facto border. Granting political asylum to exiled Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti, who spearheads a campaign for independence from Pakistan, is also being considered. The action has to be taken without getting influenced by emotions, anger. It has to be taken coolly and with proper planning, VK Singh, junior foreign minister said. Past attempts by India to bring Pakistani elements under the sanctions regime has so far been unsuccessful, because of opposition from China, among others. China said on Monday it was shocked by the attack on the Uri base. It also expressed concern over the escalation of violence in Kashmir. France also referred to the disputes in the region of Kashmir. India bristles at any mention by other countries of its territorial dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. (With agency inputs) Sundays militant attack on an army base in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir has claimed the lives of eighteen soldiers. While 17 soldiers died on Sunday, the army confirmed that one more critically injured soldier succumbed to his injuries today, pushing the death toll to 18. The armed militants lobbed grenades at their tents and barracks where the soldiers were sleeping. The ensuing fire led to a large number of casualties. 28 injured soldiers had been airlifted to a military hospital on Sunday. We salute the sacrifice of 17 soldiers who were martyred in the operation, the army said in a statement. Lieutenant General DS Hooda, army commander and all ranks of Northern Command also expressed deep condolences to the families of dead. All across the country, families and states mourned their dead. The fallen soldiers belonged to Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Here are the names of the soldiers who lost their lives in the attack: As Nepals Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda arrived in India last week, a senior Nepali member of his delegation told HT, We want India to welcome the constitution. That will help build trust. India had only noted the constitution promulgation exactly a year ago. A top Indian diplomatic source was quick to reject the possibility and said New Delhi couldnt go so far. We recognise it as a major achievement, we welcome the amendment that has taken place, we can appreciate Prachandas efforts to bring everyone on board. But our principled position will remain. This constitution needs work, large segments of the society are still angry, the source added. Eventually, there was a convergence of sorts. Prachanda called the constitution a historic achievement, and said he was committed to bringing everyone on board. Narendra Modi expressed the confidence that under Prachandas leadership, the constitution would be successfully implemented through inclusive dialogue, accommodating the aspirations of all segments of your diverse society. The inference was obvious. Discontent among Madhesis people of the Nepali plains who speak languages such as Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Urdu, Hindi and sharing extensive cross-border links remains a factor in the Kathmandu-New Delhi relationship. The community has long been excluded from power structures by the Nepali hill establishment and is now seeking greater space in the polity. While Nepali society is diverse, Nepali state is exclusionary along with Madhesis, others like Janjatis, Tharus, women and Dalits remain marginalised. Many in India had not even heard of Madhes till last year, when the constitutional process sparked off major protests in Nepals southern plains for six months and led to disruption of supplies across the border, and public bitterness between the two governments. But Indias involvement in Nepali politics and the upsurge in Madhes have deep roots in history. And unless resolved, the issue will complicate India-Nepal ties. Read | Why India must speak up strongly on Nepal A player in Nepali politics When India expressed concerns about Nepals constitutional process last year, many asked what is Delhi doing in a neighbouring countrys internal politics? The first reason is Delhis long history of involvement in Nepal. New Delhi has had a role in every regime change in the landlocked country. Kathmandu politicians have often sought this role, even though they are known to turn against it when Delhis actions do not suit them. In 1951, then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru mediated an agreement that opened up Nepals path to democratisation and modernisation. In 1988-89, Rajiv Gandhi blockaded Nepal catalysing a movement for democracy backed by Indian leaders. And in 2005-06, Delhi facilitated a political understanding between Maoists and democratic parties that eventually led to the abolition of monarchy and the peace process, which culminated in the constitution. This is why no one was surprised when India mediated an agreement between the Nepali government and Madhesi parties on the request of then PM Girija Prasad Koirala when a movement broke out in the Tarai (plains) in 2008. The pact promised an autonomous Madhes province and proportionate inclusion of Madhesis in state organs in the constitution. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, who served as Indias ambassador to Nepal during the period, confirmed this. The second reason for Indias interest in Nepal is an open border and the concern that any instability in the Tarai will inevitably spill across. The analogy with Sri Lanka is often drawn. As an official told HT, Look at the similarities. There is a majoritarian regime, and a substantial section of the population, which is alienated and angry. This section shares extensive cross-border ethnic and linguistic links. Today, they are asking for inclusion. Tomorrow, like Tamils, they may ask for secession. This, he said, would impact India directly. By asking Nepal to accommodate Madhesis, India was engaged in preventive diplomacy. A third, often unstated, factor also drives New Delhis involvement in Nepal. India believes Madhesi accommodation would lead to a greater balance in the Nepali polity dominated by hill communities grounded in deep anti-Indian nationalism. This, in turn, will create a more friendly dispensation in Kathmandu, New Delhi thinks. Read | India must design a new Himalayan policy The constitutional impasse The issue came to a head last year when Nepals political leadership was drafting a constitution that many said eroded political representation, affirmative action, citizenship rights for Madhesis and deprived federal provinces of power in key areas. During Modis visit to Kathmandu in November 2014, he urged Nepali leaders to draft the constitution through consensus a clear signal that no group, including Madhesis, should be excluded. But in the final months leading up to the constitutions promulgation, India apparently decided that any constitution was better than no constitution and did not drive the message home. There was a clear divide within the foreign ministry as Indian ambassador to Kathmandu, Ranjit Rae, pressed for strong action and officials in Delhi decided not to be seen as interventionist. But this changed in September. By then, Madhesi protests had escalated and many had died in Tarai. Politicians from Bihar had begun clamouring about how their constituents were alarmed at the treatment received by their relatives across the border. The Indian establishment was suddenly furious at the complete disregard shown by Nepali leaders towards their own long-term interests and Indian concerns. Foreign secretary S Jaishankar went as PMs special envoy to tell Nepali leaders to pause the process but by then, it was too late. After the constitution came into force, Madhesi protesters decided to block the border to pressurise Kathmandu. India tacitly backed the tactic. This generated an ultra-nationalist backlash in Kathmandu, where leaders blamed the entire Madhes crisis on India. They also invited a greater Chinese role. (See box) But sustained pressure eventually forced Nepal to amend the constitution and increase Madhesi representation. Today, a new government led by Prachanda who raised issues of Madhesi discrimination during his Maoist rebellion days has promised to make further amendments, and bring Madhesis on board. If this happens, Delhi will be relieved. If it doesnt, Kathmandu-Tarai polarisation will continue to increase, making it increasingly difficult for Delhi to have good relations with both. Read | India pins hope on Prachanda to enact Nepal constitution The China card As India spoke of the need to ensure Madhesi inclusion in the constitutional process, Nepals establishment played what has come to be known as the China card dangling the threat of developing closer ties with Beijing in order to get Delhi to change its policy track. This was used most effectively by King Mahendra. In 1960, he dismissed a democratically elected government. India saw it as a setback for democracy. But then India-China tensions grew. Worried about the prospect of the Kathmandu Palace developing closer ties with China, India dropped its support for democracy. Strategic imperatives prevailed over values. But this card has also failed twice. King Birendra tried to get arms from China. Rajiv Gandhi was furious, and limited the number of border points for trade. This crippled Nepal, the royal regime fell. In 2005, King Gyanendra took over, and tried to cultivate ties with the Chinese. But the India-backed democratic movement succeeded. In both cases, China did little to save the monarchs. India gained strategically, democratic values also prevailed. Last year, as a supplies crisis hit Nepal during Madhesi protests, Kathmandu again turned to Beijing. A series of agreements on connectivity and transit were signed. But given geographical and economic constraints, it will take years if not decades for China to become an alternative to India in terms of source of supplies or transit. But what has changed is the Chinese willingness to play a role in internal Nepali politics. It offered full support to the previous KP Oli government and tried to preserve it. Worried about the China card, there are voices in Delhi who would like to focus solely on preserving the relationship with Kathmandu establishment. There are others who believe the card has its limits, India should not get alarmed, and instead focus on pushing Nepal towards an inclusive polity. An inclusive Nepal will be a friendly Nepal. We will gain strategically and our principles will be vindicated, said an official. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti led senior army and police officials in paying tributes at the wreath-laying ceremony for the 17 soldiers killed in the militant attack on an army base in Uri. Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti laid wreaths on the coffins of the martyred soldiers in a sombre ceremony held at headquarters of the Chinar Corps here at Badamibagh, an army official said. He said General officer Commanding of the Chinar Corps, Lt General Satish Dua, and director general of police K Rajendra Kumar were among senior security officials who laid wreaths to pay their respects. The chief minister later visited the soldiers, injured in Sundays attack, at the 92 Base Hospital of the army, the official said. Srinagar: Wreath laying ceremony of 17 soldiers who died in Uri terror attack. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/hGOlneKfNl ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Following directions of defence minister Manohar Parikkar, the army has made arrangements for transporting the mortal remains of all the martyrs directly to their respective hometowns. While two of the 17 soldiers hail from Jammu and Kashmir, rest of them belong to Uttar Pradesh (4), Bihar (3), Maharashtra (3), West Bengal (2), Jharkhand (2) and Rajasthan (1). Swami Prasad Maurya, who broke his 20- year-old association with BSP chief Mayawati to join the BJP, has said that he would expose the corrupt acts of his former leader in his September 21 rally. After the rally, Maurya would announce the merger of his Bahujan Loktantrik Manch with the BJP. Once the BSPs OBC face, he had floated the Manch after severing ties with Mayawati in June. He said he is expecting a crowd of nearly five lakh at the rally which would also be attended by BJP national president Amit Shah, UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and the partys state in-charge Om Mathur. Mauryas supporters claim that several BSP leaders may join the BJP. Only the BSP has so far been able to draw enough crowd to fill Lucknows massive Ramabai Ambedkar ground, the venue that Maurya says he has deliberately chosen for his proposed rally. Mayawati has been filling up the grounds with the help of capitalists. On September 21, she would see the power of a fakir like me. Unless she comes out with a white paper on corruption, I would expose her at the rally which would end whatever little support base Mayawati is now left with, Maurya said during an interaction with journalists in Lucknow on Sunday. The former BSP heavyweight, who has been touring the state to drum up support for his rally, however, refused to comment on the ongoing family feud in the first family of the ruling Samajwadi Party. Instead, he chose to focus on the BSP which he quit on June 22. After the 2017 UP polls, Mayawati would be forced to shift her political base to Delhi as there would be nothing left in UP for her by then, Maurya said. The rally was earlier slated for September 22 but has been advanced by a day. Suspected militants fired at a police post in north Kashmirs Handwara late on Monday, a day after attackers stormed an army base in Uri and killed 18 soldiers. Mondays incident took place in Langate. There were no reports of casualties. More details awaited. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modis favourability rating with the Indian public is 81%, says the latest Pew Research Center survey on the countrys attitudes. Though the rating is six percentage points less than last year, the survey concludes that Modi continues to ride a wave of public good feeling about the way things are going in India. Questions remain about Indias economic growth rate, but 80% of Indians said the current state of the economy is good up six points from last year and 16% more than when Modi was elected in 2014. A similar trend was evident in responses to questions about the direction of the country. Sixty-five per cent said they were satisfied, up 9 points from last year and more than double what was felt in 2013. The annual India poll by the Washington-based research centre was based on interviews of nearly 2,500 Indians across 16 states and in eight languages, which were conducted between April 7 and May 24. Modis approval is strikingly high with 57% of Indians expressing a very favourable opinion and 24% giving a moderately favourable view. While his overall approval rises to 94% among BJP supporters, even 61% of Congress supporters gave him a thumbs-up. A plurality of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters (47%) also took a positive view. The rising tide of public confidence, however, has lifted other political boats. Both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have seen their ratings rise to 65 and 63%, respectively, up from 49 and 50% in 2013. But AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has seen his numbers drop 10 percentage points from last year to 50%. In what may be an indicator of next years state election results, 71% of North Indians expressed satisfaction at the direction of the country the highest figures across the country. Though only 42% of North Indians say the economy is doing well, that is still the second-highest among the regions. Modis popularity, noted the report, cuts across demographic groups to both men and women, and among all age groups, educational backgrounds and income levels. Men were more likely to like Modi than women by a small margin: 85% to 77%. The younger the Indian, the more likely he is to be a Modi supporter. Nine out of 10 Indians with some college education approved of Modi, among those with less than a secondary school education the figure fell to 79%. Rural and urban support for Modi was almost identical. The report noted an unsurprising division of opinion between BJP and Congress supporters on Modi. When asked, for example, whether Modi cares about people like me, there was a 31-point gap between the partisan respondents. (Gfx by Garima Garg) Asked to judge the NDA governments ability to tackle specific policy problems, Modi did the best in helping the poor and unemployment with a 62% positive approval rating. He fared the worst in communal relations and air pollution, with approval for both at 53%. Indian respondents listed crime, jobs and corrupt officials as the countrys primary problems by an overwhelming 95%. Communal relations received the lowest sense of concern out of six policy areas 76%. Modis party, the BJP, has not fared as well as its leader though it remains well ahead of the Congress. While the Congress has seen its popularity rise six points to 67% from last year, the BJPs has fallen by seven points to a still commanding 80%. BJP support has fallen the most in rural areas, down 16 points from last year, and its support is weakest in western states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra. Congress approval is strongest in the South. Elmcroft of Shallowford, Senior Helpers and Assisted Living Locators will be providing Caregiver 101 Training free of charge. Learn tips and techniques of taking care of yourself and your loved one. This will be a monthly offering and we will cover a variety of topics. The training will be held Saturday Sept. 24 from 10 - 11 a.m. at Elmcroft of Shallowford, located at 7127 Lee Highway, Chattanooga. For more information call John Rouser at 423-668-0097 Indias standing in the world is much improved since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, according to the latest annual Pew Research Center opinion poll of Indian attitudes. However, a majority of Indians believe New Delhi doesnt have a grip on its Pakistan policy. Indians revealed an overwhelmingly positive and confident view of their place in the world and Modis foreign policy received a general thumbs-up in the survey. One stark negative: Strong disapproval of Modis handling of Pakistan. Only 22% of Indians polled approved of his policy, a view likely exacerbated by incidents such as the terror strike on Pathankot airbase that was blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. The poll, based on interviews of nearly 2,500 Indians across 16 states and in eight languages, was conducted between April 7 and May 24. (Gfx by Garima Garg) The highlights of the poll: * Indians are pleased with their place in the world. Over two-thirds of Indians feel their country plays a more important role in the world than it did 10 years ago. That is nearly three times similar responses from Americans and Europeans to the same question. This feel good encompasses globalisation: 52% support Indias involvement in the global economy, also higher than figures for Western respondents. There are also stirrings of great power think. Asked if India should take allies concerns into account, even if this run counter to Indias interests, nearly half said Yes. Though only 23% felt India should help other countries, a reminder that the countrys domestic problems remain top of the mind, 46% said improving human rights globally should be an important foreign policy goal. * Indians like Modis embrace of the US, but not his policy to Pakistan. Pew asked Indians whether they approved of Modis dealings with four countries: the US, Russia, China and Pakistan. The policy for the US received the highest ratings with a 54% approval rating, and 15% being critical. Mainstream India continues to support close relations with Washington. But the Pew survey noted that support for Modis US policy has fallen 12 percentage points since last year. The policy on Pakistan received a harsh judgment, Pew noted, with 50% expressing disapproval and only 22% expressing support. The most critical were BJP supporters (54%), with Congress supporters being less bothered (45%). However, this state of affairs is largely unchanged from last years survey. A sense of the antipathy to Pakistan was evident in two other results. First, 62% of Indians believe overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism. This is much higher than even Americans, only 47% of whom take this view. Second, despite Indias economic ills, 63% of Indians supported increased defence spending. Modis Russia policy received a 43% approval rating, six points higher than last year. His handling of China received only a 38% approval rating, largely unchanged from last year. * Indians continue to show no love for China. Pakistan, no surprise, is the country that Indians hate the most with a 73% unfavourable to 14% favourable rating. China came second with a much lower unfavourability rating of 36%. Though 31% of Indians approve of China, that is a sharp 10 points lower than the figure last year. The feeling is reciprocated: 61% of Chinese disapprove of India with only 26% saying the reverse. What should trouble Beijing is that ambivalence about China is present among poorly educated Indians. Among Indians with some college education, anti-Chinese sentiment soars to 61%. When it came to Chinas growing military power, its relations with Pakistan, and its territorial disputes with and economic impact on India, between 67% and 70% of Indians said these posed a very serious or serious problem. This sentiment is strongest among BJP supporters who on average are 11 percentage points more concerned about China than Congress backers, especially in regards to Chinas military power. President Xi Jinping suffers accordingly only 15% of Indians express confidence in him. * Trump is a mystery, but climate change is not. The world leader in the making who fares worse than Xi Jinping with the Indian public is US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He got a 14% confidence vote and a 16% no-confidence vote, but mostly left Indians at a loss for opinion. Trumps Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, despite her repeated visits to India, fares slightly better with a confidence vote of 28%. The winner is outgoing US President Barack Obama, who netted a 58% thumbs-up. This figure jumped to 86% among Indians with college education. Curiously, Obamas numbers are down 16 points from last year, despite two back-to-back visits to India. Climate change continues to be seen by Indians as the number one international threat, out of a list of eight offered. A solid 53% saw it as a major threat to India, 18% as a minor threat and only 8% dismissed it as being no threat. The Islamic State came in a close second at 52% , Chinas rise as a world power got 45%. The power and influence of the US came at the bottom with 27% of Indians seeing it as a concern. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sought help from the US on Monday to resolve tensions between India and Pakistan, as he raised the issue of alleged human rights violations and killings in Kashmir. Sharif met US secretary of state John Kerry in New York during which he raised the Kashmir issue. The Prime Minister said that more than 107 people have been assassinated in Kashmir, thousands injured and worst human rights violations are being committed at the state level, according to a readout of the meeting issued by Pakistan. Sharif told Kerry that he still remember President (Bill) Clintons promise that US will play its role to help out in resolving bilateral disputes and issues between Pakistan and India. I expect US Administration and Secretary Kerry to use his good offices to help in resolving bilateral issues between Pakistan and India, the statement quoted Sharif as saying. Sharif said Pakistan has always fought terrorism as a moral obligation and he has always reached out to neighboring countries for regional peace, stability and prosperity. Prime Ministers adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistans envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi and US special representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. According to the statement, Sharif said that terrorists infrastructure had been dismantled and they were on the run due to the indiscriminate action against all terrorist groups. The national resolve against terrorism and extremism is unflinching, the statement said, citing Sharif. Discussing the situation in Afghanistan with Kerry, Sharif stressed the need for meaningful engagement with Afghanistan, the statement said. Sharif, who is in New York to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmirs Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. Indias DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. With Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suspected to be behind the Uri attack, Congress leader Digvijay Singh sought on Monday to put the National Democratic Alliance government in the dock, suggesting the earlier NDA regime had compromised with national security by releasing the terrorist following the 1999 Indian airlines hijack. In a series of tweets, he also made a strong pitch for building strong international pressure to isolate Pakistan in the wake of the terror strike and also stressed on looking into the failure of the Army to protect its camp near the LoC. We compromised to let Masood Azhar go after Indian Airlines hijack. Lesson? Never compromise with National Security, the Congress General Secretary said. We compromised to let Masood Azhar go after Indian Airlines hi jack. Lesson ? Never compromise with National Security. digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) September 19, 2016 Masood Azhars Jaish-e-Mohammad behind the attack. Of course with full connivance of Pakistan Establishment. Masood Azhar's Jaish e Mohammad behind the attack. Of course with full connivance of Pakistan Establishment. digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) September 19, 2016 Should also look at the failure of the Army to protect its Army Camp near the LOC, he said. Pay homage to the Martyrs in Uri. GOI must strongly build International pressure to isolate Pakistan, the Congress leader added. Flight IC 814, which was en route from Nepal to Delhi, was hijacked on December 24, 1999 with 176 passengers onboard. Three terrorists, including Masood Azhar, were released by the Indian government in exchange for the safe release of passengers and the crew. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to investigate the terror attack on the Uri army base in Jammu and Kashmir. A team of NIA officials reached Srinagar on Sunday. It will be sent to Uri once the area is sanitised and the army gives its go-ahead, said a senior home ministry official. At least 17 soldiers were killed as heavily armed militants attacked the army base in north Kashmir. The Union home secretary is likely to go to Srinagar later in the day. There is apprehension that separatist elements may get emboldened by the attack as these attacks are clearly being carried out to boost the unrest that Valley has seen after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The state has been asked to remain on high alert, said the official. Counter-terror sources said there was a general warning a few days before the attack that military bases in northern India may targeted. The Uri sector had seen a similar attack on an army base in Mahura in December 2014, when eight soldiers and three police officers died. The Mahura attack also started at midnight. Attacks on security forces have been on the rise in Kashmir this year. Before the Uri attack, security forces were targeted in Poonch, Pulwama and Pampore. Read | Pakistan Army asks India to provide actionable intelligence on Uri attack SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One more soldier succumbed to injuries on Monday taking the death toll in the Uri army base terrorist attack to 18, army said. Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan died at R&R Hospital in New Delhi while undergoing treatment. Janardhan hails from Purad village of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra. He is survived by his wife and a daughter. Earlier in the day, minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre had confirmed 17 soldiers died in the brazen attack, denying reports that three more had succumbed to their injuries. Read | What next? Heres how India can respond to the Uri terror attack Bhamre said most of the injured were suffering from severe burns and being treated in the Valley, but three soldiers were brought to the RR Army Hospital in New Delhi, ANI reported Heavily armed militants attacked the Uri army base on Sunday, triggering calls for a swift retaliation that could squeeze the space for any detente between India and Pakistan. The dawn raid surprised soldiers in their sleep as attackers lobbed grenades and set fire to a building. The blaze killed 12 troopers and the rest died in gunfight, sources added. Soldiers killed four fidayeen - or commando-style gunmen willing to fight to death after an hours-long gun battle to end what was the worst single attack on the army in years. More than 20 soldiers were wounded, some of them seriously. With inputs from PTI and ANI Read | My son is fighting: Bihar soldiers family in disbelief after Uri attack India jumps the gun: Pak media criticise knee-jerk reaction after Uri attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the Uri terror attack attended by top ministers and officials at his residence in New Delhi on Monday. The meeting was attended by Union home minister Rajnath Singh, army chief Gen Dalbir Singh, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, finance minister Arun Jaitley and national security adviser Ajit Doval along with other senior officials at 7, Race Course Road. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, however, was missing. At the over two-hour-long meeting, the security top brass briefed the Prime Minister on the ground situation in the Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a brigade headquarters in Uri, official sources said. The defence minister and the army chief had visited Kashmir after the terror attack on Sunday. Parikkar is believed to have told the army to act sternly, while minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said a befitting reply would be given to the terror elements. The meeting was attended by Union home minister Rajnath Singh, army chief Gen Dalbir Singh, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, finance minister Arun Jaitley and national security adviser Ajit Doval at 7 Race Course Road. (ANI Photo) At least 17 soldiers lost their lives and 19 were injured as heavily armed militants, suspected to belong to the Jaish-e-Mohammed, stormed an army camp at the headquarters of the 12th Brigade in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. India reacted strongly to the attack the deadliest on the army in a quarter-century with the Prime Minister and others strongly condemning it. We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished, Modi said. The home minister blamed Pakistan squarely, calling it a terrorist state that should be isolated, while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint were over and suggested that for one tooth, the complete jaw should be Indias policy after the attack. Rajnath Singh too chaired a meeting with the defence minister and top security officials of the country on Monday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas, in the wake of the terror attack in Uri. Doval and top officials of the ministries of home and defence, army, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed Singh on the ground report in the Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control, official sources said. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed in the meeting, sources said. Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who postponed his visit to Srinagar, also attended the meeting. Also reviewed at the meeting was the security situation across the country, particular along the western border from Punjab to Gujarat. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to investigate the terror attack on the Uri army base in Jammu and Kashmir. A team of NIA officials reached Srinagar on Sunday. It will be sent to Uri once the area is sanitised and the army gives its go-ahead, said a senior home ministry official. Criticising Centres handling of the situation in violence-hit Jammu and Kashmir, the Shiv Sena said on Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modis international status is of no use if the government cannot replicate a US-like operation, where the a surgical commando raid neutralised al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. In the partys mouthpiece publication, Saamna, the Shiv Sena said although the Prime Minister condemned the attack on the Indian Army battalion headquarters in Uri town, and has vowed to bring the perpetrators to book, it is not likely to have any impact on a country like Pakistan. The violence in Kashmir has worsened over the past four months. The state government has crumbled in the situation and no one is paying any heed to what the Centre says. People are storming the streets saying Pakistan Zindabad out in the open. In such a time, the state government in Kashmir should be suspended and a martial law should be put in force there, the Saamna editorial said. The situation in Kashmir is worse than what it was even under the Congress regime, the Shiv Sena, a junior partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the government at the Centre and in Maharashtra, added. Countries such as Russia and the United States are not going to save Kashmir. It is imperative to focus on strengthening our army instead of exchanging pleasantries with global leaders, the Saamna editorial said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court will hear on Monday two petitions seeking cancellation of bail to controversial former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin by the Patna high court. A bench of justice PC Ghose and justice Amitava Roy will hear appeals by the Bihar government and Chandrakeshwar Prasad -- whose three sons were allegedly murdered by Shahabuddin -- against the September 7 Patna high court order granting bail to the RJD leader. Another petition filed by killed Hindustan journalist Rajdev Ranjans wife seeking transfer of the trial and investigation of her husbands murder case to Delhi will also be taken up. She alleged that media reports have shown the two absconding killers of her husband in Shahabuddins company after his release. Bihar state Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav is also seen in the picture, the petition stated. Read | Shahabuddin walks out of jail, shakes Bihar politics with remarks on CM Nitish The former RJD MP walked out of jail after being incarcerated for 11 years in connection with dozens of cases, including the murder of Prasads sons. Shahabuddin is known as the Bahubali of Bihar. The RJD is part of the Nitish Kumar-led alliance government which has faced flak from the opposition BJP and activists for the release of the controversial leader from Siwan. In its appeal, the Bihar government told the apex court that the state was not heard before he was granted bail. No report was called for by the trial court as well, it pointed out. Shahabuddin is accused of murdering Prasads three sons two in 2004 and one in 2014. The RJD leader was convicted in the 2004 twin murder case. But the trial in the 2014 incident is yet to start and citing the delay the HC granted him bail. Prasad said the HC did not take note of the fact that Shahabuddin is a history sheeter and dreaded criminal. It was a cryptic order and suffered from total non-application of mind. The appeal said, the RJD leader has been booked in 58 criminal cases of which in at least 8 he has been convicted. He has been sentenced to life in two cases. According to Prasad, a surprise raid was conducted at the Siwan jail after the death of a Hindustan journalist in which the officials found 40 phones with fake SIM cards. They also learnt that many visitors included politicians met Shahabuddin inside the jail without permission. Read | The making of Mohammad Shahabuddin, a mix of crime, manipulation & politics SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday branded Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a selfie and promise-making machine, saying his promise of achhe din is only meant for the PMs industrialist friends and not for the poor. Narendra Modi made different promises... of Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of the people, fair price for farmers, employment to two crore and many others... He is a machine that takes selfies and makes promises, Rahul said addressing a gathering during a road show here as part of his ongoing Deoria to Dilli kisan yatra. Accusing Modi of spreading communal disharmony among the people, Gandhi said, Modis core competence is to create hatred among citizens.... Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christians were living peacefully in the country. During this yatra, I saw mandir and mazaars alongside and this is how people live here.. but he (Modi) comes and makes Hindus fight with Muslims. In Haryana he pitted Jats and non-Jats against each other...We were in government for ten years but there were no riots. But there are riots as he comes, Rahul said. He alleged achhe din have come but only for the Prime Minister and his 12-15 industrialist friends, while the weak and poor suffer due to riots. Despite all this, he(Modi) says he will bring development...yes, he will do it and bring achhe din but it will only be for himself and his 12 to 15 industrialist friends, he said. The weak and poor will suffer as there will be riots and fights...and the country which has to progress will lag behind, Rahul said, adding, Congress and its leaders will not allow this to happen as this country belongs to everyone, all religions, all castes and every poor. Recalling the incident in Deoria, where farmers took away cots after the khat sabha, Rahul said the poor farmers were branded as thieves but Vijay Mallya who fled away with Rs 10,000 crore is merely called a defaulter. You saved the biggest thief .. you promise to give a fair and lovely scheme to convert your blackmoney into white, he alleged. On Monday, September 12, violent riots erupted on the streets in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, following the Supreme Court verdict which called upon Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu. The long-standing debate over sharing the Cauverys water has been fought in the courts for decades, with the case eventually reaching the Supreme Court. On September 5, the court ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs every day for ten days, but agreed to reduce this because of escalating protests in Karnataka. The media did little to help the inflammatory situation, and if anything, seems to have stirred things up further. Regional news channels in both states fuelled anger on the streets with so much hysterical reporting that the information and broadcasting Minister, Venkaiah Naidu, has since sent out a circular requesting channels to tone down their coverage of this issue, urging them to act responsibly and exercise restraint on covering riot-related news. It all started when a video of a 22-year-old Tamil engineering student being beaten up by a group of Kannadigas--for allegedly posting mocking memes of Kannadiga actors on social media--went viral on Facebook and was carried by websites in both states on Saturday. A major Kannada channel, which also aired it on Monday morning, referred to the attackers as brave Kannada activists, claiming that they were justifiably enraged--the tone of the anchor had very little of the objectivity one expects from news reports. Soon after, this was responded to in Tamil Nadu. New Woodlands Hotel (an Udupi restaurant) in Chennai was attacked with petrol bombs. Violence in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Provocative videos of assaults on both Tamils and Kannadigas were then broadcast on the big Kannada channels on a loop on Monday morning, with the media blowing the incidents out of proportion. When the SC verdict came around noon, Karnataka was already at boiling point. Shops and hotels were attacked, residents owning vehicles with Tamil Nadu plates were harassed and mobbed, and buses and lorries were set on fire in areas like Indiranagar, Mysuru Road and Kadabeesanahalli. Selfies were taken in front of burning lorries by Karnataka supporters wearing yellow and red stoles around theirnecks. Cameramen from several channelsrecorded stray incidents of stone pelting and the halting of vehicles. Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka registered vehicles were vandalized as well in Rameswaram, anda Kannadiga bus driver was threatened in a video that aired on a Tamil news channel on Monday. Offices and schools abruptly closed for the day, and children were sent home. Girish Nikam, news anchor and consultant at Rajya Sabha TV, remembers how the media worked similarly in 1991, when riots brokeout over the release of water to Tamil Nadu during the reign of then-Chief Minister Sarekoppa Bangarappa. Nikam says that families simply left Bangalore en masse, including on foot, for their homes in Tamil Nadu since they didnot want to risk staying in Karnataka. There was massexodus. I dont recollect seeing anything like that in the recenttimes. Mainstream newspapers were responsible [back then], he says, condemning the medias tendency to sensationalise incidents andbroadcast them on loop. Incendiary reportage, incensed viewers Several news channels seemed to incite further outrage with their incendiary depiction of incidents - using the Kannada and Tamil equivalents for words like beaten to pulp,mauled, hammered and thrashed to describe the violence that was often not so dire. Anchorson Kannada channels alleged that Kannadigas were not being given treatment in any hospitals in Tamil Nadu, condemning the arrogance (darpa) of Tamil people. Some reporters went as far as to provide justifications for the violence. A Kannada news anchor stated,People on the street are pained because Cauvery is always emotional. This happens every time Jayalalithaa comes to power. What have we done to her that shetroubles our farmers so much? She has forgotten she was born inKarnataka and Mysore royals had provided shelter to her and her motherfor a long time. Its important to note that television channels did not criticize the violence in the first few hours on Monday. Instead, they stoked viewers anger who were already feeling victimised by the Supreme Court verdict. I am aghast! says Girish Nikam. They have stopped doing journalism and have become agent provocateurs. Instead of asking questions, they provide answers. Bengaluru-based journalist and documentary filmmaker Vasanthi Hariprakash, also condemns the medias portrayal of events. My aunt saw a youth being beaten up over the Cauvery issue on television in Bengaluru. She felt this was bound to get a reaction since the infuriating reaction alone seemed to be the motto of this broadcast, she says. Kannada activists in Bengaluru burn an effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to protest against the Supreme Courts order to release Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu. (PTI) Meanwhile a Kannada channel, featured bytes by a world famous astrologer during an exclusive interview on September 12, elaborating on what had, in his opinion, caused the riots on Monday. Dr. Chandrashekhar Swamiji wondered whether it was the white crow (bili kaage as the ticker kept insisting, alongside an image of a snowy-white crow) that he says was spotted in some parts of the state last week. Chandrashekhar Swamiji, a.k.a the Gold Swamy, is well-known as a guru to celebrities and politicians, and particularly famous for the breaking news that Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were getting hitched. So, naturally, his opinion on the Cauvery riots is deadly relevant. Especially when he could unravel the mystery of a fictitious white crow that was apparently spotted somewhere in Srirangapatna or a black crow that sat on CMs car a few months ago. These are considered to be omens of the future: while the white crow apparently signifies troubling times ahead, the black crow on the CMs car was interpreted as a threat to both his chair and life. Dr Niranjan Vanalli, a professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Mysore, points especially to the overtly simplistic and macho tone of the medias discussions this week, stating that he has witnessed almost two dozen Kannada channels attempt to sustain themselves on jingoism without realising the serious implications of their coverage. We have arrived at very easily consumable linear narratives today, he says. Why are media persons acting like they are the judiciary? Professor Narayana A, a Bangalore-based policy and governance expert at Azim Premji University says. Even when Mahadayi (water sharing issue between Goa and Karnataka) protests broke out a few weeks ago, channels didnt go to the ground level with an objective of understanding the issue. As a result of this, both states have a constant feeling of injustice being meted out to them. So it isnt surprising that Kurubur Shantakumar, the president of Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association, thought the amount of blame being levelled at the media was unfair: This is an emotional issue and naturally with failed monsoon, tempers flared. Our media has been largely compassionate towards our farmers causes because we saw way too many suicides in the past few years. The judgement naturally hurt our sentiments. We feel wronged and people expressed just that. Ajit Hanamakkanavar, head of news and programs at Suvarna TV, also found the blame on electronic media to be unjust, stating that they repeatedly checked to ensure the language used was not provocative: When we realised the following part of the day would be tense, we appealed to the public throughout our news segments to the public to maintain calm. We took a conscious decision not to run the breaking rat race. He added that the violence was caused by a mob mentality, recalling how there were 18 deaths during the 1991 riots despite there being no news channels at the time. On the other hand, a senior journalist from TV9 who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the media just did its job, nothing more and nothing less. We telecast news like we do on all other days. Please understand, Cauvery water sharing is an emotional issue that has been around since ages. We cannot be held responsible for this. While the electronic media was creating trouble, social media users from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were sending group messages to ensure people in both states got help, offering places for people to stay, and passing on information about areas with high violence through Google Maps. Others invoked the goodwill of Karnataka volunteers who had pitched in heavily during the Chennai floods in last year. Simultaneously, hashtags naming and shaming particular Kannada channels began trending, telling people to refrain from watching instigating news. However, most of the damage had already been done. It is unclear which channel started the race to the bottom on Monday. A good three hours before Bengaluru police announced the imposition of Section 144 as a preventive measure, television anchors on various news channels had begun claiming at 2 pm that prohibitory orders had been imposed within the city. Police commissioner NS Megharikh later said that the delay in imposing the orders was intentional in order to prevent further violence, and urged residents not to believe the rumours on social media and the media. Shivanand Kanavi, consulting editor at Business India, says that until a more proactive approach is taken by the Press Council, it will be difficult to curb the current trend of regional jingoism, adding that he anticipates the invocation of Section 153 A - which criminalises the promotion of enmity between regional and other groups - given the present political climate. Meanwhile, over a dozen news channels are vying with each other for viewership and sustainability. The regional media and political forces in Karnataka in particular, are on constant tenterhooks, with elections forthcoming in 2018. Although the Cauvery water sharing debate should ideally be discussed between farmers organisations rather than in TV studios, the issue has turned into a political tool that may drastically alter the circumstances for political parties. (Published in arrangement with GRIST Media) Erlanger Health Fair Day is this Sunday, st the Chattanooga Market from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Thirty-two Erlanger departments and physician practices will be on hand to answer health questions and provide assistance in scheduling appointments. Not only will Chattanooga Market customers have a vast array of local produce and products to choose from to enhance their healthy lifestyle, they will also have the opportunity to meet Erlanger staff and specialists who make it their priority to provide the best medical and healthcare needs to residents in our region. Physicians and medical representatives from multiple Erlanger facilities will be available to answer medical questions and discuss their services. Blood pressure and body mass index checks along with valuable health information will also be provided. The following departments will participate at the Chattanooga Market at First Tennessee Pavilion this Sunday: Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav kicked off his tenure as state president by expelling a relative of national secretary Ramgopal Yadav, possibly reigniting tensions in the states ruling party ahead of assembly polls next year. Shivpal dismissed Arvind Pratap Yadav, Ramgopals nephew and a member of the legislative council, for indiscipline and anti-party activities on Sunday. The move came days after party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav tamped down a raging feud between his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and brother Shivpal. In an exclusive interview to HT on Friday, Mulayam described Ramgopal as his number 2 and said the national secretary had already drawn up a potential list of candidates for the upcoming state polls. Akhilesh and Shivpal have been locked in a fierce battle for control of the party and ticket distribution. Read | Netaji will decide the CM face in Uttar Pradesh, says Akhilesh Yadav Sources said Arvind was involved in land-grab and hooch trade with several complaints against him. Arvind is also accused of making derogatory against Mulayam, said SP state secretary SRS Yadav in a statement. The decision may shatter an uneasy peace in the party after Akhileshs said he would extend full support to the new state president, Shivpal. Akhilesh also returned most of the departments to his uncle. Earlier in the day, Shivpal called on Mulayam at the airport before the latter flew to Delhi. He then came to the party office with his son Aditya Yadav. There were no drumbeats, trumpets, showers of petals or any sloganeering. Once he entered, the gates were shut. Addressing party workers, Shivpal said that as elections were near, everyone should gear up to strengthen the party for forming a majority government again. Read | No fight in Samajwadi Party; Akhilesh wont defy me, says Mulayam He also warned workers against factionalism saying, There is no place for factionalism and those indulging in it will be dealt with strictly. Since Thursday night factionalism in the party has come out on the streets with workers and leaders engaging in dharna and sloganeering for either Akhilesh or Shivpal. If you all want to shout slogans, it should be first for the party, then for Netaji (Mulayam) and then chief minister, he told the workers. Click here for full coverage China said on Monday it was shocked by the attack on an Indian Army base at Uri in Kashmir over the weekend even as it expressed concern over the escalation of violence in the region. In an unusually detailed reaction to the terror attack and the violence in Kashmir, the foreign ministry urged India and Pakistan Chinas close strategic ally -- to resolve outstanding issues through negotiations. The foreign ministry also indicated that the Chinese government was worried about the status of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), because of the security situation in the region. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang, when asked to react to the Uri attack, said: We have noted relevant reports. We are shocked by this attack. We want to express our deep sympathies and condolences to the effected families and the injured, Lu said. He reiterated Chinas concern about the situation in Kashmir, describing it as an escalation. China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding Kashmir situation, Lu said. He added: We hope relevant parties will have dialogue and consultation to resolve their differences and enhance counter-terrorism cooperation. Only this way can they safeguard peace and security in their region. This was the second time the Chinese government has reacted to the situation in Kashmir. It had expressed concern over mounting casualties in the unrest in Kashmir in a statement issued in July. Referring to the CPEC, Lu reiterated the Chinese governments position - it is a project aimed at driving development. India has repeatedly raised its concerns about CPEC with China, the last being at the G20 Summit in China earlier this month when Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised it with President Xi Jinping and said it passes through PoK. The building of the corridor is to drive the development of the regional countries. It needs the concerted efforts of all countries concerned to ensure the smooth running of this corridor. Unusually, Lu talked about the security situation in the region. At the same time I need to stress that recently in this region, especially in Kashmir region, there has been some escalation of tensions, he said. Our position is that we hope all relevant parties can work together and remain committed to resolving these disputes through peaceful consultations and jointly maintain the peace and stability of the region. This in final analysis is conducive and will bring benefits to China, India, Pakistan and all the regional countries. In July, China had said that the Kashmir issue was left over from history. Vansh Salotra, 10-year-old son of Havildar Ravi Paul Salotra, is aware that his father was martyred in Uri terror attack. But that has only strengthened his resolve to don the olive greens to serve the nation and avenge the killing. Havildar Ravi Paul of 10 Dogra Regiment was among the men who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.He had served the army for 23 years. Besides Vansh, 42-year-old Ravi Paul is survived by wife Geeta Rani and another son Sudansheesh (7) and his 80-year-old mother. Havildar Ravi Paul (Special arrangement ) My father used to call early in the morning. Yesterday he called us and we spoke in length on various issues. He asked me to concentrate on my studies so that I could fulfil his dream of me becoming a doctor in the Indian Army, said Vansh, a Class 6 student. When asked whether he was aware of what happened to his father, Vansh, carrying two plastic tricolours, said his father laid down his life for the sanctity of the national flag. Yes I know that my father laid down his life for this tricolour and I will fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor in the Army so as to avenge the killing of my father, he said. Geeta Rani (in yellow), wife of Ravi Paul who was killed in Sunday's attack at an army base in Kashmir's Uri, mourns at her house in Sarwa village in Samba district. (REUTERS) Mother of Ravi Paul in Sarwa village. (HT Photo) Ravi Pauls two brothers had served in the Army too. In this sleepy Sarwa village of over 120 families, many have served the Indian Army at various points in their lives. Majority of the people in our village are either serving in the Army or have served at one stage of their life. Out of six brothers, my three brothers were in Army and Ravi Paul was the youngest to join the Army, said Joginder Lal Salotra, elder brother of Ravi Paul. Joginder Lal said Ravi Paul was a jovial, friendly person and used to get along with everyone in the village. Whenever he used to come on leave, people used to meet him as he always narrated the stories about his tenure in the army, Lal said. Mohan Lal Salotra, another brother said, he has not only lost a younger brother but a friend. I also served in the Army and after retirement I joined Defence Security Corps (DSE) and I am currently posted in Ludhiana. Though I was elder to Ravi, we were like good friends who used to talk each other daily. September 17 was the last time we spoke and yesterday when I tried to call him, the line could not go through. Later in the afternoon, somebody called me to inform that my brother has made the supreme sacrifice for the nation, Mohan Lal said. He said his brother wanted both his sons to become doctors and join the Indian Army to serve the nation, Now it is our duty to make sure that the dream of our brother is fulfilled. Full Coverage| Uri terror attack Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea alleging pending abjudication over petitions challenging Maharashtra governments decision to grant 16% quota to Marathas in jobs and education in the state. A bench of chief justice T S Thakur and A M Khanwilkar, however, allowed the petitioner to approach the Bombay high court for expeditious hearing of the case. We see no reason to interfere with the order impugned. The special leave petition is accordingly dismissed. We leave it to the petitioner to approach the High Court for an expeditious hearing of the matter, in which event, we expect the High Court to consider the prayer sympathetically, the bench said. The order came on a plea filed by one Vinod Narayan Patil seeking urgent hearing of his plea citing urgency as the Bombay high court, which stayed the order granting quota on November 14, 2014, has not even fixed the matters for final hearing and adjudication despite an order from the apex court. The high court, in an interim order, had stayed the decision after faulting the data used by the state to back its assertion that the Maratha community was backward. It had also put on hold the 5% quota in public employment under a special backward class category to about 50 sub-castes among Muslims. The high court had not disturbed a similar benefit for backward Muslims in state-owned or aided educational institutions. The decision to grant reservation to Marathas and Muslims was taken by the erstwhile Congress-NCP government before the 2014 assembly elections. A day after the attack on army base in Uri, questions are being raised whether intelligence inputs about a possible strike were ignored by the army. Police sources said army officials at the Uri brigade were given specific inputs about possibility of an attack on their installation, but the inputs, however, were not taken seriously. We had reports of militant presence in the area and the same was shared with army, said an official. Sources also said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had passed on a specific information about the presence of militants near a launch pad across the border. It had also warned about a possible infiltration bid as well as a strike. Considering the 73-day unrest in the Valley that could have helped militant handlers across the border take advantage of the situation, experts in Kashmir had also warned of a possible strike. There has also been a spike in infiltration bids across the Line of Control. According to the army, over 10 bids to push militants into the Indian territory were made after the killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Police sources suggest militant presence in the Valley has also increased since the unrest. Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, former Corp commander of Srinagar-based Chinar Corp, said he had also warned against the attack. Uri attack, this is my old HQ. Warned the Cdr specifically on 8 Sep. Happened in 10 days. Done to remove pressure from hinterland Army move, Hasnain tweeted on Sunday. He, however, said preventing the attack was not possible but some measures could have been taken. Preventing suicide attack is difficult, damage control is always possible. Main danger is of suicide bombing not witnessed since 2004, he said in another tweet. While army sources say deployment is less on rear side, locals claimed concertina wires at a certain patch were also not intact as locals would venture to the other side to arrange grass for cattle. According to the army, all four militants killed were foreigners and had some items with Pakistani markings. Initial reports indicate that the slain terrorists belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed tanzeem. Four AK 47 rifles and four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers along with other war-like equipment were recovered from them, DGMO Ranbir Singh said. Full Coverage| Uri terror attack SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON China said on Monday it was shocked by the attack on an Indian Army base in Uri and expressed concern over escalation of violence in the region even as France sought decisive action against terror groups such as Lashkar-eTaiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed that target India. In an unusually detailed reaction to the terror attack and the violence in Kashmir, Chinas foreign ministry urged India and Pakistan Beijings close strategic ally to resolve outstanding issues through negotiations. The foreign ministry also indicated the Chinese government was worried about the status of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), because of the security situation in the region. Reacting to the Uri attack, foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said: We are shocked by this attackWe want to express our deep sympathies and condolences to the effected families and the injured. Read| Indias fallen heroes: The 18 soldiers who lost their lives in Uri attack He reiterated Chinas concern about the situation in Kashmir, describing it as an escalation. Lu said: China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding Kashmir situation. We hope relevant parties will have dialogue and consultation to resolve their differences and enhance counter-terrorism cooperation. Only this way can they safeguard peace and security in their region. France too condemned the terrible attack in Uri and said it would stand by India in the fight against terrorism. It called on every state to fight terror groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries. We call for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-eTaiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, said a deputy spokesperson of the French foreign ministry. A statement issued by the foreign ministry also said France recalls the importance it attaches tothe peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir. Full Coverage| Uri terror attack (With inputs from agencies) India will move to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at all international fora as part of a multi-pronged retaliation strategy following an attack on an army base in Kashmirs Uri, a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided on Monday. The death toll in the strike rose to 18 as a soldier admitted at Delhis army hospital succumbed to his injuries amid growing calls for a fierce counter-strike against Pakistan and militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which India believes orchestrated the attack. Sources said the prime minister leaned towards presenting clear evidence of Pakistans complicity to be presented at all multilateral and bilateral engagements, including the upcoming United Nations general assembly. India aims to push for more Pakistan-based terror elements to be brought under the UN sanctions regime. I am certain many countries are willing to join hands with India to isolate Pakistan, former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh told HT. But any attempt by India to bring Pakistani elements under the sanctions regime has so far been unsuccessful, because of opposition from China, among others. Sources said Indias response is expected to be measured and taking long-term implications into account. A group of four heavily armed militants sneaked into the strategic Uri base near the Line of Control at dawn on Sunday and set fire to a building before an hours-long gun battle with security forces killed them. The attack squeezed the already shrinking space for bilateral diplomatic detente and jeopardized hopes of any peace to Kashmir that has been rocked by violent protests, which have killed 86 people. The two-hour-long Monday meeting in Delhi was attended by home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, national security adviser Ajit Doval, army chief Dalbir Singh and other senior officials. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was absent. Parikkar is believed to have told the army to act sternly against extremists while minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said a befitting reply would be given. Government sources pointed out the large-scale condemnation of Pakistans role in promoting terrorism in India. The UN forum has to be used. Pakistan has been harbouring terrorist elements, causing a regional instability and hasnt done enough to counter extremism, said a source. They cited the example of the United States withholding $300 million in military aid in August as an example of how Pakistan needed to be dealt with. But Indias diplomatic charge is likely to run into a wall of resistance from Pakistan, which has swept aside Indias allegations and said any accusation of Islamabads hand in Sundays Uri attack was not based in facts. Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modis government, said Sartaj Aziz, the foreign affairs adviser to Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif. It was particularly deplorable that the Indian minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up Indias reign of terror in (Jammu and Kashmir). Sharif, who addresses the UN general assembly on September 21, is expected to rake up alleged army atrocities in Kashmir to paint India into a corner. Pakistani army chief Raheel Sharif also hit out at Indias hostile narrative, saying the countrys armed forces were fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat. The Pakistani military will thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. Modis high-level meeting was held shortly after Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation along the border and the Line of Control (LoC) at a meeting with home ministry officials who were directed to coordinate with other border states such as Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Domestically, Modi is under pressure from opposition parties to live up to his 2014 election campaign promise of acting tough on Pakistan. During the Lok Sabha polls, Modi had repeatedly berated the then Congress government and said if elected to power, he would give Islamabad a befitting response to any attack on India. Mr Prime Minister are you not weak? If you are strong, the country needs proof of it, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari asked reporters. (With agency inputs) Pakistan rejected on Monday Indias assertion that it was involved in the terror attack in Uri that killed 18 soldiers, with the countrys leadership accusing New Delhi of levelling the accusation to divert attention from the situation in Kashmir. Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, dwelt more on the situation in Kashmir, especially the unrest triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. He did not condemn the Uri attack, which India has blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, who chaired a meeting of the armys Corps Commanders at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, described Indias reaction to the Uri attack as a hostile narrative. He said the armed forces were prepared to respond to the entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat. The commanders reviewed the security situation and Sharif said the military would thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. There was also no offer of cooperation to investigate the Uri attack, as was done by Pakistan in the aftermath of the terror strike on Pathankot airbase in January. Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modis government, Aziz said in the statement issued by the Foreign Office. It was particularly deplorable that the Indian minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up Indias reign of terror in (Kashmir), he added. Smoke rises from the army base under attack by militants in the town of Uri, west of Srinagar on Sunday. (HT Photo) Heavily armed terrorists stormed an army camp close to the Line of Control at Uri on Sunday, killing 18 soldiers and injuring more than 20 others. Home minister Rajnath Singh pointed a finger at Pakistan for its continued and direct support to terror groups and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the perpetrators would not go unpunished. But Aziz contended the allegations were a blatant attempt on Indias part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Kashmir. It needs to be understood that the situation in (Kashmir) is not of Pakistans making but a direct consequence of illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100,000 deaths. More than 100 people have died and thousands injured during the recent episode of protest..., he said. Read | Army talks tough after Uri attack, says India reserves right to retaliate In a related development, Prime Minister Sharif wrote letters to the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council China, France, Russia, the UK and the US about grave human rights violations in Kashmir by Indian forces. The letters referred to the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir on regional and international security. Sharif called on the P5 nations to fulfil their responsibility with regard to Kashmir and the implementation of UN Resolutions on the issue. Full coverage: Uri terror attack (With input from agencies) The Uri attack was front page news for most Pakistani newspapers on Monday. The papers devoted considerable space to home minister Rajnath Singhs declaration that Pakistan was a terrorist state and carried Islamabads response. Most newspapers squarely blamed the Indian side for blaming Pakistan without any evidence. An editorial in Mondays edition of Dawn, one of Pakistans leading English dailies, said the attack and Indias accusations against Pakistan, has plunged Pak-India relations into a dangerous and unstable new phase. The editorial goes on to trace what the Uris fallout on the upcoming UN General Assembly session, saying that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to not attend it will probably avert an international war of words. But the blame circles back to India again: Indias automatic blaming of Pakistan for major violence in that country is very much a part of the problem. The editorial ends with invoking the Kashmir unrest. Perhaps conscientious voices in India can help point out a fundamental truth about the Kashmir conflict: irrespective of what the Indian government thinks Pakistan has done or is doing, the Kashmir dispute is rooted in a peoples genuine rejection of control by the state of India. Denying that is a hallmark of generations of Indian leaders, but it is a truth that has not changed. The Express Tribunes front page lead was the Uri attack and Islamabads response to it. The article, Islamabad rejects Indian charge as unfounded, leads with Pakistans strong denial of any involvement and what it calls Indias knee-jerk reaction as the countrys civil and military leaders squarely blamed Pakistan with media commentators calling for a military response. It also says that Indias aggressive posturing has compelled Pakistan army to be on high-alert along the Line of Control. The story goes on to quote a senior Pakistani military official, who says that Indias retired generals and diplomats started pointed fingers at Pakistan even while the attack was still under way. The same source is also quoted as questioning the timings of the attack, saying it diverts attention from the Kashmir issue. An editorial in The Nation says the regrettable attack has worsened tensions between the two countries. The backlash has already begun, seeing that the Indian side has a knack for behaving as the judge and jury and condemning without the slightest proof of guilt. Uri is Pathankot-like Indian false flag operation, claims an analysis piece by Ansar Abbasi in The News International. Pakistani security officials are confident that the latest attack on the Indian Army base in occupied Kashmir is a Pathankot-like Indian-staged drama to trumpet its terrorism mantra against Pakistan and to counter Islamabads diplomatic moves to expose the Indian atrocities in Kashmir at a time when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is all set to expose New Dehli at the UN General Assembly session, is how the piece begins. The article goes on to make some bizarre allegations, quoting an unnamed official who says, it is always the Sikh community selected to suffer by the Hindu-led government in such self-designed attacks. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Slain soldier Sunil Kumar Vidarthis sobbing daughter, Arti, 14, demanded that her fathers real killers be punished. We should retaliate in the same manner as Pakistan has done. Unless we retaliate, Pakistan will never mend its ways, she said at Boknari village in Bihars Gaya. A pall of gloom had also descended at sepoy Rakesh Singhs native village Badhdha under Kaimur district of Bihar. His father, Harihar Singh Kushwaha, 70, a roadside vegetable vendor, said: I had dreamt of a better future after Rakesh joined the Indian Army in 2008. He was our youngest child and our best hope. Everyone in our family as also the village used to love him because of his sober and helpful nature. Read| Indias fallen heroes: The 18 soldiers who lost their lives in Uri attack Proud of his youngest among four sons and two daughters, Kushwaha said, I am ready to send my other two sons and the two-year-old grandson, Harshit, to the army if the country needs them, he added. Meanwhile, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announced an exgratia payment of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of each of the three deceased soldiers from Bihar. Soldier Naiman Kujurs family mourns his death at Korhatoli Kokar in Ranchi. (Parwaz Khan/HT Photo) Governor calls for befitting reply Ranchi: Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu, while paying homage to the slain soldiers at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi, said militants should be given a befitting reply to curb the menace of terrorism. The bodies of Jawra Munda of Meral village in Khunti district, Naiman Kujur of Urubardih village in Gumla district and SK Vidyarthi of Gaya in Bihar were brought to the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi. Meanwhile, Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das announced ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the family of the martyrs. Neighbours console mother of Sepoy Gangadhar Dolui, who was killed in militant attack in Uri, in Howrah. (PTI Photo) Father regrets not attending sons call Kolkata: Robin Ghorai, 55, a day labourer cant curse himself enough for not speaking to his son when he called his wife Rekha on Saturday. He will never be able to hear the voice of his 22-year old son again, said Ghorai. About 150 km away in Jamunabalia village of Howrah district, Onkarnath Dolui, 64, also a daily wage earner, too was lamenting for not speaking to his son Gangadhar when he called his mother on Thursday. Read| India plans diplomatic isolation for Pakistan to avenge Uri attack Mewar bids adieu to its brave son Udaipur/Jaipur: Draped in the tricolour, when the body of havaldar Nimbh Singh Rawat landed at the Udaipur airport on Monday, the mood at the usually commotion-filled terminal was somber. Rawat was a resident of Rajawa village under Rajsamand district in Rajasthan. Sporadic protests were also held in several parts of the state with people taking to streets condemning the dastardly attack. Slain soldiers family wants eye for an eye Pune: Family members of the soldiers from Maharashtra killed in Sundays Uri attack said the time has come for India to cause pain to Pakistan akin to what its infiltrators did to Indian soldiers. Pakistan, they said, should suffer the way they had suffered due to the loss of their kin. The mortal remains of the three soldiers from the state, Lance Naik Chandrakant Shankar Galande, Sepoy Sandip Somnath Thok and Sepoy Panjab Janrao Uike, were on Monday brought to Ozar airbase in Nashik from where they were taken to their respective hometowns in Maharashtra. Another soldier from Maharashtras Yavatmal district Sepoy Vikas Janardhan Kulmethe succumbed to injuries at R&R hospital. According to defence officials, his mortal remains will be brought to his native Purad village on Tuesday. Indian army officers pay tribute next to coffins carrying the bodies of soldiers killed in Uri terror attack. (AFP Photo) Kin devastated, demand action against Pak Varanasi: Slain army jawan Rajesh Singhs younger brother Vikesh said India should take revenge against Pakistan, adding he would definitely join the army. Rajesh Singh, a native of Bhakura village in Sarpatha area of Jaunpur district, was the sole bread earner of his family. Full Coverage| Uri terror attack The four militants who carried out the audacious Uri strike that left 18 soldiers dead wore fatigues, entered the army base by cutting the fence and knew their way around the military complex, sources said. Initial investigations reveal that the four fidayeen, or suicide attackers, reached the administrative base of the army camp, which is barely six kilometers from the line of control in northern Kashmir, by breaking through the fence. There are several sentry posts apart from a gate but the terrorists sneaked in undetected after cutting the fence, an official who visited Uri with the army chief on Sunday told HT. The four were dressed for the raid. They came in army uniforms, their hair was cut short like army officers and none of them was sporting a beard. They did not look like a suicide squad, the official said. The men, suspected to be members of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, seemed to know the camp layout. Once inside, they moved towards the cook house and an adjoining shelter. Armed with under-barrel grenade launchers, they fired grenades and rained bullets simultaneously, setting on fire the diesel barrels lying in the complex. The flames soon engulfed the tents in which soldiers were still asleep. As soldiers trapped in burning tents screamed for help, three militants stayed close to each other, wreaking death. Three terrorists were killed within 12 minutes of the first bullet being fired, an army officer said. But, 17 soldiers, too, had died in those 12 minutes. Quick reaction teams were called in to save the soldiers lodged in the administrative area, where troops dont carry battle gear. The fourth militant who broke from the group was killed barely 40 metres away from the officers enclave. During the mopping operation, it was found that the four men had shaved their chests a hallmark of suicide attackers who purify themselves before certain death. At a meeting in Srinagar, defence minister Manohar Parrikar wanted some answers -- how the militants entered India and then sneaked into a high-security army camp. The army investigating the double breach, he was told. It is not clear when the group crossed over into India. The undetected fence cut is a serious lapse. It is a matter of inquiry. We are looking at the lapses and are tightening up security, Lt Gen Satish Dua, Corps Commander, 15 Corps, said when asked about the breach. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after a terror attack killed 17 soldiers in Uri, home minister Rajnath Singh reviewed on Monday the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and top officials of the ministries of home and defence, army, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed Singh on the latest ground report in the Kashmir Valley as well as along the Line of Control (LoC), official sources said. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed in the meeting, the sources said. Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who postponed his visit to Srinagar, also attended the meeting. Rajnath and the top officials also reviewed the security situation across the country, particular along the western border - from Punjab to Gujarat, the sources said. Meanwhile, a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) is expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the terror attack site. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir on Sunday, killing 17 soldiers. Union minister of state for external affairs and former army chief VK Singh said on Monday the lacunas which led to the attack at an Indian Army base in Uri need to be investigated even as he advised the army to decide on its response coolly with proper planning. Having seen the army closely, I feel, it needs to be analysed as to what happened there...It needs to be investigated how the incident took place and what were the lacunas, Singh said. ...from the armys side, alertness is required. The Kashmir situation needs to be thought about. The action has to be taken without getting influenced by emotions, anger. It has to be taken coolly and with proper planning, he added. Singh also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley have already spoken about the action which will be taken. (That action) we will leave it to the government, he added. Condemning the Uri terror attack, in which 17 soldiers were killed, Modi said on Sunday those behind the despicable act wont go unpunished. The audacious attack on an army base in Uri will push India-Pakistan relations that are already under strain from a similar strike on an airbase in Punjab earlier this year. New Delhi is under pressure to respond robustly. The airbase raid offered hopes the two sides might handle the fallout of such attacks in mature, constructive ways. But the steady collapse in their ties, marked by reciprocal sniping on Kashmir and Balochistan, has soured the mood. Several Indian leaders now suggest a tough response to the Uri attack. Here are the options before India: Surgical Strike: A covert strike on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). But India might run the risk of a full-fledged war with a nuclear state. Click here for full coverage of Uri attack Hot pursuit: After 18 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Manipur in June 2015, Indian forces went across the border into Myanmar and neutralised them. This option was mooted against Pakistan-backed militants but never exercised. Pakistan is a different kettle of fish to Myanmar though. Diplomacy: Isolate Pakistan internationally to force it to abjure terrorism as an instrument of state policy. India has pursued this line for decades without much success. Now that terrorism has emerged as a global threat, India has more diplomatic leverage. Read | In the line of fire: Why Uri is vulnerable to militant attacks Bilateral talks: Engage the civilian leadership in Pakistan. This, however, goes against New Delhis stated line that terror and talks cant go together. Back-channel talks: Engage the Pakistani Army, which controls the levers of power, through back-channels. But their interest in peace is suspect. War of attrition: Scale up the offensive over Balochistan. Make Pakistan pay for its interference in Jammu and Kashmir and hope that it sees reason in stopping terror exports across the border. But this approach can backfire and strengthen anti-India elements among state and non-state actors in Pakistan. Aggressive posturing: Move forces to the border in an eyeball-to-eyeball deployment on the lines of Operation Parakram launched by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government after the terror attack on Parliament in 2001. Close Indian skies to Pakistani flights, recall Indian high commissioner in Islamabad and scale down Pakistani mission in New Delhi. This move might help the NDA government on the domestic front but may not be of any help in the long run. Read | Uri attack: Can India launch a covert operation across the border? The suicide strike on an army base in Uri that left 18 soldiers dead has reignited a debate over how India can respond. The idea of hot pursuit gained traction after Indias Special Forces conducted cross-border raids on insurgent camps in Myanmar last year, five days after 18 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Chandel. The insurgents had fled to their camps in Myanmar after the attack. South African forces were known for carrying out revenge raids against rebels operating out of Angola in the 80s, but the hot pursuit of militants across the Line of Control may not be a viable military option for India, military officers and experts said on Monday. Shallow surgical strikes and covert action to advance national interest may be better alternatives, they suggested. However, deep surgical strikes could trigger a full-blown confrontation, military officers warned. Covert operations linked with deniability and a tough posture along the LoC could work, they said. Read| Uri attack: Indias response must not be to resort to punitive counter-assault Experts said Pakistan seemed to be inclined towards drawing India into a confrontation by upping the ante in Kashmir. Strategic affairs expert Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak (retd), said, The Pakistani PM is at the mercy of his army chief, who is nearing retirement...If you employ force across the boundary, you are falling into General Raheel Sharifs trap. A senior army officer said, The militants dont flee back to havens in PoK. A classical hot pursuit cant be conducted. We cant allow a rogue state to bleed us. Theres an entire spectrum of options but discussing them openly will rob the military of surprise, former army chief General Bikram Singh (retd) told HT. This is not the first time military options are being discussed. Every major terror strike stirs up the debate. After the 26/11 Mumbai strike, a top IAF officer famously said India had identified 5,000 high-value targets in Pakistan. Strategic affairs expert Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) said Special Forces could be used for surgical strikes across the LoC. Blow up a bridge, strike an ammunition dump, attack an army base. But the depth of the strike cant be more than eight to 10 km as it has to be an overnight raid. Its doable, he said. Read| 5 things India needs to do after Kashmir terror strike Experts say India needs to be able to punish Pakistan or attack non-state actors at a threshold below full-scale war. You dont use military force emotionally. You employ it the way you did in Kargil. We have to be clear about our political and strategic aims, Kak said. If India opts for a cross-LoC raid, it will not be doing so for the first time. Read| Uri attack: Can India launch a covert operation across the border? Kashmir watchers recall one such raid that took place after 26 Hindus were killed in Parankote and Dhakikote villages in Udhampur in April 1998. Intelligence inputs suggested that the massacre was carried out by the Lashkar terrorists. We retaliated, said a former IB official on condition of anonymity. He, however, did not specify the exact nature of retaliation. But a few weeks later, Pakistan claimed 22 people were killed when unknown gunmen attacked its Bandala Seri village. A Los Angeles Times report of May 27, 1998 claimed that the gunmen left leaflets behind with messages such as Vengeance Brigade and One Jaw for a Single Tooth. India denied involvement after Pakistan accused it of carrying out the attack. Full Coverage| Uri terror attack Aligarh Muslim University on Monday faced some tough questions from the Supreme Court over its choice of vice-chancellor, who is a former soldier and not a teacher. The court wanted to know how Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah (retired) was appointed the vice chancellor by AMU, a central university, overlooking the regulations of the University Grants Commission, the higher education watchdog. The regulations make it compulsory for the VC to possess certain academic qualifications, saying he or she must be a distinguished academician. How can a retired army officer or a police officer be the head of a central university? a bench of Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and justice AM Khanwilkar said. We are not questioning his abilities. We are on the question whether his appointment is as per the UGC regulations. The questions come at a time when the Uttar Pradesh-based university, set up as Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875, has waged a legal battle to keep its minority status intact. A former student approached the top court after the Allahabad high court turned down his plea to remove Shah, who is the brother of renowned actor Naseeruddin. The petition, citing UGC norms, says the VC should have worked for at least 10 years as a professor in a university or on an equivalent post in a research or academic institution. Appearing for AMU, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran said the UGC regulations were for teachers. UGC has the power to regulate the appointment of teachers and not the VC, he said, adding the university had not adopted the regulations. But, the bench cited an earlier verdict that said all central universities would have to follow UGC regulations. If there are regulations and applicable to a central university then the VC has to be appointed as per the scheme that says he must be an outstanding academician, the CJI said. The UGC, too, backed the petitioner, saying as a central university AMU was bound by its regulations even if it didnt approve them. They have to follow it, the counsel said. The court will continue hearing the case on September 26 as Ramachandran asked for time. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Robin Ghorai, 55, a day-labourer cant curse himself enough for not speaking to his son when he called his wife Rekha on Saturday. He will never be able to hear the voice of his 22-year old son again, said Ghorai as he sobbed inconsolably waiting for his sons casket that was supposed to arrive on Monday evening carried by fellow jawans. Biswajit joined the armed forces two years ago. We are a poor family and I am still carrying a loan of Rs 3 lakh incurred for the education of my children (two sons and a daughter), Ghorai, a resident of Gangasagar in South 24 Parganas, told HT. About 150km away in Jamunabalia village of Howrah district, Onkarnath Dolui, 64, also a daily wage earner like Ghorai, was lamenting for not speaking to his son Gangadhar when he telephoned his mother on Thursday. Both Dolui and Biswajit Ghorai were killed when Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists struck at the army installation in Uri sector of Kashmir. The ironies dont end here -- both Gangadhar and Biswajit were the only earning members of their families. They came from poor families, and their dependants eagerly looked forward to their jobs to gradually climb out of the rut. The duo had spent two years in the armed forces. Gangadhar promised his father that he would gradually try to turn their thatched house into a pucca dwelling. My nephew started negotiating with the mason to start the construction after the pujas, Thakurlal, an uncle of Gangadhar Dolui, told HT. My brother Onkarnath, who had given up working as a daily wage labourer, will have to resume work again. The tragedy will only multiply the burden, he lamented. The Ghorais, who live near the confluence of the river Bhagirathi and the Bay of Bengal, got the first inkling of the trouble when villagers got the news on Sunday evening that militants attacked the army establishment in Kashmir. Rabin Ghorai told the villagers that he could not be really bothered about the battle so many miles away. Shortly, however, he got the shock of his life when officers from the local Sagar police station arrived at his doorstep and broke the news of his sons death. Gangadhar Doluis mother still cant believe the news of his sons death that reached the family on Sunday evening through a telephone call to his father. My brother initially thought the phone call was a mere prank. Now after so many hours, while it has started sinking in him, my sister-in-law Sikha is still in a denial mode, said Thakurlal Dolui. Rabin Ghorai has three children -- two sons and a daughter -- and Biswajit was the eldest. Gangadhar Dolui has a brother. Why did they send the young chap to such a risky spot? The experienced one should have gone there. Omkarnath Dolui was murmuring to himself on Monday morning. He never consented to his son joining the army, but had to relent in the face of grinding poverty. We dont want to receive the body of our son on Monday night. It will be late in the night for the body to arrive at the village, and we dont have enough people to arrange the last rites at a late hour, said Thakurlal Dolui. Ghorai last visited his home on August 21 when he spent just a day. He wanted to come home during the pujas in the second week of October, but was denied leave. Full coverage of Uri terror attack Karnataka could be the first state to declare a drought this year, as the monsoon, below average so far, has been scanty in some regions. The monsoon, on its last legs, has been 5% below normal, despite being predicted to be surplus. Nearly 86% of the countrys area received normal or excess rains, but the rains were patchy in the rest 14%. This overall spread prompted Union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare Radha Mohan Singh to say last week that the country could be headed for a bumper summer harvest. According to the meteorological (Met) departments classification, monsoon is considered normal if it is within 96-104% of the 50-year average of 89 cm. Meteorologists are hoping that a last burst of showers in states, such as Goa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka as well as Gujarat to bridge the deficit. At least three states Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat are battling drought-like conditions in some districts. Karnataka has seven districts with deficiencies higher than 15%. Kerala has recorded a 32% shortfall while Gujarats deficiency has been 26%. A ministerial panel set up by the Karnataka government is assessing the extent of crop loss and water shortfall in rain-deficit districts to make a decision on declaring drought. In Gujarats Kutch region, farmers were advised to sow castor and cluster beans instead of oilseeds because of poor rains, N Chattopadhyay, the deputy director general of the Met department told HT. This pushed up overall acreage under foodgrains by 8%, while that of pulses by 29%, according to the agriculture ministry. Farmers have sown 105.9 million hectares, which is 99.7% of the area normally sown during summer. In contrast, rains have been very poor in many districts in southern peninsular states, such as Kerala, the whole of northeast and even Punjab and Haryana. Karnatakas law minister TN Jayachandra, said a decision on drought would be taken only after September 30. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A group of 15 students from the biotechnology department of Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has earned the rare distinction of being invited to showcase their unique genetic engineering skills at the worlds biggest competition in the field the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) at Boston in the United States. The event is hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The students will demonstrate a technique to extract spider silk in a quicker and more economical way. The competition is to be held between October 27 and 31. iGEM is the most prestigious competition in the emerging field of genetic engineering and synthetic biology. It is conducted by the iGEM Foundation and was initiated by the MIT in 2004. The competition encourages student researchers to conceive and implement a novel idea to solve real world challenges by building genetically engineered biological systems. Students collaboratively identify a problem, formulate a solution, design the experiments and develop an implementable technology which may even result in a patent, seed a potential start-up and generate a novel technology transfer to industry, said Rhushikesh Phadke, fourth-year biotechnolgy student at the IIT and the team leader for the competition. This will be the second time that IIT-KGP will be participating in this competition. Read: Multiple agencies to blame for Burrabazar flyover collapse: IIT-KGP report Due to its high tensile strength and elasticity, spider silk has potential applications as a biomaterial. Since it is biocompatible and biodegradable, it is also useful in medical and pharmaceutical industries. Recent research suggests that spider silk can also be used to grow cells as silk promotes more cell growth rather than controlling it. The method devised by us will not only ensure good quality silk but the time taken will also be less and the whole process would be cost effective too, said Pravina Yadav, a third-year student of biotechnology at the IIT and another member of the team. However, implementing these undertakings at industrial level requires high inputs of spider silk. Spiders, being cannibalistic and venomous, make the silk extraction process rather difficult our team aimed at developing a continuous set-up for the production of spider silk using genetically engineered bacteria, said Chetan Khandelwal, a fourth-year biotechinolgy student at the IIT and another member of the team. Read:Study first, pay later: IIT-Kharagpurs new way to raise funds The spider silk project will be showcased at MIT where they would be participating in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition to be held in Boston from October 27th to 31st 2016. The team members have set their hands to represent their institute at an international stage with a specifically designed genetically engineered bacteria aimed at synthesizing recombinant spider silk protein(MaSp2) and producing it extracellularly, after in succession to their prior attempt focussed at detecting food spoilage using bacterial quorum sensing. The genetically engineered bacteria could sense the concentration of other food spoiling bacteria in eatables and manifest this through a colour pigment. IISc Bangalore, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, SRM Chennai and Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering (SVCE) Chennai are other participants from India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON At the onset of autumn they cross the border every year, carrying dhaks on their backs. For the next few days, they work up a traditional rhythm at Puja pandals on this side of the border, earning a few extra bucks and, more importantly, lending an emotional touch to Bengals biggest festival. The guards at the border and police usually relax a bit and the dhakis would go back after the Pujas, only to return next year. But all that was in the past, when IS was an unknown commodity in Bangladesh. This year, after the Holy Artisan Bakery massacre and the gradual proliferation of the IS on the soil of the eastern neighbour, Bangladeshi dhakis will be missed at the Puja pandals. There are many dhakis in Bengal, especially in the districts of Bankura, Purulia, Hooghly, but those from the neighbouring country, too, are hired during the Pujas in many districts of south Bengal. Durga Puja is incomplete without dhakis, but at the same time we have to ensure that everything is done according to the law, said Bhaskar Mukherjee, the superintendent of police of North 24 Parganas that shares a long unfenced border with Bangladesh. Every year, several dhakis living in Bangladesh cross over to play in the Puja pandals. They are mostly poor village folks and dont have the wherewithal to obtain passports and enter the legal way. Police officers of bordering districts told HT that the flow will be reduced to a trickle, only limited to those who can afford to obtain a passport and enter the legal way. Read: Mamatas Vatican trip is the toast of this years Durga Puja In this area, there is a vast area that is unfenced and I will not deny that many people enter India through this unfenced border to make ends meet. At the same time, some dhakis, too, cross over during the festive season through the border. We are maintaining strict vigil and this year dhakis from Bangladesh, who do not have any valid papers, could face hassles, said an officer working at Bongaon police station. BSF has said that during the Puja days, the security is tightened along the border, and work for fencing the porous area has already been initiated. We have enforced highest level of security on the border and none would be allowed to cross over without any valid papers, RPS Jaswal, the DIG, BSF, South Bengal Frontier, said. After the BJP took power at the Centre, vigilance has gone up at the border with a drastic reduction in the number of cattle smuggled to Bangladesh. The watch went up to an all-time high after the reports of IS infiltration in Bangladesh and the arrest of Md Mussa in Burdwan in the first week of July. Mussa was given an assignment by an IS operative in Bangladesh to behead a businessman of Labhpur, Birbhum to prove whether he is worthy of taking bigger assignments in India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As part of its drive to locate the possible breeding grounds of Aedes Aegypti the mosquito that breeds in fresh water and is a known carrier for dengue, chikungunya, zika and yellow fever viruses the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) inspected Yashodhan building that houses bureaucrats in Colaba on Monday. The officials, who inspected 42 apartments and 42 servant quarters in the building, found mosquito breeding spots at the residence of five bureaucrats. The breeding grounds were detected in and outside the residences of Navin Sona, IAS officer, Ashish Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, PWD, AK Jain, state information commissioner, Shyamlal Goyal, principal secretary, revenue, and JS Saharia, state election commissioner, in various spots such as balcony flower beds dish, water collected on plastic papers, iron pots and other such areas, revealed senior civic sources. A senior civic officer said, Breeding grounds were found at the residences of five IAS officers in Yashodhan apartment. We have destroyed the larvae and the spots have been cleaned. It was just a routine inspection along with various other buildings in the neighbouring areas. Read: Vidya Balan recovering well from dengue, thanks fans for prayers and jokes The inspection data of over 74 lakh homes, to locate mosquito breeding grounds shows that 1,828 mosquito breeding grounds were found in slum areas, while four times more homes from non-slum areas were issued notices for the same. While actor Shahid Kapoor was issued a notice by BMC officials on September 16, after a mosquito breeding ground was found inside his swimming pool at Praneta apartments in Juhu, the bureaucrats have been exempted from being served any notice, added the sources. Singh and Jain were not available for comment. However, Saharia said, It was not found inside our residence but was detected in the birds pot kept outside our window. We regularly fill in fresh water, but could not do so as we were not at home for the past two days. However, it has been cleaned now. Statistics show 160 confirmed cases of dengue have been admitted in civic hospitals till September 15, while 2,058 probable cases of dengue have been reported, revealed BMC data. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Pratyusha Banerjees ex-boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has found himself in hot water yet again after he was arrested for drink driving in Santacruz on Sunday night. The Santacruz division of the Mumbai traffic police, along with the local police were conducting a nakabandi at Gajdhar Bandh in Santacruz (West), when they stopped Singhs car. After checking whether he was inebriated, the traffic police constable realised Singh was not fit to be behind the wheel. Singh was then taken to the police station. Singh was accompanied by Saloni Sharma. She argued with the police and told them not to take action against Singh, failing which, she would complain to their superiors, said Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe. When Singh was taken to the police station, officials noted that he was not in possession of his driving license. The Santacruz police registered a case against Singh for driving under the influence of alcohol. His vehicle was impounded by the traffic officials and his documents have been handed over to the local police, said a source in the traffic police. He was also charged with not carrying a license while driving. Singh was allowed to go after he paid the penalty for both offences, officials said. Singh made headlines after TV actress Banerjee committed suicide on April 1. Singh was booked for abetment of suicide in the case and has been charge-sheeted by the Bangur Nagar police. In another case, model actor Heer Patel accused him of cheating her of Rs25,000. A case has been registered against Singh at Versova police station. Recently, a molestation case was filed against Singh by a model after he allegedly molested her during a fight at an Andheri restaurant. The Amboli police is currently investigating the matter. Members of the distraught Wagh family, who lost their two-and-a-half-year-old son Sagar to malnutrition last month, had just one question for the beeline of visitors at their shanty in the Kalamwadi village of Palghar on Saturday where were the authorities and ministers when Sagar was suffering? Days after the incident, state tribal minister Vishnu Savara visited the house to console the grieving family. Wagh, however, refused to meet him. Local reports also claimed Savara said, let it be when questioned about the increasing number of deaths owing to malnourishment in the district. Wagh, who was clutching on to her eight-month-old daughter Nandini, said, Where was everyone when my son was suffering? Why is everybody visiting us now? The villagers said although Sagar was treated at the local primary health care centre, his condition deteriorated again. He could not breathe when we took him to hospital on the day he died, his mother Sita said. The aanganwadi sevika said there are several children suffering from acute malnourishment in the village. The Wagh family was visited by several politicians, including leaders of opposition Dhananjay Munde (NCP) and Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil (Congress). The latter has demanded Savras resignation for his comments. Savara, who belongs to the tribal community, is also the guardian minister for Palghar, where 126 children have died owing to malnutrition. Savaras remarks, captured in a video clip went viral, forcing chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to seek a clarification from the minister on the issue. Savara clarified saying his response was only to silence some activists, who were not allowing him to speak with the family of the victims. While Savara was not available for a comment on Sunday, in an earlier statement to HT, he had denied making the casual comment. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Heavily armed militants attacked an army base in north Kashmir early Sunday and killed 17 soldiers, triggering calls for a swift retaliation that could squeeze the space for any detente between India and Pakistan. The dawn raid surprised soldiers in their sleep as attackers lobbed grenades and set fire to a building. The blaze killed 12 troopers and the rest died in gunfight, sources said. TV images showed helicopters flying to evacuate the wounded and smoke billowing from the mountainous base at Uri, which houses about 12,000 troops. Soldiers killed four fidayeen or commando-style gunmen willing to fight to death after an hours-long gun battle to end what was the worst single attack on the Army in years. More than 20 soldiers were wounded, some of them seriously. The attack jeopardised hopes of peace returning quickly to Kashmir that has been rocked by two months of violent protests in which 86 people have been killed died and thousands injured. Sources said the raid was part of a fresh wave of infiltration by militants from across the Line of Control, the heavily militarised de-facto border with Pakistan. CALL FOR RETALIATION A top Army official said the attack pointed to the involvement of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e Mohammad, which was also blamed by India for the Pathankot airbase attack in January. Islamabad denied any involvement. Sundays attack led to calls for an aggressive response, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowing to punish those behind the cowardly and despicable attack. No one has so far claimed responsibility, but home minister Rajnath Singh hit out at Pakistan, calling it a terror state that needed to be identified and isolated. MADE-IN-PAKISTAN Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, director general of military operations, said the militants could be from the JeM as some of the equipment recovered from them had Pakistan markings. He said four AK-47 rifles, four under barrel grenade launchers and ammunition were found on the dead militants. Islamabad rejected the charge with the foreign office saying that New Delhi always blamed Pakistan for such incidents even before completing a probe. The attack is likely to further roil Kashmir that army sources say has seen scores of infiltration attempts since protests broke out against insurgent leader Burhan Wanis killing in July. The Uri attack came within hours of the Uttarakhand police chief revealing that the Centre had sent out an alert for possible terrorist strike on defence installations in North India. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar visited Srinagar for a meeting with top army commanders and home minister Rajnath Singh cancelled scheduled trips to Russia and the United States. Army chief Dalbir Singh and northern command head DS Hooda also rushed to Uri. Home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will visit Srinagar on Monday. SRINAGAR: The Uri military base attacked by militants on Sunday morning is one of the most important garrisons in Kashmir and guards the Line of Control (LoC), which is Indias de facto border with Pakistan. The base is strategically important for two reasons: It serves to thwart aggression from Pakistan and guard against infiltration attempts by militants since armed insurgency erupted in Kashmir in 1989. The base the brigade headquarters that houses 12,000-13,000 soldiers is close to the border and it is from here that men and materials are sent to the LoC. However, the base is also vulnerable as it can be approached from the LoC on three sides, one of them as close as six kilometres. Although there are armed sentries around-the-clock, a large number of the soldiers at the base are in transit, making them relatively relaxed then when on duty. What caused the large number of casualties and injuries in Sundays attack was the fact the base had a large number troops turning over after their tour of duty, sources said. They were stationed in tents and temporary shelters which caught fire. Several of the dead and injured received burn injuries. The base is also located in the plains and is under constant observation from Pakistani army posts higher in the mountains. A project of the National Hydro Power Corporation also been constructed in the area, mostly underground to prevent damage in case a war breaks out. Uri a garrison town with little anti-India sentiment has been targeted by militants before. A raid in December 2014, also near Uri, had killed eight soldiers and three policemen. An army official said that the attack was not on the 12 Brigade headquarters but on a rear administrative base close to the brigade. Rear administrative base is a place where the army units deployed on the LoC leave their non-operational and other administrative stores behind. The official said the Army deploys some personnel on guard to look after the stores. In effect, it means that minimum troops are kept in the rear. Former GOC 15 Corps in Kashmir, Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain tweeted such places very vulnerable (sic). Police sources said the infiltration through Uri sector was less than through the Kupwara belt, but Uri was the easiest way to enter Kashmir. However, infiltration in the area came down after the ceasefire of 2003 allowed India to erect a barbed wire fence along the entire LoC. The devastating attack in Uri carries shadows of the 2002 Kaluchak massacre, when three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists killed three army personnel, 18 members of their families, and ten other civilians in Jammu. That attack came months after the assault on Parliament in New Delhi, and nearly transformed a troop buildup Operation Parakram into a full-blown war between India and Pakistan. This weekends slaughter will also have serious consequences. It will strengthen the hand of those in the government, already on top, who believe that only intense, heightened pressure diplomatic and perhaps otherwise can force a change in Pakistans behavior. It will push India-Pakistan relations, already at their lowest ebb in years, to its lowest point since Mumbai. And it may signal the resurgence of old tactics in Kashmir, at a time when unarmed protesters have convincingly seized the mantle of armed terrorists. The past decade has seen major terrorist attacks across India, though mass casualties have proven far easier to inflict on soft civilian targets in cities rather than military forces in their bases. The Pathankot attack in January killed 7 security personnel, which was half the number killed in a market in the Assam town of Kokrajhar last month. This is one reason why Uris seventeen casualties are so shocking. While there have been larger numbers killed in the post-Kaluchak era, including the death of nineteen Border Security Force personnel in an IED attack in Kashmir in May 2004, this is likely the deadliest attack on a facility. Read | Civilians in Kashmir may bear the brunt of Uri army base attack More broadly, India has grown accustomed to steadily declining violence, both in Jammu and Kashmir and in the rest of India as a whole. Last year, the country saw the fewest civilians killed in terrorism for well over two decades, and the second-fewest security personnel both falls probably driven by trends within Kashmir itself. Average civilian casualties in Kashmir fell 45% from the 1990s to the 2000s, and then by a further 95% from the 2000s to the 2010s. Fatalities amongst the security forces fell from an average of more than 300 a year in the 2000s, to under 50 since 2010 excluding Uri itself. In part, these trends are the result of tighter control over the Line of Control. Official statistics last year showed that local militants outnumbered non-Indian ones. According to the head of the Srinagar-based Chinar corps, cross-border infiltration was down to a trickle. Attacks in Gurdaspur last year and Pathankot in January pointed to weaknesses in border security, but the scale of the problem has significantly fallen. Large, anomalous attacks like Uri shatter this statistical calm. The Pathankot attack offered a brief moment of hope that India and Pakistan might handle the fall-out of these incidents in mature, constructive ways. The National Security Advisors of both countries spoke to one another within hours of the attack. Indian officials held back from blaming Pakistan, while Islamabad quickly detained the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Masood Azhar. Most remarkably of all, Pakistan was allowed limited access to the airbase itself. But the steady collapse in India-Pakistan relations in the months thereafter, marked by reciprocal sniping on Kashmir and Balochistan, has produced a completely different mood that prevails today. Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such, tweeted home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday. There will be no joint investigation team (JIT), no forbearance in public statements, and little faith in Nawaz Sharif. The spirit of Lahore was snuffed out long ago. Those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished, promises Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ram Madhav, the BJPs secretary general, suggests what this might mean in practice: For one tooth, the complete jaw. Days of so-called strategic restraint are over. This echoes previous allusions to retaliation-in-kind, made by NSA Ajit Doval, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, and many other would-be covert warriors. In concert with the governments new approach to Balochistan, there is every reason to believe that the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) will be given a freer hand to impose a cost on Pakistani terrorist groups, their patrons in the Pakistani intelligence services, and perhaps even on the Pakistani state more broadly. Among the more publicly visible consequences will be a further hardening of the governments approach to Kashmir. As counter-terrorism operations widen, protests already the worst in the valley since the 1990s will intensify. Another will be a ratcheting up of the diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. Sushma Swarajs speech for the UN General Assembly in New York on September 26 will go through a frenzy of editing in the coming days. India also knows that the United States is, as always, desperate to avert any escalation across the LoC; New Delhi can use that to secure greater intelligence and diplomatic cooperation from Washington, which supplied key information about Pathankot. If JeM is found responsible once more, India will revive its abortive efforts to get China to agree to a terrorist designation for Masood Azhar. Uri is not a turning point. There will be no airstrikes or mass mobilisation. But it is a stepping stone towards what will be a more violent, unpredictable, and tumultuous period in India-Pakistan relations. (The writer is a senior research fellow at Royal United Services Institute. Views expressed are personal) The suicide attack on its base at Uri is easily the worst setback the Indian army has suffered in Kashmir in the past 26 years. It is not clear precisely who attacked the army base. An attack by home-grown terrorists cannot altogether be ruled out, but is highly unlikely for, since August 1999, all such attacks have come from Pakistani territory. The chosen, and politically far more effective, weapon of Kashmiri separatists has been stones. So assuming that these were Pakistanis, nurtured by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and sent into Kashmir by the ISI, what should Indias response be? What it absolutely must not be is a punitive counterattack on Pakistan. For that will free Islamabads hands to send huge numbers of terrorists into Kashmir. Pakistan knows that, given the conditions that prevail in Kashmir today, they would be welcomed as saviours, something that has not happened in the past. So if Modi and Rajnath Singh want another avalanche of terrorists to descend on Kashmir, like the one after Pakistans defeat in the Kargil war which cost India an average of four jawans lives every day for the next two years, they know exactly what they need to do. What Rajnath Singh and the Prime Minister need to ask themselves is what Pakistans objectives, in launching this attack now, might be and take the action that is needed to checkmate it. The obvious one is a desire to continue fuelling the curfew and lockdown conditions that have prevailed in Kashmir since the death of Burhan Wani, to make the ultimate, inevitable explosion more volcanic. Read | Uri attack: 17 soldiers killed, army says Pakistan-based Jaish involved The attack on Uri was too large and well planned to have been cobbled together in response to operation Calm Down, the directive given to the army to restore normality in the Valley within a week beginning last Sunday. But its timing could not have been more fortuitous for Pakistan because it came one day before the expiry of the week, at a time when the exceptionally severe curfew and information control imposed on the Valley during the operation had stretched nerves to the breaking point. The relative success of the operation, however, had just begun to raise hopes among Kashmiris, and their well wishers, that a relaxation of curfew and controls would soon follow. That has now been dashed. Delhi must stop letting Pakistan play upon its ignorance of Kashmiri aspirations like an inexpert violinist upon a second hand fiddle. Unlike Modi, Islamabad knows in fact, it has known since the days of President Musharraf that very few Kashmiris want Kashmir to go to Pakistan. This was confirmed by the meticulously constructed Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs, London) survey of opinion in both parts of Kashmir in 2009, which found that even in Anantnag, Budgam, Srinagar and Baramulla districtsthe hotbeds of separatism in the Valley only 2 to 7 percent of the people wanted to go to Pakistan. Read | What next? Heres how India can respond to the Uri terror attack As a group of journalists and human rights activists, of whom I was one, found out during a visit to Kashmir last month, this proportion has not changed by much despite all that the people of the Valley have suffered. What has changed is the intensity with which the 75 to 95 percent who wanted independence then, want it now. To say that Kashmir is in the grip of a fever of revolt today would not be an overstatement. However, except for teenagers who have not yet begun to think of their future, and the fringe of unemployed youth in their twenties who lead the revolt, almost no one wants to sever all relations with India. To them azadi means political freedom without the sacrifice of Kashmirs huge and profitable economic integration with India. In short, what Kashmiris want is what Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has written so eloquently about: it is not the negative concept of freedom from India but the positive concept of freedom, as the capacity to do things with India to improve their lives. This duality has existed since Sheikh Abdullah was imprisoned in 1953, but has only grown stronger with the passing of the years. It gives the government, even now, a powerful yet simple way to end the intifada in Kashmir. Modi has urged the Kashmiri opposition parties, and the separatists, to ask for anything within the framework of the Indian Constitution, and Rajnath Singh has gone even further. But no one is taking up their invitations to talk because no one in the Valley trusts any Indian government any longer not to renege upon its word. Read | Uri attack may push Indo-Pak relations, already at their lowest, to a new low The only way to bridge this trust deficit is to make a declaration that the government of India is willing to grant Kashmir full autonomy within the framework of the Instrument of Accession and the Delhi framework agreement of 1952 (which addressed their core need for economic integration) and is also willing to allow a newly elected government in Kashmir to decide which of the later 67 amendments to Kashmirs constitution that have deepened this integration, they wish to retain. This will start a new political process that, if pursued in good faith will lead to peace in Kashmir and, possibly at a later date, with Pakistan as well. (The writer is a senior journalist and columnist. Views expressed are personal) The Allahabad high court on Monday disposed of a petition relating to transfer of senior IAS officer Rama Raman from the Noida Authority. The court said since he has already been transferred, no order was required to be passed in this connection. However, the court observed, The faith and trust of the common man in the system and in the person/officer at the helm of affairs is equally important, which the government should bear in mind, while continuing the same officer at one place for years together, and giving scope to generate doubt about the system. No person is indispensable. The government should have not come before the court with the stand that the services of Rama Raman are indispensable and that there is no other IAS officer who can work for the authorities. The very concept of transfer would thereby stand defeated. Regarding the transfer policy, the court asked the government to revisit the issue of maximum tenure, observing: The mere fact that the 1955 Regulations do not envisage a maximum tenure does not necessarily mean that a person may be permitted to continue on three particular post for years together. It would in fact be in the fitness of things and perhaps to overcome the levelling of allegations, such as the present against Rama Raman, that the government consider the shifting of officers periodically. The decision was delivered by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma on a PIL filed by Akhil Bhartiya Samaj Utthan Kalyan Samiti The high court had on July 1 barred Rama Raman from functioning as chairman of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authority. In the same order, the court had also directed the (Establishment) Board headed by the chief secretary to take a decision with regard to transfer of Rama Raman within two weeks Subsequently, the state government announced that Rama Raman had been transferred from Noida. After this announcement, the PIL was being heard on several other issues relating to transfer policy of the government. . Over three days after an 18-year-old girl was stabbed by two miscreants following eve-teasing and a spat, the victim succumbed to her injuries at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Sector 32 on Sunday afternoon. Following her death, colony residents held a protest to press the police to nab one of the accused, who remains at large. The police have already arrested the prime accused Raj Kumar in the case. Police informed that Raj Kumar has criminal background and was booked earlier in a case of assault. He came out of Burail jail after completing imprisonment a few days back, the police said and added that they are conducting raids to arrest the other accused, Ajay. A murder case was registered on Sunday after the victim succumbed to her injuries during treatment. Later, the family and relatives of the victim gathered at Colony Number 4 and demanded police to take action and arrest the absconding accused. Police sources said the incident took place on September 15. The victim was at her residence along with her mother and brother at Colony Number 4, when the accused came in an inebriated condition and asked for water. When the girl refused, she was stabbed. DSP (East) Satish Kumar, said, The accused have been booked under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 302 (murder). After the jam-packed start to international flights with the flights to Sharjah, the city will get connected to the second destination Dubai with the launch of IndiGo Airlines flight to Dubai on September 26. Till Sunday, 140 seats in the 180-seater plane had been taken. Also read | Chandigarh International Airport, finally: Sharjah, check! For now, a return ticket on the non-stop flight that will run daily has been priced at Rs 9,999. The airline had opened the sale of tickets on July 31. With a week to go, we expect the flight to be full. Tour operators have booked most of the tickets till now, an IndiGo official told HT.On September 15, union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said that Air India would start a flight to Singapore by March. Later, Air India chairman said that flights thrice a week to Bangkok will also be launched. Schedule Departure from Chandigarh airport to Dubai at 4.15 pm and arrival at Dubai airport at 6.20 pm ( Dubai time) Total time taken in the journey will be three hours 30 minutes. The time difference between India and UAE is approximately 1hour 30 minutes. Meanwhile the departure from Dubai to Chandigarh will be at 6.05am, arrival at Chandigarh international airport will be at 11.10 am. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Residents of the holy city are still waiting for liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to be supplied to their houses through pipelines even as the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas has made all arrangements for the work to start. Reason: The municipal corporation has not issued the no-objection certificate (NOC) to the executing firm as yet. Sources said 100-km-long pipeline is proposed to be laid across the city at a cost of Rs 500 crore under this mega project. It is expected to supply the cooking gas to 2.5-lakh residents. Apart from this, 10 stations of compressed natural gas (CNG) will also be set up in the city to supply clean fuel for vehicles, which will help reduce air pollution. The ministry has contracted out the project to Gujarat State Petromate Limited (GSPL). In the first phase, a pipeline will be laid over 1 km, for which material including pipes has been procured. It is lying near Guru Ramdas Institute of Medical Research at Vallah locality and in Sultanwind road area. However, the work is yet to start as GSPL is awaiting the civic bodys nod. The MC has reportedly asked the firm to fulfil various terms and condition and deposit requisite amount before issuing the NOC. We have deposited the requisite amount and the survey report to the MC, but havent received the NOC for the first phase of work, said a GSPL official, on the condition of anonymity. Sources said the company has deposited `85 lakh to the exchequer of the civic body for laying pipes on the 1-km stretch. Confirming the development, municipal commissioner Sonali Giri said, The matter is under consideration. GSPL has been asked to submit the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the road utilities as well. Giri had recently attended a meeting on the issue conducted by the ministry at New Delhi. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said as the issue has not been taken up by the MC House, he cant comment on it. The Union ministry has planned to execute the same project in Jalandhar and Ludhiana as well, but it is yet to take shape there. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The facility of evening outpatient department (OPD) at urban primary health centres (UPHCs) that started in this June this year has been getting a good response as the number of people visiting the centers is going up. The health department has been running evening OPDs at eight UPHCs including Aman Nagar, Basti Danishmandan, Maqsudan, Basti Bawa Khel, Basti Nau, Bhargo camp, Garha and Qazi Mandi. In June, these UPHCs registered 1,832 patients and in August, the number went up to 3,100 patients. The UPHCs had been opened under the National Health Mission programme by the health department to provide healthcare to working-class people who cannot come to health centres or district hospitals in morning hours. These open at 4pm and close at 8 pm and MD or MBBS doctors are appointed as part-time medical officers for the health centres. The facility provides free medicines, which are available in the civil hospital, community and primary health centres. The migrant daily wagers, senior citizens, domestic maids and other categories of employees who cannot visit morning OPDs due to the nature of their jobs benefited from this scheme, said civil surgeon Dr Rajiv Bhalla. Most of the lower-middle-class families are at work in the morning, so camps in the first half of the day are of little use to them, he said, adding that medical camps will also be organised in these UPHCs in the coming days in which specialists will be hired by the department to take expert care to peoples doorsteps. Garha UPHC is one of leading health center from others which register maximum patients. Dr Tarsem Rattu, a retired senior medical officer who looks after evening OPD at Garha UPHC said that as the response of people is positive, the department has also deputed additional staff here to tackle the crowd. Initially, we faced problem due to lack of awareness about evening OPDs among the residents but now it has changed, he said. At present, the Garha UPHC is operating from a local Gurdwara. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Following the terrorist attack in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, high alert has been sounded in the city. The police have beefed up security at different places and also alerted vehicle mounted Light Machine Guns (LMG) at the entrance of the city to deal with any untoward situation. Also read | Uri attack: BSF beefs up security along Indo-Pak border The Ludhiana police have sealed entrance to Ludhiana and every vehicle entering the city is being checked. Besides, the security has also been tightened at the city railway station and all the trains are being checked. The officials say the security at the military areas has also been increased. Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Dharuman Nimbale said, soon after the Uri terrorist, all local police officials were deployed in the field. Besides setting up checkpoints at entrance, cops also patrolled the internal areas, he said. The police checked hotels and malls and directed their security staff to check every person at the entrance. Checks were also conducted at the interstate bus terminal and market areas. Patrolling has been increased outside religious and educational institutes as well. The Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) remained on their toes at the railway station. The personnel checked all the trains coming from Amritsar and Jammu. Anti-bomb and sniffer dog squad also reached the station to ensure there were no harmful items on the tracks or platforms. A Punjab Police sub-inspector, who was undergoing treatment for depression, shot himself with his service revolver here on Monday. The cop, identified as Sukhdev Singh, was posted in police lines. Sukhdevs body and his service revolver were found in his car on the Patiala-Nabha road near Korjiwala village. The cop is survived by his wife and a son. The body was handed over to the family after the autopsy at the Rajindra hospital. Patiala senior superintendent of police Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said Sukhdev had been transferred here from Amritsar two months ago. He was undergoing treatment for depression since 2011, the SSP added. With Punjab assembly elections turning into a four-cornered contest, the Congress is taking solace in surveys by the state and central intelligence and other government agencies to predict its victory. Talking to a select mediapersons on Monday evening, Amarinder said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) surveys were still on but those by government agencies are placing the party in the first slot with 51% vote share, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) second with 31% and the SAD-BJP third with less than 20%. RAHULS MEGA RALLY IN MOGA He said AAPs graph in Punjab, including its popularity among NRIs, has gone down. There were about 40,000 people from all over Punjab at the AAP rally at Baghapurana. We will hold a rally of 5 lakh people before the paddy procurement season starts as farmers get busy then. We are waiting for the dates of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi who will attend the rally, he said. Amarinder claimed the Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) announcing its support to the Congress after winning the student council polls was an indicator that the youth was with the party. They have seen the governance model of the AAP in Delhi and are disenchanted by it now, he said, adding that the verdict of the Supreme Court on Sehajdhari Sikhs too will bring many to the Congress fold. Doval a total failure Reacting to Uri terror attack, Amarinder said national security adviser Ajit Doval was a total failure. Advocating Israels policy of eye for an eye, Amarinder said unless stringent action is taken, Pakistan-sponsored terror groups will continue to attack our forces. Retaliatory action is needed to keep up the morale of our forces. Union finance minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the current political situation in Punjab was favourable for the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance in the state as the opposition parties were in disarray. Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Jaitley said the BJP would contest the assembly polls under the current arrangement with the Akali Dal. The SAD-BJP government has successfully completed nine-and-half years of rule in the state and there are many achievements to its credit, which are visible on the ground, he added. The performance of the Narendra Modi-led Union government in its over two-year rule has been outstanding. The SAD-BJP combine will contest the Punjab polls on the basis of the performance and achievements of both the Modi government and the Parkash Singh Badal government, he said. On allegations levelled by the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against him for shielding Akali leaders in an alleged drug case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, Jaitley said: These allegations are baseless. The probe into tge drug case is being monitored by the Punjab and Haryana high court. Taking a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party, Jaitley said: Delhi is being ruled by the worst set of people Arvind Kejriwal and his team. It is the worst government ever. But the people here wont let such people rule Punjab, he added. Asked to comment on former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhus Awaaz-e-Punjab front, Jaitley said: I dont think there is any need to comment on Sidhu. He has chosen his path and I wish him good luck. When asked if Sidhus quitting the party was a loss to the BJP, the Union minister said: He has his influence in some pockets where the BJP is already strong. Will punish those behind Uri attack Condemning Sundays terror attack on an army camp in Uri, Jaitley said the perpetrators will be punished. Blaming Pakistan, he said India will intensify diplomatic efforts to isolate it. He said the attack on Pathankot airbase and now in Uri indicated that that anti-India forces across the border had again adopted the policy of fedayeen assaults to disturb peace in India. In recent years, there has been an increasing reliance on activities like stone-throwing agitations, which were instigated from across the border. Terror attacks have nothing to do with the complexion of the governments in power at the Centre, he said. Must read | Uri attack: BSF beefs up security along Indo-Pak border Punjab traders dealing in import and export of goods with Pakistan on Monday sought a fitting reply in the aftermath of Uri attack, threatening to end Rs 3,000 crore worth of trade with the neighbouring country for the heinous act. Time has come for India to take strict and swift action against Pakistan, which is responsible for the Uri terror attack that left our several soldiers dead, Amritsar-based trader and president of Federation of Dry Fruit and Haryana Commercial Association, Anil Mehra, told PTI on Monday. The Modi government should suspend all sorts of ties with Pakistan in response to the terror attack unleashed on Indian soil, Mehra said. Noting that there is a great amount of anger against this terror attack, which left 18 soldiers dead, Mehra said traders in Punjab are ready to end trade ties with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah land route. Read | Uri attack: BSF beefs up security along Indo-Pak border For us, the country comes first and then comes trade. We will do something else for our livelihood, said Mehra. Traders said it is Pakistan which is the most dependent on India for import of goods like vegetables, including tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices, cotton yarn and the like. Pakistan exports cement, gypsum and dry fruits to the country via the Attari-Wagah land route. If we today stop sending tomatoes, which has been the major export item to Pakistan, they will face immense shortage of this perishable commodity. Moreover, if we do not import dates from Pakistan, they will not find buyers for this, he added. Traders further said Pakistan had not even allowed export of onions to India last year when the country was facing shortage. India then imported onions from Afghanistan. Pakistan allows import of 137 items from India through Attari-Wagah. As per estimates, the total volume of trade between the two nations via Attari-Wagah is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore per annum. India and Pakistan had resumed cross-border movement of trucks in October 2007 after a gap of sixty years from Attari check post at Amritsar in India to Wagah border in Pakistan. An integrated check-post was set up on the Attari-Wagah border in 2012 at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore for smooth movement of traffic. Chandigarh administration has turned down the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP governments proposal to install a large statue of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambdekar on the premises of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Citing the Edict of Chandigarh the Le Corbusier-mandated rulebook on citys planning the UT administration has said the proposal cant be adhered to, as no personal statues can be installed in the state capital. The Punjab government had written to the UT finance secretary and the chief administrator informing them of its decision to install the statue. It had even convened a meeting to work out the modalities. The letter sent UT officials into a huddle and the administration wrote back to the Punjab government that such a statue cant be permitted here. Punjab speaker Charanjit Atwal had stated in May that a large statue of Ambedkar would be installed in the Vidhan Sabha during a specially called session in October. The current year marks the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar and the Badal government has planned a series of events on the occasion. Many see this move as an attempt to woo Dalit voters as the state goes to the poll early next year. The administration in its communique has highlighted the extract of the edict which says: The age of personal statues is gone. No personal statues shall be erected in the city or parks of Chandigarh. The city is planned to breathe the new sublimated spirit of art. Commemoration of persons shall be confined to suitably placed bronze plaques. The UT letter says the edict of Chandigarh is part of the report of the expert committee on preservation and conservation of heritage of Chandigarh, approved by the government of India. The letter adds that all provisions of this report stand notified as part of the Chandigarh Master plan 2031. The UT says the Vidhan Sabha is an iconic structure of the Capitol Complex which has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site recently. The administration and the Centre both are signatory for its proper preservation and conservation of authentic design, it adds. The decision has the stamp of the UT administrator who is also the Punjab governor, say Chandigarh officials. Have already placed order for statue: Speaker Speaker Atwal said the state government would decide its next plan of action soon. Weve already placed an order for the statue and it would be identical to the one installed in Parliament, he said. Where exactly it will be installed in the Vidhan Sabha is yet to be decided, he added. Asked why the government was installing the statue of Ambedkar now, Atwal said since its the Dalit icons 125th birth anniversary year, a statue of him in the assembly would be a great tribute to the architect of the constitution. We plan to install it around November 26 as it was on that day in 1949 when the Constitution was adopted, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Punjab government didnt consult the leader of opposition in the Vidhan Sabha before selecting seven commissioners to the Right to Service Commission (RTS) a move that violates the Punjab Right to Service Act, 2011. Also read | Cash-strapped Badal govt to park 7 more commissioners on RTS panel The seven persons, who were picked out of the shortlisted 21 candidates, include former IPS officer Rajinder Parshad Mittal, besides Jagdeep Singh Cheema, Lakhwinder Singh Lakhi, Jagmeet Kaur Sandhu, Kamaldeep Bhandari, Nimrit Kaur and Pankaj Kumar, who owe allegiance to the ruling Alaki Dal-BJP combine. The two-member in-house committee of the father-son duo chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal neither recorded the approval nor dissent of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi, who is the leader of opposition in the 117-member Vidhan Sabha. As per Punjab Right to Service Act, 2011, the chief commissioner and commissioners are to be appointed by the government in consultation with the leader of opposition. Though consulting the leader of opposition before making appointments is a must, the dissent note does not stop the government from sticking to its decision, according to rules. These appointments were made without sending the file to me and without taking my consent. The government has violated the Act wilfully and with impunity, Channi, told Hindustan Times. It was during the last sitting of the recently concluded Vidhan Sabha session that the CM and deputy finalised the seven names. Around midnight on September 8, the day assembly session began, I received a letter from the government inviting me for a meeting on September 9 to finalise names for some commission. The next morning, I sent a letter to the government seeking details of the shortlisted candidates. But I didnt get any response, Channi said. As the Congress disrupted the proceedings of the House, Channi said, he was invited for a meeting over phone during the last two sittings of the Vidhan Sabha. It was a mere formality... the government didnt send the file to me fearing that I will give a dissent note. This selection is undemocratic and illegal, he said. Earlier too, Channi had given a dissent note in the recent appointment of two members of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and two information commissioners of the Right to Information Commission. Channis predecessor Sunil Jakhar had also given a dissent note in the appointment of a Punjab Public Service Commission member, but the government overlooked it. Right to Service Commission was set up by the Akali-BJP government in 2011-12 to provide an effective framework for time-bound delivery of services and to promote transparency and accountability. Recently, the government increased the strength of commission members from four to 10, a move to rehabilitate the ruling alliance workers or pliable bureaucrats and loyal police officers after retirement. The commissioners are appointed for five years or till they attain the age of 65. This post fetches fat salary and perks for what is described as full-time salary for a part-time job. To justify its decision of increasing the commissions strength, the governments reason recorded in the official file reads: In order to tackle the workload, increase in number of commissioners from four to 10 is urgently required. Over 40 candidates, including retired IPS and IAS officers, had applied for the plump post and were lobbying. The search committee headed by chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal and comprising Jagpal Singh Sandhu (additional chief secretary-Home), Lt Gen BS Dhaliwal (technical adviser to CM), and RK Verma (secretary, governance reforms) had shortlisted the applicants and prepared a panel of three candidates against one post. Salary of commissioners Basic salary: Rs 80,000 Dearness allowance: 125% of basic salary House rent allowance: 20% of basic salary Besides this, they are also entitled a government house, staff car, phone and peon. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON South Indian actor Naga Chaitanya has clarified that he will get married only next year, reports India Today. The actor, who has been dating actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu since 2014, said his father Nagarjuna will make a formal announcement soon. Naga Chaitanya said, It (marriage) should happen next year. My father will announce the date once its finalised. At the moment, I cant divulge more information. However, the India Today report suggests that the date has already been fixed and the wedding will take place in the second half of next year. Naga Chaitanya and Samantha fell in love while working together in Autonagar Shankar. They have previously worked in films like Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) and Manam (2014). Chaitanyas younger brother Akhil Akkineni is likely to get married before him. He will get engaged on December 9. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A Riot Fest Attendee Was Stabbed On Sunday Near Festival Site By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 19, 2016 5:09PM Douglas Park / Facebook A female Riot Fest attendee was stabbed after leaving the Douglas Park-hosted music festival on Sunday afternoon, according to Chicago police. Police described the altercation as domestic and the Tribune reports that the attacker was a former boyfriend to the victim. A police spokesperson told Chicagoist that the attack happened at around 3 p.m. on Sunday in the 2100 block of South Kedzie Avenue,roughly three blocks southwest of the festivals main entrance, at West Ogden Avenue and South Sacramento Drive on the south side of the park. The 27-year-old male attacker cut the victim, also 27, on her left arm, left side and right arm; she was taken to Northwestern Hospital, where she is expected to be treated and released, police said. To stress, the victim knew the assailant, and the attack occurred off festival grounds, so it shouldn't be taken to reflect what appeared to be ample security measures at the festival. [HT Tribune] Showing terrorist acts as a result of some mental illness, as is commonly done, unfairly stigmatises the millions of people who suffer from such health problems and impedes prevention efforts, warn scientists. Researchers said that terrorist groups and networks seem to avoid recruiting people with mental health problems, probably because they share some of the same stigmatised views as the rest of society and see people with mental health conditions as unreliable, difficult to train, and a security threat. Recent attention has shifted to lone actor terrorism, in which mental illnesses are more common, they said. However, they point out that no single diagnosis is associated with lone actor terrorism, and that a psychiatric diagnosis where appropriate does not explain motivation. Kamaldeep Bhui of London School of Medicine and Dentistry and colleagues call for careful media reporting of terrorist events, similar to the reporting of suicides, to reduce copycat episodes. Researchers said that many health practitioners are concerned about the governments counterterrorism strategy, which outlines a public duty to assess, report and prevent radicalisation if this may lead to extremist violence. They point to a lack of transparency which means there is a paucity of published evidence for the effectiveness of the programme. Psychiatrists are not in the role to deal with extremism, but are there to help those with mental health problems, say researchers. (Shutterstock) This undermines trust and has alarmed many health practitioners, who are concerned about acting as agents of the state. Wessely said that the single best thing we can do to improve services, is make it easier for people to be referred, improve treatments that they get that will improve mental health and may also reduce risk to the public of these extremest acts. He added that psychiatrists are not in the role to deal with extremism, but are there to help those with mental health problems. An effective counterterrorism strategy, which is in all our interests, will be more successful if it engages fully with mental health professionals, public health agencies, and communities, making the research evidence and recommended actions as transparent as possible without undermining genuine security concerns, researchers said. The study was published in The BMJ journal. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. This years European Heritage Days will see buildings, monuments and museums hold all kind of events this fall. Here are some of the tours, open days and exhibitions happening in September and October to celebrate Europes Doors Open Days. Spain When: During October Balenciaga Away From Home The museum dedicated to the life and work of Spanish fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga, located in Getaria, will be running guided tours, October 15 to 22, showcasing the designers career and exploring how his roots influenced his work. Museo Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain. More information: www.cristobalbalenciagamuseoa.com/en Austria When: September 25 Klimt Villa, Vienna Born in 1862, Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt is best known for his erotic paintings and his use of gold leaf. For this years European Heritage Days, visitors to Vienna can take a look inside the villa where he painted several key works. Klimt Villa, Vienna, Austria. More information: http://www.klimtvilla.at/?lang=en Belgium When: September 17 and 18, Brussels Moi Gustave Gustave Strauven is a key figure in Brussels architecture with a distinctive art nouveau style. Around 60 buildings designed by the architect still stand in the Belgian capital, from modest houses to masters in the genre, like the famous Maison Saint Cyr. The fun family exhibition, Moi Gustave, lets visitors can step into the architects enchanted world and explore his taste for materials and improbable combinations. September 9 to November 28, 2016, every day from 10am to 18pm, on the mezzanine of the Halles Saint-Gery, Place Saint-Gery, Brussels, Belgium. Portugal When: September 23 to 25 Hein Semke ceramics After a first visit to Portugal in 1929, German artist Hein Semke moved to the country in 1932. As well as sculptures, paintings, drawings and engravings, the artist also crafted ceramics, leaving behind a wealth of work. Lisbons Museo Nacional do Azulejo paid homage to his work with a first retrospective in 1991. In 2015, an important collection of 209 pieces was gifted to the museum, where theyre on show until October 30. Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon, Portugal Greece When: September 22 to 25 Archaeological Museum of Piraeus The legendary Greek port of Piraeus is telling the story of its destruction and reconstruction from antiquity to the present day with Unfortified Cities/Open Cities, in partnership with the urban planning department of the National Technical University of Athens School of Architecture. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. Charlize Theron and Matt Damon will reportedly appear as guests on Jeremy Clarksons new motoring show The Grand Tour. The Hollywood A-listers have filmed guest segments with Jeremy and his fellow former Top Gear hosts Richard Hammond and James May, reported Contactmusic. Matt Damon speaks onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18. (AFP) The new show, which will air on Amazons streaming service, Prime, later this year, marks the return of the presenters to broadcasting after Jeremys controversial axing from Top Gear last year. Charlize Theron poses on red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film The last Face in competition at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 20. (REUTERS) All the early signs suggest The Grand Tour will have a much bigger pulling power than Top Gear, a source said. Matt and Charlize are just two of the names involved. More big stars will follow. Top Gears influence and power has clearly waned without Jeremy at the helm. The first episode of The Grand Tour, a 12-part series, will debut on November 18. Follow @htshowbiz for more Game of Thrones conquered the Emmy kingdom Sunday, after being honoured as top drama for the second consecutive year on a night of surprises and sharp political jabs. Veep repeated last years victory with best comedy series award and its star, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, won a record-breaking sixth Emmy as best comedy actress. Jeffrey Tambors trophy as top comedy actor for Transparent also was his second. See pics: Priyanka Choprs looks ravishing hot in red gown Here is the complete list of winners at the annual Primetime Emmy Awards, announced Sunday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Drama Series: Game of Thrones. Executive Producers David Benioff, centre left, and D.B. Weiss accept the award for Outstanding Drama Series for Game of Thrones with the cast and crew at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Directing, Drama Series: Miguel Sapochnik, Game of Thrones Actor, Drama Series: Rami Malek, Mr. Robot. Actor Rami Malek accepts Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Mr. Robot onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. (AFP) Actress, Drama Series: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black. Actress Tatiana Maslany holds her award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series for Orphan Black as she mingles at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (REUTERS) Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline. Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey Writing for a Drama Series: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss Game of Thrones. Comedy Series: Veep. David Mandel, centre, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, foreground right, and the cast and crew from Veep winners of the award for outstanding comedy series pose in the press room at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Directing, Comedy Series: Jill Soloway, Transparent. Actor, Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent. Actor Jeffrey Tambor accepts Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Transparent onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. (AFP) Actress, Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep. Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Veep onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. (AFP) Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Louie Anderson, Baskets. Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live. Writing for a Comedy Series: Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari, Master of None. Los Angeles : Aziz Ansari, right, and Kelvin Yu winners of the award for outstanding writing for a comedy series for Master of None. (AP) Limited Series: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Drama: Susanne Bier, The Night Manager. Actor, Limited Series or Movie: Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Actress, Limited Series or Movie: Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Sarah Paulson poses with the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. (AFP) Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie: Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie: Regina King, American Crime. Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special: D.V. BeVincentis, The People v. O.J. Simpson American Crime Story. Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. John Oliver (2nd from L) accepts the award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California. (REUTERS) Variety Sketch Series: Key & Peele. Directing for a Variety Special: Thomas Kail and Alex Rudzinskifor Grease Live. Writing for a Variety Special: Patton Oswalt, Talking for Clapping. This #Emmys after party is off da CHAIN! pic.twitter.com/42lX2w0SYk Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 19, 2016 Television Movie: Sherlock: The Abominable Bride. Reality-Competition Program: The Voice. Follow @htshowbiz for more President Barack Obama on Monday lauded the tough and resilient people of New York and New Jersey, the twin-cities which saw bombings over the weekend. As law enforcement authorities arrested a 28-year-old Afghan-origin American in connection with the bombings, the POTUS asked Americans not to succumb to fear terrorists and violent extremists are trying to instill. Obama, who is in the city for the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly, praised the tough and resilient response of the people of New York and New Jersey to the weekends bombing plots. Folks around here, they dont get scared. They go about their business every single day. Thats the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an American, Obama said. He added that terrorists and violent extremists dont just want to cause harm to individual people but want to inspire fear in all of us, and disrupt the way we live, to undermine our values. They are trying to hurt innocent people, but they are also trying to inspire fear in all of us. We all have a role to play as citizens in making sure we dont succumb to that fear, Obama said. Obama was speaking shortly after 28 year old Afghan-born American Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted in connection with weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, was taken into custody following a shootout with police. Obama did not mention Rahami by name but said there is a person of interest who is the focus of the investigation. President Barack Obama speaks about the bombings in New Jersey and Manhattan and the stabbing attack in Minnesota on Monday (AP) He said he had spoken to New York governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey governor Chris Christie to offer federal help. He noted that law enforcement is asking for the help of the community and that the investigation into the bombing is moving rapidly and if you see something suspicious, then you need to say something, he said. He also asked that the press try to refrain from getting out ahead of the investigation. The FBI and other federal agencies are out in strong force in the area because of the UNGA meeting happening here now. They are moving smartly together, Obama said as he urged reporters to stick to what our investigators say. He said he sees no connection between the bomb plots in New York and New Jersey and the stabbing in Minnesota. Obama did not point out a link to international terrorism, but said we will continue to lead the global fight against those instigating others to carry out attacks over the internet. They are continuing to lose ground in Iraq and Syria, and as they lose territory it helps counter-terrorism efforts to undermine their ideology and make it harder for them to recruit, he said. An Australian Muslim woman who wore a burkini to a French beach said she was asked to leave despite a ban on the controversial full-bodied swimsuit recently being overturned. Sydney-born Zeynab Alshelh, a 23-year-old medical student, told Australias Channel 7 that she travelled to Europe to show solidarity with French Muslims by wearing a burkini -- invented by an Australian designer -- on the beach. Footage broadcast on Sunday evening showed local bathers make disparaging gestures towards Alshelh, who is sitting burkini-clad on the sand in Villeneuve-Loubet with her mother. We were threatened by locals to leave the beach and if we didnt they were going to call the police, Alshelh said. Even though it was on the beach that the burkini ban was overturned but the locals were not happy. Nice and about 30 other French towns banned the Islamic swimsuit after a July terror attack in which a man plowed his truck into crowds gathered for Bastille Day fireworks killing 86 people. In August, Frances highest court suspended the burkini bans declaring the swimsuits prohibition an illegal violation of fundamental freedoms. Aheda Zanetti, the Australian woman who designed the burkini, recently expressed surprise at the furore over her creation, saying it was meant to be a symbol of inclusion and allow Muslim women to take part in beach culture. But the seemingly innocuous item of clothing has continued to prove an emotive topic and opinion polls in fiercely secular France show burkini bans have the support of a majority of the public. It starts off at the beach and God knows where it ends, Zeynab added to Channel 7, saying that while there was racism in Australia there were no bans on clothing. Australia is grappling with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment after a series of attacks by radicalised youth and last week anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson called for an end to Muslim immigration and a ban on the burqa. The Theresa May government said on Monday it had taken up the case of six Britons lodged in a jail in Tamil Nadu at the highest level with the Indian government, after reports suggested that they were rotting in jail for crimes they did not commit. The six are among 35 members of American anti-piracy vessel MV Seaman Guard Ohio that was intercepted by the Coast Guard off Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, on October 12, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of people have signed an online petition seeking their release. Nick Dunn, John Armstrong, Ray Tindall, Nicholas Simpson, Paul Towers and Billy Irving were among those sentenced to five years in jail by a Tamil Nadu court in January. Their family members have accused the British government of not doing enough to secure their release. A spokesman for Prime Minister May said on Monday the government was raising the case of the Chennai Six at the highest level with the Indian government, but refused to say if the government thought they had been wrongly jailed. The spokesman said May was aware of the case and that British consular officials were providing a full package of support. The case has also been raised with the Indian government at the highest level, he added The Sun reported on Monday remarks by Nick Dunn from what was called a secret interview in the jail: We need help. Without our military training, wed have fallen apart. A former soldier, Dunn urged the government to stand by them as we stood by Queen and Country when we served. A spokesman for the foreign office said: Our staff in India and the UK remain in regular contact with all six men and are continuing to support them and their families, working to make sure their welfare is protected in prison. We recognise what a difficult time this is for those involved. We cannot interfere with Indias independent legal system, just as other countries cannot interfere with ours, but we will continue efforts to make sure this case is resolved swiftly. Ministers will continue to raise this case at the highest levels. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A culture of intolerance has taken root in India and grown more menacing since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister two years ago, according to a new report prepared jointly by a Canadian university and global writers group PEN International. India must overhaul its antiquated laws and cumbersome legal system, which are increasingly being misused to silence dissent, said the report titled Fearful Silence: The Chill on Indias Public Sphere. It was prepared by the University of Torontos International Human Rights Program, PEN Canada and PEN International, which promotes freedom of expression and literature. The report is a follow-up to another from the same organization released in 2015, Imposing Silence: The Use of Indias Laws to Suppress Free Speech. PEN International said the report reveals that a growing culture of intolerance linked to a rising nationalist discourse has taken root in the country and has become more menacing since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, creating an atmosphere in which vigilantism has been given an implicit go-ahead. PEN returned to India in January to to assess how the state of freedom of expression had changed and interviewed 17 authors, activists, journalists and lawyers in Delhi, Hubli and Jaipur. According to the new report, their accounts suggested that the unchecked abuse of Indias vague and overbroad legislation, and its inefficient legal system, have helped to create a chill within Indian society and throughout its public sphere. It added, As a result, a relatively small number of aggrieved citizens can successfully deter many others from speaking out on sensitive issues, thereby limiting the scope of Indias broad and pluralistic culture and endangering some of its key democratic freedoms. This update considers this troubling development. Among the issues the report looked at are censorship of cinema, with an essay by Vikramaditya Motwane, director and co-producer of Udta Punjab. It also considered the phenomenon of online harassment and stated people are forced into silence by the online mob. This is the chilling effect in action. The report concluded: Antiquated laws, like the sedition provision in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), continue to be used to silence discussion on matters of public interest. The British-era sedition law carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Monday described Indias reaction to the Uri attack as a hostile narrative and said the countrys armed forces were prepared to respond to the entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat. Sharif made the remarks while chairing a meeting of the armys Corps Commanders at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi a day after a group of heavily armed militants stormed a military camp at Uri and killed 18 soldiers. India accused Pakistan of having a hand in the attack, a charge rejected by Islamabad. Taking note of a hostile narrative being propagated by India, COAS (Sharif) said that we are fully cognisant and closely watching the latest happenings in the region and their impact on the security of Pakistan, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations. Sharif also said COAS said Pakistans armed forces are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat. The Corps Commanders made an in-depth review of the external and internal security situation and operational preparedness of the Pakistan Army. Sharif said the military would thwart any sinister design against integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. Earlier, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz rejected Indias assertion that it was involved in the Uri attack and accused New Delhi of trying to divert attention from the situation in Kashmir. A statement issued by Aziz dwelt more on the situation in Kashmir, especially the unrest triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, and contained no offer of cooperation to investigate the Uri attack, as was done by Pakistan in the aftermath of the terror strike on Pathankot airbase in January. Aziz, the foreign affairs advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, also did not condemn the Uri attack, which India has blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Nepal marked its first Constitution Day on Monday against a backdrop of disenchantment and opposition, with a lot of work yet to be done to make the new statute acceptable to all sections of people. A total of 59 people were killed and scores injured in protests against the Constitution that began in September last year in the southern plains bordering India. This was followed by an economic blockade of key border trade points for six months. An alliance of agitating Madhes-based parties, Adivasis and Janajatis dubbed the occasion a Black Day while major political parties that supported the Constitution marked the day with fanfare at a public function held in the heart of Kathmandu. The president, prime minister, heads of constitutional bodies, ministers and diplomats were present at the celebrations. The government also announced a public holiday. Nepalese soldiers march during a ceremony held at the Army Parade Ground in Kathmandu on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the new Constitution. (AFP) Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda agreed that the new Constitution needs to be amended as Madesh-based parties and others are still dissatisfied with it. Just last week in New Delhi, during his meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, Prachanda said the promulgation of the Constitution last year by the popularly elected Constituent Assembly was a historic achievement. He added his government has made serious efforts to bring everyone on board as we enter the phase of the implementation of the Constitution. Though Prachandas government has been mulling various options for the amendments, there is a sense of fatigue among Madhesi leaders because of a lack of a serious dialogue on the issue. India too has continuously pushed Nepali leaders to meet the aspirations of various sections of society. Two Nepalese prime ministers Prachanda and KP Oli visited India this year to seek support for the Constitution but New Delhi said the statute must accommodate all sections of society. Prominent Madhesi rights activist Dipendra Jha said that it was expected the government would create an environment to mark the day together with agitating parties and parties who supported the Constitution. He added, But the government failed to create such an environment and at last we were forced to celebrate it as a Black Day. Three-tier elections, to local, provincial and central bodies, are key to implementing the Constitution and the government must hold these polls within the next 17 months. If the elections are not held, the whole process could collapse, experts said. Consensus with the Madhesis, Janajatis and Adivasis is a must for holding the polls. The Madhesi groups have said that they will not end their struggle if the government doesnt address their demands such as making the Constitution more inclusive, changing the demarcation of seven federal provinces, representation of Madhesis in key state positions according to the size of the population and ending discriminatory provisions in the statute. In 1991, during the first Gulf War, a group of Jewish-Russian actors under the leadership of Yevgeny Arye, a prominent stage director in Moscow, emigrated to Israel. In a bold move, they founded a theater that they named Gesher, which means "bridge" in Hebrew. Gesher theater will tour China with one of its representative productions, Village.[Photo provided to China Daily] Over the years, Gesher theater has successfully reached across Russian and Israeli cultures by recruiting many Israeli actors and actresses. Its productions are bilingual, in Russian and Hebrew. More than 60 productions have been presented at more than 17 international festivals, winning numerous awards. Village, which was first staged in 1996, was an early success. In 2015, Gesher brought Village to Beijing's Capital Theater after being invited by Beijing People's Art Theater. In November, the play will return to China in a tour of four cities: Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shanghai. "Every year, Beijing People's Art Theater invites foreign theaters to stage their classic productions. Among them, Gesher theater's Village impressed me the most," says Lan Tianye, the 89-year-old actor and director, who has been with Beijing People's Art Theater since 1952. Gesher has come to Beijing four times with several productions, including Enemies: A Love Story, A Pigeon and a Boy, Village and Don Juan. "I was touched by the story of Village, the acting of the ensemble as well as how the theater interprets a story that happened in the 1940s with pioneering approaches," Lan says. Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol tells the story of an innocent boy named Yossi, who lives in a small village and witnesses the fears, love, hopes and dreams of the people against the backdrop of World War II. Sobol, in his 70s now, is known for his political plays, which engage with sensitive issues, such as the Holocaust, Arab-Israeli relations and religious fanaticism. He drew inspiration from his own childhood experiences in Palestine in the 1940s. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. The New York Police Department said Monday it was looking for a naturalized Afghanistan citizen for questioning in a weekend explosion in a Manhattan neighbourhood that injured 29 people. Mayor Bill de Blasio said 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami could be armed and dangerous. We need to get this guy in right away, de Blasio said on CNN. My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them. Authorities are still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found over the weekend in two states: the Manhattan explosion, an unexploded pressure cooker device blocks away, a pipe bomb blast at a Jersey shore town and five explosive devices at a New Jersey train station. On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped a vehicle of interest in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She wouldnt provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk about the ongoing investigation. No one has been charged with any crime, and the investigation is continuing, Langmesser said. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of Saturdays blast that injured 29 people in Manhattans Chelsea neighbourhood, said there didnt appear to be any link to international terrorism. He said the unexploded pressure cooker device appeared similar in design to the bomb that exploded in Chelsea, but he didnt provide details. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the two New York City devices and the pipe bomb at the Jersey shore are connected. Cellphones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasnt authorised to comment on an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The pipe bomb exploded Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was cancelled and no one was injured. Late Sunday, five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a trash can by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City. Officials havent revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it. On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said. Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260. On Sunday, a team of five FBI agents searched an Uber drivers vehicle that had been damaged in the Manhattan blast. The driver had just picked up three passengers and was driving when the explosion occurred, shattering the cars windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door. The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a week earlier and that was schedule to hold a United Nations meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis in Syria. Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighbourhood on the citys west side. One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his apartment when the blast went off. At first he thought it was thunder and lightning. Then all of a sudden, car horns went off, and I thought, Oh, my God, this isnt lightning. This is too loud, Stanhope said. This is a bomb. Three attacks carried out in the United States on a single day -- a New York bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast -- were under investigation on Sunday for potential terror links. Authorities said there is no evidence that the attacks were coordinated but their timing in under 24 hours raises fears about security -- already a major issue in the countrys deeply divisive presidential election battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Twenty-nine people were injured when a bomb exploded in New Yorks upmarket Chelsea neighbourhood on Saturday night, damaging buildings, shattering glass and sending shrapnel flying across the street. A second bomb was uncovered by police four blocks away and defused safely, before being sent to the FBI in Virginia for forensic examination. Both bombs were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones, Christmas lights and explosive compound, The New York Times reported late Sunday, citing law enforcement officials. CNN reported that officials had obtained surveillance videos showing the same man near the site of the explosion and where the undetonated device was found, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement sources. A view of a mangled dumpster at the site of an explosion that occurred on Saturday night in New York. (Reuters Photo) Hours earlier, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south in New Jersey, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can on the route of a Marine Corps run before the start of the race, causing no injuries but forcing its cancellation. In the Midwest, an assailant reported to be Somali-American went on a stabbing spree in a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injuring nine people before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. US authorities said the motive of all three attacks was unclear, but elected officials quickly identified them as terror-related. If you look at a number of these incidents, you can call them whatever you want: they are terrorism though, New Jerseys Republican governor Chris Christie, a member of the Trump campaign, told CNN. Obama arrives in NY A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but its not linked to international terrorism, Democratic New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday after touring the scene of the explosion in Chelsea. In other words, we find no ISIS connection, et cetera, said Cuomo in reference to the Islamic State group. But he also stressed the lack of an international terror link was preliminary. New York went on full alert, deploying nearly 1,000 extra state police and National Guardsmen to airports, bus terminals and subway stations as President Barack Obama arrived in the city ahead of Tuesdays opening of the UN General Assembly. There was no claim for the bombings in Manhattan or New Jersey, but a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS soldier carried out the Minnesota stabbing. Police activity at the scene of a stabbing at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. (AFP Photo) IS has repeatedly called for attacks on countries in the US-led coalition bombing the extremist group in Syria and Iraq. This should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups, said Clinton, using another acronym for IS. The Democratic nominee, whose lead in the polls has taken a dip, condemned what she called apparent terrorist attacks. Trump, who described the blast in New York a bombing more than 12 hours before officials or police, tweeted his best wishes and condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing. In Minnesota, FBI agent Rick Thornton confirmed that federal agents were investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism, as local media identified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American. References to Allah Police confirmed that the assailant asked some victims whether they were Muslim before attacking them and made references to Allah. While all 29 people who were injured in the New York bombing have been released from the hospital, three of those hurt in Minnesota remain hospitalized, officials said. Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation? What was it? New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference. We do not know, he added, calling on residents to be vigilant. Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials stress that the United States is safer from terror plots that originate from overseas but more at risk from the lone-wolf attack perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda. In many of these cases we dont know until two, three or four days later whether or not there is a terrorist link, warned New York Congressman Peter King in a CBS television interview. Read | Investigators examine suspicious device found near New Jersey train station Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where he would enunciate Islamabads position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New Yorks Kennedy International Airport by Pakistans ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, the ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani, and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. Sharifs delegation includes Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the PM on foreign affairs. Earlier, foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule, including addressing the 193-member Assembly on September 21 and meeting at least ten world leaders among other activities. He said the Sharif will focus on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly the continuing grave violations of human rights taking place there. The foreign secretary said the Sharif would call on the international community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, prime ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN secretary general Ban Ki moon. US secretary of state John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. US police found up to five suspicious devices in New Jersey, one of which exploded, reports said Monday as investigators probed three attacks carried out on US soil in one day. Authorities say there is no evidence the attacks were coordinated but their timing in less than 24 hours raised fears about security -- already a major issue in the countrys deeply divisive presidential election battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In the latest incident, suspicious devices were found in a backpack in a wastebasket in the town of Elizabeth, and one of them exploded as a bomb-detecting robot dealt with it. As the robot examined it, it cut a wire and it exploded, Elizabeth mayor Chris Bollwage told CNN, after two men found the backpack late Sunday and informed authorities after noticing wires and a pipe. Police had already been investigating a Manhattan bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast. New York went on full alert, deploying nearly 1,000 extra state police and National Guardsmen to airports, bus terminals and subway stations as President Barack Obama arrived in the city ahead of Tuesdays opening of the UN General Assembly. NYC bomb injures 29 Twenty-nine people were injured when a bomb exploded in New Yorks upmarket Chelsea neighbourhood on Saturday night, damaging buildings, shattering glass and sending shrapnel flying across the street. Police uncovered a second bomb four blocks away and defused it safely, before sending it to the FBI in Virginia for forensic examination. Both bombs were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones, Christmas lights and explosive compound, The New York Times reported late on Sunday, citing law enforcement officials. The paper also said, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, that federal authorities detained and were questioning five people with possible links to the New York bombing. The FBIs New York branch tweeted that officers did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest but no one has been charged with any crime. In New Jersey on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can on the route of a Marine Corps run before the start of the race, causing no injuries but forcing its cancellation. On Sunday, rail services in that state were suspended between Newark airport and Elizabeth as reports of the suspicious package there emerged. In the Midwest, an assailant reported to be Somali-American went on a stabbing spree in a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injuring nine people before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. US authorities said the motive of all three attacks was unclear, but officials quickly identified them as terror-related. If you look at a number of these incidents, you can call them whatever you want: they are terrorism though, New Jerseys Republican governor Chris Christie, a member of the Trump campaign, told CNN. No IS connection A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but its not linked to international terrorism, Democratic New York governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday after touring the scene of the explosion in Chelsea. In other words, we find no ISIS connection, etcetera, said Cuomo in reference to the Islamic State group. But he also stressed the lack of an international terror link was preliminary. There was no claim for the bombings in Manhattan or New Jersey, but a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS soldier carried out the Minnesota stabbings. Clinton, whose lead in the polls has taken a dip, condemned what she called apparent terrorist attacks. Trump meanwhile tweeted his best wishes and condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing. References to Allah Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials stress that the United States is safer from terror plots that originate from overseas but more at risk from the lone-wolf attack perpetrated by individuals who may be inspired by IS or al-Qaeda propaganda. In Minnesota, FBI agent Rick Thornton confirmed that federal agents were investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism, as local media identified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American. Police confirmed that the assailant asked some victims whether they were Muslim before attacking them and made references to Allah. In many of these cases, we dont know until two, three or four days later whether or not there is a terrorist link, warned New York Congressman Peter King in a CBS television interview. Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has cancelled his visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly to handle pressing domestic issues, including the demands of the Madhesi people. Prachanda and his delegation were scheduled to fly to New York on Monday evening to participate in the UN meet. Foreign minister Prakash Sharan Mahat will now lead the delegation. Prachanda decided not to leave the country because of demands from various quarters that he should address the grievances of the Madhesi, Tharu and Janajati people instead of going on a foreign visit, according to a statement issued by the premiers secretariat. Heeding calls that he should remain in the country at this sensitive time and focus on implementing the Constitution and carrying out reconstruction works, Prachanda cancelled the trip, the statement added. Sources said another reason behind the visits cancellation was the levelling of corruption charges against the top Maoist leadership, including Prachanda, by Nepals anti-graft watchdog. The Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) decided last week to summon top Maoist leaders as part of its probe into the alleged embezzlement of more than Rs 6 billion from funds meant for rehabilitating former Maoist guerrillas. Prachanda returned to Nepal on Sunday after a visit to India, his first foreign trip after assuming office in August. The premier has put the issue of amending the new Constitution to address the grievances and aspirations of political parties based in the Madhes region bordering India at the top of his agenda but little has been done so far. Monday marks the first anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly. There is fanfare in Kathmandu and the government has declared a public holiday but the Madhes-based parties have dubbed it as Black Day. In a separate statement issued on Monday to mark the occasion, Prachanda said his government is serious about amending the Constitution to address the demands of Madhes-based parties and others groups. Though some demands of the Madhesi parties have been addressed by the government, the major one amendments of the statute and changes in federal boundaries of seven provinces is yet to be tackled. Vladimir Putin cemented his supremacy over Russias political system when his ruling United Russia party took three quarters of the seats in parliament in a weekend election, paving the way for him to run for a fourth term as president. Opposition activists and European observers questioned how free and fair the vote had been, however, although there were no immediate signs the result might spark street protests of the kind which erupted after the last such election in 2011. With most votes counted, United Russia, founded by Putin almost 16 years ago after he first became president, was on track on Monday to win 76% of the seats in Russias Duma, the lower house of parliament, up from just over half in 2011. That would be its biggest ever majority. Putins spokesperson called it an impressive vote of confidence in the Russian leader and dismissed critics who noted a sharp fall in turnout. Around 4 million fewer Russians voted for United Russia compared to 2011, data from the Central Election Commission showed, while overall turnout fell to 48% from 60%, exposing growing apathy about a political system and elite which critics say tolerates no genuine opposition. Liberal opposition parties failed to win a single seat. Dmitry Gudkov, the only liberal opposition politician to hold a seat before, said he had been beaten by a United Russia candidate whose chances he said had been lifted by poor turnout. The question now is...how to live with a one-party parliament, Gudkov said. European election monitors said the vote was marred by numerous procedural irregularities and restrictions on basic rights. Russian officials said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Near complete results showed especially low turnout in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where protests against Putin erupted after the last parliamentary election in 2011. Putin and his allies have since tightened protest laws and made life difficult for civil society groups which take money from outside Russia, branding them foreign agents. Vote for stability Presiding over a government meeting at the Kremlin on Monday, Putin hailed the election result, saying it showed voters still trusted the countrys leadership despite an economic slowdown made worse by Western sanctions over Ukraine. The result is a good one for United Russia. At a time of difficulties, considerable uncertainty and risks, people naturally choose stability and trust the leading political force, said Putin. The results ... are also citizens reaction to external attempts to pressure Russia, to threats, to sanctions, and to foreign attempts to stir up the situation in our country. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev prior to the cabinet meeting in Moscow's Kremlin on Monday. (AP) Putins aides are likely to use the result as a springboard for his own re-election campaign in 2018, though he has not yet confirmed whether he will seek another term. United Russia won 343 seats of the total of 450 in the Duma, the Central Election Commission said, after 93% of ballots had been counted. That is up from 238 seats in the last parliamentary election and enough to allow United Russia to unilaterally change the constitution, though Putin can run again for the presidency under the existing one because he was prime minister between his second and third terms. Other parties trailed far behind. According to the near complete official vote count, the Communists were on track to come second with 42 seats, the populist LDPR party third with 41, and the left-of-centre Just Russia party fourth with 21 seats. All three tend to vote with United Russia on crunch issues and avoid direct criticism. Among voting irregularities witnessed by Reuters were several people voting twice in one polling station in the Mordovia region of central Russia. Official results in another area showed a turnout double that recorded on the spot. Ilkka Kanerva, special coordinator for the elections from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the OSCE had noted some improvements, including greater transparency when it came to administration. But he said the overall picture was beset by problems. Legal restrictions on basic rights continue to be a problem. If Russia is to live up to its democratic commitments, greater space is needed for debate and civic engagement, he said. Reflected glory Speaking to United Russia campaign staff a few minutes after polling stations closed on Sunday night, Putin said turnout, which was 12% lower than the 2011 vote, was not as high as we saw in previous election campaigns, but it is high. His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the overwhelming majority of voters had come out for Putin in an impressive vote of confidence. It would be wrong to call the turnout low, he said, adding that it was higher than in most European countries. Leonid Volkov, a prominent opposition activist, said he thought the scale of fraud was comparable to 2011 and that more than a third of the some 28 million votes which United Russia won had been made up. The return of an old voting system, under which half, rather than all, deputies were drawn from party lists with the other half decided by votes for individuals, boosted United Russias seats. It says the vote was clean. Near final results gave it 140 seats via the lists and 203 from the constituency system. Members of the election commission count ballots at a polling station after Russia's parliamentary elections in Simferopol on Sunday. (AFP) Members of the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, are chosen by politicians in Russias more than 80 regions who, in most cases, are loyal to United Russia. The party benefits from its association with 63-year-old Putin, who, after 17 years in power as either president or prime minister, consistently wins an approval rating of around 80% in opinion polls. Most voters see no viable alternative to Putin and fear a return to the chaos and instability of the 1990s, the period immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many voters are also persuaded by the Kremlin narrative, frequently repeated on state TV, of the West using sanctions to try to wreck the economy in revenge for Moscows seizure of Crimea, the Ukrainian region it annexed in 2014. Putin has said it is too early to say if he will run in 2018. If he did and won, he would be in power until 2024, longer than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the longest-serving Soviet leader aside from Joseph Stalin. Syrias armed forces on Monday announced an end to the week-long ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia, blaming rebel groups for its failure. Syrias army announces the end of the freeze on fighting that began at 7.00pm (1600 GMT) on September 12, 2016 in accordance with the US-Russia agreement, the statement carried by state news agency SANA said. The truce was supposed to be a real chance to stop the bloodshed, but the armed terrorist groups flouted this agreement, the statement said. It accused rebel groups of carrying out more than 300 truce violations across the country and of failing to commit to a single element of the deal. A military source had earlier told AFP that the ceasefire deal was set to expire at 7.00pm (1600 GMT) this evening. The agreement, negotiated by top diplomats from government backer Russia and the United States, saw an initial drop in fighting across the country after it came into force on September 12. But violence began to escalate late last week. Syrias armed forces exercised the highest degree of self-restraint while facing violations by terrorist groups, the statement said. The Armed Forces confirms its intention and determination to continue... fighting terrorism to restore security and stability to Syria. Pakistan has rejected Indias assertion that it was involved in the attack on an army base at Uri that killed 17 soldiers, with foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz accusing New Delhi on Monday of trying to divert attention from the situation in Kashmir. Azizs statement dwelt more on the situation in Kashmir, especially the unrest triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, and contained no offer of cooperation to investigate the Uri attack, as was done by Pakistan in the aftermath of the terror strike on Pathankot airbase in January. Aziz, the foreign affairs advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, also did not condemn the Uri attack, which India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Modis government, he said in the statement issued by the Foreign Office. It was particularly deplorable that the Indian minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up Indias reign of terror in (Jammu and Kashmir), he added. Pakistan had noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership after the attack on Indian occupation forces in Uri, Aziz said. Heavily armed terrorists stormed an army camp close to the Line of control at Uri in Baramulla district on Sunday, killing 17 soldiers and injuring more than 20 others. Home minister Rajnath Singh pointed a finger at Pakistan for its continued and direct support to terror groups and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the perpetrators would not go unpunished. But Aziz contended the allegations were a blatant attempt on Indias part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Kashmir since the death of Wani. It needs to be understood that the situation in (Kashmir) is not of Pakistans making but a direct consequence of illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100,000 deaths. More than 100 people have died and thousands injured during the recent episode of protest..., he said. Soon after India said on Sunday that Pakistan had a hand in the attack, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria dismissed the accusation. The Pakistani military had subsequently said India should share actionable intelligence on the Uri attack. With inputs from agencies With more people forced to flee their homes than at any time since World War II, global leaders on Monday approved a declaration aimed at providing a more coordinated and humane response to the refugee crisis that has strained resources and stoked divisions from Africa to Europe. The issue of what to do about the worlds 65.3 million displaced people took centre stage at the UN General Assembly with leaders from the 193 member states converging on New York for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. The bitter truth is this summit was called because we have been largely failing. Failing the long-suffering people of Syria, in not ending the war in its infancy. Failing others in now chronic conflict zones, for the same reason. Failing millions of migrants who deserve far more than lives marked by cradle-to-grave indignity and desperation, said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights. Zeid praised the political consensus reached in approving the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees, but warned against complacency and self-congratulation. He said xenophobia is a major factor contributing to failure thus far. We can change this ... but not when the defenders of what is right and good are being outflanked in too many countries by race-baiting bigots, who seek to gain, or retain, power by wielding prejudice and deceit, at the expense of those most vulnerable, Zeid said. The declaration no concrete commitments and is not legally binding but rather calls on countries to protect refugees human rights, boost humanitarian aid and increase resettlement of refugees. Todays summit represents a breakthrough in our collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, adding that the declaration will mean more children can attend school; more workers can securely seek jobs abroad, instead of being at the mercy criminal smugglers, and more people will have real choices about whether to move once we end conflict. The document seeks to standardise responses to refugee situations and provide better education and jobs to refugees. It also encourages resettlement and includes plans for a campaign to combat xenophobia. That may prove an uphill struggle as the declaration comes at a time that refugees and migrants have become a divisive issue in Europe and the United States. United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, right, signs documents with William Lacy Swing, director general of the International Organisation for Migration, during the opening of a summit to address large movements of refugees and migrants at UN headquarters on Monday. (AP) A number of countries rejected an earlier draft of the agreement that called on nations to resettle 10 percent of the refugee population each year, something that has led several human rights groups to criticize the document as a missed opportunity. The US and a number of other countries also objected to language in the original draft that said children should never be detained, so the agreement now says children should seldom, if ever, be detained. The declaration paves the way for negotiations on a pair of global compacts, one providing guidelines on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations and another on seeking more equitable burden sharing in support of the worlds refugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency, refugees are people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants choose to move in search of a better life. Around the world, there are currently about 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants. More concrete progress is expected at a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that are in line with US goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for 1 million youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced. You hear all around the world the UN hasnt handled the refugee crisis. The way the UN will handle the refugee crisis is if all of us countries within the UN step up and dig deep and face those political headwinds that we all face, to do more, to give more, to take on a greater share of the resettlement challenge, said Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN. Prior to the pledging summit with world leaders, Obama will host a meeting with top executives from 50 companies to discuss what the private sector can do to help address the problem, Power said. BEIRUT: A man who wounded eight people in a knife attack on Saturday at a mall in central Minnesota before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer is a soldier of the Islamic State, the militant groups news agency said. The man, who was wearing a private security uniform, made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he assaulted them at the Crossroads Center mall in St Cloud, the citys Police Chief William Blair Anderson told reporters. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the authenticity of the claim made by Islamic State through the groups affiliated Amaq news agency. A spokesperson for the US National Security Council said it was aware of the claim but deferred to local investigators. The FBI did not immediately respond when asked about the Amaq statement. Whether that was a terrorist attack or not, Im not willing to say that right now because we just dont know, Anderson said at a news conference. Well figure out what this is and when we do we will be transparent about it, he added. He gave no details of the identities of the victims. The knife attack in St Cloud, a community about 100 km northwest of Minneapolis-St Paul, comes at a time of heightened concern in the US about the threat of violence in public places. In St Cloud, the attacker entered the mall in the evening as it was busy with shoppers, Anderson said. He attacked his victims at several sites in the shopping centre, which will remained closed on Sunday as police investigate, the police chief said. The eight wounded were transported to St Cloud Hospital but none were believed to have lifethreatening injuries, said Chris Nelson, a communications specialist for the medical facility. One victim was expected to remain there, but the other seven patients had already been released or were expected to be let go shortly, officials said. Police officials said they were still interviewing witnesses hours after the attack. You are here: Home The State Council on Sunday held a ceremony for 55 officials to pledge fidelity to the Constitution. The State Council holds a ceremony for 55 officials to pledge fidelity to the Constitution at Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 18, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] In the first such ceremony, 55 newly-appointed leading officials from agencies directly under the State Council took the oath. The officials pledged to loyally defend the Constitution as they fulfill their duties honestly, subject to the people's supervision. Yang Jing, state councilor and secretary-general of the State Council, declared the ceremony open. The ceremony was supervised by Premier Li Keqiang. After the oath was taken, Li told the officials to fulfill their oath and perform their duties conscientiously and tirelessly. Vice Premiers Zhang Gaoli, Wang Yang and Ma Kai, State Councilors Chang Wanquan, Yang Jiechi and Guo Shengkun, as well as officials from the State Council agencies concerned, attended the ceremony. In July 2015, China decided that officials at all levels in government, courts and procuratorates should take a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution as they assume office. A year later, the State Council published detailed rules which specify formalities and procedures for the ceremony. NEW YORK: A powerful explosion injured 29 people on Saturday evening in a crowded part of Manhattan, New York, and an unexploded device made using a pressure cooker similar to the one used by the Boston bombers in 2013 was discovered from the same area. Authorities called the explosion an intentional act but based on preliminary investigations ruled out any links to terrorism. They also would not say if they suspected the two explosives were planted by the same person or people. The White House said in a brief statement that President Barack Obama had been briefed about the New York explosion, which took place around the time he spoke to US Congresss black caucus in DC, which also hosted the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Whatever the cause (of the explosion), New York City mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters, New Yorkers will not be intimidated. And, though always prepared for an attack since 9/11 and the foiled attempt at Times Square in 2010, New Yorkers were indeed not intimidated. It was just a burning dumpster like you see around the city, an eyewitness told a local TV news channel. Others tweeted about how it was just another Saturday night. Both the presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton commented on the attacks, with the Republican calling it a bomb explosion even before investigators came to that conclusion. He went on to say it was time for the US to get tough. Clinton was more circumspect and said it would be wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions. BOMB BLAST AHEAD OF RACE IN NEW JERSEY A pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town on Sunday shortly before thousands of runners were to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the blast in Seaside Park, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutors office. The FBI has taken over as the lead agency in the investigation. Officials would not say whether they believe the incident was terror-related or if they suspected participants in the run were targeted. The race was to start shortly before the blast occurred, but got delayed due to a large number of registrations. (With inputs from agencies) BRATISLAVA: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are ready to veto any Brexit deal that would limit their citizens rights to work in Britain, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday. EU leaders met in Slovakias capital Bratislava on Friday at their first summit for decades without Britain after a shock British vote in June to leave the bloc, a subject which Fico said had only been touched on at the meeting. They are still trying to find common ground on the best way to cope with a higher number of migrants and how to shake off the lingering effects of years of economic crisis. Fico said in an interview the EU had also shifted from a debate over mandatory quotas to a new principle of flexible solidarity over the migrant crisis. The Visegrad group (V4) of Central European countries have together opposed EU efforts to introduce mandatory quotas for migrants and now, Fico said, also have a common interest in protecting citizens rights to work in Britain. WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Saturday night he will take it as a personal insult if the African-American community fails to turn out for the presidential election and encouraged black voters to support Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Obama delivered his final keynote address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, symbolically passing the torch to the person he hopes will succeed him next year. Clinton, his former secretary of state, was honoured for becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party. Obama said his name may not be on the ballot, but issues of importance to the black community were, including justice, good schools and ending mass incarceration. I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election, Obama said with a stern look and booming passion. You want to give me a good send-off, go vote. In her own pitch to African-Americans at the same dinner, Clinton implored the crowd to help protect Obamas legacy, warning of a dangerous and divisive vision that could come from Republican opponent Donald Trump. Obama joked about the birther issue long promoted and now dismissed by Trump, telling his audience that theres an extra spring in his step now that the whole birther thing is over. But his main message was about voter turnout among blacks. He turned quite serious when speaking about voting. He said Republicans have actively added barriers to voting by closing polling places mostly in minority communities, cutting early voting and imposing more voter ID requirements. He called the efforts a national scandal, but even if all restrictions on voting were eliminated, African-Americans would still have one of the lowest voting rates. Thats not good. That is on us, Obama said. He then told the crowd if they wanted to give Michelle Obama and him a good send-off, dont just watch us walk off into the sunset, now. Get people registered to vote. Obama also sought to blunt Trumps recent efforts to reach out to black voters, saying Trump at one point in the race had said theres never been a worse time to be a black person. I mean, he missed that whole civics lesson about slavery and Jim Crow, but weve got a museum for him to visit, Obama said, a reference to next weeks opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We will educate him. Obama may have been referring to an ABC interview with Trump in 2015 when he asserted the nations first black president had done nothing for African-Americans. They are worse now than just about ever, he said. Clinton gave a shorter address. She did not mention Trump by name but showered the president with praise . BEIRUT: Islamic State shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, the Islamic State-affiliated news agency Amaq said on Sunday. A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor, Amaq said in an online statement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights aid the pilot of the MiG Syrian warplane was killed. The monitor said the plane came down in the Jebel Tharda area which overlooks the Syrian governments Deir al Zor military airport. Just a little bit over a week after SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was destroyed in a launch pad explosion during testing on September 1, the firm is already gearing up for its "Return to Flight" launch as early as November of this year, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on Tuesday. However, the catastrophic failure that took place without warning still remains a mystery. The explosion in Pad 4 caused the total destruction of both the SpaceX rocket as well as the AMOS-6 Israeli communications satellite payload, amounting to a total of $260 million in damages. In a World Satellite Business Week Conference panel discussion, Shotwell spoke about the firm's plans to return to flight: "We're anticipating getting back to flight, being down for about three months, so getting back to flight in November, the November timeframe." While preparations for the resurgence of the rocket are currently underway, SpaceX is still seeking to determine the root cause of the failure, which certainly must be fully determined, corrected and rectified before any new Falcon 9 launches can actually occur. Investigators labeled the occurrence as the "most difficult and complex failure" in its history, said SpaceX CEO and Founder Elon Musk in a series of update tweets on September 9. The origins of the explosion are currently ongoing, though present findings point to one of the final stages close to the liquid oxygen tank in the middle of test operations - referred to as a "hot fire engine ignition test," part of the Merlin 1D engine's nine stages. The explosion took place juse before engineers have loaded liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene propellants both used to power the Falcon 9 for the static fire test. The launch is set to take place in SpaceX's other Florida Space Coast launch pad, which is the former Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. All eyes are on Emmys' red carpet as everyone anticipates the parading of stars from TV's most loved series. Fans are particularly excited because it is this time of the year that they get to see their idols break away from their usual looks and become all glam-up for the red carpet. As prestigious as the actual Emmys awards, Hollywood A-listers are all eyeing to become part of the Emmy 2016 best dressed list. Of course, after months of preparation and partnerships with designers and stylists, who will want to be tagged as one of Emmys 2016 worst dressed? The 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held in Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater this Sunday is no different as winners and losers in the red carpet have to be declared. Now, let us formally start announcing the Emmys 2016 Best and Worst Dressed. This year's ultimate winner is definitely "Good Place" Actress Kristen Bell, who looked stunning in a Zuhair Murad Couture floral ensemble. Nine people were hurt in total during the knife attacks at Minnesota mall. The attacker, who is allegedly a "soldier of the Islamic State," was shot dead by an off-duty police officer, according to reports. St. Cloud police Chief William Blair Anderson stated that the attacker, who was wearing a private security uniform, made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslims before he assaulted them. "An armed suspect entered the Crossroads Mall. That individual made some references to Allah, and we have confirmed that he asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he assaulted them. We still don't have anything substantive that would suggest anything more than what we know already, which is this was a lone attacker. And right now, we're trying to get to the bottom of his motivations," police chief Anderson stated, according to reports from CNN. The suspect, who was killed by an off-duty police officer, was declined identification by St. Cloud, Minnesota police officers because an investigation was in progress. However, NBC reported that an ISIS-affiliated news outlet claimed that the attacker was "a soldier of the Islamic State and. The suspect allegedly carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition, according to a statement from the Amaq news agency. Dave Kleis, St. Cloud city mayor said three people were hospitalized including one person who is in a crucial condition. The stabbings occurred in different locations in the mall, including several stores and common area where the crowd usually stay. Reports say that there were security teams inside the mall but they were not armed. The cop who shot the attacker was identified as Jason Falconer, an off-duty police officer formerly from Albany, Minnesota and a part-time officer for Avon. People are now prasing him for his heroic actions and for saving a huge crowd from possibly losing their lives. FBI referred the attack as a "potential act of terrorism." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There are numerous UFO sightings in 2016 and the latest discovery of a UFO orbiting around Earth suggested that there is no end to it. A group of alien hunters and UFO enthusiasts claimed to have found evidence of yet another NASA cover up. UFO enthusiasts claimed to have spotted a giant UFO circling Earth, in an attempt to use soak up some energy from the Earth's star, according to Sputnik News. This is not the first time that something extraterrestrial has been observed or captured in a photograph or a footage released by NASA. However, the space agency continues to make no comments on the sightings to explain what it could actually be. Now, alien hunters argue that NASA, in not giving an explanation about anything weird observed in space, is itself an evidence that it is trying to cover up about alien life. A YouTube video uploaded by a UFO enthusiast named Streetcap1 shows that the strange UFO spotted around the sun has four giant arms. Streetcap1 further claimed that the UFO was observed on two different cameras and that it is not some form of coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun. The photo of the strange object encircling Earth was first captured by the cameras aboard Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). SOHO orbits around the sun to transmit real-time data to Earth about the activity of its star. The same data is used by the researchers on Earth to make prediction about the phenomena that can potentially interrupt the satellite systems on Earth, including meteor showers and CMEs. This is not the only thing that the alien hunters are concerned about. According to Morning Ledger, some of them even believe that there is a giant ball, 100 times of the size of the Earth, surrounding the Earth and soaking up its energy. The video, uploaded on YouTube, shows that something extraterrestrial is sapping energy from the sun before drifting away. Conspiracy theorists believe that these are not normal beams that may be coming from the sun, but something out of this world. The following video talks about the giant ball trapping the energy of the sun: @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The sale of legally-bought cannabis for chronically-ill patients has doubled in Germany. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, from 33.8 kilos of weed that were sold during the first six months of 2015, the figure increased to 61.8 kilos. Although no reason has been given for the surge, it is probable that the rise of licenses being granted for legal use has been the key factor. As of spring this year, doctors have issued 424 permits to purchase the drug. In addition, 647 patients have been given the go-signal to use the medical product from pharmacies. The use of marijuana has been considered illegal in Germany. However, a court ruling in 2005 has allowed people with specific health conditions such as chronic pain to gain access to the weed for self-therapy. Each of the case is being assessed on an individual basis. In May this year, Health Minister Hermann Grohe has proposed a law to officially legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Part of the process includes a medical insurance coverage or the drug. The outline will be enforced in 2017 where greater accessibility and use will be allowed. In 2015, patients have been paying expensive marijuana-based products due to the absence of insurances. Federal Drugs Commissioner Marlene Mortler has announced reforms and promised to have legislation in place the following year. While the actual cost of medical marijuana remains unclear, users can buy the drug for around 12 euros or $13 per gram on the streets. According to Market Watch, the price of listed dispensary cannabis has a price range cost between Colorado's $192 to California's $299 per ounce. According to Germany's Health Ministry, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) will be responsible for growing cannabis and will act as the federal cannabis agency. However, planting or using marijuana for recreational purposes will continue to be illegal across the country. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been used to visiting foreign countries. But on their visit to Canada this time, things will be more special as Prince William and Princess Charlotte will be tagging along. The 1-year-old princess is set to make her royal debut in Canada as she accompanies her parents, Prince William and Duchess Kate, and older brother, Prince George, in the Royal Tour. The Canadian government as well as the media are particularly excited and overwhelmed to accommodate Princess Charlotte. The princess has been only seen by the public thrice - when she was born in May 2015, during her christening in July 2015 and the Queen's birthday in June 2016. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus makes sure that the Royal Family, especially the toddlers, are taken cared of during their weeklong-stay in Canada. It is reported that special meal plans including Prince George's favorite dish, Spaghetti Bolognese, are being prepared meticulously. The Royal Couple will attend more than 30 engagements that mostly include great outdoors. However, the prince and princess will not be joining their parents on most days and instead will settle in the Government House, where they will be staying for the week. The Royal Family is set to arrive at Victoria Airport on Sep. 24, Saturday. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is then expected to make an appearance at the British Columbia's Parliament Building where they will be welcomed formally. On Sep. 25, William and Kate will be going to Vancouver where the highlight of their visit will be the Immigration Services Society of British Columbia meeting Syrian refugees. The Royal Couple will then visit the Bella Bella and Great Bear Rainforest on Sep. 26. Finally, Charlotte and George will make a public appearance as the Royal Family visits Kelowna (Okanaga Campus) and "Taste of British Columbia" festival on Sep. 27. Then it is another solo day for William and Kate as they visit the Whitehorse and Carcross in Yukon on Sep. 28. But in the next day, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince George and Princess Charlotte will then spend some quality time with military families. The last two days will be spent visiting Haida Gwaii and charities before proceeding to the departure ceremony at the Victoria Harbour Airport. The Royal Family in Canada will truly be a memorable trip not only for the Canadian people but also for William, Kate, George and Charlotte. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Thirty-seven universities in Nanchang, capital of southern Jiangxi Province, found 135 students were infected with HIV and seven among them were killed by the disease by the end of August, 2016, the local center for disease control and prevention has reported. HIV infection has spread increasingly on campuses during the past five years, as the growth rate of affected students rose by 43.16 percent. In 2008, university students affected by AIDS accounted for 5.77 percent of the entire young population succumbing to the disease nationwide; in 2014, the rate surged to16.58 percent. According to local authorities, homosexual intercourse among young male partners, which is the major source of the disease, comprised 83.61percent of the cases detected in the universities from 2011 to 2015. The immature attitude towards sex resulted in the sharp rise in HIV infection among young people who were ignorant or unaware of the safety issues when having sex. Some experts warned backward and ambiguous sex education in schools may lead to the students' ignorance and unrestrained demand for sex resulted in unsafe practices. The NYPD has taken into custody the suspect who likely carried the bombing in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that injured 29 people on Saturday. The suspect, who was also linked for the pipe bombing in New Jersey, was identified as Ahmad Khan Rahami. He was 28 years old, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan. NYPD operatives arrested Rahami after a shootout in Liden, New Jersey after surveillance videos revealed that he was the one who left the improvised explosive device along West 23rd Street near 6th Avenue. Earlier, the NYPD has released a photo of Rahami on their Twitter account: WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, in connection to the Chelsea explosion. Call #800577TIPS with any information. pic.twitter.com/rBDQGfXwbh NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 19, 2016 Authorities also recovered unexploded IED along West 27 Street, and five others along Elizabeth, New Jersey on Monday morning. A law enforcement official disclosed that there were enough evidences linking the suspect to the bombs in New York and New Jersey. A CNN report quoted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying, the attack "might suggest a foreign connection to the action, which would then obviously raise an issue of the foreign nature of this attack. After identifying Rahami, a massive search was conducted against him with FBI and ATF teams scouring his possible hiding places in New York and New Jersey. It was not clear if Rahami was the same person who earlier claimed responsibility of the Chelsea attack via Tumblr account, as earlier reported by HNGN Headlines and Global News. The Tumbler user said the act was part of a protest in New York's continuous discrimination on the LGBTQ community. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. California has been experiencing the worst drought in 1,200 years. According to a team of researchers from UCLA, the state has drought patterns caused by warming events and some of these lasted for thousands of years. The current warming is caused by greenhouse gasses. The team, led by professor Glen MacDonald, tested some sediment cores from Kirman Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is said that the lake is sensitive to climate and the sediments found have recorded California's climatic history for 12,000 years. Their study lasted for years before reaching the final analysis that showed the state's climate history to date. It has been linked to the Pacific Ocean's history that was taken from marine sediments cores and other sources, as reported by ZME Science. The study showed that during the Holocene period (between 6,000 and 1,000 B.C.E.), the state experienced a drought that lasted 5,000 years. The marine sediment record shows that during that time, the Pacific Ocean was in a La Nina-like state that extremely reduced the rain in California and made the state warm and dry. Meanwhile, the researchers said that it is still uncertain whether the climate change caused by the greenhouse gasses today will affect the ocean dynamics just like what happened in the past. MacDonald said that they do not know how the Pacific Ocean is going to respond, LA Times reported. MacDonald added that the climate models that they are using are not good enough. While some study suggested that the Northern California could receive more rain, a 2014 study co-authored by UCLA climate scientist Alex Hall said that the state may experience the same climate for decades. On the other hand, California is the country's top agricultural producer. Despite of the drought, the state is still able to sustain the huge agricultural production through man-made irrigation works. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. US Secretary of State John Kerry, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida set to meet at the UN General Assembly in New York this week to discuss unified sanctions on North Korea's recent nuclear test. Kerry stressed out the commitment of the U.S. to the security of South Korea and Japan, and would not be reluctant in 'rolling back the provocative and reckless behavior of the North.' According to reports from International Business Times, Kerry stated that Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of North Korea, is a reckless dictator and that the U.S. and other countries in the world would make it clear to him that all he is doing is depriving his people of economic opportunities. He added that the global community will not pull back from their obligations. The recent nuclear test was North Korea's fifth and it has been largely criticized as it reportedly causes unrest in global and international security. According to reports, the multiple UN resolutions that prohibits the North's ballistic missile and nuclear programs have been flagrantly disregarded and thus caused a calling for a stronger international pressure. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun said in a statement, "Our message today is crystal clear - No. 1, North Korea cannot continue to deride the Security Council and the United Nations. The Security Council must swiftly adopt a robust new sanctions resolution and prove its credibility and authority." "No. 2, Kim Jong Un and North Korean regime cannot get away with all their misbehavior and provocations." "No. 3, North Korea cannot prevail over the international communities including South Korea, United States and Japan." "As the key stakeholders in this nuclear conundrum, the three of us will continue to muster the collective will of the international community to this end." North Korea has conducted a total of five nuclear tests - in 2006, 2009, 2013 and twice in 2016. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. M any of the big autumn decor-fests are trade events for professional designers, architects and retailers, but there is some access for all. You can visit Focus at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour for free on the events last two days - Thursday 22 and Friday 23 September. The look at Chelsea Harbour - as channelled by about 120 international brands - is elegant and understated in a subtle colour palette of neutrals and faded pastels. Surfaces are richly textured, while furniture is pared-down and sculptural. There is a big emphasis on materials. Some are touchy-feely - woven cane and raffia, crushed velvets and the swish of silk. Others bring a harder drama to the mix - marbles with the vein of ages, patinated copper, the dull gold of brass, chunks of rock crystal, exotic veneers. For London Design Festival highlights, follow us on instagram @ESHomesProperty King's Road, SW3: Matthew Williamson fabrics 51 to 170 a metre at Osborne & Little Call by the design hub which links the older centre dome to the new showrooms in the now-buzzing Design Centre East. Here drop in free workshops include tips from experts on collecting art and creating a colour scheme. And you can meet award-winning Stewart Carey, whose elegant hand-thrown ceramics are so highly covetable. Or sip a glass of champagne before you join an afternoon tour: find the full programme at www.dcch.co.uk. Nearby opposite each other on the Kings Road are two of Londons best known decor brands, offering a contrasting take on pattern and colour for over 40 years. This season Osborne & Little (founded in 1968) are melding fashion with fantasy in another glorious collection by fashions Matthew Williamson. His is a very personal take on India - watch out for the tigers. Across the road, Tricia Guild (who set up shop in 1970) Londons first lady of florals, delivers huge new-look blooms in the painterly palette that is her forte. Blue is the hue everywhere this autumn - denim drift has been tagged Dulux colour of the year. Guild has dressed her store in a wash of moody indigo, tracking the story of this ancient dye through textiles, fashion and one-off ceramics. Visit more showrooms in the surrounding area with holding shows for the London Design Festival, which opens on Saturday (chelseadesignquarter.co.uk). Decorex, Syon Park: De la Terre a la Lune wallpaper From the Earth to the Moon is on show with Design-Nation Decorex, now in its 39th year, is an elite interiors edit of luxury labels, with exhibition stands that tell their stories in fascinating detail - explore how things are made and feel the materials. Soak up oodles of expert advice, and maybe discuss a commission. The public day at Decorex is Tuesday 20 September. Tickets cost 30. Visit Decorex.com. A clutch of newer brands add a noticeably sharper edge - see the Design-Nation stand in particular (designnation.co.uk). Pattern is rampant - archives have been plundered. Flowerbeds, the sky, lakes and fields are digitally-subverted using drawing and photography into riotous romps of colour enhanced with fine detail (watch out for Timorous Beasties, Elli Popp, and Boho & Co). Smart craft uses high tech in a compelling display of future heritage. A new design show opens at Olympia next week, called LuxuryMade. With 40 brands displaying craftsmanship rather than bling, it is timely, for luxury is the buzz word for London homes this autumn. Visit LuxuryMade.co.uk. W ith two of her three children at university, interior designer Nia Morris was feeling the full impact of the empty nest. The familys five-storey Victorian house in Primrose Hill suddenly didnt seen so much fun: A room on every floor, with just me much of the time using the kitchen and the bedroom, with unused floors in between. She yearned for a big, bright loft instead. It had to be near Paddington or Marylebone the train route to Gloucestershire where she and her partner, Paul, a busy doctor, have another home, and where Morris plans to extend her design business. Luckily, she spotted an apartment in her chosen area and bought it: It was the windows, she says. The classic second-floor warehouse conversion on a sunny corner near the rich mix of Edgware Road has large black metal Crittall windows along two sides. A 1,150sq ft box with soundproof concrete floors and high ceilings, it is an interior designers dream. Swot up: these freestanding Ptolomeo book stands are eye-catching and functional. / David Butler Morris, 55, read philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, then went into banking, which she disliked, so retrained and qualified in law. A senior partner in a large city firm for 12 years, she quit when her third child by her now ex-husband was born, and took six years off. Of Harry, now 24, Charlie, 22, and Milly, 18, Charlie currently lives with her. Seeds of a new career During her spell away from work, Morris did up two houses for her own family, while friends increasingly asked for her help with theirs. She started a firm making designer accessories and lamp shades, selling to the likes of famous designer David Collins. I was meeting interior designers, and I thought, could I do this? After studying at KLC School of Design in Chelsea, she set up her own business in 2002 and hasnt been out of work since. Paul, who Morris first met at Oxford, saw an article about her new venture in ES, the Evening Standard magazine, and got in touch, which opened a new chapter. Let there be light: these large black metal Crittall windows provide plenty of natural light. / David Butler After running her own company she worked with others, but has now decided to go solo again. I dont like things that are overdesigned, she says, and I like to mix things up. The new flat shows off her laid-back, smart, hard-working style. Morris viewed her loft in April 2013, completed later that year and wasted no time getting the builders in to gut and transform it, which took four months. A bachelor flat done up in the Nineties, it had yellowy oak floors, white walls, and was open-plan bar a half-wall behind which was a fridge, sink and cooker. It was entirely lit by floor and table lamps. All Morris kept was the giant floor-to-ceiling pivot door that divides off a vestibule, in which she designed a wall-mounted cabinet for her Brompton bike. Bye-bye nineties styling She wanted to get in two bedrooms and two bathrooms but keep the spacious loft sense. The main room, with its amazing windows and two huge bamboo pendant lights, is a great space. The Bulthaup kitchen has all you need, but doesnt steal the show and theres an office area to one side. Off this space is a small bathroom and a utility area. Behind all that is the roomy master bedroom with a silvery feature wall and two big 18th-century sconce mirrors. Modern designer lights dangle like a drunken, arty spider from the ceiling. The master bathroom and a boxy second bedroom fit between the main bedroom and living room. The smaller bedroom has a platform double bed that Morris designed, reached by a folding metal stair. Another neat touch is a loft over the main bathroom, creating plentiful storage. Black switch plates, surface-mounted metal conduiting, new double-glazed Crittall windows and brilliantly considered lighting finish the look. Theres a terrific mix, from concealed lighting behind the kitchen to small pendants over the eight-seater dining table, to those giant lamps in the bedroom. Lighting is so important says Morris. It can be sculptural as well as functional. She adds that theres so much choice when doing up your own place, its much more stressful than designing for someone else. Youd never guess. Thirty years, 30,000 wage and hour prosecutions within the hospitality industry. That's around 1,000 per year, 20 per week, and 3 per day. Yep, you read that correctly. Each day, approximately 30 hotels, restaurants, and bars across America are hit with an FLSA prosecution by the U.S. Department of Labor's wage and hour division. And these numbers only reflect successful government prosecutions brought on by the DOL. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of other cases are also filed privately by attorneys every year. In fact, the number of private prosecutions has risen more than 450 percent within the last 20 years and experts predict that those numbers will only continue to climb. Today, the hospitality industry ranks #1 in volume of FLSA wage and hour prosecutions. Nearly a quarter of the 120,000+ cases pursued by the DOL since 1985 have been within the accommodation and food services industry, and, over the past 30 years, thousands of hotels, restaurants, and bars have been required to pay nearly $280 million in total fines and back wages, with an average payout of $9.5k excluding legal fees. In short, the hospitality industry has a huge target on its back when it comes to the Fair Labor Standards Act and it's a target that's only growing bigger by the day. But why? The data alone might suggest that business owners within the hospitality industry are prone to non-compliance or "shady" practices but employment law specialist Daniel Abrahams claims that these numbers, rather than representing bad business, are purely evidence of the complicated nature of the FLSA. "Other than the IRS," he says, "the FLSA is about the most regulated area of American jurisprudence. A dispute with the DOL or a group of employees doesn't mean you're a bad employer. It just means that you ran afoul of some very complicated rules. There's no shame to be had in not knowing all the rules offhand, or running into trouble with these requirements." In fact, even the DOL (the department responsible for enforcing the FLSA) has been accused of violating the complicated statute. "If the DOL can't get this right," says attorney Paul DeCamp, "what chance do other employers have?" Unfortunately, due to the nature of the industry, businesses within the hospitality realm tend to have a lower chance than most. Here's why. Multiple Locations Having employees in multiple locations significantly decreases your ability to accurately track employee hours, curb overtime, or ensure your employees are taking their required breaks three seemingly minor violations that can lead to major problems with the FLSA. After all, science has yet to invent a way for business owners to be in two (or more) places at once. Erratic Schedules Employees who work within the hospitality industry rarely fall within the 9 to 5 category. Unfortunately, working irregular hours, trading shifts, or picking up extra hours can lead to unauthorized overtime or off-the-clock work violations. A shocking 80 percent of wage and hour lawsuits brought on by the DOL involve overtime violations, and off-the-clock work (also known as "wage theft") is one of the top reasons employees choose to sue. Paper Processes More than 65 percent of employees within the hospitality industry still use paper timesheets or spreadsheets to track their hours. Unfortunately, these archaic paper processes often lead to sloppy records, inaccurate payroll hours, and, at times, serious FLSA violations. According to the FLSA, employers are required to keep employee time records for at least two years and they must be able to produce those records within 72 hours of the DOL's request. With that in mind, accurate and organized records that prove exactly how many hours your employees have worked can be a business owner's #1 defense when it comes to getting hit with a wage and hour lawsuit. Minimum Wage The majority of employees within the accommodation and food services industry are low to minimum wage workers. Others are considered "tipped employees," which carries a slew of additional minimum wage law challenges. In fact, according to the DOL, minimum wage violations have been "concentrated in the leisure and hospitality industry" and are "most prevalent in the service occupations." Because of this, they plan to step up their vigilance in prosecuting such violations. U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said, "To address the scale of this problem, we will redouble our enforcement efforts and partnerships to ensure workers take home the wages they earned and deserve." Overtime Regulations The DOL's new overtime rule will officially go into effect on December 1, 2016. The rule will raise the overtime exemption threshold from $23,600 to $47,467. In other words, millions of employees (some experts estimate that this number could spike as high as 12 million) who were once considered exempt will suddenly qualify for overtime pay. And because such a high percentage of employees within the hospitality industry earn between $10 and $20 per hour, there's a good chance accommodation and food services will feel the hardest hit. Employers who find themselves between the old cutoff and the new cutoff are the most likely to pursue (and win) a wage and hour lawsuit. So, what's the solution? How can business owners within the hospitality industry avoid getting hit with a lawsuit when the target seems so impossibly hard to miss? 1. Start tracking employee time even for salaried employees. Employment attorney Maria O. Hart says, "From a legal perspective, all I look for is that the business has a consistent way to track and record hours." Automated time tracking gives employers valuable business insight that allows them to accurately classify employees, regulate overtime hours, and consistently track breaks or after-hours work. Business owners within the hospitality industry specifically those with employees in multiple locations should look for a time tracking system that utilizes GPS location technology. This will allow them to see, at a glance, where their employees are working and what they're working on. Additionally, using a cloud-based time tracking solution ensures that accurate employee time records are just a click away. "And employees need to track their hours so they know what they're entitled to," Hart adds. 2. Create and enforce a company policy. More specifically, create and enforce a company policy that complies with both the federal and state regulations of each state your employees work in. "Everything comes back to having a rock-solid policy," says Hart, "I can't emphasize that enough." When it comes to wage and hour lawsuits, having an official, written policy is a necessity to defense. It should detail exactly when employees are authorized to work overtime, how they're expected to track their time, when they're expected to take breaks, etc. "If the policy is super complicated, it might be worth it to invest in an attorney to help you craft it," says Hart. Then, enforce it uniformly throughout your company. A written policy, not matter how clear, "does not protect the business if the business does not implement the policy uniformly if they only apply to certain employees or only when it's convenient," says Hart. 3. Stay up-to-date on federal and state regulations. "The federal law is one thing," says Hart, "but it's the minimum. Each state is well within their authority to create a more robust or stronger law. Business owners need to be aware and up-to-date on both." However, it's a task that's easier said than done. "The FLSA's wage and hours provisions are a complicated, shifting target," says Abrahams a fact made evident by the DOL's failure to comply with them. "The law is being reinterpreted in new ways all the time through court rulings, making it very difficult to stay on top of every nuance in real time." He suggests asking your HR team to "keep an ear to the ground when it comes to pivotal court cases in your industry, and enlist legal counsel to help you stay abreast of changes that may impact you." Employment attorney Lee Schreter adds, "Make sure [you] have the mandatory posters up" in each of your locations and make sure those posters are up to date. "It's one of the easiest things to do to stay up-to-date with DOL regulations and avoid wage and hour lawsuits," she says. There may be a target on the hospitality industry's back but by accurately tracking employee time, enforcing your company's overtime policies, and staying current on DOL and FLSA regulations, you might just avoid getting hit. Simon Worsfold Copywriter - TSheets 2089008842 TSheets.com It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Flash Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday that the presence of the Turkish troops near the Iraqi northern city of Mosul is hampering the efforts to free the major stronghold of Islamic State (IS) militants in the city. "What I want to confirm is that the presence of the Turkish forces on the Iraqi territories is hampering our efforts to eliminate Daesh (IS group)," Abadi told reporters at a press conference in Baghdad. "If Turkey is serious in fighting Daesh, then they have to withdraw its forces from Iraq," Abadi said, adding "but Turkey is not willing to end its military presence, and is ignoring the principle of violating the sovereignty of Iraq as an independent country." Earlier, Iraq said Turkish forces had entered Iraqi territory without the knowledge of Baghdad, which viewed their presence as a "hostile act." However, the Turkish government said that withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq is out of the question and the Turkish soldiers are in Iraq as part of a training mission. The deployment of the Turkish troops in Iraq, however, has caused a row between Turkey and Iraq as the latter claimed the presence of Turkish troops to the camp was violation of the country's sovereignty. However, Abadi said Iraq has no problem with the people and the government of Turkey, "but we have problem with the (Turkish) mentality that deals with the relations between the two countries." "Turkey has to know that Iraq, as neighboring country, wants to hold ties built on common interests, but sending those troops (in northern Iraq) is poisoning the relations between the two countries," Abadi said. As for the long-awaited battle to free Mosul from IS extremist militants, Abadi said, the Iraqi government is committed to the timetable of plans that aimed at liberating Mosul. Abadi did not say whether the predominantly Shiite paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units would participate in the battle of the Sunni city of Mosul. "The national interest of Iraq and the nature of the battle will determine which forces would involve in the battle of Mosul, whether it will be Hashd Shaabi units, army, anti-terrorism, or federal police," Abadi said. He said there are some priorities in the battle to liberate Mosul, including implementing well-prepared plans in order to reduce the casualties among the troops as well as the civilians and their property. Iraqi security forces have been fighting IS militants around Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, as part of a major offensive targeting liberating the IS stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been under the IS control for more than two years, when the extremist group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014. Waterton, a U.S. real estate investor and operator, last week announced it has appointed Mark Jeffery as general manager of the Sheraton Needham Hotel in Needham, Mass. A 30-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Jeffery will be responsible for overall operations of the 247-key hotel, leading a team of 110 on-site associates. "Marks extensive experience both in the U.S. and overseas made him uniquely qualified to lead the team at the Sheraton Needham, said Patrick Hansen, senior vice president of hospitality operations at Waterton. Over the years, Mark has done it all, from spearheading the launch of new hotels to finding creative ways to further increase the visibility, and profitability, of existing properties that find themselves in a constant state of reinvention in todays highly competitive market. Jeffery most recently spent five years as general manager of the Boston Newton Marriott, repositioning the property through effective management practices and a strategic budget and capital plan that boosted all major financial performance metrics. He previously served as general manager of the Renaissance Boston at Patriot Place Hotel & Spa, leading the award-winning opening of the hotel in 2009. Prior to that, he held various positions with Marriott International Inc., one of which included auditing hotels in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1999. As senior director of operations for Marriotts Eastern region, his most recent role with the company, he oversaw a portfolio of 43 hotels located between Pennsylvania and Maine, achieving the highest-ever guest satisfaction rating for the area. Advertisement Boston is my home and where Ive spent most of my career, so Im excited to be joining a new team in what, for me, is very familiar territory, Jeffery said. In addition to possessing deep knowledge of the local hospitality market, Ive made it a point to familiarize myself with each and every department that contributes to the day-to-day operations of a hotel, allowing me to better understand the needs of each team. This translates to a better overall experience for the customer by improving everything from back-of-house operations to the greeting guests receive when they walk through our front door. Jeffery holds a bachelors degree in hotel management from the University of Massachusetts Amhersts Isenberg School of Management. Throughout his career, he has earned numerous awards on both a personal and property level, including General Manager of the Year and Hotel Opening of the Year. Outside of his professional responsibilities in the hospitality industry, Jeffery has served on the boards of both the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber of Commerce and Arts & Business Council of Boston. Located approximately 20 minutes southwest of downtown Boston, the Sheraton Needham Hotel offers 247 guest suites and numerous amenities, including the Sheraton Club Lounge, a fully equipped Link@Sheraton connectivity hub, 24-hour fitness center and indoor pool. Waterton is a real estate investor and operator with a focus on U.S. multifamily and hospitality properties. Founded in 1995, Waterton executes value-add strategies and manages a national portfolio of multifamily and hospitality properties on behalf of institutional investors, family offices and financial institutions. Waterton has an expertise in selecting and managing attractive risk-adjusted real estate investments located in major markets around the United States. Since its formation, the company has invested over $5.3 billion in assets. Waterton is privately held by its co-founders and is headquartered in Chicago with regional offices throughout the United States. Currently, Watertons portfolio includes over $4.0 billion in assets, including approximately 20,000 multifamily units and 13 hotels. The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association Internationals Washington, D.C., chapter will host a government travel educational program for area hospitality industry professionals Thursday beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Hilton Crystal City at Washington Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Dane Swenson, chief of travel transformation at the Defense Travel Management Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, will provide an overview of his department and discuss the National Defense Transportation Associations top priorities and challenges. This event is designed to help hotel professionals in the Washington metropolitan area learn more about serving the government market, said Ellen Wilson, HSMAI Washington DC Chapter managing director. Attendees also will enjoy opportunities for networking and exchanging ideas. Registration and a networking reception will begin at 11:30 a.m., followed by a luncheon and the guest speakers presentation from noon to 1:15 p.m. The cost is $45 for HSMAI members and $55 for nonmembers. Click HERE to register. About HSMAI Washington DC Chapter HSMAI Washington DC Chapter is an affiliate of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International, an individual membership organization based in McLean, Virginia, composed of more than 7,000 members worldwide, with 40 chapters in the Americas Region. HSMAI is committed to growing business for hotels and their partners and is the industry's leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. The association provides hotel professionals and their partners with tools, insights and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing and optimize revenue through programs including the Adrian Awards and Revenue Optimization Conference. Click here to join HSMAI. For more information, go to www.hsmaidc.org. About the National Defense Transportation Association Since World War II, the National Defense Transportation Association has served our country's national defense and homeland security as a trusted environment where government, military and private sector professionals can examine the many pressing challenges they face in the fields of logistics, transportation and passenger travel. Click HERE to download a high-resolution image of Dane Swenson CONTACT: Rich Roberts RDR PR LLC rich@rdrpr.com 717-685-4142 How to Jumpstart Your Hotel's Direct Bookings through Social Media In hospitality marketing, the digital landscape is constantly evolving and the travel consumer journey to a direct booking is becoming more and more complex. To help you better navigate the digital landscape and shift share to the direct online channel, HeBS Digitals 'Jumpstart Direct Bookings' Series shares industry best practices to boost direct bookings through the top revenue-generating marketing channels. From SEO to Multichannel Campaigns, youll learn insider strategies and concrete action steps to start shifting share from the OTAs today. The first best practices action plan covered how to jumpstart direct bookings through SEO. Next up in the series is How to Jumpstart Your Hotels Direct Bookings through Social Media. Read on to learn how to incorporate social media into your strategy in a way that increases your propertys website revenues. As social media continues to grow and evolve, more and more businesses are increasing their social media marketing efforts, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. By 2017, social network ad spending will reach $35.98 billion, representing 16% of all digital ad spending globally (eMarketer). Social media has already become the #1 customer engagement and reputation management channel. In the same time, social media is among the top 3 hotel booking decision influencers and is firmly among the top 10 hotel direct booking channels. What does this mean for hoteliers? In order to remain competitive in the digital space, hoteliers need to take advantage of the customer engagement and revenue opportunities this channel has to offer. Here is a checklist to help you jumpstart your hotels direct bookings through social media. 1. Ensure that your social media pages are optimized and branded. Today, social media users have come to expect business pages to not only be claimed but also fully-optimized and branded. A hotels social media page should be a reflection of the brand itself and provide the most up to date information for visitors. Hotels can further engage audiences and set themselves apart from competitors by branding their pages through creative page elements such as the profile picture, cover photo, posts, and custom tabs on Facebook. In addition to building brand awareness, a well-optimized social media page will encourage users to follow the hotel, engage, and eventually book a stay. For example, on Twitter, hoteliers can design a branded header image promoting a seasonal campaign and pin a tweet to the top of the page that provides more information and a link to the campaign landing page. Some platforms may offer more branding opportunities than others. However, hotels should optimize their social media presences as much as possible and get creative in order to drive bookings. 2. Create relevant, share-worthy content. Social media plays a role throughout the travel planning process, from the inspiration phase to the booking phase. Therefore, hoteliers should offer content that appeals to their target audience in each phase. For travel especially, inspirational content is important as users may not be planning a vacation while using social media. Through rich photos and videos of the destination, accommodations, dining, and more, hotels can peak users interest and keep their brand top of mind to drive bookings in the long term. To engage users within the planning phase, hoteliers can highlight special offers, upcoming local events, and destination-specific travel tips. With so many posts competing for attention at any given moment, is it crucial that all content shared through social media provides value to the target audience. 3. Invest in social media advertising. Nearly all businesses, including most hotels now have a presence on at least one social media platform, resulting in greater competition for organic visibility. Therefore, hoteliers should allocate a portion of their marketing spend to paid social media. No wonder that today 85 cents of every digital advertising dollar is spent on either Google or Facebook. Almost all platforms offer some form of advertising and they are constantly developing and honing their capabilities. While it may not be necessary to run ads on every single platform, it is worthwhile to test paid opportunities on the platforms most widely used by your target audience. For instance, Facebook offers some of the most robust social media advertising, with a wide range of ad formats, from Canvas Ads to Carousel Ads. Hotels can also refine their Facebook ad campaigns with diverse targeting options including demographics, interests, retargeting, and more. As a result, paid social media plays a role in driving direct bookings as it allows hotels to expand reach amongst a highly qualified audience and drive additional traffic to the brand website. 4. Monitor and respond to reviews. One key aspect that sets social media apart from other channels is that its a forum for users to share their thoughts publicly, in real time. As a result, many travelers will share their experiences and leave reviews for businesses with whom they interacted. 88% of consumers trust reviews they find online just as much as personal recommendations (BrightLocal). Therefore, bad reviews, good reviews, or a lack of reviews can influence a consumers travel plans. Hoteliers should periodically check reviews posted on social media platforms and respond to all reviews in a timely manner. This conscious effort will be recognized and appreciated by the reviewer and other users who come across the review. In addition, hoteliers should search platforms such for posts mentioning the hotel. For example, hotels can search Instagram for posts taken at the property and see what people say about it. Social media can provide valuable information for hoteliers which can be used to monitor their online reputation, improve their services, and build brand loyalty- all of which contribute to direct bookings. 5. Utilize Smart Data Marketing to reach more qualified audiences. Smart Data Marketing refers to the balanced utilization of both CRM Data and Intent Data. Through Smart Data Marketing, hoteliers can engage past guests as well as first-time guests by targeting those who are in market and planning to visit a given destination. This two-part targeting strategy is the most effective for driving direct bookings. On Facebook, hotels can utilize Smart Data Marketing by creating Custom Audiences based on their email subscribers or website visitors, and layering on targeting based on interest, location, etc. By working with a travel ad network such as Sojern or ADARA that provides first-party travel data from top airline and travel planning websites, hoteliers can target more qualified audiences resulting in more bookings. One of Facebooks latest ad products, Facebook Dynamic Ads for travel, lets you target users across devices with relevant ads based on a mix of first-party data and activity on the brand website. This allows you to serve more personalized ads to those who are deeper within the booking funnel. 6. Take a multi-screen approach and reach audiences at the right place and time. Travel planning occurs across multiple devices. However, each year, more and more people are planning travel on their mobile devices and mobile conversions are growing. Therefore, hoteliers should ensure that their social media content and ads are optimized for the three screens. Both Facebook and Twitter allow brands to designate devices for ads to be displayed on, and offer previews of the ad for each device or placement. When developing a social media plan, it is important to take into consideration the goals, target audience, and user experience. For instance, to target locals and drive foot traffic to onsite amenities such as dining and spa, hoteliers may consider creating an Instagram ad that promotes a Locals Love special offer and includes a Call Now button that allows users to make a reservation with ease. 7. Keep learning about your target audience and optimize. As social media platforms and users continue to evolve, hoteliers should continually evaluate their strategy to ensure that they are utilizing the most appropriate platforms and targeting options to reach their target audience. On Facebook, brands can reference the Facebook Audience Insights tool to learn more about their target audiences and use this information to create more relevant content that is more likely to generate results. Throughout a social media ad campaign, hoteliers can examine who is engaging the most and further optimize. Hoteliers can also use A/B testing to test multiple targeting options and multiple creative to determine what works best and better tailor future campaigns. 8. Incorporate social media initiatives into multichannel campaigns. The average travel consumer visits 18 sites in the path to purchase. To get the most out of social media, hoteliers should create multichannel campaigns that utilize core revenue drivers such as SEM, email marketing, and the Google Display Network, and seamlessly integrate social media initiatives. Effective multichannel campaigns are built around a specific business need, target customer segment, and one cohesive brand message or theme. When social media is incorporated into a multichannel campaign, it moves from being an influencer channel to one that amplifies reach and drives conversions. For example, someone who is planning a vacation might conduct a search on Google, read TripAdvisor reviews, read an article on Travel+Leisure, and browse Facebook for content surrounding the destination. Multichannel campaigns allow hoteliers to reach and engage consumers across multiple touchpoints, which increases brand exposure and referral traffic to the website. 9. Create social media exclusive promotions. A great way to boost followers and drive revenue directly from social media platforms is to create promotions that are exclusive to these channels. For instance, a hotel can create a Facebook custom tab that prompts users to enter their email address to receive a promo code for a Facebook-only special offer. Not only does this drive direct bookings but it also helps build the email marketing list for future promotions. To further increase participation, hotels can include a sweepstakes element and choose one random winner for a free giveaway. Since many social media users interact with discounts and contests on social media platforms, social media exclusive promotions can contribute incremental revenue. 10. Track and optimize your social media efforts on an ongoing basis. Similar to other digital marketing channels, tracking on social media is important as it allows brands to analyze their efforts and refine their strategy moving forward. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide native analytics which allow brands to track their performance through a variety of metrics. However, hoteliers may access more robust analytics with tools such as Adobes Marketing Cloud (Omniture), which can provide exactly how much revenue was generated from each initiative. By tracking the performance of social media efforts, marketers can determine which platforms, content, or targeting work best, and further hone their social media strategy for the future. About the Author and HeBS Digital Victoria Hsia is Manager, Digital Marketing & Creative Strategy at HeBS Digital. Founded in 2001, HeBS Digital helps hoteliers drastically increase direct bookings and lower overall distribution costs by deploying industry best-of-breed digital technology, consulting and marketing (www.hebsdigital.com). The firm has won more than 350 prestigious industry awards for its digital technology, website design and marketing services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Stevie Award in the American Business Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, and IAC Awards. A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major luxury and boutique hotel chains, independent hotels, resorts and casinos, franchised properties and hotel management companies, convention centers, spas, restaurants and bars, DMO and CVBs are all benefiting from HeBS Digitals direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digitals consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the Manhattan bombing suspect, has been taken into custody just hours after the FBI released his name and information. The 28-year old man was found in Linden, New Jersey where he reportedly shot at police officers before being taken down. According to NBC, one officer was shot in the chest during the altercation but was not seriously wounded thanks to his bullet proof vest. Police believe Ahmad Khan Rahami was not only connected with bombings in New York and Seaside Park, New Jersey, but also the pipe bombs found in a backpack Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey, sources said. All of this news broke just as President Obama was addressing the New York and New Jersey explosions over the weekend. You can check out his statement, as well as some additional coverage, below. Manhattan Bombing suspect BandGang is a 6-man rap clique based that has generated a non-significant amount of regional buzz lately. They aim to take their operation to the next level with WDW 2 (What Dotts Wanted 2), their new project released this week. Dotts was an original member of BandGang, one of the creators, BandGang Lonnie Bands explains. He was family to everyone, so we had to make sure we kept the name alive. In Detroit its hard for you to get your music out. says BandGang member PaidWill. You have to do something for the people to notice you or they dont want to hear what you have to say. Our music is the Detroit sound and were gonna make sure everybody hears it. Listen to BandGangs WDW 2 below. BandGang The Scottish rockers are coming to eight cities across the country. Frightened Rabbit have announced dates for an extensive Irish tour. The band will arrive in Ireland early next year for nine concerts all around the country. The tour kicks off in Dundalk's Spirit Store on February 2, it stops in Limerick on February 4, Dublin's Academy on Feb 5, then moves onto Belfast on February 7, followed by shows in Cork, Galway and Kilkenny. The Scottish outfit released their fifth studio album, Painting of a Panic Attackon April 8, produced by The National's Aaron Dessner. The usual touchstones of F'Rabbit's output are still present and correct, though a slightly darker edge might be in play. This follows comments from frontman - and candidate for loveliest bloke in music - Scott Hutchison, who last year told Gigwise: "The new stuff sounds sparser, it's less guitar driven. Potentially darker as well, but we'll wait and see. "I've gone through various states of turmoil and I think that's going to be evident." Tickets go on sale this Friday September 23rd from Ticketmaster Ireland Advertisement Full list of tour dates, towns and venues below. Its not just eighties movies that are getting remade. Golden Age classics are no longer safe. That may be a bit of an exaggeration. Remakes of classic films arent a recent phenomenon, but theyve become more prominent as film budgets explode into the range of small countries GDPs. The consequence is that studios are more likely to go for safe ideas, rather than take big risks on new ideas. This year saw a new Ben-Hur. The story is actually a novel from the nineteenth century, but most know it for the 1959 Classic with a capital C. Even if the new film is technically an adaptation of the novel, the comparisons to the Charlton Heston film were inevitable. Now it looks like High Noon will receive the remake treatment. The original film tells of a newlywed sheriff soon to retire who must pick up his pistol one last time to defend his town against an outlaw gang. Unfortunately for him, the townsfolk wont lend their aid. The premise was recycled into the John Wayne film, Rio Bravo, and the Sean Connery science fiction film, Outland. The remake will update the setting from the Wild West to a Cartel-plagued US-Mexican border. Take this rumor with a grain of salt. The fourth entry into the Mad Max series was last years runaway success. It was the long awaited return of George Miller to the franchise, a welcome one at that, and it blew the collective filmgoers minds just with astonishing visuals, tight focus, great performances, and invisible computer generated effects. Interest in another Mad Max movie exists. The films are notable in that each one can be taken as its own thing. One does not need to watch The Road Warrior to enjoy Fury Road. Whats odd about this rumor is that the next film will be a prequel to Fury Road, which would eschew Millers approach to the series. In all likelihood, this rumor is exactly thata rumor. However, that should not douse your hopes for another film. Advertisement In the meantime, fans of Fury Road can look forward to a rerelease on Blu-Ray, entitled Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome Edition, which will feature the theatrical cut and a black and white cut. It will see a US release of 6 December, with a UK release soon to follow. Flash Hundreds of thousands of protesters against two free trade deals across the Atlantic took to streets in seven German cities on Saturday, showing their great concerns about interests losses. A man holds a banner and shouts slogans during a protest in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 10, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] Under the slogan "For a fair world trade", the demonstrators took to streets in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. Organizers estimated that 320,000 people would participate the rallies, while the police said the real turnout was smaller. Waving banners reading "STOP TTIP", "STOP CETA", protesters expressed their worries about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free trade pact between the United States and the European Union (EU), and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a deal between the EU and Canada. Opponents feared that the deals would lower consumer and environment protection standards in Europe, and lead to job losses. Meanwhile, the business believed free trade deals across the Atlantic would benefit economies on both sides of the ocean as they could reduce red tape and lower transaction costs. "Most of the objections were unjustified from the outset. We continue to see great opportunities offered by the creation of the largest free trade area in the world for our country," said Anton F. Boerner, head of German exporters' association BGA, referring to the TTIP agreement which was scheduled to start a new round of negotiations in October. The CETA agreement was reached in 2014, and set to be signed next month. A recent survey found that about 28 percent of Germans doubted the two agreements' benefits. 52 percent believed they would weaken standards and result in the import of defective products. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Chris Kraft was directing his first mission from Houston in June 1965, and astronaut Ed White, the first American to "walk" in space, wouldn't get back in the spacecraft. Exiting the craft, White was enthralled. Kraft worried that he wouldn't re-enter in time to have enough sunlight. He was concerned, too, that the door would be difficult to shut. As Mission Control began cajoling him to return, White remarked, "It's the saddest moment of my life." Kraft had grown impatient. "Any messages for us, Houston?" one of the astronauts finally asked. "Yeah," Kraft responded, "get back in." White complied. A crisis, perhaps, was averted. Ninety-three hours later, they landed safely back on Earth. "Mission Director Chris Kraft has lighted up his post-splashdown cigar," said a transcript of recorded mission commentary documents. "He's puffing on it merrily, a big cloud of smoke enveloping his head. He's a very happy man." An experienced flight director by this time, Kraft had left behind Mission Control's first home base in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It had been "small and even cramped," he recalls in his memoir, compared to the new, sizable center in Texas - "a far cry from our early days," he writes. Kraft, the first flight director of NASA, had worked to develop the design of both. In fact, he shaped the concept of flight operations from NASA's start. Referred to as "Flight" when missions got underway, Kraft guided astronauts from launch to landing during the period when the organization grew from a team of several dozen puzzling through the basics to a full-blown agency that required multiple flight directors to oversee a voyage. More Information TIMELINE Feb. 28, 1924 Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. is born. Sept. 2, 1950 He marries Betty Anne Turnbull. Oct. 4, 1957 Sputnik launches. Oct. 1, 1958NASA is operational. May 5, 1961 First American enters space. July 20, 1969 Man takes first steps on the moon. Jan. 1972 - Aug. 1982 Kraft serves as directorof space center. April 14, 2011 Mission Control Center named in Kraft's honor. See More Collapse Today, America's space program continues to operate on the foundation that Kraft, now 92, helped to build. "I was no brilliant engineer," he said modestly on a late-August day from his Clear Lake home. "I was a do-it guy. I was a can-do guy." Kraft was among those who saw through many firsts: the launch of the first chimpanzee, Ham, 157 miles from Earth into space, in January 1961; the first flight into space for an American, Alan Shepard, in May 1961; and the first voyage for a man, John Glenn, to orbit the Earth in February 1962. Each mission, from start to finish, came with its own challenges and demanded an ability to make decisions under pressure. "I always felt like it was my responsibility to provide a safe return for the astronaut," he said. "That was my prime responsibility." Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. was born Feb. 28, 1924. With such a moniker, he supposed in his book, "some of my life's direction was settled from the start." Kraft recalls his upbringing in the memoir, "Flight: My Life in Mission Control." He grew up in the small town of Phoebus, Va. A high school physics teacher sparked Kraft's interest in engineering, and he went on to receive a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The college student's right hand, injured in a childhood accident, kept him from becoming a Navy pilot. Kraft took a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), based on Langley Field, fewer than 10 miles from his childhood home. It was the "mecca for aeronautical science and engineering in the United States," he wrote. Kraft joined the flight research division and moved up the ranks. He married his high school crush, Betty Anne Turnbull, on Sept. 2, 1950. They would have two children. Then, in 1957, with the launch of Sputnik, his career trajectory met with swift change. The so-called "space race" was on. President Dwight Eisenhower charged NACA - which soon became NASA - with exploring the idea of putting man into space. Kraft was one of the first recruited to the Space Task Group. By the time the space flight center was moving to Houston in the early 1960s, much had been accomplished. The Mercury flights, designed to prove man could be relied upon in space, were completed in 1963. The two-man Gemini flights - which sought to accomplish objectives like rendezvous docking, keeping man in space for two weeks, and practicing extra-vehicular activity - got underway in 1965. Kraft took responsibility for the "in-progress flight" on Mercury projects. He also directed many of the Gemini flights, moving up in his leadership role and stepping away as "Flight" on them only to focus on the next objective: getting to the moon. Kraft recalled that when NASA moved to Houston, initially in temporary buildings in a pasture, he and his wife chose first to live in Friendswood. He said the change was a shock initially but that they had determined to like it, and within six months, they were sure they did. The work remained captivating and all-consuming. With the Apollo 8 flight that put man into the moon's orbit for the first time, Kraft said he felt confident in their abilities. They had become veterans at this. In 1969, Kraft helped guide Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to land on the moon. Kraft later became director of the Manned Space Craft Center, later renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, where he served for 10 years until 1982. In 2011, NASA named the Mission Control Center in his honor. "Without Dr. Kraft's leadership, the concept of mission control would not be what it is today," Johnson Space Center Director Michael Coats said at the time. Today, Kraft lives in a two-story home that looks onto a golf course. Walking upstairs, one enters space, he jokes. Pastoral art decorating the stairway gives way to images of a decorated career gone by. The Time magazine cover story about him from 1965 hangs on a wall. A menu from a celebratory dinner held at the White House before the Apollo 8 flight sits on his desk. Kraft continues to marvel at what they managed to accomplish. He credits the "demands of the times," for how much they were able to achieve. Part of their success was luck, he surmises. But he also quotes a golf adage: The more one practices, the more one's luck improves. After explosions in New York City and New Jersey and a mass stabbing in Minnesota on Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the Houston area is not under any credible terror threat. Shauna Dunlap, special agent and media coordinator for the FBI's Houston office, provided a statement: "While we are monitoring the events across the country and communicating closely with our counterparts in New York City and Minnesota, there is no specific or credible threat to the Houston territory at this time. However, events like this are a reminder to remain vigilant and always report any suspicious activity to law enforcement." The three separate incidents occurred throughout the day. On Saturday night, an explosion in a dumpster in Chelsea caused minor injuries to 29 people. A second device several blocks away was recovered, undetonated. Authorities said Sunday that the incident does not appear to be associated with international terrorism. Earlier in the day, a man was killed by police after he stabbed nine people at a mall in St. Cloud, Minn. An offshoot of ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack. The FBI is calling the mass stabbing a "potential act of terrorism." And at 9:30 a.m., a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can along the route for a charity race for military veterans in Seaside Park, N.J. No one was injured by the blast, which the FBI is treating as a potential terrorist act. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) Neighbors said filthy children regularly climbed into trash bins and scavenged for food behind the West Texas house where 11 children lived with their parents. Other residents heard screaming at night one described "shrieks of terror" that were quickly followed by loud music to cover the sounds. "It never stopped whenever they were living there," neighbor Paige Figge told a judge last week, after the children were taken into state custody. The testimony came during a court hearing for William and Claire Rembis, who have faced child welfare investigations in at least three states since 2001. The couple is now accused of neglect in Lubbock, where one investigator suggested the family may be moving to avoid such investigations, which are difficult to track across states. RELATED: Police say San Antonio man killed 4-year-old The couple denies the allegations, saying they move for jobs and that Texas officials are targeting them because they choose to homeschool their family, oppose vaccinations and simply have so many children. "They don't eat out of the trash," 36-year-old Claire Rembis told The Associated Press outside the courtroom in Lubbock. Her 48-year-old husband called the allegations "ridiculous." The couple hasn't been criminally charged, but they face a host of problems in Texas: Their children, who range in age from 16 months to 17 years old, were taken into state custody in late August, after child welfare workers discovered 10 of them had been taken to Colorado amid the Lubbock investigation. The family was evicted from their rental home on Tuesday, and the parents' custody hearing continues next week. Two of the children also were briefly removed from the family's home in Plano, about 300 miles east, in 2013, and all were removed in a separate case there last year. In Michigan, child welfare officials received five complaints between 2007 and 2012, including one about unsupervised children eating out of garbage cans. In New Jersey, the couple was investigated after their oldest son, who was about 2 at the time, was found wandering alone in 2001, according testimony in the Lubbock case. No national database exists to track such cases across states. The Rembises disclosed their past addresses to Texas officials, but if families don't divulge that information, case workers have to find it, said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman Paul Zimmerman. Even then, a lot of digging must be done. RELATED: 3 indicted in 'horrific' San Antonio child abuse case involving tied up children "It's easier to track a stolen car," said child welfare consultant Timothy Turner, who has worked for state welfare agencies in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. "It's very tedious and piecemeal," Turner said, noting it can take a long time, letters and phone calls to find cases in another state. "And by the time that all occurs, a lot of times they disappear." State agencies often can't release details in such cases, especially if no action was taken. In New Jersey, where most family court records are confidential, state law bars the Department of Children and Families from even confirming whether the agency was involved with the Rembis family, spokesman Ernest Landante said. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton said records in such cases are also closed in Michigan. Those cases were briefly cited during last week's custody hearing, where child welfare investigator Kristin Stecklein said some of the children didn't have beds when she visited the home earlier this year, including a 5-year-old girl who another child told her slept in a box in a closet. The couple homeschooled their children, but Stecklein said she didn't "see any signs" of school material a point William Rembis disputed on Friday. Texas Tech University students who lived next door to the family testified that children were in the alley scavenging in trash bins six days a week. One student, Madison Burnham, said she saw a child eating food from a box she'd recently thrown out. "I don't think children should be allowed to do that," Burnham told the judge. Other neighbors testified that after screaming began inside the house, loud heavy-metal music was played to cover the sounds. Claire Rembis denied the noise allegation. She also said her children wear hand-me-down clothing and doesn't mind them going barefoot. "It's just being natural," she said. "To us, it's just normal." Stecklein said the family's home had a "strong foul odor" and not enough food to feed 11 children and two adults when she visited. William Rembis also disputed that allegation in testimony, noting his family received about $1,100 a month in food stamps "We've never had a problem with having enough food," he told the judge. "My kids are well fed." Rembis said he wanted to move to Colorado for "better jobs" after losing two jobs since April in Lubbock. Lubbock County Child Protective Services attorney Kacee Harvey suggested another motivation, telling the judge that moving "is a pattern with this family." The judge upheld an objection from William Rembis' attorney about keeping testimony focused on the Lubbock case. Rembis said he simply wants to get his children back, and "we'll go to whatever lengths are necessary." NEW ORLEANS - Real estate heir Robert Durst has been assigned to an Indiana prison which has a medical unit, rather than the California prison requested because he faces a murder trial in Los Angeles, attorney Dick DeGuerin said Sunday. Durst, 72, has been in the St. Charles Parish jail since April 2015. WASHINGTON - Miriam Cepeda probably isn't Donald Trump's target demographic. A 25-year-old graduate student in McAllen, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, she has family on both sides of the Mexican border, ground zero of the immigration debate that has riled the presidential election. Her father is awaiting sentencing in an alleged drug cartel murder plot in Texas, involving the very sort of criminal milieu that Trump talked about when he launched his campaign last year. Cepeda maintains her father's innocence. And she remains "110 percent in" for Trump. She organizes "pachanga" parties for local Republicans, calls herself a "Trump girl" on national TV, and pleads the mogul's case on frequent "Trumping" expeditions - talking to voters and pounding lawn signs along sidewalks and street corners just miles from the river Trump would wall off. All around her are Mexican-American families like hers who are deeply suspicious of the Republican nominee some say has scapegoated them as drug dealers, criminals and rapists who take jobs from native-born workers. That may not be her view of undocumented workers, but she says she has lived first-hand Trump's warning about human trafficking, drug smuggling and the violence that goes with it. "Trump is the only candidate who is bringing these problems to the headlines," Cepeda said recently. "If we don't talk about it, we can't address it. This is the reality. People who prefer not to talk about it are hurting themselves." In a Republican state where Trump hardly has had to break a sweat, Cepeda provides an on-the-ground, grass-roots presence for his signature campaign issue. Her efforts may not convince a lot of her neighbors in McAllen, but the Trump campaign invited her to the RNC convention this summer and highlighted her on Facebook, sharing her work with a wider audience that may need reassurance about his views or race and ethnicity. 'Pachanga 4 Trump' In a CNN video posted on Trump's official Facebook page, Cepeda can be seen standing next to a pinata made in Trump's likeness at a "Pachanga 4 Trump" in McAllen. "He loves Mexican-Americans, number one" she said. "He loves all citizens, all American citizens." Sergio Sanchez, a local conservative talk show host and chairman of the Hidalgo County GOP, calls her "the face and the name of the Trump movement" in the Valley. In the shadow of a national debate about a border wall, Cepeda also provides some street cred and a dissenting voice in a region that is probably as hostile to Trump as any in the nation. Hidalgo County - 91 percent Hispanic, 70 percent Democrat - is emblematic of many of the national cultural cross-currents that work against Trump, who trails Hillary Clinton among Latino voters by margins of more than 70-to-20 percent in some polls. The county produces some oil, but it is better known for its ranches and farms producing sugar cane, vegetables, citrus and cotton. It has a major migrant worker population, and many of those workers - those without documents - are in Trump's crosshairs. "There's a tremendous amount of anxiety about that," said Ricardo Godinez, a McAllen lawyer and chairman of the county's Democratic Party. "Everybody down here is one or two degrees away from an illegal immigrant. They're either a family member, or they work for you, or they're your neighbor, or your kid's friends' parents. So, yeah, they're freaked out. They've laid down their roots here, and they don't know what's going to happen." Cepeda, working on her master's degree in history at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, acknowledged some ambivalence about Trump's positions. "I know we can't deport 11 million people," she said. She supports Trump's "zero tolerance" for illegal immigrants, in the name of helping legal immigrants, but also sees room to flex on the candidate's hard-line stance. "He's already, quote-unquote, softening his stance," she said. "That doesn't mean he's going to completely grant everybody amnesty, but there might be some type of negotiation in the works." More than anything, Cepeda's views on immigration have been colored by a painful family story. She grew up in Rio Grande City, a border town where the river runs through people's backyards. When her parents divorced, she stayed with her father, Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, a legal permanent resident who worked as a phone company engineer. She was raised to follow the rules, work hard, stay in school, go to college. Her father's troubles Then this year, as her father turned 60, he was implicated and found guilty for his role in helping set up the 2013 shooting death of an alleged Gulf cartel lawyer in Southlake. According to federal prosecutors, he helped a cousin from Mexico track down the lawyer "like big game hunting guides." The victim, Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, a suspected government informant, later was gunned down by others. Cepeda and her brother maintain their father was duped by dodgy relatives from south of the border, saying he was used as an unwitting English-speaking helper to locate Guerrero Chapa. Cepeda testified at her father's trial in Fort Worth, saying that he merely served as a translator. His lawyers argued there was not sufficient evidence that he knew the lawyer was being targeted for assassination. To Cepeda, the episode is proof-positive of Trump's warnings about the dangers that lurk in Mexico. "People deny it, or they just don't want to talk about it, because it proves Mr. Trump's point that there are problems down there." Cepeda cited the case in a "Latinos for Trump" report on CBS this summer, saying she had "family members from Mexico coming to the United States, doing what they were 'paid to do,' and going back." As for the others implicated in the murder-for-hire plot, she said, "I would love nothing better than for them to be deported." A week later, Miriam Cepeda was at a fundraiser in San Antonio, where she met Trump in person. "He was wonderful. He was real," she said. What really struck her was that he took the time to make sure they got a picture together that she liked. She also made a pitch for the candidate to visit McAllen and its environs, a bigger population center than Laredo, where he had been the year before. To date he has not obliged. Some campaign workers have suggested Cepeda's energy could better be spent in a battleground state like Florida or Nevada, not deep red Texas, which is likely to go Trump's way with or without Hidalgo County. "There's no attention being paid to the Valley, and I'm trying to bring attention down here," she said. "What better place to talk about border security?" According to Sanchez, the political equation along the border is not as hopeless for Republicans as it may seem. More than 18,600 people voted in the Republican primary in Hidalgo County in March, three times as many as in 2012. Sen. Ted Cruz was the top GOP presidential vote-getter, garnering 7,105 votes. Another 4,157 voted for Sen. Marco Rubio. Trump got 5,523 votes. "It was a godsend," Sanchez said. "We've got 18,000 people who put themselves on the radar, a blip on the radar, saying, 'I voted Republican.' Now, I have a database of over 18,000 people to work with." Godinez attributes part of the GOP uptick in Hidalgo County to natural population growth. He also sees a "Trump effect." "He brought some new votes to Hidalgo County," he said, "people who typically don't vote, but they'll watch a reality show on TV." Godinez and Sanchez agree that Democrats in Hidalgo County are not as socially liberal as their counterparts on the coasts or up north. Sanchez sees opportunities to cultivate "closet Trump supporters" who may never call themselves Republicans. "One thing where we all agree is that we want a secure border," Godinez said. He acknowledged that the turf wars between Mexican drug cartels have spilled over the border. He sees it in the drug busts, the police chases, the cartel slayings. "We can never deny that, which is why Democrats down here tend to be more conservative than your national Democratic Party." Reality in the Valley Local civil leaders tend to push back against Trump's portrayal of the border region as a hotbed of lawlessness. Most of the families streaming over the border aren't looking for trouble, said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, many of whose clients are undocumented. "Most of these folks are living day to day," she said. "They're going out hoping they can find a job to put food on the table, pay the rent, and make sure their children go to school correctly clothed. When they are coming in great numbers, they're not running away. They come across the river and ask for protection." Everyday life in Hidalgo County demonstrates to Godinez how, as a practical matter, Trump's plan "is never going to happen." He cites an economic study showing that an estimated 1.7 million undocumented immigrants in Texas include an agricultural workforce that contributes $10.4 billion to the state's economy each year. Sanchez acknowledges that much of Trump's political rhetoric, particularly when it comes to a wall on the border, ignores the reality on the ground in Hidalgo County. "It is a euphemistic argument for what needs to happen," he said. The real message, for Cepeda, is a meaningful border where the flow of human traffic and illicit drugs stops. "If we don't have this border secure what difference does it make if they can be here legally, but then somebody can cross the border illegally and do them harm, and there's no paper trail and we don't know who they are. How do we account for them? We can't." This week lawmakers returned to Jefferson City for veto session. After nine hours of debate we adjourned having overridden 13 of the governors vetoes. Several key pieces of legislation caused some heated debate, but in the end we got a lot of work accomplished. In total 13 vetoes were overridden. Two of the most hotly debated, Voter ID and Senate Bill 656, legislation eliminating required permits to conceal and carry a weapon, kept both chambers busy for hours. Eventually the motion of a previous question was called, forcing the vote. Both measures were overridden. Voter Id will appear on the November ballots as House Joint Resolution 53. If voters approve House Joint Resolution 53, the new ID requirements will not take effect until 2017. In Missouri, voters without a photo ID can still vote if they sign an affidavit stating they do not have any type of identification. However, election officials can take their picture, and steps must be taken to get a photo ID for later use, with the state covering the cost. The Legislature also voted to override a veto on Senate Bill 656, which eliminates requirements to have a permit before carrying a concealed weapon. Under the bill, Missouri residents could also use deadly force in a public space if they perceive a threat. The bill allows law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families. It also means Missouri will join 10 other states with laws that allow most people to carry concealed guns without the training required for permits, and allows people to carry hidden guns anywhere they can currently carry weapons openly. The law takes effect in 30 days. My office received 487 calls, emails and letters requesting that I vote to override the governors veto on this bill. By comparison, I received only 27 requests from constituents asking that I vote to sustain the veto. The veto of Senate Bill 641 was also overridden, by a vote of 24-6 in the Senate and 112-38 in the House. This legislation will transfer money from the state to farmers and agricultural producers. The bill will become law in 30 days. Two years ago farmers were given millions of dollars in disaster relief from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, following a drought, but were forced to pay state taxes on the funds received. Now with the veto override, future disaster relief will not be taxed by the state. Only in agriculture is a disaster considered a taxable event. Also overridden by the Legislature: Senate Bill 608 modifying provisions relating to health care Senate Bill 844 modifying provisions relating to livestock trespass liability Senate Bill 994 modifying provisions relating to alcohol Senate Bill 1025 exempting instructional classes from sales tax House Bill 1414 exempting data collected by state agencies under the federal Animal Disease Traceability Program from disclosure under Missouris sunshine law House Bill 1432 requiring a hearing to be held within 60 days if a state employee is placed on administrative leave House Bill 1713 requiring the Department of Natural Resources to provide information regarding advanced technologies to upgrade existing lagoon-based wastewater systems to meet any new or existing discharge requirements House Bill 1763 changing the laws regarding workers compensation large deductible policies issued by an insurer House Bill 1976 changes the laws regarding service contracts House Bill 2030 authorizing a tax deduction equal to fifty percent of the capital gain resulting from the sale of employer securities to certain Missouri stock ownership plans Mike Cunningham is a Republican member of the Missouri State Senate, representing District 33. Contact him at 573-751-1882 or www.senate.mo.gov/cunningham As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Flash Vice Minister of the Chinese State Administration of Press Publication Radio Film and Television Tong Gang in a meeting with Pakistan's Federal Minister for Information,Broadcasting and National Heritage Pervaiz Rashid in Dunhuang city of Gansu province of China on 19th September 2016. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Silk Road International Cultural Expo being held in China. The Chinese people consider the people of Pakistan as their best friends in the world. This was stated by Vice Minister Tong Gang of the Chinese State Administration of Press Publication Radio Film and Television during a meeting with Pakistan's Federal Minister for Information,Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid in Dunhuang city, Gansu province of China today. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Silk Road International Cultural Expo being held in Dunhuang, Gansu province of China. Senator Pervaiz Rashid thanked the government of People's Republic of China and Gansu province for extending a warm welcome and generous hospitality to him and his delegation, and expressed the hope that his visit would further strengthen the existing close friendship between Pakistan and China. Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that Pakistan was grateful to the People's Republic of China for cementing the historic bonds of friendship manifested in the ancient Silk Route and added that our association with the One Belt One Road initiative of China had reinvigorated the ties. This association, he said, will provide the much needed infrastructure, jobs, integration and all round progress in Pakistan. Pakistan will also facilitate a shorter route to China for access to destinations as far as Europe, he added. Senator Pervaiz Rashid also praised the presence of a large number of Chinese who were working and contributing constructively towards the development of Pakistan. Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that the expanding cooperation in economy and trade between the two countries should be enhanced by matching cooperation in the field of culture, information, and literature to further cement these ties. The Chinese Vice Minister proposed that in order to promote cultural relations with Pakistan, the Chinese government was prepared to start an exchange programme of films and dramas. In this connection, he further proposed that five films and dramas may be selected for exhibition in the initial phase in each other's countries. He also proposed exchange of professionals so that films and dramas on themes of shared interest of the two countries could be identified and produced. He said the Chinese government considered Pakistan as a potential market. Senator Pervaiz Rashid welcomed the proposals put forth by the Chinese Minister and termed them as the road map of future cooperation in the field of culture between the two countries. "The exchange of films and dramas will help bring Chinese and Pakistani societies closer by enhancing mutual understanding of each others' cultures, traditions, norms and ways of life." said Senator Pervaiz Rashid. This was also endorsed by the Chinese Vice Minister. Senator Pervaiz Rashid also assured Tong Gang that Pakistan will facilitate speedy implementation of the roadmap. During the meeting the Pakistan side was assisted by Director General External Publicity Mr Shafqat Jalil and Press and Culture Attache at Pakistan Embassy Mr Asif-ur-Rehman Khan. The Chinese Vice Minister was accompanied by Director General International Cooperation as well as the Deputy Director General of International Cooperation of the Chinese State Administration of Press Publication Radio Film and Television. Vice Minister of the Chinese State Administration of Press Publication Radio Film and Television Tong Gang in a meeting with Pakistan's Federal Minister for Information,Broadcasting and National Heritage Pervaiz Rashid in Dunhuang city of Gansu province of China on 19th September 2016. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Silk Road International Cultural Expo being held in China. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Fastening employees to your organization I have been in talent acquisition for nearly two years now but have spent most of my twenty year career in enterprise software operations running implementation, support, and development teams. So I know a thing or two about the importance of employee retention and now more than ever I understand talent acquisitions role in helping companies keep their people long term. I bumped into an old colleague in the airport earlier this month and we started talking about his current employer. He told me he loves his job and it would take an over-the-top opportunity to even give him pause to think about leaving. That type of loyalty didnt happen by accident. Retention is not the people departments job. Its not the managers job. Its everyones job. I dont think talent acquisitions role in retention is talked about enough. The job is seen as acquiring talent after all thats what the department name says when it should be seen as securing talent. Secure means fastened so as to not give away. I like that. My job is to fasten people to Ceridian. There is a lot we can do as recruiters to support our companys employee retention objectives. Lets talk about 4 of them. First, create a cultur... At least once a year, most business owners sit down with their trusted advisors and go over the status of their business. At some point during this discussion, there is usually a conversation about their commercial insurance policies. Part of that discussion should be how the business can lower what it pays in premium. In most successful organizations, the Human Resource (HR) professional is a part of that conversation. The main way an HR professional can positively affect the amount of premium a business pays is by monitoring the claims process for the workers compensation policy. Now, during this conversation many HR professionals and business owners alike may wonder, How much can we really affect what we pay in premium and is it worth our time? In many cases these professionals wonder, Does our safety program or our claims history really matter that much in relation to what we pay in premium? Many professionals I speak with seem to think that no matter what kind measures they take to limit their claims they always seem to see a modest bump in premium whenever they go to get a workers compensation insurance quote. Recently there were a couple of states that represent just how much the rates can go both up and down depending upon the recent claims history in that particular state. In the state of California, the Department of Insurance recently approves a 10.5 percent reduction in the average rate of pr... Zealand employers are guilty of significant name and accent discrimination thats the unsettling claim from one Auckland-based academic who says hes experienced the behaviour first-hand.Business lecturer Terence King who was born Wang Lai Ming told the BBC that he was overlooked for a number of jobs because of his Chinese name.King studied for his masters degree in the UK and moved to New Zealand in 2000 but said he struggled to secure work until he changed his name."I'm confident there will always be a job for me somewhere with my English name and qualifications to match," he said to the BBC.Paul Spoonley a distinguished professor from Massey University studied the issue and said many employers were averse to foreign names out of fear the potential recruit wouldnt fit in."We have surveyed employers, many of whom feel that immigrants, especially from Asia, do not understand New Zealand and local cultural practices," he told the news channel. They are particularly concerned with English language proficiency."While discrimination against race, ethnicity or national origin is prohibited under human rights law, data gathered by Statistics New Zealand shows its still very much a problem.According to the data collected between 2008 and 2010 an estimated 77,700 people claimed to have experienced racial discrimination in employment situations with Maori, Pacific and Asian people most likely to report an incident.However, a number of New Zealand employers are already taking steps to combat any unconscious discrimination that may be tied to international names including the countrys civil service.Earlier this year, former State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie told the Global Government Forum that New Zealands civil service was looking at introducing name-blind recruitment. It was an amazing night for the "Game of Thrones" cast at the 2016 Primetime Emmys: they received 23 nominations, won the biggest award of the night, and they all somehow managed to look really, really ridiculously good on the red carpet. Leading the GoT cast on the red carpet was none other than the mother of dragons herself, Emilia Clarke. Advertisement Clarke stunned in a shimmering nude Atelier Versace chainmail gown that was fitted to perfection, a dual textured updo, and a matte grey-violet eye and glossy lip for her beauty look. As for Maisie Williams, the 19-year-old pulled out all the stops for her quirky Emmys beauty look. The British teen rocked a playful, custom-made embroidered Markus Lupfer gown with a ruffled collar, and held on to a 39 clutch from the little-known, Singapore-based label. Advertisement Daring in wispy clip-on bangs (yup, clip-on!) and bright green eyeshadow, the actress who plays Arya Stark looked adorable with a top knot and totally proved you don't have to take red carpet fashion so seriously. And what else did Maisie flaunt on the carpet? A tattoo. One that matches Sophie Turner's, her on-screen sister. Turner gave us major '90s vibes in her sheer lace Valentino gown that swept the red carpet beautifully. Bringing her blond locks back into a loose braid, the 20-year-old actress who plays Sansa Stark donned a Forevermark diamonds gold choker. Advertisement As for Gwendoline Christie (a.k.a. Brienne of Tarth to GoT fans), the little black dress was her choice of uniform for the evening. The strapless black Giles Deacon ensemble that featured an avant garde bow accompanied the British actress' funky black heels. And last but not least? Kit Harington. And oh yes, he is very much alive. For more moments from the 2016 Emmys red carpet, check out the slideshow below! 2016 Emmys Red Carpet See Gallery Advertisement OTTAWA A bill that outlaws genetic discrimination and is staunchly opposed by the insurance industry is one of the first pieces of legislation up for debate as the Commons returns to work this week. Bill S-201, an act to prohibit and prevent genetic discrimination, passed unanimously in the Senate and is Liberal senator James Cowan's third attempt at protecting from repercussions by employers or insurance companies any Canadians who want to be genetically tested. Advertisement Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Sen. James Cowan speaks at a news conference in the Senate foyer on Parliament Hill on June 9, 2015. (Photo: Matthew Usherwood/CP) People of all ages, including young children whose parents are concerned they'll be discriminated against, are refusing to get tested or to take part in medical research out of fear that employers or insurance companies will ask for their records or demand tests, then fire them or decline coverage if they don't like what they see, Cowan told The Huffington Post Canada. "The fact that there is no protection in our law for the results of those tests, I find astounding," the former leader of the Senate Liberals said. "We are out of sync with all the countries that we normally like to compare ourselves to; almost every other country has some form of protection for genetic test results." Advertisement In the Senate, Cowan told the story of a 24-year-old young man who was tested for the gene responsible for Huntington's disease. He tested positive. One Friday, his employer asked about his result and the man answered honestly. On Monday, Cowan said, he was fired. "Fear of genetic discrimination is stopping many Canadians from having genetic testing that their doctors believe would benefit them," he said. "We are out of sync with all the countries that we normally like to compare ourselves to; almost every other country has some form of protection for genetic test results." Sen. James Cowan Bev Heim-Myers, chair of the Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness and CEO of the Huntington Society of Canada, told senators at committee that the young man Cowan described wouldn't develop Huntington's disease for another 20 years. He could have fought the case through the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, she said, but doing so would out his siblings. It would also be up to him, and his family, to pay his legal fees. "The whole thing was prohibitive, not only from a fear perspective, but from a cost perspective. He couldn't go forward." Advertisement Cowan's bill prohibits anyone from requiring an individual to undergo a genetic test or to disclose the results of a genetic test. It amends the Canada Labour Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on genetic characteristics, although exceptions allow questions from health-care practitioners to improve treatment and from researchers to gather data. The penalties are stiff, with maximum fines reaching $1 million and with possible imprisonment for up to five years. Liberal MP Rob Oliphant takes part in an interview on Parliament Hill on Feb. 26, 2016. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP) Unlike most private members' bills, which are "frankly, kind of weak and are kind of a idiosyncratic," Liberal MP Rob Oliphant said: "This is a real piece of legislation." Advertisement He will be shepherding the bill through the Commons. "Canada has a human rights regime that is rigorous on so many levels and as a gay person I benefited from human rights legislation," he told HuffPost. "So if I can do something to help other people on human rights legislation [and] this is the next wave of human rights legislation, of where we need to go on human rights I should do it." As the former president and CEO of the Asthma Society of Canada, Oliphant was aware of the bill and the concerns from researchers that their work would be inhibited if Canada didn't have protection against genetic discrimination, he said. 'The next wave of human rights legislation' "Thirty-five per cent of kids, parents of children at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto are now not having genetic tests on their kids because they are worried about the potential genetic discrimination." Millions of Canadians could be affected by this bill, Oliphant added, pointing to Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, cystic fibrosis, ovarian cancer and breast cancer. Actress Angelina Jolie famously highlighted the breast cancer issue when she underwent a double mastectomy after discovering that she carried the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which can increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer by as much as 87 per cent. When Cowan first introduced his genetic nondiscrimination bill three years ago, he noted there were 2,000 genetic tests available. Now, there are 48,612 tests. Advertisement Genetic testing is good health policy that will lead to better health decisions, Oliphant said. Armed with the information that one has a genetic predisposition to develop a particular disease or condition, a person can take steps to reduce the chance of developing that disease or condition. "In the long run, it will reduce health costs. People will be healthier and better," he said. The insurance industry responds Frank Swedlove, president and CEO of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, believes S-201 is unfair to the insurance industry because it allows applicants to know more about their health risks than the insurer does when they assess risk. "This is directly contrary to the principle of equal information, which is the foundation of our insurance system," he told senators at a committee hearing. The insurance industry self-regulates, he added, and prevents would-be insurers from demanding a genetic test before issuing a policy. But if someone gets a genetic test, he said, the insurer should have the right to know the result. Jacques Boudreau, a fellow with the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, warned that insurance premiums for everybody would spike if the bill passed. "Receiving a bad result from a genetic test would be a strong motivator to acquire more life insurance," he said. Under the bill, someone would be able to acquire insurance at the same price as the general public and well below its true cost, he noted, saying that would provide a strong incentive to purchase as much as possible. Advertisement G7 quip 'very misleading' "We are deeply concerned that the vast majority of the public will have to pay more for insurance because of the increase in premiums to fund the cost of anti-selection," Boudreau said. Swedlove told senators that the characterization that Canada as the only G7 country not to provide protection against genetic discrimination is "very misleading." In Europe, he said, the insurance industry sells almost exclusively short-term insurance. And in the United States, federal non-discrimination legislation does not include life insurance, disability insurance and long-term care insurance. Helm-Myers, noted, however, that several states including California, which covers life insurance have adopted more comprehensive protection. MP understands concerns of insurance industry "They are worried. I get it," Oliphant said about the insurance industry. "Their principle concern is that someone will go, find out they carry a gene and increase their life insurance. Our primary concern is someone is going to not find out they have that gene, and not do proactive medical care, and, more likely, die quickly and not pay their premiums... Advertisement "We actually think this is not negative towards the insurance industry but can be positive." Cowan agrees. "There is a good reason why insurance companies should get the factual information about your health now and your past health, but not be entitled to receive information about something that may never happen in the future," the senator said. "This [bill] is not about insurance," he added. "It just seems to be the place where most of this discrimination takes place. The biggest abuses are in the insurance field. But there are cases of people failing to get employment or feeling uncomfortable in the workplace, failing to get an advancement or something like that because people know that they carry a certain gene and might develop some condition in the future." Debate begins this week Debate in the Commons begins on Tuesday. So far, the Liberal government hasn't said whether it will support the legislation. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has expressed concern that the bill intrudes on provincial jurisdictions the provinces regulate the insurance industry and most employment sectors. Joanne Ghiz, Wilson-Raybould's press secretary, said the government would announce its position this week. Eight provinces Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Alberta, and B.C. have told Cowan they're following the discussions on S-201, but none has expressed fervent opposition. Advertisement The senator, who will be forced to retire in January after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, believes federal protection is necessary. 'This is really exploding' "We can't leave it to a patchwork of provincial jurisdictions to do this, because Canadians obviously move from one part of the country to another, and you can't be protected in one province but not in another." Genetic testing is "the way of the future," Cowan added. "Every time you turn around, there are more and more tests being developed for more of our genes and more and more conditions. This is really exploding. Canadians need this protection now." In October, Cowan will receive an advocacy award from the American Society for Human Genetics for his work on S-201. Also on HuffPost Lifestyle Risk Factors For Cancer See Gallery Jeffrey Tambor has a message for Hollywood: Hire more transgender actors and actresses. The "Transparent" star, who took home the 2016 Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of a transgender woman, used his acceptance speech as a platform for taking Hollywood network heads to task, telling them that cisgender men should stop playing transgender women on-screen. Im not going to say this beautifully: to you people out there... please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story. Do that, and also, one more thing, I would not be unhappy if I were the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television. We have work to do, I love you," he said. Advertisement #Emmys: Jeffrey Tambor pleads with producers to "please give transgendered talent a chance" https://t.co/7f8M2uFuNUpic.twitter.com/TAlEuanM3z Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 19, 2016 While talking to reporters backstage after his win, Tambor repeated his sentiments. "I just hope there are more opportunities for transgender talent," he said. "I would very much like to be the last cisgender male playing a transgender female. I think we are there now." "Orange is the New Black" star Laverne Cox, who became the first openly transgender actor to receive an Emmy nomination in 2014, echoed Trambor's statement in her own speech while presenting an Emmy on Sunday. Give trans talent a shot," she said. "I would not be here tonight if I was not given that chance." "Her Story," a web series starring two transgender women, also earned a 2016 Emmy nomination for outstanding short form comedy or drama series, but it didn't win. Advertisement Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman in "Transparent." And although trans people have had more visibility in mainstream media in the past couple of years, many trans characters are being played by cisgender actors. (Jared Leto in "Dallas Buyers Club" and Eddie Redmayne in "The Danish Girl" are recent examples.) Actor and producer Mark Ruffalo was recently criticized for casting Matt Bomer a gay man as a transgender sex worker in the new film "Anything." Ruffalo addressed these concerns in a series of tweets. To the Trans community. I hear you. Its wrenching to you see you in this pain. I am glad we are having this conversation. Its time, he wrote. In all honesty I suggested Matt for the role after the profound experience I had with him while making The Normal Heart." Advertisement But his remarks didn't go far enough for some LGBTQ activists. There are many qualified trans actors and writers who could have played in and advised on the construction of the scenes youre about to edit into a motion picture. They will lose more work because of this, trans musician Mya Byrne wrote in a piece for Huffington Post. We know you have good intentions. But those intentions have far-reaching after-effects that you, as cis men, dont experience. Also on HuffPost A teacher in Dunnville, Ont. is in trouble again over inappropriate remarks she allegedly made to students. Jennifer Green-Johnson, who teaches English at Dunnville Secondary School near Brantford, is facing a disciplinary hearing by the Ontario College of Teachers. Advertisement The Brantford Expositor reports that she apparently told a male student in March 2015 to "grow some balls," called him an idiot, and slapped or hit him in the head. The Grand Erie District School Board suspended her for a day without pay two months later. Jennifer Green-Johnson has been accused of professional misconduct over comments she allegedly made to students. (Photo: Dunnville Secondary School) During the 2015-2016 school year, Green-Johnson also allegedly made comments to students like, "Why don't you lick me where I fart?," "I have never said this to a student before but f*ck you," and "it looks like your ass cheeks are too close together," according to the Ontario College of Teachers. Advertisement She also apparently told students that a female student "looked like a frumpy old lady today." She was suspended without pay for six days in February. The college's discipline committee has also dealt with Green-Johnson twice before for allegations of professional misconduct. Charges were dropped in 2007, but she was found guilty of professional misconduct in January relating to incidents in 2011. "Worthless teacher and worthless human being." Former student The college said she used words like "bitching," "idiots", "ass" and "stupid" while teaching. In 2011, she noticed two students play-wrestling outside her classroom, and when one jumped on the other's back, another student overheard her say "so you like it from behind." At the time of the January decision, she had already been suspended three times by the school board. The disciplinary committee ordered her to serve her suspension retroactively. She also had to complete courses related to setting appropriate boundaries with students. In particular, the Committee is concerned with the pattern of behaviour displayed by the member and the fact that the members conduct did not improve, even after several interventions by her board, the college's disciplinary panel wrote. Advertisement Uncommon for teachers to face disciplinary panel multiple times A spokesperson for the Ontario College of Teachers told the Expositor in an email that Green-Johnson's situation is uncommon. "We have had cases where a teacher faces a college disciplinary panel a second time but it is not frequent," said Gabrielle Barkany. School board superintendent Scott Sincerbox told the newspaper it follows a "progressive discipline process"for teachers, which can range from verbal warnings and a conversation to an eventual firing. Green-Johnson has two-and-a-half stars out of five on RateMyTeachers.com. Dunnville Secondary School, where Jennifer Green-Johnson teaches English. (Photo: Google Maps/Screenshot) Advertisement While a few former and current students were fans, a number of others said she was unprofessional, immature and a bully. "She's the most immature teacher i have ever come in contact with. Terrible teacher and EVEN worst (sic) when it comes to "acting" like one of the students," wrote one. "Swears at students all the time, and laughs if you don't know the correct answer," wrote another. One person who was in her class in the early 2000s said they weren't at all surprised by the recent allegations, saying she never taught them anything. "Worthless teacher and worthless human being." The Ontario College of Teachers will meet Friday to set a date for Green-Johnson's hearing. Also on HuffPost Kim Kardashian West is using her fame to call attention to the historic mass killing of her fellow Armenians. A blog penned by the reality TV star that slams deniers of the Armenian genocide was re-printed as part of a full-page ad in Friday's New York Times. Advertisement The campaign was paid for by the Armenian Educational Foundation, a non-profit group that offers financial assistance to Armenian students around the world. In 1915, over 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman government and the Ottoman Empire's successor state, Turkey. That country has repeatedly denied that "genocide" is an accurate term to describe what happened. The blog originally appeared on Kardashian West's website, in response to a Wall Street Journal ad that ran earlier this year. Advertisement She called the newspaper "morally irresponsible" for "spreading lies" because it published an ad from Fact Check Armenia, which called for the "truth" about the atrocities. The group refutes the claim that the 1915 events constituted a genocide, and blames Armenians for harming Turkish people. Full-page ad in today's @WSJ denying the Armenian genocide pic.twitter.com/LjBGjCo80l Gary Bass (@Gary__Bass) April 20, 2016 In her blog, Kardashian West wrote: "Lies make good headlines, good headlines make great covers, great covers sell magazines. She noted that she and her family are no strangers to brushing off false media reports. "But when I heard about this full-page ad that ran in the Wall Street Journal denying the Armenian genocide, I couldnt just brush it off." Advertisement She said the newspaper's decision to run the ad from Fact Check Armenia was "reckless, upsetting, and dangerous." Kim Kardashian (L) and her sister Khloe (3rdL) visit the genocide memorial, which commemorates the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, in Yerevan on April 10, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) Kardashian West's great-grandparents moved to the United States shortly before the 1915 genocide. Last year, Kim also wrote a piece in TIME calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to refer to the massacre as a genocide. Canada's government affirmed the Armenian genocide last year. Also on HuffPost The Kardashian family visit Armenia See Gallery Henry Steadman via Getty Images Needle and spoon A recent report indicated that 86 per cent of drugs tested at Insite, the safe injection sight in Vancouver, contain fentanyl, a powerful opioid that can make people sick and even kill them. There are many reasons to end the war on drugs and to shift from criminalization to legalization and regulation. A main one is to prevent those who use drugs from being poisoned by tainted substances. Advertisement The dismal statistics on tainted drugs at Insite are by no means unique. Because recreational drug markets are illegal, they are, of course, not regulated. There are, therefore, no restrictions on what is sold and purchased. Substances can be adulterated in a variety of harmful ways. Cases of poisoning happen all too frequently. There are no safeguards against products that are tainted or are of unknown potency and no legal means of redress when damage from such drugs occurs. Do we, as a society, take over and regulate the supply and quality of drugs or do we leave these issues to the forces of an unbridled market? A 2015 story from Britain told of a woman who developed severe lesions on her body because her skin cells were dying. The cause was the effect of tainted cocaine that she had been using for some time. The drug was laced with levamisole, a substance used to cure worm infestations in cows and horses. One source suggests that this substance may be found in as much as 80 per cent of cocaine used in Britain. In August 2014 two young people died as a result of drugs they had taken at an electronic dance music festival in Toronto. Their deaths were not a singular event. At that same festival, 15 other people were hospitalized (and survived). There had also been 22 hospitalizations during the Digital Dreams festival in June, and 29 at a DJ show in May. Tainted ecstasy (MDMA) is a particular culprit. Advertisement A systematic review of drug adulteration pointed to the fact that the lack of standardized forensic analysis and reporting practices has made it difficult to establish with any confidence the extent to which drugs are tainted in any way. The review concluded that drugs are often adulterated with benign substances that enhance or mimic the effects of those drugs. At the same time, it found that a lot of drugs are dangerous because of impurities often resulting from production, wrapping, etc. One response to these issues is to claim that users should just stop -- "Stop buying drugs, stop using them. You can't get sick or die if you don't put this stuff in your body!" Some might go even farther and suggest that the possibility of harmful adulterants or infections is a useful deterrent to use. Those who aren't stopped by criminal prohibition are faced with the prospect of getting sick or dying because drugs are unregulated and trafficked in by those who have no concern for the safety and welfare of others. And there may, indeed, be some who are deterred from use because of the prospect of being poisoned by tainted substances. Sadly, however, the opposite is also the case. Despite criminal prohibition and the prospect of becoming ill or even dying, people still do drugs. So we are faced with a wrenching dilemma: Do we, as a society, take over and regulate the supply and quality of drugs or do we leave these issues to the forces of an unbridled market operating in a dark underworld in which such poisons can be peddled? Those are the stark choices. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Vancouver has become an international rock star in public art. Pieces like the Trans-Am Totem in the Olympic Village and the Granville Island Silos have become destinations and conversation starters for locals and tourists. And just last week, the city hosted the first-ever Vancouver Mural Festival along Main Street to great acclaim and popularity. The Vancouver Biennale has brought in a wide range of temporary and permanent public art installations, like the beans along the False Creek seawall and the golden laughing statues in English Bay. The scene here has been noticed internationally, with three pieces making it onto this U.K. newspaper's roundup of standout urban art, alongside cities like Berlin, Chicago and Istanbul. Developers have played a small role in this burgeoning art movement through civic mandates to include public art in their developments. Known in the industry as CACs (community amenity contributions), this municipal program has led to a rotating, thought-provoking, biannual series of art installations outside the Shangri-La, curated by the Vancouver Art Gallery. It's also led to public art tours at Fairmont Pacific Rim's extensive and impressive collection. These efforts have put local development company, Westbank, in a whole new category of commitment to public art. Advertisement According to Jan Ballard, a fine art consultant working on more than 30 real estate public art projects in the city, this is the first time a developer has initiated a voluntary public art commitment. "Some developers will add money to their public art components, but I've never worked with a company that didn't have a mandate." PC Urban's voluntary process included hiring a selection committee to run a shortlist where for each development, 25 artists were considered and three were chosen and paid to provide a concept proposal. The result will be two public art installations on commercial buildings that promise to enhance the streetscape, making it more memorable and engaging. The idea to do something with public art outside of the city's mandated program evolved from the company's experience in North Vancouver on a development where public art was a building requirement. What we initially thought of as a tax, a necessary part of doing business turned into something totally unexpected. As we got more involved in the process of selection and curation and when the artist finished, the end result was so engaging and spectacular, I realized that adding public art voluntarily -- especially to industrial and office buildings - would create a more memorable experience for passersby and building users. Advertisement Essentially, all developers want to deliver an experience that engages people through buildings. We don't want to create buildings that are sterile antiseptic and forgettable. It's our responsibility to the growth and future of the city to create public spaces that are destinations; places you want to spend time. As Maya Angelou once said: "It's not what you do. It's not what you say. It's how you make people feel." I believe it's not what we build. It's not how we design. It's the experience we leave people with. Mark Ashby, the artist behind Boids, the upcoming public art installation at IntraUrban on SW Marine Drive, says he tries hard to keep the art open-ended in meaning. "I want to create an impactful visual experience, something eye catching, that people will notice and enjoy." Boids, Ashby's 3D metal chevrons resembling birds in flight, will transform a non-descript, industrial, concrete wall into something vibrant and cool. Made from stainless steel sheet metal, the birds will reflect morning sunlight, cascade rainwater and cast shadows differently during the day. It will be a constantly changing view, one designed to make people think about flight as a metaphor for the small business owners inhabiting the space. "It captures the tenuousness of the entrepreneurial experience, as well as the exuberance of freedom," says Ashby. Rebecca Bayer, an artist who works on public art installations around the Lower Mainland, is currently working on Giant, a very large, white, pixelated, half-tone tree, to be visible on the window of a new building in Mount Pleasant. Her piece, she says, honours the history of the site, formerly home to giant Douglas Firs, and will be the height of a 75-year-old tree, the same age as the existing building. Advertisement "Public art in Mount Pleasant has the power to mitigate the change between one era and the next. It allows for different voices to be heard," she says."It's important for the city to have creativity as part of its infrastructure. It adds layers of interest and makes people more curious about their surroundings, the history of place and the potential of place. That awareness can really enhance people's lives." Public art on industrial and commercial buildings creates community and adds to the experience of a vibrant urban space. Many developers are passionate investors in art. The Audain family and Bob Rennie are just two examples. But according to Ballard, it's unprecedented for a Vancouver developer to voluntarily invest in public art. It's time to change that and to start embracing art as an essential element in building design. Paper Boat London via Getty Images nation, nationality, patriotism, support, canada, Ottawa, toronto, canadian, olympics, world cup, tree, blue sky, nurture, positive, happy, government, country, flag, hand, painted, natural, citizenship, peace, world, united, culture, identity, one person, creative, concept, vote, 5, palm, global, economy, elections, charity, hand sign, symbol, In light of Conservative Party leadership candidate Kellie Leitch's proposal to screen immigrants, refugees and visitors for "anti-Canadian values" Liberal Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre Kent Hehr posted the following quote from former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on Facebook, "There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian. What could be absurd than the concept of an "all Canadian" boy or girl? A society that which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate." Since announcing this proposal Ms. Leitch's opposing leadership candidates, interim Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney have all condemned the policy. If we subscribe to Trudeau Sr's idea that there is no such thing as a model Canadian, that a society that emphasizes uniformity creates intolerance and hate how can we classify anything as "anti-Canadian"? Advertisement The Liberal Party of Canada was in power for 79 years of the 20th century. They've made an art form of of criticizing anything that isn't Liberal legislation as "anti-Canadian". Unfortunately on both sides of the aisle "anti-Canadian" is the last refuge of the Canadian politician with no more arguments left to make. "American" or "U.S.-style" is a close second. In 2004, former Prime Minister Paul Martin warned of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "hidden agenda" of extreme social conservatism and U.S.-style private health care. The Liberal "Truth" advertisement in the 2004 election stated that Harper would "sacrifice Canadian-style heath care for U.S.-style tax cuts." Canadian-style universal health care, good. U.S.-style private health care? Bad. Not Liberal legislation, "anti-Canadian". The Conservatives had promised to protect the public health care system, which they did during their time in government. Not to mention maintaining federal health-care transfers to the provinces at the same levels of growth promised during the Chretien and Martin years. In 2010, in reference to Quebecers, Justin Trudeau stated that "We have a role. This country, Canada, it belongs to us." In fairness, a claim to being more in tune with Canadian values is something Conservatives have practiced as well. Advertisement In 2011 former Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that his newly-elected majority government was "a sign that Canadians of all regions and backgrounds have found a home in our Conservative party, that Conservative values are Canadian values and that the Conservative Party is Canada's party." In 2011, the Conservative Party won a majority government with 39.62% of the vote with 61% voter turnout. In 2015, the Liberal Party won a majority government with 39.47% of the vote with 68.3% voter turnout. It's a stretch for any prime minister to claim to be truly representative of the Canadian public, or its identity. If we're to follow Trudeau Sr's wisdom in that there is truly no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian, what are we to make of the reaction to Ms. Leitch's "values test" proposal? It's simple. Defining Canadian identity is Liberal territory. When Liberals speak of Canadian values they vaunt Liberal legislation. Universal health-care. Pearsonian, peacekeeping foreign affairs. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Government policy woven into the Canadian identity. It's masterful. When Conservatives speak of Canadian values, they tend not to prop up Liberal legislation. Regardless of whether or not Ms. Leitch's proposal has any merit there's a reason this proposal has generated such a flurry of response, the Canadian right is entrenching on the Canadian left's territory. Conservatives are taking back a debate Liberals and New Democrats have owned for the last 50 years. Advertisement Here's the rub. No political party or government defines what it means to be Canadian. Canadians do. Think of the most Canadian person you know. Are they Canadian because of anything the government's ever done? Sally Anscombe via Getty Images Woman using a virtual reality headset By Craig and Marc Kielburger The image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach etched the plight of Syrian refugees into Canada's consciousness. If only the world had felt his dinghy capsize, been thrown into the churning waters after fleeing a rubble-worn country. Maybe more would be willing to act. Now, virtual reality promises to mimic these experiences, with tools to view and hear and feel the world as a Syrian refugee, or a girl fetching water in East Africa. If our brains can be tricked into the immediacy of these events, our emotions could follow. Advertisement We are hardwired for empathy. A landmark 2012 study found that human interactions are unique because of a neurological overlap in our understanding of the self and those closest to us. Our brains don't differentiate--our loved ones' emotions affect us the same as our own. We've all experienced this physiological connection when we've felt the pain of a friend. But what about people in distant countries? Virtual reality can close that gap. The technology could revolutionize empathy. Professor Jeremy Bailenson has been researching the neurological and psychological impact of virtual reality for 15 years at Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. Visual, auditory and dynamic spatial cues mimic real-life responses in the brain; he's found that the immersive quality of this technology leaves an indelible mark on users in a way that still images don't. Bailenson's lab is harnessing this potential, pioneering simulated experiences that create selfless behaviours. One recent study found that giving test subjects super powers in virtual reality, like the ability to fly, made them more likely to help a lab technician with a task in real life. Advertisement Virtual reality is inspiring people to become everyday superheroes. So it's no surprise that non-profits are leveraging this technology. In the face of charity fatigue and whiplash-quick news cycles that lurch from crisis to crisis, there's a more intimate way to connect donors to a cause. Hundreds of people donned simulation goggles at a charity gala in New York last year. They experienced the daily routine of a 13-year-old girl in Ethiopia as she trekked for miles to fetch 25 litres of water for her family. The event raised U.S. $2.4 million for clean water projects, far more than projected. Journalists, too, have harnessed virtual reality to lift their stories off the page, and screen. Nonny de la Pena's Project Syria puts users on the ground in a refugee camp. It debuted at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos, giving some politicians a rare chance to experience the conflict themselves. Refugee camps don't make for good memories, but they're something everyone should see. We visited Dadaab, a sliver of land in Northern Kenya, during the 2011 drought that plunged East Africa into crisis. It was home to 300,000 refugees fleeing conflict and famine. Aid workers went without sleep, mothers starved to save food rations for their children. Because of our history and infrastructure in the region, our partner communities fared better. Still, as a non-profit, we struggled to get the world to pay attention, taking photos and writing stories that didn't do justice to the crisis. We hope the next frontier for virtual reality is the classroom, where it promises to immerse students--our future leaders--in worlds beyond textbooks. In a small way, we wanted to do the same for young people and guests at our WE Day events this year, with goggles that take users to one of our partner communities in Kenya. Walk a mile -- or several -- with a Maasai woman collecting water. Advertisement If a single image can transcend borders, imagine what virtual reality can do for global compassion. Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. Inigo Barandiaran via Getty Images We've all heard of the 7 Wonders of the World. And the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. And the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. Sadly, Canada is represented in these famous lists only by the Northern Lights, which Greenland expects us to share. Advertisement So I was a little excited to come across an article on the 7 Natural Wonders of Canada. Those are: Niagara Falls (Ontario) Joffre Lakes (BC) Northern Lights Lake Louise (Alberta) Maligne Lake (Alberta) Singing Sand (PEI) Hopewell Rocks (NB) Hmm. While these are all amazing places, they lack one important feature -- places I have actually been. They also lack my field of sunflowers, which I assume did not qualify because it blooms for just three or four weeks a year. Huffington Post published a list of 8 Great Natural Wonders of Canada a few years ago, which is a somewhat different list: Haida G'wai (BC) Fossil Forests on Ellesmere Island (Nunavut) Niagara Falls (Ontario) Northern Lights Singing Sands (PEI) Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (Alberta) Bay of Fundy (NB) Manicouagan Crater (Quebec) Not to be outdone, Canadians actually voted for their top 7 Wonders of Canada, which turned out to be: Sleeping Giant (Ontario) Niagara Falls (Ontario) Bay of Fundy (NB) Nahanni National Park Reserve (NWT) Northern Lights The Canadian Rockies Cabot Trail (NS) I like this list better, as it includes four places I have been or seen -- even if my field of sunflowers is still missing. Three places show up in all three lists -- Niagara Falls, Bay of Fundy and the Northern Lights -- but the lists are otherwise fairly unique. These are all amazing places, which you can take me to anytime you like. I am a little surprised that the Alberta badlands aren't on any of the lists. I am even more surprised that the Perce Rock is not on any of them, given that it is as iconic a natural image of Canada as Niagara Falls. My contribution to the lists of natural wonders will be 7 Natural Wonders of Canada that I Have Actually Seen. This is a far more important collection, right? The fun thing about a list like this is that you can make your own. So feel free to leave your list in the comments below. Here's mine: Advertisement Flowerpot Island, near Tobermory on the Bruce Penninsula, in Ontario. Not so famous as its cousin on the Bay of Fundy, but you'll have to agree that it's pretty cool. Maybe even cooler than the Bay of Fundy. And such blue water! Capilano Canyon is so close to Vancouver that it is accessible to all. So much so, in fact, that I painted and drew a view of it four times. Ironically, as I was searching for lists, a Google Ad for BC Tourism, featuring the Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge, stalked me from site to site. The bridge is fun to cross, because it is wobbly. Some people are afraid to walk across, because they don't like foot bridges that sway with every step. I dare you to run across! Advertisement Bird Island is nothing special, just a very rugged crop of rock jutting up from the water. But the birds on Bird Island sure are special. I was able to check one thing off my bucket list by taking a boat tour from near Sydney (Cape Breton Island) to this island. I saw puffins in the wild. Thousands of Puffins, in fact, popping in and out of their caves in the rock face. We also saw grey seals (not popping in and out of caves), cormorants and black herons strutting atop the rocks, and bald eagles flying overhead. Lusk Cavern, near Gatineau, Quebec, is to blame for me knowing the word "spelunking". The cavern is a pathway for a stream, and is divided in two, with a huge open-air gap between the two segments. The first half of the cavern can be walked through with natural light most of the way. In some spots, the water is only ankle deep. In other spots, be prepared to get wet. The second half of the cavern is completely dark. You can't see what you are doing as you climb down the underground waterfall. In the spring, when the water is high, you have to swim underwater to pass through one of the pools. The Niagara Whirlpool is just downstream from the more famous Falls. It's not really part of the Falls, though, as it is 6 km away. So much water whirls in a circle as the flow takes a tight bend in the Niagara River. Advertisement Red sand and red earth. If you live in PEI, you might wonder, "What's the wonder?" However, any place where sand is other than a dull grey-beige is pretty amazing to us mainlanders. Red, blue, purple - whatever colour. And the sand and earth in PEI are an amazing hue of red. High Falls is a natural water slide near Achray, in Algonquin Park (Ontario). People, this is fun! Well, that's seven, and I didn't even mention Elora Gorge or the local rock family. Or my sunflower field. Never mind, by the time you make plans to visit, the flowers will be gone. So I will leave you with a couple pictures to enjoy. Advertisement Photo credits: Flowerpot Island: (Wikepedia) Capilano Canyon: (David Leonhardt) Niagara Whirlpool: (Wikipedia) Hemera Technologies via Getty Images Bank sign on building Wells Fargo has just been fined $185MM by the CFPB, (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/09/18/what-wells-fargos-185-million-settlement-may-mean-you/90521580/) Los Angeles city and local municipalities and is in some serious hot water. The CFPB will be collecting $100MM, the largest fine in the organization's 5 year history. After the financial crisis of 2007-2008 that caused the greatest recession since the great depression, Ponzi schemes and now this, how are everyday people expected to trust our banks again? Customers of Wells Fargo had 1.5MM unauthorized accounts and another 565,000 credit cards opened that may not have permission to do so. The bank's employees went to the trouble of creating fake email accounts, fake pins, and opening fake online banking logins. They even temporarily transferred money into customer fraudulent accounts to open them and then back causing overdraft and other fees without permission. Many customers were charged annual fees and interest on the non approved credit cards that were opened as well, according to the CFPB. All of this effort to hit their bonuses by beefing up their sales numbers with these fake accounts. Advertisement Over 5,000 employees have been fired, staff monitoring have been changed and there will be new training on ethics and business conduct but what else could the huge bank do to help with their reputation? Here are 5 things I think all banks should start to initiate to avoid future customer hacking and great recessions. It is probably worth it, right? Remember FinTech is coming! Show Your Values Through Social Media: Instead of only pimping products and services promote your bank's core values as well. Millennials have been shown to do business with organizations that they share their values with and recently the banks seem to only value money. Bring back the trust that has been lost after the financial crisis and now this internal hack job and show what you stand for and how you support those values with your profits. Social is a great place to Change Your Sales Culture: There has been a ton of pressure for front line bank staff to be continuously up selling products and gaining a bigger slice of customers wallets. But where is the value to the customer in that process? If you have all of a customers business and then they leave because of poor value or service, it didn't serve your bank in the long run. Why not spend time creating a the most value for your customers. A happy customer will be willing to give you all of their business when they feel confident and safe with you. Teach Your Employees to Be Great Bankers Vs. Sales People: Wells Fargo is setting up a new training program to teach ethics and business conduct and it could be expanding that program to show employees how to master their career as a banker. People tell bankers things they wouldn't tell their priest and most of the job is being a really good people person vs. only working numbers. Give employees training in people, give them skills to analyze customer spending habits and how to motivate them to be better with their money and watch your profit soar. Having an extra credit card doesn't help someone heavily in debt but a consolidation loan and some money coaching might! Invest in Money Tools: Customers live on their phones and banks should be there to help. More advanced apps that help you track spending and find deals can ben a huge help. Provide online tools that go beyond rent vs. own and help customers make comprehensive plans to achieve their goals. Non banks like mint.com and PayPal have provided huge value with sophisticated apps and sites and banks need to take it to the next level. Banks need to provide the most value and convenience will keep their clients. Provide Mobile Customer Service: If before, we didn't want to go into a bank branch to wait in line to get a certified cheque, now we REALLY don't want to go into one if the teller is going to hack my account and open new products to hit their bonus. I can shop, date, get an Uber and more form my phone so why not fully bank? If I want to change my cell phone plan I can use Facebook messenger or twitter so why not my mortgage payment schedule or contribute to my retirement account. Proper service is where the people reside and the people are on their phones looking at cats with hats. It will be harder for employees to be dishonest when customer conversations are monitored and documented in a chat. The big banks don't have many more cat lives to win back customer support and trust. FinTech is taking advantage of millennial angst around the industry and will keep pushing inward as new financial fiascos pop up. It's time for the banks to make big changes to their culture, values, service and how they raise their future bankers. Advertisement Have a fantastic week, "Would you care to fill out an application?" My husband and I have a small apartment on the main floor of our home. We're currently in the process of showing it to prospective tenants eager to move in next month. It's unbelievably hard to find a reasonably priced apartment in downtown Toronto. Our little space is clean, attractive, and safe. Almost everyone who sees the place wants to rent it. As a result, Dave and I normally receive about 20 applications. Then comes the part that feels so unfair. We sit at the kitchen table, sifting through the papers describing people's lives. Making the case for their having a home here. We hold the power to choose who gets that home, and who keeps looking. Advertisement We meet quite a few "safe bets": clean, quiet, individuals with professional backgrounds and great references. Then there are those seeking refuge from life's storms. We often meet someone just separating from their spouse. There's usually a student working two or three jobs, just to make tuition. And often, a single mom with a little child or two. We feel uneasy holding so much power, just because we live here already. But hold it we do. We have children of our own, and we want to protect our home, so we're very careful. But we also know that if we reject someone who is vulnerable and struggling, many others will certainly do the same. This week in New York What's happening at the United Nations today is oddly similar to our kitchen-table apartment discussions. Many of the world's most powerful landlords are meeting for the Refugee and Migration Summit. Heads of state from all over the world, including our own Prime Minister Trudeau, will discuss the fate of more than 21.3 million refugees -- more than any time since the Second World War. Advertisement This is the first summit at this level about the large movements of refugees and migrants needing a safe place to call home. It's an historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response. Seven-year-old Ibrahim is one of the 21.3 million people whose homes have become unlivable. Where will his family go now? World Vision Photo An ineffective agreement? Two prominent aid groups, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have criticized the agreement that's to be signed at the UN today. They say it falls short of what's needed to deal with the global crisis. In a press release, Amnesty International wrote that UN member states are set to adopt a refugee deal that's "ineffective." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had proposed a plan in which governments would commit to welcoming "10 per cent of the world's refugees annually." Advertisement "Member states stripped the UN proposals of any substance," wrote Amnesty, "making sure there was nothing obligating them to take in specific numbers of people." The power of the landlord As home owners with an apartment to share, my husband and I have the absolute power to choose. We pick which tenant to take, and decide how many should live in the space. We could even take the ad down from Kijiji today, and not rent the space at all. If we did this, though, we'd be a lot poorer. Not just financially, though money would definitely be an issue. Renting out part of our home does wonders for our home economy, no doubt about it. Many people have said that welcoming refugees to our country does the same for Canada. But without a newcomer in our space next month, Dave and I would be poorer in other ways. We know from experience that sharing our space through the years has left us richer on the inside. We recall the single mom and baby girl who lived here soon after we bought our home. We remember the university student with multiple sclerosis, struggling to make it to medical school. And the very elderly gentleman at a personal crossroads in his life. Each has shared their stories, given us their friendship, and helped us to think more broadly. Advertisement Refugees deserve a home Each one of these vulnerable tenants was a gamble of sorts. They might not have "worked out." They might have yielded more cost -- financial and otherwise -- than benefit. But each of these people deserved a safe, welcoming and dignified place to call home. It's the same with the world's refugees, as they stand waiting for someone to open the door. Canada has generously welcomed 30,647 refugees so far. For this, I'm grateful and very proud. When it comes to the millions of refugees looking for a place to lay their heads, UN member states have the power to decide whether the door is opened -- or whether some of the world's most vulnerable families must keep looking. For the sake of the 21.3 million people in search of a home, I pray that they choose wisely. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: John Clutterbuck via Getty Images Cattle standing on a hill side Australia isn't a stranger to tourists, but it's small towns are. Many travelers have seen the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne's Brighton Beach, the Wheel of Brisbane, and the city center of Perth. However, few have met the friendly faces Dalwallinu, Western Australia, or dined at a genuine Outback hotel in Cunnamulla. The people at Queensland-based travel agency Discount My Flights Australia have carefully constructed a list of the top 50 small towns in their home country. Their goal is to encourage travelers to taste their country's best hole-in-the-wall restaurants, roam beaches with nobody on them, and meet the down-to-earth people that make the Land Down Under so special. Advertisement There's no doubt that if you visit one of these four small towns from their list, you'll return home with a never-ending love for "Oz." Cunnamulla, Queensland Cunnamulla lies roughly 750 kilometres west of Brisbane, so it's no surprise that few tourists make the journey. However, those who do will be wowed by the small Outback town, offering slow-paced living among some of Australia's most stunning and untouched natural beauty. Whether head into the Outback on a multi-day tour, go sandboarding, or discover the town's historic hotels, Cunnamulla is a place where you can truly experience the genuine hospitality of the Australian Outback. Don't forget to dine at some of the local hotels, like the Warrego Hotel Motel Cunnamulla, for cheap and traditional home-cooked meals. Stanley, Tasmania You don't have to head to the jam-packed Bondi, Byron Bay, or Noosa beaches to get on the sand in Australia. The entire country is surrounded by coastline, and many of the most picturesque beaches go unseen -- the town of Stanley, Tasmania, is home to some of them. This town carefully meshes quaint country living with 15 historic downtown attractions, quaint shops, locally-famous cafes, and award-winning beaches within walking distance. Don't forget to visit the town's famous "Nut," a natural rock formation that offers 360-degree views of the land and sea. Advertisement Hahndorf, South Australia The name "Hahndorf" may sound more German than Australian, and that's because it is. Hahndorf is the oldest German settlement in Australia, offering rich heritage, family-owned shops and restaurants, and some of the most unique architecture in the country. Hahndorf's tree-lined and heritage-listed main street makes walking through town, shopping at boutiques and refueling at cafes, one of the many must-do activities. The village of Hahndorf is just a short 30-minute drive southeast of Adelaide, making it an easy day trip for travelers seeking history and European charm with a big dose of Australian hospitality. Narooma, New South Wales Photo credit: Ian Armstrong Rent a seaside cabin in Narooma, and you'll probably feel like you've died and gone to heaven. This seaside community on the southern coast of New South Wales offers turquoise ocean waters, surfing beaches, whale watching, mouthwatering seafood restaurants, and everything you could want out of a relaxing beach escape. Every visitor should take the time to venture out to Montague Island, just 7 kilometers off the shore of Narooma, to snap photos, watch wildlife, and take in the views from atop the Montague Island Light. "British Columbia's curriculum is being modernized to respond to [a] demanding world. To develop new models, the Ministry consulted with education experts both locally and internationally. They agree that to prepare students for the future, the curriculum must be student-centred and flexible ..." From B.C.'s New Curriculum One time I wished I had playdough in my classroom. Another time, a whole bunch of Lego blocks. Last week, I wished I had sunglasses with pink lenses for all my students. Wishes like these arise whenever I see my high school students struggling to grasp a concept I had not anticipated they would not understand. Because there is no way of predicting what students know about any topic, no way of knowing how they will respond to any activity, and no way of knowing where a lesson will go once it starts, teachers have always needed to be flexible, ready to respond to whatever is in the classroom at any given moment. Advertisement You would think that the B.C. Ministry of Education would know this: despite detailed lesson plans, no lesson goes as planned. British Columbia Education Minister Mike Bernier arrives for a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday January 14, 2016. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Teaching is nothing if not an exercise in flexibility. The playdough would have been handy for my lesson on the writing process. I could have used the Lego blocks to demonstrate how to structure sentences. Having sunglasses with different coloured lenses would have been useful to show how culture shades a worldview. Advertisement A teacher's day is filled with teachable moments, unpredictable situations that arise as surprises during lessons. Skilled teachers use these the way an aikido master would, deflecting the distraction and transforming it into a lesson. More often than not, the deflection would have been easier if teachers had access to resources not usually found on approved lists. While millions of dollars are locked in textbook inventories that are increasingly removed from learning needs, teachers spend weekends at garage sales and dollar stores buying resources that are more responsive to the alchemy of teaching. I'm still on the lookout for Lego blocks. It would be great if I could include them on a request for classroom supplies now that teachers have been invited to tell the powers-that-be what they need in order to create "flexible learning environments" during this time of transformation to the new curriculum. Aside from playdough, Lego blocks, and pink sunglasses, my wish list: I'd like a pause in the school year two weeks after it has begun. Since the beginning of this school year, I've learned a lot about my current students and now I need time to recalibrate the lessons I planned over the summer to better meet their needs in the absence of psychological assessments and education assistants. Advertisement I would be capable of multiple feats of flexibility if I had a class of 15 students with education assistants for all who needed support for learning. I'd like to have a room in our school that functions like a library but that is filled with the kinds of materials you would find in a makerspace and an art supply store. I'd like the boundaries of my classroom to extend at least three kilometers beyond the walls so that taking my students to the park to experience a concept that they're struggling to grasp does not require three weeks notice and a pile of paperwork. I'd like classroom furniture that is flexible, that can be easily moved and that can provide a variety of seating. Photo by Kim Cofino. And I want the restoration of classroom size and composition legislation. I would be capable of multiple feats of flexibility if I had a class of 15 students with education assistants for all who needed support for learning. Advertisement It's disingenuous for the B.C. Liberal government to couch its new curriculum within a framework of flexibility while simultaneously removing billions from the education budget thereby causing ever more restrictions on what is possible in classrooms. It's especially galling that the minister does not acknowledge that teachers have been transforming education for decades, continuously responding to "the demands of a changing world" without much support for this Herculean task from the ministry. So it's nice to finally be given official permission to do what we've always done -- adjust the curriculum to suit the needs of our students -- but unless there are dollars on the table to support all the rhetoric about change, please spare us the hyperbole about flexibility. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: demaerre via Getty Images Female pharmacist holding a payment terminal, medical care cost concept Since the inception of medicare in Canada, opinion polls in all parts of the country consistently show that a vast majority of Canadians believe in equal access to health care based on need, not ability to pay. Yet this is precisely what is at stake in the Charter challenge against medicare taking place in the B.C. Supreme Court this week. Dr. Brian Day, one of the founders of the Cambie Surgery Clinic, is contesting restrictions on doctors working in the public health system from also charging "extra fees" that would be paid for privately -- out-of-pocket by patients or through private health insurance. Advertisement Far from defending the constitutional right to timely care for everyone in Canada, Dr. Day's Charter case -- not the one he talks about in the press, but the one actually being argued in the B.C. Supreme Court -- shows no concern for the rights of those who are ineligible for or cannot afford private health insurance or private care. It defies belief to dress up a fight that, if won, would undermine the public health care system, as heroic. Yet, from the outset of the Cambie Surgery case, Dr. Day has insisted he is defending the constitutional rights of all Canadians to timely health care. Unfortunately, that is far from the case. A successful outcome for Dr. Day and Cambie Surgery would be Charter protection for billing practices that have been proven to actually undermine the public system. In recent interviews, Dr. Day has decried a public health care monopoly that prevents patients from extricating themselves from the pain and suffering of waiting lists. He's drawn parallels to unjust laws outlawing same sex marriage, safe injection sites and assisted suicide. Advertisement But what exactly are Dr. Day's lawyers arguing in court this week? They're invoking section 7 of the Canadian Charter -- our right to life, liberty and security of person. They are using section 7 as a basis for striking down B.C.'s ban on private health insurance, extra-billing by physicians and other limits on private care. In other words, this case is about doctor billing practices and not about Canadians' Charter rights to improved patient care. The gap between how the vast majority of Canadians understand the right to health care and Dr. Day's reading of the Charter is readily apparent. Dr. Day's lawyers have been clear they're not arguing that the section 7 creates a "positive" right for patients to receive a certain quality or timeliness of publicly funded health care. Far from it. Just like Dr. Chaoulli in his challenge to Quebec's ban on private insurance a decade ago, Dr. Day's lawyers are not arguing the B.C. government is constitutionally obliged to do more to improve the public system in order to safeguard the Charter rights of all patients waiting for care. Advertisement No, Dr. Day claims that section 7 makes it unconstitutional for governments to place any limits on private health insurance or private care that might make it harder for those who can afford it to jump the public queue. To be clear, a successful outcome for Dr. Day and Cambie Surgery would be Charter protection for billing practices that have been proven to actually undermine the public system. In Dr. Day's Charter universe, that ideal of access to health care irrespective of ability to pay is turned on its head. Instead we face the spectre of a right to health care based on wealth. No one should fall through the cracks in circumstances where their life or security of person is at threat. This is a right they should have whether or not they can pay for private care. Dr. Day insists he is fighting for the rights of every one of us who might find ourselves languishing on a public waiting list. But if that were true, he would be asking the courts to order Canadian governments to address inadequacies and inequities within the public system. Advertisement Dr. Day would not be calling for the courts to strike down the public system, but to make it better. This is the Charter right to health care that the vast majority of Canadians want and deserve. Let's hope that the courts are listening to us and not to Dr. Day. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Two B.C. patients have just launched a Charter challenge to the province's Mental Health Act. The last challenge to a Mental Health Act that I am aware of was in Ontario where expanded civil commitment rules and the provisions of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) were challenged. That was unsuccessful. A CTO is an order mandating treatment in the community. The case in B.C. is a bit unusual in that it opposes provisions in the B.C. Act that are unique in Canada. The two plaintiffs are opposed to the rules that allows a detained individual to receive treatment without consent. The concept of the Act is that if you need to be detained because you pose a danger to yourself and/or others yet lack the capacity to seek voluntary treatment, then you should also be treated as soon as you are detained. That provision is one that makes the Act in B.C., in my opinion, superior to other jurisdictions. The claim suggests that this forced treatment violates a person's rights and that the person being committed should be able to help decide on the treatment they wish to have. However, involuntary committal only occurs when someone with a mental illness poses a danger and refuses to accept treatment according to the guide to the Act. [p.11]. If they recognized they needed treatment and accepted it, they would not be detained. Advertisement The plaintiffs argue that with physical illnesses, patients are allowed to make bad health care decisions, which are denied to psychiatric patients. But -- and they acknowledge this -- if someone is taken to the emergency injured and unconscious, it is appropriate that they be treated. When someone's brain is so injured and incapacitated by their mental illness, they can be considered to be in the same situation as someone unconscious from a physical trauma. It may take them longer through treatment to reach a level of consciousness where they can participate in their treatment options but providing that treatment is analogous to treating the unconscious victim. Many will likely disagree with my statement above but B.C. civil libertarian, Herschel Hardin, writing in the Vancouver Sun in 1993, gave an excellent explanation of that when he said, "Here is the Kafkaesque irony: Far from respecting civil liberties, legal obstacles to treatment limit or destroy the liberty of the person." He went on to say: The opposition to involuntary committal and treatment betrays a profound misunderstanding of the principle of civil liberties. Medication can free victims from their illness - free them from the Bastille of their psychoses - and restore their dignity, their free will and the meaningful exercise of their liberties. Ontario is a good example of the downside of committing someone involuntarily because they pose a risk of danger to themselves and then allowing them to refuse the treatment that is deemed necessary. This issue was discussed in a 2008 article in the Canadian Bar Review called "Treatment Delayed - Liberty Denied" [insert title in search field]. The authors demonstrate that attempts to safeguard autonomy by allowing involuntary patients to then refuse treatment has the opposite effect. It: "often results in subjecting them to prolonged detention, mental anguish, physical and chemical restraint, and solitary confinement." Advertisement Those opposed to involuntary treatment imply by omission that once someone is locked up they remain so and lose all their rights. The most famous Ontario case is that of Professor Starson as he called himself as he believed he was a son of the stars (starson) and a professor. In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld his right to refuse treatment that had been proposed in 1998 [p.680 in "Treatment Delayed - Liberty Denied," Canadian Bar Review]. After that decision, Starson's delusion led him to refuse to either eat or drink for fear that his imaginary son would be tortured. By 2005, his health had deteriorated to such an extent that, fearing death, his doctors appealed to the Consent and Capacity Board who ruled that he could be treated. He began on the anti-psychotic medication that he was offered in 1998 and he improved dramatically. He lost seven years of his life as the result of his refusal to accept treatment [p. 680-681]. Three other patients like Starson were incarcerated from five 1/2 years to over 10 with long stretches in solitary until they became so ill without treatment that they had to be treated to prevent death [p.713]. As with Starson, the three of them improved dramatically once they began treatment. One person who continued to refuse, Paul Conway, has been locked up for 25 years and, without treatment, he is unlikely to ever be discharged [p.714]. The choice is agreeing to treatment when voluntary or putting up with it when involuntary and getting better in both instances versus being locked up indefinitely. I think the rational decision is treatment. Advertisement And, it should also be pointed out that there are protections for the involuntary patient at every step of the procedure. Those opposed to involuntary treatment imply by omission that once someone is locked up they remain so and lose all their rights. That is not the case in any jurisdiction. Section 7.1 of the B.C. Guide lays out all the rights that the involuntary patient has upon being hospitalized. These range from the right to consult with a lawyer or advocate, the right to a second medical opinion, to a hearing by a review board, regular reviews of the committal orders and the right to apply for habeus corpus. Involuntary committal and treatment is not something that is taken lightly by anyone or used frivously but is only done in extreme circumstances in the best interests of the patient. Olivier Le Moal via Getty Images Close up on a file tab with the text tax avoidance, focus on a yellow, note where it is hanwritten legislation, blur effect. This may come as a surprise to your average Canadian, but Canada is a haven for tax fraud. Transparency International released a report last week, judging the effectiveness of the commitments made at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in the spring. The report was a little dry, but an interesting thing was revealed -- Canada made no commitment to start punishing professional enablers of fraud. In fact, they noted all of the commitments Canada made were "not new." Does it seem odd that we would send people to say we're not cracking down on enablers of fraud? Well, it shouldn't. Canada has actively promoted itself as an entry to lower tax jurisdictions for decades. Unfortunately, the opaque banking system we created to allow this also attracts fraudsters. By turning a blind eye to international tax fraud, regular Canadians are starting to pay the price of these crimes with their homes. Advertisement Canada doesn't just tolerate tax evasion, we legalized it. Canada's worst-kept secret One of the worst-kept secrets in the business world is that Canada is a massive tax haven. We're one of the few countries in the world where people pay more in taxes than companies. As interesting as that is, that's not the reason it's so attractive up here. The real reason is, unlike in the U.S., we don't charge taxes on earnings of foreign subsidiaries. Sound like gibberish? In more basic terms, companies with foreign branches don't pay taxes on international income. If you're large enough to have branches internationally, your income abroad isn't taxed here. This is probably why the CRA cracks down on freelancers, realtors and tradespeople. Small businesses don't usually ship their money abroad, so they're an easy target. Canada is built for tax evasion Canada doesn't just tolerate tax evasion, we legalized it. The Canadian government has been creating legal and banking frameworks to encourage it. The Canadian government signed 92 tax treaties as of 2016. These treaties are designed to keep Canada competitive, in theory. In actuality, they're ways for Canadian companies to move money abroad tax free. This is likely why we started our tax treaties with Barbados, Jamaica and Malta -- all nice places, but not exactly the Silicon Valleys of the world -- in the late 1980s. Advertisement It's normally difficult to move money from your tax jurisdiction abroad -- but not in Canada. The Big 5 banks all have divisions located in so-called tax havens. They pitch them as making it more convenient for our large immigrant population to bank. But with the majority of our immigrants coming from China and India, why wouldn't they open locations there? Instead, they opt for branches in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and Luxembourg. The above chart shows the top nine countries Canadians invest in, after the U.S. Six of them are often referred to as tax havens. Two of them are well-known starting points to other tax havens. The U.K. is a broad term, but it fails to separate places like Isle of Man -- another known tax haven considered a part of the U.K. Startup businesses in these places must be booming. WTF does this have to do with housing? Tax evaders are using homes to bring money from high-tax jurisdictions into Canada. Since they can't just move fat wads of cash without attracting scrutiny, they've come up with several techniques. Using soft assets that don't have fixed trade values (like homes) is one of the easiest ways to do it. Smurfing, or structuring, is one of the most effective ways of moving money to Canada -- it's also a method popular with drug dealers and human traffickers. Large amounts of cash are broken down into deposits small enough to not attract regulatory scrutiny. That cash is then assembled into a single account or used to pay a mortgage. While it sounds complicated, it's not. Heck, Canadian banks will even help you figure it out. Advertisement Sign at CIBC branch offering international students mortgages with no income verification -- triple underlined. Photo via Greater Fool, used with permission. Thanks Garth! Most of this seemed like a kooky conspiracy theory until a wrongful dismissal case at CIBC revealed just how routine of a process this is. Then you realize if you can only export $50,000 per year from China... how does someone like a visiting UBC student buy a $31.1-million house in Vancouver? If a Canadian bank was respecting China's capital control laws, it would take 622 years to pay off that home. I'm not sure how that works, but last time I checked you can only get a 35-year mortgage in Canada. I'm not saying all homes being purchased are being used for nefarious reasons. However, 10,000-plus homes in Vancouver are empty and teardowns are going for $3 million or more. It's a nice city, but not that nice. Legitimate uses Canada does attract legitimate uses of our low taxation scheme. Burger King and Valeant are both excellent examples of legitimate companies using a tax inversion scheme to lower their tax rate. And I'm sure whatever Senator Pana Merchant's husband is doing in Cook Island is legit as well. Heck, even the 1,317 Canadians named in the Panama Papers could be legitimate users. These aren't the people I'm referring to. Advertisement I'm referring to people that intentionally exploit our system. The people that know that Canada provides obfuscation from their home countries. While I'm not naming names, a quick look at B.C. speculators, people accused of misappropriating assets from foreign countries and people that might be cheating on their income could provide you with an idea of who may be doing this. People who intentionally exploit our system have a direct impact on the Canadian economy. We get screwed twice. Home prices get inflated, not because these people want to live in them, but they're giant vaults to move money. A second time, because they pay little to no domestic taxes. This forces hard working middle-class Canadians to carry their tax burden. Canada's lack of commitment to crackdown on professionals enabling international tax fraud isn't just a simple error. It's an intentional move to help a small group of people at the expense of Canadians and people legitimately seeking immigration here. Think we need to crack down on tax fraud? Why not let our fearless leaders know with a tweet! Like this post? This post originally appeared on Better Dwelling. Like this article? Share it with a friend. Hate it? Go read the CBC. Kidding! Give us a tweet and tell us why. Like us on Facebook to be notified when the next post goes live. Note: Prime Minister Trudeau's offices were contacted for comment, his communications officers spent over three weeks going back and forth on whether housing is a partisan issue or not. They are still deciding which officer will ask him the questions. Cool. Advertisement *Bahamas 2011 is an estimate, because the Canadian government considers the amount classified. That's not weird at all, is it? Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: By Nicole Hurtubise, CEO, WaterAid Canada This month our children, and children around the world, return to the classroom. It's an exciting, busy time with parents everywhere focused on setting up their children for success -- making sure they have the right school supplies, new shoes and healthy lunches. But what if some schools and teachers don't have what they need to keep children healthy and safe each day at school? What if students are expected to miss classes to collect water, sometimes kilometres away? What if toilets are far, at risk of collapsing, or lacking any privacy? What if there is no safe water and no toilets at all? This is not a worry that parents and teachers should have. Safe drinking water and decent toilets should be basic essentials in every school, everywhere. Unfortunately, it's not the case for millions of children in the world. Advertisement Take the 500 students at St. John Bosco Gayaza Primary School in Uganda for example. The water source they rely on is an open pool located about one kilometre from their school. They walk there every day to fetch the water they need and have no alternative but to drink this dirty water. This leads to diarrhea and school days missed because the children get sick from water-borne related diseases. Some of the children won't drink the dirty water. As a result, they endure long hours of thirst before going home. Photo credit: WaterAid/Jessica Jabbour Or what about the more than one billion women and girls who do not have access to a clean, private toilet? Dirty water, poor sanitation and poor hygiene have a huge impact on women and girls' health, safety and right to education. Without a private and safe place to go to the toilet, girls find it very hard to stay in school, and many stay at home when menstruating. Missing classes causes girls to fall behind in school, often past the point of being able to catch up, leading them to drop out altogether. Advertisement Photo credit: WaterAid/Ernest Randriarimalala A lack of basic water and toilet facilities also has a negative impact on the quality of education. The best teachers are less willing to work at schools that don't offer these things. Would you want to spend your work day wondering how you'll get a glass of water or where you will go to the toilet? Between 2008 and 2013, the availability of water and sanitation in schools increased by six per cent. I'm sure we can all agree that is a positive step forward, but there are so many more steps to take before our work is done. UNICEF monitoring shows us that only 71 per cent of schools worldwide (that's less than four out of every five schools) have water, and only 69 per cent have access to safe, private toilets. These numbers drop even lower in sub-Saharan Africa. With water, sanitation and hygiene, children will have a brighter, healthier future. On September 25th we mark the one year anniversary of world leaders adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. This was a huge victory for everyone, but especially for the more than 650 million people in the world without access to clean water and the nearly 2.4 billion without access to safe, private toilets. Through Global Goal 6, we are determined to deliver access to water and sanitation to everyone, everywhere by 2030. Global Goal 4 is about ensuring inclusive and equitable education and to promoting learning opportunities for all. However, dirty and unhygienic school environments discourage students, particularly young girls, from attending school. Without access to safe water and toilets children do not receive the quality education they need, teachers aren't able to offer the very best of themselves, and Global Goal 4 can't be achieved. Advertisement The truth is, we've already come so far and we've never been closer to achieving one of the greatest humanitarian ambitions of our time. With water, sanitation and hygiene, children will have a brighter, healthier future. They will no longer need to spend hours fetching water that is unsafe to drink. With toilets, girls can take care of themselves, privately during their periods. With hygiene education, children can understand and promote the importance of handwashing with soap, and everyone will become healthier as a result. For every life changed there will be families and communities who are healthier, more productive, and better educated. Only 14 years remain until 2030. New approaches, strong political will, effective systems, increased investment and new collaborative partnerships are needed urgently. There is no time to waste. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: The human race has always had an insatiable appetite for exploration; despite the fact maps used to say "there be dragons here", or feared that we'd sail off the edge, heading over the horizon is in our nature. Jump 1000 years later and we're still doing it. Everywhere on the globe is now reachable by air travel, but with rising population comes rising demand... When you look back it's plain to see we've come a long way in regards to traversing our world. Before the innovation of commercial flight you'd have to dedicate weeks of your life just to see faraway places; true the lack of convenience was pacified by a sense of adventure, but now it seems we've grown all too accustomed to giant winged tubes in the sky. Air travel is one of the biggest carbon foot-printed industries in the world, spewing out more carbon per passenger in one transatlantic flight than a car does in one year, and this Earth-warming industry is facilitated almost everywhere on the planet. In fact there are only 5 countries that don't have airports, yet are surrounded by neighbours that do. Advertisement This is undoubtedly a huge problem, so much so that making the industry greener was a nominated category for the 2014 Longitude Prize (a 10million prize dedicated to tackling world issues). The prize went to antibiotic resistance in the end, a highly relevant global issue; however this left us to continue our business-as-usual flight habits. Flying has become more fuel efficient over the years, but with huge expansion projected for the industry it will still remain an unsustainable commodity unless we innovate. But two major technological advances over the past 2 years have brought a clean air-traffic future much closer to reality. Solar Impulse Flickr | Melissa One of these innovations was the development of a solar plane. Founded by pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse was made to explore the possible future of aviation as well as promote the general use of renewable alternatives across the globe. Solar Impulse uses lightweight solar panels in conjunction to a battery array, meaning it has no fuel restraints and can even fly at night. In 2015 the plane smashed an aviation record by setting the longest solar flight in history; flying from Nagoya to Hawaii over 5 days. This world record was achieved on the 8th leg of an attempted solar flight around the world, and in July 2016 both pilots achieved the first solar-powered circumnavigation of the Earth, clocking up 40,000km and 500 flight hours between them. This flight was at the very frontier of solar powered flight, and despite facing unprecedented challenges, still managed to prevail. Advertisement This accomplishment is seen as a testament to the technical, moral and financial advantages renewable energy sources possess as a whole. Granted the costs of mass producing solar-powered passenger planes may be daunting, especially in the infancy of the application of such tech; in fact Piccard stated Solar Impulse "was not built to carry passengers, but to carry messages" (and couldn't have achieved its aim better), but considering that the industry's current annual jet fuel costs and carbon footprint would be negated, it may be a worthy step to take after all. Airlander10 Flickr | Airwolfhound This frankly alien looking ship is the second innovation. Sizing up to ten storeys high and a hull volume of 1,340,000 cubic ft it is the largest flying vehicle in current use, and utilises the best of three aeronautical technologies to make it 'hyper-efficient'. The airship's helium filled, lightweight hull provides 40% of the lift with 4 V8 diesel engines picking up the slack, making it highly fuel efficient. However, with today's innovations in renewable technologies, it could feasibly be powered greenly and on-the-go, similar to Solar Impulse. The airship can already stay airborne for 2 weeks unmanned (5 days with a crew), but cancelling out the need to refuel would allow much longer voyages and further access to the planet, especially to remote areas, having the potential to be a floating research and surveillance station. Not only does the Airlander10 have scientific applications, but can also function as a passenger aircraft. In fact, given the scale of the airship, it could far exceed the passenger limits of current aircraft whilst consuming far less fuel. And it wouldn't take a stretch of the imagination to see people living on one for extended periods, like a floating cruise ship. Advertisement Although commercial passenger flight could be revolutionised by Airlander10 and Solar Impulse, the huge air miles of cargo transportation still pose a problem. The size of the airship in comparison to its carbon-footprint is both ecological and economical, and with a 39,168 litre main payload space, plus extra rear space and external carrying capacity, Airlander10 could easily be a more sustainable medium for the cargo-shipping industry. The applications of both these inventions are widespread and exciting, but if we were to channel them into addressing the current climate issues commercial travel and shipping present, we would be closer to a greener, more sustainable, clean-conscience way of how we see the world. By Thomas Phillips - Online Journalism Intern Frontier runs conservation, development, teaching and adventure travel projects in over 50 countries worldwide - so join us and explore the world! Over the last five years, the government has put the country on a devolution course with increasing spending powers going to local areas. In many places, such as Manchester and Liverpool, devolution deals are tied to an elected mayor and there has been quite a lot of chatter recently suggesting Theresa May is less enthusiastic about this than her predecessor. Various people including former Whitehall Mandarin, Bob Kerslake, and former Chancellor George Osborne (who is setting up a new think tank - the Northern Powerhouse Partnership) have warned against any resistance to the devolution revolution. Personally, I don't think the new PM has a serious problem with devolution, she is just taking time to review progress to date. She may have some reservations about elected mayors (possibly for the reasons discussed in this article) but I expect we will continue to see a drive towards genuine devolution throughout this parliament. As far as social enterprise and mutuals who deliver public services are concerned, the impact of devolution and elected mayors may largely depend on the impact on the public service market place. A fair and open marketplace would (in theory) allow the social enterprise and mutuals sector to bid for and deliver more services. So what is likely to happen? Advertisement Until recently, the principle of choice and competition for a wide range of public services has been undisputed. All the major political parties accepted (to varying degrees) that choice for consumers and a mix of public and independent providers were good things. There is no doubt Theresa May is a fan of a mixed market place. In her Conservative Home speech back in 2013 the PM argued that we should allow "thousands of organisations to provide public services". The Labour Government (under Blair especially) did a significant amount to open up the public service market place to a range of providers, including social enterprises. Let's not forget Labour did start the ball rolling by allowing NHS services to spin out into independent social enterprises through the NHS Right to Request programme. This consensus looks to have been seriously disrupted by the rise of Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn is no fan of markets and he has already set out plans to "renationalise" both the railways and also the NHS (at least the 8% of the NHS that is delivered outside the public sector). So what does this mean for the public service market place within the context of devolution? The context is important here. According to the NAO, councils have seen their budgets reduced by 25% since 2010-11 with a further 8% cut coming between now and 2019-20. In the NHS this year, Foundation Trusts and NHS Trusts have a combined deficit of 2.45bn, which can't be allowed to continue to grow. Under this type of financial pressure, public service leaders simply must look at new ways of delivering services, Devolution or elected Mayors will not magic up any new money but it will provide opportunities for councils and other public bodies to reimagine how they use the range of providers (public and independent) available to them. This should provide opportunities for social enterprises and mutuals, especially those who are ready to work together to create scale, service breadth and value for money. Advertisement Add to this financial imperative the fact that the public are generally supportive of a mixed market place. The Reform think tank has shown that 62% of people are supportive of the private sector providing NHS services with only 17% against. People are more concerned with quality and access. They do not tend to be dogmatic about who provides their services. So within this context, and with strong central government support, a mixed public service marketplace looks to be safe doesn't it? Perhaps not. Central Government is after all rapidly devolving power to local areas where the political climate may be quite different. In Manchester, Andy Burnham is the Labour candidate and favourite to win. We hope Burnham will be sensible and balanced - but he hasn't exactly embraced the mixed market place. As far back as 2009, he was assuring the TUC that for health services, non-NHS providers should only be used as a last resort. It can also be no coincidence that Owen Smith, Corbyn's leadership rival, made a speech about a "Tory secret plan" to privatise the NHS at Trafford General Hospital in Manchester. Burnham has been talking up increased collaboration with Liverpool where the Labour candidate and favourite to win is Jeremy Corbyn's former Parliamentary Private Secretary Steve Rotherham. Whilst it is unclear exactly what power these mayors will wield, it doesn't take much analysis to identify a potential policy clash in these areas. This is all well and good until it starts to threaten some of the best and most innovative social enterprises and mutuals, many of whom are in the North West. Could they face having their services taken back into the public sector for ideological rather than performance based reasons? Advertisement Over the years I've had plenty of time to enjoy the tourist spots as well as get away from the beaten track on the storied tropical island of Cuba. Here are some of my ideas on where I escape the crowds in Cuba. Just south of Cayo Santa Maria are the colonial towns of Caibarien and Remedios. Remedios is a small, beautiful Spanish Colonial town, given a lick of paint for the city's 500th anniversary in 2015. Its church is famous for its vast, ornate 22-carat gold wrapped altar. Caibarien was once a handsome 19th-century port with some grand architecture; it offers a window into an authentic Cuban coastal fishing town. Both places are known for their Christmas Eve celebrations known as Las Parrandas. It's an exciting -- and scary time to visit, as I discovered, as different districts of the town compete in music, costume, fireworks, parades and dance and build vast colourful structures in the main square adorned with images, motifs and thousands of coloured light bulbs. The atmosphere was thrilling as well as a bit frightening as the all-night firework extravaganza sees sparkly rockets set off here, there and everywhere. Like everyone else we screamed and ran for cover each time a rocket was launched into Remedios' square. We danced salsa with the locals, grabbed popcorn from the food stalls, swilled beer and rum, and danced to the music of the parades. Advertisement The Isle of Youth is a topsy-turvy tear-shaped island dangling off the south coast of Cuba. It's not easy to get to but its swamps harbour crocodiles, its caves feature extraordinary rock art, and its azure seas are home to some of the best diving in Cuba. It's an isolated spot and curious for it. It's also known to be where Fidel Castro was imprisoned for a while in 1953 after his attempt to overthrow the government failed. The Moncada prison is eerie but a compelling museum for its place in the history of the Cuban Revolution, but the real draw for me was the Punta Frances peninsula in the southwest of the island -- a lick of powder white sand sheltering American crocodiles; the stunning colour of the water, the caves where pirates would hide out and the marine life -- diving with turtles and barracudas. Matanzas is a colonial port city often overlooked by visitors heading straight to the gorgeous sands of Varadero, Cuba's largest beach resort. Matanzas is a real gem though, very untouristy, and visitors who stop by won't be disappointed. It was once known as the Athens of Cuba for its cultural traditions. My favourite places are about books and medicine. Off tiny Plaza de La Vigia is one of the Cuba's hidden delights -- a publishing house which crafts beautiful illustrated hand-painted books by using recycled paper. They are really pieces of art and are made in limited editions. Around the corner is the glorious 19th-century Pharmacy Museum, stacked high with porcelain jars and potions and preserved as it was when it was a working medicine dispensary. It might lack the bars of Havana but for more classical and Afro-Cuban traditions, I don't need to look further. The Jose White Concert Hall has been restored for orchestral concerts and the Sauto Theatre, bedecked in Carrara marble and adorned in beautiful frescoes, once opened following restoration will be a wonderful place for dance, classical music and theatre as it was once before. And, of course, Matanzas is the birthplace of rumba. Ask locals for performance details. Advertisement On the opposite coast to Matanzas, and not too far from the Bay of Pigs, is one of my favourite spots in Cuba. In the north of the Zapata Swampland the River Hatiguanico winds its way through virgin forest, towering with Royal Palm trees. It's a quiet spot little visited by travellers and barely marked on any tourist maps. It's a haven for birds, crocs and jutia (giant rodents) but for fishermen it's paradise. Deep in the mangrove swamps, that we reached by fast motorboat, the place was teeming with jumping tarpon breaking through the river's dark waters under the canvas of bridging mangrove branches. I was with an expert who showed me how to fish for tarpon. I wasn't able to land one of these incredible jumping creatures but I watched my guide do it with ease. It was a gripping day out. Am I afraid of the AVM in my head bleeding again? Yes. Am I afraid of the damage a bleed in my head can do? Yes. Am I afraid that a bleed in my head might kill me? Yes. Am I afraid of a lot of things? Yes. I am human. Fear floods me with emotions and feelings which come in all sorts of names, shapes, colours and sizes, most of which are not pleasant when there is a perceived threat of danger, pain, or harm coming my way. Fear does what it's supposed to do, every time, without fail. Thankfully, fear, is reliable. I've been living with this emotion for a long time and I have come to realise, via a brain hemorrhage and the road to recovery, there is a problem. Advertisement This fear, this emotion, by way of my thinking, doesn't know when something is a real threat to my existence or just appears to be a threat, which, could actually be no threat at all. For an actor, an obvious fear goes by the name of Stage Fright. This fear can come with all kinds of real and unpleasant symptoms. How about a pounding heart, the shakes, sweaty hands, tics, a dry mouth, dizziness? For others, actors or not, just the name Shakespeare can cause an outbreak of symptoms and worse, The Terrors. For me, one of my fears is, I am afraid of what I sound like. I am afraid of how people will perceive and judge me on the basis of how I sound when I speak and how I might say something or how I might pronounce a word. This fear manifests itself not only in my speaking but also when I read out loud and in the way I learn lines. Advertisement A voice in my head tells me to say it this way or that way. This voice tells me I'm pronouncing a word wrongly. It criticizes me. It tells me I'm stupid, inadequate. Useless. I don't know where this critical, destructive and negative voice comes from and that's what criticism is, whether it's self-criticism or you are criticizing someone else. It is destructive and damaging. It destroys and closes the door on opportunities that may lead to a better place, a better you and a better someone else. I am sure that I wasn't born thinking this about the way I sound. Maybe, the dogma, children should be seen but not heard, has somehow got itself inside my head. I also remember a thing in junior school, a drama lesson, and the teacher yelling at a girl, "Briggs, you stick out like a sore thumb...". She cried. A lot. That teacher destroyed that girl with her criticism. I thought that was horrifying and I was afraid of that teacher from that moment on. In my first post Acting After Illness, I wrote about sessions I had with a psychologist, Dr Mark Draper who helped me understand my shame around what had happened to me. Advertisement I saw myself as a failure with zero levels of self-esteem. My tank was empty. I found it fascinating, and a big relief, to learn that 99% of the time, as human beings, our thinking is twisted and flawed. Just because I think I have low self-esteem doesn't mean it's true. Mark asked me to note and be curious about my thoughts. To my surprise, I learned that if a thought is neither true nor useful, or both, then show it the door, wave it good-bye. Don't give it any attention. It's just the brain doing what it's designed to do. Thinking. Why do they not teach me this stuff at school? As a child, I must of discovered the world by being curious and asking questions and yet, somewhere along the path to being an adult, I stopped being curious. The film and television producer Brain Grazer has written a book about curiosity, A Curious Mind, The Secret to a Bigger Life. Grazer puts his success in the movie business and his personal achievements down to his ability to be curious. Curiosity opens the door to opportunities, adventure and creativity. And my fears? Yes, I still have them, of course. Yet, I have learnt that fear lives inside my head manifesting from my thoughts. Advertisement I get curious and reach for better thoughts, more balanced thoughts and more positive thoughts. This action, thinking on purpose and being curious about my thoughts, switches off my destructive self-criticism along with those unpleasant feelings, and abracadabra, my fear subsides too. I am in a better place. "Turnout will be huge. It will be what it was the first time Obama was elected," political journalist Emily Rooney predicted at a women's forum in Boston's Beacon Hill this week. But the former political director at Fox News would not be drawn who will win the increasingly close race. Fellow media commentator Margery Eagan is concerned by the possibility of a Trump win: "I don't want to be hiding under my desk the way I was when I was five years old, worrying about a nuclear war." Clinton, Eagan said "knows everything". But she "described Trump as a "magnetic' figure, whose comments constantly "disrupt the news cycle". Advertisement "Honestly, during the primaries if you were in your kitchen and Trump came on and made a speech you might stand there and listen, because he's magnetic, he says outrageous things and that's part of what has taken him where he is today." She said "People forget that the media is a business and Trump has been a bonanza for the cable channel An example of disruption of the news cycle is Trump's recent call for there to be no moderator at the upcoming TV debates with Clinton, which captured the evening news bulletins. This came as a response to criticism of presenter Matt Lauer for not correcting Trump's claim that he always opposed the Iraq war. Eagan said: "Not everyone has the time to read the New York Times, but they might watch a debate" - and they are likely to believe statements which are made and not challenged. Advertisement Rooney pointed out Megyn Kelly had had the courage to challenge Trump over derogatory comments about women. He responded that it was "only Rosie O'Donnell." Kelly stopped him, saying "For the record it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell" and gave examples. But, Rooney recalled, after this exchange Kelly was vilified by Trump supporters. Both women commented on the fact that Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman who recently resigned in the wake of a sexual harassment case has been hired to advise Trump in the run up to the candidates upcoming TV debates. News anchor Gretchen Carlson taped Ailes' remarks on her phone over the course of a year and has reportedly settled out of court. Ailes may have received a $40 million dollar pay off, but he is no longer at the helm of one of America's most powerful news organisations, Eagan reflected. Rooney said that if Carlson had not had those tapes she would not have been so successful and noted that since she began her case, 25 other women have come forward. "Why didn't those women feel able to speak before?" Both Rooney and Eagan spoke about a culture in television news where the bulk of reporters and presenters are now female and are expected to dress, look, and behave in certain ways while men who still dominate as bosses are held to very different standards. Rooney said that journalism courses in college are increasingly female-dominated and that young men are no longer coming into the profession in such numbers, but: "you need a balance". Advertisement Both Rooney and Eagan said they had experienced sexism; from harassment to patronising and derogatory behaviour during their media careers. Eagan credited Anita Hill with doing a lot to change women's expectations of what they should have to put up with, in her landmark case against Thomas Clarence in 1991, which Eagan covered. But despite the fact that some progress has been made, Clinton still faces a lot of sexism, over how she is expected to behave. "I don't like it when she shouts," said Eagan. "I have thought about this and it's sexist but I don't like it." Some of the popular support for Trump could also be from men, who feel emasculated by the struggle for employment, their inability to look after their families and don't want to have a woman "telling them what to do". Egan voiced sympathy with the blue collar voters whose economic difficulties are feeding into support for Trump, people on low wages struggling to make ends meet who feel they have nothing to lose. "There are people who work for Walmart who qualify for food stamps." Politicians need to get more in touch with the concerns of the ordinary Joe and Jane. She saw parallels with Brexit. "But we saw after that vote, there was no plan." The tone of the debate is unprecedented, according to Rooney who was director of Fox's political coverage during the 1996 Presidential campaign. "The degree of vitriol, the descent into just name-calling, that hasn't happened before. It has mostly been Trump but some of it has come from Hillary''s side". She cited Clinton's "basket of deplorables' comment. "Did she work on that? Was it scripted?" Advertisement In response to a question about whether the media has covered the substantive issues of the campaign, she said. "Everyone knows where they stand on the substantive issues.You know where Trump stands on immigration and where Clinton stands on immigration." After a busy and successful year, Mosaic, HRH The Prince of Wales' mentoring initiative that is now proudly part of The Prince's Trust, has been busy returning to schools these past two weeks after a well-deserved summer break. Approaching our nine-year anniversary in November, I haven't known a year where Mosaic hasn't embraced change and improvement. We are confident about what we do and we know that it works. However, it is always reassuring, and in many respects very useful, to have our impact independently validated. Equally important and welcome is the external validation of Mosaic's purpose and mission. Advertisement Image copyright held by the author. The Careers & Enterprise Company recently published a study entitled Effective Employee Mentoring, which investigated the impact of mentoring by volunteer mentors from the corporate sector on both the mentors and their mentees. I contributed in a small way to the report and I am pleased to have been named as a Senior Adviser to The Careers & Enterprise Company. You can read the full report via the link above but a stand-out phrase for me is the following: "The positive outcomes for young people associated with employer mentoring include improvements in behaviour, engagement, attainment and progression." A similar conclusion, albeit an interim one, was reached by NatCen, Britain's largest social research agency, which is conducting a five-year study into the effects of Mosaic's mentoring programmes in secondary schools over the longer term. NatCen's initial findings suggest that in the areas of confidence, employability and self-efficacy, Mosaic mentees: "Reported improved levels of self-esteem and confidence" and "Felt more confident about life skills such as job or university interviews, asking questions at school or college, talking to new people, trying new activities and their future plans." Advertisement Although we'll have to wait some time for the full results of the study, these interim observations bring a welcome confirmation of the effectiveness of our programmes. I am particularly pleased that some of NatCen's research is based on in-depth interviews with mentees; in other words, testimony from the young participants themselves that they feel they've benefited from Mosaic's efforts. Personal testimony was also a significant contributory factor in two reports recently published by Clinks, the national infrastructure organisation supporting voluntary sector organisations in the Criminal Justice System, and User Voice, an ex-offender led charity. Commissioned by Andrew Selous MP, the then Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation, the reports investigate best practice for the running of volunteer programmes in prisons as well as commenting upon the general effectiveness of interventions of this kind. Mosaic, with the backing of the Al-Faisal Foundation, currently has a mentoring presence in 14 prisons across England and it is pleasing to see that both reports are united in the belief that despite the numerous logistical challenges of working 'behind the gates' in prisons, the positive effect that mentoring can have on inmates is significant and can literally transform lives. For all of us at Mosaic, the most important validation of our work is always from mentors and mentees themselves; you can't beat talking to volunteers at our celebration events or hearing the inspiring presentations from the young graduates of our Primary School programme and in a sense this is all the inspiration that we need to continue. Advertisement And the good news is that mentoring is starting to gain ever more credence in social and educational policy. Just this month, the Women and Equalities select committee published a report which called on the government to introduce a role models and mentoring programme aimed at Muslim women. The recommendation followed the committee's inquiry on employment opportunities for Muslims in the UK. It uncovered evidence that many Muslim women experience inequality, discrimination and Islamophobia on a day-to-day basis, particularly when it comes to seeking employment. The committee believes a dedicated mentoring programme would support aspiration and help unlock the employment potential of this disadvantaged group. I urge the government to act on the recommendation. Mentoring can empower individuals and help them overcome disadvantages that they may face. A good starting point for the government would be talk to Mosaic - our work provides a model of exactly what's possible in this very space. Have you been dealing overwhelm, stress and burnout with increasing regularity over the last year or so? I have. I can recount endless horror stories from friends and loved ones, or old colleagues who feel completely rung out. The thing about burnout and overwhelm is that we put up with the symptoms and warning signs for far too long before we do. It could be that we're not aware what those signals are, putting a brave face on things, fearing that if we that we can't handle the pace then we'll get 'found out'. Or, we may simply tell ourselves that we should toughen up. Believing that unless something dramatic happens that forces us to stop, or we get diagnosed with the physical or mental effects of nervous breakdown, then we have to put up and shut up -- carrying on regardless of just how bad, sad or mad we may be feeling. It can be utterly terrifying and debilitating. You may not know upside from down, or right from wrong, and you certainly don't trust your ability to make the right decisions. It can feel as though you will be letting everyone down unless you carry on regardless. My personal story with burnout left me living life on a constant knife's edge of anxiety. As if every day of my life had been an abyss of poor choices, and self-loathing. The daily fear battle I was fighting around the impact have on my future was real. Advertisement What is burnout? In this post from Psychology Today, it states that "Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to: physical and emotional exhaustion cynicism and detachment feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment" What are the symptoms of burnout: Lethargy -- feeling tired, or without energy most of the time -- leading to chronic fatigue Insomnia, or sleeping too much The inability to concentrate Forgetfulness Loss of appetite, or over-eating (mindlessly consuming) Any kind of dependent or addictive behaviour: alcohol, drugs, sex, eating Anxiety Symptoms of depression Panic attacks Physical symptoms; chest pain, headaches, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), skin conditions (psoriasis, acne, rosacea) Constant headaches, colds, or illnesses that won't shift Feeling constant tension or irritability that leads to anger Feelings of despair and hopelessness Maybe you feel some of these symptoms, Maybe you feel them all. Maybe it's become such an intrinsic part of every day life, that you just haven't considered the impact it to be anything more than 'stress'. Putting on the oxygen mask first This is where the idea of nurture and self care comes into play. However much it feels as though we need to spend our time looking out for everyone else first, our self care comes first. Full stop. The secret to being that super hero we think we should be, is to don the cape for ourselves first. That way, when you are in full power you have more energy, health and capacity you are so much more able to be of service to other people, having first been of service to yourself. Advertisement Here's 15 questions (plus a bonus question at the end) for you to work through, which are designed to help you identify where -- and how -- you can take the time to put on your oxygen mask: In which area(s) of your life are you aware that you need to slow down? Who are you giving all your time and energy away to? Where do you need more adventure, excitement and creativity in your life? How do you want to feel more often? What are those things that you wish you could more of / less of? What does self-care mean to you? What would you do to make yourself feel good / happy / relaxed / cared for if you had all the time and resources in the world? What does having fun mean to you? What can you do when you are at your absolute best? What's the 1 degree shift needed to spend more time on your own self care? What can you do to make sure you get better sleep and relaxation? Be completely honest with yourself, even if it's really tough: What can you give up, let go of, stop doing? What can you start doing to honour and nurture yourself? Who can you get to help? What commitment are you going to make to ensure that your self-care is honoured? How will you celebrate taking the first step towards putting your oxygen mask on? ASSOCIATED PRESS *Hawk - a person who advocates an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs. * Dove - a person who advocates peaceful or conciliatory policies, especially in foreign affairs. The Iran-Contra affair, the branding of the Soviet Union as the "evil empire" and the masculine cowboy image all led the public to categorize Ronald Reagan as the ultimate 'hawk', with his only priority, building up the military. Reagan's desire to fight and never compromise with enemies is a popular myth that conservatives cannot and will not let go of. However, it is in fact true that he did spend hell of a lot of money on the military and he also did controversially fund the Nicaraguan Contra rebels with money gained from selling arms to Iran, but when the opportunity arose to send U.S troops to war, Reagan was not willing to risk peoples lives. Ok, yes, he did carry out the 1986 bombing of Tripoli, Libya, where Colonel Gaddafi's daughter was in fact killed, but this was a direct response to the La Belle nightclub bombing in West Berlin that killed 2 US soldiers and injured 79. Libya supposedly sponsored this attack, and at the time Reagan had declared Libya a 'rogue state' giving him more incentive to fight back. But that's not enough justification that he was not a 'bird of prey'. This attack was the only one of this nature carried out throughout his 2 terms as President, along with one small land war that only lasted 2 days. If you compare this to the likes of George H. W. Bush's ground operations in Panama and Somalia and Bill Clinton's air campaigns in Bosnia, Iraq and Kosovo, as Peter Beinart argues, then these military actions "dwarfed Reagan's Libya bombing in duration and intensity." Advertisement In more recent years there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not there were "two Reagan's". The argument suggests that Reagan's first term as President was very aggressive, especially in terms of nuclear policy by siding with hawkish members of his administration such as Caspar Weinberger and Richard Perle where they all agreed to increase military spending, put MX missiles into production, commission the B1 bomber and give the go-ahead to the neutron bomb. The argument continues to suggest that Reagan suddenly became a more moderate 'dove'-like figure in his second term making negotiations with the supposedly "evil empire" setting out mutual agreements in nuclear weapons reductions. Although Reagan did increase military spending and commissioned the B1 bomber, he was not a 'hawk' and in fact despised nuclear weapons, as Len Ackland argues, what else explains his dramatic support for abolishing nuclear weapons during the 1986 Reykjavik summit meeting? People often misjudge Reagan's consistency and completely dismiss the idea that he wasn't a 'hawk'. It wasn't until later in his presidency where scholar's appraisals were changing of Reagan. He was consistent with his foreign and nuclear policies remaining a moderate figure throughout his two terms, acting far from hawkish. In fact, he wrote multiple letters to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the early 80's expressing his desire to meet with him to "solve differences peacefully", reduce the threat of nuclear war and the "burden of nuclear armaments". Paul Lettow contends that throughout both terms Reagan was consistent with his desire to negotiate with the USSR but hid his desire to abolish nuclear weapons during his first term. Advertisement People will always associate Reagan with the Iran-Contra affair and class him as the ultimate 'hawk', but his peaceful beliefs and deep abhorrence for nuclear weapons often get dismissed. Reagan was considerably more 'dove' than 'hawk' and his legacy with nuclear achievements shouldn't get diminished by the unwillingness of conservatives to believe that Reagan was actually a peaceful president. Melanie Sykes When you are the parent of a child with autism you have a choice to make about schooling: whether to send your son or daughter to a special school or to a mainstream one. Special schools, where your child will be around only children with special needs, will have more knowledge; mainstream schools have kids that can relate "normally" and good habits hopefully to be copied. Making the right choice was a dilemma my ex-husband and I faced six months ago. We were asked to go in for a meeting at the mainstream school our twelve-year-old son Tino, who has autism, went to. The head teacher told us the school wasn't right for Tino, who had been there for three-quarters of his first year at secondary school, and that we should think about finding another one. It was upsetting and stressful but we had to move forward and start the search all over again. One of his lovely teachers said to me, "You know Tino copes really well but do you really want him just be merely coping when he could actually be enjoying his school days?" Well you really cannot argue with that - but I just wish they had told us earlier. Advertisement And so we looked at other schools, both special and mainstream. Our gut was telling us that he should be in mainstream (but with support - our local authority funds a full-time TA who is his one-to-one support throughout the day) so he could learn from other children. Tino really does straddle both worlds - he didn't seem autistic enough for the special schools and yet he seemed too autistic for the mainstream ones. He is a clever boy with great use of language and many but also niche interests which are ever evolving and he has an amazing memory. We just needed to find a school that would help him apply his skills to his learning and what was the best way of doing that. There are few schools that have a provision for autistic children but the quality of the ones we saw was varied: some were for me seemed a little behind and some felt like an after thought attached to the school. It seems to me that schools are struggling to look after our children with autism. And they are struggling for a number of reasons. I am contacted on social media from people who tell me schools are failing to understand autism enough to properly support their children. Also people report that schools are taking the extra funding they get from the local authority and using it elsewhere, for purposes other than supporting the child with autism. We saw this first-hand at Tino's school, shortly after they told us to look elsewhere. On the way out of a meeting where I had just been reassured that he's never left alone without his one-on-one teacher, I saw Tino alone in the playground without any support. He was running up and down the playground in and amongst all the larger boys and girls. He was completely vulnerable and showing obviously very different behaviour to the others with no adult eyes on him. I led Tino back to his classroom, kept it together until I left the school then cried. It was shocking and devastating and from that moment I could not wait to get him out of there. Advertisement Clearly the problems can start because your child doesn't tell you what goes on at school and you don't always get to catch up what is going on. A friend of mine with an autistic son, who has also recently discovered that her son's TA is used elsewhere in the school when he's meant to be with her son, says: "There is lack of transparency in schools - they are getting away with this because the children they are taking the support away from can't say that it is happening. So, problems only get discovered by chance. There is also a great lack of knowledge. Everyone needs proper training on autism to understand the issues. To understand why play time is so difficult. The search for an appropriate school was soul destroying - we were even told by one school not to even bother applying as they were so oversubscribed. Many tense months passed. Tino had a few 'trial' days, which is necessary but obviously stressful. The one thing that I always do is keep Tino in the loop as to what is happening but he is always protected from our despair and anxiety and we never told him why he wasn't accepted at certain schools so as not to knock his confidence which is fragile at best. We just told him the school was not right for him which is equally as true. We kept going and and finally we got a break from a school that we saw and liked. A school that, at last, had a place for Tino. He has been there only a few weeks and all is going well so far. We are extremely lucky also that his teacher has a son the same age as him on the spectrum, so she understands autism and Tino's needs from a grassroots level. It is a fallacy to suggest all children on the spectrum are geniuses - the reality is most will struggle, both socially and academically. But I think the single mindedness of thoughts that can be typical of an autistic person can be a great attribute especially when you find what it is your child is truly interested in. These children have a lot to offer and have great character. Tino's absolute truth at all times even though sometimes it may seem inappropriate has lit up my life. He reminds me daily to always be authentic and be true to myself. Advertisement A tangled branch and a bent twig that can distort the imagination and send it into overdrive. How the mind of an artist truly works is something that can never be put into words; rather the creation speaks volumes. And indeed, that is so with Djeloul Esahli, resident and artist of Tipaza. In North Africa, the Romans left their mark in three areas of modern day Algeria; two main land cities and one coastal. This coastal city being Tipaza. Tipaza, a beautiful city that hugs the Mediterranean Sea, was adored by the philosopher and Pied-Noir Albert Camus. And rightly so. Scattered are remnants of a once great empire that lived and ruled in ancient Roman Mauretania Caesariensis. Cliff edges cup the flowing sea as small environments of sea life bob up and down in the shallow waters, which visitors can now enjoy via a cliche boat ride. Advertisement The UNESCO heritage site froths at the mouth of the sea with ancient history, and at every turn there is something new to view and notice. Each time I have ventured to the site, something new appears to the forefront of my detail inspired mind. However, this time, it was a double take. The Artist Djeloul Esahli, a modest craftsman sets up his place each morning on the crumbling ruins of Tipaza with carving tools at hand: an ornately decorated carving knife and mallet rest tranquilly on the dusty floor as Esahli looks for his next piece of work. A craftsman by trade, Djeloul Esahli began his career as a carver of intricate banisters for homes and apartments. It was a simple transition from work to passion that made this man so fond of the art he consumes his days with now. Taking pieces of wood from branches of trees, sometimes the stump of the tree itself, Esahli begins a creative journey of pattern and story through lines, swirls and details that would take you more than one notice to see them all. Advertisement And it's true. Upon discovering his elaborate art all over the trees, I had to talk to him, if only between each chip of his wood block. Kindly, he agreed to chat. His lineage A true Tipazian, Esahli's family hail all from the city of Tipaza. He reports that in 1884, his Grandfather was born in Tipaza. At this time, Algeria was under French occupation, and many Algerians did not have family names. Rather, they were known via their fathers, for example 'Bou Smail' (Father of Smail). This patriarchal naming still exists across North Africa and the Middle East. The French named families with no naming records based on their locations or living standard. The Elsahli's were given this name based on the Arabic word El-Sahel, meaning coastline. The coasters of Tipaza. His Creations As people began to bustle towards his creations slowly but surely, his eyes began to dart towards his tools, as I queried more. How does he think of his creations? How does the curve turn into a sharp point? His answer is poignant, and very true. The shape and the form of the wood doesn't always end up as you intended to begin with. Why? "parce que le matin c'est le matin, et le soir et le soir" (the morning is the morning, and the evening is the evening). Each stage in the process is different. Advertisement What was obvious to begin with may become lost and bring to light something completely different. That's the charm in his work. Each layer of the wood changes colour and texture, so he moves with the grain. The artist is often forgotten, and sometimes the artist prefers to stay incognito. Their voice is through the concrete form rather than the sound of their own voice. Though Djeloul Elsahli doesn't speak much of his art, his pieces in Tipaza are an asset that one cannot pass without admiring. This man deserves more than a few pity dinars in his hat. Some people think that this sort of lifestyle is fantastical. Or delusional. Many, if not most people, tend to believe that artistry is for airy-fairy people, lacking direction. The dreamers. I disagree. Advertisement Maybe I say this because art inspires us. It makes us look a little deeper, ask a few more questions and the beauty in it being subjective means there are a million and one different stories to be told; all from the same piece of art. On Friday UKIP announced their new leader Diane James as everybody's supposedly favourite purple potentate Nigel Farage finally hands over the torch at the Party Conference. But what is the future for the party? At a point where the party is haemorrhaging members and officials back to their Fatherland, The Conservative Party. Such as former aid to Farage, Alex Phillips today announced she is defecting to the Tories and UKIP Party director Steve Stanbury pleading with UKIP members to "come home to the Conservatives" live on BBC's Daily Politics yesterday. You could be forgiven for thinking there may be some problems going forward for the party. But will UKIP care they are losing people? Of course, the party will find this concerning but is it really the Tories they are setting their sights on? No, it's The Labour Party and it's their members they are targeting, as their anti-immigration rhetoric has struck a chord, especially with Northern and Midlands voters. Advertisement Nigel Farage has stated many times that UKIP could be the next Labour Party and see's the Party as a more credible opposition to the Tories. Even though UKIP have led the revolt on the right and the majority of Ukippers are very proud of their traditional right wing views. It seems a little odd a person who may have fairly socialist values would vote for a populist neoliberal party, but the fact is poorer white communities do not feel connected with Westminster and the English question seem to be avoided by the major parties. UKIP has somehow managed very slightly squeeze British Nationalism into the centre ground debate which has been welcomed by English voters especially. People are more and more disenfranchised with the political establishment and to a lot of people see UKIP are seen as a viable alternative. Even young people. But surely a party who portrays themselves as the ale swilling version of your Uncle Dave who drinks with your Dad in the local pub. That guy who is constantly swearing at Coronation Street, stating it's political correctness gone mad, can't really talk to the youth of the nation? Advertisement They are certainly trying to reach out to you. Let's not forget in the General Election the Party's support among so-called Generation Y doubled and polled nearly as high as The Green Party before we all went to the polls. The thing is, as much as you hear the sometimes idiotic discourse coming from the party or what can only be seen as bumbling, Stephen Wolf's leadership aberration, for example, they are really speaking to the working class. Personally, it frustrates the hell out of me and I wish populism did not have so much sway in British politics, but it does and that's why we have political parties such as UKIP. Don't get me wrong, I'm not your typical raving leftie, I have a very open view regarding my beliefs and I feel you should constantly have conflicted feelings in regards to your ideologies as that stops you from being blinded by passion, especially if you work in the field. But as a person who is passionate about politics who encourages democratic dialogue from all angles of the spectrum, it's hard sometimes not to perch on on the edge of your sofa while watching UKIP on the telly and not bury your head in your hands. Advertisement Let's take into account Farage openly calling out Douglas Carswell MP on Sky News, Nathan Gill standing as an independent as he can't able to bring himself to be part of UKIP in Wales predicting a bloodbath, Ukippers bringing the party into refute on live TV and I don't even know where to start with Neil Hamilton. Bloody hell, Neil Hamilton, just let that resonate for a second. To relate to you single people out there, sometimes UKIP is the political equivalent of matching with somebody really hot on Tinder, only to find out they are a robot. Yes UKIP, you are that frustrating. As Carswell has stated UKIP now has to change, to move away from populism and rebrand itself as the right-wing libertarian alternative, and I agree if the party is serious about manoeuvring into the mainstream before it could become obsolete. But it won't, it's fair to suggest a lot of the Northern voters have voted for UKIP as they want a voice in Government and if the Party were more clear with their laissez-faire economic policy it may cause some discomfort considering a lot of these people still blame this kind of economics for the destruction of their regional manufacturing commerce which is still a sore point to this day. But under a new stewardship will the youth count grow? Judging by the amount of grey hair, cream suits and balding men who are clearly pissed before midday at Friday's conference, it has a job to do, but I'll watch with great interest. Advertisement Do you think Diane James premiership will bring more young people to the party? Recent figures from the Association of Graduate Recruiters has revealed a sharp reduction in the number of jobs available to graduates, the first decline in the graduate labour market in four years. A steep decline in such a short time is highly worrying, but the issue is seemingly more complex than might first appear. It is not all that long ago that employers were complaining about graduates not having the skills and experiences necessary to fill the roles that they were advertising. The problem extended to experienced professionals, with recruiters highlighting the need for MBA graduates to have substantial amounts of on-the-job training once they joined. Now however the picture is rather the reverse. It is those on the supply-side who are questioning where the opportunities are that can take their careers forward. While the reduction in opportunities warrants concern, you can make an argument that the traditional graduate role is no longer meeting the aspirations of many people leaving university in 2016 and beyond. The millennial generation is looking for something different from the world of work, something less corporate and much more entrepreneurial in spirit. Advertisement The emerging popularity of the so-called portfolio career presents a direct challenge to the fixed nature of traditional graduate training schemes, which see employers invest in graduate talent to pipeline a loyal workforce who will add value to the company for years to come. While the portfolio career is often described as a new trend, the idea itself has been around since the 1980s, when management thinker Charles Handy envisaged the workforce of the future comprising multi-skilled 'portfolio workers' who might be involved at different times with different organisations in different roles, including freelance/self-employed. With many corporates struggling to keep up with what graduates want from the world of work, have recruiters failed to heed Handy's predictions? Graduate recruitment schemes tend to provide fixed workflows and hierarchies that run counter to the millennial mindset that prioritises innovation, flexibility and change. Today's graduates are also quite happy to embrace a lifestyle where the line between work and life in general is blurred, and where being fleet of foot pays dividends in spotting opportunities for new markets, products and services. Flexibility of this nature is one of the building blocks of the entrepreneurial spirit that characterises this generation. Advertisement As this millennial mindset has been developing, universities have been gaining ground in getting their students ready for the world of work. Historically this has been the preserve of the graduate training scheme. Today, employability skills and entrepreneurship are championed from the student's first day of term. In the climate of the current tuition fee regime, many students are now either in employment or starting and running their own businesses while at university. Here they can benefit from a huge range of business mentoring and start-up support on offer. For example, at GSM London we have a Formation Zone that provides a supportive and collaborative environment for people to develop their business ideas under the guidance of experienced enterprise professionals. This is increasingly becoming a norm in higher education, with the entrepreneurial momentum developing a generation of graduate entrepreneurs. The enterprise experience and skills of this generation are certainly very attractive to graduate recruiters, but perhaps not in the same way as the past. The challenge for employers is therefore to make their offerings more attractive to the more independent, innovative, flexible thinkers that are graduating in 2016 and beyond. Employers need to focus on providing opportunities within early-stage employment for entrepreneurship, leadership, and creativity. On the other hand, the challenge for higher education institutes is to recognise the reality of portfolio careers (as well as portfolio entrepreneurship) and to adapt their employability and careers provision accordingly, so that the relevant cognitive, interpersonal, and technical skills can be developed in the most effective way. Advertisement While traditional graduate opportunities may be declining, the nature of work and education is also changing rapidly. The fact that doing your own thing, as opposed to getting a job on a corporate graduate scheme, is increasingly a viable career option, means that the future for well-skilled graduates continues to be bright. Before I tackle the House of Lords Children in Crisis report on unaccompanied refugee children in the EU, I really need to replace that mould-riddled shower curtain. Searching on-line, I am torn between one featuring a tranquil rainforest scene and one called 'Hitchcock'. But it turns out the latter is just a plain see-through plastic curtain, whereas I'd expected something a bit more Psycho-ish. Habitat definitely missed a trick there. I learn however, on a little Google detour, that for several years after shooting the scene Janet Leigh preferred to take baths instead of showers. Shower curtain ordered, I read through the report. Some of the facts are desperately worrying: 10,000 unaccompanied refugee minors missing in the EU. 10,000? What on earth has happened to them? One statistic leaps off the page: 50% of the children arriving in Italy's Save the Children's programme have been found to have an STD. This gives some clue as to the level of sexual abuse which is happening en route. As for the others, those 10,000, sex trafficking is one very possible reason for their disappearance. It goes without saying that finding them and bringing them to safety should take top priority. Here in the UK, despite the government agreeing back in May this year to give sanctuary to unaccompanied refugees under the age of 18 (the Dubs Amendment), so far only twenty have been allowed in. We really need to keep up the pressure to make sure they keep their promise. Advertisement In the afternoon, I nip down to the dentist's for the chipped tooth. Hussein looks a bit like Jake Gyllenhaal with slicked back hair. He peers inside my mouth and tells me I'll need a two surface inlay (basically a fancy filling) which will set me back around 200. He also tells me that my shoddy flossing technique has resulted in a further deepening of the Periodental Pockets to around 4 mm deep. I know from Googling that Periodental Pockets are no laughing matter and that if they reach crisis level, i.e a depth of 6 mm, they can require flap surgery. To take my mind of flap surgery (aka having your gums surgically separated from your teeth with a scalpel to allow access for the clean up operation, then sewn back), I have a heated debate with Hussein about my dislike of flossing (food debris all over the bathroom mirror). I throw in a lengthy grumble about the price of those plastic dental sticks which bend after just one probing, when you could easily wash and reuse them at least a couple of times. Before things escalate out of all proportion, I ask Hussein if he would be up for going out to the Calais camp to do some emergency dental work. He says yes immediately. On the walk home I think about all the people, I've recently come across who are doing what they can to help: Cecelia Bittner, who gave up her day job to work in the Calais Kitchens; the 82 year old Greek grandmother who uses her pension to help house and feed refugees; the 22 big-hearted bloggers who have formed Bloggers for Refugees. Not to mention every one of those generous souls who donated much-needed clothes, food, footwear, tents, sleeping bags etc to CalAid to the value of 5.5 million.* If there's any good to come from this, then it's proof that when we all pull together, we can make stuff happen, regardless of whether or not the government is playing its part. At my desk again, I do some costing research for the new fundraising pack. I discover that 15 could buy a mattress so a Syrian refugee doesn't have to sleep on the ground and 50 will feed a family of four for two months. So that little bit of fancy filling, smaller than a sunflower seed, could help keep four families fed for eight weeks. Funny old world. Advertisement *not 5.5 million in hard cash as I mistakenly wrote last week. To donate to: CalAid To help speed up the process of allowing unaccompanied child refugees into the UK: Help Refugees Seventy years of hard graft and the Polish people are still being slated for taking 'English jobs' and only coming to the UK to claim benefits - which is preposterous. I'm standing up for the Poles and it's about time someone did. Ever since the WW2, when Polish spitfire pilots played a critical, essential role to winning the Battle of Britain, they've felt severely unappreciated and now even more so after the flabbergasting Brexit result. Advertisement Poles have contributed an enormous amount to the UK through their tremendous work ethic and it's argued their mission is to teach the British how to work again! For example, Polish builders can do a job in half the time for half the price and they still make more money than English builders do. They're not scared of working 70 hour weeks - that's just normal for them. This isn't a viewed shared by the whole of the UK. In London particular, people's opinion about EU migrants is very different to those North of Watford (20 miles outside of London) and this was represented in the referendum outcome. Places like Grimethrope in Yorkshire (an old mining town), where there are huge warehouses with thousands of European staff, feel overwhelmed because there's only 2,000 English people there. The mines were closed 30 odd years ago, a lot of the miners moved on to find work but some stayed and have been on benefits ever since. All of a sudden foreigners arrived and instantly got jobs, not terribly well paid but on the minimum wage, but because of this it's very easy for these people to think they've been invaded! Unfortunately it takes on a racist overtone and when you're prejudice against somebody you don't let the facts get in the way and so they accuse the EU migrants coming over here to get benefits and ignore the fact they're extremely hard working. These people felt threatened and that's why they voted leave. Advertisement A Pole will come over for 19.99, he doesn't know anyone, or the language. He'll turn up to a town like Grimethorpe and he'll have a job within three hours. Three years later, he's buying his own property - and still Polish people are being scrutinised for stealing jobs no one wants - this speaks volumes! With it recently being reported that Poles have overtaken Indians to become the largest foreign-born contingent in Britain, they need a voice more than ever. Incredibly, we're still the only community who don't get involved in politics. Other communities like the West Indies, Muslims and Indians have influential people in positions of power that can help them. The Poles don't have this and they've realised the impact it's had on their community but this is where I come in. I've set up the charity 'Polish Heroes' - which is spearheading the attempt to really deal with every day issues fundamentally post Brexit. We aim to transform the lives of Polish people. For example, I'm setting up advice bureaux in London to help the individuals who have language problems, or don't know how to cope in serious situations. For instance, if the council wants to take their kids away, if they've been fired or kicked out their homes - all of these daily life problems, I want to support. Advertisement I'm here to help, I want to get exposure for the Poles and be the voice of these amazing people. I'm of Polish origin myself, a fluent speaker of the language, successful, a Prince, I talk to the people, and they listen. I live in Ealing and the other night I went to a small Tesco's shop. I parked my car thirty yards away from this store and was stopped five times, either for someone to say hello, shake my hand or thank me, and one of them said: 'at last we've got a leader, our community has a leader.' We can now create a Polish army in the UK, not like a traditional army that goes out and kills but an army of love, love for my people and creating trust and friendship with everyone in the UK. As our children are going back to school, a lot of them starting Big School for the first time, I wanted to share with you something that I don't hear mentioned that much, namely transition regression. What is it? Transition regression is a term used to describe how the majority of students fall backgrounds, academically speaking, when they make the move from primary to senior school (or the equivalent where you are). Figures suggest that 40% of children lose motivation and have made no progress a year after transfer. Most children's marks drop by one third and a third are so badly affected by the transfer that they suffer some sort of mental illness. Only 27% of children moving to secondary school have a positive experience and only 12% find school interesting. Why does it happen? I believe there are several reasons for a child to regress. 1.The over-emphasis on emotional well-being. I understand that the jump to secondary school is huge, scary and frightening and I also believe that our children are much more capable than we ever give them credit for. In my experience, in year 7 there is so much focus on checking to see that the children are all right that we forget to also look at where they are academically. I am all for making sure our children are mentally sound, but I don't think academic excellence should suffer at its expense. I think this sets a precedent that in reality will not carry on through school and will only confuse students more. I believe that too many schools are focusing on this, not stressing enough the academic progress they are expected to make. Sure, have a settling-in period but, the teachers and parents in my opinion need to get focused and clear and set achievable targets as soon as possible to stop children drifting and moving backwards academically. Advertisement 2.Lack of focus. Years 7 and 8 to me seem to me like very directionless years. Children can coast through these years without being challenged. We see these as years to get them ready for GCSEs rather than years where they can make real academic progress. Children in these years often get away with things that they wouldn't later on and young people themselves often think of these years as unimportant. I am one of those people who feels you should have to pass a year to move onto the next; not a very popular viewpoint I know but I can't help feeling that we are failing our children by not ensuing that they have reached certain points in their academic progress up to this point. I think parents and teachers should set clear progress goals for children and work with the child to stick to them, not accepting any excuses. Our children are much more capable than we think they are. 3.Encourage creativity. I think this first year in school is an ideal opportunity to encourage creativity. Not something often encouraged at school and certainly is a skill needed if they are to reach their potential. We could employ something which is known in the business world as FedEx Day. This is where the children are given projects to deliver as a group the next morning (hence overnight delivery - FedEx Days.) I believe that a clear approach to academics with the added group creative work would support the children more than the current system, which is clearly failing our transferees. Think how much more engaged they would be in the education system if each month had a Fed ex day. Advertisement 4.See pressure as a good thing. We often fear putting pressure on our children, worried they won't be able to cope or worse still will fall apart. Carol Deck, a leading voice on mindset work, believes that the way to create children who want to learn is not to lower standards to de-stress them, but to keep high expectations and create a nurturing system around them. When we lower expectations because of pressure, all we do is make the child believe they are not capable and damage their self-esteem. I was recently reminded by the wonderful Heather Bestle that pressure is a good thing - think of an elastic band; it can stretch no end and will only break when it doesn't come back to a resting place. I think our children are the same; they can deal very effectively with pressure if in turn they have time for fun, creativity and rest. All in all, I do believe that children are much more capable than we believe they are and lowering our expectations of them or not expecting anything much is a sure-fire way to ensure they don't reach their potentially academically. ASSOCIATED PRESS As world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly and President Obama's leaders' summit on refugees, the refugee crisis continues to spiral. Images of refugee children - drowned Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach, and more recently five year old Omran, injured in an airstrike in Aleppo, sitting bloodied in an ambulance - have rightly shocked and horrified the world. Advertisement Spurred to respond, governments have vowed to take action as public pressure mounted. Momentarily, sporadically, the media too has championed the rights of these children. Yet, with wearisome inevitability, momentum has slowed, newer stories break, attention is diverted and images of child refugees are soon forgotten. But a broader crisis is building, one more hidden from the eyes of the media and the public. More than half of the 65million people displaced globally are children. And only half of those are able to go to primary school. Children in South Sudan, Burundi, Yemen, and the Central African Republic find themselves caught up in conflicts that are largely ignored by the media, but are having a devastating impact on their lives. Advertisement During crises like these, education is critical. It provides a safe space to ensure girls and boys can continue learning. It helps to protect them. This protection is especially important for girls. During conflict and emergency situations, they are often at far greater risk of violence and abuse. They may be forced into marriage, and face the threat of sexual violence and trafficking. Education helps to protect them from these dangers. This is why it's so important that global leaders meeting in New York step up and make clear, new commitments to education. The objective of President Obama's summit is to increase the number of refugees worldwide in school by one million. We welcome this goal: Plan International UK has joined with other organisations to support a public letter to world leaders, calling for action on education in crises. The new Education Cannot Wait: A Fund for Education in Emergencies provides an opportunity for that action. Governments must support it, making specific commitments to refugees and internally displaced children - and especially girls. Advertisement Education is essential to protecting children on the move. It improves girls and boys wellbeing, and ensures they have the skills and knowledge needed to help rebuild their societies after conflict. The recent news that Islington Council has shut down the iconic London night club Fabric has sparked outrage and disbelief amongst music fans, campaigners and politicians alike. Post Brexit, I don't think I have seen such an outpouring of anger and grief on my social feeds. As Managing Director of a digital marketing agency, and founder of a London-based electronic music record label, I am seriously concerned for the future of London's creative community. Over the past decade we have lost nearly 50 percent of the capital's club spaces and increasingly areas of the city where the young, freshly-graduated creative community live and work. Shoreditch, Dalston, Hackney Wick and King's Cross have all been invaded by new build flats, office blocks and men in suits. The decision to revoke Fabric's licence was made on the basis of two drug related deaths at the club earlier this summer, and staff's inability to "stop people buying and taking illegal drugs on its premises". To me the closure represents an uneducated view on drugs. No doubt tragic incidents, but definitely not isolated incidents. Unfortunately, young (and older) people suffer drug induced deaths every single day in Britain, that being on the streets, in private homes or at clubs. The reasoning for the closure is obviously much more complex than drug use alone. Advertisement Rising housing prices, budget cuts and Post-Brexit economic concerns puts London councils under massive financial pressure - and the answer seems to be gentrification and commercialisation. Of course, it is entirely necessary that local councils and politicians are engaged in encouraging investment into London, but at what cost? In response to rising rents and the city's attitudes to clubs and the places where creative people go to express themselves, many young people involved in the creative arts have moved to culture-rich cities such as Berlin and Amsterdam - cities that embrace the underground creative community. If we don't start taking action, the city we love is in danger of 'cleansing itself' of the people and places that have helped to build its reputation as a global creative hub. We are at risk of becoming just another "boring big city". As pointed out by London's Mayor Sadiq Khan, the issues faced by Fabric and many of the city's other culture venues indicates a wider problem of how to protect the night-time economy. Thus maintaining London's thriving creative community has to be a strategic initiative driven at the very highest level, and is therefore a matter for public policy. The Mayor's promise to appoint a 'Night Czar' to protect and represent London's night-time culture and industry is definitely a step in the right direction, but it is paramount that such a role comes with real power - influence alone won't be enough. The role needs the resources, access and authority to bring together key stakeholders, including club and venue owners, local authorities, the Metropolitan Police and the public. Interviews are taking place next week and I hope along with the announcement of who will be London's brand new 'Night Czar', comes the real authority necessary to make a difference. Advertisement London's creative industry has a responsibility as well. We have to build new spaces for young creatives to develop and express themselves - but also do everything in our power to maintain existing creative hubs. There is enough Starbucks', Superdrugs' and Tesco's - let's make sure our clubs, theatres, arts and cultural spaces don't turn into just another one of these. We have to raise our voices and make sure policy makers hear us. I also suggest we look to our more enlightened European neighbours for inspiration. In stark contrast to the decision taken on Fabric, a German court has recently ruled that one of Berlin's most famous nightclubs, Berghain, produces work of cultural significance and should be taxed at a lower rate. Recognising Berghain as a place of cultural value clearly demonstrates Germany's more progressive and sympathetic approach to clubs and the places where the young, creative community express themselves. Various international newspapers reported in early July 2016 that police had arrested 23 people across Italy alleged to be part of a criminal network engaged in migrant smuggling. The gang is suspected of smuggling thousands of people across the Mediterranean into Europe. Apart from possible deaths at sea caused by unsafe boats, those unable to pay the traffickers faced violence, abuse and some may have been murdered. In related raids across Italy, police also seized more than half a million euros found in a perfume shop in Rome. According to the Italian prosecutor involved, profits were likely to be used in the illicit drug trade. Advertisement Is this case unique? Sadly not, although it does paint a telling picture of the harsh realities of migrant smuggling. People smuggling causes terrible suffering and even death, it generates huge profits used to fund other crimes, and it involves networks spanning many regions. As this case shows catching the criminals is a priority, but not at the expense of the rights and dignity of all migrants and refugees. We need to prosecute the criminals while avoiding the persecution of the migrants. Migrant lives, migrant rights, are paramount and the United Nations and others are entirely correct to pursue a path that does everything to uphold these essential rights. This is why this week's high-level meeting on migrants and refugees in New York is so very important. We need to determine action that protects the fundamental freedoms of those on the move, and on their arrival, while also rolling up the criminal networks. Advertisement Held during the 71st session of the General Assembly, the meeting and its declaration can serve to sharpen our collective approach, aligning the orbits of international organizations, countries and civil society to work closely on behalf of migrants and refugees. It is a vital milestone on the way to agreeing a compact on migration in 2018. We also need to admit the scale of this tragedy: it is the biggest movement of people since the Second World War. Today, we are witnessing a world in motion. Millions of people seeking greater opportunities, escaping conflict and pushing across local horizons to achieve a better life for themselves and their families. Migrants can be found everywhere. Last year there were more than 244 million migrants and most move without incident. There are thought to be 65 million forcibly displaced people. These are vulnerable children, women and men who risk being pushed into the arms of heartless traffickers and exploiters. If help is to arrive, fighting crime and promoting justice are indispensable. To do this, in line with the high level meeting's draft declaration, countries must vigorously battle against human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Advertisement Efforts should be governed by the protocols on these callous crimes under the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. So far, 156 countries have made human trafficking a criminal offence, but only 142 have agreed to do the same to halt migrant smuggling. The problem lies in implementation. Countries need to respect their laws, and to be bold in their enforcement. As the Italian law enforcement agencies, who bring unparalleled experience from combating their own mafia, have recognised, there must be zero tolerance of impunity. Every successful prosecution, every network disabled or trafficking route severed delivers a clear message that human trafficking and migrant smuggling are no longer the easy crimes of yesterday. But for justice to prevail, and to apply to every child, woman and man, we must work ceaselessly together, share responsibility and acknowledge that we cannot stand on the side lines while humans suffer. Just last year, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underscored that the international community needs to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people. No one must be left behind. Advertisement If they were, it risks our collective shame; especially at a time when we are being called to account to not just strengthen human rights and dignity, but also to empower and dispense justice for all. Geoffrey Colon, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft for Bing Ads Ever since the dawn of time, human beings have been yearning for knowledge and understanding of how to carry out certain tasks; how to make things, how to get from A to B, how to communicate, how to survive. Before writing and the printing press, this knowledge transfer was done by word of mouth via storytelling channels such as parables and progressed through the agricultural era where artisans and entrepreneurs started a revolution by experimenting with mechanization leading to wisdom and experience being transferred over longer distances thanks to inventions like the wheel. During the industrial era, the pace of change increased albeit in favor of a minority who controlled the process and refused to share information, keeping the majority in the dark, stifling innovation and keeping the disruption of business models at bay. This law of scarcity became the norm. Advertisement Then, twenty-five years ago this year, came the Worldwide Web. Humanity came online, and while its been a wild ride, many businesses are still trying to figure out what to do with all this access to information. A report out late last year from the ANA and McKinsey points out there is a thirst for more data among marketers. 46% say they make decisions based on data rather than on qualitative metrics but just 10% of believe they are very effective at turning insights into customer behaviors. If consumers had access to data for twenty-five years, why is it taking marketers so long to figure out how to use it and how to be successful? Questions dominate the consumer decision journey Whatever your business model, at some point your target customer is going to be somewhere along a consumer decision journey that includes some or all of these stages: initiation, research, comparison, transaction, and experience. All these stages yearn for information to be delivered and transferred. Advertisement Some journeys might be deeply considered like buying a car, and some might be a quick impulse journey like knowing where the nearest sushi bar is. Whatever the journey, theres an opportunity to address that query and intent with answers in the form of content, education or instruction that is authentic, useful, relevant and actionable. According to the ANA/McKinsey report though, just 13% of companies surveyed felt strongly that they had identified their customers decision journeys and understood where to focus marketing, and 50% had no hands on any data concerning customer touch-points through the buying cycle. So, even with all that data, we lack the most essential answers about our customers. Consumers are trying to navigate both the digital and physical worlds, and brands who can transform themselves to deliver relevant answers during their entire journey stand the best chance of building trust and loyalty with a fickle public who knows other solutions are simply a click away. Think of search as the bridge to understanding intent As marketers, we operate in an increasingly complex world where digital nomads are moving seamlessly on and offline across a myriad of different devices. Search is the bridge that holds offline and online environments together. Advertisement If we need directions, we search. If we want to discover a new restaurant, we search. If we want to book a vacation, we search. If we need to learn how to do anything, we search. The opportunity and data is there for brands to understand and anticipate search intent, creating touchpoints to capture some of that attention along that bridge. Some companies are already doing this really well, for instance, if you search for how to use Snapchat on Google and Bing, youll find this Verizon article: Snapchat 101: what it is and how to use it. Thats right. Sprinkled in amongst Snapchat themselves and publishers like Mashable, Wired, and For Dummies, is a telecom brand providing useful, relevant and actionable content to searchers looking for answers. How did Verizon know this would be a smart marketing move? They looked at the search data and acted on it. Theres no direct competition for Verizon on that first page and so, with that one article, they are showing that they understand that success comes down to how businesses are indexing themselves and being relevant across the search ecosystem to answer questions. Advertisement For many brands who are already creating this kind of knowledge-transfer experience throughout the sales funnel via content marketing, SEO, agile PPC advertising and thoughtful data harvesting and analysis, the future is getting more complex (some might say thrilling) with the advent of voice search and artificial intelligence vehicles like ChatBots. Where there is a knowledge-transfer there are communities where influence and reputation are better barometers of success than legacy revenue models. What this means is that companies who can relinquish the blinkers of traditional marketing and double-down on intelligence that can predict intent will be those brands well see thriving when the Worldwide Web is fifty years old. A search engine is still a database of intentions. Just do a search on Google or Bing for the phrase how to and youll see the first of over five billion results combined. How well are you set up to provide answers to your customers or potential customers? Last month, 10,000 academics attended the annual Academy of Management meeting in California. These b-school educators came from all over the world to explore the state of business. The theme this year was fascinating: "making organizations meaningful." A colleague asked me for my thoughts on the theme from my perspective as a sustainability consultant and writer. In short, I'd say thank goodness. The world needs business people with new skills to tackle big, thorny environmental and social challenges. Focusing on meaning seems like a solid way to introduce students to new ways of doing business. Some quick background: I'm not an academic, though I have played one on TV (or at least in streaming video). But as someone very interested in the role of business in society, I do keep some tabs on what the next generation of business employees and leaders is learning. Advertisement I also look back on my b-school education to get a sense of where we've come from. A couple years after I graduated in 1999, my career took a right turn. I had worked in traditional jobs in strategy, marketing and business development. But I followed my values to focus on helping business navigate environmental and social issues. It struck me then that during b-school, I had not once heard the words sustainability, climate, or carbon. I was taught, like almost all MBAs, that the focus of business is profit maximization and efficiency. The curriculum focused on traditional areas like strategy, marketing, accounting, and operations. And these were fundamentally sitting in separate silos of knowledge. But today, in a world facing mega-challenges like climate change, resource pressures, and inequality, that traditional education is inadequate (or as another post in this series put it, being a good business school is "no longer good enough"). Our future innovators and business leaders need to understand systems, not just functional areas. For example, many organizations -- particularly energy and agriculture companies -- realize our stressed food, energy, and water systems are deeply entwined. Tackling this so-called "nexus" of issues requires different thinking. Students need training in how to approach wicked, interconnected problems. Students also need new financial tools. Over the last 40 years, the percentage of a company's market value that is directly measurable (as quantifiable assets on the books) has plummeted. The hard-to-measure, like employee passion and knowledge, customer loyalty, resilience, and license to operate, can now dominate the value of a business. Studying accounting and not discussing at length the challenges and opportunities of valuing the intangibles would be absurd. On top of all these new approaches to strategy, operations, and finance, students will need new people skills as well. Our understanding of people is changing. Out with the old economic view of utility-maximizing individuals, in with behavioral economics and psychology. Business leaders have to understand customers and their motivations and work collaboratively with a diverse group of people. So I envision ever-more focus on compassion, empathy, and ethics. Advertisement In total, all these skills will help ensure that businesses, organizations, and the people in them are more connected to the world around them (and more mindful in general). It's about making organizations, yes, more meaningful. But a big question for me, and one that I suspect AOM academics are wrestling with, is this: meaningful to whom? For 40 years, the answer to that has been mainly shareholders. Business is just a source of good financial returns (mostly in the short run). And I would argue that operating in the way I'm envisioning -- with a deeper connection to environmental issues -- actually does create shareholder value. But that said, I'm guessing that the Academy of Management is making a point that companies need to be meaningful to many more stakeholders. Just imagine designing an organization to produce meaning for employees, customers, or communities. It might seem like a focus on meaning to multiple stakeholders is a new-fangled fad, led by wanna-be hippies or idealistic Millennials. But actually it's old-school. Having a broader view on why a business exists, going beyond shareholder profit, is not new at all. Robert Wood Johnson, founder of Johnson & Johnson, laid out a view of the company's purpose some 73 years ago. His "Credo" lays out five groups that matter to the business, starting with doctors, nurses and patients. After that, the focus is on mothers and fathers, then customers, then employees, and then communities. And only then, does he say that the "final responsibility is to stockholders" who will earn "a fair return." These old-fashioned ideas are coming back. Consider Unilever, the most proactive of the big companies seeking to make sustainability core to business. In a search for some meaning, the company's executives started by digging into company archives. The founders, they discovered, began with a mission to foster health and cleanliness. Well over a century later, the company continues that purpose with campaigns to teach at-risk kids in the developing world to wash hands and avoid deadly diseases. As reminder, this is all great for business also: the company's purpose-driven brands - like GE's ecomagination offerings and Target's "Made to Matter" products - are all growing faster than the rest of the business.. Advertisement I heard a similar story when I spoke recently to the dynamic CEO of Krug champagne (an LVMH company). Maggie Henriquez tells a compelling tale of how the company found itself again after a rough patch during the last global recession. She says they lost the thread on "why we exist," so they went back to the beginning. They located and read the founder's notebook from 1848. He wrote about the extraordinary importance of the land they relied on to make their wine, and how critical it was to connect with growers. Henriquez and her team adopted the founder's uncompromising philosophy and applied it to everything they do, from supply chain to operations to customer care. That was the way forward for the brand. Doesn't that sound like an organization that's found some meaning? The bottom line is that the purpose of a business, if nothing else, is to solve a problem or fill a need for someone (to "create and keep a customer" in the words of the great Peter Drucker. Oh, and of course get paid "a fair return" to do it. Making someone's life better by giving them something they need or want - a life-saving medicine, a movie, a shirt, a sandwich, a home, some legal advice, a bank loan...or a million other things - is what gives any organization meaning. With the right training and a new mindset, taught by schools focused on meaning, the entrepreneurs and executives of the future will help build a more purposeful, thriving world. Mom smiling at newborn at hospital I missed my daughter's birth -- because I wasn't there. I was 8,000 miles away in Los Angeles when she was born. If I look back at my writing journal, on that day I find notes about a potential TV pitch -- Lethal Weapon "with a female." (Hard to believe I didn't sell that one.) I was working up TV pilot ideas as my daughter was being born. Possibly. I don't know if she was born in the morning or afternoon. I don't know anything about her mother or her mother's labor, but at some point on that day, my daughter was born and taken to I.M.H., the International Mission of Hope orphanage on Nimak Mahal Road in Kolkata. Did my daughter's mother cry? Did she kiss her baby girl on the cheek and wish her a good life? I don't know. But eight months later my husband and I went to the international terminal at LAX where a woman from the adoption agency handed us a small, screaming baby wearing a fluffy pink dress. Did I mention the screaming? It was more like a banshee wail. "Here's your daughter," the adoption lady told me. "She was very well behaved for the first 18 hours of the flight. But she got a little cranky during the last four hours." Advertisement A 22-hour flight? I'd be screaming, too. "Here's your daughter." My husband said later it was like getting a baby delivered by L.L. Bean. At the time we adopted, parents didn't travel to India to pick up their children. Babies were sent from the orphanage with adoption workers, the babies tucked into wicker baskets and flown to various airports around the world to meet their new parents. I wasn't there to hear my daughter's first cry, to have her handed to me by a nurse, to feel her warm body cradled in my arms. To see her eyes open. To recognize the voice she'd been hearing for months -- "Hey, you. I'm your mom," I would have told her. Instead I stood in an airport and tried desperately to comfort a shrieking 8-month old. A bottle, a pacifier, a toy. Nothing worked. We were strangers, an instant family she hadn't asked for. I didn't give birth to her. I missed labor -- well, missed isn't exactly the right word. "Oh, it feels like period cramps," I said brightly to my husband as we were driving to the hospital to deliver our first child. (Women who have given birth, insert laughter here.) Fifteen hours of labor later (period cramps times a billion) and the option of a high forceps delivery or a C-section, we chose the C-section. Yep, it hurt. But worth it? Well, duh. And worth it enough to try again? Of course. Advertisement Except it didn't work out a second time. Our beautiful, much-loved son needed a sibling. After some forays into the tortuous land of fertility treatment, we gave up and embraced adoption, which offered its own version of torture. Paperwork, visits from social workers, more paperwork -- in a way, it was like a different kind of pregnancy. No morning sickness (hooray), but delays, complications, plenty of frustration. With the adoption in process, we awaited news. One day we received a Fedex package with a single sheet of paper inside. Stapled to the top, a tiny photo of a sweet-faced infant, her mouth open in an O. Information on the mother: unknown. At the orphanage the baby had been given the name Subhra. At birth she weighed three pounds four ounces and was 16 inches long. "Present living conditions: At I.M.H. under the care of fully trained staff and 24-hour doctors." We knew the children were well cared for at I.M.H. -- attended by massis (aunties in Bengali), touched and cuddled and fed. We have a few pictures of our daughter at I.M.H. -- one is marked, "Subhra's crib." In other photos she is being held by Urmela, her massi. They both look happy. My daughter's entry into her new life was probably as confusing for her as it was for us. The surprise was her instant affection for her brother. He, naturally, was nervous about the sudden appearance of a sister. But she adored him and wanted to be with him all the time. Any apprehension he had -- poof -- it was gone. Over the years I've talked with my daughter about her adoption. About her orphanage, the massis, the love and nurturing at I.M.H., the contact we've kept up with Bal Jagat, the wonderful adoption agency that brought our daughter to us. "But you like my brother better because he was in your tummy," she would say to me. "No, I love you both. You weren't in my tummy, you were here." And I put her hand on my heart. "I'm super lucky to have a birth child and a heart child." Advertisement I missed the day of her birth, but that's the only birthday I've missed. While Silicon Valley is finally recognizing the market potential and talent pool of emerging markets - witness Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's recent trip to Africa or top VC firm Andreessen Horowitz' investment into a fintech play in Africa -- the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has been involved in venture capital in developing countries for 16 years. The IFC is now stepping it up, with plans to double its portfolio of venture capital investments over the next few years to a billion dollars, stirring a new level of excitement in the international development community and beyond. The goal: to support the growth of entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world, and spur innovation in emerging markets. The latest cash infusion into IFC's venture capital arm is a strategic move, meant to capture a critical moment in the market: technology has made it simpler and cheaper to start a business than ever before. Advertisement Nikunj Jinsi, global head of IFC's venture capital investment group, said that the plans are ambitious, but there is new opportunity: the use of smartphones, sensors, and big data is spurring a change in key sectors such as healthcare, clean energy, financial services, mobile, internet, and education, allowing entrepreneurship to thrive in emerging markets. Jinsi sat down with Anna Shen to discuss the IFC's VC investments and how they will support innovative businesses, early-stage fund managers, innovation ecosystems and new opportunities for growth. What is the reason for the doubling of the IFC's fund? We are now at a critical moment in history because the world now has very innovative technologies that can have a transformative impact on people's lives. These technologies are now lower in cost. The timing is right. Senior management recognizes that through proper use of technology and business models, we can have outside impact. To break it down: There are three different parts to our activities: early stage accelerator and incubator investments, where there is a gap in early stage financing; support of early stage fund managers who will disrupt the ecosystem in emerging markets; and the actual direct investments in tech businesses themselves. Which sectors and regions excite you the most and where are the biggest opportunities? Advertisement It really is a mix of all sectors - but the internet sector gives opportunities, goods and services that consumers wouldn't normally have. I would not be surprised if Walmart would set up something in the middle of Nigeria someday and develop online opportunities. The question is: are you providing services consumers wouldn't normally have? Another benefit: It is known that within this industry there are a lot of job opportunities, specifically for youth and gender. This industry is female friendly from an employment perspective and allows opportunities for women. The healthcare sector will see big changes over the next ten years. Specifically there is a leapfrog happening in developing countries. Why? Because there is no legacy system regarding telephones. Smartphones are widely available and more affordable, and there is better access to data. On the preventive diagnostics side, all people need is a smartphone. Now what is available are applications on the digital health side, for example, to set up doctor's appointments. In markets in sub-Saharan Africa or China, people line up for a week and see a doctor for two minutes, then have to go away and come back another time to see another doctor. But by having (a product for) doctor planning, things are much more effective, there is a knock on effect on productivity and income, especially amongst the poorer class. Diagnostic apps, data and data analytics will change the way healthcare is driven. It will democratize access for consumers and patients towards micro-services and medicine. There is such a shortage of this in developing markets, but because there is no legacy system, we are asset light and don't require huge amounts of capital expenditure. There is a great opportunity. One very low-tech example is within the energy space. While utility and power plants have been around for as long as I can remember, there are new business models that can help provide solar home systems and efficient energy. In Tanzania, there is no full electricity grid - if you can give citizens an alternative solution, such as a 10-watt solar energy source, it allows people to charge their phones at home, power their refrigerator and television or even their own business. People can get basic services, and it has been proven that the productivity level increases as a result. For example, I could put $1 billion in a traditional power plant to reach 200,000 people, or invest $10 million in a disruptive off-grid energy company and have the potential to affect over one million people. Advertisement Have you seen changes in sectors as a result of IFC's investments? We always want to do more, but financial returns kick in within five to eight years after we make the investment. The question is whether we see promising growth in the businesses or not. But yes, we see it in our investments. For example, we are into the largest e-commerce play in the Middle East, Souq. That has been promising. We are also into the largest e-commerce play in Brazil, called Netshoes. Despite the micro-challenges in the market, the business locally is going strongly. On the health side, we invested into a kidney dialysis chain in India - catering to the lower and middle class. When we invested they had less than 20 centers, and today, 2.5 years later, there are close to 80 centers in India and they are having much better reach to those who need it even in remote areas, and they are creating jobs, which is important to us. From a reach and impact perspective, it is the largest independent dialysis center in India. What can IFC do that other traditional VCs cannot? I'll put it the other way: there is a lot that the private sector can do the IFC cannot. As for us, what we can do is that we are a true global platform and have a unique reach across continents, markets and industries. We can be a first-mover in frontier markets, where other players may not have the risk appetite. For example, I don't see a lot of VCs looking into Africa or parts of Latin America; these are underdeveloped from a VC perspective -- that is where we can play a role. IFC is not just venture capital. We can provide a whole value chain of financial products for use when companies grow up -- not just equity products, but debt products or other well structured products. Generally VC firms don't do this. We are able to give a portfolio of rich clients. And get the decision makers to the table to buy the products. We are convening players with our platform TechEmerge, which is a first of its kind matchmaking program for proven technology companies around the world that are looking to grow their business in emerging markets. It provides opportunities for revenue enhancements by connecting tech startups from around the world with larger corporations in emerging markets to conduct local pilot projects and build commercial partnerships. We piloted this in India, and are looking to roll out this platform globally. Advertisement What are the biggest challenges in deploying capital into emerging markets? In addition to the regular challenges that the VCs have to find the right opportunities that will scale up properly and get to a sustainable model, we operate in volatile markets and for example, even in seemingly stable markets, regulatory environments might change. This is not something regular US VCs are used to - volatility could reflect on currency, and could impact how customers take up businesses. In most of the markets we are in, there are issues of how to facilitate an exit, so we face liquidity issues. We have to think hard. In addition, we love to work with private sector players and investors, but in nascent markets, we also have the issue of finding VCs that have the same outlook at us, with a track record. That will continue to be a challenge and there is no quick fix but that is what makes our life more interesting and exciting. What are some of the most interesting companies IFC has invested in? Companies in IFC's VC portfolio include Andela, a Nigerian education company; Portea, an Indian healthcare company; Planet Labs, a satellite imagery company; Hepsiburada, a Turkish consumer internet company; eyewear-focused venture Lenskart, and online grocery retailer BigBasket. As the UN General Assembly gathers in New York for its first-ever High Level Meeting on Large Movements of Migrants and Refugees and the Obama Administration hosts a Leaders' Summit on Refugees, a diplomatic spotlight is on the scale and severity of the current global refugee crisis. In the face of unprecedented levels of forced displacement, the global response has ranged from tepid to hostile. This week's summits can be a turning point for U.S. and global policy--and an opportunity to avoid repeating tragic mistakes of the past. In June of 2016, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that for the first time global forced displacement surpassed that of World War II. With millions of people displaced as a result of the Holocaust, the World War II era is marked by notable failures in the world's ability to respond in a timely and adequate way to the plight of refugees fleeing persecution and destruction. For example, as the global displacement crisis worsened in the late 1930's, immigration restrictions in the United States increased. Shamefully, in 1939, when a German ship holding 937 passengers, mostly Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, sailed toward the port of Miami, the United States turned it away, forcing the passengers back to Europe where more than a quarter were murdered. In the years following World War II, countries gathered to draft and adopt the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and establish UNHCR. The cornerstone of refugee protection is nonrefoulement: the guarantee to not return a refugee to a place in which they face persecution. Advertisement Today, the United States is the largest financial contributor to UNHCR, the most generous of countries supporting humanitarian assistance efforts globally, and it tends to accept approximately half of the refugees referred by UNHCR for third-country resettlement globally. But even as its accomplishments are laudable, the scale and severity of the current displacement situation demands a much more robust response and, therefore, stronger leadership from the United States. UNHCR reports that there are over 65.3 million people forcibly displaced from their homes, 21.3 million of whom are refugees, having crossed an international border. Of these, the largest displaced population is Syrians who have fled a devastating conflict that has been marked by the widespread use of torture, targeting of civilians, use of barrel bombs and chemical weapons, and besieged cities cut off from basic humanitarian assistance. Over half of the almost 5 million Syrians who have fled into neighboring countries and beyond are children. The overwhelming nature of the Syrian crisis is compounded by the fact that Syrian refugees represent less than a quarter of the global refugee population. For example, the equivalent of almost 10% of Afghanistan's entire population is living as refugees. Eritreans continue to flee a repressive regime in which arbitrary detention, forced indefinite military conscription, and torture is commonplace. Somali refugees are in the world's most protracted refugee situation, with second and third generations of Somali refugees being born into exile. Central American families and children are fleeing violence by drug cartels and gangs combined with the ineptitude of governments that are either unable or unwilling to protect their people. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of Central Americans are displaced throughout the region while many have sought protection in the United States, only to find themselves held in immigration detention and put into removal proceedings. Advertisement The list goes on with high levels of new and protracted displacement from countries in which conflict, instability, and persecution are rampant, such as South Sudan, Burundi, Iraq, Ethiopia, Yemen, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar, among others. Civil society organizations, including the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), have called upon States to show collective leadership by taking concrete steps to address the tremendous refugee protection needs that exist around the world. These steps, however, should be rooted in a core vision that ensures that every refugee can access asylum from persecution; every refugee is given an opportunity for a durable solution; and every refugee, displaced person, and migrant is treated with dignity and afforded their basic human rights. The United States must lead by example. The Obama Administration's initiative in coordinating the Leaders' Summit on Refugees is a strong step but, as millions of lives are at risk and in limbo, its value will be measured on its outcomes and concrete deliverables. As a member of Refugee Council USA, CVT endorses the recommendations put forward by the coalition. Those include: Resettlement: While the recent announcement that the President intends to admit 110,000 refugees in FY 2017 is a welcome increase over the current admissions level of 85,000, the scale of the current crisis demands an even greater commitment. The United States should commit to provide protection to 200,000 refugees in FY 2017 through a combination of traditional refugee resettlement and additional legal and secure approaches. Likewise, the United States should ensure that there is a commensurate increase in the social services and integration support for refugees--including access to specialized rehabilitation services for survivors of torture--as they restart their lives in this country. Advertisement Education: The United States should pledge new financial support, while also mobilizing other countries to do the same, in support of delivering education opportunities alongside other essential protection and social services, both in emergency and protracted refugee contexts. Employment: The United States should work with refugee-hosting countries and other international actors to invest substantially more in assisting and incentivizing host countries to integrate refugee adults into their workforces to help countries make work rights a reality in both policy and practice. Asylum: The United States should also demonstrate leadership at home, particularly in its response to Central American refugees seeking asylum along its own southern border, including by recognizing the forced displacement of people from the Northern Triangle as the refugee crisis it truly is and responding accordingly. We cannot change mistakes of the past but we can make amends by not repeating them. As we look back on the atrocities that occurred during World War II, it is shocking to also know how the failure to provide safe haven to refugees fleeing for their lives led so many to perish and suffer. Today, we are faced with the same challenge but an opportunity to do better. How will history judge the world's response today? At CVT healing centers in the Middle East, Africa, and the United States, we extend interdisciplinary rehabilitative care to refugees from around the world. Learn more about CVT's advocacy work in Washington D.C. on behalf of refugees here. Advertisement There is an almost visionary sub-culture within governments around the world whose adherents believe it will become as indispensable, ubiquitous and invisible as electricity. That sub-culture has the opaque name 'open data' and, though almost everyone has heard the term, few people outside the movement really grasp what it actually means. Yet it is true that almost nothing - perhaps nothing at all - has the potential to so fundamentally change the work of every civil servant. Although it comes with concerns about privacy, it promises to expose corruption, create jobs and allow civil servants to measure everything happening in the real world as it happens and so let them solve citizens' problems as or even before they arise. At heart, it is a belief that information creates change. Advertisement One of the best ways to understand open data is to look at its people because, as Enrique Zapata, who trained in international relations and is Mexico's Deputy Director General of Open Data, told Apolitical, 'Once you get into it, you see the technical part is only one thing and that it's a cultural thing, another way of doing things, another mentality.' Apolitical asked global leaders in the open data field what that mentality consists of, and their answers reveal a culture of innovation as well as highlighting what characterises some of the world's most forward-thinking public servants. Next week we will be writing about how they imagine a future saturated with open data - and what we have to do to get there. Information creates change The first trait revealed was an automatic belief in collaboration and a willingness to share what they're working on. Zapata told Apolitical that he is in a WhatsApp group with people from dozens of other countries where they can fire out questions or problems and get immediate responses. He said, 'I see a group of people that are globally minded, where local or national boundaries aren't barriers for them to work with others. I see that they use alternative channels - like Skype or WhatsApp - and find new ways of communicating and working with other governments and other actors. I think that's very important and people don't see it because it's a very operational thing.' Advertisement An attitude of openness and sharing tends to be most prevalent in those in their thirties or younger, that is, millennials, or among people working in tech. The millennials have learned the habit from social media, while those in tech have often learned it from working with open-source software - which is publicly available and which anyone can edit or adapt, meaning it ends up being collaboratively developed. The second trait was a willingness to do things that hadn't been mandated and that might not work. Open data adherents are, according to Marija Kujacic, Head of E-Government Development in Serbia, 'not afraid of doing something they haven't been told they are supposed to do. It's very common that people do just what they've been told to, and there's this attitude that says, don't touch me, I'm just inside my own borders. It's a willingness to think outside the job.' That willingness to take risks - untypical of the public sector - means that many people working in open data came from private enterprise or NGOs. Overall, however, what unites these people more than any demographic trend is a fervent belief that if this mentality can be spread, it will ease billions of lives in ways that are not the stuff of high politics - like public transport, school locations, safer roads - but ameliorate a quotidian that high politics can rarely touch. Several of the leaders described a moment of epiphany when they heard about the idea; others said that you had to experience it to understand its power for transformation and that that understanding, once gained, made it impossible not to want to drive the movement forward. As Alka Mishra, who leads India's open data work, told Apolitical: 'It's the true appreciation which counts.' Insights from the open data leaders CAROLINA POZO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF QUITO'S INNOVATION LAB, ECUADOR Advertisement After a Masters in Public Management and a diploma from business school, Carolina joined government three years ago, at 27. She started Quito's open data work after hearing about it from a friend in Costa Rica and has won a competition to use Microsoft's artificial intelligence, drawing on machine learning to optimise things like public transport networks. 'The main characteristic of people in open data is that they're young. Younger people are more exposed to social media, digital tools and the idea of access to information and I think to the concept itself because, from a personal perspective, when you're young you want access to everything all the time. 'Open data also goes better with open-minded, digital-minded sorts of people, who are flexible in their work. They're people who have international connections, because you know the whole open government movement goes around the international Open Government Partnership, the Open Data Institute and collaboration between cities. The main characteristic is that they're young 'It's people who have a mind for implementation, young people who are really results-oriented, making use of data, not just publishing data for the hell of it, but looking at the value and how it could be connected to civic participation. 'Part of it is fashion. Twenty years ago, the main topic was globalisation, but who talks about that now? So it is generational. And the future is linking lots of different data sets and putting them on maps.' Advertisement MALICK TAPSOBA; DEPUTY MANAGER, OPEN DATA INITIATIVE; BURKINA FASO malicktOne of the stars of the open data scene, Malick was instrumental in running Burkina Faso's first free elections for 30 years. To undo tensions during the often incendiary wait between voting and results, he set up a system to publish the count in real time. 'I think it's a personal quality. Some people are like that, and some people aren't. 'The people working in open data share easily the information they have. They have a spirit, a culture of sharing. I think it's a personal quality and it's also about background. Most have an IT background and have worked with open-source tools and with the development of social media, so they've developed a culture of sharing the things they have.' 'They're not necessarily young, but almost everyone - 80% of people I know working in open data - are very young. They know social media. They have a personal characteristic and then they have developed this characteristic with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Social media has helped them improve this quality of sharing.' ENRIQUE ZAPATA; DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL, OPEN DATA; MEXICO When Mexico's first open data team was founded, Enrique was the only one of the seven who had government experience. He came to open data after working on international trade agreements and is trying to encourage small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the government itself, to take advantage of the data government is publishing. 'I'm a policy guy, not a technical guy. They told me, you're going to do something called open data, and I freaked out. Three years later, I'm trying to push open data in every single sector in Mexico and around the world. Advertisement 'The people in it mostly come from outside government and they're not risk-averse, which is very important. In government, you find a lot of people who don't see failure as a way of actually learning what not to do, so you don't replicate a failure at a bigger scale. They told me, you're doing open data, and I freaked out 'It's the culture of risk-aversion, of sending memos that have to be checked and vetoed by ten people before they're sent. I thought that's how things in government were done. But it's changing because these new people are coming in. What I tend to see is that people make the projects first, show their impact, and then make them official towards the very end. 'It's also generational. People today have a higher expectation of government. Two decades ago, if you weren't experiencing a lack of electricity in your house, you wouldn't know that that's a problem. But now if other people are tweeting about it, you actually see what's happening and that government isn't reacting as it should. That's very palpable right now. 'In open data I see a group of people all over the world who actually understand what the potential is for the benefit of everyone. I think a big challenge is that that understanding is only in our community, and we have to start permeating other communities, say, the corruption guys. We shouldn't be talking about data with them, we should be talking about corruption with them. But it's something you only really understand when you experience it.' MARIJA KUJACIC; HEAD OF E-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT; SERBIA Marija worked in tech and did a Masters in Artificial Intelligence before running her own company for more than a decade. She joined government 12 years ago and is leading Serbia's nascent work on open data. Advertisement 'It's very common that IT people understand open data faster and better than, let's say, lawyers, who are the majority in public administration. IT people come to it more easily because they need to learn all the time and work in unfamiliar areas. Each IT project is something completely new. They have to be very quick and explorative. 'They're not afraid of doing something new, of doing something they haven't been told they are supposed to do. People don't want to expose their work publicly 'But the other characteristic is openness, because people here in Serbia are not used to being exposed to the public. It goes from the very top, politicians and the big decisions, all the way down to say, doctors and how many patients they have in a day. That's very, very deeply rooted here. People don't want to expose their work publicly. But people who do their jobs properly and honestly don't need to be afraid of it. I have recently been given the amazing opportunity to continue my postgraduate legal education in London. I've been in the ultra-diverse financial capital of the world for a bit over a week now, yet I stick out like a sore thumb as soon as I open my mouth. Most of my conversations have been variations of this: "Ah you're American huh. So what's the deal with Drumpf? Why is he so popular?" It's an inquiry I've fielded many, many times while I was in Timor during the first six months of the brutal. primary campaign-not far after "Another mass shooting? How? Why?" Getting this question yet again in the UK, I have honed in on what I believe is the most concise and accurate response: "More or less the same reason people supported Brexit." Obviously the motivations for the Leave camp were complex and varied. Yet there is a common thread of both nativist and anti-establishment sentiment which courses through both the Brexit and Drumpf camps. Advertisement I believe the response I receive from my British inquirer on Drumpf tells me a lot about that person. If there is some level of understanding, then I know that individual has a level of social and political consciousness that is in-tuned with contemporary society. If the person doesn't have a clue, I know that person helped make Brexit happen. I can personally confirm what many political analysts and pundits have articulated: There is a dire lesson in Brexit for all Americans: If you both don't know and refuse to understand why Drumpf is a thing, you're unfortunately part of the problem. America's All-Hands-on-Deck Moment At the conclusion of both the circus that was the GOP convention and the chaotic yet soul-rejuvenating spectacle of the Democratic convention, it seemed Hillary Clinton was on cruise-control. Pundits were openly telling her to do nothing to risk nothing, and instead just ride it out until November. Recent polling data has thrown all of that thinking out the window, and has revealed that this race is stunningly close-thanks to some recent "scandals." Advertisement We have two Presidential candidates who couldn't be more different in substance or style. Two people whose lives and policies we have been hearing about over the past two years. The fact that there are still undecided voters is, frankly, mind-boggling to me. Yet it reveals even more about the precarious state of American politics-and by extension, the electorate-that rumors and innuendo could actually influence who someone pulls the lever for. With two pending Supreme Court nominations and the country facing a series of domestic and global challenges, the stakes for the coming election have never been higher. The whole world breathlessly awaits what happens on November. "47 Percent" Redux? The idea that the Clinton campaign could just "sit tight" until election day was always grossly fanciful thinking. In a bona fide democracy, candidates always have to earn their votes by battling for the hearts and minds of each and every voter. What is absolutely not helpful is wholescale antagonization of an entire demographic by thrusting them into a "basket of deplorables" "We are living in a volatile political environment. You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Drumpf's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic -- you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people -- now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks -- they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America." Seeing the entire quote in context, is there any truth to that statement? Certainly-there is undeniably a strong element of xenophobia, bigotry, racism, paranoia, nativism, and intolerance among large segments of Drumpf's supporters. And perhaps there are those whose fear and hatred are so strong that it overcomes reason and independent rational thinking-thus deeming them politically "irredeemable." Yet even if they did consist of half of his support base, is it wise to write off those folks so publicly? Basket of deplorables may sound like the worst cover band name ever, but the Clinton campaign will be praying that it doesn't become their "47 percent moment." Basket of Relatables Out of the 22 years I've lived in America, this is by far the most bizarre and polarized election I've ever witnessed. I was (and still remain) an avid supporter of the Bernie Sanders movement, and while I've certainly butted heads with the Clinton camp my fair share of times, I've outright savaged Drumpf supporters time and again. God knows I haven't shied away from attacking them, just as they haven't had any mercy towards my friends and me-both Berners and Clinton supporters. Yet it's important to remember a fundamental truth: Support from Drumpf did not just come out of nowhere, and cannot just be minimized as a South Park-esque rabble of ignoramuses. Support for Drumpf comes out of decades of well-placed suspicion of the economic and political establishment. It is borne out of staggering income inequality, stagnant wages, outsourced jobs, never-ending wars, and failing schools and healthcare systems. Indeed Bernie's support comes from similar dissatisfaction, except we have never confused immigrants and minorities with the real culprits. Yet many of us felt that many members of the Hillary camp didn't really connect with these issues in any meaningful way. Many still don't. Advertisement Beyond an Election As crucial as this upcoming election is, our nation itself is at a critical juncture. Will the Bernie movement's progressivism push our society to place a higher value on social development, or will the country fall sway to decades of right-wing fearmongering? Will corporate interests continue to trump social welfare at home and human rights abroad, or will the rest of us finally be able to grab a seat at the table? With the stakes for our nation being so high, this attitude of detached minimization and issue avoidance is no longer an option. Drumpf supporters aren't just a faceless, nameless gang of riff-raff. They are your classmates, coworkers, neighbors, and community members. They may even be your family and close friends. With the massive polarization and fear-mongering of the mainstream media, it's incumbent on civil society and individual members of the public to step into the breech in order to bring together disparate voices and heal the nation. Yet this movement cannot be won behind a keyboard or phone screen, but through deep listening, unconditional empathy, and active engagement. Yet you don't have to be a political evangelical; just find ways to engage with people in your community who you otherwise wouldn't in a meaningful way. Just as importantly, find a cause you care about and volunteer to further that cause in some concrete way. Dedicate yourself to living your ideals and putting them into practice, so that progressivism isn't just a lofty ideal but a way of life. At this point, you may be thinking "Why the hell is this kid living in London lecturing me?" Great question. I've volunteered and served in a variety of capacities throughout my student life, and plan on dedicating my career to public service. After working on a USAID rule of law project in East Timor, I spent the last six months back home in South Carolina prior to moving to London. While there, I made it my mission to engage with my neighbors and community members as much as possible. Pro tip: I particularly found that Pokemon Go is an outstanding way to bond with people who I normally would just smile and say hello to. As a brown Muslim living in South Carolina, I put in my shift. All I'm asking my fellow comrades-whether you call yourself liberal, progressive, Democrat, or whatever-is to do the same. Put in your shift. If Malala Can Do It... Having meaningful interactions-much less critical conversations-with those who you are inclined to disagree with may indeed be difficult and uncomfortable. Yet it isn't a Herculean task. Just consider: Malala Yousafzai was shot in the face by the Taliban, and still continued advocating for education. Why? I am here to speak for the right of education for every child. I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the terrorists and extremists. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Commercial truck traffic accident litigation has several unique aspects beyond the basic "what happened" that is true of all traffic accidents. There are special factual background issues, the need to review compliance with federal and state regulations, potential liability of third parties in addition to the driver such as trucking companies and shippers, and specialized insurance. This comment briefly addresses several of these items. Always consult an experienced attorney in all traffic accident situations. Factual Background Investigation Overview 1.An immediate investigation and evidence preservation is critical. Court orders such as a temporary restraining order or an order impounding the vehicles and their contents may be required. The contents of vehicles provide evidence of the driver's state of mind and activities that may not be available in "official" records. Act rapidly. 2.Witness statements from tow truck drivers, investigating officers, paramedics, fire personnel, or any other observers, are clearly important. Tow truck drivers may observe the driver's state of mind and hear casual off-the-record remarks. Utilize an experienced investigator. Advertisement 3.Don't overlook internet and social media searches, especially of the driver and transportation company. 4.Conduct a thorough investigation of the driver's employment history, driving record, traffic and overload tickets, civil and criminal records, experience and training, CB handle, etc. 5.Many big trucks have a "black box" recorder as well as a GPS and speed tracking system. There are truck maintenance and inspection history records. Is there a fleet safety director or mechanics and what are their training and qualifications? 6.What is the history of the transportation company in terms of DOT audits, accident statistics, and related materials such as citations, policy and instruction manuals, etc.? These may prove that the company was on notice of dangerous conditions, grossly negligent, or acting with "conscious indifference." Advertisement General Regulatory issues 1.Failure to comply with federal and state highway safety regulations and traffic laws that proximately causes an injury constitutes "negligence per se" (automatically unreasonable conduct). Hence, beyond the physical accident scene, it is necessary to investigate compliance. Of course, there is always the possibility of an illegal driver, owner-operator, shipper, or transportation company without conscience, insurance, or assets from which to collect a judgment. This may typically be rapidly determined. The only practically enforceable vindication of injury in such a "no asset case" may be a variety of potential criminal charges. 2.At the federal level, the most typically relevant standards are those in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations created by the Federal Highway Administration. Other regulatory agencies include the National Highway Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Interstate Commerce Commission. The regulations address, among other topics, the qualifications of drivers, drug and alcohol testing, the commercial driver's license, driving rules, hours of service, as well as required insurance, equipment inspections, and maintenance. This includes texting and mobile phone use. These regulations are highly detailed and beyond the scope of this brief comment. 3.The 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allowed long-haul trucking originating in Canada and Mexico. This has a separate and complex regulatory regime. The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a "Cross Border Operating Requirements Handbook for Foreign Motor Carriers Entering the United States." Potential Third Party Liability 1. Federal law states that if a motor carrier's name and license number is displayed on a tractor-trailer, the carrier is considered to be in exclusive possession and control of the rig and is vicariously liable for injuries caused by the driver's negligence (liability for the acts of another). This is another reason to immediately photograph the truck. The issue of vicarious liability is complex since a variety of brokers, logistic companies, and business entities may be associated with a particular rig, load and accident. 2.Having a contract designating a driver as an independent contractor to eliminate liability for accidents may be overcome by evidence that indicates the driver's employee status, such as a right to control the driver. This requires more involvement than dispatching a driver to pick up and deliver a load. However, under federal regulations, leased vehicles may create a "statutory employee" relationship between the truck's owner and driver. There are numerous contractual attempts to avoid this and the judicial decisions are contradictory and confusing. An employer is vicariously liable for injuries caused by an employee while in the scope and course of employment under the legal rule "respondeat superior" - let the master answer. However, intentional actions (for example, road rage), crimes, or deviations from the route may take an employee outside of the scope of employment. This is complex and requires detailed analysis in specific situations. Advertisement 3.A joint venture is a partnership for a single enterprise. All members of a joint venture are liable for enterprise related injuries. For example, a manufacturer may have liability if it owns a trucking company that exclusively carries its products and a truck is involved in an accident. Both the manufacturer and the trucking company profit from the exclusive trucking agreement. 4.Related to joint venture is direct participation liability. In this situation, the manufacturer, for example, creates schedules and budgets for the trucking company that directly lead to the accident. An example would be the manufacturer creating a situation that pressures a driver to speed or otherwise violate regulations. 5.State statutory law often imposes liability for traffic accidents on sellers of alcohol to obviously intoxicated patrons who subsequently have a wreck (dramshop laws). Some states go a step further and impose similar liability on social hosts. The specific facts of a situation and language of the legislation must be reviewed. Receipts, surveillance video, blood alcohol tests, and the contents of the truck are critical. 6.Regardless of employment or independent contractor status, if the driver has inadequate training and a history of traffic violations, a "negligent entrustment" standard may impose liability on the truck's owner. This imposes negligence on the owner for allowing this particular driver to operate potentially dangerous equipment that in fact injured another. A similar theory is applied to security guards who are issued guns by an employer and improperly use the firearm. Note that the cause of the accident must relate back to the recognized risk. Thus an unexpected medical emergency that produced an accident does not trigger negligent entrustment liability. Some states apply a "negligent hiring" or "negligent supervision" approach in employee situations. Insurance Required Advertisement 1.In simplified overview, federal regulations require commercial vehicles with a gross weight in excess of 10,000 pounds to have at least $750,000 of financial responsibility coverage that may consist of insurance and surety bonds. $5 million is required for hazardous materials transporters. There is a somewhat standard "Trucker's Policy" issued to motor carriers. Beyond this, there are many forms of policy endorsements and types of coverages. One must carefully review the facts associated with a specific accident and the language of the insurance policy or policies. Seemingly slight variations in the facts and policy language may create major differences in insurance coverage. 2.A prudent insurance carrier and the victim's attorney will keep the insured party and/or accident victim informed and consulted throughout settlement negotiations. Professional negligence may occur in failing to communicate or accept a settlement offer. This may allow separate lawsuits against the insurance carrier and attorney. For example, the injured victim offers to settle within the insurance policy limits but the insurance company refuses. If a subsequent trial resulted in a verdict in excess of the policy limits, the insurance company might be liable to pay this excess. If the victim's attorney failed to communicate a settlement offer and the trial produced a lower verdict, the attorney might be liable for the difference if she or he were negligent. Claims Against Accident Recoveries 1.Many states have statutes that allow individuals and entities to assert a direct claim against the monetary recovery of an accident victim. A hospital lien, for example, exists independently of a contract and allows recovery by a variety of medical providers. One must review a specific state's statutes to determine the types of liens available and the procedures to assert them. There are a variety of liens that must be considered when funds are distributed. 2.A right of "subrogation" may exist when an insurance company pays medical expenses or property damage claims of an accident victim. In simplified overview, the insurance company may be entitled to be reimbursed when the accident victim obtains a separate recovery from the responsible parties, or the insurance company may simply sue the responsible party in the name of the victim. Federal Medicare and Medicaid programs have similar rights. 3.Understand your tax issues. In an incomplete generalization, money received for personal physical injuries, medical expenses, and property damage is not subject to federal income tax. These payments reimburse a loss. However, compensation for lost income and punitive damages may be taxable. Always consult a tax expert and be certain that settlements are structured with an awareness of potential tax liability. Advertisement 4.Of course, there are always attorneys' fees, expenses, and court costs to consider. A contingent fee contract pays the victim's attorney a percentage of the recovery when a settlement or other financial payment is made. While the precise percentage is a matter of agreement, attorney disciplinary rules prohibit unconscionable (grossly unfair) fees and fee arrangements. Fee agreements typically also allow the attorney to be reimbursed for expenses (for example, fees paid to private investigators, accident reconstruction experts, etc.) as well as court costs. Both attorney and client should understand in a clearly written and signed agreement what the arrangement is. What services are included or excluded? What about appeals beyond the trial court? 2016 Our Ocean conference sign, State Department Photo The statistics on the current health of our ocean and projections for its future are alarming. Right now, 30 percent of our fisheries are overfished. At our current rate of pollution our ocean is projected to have more plastic than fish by 2050. Our sea level may rise by up to six feet by the end of the century. There is no question that the health of our ocean is threatened. The only question is what we will do about it. Our ocean needs more champions who will fight for the resources needed to protect it, and this year we saw many of them step forward. Last week, 450 leaders in government, civil society, and the private sector came together at the U.S. Department of State to make commitments to protect our ocean. Their pledges addressed four main challenges facing our ocean: illegal and unsustainable fishing practices, marine pollution, climate change, and the need for more marine protected areas. When Secretary Kerry started the Our Ocean movement back in 2014, the number of international representatives at the Foreign Minister or Head of State level who attended the conference was in the single digits. This year, nearly 40 countries were represented at the Foreign Minister level or above, and more than 90 countries participated in the conference. In addition, ocean leaders from industry, civil society, the philanthropic community, and academia participated in the conference. Advertisement Secretary Kerry speaking at the 2016 Our Ocean conference, State Department Photo The Our Ocean conferences have always been about bold action and big commitments. This year alone, we had over 130 commitments totaling over $5.24 billion for new ocean initiatives and pledges to protect almost four million square kilometers of ocean. That brings the three year totals of the Our Ocean movement to $9.2 billion dollars in initiatives and commitments to protect 9.9 million square kilometers of ocean - that's the size of the United States. The best thing about the Our Ocean movement? It will keep going, and we can expect to see more global initiatives and actions to protect our ocean in the coming years. The European Union will host the conference in October 2017, followed by Indonesia in 2018, and Norway in 2019. The Our Ocean movement and commitments support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 14, through concrete actions to protect and conserve our ocean. The ocean covers more than two thirds of our planet, and together we recognize the need to protect it and our planet for our children and grandchildren. As Secretary Kerry said last week "With every positive step that we take, with the marine protected areas that we create, with the networks that we create and the safeguards that we enforce to protect against illegal fishing, with the cooperation we pursue to combat climate change and to deepen scientific research - with each of these steps, we drop a pebble on the side of restoring and preserving the health of the ocean. And in doing so, we will create a current fueled by the energy of literally millions of advocates and activists, a current that can correct the course of history, that can preserve our coastal communities and ecosystems, that can strengthen fisheries, and feed the billions who will inhabit this planet, and that will allow us to keep for future generations the majesty of the ocean that covers three quarters of our planet and sustains life around the equator from pole to pole." Advertisement Washed Ashore art contructed out of marine debris, State Department photo You don't have to be a President, or a Secretary of State, or a millionaire or a celebrity to help protect our ocean. Every person can make a difference. Each plastic bag that doesn't end up in the ocean counts, every sustainable seafood choice you make in a restaurant or the grocery store counts, and everyone can get involved in a local beach or river clean-up and work to make our ocean cleaner, healthier, and more beautiful. NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 24: Country flags are seen in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States on November 24, 2015. (Photo by Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) One of the reasons that I chose to run for the position of United Nations Secretary General is that I could see the interconnected nature of many of the crises that the world faces today. While I have now withdrawn from the race, I was and remain, full of hope that when we treat them as interrelated issues and work to address their root causes, we can all win. One of the key crises will be discussed at a UN Summit this week. The crisis is that today we live in a world where 65 million people have been forced from their homes -- more than at any time since the end of the Second World War. Media images of streams of people walking away from their homes have become commonplace over the last 18 months. The heartbreaking stories of those who have lost their lives as they fled the desperate situations in their homelands have lasting implications long after they have left the front pages. Advertisement It is anticipated that this week's UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants will seek to better protect migrants and refugees during their perilous journeys, and while this is vital, it will count for little unless we deal with the reasons why people are having to leave. The UN acknowledges that the international community has been "struggling for years to find better ways to resolve violent conflicts in many parts of the world and to mitigate the impact of climate change and disasters. Alleviating extreme poverty, food insecurity, lack of decent work, inequality, tackling discrimination and human-rights violations and abuses, establishing rule of law, mitigating the impact of disasters and climate change are all massive tasks." Yet these tasks that are already described as 'massive' are getting bigger. With temperature records being broken month by month, the impacts that climate change has had on conflict and refugees in places like Syria and Mali will only grow. With sea-level rise advancing more quickly than scientists predicted, those communities in the South Pacific and in Alaska who have already been forced to move will be joined by many more. Though climate is not the only factor impacting the choices being made by these people, it is a real and growing danger. The incumbent UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will leave a legacy of working to reform the UN to break down the institutional silos that slow us down when we respond to such crises. He will leave a legacy of having put frameworks in place -- such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement -- that can help address some of the 'massive tasks'. Advertisement But this important work needs to be sped up and increased, for example, by incorporating an understanding of climate risk into everything that the UN does. This would ensure that over the longer term we understand better where the hot spots are and how to help prevent system breakdown. It would also give teeth to the conclusions of the inaugural World Humanitarian Summit held earlier this year. Though I have worked at the heart of the UN for years, I have learnt a lot more about the institution and its peculiar brand of realpolitik over the course of the past few months. It is more clear to me than ever that UN is on the verge of a precipice. Its next leader -- and there are strong candidates in this race -- has the responsibility to ensure the UN delivers on those groundbreaking agreements made last year, which would see us effectively address poverty, better protect people in their own homes, and create more possibilities of peace. To do in fact what the UN was created to do. But the UN can only do that if it eschews the turf wars and patronage that weakens its ability to do its job properly. We cannot afford a world without the UN. But the UN must continue to evolve so that it is up to the challenges of the 21 century. I urge the Security Council to avoid the path of least resistance, I urge them to push for transformation. Though it might seem more difficult at first, this is how we deliver on our promises and put the organisation on a strong footing for the next 70 years, one that will serve the many millions that have already been forced from their homes and those who still live in fear. Don't choose politics, choose the right person for the job. Advertisement Ms. Figueres is the top UN authority on global climate change. She was the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between July 2010 and July 2016. Assuming responsibility for the international climate change negotiations after the failed Copenhagen conference of 2009, she was successful in leading the process to a universally agreed regulatory action framework. Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez, Guatemala, Central America WikiLeaks released scores of documents Sunday that reveal that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is the son of Satan. Trump, according to the documents, was adopted three days after his birth by Mary Anne and Frederick Christ Trump, a New York City real estate developer. Advertisement Aletheia Veritas, deputy editor of WikiLeaks, said the news organization began investigating Trump's birth certificate in response to the billionaire real estate developer's constant questioning of the validity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate. Trump finally admitted that Obama was born in the United States on Friday after being confronted with his own birth certificate. Trump responded to WikiLeaks' disclosure by Tweeting: "It's true! Satan is my biological dad! Can't wait to meet him. Heard he's a great guy!" In a separate tweet a few seconds later, Trump said: "Satan's a great leader, unlike what we have in this country." Advertisement WikiLeaks documents also confirm a business relationship between Trump and Satan. Roger Simon of Politico suspected in a column in early August that Trump had made a deal with the devil to win the presidential election. In Simon's column, Satan tells Trump: "But in return, you must sell me your soul. You must betray all decent principles. You must pander, trivialize and deceive. You must gain victory by exploiting bigotry, fear, envy and greed. And you must conduct a campaign based on lies, sham, hype and distortion." "So?" Trump responds. "What's the catch?" The documents demonstrate a business relationship between Trump and Satan but also show a far more personal relationship, and include previous unknown details about Trump's life. The documents include Trump's birth certificate that reveal he was born with the name "Damian." The birth certificate lists Trump's father as "Satan" and his mother as "Lilith." There also is a birth announcement from the newspaper, Ailes. Trump's place of birth is listed as "Malebolge," otherwise known as the eighth circle of hell. The poet Dante considered Malebolge one of the worst parts of hell. Advertisement The media company, News Corp, which is owned by Rupert Murdock, is headquartered in Malebolge. News Corp owns, among other media companies, Fox News. Trump is considered the first person born in hell to run for president in the United States. He is, however, not the first to hold national office. Former Vice President Dick Cheney also was born in Malebolge. WikiLeaks documents show that Trump and Cheney are half brothers. The revelation raises constitutional issues about whether Trump can run for president. If he survives challenges to his eligibility, political analysts say the disclosure will hurt him among independent voters but will not likely make a difference among his supporters -- many of whom emigrated from hell. Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a fundamentalist Christian, expressed his reluctance to remain on the ticket if Trump is the son of Satan. "If this is true I don't think I can stay on the GOP ticket," Pence said. Presidential candidate Maryse Narcisse (C R) of the Fanmi Lavalas political party is joined by former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (C L) during a rally in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on October 23, 2015. The presidential elections will be held on October 25. AFP PHOTO/HECTOR RETAMAL (Photo credit should read HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images) The United States isn't the only country in the midst of a drawn out election campaign marked by voter discontent and demands for bold, new policy directions that genuinely respond to the needs and aspirations of ordinary citizens. It is also election season in Haiti, and by the end of the year, both countries could elect their first ever female presidents, both of whom will face strong grassroots pressure to shift governance away from elites and take into account the interests of the majority. Unfortunately, Washington has not always played a helpful role in Haitian democracy. Since Haiti's first democratic elections in 1990, the U.S. has become more and more deeply embedded in Haiti's political system, funding elections and judging their legitimacy, at times in a completely arbitrary fashion. But while international involvement has increased, Haitian citizens have become less politically proactive and less and less interested in going to the polls. By 2010, participation was just 20 percent, down from close to 80 percent in 2000. Advertisement In 2004, the U.S., Canada and France formed an alliance with members of the former Haitian military and the country's economic elite to oust the democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whisking him into exile aboard a U.S. government jet. While Aristide and his wife were prevented from returning to the country they hold dear, Haiti's sovereignty was further eroded and his popular Fanmi Lavalas party blocked from participating in politics. United Nations troops, sent to consolidate the 2004 coup, remain there today. When a devastating earthquake struck in 2010, killing hundreds of thousands, Haiti's government was almost entirely bypassed by an international reconstruction effort that gave more money to Beltway contractors than to any Haitian entity. But the upcoming October 9 election represents an opportunity for Haitians to begin winning back the sovereignty that they fought so hard for more than 200 years ago. In March 2011, I flew to South Africa, where President Aristide had lived for the previous seven years, to accompany him on his return to Haiti. Thousands of Haitians greeted their former leader, who told the crowd that the times of political exclusion were over, that what Haiti needed was true political inclusion. After five years, and despite ongoing political persecution, a burgeoning grassroots pro-democracy movement is finally succeeding in making good on that pledge. Upon returning home, Aristide, who remains one of Haiti's most popular political figures, kept a low profile, focusing on efforts to strengthen his university and foundation which has struggled for years to improve the lives of the vast majority, who have for so long been excluded from Haitian society. But the previous government, led by Michel Martelly, continued the decade long persecution of Haiti's first democratically elected president. In 2014, old trumped up charges were dusted off and trotted out again. With legislative elections around the corner and as it was no longer feasible to keep Lavalas off the ballot, many believed the Haitian government was afraid of facing a strengthened opposition in free and fair elections. Aristide was placed under house arrest, despite it not being allowed under the Haitian constitution; and his government-provided security detail was withdrawn, putting him and his family at risk. Advertisement But the 2014 elections didn't happen. Martelly, who himself owes his presidency to the intervention of the United States and its international allies in the 2010 election (which, again, excluded Lavalas), failed to hold scheduled elections during his first four years in office. In 2015, with the parliament no longer constitutionally functional due to the expiration of legislators' terms, Martelly began ruling the country by decree. One can only imagine the reaction from the U.S. and others if this had happened under Aristide, or indeed any left government in the hemisphere. When elections finally did take place, in late 2015, they were so plagued by fraud, violence and abuse that it led to the formation of a grassroots protest movement that advocated for a full investigation of the vote. Haitian election observers documented a "massive fraud" designed to benefit Martelly's hand-picked successor, banana plantation owner Jovenel Moise. The U.S. and other international actors, however, simply wanted to move on -- regardless of how undemocratic the election was. The new group has a rallying cry: "Nou Pap Obeyi" (We Do Not Obey). Dissatisfied by a flawed election that saw the relatively unknown Moise come in first place in the initial round of the elections, many thousands of Haitians braved tear gas and batons and took to the streets, eventually succeeding in having the fraudulent elections canceled. This was an unprecedented victory for democracy in Haiti, in the post-dictatorship era. An independent investigation, taking place under a caretaker government after Martelly's term ended, confirmed what everyone knew -- the vote had indeed been plagued by massive irregularities and so-called "zombie votes" that couldn't be traced to any real person. By not simply obeying the dictates of the U.S. and its allies, the historic pro-democracy movement has given Haiti a second chance. New elections are scheduled for October 9. Advertisement No longer under the thumb of Martelly, Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas party have begun campaigning in earnest on behalf of their presidential candidate, Dr. Maryse Narcisse, a medical doctor and longtime activist, who could be Haiti's first elected woman president. Together, Aristide and Narcisse led a peaceful march through Port-au-Prince, followed by thousands of cheering supporters. They want a government that will restore dignity to the Haitian people, that will fight for the decent schooling and health care, and that can provide real hope for the millions who have been excluded for far too long. Man-About-New-York-Theater Austin Pendleton opened his classy Mint Theater revival of N. C. Hunter's 1953 A Day by the Sea only three week's ago, and here he is with his stylish take on Shelagh Delaney's 1958 A Taste of Honey, at the Pearl Theatre Co. Don't waste time asking how the polymath doe it--he directs, acts, writes, teaches. Just be grateful that he does. And certainly don't ask when he sleeps. Perhaps he doesn't. An intriguing take on these revivals is that they're both English plays of the 1950s, but there's a chasm between them--a chasm that Pendleton vaults with no problem whatsoever. Hunter, now close to forgotten (which makes him of immediate interest to Mint artistic director Jonathan Bank), was lauded in his time as one of the Terence Rattigan-like playwrights of the period. But Rattigan, Hunter and similar masters of the well-made play were tossed away as so many babies with the bath water when, in 1956, John Osborne's Look Back in Anger opened at the Royal Court and began populating the London and English-speaking stages with "Angry Young Men"--Delaney, on her arrival, considered the first "Angry Young Woman." Advertisement The discrepancy between pre-1956 and post-1956 gives Pendleton no apparent challenge. He takes both on with equal aplomb and equal results. (By they way, Rattigan's 1952 The Deep Blue Sea, currently revived by London's National Theatre, includes among its characters an extremely angry young man, not that any critics noticed back then.) In Delany's two-act play, discontented 17-year-old Jo (Rebekah Brockman) and her sexually available 40-year-old mother Helen (Rachel Botchan) move into a barely serviceable flat in an undesirable Manchester district and proceed to go at each other over every little thing about their new digs, although they actually harbor some resisted affection for each other. Apparently Helen, available for the price of a stiff drink, is on the run from her latest lover. She hasn't run far enough, though. Peter (Bradford Cover), the macho combatant, has tracked her to the new dwelling and, among his importunings, resorts to a marriage proposal. At first, Helen demurs but after a short while realizes she can't refuse the offer of some kind of legitimacy, if even with a philandering bruiser. Sometime after she's departed, Jo gets involved with sweet-talking black Navy man Jimmy (Ade Otukoya)) and is happy to accept him when he proposes--which turns out to be his way of getting her into bed and pregnant. Advertisement Which leads to the second act, where Jimmy has vanished and Jo has befriended the homosexual Geoffrey, or Jeff (John Evans Reese), who not only moves in to help her pregnancy but eventually makes a play for her. To some extent, Jeff is a stand-in for the departed Helen, in that Jo and he constantly bicker at the same time as they're comfortable together, even loving. Their agitated idyll is interrupted by Helen's returning--at Jeff's instigation--as well as a volatile visit from Peter. (Incidentally, the original Wyndham's Theatre, London cast included Avis Bunnage, Frances Cuka, Nigel Hawthorne, Murray Melvin and Clifton Jones, all of whom became regular faces during the 1960s black-and-white English film phase.) Delaney's intention, fully realized, was to show the North England atmosphere into which she was born. The slice-of-Manchester-life she depicts is completely convincing. (A kitchen sink is mentioned, if not seen.) Her five figures go about their frustrating existences right to the final blackout when the lack of resolution tidily reflects how often lives like these (all lives?) remain unresolved. In an unusual request at the time, Delaney included three jazz musicians. Pendleton follows suit with guitarist-musical director Phil Faconti, trumpeter Max Boiko (whose mute is always attached) and bassist (Walter Stinson). They give tasty versions of songs which, like "Everybody Loves My Baby," are often meant as comments on the action. The first bars heard, as an overture, are the melody to "A Taste of Honey," which didn't exist in 1958 but was composed by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow for the 1960 Broadway transfer and was popularized by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to the tune of four Grammies. But Faconti, Boiko and Marlow aren't present merely to send cool-hot licks into the air. Pendleton sees that they figure prominently. For a good part of the time, Faconti and Boiko sit alongside the actors on the shabby, just off-center sofa, and Stinson stands by it. As they keep an eye on the action, the director has a few other sight gags ready. Advertisement Wearing period costumes impeccably supplied by Barbara A. Bell and under lighting by Eric Southern that features an unshaded light bulb to accent the squalor, the cast is distinguiished to a woman and man. Brockman's Jo is like a tense violin string. Aside from appearing in last season's strong Burial at Thebes, she's new and worth getting to know. Were she next announced to be Joan of Arc in a revival of Jean Anouilh's The Lark, it might not be too surprising. Botchan, in a red wig and well-displayed cleavage may be giving her best performance yet as a longtime Pearl player. As Helen, she negotiates a fine line between irritating mom and sympathetic, gobsmacked new bride. Cover is flawless as the uncouth Peter, and Reese avoids every cliche of the good-pal nancy boy. In his one scene, Otukoya dispenses the kind of charm that not only takes Jo in but the audience as well. A word about Harry Feiner's set: The living room/bedroom/glimpse of kitchen couldn't be better. What's behind it is even more remarkable. It's a scrim on which, presumably looking south from the abode and over a gas factory, are painted what appear to be the rooftops of several hundred buildings like the one Jo and Helen inhabit. The program credits Tom Hooper Seaman and Sven Nelson as scenic artists, but whoever designed (Feiner presumably) and executed the backdrop deserves a grand nod for helping add to the play's inherent gloom. Here's the thing about moving. You don't get there right away even if you have arrived. The act is exclusively a physical one which is fueled by all the pent up anxiety and frustration that you feel when you struggle to leave your nest. The one thing you don't secure lovingly in bubble wrap is your emotional baggage. That part of the move follows you at its own sweet time and arrives just when you think you have settled in. When it show up at your front door it is so heavy and loaded down with feelings and memories, some as recent as tomorrow, that opening it instantly converts your U-Haul to a Pandora's box. Advertisement I happen to love New York which is a at once a very simple yet complex place. It's like any great piece of music really. On the one hand you can be captivated by a gorgeous melody and never, even after decades, learn the lyrics or you can probe deeper by analyzing and memorizing the composer's clearly spelled out universal message. The best part of its daily tutorial is in all its many options that lay before you. You can dive right into the deep end and go see Hamilton (which thank God I have), lose yourself at the Met or go to The Village Vanguard and listen some cool jazz ghosts wail. Of you can simply plug a little once upon a time Sinatra into your ear-budded head and surf the waves of your imagination as you watch a flotilla of tall ship people cruise through the tumbling waves in the concrete sea of ambition and hope. Being surrounded by all those towering building sentries gives you a sense of total calm and comfort. Evil and any kind of viable threats are always lurking but so are your own nightmares. As a species it's our natural inclination I think to select daydreams as our Fred Astaire dance partners. I was going to use "Dancing With The Stars" as a reference but New York is just way too sophisticated and indelible to go there. Advertisement There is literally and metaphorically something always cooking there. Thousands of restaurant cloud aromas come wafting your way like seductive ghosts and their many notes of seductive perfumes lure you towards them like an impossible resist orgy of naked and available lovers. The only good thing about leaving New York is knowing that you can always come back. No matter how hard bad guys try to fuck with it, trust me, it ain't going anywhere, pally. Here in California where I have just recently crashed landed like a wind wobbly, wayward drone is my new temporary home. I got drafted by the army of show biz, again, this time to launch a new series that I co-created. I lived here for 25 years and enjoyed great success. Eventually, in my late forties, having finally completed my Princess Cruise journey along the Sea of Done It All (because that's pretty much what working here is like. With one exception: Your Love Boat captain is really your Secret Satan who forces you almost from day one, to trade in your young soul for 30 silver coins, while you learn the words to "Hey Judas.") I never ever thought I would be back here again. When you grow up, if you grow up, LA is just not the place for you. Advertisement Beethoven and Mozart had their late symphonies as did virtually anyone in their own fields from Monet to Einstein to Salk to your next door neighbor, Phil. On the east coast we celebrate our hard earned age and achievements. On the west coast you start considering your retirement options some time around your Sweet Sixteen. This place for all intents and purposes is nothing more or less than a Gilded, Swag-heavy Cage Match with sand and one hard to reach ocean (you tend to surf waves of traffic most of the time). There is a rhythm of sameness here. I always laugh at the weather reports because Bill Murray, in Groundhogs Day was a weatherman, and what they report is the same weather over and over again. Every single day. They could literally play an endless video loop and no one would know the difference. All you need to know is the simple math. The Valley is between 15 and 20 degrees hotter than the beaches. And....scene. There are reports about something called the Inland Empire, but that just sounds to evil to me to pay attention to as in why would I care what the weather is going to be in Darth Vader's neck of the woods? Advertisement As you may tell, this whole piece is the direct offspring of having just opened my own, personal Pandora's Box of emotional baggage. Yesterday I spoke to the two little girls that my NY partner in crime were co-raising. They are actually her grandnieces that literally no one wanted. Not their parents or grandparents. And now their giggly girl voices are banging around the empty locker of my heart and that makes me feel, well, very, very far away and now I have my-grain-of-truth-headache whose source I believe is the basis for every single song on the album "In The Wee Small Hours." Picture downcast Frank on the cover and that is what an MRI would look like. I suffer from a perpetual New York state of mind where I achieved my two biggest goals in life: having great friends, a Cheers-like coffee shop whose congregation knew my name and a job that did not require pants. I am a writer who writes, after all. All the time. Often in my defiant underpants. So, I am putting up wanted posters all over Studio City today that will read: Wanted: A sense of humor in order to survive this next tour of duty. I will then head to my local armor store and buy out their entire supply of heart protectors and brain preservers. Earlier this month, Jeff Selingo wrote in The Washington Post about the coming era of consolidation among colleges and universities. Mr. Selingo based many of his comments on findings from a study by Parthenon-EY Education to which he also contributed. The study concluded that more than 800 American colleges exhibit factors that call into question their sustainability over the long term. These factors include: having enrollments under 1,000 students, tuition discounts higher than 35 percent, and high debt payments for recent campus capital improvements. Advertisement As expected, nearly 80 percent of these potentially unsustainable colleges are small - with fewer than 1,000 students - but nine percent have more than 10,000 students. Seth Reynolds, a managing director at Parthenon-EY Education, offered two important observations. The first is that "small and large colleges that are thriving . . . have either found a strong niche or they operate at a large scale." The second conclusion is perhaps even more telling: "But for most institutions, the path forward is not one that they can take alone. They need to shift their mindset and consider collaboration in ways they haven't before." Some may consider these bleak conclusions. But they do not mean that the sky is falling for American higher education. Mr. Selingo notes that higher education is primarily a location-bound, highly regulated, bricks-and-mortar industry with wide variations in capacity to reflect changing American demographics. He notes that the report suggests that circumstances will force many institutions into deeper partnerships with one another. Advertisement The report also suggests that the biggest obstacle to deeper partnerships is pushback from various constituencies, including trustees, faculty members, students, and alumni. Mr. Selingo concludes that "if the current rich diversity of the American higher education system has any hope of existing another few centuries, campuses need to rethink their long-held position that the best way to survive is to operate on their own." Greater Collaboration, Even Consolidation, May Be No-Brainer There is a good deal of common sense embedded into this logic. Many colleges and universities - including a good number whose names are widely recognized - operate on older, unsustainable financial operating models that lack coherence and transparency. Looking at ways that combine a mix of people, programs, and facilities to create not only efficiencies and economies of scale but also new opportunities for students and faculty is something of a no-brainer. Or, at least it should be. The problem is that the spark that triggers the kinds of changes that higher education institutions must make is missing. The protectors of the historic traditions that shape the governance of these institutions support, at best, incremental change and point correctly to the relative handful of closures and mergers annually to make their case for the status quo. The root of the problem is perhaps that no one is talking about overall health, focusing instead on trend lines and a murky future. Many argue that solving the growing income disparity in America, or waiting it out for more robust economic growth, will largely make the concerns over sustainability in higher education go away. Advertisement Lessons From the 1800s on Changing Higher Education Landscape History doesn't support this analysis. There have been distinct phases of growth in higher education. One in particular in the 19th Century illustrates the kind of future that might be in store for American colleges and universities. In the 19th Century, the predominant trend that followed a period of expansion in American higher education was a surprising number of mergers and closures, especially as the Civil War deaths decreased that generation's ability to support colleges and universities across the country. By the end of the century, a new commitment to public, professional, and graduate education reshaped the higher education landscape. The point is that change happens and that the record supports an unsteady and uneven evolution ahead. As we look at the Parthenon-EY Education study, it is essential to think through how best to prepare for change. The worst case is that either side - whether incrementalists or disruptors - wins. It is far better to imagine a negotiated evolution. Disconnect Between Data & Perception Must Be Reconciled To do so, we must do a much better job of linking data with a more thoughtful education of key higher education constituencies to produce a common understanding of the issues. It must begin with the recognition that American colleges and universities are - overwhelmingly - tuition dependent, endowment poor, and debt ridden. Many are open enrollment institutions with archaic management practices. And most important, governance practices and constituency perceptions must be brought into better alignment with what the data suggest. Advertisement Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO John Stumpf goes before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday (9/20 at 10am ET, watch live) to explain the recent $185 million in combined civil penalties by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the City of Los Angeles over a sales goals incentive scandal that led to employees opening some 2 million fake, secret accounts without the knowledge of customers. Some 5,300 apparently mostly low-level bank employees have been fired. The $100 million to the CFPB is its largest penalty to date, as CFPB Director Richard Corday explained: "This is the largest penalty the Bureau has ever imposed for violations of federal consumer financial law. It reflects the severity of these violations, the breadth of the unfair and abusive practices, and how seriously we take them." The City and County of Los Angeles collected a $50 million penalty in its companion action and the OCC an additional $35 million. The orders also include full restitution to victimized consumers, estimated at an additional $2.5-$5 million. How will CEO Stumpf respond to the growing public clamor for a clawback of bonuses paid his top retail executive, Senior Executive Vice President of Community Banking Carrie Tolstedt, whose retirement with a $125 million golden parachute package had been announced earlier this summer? On Friday, Banking Committee Senators Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sherrod Brown (OH), Jeff Merkley (OR), Jack Reed (RI) and Bob Menendez (NJ) wrote Stumpf to ask whether clawback provisions would be used. From the Senators' release: "The senators noted that Tolstedt, who led the Community Banking division through the time in which the misconduct occurred, received more than $20 million in annual bonuses between 2010 and 2015 - bonuses justified by the company in certain instances because of the "strong cross-sell ratios" in her division. [...] The letter details the clawback provisions Wells Fargo implemented following the 2008 financial crisis, which were "designed to prevent exactly what happened with Ms. Toldstedt: shareholders and consumers bearing the burden of bank misconduct while senior executives walk away with multi-million dollar awards based on what the company later finds out are fraudulent practices." So far, Stumpf has been cagey on the clawback question, as reported here in the Charlotte (NC) Observer: "In a CNBC interview Tuesday, CEO John Stumpf said "to the extent (clawbacks are) a consideration, we have a board process." But as our colleagues at Americans for Financial Reform point out, regulators can also use their authority to compel clawbacks. The Senate hearing offers an opportunity to answer a number of questions. Here are just a few I came with: What did senior executives know and when did they know it? Some 5,300 employees, apparently mostly front-line tellers and people who sit at lobby desks, were fired. How many were higher-level "managers" and their "managers?" How many were bank executives? Does senior management insist that this was a low-level, non-systemic, non-cultural, problem? How could 5,300 firings constitute a "few bad apples," and not a rotten barrel symbolizing a broken corporate culture? What did the board of directors know and when did they know it? What did the board do about it and when did they do it? If the board didn't know, why not? If the board did nothing, why not? Without clawbacks for senior executives, how can Stumpf justify claims that Wells Fargo has a good corporate culture and that he has maintained that good culture by his actions to date? Can a board chairman investigate his CEO's conduct, when he is himself also that CEO? Of course, we also wonder whether opponents of the CFPB will somehow claim Wells Fargo cleaned this mess up themselves and that CFPB action was unnecessary. In fact, we hear that's one ridiculous narrative being spun by Wells lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Will any Senator repeat it publicly? Advertisement The Wells Fargo case demonstrates that to protect consumers in the financial marketplace we first need strong federal laws; then we need strong federal agencies to enforce those laws; then, we need strong state and local partners ranging from state attorneys general to city and district attorneys to enforce local, state and federal laws; and we also need strong private rights of action so consumers can enforce those laws. Finally, we also must rely on constant vigilance from an independent, questioning press. The Wells Fargo scandal, for example, was first-broken by (now-retired) Los Angeles Times reporter Scott Reckard in this 2013 story. Wells Fargo neither denied nor admitted charges in the consent decrees with regulators. However, PIRG commends the CFPB in particular for very clear language in its consent decree (see paras. 59-61) that the $100 million payment is a penalty to the U.S. government that is not tax-deductible and cannot be offset in any way. PIRG research has consistently found that the CFPB's consent decrees (as opposed to those of other federal regulators) contain the strongest language protecting taxpayers from corporate wrongdoers that seek to write off their penalties the same way they write off their advertising expenses or executive perks. Civil and criminal investigations by U.S. Attorneys in the Wells Fargo case continue. if you are a Wells Fargo customer, the CFPB has your back. You don't have to do anything to get your money back and any remaining secret accounts closed. Here's an explanation and tips on protecting your money from the CFPB for any bank customer. Any consumer with a complaint about any bank, payday lender, student loan, debt collector, credit bureau or other financial firm can complain to the CFPB here. Any employee who believes that her firm is engaged in any sort of illegal activities can learn about your federal whistleblower rights here. This week, hundreds of farmers from the National Farmers Union are converging on Washington DC to plead with decision makers to say "no" to a blockbusting roster of agribusiness mergers. Farmers--and consumers--have reason to worry. This level of corporate consolidation will give these companies unprecedented power over our farms, our land and our food. Chemical giant Bayer has just announced its intention to purchase Monsanto, the world's leading seed and pesticide supplier. Not to be left behind, DuPont and Dow, and Syngenta and ChemChina--the rest of the "Big Six" that already control 51% of seed and 72% of the pesticides in the international market--are in frantic merger negotiations. If they consolidate, three companies would control nearly 60% of the world's seeds. Why the rush to merge? Saturated markets have dropped profit margins. Corporate consolidation is the only way to increase returns to shareholders. Advertisement None of this has anything to do with feeding people. We already produce 1 times more than enough food to feed every person on the planet. Unfortunately, over a billion of the world's people are too poor to buy this food - so they go hungry. Corporate mergers aren't going to change that. As suppliers consolidate, farmers lose power and choice and get stuck with high input prices and no alternatives at a time of painfully low grain prices. The only way to make their bottom line is to expand operations, getting ever bigger to cover their fixed costs. It's the way of capitalist agriculture. Too bad for young farmers seeking to break into agriculture--the land and technology bar has just been raised again. Monopolization increases the tendency of land consolidation- which means bigger farms and fewer farmers. Seeds, inputs, machinery, financing, insurance, and big data provided by the corporate giants are made to deliver larger and larger batches of uniform products to retailers, that are also consolidating and vertically integrating. (Even Amazon, who is recruiting an army of agronomists, is planning to sell food through huge supply centers, where taxis and drones will ultimately deliver food to consumers.) Big food and ag corporations need big farms and big (expensive) technology. Where will farmers get the money to upgrade? Land. Advertisement Banks now hold workshops in which they advise producers to sell their land as a business measure to recapitalize operations. They urge farmers to "financialize" by selling the US heartland to international investors whose time horizon is governed by the click of a mouse. Land will concentrate in the hands of those looking to reap profits from hundreds of thousands of land transactions carried out in the cybersphere far from the farms, the consumers seeking healthy, sustainably produced food, and beyond the empty bellies of the world's poor. Institutional investors have already bought about $40 billion of agricultural land - they'd buy more if they could, but many farmers aren't yet willing to sell. In five years, however, 63% of agricultural land will be inherited or sold. The question is, who will take over? Financial investors or family farmers? Right now, the front line of resistance to the continued corporatization and consolidation of agriculture in the United States is the commodity producer of corn and soybeans - the family farmers that are in Washington DC this week with the National Farmers Union voicing opposition to consolidation of the industry that determines their livelihoods. But it's not just their livelihoods that are impacted by these potential mergers - it's our food and agricultural system as a whole. Food activists seeking to transform our food and agricultural system need to stand with those on the frontlines against the continued corporatization and financialization of agriculture. Contrary to the food movement's "good food" narrative, this means allying with conventional family farmers, especially those stuck on the pesticide-GMO-subsidy treadmill the movement so vehemently excoriates. We've got a lot to learn from them: Family farmers have been pushing back against the corporate takeover of agriculture for more than a century. If farmers find a way to make money, the industry will find a way to take its cut. You saw it happen to commodity farmers when prices were high several years ago, and you see it now with large processors and big box retailers wanting to profit from the organic and sustainable food movement that farmers built. If farmers voluntarily pit themselves against each other because we are growing different things or using different production methods, the only winner will be the corporate food system. It's not easy to bring a diverse group of farmers - conventional commodities, livestock, dairy, fruits & vegetables, organic - together under one big tent. But we do it because we are fighting for the survival of the family farm, and we can't afford to choose up sides against each other. - Jana Linderman, President Iowa Farmers Union As far as corporate consolidation goes, it is time for the food movement to tactically align itself with the family farm movement, and with organizations like the National Farmers Union. It is in everyone's interest to keep the monopolies from consolidating, and ultimately to keep farmland ownership in the hands of farmers--not financial investors. This may be a bitter pill for some, but it is a far sight better than turning over our food system to corporate shareholders and financial investors. When I got the invitation to join a culinary tour in Poland, organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and led by local expert Monika Kucia, I accepted immediately. I must admit that my knowledge of Polish cuisine was limited to the few mainstays I had grown used to in the stores and eateries of the East Village and Brooklyn: pierogis, kielbasas, barszcz (often and less intimidatingly spelled borscht). Precisely for this reason, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to visit Warsaw and Lublin, as well as its surrounding province of Lubelskie. I did not really know what to expect. My previous trip to Poland, almost 10 years ago, had been limited to Krakow, where I had paid limited attention to what I was eating and focused instead on monuments, history, the salt mines and the horrors of Auschwitz. I now realize that, at the time, the present day renaissance of Polish gastronomy was just timidly starting. Now it's getting stronger and more expansive, although still limited to a relatively small segment of the population. The interest of the general public in food is mainly reflected in the success of the local version of Top Chef, the presence of Starbucks and other chains, as well as the multiplication of generic Italian restaurants and pizzerias, which local anthropologist Mateusz Halawa described to me as "aspirational Western normality" for the middle class. But that is changing, and quickly. In Warsaw, the restaurant Sardynia is offering regional specialties from Sardinia, specifying on the menu that all the ingredients are imported from the island. The stores Piccola Italia boast an interesting selection of products from Italy and the Mediterranean: it may be no Eataly, but it shows a growing attention among consumers about their purchases. Restaurants such as Opasy Tom and Concept13 in Warsaw explore local ingredients to reinterpret them in creative ways to satisfy the small but growing public of local cosmopolitan consumers that want to experience what their peers do in places like New York or London. Such attention to ingredients, dishes, and techniques from various regions of Poland is also evident in the attempt of restaurants such as Zielony Talerzyk and Perowa Beer House in Lublin, as well as Solec 44 in Warsaw, to establish direct connections with purveyors that are striving to bring back good quality produce, often working on disappearing crops and animal breeds. It is not surprising that these restaurants are associated with Slow Food, the international organization that closely expresses the desire for good, fair and clean food, while considering consumption as a social, if not political act. The manifestations of this renewed interest in food are visible also in the launch of continuing education classes in culinary culture at the Warsaw University and the success of food festival such as the ones in Poznan and, more recently, in Lublin, to which I had the opportunity to participate. There, the European Taste Festival, organized by local food expert Waldemar Sulisz, saw the participation of producers from all over the country, some of them entering their specialties into contests that, although small, were extremely felt by the participants, also due to the presence of big national figures such as the renowned food critic and TV celebrity Robert Makowicz. Besides these most mainstream expressions of a growing interest in food, in urban centers the recognizable marks of what the above-mentioned Halawa labels as the "global Brooklyn" are quite visible: little coffee shops with menus written on blackboards, bars with a large choice of craft beers, ironically retro soft drinks like Fritz-kola. However, daily foodways of the great majority of the Polish does not appear to have completely changed: great paczki (a paczek is a pastry similar to a donut) are still available at the classic Blikle in Warsaw; when in season, plums are stewed for days into the delicious powida preserve, as they were before; milk bars, a leftover of socialist times, continue to provide simple dishes and staples at extremely affordable prices. Of course, redesigned and cooler versions of such bars are also opening, although the food is more expensive; they may signal that the younger generations are removed enough from the past that they are ready to reinterpret it and make it theirs. I am still making sense of all I experienced: in the next few weeks I will zoom in on specific aspects and dynamics. I do not pretend I fully understand what's happening in Poland--that would take much longer than eight days. But I will try to share Esther Nyakong, 18, is a student at Morneau Shepell Secondary School for girls in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. Listening to refugees is a sobering experience.Last week, the number of refugees uprooted from South Sudan - in less than three years - surpassed the one million mark. Three weeks ago, I met some who had just crossed the border to save their lives. As in many other countries that I have visited this year, they told me a harrowing story of loss - of family, of home, of homeland, of hope. Advertisement I listened to men who told me of abductions; to women who spoke of rape and killings; to children separated from their parents; to mothers crying over acutely malnourished babies. While their stories differ, for refugees the world over, their common plight is the loss of home and homeland - sometimes for years, and sometimes forever. The time has come to shine a global spotlight on the plight of people whose needs have too often been ignored or neglected. Record numbers of people have been forced to flee their homes - 65.3 million - at the end of 2015, the highest level in decades. People are moving more quickly, in a broader range of ways, and for more complex reasons, than ever before. Far to many are living in limbo for years, if not decades, on end. This is why today's UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants could not be more urgently needed. Today we have an extraordinary opportunity to change gear and recognize that forced displacement is not just a humanitarian challenge. The vast majority of refugees - 86 per cent - are hosted in impoverished communities in low and middle-income countries, often themselves affected by conflict and instability. A meaningful response requires a full range of engagement in the political, security, humanitarian and development spheres. This has been clear for some time. So what's different now? Advertisement The difference is that the New York Declaration adopted today marks a political commitment of unprecedented force and resonance. It reaffirms that refugee rights are immutable. It fills what has been a perennial gap in the international refugee protection system by recognizing that supporting refugees should not just fall to a small number of countries, but that the responsibility should be globally shared. It calls on those countries that can to resettle or reunite many more refugees. Those belonging to the richer world should recognize their responsibility to provide timely and dependable humanitarian funding while robustly investing in communities that host large numbers of refugees. Host countries should increase opportunities for refugee adults to work and children to go to school. A global campaign to tackle xenophobia will be launched. Finally, the declaration commits governments to better address the drivers and triggers causing record numbers to flee. The Declaration establishes a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework that, for the first time, creates a blueprint for a stronger system. With such a blueprint in place, we expect to be able to count on more reliable funding for all refugee situations and quickly trigger the engagement of a much broader range of actors at the very start of a refugee emergency. From the outset, this should enable refugees to restart their lives through the promise of education and the dignity of economic opportunities, connections to the communities and societies around them, expanded possibilities for resettlement and other forms of admission, and investing in possibilities for return. This can be done. In Uganda, for example, the government maintains an open-door policy and has mobilized a broad range of partners and institutions. It offers refugees a chance to restart their lives through the provision of land, the chance to work and education for children. Advertisement The world - shocked by images of people fleeing in huge numbers and dying at sea - does not want these intentions to remain words on paper. We need practical action and results. I am encouraged that President Obama is convening a Summit meeting about refugees the day after the UN Summit, at which attendees are expected to make concrete pledges - additional funding, new resettlement places or more opportunities for refugees in host communities. Meeting the growing and complex needs of the world's refugees is a daunting task, but I am convinced global leaders are committed to act. This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post to mark the occasion of two critical conferences at the UN on the Refugee and Migrant crisis: the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants (Sept. 19th, a UN conference) and the Leaders Summit on Refugees (Sept. 20th, hosted by U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, at the UN). To see all the posts in the series, visit here. To follow the conversation on Twitter, see #UN4RefugeesMigrants. Texas based Energy Transfer Inc. and its partners on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) may have bulldozed ancient burial grounds, but the oil interests have not demolished the will of the self described "water protectors" supporting the Standing Rock Reservation. "Mni Wiconi" (water is life) is the prayerful battle cry of the thousands of protectors camped along the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers in south central North Dakota. In July 2016 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave its approval for the pipeline to run within a half mile of the "official" boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. There had been no proper consultation with or consent from the tribe on the pipeline scheduled to cross upstream, endangering drinking water, sacred treaty grounds, and therefore tribal identity. The People are in this for the long haul and last week offered them a mixed court ruling, an unexpected show of support from the Methodist Church, a Nursing Union's strong stand against the AFL-CIO, and ominous requests from the State of North Dakota. Advertisement In Bismarck, the North Dakota U.S. District Court dissolved an August 15 restraining order filed against Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and other participants involved in protests against the construction of the DAPL. The water protectors camped near Lake Oahe and where the pipeline is planned to cross under the Missouri River essentially shut down the project. At issue is "an unconstitutional prior restraint on fundamental First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly and free expression of religion," and that "Dakota Access does not have standing to prohibit water protectors from praying at and protecting ancestral sacred sites on public or private land," according to a statement provided by the National Lawyers Guild. It did not go unnoticed by the District Court that DAPL bulldozed many of the sacred and historical sites under discussion less than 24 hours after they were identified in a lawsuit filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. In another unspeakable and egregious move, DAPL utilized mace, pepper spray and dogs to attack peaceful protectors who tried to defend the ancient sites and burial grounds. The American public did not like what it saw on national news broadcasts, and the mainstream media gradually picked up on what at first seemed like a hopeless but noble fight against big oil money interests. Dogs with bloody mouths attacking woman and children were just too much. More than once, tribal members commented that perhaps the Creator had a reason behind the violence, desecration of graves and assault on tribal history. Everything has meaning and not everything is fully within understanding. But this was completely unacceptable. The bones of the ancestors were under assault and some warriors protecting the graves in the aftermath spoke of being pushed by unseen forces. In his dismissal of the August restraining order filed by DAPL, District Judge Daniel L. Hovland unfortunately left it up to local authorities and the criminal courts to deal with those accused of breaking the law. Meanwhile, local authorities are accused of massive over-reach and are charging non-violent actions as felonies. Surveillance helicopters and fixed wing aircraft buzz the camps night and day, disturbing the natural tranquility of the countryside and the mental well being of the campers. "Although the judge went out of his way to show his disdain for many of the water protectors, he also became aware that this was a political controversy that he likely could not control and the mechanism of an injunction that was unwieldy and likely ineffective in light of the determination of those resisting the pipeline construction over sacred sites and threatening the water supply," said NLG attorney Jeff Haas in a press release. Advertisement Translation: Politics and oil money win over the First Amendment guarantee of free speech and right of assembly. A "disdainful judge" did not help matters. Oil interests have demanded protection from prayerful protestors with a loud voice, and the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services (Homeland Security) has requested $6 million in additional funds after spending $1.8 million so far. The Highway Patrol racked up $700,000 and the DES put in lots of overtime at $1.08 million. Someone might want to file a Freedom of Information Request on the bookkeeping, but it is not cheap to fly those Bell 206 choppers. Check around on the pricing and the average is about $1100-1500 per hour, but that does not include special surveillance equipment or night vision capabilities. North Dakota's DES is not running a frugal operation against all of those pesky clerics and ceremonial campfires. Speaking of clerics, in a welcome but surprising move, the Bishop of the Dakota/ Minnesota Methodist Church, Bishop Bruce R. Ough, traveled to the encampment. His visit came one day after the DOJ and Corps' joint announcement put a hold on the DAPL until the Sioux Tribes' concerns could be mitigated, if at all. The grave desecrations and bloody attack dogs probably had something to do with the Obama Administration's ruling. "It is with intentions of unity, peace and hope that I bring you a message of support from the United Methodist Church," said Ough. "I lift each of you up in prayer and will continue to do so daily. My hope is that you will not let the spirit of this gathering die. The United Methodists hope to work in a continued relationship to fulfill God's commandment to be stewards of creation, and maintain loving relationships with all of God's people." Will Church and State get on the same page with respect to Mni Wiconi? It remains to be seen but the spirit of the camps seems strong. In an unexpected but welcome move The National Nurses United, a member of the AFL-CIO, strongly opposed the AFL's decision to endorse the Dakota Access Pipeline. The labor union cites job creation as the reason for its support, but Nurses United President Jean Ross commended "the leaders and members of the Standing Rock Sioux, the many First Nation allies who have joined them, and the environmentalists and other supporters who have participated in the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline." Learn more from this YouTube video uploaded by The Real News. The Lakota/Sioux people are divided up into seven bands or council fires, and each share the same beliefs about the life giving force of water (Mni). If you are fortunate enough to visit this piece of history in the making near Cannonball, you will leave forever changed. The camps may go by several names, but are united in their determination to continue exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly through the brutal North Dakota winter if necessary. Oceti Sakowin is most visible along Highway 1806 and this is where media gathers on a hill that offers the best and only reliable cell coverage. Red Warrior is tucked to the east and the Rosebud Sioux have tipis all along the south bank of the Cannonball River. Sacred Stones, the original encampment is less visible. Advertisement What matters is that all seven bands of the Lakota, although divided by treaty manipulations in the 1800's, are standing together with Indigenous Nations from all over the Americas and the world. These people have faced adversity for 500 years and know how to survive, but the courts and federal agencies seem intent once again on prolonging the suffering of a people who have been systematically robbed of their land and heritage. The Department of Justice may have issued an eleventh hour ruling on September 9 that halted the DAPL on Federal land, but did nothing to stop construction on private land. Make no mistake. We are talking about "private" land that is treaty land. The Hill reports that the DAPL might be facing the same fate as the Keystone XL. The political website says, "Energy Transfer hasn't publicly asked lawmakers to step in, and a spokeswoman declined to say whether it's something the company wants." As the late Sioux poet John Trudell wrote: I was listening To the voices of life Chanting in unison Carry on the struggle The generations Surge together In resistance To meet The reality of power How many more generation of resistance will these people need to protect their heritage? How much more insult can any Nation take? 500 years is too much. Too much. But after many days spent at Standing Rock, I leave with no doubt that the noble fight for Mni Waconi will endure. By Stephany Tlalka Be prepared to be bored. This is the gist of one of the notifications you receive before you try the body scan meditation from Mindful Mood Balance, a web-based program currently being piloted in a version for therapists. The app allows users to take Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) at a distance using their phone, tablet, or computer. Once you complete the 30-minute exercise, you navigate to a video featuring a group of people who've also just tried it. A few admit the experience was not incredibly riveting at times. It's something you don't often hear from a mindfulness app: You might not enjoy this. It smacks up against the wonder-drug version of mindfulness we're so often sold. In a time when there are so many brain-training apps drumming up excitement for their products through marketing, others have taken to the lab--how else, they argue, can you try to make good on promises of cognitive gains? Advertisement That's their benchmark, and it's a new one. But more app developers may want to follow suit, especially after what happened to the brain-training game Lumosity: In January, the company was fined $2 million for deceptive advertising. Lumosity claimed that its products would improve cognitive performance on a daily basis and protect against cognitive decline, but fell short on providing the appropriate research to back up its extensive marketing campaigns. For instance, Lumosity took out targeted Google ads called Adwords with keywords like "memory loss," "dementia," and "Alzheimer's." "Lumosity preyed on consumers' fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer's disease," said Jessica Rich, the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. "But Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads." When apps target vulnerable populations Visit the app store, and you're greeted with hundreds of mindfulness apps, a few dozen of them claiming to benefit your brain in some manner. Some of the most popular ones make health claims with no research to back up their programs--they rely on the science of mindfulness in general to prove the worthiness of their product. It seems enough to simply provide a link to the most recent mindfulness study taking place, or a comprehensive four-year meta-analysis on mindfulness and X, and then mention how their app relates--as if some sort of osmosis was taking place between the research study, in no way connected to the company itself, and the app. We spoke with two mindfulness researchers who have also developed their own apps on the importance of research-backed mindfulness apps in order to pinpoint exactly what went wrong with Lumosity and have them share lessons for the burgeoning industry of apps that train your brain. Advertisement Zindel Segal developed the Mindful Mood Balance (MMB) app mentioned earlier. He's Director of Clinical Training in the Graduate Department of Clinical Psychological Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and he's one of the developers and founders of MBCT. Working with individuals recovering from depression, Segal is particularly concerned when apps with unfounded health claims target vulnerable populations--in Lumosity's case, the elderly. "The problem is there's very little evidence that progress on these Lumosity games has any impact on memory and cognitive functioning in the real world when you're engaged in other tasks like adding up a bill at a restaurant or if you have a very busy day and you're in a rush," says Segal, "and that's really the point of contention here." The company was fined in part due to unfounded claims that its games "reduce or delay cognitive impairment associated with age or other serious health conditions," according to the FTC ruling. The Lumosity program consists of 40 games designed to train specific areas of the brain. At the time of the FTC fine, the company advertised that if users trained for 10-15 minutes three to four times a week, they would see benefits. In one game aimed at training attention called Train of Thought, users have to match trains to appropriate-colored stations by modifying the tracks. At the highest level, 67 trains come pouring out of a mountain. In Tidal Treasures, a memory-testing game, users have to click beach objects that wash up on shore that they haven't selected before. While people might become skilled at these games, it's not clear that cognitive gains translate into everyday activities. That was the impetus for 70 researchers to speak out against brain-training games like Lumosity in 2014 when they signed a letter of consensus with the Stanford Center on Longevity. Advertisement Since Segal's work and app involves mood disorders, he has one app on his radar right now: Headspace--in particular, their Depression Pack. Last year, the company launched a 30-day pack of mindfulness practices tailored to working with emotions related to depressive symptoms. "I've listened to some of the guided meditations from the depression pack--they're pretty much straightforward mindfulness meditation: watching thoughts, working with thoughts," says Segal. "Those practices take a while to build up to for people with depression who don't really take this material in the same way that people that haven't had a history of rumination or critical self-judgment." For someone recovering from depression, Segal says it's not a good idea to jump into mindfulness meditation with just simple guided instruction--even if, as in Headspace's case, that instruction is based on over ten years experience at monasteries all around the world. Instead, the programs need to be tailored to their needs: As they learn the practices, they need to also be learning about how their disorder will crop up during the meditation experience. "It's especially hard for people with depression to dis-identify from their own thinking--disorders like depression and anxiety have powerful messages that their thoughts carry vital information," says Segal. "These practices need to be customized in a way that allows them to build skills gradually and sequentially while also providing them with information about how the disorder might camouflage itself in terms of thinking patterns." Thoughts of unworthiness and hopelessness, for instance, aren't part of the reality that the individual has to face head on, but surface due to the disorder. Once that's established, "maybe they can start to approach some of these thoughts a little bit more lightly," says Segal. Advertisement Additionally, Segal says there's a rebound effect of trying the practices and quickly giving up. Compassion practices, for example, are difficult when you don't feel you deserve to be kind to yourself or pay attention to your experience because you're struggling with feelings of inadequacy. "Unless you have a program that's engineered to recognize these needs early on, then you're going to be doing this population a disservice," says Segal. Headspace employs an in-house chief medical officer, David Cox, MD, who co-authored a pamphlet on the "Quantifiable Positive Outcomes of Mindfulness Training" with Andy Puddicombe. But it's difficult to determine how much research went into Headspace to bring it to market in 2012. The app, now downloaded by six million users according to the company, consists of ten minutes of meditation for ten days--those first ten days are free. From there, for $10.83 a month, you have access to meditation "packs" bundled into themes like "Balance," "Anxiety," and "Self-Esteem." Headspace lists research collaborators on its website, including Stanford Health Care. Headspace will also be involved in an upcoming clinical trial in conjunction with Barts Health NHS Trust: "Mindfulness Meditation Using a Smart-phone Application for Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain." So the app will be used within a study of the efficacy of delivering mindfulness by smartphone, but the program's efficacy itself is not studied. A visit to the Depression Pack introductory page and video with Andy Puddicombe yields no mention of research. When contacted for comment about the research that went into launching Headspace and the Depression Pack in particular, the company passed on an interview. Advertisement It's not as if Headspace is buying up Adwords for depression and blanket-marketing their pack on depression--but there are parallels with Lumosity: touting the benefits of a product for dissolving depression before the product itself has been tested with identified groups in pilot studies. For Segal's app, the major difference is in the research. Segal is currently collecting data in an NIH-funded study with 460 patients at Kaiser Permanente in Colorado, which is forthcoming. The results of this study will determine whether Mindful Mood Balance will make it to market. "If those results come out and show really there's no difference between people who do Mindful Mood Balance and those who don't, it's going to make life difficult for us," says Segal. Building apps around data, not hype "Some have argued that Lumosity was the warning shot over the bow of the industry that put everybody on notice," says Judson Brewer, addiction psychiatrist and Director of Research at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Brewer has developed two apps: a smoking cessation app called Craving to Quit and a mindful eating app called Eat Right: Now! To bring both apps to market took clinical trials and studies--not standard at this juncture for mindfulness apps or any apps that are marketing themselves as therapeutic. Advertisement "We've seen companies make all sorts of claims--I won't name any in particular but they have to do with apps and mindfulness training and subscription services to their apps--and they say 'based in science' and to my knowledge there's at least one company that hasn't published any data on their apps but they're citing scientific research about mindfulness in general," says Brewer. When asked about the possibility of creating his app without research, Brewer replied: "Oh God, the app would have been a bunch of garbage. . . . I wouldn't have known where to begin." In Brewer's own experience, it's the data that determines the app's structure--not the great app idea, or even the creator's own meditation expertise. When he was developing Craving to Quit, he thought, "Oh, I meditate, so therefore meditation must be the groundwork, the most basic piece." What he found was that the informal meditation practices, the little bits of mindfulness parsed out during the day, were the biggest driver for people to use the app, so they developed the program around that. "We had to follow the data because my predictions were wrong," says Brewer. The Wild West of apps If you go into the Apple Store on your device, "type in 'depression,' it's hard to know if the apps that you get back are high-quality, if they work, if they are even safe to use," John Torous told Nature recently. He's a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who chairs the American Psychiatric Association's Smartphone App Evaluation Task Force. That same article mentions a 2013 review of depression-related apps: At the time, there were 1,500 in commercial app stores, but only 32 published research papers on the subject. Segal is also concerned about how many mindfulness apps have been tested when he types "mindfulness" into the app store, and it churns out 150-200 results. But it was also part of his impetus for developing MMB: the difficulty in getting access to MBCT--a form of cost-effective treatment for recurrent depression that's been recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK. Advertisement MBCT involves a process of inquiry: A patient becomes familiar with their thoughts, identifying negative patterns, ruminations, or cognitive distortions, and they learn how to redirect the thought process that's getting them into trouble. It's a skills-based approach that allows a person to get into the habit of seeing what's going on in their minds without immediately reacting to the content. It's a process of becoming familiar with these patterns--and this act of awareness is what helps loosen the grip of what some call negative thought loops and storylines that these patterns can trigger. In the largest meta-analysis to date, which included data from nine clinical trials that compared MBCT to routine treatments for depression, including antidepressants, MBCT was found to reduce rates of relapse over sixty weeks follow-up. "Many people, even if they want to, aren't going to find an MBCT group anywhere near where they live," says Segal. "The public health model would say it's better to give everyone a little bit of something than to reserve everything for just a few people, and that's where we are coming from." In other words, while Segal says that the live MBCT group experience is not the same as the MMB experience, the app can address an important gap in health care. MMB is offered as a program for therapists to learn and then teach to their patients. While you do end up compressing the content of an eight-week mindfulness program into an app, it's better than therapists not having access to MBCT tools at all. "You do have to dumb things down, but there's a trade-off that's really important to understand," says Segal. "The reason that we developed MMB in the first place was because there is this issue of barriers to care." Advertisement Brewer predicts that as more apps for behavioral treatments come to market--and as others surface that aren't clinical apps but use medical language in their marketing--organizations like the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, which provides guidelines for evidence-based treatments and a national registry of programs, could inherit a role in this Wild West. In particular, by becoming the benchmark by which apps will be measured and determinations about the veracity of health claims will be made. Ultimately, Brewer thinks companies can avoid Lumosity's fate by starting with data: Let the mechanism for improvement and the science behind what works determine the app, and don't get carried away with hype around meditation or how the brain can do amazing things if you train it. "Where all the Mcmindfulness stuff will go away is when we can get more mechanistically based apps and brain-trainings and therapies," Brewer says. Essentially, if you can't show that a certain dynamic is at play in your app and in the brains of the people using your app, such as improved cognitive gains or reduced cravings, it's going to become more difficult to simply say your app is "based in science" in the future. Lumosity is a lesson for the burgeoning field, and a warning to mindfulness apps that are eager to harness the hype and the excitement around the early science into mindfulness: It's not enough to hitch your wagon to current science and say that your app helps with "depression" or the latest health fad. It might not be so easy in the future for developers to craft their marketing materials around these keywords without having the research to back it up. How to find the right mindfulness app for you Here are three things to look for when considering an app for mindfulness: Get clear on its purpose: Is there a clear rationale for why this app would be helpful? If it is for stress, then how will it reduce stress? If it is for anxiety, then how will it help reduce anxiety? Is there a clear rationale for why this app would be helpful? If it is for stress, then how will it reduce stress? If it is for anxiety, then how will it help reduce anxiety? Show me the research: Ideally, any claims made about benefits should be backed up by research studies showing that practices included in the app are helpful for these conditions. Ideally, any claims made about benefits should be backed up by research studies showing that practices included in the app are helpful for these conditions. Music doesn't help: Some features like music are popular for relaxation apps, but may not be particularly helpful for mindfulness apps where the goal is awareness. "The practice of mindfulness is about observing and experiencing states that arise in the mind as we find it," says Segal. "Elements such as music and waterfalls are designed to induce a state of relaxation, calm, or soothing that may or may not be in the mind of the practitioner. It might make it more difficult, rather than easier, to connect with what's happening in the present moment." During a cold, dreary summer in Switzerland 200 years ago, English author Mary Shelley sat down to write her novel "Frankenstein." The story -- and subsequent adaptations for the screen -- has gripped our imaginations ever since. While reanimating the dead remains a scientific impossibility, scientists are pushing the boundaries of modern medicine closer and closer to Shelley's vision. As they do, the public's uneasiness about the ethical limits of medicine has been stoked. Take, for example, the announcement last year by Italian neuroscientist Dr. Sergio Canavero that he plans to perform the first human head transplant. Advertisement Not sometime in the distant future... but possibly in 2017. And now he has a volunteer for the procedure -- Valery Spiridonov, a 31-year-old Russian man with a degenerative muscle condition. This has bumped Canavero's bold plans from the realm of science fiction straight into the real world. Like Victor Frankenstein, Canavero hopes to make great scientific advances, even if it means working at the fringes of modern medicine. For some critics, though, transplanting a human head onto a new body crosses a line -- one similar to the line that Shelley's fictional doctor stepped over when he created his "creature." Advertisement Is a head transplant possible? Compared to transplanting a heart or kidney, a head transplant is technically much more challenging. Surgeons will need to join many tissues of the head and new body, including muscles, skin, ligaments, bones, blood vessels, and most importantly, the nerves of the spinal cord. But there has already been some groundwork laid for the "audacious plan" of Canavero and his partner, Chinese surgeon Dr. Xiaoping Ren, as described in the September issue of The Atlantic. In the early 1900s, a Missouri surgeon transplanted the head of one dog onto the neck of another, creating one with two heads. This feat was repeated by Soviet and Chinese surgeons in the 1950s, with the dog living for 29 days. In the 1970s, a surgeon from Ohio transplanted the heads of rhesus monkeys onto new bodies. They survived and could even eat and follow objects with their eyes. But the doctor hadn't reconnected their spinal cords, so they remained paralyzed. Canavero and Ren have different plans. They hope to fuse the nerves cells of the head and body using a gluelike chemical called polyethylene glycol. Advertisement Ren has already tested this chemical on mice with spinal cords that have been severed. The mice were walking within two days of the procedure. In preparation for Spiridonov's surgery next year, Ren's team has also successfully transplanted a mouse's head onto another body. This was later repeated on a monkey. These animals, though, were euthanized within a day of the procedure. So future experiments are needed in order to know if a head transplant is a long-term solution. Extremely risky procedure According to The Atlantic, Canavero says there is a "90 percent plus" chance of success. Ren, though, is less definite about the outcome. And as with all transplant surgeries, there are many risks. Before Patrick Hardison underwent one of the world's most extensive face transplants, doctors gave him a 50 percent chance of survival. Advertisement Infection, loss of blood flow to the transplanted organ, and rejection of the new tissue all lower the odds of success. With a head transplant, loss of blood flow to the brain is an even larger problem. Lack of oxygen can damage the brain and leave a person with severe mental deficiencies. Cooling both the head and body before and during surgery could allow the cells to survive longer without oxygen. Still, doctors would only have an hour or less to complete the surgery. One of the most common risks of organ transplants is tissue rejection. With a head transplant, though, it would be the head that would be seen as "foreign" by the new body's immune system. Finding a donor body that is a good match for Spiridonov -- in this case a male who died of head trauma with no damage to the body -- could minimize this risk. Advertisement But he would need to take powerful immunosuppressive medications for the rest of his life to limit the chance that the new body's immune system would attack the tissues of his head. After surgery, Spiridonov would be kept in a coma for several weeks to allow his spinal nerves to heal. But if he wakes up before his spinal nerves heal, there is a chance that he would be paralyzed. Or that his nerve cells would fuse incorrectly -- with nerves meant to control the arms connected to the legs instead. In spite of that, Spiridonov is still willing to face those odds. His genetic condition, known as Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, has left him confined to a wheelchair. His movements are limited to typing, feeding himself, and steering his wheelchair with a joystick. Werdnig-Hoffmann disease is also fatal, although Spiridonov has already lived longer than his doctors had expected. Crossing an ethical line The fringe nature of Canavero's and Ren's plans has led to harsh backlash from scientists and ethicists. Advertisement Some have called it "nuts" or scientifically impossible. Others are concerned that even though Spiridonov is aware of the risks, it still doesn't make it OK for doctors to perform the surgery. And then there is the cost -- between $10 million and $100 million. Would this money be better spent on helping the thousands of people who suffer spinal cord injuries each year? Head transplants also raise issues of who the new body belongs to, especially in terms of its sperm or eggs. If someone with a new body had a child, would the family of the donated body have visitation rights? And then there are the more philosophical questions. What does it mean for a person's sense of self to have a body that they weren't born with? There's not even certainty that someone would be able to accept a new body as part of themselves. The man who underwent the world's first hand transplant was uncomfortable with his new hand. So he stopped taking his immunosuppressive drugs and the hand had to be removed. Public angst about head transplants may subside after a few successful surgeries, the way it has with face transplants. Advertisement But for now, Canavero and Ren are still working on the other side of a line that many think we shouldn't cross. By Shawn Radcliffe LONDON, UK - September 17: aA group of refugees seen at the front line of the Refugees Welcome demonstration, as thousands of people march through London to show solidarity with Refugees on 1a7a September 2016. The march from Hyde Park to Parlianet Square follows reports of the many people who have lost their lives including a young boy Aylan Kurdi trying to flee from their war torn countries to safety in Europe.a Last year the government agreed to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees. (Photo by David Mbiyu/Corbis via Getty Images) Two years ago, I traveled to the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. I met a Syrian refugee family there who had recently fled Raqqa. Unable to find regular work, the family was depending on the labor of their 12-year-old daughter, who was working in the fields. The family and this young girl herself would have preferred her to be in school. The Bekaa Valley is among the areas hardest hit by the refugee crisis. Two years ago, when I was there, some 770 informal tented settlements had sprung up and the valley was home to more than 410,000 refugees. These numbers have largely stayed the same. Today, more people are forcibly displaced from their homes than at any time since the end of the World War II. A recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, estimated that 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, compared to 59.5 million just a year earlier. Measured against the world's population of 7.4 billion people, one in every 113 people globally is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee. This tally is greater than the entire population of the United Kingdom. In some cases, people are fleeing from poverty and lack of opportunity. In others, people are fleeing from conflict and lawlessness. Many millions need international support. The Syria crisis has caused serious displacement -- 4.8 million Syrians have become refugees, and 6.5 million are displaced. This is the largest displacement crisis globally. Many Syrians have fled to neighboring countries that are now hosting large numbers of these refugees. In Lebanon, Syrian refugees number roughly a quarter of the population. In Jordan, the number is estimated at about one in five people. Turkey hosts more than two million Syrians and Iraqis. The host countries and communities need international support too. The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework within which to respond to these large movements of people. The U.N. Summit for Refugees and Migrants convening this week in New York provides a unique opportunity for world leaders to come up with a blueprint for a strong international response to their needs. What could be done to prevent displacement crises in future? Advertisement First, the international community should place conflict prevention and mediation at the center of international peace and security efforts. Early warning and response systems are needed for when tensions emerge and to foster reconciliation. Second, international support is needed to strengthen good governance and the rule of law and to address structural inequalities. Promoting inclusive economic growth and sustainable livelihoods is critical for building peaceful and inclusive societies. These are long-term investments that are also critical structural prevention efforts. Third, development actors can assist governments to improve their capacity for data collection and analysis on the root causes of displacement caused by poverty and lack of opportunity, to help design sustainable responses. The organization I head, the United Nations Development Program, will play its part. We provide support for host communities and help countries anticipate and prevent future crises. We promote inclusive and accountable institutions which can improve social cohesion, and drive inclusive development. We work to tackle inequalities and to improve access to justice and to basic services like education and health. Going forward, the UNDP will work to ensure that the inclusion of migration and displacement issues are priorities during the implementation of the SDGs. The UNDP will also support at least 30 program countries over the next five years to analyze and address the drivers of migration and of forced displacement. And we will work with partners to build evidence and gather data around migration and displacement. More needs to be known about the development impact of displacement in countries of origin and in host countries and communities. This week, world leaders have an historic opportunity to address this issue and come together in a spirit of shared responsibility for the world's refugees and migrants. Let's remember those refugee children sent out to work instead of being able to go to school, and resolve to see that their needs are met. This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post to mark the occasion of two critical conferences at the UN on the Refugee and Migrant crisis: the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants (Sept. 19th, a UN conference) and the Leaders Summit on Refugees (Sept. 20th, hosted by U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, at the UN). To see all the posts in the series, visit here. To follow the conversation on Twitter, see #UN4RefugeesMigrants. Also on WorldPost: Buoyed by the success of the millennium development goals (MDGs), the community of nations has come together once again to commit to a shared set of objectives. This time, UN member states have made an even bolder promise: to eradicate poverty by 2030 and to do so in an environmentally sustainable way. But they did not say they would foot the bill. At an estimated annual price tag of $3.5 trillion, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are as expensive as they are worthy. The sum is far too large for bilateral and multilateral aid agencies to muster from within. So, they have turned to private sources, including philanthropies, for help in filling the budgetary gap. When it comes to financing poverty eradication, the SDGs are, by necessity, as much of a clarion call as they are a commitment. To assess the likely ways that the SDGs will be financed, it is important to understand how the MDGs - the SDG's forebears - were achieved. Government aid was only part of the picture, with philanthropy playing a supporting role. Advertisement However, it was policy, not philanthropy that made the decisive difference. An increasing number of nations pursued policies to open and connect their economies, creating great wealth and reducing extreme poverty in the process. China and India's growth alone was responsible for much of the progress made. The global economy has its faults, searing inequities among them. Nonetheless, it has lifted more people from poverty than aid or philanthropy could. None of this is to say that the role of philanthropy is either modest or unhelpful. Quite the contrary. According to the Foundation Center, between 2002 and 2012, foundations made $30.5 billion in grants toward achieving development goals. And, in soon-to-be-released figures, it projects as much as $364 billion in such grants over the next 15 years, the time frame covered by the SDGs. But, while philanthropy's contributions are significant, the combination of governmental development assistance and private philanthropy is measured in billions; the funding shortfall for the SDGs is in the trillions. Foundation leaders and development economists agree that capital markets, growing where there is sound policy, must be tapped. Philanthropies and those they support can play a catalytic role by seeding, testing and proving new models for development financing. By accessing capital markets, the funding mechanisms they invent can provide for efficiency and scale - and, perhaps, even the promise of sustainability. Advertisement Among the mechanisms they've devised are: Public private partnershipsIn recent years, philanthropies have helped forge public-private partnerships aimed at marshalling and deploying public, private and philanthropic capital and applying it to a shared strategy. Successful examples include Gavi, the vaccine alliance; the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (Gain); the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra); and the Extreme Climate Facility (XCF), a partnership that gives eligible African countries access to private capital to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. New financial instrumentsAmong the novel mechanisms for accessing private capital is the International Finance Facility for Immunization's "immunization bond", an instrument that has enabled Gavi to mobilize private resources against the commitments of donor nations. The bonds, which are AA-rated and produce a market rate of return, enable Gavi to "frontload" multi-year public sector commitments, so as to deliver vaccines and immunizations when and where they are needed. Interest and redemptions are paid out to private investors once governments deliver on their pledges. Philanthropic investment fundsWhile grant-making remains a staple of philanthropy, a growing number of private donors, including George Soros, Pierre and Pam Omidyar, and Bill and Melinda Gates, seek to advance economic development by spurring private enterprise. And they have created funds for that purpose. The Omidyar Network is structured as both a limited liability company and a nonprofit charitable fund, and uses capacity-building grants to ready small and growing companies for investment by the Omidyar Network and others. By seeding small companies and stimulating economic activity at the bottom of the pyramid they hope to find sustainable ways of advancing development goals. This kind of "venture philanthropy" has captured the attention of new philanthropies, and is championed by the European Venture Philanthropy Association. At the same time, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in corporations with an R&D capacity so as to advance innovation in health and agricultural technology. The foundation has set aside $2bn for investment in agricultural technology innovations that will enhance the productivity of smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia. Advertisement Philanthropy can't make up the shortfall in development dollars alone. But it can create the platforms and trust needed to mobilize and channel resources from public and private sources. Meeting the SDGs will require the engagement of all three sectors; the comparative advantage of each suggests a clear division of labor. The public sector has the authority to set public goals, advance norms and mobilize funds through taxation. The private sector creates wealth, and offers both efficiency and scale. And, by virtue of its independence, the charitable sector - philanthropies and those they support - has the risk appetite, agility, creativity and audacity required to devise novel methods for meeting the boldest of goals. Children walk to classrooms at the Dilley detention center. (CHARLES REED/DVIDS) We should not outsource the sensitive government function of forcibly detaining human beings to a few morally bankrupt corporations. Private corporations prioritize profits above the interests of the general public, and the significant responsibilities associated with physically depriving individuals of their liberty should be borne by the government, subject to the due process of law. We recently made progress when the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will no longer contract with corporations to run private prisons to house criminal detainees. This decision came after the DOJ Inspector General found what we have known all along: these facilities compare poorly to those owned and operated by the government. They do not provide the same level of services, safety and security, while also failing to save on costs. Following the DOJ announcement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last month that it will consider if similar reforms are necessary with respect to our immigration detention system - the largest such system throughout the world. DHS created a new advisory council to provide an evaluation by the end of November. Given the findings of the DOJ's Inspector General's report from August of this year, further analysis seems unnecessary. If private prisons fail to provide the necessary services to criminal detainees, then it follows that they are wholly inappropriate in the civil immigration context. Advertisement The U.S. detains nearly 400,000 immigrants- including asylum-seekers, women, and young children - annually within a combination of over 200 federal, state, and privately-owned facilities. Approximately two-thirds of these detainees are held in private, for-profit detention centers. This lesser-known system of mass incarceration and human suffering costs American taxpayers in excess of $2 billion annually. That is approximately $5.5 million per day, allowing corporations to profit significantly from jailing vulnerable populations. Many of the contracts that the DHS has signed with these facilities contain "tiered-pricing" provisions that reduce the cost to the government per detainee as the overall number of detainees rises. Tiered pricing provisions clearly incentivize the detention of the greatest number of immigrants - and thereby the greatest profits - above humanitarian and due process considerations, or meaningfully addressing our broken immigration system. Immigration detention is supposed to be civil in nature, designed to ensure that people attend their court hearings and comply with any orders issued by immigration judges. Far less costly and humane alternatives, including ankle bracelets and telephonic reporting, have proven to be effective in meeting this goal. Nevertheless, we continue to be dependent upon immigration detention centers that are largely indistinguishable from jails and prisons, severely limiting daily activities of detainees, separating them from loved ones, and often limiting their access to legal counsel and communication. All immigrant detainees held by the federal government should be provided the same minimum level of care. As things currently stand, our immigration detention centers are subject to varying detention standards. Some facilities are bound by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards. Others use a version from 2008, while some even use standards from 2000. Failure to fully implement the most recent standards at all facilities places many detainees at unnecessary risk. Abuses - including beatings and sexual assaults, as well as the mistreatment of LGBT immigrants - are well-documented. Inadequate health care and nutrition, and the improper use of solitary confinement have been cited at various facilities throughout the country. Advertisement The President has repeatedly pledged to use his executive authority to address the most dysfunctional aspects of our broken immigration system, and the use of private, for-profit detention facilities to house vulnerable populations certainly fits within this criteria. But this is not a problem of the President's making. The current administration is forced to maintain in excess of 34,000 detention beds at all times - a completely arbitrary figure that is set by Congress, without respect to the actual needs of ICE. While statistical data indicates that our foreign-born population is significantly less likely than our native-born population to commit crimes, there is a small number of unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal histories who pose threats to our communities. These individuals should be the focus of our detention and removal apparatus until Congress manages to get its act together in reforming our immigration system. It is clear that we must work to reform immigration detention in the U.S., as our current system is a relic of another time that runs contrary to our collective values and economic interests. In the interim, we can ensure that this work is conducted in a more humane and ethical manner, while also serving the interest of American tax-payers, by eliminating the use of for-profit detention centers. Polis has represented the Second Congressional District of Colorado since 2008. Polis serves on the Committee on Rules, the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and the Committee on Natural Resources. NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 18: Members of the New York City Police Department stand guard in Herald Square, September 18, 2016 in New York City. Following Saturday night's explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised a 'substantial' police presence throughout the week. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also said an additional 1,000 New York State and National Guard troops will patrol transit stations and airports as a precaution. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) This weekend, we witnessed terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota. In some cases, these terrorists may have sworn allegiance to ISIS, or ISIS "took credit" for the attacks. No doubt some politicians will demand that we label the culprit "radical Islam." But we currently don't, because there is a good reason for this. It's actually about winning the war on terrorism. Let's say we had a president that blamed "radical Islamism" for all of these terror attacks. The argument goes that we can't "win" a war unless we label our enemy, declare war on it, unite against an idea, etc. As the theory goes, we won World War II by declaring Nazism as our enemy, just as we won the Cold War by declaring Communism our enemy. Advertisement If you ask our military, I bet you'll find it has something to do with strategy and tactics, as well as effectively carrying those out, not simply pinning the enemy label on some ideological donkey. Politicians "win" (elections) by labeling enemies, which is a different thing. I can't beat "socialism" simply by declaring it is my enemy. Our military is pretty effective at winning wars. This is a particularly tough one because most terror enemies don't take and hold positions that makes one a good target. Often it involves forming one's group into a network that moves from country to country, blending in with the population, making itself a harder target. Thankfully some ISIS members try to wear uniforms and hold fixed territories. We read their obituaries the next day. But ISIS is also tough because rather than organize themselves into hierarchical chain-of-command, they put stuff out on the Internet and hope someone takes the bait. Each terror attack makes ISIS seem important, and leads Western intelligence agencies (under pressure from politicians) hunt around for an intricate spy ring with links to Syria that is rarely there. ISIS takes credit for any terror attack, and folks who would flunk a test on Middle East politics are quick to claim they are ISIS loyalists, to make themselves feel bigger than they really are. Thankfully, relatively few have taken the bait to launch the attack, especially when you consider most Muslims out there aren't signing on, or have little interest in ISIS and their lies, easily understood when this terror organization repeatedly flouts the Koran with their criminal activities. Advertisement But that could change if we start claiming ISIS is some real, actual Islamic organization (instead of our new propaganda efforts exposing the evil perpetrated by this gang, just to make a dishonest buck). Sure some politician could win some cheap votes, and even an election, at the price of convincing a lot of folks who don't know much about Islam that this gang of thugs is actually a bunch of religious leaders. It would make us liars of our more effective narrative against ISIS, and have to chase or defend against a lot more terror attackers. In this way, it hardly seems smart or worth it. Imagine if our Prohibition Agents and FBI Agents in the 1920s and 1930s labeled Al Capone's mob a "Catholic Crime" organization. It wouldn't have stopped this notorious Chicago gangster. It would have been a lie (and people would know this). And it would have delivered a lot of young Catholics who didn't know any better into the arms of Capone's goons, making the problem worse, even if it helped some politician win the anti-Catholic Klan vote in the 1920s. If labeling "radical Islam" as being behind most of these terror attacks would help stop these attacks, I would be all for such a policy. But given that such a policy would only bring in more recruits to these killer gangsters (not "jihadis") and undermine our intelligence, I don't recommend this ineffective policy in the war on terrorism What will it take to achieve the bold, 2030 global agenda the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted one year ago? A growing movement of organizations is pushing one key policy change that might seem obvious, yet continues to be missing in the countries that need it most: that policy change is putting a fair share of public resources and decision-making power into the hands of local communities and is critical to achieving the SDGs. Community planning in Chiapas, Mexico. Photo: The Hunger Project Most of the basic issues of life must get addressed at the community level: clean water, safe sanitation, public safety, primary education and health care, employment opportunities and more. National policies can set standards and mobilize resources, but if there is nobody at the local level accountable to make it happen it won't happen. If the sewers back up, you really shouldn't have to go to the national bureaucracy to get it fixed. Yet this situation is widespread, and it results in a paralyzing sense of powerlessness and resignation. Advertisement Women and men have a fundamental right to be the authors of their own development, and that right must start in the communities where they live and work. SDG 16 calls for participatory decision making and effective, accountable institutions at all levels. This must start at the community level. Yet, these institutions are weakest in the areas where they are needed the most. In the US, for example, 24% of public resources are in the hands of local government. But in many low-income countries, it is less than 2%. If you were elected to a local council in one of these countries, you might not receive any training or clear guidance on how to get things done. And, there might not be any organized citizen groups able to demand accountability. The good news is that there are proven, step-by-step methodologies for transforming this situation, and unleashing the creativity and responsibility of local people to take charge of their futures. Korea's "Saemaul Undong" (New Villages) program in the 1970s, for example, is credited with transforming Korea from a least-developed country to a global powerhouse in less than a generation. Countries as diverse as Afghanistan and Brazil have implemented nationwide programs based on strengthening local communities both local government and grassroots civil society to successfully meet pressing basic needs. There are growing examples of successful national programs in Vietnam, Indonesia, Bolivia and elsewhere. One year ago, on the day the world adopted the SDGs, 18 international organizations launched the "Movement for Community-Led Development" to expand this approach to every country where this type of development is needed. Today, the movement has grown to 38 organizations with a presence on the ground in 90 countries. Advertisement Our theory of change for making community-led development available everywhere is straight-forward: Community Organizers: Communities need both resources and skills. Successful community-led development programs provide skilled facilitators who are able to transform the prevailing mindset of dependency and resignation, build community institutions, and help communities navigate the complexities of budget preparation, project management, transparency and accountability. Our members and many other civil society organizations are great reservoirs of this talent and are ready to take action. Communities need both resources and skills. Successful community-led development programs provide skilled facilitators who are able to transform the prevailing mindset of dependency and resignation, build community institutions, and help communities navigate the complexities of budget preparation, project management, transparency and accountability. Our members and many other civil society organizations are great reservoirs of this talent and are ready to take action. Country Ownership: This capacity-building process is not terribly expensive, but it's not free. Turning it into a nationwide program requires the wholehearted support of host-governments and their development partners. There must be reliable and sufficient public funds for community action, such as block grants, and this requires transparent and accountable procedures. This capacity-building process is not terribly expensive, but it's not free. Turning it into a nationwide program requires the wholehearted support of host-governments and their development partners. There must be reliable and sufficient public funds for community action, such as block grants, and this requires transparent and accountable procedures. Advocates: Securing these national-level policy changes requires sustained, effective advocacy campaigns in-country as well as globally. For example, our movement's national chapter in Malawi has forged a partnership with parliamentarians and with the ministry of local government to support community-led development nationwide. So, if community-led development is an obvious and successful solution, what's the problem? The problem is that we continue to live in a top-down, patriarchal world of programs in narrow silos, managed in a command-and-control fashion by the "experts." Those of us who are caring citizens the advocates for child survival, AIDS and malaria campaigns and other vital goals have inadvertently fed this top-down machinery with earmarked aid budgets that prompt more top-down targeted programs and top-down demands for reporting and accountability. As Greg Collins, Director of the USAID Resilience Center recently said to me, "We need to learn to do systems thinking in an earmarked world." High priority issues such as nutrition, women's economic empowerment and climate-change resilience simply cannot be achieved through silos but only through integrated strategies at the community-level. USAID has recently funded a community-led resilience program in West Africa that combines funding from seven different earmarked funding streams. Each funding stream is able to deliver on its mandate, within an integrated strategy. This shift to bottom-up, integrated community-led development is possible and it's happening. We invite individuals and organizations everywhere to join us in ensuring that all women and men have the chance to apply their creativity, responsibility and best efforts to building communities where the vision of the SDGs are fully realized. Advertisement To learn more about the Movement for Community-led Development, visit: communityleddev.org Secretary of State John Kerry has worked tirelessly to end the bloodshed in Syria. Yet he has been on the receiving end of criticism and pushback from Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It appears those who run the U.S. military would prefer the carnage to continue in Syria rather than share U.S. targeting information with the Russians as outlined in the deal Kerry brokered. American foreign policymakers have known all along that ousting President Bashar al-Assad will not magically end the civil, ethnic, and sectarian wars that are now raging in what's left of Syria. But that fact hasn't stopped them from trying. Since December 2006, five year before the so-called Arab Spring protests, according to documents leaked from the State Department, the United States has fought an economic, diplomatic, political, and propaganda war against the Syrian government. (The Wikileaks Files, Verso, 2015, pp. 298-300) Advertisement On September 14th, the New York Times ran a front-page article titled: "Syria Agreement Widens U.S. Rift, Officials Split on Sharing Data with Moscow," quoting Lt. General Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, who said of Secretary Kerry's Syrian deal with the Russians: "I'm not saying yes or no. It would be premature to say that we're going to jump right into it." In the final months of the Obama Administration we see the Secretary of State negotiating a potentially breakthrough agreement that might begin the process of lifting the military siege that has left millions of Syrian civilians suffering or dead only to be rebuked by the hawks in the Defense Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then, on Saturday, come a number of "errant" or "mistaken" U.S. air attacks that kill at least 62 Syrian soldiers (and injure 100) who were fighting the Islamic State near al-Tharda Mountain in the Deir-ez-Zor region. The bombing ended up allowing ISIS (Daesh) to seize territory it didn't already control essentially under U.S. air cover. If journalists were doing their jobs such "errant" and "mistaken" U.S. bombings might raise at least two questions: 1). Are these really "errant" and "mistaken" or part of a wider strategy?; and 2). If U.S. targeting is so faulty and wrought with error, shouldn't we re-evaluate the intelligence behind all those drone strikes and other air attacks the U.S. conducts all over the world? Advertisement But even in the post-Iraq WMD, post-Judith Miller era of American journalism we still see paragraphs like this one in today's New York Times where the nation's elite reporters serve as stenographers for anonymous "official" sources putting out whatever spin they want: "Many American officials believe that the Russians were never serious about the deal that was sealed in Geneva. The officials argued that the Russians were looking for an excuse that would derail it and keep a status quo in which they have more control of events in Syria than any other power, with the possible exception of Iran. If so, the accidental bombing made that process easier." (New York Times, September 19, 2016, p. A3) So, you see, (according to anonymous sources) it's really the Russians (and Iranians) who are responsible for the U.S. airstrikes that ended up killing 62 Syrian soldiers, helping ISIS gain territory it didn't control, and torpedoing the agreement that the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs never liked in the first place. (David Sanger, Mark Mazzetti, and Ben Hubbard leave it to their readers to ponder why the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov reached an agreement with Kerry at all, since anonymous U.S. military officials say "the Russians were never serious about the deal.") End of story. And when the Russian government turned to the United Nations to voice its concerns about the U.S.'s "errant" air strikes, which is the only legitimate international arena to air such grievances, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, denounced the Russian effort as "a stunt." Advertisement That's how "American Exceptionalism" plays out in the real world: Anything the U.S. does that violates "universal" standards of international relations -- such as the sovereignty of nations, respecting international borders, extrajudicial killings, torture, targeting civilians, etc. -- can be brushed off by the "whoops, sorry" defense, followed by finger-pointing at adversaries, and dismissing any criticism that comes America's way as "a stunt." What's chilling is the disregard for the lives of innocent people in Syria from officials like Secretary Carter and General Harrigian who are willing to let the status quo prevail in Syria with all its brutality and gore rather than set up a "joint information center" with the Russians. We don't hear much about it but U.S.-backed "rebels" in Syria have fired artillery into Aleppo that has killed at least 160 children. And since 2006 (according to leaked documents), the U.S. has given direct assistance to those seeking to destabilize the Damascus government. Close U.S. allies, such as the Wahabbists in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been backing Sunni extremists, cutthroats and mercenaries in Syria since at least 2011. It should be a source of embarrassment to Americans, not pride, that the Russians are more willing than their U.S. counterparts to share targeting information and move towards peace in Syria. But that stance wouldn't uphold the idea of "American Exceptionalism." It serves U.S. power in the Middle East better simply to offer up anodyne "whoops, sorry" statements followed by sneering at America's enemy du jour, which today, unfortunately, is Russia. Citing anonymous sources inside the national security state, mainstream media repeat the conclusion that these airstrikes that wiped out Assad's troops are, like the recent bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, just another "whoops, sorry" moment in a complex targeting environment. Advertisement The "whoops, sorry" defense is always good enough for American journalists who are so used to reporting misinformation passed on to them from their official sources. The "whoops, sorry" defense has the added benefit of breathing life into the discredited narrative of "American Exceptionalism." It goes like this: leaving behind 80 million unexploded cluster bombs in Laos, "whoops, sorry"; arming jihadists to fight in Afghanistan who later target the United States, "whoops, sorry"; invading and occupying a nation in the heart of the Arab world causing a sectarian bloodbath that spread carnage throughout the region, "whoops, sorry"; torturing people and holding them without due process at "black sites" in Eastern Europe, "whoops, sorry"; firing a billion dollars worth of cruise missiles into a north African nation thereby helping to open up the country to the Islamic State, "whoops, sorry"; killing an innocent American aid worker in a drone attack, "whoops, sorry"; bombing a hospital in Kunduz, "whoops, sorry"; using the National Security Agency to spy on everybody without warrants or judicial supervision, "whoops, sorry"; finding no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, "whoops, sorry." And so on. Every person of good conscience needs to unambiguously stand up against the violence in our politics, Biden urged after House speaker's husband is assaulted. I remember my first day in persuasion class. The lecturer played back to us one of the most famous speeches of Abraham Lincoln to troops in an open field - Standing tall, with shoulders pulled back and hands held behind his back to show a confident carriage, Abraham moved steadily amongst the troops, eyes steadily connecting with individuals, voice on a steady octave. By the time he was done, I would have taken a gun and gone to war, if I had to. From that moment, I began to glean the elements that pull good communication together. Three of those elements pretty much form the bedrock of communication in my opinion. Ethos has several applications. In 'Wiki' it says ' a Greek word meaning 'Character' that is used to describe the guiding ideals that characterizes a community, nation or ideology. It is also used to ascribe credibility to an individual or cause. Often times people forget that when they set out to speak, who they are and what they have done in the past is relevant to whatever they say, no matter how far removed the present subject is. Today, we are surrounded by experts and people seeking to bring some clarity into a relatively confused world. Whether journalists, politicians, educationist, company heads or employees, we are bombarded each day by opinions and deductions. Information comes and goes so fast, that seldom do we stop to ask, 'hang on, but who is this person giving us this information?' or so the giver of the information thinks; that no one is asking. There is a feeling that the journey doesn't matter, it is the destination that counts. It doesn't matter how many toes you step on or how many lies you tell on your way up, you can explain it all away when you get there. Is this really true? Today I turn on CNN and the talk is on 'Birthism' (as they call it). Donald Trump is seeking to take away the spotlight from his emphasis on the birthplace of President Obama many years ago. Suddenly, he doesn't ascribe to the conversation that Obama is not really an American? And Hilary keeps saying to the potential voter, 'Look at my record'... A boom just went off in New York and off course Hilary is claiming to be better equipped to give a better response because she was a senator during the unfortunate 9/11. I get into my home country, Ghana, where it is political season again as well and promises are flying like sparks from a well-lit fire. Advertisement It is important for people to realize that in communication, your ethos is very important. Who are you? What gives you the credibility to tell me what you are telling me? - The next time you get into a communication situation with someone or a group of people, why don't you start by telling them what gives you the right to say what you are saying. For instance, I studied communication and I work in the communication space and so I do have the credibility to be talking to you about ethos right now. The next time someone gets up to tell you something, take a minute to look into their character, their track record and their credibility; for as soon as you give them entrance into your thoughts, they are shifting your thought process, so be sure you are giving it away to the right person. Pathos is 'a way of convincing an audience...by creating an emotional response'. Masters of communication, master this. Take your mind back to the last time you listened to someone speak and how you felt. Notice how the person who made you feel something, either sadness, laughter, or empathy, anger or whatever, takes your vote, as opposed to the person who made you feel nothing or worse, bored? You probably remained indifferent. The feeling probably had nothing to do with the substance of the material. It is possible even, that the person who showed no passion or left a very little impression had more facts. We may describe this as charisma in some situations; recently I refused a speaker simply because they had no charisma. President Obama speaking to black voters in New York talks about his legacy and says to them 'You want to give me a good send off, go vote!' He is clearly relying strongly here on Pathos! Good speakers will find a way to connect with the audience and to make the audience identify with them, keeping in mind that different things work for different audiences. Perhaps pathos sits on top of the pile when it comes to communication; For how else will you explain people voting all over the world for the clearly wrong candidate maybe, simply because they speak the same language, look the same, have the same religion. The list goes on and communicators exploit this off course. Notice how a speech may begin with 'fellow Americans' or 'We in the NDC or NPP'...' the pulse of an emotional response lies in creating familiarity, empathy, sympathy, anger etc. and this is why seemingly very educated people may even respond in ways that make you go huh? Some political parties have mastered this, whiles others still stumble in the dark. Whiles others seek to appeal to the mind by focusing on logic, some simply appeal to the emotions and sail away with the price into the sunset. Advertisement But the mind does have its place in communication. It is called Logos. Aristotle applied the term to refer to 'reasoned discourse' wiki says 'logos is logical appeal, and the term logic is derived from it' it goes on to say 'it is normally used to describe facts and figures that support the speaker's topic'. Many people are impassioned about their believes or opinions, but have very little facts and figures to back it up. In my experience in communication settings, this may be the final nail in the coffin or the thread that pulls at the seams and makes every thing prior come undone. Some argue that naturally men are more logical and that women tend to be more ethos and pathos oriented. Or that the more educated may be more oriented to logos, as opposed to pathos? These are not attributes restricted to the sexes or level of education though, I will say to that. Depending on where on the scale you fall, you can always take steps to fill in your gaps. We see it all over. People in authority making sweeping comments or claims with far reaching consequences and not taking a minute to fact check or get some data. CNN actually has a program with a liner that says 'fact checking the fact checkers' (I think). People are wired differently to respond to pathos, ethos or logos. Meditation is a process to create a meditative state within us that manifests our heart's intrinsic goodness. This expression of goodness makes peace dynamic and life-affirming, and in its wake, brings unity and harmony to this world. WHY DO WE MEDITATE? Often people ask out of curiosity, "Why do you meditate?" I may answer, "To regulate the mind." "Why do you need to regulate the mind?" "To attain a state of peace." "But what will you do with a regulated mind, with the stillness and calmness that exists within you when you meditate?" This is a wise and stimulating line of inquiry. What can we do with that meditative experience that helps us to rise above fickle tempers and ascend the pedestal of a steady and unruffled peace? Advertisement A lot is possible. When peace prevails within us, and our hearts are serene and content, can we fight with one another? When we are in a calm state and we interact with family and community members, co-workers and strangers, are we not more considerate of their worries, their troubles and also kinder in our response? When we read a book in a tranquil state, will we not understand its message better? FROM MEDITATION TO MEDITATIVE STATE Meditation, understood properly, is a process to create a meditative state. Once this meditative state is achieved, where there is serenity, calmness and peace, we are able to manifest the intrinsic goodness of our heart. This expression of our heart's goodness makes peace more dynamic and life-affirming, and, in its wake, brings unity and harmony to this world. A peaceful and meditative heart easily distinguishes what is good for all, detects the cause behind an action and its effect, and screens our future actions by adjusting our erratic tendencies. But when we don't attempt to manifest our heart's intrinsic goodness, even meditation itself can become a bondage and weigh down the expansion of our consciousness. I believe this happens because when we experience a profound contact with the quiet inner life during meditation, we want that experience repeated, intensified and to last longer the next time we meditate. Caught up in liking and disliking experiences, we form a bondage that limits our consciousness. In fact, in order to expand our consciousness, what we do with our experience in meditation matters as much as observing and learning from our experience. Advertisement If we meditate, feel peaceful and simply stop at that, it is, to say the least, a self-centered pastime. The aim is to go beyond a day of peace for ourselves - and others! All the same, how can we step beyond the everyday, every-minute fears, prejudices and ego outbursts that numb our heart's goodness? WHAT EVOLVES WHEN WE MEDITATE? The laws of morphological evolution do not generally permit the physical body to evolve quickly. So what is evolving when we expand our consciousness through meditation? It is the mind, intellect and ego, which have their existence in consciousness. Consciousness is like a canvas to a painter and on this canvas the play of the mind, intellect and ego is orchestrated daily. Over time, a fervent, joyful practice of meditation regulates the mind, so that it goes from a restless, turbulent state to stillness and one-pointed attention. The intellect becomes more heart-based, guided by the heart's intrinsic goodness. Ego is often seen as the bad guy in almost all traditions, but it's an essential element of an active mind. It's responsible for the doing, thinking function, and we need it in every aspect of daily life. Ego gives us our identity but, like gravity, can also keep us overly self-centred. As a result of meditation, the ego is refined so that the heart is able to expand into a generous and altruistic state. Advertisement Indeed, it would be wonderful to display the efficacy brought about by this meditation practice. What is the result? An evolved state of consciousness where the expression of the heart's goodness is automatic and global peace is the natural choice. The knowledge of peace thus acquired by direct experience in meditation allows neither doubt nor contradiction to how precious peace is for human potential to flourish. On the contrary, knowledge of peace without inner experience puts up a well-intentioned but anemic defence in the face of chronic tribulations, and then the worthy goal of peace among nations aborts. Heartfulness meditation is fully geared towards the evolution of consciousness to the highest level, within the demands of daily life. And this is achieved with a short heart-based meditation in the morning, aided by transmission; a shorter unwinding in the evening to remove daily stress, known as cleaning; and prior to bedtime, a prayerful entreaty that allows you to heed the heart's wise and unceasing guidance. In the end, here is something to think about more deeply: Will I be at peace when I know my family is not at ease? Will I be at peace when my city is safe but my neighboring town is afflicted with some deadly disease? World peace is possible only when all are at peace. Individual peace precedes the group dynamics. Per contra, what if the whole world is at peace and I am not! One individual at a time... Advertisement A migrant from Eritrea is helped after jumping into the water from a crowded wooden boat during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Thousands of migrants and refugees were rescued Monday morning from more than 20 boats by members of Proactiva Open Arms NGO before transferring them to the Italian cost guards and others NGO vessels operating in the zone.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Today, World Leaders from 193 Member States of the United Nations are coming together in New York to participate at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants. Amongst them are Heads of States and Governments, Ministers, Royalties, Civil Society representatives, the private sector, academia, journalists and most importantly, refugees and migrants themselves. I am watching with hope and anticipation that the meeting today will be the beginning of making positive differences in the lives of refugees and migrants all over the world, as well as for the countries hosting them. More refugees and migrants are leaving their homes, travelling unsafe routes and failing to find long-term solutions, than at any time in the last seven decades. Over 65 million people are currently forcibly displaced. Refugees who flee their homes face new dangers on their journeys and often reach countries that do not accept them. Migrants find too few options for safe, regular and orderly migration. Criminal smugglers exploit both refugees and migrants, sending them on unsafe routes to cross borders, exposing those 'on the move' to great risks. Advertisement Governments understand that no state can deal with these challenges alone and, frankly, should not have to. In fact, the challenges of addressing large movements of refugees and migrants are not insurmountable if we approach international cooperation in a spirit of shared responsibility. In this context, it is important to note that 86 percent of refugees are hosted by developing countries. Half of the top ten refuge hosting countries are located in sub-Saharan Africa, four of these in the 'least developed country' category. It is incumbent upon us to find ways to increase solidarity and share responsibilities more equally among countries. The Summit today is a vital step in this direction. I believe in the Summit's possibilities, because all 193 Member States of the United Nations have reached agreement by consensus on a substantial outcome document containing commitments which they will officially adopt today. The outcome document, called the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants expresses the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale. It is based on universal principles of human rights, the strength of diversity, and a commitment to sustainable development for all. In adopting the Sustainable Development Agenda at the UN last year, we agreed to 'leave no one behind', and to address first those who are furthest behind, among them refugees and migrants. Governments engaged in extensive, intensive negotiations, in an atmosphere of heightened political tensions surrounding refugees and migrants in many countries. My UN colleagues and I are encouraged that the outcome document contains strong commitments to address the issues we face today, and to help us to prepare for the future. Countries have agreed to protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants, regardless of their status, and to ensure, for the first time, that all refugee and migrant children will be in school within a few months of arrival in a new country. Countries will also work towards ending the practice of detaining children because of their immigration status and increase support to those countries rescuing and receiving large numbers of refugees and migrants. Besides joint commitments for refugees and migrants, Member States agreed upon specific suggestions for each group. Governments will begin further negotiations to adopt a comprehensive framework for the governance of international migration in 2018. As a result, migration will be governed by a set of common principles and approaches like other areas of international relations. To further strengthen responses for refugees, countries agreed to create a system leading to a more equitable sharing of the responsibility for hosting the world's refugees by 2018, based on the implementation of Government and UNHCR experiences with new refugee flows and protracted refugee conditions. Advertisement Today I expect to hear from world leaders how each of their countries intends to contribute to the implementation of these commitments. Refugees, migrants, those who assist them, their host countries and communities, will all benefit if the proposed commitments are met. My expectations and appeals are directed not only to world leaders and governments but also to the public, who can support these commitments to make a positive--and necessary--difference in the lives of migrants and refugees. Join the call to action to protect the safety and dignity of all refugees and migrants: #UN4refugeesmigrants. More info on: refugeesmigrants.un.org. An unfortunate side effect of the heated presidential campaign is that it sucks away important stories from the daily headlines. One example has to be the disgrace at Wells Fargo, one of America's largest banks. It's a mind-boggling scam with far reaching implications, yet it's received scant coverage in the general media. Briefly, thousands of Wells Fargo employees, in an apparent effort to hit sales goals, secretly created bogus bank and credit-card accounts for customers. Employees even created phony PIN numbers and fake email addresses to enroll customers in online banking services, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It's estimated that as many as two million such accounts were set up. In many cases the customers didn't know about the accounts until they were hit with fees. Last week Wells Fargo was fined $185 million by the CBPB. That is the largest such penalty the agency has imposed in its five years of existence. It's not nearly enough, in my opinion, but enough to send a strong message. Advertisement After the news came out Wells summarily fired 5,300 of its employees who it said were involved in the scam. But they neglected to fire the executive in charge. She will, in fact, be retiring in a few months with her full stock awards intact, which could net her as much as $125 million. Prior to this story breaking I would have had a hard time believing even 300 people could be involved in this type of flat out fraud. But 5,300 boggles the mind. The only way for that to happen would be for all types of employees, of various backgrounds and educational levels, and at many different levels within the corporate hierarchy, to have participated. Understand, this fraud was not some massive error of omission, the failure to catch something that had gone amiss. No, the scammers actively set up false emails and filled out phony applications, and they did it perhaps two million times. For many of the unsuspecting victims, the damage went beyond surprise fees. That's because credit ratings agencies don't like to see borrowers holding too many credit card accounts, and so these new, hidden accounts almost certainly impacted credit scores for thousands of innocent bank customers. Advertisement This sorry episode serves as another reminder for you to check your bank statements, and periodically keep an eye on your credit score. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau came into being as part of the Dodd-Frank legislation that passed in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008-09. Without the CFPB the Wells Fargo scam might have been caught, eventually, by another agency. Or not. All we know for sure is that this agency stepped in to stop the damage and it imposed the fine. So here we are, eight years after the start of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and people in the financial world still think they can scam boatloads of customers and get away with it. Margaret E. O'Kane Margaret E. O'Kane is founder and president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. Peggy founded NCQA in 1990 to build consensus around key health care quality issues by working with large employers, policymakers, doctors, patients and health plans to decide what's important, how to measure it, and how to promote improvement. 26 years later, under Peggy's leadership NCQA continues as a health care policy leader, informing and advocating for quality. Peggy is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and as a result of her continued and passionate guidance, received the Picker Institute Individual Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care, as well as the Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership. Modern Healthcare magazine has named Peggy one of the "100 Most Influential People in Healthcare" eleven times, most recently in 2016, and one of the "Top 25 Women in Healthcare" three times. Peggy serves as a board member of the Milbank Memorial Fund and is Chairman of the Board of Healthwise, a nonprofit organization that helps people make better health decisions. Peggy holds a master's degree in health administration and planning from Johns Hopkins University, where she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. How has your life experience made you the leader you are today? That's a big question. I guess one experience that helped is being a mother. You realize your children grow at their own pace, and that helps you learn patience. Starting a new enterprise was similar to parenthood: I had to be patient while we all learned a new set of capabilities. Also important was learning what I'm not so good at, so I could build a staff that collectively has the necessary competencies. And along the way, I learned that persistence is a virtue. Refusing to get discouraged has been essential, as well. When we started out, people in health care (with some exceptions--mostly academic researchers) believed that quality couldn't really be defined or measured. Measuring quality is complicated; no single approach is the answer to every situation. But working through situations and issues, one by one, we have made a lot of headway on preventive care and care of common chronic conditions. Patient safety has been illuminated; hospitals get ratings. Many good things have come out of the determination to do better by patients. How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at NCQA? I taught for a year (second grade) and that helped me grow up, become more confident, develop creativity. There was the basic curriculum--what we were required to teach--but we were free to try different ways to help kids learn. All the different learning styles was a revelation! Advertisement For 5 years I was a respiratory therapist, and that was very important in sharpening my focus. I worked in one really good hospital and in a few that were not so good. I found that, universally, care was not well organized. Health care workers often worked as "lone rangers," with very little in the way of standard operating procedures or process design. Of course, at that point I didn't know what process design was, but I did know that there had to be a better way. And that's what got me started on a career in quality. I've been in my current position at NCQA for 26 years, and I've learned so much--from my colleagues, from NCQA's board members, from health care leaders. And experience is the best teacher, especially when you're doing something new. That's what makes it exciting. What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at NCQA? What comes to mind immediately is when NCQA Accreditation was mandated by large employers like Xerox, General Motors, Ford, GE. Suddenly, hundreds of health plans were required to go through a rigorous accreditation process. It was difficult for health plans to learn to be accountable for the quality of care their members received. NCQA launched a national report card pilot in 1993, and 25 health plans from around the country committed to reporting on quality. That made the front page of the Wall Street Journal, definitely a highlight! At the same time, the project was challenging--for the plans, and for NCQA--but we all made it through, we reported on time and laid the foundation for all our work since then. Advertisement In 1997, we got our first contract with the Health Care Financing Administration to develop more measures for Medicare Advantage plans, and to collect HEDIS data for Medicare. That was a huge watershed! What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry? I believe strongly that women are the backbone of the health care workforce. Most nurses are women. It's been wonderful to see so many women emerging in the last 10 years as health care and physician leaders. I've seen many women settle for lower-level jobs because the path to higher positions is so circuitous. My advice to women: Believe in yourself! Ask your leaders how you can advance by helping the organization advance. Starting a new organization was an enormous opportunity for me, and for a number of other women I know. Quality is a great field, but management's got to be on board 100 percent, or your efforts will just be an exercise in frustration. Just remember that good quality doesn't necessarily cost more. There are many opportunities to do things better in health care, and more efficiently. What is the most important lesson you've learned in your career to date? Don't expect to be good at everything! Hire people who are better than you, and let them run. Learn from the people who are out there doing great things. Ask your friends for help and advice when you need it. Develop a network of trusted women friends and use it to support yourself--and each other. How do you maintain a work/life balance? My kids required my attention and engagement, and that was good for all of us. I keep myself sane with yoga and meditation. I do things I love to do: travel, hike, cook, read, learn. And I have a wide group of friends who enrich my life. What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace? I think the two big issues for women in the workplace are selling themselves short and unconscious bias. I'm often struck by highly talented women who don't realize how talented they are, so they don't push a little harder. I think Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg has a lot of good advice about that. Unconscious bias is harder to deal with. First, we all have it, to some degree. The first step is to become aware of it, to recognize when it's getting in your way. And sometimes you just have to try to dissipate negative stereotypes through your own actions. You have to pull yourself up! It's an ongoing process, and I certainly don't have all the answers--but this is where a network of women executives has been so important for me. How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life? My first mentor was my boss at the Health Services Administration of HHS, Victor Heyman. He helped me through a crucial transition in my career--from respiratory therapy to health policy and administration. That happened at the same time my first child was born, so it was two very big steps in a new direction. I cannot say enough about how he helped me believe in myself, giving me a million practical suggestions about my work. Advertisement U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 46th annual Legislative Conference Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, September 17, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas Nine years after the Great Recession began during the tax- and regulation-slashing Bush administration, some startlingly good economic news arrived from Washington, D.C., last week. Advertisement That sounds good, right? Especially after all it took to pull out of the Bush recession. During the month Bush left office, 818,000 Americans lost their jobs. Unemployment increased to 10 percent before President Obamas stimulus programs started ratcheting it down to the current 4.9 percent. Now, wages are beginning to rise again. It seems like an event that Ronald Reagan might call morning in America. But not the current Republican nominee. Trump says, This country is a hellhole, and were going down fast. To hoist America up out of that bogus hellhole, Trump proposes the same tired-and-untrue tax- and regulation-cutting formula that Bush did. The one that actually did drop the country into a hellhole the Wall Street collapse, massive foreclosures and high unemployment. Trump offered yet another tax plan last week the third of his campaign. This one, just like Bushs, lavishes tax cuts on the rich. He would hack the 35 percent business tax rate to 15 percent. He would eliminate the estate tax paid only by the nations richest 0.2 percent. So, basically, Trump would cut taxes for himself a 10 billionaire. In Trumps previous tax plan, low-income people, those in the lowest tax bracket, would have paid 10 percent, but now Trump makes them pay more. Theyll have to cough up 12 percent. Advertisement At the same time, Trump said, hed eliminate all that pesky government regulation thats getting in the way of business doing whatever it wants. So, for example, hed abolish that annoying regulator, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Thats the one that just fined Wells Fargo $100 million, part of a total of $185 million in penalties, for issuing credit cards and opening accounts without customers consent, sham accounts that customers learned about only after they started accumulating fees and damaging credit. Republicans like Trump have tried to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from the day Democrats created it. By cutting taxes on the rich and letting businesses run roughshod over consumers, Trump claims he would create 25 million jobs over a decade. This is Reagan and Bush trickle-down economics. It worked great for the rich. They got richer and richer. It never worked for the rest. The rest always do better when theres a Democrat in the White House, as there is now. The Census report issued last week showing progress on wages is testament to that. But theres more. Far more. Princeton economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson found in 2013 that since World War II, the economy performed significantly better under Democratic presidents, regardless of the measurement used. For example, Democratic presidents average 4.35 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Under Republicans, it was 2.54 percent. Democratic presidents presided over higher stock market returns and corporate profits, greater compensation growth and productivity increases. Economist Steven Stoft analyzed 72 years of jobs data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, during which Democrats controlled the White House for 36 years and Republicans for 36 years. He found that 58 million jobs were created under Democrats and 26 million under Republicans. That means Democratic presidents created more than twice as many jobs. Advertisement And heres another noteworthy fact as Trump runs around claiming hes going to bring manufacturing back, even though he manufactures his own signature suits and ties and shirts offshore in places like China and Mexico and Bangladesh: Democrats create manufacturing jobs; Republicans destroy them. Bloomberg news service analyzed data from the past eight decades and found manufacturing jobs increased under each of the seven Democrats and decreased under the six Republican presidents. Even as employment expanded, manufacturing jobs declined under Republican presidents. The largest losses occurred under Reagan and the two Bushes an average of 9 percent. Republicans are bad for jobs. Theyre bad for manufacturing. Theyre bad for the GDP in general. Trumps 25 million job promise? Malarkey. Advertisement Moodys Analytics looked at his tax, trade and immigration policies and projected theyd cause a recession and eliminate 3.5 million jobs. That was before he changed his mind on taxes again and released the third plan this week, but its virtually unchanged from the previous two, other than costing low-income people more. Americans should reject Trumps Republican trickle-down promises that have done nothing for workers in the past but swipe their cash and flood it up in torrents to billionaires like Trump. LISTEN HERE: By Mark Green In a week of Deplorables, Pneumonia-Gate, and Lies about Birther Lies, guess which got the least coverage? Lowry & Barrett debate why the candidates are indeed graded on a curve and, short of sex change operation, what Hillary should do about it. "HERE"S what you have to lose!" #BasketofDeplorabes. Was this essentially a classic gaffe. impolitic yet true? Rich Lowry of the National Review says no because it was both self-wounding and untrue since half the GOP are not racists and nativists...which is why she apologized for it. After the Host notes that she apologized for the numeral not the noun, Wayne Barrett -- author of biographies of both Trump & Giuliani -- doesn't disagree. "While we can talk about the percentage, she should never confuse deplorable views with deplorable people -- and certainly not call them irredeemable." Rich offers a joking codicil: while some number are perhaps racially intolerant, "none of our readers are." And he adds a both-side-are rebuttal that "probably as many Democrats believe Bush43 was behind 9/11." Host: As for whether half of Trump supporters are "deplorable", Wayne correctly said that's for people like him and me to say. Which should not be hard when a) Trump's obviously appealing to racial resentment, b) 60%+ of his supporters believe in birtherism and banning Muslims, a third wish the South had won the Civil War (or is being pro-slavery just 'political correctness?'") Quantity matters both now and when the GOP tries to reconstitute after November 8th. Advertisement And neither 60% nor a third of Democrats believe Bush43 was behind 9/11. Actually, only one party has a 'fringe' on top. Hillary's Health. So he lies about everything and she tried to "power through" pneumonia to attend the 9/11 Memorial Service? Rich and Wayne correctly note that that video of her near-collapsing is unusual and powerful. Lowry puts this problem in the context of her supposed secrecy and dishonesty, urging that she should have held a press conference explaining her health for long as it took. "Trump is trying to 'pivot' by being more disciplined and reading from teleprompters; Hillary she also do something different to address her problem." By elevating her health as an issue even more? And four days of saturation coverage on her health? Wayne emphasizes that "she never lied about her health, just didn't disclose it right away. Health is an issue but low on the scale, especially since we're about to see her debate for hours and campaign vigorously." Also, Barrett is amazed and dismayed that while the press went red-alert on deplorables and pneumonia, "it completely ignored the tape showing that on the actual 9/11 in 2001, Trump bragged that now one of his buildings 'was the tallest in downtown Manhattan.'" Financial Scandals. We discuss the subject of Trump's financials, especially his refusal to release his tax returns, Newsweek's cover expose of his multiple conflicts with governing should he win and his so-called personal charity. Consensus: these are all important and relevant but, as Wayne's career of exposing such things and watching little pick-up, it may be something too complicated to cover and ready about. Advertisement "I'm not sure that any of this matters electorally, Rich concludes. And then, there's no video of Trump collapsing in an ocean of ill-gotten gains." Birtherism. It was like watching Houdini escape chains while submergd in a vat of water. All of us are impressed/depressed that Trump commandeered live cable coverage for a half hour promoting his private profit-making Trump Hotel in DC and then take 27 seconds to say, after five years of implying the opposite, ok, Obama was born in US but Clinton started birtherism. Rich and Wayne are unsure that he'll get away with this manuever. Indeed, for a day the Media piled on with blaring headlines and broadcast news leads about his "lies"...but then some local terror attacks seized the headlines. Isn't a problem that while his problems get one-off coverage, like discussing shooting Clinton or now Birtherism, Clinton's emails are released drip-drip monthly by court order, regenerating headlines each time? Wayne's analysis is that print publications are not to blame, lauding the New York Times and Washington Post especially for its deep dives, "but the problem are broadcasters. They know how to pick up scandals yet for some reason are letting him breeze by his." Rich doesn't disagree, explaining how he can just bulldoze and bully TV and radio broadcasters, who often have scarce tine to follow-up and want to get him back for future interviews. {Two who do defrock him -- Chris Matthews and Jay Tapper.) Is this issue now over, as his surrogates insisted the next day? It depends whether journalists fold or follow-up. For example does Lester Holt ask Trump in front of 70 million, "Since the President released his long-form birth certificate three years ago, why did it take until just before a presidential election to admit it...now that you are, will you apologize for wrongly implying he wasn't a legitimate president for five years? Double Standard? Both Right and Left attack the Media. But how accurate is it that there's now a double standard where her stumbles attract extensive attention while his avalanche of lies don't? Advertisement Rich acknowledges that Trump can artfully candidly acknowledges that many grade Trump on a curve precisely because a) she keeps emphasizing that he's unusually dangerous and b) Clinton is indeed far more experienced about public affairs, which Wayne mocks as saying, in effect, "we should harder on her because she's the better candidate?" He then reiterates his point about the different levels of culpability of print vs. electronic coverage. Host: The show ends before we can get to whether any double standard is the result of misogyny, which many think was behind Matt Lauer's much-panned and far rougher treatment of Clinton. Without any data to refer to, the Host opines that it is harder for a women because of centuries of prejudice against women and that Trump implies this every time he states how strong he is, adores Putin, says she lacks "stamina" and "doesn't look presidential." He is perfecting a move so unique that, like the Fosbury Flop, it'll be named after him: The Trump Trick - winning votes based on fear & lies and then refusing to apologize assuming that the both-sides-do-it media and credulous anxious voters can't keep up with his volume of repeated mendacity...not to mention his entertaining, charming-rouge lounge act when he admits to pay-for-play de-fanging critics. Challenge: how can the Media and Clinton decode his strategy? To avoid appearing weak and defensive, she needs a formula that combines explaining her positive ideas with mocking attacks on his avalanche of sleazy lies and rhetorical questions. ("HERE'S what you have to lose!"..."one of us up here makes mistakes, the other lies most of the time according to PolitaFact".) Every great half back and candidate fumbles. But great ones (see Obama's speech in 2008 on Rev. Wright) recover them and stay on offense. She'll have the opportunity to do so in the Debates and in extensive paid media. More to come. Alex is a trial attorney who knows how to be assertive and use the authority of his position. He began as a public defender and his closeness to people under the thumb of authority has always made him fight for the underdog. A few years ago, Alex became obsessed with mountain climbing. After immersing himself for eighteen months, he began taking trips around the world, trying to conquer legendary climbs. Last spring, he traveled to a western province of Mongolia to climb Mount Khuiten, which stands on the edge of the Gobi Desert. All expeditions up Mount Khuiten begin in Ulaanbaatar, which sits on the edge of a barren landscape. The trek begins with a day's walk across the open, green steppes that approach the Altai Mountains. Along the way, Alex saw yaks, sheep, and double-humped camels. He was eager to stand on the 14,350-foot snowcapped summit, from which you can see Russia, China, and Mongolia. By the second day, Alex was already weary. His determined intent to conquer the mountain began to fade. He was settling into the tired rhythm of planting one foot in front of the other. Talk drifted away into the uneven rhythm of everyone's heaving breath, and there was only the sound of the ponies carrying their gear. Advertisement On the third day, they camped on a plateau and Alex was no longer sure why he was there. As he told me his story, Alex grew tender. He said that everything began to drop away that afternoon. Camped out on the plateau, he felt that the wind of centuries would not slow for any living thing. His obsession with climbing, his work, his career, his training, his history, his dreams, all began to fall off like frozen supplies too heavy to carry. As he focused on his cold breath, he even let his name slip away for a moment. All that was left was the bare fact of his own existence, the fact of his breath connecting him to the fact of all existence. He was a piece of life living -- that was all. The weather worsened and the climbers had to come down without cresting the summit. It didn't matter to Alex, as he'd found what he didn't know he'd come for. As he descended, he put back on all the aspects of his life: his name, his history, his training, his career. But as he tried to put his will back on, it no longer seemed to fit. With each step down the mountain back into the world, Alex was remade. Of course, to live in the world we have to wear clothes and have an identity in order to make our way. But it makes a difference when we can show our heart's face without any covering. Though we can't stay this naked, we're sanctified in such moments to have the ancient air touch our soul. Alex encountered the authority of his own being and the authority of all being on the side of that mountain. This inner quality of authority invokes the touchstone of certainty by which we know first-hand that we're alive. Our inner authority emanates from the nakedness of our soul. Once we remove our masks and opinions, our authority of being resides in whatever point of stillness we can no longer question. Our authority of being resides in the fact of being here, regardless of what circumstance surrounds us, regardless of what we have to put back on to live in the world. Advertisement A Question to Walk With: Describe one place in you that feels both fragile and unbreakable. How did you come to know this place in you? Last month, Atria published my new book, The One Life We're Given: Finding the Wisdom that Waits in Your Heart. To make the most of being here, we're required to learn when to try and when to let go. This is our initiation into grace. The gift and practice of being human centers on the effort to restore what matters and, when in trouble, to make good use of our heart. No one quite knows how to do this, but learn it we must. There is no other way. By fully living the one life we're given, we're led to the wisdom that waits in our heart. The above piece is an excerpt from the book. For more poetry for the soul, click here. Growing up in Deraa, Syria, Youssra Nawasra always wanted to be a fashion designer. Then the civil war broke out. When she arrived in Lebanon as a refugee her plans seemed like a distant dream until she took a training class with a local non-profit called Al Majmoua. Courses in sewing, business management and finance led to a job as a seamstress and she now is thinking of starting her own business with a small loan from Al Majmoua, which has twice received financing from the European Investment Bank. "A new window opened up in my life," says Youssra, "and there was light again." Photo: Al Majmoua The root causes of the current migration crisis are complex and global. But millions of ordinary people like Youssra have seen their lives fall apart. How the EU can respond to the plight of people like Youssra will be a key focus for EIB President Werner Hoyer at the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York. He will lay out how the EU Bank and its partner Development Banks and International Financial Institutions can help cope with the refugee crisis and the longer term challenge of migration. He will be setting out the EIB's new Economic Resilience Initiative which is now ready to go. Migration crisis and the EU bank The EIB is currently working on a series of new initiatives combined with existing programmes to help give communities in regions troubled by poverty, climate change, and violent conflict a real chance of building a settled and sustainable existence as close to home as possible. Advertisement War is the most obvious reason people become refugees. But poverty and the impact of climate change are two important factors that drive people to leave their homes in search of a better life elsewhere. The EIB has just announced a EUR 800 million initiative to increase investment in the most fragile and vulnerable areas of Africa, including the Sahel region just below the Sahara, around Lake Chad and in the Horn of Africa. The scheme will provide an essential alternative to "life threatening journeys and uncertainty in Europe," EIB President Werner Hoyer said. "When people can look forward to a dignified and peaceful life in their own countries and are protected from conflicts and natural disasters, they have every incentive to build their future where they really feel at home." EIB President, Werner Hoyer Projects to improve water and sanitation in cities on the edge of the Sahara, energy supply to remote rural areas in East Africa, and financial security for vulnerable smallholder farmers are have already been identified, as have measures to strengthen the role of public banks in the Horn of Africa. Resilience and the migration crisis The origins of the current refugee crisis lie in violent conflicts beyond the borders of Europe. The EIB aims to invest in the communities and people affected, to create opportunities for those fleeing to nearby countries to escape violence and persecution. The idea is that, when peace comes, it will be easier for them to return to their homes. Advertisement This is the idea that lies at the heart of our Economic Resilience Initiative. Focused on the Western Balkans and Europe's Southern Neighbourhood, which covers North Africa and the Middle East, the initiative would substantially increase EIB financing in these regions: a new EUR 6 billion in addition to the EUR 7.5 billion already planned. It will combine support for the private sector, particularly for young people and women, with more investment in socially important sectors like water, health and education. The Bank estimates this additional financing would trigger around EUR 15 billion in additional investments from 2016 to 2020, taking the total EIB mobilisation of investment in the regions to some EUR 35 billion. The initiative aims to ease the pressure on those countries hosting huge numbers of refugees, and to provide more opportunities for those driven from their homes by investing even more in the overall development of these economies. Support for individuals As Youssra Nawasra's story shows, EIB support can touch individual lives in a very direct way. Supported by EU grants, the EIB's first microfinance operation in Jordan was with Microfund for Women, which provides microloans and training to help low-income women, both native Jordanians and now Syrian refugees, to start small businesses, provide for their families and regain confidence. Photo: ITWorx An online education company ITWorx, owned by EIB-backed EuroMena Fund, set up a school in a camp for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Children who haven't been able to attend school for years, now study a cloud-based version of the Lebanese curriculum on $60-tablets with the aid of only a couple of teachers. ITWorx's initiative is aimed at rebuilding the future of those who fled the civil war in their homeland. "You can fight the refugee problem politically," says Romen Mathieu, ITWorx chairman. "But the best way to fight is with culture and investments--by creating hope in the region." Advertisement Silicon Badia Impact Fund also benefited from EIB backing. The Jordan-based fund provides mentorship, expertise and finance to young people designing tech products and solutions to tackle the region's numerous problems. Managing Director Emile Cubeisy describes the business environment in which the fund operates as "a golden era of entrepreneurship born from very difficult circumstances." The Hudson River is under threat, again. Just when we thought we were in the clear - and that river towns up and down the Hudson Valley could enjoy scenic river views for restaurants, new housing, parks and other critical economic development - we're playing defense, again. Oil barges, nuclear plants and gas pipelines all now threaten the integrity of the river. Remember that not too long ago the river was the dumping ground for toxics and municipal waste and that it's still recovering from General Electric's inexcusable release of PCBs into public waters. Had it not been for Hudson Valley voices - like the Riverkeeper and those who care about Clearwater (thank you, Pete Seeger) - we'd still have sludge and fecal matter floating by Manhattan. Now it's a different kind of threat. While it's not sewage, it's equally serious, if not more so. It's oil, it's nuclear and it's gas. Ignore for a moment that these are all wrong directions for our energy transition - as non-renewable, toxic and expensive fuels - they're all threatening the critical health of the Hudson River. Advertisement First and foremost, oil is the most urgent threat. The U.S. Coast Guard is keen to let the oil industry now use the river for crude oil transport and build 43 berths in 10 locations along the Hudson River. The potential for oil spills is real and frightening (for both human and marine life), and the Coast Guard's move also threatens to scrape and scar the river bottom (with anchors and anchor chains) and further endanger sturgeon and other critical species. The oil industry, to be clear, is already pushing oil pipelines on land throughout the Hudson Valley, moving volatile crude oil on rail (known as "bomb trains") and putting our river at immediate risk. Now the industry, aided and abetted by the Coast Guard, wants to escalate this volatile equation and place more oil precariously on the water, a bet that no elected official in their right mind should wage. We can put a stop to this, and should, by telling a taxpayer-funded agency, the Coast Guard, to guard against industry interest and protect the greater good, our river, and all the human and marine health and economies that depend on it. (Send your comments to the Coast Guard here.) Second, nuclear plants are currently killing billions of fish, eggs and larvae in the river. Power plants along the Hudson River are withdrawing 1.2 trillion gallons every year. Sound benign? It's not. Yet, the industry-friendly Nuclear Regulatory Commission refuses to protect public interest. Plants like Entergy's Indian Point nuclear power plant, which continues to break down and leak radioactive waste and sit insecurely a few dozen miles north of Manhattan, use the river's water to cool their facilities and discharge the heated water back into the Hudson - killing billions of organisms annually. Unlike humans, our Hudson fish hate hot tubs. It doesn't have to be this way, but we continue to allow private industry to use public assets to pay for this problem. It's time for that to end and to support New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo's call for shutting down Indian Point (and Riverkeeper's work to protect millions of New Yorkers from nuclear disaster). Advertisement Third, a high pressure Spectra Energy pipeline, carrying fracked gas for export (so that other countries can have higher carbon footprints) is expanding under the Hudson and adjacent to the failing Indian Point nuclear facility, making a combustible situation even more volatile. While New York's Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand and Governor Cuomo have called for a halt to the pipeline construction, because of the "threat to the quality of life, environmental, health and safety of residents across the Hudson Valley and New York State without any long-term benefit to the communities it would impact," the construction continues. Spectra Energy is leaving in its wake destroyed wetlands, clear-cut forests and increasingly endangered Hudson Valley health (don't get me started on the toxic particulates the pipeline will exhaust near my neighboring hometown of Peekskill). Most disconcertingly, the high-pressure pipeline runs within bomb shot of Indian Point's aging nuclear plant, making our region a sitting duck for those who wish to do serious damage. Again, our taxpayer funded Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a close friend of the private industry, refuses to protect public interest. This, too, must end. (Find out more about how to protect fellow New Yorkers here.) The fight to protect our Hudson River is back on. In fact, it never ended, but it feels like we're back in the mid-1900s again. This time with different contaminants and dangers, all of which pose serious security and safety risks to human and Hudson River health. We don't need another superfund site but rather serious foresight to ensure that cleanups don't become a river town pastime. Calling on all who care. It's time to rise up for our river. Adam White's stunning new coffee-table book Motown: The Sound of Young America (Thames & Hudson) is a 400-page non-stop heat wave of compelling narrative and enthralling images about a company whose musical brilliance and chart dominance was matched by its impact on American history. White, a former Billboard editor, has collaborated with Barney Ales -- the right-hand man of Motown founder Berry Gordy almost from the beginning -- to tell the inside story of how Gordy and his creative team of black writers, musicians and producers made the records while Barney and his mostly white team of "backroom believers" made sure those records got played and that the bills got paid. The Miracles during a show in the early 1960s Motown Records Archives. Courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust and Universal Music Group. Advertisement Adam's encyclopedic knowledge of soul music and deep appreciation for the cultural/political meaning of Motown are as good as it gets. What makes Motown: The Sound of Young America even more astonishing are the 1,000 images of Motown's artists, execs, and design iconography -- many rarely before seen. Reached by phone at his home in London, Adam said, "Barney and I had known each other for many years. Five years ago we resumed contact and I got to ask him every question about Motown I ever wanted to. I wanted to tell the story of the backroom believers, about whom not much is written and less credit given." I experienced Barney's story-telling talents -- and his dry sense of humor -- when I interviewed him for the Hits Magazine special History of the Music Biz issue published last spring. My fave Barney quote: "I started in construction -- Italians are great with cement." It's wonderful to see his invaluable contribution to Motown -- which included several years as president of the company -- so lovingly acknowledged here. Barney says the time spent working with Adam was so joyful that it "added five years to my life.' As for the secret to his successful relationship with Berry, he says, "There was love and respect, of course. But I didn't care about going into the studio. My job was running the machine, selling records and making sure we got paid."' Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross in London's Manchester Square, outside the headquarters of EMI Records, October 1964 Courtesy of EMI Group Archive Trust Advertisement The photos of Motown's hitmakers -- Mary Wells, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, The Temptations, The Four Tops and many more -- remind us how gloriously attractive these artists were, in addition to their music-making genius. Some of the pics point to deeper truths about the times. Adam notes that the shot of Barney's wife Mitzi sitting on Berry's knee while Berry's wife Ray sits on Barney's knee, "might have gotten you arrested in the South at that time." It shows the power of the personal relationships that transcended race to give the Motown story its cultural and political resonance. "We were lucky to interview people who could express that period well by just dealing with the sheer facts," Adam says. Such as the time, in 1961, when Barney and Berry accidentally integrated Detroit's exclusive London Chop House. Calling ahead for a reservation, they were informed that the restaurant didn't serve "colored people." Ales deadpanned, "Well that's good; we don't eat them." Or when a white female fan in Miami told Mary Wilson that every time the Supremes appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, "I allow my family to watch you." These stories, Adam adds, "speak volumes and don't need much elaboration." The Gordys and the Aleses in a Detroit club, circa 1960. From left: Raymona Gordy, Barney Ales, Motown promotion man Bill Mitchell and unidentified partner, Mitzi Ales and Berry Gordy Courtesy of Barney Ales Adam's passion for Motown was ignited the first time he heard Martha & the Vandellas' "Heat Wave" as a 15-year-old. The romance of distance added a mysterious quality that the Beatles, the Stones and other Brit bands lacked. "I could see them any time I wanted -- there was no enigma to it. But this city more than three thousand miles away I knew little about? There was magic." His obsession was further fueled when his American aunt sent him copies of Billboard -- the industry trade where he would serve as managing editor and editor-in-chief from 1981 to 1985. Advertisement Former Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham -- who told me "Motown changed my life; gave it zip, verve and attitude" -- brings that verve to an insightful foreword that illuminates how inspirational Motown was to the Beatles, the Stones, and other Brit rockers. "The book is as rich as Motown was, and for Motown lovers, still is," Andrew says."It is probably the most real look there has been at what went on behind the scenes to give us that musical history." I recently wrote about what the death of the last thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) 80 years ago can teach us about the power the liberal arts has to solve wickedly difficult problems. That piece and its focus on extinction led to a discussion with my good friend and Russian language scholar Ben Rifkin about another serious extinction crisis: the dramatic loss of languages we are experiencing around the globe. What follows are our joint thoughts on that problem and the importance of promoting educational practices that encourage thinking across disciplines. * * * * * * * * * * A frighteningly high rate of species extinction has become the defining characteristic of the Anthropocene era but species aren't the only things being lost at an alarming rate. Languages are disappearing as well with equally serious consequences. Linguists cannot say with certainty how many human languages are spoken today. One linguist's language may be another's dialect. For instance, some classify the "languages" of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish as "dialects" of a "Scandinavian language" because they share structures, vocabulary, cultural experiences and because they are generally mutually comprehensible. On the other hand, others classify the "eight dialects" of Chinese as "distinct languages," because, for example, Cantonese, Shanghainese and Mandarin do not share vocabulary and are mutually incomprehensible, even though they share a common orthography. Thus, linguists speculate that there are as few as 5,000 and as many as 9,000 languages. Advertisement What's not in question, however, is that the number of languages is decreasing rapidly. Languages, like species, may be characterized as endangered and they go extinct when the last speaker of a language dies. When that happens, the language and culture disappear with little trace, typically because many of the languages we're losing have not left written or recorded evidence behind. Indeed, many extinct languages were only spoken, not written. Languages become endangered and die out for many reasons. Sadly, the physical annihilation of communities of native speakers of a language is all too often the cause of language extinction. In North America, European colonists brought death and destruction to many Native American communities. This was followed by US federal policies restricting the use of indigenous languages, including the removal of native children from their communities to federal boarding schools where native languages and cultural practices were prohibited. As many as 75 percent of the languages spoken in the territories that became the United States have gone extinct, with slightly better language survival rates in Central and South America, slightly worse survival rates in Australia. Even without physical annihilation and prohibitions against language use, the language of the "dominant" cultures may drive other languages into extinction; young people see education, jobs, culture and technology associated with the dominant language and focus their attention on that language. The largest language "killers" are English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Hindi, and Chinese, all of which have privileged status as dominant languages threatening minority languages. While there are a few cases of language revival, such as Czech, Gaelic, Hebrew and Navajo, generally languages tend to move in one direction on the spectrum from thriving through endangered to extinct. Advertisement Why do these extinctions matter? When we lose a language, we lose the worldview, culture and knowledge of the people who spoke it, constituting a loss to all humanity. People around the world live in direct contact with their native environment, their habitat. When the language they speak goes extinct, the rest of humanity loses their knowledge of that environment, their wisdom about the relationship between local plants and illness, their philosophical and religious beliefs as well as their native cultural expression (in music, visual art and poetry) that has enriched both the speakers of that language and others who would have encountered that culture. While some argue that the world would be a better place if everyone spoke English, we believe that the world would be profoundly impoverished by the reduction of distinct languages and cultures. As educators deeply immersed in the liberal arts, we believe that educating students broadly in all facets of language and culture, as well, of course, in the arts and sciences, yields immense rewards. Some individuals educated in the liberal arts tradition will pursue advanced study in linguistics and become actively engaged in language preservation, setting out for the Amazon, for example, with video recording equipment to interview the last surviving elders in a community to record and document a language spoken by no children. Certainly, though, the vast majority of students will not pursue this kind of activity. For these students, a liberal arts education is absolutely critical from the twin perspectives of language extinction and global citizenship. When students study languages other than their own, they are sensitized to the existence of different cultural perspectives and practices. With such an education, students are more likely to be able to articulate insights into their own cultural biases, be more empathetic to individuals of other cultures, communicate successfully across linguistic and cultural differences, consider and resolve questions in a way that reflects multiple cultural perspectives, and, ultimately extend support to people, programs, practices, and policies that support the preservation of endangered languages. Advertisement There is ample evidence that such preservation can work in languages spiraling toward extinction. For example, Navajo, Cree and Inuit communities have established schools in which these languages are the language of instruction and the number of speakers of each has increased. Speakers of Hawai'an, Quechua and Saami have also benefited from purposeful efforts to preserve their languages and cultures and to engage the younger generation in their native language and culture. Kismayo, the capital of the southern-most province of Somalia, was recovered from the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization in 2012 by Kenyan and Somali troops. With the change of control, the local government is now actively trying to set up a functioning administration. Yet a mere 10 to 15 km from the city, areas are still under control of the same terrorist group from which many refugees fled in the past decade. My colleague Mark Yarnell and I recently visited Kismayo to see how the Somali refugees returning from Kenya's Dadaab camp are faring. In the building where the Somali returnees are initially received, we met Fartuun, a mother of six who left her husband and his second wife in Kenya. Fartuun and her friends who joined our conversation were thoroughly dejected. "They promised that it was safe and that we would be helped," she said, "but I am not sure where to go. I have no shelter and must rent a place, and there are no schools for my children." Other women said that had they known what they knew now about the lack of services and support available to returnees, they would have stayed in Kenya. Under intense pressure from the Government of Kenya (which has threatened to close the Dadaab camp in November, while in a contradictory manner maintaining that the repatriation is a voluntary exercise), the number of refugees who have opted to try their luck at returning to Somalia has dramatically increased in the past few months. And the vast majority has gone to Kismayo. Repatriation to one's home country is usually the most desirable solution for refugees. But it has no meaning if returning refugees find themselves in the same desperate situation that drove them to flee in the first place, with violence and turmoil threatening their lives and those of their families. Certainly, breaking with the life refugees experience in Kenya will be difficult under any circumstances as it requires breaking habits, finding the energy to resume an independent and productive life, and adjusting to a country that has dramatically changed since they fled. But choosing to return to Somalia will be nearly impossible in any case, if the returnees face circumstances where stability and safety are far from assured. Indeed, the local government recently suspended the reception of returning refugees, citing "severe humanitarian challenges." In Kismayo, the returnees face a variety of issues with little or no access to services. There are few options for education for children, with no public schools, only private ones. Further and more fundamentally, the government is struggling to find land that can accommodate returnees, many of whom are not originally from the city, but fear returning to their original homes in the unsafe hinterland. The city already hosts around 40,000 internally displaced people who live in a squalid camp bereft of the most basic facilities. The civil society organizations supporting humanitarian work operate in a constraining environment. The United Nations and donors who purport to support the returnees are hunkered into a fortified camp at the airport, some 10 miles away, and can only carry out sporadic trips to the city under forbidding security escorts - save for their local staff, of course. As one senior official in the state government told us, "Kenya and the UN are dumping refugees on us." With the increasing number of returning refugees, local officials are at a loss how to respond to the influx with the local government's lack financial and human resources. They also fear that their incapacity to absorb returning young men into the local workforce, which is already restricted, will leave some with no other option than to join the very terrorist organization or country bandits from whom they originally fled. As a result, the local officials have told the Kenyan government and United Nations, wisely in my opinion, that they would suspend the reception of returning refugees, a decision which generated a flurry of diplomatic activities between Mogadishu, Nairobi, and the UN. This is a follow-up - and likely the final step - in an ongoing contested adoption that I wrote about on December 16, 2014. The case involves Carri Stearns and her sixth child, Camden, born March 31, 2014. Carri Sterns and her children - Camden's five siblings - are waiting for him. As I noted then, while Carri was still pregnant, her long-term live-in partner, provider and father figure to her five children, gave her an ultimatum to let her baby go or have no home for herself and her six children. Feeling threatened, having no other alternative, and under duress, Carri contacted Adoptions by Gentle Care of Ohio (AGC). I wrote, too, of how she signed away her parental rights to her son while under the influence of opioids after a C-Section, and that: Advertisement "Within 72 hours Carri regretted having signed the voluntary surrender of rights and sought legal representation to revoke her relinquishment." In April of 2014, Carri filed a revocation of her relinquishment in Franklin County Probate Court. When the prospective adopters became aware that the adoption would be contested, they immediately withdrew their application to continue with the adoption of Carri's son, Camden. The case then wound through the Ohio courts. After the Franklin County court ruled that they had no jurisdiction, a writ of habeas corpus filed with the Tenth District court of appeals in June 2014. That court likewise ruled that they had no jurisdiction and sent the case on to Franklin County Juvenile Court. On March 31, 2015, the case was appealed to the Tenth District Court, which remanded it back to juvenile court. In August of 2015, Judge Louden reissued his original decision from the previous year, dismissing claims of duress in order to rule against the remand from the Tenth District, with instructions to do credibility findings. In February 2016, the Tenth District court of appeals affirmed. In April 2016, the Ohio State Supreme Court accepted jurisdiction, and on August 31, oral arguments were heard. This link will take you to a 42-minute video of the Oral Arguments for the case of Carrie Stearns vs Adoption by Gentle Care, Ohio (Case No. 2016-0395 In re C.C.S.). Representing Ms. Stearns are Steven Hillman and Erik Smith. Representing Adoption by Gentle Care (AGC) is Jon Oebker. Advertisement Several issues were of concern to the Supreme Court Justices. First was the role of the AGC social worker who represented herself as being there to help and serve Carri. Next was what counseling Carri was or was not given by the this representative of AGC in accordance with the statutes, and in particular whether or not she was duly informed of her right to temporary care for her infant son. Regarding duress, the Supreme Court appeared to acknowledge that having no place for herself and her children to live rose to the level of duress and that AGC was well aware of that situation. In my original coverage of this case in 2014, I asked the obvious question, asked again by the Supreme Court justices, nearly two years later: "Why... is baby Camden Stearns being kept from a perfectly capable, mature, loving, and financially stable stay-at-home mother of five by Adoptions by Gentle Care of Ohio, despite the proposed adoptive parents having relinquished custody of him so that he could be reunited with his family?" Advertisement "...one justice asked the same question I've asked so many times, 'Why didn't the adoption agency simply return the child to his mother when the adoptive parents dismissed their Petition for Adoption because Stearns was opposing it?'" In my previous coverage, I questioned if AGC was: "...continuing to withhold Camden in retribution for Carri going public on Facebook and elsewhere, naming the agency, and labeling their treatment of her unethical?" Indeed, Mr. Oebker, the attorney representing AGC in the oral arguments raised these issues, adding a claim that Carri allegedly "harassed" the original potential adopters. The attorney's words and tone in oral arguments confirmed to me - and others - that vindictiveness and revenge have played an integral role in AGC's keeping this child from his mother and five siblings after Carri revoked her consent and the prospective adopters withdrew their application. It is most interesting to note that throughout all these court proceedings, the best interests of Carri's son Camden were never mentioned or brought to bear as a factor in deciding whether he should be returned to his family or forever raised by unrelated fosterers who have no legal claim on him. Instead, what did play a part, according to the attorney for AGC, were character assassinations reported to AGC by haters who read about the case on social media, much of which writings came from those associated with Carri's former long-term domestic partner, Camden's father. Lurid online gossip and rumors demonized her for being ungrateful to the man who had supported her and her five children, none of whom were his. Strong objections were raised in regard to Carri having "wronged" her long-term partner by engaging in a brief affair. Even in murder trials, however, juries are instructed that moral missteps such as "cheating" are not to be taken into account when judging the facts of the case. Yet AGC did exactly that, making a moral judgment of Ms. Stearns's behavior, which had nothing to do with her ability to provide a safe and nurturing home for all of her children, a fact that is unquestioned. Advertisement The SC Justices also questioned AGC's monetary motivation, noting that AGC charged and received a fee of $30,000 for Camden's original placement. Franklin notes: "The child has been in foster care for two years while the legal case has run its course. Why didn't AGC hand over the child and move on to the next adoption? In that regard, the justices seemed to think, as I do, that the agency did so because it saw the child as a source of income more than a human being in need of his chance at a good, stable family life. "It is outrageous in the extreme that AGC arrogated to itself the power to decide the child's best interests. Unsurprisingly, it happened to rule in its best interests as well.... and of course Stearns is mother to five other children, none of whom have ever been investigated by child welfare authorities due to allegations of abuse or neglect. In short, as far as we can tell, AGC is the only entity to ever question Stearns' parenting." The court has promised an expedient decision. Carri's family deserves resolution to this nightmare. The court's decision is also important to the future of Ohio adoption in two important ways. One is in regard to a private adoption agency's duty to provide proper option counseling; the other is in regard to such private businesses asserting themselves as a pseudo probate court, deciding custody of a child who is no longer available for adoption, and basing such a decision on the alleged "character" of the child's mother, not her fitness to parent. Advertisement The hope is that the court undoes the harm AGC has caused this family for all of this time and sets a precedent, letting such placement businesses know that these practices are unacceptable and will not hold up. Mothers and their children in temporary crisis need and deserve better than to be exploited in their time of need. When the police come upon someone on a ledge or a bridge intending to jump, they do not have doctors from organ donor banks talk to the person about the benefits of continuing with such a rash decision, and how it could save others' lives. Yet mothers in stress, considering the lifelong, irrevocable loss of a child, are "counseled" about deserving couples longing to provide love to their child. There is no incentive for such businesses, whether for- or not-for-profit, to support the constitutional right of parents to raise and nurture their own children. Carri, who has never seen her son Camden, and has received no updates, told me that she: "cannot believe it's been 2.5 years but I'm so grateful we are finally before a court that cares enough to honor the oath they took and see it for the evidence and proof provided. I'm confident Camden will finally be home soon." Many of us have dealt with issues of advanced illness care for a loved one. When I think back to my mother's last months, I remember a time of love and togetherness, and of regret. As I wrote about a few years ago, I realized too late that I should have asked her more questions about how she wanted to be cared for in her final days. Those answers would've helped guide her final treatments; maybe we'd have skipped the chemotherapy and blood transfusions that sapped the quality of life from her dying days. The lessons learned from that experience prompted my involvement in the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC). I am proud to have been involved with C-TAC from its inception and proud to serve on the board of directors for this amazing organization. I look forward to speaking this week at the third annual National Summit on Advanced Illness Care in Washington, D.C. This year's theme: Building Bridges to Success. Advertisement While talking about end-of-life issues may not be pleasant, doing so is a must -- when you still can. For further insight on this subject, it's my pleasure to turn this conversation over to Bill Novelli, the co-chair of C-TAC and co-author of "A Roadmap for Success: Transforming Advanced Illness Care in America." Novelli was CEO of AARP from 2001-09, and is now a professor in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. *** Nearly everyone has a story about struggling through the stressful maze of hospital and medical decisions when a loved one is seriously ill. U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) talks about being the "son of a mother and father who suffered from two ... terrible diseases ... cancer and Alzheimer's. Having not discussed the 'what-ifs' when my mom was of sound mind and body, we were guessing in trying to figure out the right thing to do." And a friend told me about the long list of medical specialists she and her partner dealt with as he faced cancer. She thought maybe the internal medicine MDs would coordinate all the players, "but even they were focused on their individual contributions." Advertisement This is a challenge nearly every family confronts. Over the next two decades, the number of people over 65 will nearly double, to more than 72 million, or one in five Americans. Most people with advanced illness are in this age group. If we don't make things better, they will be at higher risk for unnecessary hospitalizations, unwanted treatment, adverse drug reactions and conflicting medical advice, with resulting higher cost-of-care to families and the nation. Physicians and other clinicians are part of the problem, and they know it. Dr. Atul Gawande, in his best-selling book, "Being Mortal," wrote: "Give us a disease and we can do something about it ... but give us an elderly woman at risk of losing the life she enjoys ... and we hardly know what to do, and often only make matters worse." The other half of the problem is us. As patients, relatives and caregivers, we present huge difficulties in getting advanced illness care right. We often don't plan ahead, don't prepare for the issues of serious illness, don't understand our choices and, as with Sen. Isakson's story, don't ask our elders about their preferences until it's too late. Fortunately, there is growing momentum for improvement in this critical area, on both sides of the issue -- the public and health professionals. As the Baby Boomer generation ages (the oldest Boomers turned 70 this year) they are a force for change, as they have been throughout their lives. They've experienced their parents' difficulties with serious illness, and I doubt they will tolerate the same broken system for themselves. Advertisement In addition, there is more and better media attention to these issues. A number of important books, including Dr. Gawande's and "When Breath Becomes Air," by Dr. Paul Kalanithi, are making a difference. Recently Medicare announced that it will pay for physicians to hold advance planning discussions with their patients. Palliative care (sometimes called "comfort care") is expanding, and other good things are afoot. The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), a national nonprofit organization which I co-chair, is focused on "shared and informed decision-making." This means helping patients and families to better understand their prognosis and treatment options and their ability to influence care choices. And on the clinician side, it means improving communication skills and better aligning treatment with patient preferences and values. Recently we began a long-term partnership with Respecting Choices, part of Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin, the gold standard for person- and family-centered shared decision making. C-TAC's role is to help expand Respecting Choices so that virtually every family in America can participate, and it becomes part of routine care. Smoke rises after an U.S.-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani Ocotber 8, 2014. U.S.-led air strikes on Wednesday pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, local officials said. The town has become the focus of international attention since the Islamists' advance drove 180,000 of the area's mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey, which has infuriated its own restive Kurdish minority-- and its NATO partners in Washington -- by refusing to intervene. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) This week, world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York to tackle the challenges posed by the greatest human displacement since World War II: more than 65 million people around the world have fled their homes in search of safety and opportunity. The discussions take place against the backdrop of a growing list of cities and villages on four continents that have had major terrorists attacks this year, often inspired or directed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Each attack is followed by calls to close borders, keep out refugees and increase surveillance of those we think are "most susceptible" to extremist ideology. Advertisement Why do thousands of people, especially young men, join or support violent organizations, especially those like ISIS -- and how do we stem this tide? Given the fear these attacks instill -- after all, they're called terror attacks for a reason -- it's understandable to give in to emotional impulses. But to solve what is unquestionably the defining security challenge of our time, we must do more than react to terror. We must ask: Why do thousands of people, especially young men, join or support violent organizations, especially those like ISIS -- and how do we stem this tide? Mercy Corps -- my organization -- and others have conducted extensive research to find answers. Here's what we've learned: 1. There is no single profile of a terrorist or violent extremist. Armed security patrols around the Eiffel Tower as manhunt underway for suspects in Charlie Hebdo magazine attack in 2015. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Despite study after study, we still cannot predict who will join a violent group. We've seen employed and unemployed youth join; university-educated and primary-school dropouts; rich and poor; religious and nonreligious; citizens and the occasional refugee. 2. Exposure to violence, particularly state-perpetrated, is the most consistent predictor of one's future support for violence. Advertisement An explosion is seen after airstrikes by NATO-led forces during fighting between Afghan and foreign troops and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan in 2011. Yale and Princeton academics found that airstrikes by the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan led to increased support of the Taliban. In South Sudan, where civilians have suffered decades of violence even prior to its establishment as a new country in 2011, we've found the strongest support for violence compared to any other country where we've studied this issue. In a comprehensive analysis of factors related to violence in 13 sub-Saharan African countries, we found that being a victim of violence was one of the only indicators related to future support for violence. 3. Perceptions of discrimination, injustice and inequality are strongly linked to support for violent movements. In this Feb. 17, 2011 file photo, Al Shabab fighters stand in formation with their weapons during military exercises on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia. A sense of injustice -- whether experienced directly or through the collective shaming of one's group -- is among the most consistent precursors to violent behavior, and one of the key sentiments exploited by recruiters. Sentiments of injustice are most often connected to actions by a state power: corruption, unfair delivery of services, discrimination in the legal system and abuse by security forces. Yusuf, a young man in Somalia, told us, "'I've had to tolerate everything,' including harassment from local officials and, for several days, wrongful imprisonment by police. 'But if you try to do anything, they'll make it worse for you. So you have to hide your anger.'" Maryam, another young Somali woman, said, "Al Shabab became powerful here because they were able to tap into people's frustrations. Al Shabab is just a symptom of larger problems." 4. Conflict causes violent extremism more than violent extremism causes conflict. A member loyal to the Islamic State waves an ISIS flag in Raqqa on June 29, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer) According to the International Crisis Group and research published by the Brookings Institution, violent extremism arises in war zones or areas otherwise embroiled in violent conflict. ISIS emerged out of conflicts in Syria and Iraq; Al Shabab in conflict-ridden Somalia; and Lashkar-e-Taiba in part out of the Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India. These conflicts led to deep-seated grievances, which these groups exploit as they mobilize supporters. The findings do not lend themselves to simple solutions. But if we want to truly eliminate the lure of terrorist groups, we have to go further. The consequences of conflict have become a calling card for recruiters. Every militant act that results in civilian casualties unravels progress made to reduce the support of extremists. As a young Afghan former fighter told us, "I did not join the Taliban because I was poor. I joined because I was angry. Because they [the West] wronged us." 'I did not join the Taliban because I was poor. I joined because I was angry. Because they [the West] wronged us.' Policymakers and legislators need to recognize that although military intervention and counter-terrorism efforts may stabilize an area for a brief period of time, they often enrage local populations and spur recruitment. The international community -- led by the United States, Britain, the European Union, China, Russia, the African Union and Arab states -- needs to redouble diplomatic efforts to end these wars. At the same time, we need to discourage young people from joining groups such as ISIS, Al Shabab and Al Qaeda. In northeast Nigeria, we found that local and religious leaders were able to counter extremist messages by showing how Boko Haram were not following the teachings of Islam, which in turn dissuaded young people from joining. One village leader from Borno, in northeast Nigeria, said that in conversations with his community he told youth, "[Boko Haram] people are only deceivers and will only make money from your effort as they will never be killed. But innocent people like you who join later [will be killed]." Elevating the voices of local leaders who contradict violent extremist teachings with messages of tolerance can help stem the tide. There are no shortcuts to addressing the root causes of conflict: poor governance, historic grievances, corruption and economic/social inequality, to name a few. Violent extremists move into areas where there is ongoing chaos, weak governance and rising violence -- places ripe for recruitment. New terrorist groups emerge where there are power vacuums and people have strong grievances. The consequences of conflict have become a calling card for recruiters. To reduce the risk of violent uprisings that spur terrorist recruitment, governments must become more just, transparent and responsive to the needs of their citizens. This seems obvious, yet often we overlook or underinvest in good governance and anti-corruption initiatives. In places like Iraq and Syria, these types of initiatives are as important -- perhaps even more so -- than infrastructure and economic development programs. For these investments to be successful, they need to endure over a reasonable time frame and not be precipitously dropped as happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. We urge the U.S. and partner countries to capitalize on their discussions in New York to commit to stemming the tide of extremism and violence that is driving so many families to flee their homes. Today, only 1 percent of foreign assistance worldwide is targeted towards peace-building, conflict prevention and conflict resolution. Beyond aggressively reinvigorating diplomatic efforts to end conflict, the world's leaders must break the cycle of chronic violence that is driving this historic migration by adequately funding conflict-mitigation and peace-building programs that prevent conflict between communities. Ending violent extremism will not happen through silver bullets or carpet bombing. Proposed fast fixes are fantasy and dangerously naive. We have to admit past failures, refocus on resolving conflicts, promote reconciliation and build good governance. Only then will we stem the tide of violent extremism and end the steady stream of terrorist attacks around the world. Earlier on WorldPost: "Solidarity in times of distrust" was the main theme of the 16th Polish Sociological Congress, which took place in Gdansk last week. It was great "food for thought" on the condition of not only Polish society, but also the whole European Union and globalized world. Social divisions, populism, lack of serious debate, and fears instead of knowledge are challenges we are facing today in almost every corner of the world. "Not in my backyard" session. The results of the survey presented during the congress are really worrisome. 80% of Poles consider our society fractured, divided. The survey found out that many people are not afraid of diminishing civil liberties. This is a dangerous process we can, unfortunately, see currently in Poland, where the constitutional court is stripped of its prerogatives and authority by Peace & Justice ruling party. Such a result is an important warning for every responsible politician, interested in the development of the country, its people and civil liberties, instead of power for power's sake. Fractured societyWe should seek a better way of reaching citizens, engaging them and explaining why democracy is crucial for our well-being. And it is not an easy task. During "The fractured society" plenary session, researchers discussed social communication becoming too binary. In the time of real-time communication on Twitter and Facebook there is no place for sincere discussing complex issues. A message has to be extremely short and controversial to draw attention. As one of participants noticed, pro-authoritarian politicians tend to get much more followers in social media than pro-democratic ones, because their message is binary: this is good and that is bad. Advertisement On the other hand, the democratic side is also not without its faults. Too often supporters of the civil society tend to communicate in too exclusive way. They are not able to explain their values to wider audience; sometimes they may sound like excluding social groups on the other side of political spectrum - these less educated or afraid of globalization. Definitely there is much work to be done. The last plenary session, "Not in my backyard", attracted so many guests they filled the whole audience in the Gdansk Shakespeare Theater. Participants tried to compare Polish and European experiences. We heard what Poles don't like to hear: that our experience is not so unique. Social divisions, populism and a fear of Stranger are common trends throughout Europe. The reaction to the rapidly changing world is also typical. People tend to escape into familiar, safe places, like the above mentioned backyard. We don't want to go outside but we also don't want others to enter our safe zone. This is a reason for vivid anti-globalism or anti-refugees movements in the world. There was one very important remark from Anna Giza of Warsaw University : we, as a society, miss "public sphere rituals". We don't know how to debate, we don't know how to engage or oppose aggression in social life, so we choose to be silent and indifferent. How dangerous it is we see every day on TV, on the internet and on the streets. The conclusion after the congress is that we need a new model of cooperation and public debate in the times of growing social tensions and rapid development of communication technologies. We, in Gdansk and the Pomeranian region, are deeply aware how important it is. I believe our experience of a city where people of very different heritages live together definitely can help. Advertisement By Meghan O'Dea This post originally appeared on Revelist. I remember being 10-years-old and flipping through a catalogue full of Grateful Dead memorabilia, "South Park" plushies, and Metallica t-shirts. One sticker in the catalogue read "Never trust anything that bleeds for seven days and doesn't die." What could bleed for seven days and not die? I imagined magical beasts -- unicorns, rare salamanders, bewitched deer -- that might answer the riddle. I finally solved it four years later when I got my first period. My period came slowly at first -- but after the first year, the pain from my period forced me to take days off from school. I used to lay in the bathroom floor and cry so long I'd run out of tears. The cramps felt like rats were trying to gnaw their way out of my womb. I couldn't believe I'd actually looked forward to this. Advertisement I remember laying in bed at 28, staring at my bathroom door, and thinking about the medicine cabinet behind it. I tried to calculate the amount of aspirin and Xanax I'd need to take to be sure I'd never wake up. The wave of depression surprised me -- it rose like a dust storm and settled over everything. Life wasn't ideal, but it wasn't bad enough to warrant these ideations. The clinical depression I'd been diagnosed with in high school lasted longer than this, but I also knew the depression is often situational in nature and tied to events in my life that are hard to cope with. These spells had a different rhythm. I suspected they had some connection to my menstrual cycle, so I began tracking the onset and retreat of depression. After two months, my doctor confirmed that PMS went beyond the usual bloating and irritability for me -- it explained my week-long stretches of depression and thoughts of suicide. She diagnosed me with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a clinical-grade PMS that affects between 3% and 8% of menstruating women, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Advertisement PMDD's symptoms include depression and anxiety, severe mood swings, or even suicidal ideation, as well as other intense physical symptoms. Sometimes PMDD is treated with anti-depression medications, calcium supplements, or the pill. I treated mine with a hormone-emitting IUD whose progesterone helps to keep my hormones balanced throughout the month. At first, I struggled with my diagnosis. It seemed to confirm every misogynistic joke I'd ever heard about women on their periods. When it comes to periods, learning about blood, pain, and endurance and the way the world sees women has often gone hand-in-hand. There's an episode of "Roseanne" I recall from when I was a little girl where Dan Connor is torn between enjoying his birthday and dodging his wife's pre-menstrual mood swings. As political science scholar Lauren Rosewarne pointed out in "Periods in Pop Culture: Menstruation in Film and Television," in an episode of "Everybody Hates Raymond," Ray Romano asked his wife if she's on her period because she is more emotional than usual, craves pizza, and wants to watch a movie with her husband. This misogynistic attitude appears in politics as well. In 2008, Bill O'Reilly asked a guest what the downsides of a female president could be. "You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?" his guest responded. In 2012, female representatives in Michigan were banned from using the word "vagina" on the House floor. Advertisement Last year, presidential candidate Donald Trump attempted to discredit Fox News host Megyn Kelly by accusing her of being emotionally-unstable because of her period. "She starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions," Trump said, "and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her ... wherever." Lauren Rosewarne noted that "by attributing women's undesirable emotions to menstruation, the woman gets undermined based on her biology. By associating irrational, out of control, out of proportion feelings with femininity, we can infer that her 'bad' behavior is attributable to her biology and thus is...permanent, and enduringly problematic." At best we have Roseanne and Romano's suggestion that female characters who are PMSing have alter egos that rear their ugly heads once a month. At worst, we get comments like Trump's that suggest women on their periods can't effectively do their jobs. It's a no-win scenario. Of course, I wasn't worried about my period disqualifying me from running the free world. However, my PMDD dredged up uncomfortable questions based on these stereotypes. Did having PMDD mean that my period really does make me a crazy bitch? I kept thinking back to Galen's theory of the wandering womb. For centuries, uteri were thought to move freely within the female body, strangling other organs and causing a variety of ailments. Advertisement I thought of all the women institutionalized for hysteria, a vague condition which physicians used for hundreds of years to police women's emotions and sexual desires. The person I should trust the least is myself if we're not supposed to trust anything that bleeds for seven days and doesn't die. Grappling with PMDD filled me with self-doubt and fragility, which I hadn't dealt with since I'd ended an abusive relationship in my early twenties. I'd dated a man who liked initiating coercive sex, making troll-ish sandwich jokes, and gaslighting me at every turn. It took five years for me to finally admit that he'd sexually assaulted me the last time we saw each other. I realized that I'd been a textbook example of how rape victims cope with and minimize their experiences. To top it all off, I'd been diagnosed with PMDD while working toward that truth. Slowly rejecting the minimizing narratives I'd built up around the assault help me learn to trust myself. Seeing through the cloud of physical and emotional pain that comes with PMDD gave me the confidence to seek treatment, name my experiences, and own them. I slowly began to trust that my perception, memories, and feelings are valid, even when I'm depressed or anxious or traumatized. My doctor recommended getting an IUD to curtail those awful monthly plunges into depression. It has done its job: Most months I don't have a period, so I've stopped feeling the symptoms of PMDD. Instead of feeling isolated by depression, physical pain, a heavy flow, and past trauma, I began to think of my body again in terms of what it could accomplish, rather than how I might escape it, the ways it might inconvenience or hurts me, or how it might be harmed by others. Advertisement The IUD has given me a new sense of control over my body. A few months after I had the IUD implanted, I gave a Pecha Kucha talk in my hometown on the sexist myth of the crazy ex-girlfriend. I explained how this "crazy bitch" rhetoric is counterproductive to both feminism and mental health advocacy. I ended my talk by reclaiming and reframing the conversation. "Bitches aren't crazy," I told the crowd, "bitches are awesome." After the talk, I saw a flyer for the event with "bitches are awesome!" written on it and a smiley face. Not only had my words resonated with someone else in the crowd, but that person wanted to make them tangible, to keep that message out there even after the event ended. I felt less alone, and someone else did too. We'd started a conversation that night, instead of keeping quiet about something we've been told since childhood should be private. "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein The first time I went to La Conner, WA on a four day intensive with Linda Pransky, I had an insight that hit me like a ton of bricks. When I arrived, I believed the way for me to have a deeper experience and connection with my true Self was to fix every belief in my thought system that was distorted. I thought the path to God was to get rid of all my human frailties by eradicating misunderstandings in my consciousness. I knew that insecurity came from my distorted thoughts. Therefore, I believed I needed to not have insecure thinking. When I became successful in eradicating my misunderstandings and limited thinking, I thought I would finally experience my true nature. I wanted that. I yearned for that. However, what I understood after the intensive was trying to get rid of, and clean up, all of the misunderstandings in my thinking was a fool's errand. It was an impossible task that would never end, and the never-ending quality of it was making me miserable. Advertisement I recognized I could stop trying to fix myself and be okay with my imperfections and human frailty. This felt like such a relief! I felt so much better from simply not focusing on and trying to change the distortions in my thinking. I immediately experienced more peace and equanimity when I wasn't thinking about myself and was less self-absorbed. This left me with the question, "How do I have more of the experience of peace and equanimity?" I could see when I identified less with my negative thinking, I felt better. What I didn't realize was, I had simply switched my allegiance. Rather than identifying with my negative thinking, I was now stuck on my positive thinking. I was creating pressure for myself by trying to maintain positive thoughts. I thought I was looking in the direction of not identifying with my thoughts, but really I was still glued to them. I kept myself stuck by looking for the answer to the question of, "How do I get outside of the limitations of my thought system?" This, of course, was simply another fool's errand. I was basically asking myself, "How do I think my way out of my thought system?" This is an oxymoron if ever I heard one, and left me feeling like quite the moron when I saw it. What I see now after attending the latest Pransky and Associates Professional Training is that the human experience is to go in and out of our thought system. That is a dance that is part of the natural design. As Teilhard de Chardin says, "We are spiritual beings having a human experience." From this, I understand it is normal, innate, and effortless to dance between our form and formless nature. The challenge, however, is that my ego wants to know the formless, to experience it, and it can't. Advertisement The very nature of being outside of my thought system means that I can't be aware of it. As soon as I have awareness, I am back in the world of form. To intellectually know my true Self - my formless nature - is impossible, and that is what I have been trying to do! I have been expending energy, yet again, in the direction of the impossible. It felt subtler this time, but was exhausting nonetheless. I have been thinking that my peak experiences of bliss, peace, and equanimity are me knowing my formless nature -- the truth of who I AM, and I have been seeking more of that. However, they are simply experiences in the world of form made up from the same stuff of all of my experiences including despair and distress. They result from thought! I may have a preference for one experience over another, but they are all the effect of my thinking. I might like the flavor of strawberry water over lemon water, but the medium for the flavor is still water. I may prefer the experience of bliss to the experience of sadness, but the medium of delivery is the same - thought. My experiences are all the result of thought, and thought is part the world of form. Thought is an expression of the formless energy coming into form. Understanding this is freeing. I can see that I don't need to chase after or resist any experience when they all come from the same thing. I can't do anything to know my formless nature because it is formless so I can stop trying. However, just because it is impossible to know my Authentic Self intellectually, doesn't mean it is not there. The dance between formless and form is innate even if I can only see the form. I cannot think myself into the dance, nor can I think myself out of the dance. It is beyond my personal thinking. It is beyond me, knowing that is what allows me to let go. Advertisement I don't need to fix my self, my experience, or my thinking. My thought system with all its misunderstandings is self-healing. I get the insights I need from the formless intelligence behind life. Fresh thought that allows me to see more clearly arrives when it does. I don't control it, nor do I need to. The intelligence that knows how to grow a baby, how to heal a cut, and how to grow an acorn into an oak tree, is the same formless essence that provides me with wisdom. As young people, we have all kinds of dreams and visions for our futures. We want to summit Mount Rainier, paraglide off of a cliff in the Austrian Alps, rumble a Harley down Route 66, or save whales in the Southern Ocean. We dream big! And we naively think we will fulfill those dreams. But then, we get out of college, start a career, get married, have kids... and before we know it, we're cruising at a respectable speed in our Life Lane. Eventually, we find that we've been traveling at the same old steady pace for years. We've become comfortable--unconscious to the opportunities to change lanes when they show up. Heck, we're not even looking for them anymore! We've slid into the passenger seat of life and are sitting back, taking in the view. Or if by chance we do happen to notice an opening to get over, we may not have the courage to act on it--maybe we think we're too old, or maybe we simply don't remember what it's like to experience the thrill of living life with abandon. Advertisement I'm not saying our families don't bring us joy, or that we should shirk our responsibilities to them. My children and my work have been two of the most rewarding parts of my life. However, there will come a time when opportunities will present themselves--when the kids are grown, when we've earned a boat load of vacation days at our jobs (or better yet, we've retired!), or even when a long-term partnership comes to an end. I was like this--cruising along in my comfortable lane of life, happily married, two great kids, successful career, when the wheels suddenly fell off of my car and I crashed head-on into divorce and its difficult aftermath. While it took years for me to recover from my injuries, the good news is that I learned some incredibly valuable lessons along the way. Find your courage. At our age, we are very aware that life is short. With that awareness, shouldn't we be doing everything in our power to make our lives the best they can be? Begin by prioritizing your bucket list. Start at the top and take a shot at checking off as many as possible. If courage is a problem, take a friend along to copilot the ride. Plus it will probably be more fun that way! Whatever it is that's stopping us from realizing our youthful imaginings, we can indeed overcome it. It's not as if that hurdle is a matter of life or death. And since it's not, what are we waiting for? There's a wonderful quote by Joseph Campbell that says, "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." Be brave. Enter the cave and you'll find its reward. Be attentive to opportunities. Our lives are filled with chances of every sort on any given day. We simply have to be mindful of them. I was never more aware of this than when I spent time volunteering in a third world country. What I realized was that we have a ridiculous amount of opportunities to do, be, and have all that we want here in the United States--the possibilities are endless. Whether it's as simple as going to a movie or as lofty as becoming a business owner, it's ours for the taking. Advertisement But riding in our comfortable Life Lane, it's easy to lose sight of the opportunities. While most of the world struggles just to find clean water, we are blind to the options that present themselves to us on a daily basis. So we can either volunteer to help those fighting to survive, or, at the very least, take advantage of the freedoms we're blessed to have. Why wouldn't we? Find your "windows." We have certain windows in life. There's the lovely window that occurs between the unencumbered feeling of falling in love and the pressures of parenthood. There's the window that appears when you share friendship, nights on the town, and travel with your adult children--before the grandkids come along and you're the one left at home to babysit. And then there's the window that I'm talking about now--the one between retirement and, gasp, seriously old age! You feel it? I know I do! You can always switch lanes. When a window is open, we need to act! We must put our signal on and get the heck out of our Life Lane! Hell, run a red light if you have to! Do not wait! Who knows when the wheels might come off again? Hacking for Defense is a battle-tested problem-solving methodology that runs at Silicon Valley speed. We just held our first Hacking for Defense Educators Class with 75 attendees. The results: 13 Universities will offer the course in the next year, government sponsors committed to keep sending hard problems to the course, the Department of Defense is expanding their use of H4D to include a classified version, and corporate partners are expanding their efforts to support the course and to create their own internal H4D courses. It was a good three days. --------- Another Tool for Defense Innovation Last week we held our first 3-day . Our goal in this class was to: Train other educators on how to teach the class at their schools. Teach Department of Defense /Intelligence Community sponsors how to deliver problems to these schools and how to get the most out of student teams. Create a national network of colleges and universities that use the Hacking for Defense Course to provide hundreds of solutions to critical national security problems every year. What our sponsors have recognized is that Hacking for Defense is a new tool in the country's Defense Innovation toolkit. In 1957 after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite the U.S. felt that it was the victim of a strategic technological surprise. DARPA was founded in 1958 to ensure that from then on the United States would be the initiator of technological surprises. It does so by funding research that promises the Department of Defense transformational change instead of incremental advances. By the end of the 20th century the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) realized that it was no longer the technology leader it had been when it developed the U-2, SR-71, and CORONA reconnaissance programs in the 1950's and 1960's. Its systems were struggling to manage the rapidly increasing torrent of information being collected. They realized that commercial applications of technology were often more advanced than those used internally. The CIA set up In-Q-Tel to be the venture capital arm of the intelligence community to speed the insertion of technologies. In-Q-Tel invests in startups developing technologies that provide ready-soon innovation (within 36 months) vital to the IC mission. More than 70 percent of the In-Q-Tel portfolio companies have never before done business with the government. In the 21st century the DOD/IC community have realized that adversaries are moving at a speed that our traditional acquisition systems could not keep up with. Hacking for Defense combines the rapid problem sourcing and curation methodology developed on the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq by Colonel Pete Newell and the US Army's Rapid Equipping Force with the Lean Startup practices that I pioneered in Silicon Valley and which are now the mainstay of the National Science Foundations' I-Corps program. Hacking for Defense is a problem-solving methodology that offers the DOD/IC community a collaborative approach to innovation that provides ready-now innovation (within 12-36 months). Advertisement Train the Trainers Pete Newell, Joe Felter and I learned a lot developing the Hacking for Defense class, more as we taught it, and even more as we worked with the problem sponsors in the DOD/Intel community. Since one of our goals is to make this class available nationally, now it was time to pass on what we had learned and to train other educators how to teach the class and sponsors how to craft problems that student teams could work on. (If you want a great overview of the Hacking for Defense class, stop and read this article from War on The Rocks. Seriously.) When we developed our Hacking for Defense class, we created a ton of course materials (syllabus, slides, videos). In addition, for the Educator Class we captured all we knew about setting up and teaching the class and wrote a 290-page educator's guide with suggested best practices, sample lesson plans, and detailed lecture scripts and slides for each class session. We developed a separate sponsor guide with ideas about how to get the most out of the student teams and the university. The Educator Class: What We Learned One of the surprises for me was seeing the value of having the Department of Defense and other government agency sponsors working together with the university educators. (One bit of learning was that the sponsors portion of the workshop could have been a day shorter.) Advertisement Two other things we learned has us modifying the pedagogy of the class. First, our mantra to the students has been to learn about "Deployment not Demos." That meant we were asking the students to understand all parts of the mission model canvas, not just the beneficiaries and the value proposition. We wanted them to learn what it takes to get their product/service deployed to the field, not just have another demo to a general. This meant that the minimal viable products the students built were focused on maximizing their learning of what to build, not just building prototypes. While that worked great for the students, we learned from our sponsors that for some them getting to deployment actually required demos as part of the means to reach this end. They wanted the students to start delivering MVPs early and often and use the sponsor feedback to accelerate their learning. This conversation made us realize that we had skewed the class to maximize student learning without really appreciating what specific deliverables would make the sponsors feel that the time they've invested in the class was worthwhile. So for our next round of classes we will: require sponsors to specifically define what success from their student team would look like have students in the first week of class present what sponsors say success looks like still encourage MVPs that maximize student learning, but also recognize that for some sponsors, learning could be accelerated with earlier functional MVPs Our second insight that has changed the pedagogy also came from our sponsors. As most of our students have no military experience, we teach a 3-hour introduction to the DOD and Intel Community workshop. While that provides a 30,000-foot overview, it doesn't describe any detail about the teams' specific sponsoring organization (NSA, ARCYBER, 7th Fleet, etc.). (By the end of the quarter every team figures out how their sponsor ecosystem works.) The sponsors suggested that they offer a workshop early in the class and brief their student team on their organizations, budget, issues, etc. We thought this was a great idea as this will greatly accelerate how teams target their customer discovery. When we update the sponsor guide, we will suggest this to all sponsors. Another surprise was how applicable the "Hacking for..." methodology is for other problems. Working with the State Department we are offering a Hacking for Diplomacy class at Stanford starting later this month. And we now have lots of interest from organizations that have realized that this problem-solving methodology is equally applicable to solving public safety, policy, community and social issues internationally and within our own communities. We'll soon launch a series of new modules to address these deserving communities. Advertisement Lessons Learned Hacking for Defense = problem-solving methodology for innovation insurgents inside the DOD/Intel Community The program will scale to 13+ universities in 2017 There is demand to apply the problem-solving methodology to a range of public sector organizations where success is measured by impact and mission achievement versus revenue and profit. By Darian Woods and Dr Sudhvir Singh Microorganisms are becoming increasingly untroubled by the drugs we depend on to treat infections, like antibiotics. The threat posed by antimicrobial resistance is expected to cause more deaths than cancer by mid-century, prompting a meeting of world leaders at the UN on Wednesday. A critical part of our fight against antimicrobial resistance is fixing what we eat. Micro-organisms are breeding faster than we can invent new antimicrobials. The facts are frightening. E. coli breeds a new generation every 23 minutes yet we haven't developed a new class of antibiotic for microbes like E. coli in 40 years. Harvard Medical School illustrated this by demonstrating how a 2x4 feet petri dish can quickly be overwhelmed by resistant new strains of the disease. The antimicrobial development pipeline is dry, and the food industry -- the single largest consumer of antimicrobials -- must bear responsibility for preserving the effectiveness of these life-saving drugs. Antimicrobial-resistant diseases pose grave threats to world health -- a big problem now but even bigger for the next generation. An estimated 700,000 people died of resistant diseases last year. A report commissioned by the UK Government predicts this will grow to 10 million by 2050 if nothing is done. Advertisement Our food is part of the solution. The more that antimicrobials are used as animal growth promoters and for preventative reasons, the less that antimicrobials can be preserved for curing disease in humans and animals. In the United States, over two-thirds of antibiotics are used in pigs, chicken, cattle and other livestock. Over 700 million pigs are slaughtered a year in China, most raised in farms routinely treated with the same antibiotics we tell doctors to prescribe judiciously to patients. The EAT Foundation brings together scientists, politicians and business leaders to catalyze and implement solutions to feed the world sustainably. In June 2016 EAT hosted expert veterinarians, microbiologists, politicians and representatives from the food industry at a forum in Stockholm. The evidence was clear: antimicrobials are overused in agriculture, and this is worsening antimicrobial resistance, threatening human health. Antimicrobial overuse in one country leads to more resistant diseases that cross borders. May's grim discovery of E. coli resistant to the last-resort antibiotic colistin in the United States illustrates this. The good news is that we know what works. While 100% antibiotic-free is not the goal -- proper infection control will require some antibiotics to treat sick animals -- the EAT Stockholm Food Forum showcased how several countries have phased out unnecessary antibiotic use whilst increasing food production. Pooling funds to develop fish vaccines effectively eliminated the need for most antibiotics in Norwegian salmon farming. Allowing only veterinarians to prescribe antimicrobials for animals was one of the measures that allowed Denmark to dramatically reduce its antimicrobial use whilst growing its pork industry. Establishing strong targets allowed the Netherlands to make a 56% reduction in antimicrobial use in animals over six years. Antimicrobials are now only sparingly used for producing food in these countries. Yet many countries remain slow to adopt the bold policy changes needed to halt the spread of these diseases, hence the opportunity at this week's Heads of Government meeting at the UN. Advertisement What comes out of the UN will be important. The international community needs to loudly declare that the science is strong enough for action on farms. The draft declaration states that animal health is an intrinsic part of the problem and solution. In its words, antimicrobial resistance is "mainly due to inappropriate use of antimicrobial medicines in human, animal, food, agriculture and aquaculture sectors." And the problem is of serious global, non-partisan concern: "Many 20th century achievements are being gravely challenged." The UN's draft declaration, by supporting the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, also tacitly supports phasing out the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters in meat, a risky practice that can offer very small production gains in lieu of better conditions on farms. The European Union implemented this necessary ban in 2006. The UN's declaration won't go as far as Nordic countries have -- for instance, limiting the number of days an antibiotic can be prescribed -- but we need to head in that direction. You can make a difference too. Have you thought about how antibiotics are used in your food? Choosing to buy groceries that don't come out of antibiotic-heavy factory farms sends a message that you don't want to be a part of compromising our children's health. But without consistent labelling, how can you make the right choice? In response to consumer pressure, some food companies have been vocal about reducing their over-reliance on antimicrobials. On August 1 McDonald's announced that it had phased out the routine use of medically important antimicrobials in chicken sourced for its American restaurants, a year earlier than planned. Chain Reaction is a report on fast food restaurant's antimicrobial practices. Choosing food that states "raised without antibiotics" is a start. Intensive farms tend to use more antimicrobials: opt for grass-fed or free range meat or eggs instead. Another choice is to reduce or cut out meat altogether. As world leaders discuss the urgent challenge of antimicrobial resistance at the UN, consumers can act now. Governments and the food industry are listening: use your food choices to tell them to keep antibiotics effective. Advertisement Darian Woods graduated in 2016 with a Master of Public Policy from University of California, Berkeley. His thesis, commissioned by the EAT Foundation, investigates how the agricultural industry contributes to antimicrobial resistance and what can be done about it. Dr Sudhvir Singh has a background in Internal Medicine and is the Policy Director of the EAT Foundation. Thanks to Dr Anthony So (Director, ReAct - Action on Antibiotics) for helpful comments in drafting this article. By Natalie Gonnella-Platts and Vivian Onano At the age of 19 she became a mother. At 24, she worked as a listings assistant at the Namibian Stock Exchange to help fund her legal studies. She is a founding shareholder and Managing Director of Namibia's first and largest private equity fund, and has served as a member of the former Namibian President's Economic Advisory Council. Among a lengthy list of accolades over her 15 years in business, she is cited as the youngest laureate of the Namibian Business Hall of Fame. Lawyer, businesswomen, parent, innovator, Her Excellency Monica Geingos bears a diverse mix of titles, including First Lady of the Republic of Namibia. She credits her own success to the encouragement and guidance she received in her youth and an enduring tenacity to pursue her aspirations, despite challenges. Advertisement Understanding that similar support and self-assurance is absent for many fellow Namibians, Mrs. Geingos is using both her podium and her professional experience to help forge a path out of poverty for the country's most marginalized citizens, especially women and girls. As she said recently, "For economic empowerment to be achieved, women are required to be empowered at the same pace as their male counterparts." Research shows that when women have more control over household resources they can enhance countries' growth prospects by wisely spending in ways that benefit children and their communities. Women's economic empowerment is a key force in combatting poverty and inequality, yet unequal access to banking services and financial literacy create significant barriers to entry for female entrepreneurs. In areas such as agriculture, the backbone of many rural economies, women comprise a sizable portion of the labor force, yet they often lack adequate tools, skills training, and access to credit. Education and healthcare are game changers. Education helps reduce poverty, child marriage, maternal and child mortality, and inequality, yet 62 million girls worldwide are not in school. And while there have been significant gains in maternal and child health over the course of the last decade, approximately 830 women die every day due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, in addition to a myriad of health concerns that disproportionality impact women and girls, such as HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. For countries to achieve prosperity, every citizen must have equal opportunities to maximize their potential. Holistic investment in the education, health, and economic advancement of women and girls is a prerequisite for success. Advertisement When it comes to advancing these goals, women's leadership matters. And first ladies like Mrs. Geingos are a critical force in advancing the status of women and girls worldwide. With a unique platform to influence action to improve lives, current and former first ladies continue to steward advocacy and interventions in response to some of the world's most pressing challenges. In the United Kingdom, Mrs. Cherie Blair is empowering women entrepreneurs globally through mentorship and capacity building programming in collaboration with private and public sector partners. U.S. First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama is using her platform to advocate on behalf of the 62 million girls worldwide without access to quality education. Former U.S. First Lady Mrs. Laura Bush has been committed to empowering women leaders and promoting access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity both during her time in the White House and through the Women's Initiative programming at the George W. Bush Institute. First Lady of Afghanistan, Mrs. Rula Ghani, has championed for the rights and well-being of women and girls and strengthening rule of law in her country. The list goes on and on and on. When women are educated, their children are more likely to be educated. When women have access to quality healthcare, their families are healthier. When women have equal entry to the economy, their communities are more prosperous. And when we work together to advance gender empowerment, there exists limitless potential for sustainable and effective change. Advertisement On September 20, at the fifth annual Concordia Summit, we look forward to highlighting the invaluable role of women's leadership and partnership to improve lives alongside change makers like Mrs. Geingos and Mrs. Blair. From first ladies to youth activists to corporate executives, everyone has a role to play in ensuring a prosperous future for all. As the First Lady of Namibia noted in a speech on women's leadership last October, "empowering women...empowers society. The...benefits for gender equality are as moral as they are economic." Natalie Gonnella-Platts is the Deputy Director of the George W. Bush Institute's Women's Initiative. Vivian Onano is a WaterAid America Youth Ambassador and the Partnerships Manager at Seed Project. All book lovers wait in trepidation when their favorite novel has been adapted for the big screen. I hate to say this, but it's almost better to see the film first; that way you're not disappointed when the character you had visualized is portrayed by someone who's the exact opposite of the author's description. It seems that the film adaptations consistently cut out the best line or scene. What J.K. Rowling fan can forget when Hermione in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" kept the Rita Skeeter hostage in her animagus form for the summer. I think it's safe to say that we were all waiting for that scene, but it never happened--so lame! But then there have been some screen adaptations that have risen the characters from their pages and brought life to the story once more. Emma Thompson did it with Jane Austen's "Sense & Sensibility." We could feel Eleanor's heartache when Mr. Farris left without proposing an engagement. We could feel Marianne's verve for life. Advertisement As the title alludes to, here are three film adaptations of award-winning novels that forever changed our perception of the story. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee Harper Lee's seminal novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," is an American classic. Iconic in status and a monolith in storytelling, Lee's novel tells the story of a Southern family in 1930s Alabama where race, poverty and prejudice take center stage in a case of a black man accused of raping a white woman, but nothing is what it seems. A story of truth, integrity, humor and love, Lee's 1960 novel introduced us to Scout Finch, a boisterous young girl whose father Atticus became America's father. Adapted for the big screen in 1962, the role of Atticus Finch was played by the well-renowned Gregory Peck. Harper Lee said of the film, "I have nothing but gratitude for the people who made the film. I was delighted, touched, happy, and exceedingly grateful." Those are fine words to bestow on a film by its creative author. Forever after, Peck was immortalized as the wise and good-natured Atticus Finch, a character we have all looked up to for standing up for what was right, even when it wasn't easy. The film and novel paired well together, and has taught millions of people that it is better to be good than to remain quiet. The Firm - John Grisham John Grisham books have had a mass following, but perhaps none are more famous than Grisham's "The Firm." The story follows a young lawyer named Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby after he has signed on with the law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke of Memphis. After paying off his student loans, getting him a house and leasing him a brand-new BMW, McDeere learns the firm has some dark secrets, and they can't buy his silence. Blackmailed by the firm and the FBI, McDeere has to uncover the truth at the risk of losing everything, including his life. Advertisement 1993 saw Tom Cruise as Mitch in "The Firm's" film adaptation. Directed by the critically acclaimed Sydney Pollack, the film changed a very specific scene that for some fans completely changed the character of Mitch McDeere. Instead of being a man with a horrible secret of his own, he relates to his wife his indiscretion. In the novel he is rapt with guilt, but in the film he is given a reprieve in airing the truth. Part of what made McDeere a relatable character was that he was damaged and not the All-American boy. On top of that, the ending was entirely rewritten. Instead of Mitch and his wife stealing millions of dollars from a client to sail into the sunset, they were taken into the witness-protection program. Mitch McDeere was no longer a young hot-shot lawyer too confident for his own good, he was a man hell-bent on protecting his loved ones. The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris Originally published in 1981, Thomas Harris' third novel, "The Silence of the Lambs," didn't grace the silver screen until 1991, a decade later. The novel is third in a trilogy that focuses on the FBI's search for serial killers. "The Silence of the Lambs" is about an FBI trainee named Clarice Starling who is trying to find the serial killer dubbed Buffalo Bill, a man who kidnaps and kills women for their skin. Clarice interviews notorious Hannibal Lecter inside the Baltimore State Hospital in the hopes that he will help her capture Buffalo Bill. Lecter, a murdering cannibal who was once a prominent psychiatrist, knows how to twist and manipulate the unsuspecting, and even Clarice must fight to keep herself from being pulled into his web. Starring Jodie Foster and Clarice Starling and Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, the film adaptation fleshes out the characters and brings them from our dark imaginings to life. Anthony Hopkins is Hannibal Lecter, and we are taken into a world of evil, decrepitude and sadism. Advertisement NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 18: A member of the New York City Police Department stands guard in Herald Square, September 18, 2016 in New York City. Following Saturday night's explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised a 'substantial' police presence throughout the week. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also said an additional 1,000 New York State and National Guard troops will patrol transit stations and airports as a precaution. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Let's start with the basics. In an era when the U.S. seemed to have no great power rivals on the horizon, its national security state was expanded to monstrous proportions and given the "right" to commit acts ranging from kidnapping to torture, surveillance of its citizenry to assassination, based on the horrific events of a single day and on a single danger: the slaughter of September 11th and the threat of terrorism. In those years, before Donald Trump even began stirring the pot, Americans were already consumed by fears of a danger that, in the United States at least, couldn't have been more minor. In the process, we essentially terrorized ourselves into a new world. If you want to worry about real dangers in American life, start with vehicles, not terrorists. If you're smart, in fact, don't give another thought to Islamic terrorism and stay off the roads. In 2015, the U.S. saw the largest percentage rise in death-by-vehicle in the last half-century: more than 38,000 people slaughtered and 4.4 million injured. And in the first half of 2016, those figures rose by another 9% with no end to the carnage in sight. Unlike our war on terror (and the seven conflicts that now go with it), no one's likely to spend trillions of dollars dealing with such deaths, even though they add up to more than 12 times those of 9/11 annually; nor, on a more minor scale, with the deaths of Americans who simply fall out of their beds, are hit by lawnmowers, or are gunned down by toddlers. In most recent years, each of these dangers has equaled or exceeded deaths in the U.S. from Islamic terrorists (or the disturbed individuals who often masquerade as them). And yet, in case you haven't noticed, no one is investing in a national security state apparatus to prevent them, nor is the country convulsed with worry about killer lawnmowers or armed toddlers, even as fears of being taken out by Islamic terrorists continue to grow (especially among Republicans). Advertisement By now, a way of life built and funded on this singular fear has -- thank you, Osama bin Laden -- transformed our national security state into an unofficial fourth branch of government. Add in one other development: a new media landscape has also been built on such relatively rare moments of terror in our world. In this year of the never-ending Trumpian news cycle, just about the only thing guaranteed to break into it and monopolize our onscreen attention is the sudden slaughter of people by someone claiming allegiance to, or inspiration from, ISIS. You can practically chant the names of the places where this has occurred: San Bernardino, Orlando, Paris, Brussels, Nice -- or rather, where this has occurred to people we identify with. (Few are likely to be chanting Kabul, Aden, Baghdad, Iskandariya, or Istanbul, among other places.) Such events, if they happen to the right people, can monopolize screen time for days, if not weeks, at a stretch, creating a sense of danger out of all proportion to the actual threat level in our lives. Fifteen years after 9/11, this is our American way of life. With Russia and China now being elevated to, or toward, enemy status in Washington, and terror groups still spreading across the Greater Middle East, you can expect the same sorts of demobilizing fears to continue to rise in the years to come. This should be, but generally isn't, an embarrassment to Americans, which is why I have particular sympathy (or perhaps I mean empathy) for former State Department whistleblower Peter Van Buren's urge to tell his child how sorry he is for the world he's turning over to her in "It's Personal, Apologizing to My Daughter for the Last 15 Years of War." Today, The White House Council on Women and Girls, the U.S. Department of Education, the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, and The National Crittenton Foundation are jointly hosting a conference titled Trauma-Informed Approaches in School: Supporting Girls of Color and Rethinking Discipline. All children deserve to go to schools that support them and allow them to thrive and live up to their potential. School discipline policies, when used appropriately, can help ensure that classrooms are safe and productive places to learn. However, far too many schools have harsh discipline policies that disproportionally punish students of color. Our data show that black boys are most likely to be suspended or expelled than all other children, and that black girls, as a group, are suspended or expelled more frequently than are girls of any other race and also more often than white boys. This is a tragedy -- not just because it's unfair, but because the disparate treatment of students of color can negatively affect the rest of their lives. We know, for instance, that when girls are suspended, the odds of them having an unplanned pregnancy, dropping out of school, or being caught in the juvenile justice system increase markedly. Advertisement Tools exist to help schools create a supportive climate, including policy guidance and resources to help educators and school leaders transition to new practices that foster success for all students and create conditions that improve the likelihood that students will stay engaged and in school. Many schools are rethinking their discipline policies. Girls, particularly girls of color, have made academic progress in recent years. But, they continue to face educational barriers. One of those barriers is the unhealed trauma of abuse, neglect, family dysfunction, homelessness, experiences as immigrants, or the absence of a loved one due to incarceration, or death. The unhealed trauma contributes to classroom struggles but often go unnoticed. In fact, we know that each fall some children return to school suffering the effects of toxic stress from events such as neighborhood violence, hunger or severe weather. If these issues are not understood and addressed, toxic stress can eat away at students' ability to concentrate on academics. It affects their short-term and even long-term health, and may limit their life chances in other ways. As Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has said, we need to recognize the magnitude of the problem and fashion our response into a movement - aiming for the same track record of success that we've achieved for other public health crises in this country. Part of our work is to realize that, when faced with student behavior that stems from traumatic experiences -- and sometimes, even the experiences themselves, such as sex trafficking -- society's response has too often been the criminalization of students. This is particularly true for girls of color. But we also know that with appropriate supports and intervention, all students -- including young women of color -- can overcome childhood trauma and succeed. Advertisement Unfortunately right now, experts estimate that nationwide, only 100 to 200 schools use trauma-informed approaches. Even fewer have begun to intentionally address race and gender as part of their efforts. With your help, America can do better. We all share a commitment to promoting policies and practices that support the needs and potential of underserved populations, including marginalized girls, young women, and their families. Today's convening will help participants focus on addressing one such barrier: improving school systems' approach to serving girls of color who have experienced trauma. We will bring together educational teams from 15 states and 23 districts, as well as key researchers and experts in this topic, and nonprofit partners who have demonstrated a strong commitment to improving supports and outcomes for this vulnerable population. Additionally, one of the traumas that should be considered when addressing supportive school discipline, is the issue of sexual misconduct. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 8 percent, or an estimated 10 million girls, experienced rape or attempted rape during their youth. In addition, nearly half of bisexual women (46.1 percent) have been raped in their lifetime -- and almost half of those women (48.2 percent) were first raped between the ages of 11 and 17 years. These alarming statistics indicate to us how important it is for educators to have the tools they need to respond appropriately when various forms of sexual misconduct occur in our K-12 schools. So today, we are extremely proud to announce the results of our collaborative efforts to address this issue. We are releasing an interactive, online toolkit for teachers, administrators, and others called, Safe Place to Learn: Prevent, Intercede, and Respond to Sexual Harassment of K-12 Students. In developing this toolkit, we consulted with experts in the education and sexual assault fields, and their feedback is reflected throughout. We heard loud and clear from them that prevention needs to start early if we want to eliminate sexual assault among college-age students and beyond. This toolkit contains guidance, e-learning training modules, and resources to support current and ongoing conversations and efforts to prevent bullying, sexual harassment and violence, and provide safe, supportive learning environments for all students. Advertisement In conjunction with the Toolkit, today the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault will release a companion document called Considerations for School District Sexual Misconduct Policies. The Task Force hopes that this new tool will be particularly helpful for K-12 districts to consider when drafting sexual misconduct policies as part of their overall response to sexual misconduct. It focuses on reporting options, support services for victims, definitions, confidentiality, and the grievance process and links to valuable resources. We hope school districts continue to work together long after this convening to share best practices about school discipline, trauma-informed education, and safe school climates, to ensure that all our students are able to thrive in school and finish their educations. Donald Trump's campaign has been short on specifics, but that changed earlier this month when he gave a speech that provided some examples of what his proposed defense buildup would entail. Before we look at the costs of the Trump buildup, it's worth considering whether we need a buildup at all. As my colleague Stephen Miles of Win Without War and I pointed out in a recent piece, the Obama administration has spent more on the military than George Bush did, and current levels exceed the peak years of the Reagan administration. This is a massive amount of funding, by any measure. Spent wisely, it is more than enough to provide a robust defense for the United States and its allies. As for Mr. Trump, although he asserted that he was opposed to "toppling regimes" and that his administration would "stress diplomacy, not destruction," he still called for increasing spending on virtually every aspect of the U.S. military. He called for increasing the Navy from its current goal of 308 ships to 350; adding 60,000 troops to the Army; increasing the Marines by over one-third, from 23 to 36 battalions; buying scores of additional combat planes for the Air Force; and sharply increasing spending on missile defense, which has received hundreds of billions of dollars over the years with little to show for it. Advertisement Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies notes that it's hard to put a precise figure on the cost of the Trump plan: "Trump's defense plan does not provide enough detail to accurately estimate what he would spend on defense. For example, the cost of his proposed 350-ship Navy depends to a great extent on what kind of ships he wants to build. Aircraft carriers cost upward of $12 billion, while much smaller and less capable Littoral Combat Ships cost around $600 million." However, Harrison also notes that there is a way to get a rough idea of what the Trump plan might cost: "What we do know is that Trump has been drawing many of his defense proposals from the National Defense Panel and the Heritage Foundation. Both of these organizations have advocated for returning the defense budget to the levels proposed in the FY 2012 budget request (the so-called Gates budget). Without any other details from the Trump campaign, I think this is a good ballpark estimate for what Trump is aiming for in terms of the defense budget. The FY 2012 request is about $800-900B higher over ten years than the most recent president's budget request." Advertisement So if Trump is not going to engage in large-scale interventions akin to those in Iraq and Afghanistan, what is all of this money for? In brief, Trump's theory seems to be that if the United States spends enough on its military, other countries will be "scared straight" and behave themselves. This is magical thinking. The world doesn't work that way. Whether in Russia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, or Latin America, countries and movements will pursue their interests regardless of how much money the United States decides to throw at the Pentagon. The challenge is to create incentives for countries and factions to cooperate rather than fight. This may on occasion involve the use or threat of use of military force, but for the most part it requires smart diplomacy and a recognition of mutual interests. The Iran nuclear deal is a good example of what can be achieved through patient negotiation. As demonstrated in a compendium of analyses of the deal put together by the Ploughshares Fund on the one-year anniversary of the Iran agreement, the deal is working. It has already dramatically reduced Iran's nuclear capabilities, and it headed off the threat of war that was implicitly or explicitly supported by many opponents of the agreement. One of the secrets of the deal's success was the decision to bring a significant number of interested parties to the table, from the U.K., France, and Germany to the United States, Russia, and China. The inclusion of Russia and China, which have significant disputes with the United States and European powers on other issues, is a good example of how mutual interests on a particular issue can bring together potential adversaries to achieve concrete gains in security for all. The president and his allies must be vigorously supported in their defense of this crucial agreement against its critics in Congress. It should be noted that Mr. Trump roundly and inaccurately denounced the Iran agreement in his defense speech. In a future column I will look at the potential costs of Hillary Clinton's defense plans, based on her public statements and the proposals put forward by some of her key advisors and potential cabinet members. Like Mr. Trump, she has called for lifting the caps on Pentagon spending imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which means the trajectory of Pentagon spending in a Clinton administration is likely to go up as well, although probably not to the stratospheric levels proposed by Mr. Trump. Advertisement By Mikita Mikado About six months ago, I realized I wasn't spending enough time doing the things I love: hanging out with my kids, surfing, traveling. Life started to feel lousy. I'm a founder of a fast-growing contract management software company that more than triples its revenue each year. When founding the business, I thought, "I'm going to work 14-hour shifts for two to three years." Like many startup founders, I planned to give myself more time once I "got things off the ground." Well, three years later, things were well off the ground, and I realized I actually had less time than before. Something had to change. While we learn from our mistakes, sometimes the most efficient solution to the problem is following the footsteps of somebody who has been there, done that. I learned some of the best productivity hacks from books, blogs and friends. Below you'll find five solutions that I've found extremely helpful in increasing my productivity and happiness over the last two years. Advertisement Exercise In his book, Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina explains that our brain functions more effectively in the long-term and short-term if we exercise. Running every morning prevents me from "dying off" after lunch, giving me enough energy to work from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Take 20 minutes to do enough running to "charge" you. You can even combine running with your commute. If showering at work is a no-go, try getting a gym membership near the office. Combine Activities Another productivity hack I successfully implement in my daily routine is combining activities. There are many different tasks you can combine to save you a tremendous amount of time without distracting you from other tasks. Because reading and learning are perhaps two of the most important jobs of any CEO, I accompany every run and every long drive with an audiobook. But I don't stop there: I even listen to audiobooks while taking a lift on the ski slopes and watching my 3-year-old have fun on the playground. Advertisement Stick to Your Calendar Allocate time in your calendar ahead of time to exercise, spend time with the kids, or go out with your significant other. You don't have to be specific about what you're going to do, just set time aside for non-business related tasks. Trust me, it won't just make you more productive at work, it'll give you a more well-rounded life, and you'll be happier for it. Make Time for Silence If you find yourself rushing around doing this or that for work and can't help but notice a barrage of emails or Facebook notifications, you're just like a good portion of the business world. Some psychologists have even gone as far saying the internet might be causing a rise in ADHD. While the jury is still out on the cause of this rise, constant access to anything and everything certainly doesn't help our attention spans. Make time for silence. Turn off Facebook, email, SMS, and don't respond to incoming messages. Be a leader instead of a follower. Focus on what's more important and get it done. Narrow Down Your Focus If you're not familiar with it, read (or listen to) the book Scrum by Jeff Sutherland. While the methodology behind Scrum was created to help teams build software, I believe the main principles can apply to our everyday lives. The key is narrowing your focus down to a few items for a set period of time. At any given two weeks, I try to focus on only one or two things in my professional life and one or two things in my personal life. That's a maximum of four things you should be thinking of at any given time, which provides a fantastic relief for your brain. The functioning of the 'central computer' of our brain takes up a lot of our energy. Limiting the number of things for it to process helps tremendously in increasing our efficiency and output. CHANGES @ Warner/Chappell Music Nonesuch Madison House UMG Motown Gospel Warner Chappell Music has promoted Eric Mackay to Vice President, Digital Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Mackay joined Warner / Chappell in April 2015 as Head of Digital, Europe. has promotedtoEurope, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Mackay joinedin April 2015 as Head of Digital, Europe. MORE: Nonesuch Records has tapped industry vet Kris Chen as its new Senior Vice President. He comes to Nonesuch from Warner Music's XL Recordings, where he served as head of the companys U.S. operations for the past 11 year. Booking agency Madison House has announced expansion in two markets with the addition of former Fleming Artists agents Adam Bauer in Ann Arbor and Jordan Burger in Nashville. Universal Music Group announced the hire of James Murtagh-Hopkins as Senior Director of Communications. He will be based in the company's London offices. Gospel Music industry veterans Monica Coates and EJ Gaines have been appointed to senior management positions at Motown Gospel. As Vice President of A&R and Vice President of Marketing respectively, Coates and Gaines will assume their roles October 3rd and be based at Motown Gospel/CCMG's headquarters in Nashville. Share on: Technical colleges ... or community colleges? This past May started my 14th year of stating one simple truth: The pursuit of all public higher education is completely an individual choice. The mission creep of the technical college system has expanded to the point that now Nicolet College out of Rhinelander has Nicolet College students in the Southwest Tech College district out of Fennimore. The latest addition is now Nicolet College has students in the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College district out of Rice Lake, as well. I contacted an official of the WTCS in Madison and was told that they didnt need to authorize this action. Nicolet isnt creating new programs which need the approval by the board in Madison; Nicolet is offering online/distance education courses completing two-year general education/liberal Aarts associate programs in these districts. Of course, Western Tech out of LaCrosse and Chippewa Valley Tech out of Eau Claire have had these two-year programs for some years. I never could understand why CVTC was offering these programs when it has three four year Universities within its district. Im sure UW-Stout, UW-Eau Claire, and UW-River Falls are more than qualified to offer a two-year liberal arts degree. These tech college districts are directly competing with the two-year UW System colleges. Although the original statutes called for the tech colleges to offer needed general education credits for a program and the ability to transfer credits, I find it hard to believe that the original statutes were intending that tech districts in Wisconsin to have students in other tech districts. Otherwise, why did the state set up 16 tech college districts in the first place? These 16 districts were to address local educational needs and skills in an area of the state and the technical/skills aspect of programs offered, not the emphasis on general education credits. The mission creep of the tech colleges today has reduced these tech college districts lines to serve one purpose- taxation. When these tech college statutes were created, the technology of online/distance education delivery wasnt even in existence. The transition of technical colleges to community colleges offering two-year liberal arts programs in direct competition with the two-year UW system necessitates a fundamental change in the antiquated funding statutes of the tech college system. The funding of the technical college system needs to go to the state level like the UW System. The financial stewardship with oversight by elected officials we send to Madison should be the same for the Tech College System as it is for the UW System. The ability of appointed, not elected, local tech college district boards to borrow millions with the local property taxpayers getting the bill needs to end. This funding unfairness needs to stop. TERRY NICHOLS, Town of Colfax Need A Bio? Press Release? StoryAmp Launches Writing Service Just because you can write a great song, doesn't mean that you can write a great bio or press release; and even in D.I.Y. world, there are some things better done by someone else. To fill that void, digital PR platform StoryAmp has launched StoryAmp Writing Services. _______________________________________ StoryAmp Writing Services has launched to offer musicians the services of writers whose credits include Billboard, NPR, Vice, Wall St. Journal and other major outlets. For $300 StoryAmp pairs artists with the appropriate writer to create a bio or press release. Each written piece includes a 60 minute interview, two rounds of edits based on artist feedback; approval of the final document; and artist ownership of the final product. Share on: DOJs Discordant Decision: A Look At The Ruling And Its Repercussions On Friday, a federal judge ruled in favor of BMI in its fight with the DoJ over 100% licensing. This piece from attorney Erin M. Jacabson looks the history of PROs, how the original ruling came to fruition, and the problems it could create for the music industry moving forward. __________________________________ Guest post by Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. Performance rights organizations (PROs) are organizations that track and collect performance royalties on behalf of songwriters and music publishers. In the United States, there are four PROs: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and Global Music Rights (GMR). ASCAP and BMI are the two largest U.S. PROs and are also non-profit organizations. Since 1941, ASCAP and BMI have been subject to consent decrees issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ). These consent decrees are agreements that allow the government to regulate ASCAP and BMIs license fees and how they operate in order to prevent monopolization and encourage competition. SESAC and GMR are both independent, privately owned companies that operate on a for-profit basis and are not subject to consent decrees. In 2014, the music community asked for a review of these decrees and requested the removal of digital licensing from the blanket licenses offered by the PROs, allowing publishers to negotiate directly with and be paid higher rates by companies licensing music for digital uses. This is referred to as Digital Rights Withdrawal or DRW. Digital giants like Google, Pandora, and Sirius/XM, joined by terrestrial radio, lobbied against DRW in order to pay smaller licensing fees to music owners. The DOJ denied the music communitys request for DRW and has now mandated that music publishers be either all-in or all-out with the PROs, meaning that publishers must allow the PROs to license all types of performances of their catalogues or none at all. In its recent ruling, the DOJ also chose to enforce full-work licensing, also known as 100% licensing. Under the practice of 100% licensing, any person with a percentage of ownership of the work has the right to license 100% of the work, not just the percentage owned. That licensor is then liable to account to other co-owners of the work for those co-owners share of compensation. This principle is in line with the provisions of copyright law governing joint works, and the longstanding language of the consent decrees supports the practice of full-work licensing. Despite the language of the consent decrees, the music industry has never operated on a 100% licensing basis. The principle of allowing one co-owner to license an entire work can be overridden by a contract between the parties, and the music industry has always operated on a fractional licensing basis where most owners agree in writing that each owner will administer its own share. Music users obtaining licenses have also historically accepted the practice of fractional licensing, and those users experienced with PRO licenses know that one must get a license from each PRO so that all shares of co-written compositions are covered. PROs also collect license fees from music users and pay its members/affiliates on a fractional basis, i.e. the amount collected or paid is proportional to the share of the composition controlled by that PRO. While the language of the consent decrees and the practice of the industry have long been out-of-sync, the DOJs sudden decision to enforce 100% licensing may force an entire industry to change its longstanding way of doing business. The DOJs ruling stipulated that if a PRO cannot license 100% of a composition, then that PRO cannot license that composition at all. This means that any compositions written by co-writers belonging to different societies would potentially become unlicensable by the PROs. What Problems Does This Create? Those that lobbied against reforming the consent decrees failed to realize that their efforts to pay less may also prevent them from using or playing a large percentage of music, or may require them to remove music from rebroadcasts of older programming, because much of the music they wish to use may become unlicensable by the PROs. If compositions are unlicensable by the PROs, then music users will have to go directly to music owners for performance licenses. While obtaining direct licenses may be feasible for more experienced users, many music users will not know where to find composition owners or how to go about obtaining licenses from them. If compositions become unlicenseable by the PROs and licenses are not obtained directly from the music owners, it is possible that many compositions may not be used, or many compositions may be used without permission resulting in copyright infringement. All of these scenarios may hinder music owners from receiving payments for performance royalties, and without the PROs, music owners will be responsible for tracking and policing all uses of their music, which is normally too labor intensive and financially burdensome for most music owners. Foreign performance societies, writers, and publishers are also affected by the DOJs ruling. Via reciprocal agreements, U.S. and foreign PROs work together to track and collect royalties for performances in a works home country and foreign countries. If certain works become unlicensable by U.S. PROs, then foreign societies and owners may have to track U.S. performances of their works in the U.S. Anyone in the U.S. wishing to use a foreign work not licensable by a U.S. PRO will have to get a direct license from the foreign licensor. In addition, U.S. owners issuing direct licenses may have to track and collect on foreign performances outside of the societies. Again, this creates burdens on all societies and owners, as well as opening the door for mass amounts of infringement and owners not receiving payments. The DOJ proposed a solution of modifying all past agreements between co-writers of different societies to allow administration by one owner or PRO. This would apply to both U.S. and foreign writers and publishers. However, this is an impractical solution because many writers will not want another PRO that is not their chosen PRO collecting on their behalf; many writers do not speak to past co-writers or know where to find them; many writers are deceased, leaving one or more co-writers to deal with heirs that may not understand the principles involved or cannot be found; and many writers will not have the financial resources to have their agreements amended. From a creative standpoint, many writers feel the DOJs decision will restrict them to only writing with co-writers from their chosen PRO. Restricting the freedom of writers to collaborate would be a fatal blow to creativity itself and cause many musicians to relegate music to a hobby rather than a career. Where Are We Now? The DOJ has allowed ASCAP and BMI a period of one year to comply with the new mandated changes, and if they are still non-compliant after one year, the DOJ can sue ASCAP and BMI for non-compliance with its decision. However, the one-year compliance period has not started yet, and will be delayed by the current efforts of BMI and ASCAP to get this decision reversed. As of this writing, BMI has sued the DOJ and is appealing the ruling through legal proceedings. ASCAP is developing a lobbying strategy to seek much needed Congressional support and achieve changes from the legislative side. Those of us on the forefront of this issue feel it is best to wait until we have a definite outcome before spending time and resources on modifying agreements or making other changes to longstanding industry practices. However, consult with me on this issue if you are concerned. Some resources to take action and stay up to date include www.standwithsongwriters.org and www.artistrightswatch.com. Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. The content contained in this article is not legal advice or a legal opinion on any specific matter or matters. This article does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship between Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. and you or any other user. The law may vary based on the facts or particular circumstances or the law in your state. You should not rely on, act, or fail to act, upon this information without seeking the professional counsel of an attorney licensed in your state. If this article is considered an advertisement, it is general in nature and not directed towards any particular person or entity. MORE: Federal Judge Rejects DoJ 100% Licensing Decision Share on: Common exclusions in aviation insurance policies may stymie coverage for families of the victims of EgyptAir Flight MS804, as new evidence seems to point to deliberate sabotage of the aircraft, which plunged into the sea while flying from Paris to Cairo in May.Trace levels of the explosive material TNT were found on debris from the crash late last week, French investigative group Le Figaro reported Friday. Egyptian judicial authorities are denying the charge, however, and Le Figaro has been prevented from further examining the TNT and offering explanation on how it could have gotten there.The presence of the explosive material seems to coincide with earlier analysis of the planes flight data recorder, which showed smoke in the lavatory and avionics bay as well as mentions of a fire on board the plane during its final moments. High-temperature damage and soot was also found in the jets front section.If the TNT is found to be the cause of the crash, and if it was set off deliberately as a result of an ideological stance, it may prevent families of the crash victims from collecting insurance settlements from the airline.Aviation policies often carry exclusions for terrorism or suicide under sanction from the 1999 international Montreal Convention which could apply if the EgyptAir flight was determined to have been downed by terrorists.In that case, the event must be certified as terrorism. XL Catlin is the lead underwriter for the plane, an Airbus A320, whose hull is said to have been worth $18 million. It already agreed in June to advance compensation payments of $25,000 to families of the 66 people killed during the flight a separate payment to those expected once the investigation into the disaster is completed.Life insurance coverage is also available, and families may sue within two years of the planes expected arrival at its destination, collecting further money from the airline and its insurers. Liability payments in this instance could vary, depending on victims nationalities, as governments differ over how citizens can sue airlines for damages. Mason Insurance, an insurance agency based in Orange County, Virginia, recently celebrated its 125anniversary. The company is one of the oldest businesses in the area (if not the oldest), and is proudly one of the oldest family-run insurance agencies in the state.The agency has helped the residents of Orange with their insurance needs, particularly during the Mineral earthquake of 2011, the North American blizzard of 2009, and the North American derecho of June 2012.While it was business as usual for owners Chuck Mason and Bryan Hargett despite the agency's annivesary, the two looked back at the companys 125 years of history.We didnt sell out to a bank and really dont want to do so, Mason told Culpaper Star-Exponent.Mason Insurance was founded in 1891 by V. R. Shackleford and Allen Warren, then called Shackleford and Warren. It was only after traveling salesman Barton Masons purchase of the company in 1908 and his full acquisition of the company from his partners in 1920 that the agency adopted its current namesake.Ben Hargett, father of Bryan, bought into the business in 1969. Bryan himself joined in 1996.Chuck Mason originally worked for a bank in Baltimore for a few years after graduating from college. His father, however, called him back in 1975 to help out with the family business.He told me, Youre not from Baltimore, and you havent been to graduate school. Youll always be working for someone else there. So I came back, Chuck said.Hargett also shared that he was originally working out of state in another state before joining Mason. Prior to his current role, he was an underwriter based in Washington.I wanted to get out, but after a taste of urbanity I didnt mind coming back. Raising a family here and living life in Orange was attractive, Hargett said.Both have underlined that while technology has changed the way the company conducts business, they are committed to the community and will try to offer traditional services as needed.We sell commercial, personal and farm insurance, so our clients can get everything they need, and we like to meet face to face, Hargett remarked.Hargett also said that serving the companys most loyal customers and paying attention to renewals sets them apart among their more contemporary counterparts. A series of explosions has shaken New York and New Jersey over the weekend and law enforcement agencies are trying to ascertain who is responsible.Twenty-nine people were injured Saturday when a bomb exploded in Manhattan and there was also an explosion designed to disrupt a Marine Corp charity run in Jersey.The latest incident happened in the early hours of Monday morning when a bomb in a suspicious backpack at a New Jersey train station exploded while a bomb squad attempted to make it safe. It followed a pipe bomb left at a train station at Elizabeth.Five people have been arrested in connection with the Manhattan bomb and police say it is likely the attacks are linked although no evidence suggests that they are connected to international terrorism.The top five leading vendors in the global health insurance market have been revealed together with four others that are set to have a significant impact on the market in the years ahead.Research firm Technavio says that insurers are trying to move into new markets and offer new or higher-priced products amid a massive pricing cycle.In the health insurance market, technologies are creating innovation in a mature market; while insurers are entering new markets where poor healthcare is generally government-provided.For the forecast period 2016 to 2020 the top five health insurance vendors are: Zurich , United Healthcare, Aviva, AXA and Allianz Those vendors that Technavio predicts will be increasingly prominent in the health insurance sector are: Aetna, AIA Insurance Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation.A new suite of products from Chubb will help clean technology firms recover green following a property loss."Chubb's Clean Tech Sustainability Suite responds directly to the priorities of today's clean tech companies,"said Christi Edwards, North America Clean Tech Segment Leader for Chubb. "This suite of insurance coverages provides protection for property and business income related to research and development as clean tech companies develop new products and services that contribute to environmental sustainability. In addition, it helps these companies further demonstrate their environmental sensibilities by rebuilding 'green' if their facilities are damaged in a covered loss."A team of dedicated underwriters are working alongside the Clean Tech Sustainability Suite to protect research and development property and business income, help repair buildings to minimum SEED requirements, and clean up pollutants while in transit or outside a covered building. Insurer Starr Indemnity and Liability is on the hook for a settlement over former Red Sox Pitchers failed video game business, according to a Boston Globe report.Former pitcher Curt Schilling agreed to the $2.5 million settlement Monday, according to the Globe. The settlement ends a Rhode Island investigation into a $75 million financing package for Schillings failed company, 38 Studios. Schilling agreed to the deal despite having called the investigation a fake-ass witch hunt only two months ago, the Globe reported.Schilling had launched his company with the intent to create a complex, World of Warcraft-style game, according to the Globe. In 2010, Rhode Island officials agreed to issue $75 million in bonds in order to lure the company and create jobs in the state. 38 Studios received about $50 million the first year, with the rest of the money to be set aside for reserves and to pay banking fees.But the company defaulted on a $1.1 million interest payment in May of 2012. By June, it had declared bankruptcy. Rhode Island authorities filed the lawsuit, along with several others against other involved parties, after 38 Studios went bankrupt, according to the Globe.Schilling, meanwhile, claimed the company failed because the state didnt do enough to support it, according to a USA Today report. Indeed, Mondays settlement agreement said that the defendants denied any liability, and that the settlement shouldnt be construed as an admission of liability.The settlement still has to be approved by the court, according to USA Today. Lawyers for the plaintiff, the Rhode Island Commerce Corp., are urging that the court approve it. According to the Rhode Island Commerce Corp., it makes no economic sense whatsoever for the case to go to trial.If the settlement is approved, it will effectively end Schillings involvement in the case, according to an AP report. Counting Mondays settlement, Rhode Island has recouped about $45 million through various lawsuits, according to USA Today. Police have arrested a man wanted in connection with two Saturday bombings in New York and New Jersey, apparently after a shootout.Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested Monday in Linden, N.J., according to an Associated Press report. Two officers were shot during the confrontation, according to a Washington Post report one in the hand, and the other in the protective vest. Three police were taken to the hospital after the incident; one had high blood pressure, according to the AP. Rahami was also shot and left the scene in an ambulance.Rahami is suspected of involvement in the Saturday bombing in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood that injured nearly 30 people, according to the Washington Post. Earlier Saturday, a pipe bomb had exploded in a trash can in Seaside, N.J., and on Sunday several explosive devices were discovered in a package at a transit station in Elizabeth, N.J. No one was injured by the New Jersey bombs.Rahami is a US citizen who was born in Afghanistan, according to the Post. The AP reported that Rahami had relatives who in 2011 had filed a federal lawsuit against Elizabeth officials, claiming their family business was targeted because they were Muslims.Mohammad Ruhami and his sons had claimed that the city tried to restrict their restaurants business hours. The suit ended in 2012 after Mohammad Ruhami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the citys restrictions, according to the AP. Ahmad Khan Rahami was not involved in that lawsuit. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and city of Chippewa Falls are holding a public informational meeting Tuesday about an upcoming resurfacing project on High Street and Rushman Drive (northbound Highway 124). Residents and property owners are encouraged to attend the meeting to review and comment on the project. Tara Weiss, WisDOTs northwest region project manager, said the highway has been patched so many times that it will have exceeded its service life by the time of construction, which is scheduled for the summer of 2018. The road is in fairly poor shape and in need of some upgrading to improve the overall safety and efficiency for travel and public, Weiss said. We want to improve it so there are smoother transitions and its better able to accommodate pedestrians. The project extends along the highway from just after the roundabout at River Street north to the intersection at Elm Street. Crews will take off three inches of surface and put three more inches back on, as well as make some spot curb and gutter repair and improve ramps and crosswalk locations. She estimates the project would take 2-3 months to complete, but wouldnt start until at least May 2019. They are currently in the final design phase. The DOT tends to hold public meetings with these types of projects because it could involve updating driveways to meet ADA standards and temporarily removing sidewalks to make way for new ones. We want to answer questions right away about what exactly is going on and how its going to affect people, Weiss said. Its a fairly typical maintenance project with slight inconveniences, but nothing major. Traffic will be reduced to a single lane and there might be flagging operations, but the road would never be closed or detoured. Businesses along the highway will remain open. The public, open-house style meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20 at Chippewa Falls City Hall. WisDOT, Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. and Chippewa Falls representatives will be available to answer questions. Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show construction will begin in the summer of 2018. MCLA Gets Grant to Help Retain Low-Income Students, Students of Color NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has been awarded a $2.177 million Title III "Strengthening Institutions Program" grant from the United States Department of Education to increase retention and graduation rates of students from low-income families and students of color over the next five years. "What wonderful news to receive as we welcome our students to campus this fall," MCLA President James F. Birge said. "Twenty-seven percent of the Class of 2020 self-identify as coming from diverse backgrounds, so this funding will support and promote the success of MCLA students. In addition, the program will lead to students graduating sooner, which means they will spend less on their education overall and graduate with minimum debt, with a degree that provides the foundation for a successful career. "The initiatives supported by this grant also align perfectly with the goals of the 'Massachusetts Vision Project A Public Agenda for Higher Education in Massachusetts,' " Birge continued, "which was created to increase college completion and eliminate disparities in degree attainment." Last spring, the U.S. Department of Education recognized MCLA as one of 13 institutions nationally for graduating students from low-income families at the same rate as students from high-income families. Thirty-nine percent of MCLA students are from families that earn less than $40,000 a yearthe highest percentage in the state university systemand 46 percent receive Pell grants, a federally funded grant program for low income students. MCLA admits a high percentage of students from underserved and minority populations. In addition, over the past five years, the College is closing the achievement gap in graduation rates between African-American and white students at a higher percentage rate than all but one of the other state universities in the Massachusetts State University System, according to the states latest Vision Project report. "I'm very proud to see MCLA emerging as a national leader for its work in developing winning strategies to recruit, retain and graduate more low-income students and students of color," said Carlos E. Santiago, Massachusetts' commissioner of Higher Education. "Here in Massachusetts, the college's success provides a critical model for other campuses and will help our public higher education system reach its goal to graduate more students in less time." The $2.177 million Title III grant will be distributed to MCLA over five years, with the program slated to begin on Oct. 1. The first disbursement for the 2016-17 academic year will be $443,346. Through the "Strengthening Institutions Program," MCLA will: Increase intensive advising utilizing the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) and early alert software; North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright talks about the importance of older workers. Heather Boulger, executive director of the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, marks the beginning of 'National Employ Older Workers Week.' Director of Administrative Services Roberta McCulloch-Dews reads the proclamation. The proclamation is signed in North Adams. Pittsfield celebrates the signing of the proclamation. PreviousNext Mayors Support Employment of Older Workers NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Forty-three percent of the population of Berkshire County is age 55 and older, and they are looking for something meaningful to do in their golden years. "They don't want to just go to Florida and enjoy the sunshine," Heather Boulger, executive director of the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, said Monday morning during a ceremony at North Adams City Hall marking the beginning of "National Employ Older Workers Week," which runs Sept. 19-24. Boulger was joined by representatives from Elder Services of Berkshire County and BerkshireWorks Career Center in North Adams in the morning, where Mayor Richard Alcombright read and signed an official proclamation, and Pittsfield City Hall in the afternoon, where Director of Administrative Services Roberta McCulloch-Dews, on behalf of Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer, also read the proclamation that Tyer previously had signed. "I urge public officials for job placement and training and related services to improve access and training and employment opportunities for older citizens and for companies as well to provide employment opportunities to this important group," reads part of the proclamation. Here in Berkshire County, Boulger said, there are 1,700 current job openings, and businesses should "tap into this often-overlooked resource" when hiring workers. "The mature worker could help fill that gap," she said, listing the benefits of employing older workers as including their diligence, skill, loyalty and dependability. National Employ Older Workers Week also showcases the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which provides on-the-job skills training to individuals 55 or older with limited financial resources. Participants are placed in paid community service positions for a maximum of 20 hours per week. The goal of the program is to prepare individuals with the necessary skills and job training to obtain unsubsidized employment. Participants receive orientation, skills assessments, a free physical exam, community service assignments, computer training, job search assistance and supportive services. iBerkshires.com staffer Andy McKeever contributed to this story. CUMBERLAND (AP) Politicians, farmers and hunters dominated a Great Lakes summit on wolves, expressing hope that the animals will soon come off the federal endangered species list. Participants at the meeting last week in the northwestern Wisconsin community of Cumberland talked about solutions to wolf problems, including attacks against domestic animals, in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. The summit was organized by two Republican lawmakers from northern Wisconsin, Sen. Tom Tiffany and Rep. Adam Jarchow, who hope control of the wolf population returns to state governments. As long as wolves are considered endangered, killing them is illegal unless its for personal protection. The Humane Society of the United States called the event one-sided. Others argued that wolves have a place in the Great Lakes ecosystem. A few wolves are OK, said Don Peay, founder of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and a speaker at the summit. Theyre part of the system. Peay and most others at the summit wanted to manage the wolf population by killing some off. Roughly 4,000 wolves roam the Great Lakes region. Complaints of attacks on domestic animals have been rising with the wolf population, said David Ruid, wildlife biologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who helps manage complaints of wolf attacks on farms and ranches. Ruid said the wolves arent affecting the cattle industrys bottom line, but they are causing great hardship for farmers who live within their territory. These things are occurring on the local family farm, Ruid said. Its not just fatal attacks on livestock thats a problem, either, because wolves will harass animals, which can cause livestock to damage fences or slow their eating because theyre on guard, he added. Congress will likely debate the proposed law after the November election, according to legislative staff at the office of Sen. Ron Johnson, who introduced the bill. Imperial Valley News Center U.S.-Japan-ROK Trilateral Ministerial Meeting in New York Washington, DC - Today the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Fumio Kishida, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Yun Byung-se, met in New York to ensure that the three countries remain in close coordination in the wake of North Koreas second nuclear test in eight months and a series of other, ballistic missile-related North Korean provocations over the past six months, and to expand our collaboration. The Ministers noted that the DPRKs flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions expressly prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs requires even stronger international pressure on the regime. North Koreas provocative actions are further deepening its isolation and undermining the needs of its people, who suffer greatly at the hands of the regime. In this regard, the three countries are working closely with partners at the United Nations and in other fora to pressure the DPRK. Secretary Kerry reiterated that the United States remains steadfast in its defense commitments to the Republic of Korea and Japan, including the commitment to provide extended deterrence, backed by the full range of its nuclear and conventional defense capabilities. During the meeting, the Ministers explored ways to work together to ensure that all countries fully and effectively implement all their obligations and commitments under UN Security Council Resolution 2270, which imposed the strongest sanctions ever placed upon North Korea, in response to the DPRKs accelerated, systematic, and unprecedented campaign to develop an operational nuclear capability. They also discussed the important work currently taking place in the Security Council to further sanction North Korea and considered other possible measures of their own, in particular ways to further restrict revenue sources for the DPRKs missile and nuclear programs, including through illicit activities. They reaffirmed that they remain open to credible and authentic talks aimed at full and verifiable denuclearization of the DPRK and that they are willing to honor the commitments in the September 19, 2005 Six-Party Talks Joint Statement. They agreed to continue to draw international attention to the systemic, widespread, and gross violations of human rights in North Korea, including the abductions issue. Lastly, the Ministers noted the positive role that the three countries can play to promote regional peace and stability and address global challenges. Together, the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea are tackling some of the worlds toughest problems, from refugees to climate change, from terrorism to global health, and from countering violent extremism to development assistance. The Ministers agreed to continue trilateral cooperation on regional and global issues and find new opportunities for further collaboration. Secretary of State John Kerry's Meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan New York - Secretary Kerry met with his majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan today in New York. The Secretary thanked the King for his strong and continued leadership in the Counter-ISIL Coalition, and on regional stability efforts. The Secretary reiterated the United States steadfast commitment to Jordans security and stability and to helping Jordan as it continues to deal with the challenges of accommodating refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. San Diego Zoo Has Success Breeding Two Rare Reptile Species San Diego, California - Two rare reptile species native to two delicate island ecosystemsthe black tree monitor, native to the Aru Islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea; and the mossy leaf-tailed gecko, native to Madagascarare now thriving at the San Diego Zoo. The latest milestones in a long history of successful reptile breeding, the new arrivals offer hope for two little-known, yet important species. The Zoo, previously home to two adult black tree monitors, is now also home to four babies that hatched from eggs laid in January. This is the first time the species has hatched at the San Diego Zoo, kicking off what the Zoo hopes will be a robust breeding program. The young monitors weigh about two-fifths of an ounce (11 grams) each, and are doing well. Were thrilled to have black tree monitor hatchlings this year, as this is the first time they've successfully reproduced at the San Diego Zoo, said Dave Grubaugh, reptile keeper at the San Diego Zoo. The parents have been with us for three years now, and we've just been patiently waiting for them to reach maturity and bond with each other. They are one part of a larger, fragile ecosystem where every piece is important. Black tree monitors live in the hot, humid forests and mangrove swamps of the Aru Islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea. They are dependent on the forest canopy to survive, but most of the regional forest on the Aru Islands has already been lost. Other threats to the species include the pet trade and non-native predators, such as foxes and cats. With the threats the black tree monitor faces in the wild, establishing insurance populations in accredited Zoos will help ensure the survival of the species. Another reptile species that faces similar challenges in the wild, and has also experienced recent breeding success at the Zoo, is the mossy leaf-tailed gecko. The Zoo received a confiscated group of mossy leaf-tailed geckos in 2010. The geckos have since produced eight hatchlings, with several generations now thriving at the Zoo. All leaf-tailed gecko species are popular in the pet trade, perhaps due to their unique adaptations. Leaf-tailed geckos have evolved to resemble leaves, blending into their forest surroundings to avoid predators and better ambush their insect prey. However, more than 80 percent of Madagascars forests have been decimated by logging, agriculture, housing development and other human activity, threatening the future of the species. With these ongoing threats, keeping healthy satellite populations outside of Madagascar is increasingly important as a safeguard against extinction. Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is inspiring children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in childrens hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Kohli's Photo With Tricolour During National Anthem Goes Viral, Twitter Calls Him 'Pride of India' Popular Spoken-Word Poet Pens Bold Book to a Lost and Suffering World Contact: Althea Thompson, 407-333-0600 LAKE MARY, Fla., Sept. 19, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- As a viral poet known worldwide for several videos totaling over 30 million views, Savanna Hartman has authored her first book, Fierce Hope (October 11, 2016) , to high anticipation with Charisma House. With an authenticity that has captured hearts around the world, Hartman's viral spoken-word videos on Facebook and YouTube have garnered millions of views. Subsequently she has appeared on various national news outlets including CNN, Washington Post, Huffington Post, CBS News, and National Public Radio, among others. As a rising voice of hope in her generation, she now takes her message to print. In her new book, Fierce Hope, Hartman captures the essence of her viral video platform by addressing a world that has never been more broken and lost than it is today. Maintaining the bold, passionate voice and spoken-word reflections appreciated by her thriving social media audience, she addresses topics such as finding hope in the midst of: Prejudice Slavery Terrorism War "This book isn't going to have all the answers," Hartman says. "But I will tell you one thing: this book is full of hope. It is possible to find hope in the hardest situations imaginable." Fierce Hope offers a compelling alternative to the negative perceptions many have about the message of Christ. Hartman continues, "My prayer is that once you finish this book, you will not only have found fierce hope of your own, just as I did, but also that you will feel comfortable and sure enough in that hope to carry it into the lives of hurting people all over the world." Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Finnish quintet Oddarrang blend a congruous mix of shimmering orchestral scope, post-rock dynamics and subtle electronics into a uniquely diverse, utterly sublime melting pot. Having been compared with such musically diverse luminaries as Sigur Ros, Boards of Canada, Bjork and Mogwai, truthfully the sound Oddarrang create is only really comparable with themselves. The bands sound has been categorised as jazz, classical, post-rock and even world music, and whilst there are elements of all 4 genres, none are really entire wholly accurate in summing up the extraordinary music created here. Oddarrang are set to release their fourth album, Agartha, through Edition Records on Friday 23rd September, but you can hear the fruit of their labours now exclusively with The Independent. Oddarrangs sound is a beautiful heady mix of the old and the new, with traditional elements of jazz and classical colliding with a more modern post-rock approach. Whilst dynamics are key, the band never fall into the classic post-rock quiet/loud/quiet trap that so many of their contemporaries do. Instead, they create beautifully expansive percussively led soundscapes that hypnotically draw the listener in to their unique. Oddarrangs unconventional mix of traditional and modern extends to instrumentation, with the band employing the use of trombone and cello alongside the more contemporary guitar, bass and drums. The band are led by Olavi Louhivuori, who had this to say on the making of the album. Agartha has taken on a new energy for us. The writing and recording process was so rewarding and inspiring for us all, were very happy with the new music. For the band, the music is special, its part of all of us and brings together our own personal tastes and vision. Olavi also talked us through the new album track by track: Aletheia This is Lasse Lindgrens (bass, synth, voice) song and was one of the first songs to be selected for the album when we started to compose new material. Lasse had made a demo of the song improvising with his old synths. When we heard the demo, we were all completely mesmerized, so I decided to use that demo on the final version on the album too; many parameters on his synths were improvised while playing, so it was impossible to have another similar version of it. We just played some additional layers on top of that track and added vocals by Lasse Lindgren and guest Aino Peltomaa. Central Sun This song is the first song I ever composed starting from a drum beat as the first primary idea. I was driving in my car and playing around with some polyrhythms on my limbs, when I suddenly figured out the beat that eventually became the foundation of this song. Mass I-III I wrote the two first parts before the third, which was actually composed weeks before. I was playing around with my bass in the cellar and came up with this two chord progression that we loop over and over again. I later decided to combine these parts together, so it became a suite with three parts. Some people have asked if the name refers to physics or religion but for me its not relevant. Why couldn't it mean both!? Admiral Byrds Flight Admiral Byrds Flight is Osmos (cello, synths, voice) song and differs from all the previous Oddarang songs since its the first track ever to feature lyrics. We recorded the track as an instrumental, but when Osmo read the story about Admiral Richard E. Byrd - US Navy pilot who supposedly found the entrance to Hollow earth on February 19th 1947, while exploring Antarktis - he felt the song needed some lyrics. Telos/Agartha The composition starts softly, slowly moves in to another even more bizarre world and finally comes to a cathartic end. So in a way its a suite too. This was the second take, and almost everything was played live. The middle part is completely improvised. The word Telos has connection to the myth, and it also means end in Greek. Age of Cronos Age of Cronos is the kind of song weve never dared to write before and thats exactly why we needed to do it! Even though it has quite a simple and melodic theme - something you might even hear in an old western movie - the whole song is based on that EDM stylish, looping synth riff and all those funky rhythms. The song came to be, when Osmo started hearing the rhythm part of the synth riff in his head. He made a quick demo of it and first we just jammed the rhythm together. Osmo later added the chords and the melody behind it and the structure became clear gradually. Osmo did a lot of synth programming on this and I played multiple tracks of drums and percussions. Although everybody liked the song, it just didnt seem to fit in with the other songs on the album, which is why its being released as a bonus track. The band play UK dates in November 16th Nov - Rise, Bristol - In Store Performance 6pm 17th Nov - Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff (w/ Slowly Rolling Camera) 18th Nov - Rich Mix, London Jazz Festival (w/ Slowly Rolling Camera) Agartha, the fourth album by Oddarrang, is released Friday 23rd September and is available to pre-order through Edition Records now Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Game of Thrones has been deemed the Best Drama at the 2016 Emmy Awards - despite failing to win any of its five acting nominations. Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams were all nominated in the Supporting Actress Category while Kit Harington and former Emmy-winner Peter Dinklage were nominated for best Supporting Actor; the respective trophies went to Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) and Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), both of whom were not present at the ceremony. Earlier in the evening, showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and director Miguel Sapochnik were rewarded for their work on season 6 episode "Battle of the Bastards." Its overall haul - when added with nine wins at last week's Creative Arts Emmys - sees the show claim the record of drama series with the most wins in Emmys history. Emmy Awards 2016 winners Show all 30 1 /30 Emmy Awards 2016 winners Emmy Awards 2016 winners Julia Louis-Dreyfus (C), winner of the Best Actress in a Comedy Series Award, as well as Outstanding Comedy Series Award for 'Veep', poses with the cast in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles EPA Emmy Awards 2016 winners Cast & crew of "Game of Thrones", winners of Best Drama Series, pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Sarah Paulson, winner of Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie for The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Jeffrey Tambor, winner of Best Actor in a Comedy Series for 'Transparent', poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Kate McKinnon accepts Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for 'Saturday Night Live' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Regina King, winner of Best Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie for "American Crime", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners (L-R) Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos winners of the Outstanding Documentary for "Making a Murderer" Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners RuPaul winner of the Outstanding Host For A Reality Show Or Reality-Competition Program Rex Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Hank winner of the Outstanding Guest Actor in Drama Series Getty Images for AMC Emmy Awards 2016 winners The team from "Jim: The James Foley Story", Peter Kunhardt, Sheila Nevins, Jacqueline Glover, Eva Lipman, George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt receiving award for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners Joe Celli, David Korins, Jason Howard winners of the Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners Cast from Born This Way, winners of Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Aziz Ansari (R) and Alan Yang, winners of the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Award for 'Master of None', pose in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles EPA Emmy Awards 2016 winners 'Archer' was a winner of the Outstanding Animated Program Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners TV personality Anthony Bourdain, winner of Outstanding Informational Series Or Special Getty Emmy Awards 2016 winners Directors Thomas Kail (L) and Alex Rudzinski accept Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for 'Grease: Live' during the 68th Emmy Awards show at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles AFP/Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Tina Fey and Amy Poehler received award for the Outstanding Guest Actress in Comedy Series Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners Carson Daly (3-L) and Mark Burnett (4-R) and crew, winners for Best Reality-Competition Program Award for 'The Voice', pose in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles EPA Emmy Awards 2016 winners Rami Malek winner of the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners (L-R) Writers Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, writer/producer Ryan Murphy, actor John Travolta and production team accept Outstanding Limited Series for 'The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Tatiana Maslany, winner of Best Actress in a Drama Series for "Orphan Black", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Director Susanne Bier, winner of Best Directing for a Mini-Series or Movie for "The Night Manager", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Sterling K. Brown poses backstage with his award for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie for FX Network's " The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles REUTERS Emmy Awards 2016 winners Cast and crew of Robot Chicken, winner of Outstanding Short Form Animated Program (Robot Chicken) Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Peter Scolari, winner of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for 'Girls,' attends the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Governors Ball at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Comedian Patton Oswalt, winner of Best Writing for a Variety Special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Costume designers Lou Eyrich, Marisa Aboitiz and Helen Huang, winners of Outstanding Costumes For A Contemporary Series, Limited Series Or Movie Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Louie Anderson winner of the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the FX series "Baskets" REUTERS Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actors Keegan-Michael Key (L) and Jordan Peele, winners of Best Variety Sketch Series for "Key & Peele" Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Jill Soloway poses with her award for Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series for "Transparent" backstage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles REUTERS The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story went away with a total of four wins for Best Limited series, Best Actor for Courtney B. Vance (who beat actor Cuba Gooding Jr.), Best Actress for Sarah Paulson and Best Supporting Actor for Sterling K. Brown. Thrones actor Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, teased her season 7 scripts on the red carpet, branding them "unbelievable" and "crazy." You can find a full list of the 2016 Emmy Award winners here. Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping experts Sign up for our free IndyBest email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyBest email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} From masks and serums, to oils and balms, whatever your preference there's a moisture-boosting skin treatment to suit. 1. Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules: 65 for 60 capsules, Elemis Beauty products come in and out of fashion but year in, year out were always impressed with this award-winning anti-oxidant day and night oil. Its always our essential complexion saver for post-holiday, sun-stressed skin. 60 capsules last a month when using them morning and evening under moisturiser (the pink rose capsule is for morning and the green lavender for night). Even within the first month of use youll notice your skin is transformed. High level anti-oxidants break down accumulated harmful toxins that clog up your pores, leaving skin glowing. Buy now 2. Oskia Renaissance Bright Light Serum: 85 for 30ml, Space NK If dark spots and pigmentation get worse for you in the summer months, there is an answer that works. Oskia founder Georgie Cleeve suffered from hyper-pigmentation, so she set about creating a concentrated solution to help combat it. The result was this daily correcting serum that targets melanin production. With regular use this product will even out and brighten skin tone. Buy now 3. Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Infusion de Rose Nourishing Oil: 44 for 30ml, Selfridges Whenever dry or dehydrated skin feels like it needs a boost, you can mix one or two drops of this sumptuous, but surprisingly lightweight oil into your serum or moisturiser to strengthen the skin. Its delicately rose-scented and doesn't feel oily, even if you use it straight on the skin for an extra, pre-moisturiser boost. Handily its a great multi-tasker you can also use it to soften cuticles and on your hair to nourish dry ends. Buy now 4. Elemental Herbology Hyaluronic Booster Plus: 85 for 30ml, Elemental Herbology If your skins moisture levels have hit the floor and your complexion is looking dull and dehydrated, this serum will put the zing back into your skin. The perfect antidote to poor tone and texture, this powerful replenisher boosts radiance in as little as a week. You can use it morning and night under your usual moisturiser until fine lines and wrinkles are plumped out and skin looks glowing again. Also, its especially good for mature skin tones all year round. Elemental Herbology, a relatively young British brand, uses high performance natural ingredients, natural actives, superb nutrients and beautiful plant oils to create high-end skin care that we found really delivers. Buy now 5. Lancome Energie De Vie Sleeping Mask: 42 for 75ml, Lancome At the upper end of the price scale for face masks, this overnight recovery treat really does boost your beauty sleep. Rough, dull, dehydrated skin is plumped up and smoothed out overnight. Apply a thin layer instead of your night cream and wake up in the morning with a radiant glow, or a thicker layer can be applied for a quick 10-minute hydrator. Buy now 6. Clarins Repair Booster: 30 for 15ml, Clarins Repair from skincare expert Clarins will give a turbo-charged, targeted boost to weakened skin. It aims to increase the skin's strength after exposure to hard, salty or chlorinated water, sunburn or other extreme climates. Its perfect for a post-holiday radiance revival; just add three to five drops into your favourite moisturiser, mask or foundation for as long as you need a day, a week or a month. Buy now 7. M&S Nourishing Cracked Heel Balm for Happy Feet: 9.50 for 80ml, M&S Rough and dry feet that have spent months in flip-flops need a post-summer treat before we wrap them back up into boots and socks for the next seven months. And this new range from world renowned podiatrist Margaret Dabbs is the answer. The ingredients bergamot, green tea and lime give a beautiful scent, while ginger extract and manuka honey add a nourishing element to this antibacterial formula. It will soften and condition even the most cracked heels. Buy now 8. Ren Flash Hydro-Boost Instant Plumping Emulsion: 34 for 40ml, Ren Nothing shouts hydration more than this new hybrid moisturiser mask that super-charges the skin with water. Use before your usual serum and moisturiser, the water activates the mask to lock in moisture and reduce ageing dehydration. Smooth over your clean face and neck and then just add a tiny amount of water with your finger tips and massage in until fully absorbed. It aims to reduce dehydration and increase the skin's ability to lock in and retain moisture.Use as often as needed, but particularly after a summer of sunshine. Buy now 9. Neom Real Luxury Bath & Shower Oil: 40 for 100ml, Neom Organics Turbo-charge your bath or shower time with some serious skin nourishment from Neom one of these bottles is sold every four minutes, making this original Bath & Shower Oil one of the brands best sellers. Lavender, jasmine and Brazilian rosewood give this oil a decadent, luxurious fragrance that fills the bathroom, and combined with the other 21 pure essential oils, boosts body moisture in just one hit. Pour in the bath under running water, or apply to the skin before showering to rehydrate summer skin, de-stress, relax and unwind. Buy now 10. L'Oreal Paris Pure Clay Detox Mask: 7.99 for 50ml, Boots Summer skin can feel and look clogged up after all that holiday sunscreen, so for a fast, easy and inexpensive detox, this mask is perfect. Three types of pure clay combined with charcoal acts as a magnet to draw out impurities and deep-clean congested pores. Apply a thin layer for five to 10 minutes, two to three times a week and the difference is unmistakeable you get luminous, smooth -feeling skin after just a few applications. Buy now 11. Kiehl's Cactus Flower Mist: 18 for 75ml, Kiehls With the hydrating power of cactus flower (desert resilience means it flourishes in dry conditions) and the moisture retaining capabilities of Tibetan ginseng root, this refreshing pick-me-up packs a powerful punch. Use as a traditional toner to boost moisture levels after cleansing, or as a finishing spray to lock in moisture for a dewy complexion. Its fast absorbing and can slip into your handbag, so you can simply spritz when skin feels tight or dehydrated. The rosemary, lavender and geranium essential oils give your skin a revitalising instant hit. Buy now 12. Aesop Petitgrain Reviving Body Gel: 25 for 150ml, Cult Beauty Unlike heavier oils and creams, this gel is lightweight and absorbs almost immediately, so you dont have to wait to get dressed in the morning. The zingy citrus scent of grapefruit and lemon is ultra-cool and refreshing while the aloe and panthenol soothe and soften dehydrated, sun-exposed skin, leaving it plump and supple. It's also perfect for irritated, inflamed or sunburnt skin. Buy now Verdict Oskia is great if you suffer from pigmentation problems while Laura Mercier, Neom and Elemental Herbology are a joy to use. We love Lancome, as it does the hard work while you sleep but year in, year out weve seen real results from the Elemis Bliss Capsules - they put the radiance back into your complexion ready for winter. Thats why its our top pick. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Microsoft is going to shut down Skypes London offices and sack some of those employees. The company hasnt said when the UK office will be closing. But it said the decision has been made because it is going to unify some engineering positions, potentially putting at risk a number of globally focused Skype and Yammer roles. Those Skype employees will take part in a consultation process to decide which staff will stay and which will be sacked, it said. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty It isnt clear whether the closure has anything to do with Brexit, or how long it had been planned for. But Skype has long been one of the few huge European tech success stories, and so will come as a hit to Londons plans to become a tech hub of the future. Recommended Read more Skype will now translate live video chats as people have them Skype was founded in Europe and was first released in 2003. But it has been sold a number of times since, and has moved across to the US it was sold first to eBay in 2005, then to a group of investors in 2009, and finally was bought by Microsoft in May 2011. Microsofts Skype headquarters are in Luxembourg, but it has much of its development team and other employees in Estonia. Those offices arent thought to be closing. The decision might also have been made as part of a Microsoft effort to replace people from the existing company with those from its own ranks, the Financial Times, which first broke the news, reported. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Babies born with big heads are likely to be more intelligent, a study has suggested. Research has linked the size of a childs head with their academic achievements later on in life, finding that the bigger the head smarter a baby will be. Scientists investigating the link between genes, IQ and overall health made the discovery. In addition to there being shared genetic influences between cognitive skills and some physical and mental health states, the study also found that cognitive skills share genetic influences with brain size, body shape and educational attainments," Professor Ian Deary of Edinburgh University, he told Neuroscience News. The study used data from 100,000 Britons, stored by the UK Biobank which has collected more than half a million samples from people aged between 37 and 73 years. The top 20 names for smart people Show all 20 1 /20 The top 20 names for smart people The top 20 names for smart people 1. John (male) The top 20 names for smart people 1. Mary (female) The top 20 names for smart people 2. Robert (male) The top 20 names for smart people 2. Elizabeth (female) Getty The top 20 names for smart people 3. William (male) The top 20 names for smart people 3. Maria (female) The top 20 names for smart people 4. Charles (male) The top 20 names for smart people 4. Anne (female) Getty Images The top 20 names for smart people 5. David (male) Getty Images The top 20 names for smart people 5. Margaret (female) The top 20 names for smart people 6. James (male) The top 20 names for smart people 6. Susan (female) Getty Images The top 20 names for smart people 7. Richard (male) Getty Images The top 20 names for smart people 7. Ruth (female) The top 20 names for smart people 8. Johann (male) The top 20 names for smart people 8. Anna (female) Getty Images The top 20 names for smart people 9. George (male) Getty Images The top 20 names for smart people 9. Alice (female) The top 20 names for smart people 10. Paul (male) Getty The top 20 names for smart people 10. Dorothy (female) Participants provided blood, urine and saliva samples for analysis, as well as providing information about their backgrounds and lifestyle. Close analysis of the data revealed babies born with larger heads are significantly more likely to get a degree, as well as score higher on verbal-numerical reasoning tests. Published in the journal of Molecular Psychiatry, researchers said: Highly significant associations were observed between the cognitive test scores . . . and many polygenic profile scores, including . . . intracranial volume, infant head circumference and childhood cognitive ability. The study also identified 17 significant genes which affect brain function and impact mental and physical health. Researcher Saskia Hagenaars added: The study supports an existing theory which says that those with better overall health are likely to have higher levels of intelligence. The average newborn head size is 36cm for boys, and 35 cm for girls. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} I dont know the whole story. All I know is that Im going to meet a woman named Mukta* whose husband was killed saving girls from sex trafficking. She survived but her husband a pastor and part of Indias Christian minority, a man who ran a home for children, many of whom were rescued from the gangs did not. Ayush*, another Christian Indian pastor who runs an orphanage I donate $35 (26) to every month, sits beside me as we rock along a dirt road lined with sugar cane fields. He talks in hushed tones into his phone while the driver watches the road behind dark glasses. We pull up to a small collection of cement buildings. Scrubby trees wave to us from the side of the road. Wait here, Ayush says. He gets out and disappears inside a small house. A moment later, he opens the door and says, You can come. I climb out into a dry, hot day and walk to the front of the car. Ayush moves toward the doorway of a low ceilinged house, pushes back a cloth curtain and motions for me to follow. I try to ready myself to meet someone who has just lost their husband, a man who was killed for trying to save girls. I tell myself I wont stay long, just long enough to greet her, ask if she has anything shed like to share. I imagine well sit around a small table in plastic chairs and shell offer snacks or a soft drink. Then Ill leave. After all, what can one say to a woman who has lost her husband, the father of four daughters, in such a violent way? I step into a shaded room. It is empty except for a narrow cot. I see a woman lying on the cot beneath a single, floral sheet. Her face is turned toward the wall. I immediately want to back out of the room. This is a mistake. This woman is sick. This is a house with a very sick person. But I know its her Mukta, the pastors wife. Suddenly the room feels crowded with people staring down on her. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty There is no air. Ayush motions for me to move toward the head of the cot. Mukta turns her gaze from the wall, sees us, shakes her head and murmurs, No, no, no. Her hair is limp, plastered against her head, fragile, the bones of her face so thin. Her lips are chapped. Flies sputter around the room oblivious. Did she know we were coming? Did she have any say in this visit? Her eyes seem fixed on something I cant see, something beyond this small, dark room. Im not at all sure she can hear or see us. These are visitors from America, Ayush tells her. They are here to see you. I have no smile or appropriate facial expression to offer. I sit down beside her and stumble through a few words. I am sorry for your pain, I say. They are useless words, irrelevant. My lungs tighten while she stares toward the ceiling. Mukta recovering in hospital in India after she was found in the jungle when she had been dumped (Ayush) A few minutes later, Ayush signals its time to go. We move out to the road and back into the car. The village shrinks behind us. Everyone in the car is silent. I dont ask what happened to her, why she is in this condition. I take my cue from the mood in the car, from the silence. In the months Ive been traveling the world, Ive learned to be patient, to not always look for explanations. She was taken after he was shot, Ayush says later. We are back in his home, and his children are lounging on a blanket in the common room. They put her into prostitution. Then they took her somewhere and many men rape her, he says this in a low voice, while his children are distracted, playing with my smart phone. My breath catches in my throat. He says acid was thrown onto her vagina and then she was thrown off a wall into the jungle. Discarded. Later, she was found and brought to a hospital. Human Trafficking of Girls and Women in India Human trafficking is big business worldwide, generating $32bn (24bn) annually. Of the approximately 800,000 people trafficked each year, 80 per cent are female. The border between India and Nepal is especially vulnerable and saw a 500 per cent increase in human trafficking in 2015, following the devastating earthquake. A deep devaluing of females is at the root of women and girls being trafficked in India. The UN estimates India has lost 50 million girls to infanticide and feticide due to the wide spread practice of using ultra sound technology to determine the gender of a child and then aborting female fetuses. The lower numbers of girls being born has led to a dearth of available brides, which in turn feeds the human trafficking industry. Girls of lower castes or tribes are at an increased risk of being exploited. According to the State Departments 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Indian government has for the first time included information on human trafficking investigations, prosecutions and convictions in its National Crime Records Bureaus Crime in India Report. Other steps have also been taken in an effort to track and to standardize sentencing and punishment for human trafficking, but corruption is prevalent. Where are her daughters? I ask. Gone. Later Ayush says more. They took the daughters, he says. The daughters, four of them, were young, barely teenagers, and they disappeared inside some system of torture that is normal here along the border between India and Nepal. Its a normal danger for girls and for anyone who objects to the selling of girls. My mind cant comprehend what Ayush has just told me. I nod but I cant really feel. Not tears. Not rage. Just nothing. Ayush pulls out his flip phone and shows us the photographs of the pastors body. In them, the pastor is shirtless and lies on his side, already dead from a gunshot wound to his chest. I wonder if it helps Ayush in some way to share this with us. Hes a young man, barely thirty, with a wife and two daughters of his own. And even though I am too overwhelmed to feel, I act normal, make sure Ayush sees that I am not a weak Western woman, too spoiled or entitled to see the world for what it is. I ask if there is any official information about the pastors murder, such as a newspaper article, police report or coroners report. He shakes his head. There is nothing giving the pastors name or the day he was killed or by whom. Just like there is no information on the abduction and rape Mukta endured. No record on the abduction of their daughters. Only silence. A week later, my wife and I are about to leave India when we get another message from Ayush. Weve been messaging back and forth about the wire transfer were trying to send, our attempt to allay some of the cost of the Muktas medical care, so she can heal. Ayush sends a series of grainy photographs of one of the daughters. She was found in the jungle not far from where her mother was found. I look at the image, a teenager with acid burns splashed across her left cheek. She lies on a bed inside some clinic, eyes closed, face swollen. One girl brought back from the brink. Not her sisters but her. Now she is just like all the children her father rescued. Later, I find out from Ayush that two more of the pastors four daughters have been found. They are safe and in hiding. Mukta is also in hiding and has recovered enough to walk. * Pseudonyms are used to protect the safety of the people I met Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Indigo dye may be older and more American than previously assumed. In a study published Wednesday in Science Advances, researchers report scraps of indigo-dyed fabric found in Peru that dated back to 6,200 years ago. That makes these blue jean ancestors nearly 2,000 years older than the previous oldest example of the dye, which was made in Egypt. When researchers first examined the fabric samples, found at a site called Huaca Prieta, they were so dirty they appeared colorless. Even after careful cleaning, their blue stripes are only just barely visible. "You could see blue in some of the samples but they were mostly gray. You know how your blue jeans fade over time? Well, these were like 6,000-year-old blue jeans," George Washington University anthropologist Jeffrey Splitstoser, the study's first author, told National Geographic. It took chemical analysis to confirm that the fabric contained compounds associated with blue dyes. Making this particular blue hue is no easy task. Most modern blue fabric is produced using synthetic dye, but ancient Peruvians had to extract the color from natural sources. Plants in the genus Indigofera were likely used to make Peruvian blues, but dyeing with these plants isn't as simple as throwing some fabric in a bubbling blue vat of flower soup: The blue component doesn't dissolve in water, so you can't just rely on water to leach the color out and transfer it to fabric. Instead you have to ferment the plant, then dye fabric with the resulting liquid. And even that part is far from intuitive. Its actually kind of a yellowish color, Splitstoser told the Los Angeles Times. In order to get the blue, you dip the clothes in the water with the dissolved indigo molecule, then when you pull it out it oxidizes, and thats when it turns blue. Splitstoser believes the fabric, cut into squares long ago, may have been used to carry offerings to Huaca Prieta, which is thought to have been the site of religious ceremonies. Whatever the purpose of the fabric or the significance of its blue stripes the fact that the dyeing process took place at all speaks to some incredibly advanced textile production. "Some of the world's most significant technological achievements were developed first in the New World," Splitstoser said in a statement. "Many people, however, remain mostly unaware of the important technological contributions made by Native Americans, perhaps because so many of these technologies were replaced by European systems during the conquest. However, the fine fibers and sophisticated dyeing, spinning and weaving practices developed by ancient South Americans were quickly co-opted by Europeans." "We always leave them out," he told Live Science. "I think this finding just shows that that's a mistake." Copyright: Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} CEOs whose businesses commit environmental crimes can now be tried in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC is looking to clamp down on land grabbing, a practise that has seen multinationals take over large areas of foreign land to exploit its natural resources without benefiting the local inhabitants. The move could reshape how business is done in developing countries says Global Witness, an NGO that has been urging the ICC to investigate the issue. Chasing communities off their land and trashing the environment has become an accepted way of doing business in many resource-rich yet cash-poor countries, said Gillian Caldwell, Executive Director at Global Witness. CEOs whose businesses are found to be complicit in razing tropical rainforests, poisoning water supplies or seizing land will face prosecution. The ICC announcement sends a powerful message that the terrible impacts of land grabbing and environmental destruction have been acknowledged at the highest level of criminal justice, Ms Caldwell added. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Global Witness has called for the EU and national governments to now follow suit as not all countries are under the jurisdiction of the ICC. China, India, Russia and Indonesia did not sign or ratify the Rome Statute which established the ICC and the US and Israel have said they have no legal obligation, despite signing. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Carey Mulligan has said the UKs inaction in response to the refugee crisis on the countrys doorstep has made her ashamed to be British. Speaking to the Telegraph in New York on the eve of a United Nations summit for refugees and migrants, the Oscar-nominated actress said there was literally no excuse for whats going on [in Calais], calling the sitation shameful. Recommended Read more PM to tell UN that countries have right to control their own borders An ambassador for the charity War Child, Ms Mulligan planned to attend the summit on Monday at the UNs Manhattan headquarters, as part of the UN General Assembly. Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to be among the world leaders in attendance. Im very proud to be British, and think we do great things, and it is worth remembering that we are one of the biggest donor countries, said Ms Mulligan, 31. But because of our inaction when it comes to 600 unaccompanied minors in Calais, it makes me ashamed to be British. The actress has visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and Jordan with War Child since becoming involved with the charity three years ago, through her bother Owain, who had served with the British Army in Afghanistan and worked with the charity to reopen a girls school there. Today there are some 65.3 million refugees worldwide: a number greater than the population of the UK, and sufficient to field a Refugee Olympic Team in Rio this summer. On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama will host a leaders summit to urge further action on the issue. War Child UK, which is devoted to protecting children affected by conflict, said in a statement that it was "calling on world leaders to urgently develop a Global Action Plan for children forced to flee, to deal with the rising number of displaced children and make sure the same rights apply to them wherever they are, and to deal with the chronic underfunding for displaced children." Ms Mulligan, the mother of a one-year-old daughter, is particularly troubled by the plight of the children who make up half the worlds refugees. Her suggestions to ameliorate the situation in Calais included, she said, For applications not to languish for months and months and months for children who have the right to be in the UK, reunited with family members or for vulnerable children to be immediately reunited with their families and taken care of. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jill Soloway has directly compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and said the Republican presidential candidate is one of the most dangerous monsters to materialise in our lifetime. Speaking to reporters backstage after her acceptance speech at this years Emmys, the creator of Transparent described Mr Trump as the heir to Hitler. Soloway, who won the award for comedy director for Transparent, said Mr Trump otherised people to achieve political power in the same way that the leader of the Nazi party did. She said his views on immigrants were comparable to the political rhetoric which prompted Hitlers rise to power in Germany. Emmy Awards 2016 winners Show all 30 1 /30 Emmy Awards 2016 winners Emmy Awards 2016 winners Julia Louis-Dreyfus (C), winner of the Best Actress in a Comedy Series Award, as well as Outstanding Comedy Series Award for 'Veep', poses with the cast in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles EPA Emmy Awards 2016 winners Cast & crew of "Game of Thrones", winners of Best Drama Series, pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Sarah Paulson, winner of Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie for The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Jeffrey Tambor, winner of Best Actor in a Comedy Series for 'Transparent', poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Kate McKinnon accepts Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for 'Saturday Night Live' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Regina King, winner of Best Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie for "American Crime", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners (L-R) Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos winners of the Outstanding Documentary for "Making a Murderer" Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners RuPaul winner of the Outstanding Host For A Reality Show Or Reality-Competition Program Rex Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Hank winner of the Outstanding Guest Actor in Drama Series Getty Images for AMC Emmy Awards 2016 winners The team from "Jim: The James Foley Story", Peter Kunhardt, Sheila Nevins, Jacqueline Glover, Eva Lipman, George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt receiving award for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners Joe Celli, David Korins, Jason Howard winners of the Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners Cast from Born This Way, winners of Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Aziz Ansari (R) and Alan Yang, winners of the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Award for 'Master of None', pose in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles EPA Emmy Awards 2016 winners 'Archer' was a winner of the Outstanding Animated Program Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners TV personality Anthony Bourdain, winner of Outstanding Informational Series Or Special Getty Emmy Awards 2016 winners Directors Thomas Kail (L) and Alex Rudzinski accept Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for 'Grease: Live' during the 68th Emmy Awards show at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles AFP/Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Tina Fey and Amy Poehler received award for the Outstanding Guest Actress in Comedy Series Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners Carson Daly (3-L) and Mark Burnett (4-R) and crew, winners for Best Reality-Competition Program Award for 'The Voice', pose in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles EPA Emmy Awards 2016 winners Rami Malek winner of the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Rex Features Emmy Awards 2016 winners (L-R) Writers Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, writer/producer Ryan Murphy, actor John Travolta and production team accept Outstanding Limited Series for 'The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actress Tatiana Maslany, winner of Best Actress in a Drama Series for "Orphan Black", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Director Susanne Bier, winner of Best Directing for a Mini-Series or Movie for "The Night Manager", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Sterling K. Brown poses backstage with his award for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie for FX Network's " The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles REUTERS Emmy Awards 2016 winners Cast and crew of Robot Chicken, winner of Outstanding Short Form Animated Program (Robot Chicken) Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Peter Scolari, winner of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for 'Girls,' attends the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Governors Ball at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Comedian Patton Oswalt, winner of Best Writing for a Variety Special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Costume designers Lou Eyrich, Marisa Aboitiz and Helen Huang, winners of Outstanding Costumes For A Contemporary Series, Limited Series Or Movie Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actor Louie Anderson winner of the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the FX series "Baskets" REUTERS Emmy Awards 2016 winners Actors Keegan-Michael Key (L) and Jordan Peele, winners of Best Variety Sketch Series for "Key & Peele" Getty Images Emmy Awards 2016 winners Jill Soloway poses with her award for Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series for "Transparent" backstage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles REUTERS The acclaimed director said Transparents second season storyline which explores the period of the Holocaust was incredibly timely in the current context of the presidential race. Jews were other-ized in Nazi Germany to gain political power for Hitler, and right now Donald Trump is doing the same thing, Soloway said. Hes other-izing people. He calls women pigs if they dont look like beauty pageant contestants; he blames Muslims and Mexicans for our problems; he makes fun of disabled people, this is otherizing with a capital O'. It has been used in our history before to start and win wars. He needs to be called out at every chance he gets for being one of the most dangerous monsters to ever approach our lifetimes. Hes a complete dangerous monster, and any moment that I have to call Trump out for being an inheritor to Hitler, I will. This years Emmys saw a number of references to the forthcoming US elections, with Jimmy Kimmel referencing Mr Trump and pointing out The Apprentice creator Mark Barnett in the audience. Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don't have to watch reality shows anymore, because we're living them, he said. A representative for Mr Trump did not immediately respond to request for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US and Russian brokered ceasefire in the Syrian civil war has practically failed and has ended, a Syrian rebel official has said. Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of the Aleppo-based group Fastaqim, told Reuters on Monday that there was no hope that promised aid would be delivered to besieged east Aleppo, as per the terms of the truce. A UN aid convoy has been languishing on the Turkish-Syrian border for six days, unable to proceed without permission papers from the Syrian government. UN officials, aid groups, and representatives of the US and Russian governments all expressed frustration that the trucks carrying food and medicines have not reached the approximately 275,000 people in need in Aleppo. Speaking to Reuters from the Turkish city of Gaziantep, Mr Malahifji said he did not expect the vital deliveries to get through. There is no hope. It has been a number of days of procrastination. Every day there is a pretext, he said. There is no hope of aid being delivered currently. Mr Malahifji added that he believed rebel factions in the city were gearing up for renewed military action. Gov. Gary Johnson does not know what Aleppo is The week-long ceasefire was supposed to alleviate suffering in besieged east Aleppo by opening humanitarian corridors into the city, and lead to a marked reduction in violence. Monitoring groups report it mostly held up, although a rebel-held neighbourhood was hit by an airstrike on Sunday. If successful, the ceasefire was supposed to lead to unprecedented talks between Russia and the US on co-ordinated airstrikes against extremist groups Isis and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the al-Qaeda affiliate previously called al-Nusra. However, the agreement expired at midnight on Sunday, and the US and Russia are now at loggerheads over a US-coalition led airstrike aimed at Isis militants that hit a Syrian army base over the weekend. The incident provoked Russia, a long standing ally of President Bashar al-Assads government, into calling for an emergency United Nations council meeting on Saturday, where Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the attack put a very big question mark over the future of the ceasefire. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The daughter of a British peer has been shot dead in the Philippines in what is thought to have been a drugs-related murder. A body that was found in a Manila street has been identified as that of Aurora Moynihan, the daughter of Lord Anthony Moynihan, who died in 1991 having fled the UK after facing a string of fraud allegations. The 45-year-old was found with several sachets of drugs about her person and a sign that read: Pusher to the celebrities, you are next. Ms Moynihan was arrested in 2013 during a raid on a drugs den and is believed to be part of a syndicate, according to the Mirror. Since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines, there has been an extreme crackdown on drugs including a wave of vigilante killings that has been widely condemned by the international community. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Ms Moynihans sister Maritoni Fernandez, a well-known film actress in the Philippines, published a statement in which she said the family was taking time to grieve. We as a family have one priority and truth at this point in time and that is to protect her children from further pain and suffering so that they, and we as a family may take this time to grieve, mourn but most of all celebrate the life of this exceptional human being I will forever have the privilege of calling my sister," she said, according to the Telegraph. Ms Moynihans father was described as confidence trickster, brothel-keeper, drug-smuggler and police informer," in his Telegraph obituary. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The number of women convicted of domestic violence has tripled in the last decade, new figures have shown. 1,850 women were convicted of perpetrating the offence in 2006, a figure which rose to 5,641 in 2015. The statistics were released by the Crown Prosecution Service to Parliament following a question submitted by Conservative MP Philip Davies. The data did not specify if the womens victims were male or female, or if the abuse occurred between spouses or partners, or family relatives. However, campaigners say the data serves as a reminder that while the overwhelming majority of domestic abusers are male, women also commit serious abuse and their victims must be considered and supported. In 2015, 92,779 people were convicted of domestic abuse in England and Wales, thereby suggesting that 87,138 or 93.9 per cent of convicted abusers are male, while 6.1 per cent of convicted abusers are female. Under UK law, domestic violence and abuse is defined as incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between people who are or have been intimate partners of family members. The abuse can be psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional and can occur between partners, spouses, parents, children or siblings. Therefore, female abusers could include women abusing male romantic partners, female romantic partners, parents, children or siblings. In 2012, the law changed to include people under the of 18 as well as incidents of coercive control, and this wider definition may be one reason behind the rise in convictions. Commenting on the release of the new figures, Mr Davies said: When people think of domestic violence, they automatically think of men abusing women. But the vast increase in the number of women convicted of domestic violence over the past decade must not be overlooked. We must not forget the male victims. Both male and female perpetrators of domestic violence should be dealt with equally harshly by the courts and more should be done to help victims of domestic violence whether they are men or women. Mark Brooks, Chair of the ManKind Initiative, told The Independent: These growth in convictions over the last decade show both the police and the Crown Prosecution Service have woken up to the fact that women also commit domestic abuse. Given over 100,000 men report to the police every year as victim of this crime, the number of prosecutions should still be far higher. It is difficult to gather accurate data on domestic abuse due to prevailing stigma and fear which means many victims feel unable to speak out or ask for help and instead suffer in silence. The largest data collection on domestic abuse is the Crime Survey of England and Wales, which found that 8.2 per cent of women and 4 per cent of men tell researchers they have experienced an incident which falls under the legal definition of domestic abuse. However, sociologists have raised concerns the Crime Surveys methodology is seriously flawed, resulting in skewed data. The study involves face to face interviews, which other research has shown results in low disclosure rates of abuse as it involves verbalising an attack which many victims feel uncomfortable doing. The study also conducts interviews in peoples homes, raising concerns domestic violence victims will be unable to disclose abuse as their abuser may be in the home and thereby overhear the discussion. Shocking images depict Hindu goddesses as victims of abuse in domestic violence campaign Show all 4 1 /4 Shocking images depict Hindu goddesses as victims of abuse in domestic violence campaign Shocking images depict Hindu goddesses as victims of abuse in domestic violence campaign lakshmi-for-front.jpg Shocking images depict Hindu goddesses as victims of abuse in domestic violence campaign Durga.jpg.jpg Shocking images depict Hindu goddesses as victims of abuse in domestic violence campaign Durga.jpg Shocking images depict Hindu goddesses as victims of abuse in domestic violence campaign lakshmi.jpg It is feared that male victims of abuse may be afraid to ask for help due to concerns that domestic violence is perceived as being something which only happens to women and their abuse may therefore be trivialised or dismissed. Sexist social stereotypes which paint women as passive and meek, while construing men as more aggressive, can stigmatise male victims of female abusers. In addition, gay or bisexual men in same-sex relationships may face the double stigma of being a male victim of violence and also fear homophobic or biphobic attitudes from police when discussing it. The UKs only specialistic domestic violence centre for LGBT victims, including lesbian and bisexual women in same-sex relationships, closed this summer. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A British aircraft took part in the air strike in Syria which led to the deaths of dozens of regime soldiers and has threatened to scupper the recent deal against Isis between the US and Russia. It is believed that a UK Reaper drone was part of the American-led raid on Dayr az Zawr last Saturday A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: We can confirm that the UK participated in the recent coalition air strike in Syria south of Dayr az Zawr on Saturday and we are fully cooperating with the coalition investigation. The UK would not intentionally target Syrian military units. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage. The admission comes on the eve of the second anniversary of Operation Shader Britain joining the American-led coalitions bombing campaign against Isis which initially focused on Iraq. The Cameron Governments decision to extend the mission to Syria caused deep divisions in the country and bitter exchanges during a Commons debate. The Iraqi government had invited the Western coalition to take part in military action against Isis; no such authorisation had come from the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and opponents questioned the legality of the mission. Despite Mr Camerons assertion that the strikes needed to include Syria to crush the head of the snake, subsequent British air strikes in Syria have been extremely limited in numbers, with just 12 per cent taking place in Syria with the rest focusing on Iraq. In pictures: Aleppo bombing Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: Aleppo bombing In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Smoke rises after airstrikes on the rebel-held al-Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Qatarji in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damage of the airstrikes in the rebel-held area of Aleppo on April 28 Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians evacuate an injured man amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike on a rebel-held of Aleppo on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man leads a woman in tears and child out of the scene after airstrikes hit Aleppo AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Civil defence members search for survivors after an airstrike at a field hospital in the rebel held area of al-Sukari district of Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported air strike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in the Bustan al-Qasr rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians help a wounded youth following an air strike on the Fardous rebel held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate people from a damaged building following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo Vladimir Putin ordered Russian air strikes in Syria last year. There were accusations from the Syrian opposition and its Western backers, including Britain, that Moscows strikes were targeting moderate rebels as well as Isis. A deal between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the Russian defence minister, Sergei Lavrov, was supposed to coordinate the air strikes, but the attack on Dayr az Zawr came days later, leading to a furious reaction from Moscow. Damaged trucks carrying aid, in Aleppo (AP) The Pentagon stressed that it had stopped the mission as soon as the Russians sent information that regime soldiers and vehicles may have been hit and expressed regret at the loss of lives. A vest of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent hanging on a damaged vehicle, in Aleppo (AP) However, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Saturday night, Russia accused the US of jeopardising the Syria deal. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, responded: Russia really needs to stop the cheap point scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts and focus on what matters, which is implementation of something we negotiated in good faith with them. In March this year, armed forces minister Penny Mordaunt told the House of Commons that Britain had carried out 200 drone strikes in Iraq and 13 in Syria between 1 September 2014 and 15 March 2016. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Teachers at Christian fundamentalist schools in Britain allegedly performed exorcisms on pupils, beat children in religious rituals and groomed girls for marriage, according to former students who say they have decided to speak out now after years of suffering in silence. The former pupils told The Independent such treatment of children was a terrifying part of life at schools in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s in an environment where they felt too afraid to complain for fear of retribution from school staff, evangelical parents and their close-knit Baptist faith community. One former pupil alleged that in the 1990s pupils at school assemblies would start convulsing amid blood curdling screams as prayers were said for the holy spirit to rid children of demons. The alleged abuse is said to have taken place many years ago at a number of schools in the UK that follow the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum, a form of learning that originated in the southern Baptist states of the US. The former pupils contacted The Independent after reading our June report revealing that some of these schools still teach children that girls must submit to men, homosexuality is unnatural and that creationism is a fact. They said the article jolted their memories of their own experiences. Recommended Read more Christian fundamentalist schools teaching girls they must obey men More than 1,000 4-18 year olds are currently taught in 30 ACE schools in the UK, all of them registered as private institutions. Although the schools are bound by the same safeguarding and child protection regulations as the state sector, former pupils want assurances that monitoring of these schools is more effective than when they attended. One told The Independent that during his time at an ACE school in the 1990s: We were told that we were the children of God and the world was out to get us. So we were isolated and couldnt speak out. There was nobody checking on us. I just took it. Pupils who have traditionally attended the schools tend to come from Christian families who follow a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Former pupils said many of the children will have limited interaction with mainstream society. Textbooks seen by The Independent and allegedly still used in UK schools depict biblical passages advocating theological obedience among science and maths worksheets (Image from Accelerated Christian Education textbook) One former pupil, who attended a school in the 1990s and who has asked not to be named, said: Exorcisms used to happen at school assemblies sometimes. There would be 20 or so children and perhaps five adults. We were told that the holy spirit would come through children. I started convulsing and I couldnt stop. Even when I went to bed I kept convulsing. I was terrified, I really thought it was the holy spirit. We would all begin convulsing. I remember them screaming blood curdling screams and then wed all pray rigorously to get the demons out. Teachers would physically push us. Theyd lay their hands on us when we prayed and theyd push us down. If you didnt fall it was said that you werent really feeling the Lord. It was a very dark thing. It really was insanity. It got completely out of control. Two other former pupils from the 1990s and 2000s alleged they witnessed exorcisms performed on some occasions at other schools, where children were encouraged to speak in tongues. Allegations from ex-pupils include other potential concerns. At some schools, girls were groomed for marriage from a young age, two former students said. They claimed the grooming was done by the church communities that run the schools and by teachers. Methods were said to include controlling girls sexuality and isolating them from boys their own age so they might later be married to much older male members of the church groups. In some schools they were allegedly encouraged to marry soon after they turned 16, as church leaders told them it was Gods will. One woman, who attended a school between the late 1990s and early 2000s, said: There was one girl I knew who married someone more than 20 years older. The man she married had known her since she was seven years old and he was 30. Shed sit on his knee when she was a child. Hed played with her when she was a child. Now theyre married. Its just really creepy. As a young girl, you were told you were not allowed to talk to boys your own age, you had to stand six inches apart from boys at all times at schools, teachers told you theyd hit you with a wooden paddle if you kiss a boy. So you didnt get to meet anyone else and then youre shown sexual interest for the first time and its some creepy old man. It was so sexualised, they were sexualising children. Another former pupil who attended an ACE school in the 1990s said a girl at her school had married a man at 16, when he was in his 40s, and who she had met when he began teaching at her school. She said: You were told from a young age that your role is to support a man and God will lead you to him. The role of women in these religious groups is quite clear. Youre told God has chosen a husband for you and God will lead this man to you. But in reality, pastors and church leaders guide men to you. Its grooming. She added: When I was 18, I experienced it. From the age of 14, the church had been pushing me towards a man in the church group who was eight years older. I was actively encouraged to work with him. They were very pushy about marriage, it was very intimidating. Its very closed and isolating. As a girl, youre left feeling redundant if you dont get married. Youre told its Gods will and youre just wasting time until you get married its your ultimate goal. She said that none of the girls married before the legal age of consent, adding: They are very keen to ensure nothing illegal happened, but the conditioning was around a long time before that. Although all the claims made by former pupils for this article relate to historic incidents, textbooks still used by the schools and seen by The Independent raise current concerns. The books suggest pupils are still taught that the wife is to obey, respect and submit to the leadership of her husband, serving as a helper to him and God desires for [women] to submit to husband[s]. An ACE textbook reportedly used in UK schools (An Accelerated Christian Education textbook reportedly used in UK schools) Other pupils told The Independent there were also historic concerns about corporal punishment, which they say took on a religious characteristic at the ACE schools. They claimed children were beaten with a wooden paddle and then forced into a ritualised religious quasi-ceremony in which prayers were said for their salvation in the 1980s and 1990s. They said that the church groups believed at the time that corporal punishment was Gods will as it stopped children from sinning. Corporal punishment was outlawed in UK private schools in 1998 and there is no suggestion the ACE schools breached that law. David Waldock who attended an ACE school between the ages of 11 and 16 prior to 1998 said: I was beaten with a cane by teachers while a pupil at an ACE school. The school was in the basement of the church. The cane was kept in the vestry. You would be led up to the vestry to a fold down desk, inside was a cardboard case and in that was the cane. The teachers explained to you your offence. You were told to take your trousers down. Then you were bent over a chair with your trousers down and wearing just your underwear. Then you were caned. And then you prayed for forgiveness. It was very ritualised. It was a ritual of confession, administration and prayer for forgiveness. One former pupil who attended an ACE school in the 1990s said a four-year-old boy at her school had special needs which caused him to urinate and defecate uncontrollably in class. She claims the child would be routinely taken to be beaten by the headmaster with a wooden paddle to punish this bad behaviour. She says knowing corporal punishment was happening to other children was extremely distressing: I remember feeling sick. I was so frightened I dug my nails into my hands. A 1993 copy of the ACE teachers training manual, seen by The Independent, appears to instruct teachers in how to administer corporal punishment when children have sinned in ritualised religious ceremonies. It says: Demerits are for procedural violations; the paddle is for moral violations. The manual then lists a step by step process for hitting children. Using Bible verses, explain to the child the principles he has violated. Make sure he clearly understands what he has done wrong position the child so he is leaning forward with his hands on a desk or chair and with his feet spread. Keep the paddle, switch, or belt low to avoid hitting the spine. Pray with the child following corporal correction. Review the offense and show him Hebrews 13.17. Request that he ask the Lord to forgive him for _____ (name the violation) and help him obey Gods Word and those people God has placed in his life to train him. An updated edition of the teacher training manual compiled after 1998 stops advocating corporal punishment by teachers at ACE schools. Christian Education Europe, an organisational body that runs and promotes ACE schools, say stocks of teaching manuals are regularly checked to ensure they are up to date. A former pupil who attended an ACE school in the 1990s said: The kind of people who send their children to schools like these believe in it absolutely. The pastor had absolute power and they could do anything. In June, an investigation by The Independent revealed that textbooks, which the ACE schools use, teach children that homosexuality is unnatural, creationism is a fact and that girls role in society is to become wives and mothers and submit to men. A key element of the schools ethos reportedly comes from a belief in individualistic self-salvation, whereby people must actively accept Gods salvation to enter heaven. By extension, it is believed that children must teach themselves in order to be closer to God. Children are expected to spend the first half of each school day teaching themselves by reading textbooks in silence. In the second half of the school day, children are taught in groups. Some children leave without any official qualifications as they study for an International Certificate in Christian Education, which is not recognised by many employers or universities. Concerns have been raised that this ensures the pupils stay in the church communities for life as they therefore struggle to find work or other opportunities beyond the churches. A spokesperson for Christian Education Europe which provides materials and support for the schools told The Independent: All the schools we serve are inspected by the government inspectorate, Ofsted, and we prepare them to meet the criteria laid down by the common inspection framework. All the schools provide Citizenship on the timetable and we embrace British values as part of the school culture. Life with students is experienced beyond the textbook and carried into an understanding that is suitable for modern day Britain. Many of the former pupils quoted in this article have left the church groups and largely lead secular lives, meaning they have been ostracised by the church and some family members. A spokesperson for Christian Education Europe said they were shocked by the allegations of the former pupils. The spokesperson said they were a provider of an extensive range of curriculum material and services but not responsible for the governance of individual schools and added that it facilitates training to ensure that safeguarding procedures are in place. They said: Christian Education Europe inspects all the schools using the ACE programme and, running parallel with that, Ofsted has carried out official government inspections on all the schools also. We are delighted to confirm to you that findings meet government regulations and standards. We are aware, from safeguarding standards, it would be a criminal offence for information regarding known abuse not to be reported to the authorities. Regarding our resources, CEE regularly reviews the stock we hold to ensure all our materials comply with current legislation. Angela Rayner, Labours shadow Education Secretary, said: These allegations are extremely disturbing and there must be an urgent Government investigation. Jay Harman, faith schools and education campaigner at the British Humanist Association, told The Independent: These are not problems specific to any one religion or to any one type of school, and wherever they are found they threaten the rights and well-being of children just as much as they may do our security. The sooner the authorities recognise that the better. A spokesperson for the Department for Education, said: Schools are held to account much more rigorously than was the case some 30 years ago and every institution, independent or state, must promote the fundamental British values of democracy and mutual respect for all. They are also required to adhere to the Equalities Act. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA Any allegation that those values are not being promoted or discrimination of any kind is taking place in the classroom will be investigated. If upheld, we will take swift action including, where necessary, the removal of an institution from the register of independent schools. A spokesperson for Ofsted, said: The Department for Education is the registration authority for all independent schools. It has laid down a set of standards that independent schools, including faith schools, are required to meet. Ofsted inspects these schools against these standards, at the request of the DfE. Schools must comply with the standards in order to continue as a registered independent school. Independent schools are not required to follow the national curriculum, but they are required to teach a curriculum that encourages respect for other people. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The housing crisis is driving a geographic wedge between the generations, weakening the bond between different age groups, according to new research. The study found that the rise in age segregation, caused by the lack of affordable housing for younger people, is damaging our society. Across England and Wales, the number of neighbourhoods in which half the population is aged over 50 has risen rapidly since 1991, the research from the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) found. In 1991 there were just 65 such neighbourhoods. This had risen to 485 by 2014, 60 per cent of which were rural. But within urban areas, older people, children and young adults are also living increasingly separately. The housing crisis is driving a geographic wedge between the generations, the research said. It means that older and younger generations are increasingly living apart. Since 1991, the median average age of neighbourhoods near the centre of cities has generally fallen by between five and 10 years, the report said. The report identified Cardiff, with its large student population, as the most age segregated city in England and Wales. Brighton, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Southampton were also identified by the report as age segregation hotspots. In Cardiff and Brighton, nearly a quarter of the population would need to move home in order to eliminate age segregation. Surging house prices and a lack of choice for buyers have meant many people in the younger generation have had to move to find affordable housing close to employment. Younger generations are more likely rent than own, but older generations also face a last-time buying crisis due to a general lack of supply and a lack of affordable suitable accommodation to downsize into, the report said. Living apart in this way is making it harder for younger and older generations to look after each other, putting a bigger strain on the NHS. Age segregation also reduces people's opportunities to find work and makes it harder for people to see different generations' perspectives, it said. Angus Hanton, co-founder of the think tank, said segregating communities by age was fostering a lack of understanding of, and empathy for, other generations. Nigel Wilson, chief executive officer of Legal & General, which supported the research, said that the housing crisis had created an intergenerationally unfair society. We need to take bold steps to reverse the negative trends of the last 30 years, he added. This will involve not only an increase in housing supply of 100,000 a year of all tenures, but also a step up in investment in modern infrastructure and modern industries to create the jobs of the future. To break down divides between generations, the report recommended that it should become easier for older generations to subdivide their homes where they already live, to encourage intergenerational living, as well as building new, smaller homes suitable for older people to downsize into and free up larger properties for young families. New, mixed housing developments should also be built that different generations are able to share and the building of housing developments that are only suitable for one age group should be avoided, the report said. The report used figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to make its findings. A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: Building the homes that communities need is an absolute priority for the Government and we have delivered nearly 900,000 since the end of 2009. We've also set out the largest housebuilding programme since the 1970s, doubling the housing budget so we can build a million extra homes. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Scottish Government is providing free doggy bags to hundreds of restaurants across Scotland to reduce food waste. The Good to Go branded bags are being rolled out after a pilot scheme showed that offering customers doggy bags could reduce food waste from leftovers by 40 per cent per restaurant. Nine out of ten restaurants that tried offering customers doggy bags in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Irvine and East Kilbride reported a reduction in food waste of around 40 per cent. Only a fifth of the food waste reduction could be accounted for by the doggy bags, suggesting that other factors, such as better awareness of food waste, had contributed. Further reductions were achieved by asking diners if they actually wanted side dishes and giving the options to change portion sizes and items. Good to go from Zero Waste Scotland on Vimeo. Research from Zero Waste Scotland, the Government-funded body behind the initiative, showed three-quarters of customers would like to be offered a doggy bag. Research carried out prior to the pilot showed that two fifths of people claim the main reason they hadnt previously taken food home from a restaurant visit was that they were too embarrassed to ask," a spokesperson said. Some restaurants said that offering customers a doggy bag actually improved sales as customers who weren't sure if they could manage bigger portions ordered them anyway and took them home. More than one hundred restaurants signed up to the scheme after the successful pilot. Zero Waste Scotland now has plans to invite another hundred restaurants to take part. Restaurants in France are legally obliged to provide doggy bags to customers in an effort to curb food waste. It forms part of an initiative launched by the French government in 2013, with the aim of reducing food wastage by 50 percent by the year 2025. Authorities have a battle on their hands to change the perceptions of French customers and chefs alike. Research has shown that chefs find it degrading to see their meals scraped into a doggy bag, while customers think it is impolite to ask. Food and drink news Show all 35 1 /35 Food and drink news Food and drink news Healthy living makes us more inclined to binge, research suggests Gluten-free breads, dairy-free milks and other plant-based products have been some of the most favoured foods in British supermarkets this year. However, while were busy filling our shopping trolleys with gluten-free goodness, were also jamming it with junk food and alcohol, new research suggests Getty/iStock Food and drink news Growing list of Vegan celebs Making the switch to veganism is a major lifestyle choice, one that many claim can improve energy levels, lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and clear up any skin issues. Beyonce, Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain are among the growing list of Hollywood stars who have eschewed animal products from their diets in recent years. Theres also been an increasing number of professional athletes who have gone vegan, such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and David Haye, thus debunking the myth that following a plant-based diet will leave you feeling weak and malnourished. AFP/Getty/NARAS/iHeartMedia Food and drink news McDonald's has announced the launch of a new vegan burger on its menu in Germany This will mark the first time the German franchise of the fast food chain has offered a vegan burger to its customers. The Big Vegan TS burger consists of a patty made from soy and wheat. It is served in a classic sesame seed bun, and contains salad, tomato, pickles and red onion. McDonald's Germany Food and drink news Drinking too many protein shakes could lead to an increased risk of obesity and a reduced lifespan, a new study has claimed Researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre carried out an investigation to determine the impact excessive consumption of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) has on the body. BCAA supplements are often consumed in the form of powder, which is then added to water to make a shake. Published in journal Nature Metabolism, the study found that while BCAAs help to build muscle, they can also negatively impact an individual's temperament, cause weight gain and lead to a shortened lifespan Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Britain consumes more chocolate than any other country Most people love chocolate but it turns out no one does more than the Brits with the average Brit found to have consumed 8.4 kg of chocolate in 2017, according to new data. Chocolate consumption around the world is on the rise, according to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), which found that in the past year alone, Easter chocolate production has risen by 23 per cent Food and drink news 'Easter eggs should be banned for children under four' Dr Becky Spelman, chief psychologist at Harley Streets Private Therapy Clinic, is calling for Easter eggs to be banned for consumption for children under the age of four, claiming that giving them the opportunity to binge on chocolate so young will give them an unhealthy relationship with food later on. "This is a nightmare situation for parents of this generation as they have no idea how to teach their children to delay their response to cravings, she said, explaining that too many young kids binge on these chocolates because their parents dont know how to stop them. "Once a child starts overeating behaviour at a young age its very hard to turn things around for them in terms of food and their eating habits moving forward, leading to obesity from at very young age," she added PA Food and drink news Pineapple overtakes avocado as the UK's fastest-selling fruit According to Tesco, pineapple has overtaken avocado as the UKs fastest-selling fruit, with sales increasing by 15 per cent in 2017. In comparison, avocado sales rose by just under 10 per cent last year. The popular supermarket says the surge in popularity comes as shoppers buying the versatile fruit are beginning to use it as a main ingredient in everything from curries and barbecues, to juices and cocktails Getty Food and drink news Marks & Spencers launches stoneless avocados Rather than the result of genetic modification, the avocados are formed by an unpollinated avocado blossom. The fruit develops without a seed which in turns stops the growth, creating a small, seedless fruit. Whats more, the skin is actually edible, unlike a regular avocado. The flesh is much like that of a normal avocado - smooth and creamy, pale in colour and rich in flavour M&S Food and drink news Office teabags contain 17 times more germs than a toilet seat, reveals study The average bacterial reading of an office teabag was 3,785, in comparison to only 220 for a toilet seat. Other pieces of kitchen equipment also stacked up highly in their findings, with the bacterial readings averaging at 2,483 on kettle handles, 1,746 on the rim of a used mug and 1,592 on a fridge door handle Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New study shows drinking more coffee leads to a longer life There is good news and a final hope for coffee addicts and lovers. You will now be able to drink coffee for longer as new study shows its can lead to a prolonged life. Scientists showed that those who drank between two and four cups of coffee a day had 18% lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers. PA Food and drink news Coke Zero is replaced with Coke Zero Sugar Coca-Cola is pulling the plug on its Coke Zero. The much loved drink will be replaced with a new improved taste. The move, backed with a 10 million campaign, is said to come from Coca-Cola supporting people to reduce their sugar intake. Coca-Cola want people make this move while not sacrificing sugary taste of Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola Food and drink news Starbucks introduce new avocado spread The avocado craze has grown from hipster brunch restaurants to Starbucks. Starbucks have introduced their new avocado spread earlier this year and it has the internet in debate. Some argue that it not a spread but guacamole while others question if there is any avocado in there at all. When buying the new spread you can also buy an optional toasted bagel. It is a must try for all avocado connoisseurs. Starbucks Food and drink news New Mars chocolate bar The iconic British chocolate bar is about to get its partner in crime. The new bar, named Goodness Knows, will replace the gooey caramel goodness of the mars bar with oats. It is said to be more like a Florentine biscuit with a thin dark chocolate bottom. While being moderately healthy Mars says that is has good intentions. One pack has 154 calories and will sell for about 90p. Mars Food and drink news Wine prices could increase because of Brexit Wine lovers across the UK might soon have to shell out close to a quarter more for their favourite tipple after Brexit, as a weaker pound and sluggish economy takes its toll, a new study shows Rex Food and drink news Chocolate may be good for the heart A new study, published in the British Medical Journal: Heart, found that moderate chocolate intake can be positively associated with lessening the risk of the heart arrhythmia condition Atrial Fibrillation Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Brits throw away 1.4 million bananas each year British families are throwing away 1.4 million bananas that are perfectly good to eat every day at cost of 80m a year, new figures have shown PA/Armin Weigel Food and drink news Rosemary sales spike over exam time There has been a surge a surge in sales of the herb rosemary after a recent study found it helps improve memory. According to high street health food chain Holland & Barrett, sales of the herb have increased by 187 per cent compared to the same time last year Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Gluten-free diets 'not recommended' for people without coeliac disease Avoiding wheat, barley and rye in the belief that a gluten-free diet brings health benefits may do more harm than good, according to a team of US nutrition and medicine experts Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Starbucks launches two new coffee-based drinks Starbucks is launching two new coffee-based drinks in the UK, as it strives to tap into consumers growing appetite for healthy beverages. The Cold Brew Vanilla sweet cream and the Cappuccino Freddo, will both be available in stores throughout the UK from the start of May Twitter/@SbuxCountyHall Food and drink news Cadburys Dairy Milk Tiffin is making a permanent comeback after 80 years The Cadbury Dairy Milk Tiffin, first produced in 1937, is making a permanent comeback to the UK. The raisin and biscuit-filled chocolate bar is being launched after a successful trial last summer saw 3 million chocolate treats at the cost of 1.49 for each 95g bar- purchased by nostalgic customers Cadburys Food and drink news Pizza restaurant makes worlds cheesiest 'Scottie's Pizza Parlor' in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Facebook/Scottie's Pizza Parlor Food and drink news A pizza joint in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Why not eating before a workout could be better for your health A study published in the American Journal of Physiology by researchers at the University of Bath found you might be likely to burn more fat if you have not eaten first Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New York restaurant named best in the world A New York restaurant where an average meal for two will cost $700 has been named the best in the world. Eleven Madison Park won the accolade for the first time after debuting on the list at number 50 in 2010. The restaurant was praised for a fun sense of fine-dining, blurring the line between the kitchen and the dining room Getty Images Food and drink news Why you crave bad food when youre tired Researchers at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago recently presented their results of a study looking into the effects of sleep deprivation upon high-calorific food consumption. Researchers found that those who were sleep-deprived had specifically enhanced brain activity to the food smells compared to when they had a good nights sleep Shutterstock Food and drink news Drinking wine engages more of your brain than solving maths problems Drinking wine is the ideal workout for your brain, engaging more parts of our grey matter than any other human behaviour, according to a leading neuroscientist. Dr Gordon Shepherd, from the Yale School of Medicine, said sniffing and analysing a wine before drinking it requires exquisite control of one of the biggest muscles in the body Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news British dessert eating surges after people ditch healthy eating in February : In heartening news for anyone feeling guilty about quitting their New Year diet, it seems lots of us have given in to our sweet tooths once again. New data from nationwide food-delivery service Deliveroo reveals there was a surge in Brits ordering desserts in February compared to the first month of 2017 Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news US congress debates definition of milk alternatives A new bill has been created that seeks to ban dairy alternatives from using the term milk. Titled the DAIRY PRIDE Act, the name is a tenuous acronym for defending against imitations and replacements of yogurt, milk, and cheese to promote regular intake of dairy every day. It argues that the dairy industry is struggling as a result of all the dairy-free alternatives on the market and the public are being duped too Getty Images Food and drink news Cadburys launches two new chocolate bars UK confectionary giant Cadbury has launched two new chocolate bars, hoping to lure those with a sweet tooth and perhaps help combat some of the challenges it faces from rising commodity prices and a post-Brexit slump in the value of the pound.The companys new products will be peanut butter and mint flavoured. They will be available in most major super markets as 120g bars, priced at 1.49, according to the company Cadburys Food and drink news You can now get a job as a professional chocolate eater The company responsible for some of your favourite chocolate brands think Cadbury, Milks, Prince and Oreo have officially announced an opening to join their team as a professional chocolate taster. The successful candidate will help them to test, perfect and launch new products all over the world. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news MSG additive used in Chinese food is actually good for you, scientist claims For years, weve been told MSG (the sodium salt of glutamic acid) - often associated with cheap Chinese takeaways - is awful for our health and to be avoided at all costs. But one scientist argues it should be used as a supersalt and encourages adding it to food. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Lettuce prices are rising Not only are lettuces becoming an increasingly rare commodity in supermarkets, but prices for the leafy vegetables seem to be rising too. According to the weekly report from the Governments Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a pair of Little Gem lettuces had an average market price of 0.86 in the week that ended on Friday, up from an average of 0.56 in the previous week thats an almost 54 per cent increase. Getty Images Food and drink news Do-It-Yourself restaurant To encourage more people to cook and eat together, IKEA has launched The Dining Club in Shoreditch a fully immersive Do-It-Yourself restaurant . Members of the public can book to host a brunch, lunch or dinner party for up to 20 friends and family. Supported by their very own sous chef and maitre de, the host and their guests will orchestrate an intimate dining experience where cooking together is celebrated and eating together is inspirational Mikael Buck / IKEA Food and drink news Ping Pong menu with a twist Gatwick Airport has teamed up with London dim sum restaurant Ping Pong to create a limited edition menu with a distinctly British twist; including a Full English Bao and Beef Wellington Puff, to celebrate the launch of the airports new route to Hong Kong Food and drink news Zizzi unveil the Maamgharita Unique pizza art has been created by Zizzi in celebration of the Queens 90th birthday. The pizza features the queen in an iconic pose illustrated with fresh and tasty Italian ingredients on a backdrop of the Union Jack Food and drink news Blue potatoes make a comeback Blue potatoes, once a staple part of British potato crops, are back on the menu thanks to a Cambridge scientist turned-organic farmer and Farmdrop, an online marketplace that lets people buy direct from local farms. Cambridge PhD graduate-turned farmer, Adrian Izzard has used traditional growing techniques at Wild Country Organics to produce the colourful spuds, packed with healthy cell-protecting anthocyanin, which had previously disappeared from UK plates when post-war farmers were pushed towards higher-yielding varieties There have been attempts to change the name from doggy bag to gourmet bag to help change attitudes to the practice. The Scottish Government is expanding the Good to Go scheme as part of plans to reduce food waste by 33 per cent by 2025. Good to Go helped to positively change consumer behaviour, and just as significantly that of restaurant owners, managers and staff," a spokesperson said. The Evening Standard, the Independent's sister paper, has launched a campaign on food waste in London. Find out more here. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Londons Parliament Square has been covered in a "graveyard of life jackets" to raise awareness of the thousands of refugees who die at sea. Campaigners from International Rescue Committee (IRC) laid out 2,500 used life jackets overnight to coincide with the United Nations Migration Summit that started on Monday in New York. The life jackets were worn by refugee children and adults crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios, before being abandoned in a warehouse on the Greek island of Lesbos. IRC hopes the display will put pressure on international governments to do more to tackle the crisis. Sanj Srikanthan, the IRCs director of policy and practice, said: This is meant to represent just some of the people who have died crossing the Mediterranean - refugees fleeing conflict just trying to get to safety. 650 of these life jackets were used by children, you can still see the Disney stickers on some of them. Most of them are provided by smugglers, they are not safety checked, some of them absorb water, they become like an anchor if you fall in the water, especially for a child. So, today is meant to represent the tragedy of the modern refugee. The charity hopes its efforts will help raise awareness of the crisis and encourage developed countries such as the UK and the US to resettle more of the most vulnerable refugees. They are also calling for better, more durable aid solutions in affected countries, including increased investment in healthcare and education. Mr Srikanthan also stressed the importance of finding solutions to the world conflicts driving the migration of people. He said: If world leaders put their minds to it they could almost half the number of refugees displaced. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features Were trying to advocate for global solutions. The International Organisation for Migration is expecting the toll of migrant deaths at sea to rise to 10,000 by the end of the year. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The European country that last year was among the top recipients of refugees relative to its population wants the European Union to punish other member states that fail to honor their burden-sharing pledges. Sweden introduced ID checks at its borders in January after taking in some 163,000 asylum seekers from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq. On a per capita basis, Sweden accepted almost three times as many applications as Germany, whose population is eight times bigger. "The EU is big enough to take in many more refugees than it has actually taken, but its impossible if only a few countries are doing so," Swedens minister for EU affairs, Ann Linde, said in an interview in Montreal on Thursday. Swedens criticism comes amid a debate over new EU rules designed to address the uneven distribution of migrants following the biggest influx since World War II. EU governments have yet to live up to their commitment to share some 160,000 people who arrived in the Mediterranean countries of Italy and Greece. Current rules stipulate that refugees must claim asylum in the first European country they reach. Slovakia and Hungary in the east are among the most vocal opponents to the idea of redistributing migrants. In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Refugees sleep on the deck of MV Aquarius Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship An overcrowded rubber vote before a rescue by the MV Aquarius Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Young boy being rescued from a rubber boat by the MV Aquarius Isabelle Serro/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The rescue of a wooden boat with more than 400 peopl on board by the MV Aquarius on 21 August Isabelle Serro/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Women rescued on MV Aquarius approaching Italy in the early morning Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Crew on the MV Aquarius search for a missing boat Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Rescue on the 21st August of a wooden boat carrying more than 400 people and a rubber boat with 120 people crammed on board. Ferry Schippers/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The night rescue of 124 people after they had been on the water for 20 hours by the MV Aquarius Peter Eickmeyer/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The MV Aquarius rescue vessel operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee in the Mediterranean Sea Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Jacob Goldberg, MSF's team leader on board the MV Aquarius rescue ship Alva White/MSF There should be some kind of mechanism to ensure that countries implement their decisions, Linde said. The European Commission in May proposed a more permanent system for relocating refugees across the EU should a gateway country be overwhelmed by arrivals. But the proposal was met with skepticism by some member states and negotiations over the draft law are likely to go on for a year or longer. A final EU accord would also need the support of the European Parliament. "There has to be some kind of reaction" to those who "make an agreement and then dont implement it," the minister said. "There are proposals going around for discussion," she said when asked whether slapping a fine on violators would be justified. Copyright: Bloomberg Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The internet can be a playground for paedophiles, the NSPCC has warned after new figures suggested increasing numbers of children are raising concerns about online abuse and grooming. Statistics from Childline, a service provided by the charity, show counselling sessions for youngsters worried about online sexual abuse jumped by 24 per cent to 3,716 in 2015/16. Most of those contacting the facility were aged between 12 and 15, and the majority were girls. The online abuse category covers issues including grooming, sexual harassment and communications, pressure to engage in or view explicit material online and sexual extortion. One in eight of the counselling sessions in 2015/16 were related specifically to grooming an increase of 21 per cent, the NSPCC said. The charity's chief executive Peter Wanless said: Most of us talk to people online and it's a great way to stay connected and make new friends. But it can be a playground for paedophiles, exposing young people to groomers who trawl social networks and online game forums exploiting any vulnerabilities they may find. Childline founder Esther Rantzen said the internet has brought many positive changes. But it has also brought dangers and online grooming is a real risk, she said. Childine is launching a new campaign titled Listen To Your Selfie which is aimed at helping young people recognise the signs of grooming and unhealthy relationships, both online and offline. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA Mr Wanless said: We hope that by putting this in the spotlight we can help young people to feel able to speak up if they feel worried or scared about a situation or relationship. It is unclear if the increase in calls reflects an increase in instances of abuse, or if children are becoming more likely to seek help when such abuse occurs, due to growing awareness about abuse. The number of people convicted of sexual offences, including child abuse, has soared in recent years. Last year, 6,400 more sex offenders were jailed than in the same period the previous year. Experts say high profile abuse cases such as that of Jimmy Savile's crimes have raised awareness about abuse and encouraged survivors of such crimes to contact authorities. With additional reporting by Press Association Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} "We have some mouldy oranges that I'm going to juice and make a simple syrup. Then I'm going to take a bruised banana that's not fit for sale, it's a bit black, and whack it in the oven on a high heat, and that's it, simple as," says Adam Smith, founder of The Real Junk Food Project. Smith is used to cooking restaurant qualilty meals from food other people throw away. He was a professional chef for over 10 years before he came up with the idea for a cafe serving meals made from food past its expiration date. The idea came after he witnessed the scale of the waste in the agriculatural sector and catering industry while travelling in Australia. Adam set up The Real Junk Food Project with his partner Johanna when he returned to the UK in December 2013, promising to feed bellies, not bins. Members of the project pick up food past its expiration date from supermarkets and skips. They use their own judgement about whether it is fit for human consumption using their eyes, smell and taste. Members of The Real Junk Food Project collect food to use in their 'pay as you feel' cafes. (The Real Junk Food Project) A typical Real Junk Food Cafe might serve lasagne, soups, quiches, salads and cakes. Customers are charged according to what they can afford on a "pay what you feel" basis. "In terms of food safety, that's been cooked at a temperature that's killed off any bacteria that would have potentially harmed somebody," Smith says in the video, presenting roasted banana with an orange syrup. Branches have opened all over the UK and across Europe. Smith estimates the cafes have fed nearly half a million people in 30 months. He's even spoken to the South Korean government about taking them there. It's spawned a new initiative called Fuel For School, diverting food from landfill to feed hungry schoolchildren. Customers at The Real Junk Food Project, in Armley, Leeds (The Real Junk Food Project) Fuel For School is operating in 32 schools in Leeds, with plans to launch in Sheffield, Wigan and Bradford. EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each Show all 8 1 /8 EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each EasyFoodstore opens selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each "I'm hoping for all 236 schools in Leeds by the end of summer 2017," Smith says. He's also spending three days a week in Sheffield, opening more pay as you feel cafes across South Yorkshire and stopping as much edible food from being wasted as possible. Research shows that almost 40 per cent of people think that food shouldn't be eaten after the use-by date. In fact, the use-by date refers to the final day that the product is at optimum freshness, flavour, and texture. After this date, the food will start to decline. But it may still be edible for several days. "I see kids coming into my cafe that can't afford fruit and vegetables," Adam says. "And yet we're allowed to throw away tonnes of edible food every week. It makes me really really angry." If Adam has his way, every city in the UK will have a network of pay as you feel cafes with a warehouse attached to make sure edible food gets into the hands of the hungry, rather than rotting at the bottom of a bin. Find out more about The Real Junk Food Project and Fuel For School. The Evening Standard, the Independent's sister paper, has launched an investigation on food waste in London. Find out more here. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The growing crisis in the NHS and social care system can only be tackled if it is depoliticised, according to Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Norman Lamb, who along with senior health figures from the Labour and Conservative party, is calling for the establishment of a cross-party commission for the NHS. Former Labour Shadow Health Secretary Liz Kendall, and Conservative MP and former junior health minister Dr Dan Poulter also back the task of finding long-term, sustainable solutions to the NHS away from partisan politics. The three MPs will appear together at the Liberal Democrat conference on Monday afternoon, to highlight warnings on the diminishing ability of the NHS to meet demand. Norman Lamb said: "The NHS is a national treasure, but its future cannot be taken for granted. "Services are under intolerable pressure as funding fails to keep pace with demand. The evidence is overwhelming that rationing of treatment, longer waiting times, and deteriorating care will become increasingly rife if we carry on as we are. "In a country with the worlds sixth largest economy, it should be possible to have a world-class, publicly-funded NHS free at the point of use, and a care sector where nobody loses out because they cant afford to pay crippling fees." Demand for services from the NHS is increasing by about 4 per cent every year, while the percentage of GDP that is spent on it is reducing. The social care system is forecast to face a 6bn shortfall by 2020 according to the independent Health Foundation Mr Lamb has also launched a consultation on the introduction of a NHS specific income tax, which would ring fence a possible one pence per pound earned for the NHS budget, and appear on peoples payslips as such. Mr Lamb said: "Paying for [the NHS] out of the general tax pot results in real distortion of other priorities. "Simply protecting health spending during tough economic times means that other vital services like education take a disproportionate hit. "My belief is that if people could see that their money was going directly to the NHS and, critically, social care, then they would be prepared to pay a bit more if it was clear that it was needed." Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty Mr Lamb told reporters: "Everyone knows the NHS needs more money and people are scared, political parties are scared, very nervous, about saying anything about tax. "Political parties see it as not in their interests to be completely honest about the scale of the problem, and so nothing is said. "There's complete dishonesty with the public about this, and yet all the professionals know how dire the situation is." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Downing Street has rejected a Boris Johnson-backed proposal to recommission the royal yacht and use it to conduct trade deals once Britain has left the European Union. The ship Britannia, which acted as the Queens private yacht between 1954 and 1997, hosted trade talks in the early 1990s before being axed by Tony Blair in 1997. It is currently docked in Scotland. Referring to the campaign led by Tory backbencher Jake Berry, the Foreign Secretary appeared to give the idea momentum after the Sun newspaper quoted a friend of Mr Johnson as saying: Boris is certainly intrigued by the idea Jake has floated. Britannia is a great symbol of global Britain. Mr Berry, who was planning to draw attention to the plan next month in Westminster, said last week: In her latter years the royal yacht Britannia is estimated to have brought in 3billion of commercial trade deals between 1991 and 1995. During those profitable years, she hosted business figures from across the globe for sea days onboard trade talks. But today a Downing Street spokesman bluntly rejected the idea. What were trying to do as a Government is forge an ambitious plan to exploit the opportunities that the EU represents. The ambition is to be a global leader in free trade. There are a number of ways we can go about doing that but as far as Im aware, the recommissioning of the Britannia is not on the agenda for that, he said. On Saturday, the Daily Telegraph launched the campaign calling for the yacht to be recommissioned. In an editorial the paper added: Brexit, and the need to negotiate new trade deals, is calling the royal yacht back to service. A debate has begun over whether or not to return Britannia to sea or to commission a replacement. Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Show all 27 1 /27 Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Andrea Leadsom Andrea Leadsom has been appointed Secretary for Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Priti Patel Priti Patel has been appointed International Development Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Alun Cairns Alun Cairns will stay on as Welsh Secretary Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Karen Bradley Karen Bradley is now Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Rex Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Greg Clark Greg Clark has been appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? James Brokenshire James Brokenshire has been appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Stephen Crabb Stephen Crabb has resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Theresa Villiers Theresa Villiers will not return as Northern Ireland Secretary. She was reportedly offered a role by Theresa May, but turned it down, saying it was not one she felt could take on Getty Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Chris Grayling Chris Grayling has been appointed Transport Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Damien Green Damien Green has been appointed Work and Pensions Secretary Getty Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Liz Truss Liz Truss has been appointed Justice Secretary Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Patrick McLoughlin Patrick McLoughlin who was Transport Secretary has been appointed Tory Party chairman and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Justine Greening Justine Greening has been appointed as Education Secretary Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Gavin Williamson Gavin Williamson is to become the new Government Chief Whip Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Hunt will continue as Health Secretary Getty Images Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Nicky Morgan Nicky Morgan lost her job as Education Secretary Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Michael Gove Michael Gove has been sacked as Justice Secretary Reuters Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? John Whittingdale John Whittingdale left his job as Culture Secretary EPA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Oliver Letwin Oliver Letwin, the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, has been sacked from his role in the cabinet PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Philip Hammond The former Foreign Secretary has been made Chancellor EPA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Boris Johnson Leading Brexit campaigner is given the role of Foreign Secretary Getty Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Amber Rudd Leading Remain campaigner takes Theresa May's old job of Home Secretary PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Michael Fallon Stays as Defence Secretary AP Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? Liam Fox The former Defence Secretary is named as head of new Department for International Trade PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? David Davis The former shadow Home Secretary and leadership rival to David Cameron is named Secretary of State for Leaving the European Union - aka Brexit minister PA Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? George Osborne Gone as Chancellor - and fails to secure any new role in May's government GETTY Theresa May's Cabinet: Who's in and who's out? David Mundell The Conservative Party's only Scottish MP retains his role as Scottish Secretary Getty Images It has demonstrated its potential before: Britannia brought in an estimated 3bn in commercial deals between 1991 and 1995. Now that the UK is taking back control of its national trade arrangements from Brussels, engagement with countries such as Australia and Canada is primed to begin. Britain is rediscovering its ancient role as a seafaring, mercantile power. In that context, the symbolism of the royal yacht is striking. The royal yacht Britannia is currently a popular tourist attraction moored in the Port of Leith. Cared for by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, it is part of the National Historic Fleet. It attracts about 300,000 visitors each year. The steam-powered vessel sailed more than one million nautical miles during its 43-year tenure as the royal yacht Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The leaders of the other 27 European Union countries will sign a trade deal with the UK, Theresa May has insisted as she committed to be "ambitious" in the negotiations. The Prime Minister claimed that a good deal for the UK would also benefit the remaining members of the bloc. She distanced herself from International Trade Secretary Liam Fox's attack on British business culture as she urged firms to take the opportunities offered by Brexit. She was speaking after Slovakian leader Robert Fico warned that Britain should expect the negotiation process to be "very painful". Ms May told reporters accompanying her on her visit to the UN General Assembly in New York that a deal would be done and she had previously had constructive talks with Mr Fico. She said: "The 27 will sign up to a deal with us, we will be negotiating with them. We will be ambitious in what we want to see for the United Kingdom. "I think that's right for us to do that. But I think that a good deal for the UK can also be a good deal for the other member states. Theresa May to UN summit: Uncontrolled migration must be stopped "I believe in good trading relations, I have said I want the UK to be a global leader in free trade." She said the Brexit talks were not only about the UK but about trading relationships within the "European arena" as a whole. Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Show all 12 1 /12 Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Brexit protest: Thousands march in London A woman poses with a home-made European Union flag as Remain supporters gather on Park Lane in London to show their support for the EU in the wake of Brexit PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Remain supporters demonstrate in Parliament Square PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Tens of thousands of people gathered to protest the result of the EU referendum PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London A majority of people in the capital voted to remain in the European Union Reuters Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Protesters chanted: What do we want to do? Stay in the EU PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London The march follows a similar rally in Trafalgar Square that was cancelled due to heavy rain but which tens of thousands of people turned up to anyway Reuters Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum by 52 per cent to 48 per cent Reuters Brexit protest: Thousands march in London But support for the Leave campaign in urban areas and among young people was significantly lower Rex features Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Marchers gathered at Park Lane at 11am and marched towards Parliament Square PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London Some protesters held up baguettes in a display of affection for our continental neighbours PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London The disparity between different parts of the country has promoted a four million signature petition calling for a second referendum and even a renewed push for Scotland to cede from the UK PA Brexit protest: Thousands march in London The events organiser, Kings College graduate Kieran MacDermott, wrote: We can prevent Brexit by refusing to accept the referendum as the final say and take our finger off the self-destruct button" Reuters Ms May distanced herself from Dr Fox's unguarded comments about "fat" and "lazy" British business leaders being more interested in golf than winning export orders. She said: "We all put things in different ways." Recommended Read more Theresa May urged to come clean over Brexit negotiations Ms May continued: "What Liam is doing is encouraging British businesses to export and that's an important part of his role as Secretary of State for International Trade. "Yes, it's about trading deals with other countries, which is important as we come to leave the EU, but it's also about encouraging investment from other countries into the UK and encouraging businesses in the UK to be exporting. "We have always been a great trading nation, let's get out there and take the opportunities." There are reportedly divisions within the Cabinet over the best approach to Brexit and Mrs May said it was "important to have a range of views" when taking a decision. Ms May distanced herself from comments by Trade secretary Liam Fox who suggested that British businesspeople were 'lazy and fat' (House of Commons) "But ultimately we will take a decision collectively as Government as to how best to address these issues and how best to approach them. "The Exiting the EU Department is the focus of those negotiations, but obviously others around the table all have interests in how those go. "We are very clear we want to get the right deal for the United Kingdom, that's for trade in goods and services." PA Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Corbyn has made clear he will only consider allowing MPs to elect the Shadow Cabinet if the partys 500,000 members also have a say. The leader said he was aware that MPs, many of whom have criticised him, want the power to select his front bench. But Mr Corbyn said giving a say to Labour members, who are expected to overwhelming back him in the contest, must be addressed at the same time by the partys ruling body at a meeting on Tuesday. The Labour leader told The Independent: On Tuesday our national executive meets, were going to look at the whole issues of democracy in the party. Yes Im very well aware of the wish of Labour MPs to have some elections to the Shadow Cabinet. But theres also the question of representation of party members in decision-making bodies in the party. We have now more than half a million members so I think we need to think about that as well. Allowing the party membership to elect Shadow Cabinet positions was labelled deeply divisive by Owen Smith, as the Labour leader was forced to deny claims he will use the boundary review to enforce deselection on MPs who have been hostile towards him. Mr Corbyn said his plans, which would allow the party membership to directly elect a third of the positions in the Shadow Cabinet and the MPs a further third, was an attempt to reach out to the wider party and restore unity after the leadership election. Its presented as apparently being a conciliatory gesture by Jeremy. It isn't a conciliatory gesture, its not simply an attempt to extend democracy in the Labour Party, Mr Smith told Sky News. It's an attempt to deepen divisions between new members and MPs. It's an attempt to further cement his position and use the membership as a means of driving a wedge between the MPs and his leadership. Mr Smith is one of many Labour MPs that have advocated a return to Labours old system of the parliamentary party directly electing the Shadow Cabinet, which would prevent Mr Corbyn only selecting MPs who are loyal to him, and also make it easier for senior figures who have left the Shadow Cabinet in protest at Mr Corbyns leadership to return. If he was serious about trying to unify the party he would be taking serious the notion of going back to the traditional method we have had of guaranteeing that there was some balance in the Shadow Cabinet, and everybody felt in the party that they had some representation, which was election through the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party], Mr Smith added. Im in favour of us having more democracy in the Labour Party but I dont think Jeremy and his team can get away with saying that this is all about an olive branch when really and truly its about deepening the divisions that hes created in the party. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA The party membership overwhelmingly backs Mr Corbyn, but 80 per cent of the partys MPs do not. The proposals, which include the final third of MPs being chosen by the leader, will be presented to Labours National Executive Committee on Tuesday, when a decision could be made on whether they become policy. The committee is balanced in favour of the leader, and recently ruled that his name would be automatically on the ballot for the leadership election, without having to seek nominations from MPs. Deputy leader Tom Watson will also present plans to reintroduce elections to the Shadow Cabinet, which were scrapped under Jeremy Corbyn. Meanwhile, MP for Hove, Peter Kyle said he agreed with the claims made in a documentary to be broadcast on Monday night that there was a plot underway by pro-Corbyn activists to deselect him. The Channel 4 Dispatches program The Battle for the Labour Party will show Mark Sandell, the suspended chairman of Brighton and Hove Labour, saying Mr Kyle had every good reason to feel nervous and discussing handing out redundancy notices to MPs. Mr Kyle said: There are people who've fought for other parties for their whole lives whove now joined in the last few weeks and theyre now trying to beat the Labour Party in a different way, and thats by getting rid of me. So, I have to carry on doing my job, their job seems to be defeating me. On Mr Corbyn, he said: You know, Jeremy is the first person Ive come across who uses an olive branch as a weapon to beat people with. On the same day that theyre holding out an olive branch, they release a list of MPs who they say hate Jeremy. This is not the kind of inclusive leadership that I would expect. Shadow Defence Secretary and Corbyn ally Clive Lewis told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show that there would be a democratic selection process in Labour seats, prompted by the boundary review, but Mr Corbyn denied this was a threat to MPs who have been hostile to him. It's not a veiled threat, its not a direct threat either, its not any kind of threat, he told ITVs Peston on Sunday. What it is, is simply describing the process. There are going to be 600 new constituency Labour parties formed, as there will be for other parties, and they will go through a selection process. Mr Corbyn also did not deny claims in The Mail on Sunday that he had discussed plans to oust deputy leader Tom Watson from his position which is directly elected by the party membership as well as Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol. The Labour leader said the two men were obviously part of the discussion he and his close aides were having about the future of the party. Former acting party leader Margaret Beckett told the BBC there was no precedent for removing a deputy leader in this or any other way. The leadership election will conclude on Saturday, with Mr Corbyn expected to win by an even greater margin than his landslide victory last year. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Downing Street has said it will not be refunding members of staff who donated towards Larry the cats veterinary care. Larry was spotted limping after he was apparently injured during a fight with Palmerston, the Foreign Offices chief mouser. It is the latest clash between the two felines, after Larry injured Palmerstons ear during an altercation in 2011. Staff from Number 10 donated money to cover the cost of veterinary care for Larry who is now expected to make a full recovery. Downing Street said they did not issue formal statements on the pet, but did say any costs relating to Larry are met by Downing Street staff on a voluntary basis. Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen, Lords Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, responded to questions about the stricken animal. There was no compulsion to donate and no refunds have been requested. The remaining funds will contribute towards the future upkeep of the Chief Mouser, she said. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA The incident has led to questions in the House of Lords about the care of animals owned by the Government. What arrangements have they put in place to ensure that there is proper routine and emergency veterinary treatment for government cats, and any other officially owned animals in government service? Asked Lord Blencathra. The question has yet to be answered. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Senior Liberal Democrats are divided on the question of whether a second referendum must be held on the terms of Britains Brexit deal. Leader Tim Farron has made a second referendum on EU membership his partys central promise as it seeks to mount a fightback based on attracting to Remain voters, a policy supported by the partys Brexit spokesperson Nick Clegg But at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, Vince Cable and Paddy Ashdown have both said the party must accept that the country has voted to leave the EU, with Cable warning of the risks of holding another vote. Recommended Read more Tim Farron says May could be forced to hold a second referendum The second referendum raises a lot of fundamental problems, Mr Cable said. What happens if you win? Is that binding? Do you have to do a third? Which side would we be on if there was a soft Brexit, would we support Theresa May or would we be with Nigel Farage voting it down? I dont think the second referendum is a panacea to anything. Paddy Ashdown told reporters that the referendum had put the issue to bed. The Lib Dem position remains that given a choice between in and out wed like to go back in but we dont have that choice because the British people have spoken, the former leader told reporters. If it has to be out, then its as close to Europe as possible. But we accept that judgement. If a second referendum was called we wouldnt abandon a position we held for forty years. We are not abandoning our position that Britain is better off inside as that choice is not in front of us. The referendum put that to bed. Who knows, sometime in the future, it may come back. But Nick Clegg told a fringe meeting on Europe that a referendum on the terms of Brexit would, in fact, be the first referendum on the matter. The key thing to tell people is that if the Brexiteers had bothered to tell people what Brexit meant, there would be no case for any more referendums, he said. Because they would have both the mandate to pull us out of the European Union, and they would have the mandate for how to. Over 17 million people voted to Leave. We accept that without question. We are certainly not advocating a second referendum. We are advocating a first referendum on what the actual terms of departure are. Thats a perfectly reasonable thing to say. The Liberal Democrats lost 48 seats at the 2015 general election, taking their number down to eight. They hope that taking an unashamedly pro-Europe stance could turn their fortunes around, but the UK is likely to have left the EU entirely by the time of the next election, which is scheduled for 2020, and will almost certainly not be permitted to rejoin on the same beneficial terms it currently has. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Just 53 per cent of Brexit voters think the Government can get a good deal for the economy when negotiating the UK's withdrawal from the EU, a new poll suggests. The Institute for Government survey found that figure dropped to just 25 per cent among Remain voters. The study suggests that almost three months since the referendum result was announced, Britons remain unsure of the UK's future and what Brexit will mean for the country. The figures also represent a signifcant challenge for Theresa May, as she tries to instill confidence as she steers negotations. The Prime Minister's much mocked maxim that "Brexit means Brexit" has left many questions unanswered. She has given no clear signal on whether the country intends to stay in the European single market or not and membership is seen by EU leaders as incompatible with getting full control over immigration. The conundrum has become central to the Brexit debate and has caused friction within the Government as ministers weigh up how to maintain the benefits of the trading bloc while regaining full control of the UK's borders - a goal deemed by Mrs May as essential to properly implement the referendum result. Meanwhile, the poll also found rising levels of trust in politics, with 8% more people than in 2014 believing politicians prioritise policies that are best for the country. Similarly, 7% more believe they are prioritising long-term decisions and 5% more think they are prioritising running government professionally. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA Respondents also thought politicians were less likely to focus on scoring political points (down 4%) or getting re-elected (down 8%) than in 2014. Populus interviewed 2,035 British adults online between August 31 and September 1. Data is weighted to be nationally representative. With additional reporting by agencies Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Scottish independence rally attended by senior SNP MPs has been accused of homophobia after performers referred to Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson as a dyke. Whitsherface, a Scottish comedy troupe, performed a comedy rap battle at the Scottish Independence Convention event in Glasgow where the compere was dubbed Ruth Dykey-D. The performance made several other references to Ms Davidsons sexuality during its depiction of a rap-off between leading Scottish female politicians which also included Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and SNP MP Mhairi Black. The troupe got a big round of applause at the event to commemorate the second anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum which saw Scots back remaining in the union by 55 per cent to 45 per cent. Former first minister Alex Salmond and several other high ranking SNP MP and MSPs spoke at the event. The Scottish Conservatives, which became the second largest party in Holyrood following the elections in May, condemned the language and called for the nationalist partys politicians to distance themselves from it. A spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph: The nationalists are always the first to scream offence at anything that even mildly upsets them. But when it's a joke at the expense of pro-UK campaigners, it's suddenly harmless and hilarious. The SNP should be lambasting this, but instead its elected representatives are praising it on social media. Annie Wells, a Conservative MSP in Glasgow who is also gay, said the performance was completely out of order and shameful. But the partys home affairs spokesman in Westminster, Joanna Cherry MP defended the sketch on Twitter calling it hilariously irreverent satire. She accused Twitter users who had reacted with outrage of mansplaining homophobia to her. She said that as a gay woman she was frequently on the receiving end of homophobic abuse but had heard none at the rally. She later said it was a shame if anyone was offended today even though she wasnt. She said she was a long term supporter of LGBT rights and obviously condemned homophobia. Following the furore, Witsherface defended their skit on Twitter saying comedy is subjective. The director of Stonewall Scotland, Colin Macfarlane, told Pink News: Calling someone a dyke is homophobic. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA If it goes unchallenged it gives the green light for others to follow suit. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There should be a better distinction between refugees and people attempting to enter a country for economic reasons, Theresa May will tell world leaders as she sets out plans to tackle the migrant crisis at a major United Nations summit. The Prime Minister will say that refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and stress that nations have a right to control their borders and a responsibility to prevent illegal and uncontrolled migration. She will put forward her plan to address the unprecedented levels of population movement around the world at the gathering in New York. At the UN summit for refugees and migrants, Mrs May will say that urgent measures are needed to address the issue and maintain public confidence in the economic benefits of legal and controlled migration. Fear and Loathing in Great Britain Mrs May will argue that refugees should seek asylum in the first safe country they arrive in because the current trend of onward movement exposes them to increased danger and benefits criminal gangs. She will warn that the large-scale movements being seen around the world are not in the interests of migrants or the countries they are leaving, travelling through or seeking to reach. The crisis also risks undermining popular support and resources for refugees. Ahead of the summit, Mrs May said: Across the world today, we are seeing unprecedented levels of population movement and we need to work together to find a better response, which focuses our humanitarian efforts on those refugees in desperate need of protection and maintains public confidence in the economic benefits of legal and controlled migration. This is an urgent matter - more people are displaced than at any point in modern history and it is vital that we provide ongoing support for those people most in need of protection. The three principles at the centre of her plan are that refugees should seek asylum when they reach a safe country rather than travelling onwards, that a better distinction should be drawn between refugees and migrants, and that countries have a right to control their own borders and a duty to reduce illegal migration. In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Refugees sleep on the deck of MV Aquarius Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship An overcrowded rubber vote before a rescue by the MV Aquarius Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Young boy being rescued from a rubber boat by the MV Aquarius Isabelle Serro/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The rescue of a wooden boat with more than 400 peopl on board by the MV Aquarius on 21 August Isabelle Serro/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Women rescued on MV Aquarius approaching Italy in the early morning Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Crew on the MV Aquarius search for a missing boat Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Rescue on the 21st August of a wooden boat carrying more than 400 people and a rubber boat with 120 people crammed on board. Ferry Schippers/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The night rescue of 124 people after they had been on the water for 20 hours by the MV Aquarius Peter Eickmeyer/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The MV Aquarius rescue vessel operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee in the Mediterranean Sea Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Jacob Goldberg, MSF's team leader on board the MV Aquarius rescue ship Alva White/MSF The Prime Minister said: As the world's second-largest bilateral humanitarian donor, the UK is already playing its part and we will step up our efforts with further financial assistance and concrete action in partnership with the countries most affected. But we cannot simply focus on treating the symptoms of this crisis, we need to address its root causes too. While we must continue our efforts to end conflict, stop persecution and the abuse of human rights, I believe we also need a new, more effective global approach to manage migration. This should be based around three principles which will better serve the interests of migrants, who are exposed to danger; the interests of the countries they are leaving, travelling through or seeking to reach; and, most importantly, the interests of refugees, for whom we all share a responsibility to help. As well as speaking at the UN event, chaired by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Mrs May will also take part in a summit on refugees hosted by US president Barack Obama on Tuesday. By setting out her plan, Mrs May is laying down an early marker as the UN begins two years of negotiations on politically binding compacts on refugees and migrants. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has warned world leaders at the United Nations that they have a duty to stop the onward flow of migrants. In a short speech in New York, the Prime Minister fiercely backed the right of other countries to control their borders, following an EU referendum campaign dominated by immigration. Her words also go to the heart of tensions between EU countries, with southern European nations taking on unprecedented numbers of migrants, while member states further north tighten border controls. Recommended Read more Theresa May to demand action on refugees at UN summit She was addressing a special meeting as she claimed uncontrolled migration was exposing people to danger and reducing support for those fleeing war zones. Mrs May said: We need to be clear that all countries have the right to control their borders and protect their citizens and be equally clear that countries have a duty to manage their borders to reduce onwards flows of illegal and uncontrolled migration. We need to do more to help them do so. David Miliband: UK should take four times more refugees At her first UN General Assembly gathering, she then explained how she thought leaders could successfully tackle a migration crisis that has put massive strain on Europe and been blamed as a key factor in the Brexit vote. She went on: Of course controlled legal and safe migration benefits our economies, and there is nothing wrong with the desire to migrate for a better life. But the uncontrolled migration we see today is not in the interests of migrants who are exposed to danger, not in the interest of the countries they are leaving, travelling through or seeking to reach, and not in the interest of refugees for whom resources and popular support are reduced. She said the first goal should be to ensure refugees claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, adding that the UN should embed this as a principle. Politicians in northern and western Europe have demanded adherence to the principle as large numbers of refugees and migrants from Syria and North Africa have landed in Italy and Greece with the goal of heading for countries like Germany, France and the UK. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features Mrs May said: The current trend of onward movement benefits criminals gangs, endangers people and reduces the prospects of refugees ever returning home to rebuild their countries. So we must do far more to support the first safe countries themselves, assisting the refugees and host communities an approach that is starting to work in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. She then said: Second, we need to better distinguish between refugees and economic migrants. Failing to do so only encourages more people to put their lives in the hands of criminal gangs. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable said Liam Fox doesnt understand the issues with regard to Brexit, and ought to be redundant. Speaking to The Independent at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, Sir Vince said: I have very little time for Liam. David Davis is a serious, intelligent guy. [Liam] Fox is very flakey, fanatical and a neocon and he actually doesnt understand the issues. It is very clear, for example, when he is interrogated that he doesnt understand what a customs union is and why it matters. The two men both served in the coalition cabinet under David Cameron until Mr Fox was forced to resign as Defence Secretary after just over a year, when it emerged a close friend had been accompanying on official government trips and masquerading as an advisor. Mr Fox was brought back into the government by Theresa May as head of a new Department for International Trade, with responsibility for negotiating trade deals around the world. He will not survive, I dont think, because his department has no purpose. They cant negotiate with other countries until weve left the European Union, so hes redundant, and he ought to be redundant, Sir Vince added. He also said there should be a general election now, as there is a new government, doing new things, and said it would be up to the Liberal Democrats to put pressure on the government to ensure as soft a Brexit as possible. There is a split in the government between the hard Brexit and the soft Brexit. If Theresa May is successful in negotiating a soft Brexit then we would support that, against the headbanging Tories and Ukip on the other side. Tim Farron says Theresa May could be forced to hold a second EU referendum A spokesman for the Department of International Trade said: "The Liberal Democrats have launched a number of personal attacks on Dr Fox recently. Britain has regained its self-conference [sic], it's sad that those who have been rejected by the electorate insist on talking down our country." The Liberal Democrats appear to be divided on leader Tim Farrons promise to have a second referendum on the terms of Brexit, but Sir Vince said this was merely about, The best way of keeping the government to account when theyve decided on their exit position. What happens, two years down the track when youve got a basic outline of what weve negotiated. It cant just be implemented by executive fear. Theres got to be some sort of approval mechanism. I would favour parliament doing it. After all, theyve abdicated their duty, letting this lot get a referendum. That would be my preferred route. But however its done - election, parliament, referendum - theres got to be a holding to account at that point, he said. The deed is done. The vote has happened. What we have to do is respect the outcome, thats crucial. But we have to try and salvage as much as possible the European connection, which is incredibly valuable to us economically. What we should be doing is trying to encourage Mrs May to negotiate a Brexit which is as soft as possible, which has the single market, the customs union, the regulatory framework, the environmental regulations, but we are going to have to change where we were before. There will have to be action on migration for example. The former Business Secretary said businesses should work out the exact implications for different types of Brexit, and they should be putting pressure on the government to ensure a soft Brexit. If I were still Business Secretary, I would be telling business people to work out exactly what the implications are for different kinds of Brexit. I would be pretty clear that the one thing they shouldnt lose is the customs union because that is potentially catastrophic for manufacturing, he said. The chances of getting a soft Brexit are not great, but we have to try. The alternative is that we finish up with a hard Brexit which would be absolutely catastrophic and we must avoid it. A friend of Dr Fox told The Independent: "A major part of Liam's role is promote British exports around the world and attract investment. If Vince Cable doesn't think that's a real job then it's just as well he doesn't hold public office any more." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Who is he? The NYPD and FBI have said they are "asking for assistance in locating" a man named Ahmad Khan Rahami in relation to the New York bombing. He is 28 years old, about 5 6 tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds (90kg). He has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Mr Rahami could be armed and dangerous. "We need to get this guy in right away," De Blasio said on CNN. "My experience is when the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them." Where is he from? The FBI says Mr Rahami is a US citizen. He was born in Afghanistan, on 23 January, 1988. Where does he live? Mr Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth, a town in New Jersey about 15 miles southwest of Manhattan. That matches an address which was raided by the FBI and ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) earlier on Monday. The suspect's family runs a fried chicken restaurant on the first floor of the home, First American Fried Chicken, which has been a cause of complaints from neighbours since it opened in 2010, the New York Times reports. According to one neighbour, Dean McDermott, the elder Mr Rahami was seen a few days ago hauling "computer equipment" into his garden, dousing it in flammable liquid and setting it on fire. In pictures: New York bomb explosion Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: New York bomb explosion In pictures: New York bomb explosion A police robot accidentally detonated one of five explosive devices left outside a train station in New Jersey. Officials said the bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism in a bid to defuse it - but instead set off an explosion. The device had been left in a backpack and placed in a bin outside the train station in Elizabeth Universal News And Sport (Europe In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department stands guard in Herald Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (3-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (2-R) tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York on September 18, 2016. The bomb that exploded in New York AFP/Getty In pictures: New York bomb explosion A genral view down the street near the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (L) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hug after touring the site of the bomb blast on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A mangled dumpster sits on the sidewalk at the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion An explosion in a construction dumpster that injured 29 people is being labeled an "intentional act". A second device, a pressure cooker, was found four blocks away that an early investigation found was likely also a bomb Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (2-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (3-R) stand in front of a mangled dumpster while touring the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department K-9 Unit patrols on a subway train between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion FBI agents review the crime scene of remnants of bomb debris on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Members of the NYPD, FBI, ATF and other agencies investigate the the scene, following a late night explosion on West 23rd Street in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials mark the ground near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, walks from the scene of an explosion on West 23rd street in Manhattan AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers stand near the site of an explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion Evidence markers on the street surround police and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials near the site REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A fire truck is seen near a blocked off road near the site of an alleged bomb explosion on West 23rd Street AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City firefighters stand near the site of the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency services officer and his dog check a bin close to the scene EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police and Fire Department at the scene of the explosion EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City firefighter uses a wheeled stretcher to carry supplies near the site of the explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency service heavy weapons officer guards close to the scene of the explosion on 23rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenue EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, and NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill, center right, speak during a press conference near the scene AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Emergency Services units are deployed on 27th Street and 7th Avenue where police found a second explosive device EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion Police investigators look through the debris on the street in front of St. Vincent de Paul church where the explosion occurred EPA Follow the latest updates on the New York bombing in our live blog here What is he wanted in connection with? On its "wanted" poster, the FBI says: "Rahami is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion that occurred on September 17, 2016, at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street, New York City." That bombing saw 29 people injured when a pressure cooker device exploded in a dumpster, scattering ball bearings and shrapnel. A second device, which failed to explode, was later found four blocks away on 27th St. Police have not said if Mr Rahami is wanted in connection to that bomb, though Governor Andrew Cuomo has previously said the devices "seem to be connected". Elizabeth, New Jersey is also the scene where another bomb was found on Sunday night. A backpack containing as many as five potential explosive devices was found dumped in a bin at an Elizabeth train station. One of the devices exploded early on Monday morning as a bomb squad robot tried to defuse it. In a later update, the authorities said they were seeking Mr Rahami in relation to the New Jersey bomb as well. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} When a pressure-cooker bomb packed with shrapnel exploded in Manhattan on Saturday night, injuring 29 people, New Yorks governor was quick to say it was obviously an act of terrorism. But there has been some debate over whether the explosion constitutes an act of terror and some officials have been reluctant to label it as such. Who says the explosion was an act of terrorism? A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news conference. A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity. Thats how well consider it. And thats how we will prosecute it. In pictures: New York bomb explosion Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: New York bomb explosion In pictures: New York bomb explosion A police robot accidentally detonated one of five explosive devices left outside a train station in New Jersey. Officials said the bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism in a bid to defuse it - but instead set off an explosion. The device had been left in a backpack and placed in a bin outside the train station in Elizabeth Universal News And Sport (Europe In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department stands guard in Herald Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (3-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (2-R) tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York on September 18, 2016. The bomb that exploded in New York AFP/Getty In pictures: New York bomb explosion A genral view down the street near the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (L) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hug after touring the site of the bomb blast on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A mangled dumpster sits on the sidewalk at the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion An explosion in a construction dumpster that injured 29 people is being labeled an "intentional act". A second device, a pressure cooker, was found four blocks away that an early investigation found was likely also a bomb Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (2-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (3-R) stand in front of a mangled dumpster while touring the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department K-9 Unit patrols on a subway train between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion FBI agents review the crime scene of remnants of bomb debris on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Members of the NYPD, FBI, ATF and other agencies investigate the the scene, following a late night explosion on West 23rd Street in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials mark the ground near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, walks from the scene of an explosion on West 23rd street in Manhattan AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers stand near the site of an explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion Evidence markers on the street surround police and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials near the site REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A fire truck is seen near a blocked off road near the site of an alleged bomb explosion on West 23rd Street AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City firefighters stand near the site of the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency services officer and his dog check a bin close to the scene EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police and Fire Department at the scene of the explosion EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City firefighter uses a wheeled stretcher to carry supplies near the site of the explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency service heavy weapons officer guards close to the scene of the explosion on 23rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenue EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, and NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill, center right, speak during a press conference near the scene AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Emergency Services units are deployed on 27th Street and 7th Avenue where police found a second explosive device EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion Police investigators look through the debris on the street in front of St. Vincent de Paul church where the explosion occurred EPA Similarly, when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was interviewed on CNN he said: You can call them whatever you want, they are terrorism, though. There's no doubt about that. Theyre terrorism. Now, whos responsible and what the motive was is something else that, hopefully, we're going to find out in the days ahead. Who says it wasnt? While calling the blast an intentional act, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was careful to state that investigators had yet to find a connection to terrorism. We know it was a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this, the mayor said on Sunday. Was it a political motivation? Was it a personal motivation? We do not know that yet. How is an act of terror defined? Terrorism is broadly defined as the use or threatened use of violence to achieve a political, religious or ideological aim. CCTV captures moment of explosion in New York The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism as activities within the United States that ... involve acts dangerous to human life that ... appear to be intended: to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation of coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping So far, no motive for the attack has been identified, which could go some way to explain why some officials are reluctant to label the bombing an act of terror. No international militant group has claimed responsibility for the blast. What do we know about the suspects so far? The FBI is seeking 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the Chelsea bombing. Recommended Read more New York bombing suspect identified in image released by police He has been identified as a US citizen of Afghan descent and is considered armed and dangerous. Earlier, police reportedly obtained video showing the moment a suspect left one of the pressure cookers in the street. Surveillance video also shows the same man present on the street where another bomb exploded, injuring 29 people. Five suspects have been detained and are being questioned at an FBI building in Lower Manhattan, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. It is currently unclear whether any of the suspects, or the man seen on CCTV, are linked to Mr Rahami. FBI experts have examined remains of the Chelsea device, the second one found nearby, and the pipe bomb that blew up at the charity race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, some 80 miles (130 km) south of New York City. The crudity of the devices in all three cases certainly doesnt point to any group thats been developing IEDs [improvised explosive devices] for years, a US official involved in the investigation who requested anonymity told Reuters. The official added that the apparent low level of planning had some investigators concerned the blasts were just a test of New Yorks security. That's what worries us: was this some kind of test run, not just of the devices, but also of the surveillance in New York and the response? the official added. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The man wanted by police and the FBI in connection with the New York bombing "could be armed and dangerous", according to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, has been identified as a suspect in the bombing on Saturday evening in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan, which injured 29 people. De Blasio appeared on CNN as the FBI and New York Police Department released wanted posters of the suspect, who is a US citizen of Afghan descent. Recommended Read more Everything we know about the New York bombing suspect The FBI said Mr Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey - the site of another bomb scare on Monday night and where police raided an apartment on Monday morning. And in its poster, the FBI too said the suspect "should be considered armed and dangerous". Mr De Blasio said: "I want to be very clear. This individual could be armed and dangerous, he should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone seeing him should call 9-1-1. "We need to get this guy in right away," he said. "My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them." In pictures: New York bomb explosion Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: New York bomb explosion In pictures: New York bomb explosion A police robot accidentally detonated one of five explosive devices left outside a train station in New Jersey. Officials said the bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism in a bid to defuse it - but instead set off an explosion. The device had been left in a backpack and placed in a bin outside the train station in Elizabeth Universal News And Sport (Europe In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department stands guard in Herald Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (3-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (2-R) tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York on September 18, 2016. The bomb that exploded in New York AFP/Getty In pictures: New York bomb explosion A genral view down the street near the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (L) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hug after touring the site of the bomb blast on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A mangled dumpster sits on the sidewalk at the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion An explosion in a construction dumpster that injured 29 people is being labeled an "intentional act". A second device, a pressure cooker, was found four blocks away that an early investigation found was likely also a bomb Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (2-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (3-R) stand in front of a mangled dumpster while touring the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department K-9 Unit patrols on a subway train between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion FBI agents review the crime scene of remnants of bomb debris on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Members of the NYPD, FBI, ATF and other agencies investigate the the scene, following a late night explosion on West 23rd Street in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials mark the ground near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, walks from the scene of an explosion on West 23rd street in Manhattan AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers stand near the site of an explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion Evidence markers on the street surround police and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials near the site REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A fire truck is seen near a blocked off road near the site of an alleged bomb explosion on West 23rd Street AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City firefighters stand near the site of the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency services officer and his dog check a bin close to the scene EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police and Fire Department at the scene of the explosion EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City firefighter uses a wheeled stretcher to carry supplies near the site of the explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency service heavy weapons officer guards close to the scene of the explosion on 23rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenue EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, and NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill, center right, speak during a press conference near the scene AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Emergency Services units are deployed on 27th Street and 7th Avenue where police found a second explosive device EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion Police investigators look through the debris on the street in front of St. Vincent de Paul church where the explosion occurred EPA Follow the latest updates in our live blog on the New York bombing here Governor Andrew Cuomo had said on Sunday that there was no evidence to suggest the bombing was related to international terrorism, but he has since revised his view. "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," he said. Authorities were still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found over the weekend in two states: the Manhattan explosion, an unexploded pressure cooker device blocks away, a pipe bomb blast at a Jersey shore town and five explosive devices at a New Jersey train station. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The FBI has released details of a man they are hunting in connection with an explosion in Manhattan on Saturday and the discovery of other devices. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is originally from Afghanistan and is a naturalised American living in New Jersey. "Rahami is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion that occurred on September 17, 2016, at approximately 8:30 pm in the vicinity of 135 West 23rd Street, New York, New York," investigators said. He is described as 5 ft 6in tall and weighing 200 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. CCTV captures moment of explosion in New York Investigators believe they may be hunting a terrorist cell, just as world leaders arrive in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Some 29 people were wounded on Saturday night when an apparently home-made bomb exploded in a dumpster in the Chelsea neighbourhood In pictures: New York bomb explosion Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: New York bomb explosion In pictures: New York bomb explosion A police robot accidentally detonated one of five explosive devices left outside a train station in New Jersey. Officials said the bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism in a bid to defuse it - but instead set off an explosion. The device had been left in a backpack and placed in a bin outside the train station in Elizabeth Universal News And Sport (Europe In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department stands guard in Herald Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (3-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (2-R) tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tour the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York on September 18, 2016. The bomb that exploded in New York AFP/Getty In pictures: New York bomb explosion A genral view down the street near the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (L) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hug after touring the site of the bomb blast on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A mangled dumpster sits on the sidewalk at the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion An explosion in a construction dumpster that injured 29 people is being labeled an "intentional act". A second device, a pressure cooker, was found four blocks away that an early investigation found was likely also a bomb Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (2-R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (3-R) stand in front of a mangled dumpster while touring the site of an explosion that occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion A member of the New York City Police Department K-9 Unit patrols on a subway train between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion FBI agents review the crime scene of remnants of bomb debris on 23rd St. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Members of the NYPD, FBI, ATF and other agencies investigate the the scene, following a late night explosion on West 23rd Street in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials mark the ground near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, walks from the scene of an explosion on West 23rd street in Manhattan AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers stand near the site of an explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion Evidence markers on the street surround police and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials near the site REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A fire truck is seen near a blocked off road near the site of an alleged bomb explosion on West 23rd Street AFP/Getty Images In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City firefighters stand near the site of the explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency services officer and his dog check a bin close to the scene EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police and Fire Department at the scene of the explosion EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City firefighter uses a wheeled stretcher to carry supplies near the site of the explosion REUTERS In pictures: New York bomb explosion A New York City Police emergency service heavy weapons officer guards close to the scene of the explosion on 23rd Street between 6th and 7th Avenue EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, and NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill, center right, speak during a press conference near the scene AP In pictures: New York bomb explosion New York City Police Emergency Services units are deployed on 27th Street and 7th Avenue where police found a second explosive device EPA In pictures: New York bomb explosion Police investigators look through the debris on the street in front of St. Vincent de Paul church where the explosion occurred EPA The jittery city was put further on edge when a second device - made from a pressure cooker - was found streets away. Five more pipebombs were found early on Monday morning in New Jersey. Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, said Rahami could be armed and dangerous. "We need to get this guy in right away," he said on CNN. "My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them." Authorities are still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found in Manhattan and at a railway station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped what they descibed as "a vehicle of interest" in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. Security has been tightened in New York and New Jersey (Getty Images) She declined to provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Obama has spoken out against the bombings in New York and New Jersey, insisting that the American way of life would not be undermined by fear and hate. His remarks came shortly before suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested during a shoot-out in Linden, New Jersey. He was being sought for questioning following the detonation of a pipe bomb beside a 5k run in New Jersey and a bomb in Chelsea on Saturday evening, which injured 29 people. Recommended Read more New York bombing suspect arrested after shootout in New Jersey If you see something suspicious, then you need to say something, said the president. He added that the bombings were being investigated as potential acts of terrorism, although authorities have suggested that the suspect was not on any terrorism watchdog list. Rahami, a US naturalised citizen from Afghanistan, managed a fried chicken restaurant with his family in New Jersey since 2002. After firing at police officers, he was shot and detained by police. The latest footage showed Rahami being loaded into an ambulance to be taken to hospital. The president commended the outstanding first responders and said he wanted to reassure people across the US about their counter-terrorism efforts. Federal, state and local [authorities] are working together around the clock to prevent attacks and to keep us safe, he said. Ahmad Khan Rahami (EPA) They are the best of the best. Over the years they have [stopped] many plots and saved many lives and we are incredibly grateful for their service today and every day. He talked of the need to continue to go after Isis, taking out their leaders, infrastructure and territory to undermine their ideology. Over time that will make it harder to recruit people and inspire people to violence, he said. He asked for community leaders to push back against all messages of hate. At moments like this it is important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do. They want to recruit people and inspire fear in all of us. He added everyone has a role to play as citizens not to succumb to that fear, and there was no better example than the people of New York and New Jersey. That's the kind of strength that will be critical in the days to come and the years to come, by showing those that want to do us harm that they will never beat us. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A general store on a small Canadian island has been inundated with thousands of applications after its owners offered two acres of land land and job to anyone willing to move there. The Farmers Daughter Country Market in the village of Whycocomagh on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia advertised on Facebook for staff to work at its store saying it could not offer big money but it did have lots of land at his disposal. The advert, which has so far received over 3,500 applications, said they had already hired all the suitable locals and needed more applications. It offered two acres of land to live on which is theirs to keep if they stay working at the store for more than five years. It said: We are an established business in the heart of Cape Breton, rich in jobs, land, and potential, but no people. Couple wins free pizza for a year, donates it all to the homeless Are you someone who is looking to live a simpler life, close to nature, in an area that still believes in community meals and weekly jam sessions? We can't give you big money, but we can give you an awesome life. We are looking for people who are environmentally conscious, want to be part of a community and will see our business not as you work for us, but we all work together to create something to be proud of. If you take pride in being friendly, helpful, and positive and have skills in the food industry or customer service, then you are who we are looking for. The advert said the population of the island was decreasing band corporate development had been seen as the solution in the past but it would have come at the expense of our environment. The 19 countries with the highest standard of life Show all 19 1 /19 The 19 countries with the highest standard of life The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 19. United States 84.62 The US scraping into the top 20 may surprise some, and the report does call it a "disappointment," saying the country's huge economy does not translate into social progress for many of its citizens The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 18. France 84.79 For many France is a liberal bastion, but it scored low on "tolerance and inclusion" in the report, while a poor score in "opportunity" keeps it further down the list than it perhaps should be iStock The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 17. Spain 85.88 One of the most popular holiday destinations in Europe, Spain has a strong welfare system and work life balance, but high youth unemployment has hurt the standard of life for many of its citizens iStock The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 16. Belgium 86.19 The HQ of the European Union scores highly on social progress and demonstrates that sometimes being a smaller country makes it easier to look after all your inhabitants Getty Images The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 15. Germany 86.42 Another country which might be a bit lower down than some people would expect, Germany scores highly for inclusiveness after taking in more than a million refugees over the past few months, but some wonder if the infrastructure can handle GETTY The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 14. Japan 86.54 The 'Land of the Rising Sun' has made great strides in social progress in the last decade, particularly in women entering the workforce. It still has a very small immigrant population, though, and suicide rates for under-30s remain high Getty Images The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 13. Austria 86.60 Vienna is a cultural capital of Europe and Austrian ski slopes attract people from all over the world. Having the 14th biggest economy in the world, according to the IMF, does not hurt standard of living either AFP/Getty Images The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 12. Ireland 87.94 Brits scrambling for Irish passports in the wake of the vote for a Brexit may be pleased to discover it scores very high on meeting "basic human needs," and the potential investment of companies moving from the UK will only make things better AFP/Getty The 19 countries with the highest standard of life T-10. New Zealand 88.45 New Zealand's tourist board calls it "the youngest country in the world," and it is certainly one of the most beautiful. "Opportunity" is where it scores really high, as a low population means jobs are in abundance Getty Images The 19 countries with the highest standard of life T-10. Iceland 88.45 Speaking of beautiful countries, Iceland scores very well in social progress, particularly in the "basic human needs" index and GDP per capita. Its football team has proven itself a force to be reckoned with too Getty The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 9. United Kingdom 88.58 The NHS is big part of the UK's high placing, with "basic medical care" scoring almost 100% on the report. Education scores almost as highly, with free access to quality schools AFP The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 8. Netherlands 88.65 The Netherlands is famously one of the most tolerant countries in the world, so its position in the top ten should be no surprise. It is one of the highest-scoring countries on "personal freedom and choice" iStock The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 7. Norway 88.70 Get used to seeing Scandinavian nations in the top ten. Norway is big on "nutrition and basic medical care," and its "access to basic knowledge" is strong too. Many have said the Norway model is one to follow for a non-EU UK The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 6. Sweden 88.80 "Water and sanitation" may be taken for granted in developed economies, but it is not enjoyed everywhere. Luckily it is an area Sweden nails, scoring 99.77. The country also picks up high scores in "nutrition" and "personal rights" The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 5. Switzerland 88.87 Switzerland may have some of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, but its citizens get value for money. According to the Social Progress Report, "medical", "nutritional" and "access to basic knowledge" is where the country shines The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 4. Australia 89.13 There is a good reason so many people want to start a new life "down under." Austrailia has fantastic education, job opportunities and a strong sense of personal freedom. Its "tolerance and inclusion" score could be higher though iStock The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 3. Denmark 89.39 Denmark has one of the best social mobility and income equality rates in the world, so no surprise it makes it into the top three on this list. "Basic human needs" is where the country scores particularly highly, though its "health and wellness" stats such as life expectancy could be higher AFP/Getty Images The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 2. Canada 89.49 For such a huge nation, Canada only has 35 million citizens, and they are some of the best looked after in the world. Canada's healthcare is what stands it above the rest. Education and opportunity in the country are also impressively strong Getty Images The 19 countries with the highest standard of life 1. Finland 90.09 Everyone says Nordic nations have the highest standard of living, and now Finland has made it official. It scores highly on almost every index on the report, from basic needs, foundations of wellbeing and personal freedoms. If you move there just make sure to bring warm coat temperatures can reach minus 50 celsius in the winter! Getty Images Last week the stores owners, Sandee Maclean and Heather Coulombe, announced they had hired three women who would soon be reporting for work, CTV News reported. This is not the first time the island, which has a population of roughly 135,000 people, has put out an unconventional call for people to migrate. In February the head of the islands tourist board, Mary Tulle, invited Americans who were disgruntled by the possible presidency of Donald Trump to relocate there. On the islands website it said: Don't wait until Donald Trump is elected president to find somewhere else to live. Start your new life in Cape Breton, where women can get abortions, Muslim people can roam freely and the only walls are holding up the roofs of our extremely affordable houses. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Even by the standards of strange tales that come out of North Korea, this one is particularly bizarre. Did Kim Jong Il's regime order the abduction of an American in 2004 so his children could learn English? Did North Korean agents, with the help of Chinese officials, snatch a student who had been hiking near the border with Burma? Yes, or at least probably, if his parents, a South Korean abductees' advocate and human rights proponents are to be believed. No, if you're talking to American officials. But Choi Sung-yong, president of the Abductees' Family Union in Seoul, says he has information placing the American man, David Sneddon, in Pyongyang. Now 36, Sneddon goes by the Korean name Yoon Bong Soo. He is married to a woman named Kim Eun Hae and they have two children, a boy and a girl, Choi said, citing evidence from an informant in Pyongyang. Sneddon was taken to Pyongyang because Kim Jong Il had given an order for his children -- including the state's current leader, Kim Jong Un -- to be tutored in English by a native speaker, someone who could also teach them about American culture. "He's a similar age to the Kim children," said Choi, who devotes his days to trying to find out what happened to the missing. The tale starts when Sneddon, a 24-year-old Brigham Young University student who had completed a two-year Mormon mission to South Korea, was wrapping up a semester studying Chinese in Beijing in the summer of 2004. He had learned Korean and was planning to take a Chinese language class in his senior year at BYU. "He'd gone to Beijing that summer to get a head start in Mandarin," his father, Roy Sneddon, said. "His course work was done, so he said he was going to take a look around some touristy spots in southeast China before he came back." David Sneddon had been walking on an easy path in the Tiger Leaping Gorge, a scenic area in Yunnan province that borders Burma, also known as Myanmar. He'd been to a Korean restaurant called the Yak Bar. And then, he disappeared. His parents thought that their son, one of 11 children, had been detained by Chinese authorities. Roy Sneddon and two of David's brothers went to the area to investigate but found nothing beyond a suggestion that he had slipped in the gorge and died. The case went nowhere until four years ago, when David's parents received a phone call from a man in South Korea who said he'd heard of a man fitting their son's description who was living in Pyongyang. The Sneddon family had not considered the possibility of North Korean involvement. But on reflection, there had been a strange incident. David had been approached in a supermarket in Beijing by a Korean woman who said her children weren't speaking enough Korean in China, and would he mind tutoring them? And one of David's mission friends had been working in Yanji, a city near China's border with North Korea that has become a first transit point for people escaping. Was the Korean mother laying a trap? Had David or his friend been helping North Koreans escape? "He had been associated with Koreans in two different ways," Roy Sneddon said in a phone interview from Utah. "The conclusion that we drew was that David had been taken, or kidnapped, if you will. "We thought that his background and his language was one of the reasons for it." Every now and then over the past few years, some Japanese newspapers would raise the possibility that David had been abducted by North Korea, an idea some in Washington saw as part of a Japanese effort to get the U.S. government to pay more attention to North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens. During the 1970s and 1980s, apparently under the orders of Kim Jong Il, who was then North Korea's heir apparent, an unknown number of people were abducted and taken to North Korea. At least 17 Japanese nationals were kidnapped, usually from remote spots on the west coast, and taken to Pyongyang, apparently to train spies in Japanese language and culture. A famous South Korean film director and a celebrated actress were picked up on orders by Kim, a movie buff.f Along the way, Thai, Romanian and Lebanese women were abducted. The Romanian, Doina Bumbea, was taken in 1978 and not seen again until 2007, when she was spotted in a documentary about James Dresnok, an American soldier who defected to the North after the Korean War and was married to her. But there has never been an incident in which an American was abducted. (Although in recent years, Pyongyang has made something of a habit of detaining visiting Americans. Two people -- University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier and Korean American missionary Kim Dong-chul -- are currently being held.) Now, Choi, of the abductees' association, said he was "50 to 70 percent" confident about the information he had from Pyongyang. Choi has a track record when it comes to finding out about abductees: He was the one who first heard about Kim Young-nam, a South Korean who was also kidnapped by the North and had been married to Megumi Yokota, a Japanese woman abducted as a schoolgirl. But the State Department has not raised the case with the North Korean diplomats stationed at the United Nations, a senior administration official said. Nor has it asked the Swedish diplomats in Pyongyang, who represent American interests in North Korea, to take up the case there. "There is no evidence that we've seen that indicates that he was abducted," the official said, although he conceded that there was no evidence that any of the Japanese had been abducted, either. Indeed, experts said the case shouldn't be quickly dismissed. It was "certainly possible" that Sneddon had been taken, said Robert Boynton, author of "The Invitation-Only Zone: The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project." "Every time I find myself ruling it out, I realize that there is no more or no less evidence on Sneddon's disappearance than there was on the Japanese circa 1995," Boynton said. "It was all circumstantial." Boynton, whose book focused on the Japanese abductees, cautioned against dismissing the idea because it didn't make sense. "Why would anyone do this? Why would anyone go to such lengths to get something as simple as an English teacher? But North Korea has done this before," he said, with the Japanese abductees who worked as language teachers in Pyongyang. Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said he was also inclined to believe that Sneddon was abducted. Scarlatoiu noted the tense environment at the time. There was close cooperation between North Korea and nearby Burma -- Pyongyang had reportedly been selling arms to the Burmese junta -- and North Korean agents could have been operating in the area. The U.S. House of Representatives had just passed the North Korean Human Rights Act, highlighting the nation's human rights abuses and offering assistance to anyone who escaped it. Plus, the biggest group of defectors to date -- a group of 469 North Koreans -- had just arrived in South Korea from Vietnam. "The North Koreans were extraordinarily upset," Scarlatoiu said. "I wonder if our own U.S. government agencies could look into opening an investigation." Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Parents in the US could be prosecuted for changing their child's nappy, following a recent court ruling. The Supreme Court of the State of Arizona issued a decision interpreting a state law to criminalise any contact between an adult and a child's genitals. The court upheld the case of a man who reportedly appealed his conviction for sexually molesting his step-daughter. It examined the language used in the state's sexual abuse laws and ruled that any contact with a minor's genitals should be conisdered molestation or sexual abuse - with no requirement of proof of sexual intent. The 20-page ruling defines "sexual contact" as "any direct or indirect touching, fondling or manipulating of any part of the genitals, anus or female breast by any part of the body or by any object or causing a person to engage in such contact." It later cites the child molestation statute, stating: "A person commits molestation of a child by intentionally or knowingly engaging in or causing a person to engage in sexual contact, except sexual contact with the female breast, with a child who is under fifteen years of age." Legal analyst Monica Lindstrom said the wording of the ruling suggests merely changing a child's nappy could make an adult culpable of being charged. She told Fox10 News: The statue says intentionally or knowingly having sexual contact. Sexual contact is just the direct or indirect touching of the genitals. That is where the changing of the diaper could come into play. The ruling states: "Prosecutors are unlikely to charge parents, physicians and the like when the evidence demonstrates the presence of an affirmative defense." But the dissenting justices write: Parents and other caregivers who have changed an infants soiled diaper or bathed a toddler will be surprised to learn that they have committed a class 2 or 3 felony. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The ruling provoked anger on social media. One Facebook user, Emily Dawson Areinoff, wrote: "What does this mean for daycare providers, non-parental caregivers, and schools who serve special needs kids? They are vulnerable as it is. Our society is so weird and sad about bodies." Another, Guenevere Nelson-Melby, wrote: "I feel physically sick thinking of all the ways this is going to be misused." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In the wake of the bomb that detonated in Chelsea on Saturday night, New Yorkers are coming together with small acts of kindness. One local Starbucks worker handed out hot drinks and pastries to New York Police Department officers as they guarded the scene of the explosion. "I want to give y'all some coffee and some pastries," the employee said. I just wanted to thank yall. I wish I could do more." When the bombs were discovered in New York and New Jersey over the weekend, New Yorkers anticipated a backlash against the Muslim community. Even before police sent out emergency text alerts without photos of the suspectonly identifying him by his name, Ahmad Khan Rahamipeople in the city opened their arms to anyone who might feel threatened or profiled across the five boroughs. The Standard High Line, a popular hotel located in the West Village, also offered free rooms to people living in the neighborhood where the bomb was set off. Anyone providing proof of address was offered a a free dinner, worth up to $150. We are saddened by last nights explosion. If you live on 23rd between 6th and 7th, the company said in a statement on Sunday, Bbring proof of address and join us this evening at The Standard, High Line, for a room and dinner with us. One unnamed employee told amNewYork that the company tries to be as neighborly as possible. People need help, they said. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A suspicious device found in a backpack at a train station in New Jersey exploded as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot. Local mayor Christian Bollwage said the FBI robot accidentally cut the wrong wire while working to disarm one of five devices found in the same bag, which was discovered in a trash can by two men around 8:30pm on Sunday, near the Elizabeth train station on the Northeast Corridor rail line. The men had reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package, Mr Bollwage said. The robots that were going it to disarm it cut a wire and it exploded", the mayor told CNN. "I dont know the technological aspect of that. I know there are other devices. "I dont know what they are made up of but they are going to have to be removed and all the fragments from the other pieces are going to have to be picked up so the FBI can investigate this fully. CCTV captures moment of explosion in New York There was no immediate report of injuries or damage. Mr Bollwage warned that other explosions were expected. NJ Transit service was suspended early Monday between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, and New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New York Penn Station, officials said, while New York-bound Amtrak trains were being held in Trenton. The discovery of the suspicious package comes after an explosion in Manhattan on Saturday evening injured 29 people. An unexploded pressure-cooker was found four blocks away. Investigators described the bombs as pressure cookers filled with shrapnel - the same method used in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Governor Andrew Cuomo said the second device appeared similar in design to the first, though officials havent revealed any further details. But separate US media reports, citing officials off the record, say both devices had flip phones and Christmas lights as makeshift detonators. Also Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5K run. Officials said it didn't appear that those two incidents were connected, though they weren't ruling anything out. Investigators are yet to comment on whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to either of the two blasts. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, addressed security and terrorism concerns following Saturday's bombing in Manhattan. Speaking minutes after New York police issued a photograph of Ahmad Khan Rahami, she called for an intelligence surge against the Islamic State and help from Silicon Valley to make it harder for extremists to use the internet and social media for recruitment. She also underlined her foreign policy credentials and criticised the policies of her rival for the White House Donald Trump. Recommended Read more New York bombing suspect arrested after shootout in New Jersey Here's what she said: I want to start by offering my full support to our state, local and federal law enforcement as they continue to respond to the attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota and bring those responsible to justice. Ive talked with Mayor De Blasio. Our team has been in close touch with authorities in New York. We know theyre doing everything they possibly can to keep us safe in this dangerous situation. Ive also spoken to the governor of Minnesota. Like all Americans, my thoughts are with those who were wounded, their families and our brave first responders. This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower, we will prevail. We will defend our country and we will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists. Im the only candidate in this race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield. And Ive laid out a comprehensive plan to meet the evolving nature of this threat and take the fight to Isis everywhere they threaten us, including online. Im grateful to have support and advice from a wide range of bipartisan national security leaders whove worked with both Democratic and Republican presidents. When we met together earlier this month in New York, one of the points they emphasised was the need to support state and local law enforcement, who act as our first line of defence, making sure they have the resources, the training and intelligence they need to effectively prevent and respond to terror attacks. And this weekends events underscored how important that is. President Barack Obama reacts to arrest of New York bombing suspect We should also launch an intelligence surge to help identify and thwart attacks before they can be carried out. We need to work more closely with Silicon Valley and other partners to counter terrorist propaganda and recruitment efforts online. And it is crucial that we continue to build up trust between law enforcement and Muslim-American communities. In the Middle East, we have to smash Isis strongholds with an accelerated coalition air campaign, more support for Arab and Kurdish forces on the ground and intense diplomatic efforts in Syria, Iraq and across the region. Working closely with our allies and partners to keep us safe must be the top priority for our next commander-in-chief. Later today, Ill discuss the threat from terrorism with President el-Sisi of Egypt and other world leaders. Most of all, I want to say this to my fellow Americans. Let us be vigilant, but not afraid. We have faced threats before. If you see something, or you hear something, report it immediately to local law enforcement authorities. I know we will meet this new danger with the same courage and vigilance. We choose resolve, not fear. We will not turn on each other or undermine our values. Well stand together because we are stronger together in the face of this threat and every other challenge. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Saudi Arabia appears to be using US-supplied white phosphorous munitions in its war in Yemen, based on images and videos posted to social media, raising concerns among human rights groups that the highly incendiary material could be used against civilians. Under American regulations, white phosphorous sold to other countries is to be used only for signaling to other troops and creating smoke screens. When the munition explodes, it releases white phosphorous that automatically ignites in the air and creates a thick white smoke. When used against soldiers or civilians, it can maim and kill by burning to the bone. It is unclear exactly how the Saudis are using the munitions, but the government has already received widespread condemnation for its indiscriminate bombing in civilian areas since its campaign against rebel forces in Yemen began in 2015. Footage shows extent of child malnutrition in Yemen as Britain continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia Recommended Read more Saudi Arabia cannot pay its workers or bills US officials confirmed that the American government has supplied the Saudis white phosphorous in the past but declined to say how much had been transferred or when. After reviewing a social media image taken from the battlefield that showed a white phosphorous mortar shell, a U.S. official said it appeared to be American in origin but could not trace it to a particular sale because some of the markings were obscured. "The United States expects any recipient of US military assistance to use those items in accordance with international law and under the terms and conditions of any US transfer or sale," said a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss politically sensitive issues. 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty The official said the department was looking into reports of Saudi forces' improperly using US-supplied white phosphorous munitions. "If a country is determined to have used U.S.-provided weapons for unauthorised purposes, the US will take appropriate corrective action," the official said. The United States has grown increasingly wary of its material support to the Saudi military. In May, the Obama administration halted the sale of roughly 400 cluster bombs to the Saudis after human rights organizations documented the weapons' use in civilian areas. This week, lawmakers on Capitol Hill moved to delay a $1 billion arms deal that would replace some of Saudi Arabia's US-supplied tanks that have been damaged in the conflict. Since coming to office in 2009, the Obama administration has facilitated more than $115 billion in 42 different arms sales to Saudi Arabia, more than any other US administration, according to a report in the Security Assistance Monitor. Batches of the equipment are likely to be delivered for years to come. International humanitarian law does not ban the use of white phosphorous outright, but there is a strict requirement that it be used only in areas clearly separated from civilians. Even using it against enemy combatants has raised concerns, given that the munitions can cause particularly horrific injuries. "The United States must not provide or sell white phosphorous munitions to Saudi Arabia or any other military that would use them in the Yemen conflict," said Sunjeev Bery, Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa. "As a major arms seller to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. risks being complicit in Saudi Arabia's likely war crimes in Yemen." A spokesman from the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment for this article. The Saudi government has repeatedly denied claims about unlawful bombings and civilian casualties, pointing to its military's Western support as validation of its practices. According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 3,700 civilians have been killed and 2.8 million have been displaced during the now nearly two-year-old war. "The United States is concerned by the high number of casualties resulting from this war," the State Department official said. "We are prepared to work with the Saudis to deter and confront any external threat to their territorial integrity, and we stand by that assurance. However, that does not mean we refrain from expressing our concerns about the war in Yemen and how it has been waged." The Pentagon provides midair refueling for Saudi aircraft and limited intelligence resources to Saudi forces. In addition to short-term military assistance, the Pentagon and the State Department, as well as other Western countries, have facilitated the sale of billions of dollars worth of arms to the Kingdom, everything from hand grenades to attack helicopters. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Patrick Evans, said that "as a matter of policy," the Pentagon office responsible for overseeing foreign military sales "does not disclose specific deliverables or the details" of the final transfer agreements. The United States has used white phosphorous against fighters, including in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, and sporadically in Afghanistan over the course of the war there. In 2009, Israel used the weapon in populated areas in the Gaza Strip. Images on pro-Saudi Twitter and Instagram accounts show that Saudi forces are using several systems for firing white phosphorous munitions, including tank rounds, mortars, howitzers and rifle grenades. Footage and images and social media posts showing the munition indicate that it is being used near the Saudi-Yemen border -- in Najran province -- and around the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The most recent footage -- posted Sept. 9 -- shows a U.S.-developed M198 155mm Saudi howitzer with the telltale sea-foam green white phosphorous rounds nearby ready to be loaded and fired. Many of the images posted to social media show white phosphorous rounds from a distance, leaving any writing or identifying features blurry or ill-defined. The shell's color pattern is the most telling, as the greenish-hue interrupted by yellow bands and red writing is internationally recognized as indicating white phosphorous munitions. The picture reviewed by the U.S. official was first posted in November 2015 on a Saudi Instagram account and shows the shell with the words "Martyr Jamil Hadi" written on it. The only company with the rights to sell to the U.S. government the white phosphorous round pictured in the image is General Dynamics Ordnance Tactical Systems, according to Marine Corps Systems Command documents distributed in 2015. The shell's design is owned by TDA-Armaments of France. Both TDA-Armaments and General Dynamics manufacture the munition, although it is unclear which country manufactured the round pictured. When asked about the image, General Dynamics spokeswoman Laurie VonBrocklin said "it wouldn't be appropriate for us to comment" and deferred further questions to the Pentagon and the State Department. Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A now former Kansas State University student was expelled from her college after posting an image to Snapchat that featured dark facial masks and a caption that read: finally feels good to be a n***a. Paige Shoemaker, a former pre-med biochemistry major, is insisting that her intentions were good, the photo wasnt blackface, and that the image was meant to be a joke. "I mean, not that this is a good thing. That word just happens in our friend group because we know everyone is like calm. We're a big family, she recently told KSNT. That word doesn't offend anyone in our group. And when I sent it out to my friends, I knew that it wouldn't offend anyone." Unfortunately for Ms Shoemaker, her university took the of students who were offended and announced that she was no longer enrolled at the college after being notified of the image on the universitys Facebook page. The involved person is not currently enrolled at the university. It is our understanding the second individual in the photo is not associated with the university, Professor Zelia Wiley, Interim Associate Provost for Diversity, said in a statement. Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Show all 19 1 /19 Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors demand justice for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors lie in an intersection during a demonstration for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors lie in an intersection during a demonstration for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protestors demand justice for Philando Castile on July 7, 2016 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stephen Maturen/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters march throughout New York City. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters march throughout New York City. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters are arrested by NYPD as they call for justice throughout New York City. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Protesters are arrested by NYPD as they call for justice throughout New York City. AFP/Getty Images Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Images Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police AFP/Getty Images Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Getty Protests and outrage across the US following killings by police Getty This racially offensive photo with a derogatory message has upset the K-State family and is not in concert with our principles of community. Such messages on social media are harmful to all. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A US woman has set herself the goal of feeding 30,000 hungry people using supermarket coupons. Lauren Puryear, a 29-year-old from New Jersey, said she can feed up to 150 people on $20 (15) - the equivalent of just 10 pence per person - by combining offers to get the best deal she can. Ms Puryear said she wanted to reach her 30,000 target by the time she turns 30 next year. After the death of her grandmother, Ms Puryear started an organisation dedicated to feeding the hungry. At first she bought food in bulk, either online or from discount grocery chains such as Cosco and BJ's. But then she realised she could feed many more people if she used coupons. "I started couponing for food items like spaghetti and meatballs and I was able to get the items for free or for little to no money," she told NewJersey.com "There are coupons in the Sunday paper, or online that you can print. I collect as many as I can, match them to the store and that is how I am able to get the items for free," Ms Puryear explained. She said grocery shopping can take her hours. Sometimes she has to make multiple trips or bring other people with her to make separate purchases so that together they can pool their resources and get the best deal possible. So far she has delivered 5,000 meals, but is confident she will reach her 30,000 goal by her birthday next year. She feeds people in New Jersey, but also travels to Washington D.C. and Baltimore to distribute free meals. Ms Puryear, a mental health clinician, is also a single mother to a five-year-old boy. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty "It is very important to teach him to help other people," she said. "The little things we take for granted, the food we throw away every day. Ms Puryear is not the first to use supermarket vouchers to help those in need. In December 2015, a British mother-of-two donated a shop worth 1,200 to the homeless that was paid for entirely with coupons. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Cheap ride service Uber said it immediately cancelled its higher prices after the Chelsea bombing in Manhattan this weekend following criticism for its price gouging policy. Following several angry complaints on social media, Uber, which normally employs surge pricing during periods of high demand, said it had turned off the feature in the wake of a bomb in Chelsea which injured 29 people. The bomb took place around 8.30pm. Around midnight on Saturday customers took to twitter to vent their frustration at the service. One person said their usual ride home of $11 had surged to $32 after the explosion of a home-made bomb placed in a rubbish bin on West 23rd Street. Another user said he was disgusted as people were just trying to get home safe. Yet Uber tweeted that it had turned off the function allowing higher prices shortly after the explosion, before 10pm. It remains unclear whether the customers complaints had been posted late or if they were misinformed, as reported by Fortune. Uber said in another posting that customers could have been overcharged in error, and was working to refund customers. In 2014 the company landed in hot water for raising prices during a fatal hostage episode in Sydney, Australia. Uber said it was truly sorry for the incident. The same year, New Yorks attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, announced an agreement whereby Uber would conform with a state law which restricts surge pricing during emergencies and natural disasters. Uber drivers protested in New York in February after the company slashed prices by 15 per cent during a quiet period. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Yelp review page for a fried chicken restaurant owned by the family of New York bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami has been flooded with negative reviews in the hours since he was identified. Most reviewers on the page for First American Fried Chicken in Elizabeth, New Jersey appear not to have eaten there, but instead criticised the Rahami family for fostering terrorism. Recommended Read more How police took down the New York bombing suspect Rahami, 28, was born in Afghanistan but is a US citizen and a resident of Elizabeth, around 15 miles from New York City. The prime suspect in a series of attacks this weekend including a blast that injured 29 in Manhattan on Saturday night he was arrested after a shootout with police on Monday in nearby Linden, New Jersey. The one-star Yelp reviews came from states across the US, including Texas and California. Some were crass or tasteless, others openly Islamophobic. Spend your money on businesses that dont hate America, one advised. I hope your son gets waterboarded, read another. A reviewer from Louisiana described the Rahamis as Filthy Mohammedan Savages. (Yelp.com (Yelp.com) Yelp flagged the page on Monday, with an alert saying the site would work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by news coverage that the reviewers personal consumer experience with the business. (Yelp.com (Yelp.com) Until Monday morning, the restaurant had just three reviews which were mostly positive and an average rating of 4.67 of a possible five stars. By lunchtime, however, its rating had plummeted to below two stars. Zach D, a user from Missouri, tried to redress the balance with a five-star review. This family deserves a lot of credit. Starting a business in America isnt easy but theyve done it, he wrote. We all have black sheep in our family. (Yelp.com (Yelp.com) It also emerged on Monday that the Rahami family had had several run-ins with the authorities in Elizabeth over the years. Speaking to reporters outside First American Fried Chicken, the towns mayor Chris Bollwage confirmed reports that residents had complained about the 24-hour business attracting crowds of rowdy late-night patrons. There was lots of noise, it was open 24 hours, neighbours in this neighbourhood complained, Mr Bollwage said, adding that the family had been disruptive for many, many years. The Elizabeth City Council had ordered the restaurant to close at 10pm, but the Rahanis reportedly ignored the authorities and went on serving into the small hours. One of Ahmad Rahamis brothers was arrested after allegedly assaulting a police officer who attempted to enforce the curfew. In a lawsuit filed against the city and uncovered by the Daily Mail, the Rahami family said the citations against their restaurant were motivated by Islamophobia, claiming they had been subjected to racial harassment. The suit was thrown out. Mr Bollwage insisted that race and religion had absolutely nothing to do with the curfew. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A self-confessed hitman, who claims the Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte ran a hit squad and murdered people himself, will not receive state protection after a tell-all appearance before a Senate hearing into extra-judicial killings. Edgar Matobato, 57, had told the hearing he was a member of Duterte's 300-strong 'Davao Death Squad' (DDS) when the president was mayor of Davao City in the southern Philippines. He admitted involvement in around 50 abductions and murders and claimed his gang fed a suspected kidnapper to a crocodile in 2007. Mr Matobato claimed the recently elected president killed targets himself including government officials. Senate President Koko Pimentel stated on Facebook that the former contract killer would not be placed into protective custody because his life was not in danger. Mr Pimentel said: "I've denied the request for protective custody of the witness Matobato because there is no Senate rule to justify it. "There's even no showing that his life or safety is threatened." Philippines: Duterte's tough crime crackdown continues Mr Duterte has been the subject of international condemnation in recent months in response to the thousands of alleged extra-judicial killings that have been carried out in the name of the government's war on drugs. According to Inquirer.net, an estimated 465 killings took place at the behest of the Philippines government in Mr Duterte's first month in office. President Duterte has declined to comment until the Senate hearing has concluded. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A British wildlife park has confirmed it has offered a new home to a polar bear living in cramped conditions in a mall in China. Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster said it has approached the authorities in charge of the bear which is kept in public view at the Grandview Centre shopping mall in Chinas Guangzhou city. The bear, whose name is Pizza, made headlines earlier this year following a campaign and a petition to free him from the mall. The protest at his enclosure followed videos showing the bear slumping on the floor behind the glass of the enclosure. Animals Asia said the owners at the Ocean Theme Park at the mall had made no attempt to create an environment that would meet the needs of any living bear, when it first opened in January. The charitys welfare director Dave Neale told the BBC: We would be delighted to see Pizza end up at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. There can be a happy ending - Pizza would not only enjoy incredible facilities, he would also be part of a community of bears. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The Yorkshire Wild Life Park is home to a purpose-built environment for polar bears and currently has four animals living there. The Independent has contacted Yorkshire Wildlife Park for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} After two successive electoral victories in two weeks, the right-wing Germany party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) predicts it will become the country's third major party after next year's federal elections. The party's deputy leader Beatrix von Storch said the gains they have made against Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) with middle class voters will continue onto next September. AfD's success has been attributed to its hard anti-immigration stance in contrast to Ms Merkel's refugee-friendly policy which has inspired widespread opposition. AfD deputy leader Beatrix von Storch wrote on Facebook: "From today onwards the competition between the AfD and the CDU for the leadership of the middle class camp has been set alight. "In 2017 we will witness Angela Merkel fighting for her political life and the AfD will become the third largest political power in Germany - at the least." As a result of the losses in the Berlin and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state elections, the Chancellor has faced calls from her conservative allies to introduce an immigration cap of 100,000 immigrants per year. Ms Merkel has rejected such a limit and has defended her approach through securing the EU's external borders, agreeing migration deals with the likes of Turkey and distributing refugees across Europe. Germany's AfD says Islam is not welcome The recent election losses has led to speculation that Chancellor Merkel may not stand for a fourth term in next year's federal election. The AfD has campaigned heavily on the migrant issue, playing to voters' fears about the cost of the roughly one million migrants who entered Germany last year and about their integration. Set up three years ago, the AfD has been buoyed by Europe's migrant crisis. Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images The party has no MPs in the federal parliament in Berlin but has members in more than half of Germany's 16 regional state assemblies. "Islam is foreign to us and for that reason it cannot invoke the principle of religious freedom to the same degree as Christianity," said Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, an AfD legislator from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, to the party congress in May. The chapter concerning Muslims in the AfD manifesto is entitled "Islam is not a part of Germany". It demands the banning of mosque minarets and the all-covering burqa. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The charity behind the worlds first food waste supermarket has said that it is planning to open two more. Folkekirkens Ndhjlp, which opened the first food waste supermarket in Copenhagen in February, said that it is planning to open another in Copenhagen and a third in Arhus, the second biggest city in Denmark. WeFood sells products between 30-50 per cent cheaper than they would normally cost. The products are donated by a range of suppliers. Danish supermarket chain Ftex has a deal to donate bread and other products. (WeFood/Facebook) But not all donations are so ordinary. WeFood once received several bags of nappies that were rejected because the corners were bent. One supplier donated a large number of soap dishes that could not be sold because they were a limited edition design. The supermarket is part of a Government initiative to reduce food waste in Denmark. It came about after the Danish Minister of Agriculture and Food met with the general secretary of charity Folkekirkens Ndhjlp and the head of corporate responsibility at a major supermarket in the country. Princess Marie of Denmark at the launch of the Wefood supermarket in Copenhagen (Wefood/Facebook) We think it is a new way of thinking about the problem of food waste, a spokeswoman said. Every year more than 700,000 tonnes of food are wasted in Denmark. After being open just six months, WeFood has received over 40 tonnes of food that would have otherwise been destroyed. Food and drink news Show all 35 1 /35 Food and drink news Food and drink news Healthy living makes us more inclined to binge, research suggests Gluten-free breads, dairy-free milks and other plant-based products have been some of the most favoured foods in British supermarkets this year. However, while were busy filling our shopping trolleys with gluten-free goodness, were also jamming it with junk food and alcohol, new research suggests Getty/iStock Food and drink news Growing list of Vegan celebs Making the switch to veganism is a major lifestyle choice, one that many claim can improve energy levels, lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and clear up any skin issues. Beyonce, Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain are among the growing list of Hollywood stars who have eschewed animal products from their diets in recent years. Theres also been an increasing number of professional athletes who have gone vegan, such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and David Haye, thus debunking the myth that following a plant-based diet will leave you feeling weak and malnourished. AFP/Getty/NARAS/iHeartMedia Food and drink news McDonald's has announced the launch of a new vegan burger on its menu in Germany This will mark the first time the German franchise of the fast food chain has offered a vegan burger to its customers. The Big Vegan TS burger consists of a patty made from soy and wheat. It is served in a classic sesame seed bun, and contains salad, tomato, pickles and red onion. McDonald's Germany Food and drink news Drinking too many protein shakes could lead to an increased risk of obesity and a reduced lifespan, a new study has claimed Researchers from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre carried out an investigation to determine the impact excessive consumption of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) has on the body. BCAA supplements are often consumed in the form of powder, which is then added to water to make a shake. Published in journal Nature Metabolism, the study found that while BCAAs help to build muscle, they can also negatively impact an individual's temperament, cause weight gain and lead to a shortened lifespan Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Britain consumes more chocolate than any other country Most people love chocolate but it turns out no one does more than the Brits with the average Brit found to have consumed 8.4 kg of chocolate in 2017, according to new data. Chocolate consumption around the world is on the rise, according to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), which found that in the past year alone, Easter chocolate production has risen by 23 per cent Food and drink news 'Easter eggs should be banned for children under four' Dr Becky Spelman, chief psychologist at Harley Streets Private Therapy Clinic, is calling for Easter eggs to be banned for consumption for children under the age of four, claiming that giving them the opportunity to binge on chocolate so young will give them an unhealthy relationship with food later on. "This is a nightmare situation for parents of this generation as they have no idea how to teach their children to delay their response to cravings, she said, explaining that too many young kids binge on these chocolates because their parents dont know how to stop them. "Once a child starts overeating behaviour at a young age its very hard to turn things around for them in terms of food and their eating habits moving forward, leading to obesity from at very young age," she added PA Food and drink news Pineapple overtakes avocado as the UK's fastest-selling fruit According to Tesco, pineapple has overtaken avocado as the UKs fastest-selling fruit, with sales increasing by 15 per cent in 2017. In comparison, avocado sales rose by just under 10 per cent last year. The popular supermarket says the surge in popularity comes as shoppers buying the versatile fruit are beginning to use it as a main ingredient in everything from curries and barbecues, to juices and cocktails Getty Food and drink news Marks & Spencers launches stoneless avocados Rather than the result of genetic modification, the avocados are formed by an unpollinated avocado blossom. The fruit develops without a seed which in turns stops the growth, creating a small, seedless fruit. Whats more, the skin is actually edible, unlike a regular avocado. The flesh is much like that of a normal avocado - smooth and creamy, pale in colour and rich in flavour M&S Food and drink news Office teabags contain 17 times more germs than a toilet seat, reveals study The average bacterial reading of an office teabag was 3,785, in comparison to only 220 for a toilet seat. Other pieces of kitchen equipment also stacked up highly in their findings, with the bacterial readings averaging at 2,483 on kettle handles, 1,746 on the rim of a used mug and 1,592 on a fridge door handle Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New study shows drinking more coffee leads to a longer life There is good news and a final hope for coffee addicts and lovers. You will now be able to drink coffee for longer as new study shows its can lead to a prolonged life. Scientists showed that those who drank between two and four cups of coffee a day had 18% lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers. PA Food and drink news Coke Zero is replaced with Coke Zero Sugar Coca-Cola is pulling the plug on its Coke Zero. The much loved drink will be replaced with a new improved taste. The move, backed with a 10 million campaign, is said to come from Coca-Cola supporting people to reduce their sugar intake. Coca-Cola want people make this move while not sacrificing sugary taste of Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola Food and drink news Starbucks introduce new avocado spread The avocado craze has grown from hipster brunch restaurants to Starbucks. Starbucks have introduced their new avocado spread earlier this year and it has the internet in debate. Some argue that it not a spread but guacamole while others question if there is any avocado in there at all. When buying the new spread you can also buy an optional toasted bagel. It is a must try for all avocado connoisseurs. Starbucks Food and drink news New Mars chocolate bar The iconic British chocolate bar is about to get its partner in crime. The new bar, named Goodness Knows, will replace the gooey caramel goodness of the mars bar with oats. It is said to be more like a Florentine biscuit with a thin dark chocolate bottom. While being moderately healthy Mars says that is has good intentions. One pack has 154 calories and will sell for about 90p. Mars Food and drink news Wine prices could increase because of Brexit Wine lovers across the UK might soon have to shell out close to a quarter more for their favourite tipple after Brexit, as a weaker pound and sluggish economy takes its toll, a new study shows Rex Food and drink news Chocolate may be good for the heart A new study, published in the British Medical Journal: Heart, found that moderate chocolate intake can be positively associated with lessening the risk of the heart arrhythmia condition Atrial Fibrillation Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Brits throw away 1.4 million bananas each year British families are throwing away 1.4 million bananas that are perfectly good to eat every day at cost of 80m a year, new figures have shown PA/Armin Weigel Food and drink news Rosemary sales spike over exam time There has been a surge a surge in sales of the herb rosemary after a recent study found it helps improve memory. According to high street health food chain Holland & Barrett, sales of the herb have increased by 187 per cent compared to the same time last year Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Gluten-free diets 'not recommended' for people without coeliac disease Avoiding wheat, barley and rye in the belief that a gluten-free diet brings health benefits may do more harm than good, according to a team of US nutrition and medicine experts Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Starbucks launches two new coffee-based drinks Starbucks is launching two new coffee-based drinks in the UK, as it strives to tap into consumers growing appetite for healthy beverages. The Cold Brew Vanilla sweet cream and the Cappuccino Freddo, will both be available in stores throughout the UK from the start of May Twitter/@SbuxCountyHall Food and drink news Cadburys Dairy Milk Tiffin is making a permanent comeback after 80 years The Cadbury Dairy Milk Tiffin, first produced in 1937, is making a permanent comeback to the UK. The raisin and biscuit-filled chocolate bar is being launched after a successful trial last summer saw 3 million chocolate treats at the cost of 1.49 for each 95g bar- purchased by nostalgic customers Cadburys Food and drink news Pizza restaurant makes worlds cheesiest 'Scottie's Pizza Parlor' in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Facebook/Scottie's Pizza Parlor Food and drink news A pizza joint in Portland Oregon has created the worlds cheesiest pizza using a total of 101 different cheese varieties. Why not eating before a workout could be better for your health A study published in the American Journal of Physiology by researchers at the University of Bath found you might be likely to burn more fat if you have not eaten first Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news New York restaurant named best in the world A New York restaurant where an average meal for two will cost $700 has been named the best in the world. Eleven Madison Park won the accolade for the first time after debuting on the list at number 50 in 2010. The restaurant was praised for a fun sense of fine-dining, blurring the line between the kitchen and the dining room Getty Images Food and drink news Why you crave bad food when youre tired Researchers at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago recently presented their results of a study looking into the effects of sleep deprivation upon high-calorific food consumption. Researchers found that those who were sleep-deprived had specifically enhanced brain activity to the food smells compared to when they had a good nights sleep Shutterstock Food and drink news Drinking wine engages more of your brain than solving maths problems Drinking wine is the ideal workout for your brain, engaging more parts of our grey matter than any other human behaviour, according to a leading neuroscientist. Dr Gordon Shepherd, from the Yale School of Medicine, said sniffing and analysing a wine before drinking it requires exquisite control of one of the biggest muscles in the body Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news British dessert eating surges after people ditch healthy eating in February : In heartening news for anyone feeling guilty about quitting their New Year diet, it seems lots of us have given in to our sweet tooths once again. New data from nationwide food-delivery service Deliveroo reveals there was a surge in Brits ordering desserts in February compared to the first month of 2017 Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news US congress debates definition of milk alternatives A new bill has been created that seeks to ban dairy alternatives from using the term milk. Titled the DAIRY PRIDE Act, the name is a tenuous acronym for defending against imitations and replacements of yogurt, milk, and cheese to promote regular intake of dairy every day. It argues that the dairy industry is struggling as a result of all the dairy-free alternatives on the market and the public are being duped too Getty Images Food and drink news Cadburys launches two new chocolate bars UK confectionary giant Cadbury has launched two new chocolate bars, hoping to lure those with a sweet tooth and perhaps help combat some of the challenges it faces from rising commodity prices and a post-Brexit slump in the value of the pound.The companys new products will be peanut butter and mint flavoured. They will be available in most major super markets as 120g bars, priced at 1.49, according to the company Cadburys Food and drink news You can now get a job as a professional chocolate eater The company responsible for some of your favourite chocolate brands think Cadbury, Milks, Prince and Oreo have officially announced an opening to join their team as a professional chocolate taster. The successful candidate will help them to test, perfect and launch new products all over the world. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news MSG additive used in Chinese food is actually good for you, scientist claims For years, weve been told MSG (the sodium salt of glutamic acid) - often associated with cheap Chinese takeaways - is awful for our health and to be avoided at all costs. But one scientist argues it should be used as a supersalt and encourages adding it to food. Getty Images/iStockphoto Food and drink news Lettuce prices are rising Not only are lettuces becoming an increasingly rare commodity in supermarkets, but prices for the leafy vegetables seem to be rising too. According to the weekly report from the Governments Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a pair of Little Gem lettuces had an average market price of 0.86 in the week that ended on Friday, up from an average of 0.56 in the previous week thats an almost 54 per cent increase. Getty Images Food and drink news Do-It-Yourself restaurant To encourage more people to cook and eat together, IKEA has launched The Dining Club in Shoreditch a fully immersive Do-It-Yourself restaurant . Members of the public can book to host a brunch, lunch or dinner party for up to 20 friends and family. Supported by their very own sous chef and maitre de, the host and their guests will orchestrate an intimate dining experience where cooking together is celebrated and eating together is inspirational Mikael Buck / IKEA Food and drink news Ping Pong menu with a twist Gatwick Airport has teamed up with London dim sum restaurant Ping Pong to create a limited edition menu with a distinctly British twist; including a Full English Bao and Beef Wellington Puff, to celebrate the launch of the airports new route to Hong Kong Food and drink news Zizzi unveil the Maamgharita Unique pizza art has been created by Zizzi in celebration of the Queens 90th birthday. The pizza features the queen in an iconic pose illustrated with fresh and tasty Italian ingredients on a backdrop of the Union Jack Food and drink news Blue potatoes make a comeback Blue potatoes, once a staple part of British potato crops, are back on the menu thanks to a Cambridge scientist turned-organic farmer and Farmdrop, an online marketplace that lets people buy direct from local farms. Cambridge PhD graduate-turned farmer, Adrian Izzard has used traditional growing techniques at Wild Country Organics to produce the colourful spuds, packed with healthy cell-protecting anthocyanin, which had previously disappeared from UK plates when post-war farmers were pushed towards higher-yielding varieties The biggest challenge facing the store is the struggle to get enough volunteers. It takes a lot of time and resources to run a concept like Wefood and we hope someday we can open many stores only run by volunteers, the spokesperson said. WeFood is believed to be the first supermarket selling food waste in the world that is open to everyone. There are food waste stores in Switzerland but they are only available for citizens who receive welfare. The Independent's sister paper, the Evening Standard, has launched a campaign on food waste in London.Find out more here. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Slovakia's Prime Minister has claimed Europe will make sure leaving the European Union is "very painful" for the UK. Robert Fico said Britain would not be allowed to make EU workers "second-class citizens" while still receiving the benefits of the single market. He told Financial Times: "It will be very difficult for the UK, very difficult. "The EU will take this opportunity to show the public: listen guys, now you will see why it is important to stay in the EU. This will be the position." Mr Fico stressed he had personal "respect" for Theresa May but said he did not envy her dilemma. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell He added: "What would you say if you were in their position? Even if it is the fifth-biggest economy in the world I understand their financial importance this will still be very painful for the UK. "They are bluffing. If you were in their position you would say the same. It will all be fine, it will be fantastic, you will see. No, no, no, no." EU summit: Slovakia looking to benefit from Brexit Slovakia's main demand will be "equal treatment" for its citizens in Britain alongside UK workers, Mr Fico said. He spoke about the "nervousness and fear" in Eastern Europe over Ms May's free movement demand. Prime Minister Theresa May has so far refused to guarantee the status of EU nationals in the UK, but insisted she wants them to stay after Brexit - if the rights of Britons overseas are respected. There are currently more than 1 million Eastern European workers in the UK taking advantage of EU residence rights. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Fifty puppies have been seized in by Gardai (Irish police) at Dublin port en route to England. The 'designer' dogs including Beagles, Bichon Frise and Cocker Spaniels are said to be in good condition and up for adoption. The Dublin Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) are currently caring for the puppies. The DSPCA has said the seizure is the latest of a string of attempted puppy smuggling in 2016. In the last two months, 150 puppies have been seized by Gardai and animal protection officers, Herald.ie reports. Gillian Bird of the DSPCA said: "This is the seventh seizure in the last two months. That brings the total number of puppies found in that time to 150. "On the market here, they would probably be around 200 or 250, but if you sell them in the UK, you could get 800 for them. "We're looking at everything - reputable breeders, backyard breeders and puppy farms." RSPCA: Rogue puppy dealers selling traumatised puppies The puppies are thought to have spent four to five hours in transit and other than dehydration were found to be well. Ms Bird added: "These animals were actually ok, but some of them were very wary. "Two of them were quite dehydrated and we have them on a drip now." In August, Gardai found 14 puppies in the boot of a car at the port. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The far-right, openly anti-Muslim AfD party has made significant gains in Germanys local elections as Angela Merkels Christian Democrat party slumped to its worst ever result. Alternative for Germany won 14.2 per cent of the vote, just three days after Berlins mayor Michael Mueller warned that a double-digit score for the anti-immigration party would be seen around the world as a sign of the return of the right-wing and the Nazis in Germany. The vote secures the anti-immigration party its first seats in the Berlin state parliament the first far-right party to do so since German reunification. It is the 10th state legislature in Germany in which the party has now won at least one seat. The Christian Democrats (CDU) polled just 17.6 per cent of the vote, a major blow to Ms Merkels party and an indication of the uphill battle the party will have at the national elections in Germany in October 2017. The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) won the highest percentage of votes with 21.6 per cent. Following the result, Georg Pazderski of the AfD said: From zero to double-digits, that's a first for Berlin. We have achieved a great result, added Beatrix von Storch, one of the partys leaders. We have arrived in the capital and are on our way to the Bundestag. Speaking ahead of the result, the Berlin mayor had warned of a strong result for the party: "It would be seen around the world as a sign of the return of the right-wing and the Nazis in Germany. Berlin is not any old city - Berlin is the city that transformed itself from the capital of Hitler's Nazi Germany into a beacon of freedom, tolerance, diversity and social cohesion," he added. Aylan Kurdi - A year on, has anything changed Responding to the result, Sigmar Gabriel, the German vice-chancellor and leader of Ms Merkels coalition partners, the SPD said: Berlin continues to stand for social and human decency. But despite reaching double figures, the AfDs result was not as significant as earlier polls indicated. Last week the party was forecast to win as much as 15 per cent of the vote, which would have put it third. However, it was beaten into fifth place behind the Social Democrats, the CDU, the Left Party and the Greens. When migrants started arriving in large numbers about a year ago, some were met with applause, cheers and gifts, but the mood has since shifted due to concerns about integration and attacks by asylum seekers on civilians this summer. The result is seen as a reaction to Ms Merkels immigration policy with many CDU voters shifting towards the AfD to register their disapproval. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Paris prosecutors office is investigating a hoax hostage alert in Paris after two teenagers said they were behind a counter-terror operation that turned out to be a false alarm. The young men, aged 16 and 17, told French media they made a hoax call to police that sparked the major operation which saw hundreds of police officers deployed to central Paris, saying they did it for the thrill. The pair reportedly said they phoned the police on 17 September and said there was a group of North Africans carrying weapons in Saint Leu Saint Gilles church, prompting police to take action. On the day of the alert they boasted online that they were committing an act of so-called swatting when hoaxers make anonymous threats to trigger a response from police and emergency intervention groups known as SWAT teams. One of the alleged hoaxers wrote on Facebook: I carried out the worst SWATT, I deployed helicopters, the government, 50 police vehicles into action. Ive broadcasted it on Persicope, I told BFMTV and 10 newspapers. The unnamed assailants later told French newspaper l'Observateur: The original plan was to swatter a mosque but after Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray we thought it would work better with a church. We did it for the thrill. If people were afraid, thats their problem. The pair are also said to have shared audio tapes of their conversations with police with the newspaper, in which an officer can be heard telling them that they receive many fake calls and asking them to verify information around the positions of the hostages. The 20-minute recording reportedly goes on to hear multiple police officers asking for clarification about the number of people in the church, the physical appearance of the kidnappers and their equipment. In pictures: Paris attacks Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: Paris attacks In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police with protective shields walk in line near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers evacuate an injured person on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Vigipirate troops mobilize next to Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French soldiers mobilize near to the Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated outside the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks People react as they gather to watch the scene near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police secure the area outside a cafe near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers workers evacuate victims near the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French President Francois Hollande attending an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France after explosions were heard outside AP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A man lies on the ground as French police check his identity near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Two men evacuate the Place de la Republique square in Paris as a police officer looks on AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Football fans are evacuated from the Stade de France stadium In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks An armed police officer Dan Gabriel In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France is evacuated after reports of an explosion In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A member of the French fire brigade aids an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police are seen outside a cafe in 10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers assist an injured man on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, close to the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The scene at a restaurant in 10th arrondissement In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Bataclan theatre - where around 100 people are thought be held hostage In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France as it was evacuated In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Forensic experts inspect the site of an attack outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis AFP The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation for crime of denunciation imaginary and spreading false information to pretend to do dangerous destruction. If found guilty the teenagers could face two years imprisonment and a 30,000 (25,692) fine. In response to the hoax calls, French Interior Minister, Pierre-Henry Brandet, said: In the context of threat of terrorism today, it is absurd to divert the security forces and rescue mission, at the risk of not having them available for true emergencies and endanger the lives of other people. The Paris prosecutors office has been contacted for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Greek police have confirmed thousands of people have been forced to flee after a fire broke out at a refugee camp in Lesbos. Volunteers at the Moria refugee camp said around 4,000 people were evacuated following the fire. Lifeguards Hellas said the fire was now under control but they were still working to distribute water and help the families in total darkness. No-one is believed to have been injured in the fire which damaged tents and prefabricated housing units. Police are reportedly investigating claims that the fire was started deliberately in protest at the conditions at the camp. There are a total of 5,400 migrants living in camps on the island which has the capacity to house around 3,500. More than a million refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq have made the perilous crossing between Turkey and Greek islands such as Lesbos and Chios in a bid to claim asylum in Europe since last year. Many migrants have attempted to leave the camps and travel north to wealthier countries such as Germany, France and the UK to claim asylum but their path is increasingly being blocked by tightened border controls by several European countries. Last week, migrants in Lesbos staged two demonstrations in the island's capital, Mytilene, where they demanded the right to travel to mainland Greece having been stranded for months, the Daily Mail reported. Local mayor Spiros Galinos said the conditions in some of the camps were "particularly worrying and dangerous". He said his team had witnesses multiple fights between migrants at the Moria camp which led to "dozens" of injuries. According to data released by the Greek government there are over 13,000 people living in camps on the five main islands between the Greek and Turkish mainlines. Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Show all 7 1 /7 Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The Solidarity With Refugees group said Saturdays protest aimed to show our Government and the world that Britain is ready to welcome more refugees. Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis People march through central London as they take part in a protest rally organised by Solidarity with Refugees in a bid to urge the Government to take more action on the migrant crisis Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The protest comes days before world leaders meet to discuss crisis at UN General Assembly Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Demonstrators made their way from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on Saturday afternoon Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis Marchers chanted refugees are welcome here and waved banners reading no-one is illegal and lets help people Press Association Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis The march was supported by charities and groups including the Red Cross, Asylum Aid, Save the Children, Hope Not Hate, Oxfam and the UN Refugee Agency Rex Features Refugees welcome here: Protesters demand UK resettle more migrants in response to refugee crisis In the wake of Alans death, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK over the coming five years but there have been additional calls to re-home those who have already reached Europe, as well as asylum seekers coming from other conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Rex Features The Greek government has pleaded for help in dealing with the influx from other EU countries but other member countries are increasingly reluctant to intervene after the rise of far-right parties in their countries. The success of groups like the far-right Alternative for Germany, which increased its vote share dramatically at the Berlin state elections at the weekend, has meant individual governments are increasingly in favour of abandoning the open-border Schengen Agreement. The Swedish government has called for the EU to punish member states which fail to honour their pledges to accept refugees. It has so far taken in around 163,000 asylum seekers over the past year - almost three times per capita than Germany whose population is eight times bigger. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A former NATO chief has warned Europe could be at the mercy of an imminent attack from Russia with no defence plans to repel an invasion. General Sir Richard Barrons claimed Russia could deploy warplanes, ships and troops on European soil within 48 hours if it desired, with NATO some months away from an effective counter-strike. The former chief of Joint Forces Command warned that the failure of countries such as France, Germany and Italy to take the threat of Russian aggression seriously could lead to a loss of land, sea and airspace. Countries bordering the country, led by president Vladimir Putin, are concerned about the threat from their neighbour, not a priority for southern and central states. The majority of the EU bloc is focussed on the heightened terror threat and migration crisis gripping the continent. A Russian officer dodges bullets live on TV after praising Syrias cease-fire This is despite Moscow investing in new state-of-the-art equipment set to rival NATOs arsenal. If you list all the military capability that Nato has, it has a lot more than Russia, but because most of it exists in this semi-dormant state there is a window of opportunity where . . . Russia could use its smaller forces to tweak Nato in a way to which Nato would be very pressed to respond because it doesnt have any plans to do that. Tensions between Russia and the Western world Show all 8 1 /8 Tensions between Russia and the Western world Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Vladimir Putin leaves G20 early after criticism from world leaders over Ukraine. David Cameron warned Vladimir Putin, face to face, that Russias whole post-Cold War relationship with the West is at a fork in the road over Ukraine Getty Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A mysterious Russian object is being tracked by space agencies, giving new life to fears about the increase of space weapons. The satellite, dubbed Object 2014-28E, has grabbed the interest of official and amateur satellite-watchers because it is taking a confusing path and its purpose has not been identified Getty Images Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian warplanes are risking the security of civilian passengers as they play a dangerous game designed to test Western air defences, according to Natos secretary general FRA Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russia has warned Ukraine that a resumption of hostilities against pro-Russian separatists in the east would be catastrophic for Ukraine Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A Swedish minesweeper searches for suspected "foreign underwater activity" near Stockholm. A Russian sub in Swedish waters has slipped away into the sea...leaving recriminations in its wake Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, is taking the European Union to court in an attempt to loosen Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis GETTY IMAGES Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian government agencies have been accused of editing a Wikipedia article to suggest the Ukrainian military was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Twitter account monitoring state IP addresses has claimed AFP Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Australias prime minister Tony Abbott has promised he will shirtfront Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australian citizens AP In the absence of consensus, largely between the north, the centre and the south, it drops down to the lowest common denominator and not much will happen. Sir Barrons told The Times. Russias recent annexation of Crimea and military exercises in Ukraine earned it international condemnation, but its provocative behaviour has been unable to galvanise NATO into forming a credible opposition plan against a possible Russian invasion. There is a proposal to base roughly 1,000 troops in each of the Baltic states and Poland, but the move was criticised for lacking any real military backing, nor outlining any clear rules of engagement should Moscow strike. But the plans were dismissed by Sir Barrons as a mere window dressing, saying it lacked real force and resilience. Britain is leading the Baltic deployment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Hamas official has said he is proud to have been designated a global terrorist by the US and added that the move will only make him more confident. Fathi Hammad, a former Hamas interior minister, has had his US assets frozen on Friday because he used the position to coordinate terrorist cells, the State Department said. The decision only makes me more confident about my path," Hammad told the Washington Post. "The threat of killing or arrest? It doesnt freak me out, not at all. I am looking forward to it. He added: I feel proud that I managed to anger America. The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child Hammad is a member of the political leadership of Hamas, an Islamist group in control of Gaza since 2007. In 2005, Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza, which it had seized along with the West Bank in a 1967 war. In a statement issued in Gaza, Hammad said the decision to list him as a terrorist came hours after Washington announced $38 billion in military aid to Israel over the next decade, a step that he said made the United States "the biggest supporter of Zionist terrorism." "Such decisions that are biased in favor of the occupation represent a new black chapter in the record of the ... American administration," he said. Hamas seeks to mend relations with Egypt The Obama administration also imposed sanctions on a French citizen considered to be one of the top Syria-based recruiters of potential militants. Omar Diaby was added to the State Department's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. He was found to have links with the suspect who drove a 19-ton truck into crowds gathered for Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. Diaby is also known for his French-language jihadi recruitment videos, notably on YouTube, and was among the first to target girls for recruitment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Rebel leaders in besieged east Aleppo have declared the Syrian civil war ceasefire a failure," as missiles hit rebel neighbourhoods over the weekend and yet another day expired without the aid delivery guaranteed in the truce. The seven-day cessation of hostilities technically ended at midnight on Monday, but is supposed to be renewed every 48 hours as long as peace is largely maintained. Its future is now unclear thanks to anger over a US airstrike on Saturday that hit a Syrian army base near Isis territory and President Bashar al-Assads refusal to grant permission for a UN aid convoy to deliver food, medicine and childrens clothes to rebel-held east Aleppo. Approximately 275,000 people remain trapped in east Aleppo, which has seen some of the worst fighting in Syrias five-year-long civil war. Thousands of civilians have died in airstrikes on both government and rebel-held areas. When the terms of the ceasefire were announced, the deal was immediately criticised by NGOs and rebel groups for ignoring the millions of Syrians elsewhere also living under siege conditions. While Aleppo is the scene of much bloodshed, elsewhere in the country, people are dying far more slowly. Deliberate starvation of citizens is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention, but it has been an effective tactic of the Syrian government, used to inflame tensions between different rebel groups, and turn hungry civilans against opposition fighters. War in Syria: Intense bombing in Idlib and Daraya According to the UN, 5.4 million people in Syria live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas, the majority in east Aleppo, Madaya and al-Waer, a suburb of Homs. Overall there are 18 areas designated as besieged or hard-to-reach, most surrounded by the Syrian army, and some by rebel forces and Isis. In August, UN humanitarian efforts were only able to reach around nine per cent of people in these zones. SiegeWatch, a project created in 2015 by the Syria Institute and PAX which claims UN data is often incomplete, estimates as of July this year that one million Syrians remain trapped in at least 40 areas, and another 1.4 million live in areas which are currently siege-like and at risk of deteriorating. As seen in Aleppo in the past week, sometimes rebels inside besiged towns and cities also prevent citizens from leaving, or block aid deliveries. Aid reaches starving Madaya Madaya, a town just 40km from Damascus, made headlines earlier this year after it emerged that more than 60 people had died from hunger and malnutrition, and some residents were resorting to eating insects and plants to stay alive. Under pressure from the international community, the Syrian government allowed aid into the town but since April, the regimes grip has tightened again. No food or medicine has reached Madayas residents in four months, sparking fears that the desperate conditions of last winter may be returning. Its not just food that Syrias besieged communities need. Many hospitals and doctors have reported running out of basic medicines, or being forced to ration drugs. Save the Children said last week that living under siege conditions was also taking its toll on psychological health, with six teenagers and seven more young adults in Madaya attempting suicide in the past few months. A teacher in Madaya sent Whatsapp messages to a Save the Children worker on Sunday which said a meningitis outbreak has left her tired and weak, and families are keeping their children away from school for fear of contracting the disease. "We were told that after 10 days meningitis vaccines would be sent in but we dont know if they will be let in or not", she added. Syria's President Assad celebrates Eid al-Adha at mosque in Daraya, site of one of his most brutal sieges Sadly, there is evidence that the Syrian governments siege tactics are beginning to pay off. Daraya and Moadamiyeh, suburbs of Damascus under siege by Syrian army forces for years, have surrendered in the last few weeks. Rebels said they were forced into agreeing to evacuations because of deteriorating humanitarian conditions: only one aid delivery was allowed to enter Daraya in four years, and in Moadamiyeh, vital infrastructure such as the local hospital was destroyed by shelling. Opposition representatives in al-Waer are also in talks with the government which involve an amnesty for between 250-300 injured fighters who need evacuation for medical treatment. Sixty thousand people live in the city, which SiegeWatch warns is on the brink of serious humanitarian disaster. Emptying out previously rebel-held areas is beneficial for Assad, freeing up soldiers to combat the last opposition strongholds in central Syria, leaving the rebellious heartlands in north-west Idlib province and a few pockets in the south. The regimes strategy is clear, Ibrahim Abbas, an opposition activist who was exiled to Idlib as a condition for receiving medical treatment, told the AP when Daraya fell. A suffocating siege to foment hatred [among residents] toward activists and fighters, then an offer to evacuate. The plans for evacuations from al-Waer in Homs puts even more pressure on the fracturing ceasefire: a rebel statement signed by groups fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner as well as Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham said evacuations amounted to breaking the ceasefire. If any person is evacuated from al-Waer or any other besieged district in Syria ... the regime will have clearly ended its commitment to any proposed truce, and all the revolutionary factions will continue in their legitimate right to fight it, the statement said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Syrian army spokesperson has said that the week-long ceasefire in place across the country is now over, not adding whether the truce will be extended. The ceasefire deal, which as per the original agreement technically expired at 11.59pm on Sunday, was supposed to renew every 48 hours as long as conditions were met. It is unclear whether Russian and US talks will lead to an extension and the originally proposed joint airstrikes against Isis and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, or al-Nusra, the renamed Al-Qaeda affiliate operating in Syria. In a statement to Syrian state media on Monday afternoon the army blamed rebels for continued violations, saying the opposition did not commit to "a single element" of the deal. The seven-day truce brokered by Russia and the US was severely tested over the weekend when a US coalition-led airstrike accidentally targeted a Syrian army base near Isis territory, killing more than 60 people. An airstrike was also reported over a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo. Earlier on Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said there is no point in the Syrian government upholding the current ceasefire in the face of repeated rebel violations. More than 50 violations of the truce had been recorded by Russian monitors, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy told reporters in Moscow. Considering that the conditions of the ceasefire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy told reporters. Syrian servicemen and peaceful citizens are still dying. The cause of this is the fact the United States has no effective leverage to influence Syria's opposition and is unaware of the real situation on the ground, Rudskoy said. In pictures: Syria conflict Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Syria conflict In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians carry children amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl on a street covered with dust following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians react as they stand amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured Syrian man walks out from the rubble of a destroyed building following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman makes her way through debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis People stand on the rubble of collapsed buildings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the Al-Fardous neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian residents stand amid the rubble of destroyed buildings In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian resident grasps a mattress amid rubble in the al-Firdous neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A view taken from Tel al-Sawadi shows a large explosion allegedly at the Wadi Deif Syrian army base in northwestern Idlib on May 14, 2014, which opposition fighters have been trying to capture for more than a year. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamist rebels detonated explosives planted in a tunnel under the army base killing or injuring dozens. AFP In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A bullet-riddled parking sign stands amid debris in a deserted street leading into the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A general view shows abandoned buildings on a deserted square in the old city of Homs after Syrian government forces regained control of rebel-controlled areas In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A military vehicle that belongs to the Free Syrian Army is seen in Al-Amariya district in Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A mosque is pictured through shattered glass in the old city of Homs, as rebel fighters withdrew from the city centre in line with a negotiated withdrawal deal with the government after having held out under tight siege for nearly two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Buses carrying Free Syrian Army fighters leaving Homs. Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels left their last remaining bastions in the heart of the central city of Homs under a cease-fire deal with government forces. The exit of some 1,200 fighters and civilians will mark a de facto end of the rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against President Bashar Assad's rule, earning it the nickname of "capital of the revolution" In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian government forces hold up a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad (L) while others raise the national flag on top of a pole in the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad run through Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr crossing after their release by rebels. They were freed as part of a larger deal which saw the last remaining Syrian rebels in central Homs city evacuate their positions and free captives in several locations in northern Syria In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman and two children walk past heavily damaged buildings in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man carries a wounded girl following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Mowasalat neighborhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A wounded man sits as he is treated at a makeshift hospital following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Sakhour district of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Debris rises in what Free Syrian Army fighters and Islamic rebels said was an operation to strike Al-Sahaba checkpoint, which is considered a gateway to Al-Dayf valley, and remove forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Maarat Al-Nouman, Idlib province In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Men try to put out fire at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Civil Defence members try to put out fire In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Survivors react at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Residents queue as they wait to receive food aid distributed by the UNRWA at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Belongings of Syrian rebels inside a chapel at Crac des Chevaliers, the world's best preserved medieval Crusader castle in Syria. The village was destroyed in fighting between the government and rebel forces while the castle, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, also has been damaged over the past two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Hosen Sabah, a 16-year-old student is comforted by his mother at a hospital in Damascus. Nosen was wounded by a mortar outside his school, while 14 other students were killed and over 80 wounded In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Free Syrian Army fighter works on a locally made launcher before firing it towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Mork town In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian policemen and citizens inspecting the site of a car bomb at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus. According to Syria's Arab News Agency (SANA), a car bomb explosion has gone off in the countryside of Damascus and initial information say there are casualties, where a car rigged with explosions was remotely detonated at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus during engineering units it was trying to dismantled it In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Opposition fighters carrying a rocket launcher during clashes against government forces in the Sheikh Lutfi area, west of the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man helps a woman to make her way through debris following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man reacts as he carries the body of injured boy following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 33 civilians were killed in the attack In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian rescue workers carry the body of a woman following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman walks past the burning wreckage of a car following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man and two children run to a safer place following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man holds an injured child after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hullok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured man talks on a walkie-talkie after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hellok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man walks inside a mosque damaged by, according to activists, a barrel bomb thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Old Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians gather at the site of reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they run to avoid snipers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Morek in Hama province The hold up of aid into besieged east Aleppo, a key part of the ceasefire deal, has also stoked international frustrations and rebel anger. Zakaria Malahifji, head of the political office of the Aleppo-based group Fastaqim, told Reuters there was no hope that Bashar al-Assad's government would allow promised aid to be delivered to the city, adding that he believed rebel factions in the city were preparing for renewed military action. Goverment plans to grant amnesty and evacuate rebels from besieged al-Waer in Homs have also weakened the prospect of the ceasefire succeeding: in a statement signed by members of the Free Syrian Army and an Islamist faction, the groups said that any evacuations from besieged areas in Syria would mean continued fighting, as the regime will have clearly ended its commitment to any proposed truce. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The British participation in the misdirected US-led air raid that killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers and the final breakdown of the shaky six-day truce combine to underline the need to bring the war to an end and to emphasise how difficult it will be to accomplish this in the near future. The British and Americans admit to a mistake in targeting the Syrian army rather than Isis, but in the atmosphere of chronic suspicion that swirls around anything to do with the Syrian war, there will be plenty, and not just in Damascus and Moscow, who will not believe them. The coincidence that the blunder took place just as the ceasefire agreed between Russia and the US on 10 September was collapsing is symbolic of the danger that so many foreign and local powers are now militarily engaged in Syria that they are bound to collide accidentally or on purpose. Indeed, an interesting fact to emerge from the incident is that the US claims it told the Russians about its intended airstrike on Deir Ezzor before it took place and, soon after, the Russians told them they were hitting the wrong target while the airstrikes were still going on. Clearly, there is already a high degree of US-Russian military cooperation already in place, but it is still not enough to prevent accidents on a chaotic battlefield or enforce a ceasefire which never completely took hold. The Russian Ministry of Defence said today that a ceasefire was meaningless in the light of rebel violations. The rebels, for their part, say that the Syrian air force had already resumed bombing in East Aleppo and in Deraa in the south. The UN aid convoys for East Aleppo are still in Turkey, just as they were six days ago. Who is most at fault in all this is impossible to disentangle. Aid is seen strewn across the floor in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the morning after a convoy delivering aid was hit by a deadly air strike (Getty Images) Members of the Syrian Civil Defence extinguish burning trucks carrying aid on the side of the road in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo (Getty Images) One of the many difficulties in establishing even temporary and local ceasefires in Syria and the problem is far worse in the case of a national truce is the hatred between government and rebel sides is so intense that there needs to be monitors to implement and police any agreement or it will collapse. Without such a mechanism, however, nobody will relax their fingers on the trigger. A UN monitoring mission operating in Syria in 2012 was more successful than it was given credit for, but few governments these days will be willing to risk their soldiers for a UN mission in a place as dangerous as Syria. The most important question now is the extent to which the failure of the ceasefire is followed by an escalation in fighting as happened in some, but not all, parts of Syria after the last unsuccessful truce in February. The Syrian army will presumably press ahead with its siege of East Aleppo and establishing greater control over Damascus and Homs while the armed opposition that never offered much under the US-Russian agreement will launch counter-offensives in the countryside around Aleppo and south towards Hama. In pictures: Aleppo bombing Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: Aleppo bombing In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Smoke rises after airstrikes on the rebel-held al-Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Qatarji in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damage of the airstrikes in the rebel-held area of Aleppo on April 28 Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians evacuate an injured man amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike on a rebel-held of Aleppo on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man leads a woman in tears and child out of the scene after airstrikes hit Aleppo AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Civil defence members search for survivors after an airstrike at a field hospital in the rebel held area of al-Sukari district of Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported air strike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in the Bustan al-Qasr rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians help a wounded youth following an air strike on the Fardous rebel held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate people from a damaged building following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo The degree of violence in Syria is never decided solely by local antagonists but by the extent to which their regional backers Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran are willing to support them. This has been the pattern in the past and is likely to continue. What is unclear is how far the US and Russia are capable of real cooperation and how far both were trying over the last week to get their local allies to abide by the truce. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The ruling United Russia party, which is backed by Vladimir Putin, is on track to win 343 of 450 seats in Russias lower house of parliament. With 90 per cent of the vote counted, the pro-Kremlin party had 54 per cent of the vote for the 225 seats chosen nationwide by party list, the Central Elections Commission said. The three parties who were the next most popular the Communist Party, The Liberal Democrats and the Just Russia Party all support Mr Putin. However, there have been multiple reports of voting fraud and videos have surfaced of apparent ballot stuffing. One video shows an official appearing to take a pile of ballots and shoving them into the voting box while another person seems to stand guard. Election monitoring groups received reports throughout the day of voting fraud. Monitoring company Golos said they had received floods of reports of vote-rigging but there was little it could do through official channels. We dont have any way to fight it through law enforcement agencies or through courts but we fight violation through attracting public attention, Roman Udot, co-chair of Golos told the BBC. Liberal opposition parties appear to have failed to meet the 5 per cent threshold required for party-list representation. Yet, earlier exit polls suggest they could still get seats in individual constituencies. The election result is not surprising the controversial leader was widely expected to maintain his grip on the country. He has now held power, either as a president or prime minister, for 17 years. But accusations of vote-rigging after the last election in 2011 caused mass street protests against the leader in Moscow. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty There has been a concerted effort to make this election appear more honest than the last. A well known human rights campaigner, Ella Pamfilova, was appointed as deputy chairman of the Russian Central Election Commission. Ms Pamilova declared this parliamentary election was entirely legitimate. Meanwhile, protests erupted in Crimea as, for the first time, Russia opened voting to those in the territory it annexed in 2014. Anti-Russian Ukrainians attacked those going to vote in the Russian embassy, demonstrating heightened tensions in a fiercely divided area. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A UN convoy delivering aid to the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo is believed to have been hit by an air strike, hours after the countrys fragile ceasefire collapsed amid recriminations and renewed violence. More than 30 trucks from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were reportedly bringing food relief from UN stores to the town of Urm al-Kubra, near Aleppo, in an area controlled by rebel groups. According to monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the convoy was targeted by Syrian or Russian aircraft. At least 12 aid workers and truck drivers are believed to have been killed in the attack, which struck as many as 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy, activists in Syria told the monitoring group. Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry had described the ceasefire, which was brokered by the US and Russia and began last Monday, as holding but fragile. As world leaders gathered at the UN in New York to discuss a longer-term solution to the five-year Syrian civil war, Mr Kerry cited the delivery of food aid as a positive sign. But in a statement issued on Monday, the Syrian military claimed armed terrorist groups had flouted the agreement and announced the resumption of hostilities. Government munitions began to fall again on opposition-controlled areas of eastern Aleppo, the countrys largest city and lately its bloodiest battlefield. Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, said he was outraged by the airstrike, which reportedly hit the aid convoy as it was in the process of unloading food. Our outrage at this attack is enormous, he told Reuters. The convoy was the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians. The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, has said the breakdown of the ceasefire was instigated by Syrian President Bashar al-Assads troops, supported by Russia and not the fault of Western-backed opposition rebels. The reality, according to the information we are getting from the ground, is that violations of the ceasefire are acts of the regime, Mr Ayrault said. The Syrian militarys defiant statement came after a bombing carried out by western coalition forces close to the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zour. The western countries involved, including the US and UK, said the strike was aimed at an Isis position. But Russia said 62 Syrian soldiers were also killed in the attack, which President Assad described as the latest example of flagrant American aggression against Syrian army positions in the interests of the [Islamic State]." Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, new book Atlas Obscura celebrates over 600 of the most curious and unusual destinations around the globe. More cabinet of curiosities than traditional guidebook, it revels in the unexpected, the overlooked, the bizarre, and the mysterious. Here, weve picked six entriesfrom Atlas Obscura that reveal our favourite little-known natural wonders (or, at least, wonders made from natural materials) around the world. Peru: The Last Incan Grass Bridge Huinchiri, Cusco The Incas never invented the wheel, never figured out the arch, and never discovered iron, but they were masters of fibre. They built ships out of fibre (you can still find reed boats sailing on Lake Titicaca). They made armour out of fibre (pound for pound, it was stronger than the armour worn by the conquistadors). And their greatest weapon, the sling, was woven from fibres and powerful enough to split a steel sword. So when it came to solving a problem like how to get people, animals, and goods across the steep gorges of the Andes, it was only natural that they would turn to fibre. This Incan suspension bridge, made from woven grass, can support the weight of 56 people (ImageBROKER) Five centuries ago, the Andes were strung with as many as 200 suspension bridges braided from nothing more than twisted mountain grass and other vegetation, with cables sometimes as thick as a human torso. Three hundred years before Europe saw its first suspension bridge, the Incas were spanning longer distances and deeper gorges than anything the best European engineers, working with stone, were capable of. Today, there is just one Incan grass bridge left, the Keshwa Chaca, a sagging 90ft (27.4-metre) span that stretches between two sides of a steep gorge, near Huinchiri. According to locals, it has been there for at least 500 years. Despite its seemingly fragile materials, modern load testing has found that in peak condition, the Keshwa Chaca can support the weight of 56 people spread out evenly across its length. The yearly tradition of rebuilding the Keshwa Chaca has not abated. Each June, it is renewed in an elaborate three-day ceremony. Each household from the four surrounding towns is responsible for bringing 90ft of braided grass cord. Construction takes place under the supervision of the bridge keeper, or chacacamayoc. The old bridge is then cut down and thrown into the river. Because it has to be willfully, ritually regenerated each year, the Keshwa Chacas ownership passes from generation to generation as a bridge across not only space, but also time. Where: The bridge crosses Apurimac Canyon, five hours south of Cusco. Coordinates: S 14.383056 W 71.493333 Mexico: Cave of the Crystals Naica, Chihuahua In 2000, workers at Naica, Mexicos largest mine, were excavating a new tunnel 1,000ft (305 metres) underground when they broke into an extraordinary cave. This chamber, now known as the Cave of the Crystals, contains some of the largest crystals ever found. Its crisscrossing shards of selenite measure up to 39ft (12 metres) long. The unusually immense crystals formed over half a million years in water that was a steamy and stable 136F (57.7C). These conditions allowed a particular mineral in the cave, anhydrite, to absorb water and transform into gypsum, its lower-temperature, stable form. Gypsum deposits gradually built up, forming the giant selenite crystals. When mining operations began in the area, workers pumped water from the surrounding caves, inadvertently draining the crystal cave and exposing its treasures. Cavers climbing a web of enormous gypsum crystals in the Mexican state of Chihuahua (Carsten Peter/Speleoresearch & Films/National Geographic) (Carsten Peter/Speleoresearch & Films/National Geographic) Conditions in the Cave of the Crystals are very hazardous to humans. Ambient temperature is around 125F (51.6C), and the 90 to 99 per cent humidity creates a stifling environment in which higher brain functions quickly deteriorate and breathing becomes difficult. The terrain is uneven and the smaller crystals have sharp edges, making walking tough. Scientists and researchers have been exploring the cave since 2006. They do so wearing cold-water respirators and suits lined with ice. Even with this special equipment, the explorers can only stay in the cave for 45 minutes at a time. The mine and cave are located in the south-west part of Naica, a town with around 5,000 residents. Due to its fragility and oppressive conditions, the cave is only accessible to researchers. Where: Terreros 7, Naica. Naica is a two-hour drive south of Chihuahua City. Coordinates: N 27.850833 W 105.496389 Dominica: Boiling Lake Roseau The lake on Watt Mountain is not a good place for a refreshing dip: drinking or bathing in the water will result in death, or at least severe burns. Morne Watt (Watt Mountain) is a stratovolcano, its boiling lake a flooded fumarole a direct line to the molten subsurface of Earth, with vents pumping scalding steam and gases into the water. A thick cloud of vapour rises from the bubbling blue-grey lake. Water temperature is around 194F (90C). The Boiling Lake in Dominica is a case of "look, but don't touch" (National Geographic Image Collection) Where: Morne Trois Pitons National Park. You need to be fit to visit the lake its a three-hour hike from the nearest road, over difficult terrain. En route, youll pass through the Valley of Desolation, a sulfurous expanse of volcanic vents, hot springs, and bubbling mud. Coordinates: N 15.333608 W 61.324139 Montserrat: Abandoned Plymouth Plymouth On February 11, 2010, vacationers flying from Toronto to St. Lucia on a Boeing 737 heard the pilot make an unexpected announcement: Ladies and gentlemen, if you look to the left of the plane, youll see a volcano erupting. The volcano that was indeed hurling a plume of ash into the sky was the Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. It was a fantastic sight, but not an uncommon one. Plymouth's ruined courthouse, still buried in ash after a devastating volcanic eruption (Westend61 GmbH) Soufriere Hills began to erupt in 1995 for the first time since the 17th century sending lava flows and ash falls over the 10-mile-long (16km) island. The affected areas were evacuated and no one was killed. However, just two years later, the volcano went off again, this time killing 19 people. Continuing eruptions destroyed the capital city of Plymouth and covered the entire southern half of the island in a thick layer of ash. The south side of the island was declared uninhabitable and remains an exclusion zone. Over half of Montserrats 12,000 residents never returned after being evacuated. Those who stayed live on the north side of the island and have grown accustomed to the ongoing eruptions at Soufriere Hills. The islands economy is even benefiting from volcano-focused tourism, such as helicopter flights over devastated Plymouth and boat rides offering views of the smoking mound. Where: Montserrat is a 15-minute plane ride or two-hour ferry ride from Antigua. The southern part of the island is off-limits, but you can see the volcano by boat. Coordinates: N 16.707232 W 62.215755 US: Fly Geyser Gerlach, Nevada These multicoloured, knobby cones of calcium carbonate that spew water from multiple spouts are not natural humans had a hand in their creation. In 1964, a geothermal energy company drilled a test well in the Black Rock Desert. The water they encountered was not hot enough to use, so they plugged up the well. But the seal didnt hold, and water began erupting into the air. The rainbow-coloured Fly Geyser, in Nevada's Black Rock Desert (Inge Johnsson) Over the years, the geyser grew as minerals from the water settled on its surface. Fly Geyser and the terraced mound on which it sits now measure 12ft (3.65 metres) tall. Thermophilic algae have turned the cones various shades of green, yellow, orange, and red, giving the geyser a Martian look. Where: State Route 34, Gerlach. The geyser is on private property but visible with binoculars from State Route 34 near Gerlach. Property owners offer tours a few times a year. Coordinates: N 40.859318 W 119.331908 Egypt: White Desert Farafra, Western Desert Resembling giant mushrooms, atomic-bomb clouds, and, in one case, a chicken, the limestone rock formations of the White Desert are the heavily eroded remains of a former seabed. During the Cretaceous period, this portion of the desert was underwater, and chalk deposits from the skeletons of marine invertebrates accumulated on the ocean floor. To make a 100-million-year-old story short, the sea dried up, erosion dug odd shapes into the seabed, and now the White Desert is full of weirdly evocative rocks. The strange formations of the White Desert resemble eveything from mushrooms to chickens (Michael Runkel) The best way to experience the bleached landscape of the White Desert is to camp overnight. As the sun sets and rises, the light on the rock formations changes, and their shadows morph. In the silence you may hear the soft patter of a fennecs paws. These adorably large-eared nocturnal foxes are native to the Sahara. Where: The White Desert is 25 miles (40km) north of Farafra, an oasis where you can take a dip in a hot spring. Coordinates: N 27.098254 E 27.985839 Extracted from Atlas Obscura: An Explorers Guide to the Worlds Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton (Workman Publishing). 25. Copyright 2016 Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A French start-up airline is parking its planes on easyJets lawn - launching flights from Luton airport to France in November. Fly Kiss (or Fly KISS, as it styles itself) is based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne, from which its first flights will take off on 7 November - to Luton. The airline will also fly from the Bedfordshire airport to Brest in Brittany, with an onward service to the easternmost big city in France, Strasbourg. All three cities are currently unserved from the UK, though Clermont-Ferrand is midway between Lyon and Limoges, which both have links with London. Flights to and from Strasbourg will take 3 hours 30 minutes, due to the indirect routing. The city, which is the part-time home of the European Parliament and full-time home of the Council of Europe, is close to Baden-Baden airport in Germany, which has a daily service on Ryanair from Stansted. Unlike easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air - the three big airlines at Luton - Fly Kiss will operate a small 49-seat jet. It promises passengers constant attention to quality and satisfaction. Fares for a series of test bookings made by The Independent were consistently 238 (204) return to Clermont-Ferrand and Brest, and 398 (340) to Strasbourg. Richard Maslen, editor of Routesonline, said: Its initial network will include a mixture of non-stop and one-stop flights which it says will significantly enhance connectivity between city pairs that have limited or no current links. Meanwhile, the airline serving Lutons only scheduled transatlantic link is selling off business-class seats at bargain prices, as the demise of the route approaches. La Compagnies last flight to New Yorks Newark airport departs on 24 September. Before that, return flights to the city are being sold at 698 return, much lower than the economy-class fare on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Previously, the minimum return fare charged by the self-styled boutique airline was 1,000. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It is perhaps a sign of the times that when an unexpected explosion takes place we automatically wonder if it was caused by a bomb. This weekend news broke of an explosion in a residential area of Barcelona, which killed one person and injured seventeen more. An act of terror perhaps? Spain, after all, has been targeted before by Islamist extremists, most notably in the 2004 train bombings in Madrid. And memories of Basque separatist outrages are hardly long-distant. As it happens, the most likely cause of the blast in Barcelona appears to have been a gas leak. Early news reports noted that gas engineers had investigated the scene while noting that no final determination had been made. That didnt stop speculation on social media. Over the pond meanwhile, America was shaken by reports on Saturday of explosions in New Jersey and, later on, in New York. Again, with detail still thin on the ground the rumour-mill kicked in and suppositions about bombings came thick and fast but not just on social media. Despite no official confirmation from the NYPD or other relevant authorities in New York, Donald Trump never one to worry too much about the need for caution saw a potential piece in his campaign jigsaw and pronounced that bombers were to blame. America, he said, needed to be tough, smart and vigilant. Man thanks NYPD at explosion site with free coffees Trump wasnt alone. His rival for the Oval Office, Hillary Clinton, referred to bombings in an address shortly afterwards, although she was widely reported to have taken a more cautious approach, indicating that she would not comment further until the authorities investigations were more advanced. It remains unclear to what degree the presidential nominees had received detailed briefings from the police, and to what extent Trumps decisiveness moulded Clintons own response. Many media outlets reported the responses of the competing White House candidates, yet for the most part remained relatively restrained in their wider coverage until the existence of bombs was confirmed on Sunday by the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. And whatever the final verdict, surely a degree of guardedness is what ought to mark out a serious news organisation from social media or, in this case, a politician (or indeed two politicians) who are seeking to determine a particular narrative for their own ends. However, it seems an odd thing for the media to be self-congratulatory about its own watchfulness and critical of others, particularly when media disapproval of Trump has outweighed so significantly that of Hillary Clinton for making fundamentally the same assertion (albeit in contrasting styles and with varying levels of caveating). It shows the degree to which the presidential campaign is itself dominating the news even when it is not directly the subject of a particular story although it is hard to imagine the focus would have been quite the same had there been 29 fatalities in New York instead of 29 injuries. There is another reason why any right-thinking person should beware a dig at the man they call the Donald. Trump is in many ways buffoonish; and he is undoubtedly a provocateur. But that doesn't mean he is always wrong. Indeed, on this occasion he was at least in terms of the basic facts absolutely right and almost certainly had good grounds, via official or unofficial briefings, to feel confident in describing the explosions as bombings. That isnt to say his pronouncement should have been taken as Gospel, but casting Trump as the villain of the piece on this occasion simply feeds the notion that the mainstream media/the establishment/the liberal left are conspiring against him and those who would support him. Trump, of course, thrives on being cast as the outsider. Moreover, his campaign is founded on emotion above reason, rhetoric above fact. When set in a nationalistic context as they are in Trumps run for the Presidency those can be powerful political tools. But the best way to counter them is not by equal and opposite appeals to sensation or sentiment in this case by jumping on the bandwagon of Trump criticism but by maintaining a cool head. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In an unusual move Brazils new president Michel Temer decided not to attend the Paralympics closing ceremony after protesters booed him at both the annual Independence Day parade in Brasilia on 7 September and the opening ceremony on the same day. While his absence minimised the chances of another vocal protest with the eyes of the world on Brazil, Lucio Maia, the guitarist of Nacao Zumbi, one of the bands playing at the ceremony, turned his guitar around to show a sign saying Fora Temer (Out with Temer), which ended up being broadcast on TV screens around the world. These episodes show that Temer has not had much of a honeymoon period after taking office when his predecessor Dilma Rousseff was impeached on 31 August. If so many Brazilians supported Rousseffs impeachment and went to the streets to demonstrate against her government, then why is Temer so unpopular and what is next for Brazil? Brazil protesters call for removal of President Temer For many Brazilians, corruption is the countrys most important problem and the irony that Rousseff was not personally convicted of fraud but Temer was has not escaped them. In June this year, an electoral court convicted Temer of donating more than the legal limit to the 2014 presidential election campaigns. He is now banned from running for public office for eight years a conviction that Rousseff managed to avoid in the impeachment trial while facing further accusations that he was implicated in bribery scandals. A common Brazilian phrase referring to the prevalence of corruption among the countrys politicians is he steals but gets things done (rouba mas faz), which in Temers case reflects the hope that if his government delivers a way out of the economic crisis, this might paper over the corruption scandals. After five months in power, though, Temer faces a deepening economic recession, which the World Bank forecasts to last for the next two years. Although the crisis has as much to do with the global economic downturn affecting Brazils export revenues as with government policies, Temers team is likely to introduce painful budget cuts while making labour rights increasingly flexible and cutting spending on the previous governments popular social programmes. Turning Temers slogan around once again, his opponents have accused him of robbing them of their rights, which refers not only to spending cuts but also to more fundamental questions about the new governments legitimacy. These dilemmas reflect Temers 14 per cent approval rating in the latest opinion polls held in July, while only 5 per cent of Brazilians would vote for him in the presidential elections, trailing behind the frontrunners Lula and Marina Silva. Even if he had not been banned from running, Temer would have been unlikely to win the presidential elections. Most Brazilians now support early elections, reflecting a shift in emphasis among the protestors. Since Rousseffs impeachment, daily protests around the country call for the right to exercise democratic rights through new elections, which unites those who are protesting in favour of Rousseff and those who remain sceptical about the previous governments but prefer a clean break with the politics of the past. Because of Temers lack of popularity, calling early elections would almost certainly mean that his party loses power, but waiting until 2018 for the next elections is also likely to further polarise Brazilian society. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theres something perverse about placing cities in a liveability list and then doling out winners and losers; nevertheless, the Economist Intelligence Units 2016 Global Liveability Report makes for fascinating reading. Presumably the former residents of Damascus, currently sat in muddy slum conditions on the Macedonian borders, have already figured out that a life in the lists winner Melbourne, Australia might be a lot lovelier than either staying put or going home. Likewise, no one in Tripoli is waking up this morning to the shock news that life is breezier in Vancouver. However, whether residents of London, ranked at number 53 in the index, expected to find themselves 52 places behind Melbourne is highly debatable. To set up a life here in London and to be consumed by it, as I have done for 20 years, forces a person to become numb, or even cheerfully fond, of its inhospitality. Yet here are Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth all wiping the floor with our capital city on factors related to safety, healthcare, educational resources, infrastructure and environmental matters. If Im honest, the clues about Australia have been plastered all over Facebook for years, as multiple friends and ex-colleagues have sidled off on Qantas Airlines to see how things work out, never to return. Ben Swain from The Thick Of It may well have written off Australia as full of people in khaki squinting and just the worlds largest collection of poisonous things, but the reality is that Australias distinct liveability is borne out in those photos of our emigrated friends, steeped in Vitamin D, playing some sort of sport by floodlight and jovially wrestling enormous spiders out of their second utility room which is the size an entire Streatham 1500-per-month bedsit. Interestingly, its not just London doing badly in the liveability list, but other European cities such as Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt, Berlin, Oslo, Luxembourg, Brussels, Paris, Rome and Lisbon. All of the cities have seen declines in appeal, said to be mostly stemming from heightened fears of terrorism in the wake of attacks in Paris and Brussels. Ah yes. That getting oneself blown up, shot, ran over, decapitated or stabbed to death matter. It does take the joy out of living somewhat, doesnt it? But perhaps the Economist Intelligence report is being rather defeatist by admitting this. Ive heard many times that altering ones life in any way due to terrorism is letting the terrorists win. And in that case, theyve certainly gained some ground because number 2 in the 2016 global liveability list is the frankly surprising Vienna in Austria. Who dreams of moving to Vienna? Clearly everybody, in the fullness of time. Less surprising to me about Economist Intelligences findings were Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary at places 3, 4 and 5. My relatives, over the past century, have fled to Vancouver in droves from Cumbria and never returned, falling in love with scenery, the simplicity of life and well, the unabashedly masculine men, if Im honest. But a recent work trip to Toronto made me reassess everything I felt to be true about my salary-sapping London life of black snot, random stabbings and blaring police sirens. Life in Toronto was slower not backwards, but certainly a less stressful affair fuelled by Tim Hortons double-double coffees, boxes of Timbits donuts and news reports made up mostly of threats of humidity. One Canadian colleague wanted quite genuinely to know why people in London and Manchester which also does badly in the liveability list are so fond of beating each other up. He felt, as a traveller, that hed seen dozens of fights in bars, the street and on public transport: And the thing is, in Toronto, wed stop and stare! Wed film it! But in Britain, its just, well, normal. After several attempts to explain to Canadians our intricate modern British dissatisfaction with our healthcare, politics, educational resources, infrastructure, and the way we treat the environment, I had to conclude, We also just really love fighting. On another telling occasion, I failed dismally to convince a bunch of Toronto-dwellers that Britain really does have a thriving republican movement composed of people who loathe the Queen and Prince Charles and would have them all turfed out and stripped of their assets. But, but why? they cried, shaking their heads, refusing to believe that anyone could really be against such nice harmless things such as street parties, horse-drawn carriages and Kate Middleton shaking hands in a lovely frock. Canada is far from a wonderland, but it does seem in 2016 to have a distinct dearth, in relative terms, of angry, embittered, jaded, dissatisfied headbangers and I count myself among them who could start a fight in an empty room. Lets all move to Canada. Theyve had it too good for far too long. Hundreds of jobs have been pledged in a series of investments in the technology, manufacturing and healthcare sectors. The largest will see GE pump 150 million euro into creating four factories in a biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Cork. The units will provide state-of-the-art space for making next-generation medicines and healthcare products. GE already employs 600 people in Cork and 46,000 worldwide. The firm said it expects the site at Loughbeg, Ringaskiddy to provide jobs for 400 workers in biopharma companies and another 100 employed directly by itself. Building work is due to get under way in the middle of next year. The investment is backed by IDA Ireland and about 800 construction staff will work on the project. Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor said: "This is a further testament to our talented workforce. All investment and jobs created has a positive knock-on effect on the wider region." Meanwhile, speciality pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt is to invest 10 million euro in a state-of-the-art R&D facility in Blanchardstown, Dublin to create 40 jobs. Austrialian company Oneview Healthcare, which develops software to improve patient experience in the healthcare sector, is to create 100 jobs in its Dublin office. The positions will be filled over the next two years. In another announcement software company MathWorks is to create 50 jobs in Galway, with the opening of a new sales and services centre in the city. One in eight people have taken medicine that was not prescribed for them, health watchdogs have revealed. The research also uncovered the figure rises to one in five for people aged 25 to 34. The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), which regulates medicines, medical devices and other health products, urged people to make themselves aware of the risks of prescribed treatments including the need to take the correct dose and know the side-effects. Its survey of consumer habits and attitudes found almost a quarter of people do not read the information notes or the directions for use that come with their prescriptions. It also found o ne in five patients take a prescription medicine for a shorter period than their doctor advised them. Health Minister Simon Harris, who supports the information campaign, said it should only take three minutes to take in advice on using medicine. "It is extremely important for anyone taking a medicine that they carefully read the instructions for use," he said. "This information is provided with every medicine and following the instructions will ensure that patients get the best results. It only takes three minutes to make sure you're fully informed, and that you're doing the right thing for your own health and peace of mind." Lorraine Nolan, chief executive of the HPRA, said: " Our research tells us that people who read this information spend about three minutes doing so. "Our campaign aims to encourage more people to always take those three minutes whether they are taking medication themselves or giving it to someone in their care. If people have any questions or concerns, they should always consult their doctor or pharmacist." The survey also found more and more patients not reading information about their medication - up from 12% since the same survey was carried out in 2010. The HPRA said just over a quarter of adults admit to never reading notes for over-the-counter medicine, up from 14% six years ago. Ms Nolan added: "Even if someone is taking a specific medicine regularly over a long period of time we would recommend they still read the product information on a regular basis. "Significant details such as the contraindications or potential side effects can change from time to time so it is important that those on long-term medication keep themselves informed." An investigation is under way into the allegations A radiographer has quit his job after a woman alleged she was raped in hospital, it has been revealed. The man was employed by Alliance Medical to work in the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee, Co Kerry. A woman alleged she was raped on September 10 in the radiography unit. Alliance Medical, which provides diagnostic services and staff to hospitals, confirmed an incident took place involving one of its former employees. "We wish to alleviate the concerns of patients and the public by making clear that the individual involved is no longer an employee of Alliance Medical and is no longer working at the hospital," a spokeswoman for the company said. "Alliance Medical is conducting a full internal investigation into the alleged incident." A Garda spokesman said detectives were investigating an alleged sexual assault. The healthcare company said it was co-operating fully with the Garda investigation. It is understood the radiographer resigned his role with Alliance Medical after the allegation was made. IRELAND celebrated a 500 job boost thanks to a 150m plus investment by a global healthcare giant. Cork will become the centre of next-generation medical development after GE Healthcare said it hopes to create up to 500 new jobs with the development of four research and development and related production facilities in Cork. The investment is focused on a site in Ringaskiddy near Cork harbour. Ringaskiddy already boasts one of the world's greatest concentrations of pharmaceutical production and R&D with major facilities operated by firms including Pfizer, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson. Under the current plan, GE Healthcare will develop four high-tech stand-alone R&D and production facilities for the healthcare sector. These will be equipped to focus on the development and production of next-generation healthcare treatments. However, these facilities will be operated by independent firms working in the pharmaceutical and bio-healthcare sectors. The UK firm said that, at full operating capacity, the 150m investment could lead to 500 new jobs. GE Healthcare ranks as one of the world's leading bio-pharmaceutical firms and boasts a global workforce of almost 50,000 staff. The firm is based in the UK but already has a strong presence in Ireland with 600 staff in Cork. The industry has been one of the fastest expanding in the entire healthcare sector and more than 28,000 people are currently employed directly and indirectly in Ireland. The investment has been hailed by Cork Chamber of Commerce and Cork Business Association as a tremendous boost for Cork and the Cork harbour area in particular. The jobs announcement followed major expansions of their Cork operations by leading IT firms including Apple and EMC. A group representing some of the biggest corporations in the US has warned European leaders that forcing Ireland to collect 13bn in back taxes from Apple will hurt global trade and investment. The letter, dated September 16, was sent by the Business Roundtable, a Washington-based advocacy group comprising chief executive officers of major US businesses - including the heads of GE, Boeing and IBM. It was sent to the heads of state of all 28 EU nations as well as EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. It described the Commission ruling that Ireland has supplied illegal state aid to Apple, and must now recoup 13bn as a "grievous self-inflicted wound" for the EU that will diminish the authority of its individual member countries and invite opportunistic tax enforcement from rival nations. "Companies should have complete confidence that sovereign countries are committed to honoring their laws and agreements and have the authority to do so. This is fundamental," the letter said. "In the interest of all countries that respect the rule of law, this decision must not be allowed to stand," wrote John Engler, former Republican governor of Michigan and president of the Business Roundtable said. "Absent reversal, other countries outside the EU will interpret the decision as acceptable governmental behavior and will put all companies with cross-border investments - including EU-headquartered companies - at risk of having their assets expropriated by foreign governments seeking extra revenue or seeking to punish a successful foreign competitor," he said. Mathematical computer software firm MathWorks is to create 50 new jobs at its new shared sales and services centre in Galway. Recruitment is already underway with the company looking to fill more than 20 of the positions already. The Massachusetts-based firm's flagship products include MATLAB and Simulink, which are used iin the automotive, aersospace, communications, electronics and industrial automation industries. The MATLAB and Simulink technologies are being used by over 5,000 colleges and universities. Jobs minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor welcomed the new jobs. "We are all aware that specialist software is a huge growth area and the generator of quality jobs. This initiative builds on our success in developing a thriving software sector in Ireland over recent years following our ongoing investment in developing appropriate skills," she said. MathWorks managing director Richard Haxby said the firm was pleased to become part of the Galway community. "We selected Ireland because it has built a core competency in shared sales and services centre operations. Additionally, Galway has access to a diverse multi-lingual workforce, and it has a university system that attracts talent from all over Europe. For information on the new roles go to the MathWorks Galway career site: http://www.mathworks.com/company/jobs/galwayarea.html Publicans hit by 20pc a year increases in the cost of insurance say the "crippling" hikes threaten the viability of their businesses. Publicans hit by 20pc a year increases in the cost of insurance say the "crippling" hikes threaten the viability of their businesses. The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) said a survey of its 550 members, representing the majority of Dublin pubs, found their insurance costs increased on average by 20pc between 2014 and 2015 and by the same amount between 2015 and 2016. The LVA wants the Government to carry out an independent review of the business insurance market as a matter of urgency. Chief executive of the LVA Donall O'Keeffe said the situation is reaching breaking point. "Insurance costs for Dublin publicans are a very serious expense, typically ranging from 15,000 to 25,000 per annum. However, many larger LVA members, especially in the late bar scene, are facing premiums of 50,000 to 100,000 per annum," he said. The LVA says there is concern about how the claims system is functioning. It says most claims are by-passing the Personal Injuries Assessment Board introduced to lower costs, with cases instead settled directly by insurers. Donall O'Keeffe said the lack of transparency on how claims are settled is shocking and claimed the level of compensation awards and false/exaggerated claims were helping drive up costs. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is ready to accept that Britain may have to give up membership of the European Union's single market - but not UK banks' crucial 'passport' to EU clients - to achieve immigration restrictions that voters have demanded, according to two officials familiar with his thinking. The surprise position will be a blow to Irish Government hopes of limiting the fallout from the Brexit vote, by keeping two-way trade between the two countries as open as possible. In the UK, however, restricting immigration appears to be taking political priority over trade relations with the rest of Europe, with Prime Minister Theresa May's government staking its credibility on regaining control over UK borders. Unrealistic Mr Hammond considers it unrealistic to retain membership of the single market after Britain leaves the EU, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Instead, British officials are drawing up their own blueprint which they hope will allow Britain's financial services firms to retain access to Europe, they said. Hammond's plan hinges on the argument he set out earlier this month that London as a financial centre is too valuable for the EU to jeopardize, since many European companies use its markets to raise capital. EU rules allow lenders in any member to provide services and raise funds across the union. A British Treasury spokesperson said in a statement that its position is clear and that it wants Britain to remain a great place for financial services. It stands ready to help the sector maximize the opportunities that leaving the EU presents, the spokesperson added. That would be a lose-lose for Ireland, which would suffer from any trade barriers blocking access to the key UK market without being in a position to gain from any financial services investment pushed out of the City of London as a result of Brexit. In the meantime, however, the 'Sunday Telegraph' in London reported yesterday that top British law firms, insurers and asset managers have appointed property agents to seek new offices in Dublin, in case so-called 'passporting' of services into the EU is blocked. Bulge bracket law firms Freshfields, Slaughter and May, and Allan and Overy are thought to be among companies making inquiries, though it's unclear whether companies are seeking to transfer back-office staff to a cheaper location or looking at large-scale moves. EU officials have said Britain can't cherrypick by staying in the market and curtailing freedom of labour movement. Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers: Irish Independent * The stud farm owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and one of the Arab world's richest royals, has received more than 300,000 in single farm payments from the EU over the past two years. The sheikh bought Kildangan in 1986, and the Kildare stud farm is only one strand of his extensive horse-breeding operations. His Darley stud group is one of the world's biggest producers of champion horses. * Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is ready to accept that Britain may have to give up membership of the European Union's single market - but not UK banks' crucial 'passport' to EU clients - to achieve immigration restrictions that voters have demanded, according to two officials familiar with his thinking. The surprise position will be a blow to Irish Government hopes of limiting the fallout from the Brexit vote, by keeping two-way trade between the two countries as open as possible. * Publicans hit by 20pc a year increases in the cost of insurance say the "crippling" hikes threaten the viability of their businesses. The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) said a survey of its 550 members, representing the majority of Dublin pubs, found their insurance costs increased on average by 20pc between 2014 and 2015 and by the same amount between 2015 and 2016. The Irish Times * The Central Bank is to split its markets supervision unit in two to help deal with a new increase in inquiries from UK-based investment firms following the Brexit vote. The institution is also due to set up a financial stability directorate and role of corporate affairs director in what is part of governor Lane's first major structural shake-up since taking charge. * The Irish whiskey upsurge has been felt by Teelings at its Dublin-based visitor centre after the firm reported its best ever month in August. Over 8,000 people visited the centre in August, which compares with 3,885 in the same month last year. * The head of TV3 has suggested creating a joint diaspora channel with RTE to showcase the best of locally produced programming. TV3 managing director Pat Kiely said the channel would have a strong appeal to audiences internationally. Irish Examiner * The West of Ireland remains very vulnerable to the impact of Brexit and looks set to be hit disproportionately to other parts of the country. Business group Ibec has warned to the very uncertain nature of the UK's decision to leave the European Union, although maintains the economy is strong enough to weather the storm in the short term. * Permanent TSB has launched a new online loan platform for its customers through its Open24.ie banking service. The service will allow customers to apply for loans of up to 15,000 and can be approved online within 15 minutes of applying for the loan. * Trinity College graduates have created more venture-backed firms than any other university in Europe over the last 10 years, new research has shwown. Trinity is the only European college to sit within the top 50 of PitchBook's Universities Report. 'There was a time when oily-fingered lads used to spend long and happy weekend hours tinkering with carburettors or fiddling with clutches - but no longer' Stock photo: Depositphotos There is scarcely a busier place than under the bonnet of a car. There was a time when oily-fingered lads used to spend long and happy weekend hours tinkering with carburettors or fiddling with clutches - but no longer. It is a pastime that has no appeal these days, probably because cars are now supervised by computers. A forbidding casing now prevents curious amateur mechanics from bringing their unwelcome attention to the mysteries of the internal combustion engine. That is not to say that there is still a lot going on under what the Americans call 'the hood'. Expand Close Click here to view full-size graphic / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Click here to view full-size graphic One company that knows all about this is the French outfit, Valeo, which for nearly a century has been making and supplying car and truck parts to every major auto manufacturer from General Motors to Toyota and Tesla, Volkswagen and Volvo. It was set up in 1923 to distribute brake linings that were hitherto imported into France from Britain. It decided to manufacture its own brake-linings and clutches and this business got a 'turbo-charge' after WWII when Valeo's range of products was widened and the business was expanded to the rest of Europe as well as the Americas and China. The group now trades in 34 countries, where it operates 134 plants and employs 83,000. Valeo boasts a 'Visibility' business which has nothing to do with transparent accounting. Its 'Visibility' division produces lighting systems and windscreen wipers and this division had a turnover in 2015 worth 4.2bn and profits of over 500m. It is also in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) business and that is worth another 4bn in turnover. The irresistible trend towards low car emissions and the demand to keep the driver safe from air pollution (a particular concern in China) has been important to Valeo, which believes that this trend will propel its impressive earnings growth as far ahead as 2025. With more and more technology going into cars, that seems the safest of bets. Valeo also has a Powertrain business which is also highly profitable making electrical systems, and systems for noise diminution and again cutting down on excessive fuel usage. 'Powertrain' last year had sales of 3.8bn and profits of 480m. The company has also put its smartest brains to work on the creation of the newest and flashiest gadgetry for cars, like parking assistance cameras, radar for 'blind spots' as well as rain/light/humidity detectors, and touch-screen displays - things that the 'engine tinkerers' of long ago would have considered to be pure science fiction. Valeo sales of 14.5bn can be broken down geographically into half from Europe, mainly Germany and France. North America delivered 3.2bn in revenues while China, the world's largest auto market, chipped in 2bn worth of sales. A substantial pick-up in Europe last year was accompanied by continued expansion in North America and China. Net income hit 774m, some 30pc higher. Dividends were up at 3 per share while the group also managed a reduction in net debt. The share price performance, hardly surprisingly, has been one to gladden the heart of the more demanding shareholder. Since 2013, the price has taken off and peaked at 50. It is trading just below the record high at 49, boasts a market capitalisation of 12bn, with a modest price-to-earnings multiple of 14. A number of interesting features emerge from even a superficial study of companies in the motor business, like Valeo. While the global auto market is still growing it is not growing where it once did. Production is unquestionably shifting to Asia along with the jobs it provides. Companies like Valeo are moving with the action. It has declared its intention to strengthen its presence in Asia and in the high-growth emerging markets. Europe's business share is certain to fall. With Google and Tesla driving technology change in the auto industry, there are interesting times ahead for value - and its shares. Nothing in this section should be taken as a recommendation, either explicit or implicit to buy any of the shares mentioned. Those of us who help to shape and deliver Europe's actions and policies must face an unpalatable fact. Europe's ability to deal with a humanitarian crisis on its shores and in its neighbourhood, and its capacity to cope with a longer-term migration challenge, is being called into question. Meanwhile, the hostile voices of the far right and the populists grow ever shriller. Alongside other international financial institutions, I believe the EIB, as the EU Bank, can offer a concrete way to counter this and to move beyond the rhetoric. At the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants this week in New York, I will be laying out how we can put such mechanisms into place. The need to act is not just about averting the political threat to Europe's cohesion; it is not just about tackling an erosion of trust or reputation either. It is nothing less than a moral imperative. The challenge of migration is global, as are many of the factors that fuel it. Poverty and climate change are firmly in the sights of development banking, but violence and war that have been the direct trigger for the current refugee crisis appear in many ways beyond the influence of the world's development banks and other international financial institutions. And yet through the right kind of support for those regions and countries most affected by the crisis of forced displacement, we can invest in local communities and people, and help create opportunities close to home for those fleeing violence and persecution. This is the thinking behind the World Bank's Global Concessional Finance Facility to which the EIB is giving strong support, and it is at the heart of our own Economic Resilience Initiative. Focused on the Western Balkans and Europe's southern neighbourhood, it will entail a significant increase of EIB financing in these regions: a new 6bn in addition to the 7.5bn already planned. It combines support for the private sector, particularly to the benefit of young people and women, with more investment in socially important sectors like water, health and education. We estimate that this extra financing would trigger around 15bn in additional investments in those regions from 2016 to 2020, taking the total EIB mobilisation of investment in the regions to 35bn. It will ease the pressure on those countries providing a public good by hosting huge numbers of refugees, and also provide more opportunities for those driven from their homes by investing even more in the development of these economies. Less than three months since EU leaders endorsed the EIB Resilience Initiative, it is now ready to go and we are starting to draw up the first projects. I see this as the first concrete step in support of the EU's new Global Strategy presented by High Representative Federica Mogherini in June and the External Investment Plan just announced by EU Commission President Juncker. As we prepare to launch the Initiative, I welcome the current discussions on how the EU can further work to tackle the root causes of migration also in Africa. As the EU Bank, we are ready to deploy our expertise and experience to support this. Whether with the European national financing institutions and development agencies or with IFIs, we are focused on avoiding duplication and complementing each other's efforts by more effective collaboration and with the UN Agencies. It's about using our resources and taxpayers' money properly as well as being effective. We have just agreed to establish an African Caribbean and Pacific migration package with an additional 800m to help finance small business and migration-relevant public sector lending in Africa. Some may wonder why the EU Bank is even doing this kind of thing. It is a fair question. The vast majority of our lending is devoted to creating jobs and growth within Europe. Yet in order to help itself, Europe needs to tackle global challenges that matter crucially to its own future. Werner Hoyer is the President of the European Investment Bank. Through Ann Patchett's characters' lives we understand our own lives better and how "all the stories go with you" Towards the end of this marvellous novel, we learn that "the pleasure of a long life" is "the way some things worked themselves out". The working out, in this instance, involves two families, the Keatings and the Cousinses, over five decades, and a story that begins in an LA suburb in 1964 at a christening party. Handsome, irresponsible Bert Cousins gatecrashes with a bottle of gin, falls for young, "bone-crushingly beautiful" Beverly Keating, mother of the newly-christened Franny, and when they kiss, in a memorably unusual bedroom scene, he thinks "this was the start of his life." Commonwealth tracks dissolving marriages, how children cope or don't, illness, ageing and how memories shape and make us. We follow Cal, Holly, Jeanette, Albie, Caroline and Frances, six children from marriage break-ups, a commonwealth, "a fierce little tribe," united in the hatred of their parents Bert, Teresa, Fix [Francis Xavier] and Beverly. There's nothing plod, plod in Patchett's pace or structure. Time, says Ian McEwan, is always the other character in a novel and Patchett handles time shifts brilliantly. We learn early on of events to come: that a teenager dies a horrible death, that someone marries three times; or the past swims back into the present as when Fix recalls a violent shooting of a fellow cop. Dialogue and setting, be it a Chicago bar, a tiny Brooklyn apartment, a celebrity's house in Amagansett, a Swiss Zen centre, are vivid, filmic. When Teresa visits Holly in Switzerland, Patchett brings something fresh to mere scene setting: "The trees, their lower trunks furred with moss, got thicker and taller and started to cut into the light while ferns stretched across the forest floor. There were enormous rocks, boulders really, that looked like they'd been placed by a set designer around a fast-running stream. Show me an enchanted forest! The producer must have said." And then there's Patchett's intelligent humour. Fix, now old and ill, remembering Beverly, tells Franny: "What you have to remember about your mother is that she didn't have her own character. She turned into whoever she was sitting next to. When she was sitting next to Miss Free Love then free love sounded like a great idea." Or Patchett's wise understanding of adolescence - "That's the trouble with being 15 - all he can think of is what he doesn't want," or life itself - "a series of losses. It's other things too, better things, but the losses were as solid and dependable as the earth itself." Not only is Patchett a great, entertaining storyteller but Franny's relationship with famous novelist Leon Posen prompts important questions about life and fiction. Posen's hugely successful novel, Commonwealth, draws on Franny's family past and when Albie, who is affected most, discovers, by chance, that "his life had fallen into someone else's hands" he discovers a terrible truth about himself. In her 2008 essay My Life in Sales, Patchett generously says that "reading is a private act, private even from the person who wrote the book. Once the novel is out there, the author is beside the point. The reader and the book have their own relationship now, and should be left alone to work things out for themselves." Through Patchett's characters' lives we understand our own lives better and how "all the stories go with you." And some things do work themselves out, through hurt, disappointment, heartbreak, resilience. Dust off those jaded, familiar phrases: "A totally absorbing and moving novel."; "Couldn't put it down."; "A must for Book Clubs." Every one rings true in this instance. You'll finish Commonwealth with admiration and gratitude. Buy Commonwealth here Crime: The Trespasser Tana French, Hodder & Stoughton, 22.50. Buy The Trespasser here. Video of the Day Tana French's last book The Secret Place was a complex mystery that evolved over two separate timelines a year apart. There were multiple points of view and several would-be killers in the mix. By contrast The Trespasser is very simple and straightforward in terms of timeline, crime and possible suspects. The action occurs over a few days. A young woman, Aislinn, has been killed in her glossy magazine-perfect home. The cause of death is no mystery - she has been punched in the face, fallen and hit her head. There is only one suspect. Despite the simplicity of the plot this is vintage Tana French and thus gripping. This is French's sixth novel about the Murder Squad and like all the others it focuses in on a peripheral character from the previous work, in this case ball-breaking Antoinette Conway. It's nothing short of understatement to call Antoinette complex and from her point of view French is able to examine much of what modern Irish women have to tolerate. Antoinette faces a daily round of institutional sexism, racism and misogyny made worse by the fact that none of it exists officially. While Antoinette is extremely good at her job she is harassed to the point of a colleague urinating in her locker. French also examines the relationship between fathers and daughters and what happens when that relationship goes wrong. Antoinette and victim Aislinn, despite surface differences, have a lot in common. With the character of Aislinn, French firmly shows that few people can successfully exert control over their own destiny. The very modern idea that an individual can command the universe to do their bidding is revealed as a dangerous fallacy. Aislinn is a poster girl for self-help. She took "control", turned her home into a picture from a magazine, lost weight, dyed her hair and transformed herself from an unattractive teen into a woman men desire. Aislinn attempts not just to manage her future, but also her past. Yet, despite all of her careful planning she ends up dead. The Secret Place captured brilliantly the claustrophobia of a girls' boarding school. In The Trespasser French creates a different claustrophobic environment - the Murder Squad is a boy's club, but Antoinette has also closed in upon herself, has hemmed herself in even more than her colleagues ever could. Another gripping tale, beautifully told, by a woman at the top of her game. Amanda Abbington, from left, Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue, and Rebecca Eaton winners of the award for outstanding television movie for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Masterpiece) at the Emmys. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Amanda Abbington, star of Sherlock, has complained that a thief stole her purse from under her seat at the Emmys as she went up on stage to collect an award. The British actress, 42, attended the glitzy event in Los Angeles after Sherlock: The Abominable Bride was nominated for Outstanding TV Movie, a prize which the BBC drama went on to win. Abbington, who appears as Mary Morstan in Sherlock, claimed that her purse, phone and driver's licence was pinched from her seat at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. The actress revealed what happened on Twitter, after welcoming messages from fans congratulating her on Sherlock's win - over rival drama Luther - at the 68th Emmy Awards. "Thanks for the lovely tweets re; the Emmy's. So pleased we won! Cool, right?," she wrote. "However, we went up to collect the Emmy, did some press, came back to my seat and some b-----d had nicked my purse from under my seat. Nice. Thanks for the lovely tweets re; the Emmy's. So pleased we won! Cool, right? amanda abbington (@CHIMPSINSOCKS) September 19, 2016 However, we went up to collect the Emmy, did some press, came back to my seat and some bastard had nicked my purse from under my seat. Nice amanda abbington (@CHIMPSINSOCKS) September 19, 2016 Had my phone and driver's licence in it. So whoever took my purse, I hope some terrible Karmic shit happens to you. How crappy is that. amanda abbington (@CHIMPSINSOCKS) September 19, 2016 Thanks for all the kind words re: my handbag. Still no sign of it. And can't use find my iPhone as my wifi wasn't on. Onwards and upwards. X amanda abbington (@CHIMPSINSOCKS) September 19, 2016 "Had my phone and driver's licence in it. So whoever took my purse, I hope some terrible Karmic s--t happens to you. How crappy is that." One follower asked the Mr Selfridge star: "Perhaps it accidentally got kicked away from under the chair and then someone handed it in to staff??" But Abbington suggested that there was no great Sherlock-style mystery and that her belongings had simply been stolen at the event. "No, I hung around until everyone had left the auditorium. Nothing there," she said. Video of the Day Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus poses backstage with her awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series for her role in HBO's "Veep". REUTERS/Mike Blake Alan Yang (L) and Aziz Ansari pose backstage with their awards for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series for "Master Of None". REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Jeffrey Tambor accepts the award for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series for "Transparent" at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake L-R) Actors Rory McCann, Conleth Hill, Iwan Rheon, Gwendoline Christie, Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, winners of Best Drama Series for Game of Thrones. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and Game of Thrones topped the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday. The TV adaptation of disgraced sportsman O.J. Simpson's murder trial headed into the awards with a stunning 22 nominations, and quickly racked up the trophies, including Outstanding Limited Series. Expand Close Sarah Paulson poses backstage with her award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie for "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story". REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sarah Paulson poses backstage with her award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie for "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story". REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Sarah Paulson was named Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or A Movie for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark, who accompanied the star to the Emmys as her date for the night, while Courtney B. Vance beat co-star Cuba Gooding, Jr. to take the Outstanding Lead Actor honour for his role as Simpson defence attorney Johnnie Cochran. Sterling K. Brown was also celebrated as Outstanding Supporting Actor, as was writer D.V. DeVincentis. Expand Close Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus poses backstage with her awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series for her role in HBO's "Veep". REUTERS/Mike Blake / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus poses backstage with her awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series for her role in HBO's "Veep". REUTERS/Mike Blake Game of Thrones, based on the hit fantasy books by George R. R. Martin, was another big winner, landing Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, but its castmembers lost out on the acting accolades, which went to Rami Malek (Mr. Robot), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), and Dame Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey). Meanwhile, Veep held on to the Outstanding Comedy Series title for a second consecutive year, and its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus scored her fifth consecutive win for Outstanding Lead Actress. The victory was a bittersweet one for the former Seinfeld star, who tearfully dedicated the prize to her father William, who died on Friday, aged 84. Jeffrey Tambor was named Outstanding Lead Actor again for Transparent, after previously winning the 2015 award. He said he hoped to be the last non-trans person to play a trans role and director Jill Soloway urging viewers to topple the patriarchy. There were also special tributes from Tambor to his late pal Garry Shandling, and from Henry Winkler, who remembered his Happy Days creator Garry Marshall, before the ceremony's annual In Memoriam segment, which also honoured stars like David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Patty Duke, Anton Yelchin, Doris Roberts, Natalie Cole, Merle Haggard, and Glenn Frey, who have all died in the past year. Expand Close Alan Yang (L) and Aziz Ansari pose backstage with their awards for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series for "Master Of None". REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Alan Yang (L) and Aziz Ansari pose backstage with their awards for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series for "Master Of None". REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni The 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which celebrate the best in TV, were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles The main winners are: Expand Close Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (L), Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harrington of HBO's "Game of Thrones" pose backstage with their award for Oustanding Drama Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California U.S., September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (L), Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Kit Harrington of HBO's "Game of Thrones" pose backstage with their award for Oustanding Drama Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California U.S., September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake Outstanding Drama Series: Game of Thrones Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Rami Malek, Mr. Robot Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Dame Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Hank Azaria, Ray Donovan Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Margo Martindale, The Americans Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Miguel Sapochnik, Game of Thrones - Battle of the Bastards Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, Game of Thrones - Battle of the Bastards Outstanding Comedy Series: Veep Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Louie Anderson, Baskets Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: Peter Scolari, Girls Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Jill Soloway, Transparent - Man on the Land Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, Master of None - Parents Outstanding Limited Series: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Outstanding Television Movie: Sherlock: The Abominable Bride Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series Or A Movie: Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or A Movie: Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or A Movie: Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or A Movie: Regina King, American Crime Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special: Susanne Bier, The Night Manager Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special: D.V. DeVincentis, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story - Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Outstanding Reality-Competition Program: The Voice Outstanding Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special: Alex Rudzinski and Thomas Kail, Grease Live! Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special: Patton Oswalt, Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping. Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh has admitted she would love to host RTE's Dancing With The Stars, but she's not sure she will be given the chance. The TV presenter (45) is gunning for the hosting gig on the highly-anticipated show, with Vogue Williams and Nicky Byrne being tipped as the hot favourites to host the series. However, the 45-year-old reckons Montrose should think of using her because she is already a full-time member of staff. "I would like to get the presenting role. But will I get a chance? And if I get a chance will I be taken seriously? I wonder," she said. Expand Close Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. "I don't know the answer to that. Because I haven't asked the question to someone's face yet. I have pondered it. "I love that Claudia [Winkleman, who presents BBC's Strictly Come Dancing] is on air and if I am being paid, I should be used to my full potential." However, Blathnaid is not confident RTE bosses are considering her for the job. "I think - when they are sitting around - they don't see me, unfortunately." The TV star reckons the station will go for a younger presenter. "I think they look for the Tess Daly type. I am saying very blonde, younger ... I hope I am wrong though," she said. Blathnaid admitted she is not a fan of the hugely-popular weight-loss show Operation Transformation, which is now airing its first celebrity series. The presenter reckons the show doesn't promote a healthy body image. Video of the Day "I have been the person who did reality TV before, I know how everything is edited and I know how things are done and I don't understand why they do it," she said. "I call it fat shaming - and I don't think there's any need. There is no need to fat shame people." Looking for a new television show to binge on? Weve got five youll love. Mr Robot Expand Close Elliot Alderson, played by Rami Malek, in Mr Robot. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Elliot Alderson, played by Rami Malek, in Mr Robot. Crime-thriller Mr Robot follows the story of Elliot Alderson, played by Rami Malek, a young computer programmer whose life is turned upside down when an underground hacker group gives him the opportunity to destroy the corporation hes employed to protect. Malek won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the Emmys for his role. A third series of the USA show has been confirmed for 2017. The Americans Expand Close Elizabeth and Philip Jennings in The Americans. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Elizabeth and Philip Jennings in The Americans. Set during the Cold War, The Americans is a mystery-drama that sees a pair of Soviet secret agents pose as an American couple to spy on the American government. Although it didnt take home any of the main awards, Margo Martindale won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Claudia in the show. The Americans was nominated from Outstanding Drama Series, alongside Homeland, Dowtown Abbey and Game of Thrones, the latter of which won. Transparent Expand Close Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent. Photo credit: Amazon Studios / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent. Photo credit: Amazon Studios Transparent is a comedy series that revolves around an American family whose world is changed forever when they learn that their father Mort Pfefferman, played by Jeffrey Tambor, is transgender. The third series is set to air this month, with a fourth already confirmed. Tambor won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role. Veep Expand Close Senator Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in Veep. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Senator Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in Veep. Another comedy series, Veep follows former Senator Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who holds the role of Vice President of the United States. Her new job is nothing like she imagined it would be, but is everything she was warned about. Dreyfus won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role for the last five years. Bloodline Expand Close Netflix original series Bloodline. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Netflix original series Bloodline. Video of the Day A familys long-kept secrets are unveiled in Netflix original series Bloodline when the black sheep of the family returns home. The third and final season will premiere in 2017. Ben Mendelsohn, who plays the black sheep Danny Rayburn, won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role. Bringing the funny: Deirdre O' Kane and Rory Cowan are the new voice-overs of Gogglebox. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins TV3 is determined to keep the details of exactly who is participating in the show, but three households have been revealed as taking part in the reality series. Friends Jamie, Lindsay, Ashley and Grainne from Cabra in Dublin are among the box-watching besties. All four ladies are self-confessed reality TV addicts. Sisters Lindsay and Ashley spent their childhood holidays with Jamie as their mums were best friends. After Grainne joined the gang aged 12 they became inseparable. Other people set to feature on the series include Tallaght residents Szymon and Aga. Originally from Poland, the pair have been best friends since they met in college 16 years ago. Expand Close Aga and Szymon on Gogglebox Ireland / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Aga and Szymon on Gogglebox Ireland Aga moved to Ireland from Poland in 2004, having completed her masters degree in environmental protection science and went on to receive her PHD at UCD, while Szymon arrived in 2007 to celebrate Halloween. He fell in love with the country and never left. Expand Close The Gruffertys on Gogglebox Ireland / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Gruffertys on Gogglebox Ireland Viewers will also be introduced to the Grufferty family, from Co Kildare. Parents Laura and Des met 14 years ago when Des walked into his future wife's hair salon and left with her phone number. The pair have four children and will be joined on the couch by their 12-year-old daughter, Danielle. Expand Close Bringing the funny: Deirdre O' Kane and Rory Cowan are the new voice-overs of Gogglebox. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bringing the funny: Deirdre O' Kane and Rory Cowan are the new voice-overs of Gogglebox. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins The series will be narrated by Moone Boy star Deirdre O'Kane and Mrs Brown's Boys actor Rory Cowan (inset). Gogglebox is on TV3 on Thursday at 9.30pm. Given the very low hit-rate of new TV dramas, the success story that is TV3's Red Rock feels like a boon, not just for Irish drama, but for the industry in general, and those who work in it. Since launching in January 2015, Red Rock has grown from an initially low-key reaction, to become TV3's most popular show. It was sold to Amazon Prime in the US, where 81pc of viewers gave it five stars, and in July, it debuted on BBC One to an audience of over a million viewers, and a heap of positive reviews. Set in a fictional seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, the action revolves around the antics of two feuding local families, the Kielys and the Hennessys, and the local garda station, through which, in true soap style, all of human life passes, from the mundane to the traumatic. The action is fast-paced and the dialogue smart, but the real draw is the scope that is displayed by the characters to be multi-faceted, conflicted, real. This is a soap opera with serious drama ambitions, and even a touch of Scandi-noir sensibility, courtesy of the overcast skies and intensity of the plotlines. Comparisons with Love/Hate are inevitable, but actually, Red Rock doesn't need them. Season three has moved to a later time slot - post-watershed, meaning lots of frenzied speculation before the first show aired last week as to whether this will mean a raunchier, sexier show - and, instead of two half-hour episodes a week, there is one prime-time, hour-long slot. Whatever about the potential for more sex and violence, an hour-long format allows time and space for what is far more interesting - the psychological development of key characters. In the end, this is what will win, and keep viewers, and not any amount of gore or raunch. It is the changing motivations, intricate interactions and shaded personal responses playing out on-screen that compel us, far more than the flashing lights or neat pieces of police procedure. And so, as Red Rock is back on our screens, we talk to three young actors, each of whom plays a key part, about life, the show and the growth of their characters. Pandora McCormick Expand Close Pandora McCormick wears: Jumpsuit, Penneys. Photo: Kip Carroll. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pandora McCormick wears: Jumpsuit, Penneys. Photo: Kip Carroll. "I was about to give up when I got this." Pandora McCormick, aka Red Rock solicitor Claire Hennessy, is talking about the many, notorious difficulties of making a career as an actor. "I was about to turn 30, and I thought, 'I can't turn 30 and not have something to show for it. I want to have work and create, and I'm not doing that. I want to have a family and support them, and it's not happening, so what can I do?'" She was considering going back to college, and training in a different area, "and then I got Red Rock. That was amazing!" Even more wonderful has been the success of the show. "At the start, we all sat here thinking, 'Are we going to have a job next month?' Because that is the reality with so many shows, and now we're all pinching ourselves, thinking how great it is. It's been a dream." Pandora, who trained at the Oxford School of Drama, decided "at a very young age" that she wanted to act. "I was an only child until the age of about 13, and I would very much entertain myself in an imaginary world, so I was very used to playing and creating fiction." Even so, she took an indirect route, initially anyway. Video of the Day "I tried a lot of different things - art, photography, interning at The Dubliner magazine - because I was kind of scared of acting, and people advised me to get lots of experiences, but I kept coming back to it, so I knew I needed to give it a go. I quickly realised that it was harder than I thought it would be. And when I got out of drama school, I realised it's a lot harder than I thought!" She grew up in Kenya - "mum and I moved out when I was four. I loved it; it was amazing. We lived on the coast first, and my mum home-schooled me; then we moved to Nairobi so I could go to school there. "As a child, I thought that Kenya was Eden, paradise, because my mum protected me. It's only as I grew up that I realised there's an imbalance, and corruption. But it will always be a huge part of me." Pandora moved back to Ireland when she was 12. "It was so horrible," she laughs. "It was a culture shock. I was very cold, and I went to boarding school - St Columba's College - which was very weird for me, because I just wanted to climb trees and play in the dirt, and they wouldn't let me. And I remember turning to my mother and asking, 'Why is everyone so white?' But I love Dublin; it's now my home." In July, Pandora married her boyfriend Killian Burke, also an actor, and Irish, and the couple now divide their time between London and Dublin. "We did long-distance for a while, but it got quite hard. We're basically between London and Dublin now, but together." The couple married at Pandora's father's estate, Mulgrave Castle. Her dad, Constantine Phipps, is the fifth Marquess of Normanby, and Pandora is no fan of the effect his title can have on some people. "At the end of the day, he's my dad, and I love him. And work is work," she says. "I've always grown up with the idea that you work hard, and that's what you do. I've always wanted to be judged on merit, and not on who somebody in my life is. I love my job, and I hope I do it well, and I'm lucky to have it." And indeed, she has clearly put in the hours and the behind-the-scenes commitment to the career she has chosen, working "two or three" jobs as a young actor, "to pay the bills. I did corporate and medical role-play, and hostessing, which I hated. These companies want girls in short dresses, and the customers treat you that way. You're not there for a huge amount of pay, you've been in heels for 10 or 12 hours, and someone starts talking to you a certain way . . ." Acting, she says, "is not like another job where, if you put the work in, you will progress and you can plan your life. As an actor, it's frustrating, because no matter how hard you work, no matter how talented you are, sometimes it just doesn't happen." So why stick with it? "I think because you love it, because you think you're good at it. It's the thing I'm good at." Anyone familiar with Red Rock will agree. As Claire Hennessy, Pandora has been through the trauma of her husband's murder, trying to piece together her life as a single mother, and deal with her high-voltage family. "I feel like Claire is a time-bomb in a way, she's been under so much pressure. I feel she's in a transition period. She'll fall or she'll triumph." Either way, we'll be there to watch. India Mullen Expand Close India Mullen wears: Dress, Tara Jarmon, Arnotts. Photo: Kip Carroll / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp India Mullen wears: Dress, Tara Jarmon, Arnotts. Photo: Kip Carroll India Mullen landed the part of Katie Kiely pretty much straight out of drama school. "I did the two-year course at the Gaiety School of Acting. I graduated in late June 2014, did a couple of plays over the summer, got Red Rock in August, and started filming in October. I was ridiculously lucky, and I'm so aware of that," she says. As such, was it intimidating, joining a set with more experienced actors? "Definitely. I think the first time we did our read-through, it felt like the first day of school when you're shy of everyone," she says. "I definitely was nervous starting, but everyone was so encouraging and welcoming. And, because we were all starting a new project together, it wasn't like going onto a set where everyone is already so close." Since then, India has very much made the part of Katie her own. "Katie puts up a hard exterior and plays tough, but she's very sensitive and cares a lot about her family. The Kielys are always in trouble, although I think they usually mean well, and what drives Katie's hard exterior is that worry and pressure. "She finds it difficult to let herself be vulnerable. She didn't have a mother from a young age, and always tried to be the strong one. She tries to be older and more able than she is." So can she give us a hint as to what will happen next? "Life gets tougher on her, and on all of them," is all India will say. "But there are fun bits in there as well." Interestingly, the effect on India of Red Rock has been to make her "more shy in my personal life. I was a pretty chatty, outgoing kid. I loved dancing - not like a showbiz kid," she hastens to add, "but since I've began working as an actor, I've become more quiet, because there's so much exposure within our job. It's so intensely social that when I'm out of work, I associate downtime with not having to be in front of people, or looked at. It's not a negative thing; it's like I've had my outlet for sociability at work, and I just want to sit back when I'm finished." And despite the full-on media interest in Red Rock and its stars, she isn't silly enough to let that go to her head. "I feel lucky that I'm in Ireland, that there isn't as much of a celebrity culture here. It's such a small country that when people say, 'How do I know you?' I'd never say, 'Oh, you've seen me on TV,' because it's just as likely I know them personally," she laughs. India went to school in Holy Child Killiney, and began acting lessons at the National Performing Arts School aged six. "But I was more interested in dance at the time. I left after a few years, and once I was away from acting, I felt an enormous draw towards it. My mum loves theatre and used to bring us to really good stuff; it wasn't the panto at Christmas, it was experimental theatre in the Project. I just felt - 'I want to do what they're doing!'" India's parents - her mother is a nurse, her father an architect - were under no illusions about her choice of career. "They warned me it was going to be tough. I did know, going into this, but I've always been pretty strong-minded. I don't think they would have been able to turn me once I had it in my head. I've heard acting described as a vocation, and I think it must be. There is just this unbelievable pull, you can't get away from it." Jane McGrath Expand Close Jane McGrath wears: Dress, River Island. Jewellery, Jane's own. Photo: Kip Carroll / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jane McGrath wears: Dress, River Island. Jewellery, Jane's own. Photo: Kip Carroll Jane McGrath plays Garda Sharon Cleere, who she describes as "believing in truth and justice and doing the right thing. She's ruthless, ambitious and works extremely hard". Jane herself seems more gentle than ruthless, but she shares a strong work ethic with her character. She grew up in Foxrock, Dublin, and, since graduating from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2009, she has appeared regularly on stage and screen: The Clinic; Pure Mule: The Last Weekend; Amber; Silent Witness; Quirke; the feature film Black Ice, for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Ifta; a host of short films; and Game of Thrones. Of the remarkable success of Red Rock, she had, she says with a laugh, "not a clue. I think that's why we love our job so much as actors. You're diving into things, not knowing what'll happen, but I think that's what makes it exciting". As for Game of Thrones, and the experience of working on one of the most obsessed-about shows ever, she says, "My storyline was beyond the Wall [a colossal solid ice fortification]" - she played Sissy, one of Craster's daughters - "and was extraordinary, so beautifully lit, all the snow. But the experience of it almost felt a little bit too real for me. The smell of the pig on the spit. The smell of raw meat, the muck on the ground. It was beautiful, but," she says frankly, "I did feel vulnerable. Especially for some of the women who had to take off their clothes." With admirable clarity of mind, she says, "It's torture porn, really. When I watch [shows like] that, I feel for that person. I wonder, 'Do they feel comfortable?' You shouldn't have to think about that when you're watching something. When it comes to harrowing topics, like rape, if you were just to suggest it - the audience can do the rest. I think we need to trust our audience. I'm a very sensitive person, and I believe your imagination is more powerful than anything you can be shown." Did she always know she wanted to act? "I think so. I remember crying to my mother when I was 15, 'I don't want to be in school; I don't need to be here. I know exactly what I want to do.' I started drama when I was 10 or 11, and I knew instantly that this was what I wanted to do. I also felt it was the only thing I could do. I have really bad dyslexia, so I felt very alone." Jane's dyslexia was diagnosed late, when she was 15, which can have considerable repercussions on self-esteem. "By then, you've put it in your head - 'I'm a failure, I'm stupid'. You call yourself awful things. I couldn't see past the question, 'What's going to happen for me? Where am I going to go?' I'd see all my friends aiming for 600 points in their Leaving Cert, and wonder. But then again", she acknowledges, "they couldn't do things that I could do." Jane is now an ambassador for the Dyslexia Association, where she both helps others and is helped. "My dyslexia is quite severe," she says. "I worry quite a bit. The Dyslexia Association are great at teaching you little tools and skills that work for you, to nip things in the bud, guide you through life." Because, as she points out, "it's not just academia - it's everything. Filling in forms, bills, road signs. I remember driving to Templemore to do my garda research. Except I drove to Tullamore." She laughs, although I imagine it wasn't that funny at the time. "I left early, because I knew I might get lost. So I arrived just in time. I wasn't hard on myself. I knew, with dyslexia, you have to be so kind to yourself, because we aren't, in general." When it comes to reading scripts, she has worked out a system to mange that. "I use a lot of colour, I space everything out, I have my folders, my tags, to ease me through it. And I find it much easier to take things in on paper, because I can read as slowly as I want. People offer me audio books, but I prefer to actually read. The readers read too fast for me, and it just goes in one ear and out the other." She has, she says, "a habit of looking at people's lips, because I'm trying to understand what they are saying, and it looks as if I'm trying to kiss them!" As for what happens next to Sharon Cleere, she will only say, "In the new episodes, her job has changed a bit. You might see her less in the uniform, paired with different people, and the relationship with her partner, Paudge, has changed a lot". In terms of Jane's own career, and a distinct tendency, so far, towards intense, dramatic roles, she says simply, "I love challenging myself. I'd love to try more comedy." The new series of 'Red Rock' is on TV3 on Mondays at 9.30pm Photography by Kip Carroll Styling by Liadan Hynes Assisted by Emily Callan Hair by Paul Davey, assisted by Rob Hynes, DaveyDavey, 23 Drury St, D2, tel: (01) 611-1200, or see daveydavey.com Make-up by Rachel Acton, Brown Sugar, 50 South William St, D2, tel: (01) 616-9967, or see brownsugar.ie It was the year the Internet was officially created. The year Madonna released her first album and the Cold War peaked. In Ireland, it was the year the first ever stretch of motorway was unveiled and the first time the Concorde supersonic airliner landed on Irish soil. The country received State visits from the likes of US Vice President George Bush and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. But Inis Meain, the second largest of the Aran Islands, was yet to have access to running water. Expand Close Wearing the local knitwear Gaeltacht Minister Paddy O'Toole, centre, and FiannaFail TD Bobby Molloy, left, sharing a joke with Tarlach De Blacam, manager of the Coop on Inis Meain. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection). / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Wearing the local knitwear Gaeltacht Minister Paddy O'Toole, centre, and FiannaFail TD Bobby Molloy, left, sharing a joke with Tarlach De Blacam, manager of the Coop on Inis Meain. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection). Finally, the island with the smallest population of the Arans but a stronghold of Irish culture and language would no longer have to rely on hauling buckets of water from a well. Gaeltacht Minister Paddy OToole and Fianna Fails Bobby Molloy were on the island for the occasion. To supply water to the 83 homes the land was excavated to literally create an underground lake, as no natural streams could be found. Round concrete reservoirs were erected above ground to contain the water. The islands Co-op also received a new storeroom for the knitting factory that employed 17 islanders to create the famous Aran knitwear. Expand Close Inis Meain, Aran Islands, September 21, 1983. Photographer Matt Walsh. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection). / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Inis Meain, Aran Islands, September 21, 1983. Photographer Matt Walsh. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection). With a population of 300 at the time, residents of Inis Meain had relied on wells for their water supply. As 70-year-old islander Peadar O Conghaile, who had spent his eight decades carrying water back to his thatched cottage, said of the development that so many of us take for granted- You only have to turn on a tap. Its o mighty. Click here to purchase any of these exclusive Independent Archives photos Johnny Adair moved to Scotland after being released from prison as part of the Good Friday Agreement The son of terror chief Johnny Mad Dog Adair died of an accidental overdose almost ten days ago. Poignantly, Jonathan Adair, 32, was seen posing for a photo with his girlfriend Jasmine on September 9 just hours after being released from prison for driving offences. The following day the powerfully-built steroid user, nicknamed Mad Pup, was found dead near his fathers home on the west coast of Scotland after a drugs binge. Sources close to Adair Snr who served a 16-year jail sentence for directing Ulster Defence Association (UDA) terrorism insist the death was accidental, saying: Jonathan was talking on Friday night how much he was looking forward to the Old Firm game the next day between Rangers and Celtic. He was found with pills in his pockets. His da Johnny has been hit for six by this, he was very, very close to his son. Just hours after news of the death broke Adair Snr told Sunday Life he was gutted. The ex-UDA bosss voice quivered with emotion as he explained that he was too upset to comment further. Adair Jnr was banged up earlier this year for motoring offences and during his time behind bars in HMP Bowhouse in Kilmarnock, Scotland had limited access to drugs. Friends believe that his tolerance levels to cocaine and mephedrone dropped, and that was the reason for his fatal overdose last weekend. His body is expected to be returned to his heartbroken terror boss father and mother Gina tomorrow. The results of a post-mortem should also be known then. His funeral will take place in Scotland where his father lives. Neither of his parents have any desire to hold the service in Belfast the city the family fled under a UDA death threat 13 years ago. Loyalists who were close to Adair before his exile are expected to travel to Troon for the funeral despite UDA threats warning them not to. Jonathans younger sister Chloe revealed how the family had been overwhelmed with messages of support since her brothers sudden passing. She said: Just want to say thank you so much for everybodys kind words in this heartbreaking time for us as a family. Its been so overwhelming the amount of people that have got in touch and it helps comfort us knowing that he was loved by so many. A family friend said that although Jonathan was a petty criminal, he should not be held responsible for the sins of his father. Jonathan didnt pick Johnny Adair as his father and suffered because of his surname and things he had no control over. He was 18 years old when he was ordered to leave his home on the Shankill by the UDA and move to England. No teenager should have to deal with that, explained a pal. Yes, Jonathan was involved in petty crime and drugs, but there was a good side to him too, and he was a brilliant dad to his wee son. Adair Jnr had been in and out of jail since fleeing the Shankill with his parents in 2003. He was 18 when the UDA purged his fathers C Company faction after it murdered the terror gangs south-east Antrim boss John Grugg Gregg. The Adair gang fled on a ferry to Scotland before eventually settling in Bolton. While living there Jonathan was jailed for five years for dealing heroin and crack cocaine. After his release from prison he moved to Scotland to live with his father. The pair were more like brothers than father and son, and often socialised together and went to the same parties. On one occasion during his time as C Company commander Adair insisted on Jonathan being photographed for a sinister UDA calendar wearing a mask and brandishing a gun. The terror boss doted on his son, and dressed him in top hat and tails when he married his mother Gina Crossan in a ceremony at the Maze Prison in 1997. Adair also loved to tell of how, at Christmas 1993, he surprised Jonathan with a new bike, hiding it in a shed and encouraging the nine-year-old to find it by sending him outside for a shovel of coal for the fire. When it comes to Christmas or anything involving presents Im the biggest kid of all, boasted Adair. However, the loyalists relationship with his son was not always a good one. When he ruled the UDA in the lower Shankill he had Jonathan kneecapped for assaulting a shop assistant during a filling station robbery. This was after Adair had beaten him for stealing the purse of an 84-year-old woman during a burglary, and later taking his car without permission. Unlike other punishment attacks carried out by C Company, the gunmen went easy on their leaders son, shooting him in the calf with a low-calibre 9mm pistol. Afterwards Adair denied ordering the attack on Jonathan, saying: What man in his own mind would do a thing like that to his own son? Had I known prior to this I would have had my son on a ferry away from here as fast as possible. But the shooting failed to curb Jonathans ways and in 2002 he was involved in a hit-and-run car smash on the Oldpark Road in north Belfast that left two young nationalists from the nearby Bone area in hospital. During his time in Scotland the dad-of-one became heavily dependant on drugs and in 2014 was jailed for wrecking the flat of a reality TV star who refused to sell him cannabis. The year before Jonathan had been cleared of a gun raid at a party, and in 2012 was the target of a failed bomb plot. He was also facing trial later this year on drugs charges, and had been released from prison for motoring offences the day before his death. The devastated parents of baby Conor James Whelan, Siobhan & Andrew arrive at Cavan Courthouse for his inquest. Photo: Lorraine Teevan A grieving mother wept as she told an inquest into the death of her new-born baby how she had begged a medic not to break her waters in the minutes before she and her baby became critically ill. Siobhan Whelan, (40), from Drumora, Ballyjamesduff, was giving evidence to coroner Dr Mary Flanagan at Cavan Court House into the death of her baby Conor at Cavan General Hospital on May 14, 2014. The boy survived for just 17 and a half hours. Mrs Whelan had been suffering from a case of undiagnosed vasa praevia, an obstetric complication in which fetal blood vessels cross or run near the internal orifice of the uterus. The mother, who has two daughters, now aged 12 and eight, wiped away tears as she recalled her arrival at the hospital on May 13. In her heart-breaking testimony to the jury of seven women and three men, she said she and her husband Andrew had been joking when they arrived at the hospital just after 12.40pm. But as she walked to the maternity ward she realised she was bleeding. Andrew ran ahead of me looking and shouted for help and I started panicking too, shouting for help, she said. Mrs Whelan said she had been worried about the pregnancy having had two miscarriages in 2012 and 2013. She said she had been worried about a low-lying placenta and when a scan in March had failed to give a clear picture of her pregnancy, she was referred for another examination. Despite this, she never received the second scan, she said, instead being reassured a week later that her pregnancy was fine. At every clinic after March 21, 2014, I kept asking them to check my placenta, said the mother. On every occasion I was told to stop worrying, that there was nothing to worry about with my placenta. I was even told on one occasion you are not still going on about that. After she began bleeding, she said she was told in the maternity unit on May 13 that everything was fine. My husband and I were so concerned we even asked could they just do a c-section to get the baby out safe. They told us again to relax, that everything was okay, said Mrs Whelan. Dr Rupa performed a vaginal examinationmore bleeding followed. My husband got very anxious when he saw more blood and begged them to do something. He reminded them that a baby had died at the hospital two weeks ago and could they please do something before someone elses life was put at risk. They beeped a senior gynaecologist a few times but there seemed to be no urgency. Mrs Whelan said she was told again that everything was fine but her husband pleaded with them to do something. Mr Whelan told the inquest later that he had said this is like a scene from Carry On Laughing only its not funny. After a gynaecologist Dr Rita Mehta - arrived he had asked: What are they waiting forsomeone to die? Mrs Whelan told the hearing that she had again asked for a caesarian section. I was pleading no more instruments up meplease give me a section but she (the gynaecologists) wanted to rupture my membranes. Ann (the nurse) said to her before you rupture membranes, would you not consider doing a test on the babys head to see how the baby is doing'. The doctor went ahead and broke my waters. There, waters are broken now she said and discarded the instrument used abruptly behind her. After a few minutes the nurse said she wanted a word with her (the gynaecologist) and brought her outside the room. Within a minute or two the nurse came back in and said we are on the move, Andrew grab the trolley. She shouted orders saying the theatre and paediatric team to be called immediately. There was pandemonium, we were charging down the corrider as the nurse shouted Category One, Category One. She said in the confusion a nurse was knocked to the ground by the trolley. Andrew was in pieces as he thought I had fallen off the trolley, said Siobhan. She alleged: Dr Rita cut me open without me being fully under sedation. I was told this by the nurse Ann Arnott in the ICU after. She told me that Dr Rory Paige was very distressed that Dr Rita was only thinking of the baby now and not the mother. According to Ann he was roaring and shouting at Dr Rita to stop, that they must wait for the patient to be fully sedated and that he literally threw himself across me to stop her. Conor was born at 1.49pm and weighed eight pounds. He had to be revived. Mrs Whelan was then given life-saving surgery. Conor was rushed to the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin but as he couldnt be saved he was taken back to Cavan hospital to spend his last eight hours with his parents and sisters. His two sisters, who were so excited to meet their baby brother, now faced the realisation that he wont be coming home with us. We struggled to tell them this as its all so unreal to us, said Siobhan. She said she later found out that Conor had opened his eyes twice but she couldnt see them. He died on the morning of May 14. She also alleged that one medic had said to her in the ICU: I guess thats natures way of taking care of things. Mrs Whelan claimed that she was told a few days later by another medic that Conor had died because her membranes had been ruptured. When she told this medic Dr Finan that Dr Rita had performed the procedure, he (Dr Finan) was so shocked that he staggered back into the wall. Under questioning by her own solicitor Roger Murray, from Callan Tansey Solicitors, Siobhan Whelan told the court that she faced a choice of being bitter and angry or campaigning to ensure this didnt happen again. All pregnant women in this country should be afforded equality of care. There needs to be a scanning of pregnant women at 20 weeks. We are not getting this in Cavan. Our services here in Cavan and other areas needs to be fully resourced and funded like they have in Dublin and Cork. Dublin is too far to travel. We need these services on our doorstep. The hearing continues. A hospital medic who has been accused of raping a 61-year-old woman has left the country, the Irish Independent has learned. Gardai in Tralee in Co Kerry have confirmed they are investigating the allegation that the woman was raped at the private Bon Secours Hospital earlier this month. The medic is accused of raping the woman when she was changing into her clothes after having a scan. The suspect, who is from abroad, was employed by a diagnostic company which operates inside the hospital. The alleged rape happened after the woman gave him a tip. Garda sources said the medic, who was involved in diagnostics, denied the allegation but has left the country since the middle of last week. Following the allegation, it is understood the man was suspended and he has now resigned. The married worker was a full-time worker with the diagnostic company at the busy hospital. In a statement today, the company is contracted to provide certain medical services at the Bon Secours in Tralee, confirmed that suspect was their employee. The statement confirmed that the alleged incident took place at the hospital in Tralee. We wish to alleviate the concerns of patients and the public by making clear that the individual involved is no longer an employee of the company and is no longer working at the hospital. A full internal investigation into the alleged incident is being conducted. There is an ongoing Gardai investigation and the company is co-operating fully with this. As a result, we are unable to comment further." The victim made an initial complaint before going to Cork University Hospital (CUH) that evening to undergo a specialist medical examination. She then made a formal complaint to gardai later in the week. She is believed to have told gardai that she gave the doctor a 10 tip and he then followed her into the changing room where he raped her. Gardai in Tralee have visited the hospital in question to collect CCTV footage. There were no cameras in the room where the alleged assault took place, but there were some stationed around the area outside the room. Garda sources who arrived at the hospital to interview the doctor following the complaint said he was in the middle of another scan when they put the allegation to him. The Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee was voted Ireland's Private Hospital of the Year in 2014. It serves a catchment area of more 170,000 people. It has seen significant expansion in recent years. Inspectors have branded Taoiseach Enda Kennys local hospital a health hazard, leaving patients at high risk of infection. A damning new report on Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar has revealed a litany of failings, including a lack of basic control measures to protect patients from invasive aspergillosis, where a mould poses a dangerous risk to cancer and other patients with a weak immune system. Inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) had to make two inspection visits to the hospital over the summer and issue a warning letter in June demanding urgent action. The inspectors visited the orthopaedic ward, renal dialysis unit and the cancer day unit. The inspectors revealed that during the May 2016 inspection there was a lack of basic control measures to prevent the invasive aspergillosis associated with construction and renovation works in the orthopaedic ward. There was internal renovation and external building and soil excavation works underway at the time. Measures required to prevent dust from entering the ward during construction work which was in progress at the time of inspection, were not in place. Doors that separated the main ward corridor from external soil excavation work were not closed. Dust generated by internal renovation work within the ward had not been effectively controlled with the result that dust and debris was visible on the ward corridor and an adjacent stairwell. In addition, multiple external windows on the side of the hospital facing the construction site were not closed even though the hospitals construction risk assessment stated that these windows should be closed. The standard of patient equipment hygiene in the orthopaedic ward was not in line with national infection control standards. There was red staining on a patient-controlled pain-relieving device. Reusable injection trays for intravenous medications were stained and it was observed that reusable injection trays were not consistently decontaminated after use, in line with best practice. Brown staining was visible on commodes and on two patient armchairs. At local level, daily cleaning checklists for patient equipment were not consistently completed and therefore there did not appear to be appropriate managerial oversight of the cleaning of patient equipment. The lack of a hygiene services manager was identified as a significant deficiency in an unannounced inspection carried out by Hiqa in Mayo University Hospital in 2015. It was of concern that this post was still not filled on inspection in 2016. The hospital needs to review and enhance the management structures it has in place, said the inspectors. Mayo University Hospital said it is now revising and amending its quality improvement plan as per Hiqa instructions. The family dog was shot at Belcamp Lane in Coolock A family have been left devastated after their dog was shot dead in their home in Co Dublin. Annmarie Ward (18) from Belcamp Lane in Coolock said the gunman shot through her back window and shot their dog twice. "I heard a loud bang and the window shattered. Any of the children could have been killed," Annmarie told Independent.ie. The 15-year-old Jack Russell called Bethoven, died in the family home in front of the young kids. Expand Close The Jack Russell Bethoven who was shot dead Photo: Facebook / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Jack Russell Bethoven who was shot dead Photo: Facebook "A vet came to the house and the kids had to watch their dog die and be carried out in a body bag," said Annmarie. "We're all heartbroken." Annmarie praised the Coolock garda station for their help, especially Detective Brendan Bergen who paid for the vet to come and try and save the dog. "I am very grateful for him and his team. I really wont forget what they have done for my family and him trying to save my dog. It breaks my heart every time I look out the back and knowing my poor dog is not there." The family know who the gunman is and Annmarie said there is a family feud. "They knew we loved that dog and it would hurt us so much to see him die. That's why he did it," she said. "Bethoven was my first ever dog. I'm devastated." Gardai said they are investigating an incident in which an animal was shot dead in Coolock on Saturday, September 17 at approximately 2am. The stud farm owned by the ruler of Dubai and one of the Arab world's richest royals has received more than 300,000 in single farm payments from the EU over the past two years. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, who bought the Kildangan stud in Co Kildare in 1986, has a fortune estimated at close to 18bn. The Irish Independent has learned that Kildangan stud farm received 162,046.59 in a single farm payment from the EU in 2015. The farm was allocated a payment of 152,120 in 2014. Documents seen by this newspaper show Kildangan also received 122,254 in 2008 and 127,502 in 2009. The Department of Agriculture did not release figures for single farm payments in the interim period, but it is believed Kildangan's farm payments have totalled more than 1m in the past decade. The single farm payment is provided to farmers across the EU. The total provided to Irish farmers is 1.6bn, with the average payment standing at around 12,000. The sheikh was one of the founders of the Emirates airline group and has been a key player in making Dubai a hub for international business over the past 25 years. His Godolphin firm also owns the Ballysheehan stud in Co Tipperary. Sheikh Mohammed has had interests in the horse racing world since the 1980s when he bought the Irish thoroughbred Appeal, which went on to produce nine winners. Sheikh Mohammed is the owner of the world's third-biggest yacht, a 162-metre vessel that cost around 370m. International experts will conduct a review of the Oberstown Children Detention Campus following a series of high-profile security incidents. Professor Barry Goldson, a child law expert from the University of Liverpool, and Professor Nicholas Hardwick, who is chair of the UK's parole board, will visit Oberstown in the coming weeks to speak with staff, detainees and management. The Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, announced the review saying she hoped it will "resolve many of the problems at the youth detention facility". A number of serious incidents and industrial action by staff at the Campus have highlighted the need to reflect on the progress achieved and to identify and address any obstacles to the necessary future reforms. "I believe this review is timely and I look forward to receiving the findings so as we can ensure that we can ensure the safety of all at Oberstown and at the same time end Irelands abysmal record of placing children in adult prisons." The review comes after a number of issues at the youth detention centre. Recently staff took industrial action after they raised concerns about their health and safety, as well as a rooftop protest during which a member of staff was injured, and a fire at one of the buildings at the campus. Read More The Executive Director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Deirdre Malone, told RTE's Morning Ireland that she hoped the review will allow the centre to focus on education and care. She said she was glad to see that children at the facility and staff will be consulted and added that it was crucial that all parties involved in the review had confidence in the process. A major Dublin road will be closed next month, adding to the chaos on roads as the Dublin Bus strikes loom. The James Larkin Road (from Clontarf Road/Mount Prospect Road to Causeway Road) will be closed from Monday October 10 until Monday October 24. Two other roads along the Clontarf Road from junction Mount Prospect Avenue to Dollymount Avenue and from junction Dollymount Avenue to the Wooden Bridge will also be closed. These two closures will allow for limited local access to homes only and no through traffic. The road closures come as Dublin City Council aims to complete the 5m Clontarf City Cycle path which has been under construction since May 2015. Independent Councillor Damian O'Farrell said it's "vital" that road users are notified well in advance of the closures. "I believe it is vital that residents and commuters are informed of these road closures well in advance and that all available resources are concentrated to complete the work as quickly as possible to minimise the inevitable major traffic disruption. "I know that local community groups including Clontarf Residents Association, Clontarf Business Association, Save Our Seafront, and Dublin Bay Watch have been working actively on this in a voluntary capacity over many months and will be doing their utmost to support residents and circulate information and soon as it comes to hand." AA Roadwatch said that as the road closures affect primary roads, road users across the city "should expect added disruption" due to the closures. "From previous experience the first days of major works are usually the busiest as people may not be aware of them; and with Dublin Bus also due to strike on Monday 10th Oct, this will further add to things. A further five days of strike action are expected to take place during the timeframe of the works," an AA spokesperson told Independent.ie. The spokesperson said that road users should prepare for delays, "especially on strike days". "One of the benefits for the area in question is that there are DART services available for commuters at Howth, Sutton, Bayside and Kilbarrack which may convince would be motorists to take alternative transport during this time. "The best advice we can give to people is to plan any journeys in advance, leave extra time for their journeys and ultimately if stuck in traffic, to be patient." Olympic hero Paddy Barnes has revealed the reason why he signed for a controversial gym searched as part of an international operation against the Kinahan crime cartel. The double Olympic medal winner, who captained the Irish team at Rio 2016, was unveiled todays by the MGM gym in Marbella - founded by retired professional Matthew Macklin. In a statement MGM said they were delighted to confirm that the 29-year-old, who announced that he was turning professional last week, was signed on a management contract. When questioned on RTE Radio One today about the move to join the gym which was searched last week as part of a series of international raids on the Kinahan crime cartel Barnes responded: "There were a few ones talking. They were asking me to go an sign with them," he told Ray D'Arcy. "They weren't offering me much, they weren't really explaining to me much. MGM were the only ones who have actually offered me something and explained to me the path that they want me to go on. It was only natural and obvious that I was going to go with someone who was going to offer me something." Barnes admitted that he had read the headlines about raids by the Guardia Civil and gardai on the MGM gym in Marbella on twitter. Expand Close Cartel boss Daniel Kinahan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cartel boss Daniel Kinahan The gym, which is based in Marbella, was founded by former Irish, British and European Middleweight Champion Matthew Macklin, who is not involved in crime. Mobster Daniel Kinahan, a son of international drug trafficker Christy Kinahan, is heavily involved in the running of the Spanish facility. Last week the gym was searched by Guardia Civil and and visiting gardai as part of a major international crackdown on the gang. Asked about this Barnes claimed that it was only being reported because of a "slow news day". "I had to expect stuff like that there. In Ireland they are very fond of having slow news days. They have to put something in there to try and sell the papers." Asked if he looked into the various gyms who were courting him and how these gyms operated, the boxer responded: "I don't care because I'm signing with MGM. I'm not going to be training in Marbella. They're only my management team. "I feel like they're one of the best management teams in the world. Liam Smith, Martin Murray and BJ Saunders, they're world title challengers and champions. So, if it's good enough for them ones, it's good enough for me." Read More In a statement following this morning's announcement MGM Management said: Paddy is a special talent." Barnes revealed last week that his pro debut will be in his native Belfast sometime before Christmas. My debut will possibly be before Christmas in Belfast. Its my home city so it would be great to begin my career there, said Barnes. Im going to start off at a flyweight, hopefully move through the weights and probably end up bantamweight at the end of my career." Michael Noonan has been urged to stand before the PAC Picture: Damien Eagers The two main Opposition parties are demanding that Finance Minister Michael Noonan appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer questions on his failure to intervene prior to Nama's controversial sale of Project Eagle. As Nama itself remains under major pressure following the publication of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, a bitter political row has erupted. Both Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein are demanding to know whether Mr Noonan could have intervened prior to the sale of the 1.6bn Northern loan book, which will now be the subject of a statutory inquiry. The C&AG report found that the State lost 220m as a result of the sale of the portfolio to US firm Cerberus. Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday accused Opposition TDs of launching a "witch hunt" against his Cabinet colleague, adding that Mr Noonan would answer questions on the issue in the Dail chamber. "Ministers do not go before the Public Accounts Committee. It's not how it's set up. It's not how it's run," Mr Varadkar told RTE's 'The Week in Politics', before accusing members of the Opposition of a "witch hunt". On two occasions, Mr Varadkar said he could not answer specific questions on Mr Noonan's engagement with Nama prior to the sale. However, Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald described Mr Varadkar's stance as "lamentable" and said Mr Noonan must appear before the PAC. "The failure of Michael Noonan when it became absolutely evident that . . . the bidding process had been corrupted. Michael Noonan failed to intervene, failed to give direction to halt the whole thing, that's what he should have done," Ms McDonald said. "If Michael Noonan refuses to come before the committee, it renders his position untenable." The PAC is due to meet over the issue of Project Eagle on September 29 and October 6. Committee chairman and Fianna Fail TD Sean Fleming said it is "incumbent" on any member of the Oireachtas who may have information - including Mr Noonan - to appear in front of the committee. "Michael Noonan is a link in the chain," Mr Fleming said, adding that he is "hopeful" the Minister will accept the invitation. A spokesman for the Minister said last night: "The Minister for Finance will review the invite when he returns to work on Monday and will make a decision on that thereafter. "It is not normal practice for a Minister to appear before the PAC. The Department of Finance will cooperate fully with the PAC as the Department always does." Also speaking yesterday, NAMA's audit committee chairman Brian McEnery criticised the C&AG for not getting external experts prior to publishing its assessment of the Project Eagle sale. Meanwhile, investors have been given until October 18 to submit first-round bids for the massive 3bn 'Project Gem' portfolio. As revealed by the Irish Independent last week, the huge portfolio of predominantly commercial mortgage loans is secured by 392 properties. The loans were originally taken out by 38 borrowers, who initally owed a combined total of just over 3bn. The loans are secured mainly on property in the Republic, but also in Germany and the UK. The properties are a mix of commercial property, buy-to-let residential properties, hotels and development sites. As revealed by the Irish Independent on Saturday, there is significant anger within the party over Mr Kennys offer for backbenchers to shadow ministers in order to gain experience Picture: PA Fine Gael rebels are seeking support for a secret ballot at the final parliamentary party meeting before Christmas in a bid to oust Enda Kenny as leader, the Irish Independent has learned. A number of TDs held discussions over the phone at the weekend as they prepare to heighten the level of discord within the party over Mr Kenny. The move comes as Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar warned yesterday of any "further displays of disunity". Mr Varadkar, seen as one of Mr Kenny's most likely successors, said the Taoiseach cannot be distracted by internal party matters. Despite the warning, a consensus is growing around the prospect of tabling a confidence motion in Mr Kenny at a parliamentary party meeting in late December, according to a number of sources involved in tentative discussions. Budget The timing of the motion would ensure next month's Budget is passed through the Oireachtas, the sources say. The TDs insist that the ballot must be held in secret and believe notice of the motion will be given in early December. While there is an acceptance that Mr Kenny would defeat a no-confidence motion, the view among some so-called rebels is that the Mayo politician will be left fatally damaged and be forced to consider stepping aside during the Christmas recess. However, there is also a realisation that more TDs will need to be on board if the motion is to have a significant impact. One deputy involved in the discussions described the proposal as "high-risk", but said it is "imperative" that a motion is tabled before the end of the year. A second TD said he believes Mr Kenny will win a motion, but added that the mere tabling of one will prove extremely damaging. "He won't be able to say he didn't see this coming. We've made it perfectly clear we aren't happy," said the rural backbencher. As revealed by the Irish Independent on Saturday, there is significant anger within the party over Mr Kenny's offer for backbenchers to "shadow" ministers in order to gain experience. At the Fine Gael think-in in Kildare, he suggested TDs spend an arranged period of time with ministers. One backbencher likened the offer to JobBridge, while another said he told the Taoiseach he will not be engaging in such an exercise. The growing disquiet emerged as Mr Varadkar fired his warning shot. "Obviously, I want to be part of Fine Gael's future, but in the meantime I think it's really important that we support Enda Kenny as Taoiseach," he told RTE's 'The Week in Politics'. "He has to concentrate on government. He has to concentrate on his job as Taoiseach and he can't be distracted by internal party matters. Secondly, there shouldn't be any further public displays of disunity. "Nobody wants to support a party that is more interested in talking about its own issues than the hopes and fears and problems that people face." Meanwhile, Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said she is "amused" by media reports that suggest senior party figures in Belfast "dread" the prospect of her becoming leader. "We are a single party. We know each other. We have all worked together for a very long period of time. We are not adversaries," she said. "We are not opponents. We are all on the same page . We are committed to the same politics." The Dublin Central TD said there is an acceptance within the party that "nobody goes on forever", referring to Gerry Adams' announcement that he has a plan to step down. "When the time is right the change in leadership will be made," Ms McDonald said. Solicitors firms will be charged an annual fee to register with the website (Stock picture) An online service allowing solicitors bid against each other for work is to be launched in Ireland next month. Users of the website will be able to confidentially submit details of the legal service they require and these would then be forwarded to a panel of suitable law firms in their area. The firms would then be invited to bid for the work. It is the first service of its kind in Ireland, but similar operations have existed for several years in the US. Known as LawBid, the web portal is the brainchild of Kid Harwood, a director of Manchester firm Wildings Solicitors. The system has been in operation in England and Wales since August and Mr Harwood's company, LawBid Ltd, plans to launch a similar operation in Ireland on October 3. The company said the services most frequently procured through its English and Welsh operation were in the areas of family law, divorce, employment and immigration. It has been used by 258 people so far. LawBid insists it is not operating a simple price comparison website, but is putting the onus on solicitors to offer services at reasonable rates. It also says it will allow smaller firms with a poor online presence better access to the market. Competitive "As much as we want to create a competitive environment, it is as much about choice and simplicity for the consumer," said Mr Harwood. Solicitors firms will be charged an annual fee to register with the website. Mr Harwood was unable to confirm Irish prices, but said they would be similar to those operating in the UK, where there are three different types of subscription package. The basic option in the UK, costing Stg295 (345) annually, allows firms to bid for work within a 10-mile radius of their premises. They can make as many bids as they like, but must stop bidding once they have reached a quota of five successful bids in a single month. A premium option, costing firms Stg495 (580) annually, gives firms national exposure and allows them up to 10 successful bids per month. Bids are disclosed only to the client and are not made public. Critics of the service currently operating in the UK say it is encouraging a race to the bottom. However, Mr Harwood rejected this, saying it would encourage better services for consumers. "We have a system in place where clients can rate a solicitor. Other clients will be able to see ratings when deciding whether to retain a solicitor. We feel this system will help maintain the quality of the services offered," he said. The Law Society has yet to express a view on LawBid's arrival and is seeking more information. The scene on the M20 near Patrcikswell, Limerick where a 3 car pile up happened. Photo Press 22 The Congolese community in Ireland has rallied around a family after their three-year-old daughter was killed in a car crash near Limerick. The little girl, named locally as Kellycia Nudiri, suffered catastrophic head injuries when her family's car left the motorway between Adare and Patrickswell at around 4.45pm on Saturday. Her twin brother and her parents, who were also in the car, were not seriously injured. The family, who are believed to be from the Democratic Republic of Congo, had been living in Limerick city but recently moved to Abbeyfeale, situated close to the border between Limerick and Kerry. The family car, driven by Kellycia's mother, is understood to have swerved to avoid an- other vehicle after it mounted the central reservation barrier. It then rolled several times before coming to a rest on its roof. The little girl was thrown from the vehicle and was discovered underneath. Emergency services fought desperately to save her life, but she was pronounced dead a short time later at University Hospital Limerick. Respectable A friend of the family said: "It's very sad. They're a quiet and respectable family. "They couldn't find accommodation in Limerick city so they moved to Abbeyfeale about six or seven months ago." Members of the wider Congolese community here have been providing support to the family. Abbeyfeale Sinn Fein councillor Seamus Browne said: "I want to pass on my sympathies to the family. It is a terrible tragedy." Fianna Fail justice spokesperson Niall Collins, who lives close to the scene of the crash, in Patrickswell, said: "There has been a number of fatalities on this stretch of the motorway over the years. "I'll be asking the National Roads Authority to review this section. "I want to express my sympathies to the family." According to sources, Kellycia's twin suffered "minor head and facial injuries" in the incident. Gardai closed the motorway for several hours to examine the scene and the cars involved. Officers at Roxboro Road, Limerick, have appealed for witnesses to contact them on 061-214340. Meanwhile, Jack Matthews (20) died only 200 metres from his home when the car he was driving crashed in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, on Friday. FIANNA Fail won't be supporting Sinn Fein's Dail motion to abolish water charges, Micheal Martin has said, describing the rival party's move as "play-acting". He said: "No motion can scrap water charges. Only a money Bill can scrap water charges. Mr Martin was speaking at the beginning of his party think-in in Co Carlow. He pointed our that only governments can propose money Bills for a Dail vote. Sinn Fein's opposition motion will be debated in the Dail on September 28. I think Sinn Fein are play-acting in relation their particular motion. Motions on their own cannot get rid of charges. Only legislation can, Mr Martin added. An Expert Commission is currently examining the future of funding water services under the terms of Fianna Fails confidence and supply agreement facilitating the minority Fine Gael government. Fianna Fails submission to that commission has called for the abolition of charges. However, Mr Martin confirmed his party will vote against Sinn Feins motion to be debated in the Dail next week. We're not into optics, we're into action, he said when asked about the contradiction in its policy and their plan to oppose the Sinn Fein motion. Mr Martin added: We're the only party that's effected an outcome on water - ie. the ending of the water charges regime. That has now happened because of our decision in entering into the agreement with Fine Gael to ensure that that would happen. Water charges are suspended until after the Expert Commission reports and TDs debate the groups findings. Mr Martin said its unlikely that water charges will return at that point. The only way water charges can be re-introduced is via legislation by the Dail and that is unlikely given the configuration of parties within the Dail, he said. Those who know me may be surprised to hear this, but my first thought on entering the Ballymore Inn, and being directed to a table tucked away to the left of the front door, is one of concern. It is the Sunday of the All-Ireland hurling final (how am I even aware of this?), two o'clock in the afternoon, and kick-off (throw in?) is surely imminent. And yet, sitting next to us, calm as you like, studying the menu, is a tanned Marty Morrissey. He hasn't even ordered yet! Surely he should be somewhere else? A text is deployed from across the table. "Did you see who's sitting next to us?" I confirm that I have. Once we have made our food decisions, I share my anxiety. "Is there not," I say, feigning nonchalance, "a match on?" You know where this is going. It isn't Marty, nor his doppelganger, Ken Dodd, he of the famous tickling stick. In fact it is developer, Sean Mulryan, a native of these parts - his company is called Ballymore, after all - who has every right to be enjoying his Sunday lunch in peace without having to be stressing about getting to Croke Park on time. Anyway, Sean Mulryan appears to be just one of many locals for whom The Ballymore Inn on a Sunday lunchtime is a second home and, after my first visit, it's easy to see why. First things first, the staff are smiley and helpful, and nothing seems to be too much trouble. The room is buzzing, and there's a happy mix of multi-generational groups, young families and well-dressed pensioners. It's clear that this is where well-got Kildare comes to hang out of a weekend. Bread comes with a ramekin of salty toasted fennel and herb dip that's so green and flavoursome that we're asking for a second within five minutes. My daughter, Ellie, has a problem with calamari - the problem being that if it's on the menu, she's incapable of ordering anything else. At Ballymore, the crisp squid with tomato and chilli oil comes in a light, tempura-style batter, with a punchy sauce - it is impeccably executed and reminds us of the version that Johnny Cooke used to serve in Cooke's Cafe all those years ago. A sharing plate of charcuterie features good salami and chorizo, serrano ham, Gubbeen cheese, crunchy cornichons, and thin slivers of a homemade duck and pistachio terrine scented with orange that is more decorous and less gutsy than we would have liked. Char-grilled West Cork dry-aged roast beef sits atop a mound of finely-grated stir-fried cabbage that's vibrant and full of crunch, and there's a good kick from fresh horseradish and an intense mushroom jus. The meat is cooked rather more than the medium-rare requested, and is less flavoursome than its effusive billing led us to expect. Homemade pizzas, on the other hand, are terrific - thin and rectangular, with fine, generous toppings. One features Clonakilty black pudding, crisp bacon, mushrooms and garlic, another is coming down with copious quantities of Ballyhoura wild mushrooms, Parmesan, smoked mozzarella and baby spinach. The pizzas aren't a cheap sop for children - they are more sophisticated than that - and neither are they priced as such. Nor should they be - quality ingredients such as those that Georgina O'Sullivan uses at Ballymore don't come cheap. We end up bringing half of each one home and there's enough for lunch the next day. We share a single portion of a luscious and old-fashioned plum and apple crumble that may possibly be the best, butteriest crumble that I've ever eaten. The fruit is not over-sweet and it's served with just the right amount of cream and vanilla ice-cream that we guess to be homemade. The Sunday lunch offer is priced at 24.95 for two courses and 29.95 for three. We order partly from this and partly from the a la carte menu and, with a couple of glasses of chianti and soft drinks, the bill for three comes to 106.20 before service. Boring but possibly helpful travel advisory: if you are heading for Ballymoreustace from Dublin, beware of the route that Google maps might send you. We were directed through a housing estate in Drimnagh rather than along the canal, and then cross-country on one winding road after another over from the N7. We would have had a more straightforward journey via Tallaght and Blessington on the N81. ON A BUDGET The two-course Sunday lunch is 24.50, but you could just have a margherita pizza for 11.95 one would be ample for two children. ON A BLOW OUT If you went for the a la carte dinner, and had prawn tempura with mango salsa and spicy tomato aioli, char-grilled West Cork sirloin with green peppercorn sauce and dessert, youd be looking at a bill of around 50 per head before wine or service. THE HIGH POINT Simple, unpretentious food with integrity that confirms the reputation of The Ballymore Inn as a Kildare gem. THE LOW POINT Bad bloody directions. The rating 8/10 food 8/10 ambience 8/10 value for money 24/30 Whispers from the gastronomicon Expand Close Chef Benjamin Patterson / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Chef Benjamin Patterson The first half of the year saw such a flurry of new restaurants, most of them in the vicinity of Camden Street in Dublin city centre, that it was hard to keep up. There was a lull over the summer, but now theres a whole slew of autumn openings. The popular La Plancha has moved from Blackrock to a new home on Monkstown Crescent, Paul Behans Brickyard gastro-pub is soon to open its doors beside the Balally Luas stop in Dundrum, and chef Benjamin Patterson (above) promises great things at Benjamins at the Meeting of the Waters in Avoca. Yvonne Gordon spends 24 hours in the heart of Chicago. 10am: Cruise the river Get your bearings and see Chicago's impressive skyline on a Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise with Chicago's First Lady Cruises. It's a chance to admire historic buildings, new skyscrapers being built and the iconic Willis (Sears) Tower from all angles. If you're brave enough, visit the famous tower later for 103rd-floor views and step out into the 'Ledge' glass box. How: cruisechicago.com ($43/38); theskydeck.com ($22/19.50). 2pm: Heart of art Expand Close The Art Insitute of Chicago / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Art Insitute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago's collection spans 260,000 works, eight buildings and a million square feet. The secret is to focus on a couple of areas, such as the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Monets, Renoirs and Cezannes. Don't miss Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, too. There are plenty of options for a lunch break - the Institute's outdoor cafe (11am to 4pm) even has a full bar if art makes you thirsty. How: artic.edu ($25/22, with under-14s free). 5pm: Shop 'til you drop Expand Close Macy's Chicago / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Macy's Chicago Hit State Street for some retail therapy. Sprawling over a full city block since it opened in 1868, the iconic Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields) department store has eight floors with everything from clothes to furniture and electronics, plus a Tiffany glass dome. Block 37 across the street is where you'll find smaller stores like Anthropologie, Sephora and for cupcakes, Magnolia Bakery. How: Macy's, 111 North State Street (Visitors can get a 10pc off visitors' pass); blockthirtyseven.com. 8pm: Playtime in the park Expand Close Grant Park, Chicago / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Grant Park, Chicago Grant Park is the place to play after a day's sightseeing. In Millennium Park, the Cloud Gate (Anish Kapoor's 'Bean' sculpture) will give you fun and distorted reflections of the city skyline while kids cool off at Crown Fountain. Afterwards, head to nearby Cindy's roof bar on Michigan for rooftop cocktails and sunset views of the park. How: See grantparkmusicfestival.com for free concert schedule; see also cindysrooftop.com. Do it Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies direct to Chicago from Dublin. See choosechicago.com for more info. Read more: Brilliant backstage beauty bulletins brought to you by our roving reporter Triona McCarthy ensures you're always up to speed with your beauty feed! Triona's trends Lucky me! Earlier this year, I got to go to Giorgio Armani's Womenswear Fall/Winter 2016 collection in Milan. It was absolutely mesmerising. Before the models took to the runway, I got to hang out backstage with the living legend himself, Mr Armani. Never before - and I have been hanging out backstage at shows for over 20 years now - have I seen any designer so hands-on; he was even tweaking the models' hair himself. I also got to see Linda Cantello in action - she's the international make-up artist for Giorgio Armani - as she created a look to fit with the collection. Linda told me it was a "pretty, rock-star's girlfriend look". Linda actually created the colours there and then by mixing up a range of pigments and textures at the 'Lab Armani Runway,' which is a mobile make-up station. It was just fascinating to watch, and now you can copy the Milan Fashion Week beauty look in the form of a new make-up collection, available exclusively at Brown Thomas Dublin, Cork and Limerick, or see brownthomas.com. The star product is the Armani Runway FW16 Palette, above, 120, which comes wrapped in a silk pouch, below left, the fabric of which was featured on the runway - FW stands for fall/winter, btw. The palette has two tiers; the top tier features the silky and luminous universal sheer powder, to mattify the complexion and highlight facial features; while the bottom tier has a trio of eyeshadows. The Armani Runway FW16 Eye Tint, 45, can be applied beneath the brow arch and in the inner corner of the eye for a heightened effect, while the Armani Runway FW16 Rouge D'Armani, 45, lavender nude lip finishes off the look. Triona's trick We need to talk about tongues. Now, now, head outta the gutter, I'm talking oral health, not oral . . . oh, whatevs! Basically, we need to brush our tongues. Night and day. Bacteria can build up, causing bad breath, and a build-up of plaque causes tooth decay and gum disease. Don't bother with a fancy tongue-scraping thingy, use your toothbrush. Stiff upper lip Expand Close YSL's new Vinyl Cream Lip Stains / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp YSL's new Vinyl Cream Lip Stains "It is both a blessing And a curse To feel everything So very deeply." I often quote David Jones. Mainly when I'm hung-over and have The Fear, and I'm in the doghouse with Will because I came in late from the launch of a lipstick, and woke the kids because I wanted to kiss them! Something else that I feel and see very deeply - see what I did there - is YSL's new Vinyl Cream Lip Stains, above, 33. A reinvention of the iconic Vernis a Levres, there are 12 shades, with, get this, three times more pigment than previously. They are also shinier, while the new applicator just gives the best finish. There's no need to faff about with a lip pencil. The best bit, I find, is that for such a heavily pigmented look, they feel surprisingly light and comfy to wear. Even when you're, em, hung-over and trying to pretty yourself up, so you can leave the doghouse. All the better for kissing and making up with Will! Woof, woof! Super Sobe Expand Close Gigi Hadid / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gigi Hadid Pam Morrissey, from the wonderful Sobe Brown salon in Cork - she does a regular makeover slot on RTE's Today show - tells me the salon is 10 years old this month. It is celebrating with a month of random freebies, makeovers and tutorials. Pam told me the salon is totally focused on giving each person "the feeling", through a fantastic consultation where they drop all the "tech talk". Instead, they use imagery on iPads from Pinterest, and pull celeb pics, like this one of Gigi Hadid, above, for inspiration. Sobe Brown is the flagship Bumble and bumble salon in Ireland, and will also be stocking a brand new range of Sobe Brown own-brand hair accessories. Sobe Brown, Island House, Morrisons Quay, Cork, tel: (021) 422-2407, or see sobebrown.com Triona's most wanted Expand Close Elizabeth Arden Prevage City Smart / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Elizabeth Arden Prevage City Smart What do we think of the Gucci hairy shoes? I bought a pair, and honestly, they're worth buying for the comments alone! Women adore them and men abhor them. Being an old lady now, I'm just delighted that I found a pair of comfy flat shoes that I can walk in, that are somewhat stylish! Another thing I'm seriously loving since slipping into middle-age madness is powerful, results-driven skincare. Elizabeth Arden Prevage City Smart, above, 70, is now a must in my regime. Five years in the making, this first-of-its-kind skin shield isn't just about sun protection. It's an every-day, all-year-round shield from UV rays, pollution and smoke - all of which age the skin. Think of it like a skin superhero that catches pollution particles and stops them penetrating into pores. Kapow! Zap! Bang! So basically, when you wash your face after using this, you're washing the pollution away, too! Pop it on as the last step in your skincare routine. It's tinted, so, for days on the down-low, I wear it on its own a lot. Although, when I wear it under make-up, when I'm feeling all fancy pants and fancy shoes, it acts like a skin corrector, as it evens out my skintone as well. Cult product Expand Close POP, Stella McCartney's new fragrance / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp POP, Stella McCartney's new fragrance If I was a rich girl, I would wear head-to-toe Stella McCartney. But since I'm neither rich nor a girl, I'll just have to smell like one with POP, Stella's new fragrance, above from 54. This floral woody fragrance with tomato and violet leaves, green mandarin, sandalwood and musks, smells young and, I don't know, kind of positive, if that makes sense? As with all of Stella's fabulous creations, I love the bottle and the imagery that goes with it. Premium Billy Keane Opinion Even a dash to the Croke Park toilet wasnt enough to get rid of space invader who gave me Covid I did the time, but there was no crime. Banged up I was, under house arrest after two red bars showed up on the Covid test. Im not too bad, thanks for asking. I have it down on a man who was nearly close enough to kiss me at the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Galway. Premium John Downing Opinion New British prime minister Rishi Sunaks succession proves an important milestone in British political inclusivity There is an old saying in British politics that goes: The right looks for converts while the left seeks out traitors. It comes to mind when one reflects upon the election of Rishi Sunak as the UKs first non-white prime minister in a party traditionally seen as most opposed to mass immigration and the dilution of national identity via multiculturalism. An American grandmother aged 68 made world headlines this week because she bravely tried to "power on" and work through pneumonia. OK, Hillary Clinton is no ordinary granny; she is attempting to become the first female president of the United States. But instead of being commended for her stoicism and unwillingness to give into illness, she may lose out in her quest for this top prize. Over on this side of the pond, one of Ireland's best-known businesswomen, broadcaster Norah Casey, was in the news after working through a ruptured appendix, a foolishness which forced her to undergo emergency surgery. The publishing boss sought medical attention only when her 17-year-old son demanded she do so. You would think someone having pneumonia or a ruptured appendix isn't major news. There are so many other really serious issues in the world. The global refugee crisis and the fall-out from Brexit, for example. It goes back to the same old story. Women need to appear stronger than men and are constantly having to prove themselves. Whatever we do, we must do it twice as well. And even then, we are often still regarded as half as good. It is shocking to think in this day and age - when women have fought so hard and have come so far to claim their place in the world - that there is still an assumption we are weaker than our male counterparts and therefore are afraid to admit to illness. Expand Close Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Photo: AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Photo: AP We are constantly trying to prove ourselves, and Clinton's albeit unwise decision to ignore doctors' advice and "power on" despite being sick, resonates with most women. We are well accustomed to men and their 'man flu'. But there is no female equivalent. Working through illness and crisis is what we do, stoically and brilliantly, every single day. Women are powerhouses and expert multi-taskers. Most working women still do more housework and more of the child care than their partners. Show me the man who does more than his fair share? Norah Casey is a champion of women in the workplace in Ireland. She spoke movingly in the past about the death from cancer of her beloved husband Richard. She didn't seek pity at the time, she got on with things after his death and was greatly admired by people for this. Recently she worked through chronic pain for five days to meet her hectic work commitments. She refused to give in and has admitted thinking that "the world would stop" if she didn't continue working. This could have cost her her life, as she was diagnosed with a gangrene appendix and doctors told her that most people in her position might "end up in the morgue". Norah said this week: "The difficulty for someone who is made the way I am is that I don't actually think I can ever be sick. I am in denial most of the time. And this time, I was incredibly unwell and I knew it, but there was this big thing in my subconscious that kept saying, 'You are grand, just get on with it and it will all go away eventually', but it was way beyond human endurance." This mindset is not unique to Norah. This is how most ambitious, working women think. My own mother Kitty became a widow when she was pregnant on her 10th child at the age of 42. She didn't lie down. She "powered on", reared her children, built up a successful international business and dealt with some illness along the way also. She is still "powering on" at the age of 81. Painting Hillary Clinton as sickly and frail is unfair. Once news broke of her illness her opponents gleefully attempted to disqualify her candidacy. Hillary's big mistake was not telling the American people of her diagnosis and not following her doctor's advice and taking time off. After all, she is in the public eye and is seeking the highest political office in the land for which one must be in the whole of their health and fitness. It is disappointing that the focus wasn't on how incredible Clinton was to attempt to work through the illness. Surely this determination, steel and commitment would be a major asset for a president of the United States? Hillary showed this week that she has balls. Norah Casey does too. I wish them both - and all women out there today who are "powering on" through an illness and going into work and caring for their families - a speedy recovery. Remember, your stamina is a force to be reckoned with. Choosing where to spend your money is a personal thing. The retail experience is one that needs to be built on trust where the retailer gives you good advice, and clear guidance when you are deciding whether or not to make a purchase. We all choose to shop differently at different times we may choose a shop because of its brand name, location or convenience. You may know what you want to buy, and you know the particular shop that can supply it or you may be looking to browse and decide what you want as you go. But what makes shopping in Ireland special? Here is our list. 1. Variety of shops Every main street in Ireland has a variety of shops. Butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Even smaller towns have a variety of shops, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Irish people is clear when you see the different types of shops and stores that are open. Shopping local is such a wonderful experience, as you can often see the quirky personalities of Irish people shining through in their innovative retail ideas. It is also excellent to support local businesses to boost the economy. 2. Friendly retailers Ireland is known around the world as a friendly nation. Indeed, we are welcomed with open arms in every country. This friendliness is found nationwide. As you push open the door to enter an establishment, you are often greeted by a friendly How are ya? and an obligatory comment on the weather. This friendliness means you can relax and enjoy the shopping experience. Service in Ireland is just great. 3. Convenience Ireland is blessed to have many different types of shopping experiences. Some countries have prolific shopping malls, but no main streets. In Ireland, you have your pick. Should you choose to shop in a shopping centre, you can. If you wish to meander down your towns main street, you can do that too. Some towns even have what is called an American-style strip mall, with all your shops in one place. This variety allows for to tailor your experience. Towns and cities in Ireland are thriving retail hubs, which means you can really explore the different areas at your leisure. 4. No hassling The Irish keep a respectful distance. While friendliness is inherent in our behaviour towards shoppers, there is no hassle to buy. Retailers may offer help when you walk in, but after that you are left to browse and enjoy the shopping experience at your ease. Should you need help, they are ready to jump in and assist you, but only if you request it. In most places, there just isnt any hassling. 5. Good value There is always a bargain to be found, and while there isnt a culture of haggling in Ireland (thank goodness, its far too stressful!), there are always good deals and sales on. Typically, sales would have been seasonal, and this is still the case on the continent or in the States to some extent. However, the Irish retailers take every opportunity to add discounts where they can. That, coupled with the numerous loyalty schemes you can sign up for, means you always get a good deal. Retail Excellence Ireland has been celebrating whats best in Irish retail for over 20 years. This year their Consumer Choice Award is open for public vote - its your time to vote for the store who truly excels. Below is our shortlist of winners which you can vote for or if you feel there is another store in your local town or village who deserves to be awarded you can nominate them instead. The closing date for voting for your favourite store is 11th October. Get voting, and be sure to share this with your friends and family so they can cast their vote too! Sponsored by: We can now be kind to our skin and the environment by using safe scrub alternatives A one-time beauty buzzword, recent legislation passed in the US, Canada and Holland has banned the use of microbeads from cosmetic and beauty products, with the Environmental Audit Committee in the UK calling for a ban there within 18 months. But what exactly are these microbeads and how are they so damaging to our environment that the American Environmental Protection Agency has officially labelled them a toxic substance? Microbeads are tiny particles used in numerous cosmetics and personal care products, in particular scrubs and exfoliators, that are non-biodegradable and too microscopic to be filtered out by our sewage system. These plastic microbeads are streaming into our seas, rivers and lakes adding to the five trillion pieces of plastic already floating in our waters. The microbeads are then ingested by the fish and work their way up the food chain into humans. Studies have shown microbeads to have a damaging effect on sea life and birds' health (particularly damaging for reproductive systems of sea creatures), but the exact effect on human health is as yet unknown. When a tube of cleanser can contain approximately 300,000 microbeads, and taking a single shower using a product containing plastic beads can result in 100,000 of the particles being flushed straight into our seas, it's not difficult to see the ugly effect of these beauty products. Actress Jennifer Aniston recently came under fire from Nature, the world's leading science journal, for her role in promoting an Aveeno skin product containing microbeads. The good news is we can be kind to both our skin and our environment by choosing safe scrub alternatives using nutshells, sugar and salt scrubs, oatmeal and fruit acids. IN FOCUS: MICROBEADS * Plastic microbeads are present in numerous beauty products including toothpaste, moisturiser, lip balms, make-up, shaving foam, shampoo, shower gels, cleansers and especially exfoliators and scrubs. * Look out for the following titles on a product's ingredient list: polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, PTFE, PMMA - these are all plastic microbead descriptions. * The EU is currently developing proposals to ban plastic microbeads in cosmetics use here, due to increasing pressure from member states. Video of the Day * For skin exfoliation alternatives, look for the following: glycolic, salicylic, lactic and fruit acids as a kinder but effective option for skin polishing. Groundnut shells and sugar and salt scrubs are wonderful options, too. 6 of the best - microbead-free exfoliators Best for Body Exfoliation Expand Close Dead Sea Magik Salt Brushing / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dead Sea Magik Salt Brushing Containing dead sea salts, coconut and Vitamin E oils, this is such a gorgeous product. I use it on my face occasionally, too. Dead Sea Magik Salt Brushing, 14.50. Pharmacies and health food stores nationwide, or buy it here now. Fruit Enzymes Exfoliation Expand Close Kiehls Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kiehls Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub Plastic, synthetic microbeads do so much damage needlessly when there are natural options like Kiehl's Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub, 28.50 available from Arnotts. Fruit enzymes work together in this product to eat away at dead, flaking skin. Department stores nationwide and Kiehl's stores. For Sensitive Skin Expand Close Dermalogica Skin Prep Scrub / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dermalogica Skin Prep Scrub Using finely milled corncob meal as an exfoliant and with no artificial colours or fragrances, this is ideal for women with sensitive, red-prone skin. Wait a full skin cycle (4-6 weeks) before seeing a real difference. Dermalogica Skin Prep Scrub, 36, dermalogica.ie or selected salons nationwide Hot Cloth Cleanser/Exfoliator Expand Close Liz Earle's Hot Cloth Cleanser / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Liz Earle's Hot Cloth Cleanser Natural beauty guru Liz Earle has multiple exfoliating skin options that are entirely microbead-free. A best seller in her Cleanse and Polish line is her Hot Cloth Cleanser, 20.75, that uses a mix of natural oils and fruit acids. Department stores nationwide and lizearle.ie Budget Beauty Expand Close Botanics All Bright Scrub / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Botanics All Bright Scrub I only use exfoliators once or twice a fortnight, but when I do use them, I want my skin to feel clean. With this product, my skin feels sparkling and smooth after use. A great budget buy using walnut shell, crushed apricot seeds and natural AHAs. Botanics All Bright Scrub, 2.99, available at Boots shops nationwide. 2-in-1 Cleanser and Exfoliator Expand Close REN's Micro Polish / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp REN's Micro Polish If you suffer from an uneven skin tone, skin discolouration or pigmentation, you need to be consistent with your skin polishing. Using a daily all-in-one cleanser and exfoliator is the best way of doing this. Try REN's Micro Polish, 24, a 2-in-1 cleansing mousse that cleans and exfoliates very gently for a sparkling, more even skin tone. Pharmacies nationwide or at Arnotts here. Eddie Izzard making a speech in his pink beret at the rally A Brexit supporter from Poland has admitted stealing Eddie Izzard's pink beret during a pro-EU rally . David Czerwonko, 26, of Clitherow Road, Brentford, west London, admitted snatching the pink hat off the comedian's head during the march down Whitehall on September 3. Izzard was forced to give chase in high heels after Czerwonko, a chef who has lived in the UK for two and a half years, seized the beret. As officers pinned the man to the floor, Izzard retrieved the colourful headwear and replaced it on his head. It was later taken away by police as evidence. Prosecutor Amanda McCabe said the pink beret, which had UK and EU badges pinned to it, was of unknown but personal value to Izzard. She said: "The march was well-attended, there were thousands of other people taking part. "Mr Izzard was at the head of the march. A group of four masked men stood in front of the march with a large banner supporting the Brexit campaign." The banner halted the march, blocking their path as they approached the cenotaph in Whitehall, she added. Referring to the four men, the prosecutor said Mr Izzard said: "This is the face of Brexit: masked and dangerous." Speaking of Czerwonko, whose face was half-concealed by a bandanna, she continued. "He approached Mr Izzard, reached out to him and grabbed at the pink beret he was wearing at the time." Video of the Day Wearing faded denim jeans, a black Puma T-shirt and a full beard, Czerwonko pleaded guilty to theft at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday. Tobi Olu-Iyiola, defending, said the 26-year-old did not know that the man with the pink beret was Izzard, and did not attend the march with the intention of causing trouble. She said: "He saw a gentlemen who he did not know, he did not know who Eddie Izzard was, he just noticed a pink beret and grabbed it and ran off with it. "He said it was an instinctive and silly reaction ... something he won't be repeating again." The event was one of a series of 'March for Europe' rallies across the country on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, demanding a pause in the Brexit process. Chair of the bench Robin Westlake acknowledged that "there was not a great deal of planning, it was a fairly spontaneous reaction and the beret was recovered". Czerwonko was fined 185, and ordered to pay a 30 victim surcharge and 85 court costs. Presenter Jim Carrey speaks onstage during the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images) A new lawsuit filed by Cathriona Whites husband claims that comedian Jim Carrey illegally obtained prescription drugs for her. It is claimed that Cathriona (30), the Tipperary woman who was found dead in her home in LA last September 30, was allegedly receiving prescription drugs from Carrey, who used a "bogus name" Arthur King to obtain the drugs. Cathrionas husband Mark Burton is suing for wrongful death and violation of the drug dealer liability act, E! News has reported. He claims that Carrey gave Cathriona the drugs despite knowing that she was ill equipped to ingest and manage highly addictive prescription drugs outside the care of a licensed physician; was prone to depression; and had previously attempted to take her own life," the court documents say, according to E! News. Expand Close Jim Carrey and Cathriona White Pic: Jim Carrey/Twitter / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jim Carrey and Cathriona White Pic: Jim Carrey/Twitter During her time in Los Angeles, Cathriona, a make-up artist who was carving out a successful career in film and TV, she had taken classes at Scientology's Hollywood Celebrity Centre. In 2013, she married fellow scientologist and cameraman Mark Burton. The couple had met while working on an online comedy series. However, the pair had since separated and Cathriona was planning to begin divorce proceedings last December. It was when she began dating actor Jim Carrey that Cathriona found herself propelled into the limelight. Read More She and the actor had an on-off relationship for three years, during which time he helped her cope with her grief at the loss of her father. But the relationship ended once more a month before her death. It is claimed in the court documents that film star Carrey "took steps to conceal and obfuscate his involvement and culpability in Ms. White's untimely and tragic death." It is alleged that Carrey or his assistants monitored the 30-year-old Irish womans movements from her house through surveillance cameras, but failed to report that she hadn't left the house in more than a day. Video of the Day It is also alleged that Carrey tried to "cover-up his conduct and complicity in her death" by sending her a "bogus text message on September 27, 2015 after she had died. Read More It is alleged that the text was sent to pretend that Carrey had misplaced the drugs and [insinuated] White may have taken them from Carrey without his knowledge..." Expand Close Cathriona White / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cathriona White Michael Avenatti attorney for the Burton, told E! News: "We will be calling on the Los Angeles DA to open an investigation into Mr. Carrey's role in the death of Ms. White". "We look forward to the evidence and facts supporting the allegations in the case coming to light." If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, you can call the Samaritans helpline on 116 123 (ROI). Super model Kate Moss seen at the first day of the Glastonbury Music Festival 2005 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 24, 2005 in Somerset, England. The festival runs until June 26. (Photo by MJ Kim/Getty Images) Kate Moss arrives for the Gala to celebrate the Vogue 100 Festival at Kensington Gardens on May 23, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images) Kate Moss is living out her dream fantasy by opening her own modelling agency. The supermodel rose to prominence in the 90s, quickly becoming one of the most famous women on the planet. Her years in front of the camera and on the catwalk has seen her work with most major fashion brands, including Calvin Klein, Versace and Alexander McQueen, and Kate is an expert when it comes to the industry. The 42-year-old is now putting her knowledge to the test when it comes to her new venture, the Kate Moss Agency. Its a dream! Its so weird, Kate grinned to Business of Fashion. You know that film Gia? Faye Dunaway plays the agent. I could so do that! But I want to focus more on managing peoples careers than just (running) a modelling agency. I dont really want pretty people, I want people that want to sing and dance and act I want to create stars. Expand Close Model Kate Moss arrives for the screening of film 'Loving' in Cannes. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Model Kate Moss arrives for the screening of film 'Loving' in Cannes. The talent management business will start working with a handful of budding stars, with Kates longtime booking agent Lucy Baxter taking a pivotal role in the company. Read More Plans for the agency came about when Kate left Storm Models earlier this year after nearly 30 years, and brought her bookings in-house. Lucy also left Storm this year. Its a grown-up thing, she explained of her decision. I felt like I wanted to do things that were more than modelling. It didnt matter how much we would try and do it together with them, I was always going to be the little Kate that theyve known since I was 14. It was like leaving home. I had to leave, and they were very understanding about it. They were like, Yeah youve got to go now, weve done as much as we can do. I wanted to spread my wings. Expand Close Kate Moss for St. Tropez / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kate Moss for St. Tropez Demonstrators gather in front of a burning car during an opposition rally in Kinshasa on September 19, 2016. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Street clashes between security forces and demonstrators opposed to President Joseph Kabila have left at least 17 dead in DR Congo's capital in a dramatic sign of mounting tensions after officials sought to delay the upcoming election until next year. Protesters threw stones and set tyres and vehicles ablaze, according to witnesses. Interior Minister Evariste Boshab confirmed that three police officers were among the dead, including one who was burned alive. An Associated Press photographer saw at least four civilian bodies with gunshot wounds in the streets. Government spokesman Lambert Mende called the demonstrations a pre-meditated criminal act. "This wasn't a demonstration at all but an attempt to unleash civil war in the city of Kinshasa," he said. "The authorities decided to put an end to the protest and disperse it." Eva Mwakasa, a member of the opposition coalition La Dynamique, said it was difficult to give a death toll as protesters had been dispersed by tear gas. For months, observers have questioned whether Congo could hold the presidential vote as scheduled on November 27. The country's electoral commission had indicated that the voter list would not be formalised before July 2017. Over the weekend, the commission made an official request to the country's constitutional court for a delay of the vote. The mineral-rich but largely impoverished country suffered back-to-back civil wars until 2003, and previous instability has drawn in armies from neighbouring countries. Mr Kabila, who came to power after his father's assassination in 2001, has yet to announce whether he will pursue another term in office, though the constitution prohibits it. Some view the election delay as a way for him to prolong his rule beyond the end of his mandate in late December, as he is able to stay in power in the event there is no election to choose a successor. While the ruling party has held talks as part of a national dialogue, many of the top opposition figures have not taken part. In recent days, the ruling party has floated the idea of a unity government with opposition members until the next elections, though the proposal would keep Kabila in charge during that period. Demonstrations also have erupted outside the capital. Human Rights Watch said police fired live bullets on Friday in the south-eastern city of Lubumbashi. Their report released on Sunday also described a series of arrests targeting members of the opposition in recent days. "The decisions President Kabila and his government will make in the coming weeks can make all the difference for Congo's future," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "This is a critical opportunity for the country to strengthen democracy, the rule of law and human rights for its own future and for the entire region." The scene at the Crossroads Center mall in St Cloud, northwest of Minneapolis-St Paul. Photo:Getty Images A man who stabbed nine people in a Minnesota shopping centre before being shot dead was a "soldier" of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the group claimed yesterday as the FBI investigated the attack as a potential act of terrorism. The man, who was wearing a private security uniform, made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before attacking shoppers at the Crossroads Center in St Cloud on Saturday. He was then shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. "[The] executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State," said Amaq news agency, a propaganda outfit for Isil. The bulletin said the attack was carried out in response to the group's call to "target citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition" - a reference to the US-led alliance of countries participating in a bombing campaign against the jihadist group in Syria and in Iraq. The wounded were not named but included one 15-year-old girl, said Dave Kleis, the mayor of St Cloud. All were expected to survive. The mayor named the off-duty police officer who killed the attacker as Jason Falconer. "He clearly prevented additional injuries and, potentially, loss of life," Mr Kleis said. "The suspect was lunging at him with a knife, he fired, the suspect went down and came back up at him on three different occasions." Rick Thornton, an FBI official in charge of the investigation, said the stabbing spree was being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism". Mr Thornton said there was still "a lot we don't know" about any possible international link to the assailant. Witnesses in the shopping centre in St Cloud, about 100km north-west of Minneapolis, said the attacker had been muttering words that were apparently addressed to Allah, and asked at least one person if they were a Muslim before stabbing them. Sydney Weires, a student who was at the shopping centre with two friends, said she heard a scream and saw a man who looked like a security guard sprint down a hallway. Two men stumbled out, one with blood on his face and the other bleeding from his back. The men screamed to get out because someone had a knife. Local police chief William Anderson said the unidentified attacker was known to police for minor traffic offences. ( Daily Telegraph, London) FBI officials record the spray of debris and shrapnel across the ground at the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan. Photo: Rashid Umar Abbasi An explosion that rocked a crowded Manhattan neighbourhood, injuring 29 people, does not appear to have international links but is still being categorised as terrorism. New York governor Andrew Cuomo said 1,000 additional law enforcement officers were being deployed after the Saturday night blast in Chelsea, a primarily residential neighbourhood on Manhattan's west side that is known for its art galleries and large gay population. Expand Close New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (2-R) look over the mangled remains of the dumpster that bore the brunt of the blast. Photo: REUTERS/Justin Lane/Pool / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (R) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (2-R) look over the mangled remains of the dumpster that bore the brunt of the blast. Photo: REUTERS/Justin Lane/Pool "We're not going to let them win," Mr Cuomo said at the scene. "We're not going to let them instil fear." The Democratic governor said the preliminary investigation did not appear to show a link to international terror, and he noted that no terror group had taken credit for it. "A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but it's not linked to international terrorism," Mr Cuomo said. A law enforcement official said a second device that officers investigated four streets from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a mobile phone. The official said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. The device was removed with a robot and taken away. Expand Close A firefighter pulls a stretcher near a blocked-off road close to the site of the bomb explosion. Photo: Bryan R. Smith/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A firefighter pulls a stretcher near a blocked-off road close to the site of the bomb explosion. Photo: Bryan R. Smith/Getty Images The law enforcement official also said that the explosion appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. The blast happened on West 23rd Street, in front of a residence for the blind, near a major thoroughfare with many restaurants and a supermarket. Witnesses said the explosion at about 8.30pm local time blew out the windows of businesses and scattered debris. Mr Cuomo said all the injured taken to hospital after the blast had been released. Most had been hit with glass or debris. Rattled Some New York City subway routes were affected by the explosion, which rattled some New Yorkers and visitors on the heels of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was eating with friends at a restaurant in the area. "We felt it. We heard it," Mr Gonzalez said. "It wasn't like jolting or anything. Everyone just went quiet." Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at Vanity Nightclub at 21st Street and 6th Avenue, said at first he thought something large had fallen. "It was an extremely loud noise. Everything was shaking, the windows were shaking," he said. "It was extremely loud, almost like thunder but louder." The FBI and Homeland Security officials, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the task force responsible for arson and explosives, swarmed the scene. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the nation needs to support its emergency services staff and "pray for the victims". "We have to let this investigation unfold," she said. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a "bomb went off" before officials had released details. He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows what's going on," Mr Trump said. He continued: "But boy we are living in a time - we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. It's a terrible thing that's going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant." The Manhattan blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5km race to benefit marines and sailors. The run was cancelled. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken partial responsibility for her party's worst-ever performance in a Berlin state election, acknowledging that her government's policies at the national level were a factor. Ms Merkel pledged to work harder to address people's concerns, particularly on migrants. Speaking alongside her Christian Democratic Union's mayoral candidate, Frank Henkel, Ms Merkel called the second place finish with only 17.6% of the vote "bitter." "I take responsibility as party leader and chancellor," she said. Ms Merkel also edged away from her oft-repeated mantra that "Germany will manage", telling reporters that while she stands by the sentiment, some voters had taken it as a provocation in view of the massive challenge that the country faces integrating hundreds of thousands of migrants. Ms Merkel added that she is prepared to address voters' concerns about the unprecedented influx of migrants over the past year last year, but that if people simply do not want Muslim asylum-seekers because of their religion, then that would be counter to her Christian Democratic Party's basic principles, as well as Germany's. "The CDU and I can't go along with that," she said. Mr Henkel added it was wrong to think that there had been no improvement over the past year. He noted that last fall up to 1,000 refugees were arriving in the capital each day, while that figure is down to between 25 and 30 now. The Social Democrats (SPD) and Ms Merkel's CDU emerged from the Berlin election as the two strongest parties, but both lost support to parties further to the left and right, meaning they won't be able to continue a coalition government. The SPD received 21.6%, dropping 6.7 points, while the CDU received 17.6%, down 5.7 points. The anti-capitalist Left Party, a descendant of the former East German communists, gained 3.9 points to 15.6%. The Green Party received 15.2%, down by 2.4 percentage points. The nationalist anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) easily entered its 10th state parliament with 14.2% of the vote. The election also saw the Pirate Party voted out of state parliament, and the pro-business Free Democratic Party winning 6.7% of the vote - enough to bring it back into parliament. Voter participation rose to 66.9% from 60.2% in the last election, and the three-year-old AfD drew a lot of its support from new voters, though it was also able to attract supporters from the SPD, the CDU and other parties. The vote comes two weeks after Ms Merkel's CDU was beaten into third place in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by the AfD, following a campaign in which the chancellor's decision to open Germany's borders to migrants last year featured prominently. Sunday's showing - her party's worst ever in the capital - will keep up the pressure on the chancellor a year ahead of general elections. However, it was largely local issues that drove the vote in the city of 3.5 million. Among other things, disillusionment is high over the capital's notoriously inefficient bureaucracy and issues such as years of delays in opening its new airport. Political analyst Hans Joachim Funke said that Sunday's result "weakens the Berlin CDU tremendously, but it does not weaken the position of the government, the grand coalition, on a federal level". Nationally, Ms Merkel's CDU is in a so-called grand coalition with its Bavaria-only sister-party CSU and the Social Democrats. Ms Merkel is widely expected to seek a fourth term in next year's election, though she still has not declared her hand. Three more state elections take place next spring. AP Ahmad Khan Rahami was being sought for questioning over the explosions (FBI via AP) Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police (Ed Murray/NJ Advance Media via AP) An Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked New York City and New Jersey has been captured, authorities said. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested after being wounded in a gun battle with police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway. He appeared conscious, his upper right arm bandaged and blooded, as he was loaded into an ambulance in Linden, New Jersey. Two officers were wounded in the shoot-out but were not believed to be seriously hurt, authorities said. The arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami, a naturalised US citizen from Afghanistan who lived with family in an apartment in Elizabeth, New Jersey, over a fried-chicken restaurant owned by his father. Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said that late on Monday morning, the owner of a bar reported someone asleep in his doorway. A police officer went to investigate and recognised the man as Rahami, police and the mayor said. Rahami pulled a gun and shot the officer - who was wearing a bulletproof vest - in the torso, and more officers joined in a running gun battle along the street and brought Rahami down, police Captain James Sarnicki said. Police did not disclose how they zeroed in on Rahami as a person of interest in the bombings but were known to be poring over surveillance video and examining bomb fragments and components for evidence. At the same time, five people who were pulled over in a vehicle on Sunday night were being questioned by the FBI, officials said. The shoot-out came after a weekend of fear and dread in New York and New Jersey, with authorities saying the bombings were looking increasingly like an act of terrorism with a foreign connection. In addition to the blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood on Saturday, an unexploded pressure cooker bomb was found blocks away, and a pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town before a charity race. No one was injured there. On Sunday, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Also on Saturday, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, but authorities have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings. Citing the FBI, New Jersey State Police said on Monday that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said as investigators gathered information, they learned there were "certain commonalities among the bombs", leading authorities to believe "that there was a common group behind the bombs". Before Rahami's capture, Mr Cuomo said investigators have no reason to believe there are further threats, but the public should "be on constant guard". Around the time Rahami was taken into custody, President Barack Obama was in New York on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the UN General Assembly, and said it was "extremely fortunate" nobody was killed in the bombings. He called on Americans to show the world "we will never give in to fear". "We all have a role to play as citizens to make sure we don't succumb to that fear. And there's no better example of that than the people of New York and New Jersey," the president said. "Folks around here, they don't get scared." Rahami lived with his family on a busy street a few miles from the Newark airport. Early on Monday, FBI agents swarmed the apartment. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said Rahami's father, Mohammad, and two of Rahami's brothers sued the city in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring the First American Fried Chicken restaurant to close early because of complaints from neighbours that it was a late-night nuisance. The Rahamis claimed in the lawsuit that they were targeted by neighbours because they are Muslims. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 after Mohammad Ruhami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing the younger Rahami working there more. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," Mr McCann said. In the immediate aftermath of the New York bombing, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mr Cuomo were careful to say there was no evidence of a link to international terrorism. Both said on Monday that appeared to be changing. "The more we learn with each passing hour is it looks more like terrorism," Mr de Blasio said in an interview on NY1 News. Mr Cuomo said on MSNBC: "Today's information suggests it may be foreign-related, but we'll see where it goes." On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped "a vehicle of interest" in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She would not provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. Mobile phones were discovered at the site of both the New York and New Jersey bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official. The pipe bomb that exploded in Seaside Park on Saturday went off before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was cancelled. AP The air strikes took place on Sunday afternoon around Tirin Kot, the official said. At least eight Afghan police officers have been killed in two US air strikes in southern Uruzgan province in what was apparently a friendly-fire incident, an official said. Rahimullah Khan, a provincial operational commander, said the first air strike killed one policeman at a checkpoint outside the provincial capital of Tirin Kot, while the second, which struck the same area, killed seven others. Mr Khan said the air strikes took place on Sunday afternoon around Tirin Kot. The Taliban have been advancing on the city in recent weeks. A US military spokesman confirmed that US forces carried out an air strike, saying they sought to assist Afghan troops who were fired on by the Taliban. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said he did not "have any further information" on who the casualties may have been. The dismembered bodies of two children, aged around one and four, and two adults were found at a house near Madrid on Sunday. The gruesome discovery was made in a house outside the village of Pioz, approximately 60km northeast of the capital. A police spokesperson told reporters that the children were "aged around four and one" and that the house was reported to police after a neighbour smelled something strange coming from the property. Local Mayor Ricardo Garcia Lopez told reporters that the bodies all belonged to the one family that were renting the property. According to neighbours, the family were not Spanish nationals, but from South America, the mayor also said. Two men who are openly gay are standing in the Russian elections in a challenge to Vladimir Putin and the ruling party, United Russia. Aleksei Korolyov, 29, and 33-year-old Bulat Barantayev are thought to be the first LGBT people ever to stand in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. Both outspoken gay rights activists, the men strongly object to the gay propaganda law. Passed in 2013, the law makes it illegal to equate straight and gay relationships or to promote gay rights in any way. Both activists are running for the pro-Europe Peoples Freedom Party (Parnas). Mr Barantayev has called for Putin to be impeached and the government to be rid of corruption. Although neither Mr Korolyov or Mr Barantayev believe they have any chance of being elected, they hope that by standing they will progress discussion about gay rights. Mr Barantayev told Radio Free Europe: "For a long time now, I have used all opportunities to cultivate an audience for accepting LGBT people. "By my example, I show that gays in Russia can create their own successful businesses, can meet with people, can have children, and can even run for the State Duma." Mr Korolyov said: "The LGBT community now is in a desperate situation and we need allies. It is good that we have been able to form an alliance with Parnas. The LGBT community gets new resources to defend itself and the party should get some new voters He said he had decided to run because United Russia, the ruling party, had adopted an extreme homophobic position. The authorities are facilitating a homophobic discourse in society that is inciting hate crimes," he added. In 2015, the Russian government introduced a "straight" flag in direct opposition to the rainbow flag of the LGBT movement. For the first time, voting in the Russian elections has taken place in Crimea, which was annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Lt Gen Sergei Rudskoi, of the Russian Military General Staff, previously said it has become "meaningless" for the Syrian government forces to observe the truce (AP) A United Nations humanitarian aid convoy inside Syria has been hit by air strikes, officials said, as the Syrian military declared that the week-long US-Russian brokered ceasefire had failed. With the truce apparently teetering, the US brushed off Damascus' assertions and said it was prepared to extend the agreement, while Russia - after blaming rebels for the violations - suggested it could still be salvaged. UN officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. Initial estimates indicate that at least 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly lorry drivers and Red Crescent workers. The Syrian Civil Defence, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid co-ordinator in the office of the UN envoy for Syria, said the convoy was "bombarded". Mr Egeland added: "It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses." UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien called on "all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by international humanitarian law". The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province. The White Helmets first responder group posted images of a number of vehicles on fire in the dead of the night. A video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrive on the scene. A Red Crescent official in Syria confirmed the attack, but said no further information was available. Elsewhere at least 20 civilians, including a one-year-old girl, were killed in fresh air strikes on rebel-held Aleppo city and the surrounding areas, according to the Observatory. And Russia said government positions in south-western Aleppo came under attack from militant groups, including a massive barrage of rockets. With the week old ceasefire in danger of unravelling, both Moscow and Washington have indicated a desire to try and salvage the agreement - which had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country. In the wake of the Syrian military declaration, US secretary of state John Kerry acknowledged that the first stage of the truce - which called for a week of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid to several besieged communities - had never really come to fruition. Earlier in the day, Mr Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that the truce was "holding but fragile". The State Department said it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Spokesman John Kirby said Russia, which is responsible for ensuring Syria's compliance, should clarify the Syrian position. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the ceasefire threatened to thwart the agreement. The ceasefire came into effect on September 12. Under the terms of the agreement, the successful completion of seven days of calm and humanitarian aid deliveries would be followed by an ambitious second-stage plan to set up a joint US-Russian co-ordination centre to plan military strikes against the Islamic State group and a powerful al Qaida-linked militant faction. But from the start, the truce has been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations. Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The UN accused the government of obstructing the delivery while Russian officials said rebels opened fire at the delivery roads. Rebel forces and activists say government planes have bombed areas that are under the truce agreement, including rebel-held parts of Aleppo. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Observatory. The group said four civilians were killed in government-held areas. There were no independent reports of deaths of civilians on the government-side since the ceasefire came into effect. By Monday, both the Syrian government and prominent opposition activists were speaking of the truce as if it had already failed. George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid. "Hundreds of thousands of people in Aleppo are waiting for this truce to allow aid to enter the city," he said, adding that there were aid trucks still waiting on the Turkey-Syria border. "I believe that the truce is clinically dead." The Syrian military statement placed the blame on the rebel groups. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists. "This step (ceasefire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed. But the armed terrorist groups didn't take it seriously and didn't commit to any of its articles," the military command statement said. "The armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared truce system and mobilised terrorists and weapons and regrouped to continue its attacks on civilian and military areas." One of the major rebel groups in Syria, Nour el-Din el-Zinki, said soon after the Syrian military declaration that the government, Russia and Iran, another major ally of President Bashar Assad, are responsible for the truce's failure. "The regime of Bashar Assad had no real intention to commit to the truce. Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo," the group said. Earlier Monday, Lt Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. "With the rebels failing to fulfil conditions the ceasefire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless," he said. He said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. On Monday the opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started. The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strike by the US-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour. Syria and Russia blasted Washington over the attack. The Saturday air strikes involved Australian, British and Danish warplanes on Syrian army positions. The US military said it would not intentionally hit Syrian troops, and that it came as it was conducting a raid on IS positions. Russia's military has said that it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 wounded. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes. Assad said on Monday that the air strikes of the US-led coalition against his troops was meant to support IS, calling the attack a "blatant American aggression". AP New York City firefighters stand near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rashid Umar Abbasi Police work near the scene of an explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, in New York, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki) New York City firefighters stand near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rashid Umar Abbasi New York City police and firefighters stand near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 17, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith Authorities have questioned several people after a car stop in New York City as they worked to determine whether there was a connection between several explosive devices found in two states in two days. An explosion rocked a bustling Manhattan neighbourhood on Saturday night, and an unexploded pressure cooker device was found blocks away; there was a pipe bomb blast earlier on Saturday in a New Jersey shore town; and five explosive devices were found near a New Jersey train station late on Sunday. On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She would not provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation said that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in lower Manhattan. No-one has been charged with any crime and the investigation is continuing, Ms Langmesser said. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday's blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood, said there did not appear to be any link to international terrorism. He said the second device appeared "similar in design" to the first, but did not provide details. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be bought in many sporting goods shops. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the three incidents are connected. Mobile phones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official. Authorities said the Manhattan bombing and New Jersey pipe bomb did not appear to be connected, though they were not ruling anything out. The pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was cancelled and no one was injured. Late Sunday, five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a rubbish bin by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City. Officials have not revealed any details about the make-up of the pressure-cooker device, except to say it had wires and a mobile phone attached to it. On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said. Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260. On Sunday, a team of five FBI agents searched an Uber driver's vehicle that had been damaged in the Manhattan blast. The driver had just picked up three passengers and was driving along 23rd Street when the explosion occurred, shattering the car's windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door. The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks only a week earlier and where a United Nations meeting to address the refugee crisis in Syria was scheduled on Monday. Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered shop windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighbourhood on the city's west side. One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his apartment when the blast went off nearby. He said at first he thought it was thunder and lightning. "Then all of a sudden, car horns went off, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, this isn't lightning. This is too loud," Mr Stanhope said. "This is a bomb." US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to the media before boarding her campaign plane at the Westchester County airport in White Plains, New York. Reuters/Carlos Barria Hillary Clinton has cast herself as the most qualified to combat terrorism in the US after a weekend of violent attacks in three states. Going after rival Donald Trump, she argued that his anti-Muslim rhetoric is helping Islamic militants, including Islamic State (IS), recruit new fighters. The Democratic presidential candidate touted her national security credentials at a hastily arranged news conference outside her campaign plane, accusing Republican Mr Trump for using the incidents to make "some kind of demagogic point". "I'm the only candidate in this race who's been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield," Mrs Clinton, a former secretary of state, told reporters. "I have sat at that table in the Situation Room." She added: "I know how to do this." New York's governor and mayor said on Monday that the bombings in a Manhattan neighbourhood and a New Jersey shore town are looking increasingly like acts of terrorism with a foreign connection. Authorities are also investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a possible act of terrorism. An Afghan immigrant wanted for questioning in the bombings was captured in New Jersey on Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police, authorities said. The violence cast a long shadow over the presidential race, diverting both candidates' attention from the daily controversies of the presidential race. Mrs Clinton and her team see her foreign policy experience as a key selling point for her candidacy. On the campaign trail, she frequently invokes her role in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, describing to voters the tense atmosphere in the White House alongside President Barack Obama. But while much of the foreign policy establishment has rallied around Mrs Clinton, Mr Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, promises to close US borders and vows to aggressively profile potential terrorists have fuelled his presidential bid. "Knock the hell out of 'em," Mr Trump told Fox And Friends in a phone interview on Monday morning. "We're not knocking them, we're hitting them once in a while; we're hitting them in certain places. We're being very gentle about it. We're going to have to be very tough," Mr Trump told Fox News Channel. He said that US leaders, including Mr Obama, "coddle" potential terrorists. Mr Trump once again took credit for predicting current events, pointing to his Saturday night announcement that a bomb had caused the explosion in New York City. That was less than an hour after the explosion and before authorities had publicly said so. Mrs Clinton urged voters not to "get diverted and distracted by the kind of campaign rhetoric we hear from the other side". She insinuated that Islamic militants, particularly those affiliated with IS, are rooting for Mr Trump to win the White House. The Republican has said he would bar immigration from nations with ties to terrorism. "We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion," Mrs Clinton said. She briefly turned her focus from national security on Monday, wooing younger voters at a midday rally at a Philadelphia university. Her campaign acknowledges she needs to do more to get millennials on board. She is scheduled to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Ukraine and Japan late in the day in New York City. The leaders are in New York for the UN General Assembly. Mr Trump, too, announced plans to meet with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Monday. The events came as both candidates were dealing with missteps. Mr Trump and his allies spent Sunday - repeatedly and falsely - accusing Mrs Clinton of pushing the idea that Mr Obama was not born in the US - a conspiracy theory long championed by Mr Trump himself. Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, is still facing questions about her health and openness after a video caught her staggering after abruptly leaving a 9/11 ceremony. AP A woman has been arrested in North Carolina after her mother's body was discovered in a freezer she sold at a yard sale. Marcella Jean Lee (56) was charged on Thursday with concealing and failure to report a death, more than three months after selling the chest freezer to her neighbour for $30. Ms Lee had told her neighbour not to open the appliance when she sold it to her in May, saying it was being used as a time capsule and that church members would come by at some point to collect the contents inside. However, the neighbour opened it up later to find the body of Arma Roush, the 75-year-old mother of Ms Lee, whom police had been looking for since the discovery. She was detained on Thursday about 100 miles south of the city of Goldsboro, where her mother's remains were found. Lee is now being held at New Hanover county jail under a $50,000 bond, Fox 8 reported. A post mortem examination showed no signs of foul play regarding Ms Roush's death. The pensioner had been living with her daughter and was last seen alive in August 2015. In a 911 call, obtained by WNCN at the time of the discovery, the neighbour said: "I have a serious problem. My neighbour sold me a deep freezer. I just opened it and there's a body in there. I am freaking out." She later told the TV station: "She sold me her frozen mother for $30. How do you do something like that?" The woman said that the day after she bought the freezer, Ms Lee had left town claiming she was heading to West Virginia to be with her mother, who was now staying at a nursing home. Big Pharma company fights marijuana legalization to save its own profits Pharmaceutical companies have a shady history when it comes to the legalization of cannabis. Since theyve known for decades that cannabis provides a natural alternative to their chemical medicines, theyve done everything in their power to prevent the Insys Therapeutics Inc. an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company recently donated $500,000 to the anti-marijuana propaganda group Responsible Drug Policy. The donation makes Insys Therapeutics Inc. the largest donor to the organization, which is extremely telling of a number of things. For starters, it shows that the American public is growing increasingly weary of anti-marijuana legislation. Thanks to the rise of the internet, more and more people have discovered that not only is cannabis not the life-threatening drug that they once believed it to be, but its actually extremely healthy and beneficial for many users. Secondly, it shows that Big Pharma is terrified of the upcoming legalization of marijuana and for good reason. In states where marijuana has been legalized, pharmaceutical drug prescriptions have absolutely nosedived, proving that if marijuana is legal people are much more willing to use it than a drug that was created in a laboratory. While some pharmaceutical companies have been relatively subtle in their attempts to hide their true intentions, Insys is anything but. Their reasoning for trying to prevent marijuana legalization is a lot more obvious. Since most of the companys products are for those suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, theyre doing what they can to prevent a natural cancer-fighting alternative from being legalized for public consumption. Support our mission and protect your health: Organic Seeds of Life combines Red Raspberry Seed Power, Black Cumin Seed Power and Red Grape Seed Powder into the most potent nutrient-rich supplemental superfood powder you've ever experienced. Loaded with flavonoids, antioxidants, anthocyanins, OPCs, ALA and a vast array of vital nutrients. Learn more here. Jeremy Berke of Business Insider breaks it down, reporting, Insys markets drugs for those undergoing chemotherapy treatments, including Subsys, a fentanyl-based painkiller. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller that is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and about 40 to 50 times more potent than 100% pure heroin. This stretches far beyond capitalism. There are ways to make money that dont put human lives at risk by lying to the public at large, which is precisely what anti-cannabis rhetoric does. None of the things these groups say about marijuana that its harmful, destroys lives and will lead to an early grave are true. Most of them arent even murky theyre downright false. Dont buy into the charade that the shameful, twisted pharmaceutical companies have been pushing on the American people. Use your brain to decipher the truth from their insane propaganda and youll instantly discover that the only reason they want marijuana to be banned in the United States is to line their own pockets with higher profits. They dont care about us. They dont care about our health. All they care about is making more money for themselves. Theres a very sick and twisted game being played when it comes to healthcare in our country. The sooner we come to terms with that fact, the sooner we can begin solving the multitude of issues surrounding our health. Perhaps the fastest and most efficient way to kickstart that conversation is by having a very honest and open conversation about why marijuana is actually illegal. Doing so will inevitably lead to the full-fledged legalization, which in turn will improve the quality of life for Americans across the country. Sources: BusinessInsider.com ZeroHedge.com Foreign engineers who worked for construction company CON.I.COS were abducted on the road linking Tahala and Ghat, reports said Three foreign workers, including two Italians, have been kidnapped in south-west Libya, officials have said. Italy's Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that it had learned about the abduction. It declined to provide further details, citing the "delicateness" of the situation. A statement by the media office of Ghat municipality said foreign engineers working for construction company CON.I.COS were abducted by unidentified assailants on the road linking Tahala and Ghat. It gave their names as Italians Bruno Cacace and Danilo Calonego and a Canadian identified only as Frank. The statement quoted the head of Ghat Municipal Council, Koumani Mohammed Saleh, as saying al Qaida was not behind the abduction. "The abduction of the engineers was carried out by a small outlawed group," he said. He said officials are working on securing their release. The incident, the statement said, is "unprecedented" in Ghat. Global Affairs Canada spokesman Michael O'Shaughnessy said: "We are aware of the troubling yet unconfirmed report of the abduction of a Canadian citizen in Libya. We are diligently pursuing all appropriate channels." AP Mass Obamacare fraud: Where is the money going? It seems as though that not a single day can pass by without a new revelation about the complete bust that is Obamacare being revealed by an alternative media outlet. While many have been claiming since before its inception that the healthcare plan would cause an abundance of issues for a majority of Americans, that didnt prevent the authoritarian leftists in charge from doing their part to pass it into law. As a result, the plan has led to an abundance of issues for a majority of Americans. Who saw that coming? It was recently revealed that rampant fraud has been unveiled when it comes to Obamacare, meaning that a number of people have been taking advantage of government-supplied loopholes so that they receive all sorts of benefits without having to pay taxes like the rest of us. Alternative media publication Zero Hedge reports, A recent undercover enrollment investigation conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that pretty much anyone can sign up for Obamacare and receive taxpayer funded incentives without having to worry about pesky little details like proving citizenship, identity or income-based needs. Its problems like this that have given life to the taxation is theft movement of libertarians who are unhappy with paying taxes when their hard-earned dollars are clearly going to scams like Obamacare and virtually every welfare plan. Why should we be willing to pay for the health insurance benefits of people that arent paying taxes at all? Its a lose-lose situation that leaves us all suffering. But if you even dare dispute it or point out any of these glowing issues with Obamacare, the leftists are sure to paint you as a racist bigot that hates poor people. This is all they have to go on because they dont have any legitimate excuses for why the Obama administration has done such an embarrassingly poor job of handling this. Wasting our money on plans that dont work only increases tension across the board and sends the United States of America into even more debt. This kind of horrible decision-making is what has led to societies all across the world collapsing in horrific fashion. Despite what the Regressive Left wants you to believe, the exact same thing could happen in America. We need legitimate, intelligent politicians that take these issues seriously and can provide us with real solutions to our problems instead of sweeping it under the rug as no big deal. Civilizations are in a constant state of danger if they are not treated with respect. America as we know it has been mistreated for years and the negative effects are finally being brought into the light. Its time to get serious and fix the massive failure that is Obamacare. Its time to elect politicians that acknowledge that failure. Sources: ZeroHedge.com KANNAPOLIS- Kannapolis has started a new journey to support its police department. Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant proclaimed Friday, Sept. 16 as Kannapolis Thank a Police Officer Day during a ceremony at the Kannapolis Police Department. He said the third Friday of every September would remain a day for citizens to share their thanks with those in black and blue who protect them. We want to honor each of you who keep our city safe. We couldnt do it without you, Hinnant told the officers who gathered in front of the department with community members and Kannapolis Town Council members for the special day. We dont thank you often enough. I encourage every member of the community to say thank you when they see you. The day was organized by Vicki Carpenter, the mother of a Kannapolis officer. Carpenter said she always supported her son which has allowed her to get to know other officers. Because National Thanks a Officer Day was Saturday, Sept. 17, Carpenter wanted to do something special for the ones in Kannapolis. My goal is to bring our community out to say thank you. Until my son became an officer, I didnt have a clue what they go through but I knew I could pick up the phone, call and they would be there, Carpenter said. Sometimes the things you cherish the most, you take for granted. I hope as this goes on people will start to understand how important it is to say thank you. As the mayor read the proclamation, he challenged citizens to take five minutes out of their day to thank an officer. He also told them that he and the Kannapolis Town Council thank them for being brave men and women. Hinnant presented the proclamation plaque to Woody Chavis, chief of the Kannapolis Police Department. It means a lot to my officers and to me that we arent out here doing this job and nobody is noticing. We are just trying to keep our training up so we can continue to do our job, Chavis said. I was born here, grew up here and Ill die here. Thank you. Rep. Linda Johnson of the North Carolina General Assembly also attended the celebration to show her support. She told officers she was extremely grateful to be standing with them and addressed the recent death of Shelby Police Officer Tim Brackeen. The funeral service for Brackeen was also held on Friday. You dont know how grateful I am to see you all standing here being proud and thrilled I am at the sacrifices you make every day, Johnson said. I know some of you wont be able to go to Shelby today but I feel the compassion you have for your fellow officer. I want you to know I am grateful. The group also remembered Kannapolis officer Roger Carter who was killed in 2003 by a suspect who said he wanted to turn himself in. Carpenter said that 87 police officers died in the line of duty in 2016. Thank you for choosing to be a Kannapolis Police Officer. You are all truly heroes. You are the finest of the finest and the best of the best across the whole United States, Carpenter told the officers. We are just starting out on a new journey. These fellas have a target on their back so we should love them, care about them and support them. Thank you for all you do and what you stand for. ROWAN COUNTY-- A man from Rowan County was charged with first-degree statutory rape and indecent liberties with children. David Michael Fisher, 42, was arrested Friday, Sept. 16, for an incident that allegedly occurred earlier in the month. He is being held under a $300,000 secured bond. The victim, a 10-year-old girl, was allegedly brought into the emergency room of Novant Health Rowan Medical Center for sexual assault Friday, Sept. 9. Hospital staff notified the Rowan County Sheriffs Office. The incident allegedly occurred Thursday, Sept. 8, at the victims home. Fisher is a neighbor of the victim, and was allegedly babysitting at the time. Department of Social Services is also conducting an investigation. The case is still ongoing, and more information will follow as it becomes available. COLUMBUS Creating a personalized medication record can be a helpful tool in recovery and overall well-being. Lela Schaecher, a registered nurse and clinical manager of home health/hospice at Columbus Community Hospital, recommends people create a list of their medicine, dosages and frequency of use. Schaecher will talk about the importance of medication records at the Senior Citizen Festival scheduled for 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Ramada-Columbus. These records are recommended for anyone who takes multiple medications or sees several different doctors. It can get confusing with the amount of medicine they take and it can be dangerous to take them at the wrong time, Schaecher said, adding that there could be side effects if a prescription is taken incorrectly. This is especially important during the transition from hospitalization to home because the type of medication and dosage can change during that time. A medication list can not only serve as a reminder of what to take and when, the record is also helpful at medical appointments and visits to the hospital. Schaecher said she also encourages people to share medication information with other family members and their power of attorney. Cards used to keep track of medication will be available during the festival. In addition to speaking about personalized medication records, Schaecher will also discuss generic and name-brand drugs and home health, which helps patients during their move from a hospital back to their residence. Schaecher is one of two guest speakers for the Senior Citizen Festival. Dr. Milton Zadina with Columbus Family Practice will also give a presentation on falls. Several vendors will be on site during the 29th annual Senior Festival, as well as information about health services and screenings. Services that will be offered by the hospital include free bone mineral density and blood pressure screenings by occupational health services. There will also be diabetes education on topics such as blood glucose monitoring, nutrition, exercise, medication and the upcoming Diabetes Awareness Day on Oct. 11. The hospital will share additional information from rehabilitative services about the driving rehabilitation program and STAR program for cancer rehabilitation, Wound, Ostomy and Continence Health Center, Columbus Community Hospital Foundation, Lifeline Medical Alert, volunteering and fall prevention. KANNAPOLIS- A Carolinas HealthCare System employee was charged earlier this month after police said he was caught taking pictures up a womans skirt. He has been charged him with secretly peeping into a room occupied by another person. Floyd Steven Lisenby, 63, of Oak Avenue in China Grove, was arrested by officer with the Concord Police Department on Friday, Sept. 9 on a warrant. According to a report from the department, witnesses saw Lisenby taking pictures up the skirt of a female customer at Walmart on Supercenter Drive in Kannapolis on Thursday, Sept. 8. The report says Lisenby works in the maintenance department at Carolinas HealthCare System NorthEast in Concord. Alibaba Consolidates its B2B Commerce Platform in India Alibaba, the Jack Ma-led Chinese e-commerce giant, is consolidating its existing business-to-business (B2B) online marketplace venture in India. The company has so far partnered with DHL and Delhivery to provide domestic and international logistics support to Indian sellers on its platform. Further, tie-ups with IDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Aditya Birla Finance will provide financial support to its sellers. Online B2B commerce essentially supplies the goods that small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) usually buy and sell in bulk. Other firms in this segment include India MART, Amazon Business, and startups like Moglix, mSupply.com, and Ofbusiness. The Alibaba group is gradually looking to establish a robust buyer-seller ecosystem in India, a formula which ensured its success in China, where it began by linking local manufacturers and overseas buyers. A spokesperson for Alibaba has said that the company will include Chinese vendors on its site, taking advantage of its homegrown merchant ecosystem. The recent moves come as Alibaba have been unable to scale up their independent online commerce presence, and will be in addition to their investment in Snapdeal as a minor shareholder. Telecom Regulator Proposes New Norms to Map Radio Audience in India The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has submitted new guidelines for the development of a transparent and fair radio ratings system in the country to the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry for approval. The proposed regulatory framework includes mandatory registration, eligibility norms, cross-holding restrictions, methodology of rating, complaint redressal, sale and use of ratings, audit, disclosure, reporting requirements, and penal provisions for radio rating agencies. The suggestions are part of a consultation paper that TRAI published back in March when it invited comments from all stakeholders, including AM and FM radio service operators, industry bodies, advertisers, and radio listeners. Currently, radio listenership in India is mapped by a private, independent firm, TAM Media Research, through its unit, Radio Audio Measurement (RAM), which is a joint venture between research firms IMRB International and Nielsen Media Research. TRAI highlights that the present system of radio ratings in India is deficient as it measures only the top four markets Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. Radio audience measurement or the process of mapping listenership of a radio station in a particular market is critical to the financial decisions of radio firms, advertisers, and ad agencies. This necessitates the establishment of a well-regulated performance rating system that has a wider coverage across India, and is independent. So far, feedback is largely circumspect although concerns about the governments involvement in industry specific matters remain. Russia Proposes Flexible Trade Corridor with India Russias Federal Customs Service has proposed that a Green Corridor be established between India and Russia, wherein select companies will be allowed to trade their goods (on a reciprocal basis) without passing through customs inspections during border crossings. The idea was mooted last week during a meeting between the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and the Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, ahead of the India-Russia Annual Summit in October. Currently, Russia is implementing the Green Corridor project with Finland and Turkey, with agreements for the same having been reached with China and Italy. Only those entrepreneurs or companies that are characterized as bona fide participants in foreign economic activities can become beneficiaries of the Green Corridor. Further, this license would be granted only to those meeting the following criteria no outstanding unpaid customs duties and absence of rulings on administrative violations in the countries of operation. Consequently, the arrangement would be as follows an electronic pre-declaration will be issued for the cargo, which will be assigned a unique individual number identifying the firm/owner from the Green Corridor registry. There will also need to be a separate post created and a special inspector at the customs terminal in order to implement the system efficiently. Russia hopes that the Green Corridor will expand the current scope of its bilateral trade with India that has been relatively weak despite close ties. Both countries agreed they must raise the current trade volume of US$ 10 billion to US$ 30 billion by 2025, and increase mutual investments from US$ 10 billion to US$ 15 billion. Meanwhile, Russia is also keen to be a part of the Make in India initiative, and is particularly interested in the mining, fertilizers, and civil aviation sectors. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email india@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2016 Doing Business in India 2016 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes. Pre-Investment Due Diligence in India In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we examine issues related to pre-investment due diligence in India. We highlight the different regulatory, tax, and socio-economic issues that a company should be aware of before entering the Indian market. We also detail some of the topics related to entry structures while investing in the Indian market, as well as cultural and HR due diligence, which may differ from state to state. Strategies for Repatriating Funds from India In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we look at issues related to repatriating funds from India. We highlight the unique regulations for sending funds back from India, examine the various strategies companies can make use of while repatriating, and look at remittance procedures for different types of Indian entities. Finally, we give some tips on how expats can remit their Indian money to their home countries. LINCOLN Nebraska lawmakers face a looming budget shortfall when they convene in January, but members of a key budget-writing committee say they still hope to boost funding for the state's problem-plagued prison system. Senators on the Appropriations Committee said it's too early to know exactly how they'll balance the budget while addressing major staffing shortages in the Department of Correctional Services. The options could include cuts to other programs, delaying action on other spending requests and tapping the state's cash reserve. The department unveiled a package Thursday that includes a $15.6 million budget increase to reduce staffing shortages and turnover in Nebraska's prisons. If approved, it would allow the department to hire roughly 165 full-time employees in a variety of jobs and boost the department's total budget to nearly $223 million. In addition, the department is asking lawmakers for $75.2 million over four years to build a new reception and treatment center in Lincoln for elderly and severely mentally ill inmates. Nebraska faces an estimated $113.7 million budget shortfall in the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2017, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. For the next two-year budget cycle that ends in June 2019, lawmakers will have to fill a projected $352.7 million gap to maintain the minimum reserve balance required by law. Total state spending is expected to reach $9.4 billion in the two-year cycle. Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse said lawmakers need to find the money to address the state's prison problems, even if it means less of a focus on other priorities. Watermeier's district includes the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, where inmates staged a deadly riot in May 2015, but he's also a farmer who frequently hears complaints about rising agricultural property taxes. "We're going to have to look past the budget shortfall and prioritize it," Watermeier said. "That's going to be a hard sell for some of my constituents, because they want to talk about property taxes." Watermeier said policymakers need to act immediately to address high turnover in the corrections department and look at major property tax reforms as a longer-term goal. He said it's too early to know how exactly how much a prison package will cost because the state has only started to negotiate with the union that represents prison workers. Lawmakers will have to sort through competing state agency requests while balancing the budget, but some problems in the prison system have been ignored for too long, said Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha. Hilkemann praised the corrections department's detailed budget request, saying it shows Director Scott Frakes has thoroughly analyzed the problems. Hilkemann said lawmakers may want to tap the cash reserve for some of the department's short-term requests. "It appears to me that we've kept the prisons on the back burner, wishing it would go away, and it hasn't," Hilkemann said. "We're going to have to find solutions." Some non-prison programs could see "a significant decrease" in their base funding, and lawmakers may reject or delay action on new funding requests, said Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell. Kuehn said he wants to ensure the department has what it needs to protect the public. Paying for the extra prison spending through across-the-board cuts to other aren't probably isn't the best approach, he said. "It's going to require very deliberate and strategic prioritization," Kuehn said. "We're going to have to be honest and realistic about what the priorities are for the entire state. Public safety is a top priority." Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln said it's too early to know whether lawmakers will fully grant the department's request, but acknowledged it will likely rank high as a priority. Bolz noted that lawmakers still don't know how large the projected shortfall will be when the Legislature reconvenes in January. The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board is scheduled to meet next month to update its state revenue estimates. In addition, three of the Appropriations Committee's nine members are leaving office because of term limits. "I certainly think it's on the short list, but of course we have elections in November," Bolz said. "There are a lot of unknowns." Bolz said she was pleased to see a request for additional prison employees to address staffing shortages and hopes the department will address the concerns of senior workers who aren't receiving longevity pay bonuses. She said she still has questions about the proposal to build an inmate reception and treatment center. Nihar Info Global applies for trademark registration for 'ONVO' Nihar Info Global Limited informed to the exchanges that it has successfully applied for Trademark registration of its private label "ONVO" under the 'Trademark Classes 18 and 21. ... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:37 pm Rupee rises 4 paisa to 82.29/$ Early on Friday, the rupee strengthened against the US dollar by 4 paise to 82.29, helped by a weak US dollar in the international market and strong local equities. The influx of new fore... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:30 pm PNB Housing Finance's net profit increases by 12% PNB Housing Finance announced on Thursday that its September 20222023 quarter net profit increased by 11.7% to Rs 262.63 crore, thanks to a little increase in core income. In the same period... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:25 pm Dhanuka Agritech soars ~8% as board to consider buyback Dhanuka Agritechs stock surged as much as 8% in Fridays intraday session and touched a high of Rs742. The company stated in its filing with the exchanges that at its ensuing ge... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:18 pm Markets trade flat amid volatility; Nifty below 17,800 dragged by metals Domestic benchmark indices in a volatile session and trading flat after a gap-up opening on Friday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are in the green during the afternoon market session ami... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:00 pm The flag of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe CAIRNS ETANHAN WOTANIN By Center for American Indian Research and Native StudiesFor The Lakota Country Times This week we continue our examination of the nine flags of nations with reservation lands in South Dakota. Last week we evaluated the Yankton Sioux Tribe flag and awarded its design 3.5 stars out of a possible 5 stars. Not bad, but lets see if the flag of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe will fare any better! Remember, flag designs can earn up to one star for each of the five principles of good flag design identified by Ted Kaye in his pamphlet, Good Flag, Bad Flag: How to Design a Great Flag. The principles are 1) keep it simple, 2) make it meaningful, 3) use 2-3 colors, 4) avoid numbers and letters, and 5) be distinctive. So with that in mind, lets take a look at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe flag. Its background is white with a border of red half-diamonds that certainly are distinctive, but also result in awkward transitions at its corners. In the center of the flag is a blue plus-sign, a design element often used to represent the four cardinal directions. The plus-sign is on a white diamond-shaped background that is surrounded by three colored borders. The inner one is yellow, the middle one is blue and the outer one is red. These four colors likewise are often used to represent the four cardinal directions. Encircling this central diamond shape are the words Rosebud Sioux Tribe above and Rosebud, South Dakota below, all in dark blue letters that together imply an oval. A stylized black feather and small red pipe bowl at both sides of the oval separate the two sets of words. Around these words in another oval are 20 closely-spaced stylized images of a rose flower as seen from directly above, each with eight petals and a small stylized white tipi in its center. These roses symbolize Rosebud Reservations 20 communities that are represented on its tribal council. The flag of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe flies alongside that of the United States. Photo by Rosebud Sioux Tribe Looking at the whole flag, you have to admit its pretty busy. If you gave the above description to a child and asked her to draw it, shed probably get bored halfway through the border triangles! So unfortunately we cant award a star for simplicity. On the flip side of that, its hard not to admit that the design packs a symbolic punch. Clearly a lot of thought went into what elements of the tribe, its people and its land should be represented. And so the Rosebud Sioux Tribe flag gets on the board with one star for meaningfulness. In regards to the number of different colors used, the flag just barely scores another star for limiting itself to red, yellow and blue (for our purposes, the white background is not counted). Unfortunately, like almost all of the other flags of tribal nations with lands in South Dakota, the name of the tribe and even its capitals location are conspicuously spelled out and thus it fails to gain a star for avoiding numbers and letters. Which is a shame, because the overall design is certainly memorable enough for anyone to recognize it right away without having to actually read the flag! So for the fifth criteria, well give it one more star for distinctiveness. Visit the Lakota Country Times and subscribe today Based on the five principles of good flag design, the final rating for the flag of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe is 3 out of a possible 5 stars. Its a middle-of-the-road score, but the flag design has the potential for a four star rating simply by removing its six words. Up next week, we see if the Oglala Sioux Tribe flag design score can equal or surpass 3.5 stars atop the scoreboard. (The Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies (CAIRNS) , based in Martin, South Dakota, is an Indian-controlled nonprofit research and education center that is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of American Indian communities and issues important to them by developing quality educational resources and innovative projects that acknowledge and incorporate tribal perspectives, and by serving as a meeting ground for peoples and ideas that support those perspectives.) Join the Conversation Related Stories The humble beginnings of the #NoDAPL movement began with the establishment of the Sacred Stone Camp in April 2016. Photo from Facebook The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the so-called "protesters" have a major point in the massing of some 4,000 to the campsite located along the Cannon Ball River. It is about protecting lifehealth, safety and spirituality! It began with 34 "grass roots tribal citizens" who encamped in April to object to building the Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River, i.e. the Oahe Reservoir. The eyes of the nation and the world look upon this movement. The tribal government followed with formal action. The protesters and the tribe object to the $3.8 billion pipeline and the crossing, which is just north of the reservation border. They're speaking out to protect public health and safety for all who live downriver, including Indians and non-Indians. Forty years and beyondthe estimated life of the lineare at stake below the river crossing. Of course, thousands more have joined in objecting to a line that will carry the oil to Iowa for further distribution and refining. Witness the protesters in Iowa and elsewhere. These actions have resulted in the education and consciousness-raising of the population. It is a time that calls for addressing our public policy on energy for the future of the nation. David Gipp, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the longtime former president of United Tribes Technical College , explains what the #NoDAPL movement is all about: Read More: David Gipp: Tribe acts to protect everyone downstream (The Bismarck Tribune 9/16) DC Circuit Court of Appeals #NoDAPL Injunction: Order: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (September 16, 2016) Join the Conversation Related Stories Nelson Angapak, the former senior vice president of the Alaska Federation of Natives and a veteran of the U.S. Army, testifies in support of H.R.2387, the Alaska Native Veterans Land Allotment Equity Act, at a hearing in Washington, D.C, on June 10, 2015. Photo from Office of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) The House Natural Resources Committee is meeting this week to consider a handful of bills. Three bills of interest are on the agenda for the markup session. They are: The markup will start on Wednesday afternoon and conclude on Thursday morning. Both sessions will be webcast. House Committee on Natural Resources Notices: Markup on 5 Bills (September 21, 2016) Markup on 5 Bills (September 22, 2016) Join the Conversation A federal judge on Friday dissolved a temporary restraining order against several leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe but had harsh words for some who are resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline Chairman Dave Archambault II and seven other leaders of the North Dakota tribe were arrested on August 12 for allegedly interfering with construction of the controversial project. The Dakota Access partnership then secured a restraining order that prevented the defendants from going near any worksites. But Judge Daniel L. Hovland said the restraining order was no longer necessary. He said it served no purpose to tell anyone to follow the law because everyone is supposed to follow the law. "Enjoining a crime is superfluous as all persons are enjoined by the commands of our criminal laws," Hovland wrote in the seven-page decision . "All persons are expected to live in accordance with local, state, federal, and tribal laws, and to conduct themselves in a civil, respectful, and law-abiding manner." #NoDAPL water protectors lock down equipment constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on September 6, 2016. Photo by Zoltan Grossman As he dissolved the restraining order , Hovland offered some thoughts on the #NoDAPL movement. While acknowledging that the overwhelming majority of the thousands who are camped near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation remain lawful, he said the actions of a few -- he described them as "hooligans" -- show the protests are far from "peaceful." "With respect to the assertion the movement has been a peaceful protest, one need only turn on a television set or read any newspaper in North Dakota," the judge wrote. "There the viewer will find countless videos and photographs of the 'peaceful' protestors attaching themselves to construction equipment operated by Dakota Access; vandalizing and defacing construction equipment; trespassing on privately-owned property; obstructing work on the pipeline; and verbally taunting, harassing, and showing disrespect to members of the law enforcement community." "The Morton County Sheriff reported that 22 protestors were arrested on September 13, 2016, just a few days ago," Hovland added. "To suggest that all of the protest activities to date have been 'peaceful' and law-abiding defies common sense and reality." Hovland largely lacks jurisdiction over those incidents -- indeed, he pointed out that Standing Rock leaders are being prosecuted in state court. Their crimes appear to be relatively minor, with Archambault facing one "disorderly conduct" charge, which is considered a Misdemeanor Class B in North Dakota. Democracy Now! on YouTube: Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs & Pepper Spray So far, only about 50 people -- a "small percentage" as Hovland admitted -- have been arrested out of the estimated 2,000 to 5,000 who have been at the #NoDAPL encampment in the last several weeks. Some of the cases seem particularly egregious, with journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! facing a misdemeanor trespassing charge in connection with her widely-seen report of a September 3 confrontation during which local law enforcement were not even present. "Freedom of the press is essential to the functioning of a democratic society. North Dakota, muzzle the dogs, not the press," Goodman and her husband, Denis Moynihan, who used to work for Democracy Now!, wrote in a column last week . Dogs and mace were used by private security guards on the resisters. The cases are proceeding in Morton County, where Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has repeatedly accused #NoDAPL resisters of unlawful activity in posts on Facebook rather than taking action through the justice system. He has acknowledged that his deputies stood back during the September 3 incident and during another that resulted in charges against Jill Stein , the Green Party's nominee for president. Morton County is overwhelmingly non-Indian despite its presence near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , only 4.1 percent of the population is Native. The elected leadership is non-Indian as well. Rather than welcome or offer services to the #NoDAPL encampment, the county commission declared an "emergency" last month and its chairman, Cody Schulz, basically told resisters to leave after a federal judge thousands of miles away issued a ruling that has since been put on hold temporarily by a higher court Hundreds turned out for #NoDAPL rally in Seattle, Washington, on September 16, 2016. Source: Chris Stearns (Navajo) on Twitter The encampments and the #NoDAPL movement, however, have continued to grow. Nearly 300 tribes have issued letters of support, passed resolutions and sent official delegations and supplies to North Dakota. Unity marches and rallies have been held across the nation and even in other countries. "I experienced the Camp as a 'liberated zone,' a community of thousands that fed itself, danced and sang together, and celebrated every time another tribe arrived," professor Zoltan Grossman wrote on Indianz.Com on Monday. Dakota Access has repeatedly brought up the North Dakota case during proceedings in a different lawsuit that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. William Leone, an attorney for the pipeline partnership, has contended that Archambault and others have violated an "injunction" even though one was never in place and even though the judge in North Dakota never determined that the temporary restraining order had ever been violated. "To continue to enjoin criminal misconduct in this civil action, under pain of a contempt sanction, would serve no legitimate purpose," Judge Hovland wrote on Friday. On September 9, the judge in D.C. denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for a preliminary injunction against Dakota Access. The Obama administration then followed with an extraordinary action that put a key portion of the pipeline near the reservation on hold. Subsequently, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to impose an injunction while the case proceeds. The court granted their request on Friday and ordered Dakota Access to cease construction within 20 miles on both sides of Lake Oahe. "The tribe appreciates this brief reprieve from pipeline construction and will continue to oppose this project, which will severely jeopardize its water and cultural resources," Standing Rock Sioux leaders said in a statement on Friday . "We will not rest until our lands, people, waters, and sacred sites are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline." Relevant Documents: Decision in Dakota Access LLC v. Dave Archambault, II (September 16, 2016) DC Circuit Court of Appeals #NoDAPL Injunction: Order: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (September 16, 2016) Join the Conversation Related Stories Kevin Marshall, far right, with family members including brother Daron White Eagle and mother Eleanor Miner. Photo courtesy Daron White Eagle Eagle Butte man missing since May By Richie RichardsNative Sun News Today Staff Writer EAGLE BUTTE The last time Kevin Duane Marshall, 38, was seen by his mother was on May 19, 2016 in Eagle Butte as she was leaving for Rapid City to attend his daughters graduation ceremony at Central High School. Since his disappearance, the family has made several trips back and forth from Rapid City to Eagle Butte to look for him around the reservation and walk the ditches searching for my brother, said Daron White Eagle, founder of Wambli Ska Drum and Dance Society Having to sort through the hundreds of stories and leads, the family has become frustrated as they have heard everything from Mexican drug dealers in Colorado to ex-girlfriends on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation; both of which the family has confirmed are untrue but does not lessen the pain and need to search all possibilities, according to his mother, Eleanor Miner. Chantel Marshall graduated from Central High School on Sunday, May 21, 2016. The family was preparing to attend and honor her for graduating; this included her father, Kevin. The fact that Marshall missed his daughters graduation is a clue that something tragic may have happened. He would not have missed her graduation, Eleanor Miner told NSN. As can be the case on reservations and in other isolated communities, rumors and fabrications can add unnecessary stress and strain to investigations. We have heard every kind of story, lots of people talking and telling us this and that, said White Eagle of his brothers disappearance. When asked about the possibilities of violence, drugs or other criminality being involved in their loved ones disappearance, the family did not know. His mother Eleanor saying, I know he drank but as far as drugs, I dont know anything about that. He stayed with me at my place out in the country and I didnt notice anything like that. Mostly, his mouth gets him in trouble. Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Eagle Butte man missing since May (Contact Richie Richards at staffwriter@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News Join the Conversation The Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Photo by Jerry and Pat Donaho Notes from Indian Country Memories of the graves without crosses on Yonder HillBy Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji Stands Up For Them) Eugene Rowland was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation. While serving with the U. S. Army in Korea he made two good friends; Virgil Rutherford and Jesse McCray of Muskogee, Oklahoma. On November 18, 1950 the three friends were swept under by the waves of Chinese soldiers storming across the 38th Parallel and became prisoners of war. Rowland was my friend. He died several years ago and I thought about him after buying a ball cap from his son, Eugene Rowland, Jr. at the Black Hills Pow Wow. I also wondered about his friends Rutherford and McCray. Are they still alive? The three-year nightmare for Eugene, Virgil and Jesse began on that cold day in 1950. They were placed in a compound known as Camp Number Five. For the next 33 months they were silent witnesses to the torture and deaths of many American soldiers. Rowland said to me many years ago, I guess well never forget our buddies black, white, red and brown who gave their lives during this terrible time. They were buried in shallow graves, dug by us; on a knoll we named Yonder Hill. On July 22, 1953, in a village called Panmunjom, an armistice was signed by General William Harrison for the United States and by Nam Il for the North Koreans. On August 8, 1953, Rowland, Rutherford and McCray were set free. They had spent 33 months as POWs. We were told to go home and resume a normal life, Rowland said. Here we were, broken men, beaten mentally and physically. We had shared loneliness, starvation, and torture. When it had become too much to bear, we turned to God together and prayed for freedom and now we were being told to go live a normal life. Each discovered in their own way that there would never be a so-called, normal life. The things they had considered normal were not that important to them anymore. Their health had been destroyed and the extreme physical and mental abuse had taken a terrible toll upon them. Captured as young, healthy men, their bodies were now diseased and tired. It took more than 30 years for these veteran POWs to discover each other again. In August of 1983, a special Prisoner of War Reunion was held in Muskogee and the three friends renewed the joy of their friendship. To these survivors of Camp Number Five the occasion was more than a hug or a handshake. There are no words in the English language or in the Lakota language that can describe the things we felt or the things we shared with each other on that special day. The emotions can never be described, Rowland said. His friend Rutherford recalled, Over there, 6,000 miles from home, it didnt matter if you were white or Indian. You went through the same kind of hell together every day. You learned to rely on each other. Otherwise we could never have survived. We didnt just become friends; we were closer than brothers, even. Each man felt the same way about the 33 months spent in captivity. It was as if the world had stood still for three years. There was a daily routine that kept them regimented and before long, the prison camp became a little world of its own to them. As the days dragged into weeks, the weeks into months and the months into years they watched as many of their companions withered and died. They somehow lost that will to live and to the three friends, it seemed like they just gave up their spirits. There were two emotions the friends shared at their reunion 18 years ago. They all felt an eternal sense of gratitude for having survived and yet they all felt a terrible sense of loss. I know we all thank God we are alive, but the thing that haunts us is that so many of our buddies still lie dead and buried in Korea, Rutherford said. Rowland shared that sense of grief. Our fellow GIs were laid to rest in unmarked graves. There were no caskets or crosses to mark the spot where they were buried. It always bothered me that most of our friends were buried without that bugle call of taps or without the beat of a drum to sound retreat. I believe they are still buried up there on Yonder Hill in Korea and Virgil, Jesse and me will never forget them. The reunion in Muskogee was a time of happiness for the three veterans. It was also a time of sadness. It was a time to celebrate life and to reminisce about the bad and be thankful for the good. It was a time when two white men from Oklahoma and an Indian from South Dakota realized that the lifelong bond that held them together cuts across all racial barriers. It was a bond forged in battle and later in the horrible conditions of Camp Number Five. Rowlands friends came to the Pine Ridge Reservation to visit him before his death. He brought them to the office of my newspaper and since I am also a veteran of the Korean War, we shared a few tears over hot cups of coffee that day. Rowland was nearly blind by then. And yet, he had the most beautiful smile on his face when he looked at his two friends and said, We are closer than brothers can ever be and we will never let 30 years pass before we get together again. A lot of tears fell when we had to split up after the reunion but it was good real good to see them again. I prayed for that day. This column is dedicated to those Korean veterans who fought and survived the Forgotten War. Although he has passed away, Eugene Rowland served with pride and I am blessed to have called him my friend. Join the Conversation The Uri Attack has left India stunned and angry. We lost some of our bravest soldiers and many took to their social media accounts to express their displeasure and anger on the same. Many tweeted that the only way for India to bounce back is by starting off a war against Pakistan. Twitter However, stand-up comedian and AIBs Tanmay Bhat doesn't agree to it. Bhat took to Twitter to express a childhood anecdote on the same and many have reacted positively to it. Read on. Read his Twitter rant here! Here's a thing that happened with me when I was in school. (1/1) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 It was the annual school debate and I was a participant. I was going up against a very sharp student. I was anxious about my topic. (1//) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 The topic given to us was "Should India go to war against Pakistan over Kashmir?" - I was supposed to argue against the motion. (1/3) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I was relieved. I was in 8th grade and I felt that people dying for no reason isn't the solution. Don't ask, I was a weird kid. (1/4) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I was well prepped for the debate with facts about how wars can be expensive, destructive etc. etc. You know, crazy people arguments. (1/5) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I went up first in front of 200 kids in the 8th grade, and all my teachers, and tried to convince them that war is a bad idea. (1/6) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I thought I did reasonably well. Some of the kids seemed convinced that pointless killing was futile (weirdos) Teachers looked proud. (1/6) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 Twas time for my opponent (an 8th grader) to convince others (8th graders) that we should nuke Pakistan (probably including 8th graders) 1/7 Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 The kid got onto stage and began narrating an incident. Genius, begin with an anecdote. Should've thought of that myself. 1/9 Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "When we were in PT period yesterday, I threw a stone into my dear friend Tanmay's pocket..." He said. (1/10) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "The first time I did it, he got annoyed and shouted at me. So I did it again. This time again he shouted at me" He continued. (1/11) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "I did it 4-5 times. He went and complained to the teacher. But even that didn't stop me.." (1/11) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "Until the final time that I threw a stone in his pocket, he got up and pushed me.." Stunned silence in the audience right now. (1/12) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "Now you tell me, if Tanmay can hit me back for doing something so small like throwing stones, WHY CAN'T WE ATTACK PAKISTAN!" (1/13) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "And he toh is a friend! IF HE CAN DO IT, WHY CAN'T WE AS ENEMIES ATTACK THEM!" - I could see concentric circles forming in 8th grade eyes Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 He ended his speech by yelling Bharat Mata Ki (no jokes) while 8th graders yelled JAIII officially giving their consent for violence. (1/15) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 Any travel to or within India packs in a whole array of experiences. When you add 166 national parks to the equation, your travel is only more enriched. As a responsible traveller headed to these national parks, one needs to appreciate the conservation efforts made by respective governments and make a conscious effort to not disrupt a protected species' life. If it's the golden mane of the Asiatic lion you seek or the iconic stripes of the Bengal tiger, or even if you're looking to simply soak in views of the bountiful flora and fauna - here's where you should head. 1. Gir National Park, Talala Gir, Gujarat Wikipedia/Asim Patel/CC BY-SA 3.0 Gir National Park in Gujarat, one of the oldest in India, is famous for being the only known home of the Asiatic lion. So, if you're not planning on flying overseas anytime soon, you know where in India you need to be in order to spot a majestic lion. The former hunting grounds of the Nawabs of Junagadh, Gir celebrated 50 years of conservation this time last year, and it was a time that marked a considerable rise in the lion population. vishwagujarat.com There are now 523 lions in Gir of which 109 are males, 201 are females and the remaining 213 are young lions and cubs, according to vishwagujarat.com. Considering there were only 12 Asiatic lions in Gir before it finally became a protected zone in 1900, this national park has etched quite a name for itself. There are also plenty of photo opps for the keen photographer here. Keep that camera ready for when you spot the different types of birds, sloth bears, hyenas, deer, antelope, leopards, crocodiles and jungle cats that also live here. Best time to visit: December to March 2. Ranthambore National Park, near Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan Flickr/bjoern/CC BY 2.0 One of the largest national parks in North India, and once the hunting grounds for the maharajas of Jaipur, Ranthambore is known for the Royal Bengal Tiger. The park is made up of ten zones where each zone comprises different tigers and their offspring. At the heart of this park lies an interesting reminder of Indian history in the form of the 10th-century Ranthambore fort with three stone temples within. Flickr/bjoern/CC BY 2.0 Sadly, in August this year, the park suffered a devastating loss - its oldest and much beloved tigress, Machli (T-16), finally breathed her last. Machli became famous in 2003 after she fought a 14-foot-long crocodile in a battle for survival that lasted an hour-and-a-half, according to Indian Express. Truly royal, Machli went on to live for 20 years, well above average for any tiger. So if for nothing else, one visit here is a must to catch up on all the little stories that made Machli the legend she is today. Best time to visit: November to May 3. Kanha National Park, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh Wikipedia/Honzasoukup/public domain Kanha was the inspiration behind Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, and one look at its rich flora and fauna will tell you why. Known for the barasingha (swamp deer), this park also houses various species of birds, tiger, leopard, sloth bear and nilgai, to name a few. With a horse-shoe shaped valley with unmatched views this is the place to be if you want your inner Mowgli to come to life. Wikipedia/Honzasoukup/public domain Best time to visit: mid-October to June-end 4. Jim Corbett National Park, Nainital District, Uttarakhand Flickr/netlancer2006/CC BY 2.0 Hunter and author Jim Corbett was known to have single-handedly brought down many man-eaters, and these tales later became popular books also authored by him. But a true wildlife lover and conservationist at heart, Corbett felt greatly for these mighty beasts. The unfairness he felt when these tigers and leopards met their tragic end, is almost palpable to anyone who's read his books. So, it wasn't surprising to learn that he had an important role to play in the establishment of this national park, now one of the oldest in the country. The park is made up of five zones Jhirna, Bijrani, Dhikala, Durgadevi and Sitavani and it's in these zones where one can chance upon the Royal Bengal tiger, leopards, hog deer, otters, cheetal, jungle cat, sloth bears, barking deer and other animals. The park is packed with marshland, grasslands, and thick forest areas so this is the place to be if you want the real immersive experience. Wikipedia/Soumyajit Nandy/CC BY-SA 3.0 Unfortunately, a raging forest fire early this year managed to destroy 1900 hectares of forest land in 13 districts of Uttarakhand since February, including 198 hectares of the Jim Corbett National Park, reported Hindustan Times. The only solace came from the fact that no wildlife was affected. Visit Jim Corbett National Park if you're as in awe of Corbett's tales; go if spotting the Royal Bengal tiger will be one of the most amazing moments of your life. The best time to go differs for each zone, so a quick check before booking is recommended. 5. Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal Wikipedia/Anirban Biswas/CC BY-SA 2.0 The iconic Royal Bengal tiger also rules the roost here although it's a tad harder to spot them here. This national park, biosphere reserve and tiger reserve is different from the others in that it's only accessible by boat. There are also plenty of mangrove trees that line the Sundarbans delta and the whole experience of travelling on a boat inside a national park is one you won't forget for years to come. Flickr/Kingshuk Mondal/CC BY 2.0 The park is made up of 54 islands and rubs shoulders with the Sundarbans Reserve Forest in neighbouring Bangladesh. Apart from the Royal Bengal tiger, this national park is also home to the salt-water crocodile, Ganges River dolphin, crabs, turtles and other animals. It's a paradise for nature lovers and naturalists alike. Best time to go: between September and May 6. Kaziranga National Park, Golaghat and Nagaon districts, Assam Wikipedia/Diganta Talukdar/CC BY-SA 4.0 Kaziranga National Park is the only home of the mighty one-horned rhinoceros, and a world heritage site. The remaining wildlife in the park includes elephants, swamp deer and the water buffalo. Most recently, the park got much publicity when Prince William and Kate Middleton visited here, which in retrospect, may have done the park some good considering there are reports that suggest the park may be suffering from lack of funds. Flickr/Satish Krishnamurthy/CC BY 2.0 That said, Kaziranga is a photographer's paradise and the tea plantations that line its borders create some breathtaking views. In case you're planning on visiting the park this year, there is good news. Rather than open in November, the government decided to throw open the park's gates on 1 October, 2016. Pakistan's PM Nawaz Sharif arrives in New York on Sunday intent on raising the Kashmir issue at the United Nations, where he is scheduled to address the general assembly on Wednesday. khaama Just a few problems with that effort: Pakistan has plenty of blood on its hands, not just in terrorist attacks on India but also in the US, and on the very city where it is seeking to raise the Kashmir issue. Besides, Islamabad is in violation of the very resolutions of the UN where it is seeking to raise it; and the Uri terror attack will be fresh in the minds of the international community. "The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir during the early morning of September 18. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism," the State Department said in a swift reaction to the Uri attack, which New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based Jaish e-Mohammed. businessinsider/representational image Preparatory to Sharif's push on Kashmir, Pakistani mandarins launched their familiar diatribe about Indian ''violations'' in Kashmir, which were similarly responded to by Indian diplomats even as the UNGA members watched on with visible boredom. But unlike the public tutored by official narratives, they are rather more familiar with the UN Resolution on Kashmir, which enjoins Pakistan to withdraw from the Kashmir territory it has occupied before a plebiscite can beheld. According to Indian diplomats, Pakistan has rendered even that non-binding resolution unfruitful by gifting a large part of that territory to China to buy Beijing's support, in addition to contaminating the dispute with multiple wars, infiltrations, and terrorist attacks. monthlybrands Ahead of the diplomatic push at UN, Sharif dispatched 22 Pakistani Parliamentarians to various world capital to make the case on Kashmir. But nothing has been heard of their efforts, described a useless, multi-crore junkets in the Pakistani media, even though the media itself has been lathering up the ''Kashmir masla'' over the past few days. Efforts to draw Washington into the matter have also drawn a blank. BCCL "Nothing is changed about our view that we want to see India and Pakistan work this out bilaterally,'' State Department spokesman John Kirby intoned when asked to define the US policy on Kashmir. The way the Indian side sees it, Pakistan has forfeited its Kashmir position at the UN by repeatedly committing to resolve it bilaterally with India through the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration, both of which are outcomes of the Pakistani military trying to settle the issue militarily -- and losing on every occasion. vietnamnet/representational image Despite the heavy cost it has had to pay at home due to its well-chronicled fostering of terror groups, from al-Qaida and Taliban to India-specific groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, nothing seems to have been learned by the Pakistani military, which directs the anti-India operations, and increasingly the country's foreign policy itself. The military's intelligence wing ISI was also implicated in the court proceedings in the U.S involving the Mumbai terrorist attack planner David Headley and in funnelling money to Kashmiri separatist leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, both ISI stooges eventually going to prison. Despite this, the US administration has refrained from taking punitive action against Pakistan other than to lately whittling down military aid mainly on account of Congressional pressure, amid fears that excessive sanctions and punishment will drive it into China's arms. siliconistan Aside from China's occasional support, Pakistan currently stands isolated in the world community, and is at odds with its principal neighbours - India, Afghanistan, and Iran. Islamabad blames India for its poor ties with its Islamic neighbours despite their saying that Pakistan's nurturing of terrorist groups is the problem. Few important foreign leaders have visited Pakistan in recent times, and Pakistan is considered inconsequential and troublesome in most countries. India is now expected to step up pressure on Pakistan through the international community, taking advantage of its growing strategic and economic heft. While recent terrorist attacks on western interests, many of which have Pakistani fingerprints, make this a relatively easy job, Pakistan has also made it easy for India by giving UN -designated terrorist a free run and refusing to arrest or prosecute them for terrorist attacks. Its hosting of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar make also makes it inevitable that it is seen as the world's terrorism central. It only feels like yesterday when Mr Rajan was here at RBI. Now having returned to what seems like his true calling, the former RBI governor has resumed his role as 'Distinguished Service Professor of Finance' at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and would teach international corporate finance there in winter of 2017. Mr. Rajans schedule for the class of 2016-2017 will explore the challenges of corporate finance and investment in a more integrated global economy. After stepping down from his position as a governor at RBI, Rajan made it clear in his letter that he would return to academics after this. As per Chicago Booth School, Rajans research interests are in banking, corporate finance, and economic development, especially the role finance plays in it. youtube In his last statement, Rajan made it clear that he was willing to stay but couldnt come to the right kind of agreement with the government. "We started the dialogue and we were going along that path but essentially we agreed at some point that it did not make sense to pursue the dialogue further," he said. He was 'on leave' from Chicago University, with which he has been associated since 1991, during his tenure at RBI. The daughter of slain martyr Naik Sunil Kumar Vidharthi's daughter is proud of her fathers sacrifice. "I am proud of my father because he did not die but instead he sacrificed his life for the nation," Aarti said. Vidarthi was a resident of Boknari village in Bihar's Gaya district. Gaya (Bihar): Family members mourn death of Naik SK Vidarthi who lost his life in #UriAttack, yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Va16vELDCc ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 "The way the Pakistani militants are attacking the nation, we should also attack them in the same way. A befitting reply must be given to those who attack our security forces only then Pakistan will be able to understand our pain and suffering," she added. Befitting reply must b given to those who attack security forces: Daughter,Naik SK Vidarthi who died in #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/dN8VU9pWsp ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 This is what her father, 80 year old Jagnarain Singh has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a befitting reply to those attacking the security forces. "We are sad that we have lost our son. But we want to ask the government for how long this will continue? How many soldiers will lose their lives?" he asked. My son, during his last visit to Boknari some two-and-a-half months back, had promised me to celebrate this Dussehara at home with all family members and relatives." "He had also assured me to get out ancestral house repaired during his Dussehara vacation. But God willed otherwise, the soldiers father Mathura Yadav told the Hindustan Times. Vidharthi, who joined the army in 1999, has left behind his wife and four children namely Aarti, Anshu, Anshika and Aryan. His family will receive Rs. five lakh from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In one of the worst attacks in recent times, at least 18 soldiers lost their lives and 30 others got injured as terrorists struck an army camp close to the headquarters of the 12th Brigade at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district yesterday. In the wake of Pakistani terrors most horrifying attack on Indian soil, it is the families of the slain jawans with whom India is standing in solidarity. The attack on the Army base in Uri in Jammu & Kashmir claimed 18 lives. Howrah (West Bengal): Family mourn the death of sepoy G Dalai who lost his life in #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/sBCLy6gG4J ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Among them was Sepoy G Dalai, resident of West Bengals Jamuna Balia village He was only 22yrs old,was a junior.Normally seniors are sent there,why was my son sent there:Father of G Dalai #Uri pic.twitter.com/svH4bTJyWg ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 His father wonders why the 22 year old, a junior was sent to the army base at the LoC, which has received many such attacks in the last few months. Gen D Singh #COAS & all rks #IndianArmy pay homage & salute supreme sacrifice of bravehearts in Uri #J&KOps.18Sep16 pic.twitter.com/5WAAyZiG2k ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) September 19, 2016 The sepoy's mother told ANI: "He called me on Thursday, said I will go from here... bombs are being thrown... they will kill us." "Why did they do so? God will teach them a lesson," said the sister-in law of Sepoy G. Dalai with tears in her eyes. "Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son. He was only 22 years old. He was a junior officer, normally seniors are sent there. Why was my son sent there? The government should condemn this and ensure that strict punishment is given to those who killed my son," said his father. Burned alive BCCL The terrorists had arrived near the base through a nallah near it. They entered the base after cutting through the fence around it. The terrorists opened fire at the toilet area at about 5.15 am on Sunday. They then opened fire at the tents, located about 150 metres away from the toilets. "The men were sleeping in the tents," said another official. The kote (the storage facility for the arms) also caught fire. An assessment of the losses is being made. Barrels of diesel and kerosene located near the MT (Mechanical Transport area, where vehicles are parked) and the cook house also caught fire. "The terrorists lobbed 17 grenades in three minutes, igniting the diesel dump and creating a massive fire, which burnt the barracks and tents in an area of 150 metres. Thirteen soldiers were burnt alive and 32 others were injured with severe burns," said the official. The army flew the bodies out of Srinagar after the jawans were honoured with a wreath ceremony, which was attended by the regions top Army officers and Jammu, as well as state chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Here Are The 17 Martyrs Who Lost Their Lives In The Uri Attacks Indias need for boys often exceeds the will to give birth to a girl child. In the name of the so-called search for a male successor, India goes about killing many girl children in their mothers womb. This need has skewed Indias 1.2 billion populations gender demographics, especially in the western states like Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Female foeticide is still prominent in Harayana and it's very easy to get it done, especially in rural areas.. pic.twitter.com/xZ0fpkzTaR Nisha M #HDL (@SanghiDreams) September 13, 2016 Thus, in a rather strong move, which appears to be a rescue plan, search engine giants like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have come together to block all the information related to sex determination. The companies have enabled a system with which theyve blocked all such information, the government informed the Supreme Court. shareyouressays The system goes by the name of auto-block will wedge every single piece of information related to sex determination, even all the ads related to that. The giants have linked the software with a set of keywords, 22 to be precise, and thus anyone who searches with that keyword will get no information. The companies also informed that any other keyword apart from the mentioned will be added to the list, if it ignites the respective search. The keywords were suggested by a petitioner Sabu George. Recently, while surfing the web, Dr George came across several ads displaying the process of sex determination and organisations that perform the same. He then proceeded to the court, stating that such ads are against Indian laws. unp The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act was brought in to stop female foeticides and arrest the declining sex ratio in India. Directed by the court, the centre met with the search engine giants, who agreed to put the auto block system in place. According to a study conducted in 2012, nearly 12 million Indian female foetuses were aborted in the span of three decades. Even United Nations stated that the dwindling number of Indian girls has reached a stage of emergency proportions and thus contributing to increased crime against women. Soon after Mocambo management banned a taxi driver from entering because he was roadside people, the popular Kolkata hotspot came under fire on social media. Dilashi Hemnani then took it to Facebook and wrote a big post sharing her experience and how she was humiliated in front of everyone. A lot of people began sharing her post and within no time it went viral. 300 taxi drivers, belonging to the Kolkata Taxi Operators Union and West Bengal Taxi Operators Coordination have boycotted picking up and dropping at the restaurant. The two unions comprise 60% of the city's taxis. Naval Kishore Srivastava, president of the Taxi Operators Union, told the Indian Express about this problem of classism: The problem isnt limited to Mocambo, but also in other restaurants in this city. People continuously look down upon taxi drivers. We have decided that no taxi will pick up anyone from Mocambo or take anyone there, until the restaurant management apologises to us. This #Mocambo incident is a shame!since when have colonial ghosts taken over & replaced them with classist souls?! #Kolkata #notMYkolkata Damayanti (@Ch0tpot3) September 12, 2016 Most of the young generation are wearing TornJeans these days and that doesn't make them beggars #Mocambo #ClothesDefineCharacter #Kolkata M Gagan Sai (@GaganCool777) September 12, 2016 The driver Manish was accompanying Dilnashi, and the restaurant reception didnt allow them entry because he was not properly dressed, despite the driver wearing a clean shirt and trousers combination. Regulars at the restaurant started rating it 1 on 5 over social platforms and began to tweet about it. The restaurant management reportedly called him drunk, possibly as an excuse to not allow him entry. In 2015, Mocambo made it to our list of 19 Of The Most Over-Hyped Restaurants In The Country Also read: Sushma Swaraj Apologises To Manipuri Girl Who Faced Racism At Delhi Airport, Assures Swift Action Pakistan's cowardly act of killing 18 Indian soldiers on early Sunday morning in Uri, Baramulla has shocked the nation and calls of stern action against Pakistan are echoing from all around. But much like the previous terror strikes, be it parliament attack in 2001, 26/11 in Mumbai, Pathankot Airbase attack or other terror strikes, this time too, the response of our political elite has been dilly-dally, lame and forgiving. PTI Here are seven major terror strikes which left India gasping for breath while our political elite preferred a rather feeble response. We aren't advocating war or any violence that can lead to war between two nuclear powers, but there has to be some way we can teach our enemy a lesson in the language it understands. 1. Attack on the Parliament in 2001 Reuters Five terrorists entered the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 and not only tarnished the seat of India's democracy, but also exposed the country's weak security apparatus. Although all terrorist were neutralised but by then they had killed seven people. The political leadership could only manage to utter the usual rhetoric in the reaction. "We will liquidate the terrorists and their sponsors whoever they are, wherever they are," LK Advani, the then Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister was quoted as the first response. 2. 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008 Attack in Mumbai on 26 November 2008 has been the biggest attack on Indian sovereignty till date. While our forces, be it Mumbai Police which faced the first assault or army led by NSG commandos displayed unmatched valour. But political elite once again fumbled and dropped the ball. AFP In a televised address, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India would go after individuals and organisations behind the terrorist attacks, which were well-planned with external linkages. Then Home Minister, Shivraj Patil's greatest achievement during the seize was that every time he came before camera, he was in different attire which bestowed him with name 'Vastrapurush'. 3. Beheading of Indian soldiers by Pak troops in 2013 On January 8, 2013, near LOC, Pakistani troops killed two of our soldiers, Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, chopped off their heads and took them away. The entire nation was on the boil, including the mighty army. Then army chief, Gen. Bikram Singh reacted sharply and vowed to teach Pakistan a lesson. "We reserve the right to retaliate at a time of our choosing." "The attack on January 8 was premeditated, a pre-planned activity. Such an operation requires planning, detailed reconnaissance," said Singh. But like the previous times, political leadership could only say that this attack is hindrance in the peace process between the two countries. Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that this incident had seriously damaged the ongoing peace process and "after this dastardly act, there cant be business as usual with Pakistan." 4. 18 soldiers killed in ambush in Manipur in 2015 Probably the only terror strike where political leadership didn't surrender meekly and showed courage to retaliate with surgical strikes. The attack took place on June 5, 2015 when militants killed 18 soldiers while injured many others. After the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted, "Today's mindless attack in Manipur is very distressing. I bow to each and every soldier who has sacrificed his life for the Nation." The reaction did sound like the old rhetoric, our politicians are habitual of repeating after every major terror strike. But on June 10, Army's special forces launched an assault on terrorist hideouts inside Myanmar's territory and killed several militants. Myanmar, however, later denied Indian Army entering Myanmar border to carry out surgical strikes. 5. Pathankot attack On January 2, 2016, seven terrorist entered airbase in Pathankot, Punjab with a motive to incur heavy damage to equipment there. The gun battle continued for two day in which seven terrorists were killed while seven of our soldiers were martyred. AFP Modi government which came to power on the mandate of teaching Pakistan a lesson and securing India like never before came under pressure to act. But no action took place except the usual lip service. "I am of the opinion, it should not be taken as a government thinking, I always believe that if anyone harms you, he understands the same language," Parrikar had said. Since Pathankot, several other strikes have taken place like in Pompore and now Uri, but the iron hand dealing with Pakistan, this government had promised is a long absent. Oh, my heart! The ever-helpful guy, Leonardo DiCaprio was at it again. An elderly couple recently walked up to the actor asking for directions to help them get around New York City. And as always, Leo obliged. Because that's what he does. The Oscar-winning actor was walking his dog near the Hudson River when the couple approached him. Splash News Online Look at him! No care in the world - ready to offer help at the word go! According to a bystander, Leo "pulled out his phone and showed them something on his phone. Then he reached out and pointed them in the direction to go and they went on their way," reports People. Splash News Online Went on their way?! Well, the couple assumably failed to recognize the actor, given his black sunglasses and newsboy cap. But how? HOW? This isn't the first time Leo went out of his way to help someone, though. Just a few months ago, the actor comforted a woman after she rear-ended his Range Rover. How does he do this? Melt my heart in a puddle of mush every time? Remember the self-learning robot that escaped its lab TWICE and went headlong into the traffic creating a massive jam? Yeah, that guy. He has now been arrested. The police finally nabbed the pesky creature at a political rally in Moscow. Promobot - also known as Promotional Robot - was off showing his support for Russian Parliament candidate, Valery Kalachev, when the police tried to handcuff it and take him away. YouTube The arrest came about after a person phoned the police, telling them that the Promobot was out there recording the voters' opinions "for further processing and analysis by the candidate's team." The robot, according to eyewitness accounts, put up no resistance against its arresting officers. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. Five Reasons Why US-Israel Military Deal Stinks US' benevolent claims on security, peace, compromise and friendship are false if not intentionally misleading. By Marwan Bishara September 19, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Al Jazeera " - Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of United States foreign assistance since World War II. And this week it received the largest US military aid package ever signed between two countries. This begs the question: why does Israel, whose per capita income is among the world's top 20, receive tens of billions of dollars in military support each decade? The official justifications and reactions by the pundits have come mostly in ready phrases and cliches constricted to the ideological confines of the US-Israel "special relationship". The deal is a "win-win" for both the US and Israel. It benefits both countries: it's a "compromise" between what Israel asked for, $45bn, and what it settled for in the previous decade $30bn-plus; and it is indispensable for "Israel's security" in a "dangerous neighbourhood". We are also told that the US and Israeli governments have put their differences aside to underline the historic and global US strategic commitment to Israel. And if you had any doubts, the two parties underlined their commitments to the peace process. But the historic record tells an entirely different story; how those benevolent claims on security, peace, compromise and friendship are false, if not hypocritical and intentionally misleading. Five fallacies The first fallacy contends that the deal is a win-win for Israel and the United States. This is rich coming from the pro-Israel lobby that ensured the transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars to Israel both in government and tax-exempt donations. Let's not talk about how Israel buying US arms with US money is beneficial to Americans; that's just a silly repetition of the White House talking points. Rather, how at the height of the Cold War, Israel might have "earned" the military and economic subsidies as an active client of the United States against the Soviet Union and its allies in the Middle East and beyond. After all, it fought and won wars, and it occupied Arab lands three times its size, forcing Arab autocrats to plead for Washington's protection, help and mediation. But since the end of the Cold War, Israel has been of no tangible strategic benefit to Washington. Once a strategic asset, it has now become a burden, even a nuisance. In fact, the United States kept Israel out of each and every regional coalition it built in the context of its "war on terror", or at arms length from any war it fought, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya or elsewhere. So much so that Israeli leaders accused the Bushes, both father and son, of abandoning Israel following the 1991 Gulf War, the 9/11 attacks and the second Gulf War. Second, comes the claim that almost $40bn in military assistance is needed to preserve Israel's security. This is lame at best. Israel has been using US military assistance to preserve and defend its occupation, not its security. If it withdrew from the lands it occupied for decades, these threats, real or imagined, would have been diminished substantially. Remember, Hamas and Hezbollah are the result - not the triggers - of Israeli occupation of Palestine and Lebanon. Paradoxically, after Israel signed separate peace agreements with Jordan after Egypt - its chief Arab rival the US provided Israel with more, not less military assistance. Israel's latest justification being the Islamic Republic. Iran nuclear deal But Iran was totally drained by its 1980s war against Iraq, and by US dual containment in the 1990s. And as of this year, the Iran nuclear deal has put Irans nuclear programme to rest, at least for decades. If the Obama administration is totally convinced that the deal serves and protects Israel, which happens to be a closet nuclear power, why then augment the military assistance? The same goes for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) which, like Iran, has never actually attacked Israel, and is being attacked mercilessly by a dozen countries, including the US and Russia. Third comes the fallacy that peace comes with strength. You may or may not have seen the memo, but the US and Israel are committed to peace, or more accurately, the Peace Process which was devised by the US to bring peace to the "holy land" a quarter of a century ago, but never did. At any rate, the US and Israel have long justified the need to arm Israel, and even render it militarily superior to all its neighbours combined, so that it can make certain "compromises" and "concessions" to its neighbours for the sake of peace. But the record shows that the more Washington militarised and empowered Israel against its Arab neighbours, the less prone it has been to making compromises. Indeed, one can see a perfect correlation between US military support and Israeli extremism. And some, like General David Petraeus, saw Israeli intransigence fomenting anti-American sentiments that undermine the US in the region. The fourth fallacy revolves around the idea of the unshakable friendship. Really, what's a little money between friends? We've established that it's not little - Israel received more US assistance during the Cold War, $62.5bn (1949-1996) than Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined, $62.4bn. But what about the friends bit? Setting aside for a moment the fact that states have interests not friends, what is this friendship they're talking about? Especially, when at no time has a presumed ally ever publicly humiliated US officials in their own country and internationally, as Israeli leaders have done. Indeed, Benjamin Netanyahu is the embodiment of the phrase "with friends like these who needs enemies". He has meddled in the US elections and practically campaigned against President Barack Obama in 2012. Netanyahu and co have not only disagreed but also fought the Obama administration in the media, in Washington and in Congress regarding the peace negotiations, the illegal settlements and the Iran nuclear deal, all the while Obama was making all his arguments based on what he saw as being in Israel's best interests. It's rather disingenuous to claim that assisting Israel despite its intransigence shows maturity in separating Obama-Netanyahu political differences from the US-Israel strategic commitment. In reality, the deal rewards Israel for its intransigence and empowers Netanyahu and the Israeli Right to further militarise, build more illegal settlements and obstruct US strategic interests when it deems it desirable. If US Secretary of State John Kerry was correct to point out in 2014 that the latest diplomatic attempt could be the last, and its failure will lead to apartheid, the Obama administration has just put the US squarely behind Israel's apartheid in Palestine. Pragmatism or hypocrisy My fifth and last point is about dishonesty as much as falsehood. I could only shake my head in puzzlement when I read The Guardian, The New York Times, and the Associated Press report from Washington about how "the Obama administration has been eager to lock in the agreement before leaving office to help bolster Obama's legacy and undercut the criticism that his administration was insufficiently supportive of Israel". Has the White House sacrificed sound strategy for cynical politics to leave a legacy? Wasting tens of billions of US tax dollars to bolster a legacy, further militarising Israel, and triggering another arms race in an explosive region for what? For a legacy? A legacy that underlines US support for a country that continues to dispossess and occupy another people in total disregard of US advice, after a quarter of a century of US diplomacy. Does all this make Obama a pragmatist, or a hypocrite? Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. Follow him on Facebook. Musings On Two Of The Dumbest Wars The US Has Ever Fought By The Saker September 19, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Unz Review " - No, this wont be about Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan or any other US military war of choice which, while dumb, could at least result in some kind of appearance of victory, no matter how feeble (say, against a few Cuban engineers armed with AKs in Grenada). Today I want to share a few thoughts about the two wars the US has been engaged in for decades even though they never, ever had a chance to win: the war on drugs and the war on guns. Shocked that I would put these two wars in the same category? Think again. True, the war in drugs is something the (so-called) Right loves. The war in guns is the favorite of the (so-called) Left. Granted. That is one difference I wont deny. But the rest? First, both wars are based on a logical fallacy: that an object, an item, is the source of evil. This is why politicians on both sides (lets just pretend that there are, really, sides in the US official political spectrum, even if there are none) love them. Put yourselves in the shoes of a US politician and ask yourself what you would prefer: to deal with a complex problem (violence/addiction) which has its roots deep inside human nature and which is exacerbated by the very nature of our society, the society which has put you, the putative US politician, into a position of power and which now dangles the promise to let you join the select club of the ruling 1%ers or to simply ban an inanimate object by voting yea on a piece of legislature? Think of all the risks a US politician would take if he/she wanted to deal with the real issues, especially those who are either rooted in, or the result of, our deeply dysfunctional social and political order. And think how smart, courageous, principled and even heroic you, the politician, would look if you took a tough stance against drugs/guns? All you really need to do is make sure first is whether your constituents suffer from drugs-phobia or gun-phobia and, voila, you are a hero! Simple and very, very effective. Second, both wars are easy to explain to the dumb and ignorant. Lets be honest here, as a politician you need to mostly cater to the left side of the Bell Curve with some attention given to the center. Not only do smart folks tend to distrust politicians, but they also like to reach their own conclusions, often based on lengthy research and the analysis of complex arguments. To make things worse, smart people often tend to be anti-authoritarian individualists who favor free choice over state enforced laws, rules and regulations. Third, both wars are easily fueled by the fear factor: drug warriors have a phobia (in the sense of both hate and fear) of drugs just as gun warriors have a phobia of guns, which means that rather than rationally analyze the issue, their position will be emotionally driven, free from all the complexities of real life. A politician will always prefer an emotional argument over a rational one because only emotion generates the kind of unthinking loyalty a politician needs to secure his/her power base. Fourth, both wars are a bureaucratic and financial bonanza. Why? Because these are wars which will never, ever, be won and that, in turn, guarantees not only a steady streams of dollars, but even the creation of specialized agencies such as the DEA or the ATF whose very existence will depend on never winning the war on drugs/guns. A bureaucrats dream come true! Fifth, there is also a much more subtle but no less important aspect of the war on drugs/guns: they make it possible to easily detect potentially disloyal elements. Drugs users, especially, since they break the law to consume their drugs, have already crossed the psychological line of deliberately breaking the law and disobeying the doxa of the state and society and they are much more likely to engage in other forms of disloyalty (such as engaging in various forms of crimethink) than law abiding citizens. Legal gun owners in the USA are extremely law abiding (In Florida and Texas, permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors or felonies at one- sixth the rate that police officers; source), but a lot of them are also fiercely individualists who do not like to rely on the state for their defense and who often even believe that the 2nd Amendment was crafted with the specific intention to allow citizens to resist against a state turned authoritarian (of course, illegal gun owners are, by definition, felons and criminals who are extremely disloyal to anything but themselves). So, in a way, the use of drugs or the possession of weapons is a good way to, shall we say, screen for those elements who could turn out to be potential trouble makers. Of course, at this point in time gun owners have it much, much, better than drug users. Alas, there never was a constitutional amendment protecting the right of each citizen to ingest, smoke, inject or otherwise consume any substance he/she wants simply because at the time of the drafting of the Constitution that freedom was an self-evident truth (wars on booze and drugs happened much later). In fact, the list of right specifically granted to the state was assumed exhaustive and the state could not engage in any legistlation not specifically authorized, while today we see the exact opposite of that: whatever freedom is not expressly protected is fair game for the millionaire lawyers sitting in Congress. But considering the very real risk of a Hillary Presidency soon, the 2nd Amendement might well be soon eroded to such a degree as to become unrecognizable. Even the Republicans have an ugly record, especially at a local level, for passing all sorts of petty and dumb regulations which gradually but constantly limit the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. In some jurisdictions the mere possession of a firearm is already considered a felony while others try hard to make self-defense a crime in almost all circumstances. So yes, the 2nd Amendement is still there, but barely, and if Hillary gets to nominate the next Supreme Court Justice it might be gone soon. Besides, what the gun-haters failed to achieve in the courts, they have already achieved in a cultural sense where, for example, a revolver is seen by many as an instrument of murder rather than a home-defense tool, a hunting tool, a sports tool or just a harmless symbol of freedom (historically, free men were allowed to carry weapons, slaves were not). I want to make it clear that I am not comparing guns and drugs by themselves. I am only comparing the rationale and methods used by the regime in Washington to wage a war on these otherwise completely different things. Now lets engage in a little thought experiment. Lets imagine that Congress decides to legalize all drugs and guns overnight: all drugs, medical or recreational, would be come available over-the-counter in any store willing to sell them and the right to bear arms would be completely protected under Constitutional carry guarantees. What would happen next? Some will say that the US would turn into a gigantic war zone where millions of citizens sky-high on PCP and crack cocaine would begin shooting each other with assault rifles and that all those not busy murdering each other would be lying around terminally stoned. Do you believe that too? I dont. For one thing I believe that the number of people using drugs or owning guns would change very little. Sure, there would be a short-term novelty effect, but soon the numbers would stabilize. Shootings and overdoses would also remain pretty much at the same level as today. What would drop dramatically and immediately would be crime rate, not so much because of the deterrent effect of an armed citizenry (just like today, most folks do not go around carrying a firearm) as due to the fantastic effect of a complete collapse of the illegal drug market following a legalization of drugs. [Sidebar: A friend of mine is a detective in the Daytona Police Department. He used to be in Narcotics for years. I recently asked him what percentage of crime in Daytona is drug-related. He said almost all of it. It turns out that not only does the trafficking in drugs result in a huge share of the violent crime in Daytona, but that most burglaries, thefts, break-ins, etc. are also committed by drug addicts. And even though drug traffickers and users cannot legally obtain a gun (convicted felons dont have that right in Florida), drug dealers all pack firearms (even if most of their guns are in very poor condition or even broken, and the felons themselves very bad marksmen). The truth is that if drugs were made legal the size of US police departments could rapidly and dramatically be reduced and that the remaining small force could go back to normal, civilized, police functions rather than fight the kind of military war in drugs with APCs, helicopters and SWAT teams they are engaged in every day.] My point? Simple: mainly to show to that those who want legalize drugs (the so-called Liberals) have much more in common with the defenders of the 2nd Amendement (the so-called Conservatives) than they think, and to show to those cherish their right to keep and bear arms that they, in turn, have a lot in common with the potheads they are so-willing to condemn and put in jail. At the end of the day, it makes absolutely no more sense to authorize drugs/guns and ban guns/drugs than it makes to oppose abortions and support the death penalty. Just as life is either a sacred value or not, so is the freedom of each person to decide for himself/herself how he/she chooses to live. It all boils down to a few simple questions: do we feel that it is our right to curtail the freedoms of our fellow citizens because we do not approve of their choices? Do we believe that inanimate objects can, by themselves, cause such evils as violence or addiction? Do we believe that it will ever become possible to eliminate weapons or mind-altering substances from our societies? And, most importantly, do we believe that each individual ought to have the right to answer these questions for himself or herself, or do we believe that the state ought to enforce its choices on the rest of us? Trump: Trojan Horse for the Establishment Or Mighty Mouth For Mankind? By David Haggith September 19, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Great Recession Blog " - I crave the opportunity to see an antiestablishment candidate win the election. I would exult in seeing our corrupt establishment shattered. So, while I do not like Trump the man (as it would appear he has never done anything that didnt entirely serve his own self-interest and pompous ego), I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing him upset establishment Republicans and establishment Democrats alike. (And, yes, they are alike, so lets just call them the establishment because whether they are Republican or Democrat is not relevant; both parties exist to serve the same rich people and themselves either way.) Ill even acknowledge that perhaps it takes someone as brazen and blusterous as Trump in order to stand up to such a powerful assemblage of egoists as we have embedded in congress and in the presidents administration, which now rules by decree. Nearly all of them strive to make sure you have only globalist options to vote for; but their new-world odor is, Im sure, a stench that rises all the way to heaven. This derelict congress is a worse evil than either candidate as it continues to sink the US deeply into debt with no plan or action to right the economy since it first capsized in the waves of the Great Recession. Each party is more worried that the other party will get credit than they are concerned about saving the nation, and there is nothing less patriotic than putting your party before you country. My desire to see the economy righted and the establishment overturned (peacefully), however, is exactly what makes me cautious about any gold-plated politician who has lived all of his life in the realm of the one percenters and who has defaulted on more grandiose debts than anyone I know. Nevertheless, while I have never liked this particular publicity whore, Id put up with his relentless boasting and forgive his audacious past if it takes that kind of brassy, risk-taking adventurer to find someone with enough spine to stand up to the intimidations of congress. Im willing to admit that it might take all of that, so whether or not I like him is not important unless it is leading me to see flaws that may mean Trump is not what he makes himself out to be. Call a spade a spade even if it trumps everything Overturning a vast global establishment is the kind of battle that will take someone with unbelievable tenacity, intelligence, and courage. The opponents are rich, and you can be sure some are willing to kill to keep the status quo that is making them immensely rich (and have killed). Unfortunately, I have seen often in life that bellicose people are usually nowhere near as brave as they sound. People like Ike, who was strong in war and humble in attitude, are usually the ones with real courage. It is not usually the most blustery people who have the deepest strength to carry through with the right thing for the right reasons, regardless of cost to themselves. Trump is aptly named for how often he blows his own horn in order to create his own image; but his actions show he backed out of previous presidential races when it was clear they werent going to be an easy win after getting lots of publicity for teasing people with the possibility that hed run. He has also backed out of many a business deals when things got rough, rather than push forward to try to make things work. You can do that in business through bankruptcy, but you dont have the option when you are president and things are not going your way; and a triumphant Trump is guaranteed to have a congress that does not go his way (unless he capitulates to the Republican side as he now appears to be doing with every decision he makes). Is Donald Trump a Trojan Horse? Trump looks like victory to us antiestablishment voters on the outside, but what lurks inside of this man? Is he as hollow as his mouth is big? (You could land an airliner in that thing and still have room to park the USS Nimitz.) The reservations Im going to express about Trump in this short series this week are based solely on his political actions, not on the brassy stuff that I personally dislike. Thats why I cleared those concerns out of the way first to make it clear that I acknowledge that a huge ego could be what it takes to combat the establishment. Much to my disappointment, Trumps actions run completely opposite of his words every time we see him make an actual political decision. While Trump sounds so bold in his political incorrectness that I might be inclined to think as many others do that he was actually trying to throw the election by being as unlikable to the majority as he can be, I know and he knows (and you do, too) there are a lot of angry people who need someone to voice their anger. Trump knows he can tap into a huge vault of anger; and, as a media mogul himself, he knows better than anyone how to play the media for free publicity by being outrageous something for which hes always had a near whacky knack. Weve seen him do it for years, even when he was not running for office or when he ran and quit. Hes done it to keep the Trump name, as a brand, always in the media, always on the public mind, always associated with greatness and wealth because that is the kind of real estate he develops and sells. He caters to the wealthy. Thats his brand, and nothing could give it more cache than the presidency of the United States. While those are my reservations, its his latest political actions that concern me. In the few places where we have seen Trump make actual political decisions so far, his choices have been 100% pro-establishment as I pointed out in a recent article titled Whirled Politics: Would you rather be Trumped or Pillaried? I wished very much to see something different than what I am seeing. From Trumps choice of a 180-proof neocon vice presidential candidate to an embedded Goldman-Sachs campaign financial manager to the Heritage Foundations dream team of budget advisors he assembled, Trump has selected people who wholly embody the establishment. Everything these people have ever done or said has been in support of the Wall Street one-percenters, in support of financial deregulation, and, for the most part, in support of the military-industrial complex at the cost of any debt imaginable. The team he creates says everything about where he intends to head. To be clear, I am for a strong military and not against all wars. I believed and still do believe that going to war in Afghanistan was right and justifiable, but it was stupid later on to divert available resources from Afghanistan to Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11 nor with sponsoring terror against the US nor with developing weapons of mass destruction. We should have spent that money winning the peace in Afghanistan by building something good there in the place of what we tore down. Instead, we created a power vacuum in the now disintegrated nation or Iraq, which is rife with internal rivalries and, so, became the ideal incubator for ISIS. That is exactly the kind of result I told friends I feared when I first heard King George Bush II wanting to engage Iraq in a war. I think neocons have taken us into ill-conceived, unjust, pre-emptive wars aimed at recreating the world in our image. We have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of unseen people who never raised a finger against us and most likely never would have in wars that have been monstrous failures. After Iraq, we backed a coup in Crimea, a civil war in Libya, and seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot in Syria because weve returned to the Vietnam practice of fighting wars from Washington. (That, however, is due to Obama and his ilk, not due to the neocons.) Weve now got war everywhere. If we think the people who remain alive in those countries are going to thank us for killing their brothers and sisters or sons and daughters or their fathers and mothers in order to save them from a single despot, we are sadly and deeply self-deluded. We may think the despot was their deepest concern; however, as with all people, it turns out family is first. We have created nations filled with people who hate us just because we think we know best what government is good for them (and, frankly, for oil and the economic gain that fighting brings us). Politicians like Killary and Trumps VP, Pence, backed these wars 100% and have spent a nations ransom trying to force change upon a world that has no intention of changing a world that, if it did become democratic, would use its vote to declare war on us for killing their brothers and sisters. Hillary started some of these wars herself (at least, initiated our involvement in them). Pence strongly advocated for every one. Power-drunk politicians in both parties support these missions in order to control the world and its wealth, for most of them are globalists and elitists at heart who serve Wall Street. The rest are misguided fools whose minds have been consumed by their own dogma. They vote for these wars because numerous American corporations get wealthy making equipment to replace the machinery that gets blown up; they get wealthy pumping fuel into the engines and making new tires to replace rubber that is too worn to meet the road. The more of that equipment we burn through, the more they can get the government to pay to replace it. These politicians are owned by the corporations that make this hardware. The best of them believe that, by serving those corporations, they are serving the American economy; the worst of them are courtesans who simply love to be wined and dined and admired. And why do I point all that out? Because these are the people Trump is assembling has his leadership team. So, if you think Trump is any threat to the establishment, you may be riding a Trojan horse. As soon as I learned that Trump chose Larry Kudlow and Steven Moore to be his Senior Economic Advisors, I feared he was selling out to the establishment in order win Republican support (and probably because Trump is a big-idea man who always looks to others to come up with the particulars that will make a big idea work, but hes picked the wrong others). I have a file full or articles on Kudlow that I keep in my Idiot Box where I store the stupid things economists and Wall Street moguls say. Larry is soon to become (again) an article of his own. That is the team assembled inside the Trump horse. On the outside, it is all Trump, brazen and shiny and bold. On the inside, it is entirely Wall-Street warriors and neocon combatants. In the next article in this series, Ill dig into the Kudlow-Moore tax plan which gives us the major components of Trumps action plan in order to show how deeply establishment Trumps plan is in its debt-based economic expansion and its retreaded, spiffed-up, establishment ideas that got us where we are today. Be careful that you dont believe something just because you want to believe it so badly. That is how the citizens of Troy were conquered in the Trojan war. Id love to have an anti-establishment candidate roll in, too. Sadly, I dont think I do. The time to hold Trump to task is now, not after the establishment makeover turns him into their Trojan Trump card, but while they are trying so that they dont succeed. The brazenly boisterous, blusteringly bellicose, trumpeting Trump. Who is the man behind that mighty mouth? If there is one thing certain about Trump it is that he stirs up conversations all over the globe, but is he anything more than a grand snake-oil salesman? Has he ever stood for or served anything greater than himself? Does he exemplify integrity of leadership in the deals he makes, or does he just pursue whatever course is expedient at the time, regardless of how selfish or wrong? Does he own his failures or blame them on others? Does he play by the rules as he demands impoverished immigrants do or treat rules as inconveniences to be ignored by the wealthy when they go against his own wealth building? Does he care at all about whom he hurts or ever even stop to think about it? Is he a man who is willing to speak out against stupid political correctness, regardless of personal cost, or just an opportunist who loves to hear himself and who knows how to tap into public rage as a potent force for his own purposes? Is he force or farce? Is he more interested in building a brand or in building a nation? Here are a variety of biographical or semi-biographical books from all sides about Donald Trump, including from his own mouth: Libya, David Camerons Iraq? Damning Report Shreds Another War Monger By Felicity Arbuthnot September 19, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Global Research " - Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron is consistent in just one thing jumping ship when the going gets tough. He announced his resignation in the immediate wake of the 23rd July referendum in which Britain marginally voted to leave the EU, a referendum which he had fecklessly called to appease right wing little Englanders, instead of facing them down. He lost. The result is looming financial catastrophe and the prospect of unraveling forty three years of legislations (Britain joined the then European Economic Community on 1st January 1973.) No structure was put in place for a government Department to address the legal and bureaucratic enormities should the leave vote prevail. There is still none. Cameron however committed to staying on as an MP until the 2020 general election, vowing grandiosely: I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed, he said of the small island off Europe which he had potentially sunk, now isolated from and derided by swathes of its continental neighbours with the sound of trading doors metaphorically slamming shut reverberating across the English Channel. David Cameron has now jumped again, resigning unexpectedly and immediately as an MP on Monday 12th September, giving the impression that he was not in agreement with certain policies of his (unelected) successor, Theresa May. He stated: Obviously I have my own views about certain issues As a former PM its very difficult to sit as a back-bencher and not be an enormous diversion and distraction from what the Government is doing. I dont want to be that distraction. What an ego. Over the decades of course, the House of Parliament has been littered with former Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers who have remained constituency MPs without being a distraction. DEVASTATING INDICTMENT The following day the real reason for his decision seemed obvious. Parliaments Foreign Affairs Select Committee released their devastating findings on Camerons hand in actions resulting in Libyas near destruction, contributing to the unprecedented migration of those fleeing UK enjoined liberations, creating more subsequent attacks in the West and swelling ISIS and other terrorist factions. Cameron blamed for rise of ISIS, thundered The Times headline, adding: Damning Inquiry into Libya points finger at former PM. The Guardian opined: MPs condemn Cameron over Libya debacle and: Errors resulted in country becoming failed state and led to growth of ISIS. The Independent owned I: Camerons toxic Libya legacy, with: Former PM blamed for collapse in to civil war, rise of ISIS and mass migration to Europe in Inquirys scathing verdict and Cameron ignored lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan The Independent chose: Camerons bloody legacy: Damning Report blames ex-PM for ISIS in Libya. No wonder he plopped over the side. The Report is decimating. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee concluding: Through his decision-making in the National Security Council, former Prime Minister, David Cameron was ultimately responsible for the failure to develop a coherent Libya strategy. The disasters leading to that final verdict include the UKs intervention being based on erroneous assumption an incomplete understanding of the situation on the ground, with Cameron leaping from limited intervention to an: opportunist policy of (entirely illegal) regime change, based on inadequate intelligence. Once Gaddafi had been horrendously assassinated, resultant from the assault on his country: failure to develop a coherent strategy had led to political and economic collapse, internecine warfare, humanitarian crisis and the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) in North Africa. After his death, Gaddafis body, with that of his son, Mutassim, was laid out on the floor of a meat warehouse in Misrata. (I, 14th September 2016.) We came, we saw, he died, then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton told the media, with a peal of laughter. (1) Just under a year later US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three US officials were murdered in Benghazi. Payback time for her words, taken out on the obvious target? Muammar Gaddafi, his son Muatassim and his former Defence Minister were reportedly buried in unmarked graves in the desert, secretively, before dawn on 25th October 2011. The shocking series of events speaking volumes for the New Libya and the Cameron-led, British governments blood dripping hands in the all. The UKs meddling hands were involved from the start. France, Lebanon and the UK, supported by the US, proposed UN Security Council Resolution 1973. Britain was the second country, after France, to call for a no fly zone over Libya in order to: to use all necessary measures to prevent attacks on civilians. It neither explicitly authorised the deployment of ground forces nor addressed the question of regime change or of post conflict reconstruction, reminds the Committee. Moreover: France led the international community in advancing the case for military intervention in Libya UK policy followed decisions taken in France. Former Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder confirmed to the Committee: Cameron and Sarkozy were the undisputed leaders in terms of doing something. (Emphasis added.) The US was then instrumental in extending the terms of the Resolution to even a no drive zone and assumed authority to attack the entire Libyan governments command and communications network. INSTITUTIONAL IGNORANCE On the 19th March 2011, a nineteen nation coalition turned a no fly zone into a free fire zone and embarked on a blitzkrieg of a nation of just 6.103 million (2011 figure.) All this in spite of the revelation to the Committee by former UK Ambassador to Libya Sir Dominic Asquith, that the intelligence base at to what was really happening in the country: might well have been less than ideal. Professor George Joffe, renowned expert on the Middle East and North Africa, noted: the relatively limited understanding of events and that: people had not really bothered to monitor closely what was happening. Analyst Alison Pargeter: expressed her shock at the lack of awareness in Whitehall of the history and regional complexities of Libya. Incredibly Whitehall appeared to have been near totally ignorant as to the extent to which the rebellion might have been a relatively small group of Islamic extremists. Former Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord Richards was apparently unaware that Abdelhakim Belhadj and other Al Qaeda linked members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group were involved. It was a grey area, he said. However: a quorum of respectable Libyans were assuring the Foreign Office that militant Islam would not benefit from the rebellion. With the benefit of hindsight, that was wishful thinking at best, concluded his Lordship. The possibility that militant extremist groups would attempt to benefit from the rebellion should not have been the preserve of hindsight. Militant connections with transnational militant extremist groups were know before 201l, because many Libyans had participated in the Iraq insurgency and in Afghanistan with al-Qaeda, commented the Committee. (Emphasis added) Iraq revisited. Back then it was the respectable Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi and their ilk selling a pack of lies to the seemingly ever gullible, supremely unworldly Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Much was made by William Hague, Foreign Secretary at the time and by Liam Fox, then Defence Secretary, of Muammars Gaddafis threatening rhetoric. The Committee pointed out that: Despite his rhetoric, the proposition that Muammar Gaddafi would have ordered the massacre of civilians in Benghazi was not supported by the available evidence. Further, two days before the 19 nation onslaught: On 17 March 2011, Muammar Gaddafi announced to the rebels in Benghazi, Throw away your weapons, exactly like your brothers in Ajdabiya and other places did. They laid down their arms and they are safe. We never pursued them at all. Subsequent investigation revealed that when Gaddafis forces re-took Ajdabiya in February 2011, they did not attack civilians. Muammar Gaddafi also attempted to appease protesters in Benghazi with an offer of development aid before finally deploying troops. Professor Joffe agreed that Gaddafis words were historically at odds with his deeds: If you go back to the American bombings in the 1980s of Benghazi and Tripoli, rather than trying to remove threats to the regime in the east, in Cyrenaica, Gaddafi spent six months trying to pacify the tribes that were located there. The evidence is that he was well aware of the insecurity of parts of the country and of the unlikelihood (that military assault was the answer.) Therefore, he would have been very careful in the actual responsethe fear of the massacre of civilians was vastly overstated. In June 2011 an Amnesty International investigation failed to find corroborative evidence of mass human rights violations by government troops but did find that: the rebels in Benghazi made false claims and manufactured evidence and that: much Western media coverage has from the outset presented a very one-sided view of the logic of events CONDEMNATION; AIDING ISIS The Committee wrote damningly: We have seen no evidence that the UK Government carried out a proper analysis of the nature of the rebellion in Libya. It may be that the UK Government was unable to analyse the nature of the rebellion in Libya due to incomplete intelligence and insufficient institutional insight and that it was caught up in events as they developed. It could not verify the actual threat to civilians posed by the Gaddafi regime; it selectively took elements of Muammar Gaddafis rhetoric at face value; and it failed to identify the militant Islamist extremist element in the rebellion. UK strategy was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the evidence. Moreover: The deployment of coalition air assets shifted the military balance in the Libyan civil war in favour of the rebels, with: The combat performance of rebel ground forces enhanced by personnel and intelligence provided by States such as the UK, France, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Lord Richards informed that the UK had a few people embedded with the rebel forces. Arms and tanks were also provided to the rebels by members of the coalition in contravention of Resolution 1973. Was the aim of the assault regime change or civilian protection? Lord Richard said: one thing morphed almost ineluctably in to the other. The Committee summarized: The UKs intervention in Libya was reactive and did not comprise action in pursuit of a strategic objective. This meant that a limited intervention to protect civilians drifted into a policy of regime change by military means. (Emphasis added.) The Cameron-led UK government had focused exclusively on military intervention, under the National Security Council, a Cabinet Committee created by David Cameron. The Committees final observation is: We note former Prime Minister David Camerons decisive role when the National Security Council discussed intervention in Libya. We also note that Lord Richards implicitly dissociated himself from that decision in his oral evidence to this inquiry. The Government must commission an independent review of the operation of the NSC It should be informed by the conclusions of the Iraq Inquiry and examine whether the weaknesses in governmental decision-making in relation to the Iraq intervention in 2003 have been addressed by the introduction of the NSC. Cameron who said he wanted to be heir to Blair seems to have ended up as just that, pivotal cheerleader for the butchery of a sovereign leader, most of his family, government and the destruction of a nation. Muammar Gaddafi inherited one of the poorest nations in Africa . However, by the time he was assassinated, Libya was unquestionably Africa s most prosperous nation. Libya had the highest GDP per capita and life expectancy in Africa and less people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands. Libyans did not only enjoy free health care and free education, they also enjoyed free electricity and interest free loans. The price of petrol was around $0.14 per liter and 40 loaves of bread cost just $0.15. Consequently, the UN designated Libya the 53rd highest in the world in human development. (2) End note: David Cameron jumped ship yet a third time he refused to give evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. The full text of the Committees findings: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmfaff/119/11905.htm#_idTextAnchor023 Notes http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clinton-on-qaddafi-we-came-we-saw-he-died/ http://www.countercurrents.org/chengu120113.htm Copyright Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, 2016 Don't Lecture Me From London About What's Happening In Syria Video Bouthaina Shaaban is a Syrian politician and is currently the political and media adviser to the President of Syria. "My people are being massacred by Western forces in support of terrorists." The Lagos State chapter of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has commended Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for being considerate toward the plight of civil servants. The state deputy chairman of NUJ, Mr Adeshina Adedoyin, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday He said that the governor had been prompt in the payment of the civil servants salaries in addition to holding quarterly meetings with the labour unions. He added that Ambode had taken the initiative to clear the backlog of promotions. The governor of Lagos state has been prompt in the payment of workers salaries in the state. He is the only governor that has organised a quarterly meetings with the labour unions to find out about their challenges and the way forward. In the time past, we would write to the governor asking for a meeting with us but it was rarely honoured. Ambode is the only one who has taken such initiative maybe because he was once a civil servant and knows the plight of workers, he said. The labour leader said this was an example that governors should emulate him, especially those who had treated teachers unfairly. The chairman said that most teachers in the country were either paid half salary or not paid at all. He said that the attitude of government officials was affecting the educational system in the state, adding that no nation could develop with the level of education in the country. Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has relieved the General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Mr Michael Akindele, of his duties with effect from Sept. 14, 2016. The Head, Public Affairs Unit of the agency, Mr Adebayo Kehinde, made this revelation while speaking to reporters in Lagos on Monday. He said, Mr Tiamiyu Adesina has been asked to act in the stead of the outgoing boss with effect from the same date of his sack. Adesinas appointment was contained in a letter written by the Head of Service, Public Service Office in the State, Mrs Olabowale Ademola. Adesina started his career at the Governors office, Secretariat, Ibadan in 1982 and later worked in various capacities in both the public and private sectors including the Lagos State Library Board. He also worked at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, CIPMN, and at the National Theatre as an Assistant Chief Marketing Officer/Head of South-South Zone, Calabar, before he retired in May 2016. A group known as the Anti-Corruption Unit, has released documents showing that the immediate past chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, operates foreign accounts. According to the documents released by the group, the lawmaker allegedly operates an account with the ING Bank located at Forum House, Granville Street, St-Heller, Jerssy JE2 4UF, in the Channel Islands, United Kingdom. The address contained in the account is 453 Crankbrook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW, while a breakdown showed that there was a total of 1.558million in the account between June 1 and June 30, 2016. A statement of account also obtained by the group showed that 623.44 was withdrawn from the account, leaving it with a balance of 1.376,193.84. The Anti-Corruption Unit said the bank details were obtained by some lawyers in the United Kingdom. Hon. Jibrin, who has been championing an anti-corruption crusade in the House of Representatives since his removal as chairman of the appropriation committee by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, by purportedly maintaining and operating a foreign account, flouted the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. Part 1, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution states that; The President, Vice President, members of the National Assembly and Houses of Assembly of states and such other public officers or persons as the National Assembly may by law shall not maintain or operate a bank account in any country outside Nigeria. The embattled Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency lawmaker was yet to react to the claim by the ACU as at the time of publishing this report. A member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has begged Nigerians to further exercise patience with the All Progressives Congress-led governments at both state and federal levels over the current economic recession. Speaking with newsmen in Osogbo, the state capital at the weekend, Oyintiloye, who represents Obokun State constituency, expressed optimism that the nation would overcome the current economic recession and bounce back stronger. The Chairman, Committee on Information and Strategy at the Osun Assembly, noted that it was understandable that the economic situation in the country had taken its toll on virtually every Nigerian. However, Oyintiloye said that the efforts to turn things around should inspire hope and courage in the people. He noted that the legislative arm is aware of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administrations economic strategies that would eventually make Nigeria better. He also commended the people of Osun State for their perseverance and patience in the face of economic crunch and pleaded that more patience and sacrifice are required. It is understandable that Nigerians are going through very hard time, owing to the poor economic situation and this has been causing a lot of pains. These pains cannot be unconnected with depreciation in the price of Naira, drop in the oil prices, scarcity of money in circulation and the corruption that had affected all the fabrics of our economy which the present government is now struggling to fight. On the other hand, it is understandable that the government led by President Buhari is working hard to turn things around, Oyintiloye said. Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has again criticized President Muhammadu Buhari over his poor handling of the economy, which is currently in recession, describing the president as the major problem of Nigeria. According to him, Our President, through his actions and inactions is destroying everything that makes Nigeria a country and well-meaning Nigerians must stand-up to be counted in the crusade to save the country from going under. The Ekiti governor accused President Buhari of de-marketing Nigeria by depicting her citizens before the international community as dishonest. Which foreign investor will invest his money in a country of dishonest people? he asked. Who made investors to leave Nigeria if not President Buhari, who created atmosphere of economic and political instability in the country by his acts of nepotism and vindictiveness? Fayose stressed that Nigerians will not measure Buharis government on the basis of what his predecessors failed to do, but on what he did or failed to do between May 29, 2016 and May 29, 2019. He said with the level of hunger in the country, President Buhari should rather get serious with governance, stop his blame game, and be innovative. A statement signed by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, reads in part: No nation has ever reached greatness by their leaders engaging in blame game, nepotism and vengeance as being done by President Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) government. Nigerians must begin to speak out now before the country is totally destroyed by this one-man government, which does not see any idea coming from those perceived as opposed to the government as worthy of consideration. Like I said before, the main issue confronting Nigerians now is hunger and hunger does not speak the language of politics. It is therefore no longer about politics; it is about preventing hunger from killing Nigerians. Governor Fayose also urged the federal government to stop deceiving Nigerians with stories of injecting funds into the economy, given that the economic problems facing the country had gone beyond talks of injecting N350 billion into the economy through execution of capital projects. If they inject even N500 billion into the economy by paying contractors executing federal government capital projects, how does that affect the price of rice and other food items? How does it affect the price of basic drugs? he said. Instead of unsustainable measures, what President Buhari should do is to bring economic experts in the country together not-minding their political and ethnic affiliations so that they can proffer lasting solutions to the countrys economic problems. A car bomb killed a Somali military general and five of his bodyguards in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, Somali police said. General Mohamed Roble Jimale Gobanle and his bodyguards were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle next to the generals car near Somalias defence ministry compound, said police captain Ali Nur. General Gobanle was the commander of the Somali armys 3rd Brigade, a combat team fighting the al-Shabab Islamic extremists in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the groups Andalus radio station. Al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, has been waging a deadly insurgency across large parts of Somalia and often uses suicide car bomb attacks. SEE ALSO: Al-Shabab Attacks Somalia CID Headquaters Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Monday reacted to the accusation of operating a foreign bank account while serving as a federal lawmaker, saying it was the latest assault on his person. In a response on his Twitter page, the lawmaker said the allegations lacked merit. The document is fake. I do not own such account or balance; neither do I have anything whatsoever to do with the said address at Essex, he said. A group, Anti-Corruption Unit, had released documents showing Mr. Jibrins operates an account with the ING Bank located at Forum House, Granville Street, St-Heller, Jersey JE2 4UF, in the Channel Islands, United Kingdom. The documents further indicated that the account had the sum of 1.558million in it between June 1 and June 30, 2016. Jibrins ownership of foreign account contravenes the provisions of the 1999 Constitution which bar public officer from owning and operating foreign account, the ACU said in an accompanying statement signed by its director, Ifeanyi Okonkwo. The former appropriation committee chair, who initially refused to comment on the accusations when it was first made by the ACU on Sunday, came out on the offensive earlier today. According to him, This blackmail is part of a wider propaganda arranged by the desperate Speaker Dogara through his Deputy Chief of Staff Hon. CID Maduabum. Mr. Jibrin has been locked in a fierce political and media battle with Speaker Dogara for months. He also vowed to pursue legal actions over the development. I will be reporting these hatchet men to the police and EFCC this morning and my lawyers are taking the necessary legal actions. Enough is enough! he said. The allegations came as the lawmakers are resuming plenary tomorrow after a two-month long recess. A mild drama has played out at the Angels of God Apostolic Church as the bishops wife exchanged blows with another congregant in a fight over the founder. B-metro reports that the incident occurred during a church conference in Esigodini, Zimbabwe. It is reported that Bishop Mkhwananzis wife, Ntombikayise Dube, attacked Bonakele Ncube accusing her of having an affair with her husband. Ncube retaliated and the two women forgot that they were at a holy place as they exchanged blows in front of other congregants. Bishop Mkhwananzi was left totally embarrassed as he watched helplessly the two women exchanging blows before the whole congregation. Eyewitnesses revealed that when Ncube realised that she was being overpowered, she bit Dubes finger in a bid to put the fight to an end. We were at a church conference in Esigodini when the Bishops wife attacked me saying I was having a relationship with her husband. She really hurt me and these scratches I have on the face its her who injured me and to save myself I had to bite her finger. Dube is a crazy woman and a number of women have stopped coming to church because of her behaviour. She has been accusing numerous women of having relationships with her husband, said Ncube. Bishop Mkhwananzi refused to comment further after the incident. I am the founder of the church and we resolved the issue you are talking about. Therefore, there is nothing I can share with you. Anyway, the case is now history, he said. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti state has accused politicians already celebrating the proposed added railway design as attention-seeking sycophants from the powers that be in Abuja. The partys State Publicity Secretary, Mr Jackson Adebayo, the PDP said President Buhari should rather address the challenges facing the economy and those praising the president should be mocked, for the reported inclusion of Ekiti in the rail routes design. When we see the rail-lines being constructed here in Ekiti, we will believe them. As it is now, it is still in the realm of the kind of promise made by Dr. Kayode Fayemi about President Barrack Obama of the United States of Americas visit to Ekiti State that never was. President Muhammadu Buhari has not done Ekiti any special favour by including the state in routes for a railway project that is still on paper, Adebayo said. According to the Secretary every little thing that they promised, they have not fulfilled. Even the Lagos Calabar Coastal Rail line that is in this years budget, have they done anything on it? What has happened to the much publicized School Feeding Programme and N5,000 per month stipend for unemployed youths? Ekiti people are wise enough not to succumb to the propaganda of we will that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is known for by praising President Buhari for what he has not done. The party called on the federal government to refund the billions of naira spent on the rehabilitation and construction of federal roads in Ekiti State. The Enogie of Eyaen, Osazuwa Iduriase, has condemned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for publishing in an online medium that he chased the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the state, Godwin Obaseki, out of his palace. The monarch expressed shock that a political party, which was seeking to lead the state, could peddle lies just to win votes. Iduriase said he was in the United States at the time the report said he refused to receive Obaseki. SEE ALSO: Edo 2016: Ize-Iyamus The Man For The Job, Benin Palace Chiefs Say While predicting victory for the APC at the governorship election, the Enogie said Governor Adams Oshiomhole has earned his respect for developing the state. He said, We have a problem with social media because so many lies are being peddled there. I got a call that I drove Obaseki from my palace. I said what me that was in America. How can someone that was outside the country be at his palace at the same time? That was why I said when I come to town I will see you personally. If you look at the history of my people here, you will know the kind of people we are. As you now come here, we will tell our people about your ambition. I will have to thank you also for the way you have conducted yourself in this campaign and I know that in the election, you are going to emerge victorious. I pray our ancestors protect you before and after the election. The Directorate of State (DOS) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have declared Friday, September 23, 2016 a sit-at-home day for Biafrans worldwide. The move is to protest against the continued detention of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and in quest for the freedom of Biafrans. The group, therefore, enjoined the Igbo and all those who believe in the Biafra ideology all over the country, to shut down their businesses and stay at home, just as it ordered IPOB members outside the country to stage open protests in their locations on that day. A statement issued by IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful in Awka, Anambra state on Sunday, said, The IPOB worldwide protest will take place in all the countries across the globe except in Biafraland and Nigeria where church services will be held. Every IPOB member and other Biafrans living in Nigeria and Biafra land will stay in their homes on that day. We also ask that all markets, schools, banks, transport companies and manufacturing companies to close on that day in solidarity with the overall objectives of the Biafra restoration process irrespective of your persuasion or affiliation. It also urged okada and keke riders and drivers of all kinds of vehicles to withdraw their vehicles from all roads on that day in solidarity with IPOB worldwide for the release of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and for the total liberation of the Biafra people. The statement further asked every Biafran to switch off their mobile phones on that day from 8am to 4pm. The Kaduna State government has entered into partnership with an agricultural firm, Vicampro to set up a modern multi-billion naira French Rice/Potato plant in Manchok, Kaura local government area of the state. The processing plant when completed would be biggest in West Africa and would offer 30,000 direct jobs to the teeming unemployed youths. Speaking at a news conference in Kaduna, Dr. Manzo Maigari, the state commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry, stated that 5,000 hectares of land in each local government area would be allocated to community on the best ways of planting potatoes. Vicampro, owner of the processing plant would buy the potatoes from the farmers for its massive production as 60 per cent of the products would be exported, Maigari said while explaining how the farmers in the state would benefit from the new company. He further said that the governor El-Rufai led administrations economic diversification processing drive would extend to other crops to revive the current economic challenges facing the country and the state. Since the coming of this government, we came with a goal and determination in farming. What we did is to organize farmers into cooperatives, commodity interest groups and the rest. We look at things critically and we decided that everything we are going to do in agriculture, we have to have some value added which will be private sector driven, so we are lucky to have Vicampro with an investment worth 120 million dollars coming into Kaduna state to process French rice and potatoes. What are the gains for us, with this investment we are looking at 30,000 direct jobs, we are also working closely with them to see how we can develop out growers network across all the local government areas that have suitable soil to grow potatoes. Another benefit is that it will help us to standardize our farm practice in the state, the commissioner said. In his remark, the Managing Director of Vicampro, Michael Agbogo, said the company would create the largest agricultural business in Africa. According to him: Because Nigeria has the potential of doing so, in terms of land, people to diversify the economy. In Kaduna we know that the state is really open to investment. Nigeria is the only country that can naturally grow potatoes especially Irish and can be grown in the state. He added that, The project is the landmark one because its creates jobs. Our vision is to cultivate 10,000 hectares and to work with over 200,000 out growers that will provide the right inputs into the processing facilities which will be the first of its kind in Sub Saharan Africa. Also speaking on the development, the Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency, KADIPA, Gambo Hamza, said the Kaduna investment summit held some months ago has started yielding results with the launch of French rice/potatoes processing plant, noting that Olam had launched the biggest poultry/hatchery in Sub Saharan Africa in Kaduna. Gambo said for Kaduna processed products to be exported across board, the state has established world class agricultural certification centre, calling on investors to come and invest in the state. The Katsina State command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has stopped 11 persons from leaving the country to Italy. The NIS Comptroller in Katsina, Mohammed Rabiu Yaro, who paraded the intending emigrants, said they were intercepted as they tried to cross the countrys border at Komgolom town in the state. According to Yaro, the emigrants, who are aged between 19-38 years, are from Edo, Delta and Kogi states. He noted that human trafficking has become a very serious issue that led to collaboration with some European countries to address it. These victims were misled by the traffickers whose business is to ferry persons across the borders through illegal routes. We are prepared to deal with the syndicate group, he said. While assuring that Katsina will no longer be used as a transit route for such, the comptroller said the emigrants would be handed over to National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other related Matters (NAPTIP) for further investigation and prosecution. A lawyer, Daniel Makolo, yesterday, threatened to drag President Muhammadu Buhari to court for allegedly refusing to appoint a minister to represent Kogi State at the Federal Executive Council (FEC), six months after the demise of James Ocholi (SAN). Late Ocholi from Kogi State, was the Minister of State for Labour and Employment. Addressing a press conference in Lokoja, the state capital on Sunday, Makolo said that the failure of Buhari to appoint a minister to represent Kogi in his cabinet, as required by the nations Constitution, had rendered decisions reached during FEC meetings within the period in question, void. The decisions of the federal government as discussed and ratified by the regular FEC meetings, without our (Kogi) contributions, or input from our appointed minister, in my humble opinion, is challengeable and voidable in court of competent jurisdiction, he said. In view of the above, I am proceeding to the court of law to challenge this constitutional violation. To say the least, this violation is impunity by the federal government. Its as if we, the people of Kogi, are not part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Kogi-born lawyer said that as a concerned citizen of the state, he had earlier written a letter to President Buhari, asking him to appoint a qualified indigene of Kogi to represent the people in the FEC, the highest decision making body of the government. Makolo further said that he was compelled to take the legal option since the federal government appears unwilling to do the needful in the interest of justice and fairness for the people of Kogi. A member of the House of Representatives, representing Mbaike Federal Constituency of Imo, Mr. Henry Nwawuba said the rumour of his constituents plan to recall him was baseless. Nwawuba who stated this while addressing newsmen on Monday in Owerri, said he has not been officially communicated on the issue. According to him, those behind the rumours were aggrieved PDP members who had problems with him during the state congress of the party. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that a group under the auspices of Mbaike Movement, had moved a vote of no confidence on Nwawuba during a meeting last week. The group claimed that Nwawuba had not carried members of his constituents along since he was elected, and vowed to begin recall procedures against him. The group had also accused Nwawuba of poor representation and high handedness. Nwawuba, however, dismissed the threat, saying that the group was only expressing their anger on the outcome of the partys congress. According to him, he is representing his constituents well and is carrying everyone along. My constituents have never complained of misrepresentation or high handedness. This is the fallout of the party congress and I want people to disregard the rumor, he said. Source: Vanguard The Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Bello, has pleaded with the Federal Government to complete the abandoned dualization of Suleja-Minna road. He said the call for completion of the crucial road was to ensure safety, enhance socio-economic activities and reduce road accidents. Speaking when he carried out an inspection of the road and interaction with key officers of the company handling the project, Salini Nigeria Limited, and stakeholders, at a failed section of the road at Bonu Village in Gurara Local Government Area of the State, the governor, who expressed concern over the present condition of the federal road, said something urgent needed to be done to address the situation. Mr. Bello explained that the state government has made several efforts in maintaining the road but did not yield the desired result due to volume of traffic, heavy duty vehicles and lack of routine maintenance of the road since it was constructed over two decades ago. Even though it is a federal road, we have tried as a state government to fix it. Indeed, I directed continuous maintenance of the road, but due to high volume of traffic, heavy duty vehicles and age of the road, it didnt last long. It is clear that considering the strategic importance of the road, the final solution is for the federal government to complete the dualization project started over 6 years ago, the governor appealed. It is absolutely necessary that the federal government through ministry of works intervene as a matter of priority. Ordinarily, the journey from Minna to Abuja, which is about 1 hour 30 minutes, now takes over 3 hours resulting in discomfort and waste of human resources. Governor Bello, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action through adequate budgetary allocation to enable the contractor complete the road in record time. Earlier in his explanation, the Project Manager, Paolo Campanella, disclosed that inadequate funding was responsible for slow pace of work. He added that only 20per cent has been released for the project since it started. The project is suffering inadequate budgetary provision. Only 20 per cent of funds have so far been released. The total cost of the project Phase I and Phase II, is N34 billion naira, but in six years only N6 billion naira was released which is inadequate. The project manager who expressed delight over the interest shown by Governor Sani Bello revealed that the project was designed to be completed in 3years. This is a project of 30 months duration. Phase I was awarded at end of 2010 and supposed to be completed in July, 2013 now the time has elapsed redoubling the contract period. Phase II was awarded in February 2015, although there was no mobilisation to kick-start the work and largely due to the outstanding debt we have in phase I, we couldnt go ahead with the project. In their remarks, former caretaker Chairman, Gurara local government, Yakubu Garba, and District Head of Bonu, Ibrahim Baba Shaba, appreciated and applauded Governor Sani Bello for maintaining the road and assured him of their support to government policies and programmes. Even though about 70 per cent of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, was carved out of Niger state, it is the only state close to Abuja, which has not been linked by dual carriage way. Kaduna, Nasarawa and Kogi, which are the closest to the FCT, have all been linked by dual carriage way. The pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday called for strict sanction regimes if the country is to win the war against corruption. This is just as he called for the phasing out of security votes, abolition of cash transactions, an end to subsidies and criminalization of extra-budgetary spending. The former EFCC chair, however, said the police, the judiciary and the entire justice sector require comprehensive reforms to make the anti-graft campaign a reality. Ribadu made the submissions in a lecture at the 2016 Annual National Management Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. Although he said leadership and transparency measures were vital to anti-corruption crusade, strict sanction regimes would make the war winnable. He said: The first two steps (leadership and transparency measures) in cutting down cases of corruption cannot address it all. And that is why we need strict sanction regimes. Persons who are found to have infringed on the laws by helping themselves to what is for the overall good of the rest of the citizens must be made to pay direly for their actions. In driving this, there should be keen commitment from the political leadership, in addition to competence and integrity of the drivers of the process. First step in achieving this is to push for immediate and comprehensive reforms in the justice sector. These reforms should cover the entire justice sector chain: the police, judiciary, ministries of justice, prisons and other reformatory institutions. This is an absolute prerequisite for the success of any anti-corruption campaign. As is often said, our laws may not be faulty, but operators of the system are likely to be. To fight corruption, the umpire has to be clean, honest and sincere. Dishonesty cannot fight dishonesty; if you are corrupt you cannot lead successful anti-corruption campaign. Having a corrupt person pretending to fight corruption only creates confusion. The All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in Enugu State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of making a grand plot to bring back unbridled corruption to Nigeria. The allegation was contained in a statement issued weekend after an emergency meeting of the party by the publicity secretary of the APC in the state, Mrs. Kate Ofor. The statement said that after a careful analysis, the caucus arrived at the inevitable conclusion that PDPs ignoble mission is to bring back corruption through unwarranted propaganda against President Muhammadu Buhari. It said that the plot to reintroduce unbridled corruption drove the PDP to blame Buhari for the countrys recession, hunger, abject poverty and despondency. PDP smartly exonerated its leadership from the failure to plan and squandermania of the last 16 years, which caused the recession, it said. Instead of joining president Buhari in laying the solid foundation of diversified, enduring and prosperous economy, the PDP had the guts to call on president Buhari to resign forthwith, for failing to fix the economy in less than 20 months, the Enugu APC caucus said. A former governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu, has supported President Muhammadu Buharis request for emergency economic powers. Mr. Egwu, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial Zone, said such powers should however be temporary to enable the National Assembly come up with a permanent solution through a bill that would remove the bottlenecks that may delay executive policies. He made this known while speaking to reporters at his Umuebe home in Ohaukwu Local Government, Area of Ebonyi state on Monday. In the National Assembly, I have set up a proposal and I think I dont know much about the presidents proposal; the little I read about it is power on virement on the issue of procurement and as former Minister of Education, I am aware that the process of procurement takes lot of time, he said. There is no reason why in trying to embark on project, you spent three months trying to process it, you must go through a number of processes and at the end of the day the project is suffering. So, that aspect has to be fixed and when the president approaches the National Assembly on the emergency powers to tackle this, I will support him because I like to look at things objectively. We have come up with a bill in the house aimed at removing these bottlenecks and I think it should be a more permanent solution while the powers being sought by the president should be a temporary one until the bill has been passed. So I will support that aspect. The former governor blamed the economic recession being experienced in the country on the recklessness of past leaders on economic matters, with the populace also being culpable. The country imported virtually every item without paying attention to production with the populace having the wrong notion that all locally-made goods are inferior, he said. On the budget padding scandal rocking the House of Representatives, Senator Egwu described the former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumini Jibrin, as an attention-seeker. According to the senator, Jibrin chose the wrong time to complain about the irregularities surrounding the 2016 budget. He wondered why the Kano federal lawmaker spoke out only after he had been booted out of office as chairman of the appropriations committee. Jibrin could have made the allegation long ago, as Im aware that many legislators wanted to belong to the appropriations committees of both arms of the National Assembly, Mr. Egwu said. We all heard of issues of budget padding which among other things, gave rise to the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget, he said. It would be recalled that Mr. Jibrin accused the Speaker of the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara, and other leaders, of inserting fake projects worth billions of naira into the 2016 budget. But Mr. Egwu said before Mr. Jibrins allegation came up, legislators who belonged to the appropriation committees had alleged that the former chairman was the cause of the problems experienced in passing the budget. The legislators even alleged that Jibrin hijacked the budget appropriation process and handled the whole process and executed its activities alone. One can then ask why he is shouting now as he should be among those that should be investigated having been part of the process from the beginning, he said. Nigerians can now heave a sigh of relief if the reassuring news from the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele on the recession-hit economy is anything to go by. According to the CBN Chief, We have turned the bend. Mr. Emefiele, who spoke with media executives in Lagos at the weekend, said the worst is over as far as the recession is concerned. He said: Those are the things that government is doing and I must confess to you that Im optimistic that we have turned the bend and going forward we will still spend more that will stimulate the economy. He noted that the flexible foreign exchange regime introduced by the CBN in the last two and half months have resulted in the injection of $1billion into the economy by foreign portfolio investors. Speaking on the success of the forex policy and the governments policies geared towards reviving the economy, Emefiele said: The only way we can improve supply at this time is to say, fine, those foreign investors, those foreign portfolio investors, what do we do to make them come again? And so we went into a flexible exchange rate regime. We opened the market, we organised the market. Weve seen some depreciation in the currency, but I must say that at this time, we are somewhat happy that the result is paying off, because in two and a half months, weve seen close to about $1billion coming in as inflow into the market, and the reason this has happened is because other than just liberalising the market, we bought into the market the OTC (Over-The-Counter) features market. The Market that provides the opportunity to reduce the volatility in the foreign exchange market so that people do not bunch up their supply on the spot, so they can now go and do their business without disturbing themselves about the exchange rate. Those were the actions that weve taken and today I must say that its been successful. The CBN governor also said government is determined to pump money into the economy and pull it out of recession, but its lofty plans are being hampered by the slow procurement process, which, in most cases, takes about six months to actualise. He said: Naturally, let me say this, if you are in a recession, basically what you do is to spend your way out of recession. I will tell us what has happened between January and now. I will tell you what actions have been taken to send us out of this situation. Budget, like you know was approved in May 2016 and, of course, by that time, we had started to see signs that this was going to happen. Unfortunately, the procurement process is such a long one in the Public Service and, of course you dare not breach, or break the rules of procurement and I give you an example. When you start the procurement for an item, what happens is that you have to advertise for bids in the newspapers. That process of advertisement and calling for bids require that it has to be for 12 weeks. Twelve weeks is three months. Now when you open the bid, youll now see the numbers, youll now negotiate for the prices. After that youll go to the Bureau for Public Procurement, get the approval. After that, maybe youll go to the Federal Executive Council to get approval. Youll find out that almost six months would have elapsed and that is why government is saying we must shunt this process. Shunting this process means that we need to have an Emergency Spending Bill, which has now been prepared. I am aware its ready for the National Assembly to take on for approval. What that does is, it removes all the bottlenecks involved in the process of procurement so that government can go directly and procure items and spend money to stimulate the economy. Emefiele said the Federal Governments revenue caused by falling oil prices and the restiveness in the oil producing areas that reduced crude output, will not daunt governments efforts to revamp the economy. The CBN, Mr. Emefiele noted, is working to provide Bridge Funds to keep the governments activities going, pending when budgetary funding and due process requirements are met. Government remains undaunted, the Monetary and Fiscal policies remain undaunted and we also had in the budget a deficit of N1.8trillion; N900 billion was to be sourced locally, another N900 billion was to be sourced in foreign currency , and because the foreign currency is yet to come in, what the Monetary and Fiscal authorities are saying is, if the need arises, it would provide what is called Bridge Funding for the fiscal authorities so they can go ahead and spend. When the proceeds of the foreign loans come, then, we can use that to clear the bridge fund that has been done. That is allowed because this time we do not need to wait and thats why you may have read that the Minister of Finance just came up and said so far we have spent about N420 billion and, in fact, by this coming week (this week) alone another close to N374 billion would be injected into the economy to stimulate it. The social spending will kick in; other payments for capital expenditure will also kick in. Those are the things that government is doing and I must confess to you that Im optimistic that we have turned the bend and going forward we will still spend more that will stimulate the economy, he said. He added that part of the plan that has been projected for 2016 is that one million market women will benefit from subsidised loans at subsidised rates that will come from our micro, small and medium enterprise loan. He further said the CBN is discussing with the fiscal authorities and the Office of the Vice President that handles social spending, to see to it that we put it in place as quickly as possible so that market women across the country can enjoy the micro, small and medium enterprise loan at subsidised prices. Those are some of the actions we are taking and Im optimistic that going forward you are going to see more action that will help to stimulate the economy and turn the country around again, Emefiele said. Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) under the umbrella of the Save Sheik Zakzakys Life Group, have threatened to occupy the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in their thousands if the Federal Government does not release their leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. The group, in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Malam Bashir Mafara on Monday, also accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government of acting out the script of foreign and international allies, aimed at wiping out the movement. Mafara claimed that there is a deliberate and calculated delay by the Nigerian Government to release El-Zakzaky, who has been in detention without trial since December 2015, after the clash between the Nigerian Army and members of IMN. He added, at this point, Save Sheik Zakzakys Life Group of Nigeria, after a careful and sensitive analysis, has realised that Buharis government is deliberately frustrating the life of Sheik Zakzaky in custody, with its worrisome hidden agenda; if not, why not release him to go for a proper medical examination; why not take him to the court of law; why are you violating the rule of law? The group called on the Buhari administration to release the IMN leader unconditionally within two weeks from today, warning that, at the expiration of the deadline and without the release of Zakzaky, members of the movement including men, women and children, would storm Abuja, Nigerias capital,for a peaceful and well organized sit around and we would not leave until our leader, Zakzaky is unconditionally released. The troops of the Nigerian Army have arrested seven suspected militants in Cross River State. The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Sunday that the troops of 13 Brigade, 82 Division, arrested a high ranking militant kingpin and three others at Saint Joseph Hospital, Ikot Ene junction, Akpabuyo Local Government Area of the state. Usman said that the kingpin also identified as Abuja Daddy and G3 and the three others were picked up while attempting to pick up a ransom from the relative of a kidnap victim. According to him, efforts were being made to pick up another wanted militant leader known as G1 who was still at large. Usman said that two arrested militants G2 and G3 were giving useful information to the troops that could lead to the arrest of other militants in the region. He said that the troops also arrested three militants with a locally made pistol and some cartridges in the state. He said that the three suspects were arrested during a robbery operation at Refugee Camp, Efut Isigi, Bakassi Local Government Area of the state. Source: Punch A Twenty-Eight year old suspect who was arrested by the operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) for pick-pocketing proved his mettle by stealing N1,200 again inside the Polices office during an interrogation. The suspect, Deji Ayoola, was hitherto, nabbed by the patrol team of the squad at Ojodu-Berger over the weekend for pick-pocketing a commuter trying to board a commercial vehicle to the Redemption Camp. He had successfully perpetrated the crime before the RRS operatives, who sighted him when he was removing the wallet pursued, arrested him. Speaking RRS operatives, he said, I collected a sum of N14,500 from Automated Teller Machine (ATM) from a bank at Berger on my way to the Redemption Camp. However, I had no inkling that my money had been removed. It was about the time to pay fare that I discovered my wallet had disappeared. In fact, I had even forgotten about the money until the following day, when an operative from RRS called me that my wallet was recovered from a suspect when they nabbed him. The Policeman added that they found my mobile number inside my wallet which made it easy for them to call me.I was shocked to hear this because I had already lost hope of recovering the money. The suspect who lived at Mowe area of Ogun State, confessed to the crime and blamed devil for it. I truly removed the wallet from his (victim) pocket before I was arrested by the policemen. They bundled me to their office immediately. It was the devil who pushed me into the act. I pray to God to forgive me, he pleaded. During his interrogation at the RRSs headquarters in Alausa, the suspect stylishly stepping on a N1,200 which fell from a police womans pocket while she was removing her cell phone from the pocket. When the money dropped on the floor, rather than to draw her attention to the money, he pocketed it. Unknown to him, another suspect had seen him when he was hiding the money, and immediately alerted the officer that the money she was looking for was with the suspect. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Superintendent of Police, SP Dolapo Badmus, who confirmed the incident, said that the good people of Lagos State are sleeping with their eyes closed now as the crime rate in the state has drastically reduced. The suspect has been transferred to the State Environmental Task force on Environment for prosecution. Source: Vanguard A 28-year-old man, Deji Ayoola, who was arrested for alleged pick-pocketing has committed another crime of stealing N1,200 belonging to a police officer at the station where he was detained in Lagos. The spokesperson of the Lagos Police Command, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the suspect, who was arrested by operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) for pick-pocketing, allegedly stole N1, 200 during an interrogation. Badmos said that the suspect was arrested at Ojodu Berger when he allegedly stole a commuters money while trying to board a commercial vehicle to the Redemption Camp. She said the suspect was sighted removing the wallet containing about N14,500 from the commuters purse, stressing that the police team pursued and arrested him. During his interrogation at the RRSs headquarters in Alausa, the suspect stylishly stepped on N1,200 which fell from a police womans pocket while removing her cell phone from the pocket. When the money dropped on the floor, he picked it and pocketed it. Unknown to him, another suspect had seen him when he was hiding the money, and immediately alerted the officer that the money she was looking for was with the suspect, Badmos said. She added that the suspect had been transferred to the State Environmental Task force for further prosecution. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, has revealed that the presidency spent less than 50,000 (N20.5m) on the treatment of an ear infection of President Muhammadu Buhari in the United Kingdom. Shehu in a Facebook post on Sunday night while responding to an allegation by Prof. Farooq Kperogi that Buhari spent 6m during his treatment in June, said Buharis government is known for accountability and curbing waste. Shehu said the Presidency had approved over 50,000 for the Presidents treatment but Buhari rejected it. Buhari had in June jetted out to UK to treat ear infection. Shehu said, The disclosure on Prof. Farooq Kperogis wall that President Muhammadu Buharis ear treatment in the United Kingdom cost a whopping 6m must have shocked many of the respected scholars followers. Im prepared to share documents with Farooq, one of the brightest ever produced from the Bayero University Kano that the whole treatment, including a follow-up visit by a specialist to Nigeria didnt cost 50,000. For the records, the administration advanced a higher sum, but the Presidents doctor returned the balance to the treasury. Indeed, its a New Day, and President Buharis change mantra is real. Let no one confuse my fellow countrymen and women. In what could be tagged as an indirect jibe at Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Shehu claimed that the $15m found in some company accounts was for her medical treatment. He added that President Buhari would have rejected the bill if the doctor had charged him 6m. He added, The story reads like an incredible tale by moonlight that belongs to a different era, which fortunately is now history. Thats when a fortunate lady saved $15m for medical treatment! But was it possible that the account of this balanced journalism teacher was hacked? I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Given the austere President we have, Muhammadu Buhari would not have approved this amount if he was shown a 6m bill. I wont be surprised if the President may have asked if the fat bill was for the purchase of a brand new pair of ears! Source: Dailypost Zamfara has recorded an increase in malaria-related deaths among children and pregnant women, the Zamfara state government said on Saturday. This was made known by the the Project Manager of the State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP), Alhaji Hamisu Dauran, while speaking at the commencement of a one-day training of religious and traditional leaders on malaria eradication. The training was organised by the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) in collaboration with Health Community Capacity Collaboration (HC3), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). According to Dauran, the state recorded 276 deaths and over 76,000 reported malaria cases of under-five children across in health centres across the state, within the first and second quarters of 2016. Within the period the state also recorded 74 malaria-related deaths of pregnant women and had 1,178 reported cases. Dauran lamented that the number of the incidents was rising in spite of the efforts being made by the governments, in collaboration with international organizations in reducing challenges of the disease in the state. While attributing the development to poor cooperation from local stakeholders in the fight against the disease, Dauran expressed hope that intervention of associations like NIFAA would assist in tackling the problem. Earlier, Executive Director of NIFAA, Dr Sunday Onuoha, had said that the association had decided to support the campaign against malaria considering its dangers to Nigerians, especially at the grassroots. Onuoha said, We all know the dangers and problems associated to malaria, therefore, we have come together in spite of the differences in our religious affiliations to contribute in fight against the disease. In their remarks, the Emir of Gusau, Alhaji Ibrahim Bello, represented by senior district head in the emirate, Alhaji Bashir Danbaba, and the President of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Iliya Balarabe, assured support to the programme. SEE ALSO: 7 Very Interesting Facts About Chickens and Mosquitoes Modernizing Java EE (Enterprise Edition), the server-side version of Java, for the cloud and microservices will require two critical upgrades to the platform. Version 8 is set to arrive in late 2017, followed by Java EE 9 a year later, Oracle revealed on Sunday. Although Java EE already in use in cloud deployments, Oracle sees a need to better equip it for this paradigm, said Anil Gaur, Oracle's group vice president of engineering, at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco. To this end Java EE 8, which had already been mapped out, will receive two additional sets of capabilities: one for configuration of services, and the other for health checking to monitor and manage services communications. Oracle will publish Java specification requests (JSRs), which are official amendments to the Java platform, detailing these two efforts. Java EE 8 had been scheduled to arrive by next summer, but the additions will push the release out several months. Java EE 8 also will be fitted with enhancements previously specified, such as ease of development. The configuration specification will enable services to scale horizontally and help specify capabilities such as quality of service. These details will be maintained outside the application code itself so when the service expires, the configuration code is still there for use with a similar service, Gaur said. With the health service specification, a consistent set of APIs will be featured so that services can communicate the health of services and developers can specify what corrective measures may need to be taken. Java EE 9, meanwhile, will foster deployment of smaller units of services, which can independently scale. Key-value store support for using databases such as MongoDB and Cassandra is planned, along with eventual consistency in transactions. Oracle also is exploring support for a server-less model, where code is taken care of in a runtime environment. A state service and multitenancy for tenant-aware routing and deployment will also be considered, along with security capabilities for OAuth and OpenID. Java EE has been the subject of much debate in recent months with proponents upset over a perceived lack of direction for the platform. In response, Oracle first expressed its cloud intentions for Java EE in July. "Developers are facing new challenges as they start writing cloud-native applications, which are asynchronous in nature," Gaur said. Vendors have begun using Java EE APIs to solve these problems. But each vendor is doing it in its own way, with consistency lacking, Gaur said. With no standard way, it is impossible to ensure compatibility of these services. Gaur also highlighted use of a reactive style of programming for building loosely coupled, large-scale distributed applications. Moving to the cloud requires migrating from a physical infrastructure to virtualization as well as a shift from monolithic applications, he said. Also planned for Java EE is comprehensive support for HTTP/2 beyond the support that had already been planned for the Java servlet. A Docker model, enabling packaging of multiple services in a single container, is planned. Work on both Java EE 8 and Java EE 9 is proceeding in parallel, Gaur said. Asked whether users might wait the extra year for Java EE 9 rather than first upgrading to Java EE 8, Gaur said that might be OK for some people. But others must move at "cloud speed" and need things more quickly, he said. Multiple parties, including Red Hat and IBM, have been pondering their own improvements to Java EE, believing that Oracle had been neglecting it. But Oracle says its silence simply indicated it had been reflecting on what to do with Java EE. Oracle on Sunday also detailed some intentions for Java SE, the standard edition of the platform, aside from what already has been specified for the upcoming Java SE 9 platform. Plans include making it easier for developers to deal with boilerplate code by making these code classes easier to read, said Brian Goetz, a Java language architect at Oracle. The company also wants to expand the scope of type inferences which allow for removal of redundant code while maintaining the benefit of strong static typing, applying it to local variables. But Goetz noted that this did not mean Java was being turned into JavaScript here. Also at JavaOne, Oracle announced its intention to soon distribute the Oracle JDK with Docker, the popular Linux container platform. "We want to make Java a first-class citizen for Docker and we want to do it with a distribution model that makes sense," said Georges Saab, Oracle's vice president of development. Java and Docker have not been strangers to each other previously, with Docker already popular as a mechanism for providing improved packaging. This years Enterprise Architecture Awards come with a theme: speed and responsiveness. Business leaders are demanding that their organizations move faster -- everything from updating digital capabilities to enabling greater agility in interactions with customers and suppliers. In theory, EA should be able to help achieve this acceleration. But how can enterprise architects, often considered the police of technology, deliver on the potential? [ Cut to the key news in technology trends and IT breakthroughs with the InfoWorld Daily newsletter, our summary of the top tech happenings. ] Our 2016 batch of EA Award winners shows how. Humana, one of this years award winners, expresses the core idea in a simple sentence: Enterprise architecture is primarily a verb, not a noun. In other words, EA should drive continuous change, not merely enforce policies or manufacture static end-states. That sentiment applies to all five of this years winners: Humana, MassMutual, South Sate Bank, Aetna, and Cummins. The EA teams in these companies are delivering business results because they embed insight and guidance into the decisions made by their business and IT leaders -- enabling those leaders to enterprise architect how they achieve business results. The result? Speed and responsiveness for the enterprise. To select our winning entrants this year, we assembled a panel of three expert judges. Our heartfelt thanks to Kishore Sarathy, vice president of architecture for CapitalOne; David Trice, IS strategy and architecture director for Centrica; and Gary Smylie, information management enterprise architect for Idaho National Laboratory. Their insight and expertise resulted in the selection of these five winners, all stellar examples of the transformative impact EA can have. Humana: Architecting for change Over the past five years, Humana has transformed from a health insurance company into a combination of more than 40 companies and business units that span all aspects of health care. At the same time, the health care industry has been subject to broad regulatory changes along with a big shift in the way consumers purchase and interact with health care services. Humanas response to this has been to grow through M&A, business development, and the launch of new lines of business and subsidiaries. This transformation demanded an enterprise architecture strategy to deliver on the ambitious new business strategy. Two and a half years ago, Humanas IT and its business partners began focusing technology investment around key strategic areas. Humanas EA practice identified synergies across the strategic focus areas, which became the genesis of a Future State Architecture (FSA). The FSA is composed of business-oriented domains, which provide a logical collection of business processes, data subjects, systems, and services that enable a business competency -- and are exposed as enterprise services and APIs. IT leadership observed the value of the FSA and the associated challenges and responded by aligning the IT operating model organizationally with the FSA. As the FSA was developed, Humana leveraged many disparate architect roles that spanned organizational boundaries. A highly distributed, yet centrally coordinated, federated architecture practice ensured close proximity to business and delivery. Transformational initiatives require considerable culture change. To drive that change and to ensure the success of the IT strategy and the FSA, EA was embedded into IT leadership and helped make the architectural approach more strategic. To drive this forward while being pragmatic, they educated teams on embracing transitional architecture, so the FSA could move forward incrementally rather than an all-or-nothing approach. To make the FSA actionable, Humana established a centralized enterprise integration competency within EA. This enabled EA to provide a reference architecture through integration patterns, standards, and guidance. Leveraging synergies identified in the IT strategy, the company developed enterprise-class utility services and provided oversight on core integration technologies, resulting in significant economies of scale. For example, the fax utility service saved more than $1 million by building once and adding two dozen consumers. Humana believes "Enterprise Architecture" is a verb and a noun. The federated architecture approach, coupled with enterprise integration competency, constantly endeavors to make the FSA a reality. As EA Awards judge David Trice remarked, a strong mix of practical steps and higher-order approaches that ensured the EA team was relevant at both the tactical and strategic levels." MassMutual: EA drives transformation MassMutual brings innovative insurance and investments solutions to a broad swath of customers. In todays dynamic business environment -- defined by shifting consumer expectations, low margins, regulatory headwinds, and the threat of disruption -- MassMutual must balance sound risk management and efficiency with the ability to innovate and create compelling customer experiences. To pivot from a traditional financial product manufacturer to a customer-centric, digitally enabled business, MassMutuals technology team needed to change the way it approached its mandate. This shift focused on instilling the business fundamentals of customer orientation, dependable delivery, service excellence, and fiscal responsibility alongside technology skill. To be successful, the company needed to develop and enhance critical business platforms powering day-to-day business operations -- while at the same time creating contemporary consumer-facing digital capabilities to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. This bimodal IT, with multiple teams working on different fundamentals, requires a strong EA practice focused on providing a consistent, disciplined, and standardized approach to how technology is implemented. To achieve this, the EA practice has reoriented its focus on two key areas. First, it has maximized the value of technology investments by empowering distributed decision-makers inside and outside of IT to quickly understand their options and make data-driven and architecturally sound technology decisions. Second, the EA practice has served as an agent of innovation. In the past, the lack of a true understanding of the technology portfolio or a common view of the business not only inhibited the ability to optimize technology investments, but also created drag on the business resulting from narrow, disjointed decisions. This often led to redundancy, greater exposure to risk, and a suboptimal customer experience. MassMutuals EA group addressed this gap in several ways. It created a digital Enterprise Reference Architecture (ERA) or city plan to provide a common view of the business and a shared model to guide the transformation and position MassMutual for ongoing change and flexibility. In addition, an integrated EA Management System (EAMS) provides decision makers with detailed technology portfolio insights. For the first time, the company gained a single source for multidimensional, multirelational intelligence to fuel data-driven simplification and optimization of technology -- allowing investment to be shifted to growth, innovation, and improving the experience of customers. EA-guided growth and innovation teams are now building on the classic EA deliverables (such as blueprints and architecturally scalable designs) by providing prototypes, market tests, and assessment of high-risk portions of large complex systems. The results have been impressive, ranging from human-centric digital transformation of customer journeys to the creation of a business-leading algorithmic underwriting engine. Business ideas that would have taken months and years to develop are now being tested and deployed in days and weeks. EA Awards judge Kishore Sarathy assessed MassMutuals EA initiative thusly: I liked the company's hands-on, value-focused approach to driving business transformation and innovation by providing timely and practical solutions aided by working models/prototypes. By embedding architects within agile, cross-functional teams, EA is able to actively lead the way instead of being a passive participant in a pure governance role. South State Bank: EA yields continuous improvement The largest bank headquartered in South Carolina, South State Bank is an $8 billion financial institution focused on retail banking, commercial banking, loans, and wealth management. Like most banks, it has experienced changing customer behavior and faced increasing competition, including from fintech startups. To address the changing landscape -- and to keep up with larger banks and their larger budgets -- an EA program was established to help South State Bank adapt. The goal of the EA group was not only to help the bank prepare for digital transformation, but to also act as a catalyst for change. The EA practice adopted the Japanese organizational philosophy Kaizen, which counsels: "Engage in activities that continuously improve all functions." Agile EA would seem counterintuitive, given that EA typically sets standards and follows a ritualistic approach derived from EA frameworks. South State Bank, however, has tailored the TOGAF framework to fit its Kaizen approach. This has enabled continuous architectural improvements to drive specific business outcomes while eliminating the overhead of many EA formalities. The architecture team serves the bank as a whole -- as a part of project teams or in engaging with leaders of business divisions. Architectures and transitions are designed quickly using EA tools to produce various collateral that can be consumed by architects and nonarchitects like. Working hand in hand with business technology experts, the bank has successfully cut typical time to market in half. Users can select a capability and browse the underlying service (or services) that support it -- and even drill down to an individual component that supports the application. In effect, the EA practice produced an interactive state of the enterprise, constantly updated with the latest changes. Collectively, its a dynamic artifact that makes managing change much easier, because everyone involved can refer to a consistent set of architecture models. Ultimately, the success of EA is defined by expected business outcomes across of a variety of initiatives. At South State Bank, these included the successful launch of online mortgage applications, which took only three months; a four-month overhaul of the banks enterprise imaging system, which involved a redesign of the architecture and external interfaces from the ground up; and a newly designed platform for the banks loan processing system. In addition, as part of an application portfolio rationalization effort, the EA team cataloged numerous redundancies and unused applications, resulting in the retirement or decommissioning of 60 services over the course of six months. Finally, through the implementation of a hybrid cloud architecture, South State Bank now bursts to the public cloud during surges in web traffic. The latter project took less than two months and immediately gave customers a better, more reliable user experience. The EA team considers its biggest success to be a buy-in from IT and non-IT folks alike, thanks to a successful track record of delivering change. The architecture portal is used extensively across various lines, from strategic decision makers to application support specialists. The EA team is now a trusted resource for the majority of initiatives at the bank. South State Banks unique, Kaizen-based EA approach to business transformation focuses on continuous improvement over just setting standards and providing governance, observed EA Awards judge Kishore Sarathy. The team has achieved remarkable successes in rapidly delivering a wide array of strategic programs by working hands-on with a cross-functional teams. Aetna: Enabling hybrid business platforms At Aetna, creating a hybrid business platform is a strategic imperative. The ability to mix and match best-of-breed business capabilities has become a necessity due to shorter change cycles -- not to mention the transformational forces of the Affordable Care Act. In early 2015, Aetna decided to create a brand-new consumer-centric health plan. The new business platform would be owned by a new Consumer Business organization, provide new products to the market, base itself on a different engagement model, and apply digital-first principles and new business processes across the board -- all relying on a new technology platform. Historically, Aetnas EA organization focused primarily on enterprise value, IT interoperability, information consistency, and technology governance. While the EA team had plenty of experience with business process optimization, the Consumer Business program required a more transformational approach. The EA practice needed to turn business vision into IT action and to complete the job before Nov. 1, 2015. This deadline, which was also the beginning of Open Enrollment for 2016, was not going to move. Ten months later, Aetna had: Limit up on Wheat? Banghart Properties - Sat Oct 29, 7:09PM CDT News broke over the weekend that could help wheat trade limit up when it reopens. Rains in the Plains, Dow soars Sidwell Strategies - Sat Oct 29, 8:38AM CDT 1st winter wheat ratings Monday; consider carbon for cash flow during drought Open Enrollment 101: Make the Most of Your Benefits Young & The Invested - Sat Oct 29, 6:00AM CDT The 2022 open enrollment season will be a difficult one as workers have to factor in persistently high inflation while they choose their coverage. These tips can help you maximize your benefits. Hogs Rebound into Weekend Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Lean hog futures ended the Friday round with 32 to 97 cent gains to fade the triple digit losses from Thursday. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was $90.54 in the PM update, down by $1.15. The... HEZ22 : 86.100s (+1.15%) HEJ23 : 92.700s (+0.62%) KMZ22 : 96.125s (+0.37%) Cotton Falls Triple Digits Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT December cotton ended the day locked limit lower on the 3c loss. The March contract worked back off the limit for the bell, but still went home down by 274 points. For the week, Dec cotton closed 702 points... CTZ22 : 72.11s (-3.99%) CTH23 : 72.07s (-3.66%) CTK23 : 72.30s (-2.99%) Cattle Market Fades on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Live cattle futures ended the weeks last trade day down by 35 cents to $1.02 with soon to expire October down the most. Cash trade picked up later in the week with some Friday catch up sales mostly... LEV22 : 150.375s (-0.68%) LEZ22 : 153.000s (-0.28%) LEG23 : 156.325s (-0.33%) GFX22 : 177.875s (-0.14%) GFF23 : 180.375s (-0.04%) Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) drafted a global strategy for combating viral hepatitis. The strategy addresses all five hepatitis viruses but its paying particular attention to the B and C strains due to their comparatively high public health burdens. Approximately 360 million have chronic hepatitis B and C combined, with most of those infected living in sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, and north and west Africa. Nearly a million people die a year from these infections. For some years now, global health organizations have been getting the word out about the hepatitis B vaccine. By the end of 2015, the WHO reported that the vaccine had been introduced in 184 countries and global coverage of vaccine administration to newborns stood at nearly 40 percent. Such has not been the case for the hepatitis C virus (HCV). There is no vaccine for HCV, and in spite of global prevention and awareness campaigns, the number of people living with chronic HCV is growing, even though existing treatment regimens have cure rates of over 90 percent. For all of the global disease funders out there backing any number of projects combatting diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, funding to fight HCV is incredibly scarce by comparison. It isnt completely nonexistent, however. One of the few organizations thats all-in, here, is the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation (BMS Foundation). Related: Can Bristol-Myers Squibb Conquer Hepatitis in Asia? The BMS Foundation, the charitable arm of a multinational pharmaceutical company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, recently awarded $1.15 million in grants to combat HCV in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of the world that has one of the highest global burdens of the disease. The grants were split among three NGOs including the TB/HIV Care Association, National Institute for Communicable Disease (NICD), and the Gastroenterology Foundation of South Africa. The grants are part of the Viral Hepatitis C Initiative. Currently in its early stages, the initiative is being led by the TB/HIV Care Association, which received the lions share of the total $1.15 million give with a three-year, $731,000 give from the BMS Foundation in this round. On July 28, which is World Hepatitis Day, the initiative began recruiting participants from seven cities in South Africa. The target populations for this initial recruitment are those that are at high risk of contracting HCV such as people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers. The Viral Hepatitis C Initiative hopes to reach at least 3,500 patients during the life of the project. While a portion of this work includes prevention, screening and treatment help, a big focus of the project is on research and data collection. By the end, the initiative will produce the first HCV prevalence data among people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers in South Africa. The data will determine whether point-of-care testing, the most common method for screening for HCV is effective. The populations BMS and its grantees are targeting with the Viral Hepatitis C Initiative are also at high risk of contracting HIV, which explains why the grants were awarded out of the BMS Foundations Secure the Future Initiative. Also, HIV-HCV co-infections are not uncommon. The Secure the Future Initiative focuses on supporting novel, innovative, and sustainable methods to help young kids, adolescents, and families infected with HIV/AIDS living in sub-Saharan Africa. Like many infectious diseases, the global HCV burden is disparate. So, too, are the costs of available drug treatments. As the charitable arm of a major drug company, the BMS Foundation may raise more than a few eyebrows. And its true, a few years back, BMS (the company) closed on its $2.5 billion bid to purchase Inhibitex, a small developer of what seemed to be a promising hepatitis C drug. Which, had the clinical trials for Inhibitex been successful, would mean that BMSagain the companywould gain a pretty big chunk of the HCV drug market, which is expected to grow from around $12 billion to over $27 billion by 2021. But those trials failed, and Gilead dominates the hepatitis C drug market. Not surprising. Its newly approved HCV treatment comes with a nearly $75,000 price tag for a 12-week treatment regimen. Related: Will Failed Hepatitis Trials Affect Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Grants? Gilead also has a philanthropic arm that makes hepatitis-related grants, mainly having to do with offering its medications to poor countries at a discount. But Im not going to get into the controversy that is big pharma pricing. Nor am I going to get into what could be construed as a conflict of interest regarding the foundations of major pharmaceutical companies getting into the disease treatment business. Because that isnt the point of our look at the BMS Foundations HCV funding. The point is, a very small number of funders are paying attention to hepatitis, which is curious for a disease that inflicts such widespread suffering. Leave it to a Millennial to come up with a way to disrupt disruption. Olaf Carlson-Wee, 27, was working as head of risk at Coinbase, a San Franciscobased exchange for buying and selling digital assets like Bitcoin, when he noticed several new developments in the nascent cryptocurrency sector. I thought, As an investor, how can you best take advantage of these trends? recalls the founder of hedge fund firm Polychain Capital. Over the past year the distributed ledger technology that powers cryptocurrency transactions specifically, the ever-growing blockchain database has begun to move far beyond the Bitcoin digital payment network. Financial techsavvy entrepreneurs are hitching their digital payment wagons to several sectors and trying to raise money for their efforts via cryptocurrency. Data storage network and electronic currency Filecoin, for example, allows users to rent out extra space on their computers for file storage. Tech companies that might previously have used an initial public offering to raise funds have begun holding so-called initial crowdfunding offerings, issuing blockchain tokens instead of stock. Carlson-Wee aims to capitalize on these shifts with Polychain, a long-only firm he launched this month to build a diversified portfolio of blockchain-based cryptocurrency platforms such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. I view investing in the blockchain itself as the best way to take advantage, he says. That way the risk is not consolidated to an individual person, company or legal jurisdiction you just bet on an open-source program. Any individual can go under, but a protocol can continue, as weve seen with Bitcoin. Industry observers have warned of the hype surrounding blockchain technology, and many venture capitalists and other investors are wary of new currencies whose value is determined by a small, though growing, market. But Carlson-Wee, who grew up in Minnesota across the river from Fargo, North Dakota, is a true believer. At Vassar College, where he earned a sociology degree in 2011, he wrote his undergraduate thesis on distributed networks and financial cryptography. After graduation he spent several years living mostly on Bitcoins until the influx of new blockchains and distributed ledgers made it complicated. His salary at Coinbase, where he was the first employee and worked for three years, was paid in the cryptocurrency; although his savings are in dollars, he still uses Bitcoins whenever possible. In addition to his role at the head of Polychain, which has no employees yet, Carlson-Wee is the managing member of Cryptographic Financial, a limited partnership in a fund operated by Numerai, a San Franciscobased hedge fund firm whose capital is run by artificial intelligence. Richard Craib, Numerais founder, is a friend of Carlson-Wee and an investor in Polychain. So far, much investment in blockchain technology has been through the currencies built on top of the databases protocols; Bitcoin and Coinbase are two of the biggest and most successful examples. Polychains thesis is that no matter which of the new technologies including Filecoin; Augur, a decentralized prediction market built on the blockchain-based computing platform Ethereum; and blockchain-based social media platform Steem grow and succeed, betting on blockchain as a whole will pay off as the phenomenon evolves. Still, Carlson-Wee has been surprised by the healthy investor interest in his new firm. Blockchain has been a buzzword in financial circles for a couple of years, but its ins and outs are so esoteric that few investors are willing to put much weight behind strategies like Polychains. Most of those who have ponied up are the same kind of people who would use a cryptocurrency: early adopters, many of them high-net-worth individuals. Carlson-Wee hopes that after Polychains launch which took place this past Thursday, with about $5 million the fund will get more attention from institutional investors that want to take a position on blockchain. Carlson-Wee likens the cryptocurrency environment to the Internet in its early days. If youre betting solely on Bitcoin right now, its sort of like putting all of your money into a single Internet company instead of a number of different companies, knowing the technology will grow exponentially for many years, he says. The Internet did grow, and blockchain will too. Follow Kaitlin Ugolik on Twitter at @kaitlinugolik. U.S. pension giant CalSTRS wants to use this method of tracking sales from environmental products and services to help it invest. In late 2013, FTSE Russells Kevin Bourne and several colleagues flew to California to get the two biggest U.S. public pension funds take on what his firm believed might be a transformative approach to sustainable investing. Bourne, head of databases for the London-based index provider, met with representatives of the $193 billion California State Teachers Retirement System and the $304 billion California Public Employees Retirement System. Among those present at the formers West Sacramento offices: CalSTRS chief executive Jack Ehnes and Anne Stausboll, then his counterpart at CalPERS. FTSE Russell demonstrated its LCE (for Low Carbon Economy) data model, which measures green revenue, or the proportion of a companys sales from products and services that help to solve environmental problems. The model tracks 13,400 public corporations representing 98.5 percent of total capitalization in 48 countries, giving each one a green revenue score. Bourne showed the pension executives what seven years of preliminary data revealed: The overall proportion of green revenue was growing. For FTSE Russell, this confirmed his hypothesis that the corporate world has embarked on a shift to a low-carbon economy. At the meeting I remember everyone reflecting, Wow, this is stuff we need to be thinking about, and we dont have the data tools, says CalSTRSs Ehnes, who also chairs the FTSE Environmental Markets Advisory Committee and sits on the FTSE Russell Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Advisory Committee. That changed this June, when FTSE Russell publicly released its LCE model along with the FTSE Green Revenues Index Series; the latter comprises ten indexes, each focused on a different market. CalSTRSs corporate governance staff is looking at ways to use the green revenue data to hone engagement efforts with companies, Ehnes explains. But more difficult, and potentially more exciting, he notes, is thinking about how tracking such revenue at the company or industry level could help the pension plan to make investment decisions. For CalSTRS, such questions are part of a broader sustainability push when it comes to direct investments. In July, for example, the plan announced that it was committing $2.5 billion to a low-carbon equity index strategy. Ehnes wants to complement that measure of greenness with other metrics. Despite its name, the LCE model looks beyond companies carbon emissions. As FTSE Russells Bourne points out, there are already data providers and investment strategies that quantify such output, along with ESG performance when it comes to, say, the number of women on a corporations board. But he noticed a gap. The question that had been left alone is what companies manufacture, and are those products solving the problems weve created over the past 250 years of industrial development? Bourne says. We couldnt find anyone who had built the data model that fit in that box. The LCE model tracks green revenue by starting with the 60 subsectors listed in FTSE Russells new Low Carbon Economy Industrial Classification System. This industrial taxonomy includes business efforts around ocean desalinization, flood control, erosion prevention, renewable energy and technologies that shrink the carbon output of the aviation, road vehicle and shipping sectors. Researchers and algorithms sift through audited accounts and other public domain data to determine the percentage of a given companys revenue across any green industries in which it operates. The model then adds up that green revenue and calculates its proportion to total revenue. Of the 13,400 corporations LCE follows, Bourne says, roughly 2,600 generate green revenue. Since the launch of the model and its related products, the greatest client demand has been for the data itself, he observes. FTSE Russell is also seeing growing appetite for custom indexes and trading models built using that information, Bourne says. LCE is the first publicly available tool for quantifying green revenue, but Boston-based Trillium Asset Management has been making similar calculations in-house since 2008. CEO Matthew Patsky says that for his $2.2 billion firm, such data has become crucial when deciding which businesses are clean enough to invest in. Trilliums portfolio companies must derive at least 25 percent of their revenue from tackling environmental problems, and that proportion must be increasing relative to total revenue. Many of the firms using the LCE data 170 major financial institutions took part in the models 18-month trial run, and others have since signed on are doing something similar by finding ways to isolate the companies whose green revenue is growing faster than that of the rest of the business, Bourne says. He also notes that for the 13,400 corporations the LCE model follows, green revenue growth is the overall trend: Over the past eight years, the number of companies generating such revenue has climbed almost every year, after starting at less than 2,100. The absolute value of green revenue also rose during that time. There are some holes in the data. Of the 2,600-odd companies generating green revenue, about one third dont disclose precise numbers for those lines of business. When the value is inaccessible and FTSE Russell cant calculate a green revenue percentage, a given companys green revenue score stays at zero. If a corporations possible green revenue percentage falls within a range, the LCE model will assume the lowest number. Were being conservative until a companys disclosure improves, Bourne says. To supplement the model released in June, FTSE Russell will soon build one that makes green revenue estimates. Over time, companies will become more transparent and correct the estimates where called for, Bourne believes. When asset managers and risk officers see the story LCE data is telling, theres an epiphany, he says: They suddenly realize that theres this unobserved structural change in industrial output taking place, and it can now be measured and modeled. Get more on pensions. To view a PDF of the report, click here. [International] To view a PDF of the report, click here. [Americas] By Randy Myers Not so long ago, corporate social responsibility was as much buzzword as serious corporate priority. Too often it referred to activities that companies would undertake to benefit the social good but with little direct connection to, or bearing on, the companys business operations. The idea of a genuine link between CSR and profitability, performance and revenue involving more than just bolstering the corporate image or rebuffing criticism met with skepticism. Remnants of this attitude surely remain, but for leading companies around the globe, CSR has become a strategic imperative. As consumers increasingly demand more accountability from the companies they do business with, those companies recognize that aligning social responsibility initiatives with their business model can help them build a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. The 2015 Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability Report found that 66 percent of consumers were willing to pay more for environmentally sustainable brands, for example, up from 55 percent in 2014 and 50 percent in 2013. Today it very much has to do with markets and profit, says Silvia Fernandez de Caleya, head of human resources and corporate social responsibility for Instituto de Credito Oficial, the state-owned Spanish bank more commonly known as ICO. The banks mission is to promote economic activities that contribute to Spains growth and development and to improve the distribution of wealth in that country. The bank pays particular attention to projects with social, cultural or environmental significance or that promote innovation. Silvia Fernandez de Caleya, Instituto de Credito Oficial The growing awareness that social responsibility is intimately linked to profitability and to better businessperformance is changing corporations top-down" The growing awareness that social responsibility is intimately linked to profitability and to better business performance is changing corporations top-down, says de Caleya, noting that pressure to incorporate social good and sustainability into business models is coming from customers as well as other stakeholders. Consider ICOs 1 billion ($866.1 million) social bond issue in January 2015, which aimed at financing small- and medium-size enterprises in regions of Spain where GDP per capita is lower than the national average. The ultimate social goal is to create and maintain jobs. Among the purchasers were socially responsible investors (SRIs), who, de Caleya says, are explicitly interested not just in the financial return on their investment but also in the social benefits it delivers. If you launch a social bond aiming to create or maintain employment in Spains most economically disadvantaged regions, you have to be able to report your results on that front, she says. SRI investors are not only interested in financial returns but in performance as well. Chinas new environmental focus While Europe has long been at the forefront of the social responsibility movement, China, with its intense focus on transforming itself into a modern, industrialized nation, has been viewed as a laggard. But in an increasingly global economy, thats a distinction many Chinese businesses realize they can no longer afford. Traditionally, a Chinese company that wanted to earn money didnt care whether or not it polluted the water or the environment in general, says Zhou Min, CEO of Beijing Enterprises Water Group, a builder and operator of water treatment and sewage facilities that is 44 percent owned by the Beijing city government. These days, its not like that. We want to run our business in a sustainable way. It must be environmentally friendly. For China and Chinese companies, this reflects a dramatic shift in thinking that began to take root among government officials at the start of this century. Soon state-run companies fell in line with the new focus on environmental cleanup and protection. Cleaning the air, bringing rivers back to life and encouraging development and adoption of alternative-energy vehicles now rank high on the national agenda. Like many supporters of CSR, Min says Beijing Enterprises Water, which operates across China as well as in Portugal, Singapore and Malaysia, wants to ensure profitability over the long term, not just quarter to quarter. To be a truly socially responsible business, he argues, all of the companys stakeholders must benefit from its business model, including employees, corporate partners and society in general. This is our concept of social responsibility, he says. Increasingly, companies find that not embracing that approach can have a material negative impact. We have important recent examples of how a company does instantly lose credibility, its solid reputation and business advantages when involved in environment, social or governance scandals, says de Caleya, and this has an immediate effect on a companys share value and sales. Although she does not mention it, an example can be seen in the explosion and sinking of British Petroleums Deepwater Horizon oil rig at Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the sea. BPs stock tumbled in the weeks following the massive oil spill and to this day has not recovered its prespill highs. A commitment to CSR pays dividends Conversely, a commitment to corporate social responsibility can pay dividends in multiple ways. At ICO, de Caleya says, the fact that we are seen as a reliable, socially responsible partner makes it possible to obtain funds from the international capital markets. Meanwhile, issuing social bonds has widened the range of investors willing to support the banks activities. ICOs commitment to social responsibility also has expanded its field of influence. We are proud to say, for example, that we have been a very active participant, through our capital markets area, in the working group promoted by the ICMA [International City/County Management Association] in defining social bond principles. Although it may be hard to quantify the impact on the banks bottom line, de Caleya notes that a program in which ICO employees volunteer to work with specialized NGOs to provide job training to entrepreneurs, the long-term unemployed and other at-risk individuals boosts the morale of employees who participate as well as making a difference in the communities where the bank operates. That too has positive benefits for ICO, which is a certified Family Responsible Company and considers its peopleto be its human capitalits most important asset. Especially to the extent that it supports the goal of building socially sustainable businesses, CSR today is finally hitting its stride, de Caleya argues. In 2015 sustainability was in the epicenter of global agendas, she says. We could dare say 2015 was the year of sustainable development. She points by way of example to the agendas and work done at three major conclaves: the third annual conference on Financing for Development of the U.N.s Department of Economic and Social Affairs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the U.N. Sustainable Development Summit in New York; and the sixth annual Paris Climate Conference. Progress made at these gatherings suggests strongly that CSR is here to stay. There is a global consensus that our planets future and sustainability require responsible business models and coordinated actions, de Caleya says. Concern about how products and services are produced and disposed is growing, and not only among investors. When consumers and clients make a choice, it is an increasingly relevant matter, along with pricing. In short, corporate social responsibility is no longer just a buzzword or marketing tool. It is a strategic imperative. Electronification and digitalisation have come to the FX market, broadening the appeal of forex and affirming its legitimacy as an asset class for investors. At the same time, the trend is attracting a new set of tech-savvy clients to the market. Although electronic trading in FX has been in use for more than a decade, it gained greater traction in the years following the financial crisis of 2008, and even more so recently as regulators began looking for more transparency in FX Trading. It has been helped by the widespread adoption of FIX, the financial information exchange protocol system first introduced in 1992 in the equity market, and now used as a standard. Whats more, as companies have felt the pressure to diversify away from their home country, the globalisation of markets has boosted foreign-exchange activity. Yet technology itself has been the real game-changer in the global FX spacethe largest financial market in the worldsparking the transition from a largely voice-traded market to an electronic one. By the early 90s, there was a USD 1.2 trillion OTC market in spot FX that was predominately voice-traded1, and its now more than a USD 5.2 trillion market thats 70 per cent electronically traded, observes Paul Scott, Head of Spot and eFX Risk at Commerzbank Corporates & Markets, where traditional voice-trading and electronic eFX trading is one unit. By 2019, its projected to be an USD 8 trillion market, with electronification expected to increase to 85 per cent.2 *1BIS - Bank for International Settlements survey One reason for the further electronification and digitisation of the FX market will be the new regulatory environment with its emphasis on transparency, but another will be the expanded level of activity, accompanied by the fragmentation of transactions. There is more volume today, says John Juer, Head of eProduct for Fixed Income and Currency Trading at Commerzbank Corporates & Markets. But all of the tickets are broken down into much smaller sizes, as everyone is trying to get the best possible overall spread. The irony is that the very fragmented market of the late 1980s and early 1990s became centralised by the mid-90s, only to revert to greater fragmentation today, thanks in part to the presence of numerous intermediaries. As Scott notes, The new paradigm is almost a replica of the old paradigm, but just in electronic form. While e-trading offers clients more transparency and liquidity, and at lower service costs, it also brings them closer to the transactionsthrough online streaming, on-screen pricing and other real-time information, for exampleand closer to the bankers they work with. Meanwhile, the financial institutions and companies that have invested in technology and developed infrastructures and e-platforms to facilitate automated trading are now in strong positions to capitalise on the e-trading trend. Commerzbank is one such institution. Ten years ago, the bank developed the first version of Commander, a customisable global e-trading platform for individual traders. But its not enough just to develop a platform. Maintaining a technological edge in the global marketplace is also critical for the top FX service providers. You have to be at the right level in order to be able to provide clients with the service they expect, Juer says. You have to continuously develop and innovate in order to do that. Were all used to having to upgrade our phonesthats the way the world is todayand all of us in FX are trying to do the same thing, whether it is infrastructure to provide the best possible price, flexibility and ease in managing FX cash flows or intelligence and analytics to understand flow and improve the client service. Four years ago, Commerzbank launched the Commander Kristall platform, which allows real-time collaboration between financial institutions and clients through same-screen sharing of information, and speeds up the trading process for FX options and FX Structured products. The new platform also allows the banks internal sales teams and employees worldwide to access pricing and data. Success in the flow FX space remains dependent on five key componentsa pricing engine, distribution platform, risk management platform, execution aggregator and analyticsCommerzbank has developed a platform that includes all of those. 2015 Commerzbank was honoured for its innovations by FX Week, which named the company one of the top three Best Banks for FX in the Eurozone for Bank Clients and ranked the company among Highly Commended banks for its Best e-FX Platform for Corporates. As a result of the ease of access and greater transparency arising from electronic trading, what was once almost purely an institutional and corporate business based on hedging risk, has shifted to encompass new client segments, such as the retail market and asset managers who treat FX as another asset class like equity. That market really didnt exist in FX in the 1990s, Juer says, adding that retail is particularly strong in Asia. But also impacted are the real money managers and pension funds. Where will electronification take the market six months from now? Thats very short-term, says Scott. Most significant changes to our platform and technology can take up to 18 to 24 months to implement so it is important to focus on a longer time frame for key developments. However in the short term I envisage an increasing uptake and use of client and trade analytics to improve the trading process especially given the increasing market volatility Within that frame of time, he and his colleagues foresee less available credit and decreased flow from institutions; liquidity becoming more valuable; thinner markets; and remaining volatility. But its not all bad news. Theres probably a lot of upside for real money managers and companies as they start to digitalise their overlaying management, Scott predicts. Well see a slight change from the dependency on institutional and retail growth in FX to the real money managers, both from a technology, trading and franchise concept. There are also infrastructure and distance issues that need to be resolved, particularly in Asia, according to Juer. You obviously still need strong infrastructure to do electronic trading, he says, and Asia is still a long way away. What isnt likely to change, however, is the basis for FX transactions, which has been with us since the Sumerians first traded tokens for goods. No matter how fragmented we become, and no matter the changing technologies or the increase in electronification, relationships still matter, and e-trading brings us closer to our clients, Scott emphasises. In the 80s and early 90s, when trading was voice-dominated, the client relationship management was very much a sales focus and trading took care of the market. Today, were seeing both sales and trading engaged with the client. Juer adds: With electronification clients are also interacting in a very direct way with the technology of a bankdetailed analysis can help get the best from the relationship. Its now about collaboration. Its about connectivity. 1BIS - Bank for International Settlements survey 2Aite Group By Bloomberg Custom Content For more information, contact efxsales@commerzbank.com at Commerzbank. Partner with us to trade view Commerzbanks trading & execution solutions. View our latest insights into capital markets. Read Commerzbank's full disclaimer here. To view a PDF of the report, click here. By Patrick Werr The Middle Easts political and economic storms have continued to batter Lebanon, but despite all the odds, its economy has continued to expand. Growth had been sizzling along at an average 8.5 percent from 2007 to 2010, only to take a major hit when civil war broke out in 2011 in neighboring Syria. In addition to dampening tourism and foreign investment, the war sent 1.5 million refugees into Lebanon, boosting its population by a third and putting tremendous strain on government finances. The Syrian civil war has had less direct consequences on the economy as well. Remittances from Lebanese working abroad, a mainstay of the economy, slipped in 2014, although they somewhat stabilized last year at about 15.9 percent of GDP, according to the World Bank. Fallout from the war has upset Lebanons delicate political balance and the governments ability to take decisions: there has been no president has since May 2014 and parliament has been in gridlock. Saudi anger over the bigger role that the Shiite group Hezbollah was playing in Lebanons government and in Syria led it in February to suspend an annual $4 billion in aid it had been giving to the Lebanese military and security services. To add to the misery, the United States enacted a law in December that is forcing Lebanese banks to close the accounts of members, affiliates and intermediaries of Hezbollah, a militant group and political party with several deputies in parliament. Hezbollah has strong support among Lebanons Shiites, who make up more than a quarter of the population, and the US legislation threatens to shake the countrys political balance even further. The regional instability and domestic political paralysis have reduced investment, exports and capital flows and put tremendous pressures on public finances, says Saad Azhari, chairman and general manager of BLOM Bank. This caused the ratings agency Fitch to downgrade Lebanons sovereign credit rating in July. Both Moodys and Standard and Poors had already given the country a negative outlook rating. Still, given the circumstances, Lebanon seems to be weathering the storm tolerably well. The economy has been growing at no more than 2 percent annually since 2011, says Azhari. But the fact that the economy is growing at all is also an achievement, amidst all the negative influences surrounding us. And that is what is keeping me optimistic about the prospects for the economy it remains flexible, agile, and ready to seize on opportunities. The country has promising prospects in sectors like oil and gas, IT, finance, and tourism. Add to that the strength of remittances, which has remained stable at about $7.5 billion annually. Lebanons GDP rose by an estimated 1.5 percent in 2015, according to the World Bank, partly due to an uptick in tourism. The bank expects growth to increase to 2.5 percent over the medium term, assuming the war in Syria continues, and faster if the conflict is resolved. Key to the countrys growth and stability and the health of its banking system is the large inflow of remittances from Lebanese expatriates. But there is a risk in relying on remittances too much. So far the collapse of international oil prices in mid-2014 has been a net positive for Lebanon, making energy imports cheaper. But up to two-thirds of remittances come Lebanese working in oil-producing countries, and there is concern that at some point the lower oil income of the Gulf states may start eating into the ability of Lebanese to send money home. The remittances, which account for more than 17 percent of GDP, have also allowed the government to finance yawning budget deficits for years, resulting in a debt ratio that has mushroomed to around 140 percent of GDP, the third-highest in the Arab world and third highest among all the worlds mid- to large-size economies, just behind Japan and Greece. The remittances are equally crucial for Lebanese banks, which held 56 percent of outstanding treasury bills at the end of April, increasing their deposits and helping them to remain viable with good liquidity and sufficient capital cushions. Riad Salameh, governor of Lebanons central bank, Banque du Liban (BDL), expects bank deposits to increase by 4.5 to 5 percent this year. Lebanons two biggest banks, BLOM and Audi, have adopted a strategy of regional expansion to diversify their risks at home and seek out new opportunities. Both are positioning themselves to become Middle Easts banking powerhouses. BLOM was one of the early banks to expand into Syria. But when war broke out it cut its exposure there, reducing its loan book from $675 million in 2011 to less than $20 million now. We surely will expand it once the economy and the overall political situation improves in the future, Azhari says. We are not abandoning the Syrian market because we are there for the very long term, and we think it will be a lucrative market once the crisis ends. BLOM is contemplating expanding at home as well, with its eye on acquiring the Lebanese assets of HSBC, which is withdrawing from the local market. Bank Audi also has been expanding regionally, mainly in Turkey and in Egypt, the Middle Easts two most populous countries, and its foreign operations now account for more than half of its profit. In August it increased the capital of its Turkish subsidiary Odeabank by one billion Turkish lira ($338 million), or 42 percent. The International Finance Corporation subscribed to $110 million of the increase and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development $90 million, with Bank Audi and other Middle Eastern investors taking the rest. The increase has left Bank Audi with about 75 percent of the Turkish banks capital. Odeabank is expected to use the proceeds to expand its financing in the real sector, to improve access of SMEs and to make investment in its digital banking channel and technology, says Bank Audi chief strategist Freddie Baz. Since Audi set it up in late 2012, Odeabank has expanded rapidly and is now among Turkeys ten largest private banks. It has 56 branches in 16 cities with more than 1,500 employees. Bank Audi reported that net profit rose 11.7 percent in the first half of 2016 to $226 million. More than half of its net profit came from its operations outside Lebanon. Baz says that in the medium term Bank Audi intends to explore further regional expansion opportunities, including in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, we plan to establish a footprint in the United Kingdom through a light structure, he adds. The central bank is taking all necessary measures to keep the financial sector safe and sound, and is closely monitoring the performance of Lebanese banks in the region, says BDL governor Salameh. It is requiring them to allocate adequate capital and to take necessary provisions ahead of time so that the banking sector can remain immune to any negative fallout from the regions events. Lebanon is a small country and its economy does not depend on natural resources or exports, but on its people. Our productive sectors, such as our industries, hold good potential; yet they are not sufficiently contributing to GDP growth, Salameh says. The Lebanese economy has been, indeed, performing below its potential. Yet, taking into account the social and political tensions, in addition to regional turmoil, our economy remains resilient. To view a PDF of the report, click here. For the past eight years, perennial rivals China and Taiwan set aside long-held differences to reach their first-ever economic cooperation deals. This phase, beginning in 2008, enabled commerce between the worlds second- and twentieth-largest economies to grow to record levels. But now, under new Taiwanese leadership, relations are cooling as Taipeis concerns about the Chinese embrace are reviving. Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen, since taking office May 20, has stopped formal talks with China because voters feared the previous governments warmer relations had threatened Taiwanese autonomy. China is unhappy because less dialogue reduces prospects for eventual unification of the two countries under one flag, scholars in Taipei believe. But over her first 100 days in office, Tsai has spoken politely to Beijing while remaining distant from the negotiation table, avoiding incidents that might set off retaliation. That would not completely appease China, but the economic retaliation should always remain within acceptable, temporary, boundaries, says Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist for French investment bank Natixis. Against this political landscape, economic relations that began in 1990 with Taiwanese investment on the other side and surged under the previous Taiwan administration for eight years, will be sustained by past agreements--but not necessarily forever, analysts say. Without new political momentum--and given weak spots in China itself--those ties are expected to fray. That fate would hamper trade and investment, a disappointment to expansion-minded firms in China as well as Taiwans financial services, hospitality and high-tech giants. Without continued talks between governments, 21 deals drafted by the two sides under Tsais predecessor Ma Ying-jeoubut never signed--could go into an indefinite freeze. One agreement would cut tariffs on potentially thousands of items shipped to China, the outgrowth of an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) reached in 2010. Taiwans parliament, controlled by Tsais ruling party, also has not ratified a 3-year-old services trade liberalization pact that would accelerate the China business of 144 Taiwanese sectors including tourism and financial services. Due to the lack of ratification, No one from Taiwan has a securities joint venture yet, says Allen Wu, executive vice president of Yuanta Financial Holding Co. in Taipei. China is our most important market after the U.S. We share culture and language and know each other, which is good for Taiwanese who go to China for business. Yuanta, with NTD2 trillion (US$63 billion) in total assets and an 11.5 percent share of Taiwans brokerage market, has three representative offices in China, where it makes loans to Taiwanese clients at lower interest than charged by mainland Chinese banks. Free trade of the Chinese yuan currency since 2004 in Hong Kong and 2012 in Taiwan, also under the more Beijing-friendly previous administration, have accelerated deposit rates. This allows banks in Taiwan to make yuan loans useful for business on the other side. The Taiwan yuan deposit rate expanded from 0.6 percent in February 2013, to a peak of 4.5 percent in July last year before slowing to about 3.7 percent of total deposits as of July this year after China devalued the currency last year, investment bank Barclays has found. Chinese tourism to Taiwan affected Legislative go-ahead for the services trade agreement also would open Chinese tourism services to Taiwanese investment. Instead, Taiwans larger mid-range hotels now face a 30 percent year-on-year reduction in group tourists from China from April through July this year. Arrivals hit a peak of 3.4 million in 2015. Groups began coming en masse in 2008 after the Ma government signed a tourism agreement with China. Authorities in China are issuing fewer travel permits this year, travel agencies in Taipei say, either to show discontent with the Tsai government or because tourists themselves prefer to stay home to save money, fallout from their countrys economic growth slowdown. Two-way flights that rose from occasional charters to 890 per week over the past eight years also may decline as airlines suspend routes to smaller Chinese cities in light of declining tourism, according to local media reports. Under current unclear political circumstances between China and Taiwan, we dont expect cross-Strait flights to have any obvious growth in the near future, Taiwan-based China Airlines said in a recent statement. The airline operates 140 China-Taiwan weekly and calls itself the largest carrier in that market. However, China Airlines still expect a longer-term increase in passenger loads. Tourism from mainland China has started to decline in both Taiwan and Hong Kong, says Angela Hsieh, an economist with Barclays in Singapore. The percentage of tourists from China to Taiwan rose from 17 percent in June 2009 to 40 percent by this year and in Hong Kong from 59 percent to 76 percent, Barclays says. The influx of Chinese visitors has been the key pillar of support for services employment for both areas and for retail sales, especially for Hong Kong, Hsieh says. That said, we think there is emerging concern that the people flow may have peaked. High-end hotels in Taiwans capital are looking for more tourists from elsewhere in Asia as bookings from mainland China decline, says Achim Hake, general manager of The Sherwood Taipei, a 343-room luxury hotel. They come from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, he says. The Middle East is forming a niche market because of direct flights to Taipei on Emirates Airlines and Turkish Airlines, Hake says. Taiwanese firms look beyond China China also is fading as a manufacturing hotspot and market for Taiwans signature high-tech industry. Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, a contract tech assembly giant better known as Foxconn, still assembles Apple goods in China. But it is expanding in Vietnam and Indonesia instead of focusing on new factories in China as it did before 2010. This shift to Southeast Asia reflects rising land and labor costs in China. The quick rise of Chinese Android smartphone brands such as Oppo, Vibo and Xiaomi also has frustrated the chief Taiwanese smartphone developer HTC-- which has aimed its cheaper devices at Chinese consumers since 2012. HTCs world market share has plunged from 10.7 percent in 2011 to just 2-3 percent today and U.K.-based market research firm Strategy Analytics says its China market share has fallen from 4.4 percent in 2012 to 0.4 percent in the second quarter of this year. HTC is unlikely to regrow significant market share in China any time soon due to its limited retail presence, modest brand awareness and a smartphone portfolio that is largely undifferentiated from its Chinese rivals, says Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics global wireless practice executive director. China and Taiwan will eventually find a common goal in promoting smart medical care devices and smart energy, says John Chen, senior industry consultant with Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, a government-backed tech research firm in Taipei. Chinas goal of becoming more beautiful can draw on the Taiwan governments focus on promoting renewable energy development while ambitions in China to improve healthcare may expand the market for Taiwanese medical devices, Chen says. Under Ma, former vice president Vincent Siew had set up the Cross-Strait CEO Summit with committees in charge of tech cooperation and Chen expects the summits to continue under todays government as long as politics stay out. Somehow China and Taiwan are heading in the same direction and the Institute believes the potential for cooperation will concentrate on smart medical care...and smart energy in the years to come, Chen says. But Taiwans $131 billion high-tech economy, about a fifth of GDP, faces a broader threat from improvements in the quality, scale and supply chain in China. Quality of goods such as PCs and smartphones has improved in China, long known as the worlds low-cost producer. Chinese manufacturers have improved after decades of plant inspections by foreign investors and from competition for domestic consumers, economists say. The supply chain also has matured, so Chinese hardware developers can source parts for mass production without looking offshore. Taiwanese trade officials say their tech sector still leads Chinas in precision technology and niche devices. It may not just be tech that eases away from China. In her inauguration speech, Tsai said Taiwan would focus its direct investment policy on Southeast Asia and India to bid farewell to our past over-reliance on a single market, a reference to China. Infrastructure in Southeast Asian countries popular with Taiwanese firms has improved, Tsai said before taking office, and those companies have already expanded in that region, so investment risk has declined. About 3,500 Taiwanese firms were investing in Vietnam alone until 2011 as they found costs lower than in China, a Taiwanese chamber of commerce official in Ho Chi Minh City estimates. Taiwan remains among Vietnams top five investment sources. Chinese aim to invest more in Taiwan Chinese firms, especially in tech, are eager to invest in Taiwan to grow offshore as the home market gets too competitive. Their mergers and acquisitions outside China this year had totaled $111 billion through May 2016--more than for all of 2015, investment bank UBS says. The major fixed-line phone provider China Telecom, for example, signed a peering agreement in May with the fixed-line division of Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings. The goal is to grow China Telecoms global coverage by using Hutchisons extensive reach and throughout Hutchisons mobile affiliates, China Telecom said in a statement. As part of the agreement, mobile network operators and carriers served by both parties can use the IP platforms of either to deliver traffic from 4G data roaming, mobile signaling and Voice-over-IP. Taiwan appeals to Chinese companies because of the cultural and linguistic similarities, relatively well-off consumers and precision technology expertise. The companies are keen to acquire advanced technology and established brands offshore, DBS economist Ma Tieying says, making Taiwans precision technology a particular draw. But because of public concerns about the degree of mainland Chinese investment, she says, Tsais administration will probably curb any major deals. There have been public concerns in Taiwan regarding the rise of Chinese capital, which may cause a technological loss in Taiwans corporate sector and importantly, pose threats to national security, the economist says. The government can be expected to take a cautious approach on this front, she adds. Chinas internal worries, such as falling GDP growth and lack of a long-term replacement for manufacturing as the chief economic engine stand to hit Taiwans investments as well. Chinese authorities are trying to stimulate consumption and private investment rather than factories, which are finding cheaper production bases in other countries. Taiwanese firms have invested a total of about $100 billion in China versus $1.24 billion the other way. Two-way trade of $115 billion recorded by Taiwans Foreign Trade Bureau last year also favors Taiwanese companies with exports 61 percent of that total. As China slows, Greater China inevitably faces new economic challenges, Garcia of Natixis says. She notes despite projections for a longer-term increase in passenger loads, weaker retail sales in Hong Kong and two years of declining casino revenues for next-door Macau, both due to fewer arrivals from China. Taiwan is not alone, say Garcia. A new week featuring much-anticipated policy announcements by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan kicks off today in the shadow of possible terrorist acts in the U.S. and other geopolitical disruptions. Fresh fighting in Libya, centered around the primary eastern oil-exporting ports, helped crude prices find a footing with front-month futures for Brent grade rebounding by more than 1 percent to more than $46 per barrel. In New York, West Texas Intermediate Grade futures contracts also rose. With President Barack Obama scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly today, increased geopolitical volatility may well weigh on investors minds. Despite security concerns, equities rose in aggregate in early trading, with the MSCI all-country index rising modestly. Terror concerns heightened. A spate of violence dominated U.S. news this past weekend as a bomb in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood wounded dozens Saturday evening and a second explosive device was located before detonating. Many New Yorkers commutes this morning were punctuated with the jolt of a smartphone emergency alert as authorities notified users to be on the lookout for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old suspected in the Saturday attacks. In addition, federal authorities are investigating a series of stabbings at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota and pipe bombs near the route of a charity race in New Jersey. Overnight, a package detonated in an Elizabeth, N.J. train station as a robot examined it. Security in New York and the surrounding region has been increased in response, just as the UN General Assembly convenes. Merkels party dealt a blow. German Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union party fared poorly in an election in Berlin on Sunday, the worst showing since the party became a dominant force in German politics after World War II. While the Christian Democrats and its coalition partner, the Social Democrats, secured the top results in the race, they failed to capture the majority required to rule the capital without the support of additional parties. Merkel and her colleagues have faced growing opposition over the controversial acceptance of refugees fleeing Syria. Technical glitch delays opening Down Under. On Monday morning, a technical failure forced a delayed opening for Australias primary equity market. ASX began trading 90 minutes late and halted transactions later in the day. Exchange officials said that the underlying issue related to hardware used to maintain the bourses pricing database. GM faces Canadian strike. With a Monday evening contract deadline looming in Canada, General Motors faces the possibility of a strike at its production facilities in Ontario. Jerry Dias, president of the auto workers union Unifor, on Sunday told media outlets that the car maker had failed to meet labor demands and that a walkout was possible. The facilities in question produce roughly 15 percent of GM engines for cars sold in North America. This content is from: Opinion Cryptos descent into hell, rather than sending institutional investors straight for the exits, has triggered a hunt for the next big bet.(Part of the crypto column series.) Homeowners are being forced into bankruptcy over mortgage insurance policies that most consumers believe are designed to protect borrowers, it has been reported.According to an ABC report, bankruptcy proceedings have been filed against dozens of homeowners by mortgage insurance providers QBE LMI and Genworth Financial over the past decade in order to recover debts from mortgage defaults.Australian banks have made lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) compulsory for borrowers who do not have a 20 per cent deposit. Contrary to beliefs of many consumers, however, the policies are designed to protect the lender and not the borrowers in the event of mortgage default, the report said.Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data showed that borrowers spent almost half a billion dollars on some 100,000 LMI policies in the first half of the year."Around 70 per cent of households believe that lenders mortgage insurance protects them rather than the lender," said Martin North, independent banking analyst, told ABC."So it's not totally clear to them that this is something that protects the bank rather than the borrower and I personally think that there needs to be better disclosure with regard to this particular product set."Most LMI policies provide that banks can file a claim in case of borrower default and the sale of the property does not cover the value of the mortgage, ABC said."The insurer pays the bank, so the bank gets out scot-free," Peter White, president of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia, told ABC."But what that loss was [the insurers] then chase the borrower to recoup."That could be $100,000."In a statement, the Australian Bankers Association said borrowers were informed of the risks of LMI: "LMI would typically be discussed with customers when they initially apply for a loan, be included as part of information packs, and discussed again at the final stage when the customer proceeds to purchase.""The terms and conditions of LMI are included in the loan contract."Peter White from the Finance Brokers Association of Australia calls for government intervention in order to improve disclosure and borrowers understanding of how mortgage insurance works."Make it a regulated document that every banker and every broker must give to the client and the client needs to understand," White said."And it being at the beginning of the process maximises the opportunity of understanding." Losing data strikes more fear in businesses than getting hacked. A survey released earlier this month by San Francisco, Calif.-based Wells Fargo Insurance shows 47 percent of mid-sized companies were concerned with losing private data compared with 26 percent worrying about hackers disrupting their systems. The survey highlights the top network security and data privacy concerns among companies with $100 million or more in annual revenue. It was constructed by talking to 100 decision makers empowered to make insurance purchases about network security and data privacy issues. While losing data topped the list, followed by concerns over hacking, it appears few companies are worried about their employees misusing technology. Seven percent of those polled cited that as a concern. I honestly think that people don't realize how many mistakes people make throughout the day. That didnt surprise Dena Cusick, national practice leader with Wells Fargo Insurances technology, privacy and network risk national practice. I honestly think that people dont realize how many mistakes people make throughout the day, Cusick said. A study commissioned by Verizon last year shows 10.6 percent of cyber issues were a result of insider misuse, and a NetDillegence study showed carriers reported 11 percent cyber claims resulted from staff mistakes. Human error is a huge factor, she said. And that is what gets people every time. While many companies have yet to wake up to potential problems caused by employee misuse, Cusick believes a few businesses are beginning to recognize it as emerging problem. No respondents in the 2015 Wells Fargo Insurance survey named employee misuse as a concern. Cusick reasoned the slight uptick reflected in this years survey may come from more companies possessing the tools to figure out where breaches are occurring. I think people are able to engage better forensics, she said, adding that a number of companies have developed the ability to drill down and discover the point of entry in attacks and breeches. Following are the top eight network security and data privacy concerns with last years ranking in parentheses: Loss of data 47 percent (45 percent) Hackers 26 percent (25 percent) Security breaches 26 percent (20 percent) Maintaining reputation 9 percent (4 percent) Viruses 7 percent (10 percent) Software vulnerabilities 7 percent (7 percent) Employee misuse of technology 7 percent (0 percent) Other 7 percent (13 percent) Spear phishing from foreign hackers targeting employees is one trend Cusick is seeing is more of. Theyre falling for spear phishing attacks and downloading these viruses into the system, Cusick said. One of her clients became the victim of a spear phishing attack when an employee clicked on an email that prompted the recipient to Click here to find out how much vacation time you have. The email looked like it was from human resources, but when the web browser opened it was a different link, Cusick said. Another type of scam that seems to be popular lately is fake photocopier repair personnel coming to offices and telling a receptionist they are taking the offices copier in for repair. Most modern photocopiers have large capacity hard drives embedded in them, Cusick noted. There could be 100,000 documents in there, she said. These are among the reasons why Cusick and others in the industry are encouraging clients to beef up employee awareness training, such as teaching employees to check with the office manager before letting office equipment out the door, and that emailed requests to log onto a third-party portal should raise a red flag, as should emails with a strange font, or a fuzzy company logo that may have been copied and pasted into an email. Topics Trends Cyber Pat Kilkenny and Bob Kimmel put the Ks in K2 Insurance Services five years ago. Thats when they began using their combined 60 years of insurance experience to work buying up and developing businesses with the backing of investment firm Endeavour Capital. San Diego-based K2 Insurance is today a fast-growing family of two specialty insurance companies and 10 business units offering both commercial and personal lines. Through acquisitions and investments, K2 has developed a network of MGAs to manage, underwrite and distribute products on behalf of its carriers, including Aegis Security Insurance Co., which K2 acquired in 2013. Aegis Security is licensed in all 50 states and specializes in manufactured homes, other low-value dwellings and motorcycles. It also underwrites surety bonds and accident and health. K2s first acquisition was in 2012 when it bought a majority stake in Midwestern Insurance Alliance, which specializes in workers compensation for transportation risks. Later that same year, K2 invested in a new Texas MGA, Mission Select Insurance Services, which focuses on residential property. Along the way K2 has also formed Aegis General Insurance Agency, Allied Public Risk and Vikco Insurance Services. This past March, it acquired High Point Underwriters of New Jersey, which with Midwestern Insurance Alliance is offering a national workers compensation and occupational accident insurance program. Kilkenny previously ran and owned Arrowhead General Insurance, an industry leading general agency he took private and helped build from $5 million in annual premiums to more than $1 billion in written premiums. Kimmel was executive vice president and MGA practice leader at Guy Carpenter before teaming with Kilkenny to launch K2. Kilkenny, CEO, and Kimmel, president, both put company culture on top of a short list of firm-wide qualities they believe are responsible for driving K2s growth. The pair spoke with Insurance Journal publisher Mark Wells about their past, their company and its future. Following is a profile of K2 and its leaders Kilkenny and Kimmel. This has been edited for brevity. Wells: [When you came to Arrowhead] the state of the industry was a little different then. Could you talk a little bit about the differences and how theyve changed and whats going on right now? Kilkenny: It was part of a publicly traded company that myself and an employee group took private in 86, I believe it was, and hyperfocused on nonstandard auto, single state, single program. Did that pretty aggressively until 95. Following the Northridge Earthquake, we decided that we had a lot of the key elements to get in the property business and leverage some of our infrastructure and assets at that point. It was a totally different time and place. No technology. Companies didnt really invest in technology back then. I was 33 at the time. I think I was the senior person in our ownership group, too, which shows what a young, fairly long horizon that we had to build a business. We werent really thinking about anything other than trying to do things the right way. In any business you have to figure out how to distinguish yourselves, and we felt technology was a way that we could do something different than our peer group. We invested heavily in technology. It was in the personal auto business. At one point we had 250,000 policies in force. Wed grown pretty significantly. The business was becoming really, really competitive and we were really having a hard time trying to figure out how to earn margins even with good technology. We felt like we had some leverageable assets with distribution technology and some of the product skill sets that we had, mathematicians, actuaries, people like that. Northridge happened. The first year after Northridge we insured 60,000 homes from a dead start, taking a really aggressive pricing strategy to fill a niche in the market. We had great success doing that. We were deemed as being a firm that could be opportunistic, respond to marketplace opportunities. We started filling other niches after that and became a multiline, multistate. Wells: Bob, you were involved as a reinsurance broker with Arrowhead. What made you decide to get into the business? Kimmel: My relationship with Pat was always as a reinsurance broker, and most of the time, that was market finding. They would need a new set of paper or want to get an additional set, and thats how we helped Arrowhead grow. Wed introduce them to an underwriter at a company, theyd form a division of Arrowhead to build around that person. Wed bring in the paper, then wed probably bring reinsurance support behind that. Through that, I got to know Pat quite well. We were successful together doing that, and built a friendship. When he got out of the business and I got into the program practice group at Carpenter, we still remained friends and kept talking about what we were seeing in the marketplace, and again, it was a challenging time in 2009 and 2010, with the economy just coming back from 2008 meltdown. Anyway, we decided to get together and try to aggregate or roll up these MGAs. Thats what weve done. Wells: Lets jump to the current state of affairs right now. What kind of environment are you working in in the industry? Kilkenny: Id say from the time that Ive been in the business until now, its about as difficult as Ive seen its overcapitalized, people are stepping on the same rake theyve been stepping on in cycles over the years. It just doesnt seem like theres the discipline there should be in the business, in a mature business. Its harder to distinguish yourself than it probably has ever been. Having said that, Bob and his leadership team have done a fabulous job of identifying some opportunities, some people, and been able to have those disciplines and been able to get the rate levels that we need in order to generate the profitability, and grow, which has been really commendable. I love the culture. A lot of similarities to Arrowhead from what we had over the years. Very entrepreneurial, silo oriented, where we will give people tools and resources, and quite frankly get out of their way, let them build their businesses. Bobs been able to do that with the team here in Solana Beach. He can give you a lot more detail on the silos. Wells: Bob, lets talk about the silos. Kimmel: We currently have two insurance companies and 10 business units, almost equally split between commercial and personal lines. Also, when we bought Aegis it had a tremendous mobile home book of business that weve been able to grow, probably we were at about $30 million then, now were about $45 million, growing at least 20 percent a year in that space by hiring new leadership and focusing on marketing and relationships. Our other biggest unit is our work transportation for truck drivers. Other than that, weve got a public entity business that started with zero and has gone to about $40 million of premium. Weve got a surety book of business thats about $25 million, mainly focused on the contract surety business. Weve got an accident and health division that weve just staffed up with good leadership last year. We let that sit idle when we purchased Aegis, and now were trying to ramp that up. We were at $12 million, well probably get to about $20 million next year. We have a division in Texas focused on personal property. Well do about $25 million of personal property there, really low-value dwelling. Weve got an earthquake book of business, commercial earthquake, well write about $25 million of that business this year. We started a new division in Northern California. We just focused on residential personal property in California. We just hired a recreational team to go after RVs, boats and yachts. Wells: Eighty percent of Insurance Journal readers are probably independent agencies throughout the country. Whats the advantage that K2 can offer these people? Kilkenny: Were fabulous business partners because were entrepreneurial. If somebody comes to us with an opportunity where they can grow their franchise, because agents have the same darn problem we have, they have to figure out how to distinguish themselves. We have a hybrid in that weve got a capital base that we can leverage. Bob has an incredible Rolodex with branches internationally that we can lever up in a safe and sane way, and grow and expand in those kinds of areas and give them outsized margins by being a very efficient partner of theirs. Our food chains very short because of that. We dont have layers. Were able to do all those kinds of functions within our group. Wells: Technology and different aspects of technology are suddenly taking the insurance industry by storm. Can you talk about that? Kilkenny: I think a lot of it is appropriate. It allows predictive modeling, although some of your older underwriters that have the same hair color I do probably take some exception to it. But I think its like a lot of things in life, it will morph. People bring value. Technology brings value. Figure out how to coexist together, and I think thats the nice part about this culture we have here. We have a few people we brought in. Our CIO originally was the CIO at Arrowhead, but the plan was to bring him in and get him out in a year or two, but that helped us with the disciplines we needed. Our general counsel was our general counsel at Arrowhead, yet our CFO here is maybe 31 years old. Its a great combination of people that are willing to listen. Listening is pervasive here, its very important. Energys really important too, a lot of hard work. I think its a powerful combination, and its exciting. The character of the people is A-plus. Its something that you cant compromise and feel really good about. I think some people sell a little short on business opportunities versus sustainability, I guess maybe would be a way to put it. Kimmel: Ill talk a little bit on the efficiency side. Weve got commercial business, personal lines business. Our smallest accounts probably $400. Our largest accounts a $4 million account. The $4 million account does not need much technology. It needs old school underwriting, looking at the application, understanding the risk. The $400 account needs to be totally automated. The agents making $40 on that account. If he picks up the phone, talks to you three times, weve lost it, hes lost it. Were focusing so much more technology on our smaller transactional accounts, and were getting there. Wells: Anything youd like to add? Kimmel: The only thing I want to add is kind of where we see ourselves heading. Obviously, weve got some great platform companies, and theyre going to have tremendous organic growth. Like I said, were growing about 20 percent-plus a year. The nice thing about being a hybrid, we have a balance sheet, we have an A-rated insurance company, so it allows us to go out and talk to reinsurance brokers and insurance executives and talk about ideas. This morning we were talking about cyber. Maybe we can incubate a cyber program on our paper, heavily reinsure with someone else. It gives us a leg up on all our other MGA competitors who, theyll hire somebody, theyll go look for paper, they dont find paper, they end up probably having to terminate somebody. We have that security that we give them a long-term commitment, and we have our A-rated paper to fall back on, which has been a really nice comfort blanket. Kilkenny: I would offer one other thing that I thinks very important. At Arrowhead and also K2 theres altruism. Giving backs always been something thats been very important to us. We had a foundation at Arrowhead that ultimately morphed into something by the name of the Lucky Duck Foundation. We have an event once a year. This year its on Oct. 3. We give away north of a million dollars to charity from our one-day event every year to three local charities: Father Joes Villages, which is a continuum for the homeless; Helen Woodwards, which is an animal shelter which does amazing things for people with animals, young, the old, people who have issues. Also with Challenged Athletes, which is a national charity that provides prosthetic devices primarily for wounded soldiers, its something were quite proud of. Its not necessarily an industry gathering, but when you go to the event Id say half the people in the building have association with the insurance industry. Topics Agencies InsurTech Tech Underwriting Reinsurance Insurance Wholesale Property An earthquake that hit Pawnee, Okla., in the north central part of the state on Sept. 3 was upgraded on Sept. 7 from the preliminary 5.6 magnitude estimate to a 5.8 magnitude temblor by the U.S. Geological Survey, making it the strongest quake recorded in Oklahoma to date. The USGS said the magnitude revision was based on greater analysis of the seismic recordings of the event. The federal agency concurrently updated the official magnitude of the quake that previously held the record for the strongest quake to hit the state the temblor that struck Prague, Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011 revising it from a 5.6 magnitude quake to a 5.7. USGS analyses indicate that the two earthquakes are very similar in size to within typically-cited uncertainties of 0.1 magnitude units, Gavin Hayes, USGS research geophysicist, said in a media release. However, the 2016 Pawnee event is slightly larger than the Prague earthquake in 2011. In an email, Oklahoma Insurance Department Assistant Commissioner of Communications Kelly Dexter said the department expects to have damage estimates of insured losses from the Sept. 3 quake in early October. She noted that the OID would only have data based on claims filed and paid for insured losses. Since deductibles are typically applied to each individual event, small to medium repeated events can build up sizeable uncovered damages over time. Most earthquake coverage in Oklahoma is written as an endorsement on the homeowners insurance policy, but only about 15 percent of Oklahomans carry earthquake insurance. Thats up from about 2 percent in 2011, according to the OID. Oklahoma in recent years has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and stronger. In 2013 the state experienced 109 quakes of that size; in 2015 there were 907 magnitude 3-plus earthquakes, according to information from the Oklahoma governors office. In 2008 the state averaged only two 3-plus magnitude quakes per year, according to a report published by the reinsurer, Swiss Re. The Oklahoma Geological Survey has attributed the increase in earthquakes in central and north-central Oklahoma to the injection of wastewater from oil and gas activities into underground disposal wells. While other states, including Kansas and Texas, have experienced an increase in induced earthquakes, Swiss Res report on the link between oil and gas activity and seismic events suggests that Oklahoma sees more induced earthquakes than other states due to the combination of high volumes of wastewater injection, a pre-existing level of seismic hazard, and its particular geological formations. In response to the increased activity, insurers that provide earthquake coverage in Oklahoma have been cutting back on exposures there. Complaints to the insurance department about extensive rate increases and higher deductibles for earthquake insurance prompted Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak to hold a hearing in May to examine the availability and affordability of earthquake coverage. In June, Doak deemed the earthquake insurance market in his state to be non-competitive and ordered insurers to change the way they file rates for the coverage. The commissioner issued an order at that time requiring property/casualty insurers to file their earthquake insurance rates before using them. There needs to be a valid basis for any rate increase, he said. While there are more than 100 carriers offering earthquake coverage in Oklahoma, the market share of the four largest providers of earthquake insurance in the state has topped 50 percent for the past six years, according to the commissioner. Doak has said evidence of insurance companies cost to revenue during that time demonstrates that current rates appear to be excessive and not based on objective criteria. Swiss Re points out that insurers have little experience with settling earthquake claims in Oklahoma and that most quakes in the state have not been damaging enough to cause much loss above the level of a typical deductible. According to the insurance department, the cost of earthquake coverage for Oklahoma homeowners typically ranges between $50 and $300 per year. However, the department notes that deductibles for earthquake claims are based on a percentage of the insured value of the home, rather than a fixed amount, such as $500 or $1,000, that is typical of a standard homeowners policy. High deductibles and accumulated loss from multiple, stronger, seismic events could become problematic for consumers, according to Swiss Re. Since deductibles are typically applied to each individual event, small to medium repeated events can build up sizeable uncovered damages over time. The cost to repair these damages can be a large financial burden to many homeowners and businesses, the Swiss Re report states. The reinsurer suggested that insurers have the opportunity to create a more meaningful product for the type of earthquake risk that exists in Oklahoma. One option could be a product that incorporates an aggregate cover for those suffering multiple small losses. Insurers might also consider decreased deductibles and limits for those more concerned about smaller levels of damage, Swiss Re noted. Whether or not damage from quakes deemed to be caused by human activities like oil and gas production is covered depends on the policy language of the particular insurance product. Swiss Re reports that 70 percent of insurers responding to an insurance department survey, reportedly clarified that their policies cover oil and gas-related earthquakes. Still, Doak has warned insurers against abusing any man-made earthquake and preexisting damage exclusions in earthquake policies in order to deny claims. Wastewater Volume Reduction Beginning in 2013, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which has regulatory authority over oil and gas activities, asked wastewater well owners to reduce disposal volumes in parts of the state that have seen a significant increase in seismic activity due to the connection between the injection of wastewater and earthquakes. Following the Sept. 3 Pawnee earthquake, the OCC ordered 37 wells in a 514 square-mile area around the epicenter of the temblor to shut down within seven to 10 days of the event. Federal regulators also shut down 17 wastewater disposal wells in the Osage Nation, the Associated Press reported. Covering more than 2,300 square miles in northeastern Oklahoma, the Osage Nation Reservation, also known as Osage County, is the largest of the states 77 counties. The tribe owns all of the mineral rights and the OCC has no jurisdiction over oil and gas operations there. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authorized the closure of Osage Nation wells located in a 211-square mile area near where the magnitude 5.8 temblor struck, according to the AP. State of Emergency Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for Pawnee County following the Sept. 3 earthquake, which was felt in multiple states. This emergency declaration will start the process to helping individuals, families and businesses impacted by the earthquakes and serves as a precursor to requesting any necessary assistance, Fallin said upon issuing the declaration. She said the Department of Emergency Management and Department of Transportation would assess damage of the affected area, including the safety of state highway and turnpike bridges. Fallin and state emergency management officials have asked residents to submit photos of earthquake damage to their homes or businesses through the OK Emergency mobile application. The OK Emergency app is available for Apple, Android, and Blackberry devices as well as any other smartphone, tablet or computer through the mobile site: www.emergency.ok.gov. The AP reported that a man suffered a minor head injury in the Sept. 3 quake when part of a fireplace fell on him, and emergency management officials said there have been reports of damage to more than a dozen buildings. Topics Carriers Catastrophe Natural Disasters Trends Energy Oil Gas Pollution Homeowners Oklahoma Swiss Re Earthquake The treasurer of a Rhode Island childrens charity has been sentenced to prison for stealing nearly $186,000 from the organization. U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha says Robert Lonardo, of Burrillville, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Providence to six months behind bars followed by two years of probation. The 67-year-old Lonardo pleaded guilty in June to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors say Lonardo began withdrawing funds from the bank accounts of the Rhode Island Association for Cardiac Children in January 2013, following the death of his mother, who founded the charity. Lonardo withdrew money for his own personal use up until August 2015. The charity raises funds for hospital equipment, childrens cardiac treatment and research and for families whose children need surgery for cardiac disease. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud Internet Insurance Group (IIG), a Waltham, Mass., based insurance agency that sells commercial insurance to small businesses, has launched its flagship website, SmallBusinessQuote.com. The firm has been working to build out its product offerings over the past year by building relationships with A+ rated national carriers such as Liberty Mutual, Travelers and The Hartford and refining its technology platforms. It received its initial funding from First Insurance Funding, Northern Bank & Trust and angel investors. This move comes at the right time, as many small businesses increasingly turn to online platforms to manage key administrative functions such as payroll, benefits, credit and accounting, said Co-founder and CEO Lou Geremia in a company press release. It is only natural that they will seek similar outlets for insurance, he added. With this in mind, IIG offers small businesses online access to licensed agents who guide them through the purchase process and provide them with quotes from U.S. carriers. In addition to providing a source to obtain commercial insurance, IIG also plans to deliver content to help clients grow their businesses going forward. The firm plans to expand its product offering over time to offer businesses information and coverage based on their industry. As part of this strategy, it expects to offer online quoting and purchasing for cyber liability insurance in the coming months on Databreachcoverage.com. Source: Internet Insurance Group Topics Commercial Lines Business Insurance New Markets A suspect has been taken into custody in connection with a bomb that went off from inside a dumpster in New Yorks Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. Mayor Chris Bollwage of Elizabeth, New Jersey, said Ahmad Khan Rahami was taken into custody after firing at police officers in Linden, New Jersey. Rahami and two officers were hit in the shootout. The Associated Press reported that Rahami is a citizen of Afghanistan. Investigators believe more people were involved in the New York and New Jersey bombing plots, two U.S. officials told Reuters. At a press conference held Saturday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said investigators believe the bombing was an intentional act, however the motivation for the attack is still unknown. One of the things were going to say to you today is were going to be very careful and patient to get to the full truth here, de Blasio stated at the conference. We are not going to jump to conclusions. We are not going to offer you easy answers. We are going to make sure we have all the facts. During the same press conference, New York Police Commissioner James ONeill stated that in the past two years, law enforcement agencies have foiled 20 plots in New York City. [This] violent, criminal act is going to be solved by those same people, he stated. So, New York City residents can rest assured that well get to the bottom of this. Catastrophe modeling expert Dr. Gordon Woo, of Risk Management Solutions, said in an emailed statement that the fact this event was not interdicted by city and federal intelligence and law enforcement services, however, could be a concern for New Yorkers and visitors, and that the events could be part of a shift in the frequency and size of terrorism events that could affect the insurance market. The weekends incidents also have implications for the modeling of terrorism risk. From what is known about the improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the cumulative death toll from these bombs might well have exceeded 50, which is the threshold for classification as a macroterror attack in RMS models, Woo stated. A key statistic for terrorism insurers is the relative frequency of small IED plots compared to large vehicle bomb plots. The weekends event provides additional evidence to quantify this relative frequency and, in particular, it reflects a shift towards smaller sized IEDs. Topics New York Pollution New Jersey Porsche Holding SE was caught up in the Volkswagen AG emissions debacle as investors raced to file German lawsuits ahead of the one-year anniversary of the scandal. A group of institutional investors filed a pair of lawsuits, seeking 2.8 billion ($2.5 billion) from VW and 2.2 billion euros from Porsche, Klaus Nieding, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Friday. Porsche, which is also publicly traded, owns the majority of VW shares. The cases are among thousands flooding a court in Braunschweig, Germany, as investors sue over VWs admission that it rigged software on 11 million diesel vehicles to cheat on pollution tests. The German state of Hesse and BlackRock Inc., the worlds largest money manager, were among the public and private entities joining the litigation. Stock investors have to accept there may be losses, Hesse Finance Minister Thomas Schaefer said in a statement. What we must not accept are losses caused by a corporation that violates disclosure rules. Thats what VW did. Investors are lining up to sue in Germany, where VW shares lost more than a third of their value in the first two trading days after the Sept. 18 disclosure of the scandal by U.S. regulators. Investors rushing their actions because they fear they have to sue within a year of the companys admission. Hesse, BlackRock Hesse, BlackRock, the German state of Bavaria and thousands of other shareholders claim that VW failed to properly disclose its actions in the probe. Employees installed computer software that detected when a car was on an emissions test stand and reduced pollution to allow the vehicle to pass inspections. When driven normally, the car emitted more pollution than permitted. Nieding said hes targeting Porsche because former VW Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn was also on the Porsche supervisory board when the scandal emerged. Other executives also served on boards of both companies, he said. Porsche must have known about the scandal because of the common executives and should have disclosed the matter, Nieding said. Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler called the claims unfounded. Executives who serve on both boards are bound by secrecy rules and cant disclose facts they learn from one company to the other, he said. The company had previously been sued in about 80 cases in a Stuttgart court filed by smaller investors. Hesse said it lost 3.9 million euros ($4.4 million) when the scandal caused VW shares to drop from the EURO STOXX ESG Leaders 50, which the states investment managers were following. The exchange-traded fund provides access to companies that are global leaders in terms of environmental, social and governance. Stock Losses BlackRock is the second-largest holder of VWs preferred stock with a 3.35 percent stake after Qatar Holdings LLC, according to Bloomberg data. VWs preference shares dont carry voting rights. Its regrettable that the state of Hesse decided to sue, VW spokesman Eric Felber said in an e-mailed statement. The company always complied with capital-market disclosure rules, he said. While the investor lawsuits pile up in Braunschweig, consumers affected by the scandal are focusing their efforts on Brussels. European Union Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova will meet with VWs Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz on Sept. 21 as part of a campaign to persuade the company to offer car owners significant compensation. Currently, the company is only offering repairs to Europeans customers whereas Americans got packages worth thousands of dollars. Hand Forced Hesse had to sue because of rules that force it to protect investors funds. The state asked VW to waive any statute of limitations so it could wait before suing, but the request was denied, Schaefer said. More than 400 cases were registered in the Braunschweig court before the latest wave of lawsuits, according to Jan-Michael Seidel, the tribunals vice president. Braunschweig is the legal district that includes the companys headquarters. The lawsuits claim the leadership was aware as early as 2014 that U.S. authorities were probing test results and should have disclosed the investigation then. One lawsuit bundles claims of almost 300 institutional investors and seeks 3.3 billion euros Topics Lawsuits Pollution A former inmate has won $3 million in a lawsuit against an Ohio prison after the state failed to file an answer for several years. John Henricks, 59, of Fulton County, had sued now-retired Dr. Ida Gonzalez and the Pickaway Correctional Institution, where she worked in June 2008, alleging Gonzalez failed to give him the proper pain medication after an emergency appendectomy. A federal magistrate denied the state attorney general offices request to dismiss the case in 2009. The state then had 30 days to file the answer rebutting the allegations, but didnt until July 2013. A Columbus judge recently ruled that Henricks allegations were sufficient to find that Gonzalez was liable. A jury awarded Henricks $1 million in actual damages and $2 million in punitive damages, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Because the state didnt file in a timely manner, Henricks allegations were deemed to be true, said attorney Dan Mordarski, who represented Henricks along with attorney John Camillus starting in 2011. Its unknown why the state didnt file an answer by the deadline. I dont think they were taking it very seriously, Camillus said. A spokeswoman with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said the DRC is reviewing the decision. According to the suit, Gonzalez refused to give Henricks a pain medication after an Ohio State University physician prescribed it. Henricks said he suffered extreme pain until his release from prison in 2009. Mordarski said his client is permanently disabled. Gonzalez, 67, testified she was worried the painkiller could harm Henricks heart. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Ohio Chicago-based CNA has appointed Paul Larson to senior vice president, Financial Institutions and Management Liability, effective Oct. 3. He will be responsible for driving strategy and profitable growth for both of these high-performing areas. Larson joins CNA with more than 24 years of insurance industry experience, most recently serving as executive vice president for Chubb, where he was responsible for all management liability lines of business for publicly traded companies in the U.S., Canada and Bermuda. Prior to this role, Larson held various leadership roles at Chubb, most notably senior vice president, Specialty Risk Center manager, where he led the design, structure and implementation process for the build out of its complex underwriting centers in the U.S. He began his career as a commercial lines underwriter for Continental Insurance Company in California. Source: CNA Topics Chubb Federal safety inspectors are recommending that a Cleveland, Ohio, etching company face $256,000 in penalties for safety and health violations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration posted an imminent danger notice at A-Brite Plating in April after learning a 40-year-old machine operator without protective gear received third-degree chemical burns to his foot after falling into an acid-etching tank heated to 170 degrees. Inspectors allege workers were found climbing on top of the same tank during a subsequent inspection Sept. 9, leading to citations of one willful and eight serious safety and health violations. A-Brite parent company, Ontario, Canada-based Plasman Group, says it disagrees with OSHAs characterization of events. A spokeswoman says the company makes safety a priority and has been in the process of conducting its own investigation. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Commercial Lines Business Insurance Ohio Heirs trying to recover artwork lost to Nazi looting during World War II could get some help under a bill approved by a Senate panel on Thursday. The bipartisan legislation backed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a voice vote would extend statutes of limitations for the recovery of that art. In recent years, courts have sided with several museums on the issue and blocked family members who believe the art is theirs. For the families of those who lost everything at the hands of the Nazis, hopefully today serves as an important and symbolic step to reclaiming not just artwork, but familial legacy, said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who sponsored the legislation with fellow Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The legislation now goes to the full Senate for consideration. Last month, a judge ruled in favor of a Southern California museum in its 10-year legal battle over the ownership of two German Renaissance masterpieces that were seized by the Nazis in World War II. The judge said that because the art dealership decided not to seek restitution for the works after the war, the family thereby abandoned their claim to the art. In 2009, the United States and other countries agreed to ensure that their own legal systems facilitate just and fair solutions with regard to Nazi-confiscated and looted art. The senators said this legislation is to fulfill that promise. While we can never right the wrongs of the Holocaust, it is our moral duty to help those survivors and their families achieve what justice can be found, said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Fraud Politics The Trump campaign pitched rolling back food safety regulations in a fact sheet, arguing they are burdensome to farmers and overkill. But the campaign later deleted the proposal from its website and offered no explanation. After sending out the fact sheet Thursday, the campaign issued a new release that did not include the food safety language. The fact sheet was sent out to supplement a speech the billionaire businessman gave to the New York Economic Club that touted fewer regulations but did not specifically mention food safety. In the original fact sheet, the campaign said that Trump would eliminate several regulations, including the food police at the Food and Drug Administration. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the food safety proposal or why it was deleted. The handout said the FDA food safety rules govern the soil farmers use, farm and food production hygiene, food packaging, food temperatures and other ways farmers and food companies do business. It also criticizes increased inspections of food manufacturing facilities as inspection overkill. The description matches new food safety regulations passed by Congress in 2010 in response to an outbreak of salmonella linked to a Georgia peanut company that killed nine and sickened more than 700 people in 46 states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 48 million people or 1 in 6 in the United States are sickened each year from foodborne diseases, and an estimated 3,000 people die. The final food safety rules for produce issued last year and supported by the food industry require farmers to test irrigation water quality, regularly train workers on the best health and hygiene practices and monitor wildlife that may intrude on growing fields, among other measures. The rules are designed to focus on the riskiest foods. The idea is to put more focus on prevention in a system that for decades has been primarily reactive to outbreaks after they sicken or kill people. In addition to the peanut outbreak, a 2011 outbreak of listeria linked to cantaloupes killed 33 people. Other large scale outbreaks in fresh spinach, cucumbers and eggs have sickened hundreds. Last year, an outbreak of listeria linked to Blue Bell ice cream was linked to three deaths. FDA inspectors found many violations at a company plant, including dirty equipment, inadequate food storage, food held at improper temperatures and employees not washing hands appropriately. Michael Taylor, the former FDA deputy commissioner for foods who led the effort to put the rules in place, says it is one area of agreement in the country, since both the food industry and consumers want safe food. Eliminating FDAs food safety role would make more consumers sick, destroy consumer confidence at home, and damage American competitiveness in global food markets, he says. The language in the Trump campaign fact sheet mirrors, almost word for word, parts of a May report from The Heritage Foundation that criticizes increased regulation under President Barack Obama. That report said the FDA rules cast an exceedingly broad regulatory net. While some Republicans in Congress have made similar arguments about overly burdensome regulations, the FDA worked to tweak the rules to appease farmers and companies that voiced concern about the rules. Since then, congressional opposition has died down and the Republican House and Senate have given the FDA an increased amount of money to put the rules in place. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who has been Trumps biggest supporter in the Senate, said on Thursday that he hadnt yet seen the nominees proposal on food safety, but he said farmers feel like there are too many federal rules and all regulation needs to be evaluated. In Washington, if you propose to pull back any regulation that has a good title, like food safety, then somebody says you want to poison the American people, and so forth, Sessions said. But if it can be established that they are not really beneficial, oftentimes the regulations can actually make things more unsafe. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, also said she had not seen the proposal, but criticized the idea of rolling back the rules. I think the public certainly wants basic food safety standards, she said. Despite the campaigns apparent desire to roll back the standards, Trump himself has expressed a personal interest in the topic. Trump is a self-professed germaphobe who prefers eating at fast-food restaurants because he believes they have higher food safety standards. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Agribusiness Prosecutors in South Texas say two doctors from a family medicine clinic in Mexico must serve nearly three-year U.S. prison terms for insurance-related fraud. Dr. Mayolo Melchor and 61-year-old Dr. Bertha Hernandez-Melchor, of Reynosa, Mexico, were sentenced on Sept. 15 by a federal judge in McAllen. Both physicians in June pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a nearly $2.6 million insurance claim scam. Each was sentenced to 34 months behind bars and must repay the money. Investigators say the physicians conspired with policyholders of the American Family Life Insurance Co. to prepare and submit fraudulent claim forms and faked accident reports from 2001 to 2010. Prosecutors say forms with bogus information were delivered to the family clinic in Mexico, then faxed to AFLAC headquarters in Georgia. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas Fraud Mexico An attorney who most recently served as policy director and counsel to Oklahoma House Speaker Jeff Hickman has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the Oklahoma Workers Compensation Commission. Gov. Mary Fallin on Sept. 15 named Jordan Russell to serve on the three-member committee that handles claims of injured Oklahoma workers. Russell will fill the remainder of the term of Dr. LeRoy Young, who announced this week he plans to resign to spend more time practicing medicine. Russells appointment still must be confirmed by the state Senate when it convenes next year. Before working for the House, Russell was an attorney with the firm Gungoll, Jackson, Box & Devoll, where he worked on the defense of personal injury and employment law cases. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Workers' Compensation Oklahoma Small business employees who get health coverage through the Covered California health insurance exchange will see an average price increase of 5.9 percent next year. The figure announced last week affects roughly 28,000 people who work for companies with up to 100 employees. The 5.9 percent rate increase is smaller than last years increase of 7.2 percent for small businesses. Its also smaller than the 13.2 percent increase in average premiums for Covered Californias much larger individual market, which serves about 1.4 million people. Small employers that contract with Covered California can choose an amount to contribute toward monthly premiums, and employees can then pick from the available plans. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Trends Commercial Lines Business Insurance Pricing Trends Nel terzo trimestre del 2016 il prodotto interno lordo, espresso in valori concatenati con anno di riferimento 2010, corretto per gli effetti di calendario e destagionalizzato, e aumentato dello 0,3% rispetto al trimestre precedente e dello 0,9% nei confronti del terzo trimestre del 2015. Lo sostiene lIstat. La crescita congiunturale e la sintesi di un aumento del valore aggiunto nei comparti dellindustria e dei servizi e di una diminuzione nellagricoltura. Dal lato della domanda, vi e un contributo ampiamente positivo della componente nazionale (al lordo delle scorte), in parte compensato da un apporto negativo della componente estera netta. Nello stesso periodo il Pil e aumentato in termini congiunturali dello 0,7% negli Stati Uniti, dello 0,5% nel Regno Unito e dello 0,2% in Francia. In termini tendenziali, si e registrato un aumento del 2,3% nel Regno Unito, dell1,5% negli Stati Uniti, dell1,1% in Francia. Nel complesso, il Pil dei paesi dellarea Euro e cresciuto dello 0,3% rispetto al trimestre precedente ed dell1,6% nel confronto con lo stesso trimestre del 2015. I dati Istat sul Pil sono in linea con le stime del governo ha commentato il ministro dellEconomia, Pier Carlo Padoan, arrivando alla Camera per lincontro con il gruppo Pd sulla legge di Bilancio. ll titolare di via XX Settembre in un tweet, poco prima, aveva sottolineato come i dati Istat confermano che leconomia e sulla strada giusta e le stime di crescita sono affidabili. Ma occorre spingere per accelerare Panoramica privacy Questo sito web utilizza i cookies per fornire all'utente la miglior esperienza di navigazione possibile. L'informazione dei cookie e memorizzata nel browser dell' utente, svolge funzioni di riconoscimento quando l' utente ritorna nel sito e permette di sapere quali sezioni del sito sono ritenute piu interessanti e utili. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Top News - Investor Idea REE Stock News - Defense Metals (TSX-V: DEFN.V) (OTCQB: DFMTF) Drills 113 metres of 2.50% Total Rare Earth Oxide at Wicheeda Vancouver, British Columbia - October 26, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mining / Metals / Green Energy Stock News - Defense Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DEFN / OTCQB: DFMTF/ FSE:35D) is pleased to announce high-grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") assay results from one additional core hole, totalling 383 metres (m), collared within the northern area of Defense Metals' 100% owned Wicheeda REE Deposit. Top Cleantech News - Investor Idea Breaking EV Stock News: Pre-orders for Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) FIVE Electric-SUV Crossover Exceed Expectations as the FIVE 'Strikingly Different' Tour Begins BREA, Calif. - October 28, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that the Mullen FIVE "Strikingly Different" EV Crossover Tour which began yesterday, in Pasadena, California, is off to a great start with first day reservations exceeding expectations and overwhelmingly positive customer feedback. Top Health and Wellness News - Investor Idea Health and Wellness Stock News - Endexx (OTCBB: EDXC) Secures Third Order for Non-Nicotine Vape Product HYLA Worth Approximately $1.5M in Revenue for First two Fiscal Quarters of 2023 CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - October 27, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Endexx Corporation (OTCBB:EDXC), a provider of innovative, plant-derived, and sustainable health and skincare products, today announces it has secured three key significant orders for its newly acquired, non-nicotine plant-based vape product, HYLA. Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore. Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire A Cambridge computer scientist has managed to achieve something in just $100 for which the FBI had to pay more than a million dollar. He managed to find a way to get unlimited attempts at guessing the passcode of a locked iPhone that eventually allowed him to unlock the phone. Earlier this year, the FBI had said in the San Bernardino case that such an approach would not work in unlocking the iPhone 5c of one of the terrorists involved in the terrorist attack. In a video uploaded to YouTube by Dr. Skorobogatov, he demonstrated how he was able to remove a NAND chip from an iPhone 5c, cloned it using a cheap hardware tool, and then put the clone chip back in the phone. This cloned NAND chip had its pin attempt counter set to zero so Dr. Skorobogatov could repeat the process of unlocking the phone as many times as he wanted without locking the phone. It took the computer scientist around 40 hours to unlock a locked iPhone 5c using this procedure, though it was using a four-digit passcode. Unlocking an iPhone with a six-digit code can potentially take up to hundreds of hours though. While it will be possible to clone NAND memory chips from newer iPhones like the iPhone 6 using more sophisticated process, more information would be required on how Apple stores data on the NAND of its newer iPhones to make the cloning process a success. [Via BBC Samsungs obsession with taking advantage of the dull iPhone 7 is being blamed for the Galaxy Note 7s exploding battery debacle. Its thought the South Korean company rushed its latest flagship to capitalize on a potentially disappointing iPhone refresh. When managers at Samsung started hearing that the iPhone 7 wouldnt deliver eye-popping innovations, they saw it as an opportunity to leap ahead, according to a report from Bloomberg. They were confident they could turn disappointed iPhone fans to the Note 7. They pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features, another person with direct knowledge said. The Note 7 would have a high-resolution screen that wraps around the edges, iris-recognition security and a more powerful, faster-charging battery. Apples taunts that Samsung was a copycat would be silenced for good. As the Note 7s launch date approached, Samsung workers and suppliers stretched their hours and made do with less sleep. Suppliers were reportedly under more pressure than usual this time around and were pushed harder than by other customers. One supplier said it was particularly challenging to work with Samsung employees this time, as they repeatedly changed their minds about specs and work flow, Bloomberg adds. Some workers were even sleeping in their offices to avoid losing time when commuting into work. The only problem is, rushing suppliers backfired. Shortly after the Note 7 made its big debut greeted by glowing reviews from the tech press early adopters discovered a major flaw. Some units began overheating and exploding while they were on charge. As we know, Samsung was forced to recall all 2.5 million units sold just weeks after the Note 7 went on sale, and the company is now in the process of replacing each one. It has fixed the problem, but some analysts say the recall will cost around $1 billion. Despite offering all Note 7 owners a brand new phone, Samsung is being criticized for how it has handled the recall. Fans are upset that it asked for all handsets to be returned, even though it didnt have concrete plans to replace them at the time. David Yoffie, a management professor at Harvard Business School, believes the recall is creating an enormous problem for the company for its reputation and ability to support its customers when theres a problem. Samsung wont confirm that it rushed the Note 7s launch in an effort to bring the device to market before Apple announced the iPhone 7 series. Instead, it insists that the timing of any new product launch is determined by the Mobile business division based on the proper completion of the development process and the readiness of the product for the market, it told Bloomberg. Samsung employees have described the debacle as humiliating in online discussion groups. But this isnt the first time Samsung has reportedly rushed a product to get it to market before the latest iPhone. Samsung used to announce the latest handset in the Galaxy Note series during IFA, a conference that takes place in September this year. However, it moved the Galaxy Note 5 launch a month earlier in an effort to beat iPhone 6s to market, according to reports. Ironically, Samsungs own battery division Samsung SDI Co. is being blamed for the faulty batteries in the Note 7 lineup. Founded in 1970, the division makes batteries for lots of other manufacturers, too including Apple. The Note 7 recall has now been made official by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which prevents any unsafe units from being sold by retailers. It also means that new units will be approved before they go on sale. [via Bloomberg The UK housing crisis is driving a "geographic wedge" between the older and younger generations, according to a think-tank. Those behind the report said a rise in "age segregation" amid a lack of suitable and affordable homes has been hugely damaging to society, weakening the bond between different age groups. Across England and Wales, the number of neighbourhoods in which half the population is aged over 50 has surged since 1991, the research from the Intergenerational Foundation (IF) found. In 1991 there were just 65 such neighbourhoods. This had increased to 485 by 2014, 60% of which were rural, the report, titled Generations Apart? The Growth of Age Segregation in England and Wales, said. Within urban areas, older people, children and young adults are also living increasingly separately, according to the research. "The housing crisis is driving a geographic wedge between the generations," the research said. "It means that older and younger generations are increasingly living apart." Since 1991, the median average age of neighbourhoods near the centre of cities has generally fallen by between five and 10 years, the report said. The report identified Cardiff, with its large student population, as "the most age segregated city in England and Wales". It said Cardiff city centre has become more youthful while its outer neighbourhoods have aged. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay has created homes for many young renters "attracted by a renaissance in restaurants and nightlife", it said. Brighton, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Southampton were also identified by the report as age segregation "hotspots". In Cardiff and Brighton, nearly a quarter of the population would need to move in order to eliminate age segregation, the report said. Surging house prices and a lack of choice for buyers have meant many people in the younger generation have had to cast their nets wider in the search for a home they can afford. Many people are also forced to move to particular places to find suitable work. Younger generations have become renters when they would rather be owners, while older generations face a last-time buying crisis due to a general lack of supply and a lack of affordable suitable accommodation to downsize into, the report said. The report argued living apart makes it harder for younger and older generations to look after each other, putting a bigger strain on the NHS, as well as making it harder to share experiences. Age segregation also reduces people's opportunities to find work and makes it harder for people to see different generations' perspectives, it said. Angus Hanton, IF co-founder said: "Just 5% of the people living in the same neighbourhood as someone under 18 are over 65, compared to 15% in 1991. This is hugely damaging to intergenerational relations. It weakens the bonds between the generations, and leads to a lack of understanding of, and empathy for, other generations." Nigel Wilson, chief executive officer of Legal & General, which supported the research, added: "We have created an intergenerationally unfair society. We need to take bold steps to reverse the negative trends of the last 30 years. "This will involve not only an increase in housing supply of 100,000 a year of all tenures, but also a step up in investment in modern infrastructure and modern industries to create the jobs of the future." To break down divides between generations, the report recommended that it should become easier for older generations to subdivide their homes where they already live, with greater intergenerational living, as well as building more homes suitable to downsize to in the right locations. New, mixed housing developments should also be built that different generations are able to share and the building of housing developments that are only suitable for one age group should be avoided, the report said. The report used figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to make its findings. The IF said it believes policies should be fair to all generations. A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "Building the homes that communities need is an absolute priority for the Government and we have delivered nearly 900,000 since the end of 2009. "We've also set out the largest housebuilding programme since the 1970s, doubling the housing budget so we can build a million extra homes." Contraception has been criticised as an attack on fertility by one of the country's leading Catholic teachers. Professor emeritus of moral theology at Maynooth University Fr Vincent Twomey has hit out at Christian academics who have called for a change in the Church's rules on contraception. A file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions after an allegation of rape in one of the region's leading private hospitals, the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee writes Anne Lucey. A woman in her early 60s has alleged she was raped by a member of staff in a changing room following a procedure which she had undergone. Kerrys Chief Superintendent Garda Con Cadogan said a file is being prepared on the matter and will involve forensic results. The scene was preserved and CCTV footage near the alleged crime scene was "harvested". A number of witnesses have been interviewed, Chief Supt Cadogan said. He has appealed to anyone with information to come forward. The staff member is accused of raping the woman when she was changing into her clothes after having a procedure. The man, who is married and from abroad, was employed on a temporary basis by the hospital. Following the alleged incident, which took place over a week ago on September 10, it is understood the health professional was suspended and may have left the country. The hospital said it was not commenting. The victim made an initial complaint before going to Cork University Hospital to undergo a specialist medical examination. She then made a formal complaint to gardai. She is believed to have told gardai that she gave the staff member a 10 tip and he then followed her into the changing room where she alleged he raped her. The Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee was voted Ireland's Private Hospital of the Year in 2014. It serves a catchment area of more 170,000 people and has seen significant expansion in recent years. It has over 50 medical consultants and over 150 beds. Update 4.20pm: Fianna Fail will not call off its fragile deal with Fine Gael or seek to re-negotiate its details if Taoiseach Enda Kenny is replaced as leader of the Government party before the agreement runs out writes Political reporter Fiachra O Cionnaith. Opposition leader Micheal Martin clarified the situation on the first day of his party's two-day pre-Dail think-in at the Seven Oaks Hotel in Co Carlow, saying "personalities" will not dictate the support he is providing. Asked about ongoing speculation Mr Kenny may face a heave within the coming months with Simon Coveney, Leo Varadkar, Frances Fitzgerald and Paschal Donohoe rumoured to be among his potential replacements, Mr Martin said it doesn't matter who is in charge of Fine Gael. He said while there are "of course" concerns ability the fragility of the Government, people need to "cop-on" about scrapping the three-budget deal between the parties if Mr Kenny leaves and "stop talking in that vein". "Our support is based on policies and based on issues, and the confidence and supply agreement is based on issues and about tackling the big social problems, and giving working people a decent break. Personalities cannot dictate that kind of support. "Who leads Fine Gael is a matter for the Fine Gael party. We've done our negotiations," he said. Earlier: Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has placed fresh pressure on Fine Gael by insisting the upcoming budget must include space for his party's demands for increased pensioner and education spending next year writes Political reporter Fiachra O Cionnaith. Despite acknowledging the "constraints" on Government in terms of how much is available to spend, the opposition leader warned his party "will not be making any apology" for prioritising the areas as budget negotiations gain momentum. Speaking at the start of Fianna Fail's two-day pre-Dail return think-in at the Seven Oaks Hotel in Co Carlow, Mr Martin said while there is no reason for the budget to bring down the Government it must include several of his own party's key aims because of its confidence and supply deal with Fine Gael. And while Taoiseach Enda Kenny has recently re-iterated he has just 1bn for spending and tax cuts next year, alongside Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar noting that any mooted 5 pension increase could eat up his entire 2017 funding, the Fianna Fail leader warned his party's priorities must be included. "There will have to be space in terms of the priorities we have prioritised in the confidence and supply agreement," he said. "We acknowledge the constraints of the budget and in terms of what's available. But I don't think elderly people were spared [by the recession]. "The most familiar refrain on the doorstep over the last years was pensioners listing off a succession of measures on their net take home pay - the prescription charge, the ending of the living alone allowance, the property tax on pensioners living alone and widowers, and many, many more. "They [pensioners] really felt it so they do need a break, pensioners need a break. So we don't make any apology in prioritising the need of pensioners in the forthcoming budget. "There will be constraints, but education as well. That was critical in our industry success and critical in our economy success and I think we need a stronger vision in relation to our vision for education in the future, we're making it very clear that the budget. "We're not going to write the budget today, but we're going to focus in on low and middle income groups and hope they get a break in the budget," he said. In recent weeks Mr Kenny, Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe have warned their own cabinet colleagues in recent weeks that Government has just 1bn available for tax cuts and spending next year. However, Fianna Fail social protection spokesperson Willie O Dea has repeatedly called for a 5 pensions increase during the same period, despite his Government counterpart Mr Varadkar warning such a move would use up his entire 2017 budget The Government is also currently examining the outcome of an independent report by Peter Cassells on how to fund chronic budget shortfalls in third level education, with the possibility of fees among the recommendations made. Responding to the issues yesterday, Mr Martin did not give a specific figure for how much he wants pensions to rise by and said his party is "not supporting the re-introduction of third level fees" but did not clarify how education budget increases will occur. The opposition leader said his party has "costed almost every single item" in its pre-election manifesto and is "now going through an exercise in what is possible this year" which Fine Gael ministers will need to consider. In a clear underlining of his belief Fianna Fail's priorities must be included in the upcoming budget, when asked if his party will be "given sight" of next year's plan before it is published in three weeks' time he added: "Within the agreement there is a clear commitment for no surprises, and you can take what you want from that." Authorities have questioned several people as they examine whether there is a connection between an explosion that rocked a crowded New York City neighbourhood, an unexploded pressure-cooker device found streets away, an earlier pipe bomb blast in New Jersey or explosive devices found across the state near a train station. On Sunday night, FBI agents stopped "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She would not provide further details but a government official and a law enforcement source said that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in lower Manhattan. No one has been charged with any crime and the investigation is continuing, Ms Langmesser said. Governor Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday's blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood, said there did not appear to be any link to international terrorism. He said the second device appeared "similar in design" to the first, but did not provide details. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be bought in many sporting goods shops. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the three incidents are connected. Mobile phones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official. Authorities said the Manhattan bombing and New Jersey pipe bomb did not appear to be connected, though they were not ruling anything out. The New Jersey race was cancelled and no-one was injured. Late on Sunday, more suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a rubbish bin by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. There turned out to be five devices in the bag. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City. Officials have not revealed any details about the make-up of the pressure-cooker device, except to say it had wires and a mobile phone attached to it. On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said. Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260. On Sunday, a team of five FBI agents searched an Uber driver's vehicle which had been damaged in the Manhattan blast, ripping off the door panels inside as they examined it for evidence. The driver, MD Alam, of Brooklyn, had just picked up three passengers and was driving along 23rd Street when the explosion occurred, shattering the car's windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door. The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks only a week earlier and where a United Nations meeting to address the refugee crisis in Syria was scheduled on Monday. Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered shop windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighbourhood on the city's west side. As authorities tried to unravel who planted the device and why, one New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, 40, knew exactly what had just happened. "I was sitting in my apartment, and all of a sudden I heard a big boom, and I thought to myself wait a minute, it can't be thundering and lightning at this hour, and then all of a sudden car horns went off, and I thought oh my god this isn't lightning, this is too loud - this is a bomb," said Mr Stanhope. Recent statistics released by the Asset Based Finance Association(ABFA), which covers the UK and Ireland, reports the total amount of lending UK businesses secured through invoice finance has passed the 20bn barrier for the first time, hitting a record 20.3bn this year, up 5% from 19.3bn last year. However, the ABFA stats also show that there has been no such growth in use of Factoring on the Irish market. Funding advances to Irish business by factoring intermediaries has fallen 30% since the start of the global financial crises in 2008, whereas in the UK factoring has grown 34%. The number of factoring intermediaries offering services in Ireland is perhaps one of the root causes for the lack of take up. In 2008, there were eight organisations offering factoring in Ireland. This is now down to five main players with Anglo Irish Bank and National Irish Bank having departed the market. Whereas in the UK there are 45 factoring organisations according to the ABFA. In Ireland, the fall-off in usage has been across the board with big business take up of factoring falling as well as small business users. However, the drop in usage by small business will be of most concern to the Government who will look at the fall of 47% since 2007 as a worrying indicator that their efforts to get SMEs to diversify their funding needs has not been working . This will no doubt be one of the reasons that the Governments Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) in July launched a new round of funding into Bibby Financial Services Ireland (BFSI) which has been trying to drive take-up of factoring as an alternative financing source for Irish SMEs. Of course, the factoring market between Ireland and the UK as well as across Europe operates under EU free trade agreements, hence there is some business being written by overseas companies to support the Irish market and may not be reflected in the ABFA statistics. However, other than Close Brothers Commercial Finance which has offices across Ireland and is part of Close Brothers Group plc, a leading UK merchant banking group, there is little evidence of other UK or European factoring or invoice discounting organisations offering any services of note into the Irish market. The UK is the second largest market for factoring behind China which is now the largest factoring market in the world. As a region, Europe remains the largest factoring market on the globe accounting for more than 60% of the total 3tr factoring volume globally as of the end of 2013. In 2007, Asia recorded 13% of total factoring volume. As of 2013 its market share more than doubled to 27%. It should be no surprise that China represents the largest portion of Asias total volume, followed by Japan and then Taiwan. For many businesses, one of the most appealing benefits of factoring is the ability to enter overseas markets which would otherwise pose too great a strain on their cash flow and the risk of non-payment. In most countries, the growth in factoring has also arisen as a result of global competition, with businesses now less apt to demand payment at the date of or within a short time of delivery. In fact, firms are offering their customers increasingly attractive trade credit conditions. As a result, firms have a greater volume of account receivables (sales invoices) to use for financing. Given that cyber criminals tend to work around the clock, Dublin security specialist Eoin Keary decided that the best way to defeat them was to use a system thats also on duty 24/7. Just two years after his start-up company, edgescan, launched on the market with a vulnerability assessment platform which detects weaknesses in websites and computer systems on an ongoing basis, it has global sales and a seven figure turnover. Over the last 12 months our revenues have increased by 420% we are selling everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires and our clients include everything from small start-ups to large multinationals, says Mr Keary. Employing a staff of 25, edgescan is now talking to venture capitalists with a view to raising funding to continue R&D, increasing the pace of growth and doubling the staff size. It began with a random idea discussed over a cup of coffee in 2012. A security specialist for 18 years running his own consultancy company, Mr Keary had his eureka moment while considering ways of combating the escalation of cyber crime. The idea was to create software and a platform which would perform continuous testing 24/7 looking for vulnerabilities. This was needed to mirror the behaviour of hackers. The traditional way of countering cyber crime was for companies to get security specialists to perform analyses on a regular basis but Mr Keary came to the conclusion that in the face of every more sophisticated threats, this method no longer provided adequate protection. He says that edgescan was the first company in Ireland and one of the first in Europe to develop a platform to provide continuous assessment coupled with expert human validation and machine learning. Funding the project from consultancy revenue, he hired a software developer in 2012 and spent 18 months working on developing edgescan, a vulnerability management and penetration testing system sold on a SaaS (software as a service) basis. Releasing the first version in 2014, the company began selling to existing customers and to small start-ups. In 2015 we got employment grants from Enterprise Ireland which allowed us recruit a team of software and security people. By then he says the rate of growth began to snowball. Our first major customer was Icon Clinical we started with one plant but our system is now being used by Icon across their global estate of 20 and 25 countries. We sell to a significant number of legal companies in both Ireland and the UK, says Mr Keary. Other Irish clients include PaddyPower-Betfair, RTE and some of the major banks. The company estimates that it is now providing managed security services to over 37,000 systems across the globe. This year it was listed as a notable vendor by Gartner, the worlds leading information technology research company. This recognition has allowed the company to engage with much larger companies than the start-ups it originally sold to. Now we are scaling up to sell to entire organisations and the deals are getting larger. We sell to banks, finance companies and technology companies and North America, where we sell to several companies with global operations, is our largest market. Having started out in a small facility in Meath, edgescan moved earlier this year to a 6,500 sq ft premises at Northwest Business Park in Ballycoolin where it has space for further expansion. Mr Keary says that securing venture capital funding will now give the company an adrenaline shot. We want to continue with R&D, to expand the staff to 55 and to establish a bricks and mortar presence in both North America and the UK. Estimating that only 20% of all companies have now switched to using a continuous assessment model to combat cyber crime, he anticipates strong growth for edgescan in the future. Company: edgescan Location: Ballycoolin, Co Dublin CTO: Eoin Keary Set up: 2012 Product: vulnerability management software Exports: 75% Nations will have to justify themselves for failing to respect the rules, he said. The size of Spains deficit is twice ours, France does not even respect the Maastricht Treaty having a deficit still over 3% of GDP Germany breaks the trade surplus rule. Renzi spoke out against fellow EU leaders after attending a summit in the Slovakian capital Bratislava on Friday. The gathering was a wasted opportunity and didnt address the key economic challenges facing Europe after the UKs vote to leave the bloc, he said. He called on EU leaders to acknowledge that austerity policies have failed. Renzi said he refused to join a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande after the meeting. Talking to Corriere, he denied that his criticism was aimed at fostering support among Italian euro-sceptic voters before a key vote on constitutional reform expected in November or December. I have never been more optimistic than now about the outcome of the referendum, he said. Renzi has previously insisted the constitutional reforms would simplify the legislative process and boost political stability in Italy, and has said hell quit if voters dont approve the changes. A poll published by newspaper La Stampa on September 4 gave the No vote 51% against 49% in favour. A previous poll in May had Yes at 56%. Last month the government asked that the EU afford Italy the necessary flexibility to budget for reconstruction in the regions hit by a devastating earthquake. Renzi told Corriere that Italy will abide by the EUs exceptional-event clause and exclude from its deficit calculation all costs related to reconstruction as well as to the flow of migrants. The premier also criticised an EU document on migration agreed on at the Bratislava meeting, saying that the summit failed to address the issue. Renzi will be in New York today and tomorrow and will speak to the United Nations General Assembly. But irrespective of whether we should or shouldnt appeal the Commissions decision, whether we can or cannot collect the 13bn or, even if we do collect the 13bn, whether we can spend it on social housing, hospitals or schools, Budget 2017 will still go ahead in the middle of October. For the record, we should appeal the decision, cant collect the 13bn and really dont know whether we could spend it in those areas even if we got the money. Already the message in relation to the Budget is one of caution from both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. This year a minority coalition government will have to try and make good some of their election promises and implement what was agreed with the disparate parties to the Programme for Government. Recent disagreements with the Independent Alliance have only confirmed that this is no easy task. Alongside calls for reform of personal and business taxes in order to minimise the economic impact of Brexit came warnings from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. The Governments planned budgetary adjustment this year will end up being nearer to 2.4bn rather than the 1bn already flagged, so the pressure on Budget 2017 is very high. With all the competing claims for the Finance Minister to consider, one of the more difficult balances to strike will be between rewarding workers and easing the burden on the squeezed middle while at the same time encouraging enterprise and long-term growth. Promises to abolish USC are proving to be very costly and could have the additional effect of narrowing the tax base, a factor that is now universally agreed to have compounded the catastrophic fall off in taxes during the recession. Rather than attempting to scatter scarce largesse too thinly, a targeted approach to easing the burden on income taxpayers should be taken. Changes to the USC rates or to the income tax bands are relatively blunt instruments. Because a single change can affect all personal taxpayers they would be very costly to implement. A change to the key 5.5% USC band would absorb almost all the 330m earmarked in the governments Summer Statement for tax relief. As an alternative, targeted tax reliefs for the expenses that affect most income taxpayers, for example, medical insurance and mortgage interest, would relieve the burden on the individual taxpayer but should also help move the pressures away from the public health service and public housing. Recognising, through targeted tax relief, the contribution of non-working parents in the care of the young, disabled and the elderly in their homes has been lacking in previous budgets. The targeted tax relief approach can also be used to reduce inequities in the system. A single self-employed person on 60,000 taxable income a year pays 33.4% tax, USC and PRSI compared with 31.5% for a PAYE worker on the same amount. This equates to a higher tax bill of 1,100 per annum for the self-employed. Taxpayers should be taxed on what they earn, not how they earn it. Last year the government began the process of closing this gap and this process should continue. Despite the return to growth, at least on paper, Ireland will still have to borrow a significant amount of money possibly as much as 100m per month to continue to fund public services and provide for worthwhile tax reliefs in 2017. Any tax relief granted will have to deliver value for money, and that might well be calculated in political terms. The noise over Apple will in time die down; the disappointment that the economic recovery isnt impacting in any significant way on many peoples daily lives will be a lot slower fading away. Brian Keegan is director of Taxation with Chartered Accountants Ireland He told an informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Bratislava that the position of farmers in the chain must be strengthened. We have been responding to recent market difficulties with short-term measures, which, while helpful, need to be augmented with more medium-term, structural measures, he said. Mr Creed supported calls from other member states for action to facilitate further co-operation between all actors in the chain, increasing transparency in the availability of market and pricing information and dealing more effectively with unfair trading practices. He called on the European Commission to consider the value of an EU legislative framework to deal with unfair trading practices. The experience in Ireland and elsewhere had shown that voluntary or self-regulatory approaches to dealing with unfair trading practices are of limited value. It can also lead to wide variations across member states. I would, therefore, welcome a more active commission interest in EU legislation, said Mr Creed. He said changes to the legislative framework will have to be accompanied by other measures to improve the sustainability of the food supply chain. These include initiatives to help farmers to reduce costs, improve competitiveness and adopt innovative approaches to the management of their enterprises, he said. Copa and Cogeca, the umbrella bodies for European farmers and co-ops, welcomed the Farm Council focus on the positioning of farmers in the food chain so that they can get a better and fairer price for their produce. Thomas Magnusson, the Cogeca president, said farmers are being squeezed by both the upstream and downstream sectors, with the retail sector dominated by just a few operators in many member states. That is in part because government agricultural extension services, which offer training and advice to farmers, have too few agents, states a report by the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, based in the Netherlands. In many cases, farmers are simply not aware of potential solutions, said Oluyede Ajayi, a senior programme coordinator with the centre, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Johannesburg on scaling up climate-smart agricultural solutions. Such shortcomings are one reason an ongoing drought in southern Africa has left 23m people dependent on food aid, with another 13m in need of help, according to the Southern African Development Community, which launched a 2.5bn emergency appeal in July. But a new regional push, focused on promoting four key actions to adapt agriculture and curb growing hunger, could help, Ajayi said. The best ways to assist southern Africas farmers, agricultural experts said, are by increasing their access to insurance for crop failure and livestock deaths, and giving them better weather advice via mobile phone. Helping them diversify their sources of income also is key, they said, as is developing stress-tolerant seeds and better ways of managing land to conserve water. One way of diversifying incomes and reducing risk, researchers said, was for farmers to raise fewer cattle and more drought-resistant animals such as chickens and goats or even protein-rich insects. Many farmers, who pride themselves on their cattle, have so far resisted that switch. But goats, sheep, and chickens are considered animals that can take care of themselves, unlike other animals, said Shikhalazo Dube, a southern African representative of the International Livestock Research Institute. Southern Africa has lost 630,000 cattle this year, worth an estimated 200m, to drought, says UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation. That money could have been saved if farmers had taken out insurance on their livestock, slaughtered them early in the face of drought warnings or found ways to feed them as pastures dried up, said Godwin Mashiri, a micro-insurance expert with mobile phone firm Econet Wireless, in Zimbabwe. However, persuading farmers to buy indexed insurance, which provides payouts when certain weather triggers are reached such as a certain number of days without rain is a struggle, he admitted. Farmers in southern Africa have mobile phones and may be aware of weather index insurance products offered via phones but their lack of understanding of and trust in insurance products meant they suffered losses when they could have taken some insurance on their livestock, said Mashiri. Additional allowances of 4,491 were given to the chair of each of the councils eight municipal districts, while a further 41,000 was paid out in special allowances to all the chairmen of the councils special purposes committees. No individual breakdown was given on what each councillor received in total for 2015. However, the annual report listed that 138,921 was spent on training and conferences. In total, councillors attended 35 conferences, including in China and America. There were three trips to the US at which one councillor attended each one along with council officials. There was no breakdown in an annual Cork County Council report of how much expenses were paid on each trip to either the councillor or accompany officials involved. The trips included Chicago and New York for St Patricks Day parades in 2015 while, a few days earlier, another council delegation went to Newport, Rhode Island. Between May 2 and 6, a delegation also attended a Boston Irish Social Club event. A further trip to Boston, attended by two councillors, took place between November 30 and December 4. One councillor went with officials on a trip to improve trade links with the Chinese province of Jiangsu, which lasted a week in November. The council sent one representative to three conferences in Brussels as part of a European drive to improve energy conservation. Another was sent to Stockholm, Sweden, for a conference entitled The Grow Smarter Project, which was held on February 9 to 11. There were also four trips to London, including for the annual Cork Association dinner. The remainder of conferences were domestic, including one in Co Donegal. Six councillors travelled to a Crime Prevention and Community Safety Conference in Galway on May 8/9 last year, while three attended there on July 31/August 1 for a conference Changes to Community Development. Two each travelled to Galway for a conference on the new Housing Act; to Clonakilty for the New Companies Act and, separately, to the West Cork town for A Practical Guide to the Budget. Councillors also travelled en mass to 30 different training courses in 2015. The largest contingent was 25 to Kilkenny in October for the Local Authorities Municipal Associations autumn seminar, 23 to Kilkenny in May for a session on Local Community Development Companies, 22 travelled to Limerick and, 22 also, to Waterford in June for a finance and housing training session. In February, 24 registered in Killarney for a training seminar, Governance of Local Authorities. Sign language is used by 40,000 people in this country. One of the most interesting events takes place tomorrow at 7.30pm in the Cork Deaf Club at 5 MacCurtain St. John Bosco Conama, the senior lecturer at the Centre for Deaf Studies, Trinity College, and former chairman of Irish Deaf Society, will speak about the importance of officially recognising sign language. The campaign for Irish Sign Language (ISL) recognition has been ongoing for over 30 years and has received widespread public support. Currently, the Irish Sign Language Bill is before the Seanad. This bill would help recognise ISL as the first and preferred language of the Irish deaf community and would grant users the right to access services in their first language. The legislation would also be an important step in breaking down barriers in many areas, including employment. Dr Conama will speak about how members of the deaf community face numerous access issues, and how Ireland lags behind other countries in addressing these difficulties. Schemes such as interpreting vouchers for employment have been established successfully in other places, reducing the cost to businesses of employing deaf people and improving deaf employee retention. In the digital age, websites with a sign language translation are vital sources of information about services, However, in 2014, the only Irish deaf magazine television programme was Hands On. Cork Deaf Club is extending an open invitation to anybody wishing to attend to come along to the lecture. Meanwhile, on Thursday at Paddy the Farmers pub, Cork, ISL users, both deaf and hearing, will put their fingerspelling skills to the test. The event gets underway at 7.30pm. The girl, named locally as Kellycia Nudiri, suffered catastrophic head injuries after she was ejected from her familys car as it left the motorway between Adare and Patrickswell around 4.45pm yesterday. The girls twin brother and her parents, who were also travelling in the car, were not seriously injured. The family, said to be from the Democratic Republic of Congo, had been living in Limerick City but had moved recently to Abbeyfeale, near the Limerick-Kerry border. The familys car, driven by the girls mother, is understood to have swerved to avoid another car after it had mounted the central reservation barrier. It is believed this vehicle had in turn swerved to avoid another car. The familys car barrel-rolled a number of times, throwing Kellycia from the car, before it came to a rest on its roof. Emergency services first responders tried desperately to save the girls life, but she was pronounced dead a short time later at University Hospital Limerick. Three men who were travelling in the other car were taken to hospital but were not seriously injured. A friend of the family said: Its very sad. They are a quiet and respectful family. They could not find accommodation in Limerick City so they moved to Abbeyfeale about six or seven months ago. Members of the wider Congolese community have been providing support to the family. A large gathering travelled to Limerick last night and rallied around the family, who were brought to University Hospital Limerick, following the fatal crash. Abbeyfeale Sinn Fein councillor Seamus Browne said: I want to pass on my sympathies to the family. It is a terrible tragedy. If we can be of any assistance or supply any supports to them well do that. Gardai at Roxboro Rd in Limerick asked witnesses to contact them on 061 214340. The message by the Social Protection Minister will cause some confusion among backbenchers who want Mr Kenny to decide on a date to step aside sooner rather than later. The issue of the leadership was raised at Fine Gaels pre-Dail meeting in Kildare last week, where Mr Kenny surprised many by suggesting instead he would assesses his ministers next year. There was speculation on the weekend that Mr Kenny will be given until next May to give up the leadership, one year on since the fragile minority government was agreed. Of course, as a party we have to plan for the future but well do that at an appropriate time, said Mr Varadkar. Obviously I want to be part of Fine Gaels future. In the meantime I think its important that we all support the Taoiseach, he has to concentrate on government and on his job. He cant be distracted by internal party matters. Secondly, there shouldnt be any further public displays of disunity. Nobody wants to support a party that is more interested in talking about its own issues than the hopes and fears and problems that people face. His warning against party dissenters will come as a surprise to many who have heard him, while saying he might be interested in the leadership, suggest he may not stick around in politics. Kerry TD Brendan Griffin, Cork South West TD Jim Daly, Louth TD Fergus ODowd and former junior minister Tom Hayes are among those recently reiterating a desire to see a timeline set for Mr Kennys departure. Meanwhile, debate on the budget will increase this week when Finance Minister Michael Noonan and the Revenue appear before the Oireachtas budget committee. With three weeks before the budget, ministers are also set to meet Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe Minister this week about demands to cut back spending requests. While up to 3bn in spending requests have been submitted, the Government has less than 1bn to spend between services and tax cuts. An increase in the old age pension, money to reduce hospital waiting lists, reductions in USC costs for workers and funds to subsidise childcare will form part of the 1.7bn total package being worked on for 2017. Mr Noonan, expected to return to work today after a short illness, faces scrutiny about why he failed to stop the deal when it emerged fixers fees were linked to bids. An audit last week found that Project Eagle was sold for 190m less than its potential value, and that the prospect of fixers fees of 15m should have raised alarm bells. Mr Noonan was told about these in March 2014. Other questions include how much pressure was applied on Nama to accelerate deals. However, Social Protection Minister, Leo Varadkar, told RTEs The Week in Politics that no minister has ever appeared before PAC. He said all questions could be put to Mr Noonan in the Dail chamber or on media shows. The comment suggests that Mr Noonan is more than likely not going to face questioning by PAC about the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report, which last week criticised the Project Eagle deal. However, PAC chairman Sean Fleming said that he was hopeful a formal invitation to Mr Noonan, to appear before the committee, would be accepted. While admitting it was a precedent, any information the minister, or other Oireachtas members, had could help PACs inquiries, said Mr Fleming. Mr Varadkar said he could categorically say he was never aware of any political pressure applied to Nama to close deals more quickly. A decision had been made by government for the agency to bring its finish date forward to 2018, but this was because a lot of property was caught up in it. The intention was to get the housing market restarted, said Mr Varadkar. A spokesman said: The Minister for Finance will review the invite when he returns to work on Monday and will make a decision on that thereafter. It is not normal practice for a minister to appear before the PAC. The Department of Finance will co-operate fully with the PAC, as the Department always does. Meanwhile, a businessman, a former advisor to Nama in the North on the Project Eagle deal, has rejected suggestions that he made money from the sale. Frank Cushnahan said that Nama was aware of his separate role in advising debtors, as outlined by the C&AG. He added: At no time did I benefit financially from the sale of the loan book. I have not made one penny from the transaction. Mr Cushnahan said he would welcome a full inquiry into Project Eagle. Senator and former tanaiste Michael McDowell said it needed to be decided if other deals by Nama should be investigated. Nama was a strange creature which had been surrounded by a razor wire-like fence, said Mr McDowell, adding that politicians could not interfere with its work, resulting in the secrecy around its activities. Brian McEnery, chairman of Namas audit committee, reiterated the agencys rejection of the C&AGs claims. It comes after the Irish Examiner visited Oberstown Childrens Detention Campus last week and conducted a lengthy interview with director Pat Bergin. Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone and Oberstown board of management chairwoman Ursula Kilkelly announced that two British professors are to conduct an evaluation of the north Dublin facility. The experts, Barry Goldson of the school of law and social justice at the University of Liverpool, and Nicholas Hardwick, chairman of the UK Parole Board, are tasked with: Evaluating practice and policy at Oberstown against international standards; Identifying obstacles to implementing these standards; Drawing up recommendations. The commissioning of the review follows the chaotic events on August 29, when eight juveniles in a remand unit of Oberstown broke out of their rooms and gained access to the roof to stage a demonstration. It happened on the day staff took industrial action in a dispute over poor safety measures and increasing assaults. Rooms in the centres Trinity House building were trashed and a large number of windows were smashed. One member of staff suffered significant injuries when a door was kicked out by youths hitting him in the face, causing lacerations. A fire on the roof caused significant damage, resulting in the dispatch of multiple fire brigade units, while gardai had to bring order back to the facility. Ms Zappone said Oberstown had experienced significant changes with the merger of three schools at the site and the construction of a 56m campus. A number of serious incidents and industrial action by staff at the campus have highlighted the need to reflect on the progress achieved, she said. She said the review was aimed at ensuring the safety of all at Oberstown. Prof Kilkelly said that Oberstown was committed to the care, education, health, and needs of young people in conflict with the law. At the same time, the balance between the commitment to this care ethos and the need to ensure the safety of staff and the local community must be carefully struck, she said. Prof Kilkelly said the board believed the review was an opportunity, not just to set the future course for Oberstown, but to significantly change youth justice in Ireland forever. The review will start immediately and involve multiple visits to the centre, and engagement with young people, staff and others. A report will be delivered to the board and the minister. Meanwhile, a new bail supervision programme for juveniles is to launch by the end of the month aimed at diverting children charged with a criminal offence away from custody. The multi-agency scheme is being operated by Oberstown, the Probation Service, the courts, and an external organisation. The programme, which is being run in Dublin on a pilot basis, will start with five to eight children, but could take 20 children within a year with a view to further expansion, both in Dublin and elsewhere. Mr Bergin said he was concerned at the very high number of children remanded to Oberstown 17 on the day of the interview, compared to 27 committals. He said those remanded to Oberstown dont settle in and do not engage with services as much as those who are committed on a sentence. Party leader, Micheal Martin, says next months budget will be the first big test for the partnership agreement between Fianna Fail and the Fine Gael-led minority government. Writing in todays Irish Examiner, Mr Martin says there must be a major gear change in third-level funding. His party wants cash-starved services restored, rather than tax cuts funded. But Fianna Fails demands for an additional 100m in third-level funding will raise questions about the possible return of college fees and whether it would support such a move by the Fine Gael-led government. Mr Martin writes: There is an acute funding crisis in our third-level sector, which is threatening the viability of the sector and undermining rankings. Fianna Fail is clear that the forthcoming budget has to prioritise third-level funding. In addition, we want to see support for postgraduate students back on the agenda and an improvement in pupil-teacher ratios. He also defends Fianna Fails continued support of Fine Gael in government. The decision to be responsible, and facilitate the formation of a government, has been dramatically vindicated by events in the time since the general election. With the British vote to leave the European Union, and the EU Commissions attempt to undermine Irelands tax autonomy through the Apple decision, it is clear to every reasonable person that the country needs to have a government in place. His remarks come after a poll yesterday showed Fianna Fail continues to hold the strongest support. The Sunday Timess Behaviour and Attitudes poll puts Fianna Fail at 28% (-2), Fine Gael at 23% (-2), Sinn Fein at 18% (+4), Independents at 12% (+4), and Labour at 7 (+1). TDs and senators at the partys two-day think-in, which begins in Carlow today, will also debate the housing emergency and Brexit. Education will also be discussed, with a presentation from Peter Cassells, who recommended the need to reinstall third-level fees. More than 75 charities and groups currently receive State funding to provide homeless services. Last year, 95m or around 19,000 for every homeless person was spent by the State on homeless services. This figure does not take into account spending on building social housing for those without a home. The two main State funders are the HSE, which provided 31m towards homeless services last year, and the housing authorities, which gave out more than 64m. Other departments and State agencies also provide funding, including Tusla, the Education and Training Boards (ETBs), and regional drug taskforces. There are huge differences in the amount of funding provided, with organisations receiving anything from 15,000 up to 5m. The Peter McVerry Trust says many homeless organisations should be shut down to create a better and more streamlined service. Focus Ireland and Cork Simon Community also believe that any duplication of services should be cut, to ensure value for money. There are 6,525 homeless people in Ireland according to latest figures up from around 5,000 a year ago. Over the years, many groups and charities have been set up to tackle the issue at local level, and the sector now operates on an ad hoc basis said Francis Doherty of the Peter McVerry Trust. He said that, in Dublin, just five service providers could deal with all homeless requirements, while, at a regional level services could be provided, across whole counties or even across two or three counties by one organisation. Paul Sheehan of Cork Simon said: I can certainly see the value in charities, particularly smaller ones, merging or certainly sharing resources to save on running costs. Roughan McNamara of Focus Ireland said: You cannot be afraid of shutting down of services if its not working, and we have done that with some of our services in the past. A Failte Ireland survey of 600 tourism businesses found that 72% were upbeat about tourism performance in 2016 and about prospects for the rest of the year. The figure is up two percentage points on last year, and rising steadily since the low of 2009. Most hoteliers and guesthouse operators enjoyed a lucrative summer, compared to last year. Four out of five hoteliers (79%) recorded increased profits; Profits up for two thirds (69%) of guesthouses; More than half of hotels (63%) and guesthouses (54%) took on new staff; 84% of hoteliers, and 76% of guesthouses, experienced a rise in business. The Failte Ireland chief executive, Shaun Quinn, said many businesses recorded their best season ever. However, he warned against complacency. Key factors included the compelling visitor experience, increased carrier capacity, and a favourable exchange rate with the US dollar. Mr Quinn said strategies that could undermine Irelands reputation for good value must be avoided. The quarterly report shows some concerns: Operating costs, excluding fuel and energy, are issues for 39% of enterprises. The challenge of Brexit has become a common concern 44% of businesses mentioned it. Britains withdrawal from EU membership was the single most important concern for all those surveyed. The main reasons for the concern are the uncertainty over what will happen, the drop in value of the pound, making the Republic of Ireland more expensive for UK visitors, and the possible hassle that UK visitors might face with border controls, said a Failte Ireland spokesperson. However, he said that rather than panicking, there was uncertainty among tourism operators, which was backed by a resolve to make the most of any outcome. Nevertheless, just 27% of paid, serviced accommodation providers expect growth from Britain over the next few months. Those providers are pessimistic, even though 47% have experienced more British business so far this year. There is uncertainty, too, about the implication of the vote by the UK to leave the European Union and the current impact of the situation on exchange rates. Mr Quinn said early indications were that next year would be one of opportunity, with further growth from North America and mainland Europe expected. Mr Quinn said Failte Ireland would be intensifying efforts to support regional and seasonal business-expansion in specific growth segments, pointing out that the Wild Atlantic Way and Irelands Ancient East brands were now performing well. You can see what events are running, or register your own events, on www.spaceweek.ie. Already, there is a really exciting and diverse mix of events from around the country, emphasising the interest that Irish people have in space. That interest should not surprise us too much. Ireland has a long and rich heritage in space. For example, the oldest known and unequivocally astronomically-aligned structure is Newgrange in Co. Meath, built over 5000 years ago and still operational to this day. The stunning architecture and sophisticated design of this prehistoric tomb leaves no doubt as to the intent of the builders and their expertise in executing their cutting-edge design. If there were prizes for smart tombs, Newgrange would surely dominate the awards. Another example of our heritage is the Leviathan of Parsonstown, a giant telescope with a 6-ft diameter mirror built during the famine times in Birr in Co Offaly by the 3rd Earl of Rosse and people from the locality who would have been considered largely uneducated. It was the largest telescope in the world when constructed and remained so for 70 years an incredible feat of engineering and imagination. This story continues today, with an element of Europes largest radio telescope being built within a few hundred meters of the Leviathan (see www.ilofar.ie). The autumn sky is a visual feast for the skywatcher and October has two meteor showers. Peaking on October 7th is the Draconids a minor meteor shower producing about 10 meteors per hour. The Draconids are best viewed in the early evening instead of the early morning like most other showers. The second shower visible in October, the Orionids, produces up to 20 meteors per hour at maximum, peaking on the evening of October 21st and the morning of 22nd. The Orionids are produced when the Earth ploughs into dust grains left behind by the most famous comet of them all, Halley. The comet is named after the astronomer Edmund Halley, but he did not discover it. In fact records of comet Halley go back to at least 240 BCE and it was observed by the Chinese, Babylonians and many others since. The reason why the comet is named in honour of Halley is that he was the first to realise that the observations of a bright comet in 1531, 1607 and 1682 were of one and the same comet and he confirmed this using the relatively recent laws of motion discovered by Isaac newton. Halley goes around the sun once every 75 years and is due to return in 2061. Unfortunately, from a meteor-watching point of view, the Orionids will be somewhat drowned out from the light of a full moon on October 22nd and to make matters a little worse this full moon is a so-called supermoon. A supermoon is one where the moon is full (or new) when its also close to perigee (the point where the moon is closest to the earth in its monthly orbit). That makes a full supermoon a little brighter and larger than it otherwise appears. DID YOU KNOW? Ireland invests about 15m in the European Space Agency every year, but the estimated return is a factor of 8 to 1. The annual global space industry market is estimated to be valued at 300 billion presently. Dr. Niall Smith is Head of Research at CIT and Head of Blackrock Castle Observatory. If you have any questions, skymatters@irishexaminer.com This Boston businessman- astronomer came from an upper-class family; Boston is the home of the bean and the cod, where Lowells spoke only to Cabots, while Cabots spoke only to god, quipped Bill Bryson quoting John Collins Bossidy. Poor old Lowell was ridiculed for a monumental mistake he made. Eventually, however, he would have the last laugh, becoming the only person to have a planet of the solar system named in his honour. In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, studying Mars at the Milan Observatory, claimed to have found lines on the planets surface. His term canali, meaning channels, was mistranslated as canals, leading to the widespread belief that the Red Planet supported intelligent life. Lowell became hooked on the idea. Working in his observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, he thought he could see the canali. Dark spots where the canals met were oases. Martians, he surmised, were channelling water from the planets polar ice-caps to dry areas. Soon, he was dining out on the Martian climate and civilisation both, alas, figments of his imagination. Lowells maps of the Mars surface were not corroborated by other astronomers and his ideas were rejected by the scientific community. The canals, some suggested, were due to scratches on the lens of his telescope. The probes sent to Mars in our day reveal an arid lifeless landscape. What a pity Lowell was wrong! Encountering a Martian flora and fauna would have been fascinating. However, we shouldnt be too hard on poor old Lowell; scientists often reach conclusions which turn out to be wrong. Palaeontologists, were sure that a marine creature known as the coelacanth had been extinct for 66 million years. Then, on December 23, 1938, fishermen netted a strange fish in the waters off South Africa. A museum curator, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, recognised it as the long lost coelacanth. The species now bears her name. By the mid 19th century, zoologists were certain that all of Africas large mammal species had been described. Congolese people, however, spoke of a hoofed zebra-like beast, they called the okapi, living in the forest. The claim was dismissed as another Abominable Snowman or Lough Ness Monster fantasy. Such a large creature couldnt possibly have remained unknown to science for so long. Then, during Henry Morton Stanleys Dr Livingston I presume expeditions, press reports of a mysterious forest giraffe began to surface. Parts of a carcass, sent to London, became the outstanding zoological event of 1901. You can now see okapis in Dublin Zoo. Lowell had lost the run of himself about Mars but another of his fixations was more credible. There seemed to be irregularities in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus, the two gas giants furthest out in the solar system. Lowell became convinced that the gravitational pull of an as yet undiscovered planet was responsible for the wobbles. He spent his final years searching for it but without success. In 1929, Clyde Tomaugh, a recruit to the Lowell Observatory with no formal training in astronomy, located a dwarf planet 6,000 million kilometres away. Finding an object one sixth the size of the Moon, which the Suns light took over five hours to reach, was an extraordinary achievement. Venetia Burney, an 11-year old English schoolgirl interested in classical mythology, suggested that the new planet be called Pluto, after the god of the Underworld. The name was adopted because its first two letters were Percival Lowells initials. Venetia received 5 for her idea. Pluto is no longer deemed to be a planet, but one of the larger objects of the Kuiper Belt, a mysterious collection of orbiting rocks, asteroids and lumps of frozen ice. The supposed anomalies in the gas giant planet orbits were not due to Pluto but to errors in calculating Neptunes mass. Percival Lowell died suddenly of a stroke on November 12, 1916, aged 61. THE housing and homeless crisis in Cork continues to escalate, but the response to the crisis is improving. The scale of the deepening crisis in Cork is reflected in the number of people knocking on our door. Last month, our outreach team supported an average of almost 17 people per night sleeping rough in Cork the highest monthly average in almost two years, and a 58% increase in 12 months. Our 47-bed emergency shelter is overflowing so far this year an average of 54 people per night have availed of a Cork Simon emergency bed. Our soup run is meeting an average of 28 people per night. All of our frontline services are stretched to the very limit. Figures from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government indicate that 273 adults were in emergency accommodation in the South-West during the last week of July the highest monthly figure in over 18 months. However, the housing and homeless crisis in Cork hasnt been on the same spiralling trajectory as in Dublin. And while its likely that the crisis in Cork will worsen before we see any real improvement, we are seeing tangible evidence that were on the right path to recovery. Were using all of the available resources to manage the crisis before it gets out of control. Last year, Cork City Council provided us with funding to further develop our Housing First approach to addressing long-term homelessness and rough sleeping. This involves prioritising people who have been long-term homeless for any housing that weve been able to find and then providing intensive supports, including clinical supports, housing supports and support towards social reintegration. Of the 14 people who were supported into housing between December 2015 and June 2016 through our Housing First initiative, they had accounted for 2,962 bed-nights between emergency shelters, rough sleeping or high support housing in the course of 2015 an average of 212 nights per person or 8.12 beds per night in the homeless services system. Given that the Cork Simons Shelter, for example, has a capacity of 17,155 bed-nights per annum, its clear that this initiative is helping to make sure that Cork City continues to have amongst the lowest average number of emergency bed-nights per homeless person in the country. People arent spending as long in homeless services as they do elsewhere, and we know that the longer people remain stuck in homeless services, the more devastating and long-lasting the impact. Housing First turns the traditional approach to addressing homelessness on its head. Its proven to be a more efficient and effective way of ending the trauma of homelessness quickly for people, but also helps to make sure theres an emergency bed for everyone that needs one, keeping rough sleeping to a minimum. Rather than keeping people needlessly in homeless shelters until they are ready to be housed, which often results in people being more dependent than independent, a Housing First approach works to house people as quickly as possible and then bring whatever supports are necessary for people to address the many complex issues that pushed them into homelessness in the first place. Once housed, people are in a much better place to start addressing their issues more effectively, integrating more successfully with the wider community, and piecing their lives back together with longer lasting results. Housing First works. The Government understands this and Cork City Council understands this. We are now sensing a real whole-of-Government commitment, determination and know-how to get to grips with the housing and homeless crisis. Should Rebuilding Ireland roll-out as planned, were expecting to see much more housing coming on stream by early 2018 that will have a real, long-lasting impact. Were in pole position in Cork to make that housing work for people who have remained stuck in homelessness for far too long, and to end the need for people to sleep rough. Housing First is the key. Without Cork City Council funding the initiative this past year more people in Cork would be locked into homelessness with no way out and more people would be sleeping on the street. We would be contemplating warehousing even more people and their lives in additional emergency shelters rather than making the right to housing a reality. Working in partnership with Cork City Council and with our sister agencies in Cork has resulted in positive outcomes for people whose lives have been turned upside down by the housing and homeless crisis. Housing Minister Simon Coveney has committed to ensuring the expansion of Housing First services in Cork and in other cities. He has made a commitment to build 47,000 new housing units over the coming years. And I think that he is listening, as we ask that the authorities do all they can to cut through the everyday red tape that has been killing off all hope and preventing people from accessing the housing they desperately need today. The Governments Rebuilding Ireland plan represents a major commitment to addressing this crisis for the longer-term. It now needs to cut the red tape so that as many people as possible in the short-term can see a way out and embrace it. Far too many people have waited far too long. People deserve better. Dermot Kavanagh is director of the Cork Simon Community Groundbreaking research into the Siege of Kinsale in 1601, in which some 7,000 people died, will be presented by a Cork archaeologist at a prestigious international conference later this week. For the first time, the position of the English armys trenches, forts and cannon in siegeworks which stretched across some 1,500 acres around the ancient Co Cork port have been comprehensively mapped and recorded. Sophisticated computer-modelling techniques used in the latter stages of the 14-year study, will also be outlined to the ninth International Fields of Conflict Conference, the single largest gathering of battlefield and conflict archaeologists in the world. The conference, which takes place at Trinity College Dublin from this Thursday until Sunday features some of the worlds top archaeologists, including Douglas Scott, whose work on the site at Custers Last Stand is internationally renowned, as well as Scottish archaeologist Tony Pollard, known for his work with the BBC series Two Men in A Trench. Held only every two years, the event last took place in Charleston, South Carolina, and is coming to Dublin to mark the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 2016. Ask most people about the Battle of Kinsale and theyll probably be able to tell you that the Spaniards arrived in Kinsale to support the Irish rebels, were besieged by the English, and that the English were in turn besieged by the Irish army of ONeill and ODonnell, explains Cork-born Paul OKeeffe, an archaeologist with Transport Infrastructure Ireland and co-director of the Kinsale Battlefield Project with his colleague and UCC graduate, Damian Shiels. Just when it seemed that the Irish couldnt lose, they were utterly routed on Christmas Eve 1601 and a week later the Spaniards surrendered. Mr OKeeffe is delivering the paper on the siege site research carried out by both men since 2002 while his colleague, the foremost battlefield archaeologist in the country, will make a presentation on the Archaeology of the Irish War of Independence. English musketballs found in one of the English siege camps. However, Mr OKeeffe explains, fewer people are aware that, in 1601, Kinsale was also the focal point of the most costly siege in terms of human life to have taken place on this island up to that time. For 77 days throughout that autumn and winter, the harbour town was besieged by a 12,000-strong English army which constructed kilometres of massive earthworks trenches, forts, and artillery batteries cutting Kinsale off completely on the landward side. A thousand Spanish men died defending the walls of the town. Their blood ran in its streets and their bodies are buried there, says Mr OKeeffe. Just outside the town, 6,000 men mostly English, Welsh, and Irish died cold, miserable deaths manning the trenches. Their bodies are now buried in unmarked grave pits. The bodies of the Spaniards lie buried in the town, while the remains of about 1,000 Irish men who fought with ONeill and ODonnell are scattered from Millwater to Dunderrow and beyond. In all, there were some 3,500 Spanish soldiers, commanded by Don Juan DelAguila, inside the town. Behind the English siege lines was an army of 6,000 men, commanded by Hugh ONeill and Red Hugh ODonnell, which in turn was besieging the English forces. Hugh ONeill In all, it is believed that about 7,000 people died mostly from disease and malnutrition but, says Mr OKeeffe, any real knowledge of the siege or the burials seems to have passed out of folk memory. We are the first archaeologists to map and record the extent of the siege-works up to now nobody knew where all of them were. This is the only siege site in the country which has been completely mapped and recorded, says Mr OKeeffe, adding that the project was also the longest-running investigation of any siege site in the country. The archaeological remains of the siege constitute the best-preserved siege landscape of this period in either Ireland or Britain, said Mr OKeeffe, a native of the Cork suburb of Togher. However, because of a lack of awareness of its importance, he warned, the site is being slowly chipped away by the expansion of the town. It was this concern that led Mr Shiels to establish the Kinsale Battlefield Project in 2002 and with funding from Kinsale Town Council and the Royal Irish Academy as well as from Cork auctioneer Jim Carey, the men gradually unlocked the secrets of the landscape through archaeological investigation. By 2015, theyd carried out desk-based studies, field walking, metal detection surveys, LIDAR analysis (laser scanning), and geophysical surveys. From that work, they succeeded in determining the rough outline of the largest English siege camp, that of the Lord Deputy Mountjoy, which stretched for 29 acres. They had also identified the general locations of several other siege-works. However, the sheer size of the siege landscape made the work difficult and earlier this year they tried a new approach, using computer modelling and two 17th-century plans of the siege to digitally recreate the siege field and its contemporary landscape. This allowed them to locate and map all of the siegeworks for the first time. The full conference programme is available here I got mine after too much surgery, whereas you got yours trying to win a contest to make you boss of the world. Mine has taken a while to clear up, even though all I had to do was lie on the sofa sipping mango and antibiotic smoothies, rather than zig-zagging the nation to attend rallies where I would have to come across as super-articulate, super-informed, and totally in charge. When I had pneumonia the only thing I was in charge of was the remote control. Plus I could tell people. Hey, Id tell anyone within earshot, guess what, I have pneumonia. Chest pain, fever, wheezing, coughing. Terrible. Zero energy. Come and see me, bring me some grapes. Bathe me in your sympathy. Tell me how amazing I am to be lying here with a partially collapsed lung, bravely watching Netflix, turning the pages of my book unaided. What a trooper. FOR more than a year, Donald Trump has been a birther, promulgating the theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States of America and, accordingly, is not and should never have been president of the US. But, last week, he saw the light and announced that he accepts Barack Obama was born in America. No evidence proferred for his prior belief. No evidence proffered for his new, completely opposed belief. There ya go. Whatever. Oh, and by the way, the whole birther thing (he claimed) was started by Hillary Clinton in the first place. Imagine if Micheal Martin, as a potential contender to be taoiseach, were to spend more than a year promulgating the theory that Australia didnt exist, only to decide, late in the day, that it did. Indubitably, some people would prefer if Australia didnt exist, but it does, and Micheal Martin, had he espoused such a crazy belief, would long ago have been taken aside by his party and told to go boil his head. In the aftermath of his acknowledgement of the reality of Oz, had he then claimed Enda Kenny started the rumours of its absence, hed have been disowned and politically buried by his own. None of this happened to Donald Trump, because the Republicans are powerless in the phase of the phenomenon that is The Donald. He has lied on this and a rake of other matters since he announced his candidacy, been repeatedly and publicly proven to have lied, but despite this pattern, his approval ratings have at no stage been dented. Indeed, as The Economist put it last week: His brazenness is not punished but taken as evidence of his willingness to stand up to elite power. Trump personifies the contradictory idea of authenticity. Authenticity, in politics, doesnt require the politician to tell the truth. Contrariwise. Political authenticity measures the politicians capacity to tell it like it is. Paradoxically, telling it like it is doesnt have anything to do with telling the truth. It has to do with impulsivity, where the politician is willing to react to anything presented to them by a hack, whether or no the politician is informed about the issue. It has to do with unanchored opinion, so any politician who follows the social media tradition of instant and preferably abusive condemnation is seen as a straight talker. It resides determinedly in the Un-PC department, presenting as courage the willingness to speak ill of or incite hatred of other races, religions or genders. Media loves political authenticity because the authentics give good headlines and allow the journalists to go running off to get the Oh, no, we dont line from anyone who will disagree. Even the earnest fact-checkers are kept busy by people like Trump. Months ago , the presidential candidate announced that he had sent a team of investigators to Hawaii and proclaimed that the TV interviewer hanging on his words at the time wouldnt believe what they were finding. This was not a lie. He never sent them, so it would be extremely difficult to believe what they didnt find. There ya go. Whatever. One of the advantage the new authentics have is that they typically, speak in pictures and slogans. Easy to like. Easy to re-tweet. Easy for trending. Easy for mainstream media to pick up, because when does mainstream media ignore a Twitter trend? Trumps productive picture/slogan outputs include his promise to build a wall to separate the US from Mexico and send the bill for the construction to Mexico. The listeners can imagine the wall and snigger at the idea of the arriving invoice. Trumps opponents say that without Mexicans, his business couldnt survive, and that much of America depends on underpaid illegal aliens. They further say a wall is not possible. (Interestingly, they never mention the horrors of the Berlin Wall, the fall of which was celebrated as a major step forward on the onward march of democracy.) They say the Mexican president would set a match to the bill, were the bill to be sent. Theyre obviously right. All right-thinking people say so. And yet. And yet millions of Trump supporters have not a problem in the world disregarding the facts and hugging the impossibility to themselves. Whenever Trump himself is faced with something he cannot disprove, he simply goes though a characteristic sequence dismissive hand gesture accompanied by half-sentence of contemptuous dismissal. There ya go. Whatever. His crowds love it. The polls rise. And so far, neither the fact checkers nor the commentators nor Hillary Clinton has laid a glove on him. Which goes back to the authenticity thing. Donald Trump is not authentic, unless you hang a clothesline of quotation marks around the term. But he is seen by his supporters to be authentic. Hillary Clinton is not authentic, either. The difference is that her supporters have a harder time believing in her. Thats partly because, whereas Trump taps into the undertow of racism and rage in middle aged white males whose lives are not going well for them, Hillarys message is an inchoate aspirational reference to the beliefs of decent people enlivened with the occasional complete obscurity, like her recent attack on the Alt Right. The only time she ever came out and attacked Trumps side, by saying half of his followers are deplorables, she promptly took it back and apologised, which made no sense at all. Those of his followers who are racist, sexist, arms-toting and convinced that every Muslim is the embodiment of evil are deplorable. The central problem is that Hillary Clinton does not project who she is, but who she believes she should be. Take the pneumonia. Her doctor says You have pneumonia. Its deadly for people in their 60s. Go to bed and rest. That could not sit with the projected Hillary Clinton, whos healthy and resolute (particularly resolute when shes barking up the wrong tree). So instead of giving good example to her peers, she goes to a public event. Her hair is manky and unkempt, her pallor extreme. She stays resolute for far too long and is filmed fainting as she gets into her vehicle. Any good PR person would, at that point, have told her to get into bed and put out a statement acknowledging thats where she should have been in the first place. Instead, a statement goes out describing her in boiler terms (she overheated). A couple of hours after she had distracted from the anniversary of 9/11, the terrorist atrocity that brought Manhattan to its knees, she appears in the middle of Manhattan, beaming and inviting media to share her delight at the glorious New York day thats in it. This woman has a tin ear. For the first time in the campaign, Democrats are facing down the barrel of the defeat of their candidate at the hands of a patently incompetent liar. And experiencing that cramping fear that the experienced reality TV star will make bits of Hillary in the TV debates. Burma Interfaith Leaders Call on Individuals to Build Peace Religious leaders, peace activists and parliamentary members at the pre-celebration of International Day of Peace on Saturday in Rangoon. / Ar Yone Oo RANGOON Burmas religious leaders have joined together in urging people to continue building peace on an individual level throughout the country. Following the new governments Union Peace Conferencethe initial national level peace negotiations that will continue in the coming months at the state and divisional levelsBuddhist, Christian, Muslim and Hindu religious leaders called on people to cease the misunderstanding and hatred between different ethnic and religious communities, at the pre-celebration of the International Day of Peace in Rangoon on Saturday. The International Day of Peace falls on September 21, and this years theme is: Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace. The event was organized by local NGO, Ar Yone Oo, in collaboration with the Swedish embassy and the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society. Religious leaders, local civil society members and peace activists attended. Ashin Issariya, a Buddhist monk and writer, told participants that previously there had been misunderstandings and hate speech spread among different communities because there had not been open discussions held in the country. The monk said that he does not accept hate speech, which some other nationalist Buddhist monks have participated in. We all need to cooperate in building peace. We all have a duty to stop hate speech, which can cause unrest, Issariya said. If we want to achieve peace, all individuals first need to try to bring peace to our hearts. That individual peace will transmit from one to another. Burmas first Catholic cardinal Charles Bo agreed. If there is no peace in your heart; if there is no peace in your family, if there is no peace in your place of work; there will not be peace in the world or in Myanmar, he said. Cardinal Bo said last months Union Peace Conference was a door that could open a long myth of hope, adding that ethnic and religious hatred is the enemy of peace and that all must work in tandem with the new government. The leaders cited recent clashes between the Burma Army and ethnic armed groups throughout the country as the impetus for the peace conference. Whats the mindset of military personnel regarding peace? Whats the mindset of the different armed groups? Bo asked the group. Al Haj U Aye Lwin, founder of the interfaith group Religions for Peace, said there was no peace inside the country as long as there is injustice and discrimination, along with an armed conflict lasting more than 50 years and millions of people internally displaced throughout that time. I think we have suffered enough. We deserve peace. If we want to achieve peace, we need to clear all the doubts in all the communities and build mutual understanding and trust, U Aye Lwin said. He added a belief in Islam that says: If the heart is at peace, it will bring peace to ones neighbor. The Hindu leader U San Min Naing also urged collaboration with the countrys first democratically elected government led by Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We now have good leaders. We, as citizens, need to try to help, he said. Business UMFCCI Elects New President, Executive Committee U Zaw Min Win a former UMFCCI vice-president, chairman of Myanmar Food Processors Exporters Association, and President of Myanmar Industries Association is elected president of the UMFCCI. / UMFCCI RANGOON Burmas biggest independent economic body, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), elected its new president and committee members, amid high expectations of change from industry observers. In Saturday nights election, U Zaw Min Wina former UMFCCI vice-president, chairman of Myanmar Food Processors Exporters Association, and President of Myanmar Industries Associationwas elected president over recent chair U Win Aung of Dagon International Co. Ltd and chairman of Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) holdings. The UMFCCIs members voted in its new executive body including the President, seven vice-presidents and other office bearers. The newly-elected vice-presidents, leaders in different sectors of the business community in Burma, are: U Thein Han (Fortune International), Dr. Maung Maung Lay (Ni Lay Naing Co. Ltd), U Thaung Tin (KMD Group of Companies), U Hla Maung Shwe (Shwe Family), Dr Myo Thet, U Wai Phyo (Yatha Cho Co Ltd) and U Ye Min Aung (Ayeyar Hinthar Holdings Co. Ltd). The Secretary-General is U Aung Kyi Soe, managing director of the Myanmar Liquefied Petroleum Gas Group Company, while joint secretaries-general are: U Aye Win, U Aung Khin Myint, Dr. Aung Thein, U Tha Doe Hein, U Kyaw Dewa, U Myo Thant and Daw Khine Khine Nwe, according to the announcement of the UMFCCI. In the UMFCCI announcement, U Zaw Min Win said that the UMFCCI needed to amend the Chambers constitution to make it less ambiguous and to strengthen its affiliated associations. He highlighted the need for good governance and stated that he would not be striving for personal profit in his role as President. The UMFCCI needs to work closely with the new government to restore its reputation with politicians, the media, the general public and our affiliated associations, he said in the statement. There were some complaints that female members and young members of the wider business community were not represented in the new CEC. New members should not be the same as the recent committee; there should be more young business men. They should do more work after changing the members, one businessperson, who wanted to remain anonymous, said. Current president U Win Aung is running Thilawa SEZ projects, so he and his group have been accused of making opportunities for themselves. This time, it should different from them, the source said. U Hla Maung Shwe, recently elected as vice-president among six others, told The Irrawaddy that the new committee may not include young people or well-known business people, as Chamber members had to register to vote in order to participate in the selection, which some may not have done in time. There are 195 candidates competing in the election this year. There may be some complaints as some candidates [] were not voted for by [all] members of the Chamber, he said. But there are some new young business people who have now been made vice-president, like U Ye Min Aun and U Wai Phyo, he said. He added that the new committee will be criticized if its new members fail to reform the Chamber and provide new opportunities for the business community in Burma. New members are responsible for walking the government through their policies. We will need to work as negotiators between the business community and the government, he said. U Zaw Min Win has no big businesses like U Win Aung, so the situation will change, he added. There is no information on when CEC members will hand the work over to the newly-elected committee. The UMFCCI is a national, non-governmental organization representing and safeguarding the interests of Burmas private business sector. It was founded in 1991 (as the Burmese Chamber of Commerce) and has about 30,000 members. Commentary Lifting Burmas Sanctions: Who is the Real Winner? Myawaddy Bank Ltd on Rangoons Strand Road. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy Burmas long oppressed ethnic groups and critics of the countrys military generals are beginning to understand that Daw Aung San Suu Kyis US visit will bring business opportunities, wealth and blanket amnesty to many rich and powerful people who remain out of favor. Growing criticism went as far as to suggest that the decision to lift all sanctions meant that the United States and the White House do not really care about the civil war, ongoing human rights abuses in ethnic regions, a patchy transition, students, activists, or crimes committed by greedy cronies and their dodgy associates. The question now is: Who is to blame? During the visit, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged that US assistance and moral support aided Burmas transformation. But before thanking the US and the Obama administration, it is noteworthy to remember that cronies, criminals and some mass murderers feel that they have gotten what they wanted, thanks to President Obamas lifting of sanctions on the country. In this economic landscape, who will hold the moral high ground in Burma? Surely not neighboring China. Some fear that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will have less and less leverage to negotiate with the militarywhich controls 25 percent of the seats in Parliament, can declare a nationwide state of emergency, refuses to amend the 2008 military-drafted constitution and continues its ground offensive and air strikes in ethnic areas. Some wait and hope that military leaders will reward Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with constitutional changes. We will see what happens, but we wont hold our breath. Back home, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faces questions from ethnic and community leaders on her position on sanctions, which may serve as a hurdle to achieving nationwide peace. Some ethnic leaders say it was too early to lift sanctions, as an ongoing war continues in the north and negotiations are only at at early stage. Her supporters posit that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wanted to maintain some measure of sanctions until the political transition was irreversible but that she was not well informed regarding the termination of the US National Emergency Act and that its removal would jointly remove all remaining sanctions. Last week, the London-based BBC quoted a source who hinted that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not in full agreement with the decision to lift all sanctions but was left with little choice. US officials told her it was all or nothing, and the historic decision was made to lift all sanctions, wrote the BBC. Some think that pro-business groups and lobbyists for military enterprises in Burmaincluding the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC)along with some US and White House officials, were largely responsible for the removal of all sanctions. The UMEHL and the MEC are the two biggest industrial conglomerates controlled by the military, and they have managed to dominate many of the countrys key economic sectors. Under the previous regime, the two were under the direct management of the old War Office or, as it is now officially called, the Ministry of Defense. The UMEHL was formed in 1990 as a special public company, with shareholders limited to the Directorate of Defense Procurement, Ministry of Defense, Defense Regimental Institutes, and other bodies of the Defense Services and War Veterans. Senior figures in the armed forces manage the enterprise. The corporation is involved in jade mining, gems, tourism, imports, real estate, exportation of foodstuffs, automobiles, banking, the Myanmar Brewery, transportation, large-scale construction and Myawaddy Bankwhich is listed as a private bank. The MEC is also involved in the harvest of teak and the extraction of natural gas and oil, as well as in communications. The list is endless and the corruption no doubt is deep. But the military and its enterprises are moving fast faster than the elected government could have fathomed. In February, the Burma Armys Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said he intends to privatize all military-owned companies at an appropriate time. On March 31, the UMEHL applied to the Ministry of Planning and Finance to become a public companyto register according to countrys Companies Act and as a show of offering greater transparency and accountability. However, the military is thriving and remains a key player in Burmas military enterprise. It will continue to do so as they are, in fact, a government within the government. The country has seen a long history of military business interests and activities in Burma. To ensure greater accountability and transparency regarding these enterprises will be challenging. In Burma, no one is well equipped to hold them responsible. The fact is, the military enterprise is bigger than the governments. With the latest rewards from the US and the White House, they will feel like they are the real winners, as opposed to the ordinary Burmese citizens who sanctions were purportedly intended to support. From the Archive From the Archive: The Heroic Medics of the 8888 Uprising The iconic photo in which medical student Win Zaw (L) and house surgeon Dr. Saw Lwin carry 16-year-old pro-democracy protestor Win Maw Oo to an ambulance after she was fatally shot on September 18, 1988. / S Lehman / Visions Twenty-eight years ago, demonstrations across Burma demanded an end to Gen Ne Wins military dictatorship. After government troops opened fire on the 8888 Uprising in Rangoon, hundreds were seriously injured. Many doctors and nurses worked around the clock to save the injured. Win Maw Oo is remembered from the iconic picture of a blood-soaked young woman being carried away by two medics during the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon. She begged her father not to perform the Buddhist last rites until Burma enjoys democracy. In May those funerary rites were performed, after nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy party assumed power. Sixteen-year-old pro-democracy activist Win Maw Oo was carried to an ambulance by house surgeon Dr. Saw Lwin and medical student Win Zaw after being fatally shot on September 18, 1988. Today, The Irrawaddy looks back at this article about the 8888 Uprising and the brave doctors and nurses who worked tirelessly during that time. RANGOON Twenty five years ago, the streets of Rangoon swelled with hundreds of thousands of protestors demanding an end to Burmas military dictatorship. After government troops opened fire on them, hundreds were seriously injured. Many would have died if it had not been for Dr Myat Htoo Razak and Dr Win Zaw. Like many doctors and nurses, the young house surgeon and medical student worked around the clock to save the lives of injured protestors during the hectic days of the 8888 Uprising. Myat Htoo Razak recalled the unforgettable scenes that he witnessed on August 9, 1988, one day after popular, nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations started in Rangoon and other cities across Burma. Some of them were shot in their chests, arms and legs, he said in a recent interview with The Irrawaddy. Two of them were seriously injured; one was shot in his head and another one shot in his eye. The then 24-year-old house surgeon and his team had arrived at the Maternal and Child Welfare Association in Rangoons North Okkalapa Township shortly before troops began to fire on crowds of peaceful demonstrators, who had gathered nearby. One monk who made a speech urging protestors to keep marching was fatally shot. Many protestors ran into the building to flee the gunfire, some were bleeding from bullet wounds in their torsos, arms and legs. The medical team, which came from North Okkalapa Hospital, had already prepared emergency treatment facilities as they feared that authorities might launch a violent crackdown on the demonstrations. Myat Htoo Razak and three other house surgeons (young doctors who are still undergoing practical training) and nurses started treating the many wounded. But soon, soldiers surrounded the Maternal and Child Welfare Association and two captains entered building to intimidate the demonstrators. We just used rubber bullets. Or else, you would have all been dead, one of them said looking at injured protestors. The captains heartless words infuriated Myat Htoo Razak but he tried to cope with his anger for the sake of his patients. The would-be doctor then asked the officers to transport two seriously wounded patients to North Okkalapa Hospital. In the meantime, more injured people were coming into the building. Myat Htoo Razak and his small team kept treating the injured until late afternoon. When he got back to North Okkalapa Hospital, the troops were shooting right in front of the building. We didnt even need to go too far to carry patients as they were shooting in front of the hospital. The injured people were just carried into the hospital. Inside, we treated many of the injured people, he said. While the doctors like Myat Htoo Razak worked ceaselessly to operate on the many wounded, pools of blood covered the hospital floors and numerous bodies arrived at the mortuary. It was a tragic scene to see the dead bodies of our brothers and sisters, he said. For 10 days, government violence continued and wounded pro-democracy demonstrators filled the wards of hospitals and clinics in Rangoon and across Burma. When Dr Maung Maung, a civilian, became interim president on August 19 the shootings ended and people from all walks of life joined the demonstrations, which had now spread nationwide, from Burmas big cities to tiny villages throughout the country. On September 18, the military staged a coup detat and the crackdown worsened. Troops shot down many more demonstrators, including schoolchildren, students, civil servants and housewives. An estimated total of 3,000 people were killed and many more protestors were injured in August and September of 1988. For the injured, doctors, nurses and house surgeons like Myat Htoo Razak, provided life-saving care at a critical moment in the countrys history. The 88 pro-democracy movement was the biggest people power uprising that Burma had seen since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. It toppled the countrys oppressive authoritarian regime of military strongman Ne Win and his Burma Socialist Programme Party, which had ruled the country for 26 years. The military coup and subsequent crackdown on the 8888 Uprising, however, would leave the army in charge for two more decades. Another medical student who helped treat Burmas brave protestors at the time was Win Zaw. Doctors, nurses and medical staffs not only treated the injured, but also took part in the demonstrations, and 23-year-old Win Zaw joined a group of medical students who staged a hunger strike on September 18 at Rangoons University of Medicine. After the army staged a coup at 4 pm that day, it announced that all demonstrators should disperse and leave their camps and the streets. Win Zaw and his fellow students went to Rangoon General Hospital and spent the night helping doctors in treating hundreds of demonstrators who had been shot by troops as they tried to clear the streets of Rangoon. The next morning, at about 10:30 am, Win Zaw and doctors got news that the troops had again opened fire on protestors. Win Zaw quickly joined a small team that included a surgeon named Win Ko, two doctors and another house surgeon by the name of Dr Saw Lwin. They drove through the streets collecting the wounded, putting as many as 15 patients into their small ambulance. After two runs to pick up the victims, they heard that shots had been fired at a demonstration near Sule Pagoda in central Rangoon As they reached the pagoda, it became clear that the troops had committed a massacre. It is a scene that I can never forget for the rest of life. There were a lot of bodies and injured people on street, Win Zaw recalled in an interview. A photo of our Bogyoke [Aung San] was on the street, our fighting peacock flag [the symbol of students movement] was also down, sandals were scattered and pools of blood were everywhere. As they looked among the numerous bodies for protestors who were still alive, Win Zaw noticed one young girl who was breathing faintly. He approached and heard her murmur, Brother, help me. Win Zaw lifted the girl by her arms while house surgeon Saw Lwin held her legs. Wearing white physician duty coats, they carried her to the nearby ambulance. At that time, he noticed a flash of a camera and heard one of the soldiers bellowing: Dont take pictures! Or else, well shoot! At that time, Win Zaw had no idea the picture would become an internationally well-known, historic picture that symbolized just how brutal the armys crackdown on innocent protestors had been. Later, he found out that the young girls name was Win Maw Oo, a 16-year-old high school student. On that dark day, September 19, 1988, Win Zaws team made seven runs to collect the wounded from Rangoons blood-covered streets. Another ambulance team of Rangoon General Hospital conducted a similar number of emergency rescues. By the evening, he learned Win Maw Oo was being treated at the intensive care unit and that she was still alive after having suffered gunshot wounds in one arm, one leg and a lung. At 5:35 pm, however, she died. The medical staff also risked their lives by going out and collecting wounded protestors from Rangoons streets. Myat Htoo Razak remembers that at least one medical student was shot and killed, while another required a life-saving operation. Myat Htoo Razak and a senior surgeon, Dr Kyaw Myint Naing, operated on final-year medical student Moe Thu Win for six and a half hours after a bullet had shredded the main artery in his arm. The doctors thought they might have to amputate the limb, but eventually the operation was successful. During 10 days of bloody repression in 1988, the doctors continuously treated injured protestors, although some of the wounded didnt dare to come to hospitals out of fear that the military would arrest them there. For some medical staff, their work would have repercussions later. The military had taken note of Win Zaw and Saw Lwin after the photo of their rescue of the young girl Win Maw Oo became famous the world over. Four years later, the notorious Military Intelligences unit-6, better known as MI-6, detained Dr Win Zaw for five days and asked him about the details of the events of that day. For his colleague Dr Saw Lwin the consequences would be far greater, however. The military authorities forced Saw Lwins father to retire from his position as the director of a government department. This pressure on his family caused Saw Lwin to sink into a deep depression. Years later, he committed suicide. Until this day, Win Zaw said, Saw Lwins family cannot bear to watch the tragic picture of their rescue attempt. For both Dr Win Zaw and Dr Myat Htoo Razak the events of 1988 were life defining moments, and all these years later both say they are still dedicated to establishing genuine democracy in Burma. The 88 uprising shaped our lives, said Myat Htoo Razak, who now lives in the United States and has worked on HIV/Aids research and strengthening health care systems in Asia and Africa. Win Zaw, who is now secretary of the Myanmar Medical Associations General Practitioners Society, said, In fact, we are still waiting to get what we demanded 25 years ago. 5 Essential Skills for the IT Leader Remember back in the day, when people used to spend their entire careers working at a single company? A lot of us who are old enough can picture the quintessential example of that a white guy in a gray suit and fedora who was hired by IBM straight out of college, and who retired from IBM two or three decades later. And then theres Inhi Cho Suh. With the exception of the year and a bit she spent working at Duke University following her graduation from that institution in 1997, Suh has spent her entire 18-year career at IBM. Beyond that, theres not too much of a parallel that can be drawn between Suh and that guy in the fedora. A Korean-American whose family emigrated to the United States when she was five years old, Suh embodies what is, one would like to think, the future of IBM. As general manager of collaboration solutions at IBM, a role she assumed in February following stints that included VP of analytics strategy and business development, and VP and GM of big data, integration, and governance, Suh is focused on infusing cognitive computing and analytics into workplace applications. In an interview last week, I opened the conversation by noting how surprising one might find it that Suh had graduated from Duke with a double major in biology and history, and a minor in womens studies. When I asked her if she had any particular affinity for or interest in technology at that time, she laughed. None, she said: It was really serendipitous. At the time, I actually imagined myself pursuing a career in medicine. I knew I wanted to make an impact in the world, and I thought that was going to be through medicine. But when it was time for me to actually go to med school, I realized that I didnt really want to go. I didnt know what my calling was at the time. I could see that I had a natural interest beyond the sciences I helped co-chair and co-create the Women of Diversity Council at Duke University, as a student. So I knew there was something in me that was essentially driving me toward other things; I just didnt know that it would come about with the opportunity to work at IBM. So given that the barriers to entry in the technology field are so much higher for women than they are for men, how does a woman without any academic background in technology whatsoever land a job at IBM? Suh said she had an advocate: another woman: I was totally unqualified at the time for the job I applied for. One of the things that helped at the time was I had a woman friend who was four years older than me, and who worked at IBM. Shes the one who recommended me, and I think this is such an important point the need for women to network with, promote, sponsor, and proactively team with other women is an incredibly important element in ensuring better representation of women in the business. I do think men as our allies and colleagues are very important, but I also think theres a level of candid dialog you can have with your women peers. I see this pattern at IBM, and among my peers outside of IBM in other companies and industries, where women pull other women along. If you find Suhs undergraduate background surprising, you might find it at least as surprising that about a year after joining IBM, she entered law school, and got her J.D. Why a law degree, I asked her, and not something like, say, a masters in computer or information science? My management at the time asked me if Id thought about getting an MBA, and said IBM could help sponsor it. My response was twofold: First, I said, Everyone on the team has either an engineering degree or an MBA, is that correct? People nodded their heads and said, Yes. I said, So Im essentially going to go train to think and look at the problem the same way everyone on the team already looks at it. They looked at me kind of strangely, and I said, I guess my value-add so far has been the different perspective I have in looking at the same problem, and I think law would be an interesting addition to this perspective. Second, I was already very much interested not only in the business side, but also in the public policy side. So I felt that law would give me opportunities further along in the future to do advocacy and volunteer work, and other types of work that would complement whatever my professional career was going to be. I asked Suh if shes ever felt handicapped by not having an academic foundation in technology. She said there have been moments when she has thought about being able to roll back the clock to when she was really young: I was naturally very, very strong in math and logic. Even at an early stage, pre-calculus and calculus were very easy and intuitive. I didnt know that there was a career path there, because I was so maniacally focused on medicine. So I never really did the research. When I thought of getting a math degree, I was thinking more of a professional path to become a teacher, or a professor, or a researcher not so much in terms of actually being in business. So I think if I could go back in time, theres a part of me that would have preferred going straight into computer science, or maybe the social or behavioral sciences. But she said she doesnt feel handicapped in any way: One of the fundamental beliefs that I have is that as humans, we have an unbelievable capacity to learn. We have an incredible mind that enables us not only to see and live in reality, but actually imagine what the future could be, and then kind of move toward that future. My fundamental premise has always been that change is inevitable, so at any stage in my career, even now, I can learn a new discipline. I can go and take classes, whether its online or physically in a school. So with that natural curiosity, and the prevalence of educational opportunities that are available, its possible for anyone to have any kind of career that they want. I couldnt help but wonder whether Suh thought she ever received any special treatment by virtue of being a female of Asian descent, stemming from IBMs interest in promoting inclusion and diversity. So I asked. Her response: I would say I got some benefits, for sure. That has to do with a couple of things. One is, I think IBM does an unbelievably amazing job at leadership development. Leadership development means different things to different people, because finding your own, personal, true North whatever that may entail is never going to be a direct path. Whats amazing at IBM is that lens of, You as an individual have tremendous potential; we also recognize that [our employees] come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, so we want to make sure the things that make you uniquely you [are fostered] in a strong way. I would say some of that is because of the proactive, HR-type leadership programs that IBM has. Suh said a lot also has to do with every individual having a unique background that shapes who he or she is: For me, on a very personal level, being a Korean-American immigrant moving from Seoul to Spartanburg, S.C., at the age of five, I went from a city with a population of 19 million people to a city of 200,000 people. Growing up in South Carolina has shaped me into who I am as an adult. Quite frankly, I would say the challenges that I experienced as a child were great preparation for learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I learned to thrive at that intersection of diverse and conflicting values and ideas. So at an early age, I would say most of the overt biases I experienced were because of race. But as I progressed in the professional world, it has shifted to a bias because of gender. Finding my own personal point of view about developing business skills, a lot of that is shaped by the diversity of culture that I experienced, but also by the nurturing environment that IBM has around leadership development at different stages. In a forthcoming post, Ill cover the rest of what Suh shared in the interview, including her response to my question about whether she can see herself one day as CEO of IBM. (Spoiler alert: She can.) A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant. How to Evaluate Predictive Analytics for Your Business No doubt, at this point, IT as a whole is on the cusp of a major revolution involving artificial intelligence (AI). While AI concepts have been around for a while, advances in inexpensive compute capable of processing vast amounts of data are now making it economically feasible to broadly apply AI. Today, Salesforce illustrated that point with the launch of Einstein, an AI platform designed to layer on top of the companys namesake customer relationship management (CRM) software delivered as a service. John Ball, general manager for Einstein at Salesforce, says Einstein is the result of a series of investments Salesforce has made over the last few years that is culminating in a platform that can make more intelligent recommendations and ultimately automate entire business processes. In essence, Salesforce is using the metadata it collects to create models that over time learn how to optimize a specific set of processes based on the outcomes of previous interactions. Einstein employs a combination of machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, natural language processing and advanced data discovery to more accurately predict, for example, what any given customer may be in the market for next or which specific sales leads have a high preponderance of closing within a specified period of time. Salesforce intends to make Einstein available as a service that end users invoke as well as a capability that third-party developers can invoke to build applications on top of Salesforce. Unlike more horizontal approaches to AI, such as the IBM Watson platform, Ball says Salesforce intends to focus Einstein on CRM-related applications. In so doing, Ball says, Salesforce expects to bring the benefit of AI to the average end user more quickly than other AI platforms that require massive amounts of effort in custom development to create an application. In the case of Einstein, Ball says, developers will be able to use the standard portfolio of Salesforce Lightning developer tools to quickly build an AI application. We want to make the benefits of AI available to all skill levels, says Ball. While still in its relative infancy, concerns have emerged that the amount of expertise required to master AI will lead to an uneven business playing field. Only organizations with substantial economic resources can really afford to deploy AI applications that cost millions of dollars to build, deploy and continually maintain. For the immediate future at least, Ball says, when it comes to AI as a whole, Salesforce will stick to its CRM knitting. But Salesforce already has a substantial footprint in marketing, social networking, service desk and, more recently, Internet of Things (IoT) applications that Salesforce tends to view as being part of the larger CRM ecosystem. Salesforce today also revealed the existence of a new Salesforce Research Group. In addition, many of the services that Salesforce is making available as part of Einstein will reside on the Heroku platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that Salesforce owns. How third-party developers make use of services such as predictive vision and predictive modeling may be difficult for Salesforce to limit to CRM. Regardless of the approach, the one thing that is for certain is that all the data that organizations collect across millions of interactions with customers is, for better or worse, about to become a lot more actionable than almost anyone ever imagined. Save Save Save Google officially launched on September 14, 2016 the Google Trends Election Hub. With an increase of 240% interest compared 4 years ago, Google decided to be a part of this American historic event; which they believe will play a huge role in storytelling. Real-time polls on the U.S. upcoming elections this November 8, 2016 on Tuesday will give you something to expect on what is going to happen in the 58th election that is staged only every four years. It will be based on Google Trends where election-related searches go straight to the pulse on election hub to see the status of different candidates. Update As of now, there are 8 categories that you can see in the hub. This includes the following: Top most is "National search interest in the candidates (past week)" where Hillary gains the highest search. Next to it is the "State by state search interest". By hovering on the pentagon-shaped state, it will show the numbers of search interests of which state with darker shade as the highest and lowest on ithe opposite. Alaska with 100 search interests gave Hillary Clinton 53% that shows the most searched presidential candidate. Featured insights such as Voter Registration, Top Issues like economy and immigration, Vote for a candidate where Trump scores the highest, and "How to Vote" statistics could also be seen in the Election Hub. Lastly, you could also explore Youtube election map for most watched videos of candidate and Election Databot in which any information you want or need to know about politics could be found there. If you're interested on American's curiosity on candidate, then you can always check Google Trend Election Hub anytime to get the latest stories regarding Trump and Pence as Republicans, Clinton and Kaine as Democrats, Johnson and Weld Stein under Libertarian Party and Baraka for Green Party. Just a few weeks ago, Microsoft launched new promotion ads for Surface devices that slammed the iPad Pro and the MacBook. Now, the new Huawei MateBook joins the club by doing the exact same thing. In fact, it literally joined the setting of the last Surface ad. The lack of new iPads and MacBooks has definitely been Apple's weakness lately. Fans and followers of the company have been constantly waiting for Apple to at least say something about the new products. However, September is halfway done with no real clues about the company's plans. Since the iPad Pro 2 and MacBook Pro 2016 have not made an appearance yet, the new Huawei MateBook decided to compare itself to Apple's previously released product, the iPad Pro. Well, if only Apple had released a new device, then it could probably compete with new models. Since the iPad Pro is pretty much from last season, it may have a hard time beating 2016 products. Huawei MateBook Specs: The new Huawei MateBook's ad showed off all its special features. According to the said commercial, the Huawei MateBook is lightweight and comes with a fingerprint sensor. It also runs Windows 10 like the Surface Pro 4. However, the MateBook does not have the same ports as the Surface Pro 4. It does have a USB C to USB A cable, though, as the device only has a single USB C port. It basically relies all its connection needs to that one single port. Overall, the MateBook is like the Surface Pro 4 in many ways. It even targets the same crowd which is the business sect. As per Huawei's website, the MateBook is described as "the new style of business". GSMarena says that this release is important for Huawei in its quest to establish its name in the United States. This is also a crucial launch for the company's entrance in the Windows PC market. Huawei Book Price: The Huawei MateBook is currently available for a starting price of $699. This price is for the Core m3 128 GB unit and it does not include the full set up. You can get the stylus for $60 and the dock for $90. If you want the full PC experience, you can get the keyboard for $130. After a week of release, iOS 10 jailbreak is already available. Jailbreaking iOS is not a new thing if you are an avid fan of Apple. What is jailbreaking? Is it legal? Does it damage my device? These are just few of the questions that come to mind when exploring jailbreaking options. Jailbreaking is the removal of software restrictions imposed by Apple or iOS on a device running on it. Devices such as iPhone, iPod, iPad, and the AppleTV2 and 4 can be explored once restrictions are removed. Jailbreaking started in 2007 and has continued into the present day. No legal complaints has been made to jailbreaking communities. Until now, it is not clear, whether or not, jailbreaking is legal. In the United States, exemptions allowing Smartphone users to jailbreak their devices were approved in the year 2010,2012, and 2015; respectively. Ever heard of Luca Todesco? He is famous with jailbreaking iOS. The Italian hacker and software specialist just released a video on how to jailbreak iOS 10. However, it is still not clear if it will work properly on other devices as he only tried it on an iPad. Although Luca Todesco shows his jailbreaking solutions in public, he does not release it. It might be that he's doing it for private research or plainly, just trying to push the envelope of the iOS system. Now, don't worry Apple users. Luca Tedosco is not the only developer who is capable of jailbreaking iOS 10. The Chinese PanGu team is considered the best when it comes to cracking codes. You can download PanGu's jailbreaking tools online. It is a set of tools where they assist the users in bypassing or removing restrictions. Once restrictions are deleted, it enables root access to the iOS operating systems. After everything is installed, user has now the freedom to install any applications that were limited when they still have the original configurations. The highly patronized manga series One Punch Man sings a thrilling tune to its millions of viewers as the release date of its second installment remains a confusing puzzle to many. The huge fan base of Shingo Natsumes show is holding its excitement with season 2s major revelations. One Punch Man Season 2 2016 Release Impossible? In a related article of iTech Post, it mentioned that the final confirmation of "One Punch Man" season 2 is set this month and the first episode is scheduled to premiere either October or November. However, showrunners of the phenomenal anime are yet to make their official announcement. A report weakens the potential airing of the show during the Halloween period stating that fans should anticipate a delay in the debut of the new season and that it could take a new year before well witness the Japanese superhero and his most powerful punch in our screens. Until we get a legitimate information about the definite date of the series latest season, we can only rely with spoilers and speculations based on the finale of the past season. Saitama To Experience His First Loss From Various Villains With Saitamas lineup of super villains set to destroy him, it is likely that the undefeated champ will take a downfall for the very first time. Season 2 is greatly believed to be packed with vengeance and ultimate battles plotted against Saitama. Lord Boros is depicted to outmatch him as a result of his defeat from the first season. Genos, believed to be Saitamas great pal will also exchange blows with him. Other opponents fated to clash with Saitama are first class villains Amai Mask and Garou who are forecasted to cause his major loss. It looks like we have a superhero that needs our loudest cheers to emerge victorious in his string of battles. Then, let the fight begin. In a move that could leave hundreds of employees without jobs, Microsoft has announced that it is planning to close its Skype office in London. Microsoft To Close Skype's London Office Nearly 400 people employed in Microsoft's Skype office in London could be left soon without their jobs. The high-tech giant told the Financial Times that some engineering position will be unified. The company will start a consultation process in order to find ways to help those affected by the redundancies. According to Tech Crunch, Microsoft's London office has been the primary engineering site and headquarters of Skype before the high-tech giant acquired it. The office that represents a key part of Skype's history also survived the period when the messaging startup company was under the ownership of eBay before it was acquired by Microsost. The move announced by Microsoft will certainly affect London's tech scene. However, for some former insiders it is not a surprise to see Skype's London office go. This is, in part, because a several executive departures over the last few years have predicted a shift in the power focus at the company. Microsoft has also performed a lot of product development on Skype messenger post-acquisition. The high-tech giant introduced integration with Office 365 and several features that bring Skype closer in line with Microsoft's Slack messaging app. It is likely that Microsoft will intend now to continue building Skype from Redmond. This would also help align further Microsoft's strategic vision across its various software products. A Microsoft spokesman announced that the company plans to move its London-based employees to Paddington. According to Tech Times, this latest move is continuing Microsoft's push with layoffs. The company previously announced that hundreds of employees in Redmond will also lose their jobs. Last July, the Redmond-based tech company announced its plan to lay off 2,850 employees in the year 2017. Of this total number of layoffs, around 220 employees will lose their jobs once the London Skype office gets shut down. For many years, man has made fiction about colonizing other planets. As population and environmental issues continue to be problems on Earth, there are those who are looking to our neighboring planets to build later. Now this might come closer to reality as the U.S. Congress seeks to have NASA establish a colony on Mars. According to the Christian Science Monitor a House bipartisan bill that will give NASA support in establishing a colony on Mars is in the works. One of the aims of the bill is to prevent future Presidents from interfering with the program. It also grants NASA $19.5 billion for development programs for rockets and spacecraft for Mars. Although this new bill aims to continue support NASA in sending manned missions to Mars in the coming two decades, it is not the first bill in support of this. In 2014 HR 4412 was passed that would pave the way to giving NASA a program in establishing a Mars colony, as Investigative Headline News said in its report. Another report says that NASA has been given the task to landing people on Mars by 2030. Perhaps one of the challenges in having a Martian colony is how it would be governed. Elon Musk, CEO for SpaceX, said that Mars governance would be more of a direct democracy rather than of having elected officials, as Quartz reports. That would mean the people in the colony would vote on the issues they would deal with while there. Researchers say that treaties here on Earth could serve as blueprints for how Mars would be governed. In governing Antarctica, our seas and outer space governments generally share resources. That might be how the colony on Mars would operate, where resources would have to be shared in order to survive. Before establishing all these, the challenge would be how to get to Mars, and that is where legislators could not agree on. Some say that NASA should first go to the Moon to test the new technology that we have. President Obama though feels that a direct travel to Mars would be much better. The target would be 2025 and the mission should be on Mars by 2030. This election year the candidates have their own visions as well. Hillary Clinton said that the space program is important for scientific innovation, while Donald Trump sees more involvement of American industries. iTechPost has also much news on Mars, such as NASA and the robots used to explore Mars. Samsung might be faster in producing and releasing new phones but certainly it was a disaster this time. Samsung fans all over the world have expressed disappointment because of the Galaxy Note 7's "blow-up" resulting in the recall of the company's newest phone. The pressure for Samsung was so intense, it led them to rush their production due to the demand of the consumers for the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung built up the expectations of consumers so high, it sacrificed a lot. Apple had released their design of the iPhone 7 earlier, which Samsung saw as an advantage and took it as a challenge to speed up their production of the recently released Note 7. According to Bloomberg, Samsung executives grabbed the opportunity which unfortunately would be the company's biggest mistake. Overall, Samsung received 92 percent of batteries overheating in the United States, including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of fires such as fires in cars and garages. Faulty batteries are the main reason for the recall of the Galaxy Note 7 phones. Samsung is blaming but coordinating with their manufacturer and affiliates for the technical glitch. Samsung was so focused on the design that they overlooked the internal parts of their carrier phone. The top managers reportedly were so pleased and praised each other for releasing the Note 7 that they ignored a lot of possible problems. Too focused on beating Apple, they lost track of what's really important. Samsung told Bloomberg that release dates are determined by "the proper completion of the development process and the readiness of the product for the market." Miscommunication and miscalculations were the factors for this appalling event. Amid all the negative reports about the Note 7, Samsung's mobile chief DJ Koh said, "We sincerely thank our customers for their understanding and patience." As media outlets and tech analysts put it, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is not ready for market yet. The good thing about Samsung is that it admitted the mistakes it committed and acknowledged the consequences of releasing a flawed phone. A team of Paleontologists unearthed a well-preserved skull of a mammoth from Santa Rosa Island at Channel Islands National Park. The team is baffled by the discovery since it's probably the most well-preserved mammoth skull ever discovered. The team discovered the skull near a stream on the island. Geologists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) tested the charcoal samples near the fossil. They revealed that the remains were about 13,000 years old. The date happens to coincide with the oldest human skeletal remains, the Arlington Springs Man, found in North America. The remains were also discovered on Santa Rosa Island. This got scientists rethinking how these massive elephant-like mammals lived alongside humans thousands of years ago. "This mammoth find is extremely rare and of high scientific importance. It appears to have been on the Channel Islands at the nearly same time as humans," said Justin Wilkins, Mammoth Site palaeontologist. He added that he has seen a lot of mammoth skulls in his career, but this one is the best preserved yet. What intrigued the paleontologists more is that the skull is not huge enough to be classified as a Columbian mammoth and not small enough to be identified as a pygmy mammoth. Moreover, the tusks are also bizarre as the right one protrudes about 1.4 meters with a coil just like what older mammoths have. On the other hand, the left one slopes just like the tusk juvenile mammoths have. Mammoths lived in North America about two million years ago, with Columbian mammoths emerging a million years later. Scientists believed that the Columbian mammoths traveled to the Channel islands during the past two ice ages when the island was closer to the mainland and sea levels were low. "The discovery of this mammoth skull increases the probability that there were at least two migrations of Columbian mammoths to the island-during the most recent ice age 10-30,000 years ago, as well as the previous glacial period that occurred about 150,000 years ago," said Dan Muhs, USGS geologist. Belgium is the first and only country in the world to grant euthanasia to a minor. A terminally-ill 17-year-old has become the first minor to be euthanized in the country since age restrictions were lifted two years ago, officials say. The country is the only one that allows children of all ages to choose euthanasia as long as their parents grant consent. However, Netherlands permits minor patients to request doctor-assisted death but only covers those who are 12 years old and above. According to the federal euthanasia commission, the minor was suffering from unbearable physical pain. Though the condition of the patient was not revealed, Liberal Senator Jean-Jacques De Gucht confirmed that the minor was from Belgium's Flemish region. Further details were kept confidential to protect the privacy of the grieving family. "Fortunately there are very few children who are considered (for euthanasia) but that does not mean we should refuse them the right to a dignified death," said Professor Wim Distelmans, the head of Belgium's Federal Control and Evaluation Committee on Euthanasia. He added that the first case of assisted suicide of a minor was reported to the agency by a physician last week. According to the Belgian law on euthanasia, a terminally-ill child will be granted assisted-death if he or she faces "unbearable physical suffering" and utter repeated wishes or requests to die. Apart from this, the procedure will only be carried out after a psychological evaluation of the patient's mental state has been done. Finally, it should be approved by two doctors, including one psychiatrist. In 2014, the euthanasia law received vast public support when it was introduced. Though it was openly objected by paediatricians and the Roman Catholic clergy, an opinion poll taken a few months before the amendment of the law was voted by the parliament shows that 75 percent of people in Belgium supported it. After euthanasia was legalized, the number of patients opting for assisted suicide increased to more than eight-fold, with about 2,021 cases reported in 2015. The tractor-trailers crashed around 2:17 p.m. Saturday in the area of Fort Robinson Road in Northeast Madison Township, Perry County, according to State Police at Newport. George Elser, 67, of Hancock, Maryland, died in the crash. The other driver, Bryan Beaver, 26, of Trout Run, was injured, according to police. Police said Beaver was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, and it is unknown if Elser was wearing his seatbelt. She was born nearly a century ago in a little town in West Virginia with the unappealing name of White Sulphur Springs. There, the well-healed gathered to escape the summer heat and soak away their ailments at a resort that employed her father. She would not have been welcome there as a guest, however. She is black. At the time, educational opportunities for black children in her countythose who could even contemplate such lavishnessended with eighth grade. So her parents were forced to find a high school she would be permitted to attend, the nearest being about 120 miles away. She showed a hunger and an aptitude for learning and it would not be an exaggeration to say she did unusually well in high school, given that she started the curriculum at age 10, and graduated by 14. From an early age, she had an affinity for math. Many years later she would say: I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed . . . anything that could be counted, I did. At 15, she enrolled at West Virginia State College. There, she found mentors who would introduce her to the complex world of mathematics, including only the third African American to receive a PhD in math, W.W. Schiefflin Claytor. She quickly exhausted all the math classes available at the college and Claytor, recognizing the divine spark of a superior intellect, developed advanced classes specifically for her. Again, she excelled, graduating summa cum laude in 1937 at the age of 18. Oh, and as if mathematics by itself wasnt challenging enough, she graduated with a second degree in French. After graduation she moved to Virginia to teach grammar school, and may have lingered there, her career mired in restricted opportunity, but the tide of history intervened. The intercession came in the form of a United States Supreme Court ruling, Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, which held that if states provided schooling for white students, they also had the responsibility to provide in-state education for blacks. Which is how she became the first female to integrate the graduate program at West Virginia University. Her interest in mathematical research, however, found little opportunity for expression. It was a male-dominated field, and the occasional female who ventured into the realm of higher math would not only be required to have proper credentials, but proper skin color as well. Again, history intervened, this time in the form of less-discriminatory hiring practices initiated by a government-sponsored consulting group called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. NACA would later morph into the agency that is arguably responsible for the greatest achievement in human history: Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth. That agency, of course, would eventually become NASA. But back in 1953inspired, no doubt, by the essential wartime contributions of women working to decipher German codes at Bletchley ParkNACA was hiring women to staff its Guidance and Navigation Department. At a time when computers were in their infancy, and about as portable as a housing project, women were employed to mimic the function for which calculating machines were named: they were hired to compute. In fact, the women who performed these mathematical calculations were known as computors, or, as she came to call her colleagues, computers who wore skirts. However, in her case, that was not fully accurate. African Americans who held these positions were known as colored computers, and although the workplace was integrated in terms of hiring, it remained segregated in terms of access and interaction. Colored computers worked, ate, and peed separately. In 1958 NASA was formed, the segregated workplace was abolished and isolated pools of mathematicians were dispersed throughout the agency. For the next 25 years, she forged a brilliant career in aerospace technology. Her name, virtually unknown to the American public, is Katherine Johnson, and it is only slightly hyperbolic to suggest the space program would not have achieved the same measure of success without her. When America sent its first man into space, the trajectory followed by Alan Shepards spacecraft was calculated by Johnson. She also calculated launch windowsvital for missions that required linking-up with other space vehiclesas well as navigational charts designed to guide the safe return of astronauts in case of equipment failure. Such was her reputation for accuracy that the woman hired to be a computor would become more trusted than the computers designed to automate space flight. In 1962, John Glenn was scheduled to launch into orbit around the Earth, the first American ever to do so. For the first time, NASA proposed to use computers to calculate the orbits. Glenn was less than enthused by that prospect. As a test pilot, he was accustomed to controlling machines, not having them control him. Discussions ensued aimed at easing his concerns, but Glenn adamantly refused to fly unless the computers data could be verified. And not just by anyone. Glenn insisted that the numbers be substantiated by Katherine Johnson. She continued working on assorted missions, including helping to plot the emergency safe return of Apollo 13 astronauts after their moon shot was aborted. She even worked on plans for the archetypal mission to Mars before retiring in 1986. Her career, according to NASA, is littered with honors. Accolades and awards are numerous and include a flag that journeyed in the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the moon, Apollo 11. As a final measure of her countrys gratitude, at age 98, Katherine Johnson, the little girl who liked to count things, born nearly a century ago in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, was awarded the nations highest civilian honorthe Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Fittingly, she is also poised to be honored by what is probably the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed by the popular culture: Hollywood is producing a movie about her life. For the largely vacuous movie industry, it is a rare tribute to enduring intelligence, and it is scheduled for release sometime next year. I, for one, plan to see it. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. A man was arrested Saturday after police say he threatened six different vehicles with a gun while driving along Route 34 in the Mount Holly Springs area, then led officers on a high-speed chase. Police charged Jonathan David Fisher, 34, of Chambersburg, with nine counts of simple assault, fleeing and eluding, DUI, two counts of damage to attended vehicles, nine counts of recklessly endangering another person and numerous traffic offenses. Fisher is in Cumberland County prison in lieu of $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 28 in front of Magisterial District Judge Susan K. Day. Responding around 5:41 p.m. to multiple reports of a man driving a 2007 Ford Explorer and threatening motorists with a gun, Mount Holly Springs police spotted a vehicle that matched the description in the parking lot of the Family Dollar store at the corner of East Pine Street and Route 34 in Mount Holly Springs and attempted a traffic stop. Fisher fled the scene, hitting another vehicle at the intersection of Mill Street and North Baltimore Avenue in the borough. Traveling north on Route 34, he then merged onto Interstate 81 northbound where Pennsylvania State Police and Carlisle Borough Police joined the pursuit, according to the police report. During the chase Fisher hit a dump truck in the northbound lane of I-81, according to police. State police then used a precision immobilization technique to stop Fisher, who was taken into custody. He was then taken to Carlisle Regional Medical Center. Police officials said they believe Fisher also brandished a gun at three separate cars on Route 30 near Chambersburg earlier in the day Saturday. Chambersburg police received a report of a man driving a Ford Explorer who pointed a gun at another motorist on Route 30 around 4:45 p.m. HARRISBURG Pennsylvanias fight against opioid addiction may include a measure that could pave the way to more expensive prescriptions for supposedly abuse-resistant painkillers whose effectiveness in curbing abuse is unclear. The bill, which passed the House nearly unanimously in June, is awaiting action in a Senate committee and has the support of Gov. Tom Wolf as he presses lawmakers to pass a package of legislation this fall. It has been lobbied in the Senate by at least one major pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin and is similar to legislation shopped by drugmakers in as many as 20 other states. According to its chief House sponsor, it sprang from the recommendations of a 38-member opioid task force and advisory committee he helped assemble. The group met in private, held no public hearing and included pharmaceutical industry representatives. The sponsor, Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, said he believes it will save lives. Its not going to be the end-all be-all, Heffley said. But if a doctor feels the need to prescribe it in an abuse-deterrent form, why we wouldnt want the doctor to do that? Under the bill, any health insurance plan that covers an opioid painkiller must also cover three abuse-deterrent painkillers, a patented formulation that costs more than generic formulations. The House held no hearing on the bill. Thats despite insurance industry complaints that it would drive up premiums, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations observation that abuse-deterrent painkillers dont prevent a common form of abuse swallowing pills whole. Still, the FDA is encouraging the development of abuse-deterrent formulations, to prevent crushing and snorting or dissolving and injecting. Asked about the bill, Purdue Pharma said it supports policies that align with the federal governments view that opioids with abuse-deterrent properties are a public health priority. Skeptics warn that abuse-deterrent painkillers carry the same risks of addiction as opioid versions that lack such properties. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, called them a waste of money and pharmaceutical industry profiteering off the addiction crisis. Addicts almost always begin with swallowing pills whole, and the fact that thats on the menu suggests to me that pharmaceutical lobbyists have been very successful in Pennsylvania, said Kolodny, who also is the senior scientist at Brandeis Universitys Heller School for Social Policy and Management. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a similar bill in January, saying the benefits of the abuse-deterrent drugs are still uncertain in the medical community. Philadelphia-based insurer Independence Blue Cross said it already provides coverage for abuse-deterrent opioids, typically at a cost of three to five times more. But it noted that there are videos, blogs and other information online on how to circumvent abuse-deterrent properties. A joint investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found that drugmakers that produce opioid painkillers and allied advocacy groups spent more than $880 million on campaign contributions and lobbying over the past decade as they worked to influence state and federal policies. The Pennsylvania bill is part of a new legislative frontier for the lobbying efforts of pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, the company whose executives pleaded guilty in 2007 to misleading the public about OxyContins risk of addiction. The task force empowered by a Heffley-sponsored resolution produced 15 recommendations last year, including insurance parity for abuse-deterrent formulations. The 38-member group included two representatives of drugmakers Purdue Pharma and Pfizer and two representatives from organizations that are partially funded by drugmakers, the U.S. Pain Foundation and the American Academy of Pain Management. It also included people who specialize in drug-abuse prevention, members of law enforcement, representatives of major professional medical associations and Wolfs secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. The task force held no public hearings or meetings. Rather, it met in private, with no publicly available transcripts or minutes of its meetings where it developed its recommendations, said Glenn Pasewicz, the executive director of the Joint State Government Commission, which organized the task force meetings and report. Records from the private meetings are not subject to the state open-records law, Pasewicz said. Heffley introduced the bill in February. Less than five months later, it passed the House, 190-3. Autumn Bishard has a heck of a work ethic. Its on display in everything the Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School student has done: participating in marching band, taking a rigorous course load, winning the Miss Pennsylvania Junior Teen pageant, earning perfect attendance multiple times, volunteering for church and community groups, starting her own nonprofit organization, and working part-time at Cracker Barrel. Thats an impressive list, but heres where Bishards work ethic really becomes apparent. She has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that limits body movement and muscle coordination. Things many people take for granted, such as walking up stairs, opening a door when youre holding a book, or stepping off a curb, present more of a challenge for Bishard, an honor roll student with a 3.5 grade point average. She acknowledges this, but never uses it as an excuse not to do something. Despite facing life-threatening health conditions, including operations that forced her to miss long periods of school the past few years, Bishard is extremely active and overwhelmingly positive. I think it comes from wanting to make sure that Im at the level where I need to be. Because I have CP, Ive had to work harder to get things that, for some people, might come easier, she says. It comes into play in everything I do. I have to make sure I put in the right amount of effort. Take marching band, for instance. Bishard, who played bells and chimes as part of the percussion ensemble, didnt ask for any special modifications, even though the CP impacts her fine motor skills and balance. Bishard participated in marching band for three years, until (did we mention that work ethic?) she began an internship at Holy Spirit Hospital last month. She no longer has time for practices, but its worth the tradeoff because Bishard knows the internship offers her the chance to move closer to her post-high school goal: finding a cure for cerebral palsy. Bishard plans to become a pharmacist, pursuing a doctorate in that field. This fall, she applied early decision to Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for her pharmacy undergrad. She knows first-hand all about the treatment options for CP Bishard has undergone botox injections and muscle-lengthening surgery, among other things and she wants to find treatments that are more cost-effective and efficient for the condition. My inspiration for wanting to find a cure is having it myself. There are treatments such as botox and surgeries, but they have a lot of side effects that are not the best things to have to deal with, Bishard says. They are not the most effective treatments, and theyre not long-term. Bishard has known since she was a sophomore what career path she wanted to pursue, which is what drew her to Nova Southeastern. But she also loved the vibe she got from the Florida campus. Theres a lot of positivity, and its close to the beach, too. The people are really nice and inspiring, Bishard says. I really feed off of the people I surround myself with. Positivity goes hand in hand with Bishards aforementioned work ethic. She says music helps her to stay upbeat she loves all types, and she says she can turn her mood around by listening to the right song. She also likes to post positive, inspirational messages on Instagram, where she stays in touch with the many friends she made from other schools while competing in the Miss Pennsylvania Junior Teen pageant in 2013. Theyre awesome people I never get to see, and I can connect with them and see what theyre doing, Bishard says. I like posting things that are inspiring and uplifting. I hope that if someone is having a bad day and I put a message in a post like that, it reaches that person. That attitude pretty much sums up Bishard, says Gail Hiestand, a counselor at Mechanicsburg. US President Barack Obama asks among his black constituent to back the Democratic presidential nominee Hilary Cinton in the upcoming US elections. For the president, it would be a "personal insult" if they won't support Clinton. This plea was delivered by Obama to the community of African-American people on Saturday, Sept 18 at Congressional Black Caucus gala where Clinton also was present. The president sees it as an insult to the legacy as the first African American president, if the black won't vote for Clinton for Presidency this coming Election on Nov. 8. Clinton will be the first woman president, should she win the elections. Obama hopes that Clinton will succeed him next year and warn his supporters against surrendering the presidency to Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. He made this effort because of worries about the population of black voters not firmly on the side of the Democratic Party. Obama rolls out this campaign with a more personal tone, carrying the acknowledgement that he can only unite and bring the coalition of the Latino and black votes to the side of the Democratic leaders. In front of the national media, the President asked the CBC to love, vote, work for and support Hillary Clinton. "My name Obama, may not be on the ballot, but our progress, tolerance, Democracy and justice is on the ballot," he also added that if the people wish to give him a "good send-off," then vote for someone who will protect his legacy. He advises the black people not to let down their guard against the "treacherous image" that could come from the Republican side. With a stern look and booming fashion, his speech went beyond every corners of the room and the moment, Donna Brazile commented, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Clinton, who was Obama's former secretary of state, was honored after receiving her Trailblazer award for running as the first woman presidential candidate of a US political party. She praised the Obama family and dismissed the re-emergence of the Obama's birth from Trump's campaign, Clinton was quoted saying that "Mr. President, not only do we know you are not an ordinary American, but you're a great American." Wells Fargo kicked its public relations machine into gear after news broke that regulators fined the bank $185 million for creating up to 2 million fake accounts in the names of existing customers. The company took out full-page ads in major publications and top executives made promises to adhere to the companys values. The problem is, the financial giants values and business culture are all too evident in this debacle. Regulators slapped the fine on Wells Fargo through a settlement after discovering that employees created fake email addresses, fraudulently applied for credit cards and moved unwitting customers money to the new accounts. The misbehavior earned bonuses and let employees meet aggressive sales quotas. Yet so far, Wells Fargo remains in denial. Sure, it fired thousands of employees and refunded millions of dollars to the customers in whose names the accounts were fraudulently opened. However, its settlement with regulators does not require it to admit wrongdoing, and its top executive denies that its system of incentives contributed to the behavior. This is as troubling as the original deceits. Because it signals that significant change, the sort of deep rewiring of attitudes and how they play out in policy, might not come. CEO John Stumpf flatly insisted to the Wall Street Journal, There was no incentive to do bad things. Why then, did Wells Fargo promptly dump the practice of sales goals to drive new business to its financial services? Its doubtful that the heavy insistence on cross-selling was shuttered for appearances only. Maybe Stumpf will be more forthcoming in his testimony Tuesday (Sept. 20) before the Senate Banking Committee. Or maybe it will take discovery from the U.S. attorneys offices now opening investigations. The 5,300 people Wells Fargo fired for their involvement in the scandal are believed to have charged the unwitting customers $1.5 million in fees for accounts they didnt know they opened. They made 565,000 false credit card applications, sometimes closing the accounts as quickly as they were given credit for opening them. Thats called covering your tracks. Such predatory practices dont occur in a vacuum. Regulators believe the behavior continued over a period of about five years. No doubt, bosses up the chain of command were pleased and well compensated for the bogus new business and had little incentive to verify that it was on the level. Thats business culture. At the top of that food chain was recently retired executive Carrie Tolstedt, who headed up the community banking sector. She left the firm with $124 million in stock and options. The lower level employees, who did wrong but were incentivized to do so, got fired. That, too, is business culture. And its just one industrys example of why the average working person feels systems are so set against them. It doesnt matter that Wells Fargo refunded fees to people. Or that, in perspective, the 5,300 employees are a fraction of the companys 270,000 total workforce. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress have been trotting out plans to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the very agency that helped bring this scandal to public light. Thats business culture operating in politics. The Financial Choice Act, pushed by Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas, seeks to rollback many of the checks and balances set in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted after the financial crisis of 2008. Many Democrats admit that Dodd-Frank, like many sweeping laws, could benefit from a rewrite of certain passages. However, the Wells Fargo script shows clearly that regulators must remain vigilant. And the congressional friends of the big banks must not be allowed to muzzle the publics watchdog. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. The top risk manager in the Wells Fargo unit at the center of an unauthorized-account scandal has taken a leave of absence and been replaced in that role, the San Francisco-based bank said Monday. Minneapolis-based Claudia Russ Anderson, 58, started a six-month unpaid leave on Monday, Wells Fargo said. In August, she was succeeded by Vic Albrecht, 57, who held a similar post in the banks wealth-management operation, according to the bank. The move comes after Wells Fargo agreed this month to pay $185 million in government fines to resolve claims employees opened millions of accounts that may not have been authorized by consumers. Wells Fargo employees secretly opened the accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses, regulators alleged, adding that some customers were then hit with fees or other charges because of the bogus accounts. The bank did not admit or deny allegations in agreeing to the settlement. Claudia Russ Anderson made a personal decision to take a leave of absence. Her position has been filled in her absence, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Richele Messick said in a statement. When asked whether Andersons leave was connected to allegations that led to the banks fine, Messick reiterated that it was a personal decision. Anderson was group risk officer for the community banking unit where the uanuthorized accounts were opened. She reported to Carrie Tolstedt, 56, who announced in July she was retiring at the end of this year. Tolstedt was replaced July 31 by Charlotte-based executive Mary Mack. Asked if any other executives in the unit are taking leaves of absence, Messick said she did not have further information to share. Like Mack, Albrecht is a former executive for Charlotte-based Wachovia, which Wells Fargo acquired in 2008. Albrecht is based in Charlotte, where Wells Fargo has its largest employment hub, and will report to Mack. Albrecht will also report to Mike Loughlin, Wells Fargos chief risk officer, who is based in San Francisco. On Tuesday, bank CEO John Stumpf will be in Washington to testify before the Senate Banking Committee about the banks practices. WASHINGTON If Democrats want to beat Donald Trump, they need to get past the freak-out stage and get to work. In a sane and just world, this presidential race would be a walkover. Commentators would already be sketching out their postmortem analyses of an all-but-certain Hillary Clinton victory. Pare the contest down to its essentials: A former senator and secretary of state, eminently qualified to be president, is running against a dangerous demagogue who has never held public office and should not be allowed anywhere near the White House. Ought to be case closed. But its not. Clintons big lead in national polls following the party conventions, which approached double digits, has shrunk to about 2 points far too close for comfort. Trump has gained ground in swing-state polls as well. If the election were held tomorrow, Clinton would probably win. But Nov. 8 is many weeks away, and the recent trend line is hardly in her favor. Why has the race tightened? Ive heard a lot of theories, but Im not sure I really buy any of them. Trumps current set of handlers campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and chief executive Steve Bannon have done a better job than their predecessors of keeping their candidate from committing acts of self-destruction. They have gotten him to use a teleprompter more, rant and rave less, and sometimes go as long as 48 hours without spewing idiotic vitriol on Twitter. These are no small accomplishments. Conway bravely goes on the cable shows every day and tries to explain the unexplainable. Sometimes she is made into a liar by her own candidate, as happened Wednesday when she denied that Trump would release any medical records on The Dr. Oz Show, only to see him do just that a few hours later. Pretty much every time she appears, she has to pretend that one or another of Trumps nonsensical issue positions makes sense or, on many issues, that he even has a settled position. But she is unfailingly patient, polite and nonthreatening. Clinton, meanwhile, has been through a rough patch. Just as it seemed she might be getting past the latest hubbub over her emails, she told backers at a fundraiser that half of Trumps supporters fit into a basket of deplorables. Then she felt wobbly at Sundays 9/11 commemoration and later disclosed that she has pneumonia. And by the way, Im well aware that Trump has said worse things about the voting public; there is video of him opining that half of Americans are freeloaders. Im also aware that in the larger sense there is no real comparison between Clintons serious, inclusive, fact-based campaign and Trumps noxious stew of bigotry, resentment and juvenile fantasy. Voters have been informed of Trumps ignorant and outrageous statements, his real and potential conflicts of interest, his bankruptcies, his hucksterism, his untempered temperament and all the other factors that make him unthinkable as a president. Coverage by the news media brought all this information to light. Dont blame the media for the fact that many people say they plan to vote for him anyway. Instead, if you want to stop Trump, focus on the fundamentals and get busy. Ordinarily, this would be a tough election for any Democratic candidate to win. That is because, historically, a party that controls the White House for two terms in a row has difficulty winning a third. In addition to that headwind, nearly 70 percent of Americans say they believe the country is on the wrong track an ominous sign for the incumbent party. Trump, with his soaring unpopularity and general flakiness, is no normal candidate. Many voters including many Republicans obviously believe that while it may be the GOPs turn to take the helm, it will never be Trumps turn. Still, there are those who have real doubts about Trump but may still vote for him because they want change. But the Democratic Party has structural advantages in a presidential year, as Barack Obama so vividly demonstrated. The partys coalition of women, young people, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics has growing weight in the electorate. Trumps base older, whiter, more male is a shrinking portion of the overall vote. And the electoral map favors Democrats, giving Clinton more paths to victory than Trump. If she wins Florida, its over. Same if she wins Ohio. And she could even lose both and still get to 270. Angst doesnt help. Energizing the Democratic Partys reliable voters, especially in crucial states, can make all the difference. Reddit Email 2 Shares TeleSur | Chimpanzees throw rocks and cans at their rivals as dominance rituals, Goodall said, which in many ways reminds her of Donald Trump. While different in looks, U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and chimpanzees may have a lot in common, famed anthropologist Jane Goodall said, as many of his behaviors and outbursts remind her of male chimpanzee habits. In many ways the performances of Donald Trump remind me of male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals, Goodall told the Atlantic as part of the magazines October issue and in a piece relating to the upcoming debate between Trump and Democraic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In order to impress rivals, males seeking to rise in the dominance hierarchy perform spectacular displays: stamping, slapping the ground, dragging branches, throwing rocks. In fact Goodall said the Republican nominee specifically reminded her of a chimp named Mike who she wrote about in My Life With the Chimpanzees. Mike used to kick cans down the road to create noise and scare rivals to show his dominance. The more vigorous and imaginative the display, the faster the individual is likely to rise in the hierarchy, and the longer he is likely to maintain that position, she added. Mike also created a racket to send his rivals running away from any confrontation with him. While Trump has yet to throw rocks at rivals or cans down the debate halls to scare his opponents, he did use insults and name-calling against other Republican candidates during primary debates earlier this year. The real estate billionaire sure dominated those debates and the primaries season with his sexist insults, bragging about his penis and making insensitive and offensive jokes about his critics in media and politics. Trump and Clinton will have their first debate on Sept 26. Goodall said she will be thinking of Mike as she watches the debate. Trump already boasted that he will win the debate, telling the New York Times I know how to handle Hillary. Via TeleSur - Related video added by Juan Cole: The Jane Goodall Institute: Chimpanzee dominance behavior By Amir Ahmadi Arian | ( OpenDemocracy ) | Sunnis and Shias have lived together in peace for centuries, and up to the new millennium have barely had a history of bloody conflict. Why now? The sectarian elements of a conflict The Middle East is a mess from which no one can claim exemption. The invasion of Iraq and the Syrian civil war have pulled all the already beleaguered regional governments into tragic quicksand, where alliances and animosities constantly shift. Everyone is stuck in an overly complicated nexus of relations, and the future is so murky no political leader can put forth a plausible way out. The world powers are also in this up to their eyeballs, seeming even more confused than the regional players. There are, however, undeniable facts: everybody knows Iran and Saudi Arabia are on opposite sides, that Iran is a Shia state, so are its regional allies, and the Saudis are Sunnis, as are their allies. Looking at this picture, many conclude that the Middle East is on fire because Sunnis and Shias are fighting out a belated battle to determine who is the legitimate heir to Muhammads legacy. It would be self-deceiving to say the sectarian element doesnt exist in the current conflict. The debate must be over its salience and relevance, and more importantly, its inevitability. A brief look at mainstream media in the west shows that a substantial portion of commentators regard this sectarian tension as the main factor, and an inevitable one. With considerable frequency, we read that an ancient religious divide is fueling the war, that the doctrinal differences have set the leaders of two rival nations in competition, that the root cause of the problems in the Middle East is that Iran and Saudi Arabia cannot acknowledge the legitimacy of each others interpretation of Islam, that the ancient split between these two sects gave rise to ISIS, which marks the beginning of Islams 30 year war, and the region will not see the light of peace until the rival sects slug it out. Washington has been frequently attacked for disregarding this religious fissure, from both the left and right. A brief look at recent history undermines this essentialist reading. The ongoing conflict is anything but ancient, and could easily be traced back to a specific period in the twentieth century: the early 1970s, when the shock of the oil boom caused dramatic changes in Iran and Saudi Arabia and paved the path to the Islamic revolution in Iran and the rise of the Saudis as a wealthy regional power. Those simultaneous events stimulated both countries to spread their tentacles into the rest of the region and cultivate a geopolitical competition between them. Before that, not only were things quiet, but Iranians and the Saudis even cooperated during the cold war to hold the so-called red threat at bay. The Iraq war and the Syrian conflict, neither of which was sectarian in its beginning, intensified this minor tension. It could have been contained if the disastrous invasion of Iraq had not happened. It would have been forgotten if the masses that poured into the streets in 2011 to bring about a thoroughly nonsectarian political uprising had seen their demands fulfilled. Events took a different turn, and the sectarian flames were fanned in the process. But even then, as Joby Warrick shows in his excellent book, it took a ruthless thug like Abu Musab Zarqawi and his gang, who later on established ISIS, to bring the sectarian tension to the fore. There is a document that could rebut all the arguments for the inevitability of the sectarian war: a letter Ayman al Zawaheri penned to Zarqawi in July 2005, where he unequivocally called the attacks on the ordinary Shias unacceptable. At the time, Zawaheri was the second man of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden. So the sectarian component is anything but integral to the Muslim world. But it is there, undeniably, blatantly, playing itself out on the ground, irreducible to politics, taking lives, staring us in the face, and challenging us to account for it. It is true that the American sledgehammer cracked Iraq and unleashed unbridled turmoil, but there must be a reason that the crack spread along sectarian lines. Even if we assume that the tension began around the oil boom and boiled over later, it still begs the question of why this contemporary conflicts point of reference is fourteen centuries ago, the day Muhammad died in Medina. The available analyses usually fall short of making the connection, thus failing to explain centuries of bi-sectarian quiet and its current eruption. The dawn of the crisis Thanks to the historians of early Islam, al-Tabari in particular, we know plenty about the mayhem in the aftermath of the death of Muhammad. After the prophets death, the whole community of Muslims in Arabia sunk into a crisis over his successor. Sunni scholars later argued that Muhammad had no living son, which means god considered him the last prophet, and Muhammad never appointed anyone as his successor, which means he had full trust in the community of Muslims. Shia scholars would argue that Muhammad did pick his successor, named Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, as the best choice for carrying the torch. They also contend that the prophet intended to make it clear on his deathbed, but Alis enemies thwarted the message. Shortly after Muhammads death, a shura was held, which Ali boycotted, and against all odds, Abu Bakr becomes Muhammads first successor (Khalifah). Here the initial crack emerges: the Sunnis hold that Ali abandoned one of the greatest achievements of Islam, the sacred Islamic community. The Shias see in the story a connivance, a sinister usurpation of Alis right to succession. As time went by, the history of early Islam grew bloodier. The respect for Muslim blood evaporated and factional politics ran amok. The assassination of Othman, the third Calif, is a symbolic incident: the third Calif was murdered by the son of the first Calif while reading the Quran. Especially in the Levant, or what is now Iraq and Syria, the bitter reality of power politics eclipsed spiritual unity. Muslims, divided along the line that separated Ali from Ayesha, Muhammads last wife, accused each other of betrayal and warred all too often. This new stage culminated in the most important incident in the history of Shiism. Twenty years after the death of Ali, his son Hussein leaves Arabia to fight Yazid, son of Muawiyah, whom he considered the usurper of the Islamic empire. Along the way, the news arrived that Yazid had carried out a massive crackdown in Kufa, the stronghold of Husseins supporters, and killed many of his followers. Consequently, the army of Hussein whittled down to Husseins family and seventy two of his most loyal followers. Hussein decides to move ahead, the unavoidable massacre notwithstanding. The Sunnis consider this decision foolhardiness, the Shias ultimate sacrifice. The result is the same: the most horrific and traumatizing bloodshed in the history of Islam, in which four thousand soldiers encircled Muhammads grandson, his family and loyal followers, cut their access to water, massacred them, and finally, on the day known today as Ashura, killed Hussein and chopped his head off. That massacre came to reside at the heart of Shiism, and sowed the seeds of a strife that has haunted Islam to this day. But, what is the relevance? What connects those events of early Islam to the mess in contemporary Middle East? Despite the catastrophe, Sunnis and Shias have lived together in peace for centuries, and sporadic battles aside, up to the new millennium barely had a history of bloody conflict. Why now? Monotheism according to Freud: a comparative glance If Ashura rings a bell for the Christian reader, it should. The similarities between Hussein and Jesus are too many to miss: both were powerless, decent men who rose up against the powers that be, and by an act of sacrifice debunked the tyrants claim to faith. Both deaths were tragic enough to spark centuries of mourning, and beget new religious doctrines. The story of Jesus and the Jews, therefore, might give us some clue regarding the roots of the current conflict in the Islamic world. Sometime in 1939 in London, when the persecution of Jews in Germany had reached an unprecedented high and the second world war was to engulf Europe, the old heartbroken Sigmund Freud, having fled his beloved Vienna for London to spend his last years in exile, sat down to pen the last installment of his study of Judaism. In the second part of the book Freud reiterates the core ideas of Totem and Taboo, describing how the killing of the father at the hand of ancient brothers founded human society. In Moses and Monotheism, he takes patricide as the foundation of monotheism as well, contending that the monotheistic god is the murdered father elevated to divine status. He also draws a brief comparison with Islam, claiming the inner development of the new religion, however, soon came to a standstill, perhaps because it lacked the profundity which, in the Jewish religion, resulted from the murder of its founder. The Shias would beg to differ: for them, the murder of Hussein and his family in Karbala is no less compelling than the crucifixion is for Christians. Freud reads the history of religions as torturous paths towards growing up. On top of the killing of the father, the tensions and wars that occur in early phases of religions amount to massive childhood traumas in a person. Just as traumas have an incubation period and come back to bite later in life, the historical traumas of religions lay latent for long periods, sometimes centuries. We repress traumas to make life endurable, but the repressed is bound to return. Shouldnt we attribute a part of religious and sectarian wars in history to the traumas they underwent in their childhood? Freuds uncharacteristically gloomy book tells us that historical and religious scars do not fade easily. Every major development in history, at its conception, has been scar-stricken. The scar at the heart of Islam is no exception: the discontent created in the shura turned into a scratch by the war of the Camel, and a deep scar by Karbala. Traumas like that dont simply go away, but they can be controlled, just as this trauma was contained for hundreds of years. The history of the last two centuries in the Middle East amounts to successive blows at all the forces that contain the childhood trauma of Islam. Brutal colonialism, titular kings who did little more than pander to their western masters, any number of secular dictators whose blind brutality empowered reactionary clerics, severely damaged centuries of peaceful coexistence across the Islamic world. The disastrous invasion of Iraq was the last straw. It tore apart the last tissues that held this battered body together. Just as the emergence of Hitler ruined peaceful existence in the already suffering Europe, and opened up the scar at the heart of Judeo-Christian societies that originated in the crucifixion of Jesus at the hand of his fellow-Jews, Bushs invasion of Iraq served as the match in a barrel of dynamite. Therefore, Shia-Sunni tension is as inevitable and integral to Islam as any other religious, sectarian tension is integral to any other religion. Thanks to the sheer amount of violence heaped upon the Middle East for centuries, the childhood trauma of Islam has exploded onto its surface. The catastrophe is traveling along sectarian lines, and world leaders are watching it transfixed. Every now and then they come up with cosmetic peace plans, which never work, because this kind of scar will not be healed by political maneuvering and sly brinksmanship. Only fundamental commitment to peace on all sides can bring this to an end. In the absence of honest cooperation across warring factions, the scar will continue to bleed, until the body is irrecoverably dead. Reddit Email 0 Shares By Thayer Hastings | (Al-Shabaka) | Maan News Agency | Oral history has a long precedent in Arab and Palestinian culture that stems from a broader oral tradition. In the years immediately following the Nakba of 1948, the Arab tradition of the hakawati (storyteller) was used, according to Nur Masalha, to shore up a defense against erasure of culture and memory among Palestinians. Since then, oral history has served as a prominent counter narrative in the context of active settler colonialism throughout Palestine and colonialisms afterlives in the Arab world. It is a primary method through which Palestinians engage collective events of trauma or mobilization. For Palestinians in the homeland as well as in exile, oral history production centers around a common experience of displacement. Around 67 percent of Palestinians are displaced: The most recent estimates put the global Palestinian refugee and internally displaced population at nearly 8 million. By locating the oral history process in the idea of a space such as a village ethnically cleansed during the Nakba, displaced communities forge a physical center even after depopulation. Rosemary Sayigh, through her work in Lebanons refugee camps in the 1980s, was among the first to systematically document Palestinian oral history. In 1983, Birzeit University developed one of the first programs in the Arab world to teach oral history. The Islamic University of Gaza founded its Oral History Center in 1998 to collect oral histories from the Nakba and the 1967 Naksa. While a more formal production of Palestinian oral history production thus began decades ago, it is currently experiencing a surge. Historian Beshara Doumani dubbed this wider phenomenon of preservation a Palestinian archive fever. In April 2016 the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a $260,000 grant to the Palestinian Oral History Archive housed at the American University of Beirut, where a team is digitizing and coding 1,000 hours of interviews with refugees from 135 Palestinian villages who fled during the Nakba. Other recent productions include journal articles as well as themes for magazine and journal issues, conferences and community workshops, audio interviews, and the Nakba Museum project in Washington, DC. The new Palestinian Museum located on the campus of Birzeit University, inaugurated in May 2016, may also come to serve as a prime oral history institution. In addition, Sayigh continues her engagement through such projects as history books for Palestinian children in refugee camps that use oral history told by the children themselves as content. Since its origins, Palestinian oral history production has been concerned with recording the testimonies of the aging Nakba generation, but also with creating a platform for displaced communities and their ownership over knowledge. In the context of Palestinian statelessness, Zionist Israeli state archives extend settler colonialism into the spaces of knowledge preservation and production where Palestinian narratives are erased or exploited. Three decades after concerted Palestinian oral history efforts began, oral history projects now traverse four or more generations of displaced Palestinians. Because of its emphasis on social history and marginalized perspectives, oral history work has the potential to create a space for diverse multigenerational experiences. This can be leveraged as a counter-archive to ongoing settler colonial erasure. Palestinian oral history as activism The field of oral history production has already seen enormous contributions from Palestinians worldwide, giving its practitioners opportunities for advancing a community approach designed to combat ongoing displacements in Palestine. However, while Palestinian oral history production is vast, few initiatives have been explicit about oral historys relationship to activism, save for one: Palestine Remembered. Palestine Remembered, a digital project founded by Salah Mansour, demonstrates a recent multimedia approach to the use of Palestinian oral history for activism. The al-Nakbas Oral History Project, launched as a subsection of Palestine Remembered in 2003, now contains more than 600 interviews with Nakba survivors or descendants of survivors. The interviews are drawn explicitly into the realm of activism and advocacy through a section titled The Conflict 101. The section situates dispossession as central to the narrative, and the oral history portal is contingent on the direct participation of displaced communities. Interviews are coupled with maps and photographs that advance a counter narrative to Zionism, with the interviews providing content to bolster a counter-cartography. The platform as a whole curates oral history, cartography, photography, and other content around a narrative of resistance. While recording stories of Palestinian elders who witnessed the Nakba is more urgent than ever, oral history also has the potential to amplify community struggles to defend against current displacements by documenting protests, legal battles, and cultural expression. This provides a space for a counter narrative that is particularly useful to Palestinian communities living under Israeli rule, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or in Israel, or for Palestinians marginalized by other governments. A networked and activist oral history practice can prioritize community building and autonomy from structures of Israeli state domination while strengthening Palestinian ties across fragmented Palestine and the diaspora. This is particularly crucial at this juncture, as the Israel State Archive has announced changes that will result in restricted access to documents, including those regarding confiscated Palestinian property that could shed light on Israeli land seizures. The growth of worldwide Palestinian oral history production initiatives comprises the basis for a network in which campaigns could be amplified. Palestine Remembered and the Beirut-based Palestinian Oral History Archive are two of the main recent actors establishing this groundwork through documentation and digitization. Together and with others they can share common methods and resources and mobilize oral history in creative and powerful ways. One potential avenue for such networked activism is to support specific communities that are defending themselves against displacement. Legal roadblocks and local avenues for success Two communities in urgent need of oral history as an activist practice are the neighboring villages of Attir and Umm al-Hiran in the northern Naqab. These villages immediately south of the Green Line of the West Bank are home to around 1,000 residents and are under immediate threat of expulsion, much like the nearby South Hebron Hills villages including Susiya. A recent Israeli High Court ruling has slated Attir and Umm al-Hiran for demolition and replacement with a Jewish-only town and a Jewish National Fund forest. Residents and allies are organizing a defense, but appealing such cases within the Israeli court system is fraught with obstacles. Israeli courts are known to deny oral testimonies as proof of Palestinian land claims. For example, in 2015, the Israeli High Court rejected the oral testimonies to residence and ownership of the al-Uqbi family of the unrecognized al-Araqib village in the Naqab. The court does not include in its definition of ownership the Palestinian Bedouin legal culture of oral contracts, a system that long preceded the Israeli state. The court ruling was significant in that it legitimized state expropriation of indigenous land, a law-based method that furthers settler colonialism and is also seen in Australia, North America, and South Africa. While the Israeli government and courts reject claims by Palestinian citizens of Israel and non-citizens alike, the value of oral history work is in producing narratives unconstrained by the contortions needed to survive the ethnic-based exclusionary logic of the Israeli legal system. Essentially, the practice generates an alternative history that stands in contrast to lawmaking and other modes of officialdom. By extending backward, narratives autonomous from the states discourse show how precarious and temporary Israeli laws or previous regimes of rule (British and Ottoman) can be while reinforcing community identity. Working outside of and in opposition to the legal discourse highlights the laws limitations and affirms indigeneity in the face of settler colonial law. It therefore also extends forward, creating alternative narratives and opens the space for planning how to implement the right of return. This can be seen in designs of digital villages based on the memories of pre-Nakba generations. Oral history opens spaces of possibility by mobilizing multigenerational stories of rootedness. In a context in which the legal system is designed to reject Palestinian existence, to be successful advocacy work must foster an approach that can function independently of state institutions. Advocacy and activism can be designed to bolster the vibrancy of communities by addressing localized needs. An activist use of oral history production frames community building as a form of self defense by filling needs for localized knowledge and literature. Whether in the Naqab or across Palestine, other essential projects include documenting village histories, establishing networks for public action and protest, and strengthening informal organizations to promote civil society. Attir and Umm al-Hiran are particularly important sites for activism because, despite notable exceptions, Palestinian communities of the Naqab do not receive equivalent attention, support, or resources as do those of the West Bank or the Galilee. The result is that Palestinians and those concerned with the plight of Palestinians are largely unaware of and misunderstand the conditions for the community in the Naqab who face severe attempts at displacement. For this reason and others, Attir and Umm al-Hiran are prime candidates for activist intervention in the form of oral history, including, for example, the production of a variety of advocacy materials for a community at risk of its second displacement since 1948. Orienting oral history towards justice While the act of recording personal experiences particularly those that challenge dominant narratives and structures is activist in nature, oral history is well-suited for more organized and systematic activism, advocacy, and community mobilization. Especially in the face of ongoing displacements and a denied right of return, a collective body of Palestinian oral history production can be leveraged by activists to advocate for land and other claims and to defend communities against displacement. There is a pressing need for reorienting an understanding of advocacy and activism toward community building on the local and collective levels. Rights appeals to international actors the dominant mode of Palestinian advocacy today can and should derive from a prioritization of local audiences and needs. Oral history production necessarily anchors activist and advocacy efforts in communities own narratives. In addition to prioritizing local audiences and needs and leveraging a widespread oral history network, oral history activists could also draw from and contribute to comparative initiatives: The US-based Groundswell network includes a number of oral history organizations and practitioners that focus explicitly on leveraging oral history for movement building and transformative social change, in which personal stories are used to refute marginalization. Groundswell can provide lessons on mobilizing oral history for organizing and advocacy through a network. The San Francisco-based Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and its online oral history and data analysis directly challenge landlord abuse and urban displacement. Though the contexts of displacement in San Francisco and the Palestinian case differ vastly, translating across them offers a model that leverages oral history as an organizing tool in addition to its established role as a repository for memory. The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project conducts oral history work through deep descriptions that provide complete stories rather than sound bytes. By avoiding one-dimensional depictions of people, such oral history also seeks to challenge normative framings of advocacy work. Digitization makes a comparative and better networked Palestinian oral history possible. Along with dozens of well-established oral history initiatives, such as Birzeit Universitys online catalog of historical resources including oral history interviews, there are many small-scale family or community-based oral history practices that often go no further than the homes of those who recorded them. The groundwork for leveraging a widespread oral history network is primed for a step forward. Both established Palestinian oral history work and upcoming work, such as that of the Palestinian Oral History Archive in Lebanon, can be oriented toward justice and social change. Originally published in full on Al-Shabakas website on September 15, 2016. In this Al-Shabaka policy brief Thayer Hastings analyzes the importance of oral history in the Palestinian context and its potential as a tool for activism. Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law. Via Maan News Agency The views expressed in this article are the authors and do not necessarily reflect Maan News Agencys editorial policy. See also Palestinian Oral History Archive Related video added by Juan Cole: AUB: The Palestinian Oral History Archive, lest we forget Toronto, Ontario / TheNewswire / September 19, 2016 - Toachi Mining Inc., ("Toachi" or the "Company") (TSX-V: TIM) is pleased to announce results from the first two holes from a first phase drilling program at its La Plata gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") project in Ecuador. Program Highlights -Hole CMLP-16-01 intersected 6.7 metres (m) of massive sulphide mineralization grading 6.42 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 40.1 g/t silver, 2.08% copper, 1.54% lead and 8.96% zinc from 453.4 m. The intersection confirms the gold-rich nature of the La Plata VMS polymetallic deposit. -Hole CMLP-16-01 was drilled 15 m below an historic drill hole which intersected 8.9 m grading 31.7 g/t gold, 280 g/t silver, 5.86% copper and 18.1% zinc in 2006. -A wide lead-zinc-rich disseminated zone, which could have positive implications with respect to the ultimate deposit tonnage and future mine plan design, occurs directly below the massive sulphide zone in hole CMLP-16-01. -The combined VMS and disseminated lead-zinc rich zone returned grades of 1.93 g/t gold, 15.2 g/t silver, 0.84% copper, 0.80% lead and 4.33% zinc across 33.6 m. Hole (1)(2) From (m) To (m) m Au (g) Ag (g) Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) Au Eq (g) CMLP-16-01 453.4 460.15 6.75 6.42 40.1 2.08 1.54 8.96 14.72 453.4 487.0 33.6 1.93 15.2 0.84 0.80 4.33 5.72 CMLP-16-02 58.65 60.66 2.01 3.35 17.3 6.96 0.27 5.23 14.29 66.0 70.0 4.0 1.42 9.9 3.01 0.07 0.68 5.34 1)Core widths in CMLP-16-01 are considered true widths. Intervals in CMLP-16-02 represent the down hole core intersection width and, until more data is available about the geometry of the mineralized zone, are not considered true widths. Gold assay composites were calculated using uncut assays. Gold equivalent values were calculated using a cut-off grade of 2 g Au/tonne and based on the following metal prices: Au $1,310, Ag $18.75, Cu $2.15, Pb $0.875 and Zn $1.00 2)A complete list of all intersections are available in Table 1 below along with a plan map and cross section of CMLP-016-01 including a photograph of VMS core from CMLP-16-01 Phase One Program Results The drill results above are from the initial two diamond drill holes which form part of a first phase, 4,000-m drill program which began in August and is designed to validate the historic drilling database at the La Plata project. The drilling program is intended to infill and expand known resources in the main La Mina VMS lens leading to the completion of a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate later next year. Hole CMLP-16-01 intersected the main VMS portion of the deposit over a width of 6.7 m, which is typical of the range of drill intercepts in the historic data base. The high grade VMS zone overlies a much wider 26.9 m lead and zinc-rich disseminated zone grading 0.62% lead, 3.17% zinc and 0.80 g/t gold. A narrower 0.6 m intersection within hole CMLP-16-01 grading 11.5 g/t gold, 112.0 g/t silver, 0.50% copper, 1.90% lead and 7.05% zinc was intersected 5 m higher from 448.4 m. Hole CMLP-16-02 intersected a 2.0 m intersection grading 3.35 g/t gold, 17.3 g/t silver, 6.96% copper, 5.23% zinc with 0.27% lead from 58.7 m and a 4 m zone grading 1.42 g/t gold, 9.9 g/t silver, 3.01% copper, 0.07% lead and 0.68% zinc from 66.0 m down hole. La Plata Deposit Geology Gold-bearing sulphide mineralization occurs as compositional banding composed of chalcopyrite, sphalerite and pyrite laminae with barite occurring as clasts and also as thin layers. Base and precious metal mineralization at La Plata is interpreted to have formed as part of multiple volcanic episodes that created a stacked volcanic-exhalite hydrothermal sequence which is considered favorable for hosting multiple VMS lenses. Toachi's exploration staff have identified more than 14 discrete exploration targets across the property concessions which extend for more than 9 kilometres. For a review of the latest gravity survey reprocessing results received please see the press release dated August 29, 2016. The La Plata Project Toachi entered into an option agreement with a private Ecuadorean company to earn between a 60% to 75% interest in the La Plata gold-copper-silver-zinc VMS project, located 85 km south of Quito, Ecuador. For complete terms of the transaction, please see our press release dated February 11, 2016 which is available on our website at www.toachimining.com or on www.sedar.com. La Plata is a gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit which was the subject of small scale mining from both an open pit and underground workings from 1975-1981. From 1996 to 2000, Cambior Inc., a Canadian mining company, completed 8,628 metres of drilling and a preliminary resource estimate totaling 840,000 tonnes grading 4.8 grams gold per tonne, 4.1% copper, 54.4 grams silver per tonne and 0.7% lead and 4.2% zinc per tonne in 1999, according to a report completed by AMEC Foster Wheeler, a mining consulting firm, in March 2015. Following a drill program by Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc., which included 5,933 metres of drilling from 2006-2007, a revised mineral resource estimate totaling 913,977 tonnes grading 8.01 grams gold per tonne, 88.3 grams silver per tonne, 5.01% copper, 6.71% zinc and 0.78% lead per tonne in the inferred category was completed. The resource estimates described above are historical estimates as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects S.2.4 ("NI 43-101"). Toachi has not completed the work required to independently analyze and verify the results of the previous operators nor has a qualified person completed sufficient work to classify the estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. With respect to the Cambior estimate, the Company is also not aware of what categories were used in the estimate. As a result, Toachi is not treating these estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company believes these historic results provide an indication of the potential of the property and are relevant from an on-going exploration perspective. QA/QC Sampling and Core Sampling Protocols Before sampling, a centreline, representing bottom of hole (or a reference line when this is not known) is marked on the drill core. The core is cut and sampled, always sampling the right-hand side of the drill core. Samples are selected based on logged geological features, such as rock type, mineralization, alteration, veining etc. Sample length does not exceed 1.2 m nor is smaller than 20 cm. In areas of similar geological characteristics, sample length is in general 1 m. A total of 10% of the samples submitted are certified blanks and standards and field duplicates with, as a minimum, one blank submitted at the beginning of each sample batch. Certified standards are submitted at an average of 6% of the samples submitted. Field duplicates are taken at a rate of 1 in 20 of the samples taken. Analysis was completed by ALS Peru S.A. with sample preparation completed in Quito at the ALS prep lab. The lab is accredited with International Standards ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015. All major ALS Geochemistry analytical laboratories are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 for specific analytical procedures. Qualified Person Phil Fox, MAIG, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release About Toachi Mining Inc. Toachi brings a disciplined and veteran team of project managers together with a high grade gold-copper-silver-zinc project at La Plata in Ecuador. Toachi is focused on and committed to the development of advanced stage mineral projects throughout the Americas using industry best practices combined with a strong social license from local communities. Toachi Mining has 38,349,937 shares issued and outstanding. Forward Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that the Company obtains regulatory approval. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, that occurrences such as those referred to above are realized and result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, and delays in regulatory approval, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Nick Tintor, President and CEO Telephone: 416 987 0855 Mobile: 416 953 4244 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Table 1 Hole From (m) To (m) m Au (g) Ag (g) Cu (%) Pb (%) Zn (%) Au Eq (g) CMLP-16-01 448.4 449.0 0.60 11.50 112.0 0.50 1.90 7.05 18.22 453.4 460.15 6.75 6.42 40.1 2.08 1.54 8.96 14.72 453.4 487.0 33.60 1.93 15.2 0.84 0.80 4.33 5.72 491.0 491.6 0.60 0.79 4.0 0.08 0.07 3.27 2.67 CMLP-16-02 58.65 60.66 2.01 3.35 17.3 6.96 0.27 5.23 14.29 66.0 70.0 4.0 1.42 9.9 3.01 0.07 0.68 5.34 77.0 79.0 2.0 0.90 11.8 1.23 0.12 1.08 3.07 CMLP-16-01 Drill Core Photograph From 453.5 m-460.15 m Interval Click Image To View Full Size Compositional laminae of massive chalcopyrite (brown) and sphalerite (gray) with barite (white) Drill Hole Location Plan Click Image To View Full Size Drill Hole Section - CMLP-16-01 Click Image To View Full Size Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - RNC Minerals' (TSX: RNX) (OTCQX: RNKLF) 68% owned subsidiary True North Nickel ("TNN") has discovered two new high grade gold mineralized zones at its Qiqavik Project in Northern Quebec. The new discoveries have extended the district-scale mineralized trend at Qiqavik to over 40 km, more than doubling the known extent of the trend. Prospecting in 2016 has resulted in the discovery of two new intrusion related high grade gold occurrences, the Aurora and Esperance zones, yielding multiple surface grab samples ranging from 5 to 189 g/t gold and up to 10% copper. Several outcropping areas, also containing high grade silver and zinc, represent a potentially important new discovery in an underexplored volcano-sedimentary belt within the Cape Smith Belt. These new discoveries follow-up on the success of the 2015 exploration program that outlined high grade gold mineralization with values up to 198 g/t in surface grab samples over a strike length of 15 km. "These very positive prospecting results at Qiqavik extend the project to a mining district scale and give us confidence that this relatively unexplored region of Northern Quebec has the potential to host important new gold and copper deposits. TNN's advantageous land position in this emerging mineral belt has given it a unique opportunity to acquire some of the most prospective ground in the Cape Smith Belt for its new Qiqavik Project in one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world. Both Qiqavik and West Raglan could represent major discoveries in this underexplored, emerging polymetallic belt, which is comparable in scale to the Kambalda-Kalgoorlie camp of Western Australia, and home to the world class Raglan Mine. We intend to form a joint venture or spin out the Qiqavik property to fund future exploration programs through our TNN subsidiary with no dilution at the RNC level." said Mark Selby, President and CEO of RNC. 2016 Exploration Program Prospecting and mapping data collected during the 2016 exploration program has outlined a number of possible intrusion- related mineral occurrences which could reflect the district-scale zoning of a very dynamic copper-gold-silver system. The success of the short 10 day prospecting program in 2015 which discovered high grade gold mineralization up to 180 g/t resulted in the expansion of the Qiqavik property westward. Prospecting in this western extension of the property has been the main focus of 2016 exploration and has resulted in the discovery of two new intrusion related mineral occurrences, the Aurora and Esperance Zones, which have expanded the district scale mineralized trend to over 40km (Figure 1a&b and Table 1). Minor drilling of zones identified in the 2015 program has also been completed. Aurora Zone Gold mineralization at the Aurora Zone, situated about 20 km west of the Gerfaut discoveries made in 2015, occurs in smoky quartz veins up to 30 cm wide trending parallel to a granitic body (Figure 2). Some of these veins are zoned, with whitish quartz phases and various proportions of sulphides (trace to 8%). Sulphides include pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite and, more rarely, arsenopyrite. Visible gold was observed in two locations. No drilling has been completed on this target. The granitic unit has been mapped over a strike length of 600 metres based on outcrops and subcrop boulders. Its maximum apparent surface thickness is 75 metres. Outcropping quartz veins are oriented parallel to the sill axis, and dip 45 to 75 degrees to the NNE. The granite is bounded by a basalt ridge to the south and by intermediate to felsic tuffs, sediments, and basalt to the north. Metasomatic fuchsite alteration occurs at the southern contact of the Aurora granite. Twelve surface grab samples from quartz veins taken from different location within the sill graded from 5 g/t Au, up to 189 g/t Au. Assay results include grades of 67.8 g/t Au, 58.2 g/t Au, 58.1 g/t Au, 46.8 g/t Au, 34.8 g/t Au and 26.4 g/t Au. High gold grades were obtained over 200 metres of strike length (Figure 2). Two channel samples were taken over a continuous is 45cm interval across an outcropping quartz vein and into the altered granitic host rock. This interval returned 5.46 g/t over 0.45m including 30cm at 5.6 g/t Au and 15cm at 5.2g/t Au. Esperance Zone Gold and Copper mineralization at the Esperance Zone, situated about 10 km west of the Aurora discovery, is associated with a large mineralized shear zone trending ENE-WSW (Figure 3) hosting disseminated to massive sulphides. Mineralization occurs parallel to this trend for more than 500m and is associated with a large resistive body with moderate chargeability (Figure 3). This association is a very prospective target for future exploration programs. No drilling has been completed on this target. Thirteen surface grab samples taken from different location within the mineralized shear zone graded from 4 g/t Au, up to 32 g/t Au. Assay results include grades of 31.9 g/t Au, 20.1 g/t Au, 21.7 g/t Au, 21.3 g/t Au, 18.7 g/t Au and 13.2 g/t Au. Significant copper results from the Esperance Zone include 10.3% Cu, 1.8% Cu, 1.7% Cu, 1.5 and 1.2% Cu (Figure 3). Both the Esperance and Aurora discoveries were made through the implementation of real-time portable XRF analysis of tills during prospecting. Real-time arsenic anomalies indicated areas for focussed prospecting leading to the discoveries. Other indicator elements such as Sb and Bi that could not be measured in real-time may highlight additional targets once full analysis of pending till sample assays is complete. Table 1: Significant1 Assay Results from Surface Grab Samples from 2016 Qiqavik Prospecting Program Aurora Zone Sample Number Sample Type Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu % P137335 Subcrop 189.00 51 0.02 P132943 Boulder 67.80 36 0.03 P137336 Subcrop 58.20 5 0.00 P137296 Boulder 58.10 5 0.01 P137293 Subcrop 46.80 6 0.00 P132942 Boulder 34.80 45 0.02 P132961 Boulder 26.40 19 0.00 P137294 Subcrop 20.80 34 0.00 P132960 Subcrop 12.55 46 0.00 P132946 Outcrop 10.50 25 0.01 P137333 Outcrop 5.58 4 0.01 P137334 Outcrop 5.22 4 0.01 P132959 Subcrop 2.95 26 0.00 P137817 Float 2.93 2 0.01 P132944 Boulder 2.72 20 0.01 P132947 Outcrop 2.59 11 0.01 P132945 Boulder 1.63 5 0.02 P132963 Subcrop 1.20 2 0.00 Esperance Zone Sample Number Sample Type Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu % P137341 Boulder 31.90 30.00 1.75 P137717 Boulder 21.70 5.00 0.06 P137664 Boulder Field 21.30 2.00 0.04 P137329 Subcrop 20.10 4.00 0.34 P137665 Boulder Field 18.65 4.00 0.02 P137706 Boulder 13.20 7.00 1.71 P137687 Boulder 12.65 17.00 1.48 P137330 Subcrop 11.25 4.00 0.87 P137659 Boulder Field 9.65 8.00 1.18 P137716 Boulder Field 9.24 1.00 0.02 P137356 Boulder 7.65 7.00 1.75 P137663 Boulder Field 6.00 1.00 0.20 P137681 Outcrop 4.18 2.00 0.08 P137671 Boulder Field 3.66 3.00 0.12 P137339 Subcrop 3.53 1.00 0.37 P137682 Outcrop 2.88 2.00 0.38 P137666 Boulder Field 2.56 9.00 0.93 P137707 Boulder 2.50 33.00 10.25 P137660 Boulder Field 2.18 0.50 0.07 P137670 Boulder Field 2.03 0.50 0.13 P137677 Boulder 2.01 2.00 0.24 P137678 Boulder Field 1.37 6.00 0.62 P137719 Boulder 1.37 1.00 0.19 P137342 Boulder 1.28 9.00 0.89 P137694 Outcrop 1.28 4.00 0.51 P137673 Boulder Field 1.16 25.00 2.1 P137338 Boulder 1.02 6.00 1.78 P132325 Outcrop 1.02 1.00 0.59 P137289 Boulder 0.12 8.00 1.42 P137655 Boulder Field 0.12 5.00 1.01 P137602 Boulder 0.09 6.00 1.83 Other Areas Sample Number Sample Type Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu % P132265 Boulder 18.30 8.00 0.02 P137310 Boulder 11.85 1.00 0.01 P132274 Boulder 4.20 0.50 0.01 P137529 Boulder 3.05 0.50 0.00 P132266 Boulder 2.68 3.00 0.01 P137286 Outcrop 1.77 0.50 0.01 P137274 Outcrop 1.42 0.50 0.01 P137302 Outcrop 0.34 34.00 0.58 1 Significant Results are those grab samples which returned values of: Au>1g/t, Ag>30g/t, Cu>1%). Gerfaut Zone Drilling in 2016 was focused on the Gerfaut Zone in the eastern part of the Qiqavik Property (Figure 1) to test IP anomalies defined in the early stages of the 2016 program. Priority was given to anomalies coincident with mineralized boulders. In total 550m were drilled in 6 holes (Table 2). Due to drilling technical difficulties, only 55% of the planned 1000m of drilling was completed. Also, three of the six holes failed to reach target depth due to drilling technical difficulties leaving these targets untested. Drilling returned several intervals grading greater than 1 g/t Au (Table 3). The source of the high-grade gold boulders in the Gerfaut Zone has not been identified; consequently this area remains prospective for future exploration. The most interesting drilling results were from hole QK-16-006 that was terminated at 56 metres before reaching target depth due to technical difficulties. This hole targeted a strong chargeability anomaly associated with a strong resistivity anomaly at 90 metres depth but intersected a zone of gold mineralization in the upper portion of the hole that yielded 1.17 g/t Au over 1.43m from 34.5 metres. This geophysical anomaly remains untested. Table 2: Summary of 2016 Drilling Hole Number Easting (Metres) Northing (Metres) Elevation (Metres) Azimuth (Degrees) Dip (Degrees) Depth (Metres) QK-16-001 6818337.3 447748.6 379.6 216.0 -50 68 QK-16-002 6825384.7 483615.5 432.2 346.6 -50 92 QK-16-003 6825354.4 483724.6 431.7 346.4 -50 35 QK-16-004 6825031.8 483589.5 439.8 168.5 -50 135 QK-16-005 6825513.9 485526.0 444.0 168.0 -50 164 QK-16-006 6826958.6 491046.8 426.8 167.0 -50 56 Total metres 550 Table 3: Significant drill hole results Hole Number From (Metres) To (Metres) Length (Metres) Au (g/t) QK-16-001 13.13 13.48 0.35 0.86 QK-16-001 27.60 28.16 0.56 1.68 QK-16-006 28.69 29.15 0.46 0.87 QK-16-006 34.50 35.93 1.43 1.17 About Qiqavik The Qiqavik property is located in the Paleoproterozoic trans-Hudsonian orogen of northern Quebec, also known as the Cape Smith Belt (Figure 4) and consists of 592 claims covering 24,318 Ha. Gold and copper mineralization is hosted in metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Parent Group (Figure 5). The gold mineralization was initially discovered by Falconbridge while prospecting for nickel in the region. In 1996 Falconbridge drilled two holes, both of which encountered gold mineralization including 5.8 metres of 4.27 g/t gold in PAR96-012. Subsequent resampling of the drill core extended the mineralized interval in PAR96-01 to 10.5m of 3.08g/t Au which includes 1.1m of 5.45 g/t Au, 0.59%Zn and 3.4m of 6.79 g/t Au and 0.37% Zn3. Following a long period of inactivity, the core block of claims was picked up by Les Resources Tectonic Inc. ("Tectonic") in 2011. In 2012 the property was optioned to Corvus Gold Inc. who carried out a detailed soil/till survey and prospecting program which discovered mineralization over a strike length of 12km including several distinct surface geochemical anomalies. 2 Giovenazzo, D., 1997. Geological and Drill Report, Lac Parent P.E. 1103, Ungava. Falconbridge Exploration Ltd. Quebec assessment file GM 54904 3Jourdain, V., 1998. Rapport Sur Les Travaux D'Exploration de la Saison 1998. Quebec assessment file GM 561129 Qualified Person and Quality Assurance and Quality Control The disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release has been approved by Alger St-Jean, P. Geo., Vice President Exploration of RNC, and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. The work program at Qiqavik was supervised by Michelle Sciortino, Senior Project Geologist who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project log and weigh all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Sample shipments are sealed and shipped to ALS Chemex in Val d'Or, Quebec for analysis by ME-ICP61a for 33 elements (Four Acid Near Total - ICPAES Multi-element Intermediate Grade Method) and Au-ICP22 for gold (Fire Assay Fusion). Any samples which reported over 10g/t Au were analysed by method GRA22 (Fire Assay by Gravimetric Methods). Lab crusher and pulveriser were washed with blank material in between each sample. Preparation and assaying may be done in ALS facilities in Val d'Or, Sudbury or Vancouver. ALS Chemex's quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. About RNC Minerals RNC is a multi-asset mineral resource company focused primarily on the acquisition, exploration, evaluation and development of precious metal and base metal properties. RNC's principal assets are the producing Beta Hunt gold and nickel mine in Western Australia, the Dumont Nickel Project located in the established Abitibi mining camp in Quebec and a 30% stake in the producing Reed copper-gold mine in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake region of Manitoba, Canada. RNC also owns a majority interest in the West Raglan nickel project and Qiqavik gold project in Northern Quebec. RNC has a strong management team and Board with over 100 years of mining experience at Inco and Falconbridge. RNC's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol RNX. RNC shares also trade on the OTCQX market under the symbol RNKLF. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" including without limitation statements relating to the the liquidity and capital resources of RNC, production and cost guidance, the potential of the Beta Hunt and Reed mines, and the potential of the Dumont, West Raglan and Qiqavik projects. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of RNC to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: failure of the parties to sign definitive agreements and satisfy conditions of closing; future prices and the supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, projected cash costs, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to RNC's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although RNC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and RNC disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE RNC Minerals Figure 1a: Map of Qiqavik Property Showing Significant Gold Exploration Results Figure 1b: Map of Qiqavik Property Showing Significant Copper Exploration Results Figure 2: Preliminary geological map of Aurora Zone discovery showing high grade Au mineralization extending over 200m Figure 3: Esperance grab sample Gold and Copper results shown on surface resistivity (Blue is high resistivity, pink is low) Figure 4 - Location of the Qiqavik Property in the Cape Smith Belt, Northern Quebec Figure 5 Geology of the Cape Smith Belt showing Qiqavik and West Raglan Properties. JURIST Guest Columnist Joseph H. Marren discusses the impeachment of Brazils President On August 30 Brazils Senate voted to convict Brazils President Dilma Rousseff on charges that she used improper accounting to cover-up a growing budget deficit and illegal loans from state-owned banks. A recent WSJ editorial remarked that millions of Americans are probably wondering why they cannot impeach Washington politicians for similar fiscal offenses. The question is timely in this political season and the correct answer is that federal politicians and certain executive officers can be impeached for publishing financial reports that do not adhere to the requirements of the United States Constitution. The federal governments budget deficits and debt are exponentially higher than what has been reported. None of the headline figures used as the basis of public discourse have any relevance to the true state of the governments finances. The Combined Statement of Receipts, Outlays, and Balances which is the official Statement and Account, the Presidents Budget and the Financial Report of the United States Government are the three relevant financial reports published by the federal government. Collectively and individually they make untrue statements about material facts, omit to state numerous material facts and hide material facts in footnotes. How could this be true? It is because Money is not Money when the Executive and Legislative branches are interpreting Article I, Section 9, clause 7 of our Constitution. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. The first part is called the Appropriations Clause and the second part is called the Statement and Account Clause. Different interpretations of Liability a key component of Money, in the two clauses are the vehicle used to perpetrate the financial reporting fraud on the American people. It must be noted that since the nations founding, the Supreme Court has not opined on the meaning of the Statement and Account Clause, including how it interacts with the Appropriations Clause. The General Accountability Offices September 2005 A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process defines Liability as follows: Liability Defined differently for obligation (or budgetary) and proprietary (or financial) accounting purposes. Obligational (or budgetary) accounting, designed to ensure compliance with fiscal laws, is based on the concept of legal liability. A legal liability is a claim that may be legally enforced against the government. It may be created in a variety of ways, such as by signing a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement or by operation of law. Proprietary (or financial) accounting, designed to generate data for financial statement purposes, is based on the concept of accounting liability. For federal financial statement purposes, a liability is a probable future outflow or other sacrifice of resources as a result of past transactions or events. Thus for Appropriations purposes Liability includes all legal obligations that Congress enacts and funds with appropriations. However for Statement and Account purposes Liability specifically excludes vast amounts of legal obligations that are fully funded with appropriations. The practical result is that expenses and obligations are significantly understated in all of the governments financial reports. The Statement and Account Clause and Appropriations Clause are yoked together for a reason. Legislation that has been legally enacted and fully or partially funded with permanent appropriations must be reflected in the Statement and Account and other financial statements to the full extent of that funded obligation. Accounting principles governing federal financial reporting declare that legally enacted legislation that is fully or partially funded with permanent appropriations is not a legal obligation for accounting purposes that needs to be recorded in the Statement and Account or any of the nations financial statements. The governments accounting rules regarding permanent appropriations as well as off-balance sheet agencies and corporations cannot be reconciled with the Statement and Account clauses all public Money requirement. It has no exceptions for entities or programs that our politicians want to put off-budget, off-balance sheet, describe only in footnotes or eliminate entirely from its financial statements. The three major items that are fraudulently reported include: The Federal Reserve System, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with total assets of $4.5 trillion, $3.2 trillion and $2 trillion, respectively, are not consolidated into the governments financial statements. The federal governments $24.2 trillion net present value obligation for Medicaid was reported for the first time in the 2010 Financial Report and was buried in the back of this and subsequent reports. Omitting the disclosure of material information, as was done from the creation of Medicaid through 2009, violates the laws against fraud, and the Supreme Courts buried facts; doctrine which appears in its securities law decisions suggests that even current reporting is unlawful. The amount reported in the 2015 Financial Report was $27.3 trillion. The total adjusted net present value obligation for Medicare and Social Security that is fully funded with appropriations reported in the 2015 Financial Reports Statement of Social Insurance and related footnotes is $46.3 trillion. But the SOSI does not interrelate with the other financial statements and no current expenses are recorded for required future payments. The governments accounting rules mislead voters about the consequences of their votes and they make a mockery of the idea of political accountability. The federal governments financial reporting leaves voters with no idea about the actual total amount of its expenditures. Furthermore voters cannot send the responsible politicians packing because they have retired from Congress. Their current representatives say that their hands are tied on mandatory spending and that they cannot be held accountable. Why has this happened? The federal government has controlled financial reporting and thereby public opinion to minimize its accountability for spending. Politicians do not want to be held accountable for the full extent of their spending and, generally, wish to make re-election easier for incumbents. Hence, they collude to underreport appropriations and expenses. Proper reporting would lead to spending cutbacks, tax increases and/or recriminations for overspending, all of which are likely to cause voter dissatisfaction and changes at the polls. Why does it matter? The upcoming presidential election continues a lifetime tradition for citizens of casting their votes without the benefit of having access to an accurate and complete published account of the governments total receipts and expenditures. Congresss failure to publish a complete and truthful statement and account of the nations finances has made our republic dysfunctional, plagued by successive budget-deficit and debt-ceiling crisis. This fraud has brought the government to the brink of financial Armageddon. Furthermore since none of the governments financial reports complies with the Constitutions requirements several private rights have been violated including the right to vote, freedom of speech, due process, equal protection, the right to financial information and political accountability. Finally, it has created a perpetual fraud on the judiciary. The federal government has known for a very long time that its accounting standards setting process is unlawful. In 1921 Congress delegated responsibility for determining and defining the accounting principles and policies to be used by the federal government to the Comptroller General, the highest ranking officer of the General Accountability Office, an agency controlled by it. In Bowsher v. Synar the Supreme Court made it crystal clear that Congress cannot delegate lawmaking authority to a delegate of the Legislative branch. James Madison once remarked: A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. We have reached the stage where federal financial reporting is both a farce and a tragedy. Primary responsibility for the fraudulent and unconstitutional financial reporting by the federal government lies with the leadership on both sides of the aisle in the House of Representatives and the Senate. A large number of Senators and Congressmen as well as senior Executive branch officials have violated their oath to uphold the Constitution and, arguably, they have committed high crimes providing a basis for their impeachment. Joseph H. Marren is President and CEO of KStone Partners LLC. Suggested citation: Joseph H. Marren Brazils President Impeached: Could It Happen Here?, JURIST- Professional Commentary, September 18, 2016, http://jurist.org/professional/2016/09/joseph-marren-brazil-president.php. This article was prepared for publication by Elizabeth Dennis, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org An Egyptian court on Saturday froze assets of five notable human rights activists and three NGOs for allegedly accepting foreign funds without governmental authorization. Though a criminal proceeding has yet to take place, this order [Al Jazeera report] likely spells criminal indictments for those groups and individuals for pursuing acts harmful to national interests. If found guilty, the individuals could face up to 25 years in prison. Many believe this action is politically motivated. Amnesty International called the court order [press release] a shameless ploy to silence human rights activism, and called for the court order to be invalidated. Egypt [BBC timeline] has been internationally scrutinized in recent months over allegations of human rights infringements and free speech violations. Of particular concern is the prosecution and imprisonment of journalists by the Egyptian government, which has garnered widespread criticism from governments and rights groups worldwide. In March Egypt Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zind was relieved of his position after he stated that he would even imprison the Prophet Mohammed in response a question regarding the imprisonment of journalists. In January non-governmental organizations issued a joint statement [JURIST report] to the Egyptian parliament giving recommendations to ensure the enforcement of constitutional and human rights. In December Egyptian lawyer Nasser Amin challenged a law [JURIST report] that allows writers to be jailed for writings that violate Egyptian morals. In August 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi [BBC profile] approved [JURIST report] a 54-article counter-terrorism law that has been met with significant controversy, as many believe it infringes on the freedom of the press. Many have said that the law defines terrorism too broadly and imposes harsh sentences and fines on violators. The same month Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the law saying it infringes on freedom of the press. : , FIR Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called upon Pakistani authorities Monday to stop the execution [press release] of Imdad Ali, a mentally disabled man, which is scheduled for Tuesday. HRW expressed its belief that executing people with mental health conditions is an affront to decency and serves no criminal justice purpose, and violates Pakistans international legal obligations. The report cites various international organizations and compacts that call into question and prohibit execution of individuals suffering from psycho-social disabilities as violations of the right to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Pakistan is a party. Imdad Ali was sentenced to death in 2002 for murdering a religious scholar and was diagnosed with psychosis and later paranoid schizophrenia. Despite these diagnoses, Imdad Ali has had several appeals denied by the Lahore High Court and Pakistan Supreme Court, and also has had a mercy petition denied by the Pakistan president. In addition to his mental illness, Imdad Ali has been held in solitary confinement for the last three years, which human rights experts have stated amounts to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and can further exacerbate any mental infirmities. Pakistan currently has one of the worlds largest death row populations with more than 8,000 prisoners currently facing the death penalty. Capital punishment [JURIST op-ed] remains a controversial issue worldwide. Last month a UN rights expert expressed outrage [JURIST report] regarding Irans execution of 12 people for drug-related charges. In July Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that he would approve reinstating the death penalty [JURIST report] so long as the measure had sufficient support in the Grand National Assembly. In May a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned [JURIST report] Iranian authorities for the sentencing of Nargis Mohammadi, an anti-death penalty activist. Also in May UN rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein welcomed [JURIST report] the measures being taken by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to prevent the use of its drugs in state-sponsored execution by lethal injection. UN human rights experts expressed [JURIST report] grave concern earlier that month over Belarus death penalty practices after reports surfaced that a man was executed while his case was before the UN Human Rights Committee. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal [text, PDF] on Friday to withdraw a lawsuit in which the state sought a judgment declaring that the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act [text, PDF], also known as House Bill 2 (HB 2), did not violate federal law. HB 2 prevented cities and counties from enacting laws allowing transgender people to use the public restroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity. In the notice, McCrory claimed that the defendants, the US and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] caused delays in the case by requesting a motion to dismiss and utilizing all of the time allotted to file an answer. The federal government also sued North Carolina over HB 2 in the Middle District of North Carolina [official website] in a suit that was consolidated with cases brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website]. The states Notice of Dismissal states that North Carolinas arguments are already asserted as counterclaims in the the case brought forth by the DOJ, and McCrory is withdrawing this lawsuit because of the substantial costs to [North Carolina] of litigating similar legal issues in two different judicial districts, and the interests of judicial economy and efficiency. North Carolinas stance on LGBT rights has been a topic of national controversy. In April McCrory issued an executive order [JURIST report] to clarify HB 2 in response to significant backlash. In March North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper stated during a press conference that he would not defend [JURIST report] the law, which he considers to be discriminatory against the LGBT community. Earlier that week North Carolina individuals and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against McCrory, claiming that the bill he signed one week prior was unconstitutional and discriminatory. Earlier that month McCrory signed the bill into law [JURIST report], preventing local governments from enacting their own nondiscrimination ordinances and making them unable to pass laws allowing transgender people to use the public restroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity. A new report [text] compiled by California State University, San Bernardino [official website] and released on Saturday found an increase in hate crimes in 2015, particularly among Muslims and Arab-Americans. The study compiled data from 20 states, representing over 53 percent of the national population. Overall hate crimes across the 20 states increased by about 5 percent. However, hate crimes against Muslims increased by 78 percent. The number of Anti-Muslim hate crimes committed in these twenty states alone (196) is so high that even if no other hate crimes were reported in any other states, it would still signal the highest increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes since shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Hate crimes against Arab-Americans increased by over 200 percent and attacks against Transgender individuals increased about 40 percent, although the researchers warn this could be affected by improvements in data collection. The director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism [official website] at the university believes the rise may be caused [NYT report] in part by the political discourse in the country, and a slight increase has been noticed after a candidate makes incendiary comments about the Muslim population. Official statistics for 2015 from the FBI are due to be released in November. In recent years, Muslims have faced increased discrimination in the United States and other western countries. Last month, Frances highest administrative court, the Council of State overturned [JURIST report] the ban on full-body burkini swimsuits in the French city of Cannes, although authorities have continued attempts to ban the garment in the cities of Nice and Bastia [JURIST reports]. In January, the New York Police Department (NYPD) agreed [JURIST report] to a settlement in two civil rights lawsuits accusing the NYPD of wrongfully monitoring Muslims after the 9/11 attacks. Two years earlier, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted [JURIST report] that the NYPD spied on mosques and on a Muslim preacher but requested that the court dismiss the complaint. In 2015, The French Human Rights League and the Collective against Islamophobia issued a statement [JURIST report] urging the French government to lift the state of emergency as members of the French Muslim population alleged abuse and unfair targeting of Muslims. On October 30, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt approved $1 billion in wartime aid to the Allies under the Lend-Lease Act. America did not formally enter World War II until December of 1941, but the U.S. Government nonetheless provided crucial aid to the Allied Powers from the passage of the Lend-Lease Act in March of 1941 through the end of the war. The Lend-Lease Agreement between the U.S. and U.K. was formalized the following year. Learn more about the Lend-Lease Act. According to Russian officials, a US-led airstrike which killed Syrian troops on Saturday could threaten the ceasefire agreed upon between Syrian and opposition forces. Russia said over 60 Syrian troops were killed [BBC report] as a result of the airstrike. US Central Command [official website] said they believed they were targeting ISIS positions, and stopped the operation as soon as Russia informed that the targets may be Syrian military. However, Russia and Syria have accused the US of planning the attack. On Saturday night, Russia ordered [CNBC report] an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the airstrikes. The Syrian government and opposition groups began the ceasefire [JURIST report] Monday following negotiations by the US and Russia. The two countries planned to coordinate attacks on jihadist groups after seven days of the ceasefire. The US currently supports opposition forces, and Russia supports the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad [CNN profile]. The conflict in Syria [JURIST backgrounder] has continued for five years in a civil war surrounding the legitimacy of Assad. Last week a UN commission on Syria urged [JURIST report] parties in the Syrian conflict to return to the negotiation table after a new report highlighted an increase of violence suffered by civilians. In August a top UN official submitted a report detailing an in-depth investigation into chemical warfare [JURIST report] used by Islamic State and Assad in Syria. That same month Amnesty International said that a suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo could amount to a war crime [JURIST report]. In July Human Rights Watch reported [JURIST report] cluster bombs have been targeted at civilians and rebels in Northern Syria. In June UN human rights experts called for the immediate protection [JURIST report] of thousands of Syrian civilians. According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon [official website], world leaders meeting at the United Nations will focus heavily [UN News Centre] upon the Syria conflict, refugees and the environment on Monday. Particularly, the Secretary General said the talks need to facilitate progress in resolving protracted conflicts and rising tensions in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and continue the momentum towards implementingour plan of action for peace and prosperity on a healthy planet. The Secretary General was adamant that the international community must address the worlds refugees and migrants, a step they believe has been taken by the adoption of the Declaration at the Summit for Refugees and Migrants [official website]. He also expressed that while many conflicts are causing enormous pain, none is causing so much death, destruction and widespread instability as the worsening war in Syria, calling for continued intra-Syrian negotiations. Finally, Ban pushed for the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change by the end of the year. The conflict in Syria [JURIST backgrounder] has continued for five years in a civil war surrounding the legitimacy of Assad. Last week a UN commission on Syria urged [JURIST report] parties in the Syrian conflict to return to the negotiation table after a new report highlighted an increase of violence suffered by civilians. In August a top UN official submitted a report detailing an in-depth investigation into chemical warfare [JURIST report] used by Islamic State and Assad in Syria. That same month Amnesty International said that a suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo could amount to a war crime [JURIST report]. In July Human Rights Watch reported [JURIST report] cluster bombs have been targeted at civilians and rebels in Northern Syria. In June UN human rights experts called for the immediate protection [JURIST report] of thousands of Syrian civilians. Associated British Foods has taken its Jordans cereal brand into Frances cereal bar market. Free Report Unilever- A Deep-dive into Product Launches and Advertising Strategy Track product launches by FMCG companies to get an understanding of the product-level strategies including geographic concentrations, innovation types, product claim, category focus and more Monitoring the advertising strategies of various brands and gain insights into channel focus, regional focus, and more Perform company-level analysis to understand business model, size, and geographic focus Dont miss out on key market insights that can help optimize your next investment read the report now. Unilever product advertising is mainly through mainstream TV channels. Out of the products advertised so far at least 50% (over 850) of ads have been run on TV, while print media comes second with 496 ads. Unilever also utilizes social media platforms for advertisement. Unilever products are categorized by innovation ratings and tags in our product launch database. The North American region consists of almost 74 products with innovations related to the formulation of the product. Europe and other regions also have more products categorized under formulation-related innovation, followed by the packaging and positioning of the products. Most Unilever products are tagged with High Vitamins, Recyclable, and Natural tags to understand what the product differentiator is from other products available in the market. The majority of products belong to the personal care industry with a total of 5,788 products to date. This report, through the Unilever Example, illustrates how GlobalData Explorer enables you to:Dont miss out on key market insights that can help optimize your next investment read the report now. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. 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Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report. The company, which sells a range of three Jordans breakfast cereals in France, has launched a line of three bars sold under the Jordans Frusli sub-brand. ABF sought to tout the lack of artificial ingredients in its bars and said there was no added salt in the products. The bars are sold in packs of six with a recommended price of EUR2.50 (US$2.79). Pointing to IRI data, ABF said the Jordans brand has been the number one contributor to the growth of the cereal category in France. The companys cereal range in France comprises Country Crisp, Special Muesli and Flocons dAvoine. Last week, ABF issued a pre-close trading update for the 53 weeks to 17 September. It does not provide details figures for the different elements of its grocery business but said international expansion had driven excellent growth for Jordans and Dorset, which also increased their UK market share. ABF said its grocery business, which also includes brands like Kingsmill and Tip Top bread, Mazola cooking oil and Pataks cooking sauces, would see revenues marginally ahead of the previous financial year on a constant-currency basis. Operating profit will be higher with a further improvement in margin. The company is scheduled to report its annual results on 8 November. Last week, Reuters claimed ABF was in talks to sell its US arm ACH Food to local group B&G Foods. A spokesperson for ABF told just-food that the company never comments on speculation of this type. Representatives for B&G Foods were unavailable at time of press. Related Companies DEAR ABBY: I am 32, married for a year and a half, with no children yet. I am an only child who was raised by my mother until I was 14 because my father was in prison. My mother never remarried. She blames me for her never having found anyone, and she is resentful of my marriage. She doesn't get along with anyone, not family, co-workers or "friends." She thinks my husband is her handyman to use around her house. The reality is, my husband works all the time, and when he does have any free time, I either want to spend it with him or need him to do things around our home. I'm afraid the day I tell her I'm pregnant her response will be laced with disdain and judgment, and I believe she will use my children as pawns like she used me to manipulate my dad. I have seen a therapist about this, but I'm having a hard time following through on what needs to be done. My therapist suggests I tell Mom how I feel and let her know that if she continues with her current behavior, I will have to limit the amount of time we see each other. Abby, she has said some really hurtful things to me in the past. I know her behavior is wrong, but I continue trying to be the daughter I am supposed to be so we can hopefully have the relationship we are supposed to have. I welcome your advice. -- HAD ENOUGH IN GEORGIA DEAR HAD ENOUGH: Here it is, and I cannot offer it emphatically enough. You hired a therapist who has given you excellent advice. You will save yourself a lot of grief -- and time -- if you take to heart what you were told and follow the advice you were given. To create boundaries is not being a bad daughter; it is being an intelligent one. DEAR ABBY: I'm currently interning with a government-contracted group. Part of my job involves working with LGBT rights organizations. Recently, at a meeting with my boss and several representatives of these organizations, the topic of fairness in the workplace was mentioned. I was asked what my experience was, and I shared that I thought the workplace was fair, and my experience was fine. I didn't think about it at the time, but I now realize I was being asked how my experience was as an LGBT person. In light of this, my boss has nominated me for a diversity award. The problem is I'm a heterosexual female, and I think he promoted me for the honor because he thinks I am gay. How should I handle this? Do I need to go on record to my boss that I am straight, that I have a boyfriend, and he misunderstood me? I don't want this to come back to haunt me, but I'm afraid addressing it may ruin my credibility because it has taken so long for me to address it. My sexual orientation is obviously not something of great interest at work, but I feel I am living a terrible lie, and I don't know how to fix this. -- ASHAMED IN D.C. DEAR ASHAMED: No one should feel compelled to disclose one's sexual orientation at work, no matter the circumstances. That said, in this particular case, go to your boss before this goes any further. Explain to him privately that you didn't realize when the question was asked that anyone would presume you were gay. If you accept the diversity award without clearing the air first, it could potentially be a source of embarrassment and jeopardize your credibility. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe KEARNEY - A judge has ruled the state needs to be more specific in its contract agreements with drug informants. Last week, Buffalo County District Court Judge John Icenogle dismissed felony drug distribution charges against Zach Stander, 20, now of Alvo, who had worked as an informant for the Nebraska State Patrol. Stander faced two counts of felony distribution of marijuana for allegedly selling the drug out of his dormitory room at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and one count of felony possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute for selling the drug to another informant near a city park. The charges were dismissed with prejudice, which means the Buffalo County Attorney's Office can't refile them. In February, Stander agreed to be a police informant for a Nebraska State Patrol investigator and to purchase drugs from suspected dealers. At the time, Stander also was being investigated for selling drugs. As part of his agreement, Stander would make six drug buys in exchange for the Buffalo County Attorney's Office either reducing or dismissing felony distribution charges against him. Court records say Stander contacted alleged sellers and set up drug buys, but when he tried to notify the investigator of the potential drug deal, the investigator failed to return Stander's calls. Another part of Stander's informant contract was that he not reveal his status as an informant to anyone. The investigator alleged Stander violated that portion of the agreement when he told two residence hall directors he was working with police, and Stander was subsequently arrested and charged. In his ruling, Icenogle said the county attorney's informant contract needs to be more specific and doesn't provide any criteria for reducing or dismissing criminal charges. County Attorney Shawn Eatherton agreed with Icenogle and said that before the decision his office has been working on an updated version of its informant agreement. "The people we sign up as confidential informants are often not the most reliable in following through with their obligations," he said. The updated version will include more specific requirements so the responsibilities of law enforcement, the informant and the county attorney's office are clear. e-mail to: UPDATED 11:59 a.m. Thur., May 4: KEARNEY An Upland woman allegedly agreed to charge an undercover police officer $350 for sex with herself and a 14-year-old girl. Michelle Randall, 35, was charged Thursday in Buffalo County Court with conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault of the girl on April 26 and with two counts of felony possession of child pornography. Court records outline the case against Randall: When she and the girl arrived April 26 at a Kearney motel room, the cash transaction was made. There was a brief conversation between Randall and the undercover officer, and Randall was arrested. The girl was taken into protective custody with the state Department of Health and Human Services. Police learned of Randalls alleged trafficking earlier when she posted a personal ad on craigslist. After she was arrested, Nebraska State Patrol investigators obtained a search warrant for Randalls home, her computers and other electronics. Her phone contained pornographic pictures of 14- and 7-year-old children. The investigation revealed Randall had arranged numerous sexual acts with the two children in several counties, including Buffalo County. Randall has been charged only in Buffalo County. Alex Rahe, 28, of Omaha is charged in Buffalo County Court with felony first-degree sexual assault of the 14-year-old. Court records say on April 21 a man, later identified by the girl as Rahe, met Randall and the girl at Dryden Park. The three then drove to a home in Kearney where the girl had sex with Rahe. The girl was later shown a photo lineup and identified Rahe. Rahe was interviewed Wednesday in Omaha and was arrested and transported to the Buffalo County Jail where he remains on a $25,000 bond. Randall is being held at the jail on $250,000 bond. Both are scheduled to appear in court later this month. Authorities say the investigation continues. If convicted, Randall faces three to 90 years in prison, while Rahe faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. email to: UPDATED 11 a.m. Thur., May 3: KEARNEY An Upland woman is in jail, accused of offering an undercover police officer sex with a 14-year-old girl. The 35-year-old woman was charged today in Buffalo County Court with felony conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault of a child and two counts of felony possession of child pornography. She is being held at the Buffalo County Jail on a $250,000 bond. Alexander Rahe, 29, of Omaha was arrested at his home Wednesday night in connection to the investigation. He is charged in county court with felony first-degree sexual assault of a child and was scheduled to appear later before a judge. In a news release the Nebraska State Patrol said the woman engaged in forced prostitution of the girl. The woman made the offer of female companionship in the Kearney area in a craigslist personal ad. She was arrested April 26 at a Kearney motel. A search warrant was served April 26 at the Upland womans home, and investigators confiscated computers and other electronic devices. The investigation led police to Rahe. Craigslist is an online service that provides classified advertisements and forums for jobs, housing, sales, personal ads, services, communities and events. The woman is scheduled to appear in court later this month. Authorities said the investigation continues. email to: Arrests made in child prostitution case Nebraska State Patrol KEARNEY -- Two people are in jail following a Nebraska State Patrol investigation involving the forced prostitution of a 14-year old female. The arrests follow a weeklong investigation in which investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol were provided information of a Craigs List personal ad offering female companionship in the Kearney area. On Thursday, April 26, a 35-year old Upland woman was arrested at a Kearney motel, after she offered an undercover officer the services of a 14- year-old female. A search warrant was served on April 26, at the Upland home of the 35-year old woman, where investigators recovered computers and other electronic devices. The continuing investigation led to the arrest of a male suspect in Omaha. The 35-year-old female is being held in the Buffalo County Jail on a charge of conspiracy to commit sexual assault of a child and child pornography. Her name is being withheld to protect the identity of the 14-year-old child victim. 38-year-old Alexander C. Rahe, of Omaha was arrested, May 2, without incident at his residence in Omaha. He is being held in the Buffalo County Jail on a charge of 1st degree sexual assault of a child. The investigation remains ongoing. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Thank you for reading! To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. I realized the junior resource business was quickly changing for the better upon receiving an invitation to attend a series of project tours in the Yukon from July 9-15. Despite required changes in my summer travel plans, it did not take long to accept the all-expenses paid trip. The invitation came from the Yukon Department of Economic Development and the Yukon Mining Alliance. Their proactive and ongoing promotion of mineral potential of the territory is now paying dividends since the 2010-2011 exploration bubble burst and the five-year bear market in mining equities began. My trip started in Albuquerque with an evening flight to and subsequent day in Vancouver. Along with three other newsletter writers and four media types, we flew to Whitehorse late Saturday afternoon and were met at the airport by hosts Chris Ackerman, Corey Kanzig, and Mark Stephens. After checking in and dropping our bags at the hotel, the group met for beers before dinner. Participants included Franz Els of Mining.com, Paul Harris of Aspermont/Mining Journal Americas, Matt Keevil of the Northern Miner, Byron King of Agora Financial, Ben Kramer-Miller of Mining Wealth, James Kwantes of Resource Opportunities, Teresa Matich of Investing News Network, and yours truly. Here is our group at the first evenings festivities; the waitress-turned-photographer obviously wanted to crop the two shiny bald heads occupying the head of the table: Early the next morning we flew about an hour and a half east via fixed-wing plane and then a short jaunt via helicopter to Golden Predators Three Aces exploration project. We were met by Chairman Bill Sheriff, CEO Janet Lee-Sheriff, and my longtime friend, Chief Geologist Mike Burke. We examined this blasted open-cut exposing a pinch-and-swell quartz vein from a recent bulk sampling program. Gaudy visible gold is abundant in the exposure and several tour participants lined up for their turns at high-grading: I was the only one with a rock hammer and had to instruct a couple of novices in the technique of chipping off pieces of hard rock with glancing blows versus pounding and pounding on a flat surface until their arms gave out. Despite both us being a bit wider in the gut than when we met 20 years ago, Mike and I traipsed up a steep cat track to the next exposure accompanied by only two others from the tour group of eight: The high grade of gold in this relatively small target is impressive and the exploration potential is strong with many untested quartz-gold showings and soil anomalies in a huge claim block. The next field exam took us back west across the province via fixed-wing to Carmacks and then by helicopter to Rockhaven Resources Kazla gold-silver project. We were met by CEO Matt Turner and project geologist Jared Tarswell, had a corporate presentation by Matt, looked at maps and core, and enjoyed the camps usual Saturday evening steak dinner. Here the geologists pose in front of a drill rig turning to the right: Its been a long while since Ive seen one of the below. This was the standard water truck for drill programs during the1980s, an old army surplus 6 x 6 that can go just about anywhere a dozer can cut a track: Klaza has good gold-silver grades and significant exploration potential, but with high arsenic content and three concentrates required for precious metals recovery, it is metallurgically-challenged at this juncture. It had been a very long day by the time we flew back via helicopter to Carmacks, plane to Mayo, and then drove to our next destination, Keno City in central Yukon Territory. Arriving about 10 pm, we checked into the bunkhouse, met at the downstairs bar for last-call beers, and then made sandwiches before retiring for the night. Of course, it never really gets dark this far north in the middle of the summer. The next morning Chris, Corey, and Mark treated us to a big home-cooked breakie, and properly fueled-up, we went eagerly to the next project, Alexco Resources Keno Silver Hill lead-zinc-silver mine. It last produced from 2011-2013 as a relatively high-cost operation. We drove to the company offices for a project review with CEO Clynton Nauman and VP-Exploration Alan McOnie followed by three stops at an old dump and adit (shown below), an open-pit, and the dormant mill adjacent to the portal of a newly planned decline. The company is now exploring and developing new high-grade discoveries. It currently generates cash flow from an environmental subsidiary that mostly works on remediation of the districts historic workings and water treatment and has other contracts in the US. Alexco requires higher metals prices and renegotiation of its streaming agreement with Silver Wheaton to reopen and become a profitable mining operation. After a drive to the airstrip at Mayo, we took off for our next flight but landed quickly due to a loud banging in one of the planes engines. It turned out to be caused by pilot error but necessitated an hour wait for another plane and pilot. We flew northeast to the western end of ATAC Resources Rackla claim block and then about 180 km east via helicopter to its easternmost prospects and camp. President and CEO Graham Downs, VP-Exploration Julia Lane, and IR Director Vanessa Pickering were our hosts. ATAC is part of the Archer-Cathro Group and was historically a prospect generator with over 25 projects. Discovery of the Tiger zone on the western end of the district in 2006 and the Osiris zone in 2011 resulted in the company focusing solely on its Rackla project. We had corporate and geological presentations, a visit to the core shed, and dinner. The visit to the core shed and discussions with Julia were instructive for me. This is a Carlin-type gold camp with the eastern Nadaleen trend host rocks, mineralization, and structural control, very reminiscent of the Getchell trend of north-central Nevada. ATAC has made major discoveries in the millions of ounces of high-grade gold-arsenic mineralization in the area. However the remoteness, lack of infrastructure, and extreme alpine terrain precludes current development of the eastern deposits. This is well-illustrated by a view from the core shed toward the Osiris discovery, exposed in the orange rocks in a cirque below the high peak: ATAC has submitted plans to build a 65-km road from Keno City to access the western end of the claim block and near the much smaller, lower grade, and currently subeconomic Tiger oxide gold deposit. The company is currently focused on drilling new prospects in the eastern zone and building an air strip for fixed-wing access to its eastern camp. The potential for giant gold deposits is outstanding at Rackla. That said, it is currently a huge, expensive exploration-stage project. In my opinion, ATAC must attract a major mining company joint-venture partner to fund exploration and future development. Another late evening helicopter flight was in the offing and took us to the camp of Victoria Golds Eagle deposit south of Mayo. Two choppers were always required on this tour and I was lucky to get assigned to the first one leaving Rackla. The second had electrical problems and was forced to reroute to Mayo with Cory driving the rest of our crew to Victoria around midnight. It was not a good day for air travel. The next morning we had a presentation by Victoria Golds President and CEO John McConnell on the low-grade Eagle porphyry gold deposit. It is located above Dublin Gulch with historic and current placer production. The project is fully-permitted for production. Following the presentation and a Q and A session, we drove up the mountain to the top of the proposed open pit mine in company of Executive VP Mark Ayranto and Chief Geologist Paul Gray. Heres a good view from near the top down to the camp, placer workings, and old silver-lead-zinc mines peripheral to intrusion-related gold deposits: Then we four-wheeled north to Victorias current drill program at its Olive-Shamrock prospect. Paul Gray and I are shown in a trench of discrete quartz veins hosted by the usual granodiorite host rock: The company is exploring satellite deposits in the area with a goal to develop higher-grade resources that could serve as sweeteners to the larger low-grade operation. Victoria Golds Eagle deposit would be a low strip, open pit, heap leach operation. It has current road access but is 35 km from electrical power. Heres my bottom line: Considering its location in the extremely cold climate of far northern Canada, it is grade-challenged with projected recovery around 0.6 g/t Au. Following the tour and lunch at camp, we flew to Dawson City. Before landing, our pilot treated us to a flyover of the extensive dredge tailings piles that fill Bonanza Creek and other gulches for many kilometers within and above the town. An estimated twenty million ounces of placer gold has been pulled out of the Klondike gulches with the hard rock source(s) never determined. We checked into a hotel and immediately convened at the bar. After spending two days in dry camps, this crew was obviously ready to cut loose in a legendary party town. With time out for a good dinner and good wine enjoyed with good company, we bar-hopped our way thru Dawson until the wee hours. The next morning came way too early but as usual, duty called. Despite the fact that conference conveners failed to inform us they had scheduled a series of one-on-one meetings with company reps, I only missed my first one at the Yukon Mining Conference. Besides seven meetings, I managed to do three interviews in the afternoon, one with Ellis Martin and two with the Northern Miner. This was the scene of an At the Bar episode with host Matt Keevil, analyst Joe Mazumdar, and newsletter writer Gwen Preston: The evening began with champagne and oysters on the patio of the historic territory commissioners residence and was followed by an outdoor dinner reception. I got initiated as an honorary Yukoner with the infamous sourtoe cocktail, a shot of Yukon Jack containing a mummified human toe. By the way, its a $2500 fine if you swallow the toe. At that juncture, the night was just beginning. We chased the above episodes with beers at Diamond Tooth Gerties and ended later than the previous night at The Pit. Again the next morning came early amid some snafus. The hotel restaurant did not open until 7:30 am and our departure was scheduled at that time. I wandered around a bit and found a place to eat breakfast a couple of blocks away. In the end, I could have slept another hour as the shuttle van broke down, and we waited until alternative transport could be arranged to the airport. Just before boarding the plane, we realized Franz Els of Mining.com was missing. He was still eating breakfast in the hotel when we departed. We flew to the next project on the agenda, Western Copper and Golds Casino copper-gold-molybdenum project west of Carmacks. The camp is shuttered pending permitting and financing but that did not deter a contingent of five company representatives from attending. President CEO Paul West-Sells gave a presentation; then we drove up to the top of the hill to view the proposed open-pit outline, ate a box lunch, and briefly looked at a couple boxes of core. Casino is a large but low-grade deposit that is subeconomic at current metals prices. This photo looks south from the top of the gold-enriched (but copper oxide-bearing) leached cap toward the exploration camp below: Our next leg was a flight to Burwash Landing and a drive to Wellgreen Platinums nickel-copper-platinum-palladium-cobalt-gold deposit. Chief Operating Officer John Sagman was our guide and he talked over some poster boards in the core shack. The deposit is hosted by an ultramafic intrusive complex and perhaps resembles Norilsk. It is another large but low-grade deposit and metallurgical recovery is problematic for the PGMs. After looking at core, we drove to an old adit where Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting mined a high-grade contact zone in 1972-1973: After the tour we drove the Alaska Highway south to a motel near Destruction Bay where we had an outdoor dinner of grilled burgers and cold beers. After the shenanigans in Dawson, an early night was appreciated. The next morning we drove to Burwash Landing and flew north to the camp of Kaminak Gold and its Coffee project along the Yukon River. From the air strip, we were driven to an old hunting camp, which now serves as an exploration camp. Goldcorp completed its acquisition a couple of days earlier so after remarks by Kaminak COB John Robbins, the first formal presentation was by Brent Bergeron, its manager of corporate affairs and sustainability. Such is the nature of major mining companies these days, eh? He explained Goldcorps reasons for acquiring the company and in broad terms, its intentions going forward. Following that, VP-Exploration Tim Smith talked specifically about the Coffee project geological setting and exploration program. We then departed via helicopter to the deposits southwest and above camp. A flyover of the deposits and an on-the-ground visit to the discovery trench and drill hole followed. Byron King, who is also holds a geology degree, and I posed for this picture with Kaminak geo Tim Smith: Back at camp, I looked at core and had interesting discussions with project geologists regarding the host rocks, structural controls, alteration, and mineralization of the orogenic gold-arsenic-antimony deposits at Coffee. In my opinion, Goldcorp acquired Kaminak not only for the current project but also its potential to host additional gold deposits in a district-wide setting. It added about three million ounces of reserves to its mineral inventory for no cash and only 3% dilution to existing shareholders. The market has historically rewarded major gold miners, and especially Goldcorp, for growth of reserves and resources. On the other hand, Kaminak shareholders were rewarded with an opportunity to sell their shares at a significant premium or become Goldcorp shareholders. I do not expect Coffee will be a priority project for near-term mine development by Goldcorp. Following lunch at camp, we flew to Whitehorse where most of us convened at the bar before returning to Vancouver that evening. In retrospect, the Yukon is very well-endowed in mineral deposits and is undoubtedly one of the most pro-mining jurisdictions I have worked in. That said, the territory is remote with little infrastructure and a harsh climate. As with many mining locales worldwide, the mineral deposits of the Yukon generally require higher metals prices to be economically viable and attract capital for development. The 2016 Yukon Exploration and Mining Tour was a six day trip. Over four days our media group visited seven company projects that are among the best mineral deposits in the Yukon; attended a one-day conference in Dawson with these seven and an additional four exploration companies available for one-on-one meetings; and had a social calendar filled with good times and plenitudes of top notch food and drink shared with interesting and enjoyable company. The organization and logistics of the tour were superb from beginning to end. When a problem cropped up and whether big or small, a solution was soon found and implemented by the organizers. I sincerely thank the indefatigable Corey Kanzig of the Yukon Department of Economic Development and the ebullient Anne Lewis of the Yukon Mining Alliance for the opportunity to attend an informative tour. A good time was had by all. Ciao for now, Mickey Fulp Mercenary Geologist Mercenary Geologist Michael S. Mickey Fulp Contact@MercenaryGeologist.com The 6th annual Beaver Creek Precious Metals Summit, held September 14-16, 2016, has built itself into one of the worlds premiere mining investment conferences. This years event, double in size since its inception, had a refreshing theme that majors havent heard from their investors in a while, the smart money goes prospecting. Finally, junior explorers are seeing a resurgence of financial backing and investors who find the right projects for their portfolios, are setting themselves up for tremendous ROI opportunities. Unfortunately, the exploration sector has been a virtual ghost town for the last four years and many in the investment community who returned to the resources are facing a foreign landscape in terms of players and a changing slate of high-demand metals and minerals. What is minings elite up to? Ross Beaty During an engaging Keynote Presentation at the three-day event, investors found out just exactly where the smart money was prospecting. Bob Quartermain, Chairman and CEO of Pretium Resources, sat with two other precious metals icons, Ross Beaty, Chairman of Pan American Silver, and Dr. Tom Kaplan, Chairman and CEO of the Electrum Group, to talk about where they were playing and what they thought might lead the next mining trends. Ross Beaty was bullish on both copper and silver but said China would play a key role in their success as its giant economy had maintained a tremendous appetite for metals for at least the last ten years. He wasnt looking at copper in the near-term as many projects are now coming online, but mid-term, with the advancement of the alternative energy era, Beaty saw tremendous potential for copper as well as silver. Beaty was also positive about the sector in general, We had a really good run that was followed by a classic bear market pull back in 2011, and here we are getting ready for another run and theres a million reasons for it. If you have to get your investment off the table, dont sell everything and dont go out and buy zinc or lithium. Precious metals, like gold and silver are good, and theyre going to stay good for a long, long time. Thomas Kaplan Further into the presentation, Dr. Kaplan revealed his investment style in stating that he tends to be deliberately early to establish the positions he wants so when things heat up, hes not competing, Im not a deal junky. True to his creedo, Kaplans October 2015 investment in Kaminak Gold and its high-grade Coffee gold project located in Alaska, gave Electrum a 10.3% in the junior. Proving great minds thing alike, Ross Beaty and Lukas Lundins Zebra Holdings also had significant stakes in Kaminak, giving this trio approximately 30% in the company. Ross and Lukas came in at $0.80 in April 2014 and then the previously mentioned investment was a $0.82 per share. Electrum then exercised warrants at $1.05 just 10 days before May 12, 2016 when Goldcorp announced it would acquire Kaminak for $520.0 million. The transaction valued each Kaminak share at $2.62. Forgive the phrase, but once again, Ross Beaty, Lukas Lundin and Dr. Tom Kaplan, struck gold with their investment dollar. Naturally, investors are keen to find out just where the Beatys and Kaplans of the world are loading up to position themselves for the coming run, need go no further than Southern Silver. Back in May 2015, Southern Silver (TSX.V: SSV) announced an earn-in agreement with the Electrum Group at the companys Cerro Las Minitas Property, a district-sized exploration project located in Durango, Mexico. Cerro is 100% owned and smack in the middle between the Avino Silver & Gold mine and Heclas San Sebastian. The Faja de Plata mineral belt is one of the most significant silver producing regions in the world, with current reserves/resources and historic production in excess of 3 billion ounces of silver. By November 2015, Electrum had completed an additional US$2.0 million tranche for an indirect 30% interest in the advanced-stage Ag-Pb-Zn project. Electrum was so pleased with the results of the 2015 exploration program, it even pledged to dig in further. Fueled by Electrums support, Southern Silver pushed forward and released a technical report for Cerro Las Minitas in May of this year which recorded an indicated resource at 36.53 million AgEq ounces and an inferred resource of 77.25 million AgEq ounces. The company is now carrying out the second phase of its the 2016 drill program. Lawrence Page, President discusses this at Colorados just-concluded Precious Metals Summit. Southern Silver has 82.1 million issued and outstanding shares with approximately 35 million of those in free float and a $40.0-million-dollar market cap. Its management team has a laundry list of successful track records including the development of such projects as Mexicos largest gold producer, the Penasquito gold project, the El Limon mine, and Snip, Eskay Creek and Mascot in BC, Canada. The company also has another project, the Oro located in New Mexico. This project hosts a large Laramide Cu-Au-Mo Porphyry system with adjacent near-surface, drill-ready gold targets. A 1,200 metre RC drill program is underway at the project. Dr. Kaplan is the first to point out that when you think of a mining magnate hes not the most likely candidate as a historian. Yet when silver had fallen 95% he recognized an imbalance and shifted his focus to the contrarian metal. He has a keen sense when the prevailing thesis does not correlate with the facts. This keen insight told him to start Leor Energy in the early 2000s contrary to the investment community. It wasnt long before he sold Leor for a $2.5 billion windfall. Electrum exited energy when oil was $140 a barrel and gold was at $650 an ounce. He has entrusted Larry Buchanan to be the Chief Geologist and President of Electrum Resources. Considering Dr. Kaplans investment tactics of getting in before anybody else and his success rate of doing just that, investors looking for the same ground-floor opportunities, may want to keep Southern Silver in their sights. However, in the end, always complete due diligence before making any investment decision. James McClelland www.tsxmedia.com * LME spreads make financing deals more attractive * Duty-paid European premiums at $105-$135/T * Japan spot surcharges at $70/T, may go lower * Singapore warehouse premiums rock bottom at $5-$10 By Eric Onstad and Yuka Obayashi LONDON/TOKYO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Surcharges for physical aluminium have stabilised in Europe and the United States as more attractive financing deals and firmer demand tighten the market, but those in Japan are vulnerable to sliding further due to a glut of supply. In all three regions, the surcharges, or premiums, which consumers pay on top of the London Metal Exchange cash price for immediate delivery, have steadily declined for most of the year, falling by around a third. A key driver of the decline has been more material released from LME warehouses after the exchange toughened regulations, forcing warehouses to cut queues to get delivery of metal. European premiums were quoted in a wide range at $105-$135 a tonne for duty-paid metal in Rotterdam, with the upper end of the range up about $10 in recent weeks but still well down from $160-$185 at the start of the year. LME aluminium spreads have made financing deals more lucrative, helping to siphon off some supply into warehouses, traders said. "Making money is difficult in this environment, but now that the contango has returned, more people are looking to buy metal (for financing deals)," one trader said. Forward prices have to be high enough versus nearby ones, in a strong contango, to make finance deals worthwhile, in which metal is sold forward at a profit and stored. The current cash/threes spread is a contango of $14.25 per tonne, compared to a contango of $7.75 in late-July and a backwardation of $3 in mid-April. Deals can fall apart when the market flips into backwardation - with nearby prices stronger than forward ones. U.S. DEMAND Surcharges in the United States have edged higher as demand improves, traders said. The CME's nearby Midwest premium contract was last trading at 6.03 cents per lb, edging up from 5.99 cents a week ago, but far away from 8.65 cents at the start of the year. "In America, they are using more and more aluminium for autos and for that they don't use recycled material as much," a trader said. ASIA MIRED AT LOWS In Japan, premiums have fallen to the lowest levels in more than seven years due to abundant supplies. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter set the benchmark for the region. Spot levels are around $70/tonne with some buyers having agreed to pay producers a premium of $75 per tonne for shipments in the October-December quarter, a 17 to 19 percent fall from the previous quarter. Other buyers are still negotiating with global smelters for quarterly shipments, with many seeking premiums in the low $70 a tonne range. "I don't feel that Japan aluminium premiums have hit the bottom yet, although they are not falling much either recently," a trader in Japan said. There was plenty of supply in Asia, not only in Japan but also in South Korea, Malaysia, India, China and the Middle East, he added. A trader in Europe said Middle Eastern producers see Asia as an attractive destination due to low freight charges. Elsewhere in Asia, premiums based on warrants in Singapore warehouses had slid to $5-$10 per tonne, down from $75 in January due to a glut of material, traders said. "We have reached rock bottom. I don't think we can go any lower," one said, also citing the Middle East as a main supplier. "It's been a feature of the market since June in particular." (Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne, editing by William Hardy) DENVER, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Inc's Veladero gold mine in Argentina could resume operations in the next two weeks, Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky said in an interview on Monday. "I am hopeful that it could be up and going in that kind of two-week window depending on how the reparation work goes," Dushnisky said. Barrick said last Thursday that mine operations were temporarily suspended by the Argentina government after a "small quantity" of processing solution containing cyanide leaked outside a processing area. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) * SSEC +0.6 pct, CSI300 +0.7 pct, HSI +0.8 pct * Business confidence among Chinese entrepreneurs pick up - survey * Chinese money continues to flow into HK via Connect SHANGHAI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - China stocks edged higher on Monday morning, as investors returning from the long Mid-Autumn Festival holiday drew optimism from surveys showing improving business confidence. Hong Kong shares also rose, despite lingering uncertainty around U.S. monetary policy, with an index tracking Chinese firms jumping roughly 2 percent on the back of money inflows from the mainland. China's blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.7 percent, to 3,262.07 points by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent, to 3,021.02 points. The People's Bank of China published surveys on Sunday showing business confidence among entrepreneurs in China had picked up for the second quarter in a row in 2016. Fu Xuejun, analyst at Huarong Securities, said that despite the apparent improvement in sentiment, there was limited room for the Chinese market to go up further due to uncertainty in the economy and global liquidity situations. "I don't see a strong recovery in the Chinese economy, but the global liquidity situation could be more challenging," he said, noting that a possible U.S. rate hike soon could stir global markets, bringing more volatility to domestic shares. Investors are counting down to the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meeting on Sept. 20-21, while the outcome of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting will be on Wednesday. But the Hong Kong market, which is more vulnerable to global market volatility, rose sharply on Monday, benefitting from continuous money flows from mainland China. The Hang Seng index added 0.8 percent, to 23,529.37 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.9 percent, to 9,778.71. Chinese investors spent 2.7 billion yuan ($404.9 million) buying Hong Kong shares on Monday morning via the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, as the recently popular cross-border channel reopened after a four-session suspension. Hong Kong's financial sector jumped, as China's yield-hungry investors continue to snap up shares in the city's listed lenders for their high dividend and low valuations. Nuclear power-related stocks in both China and Hong Kong markets were in the spotlight, after Britain gave the go-ahead for a $24 billion Chinese-backed nuclear power plant. Mainland-listed China Nuclear Engineering and SUFA Technology Industry Co Ltd both shot up 10 percent, the maximum allowed, while Hong Kong-listed CGN Power rose as much as 4.7 percent. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ China stock market graphics suite ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Samuel Shen and John Ruwitch; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) * Global investors sees Japan as "cyclical market" * Need for downside protection rising ahead of US election * Mid-cap domestics, REITs may fare well By Tomo Uetake TOKYO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Japanese equities are vulnerable to global political risks because overseas investors essentially see Japan as one of the most sensitive markets to global growth concerns and swings in sentiment, a Japan-focused fund-manager said. As Japan could take the brunt of a U.S. rate hike and possible rising protectionism after the U.S. presidential election, the Dutch hedge fund Pelargos Capital is focusing more on mid-cap stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs) with less exposure to the global macro factors. "Japan is very much exposed to sentiment of foreign investors coming in and out of the markets," Richard Dingemans, Pelargos chief executive officer, told Reuters. "Many of them don't really care about company-specific fundamentals. If the global economy is good, they buy Japan -they buy the Nikkei futures and they don't worry about anything else. Japan is just a cyclical market." Many global investors use the Nikkei as a proxy for bets on global economy, especially at a time of crisis, because the Japanese market opens first and offers liquidity that many other markets cannot match. The day Brexit became a reality was a good example, Dingemans says. As early voting results came in, his co-manager sold the Nikkei futures heavily to protect their exposure. Noting the need for adequate downside protection, Dingemans said Pelargos had bought out-of-the-money put options to get over the U.S. election because "at some point, the market will start pricing in the neck-to-neck race and will become nervous about Donald Trump". Dingemans said, although there were a few large caps they like for company specific reasons, their "long book" had a lot of exposure towards mid-cap domestics and REITs, which are less exposed to global macro factors and swings in sentiment. "I think there are more value in mid cap stocks - and less earnings volatility and less risk of big downward share price moves." Pelargos Capital, based in The Hague, had 220 million euro ($246 million) in assets under management as of Aug. 31. ($1 = 0.8943 euros) (Reporting by Tomo Uetake; Editing by Alison Williams) Mandalay Resumes Operations At Cerro Bayo Mandalay Resources Corp. (TSX: MND) reports that mining operations have resumed at the Cerro Bayo underground silver-gold mine in Aysen, Chile. The company previously suspended operations after the death of a contractor in an underground incident on Sept. 10. Mining operations returned to normal in all areas, excluding around the location where the accident occurred on Sept. 10, 2016, while investigations continue, Mandalay says. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Charlie Sartain Named To Goldcorp Board Of Directors Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G, NYSE: GG) announces the appointment of Charlie Sartain to the board of directors, effective Jan. 1. He is a mining engineer with over 30 years of mining experience. Previously, he was the chief executive officer of Xstrata's global copper business. Under his nine-year tenure, the business became one of the world's leading copper producers with mining operations and projects spanning seven countries. "His technical knowledge and operational experience will be invaluable as we continue to optimize our portfolio and advance our organic pipeline," says Ian Telfer, chairman of the Board of Goldcorp. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news (Repeats to attach to headline) SYDNEY, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Australian Securities Exchange said it will open as normal on Tuesday after a technology glitch in the previous session disrupted trading. A hardware failure in its main database on Monday meant opening was delayed by more than an hour and cut short the afternoon trading by about 90 minutes. But in a statement of its website, the ASX said trading on its equity market would open on Tuesday as normal, to the relief of the market. "One suspects that there will be an air of relief and many will be pleased that the technical glitch happened on a day where corporate news flow was limited and the leads from Wall Street were as flat as you will ever see," said Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist, IG Markets. "That subdued volatility, however, may change this week with the (Bank of Japan) and (U.S. Federal Reserve) meeting dictating that the exchange simply needs to be open, which I am sure it will as these issues happen, but as long as we know it won't happen again then confidence is not materially lost." (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Sandra Maler) (Updates to include market open, shares and quotes from traders) SYDNEY, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Australian Securities Exchange opened without any incident on Tuesday after Australia's corporate watchdog said it will examine the technology glitch, which heavily disrupted the previous trading session. "It is a welcome relief after yesterday's two disruptions," Credit Suisse equity strategist Damien Boey told Reuters after Tuesday's open. The S&P/ASX 200 was down in early trade, but recovered to be almost unchanged at 0030 GMT, as traders look overseas for direction, ahead of crucial central bank meetings in the United States and Japan. "Realistically, we were not really expecting the market to do much ahead of those things," Boey added. A hardware failure at the ASX main database on Monday caused opening to be delayed by more than an hour and cut short afternoon trading by about 90 minutes. [nL3N1BV0AF] Before Tuesday's open, the ASX confirmed in a statement that the issue was resolved. Investors brushed off the incident with shares in ASX Ltd barely changed during early trade. But Australia's corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which regulates the stock exchange, said it will closely examine Monday's shutdown. "From time to time we see glitches in markets and we will work with the ASX to inquire into that," an ASIC spokesman said in a telephonic conversation. Monday's shutdown was the most serious glitch for the exchange ever since the bourse shut for four hours in October 2011 due to a connectivity issue. "It is important infrastructure for Australia and it is not acceptable that it goes down like that, really, that's the cold reality of the situation," said Andrew Green, chief executive, Stockbrokers Association of Australia. "Brokers are rightly quite frustrated about it. They have lost income, they have lost three-quarters of a day's income and across the industry. That's a lot of money to a lot of people and that's frustrating." (Reporting by Colin Packham and Tom Westbrook; Editing by Sandra Maler and Sherry Jacob-Phillips) HANOI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0518 GMT. Sept 19 Sept 16 USD/VND mid-point 21,959 21,956 USD/VND interbank 22,312/22,317 22,275/22,340 USD/VND unofficial 22,310/33,325 22,300/22,310 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 35.99/36.26 35.94/36.21 Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.4-0.8 0.4-0.8 1 week 0.4-0.9 0.4-1.0 1 month 1.7-2.4 1.7-2.4 3 months 3.3-4.2 3.3-4.2 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) South Africa higher education minister recommends 8 pct cap on tuition fee hikes CAPE TOWN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - South Africa has recommended that 2017 university tuition fee increases be capped at 8 percent, the higher education minister said on Monday, amid growing student protests at the rising costs of education. "Our recommendation is that fee adjustments should not go above 8 percent," Blade Nzimande told a news conference. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Ed Stoddard) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news SHARE By Tad Sooter of the Kitsap Sun BAINBRIDGE ISLAND The former headquarters of American Marine Bank in Winslow changed hands at the end of August, selling to an island businessman for $3.65 million. George Lobisser, a longtime Bainbridge resident, said he purchased the 249 Winslow Way East property from Columbia Bank with an eye toward a long-term office rental investment. "Fundamentally I bought this building because it's a great piece of real estate," Lobisser said. "I think it's the nicest building on Winslow Way." The sprawling structure has long been a landmark on the island's main street. Built in the 1940s, it served as the headquarters of Bainbridge Island Bank, rebranded in 1970 as American Marine Bank. The homegrown bank expanded beyond the island's shores over the decades, opening a dozen branches. But like many financial institutions, American Marine was crippled by the recession. Regulators shuttered the bank in 2009. Columbia Bank scooped up American Marine's assets, including the Winslow branch. The Tacoma-based bank opened offices in a portion of the building, leaving much of the space empty. Lobisser, who spent 37 years commuting to Seattle while working in the agricultural chemical industry, became interested in office space on the island after founding a startup in Winslow. The Columbia Bank building wasn't on the market at the time, but Kelly Muldrow of Windermere was able to arrange a deal. "It occurred to me that most banks who acquire property through a distressed situation eventually want to sell them," Muldrow said. Lobisser hopes to find one large tenant to fill the space but could reconfigure the building to fit more. The tightening office rental market should make landing tenants easier, Muldrow said. "Most office vacancies are gone now and rates are climbing back up," he said. The building's World War II-era architecture, which Muldrow described as a "mix of maritime and other styles," also will be a draw. Lobisser said he was impressed by the quality of construction. "I think it's every bit as nice as what you'd find in Seattle," he said. @dpfdpf Read this and tell me why I shouldnt break his little legs. https://t.co/nhP49si9wF Rachel Stewart (@RFStew) September 17, 2016 So (now former see update below) Fairfax columnist Rachel Stewart is openly boasting that she wants to break my legs and meet me in a dark alley. She emphasizes she isnt kidding. My crime was to critique her views that we should reduce the dairy herd by 80% and that no one would be eating meat in 10 years time. I never attacked her personally in any way I just criticized her policies and predictions. She seems to object to some of the comments on Kiwiblog and thinks this justifies her violent outbursts. Never mind that I of course do not see or read the vast majority of the 1.8 million comments on Kiwiblog and there is a well utilised procedure for people to complain about comments they think should be removed. Every week and sometimes every day I deal with complaints about comments from people who bother to use the process. The real irony is that Rachel Stewart got a lot of publicity when she had threats of violence against her (which I condemned at the time). However she thinks that it is fine for her to be the one making the threats. Is this irony or hypocrisy? Stuff reported at the time: Stewart said she accepted people would disagree with her or criticise her work, and she welcomed robust debate. However, responses of an overtly sexual or derogatory nature abusing individuals were offensive and unnecessary. And all I did was critique her policy proposal and prediction. And her response was to abuse me and threaten violence against me. Stewart said she was appalled that several prominent members of Federated Farmers and Dairy NZ favourited or retweeted crude comments. Dairy NZ did not respond to questions. And 14 people have favourited her threats of violence against me. Again the hypocrisy is rather over whelming. Does Fairfax endorse the actions of their columnist in making threats of violence? Will they take action? Will her threats against me be reported on as the threats against her? Note that I have not enabled comments for this post in case this becomes a Police matter. UPDATE: The Taranaki Daily News informs me that by coincidence (or possibly not) that Rachel Stewarts last column for them was the 14th of September and she was no longer a columnist for them when she tweeted her threats of violence. This may explain why she thinks she can now make such threats without consequences. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr You can now donate to Kiwiblog The Brisbane Times reports: Wells Fargo will pay $US185 million ($240 million) to resolve claims that bank employees opened deposit and credit-card accounts without customers approval to satisfy sales goals and earn financial rewards, US regulators said. The lender opened more than 2 million accounts that consumers may not have known about, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement on Thursday. Wells Fargo, which fired 5300 employees over the improper sales practices, agreed to pay a $US100 million fine to the CFPB, $US35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $US50 million to the Los Angeles city attorney to settle the matter. The San Francisco-based bank also will compensate customers who incurred fees or charges, the agencies said. 5,300 employees were sacked for doing this! Did they have any honest employees? They set upo two million accounts for customers that were not requested! Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorised accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses, CFPB director Richard Cordray said in his agencys statement. Because of the severity of these violations, Wells Fargo is paying the largest penalty the CFPB has ever imposed. The bank agreed to resolve the allegations without admitting or denying the agencies accusations, and said in a statement that it had set aside $US5 million for customer remediation. We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request, Wells Fargo said in its statement. If I was in the US, that would be one bank I would never bank with. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Stuff reports: Political skulduggery has again rocked the council chamber in Marlborough as lawyers are called in to investigate a secret recording of a committee meeting leaked to a right-wing blog. The leak to Whale Oil could see heads roll at the council, as councillors who attended the meeting are made to front up on Monday. A recording of a tense behind closed doors discussion about the cash-strapped ASB Theatre was published on the blog site on Friday. Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman said the post was a clear attack on mayoral frontrunner Leggett, after a very successful attack on Sowman himself. A petition and poll about the theatre project appeared on social media in June, which Sowman believed were intended to discredit him. Sowman also came under attack from Whale Oil in July, with the blog running a photograph of him with a superimposed pigs snout. Fridays leak discredited both the council and the community, he said. Theres been nothing like this in Marlborough politics in my memory. Someone was working to derail Leggetts mayoralty bid, Sowman said. Leggett would not speculate as to who was behind the leak, but said he was disappointed. We have a situation now where councillors cant wholeheartedly trust their colleagues, he said. On the leaked recording, Leggett was highly critical of the financial management of the theatre. Whale Oil said Leggetts public support for the theatre contrasted with his private opinions. Garrett Thomson of Dogwood Arts, left, presents ideas to local entrepreneurs during the Knoxville Maker City Summit Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Mill and Mine, 227 W. Depot Ave. At right is emcee Brent Thompson of Sugarlands Distilling Co. The summit is the kick-off of Innov865 Week which is aimed at connecting startup businesses with sources of expertise and capital. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Dana Mauriello of Etsy, standing at right, takes part in a brainstorming session with local entrepreneurs Laurel Kiewitt, left, Crystal Lynn Sharp, and Kathy Seely during the Knoxville Maker City Summit Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Mill and Mine, 227 W. Depot Ave. The summit kicks off Innov865 Week which is focused on connecting startup businesses with sources of expertise and capital. Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade items, has named Knoxville one of 13 Etsy Maker Cities, places that support micro-entrepreneurs. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Joakim Lovegrove, 4, generates some artistic ideas of his own during the Knoxville Maker City Summit Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Mill and Mine, 227 W. Depot Ave. He attended the summit with his mother, Holly Lovegrove, proprietor of Love's Beauty lipstick. The summit kicks off Innov865 Week which is focused on connecting startup businesses with sources of expertise and capital. Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade items, has named Knoxville one of 13 Etsy Maker Cities, places that support micro-entrepreneurs. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero introduces local entrepreneurs during the Knoxville Maker City Summit Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Mill and Mine, 227 W. Depot Ave. The summit is the kick off of Innov865 Week which is aimed at connecting startup businesses with sources of expertise and capital. Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade items, has named Knoxville one of 13 Etsy Maker Cities, places that support micro-entrepreneurs. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Emcee Brent Thompson of Sugarlands Distilling Co., second from right, talks to local entrepreneurs Laurence Eaton, left, Lesley Eaton, and Alison McQuain during the Knoxville Maker City Summit Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, at the Mill and Mine, 227 W. Depot Ave. The summit is the kick off of Innov865 Week which is aimed at connecting startup businesses with sources of expertise and capital. (PAUL EFIRD/NEWS SENTINEL) Related Photos Photos: Entrepreneurs meet at the Knoxville Maker City Summit By Ali James of the Knoxville News Sentinel "Four months ago, three Knoxvillians ventured to New York City to be a part of the Etsy Maker Cities Summit," said David Harman. The creator of "Native Maps" attended the summit with Nanci Solomon, owner of Rala, and Joy O'Shell, outreach director at the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center. "We listened to other cities talk about their successes and struggles, and it became clear that we needed to listen to our city." A month later they returned to Knoxville and formed @makeknox. On Monday, as a result of their tenaciousness, over 300 makers and city officials filled The Mill & Mine for the inaugural Knoxville Maker City Summit. The organizers' goal was to talk about the successes and needs of the maker community in Knoxville, at this free event. While 13 cities were selected to attend the Etsy Maker Cities Summit in May, not all 13 have officially been named Etsy Maker Cities yet. To do so, they need to execute their project plans from the summit and receive an official letter of recognition from Etsy. At 1 p.m., Mayor Madeline Rogero officially designated Knoxville an Etsy Maker City. Since this was an event for creative people, they decided to eschew the typical ribbon-cutting. Instead, a metal sign spelling the word "Make" was added to the giant reclaimed wood "Knox" sign on the stage. "Etsy Maker Cities champion a new model of economic prosperity, one that puts people at the center of commerce, and empowers people to build creative businesses on their own terms," said Althea Erickson, Senior Director of Global Policy at Etsy. "This past May, the Knoxville Action Team enthusiastically rolled up their sleeves in Brooklyn, N.Y., collaborating and sharing their valuable insights with fellow participants at the Etsy Maker Cities Summit. We were thrilled to see them walk away inspired to host a city-specific summit of their own to unite the maker community in Knoxville. "With the introduction of Mayor Rogero's Maker's Council," added Erickson, "the Knoxville Action Team has further ensured that the city's micro-entrepreneurs have a voice in local government, skillfully bringing the vision of an Etsy Maker City to life here in Knoxville." Two Etsy representatives formally handed Rogero, Solomon, Harman and O'Shell hand-crafted plaques in recognition for their hard work. Alaina Smith, creator of handmade accessories, "Cold Gold," along with Solomon, Harman and O'Shell met once or twice a week for general event planning to shape the event. "We wanted to define what the questions were," said Smith. "And find ways to ask those questions of our maker community and small manufacturers." "We really are trying to pull in the local maker community," she added. "I went to a Greenville, South Carolina maker summit, but there wasn't a ton about their local maker community." With the exception of the two Etsy representatives, the event's participants are local makers, local maker space owners and city officials. "We are really trying to focus on pulling the maker community out from the shadows," said Smith. "Being a good connector for a web of resources. We often work from home, but like when you pull the thread of a sweater everybody is coming out." The organizers have been overwhelmed by support in the lead-up to the event. "We were originally thinking of 150 people, but with no marketing we had over 200 people sign up right away." Just days before the event 300 participants were confirmed for the event with many more wait-listed. The Knoxville Entrepreneur Center has been an integral part of the team, donating resources and time to get the event off the ground. The summit, emceed by Brent Thompson of Sugarlands Distilling Co., featured discussions about public policy and the local maker movement, talks from Rogero and official representatives from Etsy, as as well as panel discussions with local business owners, maker city brainstorming, breakaway and feedback sessions. There were keynotes on "What is a Maker City?" from Etsy's Ilyssa Meyer and "What is Creative Manufacturing?" from Etsy's Dana Mauriello. Topics up for discussion in small groups included, "What is a Maker City?" and creative manufacturing as well as monitored panel discussions on:(re)defining maker spaces, surviving as a newbie business and creative manufacturing. The event at The Mill & Mine wrapped up with a Meet Your Maker meet-up over Saw Works Brewing Company craft beer and cocktails from Sugarlands Distilling Co. Those makers included: KnoxMakers, Retropolitan Craft Fair, Cold Gold Jewelry, Native Maps, the Central Collec-tive, Striped Light, KCHST. An afterparty was scheduled to follow the summit, around the corner at the Knoxville Public House. During the first hour of the event, HGTV set up a "Maker Video Booth" to allow makers a chance to show and tell their maker story in three minutes. Michele Purcell and Mariah Angott were on hand from Scripps Networks to interview local makers in front of a green screen. "I described what I want for the future of my blog," said Rachel Swartz. She produces her blog trailertrashtreasuretrove.com in addition to being a portrait artist and illustrator. "I came today to network, help build up the community and see what resources are out there." Participants were encouraged to stand in front of a large map of Knoxville from Native Maps and snap a selfie, as well as tweet, Snapchat, post on Instagram and Facebook or spread the word through any form of social media using the tag #Knoxmakersummit. Krispy Kreme is giving away glazed doughnuts for "Talk Like a Pirate Day" on Monday. PIRATE'S PLUNDER Today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and Krispy Kreme will celebrate with one free original glazed doughnut to customers who talk like a pirate. Folks who dress like a pirate will receive one dozen original glazed doughnuts (pirate costumes must include three pirate items). Info: www.krispykreme.com/PirateDay OPERA PREVIEW Members of the Knoxville Opera Company preview the upcoming season at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, at Pellissippi State Community College's Hardin Valley campus. Performers will highlight selections from the opera's upcoming shows at the Clayton Performing Arts Center. Forestry consultant Dr. Gary Schneider, left, and John Innes, executive director of Partners of the Cherokee National Forest, hold two copies of a map of all of the outdoor venues in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina at Northshore Park on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. 11 government agencies and volunteer groups from Tennessee and North Carolina worked together to put the map together. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Forestry consultant Dr. Gary Schneider and John Innes, executive director of Partners of the Cherokee National Forest, hold two copies of a map of all of the outdoor venues in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina at Northshore Park on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. 11 government agencies and volunteer groups from Tennessee and North Carolina worked together to put the map together. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Forestry consultant Dr. Gary Schneider, left, and John Innes, executive director of Partners of the Cherokee National Forest, hold two copies of a map of all of the outdoor venues in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina at Northshore Park on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. 11 government agencies and volunteer groups from Tennessee and North Carolina worked together to put the map together. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Executive director of Partners of the Cherokee National Forest, hold a copy of a map of all of the outdoor venues in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina at Northshore Park on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. 11 government agencies and volunteer groups from Tennessee and North Carolina worked together to put the map together. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) By Steve Ahillen, Special to the News Sentinel For John Innes, putting this little map together was a big deal. The free outdoor recreation map that will be made available to the public Oct. 1 "connects the dots" by showing all of the forests, parks and scenic byways throughout East Tennessee and western North Carolina some 3 million acres of public land. "There was a map like this available at welcome centers and such that was done about 15 years ago and never done again," said Innes, executive director of Partners of Cherokee National Forest. "We found that people were looking for copies of this map. We thought, 'Gosh, we have a hundred maps of different places, how come people keep asking for this one?' It was because this map had the whole overview." That map, put together by the national park and forest services, is now outdated and nearly unavailable. So, Innes has made a new map, but he has had plenty of help, and that is where a bigger story is told. A combination of 12 government agencies and outdoor-related organizations in two states worked together on the project teamwork that is quite an accomplishment. "We landed 11 or 12 big fish in our little boat," Innes said. "It's hard when every agency is constantly trying to do an important, difficult mission of stretching their few and fewer dollars to keep up with their current mission. It asks a lot to ask them to help in this side project. But we sent out invitations to everyone in November for a meeting in Newport (Tenn.) to sit around the table and talk about this. Everyone we invited showed up." "Anytime you can get all of these groups to collaborate on a project, it's a great thing," said Dave Jones, regional director of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and a member of the project group. The list includes the Cherokee National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, Tennessee State Parks, North Carolina State Parks, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, Visit North Carolina, Partners of the Cherokee National Forest, Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretive Association, Great Smoky Mountains Association and Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. "This was something new," Innes said. "Most said, 'It is against our mission to participate in something in which 90 percent of the content is not devoted to our state,' but they made an exception here." Representatives were divided into six task groups, such as graphic design or promotion, with two leaders for each group. "It was a good idea to have two leaders because you never knew when someone was going to be called away to fight a forest fire in California," Innes said. In making the map, Innes had much help from Logan Free, an intern with Cherokee National Forest and an expert in geographic information system (GIS) mapping. The map, which can fold to business envelope size and roll out to 22 inches by 17 inches, shows various places like Frozen Head State Park and the Nantahala National Forest. It is meant as a driving map and displays roads to the locations, but only the most major hiking routes like the Appalachian Trail. "The assets of the region are amazing," Jones said. "You have the Cherokee National Forest, two of the three best white-water places around, the Appalachian Trail, the Cherohala Skyway, the Great Smoky Mountains there is just so much here." Innes realizes that in the computer age it is easy enough to call up the same information available on the map on a smartphone, but the phone service can be spotty in some of these locations. A total of 50,000 maps were printed, of which 25,000 are being distributed to be available at state line welcome centers and other tourist information outlets with another 25,000 held for future distribution. To see a copy of the map visit http://recreationlinks.org/. U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander talks about public policy during a meeting of the News Sentinel editorial board on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, at the News Sentinel office. (Paul Efird/News Sentinel) SHARE By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel WASHINGTON Concerned by skyrocketing premiums and fewer coverage options, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and other Senate Republicans are pushing to give more choices to Americans who buy health insurance through one of the marketplaces set up under the Affordable Care Act. The legislation wouldn't permanently fix what's ailing the 2010 law, informally known as Obamacare, Alexander said. But it could provide temporary relief for millions of Americans who in November will begin buying their insurance for next year. "If the market is collapsing in our face, we need a solution for the year 2017," said Alexander, a Maryville Republican and chairman of the Senate committee that oversees health care issues. "This is a solution for that." The bill, introduced last Wednesday by Alexander and seven other Republicans, would give states authority to temporarily let residents use their Obamacare subsidies to buy a health plan of their choice for 2017, even if it's available outside an Affordable Care Act marketplace. States that exercise that authority would receive a one-year exemption from an Obamacare provision requiring people to buy a specific plan or pay a fine of up to $2,000 per year. Alexander says such steps are necessary, given the turbulence in the health-insurance market. Just last month, insurance giant Aetna announced that next year it will pull out of the federal online marketplace HealthCare.gov in most states where the exchange operates. Around the same time, Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak declared the federal exchange in the state "very near collapse" and signed off on large premium increases that she said were necessary to keep it in business. Cigna was given permission to boost its rates an average 46.3 percent. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee was granted an average 62 percent increase. The problem stretches far beyond Tennessee, Alexander said. Come November, nearly one-third of the nation's counties will have only one insurer to choose from on state-based exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, he said. "This is an immediate problem in our state and the whole country," Alexander said. "Premiums are skyrocketing. Insurance companies are leaving, and families are being left with one choice for insurance." President Barack Obama's administration argues Tennesseans are benefiting from the Affordable Care Act. New census data shows that just 10.3 percent of Tennesseans went uninsured in 2015, down from 14.4 percent in 2010. That means 266,000 more Tennesseans had health coverage in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The average family premium in Tennessee was $2,100 lower in 2015 than it would have been had premiums grown at the same rate as in the decade before the Affordable Care Act, the White House Council of Economic Advisers says. What's more, hospital readmissions for Tennessee Medicare beneficiaries dropped 8.7 percent between 2010 and 2015, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That drop translates into 2,905 times Tennessee Medicare beneficiaries avoided an unnecessary return to the hospital, the agency said. "Affordability, access and quality are how we measure success in our health care system," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a recent news release. "Tennessee is making progress on all three under the Affordable Care Act." Making the case that Obamacare is working requires "a vivid imagination," Alexander said. But getting his legislation passed in time to help Americans buying next year's health insurance will take some ingenuity. Congress will be in recess all through October and won't be back in session until after the November election, right around the time most Americans will begin shopping for insurance for 2017. Passing the bill in that time frame "will be hard to do," Alexander said. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try." Michael Collins is the News Sentinel's Washington correspondent. His weekly Tennessee in D.C. column highlights Volunteer State lawmakers, causes and connections. Contact him at 703-854-8927 or mcollins2@gannett.com. SHARE Lamar Alexander Bob Corker By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE Tennessee U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker both have 51 percent approval ratings among their constituents, according to national poll on the popularity of all 100 U.S. senators by Morning Consult. Alexander had a 30 percent disapproval rating; Corker was at 29 percent. The Tennesseans thus avoided listing among the top 10 most popular senators among their constituents as well as the 10 least popular. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat who unsuccessfully sought his party's presidential nomination, was rated as the most popular senator among voters within the represented state with an 87 percent approval rating, followed by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine with 69 percent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had the highest disapproval rating with 51 percent. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has soured with Silver State voters and is now the third-least popular senator, with a 43 percent disapproval rating. That's up two spots from earlier this year. Corker slow down: Corker and fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are pushing for a delay in an expected vote to override President Barack Obama's promised veto of a bill authorizing families of the 9/11 terrorist attack to file lawsuits against the government of Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg News. Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a delay would give senators more time to consider the whether the lawsuit authorization would "backfire on us" because "once we create the opportunity for U.S. citizens to sue another government we also open the door for the same thing to happen to us." The bill was approved by both the House and Senate by wide margins and White House spokesman Josh Earnest has said Obama will veto it, though he hasn't said when the veto will occur. Corker told Bloomberg last week he hopes the veto will come after "a couple months' cooling period takes place," and perhaps leading to consideration of revisions to the legislation. "Unless the White House offers a solution that appropriately addresses both sovereign immunity issues and the concerns of 9/11 families, the veto override will likely be overwhelming," Corker told the News Sentinel on Monday. Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who also heads subcommittee that writes the spending bill for U.S. embassies and diplomatic programs, said he wants to "buy some time here" to "make the bill more palatable but also be in the interest of the families." Rep. Jeremy Durham looks through papers at his desk in the House Chambers during a special session Tuesday Sept. 13, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV, The Tennessean) By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel Jeremy Durham told Nashville TV stations that he "probably" will file a lawsuit challenging the proceedings and expects the "party environment" at the Legislature to tone down because of his plight. In days following the vote, Durham gave interviews to four Nashville TV stations and in all cases said he's likely to file a lawsuit, contending that his ouster violated both the state and federal constitutions though adding he might change his mind. He also declared other legislators have been part of a party atmosphere at times including consumption of alcohol and, in one case, smoking marijuana and that other male lawmakers have engaged in flirtatious behavior with women comparable to his own actions. Durham's activities led to a state attorney general's investigative report made part of the legislative record as part of Tuesday's proceedings, which means it can be appropriately referenced in any subsequent lawsuit declaring he had inappropriate "sexual interactions" with 22 women staffers, lobbyist and interns. He contends this was all "anonymous hearsay" and mostly untrue, specifically denying that he served alcohol to a 20-year-old intern in his office, then had sex with her. While conceding that some of his own activities were inappropriate, he suggested they were not out of line with overall culture in the Legislature. "I don't know that it was necessary a sexually harassing environment. I think it was more of a partying environment," he told WSMV-TV, which perhaps had the most extensive interview. In that interview, Durham specifically named two fellow Williamson County Republicans, House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada and House Finance Committee Chairman Charles Sargent, who both voted to expel Durham. He said Casada had hugged women at the Legislative Plaza and that Sargent kissed women on the lips. "I've watched him (Sargent) kiss women on the mouth in Legislative Plaza. But I can't even, like, send a remotely flirtatious text message," Durham said. Sargent said the claim is false, though he has occasionally given women friends a peck on the cheek or a hug when greeting them. "I don't know where this young man is coming from," Sargent told the station. "I feel sorry for him. We have a young man whose life is falling apart." Casada had a similar response: "I understand he's hurting and he's angry. I wish the best for him . I hug women at church. I hug women at the Capitol. I hug men. I think hugging is proper, if done correctly." Durham did not name the legislator who "admitted to me" smoking marijuana "at the capitol." WSMV-TV said he did name some lawmakers who "regularly drink in their office" he suggested there was a "daily happy hour" at one location but the station did not report those names, adding the lawmakers could not be reached for comment. Other stations interviewing Durham were WKRN, WTVF and WZTV. In all, he conceded to making some mistakes but insisted none of them that had any validity warranted his ouster and were comparable to behavior of some other legislators. "A lot of the allegations though, if you look at what they're saying, most of it is like 'He asked me to get a beer.' That's most of the allegations," Durham told WKRN. "If getting a beer is all it takes, then we need to expel a lot of the General Assembly, not just me." Durham also said his experience may change the atmosphere. "I think they'll be on better behavior now that this has happened," he said, adding that his own behavior has changed by giving up consumption of alcohol. Insofar as a potential lawsuit goes, Durham said he believes the ouster did not provide "due process" as required by the U.S. Constitution and also violated a provision of the Tennessee Constitution that says that legislators meeting in a special session as the case last week can conduct "no legislative business" not specifically authorized by the governor in calling a special session. At several points during the legislative debate, proponents of expelling Durham said the former House majority whip had ample opportunities to answer allegations against him providing him with "due process" but chose not to take advantage of those opportunities. House leaders say the state Constitutional provision was not violated, noting that the document also grants the House exclusive rights to decide on discipline of a member including expulsion for "disorderly behavior" and contending the ouster vote was a "procedural matter" that involved only the House. Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, noted at one point that the constitutional phrase "legislative business" would necessarily include only issues involving both the House and Senate, while Durham's expulsion involved only the House. Of the 70 votes to expel Durham, 48 came from Republicans and 22 from Democrats. A two-thirds majority, or 66 votes, was necessary for ousting him under rules of the 99-member body. During the debate, Democratic Reps. Bo Mitchell and Sherry Jones, both of Nashville, were at different points cut off from continuing their commentary by House Speaker Beth Harwell ruling them out of order. Mitchell pointed to a portion of the report on Durham that says a woman legislator friendly toward Durham identified only as "Rep. Jane Doe 33" sought transfer of a female legislative staffer who had been "hanging out" with Durham. Mitchell declared that "other members who are in here (during the legislative debate) are culpable" and further investigation is needed. Jones wanted to ask further questions of Durham after he had left the proceedings. After Jones was shut off, Rep. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville, rose to protest and was in turn declared out of order at the urging of House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga. A day later, that led to a House floor exchange between Gilmore, who is also chair of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, and McCormick. Gilmore began by saying she had wanted to speak Tuesday because "I was just offended by the way she (Jones) was treated, being a female colleague." "That was a very patronizing and, I thought, a very demeaning way to devalue women," Gilmore said. "This type of attitude perpetuates the culture that may have contributed to our colleague who has been alleged to have sexually harassed women." McCormick's response: "That is one of the silliest statements I have ever heard in my 12 years in the House of Representatives. Not only was my mother a woman, all three of my sisters were women. Both of my daughters I have no sons are women. And my wife is a woman. That had nothing to do with anyone being a woman." Instead, McCormick said, he objected because Gilmore was making comments at the inappropriate time under House rules. The proper time, he said, was during the period designated for "personal orders," when legislators can say basically anything they want, rather than when debate is limited to a particular matter under discussion. "We're now in personal orders. You can make all kinds of personal insults toward me if you want to. I don't care. Go for it," said McCormick. Gilmore did not have a follow-up comment. But Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, noted McCormick's "go for it" remark and declared he would do so. Hardaway said "I love our majority leader" (Hardaway, noting McCormick's "go for it" remark, then stood to say "I love our majority leader" but that he basically agrees with Gilmore, adding "We still have a hostile environment up here" in dealing with women generally. Senators approval rating Tennessee U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker both have 51 percent approval ratings among their constituents, according to national poll on the popularity of all 100 U.S. senators by Morning Consult. Alexander had a 30 percent disapproval rating; Corker was at 29 percent. The Tennesseans thus avoided listing among the top ten most popular senators among their constituents as well as the ten least popular. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat who unsuccessfully sought his party's presidential nomination, was rated as the most popular senator among voters within the represented state with an 87 percent approval rating, followed by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine with 69 percent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had the highest disapproval rating at 51 percent, with Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) second with 43 percent disapproval. corker seeks vote delay Corker and fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are pushing for a delay in an expected vote to override President Barack Obama's promised veto of a bill authorizing families of the 9/11 terrorist attack to file lawsuits against the government of Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg News. Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a delay would give senators more time to consider whether the lawsuit authorization would "backfire on us" because "once we create the opportunity for U.S. citizens to sue another government, we also open the door for the same thing to happen to us." The bill was approved by both the House and Senate by wide margins and White House spokesman Josh Earnest has said Obama will veto it, though he hasn't said when the veto will occur. Corker told Bloomberg he hopes the veto will come after "a couple-months cooling period takes place," and perhaps leading to consideration of revisions to the legislation. "Having some time go by could end up causing some constructive things to occur," Corker said. "Might not, but I'm certain that by next Friday (probable day of Senate adjournment until after the November elections) that won't happen." Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who also heads subcommittee that writes the spending bill for U.S. embassies and diplomatic programs, said he wants to "buy some time here" to "make the bill more palatable but also be in the interest of the families." In this photo taken Feb. 3, 2015, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, speaks at a forum in Nashville. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) By Mike Reicher, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee Tennessee politicians received more than $1.6 million in campaign contributions over the past decade from pharmaceutical companies and other members of the Pain Care Forum, a coalition that meets monthly to discuss opioid-related issues. An investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity examined the industrys influence at statehouses around the nation. About $560,000 went to Tennessee state candidates and state political parties, and more than $1 million went to those running for federal office. Since 2006, Tennessee legislators have introduced at least 41 bills that dealt with opioids, about half of which passed. Here are the top five current Tennessee lawmakers who received the industry money from 2006 through 2015, according to a Tennessean analysis of data from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville: $24,025 The outgoing lieutenant governor, Ramsey was seen as one of the most influential figures in state government whose support or opposition could easily determine the fate of bills. As speaker of the Senate since 2007, though, he could not introduce his own legislation. The pharma money, he said, was a drop in the bucket in his campaign coffers. And its influence on his votes? None whatsoever. Rep. Charles Sargent, Jr., R-Franklin: $16,425 In 2010, Sargent sponsored a bill that authorized physicians to refer workers' compensation patients for pain management treatment and limited their treatment to one year. An amendment extended the time to two years. Sargent said his contributions didnt play a role: I couldnt even tell you who makes the opioid drugs. House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville: $10,000 As speaker of the House of Representatives since 2011, Harwell doesnt introduce her own bills, but her stance on legislation can prove pivotal. I have a very strong record, she said on combating the opioid addiction epidemic. Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin: $9,925 In 2012 Johnson sponsored a bill that enabled physicians to prescribe pain medication to workers' compensation patients who experienced pain beyond the expected treatment time. We take money from a lot of different people, said Johnson, chairman of the powerful Commerce and Labor Committee. I dont keep track of it. He added that hes opposed some bills pushed by the drug industry. Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge: $9,900 McNally has sponsored four opioid-related bills since 2006, two of which passed. The most recent required that all pain management clinics be licensed. In 2011 he introduced legislation that would have required insurers to cover tamper-resistant opioids. While that bill failed, it could have boosted drug company profits because most tamper-resistant opioids have no generic equivalent. Evidence, too, is mixed on whether those formulations actually prevent abuse. You balance out the good effects against the bad, he said. Overall, we thought it was good. Top 5 big pharma players in Tenn. politics While most opioids are made by large generics makers, some U.S. drug companies market opioids and are active in state politics. Here are the top five contributors in Tennessee that also are members of the Pain Care Forum, an opioid advocacy group. To be sure, pharmaceutical companies donate to political campaigns and employ lobbyists for a range of legislative issues, including opioids. These totals include contributions to Tennessee candidates and state parties from 2006 to 2015. Pfizer, $227,150: The company promotes Embeda, which Pfizer acquired when it bought King Pharmaceuticals in 2011. Pfizer also is seeking FDA approval for a long-acting drug with abuse-resistant properties called Troxyca ER. Merck & Co., $102,900: Merck is not known for any major opioid-based drugs, but it's an active player behind the scenes on medical-related legislative issues. Abbott Laboratories, $97,025: The longtime maker of Vicodin, the widespread drug used to treat extreme pain. Its a mixture of the opioid hydrocodone and the primary ingredient in Tylenol. Abbott spun off its pharmaceutical wing into an independent company called AbbVie in January 2013. King Pharmaceuticals, $73,500: Known primarily for its tamper-resistant formulations of opioids, Bristol, Tenn.-based King was acquired by Pfizer in 2011. Johnson & Johnson, $25,425: In 2015, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced that it sold the U.S. rights to license opioid-based Nucynta for $1.05 billion. Sources: National Institute on Money in State Politics, the Center for Responsive Politics, the Federal Election Commission Tennessee remains a leader in the number of opioid prescriptions per person despite a drop in prescriptions in recent years. (Photo: Devonyu, Getty Images/iStockphoto) By Holly Fletcher, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee Health care professionals in Tennessee last year wrote more than 7.8 million opioid prescriptions or 1.18 for every man, woman and child even as the state grapples with a scourge of painkiller addiction and abuse. The total places Tennessee second in the nation, behind only Alabama in prescriptions of the drugs, according to IMS Health data. Even though the number of scripts has fallen by 724,070 since 2013 when there were over 8.5 million total prescriptions, the state remains ensconced as a leader in prescribing oxycodone, hydrocodone and Percocet. The state, along with the nation, is in an opioid epidemic. In 2014, still the latest year available, 1,263 Tennesseans died from opioid overdose be it painkillers or heroin a figure that outpaces those who died in car accidents or from firearms. But what does 7,800,947 prescriptions mean? Why are there so many prescriptions? And why wont prescribers just stop writing them? There are 6.5 million people living in Tennessee and there are 38.8 million people living in California, where there was 0.48 prescriptions in 2015 for every person. "I truly do not believe that we are skewed toward a higher level of pain or a lower level of pain tolerance than the rest of the country," said said Dr. Richard Soper of the Center for Behavioral Wellness in Nashville. The answer, to the chagrin of policymakers in all corners of health care, is a combination of several factors, including accepted medical practice and education, successful pharmaceutical advertising campaigns, insurance benefit coverage structure, and patient lifestyle. There are also several layers of economic dependence. Its hard to pinpoint one bad actor or even a single group of bad actors when every part of the system and society needs to be examined, said Soper, noting how he's bombarded with drug ads when he watches TV. There are "consistently positive signs" that prescribing habits are changing and that the state is making in-roads into the epidemic, said Dr. David Reagan, chief medical officer of the Tennessee Department of Health. Tennessee was one of four states to receive the "making progress" designation in a recent report from the National Safety Council on efforts to curb opioid abuse and misuse. It met five of six criteria; no state met all six. The health department has asked physicians to write prescriptions with fewer doses so there are fewer leftover pills. Its important to balance the legitimate uses of the painkillers against the crackdown on prescriptions, said Reagan. The state monitors the morphine milligram equivalent, or MME, a unit that compares the strength of opioids into the potency of morphine, more than it watches the number of prescriptions. Over the last four years, the number of prescribed MMEs have dropped by two billion from 9.16 billion MMEs in 2012 to 7.83 MMEs in 2015. Theres been a decrease in every county, according to health department data. "We believe we are lowering the amount that ends up in peoples medicine cabinets," Reagan said. Physician and prescriber education is essential in curbing the rate of prescription. Medical schools are beginning to focus more on pain treatment its historically been a tiny component in the curriculum unless the student opts to become a pain specialist. Schools are beginning to incorporate more into programs and there are efforts to boost pain education offerings in the continuing education options for physicians, said Reagan, who described the existing offerings as very modest. Dr. David Edwards, a pain specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the medical school is rethinking its pain curriculum; there are other efforts taking shape around the state. Opioid prescriptions are here to stay Pain treatment has to be individualized for each patient and opioids are often the best choice for getting people through surgery recovery, experts said. But there need to be more alternative treatments, such as physical therapy, easily accessed and have reasonable coverage in insurance plans, Reagan and Edwards said. Generic opioids are cheaper than newer drugs or alternative therapies that may have limited coverage under someones insurance benefits. Edwards is working with a patient who after being on opioids for about 10 years and being in her 80s to wean her off the prescription using first aquatherapy then regular physical in conjunction with other types of pain medications. He was concerned other side effects would negatively impact her health as she ages. Shes made good progress over the course of the year but is in limbo until 2017 when her physical therapy allotments reset, he said. Doctors also have to grapple with the expectations of the people sitting in the exam rooms, which influence what they want out of a visit and what they accept as satisfactory treatment. Patients have come to equate a successful visit with a page from the doctor's prescription pad, whether it's an antibiotic to help a winter cold or a painkiller for a weekend injury, said Natalie Tate, vice president of pharmacy management at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. People have expectations about living without pain, which became known as the "fifth vital sign" in the 1990s. Reagan said there is not enough talk about functionality and what it takes to ensure people can do what they need and want to in life. There is the expectation, or the hope, that the pain will be gone, so you dont have to think about that. Part of that is just human nature. Part of it is American society (looking to) medicine for a quick fix, said Edwards. "Pain doctors, we dont necessarily cure any kind of pain. We think of it like diabetes. You have a problem or a disease that needs to be managed. If people dont want to harm their kidneys they manage their diabetes really closely. If you have chronic pain, it may be there the rest of your life." Reach Holly Fletcher at 615-259-8287 or on Twitter: @hollyfletcher. SHARE Custody disputes, the most bitter fruit of divorce, are supposed to be resolved in the best interest of the child. Fifty-three Republican state legislators and the Family Action Council of Tennessee, however, may be poisoning a custody battle of a Knoxville couple with politics. The Family Action Council's legal arm, the Constitutional Government Defense Fund, is filing a motion on behalf of the lawmakers to intervene in the divorce case of Sabrina Renae Witt vs. Erica Christine Witt. Knox County Circuit Court Judge Greg McMillan ruled in June that Erica Witt has no legal rights under Tennessee law to involvement with a daughter born to Sabrina Witt through artificial insemination. The couple were legally married in Washington, D.C., in April 2014, when same-sex marriage was prohibited in Tennessee. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its decision in Obergdfell v. Hodges that states could not ban same-sex marriages. The Legislature has not passed a law sanctioning same-sex marriages, but gay and lesbian couples are getting married in Tennessee. McMillan decided that the relevant Tennessee statute dealing with parenting rights in cases of artificial insemination speaks only to "husbands" of the birth mother and does not cover the mother's same-sex spouse. He determined Sabrina Witt has no rights to decision-making or visitation with the child and no obligation to pay child support. Erica Witt's attorney argued that, under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the state law should be interpreted to apply to women spouses of the birth mother of an artificially inseminated child as well as "husbands." McMillian authorized an appeal, putting the divorce action on hold pending a state Court of Appeals decision on whether to hear the issue. "Given the novelty of this issue, the court thinks it appropriate to see if the appellate courts want to address this," McMillan said. The motion filed on behalf of the lawmakers contends they have a "unique and substantial interest in the legislative power and process will be impeded, impaired, and/or nullified" if courts interpret a state law "to apply to any persons other than a man and woman joined together as 'husband' and 'wife.' " A judge in Virginia came to the opposite conclusion in a virtually identical case earlier this year. According to the Virginian Pilot newspaper, Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Steven Frucci said both women in a divorce case are considered legal parents of a legitimate child born to one of them through artificial insemination. To come to any other conclusion, Frucci said, would make "every child born in a same-sex marriage a bastard, and I'm not about to do that." The Virginia ruling is not binding in Tennessee, obviously, but it is instructive. Judges and lawmakers must put the best interests of the children above political concerns. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell affords same-sex couples the same marital rights as opposite-sex couples. Because the Legislature seems unwilling to change the language in Tennessee's family law statutes, judges should have little choice but to apply the existing laws to cases involving same-sex couples. SHARE Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson should be allowed to participate in the presidential debates. First, the American people deserve to hear an additional voice. In this critical election, the voters should not be deprived of an opportunity to know that they have a choice other than a Republican or a Democrat, especially when polls indicate that voters are not necessarily satisfied with the Republican and/or Democratic nominees. Second, the Commission on Presidential Debates had said it might include candidates who are garnering 15 percent support in five polls of the CPD's choosing. On Friday, the commission issued a statement saying Johnson and the Green Party's Jill Stein both fell short of the 15 percent polling threshold required to participate in the Sept. 26 presidential debate in New Hampshire. Excluding Johnson smacks of partisanship when the poll selection can be skewed or tilted towards Republicans and Democrats who make up the commission. Many polls in swing states have Johnson at 15 percent or higher, and some are higher than Ross Perot, the last person to stand behind a third presidential debate podium. Finally, the commission states that its mission is to "Ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners." How is excluding Johnson fulfilling this mission? Let Johnson debate, then let the voters decide. Tom Campbell, Jacksboro, Tenn. SHARE Greg Johnson's column titled "Blame feds for cost of special session" makes no sense. Tennessee's gaffe has nothing to do with an "unfunded mandate." He tries to conflate Tennessee's mistake with the national Affordable Care Act. There is no logic in making such a comparison. Second, he claims that "Tennessee toughened DUI laws to bring greater pain to underage drinkers by raising the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.02 to 0.08." What? Next, he blames the federal government for withdrawing federal funding of our highways when we refuse to follow federal law. Surely our state lawmakers have staff whose job it is to make sure that our state stays in compliance with federal laws, to which federal funding is tied. The $100,000 special session that had to be enacted in order to restore federal funding falls squarely on the shoulders of those who passed legislation that was not aligned with federal law. It had nothing to do with "usurping state power" and less to do with President Barack Obama. Just don't take federal money if you don't want to be in compliance, but don't blame anyone else for short-sightedness and/or oversight. Sharon Gant, Knoxville Prosecutors said Monday they have indicted the local subsidiary of China's Huawei Technologies Co. and its executives on charges of leaking its competitor's technologies and trade secrets. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Huawei Korea's executive, identified only by his surname Kang, is suspected of leaking business secrets from telecom equipment developer Ericsson-LG, where he was previously employed. Ericsson-LG is a joint venture of Sweden-based Ericsson and South Korean tech firm LG Electronics Inc. Kang is suspected of taking out tens of Ericsson-LG's business documents without permission when he transferred to the Chinese company and using the information to set sales strategies for Huawei. Two other employees were also indicted over similar allegations after moving to the Chinese company from the joint venture company with business secrets. Prosecutors said Huawei Korea's vice chief, identified only by his surname Kim, and the corporate body itself were also indicted for violating the country's law on prevention of unfair competition. (Yonhap) By Jhoo Dong-chan Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), one of Korea's top three shipyards, has not received any orders for nearly a year since last October, hinting that the nation's shipbuilding industry may not make a turn for the better any time soon. An SHI-led consortium with India's state-owned Cochin Shipyard is negotiating with India's state-run Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) since April to build nine LNG carriers, but a deal has yet to be concluded. It also has similar ongoing negotiations with a Chinese firm, but needs to come up with results. An official said, however, that another SHI-led consortium seeking a role in a project to develop an offshore gas field near Mozambique could bring about a change. Italy's state-run energy company ENI placed an order for a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) terminal worth about $5.4 billion, under which SHI is expected to build half the facility. The consortium also involves France's Technip and Japan's JGC. "The order will give a new opportunity to SHI if we manage to clinch the deal. The ENI's FLNG project accounts for nearly half of the company's target revenue of $5.3 billion for this year," he said. "And if we are also able to succeed in the remaining negotiations, including the GAIL project, SHI can achieve this year's target." The country's other two major shipyards Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) haven't achieved half of their targets so far. HHI and its affiliate Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries have jointly clinched orders worth only $2.2 billion, 13.17 percent of their target of $16.7 billion this year. HHI is not expected to clinch another deal except for its ongoing negotiations with Russia's state-owned shipper Sovcomflot to build 12 oil tankers. However, the project is only worth $660 million, not nearly enough to reach its target. Due to the "order cliff," HHI shut down operations at its rig building shipyard in Onsan, which produces a wide range of offshore facilities, in January. Also, it recently stopped operating its bulk-building dock. Meanwhile, DSME has so far achieved only $1 billion worth of shipbuilding orders among its goal of $6.2 billion this year. DSME executives have recently lowered the company's goal to $3.5 billion, and decided to carry out a "contingency plan" to salvage the company. The plan reportedly includes payroll deductions, additional layoffs and the sale of facilities to secure liquidity worth 2 trillion won ($1.78 billion). "SHI and DSME separately aimed to receive more than $10 billion worth of orders at the beginning of this year, but had to lower their targets while submitting self-rescue plans to creditors," an industry insider said. "If they fail to achieve their goals for this year, they will have no choice but to carry out massive layoffs and be forced to sell facilities next year." According to U.K.-based shipping and offshore gas industries analyst Clarkson Research, the total market orders in shipbuilding marked the equivalent of 7.99 million compensated gross tons (CGT) in the January-August period this year, one third of last year's figure of 25.01 million CGT. Of this, Chinese shipbuilders have clinched 3.06 million CGT, or 38.3 percent, while Korean shipyards have won 1.07 million and Japanese shipyards, 970,000 during the period. Saemangeum Seawall stretches 33.9 kilometers along the southwestern coast in North Jeolla Province. In 2011, Samsung pledged 7.6 trillion won in investments to build energy-related facilities in this region, but recently canceled its plan citing a lack of funds drawing protests from local residents. / Courtesy of Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency By Lee Hyo-sik Samsung Group is facing backlash from residents of North Jeolla Province for scrapping a plan to invest 7.6 trillion won (6.9 billion dollars) in Saemangeum, the 400-square-kilometer reclaimed tidal flat off the southwestern part of the country. Korea's largest family-controlled conglomerate had signed an agreement with the North Jeolla Provincial Government (NJPG) in 2011 to build an eco-friendly energy complex, but recently decided not to go forward with the scheme, citing a lack of cash. But the provincial government and residents have been protesting Samsung's decision, arguing that the company should keep its promise. Some residents and lawmakers elected from the province even raised speculation that from the beginning, Samsung had no intention of investing in Saemangeum. Some lawmakers hailing from North Jeolla are even pushing to summon Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to the upcoming Assembly audit of government agencies, to quiz him about Samsung's position on Saemangeum. According to NJPG officials Monday, Samsung informed NJPG in May that it would not invest in Saemangeum, saying it lacks the money to construct an energy complex there amid the prolonged global economic downturn. On April 27, 2011, Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NJPG to spend 7.6 trillion won from 2021 to 2025 to build wind power generators, solar fuel cell plants and other energy-related facilities on an 11.5-square-kilometer site. However, Samsung has done nothing over the past five years to follow up on its promise, according to NJPG officials. Samsung should be more sincere' "We had high hopes for Samsung to make a difference in Saemangeum, but unfortunately it turned out to be an empty dream," said Choi Jae-yong, director general of NJPG's Saemangeum project support bureau. "We are very disappointed in Samsung's decision not to invest in North Jeolla Province. If not building an energy complex, we are hoping that Samsung does something else for the province." Choi then called on Samsung to be more sincere, saying NJPG has not received any official notice from the conglomerate. "In May, some Samsung employees came and told us that the company wouldn't be able to invest in Saemangeum," he said. "We would like Samsung to state its position publically and officially. We want Samsung to take a proactive approach to resolve the issue." Recently, NPJG Governor Song Ha-jin told local council members that he would push for a fact-finding probe into the matter, even calling Samsung's about-face "politically motivated." The governor said North Jeolla residents deserve to know the truth, adding he will release all the records surrounding the issue. In addition, Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the People's Party and other lawmakers elected from the province have expressed regret over Samsung's decision, stressing that revitalizing the Saemangeum project is vital to propping up the sluggish local economy. Some have even been pushing to call in Samsung's vice chairman for a planned National Assembly inspection. "I know MOUs are nonbinding, but nonetheless, we really had high hopes for Samsung. We are very disappointed," a 70-year-old resident told The Korea Times. "It seems that we are being discriminated against because North Jeolla Province has a small population. Samsung has not a single plant here, while operating some production facilities in 15 other metropolitan cities and provinces. Some even say that we should boycott Samsung products." Times have changed' However, Samsung said it had no choice but to cancel its investment plan, given the rapidly changing business conditions. "Things have changed drastically over the past five years," said a Samsung Group official, who declined to be named. "We had planned to build a renewable, eco-friendly energy complex in Saemangeum. But we have sold our solar panel and other renewable energy businesses over the past few years so we cannot create the energy complex there." The official added that Samsung will continue to engage in dialogue with NJPG to reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion. The national government has spent around 3 trillion won since 1991 to build the world's longest 33.9-kilometer-long seawall to reclaim 40,100 hectares of new land and create a freshwater lake. Initially, the project was exclusively to secure farmland but its purpose has been modified a number of times over the past two decades. In March 2011, the government finalized the Saemangeum plan under which about 30 percent of the reclaimed land will be set aside for farming, while the remaining 70 percent will be used for other functions, including an eco-friendly manufacturing hub for cars, industrial materials and reusable energy companies. On top of that, tourism and leisure complexes and housing will be constructed. But the project has largely remained stalled over the years due to a lack of investments. A model poses with the all-new Aveo subcompact car at a Chevrolet showroom. A total of 10 Aveo cars will be sold online through the Auction website. Prospective customers who buy the model online are offered 5 million won ($4,475) worth of Auction cash coupons Smile Cash. / Courtesy of GM Korea By Jhoo Dong-chan GM Korea will start to sell its affiliate brand Chevrolet's newly launched Aveo subcompact cars through Auction, the nation's leading online marketplace. It is the first time for the car brand to sell its lineup online. A total of 10 new Aveo subcompact cars are expected to be sold though the Auction website at http://promotion.auction.co.kr/promotion/MD/eventview.aspx?txtMD=08f6a85bf1&skipKMS=true. Prospective customers who buy the model online are given 5 million won ($4,475) worth of Auction cash coupons Smile Cash. Auction will open the webpage for sales of the Chevrolet Aveo on Sept. 26 where prospective buyers can make a down payment of 2 million won. Then, a local dealer will contact customers to discuss vehicle options and the remaining payment. "Joint marketing with Auction is expected to attract more female buyers in their 30s and 40s, the target customer for the new Aveo subcompact car model," said a GM Korea official. "We hope our new marketing approach would appeal to more customers with differentiated benefits." GM Korea also gives 100,000 won worth of Smile Cash to customers who buy the new Aveo at local Chevrolet dealerships, starting Sept. 26. The official said the new Aveo has received very positive responses from customers since GM Korea received preorders for the model. Although upgrading its interior and exterior designs while featuring a number of advanced technologies, including crystal LED daytime headlamps, the new Aveo is cheaper than its previous model to appeal to a wider range of customers. The all-new Chevrolet Aveo subcompact is priced between 14.1 million won and 17.96 million won in Korea. By Yoon Ja-young The country's underground economy was estimated to be worth 161 trillion won as of 2014, which was 10 percent of GDP, meaning around 55 trillion won in taxes is evaded. According to Prof. Kim Jong-hee of Chonbuk National University, the ratio of the underground economy to GDP stood on average at 10.89 percent between 1995 and 2014. After comparing this with 25 OECD member countries, he showed that it was much higher than the 6.65 percent average of G7 countries, or 8.06 percent average marked by the remaining 18 OECD member countries. A bigger underground economy means more tax evasion. The ratio of tax evasion to GDP stood at 3.72 percent in Korea, compared with 2.21 percent in G7 countries and 3.06 percent in the other 18. According to National Tax Service (NTS) data submitted to Rep. Park Myung-jae of the governing Saenuri Party, after tax investigations of 1,201 professionals such as doctors and lawyers between 2011 and 2015 the NTS found that they had omitted over 1 trillion won in income during the five-year period. The 1,201 people had filed a total income of 2.4 trillion won. They earned an average 2.9 billion won annually, but omitted 30.5 percent of their income. They evaded paying taxes by inducing customers to pay in cash instead of credit cards, deposit money in borrowed bank accounts or keeping it as cash or gold bars. One plastic surgeon in Gangnam, southern Seoul turned out to have evaded 10.5 billion won over three years, according to the tax agency. "The underground economy triggers tax evasion, which leads to fiscal deficit or increases the burden of economic players through tax hikes to make up for the lost tax income," the professor noted. He also pointed out that it increases social costs as the government has to cope with tax evaders. "Tax lessens income disparity. Tax evasion will damage income distribution and exert negative effects on economic growth. The government should strengthen its monitoring system for tax evasion." Lee Ho-chul Lee Ho-chul, a prolific dissident writer and activist who wrote novels on the national division and separated families in North and South Korea, died of a brain tumor, Sunday. He was 84. Born in the North Korean city of Wonsan, South Hamgyong Province, in 1932, Lee was drafted into the North Korean army during the Korean War (1950-1953) but ultimately fled to South Korea. Since his 1955 debut with the story "Leaving Home," he has written stories exploring the emotional toll of the Korean War on individuals and the conflict between those who benefited from the war and those who were deprived. His major works include the 1961 novel "Panmunjeom," a story of a South Korean reporter's visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone and his brief but warm encounter with a female reporter from the North. A fervent activist, he participated in the democracy movement against the dictatorial regime of former President Park Chung-hee and spent most of the 1970s in prison. He was a member of the Association of Writers for Literature of Freedom and Practice. He received the Contemporary Literature Award for "Panmunjeom" and the Dongin Literary Award for "Wasting Away" in 1962. He is survived by his wife and daughter. A funeral will be held Wednesday. An opening performance of Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2016 directed by Kim Baek-ki / Courtesy of Changwon Cultural Foundation By Park Jae-hyuk As modern art tends toward the abstract, it becomes less approachable to the general public, and most contemporary art exhibitions have often been considered as festivals for a handful of artists, disregarding the experience of visitors. Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2016 challenges this handicap and tries to interact with more art appreciators. "Sculptures to be displayed in the Changwon biennale are much easier to understand than those of other exhibitions," the biennale's artistic director Yoon Jin-sup told The Korea Times last week. "Visitors will feel comfortable with comprehensible art pieces depicting human bodies and animals." The biennale will be held at one outdoor and two indoor venues in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Sept. 22 to Oct. 30. Titled "We create things, things create us," the festival carries the message that everyday objects can have aesthetic value through interaction with artists. "The Red Memory Series" by Chen Wenling "Artists should focus on everyday life, because art and daily objects are impossible to distinguish nowadays," said Yoon, who is also an honorary professor at Sydney College of the Arts. "This year is especially significant as it is the 100th anniversary of Dadaism, which pursued the marriage of art and daily life. Dadaism says our daily life itself is art and anyone can be an artist." Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2016 emphasizes public participation, through which art lovers can become active creators rather than passive appreciators, Yoon said. Various donated goods, such as plastic bottles, nickel silverware and frying pans, will be hung on a 10-meter-long steel structure installed in Yongji Lake Park, where people usually exercise and rest. People can write their wishes on the objects. Foreigners living in Changwon can also participate in the biennale this year in cooperation with the Migrants' Arirang Multicultural Festival hosted by Gyungnam Migrant Community Service Center, slated for Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at the biennale's venues. Korean-Chinese artist Shen Guang has collected several meaningful objects from expatriates to create a community artwork. Shen conducted a workshop with participants at the migrant service center in August, sharing his knowledge of contemporary and community art. Through the artwork, visitors can experience foreigners' daily lives and learn about other cultures. "Moby Dick (Vertebra)" by Daniele Guidugli City of Sculptors 2016 Changwon Sculpture Biennale will be held in the capital city of South Gyeongsang Province for the third time, the hometown of five renowned modern sculptors Kim Chong-yung, Moon Shin, Park Chong-bae, Park Suk-won and Kim Young-won. A pioneer of modern Korean abstract sculpture, the late Kim often transformed objects into simple shapes, pursuing a harmonious combination of Western minimalism and spirits of traditional Korean scholars. The late Moon, who earned an international reputation as a creative sculptor with his work "Soleillonautes" in France, achieved a unique style in forms of symmetry, depicting nature and life. The other three sculptors, who also pioneered their own styles, continue to focus on their art. In 2010, Changwon hosted Moonshin International Sculpture Symposium, named after sculptor Moon Shin. The international sculpture park was founded in the city after installing the artworks of the world-famous contemporary sculptors during the symposium. "Cavallo Blu" by Mimmo Paladino The symposium changed its name to Changwon Sculpture Biennale in 2012 to introduce the artistic sprit of the contemporary sculpture masters born in the city and the biennale has invited famous sculptors from various countries. The biennale's steering committee chairman Shin Yong-soo said, "Changwon will be the city of art and culture thanks to Changwon Sculpture Biennale." This year, the biennale will exhibit the art of those five masters. Titled "The past and the present of Changwon Sculpture," the special exhibition at Sungsan Art Hall Gallery 7 is an opportunity for visitors to take a closer look at the different aspects of modern sculpture, including figurative and abstract sculptures. Contemporary sculptures from Italy Although the majority of participants are Korean sculptors, Changwon Sculpture Biennale seeks to grow into a bigger international event, putting together art from various countries. A total of 116 artists from 14 countries will participate this year, a huge leap compared to 41 artists from 11 countries at the 2012 event. This year's biennale focuses on the contemporary sculptures of Italy. A number of renowned Italian artists, including Mimmo Paladino, Michelangelo Pistoleto and Novello Finotti, will exhibit their works in Changwon. At the special exhibition in Sungsan Art Hall, visitors can take a look at the collection of artworks by Paladino, one of the most representative artists in Italy. His style, the trans-avant-garde, pursues clear images of objects, cohering into the theme of the biennale. "Paladino's works are easy to understand, as they exclude abstractness," Yoon said. "If you see his horse sculpture, you can easily notice it is a horse, because of its clear shape." The biennale will also exhibit sculptures made by the winners of the Henraux Foundation International Sculpture Award, hosted by the Henraux Foundation, the biggest marble processing company in Italy. At Moonshin Museum of Art, the exhibition will feature new ways of interpreting traditional sculptures of Italy. Opening Thursday with modern dance, sound art and nonverbal performances, Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2016 will run until Oct. 30. For more information, visit changwonbiennale.or.kr or call 055-714-1971. South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party said Monday that Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon attended only three Cabinet meetings this year, adding the head of the country's capital city should make more efforts to expand communication with the government. Under South Korean law, the mayor of Seoul is required to attend Cabinet meetings that oversee the country's key policies. "Among the 37 Cabinet meetings held between January and August, Park only attended three," Rep. Hong Chul-ho of Saenuri said. "The reason the Seoul mayor is required by law to attend Cabinet meetings is because the position is responsible for 10 million residents, which take up a fifth of the national population," the lawmaker said, adding Seoul's policies thus call for mediation with the central government. "(Park) should have more willingness to communicate with the government," Hong argued, also suggesting a revision of the law to allow Park to send legal representatives instead. Park, one of the leading figures in the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, said earlier this month that he is considering running in next year's presidential election. (Yonhap) South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) said Monday it will allow a former prime minister back into the party, apparently in preparation for next year's presidential race. Rep. Lee Hae-chan, a seven-term lawmaker who is now independent, left Minjoo earlier this year after failing to win the party ticket for the April 13 polls. Lee intended to return to the party after winning the general election, but then-party head Kim Chong-in did not approve the application, citing the regulation that a seceder cannot come back within a year. But as Choo Mi-ae, the newly-elected party head, has been supportive of Lee's return, the party changed its stance to pave the way for the former prime minister to become a member once again. The party said it could give Lee an exception. Lee served as the country's prime minister during the Roh Moo-hyn administration. Roh, who led the country from 2003 to 2008 and is still viewed as a icon of the liberal camp, committed suicide in May 2009 after being embroiled in a corruption scandal. Political pundits said the party's move to invite Lee back into its fold comes as Lee holds some influence in Chungcheong Province. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is cited as a potential presidential candidate in the conservative bloc, is also a native of the region. Lee's reinstatement as a party member will also allow the number of parliamentary seats held by Minjoo to edge up one to 122 in the 300-seat National Assembly. (Yonhap) South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party said Monday around 3,400 men are giving up their citizenship annually to evade the mandatory military duty, adding the government should take steps to restrict their economic activities in the country. Currently, all able-bodied South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 35 must serve in the military for about two years. According to the data compiled by Rep. Kim Joong-ro of Saenuri, however, 17,222 South Korean men subject to conscription gave up their nationality from 2012 through July of this year. Most of those that opted not to serve became either U.S., Japanese or Canadian citizens. Kim said of those that decided to surrender their nationality, 31 were family members of high-ranking civil servants, adding the government should impose stronger regulations on such ethnic Koreans holding foreign citizenships. (Yonhap) South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea said Monday the rising voice among hawkish lawmakers that Seoul should develop its own nukes is a mere "populist" move, adding it would conflict with United Nations' resolutions. "Discussing South Korea's nuke armament thoughtlessly is a mere populist move against Pyongyang's nuclear tests," Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader of the opposition party, said. Woo added the development of nuclear weapons by Seoul clearly violates international norms, adding U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also agreed that such a move could run into opposition. There has been a growing voice among conservative lawmakers in South Korea that the country should defend itself with its own nukes, especially after Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test earlier this month. The opposition party whip, meanwhile, said South Korea should send humanitarian support to flood-stricken areas of North Korea, adding the government should separate the victims of the natural disaster from the authorities running the country. (Yonhap) South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party said Monday that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon complimented President Park Geun-hye's follow-up measures on Pyongyang's nuclear tests, adding China will play a crucial role in inter-Korean issues. Chung Jin-suk, the party's floor leader, said Ban made the remark last week when South Korean lawmakers, including National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, were in the United States. Besides the speaker, floor leaders from the ruling and two main major opposition parties held talks with the secretary-general. Ban was quoted as saying that Park was also successful in carrying out diplomatic efforts to find answers to North Korea's provocations. The U.N. chief highlighted the importance of China in solving Pyongyang's nuclear development. Ban, however, did not make any statements on his potential bid for next year's presidential race in South Korea. (Yonhap) The original Korean sign means "Meeting point in Cheong Wa Dae (the Blue House)," in Korean, but it has been wrongly translated into English as a "Staring point for Cheong Wa Dae." / Korea Times file By Hong Dam-young, Park Si-soo Seoul City is seeking the help of its residents -- Koreans and foreigners -- to note errors in street signs written in foreign languages. Signs in English, Chinese and Japanese in public places such as subway stations, bus stops, tourist information centers and historic sites are the target. Seoul City will review errors with experts to determine the signs to be corrected. Anyone confused about the names of Korea's traditional or popular places, streets and so forth, should go to The city government will start taking details of errors from Sept. 21 to Oct. 4. Reports can be made by email ( pss@ktimes.com or ghdekadud@gmail.com or visitseoul1@seoul.go.kr ) with a picture of the sign and details of its location.Seoul City will review errors with experts to determine the signs to be corrected. Anyone confused about the names of Korea's traditional or popular places, streets and so forth, should go to http://dictionary.seoul.go.kr , Seoul's official reference website. This sign has a wrong abbreviation for "Bridge," which should be corrected to "Brg." / Courtesy of Youtube People who collect the most notable errors will receive gift vouchers and souvenirs. Seoul City will also deploy an inspection team, comprised of 80 students here from English-speaking countries, China and Japan, to improve tourism services for foreigners and to find errors on street signs. President Park Geun-hye talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, while arriving for the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, on Sept. 4. / Joint press corps By Kang Seung-woo South Korea is seeking tougher international sanctions on North Korea in close coordination with the United States and Japan following its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9. However, some U.S. analysts caution that such a move to increase pressure without dialogue is not likely to stop Pyongyang from continuing to develop its nuclear weapons capability. "Pressure without negotiation has failed yet again. Insisting that North Korea take unilateral actions to show it is committed to denuclearization without reciprocal steps by the U.S. to address its security concerns continues to assure that there will be no negotiations," said Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council. "Pressuring Pyongyang to negotiate on U.S. terms will not stop it from arming itself. Only negotiations might." U.S. Naval War College Prof. Terence Roehrig echoed Sigal's view. "Seoul and Washington need to maintain a strong alliance and robust deterrence posture to demonstrate the price North Korea would pay should it strike the South. Economic pressure is also useful in restraining the growth of North Korean military capabilities, especially its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs," he said "However, given that the reality of a nuclear-armed North Korea is likely to be around for many years, it will also be important for South Korea to continue efforts to engage North Korea if for no other reason than to keep tensions at manageable levels and avoid crises that could escalate into larger and more devastating conflicts." Peter Hayes, the executive director of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, summed it up in a single phrase: "Coercive diplomacy without much coercion and zero diplomacy are unlikely to lead to a desired outcome. All parties need to resume talks." Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts John Kerry and Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the United Nations (U.N.) general assembly in New York, Monday, and adopted a joint statement calling for "even stronger international pressure" on the Kim Jong-un regime to renounce its nuclear ambitions. Yun is also expected to use his planned keynote speech at a U.N. session to highlight the urgency of the North's evolving nuclear threats and the importance of global unity in tackling them. Following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch the following month, the U.N. Security Council adopted the toughest sanctions resolution to date in March, targeting the country's trade in minerals and tightening banking restrictions. However, the fifth nuclear test that took place just eight months later is causing a skeptical response to the sanctions-only policy to curtail its nuclear weapons program. US strategic assets Whenever the North Korean regime ratcheted up tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the United States has responded with sending its advanced strategic assets here to show its "unshakeable commitment" to defend its allies in the region. Four days after the North detonated another nuclear device, the U.S. Air Force flew two nuclear-capable B-1B bombers over South Korea last Tuesday in a show of strength to the neighboring rogue state. In January, a B-52 bomber also made a flight over South Korea after the fourth nuclear test. However, the analysts said that such a show of force by the world's largest military superpower could make the situation worse. "These kinds of demonstrations help to deter North Korea from a major military strike against the South though an invasion by Pyongyang is highly unlikely. Strategic deterrence has been solid for decades and will likely remain so in the years ahead. Flyovers can also provide a degree of reassurance for South Korean leaders and the public," said Roehrig. "However, it will have little impact on stopping further development of North Korea's nuclear weapons program or deterring lower-level provocations." Sigal also said, "The flight is intended to reassure allies South Korea and Japan, but it also bolsters the belief in Pyongyang that we are preparing a pre-emptive attack. Recent background briefings out of Seoul only confirm the North's fears." China's role in NK sanctions China is regarded as the only country to exert influence on North Korea thanks to its status as the country's chief diplomatic protector and economic benefactor. In that respect, Beijing has been urged to step into a larger role in international sanctions to press the North into giving up its nuclear program, but it has been reluctant to fully join the moves due to concerns that the sanctions could lead to the North's collapse and the subsequent instability on its border. Despite backing the March sanctions, speculation runs rampant that China is yet to implement sanctions effectively from the resolution, evidenced by the growing border trade between North Korea and China, according to media reports. This time, China is expected to retrace its old path as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart in a phone conversation, Thursday, that China opposes imposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea. "China was not happy with North Korea and condemned the test. Every time North Korea tests, it stirs up regional security in ways that hurt Chinese interests. However, Beijing also blamed the North Korean nuclear program in large part on U.S. policy, and I have always believed there are limits to how far Chinese leaders would be willing to go to place pressure on North Korea. I have a feeling that it may be more difficult to obtain Chinese support for a tougher Security Council resolution this time around than was the case following the January test," Roehrig said. Hayes also said, "Not much more than what is already in place because the structure of the situation precludes them from taking steps that would destabilize North Korea which is contrary to everyone's interest." In order to invite China to join the international sanctions, Daniel Sneider, an associate director of research at Stanford's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said the United States needs to take advantage of what Beijing does not want to see. "Since Beijing seems to fear only the U.S. response, it would be useful, in words and actions, to remind them that the only consequence of the North Korea program will be to increase the scale and capability of the American military presence in East Asia," he said. However, Sigal said South Korea and the United States, not China, are the key figures in addressing the North Korean nuclear issue. "China's role is not the biggest issue. American and South Korean unwillingness to negotiate is," he said. "The Chinese will never put enough pressure on the North to jeopardize the regime. The North's response to joint U.S.-Chinese support for more sanctions in the Security Council has been to conduct more weapons tests standing up to all the neighbors, no matter how powerful they are." Kang Man-soo, former head of the Korea Development Bank (KDB), is surrounded by reporters before entering the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul, Monday, for questioning over his alleged involvement in corruption scandal. / Yonhap By Kim Bo-eun Prosecutors summoned Kang Man-soo, former head of the Korea Development Bank (KDB), Monday, for questioning over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal surrounding Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME). Kang, 71, was questioned over suspicions that he pressured DSME, of which KDB is the largest shareholder, to invest in a bio firm run by an acquaintance of his, identified only as Kim. "I worked for the country all my life," Kang, who was also finance minister and presidential economic adviser during the Lee Myung-bak administration, told reporters before he entered the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul. "I did not engage in shameful conduct while I was a public official." In 2012, the shipbuilder decided to invest 5.5 billion won ($4.9 million) in a research and development project run by the bio firm, which worked to develop technology to produce bio ethanol from algae. A total of 4.4 billion won was invested in 2012 and 2013 but the funding stopped after Kang stepped down from his position. Kang conceded he had advised the shipbuilder to invest in the bio firm after he became KDB head in 2011, but said he neither forced the company to nor was it an inappropriate request. Kang is also suspected of having intervened in a tariff dispute surrounding a domestic alcohol importer, to provide Kim with illicit gains. Kim was recently arrested on charges of having received some 325 million won in bribes from the alcohol importer in return for lobbying tax officials through Kang in May 2011 when the importer was protesting the Korea Customs Service's decision to impose additional taxes. In addition, Kang is suspected of having exerted influence for a local seafood product manufacturer, Hansung Enterprise, to receive a huge loan from KDB. The head of Hansung, Lim Woo-kun, and Kang are high school alumni. Hansung Enterprise received 18 billion won in loans from KDB in 2011. Prosecutors believe this exceeded the amount that Hansung was able to borrow, considering its credit rating and financial situation, and suspect that Kang intervened in the process of the bank approving the loan. After the loan, Hansung also invested 500 million won in the bio firm. Before becoming head of KDB, Kang had been an advisor to Hansung, and had received funding for managing his office and overseas business trips, raising suspicions that the loan was provided based on special ties between Kang and Lim. By Kang Seung-woo The country's second-largest opposition party is showing signs of withdrawing its objection to the planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system here. The move reflects growing public support for bringing a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to South Korea since North Korea's fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9, along with repeated ballistic missile tests. The People's Party officially opposed THAAD deployment soon after the government announced the decision in July to allow the U.S. Forces Korea to deploy it amid evolving threats from North Korea. "The government needs to use the THAAD deployment to draw support from China for sanctions against North Korea that continues to develop its nuclear program. However, should Beijing reject to punish the North, it would justify the THAAD deployment as a self-defense measure against the North Korean nuclear threat," said Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former co-chairman of the People's Party, in a media interview Monday. He also said his opposition to THAAD was based on the government's hasty decision without enough discussions with China, the focal figure in terms of international sanctions on North Korea. Beijing still strongly opposes the missile shield, claiming that its presence would undermine its security interests. Ahn's fellow lawmakers also have begun to mention the need to reconsider the party platform on THAAD. "Since North Korea's fifth nuclear test and submarine-launched ballistic missile test Aug. 24, public opinion has leaned toward supporting THAAD deployment. Although we tentatively decided to oppose THAAD after much consideration, the people are concerned about national division in terms of security issues," Rep. Kim Kwan-young, the party's deputy floor leader, told reporters Sunday. "So, we need to ask for all our party members' opinions regarding THAAD deployment." Even interim leader Rep. Park Jie-won, who has led the opposition within the party, has seemingly softened his stance on the issue, hinting that he is seeking to put the issue to a National Assembly vote. "The THAAD dispute should be brought to the table in parliament," Park said in a speech Sept. 7, adding he also respects the opinions of THAAD supporters. Bae Jong-chan, the chief director of political pollster Research and Research, said the minor opposition party was seeking an "exit plan" amid its declining approval rating. "The People's Party is a conservative-centrist group, but its supporters want the party to remain conservative in terms of security issues, as evidenced by a recent public poll," he said. According to a Gallup Korea survey, released last month, 51 percent of those who support the People's Party backed the deployment, while 44 percent opposed it. "Should they turn their back on the party, it will not be feasible for the party to field a competitive candidate in next year's presidential election," Bae said. According to a public poll by local broadcaster MBC, last week, 65.1 percent of respondents favored THAAD deployment, compared to 29.3 percent who opposed it. Over 11,000 sign online petition after killing in Jeju chapel By Jung Min-ho More than 11,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the government to withdraw its visa-free policy for Chinese tourists on Jeju Island, following the murder of a Korean woman last week. The petition, which was started Sunday on a Daum Agora page, reached the targeted number of 10,000 in just a day. Participants urged the government to abandon the visa waiver program, which was adopted in 2008 to boost tourism to the resort island. The move followed the murder Saturday of a 61-year-old Korean woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by a 50-year-old Chinese man for no known reason in a Jeju City chapel. The woman, who was praying at the time of the attack, died the next day. Earlier this month, eight Chinese tourists were arrested for assaulting a female restaurant owner who asked them not to drink alcohol they bought outside the facility. "Jeju is a valuable tourist resource. It has become lawless as Chinese are allowed to visit without a visa," said the person who started the petition. "People's safety is more important than tourism revenue." By Jun Ji-hye Air forces of the United States and South Korea will carry out a joint drill aimed at striking North Korea's nuclear facilities during a U.S.-led multi-service combat operations exercise scheduled for next month in Alaska. The South Korean Air Force said it will dispatch eight F-15K fighter jets and two C130H transport planes along with 147 personnel including pilots for Red Flag-Alaska which takes place from Oct. 3 to 21 at Eielson Air Force Base. From the U.S. Air Force, 50 fighter jets including F-16s and F-15Cs will participate in the drill. A military source said on condition of anonymity that the allies' air forces will train their combat pilots to annihilate the enemy under various scenarios such as air-to-air and air-to-surface combat. Seoul's F-15Ks are set to carry out the live fire exercise with their laser-guided "bunker-buster" bombs that can penetrate command centers located deep underground. The source added that the drill is designed to better respond to mounting threats from the North's nuclear and missile programs. Another source said, "The drill will help the Air Force enhance its aerial war capability in the event of contingency." This year's exercise is drawing extra attention as it takes place about a month after the hostile state pushed ahead with its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9, claiming to have successfully detonated a nuclear warhead that can be fitted on a ballistic missile. Following this latest provocation, Mike Mullen, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a forum hosted by the U.S. Council on foreign relations last week that it is important for countries to develop the capability to defend themselves. Mullen said that a preemptive strike is just one out of many potential options, and this depends on the actions of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The ROK Air Force said that the aircraft will fly nonstop over 8,000 kilometers with 10 aerial refuelings between them. Besides the South Korean Air Force, those from New Zealand and NATO will also participate in the drill, but only the U.S. and South Korea will dispatch their fighter jets. New Zealand will send transport planes, and NATO will dispatch aerial tankers only. The ROK Air Force added that the aerial war game provides joint offensive counter-air, interdiction, close air support, and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, left, poses with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida prior to a meeting at a hotel in New York City, Sunday. / AFP-Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo, Jun Ji-hye South Korea and the United States have agreed to implement a three-stage pre-emptive strike program designed to deter a possible nuclear attack by North Korea, using precision guided munitions, sources said Monday. The sources said on condition of anonymity that the program will be applied to three possible situations when the North threatens to use its nuclear weapons, when a nuclear attack appears imminent and when it actually uses such weapons. The move comes after Pyongyang pushed ahead with its fifth nuclear test, Sept. 9, during which it allegedly detonated a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be fitted on a ballistic missile. The sources said the two sides decided that the North's nuclear threats have become a reality and agreed to implement their three-step strategy that had been discussed at a conceptual stage. They say it is meaningful in that an operational concept is becoming an actual plan of operation that will be applied to real situations. The allies are expected to discuss details of the program during their annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) scheduled for next month in Washington. Under the three-step strategy, allies would deploy Washington's nuclear forces as well as conventional weapons on and around the Korean Peninsula if the North threatens to launch a nuclear attack. When Pyongyang's nuclear attack appears imminent, allies would launch pre-emptive strikes using guided missiles on the North's nuclear facilities and prepare to launch a nuclear strike on Pyongyang. In the final stage if the North actually uses nuclear weapons, the National Command Authority led by presidents of the two nations would take firm action, the sources said. On Sunday, foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan called for tougher international sanctions against the North in a joint statement issued after their meeting in New York. This was the first time for the top diplomats of the three countries to issue a statement against North Korea since 2010 when the military regime there carried out a deadly torpedo attack on the South Korean naval frigate Cheonan. The meeting among Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and their Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida took place ahead of the 71st session of the U.N. General Assembly scheduled for Sept. 20 to 30. Among the main issues on their agenda was North Korea's evolving nuclear threat. "The ministers noted that the DPRK's flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSC) expressly prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs requires even stronger international pressure on the regime," the statement read. Calling Pyongyang's advance in nuclear capabilities "accelerated, systematic, and unprecedented," the three ministers discussed how the three allies could work with other countries to "fully and effectively implement all their obligations and commitments under UNSC 2270." The UNSC resolution was imposed in March to punish the Kim Jong-un regime for carrying out its fourth nuclear test, Jan. 6, and a long-range rocket launch, Feb. 7. Yun, Kerry and Kishida also said their respective governments can take other possible measures against the North's nuclear and missile programs, and its other illicit activities. They reaffirmed that they are open to "credible and authentic talks aimed at full and verifiable denuclearization of the DPRK" as well. Pointing out that North Korea has fired 22 ballistic missiles this year alone, Yun urged the UNSC to "swiftly adopt a robust new sanctions resolution" against the North in a separate speech during the trilateral meeting "What we see is a looming perfect storm that may not only pounce on Northeast Asia, but sweep over the entire world," he said. "This is an unprecedented challenge against the three of us, the members of the six-party talks, the UNSC and the international community as a whole." Kishida said South Korea, the U.S. and Japan "must be in the driver's seat to lead the international debate" on North Korea's military threats, adding these are different in dimension from the past. Kerry reiterated Washington's defense commitments, including extended deterrence with a use of "a full range of its nuclear and conventional defense capabilities," in the joint statement. His remarks were seen as an effort to placate concerns in Seoul and Tokyo about Pyongyang's evolving nuclear technology and also to reiterate the U.S. opposition to South Korea's possible nuclear armament. Some conservative politicians here have been calling for the country to develop nuclear weapons to better counter North Korea. Meanwhile, the three ministers agreed to work together in raising international awareness toward "systemic, widespread, and gross violations of human rights in North Korea." Yun and Kishida held bilateral talks later in the day. Diplomatic sources speculated Kishida may have cited a need for the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) aimed at sharing classified military intelligence on North Korea between South Korea and Japan. The two sides initially planned to sign the GSOMIA in 2012 under the government of Lee Myung-bak. But the plan was scrapped following protests from South Korean politicians and civic activists who insisted on first resolving unsettled historical disputes involving the Japanese military. Yun is set to deliver a keynote speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Thursday. He is likely to address Pyongyang's nuclear and missile provocations and its dreadful human rights records. He is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with foreign ministers from Bolivia, Germany, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and others during his New York trip. Yun previously said he was considering sharing thoughts with his international counterparts to "make North Korea feel pain" for its fifth nuclear test. He will also meet U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. By Sarah Chayes In the decade I lived and worked in Afghanistan, from 2002 through 2011, I listened almost daily to people's frustration at their government's corrupt and demeaning behavior, and U.S. officials' refusal to curb it. "The Afghan government is your face," Nurallah told me. He's a former police officer who worked in the cooperative I founded in Kandahar. "If it's pretty or ugly, it's your face." In 2010, around when Nurallah made that comment, a U.S. Marine major named Jason Brezler was dealing with a corrupt Afghan National Police commander called Sarwar Jan in neighboring Helmand province. Brezler perfectly grasped Nurallah's point. The abuse of power so prevalent among Afghan officials which appeared to locals to be perpetrated with U.S. connivance was a danger to his mission to defeat the Taliban. Brezler got Sarwar Jan removed from power, or at least sent away from his privileged position on the U.S. base. Three years later, however, he heard Sarwar Jan was back in the Marine fold. Brezler, by then a Brooklyn firefighter and a reservist, dispatched a warning the moment he found out. It went unheeded. Seventeen days later, a boy Sarwar Jan had been using for sex shot four Marines, killing three. Brezler should be honored by the Marine Corps for his foresight. Instead the Corps plans to discharge him because the file he emailed to substantiate his concerns, and had saved on his computer, was classified. A hearing is scheduled in U.S. District Court for Oct. 14. Brezler, who immediately reported his violation of classification rules, has argued that he was trying to save lives. His lawyer, Mark Bowe, plans to draw a comparison to the treatment of Hillary Clinton, who also kept sensitive information on a private server. I hope Brezler prevails. And not just in court. His way of thinking must be adopted as the U.S. considers how to partner with foreign forces in its continuing fight against extremists, including Islamic State. "The police in many cases was a destabilizing force," Brezler told NPR recently. They were "driving more folks into the arms of the Taliban." Capt. Dan Quinn a special operations officer disciplined for punching a similarly abusive Afghan police commander put it this way to the New York Times: "We were putting people into power who would do things that were worse than the Taliban did." It is little wonder the Taliban kept (and still keeps) gaining recruits. Or, in the case of Sarwar Jan, that a humiliated and physically violated teenager lashed out, turning a Kalashnikov on Marines who seemed to be protecting and enabling his tormentor. Brezler was deployed during a brief period of maximum U.S. recognition that good governance was crucial to bringing peace to Afghanistan. A 2009 assessment of the war emphasized that Afghans' "crisis in confidence" in their government threatened U.S. objectives, and that fostering "responsive and accountable government" should "be on a par with, and integral to, delivering security." Among other measures, U.S. and U.K. officials supported two major anticorruption investigations. But those efforts were halfhearted and short-lived. By 2011, Afghan government corruption was no longer a serious U.S. priority. The approach reasserted itself among U.S. officials that corruption was just part of Afghan culture and should be left alone even when it extended to the grotesquely complicated combination of abuse and favoritism that characterized the practice in which adult, usually powerful, men keep prepubescent boys as servants and for sex. The New York Times has documented the difficulty some officers encountered in trying to challenge the laissez-faire approach. The presumption about culture that underlies that approach is false. As Brezler told NPR, residents were "absolutely elated" when Sarwar Jan was sent away from the base in 2010. "We could probably have had a parade the next day through the bazaar," he remembered. That same year, the commander of a provincial reconstruction team on the other side of the country enjoyed a similarly enthusiastic response and a reduction in Taliban control in his province when he stopped channeling development money to a corrupt governor. I never heard an Afghan dismiss corruption as if nobody minded. Just because a behavior is common, in other words, doesn't mean it's accepted. (Would it be fair to deduce from the Catholic Church's problems that the faithful are by nature pedophiliac?) Arguably, Brezler should have chosen a different way to detail his concerns about Sarwar Jan. But it was the failure to act on his information that threatened U.S. national security, not his transmission of it. With the combination of insight and initiative he demonstrated, Brezler should be training Marines, not being drummed out of the Corps. His reflex was one that, if replicated, would have led to very different outcomes in our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Brezler's insight remains crucial to the U.S. fight against violent extremism. Who we empower in that fight and how our local allies treat the population may determine its outcome. That the Marine Corps insists on punishing Brezler demonstrates that its leadership has not yet learned the lesson. Sarah Chayes is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her latest book is "Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security." She wrote this for the Los Angeles Times. This editorial was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. South Korea's military appointed senior commanders to two key posts as part of an ongoing effort to better counter rising threats from North Korea, the defense ministry said Monday. Um Hyun-seong, 58, vice chairman of Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), will take over from the current Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jung Ho-sup. Leem Ho-young, 57, chief director of JCS's Strategic Planning Directorate, will replace Gen. Kim Hyun-jip as deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command (CFC), the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a statement. The new appointments are part of the regular reshuffle of top brass, it said. "Um is unrivaled in his expertise and leadership in naval military operations. Leem is an expert in joint military operations and in the transition of wartime operational control," the statement said. President Park Geun-hye will appoint them to the key posts within this week after the National Assembly makes a final review of the nominations on Tuesday, a ministry spokesman said. After the appointments, the military leadership is expected to carry out an additional shake-up of military personnel in October, according to the ministry. The selection was made after considering the nominees' administrative philosophy, professionalism, leadership and innovative capacity, it said. (Yonhap) The top South Korean, U.S. and Japanese diplomats called Sunday for "even stronger international pressure" on North Korea as they held trilateral talks to discuss how to respond to Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida held the meeting in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, as the U.N. Security Council is working on new sanctions to penalize Pyongyang. "The ministers noted that the DPRK's flagrant disregard for multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions expressly prohibiting its ballistic missile and nuclear programs requires even stronger international pressure on the regime," said a joint statement adopted at the meeting. DPRK is the acronym of the North's official name: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "North Korea's provocative actions are further deepening its isolation and undermining the needs of its people, who suffer greatly at the hands of the regime. In this regard, the three countries are working closely with partners at the United Nations and in other fora to pressure the DPRK," the statement said. It said that Kerry reiterated "steadfast" U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan, "including the commitment to provide extended deterrence, backed by the full range of its nuclear and conventional defense capabilities." Yun said after the meeting that it is the first time in 10 years that the foreign ministers of the three countries have adopted a joint statement, an indication of how seriously the three countries view the North's provocations. During Sunday's meeting, the three top diplomats explored ways to work together to ensure that all countries fully and effectively implement all their obligations and commitments under the most recent U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution on the North, the statement said. They also "discussed the important work currently taking place in the Security Council to further sanction North Korea and considered other possible measures of their own, in particular ways to further restrict revenue sources for the DPRK's missile and nuclear programs, including through illicit activities," it said. The three sides reaffirmed they remain open to credible negotiations with the North aimed at verifiable denuclearization of the North, and pledged to continue to work together to draw international attention to Pyongyang's human rights violations, the statement said. "What we see is a looming perfect storm that may not only pounce on Northeast Asia but sweep over the entire world," Yun said at the start of the talks, calling the North's nuclear and missile programs a "time bomb" and a threat to the world. Kerry urged the North to freeze its nuclear program and return to the negotiating table. "The immediate need is for them to freeze where they are, to agree to freeze and not to engage in any more provocative actions, not engage in more testing, particularly in order to bring countries together and to begin a serious negotiation about the future," he said. Kerry also said that the U.S. remains "deeply committed" to the defense of South Korea and Japan and to "rolling back the provocative, reckless behavior" of the North. He also warned that provocations will only deepen the North's isolation. Cooperation from China is key to putting together any meaningful punishment for the North as it is one of the five veto-holding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the main provider of food and fuel to the impoverished North. China, the North's last-remaining major ally, has been reluctant to use its influence over Pyongyang for fear that pushing the regime too hard could result in instability in the North and hurt Chinese national interests. Analysts say that China often increased pressure on the North in the past too, especially when Pyongyang defied international appeals and carried out nuclear tests and other provocative acts, but China never went as far as to cause real pain to the North. (Yonhap) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "tougher, clear message" to North Korea as the U.N. Security Council is working on fresh sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its fifth nuclear test. Ban made the remark in a recent interview with The Washington Times in response to a question whether the council should adopt even more biting sanctions on Pyongyang, expressing strong concern about the North's nuclear and missile programs. "At this time, the trend or direction should be (toward) measures which can (send) a tougher, clear message to North Korea," Ban said, according to the newspaper. He said that the United States and China are negotiating on new sanctions in close consultations with South Korea and Japan. Ban also expressed strong concern about the North's weapons programs. "We are talking about nuclear bombs," he said. "Whatever we see, a conflict in Syria or South Sudan or Central African Republic or elsewhere, they do not have any nuclear weapons. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and they've tested (them) five times successfully." Ban also noted a series of missile launches of various ranges by the North. "It seems that they are in the process of making smaller, lighter, longer-range ballistic missiles where they can have this nuclear warhead on top," Ban said. "They publicly, have openly said that their target is to strike the United States with much lighter, longer-range ballistic missiles," he said. "This is quite worrying, a very worrying situation." Even though China and the U.S. are widely seen to be on opposing ends of the North Korea crisis, Ban said that the two countries should use progress made on other fronts, such as climate change initiatives, as an impetus for working together to defuse the North Korea threat. Cooperation from China is key to putting together any meaningful punishment for the North as it is one of the five veto-holding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the main provider of food and fuel to the impoverished North. China, the North's last-remaining major ally, has been reluctant to use its influence over Pyongyang for fear that pushing the regime too hard could result in instability in the North and hurt Chinese national interests. Analysts say that China often increased pressure on the North in the past too, especially when Pyongyang defied international appeals and carried out nuclear tests and other provocative acts, but China never went as far as to cause real pain to the North. (Yonhap) A group of U.S. senators have sent a letter to President Barack Obama, urging the administration to expand sanctions on North Korea, including imposing "secondary sanctions" on Chinese entities assisting the regime in Pyongyang. The 19 senators, led by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), sent the joint letter to Obama on Friday, expressing concern that the rapid advancement of the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs represents "a direct threat to the U.S. homeland in the immediate future." "In the wake of this latest provocation from Pyongyang, we ask you to take immediate steps to expand U.S. sanctions against North Korea and those entities that assist the regime, most importantly China-based entities," the senators said in the letter, referring to the North's fifth nuclear test. They also urged the administration to expedite the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea and take all feasible steps to facilitate stronger trilateral cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea to more effectively counter the North Korean threat. "We also ask you to urgently pursue an additional United Nations Security Council Resolution to impose additional multilateral sanctions against Pyongyang," they said. "This resolution must close loopholes of previous resolutions, such as the 'livelihood' exemption, which have allowed China to skirt faithful compliance with" the sanctions. Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, is a key author of the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 that went into effect in March to punish the North for its fourth nuclear test in January and its long-range rocket launch in February. "Your Administration's implementation of this legislation has been disappointing," the letter said. "While we commend the designation of North Korea as a jurisdiction of 'primary money laundering concern' and the designation of top North Korean officials, including Kim Jong-un, as human rights violators, these actions only scratch the surface of the sanctions authorities provided to you under the new law." More than anything else, the U.S. should designate entities assisting the North Korean regime, especially those based in China, the senators said, noting that trade with China accounts for about 90 percent of its entire trade and China has "historically served as Pyongyang's largest military and diplomatic protector." The letter also includes half a dozen questions, including whether the administration has credible evidence that entities in China are engaging in illicit activities under the U.S. sanctions law, if China is in full compliance with the latest U.N. sanctions resolution, and why the administration has not designated any entities for malicious cyber-enabled activities. They also include whether the administration believes the U.N. sanctions and the U.S. sanctions are having any effect on the North's ability to obtain luxury goods, whether the North's state-owned Air Koryo airline is involved in any activities outlined in the sanctions law, and what actions the administration has taken to discourage the North Korean forced labor camps. "Mr. President, we must send a strong message to Beijing that our patience has run out and exert any and all effort with Beijing to use its critical leverage to stop Pyongyang," the senators said in the letter. (Yonhap) South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea said Monday that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should find answers to Pyongyang's nuke, adding he will face challenges if he seeks to run for president without having tackled the critical issue. "If someone that could not find answers to North Korean nukes during his term as U.N. head runs for the presidency of South Korea, he is likely to face a tough verification process," said Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader of the opposition party. Woo added that during his meeting with Ban last week when he was in the United States he requested the U.N. chief to come up with solutions before his term ends later this year. "It is regrettable that he did not solve the North Korean nuke issue during his 10 years of office," the party whip said. The remark made by the main opposition apparently comes as Ban stands as a potential threat to the party's ambition to win next year's presidential race. Although Ban has not yet made clear his intention to run for office, he has been leading in major local polls, beating key figures from the Minjoo. Woo added he has "confirmed" Ban's willingness to run for the presidency, adding he also seems "very close" to Chung Jin-suk, the floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party. (Yonhap) South Korea's top diplomat Yun Byung-se is scheduled to discuss North Korea's latest nuclear provocation with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Yun plans to have separate telephone talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tuesday night to discuss measures that can be taken in response to Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test, foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a regular briefing. Friday's nuclear detonation test was the strongest yet by the reclusive country. Pyongyang tested its first nuclear device in 2006, followed by 2009 and 2013. It carried out its fourth nuclear test in January of this year. "The ministers plan to assess North Korea's fifth nuclear test and discuss future responses," Cho said. The test prompted South Korea, the United States and other partner countries to rush to adopt tougher sanctions against North Korea which was affected by the harshest United Nations Security Council resolution following its previous nuclear test. Yun had talked with U.S. counterpart John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida immediately after the North Korean test took place. U.S. special envoy on North Korea Sung Kim, meanwhile, said after talks with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul earlier in the day that the U.S. and South Korea will work closely with Japan and other partners as well as China and Russia to secure the "strongest possible (UNSC) resolution as quickly as possible." (Yonhap) A report has created a stir over the Chuseok holiday by proposing that three out of the country's seven steel plants producing thick plates be shut down one this year and two others gradually. The report, prepared by Boston Consulting Group at the request of the Korea Iron & Steel Association, called for cutting the annual output of thick plates by 4 to 5 million tons from the current 12 million tons being manufactured. This means that one of the three leading steel companies POSCO, Hyundai Steel and Dongkuk Steel Mill might have to give up producing thick plates needed mainly to make vessels and offshore plants. Currently, POSCO is running four thick plate plants, Hyundai two and Dongkuk one. The report expects the shipbuilding industry to suffer a prolonged slump amid the continuing influx of China's cheap steel products. Domestic demand for thick plates was forecast to fall from 9.2 million tons last year to 7 million tons in 2020. Steel companies reacted angrily, saying the report judged the situation too absurdly and rashly. "Such a judgment comes from the current dire state of the steel industry. But if the economy picks up, demand for thick plates will rebound," a POSCO official was quoted as saying by a local news agency. Closing domestic facilities is also feared to deepen the erosion of local markets by Chinese steelmakers rather than contribute to easing the oversupply. Preemptive restructuring of the steel industry will be painful amid expectations that more than 1,000 workers could be trimmed. But the government should learn lessons from the seemingly failed restructuring of our shipbuilding and shipping industries. Nearly 7 trillion won in taxpayer money has been spent on shoring up Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, but it's hard to guarantee its revival. Hanjin Shipping, the world's seventh-largest shipper, fell under court receivership after all, causing global turmoil in sea transport. Needless to say, corporate restructuring should comply with market principles and the government ought to minimize its intervention. But it's almost certain that a considerable number of steelmakers would face a crisis in a year or two should the current situation remain. The government reportedly plans to unveil its final restructuring report after gathering opinions from every part of society. It's imperative then that the government come up with elaborate restructuring measures that won't cause a repeat of the fiascos happening in shipbuilding and shipping. What is urgently needed is to encourage steelmakers to embark on restructuring voluntarily. The government should also spare no effort in helping them develop cutting-edge products. VANK founder Park Gi-tae By Kim Tae-gyu Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) founder Park Gi-tae will embark on a campaign of letting youngsters learn about those who fought for the independence of the country from the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). VANK is a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting a positive image of Korea. With about 130,000 members, it carries out various projects such as asking overseas Internet sites to correct false data about the nation. "We know that many of our ancestors shed their blood to attain independence but few know exactly who they were. Accordingly, we will start a promotional campaign to highlight them," Park said. "Specifically, we will make a 10-minute video clip each month on independence activists and share them with everybody. It will be provided in Korean and there will also be a version with English subtitles available on YouTube." The first video footage this week will be about Jeon Myeong-un and Jang In-hwan, who shot and killed American diplomat Durham Stevens in the United States in 1908. Employed by Japan's foreign ministry, Stevens provoked the ire of Koreans with remarks that Korea was not fit to be a liberated country and it benefited from the Japanese protection. "Most of VANK members are older teens or 20-somethings. They need to know our history in more detail and we want our campaign to be of help to them. Ethnic Koreans in other countries will also be able to take advantage of the video files," Park said. After being established in 1999, VANK has continued to stage activities to improve the image of Korea under the stewardship of its founder Park. One of its main focuses is Dokdo, Korea's easternmost volcanic outcropping in the East Sea. Some foreign map service providers name it Takeshima just as the Japanese do. Japan's plan B has been to spread the name of Liancourt Rocks to make the world see Dokdo as a disputed area. Le Liancourt, a French whaler, thought he first found the islets in 1849 and named them after himself. VANK headed the efforts to ask for a revision and many followed the requests but not everyone did so. In its World Factbook, the Central Intelligence Agency sticks to Liancourt Rocks for Dokdo and Sea of Japan for the East Sea despite the repeated demands from Koreans including VANK members to change the names. Located some 90 kilometers east of Korea's Ulleung Island and about 160 kilometers northwest of Japan's Oki Island, Dokdo is a pair of islets and many rocks whose ownership has been disputed between Seoul and Tokyo for the past several decades. Dokdo is under the strict control of Korea with maritime police officers stationed there. Korean civilians also live on the island. But Japan has not stopped claiming sovereignty of Dokdo with abundant fishing resources and minerals. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Tokyo administration strengthened the initiative with a series of controversial maneuvers to fray the already strained relationship between the two neighbors. A Galaxy Note 7 owner visits an SK Telecom retail store in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, Monday. The nation's three mobile carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus started a Note 7 exchange program, replacing handsets with new ones, after a worldwide recall over "exploding" batteries. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon By Lee Min-hyung, Choi Ha-young The country's mobile carriers started to exchange Samsung's flagship Note 7 handsets with new devices, Monday, but their retail stores were less busy due to a supply shortage. Observers had expected that customers would line up for the exchange, as the 5.7-inch handsets set a sales record of 400,000 here. But weak supply led the carriers to send notices to customers, requesting them to visit stores when there were enough new phones in stock. "Our retail store is not busy as we notified customers of the supply shortage and asked them to visit when we have enough in stock," said a store manager at LG Uplus in downtown Seoul. "On Monday, three customers are supposed to visit our store, as we have yet to get enough replacements," he said. Customers visited stores over concerns of possible battery fires; but were satisfied with Samsung's quick response to the problem, instituting an exchange program. "It's like a yellow card for the company, but not a red card yet," Yang Nam-gyu, 31, said while exchanging his device at SK Telecom's Hongik University Station store in western Seoul. "Last week, I got a text message from the store, so I visited as early as I could over concerns that my phone might explode. But I am satisfied with Samsung's response and the recall." An SK Telecom retail store manager agreed with Yang's opinion. "The latest scandal may have tarnished the firm's brand image to some extent, but the decision to recall all the Note 7 handsets with quick notifications was the best option the company could have taken," said Lee Jin-woo, the store manager there, adding that only four out of 130 Note 7 buyers decided to get a refund. Another customer, who bought the Note 7 handset on Aug. 19, said he decided not to get a refund, as he was satisfied with the state-of-the-art functionality of the handset. "I can cancel the order by Monday, but I won't as no other handset is equipped with the functions that the Note 7 has," Lee Kyung-woo, 36, said. Samsung will recall the Note 7 until the end of March next year. Customers, who purchased the handset from SK Telecom and KT, have to visit retail stores in which they signed a contract, while LG Uplus customers can exchange their phones at any of the company's stores across the country. Samsung Electronics will start the exchange program in the United States no later than Wednesday, with the company planning to expand the recall worldwide shortly after. There's nothing new with sasaeng fans stalking, following K-pop idols wherever they go, and even waiting at the confines of their home. Just recently, on September 16, BIGBANG's T.O.P expressed his distress on Instagram. He pleaded to fans to stop paying a visit to his home in Seoul, South Korea and respect his privacy. He wrote: "To my Chinese fans... Please stop coming to my house...When I hear the doorbell ringing at night, I get scared to death. I feel my heart's about to explode. I think I have been understanding enough but now I've decided that I'm going to report it all to the police." Even though he was scared and clearly stressed out with what happened to him, he even made a suggestion to sasaeng fans to visit Gwanghwamun (for a tourist attraction) instead and added that the place is beautiful. This effort was to try to make fans avoid his home, and with justifiable reason. A lot of netizens left messages telling him not to worry and he should keep safe, away from the harm that may be caused by sasaeng fans. The same post also gave rise to negative comments from some Chinese fans, creating a whole new drama for everyone. His was taken out of context, and they are now threatening to leave the fandom for good. Some of the comments expressed on Instagram and Twitter are: "Don't throw cigarette butts in China, thanks" "TOP should tolerate stalkers because he earns money." "Some CVIPs are calling him rude & saying he's discriminating against all CVIPs." "We respect you and you should respect REAL CVIP who love you and support you. If you hate CHINA, please do not come again. May you succeed in your own country." He recently removed the post from his Instagram, due to all of the negative traffic it was attracting. Sadly, he is not the only one dealing with SNS problems at the moment. Fellow band mate G-Dragon also had his Instagram the center of attention when it was recently hacked.What are your opinions of how T.O.P addressed these fans? Let us know your opinions in the comments below! The drug-dealing daughter of a disgraced playboy baron has been shot and killed in the Philippines. This gruesome image shows tragic Aurora Moynihan, 45, daughter of Baron Antony Moynihan, lying dead at the side of a road in Manila riddled with gun shot wounds. Aurora was reportedly a well-known crystal meth dealer whose core clientele were celebrities in the south east Asian country. The 45-year-old was found with four bags of shabu, the street name for methamphetamine, and other drug paraphernalia, according to authorities. Police have released CCTV footage of the suspected dealer being shot multiple times by a fellow passenger as she exited a Toyota SUV. A sign left next to her bloodied corpse reads: Pusher to the celebrities, you are next. According to witnesses, she was shot five times. The Philippines is mired in a brutal war on drugs which has resulted in more than 3,000 people being killed. President Rodrigo Duterte ordered authorities and members of the public to execute drug dealers and addicts shortly after coming into power this year. Auroras father Antony Moynihan fled Britain for the Philippines to escape fraud charges in the 1970s where he later died of heart attack aged 55. Aurora (right) with her sister Maritoni Fernandez (left) a famous screen actress in the Philippines Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates The Kylie Jenner super fan known for getting tattoos in tribute to the reality star has added a new inking to his collection. Over the past year, Johnny Cyrus, 19, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been going under the needle time after time to honor his favorite celebrity and her products having previously had her lip kit logo and swatches tattooed on his arms, as well as a King Kylie inking and more. Now, the superfan has gone and got his seventh Kylie-related tattoo, this time paying tribute to the 19-year-old stars appearance in sister Kim Kardashians line of emojis. In particular, Johnny chose to go for Kylies so-called eyeroll emoji, which shows her with light green locks and with her long-lashed eyes rolling skyward. Despite the young mans clear dedication to his favorite star, this is the first of his tattoos that is actually a representation of Kylie herself. After sharing an image of the new tattoo on Instagram on Thursday, Johnny became the target of online trolls, an issue he later addressed on the account. Thank you to everyone who has been super supportive. Im so grateful for everything, he wrote on Friday. People say some REALLY f***ed up shit about me everyday and the support I get keeps me so strong. [Kylie] has had such a positive impact on my life, and people who judge me for getting tattoos for somebody who changed my life shouldnt be seen as something negative. The tattoo is just the latest of many Johnny has received and shared with his social media followers. The first, a simple King Kylie logo with a letter K and a crown, seemed harmless enough. In May, Johnny celebrated his nineteenth birthday by getting the names of Kylies three lip glosses on his arm. These glosses are my favorite product that Kylie has released Im obsessed, the online personality, who has over 121,000 Instagram followers including Kylie herself, said. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera visited the Republic of Slovenia from 4-8 September on the invitation of Hon Karl Erjavec, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia to attend the 11th Bled Strategic Forum 2016. During the visit, Minister Samaraweera met with President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Miro Cerar, Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec and Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Pocivalsek and reaffirmed Sri Lankas commitment to strengthening and consolidating the longstanding relations between Sri Lanka and Slovenia and identifying new areas of cooperation between the two countries. Speaking at the Bled Strategic Forum at the panel discussion on Human Security: You and I Matter, Minister Samaraweera outlined Sri Lankas experience of a protracted conflict and the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka to move in a new direction based on the three pillars of democratization, reconciliation and economic development. During the bilateral discussions with the Slovenian leadership, both sides noted the shared values and common commitment to upholding the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights, which are an integral part of the policies of the two countries and central to ensuring the human security of the people. The Slovenian leadership commended the efforts of Sri Lankas National Unity Governments political and economic reform agenda and reiterated the support of the Government of Slovenia for the efforts made to strengthen democracy, promote reconciliation and a lasting peace in Sri Lanka. At the bilateral meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Karl Erjavec, new areas of cooperation in the political, economic, education, energy and technology spheres were identified. Demonstrating the mutual commitment to advance the bilateral political and economic agenda, a Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of a Political Consultations Mechanism between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and Slovenia was signed on 7th September which would lead to structured and regular interaction between the two countries. Foreign Minister Samaraweera thanked his counterpart for the warm reception accorded to him and his delegation by the Slovenian Government. He offered to host the first round of political consultations in 2017 and invited Foreign Minister Erjavec to visit Sri Lanka. Minister Samaraweera was invited to deliver a keynote address at the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) on Democracy, Reconciliation and Development vision for a new Sri Lanka. At the Institute, Minister Samaraweera was presented with an award in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of reconciliation and harmony among different groups in Sri Lanka, by Professor Ernest Petric, Vice President of the Advisory Board of IFIMES. Presenting the award, Professor Petric commended the Minister for dedicating his political career to the promotion of social and ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka and noted that the new trajectory of the present Government of Sri Lanka provided an example to other countries. Minister Samaraweera also visited the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, one of the top ten research institutes in Europe and discussed research collaboration with identified Sri Lankan research institutions and universities. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Colombo Participating at the Our Ocean Conference 2016, at the invitation of the US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, on 15 September, outlined several commitments by Sri Lanka to protect oceans around Sri Lanka and beyond. The Minister said that Sri Lanka is perhaps one of the few countries in the world where the Head of State himself holds the portfolio of Environment, given its vital importance for the country and to ensure that Sri Lanka plays its part in dealing with issues relating to climate change and environment in a responsible manner, both locally and in a global context. The Conference being held at the US State Department on 15-16 September is attended by representatives of approximately 100 countries including Heads of State and Government, Ministers, officials, academia, NGO community, leaders from the public and private sector and young people. This was the third in the series of Conferences on Our Ocean, held with the objective of calling the worlds attention to the challenge of protecting oceans and mobilizing countries to make commitments in this respect. The Conference which was inaugurated by the US Secretary of State was addressed by the US President Barack Obama as well. Foreign Minister Samaraweera joined a panel of speakers at the Conference, comprising the Presidents of Micronesia and Mauritius, Vice President of Panama, and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas and Madagascar on the theme Global Ocean Leadership, moderated by US Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii. Outlining commitments made by Sri Lanka under the themes Marine Protected Areas, Marine Pollution, Sustainable Fisheries, and Climate and Ocean, the Minister called for the discontinuation and banning of all fishing methods that harm marine eco-systems, worldwide, in particular, bottom trawling. Commitments made by countries including Sri Lanka at the Our Ocean 2016 Conference: http://ourocean2016.org/commitments/#commitments-main The full text of the Statement made by Minister Samaraweera follows below: Statement by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka Panel on Global Ocean Leadership at the OUR OCEAN 2016 CONFERENCE Washington, DC. 15 September 2016 Ladies and Gentlemen, I represent an island nation known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Located right in the middle of the Indian Ocean, half way between east and west; 1340 km of coastline; warm waters that are home to the worlds largest marine mammals the unique Sri Lankan blue whales who are in fact ecosystem engineers that help maintain the health and stability of our Oceans. Being an Island nation, we are acutely aware of how much our very life is dependent on the good health of the waters that surround us the food that we eat; the air that we breathe; the weather; threat of temperature rising and ocean waters invading our land. It has been passed down to us from generation to generation, that if we dont take care of the Ocean around us, and we allow our Ocean to become unhealthy and out of balance, that will lead to the eventual end of life as we know it, on the land that we occupy. After all, Oceans engendered life in the first place. Yet, no matter however much we become aware of the risks and the dangers, it is only in coming together like this, that meaningful action can be taken to address concerns as important as the health of our Oceans, and our Planet, that affect us all. I thank Secretary Kerry therefore, for his leadership in bringing countries across the world, together, to take action on caring for Our Oceans. Sri Lanka is perhaps one of the few countries in the world where the Head of State himself holds the portfolio of Environment, given its vital importance for our country, and to ensure that we play our part in a responsible manner on issues of Climate Change and Environment in a global context. Amongst the different ecosystems in Sri Lanka, mangroves represent a unique collection of specialized fauna and flora adapted to survive in brackish water conditions and in inter-tidal zones. We are in the process of drafting a National Policy for Conservation and the Sustainable Utilization of Mangrove Ecosystems. In July this year, to mark International Mangrove Day, President Maithripala Sirisena inaugurated the worlds first mangrove museum in Sri Lanka. The President has also given leadership in declaring a National Coastal and Marine Resources Conservation Week to be observed in September every year. The first observance will take place from the 17th to the 23rd of this month. Sri Lanka has already declared 9 Marine Protected Areas in various parts of the country. In addition, four new areas providing habitats for marine mammals, coral, migratory and shore birds, and other marine life will also be declared as Marine Protected Areas, shortly. By the end of this year, we will complete the construction of a sea turtle conservation complex to treat and provide a sanctuary for injured turtles and educate and create awareness among the local communities. The Sea Mammals Regulations of Sri Lanka will be reviewed and amended. A third of our countrys population lives along the coastal belt. As such, new activities to protect these communities and assess the impact of sea-level rise and climate change will be introduced. We pledge to implement and improve the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan that will delineate responsibilities for the operational response to oil spills, and increase cooperation across sectors to coordinate and integrate their resources to respond effectively. Arrangements are presently underway to hold the Sri Lanka NEXT Blue Green Era conference in Colombo, with the goal of promoting sustainable development through blue-green economic initiatives. This conference will take place in parallel with the 5th Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum next month. It is in our interest to secure and ensure sustainable fishing in the country. We will conduct a survey of fish resources and establish a robust fisheries information system by 2018; introduce environmentally friendly fishing gear; prohibit destructive fishing gear; and introduce an effective fisheries management system through vessel monitoring and enforcement of relevant laws. Sri Lanka is committed to combat IUU fishing. In recognition of the positive steps taken by Sri Lanka in addressing issues related to IUU fishing, the European Council, in June this year, lifted a ban imposed on the export of fisheries products from Sri Lanka. The government must "put an end to the current wave of extrajudicial executions and killings" of drug suspects, the European Union urges. The European Union has joined the global call on the Philippine government to "put an end to the current wave of extrajudicial executions and killings" of drug suspects. Alarmed at the rising death toll in President Duterte's brutal crackdown on drug syndicates, the EU Parliament directed its delegation in the Philippines and the embassies of 28 European countries in Manila to monitor rights abuses following his declaration on Sept. 3 of a "state of national emergency on account of lawlessness." Mr. Duterte placed the entire country under a state of national emergency after a bomb exploded at a night market in his hometown, Davao City, on Sept 2, killing 15 people and injuring 69 others. In an extraordinary intervention, the EU lawmakers passed a 5-page resolution expressing concern over the appalling number of drug suspects killed by police and vigilantes since Mr. Duterte launched a crackdown on illegal drugs upon taking office on June 30. More than 3,000 people have been killed in just over 2 months. Mr. Duterte has pledged to eradicate the drugs scourge in 3 to 6 months of his presidency. The EU members represent the largest bloc of Western democracies, including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Sweden, Portugal and Finland. The EU intervention aligned with a number of states (including the United States), the United Nations and international human rights watchdog organizations that have called on the Philippines to end the extrajudicial killings. This growing concerted global demand to end the extrajudicial executions has put the Philippine government at risk of inviting international sanctions, including either diplomatic or economic, and isolation if it continued to defy or ignore the calls. Without directly blaming the government, the EU lawmakers said they believed Mr. Duterte's incendiary public statements had encouraged mass murders involving drug traffickers and users. "President Duterte repeatedly urged law enforcement agencies and the public to kill suspected drug traffickers who did not surrender as well as drug users," the EU resolution said. "President Duterte publicly stated he would not pursue law enforcement officers and citizens who killed drug dealers and who resisted arrest," it added. No to death penalty According to wire services reports, the EU Parliament adopted the resolution dealing with extrajudicial killings in the Philippines based on the Partnership Cooperation Agreement signed by the European Union and the Philippines in 2014, to advance engagement on political, trade, security, environment and human rights issues. The agreement commits the Philippines to uphold the rule of law, social democracy, as well as international human rights conventions. The EU Parliament also emphasized that ending the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects was vital to the Philippines' holding the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2017. The lawmakers pointed out that "President Duterte has announced that during the Philippines' chairmanship, we (the government) will highlight Asean as a model of regionalism and global player, with the interest of the people at its core." They also called on the Philippine Congress "to abstain from reintroducing the death penalty (which Mr. Duterte has endorsed) and from lowering the minimum age of criminal liability." The EU Parliament said that based on "all empirical evidence, the death penalty does not reduce the drug delinquency and would destroy a great achievement of the Philippine justice system." It directed its delegation in the Philippines to provide wide assistance to the Philippine government to implement measures in line with its commitment to international human rights obligations. Lack of understanding On another front, Mr. Duterte came under fire from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for speaking against and opposing human rights institutions and investigations. Speaking at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said, "The President of the Philippines" statements of scorn for international human rights display a striking lack of understanding of our human rights institutions and principles which keep societies safe." Al Hussein pointed out that "fair and impartial rule of law is the foundation of public confidence and security" and "empowering police forces to shoot to kill any individual whom they claim to suspect of drug crimes, with or without evidence, undermines justice." He emphasized, "The people of the Philippines have a right to judicial institutions that are impartial, and operate under due process guarantees; and they have a right to a police that serves justice. I strongly recommend the Philippines to extend an invitation to the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions." Al Hussein said that governments had accused human rights institutions of interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations. "Are human rights exclusively a national issue? Governments have the responsibility to uphold their human rights obligations and to respect the standards. But the human rights of all people, in all countries, also require - unquestionably - our collective attention," he said. "Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. If states pick and choose which rights they will uphold, the entire structure is undermined," he said. | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: opinion.inquirer.net, September 19, 2016 The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more PRESS RELEASE Congress Must Remain in Session To Pass Glass-Steagall and JASTA Sept. 17, 2016 (EIRNS)Obama has until this Friday, Sept. 23, to veto JASTA, and the expectation is that he will veto it at the last minute, hoping that he can get the Houses of Congress out of session before they can override his veto. His hope is that it will be easier for him to get the votes he needs against JASTA when Congress reconvenes after the elections; maybe he hopes that a President-Elect Hillary Clinton will join him in refusing justice to the victims of 9/11. In reporting these possibilities, Politico of 9/16 and the New York Times of 9/15 note that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has been in Washington lobbying Senators, and they finger Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as particularly likely to change their votes under pressure. Lindsey Grahams statements after meeting al-Jubeir are particularly corrupt and absurd; as former DIA official Patrick Lang has frequently written on his website, "Lawdy, Lawdy, said the Little Old Lady from South Carolina (LOLSC)." To Politico, Graham said, "Its a delicate situation. Nobody wants to be seen as opposing justice for the 9/11 families, but at the end of the day we have a world to manage, and right now the world is not being well-managed." Lyndon LaRouche responded, "Thats a good position; thats the fact of the matter. Its not well-managed at all. The reply is, obviously the President of the United States is screwing the thing up. The President of the United States is acting as a stooge to prevent any action." LOLSC Graham expanded on his orders from al-Jubeir to the New York Times. "They made it very clear to us that this is a hostile act. This is an odd situation. The 9/11 families are high on everyones list to be taken care of. But it comes at a time when Saudi Arabia believes America is not a reliable ally." LaRouche said: "Weve expected Obama to intervene in this process. Its inevitable. Hes a faker; he always lies; he lies in the courts, and hes killing people. Weve had a mass assassination of people in the Manhattan area, and therefore we cannot allow any overlooking of the law in the case of President Obama. Otherwise, people of the United States must be mobilized against this President. We want to get quick justice on this thing, and force the issue; dont let them bounce around it. The President is prohibited from trying to suspend the proceedings." Congress must stay in session until it passes Glass-Steagall. If the Congress adjourns and only comes back in November, that leaves the entire month of September and October for the system to crash; Deutsche Bank is on the edge now, and our reports are that Deutsche Bank will be right in the middle of the agenda of the IMF annual meeting,if Deutsche Bank and this system last that long. "People by now know that the President is a foul ball who should not be trusted at all; theyve seen enough of him. This President is not worth much of anything when it comes to honesty; he shouldnt be allowed to get away with the kind of thievery hes been doing. A lot of lives depend on that. We should bring this to a head stubbornly, because the issue is overripe for closure," LaRouche concluded. PRESS RELEASE Russia Charges Obama Administration with Defending ISIS, after U.S. Deadly Bombing of Syrian Troops Sept. 18, 2016 (EIRNS)Russia called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) last night, insisting that the U.S. provide explanations of the Sept. 17 bombing run in which U.S. and Australian jets killed 62 Syrian soldiers in Deir ez-Zor. The Syrian troops had for weeks been battling ISIS troops which had the city under siege. After the bombing but prior to the UNSC meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted the Obama administration in no uncertain terms: "If previously we had suspicions that Al-Nusra Front is protected this way, now, after todays airstrikes on the Syrian army, we come to a really terrifying conclusion for the entire world: The White House is defending IS. Now there can be no doubts about that." She continued: "We demand explanations from Washingtonwhether this is a deliberate policy to support IS or a mistake." After the closed-door UNSC meeting, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power was at her witchy worst in comments to the press. She began by quickly dismissing the incident in 30 seconds: "If we determine that we did indeed strike Syrian military personnel, that was not our intention and we of course regret the loss of life." She then spent the next 15 minutes excoriating Russia for "hypocrisy" and "grandstanding" for daring to bring the issue to the UNSC. "Why are we having this meeting tonight? It is a diversion from what is happening on the ground.... Russia really needs to stop the cheap point-scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts and focus on what matters." The U.S. Central Command (Centcom) issued a more measured, but also implausible, explanation: "Coalition forces believed they were striking a Daesh fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike.... The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military.... Coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit." Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin responded to the situation in comments to the press after the UNSC meeting: "It is highly suspicious that the U.S. chose to conduct this particular airstrike at this time.... It was quite significant and not accidental that it happened just two days before the Russian-American arrangements were supposed to come into full force." Asked if this spelled the end of the ceasefire deal, Churkin stated: "This is a very big question mark. I would be very interested to see how Washington is going to react. If what Ambassador Power has done today is any indication of their possible reaction, then we are in serious trouble. Who is in charge in Washington? Is it the White House or the Pentagon? Because we have heard statements from the Pentagon which simply fly in the face of what we have heard from President Obama and Secretary Kerry." The Syrian Foreign Ministry statement was also explicit: "This attack is deliberate and the U.S. has plotted it in order to implement its strategy in continuing the terrorist war against the Syrian army... [It] highlights the coordination between this terrorist organization [ISIS] and the U.S." Lyndon LaRouche today commented on these developments, emphasizing that Obama is clinically insane and is planning to launch warfare. He is crazy and a real threat, LaRouche stated, but I dont think he can pull it off. Obama always does these kinds of things: he commits an atrocity, and then tries to deny responsibility for it. The charges coming from Russian and Syrian authorities are important and constitute a challenge to Obamas intentions. Backstage at the Emmys, George R.R. Martin got his fans hopes up again. Martin, of course, is the author of the Song of Ice and Fire book series in other words, the books that form the basis for HBOs award-winning Game of Thrones. After Game of Thrones won the Emmy for best drama series Sunday night, Martin hinted that fans might eventually be able to read about the land of Westeros before the events of his book series took place. Advertisement I do have thousands of pages of fake history of everything that led up to Game of Thrones, so theres a lot of material there and Im writing more, Martin said, Deadline reports. He noted that fans of the show and the Song of Ice and Fire book series its based on shouldnt get too excited yet. At the moment, we still have this show to finish and I still have two books to finish, so thats all speculation, Martin said. Game of Thrones fans have long awaited the sixth novel in Martins series, The Winds of Winter, which has no publication date as yet. In a post on his blog last month, Martin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the publication of A Game of Thrones, the first book in his series. He also noted that The Winds of Winter was still in progress, writing: Here I am, twenty years later... still working on book six... ((and no, sorry, I have no announcement to make on that front)).. Game of Thrones won three major awards at the Emmys on Sunday best drama series, writing for a drama series, and directing for a drama series. The next season of the show is scheduled to air on HBO in the summer of 2017. Martin has previously teased a possible Game of Thrones spinoff show, possibly based on his Dunk & Egg stories, set in the same world as the hit series. There are 8 million stories in Westeros as well ... and even more in Essos and the lands beyond, Martin said. A whole world full of stories, waiting to be told ... if indeed HBO is interested. A television show based on Wild Cards, a novel and anthology series co-edited by Martin, is also in the works, and could appear on the small screen in the next two years. That series is set in the United States, not Westeros, however, and Martin said he has no plans to be involved in its production. ALSO: George R.R. Martin hints at possible Game of Thrones spinoff series Breaking down the biggest Game of Thrones battles by the numbers George R.R. Martin posts a chapter of Winds of Winter online (but the books still not done) As a cranky wit and a wondrous observer, Ian Brown has a compelling take on the joys and agonies of growing older. His pleasures are your pleasures, and his fears will feel as familiar as old friends. Does Brown, who reads from his memoir Wednesday at Vromans, relish having turned 60? Hardly. He seems a little stunned by it ambushed and wounded. Its as if the thought of turning 60 caught up with him in some dark alley of the mind. But his insights, quips and candid assessments of aging are to be enjoyed by any Boomer nearing or having passed the big 6-0. Advertisement This yearlong diary, which begins on his 60th birthday, is a heaping batch of bittersweet. To be sure, Brown wears his melancholy on his sleeve. Like a pro athlete just retired, he seems pretty convinced that most of lifes good times are behind him. Indeed, many of his big goals fiery romance, fortune, recognition are mostly passed. He admits to being fortunate in two of the three; one of his running laments is a lack of cash reserves. Where Brown really reels you in is with his sincerity. He is refreshingly candid about his growing physical limitations even as he moves about the world, visiting family and friends, fishing, swimming and staying active daily. The Toronto-based newspaper writer follows a routine that many Californians will relate to, minus our trademark sunny dispositions. Getting older is a process of getting lonelier and lonelier until, at the very end, you are completely solitary, and then you are officially dead, he writes. Well, then. Obviously, dont look here for plucky, sugarcoated tips on managing lifes milestones. Likewise, there is very little chirpy, New Age navel-gazing to his writing. His mind is keen and active, and his pages are full of fine references to poets and artists who he knows also dealt with the minefield of late middle age. He speaks of his existential crises: The real question is, what does it mean to live to full effect? How do you know if you are fulfilling your time, or wasting it? He speaks of his love life: I havent had sex for a month. A month! I remember the days of being fifty-seven, when going a week was too much. But now I can stand it for a month. I am not sure this is good news. He speaks of physical changes: Age spots show up on my body with such frequency I feel like a special effect the man who is turning sepia before his photograph can. Brown acknowledges that growing older is an issue that everyone talks about, and a lot of it sounds alike. Not this book. There is an inertia to the writing and an occasional poetic lilt. He is honest about his struggles with marriage, his love for his wife and brother, his difficulties with an outspoken and challenging mother. Through all of it, Brown peppers this memoir with crisp, self-deprecating asides, and a wry point of view that holds up to the very end. :: Sixty: A Diary of My Sixty-First Year: The Beginning of the End, or the End of the Beginning? Ian Brown The Experiment: 320 pp., $24.95 Chris.Erskine@latimes.com Twitter: @erskinetimes The outrageous scandal at Wells Fargo & Co., for which federal and local regulators hammered the bank for $185 million in fines and penalties earlier this month, speaks volumes about the decline of morality in corporate America. But the settlement leaves one burning question unanswered: Why does John G. Stumpf, the companys chairman and CEO, still have a job? The settlement announced Sept. 8 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, followed a 2013 expose by my former Times colleague E. Scott Reckard. The $100 million to be paid to the CFPB is the largest fine it has extracted in its five years of existence. The settlement stemmed from a scheme in which Wells Fargo bankers opened as many as 2 million fake accounts in the names of existing retail customers or nonexistent persons in efforts to meet unrealistic sales goals imposed from above. The bank says it fired 5,300 employees from 2011 through 2015, but it refuses to say how high up the discipline went. Plainly, most of the firings took place among the rank and file. Advertisement There was no incentive to do bad things. Wells Fargo CEO John G. Stumpf Wells Fargo entered into the settlement without admitting or denying the underlying facts. Yet there is no model of corporate management in which Stumpf cant be considered responsible for what Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., labeled the staggering fraud underlying the settlement, or for the devastating blow to his companys reputation. Carrie Tolstedt, the executive who led the division where the fakery occurred, reported directly to him. So he either knew about it, in which case he is complicit, or he didnt know, which would demonstrate his inability to get his hands around activities at his own company. Its hard to say which interpretation makes him look worse. Either way, he should have been cast out as part of the settlement and the Wells Fargo board of directors should have followed him down the oubliette. (Well get to them in a moment.) Stumpf is certain to take some lumps when he appears Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee. But such public flayings really have only two purposes. For senators, theyre an opportunity for bombast and breast-beating about bad corporate behavior; typically, the louder the bombast, the lower the chances it will produce new laws or necessary tightening of regulations. The only member likely to draw real blood is Warren, who demanded that Stumpf be haled before the committee and already has asked Wells Fargo to explain why $20 million in annual bonuses and as much as $125 million in retirement benefits shouldnt be clawed back from Tolstedt. For Stumpf, Tuesdays hearing will be an opportunity to expand on the defense he already has offered in interviews: that the scam was the work of a few thousand lower level rogue employees misinterpreting their marching orders. There was no incentive to do bad things, Stumpf told the Wall Street Journal. This is, of course, a lie; the evidence shows that relentless sales targets left employees with little alternative while managers cracked the whip. As the lawsuit filed by Feuer alleged, unrealistic sales quotas drove Wells Fargos bankers to engage in fraudulent behavior to meet those unreachable goals. Stumpf also said, The 1% that did it wrong, who we fired, terminated, in no way reflects our culture...Thats a false narrative. This also is a lie. The bank says it fired 5,300 employees out of its total workforce of 270,000. Thats about 2%, not 1%. Stumpfs inability or unwillingness to get his figures straight doesnt inspire much confidence in his grasp of his own company. Warren wondered, How is it possible that more than 5,000 employees could bilk customers over the course of five years? How could such a practice, extending coast to coast, take place without it reflecting the companys culture? Plainly, it defined Wells Fargos culture. Stumpf told the Journal, I feel accountable and our leadership team feels accountable and we want all our stakeholders to know that. What does accountability mean in this context? If he doesnt step down or get removed, this is merely a vacuous recital of the CEOs nirvana: accountability without consequences. The implicit defense raised by Stumpfs defenders is that the consumer ripoff at the center of the scandal was, in context, trivial look at how much Wells Fargo has grown under this management. But thats a reductionist argument. One reason that the scandal looks trivial is that no major executive has been disciplined; so how big could it be? This only underscores the downside of letting executives off scot-free it makes major failings look minor. The answer is to start threatening the bosses with losing their jobs, or going to jail, and theyll start to take things seriously. Indeed, the bank is doing its best to make the scam look trivial. It says it already has paid out $2.6 million in refunds to 100,000 customers. Thats an average of $26 each. Lets ask: If you were the victim of identity theft by your own bank, would you consider $26 to be adequate compensation? Stumpfs defenders will say that firing him would have little more than a symbolic effect. Yet much of a CEOs role is symbolic and Stumpf played the role to a T. Silver-haired and polished to a high gloss, he looked the very model of a modern major banker. As one bank analyst described him after the settlement, hes like Americana in the form of a large bank CEO. But symbolism cuts both ways, positively and negatively. Stumpfs management, or lack of it, gives the lie to Wells Fargos facile vision and values statement, which states (next to a photo of Stumpf that could have been taken directly from a Brooks Bros. catalog page), Everything we do is built on trust.Its earned relationship by relationship. No one takes such blather seriously, but seldom is it undermined as vividly by corporate behavior as it is at Wells Fargo. In any event, more than symbolism is at issue. Wells Fargos share price fell by as much as 10% after the settlement; as of Monday, its still down 8%. Thats a cost to shareholders. The $185-million settlement will also come out of their pockets, not senior executives. The questions sure to be raised by regulators about whether Wells Fargo has become too big to manage will be a further threat, as will the prospect of further civil actions or even criminal prosecution. Warrens question about clawing back Tolstedts pay is apt, but it doesnt go far enough. The clawback provision appearing in the companys proxy statement applies to improper or grossly negligent failure, including in a supervisory capacity, to identify, escalate, monitor or manage risks material to the Company. How could that not apply to the chairman and CEO on whose watch the very reputation of the company was shattered, opening it up to perhaps billions of dollars in civil judgments and redoubled scrutiny by banking regulators? Stumpf received more than $100 million in compensation in 2011-15, which would make for a good start in covering the companys penalties. That brings us to the other players in this tragic drama: the Wells Fargo Board of Directors. The firms proxy statement brims with testimonials to how the directors leadership and management experience enhances Wells performance. But the only skill they really seem to exhibit is the ability (to quote George Orwell) to hold onto their board seats as if with prehensile bottoms. Some have served since the 1990s, and one for nearly a quarter-century. That suggests that cobwebs have been growing in the board suite for years. The board cost Wells Fargo $20.8 million in compensation during the five years of scandal, each member collecting an average of nearly $300,000 a year. What Wells Fargos shareholders got for this money was scandal and a $185-million bill. Investors might be well-advised to steer clear of other public companies on which these directors serve, lest their lack of oversight extend beyond Wells Fargo. Investors in McDonalds and Chevron might want to pay special attention, as they are served by two Wells Fargo directors each. Stumpf himself serves on the boards of Chevron and Target; perhaps that helps explain why he didnt have enough time to keep an adequate eye on his own company. As a public service, heres a list of the directors, including their date of initial appointment and other board memberships where applicable. --John D. Baker II, business executive (director since 2009); director of FRP Holdings. --Elaine L. Chao, former secretary of Labor (2011): Ingersoll-Rand, News Corp., Vulcan Materials. --John S. Chen, technology executive (2006): BlackBerry Ltd. (also CEO), Walt Disney Co. --Lloyd H. Dean, CEO of Dignity Health (2005): McDonalds, Navigant Consulting. --Elizabeth A. Duke, banking executive and ex-Fed governor (January 2015). --Susan E. Engel, consumer products executive (1998). --Enrique Hernandez Jr., business executive (2003): Chevron, McDonalds, Nordstrom. --Donald M. James, retired executive (2009): Southern Co. --Cynthia H. Milligan, business school dean, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1992): Kellogg Co., Raven Industries. --Federico F. Pena, former secretary of Transportation (2011): Sonic Corp. --James H. Quigley, former CEO, Deloitte LLP (2013): Hess Corp., Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. --Stephen W. Sanger, former CEO, General Mills (2003): Pfizer Inc. --Susan G. Swenson, CEO, Novatel (1998): Harmonic Inc., Novatel Wireless. --Suzanne M. Vautrinot, cyber security expert (February 2015): Ecolab Inc., Symantec Corp. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. UPDATES: 11:35 a.m.: This post has been updated to reflect that Wells Fargo did not admit or deny the allegations underlying the settlement. A South Korean judge early Monday morning ordered Hanjin Shipping Co. to return all of its chartered ships to their owners as a part of the companys bankruptcy proceeding, a company executive said. Hanjin filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 31 and recently began unloading cargo at ports across the globe, after being denied access for several days. The South Korean carrier will finish discharging all of the cargo on its 63 leased vessels, and then return them to their owners, said Mike Radak, the chief operating officer of Hanjin Shipping America, LLC. Advertisement Once its empty, we hand the keys over to the chartering company, Radak said. Three ships that made their final stops at U.S. ports have already been returned to the chartering companies, according to Radak. He said the company plans to bring the 41 vessels that it owns back to Busan, South Korea, once theyve delivered all their cargo. Natalie.Kitroeff@latimes.com Follow me @NatalieKitro on Twitter ALSO Cup Noodles changes its recipe for the first time ever, hopping on the healthier food trend Southern California home sales jump in August L.A.-area gas prices may spike soon. Heres why San Quentin State Prison's brand new death chamber If the government is going to impose a punishment as medieval and irreversible as the death penalty, it should take pains to ensure that the penalty is invoked only for the most heinous crimes and that it is applied fairly and consistently. Data compiled by the state attorney generals office, however, suggest that California is falling short of those ideals because of the individual judgments of local prosecutors. To be eligible for a death sentence in this state, a person must be convicted of first-degree murder enhanced by any one of about three dozen special circumstances more than just about any other state (if California wants to reduce death sentences, it could start by reassessing these threshold crimes). Theres murder for hire. Murder to silence a witness. Killing a police officer. Wrecking a train. Using poison. Murder, even, when killing wasnt the intent but occurred during the commission of any of a dozen other crimes. And on and on. Who decides whether a murder case involves one of those special circumstances , and thus warrants the death penalty? A jury, followed by the trial judges affirmation (a judge can reduce a death sentence, but not order one if the jury didnt recommend it). A jury, though, doesnt consider a death sentence unless a prosecutor asks it to. And thats one of the places where capital punishment is inherently inconsistent. National studies have found that whether someone faces a death sentence depends significantly on the county in which the crime is committed because county-level prosecutors are the ones who decide whether to put the death penalty in play. In fact, 2% of counties nationwide account for a majority of death sentences. How inconsistent is application of the death penalty? From 2011 to 2015, California juries handed down 74 death sentences, more than half from Los Angeles and Riverside counties, with 23 each. Yet Riverside County is only one-quarter the size of Los Angeles County and had fewer than one-sixth of the homicides during that same time. Is the nature of homicide in Riverside that much more heinous than in Los Angeles County? No. The difference between the two counties lies in the makeup of the prosecutorial teams deciding whether to seek the death penalty, with the standard set by the elected district attorney. Tellingly, there was a change in the Riverside district attorneys office in January 2015, and the current top prosecutor, Mike Hestrin, has been less aggressive in pursuing the death penalty than his predecessor, Paul E. Zellerbach, who himself sought it less often than the D.A. he replaced. Further evidence that individual prosecutors make a difference: Hestrin inherited 22 capital cases and, after reviewing them, dropped the death penalty against seven defendants. So two different district attorneys, looking at the same seven cases, came to different conclusions on whether the crimes merited a death sentence. Hestrin and others argue that county district attorneys represent the views of their constituents, which explains why liberal San Francisco County tends not to seek the death penalty and more conservative Riverside County does (of the 747 people on death row, one is a San Francisco County case compared with 89 from Riverside). Yet that is one of the many grave flaws of capital punishment in general, and in California specifically. Capital punishment is authorized only by state law, but there is no objective statewide standard against which factors are weighed and a decision is made. It is unconscionable that the specifics of a crime are subordinate to a prosecutors whim in determining whether a death sentence will be sought. Such arbitrary application of the death penalty is just one of a passel of reasons why the immoral practice should be abolished. California voters can do so by voting yes on Proposition 62, which would ban the death penalty and convert the current death sentences to life without parole. At the same time, voters should say no to Proposition 66, which affirms the death penalty and would, among other things, speed up the legal appeals process at the possible expense of constitutional protections. Because of legal challenges to Californias lethal injection protocol, no one has been led to the death chamber at San Quentin in more than a decade. Since the death penalty was revived in 1978, California has executed only 13 people, and those came so long after the crimes took place an average of 17 years and six months that the executions served no purpose other than vengeance. Its far past time this state, and American society in general, ends this barbaric practice. | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: L.A. Times , Times Editorial Board, Sept. 16, 2016 Southern California home sales hit a 10-year high in August, indicating demand remains strong despite the soaring cost of housing in the region. Buyers in the six-county area scooped up 23,278 new and existing houses and condos in August, nearly 10% more than a year earlier, data firm CoreLogic said Monday. Though it cautioned some of the gains could be attributed to differences in the lengths of the reporting periods. The regions median price, meanwhile, was flat compared with July, but at $465,000, is up 6.2% from a year earlier. The median the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less hasnt fallen on a 12-month basis in more than four years. Advertisement Indeed, the market has been on a steady upswing as job growth and historically low mortgage rates have juiced demand. The low cost of borrowing has also kept housing more affordable than during the bubble if consumers can get a loan. The rising demand is boosting the confidence of home builders who are looking to take advantage of bidding wars that have arisen, also driven by a shortage of homes for sale. A gauge of builder optimism in the U.S. single-family home market jumped six points this month, the National Assn. of Home Builders reported Monday. In Southern California, sales rebounded in August from a dismal July, when deals fell nearly 11% from a year earlier. CoreLogic had blamed much of that decline on the fact there were fewer business days than normal that month to record sales with county authorities. Augusts sales figures appear to bear out that analysis. Sales jumped 9.5% from a year earlier and rose in all counties. CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage said the strong numbers could partly be explained by some deals being pushed to August that normally would have been recorded in July. There were also more business days in August than a year earlier. In Los Angeles County sales rose 5.4%, while prices climbed 6% to a median of $530,000. In Orange County, sales jumped 14.5% and prices rose 6.4% to $649,000. Prices increased 7.1% in Riverside County; 1.9% in San Bernardino County; 7.1% in San Diego County; and 7.9% in Ventura County. Many economists expect future home price increases to be smaller as more Californians struggle to afford a home. andrew.khouri@latimes.com Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter UPDATES: 2:16 p.m. This article was updated with additional information about the reporting period. This article was originally published at 10:30 a.m. People who warn that President Obamas healthcare law is in dire straits often point to rising health insurance premiums as proof. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has called premium increases on Affordable Care Act exchanges astronomically high. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), said premiums have skyrocketed. But are these growing premiums actually high? A new analysis from the Urban Institute found that the average unsubsidized premiums in the Affordable Care Act exchanges, commonly known as Obamacare, are actually 10% lower than the full premiums in the average employer plan nationally in 2016. Nationally, the average employer-sponsored premium was $516 a month, while the unsubsidized marketplace premium was $464. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, the researchers adjusted marketplace premiums to account for the age of enrollees and the different values of the health coverage provided by the marketplace plans. Advertisement The exchanges offer health coverage to people who arent insured through their jobs, with subsidies based on income. About 11 million people are insured through the marketplaces, compared with about 155 million Americans who receive insurance coverage through employer-provided plans. Recent news of large insurance carriers pulling out of some states marketplaces and raising premiums in others has raised concerns that offering health insurance through exchanges isnt sustainable and that the healthcare offered isnt affordable. But the Urban Institute researchers found that, in more than three-quarters of states and 80% of the large metropolitan areas they studied, total premiums were lower in an average marketplace plan than in employer-provided plans. For example, in Boston, the premiums for marketplace plans were 35% cheaper than employer plans. In New York City, marketplace plans were 26% cheaper than employer plans. Its not that these markets are necessarily outrageously expensive in the vast majority of cases, theyre not, said Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow at the Urban Institutes health policy center. However, most people who receive health insurance through their employers directly pay only a portion of the premium each month. The rest is paid by the employer, as part of workers compensation. And most people who buy insurance on the exchanges receive tax credits that limit their premiums. For people who are buying unsubsidized insurance on the marketplaces, thats not the case. Youve got the full sticker price in front of you, and it can be shocking, Blumberg said. As much as the rate of growth of healthcare spending has slowed down in recent years, medical care costs a lot of money. Premiums, overall, are going up on the exchanges. An analysis by the McKinsey Center for U.S. Health System Reform of rate filings in 18 states and the District of Columbia found that for a benchmark plan on the exchanges, the premiums would rise 11% in 2017. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that premium increases in employer plans have been modest, with a family plan premium rising 3% in 2016. The new findings suggest that it may be important to look at premium increases in context to understand which markets might face real problems because of a lack of competition or because too many sick people are signing up. Blumberg thinks that comparing marketplace premiums with employer premiums in the same areas might help flag areas where price increases are signs of a fundamental problem, distinguishing those from markets where premiums may be rising because insurers initially priced their plans too low. In Blumbergs analysis, Alaska and Wyoming had marketplace premiums that were markedly higher than the average employer premium. Alaskas average employer-sponsored premium was $676 per month, while the adjusted marketplace premium was $1,134. Alaska, she noted, had fewer people sign up for its marketplace than projected, which could make it hard to spread the costs of healthcare among sick and healthy people. It also has only one insurer expected to participate in its exchange for 2017. Wyoming has only one insurer on its marketplace and also has had low enrollment rates. The average employer-sponsored premium was $556, compared with $727 for an adjusted marketplace plan. Johnson writes for the Washington Post. ALSO: Column: Why does Wells Fargos CEO still have a job? Southern California gas prices may spike soon. Heres why. Hanjin bankruptcy is the tip of the iceberg for flailing shippers Comedian and actor Russell Peters is ready to part with another of his Los Angeles-area homes. After listing his house in Studio City for sale earlier this year, Peters has put his estate on more than an acre in Malibu on the market for $11.95 million. Remodeled and expanded a year ago, the two-story home offers a sizeable 10,000 square feet of living space with a total of nine bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Among amenities of note are a contemporary kitchen with an oversized island, a family room with a marble-topped wet bar, a gym and a 10-seat home theater. The master suite, with his and hers vanities and a sauna, opens to a wrap-around patio with a view of the grounds. Advertisement On the main level, walls of glass slide to reveal a stone-lined patio, fire pit and newly added swimming pool. A large motor court with parking for as many 15 vehicles sits at the end of the gated driveway. Peters bought the house two years ago for $4.725 million, records show. Desiree Zuckerman of Rodeo Realty holds the listing. The 45-year-old Peters has produced a number of comedy specials including Outsourced and, more recently, Notorious. Among his film credits is Source Code (2011) and Chef (2014). He voiced the character Rocky the Rhino in The Jungle Book this year. Peters other home, a renovated Mediterranean on about half an acre in Studio City, is currently listed at $2.799 million. neal.leitereg@latimes.com Twitter: @NJLeitereg MORE HOT PROPERTIES: Leonardo DiCaprio seeks a titanic return for longtime Carbon Beach home Sarah Palins desert home in Scottsdale, Ariz., sells for $2.275 million Beverly House, once home to William Randolph Hearst, relists for $195 million Comedian Chris DElia lists Beachwood Canyon home with comic pedigree Thanks to O.J. Simpson, the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards partied like it was 1995. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, the FX limited series that dramatized the sensational murder case and trial that divided a nation more than two decades ago, became the most celebrated program of the year at Sundays ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater and telecast on ABC. FULL COVERAGE: Complete winners list | Memorable moments | Red carpet | Photo highlights | Fashion | HBO party Advertisement The series won five trophies, including the award for limited series, movie or special. It was also honored for limited series actor (Courtney B. Vance), actress (Sarah Paulson), supporting actor (Sterling K. Brown) and writing (D.V. DeVincentis). On the series side, HBOs Game of Thrones marched into Emmy history with three wins, including drama series, for the second consecutive year. The series now has the most Emmy wins of any drama or comedy in history with 38, surpassing the previous record of 37 held by Frasier. The fantasy series also won for writing for a drama (David Benioff and D.B. White), and directing (Miguel Sapochnik). 1 / 16 Jordan Peele at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 18, 2016. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 16 Regina King at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 16 Jeffrey Tambor at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 16 Courtney B. Vance with his Emmy at the Governors Ball. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 16 Jean Smart, center, at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 16 Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Veep executive producer Frank Rich at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 16 Sarah Paulson at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 16 Carson Daly at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 16 Charo at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 16 Emmy winner John Oliver at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 16 Keegan-Michael Key at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 16 Ryan Murphy, left, and Rami Malek at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 16 Julia Louis-Dreyfus photo bombs Emmys host Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly, at the Governors Ball. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 16 Louie Anderson at the Governors Ball. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 16 James Corden poses with fans at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 16 Tatiana Maslany at the Governors Ball after the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Maggie Smith, who won her third supporting actress in a drama award for Downton Abbey, once again stymied the Game of Thrones competitors in that category. If she ever gets the award, that is Emmys master of ceremonies Jimmy Kimmel joked that since she did not attend the ceremony, she would not get the statuette. Kimmel knew early on that O.J. Simpson and Thrones were likely to dominate the proceedings. If your show doesnt have a dragon or a white Bronco in it, go home now, he quipped during his opening monologue. Later Kimmel pondered whether Simpson, who is imprisoned at Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, was having a viewing party with the rest of the guys. But the night also had its share of surprise winners in the drama category with Rami Malek winning lead actor for Mr. Robot, Tatiana Maslany for lead actress in Orphan Black, and Ben Mendelsohn for supporting actor in the Netflix series Bloodlines. Louie Andersons win for supporting actor in a comedy on the FX series Baskets was also a refreshing move. The night solidified the industrys prevailing view that cable and streaming services are at the vanguard of creativity in television. Only four awards out of the 27 presented at the ceremony went to programs that air on the four major English-language broadcast networks. Online streaming services Netflix and Amazon collectively earned more honors than ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox on the night and received major exposure on the ABC telecast. The wins by Malek of USA Networks Mr. Robot and Maslany for BBC Americas Orphan Black were for shows with less-than-massive audiences but have been championed by TV critics and vocal fans. 1 / 17 Emmy Awards 2016: Best and worst looks (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (left and center), Jordan Strauss / Invision/AP (right)) 2 / 17 Kirsten Dunst in Givenchy Couture is on our best dressed list. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (center); Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (left and right)) 3 / 17 Sarah Paulsonin Prada is on our best dressed list. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 17 Tori Kelly in Paule Ka makes our best dressed list. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (left and center); Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (right)) 5 / 17 Laverne Cox in Naeem Khan makes our best-dressed list. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (left and center), Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (right)) 6 / 17 Padma Lakshmi in Naeem Khan is on our best-dressed list. ((Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (left and right); Paul Buck / EPA (center); ) 7 / 17 Emily Ratajkowski in Zac Posenis on our best-dressed list. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 17 Angela Bassett in Christian Siriano makes our best-dressed list. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (left and center); Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (right)) 9 / 17 We love Niecy Nashs curve-hugging old-school glam. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (left, center) /Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (right)) 10 / 17 Priyanka Chopras gownfromJason Wu is on our best dressed list. She had herBrian Atwood sandals custom-dyed to match her gown. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 17 Shiri Applebys blue sequin gown from Diane Von Furstenberg is an eye-catcher. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times (left); Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times (center and right)) 12 / 17 Rami Malek in Christian Dior is on our best-dressed list. (Jordan Strauss / Invision/Associated Press (left); Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) 13 / 17 We did not love Laura Carmichaels look for the 2016 Emmys. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 17 We have an all points bulletin out for a missing pink chenille bedspread from the Best Western on La Cienega. May be headed to the #emmys with Anna Chlumsky. ( Jordan Strauss / Invision/Associated Press) 15 / 17 Emilia Clarkes Atelier Versace dress was close enough to her skin tone and just shiny enough for it to look like a giant Band-Aid. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 17 Sarah Hylands outfit fromMonique Lhuillierseems like two different outfits colliding on the red carpet. (Paul Buck / EPA (left); Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press (center); Richard Shotwell/Invision/Associated Press (right)) 17 / 17 Ellie Kempers Jenny Packham embellished dress may not be working for her-- especially with her hair color. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) Netflix earned wins with Aziz Ansari, who shared a comedy series win for writing Master of None. The streaming service was also recognized for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping, which won for writing for a variety special, and Ben Mendelsohn for Bloodline. Transparent, the groundbreaking comedy from Amazon Studios about a transgender parent, had repeat winners as Jeffrey Tambor was honored for the second consecutive year for lead actor in a comedy and series creator Jill Soloway picked up her second win as director for a comedy series. The Emmys for The People v. O.J. Simpson, helped boost FX, the 21st Century Fox-owned cable network that has positioned itself as a sanctuary for creative freedom on an ad-supported TV platform. FX tied HBO with six wins, with honors for Baskets in addition to the limited-series wins for its Simpson drama. Combined with its 12 wins at the Creative Arts Emmys last week, the 18 total wins for FX is a record for a basic cable network. While HBO had to share the limelight, its night was far from shabby. The cable channels White House spoof Veep earned the Emmy for top comedy series for the second consecutive year. Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth consecutive lead actress in a comedy award. It was her sixth lead actress win overall, a record for the category. Her tearful acceptance speech was the most emotional of the night as her win came just two days after the death of her father, William Louis-Dreyfus. Im so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered, she said. John Oliver was a winner for his weekly comedic news commentary program Last Week Tonight, giving HBO its first Emmy in the variety talk series category since Tracey Takes On... was honored in 1997. The broadcast network winners included NBCs Saturday Night Live cast member Kate McKinnon for supporting actress in a comedy and The Voice, which won for the third straight year in the reality competition program category. Regina King won her second consecutive trophy for supporting actress in a limited series or movie for her work on ABCs American Crime Story. Foxs live presentation of Grease was honored for directing for a comedy special. The BBCs Sherlock: The Abominable Bride was honored for TV movie. Comedy Centrals Key & Peele earned a win for variety sketch series. Susanne Bier won for directing for a limited series, movie or dramatic special for her work on AMCs The Night Manager. Emmy contender chats On Now Allison Janney and Anna Faris dream of a 'Mom' crossover with 'Orange is the New Black' On Now Watch Allison Janney and Anna Faris talk about their show 'Mom': 'Conflict is fun' On Now Anthony Anderson has a question for the 'tilapia people' out there On Now 'We pride ourselves on dealing with divisive topics,' says 'black-ish' star and Emmy nominee Anthony Anderson On Now Emmy nominee Tatiana Maslany takes on identity and autonomy in 'Orphan Black' On Now Louie Anderson on disappearing into the role of Christine Baskets, the mom on 'Baskets' On Now Louie Anderson talks 'Baskets' 24:37 On Now 'Gary-oke' with 'Veep's' Tony Hale On Now Los Angeles Times' Glenn Whipp talks with Tony Hale from 'Veep' On Now Lili Taylor from 'American Crime' on leaving her character after shooting MORE: Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes Emmy history Why all the love for People v. O.J.? The case touches on everything that America is obsessed about What was really inside the Stranger Things kids sandwiches? And did anyone eat them? Jeffrey Tambor: Id like to be the last cisgender man playing a transgender woman Louie Anderson hopes Baskets will help people embrace different families instead of labeling them those weirdos Jim Carrey was sued Monday in the death of on-and-off girlfriend Cathriona White, who committed suicide in September 2015. The civil suit was brought by Mark Burton, who was married to White at the time of her death. Carrey is accused in the civil lawsuit of obtaining controlled substances under a fake name, giving them to White and then after her suicide taking steps to conceal and obfuscate his involvement and culpability in Ms. Whites death. We will also be requesting that the Los Angeles DAs office launch an investigation into Jim Carreys role in the death of Ms. White, Burtons attorney Michael Avenatti said Monday on Twitter. Advertisement On Monday evening, Carrey called the lawsuit a terrible shame. It would be easy for me to get in a back room with this mans lawyer and make this go away, the actor said in a statement, but there are some moments in life when you have to stand up and defend your honor against the evil in this world. Referring to White as the woman I loved, he said he wouldnt tolerate what he called an attempt to exploit them both. White, a makeup artist, and Burton were married in January 2013 at a wedding chapel in Las Vegas, according to a marriage certificate obtained by several media outlets. He was her legal next of kin, the medical examiners office told Us Weekly just after she died at age 30. White appeared to be separated from Burton while she was dating Carrey and had plans to file for divorce in December, a source in the medical examiners office told the Hollywood Reporter, which said it confirmed that information with a second source. Bottles of pills found near Whites body bore the name Arthur King, an alias used by Carrey for prescriptions, the lawsuit said in alleging a violation of the Drug Dealer Liability Act. According to Whites autopsy report, obtained by People, she had propranolol, Ambien, oxycodone and oxymorphone in her system when she died. She also had a text on her phone from Carrey asking about missing drugs, the autopsy report said. White left a suicide note addressed to Carrey that read, in part, Ive spent 3 days now in disbelief that youre not here. I can go on brokenhearted and try to put the pieces back. I could, I just dont have the will this time Im sorry you felt I wasnt there for you. The two had reportedly been dating for two or three years, and although in the wake of her suicide White was initially described as Carreys ex, a Gossip Cop source said they were never broken up but merely taking a breather when she died. Cats troubles were born long before I met her and sadly her tragic end was beyond anyones control, Carreys statement continued. I really hope that some day soon people will stop trying to profit from this and let her rest in peace. Burton, who lives in Oregon, is seeking unspecified damages. Follow Christie DZurilla on Twitter @theCDZ. ALSO Nick Gordon loses Bobbi Kristina Brown wrongful death lawsuit Prince overdose: Authorities looking into how pop star obtained fentanyl Jim Carreys ex-girlfriend Cathriona White found dead in a possible suicide Jim Carrey, Cathriona White were just taking a breather in days before her death, source says UPDATES: 7:15 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from Jim Carrey. This article was originally published at 1:15 p.m. Know your American TV: A quick guide to the four Emmy-nominated shows with American in the title There are a lot of roads you can take to earning an Emmy nomination, but one of the easiest in 2016 seems to be slapping the word American in the title. Though there are plenty of nonfiction shows that have found success with their American branding, like reality shows American Ninja Warrior and American Idol, as well as historical explorations like American Masters and American Experience, they really cant compare to the sheer dominance displayed by 2016s crop of scripted dramas, all of which look to capture a singularly American experience. Heres a quick primer to help explain these American tales, which have amassed an astounding 49 Emmy nominations between them: The Americans Whats it about? Two married Russian spies attempt to raise a family and protect the Motherland while posing as an all-American family during the heart of the Cold War. Was it nominated for an Emmy? Yes, five. Is it on FX? It is! Does it involve murder? Often, yes. Spycraft is a messy business. Is it an ongoing series or anthology series? Its ongoing and has been renewed for two final seasons. Does it involve the fundamental decay of American society as we know it? Absolutely. The 1980s were a difficult time for everyone involved. American Horror Story: Hotel Whats it about? Its complicated. Suffice it to say, it involves a mysterious Los Angeles hotel owned by a fabulous bloodsucking (literally) owner and populated with weirdos and serial killers. Was it nominated for an Emmy? Yes, eight. Is it on FX? Indeed. Does it involve murder? So much murder. Is it an ongoing series or anthology series? Its an anthology series featuring recurring cast members, including the often Emmy-nominated Sarah Paulson and Kathy Bates. Previous iterations include AHS: Murder House (about a murder house); AHS: Asylum (about an asylum); AHS: Coven (about witches); and AHS: Freak Show (you get it). Last week, American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare premiered. Its about Roanoke. Does it involve the fundamental decay of American society as we know it? Its a Ryan Murphy show so... yes. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Whats it about? The slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and the pursuant murder trial of former NFL great and commercial pitchman O.J. Simpson Was it nominated for an Emmy? Yes, all of them. OK, not quite, but it did collect 22 nominations. Is it on FX? And how! Does it involve murder? The double killing at its center serves as the catalyst not only for the show, but for the country watching the aftermath play out. Is it an ongoing series or anthology series? Its an anthology series with intentions, like American Horror Story to explore new stories with a repertory of actors. Season 2 will focus on Hurricane Katrina. Does it involve the fundamental decay of American society as we know it? It depends how you classify the rise of the 24-hour news cycle and the reign of the Kardashians, but probably yes. American Crime Whats it about? The latest season focused on a sexual assault and the repercussions that developed throughout the school and community where it took place. Was it nominated for an Emmy? Yes, a whopping 14. Is it on FX? Surprisingly, no. It airs on ABC. Does it involve murder? This season did not, though the first season did. Is it an ongoing series or anthology series? Its an anthology series that features a recurring cast of players, including Timothy Hutton, Regina King and Felicity Huffman. Does it involve the fundamental decay of American society as we know it? Sort of. More accurately, it depicts the common miscommunications that take place when society lets preconceived notions about gender, race and class dictate actions. The Red Hot Chili Peppers will snap into action early next year with a North American tour that supports the groups latest album, The Getaway, by opening Jan. 5 in San Antonio and bringing the rock-punk-funk band home to Los Angeles on March 7. The Chili Peppers will bring along Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue on all the dates, with Jack Irons also on the support bill for the January shows. The Getaway entered the Billboard 200 Albums chart at No. 1 when it was released in June, and the group will make sure the album gets into the hands of fans who attend one of the concerts by including a digital or physical copy with every ticket sold. Advertisement See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour It is the groups first album in a quarter century not overseen by their longtime producer, Rick Rubin. Instead, producer Danger Mouse guided The Getaway, which USA Today praised as its richer, far more restrained 11th outing in awarding it three out of four stars. The first part of the 2017 tour is slated to run through a March 18 stop in Vancouver, Canada. It also includes a Southern California show March 5 in San Diego. Mondays tour announcement stated that more dates will be added. Members of the groups fan club will get a jump on tickets through a fan club presale that begins Wednesday. Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday and Saturday. Full tour details are available at the groups official website. randy.lewis@latimes.com Follow @RandyLewis2 on Twitter.com For Classic Rock coverage, join us on Facebook ALSO The Rams take the field, announced by Red Hot Chili Peppers Sunday school on Saturday night: Chance the Rapper brings Coloring Book to the Greek Eight Days a Week unearths new Beatles footage, including their final show Tecnu releases bite and sting wipes Tecnu might have introduced its newest product, over-the-counter wipes to relieve symptoms of stings and insect bites, at the best possible location the Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute, Texas. The Albany company brought Tecnu Bites & Stings to the yearly celebration, which is held in late July in a location known for bloodthirsty mosquitos, biting ants and other pests. One box of Tecnu Bites & Stings contains 20 single-use packets, and the wipes can fit easily into a purse, backpack or first aid kid. For more information, go to www.teclabsinc.com. Comfort Suites plans Corvallis expansion Comfort Suites in Corvallis, 1730 N.W. Ninth St., has submitted plans for a $1.35 million expansion. GV Hospitality, LLC, which owns the hotel, plans to add an additional 15 rooms and 17 parking spaces to the facility, according to city of Corvallis records. The application was received by the city on Aug. 30. If Julia Louis-Dreyfus Emmy win had a familiar ring, it was because the 55-year-old actress made history Sunday night. Louis-Dreyfus won her sixth lead actress in a comedy Emmy and fifth in a row for her turn as career politician Selina Meyer on HBOs Veep, giving her the most wins ever in that category. She had shared the record with Mary Tyler Moore and Candice Bergen. FULL COVERAGE: Winners list | Memorable moments | Red carpet | Candid photos | Show highlights | Fashion | HBO after-party | Governors Ball Advertisement 1 / 48 D.B. Weiss at the microphone and David Benioff, at left of Weiss, accept the Emmy for Drama Series for Game of Thrones with the cast and crew. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 48 The cast and crew of Veep celebrate their win for comedy series (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 48 Ryan Murphy, left, and John Travolta accept the award for limited series for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 48 Tatiana Maslany accepts the award for lead actress in a drama series for Orphan Black. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 48 Rami Malek accepts the award for lead actor in a drama series for Mr. Robot. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times ) 6 / 48 The In memoriam sequence shows Gary Marshall during the show at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 48 Henry Winkler honors Happy Days creator Garry Marshall. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 8 / 48 Tori Kelly performs Hallelujah during an In Memoriam tribute at the Emmy Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press) 9 / 48 Fresh off the Boat stars Randall Park and Constance Wu. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 10 / 48 Empire star Taraji P. Henson (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 11 / 48 Host Jimmy Kimmel walks away with Maggie Smiths Emmy, which had been announced by Speechless star Minnie Driver and NCIS star Michael Weatherly. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 48 Mr. Robot star Rami Malek and Suits star Abigail Spencer. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 48 Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 48 Jeffrey Tambor accepts the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Transparent. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 48 Directors Thomas Kail, left, and Alex Rudzinski accept the award for directing for a variety special for Grease: Live. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 48 Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 48 Patton Oswalt accepts the award for writing for a variety special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 18 / 48 Jimmy Kimmel hands out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by his mother during the show. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 48 Braindead star Margo Martindale and The Simpsons star Hank Azaria. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 48 Tim Carvell, left, and John Oliver accept the award for outstanding variety talk series for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 21 / 48 David Benioff, left, and D.B. Weiss accept the award for writing for a drama series for Game of Thrones. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 22 / 48 Matt Damon, left, and Jimmy Kimmel. (AFP / Getty Images) 23 / 48 Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and Bloodline star Kyle Chandler. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 24 / 48 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt creator Tina Fey, left, and Maya and Marty star Amy Poehler. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 48 Courtney B. Vance accepts the award for lead actor in a limited series or movie for The People vs. O.J. Simpson. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 26 / 48 Leslie Jones, right, on stage with Ernst & Young employees. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 48 Sarah Paulson accepts the award for lead actress in a limited series or movie for The People v. O.J. Simpson. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 48 Homeland star Claire Danes and All the Way star Bryan Cranston. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 29 / 48 Superstore star America Ferrera and This Is Us star Mandy Moore. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 48 American Crime actress Regina King celebrates her win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 31 / 48 American Crime actress Regina King celebrates her win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 48 Quantico star Priyanka Chopra and The Night Manager star Tom Hiddleston. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 33 / 48 Susanne Bier wins directing for a limited series, movie or special for The Night Manager. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 34 / 48 Producer Mark Burnett, center, and the production team for The Voice accept the award for reality competition program. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 35 / 48 Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo passes out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the audience during the Emmy Awards. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 36 / 48 Jill Soloway accepts the award for directing in a comedy series for her work on Transparent. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 37 / 48 Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts the award for lead actress in a comedy series for Veep. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 38 / 48 Jeffrey Tambor accepts the award for lead actor in a comedy series for Transparent. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 39 / 48 Transparent actor Jeffrey Tambor, left, accepts the award for lead actor in a comedy series from TV personality James Corden. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 40 / 48 Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang accept the award for writing for a comedy series for Master of None. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 41 / 48 Difficult People actor Joel McHale and The Good Place actress Kristen Bell present the award for supporting actress in a comedy. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 48 Episodes star Matt LeBlanc and Modern Family star Julie Bowen (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 43 / 48 Kate McKinnon accepts the award for supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on Saturday Night Live. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 44 / 48 Baskets actor Louie Anderson accepts the award for supporting actor in a comedy series. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 45 / 48 ABCs black-ish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 46 / 48 Actors Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo perform. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 47 / 48 Jimmy Kimmel opens the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 18, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 48 / 48 The scene inside the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) MORE: The best acceptance speeches of the 2016 Emmys Louis-Dreyfus five-year run in the category is another record, eclipsing the four consecutive years Helen Hunt won for Mad About You from 1996-99. In an emotional acceptance speech, a shaking, tearful Louis-Dreyfus dedicated the award to her father, billionaire businessman Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, who died Friday at the age of 84. Im so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered, she said. In a lighter vein, Louis-Dreyfus also took note of the surreal parallels between Veeps political satire and the current events of this election year. In an interview with The Times earlier this year, Louis-Dreyfus noted: Right now in Trump crazy town, were just in the stratosphere, adding, jokingly, that if the Republican nominee were to win the presidency, well be shooting [the show] in Canada. Her acceptance speech continued along those lines. Id also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate, Louis-Dreyfus said. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it feels now like sobering documentary. So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it. Tony Hale of Veep dishes on 'Gary-oke with the Los Angeles Times Glenn Whipp. With her win, Louis-Dreyfus now stands in second place for all time with seven acting Emmys. (She won the lead actress in a comedy Emmy for The New Adventures of Old Christine in 2006 and supporting actress in a comedy award in 1996 for her iconic turn as Elaine in Seinfeld.) Moore, Allison Janney and Edward Asner have seven too. The Emmy acting record holder: Cloris Leachman with eight. And if all that isnt enough, Louis-Dreyfus won another Emmy on Sunday as a producer of Veep, which won the comedy series award for a second consecutive year. Were still learning, still fine-tuning, still having fun, Louis-Dreyfus told The Times. I feel like we have a lot more story to tell too. A lot more. Its exciting. I couldnt be more thankful. glenn.whipp@latimes.com Twitter: @glennwhipp ALSO: Complete list of 2016 Emmy nominations and winners Veep cant get crazy enough to satirize real-life politics, cast says Jeffrey Tambor: Id like to be the last cisgender man playing a transgender womanThe Emmys red carpet was a jewel box of color and sparkle with a slice of lemon yellow There were some inevitabilities going in to the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night: The People v. O.J. Simpson would win big, Maggie Smith wouldnt show up even if she won, and wed hear lots of Donald Trump jokes. But the telecast, hosted for the second time by Jimmy Kimmel, proved to be a night marked by unexpected wins and funny, heartfelt speeches. Heres a look at some of the evenings most memorable moments. Another low-speed car chase Advertisement Two of this years most-discussed series focused on the two-decade-old O.J. Simpson trial, so it was hardly surprising that the Emmys telecast kicked off with a montage inspired by Simpsons infamous low-speed car chase. Kimmels attempt to reach the Microsoft Theater in downtown L.A. began in a white Bronco driven by Malcolm-Jamal Warner and continued in vehicles with the Modern Family Dunphy family, Late Late Show host James Corden, Veep President Selina Meyer (who made a fantastically off-color joke about LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson) and presidential candidate-turned-Uber driver Jeb Bush. (If you run a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice, he told Emmy nominee Kimmel.) The hosts arduous commute culminated in a ride on the back of one of Daenerys Targaryens Game of Thrones dragons which set Ryan Seacrest ablaze. FULL COVERAGE: Memorable moments | Red carpet arrivals |Candid photos from the red carpet | Show highlights | Fashion | HBO after-party Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) Mr. Reality Once Kimmel started his monologue, it didnt take long for the subject to turn to this years presidential election. If it wasnt for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? he asked, to which the audience replied with an enthusiastic No! Kimmel turned his attention to the man he said was to blame for the Donald Trump phenomenon: Mark Burnett, the British producer who created The Apprentice and made Youre fired! a beloved catchphrase. As the camera lingered on Burnetts face as he cringed guiltily, Kimmel quipped, Thanks for coming from England to tear us all apart. Sarah Paulson, left, and Marcia Clark on the red carpet before the Emmys ceremony in downtown L.A. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times ) Marcia Clark finally wins She may have lost the biggest case of her career, but Marcia Clark was vindicated Sunday night. As expected, Sarah Paulson won for outstanding actress in a limited series for her sympathetic portrayal of Clark in the FX miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. In her acceptance speech, Paulson paid tribute to Clark, who attended the Emmys as the actress plus one. Paulson called her a complicated, whip-smart, giant-hearted mother of two who woke up every day, put both feet on the floor and dedicated herself to righting an unconscionable wrong, the loss of two innocents Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown. Paulson then apologized to Clark for being superficial and careless in her judgment of Clark, who was vilified in the media during the notorious murder trial. Im glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you Im sorry. Master of None writer and co-creator Alan Yang. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times ) Moving beyond Long Duk Dong In a big night for diversity at the Emmys, Master of None writer and co-creator Alan Yang made a funny, impassioned plea for better representation of Asian Americans in pop culture. Accepting the comedy writing award for Parents, an episode that humorously portrayed the immigrant experience, Yang said there are 17 million Asian Americans in this country and 17 million Italian Americans. They have The Godfather, Goodfellas, Rocky, The Sopranos. We got Long Duk Dong, so weve got a long way to go, he said, referring to the caricature of an exchange student played by Gedde Watanabe in the 1984 film Sixteen Candles. Yang said it would take a lot of hard work to reach the goal, urging Asian parents to join in the fight. Just a couple of you get your kids cameras instead of violins, he said, well be all good. An emotional Julia Louis-Dreyfus pays tribute to her late father after winning lead actress in a comedy. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press ) Julia Louis-Dreyfus wins for comedy and makes us cry As expected, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won for the sixth time for lead actress in a comedy series (five of them for Veep), breaking the record she had shared with Candice Bergen and Mary Tyler Moore for most wins in that category. By now, viewers are used to watching Louis-Dreyfus gracefully pretend to be surprised when her name is called. Not this year. After a funny riff about the current political climate (Our show started as a political satire, but it now feels like a sobering documentary), Louis-Dreyfus grew emotional speaking about her father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who died on Friday. Im so glad he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered, she said, her hands trembling. It was a moment of unexpected and unexpectedly moving vulnerability. Rami Malek speaks as he accepts his Emmy for lead actor in a drama series. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times ) Honoring the Elliots Rami Malek seemed shocked when he won lead actor in a drama series for his portrayal of mentally unstable hacker Elliot Alderson in USAs acclaimed Mr. Robot. The actor, 35, beat out heavyweights including Kevin Spacey and Kyle Chandler in the category but was composed enough to open his acceptance speech with a line that referenced both his characters delusions and his own disbelief: Please tell me youre seeing this too, he said, to knowing laughter from the audience. After thanking series creator Sam Esmail, Malek eloquently spoke about Elliot, a young man who I think, like so many of us, is profoundly alienated, he said. Unfortunately, Im not so sure how many of us would want to hang out with a guy like Elliot, but I want to honor all the Elliots, because theres a little bit of Elliot in all of us. Tatiana Maslany, otherwise known as Tietany Moslin. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press ) Tatiana Maslany, no longer snubbed One of the biggest upsets of the night belonged to Tatiana Maslany, winner for lead actress in a drama series. The Canadian star, who plays about a dozen characters on the BBC America cloning drama Orphan Black, beat out nominees including Robin Wright, Keri Russell and last years winner, Viola Davis. The fact that Maslany was reliably snubbed by the Television Academy until last year, when she received her first nomination, made the victory that much sweeter. Like fellow drama winner Malek, Maslany was adorably shocked to win. I should have written this down, she said, scrolling through notes shed apparently taken on her phone. She sighed nervously before pulling it together and expressing her gratitude for being on a show that puts women at the center. (Also surprised by Maslanys win? Presenter Kiefer Sutherland, who pronounced her name as Tietany Moslin.) Follow me @MeredithBlake ALSO People v. O.J. Simpson at Emmy awards: A new verdict on the case HBO and FX reign over the Emmys with Game of Thrones and The People v. O.J. Simpson Tatiana Maslany finally wins an Emmy, Clone Club celebrates The Emmys red carpet was a jewel box of color and sparkle with a slice of lemon yellow This years Emmys were much more than just glamour, statues and self-congratulations. The impact of this years national election, with all its divisiveness and acrimony, received more than its share of attention. Host Jimmy Kimmel got the political ball rolling right away in the ceremonys pre-taped opening. Hitching a ride to the show, Kimmel bounced among rides including the white Bronco from The People v. O.J. Simpson and James Cordens Carpool Karaoke vehicle before winding up in the passenger seat beside a between jobs Jeb Bush, playing a chauffeur. Heres what I know: If you run a positive campaign, the voters will make the right choice, the former Republican presidential candidate told Kimmel. When the host exited the car, Bush proclaimed Jeb, exclamation point! and pumped his fist as he peeled away with a shot of his familiar Jeb! bumper sticker in view. Advertisement 1 / 48 D.B. Weiss at the microphone and David Benioff, at left of Weiss, accept the Emmy for Drama Series for Game of Thrones with the cast and crew. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 48 The cast and crew of Veep celebrate their win for comedy series (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 48 Ryan Murphy, left, and John Travolta accept the award for limited series for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 48 Tatiana Maslany accepts the award for lead actress in a drama series for Orphan Black. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 48 Rami Malek accepts the award for lead actor in a drama series for Mr. Robot. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times ) 6 / 48 The In memoriam sequence shows Gary Marshall during the show at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 48 Henry Winkler honors Happy Days creator Garry Marshall. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 8 / 48 Tori Kelly performs Hallelujah during an In Memoriam tribute at the Emmy Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press) 9 / 48 Fresh off the Boat stars Randall Park and Constance Wu. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 10 / 48 Empire star Taraji P. Henson (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 11 / 48 Host Jimmy Kimmel walks away with Maggie Smiths Emmy, which had been announced by Speechless star Minnie Driver and NCIS star Michael Weatherly. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 48 Mr. Robot star Rami Malek and Suits star Abigail Spencer. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 48 Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 48 Jeffrey Tambor accepts the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Transparent. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 48 Directors Thomas Kail, left, and Alex Rudzinski accept the award for directing for a variety special for Grease: Live. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 48 Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 48 Patton Oswalt accepts the award for writing for a variety special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 18 / 48 Jimmy Kimmel hands out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by his mother during the show. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 48 Braindead star Margo Martindale and The Simpsons star Hank Azaria. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 48 Tim Carvell, left, and John Oliver accept the award for outstanding variety talk series for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 21 / 48 David Benioff, left, and D.B. Weiss accept the award for writing for a drama series for Game of Thrones. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 22 / 48 Matt Damon, left, and Jimmy Kimmel. (AFP / Getty Images) 23 / 48 Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and Bloodline star Kyle Chandler. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 24 / 48 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt creator Tina Fey, left, and Maya and Marty star Amy Poehler. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 48 Courtney B. Vance accepts the award for lead actor in a limited series or movie for The People vs. O.J. Simpson. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 26 / 48 Leslie Jones, right, on stage with Ernst & Young employees. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 48 Sarah Paulson accepts the award for lead actress in a limited series or movie for The People v. O.J. Simpson. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 48 Homeland star Claire Danes and All the Way star Bryan Cranston. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 29 / 48 Superstore star America Ferrera and This Is Us star Mandy Moore. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 48 American Crime actress Regina King celebrates her win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 31 / 48 American Crime actress Regina King celebrates her win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 48 Quantico star Priyanka Chopra and The Night Manager star Tom Hiddleston. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 33 / 48 Susanne Bier wins directing for a limited series, movie or special for The Night Manager. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 34 / 48 Producer Mark Burnett, center, and the production team for The Voice accept the award for reality competition program. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 35 / 48 Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo passes out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the audience during the Emmy Awards. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 36 / 48 Jill Soloway accepts the award for directing in a comedy series for her work on Transparent. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 37 / 48 Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts the award for lead actress in a comedy series for Veep. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 38 / 48 Jeffrey Tambor accepts the award for lead actor in a comedy series for Transparent. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 39 / 48 Transparent actor Jeffrey Tambor, left, accepts the award for lead actor in a comedy series from TV personality James Corden. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 40 / 48 Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang accept the award for writing for a comedy series for Master of None. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 41 / 48 Difficult People actor Joel McHale and The Good Place actress Kristen Bell present the award for supporting actress in a comedy. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 48 Episodes star Matt LeBlanc and Modern Family star Julie Bowen (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 43 / 48 Kate McKinnon accepts the award for supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on Saturday Night Live. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 44 / 48 Baskets actor Louie Anderson accepts the award for supporting actor in a comedy series. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 45 / 48 ABCs black-ish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 46 / 48 Actors Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo perform. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 47 / 48 Jimmy Kimmel opens the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 18, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 48 / 48 The scene inside the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) FULL COVERAGE: Memorable moments | Red carpet |Show highlights | Winners |Best & worst dressed | Candid photos | HBO after-party Kimmel later jokingly chastised reality show producer Mark Burnett, contending that Burnett was responsible for the creation of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump due to Trumps role on NBCs The Apprentice, which Burnett created. Thanks to Mark Burnett, we dont have to watch reality shows anymore were living one, Kimmel said. If it wasnt for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? Julia Louis-Dreyfus, however, was more pointed after winning for lead actress in a comedy for the HBO series Veep. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics, said a straight-faced Louis-Dreyfus. Our show started out as a political satire, but it now feels more like a sobering documentary. She then quipped, So I certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it. Aziz Ansari, who won for comedy writing with Netflixs Master of None, offered a surprise endorsement while presenting an award later in the show. After careful consideration, Ive decided Im going with Trump, the comedian said. Which is why Im also recommending we get rid of all Muslim and Hispanic nominees from the ceremony immediately. Pointing to his parents in the audience, Ansari said, Mom, Dad, I know I just thanked you, but Im sorry, you have to be escorted out right now. chris.barton@latimes.com See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour chris.barton@latimes.com Follow me over here @chrisbarton. MORE: People v. O.J. Simpson at Emmy awards: A new verdict on the case HBO and FX reign over the Emmys with Game of Thrones and The People v. O.J. Simpson Louie Anderson hopes Baskets will help people embrace different families instead of labeling them those weirdos Accepting her second consecutive Emmy Award for direction, Transparent creator Jill Soloway spoke Sunday night of the transformative power of inclusive storytelling. When you take people of color, women, trans people, queer people, as the subjects of stories, you change the world, she said before triumphantly hoisting her Emmy into the air and exclaiming, Topple the patriarchy! It was a fitting moment on a night that celebrated shows about race and gender identity and that honored artists who reflected the diversity of the American population. If the patriarchy wasnt exactly collapsing on Sunday night, it certainly looked a little shaky. Advertisement 1 / 48 D.B. Weiss at the microphone and David Benioff, at left of Weiss, accept the Emmy for Drama Series for Game of Thrones with the cast and crew. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 48 The cast and crew of Veep celebrate their win for comedy series (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 48 Ryan Murphy, left, and John Travolta accept the award for limited series for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 48 Tatiana Maslany accepts the award for lead actress in a drama series for Orphan Black. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 48 Rami Malek accepts the award for lead actor in a drama series for Mr. Robot. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times ) 6 / 48 The In memoriam sequence shows Gary Marshall during the show at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 48 Henry Winkler honors Happy Days creator Garry Marshall. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 8 / 48 Tori Kelly performs Hallelujah during an In Memoriam tribute at the Emmy Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press) 9 / 48 Fresh off the Boat stars Randall Park and Constance Wu. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 10 / 48 Empire star Taraji P. Henson (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 11 / 48 Host Jimmy Kimmel walks away with Maggie Smiths Emmy, which had been announced by Speechless star Minnie Driver and NCIS star Michael Weatherly. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 48 Mr. Robot star Rami Malek and Suits star Abigail Spencer. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 48 Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 48 Jeffrey Tambor accepts the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Transparent. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 48 Directors Thomas Kail, left, and Alex Rudzinski accept the award for directing for a variety special for Grease: Live. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 48 Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 48 Patton Oswalt accepts the award for writing for a variety special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 18 / 48 Jimmy Kimmel hands out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by his mother during the show. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 48 Braindead star Margo Martindale and The Simpsons star Hank Azaria. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 48 Tim Carvell, left, and John Oliver accept the award for outstanding variety talk series for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 21 / 48 David Benioff, left, and D.B. Weiss accept the award for writing for a drama series for Game of Thrones. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 22 / 48 Matt Damon, left, and Jimmy Kimmel. (AFP / Getty Images) 23 / 48 Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery and Bloodline star Kyle Chandler. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 24 / 48 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt creator Tina Fey, left, and Maya and Marty star Amy Poehler. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 48 Courtney B. Vance accepts the award for lead actor in a limited series or movie for The People vs. O.J. Simpson. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 26 / 48 Leslie Jones, right, on stage with Ernst & Young employees. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 48 Sarah Paulson accepts the award for lead actress in a limited series or movie for The People v. O.J. Simpson. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 48 Homeland star Claire Danes and All the Way star Bryan Cranston. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 29 / 48 Superstore star America Ferrera and This Is Us star Mandy Moore. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 48 American Crime actress Regina King celebrates her win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 31 / 48 American Crime actress Regina King celebrates her win for supporting actress in a limited series or movie. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 48 Quantico star Priyanka Chopra and The Night Manager star Tom Hiddleston. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 33 / 48 Susanne Bier wins directing for a limited series, movie or special for The Night Manager. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 34 / 48 Producer Mark Burnett, center, and the production team for The Voice accept the award for reality competition program. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 35 / 48 Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo passes out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the audience during the Emmy Awards. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 36 / 48 Jill Soloway accepts the award for directing in a comedy series for her work on Transparent. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 37 / 48 Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepts the award for lead actress in a comedy series for Veep. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 38 / 48 Jeffrey Tambor accepts the award for lead actor in a comedy series for Transparent. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 39 / 48 Transparent actor Jeffrey Tambor, left, accepts the award for lead actor in a comedy series from TV personality James Corden. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 40 / 48 Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang accept the award for writing for a comedy series for Master of None. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 41 / 48 Difficult People actor Joel McHale and The Good Place actress Kristen Bell present the award for supporting actress in a comedy. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 48 Episodes star Matt LeBlanc and Modern Family star Julie Bowen (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 43 / 48 Kate McKinnon accepts the award for supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on Saturday Night Live. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 44 / 48 Baskets actor Louie Anderson accepts the award for supporting actor in a comedy series. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 45 / 48 ABCs black-ish stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 46 / 48 Actors Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo perform. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 47 / 48 Jimmy Kimmel opens the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 18, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images) 48 / 48 The scene inside the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) FULL COVERAGE: Complete winners list | Memorable moments | Red carpet | Photo highlights | Fashion | HBO after-party | Governors Ball Soloway was one of two women awarded for their directing. The other was Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, who helmed all six episodes of AMCs sumptuous spy thriller The Night Manager. Its the second year in a row in which two female directors were victorious in the same categories at the Emmys. In 2015, Soloway won for Transparent, while Lisa Cholodenko like Bier, a feature filmmaker who migrated to TV was honored for her work on the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge. By contrast, only a single woman, Kathryn Bigelow, has ever won an Academy Award for directing (The Hurt Locker in 2010). In a show of the enormous strides made by the transgender movement in just a few years, Soloways lead actor, Jeffrey Tambor, made news by calling for an end to the casting of cisgender, or non-transgender, actors like himself in transgender roles. Please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story, said Tambor, whose portrayal of a Maura Pfefferman, a transgender woman who comes out later in life, has won widespread acclaim but has also sparked criticism from some trans activists. I would be happy if I were the last cisgender male to play a transgender female. The declaration was noteworthy, given the growing controversy over the casting of cisgender actors including, most recently, Matt Bomer in transgender roles. Tambors plea was echoed later in the evening by Laverne Cox, the first openly transgender actress to receive an Emmy nomination. Several other speeches drove home the importance of representation in pop culture. Surprise winner Tatiana Maslany, who plays enough different characters on Orphan Black to employ a dozen or so actresses, said she was so lucky to be on a show that puts women at the center. Another surprise winner, Kate McKinnon, became the first SNL cast member to win an Emmy in the supporting actor or actress category and also happens to be the first openly lesbian cast member on the show. In her tearful, funny acceptance speech, McKinnon twice thanked Hillary Clinton, whom she impersonates on the show. 1 / 34 Louie Anderson gets ready to enter the Microsoft Theater. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 34 Tituss Burgess (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 34 Jamie Brewer (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 34 Ariel Winter (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 34 Eric Stonestreet takes a selfie with fans. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 34 Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 34 John Singleton (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 34 Emily Robinson (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 34 Jeremy Maguire (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 34 Nolan Gould (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 34 Gaten Matarazzo, Millie Bobby Brown and Caleb McLaughlin. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 34 Keegan-Michael Key and Elisa Pugliese (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 34 Jenifer Lewis (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 34 Regina King and Trevor Jackson (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 34 Holly Taylor (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 34 Emily Ratajkowski (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 34 (L-R) Kelly Preston, John Travolta and Rami Malek. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 34 Sarah Paulson (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 34 Courtney B. Vance (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 34 Heidi Klum and Padma Lakshmi (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 34 Yara Shahidi (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 34 Viola Davis gives a wave. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) 23 / 34 William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman are all smiles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 34 Jon Voight and Miles Brown of black-ish pose for a photo. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 34 Bryan Cranston signs an autograph. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 34 Sofia Vergara walks the red carpet. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 34 Aziz Ansari flashes a smile. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 34 Priyanka Chopra glides in a flowing gown. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 34 Emilia Clarke makes her way onto the red carpet. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 34 Angela Bassett arrives in a bright gown. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 34 Michelle Dockery hits the red carpet. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 34 Mark Burnett and Roma Downey mug for the camera. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 34 Laurence Fishburne makes an entrance. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 34 Hank Azaria sports the white-tie-on-white-shirt look. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) One of the nights most cathartic moments came courtesy of McKinnons SNL castmate (and Olympics superfan) Leslie Jones, who has been subjected to racist and sexist harassment online following her appearance in the all-female Ghostbusters remake. She appeared along with some accountants from Ernst & Young and joked that rather thank keeping the Emmy winners a secret, they should be protecting her Twitter account. She not only enlivened this customary but typically boring part of the telecast but also found a platform to fire back at Internet trolls. Yall over here using your skills to protect best voiceover in a French sitcom. Meanwhile, Im butt-naked on CNN. I just wanted to feel beautiful, yall. Can a sister feel beautiful? she asked, prompting a chorus of approval from the audience at Microsoft Theater. Similarly, Sarah Paulsons all but inevitable victory for lead actress in a limited series or movie became a moment of redemption for the once-vilified Marcia Clark in FXs The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Paulsons highly sympathetic portrayal reimagined Clark not as the cardboard cutout depicted in the news, the actress said in her acceptance speech, but as a complicated, whip-smart, giant-hearted mother of two committed to righting a terrible injustice. Paulson, who brought Clark as her guest to the Emmys, ended her speech with an apology to the former prosecutor for Paulsons superficial judgment and the brutally sexist criticism Clark endured during the height of the Simpson trial. Still, the TV academy should probably refrain from patting itself on the back just yet. All of the writing awards handed out on Sunday went to men, though, in an ironic twist, D.V. DeVincentis won for writing Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, the episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson that showed how Clarks appearance and personal life were subject to intense scrutiny. Although Samantha Bee made a big impression with the debut of her topical series Full Frontal, the variety talk show category remained an all-white boys club. As host (and losing nominee) Kimmel pointed out, thats sort of the opposite of variety. Follow me @MeredithBlake MORE: People v. O.J. Simpson at Emmy awards: A new verdict on the case HBO and FX reign over the Emmys with Game of Thrones and The People v. O.J. Simpson Tatiana Maslany finally wins an Emmy, Clone Club celebrates Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks, which premieres Monday on HBO, is a swift, sleek documentary built entirely from on-the-scene images and the remembrances of people who were there or otherwise directly involved. Dispensing with historical context and scholarly opinion, it is a kind of humanistic action film, concerned almost entirely with what happened and the experiences of the people it happened to. Some familiarity with the subject is assumed. But to recap briefly, Charlie Hebdo is a satirical French magazine whose Paris offices were attacked in January 2015 by two men, supposedly affiliated with Al Qaeda in Yemen. The men killed 10 staff members, a building maintenance man and a policeman before going on the run. Two days later, also in Paris, a third man, acquainted with the first two, killed a policewoman and then went on to take hostages in a nearby Kosher grocery, killing four; maps discovered later suggested plans to attack Jewish schools. Advertisement The film becomes conscious of the terrorists just as their plans turn to action and dispenses with them as soon as the police do, and they do. That we learn little about their background, motivation or philosophy doesnt feel like a problem, and may be the point a killers a killer, no matter how righteous he imagines himself or his cause. The roots of terrorism need to be understood, but understanding isnt always what the situation requires. Although theres something sensational in the bones of the project, director Dan Reed keeps things measured and cool, steering clear of redundant dramatic effects. Indeed, one feels that he possesses worse pictures than he shows, that he cuts away when appropriate. More than enough drama remains: recollections of escapes and mistakes, of cellphones ringing in the pockets of the dead; the Je Suis Charlie demonstrators flooding the streets and squares, holding pens aloft in the night; life and death on security cameras. This is the fourth true-life Terror film for Reed, following his Terror in Moscow (2003), in which Chechen rebels took several hundred people hostage in a Moscow theater; Terror in Mumbai (2009), about coordinated attacks by Pakistan-based militants in Indias biggest city; and Terror at the Mall (2014), concerning the mass shooting at Nairobis Westgate shopping complex by members of the Islamic extremist group Shabab. After that, Reed told the New York Times, I dont know if I can do this kind of film again. He did; hopefully it wont become a lifes work. Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks Where: HBO When: 8 p.m. Monday Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14) robert.lloyd@latimes.com On Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd ALSO A you-are-there feel to Mumbai doc Review: In The Secret Agent, a tale of political intrigue doesnt lose sight of its human drama Change is afoot at the Maxfield flagship on Melrose Avenue after 25 years of sitting as the solitary concrete fortress on a tame stretch of the famed shopping district. The West Hollywood concept boutique with its templelike entrance balances designer brands such as Chanel and Gucci with an L.A. grunge aesthetic in emerging labels such as Fear of God, Enfants Riches Deprimes and Mike Amiri. Mixed in is vintage furniture, books and objects for the home. But now, recently appointed chief branding officer Peter Utz, who came to Los Angeles for previous employer Saint Laurent, is set out to spruce up the companys flagship and ambitiously envisions a Maxfield enclave of sorts on the small section of Melrose the company inhabits. Advertisement The business also includes the gallery of vintage furniture across the street from the Melrose boutique, a store at the Malibu Country Mart and Maxfield Bleu in Beverly Hills, which sells past seasons designs. Utz has his gaze on the Melrose flagship and has organized a series of pop-ups for emerging brands that will sit in the gallery space located directly across the street from the concept store. The pop-up, totaling roughly 2,500 square feet, is a temporary store for Maxfield founder Tommy Perses son James Perse. I like the idea of creating a village, said Utz of the connectivity of the spaces. On Oct. 27, Fear of God will launch the pop-up series and will remain there for one month. Other brands that will take over the space include Virgil Ablohs Off-White, Vetements, Maison Margiela, Enfants Riches Deprimes and Mike Amiri. Designers will have full control of how the space is designed, Utz said, so as to ensure their creativity isnt dictated or translated through the lens of another creative. Fear of God refashioned 100 vintage rock n roll T-shirts for Maxfield last month, which was revealed by the brand on social media. A line began forming at the door at 6 a.m. up until the stores 11 a.m. opening. The shirts sold out in 30 minutes. The labels founder, Jerry Lorenzo, is set to release an exclusive sneaker, an all-white capsule and the debut of a ready-to-wear collaboration, all at the store. Maxfield is being strategic with those limited-edition and exclusive releases with those timed to go out over the course of the stores lifespan rather than all at once. Similar tactics will be employed for the other brands. Off-White is set to follow Fear of God with 45 limited-edition items for men and women, created by Abloh, for sale in the store. There will also be the release of a new take on the Off-White basics collection that will give it a vintage quality. The idea is to give the chance to a young designer who hasnt got a store based yet in Los Angeles and to give them a perfect location, our retail knowledge how to organize it and how to staff it and their creative input for the rest, Utz said. Its a blank canvas where they can really create what they want. The pop-ups are part of a number of moving parts for Utz and the rest of the Maxfield team. The original flagship across the street will undergo a bit of its own refresh, beginning next week, with new lighting and a new coat of paint inside details that havent been touched since the store first opened. Were going through every single detail of the store. Every visual aspect to make the journey of the customer who doesnt know Maxfield as high end as possible, Utz said. The Fifties home designed by French architect Jean Prouve that was shipped to the stores site last year from Paris now sits on a cement platform just outside the Maxfield entrance and, on Monday, will temporarily become a mens boutique to provide room in the original store for the interior to be painted. That inventory will all move back once the space is completed. The vintage furniture, temporarily in storage, that once was on display in what will be the pop-up space will move to the Prouve structure which, Utz explained, provides a more fitting landing place for the collection. Its a bit of skillful maneuvering, with all parts likely to be in permanent place by mid-November. Its exciting, Utz said. Its a big transition for the company because Maxfield has never really gone through such a re-branding situation. Its a beautiful company and I just think its important for the store to always be current and that we [maintain] the right image. Moncler next month will unveil its first eyewear collection under the licensing agreement with Marcolin, inked last year. The six sunglass designs, branded Moncler Lunettes, will be available globally at the luxury brands boutiques, exclusive department and concept stores and select opticians. This partnership with Marcolin is a very important step in the brands growth strategy, said Moncler chairman and chief executive officerRemo Ruffini. The decision to opt for developing the range of Moncler products, embracing the eyewear world in a synergic way that completes our core business, is without doubt one of our strengths. We firmly believe in the potential of this partnership. And we are convinced that this partnership will yield outstanding common business results thanks to the new projects we are working on together. Ruffini has been expanding the product offer of Moncler, which dates back to 1952, beyond the core down jacket, with a special attention to technology and design. Advertisement Inspired by the classic ski goggle shapes of the Seventies, the acetate ML0001 and the more feminine ML0002 models stand out with an embossed metal logo on the front and for little details on the temples reminiscent of Monclers distinctive boudin quilting. The acetate mens ML0003 and unisex ML0004 frames spotlight retro style with removable leather side shields. The aerodynamic temples remind of high-altitude goggles. They will be available in contrasting black and red, brown and yellow, deep blue and light blue, and black tone on tone colour combinations, with polarized or mirrored lenses. The quintessentially feminine ML0005 frame has a round shape, while the unisex ML0006 has a squared silhouette. The soft volumes of the two acetate styles recall the light and airy effect of the brands core duvet. Prices range from $290 to $560. Marcolin, based in Longarone, Italy, produces and distributes collections for brands including Tom Ford, Ermenegildo Zegna, Roberto Cavalli, Tods, Emilio Pucci, Dsquared2 and Diesel, to name a few. In 2015, the company sold about 14.3 million eyeglasses. Moncler SpA, publicly traded on the Italian Stock Exchange, said growth across all markets and distribution channels helped the company report a 17 percent rise in revenues in the first six months of the year, totaling 346.5 million euros, or $388 million, compared with the same period in 2015. Standing onstage on the Music Center Plaza, the L.A. Operas general director, Placido Domingo, welcomed 400 guests to Saturdays Opera Ball, but not without joking about his title role in the nights production of Giuseppe Verdis Macbeth at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Now, my God, do I have problems, he said, as he introduced Ekaterina Semenchuk, his Lady Macbeth, describing his characters return from battle, expecting a wonderful night but instead discovering, She offers me murder. Wow. Advertisement Beneath the stars and a nearly full moon, guests dined, danced and chatted about the L.A. Operas take on the classic Shakespearean tale in which a troupe of climbing demons replace the three witches who prophesy Macbeths future as king. If you werent there, you missed having conversations with three of the nights notable guests. 1.) To see that Domingo is still singing like a young man is wonderful, said award-winning Chilean journalist and author Isabel Allende, who just happened to be in Los Angeles. I had never seen [the opera Macbeth] or heard of it. It is not a lightweight opera, but I dont know why it is not done more. She then gave a nod to the artful staging, calling the demons dramatic, original and very, very unusual. 2.) Since none of us have met witches, I thought, Why cant they be like bats? said the productions director Darko Tresnjak. Why cant they scale the walls? I love scary movies and horror movies. I grew up with them, and it seemed to make sense here, as theres a lot of darkness in the original play. The 2014 Tony Award winner for A Gentlemans Guide to Love & Murder and director of numerous operas said that he had been busy planning the Broadway musical Anastasia when the L.A. Opera called him about the opera. Then they mentioned this little fact that Placido would be singing, he said. I called my agent and I called everybody and I said, Rearrange everything. Im doing it. 3.) Kate Walsh of Greys Anatomy and Private Practice called the music voluptuous and the chorus powerful, and as for the black-tie gala, she said she enjoyed seeing people dressed up for an occasion other than an awards show. Looking around, she also credited the number of younger guests to a growing interest in the arts in Los Angeles. The arts scene in Los Angeles is exploding, Walsh said. The visual arts, multimedia, restaurants, dance and all the performing arts. This is the place to be. People are coming here from all over the world. The bad news is that the traffic is going to get worse, but the good news is that were becoming more international, more cosmopolitan, and I think well be seeing a more diverse audience, a younger audience and hopefully more funding for music and dance. Then she added, You know its real when people from New York and London want to come here. The Opera Ball raised nearly $1.1 million from tickets beginning at $2,500 and tables selling for up to $150,000. Also among those joining the festivities were cast members Robert Tagliavini (Banquo), Arturo Chacon-Cruz (Macduff) and Josh Wheeker (Malcolm); conductor James Conlon; gala chair Mary Hayley; and production supporters Milan Panic, Barbara Augusta Teichert, Joyce and Aubrey Chernick and Carla Sands, representing the Blue Ribbon group of the Music Center. image@latimes.com ALSO Placido Domingo on playing Macbeth in L.A. Operas season opener In keeping with the see-now-buy-now undercurrent sweeping through the spring collections, Pantone has switched up its seasonal forecasting by releasing its Top 10 colors in the wake of New York Fashion Week. Leading the charge are Niagara, Primrose Yellow and Lapis Blue in the top three slots respectively, followed by Flame and Island Paradise. Ranking sixth through 10th, are Pale Dogwood, Greenery, Pink Yarrow, Kale and Hazelnut. Just as many designers have taken to a more immediate approach to retail, so has Pantone with its color analysis. Pantone Color Institutes executive director Leatrice Eiseman said, Obviously, thats a really important part of where the fashion industry is headed. You have to look at things and ask would people say, I love that color. I want it now. For us, it also plays into that whole idea of transitional seasons and offering options that are not just typical of seasons. Advertisement True to the itinerant nature of todays jobs, Eiseman tuned into the New York runways from Seattle and Paris. With some designers like Thom Browne blending nine shades into one dress (not counting the Island Paradise lipstick worn by some of his models), the Pantone team had their work cut out for them. There were about 119 NYFW shows and presentations on the schedule, with colors ranging from the wackadoodle to the absolutely gorgeous and romantic, Eiseman said. Relying on the numerical and the instinctive, she said, When youre seeing the colors and the clothing coming down the runway, you get a pretty good picture of what value the color is and what tonality it is. We also record them. In the end, it really is a question of numbers how many people are using these variations of colors. We looked at each look, and of course for that, you really have to whistle through. But there are certain things that stood out because were always looking for color cues, Eiseman said. It seems to me that exponentially it just gets better and better, because there is just so much originality and freedom in the use of color, particularly in the use of combinations. Its fun for us to see the extremes too from the silly to the sublime. And silly in a good way because it can also be inventive, creative and eye catching. You look at all the gorgeous dresses, gowns and fabrics and thats all lovely. But when theres whimsy as well that puts a smile on your face, thats what fashion is all about. Pantone Fashion Color Report Spring 2017 Niagara 17-4123: Comfortable, dependable and relaxed, this denimlike blue was used by Carolina Herrera for a ballgown, by Zac Posen in translucent detail on a gown and by Joseph Altuzarra in a floral-printed denim jacket. That convergence of different looks coming together was a standout to me, Eiseman said. One of the things that really impressed me was the Carolina Herrera dress shown in this denimlike blue the bustier effect in this denimlike color. The creativity involved in that was kind of like denim-meets-ballgown. Primrose Yellow 13-0755: Along with several of the other Top 10 colors, this sunlight one is akin to flowers and a reminder of nature. Several designers used this color with the cooler Island Paradise and warming Hazelnut, Eiseman said. Lapis Blue 19-4045: When it comes to blues, navy is a given as a spring color. Lapis Blue is a way of bringing in a bit more vitality, adding a little more energy with an inner radiance or pearlescence that enhances any layering effect, from Eisemans point of view. Thats the direction were heading in with the blues not to stay too boring or too same, she said. Blues are anchoring colors. Women are looking for change, theyre looking for fun or some drama in fashion. But those familiar colors give us some ease in a political climate that gives us reason to calm down a bit. Flame 17-1462: This red-fused orange definitely has a lot of heat in it and is gregarious, vivacious and definitely a party color. Its very theatrical and you know youre definitely going to turn heads when you wear that color and walk into a room. Rag & Bone, Gabriela Hearst and Lela Rose were onto it, Eiseman said. Tory Burch has a history of loving that color and she does it very well. Island Paradise 14-4620A: refreshing cool blue, this shade found its way into Victoria Beckhams panne velvet dresses and the color alone made one feel it was spring, Eiseman said. Its name alone brings to mind beautiful bodies of water that make daydreamers want to dive right in, she added. Lela Rose earned her praise for using the hue in a lace dress as did Christian Siriano for combining the light blue with fiery Flame. Pale Dogwood 13-1404: Color watchers might see this one as an extension of Rose Quartz, which shared the 2016 Color of Year title with Serenity. There is a holdover effect people are still affected by it. Designers are working in a season where theyre thinking of lightness and airiness, Eiseman said. J.Mendel, Banana Republic, Ryan Roche, Baja East and Lacoste looked to have gotten the cue and others added it to Kale. Greenery 15-0343: Shoppers longing for the great outdoors is evident in this yellow-green and its partner Kale. Zac Posen, Trina Turk and Cynthia Rowley all had a dose of Greenery. The Japanese have a technique called forest bathing, where they encourage people to go outside and take a walk in a forest. Obviously, if you live in a big city you dont always have that opportunity. But anything that you can create that gives you that feeling of really being immersed in nature is a good thing, Eiseman said. Greens are not unknown to Michael Kors, but he was right on target with the way he used this, along with Island Paradise and Lapis Blue. Pink Yarrow 17-2034: Festive and visible, this is a color women know well since it has been an outstanding cosmetics color for years. Put it in a garment and youre always going to get compliments, Eiseman said. Kith and Nanette Lepore seemed to have gotten the memo. Why is my name in Spanish? That question came up one morning as my daughter and I were getting ready for the day. She mentioned she knew her friends full name even her middle name. Hispanic Heritage Month: Tell us your story >> After she told me her friend's first, middle and last names all American names I asked her whether she could say her own name. She could, with a little difficulty. Then she asked,Why is my name in Spanish? I laughed. Well, because we're Mexican, I told her. A few minutes later, I said, Besides, your first name is not even in Spanish; it's in Mayan. In the afternoon, she asked her father the same question. And he told her the same thing. But I was born here, she said. It's little moments like these that remind me Im a Latina raising a daughter in the U.S. I was born in Mexico City and came to the U.S. when I was 18, and my husband was born here. His father was born in Guatemala, and his mother's grandmother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. We have a picture of her holding my daughter when she was a baby, a year before she died. To remember her, we put her picture up on Dia de Muertos, which many Americans call Dia de los Muertos. We make an ofrenda, or offering altar, on which we place calaveras (sugar skulls) and papel picado (paper mache) that my mom got in Mexico. We also go to nearby events around Ontario, and, when we can, Los Angeles. Every year, there are more and more events. I also see more decorations for Dia de Muertos at Michael's, Walgreens, Bed Bath & Beyond. Calavera Catrina, or the"Dapper Skeleton,"was created by Mexican cartoon illustratorJos Guadalupe Posada and has become the symbol of the Day of the Dead. (Nahmias-Chamberlin Posada Collection) (Test) In Mexico, I dont remember seeing sugar skull and catrina figurines in major stores. Its more of a farmers market endeavor, where they sell actual candy sugar skulls. In the U.S., it has been embraced by big retailers. But theres a difference one that outlines how we celebrate the holiday. My mother didn't put up ofrendas in Mexico. But they would have them in my school. My daughter doesn't have that only the fall festival, which I let her celebrate as well, but I make a point of reminding her of our traditions. I remind her of the reason for Dia de Muertos, which is not just putting up decorations. Its a deeper, more ancestral meaning to it. Its a delicate balance incorporating my culture into our family. She understands Spanish and speaks it poquito (a little), but relatives from Mexico often give me a hard time that I should speak to her in Spanish more. I want her to be proud of her culture and her ancestry, but I know at her age, she's just trying to fit in. I know her identity will be different from mine. Her experience growing up is already vastly different. Shes not just Mexican; shes Mexican-Guatemalan American. We pick our battles. We choose if we spend all day making tamales on Christmas Eve day or if we order them from Neiman Marcus. Denise Florez For a moment, I wondered whether I should have named her Ashley or Brianna, but then I quickly remembered that's not who I am. We chose the Mayan name Nicte-Ha, which means water flower, because the Mayan civilization flourished in Mexico and Guatemala. I wanted a name that honored her ancestry. Its true that I havent been diligent in teaching her Spanish, but I try to incorporate it as much as I can, when I remember. At least I got her to roll her Rs. As Latinos, we get to pick and choose which aspects of our culture we retain, struggling against the pull of the mainstream tide. We pick our battles. We choose if we spend all day making tamales on Christmas Eve day or if we order them from Neiman Marcus. We choose to not have tamales for Christmas at all. Its a choice to assimilate or not, how much or how little. How much of our ancestry do we preserve for ourselves and for our children. When Nicte-Ha asked again why her name was in Spanish, I gave her a brief explanation of why our last names are in Spanish, how the Spanish people arrived in Mexico and why its a part of who we are. A few days later, as we were looking at her yearbook, she said another friends name, Rosa, in Spanish, with an emphasized R. I like saying her name in Spanish, she said. Wed love to hear your story about what being Latino means to you. Share your experiences using this form or on Instagram with #MyLatinoIdentity or #MiIdentidadLatina. An Albany company is helping the Benton County Sheriffs Office save big. BCSO switched its fleet to run on propane autogas as well as gasoline, and that saved the agency nearly $24,000 in fuel costs in 2015, said Randy Camp, general manager of CoEnergy Propane. Last month, CoEnergy Propane also presented a $6,700 check to Benton County during a Board of Commissioners meeting. The check was for a 50 cents per gallon federal rebate for propane autogas used by BSCO vehicles. There are other entities now that are looking at (converting to propane autogas) all over the state, Camp said. He added that theres been a mandate by the state of Oregon to move more of its vehicles to alternative fuels, and propane is the easiest switch at this point. The infrastructure is already out there. There are places you can refuel all over Oregon, and thats not true with electric and natural gas, Camp said. Part of Philomath School Districts bus fleet also runs on propane, Camp said. Benton County decided in fall 2014 to install equipment that would allow the Sheriffs Offices cruisers, SUVs and pickups to use both gasoline and propane autogas. The work on the fleet was done at Linn-Benton Community Colleges new Advanced Transportation Technology Center in Lebanon CoEnergy is a partner at the center for alternative fuel education. In a January 2015 interview, Benton County Sheriff Scott Jackson said his agency spent nearly $350,000 a year on fuel. Besides the cost savings, propane autogas allows BCSO to operate a much greener fleet by powering their vehicles on clean-burning fuel, Camp said. Benton County also is looking at equipping other vehicles, such as Dial-A-Ride buses, to run on propane autogas, Camp said. CoEnergy Propanes Albany office is at 2505 Pacific Blvd. S.E. The company also has an office in Redmond. For more information, call 800-510-5886 or go to coenergy.net. A lawsuit served this month against five California Coastal Commissioners could cost them millions of dollars in civil fines if the courts confirm hundreds of alleged transparency rule violations. Spotlight on Coastal Corruption, a small nonprofit organization formed solely to pursue the allegations, filed the lawsuit in San Diego County Superior Court in mid-August against Commissioners Erik Howell, Martha McClure, Wendy Mitchell, Mark Vargas and Steve Kinsey, the chairman. For the record: This story was updated because the original calculation of total fines did not include the violations of the public resources code. The suit, served at the panels meeting in Newport Beach on Sept. 7, accuses the commissioners of violating disclosure laws for so-called ex-parte communications a total of 590 times during the last two years. If the court finds widespread violations, each member could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil penalties. Advertisement At least four other lawsuits are challenging coastal development permits partly on the grounds that commissioners improperly disclosed their contacts, did not report them on time or used the communications to hold a series of behind-the-scenes meetings before voting on a project. In one case, an Orange County judge heavily criticized commissioners for incomplete disclosure forms. Some commissioners are being very arrogant about the law. Kathryn Burton, president of Spotlight on Coastal Corruption The Spotlight suit, however, is apparently the first to seek fines against individual coastal commissioners. The Coastal Commission has gotten off track, said Kathryn Burton, Spotlights president. It needs to come back into compliance with the law and increase transparency as well as public accountability. Some commissioners are being very arrogant about the law. The defendants declined to discuss the case or could not be reached for comment. A Coastal Commission spokesperson said the state attorney generals office is reviewing the matter. Spotlights lawsuit is the latest development in an ongoing controversy about private ex-parte communications between commissioners and developers, lobbyists, environmentalists and anyone else with a stake in the decisions of the powerful land use agency. In recent months, courts and the Los Angeles Times have scrutinized commissioners for failing to report ex-parte contacts, or disclosing them late or with little detail, in apparent violation of the statutory requirements. Chairman Kinsey decided not to vote on a controversial proposal to build hundreds of new homes on open land overlooking the Newport and Huntington Beach shoreline on Sept. 7, because he had two unreported ex-partes related to the proposal. Though Vargas had filed one ex-parte disclosure eight months late, he voted on the project after consulting with the agencys general counsel. Ex-parte communications can involve telephone calls, face-to-face meetings, emails or other written material related to a pending matter. The contacts are outside official public hearings. Under state law, commissioners are required to report such interactions in writing within seven days of the communication. If ex-partes occur within a week of a commission meeting where the subject matter is on the agenda, they must be disclosed orally from the dais at the hearing. The reports have to include the date, time, type and location of the communication as well as the identities of everyone who initiated the communication and participated in it. Commissioners are further required to provide a comprehensive description of the content of their ex-parte contacts, including all text and graphic material if any was presented in the course of the communication. Finally, the disclosures must be placed into the commissions official record so the public can review them. See the most-read stories in Local News this hour Commissioners also are prohibited by law from influencing a decision if they knowingly fail to report ex-parte contacts related to the matter. Each violation of the disclosure requirements carries a maximum fine of $7,500. The lawsuit asserts that the five commissioners are subject to additional fines of $30,000 for each disclosure violation because such violations are considered separate offenses under the states Public Resources Code. Cory Briggs, the attorney for Spotlight on Coastal Corruption, said the group analyzed all written and oral ex-parte reports made by the commissions 12 voting members between January 2015 and August 2016. Spotlight decided to sue Howell, Kinsey, McClure, Mitchell and Vargas because they appeared to have the most alleged violations, Briggs said. The lawsuit charges that Kinsey violated reporting requirements at least 140 times, Howell 96 times, McClure 82 times, Mitchell 120 times, and Vargas 150 times. If all the alleged violations are sustained, Kinsey faces fines of up to $5,250,00; Howell $3,600,000; McClue $3,150,000, Mitchell $4,500,000 and Vargas $5,625,000 court records state. Briggs said many of the written disclosures in question lacked comprehensive descriptions of the communication. Others allegedly failed to meet required deadlines by a few days to eight months while eight ex-partes were never disclosed, the lawsuit states. The oral reports, Briggs said, were very brief, averaging about 20 to 30 seconds, not enough time to provide a meaningful disclosure. In some cases, commissioners said only that their ex-parte contact was similar or substantially similar to the oral report of a fellow commissioner given earlier. The suit, Briggs said, focuses only on significant violations. We are not seeking penalties for the lack of a signature. The lawsuit alleges that the violations were deliberate because the commissioners received training about ex-parte disclosure requirements. Agency officials say the instruction occurs at commission orientations and periodically during presentations by the chief counsel at public meetings. Nonetheless, defendants consciously disregarded the requirements of [the law] based on an arrogant, corrupt belief that their ex-parte conversations were none of the publics business, at times using personal email to conceal the conversations, the lawsuit states. Defendants repeated violations were not innocent oversights. Earlier this month, California lawmakers, under pressure from pro-development interests, defeated a bill that would have prohibited ex-parte communications by commissioners. dan.weikel@latimes.com Twitter: @ladeadline16 MORE LOCAL NEWS How a pension deal went wrong and cost California taxpayers billions In tough Willowbrook, sheriffs deputies ask residents for advice Federal officials launch shuttle service from the San Gabriel Valley to the San Gabriel Mountains An 82-year-old man was killed when a brass plumbing end cap fell off a California Department of Transportation truck, flew into his windshield and then struck him in the neck, triggering a crash on Highway 101 near Palo Alto, officials said Monday. The Caltrans water truck was driving between job sites on the highway Friday afternoon when the brass cap from a plumbing fixture somehow came off the vehicle, spokesman Myeast McCauley said. It's not yet confirmed. It appears this may have been the projectile that may have been kicked by passing traffic. pic.twitter.com/lyjGadKvr0 CHP Redwood City (@CHP_RedwoodCity) September 17, 2016 Advertisement According to the California Highway Patrol, the cap likely fell off the truck and was kicked up by passing traffic and launched into the air and into the path of Louis Schaefers minivan. Schaefer was driving in the northbound freeway lanes at about 1 p.m. when the end cap smashed through his windshield and struck him on the left side of neck. He then crashed into the center divider and continued driving until his minivan finally came to a stop near University Avenue. The Mountain View man was pronounced dead the scene. Caltrans is now working to determine how the cap came off their truck, McCauley said. In a statement, Caltrans offered its deepest condolences to Mr. Schaefers family and friends. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. ALSO Man in wheelchair killed by hit-and-run driver in Pomona Long Beach police to release video in mysterious August slayings of mother, 4-year-old daughter A mystery for police after 19-year-old Marine is shot in South L.A.: Hes fighting for his life Two toddlers who wandered from their great-grandmothers home through an open garage door died Monday after they were found unconscious in a neighbors swimming pool, according to police. The 2-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy were reported missing at about 10:56 a.m. after their great-grandmother could not find them, Fresno Police Lt. Joe Gomez said. The children were identified as 2-year-old Elizabeth Thao and 3-year-old Jayce Thao, according to the Fresno County Sheriff-Coroners Office. Advertisement The siblings father had left them in the womans care that morning, he said. The children were apparently left in a room that had access to a garage door, which was left open. The toddlers left the residence in the 5200 block of East Heaton Avenue sometime between 8 and 10 a.m., according to authorities No one noticed until it was too late, Gomez said. When officers arrived at the scene, they began searching the neighborhood for the missing children. As police combed the block, an officer contacted a next door neighbor and asked if he could search her backyard for the boy and girl. He began walking through the side yard toward the backyard when he heard the neighbor screaming. The neighbor found the children unresponsive in her backyard pool. Officers immediately removed the children from the pool and began performing CPR. The children were not breathing and had no pulse, Gomez said. The siblings were taken to an area hospital, where they were declared dead. Their names have not been released. Detectives are investigating the drowning, but Gomez said at this early stage of the investigation, this appears to be an extremely unfortunate tragic accident. Officers, he said, are devastated. A chaplain offered support to any officers who needed to talk about the accident, Gomez said. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. ALSO Long Beach police to release video in mysterious August slayings of mother, 4-year-old daughter After boys death, L.A. County supervisors to consider reevaluating tool that calculates child abuse risk A mystery for police after 19-year-old Marine is shot in South L.A.: Hes fighting for his life UPDATES: Sept. 20, 9:25 a.m.: This article has been updated with the childrens identities. This article was originally published at on Sept. 19 at 2:55 p.m. A wildfire burning on the south side of Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, Calif., grew to 4,528 acres Monday despite an aggressive air and ground attack to stop flames from advancing. Over the weekend, the Canyon fire forced officials to postpone the launch of an Atlas V rocket. The rocket was scheduled to take off Sunday and carry the WorldView-4, a commercial satellite that snaps high-resolution images of Earth, according to United Launch Alliance, the contractor hired to launch the satellite. The fire has caused power outages at several buildings on the base, according to Air Force officials. Generators will provide power to the facilities until the downed power lines are repaired or replaced. Advertisement The Air Force has further restricted public access to the site as fire crews work feverishly to cut new fire lines and douse spot fires. The wildfire broke out Saturday in a remote canyon at the southern end of the military base and quickly spread to nearly two square miles, according to Wayne Seda, the assistant chief of the Vandenberg Fire Department. The fire is spreading at a slow to moderate rate, officials said. Its burning in some very tough vegetation, Seda told reporters Sunday. The fire grew rapidly. It jumped roads at times and came out of the containment lines. Nearly 800 firefighters from state, federal and local agencies have been dispatched to battle the blaze, which is burning between Arguello and Santa Ynez Ridge roads. Air Force officials said fire crews were making progress against the fire and have been able to map out its boundaries. The fire is 0% contained. No injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Air Force officials said in a statement that Vandenberg Air Force Base firefighter and security forces are assessing possible causes. veronica.rocha@latimes.com matt.hamilton@latimes.com Twitter: @MattHjourno and VeronicaRochaLA UPDATES: Sept. 19, 11:55 a.m.: This article was updated with more details about the fire. Sept. 19, 8 a.m.: This article was updated with more details about the growth of the fire. Sept. 18, 6:30 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about the growth of the fire. This article was originally published Sept. 18 at 6:16 p.m. A woman who was struck by a hit-and-run driver at a Long Beach intersection this month died Saturday, police say. Maria Mendoza, 59, of Compton died from injuries she suffered in the Sept. 10 collision, which occurred at the corner of Willow Street and Long Beach Boulevard, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement Sunday. Edward Peterson, 83, was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, police said. Advertisement Reached by phone Sunday, Peterson told a reporter, I dont have anything to say about that, thank you anyway, before hanging up. Video from surveillance cameras appeared to show a beige Toyota Rav4 traveling west on Willow Street and then striking Mendoza as she crossed Long Beach Boulevard, police said. The video also appeared to show that the SUV did not stop for the red light at the intersection, they said. On Thursday, detectives arrested Peterson at his home in Long Beach, where authorities also found the beige SUV, which they say was registered to him. Peterson was booked into Long Beach jail on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, police said. His bail was set at $50,000. County jail records show that he was released from jail about 12 hours after being booked. Sgt. Brad Johnson, a spokesman for the Long Beach Police Department, said he could not immediately provide additional details about the investigation. matt.stevens@latimes.com Twitter: @ByMattStevens ALSO A girl with two graves: The past haunts San Francisco, a city that evicted its dead Flame bursts over Torrance refinery, prompting hours-long road closure Police use pepper spray on unruly crowd at Kaaboo music festival A 19-year-old Marine from Camp Pendleton has been hospitalized in grave condition after he was shot this weekend in South Los Angeles, authorities said. The teen, identified by his family as Carlos Segovia, was found about 11:35 p.m. Friday slumped over and unconscious in a Dodge Charger in the 2100 block of 31st Street, according to Capt. Peter Whittingham of the Los Angeles Police Department. Segovia left the military base near San Diego on Friday and was visiting friends and family for the weekend in South L.A., according to Claudia Perez, a family friend who said she treats him like her child. Advertisement See the most-read stories in Local News this hour Segovia wrapped up visiting his girlfriend Friday and was about to drive to Perezs home, where he usually stays, when he was struck by gunfire, she said. He was on his way to my house, Perez said via telephone from Segovias room at California Hospital Medical Center. He texted my son that he was bringing pizza home. He never made it. Police notified the U.S. Marine Corps, which in turn notified Segovias family about the shooting. Whittingham said he is unlikely to survive and has little to no brain function. Perez said he is being kept on life support but acknowledged that the family eventually would have to make a decision about ending medical care. Hes fighting for his life, she added. No suspect has been identified in the shooting. Police said Segovia has no connections to gangs or other activity that would seem to make him a likely target of gun violence. Like so many cases in South L.A., we have nothing to go on at this point. Capt. Peter Whittingham, Los Angeles Police Department. At this point, its absolutely a mystery, Whittingham said. Like so many cases in South L.A., we have nothing to go on at this point. Born in El Salvador, Segovia came to the U.S. with his mother. Both are U.S. citizens, Perez said. After finishing high school, Segovia joined the Marines about six months ago. He was known around his community for his volunteering and service work. Perez said he led a youth group called Teen Project, which aimed to motivate high school students to finish school and go the right way in life. He also worked at LA on Cloud 9, a nonprofit run by Perez that she said provides services to homeless people and to animals. Students from USC Troy Camp, where Segovia once served as junior counselor for children in South Los Angeles, have set up a fundraiser to help his family pay for medical expenses. He was a motivator, Perez said. He was very positive. If you said you couldnt do it, he said, Yes, you can. She pleaded with members of the public to come forward with information about the killing. They shot a Marine. They shot a community leader, Perez said. It was not gang-on-gang violence like you normally see on South L.A. streets. He left a base to see his family and was murdered in the streets. matt.hamilton@latimes.com Twitter: @MattHjourno richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @LACrimes ALSO More than 160 treated for mostly heat-related issues at L.A. Rams game Robert Durst to be moved to Indiana prison, but lawyer wants him sent to Los Angeles for murder trial 1,200-acre wildfire at Central California Air Force base forces delay of a satellite launch UPDATES: 8:30 a.m.: This article was updated with details about a fundraiser. This article was originally published at 3 a.m. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Monday that he was tapping a Long Beach petroleum engineer to oversee oil and gas operations in the city, filling a job that had not been held full time for decades. Garcetti and his staff praised Uduak-Joe Ntuk, newly chosen as petroleum administrator, as an expert with technical knowledge who could also engage with the community. Ntuk has the skills and background to work with our residents, industry and regulators to help manage oil and gas activities in our neighborhoods, and play a role in steering L.A. toward a cleaner, more sustainable future, Garcetti said in a statement. Advertisement Ntuk has been employed by the city of Long Beach as a petroleum engineering associate, helping to oversee an oil field operated by the city. He worked previously for the petroleum giant Chevron in the San Joaquin Valley. The Long Beach native has also volunteered with a nonprofit formed by former Vice President Al Gore to spotlight the problem of climate change and pursued fellowships in sustainability with the London Business School and the nonprofit Green for All. I will focus on doing everything we can to protect the health and safety of L.A.s communities, while taking a measured approach to the many complex issues raised by fossil fuel extraction in a large city, Ntuk said in a statement released by Garcetti. Matt Petersen, chief sustainability officer for Garcetti, called Ntuk a fairly unique candidate with oil and gas expertise. It was also important to the mayor and the Board of Public Works to find someone familiar with working with the community, Petersen said. Beyond his engineering work, Ntuk has also been active in Democratic politics in Southern California: He ran unsuccessfully for the Long Beach Unified school board two years ago and served as president of the Long Beach Democratic Club in recent years. He also garnered attention at the California Democratic Convention in Anaheim last year, after he recorded a politically damaging video of U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez imitating a Native American war cry. The hire had been closely watched by environmental activists with the STAND-L.A. Coalition, who complained that a City Council vote to specifically find someone with experience or credentials in the oil and gas field would result in candidates skewed toward the industry. Richard Parks, president of the nonprofit Redeemer Community Partnership, said he didnt immediately see a public health perspective reflected in Ntuks credentials. I personally dont know him but it appears that they have turned to someone with strong ties to the industry, Parks said, citing the fact that Ntuk had previously worked for Chevron. Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Assn., said the industry group was pleased that the city hired an administrator with technical expertise. The group had earlier encouraged L.A. to hire a qualified technical professional with experience in oil and gas production. For decades, city codes have laid out a long list of duties for the petroleum administrator, who is supposed to coordinate all matters tied to oil and gas production across Los Angeles. But over time, the job had been reduced to an off-and-on duty performed by a city analyst. The absence of an active, involved petroleum administrator had become a bone of contention with environmental and neighborhood activists, who argue that government agencies that regulate oil and gas drilling have neglected to coordinate to protect neighbors living near urban wells. For instance, complaints about foul odors and nosebleeds near a South L.A. drilling site piled up for years before the problems grabbed headlines and AllenCo Energy Inc. agreed to suspend operations. The company has paid millions for fines and upgrades since and, under a court injunction won by City Atty. Mike Feuer, can reopen only after meeting new restrictions. Activists argue that regulators were too slow to respond to the problems, especially since L.A. had imposed conditions decades earlier that were supposed to stop odors and other hazards from bothering neighbors. The risks of oil and gas operations again drew attention after a massive gas leak just north of the city prodded thousands of people out of their homes in Porter Ranch. That debacle along with a string of disputes over oil extraction in South L.A. neighborhoods and a lawsuit accusing the city of rubber-stamping drilling plans has ramped up pressure on city officials to tighten municipal oversight over oil and gas operations. In February, City Council President Herb Wesson proposed that the city immediately fill the job, saying the city needed a more proactive approach. In an interview, Ntuk said he would serve as a single point of contact for community stakeholders. He and other city officials said he would also make recommendations to city leaders on petroleum issues, assess if drilling sites are complying with local, state and federal laws, and coordinate with other city departments to address concerns about existing sites. Ntuk is expected to start work in early October, overseeing the newly created Office of Petroleum and Natural Gas Administration and Safety within the Board of Public Works. His anticipated salary is roughly $133,500 annually. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @LATimesEmily ALSO Beloved San Francisco political activist Rose Pak dies at 68 UC Berkeley reinstates controversial course on history of Palestine A mystery for police after 19-year-old Marine is shot in South L.A.: Hes fighting for his life UPDATES: 5:05 p.m.: This article was updated with information about Ntuks expected salary. 2:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction. This article was originally posted at 1:55 p.m. Beaumont police fatally shot a man waving a hatchet and stick at vehicles in the drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant Saturday afternoon, officials said. The man, who has not been identified, was walking up to vehicles waiting in the drive-through line of Burger King near the 1600 block of 6th Street, according to the Beaumont Police Department. He was approaching drivers with a stick and hatchet, police said. Officers received a call at 12:03 p.m. about a suspicious person in the area. When officers arrived, they found the man, who they said refused to comply with commands. Advertisement See the most-read stories in Local News this hour At some point during the confrontation, police shot and wounded the man. He was taken to an area hospital, where he later died. No other injuries were reported. An officer involved in the shooting has been placed on leave, per department policy, police said. The officers name has not been released. Homicide detectives with the Riverside County Sheriffs Department are investigating the fatal police shooting. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. MORE LOCAL NEWS A mystery for police after 19-year-old Marine is shot in South L.A.: Hes fighting for his life More than 160 treated for mostly heat-related issues at L.A. Rams game Robert Durst to be moved to Indiana prison, but lawyer wants him sent to Los Angeles for murder trial A Pomona man will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his girlfriend and cutting out her heart and one of her lungs in a motel bathroom, prosecutors said Monday. Alexander Anthony Clever, 28, pleaded no contest earlier this year to first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of his 35-year-old girlfriend, Yvette Silva. He also admitted to special circumstances of mayhem and torture in his plea, officials said. On Nov. 29, 2014, Clever and Silva, along with two other people, went to a Pomona motel. Clever and Silva went into a bathroom and argued, prosecutors said. Advertisement The other people tried to intervene after they heard muffled screaming and saw Clever choking Silva. They tried to free Silva, who was unconscious, then went to get help, prosecutors added. Police found Silva in the shower with her heart and her right lung cut out. She was alive when her lung was removed from her body, according to prosecutors. Two days later, Clever was arrested outside of his house. He had a knife that later tested positive for Silvas DNA, according to the district attorneys office. Staff writer Jerome Campbell contributed to this report. Joseph.serna@latimes.com For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter. ALSO No one noticed until it was too late: Fresno toddlers drown in neighbors swimming pool Brass plumbing fixture flies off Caltrans truck and kills driver on Bay Area highway Long Beach police to release video in mysterious August slayings of mother, 4-year-old daughter New York real estate heir Robert Durst has been assigned to an Indiana federal prison, frustrating his defense attorney, who said Sunday that he wants Durst sent to Los Angeles to face a murder charge in the death of his friend Susan Berman. Last December, the Los Angeles County district attorneys office reached an extradition deal with Dursts attorneys. Durst, 73, was due to be transferred by Aug. 18 to a federal prison in Southern California after he agreed to plead guilty to a weapons charge in New Orleans. But Durst has remained in a Louisiana jail. His legal team learned Friday that he was to be relocated to a federal prison with a specialized medical facility in Terre Haute, Ind. Advertisement It is contrary to everything that was agreed upon, attorney Richard DeGuerin told The Times. He wanted to get to trial in Los Angeles. Prosecutors want him there for a trial. The L.A. County district attorneys office could not be reached for comment. DeGuerin said he would try to block the move to Indiana. A Durst murder trial would be one of the highest-profile criminal trials the Los Angeles courts have seen in years. Durst was the subject of the HBO documentary The Jinx. The six-part series explored the disappearance of his wife in 1982 and the slaying of Berman, a writer who was found dead in her Benedict Canyon home in 2000. Durst has already beaten one murder case in Texas and remains a suspect in his wifes disappearance. Before the series finale, Durst disappeared from his Houston condo, prompting a manhunt that ended in New Orleans. Federal prosecutors filed a weapons case against him after FBI agents found a loaded revolver in his hotel room there. Durst pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and was sentenced in April to seven years and one month in federal prison. DeGuerin said he visited Durst this weekend in the St. Charles Parish jail, about 25 miles from New Orleans. The lawyer said he hoped to have more details on Dursts status after conferring with prison officials Monday. Durst has insisted he had nothing to do with Bermans fatal shooting. In a letter to a Times reporter, Durst wrote that he is eager to come to Los Angeles to defend himself. Id rather be going to California on my own, but Im anxious to get to trial to prove I didnt kill Susan Berman, Durst wrote. You couldnt print what I think about The Jinx. I didnt kill Susan Berman and I dont know who did. matt.hamilton@latimes.com Twitter: @MattHjourno. ALSO A woman struck in a Long Beach hit-and-run collision has died, police say Police use pepper spray on unruly crowd at Kaaboo music festival 1,200-acre wildfire at Central California Air Force base forces delay of a satellite launch The television game show Jeopardy! has a special place in Albany resident Miranda Princes life. She grew up watching the popular TV quiz show every night with her father in the 1980s. In July, Prince, 41, got what she calls the chance of a lifetime, becoming a contestant on the long-running game show created by Merv Griffin that attracts nearly 10 million viewers nightly. Prince and her husband, Charlie, flew to southern California, where she was one of 14 contestants who fielded answers in six categories from host Alex Trebek. Unlike other game shows in which the host asks a question and the contestants respond with an answer, in Jeopardy! the host provides the answer and the contestants have to answer in the form of a question. Princes journey started with an online test that she took last October. It was 50 questions long and I think I got at least 40 right, Prince said. No one is sure about how many it takes to qualify, but we think it's about 35 or so. More than 100,000 people take the test each year although about 300,000 register from which only 3,000 are selected for an audition. Auditions are held in six cities across the country, Prince said. I chose to audition in Detroit, Michigan, because thats where my mother lives, Prince said. The program doesnt pay for anything, so I thought I would tie in some family time on the trip. Princes audition was in April. It was fun and everyone from the show was very nice, Prince said. It was a little strange because Im usually always the best at trivia among my friends, but I was in a room where everyone was very good at trivia. It was kind of humbling. The audition included taking another 50-question test, plus practicing with the buzzer used to determine which of three contestants gets to respond to Trebeks answers from several categories. The trick is to be the first after Trebek completes talking because buzzing in too soon will lock out the buzzer for about one and a half seconds, giving the other contestants a big advantage. They kept telling everyone was to speak up, be louder and to smile, Prince said. I used to be involved with theater, so I know how to project my voice and I usually smile when Im nervous, so I was fine. Prince said she was notified three weeks after the audition that she would be on the program which is shot on a sound stage at Sony Pictures in Culver City, California. During the interim, Prince studied up on popular topics such as American presidents and African geography and she practiced providing her answers in question form with her husband. The Princes flew down to Los Angeles the day before production. They provide a shuttle from two hotels, Prince said. We had to be there by 8 a.m. and producers have it down to a science. They were all very nice and supportive. It could have been scary, but it wasnt. Prince said producers immediately begin briefing the contestants, encouraging them to relax and have fun. Contestants names are drawn to determine their order of appearance. Until you get on stage, you sit with the audience, Prince said. I brought knitting, but never got to it. Prince said she was in the third round of contestants, which she said was good, since it allowed her to work out her most of her nervousness. She said the introduction when the camera is focused singularly on each of the contestants as their name is announced, was a bit stressful. After the first commercial break, Trebek talks with each of the contestants and asks them a question usually from background material they have provided the show with. We had already filled out an information sheet of fun facts about us, Prince said. The producers brief Alex Trebek, but he may ask you anything he wants. Prince said she kept telling herself to not choke. I just really wanted to be able to hit the buzzer first. You cant buzz in until Alex has completed talking. If you do, it locks you out for about a second and a half, which is an eternity. Prince said there were 14 contestants in her group. The show is produced on Tuesday and Wednesday every other week, Prince said. They shoot five shows per day, so even if you are a big winner, you may only be there for two days. Prince said she was a bit surprised that the Jeopardy! set is smaller than it appears on television, but it is very colorful. You dont see Alex Trebek until shooting starts, Prince said. He doesnt hang out outback. Again everyone is very friendly. Prince said the approximately 22-minute show flew by like 22 seconds. Although she cant talk about the categories that came up during her time on stage, Prince said there were some that popped up and she thought, Uh-oh, but then I did far better than I thought I would. Jeopardy! has been on television since 1964. There are six categories with five questions each and ascending amounts of money associated with each question. In the first round, contestants can earn up to $1,000 on the top question in each category. In the second round called double Jeopardy! values double, up to $2,000. Following the two rounds, there is Final Jeopardy!, in which a single answer is given and contestants can wager nothing or all of their earnings thus far. The champion earns whatever amount they win that day and proceeds to the next days show. Second and third place winners receive $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. Prince couldnt say how much money she won or how many shows she was on, but she feels like she did well. She is especially proud of an official Jeopardy! hat that was given to each of the contestants. I didnt make a fool of myself, and I had a wonderful time, Prince said. Jeopardy! is a show aimed at nerds. Its written by nerds, played by nerds and watched by nerds, but it is so much fun. Mid-valley residents can find out how Prince did by watching Jeopardy! at 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 on Channel 2 KATU Portland. In addition to watching Jeopardy! faithfully, Prince also enjoys being on the Sick Town Derby Dames roller derby team where she is known as Dixieskullpopper. She also works at Color Song Yarn in Philomath. I would encourage anyone who thinks they would like to try being on Jeopardy! to take the test, Prince said with a big grin on her face. Its truly a once in a lifetime experience. Visit www.jeopardy.com to learn more about testing dates. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, responding to the death of a severely malnourished boy who was found dead in a closet last month, is considering a revamp of the county program intended to measure childrens risk of abuse. Case records released to the Los Angeles Times by the countys Department of Children and Family Services show that 11-year-old Yonatan Daniel Aguilars risk of abuse had been marked as high four times from 2009 to 2012 by the computerized program, called Structured Decision Making, or SDM. Evidence suggests that there may be potential shortcomings inherent in the SDM tool which may provide unclear guidance and the ability to override results, the supervisors motion states. Yonatans death, they wrote, is seemingly a tragic case of severe abuse over a prolonged period of time allegedly at the hands of the childs mother. Advertisement Yonatans emaciated body weighed just 34 pounds when he was found beneath a blanket in a closet in his familys Echo Park home. His mother, Veronica Aguilar, has been charged with murder and child abuse resulting in his death. Yonatans family had been the subject of six prior reports to DCFS, dating back to 2002. Social workers calculated the familys risk with SDM, which uses a list of multiple-choice questions to provide a level of risk: low, moderate, high or very high. Case records show that the program several times recommended that social workers promote reports about Yonatan to open cases, but that social workers declined to do so, saying the reports were inconclusive or unfounded. DCFS spokespeople siaid that factors such as there being multiple children in a home and prior referrals are weighted heavily by SDM, even when reports of abuse or neglect are unsubstantiated. Critics say the program mechanizes a decision-making process that only human beings can fully comprehend and fails to take full advantage of social workers experience and intuition. The motion, written by supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas, calls for the countys Office of Child Protection, in consultation with DCFS, to identify the weaknesses of SDM, explore alternatives and report on the efficacy of predictive analytics for child safety. If approved, the motion would require those departments to report back to supervisors in 60 days. The supervisors will discuss the motion Tuesday. We are always looking to make improvements to the safety and well-being of children within DCFS, said Tony Bell, a spokesman for Antonovich. This is another opportunity to examine and explore other systems to see if we can improve them. Armand Montiel, a DCFS spokesman, said in a statement that the department would welcome the opportunity to work with the Office of Child Protection and to report back. DCFS, he said, has been using SDM tools to assess both safety and risk since about 2003. The safety assessment is based on a social workers investigation into whether the child has actually been abused or neglected, and the risk assessment is partially based on demographic factors, such as the number and ages of children in the family, he said. hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson UPDATES: 1:13 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from Armand Montiel, a spokesman for L.A. Countys Department of Children and Family Services. This article was originally published at 11:55 a.m. Another large flame of burning gas burst over a refinery in Torrance on Monday morning, just hours after authorities resolved a similar unplanned flaring incident. This time, the flaring at the former Exxon Mobil refinery was caused by an offsite transformer failure, briefly prompting the closure of Del Amo Boulevard between Maple Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, according to the Torrance Police Department. Authorities dont know how long the flaring will continue at the refinery, which was sold this summer to PBF Energy. Residents reported hearing loud boom sounds just after 3:30 a.m., and there were intermittent power outages. Advertisement The latest flaring event comes hours after an electrical issue prompted a similar flame at 7:12 a.m. Sunday at the refinery. The flame rupture is caused when the plant sends hydrocarbon products to the flare to stabilize its systems. The action triggers a large flame over the plants metal smoke stacks. Sundays event also caused power outages in the northern part of the city. In July, Torrance fire officials reported a flaring event due to a breakdown of some units. A month before that unplanned event, three workers were injured at the refinery when a 300-ton crane collapsed as it moved debris. In February 2015, a blast injured four contractors and destroyed the plants pollution-control system, shutting down a portion of the refinery for months. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued 19 citations to Exxon Mobil, which was fined $566,600. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. ALSO Flame bursts over Torrance refinery, prompting hours-long road closure Sale of Exxon Mobils Torrance refinery to PBF Energy nears completion Will Exxon Mobils sale of its Torrance refinery lead to lower gas prices in L.A.? UC Berkeley senior Paul Hadweh designed a course on the history of Palestine in order to spark discussion about his familys homeland under Israeli occupation. I wanted to create a space where we can read, think and speak critically about the question of Palestine, Hadweh said. But the one-credit, student-led offering which aimed to analyze Palestine through the lens of settler colonialism was suspended last week after just one class following a storm of criticism that it fostered anti-Semitism and indoctrinated students against the Jewish state. Advertisement According to an Israeli TV station, the Assn. of University Heads in Israel had covertly tried to stop the course. Administrators said the reason for pulling the plug was procedural that proper approval had not been obtained. Then campus officials reversed gears Monday, reinstating the course after students, faculty, free-speech advocates and Palestinian rights groups issued letters and circulated petitions denouncing the suspension as a violation of academic freedom. Among them, the 26 enrolled students from diverse racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds called it an act of discrimination against students who wanted to debate and discuss this contentious issue in a spirit of genuine sincerity, mutual respect and open-minded curiosity. The universitys ethnic studies department has revised the original course description and syllabus, according to a letter issued Monday by Carla Hesse, executive dean of the College of Letters and Sciences and dean of the social sciences division. But a comparison of the curriculum plans showed only minor changes, most notably in the wording of the course description as questions to be explored rather than statements of what would be studied. Hadweh called the revisions he made in consultation with ethnic studies faculty members cosmetic. There were no substantive changes, said Hadweh, 22, who is majoring in peace and conflict studies. It was not the revisions that allowed the course to get approved, it was the pressure from people across the globe who were appalled that this public institution would so severely infringe upon the principles of academic freedom. Pro-Israel groups said Monday that they remained troubled about the course. Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a UC Santa Cruz professor and director of the Amcha Initiative, which fights anti-Semitism on campuses, said the reading list remained biased against Israel. The readings, without exception, present a very negative view of Israel, she said. That really should raise eyebrows in scholarly circles. Other critics said the focus on decolonizing was akin to calling for the elimination of the Jewish state a stance defined as anti-Semitic by the U.S. State Department. Hadweh said, however, that the Palestine experience would be compared to the colonization of indigenous people in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, with inquiry over how to create justice and equality for all. In the letter to faculty members, Hesse said the revisions addressed three concerns she had expressed to the courses student facilitator, faculty sponsor and the ethnic studies chair. She did not mention Hadweh by name. One was whether the offering had a particular political agenda structured into its framing and weekly assignments in such a way as to limit open inquiry of the issues, thus violating UC rules against political indoctrination and partisanship. Hesse also said she also asked them to assess whether the courses stated objective to explore the possibilities of a decolonized Palestine potentially violated UC policy against crossing over the line from teaching to political advocacy. And, she said, she discussed whether the course by focusing exclusively on Palestine was appropriate for an ethnic studies rather than a regional studies class. Hesse on Monday said she fully supports and defends the principles and policies of our campus that protect the academic freedom of all members of our community, but suspended the course because neither she nor the ethnic studies department chair had been formally notified of the class offering or seen the syllabus. As dean, she added, she reviews courses but does not approve the academic content. I did not request or require any revisions of the content of the course, she wrote in the letter to all department chairs of the social sciences division and the Academic Senates divisional council. Hadweh said he was stunned that a one-credit, student-led course would create an international furor, but was gratified by the outcome. Its inspiring to see how truly faculty at the university and around the world really cherish the principle of academic freedom and did not allow the administration to get away with allowing outside pressure to dictate what can and cant be spoken about on campus, he said. teresa.watanabe@latimes.com Twitter: @TeresaWatanabe ALSO Beloved San Francisco political activist Rose Pak dies at 68 Central California wildfire swells to 4,500 acres at Vandenberg Air Force Base Brass plumbing fixture flies off Caltrans truck and kills driver on Bay Area highway UPDATES: 6:55 p.m.: This article was updated with a response from UC Berkeley student Paul Hadweh and critics of the course. This article was originally published at 12:10 p.m. Jane Schreibman got a telephone call about 10 p.m. Saturday asking whether she was all right. Until then, the photographer hadnt realized that a bomb had exploded on 23rd Street, just four blocks from her apartment, so she bolted downstairs to take a look at what was going on. Thats when she saw a strange object a few paces from her buildings front door. I thought it was a childs science experiment, said Schreibman, 66, in a telephone interview. It was a shiny metal pressure cooker with wires coming out and a rectangular object attached that was wrapped in duct tape. There was a white plastic bag next to it, but she couldnt tell whether it was just garbage that had blown nearby. Advertisement It was a funny-looking object. I thought, Why would somebody have thrown this out here? But then again, you see a lot of junk on the street in New York, she said. Schreibman walked to see what was happening on 23rd Street, getting as far as the police barricade, where she ran into some neighbors. They chatted for a few minutes and then she headed home. The mysterious object was still there. She stared at it a few moments and reached for her telephone. I know they are always saying that if you see something suspicious, call 911, she said. We will make this a high priority, the dispatcher told her. The police came within minutes. A man who Schreibman believes was a detective had only one word of advice. Run! Schreibman spent the rest of the evening at a neighbors playing Scrabble. Having worked in India and Pakistan, photographing refugees and covering riots, she is not exactly fainthearted, so by 3 a.m. she insisted on returning home. By then, a police robot had removed the object, which was soon determined to be a bomb. She said she heard later that the police had not been able to disarm it and had to blow it up. Like other New Yorkers, Schreibman is stumped about the motivation of the bomber. West 27th Street, where she has lived for more than three decades, is a nondescript street a few blocks south of Penn Station, not as fashionable as Chelsea a few blocks to the south. Her street has a new hotel, but is mostly home to distributors of garments and cheap manufactured goods. Most of the storefronts are emblazoned with ads, in Chinese and Korean, for wholesale underwear and socks, pocketbooks and watches. Schreibman said the bomb had been placed in front of an office building, in a dark location under scaffolding. This is the weirdest block, she said. I am still wondering: Why here? A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said. Mayor Christian Bollwage of Elizabeth, N.J., said the FBI was working to disarm one of five devices found in the same bag, which two men discovered about 8:30 p.m. Sunday in a trash can near the Elizabeth train station on the Northeast Corridor rail line. The men had reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package, Bollwage said. There was no immediate report of injuries or damage. A message left with the FBI wasnt immediately returned. The mayor warned that other explosions were expected. Advertisement New Jersey Transit service was suspended early Monday between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth. New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New Yorks Penn Station, officials said, while New York-bound Amtrak trains were being held in Trenton, N.J.. Riders reported being stuck on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains for hours Sunday night, while some trains moved in reverse to let passengers off at other stations. Amtrak said 2,400 passengers were affected and that trains were being brought into other stations for people to get other transportation. It wasnt clear when the Elizabeth station would reopen, raising the possibility of major issues on the Monday morning commute into New York. The discovery of the suspicious package came a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. Also Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, N.J., forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5-kilometer run. Officials said it didnt appear that those two incidents were related, though they werent ruling anything out. Investigators didnt immediately comment on whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to either of the two blasts. Bollwage said he wasnt willing to say that Elizabeth had become a target, and that it was possible that someone worried about the authorities was trying to get rid of the package. Im extremely concerned for the residents of the community, but more importantly, extremely concerned for everyone in the state and country where someone can just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it with no timers and then you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt, Bollwage said. ALSO Suspected terrorist attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota stir political debate Photographer who found bomb: You see a lot of junk on the street in New York 3 brothers in south Texas, one a Border Patrol agent, charged in drug cartel-linked murder case UPDATES: Sept. 19, 12:10 a.m.: This article has been updated with the number of Amtrak passengers affected and a quote from the mayor of Elizabeth, N.J. 11:25 p.m.: This article has been updated with a report that a device exploded and to update the time the bag was found. 10:40 p.m.: This article has been updated with reports of an explosion near the train station. The story was originally published on Sept. 18 at 10:20 p.m. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump get face time with foreign leaders in New York Hillary Clinton meets with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP-Getty Images) As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump vie to represent U.S. interests around the world, they had a series of dry runs on Monday with foreign leaders who were in town for the United Nations General Assembly. Based on accounts from campaign officials and reporters who were able to glimpse snippets of the meetings, it was clear that Clinton, a former secretary of State under President Obama, had more experience than Trump, a New York businessman. It really is a great pleasure to see you here again, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Clinton during their meeting. He expressed his sympathy for the recent bombings in New York and New Jersey, and talked about trying to create a society where women can shine. Clinton, who would be the first female U.S. president, thanked Abe and praised him for promoting the inclusion of women in the economic, social and political life of your country. Both Clinton and Trump sat down with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi, separately, of course. Donald Trump meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi on Monday. (Dominick Reuter / AFP-Getty Images) Trump expressed support for Egypts struggles with domestic terrorism and noted his high regard for peace-loving Muslims, according to a description from his campaign. Its unclear whether they discussed Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, an idea he has recently recast as extreme vetting. Clintons campaign said she talked with Sisi about counter-terrorism cooperation and raised concerns about human rights violations in Egypt. Clinton also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, whose country has been locked in a tug of war with Russia. Poroshenkos predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, had closer ties with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who Trump has praised despite his autocratic reputation. I am looking forward to our discussion about Ukraines progress, the challenges you face, the very real problems and threats from Russian aggression, and anxious to know how we can be supportive of those efforts, Clinton told Poroshenko. Donald Trump claims to be running for president as an outsider. But his campaign has resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the book in touting Kates Law. Named after Kate Steinle, who was allegedly fatally shot by a Mexican national in the country illegally, the law would set a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years for anyone who returns to the United States after having been deported. Trump says this is the bill hell send to Congress on his first day in the White House. Bills named after sympathetic victims are the worst form of knee-jerk lawmaking, but its a surefire political vote-getting device. A politician holds a press conference standing next to the victims family; this gets the bill on the news. Because of terse media coverage, voters think said law will actually do something for a victim or potential future victims, no matter what the real legal changes are. Advertisement Politicians cater to the voters demands, pass the law, and proudly announce they have done something, regardless of whether it was good policy. As law professor Ilya Somin notes, the public sees a high-profile case and has a something must be done reaction. Politicians cater to the voters demands, pass the law and proudly announce they have done something, regardless of whether it was good policy or even relevant. A crime or event that apparently warrants a new law is by definition a rare occasion, often a high-profile tragedy where multiple things have gone wrong. Existing laws already make violent acts criminal, so the new law typically attempts to close some perceived loophole. But it almost always is an overcorrection that creates more problems than it solves. For example, after Casey Anthony was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee five years ago, petitions were spread advocating a new, absurd law. It required a parent to report that a child was missing within 24 hours as if that would be the thing that prevents parents from killing their children. In truth, parents who murder their children very rarely escape conviction; the idiosyncratic events of the Anthony case havent been repeated in the five years since. Ten states actually passed a Caylees Law, laws that are weirdly unworkable. When would the 24 hours start? When little Timmy first left for the Boy Scouts camping trip? Most missing-child reports are false alarms as it is; requiring parents upon pain of imprisonment to report children missing as soon as possible swamps police departments with even more false reports. Parents in child-custody battles also get an incentive to harass ex-spouses with false reports, and hide behind Caylees Law for doing so. Megans Law, a federal law, required all states to create draconian registries of convicted sex-offenders and notify the community of sex offenders in their midst. But such registries dont just affect offenders they also expose and victimize their family members. Depending on how a state implements it, Megans Law can also punish indefinitely crimes that are technically sex offenses, but are exceedingly unlikely to pose a danger to the public, such as public urination or consensual sex acts or sexting between juveniles. Even the U.S. Department of Justice has noted that registration requirements are being implemented without empirical evidence that they reduce crime. New Jersey rushed to pass Pamelas Law, banning the synthetic stimulants called bath salts after the press speculated that a man who murdered his girlfriend did so under the drugs influence. Turned out that the indicted killer didnt have the substance in his system, but the law is still on the books. Kates Law shows the dangers of lawmaking by anecdote. Under current sentencing guidelines, undocumented immigrants typically serve 15 to 18 months before deportation. By creating a five-year mandatory minimum, it would expand the federal prison population by 57,000 prisoners and cost the U.S. Bureau of Prisons an additional $2 billion a year. It might even have the counterproductive effect of discouraging enforcement of the immigration laws, lest the system be overwhelmed. As Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) told the Wall Street Journal, Its just not a good way to do legislation, to exploit some terrible thing that has been done to some child. Too many bad laws have been rashly passed by legislators who were just trying to avoid looking callous toward a crime victim. In Britain, legislation gets named by nonpartisan civil servants, not pandering politicians. The result is more sedately named laws. Until we adopt similar rules here, we should be wary of laws named for victims. Presume that they are poorly thought through. The tactic is a telltale sign that someone is trying to win a debate with emotion rather than on public policy grounds. Ted Frank is a senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook The Albany Police Department concluded drug investigations last week that took officers to Salem and Lebanon and resulted in the arrest of eight suspects and the seizure of more than 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine, $113,000 in cash and five firearms. These are going to be some of the largest (narcotics investigations) weve seen in recent history, especially coming in close succession like that, said Capt. Eric Carter. Thats two-and-a-half pounds of meth that isnt going to find its way onto our streets or onto any other streets in the Willamette Valley, he added. The investigations looked at the source of methamphetamine coming into Albany and show that meth continues to be the major drug problem throughout Albany and the rest of the valley, Carter said. The first bust was on Sept. 12, when Albany Police Department Street Crimes Unit detectives conducted a traffic stop at 8:50 p.m. in the 1200 block of Lafayette Street S.E. in Albany and arrested the three occupants of the vehicle, according to a news release. During a search of the car, detectives seized a quarter-pound of meth, more than $1,000 in cash, scales and a loaded handgun, the news release states. Sasha Davison, 35, of Albany, and Charles Yancey, 39, of North Bend, were arrested on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine, felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm. Stefanie Foltyn, 32, of Sacramento, California, also was arrested on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a firearm. As a result of this traffic stop, a search warrant was executed on Sept. 13 at 12:50 a.m. at a residence in the 6000 block of Silverton Road in Salem, according to the news release. During the search, detectives seized meth, cocaine, packaging material, scales and more than $8,000. Frank DeFelice, 58, of Salem, was arrested for delivery and possession of methamphetamine, while Trevvor McFee, 27, of Keizer, and Holly Kelsey, 28, of Salem, were both arrested on felony parole violation warrants. Later in the day on Sept. 13, detectives followed up on leads from the Silverton Road investigation and searched a residence in the 3700 block of Haggers Grove Road in Salem. One pound of methamphetamine, more than $100,000 and three loaded handguns were seized. Charges are still pending, the news release states. On Thursday at about 7 a.m., Albany street crimes unit detectives served a search warrant at a residence in the 38000 block of Golden Valley Drive in Lebanon, according to the news release. Police seized 1.3 pounds of meth, packaging material, scales and more than $3,500. Elaine Falwell, 53, of Lebanon, was arrested on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine, and Robert Edelhuber, 54, of Lebanon, was arrested on a methamphetamine possession charge. Albany police were assisted by the Linn County Regional SWAT Team, the Marion County SWAT Team, the Linn County and Benton County sheriffs offices, and the Lebanon, Sweet Home and Springfield police departments. This is not a stand-alone operation. We couldnt do this without the help of all the other agencies, Carter said. Thats just the nature of narcotics investigations. Cases like Edward Snowdens are precisely the reason the presidents constitutional pardon power exists. Historically, outgoing presidents have often invoked this power in the last days of their terms at times on behalf of people whove committed reprehensible acts under the premise that mitigating circumstances outweigh the rationale for punishment. President Obama now has the opportunity to use this power proudly, in recognition of one of the most important acts of whistleblowing in modern history. Advertisement Since Snowden first disclosed documents in 2013 detailing the National Security Agencys mass surveillance programs, weve seen an unprecedented global debate about the proper limits of government spying. This debate has had a transformative effect: on privacy laws and standards, on the security of the devices we depend on to communicate with one another and store sensitive information, and on how we understand our relationship to the institutions that govern us. Snowdens influence cannot be overstated. In response to an ACLU lawsuit, a federal appeals court found the NSAs mass phone surveillance program illegal. There is wide consensus that these developments have benefited our democracy and our security. Snowdens influence cannot be overstated. In response to an ACLU lawsuit, a federal appeals court found the NSAs mass phone surveillance program illegal. Congress passed an intelligence reform bill restricting the NSAs authority for the first time in 40 years. Polls have shown a sea change in how the public views online privacy. Tech companies such as Apple and Facebook are now devoting significant resources to safeguarding their customers security through encryption. This helps protect private consumers, American companies, and the government from malicious actors looking to exploit weaknesses in our communications infrastructure. The journalism produced from Snowdens disclosures has been awarded almost every prize imaginable, including the Pulitzer Prize for the reporters at the Washington Post and the Guardian, and an Academy Award for Laura Poitras documentary Citizenfour. Yet the young man behind these historic reforms remains in exile, with decades in prison hanging over his head. Lately, Snowdens critics have tried to curtail the nascent pardon movement. Several members of Congress sent a letter to Obama on Thursday arguing that Snowden is not a whistleblower or a patriot but a criminal, and contending that he should have availed himself of the many lawful avenues to express legal, moral, or ethical qualms with U.S. intelligence activities. That letter, and the report accompanying it, are filled with falsehoods that Snowden has already rebutted persuasively. Its worth noting here, however, that the House committee failed to acknowledge that as a private contractor, Snowden was not entitled to the protections afforded to federal government employees. Further, previous whistleblowers such as Thomas Drake, who should have been protected, were met with career-ending retaliation when they tried to sound the alarm about NSA overreach. Its frankly laughable to pretend that if Snowden had only used lawful avenues to express his ethical qualms, anything would have been done to change programs and practices approved at the highest level of government. Critics have also insisted that Snowden should come home and make his case to a jury. Unfortunately thats impossible under the draconian and unjust Espionage Act. If prior district court rulings are any guide, all of Snowdens defenses would be considered irrelevant and inadmissible in court. The jury would never hear his patriotic motivation: to inform the American public about what the government was doing in secret, without their knowledge or consent. The jury would never hear that his disclosures did not harm national security, or that they led to reform in Congress. The jury would not hear about the surveillance programs that were ruled illegal. For Snowden to be convicted under the Espionage Act, the only thing a jury must find is that he gave national defense information to people not authorized to receive it. Since Snowden has already admitted this, the only question that remains is the length of his sentence which could likely amount to decades or even life in prison, with little to no contact with the outside world. This is no way to treat the most influential whistleblower since Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the so-called Pentagon Papers. Obama has prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other president in U.S. history. Pardoning Snowden wont undo that legacy, but it will help affirm the critical role whistleblowers have always played in helping our country correct for government overreach. It will also signal that citizens must have a seat at the table in deciding how we run our democracy. Anthony Romero is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook When Jim Asher, formerly the investigative editor in the Washington bureau of the McClatchy newspaper chain, tweeted Thursday that a former longtime aide to Hillary and Bill Clinton had told me in person #Obama born in #kenya, he set off yet another in the seemingly endless side debates over who is to blame for which seamy aspect of contemporary politics. Evidence on the question is ambiguous. Ashers account about his conversations with Sidney Blumenthal has become a hot issue among political activists since last week, when Donald Trump finally admitted the falseness of the so-called birther theories that he pushed for more than five years. As part of their statement announcing his climb-down, Trumps aides pushed another false narrative that it was Hillary Clintons 2008 campaign that had started the questioning of where Obama was born and whether he met the constitutional test for being president. Advertisement Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Sign up for the newsletter | The race to 270 There is no evidence that Clinton or her campaign ever raised that question, and her campaign fired one aide in Iowa who did circulate an email raising the issue. Some supporters of Clintons, however, certainly did raise the issue with reporters during the final stretch of the 2008 Democratic primary. Blumenthal, whose penchant for spinning dark hypotheses long ago earned him the nickname grassy knoll a reference to Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories did not work for the 2008 campaign. But he has been close to both Clintons since Bill Clintons first presidential bid in 1992, so he would be more than just a random, unhappy Clinton supporter. As a result, Ashers statement provided grist for the Trump campaigns position. Blumenthal has denied Ashers account. Asher, in a statement, said that on the birther issue, I recall my conversation with Blumenthal clearly, but I have nothing in writing memorializing that conversation. The written records that do exist and the recollections of people involved at the time leave the question unsettled. Asher, who subsequently was McClatchys Washington bureau chief for five years, met with Blumenthal one day in the spring of 2008 at the McClatchy office in Washington, Asher recalled. Two emails from that period show that Blumenthal sent tips to Asher about potential Kenya-related stories critical of Obama. But they do not include anything involving Obamas birth. A March 17, 2008, email said: Jim: On Kenya, your person in the field might look into the impact there of Obamas public comments about his father. Im told by State Dept officials that Obama publicly derided his father on his visit there and that was regarded as embarrassing and crossing the line by Kenyans for whom respect for elders (especially the father, especially a Muslim father, in a patrilineal society) is considered sacrosanct. Sidney. A second email, Asher said, involved possible connections between Obama and Raila Odinga, who had described himself as Obamas cousin and would run for president of Kenya and links between Odinga and controversial Muslim groups. The person in the field at the time was McClatchys Nairobi-based correspondent, Shashank Bengali, who is now a foreign correspondent for The Times. He looked into Blumenthals tips at the time and found they did not check out. Asher assigned me to look into everything related to Obama in Kenya, Bengali said in an email. One of the things I researched was the false rumor that he was born in Kenya, he said, but I dont remember where that tip came from. Bengali said that although Asher passed along some tips specifically attributed to Blumenthal, he did not recall any conversations in which Blumenthals name was linked to the birthplace issue. I cant recall if we specifically discussed the birther claim, he wrote Monday in an email to Asher, who contacted him after The Times and other news organizations asked Asher about his contacts with Blumenthal. David.Lauter@latimes.com For more on Politics and Policy, follow me @DavidLauter ALSO Voters on both sides increasingly see a Trump win as a possibility and that may get more people to vote Trumps climate science denial clashes with reality of rising seas in Florida Top Clinton Foundation donor who was denied entry into the U.S. fires back with a lawsuit With a self-inflicted wound, Trump puts himself in new peril against Clinton UPDATES: 2:53 p.m.: This article was updated to add Ashers subsequent title as bureau chief. The article was first published at 2:30 p.m. Donald Trump invoked the possibility of a violent assault on Hillary Clinton once again on Saturday, a day after he suggested that her Secret Service bodyguards disarm and lets see what happens. In a post Saturday morning on Twitter, Trump falsely accused Clinton of trying to take away Americans 2nd Amendment rights, just as he did Friday night at a Miami rally where he said her Secret Service agents should drop all weapons. Will guns be taken from her heavily armed Secret Service detail? Maybe not! Trump tweeted. Advertisement Trump said Friday night that Clintons Secret Service detail should disarm because she supports gun control. What do you think, yes? he asked the crowd. Take their guns away. She doesnt want guns. Lets see what happens to her. Take their guns away, OK? It would be very dangerous. Trumps repeated joking about disarming the Secret Service agents who protect his opponent from violent attacks is unique in modern presidential politics. The Republican nominee also has condoned violence by his supporters against hecklers who disrupt his rallies, which are periodically marred by fist fights and racially charged shouting matches. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Trumps comments in Miami fit a disturbing pattern of encouraging violence. Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of commander in chief, he said in a statement. At the rally in downtown Miami, Trump told several thousand supporters that Clinton goes around with armed bodyguards like you have never seen before. I think they should disarm immediately, Trump, who also travels with a large armed Secret Service detail, told his cheering supporters. Trumps previous jokes about forcing Clintons bodyguards to give up their firearms hadnt invoked a possible attack so overtly. At a Trump rally in March, Secret Service agents leaped on stage and surrounded him as colleagues tackled a man who jumped a barricade and ran toward the candidate. Trump had previously joked about forcing Clintons bodyguards to give up their firearms, but hadnt invoked a possible attack so overtly. Last month, critics called Trump reckless and dangerous for telling a North Carolina crowd there was nothing they could do about Clinton naming judges if shes elected, although the 2nd Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know. This kind of talk, Mook said in the Clinton statement, should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate, just like it should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate to peddle a conspiracy theory about the president of the United States for five years. Trumps Miami rally came just hours after he conceded for the first time that President Obama was born in the United States, and the racial politics in his remarks were raw. Trump, whose years of spreading conspiracy theories about Obamas birth helped make him deeply unpopular among African Americans, made no reference to the birther matter in Miami. But he faulted Clinton and other Democrats for questioning his devotion to helping black residents of urban areas with no jobs, the worst education and streets so dangerous you get shot or your child gets shot. They talk all the time about racist, racist the only word they know, he said. Trump told the crowd he employed many people at his resorts in the Miami area a lot of African American employees, a lot of Hispanic employees. And theyre very happy, he added. They like Donald Trump. Trumps derogatory remarks about Mexicans, Muslims, women and other groups have led critics in both parties to call him a racist and misogynist. Over the last month, he has tried to remake his image by casting himself as a champion of poor blacks and Latinos, whom he says Democrats have neglected. I just left Little Haiti, Trump told the Miami crowd, alluding to a quick meeting with supporters who, without citing any evidence, accused President Bill Clinton of plundering Haitian earthquake relief programs. The love is unbelievable. Its unbelievable. Theres no racist theres no nothing. Its love, he said. Many in Trumps audience were Cuban Americans, a cornerstone of Republican support in Florida. They cheered enthusiastically as Trump faulted Obama for the thaw in U.S. relations with Cuba. Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Sign up for the newsletter michael.finnegan@latimes.com Twitter: @finneganLAT ALSO With a self-inflicted wound, Trump puts himself in new peril against Clinton Mark Cuban offers Donald Trump $10 million to talk policy for four hours Top Clinton Foundation donor who was denied entry into the U.S. fires back with lawsuit Donald Trump is enjoying his strongest position in the presidential race since immediately after his nominating convention and, for the first time, has started to significantly close the gap with Hillary Clinton on the question of which candidate voters expect will win a shift that could boost turnout on both sides. The nominees have moved up and down in polls over the summer and into the fall, but until now, large majorities of voters, regardless of whom they supported, expected to see Clinton win. Thats now changed, according to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll of the election. Although Clinton still holds an edge on that question, Trump has narrowed it to the point that the results are within the polls margin of error. Advertisement The voter expectations question is important because it often although not always has proved a more accurate way to forecast elections than asking which candidate a person plans to vote for. The expectations question has an especially good track record when an election remains a ways off seven weeks in this case. Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Sign up for the newsletter | The race to 270 Clinton leads 50% to 45% on the question of which candidate people expect will win, the Daybreak poll finds. Thats down from her 13-point lead just a week ago. Liberal Democrats were particularly likely to shift their view of the race, the poll found a result that would probably come as no surprise at Clintons campaign headquarters, which hears constantly from anxiety-ridden Democrats bearing advice. A week ago, 1 in 4 liberal Democrats thought Trump would win the election. Thats now risen to 1 in 3. Younger voters and those without a college education were also more likely to predict Trump as the winner. Over that period, Trump has jumped ahead on the question of which candidate respondents support. He now leads 48% to 41% in the Daybreak poll. The Daybreak poll has consistently shown more favorable results for Trump on the horse-race question than many other surveys. On average, recent surveys continue to show Clinton leading by a small margin nationally. Some analysts believe parts of the Daybreak polls methodology tilt the results by a few points toward the Republican candidate. Whether thats so wont be known until the election results are in, but regardless of the level of support for the two candidates, the same trend of improvement for Trump and decline for Clinton appeared in other national and state surveys taken last week. With a self-inflicted wound, Trump puts himself in new peril against Clinton The week was dominated by news about Clintons health: The former secretary of State appeared close to collapse while being helped into a van after attending a Sept. 11 memorial, then disclosed that she was being treated for pneumonia. A survey by the online polling organization YouGov for the Economist indicated how those events affected public opinion. Americans were evenly divided on the question of whether Clinton was in good enough physical condition to serve effectively as president for the next four years, the poll found, with just under 4 in 10 Americans on either side of that question. That was a sharp change from earlier in September, when more than half of Americans said in a YouGov survey that Clinton was in good enough physical condition and only about one-third said she was not. The shift came mostly among Democrats and to a lesser extent among independents, the YouGov poll found. A large majority of Republicans already professed a belief that Clintons health was not good enough for her to serve four years an assertion that has been a staple in GOP campaign rhetoric and on conservative media for months. Concern over Clintons health may fade now that she is back on the campaign trail, appearing fit. That could be especially true if she appears vigorous in the first televised debate, scheduled to take place in a week. Other trends in the electorate help Clinton. In the aftermath of last weeks census report that personal incomes rose in 2015 at the fastest rate in decades and poverty fell, also by a record amount, the share of Americans saying that the country is on the right track has risen in some surveys. President Obamas approval rating also continues to rise. Both of those shifts normally could be expected to boost his partys candidate. Moreover, both Gallup and the YouGov survey show some improvement in Clintons standing with the electorate. Her net favorable rating the share of voters who have a positive view minus the share having a negative view remains poor, but is on a slight upward trajectory in both surveys. For now, however, health concerns could be one important factor driving a shift that the Daybreak poll has found over the last week: a decline in Clinton supporters estimates of how likely they are to vote. The Daybreak poll, unlike other surveys, asks respondents to rate on a 0-100 scale their likelihood of voting for Clinton, Trump or another candidate and, separately, to rate their likelihood of voting. Because the poll surveys the same set of roughly 3,000 people each week, it allows a more precise look at how people are making up their minds. Since Clintons health problems began dominating the news, her supporters average likelihood of voting has dropped 2 percentage points while Trump supporters likelihood has risen by a point. That shift is small in numerical terms but can make a big difference in a close race. Among the groups showing the biggest declines in likelihood of voting over the last week have been moderate Democrats and liberal independents. Both groups might be expected to include less motivated supporters of Clinton. Conversely, among moderate independents, those who support Trump showed an increased likelihood to vote, the poll found. Detailed results from the USC Dornsife/LAT daily tracking poll The increased likelihood of voting on the part of some Trump supporters could also come from their reaction to Clintons remark a little more than a week ago that half of Trumps supporters fit into what she termed a basket of deplorables who display sexism, racism, homophobia and other negative motivations. Clinton apologized for the word half. Republicans have used the deplorable label as a rallying cry. Meantime, the shift in voter expectation about which candidate can win could help boost turnout for both. Trumps lead in the Daybreak poll rests in part on support from disaffected, conservative white voters who did not vote in 2012, but say they plan to vote this time. A belief that Trump can win might help motivate those voters to the polls, and his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, repeatedly has trumpeted the momentum on her side. Overall, however, the Daybreak poll indicates that Clinton probably has the most to gain from expanded turnout. Trump has led among poll respondents who say they are most sure of their decision and most certain to vote. Clinton led until the last week among the larger universe that includes potential voters who are somewhat uncertain about their choice or their likelihood of casting a ballot. In particular, Clinton has had trouble gaining the support of younger voters. Those voters prefer Clinton and even the Libertarian nominee, Gary Johnson, over Trump, according to some surveys, including a recent SurveyMonkey poll of California voters done for USC and The Times. But Democratic strategists have worried that some of those younger voters might cast a ballot for Johnson or Green Party nominee Jill Stein in the belief that Clinton will win regardless. Theyve also worried about younger voters staying home. Tighter polls and a rising belief that Trump can win could help with those problems. Obama addressed that issue in a passionate speech Saturday night to the Congressional Black Caucus gala in Washington. Theres no such thing as a vote that doesnt matter, he said. After we have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African American community, I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote. David.Lauter@latimes.com For more on Politics and Policy, follow me @DavidLauter Trumps climate science denial clashes with reality of rising seas in Florida Trump finally concedes Obama was born in the U.S. after years of promoting conspiracy theory Trump again suggests Clintons Secret Service bodyguards disarm: Lets see what happens There are 49 days left until voters head to the polls. The first debate is one week from today. Im Christina Bellantoni. This is Essential Politics. David Lauter begins the week with a fresh look at Donald Trumps widening lead in the Los Angeles Times/USC Dornsife Daybreak tracking poll. He writes that the Republican nominee for the first time has started to significantly close the gap with Hillary Clinton on the question of which candidate voters expect will win a shift that could boost turnout on both sides. The numbers come as the longstanding dustup over Trump falsely claiming President Obama was not born in America seemingly came to a close. Advertisement We tracked Trumps evolution on the issue, and Cathleen Decker writes that the entire week fit into what has become a familiar pattern on the campaign trail: In a contest featuring two widely disliked candidates, each has risen in response to the others failings and each has fallen due to self-inflicted wounds. CAMPAIGN SPEED READ Talk of the explosions in Manhattan made its way to the campaign trail, Trump told supporters Clinton wants to abolish the border, and Trump (twice) questioned what would happen if Clintons Secret Service officers disarmed. Mike Pence is in excellent health, according to his doctor. Obama told black voters over the weekend if they want to give him a good sendoff, they should go vote. Elsewhere on the campaign trail, the nonpartisan groups that run the presidential debates announced that Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein didnt make the cut. Seema Mehta also reports that billionaire Mark Cuban offered Trump $10 million to talk policy with him for four hours. In late-night television appearances, Clinton slapped at Republicans who criticized her lack of a smile during a national-security forum and Trump allowed his trademark bouffant to be mussed. Get the latest from the campaign trail on Trail Guide and follow @latimespolitics. Check our daily USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times tracking poll at the top of the politics page. A STATE CRIPPLED BY PENSIONS A multi-billion dollar mistake in the late 1990s meant taxpayers will bear the consequences of Californias pension crisis for decades to come. State employee pensions are costing $5.4 billion this year alone more than the state will spend on environmental protection, fighting wildfires and the emergency response to the drought combined. The difference between what all California government agencies have set aside for pensions and what they will eventually owe amounts to $241 billion. Those sobering figures are how Jack Dolan kicked off our series looking at Californias pension crisis. Dont miss what former Gov. Gray Davis told him for the project, a partnership between The Times, CALmatters and Capital Public Radio. CALmatters Judy Lin details the facts you need to know. Next up: Gov. Jerry Brown brokered the biggest pension rollback in California history. But how much of the problem has he really solved? Essential Politics subscribers will get the next story emailed to them when its published. TRACKING BALLOT MEASURES Strong majorities of Californians support two ballot measures that would extend income tax hikes on the states wealthiest citizens and increase the cigarette tax by $2 a pack. But Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, believes that the tobacco tax measure will tighten as opponents unleash the tens of millions of dollars theyve raised in the campaign. By contrast, those against the income tax extensions havent reported raising any money. More than half of California voters said they oppose a November ballot measure that would end the death penalty and replace the form of punishment with life without parole. Proposition 62 is one of two measures on the ballot that takes dueling approaches to fixing what many call a broken and expensive system. Meantime, Browns proposal to revamp prison parole rules, Proposition 57, shows a strong chance of passage at this point in the election season. Two-thirds of those surveyed in our poll support the proposal to allow inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses additional ways to win an early release from prison. View all of the data from our USC/LAT poll, courtesy of this link from SurveyMonkey. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG INITIATIVE Prop. 61, the November ballot measure aimed at curbing state spending on prescription drugs, could become one of the most expensive ballot box battles in state history, with more than $95 million raised by both sides to date. Christine Mai-Duc has all the basics of what you need to know about this proposed law, whos behind both campaigns and what voters think at this stage. For more on Californias 17 ballot measures, keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed. DIVING INTO PROP. 53 Proposition 53 would require statewide voter approval for projects to be financed by more than $2 billion in state revenue bonds. Brown and establishment groups hate it, but its a ballot measure voters should consider, George Skelton writes in his Monday column. TENSIONS REMAIN IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY The governor made history on Monday when he signed legislation to expand overtime pay for hundreds of thousands of California farmworkers. The new rules, to be phased in over the next four years starting in 2019, will eventually allow employees on farms and ranches across the state to earn overtime compensation after eight hours of work in a day or 40 in a week. Leaders of the United Farm Workers of America have hailed Browns decision as a victory in their 80-year quest to establish broad workplace rights and protections for a vulnerable workforce made up largely of Latino immigrants. But as Jazmine Ulloa reports from Fresno, nowhere might better capture the tensions and emotions that continue to swirl around the issue than the Central Valley, where farmers and ranchers contend the new law will have harmful consequences for their businesses and their workers. STAYING ON THE SIDELINES Most of the Republicans in Californias congressional delegation arent taking sides in the Democrat-on-Democrat U.S. Senate race, but several told Sarah Wire that theyd have an easier time working with Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) is the only Republican to officially weigh in. He picked Sanchez earlier this month. PARTIES SET TO SPEND $1 MILLION MORE IN RACE TO REPLACE CAPPS The race to replace retiring Santa Barbara Rep. Lois Capps is already one of the most expensive in the country, with spending by candidates and outside groups totaling about $5.5 million. That is about to go up by about an additional $1 million, reports Javier Panzar. The Democratic group House Majority PAC on Friday launched a $328,000 TV ad attacking Republican Justin Fareed for endorsing Trump. And the National Republican Congressional Committee has placed a $668,750 TV ad buy that covers a time period between Sept. 27 and Nov. 8. No word on whether that will support Fareed or attack Democratic Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal. PODCAST: BROWNS LEGACY IN BILL ACTIONS This weeks California Politics Podcast focuses on how two of the governors recent decisions -- signing into law expanded overtime for farmworkers and vetoing a tax break on diapers and tampons -- loom large in discussions over his political legacy. John Myers also leads a discussion on recent skirmishes in the U.S. Senate race, and the final chapter in the state Capitol corruption scandal centered around former state Sen. Ron Calderon. TODAYS ESSENTIALS -- The Los Angeles Times is hosting another debate watch party, and this one will be our biggest yet. Join us on Sept. 26 at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets are $13. RSVP here. -- Sausage-making in Sacramento is often messy. But as Melanie Mason reports, one energy subsidy backed by a politically connected alternative energy company traveled a particularly convoluted path through the Legislature this year. -- California enacted one of the toughest equal pay laws in the country less than a year ago, and supporters tell Sophia Bollag there are already signs its working. -- Brown signed a bill providing more oversight to construction contractors in response to last years collapse of a balcony at a Berkeley apartment building that killed six students and injured seven others, many of them Irish exchange students. -- Brown signed a bill to increase access to emergency anti-allergy medication, but not without blasting the drug company Mylan for its recent EpiPen price increases. -- The U.S. Attorneys office said Friday there wont be any more charges coming from its investigation of Rep. Ami Beras father, Babulal Bera, and the at least $260,000 in illegal contributions he made to his sons campaign by reimbursing contributors. -- Michael Finnegan begins our look at policy issues and how they are playing out in the swing states with this piece on climate change set in Florida. -- First Lady Michelle Obama was out on the campaign trail, offering voters reasons to get excited about Clinton. -- Trump was endorsed by the largest police union in the country. -- Who will win the November election? Give our Electoral College map a spin. LOGISTICS Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Like a lot of Republicans in California frustrated with a choice of two Democrats in the U.S. Senate race, nearly all of the 14 Republicans in the states congressional delegation are sitting this one out. In the contest between Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, about two-thirds of Democrats in the delegation have picked a side, but the first statewide race between two members of the same party has left some Republicans on the sidelines. I have no preference, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) said. Theyre both bad. Advertisement [Ive] not even thought about it, Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) said, adding that he hasnt been asked for his support either. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) is the only Republican in the delegation to outright endorse in the race, saying earlier this month that he respects Sanchezs knowledge of military and world affairs. California Democrats trying to keep Senate race from becoming awkward Sanchez is working to build support among California Republicans and independents. Shes earned endorsements from former Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and former Republican Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. Republicans and independents are poised to play a key role in the race if they get involved, that is, and Sanchez has made a pivot toward the right in recent weeks. The effort does not appear to be working. A statewide poll conducted for USC Dornsife and The Times this month by SurveyMonkey found 16% of registered voters, mostly self-described Republicans and independents, have decided to skip the first open U.S. Senate race that California has seen in 24 years the same percentage of voters who favor Sanchez. Support for Harris came in at almost double that level at 30%. And more than a third of California voters indicated they still dont know which Senate candidate theyll pick on Nov. 8, according to the poll. Seventeen of the states 39 House Democrats have backed Sanchez, nine have backed Harris, according to the campaigns, and many of the rest said they are staying out of the race entirely. The Democrats have said theyve tried to keep the situation from becoming awkward with a colleague many have known for decades. A few Republican members told The Times privately theyve had informal and friendly conversations with Sanchez, and among themselves, but that doesnt mean they are ready to give their support to a Democrat. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) said he hasnt been asked for an endorsement, but hes talked with Sanchez about fairs and festivals in Northern California that she might want to attend to talk to voters. House Republicans, who make up one-fourth of the states 55-member delegation, often say theyve found it easier to work with Sen. Dianne Feinstein on statewide issues such as water and the environment than with Sen. Barbara Boxer. (Neither senator has endorsed.) Sanchez would be infinitely easier for Republicans to work with on rural issues he cares about, LaMalfa said. They see eye to eye on Latino farmworkers concerns, agriculture and increasing water access to the Central Valley, he said. What I think I know of her positions, yeah, theres lots of crossover possibilities there, he said. Well find plenty to disagree on, but thats not really what were talking about here. He sees Harris as even further left than Boxer on environmental issues, LaMalfa said. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) also said Sanchez is the better choice, but hes not endorsing. Loretta is much, much better, Hunter said. She knows national security. In the end thats the most important thing we do. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) said he barely knows the candidates, and hes staying out of the race. One I know, one I dont, he said. And I know Sanchez just because Ive served in the House, I dont know Harris. Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) said he hasnt heard fellow Republicans talk about endorsing in the Senate race, but Im not. Others arent ready to say anything. Not at this time, Rep. Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) said with a smile when asked if he plans to endorse. Well see what happens. I think Ill just go quietly do what Im going to do and not talk about it, said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona). sarah.wire@latimes.com Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter Read more about the 55 members of Californias delegation at latimes.com/politics ALSO: Hurting for support in her own party, Rep. Loretta Sanchez tilts her Senate campaign to the right Meet the men plotting strategy for Californias U.S. Senate candidates California Democrats trying to keep Senate race from becoming awkward Updates on California politics Some victories in the final days of the legislative session need momentum. Others need muscle. Bloom Energy had both. Lawmakers agreed last month to extend a vital subsidy for the Silicon Valley company, one that makes its pricey power generators more attractive to buyers such as hospitals, data centers and mega-retailers. For Bloom and its industry cohorts, the win marked the end of a hard-fought slog against powerful adversaries including utilities and labor groups. But rival companies and some lawmakers had a different perspective: Bloom which has on its board of directors John Doerr, a prominent venture capitalist and Democratic Party mega-donor owes its success to the eager backing of Californias top politicians and upending the public legislative process, affording it chances most other groups dont get. Capitol sausage-making is rarely tidy. But the zig-zagging journey of the policy backed by Bloom marks one of the most convoluted legislative sagas of the year, prompting pointed commentary from veteran legislators. This bill has had a tortuous and sordid history, Assemblyman Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) said at an 11th-hour committee hearing on the issue on the penultimate day of the legislative session. The observation prompted knowing titters from his audience of lobbyists and lawmakers. Bloom is no stranger to Californias political process. It reaped hundreds of millions from a state incentive created to boost technologies that let consumers generate their own electricity. After scrutiny over how those funds were handed out, it was recently overhauled to focus more on energy storage. The company has savvy power players at the helm, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell on its board. Its most prominent financial backer, Doerr, was an economic adviser to President Obama and appeared on a 2010 episode of 60 Minutes touting Blooms fuel cell technology, which produces electricity through a chemical reaction. Venture capitalist John Doerr in 2008. (Paul Sakuma / AP) (Paul Sakuma / AP) Doerr has poured nearly $13 million into California politics since 2001, including donating more than $600,000 to the state Democratic party and $875,000 to Gov. Jerry Browns 2014 committee to promote ballot measures on water and the state budget. Blooms CEO, K.R. Sridhar, accompanied top lawmakers in the California delegation to the United Nations climate change conference in Paris last December and hosted Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Nancy McFadden, a top aide to Brown, at the companys annual conference this spring. Bloom has just done a really good job understanding how policy affects their business, said Steve Chadima of Advanced Energy Economy, a clean-tech trade association allied with Bloom. Maybe theyve just been the most aggressive when they pursue things. I think that sometimes breeds resentment. This years policy fight centered around a program meant to make fuel cells more attractive to consumers. Fuel cells produce relatively low greenhouse gas emissions, making them a cleaner energy source than traditional power plants. Like wind and solar power consumers, sometimes fuel cell users make more electricity than they need. The excess power is transferred to the power grid and customers get credits on their utility bills through a program called net energy metering. Bloom is not the sole fuel cell company in the state, but it is by far the most prominent. Its customers account for around 80% of the fuel cell installations in the state program; its clients are major commercial entities such as Apple and Wal-Mart. The credit can offset the products steep total cost around $2 million, according to an industry analyst. But the industry had a problem that could only be fixed in Sacramento: The net metering program was set to expire at the end of this year. Bloom, along with fellow fuel cell companies and trade groups, was getting nervous. In this 2012 photo, Bloom Energy fuel cell servers are shown at Constellation Place in Century City. Credit: JMB Realty (Cameron Carothers / JMB Realty) (Cameron Carothers / JMB Realty) It would be a great disadvantage for the customers to no longer have this incentive, said V. John White, a lobbyist for Fuel Cell Energy, a company that produces fuel cell generators. It would undermine the ability to make these units economically feasible. Top executives at the company met with senior aides to the governor early this year, appealing for a continuation. At the same time, Bloom was backing a bill by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) to extend the subsidy but also make eligible a wider array of power generators, such as gas turbines and internal combustion engines. The approach, proponents said, would boost alternative energy without favoring any one technology. Such an effort had been proposed in past years but had been blocked by powerful opposition. Utility companies and the labor groups representing their workers saw the alternate power sources as competition; they argued the subsidies would mean existing utility ratepayers would pay higher costs. Environmentalists were also unenthusiastic, arguing the technologies were not as clean as renewable sources including wind or solar. Staring down robust resistance and dwindling time for lawmakers to act, Bloom tried a new approach: Why not tuck the subsidy into the new state budget? The annual state budget is accompanied by trailer bills that provide a roadmap on how to put the spending plan into effect. These bills are popular landing spots for unrelated policy proposals, where they are typically fast-tracked for legislative approval and go into effect immediately once signed. Budget bills are prime territory for legislative horse-trading, where leadership in both houses and the governor haggle over priorities. The Assembly was cool to the fuel cell proposal in negotiations, while the governor and De Leon were in favor of the policy as a way to boost Californias clean energy goals. The subsidy was inserted into one of the budget trailer bills in late June. The proposal was limited to fuel cells only; gone was the language making other technologies eligible. The new proposal was the result of negotiations between the governors office, legislative staffers, utility companies and Bloom. Its abrupt appearance in the budget along with a second provision to boost funds for energy storage sparked a rare bipartisan rebellion on the Senate budget panel, where members irked by the last-minute notice refused to vote on the proposals until after the Legislatures summer recess. When the committee reconvened in August, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) bemoaned the maneuvering that led to slipping the policies into the budget bill. I think it raises more red flags and brings more attention and so we can sometimes get a little too smart for ourselves, Leno said. Blooms leaders kept a close eye on Sacramento. In a July 5 email, Doerr wrote to Bloom board members celebrating a recent deal. It came with a rallying cry: Now lets get California legislature sorted out, he urged. The message came to light in a recent hack of Powells personal email account. A spokesperson for Powell confirmed the leak was legitimate. Back at the Capitol, the budget play was facing a hostile reception in the Assembly. Leaders there had not agreed to it in spending plan talks with Brown and the Senate. So that tactic was abandoned for a different one: An unrelated, dormant bill was stripped of its original content, and the fuel cell provision and subsidy for energy storage took its place. The maneuver, known as a gut-and-amend, allows legislative consideration of late-developing policies. The provisions landed in a bill by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), who said the proposal ensures that California remains a global leader in innovation and technology. Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) (Los Angeles Times) (Los Angeles Times) Lows bill passed the Senate, but it faced speed bumps in the Assembly, where it was assigned to additional committee hearings. By then, the opposition was growing louder. Seven companies that would have been eligible under the original proposal circulated an opposition letter that said Lows bill distorts markets, stifles clean energy innovation, eliminates clean energy job growth, and reduces choice for customers and ratepayers. One of those companies, EtaGen, had its own influential financial backer, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, make calls in opposition. But backed by a coterie of lobbyists and trade associations, the measure persevered, clearing the Assembly and ending its long, meandering trip on Browns desk. A spokesperson for the governor says he intends to sign it later this month. Bloom Energy cheered. We applaud our leaders in Sacramento for taking steps to extend a policy that has been successful for the last 14 years in encouraging the states adoption of clean energy, a Bloom spokesperson said in a statement. Kathryn Phillips of the Sierra Club, which opposed the proposal, said its many iterations show how the legislative process can be gamed. Lobbyists can be very operational, Phillips said. They know how to use the rules of the Legislature and, presto, change the number or form of a bill to sneak it through when people are distracted by other things. That's pretty much what has happened here. For those considering similar maneuvering in the future, Leno, the Senate budget chair, advised against it. For those who would use their wealth and connections to shortcut the legislative process, I would suggest instead to embrace it, he said. The benefit is greater public support and trust, which pay great dividends. melanie.mason@latimes.com Times staff writer John Myers contributed to this report. California enacted one of the toughest equal pay laws in the country less than a year ago, and supporters say there are signs its starting to work. Lawmakers already hope to expand the law, which took effect in January after receiving bipartisan support in the Legislature last year. Last month, they passed two bills to build on the law, one to extend some of the its protections to people of color and another to broaden rules against gender-based pay discrimination. Both now sit on Gov. Jerry Browns desk. The new law, the California Fair Pay Act, is part of an ongoing effort by state lawmakers to close the wage gap between men and women. Its author, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, pointed to recent anecdotal evidence showing that the law is having an effect. Advertisement Employers are now being forced to take a look at their practices in order to comply. Weve been seeing women asking their co-workers and their colleagues about what theyre paid because you cant contest what you dont know, the Santa Barbara Democrat said. Employers are now being forced to take a look at their practices in order to comply. On average, women made 80 cents for every dollar a man made in 2015, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. In California, the gap is narrower. Last year, women in the state made 86% of what men made on average, according to an analysis of census data by the advocacy group the American Assn. of University Women. State and federal laws already banned discriminating against women by paying them less, but the Fair Pay Act strengthened existing protections. It puts the burden of proof on employers and explicitly bans retaliation against employees who discuss their salaries, Jackson said. It also bars employers from paying women less for substantially similar work. Before, courts interpreted the law to mean an employee had to have the same job as a male counterpart. It was so limiting and it gave courts and judges an easy way out, said Lori Costanzo, an attorney who worked on a recent pay equality lawsuit against Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance. But now its a little more discretionary so it gives us more room to argue. In the Farmers Insurance lawsuit, nearly 300 female attorneys said the company violated federal and state anti-discrimination laws by paying them less than their male counterparts. The suit was settled this year for $4 million and a commitment by the company to pay women more. It didnt rely on the California law, but Costanzo said it may have had an indirect impact. Costanzo said the substantially similar provision of the law could apply to women in the Farmers suit. Although some of the women werent involved in arguing cases at trial like their male colleagues, they performed similar work researching and writing behind the scenes. The new law makes it easier to compare women and men in such roles, she said. Im much more likely to take on cases now that maybe before were kind of on the edge, if the woman wasnt doing the exact same work as the man, Costanzo said. Wins and losses from the Legislatures two-year session After Brown signed the Fair Pay Act last year, San Francisco business-development firm Salesforce announced it had spent $3 million to fix the wage gap between its male and female employees. Jackson pointed to the Salesforce audit, as well as similar efforts announced by more than a dozen other large companies headquartered in California, as evidence the law is prompting employers to comply. Rachael Langston, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center in San Francisco, said shes received an uptick in calls about pay issues since the law took effect. But she said laws alone wont solve the problem. The act is a really good and strong step in that direction, Langston said. But its going to take some time and additional transparency to really see change. Female employees at the California-based Sedgwick law firm filed a complaint in July alleging the company violated federal and state laws, including the California Fair Pay Act, by paying them less than their male counterparts. Sharon Vinick, an attorney representing the women in the lawsuit, said that although the complaint cites the new California law, its too early to measure the effect the law will have, on that case or more generally. Even so, lawmakers pushed this year to expand the law. AB 1676 by Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose) would add prior salary to the list of reasons that cannot be used to pay women less than men. SB 1063 by state Sen. Isadore Hall III (D-Compton) would apply language about substantially similar work that Jackson used to strengthen gender-based protections to wage discrimination based on race or ethnicity. Both bills are on Browns desk. He has until the end of the month to decide whether to sign them into law. Opponents say its too soon to expand protections before theyve seen what effect the Fair Pay Act will have, said Jennifer Barrera, a lawyer with the California Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber supported the Fair Pay Act, but opposed early versions of both bills passed this year. Earlier this year, the state convened a task force of lawyers, policy experts and others to develop guidance for employers to follow the law. Barrera sits on the task force and said the state should at least wait until it releases some advice for employers before enacting SB 1063. The bill from our perspective would have subjected employers to frivolous litigation, she said. Before you expand [the Fair Pay Act], at least lets provide some guidance to employers. Jackson said both Halls and Campos bills are important efforts in the fight to close the pay gap. Lawmakers who championed the bills have pointed to data that show the wage gap widens for women of color. And they say women shouldnt be penalized for prior salaries that may have been artificially low due to discrimination. Often employers arent consciously trying to pay women less, said Jennifer Reisch, legal director for the San Francisco group Equal Rights Advocates. Reisch attributes much of the wage gap to built-in headwinds for women in the workplace, such as unconscious bias against women who become mothers. Theres still a lot of fear out there, still a lot of taboo about talking about pay, Reisch said. Its very difficult for a single person acting all by herself to discover that shes being paid less and do something about it. sophia.bollag@latimes.com Follow @SophiaBollag on Twitter and sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter ALSO Gender pay equity could be expanded under this measure Protections against race-based wage discrimination could grow stronger under bill sent to governor California now has one of the toughest equal pay laws in the country Therell be a skunk at the establishment picnic on election day in California. Its Proposition 53. That ballot initiative is an irritating pest for many who rely on giant government public works projects for their livelihood. Hardly any establishment group likes it whether political, business or labor. Most major newspapers have editorialized against it. Advertisement Gov. Jerry Brown really hates it. And hell spend a chunk of his growing $19-million political kitty to fight the thing, if he thinks it might pass. Why? Because Prop. 53 potentially threatens Browns two legacy projects: The runaway $64-billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco bullet train and the $15.5-billion monstrous twin water tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The voters? They might want to give the ballot measure a serious look. Thats because it would give them more power. Prop. 53 is actually pretty simple compared with other initiatives. It would require statewide voter approval of any government project to be financed with more than $2 billion in state revenue bonds, a rarity. But the bullet train and twin tunnels the largest state public works projects ever in California certainly could fall into that very rare category. Here we need a refresher course on bonds: The most common bond is a general obligation bond, called that because all Californians are obligated to repay it out of the state general fund. Currently the state is paying back $75 billion in general obligation bonds, costing the treasury $6.8 billion annually. Plus, theres an additional $31 billion in bonds that voters have approved, but are unsold. But Prop. 53 isnt about general obligation bonds. They already must be approved by voters. Its about revenue bonds. They dont require the voters OK, at least in California. In some states they do. Revenue bonds are repaid by a projects users. Water bills are jacked up to pay for a new reservoir, for example. Or tolls will increase to pay for a bridge. Theres also another sneaky kind of revenue bond used by the state. Its called a lease revenue bond. Its a tool to build state structures, such as prisons, when no legitimate revenue is in sight. The state will build a lockup for the prisons agency. Then the prisons agency will lease it from the state. The agencys lease money will come from its normal funding source, the state general fund. But bookkeepers will count the lease payments as revenue and use that to retire the bonds. Thats enough to make one dizzy. But dont fret it. I use it only for added perspective on state debt. The state currently is paying back about $10 billion in lease revenue bonds, costing almost $1 billion a year. Its state debt that motivated Prop. 53, insists its creator, delta native Dean Dino Cortopassi, 78, a wealthy farmer and food processor. Cortopassis attackers insist his real motive is to blow up the tunnels. The project would siphon fresh water from the Sacramento River and pour it into southbound aqueducts before it can flow through the huge estuary, harming farms and fish. Cortopassi denies thats his goal. If it were, he says, hed have bankrolled an initiative aimed directly at the 40-foot-wide, 35-mile-long tunnels. Updates from Sacramento Its simply not true, he told me. Yes, I think the delta tunnels are horrible. Im an environmentalist as well as a farmer. I love the delta. The tunnels are really going to trash the delta environment. But my principal concern is debt, Cortopassi continued. Revenue bond debt is cockroach debt because it grows in the dark. I call the whole Sacramento gang porkers. State debt is officially pegged at around $340 billion, including unfunded retiree pension and healthcare liabilities. But some argue its much higher than that, perhaps approaching $1 trillion. Cortopassi, who has dumped $4.5 million of his own money into the ballot campaign, says Prop. 53 is one way voters can start controlling state debt. Its truly a lousy idea, said Loren Kaye, a veteran policy guru for the state Chamber of Commerce. The only reason to like it is if you dont like a couple of projects you want to kill: the tunnels and the train. It certainly would kill the tunnels. And probably the train is going to die anyway. Otherwise, its really a stupid idea. Why? Because, he says, there are no taxpayer risks in revenue bonds. Theyre paid off by a projects users. The folks at risk are the bondholders who lent the money. So voter approval shouldnt be needed. But that argument ignores the obvious: Voters and water ratepayers and bridge commuters are one and the same. Theyre members of the public. Why shouldnt they be allowed to vote on whether their water bills are significantly boosted or their bridge tolls are tripled? But Prop. 53 opponents ask why Los Angeles voters should be permitted to cast judgment on a project to be used mostly by San Francisco Bay Area residents, such as a new bridge. The bridge wouldnt benefit them, so why would L.A. people support it? Cortopassis answer: Why wouldnt they? Its not going to cost them any money. Bay Area drivers would be paying. It just seems to me that on the mega projects, some people other than a few political appointees should decide. People like voters. george.skelton@latimes.com Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter ALSO Sunlight is the best disinfectant and in Californias Legislature, theres a lot to disinfect What you need to know about Prop. 61, the spendy prescription drug measure on Novembers ballot Californias Citizens United ballot measure: Whos for it, whos against it and what it could really do Along with shops and restaurants, Balboa Island has been home to a cottage industry that it so happens has been making cottage plates for more than 40 years. The popular ceramic plates bearing a symbol along with an address or a family name adorn houses worldwide. They are produced in a 1920s-era cottage on Agate Avenue, just across the alley from the Balboa Island ferry. The idea came to Balboa Island resident and entrepreneur Kay Cooper upon returning from a trip to Rye, England, where she had seen similar plaques on houses. She started manufacturing and selling her own versions in 1975 out of her antique store, Agate 108. In 1996, Cooper sold the building to island residents Cindy and Bob Kupper, and the cottage plate business became a partnership between Cindy Kupper and island resident and real estate broker Mary Hardesty. I bought plates for all of my clients, and one day Kay announced that she was ready to sell her business and asked me to find a buyer, Hardesty said. I got everyone I knew who I thought might be interested. Some had even done plate piecework for Kay. And although many expressed enthusiasm about the idea, only two of us stayed at the table Cindy and I. Kupper, who had worked as a volunteer for The Wellness Community, a cancer support and education organization, thought it sounded like fun. Kay trained me and we had a ball, Kupper said. Cindy was a natural, Hardesty said. Shes the production side of the operation takes orders, personalization, refiring the molds, shipping and managing the retail and wholesale end. Hardesty, who had worked at the former Rumbold Realty on Marine Avenue, decided to move her real estate business to the Agate 108 location in 1997. While Cindy is the production person, I handle the business part, like publicity, graphics, new patterns and spot checking the product prior to firing, " Hardesty said. We call her eagle eye because she catches all the mistakes, Kupper said with a laugh. Hardesty said Kupper has maintained the quality of the plates. People are happy with her service, and shes good about follow-up. Mary Hardesty Realty occupies about half the first floor of the converted cottage. She and her stepdaughter, broker associate Erika Primeau, conduct real estate transactions there while the plate production takes place upstairs. We have so much fun here; its not like being at work, Kupper said. My office is upstairs, where I have a view of the bay, the ferry line and all thats going on on the street my own little world up there. The plate production has become a year-round business, shipping personalized orders all over the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Customers also can buy generic plates off the shelf for example, those that read Welcome friends, Welcome to our home or Please remove shoes. Each plate costs $60 and takes seven to 10 days to ship. The business has retail store hours on Wednesdays only, since most orders are submitted online. It also gives Kupper more time to work on production. For more information, call (949) 675-0330 or visit cottageplates.com. March 28, 1952 Sept. 11, 2016 Karen Faye Engel, 64, of Albany joined heaven on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016. She was surrounded by the love of her family and friends in her home at the time of her passing. Karen battled a rare form of cancer called Leiomyosarcoma. Karen was born in Lebanon to Frank H. Miller and Lorraine A. (Davis) Miller on March 28, 1952. During her childhood, she grew up on her parents farm in Halsey with her two sisters, Laura and Dinah. She helped on the farm by driving seed truck for her dad in the summers, and she loved to ride the family horses. She graduated from Central Linn High School as part of the class of 1970. On March 5, 1975, she married the love of her life, Douglas Engel, and they celebrated 41 years of marriage together. They welcomed their son, Terry, into their lives in 1978, and lived in Brownsville until 2002. They then moved to Albany into the house of Karens dreams, the historic Cathey House. In 1971, Karen began her career as a teller with Citizens Valley Bank (later becoming Key Bank). Throughout her career with Key Bank, she worked in the Shedd, Halsey, Brownsville, Sweet Home, Lebanon and Albany branches, later serving as the manager as she advanced in her career. At the time of her retirement in 2010, she was the manager of the downtown Albany branch and earned the title of Vice-President of Customer Relations for her 39 years of service. Karens fiery spirit and passion for life encompassed all aspects of her life. As an avid collector, she gathered close to her many beautiful pieces of history and even more wonderful friends and friends that would become family to her. She was always one for an adventure and trying new experiences, often spurring others to join in with her enthusiasm she drew people to her with her incredible gift. She would always tell us, It will be fun! Karen loved to travel, from taking planned trips to carnival glass conventions to visiting friends throughout the United States to spur of the moment destinations to experience her favorite places or find new favorites. Some of Karens most memorable times with her friends and family were spent enjoying a good bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, and gathered around sharing stories. Karen provided encouragement and support, imparted her wisdom and advice, and gave us brightened and positive outlooks on life. A hostess to her very core, Karen loved to entertain and host events for her family and friends, making every event magical down to the smallest detail. She looked forward to decorating for the holidays throughout the year, especially for Halloween and Christmas. She made sure to use the fine China, eat by candlelight, and celebrate traditions together. As a tea enthusiast, Karen was known as the Queen of Tea to her friends and family and tried to impart her knowledge of traditional English teas by serving elegant teas complete with dainty sandwiches and homemade lemon curd and clotted cream with our scones. In her book club, the Chicklits, Karen transformed the gatherings from appetizers to full on dinners to give them more time together to share their lives...and books. Once her mind was set on an idea, Karen worked tirelessly to make that dream a reality. She loved to be in the center of activity and believed strongly in giving back to her community and preserving history. During her life, Karen was a part of organizing and leading many events, such as the Pioneer Picnic in Brownsville, the Moyer House Tea Benefit in Brownsville, and many carnival glass conventions for the Heart of America Carnival Glass Association (HOACGA). She served as the treasurer and president of the Linn County Historical Society, on the board and as the Treasurer for the Albany Historic Carousel & Museum, on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of Albany, a member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O), on the board of the Albanys Visitors Association, was an early member and Treasurer of HOACGA, a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and a member of International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in her youth. During her years in the Albany community, Karen opened her historic home, the Cathey House, for tours, private events and fundraising activities to help benefit the Albanys Visitors Association and Albany Historic Carousel & Museum. She believed she was a steward of her historic home, and it was her duty to share the Cathey House and its history with others. Karen is survived by her husband, Doug Engel (Albany); son and daughter-in-law Terry and Amanda Engel (Albany); mother Lorraine Miller (Halsey); sister Laura Miller (Portland); sister and brother-in-law Dinah and Russell Dickson (Halsey); niece and nephew-in-law Charlotte and Mitch Ridinger (Brownsville); niece and nephew-in-law Suzi and Dean Archer (Brownsville); niece and nephew-in-law Aubrey and BJ Dobrkovsky (Salem); niece and nephew-in-law Shelby and Garrett Leabo (Halsey); nephew Zane Dickson (Halsey); and great-nieces and great-nephews Sarah, Aubrey, Alex, Shantel, Bella, Gradyn, Grace, Gage, Nolan and Maley. She was preceded in death by her father, Frank Miller. A memorial service to celebrate Karens life will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, 2016, at the Albany First Assembly of God, 2817 Santiam Highway S.E., Albany. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Karens honor may be made to the Albany Historic Carousel & Museum through Fisher Funeral Home, 306 Washington St. S.W., Albany, OR 97321. Online condolences for the family may be posted at www.fisherfuneralhome.com. Four popular eateries, including breakfast sandwich spot Eggslut and Philz Coffee, will be joining burger chain Shake Shack in a new downtown Glendale development this fall. Caruso Affiliated officials said last year the company was constructing a retail space solely for restaurants at the corner of Brand Boulevard and Colorado Street. Shake Shack was announced as the first tenant in December. NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >> Now under construction, the building at 252 S. Brand Blvd. will also be home to Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop and Mainland Poke Shop as well as the other three eateries. City officials and some community members on Thursday were invited to taste samples from the incoming restaurants at the new pedestrian paseo next to the Museum of Neon Art and just a few doors down from 252 S. Brand. Now under construction, the building at 252 S. Brand Blvd. will also be home to Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop and Mainland Poke Shop as well as the other three eateries. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) All of the restaurants are expected to open around September, said Kloe Colacarro, head of leasing for Caruso Affiliated. She said the goal was to arrange a lineup of offerings that would also appeal to residents living in nearby neighborhoods such as Silver Lake and Los Feliz. "[The restaurants are] cult cool brands with intense following and so, to pair them with each other, for us, just makes it more exciting, Colacarro said. And nearly all of the eateries are new to Southern California. The first Shake Shack in California opened in West Hollywood a few months ago, and Glendale will be the second to offer burgers, crinkle cut fries and frozen custard from the trendy restaurant. Attendees enjoy food from several restaurants at an event announcing five new eateries opening soon at Brand and Colorado in Glendale on Thursday, May 12, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) While the burger spot is one of the most popular on the East Coast, Mike Tuiach, Shake Shacks area director, said there wont be a rivalry with West Coast staple In-N-Out Burger, which has a location just down the street on Brand. "[In-N-Out] pretty much invented the roadside burger stand They inspired what we do, he said. Its great to be in the same territory as them. Philz Coffee, founded in San Francisco, has a handful of stores in the Southland. An employee said one of the ways to enjoy the stores cup of joe is by having it Philzs way based on a suggestion from owner Phil Jaber which is medium sweet with medium cream. Eggsluts most well-known location is at the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles. Mayor Paula Devine said the lineup of new restaurants will have something for everyone. I think these unique eateries are going to add so much of a dynamic to our downtown for young people, older people, for families, she said. Its going to be a real boon for our downtown. Devine acknowledged, however, that having highly popular spots such as Shake Shack and Eggslut moving into the city may raise a red flag in terms of needing more parking. The Caruso Affiliated project will offer 32 spaces in the rear, but Devine said the city could be looking into adding more parking in downtown in the future. It isnt like we havent been considering it or looking into locations currently, she said. Its definitely looming on the horizon because Glendale is becoming a destination. -- Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com Twitter: @ArinMikailian If youve suspected theres more to artist Grant Wood than the constantly parodied 1930 classic American Gothic, explore his homeland and youll find out why youre right. Wood was born 125 years ago in rural eastern Iowa near Anamosa, where summer is receding and fall is beginning its stutter step toward winter. His native Jones County, about 200 miles west of Chicago, was still locked in ice when I visited in March, but tourism director Bob Hatcher and economic development chief Dusty Embree werent about to let freezing weather keep them from showing me around. Advertisement Iowans will teach you plenty about Wood, both from what they know and how they act. They are like the people he painted strong, stubborn but generally sweet. Iowa nice, its called. Cecilia Hatcher, Bobs sister-in-law, was the volunteer on duty at our first stop, the Grant Wood Art Gallery in downtown Anamosa. We dont want people to think of him only for American Gothic, she said, gesturing toward prints, Gothic parodies, a Wood-designed chair and memorabilia. I could have spent hours in the research library, but Embree pulled me past a purple-painted Gothic couple statue and out the door. We had lots of ground to cover. Four miles east along the Grant Wood Scenic Byway, Hatcher pointed out the unmarked farm where Wood was born in 1891. I recognized the one-room Antioch School he attended from 1897 to 1901 from his painting Arbor Day, which depicts a spring tree planting by students and their teacher, and from the trees and hills in Young Corn. At Riverside Cemetery, the two explained the family tensions and why Wood, his mother, Hattie, and sister, Nan, rest in the Weaver section, not in the nearby Wood plot, where his father, Francis, is buried. Hattie moved with her four young children to live with her parents in Cedar Rapids after Francis death in 1901. Francis Wood was a stern Quaker who discouraged young Grants early art, and the families never got on after the elder Woods death. We followed the highway bends Wood depicted in Death on the Ridge Road, which shows the imminent collision of a truck and cars on the narrow fence- and powerline-hemmed road, on the way to Stone City, about four miles west of Anamosa. There, Hatcher pointed out the spot where Wood stood to paint the hamlet that hosted his famed but short-lived Stone City Colony and Art School. The colony was Woods attempt to create an artistic home for fellow regionalists. Art students and nationally prominent teachers, including Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry, stayed in abandoned limestone buildings and camped in obsolete horse-drawn ice wagons loaned by Hubbard Ice Co. of Cedar Rapids. Participants painted by day, partied by night and sold their work to crowds of visitors on weekends. The project was a financial bust but attracted national attention in the summers of 1932 and 33. Replicas of the ice wagons, which were fancifully decorated by their occupants, are rolled out each September to re-create the colony atmosphere for the colony atmosphere for the Stone City Festival, an annual celebration of student art. It was Sept. 18 this year. The original American Gothic isnt in Iowa, where Grant Wood was born. Its in Chicago at the Chicago Art Institute, where visitors stop to contemplate. (Richard Derk/Los Angeles Times ) The ice wagons are stored in a metal building in Stone City and are decked out to look like the American Gothic house. That fools tourists into stopping for pictures and amuses the locals, but the real house is in Eldon, about 145 miles southwest of Anamosa, where I visited a few days later with Holly Berg, director of the artifact-packed American Gothic House Center next door. She jumps easily from answering questions on Woods European influences to lending you a pitchfork for a Gothic parody photo. I spent another day touring Cedar Rapids, about 25 miles southwest of Anamosa, and Iowa City, about 30 miles south of there. I found the modestly marked home, across the street from Coe College near downtown, where Wood lived with his mother and siblings through his high school years. I visited his studio and the excellent Wood exhibit at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. You could spend weeks retracing Woods tracks in these communities where he spent his life. After a late failed marriage, he died of pancreatic cancer, just shy of his 51st birthday. The multitalented Wood left an indelible imprint on his home community. I couldnt help but wonder whether he might have been known nationally for more than his image of the pitchfork-wielding farmer and shifty-eyed daughter if he had lived longer. Taking the tour Start your tour where Grant Wood started in rural Jones County, Iowa. Trace his career through Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, and finish with a scenic drive to Eldon. Who can resist a photo at the American Gothic House? Jones County Grant Wood Art Gallery, Anamosa, is your free headquarters for hometown memorabilia, photos, videos, parodies, prints, books and directions to other Wood sites. Info: 124 E. Main St., Anamosa; (319) 462-4267, www.grantwoodartgallery.org. Open 1-4 p.m. daily. Riverside Cemetery, Anamosa, contains the graves of Wood, sister Nan and mother Hattie. Antioch School, Anamosa You can follow the Grant Wood Scenic Byway (Iowa Highway 64) four miles east of the cemetery past Woods unmarked birthplace to the restored one-room Antioch School, the subject of his work Arbor Day. The building is open 1-4 pm. Sundays through Oct. 15 and for special events; (319) 377-0455. Stone City Art Colony, Stone City You can take County Road E28 four miles west from Anamosa to the setting of Woods painting Stone City. The Wood connection, winding roads and hilly scenery make the historic village attractive to motorcyclists and others who want to check out the site of Woods famed but short-lived Stone City Art Colony of the early 1930s. You can view an American Gothic house look-alike and dine at the General Store Pub overlooking the Wapsipinicon River. An active limestone quarry is in operation. A blacksmith shop is being restored, and the old school serves as the community building. Other structures are privately owned. Info: Stone City Foundation Cedar Rapids At the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, you can see see Woman With Plants, John B. Turner, Pioneer and other paintings plus his creations in sculpture, jewelry, metalwork and more in what the museums website calls the worlds largest collection of Woods work. Info: 410 Third Ave. S.E., Cedar Rapids; (319) 366-7503, www.crma.org. Open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Adults $7, seniors (62 and older), college students with ID $6, and children 6-18 $3. Children younger than 6 are admitted free. Also downtown: Woods studio and home, 5 Turner Alley. See the loft Wood ingeniously remodeled as a residence and the studio where he created American Gothic and other famed works and hosted theatrical events. Downstairs, in a former stable, you can enjoy educational programs and artistic activities at the Armstrong Visitor Center. Info: 5 Turner Alley, www.lat.ms/woodstudio. Admission is free. The Veterans Memorial Building boasts Woods stained-glass masterpiece, which can be viewed for free. Info: 50 Second Ave. Bridge, www.lat.ms/vetmemorial. Iowa City Drive by the 1885 Italianate home at 1142 E. Court St. that Wood renovated during his marriage to Sarah Maxon. The Woods showcased Midwestern art and entertained notables in the now privately owned home. The Grant Wood Art Colony next door provides housing for visiting University of Iowa art fellows. On campus, you can take a walk on the winding paths along the Iowa River and see the Wood-designed Danforth Chapel and the Old Art Building, where he taught. The Art Building, severely damaged during the 2008 floods, has a Wood-designed mural in the basement but is closed to the public while the university figures out how to use it. Eldon Pose for photos at the American Gothic House Center, 93 miles southwest of Iowa City. Borrow photo props such as pitchforks and print smocks inside and view free exhibits showcasing Woods life and the houses history. Info: American Gothic House Center, 300 American Gothic St., Eldon; (641) 652-3352, www.americangothichouse.net. Winter and summer hours vary. Events Experience the people and flavor of Iowa at Grant Wood birthday events. Heres a sampler. Call or email to confirm dates, details. Overalls All Over: A Grant Wood Experience: Downtown Cedar Rapids, through September. American Gothic couple statues designed by local artists. Info: (319) 398-5009, www.croveralls.com Grant Wood Art Colony Biennial Symposium: Myth, Memories, and the Midwest, Art Building West, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Oct. 28 and 29. Scholars, experts explore issues tied to Woods life, legacy. Free. Info: (319) 384-3579, www.art.uiowa.edu In Jones County, through December, Windows of Wood, 18 Gothic windows decorated by local are displayed at various locations. Grant Wood-themed Pumpkinfest Oct. 1, Anamosa, anamosachamber.org/pumpkinfest. Anamosa Parks & Recreation Department Tree Walk, 5-8 p.m. Dec. 9, noon-8 p.m. Dec. 10, noon-4 p.m. Dec. 11. View 80 decorated Christmas trees from businesses and community groups; prize for the best Grant Wood-themed tree. Admission is free. Lawrence Community Center, 600 E. Main St.; (319) 462-6181. Watch www.anamosa-iowa.org for details. For two decades, Jerry Gonzaga was addicted to drugs. Like many of his neighbors and friends in Paranaque, a city south of Manila, Gonzaga would take shabu, an inexpensive amphetamine, to keep him focused on fixing cars, selling umbrellas, and doing other odd jobs to feed his wife and eight children. Then, on June 30, Rodrigo Duterte assumed the Philippine presidency on promises to kill scores of drug users and Gonzaga, a wiry 43-year-old, tried to turn himself in to police. At the station, officers made him sign a form pledging to stay off drugs. It said, If youre caught the first, second and third time, there are warnings and conditions, he said. If youre caught a fourth time, well have nothing to do with whatever happens to you. Then, the police turned him away. Since June, an estimated 687,000 people across the Philippines have surrendered to police as Duterte has delivered on his brutal promise. Since he came to power, more than 3,500 suspected drug users and dealers have been killed, some by police, others by shadowy vigilantes. Advertisement Drug users and dealers filling out forms on July 18 after voluntarily surrendering to local authorities in Tanauan town, Batangas province, south of Manila. (Ted Aljibe / AFP/Getty Images ) His anti-drug campaign, conducted in flagrant disregard of international standards of human rights or due process, has strained the countrys already-overburdened corrections system. Its courts are notoriously slow and corrupt; its jails are bursting; and its rehabilitation centers are scarce, numbering 50 nationwide. Experts say that drug dealers are at risk of falling back on their old habits as soon as the climate of fear subsides. The president estimates that 3.7 million of the countrys 100 million people are drug users, and many are like Gonzaga poor, terrified of the spike in extrajudicial violence, and struggling to navigate a society that lacks the resources to help them. People are living in absolute fear, said Clarke Jones, a researcher at the Australian National University who studies the Philippine prison system and its relationship with the drug trade. Meet the Nightcrawlers of Manila: A night on the front lines of the Philippines war on drugs I think theyre realizing that if they dont give themselves up their lives are in jeopardy. But an addicts an addict. Its a temporary motivation youre about to lose your life, better give yourself in, he continued. But if theyre in the criminal justice system, if theyre put in prisons or jails, that doesnt address their dependency. Drugs are still available throughout the prison system, in different forms. If they remain in the community, theres no community support structure to keep them off drugs. Drugs are going to go underground for some time, but theyre not gonna go away. Duterte, 71, has repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to a violent, hard-line drug policy shoot [the drug dealer] and Ill give you a medal, he said on national television in June and the countrys addicts have cause to take him seriously. On Thursday, a witness at a senate investigation testified that Duterte himself ordered extrajudicial executions during his 22-year tenure as mayor of the southern city of Davao. Edgar Matobato said that he belonged to a group of vigilante killers nicknamed the Davao Death Squad, which assassinated more than 1,000 people in the city; that Duterte ordered several killings; and that Duterte himself once killed a Department of Justice agent with an Uzi. (On Thursday, Dutertes communications secretary Martin Andanar denied the claims). The rehabilitation program at New Bilibid Prison, the countrys biggest correctional facility, with more than 23,000 prisoners, is already bursting at the seams. On a rainy August afternoon, its hallways were bustling. In one room, inmates watched a dance performance by the programs glee club; in another, they had their teeth pulled by a team of volunteer dentists. The number of surrenders under Duterte has been overwhelming, said Resurrection Morales, the prisons head of reform programs. Its mind blowing for the correctional officers to think about these hundreds, thousands of drug defendants turning themselves in. Morales said that so far, detention centers, not prisons, have taken the brunt of the drug war courts are still processing scores of drug-related cases but that her staff was bracing for a huge wave of new inmates. We need the facilities, she said. There are so many arrests, but people dont have the facilities. She said that the prison was operating at 158% of capacity, that 40 prison guards were often left in charge of more than 15,000 inmates, and that inmates have a medical allowance of only 10 cents per day, creating the looming specter of a public health crisis. Since we lack personnel, a prison guard might do administration work, and reform work -- I have prison guards who are teaching, who are maintaining order in classrooms, who are doing communications as part of their administrative functions, she said. We just have to be prepared for another increase in the number of convictions. Archie Bueno, 46, a prisoner at New Bilibid, said that he was incarcerated for drug dealing in 2008, after a five-year trial. The system is very slow, he said. A lot of people come in and only a few come out. There are a lot of prisoners here who are very qualified to leave, on parole. But they cant leave. Some, he said, are more than 70 years old. As the place gets more crowded, life here is getting harder, he continued. Some cells, he said, are designed to accommodate 40 prisoners; instead, theyre accommodating more than 100. There are cells here where you cant even sleep a full night, he said. Prisoners cant even stretch out. You get up, you go to the restroom, and you come back and your space is gone. Gonzaga, the Paranaque drug addict, says that hes been off drugs for months, but hes bracing for an uncertain future. Many are worried because of the way the government has decided to fight drugs, he said. The government should consider that these people are also human they have families, people who care about them. They should be given a second chance. ALSO: The Philippines has 1.8 million abandoned children. Heres what keeps many from adoption Nearly half a million U.S. citizens are enrolled in Mexican schools. Many of them are struggling Theres just one country other than the Vatican where divorce is illegal and some want to change that A Norwegian man freed by militants after a year of jungle captivity in the southern Philippines described the ordeal Sunday as devastating, carrying a backpack with a bullet hole as a reminder of a near-death experience that included the beheadings of the two Canadians kidnapped with him. Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed by his Abu Sayyaf captors on Saturday to rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Philippine government and helped negotiate his release. On Sunday, he was handed over to Philippine authorities, along with three Indonesian fishermen freed separately by Abu Sayyaf. Aside from the horror of constantly being warned that he would be the next to be beheaded by the brutal extremists, Sekkingstad said he survived more than a dozen clashes between Philippine forces and his captors in the lush jungles of Sulu province. Advertisement In one intense battle, in which the forces fired from assault helicopters and from the ground, he said he felt a thud in his back and thought he was hit by gunfire. After the fighting eased, he discovered that he wasnt hit, and that his green, army-style backpack had been pierced by the gunfire instead. Kjartan Sekkingstad, left, briefly delivers a statement after meeting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, right, in Davao. (Manman Dejeto / Associated Press ) Sekkingstad was carrying the damaged backpack when he walked to freedom Saturday somewhere in the thick jungle off Sulus mountainous Patikul town. On Sunday, the heavily bearded Sekkingstad, clad in a rebel camouflage uniform and muddy combat boots, was asked how he would describe his horrific experience. Devastating, devastating, he said, still clutching the backpack. Philippine presidential advisor Jesus Dureza, who received Sekkingstad and the three freed Indonesians from Moro National Liberation Front rebel chief Nur Misuari in Misuaris rural stronghold near Sulus Indanan town, accompanied the Norwegian on a flight to southern Davao City, where the ex-hostage met President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte told Sekkingstad that his travails were over. Sekkingstad, newly shaved but looking gaunt in a loose polo shirt, thanked all those who worked for his freedom. I am very happy to be alive and free, he said. Its a beautiful feeling. Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a yacht club he helped manage on southern Samal Island on Sept. 21, 2015, along with Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Halls Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor, sparking a massive land and sea search by Philippine forces. Abu Sayyaf demanded a huge ransom for the release of the foreigners, and released videos in which they threatened the captives in a jungle clearing where they displayed Islamic State group-style black flags. Ridsdel was beheaded in April and Hall was decapitated in June after ransom deadlines lapsed. When Flor was freed in June, she recounted in horror how the militants rejoiced while watching the beheadings. Sekkingstad said he and his fellow captives were forced to carry the militants belongings and were kept in the dark on what was happening around them. At one point, he said, their heavily armed captors numbered more than 300. We were treated like slaves, he said. After the militants decapitated Ridsdel, Sekkingstad was threatened by the militants, who repeatedly told him, Youre next. When the negotiations for his release began in recent months, Sekkingstad said the rebels began treating him better. It was not immediately clear whether Sekkingstad had been ransomed off. Duterte suggested at a news conference last month that 50 million pesos ($1 million) had been paid to the militants, but that they continued to hold on to him. The military said Saturday that relentless assaults forced the extremists to release the hostage. In Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg thanked Duterte and Dureza, and said her government supports the Philippines in their fight against terrorism. Solberg told Norways NTB national news agency that Norwegian officials had not participated in any payment of ransom or made any concessions in the matter. Philippine forces launched a major offensive against Abu Sayyaf after the beheadings of the Canadians sparked condemnations from then-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called on other nations not to pay ransoms if their citizens are abducted to discourage the militants from carrying out more kidnappings. The three Indonesian fishermen freed by the Abu Sayyaf were kidnapped in July off Lahad Datu district in Malaysias Sabah state, according to regional Philippine military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan. Their release came as Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu was visiting the Philippines. Five Indonesians, five Malaysians and a Dutch bird watcher, along with five Filipinos, remain in Abu Sayyaf custody, the Philippine military said. Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the Philippines for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Without any known foreign funding, the extremists have relied on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry, and some commanders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group partly in the hope of obtaining funds. MORE WORLD NEWS Waging war on Islamic State: The first battle is for hearts and minds The Philippines drug addicts, shunned by society and hunted by assassins, find they have nowhere to turn Putins party may have just won another victory, but its performance is underwhelming President Vladimir Putins ruling party easily outdistanced its rivals in parliamentary elections Sunday, but it was a lackluster victory that suggested the Russian leaders brand may be growing stale. United Russia, the pro-Kremlin behemoth an opposition leader once dubbed the party of crooks and thieves, won less than 45% of the vote for 450 seats in the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, according to preliminary results announced by the Central Election Committee on Sunday night. No other party came close. The nationalist LDPR party and the Communists competed for the second spot with 18% and 17% of the vote, respectively. Advertisement Still, it was United Russias lowest result in 15 years and came in an election with turnout of less than 40% of eligible voters. The election was a tangible blow to Putin, who founded the party at the dawn of his rule. The 63-year-old leader put on a brave face when announcing its victory. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Prime Minister and Chairman of the United Russia political party Dmitry Medvedev before visiting the partys campaign headquarters in Moscow on Sept. 18, 2016. (Ekaterina Shutukina / AFP/Getty Images ) The result is what it is, Putin, smiling and casual, said during a televised meeting with party officials. One can surely say the party has achieved a very good result. In recent years, he distanced himself from the party as its approval ratings suffered amid endless corruption scandals and a crippling economic crisis. United Russias previous victory in 2011 with 49% of the vote prompted calls of fraud and triggered massive urban protests throughout Russia that shook the Kremlin. In 2007, the party had won almost 65% of the vote during a period of impressive economic growth fueled by high oil prices. Still, United Russia appeals to many people because of its omnipresence on Kremlin-controlled television, and the lack of a genuine choice. United Russia has been criticized a lot in recent years, but the critics are hired by [President] Obama, said Vasily Karatayev, a 43-year-old construction worker who cast his ballot for a United Russia candidate in a central Moscow district. His opinion echoes a choir of Kremlin loyalists that eagerly accepted Putins tilt to neoconservative and belligerently anti-Western policies after his return to a third presidency in 2012. Despite United Russias fading approval ratings, supporters insist the continued tensions with the West will ensure Putins reelection in the 2018 presidential vote. Obama is guilty of the [economic] crisis, political analyst and former lawmaker Sergei Markov said, adding that the U.S. president is waging a hybrid war against Russia that includes economic and diplomatic pressure, critical media reports and support of anti-Russian governments in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia. By attacking Russia, the U.S. will make Putin an eternal president, Markov said. Apart from United Russia, 13 other parties ran for seats in the Duma, but only three won more than 5% of the vote necessary for a Duma presence. Besides the LDPR and the Communists, the Just Russia social democratic party received just under 7%. The three parties are part of the so-called systemic opposition. Critics say their political stance and anti-Kremlin rhetoric are staged because they eagerly vote for most of United Russias bills. The remaining 10 parties that took part in the vote liberal democrats, militant nationalists and greens got well below the 5% threshold. Parnas, the liberal Peoples Freedom Party, received about 0.7% of the vote, according to official results, a far cry from the 10% predicted by its founder, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Every party except United Russia filed hundreds of complaints with Russias last independent election monitor, Golos, which means voice. The vocabulary of the complaints sounded almost festive. Cruising meant multiple voting with absentee ballots. Carousel was a replacement of ones empty ballot with a pre-filled one and an exchange of the empty ballot for money. The parties, and Golos, also charged that there was evidence of routine ballot stuffing and swaps of votes for alcohol. For instance, there were reports that 3 liters of beer were offered for each United Russia vote in the city of Novosibirsk. And in the Urals town of Troitsk, there were allegations that a vote could fetch a bottle of vodka or up to $15. Two dozen videos posted online showed alleged and sometimes comical evidence of vote rigging at polling stations, mostly public schools, where election officials were seen stuffing ballots or allowing people to vote without proper documents. While turnout was low across the board, some polling stations in Russia-annexed Crimea were almost empty. Crimean Tatars, an indigenous Muslim minority, largely boycotted the vote, activists and independent media reports said. The city of Bakhchisaray, Crimeas onetime capital, and adjacent villages with a Tatar majority, ignored the vote, they said. I am not going to the election, because this is not my government and not my country, Nariman Dzhelyalov, deputy chairman of the Mejlis, an informal Tatar parliament that was outlawed by Moscow, said in a statement. Dozens of Tatars have been detained, arrested, searched and harassed by Russian authorities since the 2014 annexation. Mirovalev is a special correspondent. ALSO U.S. says it carried out strike that may have inadvertently killed 60 Syrian soldiers Dare to be dull. Vibrant Berlin seems ready to reelect its plodding mayor A year later, legacy of refugee crisis has Greeks fearing paradise lost MOSCOW Was it the influence of video games? A breakdown in respect for authority? Cuts in mental health services? In a phenomenon all too familiar to Americans, Russians searched for answers Monday after a 15-year-old student at a Moscow high school fatally shot a teacher and a police officer and held a class of 29 captive until he was persuaded by his father to release those in the room, officials said. Police then arrested him. The student reportedly was armed with a shotgun and possibly another weapon. The suspect was identified, but The Times policy is to not name juveniles accused of crimes unless they are charged as adults. Advertisement According to our information, his grades were excellent and most likely it was some kind of an emotional breakdown, said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russias Investigative Committee. In a society where gun ownership is far less common than in the United States, the shooting prompted soul-searching over whether larger societal problems were to blame. Violent crime is a serious problem in Russia, but schools have generally remained havens. Unfortunately, the notion that a teacher is an indisputably respected authority for all school students is a thing of the past, said Sergei Kazarnovsky, the director of another Moscow school. Thank God we dont have so many guns and weapons in our homes in Russia like in the United States. Officials said the student entered the school early in the afternoon armed with a shotgun and ordered a school guard to let him in. He then proceeded to the room where his geography class was held, officials said. Upon entering the classroom, the student shot teacher Andrei Kirillov, 29, officials said. When he saw that Kirillov was still breathing, the teen came up closer and shot the teacher again, killing him, a student told his mother, who repeated the account to the online news site Gazeta. The shooter then pointed a gun at classmates and said, I dont want to kill any of you, she said her son told her. I am afraid of death so much I wanted to see what it looks like. Some reports said the shooter was armed with two guns, both owned by his father: a small-caliber rifle and a hunting shotgun. When two police officers arrived and opened the classroom door, the shooter fired on them, killing Warrant Officer Sergei Bushuyev and seriously injuring Senior Sgt. Vladimir Krokhin, officials said. In all, 11 shots were fired, Markin said. Meanwhile, classes were halted and students were evacuated. By that time, police were in touch with the shooters father and asked him to talk to his son, officials said. At first the two talked on the phone, but then the father came to the school. Standing outside the classroom door, he spoke to his son for about 15 minutes before the boy agreed to let him in, Moscow Police Chief Anatoly Yakunin said. We then equipped his father with a bulletproof jacket and special means, and he entered the classroom, Yakunin said in televised remarks. He did not define what he meant by special means. After speaking to his father face to face for about half an hour, the shooter began to let the captives go, Yakunin said. When all were freed and the teen was alone with his father, police special forces stormed the classroom and arrested the boy, Yakunin said. Investigators are working with the student, who will undergo a psychological examination, Markin said. The teen had not been known to have conflicts with the teacher or with his classmates, Education Minister Dmitry Livanov told the daily newspaper Kommersant. Russian presidential envoy for childrens rights Pavel Astakhov told the Russia-24 television news channel that the country had made a mistake in recent years by eliminating the jobs of most school psychologists. Once common, psychologists are on staff in only in 20% of Russian schools now, Astakhov said. Lawmaker Sergei Mironov blamed violent video games. I have no doubt that this schoolboy, like practically everybody else these days, played so-called computer shooter games every day, where you easily push a button and kill adversaries, who fall down and it is great fun, Mironov, head of the Just Russia parliament faction, said in televised remarks. He spoke of a mindset in which one can hit reset, and everything will be different. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin expressed condolences to the victims families and said he will reexamine the security situation in city schools. We need to draw appropriate lessons, conduct a due investigation of the school activities and establish the reasons, Sobyanin said in televised remarks. We also need to take measures to enhance security at Moscow schools. sergei.loiko@latimes.com Syrias military on Monday declared an end to the week-long cease-fire brokered by U.S. and Russian officials, blaming opposition fighters for repeated violations and launching attacks on rebel-held areas. Before the militarys announcement, opposition fighters and activists also had accused the government of violating the cease-fire, which began at sundown Sept. 12. Late Monday, a United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy of 31 trucks was struck while delivering relief for 78,000 people in the rural area of Urem al-Kubra, west of the city of Aleppo, according to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the secretary-general of the United Nations. Advertisement Haq said at least 18 trucks were hit, though it was not immediately clear whether the damage came from an airstrike or other shelling. The shipment included food, water, sanitation supplies and other household items. Its outrageous that people delivering humanitarian need should be attacked, he said. They had worked out with the various sides that it would be fine for them to travel at that point. The number of casualties could not be immediately verified, Haq and Red Crescent officials said. In a statement earlier, the Syrian military blamed armed terrorist groups for repeatedly violating the cease-fire, attacking government-held areas and wasting a real chance to halt the more than five-year civil war. The Syrian army said it had documented more than 300 violations of the cease-fire by rebel groups, while the Russian Ministry of Defense said 153 Syrian soldiers had been killed during the truce. But rebel forces and activists reported 254 violations of the truce by government forces and their allies, with at least 22 civilians killed in government bombings during the past week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. The agreement between the U.S. and Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, was already complicated by apparently mistaken airstrikes Saturday that killed at least 62 Syrian troops and wounded dozens. Pentagon officials expressed regret for the airstrikes, which involved coalition Australian, British and Danish warplanes targeting Islamic State militants battling Syrian troops. The U.N. has said the Syrian government blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged areas, a key condition of the deal. Syrian rebel groups have also accused Assads forces of violating the cease-fire by attacking rebel-held neighborhoods. There is no hope of humanitarian assistance, said Zakariya Malahfji, head of one rebel groups political office, in an interview with Arabi21. Every time, there is stalling and excuses. He said some rebel groups had started planning a new offensive. We demand the U.S. take a firm stance so as to pressure Russia and Assad to adhere to the truce, said Bassma Kodmani, a member of the oppositions High Negotiations Committee in an online statement Monday. U.S. officials hoped the cease-fire would allow aid to reach Aleppo and other beleaguered Syrian cities and also give them a chance to create a joint U.S.-Russia military facility to coordinate airstrikes on Islamic State and an Al Qaeda affiliate. There must be increased and sustained access for the delivery of humanitarian supplies and seven days of adherence to the cessation of hostilities before the center can be created, said John Kirby, a State Department spokesman. Despite continued attacks by the regime on opposition positions, we have witnessed a measure of reduced violence over the last week. But we have not seen a sustained flow of relief supplies. Kirby said U.S. officials were willing to work with their Russian counterparts to extend the cease-fire. While we have seen comments attributed to the Syrian military, our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regimes compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position, he said. Russian Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi at a Monday briefing said rebel groups repeated violations of the cease-fire meant it was meaningless for Syrian government forces to unilaterally observe. Rudskoi blamed U.S. officials for being out of touch with conditions in Syria and failing to uphold their end of the deal by ensuring rebels honor the cease-fire, although he stopped short of abandoning the partnership. Experts said the prospects for a lasting peace to emerge from the crumbling cease-fire were bleak. Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said a range of Syrian groups have coalesced in opposition to the cease-fire, including Islamic extremists and Assad supporters who suspect the U.S.-led airstrikes were an intentional violation. Ilan Goldenberg, director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said the cease-fire has two fatal flaws. The first is the lack of trust between all the different sides. The second is that theres really no enforcement mechanism for any violations by any of the parties, Goldenberg said. The likelihood that its something that actually lasts is very low. Times staff writer Hennessy-Fiske reported from Cairo and special correspondent Bulos from Irbil, Iraq. Special correspondent Roy Gutman in Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report. ALSO The Syria cease-fire, the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad U.S. says it carried out strike that may have inadvertently killed 60 Syrian soldiers U.N. hopes to build momentum for humanitarian aid in Syria if cease-fire holds UPDATES: 4:40 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with Times reporting. 11:30 a.m.: This article has been updated throughout with response from the U.S. This article was originally posted at 9 a.m. The pilots stared ahead at the night sky, their eyes scanning an expanse of black that was interrupted by the glittering outlines of northern Iraqs cities and towns. On the planes port side, a large spiderweb of yellow and neon lights came into view. Thats Mosul, said Col. Thaer Hussein, commander of the C-130J Super Hercules turboprop lumbering toward Islamic States Iraqi capital. Advertisement In the planes loading bay, Crew Chief Sadeq Abbass and Maj. Mohammad Ismail attached themselves to cables clipped to the floor, donned gray oxygen masks and heaved the aircrafts side doors open. As the wind roared through the planes belly, bringing down the temperature to 23 degrees and leaving the air thin, the two officers turned to their cargo: hundreds of boxes of leaflets, divided into three large piles. Over the next hour, they would throw them over 16 cities and towns in Nineveh province, all held by Islamic State, as part of the governments largest psy-ops offensive against the militant group. In the battle to defeat Islamic State, which the government calls Daesh, Iraqi forces have taken aim at the militants not only with bombs and bullets, but also through a multi-pronged media war to deflate the groups bogeyman image. The efforts serve as a counterweight to Islamic States media machine, a juggernaut that produces high-quality videos, photo essays and magazines disseminated via a Hydra-like social media network. Even now, despite clearly being on the back foot in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the militants maintain their media presence and have vowed that, if ousted from their bastions, they will revert to a shadowy insurgency while continuing to push disciples in the West to conduct lone-wolf attacks. It was a little more than two years ago that Islamic State stormed Mosul, prompting tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers to flee for their lives in the face of an onslaught by a ragtag army of about 1,500 militants in pickups. What happened in June 2014 was a function of psychological operations by Daesh that were able to cast terror, fear and confusion among both the armed forces and our society, said Said Jayashi, a consultant to the Iraqi governments Psychological Warfare division, in a phone interview on Wednesday. The easy capture of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, pushed the extremist group to proclaim the establishment of its caliphate over swaths of Iraq and Syria a few weeks later. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj It also prompted the Iraqi government to bring together a group of experts, composed of university professors, specialists in psychological, social and media sciences as well as intelligence and security personnel, said Jayashi. They were tasked with producing propaganda to counter Islamic State. Much of the pro-government propaganda is woven into everyday life in government-controlled areas of the country: Songs mock Islamic State (one of them, Daesh the Dirty, insists its fighters smell and flee at the sight of loofahs), stern-eyed generals and analysts perennially predict the groups demise on talk shows, and billboards extol the heroism of Iraqs security forces. As the battles to take back Islamic State areas began in 2015, Jayashi said, military operations had to be supported by media and psychological operations to confuse the enemy and to reach residents living under Islamic State rule. To do this, the government uses text messages, radio and leaflets. The leaflets, especially, have played a central role. Over the last two years, the government says, its planes have cast more than 40 million of them over Islamic State areas. As the governments campaign has progressed, the airdrops have served as a prelude to the security forces advance, leaving a paper trail extending from parts of the Syrian-Iraqi border to Salahuddin province, Ramadi and Fallujah. With the government poised to launch its offensive on Nineveh province, Jayashi said, we are covering Mosul and surrounding areas. The leaflets bear different messages. Some, Jayashi said, expose the defeats of the enemy so as to confuse them, and show the truth of what is happening outside these cities. One leaflet, distributed over Mosul in June, told beleaguered residents that it was high time that you all stand on the land of your pure city as one hand against Islamic State and rule the city and decide its fate. Others give more practical advice, such as those informing people of the location of humanitarian corridors or reminding them to take personal documents before evacuating their homes. Those are usually thrown 72 hours before ground forces begin their incursion on a city. The mission Tuesday, according to Hussein, the C-130J pilot, set out to drop 7 million leaflets 400 cartons. One side of the leaflet was dominated by the Iraqi flag. On its back were dates of the governments victories since October 2014. An arrow pointed to a clock with the words Mosul: The Hour of Victory emblazoned on top. The text at the bottom warned residents to stay away from the headquarters of the terrorist Daesh and to cooperate with security forces when they arrive to bring life back to normal in the city. Although the leafleting would not involve direct clashes with Islamic State, it was not without danger. In a ground briefing before the flight, Hussein told reporters that he would not descend below 16,000 feet so as to avoid ground fire. Daesh has Chinese-made antiaircraft missiles, so we dont want to risk getting hit, he said. See the most-read stories this hour With the plane in position over its target, officers Abbass and Ismail began to grab boxes and throw them out of the side door. Ismail explained there was no danger of the cartons falling and killing unsuspecting citizens below; the wind would quickly rip them apart. Events soon proved he was right: One of the boxes hit the lip of the doors, tearing its side and spewing leaflets in a whirling vortex of paper. Suddenly, an unintelligible message came over the planes public address system, followed by an abrupt movement. In the cockpit, Hussein, seeing the flashes of what appeared to be antiaircraft fire, had taken the plane up to safety. Although only a little more than two-thirds of the boxes had been deployed, the mission was over. The next day, the local news outlet Sumariyah News quoted a source in Nineveh province who said that Islamic State had mobilized its cadres to collect and destroy all the leaflets in their areas. Any resident found with a leaflet, the source said, would be lashed 20 times. Bulos is a special correspondent. ALSO: Bombed and beleaguered, a Baghdad neighborhood takes stock on a key Muslim holiday The Marines wouldnt take him. So Levi Shirley went to war on his own Pastry, fat, and perfection: A recipe for Baghdads favorite breakfast food All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Advocates of open and transparent government in Oregon scored a rare victory last week: The Oregon Department of Justice overturned a rule requiring some state agencies to charge for public records. The decision from the office of Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum reversed a 2002 ruling from a previous attorney general. It's hard to say how much of an impact the new decision will have, but it's still welcome. Here's the background: The Statesman Journal newspaper in Salem had requested a set of records from the state's Public Employees Retirement System. Specifically, the newspaper asked for the 2015 travel receipts of the system's director and board members, which certainly is a legitimate request. PERS charged the newspaper $112 for the records and then denied the paper's request to waive the fees. (At least some state agencies will waive fees if they're convinced the request is in the public interest; to be fair, we've found that some agencies are more than happy to waive fees.) In explaining why PERS couldn't waive the fees, the agency pointed to a 2002 ruling from Hardy Myers, then the attorney general. Myers had ordered PERS to charge full price for records requests. In his ruling last week, though, Deputy Attorney General Frederick Boss ordered PERS to reconsider the fee waiver request and said the retirement system may be "legally required" to waive or reduce fees for public records, essentially countermanding Myers' 2002 ruling. PERS had argued that it is legally barred from waiving fees charged for producing public records because pension funds can only be used to the benefit of PERS members. But Boss wrote in his ruling that PERS already uses its funds for activities that don't directly benefit pension members (say, for example, to pay for director and board member travel expenses). Releasing public records should be no exception, Boss said. "Although a public body enjoys discretion with respect to whether to grant or deny fee waivers and reductions, that discretion is not unlimited," Boss wrote. Now, one ruling from the attorney general's office will not by itself stem the tide of increasing secrecy in Oregon's state government and, again, it's uncertain how much of an impact this will have. But this ruling does send a positive signal that Rosenblum's office is serious about overhauling the state's open record laws. (She has convened a task force charged with that work, and some of its recommendations are headed to the 2017 Legislature, where it appears they may face serious opposition from local governments but that's a topic to explore another time.) And there is at least a strong symbolic value in this ruling's focus on the fees that government agencies charge for access to public records. These fees have been a sore spot, not just for the media, but also for members of the public. Although we have little issue with agencies trying to recoup legitimate costs for accessing records, open-government advocates can point to a number of occasions when agencies have tried to use ludicrously high fees to try to stall or stop requests. Sometimes it doesn't take much to chill a records request: We suspect the Statesman Journal could have coughed up the $112, but that amount could have been an insurmountable barrier for a citizen. Last week's ruling may be, in the words of a longtime open records advocate, a "wee step in the right direction." But these days, even small steps in the direction of openness and transparency are welcome. (mm) The 2016 presidential race is heating up while both candidates, Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump, prepare to face head on in the first 2016 presidential debate at a time where their numbers are narrowing in recent presidential polls. Take a look at each candidates views on pressing issues in the United States before the first presidential debate on Monday Sept. 26. Republican Party Views 2016 Donald Trump Views on Same-Sex Marriage The billionaire believes that same-sex marriage is an issue that should have continued to be decided on by the states, and not by the Supreme Court. Trump on Abortion The GOP presidential candidate is pro-life except when there are situations regarding rape, incest, and a pregnancy that threatens the life of the mother. I oppose the use of government funds to pay for abortions, he says. Trump on Immigration Trump wants to restore integrity in the U.S. immigration process by prioritizing the interests of Americans first. He also wants to enforce immigration laws at the borders and workplace. Trump on ISIS There are serious threats facing the United States, and American strength is the only way to ensure peace, Trumps says. We must rebuild our military, reform our intelligence agencies, and prepare our government for security challenges of cyberspace. Trump on Economy The lead GOP presidential candidate wants to make America great again, by producing more jobs. Democratic Party Views 2016 Hillary Clinton on Same-Sex Marriage The U.S. Supreme Courts ruling on marriage equality represents America at its best, Clinton says. Just, fair and moving towards equality. Clinton on Abortion The former secretary of state believes that politics should not interfere with a womans rights to her own body. I will oppose efforts to roll back womens access to reproductive healthcare, including Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, she says. Clinton on Immigration If Congress wont act, Ill defend President Obamas executive actions and Ill go even further to keep families together, Clinton says regarding a need for comprehensive immigration reform. Clinton on ISIS The most important job of the president is to keep Americans safe, Clinton said. That means standing up to aggressors around the world and defeating global terrorism by depriving ISIS of physical and virtual territory. Clinton on Economy The Democratic presidential nominee believes that America needs to create an economy that works for everyone. She wants to cut taxes for the middle class and raise the minimum wage. sands.jpeg ( ) An eight-time convicted felon is jailed after police said they found him with a stolen vehicle and stolen handgun at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. City police were dispatched at 6:35 p.m. Aug. 5 to the casino, 77 Sands Boulevard, for a report of a woman seated in a stolen parked Nissan. Police learned Pennsylvania State Police assigned to the gaming unit earlier that day arrested Antoine Ahmed Johnson, 27, of the 1000 block of Wilkes-Barre Street in Easton. Johnson had two outstanding warrants, with one pertaining to the theft of the Nissan, police said. The woman told police she drove Johnson to the casino in the Nissan just prior to the arrest. Police searched the vehicle and seized a 9 mm pistol, which was reported stolen in Allentown in July 2014. Police lifted fingerprints off a box that contained the gun and the prints matched Johnson, according to court records. Police said Johnson has eight prior felony convictions pertaining to the distribution of controlled substances in New Jersey, dating to May 2008. Johnson is charged with firearms possession, having a firearm without a license and receiving stolen property. The woman has not yet been charged with a crime, according to online records. Johnson was arraigned Monday before Senior District Judge Joseph Barner, who set bail at $100,000 and ordered Johnson to Northampton County Prison. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Caleb Barnes already knows what his sentence will be today for killing the mother of his teen girlfriend -- life in prison without parole. A Lehigh County jury found Barnes guilty of all the charges against him in the fatal stabbing of Cheryl Silvonek. That included first-degree murder, which comes with a mandatory sentence of life in prison. But Monday's hearing is a chance for Cheryl Silvonek's family to confront the man who killed her. David Silvonek, Cheryl's husband and Jamie Silvonek's father, was in the courtroom for most of Barnes' trial last month. But he was not there when his 15-year-old daughter Jamie testified about wanting her mother dead, pushing Barnes to do the killing, and then helping dispose of the body. Jamie Silvonek was 13 when she began a secret relationship with Barnes, after the pair met at a concert in October 2014 in Philadelphia, prosecutors said. The two began texting each other, and would meet in Jim Thorpe, when Silvonek was visiting her grandmother. The teen girl lied to Barnes about her age and, after Barnes met Jamie Silvonek's mother for the first time, the pair tried to convince Cheryl Silvonek that Barnes was younger, according to prosecutors. Jamie Silvonek testified that her mother caught Barnes in the family's basement on March 7, 2015, and she kicked him out of the house. The next day, the pair began plotting to kill the girl's parents, a witness testified. Cheryl Silvonek tried to prove her daughter's age, going so far as to show Barnes the girl's passport, prosecutors said. The couple moved forward with their plan, however, exchanging text messages as Cheryl Silvonek chaperoned them to a concert in Scranton hours before she was killed. Sometime in the early morning of March 15, 2015, Barnes repeatedly stabbed Cheryl Silvonek in the neck, killing her. On Feb. 11, Jamie Silvonek pleaded guilty to all the charges against her -- first-degree murder, conspiracy, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence -- and was sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison. "I owned up to the fact that I, I wanted it to happen. I pushed Caleb to do so and afterward I helped with the clean-up," Silvonek said at Barnes' trial. "I'm going to say the same thing now." Barnes took the witness stand during his trial, and testified he wasn't even in the car when the murder occurred. Barnes said in the cold, early morning of March 15, 2015, he went to sleep in his Camaro parked outside the Silvoneks' house and that Jamie Silvonek fatally stabbed her mother. That followed Barnes' account of waking up to a blood-covered Jamie Silvonek, who he said admitted stabbing her mother. Barnes claimed the girl told him she was pregnant, and that Cheryl Silvonek went crazy when her daughter gave her the news. Barnes was confronted with what prosecutors said was the murder weapon. Barnes testified it was a knife he had left at the Silvoneks' home the week before the killing and he had never gotten it back from Jamie Silvonek. "That's a utility knife. That's not a knife for killing someone," Barnes answered matter-of-factly. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. No one was injured Sunday in a Salisbury Township house fire, officials said. Crews called a little before 4 p.m. to 1236 E. Emmaus Ave. found the attached garage in flames, Salisbury Township police said. Firefighters from the Eastern and Western Salisbury township fire departments, as well as the Fountain Hill fire department responded and were able to quickly extinguish the blaze, police said. One person was home at the time and was not injured, police said. The American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley was called to assist the resident, police said. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, police said. Photo from 2nd alarm fire in salisbury twp at 1236 e emaus ave Posted by Lehigh Valley Breaking News on Sunday, September 18, 2016 Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The device was unintentionally detonated by a bomb squad robot The backpack was found in a garbage can in a nearby restaurant FBI agents are reviewing surveillance footage. After a suspension, transit service has resumed Explosion follows 2 other nearby weekend incidents FBI also questioning 5 people about N.Y. explosion Saturday ELIZABETH -- An improvised explosive device in a backpack detonated near the Elizabeth train station early Monday as authorities were using a bomb robot to examine the item, officials said. The blast occurred around 12:40 a.m. near Morris Avenue and Julian Place. The explosion was not a controlled blast, but happened unintentionally as the robot was cutting the device, according to Mayor Christian Bollwage. No one was injured in the blast, Bollwage said. Authorities found five devices inside a single backpack near the train station, including one that was detonated. After the explosion, press and bystanders were moved back because the four other explosive devices inside of the backpack were still believed to be live, Bollwage said. No other explosions were heard as of 5 a.m. On Twitter, the FBI's Newark division described the devices as "multiple improvised explosive devices." Earlier Sunday night, the FBI detained five people in Brooklyn for questioning related to the Saturday night explosion in Manhattan that injured more than two dozen people. The Elizabeth incident unfolded after two men found the backpack in a waste basket on North Broad Street and Julian Place around 8 p.m. Sunday, the mayor said. The men took the backpack "because they thought it was of some value," walked for a bit, then saw wires and a pipe, dropped the package and notified Elizabeth police, he said. Bollwage told reporters the explosives were originally found in the trash can about 300 feet from the door of Wally's Pub near the train station in the city of about 125,000, which is also Union County seat. "If that pub was crowded and there was a lot of people there, it could have severely injured, killed and maimed many, many people," Bollwage told reporters. Bollwage said the Elizabeth devices did not contain a cell phone or any other electronic detonators. #BREAKING video shows moment bomb robot accidentally detonated device found @ Elizabeth NJ train station. @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/xfO97F2ebm Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) September 19, 2016 After the items were found, Union County's Bomb Squad was called in and used a drone to examine the backpack, the mayor said. "The drone indicated it could be suspicious and it could be a live bomb," Bollwage said. When asked if he ever thought Elizabeth would be the target of such an attack, Bollwage said he was not sure the city was the intended target and that the devices could have instead been dumped by a person who realized he or she was being investigated. "I'm not willing to admit Elizabeth is a terror target," Bollwage said. "Because of the location, it's very possible someone was trying to get rid of package as opposed to set it off." Bollwage said FBI agents are reviewing surveillance footage from Hector's Place, a restaurant near the trash can where the backpack was first found by the two men. Reached after midnight on Monday morning, a spokesman for the FBI in Newark, Special Agent Michael Whitaker, said only that his agency had responded to the scene, and declined to provide any details of the investigation. The FBI asked anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Police cordoned off the station and many streets surrounding it. The investigation halted train service on the busy Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coastline commuter rail lines. Later, officials said service would resume at 5:30 Monday, with delays expected. Tickets and passes on both rail lines are being cross-honored on PATH along with NJ Transit and private buses, according to the transit agency. Amtrak service was also suspended near Elizabeth, spokesman Craig Schulz said in a statement. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and will resume service as soon as it is safe to do so," the spokesman said. Approximately 2,400 Amtrak passengers were impacted by the service suspension, the spokesman said. "Robust security measures are in place at stations, on trains and along the tracks and Amtrak Police remain in close contact with local, state and federal partner agencies to coordinate and share intelligence information," the statement said. "At this time there are no specific or credible threats against Amtrak." It was not immediately clear if the Elizabeth incident was linked to a bombing Saturday night in New York City that injured 29 people or another pipe-bomb style device that went off near a military charity race in Seaside Park also on Saturday. BREAKING PHOTO: blast near Elizabeth NJ train station as bomb techs try to disarm device. Video soon. @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/doX6PgktXw Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) September 19, 2016 Bomb techs from the FBI, Union County, & the New Jersey State Police have arrived on the scene and are now rendering the area safe FBI Newark (@FBINewark) September 19, 2016 #NEC rail service is temporarily suspended between Newark Airport and Elizabeth stations due to police activity near Elizabeth. NJ TRANSIT (@NJTRANSIT) September 19, 2016 This post will be updated as more information becomes available. Steve Strunsky and Noah Cohen contributed to this report. Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ELIZABETH -- A 28-year-old Elizabeth man being sought by federal authorities in connection with weekend explosions in New Jersey and New York City worked in his family's restaurant, according to neighbors. "I've been going there for years, and if he wasn't the son, he was a cousin or something," said Jessica Casanova, 23. "You see stuff like this on TV, with everything going on in the world, but it's crazy that it would happen right here, a couple blocks from where I live." The man Casanova referred to, Ahmad Khan Rahami, is wanted for questioning and is considered armed and dangerous, the FBI said Monday morning. Rahami, who was born in Afghanistan but is a United States citizen, has not yet been linked to a third explosion -- one that took place about a mile away from where he lived in Elizabeth at the Broad Street train station at about 12:40 a.m. Casanova spoke not far from where the FBI, with assistance from Elizabeth and New Jersey State Police, are searching First American Fried Chicken at 104 Elmora Ave. and a residence above it. Investigators were seen carrying boxes of items from the building at around 10 a.m. Monday. Two cars were also towed from the scene: a black Toyota sedan and a white four-door car. Juan Ramos, 20, who lives less a few houses away on Linden Avenue, said the family kept to themselves but he sensed "nothing out of the ordinary." Ramos said he was friends with the family that owns the chicken restaurant and apartment being searched. He said a family of at least six lived above the eatery. "I've seen him around all the time," Ramos said of Rahami. He said he was friends with the son of the owner but didn't really know Rahami and was unsure how he was related to the family. "I haven't seen him recently," Ramos said. The 5-foot-6, 200-pound Rahami might be driving a 2003 Honda Civic with New Jersey license plates D63-EYB the FBI said. Another local business owner, Marcella Perrotti of Short Cutz, said he didn't know Rahami, but said all the local business owners were close. "It's disgusting what's going on," Perrotta said. The Elmora Avenue residence is about a mile from where an improvised explosive device in a backpack detonated near the train station early Monday as authorities were using a bomb robot to examine the item, officials said. The blast occurred around 12:40 a.m. near Morris Avenue and Julian Place. The explosion was not a controlled blast, but happened unintentionally as the robot was cutting the device, according to Mayor Christian Bollwage. No one was injured, Bollwage said. Authorities found five devices inside a single backpack near the train station, including one that was detonated. The Elizabeth incident unfolded after two men found the backpack in a waste basket on North Broad Street and Julian Place around 8 p.m. Sunday, the mayor said. Dozens of commuters waited for trains to New York City on Monday morning at the Elizabeth train station. While most were anxious, the police presence at the station reassured some riders. "I was very much concerned," Amon Weekes, 47, of Elizabeth said. "I'm just going to push forward with my every day plans." Another rider said she wouldn't be kept from her daily routine. "It's unfortunate that stuff like this happens but we can't live our lives in fear," said Nicole Ocasio, 29, of Elizabeth, who has taken he train into New York for the last seven years. "Life goes on," she added. A Roselle Park man said he wasn't worried at all. "I trust the cops," said Manny Ignacio, 57. "We can't protect ourselves from this kind of crazy," added Patricia Bobbic, 57 of Elizabeth. A bomb-sniffing dog and officers checked garbage cans and a bike left chained up on the platform. After the dog inspected the area, police cut the chain and removed the bike. NJ Advance Media staff writers Craig McCarthy, Rob Spahr, Jeff Goldman and Jessica Remo contributed to this report. The man sought for questioning in New York and New Jersey explosions this weekend has been taken into custody after a shootout, the Associated Press just confirmed. Our sister website, nj.com, is following all the developments in the case. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, of Elizabeth, has been the subject of a massive manhunt since being named as a suspect by the FBI early Monday. From nj.com: Two Linden police officers were wounded in a shootout that ensued with Rahami's arrest, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said. One officer was shot in the vest and the other was shot in the hand. Additional information about their conditions was not immediately available. Earlier Monday morning, the site reported that Rahami, born in Afgahnistan, worked in his family's restaurant. Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. What's next for Oxford Township? A study examining the future of the Warren County municipality will be the subject of a special meeting Tuesday, where experts will make recommendations about potential revitalization and improvements to the Route 31 corridor. The meeting will solicit feedback on those ideas, according to a news release from New Jersey Future, non-profit land-use planning group. The township covers about 6 square miles in the center of the county and has a population of about 2,500 people, according to census data. New Jersey Future conducted the study with the Counselors of Real Estate Consulting Corps, a national public-service program meant to promote design strategies, the release says. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Oxford Central School, 17 Kent Street. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The Lib Dems are so far the only party to call for a referendum on the eventual Brexit deal. Conference overwhelmingly backed a motion lodged by the Federal Policy Committee. Nick Clegg spoke in the debate and got a standing ovation, saying that Clegg: Tories will gear up for hard Brexit. They can never say that they are party of business or responsible party of government #ldconf Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) September 19, 2016 He got a standing ovation even from some people who have spent the last six years heavily criticising him. Is the party learning to love its former leader again? To Nicks credit, he immediately signalled to people to sit down so the debate could continue. The motion also set out nine priorities (outlined below) for the Brexit negotiations, including securing Britains membership of the Single Market, and called for MPs to have a vote on the Governments negotiating mandate before Article 50 is triggered. Ming Campbell also spoke, joking that former leaders were like London buses you can never get one when you want one but then two turn up at once. I agree with Nick says Ming Campbell. My disappointment at #euref result now replaced by defiance #ldconf pic.twitter.com/oIbJTRkr6Q Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) September 19, 2016 Tim Farron said: The British people were trusted with the question of our departure, they should be trusted with the question of our destination. The terms of Brexit will have a huge impact on jobs, security and the opportunity to travel and live abroad. It cannot be right that such a momentous choice is secretly stitched up by bureaucrats on both sides of the Channel without the British people or Parliament having a say. The Liberal Democrats are now the only party who will give the public a vote on the final deal and who will campaign to remain in the EU. We are now the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government, fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united. A summary of the Liberal Democrat Plan for Britain AFTER THE REFERENDUM: Questions and Next Steps Introduction Liberal Democrats continue to believe that the United Kingdoms future is best served within theEuropean Union, a position held consistently for over fifty years. However, following the referendum, the Liberal Democrats are setting out clear answers to some of the big questions and what we think should happen next. Key constitutional questions Should we re-run the referendum to overturn the results of the first? No. We believe that the Leave campaign lied blatantly, leading many people to believe things such as a vote to leave would mean 350 million a week for the NHS. However, we should not keep re-running the last referendum in order to get the result we wanted. Should the British people have the final decision on the governments negotiated deal? Yes. In voting to leave, there was no opportunity to vote for how future trading relationships should be, or how we should work with other countries over things like criminal justice, law and order, ease of travel etc. Voting for a departure is not the same as voting for a destination. When the deal is negotiated, in however many years time, the British people must have a chance to say if they would prefer the new arrangement, outside the European Union, or would prefer to remain inside the European Union. Should young people (16-18) have a vote in a future referendum? Yes. Liberal Democrats would introduce legislation to lower the voting age to sixteen. Should Parliament vote on Article 50? Yes. Parliament is the supreme law-making body in the United Kingdom. There should be a formal vote in Parliament to give notice under Article 50 and trigger the process for withdrawal. Liberal Democrats will decide how they will vote after they see the terms on which the government proposes to negotiate. Key issues for negotiation Protection of rights for EU citizens and UK citizens Those who have made the United Kingdom their home should be allowed to stay. We will seek to secure the same for UK citizens living in European Union countries. Freedom of Movement and the Single Market Any deal negotiated for the United Kingdom outside the European Union must include membership of the Single Market and protect freedom of movement. Maintaining environmental standards We have a duty to future generations to protect our environment and tackle climate change. We will ensure that everything is done to maintain those high standards in UK law. Law enforcement and judicial co-operation We must maintain maximum cooperation to ensure criminals are pursued quickly and effectively. Protection of Erasmus, investment in our universities and research networks We should do everything we can to protect Erasmus, as well as other EU funded schemes increasing opportunities for young people. We will campaign to sustain the levels of investment in UK universities and their associated research networks. Travel and tourism We must make every effort to ensure that we retain soft traveller benefits such as the EuropeanHealth Insurance Card, reduced roaming charges and pet passports. British industries The City of London must retain full rights in EU financial markets. We must also protect the support provided by the European Union to domestic industries such as farming, tourism and the creative industries, as well as regional support for deprived areas. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings Over the weekend, political blogger and LBC presenter Iain Dale unveiled his list of Top Liberal Democrats in 2016. It is generally viewed with amusement by conference-goers. While it may give people bragging rights over certain of their colleagues, it is fairly arbitrary in nature. I was particularly happy to see some of the most energetic campaigners our party has make it on to the list. Daisy Benson has been a massive factor in galvanising the Lib Dem Newbies into quite a force within the party. Former Presidential candidate and now PPC for St Albans Daisy Cooper is another welcome addition. What is absolutely astounding, though, is that Elains Bagshaw, who has made a name for herself with her incredible campaigning in Tower Hamlets, isnt there. Annoyingly, Willie Rennie has leapfrogged Kirsty Williams. He has certainly had a good year with his vibrant and bright election campaign, but Kirsty, for goodness sake, is a Cabinet Minister. Along with Lib Dem Council leaders, she has much more actual power than just about anyone else. I was surprised, also to see that Your Liberal Britains Jim Williams didnt make it on either. This young man has taken an idea right to the centre of Liberal Democrat policy making. Im not sure ordinary activists would make it on to Dales the Top people on the right or left, which shows the extent of the opportunities available to ordinary members of the party to play key roles. There are in fact just 17 women on that list. I squeak into the top half for the first time, but only just. I am at 24 and Mark Pack, former c0-editor of this site is at 22. The list says I rose 16, but in fact it was only 6 as I was 30 last year and 40 the year before. Duncan Brack, vice chair of the Federal Policy Committee, is ahead of both of us at 20. This is all a bit of fun. I guess we should be quite pleased that Iain Dale is still actually bothering to make up such a list. He suggested last year that he might not bother because we were so irrelevant. But look what he says here: The Liberal Democrats have at least met the challenge I set them in 2015: of remaining relevant enough to warrant their inclusion in this exercise. Although they still seem stuck on 8 to 9 per cent in the polls, the EU referendum result, and Tim Farrons immediate and instinctive reaction to it, gave them more publicity, another 20,000 or so members and a marked improvement in their local government by-election performance. We certainly hope to keep that going and more over the next year. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings A MEMBER of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) has been convicted of firearms offences following an incident during which gardai left behind a weapon which was recovered at a house in the city. The air-pistol, which is similar to a Webley Tempest, was found on top of a wardrobe in the box room of a house at Cosgrove Park, Moyross which was searched on August 15, 2014. Throughout a lengthy hearing, Dylan Cahill, aged 23, who has an address at Lower Irishtown, Clonmel, County Tipperary denied possession of the weapon contrary to the provisions of Section 2 of the Firearms Act 1924. Limerick District Court was told a team of gardai including members of the Special Branch carried out a search of the house at around 8pm a day after the search warrant was obtained. They were assisted by members of the armed Regional Support Unit (RSU) who performed a breach entry to the house. Detective Garda Pat Whelan told the court after he located the suspected firearm he placed it in a transparent evidence bag before later placing it in a multicoloured shopping bag as a decent crowd had gathered outside the house. Im always very conscious about taking exhibits out (to the patrol car), he said adding there was a hostile enough atmosphere on the night and he did not want members of the public to see that a firearm had been found. Detective Garda John OConnell told the court he arrested a man (not Mr Cahill) who was in the house when gardai arrived and that at one point he was given the suspected firearm so that he could show it to the man. After completing the search operation gardai departed from the house only to realise a short time later that the weapon had been left behind. After being alerted, Detective Garda Whelan and his colleague, Detective Garda James Hourihane returned to the house to retrieve the firearm which had been left on a couch in the sitting room. However, as they approached the house they observed the defendant carrying the multicoloured shopping bag which contained the firearm. A foot chase then took place across a green area during which Cahill was observed throwing the bag over a wall into a depot used by Limerick City and County Council. Cahill was arrested at the scene and, with the assistance of the RSU, the bag was recovered a short time later. Detective Garda Whelan told the court the firearm was still in the sealed evidence bag when it was recovered. Judge Marian OLeary was told the defendant made admissions when interviewed on two occasions the following day. He told gardai he had been outside the house as gardai were conducting their search. He said he entered the house after they had left and having found the weapon he knew it shouldnt be in the house. When asked why he ran he said he had panicked and f***** it away when he saw the gardai returning. In interviews the defendant admitted being a member of RSF and spoke of his beliefs in relation to a 32 county Ireland. Cahill told gardai he believed the weapon was a childs gun and describing it as a BB Gun he denied knowing it was a firearm. However, this assertion was rejected by gardai: I fully believe that he knew what he was doing on the evening in question, said Detective Garda Hourihane. Being cross-examined by Shannon Biondi BL, Detective Gardai Whelan accepted it was somewhat negligent for the firearm to have been left behind following the search operation. It is fully accepted it should not have been left in the house 100%, he said. In his evidence, Detective Garda Tom Power of the ballistics section at the Garda Technical Bureau said the weapon was in a sealed evidence bag when he received it the day after the seizure. He told the court he examined the weapon which functioned as it is designed to do despite being in poor condition. A said the weapon, which did not have any branding or description, was designed to discharge pellets and that it was a considered to be a firearm as its muzzle energy exceeded 1 jewel. Cross-examined by Ms Biondi Det Garda Power said he did not know how or why investigating gardai had put it to the defendant during interview that the weapon was a Webley Tempest. However, he confirmed that the weapon seized was very similar. Seeking to have the charge dismissed, Ms Biondi cited conflicts in the direct evidence of gardai relating to the serial number of the evidence bag in which the weapon was placed. This is problematic and calls into question the evidence in relation to the sealed bag, she said. Ms Biondi also submitted there were a number of breaks in the chain of custody. She said there was no evidence as to what happened to the pistol after gardai left the house and she also submitted the absence of evidence from a fingerprint expert who examined the weapon at the forensic science laboratory amounted to a gap in the chain of evidence. Sergeant Donal Cronin disputed the assertion there had been any discrepancy in the evidence relating to the serial number saying they were more apparent than real. While accepting the weapon left garda custody for a short time he said he did not believe the chain of evidence had been broken and that there was no question of the weapon not being under the control of Det Garda Power while at Science Ireland. Having considered the submissions, Judge OLeary said she was satisfied the State had reached the necessary threshold to prove its case. Cahill, who has no previous convictions, was fined 200. The father of a young infant, who works as a part-time barber, was given four months to pay. NEWCASTLE West is still part of the mind-set of Dr Clionadh Raleigh, an expert in political geography and international conflict, who will address the General Assembly of the United Nations. Newcastle West born Clionadh, who is now Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sussex, has been invited to give the address as a result of her ground-breaking work on international conflicts. She founded and directs the Armed Conflict Location and Data (ACLED) project which is regarded as the most comprehensive public collection of political violence and protest data for developing states, providing comprehensive facts and analysis. It also supports research and work devoted to understanding, predicting and reducing levels of political violence. Under Clionadhs direction, ACLED has developed into the go-to reference base for leading media organisations such as the Economist and the Washington Post but also for organisations such as the OECD and the World Bank. In her address to the UN, Clionadh will speak about modern violence patterns, and the new ways in which political violence is appearing with less civil wars, more militia activity around political contests and more urban violence. Explaining how she became involved in this area of research, Clionadh told the Limerick Leader: I have all my degrees in geography, but I started looking at violence in Central America during my undergraduate years at the University of Wisconsin. And then I did a masters in political geography where I began my interest in having a location based dataset to track the locations of violence. I then went on to do my Ph D on specific conflict dynamics in Central Africa. Those degrees were at the University of Colorado and the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo. But this young woman who grew up in Newcastle West says she still misses Limerick and Newcastle West. I would love to get back to Newcastle West more! I only drove through there a few months ago on my way to my uncle's funeral in Ballybunion. After I left Trinity to come to the UK and had two children, the time for trips became very limited. However, I miss Ireland and Limerick so much that I hired a nanny Niamh Kelleher from Kilfinane last year, and she has been great for our household. Clionadh is the daughter of Nora and Sean Raleigh who practised as a vet in Newcastle West until the family left in 1989 and headed first to Manitoba in Canada and then to Wisconsin in the US where and headed first to Canada and then to Wisconsin in the US. The primary reason behind the move, Sean Raleigh explained, was to get better treatment for their daughter Sinead who was severely injured in an accident. Clionadh and the Raleigh family still have many relatives in the Newcastle West and Castlemahon area. Sep 18, 2016, 11 PM By Michael Baadke Charles Carroll, sometimes referred to as Charles Carroll of Carrollton to distinguish him from similarly named relatives, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and later a United States Senator from Maryland. He was born Sept. 19, 1737, in Annapolis, Md. Carroll attended college in Maryland and in France before studying civil law at the College of Louis le grand in Rheims. He became a wealthy landowner and planter, and was involved in protests against British taxation of the colonies. He initially published his comments using a pseudonym, because as a Roman Catholic he was prohibited at the time from engaging in political activities by the government Maryland. Carroll was a member of the Annapolis Convention from 1774 to 1776, and then was elected to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Maryland senate from 1777 to 1800, and was also elected to the U.S. Senate in 1789. When Maryland enacted a law prohibiting individuals from holding both offices simultaneously, Carroll resigned his U.S. Senate seat. Carroll lived to the age of 95, and was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence before he died on Nov. 14, 1832. John Trumbull's 1818 oil painting Declaration of Independence shows the scene when the first draft of the document was presented to the Second Continental Congress. The painting first appeared on a 24 stamp in 1869 (Scott 120), and has appeared on other stamps since. In 1976 the painting was depicted across four 13 stamps in a configuration known as a quadripartition. Charles Carroll is seated at far right in the group shown on the first stamp in that 1976 issue (Scott 1691). He is individually honored on two pale green stamped postal cards issued in 1985: a nondenominated (14) U.S. domestic rate card issued Feb. 1 (UX105), and a card with a printed 14 denomination issued March 6 (UX106). We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. Transcription 1 Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2015 Melbourne, Australia, April 2015 Reconnaissance Geothermal Resource Assessment Using Magnetotellurics Imaging on Svalbard, Norway Thomas I. Beka 1, Maxim Smirnov 2 and Yngve Birkelund 1 1 Dept. of Physics and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, N-9037 Troms, Norway 2 Dept. of Physical Sciences, Division of Geophysics, University of Oulu, 3000, Oulu 90014, Finland Keywords: magnetotellurics, geothermal resource, Arctic, exploration, modeling ABSTRACT Despite its location high up in the Arctic, the Svalbard archipelago has geological advantages that can be linked to accessible geothermal resource. In this paper we present broadband magnetotellurics (MT) pilot study from Spitsbergen, which was conducted in 2013 to assess the resource potential on the island. During fieldwork, good quality data were acquired in spite of challenges related to infrastructure. The collected data were interpreted in 2D according to the Occam s principle. The resistivity models we obtained indicate an elongated composite conductive sedimentary layer stretching up to 2-3 km beneath the resistive permafrost, which we found covering up to a few hundred meters depth below the surface for the inner part of the measured profile. We constrained the MT model with existing geological knowledge on the island and used it to make reconnaissance geothermal resource assessment. 1. INTRODUCTION Geothermal is often mentioned as a possible renewable option for future of Svalbard, even though not much research has been dedicated to specifically assess its potential until recently. Figure 1: Svalbard with some of its major tectonic structures, redrawn based on Dallmann et al The MT studied area and MT sites distribution are displayed by the rectangles. The map shows the location of the largest settlements on Svalbard (Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Ny-Alesund). TJS = Trollkildene and Jotunkildenen thermal-springs, CTB = central Tertiary basin, BFZ = Billefjorden fault zone, BF = Breibogen fault, LFZ = Lomfjorden fault zone, RF = Raudfjorden fault, HFZ = Hornsund fault zone. The largest all-year-round human settlement close to the North Pole (Longyearbyen) is located on Svalbard (Figure 1). Besides mining, the town serves as a regional tourist and research destination. At present, the primary energy of the region is obtained from 1 2 abundant coal reserves that are available in the region. In order to mitigate CO2 emissions from local power plants to the vulnerable arctic, geothermal as well as CO2 sequestration are considered as possible alternatives. In general, proximity to the tectonic systems has given Svalbard some advantages when it comes to ground thermal structure. Beneath the thick permafrost sealing the ground up to m in the deglaciated high altitudes and < m in costal lowland areas (Braathen et al., 2012), heat flow levels larger than what is commonly found in mainland Norway and in most part of northern Europe are registered (Khutorskoi et al., 2009; Slagstad et al., 2009; Vagnes and Amundsen, 1993). During a recent borehole study, temperature gradient surpassing 40 degree Celsius per km was measured under the permafrost (Elvebakk, 2010). Spitsbergen, the largest island on the archipelago, features a complex tectonic system. Among others, the northernmost discovered thermal springs in the world; Trollkildene and Jotunkildenen (TJS on Figure 1) are located on the island in the vicinity of a Quaternary-age volcanic system along Breibogen fault (BF) zone (Banks et al. 1998; Treiman, 2012). The island is also characterized by elongated north to south trending fault systems (Blum and Braathen, 2012; Dallmann et al., 1999) and there are records for recent seismic activities (Mitchell et al., 1990; Pirli et al., 2010). In this paper we present MT profile data we collected near Longyearbyen during the summer season in The study is undertaken as a pilot study for a larger scale field campaign, which we have planned to conduct in the near future on Spitsbergen. We present a preliminary two-dimensional model and discuss the geothermal outlook in light of the model. 2. PASSIVE MAGNETOTELLURICS MT imaging is a geophysical method with a growing application in geothermal resource assessment (Harinarayana et al., 2006; Oskooi et al., 2006; Munoz et al., 2010). Figure 2: Broadband MT instrumentation consisting 3 magnetic coils corresponding to x, y and z direction as well as four electrodes planted perpendicularly in E-W and N-S directions. In addition, data logger, battery source and GPS are included in the instrument package. (Adopted from Smirnov et al., 2008). Passive MT sounding employs naturally occurring earth s electromagnetic (EM) field caused by geomagnetic as well as thunderstorm activities. The method enables to derive the resistivity structure from tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers beneath the surface, given measurements of all EM components on the surface (Cagniard, 1953; Tikhonov, 1950). A typical broadband MT instrument set up is illustrated in Figure 2. In general, MT gives large penetration depth, and with a lesser cost, it can provide supplementary information to seismic and borehole studies. Even though it is not sufficient to draw conclusion, a potential geothermal reservoir often coincides with a low resistivity zone (Spichak and Manzella, 2009). The method is considered suitable for geothermal assessment due the interrelationship between subsurface electrical properties and geothermal attributes, such as fluid content, porosity and temperature. MT data analyses involve solving the inverse problem to infer the resistivity at a given depth from the measured data at the surface. These include searching for a certain resistivity model that can reasonably fit the measured data. 3. GEOLOGICAL SETTING We carried out the study in Adventdalen, a glacial valley with large fluvial plain east of Longyearbyen. During the summer season the surface is covered by tundra type vegetation, and by snow or ice during winter. Underneath the tundra the subsurface is sealed by permafrost. Geologically, Sedimentary rocks of Early Permian to Eocene origin make up the area with a composite thickness reaching up to 3.5 km (Dallmann et al., 2001). The measured site belongs the western tectonic block of Spitsbergen that is transected by north to south trending Billefjorden Fault Zone (BFZ). The main reason for selecting this specific location for the study is its vicinity to Longyearbyen, where energy is needed and a good road infrastructure in Svalbard context is available. 4. DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING During fieldwork, data are acquired from a profile including 24 sites spaced on average by 500 m. The first site is measured in the eastern outskirt of Longyearbyen and measurement continued deep in Adventdalen valley in the direction to BFZ in a west to east orientation. 2 3 Data are recorded with MTU2000 MT system developed at Uppsala university, Sweeden (Smirnov et al., 2008) in the period range covering s. Magnetic fields in two horizontal directions are measured with Metronix MFS05 (Braunschweig, Germany) induction coils and Pb-PbCl type Uppsala built electrodes are used to measure the electric fields. For each measurement site, data are recorded for a period of 24 hours in dual sampling burst modes. Data are sampled in 20 Hz during the entire recording and simultaneously at 1000 Hz during burst recordings at midnight for 2 hours, and data were measured simultaneously. Culture noise is at its minimum in the data due to the absence of industry, railway and large transmission lines on the island. During our summer measurement, logistics was the major constraint we encountered due to limited road access and restrictive rules toward the use of all-terrain vehicles in the tundra. Therefore, equipment had to be carried by field crew and moved from one site to the other for a part of the profile, which was not accessible by road. Only two out of the 24 measured sites are excluded from analysis due to instrumental problems caused by reindeer activity near installations. The measured time varying electric and magnetic fields were processed with Robust Remote Reference algorithm (Smirnov, 2003). Dimensionality analysis gave a dominant regional strike azimuth of N30E. 5. INVERSION AND RESISTIVITY MODEL Despite some evidence for 3D effect, it is reasonable to interpret data in 2D since a dominant principal direction for the impedance tensor could be identified. For inversion we chose the determinant of the impedance tensor due to its robustness against 3D distortion and invariance to rotation (Pedersen and Engles, 2005). Inversion is implemented with the Electro-Magnetic Inversion Least Intricate Algorithm (EMILIA) code (Kalscheuer et al., 2010; Cherevatova et al., 2014). Figure 3: Two-dimensional resistivity model of the entire measured profile (x-axis) up to the depth of 15 km. The location of sites is indicated by ^, s1 stands for first and s22 for the last measurement site. The letter R and C on the model stand for resistors and conductors respectively. The preliminary two-dimensional modeling result is presented in Figure 3 for a 15 km depth. The misfit RMS of the model is 0.89, while data-error floor is at 5%. There is a thick conductive layer of Paleozoic-Mesozoic origin stretching from west to east along the entire profile at shallow depth. Inversion places a large resistive body (R I) at about 4-6 km depth under the eastern section of the profile, which we have interpreted as a deposits of late Paleozoic and pre-devonian origin. Beneath R I the resistivity decreases into a metamorphic basement rock by gradually leading to transiting to electrical asthenosphere, which is sensed to start at about 55 km depth. Presumably an intrusive weak resistor (R II) is located between the upper and lower (C IV) crustal conductive layers under the western section of the profile. The upper 3 km layer of the model is investigated closely in Figure 4. Permafrost is identified as a horizontally elongated near surface resistor, PF. In agreement with the literature, PF s thickness decreases toward the costal west as indicated by the drawn solid line between C III and C I. There are isolated near surface strong lagoonal aquifer type conductors (C I, C II and C III) at m depth. The thickness of the permafrost gets lower toward the costal area in the west. This can be either due to the presence of a large amount of conductive oceanic sediment in the permafrost or simply because the permafrost gets thinner near the cost as some 3 4 earlier studies indicated. For the inner part of the profile, the observed almost m thick permafrost is reasonable for low land areas on Svalbard. There is a good agreement between the thickness of the conductive sedimentary layer (ca km with some increase in thickness beneath C II) and what is written about Adventdalen s sedimentary basin in the literature. As indicated in some previous geological studies, we also recognize signs of intruding resistive bodies (dykes) into the conductive host sedimentary sequence, for instance, as exemplified by R II. Figure 4: Resistivity model of the shallow crust to 3 km depth. 6. CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK Delineating the ground renewable energy resource on Svalbard has a long way ahead. In this respect, this first MT study brings a new perspective for what can be found under the permafrost in particular, and at crustal level in general. The presence of thick near surface conductive sedimentary layer followed by a conductive mid-crust basin, record of a high heat flow rate and vicinal tectonic structures support the positive geothermal outlook on the island and encourages the work in progress to identify a potential resource. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors are grateful for the support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. REFERENCES Banks, D., Sletten, R. 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Sources: Text: Image: creepychusetts.blogspot.com 5 1845 The Female Labor Reform Association was created in Lowell, Massachusetts by Sarah Bagley, and other women cotton mill workers, to reduce the work day from hours to10 hours, and to improve sanitation and safety in the mills. Text: Image: historymartinez.wordpress.com 6 1868 The first 8-hour workday for federal workers took effect. Text: Image: From Melbourne, Australia campaign but found at ntui.org.in 7 1881 In Atlanta, Georgia, 3,000 Black women laundry workers staged one of the largest and most effective strikes in the history of the south. Sources: Text: Image: 8 1886 March - 200,000 workers went on strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads owned by Jay Gould, one of the more flamboyant of the 'robber baron' industrialists of the day. May 1 - in Chicago's Haymarket Square a bomb went off in the middle of a protest rally against the killing of 4 strikers who had been on strike for the 8-hour day. This began the international tradition of celebrating May Day for workers rights. December - The American Federation of Labor is formed representing 140,000 workers in 25 national unions. Sources: Text: Image: 9 ,000 miners striked over union recognition in the Great Anthracite Coal Strike. President Roosevelt mediated. Big Bill Haywood lead the Western Federation of Miners (WMF) through a bloody series of conflicts spanning two years in what became known as the Colorado Labor Wars. Sources: Text: Image: 10 1903 The Department of Labor and Commerce was created by an act of Congress, and its Secretary was made a member of the President's Cabinet. Mother Jones led a protest march of mill children, many of whom were victims of industrial accidents, from Philadelphia to New York. November14 - At the AFL convention in Boston, women unionists unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League and elected Mary Morton Kehew president and Jane Addams vice-president. Sources. Text: Image: 11 1909 Female shirtwaist workers in New York striked against sweatshop conditions. This Uprising of 20,000 laid the groundwork for the formation of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Sources: Text: Image: 12 1911 The Triangle Waist Company Fire in New York on March 25, causes the death of 146 workers. The majority of the deaths were of young immigrant women between the ages of 16 and 23. Sources: Text: Image: 13 1912 In Lawrence, Massachusetts the IWW led a strike of 23,000 men, women and children to organize the Lawrence Textile Mills. The "Bread & Roses" Strike, was hailed as the first successful multi-ethnic strike. Sources. Text: Image:libcom.org 14 1919 In February, to protest two years of World War I wage controls, 65,000 workers went on strike in Seattle. 40,000 other workers joined them in solidarity. The Seattle General Strike shut down the city. Sources: Text: and 15 1934 The strike of 400,000 textile workers from New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and all over the southeastern United States lasted 22 days. The strike's ultimate failure and the union's defeat set the groundwork for the Southeastern portion of the United States to become a largely unorganized and anti-union region. Sources: Text: Image: 16 1943 Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act to restrict labor bargaining and organizing. It required a 30-day "cooling off" period before strike, criminal penalties for encouraging strikes, Presidential seizure of struck plants, prohibitions against union campaign contributions. It was vetoed by President Roosevelt. Sources. Text: Image: 17 1947 Following the largest strike wave in U.S. history, the Taft-Hartley Act was passed, suppressing the rights of unions. Sources. Text: Image: 18 1962 President Kennedy issued Executive Order giving federal workers the right to join unions and bargain for wages and working conditions. This set the groundwork for large scale unionization efforts in the public sector. Sources: Text: Image: 19 1963 On August 23, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brought 250,000 men, women and children together on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial to show their support for the civil rights movement. In addition to supporting civil rights, the leaders and planners of the march stressed economic inequities and called for passage of a new federal jobs program and a higher minimum wage. Sources: Text: Image: 20 1964 On July 2, President Johnson signed the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in the workplace. Sources: Image: 21 1965 September 8, Delano Grape Strike began when the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee - mostly Filipino farm workers in Delano, California - walked off the farms demanding wages on level with the federal minimum wage. A week after the strike began, the predominantly Mexican-American National Farmworkers Association, led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, joined the strike. Eventually the two groups merged, forming the United Farm Workers of America. The strike quickly spread to over 2,000 workers. Sources:Text: Image: 22 1968 On April 3, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers. That evening, he delivered his famous I ve Been to the Mountaintop speech to a packed room of supporters. The next day he was assassinated. Sources: Text and Images: 23 1981 The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association struck in defiance of the law. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan fired all the strikers and broke the union, sanctioning the practice of hiring "permanent replacements" for striking workers. Solidarity day labor rally drew 400,000 supporters to the Mall in Washington D.C. Sources: Text: Image: 24 1993 The Family and Medical leave Act was passed. Sources: Text: Image: 25 1999 Unions and social justice activists came together to protest the World Trade Organization in Seattle. The meetings were shut down by the protests. Sources: Image: 26 2005 The Coalition of Immokalee Workers won a major victory by getting Yum Foods, the parent company of Taco Bell, to agree to raise the rate they pay for tomatoes. This victory came after a three-year boycott of Taco Bell. Sources: Text and Images: 27 2010 The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights went into effect in New York State thanks to the amazing work of Domestic Workers United. The bill reforms New York laws to guarantee basic work standards and protections for the nannies, caregivers, and housekeepers who keep New York families functioning and make all other work possible. Source: domesticworkersunited.org 28 2011 In Wisconsin Union workers fought against legislation that would take away collective bargaining rights for public employees. Sources: Image: 29 2011 Just 11.9% of the population are unionized. Meanwhile the top 1% of the population receives 24% of the income. Source: Text and Image: A recent announcement from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is causing an outcry: Users of a drug called kratom, which the DEA said it will ban, are arguing that the plant has beneficial effects for their health, according to the The Washington Post. The DEA announced in August that it is planning to ban kratom, and the ban could come into effect this month. But users of the drug, including people with chronic pain and people who previously used opiate medications, argued that the plant relieves their pain and helps them stay off opiates, The Washington Post reported. Here are five things to know about kratom. What is kratom and how is it used? Kratom comes from a tree in Southeast Asia called Mitragyna speciosa, according to the DEA. The leaves of the tree have psychoactive properties and can be crushed and smoked, brewed into tea or put into capsules, the DEA said. Why do people take kratom? Pain relief is one of the big reasons why people use kratom, said Marc Swogger, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, who published a study last year that focused on why people use kratom. Kratom appears to be a good analgesic, or painkiller, Swogger told Live Science. People have also reported taking kratom to help them stop using other drugs, particularly opiates, Swogger said. Some people reported "using kratom to ease symptoms of opiate withdrawal, and many indicated that they had success in discontinuing opiates," Swogger's study found. The findings support earlier research that suggested that kratom may have therapeutic potential as an opiate substitute, the study said. Other people in the study reported using kratom to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and social anxiety, Swogger said. Although the drug may cause people to experience some euphoria and a sense of well-being, Swogger said he didn't think many people were using kratom specifically to get high. However, the drug is advertised as a "legal high" in smoke shops, he added. What does kratom do in the body? Researchers aren't entirely sure how kratom works in the body, Swogger said. "It's not an opiate, but it binds to the opiate receptor," he said. Most people think that a compound called mitragynine is the main active ingredient in kratom, but kratom hasn't been studied enough to know for sure, Swogger added. [Facts About Opioids Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Codeine & Others] Unlike opiates, which have a sedative effect, kratom seems to have a stimulating effect at lower doses and a relaxing and sedating effect at higher doses, Swogger said. People who have used the drug have reported that it provides pain relief but doesn't knock them out, he said. What are the risks? The common side effects of kratom are similar to those of opiates, including upset stomach, vomiting, itching and mild sedation, according to Swogger's study. However, the risks appear to be relatively mild, particularly when compared to those of opiates, Swogger said. While there have been deaths attributed to use of kratom, it's not clear in these instances that the person died directly as a result of using the drug, Swogger said. The people who died had taken other substances as well, he said. Overdosing on the drug is "almost unheard of," because people will start vomiting long before they overdose, he said. There have been two cases of liver problems in kratom users, Swogger said. Indeed, "given the preliminary data on kratom and a lack of controlled human studies, chronic ingestion is of unknown safety," according to his study. Is kratom addictive? Kratom has addictive properties, according to the DEA. Some people have reported experiencing withdrawal when they have stopped using kratom as well as developing a tolerance to the drug, according to the study. "Withdrawal symptoms and developing tolerance to the substance were generally, though not uniformly, reported to be mild relative to opiates," the researchers wrote. About one in 10 people in the study reported withdrawal symptoms after a period of heavy use followed by at least one day without using the drug, the study found. The findings highlight the importance of educating people about the potential risks of kratom use, the researchers wrote. People who have had substance use problems in the past "should carefully weight the potential pros and cons" of kratom use, namely that while it may be a less harmful substitute for other drugs, it may also be difficult to stop using the drug, the researchers wrote. Originally published on Live Science. Creatures new to science (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Kevin Connor) Deep underwater off the coast of Hawaii, researchers recently descended in submersibles to investigate mysterious, mountainous environments. Scientists recently explored three seamounts craggy landscapes thousands of feet below the sea surface made of extinct and active volcanoes. There are an estimated 10,000 seamounts in oceans around the world and they host diverse communities of sea life. But little is known about these complex ecosystems, and many have never been visited. During three recent dive expeditions to three seamount destinations, Conservation International marine biologists discovered numerous rare and unusual creatures. This image shows a sample of acanthagorgia coral collected from the Cook seamount on Sept. 6, and it is thought to be a species new to science. [Read the full story of the scientists' amazing seamount exploration] Pisces V launch (Image credit: Copyright Luis Lamar) Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Max Cremer pilots Pisces IV (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Michael Garland) Max Cremer piloting Pisces IV to the Loihi seamount. Shot from Pisces IV on Loihi seamount on September 8, 2016. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Kitefin shark (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/University of Hawaii) A Kitefin shark (Dalatias licha) and a Goosefish. Shot on Cook Seamount by Pisces IV on September 6, 2016, during the Conservation International and University of Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory seamounts expedition. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Prepping for launch (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Michael Garland) Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Gorgonian coral (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/photo by Michael Garland) Gorgonian coral. Shot from Pisces IV on Cook Seamount on September 6, 2016. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Deep sea primnoid coral (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/University of Hawaii) Deep sea primnoid coral. Shot on Cook Seamount by Pisces IV on September 6, 2016, during the Conservation International and University of Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory seamounts expedition. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Shortdorsal cutthroat eel (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Michael Garland) A shortdorsal cutthroat eel (Synaphobranchus brevedorsalis) plexaurid coral and sea sponge. Shot from Pisces IV on Cook Seamount on September 6, 2016. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Goosefish (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Michael Garland) A goosefish rests on the the rocky bottom at Cook seamount. Shot from Pisces IV on Cook Seamount on September 6, 2016. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Brittle star and purple plexaurid coral (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Kevin Connor) A brittle star clings to a purple plexaurid coral that is one of two species discovered on Cook seamount that could be new to science. September 6, 2016. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. Plexaurid coral (Image credit: Copyright Conservation International/Photo by Michael Garland) Plexaurid coral which is potentially new to science and a sea sponge. Shot from Pisces IV on Cook Seamount on September 6, 2016. Shot during the Conservation International led seamounts expedition from September 5-9, 2016 with the University of Hawaii on board the RV KaImikai-O-Kanaloa. The ancient city of Apamea in Syria is one of of many sites in the Middle East that have been heavily looted and/or destroyed. Founded in 300 B.C., the city was full of wealth in ancient times. Artifacts exported to the United States from Turkey a country that shares a lengthy border with war-torn Syria and Iraq soared in the last few years, a Live Science investigation has revealed. Documents obtained by Live Science from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that the increase started in the years after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and escalated further after the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Altogether, the documents reveal that since 2003, a total of about $283 million worth of artifacts have been successfully exported from Turkey to the United States. (The resale value of the artifacts could be higher, said a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson.) Gold coins worth $26 million and non-gold coins worth $15 million account for some of the artifacts. The makeup of the rest of the shipments is unknown, with documents saying that the contents are more than 100 years old and were meant for consumption rather than for display in any museum. Many of the artifacts were shipped to New York City, which is home to numerous auction houses, antiquities dealers and art galleries. It's not clear how many of the artifacts were looted. [7 Stunning Archaeological Sites in Syria] Between 1993 and 2002 only about $68 million worth of artifacts were exported from Turkey to the United States, the documents show. The last time a surge in artifact exports occurred was in 1992 when, in the aftermath of the first Gulf war and the breakup of the Soviet Union (a country that Turkey shared a border with), more than $85 million worth of artifacts were exported from Turkey to the United States in a single year. Rampant looting Looting soared in Iraq and Syria after the wars started and is visible on satellite imagery in both countries. Numerous academic studies and media reports have found that some of the looted artifacts were smuggled to Turkey before being sent to other countries. Those reports and studies also show that organized crime and terrorist organizations, such as ISIS, have profited from the looting. The refugee crisis and instability in the Middle East has turned "southern Turkey [into] something of a gangsters' paradise for human trafficking, weapons trafficking and all forms of contraband," said Michael Danti, academic director of the American Schools of Oriental Research Cultural Heritage Initiatives, a project that is monitoring the looting and destruction of archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq. [Photos: Damage to Syrian Ruins Seen from Space] Golden shipments Shipments of gold coins have helped drive the increase. Between 1989 and 2002, only 2.5 lbs. (1.1 kilograms) of antique gold coins were exported from Turkey to the U.S., the documents said. This number jumped to 57 lbs. (26 kg) between 2003 and 2010, and then to 112 lbs. (51 kg) between 2011 and July 2016. While the precise number of gold coins shipped since 2003 is not specified, the documents show that the coins weigh 169 lbs. (77 kg), which would be equal to more than 13,000 modern-day American quarters. What's behind the surge? Coins have been minted in the Middle East for about 2,500 years, and Danti said that looters in Syria and Iraq have been targeting these artifacts at sites that date to within that time period. From satellite imagery, "we see a lot of shallow digging in sites that have substantial late occupations [within the last 2,500 years] near the surface," Danti said. "We have pictures of looters using metal detectors at those sites. We have eyewitness accounts." "The reasons that coins are being specifically looted is that they have high liquidity," Danti said. "They have a well-developed market, they are easy to smuggle, and it's easy to determine what the wholesale value might be for an individual coin or a lot of coins." Danti added that "we have information on what Islamic State [also known as ISIS or ISIL] was doing in the last year, which was specifically looting for metal objects, particularly coins, and other groups were doing the same." In addition to looting, refugees crossing the border into Turkey may be selling antique gold coins that have been in their families for decades Danti said. The instability of local currencies in the Middle East may also be driving people to convert their money into gold, said Amr Al-Azm, a professor at Shawnee State University in Ohio, who formerly taught at the University of Damascus in Syria. Al-Azm explained that some of the bullion used in the Middle East today consists of coins that date back over 100 years to the days of the Ottoman Empire (which flourished from 1299 to 1921). Some of these Ottoman coins have been in use continuously for over a century and are not necessarily looted from an archaeological site, said Al-Azm. People could be sending this bullion to the United States for safekeeping, he said. More information about the date and origin of the coins could shed light on whether the artifacts were illegally brought into the U.S., both Danti and Al-Azm said. Privacy laws prevented Live Science from obtaining more precise information on the date of the coins; however, the census documents show that the value that importers attached to the gold coins was far more than the coins' weight in gold. Gold prices have varied considerably since 2003, when the export increase began. However at today's price ($1,318 per troy ounce), 169 lbs. of gold would be worth about $3.3 million. The importers declared the coins' worth at almost $26 million, the documents showed. Trending Turkey is not the only country seeing a large increase in artifact exports. In August, Live Science published an investigation showing that $143 million worth of artifacts had been exported from Egypt to the United States since Egypt's 2011 revolution, an increase that was also driven in part by an increase in gold coins. U.S. Census Bureau documents have also revealed suspicious artifact shipments coming directly from Syria and Iraq to the United States. One shipment was sent from Iraq to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in August 2013 and had a declared value of $3.5 million. It was listed simply as "antiques" that were more than 100 years old. Attempts by Live Science to find out what that Puerto Rico shipment contained were unsuccessful. Original article on Live Science. By 2022, scientists expect to be able to detect at least 536 antineutrino events per year at five underground detectors. The searing heat deep inside Earth is what keeps the planet churning creeping tectonic plates, erupting volcanoes and a working magnetic field but how much of this sizzling energy does the planet have in its tank? Scientists have long wondered how much energy remains in the planet today, 4.6 billion years after the rocky world formed. Now, a team of researchers plans to have an answer to the gargantuan question by 2025. By determining how much energy Earth has left, scientists will better understand the building blocks of the planet and its energy-spending processes. When all of the energy is used up, that means Earth will "die" in the sense that the moon is "dead" because it does not have the energy for mantle convection, volcanism, and other planetary processes. These planetary processes run on two types of energy: primordial energy, which is the heat left over from Earth's violent formation, and nuclear energy, or the heat produced during natural radioactive decay. [Photos: The Strangest Places on Earth] Earth energy Past calculations of Earth's inner energy have varied. "We're in a field of guesses," one of the study's authors, William McDonough, a professor of geology at the University of Maryland, said in a statement. "At this point in my career, I don't care if I'm right or wrong. I just want to know the answer." Here's how McDonough and his team will tackle the problem: As has been done for past estimates, the scientists will measure Earth's geoneutrinos, or the antimatter partners of neutrinos ghostly subatomic particles that pass right through Earth relatively unscathed. The antineutrino particles are byproducts of nuclear reactions, resulting from radioactive decay of elements such as thorium and uranium. "The particles will tell us about how many atoms of uranium and thorium are inside the Earth. Therefore, that will tell us about how much radioactivity potential there exists," McDonough told Live Science. "We know the Earth radiates 46 terawatts of heat, or power, and so what we determine for nuclear energy, the difference would amount to the primordial energy left." Previous research (opens in new tab) has demonstrated that these heat-producing radioactive elements alone are insufficient to account for the 46 TW the Earth radiates; therefore, residual primordial energy must be present. Determining the amount of energy left from both sources will also offer insight into how the Earth is burning its fuel, its consumption rate in the past and its future fuel budget. "There are two gas gauges one primordial energy and one nuclear energy," McDonough explained. "If we have lots of nuclear energy, we used up our primordial energy. If we have a little bit of nuclear energy, then we have not used up our primordial energy." McDonough said the amount of fuel left could be the difference between the planet continuing to function for 5 billion years or 10 billion years. When the fuel does run out, which McDonough said will happen, then the planet will essentially "die" as its planetary processes no longer function. The detectors used to find the antineutrino particles are each the size of a small office building, housed about a mile underground. Antineutrinos are identified inside the detector when the particles crash into a hydrogen atom, causing two characteristic light flashes. There are currently two such detection facilities, in Japan and Italy, which record only about 16 collisions per year. Three new detectors one in Canada and two in China are expected to come online in 2022. "Once we collect three years of antineutrino data from all five detectors, we are confident that we will have developed an accurate fuel gauge for the Earth and be able to calculate the amount of remaining fuel inside Earth," McDonough said in the statement about the team's 2025 goal. The study was published Sept. 9 in the journal Nature Scientific Reports (opens in new tab). Original article on Live Science. Eloise The Nation picked at the ugly scab of California's Democratic politics, something few outside the state know about, namely that deep blue California has a Democratic Party very much Yesterday, Jon Wiener, writing forpicked at the ugly scab of California's Democratic politics, something few outside the state know about, namely that deep blue California has a Democratic Party very much under the thumb of corrupt conservatives calling themselves, inaccurately, "moderates." And these moderates represent, primarily, their campaign donors and their campaign donors' lobbyists-- oil and gas, agribusiness, real estate developers, Big Pharma, the charter school industry and, of course, the banksters. Democrats hold the governorship and every statewide office in California, as well as huge majorities in the state Assembly and the state Senate. The Assembly has 52 Democrats and 28 Republicans and the Senate has 26 Democrats and 13 Republicans. And the Democrats have delivered to their constituents in some significant area. As Wiener wrote, "Democrats raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour and introduced paid sick days and paid family leave; they increased abortion access; they passed automatic voter registration; they expanded Obamacare and health insurance for poor people; and just before Labor Day they required overtime pay for farmworkers, and established the nations most far-reaching targets for renewable energy and limits on greenhouse gas emissions." Not too shabby. It sure ain't Texas. "But," he wrote, "theres a shadow over California politics. When the corporations favorite political party became hopelessly weak, they set out to gain power in the other one. Their tool, of course, was money. So now we have some Democrats taking corporate money and doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry, agribusiness, the real estate developers, Big Pharma, and some of the billionaires. Its 'the new reality of California politics,' says Harold Meyerson of the American Prospect, an op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times. In Sacramento a new caucus was formed in 2014: Democrats who call themselves "moderates," and are known as 'the mods.' But we shouldnt call them "moderates,"' one progressive labor leader told me. 'We should call them "opponents of working families and the poor."' Its simpler to call them 'corporate Democrats.'" The corporate Dems have piles of cash-- they spent at least $24 million in the June primary-- and several goals. Number one was probably blocking Governor Jerry Browns effort to cut motorists use of fossil fuels in half by 2030. The oil lobby succeeded at this last year, but failed this term. And three years ago eight mods joined the remaining Republicans to block a bill that would have required big companies to provide medical care for low-income workers and their families who were not on Medi-Cal. The bills opposition comprised a Whos Who of Californias most influential corporate interests, according to Capital and Main, a news website reporting on progressive issues in California. Then theres a group of billionaires led by Eli Broad, fighting the teachers unions and seeking to expand charter schools. And there are the real estate interests who want to end restrictions on development, especially along the coast. And the agribusiness-funded resistance in the Assembly to overtime pay for farmworkers was especially intense and prolonged. ...After the launch of Our Revolution, the groups website unveiled the list of candidates it endorses, and urged Bernie people to work and vote for them. But of the 79 candidates currently endorsed, only one is challenging a corporate Dem in the California Assembly: Eloise Reyes in San Bernardino and the neighboring working class cities of the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles-- Rialto, Colton, and Fontana. (San Bernardino of course is also site of last Decembers terrorist attack.) If Our Revolution was going to pick only one, this one is probably the most important challenge underway right now. The incumbent, Cheryl Brown, is a leader in the Mod caucus who is running for her third term in the Assembly. Shes an African-American who comes from a business background. In 1980 she and her husband founded a local African-American newspaper, Black Voice News, and then in 2001 expanded to run a network of 22 African-American newspapers and media enterprises across the state called California Black Media. Cheryl Brown is good on some issues: she voted for the minimum wage hike-- her district desperately needs it-- and for the farmworker overtime bill. But she voted with Big Oil against Jerry Browns historic climate/environmental targets that passed just before Labor Day. That vote came after she received $1 million in independent expenditures from Chevron to help her fight off what the Sacramento Bee called a rare challenge from the left over her environmental record. DWT readers should remember the progressive reformer running against Brown well-- Eloise Reyes, who almost beat corrupt conservative Pete Aguilar in 2014 but had her campaign destroyed by aggressive incompetents from EMILY's List. Lesson learned. Aguilar has been as horrendous a corporate tool in DC as was predicted, but Eloise has turned her attention closer to home, the state Assembly. She's been endorsed by the AFL-CIO's Central Labor Council (which represents more than 289,000 workers in the Inland Empire) and by virtually all of the local unions, including several that endorsed Brown in 2014 and feel betrayed by her today. Eloise also won the endorsement of environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the California League of Conservation Voters, and of Planned Parenthood, DFA, readers should remember the progressive reformer running against Brown well-- Eloise Reyes, who almost beat corrupt conservative Pete Aguilar in 2014 but had her campaign destroyed by aggressive incompetents from EMILY's List. Lesson learned. Aguilar has been as horrendous a corporate tool in DC as was predicted, but Eloise has turned her attention closer to home, the state Assembly. She's been endorsed by the AFL-CIO's Central Labor Council (which represents more than 289,000 workers in the Inland Empire) and by virtually all of the local unions, including several that endorsed Brown in 2014 and feel betrayed by her today. Eloise also won the endorsement of environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the California League of Conservation Voters, and of Planned Parenthood, DFA, Blue America , Xavier Becerra and the legendary Dolores Huerta. When Wiener asked her about the most significant differences between her and Cheryl Brown, she said simply, "Im pro-worker, shes pro-business." She explained that, "when the legislature tried to close the loophole that allows big corporations like Walmart to reduce workers hours so they would no longer have to provide medical coverage, she voted against. On the proposal for double pay on holidays, she abstained. On the bill to stop wage theft, she voted against. On rights of temporary warehouse workers, she voted against." But that isn't going to stop certain groups that try to pass themselves off as progressive from endorsing Brown-- including a laughable state Democratic Party and most of the African-American political elite, including the less-than-trustworthy Kamala Harris and the aforementioned crooked conservative Pete Aguilar . And much of the state legislature has circled their wagons-- if less than enthusiastically-- around Brown, including one of the few members widely considered even more corrupt that Brown herself, Isadore Hall This morning Eloise told me that when she "was told this race was an uphill battle, I accepted the challenge. We finished the primary less than 8.5% behind the corporate incumbent. New polls have us 4% behind her without messaging. With messaging, we are ahead with double digits... In Sacramento, I will work and fight for the best interests of our district. I will remind corporate special interests that our vote is not for sale. Our community is made up of extraordinary people and extraordinary businesses looking for a representative who is willing to put them first. I am committed to doing this. San Bernardino county suffers from one of the highest poverty rates, a high drop-out rate, gun violence, the dirtiest air in California and a great number of people who feel disenfranchised. Unless we put the people of our district above the profits of big corporations, we will continue to see our communities worsen without a hope for a brighter future... I will work to ensure Sacramento's Democrats are no longer beholden to corrupt special interest lobbyists. For too long Sacramento has been a joke to people who truly want progress. Well, I'm here to tell you the joke is over, and I will come to town with the will of the people on my side, looking to shake some things up." Wiener speculated that "the political battle for the future of the state continues. If Eloise Reyes defeats Cheryl Brown in San Bernardino, that will put the remaining corporate Dems in the Assembly on notice: they will be challenged in two years, and could face the same fate. Our Revolution is now part of that fight." I'm not sure anyone in Sacramento fears Our Revolution or considers it a factor. If they can help turn-out the vote for Eloise, that will change-- and it will encourage other progressives and other reformers to challenge corrupt conservatives in Sacramento like Matt Dababneh , Tom Daly, Patrick O'Donnell, Mike Gipson, Luis Alejo, Jim Wood, Bill Dodd, Jim Cooper, Jim Frazier and Sebastian Ridley-Thomas. If you care to help Eloise, please tap on the thermometer below. UPDATE: Rhode Island Too Obama won California with 61% in 2008 and 60% in 2012. That's huge-- even huger than Texas' votes for McCain (55%) and Romney (57%). But Rhode Islanders were even more lopsidedly partisan. Obama got 63% both times he ran. Rhode Island's whole congressional delegation is Democratic-- 2 senators and two representatives. And the state legislature is overwhelmingly Democratic too. The state House has 63 Democrats and 11 Republicans and the Senate has 32 Dems and just 5 Republicans. Unfortunately, the Governor, Gina Raimondo, is a corrupt conservative, but a corrupt conservative Democrat. Rep-elect Marcia Ranglin-Vassell The good news is that a progressive Democrat, Marcia Ranglin-Vassell, beat the entrenched Rhode Island House Majority Leader, John DeSimone, an anti-Choice conservative with a miserable environmental record, a failing grade from the ACLU and an NRA-friendly record on guns. DeSimone had been in the legislature since 1992 and Ranglin-Vassell beat him by 17 votes-- a margin that increased when DeSimone a recount yesterday, which turned up 5 more votes for her. She's a public school teacher and will face Republican Roland Lavallee in the November general election, in the solidly blue district. 18 incumbents were challenged and 6 lost. Four of the winners had been endorsed by Rhode Island's Progressive Democrats of America. One, state Senator William Walaska (D-Warwick), who had been endorsed by the NRA, lost to Jeanine Calkin, a dedicated Berniecrat (51.8% to 48.2%), who helped Bernie win the Rhode Island primary 55-43.3%. Progressive Democrats State Coordinator Sam Bell called the results a "body blow to the political machine." And In St. Louis Six weeks after activist and business owner Bruce Franks Jr. narrowly lost his Democratic primary challenge to incumbent state Rep. Penny Hubbard (D-St. Louis), a court-ordered revote had a markedly different outcome. Today, Franks walloped her. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Franks took 76.12 percent of the vote to Hubbard's 23.88, winning by a margin of more than 1,500 votes. In the earlier election in August, which a judge threw out after Franks' election challenge revealed serious irregularities with absentee balloting, Hubbard had squeaked by with a 90-vote margin of victory. ...Franks and his attorney, David Roland, had successfully argued that serious irregularities with how the city Board of Elections handled absentee ballots were enough to invalidate the August 2 election. They fought all the way to the Missouri Court of Appeals to win the right to tonight's revote. And, yes, Bruce Franks is a strong Berniecrat and Hubbard, the other kind of Democrat, was a Hillary supporter. Watch this video: If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. An excellent, brief video produced by Wikileaks "The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA." Discusses the change from post-WWII U.S. economic dominance to adapting in a world with competitors. These three trade agreements are the U.S. attempt to recapture dominance by building a U.S. corporate-controlled legal superstructure. Hundreds of Thousands March in Germany Against TTIP, CETA These agreements, says critics, 'threaten environmental and consumer protection for millions of people in Europe and North America' Hundreds of thousands took to city streets across Germany on Saturday as they marched against a pair of corporate-backed trade deals they say will undermine democracy, attack workers and local economies, and accelerate the threats posed by corporate hegemony and global warming. Taking aim at both the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), European Union deals with the United States and Canada respectively, opponents say the agreements are not really concerned with expanding trade but rather increasing corporate power. "CETA and TTIP threaten environmental and consumer protection for millions of people in Europe and North America," said Jennifer Morgan, co-executive director of Greenpeace International. "These agreements will weaken food safety laws, environmental legislation, banking regulations and undermine the sovereign powers of nations." (Source; click to enlarge) A man dressed like the Statue of Liberty attends a demonstration against the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA in Berlin, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. Thousands of people are rallying in cities across Germany to protest against planned European Union trade deals with the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) If you watched the video above (I hope you did), you learned how the triangle of new global super-agreements TTP, TTIP, TiSA are designed not just to re-establish U.S. trade dominance, lost after the post-WWII boom years, but also the dominance of U.S. corporations over markets all over the world, including in the U.S., at the expense of national sovereignty everywhere.It's a powerful strategy, but it can only work (a) in secret, or (b) by manipulating the political process in every country considering it. In the U.S. we're seeing both, secrecy and political manipulation. The manipulation comes in the form of campaign contributions (and very likely, promises of very lucrative post-electoral jobs and rewards ). The manipulation comes also in the form of media silence about these agreements (MSNBC is notable in this regard, especially including silence from the so-called "liberal" evening hosts), or outright media misrepresentation (for example, when thecalls anti-Fast Track Democrats " anti-trade " and pro-Fast Track Democrats " pro-trade ").As for the latter examples, the Times is just lying, but they're also deeply committed to the corporate project. The New York Times Company is itself one of the corporate "bigs," with 2014 revenue of nearly $1.5 billion and assets of about $2.5 billion so you know where their corporate heart lies, just as you know where the corporate heart of MSNBC, owned by Comcast , lies. Comcast had 2014 revenue of about $75 billion and assets of $166 billion. Corporate America wants these deals, and they're pulling out all the stops to get them.As these agreements are leaked or released, they are almost universally hated except by the holders of super-large personal and corporate fortunes who control both political parties, both houses of Congress, and the White House. (We'll leave the extent to which the courts are controlled by holders of large fortunes for later.)I've been watching the progress of these agreements fairly closely, as have a great many others. The latest news is that, despite media reports implying that TPP is being rejected by congressional Republicans , it's not. Also, that TTIP, the Atlantic version of TTP, is being rejected by even European pro-corporate negotiators as containing " nothing but crumbs " for the Europeans.Now there's even more bad news, at least for TTIP. Not only do the pro-corporate negotiators in Europe hate them; the people of Europe hate them even more. Jon Queally writing in Common Dreams One view of the turnout in Berlin:And another showing disdain for America's role in trying to force these deals on a public that hates them:I think still-in-office Obama may succeed in branding himself with these corporate trade deals. I'm not sure post-presidential Obama may like the post-branding result.GP Labels: Barack Obama, Gaius Publius, Germany, trade policies, TTIP, wikileaks Nature & Weather, Local News, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: September 19 2016 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the start of the 2016 fall foliage season in New York State and the release of the I LOVE NY fall foliage report. Local News, Crime, National & World News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: September 18 2016 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today directed the State Police and National Guard to deploy an additional 1,000 uniformed officers out of an abundance of caution. Governor Cuomo receives a briefing from the NYPD and the FBI on the explosion in Chelsea in Manhattan. After rigorous inspection, service restored on the No. 1, E and F lines; MTA and PATH systems suffered no structural damage, all trains running on schedule. New York, NY - September 18, 2016 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today directed the State Police and National Guard to deploy an additional 1,000 uniformed officers out of an abundance of caution to high-profile locations across the state following an explosion in Chelsea on Saturday night. At the Governors direction, state agencies, including the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, the New York State Police, National Guard, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will remain on a heightened state of alert. The Governor also announced that after a rigorous inspection, MTA and PATH train service has been restored and both systems suffered no structural damage. All trains running on the E, F lines will continue to bypass 23rd street station and trains running on the No. 1 line will not stop at 23rd or 28th street stations. The Governor visited the site of the explosion this morning and delivered an update on the scene, touring the subway system with state transportation officials. Photo Credit: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, via Flickr. Protecting the safety of New Yorkers and our states visitors is priority number one, Governor Cuomo said. After thorough inspection, train service has been restored and we continue to work closely with our local and federal partners to monitor the situation. Out of an abundance of caution, we are increasing security at high-profile locations across the city, and all state agencies continue to remain on alert. Photo Credit: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, via Flickr. Metropolitan Transportation Authority The MTA has increased its patrols and surveillance in order to provide heightened protection across all its agencies. The MTA Police Department has stepped up its uniformed and plainclothes presence, and police canine teams and emergency service units will provide extra protection as well as a noticeable sign of increased security. Railroad customers will also see surge patrols, increased step-on/step-off patrols of trains, and random bag checks at various locations. Behind the scenes, the MTA Police Department, MTA New York City Transit security and MTA Bridges and Tunnels Officers share intelligence information and coordinate their response with other police and security agencies to ensure a seamless web of protection throughout the region. Detectives are monitoring and disseminating intelligence information as needed. Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases A blueprint of the ASNARO-2 radar satellite to be built by Japan in 2017. Photo by space.skyrocket Two Japanese companies are slated to deliver the final product in 2018. The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has finalized a deal to purchase a radar satellite from Japan for climate and natural disasters observation, which would become useful when cloudy weather affects optical satellites. The Mainichi Shimbun said the compact 550-kilogram satellite is an advanced, radar-based model and will be Japans first exported earth observation satellite. NEC Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will produce and launch the first model for testing in 2017 with funding from the Japanese government. The companies will then build a second, complete one in 2018 for delivery, according to the news report. The Advanced Satellite with New System Architecture for Observation-2 (ASNARO-2), including its ground equipment, is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and will be purchased with the Japanese governments Official Development Assistance budget. Unlike optical satellites equipped with cameras, the ASNARO-2 is capable of surface observations at night and in cloudy weather, which suits Vietnamese governments purpose of using the equipment in times of disasters, particularly to obtain data on damage and the condition of crops. Related news: > Vietnam has an eye on the sky with new radar station > ESA launches satellite to monitor climate change The two men have a long criminal record in their home country. Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are pressing smuggling charges against two South Koreans after local police found nearly a hundred used cell phones in their luggage as they tried to enter Vietnam earlier this year. Cho In Soo and Her Min Chul, both 37, were stopped at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on April 22 by the HCMC police, and were found to be in possession of 96 used mobile phones, reported the Peoples Police newspaper. Police said they had concluded their investigation yesterday and had submitted charges to the city's prosecutors. During questioning, the accused said they had bought mobile phones in South Korea to bring to Vietnam to sell. Cho and Her said they planned to sell the phones to a South Korean living in the Phu My Hung Urban Area in District 7 for a profit of VND100,00 to 150,000 (US$4.48- $6.72) for each device. That would have given them an estimated profit of over VND342 million ($15,325). According to South Korea's Consulate Office in Ho Chi Minh City, Cho and Her have long criminal records in their home country. Related news: > Vietnamese flight attendant arrested for smuggling gold to S. Korea > 73-year-old woman faces death penalty for drug smuggling > Two Vietnamese Caught Smuggling Weapons Across Border Vietnamese official goes on defensive as infidelity rumor spreads Rumors on social media say the married man had an affair with a housing official. The top leader of Thanh Hoa Province in central Vietnam has denied rumors on social media he is having an affair, allegations that if proved true would likely hurt his political career in a country where adultery is illegal. Vietnamese social media over the weekend was filled with rumors that Trinh Van Chien, the chief of the Thanh Hoas Communist Party unit, is cheating on his wife with a 30-year-old woman, who is incidentally head of the housing unit at the provinces construction department. Chien, 56, is said to also have a 4-year-old son with the woman, who is pregnant with another child. There are also details about her luxury houses and cars. The Party official, who is customarily viewed as the most powerful leader in the province, addressed the issue on Monday for the first time. He accused those spreading the information of violating the laws by making up stories just for the purpose of slandering and smearing public officials. He said the province government has opened an investigation into the matter. His deputy Do Trong Hung also said that the province has sent a statement to the Ministry of Information and Communications, affirming that the rumors were groundless and threatening punishment on those spreading them. But social media users are not giving up just yet. Some blogs have challenged Chien to take DNA tests to support his statement. In Vietnam, people who are found guilty of adultery can be fined VND1-3 million (US$45-135). Government officials caught in such scandal would face extra punishment and may even lose their positions. In 2013, the then mayor of the Mekong Deltas Tra Vinh Province Tran Khieu asked for early retirement at 59 after a similar scandal. Khieu then also denied his love affair with the female coworker, saying they were "like brother and sister. Several news websites have recently reported that they have opened a restaurant together in neighboring Vinh Long Province. Related news: >Vietnamese official quits election amid luxury car scandal >Vietnam targets families of public officials in anti-corruption drive Indias director general for military operations said that jihadists from Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, executed todays deadly suicide assault on a military base in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 17 soliders and wounded dozens more. If confirmed, Jaish-e-Mohammed has launched two major attacks against bases on Indian soil in the past year. Four heavily armed fighters attacked the military camp in the town of Uri, near the Line of Control which divides the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in the early morning, according to The Times of India. The attackers lobbed grenades and opened fire on Indian troops encamped in Uri. The attack took place during a change of command, which means one unit was replacing another and soldiers were in temporary shelters, DDNews reported. Many of the Indian casualties are reported to have been from the result of the detonation of a fuel depot and burning tents. Indian troops killed the four jihadists during an ensuing gunfight that lasted several hours. After the attack, Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, Indias Director General of Military Operations, accused Jaish-e-Mohammad of conducting the assault. Weapons with Pakistani markings are said to have been retrieved from the scene of the attack. According to The Times of India, a map written in Pashto that detailed the attack plan was recovered from the jihadists. Todays assault follows months of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian troops have killed more than 80 Kashmiris during violent protests in the wake of the killing of Burhan Wani, a military commander in the al Qaeda-linked Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, in July. Wani was a prolific recruiter and propagandist who used social media to encourage Muslims to wage holy war in Kashmir and unfurl the flag of Islam on Delhis Red Fort. Like a similar assault that took place at Pathankot Air Force Base in Punjab province, India on Jan. 2, 2016, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Uri. In the Pathankot attack, three Indian security personnel were killed when a five man suicide assault team breached the perimeter of the airbase and engaged with troops. Indian intelligence officials said that they intercepted communications between the attackers and their handlers inside Pakistan, and also accused Jaish-e-Mohammed of executing the attack. Jaish-e-Mohammed has participated in multiple terror attacks in India and has provided crucial aid to al Qaeda. Jaish-e-Mohammed was implicated along with the Lashkar-e-Taiba as being behind the Dec. 13, 2001, assault on the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi. Some of Jaish-e-Mohammed top leaders have integrated with the global terror movement. Elements of Jaish-e-Mohammed have joined al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, the newest regional branch of the global jihadist group, which was formed by al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri in September 2014. Military facilities in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have been frequently targeted by jihadist groups based in the region. In one September 2014 attack, AQIS attempted to take over a Pakistani warship and fire missiles at nearby American warships with the help of Pakistani naval personnel. Despite the mountain of evidence against Jaish-e-Mohammed and its emir, Masood Azhar, for their role in numerous terrorist attacks, Pakistan refuses to crack down on the group and its leader. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. The suspect identified by the FBI in the Sept. 17 bombing in New York City that injured 29 people has been captured. Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested today after he was wounded in a shootout with police in Linden, N.J., according to The New York Times. One police officer was reportedly wounded during the gunfight with the suspect. The FBI described Rahami as a 28-year-old United States citizen of Afghan descent born on Jan. 23, 1988, in Afghanistan whose last known address is in Elizabeth, N.J. Rahamis family operates a restaurant in Elizabeth, The New York Times reported. The New Jersey State Police were also seeking to question Rahami about bombings in Seaside Park and Elizabeth, N.J. Officials believe the bombings in New York City, Elizabeth, and Seaside Park may be linked, ABC News reported. Rahami is thought to be the man identified in videos taken at the scene of the explosion in New York City as well as at a nearby site where an unexploded bomb was found. The first bombing occurred on Saturday morning in Seaside Park, N.J., near the planned route for a Semper Fi 5K charity run. A pipe bomb that was set up with a remote timer was used in the blast. No one was hurt in the explosion. The second bombing, in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday evening, wounded 29 people. A pressure cooker bomb was also found nearby but did not detonate. The New Jersey State Police said that Rahami is wanted for questioning in the New York City and Seaside Park bombings, and released a montage of photos of the suspect, including one that appears to show him on surveillance video near the scene of the New York attack. Earlier this morning, a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices, thought to be pipe bombs, was discovered at the Elizabeth Train Station, the FBIs office in Newark wrote on its Twitter feed. The bombs exploded as a police robot searched the bag. There are similarities between the explosive devices, and the bombs in New York appear to have been designed based on manuals posted online by jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, according to the Associated Press. US officials have not linked Rahami to a terrorist group, and, according to Reuters, he is not listed in the US counterterrorism database as a known suspect or person of interest. It is unclear if Rahami acted alone, but some officials said that they believe he may have plotted with others to build the bombs and execute the attacks. A family acquaintance claimed that Rahami traveled to Afghanistan several years ago, Reuters reported. Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other jihadist groups have not claimed responsibility for the bombings in the New York area. The Islamic State did claim that one of its soldiers was responsible for stabbings at a mall in St. Cloud, Minn., that wounded nine people. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. 340 ships on the bay have been fined this year for safety and scamming incidents. Four cruise ships operating in Ha Long Bay have been fined for safety violations that endangered tourists. Authorities at the world heritage site said two of the boats were fined for letting tourists sit on the side of the ships and the others for towing smaller boats carrying vendors. The penalties were not revealed. The beautiful Ha Long Bay is one of the most popular tourism attractions in Vietnam, but tourists do not always get to enjoy the whole journey, given issues about fire safety and overcharging on the boats. Local authorities said around 340 ships have been fined this year, and many have been docked for price gouging. A pilot was also fired in July for driving with his feet, leading to several collisions. Authorities plan to improve services in the bay by imposing a ban on overnight trips and replacing all wooden boats and ships with metal vessels in the next five years to prevent fires. Currently, around 500 tourist ships operate across Ha Long, and less than half dock overnight. The bay welcomed about 2.5 million tourists in 2015. Related news: >6 interesting facts you may not know about Ha Long Bay >Ha Long cruise ships docked after rip-off allegations proven true >Sorry tourists, no more deck view of Ha Long Bay Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here. Thais search for missing as 15 die in pilgrim boat accident At least 15 people were killed and 15 are still missing. Divers located the body of a young boy on Monday as they resumed their search for missing passengers after an overcrowded boat carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river, leaving at least 15 people dead. The accident happened on Sunday afternoon near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong currents. The body of an 8-year-old boy is attended to by rescue workers. Photo by AFP/Lillian Suwanrumpha Scores of people lined the bank on Monday morning as divers plunged into the swollen, brown waters for the grim task of searching the partially-submerged pleasure boat for the missing. Distraught relatives wept as the body of an eight-year-old boy was pulled from the wreckage and laid in a white plastic sheet, an AFP team on site reported. Rescuers used a white board to keep track of those still missing which by lunchtime stood at 13 named individuals, six of whom were children. Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong said the confirmed death toll stood at 15 with 14 people hospitalized. The dead were not thought to include any foreigners. The boat's captain is in custody and faces a negligence charge after allowing the double-decked vessel to become overcrowded, police told AFP. "The boat has permission to carry about 50 people but it was carrying more than 100 people," said Ayutthaya police chief Sudhi Puengpikul. Disaster struck as the boat returned from a memorial for a Muslim scholar at an Ayutthaya mosque. Television footage showed the boat stopping abruptly as it appeared to hit the concrete bank, and sinking in seconds. Thai broadcasters showed desperate scenes of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people. Marine police officers dive to search for survivors near a capsized boat on the Chao Phraya river, in the ancient tourist city of Ayutthaya, Thailand September 19, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Chaiwat Subprasom Safety lapses Many of the dead were trapped on the lower deck of the boat, which ran into trouble agonisingly close to safety. Officials said its proximity to the bank may have prevented the toll from being even higher. Despite its wealth compared to regional neighbours and huge tourism sector, accidents are common on Thailand's public transport network. Safety regulations are often weakly enforced, including on boats, with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common, particularly in busy tourist areas. According to World Health Organization, Thailand has the world's second highest road fatality rate after Libya. The Thai junta has got tough on breaches of many laws, but has so far failed to fix the chronic safety lapses in the country's transport system. The Chao Phraya, the main river that flows through Bangkok, is a key commuting artery, filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital whose riverside is studded with the remains of Buddhist temples. Thailand's reputation as the "Land of Smiles" has suffered in recent years amid accidents, crimes against foreigners and political unrest. But visitors keep coming. A record high of nearly 30 million travelled to the kingdom in 2015, a number boosted by a surge in mainland Chinese tourists, with some 33 million expected this year. The junta government this week said they expected tourism to account for as much as 17 percent of GDP this year. Related news: > Thai junta leader, opposition call on U.N. as tension rises > Thai junta chief accuses former PM Thaksin of stirring protests Frustrated voters often wonder why, after electing well-intended lawmakers to office, so many subsequent government economic policies prove damaging. Part of the answer lies in the nearly irresistible public policy dynamic of doubling down on mistakes. Lawmakers, press and the public need to understand the strength of this phenomenon and guard against it when adopting policy positions. In simplified form, the dynamic runs as follows: 1) Government, in response to a perceived need, takes action to meet that need in a manner that distorts economic behavior and produces predictable adverse effects. 2) The public consequently experiences problems and expresses concern. 3) The problems themselves become justification for additional government actions that worsen the distortions and the resultant problems. 4) As problems worsen, the public more urgently demands corrective actions. 5) Steps #3 and #4 are repeated ad infinitum. We have seen and continue to see this dynamic operate in many areas of economic policy. To cite but a few: Worker Health Benefits: With the best of intentions the federal government has long exempted worker compensation in the form of health benefits from income taxation. There is wide consensus among economists that the results of this policy have been highly deleterious. As I have written previously, this tax exclusion depresses wages, it drives up health spending, its regressive, and it makes it harder for people with enduring health conditions to change jobs or enter the individual insurance market. Lawmakers have reacted not by scaling back the flawed policy that fuels these problems, but rather by trying to shield Americans from the resulting health care cost increases. This has been done through the enactment of additional health programs and policies that further distort health markets and which themselves drive personal and government health spending still higher. Federal Health Programs: The federal government has enacted programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to protect vulnerable seniors and poor Americans from ruinous health care costs. The positive benefits of these programs co-exist with well-documented adverse effects. For example, it is firmly established that creating these programs pushed up national health spending, driving health costs higher for Americans as a whole. Consumer displeasure over these health cost increases subsequently became a rationale for still more government health spending, rather than reducing governments contribution to the problem. Examples of this doubling down include the health exchange subsidies established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as its further expansion of Medicaid. As the problem of high health care costs remains, proposals have proliferated to expand governments role still further; for example, some have proposed making Medicare available to the entire US population. Though intended to provide relief, such legislation inevitably adds to national health spending growth. Education: The cost of higher education has become an increasingly salient policy/political issue. In an effort to broaden access to education, government has subsidized its cost with a heavy emphasis on grants and loans to students and their families. It is now fairly well understood that these subsidies have had the predictable effect of increasing tuition costs. Students and their families regularly complain about having to choose between footing a massive education bill, or taking out student loans that create crushing levels of indebtedness. Many politicians have reacted to these trends not by reconsidering the policies that give rise to them, but by proposing dramatic further expansions of government education subsidies. Social Security: Social Security collects payroll taxes from workers and provides monetary benefits to retirees, surviving family members and the disabled. It operates as an income transfer program rather than by building retirement savings. Because of this, whenever its benefits and tax burdens are expanded, Americans abilities and incentives to save for retirement are reduced. This phenomenon is most pronounced with low-income, liquidity-constrained workers who, after program expansions in the 1970s, were promised Social Security benefits equaling a very high percentage of their earnings, while at the same time were left with very little surplus earnings to put aside while working. There is general agreement among economists both that Social Security depresses other saving and that savings rates among Americans of modest incomes are undesirably low. Paradoxically, however, many advocates cite these low savings rates as a reason to further expand Social Security. As these and countless other examples reveal, whenever government policies create or exacerbate adverse economic effects, the political focus often turns to relieving the consequent hardship rather than addressing its policy causes. The resulting relief is often short-lived because the remedial legislation has usually failed to correct the underlying problem and often has made it worse. The ACA threatens to repeatedly be such a case. It is complex legislation with far-reaching consequences both positive and negative, offering many opportunities to double down on its more problematic policy choices. Lawmakers should resist trying to repair its problematic provisions by expanding them. Here are two examples of where the temptation is likely to be faced: 1) Fixing the ACAs work disincentives. Experts ranging from economist Casey Mulligan to those at the Congressional Budget Office have substantiated that the ACA is driving many workers out of the work force at a time when we can least afford it. A primary culprit is the design of its health exchange subsidies, which are skewed so heavily toward the lowest-income individuals that anything they earn subjects them to a substantial loss of federal support. To see the double down instinct at work, read for example columnist Catherine Rampell, who acknowledges the work incentive problem under current federal laws, but then argues the answer lies in expanding the ACAs various subsidies (which are themselves ample work disincentives, and expansion of which would worsen the ACAs troubled finances.) 2) Fixing the ACAs effects on health insurance premiums. The ACA effectuated many requirements that are causing health insurance premiums to rise. Combined with this problem are many horizontal inequities arising from the laws complexities. For example, individuals with identical incomes receive different levels of support depending on whether they get insurance through exchanges or through their employer. As I noted in 2012, this creates enormous temptation for the federal government to provide relief from premium increases by expanding subsidies to those buying insurance outside the ACAs exchanges. Doubling down in this manner would considerably worsen the ACAs rising price tag. With the ACA specifically and with economic policy in general, it is vitally important that lawmakers understand the doubling-down trap and use their awareness to avoid it. If an economic distortion is created or exacerbated by government policy, the best first response is to look squarely at the policy that has caused the problem, and consider whether it needs to be tweaked, redesigned, scaled back or even eliminated. When instead we focus only on alleviating the hardship caused by flawed government policies, too often we perpetuate those very policy flaws while allowing the hardship to re-emerge again and again. Charles Blahous is a senior research fellow for the Mercatus Center, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a contributor to E21. He recently served as a public trustee for Social Security and Medicare. Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief. Malaria Consortium welcomes UKs increased Global Fund commitment 19 September 2016 Donors met at the fifth replenishment conference of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on 16-17 September in Montreal, Canada to pledge US$12.9 billion to fight the three targeted diseases. This historic financial commitment will contribute to saving eight million lives between 2017 and 2019, as governments, civil society and the private sector aim to accelerate progress against these killer diseases. The UKs commitment of 1.1 billion, a 10 percent increase on the previous pledge, includes 200 million of match funding to incentivise greater private sector investment in global health. Secretary of State for International Development Priti Patel also announced a 10-point Performance Agreement, aimed at increasing the cost effectiveness and impact of the UKs Global Fund investment. Malaria Consortium welcomes the UKs investment, which reconfirms its leading role in the fight against malaria, and we support the Secretary of States focus on increasing the impact of UK Aid. Countries where the Global Fund is active have seen a decline of a third in the number of deaths due to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. However, the fight against the three diseases is at a tipping point: the excellent progress in reducing the number of infections and deaths from these diseases in the last 15 years must be consolidated and continued. If the current level of commitment lessens or levels off, the possibility of ending the public health threat of the three diseases by 2030 could easily be lost. The pledged $13 billion, however, will further the decline of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Malaria Consortium Chief Executive Charles Nelson said The three years of the next Global Fund replenishment will allow the global community to build on past efforts and drive towards ending malaria within a generation. Malaria Consortium is delighted to share in delivering the UKs contribution to this effort, through our work with some of those who are most vulnerable to malaria around the world. We look forward to continuing to work with a wide range of stakeholders, including the private sector, to defeat malaria and other killer diseases. Keywords: Elimination Uri(J&K) ; In the worst attack on the Army in many years, heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir killing 17 jawans early today, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assert that those responsible "will not go "unpunished. Located barely a few kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC) and some 70 km from Srinagar, the base was subjected to the brazen attack by four terrorists at around 5.30 AM, causing heavy casualties in the Dogra regiment which lost 17 of its men. 20 more army personnel were injured, some critically, and were airlifted to the army base hospital in Srinagar. After the three-hour gunbattle, four terrorists were killed and army was combing to ensure there were no other militants. Most of the army casualties resulted from the fire in tents in which jawans were sleeping. India reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Modi strongly condemning it. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi tweeted. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a "terrorist state" and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that "for one tooth, the complete jaw" should be the policy after the attack. Soon after the news of the attack broke, Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag rushed to Uri followed soon by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who cut short his Goa visit. Parrikar was briefed at Army's headqqarters in Srinagar. Leaders across the political spectrum including Congress President Sonia Gandhi condemned the attack. President Pranab Mukherjee said India will not be cowed down by such attacks and that it will thwart the evil designs of terrorists and their backers. The attack at the administrative base of the 10 Dogra, which top Army officials described as a "serious setback", was launched at 0530 hours and ended at 0830 hours with the killing of four terrorists and martyrdom of 17 soldiers. Explosions and gunfire erupted as the militants attacked the camp, which is located barely few metres away from the Army's Brigade Headquarters in Uri town. The jawans of the Dogra Regiment were sleeping in a tent which caught fire due the explosion. The fire also engulfed the nearby barracks, official sources said. DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh called up his counterpart in Pakistan expressing "serious concerns" over Pakistani marking found on the equipment used by four "foreign" terrorists. PTI There are probably over a hundred adjectives to use in describing people. Of course I think first of happy. Who doesnt like to know happy people? People can be sullen, encouraging, maddening, funny, i.e., me- I hope! But recently I got to thinking about who the most colorful person I have ever met was or is. The list was longer than there are colors on the color wheel. Both knowing and hearing about colorful people should bring smiles to your lips. For instance and in no particular order. We know a colorful guy who is a cowboy and has been all his life. He loves horses and all that goes along with being a horseman. But in the 1960s when the hippie craze appeared he got a burr under his saddle when he saw long hair on a guy, known at that time as a hippie. This bothered him so much that he would take opportunities to rope any strays, grab the hippie beads the odd creatures were wearing and made a collection of the strings. Of course it was all done as a colorful action packed event. Colorful people are not mean people. They are just, well, fun loving. A woman that has walked through my life never thought that keeping a lid on her vocabulary was something she needed to do. I lamented to her once that I was tired of people asking me when I was going to have children. I need to tone this down a bit but you will get the between the lines meaning I am sure. She said to me to look them right in the eye and say, None of your %^&* business! She has a way of getting right to the heart of the matter and would be there each and every time I needed a kick in the pants. Her language may occasionally be colorful, but her love of life is what makes her colorful. Seems to be a pattern of off color to the colorful people I know. But lets move on With that in mind my other half has told me stories of a guy he knew many years ago who lived on the outskirts of the law. Never really did anything terribly bad, but he knew how to dance around situations so as to make life interesting. He was like a guy in a John Wayne movie I recent saw who appeared at the campfire with two horses and saddles for two guys in the gang that needed horses and saddles. John Wayne asked where the guy got the horses and the saddles and the guy, deadpan and straight faced said, Found em. Well this acquaintance I have heard about for years now seemed to always come up with extra car parts, tools and a long list of other things that he just--found. His exploits are still discussed around our table occasionally. Now not all my colorful friends live life on the edge of badness. I must say that I know a very lively cosmetologist who loves to talk about her family like they should become a Saturday morning cartoon. A doctor I had once would wear his mud and cow poop caked cowboy boots into the ER when he was on call on the week-ends. But the topper? I have met two different men in my life, unrelated to each other, that reported to me that they each had done brain surgery on themselves, in their own kitchens. Yes two. Really! Now thats colorful. These are just a very few of the colorful people in my life. Im pretty sure in some circles that I may be lucky enough to be a colorful person in someones life. At least I hope I am. It wouldnt hurt my feelings a bit to know that at some time, somewhere by someone my name is batted around a table or two. Now its not like I wait on the corner for some colorful soul to cross my path. It is also not like I travel in only the weird lane of life. I really do have normal people in my life, as I am sure we all do. But there is a side of me that just loves to meet everyone and knowing that, I relish each conversation I have like it is a big old juicy rib eye steak. Oh must be close to dinner time Enjoy everyone in your life. You never know how long you will be remembered. I still remember my kindergarten teacher. That was many, many years ago. She had dark hair and wore the longest ringlets I have ever seen. When she walked across the room they bounced like they were the springs in a jack in the box. Oh Jack-in-the-Box, yep, its dinner time In addition to races for president and Congress, Virginians will vote in November on a proposed amendment that would put the provisions of Virginias right-to-work law into the state constitution. The right-to-work law says that participation in a union may not be a condition for employment in Virginia. A second proposed constitutional amendment on the Virginia ballot Nov. 8 is meant to aid the families of first responders killed in the line of duty. It would allow localities to exempt a surviving spouses real property from taxation. Virginia has had a right-to-work law since 1947. Backers of the proposed amendment, which the General Assembly passed in party-line votes, say embedding the provision in the state constitution would make it harder for a future General Assembly to undo. Although the General Assembly may change a law, a constitutional provision can be changed only through another constitutional amendment. Such a measure would have to pass the legislature in two separate years and then be approved by the voters in a referendum. The proposed amendment, sponsored in the House by Del. Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, and in the Senate by Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, has the support of the Virginia Chamber and the National Federation of Independent Business. Bell said the right-to-work law is a crucial factor in Virginias rankings as one of the best states for business. He has said that by adding the provision to the state constitution, we are protecting it from the whims of the legislature and thus ensuring it can remain in place for generations to come. The Virginia AFL-CIO, which opposes the measure, said the proposed amendment is unnecessary, and would be nearly impossible to reverse. It said the amendment is designed by a handful of powerful corporate interests to silence the voices of hardworking Virginians. During the state Senate debate on the measure in February, Democrats said Virginias right-to-work law is not under attack. In the 41 years that Ive been here, nobody has ever put in a bill to repeal the right to work, said Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax. 1st responder amendment The other proposed constitutional amendment would authorize the General Assembly to enact a law that would let a locality exempt from taxation the real property of the living spouse of any law enforcement officer, firefighter, search and rescue personnel member, or emergency medical services personnel member killed in the line of duty. The exemption from taxation would apply to the surviving spouses principal place of residence. It would cease if the surviving spouse remarries. This proposed amendment, sponsored by Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax, passed the legislature without opposition. Article X, Section 6-A of the Virginia Constitution already requires the General Assembly to exempt from taxation the real property including the joint real property of a husband and wife of any veteran with a 100 percent service-connected, permanent and total disability, as determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the real property of the surviving spouse of an eligible veteran. The state constitution also authorizes the General Assembly to exempt from taxation the real property of the surviving spouse of any member of the U.S. armed forces who was killed in action, as determined by the U.S. Department of Defense. Following a year in which all 122 incumbent Virginia legislators who ran for re-election won their races, Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, has introduced a constitutional amendment to institute top-two primaries in which all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot. Rasoul, who introduced similar legislation last year, hopes to limit the influence of political parties in primaries by combining all candidates for a specific state office to one ballot, and then the top-two vote-getters would advance to the general election. We want to ensure that we have a much more democratic process, Rasoul said. And this would have more competitive elections, but more importantly, would encourage legislators to listen to the majority of their constituents as opposed to the liberal and conservative fringes. The top-two primary system, also called a jungle primary, would only apply to state elections and not presidential primaries. Qualified voters would be allowed to vote for whichever candidate they want regardless of their party affiliation. Rasouls HJ 541 aims to replicate public or open primary systems in place in Louisiana, California, Nebraska and Washington. Legislators in 10 other states have introduced bills for top-two, nonpartisan elections, according to openprimaries.org. Proponents of top-two primaries argue the system creates more competition in predominantly Republican or Democratic districts. In those situations, two liberals or two conservatives could face off in the general election after having coming out on top in the primary. Critics of the new primary system argue that is the methods biggest flaw. It often pits two candidates of the same party against each other and makes it harder from candidates from smaller parties to advance to the general election. The constitutional amendment is nearly identical to a house bill Rasoul introduced last year. That bill, HB 1040, didnt advance beyond the Privileges and Elections Committee. In Virginia, constitutional amendments require majority votes in two successive sessions of the General Assembly to advance to the public ballot. RENO The Nevada Department of Wildlife wants to make all sportsmen aware that a new regulation that changes the definition of a spike elk went into effect Sept. 9. Regulation R013-16 was passed by the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners in June and then given final approval Friday by the Interim Legislative Commission. The regulation change amends administrative code to relax Nevadas official definition of a spike elk. Prior to the change, a spike elk was limited to elk without branching on either antler. It has now been amended to include any antlered elk having not more than two points above the top of the ear on either antler. This change is significant in that it will now allow harvest of a yearling bull elk that may have a small fork at the top of an antler, or small brow tines near the antler base. Biologically speaking, an elk meeting this description is the same as a non-branching spike. The language change is expected to allow increased harvest of elk, especially in hunt units that are at or above population objectives, and is very timely as many spike hunts opened this past weekend. Primarily these hunts take place in Elko County, but may be expanded into other hunting areas in the future as elk populations continue to expand. There is nothing better for a hunter looking to fill the freezer with clean, healthy, wild meat than a cow elk or spike elk, said Brian Wakeling, game division administrator for NDOW. The leaves are turning, the elk are bugling, and right now is a perfect time to get out and enjoy some Nevada scenery. Changing the rules wont help. Setting the bar lower isnt a good idea either. When you have Martinsville students struggling to learn math, having a hard time in English and failing to grasp basic science, you dont fix the problem by just demanding the tests get easier. That doesnt help prepare them for life. In fact, it does more harm than good. Get rid of the test. After our stories on accreditation ran this past week, we got a lot of feedback. Understandably, some residents were upset. But to be honest, I wasnt expecting the overwhelming suggestion. It wasnt to give teachers more help in the classroom or to crack down on discipline issues. Instead, the argument was that we should get rid of the Standards of Learning tests, because its making Martinsville look bad. I heard that suggestion multiple times in emails and phone calls. The kids just shouldnt have to do these tests, the readers argued, as they felt it wasnt important. Ive also had calls this past week complaining about a local teacher that requires her students to write in complete sentences and counts off if they dont. Another complaint involves a teacher that requires students to write the day and date on each paper they turn in, counting off points if they fail to do that simple task. In each case, the readers didnt blame the student for failing at their task. Instead, they thought it wasnt fair the teachers required these things. Now yes, each one admitted, the teachers in question gave students a full month to learn these rules, before starting to count off. But still, it wasnt right, they said, for kids to be expected to use complete sentences in middle school. It wasnt fair, they argued, for high school students to be required to know and label the day and date on a paper being submitted. They felt the teachers were too hard on the students and wanted that to change. Let me be clear. Above all else, here is the problem. Until we crack down and expect more of our students, nothing will change in this education system. I wonder when that happened, when we decided that teachers requiring high standards was a bad thing. It certainly didnt happen in my family. My sister and I were challenged and pushed from day one. Our family supported us, but they also took the teachers side, when it came to requirements. You want an A? Great, follow the teachers directions. You want to pass that class? Remember to write your answers as complete sentences. Thats not just a teacher instigating a random command. These kids will need to learn how to write reports, how to present arguments and speak in clear, complete sentences in the workforce and just in life overall. We keep saying how much we want high paying jobs in this community, filled by local residents. Yet with the same breath, we turn around and say the education bar should be lowered, because its not fair. Those two things dont go together. Either we discipline our students, pushing them to do better and providing support for teachers in the classroom, or we can expect to have problems when those kids leave high school. We should be pushing and preparing them to enter adulthood, not patting them on the hand and saying oh its ok, they were wrong to expect things of you. These examples Ive given shouldnt even be seen as high standards. They should just be common sense. If youre writing answers to questions, why shouldnt they be in complete sentences? How truly hard is it to write a day and date on a paper? This should be the bare minimum that we require our kids to do. And yet, thats not the case. We would rather say its the teachers fault for expecting things or its the tests fault, because our students shouldnt have to learn that information. Martinsville schools failed to meet state accreditation standards. Thats a fact. What we do next, either pushing our students or demanding lower standards, will show if we as a community truly want that to change. Brian Carlton is the editor of the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at brian.carlton@martinsvillebulletin.com TODAYS WORD is fipple. Example: He connected the fipple to the rest of the recorder before starting the performance. SUNDAYS WORD was ecclesiastic. It means of or relating to the Christian church. Example: The ecclesiastic hierarchy made the decision to appoint a new pastor to the church. Historical Society holds meeting The Greater Bassett Historical Society will get together this morning for their monthly meeting, over at the Historic John D. Bassett Event Center. The meeting starts at 10 am and everyone interested in joining or volunteering is welcome to attend. Spa Day for Caregivers The people over at Edwards Adult Day Center wanted to do something to honor local caregivers and make them feel appreciated. To do that, they decided to hold a Spa Day today from 10 am to 2 pm. Whats a Spa Day, you ask? There will be people doing nails, light haircuts, with lunch provided and door prizes. The Center is located at 431 Commonwealth Blvd E. in Martinsville. Art of the Month class returns Henry County Parks and Recreation will hold its Art of the Month class this afternoon over at the Collinsville library, 2540 Virginia Avenue in Collinsville. QVC artist Karen Eggleston will be teaching the class, which runs from 3 to 5pm. The program will also be at the Ridgeview library, 900 Vista View Lane, on Sept. 27 at the same time. During each session, participants will create an autumn pine cone ornament. The cost is $15, which pays for supplies. Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday Interested in helping the community? The Martinsville Rotary Club will meet this Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., over at Hugos in uptown to discuss upcoming projects. Anyone interested in joining is welcome to come. Authors come to PHCC Patrick Henry Community College will host author Beth Macy on Tuesday, as part of their visiting author symposium. The discussion starts at 1 pm in Frith Exhibit Hall with Macy, the author of Factory Man. In her talk, Macy will share what she learned during the two years of researching and writing this novel which highlights the recent history of Bassett. Job fair Thursday Anyone out there looking for a job? Patrick Henry Community College will host a job fair for students, alumni and community members this coming Thursday. The event will be in PHCCs Frith Exhibit Hall from 5 to 8 pm. Local employers including Brock Services, Adecco, Ameristaff, Telvista, VA Mirror, Faneuil, ICF, Results Companies and Monogram Foods will be on hand to hire part-time and full-time positions. People are asked to bring several copies of their resume and come dressed to impress. Date set for Pancake Day The Kiwanis Pancake Day will take place Oct. 13 this year. The event, whose proceeds go to the Kiwanis Youth Foundation, will be in the Broad Street parking lot in uptown Martinsville from 6:30 am to 7 pm. For $6 you get all you can eat pancakes, plus sausage and a drink. Advance tickets are $5, which can be bought from any member of the Martinsville or Bassett Kiwanis clubs, as well as local businesses including Martinsville Family Dentistry, Garland and Garland and Draper and Ferrell Clothiers. The Kiwanis Youth Foundation uses the proceeds to pay for scholarships, camperships and other programs to help local kids. TRIVIA QUESTION: How many pints of blood does the human body hold? The answer will be in tomorrows Stroller The second Pan-American Cadre School of the International Marxist tendency will take place in Mexico on 2-4 December. Comrades from Canada, the US, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina are expected to attend to discuss a whole series of current and historic topics, in order to collectively raise our level of understanding. Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it, said Marx. Without revolutionary theory there is no revolutionary movement said Lenin. These are the two mottos which will inspire this meeting. Bringing comrades from across the continent to this meeting will involve an important expenditure. We ask all readers of In Defence of Marxism and supporters of the IMT to make a contribution. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Conservation groups are worried that Snowbird Ski Resorts plan for new lifts in American Fork Canyon could trigger a hazardous waste spill from abandoned mines. They met with resort and government officials this week at the site to discuss construction plans. The ski lifts would be built near the Yankee Mine. Protect and Preserve American Fork Canyon founder Mark Allen organized the meeting at the site and said he worries about an event similar to the Gold King Mine spill. Theyre proposing bringing tens of thousands of people to the area, Allen said. I think the best thing they could do is walk out of here and give the Forest Service this land and let the Forest Service figure out what to do with it because they have a good track record over in Mineral Basin in cleaning up. Snowbird President Bob Bonar said the resort has the opportunity to complete construction in the right way. So far weve had a great discussion on a lot of the issues and cleared up a lot of misconceptions, Bonar said. We had some really good discussions we hope will lead to better understanding. The Utah County Board of Adjustment required water testing as a condition of building the ski lifts. Results of the first quarter of sampling show negligible water quality impacts to American Fork River from Mary Ellen Gulch, the press release said. With the exception of zinc, all metal results meet state-assigned standards, except for three locations on two of the sampling dates recorded in the upper portion of Mary Ellen Gulch. Allen said he hopes groups can work together to protect the canyon and water resources. The Utah Division of Water Quality and Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining are trying to map abandoned mines and determine whether flows stemming from them are cause for concern. SPRINGFIELD -- Titeflex, maker of tough, high-pressure hoses for everything from the Boeing 787 and Airbus 380 jetliners to Ford and Ram pickup trucks, is turning 100 years old and looking to the future. Even now, workers are turning a section of hallway at Titeflex's historic plant at 603 Hendee St. into more space for product assemblers. "We export from here every day to points all over the world -- China, India, Europe -- it all comes from here," said Hank Ziomek, Titeflex director of sales. "We do it here because you need expertise. It looks simple, but if one of our products is going in an airplane with 300 people on board, it needs to be done right." Today Titeflex has 130 employees spread among three shifts. That's up from 120 workers in 2011. "We have been able to ride the waves of economic change," Ziomek said. The Great Recession of 2008 hurt. Today, low oil prices and the slowdown in oil and gas exploration are hurting Titeflex's business supplying high-pressure hoses to wells and refineries. But the company sells into so many markets for so many applications that the hurt from the oil slowdown is blunted a little, Ziomek said. The company makes Teflon hoses that are shielded and protected, sometimes with braided stainless steel wire but also with Kevlar or other material. Titeflex makes the hose in a four-story tower heated to 700 degrees. The armored hose is used to run hydraulics and fuel systems in airliners and for fuel lines, brake lines and turbochargers in cars and trucks like the F-150 and Ram pickups and Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Caravan minivans. Industrial uses include conduits in machines that make tires and carrying glue through machines that make disposable diapers or seal cases of beer for Anheuser-Busch, Ziomek said. Westinghouse, then an industrial powerhouse, started Titeflex in 1916 to make touch connectors running electrical wires between trains. Then located in southern New Jersey, Dupont used Titeflex to commercialize Teflon for industrial use. Titeflex eventually became owned by the same people who owned Indian Motorcycle, and the factory moved to Springfield in 1956, taking over space that had been used to make Indians and, before that, Rolls-Royce autos. Today, Rolls-Royce jet engines have Titeflex hoses, Ziomek said. In 2010, Titeflex received a city tax incentive expected to save it $300,000 over 12 years. Of that savings, $104,000 of it came in the first year of the agreement. Also in 2010, Titeflex tore down unwanted and unused factory space. VERNON, Vt. -- The owners of the shut-down Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station are selling $20 million worth of spare parts, tools, equipment and other supplies at auction next week. The auction is set for Sept. 28 and 29. Bids will be taken online at hgpauction.com, and in an offsite warehouse at 210 Riverside Drive in nearby Brattleboro, Vermont, said Alex Dove, director of sales for auctioneers Heritage Global Partners. Previews are Sept. 20 and Sept. 27. "When you have a nuclear power plant, you have to have all these spare parts and supplies on hand at all times," Dove said by phone. When the plant closed, he added, there were a lot of leftovers, from valves to tools to electronics. Heritage Global Partners, working on behalf of plant owner Entergy, has identified more than 1,000 lots of goods with the number of individual items running many times that, Dove said. "We are selling everything form hand tools to specific parts of the plant," he said. One lot to be auctioned consists of 420 pounds of baking soda -- 35 bags with 12 pounds in each. And many items to go on the block are general hardware store tools and equipment. One lot includes a wheelbarrow, rake, shovel and sledgehammer. A number of lots include welding equipment. "A lot of the buyers for this will be just local guys," Dove said. "It is going to end up in a some guy's garage." Other parts for sale will only be of interest to operators of power plants, both nuclear and conventional. The sale does not include any atomic material. Dove said nothing is being sold from inside the plant, and nothing is being sold at the plant site on the Connecticut River. The in-person auction is at a nearby warehouse where Heritage has moved the items. Federal law governs the handling of atomic material, such as spent fuel. This is the second auction Heritage has conducted in Vermont for Entergy, but the first sale was very small. Citing rising costs and the abundance of cheaper natural gas, Entergy shut down 620-megawatt Vermont Yankee in 2014 after 42 years of operation. While a major part of the local economy with 650 jobs at its peak, the facility is down to just 62 employees now, said Entergy spokesman Martin Cohn. The main activity now at Vermont Yankee is moving the spent fuel from the reactor pool into dry casks for storage on the site. ALLSTON Homicide detectives have joined the investigation into the shooting of a man outside an Allston nightclub called Garage Boston Sunday night. The Boston Herald reported that police said a male subject in his 20s was shot multiple times in the upper body, and at least once in the head. A police spokesperson said the victim remains in critical condition at a Boston hospital, and the homicide squad has joined the investigation due to the severity of his injuries. The Boston Globe reported that witnesses told police that the victim had a dispute with another man that escalated to the point the assailant pulled a handgun and fired several rounds outside the Pratt Street nightclub. The club is located not far from Cambridge Street in Allston. After he had been shot, witnesses said the victim ran around the corner onto Linden Street and collapsed. The suspect may have fled the scene in a car, police said. Police taped off a large area in front of the nightclub as a crime scene and marked the position of several spent shell casings from a semiautomatic handgun. BOSTON - Nearly five years after the Massachusetts expanded gambling bill was signed into law, the Gaming Commission is about to hit a milestone: 200 public meetings. The Gaming Commission is set to meet on Sept. 22 at its 101 Federal Street headquarters. The commission's first meeting occurred on April 10, 2012, with Stephen Crosby, who worked under Gov. Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift, at the helm of the five-member body. Setting itself apart from many public entities in Massachusetts that often appear to struggle with the concept of transparency, the commission makes its meetings available via an Internet livestream, and its online archives offer meeting minutes, transcripts, and videos. The packets commissioners receive ahead of the meetings are also available to the public online once the meeting starts. But the commission did run afoul of the state's open meeting law, repeatedly violating it while commissioners discussed some topics under their purview during lunches behind closed doors, according to a review by Attorney General Maura Healey's office. The review was issued in December 2015. The 2011 expanded gambling law authorizes the commission to issue up to three resort casino licenses and one slot parlor license. MGM Springfield gives site tour as buildings begin to rise in casino complex Licenses have been awarded to MGM for a $950 million Springfield casino and Wynn Resorts for a $2.1 billion casino in Everett, just outside of Boston. MGM Springfield is due to open in September 2018, while Wynn Boston Harbor is on track for a June 2019 opening. The commission held off on issuing a casino license in the southeastern region as the Mashpee Wampanoags seek to build a tribal casino amid legal troubles in court. Plainridge Park Casino, a slots parlor, hit its one-year anniversary in June 2016. The facility, located in Plainville, near the Rhode Island-Massachusetts border, employs 520 people and its construction generated 1,000 jobs, according to the Gaming Commission. The town of Plainville has received $2 million from the casino, money that it's putting towards a new public safety and town hall facility. Plainridge generated $82 million in state taxes, $67 million in local aid and $15 million for race horse development in its first year, the commission said. Chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Stephen Crosby speaking with reporters after a hearing on March 20, 2014. "In addition, our financial analysis indicates that PPC has recaptured approximately $30 Million in slot revenue from out of state competitors, and generated approximately $130 Million in new revenue from the New England gaming market," the commission said in a Monday release. But Plainridge's numbers were down 5.4 percent in August, according to figures released by the commission last week, pulling in $13.1 million in gross gaming revenue. In July, the facility pulled in $13.9 million. State revenues declined to $6.4 million from $6.8 million. The commission's meeting on Thursday starts at 10 a.m. A final agenda was not available on Monday. Authorities say a couple wanted in connection with murder cases in Arizona and Nevada has been found dead in a desert area southeast of Kingman. Mohave County Sheriffs detectives say the bodies of 26-year-old Hunter McGuire and his girlfriend, 32-year-old Samantha Branek, were found lying next to each other Friday with gunshot wounds to the head. Lake Havasu City police say it appears McGuire shot himself, but its unclear if Braneks wound was self-inflicted. The county medical examiners office will determine an official cause of death. Authorities say the couple was being sought in connection with a double homicide in Kingman on June 28. They say McGuire also was considered a suspect in the fatal shooting of a woman Monday in Las Vegas. Acting Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy at a EU summit in Bratislava. Ronald Zak (AP) The United States and China recently announced their decision to ratify the Paris agreement on climate change. The document will go into effect when 55 countries do the same, but it will be difficult for Spain to be one of these nations. All of Spains political parties agree that the country should be on that list, but the initiative has yet to be put before Congress. That is because Spain has been under a caretaker government since late last year, when an inconclusive general election was followed by months of fruitless negotiations, then another election and more fruitless talks to form a government. Who is going to ally themselves with a caretaker government that cannot promise anything? Foreign Ministry report The climate change treaty is just one of more than 40 international agreements pending ratification by the Spanish parliament. There is also the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the extension to the lease on NASAs Deep Space Communications Station in Robledo de Chavela, the new Social Security agreement with the United States, a series of airspace deals with India, Mexico and Uzbekistan, and dual taxation covenants with Mexico, Finland and Qatar. Other issues will not even reach the floor of Congress for approval because they are still at too early a stage of negotiations, and Spanish legislators cannot move forward until a new government has been formed. These include the cleanup of the land that was contaminated in the nuclear accident over Palomares (Almeria) in 1966, the creation in Rota (Cadiz) of a helicopter airbase for US narcotics and law enforcement operations, and cooperation with India on peaceful uses for nuclear energy. The cleanup of the 1966 Palomares nuclear crash is on hold due to the lack of government. The continuity of the caretaker government [for nine months now] is having increasingly serious consequences for Spains international projection, derived from an institutional deadlock that makes our country look like a permanent lame duck, warns a report by the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry, to which EL PAIS has had access. The limits on diplomatic action, the loss of profile and influence, and the slowdown in decision-making all have negative consequences for our international prestige, as well as direct material costs, adds the report. And, as a medium-size power, the spaces that Spain leaves open are being quickly filled by other competing countries. The cost of non-government The foreign affairs report, titled The cost of non-government, illustrates its point with numerous examples of lost opportunities due to the absence of a fully functional executive. King Felipe VI has had to postpone or cancel trips to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Japan and South Korea, while dignitaries from Argentina and Israel have placed their visits to Spain on hold. Regular summits with countries such as Mexico, Turkey or Algeria are no longer taking place, and there have been no recent bilateral meetings with European partners such as France, Italy, Germany or Portugal. As a medium-size power, the spaces that Spain leaves open are being quickly filled by other competing countries Foreign ministry report We are being progressively excluded from the centers of power where all the great decisions are made, warns the report. The gatherings of European and international leaders continue to take place even as the members of the Spanish government are kept on the sidelines because they are unable to make the commitments that need to be made. According to the Foreign Ministry, this also explains why acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was absent from two summits held by France, Germany and Italy who have formed a core group to guide the future of the EU following the Brexit vote in Britain. And it is not just at the highest diplomatic level that Spain is losing prominence. Spanish ambassadors are gradually being received less frequently by foreign ministries, or received by lower-ranking officials. This has a direct impact on issues of national interest such as government procurement: other competitors with support from their own diplomatic personnel have an edge over us, says the Foreign Ministry. In Canada, Spanish firms are competing for an infrastructure program worth $60 billion; in Australia, Navantia is hoping to sell the government frigates; and in Iran, the nuclear agreement has set off a battle between Western companies to claim a stake in a market that had been off limits until recently. The report does not offer an estimate of the cost of this non-government, but says that Spain could face sanctions due to its inability to meet EU deadlines on a number of issues. The lack of a fully functional government also means that Spain cannot release funds it had pledged for international aid, such as the 7 million that were earmarked for Syria. In international politics, lost opportunities do not come back, warns a seasoned diplomat. Spain needs allies to become host to some of the EU agencies that will leave their current British headquarters, and to earn a seat on the UN Human Rights Committee. But, as the document notes: Who is going to ally themselves with a caretaker government that cannot promise anything? English version by Susana Urra. The house in Guadalajara where the four bodies were found. Ignacio Izquierdo The four members of a family whose remains were found early on Sunday morning in a house in Spains Guadalajara province had probably been dead for at least a month, investigators now say. The dismembered bodies of the two adults in their forties were found in plastic bags after a neighbor complained about a smell coming from the residence on a housing estate. Documents found in the house suggest the family came from Brazil The intact bodies of a five-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy were also found at the scene. Police believe the family was killed as payback in a drug dispute and that the killers were known to the family as there was no sign of doors having been forced. Professional killers carried out the murders, probably with a butchers knife or an ax, investigators said, citing the type of killing and the cleanness with which it was carried out. Death was rapid, there are no signs of torture. They didnt suffer, sources close to the investigation told EL PAIS. Because of a lack of furniture in the house, police believe the family killed was on the run or in hiding. The decomposed state of the bodies suggests they had been dead for at least a month. Documents found in the house suggest the family came from Brazil, but this is yet to be confirmed by DNA testing. Neither drugs nor large sums of money were found in the house. Sources from the investigation said the family had rented the house a month ago. Police have cordoned off the property and are now focusing on vehicles that have entered the private housing development in the last two months. English version by George Mills. Venezuela's President Maduro with his guests at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit. MIGUEL GUTIERREZ (EFE) More information Venezuela cierra la cumbre de los paises no alineados en medio de criticas Venezuela has closed out its hosting of the latest summit of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) bloc under heavy criticism. Poor attendance by foreign dignitaries, accusations of wasteful spending and widespread protests across the troubled nation dogged the five-day event, which finished on Sunday. Just 15 heads of state from the 120-member bloc bothered to attend the summit, held on the Caribbean island of Isla Margarita, 30 kilometers off Venezuelas northeast coast, to mark the countrys takeover of the movements rotating presidency. The presence of figures including the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, and Cuban leader Raul Castro, also led opponents to slate the five-day summit as a forum promoting authoritarianism. Forces opposed to Maduro are now pushing for a recall referendum in a bid to topple Maduro Meanwhile, members of the Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) opposition coalition roundly condemned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for spending a figure estimated at between $150 million and $250 million on the summit at a time when the country is experiencing shortages of food and medical supplies. Isla Margarita, a popular vacation destination, was put into a state of virtual lock-down during the event, with around 14,000 security personnel on duty. Private planes and drones were prohibited during the conference, while local people were banned from carrying arms. In the lead-up to the summit, buildings were repainted and anti-government graffiti covered up, while food was shipped in as the Venezuelan authorities attempted to spruce up the island, which has been even harder hit by shortages of essential supplies than the mainland. A visit by Maduro to Margarita Island two weeks ago was marred by noisy protests But the state of siege on an island, dubbed the Pearl of the Caribbean, was not limited to the NAM summit. Just two weeks before the meeting, a visit by Maduro to Margarita Island was marred by noisy protests which saw the hugely unpopular president his approval rating is currently at 11% harassed by angry locals. Around 30 protesters were arrested, including the Chilean-Venezuelan editor of the online newspaper Reporte Confidencial Braulio Jatar, which posted video footage of the incident online. Jatar has now been released, but his arrest led to diplomatic tensions between Chile and Venezuela. Homage to Chavez The Venezuelan Government marked the beginning of the NAM summit on Friday by unveiling a 3.8-meter-high bronze-plated statute of deceased former president Hugo Chavez on Isla Margarita. On the same day there were also nationwide protests throughout Venezuela as opposition forces continued to push for a recall referendum against Maduro. The majority of Venezuelans voted for the opposition in the December 6, 2015 parliamentary elections, thus giving it full control of the National Assembly. Forces opposed to Maduro are now pushing for a recall referendum in a bid to topple Maduro a process that would first require the collection of the signatures of 20% of eligible voters within a three-day period. If that referendum takes place on or before January 10, 2017, and Maduro loses the vote, new elections will be held. If, however, the referendum is held after that date and pro-MUD forces win the vote, Maduro will be simply replaced by current Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz, who will remain in power until new general elections in 2019. English version by George Mills. The break in the Colonial Pipeline in Alabama is having an effect in McDowell County. Ever since the break in that key pipeline to the Southeast, Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina joined his Southern counterparts in declaring a state of emergency. And gas stations here in McDowell County have seen the impact from the disruption of gas flow from the pipeline. Late last week, people started lining up at the pumps around McDowell as word spread about the pipeline break. Jessica Engle, manager of the Pit Stop on the five lane, said anxious folks were lined up at her business on Friday to make sure they could get some gas. As of Monday morning, the Pit Stop had only regular unleaded, which was being sold for $2.39 a gallon. There was no mid-grade or premium gas there. The station did have diesel fuel. I heard on the news they will have it fixed by this week, said Jimmy Hall as he pumped diesel into his truck at The Pit Stop. As far as I know they are still delivering the gas but people made a run on it because they were scared. Engle and her employee Mary Silver said their customers have been both understanding and impatient as well. The Pit Stops price of $2.39 for regular unleaded was above average compared to some others around Marion. Most places had regular unleaded at $2.19 a gallon. The Country Market was selling it for $2.15 a gallon. Our prices are higher because weve continuously got gas, said Engle about the Pit Stops prices. Theres several factors youve got to consider when it comes to gas prices. As of Monday afternoon, the Murphy Express on Sugar Hill Road had no gas at all. Only diesel was available. An employee declined to speak with The McDowell News about the situation. The sign for that business had the regular gas price at $2.09 a gallon. Lisa Burleson of Marion shared a photo with the newspaper that she took on Sunday of people lined up at the Murphy Express. Burleson didnt need gas when she took the photo because she had gotten her tank filled the day before at the Pilot Flying J further down the road. The price was $1.99 at that time, she said. On Monday, the Pilot Flying J had gas for $2.19 a gallon. Everybody has been concerned about gas, said Manager Amanda Thomas. Meanwhile, Robert Smith of Marion was out standing at the pump filling his tank. I wasnt worried, said Smith. I think weve got plenty of gas. I was worried about them going up on the prices. The Woodlawn Gas House Quality Plus on U.S. 221 North likewise had regular unleaded for $2.19 a gallon. The price was $1.95 before the pipeline break, said cashier Jan Roberts. Roberts said a gas truck had come in earlier Monday to replenish the supply at the Woodlawn Gas House but unlike other business, it was out of diesel fuel. Leslie Bowman was putting gas in her vehicle at the Woodlawn Gas House Monday. I think they are reacting to what they see online and in the news, she said. From what I saw, it should have only lasted for a few days. KGs Quik Stop on Rutherford Road had a chaotic situation over the weekend. Employees there said people were coming in Saturday to fill up barrels and big plastic containers with gasoline. That is highly dangerous, said one employee. We actually had an employee directing traffic, said Khalid Ghaleb, owner of KGs Quik Stop. A couple of the customers threatened each other in the parking lot. This forced Ghaleb to post a sign informing customers that there is a $20 limit on gasoline. In Old Fort, the Samirs Quick Stop No. 1 was selling gas for $2.19 a gallon on Monday. Manager Sue Hemenway said her store has some fuel left but not a lot. Its been pretty steady since we had a small delivery of gas this morning, she said, adding all she has now are regular and diesel. Like other places, most customers have been patient and understanding but a couple of customers started to get ugly. After a while, they calmed down. All in all, they have been pretty good, she said. More information Las FARC se abren al mundo en su ultima conferencia como grupo armado The highway that joins Florencia with San Vicente del Caguan was a war zone until July 20, 2015, when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared a self-imposed unilateral ceasefire. Every few kilometers, Rufino, a taxi driver who works in the Caqueta region, in southeast Colombia, remembers another incident from those war-torn days. The guerrillas blew up this bridge to hurt the state and while they were at it, they charged [people] for river crossings. It was here that they killed the Turbays [a family of liberal politicians]. They blew up a truck-bomb around that bend. Over the last few days, 900 journalists have traveled this road en route to the last FARC conference. Rebel leaders will be meeting with soldiers to ratify the peace deal negotiated with the Colombian government in Havana and renounce violence, so that they may begin their transition to becoming a political party. We have to make sure peace becomes a reality in our country based on social justice and democracy, said FARC leader Rodrigo Londono Echeverri also known as Timochenko at the opening ceremony of the conference. This means connecting the large nonconformist majorities with the active political life of our nation, added Timochenko, who was unarmed and dressed in civilian clothes. We have to make sure peace becomes a reality in our country based on social justice and democracy The conference, which runs until September 23, is being held in Llanos del Yari, a six-hour drive from San Vicente on unpaved roads. In preparation for the meeting, and with the permission of the Colombian government, FARC members set up campsites, makeshift kitchens, offices and tents to host rebel soldiers and visitors. For the first time in 50 years of conflict and after nine conferences, the insurgent group is opening up its congress to the world. Timochenko and all other members of the FARC Secretariat, the military command of the guerrilla, flew from Cuba to Colombia accompanied by Red Cross International and without any fear of arrest after the Colombian government threw out warrants for their capture. The rest of the groups high- and mid-level commanders faced no challenges at military checkpoints dispersed throughout this mountainous region. FARC members could not travel this freely when they held their first conference in 1965. Public talks will focus on women and the environment, and the conference will end with a concert Long gone are the meetings that transformed the Southern Bloc into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. There is no scheduled talk on military strategy or location of fronts at this years gathering. Timochenko said the group must send a new, fresh, and hopeful message for changes, and urged rebels to seek unity, without which all effort dissipates and is lost. Insurgents want to remember their struggle by praising their leaders, the fallen and those whom like Simon Trinidad, who is currently imprisoned in the United States they consider martyrs of the movement. Public talks will focus on women and the environment, and the conference will end with a concert. In a historic declaration of peace, rebels will pledge to put down their arms. And there will be no commemoration for the sixth and seventh conferences, during which the group decided to use kidnappings to finance the movement. Or for many other decisions that sowed pain throughout Colombia. Talk to the people in Caqueta, Rufino says. Theyll tell you that they will vote no in the referendum. Colombians will vote in favor or against the peace deal negotiated with rebels in a national referendum on October 2 the last hurdle to bringing an end to Latin Americas longest armed conflict. And ask them what they think of those who kidnapped their parents and siblings having seats [in Congress], he adds. There is a lot of pain here. If they told us Uribe could be president tomorrow, we would vote for him even though we know that would mean war. More lead. English version by Dyane Jean Francois. Takwa Rejeb may attend classes in her headscarf. MONICA TORRES A Muslim student who was kept out of a classroom for a week after refusing to take off her headscarf has been allowed back in. The regional government of Valencia said on Monday that Takwa Rejeb, 22, will be allowed to wear her hijab to class at Benlliure High School, in the city of Valencia, where she is following evening courses in tourism studies. The Valencian government said it reached its newest decision based on talks with the various agents involved The school had told Rejeb that she could not wear the veil to class because of a dress code adopted in 2009 prohibiting students from sporting any kind of headgear. Regional authorities had initially said that it was the schools prerogative to create its own internal rules and that it was not up to the Valencia department of education to rule either way. The same sources had suggested that Rejeb could attend another nearby school that offers the same course but does not have the headwear ban in place. But Rejeb refused and turned to the non-profit group SOS Racismo, which took up the issue with the Ombudsman and with the regional equivalent in Valencia. Benlliure High School, where Rejeb attends evening courses. Monica Torres On Monday, the regional government which is run by a leftist coalition of Socialists and the Valencian party Compromis announced that it has guaranteed the right to an education of the 22-year-old, who was born to Moroccan parents who emigrated to Spain. The Valencian department of education said it reached its newest decision based on talks with the various educational and social agents involved. It also said that it will draft a common set of rules regarding proper dress in the regions schools. It is unusual for regional authorities to take a stand in cases such as this one. A few years ago, a school in Pozuelo de Alarcon (Madrid) kept a Muslim student out for the same reason, but the regional government declined to take sides. The case went to court, and the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid ruled in favor of the school. English version by Susana Urra. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Google Ad Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens by Tanya Gazdik , September 19, 2016 The Art Institute of Chicago is launching an integrated campaign promoting several innovative digital tools that the museum is introducing to the public. Featuring multiple video, print and digital assets created by Leviathan, Chicago, the museum's campaign is currently unfolding on the institute's Web site, on digital signage throughout the museum, across the museum's social media channels and in traditional media placements. Mediavest | Spark is the media agency who executed the buys. One video promotes the Art Institute of Chicago JourneyMaker, the museum's digital installation that empowers visitors to create their own one-of-a-kind journeys in the museum. advertisement advertisement Showing families with young children visiting the interactive kiosk in the museum's Ryan Learning Center, the video uses colorful animation and seamless visual effects to illustrate how using JourneyMaker can transform museum visits into themed adventures. Another video details the offerings of the museums official mobile app. The videos will be available on the museums YouTube page and other social-media platforms. Stills from the videos will be used in print ads, in digital signage within the museum, and in e-mail outreach to the museums audiences. "The Art Institute is the perfect background for animated visuals to move throughout the space as well as being a metaphor of the visitor's journey and what it feels like to experience art with these new interactive technologies, says Bradon Webb, Leviathan creative director. The agencys mission was to create compelling and unique assets that the museum can use to spread the word about innovative technologies they are introducing to inspire engagement with technology, all of which is designed to help visitors better understand art while driving curiosity surrounding the collection, says Jason White, Leviathans executive creative director. Specifically aiming to attract new audiences, the Art Institute's executive director of digital experience, Michael Neault, envisioned the campaign as engaging visitors both inside and outside the museum. Our work with the Art Institute of Chicago is a great, ongoing opportunity to help the museum tell its story of leadership in digital media and interpretation, White says. by Kaila Colbin , Featured Contributor, September 16, 2016 Shes known as the Napalm Girl, and she appears in a photograph called "The Terror of War," taken by Nick Ut. In it, she is young, naked and clearly terrified. Ut won the Pulitzer Prize for the photo in 1973, which is credited with turning the tide of public opinion and leading to the end of the Vietnam War. This picture -- this image of unfathomably vast historical importance, of undeniably significant social commentary -- was removed from Facebook last week, when the social networks algorithms detected the nudity and deleted it from the account of the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, which had posted the image. Understandably, people were upset. Half the ministers in the Norwegian parliament reposted the picture, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Facebook then deleted the post from their pages. advertisement advertisement Aftenpostens editor in chief, Espen Egil Hansen, wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg: [D]ear Mark, you are the worlds most powerful editor However, even though I am editor-in-chief of Norways largest newspaper, I have to realize that you are restricting my room for exercising my editorial responsibility... I think you are abusing your power, and I find it hard to believe that you have thought it through thoroughly. Paul Carr at Pando was even more livid, saying that Facebook had lost its mind: Facebook and Zuckerberg are fine with censoring the most important war photograph of all time, and with censoring the Norwegian prime minister when she objects. But dont you dare upset Trump or Modi or therell be hell to pay. (Idea: Maybe Donald Trump could repost the Napalm Girl image and call her low energy and disgusting. Then FB will likely promote it.) I read Carrs piece, and immediately joined him in the soothing embrace of righteous outrage. But then I read the account by Horst Faas and Marianne Fulton about how the original picture reached the world. [A]n editor at the AP rejected the photo of Kim Phuc running down the road without clothing because it showed frontal nudity. Pictures of nudes of all ages and sexes, and especially frontal views were an absolute no-no at the Associated Press in 1972 [Then head of the Saigon photo department] Horst Faas argued by telex with the New York head-office that an exception must be made, with the compromise that no close-up of the girl Kim Phuc alone would be transmitted. The New York photo editor, Hal Buell, agreed that the news value of the photograph overrode any reservations about nudity. At that time, of course, there were no algorithms deciding what was appropriate and what wasnt. It was only people -- and they almost got it wrong, too. To be clear, the fact that an AP editor censored the Napalm Girl 40 years ago doesnt make it OK for Facebook to censor her today. But it does demonstrate that the task of distinguishing news from trash, of weighing context and determining social value, isnt merely a challenge in our algorithmically driven media age. Its a problem weve been having for decades -- centuries -- and every time it comes up, it gives us the opportunity to become better. Better how? Aftenpostens Hansen has a simple suggestion to start with: Facebook should distinguish between editors and other Facebook-users. Editors cannot live with you, Mark, as a master editor. Surely this would be straightforward to implement. News sources of a certain standard can be authorized to determine context and newsworthiness. Allowing actual editors to have actual editorial control would actually bolster Facebooks argument that its just a neutral carrier, not a news outlet. In this instance, the uproar eventually reached some real humans at Facebook, and the photo was reinstated. Now its up to Facebook to adapt its systems so this doesnt happen again. by Chase Martin , September 18, 2016 The Internet of Things may be taking a turn toward invisibility when it comes to marketing, at least in how a new connected farm is being positioned. Freight Farms, the company that turns shipping containers into year-round farms, is introducing a new connected farm unit that is four times smaller than its flagship offering. The new farm is geared toward small and medium sized businesses and restaurants who might want to grow their own produce and the connected features that make the product operate arent being positioned front and center Rather, the connectivity is seen as an expected feature set in the eyes of the modern day customer, according to Freight Farms. The IoT Daily talked with the Freight Farms team at a product reveal event in Boston over the weekend about how connectivity and the Internet of Things play into the products and how they are positioned in the market. When it comes to remote operation and connectivity, Freight Farms Community Manager Caroline Katsiroubas said businesses and consumers alike these days expect to be able to manage their devices and services remotely through a smartphone. As a result, integrating such connectivity into products is essential for any brand as the market moves into a more and more connected world, according to Katsiroubas. The new Freight Farms unit aims to simplify the farming process to three stages: planting, monitoring and harvesting. Farmers order the seeds directly from Freight Farms, as well as other supplies like the nutrients that flow through the hydroponic system (no soil is involved) and then the farm system monitors and adjusts the levels of nutrients introduced into the water being fed to the greens automatically, since it knows which plants are growing, thanks to IoT technology running on the platform of Boston-based Xively. Through the Farmhand app, farmers receive notifications when the produce is ready to be harvested and cameras inside the farm provide a real-time look into the different areas of each shipping container. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, September 19, 2016 Donald Trump dropped his five-year long birther position, asserting that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, speaking at his new Washington D.C. hotel on Friday. The GOP nominee deflected any blame for inciting or inflaming the issue, putting the onus for starting the birther movement squarely on Hillary Clinton and her 2008 campaign. Cleverly pushing aside his central role in promoting the preposterous idea that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, Trump declared: Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Trump has gone from conceding one five-year falsehood to creating another in the same breath. While there is some evidence of a 2008 Clinton staffer addressing the question of President Obamas birth, that person was immediately let go. Sid Blumenthal is also mixed up in the issue, with evidence that he spoke to a reporter about Obamas birth during the 2008 campaign. advertisement advertisement What is clear is that Donald Trump gave birtherism legs and members of the Republican party, particularly those who now support him, latched on. According to a recent PPP poll, taken before Trump's speech on Friday, 59% of his supporters believe that President Obama is not an American. There is little indication that Trumps statement will change any minds. Many are either pushing the issue aside, or sticking with their birther roots. At a rally in Miami on Friday evening, Politico spoke with a couple of Trump supporters: I know it in my heart [that Obama is not American], said Pedro Almeyda. I never believed Obama was a real American, Jim Neubauer added to Politico. The word from the Trump campaign: Lets move on to creating jobs, defeating radical Islam, rebuilding our inner cities. Some reporters will let the Trump campaigns newly formed approach to the birther issue slide, now that we have closure. But others wont. John Dickerson of CBS Face the Nation, took Kellyanne Conway, Trumps campaign manager, on a long and indepth question thread on the issue: The reason I want to stick on this a little bit is he promoted this for five years. So, this isnt just some passing notion. Following additional accusations of the Clinton campaign, Dickerson pleaded for accuracy and consistency, nonexistent virtues across the 2016 presidential spectrum: You said he got the birth certificate released and that put an end to it. But it didnt put an end it for him. For years he continued to question it and whether the birth certificate was a fraud. So, when the campaign puts out a statement and says he ended [it] in 2011, and you have asserted that today, thats just not the truth, is it? In essence, the question about President Obamas birth is ludicrous. The fact that it was made into a central issue for so many years is proof that inflamed rhetoric drowns out truth. When was this ever a debate? I mean it was a debate on the fringes in certain sectors. Whether voters respond to it or not, its appalling. Its appalling on its face to actually watch this argument play out. Its edifying to none, Mark Leibovich of The New York Times cogently ended the conversation on Face the Nation. by Larissa Faw , September 19, 2016 La Quinta Inns & Suites has selected Horizon Media as its media AOR following a competitive review. Horizon will be responsible for communications planning and paid media activations across all channels for La Quinta's portfolio, which includes La Quinta Inn and Suites and La Quinta Inn brands. La Quinta spent $35 million on ads in 2015 according to Kantar Media. About $13.1 million of that was earmarked for TV advertising, according to iSpot.tv, compared to $13.3 million spent by Marriott and $10.7 million by Best Western. Horizons first work will launch in January 2017 with an integrated campaign that will promote the hotel chain across the U.S. to business travelers who are considering select service hotel options. Some of the amenities highlighted in the ads will include the free "Bright Side Breakfast," free high-speed internet, business center, and bright in-room work areas. advertisement advertisement We were impressed with Horizons strategic thinking and data driven insights, stated Julie Cary, EVP and chief marketing officer, La Quinta. Earlier this year, La Quinta introduced an ad campaign that highlighted the hotel chain as the place to recreate the comfort of one's home. La Quinta's portfolio consists of more than 880 properties representing approximately 87,500 rooms located in 48 states in the U.S., and in Canada, Mexico and Honduras. These properties operate under the La Quinta Inn & Suites, La Quinta Inn and LQ Hotel brands. Knowing that a picture represents real life changes how we perceive it, say scientists in the Netherlands. Findings presented at the annual conference of the European College of Neuropharmacology show that people react differently to an image if they are told it is art, compared with images from real life. Share on Pinterest How we view images changes if we know they represent real life. Part of the study has also been published in the journal Brain and Cognition. In 1790, the philosopher Immanuel Kant published his Critique of Judgment, in which he claimed that to appreciate a work of art, we need to distance ourselves from it emotionally. This new study confirms that most peoples conscious, emotional response will not be the same when presented with a work of art as when they see a real-life image. To look more closely at how peoples brains respond on an unconscious level, a group of researchers from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, carried out two experiments. Assessing real-life images and works of art First, 24 student volunteers each judged a series of 120 pictures, half of which would normally be considered pleasant, and half unpleasant. The pictures were equally divided into three groups, art, fictitious, and real. Each group was introduced with a brief explanation of the type of pictures in the group, whether they depicted true or staged events, or realistic paintings, and where the pictures came from, whether archives, instructional materials, or museum collections. As the participants viewed the images, an electroencephalogram (EEG) measured their brain activity. The measurements focused on a brain signal known as the Late Positive Potential (LPP). Measurements reveal how much electromagnetic activity there is in the cortex 0.6 to 0.9 seconds after first seeing a stimulus. In addition, they gave a score for the likeability and attractiveness of each picture. Results were consistently different when participants saw an image that they thought was real, compared with a so-called work of art. Fictitious images elicited a lower emotional response than real-life ones, whether the images were positive or negative. Works of art were also judged to be more likeable than real-life images. This suggests that the human brain unconsciously adjusts its emotional response, depending on whether a person believes something should be understood at face value, or if it should be interpreted as art. It would seem that structure and style drive the liking in the case of artwork, while emotion drives the reaction to real-life images. New research shows it is possible to diagnose asthma from a patients saliva. The method, which uses mass spectrometry to look for metabolic markers, holds promise as a non-invasive way to test for a condition that affects millions of people, many of whom are children. Share on Pinterest Unlike other sampling methods that are more invasive, the new test just needs a sample of saliva that can be collected from passive drool from patients of all ages. Asthma is a chronic condition where the affected person has repeated attacks of breathlessness and wheezing. The attacks vary in severity and frequency from person to person. During an asthma attack, the linings of the bronchial tubes swells. This causes the airways to narrow, which in turn reduces the flow of air in and out of the lungs. While its causes are not completely understood, we do know that inhaling certain substances such as allergens, tobacco smoke and chemical irritants can trigger an asthma attack. There is currently no cure for asthma, but it can be managed and kept under control to enable patients to enjoy a good quality of life. Tests for asthma are used to diagnose and monitor the condition. Current clinical methods for diagnosing asthma, such as measurement of airflow lung capacity, are inaccurate and do not reflect underlying changes associated with the condition. Other tests using blood, sputum, or urine can be distressing, particularly for children. Now, in a study published in the journal Analytical Methods, researchers from Loughborough University and Nottingham City Hospital in the United Kingdom describe how their method offers a simple, painless, non-invasive way to test for asthma. The results of a small study bring some positive news for men with low sexual desire; they suggest light therapy exposure to bright artificial light, often used to treat seasonal affective disorder could also boost mens libido. Share on Pinterest Researchers suggest men with low sexual desire may benefit from light therapy. It is estimated that up to one quarter of men have a low sex drive defined as lack of interest in sex. Anxiety, stress, depression, and other psychological factors can be causes of low sexual desire in men, as well as a reduction in the male sex hormone testosterone. The new study recently presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress in Vienna, Austria found early morning exposure to bright light for 2 weeks increased mens testosterone levels, enhancing their sexual satisfaction. Study leader Prof. Andrea Fagiolini, of the Department of Mental Health at the University of Siena in Italy, told Medical News Today that the findings came as no surprise. As a matter of fact, we already knew that sexual function increases during spring and summer and hypothesized that this might well have to do with the exposure to light, she said. Also, a previous study found a relationship between exposure to light therapy and increase in the levels of LH a pituitary hormone called luteinizing hormone that raises testosterone levels in men. Threefold increase in sexual satisfaction with light therapy For their study, Prof. Fagiolini and colleagues decided to further investigate how bright light exposure influences mens testosterone levels, and what impact this might have on sexual desire. The team recruited 38 men who had been diagnosed with either hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) or sexual arousal disorder; both conditions are characterized by low interest in sex. Participants were divided into two groups; one group received 30-minute exposure to a specially adapted light box every morning for 2 weeks, while the other group the control group was exposed to a box that emitted much less light. The mens testosterone levels and their interest in sex were assessed before and after the 2-week light box exposure. Compared with the control group, men exposed to the active light treatment showed a significant increase in sexual satisfaction, the team reports. Before treatment, both groups averaged a sexual satisfaction score of around 2 out of 10, but after treatment the group exposed to the bright light was scoring sexual satisfaction scores of around 6.3 a more than threefold increase on the scale we used, explains Prof. Fagiolini. In comparison, the control group reported an average score of 2.7 following their 2-week treatment. What is more, the researchers found men who received the active light therapy experienced an increase in testosterone levels over the 2-week period, from 2.3 nanograms per milliliter to 3.6 nanograms per milliliter. The control group showed no change in testosterone levels. The sense of touch may play a more crucial role in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than previously assumed. The main findings of the doctoral research of Eliane Deschrijver, which are now published, show that individuals with ASD may have difficulties to determine which tactile sensations belong to the action of someone else. ASD: social problems and sensory sensitivities Many individuals with ASD are over- or undersensitive to sensory information. Some feel overwhelmed by busy environments such as supermarkets, others are less sensitive to pain, or dislike being touched. Large-scale queries in the scientific literature had reported already that the severity of daily social difficulties of individuals with ASD is strongly related to the extent to which they are sensitive to touch, more so than to the extent to which they show visual or auditory sensitivities. To determine why this is the case, Eliane Deschrijver and her colleagues investigated how the brain of individuals with and without ASD uses own touch to understand touch sensations in the actions of others. Prof. dr. Marcel Brass clarifies: We think that the human brain uses the own sense of touch to distinguish one's self from others: When I perform an action that leads to a tactile sensation, for instance by making a grasping movement, I expect to feel a tactile sensation that corresponds to this. If my own touch tells me something else, the tactile sensation will probably belong to the other person, and not to me. The brain can thus effectively understand others by signaling tactile sensations that do not correspond to the own sense of touch." Neuroscientific research In a series of experiments with electro-encephalography (EEG) conducted at Ghent University, the scientists showed that the brain activity of adults with ASD differs from that of adults without ASD while processing touch. The research showed that the human brain of individuals without ASD indicated very quickly when a tactile sensation does not correspond to the own sense of touch. This means that the human brain is able to signal that a tactile sensation of a finger that touches a surface does not correspond to own touch. This process occured otherwise in the brain of adults with ASD however. Their brain signaled to a much lesser extent when the external touch sensation did not correspond to their own touch. Those individuals that experienced stronger sensory difficulties showed a stronger disturbance of the neural process, while they were also the ones that experienced more severe social difficulties. "It is to my knowledge the first time that a relationship could be identified between the way individuals with ASD process tactile information in their brain, and their daily social difficulties. The findings can yield a novel and crucial link between sensory and social difficulties within the autism spectrum", concludes Eliane Deschrijver. "These findings primarily lead to a better understanding of the complex disorder, and of associated difficulties. It is yet too early to conclude on the impact on interventions. If the results can be confirmed in future studies of other groups with ASD, such as (young) children, they could provide a target for optimizing treatment", according to prof. dr. Wiersema. The research was conducted within the novel research centre EXPLORA at Ghent University, led by prof. dr. Roeljan Wiersema and prof. dr. Marcel Brass (also promotors of the PhD dissertation). Article: The interaction between felt touch and tactile consequences of observed actions: an action-based somatosensory congruency paradigm, Eliane Deschrijver, Jan R. Wiersema and Marcel Brass, Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi: 10.1093/scan/nsv081, published online 7 July 2016. STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces Google Ad There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Google Ad Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens Advertisement For the study, the researchers evaluated the internet use of 254 freshmen at McMaster University in Ontario. The researchers used a tool called the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), developed in 1998 which is a standard test to measure excessive reliance on internet, as well as their own scale based on more recent criteria."Internet use has changed radically over the last 18 years, through more people working online, media streaming, social media, etc. We were concerned that the IAT questionnaire may not have been picking up on problematic modern internet use, or showing up false positives for people who were simply using the internet rather than being over-reliant on it," said chief researcher Dr. Michael Van Ameringen, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at McMaster.With the new screening tool, 33 students met criteria for internet addiction, and 107 for problematic internet use.Van Ameringen's team also assessed the students' mental health, including signs of impulsiveness, depression, anxiety and stress.Most of those addicted to the internet had trouble controlling their use of video streaming and social networking sites as well as instant messaging tools, the researchers found.They had more trouble handling their daily routines and higher rates of depression, anxiety, impulsiveness and inattention. They also had problems with planning and time management, the researchers found.Dr. Jan Buitelaar is a professor of psychiatry at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands said "Excessive use of the internet is an understudied phenomenon that may disguise mild or severe psychopathology; excessive use of the internet may be strongly linked to compulsive behavior and addiction."The study is scheduled to be presented Sunday at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology's (ECNP) annual meeting in Vienna, Austria.The new research only found an association between internet use and mental health. Van Ameringen said a larger study is needed to learn if these mental health issues are a cause or a result of excessive internet use.Professor Van Ameringen said "We found that those screening positive on the IAT as well as on our scale, had significantly more trouble dealing with their day to day activities, including life at home, at work/school and in social settings. Individuals with internet addiction also had significantly higher amounts of depression and anxiety symptoms, problems with planning and time management, greater levels of attentional impulsivity as well as ADHD symptoms."This leads to a couple of questions: firstly, is the prevalence of internet addiction being underestimated and secondly are these other mental health issues a cause or consequence of this excessive reliance on the internet."This may have practical medical implications. If you are trying to treat someone for an addiction when in fact they are anxious or depressed, then you may be going down the wrong route. We need to understand this more, so we need a bigger sample, drawn from a wider, more varied population," Van Ameringen said.Another study by the Department of Health in 2014 in Hong kong found some 51.7% of youngsters aged between 15 and 24 spent 20 to 50 hours on the internet per week, up from 32.3% who did so in 2003. The number was about 37.4% for those aged between 10 and 14, up from 16.3%.The trend is believed to be much worse nowadays as smartphones have become a part of daily life, the department's consultant of student health service Dr Thomas Chung Wai-hung of Integrated Centre on Addiction Prevention and Treatment under the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, said.A majority were teenagers below the age of 17, who usually developed serious addiction to online games or cyber pornography. One in 10 refused to go to school because they were so addicted. Some even played truant for months.Elderly addicts, including three aged above 60 years, had other forms of addiction, such as online shopping or gambling, which led them into financial problems."Spending too much time on the internet and electronic screen products may hinder the development of social skills in kids," Chung said. "It also leads to sleep deprivation which affects the growth and development of children and adolescents."Source: Medindia Hyperventilation is a fast and/or deep irregular breathing which can be due to a number of causes. It is often triggered by anxiety, depression, fear and stress. It also occurs when the body detects a reduced oxygen level or an increase in carbon dioxide level in the blood. Rapid breathing leads to excess loss of the carbon dioxide and hence, decreases the carbon dioxide levels in the blood resulting in a condition called hypocapnia. This can lead to a rise in the blood pH, a condition called respiratory alkalosis. Respiratory alkalosis can cause many symptoms like tingling in the hands and feet, headache, dizziness, spasms of the muscles, seizures and weakness. These symptoms may be more obvious to the patient, who may not notice the hyperventilation. The patient may also experience symptoms of chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, confusion, bloating and sleep disturbances. The following conditions can cause hyperventilation: Anxiety: Feeling anxious is normal, and many get anxious when starting a new work, taking an important decision or before an exam. Anxiety can cause hyperventilation and, it is more among females. If anxiety causes distress and disturbs the normal life, it is referred to as an anxiety disorder. Stress can also cause hyperventilation. Feeling anxious is normal, and many get anxious when starting a new work, taking an important decision or before an exam. Anxiety can cause hyperventilation and, it is more among females. If anxiety causes distress and disturbs the normal life, it is referred to as an anxiety disorder. Stress can also cause hyperventilation. Panic Attack: An abrupt onset of intense fear leading to a severe physical reaction in the absence of an apparent cause is called a panic attack. A panic attack is not life-threatening but often affects the quality of life. The patient may present with symptoms like a sense of danger, hot flashes, palpitations, shaking, hyperventilation, headache, nausea, chills, tingling and numbness, and dizziness. Fear about the recurrence of the panic attack can be daunting for the patient. Medications are used to prevent and treat a panic attack. Advertisement Pregnancy: Hyperventilation in pregnancy is common. As the pregnancy advances, the uterus (womb) grows bigger and can lead to hyperventilation. Heart conditions: Conditions like heart attack and heart failure can cause hyperventilation. It is important to rule out any heart condition in a hyperventilating patient. Conditions like and heart failure can cause hyperventilation. It is important to rule out any heart condition in a hyperventilating patient. Lung Conditions: Conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary embolism can cause hyperventilation. Decrease in oxygen or increase in carbon dioxide content in the blood can stimulate hyperventilation. Conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary embolism can cause hyperventilation. Decrease in oxygen or increase in carbon dioxide content in the blood can stimulate hyperventilation. Metabolic Acidosis: Conditions like diabetic ketoacidosis, lactic acidosis, chronic kidney disease or acute kidney injury cause metabolic acidosis, that is, they reduce the pH of the blood. To compensate the acidosis, the lungs hyperventilate. Conditions like diabetic ketoacidosis, lactic acidosis, chronic kidney disease or acute kidney injury cause metabolic acidosis, that is, they reduce the pH of the blood. To compensate the acidosis, the lungs hyperventilate. Infection: Infections can lead to a rise in the temperature (fever) which stimulates the brain to hyperventilate. Infections like pneumonia and sepsis (blood infection) cause hyperventilation. Infections can lead to a rise in the temperature (fever) which stimulates the brain to hyperventilate. Infections like pneumonia and sepsis (blood infection) cause hyperventilation. Drugs: Aspirin is an acidic drug, it causes metabolic acidosis on overdose intake which can lead to hyperventilation. Drugs like acetazolamide, topiramate, sulthiame and zonisamide can also cause hyperventilation. Severe Pain: Severe pain after trauma can cause hyperventilation. Severe pain after trauma can cause hyperventilation. Bleeding: Severe bleeding can cause hyperventilation. The main goal is to increase the carbon dioxide levels in the blood during the episode of hyperventilation. This can be achieved in two steps. The patient needs to be reassured in a calming tone. The patient should breathe with the lips pursed or with one nostril (by closing the mouth and another nostril). This helps to increase the carbon dioxide and to reduce the symptoms due to hyperventilation induced respiratory alkalosis. Diagnosing the cause to provide appropriate treatment is essential. Tests like measuring the blood levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen, electrocardiogram, chest x-ray, chest CT scan, ventilation/perfusion scan of lungs may be requested. The cause has to be treated to prevent further episodes. On September 9, 2016, U.S. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nebraska) introduced a bipartisan resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for support for the creation of a Nineveh Plain province in Iraq. A press release on the measure noted that "the Nineveh Plain was once a thriving, pluralistic area of Iraq with a rich tapestry of religious and ethnic diversity. This resolution, which follows on the Government of Iraq's own initiative to create a province in the Nineveh Plain region, seeks to restore the ancestral homeland of so many suffering communities." Iraqi Christian religious objects about to be destroyed, in an ISIS video The actual borders of such a possible region are not entirely clear, but can be said as constituting all or most of the administrative districts of Hamdaniya, Tel Kayf, and Sheekhan. This area was, at least until the ISIS invasion of June-August 2014, particularly diverse, with significant populations of Assyro-Chaldean Christians, Yazidis, and Shabak.[1] The Christian population was clustered in some very ancient towns and villages, such as Alqosh, Bartella, and Bakhdida, particularly important in the survival of the autochthonous Syriac-speaking Christian communities for the past two thousand years. Most of these populations were dispersed as of August 2014 and remain either as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kurdistan or as refugees elsewhere. This is the area where the Islamic State (ISIS) blew up large parts of the historic fourth-century Mar Behnam Syrian Catholic monastery, described by Jules Leroy in 1963 as "unique" as a result of its redecoration in the 12th century and "the most representative monument of Christian art in Mesopotamia at the time of Atabeks of Mosul." Nearby Yazidi and Shia shrines were destroyed at the same time.[2] Individuals were murdered or enslaved by the Islamic State, sometimes with the connivance of some Sunni Arab Muslim neighbors. Almost as tragic was the displacement of local people from their ancestral homes with only the clothes on their backs.[3] Mar Behnam before its destruction in March 2015 by ISIS The Congressional bill follows in the steps of a long series of statements from Iraqi officials on the subject. Generally, the concept has been at least given lip service by a wide range of Iraqi Shia and Kurdish politicians. In January 2014, the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved, in principle, turning the districts of Tuz Khurmato, Fallujah, and the Nineveh Plain into provinces. Ironically, it was the Sunni Arab leadership in Mosul - the same population that the Islamic State has sought to make its own - that opposed the division of Nineveh Governorate.[4] Not surprisingly, now that the possible liberation of Mosul nears, some Sunni Arabs talk of making the area an autonomous region, while the Iraqi Kurdish leadership has proposed separating the Yazidi (Sinjar) and Nineveh Plain districts from Mosul, making Nineveh Governorate into three separate entities. The Christian and humanist in me wants this project to succeed, and believes that it should be tangibly supported by people of good will everywhere.[5] The former U.S. diplomat in me is much more cynical and fears that such a fragile concept could well be crushed between the contending, vaulting ambitions of Shia-ruled Baghdad and Kurdish nationalism, not to mention the need to appease an alienated and volatile Sunni Arab population based in Mosul.[6] Three smart, dedicated American activists, with deep knowledge of the issue and the human terrain, recently outlined a thoughtful, nuanced plan that seeks to minimize many of the biggest pitfalls.[7] Especially important is their prioritizing the challenges of security and of community reconciliation. The Nineveh Plain project has, at least, some real support within the Iraqi ruling class and is not something that can be categorized as a foreign imposition on local people. One unspoken challenge is how economically viable can this project be as we see donor fatigue and a shortfall in humanitarian assistance as the international community seeks to respond to constant, deep crises across the region.[8] Indeed, the entire country is threatened by a deep economic crisis exacerbated by rampant corruption and low oil prices.[9] Unreached by ISIS, the holiest Yazidi shrine of Sheikh Adi at Lalish But beyond helping in the survival of battered historic communities, this project raises some important questions - not so much about Middle East Christians and Yazidis or even about Iraq but about the region as a whole. For years, the motivating ideologies of authoritarians in or out of power in the region have been strands of pan-Arabism or Islamism. Both have been used to impose tyranny, stamp out difference and diversity, and crush any move towards a more tolerant and diverse society (which actually existed in the region during the pre-modern era.) If pan-Arabism had a place for Arab Christians, it excluded Kurds and other non-Arabs. Islamism, of course, excluded or sought to subjugate Christians, Druze, Alawites and secularists and free thinkers of almost every stripe. Both Arabism and Islamism still exert a powerful hold, officially and in the popular imagination. At times, they can even be combined.[10] The existence of the State of Israel is, of course, a constant, vivid challenge to both these worldviews. At different times over the past decades, Lebanese Christians, Assyrian Christians, Kurds, Amazigh and South Sudanese have also been marked as transgressors from this seemingly ceaseless, brutal drive towards unity, whether Arab or Islamist. And while the pan-Arabism parroted by sclerotic regimes seems to have withered on the vine, various contending forms of Islamism are still THE default political alternative in much of the region. But much of the Middle East is in freefall today, with practically all pillars of authority and power shaken, and with the prospects of this great unraveling region wide continuing over decades to come. One has to wonder whether the moment for a more decentralized Middle East, one that can recognize local differences, local rights and greater autonomy, can finally be nearing. Certainly the consequences of totalitarian centralizing authority, political, economic, cultural or even agricultural, are there for all to see in the Syrian nightmare of Bashar Al-Assad.[11] It may be that the latest U.S.-Russia-Syria-Iran agreement may "save" Syria, or that Syrian rebels may be able to outnumber and outlast Assad, but a more likely scenario may be a continuation of the status quo. If so, the eventual possibility of some sort of loose, de facto partition under the guise of federalism may become an option. The Syrian opposition still seems to be particularly opposed to such an outcome.[12] And at the same time, Assad talks of reconquering the entire the country.[13] In sync with the way the regional political game has been played, they both still want it all. Beyond the countries of the Fertile Crescent, one can see value in more decentralized and autonomous arrangements, from North Africa to Sudan to Yemen. Such concepts are still mostly political heresy, but perhaps the time for heresy has come, but only if there is real local political will. It can't be a Western project. An Iraqi autonomous region or governorate of minorities may be a strange place to start a regional trend. But instead of building new empires perhaps the region may be much better served to think small and local. Instead of investing in more dreams of grandeur, perhaps investing in humility and in simple humanity could pay off this time. As Robert Nicholson has suggested, it may be time for a new vision of a wounded region that is more organic, "smaller," and prudent.[14] Building arrangements where oppressed groups are empowered and given autonomy, without prejudicing the rights of others, is not an idea which has been tried and failed.[15] It has hardly been tried at all in the Middle East where minorities are abused and marginalized, and so are majorities. *Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice-President of MEMRI. Endnotes: On September 19, 2016, following of reports that American forces have entered Northern Syria, Ibrahim Al-Amin, board chairman of the pro-Hizbullah Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, published a virulent article titled "For Us, The Americans Are Murderers And Thieves Who Must Be Resisted." In it, Al-Amin attacked the U.S., which he claimed occupies Iraq and now Syria as well, and called to kill every armed American outside the U.S. and expel all "American functionaries," including diplomats, civil society activists and academics, from Arab countries. The following is a translation of the article:[1] Ibrahim Al-Amin (image: Siyese.net) "It is the 'right' of the Americans - the government, the people, and the institutions - to not learn from their experience in maintaining relations with the other peoples of the world. However, the problem lies in the fact that some of our own people do not wish to learn [either], and continue to rely on this group of murderers and thieves. What can be done with such people? Nothing. But every time, and in more than one place in the world, and in every generation, there is a group that realizes that the only way to deal with an arrogant murderer is by using own method, logic, and language. "The U.S. does not suffice with reoccupying Iraq, but has decided to expand its conquest to Syria. The excuse it uses [to convince] itself is understandable, since all the elements it tasked with toppling the Syrian state, harming the resistance, and preventing any substantial change in the region have failed. "Ok. It can do what it sees fit. But we too must do what suits us. We must shoot any American carrying arms outside the U.S., without considering the reason for his presence [outside the U.S.] and whether it is the result of a request by some element or another. This is an occupying force that must be resisted with bullets and fire. "We will [also] expel all official American functionaries: diplomats, administrators, academics, and especially the peace-lovers, human rights and civil society [activists], and particularly the heads of civil society organizations. [Additionally,] we will expel anyone who interacts with them, whether directly or indirectly. This is just a handful of thieves who will not be swayed by words, requests, and even rebukes. They only understand the language of fire and iron. "We have no method other than to expel the American occupation from our countries, whether it is military, security, diplomatic, or some other [type of occupation]. We will kill them and expel them and distance them from us. Whoever wants them present will have to pay the price of their filth." Endnotes: In a September 18, 2016 column in the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, columnist Khaled Al-Ashhab rejected the claim that the September 17, 2016 U.S. airstrike on Syrian army troops in Deir Al-Zor was an accident, saying that the U.S. forces possessed technological means to prevent such accidents. He added that this claim was a lie, and that the Americans kept their true intentions in their hearts and minds. This airstrike, he added, was further proof that the U.S. has been collaborating with the terrorists against the Syrian regime and aiding them for the past five years. It should be noted that similar claims have been made by Syrian regime officials. President Bashar Al-Assad's political and media advisor Buthaina Sha'ban told the French news agency AFP: "The raid was deliberate. Everything was premediated. ISIS knew about it, and when it advanced the raids stopped."[1] Syria's UN envoy Bashar Al-Jaafari said that the purpose of the airstrike was to undermine the U.S.-Russian ceasefire agreement reached on September 10, 2016.[2] Map of area where the U.S. airstrike took place (Image: facebook.com/DeirEzzor24, September 17, 2016) The following are excerpts from Al-Ashhab's column: [3] "Why do people condemn the American airstrike and why are they surprised by it? After all, the U.S. has been bombing the Arab Syrian army for over five years by means of others [i.e., Assad's enemies in Syria]. The only difference is that, this time, the finger that pulled the trigger was strictly American. This time, just like in over 100 occasions in the past, its planes 'made a mistake.' Instead of airdropping weapons and food to ISIS, they dropped bombs on the Syrian army. It's the same thing. "So it was just a mistake, the U.S. army claimed yesterday. An accident. Would the terrorist global aggression be targeting Syria for the past five years had the U.S. not deliberately pushed it towards Syria, from the north and the south? "Where would ISIS, Jabhat Al-Nusra and their ilk acquire all these weapons, had America not made occasional 'mistakes' when ferrying [weapons] across the border or dropping them from the sky? It's quite amazing that America's coordinate[-system] technology could not identify ISIS's convoys, only the units of the Arab Syrian army. "This [claim] is ridiculous, of course, just [like the claim] that the U.S. was unable to distinguish between the terrorists and the 'moderates,' on the grounds that their [troops] intermingled. Does the Syrian army mix with ISIS, so that even the Americans are unable to understand what is happening? Or have the achievements of the [Syrian] army exposed that the Americans are mixing with ISIS? "So this American mistake was actually correct. It was a mistake on the outside but intentional on the inside. The Americans utter lies, while [keeping] their intentional actions in their hearts and minds." Endnotes: The results of the Duma elections were no surprise. The ruling party, United Russia (UR), led the polls, followed by the Russian Communist Party (CPRF), the right wing Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and Fair Russia. UR received a constitutional majority, winning 343 mandates (140 seats in the federal district and another 203 in single-member constituencies) in the 450-member Duma (76.22% of seats), the CPRF won 42 mandates (9.34%), the LDPR 39 mandates (8.67%) and Just Russia 23 mandates (5.11%). Rodina, Civic Platform (Grazhdanskaya Platforma), and independent candidate Vladislav Reznik gained one seat each.[1] The electoral system used in the present elections is mixed: Half of the Duma members (225) are elected by proportional representation from party lists with a 5% electoral threshold, and the other half are elected in a first-past-the-post system. In the 2011 Duma elections, where the threshold was 7%, UR received 238 mandates, the CPRF won 92 mandates, Just Russia 64 mandates, and the LDPR 56 mandates. The results of the 2016 elections show that UR, with a 54.23% victory, managed to win over 100 seats more than in 2011, while the CPRF lost around 50 seats. The big surprise was the LDPR, which managed to catch up with the CPRF. The big loser is the democratic opposition. Yabloko (The Russian United Democratic Party), which won 6.58% in 2011, received only 1.9% of the vote, whereas Parnas (The People's Freedom Party) received less than one percent. In Moscow's central district, Parnas candidate Andrei Zubov and Open Russia candidate Maria Baronova lost to United Russia candidate Nikolai Gonchar.[2] Results of the 2016 Duma elections. (Source: Rt.com, September 19, 2016) Results of the 2011 Duma elections. (Euronews.com) Low Voter Turnout Overall voter turnout was 47.9%, meaning that the results of this election represent the will of less than half of eligible voters. Opposition media outlet Meduza.io reported: "According to preliminary data, turnout in Moscow, the Moscow Region, and St. Petersburg was also at a record low. As of 6 PM on Sunday, only 28.62% of Moscow's voters had cast their vote (a striking contrast with the 50.1% that had voted by 6 PM the day of the 2011 elections). In the Moscow region, this figure stood at 21.73% (as opposed to 44% in 2011) and 17% in St. Petersburg (as opposed to 38.65% in 2011). The maximum turnout in Sunday's elections was seen in the Kemerovo region, where 78.96% of the population had voted by 5 PM, in the Tyumen region, where 74.3% of the population had voted by 5 PM, and in Chechnya, where 72.16% of the population had voted by 5 PM."[3] Before the elections, political expert Dmitri Oreshkin argued that while the elections have predetermined results, they represent "internal vibration" in Russia's authorities. He explained that if United Russia receives more than 40% of the vote, the system of power will preserve its shape, but if it receives less than 35%, the policy vector will change, leading to the reshaping of the government, including the resignation of Russian Prime Minister and UR Chairman Dmitri Medvedev. Thus, he suggested that the opposition should indeed go out to vote and not boycott the elections, since low voter turnout plays in favor of the ruling party.[4] Commenting on the low turnout, CPRF leader Gennady Zuganov said: "Two thirds of the country did not come to vote - that's a disturbing sign." Just Russia party leader Sergey Mironov said that the low turnout is explained by the Russian voter distrust regarding a fair outcome of the elections and a fair tally of the ballots.[5] On the other hand, Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri Peskov stated that the turnout was higher than the European average, stating: "Of course, a higher turnout would be welcomed, but there is no need to downplay the importance of the [turnout] numbers we are having at the moment. It cannot be called low. You know that in a majority of the European states, the turnout is much lower and it reflects the reality and the proportion of politically active population, which traditionally participates in the election process."[6] Doubts Regarding The Credibility Of The Election Outcome UR has been accused of electoral irregularities including adding additional bailouts, and double and triple voting. Central Election Commission Chairperson Ella Pamphilova dismissed most of the claims, stating that the elections were legitimate and the number of violations was significantly lower than in the past. However, she added that if solid evidence is presented, she might cancel results in various districts.[7] Commenting on the violations, Kremlin spokesperson Peskov said: "CEC chair Ella Pamfilova said that the measures in response to all the violations would be taken. There is a certain procedure of an appeal and filing complaints to the CEC, and there is no doubt that the measures will be taken to respond to the allegations [of violations]."[8] However, CPRF leader Gennady Zuganov already stated that his party will conduct an independent vote count.[9] The GOLOS Association, a Russian organization established in 2000 to protect electoral rights, wrote on its website that although there are less violations than there were in 2011, the breaches are still significant and include: Illegal voting, illegal agitation, and use of administrative resources. In Moscow, violations were reported in at least 70 polling stations.[10] United Russia's Constitutional Majority One of the main debates after the publication of the election results is the fact that UR obtained a constitutional majority, which allows it to adopt amendments to several chapters of the Constitution and to overcome a presidential veto on its own.[11] Aleksandr Kynev, an expert on the Committee of Civic Initiatives, said that the Kremlin did not aim to win a constitutional majority, since it narrows the political maneuvers for the ruling party. Kynev explained that while in the past UR made unpopular decisions under the pretext that it needed to make concessions to the parliamentary opposition and thus should not be held responsible for those decisions, it no longer has any excuse, and will bear full responsibility for unpopular decisions.[12] Putin On Election Results: "[Life] is Hard... And People Are Still Voting For United Russia" Russian President Vladimir Putin casts ballot at polling station No. 2151 at the Russian Academy of Sciences. (Kremlin.ru, September 18, 2016) After the polls closed, Putin declared that the results of the State Duma elections show that the Russian voters seek political stability. "The situation is not easy, and people want both social and political stability. People want to feel that the situation in their country in the political sphere, in the parliamentary sphere is reliable," Putin said at the United Russia headquarters. Commenting on UR's victory, he added: "[Life] is hard and not easy, and people are still voting for United Russia."[13] After the polling stations closed, Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the election campaign headquarters of the United Russia party. The UR party candidates who took part in the election in Moscow and the Moscow Region, along with volunteers and UR party activists took part in the meeting (Kremlin.ru, September 18, 2016) Peskov said that UR's victory is a vote of confidence for Putin, stating: "It is clear that the vast majority of the voters cast their votes to de facto support the president. Once again, the president received such an impressive vote of confidence from the people of the country." This result might push Putin to disclose whether he will run for another term in the 2018 Presidential elections. Meanwhile, there is a possibility that the presidential elections might be moved up to 2017. According to the Russian daily Kommersant, the Ministry of Finance has included in its 2017 budget plan funds for a 2017 presidential elections campaign (230 million According to various data) by the end of 2017 and that in 2018, Russia will exceed its Reserve Fund and Welfare Fund. Thus, holding elections in 2018, given the probable fierce economic situation, may prove to be problematic.[14] Before the elections, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky said that if the economy does not improve, Putin may decide to move the elections up, with the goal of "containing" the desire for change.[15] It is worth noting that despite the fact that Yabloko received only 1.9% of the vote, Yavlinsky declared that he will run in the presidential elections. Yavlinsky said: "We think that our party will actively participate in what's called 'presidential elections.' Possibly, it will be my candidacy. At least, as for today, I am the candidate for the presidency from the Yabloko party. This is my responsibility now."[16] There are two odd anecdotes worth noting regarding the election campaign: On September 12, the Russian police detained political activists outside the State Duma for "unlawful demonstration". The activists were reading the Russian Constitution out loud.[17] Additionally, during the Moscow B-Day celebrations at the Red Square on September 10, Putin posed for selfies with a group of brides.[18] As it turned out later, the "brides" were professional models, as reported by Moskovskii Komsomolets newspaper.[19] (Source: Mk.ru, September 14, 2016) Endnotes: Serzh Sargsyan introduces newly appointed Prosecutor General (video) Serzh Sargsyan visited today the RA Prosecutors Office and introduced to the leadership of the Office members of the Board, prosecutors from the marzes and garrisons and heads of the subdivisions the newly appointed Prosecutor General Arthur Davtian. At the beginning, the President of Armenia thanked the former Prosecutor General for his efforts and noted that during his tenure there has been register certain progress in the upholding the rule of law in the country, as well as in the fight against crimes and abuses, including in the system of the Prosecutors Office. The President wished all the best to the Prosecutor General Arthur Davtian and the employees of the Prosecutors Office headed by him in furthering their activities. Serzh Sargsyan underscored that Arthur Davtian possesses all necessary knowledge, experience, willpower so that our country could register success with the assistance of the employees of the Prosecutors Office. The President of Armenia stressed the importance of bringing together efforts and giving a new impetus to the activities of the Office and noted that in any country there can be no success in the economic or public and political areas as long as there is no progress in the judicial system. Gevork Kostanian thanked the President for the assessment of his work and assured that combined efforts of all employees of the Office allowed the structure to make a step forward. The former Prosecutor General expressed confidence that works aimed at the establishment in our country of law and order and strengthening of the legal system will continue with the same principled stance, consistency, and energy. He wished every success to the newly appointed Prosecutor General. Prosecutor General Arthur Davtian thanked for the trust vested in him. He assured that the staff of the Prosecutors Office is well aware of the problems facing the country as well as of the importance of solving the tasks set before the Office and will do his best to find the most efficient avenues to solve them and meet everyones expectations. The News in Brief Russian citizens living in Georgia to be allowed to vote in Armenia for Duma elections As Russias CEC member Vasil Likhachov has told reporters, citizens of Russia living in Georgia will be able to participate in Russias Duma elections in the town of Gyumri, Armenia. According to him, it is impossible to organize the process in the Embassy of Switzerland in Tbilisi. All you have been informed that we have diplomatic and general relationships via the Swiss Embassy in Tbilisi. It is impossible to organize a polling station there due to the political status. Russian citizens living in Georgia will be able to vote in Armenia, Gyumri,Likhachov has said. The elections will be held on September 18. (IPN) French Defence Minister Visits Georgia French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian who is visiting Georgia September 10-12, met his Georgian counterpart Levan Izoria on Saturday. Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting, Le Drian, who is the first French Defence Minister to pay an official visit to Georgia, hailed the bilateral cooperation between the two countries and thanked Georgia for its contributions to missions in Afghanistan and the Central African Republic. Le Drian said that within the frames of the NATO-Georgia substantial package agreed at the 2014 NATO summit, France took the lead in helping the country improve its air defence capabilities. He also said that a French air force officer has been assigned to Georgia to oversee the process. Late last year, Georgia entered into a loan agreement with the French bank SocieteGenerale for financing the acquisition of air defence systems from France. The loan is backed by the Frances export credit agency Coface. 52.65 million Euros from the total loan amount is intended to be used for purchasing unspecified equipment and services from Thales Raytheon Systems, which produces ground-based surveillance radar and air defence command and control systems, while 24.98 million Euros is intended for acquisitions from missile manufacturer MBDA France. At a joint news conference in Tbilisi, Georgian Defence Minister Izoria said it was reiterated at the meeting with his French counterpart that the contract on air defence systems remains in force and will be fully implemented. On September 12, Le Drian will travel to Sachkhere in the Imereti region to participate in an event celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Mountain Training School, which was launched with French assistance and which provides courses for Georgian and partner nations military personnel. The two ministers said that the Sachkhere Mountain Training School is a good example of bilateral cooperation in the defence sector. Izoria said that the French side has expressed readiness to step up efforts in this direction, specifically to contribute to the development of army mountain firing range, Abuli, in Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Le Drian also said that French navy ship will make a port call in Georgia in October. French navy ships made port visits to Batumi on Georgias Black Sea coast three times between April and September of 2014 a light stealth frigate FS Surcouf, an intelligence-gathering ship Dupuy de Lome, and Commandant Birot, a patrol ship. During the visit, the French Defence Minister will meet PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili on September 11 and President Giorgi Margvelashvili on September 12. Also on September 12, the French Defence Minister will award those Georgian soldiers who served alongside French troops in Afghanistan and the Central African Republic. (Civil.ge) Republican Party proposes new pension system The Republican Party proposes a new pension system based on entitlement earned through work experience. Appearing on Rustavi 2s election special, spokesperson Davit Usupashvili drew a line between the Republicans and other parties, which offer voters a set monthly over the board increase in pensions payments. He said the country has to switch to a new system where each person pays into a retirement fund through his or her income tax. I, as a citizen of Georgia, as a voter, as a son of retired parents, am insulted with the new election campaign, when political parties promise pensioners another 5-10 or 15 laris. This is a shame and we will never be able to provide for socially vulnerable people. This is why the Republican Party believes that it takes time to build long-term state projects. If we dont start long-term projects today, they will never start, he said on Wednesday. The Republican Party proposes system of accumulative pension, when people take care of their pension as long as they work. The plan is that part of the 20 percent of the salary which people have to pay, has to be accumulated in a retirement fund. This is not additional expense, it is to provide our future. This way we will be provided not only in elderly years but the money will be spent for our country too, he added. There are 716,287 people on pension today. 1.570 billion was allocated for pensions in the 2016 budget. The monthly pension payment has been 180 laris since June. Georgian Dream, the governing party, promised to increase pension to 220-230 lari in 2012 before the parliamentary election. (DF watch) Freedom in Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh in 2016 Freedom House has published the Freedom in the World 2016 report which introduces the political rights and civil liberties situation in 195 countries and 15 disputed areas of the world from January 1 of 2015 to December 31 of 2015. The report divides the countries and disputed areas into three groups: free, partly free and not free. This report of the Freedom House, as well as the publications from the previous years, has also addressed the freedom and democracy-related tendencies in the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. According to the report, Armenia is a partly free country. It has received 46 points on the scale of 100 points in which 0 is the worst point and 100 is the best. The neighboring Georgia is ahead of Armenia by almost 20 points (it has 64 points). Azerbaijan has fallen into the group of not free countries with its 16 points. It is worth mentioning that Armenia has once again been mentioned as the freest country in the Eurasian Economic Union, leaving Kyrgyzstan behind with its 38 points (this country has also fallen into the group of partly free countries). Naturally, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation have been classified as not free countries. Notably, Belarus has a freedom indicator of 17, Russia 22, and Kazakhstan 24. It is worth mentioning that Nagorno Karabaghs freedom indicator is lower than that of Armenia, it is 33. Anyway, it also has the partly free status. Moreover, according to the report, the Nagorno Karabagh Republic has a worse freedom situation than Abkhazia (42 points) but better than the other post-Soviet unrecognized republics and disputed areas. South Ossetia (11 points), Transdniestria (24 points) and Crimea (9 points) are considered not free. Nevertheless, the Nagorno Karabagh Republic has room for growth in order to reach Somaliland with its 40 points. In order of comparison, let us mention that Armenia, in its turn, has worse indicator compared to countries like Bangladesh (49 points) and Burkina Faso (59 points). And, of course, there is no room for comparing Armenia with small post-Soviet countries like Lithuania (91 points), Latvia (86 points) or Estonia (94 points). Anna Pambukhchyan Union of Informed Citizens In case of Iran, we are under influence of Raffis works (video) Irans political number one priority is Near East, and the North Caucasus, from the point of view of political interests of this country, is considered to be the second most important region, specialist on Iranian studies Vardan Voskanyan told the journalists. According to the specialist, in this context, the recent policy adopted by Iranians can be described by an adjective- balanced. Balanced starting from last year, when Iran refused the regime of sanctions and drew its attention at the South Caucasus region. Voskanyan highlights the statement of Irans Ambassador on the upcoming visit of Irans president to Armenia. The statement of the Minister of Transportation is also noteworthy, which relates to the construction of the railway with Armenia, by which Tabriz will connect Armenia. Armenia is also active in the establishment of allied relations. First, the specialist highlights the cancellation of visa regime, by which the residents of two countries were granted an opportunity to visit each others countries without additional visa. Besides, a company was established in Armenia, which deals with sale of Irans gas to Georgia. Touching upon the cultural side of the relations, Vardan Voskanyan notes that we are under influence of Raffis works, in which Iranians are considered to be undeveloped people, and a part of Irans provincial population doesnt realize that Armenia is an independent state, isnt a province of Iran and it is normal that Armenians dont know Persian. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Kotzias, accompanying Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, will participate in the proceedings of the 71st Session and the high-level Week of the UN General Assembly, which will take place between Friday September 16 and Saturday September 24, in New York City. In the framework of this Session, Minister Kotzias will have a series of meetings with counterparts and representatives of international and regional organizations. He will also be attending the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, as well as the EU-NATO Foreign Ministers conference. Lastly, he will take part in events on issues of regional and global interest where he will have the opportunity to present the positions of Greece. The Minister's program also includes a bilateral meeting with the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as various contacts with Greek and Jewish organizations representing the Diaspora in the US. On the margins of the General Assembly, a quadrilateral ministerial meeting will be held between Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. A trilateral meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt has also been scheduled. Moreover, a trilateral ministerial meeting will be held for the first time at the level of Foreign Ministers between Greece, Cyprus and Palestine. Finally, Foreign Minister Kotzias will attend a number of events regarding issues of regional and global concern, including, among others, the opening of the Plenary of the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants (high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants) and the annual event on the Middle East. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias is meeting tomorrow, Tuesday September 20, with David Choquehuanca Cespedes, his Bolivian counterpart, and the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Next, the Foreign Minister will meet with Espen Bart Eide, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General on Cyprus, as well his counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo E. Hoxhaj. Last, the Minister will attend the reception offered by the EU in the framework of the High-Level Week of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly in NYC. Armenian market is small for Syrian Armenians (video) Until today about 20 thousand Syrian Armenians have moved from Syria to Armenia; 17 thousand of them are trying to settle in Armenia. For adapting in Armenia and presenting their production, with the support of the Ministry of Diaspora today Spirit of Syrian Armenian culture in Yerevan philanthropic exhibition-fair, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Armenia, has been organized in Yerevan. During the fair Syrian Armenians presented the problems, which they face in Armenia. Silversmith Levon Keoshkeryan compares Syrian and Armenian markets, highlighting that his works are entirely handmade and are purely made of sterling silver. In Armenia they arent available for many people. He had a shop in Syria and didnt lack customers. In Yerevan he doesnt even think about a shop, The matter of a shop is a bit difficult, in that case I must pay for house rent and also shop rent. Rita Markosyan learnt bead weaving in Aleppo, but she had never thought about working there. Only in Armenia she has tried to earn money using this craft. She has decided to help her husband in keeping the family. I wish there were more customers so that we could sell better, says the bead weaver. If we sell our production at prices we want, there will be no sale. The prices should be average, so that the people get used to it and we earn money, so that we can survive in Armenia. House rent is a big problem for us, says confectioner Dalita Dekirmenchyan. She also highlights that in Aleppo her husband kept the family, but in Armenia he hasnt been to find a job for already three years. Now he helps his wife develop their business. All the Syrian Armenians mention the unemployment and that Armenian market is small. Nevertheless, they are trying to adapt and only few of them think about returning. Uzbekistan: After the Patriarch By Birgit Brauer Uzbekistans President Islam Karimov, who died on September 2 at age 78 of a cerebral haemorrhage, was one of the worlds most authoritarian and ruthless leaders. He had ruled his country with an iron fist for 27 years, since before Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union. His regime was notorious for its atrocious human rights record and how it crushed all opposition, no matter how small. Karimov created a police state where thousands of people were imprisoned on politically-motivated and extremism-related charges. Torture in the criminal justice system was routine; during the cotton harvest, adults and children alike were made to do forced labour. Unsurprisingly, Uzbekistan has been scraping at the bottom of almost every international ranking on human rights, freedom of the press and corruption for many years. Whether the country will now see any change for the better is open for speculation. Karimovs overarching need for control was limited to the here and now, and not any future beyond his death. He failed to cultivate an heir, at least to the publics knowledge. Or perhaps he never thought the right moment had come to do so. Like many dictators, he was probably well aware that naming a successor would have undermined his authority. It would have signaled readiness to cede power where there was none, and given unnecessary encouragement to eager contenders for the countrys top job. Instead, he cemented his hold on power by routinely winning over 90 per cent of the vote in presidential elections, which have never been judged as free or fair by international observers. Karimov won his fourth consecutive term in March 2015. A RETURN TO KREMLINOLOGY Given the closed nature of Uzbekistans regime and the secrecy around the last days of the ailing Karimov, who fell ill on August 27, local and foreign analysts descended into old-school Kremlinology this past week. Social media commentators were asking whether Uzbekistans TV and radio stations were already showing Tchaikovskys Swan Lake in Soviet times an unmistakable sign of a death and change in leadership. The presidents September 3 funeral in his hometown of Samarkand was a chance to catch a first glance of the post-Karimov inner circle of Uzbekistans political elite. But predicting who will take the reins in Central Asias most populous country based on attendance and who was standing where is likely to be imprecise. After all, Uzbekistan is in the process of its first transfer of power in over a quarter of a century. It could at least be ascertained that Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov, a possible contender who was rumoured to have been arrested, was present at the funeral, alive and well. Many believe that long serving Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who was in charge of the funeral committee and greeted the foreign dignitaries, will likely be the future president. But if so, this may not lead to a change in style of government. As provided for in the constitution, senate chairman Nigmatilla Yuldashev appears to have become the acting president upon Karimovs demise, although this was by no means self-evident. If the law continues to be followed, presidential elections should be held within three months. RULERS FOR LIFE? How the power vacuum in Uzbekistan will be filled in the coming weeks or months will not only be closely watched by its own citizens but also by the ageing autocrats in the neighbouring Central Asian republics and in Azerbaijan. They have similar systems of government, although generally with the exception of Turkmenistan with less repression. Karimovs relations with these Turkic countries as well as with Tajikistan were often touchy and at times downright tense. They were marked by personal competition, disagreement over regional water issues, border disputes and different approaches towards dealing with the growing radical Islamism in the region. Yet they all share the dilemma of how to make their power last and how to pass it on. Turkmenistan, whose regime is as secretive and brutal as Uzbekistans, underwent a change of leadership ten years ago when President Saparmurat Niyazov suddenly died. The formal constitutional succession scenario was blithely ignored. The political elite, with the support of the State Security Council, came to an agreement through negotiations and moved on smoothly for outside observers quite unexpectedly - to the next authoritarian regime under Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, until then health minister. This is widely considered to be a model that could suit Uzbekistans elite. Azerbaijan also has experience with the change of an authoritarian leader. President Ilham Aliyev took over from his father Heydar Aliyev after he fell ill. Ilham Aliyev was elected president in 2003 in a vote not considered free or fair. A constitutional referendum now scheduled to be held in Azerbaijan on September 26 stands to enhance the post of the president and likely prolong the rule of the incumbent and his family. In Uzbekistan, Karimovs two daughters will probably not play a role in the succession, despite previous speculation. His eldest daughter Gulnara Karimova, once viewed as a potential successor, is thought to have been under house arrest since 2014. She was not seen at her fathers funeral. Kazakhstan could be next in line for a transition. President Nursultan Nazarbayev came to power in 1989 like Karimov and is only two years younger. Discussions about his health and who may succeed him have been ongoing for close to 20 years. Nazarbayev has shown no intention of stepping down from the presidency any time soon and has not favoured anyone in particular as his successor. His eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva, currently deputy prime minister, is often mentioned. The formal rules of succession may not be applied when the time comes. Tajikistans president Emomali Rakhmon, in office since 1994, held a constitutional referendum in May which will allow him to run for an unlimited number of terms. His family members control major businesses and hold government jobs. By contrast, Kyrgyzstan is the most liberal country in the region, where popular protest ousted two presidents from office in 2005 and 2010. A new constitution strengthened the role of parliament. But there are growing calls for tinkering with the document, including by President Almazbek Atambayev himself. Karimovs shortcomings were many. He will particularly be remembered for the Andijan massacre in 2005, when government forces fired into a crowd of unarmed protesters killing several hundred. Western criticism and calls for an international investigation were rejected. People in the region will also remember the landmines Karimov planted along the mountain borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan following reported incursions by Afghan-based Islamic militants in Uzbekistan in 1999. Dozens of Kyrgyz and Tajik civilians were killed as a result, many of them shepherds or women collecting firewood. Nonetheless, in 2010, he allowed over 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks to flee from southern Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan to escape violent ethnic clashes. And in spite of it all, he has also been valued in Uzbekistan and the Central Asian region for maintaining stability although at a steep cost for the Uzbek people. Birgit Brauer is IWPRs Caucasus Editor. She was previously the longtime Central Asia correspondent of The Economist. Bank of America has a rich history dating back to 1800 and even earlier. It was begun by immigrants as a group of separate and unrelated banks that, over the years, merged and grew together. One such is the Bank of Italy which was founded in 1904 by Amadeo Giannini to serve Italian immigrants that were facing discrimination. He later buys out the Banca de America e de Italia (Bank of America and Italy) which was also located in San Francisco. Over the years additional mergers and changes in Federal banking legislation, as well as the boom brought on by WWI and then WWII, helped boost the bank to national prominence. Things turned sour, however, in 1998 with a major bond default that led to yet another merger, this time with Charlotte, NC-based Nations Bank to officially become the Bank of America that exists today. At the time, the merger was the largest bank merger in history and the company has only grown in the time since. Other additions to the new Bank of America include MBNA (a major credit card operator), Fleet Boston (then the US 7th largest and one of its oldest banks), and Merril Lynch, now Merril, which was added to the group in 2008 to provide an investment banking branch. Together the company dominates as one of the Big Four Banks in America. Bank of America lays claim to nearly 11% of all US deposits which ranks in line with its peer group and Bank of America Securities is listed as the worlds 3rd largest investment bank. Today, Bank of America Corporation provides banking and financial services for individuals, small businesses, institutions, corporations, and governments worldwide. The bank operates in three segments Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management, and Global Banking bringing in a combined revenue greater than $90 billion in 2022. As of 2022, Bank of America serves approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,200 retail financial centers. The bank also operates more than 16,000 ATMs and digital banking platforms with approximately 41 million active users. Its Consumer Banking segment offers traditional banking and investment products for retail clients. These range from deposit accounts to savings, credit cards, consumer loans, and IRAs. The Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and wealth management solutions including, brokerage, banking, and trust and retirement products. The Global Banking segment provides lending products and services, including commercial loans and leases for businesses of all varieties. The Global Markets segment offers market-making, clearing, settlement, and custody services, as well as risk management, derivatives, and FX exchange services. Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its advice centers, RBC insurance stores, and mobile advisors; digital, mobile, and social platforms; independent brokers; and travel partners. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset servicing, custody, payments, and treasury services to financial and other investors; and fund and investment administration, shareholder, private capital, performance measurement and compliance monitoring, distribution, transaction banking, cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, and global securities finance services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, advisory services, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Delek US Holdings, Inc. engages in the integrated downstream energy business in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Refining, Logistics, and Retail. The Refining segment processes crude oil and other feedstock for the manufacture of various grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, asphalt, and other petroleum-based products that are distributed through owned and third-party product terminal. It owns and operates four independent refineries located in Tyler, Texas; El Dorado, Arkansas; Big Spring, Texas; and Krotz Springs, Louisiana, as well as three biodiesel facilities in Crossett, Arkansas, Cleburne, Texas, and New Albany. The Logistics segment gathers, transports, and stores crude oil, intermediate, and refined products; and markets, distributes, transports, and stores refined products for third parties. It owns or leases capacity on approximately 400 miles of crude oil transportation pipelines, approximately 450 miles of refined product pipelines, an approximately 900-mile crude oil gathering system, and associated crude oil storage tanks with an aggregate of approximately 10.2 million barrels of active shell capacity; and owns and operates ten light product distribution terminals, as well as markets light products using third-party terminals. The Retail segment owns and leases 248 convenience store sites located primarily in West Texas and New Mexico. Its convenience stores offer various grades of gasoline and diesel under the DK or Alon brand; and food products and service, tobacco products, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, and general merchandise, as well as money orders to the public primarily under the 7-Eleven and DK or Alon brand names. It serves oil companies, independent refiners and marketers, jobbers, distributors, utility and transportation companies, the U.S. government, and independent retail fuel operators. Delek US Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company, provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management. The Consumer Banking and Lending segment offers diversified financial products and services for consumers and small businesses. Its financial products and services include checking and savings accounts, and credit and debit cards, as well as home, auto, personal, and small business lending services. The Commercial Banking segment provides financial solutions to private, family owned, and certain public companies. Its products and services include banking and credit products across various industry sectors and municipalities, secured lending and lease products, and treasury management services. The Corporate and Investment Banking segment offers a suite of capital markets, banking, and financial products and services to corporate, commercial real estate, government, and institutional clients. Its products and services comprise corporate banking, investment banking, treasury management, commercial real estate lending and servicing, equity, and fixed income solutions, as well as sales, trading, and research capabilities services. The Wealth and Investment Management segment provides personalized wealth management, brokerage, financial planning, lending, private banking, and trust and fiduciary products and services to affluent, high-net worth, and ultra-high-net worth clients. It also operates through financial advisors. Wells Fargo & Company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Learn more . The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest, and most recognizable, stock exchanges in the world. The NYSE is in New York City, New York at 11 Wall Street. The NYSE has been in existence since the earliest days of the United States becoming a nation, in 1792 and is primarily made up of blue-chip companies with large market capitalizations. In fact, many of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Composite Index (i.e. The Dow) are listed on the NYSE. This article gives a brief history of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, it covers topics such as what kind of stocks trade on the exchange, what are the listing requirements, how trading is performed, and what the daily price movement of the NYSE tells investors about investor sentiment. What Were the Origins of the NYSE? Today, the New York Stock Exchange is known as the center of the financial universe. However, the exchanges origin is far more humble. On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement creating a centralized exchange to help provide order to the securities market in what was still a young nation. The "Buttonwood Agreement comes from the tree of the same name under which the founders signed the agreement. An initial benefit of the exchange was how it removed the need for auctioneers when trading commodities like wheat and tobacco and to set a commission rate. The exchange initially focused on government bonds. However, the exchange had no formal home. Business was usually conducted informally in the local coffeehouses. In 1817, the exchange changed its name to the New York Stock & Exchange Board which later became the New York Stock Exchange. At this time, the exchange adopted a constitution that set the rules for trading. A group of stockbrokers met twice a day at 40 Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds. Over time, the exchange moved became the financial hub of the country and moved to its current location in 1865. What Kind of Stocks Trade on the NYSE? As of June 2022, the NYSE includes approximately 2,400 companies with a market capitalization of over $28.2 trillion. Although the NYSE trades stocks of all market capitalizations, its best known for trading the stocks of large cap companies. These have the benefit of being mature companies in mature industries. And many of these companies reward shareholders with dividends. However, that also means that many of these companies are better suited for value investors as opposed to growth investors. In bear markets this stability can be a benefit for investors as these stocks tend to perform less bad than more volatile stocks. But in a bull market, these stocks are not likely to provide investors with the growth that they look for. An interesting fact about how the NYSE and NASDAQ operate is that the companies with the five largest market caps on the NYSE are also listed on the NASDAQ exchange. What Are the Listing Requirements For the NYSE? The NYSE has strict guidelines that govern the types of companies that can list on the exchange. Here are the major requirements that all companies must meet: The company must have at least 2,200 shareholders The company must trade over 100,000 shares per month The company must have a market valuation of over $100 million The company must generate more than $75 million in annual revenue However, there is at least one advantage of having such stringent requirements. That is the companies that meet the requirements generally find it easier to get more investors funds when they hold their initial public offering (IPO). Once a company begins trading on the NYSE, it must continue to meet these requirements. If it doesnt it can be delisted. In addition to these requirements, the stock must continue to trade above $1. If the price of a stock drops below $1 for more than 29 consecutive trading days, the stock receives an Initial Price Violation Notice. At that point, the company has 10 days to provide the exchange with a plan for bringing their shares above $1. How are Trades Executed on the NYSE? For over a century, the floor of the NYSE was the place for investors to be. This meant trades were conducted by traders who ran buy and sell orders across the trading floor looking to broker a deal for their clients. But with the birth of the NASDAQ exchange in 1971, the New York Stock Exchange began conducting electronic trading. However, the NYSE continues to conduct trades in an auction style. Brokers purchase stocks on behalf of their clients or firms. Every order features a broker who will enter the order electronically and a specialist who serves as the market maker for that stock. The specialist posts bid and ask prices and manages the actual execution of the trades. And there are still a handful of stockbrokers who still traffic buy and sell orders physically on the floor of the exchange. How Does the NYSE Signal Investor Sentiment? Like its counterpart, the NASDAQ, the NYSE measures the risk appetite of investors. When the NYSE is moving higher over a length of time, it signals that a risk on environment. Conversely when the NYSE moves lower over a significant period, it signals that investors are moving to a risk off position. Some Final Thoughts on the NYSE Financial news networks plan their programming schedule around the opening and closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Its still considered a distinguished honor when individuals or groups are invited to ring the opening bell. In fact, Warren Buffett is attributed with saying that in the short term, the stock market acts like a voting machine. A fact that many U.S. presidents will attest to. The NYSE is the oldest and most recognizable of all the stock exchanges. It also has the most stringent requirements for inclusion. And those requirements must be maintained even after a stock begins publicly trading on the exchange. Although the NYSE still has a small in-person Trading Floor, much of the trading is done electronically to provide traders with the speed to execute trades. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. provides early education and child care, back-up care, educational advisory, and other workplace solutions services for employers and families. The company operates through three segments: Full Service Center-Based Child Care, Back-Up Care, and Educational Advisory and Other Services. The Full Service Center-Based Child Care segment offers traditional center-based child care and early education, preschool, and elementary education services. The Back-Up Care segment provides center-based back-up child care, in-home child and adult/elder dependent care, school-age camps, virtual tutoring, and self-sourced reimbursed care services through child care centers, school-age campuses, and in-home caregivers, as well as the back-up care network. The Educational Advisory and Other Services segment offers tuition assistance and student loan repayment program administration, workforce education, and related educational consulting services, as well as college admissions advisory services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,014 child care and early education centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, and India. The company was formerly known as Bright Horizons Solutions Corp. and changed its name to Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. in July 2012. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. The U.S. Air Force plans to increase the number of fighter pilots in its ranks by as much as 20 percent a year in part by using more F-16 and trainer aircraft for the job. The service also said it plans to boost the number of drone pilots by training enlisted airmen to fly the high-altitude spy drone RQ-4 Global Hawk. The Air Force wants to increase the number of fighter pilots it trains each year to 1,375 officers, officials announced Monday at the Air Force Association's annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. "That's about a 15 to 20 percent increase," Brig. Gen. Andrew Croft, director of plans, programs and requirements for Air Education Training Command, told reporters during a briefing. "We're on that ramp right now." Check out Military.com's coverage of the AFA's Air, Space & Cyber conference. The plan includes increasing the number of pilots "on the T-38 track," which will allow them to train for multiple missions but also be absorbed back into the fighter pilot mission should the Air Force need them, he said. In the next few years, the T-X will replace the T-38 Talon, first produced by Northrop Grumman Corp. in 1959. "Long range, we think the T-X is going to bring capability that will allow us to probably shorten undergraduate pilot training, so a shorter [program] means we're going to get pilots to the field a little bit quicker," said Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, AETC commander. The T-X program, called the advanced fighter pilot training program, aims to replace 431 of the Air Force's Talons with 350 new T-X jet trainers. The program will cost the service $628 million over the next five years, Roberson said. Companies including Northrop, Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. are vying to build the trainer, which is slated to reach initial operating capability in 2024. But the entire fleet won't be part of the service until 2034, he said. Meantime, the Air Force's two squadrons of F-16s from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, that will be "farmed out" to other bases, including Guard and Reserve locations, "have now been designated to come to AETC and so we're going to plus up the number of fighter pilots that we can produce using those F-16s, as soon as we can get them on," Roberson said. The Air Force in August announced it will conduct site surveys to move the F-16s at Hill in preparation for the F-35. The service will choose from Luke AFB, Arizona; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland's Kelly Field Annex, Texas; and Tucson Air National Guard Base, Arizona. "At fighter formal training units, we're going to increase the percentage of fighter pilot production right away from 10 to 20 percent depending on what those units are able to do to start producing more fighter pilots across the board," Croft said. The challenge will be time. The Air Force can start this today, but the pilot might not be out there for two years, Roberson said. The number of instructors will need to match the pool of pilots undergoing training, and it will be difficult "to pull people out in the combat environment" back to conduct training, Croft said. Drone Pilots "[There was] huge effort over the last year to double the production of our remotely piloted aircraft pilots, and I am very happy to say that we have achieved that," Roberson said. "We are now producing 24 RPA pilots with every class that we graduate, double from what we were doing not long ago." Roberson said the Air Force has produced 700 drone pilots to date -- and the service has met both its fiscal 2016 and 2017 quotas. The training itself, roughly six months at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, then propels pilots toward four to five months of training within their formal unit for combat operations. "Our first enlisted RPA students will be beginning our [undergraduate training] program next month the plan, right now as we have it, is approved for three enlisted pilot initial classes, what we're calling EPIC, of four students each," Roberson said. Faced with high operational demand and a pilot shortage, the Air Force earlier this month announced plans to open to all career fields the job of steering the high-altitude spy drone made by Northrop, based in Falls Church, Virginia. The training given to the enlisted pilots flying the RQ-4 Global Hawks, approved in 2015, will be exactly the same as officers receive. Roberson said the four new enlisted enrollees beginning classes Oct. 1 are "very experienced and familiar with RPA operations these are tech[nical] sergeants, master sergeants, who are either already sensor operators or other RPAs or are very familiar with the operations that occur." But in just a few class rotations, Roberson said, the service will also bring in airmen with little to no experience in RPAs so that we "get the full gambit." "Each enlisted pilot that comes in will replace what would have been an officer so it's not additive, it's replacement, but I think this is actually going to help with recruitment," he said. There has not been a "significant trend" of airmen from one Air Force Specialty Code over another signing up for the job, Roberson added. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@Oriana0214. Related Video: A NATO air chief says he's concerned by Russia's increasing deployment of surface-to-air missile systems in and around Europe. "I'm concerned about the fact that these kinds of systems as were mentioned here -- the proliferation of those systems -- is really expanding, and I think that's something as not just air forces but as a joint force we need to be concerned about," said Lt. Gen. Dennis Luyt, commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Luyt's comments came Monday at the Air Force Association's annual Air, Space & Cyber conference held outside Washington, D.C. He appeared on a panel alongside Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and Maj. Gen. Max Nielsen, chief of staff of Denmark's defense command. In recent years, the Russian military has deployed S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems not only within Russia and Kaliningrad, the Russian city in a territory between Poland and Lithuania, but Crimea and areas encircling the Ukraine, and even Latakia, Syria. Check out Military.com's coverage of the AFA's Air, Space & Cyber conference. The S-300 has a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles); the S-400 up to 400 kilometers (250 miles). Both systems are designed to target any number of U.S. and NATO aircraft, from bombers to fighters to spy planes. "Russia has altered the security balance in the Black Sea, Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East by establishing large anti-access/area-denial (A2AD) exclusion zones," Kathleen Weinberger, a researcher with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War, wrote in a recent infographic on the systems. "Advanced air defense systems create A2AD 'bubbles' that prevent Russias opponents from establishing air supremacy in strategically significant theaters," it states. "Russia can use these systems to impede the ability of the U.S. to defend its NATO allies by disrupting the ability of US air forces to access conflict zones in the event of a crisis." At the conference, Luyt, the Dutch general, added, "I also think cyber plays a very large part in those answers. And I think, from my own experience, it's also worthwhile to educate our land and naval brothers because I notice in my conversations about these kinds of threats that there's too little awareness in the other domains about what this threat means." "The fact is that as a land unit or a naval unit, you will operate in contested battlespace," he said. "And what I've noticed is that we have forgotten what it's like to work in contested battlespace because the norm has been operations over Afghanistan in Africa and even now in the Middle East, [where] it's a totally different situation." Wolters, meanwhile, said the approach U.S. and NATO allies are embracing to the surface-to-air missile threat "boils down to relentless training." "As long as we continue our relentless approach to training, it will serve as an invaluable deterrent against an aggressive actor to the East that has a tendency to throw some of these systems into the field," he said. "So I contend that one of our best mitigators in this area has to be the fantastic cooperation that exists with our alliance and the fact that our Nordic region, our Baltic region, our central region and our southern region are all ready to engage in accelerated training against threats that possess the capabilities of S-300s and S-400s," Wolters said. Nielsen said a long-term answer to the issue of Russia's SAM emplacements will have to be "a Russia that is part of the European community." -- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. British, Danish and Australian warplanes took part in the U.S.-led coalition's airstrike Saturday that reportedly killed more than 60 Syrian government troops and threatened to unravel the "cessation of hostilities," military officials said Monday. The Syrian army and a key rebel leader declared that the cease-fire had collapsed and blamed each other for violations, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was working for a possible extension of the seven-day-old cessation period that ended Monday. Kerry, in New York City with President Obama for United Nations General Assembly meetings, said, "The basic cease-fire is holding" despite numerous reports of increased shelling, bombing and fighting by all sides in the more than five-year-old Syrian civil war. State Department spokesman John Kirby said, "We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities, while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance" to Aleppo and other areas that have been blocked at the Turkish border. "We will be consulting with our Russian counterparts to continue to urge them to use their influence" on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he said. Kirby said the U.S. was aware that the Syrian army had declared an end to the cease-fire, but "our arrangement is with Russia, which is responsible for the Syrian regime's compliance, so we expect Russia to clarify their position." The cessation was to have led to a joint cooperation agreement with the Russians on coordinating airstrikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and the al-Qaida-affiliated group formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front, but the tentative deal with Moscow was cast into doubt after Saturday's airstrike. Russia has charged that two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts and two F-16 Fighting Falcons led the attacks that destroyed Syrian army vehicles and killed troops in northeastern Syria near Dayr Az Zawr, also known as Deir al-Zour and Deir ez-Zor. "We normally don't discuss the type of aircraft" used in airstrikes, said Maj. Josh. T. Jacques, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. He said CentCom "regrets" the incident. The attack, which CentCom called accidental, was the first by the U.S-led anti-ISIS coalition on forces of the Assad regime. The New York Times, citing U.S. military officials speaking on grounds of anonymity, said the attack lasted about 20 minutes and began with the targeting of vehicles. The aircraft then pursued fleeing troops into the open desert and strafed them, the Times said. The Australian Ministry of Defense on Sunday said at least one of its aircraft was part of the airstrike, but it was unclear whether the Australian aircraft attacked or was in a support role. In a statement, the Australian Ministry of Defense offered "condolences to the families of any Syrian personnel killed or wounded in this incident." On Monday, the British and Danish Ministries of Defense put out similar statements acknowledging that their aircraft had participated in the attack against the Syrians. In a statement Saturday, CentCom said that the coalition aircraft believed they were attacking ISIS positions that "they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike." "The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military," CentCom said. Russia and Syria charged that the attack was evidence that the U.S. was secretly supporting ISIS and was intent on disrupting the cease-fire. The charges led to angry exchanges Saturday night between Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and her Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin. Power charged that the Russians were "grandstanding" and "pulling a stunt" by calling for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Churkin said, "There is no point in my listening to Ambassador Power." He called the airstrike "frankly suspicious. I would suggest it was not accidental." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Developing and sustaining a veteran recruiting and development program requires commitment, resources, and endorsement. It is critical that upper management, especially those in the C-suite, view the program as important to the business, the brand, and the community of military service members transitioning to civilian careers. Best practices across companies with thriving veteran hiring initiatives show that top down support gives these programs a high likelihood of standing the test of time. Not often talked about, however, is the opportunity to drive success in a veteran hiring initiative by engaging employees at all levels of the organization, particularly the ground level. It is my opinion that creating a "bottom up" campaign in the company around the value of hiring and growing veteran talent can galvanize employees around new and positive feelings for their employer, uniting them around a common mission. Reasons to Mobilize All Staff I believe there are many reasons to consider expanding involvement in your veteran program to employees outside of HR and Marketing, such as: 1. Employees feel attached to something bigger than their job: When employees feel vested in working with military veterans, they begin to appreciate the skills, experience, and character veterans bring to the workplace. As civilian employees learn of the military values of service, honor, duty and commitment, their feelings about their jobs should increase. 2. Brand awareness is elevated in recruiting: Companies of all sizes experience perception issues during the recruitment process. What if job applicants believed Verizon only makes cell phones, GE just makes light bulbs, or Smith & Co., CPA only files tax returns for clients? When the brand is not clear in the minds of applicants, jobs don't get filled, candidates move on to competitors, and opportunities are missed. Engaging employees in a campaign to recruit and grow veteran talent helps them learn how to share the value proposition of their employer and empowers them to become effective brand ambassadors for the organization. 3. General brand lift across the organization: Beyond building goodwill in the community, when employees are engaged in the veteran hiring initiative they see firsthand how to leverage a veteran employee's loyalty, commitment to service, and moral character to benefit the whole company. As the civilian employee's feelings towards their employer's commitment to veterans grow, employees believe: My company cares about the military community I'm motivated to share the great work culture at my company with others (online and in person) I know how I can help my veteran team members integrate into the company and become successful here. This makes me feel great! Expected Business Outcomes In my experience, for a brand to thrive outside the organization, it must be lived fully internally. Enlisting employees in building out a veteran program can return value to the business in the form of: Lower attrition. When employees believe their company's values align with their own, they are likely to tolerate change, uncertainty, and instability with more patience. When employees believe their company's values align with their own, they are likely to tolerate change, uncertainty, and instability with more patience. Better recruitment. While HR and marketing produce recruiting materials for talent acquisition and hiring, employees across the company can communicate why veterans matter to the company, how they are valued as team members, and how veteran employees grow with others. Then, recruitment should grow organically through referrals and word of mouth. While HR and marketing produce recruiting materials for talent acquisition and hiring, employees across the company can communicate why veterans matter to the company, how they are valued as team members, and how veteran employees grow with others. Then, recruitment should grow organically through referrals and word of mouth. Improved vendor relations. Employees working with outside vendors who are also passionate about working with the military community can share their best practices and collaborate in demonstrating appreciation for veterans, thereby strengthening the bond between customer and vendor. Employees working with outside vendors who are also passionate about working with the military community can share their best practices and collaborate in demonstrating appreciation for veterans, thereby strengthening the bond between customer and vendor. Public relations opportunities. Promoting veterans to the media and the local community can raise awareness of the company's commitment to serve those who have served. When veterans share the spotlight alongside civilians in outlining company initiatives and successes, it reinforces awareness that the business successfully integrates veteran and civilian employees into visible positions. Getting Started Creating a bottom-up campaign around veteran hiring requires coordinated efforts by several internal teams, including Corporate Communications, Human Resources (Hiring, and Learning and Development), Finance, Marketing, and the Executive Officers. Getting started means: Setting clear metrics and goals. Consider measuring hard numbers (i.e. increase in qualified applicants, and employee retention) and brand goals (i.e. shift in perception, and increased awareness in new markets). Consider measuring hard numbers (i.e. increase in qualified applicants, and employee retention) and brand goals (i.e. shift in perception, and increased awareness in new markets). Training employees and managers. Civilian employees and managers might be unaware of the challenges veteran employees work through to reintegrate into their new careers. These same civilians might need tools to assist in building productive working relationships with veteran colleagues, leveraging each other's strengths. Civilian employees and managers might be unaware of the challenges veteran employees work through to reintegrate into their new careers. These same civilians might need tools to assist in building productive working relationships with veteran colleagues, leveraging each other's strengths. Developing incentives. Programs that reward employee referrals, new ideas, and accomplishments, can be great motivators for employees at all levels of the organization. Programs that reward employee referrals, new ideas, and accomplishments, can be great motivators for employees at all levels of the organization. Empower employees to spread the word online. Employees can become ambassadors for the program and the company by sharing positive experiences, lessons learned, and milestones achieved with their online networks. Clear guidelines should be set, and monitored to ensure overall brand consistency. Engaging all employees in the company's veteran program requires a strategic and coordinated effort. The return on investment of engaging employees across the business in integrating and growing the veteran employee is ultimately measured in many meaningful ways. Dear Ms. Vicki, I need some advice. My husband was diagnosed with severe PTSD about eight months ago after a year and a half of undiagnosed torment for both of us. He was in combat, which is what caused the PTSD. He physically abused me up until eight months ago, when he started going to regular therapy and got on medication. He is still verbally, emotionally and mentally abusive when we get into fights. He can still be a bit grabby, and he sometimes gets in my face, but it's nothing like it used to be. I don't know what else he can do for himself to get help and change, but I'm not sure what I need to do now. I need therapy or something, but I don't know where to go. Please give me some solid advice and some numbers I can call for therapy or something. I love him and don't want to divorce him. We've been through so much; I don't want to give up. -- Love Hurts Dear Love, I understand that you don't want to divorce your husband, but you can't stay in an abusive relationship. I can definitely empathize with his combat experience and subsequent PTSD diagnosis. However, he can still be responsible for his behavior. Hitting, grabbing your face, and being emotionally and verbally abusive is not good. I can't imagine what it was like for you eight months ago if this now is better. I do agree that you would benefit from therapy and support. Generally speaking, you should be able to have a few couples sessions with your husband where he is currently receiving therapy. But I wonder if your husband is really committed to therapy. Is he attending his weekly sessions? It may be a long road to his recovery, but there is help. Every day marks a new step forward. I'm not sure where you live, but you can check on post or base for the availability of services at the same place where your husband receives therapy. If there are not services available, contact Military OneSource for 24/7 support at 800-342-9647. Military OneSource can also connect you with a therapist in your community. You can also call the Defense Center of Excellence DCOE for 24/7 support at 866-966-1020, or chat at www.dcoe.mil with a trained clinician. It's going to take both you and your husband fighting to save your marriage, but PTSD is treatable. I know many people who have gotten better because they worked hard in treatment. Right now, though, you must protect yourself. And if you have children, you must think about them too. I will never advise any man or woman to stay in an abusive relationship, no matter the cause. When people are screaming, yelling, hitting, pushing and whatnot, who can say what will happen next? Thanks for writing and for listening. Let me hear from you soon. -- Ms. Vicki Why is government afraid of democratic protest of Opposition? Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri PAT Chairman Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that Prime Minister failed to answer questions regarding the Model Town tragedy, Panama leaks and anti-national security measures. He said that the nation would not let the failed and corrupt government take refuge behind the Kashmir issue. He said that the Kashmiris alone are rendering the exemplary sacrifices for their right to self-determination. He asked the Nawaz government to give an account of its steps it took during the last three years of its rule to project the cause of the Kashmiris except lip service. He said that unless the Kashmir dispute is resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions, durable peace would not be established in the region. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri expressed these views while talking to the party office bearers of the overseas chapter yesterday. Basharat Aziz Jaspal, Fayyaz Warraich, Ali Abbas Bukhari, Sajid Mahmood Bhatti and others were present on the occasion. He said that while the terrorists roam around freely, the government has tasked the agencies working under it to keep an eye on the movement of its political opponents. He asked as to why the Nawaz government is afraid of the democratic protest of the opposition. He said that the nation wants to know that there is an enmity between Pakistan and India, how come there is friendship between the prime ministers of the two countries and why is it that the Indians continue to come and go to the factories of the rulers on multiple visas? He said that he would soon release to the media the list of remaining Indians working in Pakistan. Stick-wielding force established to protect Sharif Kingdom: Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri Senior PAT leader Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri has said that stick-wielding force has been established to protect the Sharif kingdom. He said that the act proves that the PML-N is not a democratic party. He said that the Rangers are not being allowed to conduct operations in Punjab due to the fear of weapons being caught from the workers and office holders of the ruling party. He said that there is no difference with any political party including PTI, adding that there is a complete agreement on the demands of Qisas and justice in the Panama leaks case. He said that the second round of the Qisas movement will be announced at an appropriate time. He said that the PAT workers await just one call of their beloved leader for preparation. He said had there been justice system in the country, we would not have had to organize protests in 200 cities and resort to international institutions for justice. He asked the opposition parties to get together on the single point agenda of getting rid of the economic terrorists and killers of humanity. Dr Hassan stated this while talking to office bearers of youth, students, women, labour and lawyers wings of PAT yesterday. He asked the institutions responsible for administration of justice and maintenance of law and order to take note of this militancy and extremism being displayed by the PML-N. He said that terrorism cases were registered against political opponents during the government of the Sharif brothers; thousands of people were illegally picked up and put behind the bar and they were deprived of their political, democratic and constitutional rights. He said that the PML-N is not a democratic party but the one which believes in the use of force to browbeat its political opponents. He said that the PAT took out rallies and demonstrations in over 200 cities of the country for Qisas but no one was ever moved. He said had there been real democracy in the country, the protest of the people would have been taken note of and their demands would have been accepted. He bemoaned the fact that suo moto notices were taken on petty issues but the merciless killing of innocent people was neglected. He said that it is with this in view that we are left with no option but to take recourse to the international institutions of justice. Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that the concept of revolution advocated by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri is characterized by upholding of justice in every walk of life. He said that the Qisas in the Model Town tragedy would open the stalled doors of justice on the poor and exploitation of every kind will come to an end. He said that the PAT Chairman has rightly pointed out that a PM who is accused in the killings of people at home, with what face will he plead the case of the oppressed Kashmiris at the UN? He said that the PAT Chairman has gone abroad for justice for the Model Town martyrs, adding that consultations are underway with the lawyers there and as soon as developments occur, we will continue to take nation into confidence. Dr Hassan congratulated the workers and office bearers of PAT on successfully concluding the first phase of Qisas and Solidarity Movement from August 6 to September 3. He appreciated their love for peace and organization. He said that the PAT workers are role models for other political parties. He said that we are proud of patriotism and commitment of our workers. 2017 Pacifica- FCA US Windsor Assembly Plant A launch celebration was held Friday with FCA US CEO Sergio Marchioone for the 2017 Pacifica, which is already rolling off the line at the FCA US Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Canada, May 6, 2016. FCA invested $744 million USD to retool and upgrade the assembly facility. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive Detroit) (Tanya Moutzalias) Unifor President Jerry Dias DETROIT - Negotiations between a Canadian workers union and General Motors are going around-the-clock as a deadline for a new contract nears. Unifor's current contract with GM expires Monday at 11:59 p.m. Unifor selected GM to begin negotiations with, as it sets a pattern for negotiating new labor contracts with the Detroit Three automakers. Typically, when an automaker is selected to begin the talks, the contracts that follow with the two other companies are similar, but not exact replicas. There are about 23,050 Unifor members at the Detroit Three automakers. But Unifor President Jerry Dias has it made it clear that GM facilties remain a rpiority, as several proecuts currently being buitl are not slated for reneewal after 2019. The Canadian union is particularly concerned with GM's Oshawa Assembly plant, where current products are set to be moved or phased out by next year. About 2,600 workers currently build the Chevrolet Impala, Equinox, Buick Regal and Cadillac XT5 on a flex line at the Oshawa site. The facility lost production of the Chevrolet Camaro last year as the pony car's assembly was shifted to GM's Lansing Grand River Plant. Unifor is also concerned about GM's engine and transmission plant in St. Catherines, Ontario. GM employs a total of about 6,600 Unifor members at sites in Ingersoll, St. Catherines and Oshawa. Unifor members at the Detroit Three voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike, with margins of 97 percent at GM, 99 percent at Ford Motor Co. and 99 percent at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Ford and FCA have had their contracts extended, but Unifor workers at GM could be ready to strike Tuesday if a new deal is not reached. As talks continue, Unifor said it will be giving updates at 4 p.m., 8 p.m. 10 p.m. and midnight, as needed. Huron_River_080413_RJS_001.jpg The city of Ann Arbor has suspended Geddes Pond stillwater paddles and Argo-Gallup canoe trips until water test results are obtained. (File photo | The Ann Arbor News) ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor officials estimate up to 600,000 gallons of sewage reached the Huron River during another overflow event. A sanitary sewer overflow was discovered in a construction area on Geddes Avenue near the entrance to Gallup Park at about 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 19. The city issued a press release about the incident at about 5 p.m. Monday, saying the cause of the overflow was determined to be construction debris that had accumulated in a sanitary sewer pipe, blocking flow. City officials said the blockage was immediately removed and flow restored. They believe the overflow occurred sometime between 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, and 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 19. There are no communities downstream that withdraw water from the Huron River for drinking purposes. In accordance with regulatory protocols, city staff contacted the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to report the incident. The city has suspended Geddes Pond stillwater paddles and Argo-Gallup canoe trips until water test results are obtained. The city reported two other sewage overflows earlier this year, including one near Bird Hills Nature Area where an estimated 36,000 gallons of sewage flowed over land to an unnamed tributary of the Huron River over a period of 60 hours, and another that sent an estimated 400,000 gallons of raw sewage flowing into Malletts Creek over a two-week period. Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com. Outback Torch Run.JPG From right to left: Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Eric L. Wilber, Scott Holman of Bay Cast Inc., Julie Law of Midwest Machinery Movers, John W. Spreeman of Burt Watson Chevrolet, Trica Murphy of Burt Watson Chevrolet, Brian Rousse of Garber Bay Road, Patrick Rokosz of Lake Michigan Credit Union, Jason Priebe of Burt Watson Chevrolet, and Michigan State Police Trooper Joseph Rowley. (Cole Waterman | The Bay City Times) KOCHVILLE TWP, MI -- The annual Michigan Law Enforcement Torch Run has wrapped up it fundraising for the summer, thanking those in the Great Lakes Bay Region who contributed hefty donations to the 2016 Special Olympics Michigan. The12th annual luncheon to thank donors took place Friday, Sept. 16, at the Outback Steakhouse at 2468 Tittabawassee Road in Kochville Township. Hosting it was Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Eric L. Wilber. The dozen or so people in attendance represented businesses or organizations that donated $500 or more to the Torch Run. "I have been holding a luncheon for the Law Enforcement Torch Run at this venue for the last 11 years," Wilber said. "The owner (Melissa Bisbikis) has donated all the meals, staff, and the business for the event that has fed on average 200 persons that donated $20 to attend the event." This year, Wilber chose to forgo the usual display of police gear outside, opting for a more intimate affair. "We are still hosting and thanking those entities that have generously donated $500 or more over the last 11 years," he said. "While each of these donors did not hesitate with this year's donation, I felt obligated to thank them for their continued support. "Every dollar raised goes right to the athletes of the Special Olympics," the lieutenant added. "In the last three or four years, law enforcement in Michigan has raised over $1 million each year." Wilber spent several years running in the relay himself and said it is important to him to be involved with the effort. "It's about giving back," he said. "There are a lot of people in this world that take their life and health for granted. You go to one of the (Special Olympics) events with all of the athletes, you just have an appreciation for what you do have. Seeing how it's received by them is reward enough." The Torch Run is the largest grassroots fundraising effort for Special Olympics International. Runs take place across the country in hopes of bringing awareness to the Special Olympics athletes. In Michigan, it spans 750 miles, beginning in Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula to Sterling Heights. This year's relay began Monday, Sept. 12, and ended Sunday, Sept. 18. "It's a fabulous, worthwhile cause," said John W. Spreeman, executive manager of Burt Watson Chevrolet, one of the $500-plus donors. "When we come into this event and see the enthusiasm surrounding it, then see all of the kids who participate, it just gives you a good sense of satisfaction to be part of it." The following donated $500 or more to the Law Enforcement Torch Run: DETROIT -- The Wayne County Medical Examiner's office on Monday ruled the death of Detroit Police Sgt. Kenneth Steil a homicide resulting from a gunshot wound to the chest. The sergeant died unexpectedly Saturday while recovering from a gunshot wound he suffered the night of Sept. 12. Medical staff originally expected Steil to recover from his injury, and had been planning to send him home when he died of a medical complication. Police haven't revealed further details about what the complication was. Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman Lloyd Jackson said a full autopsy and findings are expected to be completed this week. Steil, a 17-year police veteran, had a wife, JoAnn, and two children, William, 5; and Alexander, 3. Detroit Police Deputy Chief Steve Dolunt, a one-time commander of Steil's in the city's Ninth Precinct, said Steil's 5-year-old son had prepared a welcome-home sign for his father and hung it on the family's house in anticipation of his father's return Saturday. "He thought he was going to be going home this week," Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Saturday. " ... The last thing the sergeant said to me before I left him Wednesday was, he said, 'As I got to the hospital, I go, thank God I'm going to be here for my wife and sons.' "Now we know he's not going to be there, but I want JoAnn and her children to know that 700,000 people in the city of Detroit will be." Investigators say 21-year-old Marquise Cromer, who was wanted for allegedly shooting his father and committing a carjacking the day prior, shot Steil in the right shoulder with a sawed-off shotgun about 11 p.m. Sept. 12 during a foot chase that led to a Sunoco gas station near Seven Mile and Hayes. It's expected Cromer will face new charges resulting from Steil's death. Steil worked on the Special Operations and Underwater Rescue teams. He wore sergeant badge no. S-54, the same as his uncle, a former Detroit police sergeant who inspired him to enter law enforcement. "Ken said it not once but several times, not only to his loving family, but to his men who were with him, that, 'I'm glad that I took the round, because I would not have wanted any of you to take it," Craig said following Steil's death. "This man is an American hero, Detroit's finest." Craig said more than 150 officers visited Steil while he was at St. John Hospital recovering last week. The outpouring of support prompted the sergeant to write a letter to the police chief and department. "I have experienced the brotherhood of DPD throughout my career, but to be the recipient of so much love and support is truly a humbling experience," Steil wrote. "I have never been prouder to be a member of the Detroit Police Department. "All of the support has made a huge difference in keeping my mind off the pain and keeping my spirits up. The doctor said that I can probably go home tomorrow and I should fully recover. I know that I will be taken care of until I'm back on my feet ... I look forward to working with you all again." Detroit police on Monday morning said Steil's funeral arrangements hadn't been finalized. Detroit-area health professionals gathered at Eastern Market on Monday to advocate in favor of a regional transit millage to go before voters in November. Four major southeast Michigan hospital systems announced support for the costly plan, hoping improved transit can cut down on missed appointments. In 2015, 3,000 patients canceled appointments and cited a lack of transportation as the primary reason, according to Bob Riney, executive vice president and COO of Henry Ford Health System. So far in 2016, 19,000 patients missed appointments, also citing lack of transportation as the primary reason. "If these patients and their families are unable to make those appointments, chances are high they're also struggling to get to and from their local grocery store for fresh, healthy food or the pharmacy for medications," Riney said. "All of these factors are critical to healing and recovery, as well as maintaining overall health." The proposed millage would fund a 20-year plan to connect and improve public transportation systems in Oakland, Wayne, Macomb and Washtenaw counties. Supporters say it would connect 4 million residents, 23 colleges, 310 schools, 22 hospitals and more than 100 grocery stores, parks and libraries. "To have a healthy region, we have to have a healthy transportation system," said Jean Meyer, president and CEO at St. John Providence Health System. The Regional Transit Authority's plan would cost $4.7 billion over 20 years, levying new property taxes at 1.2 mills. It would cost the average homeowner average of $96 annually. Pediatrician Elliot Attisha of Henry Ford Health System said roughly 25 percent of Detroit families lack a vehicle, hindering the opportunity to make it to the hospital or pharmacy for proper care or prescription refills. He said many of his own patients have struggled with transportation. "The small investment will bring a huge return down the line for these kids who are struggling to get the services they need," Attisha said. "... Detroit has a much brighter future because of this because in the end, we're investing in our children." According to Transportation for America, 68 percent of seniors aged 65-79 in Metro Detroit have poor access to transit. The healthcare industry in Southeast Michigan generated an economic impact of nearly $35 billion annually with more than 13,000 healthcare-related businesses and 485,000 jobs throughout the region, according to a 2016 report through the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. "We have to look at what the long term gain is," said Meyer. "To have a city the size of Detroit and not have a mass transit system, we're never going to excel, whether it be in healthcare or economic development, unless we have a way to connect ourselves." flintfire_stock.jpg Flint Journal file photo. FLINT, MI - Firefighters and police officers are in the midst of negotiating a new contract with city officials for the first time after an emergency manager-imposed contract expired in June. Flint Police Officer Association President Kevin Smith said he hopes to have a new contract ironed out by the end of the month. "We've had great talks and I'd have to say from talking with Mayor (Karen) Weaver, the city administrator and the chief of police - they're very open and we're trying to work something out," Smith said. "It's been very promising where it hasn't in the past." Former Emergency Manager Darnell Earley imposed the current contract on police officers in July 2014 that ran through June 30. The contract continues on a month-to-month basis until a new contract is mutually agreed on. Under terms of the current deal, new officers earn $34,860 during their first six months, $36,444 over the next six months and earn $38,112 when officers start their second year of employment. An officer in Flint makes $42,345 at the start of their third year on the force, $46,575 in year four and $53,535 in an officer's fifth year, according to the contract. Police officers in Flint earn $55,000 at the start their 10th year, the contract says. "There's no arguing, no fighting - I want the police officers to get what they deserve," said Chief Tim Johnson. "I'm on the officers' side. I'm not on the city's side. I want them compensated. Everything (the emergency manager-imposed contract) took from our officers - I want it back." Johnson said Weaver also is standing in support of both the police and fire departments. He said he will meet with Weaver and other city officials to discuss the contract later this week. The Flint Journal could not reach Weaver for comment on Monday, Sept. 19. There were no compensation rates for firefighters in the contract posted to the city's website. Firefighters have been working under a contract imposed by Earley in January 2015. That contract continues on a month-to-month basis after expiring June 30. The Flint Journal could not reach fire Chief Ray Barton or Jeremy Gilbert, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 352, for comment on the talks. GENESEE COUNTY, MI - A ninth case of Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County in 2016 is being investigated by the Genesee County Health Department and Centers for Disease Control. The newest case was confirmed Monday, Sept. 19, coming days after the eighth case was announced on Sept. 16 by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Details were scant on the person that contracted the respiratory infection caused by Legionella bacteria, typically during warm weather. Signs and symptoms of Legionnaires' disease include fever, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, pneumonia, and sometimes diarrhea and abdominal pain. The disease has been under a spotlight in Flint and Genesee County after an outbreak in 2014-15 left 12 people dead and nearly 80 people sick. Legionella bacteria is naturally occurring and categorized as a waterborne disease usually spread by man-made water supplies that aerosolize water, according to the Genesee County Health Department, and can then breathed in by a person in a mist. Those at highest risk for contracting the bacteria are people with an underlying or chronic health condition. The health department has suggested those with an increased risk living in the City of Flint to continue using bottled water. The bacteria cannot be removed from water by filters and the health department suggested "close maintenance" of hot water tanks, cooling towers, whirlpool spas, and decorative fountains to help stem any outbreaks. Anyone seeking further information about Legionnaires' disease may visit the Genesee County Health Department website at gchd.us. FLINT, MI -- A state-appointed board removed the city's ability to sue following the threat of a lawsuit, the Detroit Free Press reported. After Mayor Karen Weaver sent notice that the city could file a lawsuit in connection to the Flint water crisis, the Reciever Transition Advisory Board changed governance rules and forced city officials to first get RTAB approval before entering litigation, the Free Press reported. Weaver filed a notice of intent to sue the state in March, the Free Press reported, and at the time Flint officials said they didn't plan to sue the state, but needed to take action to reserve the city's rights. Gov. Rick Snyder and House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, asked Flint to withdraw the notice, according to the report, but Flint did not. Eight state employees have been charged with crimes in connection to the drinking water crisis here. Former state epidemiologist accepted a plea deal that includes no incarceration for Corinne Miller, who pleaded no contest to failing to warn hospitals and the public about a Legionnaires' disease epidemic in Genesee County. Flint Utilities Administrator Mike Glasgow agreed in May to cooperate with prosecutors as a part of his plea deal. The city is in the national spotlight after elevated blood lead levels were discovered in some Flint children after the city changed its water source from Lake Huron water purchased from the Detroit water system to the Flint River in April 2014, a decision made while the city was run by a state-appointed emergency manager. State regulators didn't require the river water be treated to make it less corrosive, causing lead from plumbing and pipes to leach into the water supply. Though the city reconnected to the Detroit water system in October, officials say the city is still not meeting federal requirements for safe drinking water. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A community roundtable discussion is being held Saturday, Sept. 24, to implement real solutions to combat the bullying of Asian-American youth at the Kent ISD Education Service Center. The bullying session is one in a series the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC) and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights has been hosting. The previous discussions have been in Ann Arbor and Madison Heights. Roland Hwang, a commissioner with the MAPAAC, said the commission decided to hold the bullying talks last year, following a survey of college and university Asian-American students who repeatedly referenced bullying as a school issue. He said it was also a topic of concern during town hall meetings. "We want to empower parents and students," said Hwang, who said Asian-Americans represent about 2.9 percent of Michigan's 9.9 million residents. "We also wanted to make the discussion personal by having people give testimonials." Hwang, a Northville school board member, said students are being subjected to all types of verbal and physical bullying due to their race. He said Michigan is more of an immigrant community than it used to be with the Asian-American community now at a two-thirds immigrant base, and one-third born here. Grand Rapids' Bing Goei, director of the Michigan Office for New Americans, said Saturday's program has a morning and afternoon session. He said the early session is focused on informing families of the resources available to them because many of the community's immigrants are not aware of services. He said a number of speakers will address those gathered during the afternoon bullying session. "The more we can help children understand that these are the things that will help them become better informed to live in a more global, international society, the better it will be for their own quality of life," Goei said. "We have got to get that in our children's head in the early stages of their development." Last year, Hwang said a Race Equity Initiative was launched in Hamatramck schools to help address bullying. He said the community has a large Bangladeshi population. Speakers for "How to Deal with Bullying & Build Self-Esteem" include: Steven Robbins, a diversity an inclusion expert. Melissa Kiesewetter, a bullying specialist from the Michigan Department of Civil Rights Bushra Alawie, #ActToChange, public awareness campaign to empower students, families and educators on bullying and cyberbully Suzy Khouzy, OK2SAY, confidential Michigan program for students to report criminal activities and potential harm directed at students, educators and schools Rod Conrad, social worker and school therapist. The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Bullying Prevention Task Force released a report in August on how AAPI students experience bullying. "We learned that students from all AAPI groups are subject to bullying of all types, based on circumstances such as limited English proficiency, cultural stereotypes, religion, and religious attire," Doua Thor, WHIAAPI executive director, told NBC News "However, there's opportunity for all of us to work together to further build upon the resources available, tailor outreach to this community, and implement real solutions to combat bullying of AAPI youth." The Kent ISD Education Service Center is located at 2930 Knapp Dr. The forum and bullying discussion is free and open to the community at large. The bullying presentations are from 1 to 4 p.m. From 9:30 to 11:45 a.m., there will be presentations on state resources, including from the Healthy Michigan Plan, Area Agency on Aging Western Michigan, Reliance Community Care Partners, and Agency for Energy. A buffet lunch will be served at noon. fishingboat.jpg The 14-foot fishing boat Coast Guard crews are searching for in Lake Superior. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City) KEWEENAW PENINSULA - U.S. Coast Guard teams from Traverse City and Marquette are getting some help from air crews flying in from as far away as North Carolina and Cape Cod as they continue to search for three missing boaters - including a 9-year-old child - in Lake Superior. The young boy, his father, and another adult went missing Saturday, Sept. 17 near the Upper Peninsula's Keweenaw Peninsula "One of the three missing has been identified as Keith Karvonen," the Coast Guard's Air Station Traverse City said in a social media post on Monday, Sept. 19. "Karvonen is the owner of a 14-foot boat, pictured above, that the group is expected to be aboard." "Search efforts have totaled approximately 20 hours and 1,500 square miles utilizing crews from local agencies, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Coast Guard Air Station Detroit, Coast Guard Station Marquette, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and the Canadian Coast Guard. "An aircrew from Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was scheduled to conduct night searches last tonight and into this morning." Anyone with any information about this case is urged to contact the Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie command center at 906-635-3233. DRUMMOND ISLAND, MI - A 98-year-old WWII veteran was checking on his deer blind on Drummond Island Friday night when he became disoriented and had to spend the night in the woods until volunteer searchers and authorities could reach him the next day. The man, known as "Grandpa Fox" to islanders, was in good spirits and even joking around a bit when he was spotted by a searcher's dog on Saturday, Sept. 17, according to a report by Candis Collick on the Drummond Island, MI community forum page on Facebook. Drummond Island is off the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula and is one of the largest islands in Lake Huron. The search for Floyd Fox, described as a longtime hunting camp visitor to the island, started Friday night when he went to do a little work on his deer blind and didn't return. His family alerted authorities, who searched overnight, according to the account on social media. At 7 a.m. Saturday, there was a call for reinforcements to expand the search. "Our community responded. With food, coffee, airplanes and more," according to Collick's account. Fox was found by a volunteer searcher's dog in a lowland area. Asked how he was doing, Fox replied, "Not bad, but I could eat something," Collick reported. Fox's family later went on social media to thank the island residents and authorities for their help in finding the elderly man. WYOMING, MI - A firefighter contends that he was fired because of his advocacy for the "two-hatter" law, which allows full-time firefighters to work part-time at other departments. Discipline reports tell another story. Thomas Saladino lied and disregarded orders, and faced a criminal investigation, which did not result in charges, for submitting time slips suggesting he worked for different agencies at the same time, according to reports obtained by The Grand Rapids Press and MLive under a Freedom of Information request. Saladino, 52, admitted that his actions were "very deceitful and wrong," according to an internal-affairs report. James Carmody, director of Wyoming Department of Public Safety, said Saladino's second job as the salaried fire chief in Jamestown Township left it uncertain where his work for either department started or ended, documents show. "You actions have caused this department great concern and embarrassment," Carmody wrote. The trouble for Saladino started a couple of years ago when Jamestown Township firefighters Gregory Landheer, and his father, Gary Landheer, questioned whether Saladino had been paid by Jamestown Township for work such as fire calls, meetings or training while on the clock in Wyoming or vacationing. The Landheers said Saladino's pay increased in 2012, 2013 and 2014 but fire calls did not keep the same pace. Saladino approved Jamestown Township Fire Department payroll. Of 190 incidents where it appeared he had been paid by both agencies for work on the same day, Saladino was able to explain all but 14 incidents, Ottawa County sheriff's Capt. Mark Bennett said in a report. Saladino told police that there had been an issue between Saladino and the Landheer family. Gary Landheer told police he quit as a 38-year firefighter to "go after" Saladino for improper actions. By quitting, he would not violate a "gag order" Saladino put in place to prevent discussion of improprieties outside of the fire department, he told police. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges over payroll discrepancies but Wyoming officials took notice. Wyoming police determined that Jamestown Township had "either very loose controls, or no controls" for recording fire runs, payroll and station maintenance. Saladino received reimbursement for work, such as mowing the lawn or washing trucks, performed by his son. He also admitted doing some work for Jamestown Township while on the job in Wyoming, records said. In January, Carmody denied Saladino's request to renew his secondary employment with Jamestown Township Fire Department, based in part, on the administrative demands placed on a fire chief. He suggested Saladino serve as a paid-on-call firefighter in Jamestown, and approved that request. In February, Saladino notified Carmody he had stepped down as fire chief. He also said he intended to seek counsel to ensure his rights had not been violated under a "two-hatter" law. Saladino later told the township supervisor, Ken Bergwerff, that Wyoming had approved his return to township fire chief, records showed. Bergwerff was suspicious, particularly after Saladino asked him to hold news of the appointment for a month or so. Bergwerff met with Wyoming officials. Carmody told Bergwerff that "none of what (Saladino) told him was true," reports said. In late July, Saladino acknowledged in an Internal Affairs interview that he had planned to transition back to chief at Jamestown Township and had been using the chief's call sign and chief's white hat at emergency scenes in recent weeks. He said he hoped to show that he could handle both jobs. He also had received weekly pay at the chief's rate. He said the interim chief didn't feel right taking the extra pay when Saladino handled all of the chief duties, reports said. Wyoming officials told Saladino to have no contact with township officials or fire staff until an Internal Affairs investigation was finished. On the same day he was warned, he then met with the interim Jamestown Township fire chief, stopped at the fire station and talked to the township supervisor, reports said. Saladino was fired Aug. 10 after 23 years in Wyoming. Carmody wrote: "... (Y)our lack of honesty and integrity throughout the entire process has eroded the confidence and trust that is required of someone in your position. Your willful disregard for directions given to you by me regarding your secondary employment, and your deliberate disregard of the conditions and restrictions spelled out in the two Internal Affairs notifications shows a complete and total lack of respect for authority." Saladino responded with a federal lawsuit. He said he upset bosses because he advocated for a 2014 "two-hatter" protection law that allows firefighters to work for multiple fire departments. It says: "An employee of a public fire department may volunteer for or seek and accept part-time or paid on-call employment with another fire department if that employment does not conflict with his or her employment as determined by the original employer." Saladino's attorney, Karie Boylan, called the Internal Affairs investigations "a sham." ALLENDALE, MI - Grand Valley State University once again achieved a record-breaking enrollment this fall but also saw records broken for minority students and those living on campus. Total enrollment is 25,460, up 135 students from last year's enrollment of 25,325, with 4,380 being first-time students. "The numbers tell a story of commitment to excellence and opportunity at Grand Valley, in accordance with our strategic plan," said GVSU President Thomas Haas. "We have faculty committed to offering the finest academic programs, and we have staff committed to streamlining access to classes, support and extracurricular activities.'' "We not only attract them to campus, but we put processes and programs in place to give students every opportunity to graduate on time and with relevant degrees." There is a 16.9 percent increase in the number of students of color enrolled - 4,315, up from 4,136 last year. According to the GVSU, students of color include those who are: African-American or black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Hawaiian Native or Other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic or Latino. Blacks and Hispanics make up the largest percentage of minorities on campus. There are nearly 100 more Hispanics enrolled this year. The Hispanic student population is now 1,253 students, up 92 from 1,161 in 2015. Although the number of black students dipped slightly from 1,317 in 2015 to 1,304 this fall, those students identifying as biracial, both black and another race/ethnicity, increased. Those numbers rose by 25 from 1,725 student to 1,750, according to GVSU. In June, Haas wrote a column about the university's commitment to increasing the number of students of color. He referenced the Laker Familia initiative as an example. The initiative targeting Latinos was created to help address the challenges -- such as finances, cultural differences and academic readiness -- that might keep students from graduating. Related: Grand Valley State committed to advancing Latino student success GVSU officials say they are recruiting students from every county in Michigan, and more than 400 international students are enrolled. A record number of 6,241 students are living on campus, up from 6,100 last year, according to GVSU. This summer the university completed a $37 million residence hall and academic building to accommodate more students seeking on-campus housing. In addition to 498 beds, the building also has a media room, multipurpose room, three classrooms and faculty offices. Related: GVSU board approves $37M residence hall, academic building Retention is reportedly up for freshman students who began last fall, and also for students who transferred to Grand Valley from community colleges. As incentive to graduate in four years, GVSU offers the Grand Finish grant, which awards a $1,000 scholarship at the start of the fourth year to students with at least 90 credits. John Kennedy, chair of the GVSU Board of Trustees, said university leaders understand the pressures on families paying tuition, and is pleased its strategy of balancing educational quality with fiscal responsibility is recognized by students and the state. "Helping students reach their potential and graduate is a guiding principle for Grand Valley's administration and board," he said. "University officers and the board work closely together to optimize performance while controlling costs. Kennedy said GVSU's proof of performance has been noted by state lawmakers and donors who continue to support the university. He said employers also recognize the value of their graduates who enter the workforce ready to perform. GVSU officials say the university continues to be a talent engine for the region with 85 percent of graduates staying in Michigan to start their careers. Last year's graduating class was more than 5,500. Of all recent graduates, 94 percent are reported to be employed or attending graduate school. The university's estimated its economic impact in Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties at $780 million in 2014-15, according to a recent study. Related: GVSU estimates regional economic impact at $780M Grand Valley has identified programs showing significant growth, including business (5.6 percent), engineering (6.1 percent) and interdisciplinary and honors (10.6 percent). Tuition increased this fall by $221 per semester. The 4 percent hike was offset some by an increase in financial aid. The increase raised the annual tuition for full-time freshman and sophomores to $11,520 (12 to 15 credit hours), and juniors and seniors saw their annual rate go up 4.26 percent or $248 to $12,144. The housing and meal plan rates increased this fall by an average of $164. Related: GVSU raises tuition by 4 percent, also hikes financial aid and salaries rescue copter.jpg A recent rescue of kayakers near Sand Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore chain was successful. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service) APOSTLE ISLANDS - After teaming up with U.S. Coast Guard crews to handle the rescues of kayakers and others this summer, one national park is warning people that Mother Nature is the boss - and there's no guarantee of a rescue on the Great Lakes. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore posted a sternly-worded note about this recently on its Facebook page, under the all-caps heading "Safety is Your Responsibility." The grouping of 21 islands is spread out among 500 square miles in Lake Superior, near the Wisconsin coast. Park staff wants to remind people it's their responsibility to be aware of the risks on the lake and its islands. "Response times to areas on Lake Superior can be far greater than for similar distances on the mainland," they said. "The National Park Service will make reasonable efforts to respond in emergency situations, but the lake IS the boss. So be careful out there, because maybe we can save you, and maybe we can't." They referred to a pronouncement from a longtime commercial fisherman from the area, Julian Nelson, who said: "The lake is the boss. No matter how big you are or what kind of a boat you've got, the lake is still the boss." This warning on social media came just before rescue crews were called to search for three people - including a 9-year old boy - who did not return from a fishing trip in the Upper Peninsula. Michigan State police say the trio was headed to Lake Superior in a 16-foot boat Saturday, Sept. 17, but did not return by that evening. Last week, rescue workers near Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, also in Lake Superior, rescued three kayakers who overturned in rough water. These three men wore wet suits and life preservers, and had cell phones in waterproof cases, allowing them to call for helping after floating in the water for several hours. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Kameron Moore, 18, was sentenced to prison Monday, Sept. 19 for separate crimes: The shooting of a Calvin College professor during an armed street robbery, and a double-shooting outside a party store. Kent County Circuit Judge Gordon Quist sentenced Moore to 12 to 60 years in prison for two charges of assault with intent to commit murder, and an armed robbery charge. He will receive credit for 194 days already served. Assault with intent to murder and armed robbery charges both have a maximum penalty of life in prison. The two felony firearm charges tack another two years onto the sentence. In February, Moore shot history professor Bruce Berglund in the stomach as he walked with his wife, Megan, in the Alger Heights neighborhood around 8 p.m. The couple was approached by two males who demanded money while they were walking along Alger Street SE near Blaine Avenue. Police said a purse was stolen from Berglund's wife and then he was shot. Berglund was able to walk to the nearby Alger Middle School for help. Moore plead guilty to armed robbery and felony firearm in August. He was also linked to a double-shooting outside Riordan's Party Store on Madison Avenue SE in February. He plead guilty to attempted murder for that case, also in August. Prior to the sentencing, Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Kellee Koncki spoke on behalf of Berglund and the victims of the shooting outside the party store. She said the victims, especially Berglund, were gracious and had said "10 years is a long time," in reference to Moore's possible sentence. Moore wrote a letter to the court, which Quist read to himself. With Moore's parents and other family members in the courtroom, his attorney Daniel Reid also spoke on Moore's behalf. "Unfortunately, he got himself involved with the wrong people and the wrong things," Reid said. "He's just remorseful and wants to get back to his family as soon as possible." Pipeline Spill A bag covers a pump handle at a gas station that has no fuel to sell Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Fuel supplies in at least five states are threatened by a gasoline pipeline spill in Alabama, and the U.S. Department of Transportation has ordered the company responsible to take corrective action before the fuel starts flowing again. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) (Mark Humphrey) Statewide gas prices in Michigan have risen by about 4 cents per gallon in the past week, according to AAA Michigan. Last week, prices were down 9 cents. The Dearborn-based auto club told the Associated Press the average price for self-serve regular unleaded gasoline was about $2.24 per gallon on Sunday, Sept 18. That's about 10 cents less than it was at the same point last year. The lowest average price was about $2.12 per gallon in the Traverse City area, while the highest average was about $2.30 per gallon in the Marquette area. AAA Michigan surveys daily fuel prices at 2,800 gas stations across the state. Prices in Kalamazoo and Lansing were up slightly this week increasing .6 cents to $2.18/g and 1 cent to $2.19/g, respectively, according to GasBuddy.com. Grand Rapids, however, is not following the trend. Average retail gasoline prices in Grand Rapids have fallen 3.5 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.18/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 246 gas outlets in Grand Rapids. Including the change in gas prices in Grand Rapids during the past week, prices yesterday were 18.3 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 10.4 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on Sept. 19 in Grand Rapids have ranged widely over the last five years from $2.36/g in 2015 to $3.88/g in 2012. The national average has increased 5.1 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 9.3 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago, but parts of the country are dealing with spikes in prices caused by a spill from one of the largest gasoline pipelines in the country. "While gasoline prices have drifted lower in parts of the country, it's impossible to ignore the elephant in the room: one of the largest gasoline pipelines in the country is out of service and a band-aid is not going to fix the problems in the Southeast as a result," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. "On September 9, a mine inspector in Alabama stumbled upon a large spill from Colonial Pipeline's large Line 1 pipeline spanning from Texas to New Jersey, the artery and only major source of gasoline deliveries for much of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. The pipeline was immediately shut down due to 'integrity issues'. Since the shut down -which is entering its second week- gasoline deliveries have all but halted and inventories at local gasoline racks have quickly been depleting as panicked motorists fill their tanks. This has led to gas price spikes, supply outages and headaches in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. This is among the largest outages of fuel since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Prices in neighboring states and regions may also rise as gasoline supply is diverted, DeHaan said. Old Country Buffet 2.JPG Old Country Buffet at 1230 Jackson Crossing in Jackson closed unexpectedly on Monday, Sept. 19. (Taylor DesOrmeau) JACKSON, MI - One group came from Lansing for a pre-planned 90th birthday party. Others were regulars, who frequented the restaurant daily. Some were employees expecting another shift. The parking lot of Jackson's Old Country Buffet at Jackson Crossing was filled with people on Monday, Sept. 19 - in expectation of a job or a meal. But instead, they found locked doors and moving trucks. Cindy Hamann, a cashier, arrived for her regular shift Monday morning to find a sign on the window reading "CLOSED." She had worked at the restaurant for 23 years, starting not long after the franchise opened. "The ones way at the top don't realize what it does to people's lives," Hamann said. "I'm 59 years old and I can't retire, so I have to keep working." The closing came without warning, many people said. "I saw the sign and I walked around in the back and I found my managers and I cried right in front of them," Hamann said. "I said, 'I worked 23 years, I worked my ass off.' I didn't mince any words. And I told them I loved them because I just think the world of everybody (here)." Old Country Buffet did not respond to calls and messages Monday seeking comment about the closing. The employees came between 3 and 5 p.m. to fill out paperwork for unemployment. The inside of the restaurant was already stripped of its contents. Outside, the Old Country Buffet family gave hugs and shed tears, feeling stripped of their home. "I made stockings for everybody for Christmas," said Breanna Spiteri-Phillips, a waitress. "Our regulars bring us in candy and cookies. I just wish we'd have had some warning. And I wish they would have too, because they're going to be as lost as we are." Spiteri-Phillips named a handful of customers who visit every day, in the same routine with the same meal. Some stood at the door, trying to get in on Monday. When told their spot was closed for good, they walked away with looks of disgust and bewilderment. "To wake up to, 'You have no job, sorry, here's your unemployment papers,' it's wrong," Spiteri-Phillips said. "This is our job." The workers knew this had happened at other Old Country Buffets across the country, but said they were promised it wouldn't happen here. They shared job leads with each other in between the handshakes and hugs. While one of the managers was offered a position at the Kalamazoo location, Spiteri-Phillips said, the other was just promoted to manager days ago. Another employee was hired within the week, she said. Spiteri-Phillips and her husband both worked at Old Country Buffet - it would have been her husband's one-year anniversary at the restaurant on Monday. For Hamann, she wanted to think positively. While looking for a new job, she wants to volunteer with the Michigan Theatre and with people affected by Down Syndrome. "I like to help others," Hamann said. "I worked really hard in there for them and my guests saw me work hard and complemented me. If one door closes, another one will open. It might take a little while, but I'll find something out there. "I'll scrub toilets. I have done it before." The Jackson Police Department reports the following activities for the weekend of Sept. 16 to Sept 18 with officers responding to 250 calls for service, made 126 traffic stops and 18 arrests. Officer Mosier visited Parkside Middle School. Officer Mosier located a handgun and stolen vehicle related to shots fired earlier in the week. Officer Mosier arrested a 23-year-old male for an outstanding warrant. Officers were dispatched to the 300 block of West Mason Street for a possible domestic dispute; no suspect or victim was located upon arrival. Officer O'Donnell responded to a verbal domestic dispute near Pringle Avenue and Elm Street; one of the parties was arrested for outstanding warrants. Officer Tefft arrested a 32-year-old male near West Ganson Street and Bush Street for driving while intoxicated. Officer Klimmer arrested a 34-year-old male for outstanding warrants. Officer Klimmer arrested a 32-year-old female for outstanding warrant. Officer Grove followed up on a larceny complaint and arrested a 26-year-old male; the stolen property was recovered. Officer Rose arrested a 29-year-old female for outstanding warrants. Officer Rose arrested a 48-year-old male for driving while intoxicated. Officer Kingston responded to a possible robbery near Wesley Street and Mechanic Street; no suspects were located. Officer Kruso was dispatched for an accident at Louis Glick Highway and Wildwood Avenue. Officer Kruso made contact with a 31-year-old male and located marijuana in his possession. Officer O'Donnell was dispatched to the 400 block of Page Avenue for a domestic assault; the 43-year-old male was arrested for domestic assault and disorderly conduct. Sergeant Lillie arrested a 47-year-old female for driving while intoxicated. Officer Tefft was dispatched to the 500 block of 1st Street for a domestic assault; the 37-year-old male was arrested. Officer Klimmer arrested a 48-year-old male for driving while intoxicated. Officers were dispatched for a missing child, who was located later. While investigating an accident, Officer Goings arrested a 24-year-old male as a parole absconder. Officer Elston arrested a 21-year-old male for an outstanding warrant. Officer Grove was dispatched for a domestic dispute and arrested a 26-year-old female for domestic assault and several outstanding warrants. JACKSON, MI - Jackson police have nabbed a 16-year-old boy believed to be responsible for shooting last week at a social services building on W. Michigan Avenue. The boy was taken Friday, Sept. 16, to the Jackson County Youth Center, a juvenile detention facility, Deputy Chief Elmer Hitt said. He allegedly fired Thursday at the Lutheran Social Services office, 729 W. Michigan Ave., from across the road, in the area of the Renaissance Apartments, 720 W. Michigan Ave. What he was doing is unclear but there is no indication he was intentionally shooting at the building, Hitt said. No one was hurt. A bullet passed through the roof of the building and landed on the second floor, Lt. Adam Williams earlier said. One day later, police fortuitously found the teen while investigating an unrelated report of people in a stolen vehicle. The parked vehicle was spotted Friday afternoon in the 900 block of Adrian Street and the boy and an 18-year-old were in a nearby backyard. Both started to run before detectives confronted them. Police found a gun wrapped in a thrown-down sweatshirt, Hitt said, and investigators were able to determine it was the weapon used outside the social services building. The 18-year-old was allegedly involved in the vehicle theft but not the shooting, Hitt said. He was not arrested, but could potentially be later charged. image.jpeg The vehicle left the road and crashed into trees. ( Courtesy Google Maps) (Courtesy Google Maps) NILES, MI -- A man and a woman are hospitalized in fair condition Monday morning after they were injured when the vehicle they were in ran off the road and crashed into several tree Sunday afternoon. At shortly before 4 p.m. Sept. 18 deputies responded to a crash on Barron Lake Road near White Street in Howard Township, according to a news release from the Cass County Sheriff's Office. They found a driver, Michael Drum, 44, of Decatur had been southbound on Barron Lake Road when he ran off the road. Drum and his passenger, Donna Brown,51, of Niles, were both injured in the crash and had to be extricated from the vehicle by fire crews. They were transported by ambulance to South Bend Memorial Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition. Both had been wearing seat belts. Alcohol may have been a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation, authorities said. Assisting the sheriff's office were Pokagon Band Tribal Police, Department of Natural Resources, Howard Township Fire and First Responders, and Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service. BATTLE CREEK, MI - Michigan legislators continue to push to have Fort Custer become the U.S. Department of Defense's choice for a $3.2 billion missile defense system to safeguard the eastern United States. Fifteen members of the Michigan Congressional delegation sent a letter Monday to the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, voicing their support for Fort Custer Training Center. The training center, which has hundreds of acres that straddle the Kalamazoo/Calhoun county line, is one of three locations in the eastern United State under consideration for a possible Continental United States Interceptor Site. The defense system will employ missiles to shoot down any incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles that may be fired at the eastern United States. The interceptor missiles at Fort Custer would not have an explosive element, and would be contained in underground silos, spokesmen for the Missile Defense Agency have said. "Since 1917, Fort Custer has played an integral part in training our armed forces for vital national security missions," the Michigan Congressional delegation writes in its letter to Vice Admiral James D. Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. "It supports over 190,000 training mandays annually, hosts nine tenants, including the Army, Marine and Naval reserves, and stands ready to take on this new mission. Locating the interceptor at Fort Custer would bring a welcomed $3.2 billion in economic impact, including $700 million in new construction." The letter also stated that the project would also employ 300 jobs directly and up to 1,800 support jobs. "Given all of these considerations, we strongly support Fort Custer Training Center as the preferred Continental United States Interceptor Site and look forward to staying engaged as the selection process continues," according to the delegation. The letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, as well as U.S. Reps. U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, Brenda Lawrence, Candice Miller, Mike Bishop, Bill Huizenga, Dan Benishek, John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg, Dan Kildee, Dave Trott, Sander Levin, Debbie Dingell and John Conyers. The only member of the Michigan Congressional delegation who did not sign the letter was Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township. The letter coincides with the Missile Defense Agency apparently completing its assessment of the environmental impacts of having a missile defense system at Fort Custer Training Center. According to the legislators, the assessment showed that the environmental impacts would be minimal "and that unlike the other sites, Fort Custer would not require additional surveys or cause significant harm to protected species or habitats." The other location under consideration are Fort Custer Training Center, in Fort Drum, N.Y., and Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center, in Ohio. The U.S. Department of Defense has not made a decision to build an additional missile interceptor site, but the Missile Defense Agency is laying the groundwork nonetheless. The western U.S. is guarded by two ICBM interceptors systems, one located in Alaska and the other in California. image.jpeg Eastbound I-94 was the scene of a road rage incident, authorities say. (Courtesy Google Maps) (Courtesy Google Maps) STEVENSVILLE, MI -- A 34-year-old Indiana man will be arraigned Monday on felony assault and weapons charges, accused of pulling a gun and shooting at a semi on eastbound I-94 Friday morning, Sept. 16. The Berrien County Prosecutors Office authorized charges of assault to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon against Trenton Norris, 34, of Porter, Indiana, according to a news release from Lincoln Charter Township Police. Officers from Lincoln Township Police Department were called to the 24 Mile Marker of eastbound I-94 at 07:43 on Friday by Allen Shotko, 45, of Cedar Springs, who told officers that he had been driving his 2015 Freightliner semi-truck and trailer through the eastbound construction zone when he encountered a motorcyclist. The truck driver said the motorcyclist became very angry and subsequently pulled a pistol from his coat and shot at Mr. Shotoko while both vehicles were moving down the highway through the eastbound construction zone. A bullet hole was located in the truck's radiator, however there were no injuries. The truck driver gave a detailed description of the 2014 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which continued eastbound on I-94, authorities said. Officers from the Coloma Township Police Department and the Berrien County Sheriff's Office stopped the motorcycle at the 38.2 Mile Marker after it had been observed by a Michigan State Police motor carrier unit. Prior to the stop another report had been called in that the same motorcycle had displayed a pistol during a different incident between Stevensville and Watervliet, however no shots were reportedly fired and the caller was not identified. Upon stopping the motorcycle the rider was identified and a loaded .40 caliber pistol recovered. Authorities said Norris admitted to the incident, and told police the truck had cut him off in the construction zone. He denied he intended to cause the driver any physical harm. Norris is expected to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. today, Sep. 19 in the Berrien County Trial Court. BATTLE CREEK, MI -- A man at the hospital for his injuries told police he was hit in the back of the head with a handgun at a party early Monday morning. At approximately 1:30 a.m. Sept. 19, Battle Creek police officers were called to Battle Creek Bronson hospital to speak with a victim of an assault, according g to a news release from the department. The man said he was at a party in the 100 Block of Greentree Boulevard when he was assaulted by several subjects, and that during the assault an unknown man pulled out a handgun and struck him in the back of the head. The victim was listed in stable condition and the suspect is still at large. THREE RIVERS, MI -- When a man came into Triple Creek Convenience Store on South Main Street at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday to cash a suspicious check, the store owner locked the front door and wouldn't let the man leave until police arrived. In the end, two men were arrested on several felony charges. The owner, who would not give his name, said that when a man tried to cash a paycheck for more than $400 from a Sturgis company Sept. 17, the store checked the man's ID and then called the company to verify the authenticity of the paycheck. The company denied issuing the check. "We knew it was a fraudulent check, so we locked the door and wouldn't let him out until we called 911 and police arrived," the owner said. The investigation led to the arrest of two out-of-state men and the discovery of a stolen handgun, many counterfeit checks and money and a large amount of suspected methamphetamine as well, according to a news release from the Three Rivers Police Department. After the man, who was from Ohio, was arrested in connection with trying to cash the suspicious check, a second man, from Indiana, was discovered waiting in a car in the store's parking lot, authorities said. A search of the vehicle led to the gun, suspected methamphetamine and counterfeit items, authorities said. The two men were lodged at the St. Joseph County Jail and face multiple felony charges. Graduation general pic.jpg Muskegon Area Promise will be offered to all Muskegon County class of 2017 high school graduates. (MLive file) MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI -- Every Muskegon County senior in the class of 2017 will have the opportunity to attend Muskegon Community College or Baker College of Muskegon for free for two years. The Muskegon Area Promise will expand from serving Holton, Muskegon and Muskegon Heights to serving all 16 Muskegon County high schools. It is expected to grow from 25 students to 176. "The countywide expansion of the Muskegon Area Promise is a game-changer. In 2017, we expect the addition of 167 new Promise Scholars and about $200,000 in new revenue from the state," said John Severson, Muskegon Area Intermediate School District superintendent. The Promise is entering its third year. The four founding funders were Hines Corporation, Nichols, Adac Automotive and the Alcoa Foundation, which each committed $100,000. "Their vision and generosity prompted other organizations and individuals to invest a total of over $1 million needed to launch the Promise," Severson said. To be a Promise Scholar, graduates must live and attend high school within the MAISD boundaries, earn at least a 3.5 GPA, complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and enroll at either Muskegon Community College (MCC) or Baker College of Muskegon. Tuition is covered at the current MCC rate. This year's rate, including a book allowance, is $4,724. Eligible schools are: Calvary Christian Schools, Fruitport Community Schools, Holton Public Schools, Mona Shores Public Schools, Montague Area Public Schools, Muskegon Catholic Schools, Muskegon Covenant Academy, Muskegon Public Schools, Muskegon Heights Public School Academy, North Muskegon Public Schools, Oakridge Public Schools, Orchard View Schools, Ravenna Public Schools, Reeths-Puffer Schools, Western Michigan Christian and Whitehall District Schools. The Community Foundation of Muskegon County, Kuznars, Quality Tool & Stamping, and Verplank Trucking Company have also committed $100,000. Additional funding continues to be generated through grass roots efforts that include a GoFundMe page. By law, the program must be privately funded for the first two years. After that, a tax capture can be implemented -- half of the growth in the state education tax. Public funding is the key to the program's success and longevity, Severson said. He expects to be fully funded through the tax capture in six years, provided that property values continue to climb. "From the first day of preschool, we will work with our children and their families to make going to college a reality," Severson said. The device was unintentionally detonated by a bomb squad robot The backpack was found in a garbage can in a nearby restaurant FBI agents are reviewing surveillance footage After a suspension, transit service has resumed Explosion follows 2 other nearby weekend incidents FBI questioning 5 people about N.Y. explosion Saturday An Elizabeth man named as suspect in N.Y. case taken into custody ELIZABETH, N.J. -- An improvised explosive device in a backpack detonated near the Elizabeth train station early Monday as authorities were using a bomb robot to examine the item, officials said. The blast occurred around 12:40 a.m. near Morris Avenue and Julian Place. The explosion was not a controlled blast, but happened unintentionally as the robot was cutting the device, according to Mayor Christian Bollwage. No one was injured in the blast, Bollwage said. Authorities found five devices inside a single backpack near the train station, including one that was detonated. After the explosion, press and bystanders were moved back because the four other explosive devices inside of the backpack were still believed to be live, Bollwage said. No other explosions were heard as of 5 a.m. Authorities were using a robot to investigate a suspicious backpack underneath the train tracks at the Elizabeth train station when a device inside the backpack exploded. (Jessica Remo / NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) On Twitter, the FBI's Newark division described the devices as "multiple improvised explosive devices." Earlier Sunday night, the FBI detained five people in Brooklyn for questioning related to the Saturday night explosion in Manhattan that injured more than two dozen people. The Elizabeth incident unfolded after two men found the backpack in a waste basket on North Broad Street and Julian Place around 8 p.m. Sunday, the mayor said. The men took the backpack "because they thought it was of some value," walked for a bit, then saw wires and a pipe, dropped the package and notified Elizabeth police, he said. Bollwage told reporters the explosives were originally found in the trash can about 300 feet from the door of Willy's Place near the train station in the city of about 125,000, which is also the Union County seat. "If that pub was crowded and there was a lot of people there, it could have severely injured, killed and maimed many, many people," Bollwage told reporters. Bollwage said the Elizabeth devices did not contain a cell phone or any other electronic detonators. After the items were found, Union County's Bomb Squad was called in and used a drone to examine the backpack, the mayor said. "The drone indicated it could be suspicious and it could be a live bomb," Bollwage said. When asked if he ever thought Elizabeth would be the target of such an attack, Bollwage said he was not sure the city was the intended target and that the devices could have instead been dumped by a person who realized he or she was being investigated. "I'm not willing to admit Elizabeth is a terror target," Bollwage said. "Because of the location, it's very possible someone was trying to get rid of package as opposed to set it off." Bollwage said FBI agents are reviewing surveillance footage from the restaurant near the trash can where the backpack was first found by the two men. 4 A.M.: Police and media remain near the Elizabeth train station, where five explosive devices were found in a backpack. One of the devices detonated around 12:40 a.m. as a bomb robot was examining it. No other explosions have happened since. 9/19/16 (Jessica Remo / NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Reached after midnight on Monday morning, a spokesman for the FBI in Newark, Special Agent Michael Whitaker, said only that his agency had responded to the scene, and declined to provide any details of the investigation. The FBI asked anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Police cordoned off the station and many streets surrounding it. The investigation halted train service on the busy Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coastline commuter rail lines. Later, officials said service would resume at 5:30 Monday, with delays expected. Tickets and passes on both rail lines are being cross-honored on PATH along with NJ Transit and private buses, according to the transit agency. Amtrak service was also suspended near Elizabeth, spokesman Craig Schulz said in a statement. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and will resume service as soon as it is safe to do so," the spokesman said. Approximately 2,400 Amtrak passengers were impacted by the service suspension, the spokesman said. "Robust security measures are in place at stations, on trains and along the tracks and Amtrak Police remain in close contact with local, state and federal partner agencies to coordinate and share intelligence information," the statement said. "At this time there are no specific or credible threats against Amtrak." It was not immediately clear if the Elizabeth incident was linked to a bombing Saturday night in New York City that injured 29 people or another pipe-bomb style device that went off near a military charity race in Seaside Park also on Saturday. BREAKING PHOTO: blast near Elizabeth NJ train station as bomb techs try to disarm device. Video soon. @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/doX6PgktXw Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) September 19, 2016 Bomb techs from the FBI, Union County, & the New Jersey State Police have arrived on the scene and are now rendering the area safe FBI Newark (@FBINewark) September 19, 2016 This post will be updated as more information becomes available. Steve Strunsky and Tom Haydon contributed to this report. Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. What better way to celebrate your first day of hunting than with turkey and deer? Jayana Johnson, 6, of Carson City woke up Monday morning to enjoy venison steak and eggs for breakfast after she bagged both a turkey and deer Saturday evening. Sunday dinner was turkey dumplings. This weekend marked Michigan's Youth and Liberty hunts for ages 16 and under as well as disabled veterans, and Jayana was just one of many who were in the woods with parents, siblings and others guiding their hunts. "We got to our blind Saturday evening about 5:15 p.m., at 5:45 she spotted a turkey and it came into shooting range at about 15 yards," said Jayana's dad, Aaron. Having only prepared for deer hunting but still armed with a youth turkey license, Aaron quickly talked to Jayana about where to shoot at the turkey. Down it went. "I shot a turkey!" Jayana said excitedly in a moment caught on video by her dad. "She put an excellent shot on it and it expired very fast. We went and got it and took some pictures, carried it to the blind and continued our deer hunt." Two hours later, a 7-point buck came in with a 3-pointer and the pair worked their way in to about 25 yards. "She had a 25-yard broadside shot and she made it count," Aaron said. "He ran into some thick brush and we heard him crash. He expired no more than 35-40 yards from the shot. "I've never seen a 6-year-old more excited and proud, it was very satisfying as a father to experience that." The smile on Jayana's face tells the whole story. Dressed for success A couple different rights of passage were underway near Freeland on Sunday. When 15-year-old Bailey Krueger made her way up to the entrance of the Unique Bridal in Auburn, she knew there would be questions. Decked out in her muck boots, Krueger had just bagged an 8-point buck while hunting with her dad, Butch, but now it was time to pick up her homecoming dress. She has her priorities. "We got out there (Sunday) morning and it was pretty foggy," Bailey said. "I was pretty tired so I was laying there and I almost fell asleep. My dad got me up and said, 'There's a shooter, you can shoot this one.'" As she slowly worked into a kneeling position she pointed the gun at its target: an 8-point buck about 45 yards away. "It was a perfect kill shot," Butch said. "That deer didn't run 25 yards. She wanted to tag it and field dress it herself and then drag it too, but then after a little bit she was like, 'Well, how about I take the backpack and you drag it?'" Dad was fine with that. "I'm glad that she's into outdoors stuff," Butch said. "I think it's something that all kids need to be doing." Then it was time to head to the dress shop. "They looked at me pretty funny but, I was pretty proud," Bailey said of her interaction. "I knew they were going to ask, but I was going to be pretty proud to tell them." Air Asia says its eying a restart of flights to Nay Pyi Taw from Bangkok and has plans to soon fly to Bagan from the Thai capital as Myanmar becomes a more attractive destination for tourists, a senior official at the budget airline said last week. We will look to restart Nay Pyi Taw and one day will fly direct to Bagan, as well as increasing the flight numbers and schedule to Mandalay in the near future, said Tony Fernandes, the group central executive officer of Air Asia, speaking to press near Kuala Lumpur International Airport on September 15. Mr Fernandes did not give an exact date as to when the flights would begin, but said it was only a matter of time given the tourism potential of the country. Myanmar is an amazing country that has snow at the north, sea and jungle at the south, he said. That is a reason that we hope to increase the capacity a lot to Myanmar. The Department of Civil Aviation is upgrading many of the smaller domestic airports around the country in anticipation of being able to increase capacity and allow for international carriers. It will benefit local people because more tourists will come and visit to Bagan, said U Phyo Wai Yarzar, former chair of the Myanmar Tourism Marketing Committee. Things are looking up for Yangons rice bowl. Residents of Kyauktan township, Yangon Region, have begun to look forward to a future in which agriculture alone is not the centre of their lives. Part of the reason is funding from the World Bank. Local real estate agents say people are moving in, now that the completion of a new bridge has cut the travel time needed to get to downtown Yangon. And the movement of industry to the special economic zone in nearby Thanlyin township provides a fresh source of jobs. Although transportation in Kyauktan township is still poor, were seeing more people moving in to stay, including some from Thilawa SEZ in Thanlyin township. Property is not expensive here, but the township is becoming more prosperous as more people come to live here, said local real estate agent U Aung Thein. Low-cost and luxury housing can be found around the Thilawa SEZ, he said. After some industries opened up in Thilawa, job opportunities increased there and people employed in those industries came to live in Kyauktan township, he said. Uptown Kyauktan is popular both for its detached homes and for the relatively good public transportation. Lying on the Yangon River between Thanlyin township and underdeveloped Thongwa township, Kyauktan township languished before the completion of the 900-foot-long (250-metre-long) long Hmaw Won Bridge in July, said local resident Daw Thidar. In the past, we had to go the long way round, via Thongwa township to go to downtown, but with the new bridge, it takes only two and half hours. They also laid down a bus line, she said. The main business of Kyauktan township is farming, and its agricultural products mostly end up in Yangon city, said real estate agent U Sein Maung. More than 70 percent of activity in Kyauktan township concerns farming. Almost all Yangon residents depend on our rice. The original residents are farmers, and didnt see the need to improve the transportation, he said. Even within the township, transportation is poor, let alone if you want to travel outside it. Kyauktan is a very underdeveloped part of Yangon Region, he said. For outsiders, the townships main attraction is the renowned Ye Le Pagoda. Kyauktan township was chosen for the fourth cycle of the National Community-driven Development Project (NCDD) for the period 2016-2020, in which the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development uses World Bank funding to develop infrastructure, said project manager U Hla Khine. Funds are distributed to villages according to their population size, he said. For 3000 people, we will give K20 million a year. Up to 5000 people, we give K40 million, K60 million up to 9000 and K120 million for more than 9000. The fund covers building and repairing infrastructure, including roads, schools and hospitals, he said, adding that the project details and funding for Kyauktan had yet to be finalised. The NCDD is operating in 63 underdeveloped townships around the country, including four in Yangon Region: Kyauktan, Kungyangon, Htantabin and Kawhmu. The project, which formally begins in November, will be launched next month, said U Hla Khine. We will introduce the project and explain how the funds are allocated and what residents need to do, he said. U Kyaw Myo, administrator of Pan Chaung village, said, Were very glad the project is being implemented here. Residents want to pave the roads because our transportation is so bad. Weve had accident and sickness victims die before they get to hospital because of the poor roads. We look forward to further development over the next four years. A select few Myanmar firms display a higher level of transparency than most of their ASEAN peers, but many large companies continue to show little interest in disclosure even when legally required - according to a recent report from the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB). There is huge variation in the approach Myanmars largest companies take to transparency. Some boast levels of disclosure rare across the region and others lack even a basic company website and provide no public details of their operations, according the MCRB. The centre published its third annual Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises (TiME) report on September 17, putting First Myanmar Investments (FMI) and Serge Pun & Associates in first and second place respectively. Famous tycoon Serge Pun owns both. The report scores firms based on factors including organisational transparency, anti-corruption policy and human rights reporting. In third place is the Max Myanmar Group owned by the blacklisted U Zaw Zaw followed by Smart Technical Services and oil exploration firm MRPL E&P Group. The top rated banks are KBZ and AYA, in sixth and seventh place. In terms of transparency the top companies are impressive by regional standards, said MCRB director Vicky Bowman, although she added they do not provide as full and detailed reports as international firms. The companies the MCRB chooses for review are those that pay significant commercial or income tax, and a few others like Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings (MTSH) that play a prominent role in the economy. The top-ranked 10 to 15 firms are virtually unchanged from the previous year, but several companies have still made improvements on areas such as financial data, grievance mechanisms, and environmental and social impact assessments, the MCRB said. Firms like AYA Bank and MRPL E&P Group extended anti-corruption training to directors and suppliers. The latter also has perhaps the best human rights and grievance policy of all Myanmar firms, said Ms Bowman. She was particularly impressed that villages in areas in which the firm is operating have a channel through which to report complaints directly to the company. Other companies have taken steps to protect whistle-blowers and a few have clarified their position on facilitation payments and accepting gifts, the MCRB said. One difficulty is how to verify which companies are telling the truth about policies they say they have put in place. The MCRB is not a professional due diligence service but has altered its scoring system to award more points to firms that can demonstrate implementation, said Ms Bowman. We changed the scoring so that it makes it harder to get 10/10, she said. The only firm to score above nine was FMI. Another issue is how to take into account accusations of wrongdoing. An article in The Irrawaddy in May quoted farmers that said they were pressured into accepting compensation for land that was sold to a Max Myanmar rubber plantation. Religious officials told The Myanmar Times in April that Zaykabar Company another of the 100 surveyed firms had destroyed a religious building as part of a long-running dispute over industrial land in Mingalardon township. The MCRB encouraged surveyed companies including Max Myanmar and Zaykabar Company to provide information and clarification about such issues on their websites. Max Myanmar is the only one to have done so stating that the farmers were fairly compensated and that the firm abides by the principles of Myanmars Land Acquisition Policy when solving disputes. Zaykabar chair U Khin Shwe told The Myanmar Times that the matter of the religious building, which the company previously said had been built on land it owns, had now been resolved with help from the Yangon Region government. He added that he was unaware of any attempts by the MCRB to request information from Zaykabar. His firm was one of the 34 of the 100 companies surveyed that the MCRB found had no website. The MCRB said that the absence of a website hampers its ability to contact some companies, and that even firms with websites and contact addresses sometimes lacked a facility for passing the MCRBs written letters to senior managers. Its not a public company, its a family company, so we dont need a website, U Khin Shwe told The Myanmar Times. He felt that because his firm was only concerned with one sector construction this also meant a website was unnecessary. Another firm the MCRB listed as not having a website is Farmer Phoyazar, which is involved in construction, petrol trading and automobiles. Director U Myo Htwe said he thought the company had a website, but it had been left untouched for a long time. He was also unaware of the MCRBs attempt to contact the company, but told The Myanmar Times he was eager to improve transparency and would contact the IT team to help address the issue. The lack of a website restricts Myanmar firms ability to comply with existing law, the MCRB said. New Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements published in December state that any company that submits an EIA to the environment ministry should disclosure it on their website within 15 days. The leading companies have generally [disclosed EIA reports], said Ms Bowman. But there are those lower down [the rankings] that have not. The ministry confirmed to the MCRB that they expect companies to follow this rule, she added. Ms Bowman also hopes to see existing entities like the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) and incoming regulation like the new Myanmar Companies Act help promote transparency. The new companies act contains a requirement for company directors to make a report, which the MCRB wants to explicitly include information on non-financial risks like labour and human rights. The YSX, meanwhile, has reporting requirements. But the MCRB deems these limited with no explicit requirement to provide details on stakeholder risk. In the case of MTSH and its involvement in the Thilawa SEZ, the stakeholder risk is significant given the number of people who have to be resettled as part of the project, she added. In its early years the project was dogged by complaints over the resettlement and compensation process. The YSX listing department told The Myanmar Times that although the bourse has no detailed explicit disclosure criteria on stakeholder risks, it does instruct firms to mention stakeholder issues that might affect investors decisions. State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was honoured at a ceremony at Harvard University this weekend, where she received the presitigious schools 2016 Humanitarian Award. According to a statement on the Harvard University website, the Harvard Peter J Gomes Humanitarian Award is given annually to an individual whose works and deeds have served to improve the quality of our lives and have inspired us to greater heights. Past recipients of the award include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and womens rights activist Malala Yousafzai. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the fourth Nobel Peace Prize laureate to receive the award. The faculty and students of the Harvard Foundation are pleased to honour [Daw] Aung San Suu Kyi as the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year, S Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation and a professor of neurology, was quoted as saying in the Harvard Gazette. Her courageous struggle for democracy, human rights, and peace in her nation inspired the world. We are delighted that she will engage our students through intellectual exchange about our collective vision for the peaceful uplift and betterment of humanity. During her ongoing trip to the United States, the Nobel laureate has met with US President Barack Obama, as well as Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and members of the business community. Deadly clashes are continuing to flare in Hpapun township, Kayin State, three weeks after fighting first broke out. Negotiations between armed factions last week appear to have failed to staunch the fighting. The Tatmadaw and an aligned Border Guard Force have been engaged in hostilities against a splinter faction of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) since August 28. According to the DKBA splinter group, seven of their troops have been wounded and several soldiers from the BGF and the Tatmadaw have been also killed or badly wounded. Fighting is happening every day. We dont want to continue fighting, which was started due to personal problems between us and the BGF. We are very sorry for the current situation, U Kyaw Kyaw, a peace negotiator for the DKBA, said yesterday. We are still trying to participate in the governments peace process. We dont want to fight in the future, he added. The KNU, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), one of eight signatories to last years ceasefire agreement, said last week that the renewed clashes in Kayin State could undermine the publics faith in the peace process. Fighting has escalated since the August 30 death of Major Na Ma Kyar, the late leader of the DKBA splinter group. Our leader Colonel Saw San Aung was also wounded during fighting, said U Kyaw Kyaw. Padoh Thaw Thwe Bwe, joint general secretary of the KNU, said the fighting is being monitored and the chair of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center has been informed, but has not yet responded. Thousands of civilians driven from their homes in the Mae Tha Wor area have taken refuge at a monastery in Hlaingbwe township. Others reportedly crossed the border into Thailand. According to volunteer aid workers, the number of displaced has grown to nearly 3800 villagers. The families are too afraid to return home, and with good reason. A village administrator was killed in a landmine blast on September 16, according to the volunteers. We are concerned that the fighting will continue for a long time and the villagers will face many problems, said Ko Myint Aung, a volunteer aid worker. In 1994, the DKBA formed as a Buddhist factional splinter from the predominantly Christian-led KNLA, calling themselves the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. The name was later changed to the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army. Further buttressing complaints about the Rakhine State Advisory Commission, 11 political parties put out a joint statement calling for the disbanding of the illegitimate new body. On September 16, the political parties including the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the Arakan National Party met in Yangon to discuss objections to the newly formed commission. Eleven of the 13 parties present at the meeting agreed to support the Rakhine State parliaments vote to reject the committee, a symbolic decision made last week. The commission was formed by the state counsellor last month as an impartial body with a mandate to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine State. The crux of opposition to the nine-member commission, amplified by nationalist protests, has hinged on its inclusion of three foreigners, including former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. U Khin Yi, a spokesperson for the USDP, said the political parties had resolved to urge the government to respond to mounting concerns over the advisory commission. He added that they also staunchly oppose self-identifying Muslim Rohingya being given their own state, an idea which has not been proposed by the government, the commission or members of the Rohingya community. We are concerned the commission will agree to give them their own state in the country, he said. Two of the parties present at the meeting the Democratic Party (Myanmar) and the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) declined to sign the joint statement. But the New National Democratic Party, the National Unity Party, the National Democratic Force, the National Democratic Party for Development, the Wa Democratic Party, the Kayin State Democracy and Development Party, the Wunthanu National League for Democracy, the Modern Peoples Party, the Peoples Democracy Party, and the Democratic Party for a New Society joined the USDP and the ANP in supporting the statement. Commission member U Aye Lwin told The Myanmar Times yesterday that the commission convened on September 17 to formulate a response to the joint statement. We want them to know we will be working together with people from all communities. Our commission will only be offering advice to the government, he said. The commission has been tasked with recommending solutions to the protracted inter-communal divide between Buddhists and Muslims since violence between members of the two religions wracked the state in 2012, leaving more than 100,000 Rohingya displaced. Members of the commission, will operate out of a Yangon headquarters with a field office in Sittwe, have already pledged to keep in mind a development-centred approach and will be submitting recommendations to the government in the second half of 2017. Responding to the political parties statement while on a visit to the United States, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she found it very upsetting that political organisations would try to interfere with the commission. The commission is trying its best to benefit the people, but there are some who do not want it to be successful in its aims, she said at a September 17 meeting with Myanmar citizens at the Myanmar consulate in New York. She added that those opposing the commission stand in the way of attempts at national reconciliation. Members of the advisory commission toured Sittwe at the beginning of September and were greeted at the airport by protesters. Mr Annan, who heads the commission, welcomed a dialogue with the objectors and pledged that his team would not be looking to conduct a human rights investigation in the state. In a rare admission of military misconduct, a Tatmadaw court martial has found seven soldiers guilty of murdering Shan villagers during a botched interrogation. After two months of investigation, on September 15 the soldiers from the Northeast Regional Command in Lashio were sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour. The court decreed that each of the seven soldiers will serve five years in prison, said Sai Kao Kham, a local resident who served as a translator throughout the trial. Few of the victims family members speak the Myanmar language. Of the seven convicted soldiers, four are military officers. The Tatmadaw has long faced allegations of misconduct particularly against ethnic minority populations from human rights advocates and ethnic armed groups, but until now has largely acted with impunity. The case in Mong Yaw village made headlines in June after Tatmdaw troops detained several villagers in connection with a roadblock skirmish. The bodies of five civilians were dug up from shallow graves in a roadway ditch several days later. Family members of the deceased victims told The Myanmar Times that the verdict, with its minimal prison terms, fell far short of delivering justice for their loved ones. Ma Aye Luut, 18, said her husband was just 23 years old when he was killed. [The soldiers] were given just five years, but I lost my husband, she said. The mother of two children a two-year-old and a seven-month-old baby now has no way to support her young family. She said the day she learned of her husbands death was the darkest of her life. I used to be a housewife. I dont know how to make money. I am worried about the future of my children. Who will raise them? Ma Aye Luut said. Sai Maung Than lost his teenage brother in the same incident. Sai Si Lu was only 17 when he was shot dead by the Tatmadaw soldiers. He was the youngest among the murdered villagers. The day before his death, Sai Si Lu went to work in a cornfield near the village. He never returned home, according to his brother. I have lost my only brother, Sai Maung Than said. Sai Si Lus grandmother was so afflicted by the news of her grandsons death that her health rapidly deteriorated and she has since suffered depression. Only five years for taking a life is not enough. But what can I do to change it? Sai Maung Than said. In July, Deputy Commander Major General Kyaw Kyaw Soe from the Northeast Regional Command visited the victims families and gave them each K300,000 (US$247). He said the money was a show of his personal condolences and was not official compensation money. They have not said anything about the compensation. I would be relieved if they would help ensure I can raise these little children, said Ma Aye Luut. Sai Kao Kham, the translator, said that while the losses will never be overcome, the weary and mourning families are hoping some of their financial burden will be lifted through compensation money. Most of the deceased were breadwinners for their family. Over the weekend, as news of the verdict spread, some within the military community were also perturbed by the courts ruling, and accused the legal system of unjustly buckling to public pressure. While some civilians and media are debating the fairness of the sentence length, it was also a shock for the Tatmadaw community. This is the first ruling of its kind in which a division commander is being punished by imprisonment for a military operation, Ye Moe, an editor at Myanmar Review Journal, wrote on his Facebook account. The Tatmadaw has denied culpability for two other villagers deaths, allegedly linked to the Taang National Liberation Army. The TNLA has denied that any of the murdered villagers were connected with them or their soldiers. A military spokesperson yesterday said he could not make further comment beyond the Tatmadaws official statement confirming the court sentence. At a press conference in July, Lieutenant General Mya Tun Oo pledged that the Tatmadaw would fully disclose the outcome of the military tribunal and its separate probe into the deaths of the two men accused of TNLA links, including any punishment meted out. He also said the Tatmadaw would offer the victims families assistance. According to the Shan Human Rights Foundation, which conducted an independent investigation into the killings, the two other men, brothers Naw Tint and Sai Hla, were shot dead on their motorcycle when they refused to heed a roadblock the Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion 362 had set up along the route from Mong Yaw village to Lashio. Soldiers ordered the two men on the motorcycle to stop and when they did not halt fired shots first into the air and then at the motorists. According to the Shan Human Rights Foundation, the soldiers then went to nearby cornfields and arrested five civilian farmers for interrogation. Those five were the civilians later killed. Members of labour organisations in Mandalay Region yesterday brought more pressure on the Arbitration Councils labour delegates, demonstrating in favour of re-selecting those seats on the dispute settlement body. About 1000 workers from trade groups in Mandalay gathered to protest council members selected to represent workers, as all five had been drawn from a single organisation. What we want is that labour representatives be selected from three organisations. But the current selection is not fair, U Maung Kyaing, Mandalay Region representative for the Union of Myanmar Federation of Workers Unions from Industries and Service Companies, told The Myanmar Times. Moreover, there was weakness in outreach and lack of invitations sent to workers organisations to the event to select labour representatives. Thats why we want to re-select labour representatives. We will continue making our demand until it is fulfilled, he added. Protesting in the Mandalay industrial zone, demonstrators said they were looking for representatives on the Arbitration Council who could unite workers and were not seeking a position on the council simply to show off. Representatives of workers and workers unions selected the five labour representatives on July 12, in a vote that was neither fair nor transparent, the demonstrators said. The 15-member Arbitration Council is composed of five representatives each for the government, employers and workers. The current councils term expires at the end of this year, prompting the July vote to replace its outgoing membership. The quasi-judicial Arbitration Council can rule on disputes between employers and their workers, as empowered in the Settlement of Labour Disputes Law enacted in 2012 and amended in 2014. Labour activists held a press conference on July 19 similarly objecting to the workers representatives on the council and arguing that several labour groups had not been invited to the election. The following month, some trade unions threatened to boycott the Arbitration Council if its labour representatives were not re-selected. We want an independent election commission formed to select labour representatives. And we also want all worker organisations invited to the event to select those labour representatives. The best way forward is to reselect representative for workers, said a participant in yesterdays protest. Translation by Thiri Min Htun Farmers whose land was confiscated to build a railway to nowhere are to be compensated, parliament has heard. Bago Regions Pyay-Paukkhaung railway, closed temporarily in 2013 after running for only three years, will remain closed for now because it had been operating at a substantial loss, said Transport Minister U Kyaw Myo. The minister was responding on September 16 to a question from Pyithu Hluttaw MP Daw Ni Ni Tun (NLD; Paukkhaung), who asked about the future of the railway and the plight of the farmers whose land was taken to build it. They had received no compensation and Paukkhaung Station was falling into disuse. The railway is suspended only temporarily at the present time. If local residents need it, it can be used again when there are passengers and goods, said U Kyaw Myo, adding that compensation would be paid to the farmers. He said the previous government had suspended the line because it failed to meet passengers expectations and ran at a loss. The minister said the compensation would be paid from the next budget, but gave no figure. More than 136 acres (55 hectares) of fields belonging to 235 farmers in seven villages in the township were confiscated to build the line. The Paukkhaung railway is not the only line losing money. The current government shut down 16 lines during its first 100 days for that reason and transferred the funding to other expenditures, U Tun Lwin Oo, director general for the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, told a press conference in Nay Pyi Taw on August 16. Myanmar railway transportation losses rose from K12.5 billion (US$10.3 million) in 2006-07 to K65.4 billion in 2014-15, as the ratio between expenses and income worsened by K205.85 billion, former deputy railways minister U Myint Thein reported to parliament last December. The current government is continuing its predecessors efforts to privatise struggling state-owned enterprises. But railway transportation is unlikely to be sold off because entrepreneurs are thought to see little profit in taking it over, given the kind of investment that would be required. Foreign experts have suggested that the government should retain responsibility for rail transport for the benefit of low-income travellers and remote communities. Translation by San Layy Police seized hundreds of illegal stimulant tablets from a taxi outside of civil servant housing in Nay Pyi Taw on September 16. Acting on a tip-off, police were waiting when a white Toyota Mark II sedan pulled up to the civil servant quarters on No 1 Mya Tain Hlwar Road at about 6:30pm. Taxi driver Ko Htay Kyaw and passenger Ko Aung Aung were told to step out of the car while police conducted a search that revealed 800 stimulant tablets. Hidden in a bag of peanut candies were 16 packets of the illicit stimulant, as well as 20 pills of a drug labelled Air-X. According to Ko Aung Aungs statement, the drugs were purchased from a dealer named Ko Maung Soe in Yangon Region for K1000 (US$0.82) per pill. The seized drugs are worth K2.5 million, according to the No 7 police station. Police have opened a case against Ko Aung Aung, who they believe was attempting to deal the drugs, as well as driver Ko Htay Kyaw and manufacturer Ko Maung Soe. Charges have been filed under sections 15, 19(a), 20(a) and 21 of the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substance Law for failure to register medical treatment, possessing or trafficking illicit drugs with the intention of selling them, distribution of unregistered narcotics and abetting in drug dealing. From my point of view, I think the taxi driver is not related with the case and should not be considered as one of the accused. But we are continuing to investigate, said Police Colonel Zaw Khin Aung, head of the Nay Pyi Taw Police Force. It was also not immediately clear who the intended buyer was. Translation by Thiri Min Htun With the upper and lower houses unable to reconcile differences over draft amendments to the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, the Amyotha Hluttaw Speaker announced last week that lawmakers would hash out their disagreements in the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. Eight points of disagreement between the two chambers remain, under sections 4(f), 12, 14(a) and 25, as well as four sub-clauses of Section 10. The upper house Speaker said the move to debate the contended articles in the Union parliament, announced on September 15, was at the suggestion of lawmaker U Aung Kyi Nyunt (NLD; Magwe 4), a member of the Amyotha Hluttaw Bill Committee. The MP said the main point of contention was over a clause supported by the Amyotha Hluttaw, which parliamentarians in the lower chamber stripped out, that would make it illegal to incentivise individuals to join a protest. The Amyotha Hluttaw approved the clause that [prohibits] any powerful organisations or people from ordering people to protest by giving them money and [prohibiting] people from accepting that money also. The Pyithu Hluttaw abrogated that clause, he said. Another difference between the two houses concerns a notification period for would-be protesters who decide to cancel a planned demonstration. The Amyotha Hluttaw approved the clause that if the applicant [decides not to] protest for any reason, the applicant must inform [authorities] about the cancellation not later than 24 hours [in advance of the planned protest], U Aung Kyi Nyunt said. But the Pyithu Hluttaw abrogated not later than 24 hours and replaced it with at your earliest convenience. The Amyotha Hluttaw wants it as it was originally. The Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law was passed in 2011 under the previous quasi-civilian government. Critics of the legislation point to the scores of peaceful protesters who have been imprisoned or fined for violating its provisions since it became law. It has already undergone one set of amendments, in 2014. Among other changes agreed by both houses of the current parliament is removal of a provision requiring protesters to obtain permission in advance of their demonstration. The draft legislation has been amended to require only that relevant authorities be informed of an impending demonstration. Translation by Win Thaw Tar Amid ongoing conflict and in the wake of the 21st-century Panglong Conference earlier this month, religious leaders joined members of civil society yesterday at a Yangon gathering to offer their prayers for peace. Attendees of the pre-celebration for the International Day of Peace marked on September 21 said the National League for Democracys Panglong initiative marked perhaps the best chance yet to bring peace to a war-weary land. Regarding peace, there is a light shining on Myanmar, which is the 21st-century Panglong [Conference]. We would like to support that and will keep sending out our prayers for each [step in the] peace process, said U Aye Lwin of Myanmars Islamic Centre. From the religious point of view, peace comes directly from our heart. We can achieve physical peace only if we have internal peace in our heart. And if we have peace in the heart, there wont be wars. Saw Poe Kwar, a well-known vocalist who is also a peace activist, told The Myanmar Times that much like oxygen, peace could not be taken for granted. If there is no air in the world, people will die, but no one appreciates the air because it is the natural state of things. Only when there is air pollution, people try to maintain [a healthy atmosphere]. Peace is similar to air, he said. U Myint Swe of Ratana Metta, a Buddhist faith-based organisation, said peace could not be achieved through words alone and required concrete action. It cannot be denied that everyone in the world desires peace, but there are only words and no actions. So I would like to encourage more action. We can work for development only when we have peace, he said. As a bevy of stakeholders prepares to meet for a follow-up to the Panglong Conference in less than six months, Christian leader Father Joseph Maung Win said Myanmars communities of faith had their own role to play. There are those parts of the peace process and democratic transition that our countrys leaders cant work out and if we, the religious leaders, hold each others hands and work together, that progress will be achieved, he said. The International Day of Peace is observed annually on September 21. Despite the signing of a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement last year about a dozen ethnic armed groups were not onboard and the landmark Panglong Conference, this year Myanmar will again mark the day amid reports of fighting, this month in Kayin State. There, a splinter faction of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army has clashed with a joint Border Guard Force-Tatmadaw contingent, sending thousands of civilians fleeing. Recent months have also seen hostilities between the Tatmadaw and a handful of ethnic armed groups in the countrys northeast. The Young Mens Christian Association has launched a counselling centre in Yangon where people can receive counselling and mental health services free of charge. Supported by the German-based Bread for the World organisation, the three-year project will provide a range of different counselling services open to residents of all ages in Yangon Region. Nant Thazin Htwe, project manager of the YMCA Counselling Centre, said that in addition to providing counselling services, they will also help their clients access other services they may need from different organisations. Providing support to people living in remote areas of Yangon, such as Dala, Dagon Port or Hlaing Tharyar township, will be a key priority of the new service. U Taw Myat Soe, a YMCA counsellor, said that sub-centres will be opened in the future to serve people who may not be able to come to the central office, which is located at 263 Mahabandoola Street in Botahtaung township. U Thar Sein, president of the YMCAs Yangon chapter, added that there are also plans to launch mobile counselling teams in the future. The YMCAs new counselling services were welcomed by Dr Sun Lin, senior consultant psychiatrist (mental health) at Sanpya Hospital. Most of the people who face depression and mental health problems also suffer from other problems in society. Therefore, they need not just psychologists but also counsellors, he said. U Taw Myat Soe said the community-based counselling services will commence in January next year. Currently, training is being conducted for the counsellors. We will also train over 80 volunteers in the community and in related fields to support counselling, he said. Myanmar has few practising psychiatrists and psychologists. Health professionals say that the few mental health specialists generally treat patients with only medication, due in part to a lack of counselling services available. A leader of the Saffron Revolution yesterday called for a master plan to eradicate poverty in Myanmar, at an event marking the ninth anniversary of the popular uprising, which was sparked by deteriorating economic conditions in the country. U Pannya Vamsa said that any government, whether the dictatorial regime he helped rally people against nine years ago or a democratically elected administration, needed such a plan if it was to stave off popular discontent. If they are going forward without it, they would not be favoured by the people and Sangha monks would not be satisfied with their actions, he said, using the official name for the Buddhist monastic order. Another prominent monk, Ashin Sandar Thiri, used the ninth anniversary commemoration to call for furthering development, human rights and democratisation, saying the Saffron Revolution, while led by monks, reflected a fight for the interests of the lay population as well. That should include releasing Myanmars remaining political prisoners, he said. Reading from a prepared statement, U Agga Yazar used the anniversary to urge Buddhists to follow the ways of the Buddha, avoiding instigation of members of other religions and races through propaganda or hate speech. Members of Myanmars Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Hindu communities attended yesterdays ceremony in Yangon, which included a march by about 200 people to Shwedagon Pagoda, where prayers for peace were offered. Though the Saffron Revolution played out over the course of several weeks, September 18 marks the day the monks announced that they would refuse donations from members of the military government and took to the streets en masse. Rising fuel and commodity prices had been stoking initial outrage for weeks, with the protests eventually spiralling to include calls for greater democratic freedoms. A violent crackdown in October ultimately quelled the rebellion, with more than 100 people reportedly killed. Official government figures at the time put the casualty count much lower. Political economists have long debated whether globalisation started a race to the bottom throughout the developing world that is, a lowering of labour and environmental standards as governments fiercely compete to attract multinational corporations and supply chain contracts. The evidence that this is the case, however, is decidedly mixed. In some cases, globalisation can worsen labour standards, and international investment agreements can sometimes shift bargaining power toward multinational firms and away from developing countries governments. But in other instances, globalisation offers mechanisms to improve the conditions faced by workers. Moreover, the sources of poor working conditions are often as much domestic as they are international. Trade and international investment agreements along with the liberalisation of domestic financial sectors make it easier for companies to move between countries. This allows firms to seek more efficiency in their production; to diversify their location to guard against political and economic risk; and to source inputs from the lowest-cost producers. But at the same time, most workers particularly less skilled workers have fewer options, especially in countries with a labour surplus. If governments, activists or workers insist on better working conditions, profit-seeking multinational firms could credibly threaten to relocate. Workers, with limited voice relative to capital, are left with little choice but to accept globalisation on corporations terms. But is the situation really so bleak? Certainly, technology and transportation innovations serve to enhance cross-national competition for investment, for subcontracts and for market share. But even in a world of mobile corporations and regional and global supply chains, the races arent always to the bottom, and the winners arent always (only) corporations. Multinational firms often care not only about costs but also about the quality of their finished goods and labour force; about reputation with shareholders as well as consumers; and about good governance in host economies. Significant evidence suggests that multinationals pay a wage premium relative to domestically owned employers. And, all else equal, developing countries that attract more directly owned multinational production offer more protection to workers. The vast majority of employment related to global markets, however, does not take place in the directly owned subsidiaries of multinational firms but rather in firms that subcontract production. Some subcontractors, such as Foxconn and Formosa, are themselves large and multinational. But many subcontractors especially in complex and long supply chains are small, geographically dispersed and focused on minimising costs. In such locations, it is difficult even for well-intentioned firms and sophisticated rights advocates to monitor respect for labour standards. Private and private-public regulatory initiatives can help workers capture gains under these circumstances, but their success is not based solely on strong labour inspectors and human resources managers, or even from the attention of consumers and shareholders on poor work standards. They must also achieve buy-in from local and national governments. Private regulation often complements rather than replaces public governance. If we want to increase the autonomy of developing countries and their workers, we need to pay attention to politics within those countries as well as trade and investment negotiations at the international level. Domestic labour laws and their implementation in practice make a major difference. Repressing workers can serve not only the interests of foreign firms but also the desires of local elites, who might prefer to avoid political challenges and economic demands from labour unions and abundant, but less skilled, workers. Changing governments incentives is key: If multinational firms and their home country governments are willing to link labour- and human rights-related opportunities with investment and trade opportunities, and do so sincerely rather than as a veil for protectionism at home we can begin to right the important balance between domestic capitalists and domestic workers. Working conditions in many parts of the world are far from ideal. Globalisation and technological changes have made it easier to find and publicise instances of forced labour, child labour, poor working conditions and limits on workers capacity to organise and bargain. But for many workers, the alternative marriage and rural work at a very young age may be worse than the supply chain status quo: an urban factory job that provides a modicum of autonomy. The trick, then, is to identify the conditions that allow developing countries to participate in global production networks, but to also ensure that these countries can reclaim some voice with regard to foreign corporations and domestic elites. While this outcome is far from automatic, it is not impossible. Washington Post Layna Mosley is a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Game of Thrones has broken the record for the highest number of Emmy Awards won by any show. The HBO fantasy drama triumphed in 12 categories, including outstanding drama series, taking its all-time Emmy total to 38. That means it has now surpassed Frasier's previous record of 37. This year's British winners included Dame Maggie Smith, who won outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in Downton Abbey. It is the third time Dame Maggie has won an Emmy for her portrayal of Violet Crawley, but she has never attended the ceremony in person. Host Jimmy Kimmel joked: "We're not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this, it will be in the lost and found." John Oliver won best variety talk series for his HBO series Last Week Tonight, beating fellow British nominee James Corden, who was nominated for The Late Late Show. BBC One's Sherlock was named best made for TV movie for its special episode The Abominable Bride. Susanne Bier , the Danish director of the BBC's spy thriller The Night Manager, won for best directing in a limited series. Bier directed every episode of The Night Manager Bier, who was the only female nominee in the category, told BBC Breakfast: "This is such a traditional men's world, and I hope the fact a woman director has won this prestigious prize is going to mean that more non-conventional series and movies are going to be directed by women." Veep won the outstanding comedy series award for the second year in a row, while its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won outstanding lead comedy actress for the fifth time. In her acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus said: "Our show started out as political satire but now feels like a sobering documentary." She dedicated her award to her father, who died on Friday. Tony Hale, who plays the president's personal aide Gary Walsh in Veep, triumphed in the outstanding supporting actor category. Veep won best comedy series and best comedy actress for Julia Louis-Dreyfus (centre) The outstanding comedy actor gong went to Jeffrey Tambor, who plays a transgender woman in the Amazon series Transparent, for the second year in a row. Accepting the award, Tambor encouraged the industry to offer more opportunities to the trans community. "I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a transgender female on television. We have work to do," he said. Rami Malek won outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his role in Mr Robot, while Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black won outstanding leading actress. Other big winners of the night included The People vs OJ Simpson - a dramatisation of the OJ Simpson trial of the 1990s, which was broadcast on BBC Two in the UK. Courtney B Vance, Sarah Paulson and Sterling K Brown all won acting trophies The show won five trophies including outstanding limited series plus acting gongs for Sarah Paulson, Sterling K Brown and Courtney B Vance. Netflix series Master of None scored its first Emmy award, winning outstanding writing for a comedy series. The show's co-writer Alan Yang called for better Asian representation on screen in his acceptance speech. Elsewhere, The Voice took home the award for outstanding reality competition series, beating Project Runway and Dancing With The Stars. Kimmel made several references to diversity during the ceremony in light of the "Oscars So White" controversy earlier this year. "Here in Hollywood the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity," he said in his opening monologue. "The Emmys are so diverse this year the Oscars are now telling people we're one of their closest friends." Piesie Esther known for her inspirational hit songs such as, Apae Ama Me which was released in 2002, Me Nte Ase in 2008 and Ziba Beko in 2011 has officially been signed onto a new record label, Trust Productions. The Gospel Diva who currently has 3 strong albums to her credit will now be managed by her newly signed record label, Trust Productions. Trust Productions is one of Ghanas best Christian record labels that focus on talent management. The company has brought to the limelight, the two times Gospel Song and Gospel Artiste of the Year nominee Patience Nyarko and grooming a couple of up and coming musicians. Mr. Wilson Kumi, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Trust Productions, has confirmed signing the Me Nte Ase hit maker, Piesie Esther on the label and revealed that, work has already started for new album release. It is with joy to confirm to you that, Piesie Esther has now been signed to my record label and we promise fans to expect great and uplifting music from our camp. Work has already begun and we are working tirelessly on her new album titled Agye Won Nsem which will be out very soon Piesie Esther in an interview confirmed her new record label and also expressed gratitude to her former producer who helped produced her previous albums. I am coming back into the music industry after the long break under my newly signed record label, Trust Productions and we are working on releasing my fourth album anytime soon. I will also use this opportunity to thank the Head Pastor of Great Light Worship Center in Accra, Rev Asamoah Boateng A.K.A Apae Live who discovered, groomed me and produced my three albums She earned nominations in the Gospel Artiste of the Year and Gospel Song of the Year categories at the 2009 Ghana Music Awards. Musician Nana Boroo, born Nana Osei Bonsu, has dared that he will quit music should veteran hiplife artiste, Joe Frazier release another hit song. The Aha Yede hit maker believes that Joe Frazier, known for the song Shee Shee, currently does not have what it takes to release another hit song. Nana Boroo made the declaration while reacting to comments made by the veteran hiplife artiste that some artistes, including Stay Jay, Atumpan and Nana Boro, are no longer relevant because Ghanaians have lost interest in Azonto songs. Not amused by the comments, Nana Boroo, in an interview on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM Monday with KMJ, said he is still relevant and he still makes money from his old songs, including his smash hit single Aha Yede. If you are telling me Im Azonto artiste that is why Im not relevant then you have no fact. Even my one hit song Aha Yede is an evergreen song. The song is like five years now and Im still chopping from it so what is Joe Frazier or whoever he calls himself saying? the peeved Tema-based artiste stressed. He slammed Joe Frazier, who said he used to respect as a senior brother, for jabbing artistes without facts. Laying the facts bare, Nana Boroo, said his Aha Yede song has taken him to places I never thought of and I can choose not to do any song again but I wont be hungry. Maybe he wants the fame that is why he is doing that. To him, he feels really disrespected. He noted that he would have taken the jabs in good faith if had come from artistes like Obrafour and Okyeame Kwame, who he says are still relevant in the music scene. But looking at him, he is kind of weak in the system. Instead of him thinking of how he can get a hit song, he is using his precious time to say these things. I can bet with him, if he gets any hit song, I will stop music, Nana Boroo added. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Ernest Dela Aglanu (Twitter: @delaXdela / email: [email protected]) Kinshasa (AFP) - Police fired tear gas Monday at scores of opposition supporters rallying in Kinshasa to demand that DR Congo's long-serving President Joseph Kabila step down this year, AFP journalists said. The police action came after youths shouting "Kabila get out", and "Kabila has to go", threw stones at police on Lumumba boulevard, an arterial avenue in the heart of the city. They waved the blue-and-white flags of veteran Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, 83, who returned to DR Congo in July after a two-year absence. Prior to the clashes, opposition activists also burnt a photograph of the leader and torched a minibus and a car in the Limete quarter, from where the demonstration was due to start at 1:00pm (1200 GMT). Kabila, who has ruled DR Congo since 2001, is banned under the constitution from running again -- but he has given no sign of intending to give up his job in December. DRCongo President Joseph Kabila has been in power since 2001 No elections have been announced and it would be practically impossible to organise a poll in the time left before his mandate runs out. Protests erupted after the Constitutional Court ruled in May that Kabila, who took power after his father Laurent Kabila's assassination, could remain in office in a caretaker capacity beyond the end of the mandate. Tshisekedi is an immensely popular figure who emerged as a leading dissenting voice as far back as the 1980s, when he was a critic of strongman Mobutu Sese Seko. He has now accomplished the rare feat of uniting the Congolese opposition, which has never before managed to forge a common front against Kabila, who beat Tshisekedi in the last presidential election in 2011. In June, another leading light of the opposition, Moise Katumbi, was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for property fraud. The presiding judge in the case has since claimed she was pressured by the authorities into signing off on a guilty verdict, to ensure Katumbi would be ineligible to run for office, according to a letter seen by AFP. The UN on Friday said at least 16 opposition activists had been detained in Kinshasa after meeting to discuss how to stop Kabila illegally prolonging his stay in power. Rights group Amnesty International had on Thursday accused authorities in mineral-rich DR Congo of "systematic repression" of those seeking Kabila's departure when his third term runs out on December 20. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said he was surprised by the accusations, adding that authorities had freed several political prisoners in August. Kinshasa (AFP) - At least four civilians died Monday in clashes between police and opposition supporters demanding that DR Congo's long-serving President Joseph Kabila step down this year, a leading opposition figure said. "We have recorded several deaths," said Bruno Tshibala, a spokesman for the opposition UDPS, adding that he had seen four bodies piled up in the office of an allied party. The Hague (AFP) - Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda was Monday on the 12th day of an unprecedented hunger strike in his detention cell in The Netherlands, refusing to attend his war crimes trial. The once feared rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo has not appeared in the courtroom at the International Criminal Court in The Hague since September 7. He is the first defendant before the tribunal -- set up in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes -- to ever go on hunger strike and his protest is vexing judges who have ordered his trial must go on in his absence. "How long can this situation last? Is it the kind of justice we want before the International Criminal Court?" said his lawyer, Stephane Bourgon, in a statement sent early Monday. "We can't ignore the absence of the accused whose current state of health is rapidly deteriorating." Ntaganda, who has been held in the ICC's detention unit in the seaside suburb of Scheveningen since he surrendered in 2013, has also told his lawyers to stop acting for him. Once dubbed The Terminator, Ntaganda has denied 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out of savage ethnic attacks carried out in the DR Congo by his rebel Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) in 2002-2003. With Ntaganda again absent from the courtroom, Judge Robert Fremr said the detention centre's medical officer had reported early Monday that Ntaganda "shows fatigue, but no alarming physical or mental symptoms." The medical officer had concluded Ntaganda was fit to be transferred to the courtroom to attend in his trial. 'Disruptive' actions Fremr again denounced Ntaganda's actions as "disruptive", calling them "self-induced" and adding "the chamber sees no reasonable alternative but to continue the proceedings." Ntaganda is protesting the judges' refusal to ease restrictions on his visitors -- imposed due to fears about witness tampering. In a rambling statement read to the court last week, he said he had lost hope of ever seeing his wife and children again without the presence of court and security officials. The standoff has left the court in a quandary, although ICC officials told AFP they would not force feed him. "The court has an internal protocol that is being applied. Mr Ntaganda is being seen regularly by medical professionals and will not be force fed," the ICC said. Ntaganda's trial opened in September 2015 after he walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been mired for two decades in ethnically-charged wars, as rebels battle for control of its rich mineral resources. Prosecutors say Ntaganda played a central role in the Ituri conflict in the far northeast which rights groups believe alone has left some 60,000 dead since 1999. Abuja (AFP) - Two suspected Boko Haram attacks in northeast Nigeria have left up to 14 people dead and three soldiers wounded, the army and local residents said on Monday. On Monday afternoon, six people were killed in an ambush of a commercial convoy escorted by the military in the Sanda district of Borno state. "Suspected elements of the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists who were foraging for food, ambushed troops... escorting commercial vehicles from Damboa to Maiduguri," said army spokesman Sani Usman. "Unfortunately, five civilians lost their lives at the incident and another died on the way to the hospital," he said. "Three soldiers also sustained injuries." Another attack took place on Sunday when eight people were killed outside a church by suspected Boko Haram gunmen on bicycles shortly after morning service in Kwamjilari village, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of the town of Chibok, in Borno state. Boko Haram militants targeted a church in Kwamjilari village, northeast Nigeria, after the weekly Sunday morning service "Some of the worshippers remained around the church and the gunmen opened fire and eight men died," said Luka Damina, from nearby Kautikeri village, where locals fled. The attackers set fire to homes and fields of maize that were almost ready for harvest, according to a local chief in Kautikeri, who also said eight people were killed. The army spokesman, however, disputed the facts saying only two people were killed "by Boko Haram suspects looking for food." The chief said soldiers were later deployed to Kwamjilari from Chibok -- the scene of a notorious kidnapping in 2014 when more than 200 schoolgirls were seized. A similar attack in the area last month left 10 people dead and saw 13 others kidnapped, while homes were looted and set on fire. Both raids bear the hallmarks of Boko Haram Islamists, who have frequently attacked villages, churches and mosques across northeast Nigeria and beyond since 2009. Nigeria's military maintains it now has the upper hand against the insurgents in a conflict that has left at least 20,000 dead and made more than 2.6 million people homeless. But such sporadic attacks underline the continuing difficulty in securing remote rural areas. Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa on Monday gave universities the go-ahead to raise student fees by up to eight percent, prompting protests on several campuses across the country. Student groups last year secured a zero percent fee increase after weeks of demonstrations rocked the government, and had demanded a freeze on all fees until a commission into university funding was complete. But Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande gave universities the green light to raise fees for the 2017 academic year. "Our universities face an extremely difficult financial situation," Nzimande said at a press conference in Pretoria. "The effects of last year's moratorium on fee adjustments have added to these challenges... Starving our universities of funding is not the way to go." Nzimande recommended universities raise their fees "not above eight percent". He added the government would cover the increase for students from families earning less than 600,000 rand a year ($42,600). Despite the cover for poorer families, students quickly rejected the minister's announcement, staging protests in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and elsewhere. "This will only strengthen our resolve... government is not playing ball," said University of Witwatersrand student Tshepo Mnguni in Johannesburg. "We have no choice but to fight. We are not doing this for ourselves, we are doing this for future students, the millions who won't be able to access education," the 22-year-old told AFP. Armed police blocked off all entrances into the university to prevent violence, as classes went on during the protest. "We need to unite again and put more pressure on government," said another student, 19-year-old Maria Gomez. She described the decision to hike fees "as an insult by an arrogant government." University of Cape Town (UCT) cancelled all classes Monday ahead of the announcement, while students at Stellenbosch University, Pretoria University and Tshwane University of Technology also protested. On September 6, the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban shut down for two weeks after unrest over fees, with students burning down several buildings and cars at its Westville campus. Violent protests erupted at many South African universities last year, with several campuses temporarily shut down and riot police clashing with students outside parliament. The issue of education fees ignited widespread frustration over a lack of opportunities for young South Africans, worsened by a weakening economy and high unemployment. UCT Vice-Chancellor Max Price said failing to increase fees would result in hundreds of jobs lost, and reduce financial aid to poor students. "Either we have to accept the decline in the kinds of universities we have and the funding for students, or we have to put up the fees to compensate," he told state broadcaster SABC. 19.09.2016 LISTEN Yes, James Adjei looked at his friend found by force, looked around him while sitting on a broken concrete stone once the corner stone of the old Block D10 at the far end of the Grounds, we all here did something wrong to other people, more or less bad, butI ask myself, does this give the other people the right to treat us like Outcasts with no Human Rights as we have to live under such harsh and inhuman conditions, the once we have in our Prisons here in Ghana? A small brown mouse stopped before Henry Asante who was sent to life in Prison for murder. She had entered the facility six month ago, looked up on him her eyes and nose directed to the small white bread he was holding in his hands. She was not aware this bread had no nutritional value like most of all the bread baked in Ghana that were sold in the streets and kiosks along the road side. It had become a regular Afternoon ritual for both of them that he would sit at the same place at the same hour each day for the encounter of a Man which freedom was taken from him and the little, cute mouse that depended on his sharing with her of the little bread crumbles he had saved, for her to have a full stomach for some hours. Even she was able to run under the Prison Wall into Freedom and enjoy in the nearby fields harvest from various farmers, she still preferred the bread from Prison inmates. For her it was meaningless what had happened to the Prisoners and what they had done to others, she was only interested in eating to survive wherever and from whoever possible as long as the person could provide. Henry Asante, a strong man in body shape, small eyes more Asian like than from African Parents inherited, thin lips, prominently formed nose, flat, wide, the center of his facial appearance, short hair, legs slightly curved to form the Letter O, his shoulders always hanging down looked was looking down at the mouse and said: You my good friend, you are free forever, no matter what you do. When you make a mistake in life it means someone has ended it, while we humans have a much more complicated life. Take my word as a word from an old, experienced man, someone that had gone through so much in his life. Animals are not cruel as they have no chance to choose between bad and good, they do not know anything at all. You just act on your GOD given instincts. Be happy, my little good friend, that you are a mouse and not the President of Ghana, your life would be worse. James Adjei looked at his friend and laughed: What do you mean by thatthat is too funny. A President of Ghana, no matter what he does, is always wrong, replied Henry Asante seeing in the distance Officer Kwame Nkrumah-Ampong coming closer holding his stick firmly in his right hand giving him authority among unarmed men. You need to explain yourself! insisted James Adjei getting ready to be addressed to by the oncoming Officer he hated so much. Presidents in Ghana do not listen to GOD and their people, only to their own instincts, how best to be glorified in History and to make them richthat is all, Henry Asante answered lowering his hands to feed the little mouse that stood on her feet eagerly wanting to grab the bread and run away. Party Politics is no good for Ghana. We need Leaders that have a Vision for our country to move on, James Adjei monitored closely the mood of Officer Kwame Nkrumah-Ampong playing nervously with his stick between his fingers. No President of Ghana has ever challenged us to change our mind to become better and more effective people, Henry Asante responded putting his hands into his pockets of his blue overall inhaling the dirty body smell in the textile of weeks passed without having had the chance of washing it,except J.J. Rwalings, only that he was not a Visionary like our first President. You cannot expect to have a perfect President, James Adjei got up to be able to face the oncoming Officer eye to eye knowing about his moody behavior. Henry Asante did not care knowing a murderer in a Ghana prison is sentenced to death in any case, either by one day forcefully ending life by the hands of the Government, or by inmates or illnesses contracted in Prison. We do not need Presidents that can talknonsense, we need Leaders that can act to turn our Motherland Ghana around and move it into a better future long lasting and including alleven us, did Henry Asante give his last bread crumb to his little friend that looked at him for a few seconds waiting for more but when feeling the massive footsteps of Officer Kwame Nkrumah-Ampong, she run away finding hiding behind a light reddish shining stone from one of the nearby Quarries in which some of the Inmates were working at this hour for one more hour before returning back to the Prison. What are you doing here? did Officer Kwame Nkrumah-Ampong harshly say lifting up his stick ready to use it in case of any wrong response. Are you again discussing Politics to have bad, very bad mind about Ghana and our beloved President John Dramani Mahama that allows you to live here under this conditions instead of punishing you very well. Sir, we only enjoy the few hours of fresh air before we have to go back to our cells and join forty of our friends in the small room with no beds, no matrasses, fans, air-conditioning, protection from mosquitos bites and shared mealsso everything is in best order Siras usual, year in and year out with no improvement, was Henry Asante not afraid to speak out his mind. The President has promised to improve the prison conditions, so you can look forward to a better situation in short time, provoked the Officer the Prisoners asking them to move back to their cells. We have hope that after our death, the next generation of Inmates will benefit from the promises made, commented James Adjei cynically knowing of the reality of promises made by their Presidents. Officer Kwame Nkrumah-Ampong turned the key around of the prison cell, turned off the light, asked the Men to fall asleep and have a good night rest. He walked along the Cell Block wall into the Administration Office seeing his Colleague Fred Hanoh making a phone call to his wife. Broken chairs and benches were the only furniture in the tiny room provided for them besides a table that was nearly falling into itself to give up hope to serve any longer. Some three year old calendars were hanging at the wall once white, now covered in black sprinkles from the polluted air in Ghana caused by bad Fuel and Veteran cars; stacks of yellowish turned files laid along the walls reaching mans shoulders. Near the window with metal bars they had a sign of the good old times, a broken down Coffee making machine that some years ago destroyed their hope to enjoy life for a few moments in the company of a hot Cup of Coffee. Hanoh and Nkrumah-Ampong discussed the three cases of sick Inmates, two with Malaria, one with a broken Arm, only to come to the conclusion that Officer Gerald had taken them in the Morning to the nearest Hospital, for which he had to use his own private car and fuel possibly to be compensated for it at a later time or not. Former Member of the Council of State and Minister of State, Dr Mary Grant has passed away Sunday, her family has confirmed. The family of the former Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwart said Dr Grant passed away on Sunday September 18, 2016 at the 37 Military Hospital. She turned 88 on August 6 this year. More soon. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN Starbow, one of Ghana's finest domestic airlines has taken delivery of a brand new jet expected in Ghana this week, Myjoyonline.com has learnt. The 97 seater Avro RJ 100 brings to three the number of jets used by the airline for Ghana's domestic flights. Though officials of the airline are tightlipped on the exact day the jet will arrive, Myjoyonline.com sources say the Avro RJ 100 will touch down on Tuesday. The new jet will facilitate a resumption of Starbow's regional operations as well as assist in other domestic operations. Starbow is looking to revamp its daily flights to some of the regional capitals in the country including, Kumasi and Tamale. The new jet is expected to add to the efficiency in the company's operations and provide passengers with a smooth, convenient, fast and safe trips across the country. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah The Public transport system may be disrupted today [Monday] due to an indefinite strike declared by a group of drivers known as the Committed Drivers Association. Their strike is to protest the commissioning of the Rapid Bus Transport (RBT) system expected to commence in the coming weeks. The RBT aims at providing Ghanaian motorists greater options and flexibility in road transport with dedicated lanes for swift movement. This decision defies calls by the implementers of the system to abandon such plans as it will collaborate with the various transport unions in implementing the RBT. According to the Chairman of the Association, Mr. Charles Danso government has not expanded the road networks in the city; therefore, creating a dedicated lane for the RBT out of existing ones will throw them out of business, hence the strike. It is indefinite and after that we are going to demonstrate against the government.Government has to reverse this decision. If you want to do this thing, trotros are many in Ghana here and they have to consult us first. They cannot throw us out of business like that, Mr Danso explained. Commercial drivers' agitation over BRT system needless The Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE) had described as unnecessary plans by some commercial drivers in Accra, to embark on strike over the introduction of the RBT service. Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, September 16, Roland Bruce, Marketing and Communications Manager of GAPTE, implementers of the RBT project, said there is no reason for commercial drivers to strike over the matter, as collaboration will be maintained with the transport unions to augment the transport services in Accra. Our dialogues included the transport unions, in fact, we are working with these unions. We will have a round-table with them, it is not a matter going on demonstration on this. Dedicated lanes are for the buses and that needs to be understood. If any car can use it, then what is the use of it, Roland Bruce quizzed. By: Marian Ansah & Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana I read President Mahamas concupiscent pledge to his wife Lordina during the NDCs manifesto launch in Sunyani with mixed emotions. First of all, the amorous pledge has brought a glint of smiles all over my face in the sense that President Mahamas promise to his wife to be faithful and loyal somehow dismisses the wildly rumoured extra marital affairs of his Excellency. On the other hand, due to some politicians consuming desires for attention seeking and political misinformation metastasizing during the electioneering campaign, I dont want to get carried away over his Excellencys promise. Concluding his speech at the launch of the National Democratic Congress 2016 manifesto in Sunyani on Saturday September 17, Mr Mahama was full of praise for his wife for sticking by him through good and difficult times (See: Ill treasure Lordina till death-President Mahama ; classfmonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 18/09/2016). Indeed, President Mahama was absolutely on point for praising his wife Lordina who stood by him despite all the allegations by the tattletales over his extra marital affairs. Obviously President Mahama had opened up about his wildly rumoured extra marital affairs some time ago: there is this notion of me being a womanizer which is certainly not true. I have had children outside my marriage. But I am at peace with my wife. She understands the circumstances in which it happened said President Mahama (Daily Guide/peacefmonline.com). Apparently, the preceding revelations rightly generated a nationwide gossip over the actual biological children of President Mahama. In fact, there were contrasting figures from the vineyard news. While some vineyard branches delineated twenty three children from ten different mothers, other vineyard branches mapped nineteen children from nine separate ladies and so on. He openly professed his love for his wife and promised to continue to treasure her until death separated them. I do not want to believe that the Presidents amorous promise was mere political platform inebriation. For, if his Excellency really meant his word, then it rightly makes nonsense of his alleged extra marital affairs. I wish to also express my love and appreciation to my number one supporter, companion, comforter, and friend. Over the last 24 years, Lordina Dramani Mahama has been my companion on lifes journey through stormy times and through calm times, we have been together. A regular columnist and discussant however disagrees that Lordina had been patient over the alleged extra marital affairs. He writes: don't feel sorry for Lordina, most of Mahamas children were born when he and Lordina were separated and Lordina was living in Holland doing her own thing. That is what Mahama refers to as, "She understands the circumstances in which it happened" Lordina might even have a child whose father is not President Mahamas. Well, my friend, if that was the case, then was President Mahama lying to discerning Ghanaians? I wish to thank my in-laws people of the Brong Ahafo Region for giving me such a beautiful and hardworking woman as my wife. I promise you I will continue to look after her well and I will continue to treasure her till the day I die, the president said. That was extremely touching promise. But lets keep our fingers cross and hope his Excellency does not break this promise as he has been doing to Ghanaians. Do you remember his numerous promises on fixing the existential dumsor? In any case, some discussants do not believe that his Excellency will keep his promise on this occasion. For example, a discussant by name Afua wrote: But the rumour is not going away. It has wings and it's all over the country. Some will even point to the houses of the young ladies he sleeps with. It's got to be very painful. Discussant Truth (Monica) wrote: Mr Badu K, come to com3 in Tema and you will find one of the numerous girl friends of Mahama here. It's a well-known secret here. A discussant by name Wikileaks revealed: WHO TOLD YOU THAT Mahama is not a womanizer? Can someone help me on how to upload an audio here; I think I have to let out this audio at long last. I have pictures of the sister in the alleged audio but I don't want her pictures to go viral on social media, but for the audio I'll release it. Obviously, it is never right for any man to cheat on his wife, so I will pray and hope that his Excellency will keep his amorous pledge. K. Badu, UK. 19.09.2016 LISTEN I will begin by empathising with the late Mills family for their agony over the unfortunate resurrection of the arguments surrounding his unexplained death. As a matter of fact, they dont deserve all the political gimmickry over their departed loved one, former President Mills. Having said so, despite the unfortunate revisiting of the events surrounding the death of former President Mills, it is worth setting the records straight. On Wednesday 14 September 2016, while addressing voters at Cape Coast, the PPP presidential candidate Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom had this to say: the NDC cannot pretend to be sad about the death of the president and at the same time jubilate over something they said was the reason why they won the 2012 elections (See: NDC leaders jubilated over Mills death-Nduom; myjoyonline.com, 15/09/2016). Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom proceeds: Mills was our kinsman and he became the president. Some people criticized and attacked him until he died. Unsurprisingly, however, following Dr Papa Kwesi Nduoms pronouncement, he was virulently attacked by the NDC apparatchiks, most notably, the NDC National organiser, Kofi Adams and the Central Regional chairman of the party, Allotey Jacobs. Kofi Adams proceeds furiously: there is something fundamentally and intellectually wrong with Dr Nduom to go out there and be saying some of these things he is reported to have. How on earth will you be happy over someones death (See: Something is wrong with Nduom-Kofi Adams; ultimatefmonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 16/09/2016). Allotey Jacobs also proceeds lividly: I am very disappointed in Papa Kwesi Nduom for those remarks made against Mills and the NDC. If he continues with those childish remarks, we will chase him out from the region (See: I will chase Nduom out of Central Region-Jacobs; adomonline.com/ghanaweb.com, 16/09/2016). Allotey Jacobs however states categorically: Papa [Kwesi Nduom] should apologize to the NDC and the people of the Central Region because we think he is making fun of us else the people of Central Region will not accept him. May be both Kofi Adams and Allotey Jacobs need help with their apparent memory loss or their selective amnesia. For if that was not the case, Kofi Adams and Allotey Jacobs would have recollected that their party founder, J. J. Rawlings had previously claimed that the death of President John Mills in 2012 was a life saver for the ruling National Democratic Congress (See- Rawlings: Mills death saved NDC ; starrfmonline.com, 18/03/2016). The fact of the matter is that Papa Kwesi Nduom was right for reiterating that the late Mills was actually vilified by his own party members. Take, for instance, disgruntled people like Kofi Adams and his minions, who formed an opposition group called Friends of Nana Konadu Agyemang (FONKA) with a view to unsettling President Mills and his government. Papa Kwesi Nduom continues: And some of the NDC people themselves thanked God that Mills died, is that not strange? And after his death they came back here to tell us to replace him with another person from the Central region". I couldnt agree more with Papa Kwesi Nduom on this one. Indeed, the NDC apparatchiks benefited from the sudden death of President Mills. President Mahama for instance, strangely pronounced after the unfortunate death of President Mills: God in his own wisdom has taken the old man, Professor Mills away to pave the way for youthful Mahama to take over the mantle. Speaking to GHONEs Nana Aba Anamoah in an exclusive interview, Mr Rawlings said the NDC was in a terrible state under the Professor. If God hadnt invited him, and I am saying it again; NDC would have been in opposition. It was terrible, the climate was really bad for us; we all knew about it, we were just keeping quiet. It was his departure that gave NDC a saving grace, he stated. Isnt it therefore ironic that people like Kofi Adams and Allotey Jacobs would turn a blind eye to their party founders sensational revelation over their jubilations on former President Mills death, but would rather choose to attack Papa Kwesi Nduom for standing on the shoulders of Rawlings to expand on the arguments surrounding the unexplained death of the late Mills? As a matter of fact, any critical thinker like Papa Kwesi Nduom will no doubt infer from your founders claims that you lots were happy to see the late Mills go. The fact, though, is if we engage in deductive reasoning on former President Rawlingss apparent chilling revelations, the inference we could draw is that you lots were happy over the late mills death. For if nothing at all, former President Rawlings has boldly asserted that all of you were extremely worried over the late Mills fitness and did not have any hope whatsoever on his chances of securing a second term in office. In the view of former President John Rawlings, the NDC would have been languishing in opposition if the professor had not died. Dont you lot think you have unfairly attacked Papa Kwesi Nduom for reiterating your party founders assertion? Yes, I think you lot have been attacking Papa Kwesi Nduom unfairly for reiterating your own party founders assertion. Interestingly, however, a lot of NDC executives have supported former President Rawlingss revelations on the late mills fitness and their concerns about his chances of securing a second term in office. Thus, it came as no surprise when the Eastern Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bismark Tawiah Boateng claimed that his party made a 'mistake' by presenting the late John Evans Atta Mills for the 2008 elections (See: Mills was a mistake president-NDC chairman; ghanaweb.com/adomonline.com, 19/10/2015). According to him, the party knew very well that the late President, who died some months to the 2012 general elections, was ill and could not perform the hefty task required of a President but yet presented him just to win power. Sometimes, I wonder why Mills became the president because it was a total mistake allowing him to run for president and subsequently dying because of ill health...," he said. So, if Kofi Adams and Allotey Jacobs really want to attack anyone for spilling the beans over their jubilations on the late Mills death, then it should be their own founder of the NDC Party, J. J. Rawlings. K. Badu, UK. *Please visit my blog at: alljoycom.wordpress.com 19.09.2016 LISTEN Just like climate change, tobacco kills many people every year. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is making sure that the tobacco industry goes out of business, as stated by Margaret Chan, its Director-General. However, unlike the FCTC, climate changes UNFCCC had been sympathizing with the fossil fuel industry. These two fatal industries knew the consequences that their business had in our health and planet, but still lobbied for denial and to influence regulations. It is November 2015 and the historical Paris climate conference opens its doors to the negotiators. Surprisingly, the very enemies the conference was meant to destroy were the first to take the high-tables. These were energy giants Engie, Electricite de France (EDF), Suez Environnement and the bank BNP Paribas, were not only welcomed with open arms, but were also part of the sponsorsmeaning they had powers to influence the outcomes. These dirty energy establishments collectively own more than 46 coal-fired power plants around the world, including investments in oil sands exploration in Canada and fracking for shale gas in the UK. Everyone now has the reason to wonder what kind of battle is this where the foe is given a chance. Precisely, how can organisations who directly oppose the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC convention, which is to reduce emissions causing climate change and to protect people and the planet from its effects, participate in a decision making process to stop climate change? Impossible! This kind of cagey conflict of interest is being thwarted within the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organisation where the foe is the gigantic world Tobacco Business. In the field of World Climate, it is the UNFCCC versus the monster fossil fuel industry, the polluters of the atmosphere. Our congratulation must go out to the Tobacco fighters. They are winning the fight. This would mean the lives of 1 million people are saved, a victory that could be fully materialised with the current FCTCs strategy of excluding their opponents from the debate, incited by an ultimate goal of making sure that the tobacco industry goes out of business. But on the side of climate combat, UNFCCC is still beating around the bush with its opponents. Instead of saying we are taking fossil fuels out of business like the anti-tobacco guys, they are saying well, we can still strike some balanced interests. It is such things as forging balanced interests that hurts them back in form of cunning lobbies. To rub salt into wounds is one particular encounter between the EU Commissioner for Energy and Climate Change, Miguel Arias Canete, who after the Paris COP had six times as many meets with fossil fuel interests as renewables or energy efficiency advocates, as meeting replay brings to light. Therefore the major hurdle still standing in the way of fight against global warming is one: double-standardness of the UNFCCC. But theres no magic bullet for that problem. The solution is doing what the Anti-Tobacco fighters do: excluding the Tobacco industry lobbyists. Just as the Tobacco industry has become number one enemy of the World Health Organisation, the UNFCCC ought to heighten its hostility towards carbon emitters. The first step of doing so is banning this industry from further participating in any of its future conferences. Theres an African proverb which says: if theres no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm. That means if the big polluters are locked out of the climate negotiations, there will be harmony and fruitful outcomes of the discussions rather than the one grafted with motely interests and pressure groups we have seen from Paris summit and in the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto protocol and it is already threatening to frustrate this years negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco. Tobacco and climate change are now the two worlds biggest epidemics combined killing 1, 300,000 people every yearthats is why the FCTC fights to preserve public health and cut the consumption of tobacco worldwide, by implementing taxes or more strict policies as UNFCCC establishes rules and guidelines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep temperature increase to safe limits. To reinforce the already set 1.5 degree temperature limits, Climate Change fighters will need to copy and implement such ruthless measures combating carbon emissions as banning from participation those who only benefit from human sufferings. By: Boaz Opio Beja (Tunisia) (AFP) - Activists are warning of a potential "thirst uprising" in Tunisia following protests over severe water shortages after one of the North African nation's driest summers on record. Residents in the interior are suffering long water supply cuts, reservoirs are running dry and farmers are seeing significant losses, adding to social tensions in a country still struggling with instability since its 2011 revolution. The Tunisian citizens' water observatory, known as Watchwater, warned last month the country could face a "thirst uprising" reminiscent of the protest movement that spread across Tunisia nearly six years ago. "The failure to find urgent and serious solutions will increase protests across the country," it said. Water scarcity has been exacerbated in recent years by growing urbanisation and increasing demand from agriculture and industry Water scarcity has long been a problem for Tunisia, but in recent years the challenge has been exacerbated by growing urbanisation and increasing demand from agriculture and industry. This year has seen the country particularly hard-hit, with rainfall -- Tunisia's main water source -- down by some 30 percent, the state secretary for water resources and fishing, Abdallah Rabhi, told AFP. In August, the agriculture ministry warned Tunisia would be facing a "catastrophic" situation if it did not rain by the end of the summer. The few rainstorms since have not been enough to replenish groundwater reserves or reservoirs. Agricultural losses for this year have already reached nearly two billion dinars ($900 million/800 million euros), according to the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries. Call to 'pray for rain' The ministry of religious affairs has even called on the people to "pray for rain". Since mid-May, the authorities have announced more than 700 water supply cuts. Officially they last from several hours to three days, but Alaa Marzouki of Watchwater said that in some regions the cuts have lasted nearly a month. Protests have erupted in several affected areas, with the water shortages adding to the frustrations of many residents who feel their concerns are being ignored by authorities in Tunis. Reserves at Tunisia's 30 dams and reservoirs had reduced by 40 percent between August 2015 and 2016 At one demonstration in the northwestern town of Fernana earlier this month, protesters gathered at a local pumping station and threatened to disrupt supplies to the capital, according to local media reports. "Economic protests resembling those that sparked the 2010 Jasmine Revolution are spreading throughout Tunisia and may grow into nationwide civil unrest," the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute warned in a report this month. In the southwestern Gafsa region, local farmer Mabrouk said frustration was growing. "We are suffering," said Mabrouk, who declined to give his last name. "We had to buy a water tank for 30 dinars for what we use and what our animals use. We've sent requests to the government but they remain unanswered. All we can do is wait for rain, God willing." Tunisia has some 30 dams and reservoirs that provide irrigation of agricultural land and drinking water, but by the end of August their reserves were less than 40 percent of what they were at the same time last year, Rabhi said. 'Very dangerous situation' Some, like the Nabhana reservoir in central Tunisia, are completely dry. At the Sidi Salem dam near Beja in northern Tunisia, reserves are about half what they were last year. "You have to go back to 1993-1994 to find such a level," said the dam's manager, Cherif Gasmi. "If rain does not come by the end of September... we will have to tap the dam's strategic reserves and that's a very dangerous situation," he said. Groundwater levels in areas without dams have also fallen, in some cases by 25 percent, said Mohamed Dahech, the CEO of SONEDE, the national water supply authority. With consumption increasing by an average of four percent a year, SONEDE has urged Tunisians to use less water. But Marzouki of Watchwater said more needed to be done. "The state has not put in place the necessary strategies," he said, pointing in particular to decrepit water pipelines that leak 10 to 30 percent of supplies. SONEDE's Dahech said a major issue is unpaid bills, which have reached the equivalent of some 60 million euros so far this year. The government has promised a raft of measures, including unblocking several dam projects and the construction of three desalination plants in the south. Ghana will participate in this years edition of Blue Sea Land, a holistic exhibition of Mediterranean, Africa and Middle Eastern agro food clusters which will take place in Mazara Del Vallo, Italy. The event, which will be held from 5-7 October, would be used to showcase agro products, fisheries, aquaculture, textiles and garments. It is expected to provide a platform for Ghanaian companies to showcase their products to the rest of the world. Alexander Dadzawa, Head of Marketing and Promotion of the Ghana Export Promotion, in his remarks, called on players in the business and agro processing sectors to participate in the event. Blue Sea Land, which is a blend of culture and traditions in a multi-cultural and multi-sectorial frame, will promote opportunities to attract more Italian people to the sector for more investment, he said. Wakefield Ackuaku, the Business Development Manager of Doulos Consult Limited, an organiser of the event, said The Expo will also strengthen the cooperation among the participating countries and promote economic, social, institutional and cultural integration of the people through seminars, conferences, expo, business-to-business meetings and cultural events. Mr Ackuaku explained that Doulos Consult Limited would invite interested Ghanaian companies and industries in the fish and agro cluster to participate in the Blue Sea Land event. Ghana Export Promotion Authority will however scrutinise and vet all the applications received and go on to recommend for selection companies and products that will best set and maintain the standard Ghanaian products, he said. Dr Lorenzo Pinelli, Deputy Ambassador of the Italian Embassy, who lauded organisers for the event, said the expo would strengthen cooperation among participating countries. Blue Sea Land is an initiative of Fisheries Ministry, Sicilian Region, Confindustria Sicily, Rotary International and ANCI Sicily under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Economic Development and Ministry of Agriculture. Cephas Larbi [email protected] Senior business executives from Africa are scheduled to converge on Accra on September 27, this year for the Entrepreneurs Solutions Summit. The summit dinner night, BUSINESS GUIDE gathered, is billed to take place at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel at about 8pm. Yasmin Boama, Director of African Bagg Recruitment, organizers of the Entrepreneurs Solutions Summit, in a statement, said Dr Chris Kirubi, one of Kenya's wealthiest businessmen and philanthropists; Dr. Myma Belo-Osagie, Managing Partner for Udoma & Belo-Osagie Barristers and Solicitors; Tony Oteng-Gyasi, Managing Director and Chairman of Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited would deliver keynote address at the event. Akua Birmeh, Founder of Archxensus, one of the leading architectural firms based in Ghana, is also expected to speak at the summit. Minister of Trade, Hon. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah will open the event with his thoughts on the role of SMEs. Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, a wealthy Ghanaian entrepreneur and politician; Prince Kofi Amoabeng, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UT Bank, among others, the organizers said, shall attend the summit. According to the organizers, the captains of industry would discuss how Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana and across Africa can create wealth, take advantage of opportunities and stay ahead of competitors. They said the summit would bring together likeminded entrepreneurs and influential leaders to share ideas, insights and strategies to grow. By Melvin Tarlue Dr. Zenator (3[SUP]rd[/SUP] from right) at the manifesto launch 19.09.2016 LISTEN Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has predicted 80% votes for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on December 7, 2016 and revealed that he would vote for the party's parliamentary candidate for Klottey Korley Constituency, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings. However, political analysts say his 80% prediction is untenable because in the history of Ghana's elections, no party has ever garnered that number of votes whether parliamentary or presidential. The vice president said this during the party's manifesto launch in Sunyani, Brong-Ahafo Regional capital, on Saturday, under the theme 'Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana.' The disclosure to vote for Dr Zanetor, according to political watchers, probably is to appease his onetime 'foe' the father of Zanetor, former President Jerry John Rawlings, founder of the NDC. Touching on the NDC manifesto for the 2016 election, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur admitted that the good manifesto could not win them the polls if it was not explained to the people to understand it. According to him, it would take strenuous effort to explain it to the people from room to room, door to door or community to community to understand it. This also contradicts his boss', President Manama's explanation that the manifesto was written in a simple language for everybody to understand, even the blind because it has the Braille version. FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani [email protected] 19.09.2016 LISTEN The Africa Centre for Policy Analysis (ACEP) has faulted the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for deliberately allowing the importation of substandard oil from Swiss companies into Ghana. Benjamin Boakye, Deputy Executive Director of ACEP, said such inferior fuel products imported into Ghana, particularly diesel, was highly toxic i.e. more than 2000 times worse than the standards accepted in the EU and the USA with high sulphur content. The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has estimated that by 2030, Africa would have three times as many deaths from traffic-related particle dust than Europe, Japan and the US combined. Mr Boakye stated that such toxic fuel was responsible for the numerous respiratory illnesses and automobile malfunctioning in the country, adding that a recent World Bank report states that air pollution kills about 17,500 people annually in Ghana. A report released on Thursday by ACEP and its partner, Public Eye, revealed that Swiss commodity trading firms were exploiting careless regulatory standards on the African continent to sell products to unsuspecting consumers in Ghana and other seven African countries. Senyo Horsi, Chief Executive of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors added his voice to calls on ACEP for the NPA to regulate the sector and ensure that the systems work. He explained that the law on exporting fuel allowed the foreign companies to supply Ghana with dirty fuel as they tailored their products to suit every market. If your regulation allows certain limits, they [suppliers] blend to suit that quality and sell on that market for you. So the results of the research show they supply something close to the 3000-ppm to Ghana and other African countries, he noted. Mali, for instance, he explained, are still using the 1990 regulations which allow the supply of 10,000-pmm fuel although they settle for 5000-ppm which is the worst kind of fuel anyone can have. Meanwhile, CEO of NPA, Moses Asaga, who was expected to show remorse for the development, has rather blasted ACEP for releasing the report and described it as 'ignorant.' According to Mr Asaga, Ghana's standard of 3000 parts per million (ppm) fell within the regional margin quoted by countries like Nigeria and Ivory Coast. He indicated that a significant reduction in the sulphur content would cost Ghana about $300 million to re-configure the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). Speaking to Citi Fm recently on the issue, he stated: Our refinery in Ghana has been producing 1000 parts per million, as such if we want to decrease to 50 parts per million that will imply the whole refinery will have to be re-configurated which may need a capital cost of between $200 and $300 million. General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers' Union (GTPCWU), has expressed similar concerns by ACEP that the NPA and the Ghana Standards Authority must intensify efforts to protect the lives of Ghanaians. By Samuel Boadi [email protected] We still have not heard from the Ghana Peace Council and the many peace envoys, as sources of violence become clearer by the day, their impunities making unenviable headlines. The so-called peace-seekers prefer directing their feeble queries at the wrong targets even as the fomenters of trouble are left to go scot free, Preferring more media appearance than naming and shaming troublemakers, they have earned public opprobrium. The recent attack on New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters at Kukuom in the Brong-Ahafo Region offered the Ghana Peace Council and so-called peace envoys an opportunity to prove their mettle. They did not and have therefore given us cause to believe that they are good for nothing. Those who think that the Council is useless have a case after all. We have not heard from them yet but would surely do so when the aggrieved persons issue a warning that next time they are attacked without provocation they would respond in like manner. We have not heard from the police, their local command in the Brong-Ahafo Region too timid to bark at those breaching the law, let alone making arrests. It would appear that they have been warned to steer off cases with political undertones, especially when the victims do not belong to the ruling party. Indeed, it is regrettable that the moment the police tag a case political because it involves politicians, that is the end of it. It would not be followed up and deliberately allowed to gather dust. Many a criminal case has been abandoned this way and our hearts bleed that a country's political and law enforcement leadership would decide to follow this path much to the detriment of the country. Rather than tackle this glaring case of impunity and gross dereliction of duty by the police because the politicians in power want it so so-called peace envoys are calling for the shutting down of social media when the debate on the subject has long been closed. We would expose these busybodies who create unnecessary tension because such situations increase their earnings from their funding sources. The NDC manifesto launch in Sunyani was so weird that some of us wondered whether the president, who continues to say he would ensure violence-free polls in the country, saw the nasty things his supporters did. Which provocation can outdo the posting of the picture of the leading contender to the presidency on a coffin and parade same at a rally ground? For a party which can pull five million plus as the ruling one, such provocation is dangerous and should not be encouraged. This and other challenges bordering on criminal juggling of election figures to favour one party against the other are potential sources of trouble. If the Peace Council does not appreciate the seriousness of this, we would be compelled to believe that it is not only toothless, but partisan. As for the peace envoys, they are mere busybodies. The expose by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on the true state of the Ghanaian economy during his recent public lecture, is still biting hard at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, as many of its appointees, including Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, are finding it difficult to comprehend the figures used in Bawumia's analysis. Mr Amissah-Arthur claims that the NPP guru had been lying with figures to paint a gloomy picture about the state of the economy. Contrary to the NPP kingpin's assertion that Ghana's economy is speedily sinking an observation which he (Bawumia) had always supported with figures the vice president stated that there is no iota of truth in the statements that the NPP man had made about the economy so far. He stated that Dr. Bawumia, a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, had intentionally been using wrong figures to bamboozle Ghanaians, stressing that he (Bawumia) is doing politics with the economy, therefore the masses should disregard his arguments. Mr. Amissah-Arthur, whose body language and utterances showed that he was worried about Dr. Bawumia's continual critique of the state of the economy, vowed to expose Dr. Bawumia, whom he preferred to name as Dr. B, in the coming days as the 2016 campaign gathers momentum. Bawumia Lies Don't believe whatever you read from Dr. Bawumia because he is not doing economics. He is doing politics with the economy therefore, all his statements are lies, he said to a rapturous applause from charged National Democratic Congress (NDC) members at Sunyani on Saturday. Addressing scores of party members during the NDC manifesto launch in the Brong-Ahafo Regional capital, Mr. Amissah-Arthur said with a stern face, The NPP wants to use figures to bamboozle us, in apparent referral to Dr. Bawumia's figures, noting that it is wrong for the NPP's vice presidential candidate to use the state of the Ghana's currency as it was eight years ago, to compare with what is transpiring today. Mr. Amissah-Arthur stated that Dr. Bawumia's claim that Ghana's GDP grew by about 500 percent during the NPP's eight years in political office is palpable false, arguing that even if the GDP grew by 8 percent per annum, which was not the case the GDP couldn't have reached that level. The vice president stated that Dr. Bawumia had continually lied about the economy just to confuse Ghanaians to believe that the NDC is mismanaging the affairs of the state, especially the economy, stressing that he would henceforth expose the NPP man. Dr. Bawumia wants to confuse the people with wrong figures. I wanted to reply him but a certain Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, who is a friend, told me that he (Bawumia) is not doing economics but he is doing politics so I should reply him on a political platform. From now onwards, I will expose one of his lies everywhere I will go to campaign. I have read his book about the economy and every line there is a lie. I can destroy all of them, he claimed, adding that Dr. Bawumia seemed not to have the right figures to battle the NDC's achievements. According to him, the NDC's massive infrastructural developments are visible for every Ghanaian to see therefore, adding that Dr. Bawumia and the NPP's efforts to lie to discredit the NDC administration would not wash. NDC Manifesto Mr. Amissah-Arthur stated that the NDC manifesto is a perfect blueprint that has answers to the myriad challenges facing the country in the next four years, indicating that the creme-de-la-creme in the NDC made inputs into the manifesto. He said the NDC manifesto would bring peaceful and productive change not distractive change to the country, saying whilst the NDC is a united, peaceful and progressive political party, its major opponents, particularly the NPP, are in turmoil, not peaceful and distractive so they cannot rule the country. From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr, & Daniel Yao Dayee, Sunyani 19.09.2016 LISTEN Dr. Mrs. Mary Grant, former member of the Council of State, died in Accra Sunday morning, according to information DAILY GUIDE gathered. Details of the cause of death were still scanty but she was said to have been unwell. Ms Mary Grant was a professional medical doctor and served Ghana as a Minister of State. She held a number of portfolios at different times in the country's political history, including the position of Deputy Minister for Health, Minister for Education and Culture and was also a Member of the National Defence Council for General Affairs. Dr. Grant has been a highly respected member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and had served the party's cause from the era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and later as a member of the Council of Elders of the governing party. Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central in the Central Region, Kennedy Agyapong, says his party, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), would not allow the 2016 general election to be rigged. According to him, incumbent President John Dramani Mahama and the Electoral Commission (EC) plan to rig the elections slated for December 7 to save the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) from a possible defeat which stares the party in the face. He has therefore, served notice that any such plan would be fiercely resisted. Addressing a charged crowd at the Okaishie Drug Lane in Accra over the weekend, the no-nonsense politician noted, Ghanaians will vote for us but Mahama and the woman want to change the destiny of the people because they realize they are losing and NPP is winning. That was during the commemoration of police brutalities on protesters who were demanding a new voter register together with the leadership of the 'Let My Vote Count Alliance' (LMVCA), a year ago which fell on Friday, September 16. Revelations We have already won the elections but Charlotte Osei and Mahama have made up their minds not to give it to Akufo-Addo but we have to do whatever it takes to safeguard our votes lest we stay in opposition for another four years; we can only prevent it if we muster the courage to stand firm and face them, were his exact words. He advised President Mahama and the EC boss, Charlotte Osei: God's plans are not those of mankind's. I tell you today, the power of the masses is stronger than the gun; let us defend our country. Mr Kennedy Agyapong, among other things, claimed that the EC chair intends to rig the elections for the NDC and thereafter flee to the United States of America where he claimed she recently bought a house to stay, should the country be in turmoil. Confidence But the Assin Central MP said with a lot of confidence, We will win this election because it's going to be boot-for-boot and an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. He observed, There cannot be peace when there is no justice. Let's stand up and fight for our rights. Let's not think we have already won the elections; we have to open our eyes and be vigilant in order not to allow them rig the elections like they did in 2012this woman and John Mahama don't want fair elections but let us sacrifice ourselves to save this country from the hands of the oppressors. NDC Game Plan As part of its game plan, the MP revealed that the NDC had started going round the rural areas taking the voter identity cards of farmers, most of who are not educated, under the pretext of providing them with fertilizers and loans; and also gone to neighbouring Togo, Cote D'Ivoire and Burkina Faso to register not less 2 million people to come and vote in the upcoming elections. He also claimed that the EC had managed to recruit about 70,000 people who are sympathetic to the cause of the NDC, including some university graduates and teachers, to be used as presiding and election officers during the elections to help execute the rigging plan. That, he said, was the reason why President Mahama had become overly confident about his chances of winning the elections. But Kennedy served notice, Any presiding officer who will misbehave at the polling station will taste the wrath of the people. Mr Agyapong is also pushing for ballots cast during the 'special voting' slated for December 1, to be counted on the same day to avoid a possible rigging, saying, It is one of the strategies the NDC intends to employ to rig the elections. Other speakers including Gabby Otchere-Darko, Sammy Awuku, Justice Adzakuma, Abigail Ewurama Addo, David Asante (Convener of the LMVCA), Abu Ramadan and a host of orders, recalled what they went through at the hands of the police on that fateful day and swore that never again would Ghanaians sit down for such injustice to be visited on them in the course of exercising their constitutional rights. By Charles Takyi-Boadu Country Manager of Infinix, Kinmo.cai 19.09.2016 LISTEN Smart device maker Infinix has introduced the NOTE3 smartphone and XE02 noise-cancelling headphone to increase consumer excitement with latest devices. The Infinix NOTE3 is the third generation of the Infinix NOTE series with the industry leading 5 min Charge: 200 min Talk as it primary highlight. The XE02 noise-cancelling headphone also comes with a high performance, automatic noise-cancelling IC able to reduce up to 95 percent of all noise. The event was graced by the Ghana Country Manager of Infinix Kinmo.Cai, Bryan Hou Head of Marketing, Bruno Li West Africa Manager and partners from MTN and Jumia as well as journalists in Accra at the Shell Shape in the Airport enclave. Bryan Hou, Head of Marketing, Infinix, said, as smartphone apps becomes increasingly abundant, there are higher user requirements on a smartphones battery life and user experience improvements through accessories. He noted that Infinix has made NOTE3 excellent in terms of battery life while having a wide view. According to him, it has raised consumers user experience to a new level by freeing their hands through an industry-leading noise-cancelling technology for headphones. Speaking at the launch, the Country Manager of Infinix, Kinmo.cai, said, the giant Infinix NOTE3 has a lot of unique features designed to suit consumer taste and preference. According to him, Infinix dedicates more on innovation which gives them the momentum to explore further for more options, go deeper and find out more from consumers about their experience with the Infinix brands and their preferences. Kinmo.Cai indicated that Infinix has become the leader by creating an emotional link between consumers and its amazing brands in Africa and other parts of the world. He noted that the new Infinix NOTE3 is designed to provide the best experience and value for money yet very affordable in the market. The Infinix NOTE3 comes with the latest android 6.0 Mashmallow version and a huge 4500mAh battery capacity for high performance. The amazing Octa-core 1.3GHz Infinix Note 3, which runs like an untamed horse will drive consumers crazy with high speed and faster internet browsing because of its large memory capacity of 16GB ROM, 2GB/3GB RAM, and a Micro-SD card slot which takes up to 128GB to secure all your selfies. The hottest new phone will satisfy technology mavens and inspire more selfie freaks with its powerful 13 mega pixel back camera that comes with dual flash light and 5.0 mega pixel front camera with one flash light. 19.09.2016 LISTEN The KHANDAHAD Youth Group based in the Northern part of Ghana has called on the various religious bodies, civil society organizations, NGOs, judiciary service, opinion leaders and other stakeholders to campaign for justice towards the 2016 general elections. By so doing, the group stated, Ghana will be safeguarding its long cherished democracy. The KHANDAHAD Youth Group made this appeal at a press conference organized to share their opinions on the need for all to clamor more for justice rather than peace as the 2016 presidential and parliamentary general elections approach. According to the group, Violence and peace are two and opposite ways with greater effect on building a society but we can't attain peace without Justice? The group also observed that the various civil society groups, NGOs as well as political parties, though are calling for peace, they have failed to recognize the importance of demanding justice since the two go hand in hand to build a better society. The proliferation of selective justice, divide and rule intolerance produces most serious negative social consequences, the group stated in its statement signed by Ghana Alhassan and Abdul Hack, Chairman and Secretary respectively. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we all know peace by contrast, promote social positive consequences and allow the achievement of real progress. Therefore we should act within what is possible, by first of all attaining justice even where it seems difficult and impracticable. . We are all aware of numerous calls by various groupings, Such as Religious leaders, Civil society organizations ( C.S.O's), Non-governmental organizations ( NGO's) and many other stakeholders calling for peace before, during and after the 2016 general elections. In this regard, The KANDAHAD youth group and we believe the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Northern Region takes into serious consideration, this call for peace. However, We the KHANDAHAD youth group want to state emphatically that much as we are all calling for peace, there should be the pursuit for justice peace and peace will automatically follow. The group also averred that, after the 2012 general elections where one party felt cheated, they had an election petition to seek justice in the law court, only to realize that the final verdict was more on merits of peace and not on justice. Mr Chairman, Ladies and gentlemen of the media, fellow Ghanaians; The reason why we of KHANDAHAD are calling for justice before peace is that, some of the peace campaigners appear to be political party affialates who are not genuine. Notable of some of these people are EMMANUEL BOMBANDE, Executive director of West Africa Network For Peace Building, Deputy Minister Of Foreign Affairs, Dr Clement Apaak, Executive director for Forum for governance and justice, Presidential Staffer, Daniel Batidam, African Parliamentary Network Against Corruption, Governance And Corruption Adviser To The President, Nana Oye Lithur, Human Rights Advocacy For Gender, Gender, Children And Social Protection Minister, it stated. KHANDAHAD is therefore appealing to various religious bodies, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, judiciary service, opinion leaders and other stakeholders to campaign for justice towards the coming 2016 general elections, asking whether Ghana really needs peace without justice. If the answer is No, then lets look for JUSTICE first. Lets not cry for peace without crying for justice. Legislators of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), particularly those who are from the Brong Ahafo Region, should use their share of the MPs Common Fund to reimburse victims of the DKM microfinance scam if they really cared about the plight of those people as they appear to be touting, General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said. Mr Nketia, also a former legislator, told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM in an interview on Monday 19 September that the NPP and its MPs from the region, who are fighting on behalf of the 70,000 DKM victims who lost their investments, should go beyond lip service and show true concern by being benevolent with their share of the Common Fund. The victims are mostly from the Brong Ahafo Region. They lost their investment after owners of DKM Microfinance Limited, Jastor Motors, God is Love and other financial institutions ploughed back their clients monies into their own private businesses thus rendering them incapable of paying the investors the hefty interests they had promised them. NPP MPs from the Brong Ahafo held press conferences and joined demonstrations in solidarity with the victims as part of their advocacy to get the government to intervene. The victims have persistently mounted pressure on the government to reimburse them. They have threatened to vote against President John Mahama and the NDC in the December polls if the government failed to have their investments reimbursed. In an earlier interview, however, Mr Asiedu Nketia wondered why the victims would demand that taxpayers money be used to reimburse them for their own bad investment decisions which had nothing to do with government. Speaking on the issue on Class91.3FMs Executive Breakfast Show on Friday, Mr Asiedu Nketia said: Now those who are complaining, are they saying that when they take their individual investment decisions and things go wrong, we in government should take the taxpayers money which should have been used for road [construction], electricity provision, water, schools, health centres we should divert that money and go and pay them because they took wrong investment decisions? Is this what they want to tell us? Or somehow they believe that they can fool Ghanaians into believing that when they say government should pay, it is not our tax money that the government is going to use to pay? But ask them: apart from your [taxpayers] money that we are implementing projects with, when you say government money, where is government money going to come from? So we dont have any problem. If Ghanaians think that it is legitimate for us to apply the money which we are collecting to go and pay individual Ghanaians who have made wrong investment decisions, well be too happy to proceed to do so. But they shouldnt be deceiving people. From the beginning they said that the company belonged to the president and the wife so that is why they are calling on the president and the wife to pay that lie has been exposed now. So they are moving to the next step their MPs went to parliament to argue that the nation should consider this as a disaster and for which reason we should apply government money to do it. We dont make disaster laws, it is parliament that makes those laws. He said: When parliament decides that: Well, whenever any citizen invests something wrongly, when they have profits they shouldnt pay to government but when they run into a problem, we should use the taxpayers money to pay, if that is the law well implement it. Mr Asiedu Nketia said he doubted seasoned former government officials in the NPP would offer such counsel to the party to be pushing that line. They have well-known people who know how state affairs are run. You have people like Osafo Marfo [former Minister of Finance]; other well-seasoned people are inside there. Im not sure Osafo Marfo will come out advocating that we should use taxpayers money to go and reimburse people who have made their private investment decisions which have gone wrong. The victims, who have formed a group known as Customers of DKM, Jastor Motors, God is Love, Etc., are threatening to drag Mr Asiedu Nketia to court if he fails to apologise to them for his comments. Two men have been jailed by the Bekwai Circuit Court after 35 parcels of cannabis weighing 210.483 grams were seized at their homes at Behenase, a farming community, near Jacobu in the Ashanti Region. Kwabena Mensah, a 50 year-old unemployed, was sentenced 13 years' imprisonment with hard labour after he admitted possessing the narcotic drugs contrary to Section 2(1) of the PNDC Law 236/90. His counterpart, Awudu Draman, a 30-year-old farmer, was also convicted for the same offence and sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment with hard labour by the court, presided over by Fredrick Nawura. Prosecutor, Detective Inspector Stephen Ofori, said Awudu led the police to the house of Kwabena Mensah to seize the cannabis. According to him, Awudu was arrested earlier by the police upon a tipoff. He was caught in possession of three parcels of the substance that weighed 48.253 grams. The police prosecutor told the court that convict Awudu Draman told the police during interrogation that he obtained the cannabis, otherwise known as wee, from Kwabena Mensah after paying him GH20.00. The police found 32 bundles of cannabis under the bed of Mensah. Inspector Ofori said Mensah immediately claimed ownership of the stuff and admitted the offence in his caution statement. The exhibits, which were retrieved from them, were sent to the police forensic laboratory in Accra which proved that the substance was indeed cannabis, a narcotic drug. The two were charged with the offence and arraigned before court after police investigations. From Ernest Kofi Adu, Bekwai I had signed a letter without closing. I felt embarrassed that I should do that. So my spine shivered when I read that the great Ama Ata Aidoo had deserted a function elaborately planned to celebrate her. Her name had been spelt Atta instead of the correct Ata. Quickly, I phoned to check with a colleague if she still had in her possession the two EC presidential poll announcement posters. Each had the same name spelt differently: one as John Evans Atta Mills and the other as John Evans Atta-Mills. When in 2012 an EC rushed through creating 40 something constituencies three months to a major election, Parliament condoned the error-ridden document. It is now history that that election was an error in all its aspects. Insidious it might seem. But my gut feeling tells me there were congress elements who felt some kind of embarrassment replacing a Rawlings with a Mills. Apparently, people outside the motherland, would ask: 'Is he a Ghanaian?' anytime the Mills precursor name was mentioned. Congress must, therefore, have found it expedient to hyphenate Atta and Mills. Those who knew the professor well knew J.E.A. Mills. Strange a whole EC fell for the trick; unless it lacked thoroughness or was being incompetently complicit. Hyphenated Akufo-Addo has often been spelt Akuffo-Addo. Kufuor is also often spelt Kuffuor. The suggestion is that, as a people, we lack detail. A colleague professor once remarked that as we sat next to each other at a public function. As I read the great feminist writer's departure from that event, I started self-introspecting in a backdate of occasions when I have messed up because I wasn't detailed enough. I have seen an institution struggling with misspelling someone's Susana name as Susuanna. A friend for long struggled with a Kate versus Catherine spelling with official documents. As someone interested in names, their formats and spelling, I thought Teacher Ama's action was timely. I think it is a positive wake-up call to us all who strive for precision and accuracy. In the heady false revolution 1980s, I had been invited to ostensibly serve as her deputy in a military junta. Today, I can say it would have been a tough assignment because I was made to understand the invitation was at her personal instance. I had known and admired her political views at UCC in the early 1970s when I was a student and she was a lecturer. She did not teach me but I found myself listening to her in many 'socialist' fora. I saw her as a compassionate intellectual with deep concern for social justice. Unfortunately, I never met her to discuss the invitation and I never ended up part of the junta. It was no surprise she lasted only for a short period of time with the regime, in charge of education. There were even rumours she was removed in her absence by competence intolerant forces within the regime who could not withstand her forthrightness and desire to apolitically do the right thing. When I failed to meet her because she had travelled outside the motherland, one of her assistants told me about her thoughts about me. I remember asking him about the education revolutionary agenda. He enthusiastically showed me an 'education reform' draft document which had a lot of Paulo Freire plagiarised material. They had even named the innocent philosopher as a panel member in the West Africa magazine. When I met the man face-to-face in my then university in Canada, he denied any knowledge. In the interim, I had taken a quick glance at the document. As someone with some little knowledge about the theory and practice of education, I quickly looked for transformative ideas. Nothing, absolutely nothing was written about the dropout challenge which needed transformative treatment. It confirmed my view that there was no revolution going on and that pretenders were destroying the little the motherland had. Fast-forward, I have been proven right. A3 (Ama Ata Aidoo) is known, acknowledged and celebrated as an intellectual with feminist convictions. She looms large in Africa and in international feminist circles. She may have disappointed those who strove to put that programme together. We should understand her more, though, for her commitment to the good of the woman and the propriety to be thorough. Let that be explained to the young girls 'she disappointed' that it was only to encourage them to do the right thing. As to the rest of us, we may take up her challenge to keep trying to be excellent in a hurry and in the midst of a flurry of things and activities to accomplish. She is accomplished because she believes in excellence and I think that should be more of encouragement than disappointment. Care to know? Ama ends not. By Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Wontumi, has stated that it is possible for every community in the country to own one factory. He said those who oppose Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's promise of 'one district, one factory' are visionless people who don't deserve to be in political office. Nana Akufo-Addo's one district, one factory promise is even an understatement because Ghana as it stands now has the capabilities to construct one factory in every community to help better the lives of the people. I am surprised that some political opponents of the NPP who don't have any idea with regards to how to implement better policies and programmes to initiate new things to develop society are attacking this great vision, he said. Speaking on Otec FM, Wontumi stated that constructing a factory is not a big deal, maintaining that the NPP would implement that policy with ease when they assume political office. Chairman Wontumi said each community in the country can produce a unique product for the local and international market when the NPP's vision becomes a reality. 6000 Workers He disclosed that he (Wontumi) used to employ 6,000 workers in his various businesses, including the manufacturing of vehicles, until the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government collapsed his businesses. Wontumi pointed out that he is not rooting for Nana Akufo-Addo for the presidency because I my love him as a person, but because he (Wontumi) has realised that Nana Akufo-Addo has the vision and knowledge to transform the country. He, therefore, assured that he would increase his campaign for the NPP until President Mahama and his non-performing NDC and corruption-infested administration has been kicked out of office in December. Ashanti Seats The Ashanti regional chairman of the NPP is of the strong conviction that the NPP would win all the 47 parliamentary seats in the region during the upcoming elections, charging his party faithful to campaign vigorously. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi A group of National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters caused a stir as they turned a Ghana Education Service (GES) function into a political rally at Kumawu on Thursday. An ultra-modern education office complex for the Sekyere Kumawu District was being handed over to the GES by the Ashanti Regional Minister, John Alexander Ackon. From nowhere, scores of NDC supporters who were clad in their party paraphernalia stormed the event grounds, amid the singing of NDC songs, creating a scene in the process. The NDC faithful, mostly youth, continually chanted President Mahamas name in a loud voice and demanded that the NDC deserves a second term in political office because the party has performed well. The chanting and singing continued throughout the entire duration of the function which lasted for about two hours. Addressing the gathering, Mr Ackon disclosed that the completion of the edifice clearly shows that the NDC government is committed to improving the educational system in the country. He enumerated several projects that the government had implemented to improve the educational, health, road and water sectors, among others, in the country. Mr Ackon stated that the government believes in distributing the national cake equally, stressing that every part of the country deserves to be developed. The MP of the area, Philip Basoa, stated that election is about exchange of ideas to promote the country, so he entreated the citizenry to shun violent acts and make the upcoming elections peaceful. He commended the former Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, who is a native of Kumawu, for the roles he played to ensure the building of the new educational office, saying that the project would boost academic work. The DCE for Sekyere Kumawu, William Amoako, attributed the rise in prostitution and robbery among the youth to parental neglect, stressing the need for every child to be properly educated. The paramount chief of Kumawu, Barimma Sarfo Tweneboah Kodua, in a speech read on his behalf, called for the provision of decent accommodation for headmasters and teachers in the area. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumawu, Ashanti Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa 19.09.2016 LISTEN The General Manager of National Food & Agric Show Secretariat (FAGRO), Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, has said all is set for the hosting of one of the important activities in the agriculture sector. The show to be hosted under the theme: 'Preparation, knowledge & Training Business', the show will commence on September 28 and end on September 30 at the Trade Fair Site in Accra, with sponsorship from Stanbic Bank, Yara Ghana, Africa Lead, Tedford, TT Brothers, Indomie and GIHOC Distilleries. She said in a news release that the secretariat was fine-tuning preparations to ensure a successful show and promised what she called a 'one-stop' platform to enable participants to explore. We are looking forward to a great event which will turn out to be rewarding to all stakeholders. The one-stop platform for all exhibitors will offer amazing networking opportunities that should snowball into a number of business deals. FAGRO 2016 will leave stakeholders with unforgettable experiences, Madam Akosa mentioned. She said that there will be free training session for those involved in agriculture ventures and it is aimed at shoring up their business plan writing skills. The training will be facilitated by officials from IE Singapore and Africa Lead who are both event partners. Trainees will undertake a proposal writing contest at the end, after which the best three proposals will be assisted to access grants to boost their businesses. We chose this theme because after FAGRO 2016, we expect stakeholders in the industry to begin to see and approach their endeavours as businesses that require proper management to be sustainable and hugely successful. FAGRO 2016 is packaged to serve as the icebreaker in changing the complexion of Agriculture in Ghana, she added. The release said both prominent public and private institutions, including diplomatic missions and farmer associations, will be participating in the show. We invite all stakeholders, students and the general public to come, network, learn new and best practices in agriculture and identify business leads and opportunities. Secretariat assures all exhibitors, sponsors and patrons of the upcoming FAGRO 2016 that preparations are in top gear to make the event a compelling success. About 40 personnel from the Central regional branch of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) have been trained on data management at Cape Coast. The two-day capacity building workshop on sexual, gender-based violence (SGBV) data management was sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund Activities (UNPFA). Opening the workshop, the Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kwame Techie Poko, stated that human resource development has been the key to the success of every institution that is why the police administration, in partnership with stakeholders, has been organising courses, seminars geared towards broadening the knowledge base of the personnel in order to enhance their performance. DCOP Techie Poko indicated that the world is moving at a fast pace in terms of knowledge advancement and, therefore, DOVVSU personnel need to constantly upgrade their knowledge in order to meet the demands of their time and the expectations of the people they serve. He hinted that this year alone, the regional DOVVSU, with financial support from UNFPA, had organised three major sensitisation activities for over 500 people and built the capacity of 70 personnel to effectively manage SGBV in their various areas. The regional police commander stated that the importance of sound data management system to every meaningful organisation cannot be over-emphasized, adding that we live in an information age where the volume of data processed by organisation is critical to our role growth. The availability of reliable data serves as basis for effective institutional decision-making since police rely on information to combat crime, he said. DCOP Techie Poko hinted that plans were underway by the national secretariat of DOVVSU to launch a data management system for the unit. The regional DOVVSU Co-ordinator, DSP Appiah Sekyi, advised the participants to stake the workshop seriously for the betterment of all. Participants expressed their gratitude to the organisers of the programme and called for more workshops and seminars to enhance their capacity. From Sarah Afful, Cape Coast Email:[email protected] So Ive been away for the past few days contributing my quota as an engineer to Ghanas Oil & Gas sector. My little escapade took me hundreds of feet into the sky to the destination I was headed making me have ample view of Ghanas supposed beautiful land. The sight was merely scattered buildings built without planning and a stretch of cars moving with red lights like red ants queuing for white sugar under street lights which were like bobo dangling in the blackness of darkness. The rivers were what caught my attention the most. Their colour was murky brown like hot beverage made from richoco and poured into the middle of white tea bread. I am not exaggerating. Even the sea, which has been effaced and defaced with dried decaying defecations, floating on top of black and white rubber bags, had more dignity to view than that which is a source of water to millions of Ghanaians. It was an eyesore. The damaged caused by galamsey operators in the quest for finding the most valuable metal has been devastating and obviously at a huge cost to our development. Forests have been depleted, rivers polluted, and people buried alive in the pits they dig. In June 2010 for example, 150 were killed at Dunkwa-on-Offin when a mine got flooded. Only 17 bodies were recovered from this catastrophe. In their operations, they use machines produced from China and assembled in Ghana. Heavy duty pontoons are also now employed in sucking the silt from the riverbeds and dumping it together with all sorts of dangerous chemicals which are used in processing gold such as mercury, engine oil, cyanide and others back into the rivers. As a result, aquatic life has been destroyed and fishes poisoned. The Ghana Water Company revealed during one of Anas Aremeyaw Anas documentaries that the chemicals which are used in processing the water have increased from 45mg to 75mg per litre. Mind you they also added that they have no equipment for testing for mercury or even treating the harmful substance. You can imagine what have been flowing through our pipes. I have also chanced across reports which indicate that Ghanas pipe water is unsafe for drinking. It has been estimated that about 60% of those in the mining industry are illegal miners despite existence of laws such as PNDC Law 153 and PNDC Law 218 to regulate the sector. The March 13, 2010 edition of the Ghana Business News reported that there has been incessant and blatant depletion of more than 80% of forest reserves in these mining communities, and the heavy pollution of the Birim, Ankobra, and Pra Rivers which have been the main source of drinking water for the inhabitants over the years. According to the World Bank Group small-scale mining is largely a poverty-driven activity typically practiced in the poorest and most remote rural areas of a country by a largely itinerant, poorly educated populace with few employment alternatives. One of the women who lost her husband in the June 2010 incident stated that she has no option than to make one of her children who happens to have completed one of the levels of education to go continue in the trade since there are no jobs in her community. A publication by Dennis Owusu Boateng in the International Journal for Advance Agricultural Research showed that 80% of the people in galamsey are into it because it offers quick money. A report by Carson 2005 and Hilton & Potter 2003, indicated that over half of those employed in galamsey are women and children. Many of these operations are funded by foreign nationals like the Chinese in collaboration with the indigenes. Surprisingly, all these have been under the noses of authorities who only seem to blow hot air-filled with promises from their tracheas instead of cracking down this menace yet are able to construct roads in minutes during election periods. Despite this rush for gold, the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GPRSP) indicated that forestry provided a greater contribution to national income than mining. In May this year, Peruvian president Ollanta Humala had to declare a state of emergency in his part of the Amazon jungle as levels of mercury from illegal mining reached record high levels. Know that the Amazon produces 20% of the worlds oxygen. What will happen if it was lost? If we are to wait till we get to the level of Peru before declaring a state of emergency in Ghana, then it would be too late and the gods will not be blamed for their habitats which were once protected by traditional authorities for many a century have long been destroyed. Article 257 (6) of Ghanas constitution vests all mineral and natural resources in the President of the Republic hence it will be his duty to oversee that this menace is brought to an end. I happen to agree with key points delivered by the Okyehene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin at a public lecture in Koforidua on August 12, 2015. He suggested that the following measures be taken by involving communities and traditional authorities in fighting galamsey. That a legal and policy regime that will recognise the right of the youth to small scale mining and institute effective regulatory measures be implemented; such regime will involve agencies that will enforce environment and health standards; the provision of training for the youth in small-scale mining technology and other related small scale industries related to mining, including and management tools through the effective linkage with technical training institutions; and a comprehensive strategy for an integrated small scale mining industry that will create the basis for sustainable livelihoods. I will like to conclude with the words of Anas Aremeyaw Anas from his video Africa Investigates: Ghana Gold way back in 2011. We have shown that this illegal and dangerous business is like the rivers themselves, polluted by corruption. It is the children I think about. The children who are lured away from a life of proper education to a life of hard labour, working for criminals for little money and a lot of risk. Whats needed is governments regulation and enforcement to protect our children, our environment, and our future. My name is Kotey. Good morning. Edwin Kotey Email: [email protected] Blog: koteyscribbles.wordpress.com What offence have I committed to apologise for? General Secretary of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has inquired from a group calling itself Customers of DKM, Jastor Motors, God is Love, Etc., which has threatened to sue him if he fails to substantiate his allegation that they are being pushed by the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to hold demonstrations against the government by riding on the crest of wave of the microfinance scam in the Brong Ahafo Region which has purportedly affected about 70,000 people. The group said it was angry with Mr Asiedu Nketia for reading political meanings into its push for justice. Mr Asiedu Nketia, however, told Prince Minkah on Class91.3FMs Executive Breakfast Show on Monday 19 September that he sees no reason to render an apology as being demanded by a group, which he claims is being led by people with political motives who are not victims of the scam. Meanwhile, Mr Asiedu Nketia, also known as General Mosquito, has said legislators of the NPP, particularly those who are from the Brong Ahafo Region, should use their share of the MPs Common Fund to reimburse victims of the microfinance scam, if they really cared about the plight of those people as they appear to be touting. Mr Nketia, also a former legislator, told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM in an interview on Monday 19 September that the NPP and its MPs from the region, who are fighting on behalf of the 70,000 victims, should go beyond paying lip service and show true concern by being benevolent with their share of the Common Fund. The victims are mostly from the Brong Ahafo Region. They lost their investment after owners of DKM Microfinance Limited, Jastor Motors, God is Love and other financial institutions ploughed back their clients monies into their own private businesses thus rendering them incapable of paying the investors the hefty interests they had promised them. NPP MPs from the Brong Ahafo held press conferences and joined demonstrations in solidarity with the victims as part of their advocacy to get the government to intervene. The victims have persistently mounted pressure on the government to reimburse them. They have threatened to vote against President John Mahama and the NDC in the December polls if the government failed to have their investments reimbursed. In an earlier interview, however, Mr Asiedu Nketia wondered why the victims would demand that taxpayers money be used to reimburse them for their own bad investment decisions which had nothing to do with government. Speaking on the issue on Class91.3FMs Executive Breakfast Show on Friday, Mr Asiedu Nketia said: Now those who are complaining, are they saying that when they take their individual investment decisions and things go wrong, we in government should take the taxpayers money which should have been used for road [construction], electricity provision, water, schools, health centres we should divert that money and go and pay them because they took wrong investment decisions? Is this what they want to tell us? Or somehow they believe that they can fool Ghanaians into believing that when they say government should pay, it is not our tax money that the government is going to use to pay? But ask them: apart from your [taxpayers] money that we are implementing projects with, when you say government money, where is government money going to come from? So we dont have any problem. If Ghanaians think that it is legitimate for us to apply the money which we are collecting to go and pay individual Ghanaians who have made wrong investment decisions, well be too happy to proceed to do so. But they shouldnt be deceiving people. From the beginning they said that the company belonged to the president and the wife so that is why they are calling on the president and the wife to pay that lie has been exposed now so they are moving to the next step their MPs went to parliament to argue that the nation should consider this as a disaster and for which reason we should apply government money to do it. We dont make disaster laws, it is parliament that makes those laws, the former legislator told Prince Minkah. He said: When parliament decides that: Well, whenever any citizen invests something wrongly, when they have profits they shouldnt pay to government but when they run into a problem, we should use the taxpayers money to pay, if that is the law well implement it. Mr Asiedu Nketia said he doubted seasoned former government officials in the NPP would offer such counsel to the party to be pushing that line. They have well-known people who know how state affairs are run. You have people like Osafo Marfo [former Minister of Finance]; other well-seasoned people are inside there. Im not sure Osafo Marfo will come out advocating that we should use taxpayers money to go and reimburse people who have made their private investment decisions which have gone wrong. The partner companies Questra World (www.QuestraWorld.es) and Atlantic Global Asset Management (AGAM) (www.AtlanticGAM.es) enter African market this year. The two companies are already well-known in Europe. Questra World is the independent advertising broker that promotes Atlantic Global Asset Management. Atlantic Global Asset Management was founded in January of 2016. Today the company is dealing with the purchase and sale of the assets and is engaged in rehabilitation of bankrupt companies. AGAM also prepares companies for IPO, supports start-ups, buys and sells real estate. Important fact: due to the collaboration with Questra World and its extensive partner network, a huge number of people around the world are provided with jobs and a decent income. This Atlantic Global Asset Management has opened its office in Cape Verde and now the company is ready to enter African market. The representatives of the two partner companies explained their decision to start working in Africa and talked about the perspectives of the holding in an interview that follows. --- The activity of Atlantic Global Asset Management can be compared to an agronomists work. The only difference is that instead of plants and crops there are young and promising companies and financial institutions that need the assistance of the experienced specialist, who grown and harvested many crops. The specialists of the holding are dealing with the purchase and sale of so-called "toxic" assets, releasing banks from this burden, put in order the assets of companies, standing on the cusp of bankruptcy, "fertilize" them as consistent with precisely calculated system. We talked with the holding representatives, the president of Atlantic Global Asset Management (https://AtlanticGAM.es/) Antonino Robalo and CEO of the company Questra World (https://QuestraWorld.es/) Jose Manul Gelobert, about how they were able to take advantage of crisis time, and how the company would develop further. - The holding that includes your companies was founded in 2009. It was not the best time to start a business, the world only began to recover after the crisis. A.R.: Quite the opposite! It is not a secret that the crisis is also a time of great opportunities. It is important to be able to take advantage them. During the first year, we were able to earn ten million euro, and not in spite of, but due to the crisis. - How did it happen? A.R.: This money was earned due to the purchase and sale of debt obligations at the European financial markets. In brief, as a result of the crisis of 2008, banks and other financial institutions have accumulated a lot of "toxic" assets (the kind of assets that started to bear losses instead of profit). There were so many of them, that they have been sold with huge discounts. Of course, banks could theoretically wait until the world economy begins to recover, and toxic assets will again be normal. But in reality, they needed the hard cash as soon as possible. - Why couldnt the banks sell assets at a high price, and you could? A.R.: The reason is the complexity of the disposal procedure of pledged property. There is one special moment when the asset price is minimal, and you need to be a "professional" buyer to find this moment and to make a deal. In other words, you should know thoroughly all the nuances. - What kind of property did you buy in most cases? A.R.: Our portfolio consisted mainly of commercial real estate, land and large industrial and agricultural equipment. - The whole scheme sounds pretty risky. A.R.: Every kind of business involves risk. However, we pass the audit regularly and successfully, and our structure is transparent, so you can be sure we have both feet firmly on the ground, and no serious problems could be hidden. - Well, we figured out how to make money during the crisis. But the company cannot live from crisis to crisis. What else is the holding doing? A.R.: Of course, we are dealing not only with toxic assets. We are engaged in rehabilitation of bankrupt companies. That is, we buy them, select the direction in which the company could be successful, cut off all the others unnecessary and unprofitable activities. In fact, we are creating a new company on the ruins of the old one. The rest is paperwork. We prepare the "renewed" company for IPO and sell it much more expensive than it was purchased. In this case, profit can be measured in thousands of percent. In addition, we provide support to start-ups, buy and sell real estate. We also plan to start management support services, business consulting and management. - Was that the reason for the recent restructuring of the holding? M.G.: Yes, today we present two companies. The first one is Atlantic Global Asset Management and the second one is Questra World, which provides marketing and consulting support AGAM around the world. The main feature of the company Questra World, as the independent advertising broker that promotes Atlantic Global Asset Management, is the possibility to open official representative offices in those countries where local laws did not allow doing it earlier. Thus, we have opened a new office in Cape Verde and got there the license for financial activities. In general, during 2017 we plan to open offices in 17-18 countries. Grand plans. - Why Cape Verde? A.R.: There are many reasons. Briefly, in this country we are able to work comfortably. It is a small, well-placed country. It has a stable currency, and the economy is growing despite the low level of business activity. In addition, and this is important too, we have good relations with the country's leadership. - Do you need local partners to be successful in work? - M.G.: Yes, our partner is Ecobank. This is one of the largest banks in Africa, and it is convenient to work with it for both for us and members of our affiliate network. The proof is our long-term cooperation with the bank. What is important, Ecobank respects the privacy of deposits as well as we respect it. All the investors accounts are anonymous and the bank has the right not to respond to requests from any structures and organizations. - What do you plan to do in Africa? M.G.: We are expanding our affiliate network Questra World in Africa. The network has shown good results in other regions. A few tens of thousands of partners are working with us today, received only for the first 8 months of this year, bonuses totaling more than 8 million euros. I am sure that after we start to work in Africa, these figures will increase significantly. - What revenues members of your affiliate network can expect? M.G.: To that effect, it is better to see our website https://QuestraWorld.es/ . There are all the necessary information, and the ability to contact the call center where trained professionals will explain opportunities to invest or create your own affiliate network. The maximum bonus that we expect to pay in the coming months is 1 million euro. The majority of the partners receive income in the amount of one or a few thousand dollars on a monthly basis. I want to note that in addition to good bonuses, there are other positive aspects. For example, our partners are able to take out a loan at 0% for the purchase of a new car or house. Also, we will compensate over half the cost of opening a new representative office. The registration (https://private.atlanticgam.es/#/sign-up) has already begun. - Is offer in effect only for individuals? M.G.: No, starting from this year we are working with legal entities. Agent agreement or director contract can be signed on behalf of the company. - What do you reckon on in Africa? M.G.: We reckon on the flurry of activity of our potential partners and their genuine interest in our common business. The Volta Serene Hotel in Ho, capital of the Volta Region of Ghana, has won a major international award in Geneva, Switzerland. Business Initiative Directions (BID) Group One, a globally respected authority on Total Quality Practices and Concepts, gave the award International Star Award for Quality to the Ghanaian owned hospitality firm in the Swiss capital on Sunday. To receive the BID Quality Award is to become part of a team of companies, institutions, organizations and outstanding visionary business leaders, whose presence in 179 countries worldwide, represents entrepreneurship, success and Total Quality, says BID Group One, organisers of the award ceremony, on their official website. The BID Quality Award, the website adds, Is a mark of excellence achieved by organizations which, in the philosophy of continuous improvement, have become drivers of innovation. The awarded organization, which has decided to walk a path of continuous quality learning, is a catalyst for the benefit of the community where it operates. The award, thus, becomes the highest ever achievement by Volta Serene Hotel, which will celebrate its first anniversary this September. The elegant four-star Hotel is a subsidiary of the FIRST SKY GROUP of Companies headed by Eric Seddy Kutortse a highly decorated Ghanaian entrepreneur. Mr. Kutortse was in Geneva to attend the colorful ceremony at which the award was presented to his company. He received the award on behalf of the entire management and staff of the Volta Serene Hotel, and paid glowing tribute to the workforce, saying their individual and collective commitments to quality hallmarks have propelled the firm to take Ghana by storm. Some other firms from other parts of the world were also honored at the ceremony. The coveted award to Volta Serene Hotel came less than a year after Mr. Kutortse was decorated as Ghanas Group Chief Executive of the Year [2015]. This is the DNA of the BID Award: to recognize progress, achievement, improve productivity and solutions proposed by organization and business leaders who have reached a level of success which before had seemed unreachable, says BID One Group on its official website. It adds, Behind each BID award is a team dedicated to promoting and spreading the stories of success of awarded leaders and organizations at an international level. Upon receiving the BID Quality Award, support is provided by three organizations: BID Group One, whose mission is education in Quality Culture, Business Initiative Directions (B.I.D.), leading the organization of international events and conventions, and Imarpress, the communication agency and main media sponsor of BID Awards for Quality. By winning the award, Volta Serene Hotel will, according to BID One Group, receive the support of a multi-national team of professionals, specialized in the communication, education and promotion of Quality Culture. BID One Group's website also says, Behind each award recipient there is also a commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. This commitment to Quality Culture is the force behind companies, organizations and leaders who are recognized for a continuous search for quality and excellence. Located atop the breathtaking greenery of the Kabakaba Hills in the Volta Regional capital, Volta Serene Hotel has so far swept a string of local awards in Ghana. On its website, the Volta Serene Hotel describes itself as the Volta Regions new hospitality address. The Hotel has 72 apartments. They include; Deluxe Rooms, Double Room Chalets, Single Room Chalets, Two Bedroom Executive Apartments and an Owners Suit, a Four Bedroom Fully furnished Apartment and many more. The apartments are furnished with top of the range facilities required of a 4 star hotel. On the phone from Geneva, Mr. Eric Seddy Kutortse, spoke of the significance of the latest award his company has received. The collective efforts of management and staff of Volta Serene Hotel have been recognized on the international stage as continuously meeting the best of global standards and practices, he said. While we rejoice in the humbling glory of this significant endorsement of our brand on the global stage, we are by this feat reminded of the need to continue working hard to stay on top as the brand that delivers the ultimate quality and true value for money experience. he added. The award, he said, is another major evidence that with the right resources, the right team of men and women, and an unyielding commitment to total quality, it is possible, as Volta Serene Hotel has demonstrated, to build a truly powerful brand of global significance in Ghana. Mr. Kutortse seized the moment to invite tourists to see the award to his hotel as just one more evidence that Ghana is a must-visit destination where customer experiences are continuously matching or exceeding the best of global hallmarks. It is testimony that Africa is indeed on the rise, he added. Presented annually, the International Star Award for Quality (ISAQ) is one of the most prominent awards in the world. It celebrates the quality and excellence of companies that invest and strive for the enhancement of products and services. Business Initiative Directions (BID) established the ISAQ in 1986. It is awarded yearly on the basis of the guidelines of the QC100, supported by the BID Quality Mix Program. The organizers use leadership values, excellence, innovation, and technology as determining factors for deciding winners of the award. In 2013, the Graphic Group of Companies Limited from Ghana was decorated with the award in Switzerland. Group Chief Executive, Kenneth Ashigbey and Ransford Tetteh, Editor of the Graphic newspaper, were both in Geneva to receive the award. In July this year, The West African Regional Magazine, adjudged First Sky Limited, the construction arm of the First Sky Group, as the Outstanding Construction Company of the Year [2016]. This [award] is for revolutionizing the construction industry of Ghana by building roads, bridges and highways that have done the country proud, said an official letter that communicated the decision to management of the First Sky Group. Some of your signature projects include the 27.7km MIDA road project, which FIRST SKY Limited completed at a record time; the on-going 27-kilometre road project in Krachi West District [Kete-Krachi], Volta Region to be completed in 2017, and many others have heralded you as the undisputable flagship of Ghana's construction industry; it continued. The formal presentation of the award to the FIRST SKY GROUP took place at Dubai's Grosvenor House Hotel. It marked the 3rd Edition of The West African Regional Magazine Business & Leadership Awards. First Sky Construction Limited began as a minor one room office firm in 2002. Under Mr. Kutortse's leadership and in line with his vision, it has since developed to attain a respectable group status, FIRST SKY GROUP, boasting of avant-garde offices at Community 25 in the port city of Tema. By: Richard Sky/Citifmonline.com/Ghana A former member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC); and Ghana's first female council of state member, Dr. Mrs. Mary Grant, has passed away at age of 88. Family sources say she died on Sunday afternoon September 18, at the 37 Military Hospital. She left behind two of her own children, and four adopted ones. President John Dramani tweeted about her death, describing her as a great woman of our modern era. Adieu Dr. Mary Grant. A great woman of our modern era. Rest in Peace, mummy. John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) September 19, 2016 Dr. Mrs. Mary Grant was appointed in 1989 among the last batch of PNDC members until the PNDC was dissolved on the 7th of January 1993. She was in charge of general affairs. Whiles with the PNDC, Dr. Grant held many positions including a Deputy Minister of Health, and later became the Minister of Education and Culture and also a Member of Council of State. She was until her death considered as one of the people who later fell out with Mr. Rawlings. But in 2012, she was awarded at the Ghana Women Awards, the premier awards ceremony aimed at celebrating the success of women of excellence in various facets of the society. Her award was presented to her by Mr. Rawlings. Member of NDCs vetting committee She was part of the NDC's vetting committee that grilled Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, when they entered the race to contest the late President Mills in the NDC's presidential primary in 2011, ahead of the 2012 elections. In August 2015, she was part of about 100 former government officials of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who were hosted at the Flagstaff House by President John Mahama. Dr Mary Grant seated with President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Authur. Family life Dr. Mary Grant is a sister to the late Paa Grant, a merchant and politician in the Gold Coast, who has been called the father of Gold Coast politics. Paa Grant, a political activist, was a founder and the first president of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in 1947, with the goal of achieving self-government. Professional career Dr. Grant, an old student of Wesley Girls, is the first Wesley Girls High School Alumni to be a medical doctor. She has led Ghana's delegation to several international conferences such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) General Assemblies in Geneva, World Bank Meeting in Africa Health,WHO Regional Conferences in Africa, Cairo Conference on Population and Development among others. She was among Ghana's delegation to the Beijing Conference on Women's Rights. At the 39th Annual General Conference in 1997, the Ghana Medical Association awarded her a Certificate of Honour for her concern for welfare of doctors. As a medical practitioner, she had been critical of health workers who embark on strikes at the expense of human lives. In May 2007, she told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that health workers must see themselves as members of a health brigade with the sole mission of saving lives but never as death squads. The health profession is different from all others, since it deals with diseases and health, life and death. Therefore, anyone who does not feel strongly that what he/she has to do is to help people recover from illnesses and to prevent people from dying unnecessarily must not enter the health service. At all times health workers must place the love and affection for the patient above their self-interest, Dr Mary Grant said in the interview. She was however concerned about the poor remuneration for medical practitioners at the time, and chastised successive governments for lacking the will to deal decisively with the problem. By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @AfanyiDadzie // ]]> The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) , Moses Asaga has said sulphur levels in the diesel imported into the country is not as toxic as suggested in a report. According to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss-based NGO, which is partner to Ghana's ACEP, some European companies have been shipping toxic diesel to many African countries including Ghana. The report revealed that, the diesel samples contained up to 378 times more sulphur than is permitted in Europe. But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the NPA has carried out an extensive emission test on diesel being imported into the country and found the result to be within acceptable levels. Our quality is 99.7% if you add the sulphur to all the other factors.Our quality is 99.7% and Europes is 99.95%, clearly our products arent substandard He further stated that it will be difficult for Ghana to be supplied with safe fuel since it will come at extra cost to the country. According to him, Ghana would have to pay higher premiums which will subsequently result in an increment in taxes and levies on petroleum products, if it starts requesting for quality grades of fuel. In West Africa, the market is well structured. We have Nigeria, Ghana and Cote D'lvoire. When they are loading a ship, they will load about 300,000 metric tonnes on a ship. About 90% of the 300,000 metric tonnes is going to Nigeria and then the rest comes to Ghana. Anytime we have an emergency it is Nigeria that re-exports to Ghana so in terms of economics of chaos, anytime we want to move, it means we must move with Nigeria. If we don't move with Nigeria and we want to be an isolated case then we have to pay a premium for those higher grades, Mr. Asaga argued. He explained that Ghanaian consumers are paying more for petroleum products than it counterparts in Kenya, the United States, Canada and Europe because those countries take their products directly from the Middle East wher the product is relatively cheaper unlike Ghana which takes the product from external sources. Kenya can afford to be cheaper because they take diesel directly from the middle east unlike us , we take from Amsterdam and Rotterdam and other countries Asked whether it is environmentally friendly to use 'dirty diesel', Mr Asaga said most of the challenges consumers encounter are not caused by dirty diesel. According to him, these challenges are caused by consumers' decision to continuously import old cars. We do not import new cars, about 80 percent of our cars are old cars. Those cars that are coming into Ghana now are those cars that feed on the 3,000 PPM that Europe has rejected. By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport is urging the Committed Drivers' Union to exercise restraint over threats to go on strike to protest the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transport service. Chairman of the Committee, Theophilus Tetteh Chai in an interview with Citi News said government consulted all stakeholders ahead of the commissioning of the BRT service. He said it is not too late for the aggrieved drivers formally lodge their complaints to the service implementer and to have them addressed. An extensive consultation has been made with the various transport unions, but if they think there are some challenges that needs to be addressed, it is never too late, Mr. Tetteh Chai said. Driver union concerns Last week, a group of commercial vehicle drivers known as the Committed Drivers Union (CDA) threatened to embark on a strike to protest what they describe as attempts to destroy their livelihoods. Spokesperson for the Union, Francis Appiah, in an interview with Citi News said the unfair introduction of the BRT, will hinder their operations and could affect our livelihood. Among their concerns is the plan to relocate drivers from their current bus terminals, especially those in major commercial areas. Francis Appiah explained that, commercial drivers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle will be moved to the new lorry station, while commercial drivers operating from the Tema Station will be relocated to the hajj park. The 37 military lorry station will be moved to the Kawukudi Park at Mamobi. Drivers' agitation over BRT system needless The Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE); implementer of the RBT project have described the agitation by the drivers as needless as collaboration will be maintained with the transport unions to augment the transport services in Accra. By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa on Monday gave universities the go-ahead to raise student fees by up to eight percent, as campuses braced for a resurgence of protests that shook the government last year. Student groups in 2015 secured a zero percent fee increase after weeks of demonstrations, and had demanded a freeze on all fees until a commission into university funding was complete. But Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande gave universities the green light to raise fees for the 2017 academic year. "Our universities face an extremely difficult financial situation," Nzimande said at a press conference in Pretoria. "The effects of last year's moratorium on fee adjustments have added to these challenges... Starving our universities of funding is not the way to go." Nzimande recommended universities raise their fees "not above eight percent". University of Cape Town (UCT) vice-chancellor Max Price said failing to increase fees would result in hundreds of jobs lost, and reduce financial aid to poor students. "Either we have to accept the decline in the kinds of universities we have and the funding for students, or we have to put up the fees to compensate," he told state broadcaster SABC. Nzimande said the government would cover the increase for students from families earning less than 600,000 rand a year ($42,600). UCT cancelled all classes Monday ahead of Nzimande's announcement, while several other campuses beefed up security and warned students to protest peacefully. Students at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg quickly rejected the minister's announcement. "We need intervention now. At the beginning of next year, thousands of students are going to be excluded again," Fasiha Hassan, student council secretary-general, told local broadcaster eNCA. "Students are angry and rightfully so, because our issues haven't been dealt with." Universities were rocked last year by violent student protests, with several campuses temporarily shut down and riot police clashing with students outside parliament. The issue of education fees ignited widespread frustration over a lack of opportunities for young South Africans, worsened by a weakening economy and high unemployment. The Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party Nana Akufo-Addo has described the ruling NDC as a confused bunch of individuals governing Ghana with a confused state of mind. According to him, claims by some leading members of the party, during their manifesto launch in Sunyani that both the NDC and the NPP have come to a common understanding of what is good for the country, betrays their confusion. The Member of Parliament for Ningo ET Mensah in an attempt to rebuff claims that the NDC stole their manifesto ideas from the NPP, is reported to have said great minds think alike. But commenting on the remark, the NPP flagbearer said it is worthy of note that the NDC acknowledges that the NPP has great ideas for the country. Something very interesting happened in Sunyani. The NDC went there to launch their manifesto and one of their leaders said it is not true they are copying our policy ideas but rather both parties agreed on what is good for the Ghanaian people and that is why similar ideas are coming up. We thank God, they now acknowledge that we have very good ideas for Ghana. But if they are confused and lack clarity on a simple matter like the source of ideas of their manifesto why will they not be running this country in such a confused manner? Our government will deal with all the problems their confused government has brought to us to put Ghana in a better state as a country moving forward, Akufo-Addo told a rally at Kasoa in the Central region Sunday. Executive Chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Ahmed Bin Sulayem, and other stakeholders, who participated in DMCCs second Africa Dubai Precious Metals Forum (ADPMF) in Accra, have agreed among a number of things that, the global air transport industry enacts a plan to ban the hand-held personal carriage of gold in favour of adopting a cargo only policy, which requires proof of responsible sourcing. Over 130 industry delegates attended the forum at the Kempinski Hotel on September 7th, to attend the forum. Government ministers, regulators, mining industry professionals, security experts, airlines, logistics facilitators and representatives from the OECD, were drawn to the two-day event, which took its theme from an integrated Special Workshop entitled: Legitimizing the Global Gold Trade. During his welcome speech, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DMCC Executive Chairman, said: Through the Africa Dubai Precious Metals Forum, we seek to strengthen relationships between all market participants, along the Africa-Dubai trade corridor, while creating a theatre of dialogue to better understand the challenges facing Africas gold mining and exporting countries, including how the gold trade is conducted. The forums theme was developed to discuss ways to combat what has become an unacceptable level of unofficial gold trading, according to participants, which is not only costing governments billions of dollars a year in lost revenues, but is impacting severely on the lives of thousands of miners and the supply chain operators through questionable employment, exploitation and transportation practices. The sessions, presentations and panel discussions of the two-day forum, covering topics ranging from government policy to employment practices and trading mechanisms, resulted in a clear consensus that whilst various models of government legislation go some way to addressing the complex issues, its industries within the supply chain, both upstream and downstream, could and should do more to help rectify the global problem of questionable practices in the mining, trading and transportation of gold. Forum participants also concluded that, in the absence of more robust legislation, airlines and their associations should be asked to do more, as arguably they are the most important component of the supply chain, to help curb the global transportation of gold. By banning the shipment of gold via hand-held carry-on baggage, airlines and associations would be protecting passengers on-board from potential security issues, while playing a positive and significant role in reducing the incidence of illicit gold distribution. Conference delegates agreed that responsible sourcing is a key factor in determining which path the gold might take to get to its eventual market. Government participants were open about the ineffectiveness of some legislation, or an inability to properly enforce it. The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources for Ghana, H.E. Hon, Nii Osah Mills, in a meeting with Mr. Bin Sulayem, explained that Ghana had developed a robust, two-tiered mining and export legislative framework, using a secure and traceable bank payment system which, for the most part was successful with licensed medium and large mining and export companies. The Minister pointed out that Ghana does not have an Artisanal Mining Sector but his country thus recognizes that unlicensed operators exist and pose a threat to legitimate mining and trade practices. Delegates and experts in the Legitimizing Global Gold Trade workshop remarked that, most gold mining and trading countries in Africa suffer from the questionable practices of small mining concerns, many of which trade and export gold as a personal item thus avoiding taxes and fees in the country of origin. In an earlier meeting with Mr. Bin Sulayem, the Minister of Mines for Burkina Faso, HE Hon. Alpha Omar Dissa, confirmed that his country was losing about eighty percent (80%) of their mined gold, through illicit means. We appreciate your visit to discuss this subject because we need your support to improve our legislation and stop the bad practice said the minister. In the end, delegates agreed that a number of points could be taken forward and that an immediate call to action should be made, to the global air transport industry, and urge IATA and ICAO, to enact a plan to ban the hand-held personal carriage of gold in favour of adopting a cargo only policy, which requires proof of responsible sourcing. As a result, Mr. Bin Sulayem said: It is my hope that affirmative action will ensure a positive outcome to this debate. The next step is to continue our firm working relationship with OECD and pursue dialogue with IATA and ICAO. The Hague (AFP) - Kenya on Monday rebuked Somalia for dragging it before the UN's top court to defend a maritime border dispute that could decide the fate of potentially lucrative Indian Ocean oil and gas reserves. In a hearing at the UN's International Court of Justice, Kenya described as "absurd and hurtful" Somalia's claims it had sought to steal crucial oil and gas reserves in a case which began in 2014. Mogadishu's case against Nairobi at the Hague-based court is an attempt to redraw the sea border in a move which would affect at least three of Kenya's 20 offshore oil blocks. Somalia says that talks have failed to find a solution to the increasingly bitter dispute, which could significantly impact a new source of revenue for either of the east African neighbours. Somalia's accusations of bad faith "are absurd as they are hurtful," Kenya's Attorney General Githu Muigai told judges at the ICJ, which was set up in 1946 to rule in disputes between countries. "Somalia would have the court believe that during all these years, Kenya has been scheming to take advantage of its neighbour to steal its sea and oil," he said. At the heart of the dispute is how to draw the line of the sea boundary. Somalia, which lies north of Kenya, wants it to continue along the line of the land border, in a southeast direction. But Kenya wants it to go in a straight line east, along the parallel of latitude, giving it more sea territory. 'Unfair and disrespectful' The disputed triangle of water, which stretches over an area of more than 100,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles), is believed to hold valuable deposits of oil and gas in a part of Africa only recently found to be sitting on significant reserves. A relative newcomer to the oil industry but one seen as having major potential, Kenya has awarded the three oil blocks to Italian energy company EniSpA. Kenya says it has exercised uncontested jurisdiction over the disputed sea boundary since 1979, when it proclaimed its Exclusive Economic Zone. It claims it had previously agreed with Mogadishu to resolve the disagreement "in negotiation through two coastal states". And in a memorandum of understanding dating back to April 2009, Mogadishu and Nairobi had expressly agreed not to take the case to the ICJ, they said. Therefore the ICJ "was not competent to rule in the present case," Kenya's lawyers argued, asking judges to dismiss Somalia's request. Furthermore, Nairobi has been "a friend" to Mogadishu, helping it fight the jihadist Shabaab group in which "hundreds of Kenyan soldiers and civilians were killed," Muigai said. Mogadishu's claims before the ICJ "are unfair and disrespectful of a government and people who sacrificed so much in support of Somalia," he added. The hearing continues on Tuesday with Somalia's lawyers stating their case. In its application before the court, Mogadishu said that "the inability of the parties to narrow the differences between them... have manifest the need for judicial resolution of this dispute." "Somalia... requests the Court to determine precise geographical co-ordinates of the single maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean," it said. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on state radio Sunday in Mogadishu he was "confident that we will win that case". It could however take up to several months for the court to make a ruling. The newly elected New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary candidate for the Karaga constituency in the Northern Region says residents of the area are dissatisfied with the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC's) performance in the area. Sulemana Ibn Saeed has particularly taken a swipe at the incumbent NDC Member of Parliament, Alhassan Sualihu Dandawa for allegedly neglecting the Karaga constituency. Elated Sulemana Ibn Saeed in a Citi News interview claimed residents of Karaga will reject the Mahama-led governing NDC at the December 7 polls. He is optimistic residents of Karaga will reward him for his contribution to the Karaga constituency as a former teacher and a social development worker. He reiterated calls for party unity and urged his other contenders to rally behind him to boost his chances of winning the seat. He insisted that the incumbent NDC Member of Parliament for the Karaga constituency, Alhassan Sualihu Dandawa has outlived his usefulness in Parliament. He appealed the electorate to massively vote for him and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to improve their wellbeing. The former Parliamentary candidate, Ibrahim Basha Shaharawi's resignation on health grounds necessitated the NPP's Parliamentary primary re-run in the Karaga. Sulemana Ibn Saeed at the end of the primary emerged victorious with 208 of the valid votes cast. His other two contenders, a former District Chief Executive for the Karaga district, Baba Wahab polled 168 votes against Imam Basha Firdaus who polled 28 votes. Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for election-related stories By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana Delhi Public School (DPS) International Ghana, a leading school in Tema where quality education is provided has organised a recitation competition for some of the school children to develop their talent in public speaking. The pupils below the age of 4 years showcased their talent by reciting wonderful poems on various topics including the environment and patriotism. The occasion dubbed Show and Tell Competition saw all pupils in pre-nursery, nursery, and Classes I to III taking part in the competition with great enthusiasm. Parents and the audience who attended the 3-day event were seen beaming with satisfaction over the talents displayed by the young children as they were seen firmly glued to their seats and applauding the pupils as they took their turns respectively to present either a poem or talk about the environment or science. Some of the young lads did experiments in osmosis and photosynthesis. Mr. Bright Asare, a parent was full of praise for the management of the school for the programme pointing out that the event will help the kids identify the items used in the experiment, know the purpose and how to use them. He said the programme has also given the children an exposure, saying After the programme every child who took part in the programme can identify whatever they have seen during the event and talk about it. I am very much impressed.. The parent was of the view that the competition will help boost the confidence of the kids. Another parent, Mr. Kumar Chenthil said the competition will help the children to understand the use of the items. According to him, the children will be able to learn new things they have no idea of; which is educative. Principal, DPS International Ghana, Mr. David Raj laid emphasis on organising such events regularly in order to boost the confidence of the pupils and empower them to overcome stage-fright during public speaking. According to him, The activities are part and parcel of our education system and as such are required to be organised in order to increase the knowledge and competitive spirit of the kids, particularly in the present competitive world. We are training them to face the current competitive world by exposing them to competition at early age. He was optimistic that the programme will help parents coordinate with the teachers to help share ideas for the benefit of the child. The principal congratulated the winners and appreciated their efforts urging them to continue to show the way. He congratulated the other participants also and expressed gratitude for the efforts put in by teachers and parents. Mr. Raj also wished the participants a bright future, saying that this is among several extra curriculum activities the school is undertaking to prepare the children for global demands. The DPS International established in Ghana in 2010, is affiliated to the Delhi Public School in India with 174 branches across the world including the United States. DPS International Ghana continues to raise the flag of Ghana high in international competitions especially the spelling bee contest and the Maths competition. The school topped in both last year and this years national spelling bee competition and represented Ghana in the international event in the United States. Two of the students of DPS International (Ghana) school in Tema who participated in the recitation competition. Three of the judges at the recitation competition held by DPS International (Ghana) school in Tema. Mrs Tanya Thakwani with one of the teachers at the recitation competition held by DPS International (Ghana) school in Tema. One of the students of DPS International (Ghana) school in Tema who participated in the recitation competition and spoke about the importance of health with the theme Health Is Wealth. The opposition New Patriotic Partys (NPP) youth wing in the Northern Region, known as Khandaha, is advocating peace and justice ahead of the December 7 polls. The group is displeased with civil society organizations and religious bodies exclusion of justice from their peace advocacy before, during and after the December polls. The groups Chairman, Alhassan Mohammed, alias Ghana, in a statement copied Citi News said a free, fair and transparent elections will guarantee peace and justice well meaning Ghanaians are yearning for. He stressed that, without justice, calls for peaceful elections could be an exercise in futility. Alhassan Mohammed alias Ghana, recalled the outcome of the NPPs 2012 landmark election petition and concluded that such history would not repeat itself. He therefore impressed upon the Electoral Commission (EC) to demonstrate its neutrality throughout processes leading to the December 7 polls. Below is the full statement: PRESS RELEASE Mr Chairman, My fellow party representatives, Ladies and gentlemen of the media. We have invited you here to share our opinion with on the need to clamour more for justice rather than peace as we match into the 2016 presidential and parliamentary general elections Violence and peace are two and opposite ways with greater effect on building a society but we cant attain peace without Justice? THEY ARE CALLING FOR PEACE BUT NOT CALLING FOR JUSTICE The proliferation of selective justice, divide and rule intolerance produces most serious negative social consequences. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we all know peace by contrast, promote social positive consequences and allow the achievement of real progress. Therefore we should act within what is possible, by first of all attaining justice even where it seems difficult and impracticable. Mr Chairman, We are all aware of numerious calls by various groupings, Such as Religious leaders, Civil sociaty organisations ( C.S.Os), Non governmental organizations ( NGOs) and many other stake holders calling for peace before, during and after the 2016 general elections. In this regard, The KANDAHAD youth group and we believe the New patriotic Party (NPP) in the northern region take into serious consideration, this call for peace. However, We the KHANDAHAD youth group want to state infactically that much as we are all calling for peace,there should be the pursuit for justice peace and peace will automatically follow. Further more, Ghanaians would bear witness that after the 2012 general elections, One party felt cheated as a result we had an election petition to seek justice in the law court, Only to realize that the final verdict was more on merits of peace and not on justice, Mr Chairman, Ladies and gentlemen of the media, fellow Ghanaians; The reason why we of KHANDAHAD are calling for justice before peace is that, some of the peace campaigners appear to be political party affialates who are not genuine. Notable of some of these people are 1.EMMANUEL BOMBANDE BEFORE 2012 ELECTIONS The Executive director of west africa network for peacebuilding AFTER 2012 ELECTIONS Deputy Minister Of Foreign Affairs. 2. DR CLEMENT APAAK BEFORE 2012 ELECTIONS Executive director for Forum for governance and justice AFTER 2012 ELECTIONS Presidential Staffer 3. DANIEL BATIDAM BEFORE 2012 ELECTIONS African Parliamentary Network Against Corruption AFTER 2012 ELECTIONS Governance And Corruption Adviser To The President 4. NANA OYE LITHUR BEFORE 2012 ELECTIONS. Human Rights Advocacy For Gender AFTER 2012 ELECTIONS; Gender, Children And Social Protection Minister Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen. KHANDAHAD is appealing to various religious bodies, civil society organizations, non governmental organizations, judiciary service, opinion leaders and other stakeholders to campaign for justice towards the coming 2016 general elections to safeguard our democracy. Lastly, KHANDAHAD want to ask whether Ghana really needs peace without justice. If the answer is No, then lets look for JUSTICE first. Lets not cry for peace without crying for justice. CHAIRMAN SECRETARY Ghana Alhassan Abdul Hack 0244140622 0546221212 [21:09, 9/18/2016] +233 20 825 4494 Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for more election related stories By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Kumasi High Court 6 has thrown out a case filed by some delegates in the Manhyia North Constituency of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), seeking to place an injunction on the elected parliamentary candidate, Collins Owusu Amankwah. The case filed by 22 delegates in the constituency led by one Sasu, was to stop the elected parliamentary nominee from filing his nomination to be accepted by the Electoral Commission as the elected candidate in the upcoming polls in December. The plaintiffs prayed the court to set aside the recent primary that had the incumbent MP retained. However, at a sitting today [Monday], Justice Obeng Deiwuo threw out the application. The lawyer for the accused pleaded the court to charge the delegates each, a fine of GH100 for damage caused. The case has thus been adjourned to Friday, September 23, 2016, for the lawyers plea to be heard. Collins Amankwah wins Manhyia North NPP primary The Manhyia North constituency had its primary delayed on several occasions due to internal wranglings. The primary was held in July this year amidst a few scenes of violence. In the end however, the incumbent MP, Collins Owusu Amankwah, won the primary . He polled 185 votes as against his closest contender, Kwesi Konadu who garnered 171 votes while Nana Osei Bamfoe had 129 votes. Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for election-related stories By: Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana Building a nation is a task that transcends individual interests or selfish desires of a group of indivisuals.A nation of nearly 30million people will surely be populated by people with divergent views/opinions, based on personal interests which are often driven, not by spirit of patriotism, but pure self-seeking agendas.to such people, even when the facts pertaining to a given issues are manifestly staring them in the face, they will move heaven and earth to create for themselves, a narrow window of escape so that their warped logics would persist in their confined environment. Every government in Ghana history, including that of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, came into being because according to kwesi Pratt, he, was associated with the struggle to make it happen. From various accounts given by Kwesi, he has been on excellent terms with every leader Ghana has had, at inception, but has always ended the cozy relationship on a sour note, due to some reasons which are still mysterious to ordinary beings like us. I have listened to Kwesi, on a number of occasions, where he has narrated how he deeply involved efforts to halt the 1966 coup, as a 6year-old toddler, by walking from Accra central, all the way to the flagstaff house where he claimed to have personally witnessed mutinous soldiers firing nuclear weapons into those residential apartment blocks opposite the flagstaff house. He gives account of how fridges and coal-pots of occupants of those flats were flying in the air, at the impact of those nuclear missiles being unleashed on those block of flats. He again gives accounts of his maneuverings to dethrone the military junta that overthrew Osagyefo. He opposed the Busia government, opposed Acheampong, opposed Afrifa, opposed June 4th, opposed 31st December, 1981 and opposed Rawlings till the year 2000. He pitched camp with Kufuor at the inception of the NPP administration in January, 2001, and was a daily visitor at the dining table at the castle where he enjoyed 10-course sumptuous meals. But somewhere along the line, something happened, and as usual, kwesi fell out with Kufour and became the darling boy of Rawlings, whom he [Kwesi] had taken to the slaughter house, not long ago. He undertook regular visits to Rawlings house where he enjoyed sumptuous meals. During those visitis,Kwesi would engage Rawlings in long chats about how he[Rawlings] was being mistreated by the Kufuor government, which would then publish in his then Weekly Insight, and follow it up with further blistering tirades on radio Golds alhaji-alhaji on Saturdays. Those were the days kwesi would sit in the studios of Radio Gold, propound easy solutions to every problem Ghana faced, and describe the Kufuor government as visionless. He came up with the mantra of PARADIGMN SHIFT which Ghana has to adopt in order to get out of all our socioeconomic woes. Those were the days he shouted economic miracles of outposts of Marxist enclaves like Cuba and North Korea. The Caracas fiasco Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was Kwesis shining star in the area of good governance because one can fill the tank of his/her car at the cost of a paltry $1.but what kwesi forgot to consider is that fact that, in governance, windfall in revenue from a countrys resource, at any point in time, is supposed to be invested in other critical areas of the economy to generate a chain of benefits amongst the citizenry. The policy of just dishing out cash form oil proceeds to the citizens was the most visionless move a leader could pursue, yet, Kwesi was always hailing this a great model. Today, this windfall from oil proceeds has ceased due to slum in oil prices on the international market, and Venezuela has now become a total economic fiasco. Venezuelans now are facing the worst economic crisis in living-memory. Shelves in shops are empty, and few available items are being chased by millions. What Venezuelans now do in order to get basic items like toilet paper, canned foods and basic medicines is to cross into Columbia, when the borders are periodically opened. For example, the first time Columbia opened its borders to allow Venezuelans to go shopping, over 35,000 people poured in to purchase basic items. When the border was opened the second time, over 75,000 Venezuelans poured in.And when this started happening in Venezuela, kwesi no longer touts the miracle of Caracas in his arguments. Otekpolu black cement Kwesi fully supported the shadowy STX deal which had no Ghanaian component,inspite of the fact that he has, over the nyears,touted the limitless deposits of natural black cement at Otekpolu in the eastern region Ghana.Persistently,Kwesi derided the Kufuor administration for not exploiting that natural deposit of black cement to solve our countrys huge housing deficit, but NDC,which he vociferously campaigned for, and continues to defend in every aspect, has been in power for the past 8years without a sign of heeding to Kwesis advise. Aburi rain water miracle Then comes the issue of campaign policies being outlined by the standard-bearer of the NPP,Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, vis-a-vis provision of irrigation dams in all villages of northern Ghana.Now,to the best of my knowledge, after completing journalism sometime in the early 70s,he has never had any academic pursuit,yet,he is on either radio or TV, seven days of the week,proferring solutions to every national problem spanning archeology to zoology, and condemning divergent cogent facts others put across. Kwesi is an expert in agriculture, horticulture, hydrology, epidemiology, entomology, economics, finance and so on. In the view of Kwesi Pratt, the concept of one-village-one-dam cannot be actualized because it is not everywhere in Ghana that water can be found. But he forgets that wherever there is human existence, there is water. And rather ironically, Kwesi has always touting the amazing rain-water harvesting acumen of his friend in Aburi who has,single-handedly,stored so much volumes of rain water that he can supply the entire Akuapem Ridge with portable water till eternity. So in the thinking of Kwesi, an individual can harvest rain water in such huge volumes but a government that is determined to cut waste and invest in critical areas of the economy, cannot be trusted to either harvest same rain water or dig bore-holes and store it for irrigation purposes. The toothpick factory Kwesi also lambasted the Kufuor government and described it as operating a neo-colonialist economy by sitting aloof for everything under the sun to be imported, which killed local industries and propped-up those of what he terms as THE METROPOLIS. His constant point of reference for that sad state of affairs were the imports of toothpicks. He described Kufuors leadership as being totally bereft of ideas to govern,because,to manufacture ordinary item as toothpick, the only tool one needs is Okapi knife and a bamboo trees. He said Okapi knife was not expensive and could even be locally manufactured by our blacksmiths, while bamboos grow in every corner of our country, and therefore readily available.However,ndc which kwesi vociferously campaigned for to take over from the NPP,has been in power for the past 8years,yet,he has failed to impress upon them to send our teaming unemployed youth, most of whom are ironically NDC followers, provide them with Okapi-knives and unleash them into these naturally mushrooming bamboo forests to produce toothpicks. Flip-flopping for Atta-Mills Then came Atta-Mills, and instantaneously, Kwesi switched camp and started landing verbal blows on Rawlings while showering praises on the former. The cozy relationship with Atta-Mills continued till the man met his untimely demise, and even calls to investigate the cause of his death was met with blistering vituperations from Kwesi. John Mahama then became the new-found-love, and every sinew in his body is currently being stretched to protect him [Mahama], in the glaring face of the facts/figures to the contrary. I happened to be at the police CID headquarters, on the morning of 16th April 20, 2012, in company of other NPP party officials to see Lawyer Yaw Boaben Asamoa who had been hijacked by personnel from state security the previous night, around Coconut Groove Hotel near immigration office at ridge, when I was prompted by one of party people to listen to Kwesi Pratt on Peace-FM's 'kokrookoo' programme so I quickly tune-in on my phone and I thought Kwesi had been possessed by 'tigare' deity. Justice Abeeku Newton-Offei E-mail: [email protected] Farouk Aliu Mahama 19.09.2016 LISTEN Farouk Aliu Mahama, son of former Vice President of Ghana the late Aliu Mahama, has called on all Ghanaians to work and pray for peaceful elections on December 7 Speaking to the media in an interview in Accra at the weekends, Farouk Aliu Mahama indicated that his dad was a man of peace who had high respect for peaceful co-existence and love for one another and there is therefore the need for such attributes of his dad to be espoused as Ghanaians prepare to go to the polls. Mr. Farouk also appealed to social commentators and the media to eschew indecent use of words whenever they get the opportunity to talk to Ghanaians. "We are all one people with one destiny with Ghana being the only country we have so we must guide and protect the peace", he stated. Mr. Farouk also appealed to Ghanaian youth not to allow themselves to be used in any form or shape to cause chaos in the country. "Our Imams and Church elders must all continue with their prayers for peace and stability of Ghana", Mr Farouk added. 19.09.2016 LISTEN By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah GNA Atimatim, (Ash), Sept 19, GNA - The National Women's Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ms. Otiko Afisa Djaba, has rallied the supporters to reach out to every voter with the party's message of change to win them over. Ghana, she said, needed to change course and could not continue to travel the path of deprivation, joblessness and widespread suffering. She added that the country should not continue to work for few people but must work for everybody and this was what the NPP government, led by Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, was going to ensure. She was inaugurating the 'Women and Girls for Change Clubs' of the party in the Afigya-Kwabre Constituency at Atimatim. Ms. Djaba urged the women to lead the election campaign - aid people to appreciate why they should trust the NPP with their votes. She asked that they worked together as a team and accepted to make sacrifices to bring the party back to power to lead the economy back to real growth and progress. Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, the Constituency Chairman, called for the Electoral Commission (EC) to do everything to ensure that things were done in a more transparent manner to remove suspicion. He touched on the special voting exercise to be held a week before the general election and asked that the political parties became satisfied with the security arrangements to protect the integrity of the ballot. At every stage, there should be active involvement of the party representatives so that the ballots would not be tampered with by anybody, he said, adding that, the decision of every voter must be respected. The EC has scheduled the special voting for its staff, security personnel, the media and others, for December 01. Odeneho Appiah, underlined the resolve of his party to remain vigilant and said it was not going to leave anything to chance. The party was determined to work to ensure that the conduct of this year's election was free, fair, accurate, transparent and acceptable to everybody. Mr. William Owuraku Aidoo, Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, encouraged women and the youth to take the centre stage in the campaign to wrest power from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to end the harsh economic conditions. The NPP, he said, had extremely capable people, who could turn the struggling economic around, to create wealth and jobs for the people. GNA 19.09.2016 LISTEN Pantang -Village, Sept 19, GNA, - A Senior Civic Education Officer of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has urged eligible voters to play active roles to shape Ghana's politics for the better and to ensure credible elections on December 7. Hajia Khadijatu Ocquaye, who is also the Head of Programmes at the La-Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, said this could be done through the promotion and respect for all electoral laws, rules and regulations by all stakeholders. She was addressing a programme jointly organised by the Nyameba Prayers Ministry at the Pantang Village and the NCCE to educate the Christian Community on their civic rights and responsibilities in the electoral process. Members of churches such as the Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecost, International Central Gospel, Light House, Assemblies of God the Winning Souls Ambassadors, participated in the programme, which was held on the grounds of the Pantang Presby Cluster of schools at the Pantang Village. Hajia Ocquaye said the right to vote should not be taken for granted because it was only when responsible citizens had exercised their franchise would the nation have effective leaders at the Presidency and in Parliament to move it forward. Therefore, she said, those who had made up their minds not to vote in the impending elections should reconsider and put the nation first. Hajia Ocquaye said voters should also consider leaders who would vote monies into district assemblies to undertake development projects that would benefit the entire community, instead of those who would give monies to individuals to influence their votes. On the day of the elections, Hajia Ocquaye urged voters to cast their ballots peacefully and orderly and return home. When the polls were closed, she said, they could return to the polling stations to witness the vote count and know the fate of their candidates. No one, she said, should foment trouble because the consequences of conflicts were disastrous for everyone as was evidenced in Liberia, Rwanda and other conflict-stricken zones. Mr. Lawrence Dankwah, the Youth President of Nyameba Prayers Ministry, appealed to the youth not to accept money from the political parties to steal ballot boxes because the laws of the land would find them culpable and punish them. Pastor Heaven Agyeman Badu, the Head of the Nyameba Prayers Ministry, said the programme was organised to encourage churches work for unity and peace in the election period. GNA Accra, Sept. 19, GNA - An efficient urban bus transportation system that runs on the principle of prepaid payment is soon to be introduced in Accra. For starters, the dedicated public transport scheduled bus service christened 'Ayaalolo', would run Accra-Amasaman- Accra for 16 hours every day, and would be automated to validate boarding and disembarkation of passengers through a smart payment card system. That smart payment card system, which would enhance operations, verifies passengers boarding the bus, the length of journey made, and charges accordingly on exit from the bus. The Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE), managers of the service in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, during an exhibition in Accra, expects that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, would radically improve public transportation in Accra. Mr Samson Gyamera, the Chief Executive Officer of GAPTE, said the service, which would commence next month, October 2016, would revolutionalize the urban road transport sector. He announced that the high occupancy buses, which are to be operated on dedicated lanes in the Accra metropolis, would enhance timely cost effective, efficient and comfortable travel for commuters. According to Mr Gyamera, the new transport service system, modeled on the current trotro service, but enhanced with quality vehicles, is aimed at encouraging commuters to leave their vehicles at home and use public transport to reduce vehicular congestions in the city and its attendant loss of man hours. He said that owing to dedicated facilities and certain engineering improvements on the routes of the BRT, and mechanisms that would reduce travel time. 'The company expects the commuting public to have confidence in this mode of transport,' Mr Gyamera said. The project, according to the CEO, has three other routes- Mallam- Kaneshie-Tudu Corridor; Adenta/Legon- Tudu Route and Ashaiman-Tema- Teshie-Accra Route. Mr Gyamera said there is a control room at the Achimota Terminal of the BRT, where the buses are monitored in real time, to ensure that the buses meet the scheduled times. To make sure that passengers are safe and travel in comfort, the buses are fitted with state of the art safety devices as well as wi-fi and USB mobile phone charging points to enhance their travelling experience. About 28 buses are to be operational on the Amasaman- Circle- Accra- Route. The pilot is expected to start with 28 buses, which will eventually be scaled up to a total of 245 buses when all four corridors become active. He dispelled any conflicts with the MMT and other transport unions explaining that the BRT is collaboration between the MMDAs and the transport unions. GAPTE, he said, is supposed to be a transport planning, network development and public transport regulator on behalf of the assemblies. 'The Local Government Act actually mandates the assemblies to regulate public transport within their jurisdiction; what this means is that they have the ability to set the rules for public transportation, 'the CEO said. GNA By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA Sekondi (WR), Sept. 19 - Madam Brigitte Dzogbenuku, the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), has assured the electorate that the party it would involve the best brains in managing the country's resources. She said this would occur when the party wins the December 7 polls. She said the PPP Government would not discriminate against any region or group of persons in terms of the distribution of the national resources, but would ensure that every region gets its fair share of developmental projects. Madam Dzogbenuku, who is a former Miss Ghana, said this when she visited the Sekondi constituency, over the weekend, to rally support for the party's presidential candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom. She said the PPP is the only party in the country that has nominated a woman as a running mate in this year's elections saying this shows the trust and confidence the party has in women. Madam Dzogbenuku urged women to support Dr Nduom as he believes in women empowerment, and would work to liberate all Ghanaians from economic hardships, youth unemployment, the unending power crisis and many other socio-economic challenges in the country. The Vice Presidential Candidate explained the colours of the party comprising white which means purity therefore, it would avoid any form of corruption and misappropriation of the country's resources while the red sun signifies hope and urgency to develop the nation. She said the ruling National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party had governed the country at separate occasions, but had failed to fulfill the aspirations of Ghanaians adding that it is time to change them and try a new party. She said Dr Nduom, who is an economist, had proven track record, evidenced in the many companies that he had established across the country and this has led to the employment of over 21,000 Ghanaians saying 'he is more than capable to steer the country to economic prosperity'. Mr Daniel Essuman, the Parliamentary Candidate of the PPP in the Sekondi Constituency, assured the electorates that the party would provide quality educational infrastructure in order to enhance teaching and learning for all children-of-school-going age. He said if the party is given the nod in the December 7 polls, it would actualize the compulsory free basic education policy, unlike the failed promises of the ruling National Democratic Congress Administration. He said women traders would be supported to set up their own businesses to enhance their standards of living. The Vice Presidential Candidate of the Party, Madam Dzogbenuku, enjoyed a massive support in the various constituencies she visited during the three-day tour of the Region. She visited Wassa East, Mpohor, Kwesimintsim, Takoradi, Sekondi and some constituencies in the northern parts of the Western Region. GNA By Dennis Peprah, GNA Atronie, (B/A), Sept. 19, GNA - Mr Kwame Alex Boampong, the Chief Executive Officer of Alexiboam company Limited, a Sunyani-based building and road construction firm, has presented pieces of wax print worth GHE80,000.00 to the aged in the region. Each of the 500 beneficiaries, who are mainly widows, were selected from from Atuahenekrom, Atronie, Nwasu and Adadeaso in the Sunyani Municipality and each received a piece of cloth. Other beneficiaries were also selected from Wamahinso, Gyedu and Ntotroso in the Asutifi North District of the region. Mr Boampong said God has placed enormous responsibility on every well-to-do individual to support the upkeep of the vulnerable in society. He said sharing and caring are a demonstration of true love and the surest way to give hope and survival to the marginalised. Nana Amponsem Darko II, the Chief of Atronie, thanked the benefactor for the charity shown to the people and appealed to especially natives resident abroad to contribute to the development of the community. GNA By Yussif Ibrahim, GNA Juaso (Ash), Sept 19, GNA - The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has called for substantial cut down on projects implemented with the annual budget funding amount (ABFA) from the petroleum revenue. Professor Paul Kingsley Buah-Bassuah, Chairman of the Committee, asked that the government identified few legacy projects that should be supported. The spread of the petroleum money - to take care of numerous projects, he noted, was weakening the potential impact of the oil revenue on the nation's socio-economic development. He was speaking at a public forum on the management of the petroleum revenues between 2011 and 2015 in Juaso in the Asante-Akim South District. It brought together key stakeholders including assembly members, trade associations, chiefs and civil society groups and the goal was to inform them of how oil money had been utilized. The forum also provided the platform to solicit public views on priority areas that government should spend the money over the next three years. The current priority areas are agriculture modernization, amortization, road and other infrastructure and capacity building. Prof Buah-Bassuah indicated that the government had gone beyond these four priority areas - spending in other sectors of the economy which had not been selected. He spoke of petroleum revenues having been used 'to tackle too many national problems at the same time' and he underlined the need for properly defined guidelines on the selection of where these should go. He said as a non-partisan body charged with the responsibility to ensure compliance of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, the Committee would continue to monitor and see to it that the right things were done. Ghana between 2011 and 2015 received petroleum revenue totaling US$3,251,830,000 billion, out of which US$1.428 billion was allocated to ABFA. Giving the breakdown, he said, US$ 249.92 million went into the Ghana Heritage Fund, US$ 604.35 million to the Ghana Stabilization Fund with the remaining US$968.8 million allocated to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). Mr. De-graft Forkuo, the District Chief Executive (DCE), hailed the PIAC for its education drive to keep the people adequately informed about the management of the oil money. GNA As a PhD holder, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom must show a bit of common sense and intelligence in the manner he speaks about the death of Prof John Evans Atta Mills, the late presidents family has said. You see, when you call yourself a Dr, it is assumed that you have a little bit of common sense and some intelligence, but for this man (Dr Nduom) to be going the way that he is going, I am just puzzled and marvelled. What he should understand from what my brother said was: Dzi wo fie asm mind your own business, Mr Samuel Atta Mills, brother of Prof Mills told Naa Dedei Tettey on 12Live on Class91.3FM on Monday 19 September. On July 24, 2012, Prof Mills became the first Ghanaian leader to die in office, but with the exact cause of death withheld from the public, speculations have been rife that there may have been foul play in the former law professors passing, which occurred only six months to the 2012 polls. Prof Mills health had deteriorated by then and he had been considered too weak to endure the physical demands of campaigning. At the PPPs first national rally at the Kawukudi Park in Accra, the partys General Secretary, Murtala Mohammed, made a fresh call to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to release the autopsy report covering the late presidents death to prove their innocence. If you didnt kill Mills and if you are not happy Mills died, produce the autopsy report. We are challenging John Mahama to produce the autopsy report of [late] President Mills. The Central Region people here, I want you to listen to me: if John Mahama comes to your region, tell him to produce the autopsy report, he urged. Mr Mohammeds comments came within the same week that PPP founder and flag bearer Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, at a rally in Cape Coast, had said some NDC officials put on a public show of sorrow with Prof Mills demise but privately rejoiced over his passing and said it had paved the way for their electoral triumph in 2012. He told the crowd at a rally held on Thursday September 15: Mills was our kinsman and he became the president. Some people criticised and attacked him until he died. And some of the NDC people themselves thanked God that Mills died. Is that not strange? And after his death they came back here to tell us to replace him with another person from the Central Region. "After all that, they go about provoking us that if Mills had not died, the NDC wouldnt be in government today. ... It appears as though they deliberately pushed him to the seat so they can commit the wrongs behind him. However, Mr Mills, who is the NDCs parliamentary candidate for Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem in the Central Region, said his brothers autopsy report was nobodys business. The guy has passed on. Whatever we put out, people are going to challenge us. Why dont we let him lie in peace; lets move on. We know what killed him; we have the autopsy report. What is the big deal? How come Papa Kwesi Nduom didnt raise it four years ago when he passed away? And he waits in an election time? Is this how we run our elections? Well, he calls himself a Dr, so he needs to at least exhibit that he has a little bit of common sense and some intelligence. He needs to live above this fray. If someone else is saying it [fine]; I dont expect it out of this man. He needs to be quiet, he needs to run his campaign. Fifteen survivors of the dreadful June 3 flood and fire disaster are still crying for their compensatory package 16 months after the incident. According to them, they have submitted their details to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) as required but yet to be compensated. On June 3, 2015, a devastating calamity hit the National Capital, Accra, Kwame Nkrumah Circle to be specific, where a twin disaster of flood and fire drowned and charred to death 152 Ghanaians. That is 152 human lives; 152 mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children152 Ghanaian citizens, President John Mahama said during a memorial service in honour of the souls lost. The President also announced an amount of Ghc50 million to cover relief and humanitarian operations, repair of damaged public infrastructure, and desilting and clearing of waterways. As a result 108 families which were affected by the June 3 mayhem received compensation from government, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije divulged during a memorial service on June 3, 2016 to commemorate the incident. We are a people who care and recognizing and noticing that members of our families were affected, we put into action a plan to identify our dead brothers and sisters, he said adding that the remaining families will also be compensated immediately their identity is verified. However, the fifteen survivors who spoke with Starr News Daniel Lartey stated that they haven't received a penny after the incident. According to them, several attempts to get their compensation from the AMA has proved futile as they have been abandoned by both the government and AMA. Customers anticipating payment of their locked up cash from the liquidation of assets of DKM Microfinance Company, are displeased about what they refer to as the lack of an official correspondence from the Registrar General's Department. The concerns come barely twenty-four hours to the first of three creditors' meeting scheduled by the Official Liquidator. The Official Liquidator is set to meet the 70,000 customers validated for payment of their locked up investments, via three separate creditors' meetings across the country. The first meeting comes of tomorrow, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at the Brong Ahafo regional capital, Sunyani. But the spokesperson for a group of the concerned customers in the region, Maxwell Mahama tells Citi Business News the members are unsatisfied with the means of communication. According to him, they are forced to rely on some media reports and unconfirmed messages on social platforms. As I talk to you now it is only whatsapp messages and some statements circulating that do not bear the signature of the Official Liquidator, he remarked. But responding to the concerns, the Acting Registrar General and Official Liquidator, Jemima Oware explained that the medium of communication could only be done through the nationwide circulated newspapers and online platforms. We have published the information in the national news papers there are about 63,000 to 70,000 creditors; as such we cannot be able to call them up individually. So once we are aware that the media has been able to get wind of the information, we consider it circulated. And we equally expect them to inform other creditors, she explained. Mrs Oware further disclosed the iterinary for each of the three occasions as, Basically it is the first creditors meeting where we will be providing all the creditors with the requisite information on the liquidation. We will be informing them on schedules in relation to when and how much and how many people will be paid so we urge all the creditors to be present, she added. Meanwhile the representatives of the aggrieved customers have assured of their continuous co-operation with the process to get their issues addressed. Those of us who have heard the information on the meeting will certainly be there to listen to what the Official Liquidator has in store for us, Maxwell Mahama stated. We are more than prepared to meet the Official Liquidator on the 24th of September at the scheduled venue, Fred Kuuyine, Spokesperson for some affected customers of DKM in the Upper West region opined. The two other creditors' meeting are expected to be held at the Jubilee Parks at Upper East (Bolgatanga) and Upper West (Wa) on the 22nd and 24th September respectively. By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana Kinshasa (AFP) - At least 17 people were killed Monday when heavy clashes erupted in Kinshasa ahead of a mass opposition rally, a Congolese minister said, calling the toll "provisional". Among the dead were "14 civilians involved in looting" and three police officers, one of whom was "burnt alive", Interior Minister Evariste Boshab told a press conference in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. As Islamic affairs became epicenter of attraction, in the country from the Gold Coast in the 40s and 50s right till Ghana became independent, we had three segments of Muslim leadership these are Islamic Teachers and Imams, Zongo Chiefs who are Muslims and the Muslim Councils that take care of administrative affairs for Muslims. Personalities like Imam Abass reigned supreme in the Gold Coast followed by his son Alhaji Muntari Abass whose death gave way for the coming into office of Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu in the 80s the current National Chief Imam. It is not denying the fact that the current National Chief Imam is doing all in his power to promote peaceful coexistence with all people of Ghana including Christians, the political leaderships and Ghanaians as a whole. The good work ethics of the National Chief Imam has ended the internal bickering of Muslim factions to the extent that the Ahlullsunna Wal Jamma under sheikh Ibrahim Umar Imam and the leaders of Ahmadiya Mission and the shiiats have all come closer to work with the National Chief Imam. We cannot narrate the issues of pioneers in Islamic preaching in Ghana without mentioning the name of Affa Ajura of Tamale who like hajj Umar in Accra, promoted (Ahlusunna) the practices of the prophet Mohammed (pbh) in the northern part of Ghana. He is no more but he has left behind a legacy that is being built on. While the Imams and Islamic preachers and Muslim businessmen were busy with their activities Islamic stalwarts Dr Francis Abdallah Botsway who just returned to the country in the early 80s came in to promote rapid development of Islam in Ghana. Through his contact with Libyas Islamic Call Society he spurred on some Muslim activists to work for Islamic advancement. His activities led to the establishment of rival grouping UGMRC which later teamed up with GMRC to form the Federation of Muslim Councils of Ghana (FMC) in Libya. Today this organization is operating under the leadership of Alhaji Abdallah Showmie Williams with Alhaji Kpakpo Addo as the General Secretary. Late Sheikh Ibrahim Amartey cannot be forgotten in Islamic affairs in Ghana. He began as a leading member of the Ghana Muslim Mission who worked hard towards many Christian Ga young men and women converting to Islam. However he later became a stalwart of the Tijuana movement working closely with Sheikh Ibrahim Kaulak in Senegal. Another personality who cannot be forgotten is Alhaji malik who as an ex-serviceman and former employee of the Ministry of Health was one of the two coordinators of the Federation of Muslim Councils of Ghana. Alhaji Mohammed Rashid Alhassan is one person who comes to mind as a person who served as Hajj Coordinator under the Ghana Muslim Representative Council (GMRC). He carried out his duties to the satisfaction of all Muslims, succeeding governments and the general public. Alhaji Balogun is one person whose name cannot be lost on Muslims in Ghana. He began as secretary of the Muslim Community organization but he moved over to become one of the leading Hajj Agents who helped various airlines including the defunct Bestworld Airlines in the 70s to organize the Hajj Pilgrimages in Ghana in the 70s. Alhaji Labaran was one personality who comes to mind as a person who after serving as a leading Hajj Agent and official of the Muslim Community became the first secretary of the Council of Muslim Chiefs. Alhaji Abdul Mumuni Issifu was once the Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress after going through the ladder. He was used by the Muslim leaders in Ghana to promote Islamic development in country. In the Gold Coast right through the post independent period we had stalwarts like Alhaji Norgah who with business acumen and hard work promoted Islam with earnings from his business empires in commercial and other enterprises. Today he is remembered as someone who has built many mosques dotted in most parts of Accra and other parts of Ghana. A visit to Alajo, Kotobaabi and Accra central one can find his renovated mosques being used as schools, marriage and counseling centers. For contributing so much towards Islam his name would continue to reign supreme. Apart from Alhaji Norgah we had personalities like Alhaji Waahe English and members of the English family in Accra central also playing leading roles in Islamic development side by side their business activities. Today after departing from this earth the generation of the English family is engaged in various businesses. We cannot mention Muslim businessmen without mentioning the names of Alhaji Salifu Maikankan who also used his business acumen to help Muslims in their moments of need. He also departed this earth leaving behind his children and family members who are following his footsteps. The personalities mentioned above who are no more are but a few of those we need to remember, study and follow their pious steps taken to provide leadership for Muslims in Ghana. It is our candid opinion that Muslims leaders must consider combining their efforts to take the following steps as done in some nations: Call for papers or biography on all Muslim leaders especially those who are no more with us. Those men and women should include Chiefs Imams preachers and leaders of all the recognized bodies With the information gathered we would be able to have biographies of Muslims and a who is who book for Muslims. This is being done in other advanced countries We can also use the information gathered on the past leaders to push through programs to follow their footsteps We may also institute days in the year to remember these men This way we would succeed in remembering the contributions of our heroes or living legends. TO SUCCEED IN OUR PROGRAM to honor our living legends WE HAVE OPENED A CHANNELL FOR PEOPLE TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS GATHERING INFORMATION ON MUSLIMS GENERALLY THROUGH OUR CONTACTS: No contribution is too small or too big. Contact and contribute to us on 0274853710 or 0264370345 Executive Director EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 0244 370345 (Airtel)/ 0274853710 /0208844791 / [email protected]/[email protected] The Secretary to the Convention People's Party (CPP) Youth League, Hardi Yakubu, has called on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to balance expediency with diligence and speed, in its probe of the Mahama Ford gift saga. Speaking to Citi News, the Secretary to the CPP youth wing, Hardi Yakubu, warned that undue delay could raise public suspicion over perceived inactivity from CHRAJ. This expedition is not being seen by the public and that is why questions will begin to be raised as to why all this while we haven't really heard anything from them [CHRAJ], he said. The Commission earlier stated that, though its investigations had reached advanced stages, Ghanaians should exercise patience to enable them adequately deal with the matter. In response to the comments from CHRAJ, Mr. Yakubu said the Commission was making the argument that because the matter is of importance, they need to take their time and do diligent work and we appreciate that. He however added that, CHRAJ needed to,balance the two so that the need for more time to do proper work doesn't necessarily compromise the expeditious discharge of the matter as appropriate. Background President John Dramani Mahama came under intense public scrutiny for accepting the car gift worth about US$100,000 from a Burkinabe contractor, allegedly to influence him. The Burkinabe, Djibril Kanazoe, has admitted giving President Mahama a Ford Expedition vehicle, for which the President called to thank him. The gift, according to reports, was prior to an attempt by the contractor, to win a bid to execute the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road construction project. The same contractor had also been contracted to build a wall, at a cost of over half a million dollars, for the Ghana Embassy in Ouagadougou. CPP, PPP petition CHRAJ CHRAJ was petitioned by the youth wing of the Convention People's Party (CPP), the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), and a private citizen to investigate the matter. Critics are of the view that; the $100,000 dollar Ford vehicle gift presented to President Mahama in 2012, when he was Vice President, amounts to conflict of interest, and that he must be impeached since the contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, is also said to have been awarded some lucrative government contracts. Speaker throws out minority motion The Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, last Thursday; threw out a motion filed by the Minority calling for parliamentary investigations into the matter. The Speaker argued that, CHRAJ has the legal and constitutional mandate and the capacity to deal with the matter. CHRAJ as part of investigations, has already interrogated some high ranking government officials including former Interior Minister, Mark Woyongo. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Progressive People's Party (PPP), led by entrepreneur Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom as the presidential nominee for the 2016 polls, has sued the Electoral Commission [EC]and government through the Attorney-General, over the fees set by the Commission for presidential and parliamentary hopefuls. The defendants have eight days from today [Monday] September 19, to respond to the suit. The plaintiff is among other things, seeking a declaration that the filing fees is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable. It is also seeking a declaration that Regulation 45 of C.I. 94 is discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable. That the entire C.I. 94 does not contain the appropriate relevant provisions that meet the intendment of Article 296 of the 1992 Constitution. A declaration that the proper instrument within the meaning of the relevant laws of the Republic of Ghana, in charging a deposit or fees for conducting a presidential or parliamentary election, by the Electoral Commission, is a statutory instrument and not constitutional instrument. An order directed at the defendants to desist from collecting and or receiving the said deposit or fees for the conduct of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections until the appropriate statutory instruments have been passed in accordance with appropriate legal rights. Aspirants pick nomination forms Meanwhile some presidential aspirants have already picked the nomination forms from the EC, and will be expected to return the forms with the money. The incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC) is of the view that, the amount is acceptable, whereas the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), believe it is not in the interest of smaller parties who desire to contribute to the country's democratic process. EC to consider review of filing fee The PPP's action comes few days after the Electoral Commission said it will soon meet to consider whether or not to review amounts . This follows the wave of bashing it received from some political parties for pegging presidential and parliamentary filing fees at GHc50, 000 and GHc10, 000 respectively; an amount they complain is too high. Some of the parties including the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have expressed reservations about the amount, saying it would only limit the electioneering process to a privileged few. Speaking to Citi News earlier, the Head of Communications at the EC, Eric Dzakpasu, said the commission will meet to deliberate on the way forward. The commission has taken notice of the concerns and that the commission will meet and decide if there is a possibility of a review and that if there is a review it will be communicated to the political parties. Amount to be refunded if EC Mr. Dzakpasu explained that, the amount they fixed was done in accordance with the law, and as such, the monies will be deposited in the Consolidated Fund if the presidential and parliamentary candidates fail to garner 25% and 12.5% votes respectively, during the December general elections. Parties can afford EC's 'high' filing fees Casley Hayford Financial Analyst, Sydney Casley Hayford, has watered down suggestions that filing fees being charged by the Electoral Commission is expensive. By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @AfanyiDadzie // ]]> The Chief Executive Officer of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Dr. Charles Abugre, has disclosed that, $700 million is required to complete the Pwalugu Multi-purpose Dam project in the Upper East Region. Parliament in 2008 contracted a loan of $525 million from Brazil to construct the Pwalugu Multi-purpose dam and the Juala Dam in the Northern Region. Although Ghana received the money in 2009, government abandoned the projects and diverted the funds for the construction of the Eastern corridor road. Speaking at the 7th assembly meeting of the Bongo District Assembly on the prospects of SADA, Dr. Abugre said, SADA is working through the government of Ghana to raise the $700 million from the World Bank to execute the Pwalugu Multi-purpose dam project. He added that, the project has the capacity to irrigate about 20,000 hectors of land by gravity only, and 100,000 of hectors of land when pumped all year round farming. The project has a generation capacity of about 250 megawatts of electricity, to supply to people of the Upper East Region. The cost of the project is about $700 million and all the paper work was completed six months ago; but there is some contention around the environmental impact which we are trying to deal with. It requires governments commitment to mobilize the $700 million so what has SADA done?, we kept it in government priority agenda so we have pushed it on the World Bank and it can only start next year, Mr. Abugre said. But Spokesperson for the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in the SADA Zone, Bismark Adongo, described governments diversion of funds meant for the Pwalugu Multi-purpose dam for the construction of the Eastern corridor road as unfair. He said government must give back the diverted monies to SADA for the execution of the abandoned project to salvage the predicaments of the people. If the Pwalugu Multi-purpose dam project was executed in 2009, it would have addressed the issues of food insecurity, unemployment, poverty and provided cheaper electricity for the people in the region Adongo stated. SADA to resurrect failed tree planting exercise Meanwhile, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), has re-introduced the a fforestation exercise in the savannah ecological zone, as a means of promoting its agricultural-led transformation agenda. The SADA afforestation project under the leadership of former SADA head, Gilbert Iddi, failed after some months, but the current head, Dr. Charles Abugre, has promised that the exercise will be sustained in the zone. By: Frederick Awuni/Citifmonline.com/Ghana By Dominic Yooku deGraft Aidoo Email Dominic: [email protected] Every person should have the opportunity to good quality education. They must be equipped with the necessary resources to enable them to excel in their chosen field of study or discipline regardless of where they live. (Dominic Yooku deGraft Aidoo) The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) 2016 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results were released some weeks ago. The following are some interesting statistics: Total number of Candidates 274,262 English Language Total Number of candidates obtaining A1-C6 = 53.19%, Total Number of candidates obtaining D7-E8 =25.40% Total Number of candidates obtaining F9=19.82% Mathematics Total Number of candidates obtaining A1-C6 =32.83% Total Number of candidates obtaining D7-E8=27.68% Total Number of candidates obtaining F9= 38.10%% As always the politicians were at it again trying to make political capital out of it and put the best possible spin on it to suit their political agenda. At least as a nation we all agree that there is a lot that needs to be done to improve this performance. Whoever is to be charged to do this will depend on the decision of Ghanaians in the 7th December elections. I have said many a times and will continue to do so for the umpteenth time that education involves the participation of all, this includes: The Government, Parents, Teachers, Students, The Community, etc. The government must provide the right structures for a good educational system for its citizens. May I suggest that such an educational system must be holistic, collective and innovative and have a wider stakeholder involvement. It would be good if it is based on the socio-economic and cultural practices existing in Ghana instead of wholesale import from abroad. The question the ordinary Ghanaian is asking is simply this: What are the reasons for the WASSCE performance? Unfortunately, there are no straight forward answers. The issues are multi-faceted. I believe some students do not adopt the right approach to studying and this may have contributed to the poor WASSCE examination results. It is for this sole reason that I am focusing this article on students studying for an examination. I have had my fair share of writing difficult examinations back in the days when I was studying to become a Chartered Accountant. In writing this article, I draw on my experience from my days as a Student Accountant. I write from my book (extracts) PASS. The Art of Studying and Writing Examinations Successfully. (PASS will be available in all leading Book Shops in November). The WASSCE results will improve if students on their part adopt an appropriate and effective studying technique. As always I write from my perspective. Effective studying starts from when the subject is introduced. In most cases, the subject teacher will introduce this at the start of the lesson. A first-hand understanding of the topic, when it is taught, can save the student time spent in getting their head around the topic or getting a colleague to explain it. It is advised that students pay attention in class and understand the topic first hand from a qualified teacher. It is also key for teachers to explain the learning objectives and for students to understand the learning objectives for each topic. Every lesson taught has a learning objective. The objective describes what students should know, understand or be able to do at the end of the course. It is important for students to remember that in almost all cases examiners test their understanding of the learning objectives. Therefore, students should always make sure that they have a full understanding of the learning objectives. This way, they can measure their understanding against these so as to identify any gaps in their knowledge and address them by doing further studies or research on the topic. I strongly recommend students to make notes during lessons (unless instructed otherwise), to complement any notes provided by the teacher. Making your own notes also ensures that you have the clarity of thought and helps you to understand what the teacher is explaining. It also helps you to stay focused and to concentrate on the subject being taught. If you do not understand a topic or need further clarification on any aspect, ask the teacher. Do not be intimidated by fellow students who pride themselves in mocking others in class. It is not acceptable for anyone to be intimidated or bullied. However, it is a far better option to be embarrassed in class than to fail your examination. If you are not confident enough to ask for the explanation in class, approach the teacher immediately after the lesson. Students must inculcate in themselves the habit of practicing with a lot of questions during their studies, especially past examination questions. Practicing answering questions is a very effective way of testing your knowledge of the topic you have studied. Check your answers against the marking scheme and the recommended answers. You can refer to the answers if you are struggling with how to approach the question but I strongly advice where possible that you have a go at the questions without any help whatsoever. I perceive that our founding fathers will agree with me if I conclude by saying There are no shortcut to passing any examination. Passing an examination involves, at the very least, the following practical steps: Study and revise the entire syllabus. Practice past questions. Develop an appropriate examination technique. Write the examination. Any recommendation on studying which does not include the four steps listed above is likely to be a scam God Bless Ghana From Edmond Gyebi, Tamale The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rubbished a recent report that suggested over 800 of its supporters had defected to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Kumbungu Constituency of the Northern Region. The defectors were reportedly from three communities in the Kumbungu Constituency, namely Kumbung-Kukuo, Yipeli-Naayili and Duli Zugu. The alleged 800 defectors were received by the NPP at a rally at Duli Zugu, where the NPP's parliamentary candidate for the Kumbungu constituency, Iddrisu Muqtar Dems, and other party bigwigs from the Northern Region, officially welcomed them into the party. The spokesperson for the defectors, Mahama Seidu, was reported to have said that the 800 people were tired of deceit and neglect by the governing NDC, a party they had been voting for since 1992. He mentioned lack of electricity and youth unemployment among other factors as reasons for their defection. We have been voting for the NDC since 1992 in these three communities with more than 600 households, and we have been knocking the doors of the NDC party to meet our demands, and no response. As for this time round, we won't agree, and we are going to vote for our own development, because in these three communities there is no electricity, he said. Mahama Seidu is said to have added that as peasant farmers they could not pay their children's school fees because of the decline in agricultural productivity. We have realised that there is no way we can be sustained under the NDC, and that is why we have to quit. There is no single person from this area who is under the youth employment programme, and we have to ask ourselves what are we voting for? he queried. He further complained about their women sleeping in other communities to grind their cereals and sheanuts. Mahama Seidu commended the erstwhile Kufuor-led NPP administration for connecting their communities to pipe borne water. However, reacting to this story in an interview with The Chronicle, the Northern Regional Director of Elections of the NDC, Rashid Tanko Computer, described it as a cock and bull story', which is full of factual inaccuracies, logically pathetic, and does not completely make sense. According to him, the NPP, in their desperation to win power at all costs, had resorted to all manner of lies and concocted stories, which, he said, did not make them look serious for power. Those three communities, they all congregate at one polling station, because they form one branch. And that branch is known as the Kukuo D/A Primary Branch and has a polling station code number H220404. The voter population in those three communities is 507, and so if somebody comes out to say that over 800 people from one political party have crossed carpet to join another party, it doesn't make sense. What type of mathematics is that? According to Mr. Tanko Computer, efforts by the NDC Regional Executives to know the actual people who were reported to have crossed carpet to the NPP had since proved futile, since their branch executives who were mentioned to have also defected had since denied the report. We asked the NPP too, but they could not give us anybody. So this is just a cooked story. He said that the NPP was virtually not in the Kunbumgu Constituency, and that they had seen the way the NDC candidate, Ras Mubarak, was cruising to victory in December, with at least 60% votes. On the development concerns raised by the people, the NDC Regional Treasurer and Director of Election said that the government, as part of its ongoing rural electrification projects, had sent down an articulator full of electricity poles for distribution to the communities in the area, and a contractor also engaged for the execution of the project. The Kumbungu-Tamale road, Mr. Tanko Computer said, was also awarded on contract. He said that in terms of development, the President, John Dramani Mahama, had performed credibly well, and as a result of that, the NDC in the Northern Region was targeting at least 27 parliamentary seats out of the 31 seats in the coming December elections. Meanwhile, the Kumbungu seat, which is being occupied by the Convention Peoples' Party (CPP), is being contested, this time round, by the incumbent Member of Parliament for the constituency, the NDC's Ras Mubarak, and Iddrisu Muqtar Dems on the NPP's ticket. On the other hand, the NPP Northern Regional Secretary, Sule Salifu, insisted that the story was not a fabricated one, but a true story, which, he said, was breaking the NDC's back. He said that the NDC should continue to tickle themselves and laugh, but for the NPP, they were doing serious political business, and would never leave any stone unturned. According to Sule Salifu, even if it was only one person who had listened to the NPP's campaign messages and decided to cross carpet from the NDC to the NPP, it was good news for the elephant fraternity. He, therefore, assured the people of the Northern Region to rally behind the NPP, since the NDC government, under President Mahama, had failed them. By D.I. Laary Journalists have been told to abide by their moral and professional obligations, by demonstrating that they are independent of government, individuals and political influences, in order to maintain public confidence and trust in the profession. Dr. Wilberforce Sefakor Dzisah, Rector of GIJ, gave the advice at the 10th Congregation of the Institute, where 690 students graduated. Two hundred and thirty were awarded diploma 460 with degree certificates. As media educators and trainers, we are concerned about the quality of reportage, he said. He expressed confidence that reporters could live up to their ethical responsibilities and report accurately and objectively on matters bothering the country. He said: We recognise the crucial role the media plays in our day-to-day existence on this earth. As the watchdog for society, the media has an onerous responsibility to ensure that the country remains in one piece before, during, and beyond the December 7, 2016 elections. He noted that though the quality of reportage is of concern to media educators and trainers: We are equally confident that our media professionals would live up to their fundamental responsibility of upholding ethical principles, by providing the country with undiluted coverage of all matters relating to the elections, in a democratic and objective manner. Dr. Dzisah, who also chairs the Ghana News Agency Board, said for the media to retain the trust of the people on whose behalf they exercise their fourth power function, then journalists ought to recreate and refine their operations to remain, what he called, the guiding light of our people. After all, the media has a responsibility to be answerable to society. We cannot claim to be the mirror of society, if our reports are slanted, jaundiced and tainted with the very ills for which we berate others and try to hang them. Media accountability must be both horizontal and vertical if our society is to make informed choices at the polls and beyond it. The theme for the congregation was: Media responsibility and democratic elections. Mr. Eugene Baffoe-Bonne, Board Chairman of the National Communications Authority, highlighted the professional and personal responsibilities and influence of the media in democratic elections. He said it is imperative for the media to disseminate accurate information and provide coverage that voters need, concerning the political parties and the policies that they promote. The information that the media lays to the public during elections can potentially have a profound impact on voters decision-making, as well as the election outcome. Therefore, what is communicated by the media to the public should be done from a perspective of being unbiased, he said. Source: GNA By Kwadwo Afari Running against John Mahama is now the rage in Ghana, it seems. And why not? President Mahama has been a terrible president. His record very abysmal and easily the worst president ever to seek re-election on a major party ticket in this country. (You can argue this assertion.) John Mahama has become a routine liar; he has no core policy preferences, no discernible political principles, not even a platform, really. He has failed in most cases in his first term, by his own admission. He flies by the seat of his pants, always believing his failed policies can still perform miracles and reduce the sufferings of the very people his policies have made poor. It makes him capricious and dangerous. Running as the New Nkrumah and promising to resurrect certain 'viable' projects is not a pretty solid platform. It does raise some questions also. What about the failed collectivist's policies of the Convention People's Party? Why should John Mahama use the specter of questionable spending policies which so far has lost the ideological debate to pimp himself? May be, just maybe, he is sticking to the old policies because he is comfortable perpetuating the old distortions, half-truths and overt lies. As for the rest of what he would want us to believe as his policy positions, Ghanaians have already discussed that. Those policies have already failed. All what those policies did was to create an isolated, amoral, cynical individuals-without-opportunity, skilled only at double-talk and hype. Which leaves the bigger question: who and what idea should be worthy of the support of the people? And this is where we get to the point. Given the choices or rather, the lack of real choice it is clear that Mahama is still urging the masses to accept his shallow, quick fix, borrow and spend approach to our current challenges. We are in fact caught in a strong current of evil evil so very powerful, well-connected, and prestigious force that make a lot of money out of our defeats and have a huge interest in keeping it intact. Things may be bad for the majority but it is good for the NDC enough to make sure the manifesto debate remains at the level of nothing. A rising public debt, waste and leakages in the economy and government finances, and a slowing growth in the GDP and the man still more than 150 promises on the table to be paid for by the poor. This means John Mahama should not win, that will be enough of a victory for the poor who have suffered under this administration. And in truth, it will be enough of a victory to save the people and the economy from the perils of Mahama and the NDC. It will also be enough to save us from what has been the most disastrous President from any party ever to rule this country. But most importantly, it would restore to us our destroyed institutions, and our moral character, destroyed by years of government interference. And that is actually the most important thing of all. In Ghana, higher government spending, which is what Mahama's manifesto is all about, has become a crony- oriented system for the exercise of power and the distribution of political benefits. The NDC use public funds to crowd out the private sector and distribute largesse to their favourites. It started under Nkrumah and continues today. Tragically, the NDCs planned projects Expansion and upgrade of 125 existing secondary schools; Additional investment in vocational and technical training; 3. Free secondary school package to be extended to at least 200,000 boarding students; National Apprentice Program to reach 20% of eligible beneficiaries; Multiple campuses to be set up for the upcoming Eastern Region-based University; All 200 Community Day SHS projects to be completed; All schools under trees to be cleared; and two cycles of 100% increase in the capitation grant proves that the so-called party of the poor is still living in the past, when the analogy of a ship adrift without a rudder still made some sense of the Ghanaian situation. John Mahama sadly, continues to treat adult Ghanaians as children. They take our money and dole it back to us like a gift from government, through a myriad of social welfare programs. In spite of the evidence and failures of past social welfare programs, John Mahama still insists that the central government must act in place of parents and we the people must accept responsibility for the needs of others. He is offering new free tricycles for physically challenged persons; additional increase in the District Assembly Common Fund votes to be reserved for the disabled; free NHIS registration with pre-paid subscriptions for the disabled and physically challenged; and a 'Labour Intensive Public Works Program' to be initiated to employ 300,000 unskilled Ghanaian workers. We have been told time and time again that government was all about the sharing of a national cake. Unfortunately, governments number-one function today has become the redistribution of wealth. Through years of brainwashing, those who have become addicted to government benefits do not understand that no cause, no matter how worthy some people may believe it to be, justifies the violation of any individuals right to his own life and property. John Mahama does not trust us to decide for ourselves what medicines to take, or where our children go to school or what we can access through our computers. We are now being told we have no choice, for our life as a nation, but to continue with a leader whose life has clearly been predicated on consorting with evil, if not serving it outright. John Mahama, with this current promises, has shown that he has no idea of what a policy entails and would stop at nothing in service to the idol of Power. He must be told that projects promised are not policies by a long stretch of the imagination. The desired goal of the projects planned in the short and long terms leads to more debts and hardship for the poor. As always he is selling us snake oil. It is not enough that Mahama fail. It is critical that Mahama and what he stands for fail. That his style of governance fail. That his rhetoric fail. That his followers fail. His failure must be total and complete. He must be utterly, irretrievably defeated. And by the right person. He can't just lose the presidency, we need someone who actually cares about the things that individuals and families care about; someone who will fulfill promises that have gone unfulfilled by the NDC for far too long, like curbing corruption, control of illegal immigration, reduction of out of control government, reining in the crony capitalism and grow the private sector. Only by electing better leaders and better ideas that grow individuals and promote growth, can we claim a victory. Without that, what do we have? We would still have a Mahama administration that is still probably the worst, most damaging administration anyone now alive has ever known. You think the masses are fools now? Just wait until Mahama wins. They would be practically rebellious. And who could really blame them? A lot rides on this election, a lot more than just the economy. A lot more than just Mahama versus Nana. This is not just about who wins the job, it's about whose supporters win the election. We can't let Mahama's supporters win. If you are a person who cares for freedom, then it cannot be overstated how extremely important it is that a viable, candidate who would not use egalitarianism, or tribal prejudice, or class warfare, or vague promises that the state or government would alleviate whatever ailed you win. If we do not vote wisely, there is really no hope of a good life in 2017. A Mahama win would not be good for Ghana. A Mahama victory delays the disillusionment of voters, and just speeds the notion that government could make everyone prosperous and rich without the necessity of work. If we reject Mahama and his ideas, we may avert the continuous collapse of our political and economic order. From Issah Alhassan, Kumasi OFFICIALS OF the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) could soon be hauled before a Kumasi High Court to answer charges of contempt after forcibly taking over a piece of land belonging to a private developer at Chirapatre, a suburb of Kumasi. The Works Department of the Assembly is said to have gone into an agreement with the Chief of Chirapatre, Nana Owusu Annor Panin III, to take over a piece of land belonging to the late Kwaku Asumadu, for the construction of a Lorry terminal, despite a court injunction restraining the chief and all his associates including the KMA from doing so. A Kumasi High Court on November 9, 2015 placed a perpetual injunction on Nana Owusu Annor restraining him from developing the land now being managed by his family members led by Mad. Doris Owusu-Amoah. The KMA City Engineer, Urban Roads, the Works Department and the Metropolitan Coordinating Director have jointly been cited in the suit. Though documents covering the acquisition of the land by the late Kwaku Asumadu from the chief are fully available, Nana Owusu Annor reportedly leased out the land to the KMA for the construction of the facility to accommodate drivers operating at Atonsu and its environs. The action by the chief compelled the owners of the land, through their Legal Counsel, Anaglate & Associates to file suit at a Kumasi High Court last year restraining the chief and all groups and individuals from taking over any portion of the land without resort to the original owners of the land. Though the chief, according to investigations by The Chronicle acceded to the court order and refrained from his action, he reportedly negotiated with the KMA somewhere last year and allocated portions of it for the project which is being funded by the World Bank under the Local Government Capacity Support Project. The plaintiffs, Mad. Doris Owusu Amoah and Sylvester Adu-Gyamfi insist that they would not allow the project to bed undertaken until the KMA and the chief adopt the right procedure in the acquisition of the land. According to them, they have already served notices to the World Bank to notify them about the lack of transparency in the acquisition of the land. Mad. Doris Owusu-Amoah told The Chronicle in an interview during a visit to the site that they would only allow the project to go on after they have ratified agreement with their Counsel concerning ownership. She insisted that the land is their bona fide property and that they would not allow anyone to take it away from them without going through the proper channel. Mad. Doris Amoah said though the KMA through the City Engineer, Mr. Theodore Quaye, initially agreed to deal with matters and ensure that the right things were done before the commencement of the project, she was surprised to see the unfolding developments. Meanwhile, Nana Owusu Annor has pleaded with the owners of the land in the presence of the police Kinshasa (AFP) - At least 17 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Monday when clashes erupted ahead of a planned opposition rally in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, a minister said, warning the toll was "provisional". It was the worst violence in Kinshasa since January 2015 when a police crackdown on another opposition protest left several dozen people dead. The clashes began during the morning several hours before the rally, which authorities later cancelled, was to have taken place. Demonstrators were to demand the resignation of President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2001. Speaking to reporters, Interior Minister Evariste Boshab described the violence as an attempted "uprising" and said the victims included 14 civilians and three police officers. "By midday (1100 GMT), the sad and painful provisional toll from these barbaric and savage acts... (stood at) 17 dead, among them three police officers, one of whom was burnt alive, and 14 civilians who were involved in looting," he said. The main opposition parties had called for a nationwide demonstration to "give notice" to Kabila, whose mandate expires on December 20. Although Kabila is banned by the constitution from running again, he has not made any move to schedule elections, fuelling fears he will seek to extend his stay in office. In May, the Constitutional Court said Kabila could remain in office in a caretaker capacity until an election is held, triggering a wave of angry protests. 'A failed uprising' Monday's rally had been due to start in Kinshasa in early afternoon, but during the morning, scuffles broke out between stone-throwing youths and anti-riot police. Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of stone-throwers as they tried to march on parliament ahead of the demonstration, which was promptly cancelled by the authorities. A demonstrator holds stones during an opposition rally in Kinshasa, on September 19, 2016 "Kinshasa just experienced an uprising which ended in failure," Boshab said, accusing demonstrators of "deliberately" ignoring a schedule which had been agreed with the authorities. Government spokesman Lambert Mende had earlier told AFP that two policemen were killed in violence against the ruling party's offices in the volatile Limete district. A Catholic nun said one of the policemen had been "burnt alive". Government officials also accused the opposition of "targeted looting", while private security officials said there had been several looting incidents involving banks and Chinese-run shops in the south of the city, which is home to some 10 million people. 'Kabila, get out!' Earlier, youths were seen hurling stones at police on the city's main avenue as plumes of smoke rose into the air from burning tyres and from a car and a minibus that had been set alight. People take to the street during an opposition rally in Kinshasa, on September 19, 2016 "Kabila, get out!" they shouted as they waved the blue-and-white flags of the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which is headed by veteran leader Etienne Tshisekedi, 83. Party spokesman Bruno Tshibala had earlier told AFP he had seen four bodies in the office of an allied party. Activists were also seen burning a giant poster of Kabila in which he appealed for the two sides to resolve the crisis through "dialogue". And a diplomatic source reported clashes in several places along the road to the capital's airport. 'Extremely worrying' France on Monday described the unrest as "very dangerous and extremely worrying" and urged Kabila to lay out a clear timetable for elections. "What matters is the date of elections," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "If they're delayed endlessly, that means that Kabila intends to stay in power," he said. "That's a situation that is not acceptable." So far, there has been no move to schedule elections and at this stage, it would be practically impossible to organise a poll before the end of the year. A fringe opposition group has been meeting with the government in a bid to organise a schedule for elections, but opposition leader Tshisekedi has refused to participate in the talks which are due to end on Saturday. Last week, Amnesty International accused Kinshasa of the "systematic repression" of those seeking Kabila's departure. NDK Financial Services has challenged Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)s to invest in personnel with the right skills set for their operations. According to the Deputy Managing Director of NDK Financial Services, Kuorkor Ayisa, this is key for enterprises that want to expand and generate more profit. She explained that challenges hampering the growth of SMEs go beyond poor record keeping. Apart from poor recordkeeping, there is also a challenge with staff as there is a skill gap. Sometimes the people they expect to have or think they have are not necessarily competent," she said. "So what you need in terms of skill is not available. Sometimes its the willingness to pay. SMEs must be willing to pay for the expertise but its important to pay for the expertise and professionalism so the business can grow she explained. She was addressing participants at a seminar organised by NDK Financial Services for SMEs - as part of activities to mark the companys silver jubilee celebrations. The seminar was held at the companys head office at Omanye Aba building at Osu in Accra. It was on the topic Positioning your Business for Investments and Succession Facilitator for the event, D.N.O Sackey, Managing Consultant of Ephesus Consulting also emphasized the need for SME operators to separate companys finances from their personal expenditure. A very fundamental weakness among SMEs is that, in many cases, the owners are not able to separate their persons from their business. Therefore, you find out that in many cases the business assets or resources are being applied to personal use," he said. "It is important for SME operators to understand that once you establish a business it becomes a separate entity and therefore you pay yourself from the business and let the business run on its own steam - that way accountability becomes obvious he noted. The seminar which the companys hopes to make an annual event was to explore proven ideas and strategies for scaling up and aiding SMEs access to finance. Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Emmanuel Agyei |Joy Business A New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) has described as a white elephant a decision by governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to create four more development authorities. Francis Addai Nimoh who is also development expert says there are already authorities and government agencies responsible for what the party is proposing to do if voted for a second term. The NDC in its 2016 manifesto is promising to create the Coastal Plains, Western corridor, Eastern corridor and the Forest Belt Development authorities to oversee investment and infrastructural development in the selected regions. Modelled around the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) concept, the authorities will be tasked to develop master plans to suit the peculiar needs of the regions. This according to President Mahama will harness the potentials of the regions to make them attractive to investors. In the NDC manifesto, the Coastal Plains will include developments in the Greater Accra Region and its environs including Ada. There is also the promise of the industrial city rejuvenation project which is for the redevelopment of the Tema city and would see the development of an Industrial Park and Free zones in Tema and in Sekondi Takoradi among others. However, Mr Nimoh is questioning the initiative saying it will only create bureaucracy and prevent national cohesion. He said the development of such institutional bureaucracies should be given a mandate that would address a specific need of the countries human or infrastructural development. "It is not the question of creation of the public institutions which will end up being bureaucracies but how we can strengthen existing public institutions which are to deliver certain developmental needs of our country," he said. He questioned what core functions the new Authorities will play that would be so special for the country citing how government agencies like the Ghana Highways Authority, Department of Feeder Roads, which are mandated to look at the conditions of the road networks in the country, to development as well as maintain them. "If you propose to set up three different authorities, geographically dividing the country into three zones, they may end up being white elephants/bureaucracies that would not offer any developmental needs to our country, he noted. He said the argument that they give government to focus on developing specific geographic areas is flawed because he said, in terms of decentralization we have the District Assemblies which are responsible for the development of each district. He said the regional coordinating councils are also there to see to all the developmental needs in the various regions adding with the history of SADA didnt help much. Mr Nimoh argued that SADA is different from Nana Akufo-Addos proposed Northern Development Authority, which he said has a specific mandate to deliver. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim | Email: [email protected] 19.09.2016 LISTEN New Abirem (E/R), Sept. 19, GNA - The Ntiamoah Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has launched a Mobile Library Services at Akwadum L/A Basic School, at New Abirem in the Eastern Region, to distribute 5,000 books to enhance the literacy skills of the children. The provision of the library forms part of activities to mark the Foundation's 10th Anniversary. The United States Agency for International Agency (USAID) in partnership with the Ministry of Education, would be organising this year's Reading Festival for schools in the District, therefore, the Foundation deemed it fit to reach out to the students with books for all levels of education. Mr Yao Atidiga, the Project Officer of the Foundation, said the Founder had provided a van to distribute the books, which were purchased with the support of Ghana Hope Foundation, an NGO based in the United States. He said the books would be given to 23 primary schools, 19 Junior High Schools and kindergartens in 12 communities, including Maamaso, Afosu, Okaikrom, Ntronang. The readers would return them after a period for others to benefit. Giving the background of the Foundation, the Project Officer said it was formed in May 2006, by Mr Robert K. Asante, to render selfless social services to communities in the areas occupation, education and health. Nana Akwasi Amo Kyeretwie I, the Chief of Abirem, lauded the members of the Foundation for their immense contributions towards the welfare of children. He advised parents to do their best to encourage the children to always read their books during their leisure. GNA By Bertha Badu-Agyei, GNA Koforidua, Sept. 17, GNA - Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), has called on churches to set the agenda for politicians to address. He said since the church is not different from all other stakeholders in nation building, it must show its relevance by projecting the interest and aspirations of its congregation. He said the church as an institution must fill the current political season with 'other voices' by speaking the truth and outlining the reality, in humility with fairness to all actors without playing the card of a particular party. Dr Opuni-Frimpong, who was speaking at election 2016 Christian and Public Education Campaign' in Koforidua on the theme: 'the churches political role in nation building', said the church must be visible and soften the grounds with unbiased truth. On the hostility and bad language on the political terrain, he said 'silence was not the option for the church' and urged church leaders to wear their Christian Council 'cloth' and touch base with the people. The church must point out the shortfalls in the promises and assurances that the politicians are giving to shape the political discourse. The General-Secretary of the CCG said all the 31-member churches including the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the Methodist, Anglican, Baptist, Evangelical Presbyterian, AME Zion, as well as the Pentecostals are engaging their members who were politicians to diffuse the tension. He said these efforts are geared towards making the 2016 election an issue-based one to diffuse the tension and to ensure that the electorates are involved in the processes to make the outcomes acceptable to all. Dr Opuni-Frimpong expressed the hope that the churches would rise up to the occasion by giving hope and direction to the nation as it prepares for the polls. The Christian and Public Education Campaign is a nationwide activity being undertaken by the CCG and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in churches that make up the CCG, to sensitise group leaders and representatives on how to diffuse the tension before, during and after the elections. GNA Kukuom(B/A), Sept.19, GNA - The Asunafo South District of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has sensitised political youth activists ahead of the General Election at a workshop, at Kukuom in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The programme, on the theme: 'Empowering the Youth to Stand Up For Ghana for a Peaceful Election 2016', and supported by the European Union (EU), formed part of activities by the NCCE to deepen the interest of the electorate in the election. It was also to educate them on the need to adopt the culture of tolerance to promote peace in the area. Addressing the participants, Mr. Samuel Akuamoah Boateng, the Acting Commissioner of the NCCE, called on political parties to sensitise their supporters to eschew all forms of negative activities likely to threaten national peace and progress. Mr. Boateng said the Election was a contest of ideas, policies and programmes intended to better the lives of the people and, therefore, asked the political parties to tolerate each other's view as they propagated their campaign messages to the electorate. He also urged political party activists to refrain from attacking the Electoral Commissioner and her team and rather focus on relevant national issues in their campaign programmes to earn more votes on December 7. Mr. Francis Nana Akakpo, the Asunafo South District Director of the Commission, expressed concern about the alleged practice of vote buying, saying the practice was dangerous and it did not only violate one's voting right but it also could mar the credibility of the country's electoral process. He stated that his outfit had identified some hot spots in the District and it would intensify voter education in those areas to ensure violent-free polls. Mr. Tetteh Ankamah Okyne, the District Electoral Officer, urged political parties to educate their agents on the regulations governing the CI 94 because the election was not all about casting of votes but a cumulative process, which included registration of voters, voters' register exhibition, filing of nominations, among others. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Simon Peter Akabati, the District Police Commander, speaking on 'Public Order Act and Election 2016: Prospects and Challenges', said the Police Administration would not spare anyone or group of people who would foment trouble in the electioneering. He urged the public and other stakeholders to play their roles appropriately devoid of bias to ensure free and fair election. GNA 19.09.2016 LISTEN By Christabel Addo-GNA Accra, Sept. 19, GNA - The TTL Capital Limited, an integrated investment banking and financial advisory firm, has launched a new product known as the 'TTL Income Haven Fund', to provide an opportunity for the future financial security of Ghanaians. The product is a medium-term open-ended mutual fund, which seeks to generate a high level of current income, security of principal and growth, amidst liquidity. It involves mobilising funds from shareholders and reinvesting them in mainly high quality fixed income instruments, such as Commercial Papers, Bankers Acceptance, Certificates of Deposit and Government debt obligations. Mrs Adwoa Owusu Takyi, the Fund Manager, said the Fund sought to outperform the returns on the Government of Ghana Treasury Bill. However, it would not distribute dividends but reinvest them, adding that investors would rather benefit from fund price appreciation. She said the advantages of being a TTL Income Haven Fund shareholder included the effective spread of investments in income yielding instruments that reduced risk and enhanced returns, tax exempt returns, implying higher net returns, appropriate investment vehicle for meeting their income requirements. The TTL Income Haven Fund could help contributors to meet their medium-term to long-term financial needs such as taking advantage of a business opportunity, saving for the rent of a home or providing for a child's education, as well as saving for retirement. Mrs Owusu Takyi there was no entry charges, hence higher net returns, which allowed shareholders to enjoy the expertise of a professional Fund Manager. She said the requirements to start the Fund, included a valid Identification Card, a passport size photograph, a filled TTL Income Haven Fund account opening form, as well as the first payment, to become a shareholder, and for institutions, copies of incorporation documents. Mrs Owusu Takyi said the options available included an initial minimum contribution of GHC 50.00 and regular contributions of a minimum of GHC 20.00 or as lump-sum contribution. 'The monies received are used to buy TTL Income Haven Fund shares at the current market price based on the value of the fund,' she explained. She said payment could be by either cash or cheque payments to TTL Capital Office, or into a TTL Haven Fund account at any Zenith, UBA or Fidelity bank branches, respectively, or via Mobile Money transfer into the Fund's account using MTN, Tigo or Airtel. She said shareholders could also authorise for direct debit into the Fund's account at any Zenith or Fidelity Bank branches, or issue Standing order to client's bank for daily, weekly or monthly payments, as well as issue post-dated cheques for a period. Mrs Owusu Takyi said the investments were research-driven and the product was strongly supported by TTL's Capital Research. She, however, explained that: 'although we encourage a minimum investment duration of three years, one can exit the fund at any time, but will incur and exit lead'. 'A two per cent charge shall be applied within the first year, one per cent within the second year and 0.5 per cent within the third year of liquidation, but there shall be no exit load after the third year of each deposit.' She said the Fund Manager was responsible for the portfolio construction and management, and also shareholders were vested with share of TTL Income Haven Fund and did not have direct ownership of the Fund's investments. Ms Efua Fynn, the Managing Director of TTL Capital Limited, thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the partner Banks for their support, giving the assurance that the company was managed by experienced professionals who were committed to providing quality services to both private and institutional investors. Mr Alexander Williams, the Deputy Director-General, Legal at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said the Commission always welcomed the launch of another Collective Instrument Scheme (CIS), which was a strong indicator of market development, more so at a time when the need for investment was critical. He said the CIS market had enjoyed a steady growth in recent years, and these schemes offered an opportunity to all investors, including those with limited funds to have access to a diversified portfolio of investments. 'We at the SEC believe that they constitute one of the investment vehicles that would facilitate growth of our capital market,' he said. Mr Williams said the scheme particulars of this mutual fund, had been thoroughly examined to ensure their accuracy in compliance with the SEC's Unit Trust and Mutual Funds Regulations, 2001 (L.I 1695), to ensure that investors and their financial advisers are well informed. In order to maintain proper standards of conduct and acceptable practices, the Commission would inspect the books of accounts, records and documents of mutual funds, custodians and fund managers by conducting post offer, off-site and on-site inspections, he said. He also said the Securities Industry Bill, which had been passed by Parliament and was currently awaiting the Presidential assent, would facilitate the development of the securities market, provide legal a framework to accommodate all forms of securities presently and also strengthen the operational independence of the Commission to effectively regulate the securities industry. He challenged the Fund Manager to adhere to the asset allocation provided in the Scheme's particulars of the fund and to get acquainted with the Securities Laws, SEC regulations, Circulars and Market Guidance Notes that governed the Capital Market in general and in particular the operation of collective investment schemes in the interest of all stakeholders. GNA Kinshasa (AFP) - More than 50 people were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the capital of the DR Congo on Monday, opposition groups said in a statement which also called for further demonstrations. The government had earlier said that at least 17 had died in the violence in Kinshasa, but had warned that the death toll could rise. you are here: business NHC Foods gains 18% on fund raising plan via stake sale The company is planning to raise funds through sale of its fully automated manufacturing unit in Pardi, stake sale as well as promoters contribution to become a debt-free company over the next 24 months. business Negotiators to meet in 2 months for FTA with Mauritius: Srcs Quoting sources, Ritparna Bhuyan of CNBC-TV18 reports that the negotiators will be meeting again in the next two months to exchange proposals on duty cuts. current-affairs-trends Terror attack at Uri Army base, 17 jawans killed Heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours today, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the terror strike in which four ultras were neutralised. Musk-Twitter deal done, CEO Parag Agrawal fired | What's next for the social media platform? A new hair salon held its grand opening recently at the newly renovated space at the business complex River Village on the Greenway across from the post office in Morganton. Melanie Palmer, owner and stylist at Northern Lites Salon, is originally from New Hampshire and moved to Morganton with her family two years ago. I wanted to try North Carolina because I was getting tired of the winters, so I lived in Brevard for a year to try it out, Palmer said She had previously owned a hair salon in New Hampshire and then worked for another in Morganton before decided to spread her wings and open her own place. I used to walk here (the greenway) and I would come over here with the kids and say Why isnt there a salon here? This is a good spot, she said. She did her research about the building she is now located in to make sure it was appropriate and would work for her and her clients needs. She fell in love with the setting with it having access to look over the river and felt it was a good fit. Palmer knew going into this she would be opening it all by herself, but with 28 years of experience she had the determination to move forward with it. I am happy here and I could always use new clients because you can never have too many, she said. She was taking nursing classes at Western Piedmont Community College and was working as a Certified Nursing Assistant on the weekends on 24 hour shifts. I absolutely hated it I had one more year of school to go and I quit, Palmer said. I couldnt take it, so I just focused on where I was happy and doing hair is where I am happy. She specializes in corrective coloring and offers many different shades of hair dye. I am good at that, I am good at dimensional colors and the new vivid colors that the kids are doing, Palmer said. She is a certified colorist with Joico and Goldwell, two different kinds of hair coloring brands. She also offers for men and women color retouch, highlights, perms, basic manicures and pedicures, facials, waxing along with many other services. Giving good customer care is one of the most important aspects that Palmer brings with her to work every day. She says she treats each one of her customers like family and will work with those who may not be able to afford what they need. I am the type that if someone wants something and if they cant afford it I will even try to do it, so they can get something done, she said. Taking care of, making that person feel comfortable, listening and seeing if they needed anything are what she believes she makes a good stylist. I dont want people to not feel good about themselves, Palmer said. I just hope everyone will come and try you know if they are looking for someone. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday by appointment only. Early morning and late evening appointments are encouraged. The salon is located at 337 River Village in the Greenway in Morganton. For more information about the new salon, visit the Facebook page Northern Lites Hair Salon or call 828-448-9935. Staff Writer Jonelle Bobak can be reached at jbobak@morganton.com or 828-432-8907. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung addresses the forum. (Photo: VNA) Addressing the forum which highlighted the prospect for Vietnam - Russia cooperation as the Vietnam - Eurasia Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (VN-EAEU FTA) will go into effect on October 5th, the Deputy Prime Minister gave a general overview of Vietnams situation in terms of diplomatic activities, economics, security and national defence, culture and society. According to the him, one of Vietnams biggest achievements has been transitioning from an underdeveloped country into an average income country which is on the way to industrialization and modernization. The achievement is partly contributed by the overseas Vietnamese community in general, and those working and living in the Russian Federation in particular, he said. Regarding the VN-EAEU FTA going into effect, Mr Dung said that this would present both opportunities and challenges as it would be a factor promoting trade, investment and tourism cooperation between Vietnam and EAEU; however, the Vietnamese community in the Russian Federation should shift business legally and transparently, and further increase the quality of products to take advantage of the agreements preferential policies and be competitive enough. Attending the forum, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Russian Federation Nguyen Thanh Son pledged to work with the Vietnam Entrepreneurs Association in Russia to take maximum advantage of the VN-EAEU FTA to realise the wide and deep integration policies of the Vietnamese Party and State, contributing to boosting the Vietnam - Russia relationship in general and the economic and trade links between the two nations in particular. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and the high-ranking Government delegation laid a wreath at Uncle Ho memorial in the Russian Federations capital, Moscow./. You need a cool head and steady nerves to invest in Italian stocks: They are as volatile as Emerging European indexes. According to Morningstar data, over the past five years, the Morningstar Italy Indexs standard deviation was close to 20%. Only Greece, Turkey, Russia, Hungary, and Poland did worse than Italy. Over the same period, the volatility of the eurozone index was 14.31%, with France and Nordic countries among the closest to the mean. To find less volatile markets, you need to look outside the eurozone, in Switzerland or in the United Kingdom. From a global perspective, the five-year standard deviation of the Italian benchmark is similar to that of China and Peru and slightly higher than South Africa and Thailand. Poor Performance Despite its higher volatility, the Morningstar Italy Index did not perform better than other, less volatile markets. From 2011 to August 2016, the Morningstar Italy Index returned 5.12% annualised compared with the 10.49% annualised total return of the Morningstar Eurozone Index. In spite of that, the Italian benchmarks performance was still ahead of the other PIGS countries; Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. To explain the underperformance of Italian stocks relative to the eurozone, we have to look at the indexs basket. In recent years, the Morningstar Italy Index has been penalised by its large exposure to financials and energy sectors. A weak macroeconomic environment, the high amount of non-performing loans, a hefty exposure to Italian government bonds, as well as efficiency and profitability issues, all weighed on the banking sector, while the energy sector was affected by the collapse in oil prices as well as the resurgence of geopolitical risks. Indeed, Italy has had a hard time in the past five years. After spiking in May 2011, the Morningstar Italy Index lost 36.5% in the following months, touching its low one year later, at the end of May 2012. In 2011 and 2012, investors shed risky assets on fears of contagion of the Greek crisis, the threat of political instability, and lack of economic growth. The Italian index is very skewed towards cyclical stocks and has a heavy underweighting, relative to its European peers, in the defensive ones. As such, it is generally more vulnerable during bear markets. In fact, pharmaceutical and defensive consumer goods companies weigh just 3% of the index. 2008: the Turning Point Looking at the Italian indexs volatility levels, 2008 represents a turning point. Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, market volatility soared worldwide, and, as far as Italy is concerned, it never returned to its 2004 heights. Compared with other eurozone countries, such as France and Germany, volatility remained high even in 2013-14, because the benefits of the European Central Banks actions were delayed and did not immediately exert their full effect on peripheral countries. Moreover, the financial crisis increased stocks correlation: They were sold off regardless of sectors or fundamentals. Volatility and Risk Investors should remember that there is a difference between volatility and risk. For investors, risk is ultimately a permanent loss of capital rather than volatility itself. "Volatility can be seen as an opportunity, especially for those who invest for the long term," says Francesco Paganelli, analyst at Morningstar. "It tends to rise when markets dive and valuations start becoming more attractive. Even if a higher volatility requires cool head and steady nerves, its generally also the best time for investors with a long-term perspective to find the best investment opportunities. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh speaks at the Summit (Source: VNA) Meeting with President of El Salvador Sanchez Ceren, the Deputy PM assured Vietnams policy to develop multi-faceted relations with El Salvador, saying that this is a good chance for the two sides to discuss ways for enhancing bilateral ties. Sanchez Ceren said his country will set up a diplomatic agency in Vietnam, towards promoting economic and trade links between the two countries. The leaders agreed on the need to accelerate negotiations and signing of cooperation agreements to create a legal foundation for long-term and stable cooperation in economy, trade and investment between Vietnam and El Salvador, thus facilitating their businesses projects in both nations, especially in agriculture, farm and aquatic product processing, and telecommunications. Deputy PM Minh took the occasion to ask El Salvador to soon recognise Vietnams market economy mechanism. At the meeting with Haitian Prime Minister Enex Jean Charles, the two sides expressed their joy at positive development of the bilateral ties, reflected through high-level visits and the effectively operating telecom project. The Haitian leader agreed with Vietnams proposal to fostering negotiations and signing agreements on investment protection and double taxation avoidance. The Haitian side also hoped Vietnam to send experts to Haiti to share experience and technique in rice cultivation. Deputy PM Minh and Burundis Foreign Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe at their meeting stressed the necessity to enhance exchanges of all-level visits between the two nations, and soon sign economic cooperation agreements. The Vietnamese leader called on Burundi to facilitate Viettel Groups Lumitel telecom project, thus expanding connection between the countries in other fields in the future. During the meetings, the countries leaders agreed to coordinate and mutually support at international and regional forums./. (Photo: baoquocte.vn) According to the organizing committee, about 250 delegates and guests from more than 20 countries in Europe and around the world attended the forum, in which the main content of the forum was a conference taking place on September 17th on opportunities and challenges of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement signed at the end of last year. Many of guests were Ambassadors and Vietnamese Commercial Counsellors abroad, as well as important politicians. The Forum is periodic activity of the Union Overseas Vietnamese Business Associations in Europe, a social organization for Vietnamese enterprises in the continent. Since 2006, every year, the union has alternately organized the forum in member countries. This is a major activity of the Vietnamese business community in Europe, attracting the attention and participation of large enterprises at home and abroad, and is a place to meet and exchange experiences on markets for Vietnamese businesses in the world. Particularly, this year's event had the presence of the European Vietnamese Youth Business Alliance (EViYBA), an organization was founded three years ago with the desire of connecting, maintaining and inheriting the experiences of the previous generation of entrepreneurs with new thinking and working methods of the younger generation possessing knowledge and advantages of language and integration. This is the second time the Vietnamese Business Association in Hungary has been assigned to organize the forum and mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Association, as recognition of the great efforts of the Vietnamese business community in that small country. Also in the framework of the forum, a photo exhibition themed "Beauty of the sea, islands and the homeland of Vietnam 2016, an important external communication activity of the Ministry of Information and Communications, is also organized./. Amid the inexorable growth of home prices in British Columbia (particularly in Vancouver), more and more voices are joining the chorus of calls for decisive federal intervention in the countrys housing situation. In a September 14 press conference, NDP MLA David Eby put to task financial institutions that approve loans by foreign home buyers even without rigorous income verification, CBC News reported. The question [that] should be asked is: did banks issues mortgages to people who have no apparent source of income? Eby stated. It's absolutely outrageous that a Canadian that's working, living and paying taxes in B.C has to provide even more information and cross even more hurdles than someone who is not a B.C. resident. If you're not working in B.C., not living here, you should have to provide additional documentation to show your source of income and that your money is coming from a proper source, Eby noted. Meanwhile, B.C.s housing minister Rich Coleman put the spotlight on the need for greater action on money laundering in the provinces real estate segment. Coleman also called on the federal government to supply additional funding for more affordable housing projects nationwide. The issue of housing affordability is complex and will require a number of innovative solutions but by working with your government and all levels of government, we are confident that solutions can be found, Coleman said in a recent open letter to Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. Mortgage debt increases as housing wealth rises almost 2 per cent Americans are increasing their mortgage debt but also their housing wealth according to a new report from the Federal Reserve. Housing wealth increased 1.9 per cent to $25.6 trillion in the second quarter of 2016 as the housing market continues its fight back from the crash. Meanwhile, mortgage debt rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.5 per cent, making Q2 2016 the best quarter for the mortgage industry since 2008 and a reflection of strong home sales. Americans overall net worth rose 1.2 per cent to $89.1 trillion. Houston home sales bounce back as inventory rises Single-family home sales in Houston rebounded in August following a slip in July with Houston Association of Realtors reporting an 8.2 per cent year-over-year rise in sales to 7,914, marking the largest single-month sales figure ever. "August proved to be a strong month for the Houston real estate market, which was welcome news after the slowdown in July," said HAR Chairman Mario Arriaga with First Group. "Its possible that summer vacations meant consumers put home buying on the back burner in July, but whatever the cause, home sales appear to once again be moving at a healthy pace." The median price for single-family homes was up 4.2 per cent year-over-year to $225,000, the highest ever for August. Sales of all property types increased 7.1 per cent to 9,319 with townhouse and condo sales up 5.1 per cent. Former Canadian premier joins real estate firms board Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has joined the board of real estate firm Colliers International Group Inc. We are extremely pleased to have Mr. Harper join our Board, said Jay S. Hennick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Colliers. Mr. Harper brings a wealth of experience along with the unparalleled knowledge of a former G7 leader, and insights that further differentiate our platform as we expand our business around the world. Mr Harper said: I am looking forward to working with Colliers to further its growth in global markets, capitalize on its leadership position in the commercial real estate services sector, and continue its proven track record of building value for shareholders. $11,000 for the CEOs car allowance $10,963.68 spent on employee bonuses, employee gifts, employee outings, staff lunches and other employee perks $5,811.27 spent for holiday parties and gifts $100,385.20 wasted on excessive rent, relocation and related costs $184,319.21 spent on legal expenses to defend violations and alleged violations of the law $26,395.70 to pay for forensic auditors to reconcile its books $10,812.00 for the independent auditor to reconcile nonHHF bank accounts $19,874.75 paid for the terminated CEOs severance package $10,840.18 spent on nonHHF expenses identified by Treasury $23,838.25 identified by Treasury for unsupported and nonHHF expenses $2,241,396 in wasted excessive administrative expenses during 2015 which exceeded the perhomeownercost in 2013 $7,459,626.22 in overhead Money that should have gone to struggling Nevada homeowners instead went to holiday parties, gift cards and cars, according to an explosive new report on the states use of the federal Hardest Hit Fund.The Hardest Hit Fund was created to provide Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) dollars to 19 states in order to prevent foreclosures. The fund is largely targeted at assisting underwater homeowners, according to TARPs Office of the Special Inspector General (SIGTARP).Rather than giving TARP funds directly to troubled homeowners, the Treasury entered into contracts with state housing finance agencies to administer the funds and decide which homeowners could enter the program. In Nevadas case, that meant the Nevada Housing Division, which in turn outsourced HHF to the Nevada Affordable Housing Assistance Corporation (NAHAC).In 2015, it was reported that Nevada homeowners werent receiving HHF dollars, leading SIGTARP to open an investigation. What SIGTARP found was, in investigators words, a pervasive culture of waste and abuse in which homeowners were denied admittance to the program and HHF dollars went to fund recreational activities for NAHAC employees.The Nevada state agency took TARP dollars from Treasury for its expenses ($16.6 million) while it significantly decreased performing its job to distribute these rescue funds to homeowners. This is wastespending with no purpose, SIGTARP said in a report on its investigation. SIGTARP determined that $8.2 million of the $16.6 million in TARP funds the Nevada state agency received for its expenses constitute waste and should be repaid. Each dollar not repaid is one less dollar available to homeowners.SIGTARPs investigation found that Nevada all but stopped admitting homeowners into the program, but continued to take HHF money.Already low numbers of Nevada homeowners admitted to HHF plummeted by 94% from 2013 to 2015, the report said. From the 2,111 Nevada homeowners it admitted to HHF in 2013, the Nevada state agency only admitted 541 homeowners to HHF in 2014, to just 117 homeowners in 2015.Indeed, according to the report, for six months out of 2015, the Nevada state agency kept more money for itself than it spent on struggling homeowners.SIGTARP conducted a forensic audit to see where that money went. What it found was not encouraging. The audit found that NAHAC used TARP funds to treat their employees including, for example, a $500-per-month car allowance to the CEO, who drove a Mercedes Benz. Funds meant to help homeowners also went to holiday parties at a casino and country club, gifts, restaurants, and even a manager outing at an establishment dubbed the nations best high-volume cocktail bar.The agency also used HHF funds to move into the $130 million City Hall building in North Las Vegas nearly doubling its rent for more space than it needed, according to the investigation and to pay for a bonus and a two-month severance package for a non-performing CEO.All of these expenses were completely unnecessary to distribute foreclosure prevention funds to unemployed, underemployed, and underwater homeowners, and constitute waste and abuse, the report said.SIGTARP also found that NAHAC charged the HHF to pay the expenses for its own violations of federal labor laws, lawsuits and discrimination claims. Indeed, the audit found that the agency had been using HHF dollars to fund nearly its entire operation not just expenses related directly to the HHF.TARP essentially funded the state agency, including rent on two offices and the salaries of employees, for an agency who did not perform under their contract with Treasury, the report stated. The state agency dropped homeowner admissions to the program to only 6% of admissions at its peak year, but still sought 100% of their overhead from TARP.According to SIGTARP, NAHAC should be required to pay back $7.4 million in rent, utilities and payroll alone and thats not even counting money the other types of waste.And SIGTARP was clear that the agency knew it was spending money improperly.This is not a case of mistake or negligence, the report said. SIGTARP found a deliberate attempt by the Nevada state agency to charge the Hardest Hit Fund for every expense it could, all while it denied Nevada homeowners admission to the program.In all, SIGTARP recommended that the Treasury should seek repayment of at least $8.2 million. It also recommended that NAHAC be barred from working on the program.The Nevada Housing Department, for its part, is defending NAHAC not by denying the charges outright, but by claiming it didnt waste as much money as SIGTARP alleges.Certain NAHAC expenses (such as rent and payroll) cited by the SIGTARP as problematic may be found to be allowable under federal rules, and so the Department is not prepared to accept the total dollar value expressed in the audit report, the NHD said in a statement. According to the NHD, no more than $200,000 ultimately may be in question.The statement said that since NAHAC was a contractor, NHDs ability to provide oversight was severely limited.Heres a breakdown of the money SIGTARP recommends be repaid to the Treasury: Houston oil exploration company Apache recently said it discovered an oil and gas field holding the equivalent of 15 billion barrels of oil in an overlooked section of West Texas Permian Basin. CEO John Christmann said the company wouldnt have discovered the new field, called Alpine High, without some unconventional thinking. The key to the discovery, company officials told me, was a team from Apaches San Antonio offices. They had never worked in the Permian, and brought a fresh perspective. Apaches find is in a remote slice of prairie south of New Mexico and in the shadow of Texas Davis Mountains, in a section of the Permian known as the Delaware Basin. Apaches team revisited the geology, and found an underground shelf at the right level to hold oil and gas. Other companies had discounted that shelf, believing that over millions of years it had sunk deep underground, where pressure and heat cracked the oil into natural gas and robbed the formation of the most valuable stuff. The shelf was later pushed back up to its current level, they concluded. Alpines team, however, found evidence that the shelf never descended. And to them, that meant it still held a lot of crude. Time of fewer discoveries When the news broke, about two weeks ago, it sent industry insiders buzzing. There havent been a lot of big oil finds in recent years, several told me. In the U.S., companies slashed exploration budgets when oil prices crashed two years ago. Globally, discoveries have declined for decades. In 2015, conventional oil and gas discoveries excluding onshore North American basins were estimated at 12 billion barrels of oil equivalent, the lowest since 1952, according to the research firm IHS Markit. Where, exactly, is it? When you say its in the Delaware Basin, that is a huge area, said Ken Marx, a geoscientist who retired from Devon Energy of Oklahoma City in 2013. Its like telling someone to go look at a car on a lot with hundreds of cars, he said, but not revealing the make and model of the car, or its location. Many underground layers could hold oil reservoirs, he explained, and many have names known across Texas. If Apache were drilling in the Wolfcamp, for instance, Marx said hed have some idea of the formation depth and age. Marx thought Apache was playing coy, keeping information from competitors until it had the land it wanted. But Apache said it had already assembled the vast majority of the play, some 350,000 acres, when it announced the discovery. It also revealed that Alpine High had access to five formations that might hold oil: Woodford, Barnett, Pennsylvanian, Bone Springs and Wolfcamp. The 15 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent, Apache says, are just the beginning. Two decades after the Texas Tech University System was formed, a college of veterinarian medicine is in the works and a steering committee for the school was created earlier this month, Chancellor Robert Duncan told the Reporter-Telegram Monday morning. He said the school will use an innovative approach to address the shortage of rural veterinarians in West Texas. Traditional vet schools can never do what we want to do, Duncan said. Others use expensive animal hospitals for training. Instead of receiving instruction at animal hospitals, students will train in rural communities. The system plans to create a veterinary school at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo, which will adapt its program from the University of Calgary in Canada. Duncan said using this example has benefits for both students and rural providers. Students have to train to be competent before theyre in clinics, Duncan said. The local practices have the benefits of their own faculty who have access to resources like our library. They get paid, and they have the resource of students coming in that will hopefully stay. Duncan said theres a need for young veterinarians to serve the Panhandle, home to many of the states feedlots and dairy farms. For the demographics of vets in the state, its an aging group, Duncan said. Forty-seven percent are over 60 in rural areas. Were not seeing a real rush moving out to rural practices. The steering committee for the veterinary college met for the first time this month in Lubbock to push the initiative forward. Pete Laney, former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and a member of the steering committee, said in a Sept. 12 press release that the schools non-traditional model is a solution to the lack of veterinary care. The shortage of veterinarians in Texas, especially in rural areas, has been a problem for many years, and to ensure the safety of our food supply and the continued prosperity of our state, we must do whats best for the industry, our fellow Texans and our future, Laney said. The TTU System also is planning to train dental professionals at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. Duncan said the hope is to expand dental care in El Paso by encouraging the professionals to stay in that part of the state. We examined that region and found there was no growth in El Paso even though the population is booming, Duncan said. Two decades after the TTU System formed, Duncan said its expansion plans are part of a goal to create solutions in West Texas. In 20 years, we have come a long way, Duncan said. Now were focusing on the needs of this part of the state. It produces much of the feed, fiber and fuel for the country. Set up by a group of scientists in 2015 as part of the OT-Med laboratory of excellence, MedECC could become that mediator. According to Joel Guiot (CEREGE European Centre for Research and Education in Environmental Earth Sciences) and Wolfgang Cramer (IMBE Mediterranean Institute of Marine and Terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology), the MedECC network should become the Mediterranean contact organization for the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). "The IPCC reports do not deal with the Mediterranean region in an integrated way. Yet there is a real need to establish the current status of climate change in the region, without commissioning new studies necessarily but by reviewing all the existing data," explains Joel Guiot.In just a few months, MedECC has attracted more than 150 memberships from scientists based in various Mediterranean countries as well as from decision-makers and civil society. "We need more researchers from social sciences, moreover we need to increase the number of representatives from Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries," concludes Joel Guiot. The MedECC initiative receives support from the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), the Principality of Monaco, the UfM (Union for the Mediterranean), Plan Bleu and academic institutions. A COP22-certifed workshop is scheduled to take place in Aix-en-Provence from 10to 12October to move forward on a future action plan and the setting up of a governance body that will best fulfil the Science-Policy interface role. The MedECC network hopes to obtain financial support from the European Union to sustain its work. Considering IPCC as a source of inspiration, it is planned to compile a report, which could be published in 2018. We have been cursed with leaders ... CA Controller Betty Yee Speaks In Sonora View Photos Sonora, CA Californias Controller, who serves as the Chief Fiscal Officer for the state, made stops in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties over the weekend. Betty Yee spoke at a brunch Saturday morning hosted by the Calaveras County Democratic Central Committee. Tickets for the event cost those in attendance $45 and it was a fundraiser for local, state and federal candidates running for office this November. Then on Saturday afternoon Yee was the keynote speaker at the opening of the Tuolumne County Democratic headquarters in downtown Sonora. She spoke about several of her responsibilities in Sacramento, and also why she feels this is an important Presidential election. She urged those in attendance to support Democratic candidates in both local and national races. Assembly candidate Robert Carabas, who is running against incumbent Republican Frank Bigelow, also spoke at the event. Yee became Californias Controller, a statewide elected position, in 2014. Her position is up for election again in 2018. A large number of seniors in Osceola County live alone, without any family nearby. But the St. Cloud Police Department makes sure those seniors get looked in on regularly, thanks to their "Senior Watch Program." St. Cloud Police, Osceola Council on Aging partners in program Police officers check on seniors living alone once a week For program information, call: 407-847-2144 Created in partnership with the Osceola Council on Aging, the Senior Watch Program puts St. Cloud police officers in touch with area seniors who live alone through weekly scheduled visits. 76-year-old Gail Petty is one such resident. While most of her family lives in Virginia, on the weekends she gets a special visit from St. Cloud Police officer Scott ONeill, who drops by as part of the program. The first thing they will say is, 'You need anything? Are you okay?' And what normal person does that?" said Petty. "Its wonderful, it gives you a sense of security." From changing light bulbs to engaging in conversation, Officer O'Neill's visits have created a priceless bond between the two. "They have stories to tell, and a lot of the people shy away because they don't wanna hear it," said O'Neill. "In this age of technology, people dont know how to communicate. For some seniors in the program, it may just be a knock on the door. But to others like Petty, it means much more than that. Several of the police officers are like family. Theyre wonderful people," said Petty. "Anyone who says anything bad about the police, I get very angry, very angry." And while saying goodbye can be a little tough sometimes, Petty says shes always looking forward to the next visit. For more information on the Senior Watch Program and other services provided by the Osceola Council on Aging, call 407-847-2144. A Melbourne man was hospitalized Monday morning after an alligator attacked him near the U.S. 1 underpass not far from downtown Melbourne. Homeless man went for a swim at US 1 underpass Melbourne Police were training in area when they heard screams Man suffered severe shoulder wounds in suspected gator attack Wildlife officers think they're looking for an 8-foot-long alligator that attacked the known homeless man after he went for a swim at the underpass. Melbourne Police were in the area training at about 9 a.m. when they heard screams. That's when they found the man lying on the shore with deep bite marks on his shoulder and arm. Five boats from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were out Monday searching for the alligator. Alligators are really territorial, so we are hoping it stayed in this area and we can locate it, FWC Officer Chad Weber said. The man who was bit has not been identified. He was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center with severe shoulder wounds but is expected to recover. Being a native Floridian, its definitely something I'm aware of. Any body of water here has a potential for an alligator," resident Elisha Berhannan said. "But we have a lot of tourists and vistiors in this area, and I dont think its something theyre aware of. Wildlife officials said this is the first time a reported gator attack has happened in this area. It's the City of Melbourne's decision whether to post alligator warning signs along the portion of roadway near the attack. Apopka High School schoolmates of 16-year-old Sanjay Nandram will be offered help in dealing with their loss after the teen was killed in a traffic crash over the weekend, the Orange County Public Schools stated. Sanjay Nandram killed in crash on Florida's Turnpike Nandram was standing on shoulder when he was struck FHP: Driver of other vehicle told troopers she fell asleep Yes, we have grief counselors available for students and staff, Lorena Hitchcock, media relations senior specialist for OCPS, stated in an email reply to News 13 on Monday morning. According to a Florida Highway Patrol news release, the Apopka High student was on the shoulder of the Florida Turnpike at mile marker 264 at about 6:40 a.m. Sunday when the accident happened. Nandram was already involved in another accident and was standing outside of his vehicle when he was struck by a 2005 four-door Nissan driven by Tanya Garcia, according to the FHP. According to the FHP, the 32-year-old Garcia told troopers that she had fallen asleep before the crash. The FHP stated that this is not an alcohol-related accident and it did not state the nature of the previous, separate accident that caused Nandram to be outside of his vehicle. Garcia was taken to Health Central hospital in Ocoee for minor injuries. This is an ongoing investigation. A San Francisco woman who was paralyzed when she was hit by a falling tree limb in Washington Square Park has filed a claim against the city for negligence. Emma Zhou, 36, was watching her daughters play in the parks playground before a dentist appointment last month when she was hit by a 100-pound branch that splintered off a Canary Island pine tree. She sustained a brain injury and severed spinal cord, and is now paralyzed below the waist. San Antonio insurance and financial services firm USAA has leased two Northwest Side office buildings that will house about 1,500 information-technology and bank employees. USAA announced today that it has leased the 157,000-square-foot Vista Corporate Center, near Interstate 10 and UTSA Boulevard, and the 129,000-square-foot WestRidge Two at La Cantera, along La Cantera Parkway just north of Loop 1604. Ariana Grande, the vocal powerhouse who rose from Nickelodeon kid star to pop diva (in a good way) in the blink of an eye, will bring her "Dangerous Woman" tour to the AT&T Center on April 6. Tickets go on sale at noon Saturday at livenation.com and attcenter.com. Dear Abby: After the birth of our son, Ricky, my husband insisted he sleep in our bed with us. When our son was 3, I finally put my foot down because none of us were sleeping peacefully. Ricky is now 8, and my husband lies in his bed with him until he falls asleep. Our daughter, Julie, was born 2 years ago. She slept in our bed until she was 1, when I moved her to her own bed. She goes down well on her own, but seems to be more clingy (with me especially) during the day. I try to make sure she gets the affection she needs before bedtime, but I feel guilty that she doesnt get that closeness at night. By the end of the day Im exhausted, and I do not want to fall asleep in a kids bed. Am I wrong for wanting bedtime without kids? At what age should children sleep on their own? Sleepy in California Dear Sleepy: Youre not wrong. Some parents co-sleep with their children for the first few months after they are born because they enjoy the closeness. After that, they transition the baby to sleeping in a crib nearby so the childs needs can be attended to as necessary. According to Los Angeles pediatrician Faisal Chawla, M.D., children form their sleep habits early: The longer co-sleeping continues, the more difficult sleeping separately becomes. At 7 or 8 months, babies begin to develop age-appropriate separation anxiety. By the age of 1, a routine is usually set in a childs mind. By age 2, it becomes very difficult to change the sleeping routine because of the terrible 2s temperament that begins. Your husband has done Ricky no favors by continuing to lie beside him until he falls asleep. Your son should have started sleeping alone years ago. A boy his age should be able to go to sleepovers at friends houses or away to summer camp without having to worry about sleeping because his dad isnt there. Dear Abby: My boss and his wife recently hosted an employee appreciation dinner party at their home. We have close to 100 employees, and because of limited space, we were asked not to bring children. However, the invitations did indicate and guest (or our spouses or significant others name, if they knew it). One of my co-workers, a single woman, asked me if I thought it would be OK if she brought a female friend (not someone she is in a relationship with). My interpretation of the invite in this particular situation was that if one co-worker couldnt bring their teenage child due to space limitations, it wouldnt be appropriate for another to bring a casual friend. To me, it seemed to be bad manners. What do you think? Appreciation Dinner Dear Appreciation: When a host issues an invitation that says and guest, it means the host is prepared to accommodate whomever the invitee would like to bring. According to my interpretation, it would be wrong to bring a teenager to an adults-only business-related dinner because the younger person would likely feel out of place. However, bringing a companion along would not be considered a breach of etiquette. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Metro-North Railroad officials had a warning for Tuesday morning commuters in the wake of a bomb blast in New York City and bombs found elsewhere along train routes: Be vigilant. All commuters should be on alert, Metro-North spokesman Aaron Donovan said. The railroad had no information that rail lines are being targeted for terrorism, but We are on increased security and coordinating with local law enforcement, he said. Several bombs were found over the weekend, including one that exploded Saturday night in New York City, injuring 29. Amtrak service was suspended Sunday evening, and railroad officials said all passengers were safe, all trains were brought into stations and passengers may seek alternate transportation. Limited service was restored early Monday. Ahmad Khan Rahami identified in an FBI bulletin as a man wanted in the weekend bombings in New York City and New Jersey was apprehended Monday in New Jersey after a gun battle. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth, N.J., train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his family in Elizabeth, N.J., underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the New York area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism. In Connecticut, State Police spokeswoman Kelly Grant urged residents to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity by calling 911, texting TIP711 with the information to 274637 or by calling the Homeland Security tip line at 1-866-HLS-TIPS. But despite the threat, commuters Monday generally took a what can you do? attitude. Im not really worried, Tiania Pesante said at the Bridgeport train station. Im just going to hope for the best. I feel like if you think positive then positive comes back to you. She said she often commutes on Metro-North Railroad to her job in Stamford. Tanmay Tiwari, who spent the weekend in New Jersey with his sister, said terrorists will never stop him from going into New York City. A native of India, Tiwari came to the U.S. a month ago to study computer science at the University of Bridgeport. I cant stop enjoying and exploring places just because of a threat from a foolish person, he said at the Stamford train station. Margaret McManus, a Sacred Heart University student who was headed to New Rochelle from Bridgeport on Metro-North, said she rarely rides then train. McManus said she sometimes worries when shes going to Grand Central Terminal, but No, I dont really think about it. Latoya Watkins said she feels safer on Metro-North trains than on the New York City subways because she can see what is going on outside. The Bronx, N.Y., woman came into Bridgeport to visit her family. Honestly, I think its scary, Watkins said. As soon as you start to feel that maybe everything is OK, something pops up again. Stamford resident Chris Gabriel, who takes the train to New York about once a month, believes authorities and the media are overreacting. Realistically, its not as prevalent as in other countries, so for them to keep putting it on the media I think is a scare tactic to keep everybody in a heightened state of alert or awareness, he said at the Stamford station. OK, a bomb went off and people got hurt. Its bad, but to sit there and stop your life or overreact and say, lets not go here or there, I think its ridiculous. Another unconcerned commuter was Stamford resident Jenny Taylor. To be very honest, if its going to happen, its going to happen, she said. The guy was an idiot. He decided to do what he wanted to do and now hes caught. Stamford resident Soraty Cortes had a different opinion. She said she will avoid crowded areas in New York even more than she already does. Its definitely scary, very worrisome, Cortes said. Staff writer Frank Juliano and The Associated Press contributed to this story. WESTPORT Nearly one in five Connecticut high school students are disengaged or disconnected from school, according to a study released Monday. The report, financed by Barbara Dalio and the Dalio Foundation of Westport, delves into where these 39,000 students live and when they start to check out academically but stops short of offering solutions. Instead, the report suggests ways for schools and agencies to start a statewide conversation on how to make schools more engaging. The decision to not offer solutions is deliberate and meant to encourage innovation, according to Dalio, who in a written statement said she proposes creation of the Connecticut Opportunity Project. The project would offer grants to encourage passionate individuals, non-profit organizations and others to work on solutions. There is no set budget; that will depend on the quality of the responses, a foundation spokesman said. Connecticuts youth have tremendous potential, and teachers and principals work tirelessly every day to support them, Dalio said. What would it take to help disengaged and disconnected youth graduate from high school ready for the future? More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Dalios husband, Ray, runs Bridgewater Associates, the worlds largest hedge fund. Barbara Dalio leads the familys foundation work in public education. In March, when there was a nationwide effort to fully fund every teacher request on the site DonnorsChoose.org, Dalio contributed $450,000, funding all 386 teacher projects in Connecticut on the site at the time. More Information Untapped potential If the state cut the number of disengaged and disconnected students by half: 2,000 more high school students would graduate each year. State graduation rate increases 94%. 8,000 more young people ages 18-35 would find employment. Youth unemployment rate reduced 16%. Over time, 4,000 fewer people would end up incarcerated. Annual savings for the state: $200M Untapped Potential According to a report on student engagement, if the state reduced the number of disengaged and disconnected students in half, it would have: 2,000 more high school graduates a year, increasing the state graduation rate to 94 percent. 8,000 more young people aged 18-35 would find employment, reducing the youth unemployment rate by 16 percent Over time, 4,000 fewer people would end up incarcerated. That could save the state $200 million annually. See More Collapse For this project, she commissioned Parthenon-EY, a global consulting firm that has done similar work in other parts of the country. The firm spent 10 months visiting 150 people statewide. They also spent time in eight urban districts, including Norwalk and Stamford, but said their findings are statewide in nature. Those who are disconnected were defined as no longer being in school even though they did not graduate or age out. It defines disengaged students as those who are still in school, but by virtue of poor attendance, behavior or academics, are not connected to their education. Often there is more than one factor in play. In 2014-15, the report finds 39,000 disengaged and disconnected high school students statewide some 22 percent of public high school enrollment. That includes 25,000 students still enrolled in school and 14,000 who dropped out. Nearly all the states school districts have at least one disengaged or disconnected student, but 33 districts had 250 or more such students. The statistics also show that 78 percent of disengaged and disconnected youth are low income and 36 percent are minority males. According to the report, disengagement is not a sudden event, but rather a process that sometimes starts before high school. Some 41 percent of disengaged high schools were showing signs in eighth grade. Mobility switching frequently between schools was also seen as a red flag. Once disengagement happens, its hard to turn it around, but the report cites several districts including East Hartford and Meriden that have some luck reconnecting students. East Hartford High, according to the report, runs its ninth grade almost as a separate school and pays extra attention to struggling students. It makes Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell want to go there to see what those schools are doing to re-engage students. The volume of it is what I found most surprising, Wentzell said Monday of the report. I expected wed be looking at a few thousand kids. It turns out its one in five of our kids ... It made the urgency greater for me. Districts across the state have long tried to tackle the issue of disengaged students through mentoring programs, alternative schools, and other programs to help reach students who feel disconnected to their learning. The data, Wentzell said, is telling a story some might otherwise overlook. Wentzell said she has yet to meet with Dalio but is interested in finding out more about her project. Norwalk Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski said his district participated in the study and said it will help raise awareness and motivate action. There are two findings that reinforce and expand our knowledge and awareness, Adamowski said. One is the finding that the seeds of disengagement are sown in the middle grades. The other, he added, is the determinative effect of the ninth grade experience in fostering re-engagement. There are significant implications for school design and practice in both findings that need to be addressed and vetted. I think that is the purpose of the design competition in the next phase, he said. The attempt to stop construction on a new 61,230 square foot New Lebanon School was shot down Monday night by the Representative Town Meeting. By a vote of 138 to 47 with four abstentions, the RTM upheld municipal improvement status for the project, allowing construction of the new school to begin next year. Town resident Matthew Popp had referred the Planning and Zoning Commission's June vote to grant MI status to the RTM and asked for plans to be readjusted for a smaller school. Popp argued the planned building was too big, would hurt the neighborhood character by adding traffic and removing portions of a wooded area behind the current school and was impractical. Popp said there was no evidence the expanded school, which is being expanded both for the neighborhood and for magnet students, would help with the racial imbalance problem that has resulted in the school being in violation of state mandates. However the RTM ultimately agreed with supporters of the current plan, including Interim Superintendent of Schools Sal Corda who said it was possible to create a successful magnet program, saying he had seen it happen while superintendent in Norwalk. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee "Can you guarantee it will be a success? The answer is no because we don't know who's going to come to the building," Corda said. "What we do know is if you create a dynamic, vibrant program it attracts people. I can speak from experience." Greenwich's Board of Education struck a deal with the state over New Lebanon's racial imbalance, allowing for the magnet program to be put in place. The larger school, which also addresses overcrowding in the current building, is meant to allow space for students outside the New Lebanon neighborhood to come in. Because the school is being done in response to state mandates the construction cost is eligible for up to 80 percent in state reimbursement. The construction has a $37.2 million budget line in the current year and is expected to get 61 percent reimbursement. Corda said the Jefferson Science Magnet School in Norwalk was such a success it ended up attracting people from all over the city. In fact it was such a success, he said, the result was there weren't enough spots for the white students who were needed to create racial balance under state regulations. "Nevertheless the school is vibrant, the school is live, the school is flourishing and the state has said you have made the good faith effort that is required," Corda said. "That's what we are talking about with the larger effort, making the good faith effort that is required." Popp and other opponents of the plan said throughout Monday's debate that the plan was too expensive without much chance of success. They called for smaller school that they said would better serve the New Lebanon neighborhood. "The Board of Education has produced no data and no documentation that a magnet school at New Leb would work," Popp said. "We're supposed to allow for construction of an oversized school next to the highway and lose our woods without any data that this will magnet will solve racial balance." Popp and other speakers also focused on the environmental impact of the construction, specifically what it would mean for the wooded area behind the current building. Jack Dobrucky also cited the proximity of the planned building to Interstate 95 and the noise and air pollution from the highway. "The ravine is the only wooded area like it left in town," Dobrucky said. "Once it goes, the woods is gone, never to be replaced. I think the school should be smaller and be built right on the present site." However many speakers defended the plan, saying it would help the community just by giving the current students a chance to not be in an overcrowded school building. "Mr. Popp's referral prioritizes a small, underutilized parcel of land at the expense of the community at large," Lucy von Brachel said. "This project has been studied, vetted, voted on and labored over by many municipal and community organizations. The building committee has gone above and beyond its due dilligince to ensure the new building has a greater positive impact on the environment than its minimal negative impact." Pete van Schaik added, "Byram as a community has changed and anyone who is not aware of that are not really aware of the true character of Byram. I'm really offended by people who toss that word around and don't really understand what it is. The true character of Byram is all the parents and teachers that are coming together and arguing for one thing because their kids need a bigger school...Let's not shortchange these kids." Construction is expected to begin in June 2017. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate JONESVILLE, La. -- Sunday sermons had just ended when residents of this river town learned that a lone black gunman had killed three police officers in Baton Rouge. Before the news could sink in, a profane message appeared on Facebook. "Hey Mr. Bulls--- president," it began. "When are you going to grow a f---ing pair. And tell it like it is. These are terrorist. That have declared f---ing war on my brother. (White police officers) enough is enough." The author was Skylar Dore, Jonesville's white chief of police. The post instantly cleaved the community in two. Many black residents, who make up 70 percent of Jonesville, saw it as a racist rant. Some whites defended Dore, saying he had the right to speak his mind. Two days later, the majority-black town council fired the young chief. If his post had stirred anger, then his firing provoked outrage. Dore received encouragement, even employment offers, from across the country. But he also received death threats. When a friend organized a march on Dore's behalf, the sheriff persuaded him to call it off for fear it could turn into a shootout. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Today, Jonesville remains on edge. Some whites think the town's black officials are putting political correctness ahead of public safety. Some blacks see ugly hints of the racial violence that has long haunted the Deep South in Dore's profane post and the online debates that followed. In Jonesville -- as in many places across the nation -- black people and police alike feel under attack. Dore says he is not a racist. He says he is fighting for his First Amendment rights. "I was upset with the president. Quite frankly, I still am," he said, saying President Barack Obama failed to act aggressively against black nationalist "terrorists," such as the Baton Rouge shooter, Gavin Long. "I'm a police officer. I'm a chief. But I'm also an American citizen, and I have just as much rights as any other American citizen." His critics, however, say Dore's post not only exposed his racist views but also raised questions about his past, including ones tied to unsubstantiated allegations that he caused the death of a black man in custody.That the majority-black town had entrusted Dore with the badge compounded the sense of betrayal. "This has brought out the real intentions of people, what they really think and really feel," said Sharon Stevenson, a black resident who led the campaign to fire Dore. "The mask has come off." _ _ _ Jonesville sits at the crux of four flood-prone rivers, surrounded by fields of cotton and soy and the occasional old plantation house, a vestige of the slavery-based economy that once enriched white families. Towering Native American mounds that once stood here are now small piles, their dirt long ago appropriated for construction projects. The town of 2,200 has also shrunk - by half since a clothing plant closed in the late 1980s. "There's nothing here. There's no jobs," said Dore, who runs FleX Fitness, the town's only gym. Dore is built like an Olympic wrestler, with bulging arms covered in tribal tattoos. He grew up in New Iberia, the heart of Cajun country, and says tragedy in his youth pushed him to become a cop. First, his older brother was killed by a drunken driver. Then his mother drowned in an auto accident that Dore insists is an unsolved murder. Dore took a job at the Iberia Parish jail, then became a police officer in the nearby town of Baldwin. There, he had his first brush with controversy. In May 2012, Dore was leading Damon Abraham to a holding cell when Abraham, a black manwanted for failure to appear in court, bolted. Dore chased him through the streets and into the woods, where he used a stun gun on Abraham at least twice. Back in the jail, Abraham stopped breathing. Dore performed CPR, but Abraham died. Several witnesses told investigators that Dore used the stun gun on Abraham while he was handcuffed. One said Dore also threatened to arrest his "black ass." In a letter to the U.S. Justice Department, Abraham's family called it a "clear-cut murder of an innocent man." But Louisiana State Police found no probable cause to arrest Dore, and Dore says he did nothing wrong. "If anything, I was too nice," he said, lamenting his failure to handcuff Abraham from the start. "It bit me in the behind." Two months later, Jonesville hired Dore as a police officer. Last year, financial trouble forced the town to gut its police department. Dore went from being one of 14 full-time officers to being in charge of just two. At 30, he was chief of police. _ _ _ Dore was vacationing in Florida with his wife, who serves as the town judge, and his stepdaughter when he heard about the Baton Rouge shooting. Already upset about the slaying of five officers 10 days earlier in Dallas, he was devastated to learn that Matthew Gerald, with whom Dore had trained, was among the dead in Baton Rouge. Dore immediately took to Facebook. "How many police officers have to die trying to protect the citizens of this country," he fumed. "Any other president would have declared full on war on this group. Since when in our f---ing history do we stand idle to the ambush murders of law enforcement. It has to STOP NOW!!!!!" On the drive back to Louisiana, Dore's phone began ringing. His post was spreading quickly. People in Jonesville and beyond were accusing him of racism. Dore reread his post. "I said, 'Damn. That's not how I meant for it to come out.' " Dore said that he was quoting Long, the Baton Rouge shooter, when he wrote "white police officers." And that the "group" he mentioned was not the activist group Black Lives Matter but black sovereign citizens, the sometimes-violent separatist organization of which Long claimed to be a follower. "When that Cajun blood gets a-runnin', we get mad. The filter comes off. And I'm a hundred percent guilty of that," Dore said. "I lost my cool, and I let my emotions get the best of me. But by no means am I racist." _ _ _ Sharon Stevenson watched in horror as Dore's post tore through Jonesville. She had learned about it from her youngest son, who worked out at Dore's gym. That the post came from a man her son considered "cool" made it all the more shocking. Soon, the comments on Facebook took a dark turn. Some black residents demanded that Dore resign. Some whites said he was a victim of a witch hunt. According to Stevenson, at least one commenter appeared to threaten violence against blacks. "It was terrifying," she said. "I said, 'He is going to set a fire in this little town.' " Decades earlier, Stevenson, 56, had been one of the first black employees in the local welfare office. The post reminded her of attitudes once expressed openly in Jonesville. Whites here overwhelmingly resisted desegregation, and the community had brushes with Ku Klux Klan violence, including the 1964 firebombing of a church not far from town. Hiram Evans remembers seeing crosses burn. Now the first black mayor of Jonesville, Evans said he was "bewildered and surprised" when Stevenson called about Dore. Evans had taken a chance on the young white officer after the Baldwin incident. Now he wondered: Had he hired a racist? Other black residents were wondering the same thing. "A lot of people were upset that they hired him because he had already been accused of killing a black guy," said Lucretia Duncan, a local event planner. "When he expressed his views about the president and his 'white brothers,' that kind of threw people for a loop." Two days later, the mayor summoned Dore to a public hearing. The hall was filled to capacity, and the atmosphere was tense. Stevenson and two other women called for Dore to step down, saying the black community could no longer trust him. Dore offered an apology but refused to resign. "I should not have allowed my emotions to get the best of me," Dore told the crowd. "I'm sorry, but you should have thought about it before you even hit those keys," Stevenson replied. The council voted to fire him. _ _ _ Dore's termination made news statewide. Within hours, he was inundated on Facebook with messages of support and job offers from sympathetic police departments in several states. He also received "probably 50 different death threats," he said. "It's a shame those whackos didn't get you rather than [the] other officers," one message said. In Jonesville, his firing divided neighbors and co-workers along racial lines. People who once said hello to one another now looked the other way. Tillman Jolly, a white carpenter whose Facebook page includes a photo of a gun atop a Bible, urged people to march to town hall and demand Dore's reinstatement. Jolly thought Dore's post had been "tough but fair" and that Jonesville had axed its best police chief over political correctness. "The people in charge of Jonesville are 90 percent black," Jolly said. "It pissed them off that he bashed their president." Within hours, more than 1,500 people had pledged to attend the Aug. 6 rally, including several motorcycle gangs. But then the Catahoula Parish sheriff called and said the state police believed "outside elements" planned to attack officers at the rally. So Jolly canceled it. Dore approved of the decision. "I don't want any more police officers being murdered," he said. Besides, he said, it would be "suicide" to return to his old job. "I assure you I would eventually be shot and killed." While Dore said he plans to sue Jonesville for wrongful termination, the mayor allowed that Dore may not be a racist: "That's a situation between him and God," he said. But he said he does not regret firing his chief. "We need to have this conversation," Evans said. "Otherwise, we are going to continuously fuel the fire." Getty Images / / A drive-by shooting in San Franciscos Western Addition neighborhood over the weekend left three people wounded and police hunting for the shooter. The attack happened early Saturday as the three victims, two men in their 20s and a 39-year-old woman, walked near Webster and Turk streets, police said. The State Archives Administration has published a video series on the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to depict historical events and honor the Chinese fighting spirit. The July 7 Incident marked the beginning of China's eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression when Lugou Bridge, known as Marco Polo Bridge to Western people and a crucial access point to Beijing, was attacked by Japanese troops. The incident led directly to Japan's full-scale invasion, with Beiping (former name of Beijing), Tianjin and other northern cities being occupied at the end of July 1937. After the incident, the Communist Party of China called on the people to fight the Japanese, which was echoed by Chiang Kai-shek, the Kuomintang leader. China will hold national memorial activities on Sept. 3 each year to mark "Victory Day," the day after the Japanese government officially surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945. In February this year, the day was designated through legislative procedures as the Victory Day of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In a grand celebration, close to 4,000 people filled nearly half the seats at Ford Park on Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Diocese of Beaumont. The large celebration included a two-hour Mass followed by a reception with music and a large display of memorabilia from the various parishes the Diocese serves across the area, The celebration attracted about 150 Catholic leaders from churches in Chicago, Louisiana and other parts of Texas. The Diocese of Beaumont was founded in 1966 from the Diocese of Galveston. Today, it incorporates nine counties, 44 parishes and 65 priests in Southeast Texas. It serves an estimated 77,000 Catholics. Diversity was a major theme for the celebration, which at one point featured a round of prayers in more than six different languages including Spanish, Italian and Vietnamese. Bishop Curtis Guillory, who has lead the Diocese of Beaumont for the past 16 years, said the celebration was to look back and remember how far the community has come in the past 50 years. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Guillory said part of the celebration was also a way to get people of all different backgrounds in the area to come and worship together. "It's our common humanity and our faith in one another that we're able to come together," he said. "We put aside all political and ideology beliefs." Rachael Dubois, 53, of Port Neches, was one of the people who was asked to speak at the Mass. "They wanted to take people from different backgrounds, different parishes," said Dubois. The Mass included several youth choirs from Beaumont as well as a Vietnamese choir. Special guests included Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Fiorenza, who is originally from Beaumont, said he was proud of the Diocese. "They've developed into an outstanding community," Fiorensa said. Nkem Nwaobi, 44, of Beaumont, said she had been planning to attend the celebration for several months. Nwaobi, who is originally from Nigeria, brought her five children, whose ages range from 7 to 17, to the celebration. She said she enjoyed seeing kids participate and getting a chance to see all the different Catholic leaders march in the procession that preceded the Mass. "I got to meet many people. The lady I sat with said, 'you made my day.' I said, 'you made my day,'" said Nwaobi. Father Anthony Paulose is in his sixth year as a priest at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Beaumont. Originally from India, Paulose, who has lived in the United States for 16 years, called the Mass "faith renewing." "As a priest, when we see an active crowd practicing the faith, it's inspiring," said Paulose. NKrebs@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/Natalie_Krebs NORWALK Investigators are seeking the publics help in locating or identifying the man who was last seen in the Norwalk River after an early morning fight on Friday. The investigation is ongoing, Lt. Thomas Mattera, commander of the Norwalk Police Departments Detective Bureau, said. We are asking the public to come forward with any information regarding the incident. According to police, at 12:18 a.m. on Friday officers responded to the area of 22 Wall St. for a fight at El Mexicano Restaurant, which is located at that address. Arriving officers were immediately notified that three men were in the Norwalk River. Officers observed two men climbing out of the river in the area of Freese Park, and observed a third in the distance, swimming toward the Wall Street bridge. Officers immediately went to the area, but lost sight of the man. A search ensued, with the Norwalk Police Marine Unit and the Norwalk Fire Department searching the river, to no avail. The assistance of the Connecticut State Police dive team was requested with additional specialized equipment. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Multiple water searches by multiple agencies were made at both high tide and low tide and nothing was observed, Mattera said Monday. If anyone knows the whereabouts or the identity of the person in question contact us. Detective John Taranto is the lead investigator. They can leave anonymous information. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Detective John Taranto at 203-354-3012. Anonymous tips can be left at any of the contacts below: Norwalk police tip line at 203-854-3111. Internet tips can be sent to police website at norwalkpd.com. Text tips can be submitted by typing "NPD" into the text field, followed by the message, and sending it to CRIMES (274637). llake@hearstmediact.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Rose Pak, a Chinatown dynamo who died Sunday at the age of 68, hated being called a power broker. If I was white, theyd call me a civic leader, she would rasp, with absolutely no sign she was joking. A spokesman said Ms. Pak died of natural causes in her home Sunday morning. Friends and family said she seemed healthy after recently spending several months in China after a kidney transplant. Calling Ms. Pak, a native of Hunan, China, who moved to San Francisco in 1967, an activist or community advocate doesnt begin to describe her decades-long role in turning Chinatown and the citys fast-growing Asian American population into a political power in the city. Ms. Pak never held an elective office or sat on a city commission, but she helped change the political face of San Francisco, largely by recognizing it was changing. As the citys Asian American population exploded, she worked to involve her community more directly in city politics. She was strong and fearless, said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who ordered city flags flown at half-staff in honor of Ms. Pak. Whether she was right or wrong, she grounded herself in representing the community. She really wanted to make sure Chinatown as a whole was respected. Ms. Pak rose to prominence in an era when men held most of the political clout and women, especially Asian American women, were expected to be soft-spoken and self-effacing. She was anything but. Occasionally bawdy, often profane and always outspoken, she was a fighter for her causes, unafraid to mix it up with anyone who got in her way. You cant be so afraid of offending anyone that you dont do anything, Ms. Pak told The Chronicle in 2010. If people take positions I dont agree with, am I just going to roll over and pretend to be dead? No, Im going to fight. Born in 1948, Ms. Pak, her mother and sisters fled Communist China to British Hong Kong in the early 1950s. She was educated at Catholic boarding schools there and in Portuguese Macao before coming to California on a scholarship to study communications at the San Francisco College for Women. After receiving her masters degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City, Ms. Pak returned to San Francisco in 1974 to work as a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle and immerse herself in the citys Asian community. As the newspapers only Cantonese-speaking reporter, Ms. Pak found herself on the never-too-well-defined Chinatown beat, covering everything from the Chinese New Year Parade and local business stories to tales of crime and gang warfare. She made her own news as a 24-year-old reporter when a local lawyer was in court on battery charges in 1972 after throwing a punch at Ms. Pak during an interview at her home. Ms. Pak is an extremely pushy person, the attorney said during his misdemeanor trial. That wasnt the way she saw it, however. I was trained to be persistent, Ms. Pak said on the witness stand. That persistence stayed with her as she moved from writing about the news to making it. Rose Pak was willing and eager to work, and a fun and funny person, said Carl Nolte, a Chronicle reporter who worked with Ms. Pak. But she started going her own way and moved away from the newspaper. Unlike many Bay Area activists, Ms. Paks concerns were less about specific issues than about a specific area, her adopted home of Chinatown. Whether it was housing, development, the local economy or city politics, she came to it all with a single filter: Whats best for Chinatown and the people who live there? In the late 1970s, she was in the middle of the efforts to save Chinese Hospital, a small, underfunded medical center that served the poor, Cantonese-speaking people in and around Chinatown with physicians and medical professionals who spoke their language and knew their community. A few years back, when there was a desperate need to find more than $100 million to rebuild the aging facility, Ms. Pak took over the fundraising effort. I dont know if Im the best person, but someone had to do it, she said. Workers are now putting the finishing touches on the hospitals new eight-story, $180 million building called the Patient Tower, which is set to officially open this month. Even when she moved a bit farther afield, Chinatown was on her mind. Her support for the Embarcaderos controversial 8 Washington condominium project, for example, might have had something to do with her friendship with developer Simon Snellgrove, but probably had much more to do with millions of dollars the project could have provided for affordable housing being built on Stockton Street by the nonprofit Chinatown Community Development Center, a longtime ally. Ms. Paks time as a reporter gave her an inside look at how San Francisco really worked. It wasnt the polite give-and-take between thoughtful politicians and deserving local interests that good-government types like to see, but a raucous back-and-forth struggle between groups that wanted something from the city and politicians who wanted to know why they should give it. From her perch as the decades-long consultant to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Pak helped make Chinatown an ever-stronger player in San Franciscos political world. She raised money for her preferred politicians, gave them introductions into the fast-growing Asian community and provided them with support and campaign workers, all the time reminding them of the work she wanted to see done. She built a network of political and social connections over decades and was never shy about calling on them. She was a fierce opponent in empowering people in the various commissions that effect public policy, and the way she did it was a classic political strategy, former Mayor Art Agnos said. She was a classic gatekeeper, but she did it for the good of her community. She backed Agnos and Willie Brown in their runs for mayor and was more than willing to tell who should and who shouldnt be in their administrations. She pushed to have Ed Lee, whom she had known since his days in the 1980s as a young Asian Law Caucus attorney in Chinatown, appointed interim mayor to replace Gavin Newsom in 2011. Then she started the Run, Ed, Run campaign, successfully persuading Lee to give up his pledge to be a short-time placeholder and run for a full four-year term. If Ed Lee did not seize that opportunity, it might be years or decades before we have such an opportune time to have a Chinese American in there, Ms. Pak said in a 2013 KQED radio interview. Of course everything in this city is political, I would be remiss if I saw this opportunity and did not seize it. It wasnt until 1977 that San Francisco elected its first Asian American supervisor, and Gordon Lau was ousted in another election just two years later. But today, the mayor is Asian American, as are four of the citys 11 supervisors, both assemblymen and the local member of the state Board of Equalization. Politics was a bloodsport to Ms. Pak, but she liked the sport part a lot. When shed hold court at Chinatown hotels and restaurants with friends, allies, reporters and others, shed gleefully gossip about the citys political figures, often in language that could never be used in a family newspaper. And her allies werent spared her sharp tongue. When Lee appointed Julie Christensen, a Nob Hill community activist, to the supervisorial seat for Chinatown over Ms. Paks choice, Planning Commissioner Cindy Wu, Ms. Pak had some harsh words for her decades-long friend. You might want to take a bathroom break before you hear what I have to say, she said at a fundraiser for the mayors re-election campaign, then proceeded to slam him for the appointment. Of course she also delivered more than $200,000 in $500 checks to the mayor at the same event, because thats politics, too. Ms. Pak then helped engineer the return of San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin with an aggressive ground game throughout Chinatown that ultimately tilted the board to a 6-5 progressive majority. Obviously we dont see eye to eye on a number things, Lee said from Napa on Sunday. But right up to the last moment I saw her often, and we worked together. While we suffer a loss, our community has been strengthened by her. Ms. Pak seldom let personal battles get in the way of her political wars. She fought with Agnos over the mayors efforts to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway, arguing that its loss would be a transportation and economic disaster for Chinatown merchants. But when the freeway came down, Ms. Pak quickly worked to persuade city officials to sign off on construction of the Central Subway, extending the Third Street light rail from the Caltrain station at Fourth and King underground to Chinatown. While opponents of the plan called the 1.7-mile project too expensive and an unneeded political giveaway to Chinatown interests, Ms. Pak helped keep the project moving. Its now set to open in 2019. In her final showing of political might, Ms. Pak blasted an effort by Union Square merchants to make part of Stockton Street into a permanent pedestrian space once the subway is complete. In a letter to Municipal Transportation Agency head Ed Reskin, Ms. Pak argued the street is a vital link to Chinatown and pledged an all-out fight if plans continued. Ms. Pak always shrugged off claims that she was a City Hall power broker, a woman who could give thumbs-up and thumbs-down on city projects or politicians. Power is an illusion, she said in an interview. If people think you have it, you have it. Ms. Pak was single her entire life and had no children. She lived modestly and said that she never even had health insurance until she was in her 50s. This is a loss never previously felt by this community, Brown said. Nobody was more devoted than Rose Pak. She took no prisoners when it came to her devotion. I dont know how she can be replaced. Brown was joined by other top city political figures, including Peskin and fellow supervisor Jane Kim, both of whom were tearful while paying respects at what the family said was Ms. Paks Chinatown home Sunday on Jackson Street near an alley renamed this year in her honor. People give me more power than I really have, she said in a 2013 Chronicle interview, and half of the crap Im not even remotely interested in. All Im interested in is advancing my community. Funeral services are pending. Chronicle staff writers Lizzie Johnson and Evan Sernoffsky contributed to this report. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science Lilia Hrynevych has said that Ukraine will become an associate member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in October after paying a membership fee. "In October of this year after paying an official membership fee, Ukraine will become an associate member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research," the press service of the Education and Science Ministry quoted Hrynevych as saying during her visit to CERN. The report said that having acquired an associate member status, Ukraine will be able to join the creation of new materials, the development and introduction of new computing and information technologies, the development of grid computing, will be able to send young researchers for training and continue cooperation in the framework of research projects. "On the one hand, Ukraine becomes an associate member of CERN, which allows it to pay much lower fees than the member states. On the other hand, Ukraine will be able to participate in all forms of scientific co-operation open to full members of the organization," the education minister said. Ukrainian research institutions and enterprises will be able to participate in tenders held by CERN and get orders for manufacturing high-tech equipment. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is the world's largest laboratory for particle physics. It is situated in Switzerland on the border with France. CERN hosts the Large Hadron Collider - the largest experimental particle accelerator. Some 103 Ukrainian scientists are currently working there. On October 3, 2013, Ukraine signed an agreement on associate membership in CERN. The agreement was ratified, but the process of notification of the parties about the completion of the procedures has not yet taken place and Ukraine and has not yet paid its membership fee of CHF 1 million. Amerex Corporation / / A rampaging man blasted a San Francisco police officer in the face with a fire extinguisher over the weekend, prompting his immediate arrest, officials said. Several people called police about the 24-year-old San Francisco man, who had been acting erratically Sunday at a building on the 300 block of Leavenworth Street in the citys Tenderloin, police said. The energy ministers from Russia and Ukraine are planned to meet in Minsk on September 21 to discuss energy supply to Donbas, Second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has said. "We are discussing these issues every time, at every meeting. It is planned that our minister and the Russian minister will pay a visit on September 21 and will confer on bigger matters," Kuchma told the press in Kyiv on Saturday. The Donbas situation is complicated, infrastructure is ruined, and its restoration will require investment, he said. "They are due to have the discussion, but it's unknown whether they will be able to reach consent," Kuchma said. The change of Naftogaz Ukrainy's charter by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the transfer of its subsidiary public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz to the management of the ministry could result in the refusal of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to hear Naftogaz Ukrainy's claim against Russia's Gazprom on the 2009 transit contract, Naftogaz Ukrainy Board Chairman Andriy Kobolev has said. "The most serious and gravest consequence that we can get is the refusal of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to hear the transit lawsuit against Gazprom. In this lawsuit Naftogaz demands $12 billion from Gazprom and the introduction of a possibility of virtual reverse mode, guaranteeing gas transit for the future and many other things," Kobolev told reporters on the sidelines of the 13th Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in Kyiv on Saturday. He recalled that Gazprom does not demand anything from Naftogaz in this lawsuit. The Russian company wants to leave the situation as it is now. "This decision, if it is not annulled, opens for Gazprom a very simple door to close this lawsuit. There is an official conclusion from our legal advisors," he said. He added that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also expressed a protest against this decision. It violates Ukraine's liabilities taken as part of the guarantee $300 million loan agreement for Naftogaz Ukrainy. "This means not only the loss of $300 million, but also cross-default for all Ukraine's liabilities as the state," he said. Kobolev said that one more negative consequence could be the impossibility of raising $500 million from the World Bank by Naftogaz Ukrainy. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Houston woman accused of fatally stabbing her mother, then confessing to a friend while covered in blood, has a history of mental health issues, prosecutors said Monday. Veronica Gonzales appeared in court in a wheelchair where a judge set her bail at $50,000. The 32-year-old is charged with murder, accused of stabbing 58-year-old Virginia Gonzales around midnight Saturday. After the mother had been stabbed, Veronica Gonzales arrived at a friend's Sunnywood Drive house covered in blood and said she had killed the older woman because she had "imprisoned" her, prosecutors told state District Judge Vanessa Velasquez. The friend called police who went to the suspect's residence in a trailer park on Airline Drive two miles away and found the victim, dead from apparent stab wounds. They also recovered a 6-inch kitchen blade, police said. Assistant Harris County District Attorney Andrea Handley said the younger woman had a history with the county's mental health system and had recently been in Methodist Hospital, where she was prescribed medication for bipolar disorder. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee She had also been jailed before, once for fleeing police in a car and once for possession of cocaine. After hearing the allegations, the judge appointed a lawyer for Gonzales. Prosecutors did not say why she was in a wheelchair. Investigators at the scene of the crime said she did not have any major injuries, and witnesses reported seeing the two women together earlier in the day. Friends don't let friends obnoxiously demand free food from restaurant staff. But friends also don't bite each other's ears off, either. Police in Forney say a man bit his friend's ear off during a fight about 9 p.m. Thursday outside Cowboy Chicken, 780 E. U.S. Highway 80. The fight broke out after the man, of Terrell, began arguing with an employee about receiving chicken enchiladas free of charge. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) Neighbors said filthy children regularly climbed into trash bins and scavenged for food behind the West Texas house where 11 children lived with their parents. Other residents heard screaming at night one described "shrieks of terror" that were quickly followed by loud music to cover the sounds. "It never stopped whenever they were living there," neighbor Paige Figge told a judge last week, after the children were taken into state custody. The testimony came during a court hearing for William and Claire Rembis, who have faced child welfare investigations in at least three states since 2001. The couple is now accused of neglect in Lubbock, where one investigator suggested the family may be moving to avoid such investigations, which are difficult to track across states. RELATED: Police say San Antonio man killed 4-year-old The couple denies the allegations, saying they move for jobs and that Texas officials are targeting them because they choose to homeschool their family, oppose vaccinations and simply have so many children. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee "They don't eat out of the trash," 36-year-old Claire Rembis told The Associated Press outside the courtroom in Lubbock. Her 48-year-old husband called the allegations "ridiculous." The couple hasn't been criminally charged, but they face a host of problems in Texas: Their children, who range in age from 16 months to 17 years old, were taken into state custody in late August, after child welfare workers discovered 10 of them had been taken to Colorado amid the Lubbock investigation. The family was evicted from their rental home on Tuesday, and the parents' custody hearing continues next week. Two of the children also were briefly removed from the family's home in Plano, about 300 miles east, in 2013, and all were removed in a separate case there last year. In Michigan, child welfare officials received five complaints between 2007 and 2012, including one about unsupervised children eating out of garbage cans. In New Jersey, the couple was investigated after their oldest son, who was about 2 at the time, was found wandering alone in 2001, according testimony in the Lubbock case. No national database exists to track such cases across states. The Rembises disclosed their past addresses to Texas officials, but if families don't divulge that information, case workers have to find it, said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman Paul Zimmerman. Even then, a lot of digging must be done. RELATED: 3 indicted in 'horrific' San Antonio child abuse case involving tied up children "It's easier to track a stolen car," said child welfare consultant Timothy Turner, who has worked for state welfare agencies in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. "It's very tedious and piecemeal," Turner said, noting it can take a long time, letters and phone calls to find cases in another state. "And by the time that all occurs, a lot of times they disappear." State agencies often can't release details in such cases, especially if no action was taken. In New Jersey, where most family court records are confidential, state law bars the Department of Children and Families from even confirming whether the agency was involved with the Rembis family, spokesman Ernest Landante said. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton said records in such cases are also closed in Michigan. Those cases were briefly cited during last week's custody hearing, where child welfare investigator Kristin Stecklein said some of the children didn't have beds when she visited the home earlier this year, including a 5-year-old girl who another child told her slept in a box in a closet. The couple homeschooled their children, but Stecklein said she didn't "see any signs" of school material a point William Rembis disputed on Friday. Texas Tech University students who lived next door to the family testified that children were in the alley scavenging in trash bins six days a week. One student, Madison Burnham, said she saw a child eating food from a box she'd recently thrown out. "I don't think children should be allowed to do that," Burnham told the judge. Other neighbors testified that after screaming began inside the house, loud heavy-metal music was played to cover the sounds. Claire Rembis denied the noise allegation. She also said her children wear hand-me-down clothing and doesn't mind them going barefoot. "It's just being natural," she said. "To us, it's just normal." Stecklein said the family's home had a "strong foul odor" and not enough food to feed 11 children and two adults when she visited. William Rembis also disputed that allegation in testimony, noting his family received about $1,100 a month in food stamps "We've never had a problem with having enough food," he told the judge. "My kids are well fed." Rembis said he wanted to move to Colorado for "better jobs" after losing two jobs since April in Lubbock. Lubbock County Child Protective Services attorney Kacee Harvey suggested another motivation, telling the judge that moving "is a pattern with this family." The judge upheld an objection from William Rembis' attorney about keeping testimony focused on the Lubbock case. Rembis said he simply wants to get his children back, and "we'll go to whatever lengths are necessary." HARLINGEN A top Veterans Affairs official said Monday that an initiative to remove bureaucratic entanglements in the veterans health care system will speed access to care for veterans in the Rio Grande Valley, and could act as a model for the rest of the country. The conclusion of a 90-day initiative to streamline community care programs for veterans has already decreased the denial rate for claims from 50 percent to 10 percent, and officials say they expect other improvements in the months ahead. The simplest way to say this, explained Richard Stone, principal deputy undersecretary for health for the VA, is this is a commitment to pay our bills. For decades, tens of thousands of veterans spread across deep South Texas, which lacks a VA hospital, faced a six-hour round trip or longer to receive care at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital in San Antonio. To address disparities in access to care, Congress in 2014 created the Veterans Choice Program. Aimed at giving eligible veterans the option of seeing private doctors, the program has been fraught with complications and done little to reduce lengthy wait times for health care. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Veterans in the Valley say the choice program failed to deliver on its promises to improve care, and many health care providers argue the system is burdensome, which has disrupted their ability to serve veterans. Responding to concerns, U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Edinburg, in June urged health care providers, the VA and TriWest Healthcare Alliance, a third-party contractor that helps the VA administer the choice program, to identify problems in the network, then strengthen it by cutting through the red tape. What we found out is that we didnt talk to each other very well at all, Stone said. We created bureaucratic barriers to talking to each other. Though officials provided few details on the changes that will take place as a result of the initiative, among the findings were delays in payment on provider claims, unpaid claims because of filing errors, and a health care system that was sending correspondence to the wrong address. The choice program is seen as important to reducing extended wait times for the more than 30,000 veterans living in Valley. During the 90-day initiative, 1,800 providers served around 22,000 veterans. That number will grow as retirees who winter in communities along the border return in the coming months. Hinojosa said his office has created a one-page guide that will be sent to providers in his district, including information on authorizations and medical documentation. The objective was to take a look at where are the gaps in the process to make sure all of the pieces come together, said Dave McIntyre, CEO and President of TriWest. You cant get this right unless the bills get paid properly. anelsen@express-news.net Twitter: @amnelsen The Gulf Coasts pride and joy, the Padre Island National Seashore, will celebrate another year as the longest seashore in the National Parks System as its marks its 48th anniversary on Friday. The park a 70-mile patch of coastline just east of Corpus Christi has attracted Texas vacationers with its sparkling waves, serene beaches and colorful wildlife since its inception on April 8, 1968. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has included the average gas price of UAH 6,686 per 1,000 cubic meters in the draft national budget of Ukraine for 2017, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalyk has told journalists in Kyiv. The draft national budget for 2017, submitted by the government to the Verkhovna Rada on September 15, is built on the forecast for the average annual hryvnia exchange rate of UAH 27.2/$1, which brings the average price of gas to $245.8. "The Economic Development Ministry has formed the price of gas for the budget at the level of UAH 6,686 per 1,000 cubic meters. Three weeks have passed since I officially sent a letter for Naftogaz to provide the price at which it purchases gas. But I have not received an answer. I have raised the issue at a cabinet meeting whether it is a private company or a state one," he said. Nasalyk added due to a lack of information from Naftogaz he cannot say what the gas import price will be next year. The Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability has submitted its report to the state with 14 short- and long-term recommendations. This report, which just scratches the surface of what is possible in Texas, should involve more stakeholders, including teachers, in shaping future policy. I voted in support of the report, realizing the recommendations were neither perfect nor aligned with all of my views. My vote reflected a respect for my fellow commissioners and an acknowledgment of our diverse viewpoints. It also recognized the consensus we reached on recommendations, such as aligning the state accountability system with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, allowing locally-developed writing assessments to substitute for the STAAR writing assessments, and placing greater emphasis on student growth. With her bout of pneumonia and the delay in being forthcoming about it, Hillary Clinton has reportedly had one of her worst two weeks since the presidential campaign began. That we believe was in and around 1951 or it might just feel like it. Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to lie. He (again) suggests violence against Clinton. And, on terrorism, he offers counter-productive policy. And his weeks are apparently hunky-dory. First the lie. Trump, after five years of consistently casting doubt on the presidents birthplace and religion acknowledged that Barack Obama is indeed U.S. born. This was blatant political posturing. He knows voters desperately want him to start acting presidential. What came next, however, was anything but. He then blamed Clinton for starting the birther nonsense in her first run for president against Obama. And he said it took his badgering of the White House for the president to release his long-form birth certificate, which then allowed him to end the controversy. This proves hes a closer, said his campaign. A couple of problems with that. Clinton did not start the birther controversy. And even after the president released his birth certificate, Trump continued harping on the topic to delegitimize the nations first African American president. PolitiFact looked into Trumps claim against Clinton. And like other fact-checking organizations found it false, the only credible question being why it didnt reach a pants on fire rating. There once was a memo in the 2007 Clinton campaign by aide Mark Penn that counseled the campaign to point out Obamas lack of American roots. It was an unsavory proposal, but one effectively rejected by Clinton. Neither she nor her campaign ever went there. Not so Trump. Just before he graciously granted the U.S. president citizenship last week, he had refused to say the president was U.S. born. Moreover, his acknowledgment of the presidents U.S. birthplace was terse, the event essentially called for veterans on stage to sing his praises and for him to showcase a new hotel he opened in Washington D.C. There is no other word for what Trump did here and many other times during the campaign. He lied. Knowingly and purposely. He is playing American voters for chumps. And he is a master of misdirection. If hes called a bigot with good reason he calls Clinton one. If hes called a liar, he doubles down on that word for Clinton, though its a wonder why his pants arent continuously afire. He slams Clinton for lack of transparency and wont release his tax records. Also last week Trump suggested Americans should see what happens if her Secret Service guardians were to disarm. This was allegedly to highlight her hypocrisy. In Trumps lying words, she wants to gut the Second Amendment and take away Americans guns, while shes OK with being guarded by people with guns. No, Clinton has no such intentions on the Second Amendment, though she does want more thorough background checks to ensure guns dont get into the wrong hands. Thats called common sense, not a seizure of guns. And even people who want stricter gun control than Clinton arent suggesting that law enforcement disarm. It would be easier to not see this as a suggestion of violence against Clinton had this not been preceded by his suggestion that perhaps Second Amendment folks have a solution for Clinton. Such talk not only incites violence but represents a vote of no-confidence in Americans. In Trumps views, we all seem to want to shoot Clinton when we arent busy wanting to jail her. And, on Monday, following the New York city bombing, Trump suggested that authorities use racial profiling to combat terrorism. Clinton correctly says that such talk plays into the hands terrorists whose recruiting depends on convincing people that the U.S. is waging a war on Islam and those who practice it. Lies. The media have been too bashful with the word. We are not. These are an adoption of Big Lie tactics. Say it often enough, it become true, though patently false. And that best describes Trumps campaign rhetoric overall. The distinctive nine-story Pyramid Building at the intersection of Loop 410 and San Pedro Avenue has been bought by Boston-based investment firm Taurus Investment Holdings. Taurus bought the 6.16-acre building, with about 220,000 square feet of class A office space, on Thursday from MSB Pyramid LP, a partnership linked to California investment management firm Buchanan Street Partners. Ukraine's Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has canceled the amendments put to the charter of Naftogaz Ukrainy last week, according to which it undertook the functions of managing PJSC Ukrtransgaz. According to a report on the government's portal, in the course of a meeting under the leadership of Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman held on Monday it was decided to set up a working group to develop concrete steps for unbundling Naftogaz and the further transfer of control over the state holding from the ministry to the Cabinet as a collegial authority. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settings ACCEPT MANITOBA, Canada Walmart Canada began informing customers last week that it will stop accepting Visa credit cards at its 16 stores in the province of Manitoba beginning October 24, 2016. On July 18, 2016, Walmart Canada stopped accepting Visa credit cards in Thunder Bay. Following an evaluation of credit card transaction fees in Canada and the rest of the world, Walmart says that it has concluded the fees applied to Visa credit card purchases remain unacceptably high. To ensure we are taking care of our customers best interests and delivering on our promise of saving customers money, we constantly work to reduce our operating costs, including credit card fees. Unfortunately, Visa and Walmart have been unable to agree on an acceptable fee for Visa transactions, says the retailer on its website. Walmart Canada pays [more than] $100 million in fees to accept credit cards each and every year. Lowering costs such as these is necessary for us to be able to keep our prices low and continue saving our customers money. A spokesperson for Walmart Canada told CBC/Radio-Canada that the Visa card ban could extend to other provinces, adding that Manitoba was chosen for this round because stores in the province are most ready to phase out Visa acceptance. Walmart operates more than 400 stores throughout Canada. CBC adds that Visa Canada called Walmarts expansion of its ban disappointing. A Visa spokesperson told the news source that consumers in the area want the option to use the payment method of their choice when shoppingincluding at Walmart stores. The news source writes that the battle between Visa and Walmart comes against a backdrop of increased scrutiny over interchange fees, and that Canadian interchange fees are among the highest in the world. "These excessive interchange rates mean that Canadian consumers pay at least $4.5 billion more for all credit purchases each year than they would if our rates were comparable to those in the EU," Karl Littler, vice president of public affairs at the Retail Council of Canada, told the new source. "At the current 1.50% average rate, over the four remaining years of the voluntary agreement, Canadians will pay at least $18 billion more than they should." Meanwhile, Retail Council of Canada President Diane Brisebois commented that more needs to be done to level the playing field in Canada. "The real issue is an absence of both competition and regulation that has allowed the credit card networks to overcharge merchants in Canada with fees five times what they should be," she told the news source. NEW YORK Bloomberg reports that sales of halal food, prepared according to Islamic law, are surging in the United States, and not just among the fast-growing U.S. Muslim population. At every level of the U.S. food chain, halal already occupies a small but rapidly expanding niche, the news source writes, citing Nielsen estimates that sales of halal food in grocery and convenience stores and similar outlets reached $1.9 billion in the 12 months through August, a 15% increase from 2012. And according to the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, halal sales overall are projected to reach $20 billion this year, up by one-third since 2010. Among the grocers that have been ahead of the trend is Whole Foods Market, which ranks halal among its fastest growing categories, with double-digit sales growth in each of the last five years, writes Bloomberg. Pew Research Center notes that there are about 3.3 million U.S. Muslims, which is projected to grow to 8.1 million by 2050. However, the surge in halal foods is not necessarily being driven by consumers who follow Islamic law. Adnan Durrani, chief executive officer of American Halal Co., told Bloomberg that as many as 80% of consumers who buy his Saffron Road brand are just food lovers who want better frozen meals. The news source notes that some of the credit in consumer demand for halal foods goes to Halal Guys, which started as a street cart in New York City. The company is now planning to open 300 sit-down restaurants across the United States in the next three years. The Halal Guys have tapped into something that transcends demographics: taste, writes Bloomberg, noting that during a recent Friday lunch hour, about 20 people, a mix of office workers and tourists, waited in line to order at the original Halal Guys food truck in New York. By Lambert Strether of Corrente. TPP/TTIP/TISA Peterson Institute: Trumps trade proposals horribly destructive' [Politico]. The Peterson Institute has been trying to screw us all out of Social Security with a Grand Bargain for years, so forgive me I know this is simplistic, binary thinking if I regard this as a recommendation, rather than the reverse. In an email blast, Wallach added pointedly: Who was notably not part of the TPP sales team: the Democratic and GOP presidential nominees; the congressional leaders of either party; the growing bloc of GOP House members that are coming out against TPP; or the vast majority of congressional Democrats; or anyone representing president Obamas political base, aka labor, environmental, LGBTQ, consumer, faith, immigration or civil-rights leaders [Politico]. I think thats putative political base. A United Nations independent expert today called on States and Parliaments to ensure that all future trade agreements stipulate the primacy of human rights and to align existing treaties with the duty of States to fulfill binding human rights treaties and meet environmental and health goals [UN News Centre]. 2016 Money Guardians Wisconsin investigation points to big moneys systemic distortion of U.S. democracy [Thomas Ferguson, Institute for New Economic Thinking] Trump is approaching, and has possibly already passed, $100 million from donors who have given less than $200, according to an analysis of available Federal Election Commission filings, the campaigns public statements and people familiar with his fundraising operation. It is a threshold no previous Republican has ever achieved in a single campaign. And Trump has done so less than three months after signing his first email solicitation for donors on June 21 a staggering speed to collect such a vast sum [Politico]. Further proof the Democrat (and Republican) fund-raising model is not only corrupt (which is a feature) but broken (a bug). Ya know, if Trump were on the left, wed be praising his campaign operation to the skies: Not merely bypass but humiliate the campaign operatives; run an incredibly lean, nimble campaign; and leverage small donors (like Sanders). Oh, and like it or not, Trump is message-based. Policy If you listen closely to Trump, youll hear a direct repudiation of the system of globalization and identity politics that has defined the world order since the Cold War. There are, in fact, six specific ideas that he has either blurted out or thinly buried in his rhetoric: (1) borders matter; (2) immigration policy matters; (3) national interests, not so-called universal interests, matter; (4) entrepreneurship matters; (5) decentralization matters; (6) PC speechwithout which identity politics is inconceivablemust be repudiated [Politico]. The Progressive Case for Hillary Clinton Is Pretty Overwhelming [Kevin Drum, Mother Jones]. (I love the Beltway qualifier: pretty. Its important to maintain an air of chin-stroking profundity at all times. 23. She voted for TARP. Has Drum lost his mind? Our Famously Free Press The media spend more time on horse-race and scandal reporting than on the candidates proposals, but that doesnt mean policy is ignored. If voters really wanted more stories on actual proposals, the press would oblige. Horse-race and scandal coverage isnt what reporters or editors prefer. Its what readers and viewers want, even if they subsequently complain about it and about politicians who supposedly never explain what they would do in office. [Bloomberg]. The Voters Voter Election fraud allegations are being made by a Nevada Democrat and former candidate for congress, Dan Rolle, who is now telling fellow Democrats he is sorry and wishes he had known more about what apparently began in 2012 with changes made to the Nevada voter system files and continued until February 21 of this year when caucus votes in Nevada were announced to the world before they were counted [Inquisitor]. Rolles ability to organize data is godawful, and for that very reason Im inclined to give him some credence; heres Rolles twitter account, and heres a Reddit summary of his tweetstorms. The key contention, if I understand this, is that Nevada state voter files were run through the national NGPVAN. All those weird registration events? Theres your answer. The only other publication to cover this is (sigh) the Observer, which doesnt explain how the lists were actually manipulated. Interesting if true! (And if Rolle is a crazypants conspiracy theorist, the Democrats allowed him to run on their ticket.) Heres a video from him: LIVE on #Periscope: I'm sorry. For not acting sooner. #dncleak. https://t.co/LEZroy7pUH dan rolle (@danrolle) September 15, 2016 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Markets [Iowa Election Markets]. Both national polls and surveys in swing states show Clinton has seen a slide with voters younger than 35, particularly when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are factored in [NBC]. Yikes: Thats not a random blip; its a huge swing. According to a POLITICO review of campaign spending, Hillary Clinton has invested seven times the amount of money on TV commercials as her Republican rival and has established twice as many field offices in many of the states that will decide who wins the presidency. In many battlegrounds, she has dozens more organizers than Trump [Politico]. Expensive dogfood. Some 86 percent of Democrats in the battleground states say that America will be damaged beyond repair if Trump wins the election, while 83 percent of Republicans say the country will be irreparably harmed should Clinton take the White House [Bloomberg]. Legitmicacy crisis, here we come. Why Movement Conservatives Are Rooting for Hillary [The American Conservative]. [U]nder a President Hillary, movement conservatives could comfortably unify the party in opposition to their longstanding enemy, papering over the ideological divisions exposed by Trump. Such divisions would still exist, but dealing with them would be subordinated to the overriding task of undermining Hillary. Real-Time Election Day Projections May Upend News Tradition [New York Times]. Very dubious about this. It seems reflexive Martha Stewart: Im voting for Hillary Clinton' [Politico]. Cant resist this. Make up your own jokes! Stats Watch Housing Market Index, September 2016: New home sales have been strong and home builders are reporting more of the same, in fact the best conditions of the year. The housing market index is up a very sharp 6 points this month to 65 for the best reading since October last year [Econoday]. At an enormously strong composite score of 82, strength is concentrated in the West which is a focused region for home builders. The South, which is the largest region for home builders, follows at 68. The Midwest is at 56 with the Northeast, which is by far the smallest region for home builders, lagging badly at 43. Well, in the Northeast, we have our houses. Housing: Builder Confidence Surges in September [National Association of Homebuilders]. Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in September jumped six points to 65 from a downwardly revised August reading of 59 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. This marks the highest HMI level since October 2015. Housing: Rent prices drop in 10 of top 12 US Markets: Rental Armageddon taking a brief break for the election [Dr. Housing Bubble]. What an odd year. Credit: A very small move up but the deceleration trend is intact [Mosler Economics]. Moslers story and hes sticking to it: As always, and by identity, if anyone spent less than his income, another must have spent more than his income, or the output would not have been sold. So when the oil related capital expenditure collapsed late in 2014, it caused a general deceleration of growth that has yet to show any signs of reversal. That is, spending continues to decelerate, causing inventory to go unsold, which leads to reduced production and reduced incomes, further slowing spending, in a downward spiral that cant reverse until some entity spends sufficiently more than its income. At some point growth goes negative, and it wouldnt surprise me if data revisions indicate that growth has already gone negative, perhaps as much as a year ago. The current slowdown has begun to reduce the growth of tax revenues, which automatically causes government to begin increasing its deficit. Grrr! Honey for the Bears: The secondhand market is the only lively part of the industrial machinery business these days, and thats providing more pain to equipment makers. A glut in the machinery that mines, moves or refines commodities is the by-product in global slump in the value of goods from coal to corn, the WSJs Bob Tita reports. That leaves equipment makers including Caterpillar Inc., Volvo AB, Deere & Co. and others effectively competing with their own machinery [Wall Street Journal]. Travel: Whats happening with corporate transient demand? [Hotel News Now]. It was almost unanimous across the board of the big hotel companies that transient corporate demand was downsignificantly in some casesin the U.S. in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. This is problematic for hotels in general because transient demand is what drives overall growth, since transient rooms are booked at higher rates than group rooms. But its also pretty fickle. When companies cut down on business travel, send fewer people to meetings or industries consolidate, that corporate transient demand piece is affected. Whats more, this is an issue that affects companies with more offerings in the upper-midscale to upscale segments. Shipping: This month I must disclaim the analysis. Econintersect uses container movements to model economic activity and this month the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping have affected the offloading at the Long Beach with imports down 10% year-over-year. On the other hand, the Port of Los Angeles enjoyed record movements [Econintersect]. On the other hand, the Port of Los Angeles enjoyed record movements.. Exports were not affected by the Hanjin bankruptcy as the containers would simply be routed on other ships. The Hanjin import containers will eventually be offloaded and add to the data in the following months. It is significant that export container counts were up in August.which demonstrates there is life in the international markets. (!!). Shipping: Nearly one-third of the Hanjin Shipping Co. container ships that have been waiting to dock around the world have unloaded their cargo, raising hopes that anxious retailers will get at least some of their goods in time for the crucial year-end holiday season [Wall Street Journal, Hanjin Unloads More Cargo, Easing Supply-Chain Fears]. South Koreas largest container operator said Monday that 28 vessels from its container fleet of 97 ships have finished off-loading goods at ports in California, Spain and other parts of the world. Shipping: Stormy Seas Ahead For Shippers Following Hanjins Bankruptcy [OliPrice.com]. The shipping sector is likely to see both short-term disruption push prices higher, while in the longer term the fight for Hanjins previous customers could erode pricing discipline. For firms like Textainer that rely on strength in container pricing, the bankruptcy can only be interpreted as bad news. Even if Hanjin is ultimately restructured rather than liquidated, the uncertainty in the sector is going to hit container prices and demand hard. Shipping: Chinas ports hit hard by global trade slowdown [FInancial Times]. Chinas excess port capacity in 2013 equivalent to 50m 20-foot containers was bigger than the entire throughput of Japan, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan. And the unused port capacity will double by 2030, according to the ITF, as local governments compete to build larger and larger facilities. Shipping: Guest Voices: Shipping Banks Face Sinking Prospects as They Postpone Reckoning [Wall Street Journal]. Having been too lenient with their lending covenants and facing a market implosion, shipping banks have sought to push back a day of reckoning. Many have applied a new vessel valuation methodology that produces unrealistically high asset values, making bad loans seem bearable. The European Central Bank has changed the out-of-bounds markers still more by agreeing to label loans in default only after they have fallen in arrears for more than 90 days. This allows shipowners to make partial payments quarterly and remain in compliance with lendersand the lenders, in turn, in compliance with the ECB. The play for time strategy seems to be approaching its expiration date, however. Shipping: The Baltic Dry Index is a great metric when it comes to gauging the demand side of the fundamental commodities equation. The prices of commodities influence all other asset classes. Many companies that trade on equity exchanges around the world either produce or consume raw materials. Therefore, the price path of raw materials directly affects their profitability and the direction of the stock market [Seeking Alpha]. The BDI is a reflection of the demand for dry bulk commodities, and the verdict from the metric lately is that demand is on the rise. Food: Egypts wheat export crisis deepens after cancellation of 2nd wheat tender [Daily News]. Coops: Electric cooperatives today find themselves in a bind. Distributed energy is becoming cheaper than centralized energy. Utility managers have to worry about losing electric sales and meters. The G&Ts [generation and transmission cooperatives continue to invest in coal and fossil fuels, while lobbying against climate regulation and clean energy rules. Electric cooperatives span three-quarters of the land, serving 12% of the population, in many of the countrys poorest areas. [Clean Technica (DB)]. These contracts [between cops and G&Ts] become like the roach motel you can check in, you cant check out, says [Ed Marston, former board member of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association]. Lots of good detail on this important sector. Todays Fear & Greed Index: 44 Fear (previous close: 44, Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 55 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 19 at 12:16pm. Drinks with the boys at the Nineteenth hole on Sunday didnt make anything better Dear Old Blighty Whats next for Labour? FT Water Tunisia water shortages spark thirst uprising warning [France24]. Gaia US Study Confirms Rapid Increase of Methane Emissions by Oil and Gas [The Tyee]. Spike corresponds with timing of shale gas boom. Earlier this week at the meeting of the Committee of Chairs, [Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon] announced with great pride that the College was to receive what I am told is a $100 million gift from Arthur Irving, Chairman of Irving Oil Company, to fund a new Energy and Society institute at Dartmouth [DartBlog]. How nice! I buy fuel from Irving! How the bacteria in your gut may be shaping your waistline [The Economist]. Get Your Children Good and Dirty [Wall Street Journal]. News of the Wired For more proof algorithms can be biased, look no further than cute puppies [Quartz]. Twitters new, longer tweets are coming September 19th [The Verge]. Well, who knew the government could seize control of your cellphone and send you an alert? Emergency alert to cell phones here about NY/NJ bombings suspect. pic.twitter.com/vNBRJ8Zais Steve Herman (@W7VOA) September 19, 2016 * * * Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant (JD): JD writes: This is what happens when you shove a piece of Ginger in a pot in the Tropics (west of Chicago) and give it no attention. * * * Readers, if you can, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help. Ukraine is still interested in getting lethal weapons for its armed forces from the West, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. "The second thing [after the extension and bolstering of sanctions against Russia], but no less important, is the provision of lethal weapons and other military technologies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Poroshenko said at a meeting with the Ukrainian community in New York. The Ukrainian army has proved over the past 30 months that it can be trusted, he said. "At the beginning of my presidential cadence our partners from the United States said that they have 100% information that 50% of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were corrupted and 50% are KGB agents," he said. Over the past two years Ukraine has built a new professional army that meets every necessary criterion, he said. "We have shown that Ukraine has never fought and will never fight aggressive wars. The Ukrainian side has never constituted any threat and it is absolutely safe to give us lethal weapons. We will fight for our land until the last drop of blood," Poroshenko said. The Ukrainian president said that the aggressor is unlikely to resort to an open invasion if the whole world, including the U.S., stands together with Ukraine. Lambert here: I like the recent Global Crisis. It reminds me of the late unpleasantness. By Charles Calomiris, Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, Marc Flandreau, Professor, Graduate Institute, Geneva and CEPR Research Fellow, and Luc Laeven, Director-General of the Directorate General Research, European Central Bank and CEPR Research Fellow. Originally published at VoxEU. The recent Global Crisis has prompted the major central banks to conduct lender of last resort (LOLR) operations on an unprecedented scale and stirred up a debate on the constraints and boundaries of LOLR policies (see Bindseil 2014 for an overview of such operations in the recent crisis). For instance, the Federal Reserve, the ECB and the Bank of England have each assisted banks with special loans and asset purchases designed to bolster banks positions, expand the supply of liquidity, and reduce the risk of deposit withdrawals. Yet, the degree to which central banks provided LOLR assistance to banks during the crisis was not uniform, nor was structure of such assistance the same across countries. Interestingly, such differences have been commonplace throughout history (see Bordo 1990 for an early account of the LOLR function throughout history; and Bignon et al. 2012 for a modern appraisal). For one, while central banks empowered to act as LOLR were commonplace in Western Europe by the middle of the 19th century, central banks were not created in the US until 1913, in Canada until 1935, and in Australia until 1959. The techniques of lending of last resort varied across countries and were deeply influenced by local conditions and institutions. Collateral rules for LOLR loans, including haircuts, have varied markedly across institutions and over time. In some cases only banks were eligible for emergency lending, in other cases such as in the influential British experience, lending was extended also to nonbanks. Finally, LOLR assistance sometimes has not been limited to loans, or to central bank operations. Government assistance through credit guarantees, preferred stock, and common stock investments has been a feature of LOLR assistance in response to particularly severe financial system shocks as early as the late 19th century. History of the Lender of Last Resort In a recent paper (Calomiris et al. 2016), we examine the history of the development of the LOLR throughout the world, and explore how politics and economics interacted to produce the heterogeneous evolution of LOLR structures and actions around the world. Do such differences merely reflect differences in economic fundamentals that LOLR respond to, or also differences in the operational frameworks of central banks and political support for government assistance? We define LOLR as central bank or government assistance to financial intermediaries in the form of emergency loans, guarantees, or asset purchases (including preferred or common stock purchases) to provide the needed liquidity or financial strength to end runs on short-term debt claims. Those actions allow financial intermediaries to continue to provide transaction services through the payments system and to provide credit to borrowers without access to capital markets. Our historical account shows that differences in the structure and function of lenders of last resort reflect major political obstacles to establishing LOLRs and adopting effective rules for LOLR policy, and cannot be explained by economic differences alone. This was the case in early 19th century Britain, where the institutional changes that gave the Bank of England LOLR powers and responsibilities, following a succession of banking crises, were controversial and contested. In the US, the development of a LOLR was delayed as a result of political opposition, and when the Federal Reserve System was created in 1913, its structure and powers were circumscribed by restrictive legislation. The Feds powers were narrowly confined to engaging in collateralised rediscounts and advances on certain classes of assets with member banks. In contrast, the Bank of England was permitted ample room for improvisation. The experiences of Canada and Australia also illustrate unique central bank chartering outcomes, which reflect their own political histories. Canadas classically liberal political environment eschewed central banking until 1935. Instead, Canada relied on interbank coordination to avoid banking crises. The establishment of the Bank of Canada in 1935 reflected monetary goals rather than any perceived failings due to the absence of a LOLR. Australia did not create a full-fledged central bank until 1959, which was the culmination of a protracted political struggle over the appropriate allocation of power over money and credit. More recently, political constraints that reflect the allocation of political powers within the euro area have played an important role in defining and limiting LOLR actions of the ECB to deal with banking crises within the euro area. The LOLR is a locus of political power, and as such, its creation should be viewed as the outcome of a political bargain (Calomiris and Haber 2014). It is therefore not surprising that countries differed in their propensity to create LOLRs, and in the powers with which they chose to endow them. LOLRs began as collateralised lenders empowered and required to provide credit to banks that were otherwise unable to fund their needs during crises, but LOLRs statutory powers changed over time in varied ways. We trace changes over time in the approaches used by central banks and governments to deal with financial crises from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. We identify a shift in the scope of LOLRs away from a narrow reliance on collateralised lending to an approach including also other forms of support, including credit guarantees, preferred stock assistance, and other mechanisms. We relate this shift in part to the need to expand LOLR activity to a broader set of interventions in the case of systemic banking crises. Although the mechanisms and reach of LOLRs expanded to include a wide variety of tools, which were employed to deal with varied circumstances, until the 1980s, most countries managed to construct policies that dealt with systemic threats while avoiding blanket protection of all banks liabilities. Even though LOLR assistance evolved to include approaches other than collateralised lending, historical assistance was selectively used only to address systemic threats, and when assistance was provided, it adhered to what we refer to as Bagehots Principles, building on Bagehots (1873) treatise: central banks were encouraged to focus on the health of the financial system, rather than on the fate of individual banks. Failure of financial institutions was permitted unless there was a credible systemic risk associated with their failing. During episodes of systemic crises, LOLRs would take on some default risk as a necessary part of their role in assisting the banking system, but only within limits banks as a whole had to bear most of the risk from such assistance. The participation of banks in risk sharing ensured that assistance would be selective. Although historical LOLR assistance did not follow an explicit rule, because its structure generally adhered to Bagehots principles, assistance minimised adverse fiscal and moral hazard consequences. In many countries, including Britain and France, the structure of LOLR operations was explicitly intended to prevent severe fiscal consequences. While effective interventions necessarily involved risk taking by the LOLR, they usually turned out to be profitable at least when measured on an ex post, cash-flow basis because support was provided at a high price and with limited risk, taking advantage of the central banks monopoly position in the provision of liquidity. After WWII, and especially after the 1970s, generous safety net protection became the norm, and in some cases offered unlimited depositor protection (at least ex post). Unlimited protection eliminates the risk of depositor loss and prevents any bank of significant size from failing, regardless of whether the bank poses a true systemic risk. Such protection is generally achieved via a combination of deposit insurance and ad hoc government bailouts of banks through injections of taxpayer funds. Protecting risky banks from the discipline of deposit withdrawals keeps bank credit flowing, which can be particularly beneficial to politicians anticipating an election, but such protection entails social costs in the form of greater risk-taking and large potential fiscal consequences due to long-term financial losses of protected banks, and output losses from the financial crises that protection encourages. A Comparison Across Countries We perform a detailed comparison of 40 countries statutory provisions for central bank lending in 1960, and follow the changes in LOLR legislation in 12 of those countries from 1960 to 2010. We measure differences in central banks LOLR powers across several dimensions and consider possible explanations of those differences. We find that countries differ greatly in the extent of their LOLRs statutory powers. Those powers change little over time, except in response to crises. Countries with relatively powerful LOLRs in 1960 in particular, those whose LOLRs enjoyed the power to issue guarantees tended to be less generous in their level of deposit insurance coverage as of 1980. These findings suggest there may be some substitutability between LOLR activities and depositor protection. Our historical analysis shows that, in general, there has been a lack of clear rules established by government that determine what sort of assistance can be supplied by the LOLR, and the process that determines how assistance would be provided. Instead, assistance by central banks and governments usually has been provided through ad hoc responses to events. Obviously, rules matter because they affect incentives of market participants and thus can limit moral hazard. If banks know that assistance will be limited to certain circumstances and provided according to pre-established rules, that creates an incentive for banks to manage risk and maintain liquidity and capital to protect themselves from risks that are not protected. Furthermore, if market participants are aware of a commitment by the government or the central bank to provide LOLR assistance to address systemic risks, the expectation of assistance can help to stabilise the financial system by acting on market participants expectations. Concluding RTemarks We conclude that the LOLR function should strike a balance between the need to respond to severe systemic shocks in a flexible and timely manner and the desire to mitigate moral hazard through pre-established ruled that set limits on assistance. We also recognise, however, that failures to achieve the proper balance reflect the central reality of LOLR design, which is that LOLRs are the outcomes of political bargains. Authors note: The views expressed here are our own and should not be interpreted to reflect the views of the ECB. References Bagehot, W. [1873] (1962), Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market, Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin. Bindseil, U. (2014), Monetary Policy Operations and the Financial System, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bignon, V., M. Flandreau, and S. Ugolini (2012), Bagehot for Beginners: The Making of Lender-of-Last-Resort Operations in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. The Economic History Review, 65, pp. 580608. Bordo, M. D., (1990), The Lender of Last Resort: Alternative Views and Historical Experience, Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, January/February, pp. 18-29. Calomiris, C. W., M. Flandreau, and L. Laeven (2016), Political Foundations of the Lender of Last Resort: A Global Historical Narrative, CEPR Discussion Paper No 11448. Calomiris, C. W., and S. H. Haber (2014), Fragile By Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Scientists use nanotechnology to prevent oil spill disaster (Nanowerk News) Since 2010's tragic events, which saw BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster desecrate the Gulf of Mexico, oil safety has been on the forefront of the environmental debate and media outrage. In line with the mounting concerns continuing to pique public attention, at the end of this month, Hollywood will release its own biopic of the event. As can be expected, more questions will be raised about what exactly went wrong, in addition to fresh criticism aimed at the entire industry. One question that is likely to emerge is how do we prevent such a calamity from ever happening again? Fortunately, some of the brightest minds in science have been preparing for such an answer. One team that has been focusing on this dilemma is Alberta-based, multi-disciplinary research initiative Ingenuity Lab. The institution has just secured $1.7m in project funding for developing a highly advanced system for recovering oil from oil spills. This injection of capital will enable Ingenuity Lab to conduct new research and develop commercial production processes for recovering heavy oil spills in marine environments. The technology is centred on cutting edge nanowire-based stimuli-responsive membranes and devices that are capable for recovering oil. Oil is a common pollutant in our oceans; more than three million metric tonnes contaminate the sea each year. When crude oil is accidentally released into a body of water by an oil tanker, refinery, storage facility, underwater pipeline or offshore oil-drilling rig, it is an environmental emergency of the most urgent kind. Depending on the location, oil spills can be highly hazardous, as well as environmentally destructive. Consequently, a timely clean up is absolutely crucial in order to protect the integrity of the water, the shoreline and the numerous creatures that depend on these habitats. Due to increased scrutiny of the oil industry with regard to its unseemly environmental track record, attention must be focused on the development of new materials and technologies for removing organic contaminants from waterways. Simply put, existing methods are not sufficiently robust. Fortuitously, however, nanotechnology has opened the door for the development of sophisticated new tools that use specifically designed materials with properties that are ideally suited to enable complex separations, including the separation of crude oil from water. Cleaning concrete contaminated with chemicals (Nanowerk News) In March 1995, members of a Japanese cult released the deadly nerve agent sarin into the Tokyo subway system, killing a dozen people and injuring a thousand more. This leads to the question: What if a U.S. transportation hub was contaminated with a chemical agent? The hub might be shut down for weeks, which could have a substantial economic impact. Craig Tenney, a chemical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, is looking for better ways to clean contaminated concrete to reduce that impact. We cant just rip out and replace the affected concrete that would be too expensive, said Tenney. We need to decontaminate it and make it safe. The public has to be confident enough to come back and use the affected facility. Sandia National Laboratories chemical engineer Craig Tenney analyzes modeling results at the John B. Robert Dam in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tenney uses computer simulations to examine how chemicals soak into concrete to better decontaminate concrete structures after a spill or other incident. The project, funded by Sandias Laboratory Directed Research & Development program, uses computer simulations to examine how chemical agents soak into and bind within concrete. The power of the simulations is that researchers can glimpse details they cant obtain experimentally. Researchers can expose a concrete block to a chemical, try to clean it and then detect the remaining chemicals, but that doesnt allow them to watch what is happening on the inside, Tenney explained. Decontaminating concrete is difficult because its chemically and physically complex. Tenney said he and his team need details of the chemical interactions that occur in concrete so they can design new decontamination methods and mixtures. Concretes nitty-gritty details Concrete has been used since the Roman era and is everywhere: building foundations, sidewalks, even specialized underground seals and linings. But its ubiquity masks remarkable chemical complexity and physical intricacy, said Ed Matteo, a chemical engineer with expertise in cement durability. Like a cake, the recipe for concrete can change depending on how spongy, or porous, it needs to be, but the major ingredients remain the same. Roasted and finely ground limestone and clay make up the flour, which is mixed with water to form the gluey dough called cement. Concrete is just cement with sand or gravel added to bulk up the mix. Other ingredients can be added to tweak properties, such as the time it takes to set. On the chemical level, cement is made up of many minerals including aluminosilicates from clay, calcium oxide of quicklime and even potassium hydroxide from potash. But the most important component is amorphous calcium silicate hydrate, the glue of the glue, said Matteo. Cement loves water and is extremely alkaline. All this affects how chemicals react with concrete. In addition to its chemical complexity, concrete is intricately spongy and thus really hard to clean up. It may not look like it from the outside, but concrete is full of microscopic pores that allow a concrete structure to grab onto chemicals and sometimes breathe them back out. That means even if the concrete surface is cleaned, dangerous chemicals from an event could still be hiding deep inside. Breaking down the problem into bite-sized pieces Building upon Sandias long-standing expertise in molecular-scale geochemical simulations, Tenney and his team modeled several long-lasting, oily chemical agents to see how they react and move within tiny water-loving concrete pores: where they spend their time and how they degrade. These simulations monitored several molecules of chemical agents wiggling for several nanoseconds in nanometer-sized pores 5,000 to 10,000 times narrower than a human hair. The team validated the simulations against what little experimental data is available, which provided a good starting point. Building on that knowledge and his expertise in atomic-scale models of chemical reactions, Chris OBrien, a computational materials science postdoctoral researcher, looked at how chemical agents degrade in concrete. He modeled an agent bound to several representative concrete environments and watched how this interaction hastened or slowed the natural break-down process. He plans to expand to other chemical agents, time and funding permitting. The team will use the results to determine the best way to decontaminate concrete exposed to nasty chemicals. Solving the larger problem Tenney and his team still have much to do before they can suggest better decontamination mixtures for concrete, but they have determined how strongly various agents stick to concrete pores and which ones clump together. Tenney would like to team up with geochemists to look at the larger picture. Using information gained from the nanoscale models as a starting point, they would look at larger bits of concrete, still smaller than a human hair, and watch how chemical agents soak into the concrete. Once they understand the transport of chemical agents in concrete, Tenney says, they can suggest decontamination mixtures that would move similarly, following an agent to its hiding place within the porous concrete. One strength of the computer models is that they allow fairly rapid evaluation of different possible decontamination solutions, often much faster than experiments. This will let Tenneys team screen many different formulations to see which ones are best at pulling agents out of concrete or away from each other. Another future goal is to experimentally test these new decontamination methods on concrete contaminated with sample chemicals to validate the insights gained from the computer modeling. What they learn from the computational models could lead to more accurate field tests, said Tenney. Tests that accurately determine the areas impacted by an event and whether the cleaning was effective would improve the efficiency and reliability of decontamination. WWE Superstar AJ Styles takes on a weekend of NASCAR with Corey LaJoie See the photos from WWE wrestler AJ Styles' weekend at the Charlotte Roval as he gets the full NASCAR experience alongside Corey LaJoie. Goldman Sachs has passed its first compliance test as part of its mortgage-related settlement agreements, the independent monitor reported Friday. Eric Green, who is the monitor of the consumer-relief portions of the agreements, determined that Goldman Sachs' approach to calculating the credit it should receive for loan modifications and other forms of relief was "logical and appropriate." That sets the stage for Goldman Sachs to begin recording consumer relief activities in earnest. "In the coming months, we should get a clearer picture of how quickly Goldman Sachs is delivering on its consumer-relief obligations and how much of what kind of relief is being delivered," Green said in a news release. Green's determination was based on the forgiveness or extinguishment of the debt owed to Goldman Sachs on five first-lien mortgage loans, five second-lien mortgage loans, and 90 junior-lien or unsecured mortgage loans, representing roughly $2.1 million of reportable credit. The loans were located across 11 states, with 66 in Department of Housing and Urban Development-identified "Hardest Hit Areas" that contain large concentrations of distressed properties and foreclosures. On average, the first-lien principal forgiven was more than $55,000. Future submissions will likely include more consumer relief than what was included in the 100 loans in the initial batch analyzed. Per the settlement agreements, Goldman Sachs can receive "Enhanced Early Incentive Credit" of 150% for relief provided by the end of November 2016 and "Early Incentive Credit" of 115% for certain consumer relief activities offered or completed by the end of June 2017. Goldman Sachs agreed to $1.8 billion in consumer relief as part of its $5.06 billion settlements with the Department of Justice, California, Illinois, New York, the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Des Moines. The agreements settled legal claims regarding Goldman Sachs' sale, marketing, structuring, issuance and underwriting of mortgage-backed securities. Green's first quarterly report on Goldman Sachs' consumer relief efforts is expected to be issued at the end of next January. Xenith Bankshares in Richmond, Va., is getting out of the mortgage origination business. The $2 billion-asset holding company disclosed in a regulatory filing that its Xenith Bank agreed on Friday with Gateway Bank Mortgage in Wilmington, N.C., to sell certain assets to Cornerstone Home Lending, a multistate lender based in Houston. Under the agreement, Cornerstone will pay Xenith Bank $86,657 in exchange for Gateway's furniture and equipment and its rights to real property leases and other assets necessary to operate Gateway's business. The bank will also transition Gateway's operations, which include originating, closing, funding and selling first-lien residential mortgage loans, to Cornerstone. When the deal closes, Gateway will be required to stop accepting new mortgage loan applications, though it will continue to manage all applications still being processed, according to a press release accompanying the filing. Xenith Bank and Gateway expect the application process and investor funding of the loans to be "substantially complete" by Dec. 31. Xenith said it decided to leave the mortgage business because of the regulatory compliance costs and the scale required to compete in the mortgage banking market, among other reasons. T. Gaylon Layfield III, Xenith Bankshares' chief executive, said in the release that while Gateway "contributed to our earnings, we did not believe our share of the earnings was adequate to compensate our shareholders for the risks inherent in the mortgage banking business." Militants conducted 18 attacks on Ukrainian army positions on September 18; no heavy weapons were used, the anti-terrorist operation press center said on Facebook on Monday. Three violations of the truce were observed in the Luhansk sector. According to the report, the militants staged armed provocations near Novooleksandrivka and Novozvanivka by using small arms for harassing fire. Nine violations of the truce were seen in the Mariupol area. Militants fired machineguns and small arms on Mariinka, Pavlopil and Starohnativka, the report said. The Donetsk sector saw six violations of the truce. Militants conducted most attacks in the Avdiyivka industrial zone, where Ukrainian army positions came under attack of grenade launchers, machineguns and small arms. Small arms were also used by militants in Verkhniotoretske. Long-range rifles were used in Mariupol and Donetsk sectors. The enemy sent sniper teams to the areas of Maryinka and Avdiyivka, Kyiv said. Three drones were seen flying in the anti-terrorist operation's (ATO) zone over the past day, the report said. The Ukrainian Armed Forces strictly complied with the Minsk agreements despite the provocations, the anti-terrorist operation staff said. Ukraine's Rada registers draft decree on recognizing parliamentary elections in Russia as illegitimate over voting in Crimea The faction People's Front has registered in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada a draft decree on recognizing the elections to the Russian State Duma as illegitimate over the voting in Crimea. "We are asking all factions to support this decree," Arseniy Yatseniuk, leader of the People's Front party, told a briefing in Kyiv on Monday. The United States does not recognize the results of the elections to the Russian State Duma held on the territory of Crimea, State Department spokesman John Kirby has said. "The United States does not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome, of the Russian Duma elections planned for Russian-occupied Crimea on September 18," reads a statement by Kirby posted on the official website of the U.S. State Department. "Our position on Crimea is clear: the peninsula remains an integral part of Ukraine. Crimea-related sanctions against Russia will remain until Russia returns control of Crimea to Ukraine," the diplomat said. He also expressed deep concerned about the humanitarian situation in Crimea, including the status of the ethnic Tatar community and widespread reports of missing persons and human rights abuses. Ukraine condemns the conduct of the elections to the Russian State Duma in Crimea and will hand to its international partners a list of people directly involved in the organization of this process in Crimea for their inclusion in sanction lists. "Ukraine strongly condemns the organization by the Russian Federation of the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the seventh convocation on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. [...] Ukraine will hand over to all its international partners, a list of persons directly involved in the organization of the electoral farce in Crimea and those who participated in the illegal elections, for their inclusion in the sanctions lists," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday. Voices for Vaccines controlled by pro-vaccine shell organization created by Emory University Establishment quack Paul Offit behind Voices for Vaccines scam Voices for Vaccines traces back to Rockefeller family, World Bank and UN (NaturalNews) Harrowed by a growing and unstoppable public awakening about the dangers and futility of vaccines, the vaccine industry has taken to social media and the blogging world with a desperate new propaganda campaign known as "Voices for Vaccines," which claims to be a "non-profit organization run by volunteer parents" in support of vaccines. But a closer look into who actually runs this latest pro-vaccine scam reveals that it is the work of none other than the vaccine industry itself, with the help of its buddies in the federal government and academia.Investigative journalist Jeffry John Aufderheide fromrecently published a groundbreaking report uncovering this shameless attempt at mass indoctrination, exposing the "man behind the curtain," so to speak, pulling the strings over at Voices for Vaccines. Far from the grassroots effort that it feigns to be, Voices for Vaccines is controlled almost entirely by interests connected with the vaccine industry, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Emory University near Atlanta, Georgia, both of which aggressively promote vaccines.As a little background, the CDC was responsible for funding the infamous Danish study that claimed, falsely, to havethat vaccines do not cause autism. The lead author of this faux-study, as we reported back in 2011, was later indicted on charges of fraud and money laundering, which the CDC and others downplayed in their quest to destroy the legitimate work of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, whose inquiry into the gastrointestinal effects of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine became the "shot heard 'round the world," so to speak, in deconstructing pro-vaccine pseudoscience.The lead author of the Danish study, Poul Thorsen of Aarhus University, had previously held a full-time position at none other than Emory University, which just so happens to be very intimately involved with the CDC, both geographically and politically. Essentially sharing the same campus in Decatur, Georgia, Emory and the CDC have long shared many of the same employees as well, the epitome of "revolving door" cronyism that for decades has governed the policymaking efforts of these two organizations.And this is exactly the same corrupt impetus behind the new Voices for Vaccines campaign, which it turns out is the brainchild of Emory and the CDC on behalf of the vaccine industry. Through a slick corporate whitewashing effort, this unholy trinity has managed to discreetly funnel money from powerful interests into an "astroturfing" campaign --is a term used to describe the highly manipulative tactic of paying people to pretend to support something in order to generate actual public support for it -- pretending to be regular parents in support of vaccines.On the surface, Voices for Vaccines appears to be a grassroots effort instigated by volunteer moms who feel so strongly about the importance of vaccines that they decided to start a blog about them. But a closer look reveals that the real entity behind Voices for Vaccines isindependent parents but Emory University, through a shell charity organization the school runs known as the Task Force for Global Health (TFGH).A simple whois domain inquiry, the screenshot of which is posted at, reveals that TFGH is, indeed, the registered owner behind the Voices for Vaccines website. Aufderheide's incredible investigative work also proves that TFGH is a direct affiliate of Emory University, andof its employees are actually Emory University employees as well.What makes this problematic is the fact that TFGH's scientific advisory board is composed entirely of pro-vaccine shills who all have connections to either the vaccine industry, the pro-vaccine CDC, or other organizations with a vested interest in promoting vaccines at all costs. The director of TFGH, Alan Hinman, used to be the direct of the CDC's Immunization Division, and also led a third-world vaccine program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.The four Voices for Vaccines advisory board members underneath Hinman have similar affiliations, all having previously worked, or currently working, for either the CDC or pro-vaccine organizations being funded by the CDC. And in every case, each member has received some kind of funding, whether direct or indirect, from the vaccine industry.Included on this board is the infamous vaccine hawk Paul Offit, who once stated that infants have the theoretical capacity to safely be injected with 10,000 vaccines at once. Offit also holds a patent on a rotavirus vaccine along with a man by the name of Stanley Plotkin, who -- surprise! -- is also a Voices for Vaccines advisory member. Both Offit and Plotkin continue to receive royalties from drug giant Merck & Co. for this vaccine.But the rabbit hole goes even deeper. During his investigation, Aufderheide discovered that TFGH, the organization controlling Voices for Vaccines, was actually created to serve as the administrative hub for globalist eugenics organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the United Nations (UN) and the Rockefeller Foundation.Each of these organizations heavily promotes vaccines, and the Rockefeller connection in particular, as explained in the book, proves that the ultimate goal behind this incestuous network of pro-vaccine propaganda is to seize control of what the public views as science. In this case, that agenda clearly involves infiltrating and controlling both academia (Emory) and government (CDC) to further the vaccine agenda."Theprogram at the Task Force for Global Health may be administered by a few mothers, but they are not the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes," writes Aufderheide. "Furthermore, the past, present and future relationships with the Centers for Disease Control, Emory University, and pharmaceutical companies should immediately raise a red flag for any parent."Aufderheide's game-changing investigation into the revolving door between the vaccine industry, the CDC and Emory University can be accessed here: The benefits of the 'Green Revolution' lasted less than two decades before threatening India's food and water supply State of Punjab, where commercial agriculture was first introduced, now has the country's highest cancer rates 'This is an issue of health, of environment, of future generations' (NaturalNews) Thousands of farmers throughout India are reverting to traditional farming methods, as the consequences of Western agriculture have begun to negatively impact the region's food and water supply, as well as the health of its people.More than 40 years after the "Green Revolution," a period in which India's agriculture yields skyrocketed following the introduction of commercial agriculture techniques, farmers are returning to traditional, organic methods that date back centuries.In a last ditch attempt to save the country's resources and the health of its people, India has emerged as a global leader in organic farming , welcoming 600,000 certified producers.In the 1970s and 1980s, the "Green Revolution" introduced farmers in the state of Punjab to synthetic fertilizers, high-yield seeds and irrigation, which transformed the country into an economic powerhouse, allowing it to produce enough wheat and rice to feed a once starving population.Through the use of commercial agriculture, including synthetic fertilizers such as urea ad phosphate, Punjab produced nearly two-thirds of the country's wheat and rice in the 1980s and 1990s, lining the pockets of farmers as gross incomes rose nearly 8 percent in just one year, according toWhile offering a sense of hope to a country that was once in turmoil, it soon became clear that the West's version of farming was not sustainable. Because the seeds were high-yield, they required a lot of water more water than was naturally available through rainfall causing farmers to begin drilling in fields, searching for water for irrigation.The state's water supply became threatened due to the constant drilling, as well as contamination caused by the large amounts of chemicals that were increasingly being poured into the soil.As the damage to the state's water supply continued to threaten the region's soil and waterways, a public health crisis was declared in Punjab in the 1990s, just 20 years after growers were essentially forced into commercial agriculture techniques that were backed by U.S. advisors and giant seed companies like Monsanto.Research began to emerge linking the widely used chemicals to severe health issues, including "premature aging, skeletal issues and threats to children's health," reportsPunjab now has the highest rate of cancer in the country, according to J.S. Thakur, a researcher at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.Unhealthy and unsustainable, commercial agriculture has begun to be replaced by many Punjab growers who say they don't need chemicals anymore. Tired of the "vicious cycle of chemical-based farming," some farmers in Punjab are using crop rotation methods, which balance the soil by planting crops that leave nitrogen for future crops to consume. Organic farming can initially be much more difficult because farmers do not receive government subsidies for chemical fertilizers, but once their fields have grown naturally fruitful, their earnings are higher, as they can sell organic produce for much more.Some organic farmers in Punjab have increased their income from $391 per acre to at least $469 per acre, in addition to saving money on pesticides. Today, thanks to the awakening of many farmers , Punjab has approximately 1,500 hectares of certified organic land.In an effort to reverse the environmental damage caused by commercial farming, India's government is beginning to encourage natural farming by lending its support to the Ministry of Agriculture's organic farming plan, which is aimed at improving soil health.Others are more skeptical about the government's new attitude towards organic farming. "There is no subsidy, no shift," said Devinder Sharma, an agricultural researcher, who says there aren't any examples of the government subsidizing organic farming."No one is thinking on how to subsidize organic farming and move away from chemicals. There's just no political will." A loophole so big, you could drive a GMO food truck through it Thanks, Obama Five U.S. states could fully legalize marijuana Some states considering legal pot have weak support, polls show Federal government refuses to declassify marijuana (NaturalNews) This year's election could have sweeping impacts on cannabis legislation nationwide , as numerous states gear up to vote on important regulations regarding America's most beloved plant.In roughly two months, citizens in five states will vote on whether or not to fully legalize recreational cannabis, while another four states will consider legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes Some experts say that the measures could affect the way the federal government views marijuana. Currently, 25 states and the District of Columbia have some sort of law regulating cannabis.Four states, including Alaska, Oregon, Colorado and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia, have legalized the plant for recreational use, according toMarijuana is considered legal for medicinal use in several other states, including New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Montana, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts.Virginia reportedly enacted a law 10 years ago allowing the possession of marijuana among individuals who have received a prescription for the plant. However, federal law prevented physicians from doing so, leaving the law null and void.reports that if the proposed measures are not passed come November, "a string of defeats would signal public unease about condoning the use of an intoxicating substance that isn't tobacco or alcohol. Defeats would suggest that opponents' longstanding criticisms of the legal marijuana industry are making inroads among voters."California is one of the states that could make recreational marijuana legal, affecting some 40 million people and the already existing $2.7 billion cannabis market. If approved, the sales could mushroom to more than $6 billion in just a few years, thereports.Nevada is another state looking to legalize recreational marijuana, which would be a boon to its tourism industry. Proponents of full marijuana legalization are working with about $1 million in funds, while opponents have zero.Arizona, which passed medical marijuana legislation in 2010, is the third state looking to fully legalize the plant. Home to a significant number of snow birds and elderly folks, if passed the measure is sure to have many benefits. However, polls show weak support (only 39 percent) for the full legalization of marijuana.Massachusetts is also considering full legalization of marijuana; however, like Arizona, the measure has little support, with just 41 percent of voters in favor of it.Maine is the fifth state considering full marijuana legalization. Polls from earlier this year show that upwards of 50 percent intend to vote for the measure."That initiative was nearly derailed when Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap invalidated tens of thousands of petition signatures necessary to put the measure on the ballot. But a judge reversed Dunlap's decision on an appeal from the pro-legalization campaign, clearing the measure's way forward," thereports.Finally, states considering legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes include Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana, the latter of which approved medical pot in 2004, but had the measure essentially reversed in 2011, following legislation preventing dispensaries "from charging for their services beyond the cost of recouping a licensing fee."In early August, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) rejected attempts made by two Democratic governors to ease restrictions on marijuana. The agency stood firm on its current classification for the plant, keeping it as a schedule I drug.Schedule I drugs include substances or chemicals considered to have no "currently accepted medical use," and "a high potential for abuse," according to the DEA. Other drugs in this category include heroin, LSD, ecstasy, meth and peyote. Even cocaine and meth, Schedule II drugs, have a lower classification than marijuana. Monsanto engineers a market monopoly yet again Monsanto turning farmers against one another, burdening them with fines (NaturalNews) The audacious games Monsanto plays on this planet, manipulating genomes, manufacturing toxins and betting away human health, cause perpetual havoc.Take for instance the herbicide dicamba . For decades this toxin has been licensed for use on grassy-type crops such as wheat and sod. Its use has been restricted elsewhere, especially on sensitive soybean and cotton crops. Monsanto is now turning farmers against one another, causing them to be fined for the damage that this herbicide is causing.In 2005, as their original glyphosate herbicide was failing, Monsanto set out to re-engineer a market monopoly which would include a new herbicide called dicamba and corresponding GM seeds that could withstand the chemical. The biotech juggernauts tweaked their approach and engineered a dicamba-resistant soybean and cotton seed called Xtend, so that they could increase their control over the market.Since then, farmers using the dicamba resistant soybean and cotton seeds have unleashed dicamba across thousands of acres of U.S. croplands. One of the biggest problems with this is that dicamba drifts easily, spreading to nearby fields and killing crops that are not genetically engineered to withstand the onslaught.Monsanto has therefore created a situation of crop destruction and farmer division. Farmers are at increasing odds with one another now, because dicamba from one farm drifts onto others, wiping out thousands of acres of cropland that cannot handle the chemical attack.Did Monsanto orchestrate this to force all farmers to buy into their dicamba resistant seeds?One farmer named Landon Hayes, who grows earlier generation soybeans in Campbell, Missouri, has no choice but to switch to Monsanto's new generation of genetically engineered seeds. Hayes lost 500 acres of his crops because of dicamba drift. He is now trapped into buying Monsanto's newest version of the seeds and spraying them with dicamba. "They knew that people would buy it just to protect themselves," Hayes spoke. "You're pretty well going to have to. It's a good marketing strategy, I guess. It kind of sucks for us."In this chemical-intensive method of agriculture, corporations like Monsanto manipulate farmers into desperate situations where they feel like they have no choice. This sadistic Monsanto strategy will only perpetuate the inevitable, forcing every soybean farmer in the Midwest to eventually fall in line with the genetically modified, chemically-intensive agricultural approach or risk losing everything they own.Federal and state regulations forbid farmers from using dicamba on these sensitive commodity crops. The U.S. EPA has approved dicamba for use on 12 other crops, but not on soybeans and cotton. Monsanto is currently awaiting EPA approval for its most advanced version of dicamba, manufactured specifically for their newest lab development of Xtend cotton and soybean seeds.Monsanto spokeswoman, Christi Dixon, blames the farmers for using dicamba on the Xtend brand line of crops. She claims that Monsanto took "extensive steps" to remind growers that it's illegal to use the chemical on soybeans and cotton.Despite the corporation's warnings, their chemical has been used en masse, drifting wildly and destroying farms throughout the Midwest. Missouri alone has fielded 117 complaints regarding dicamba misuse. More than 42,000 acres have been adversely affected across the state.Since Monsanto has blamed farmers for the dicamba problem, some farmers are starting to wake up to how the company plays them like pawns. Lawmakers levy fines on farmers for dicamba "misuse" ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.For vegetable farmers the problem with dicamba drift is also likely to become an increasing burden, since they won't be able to turn to dicamba resistant seeds to save their farms. They will just have to endure the losses, as Monsanto profits from their position on top of the pyramid scheme.It's a sickening form of control that must be broken. According to a recent report by Malwarebytes, an anti-malware software company, a whopping 39 percent of the 540 companies from the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom surveyed in June 2016 suffered some form of ransomware attack in the prior 12 months. These attacks were most common in healthcare-related industries, but significant impact was also noted in the financial services, banking and insurance industries. Of the 165 U.S.-based companies participating, 85 percent reported being subject to some form of cyber-attack and 50 percent specifically encountered a ransomware incident. As these statistics make clear, the odds are that sooner or later, if your company has data it needs to access in order to operate (what company doesnt?), your operations will be impacted by this pervasive form of malware. What is Ransomware? Ransomware is a unique type of malware that seeks not to steal data from a computer system, but rather, sets out to block users from accessing information stored in their systems. Any business that utilizes computers to store data that is essential to day-to-day operations is vulnerable to a malware attack. In the case of a ransomware attack, it does not matter that a business does not store any personal financial information or health data on its systemsall that matters is computers are needed to keep things up and running. Ransomware attacks do not discriminate based on company size, and small companies have found themselves targeted by cyber criminals. Ransomware can be unintentionally and unknowingly downloaded when visiting malicious or infected/compromised websites. It can also get into a system through other malware inserted onto a single users computer or, more commonly, downloaded by an unwitting user opening an attachment to spam email. Each one of these routes of attack relies on lack of discipline by curious computer users and highlights the need for organizations to educate employees to understand the need to exercise care in visiting websites and opening suspicious email attachments, or avoiding anything that just does not seem right. There are generally two types of ransomware: one locks a systems computer screens, and the other seeks out and ties up files that are likely to be important such as documents, databases and spreadsheets. In either case, all known attacks have been accompanied by a demand for payment, usually in electronic currency such as bitcoins. TrendMicro, an IT security company, has published an excellent history of the evolution of this threat as it migrated from Russia to a matter of global concern. Recent Attacks A brief review of the recent attacks illustrates the pervasive and insidious nature of the ransomware threat: Rokenbok Education: This seven-employee, not-for-profit maker of educational toys was the target of a ransomware attack at the start of the 2015 December holiday season; this is a critical time for any retailers success. While it is unclear how the malware entered the companys computer system, just as holiday orders were coming in, the company discovered that it was unable to access any of its database files. Confronted with a demand for payment in bitcoin, the company instead opted to cease operations for four days while the company rebuilt its key data systems. Incredibly, Rokenbok had been hit by a different form of malware attack, a denial of service, earlier in the year. Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center: In mid-February 2016, administrators at this 434-bed medical center discovered they had lost access to parts of the facilitys computer system. Patient records, billing information and all other data was locked down by the attack. Initial reports indicated the hackers responsible demanded 9,000 bitcoin (about $3,000,000). After 10 days of being forced to operate by writing down patient orders, having limited access to patient notes and communicating via fax, hospital administrators agreed to make a payment of 40 bitcoin ($17,000) to regain control of their operating systems. It remains unclear whether the hospital alerted authorities prior to agreeing to make the ransom payment. Richmond (Virginia) Region Tourism: One morning in May 2016, employees at this regional tourism office received a seemingly innocuous email with an attachment from Amazon.com. Several employees immediately deleted the message. One person who had coincidentally placed an order with Amazon the day before opened the attachment and opened the door to the offices computer system to a serious malware attack. Within 30 minutes, every file on the system was locked. Every attempt to access the system only caused a ransom message to appear on the users screen. Typical of this kind of attack, the message started off with a relatively modest demand for payment along with a promise to erase the entire system if the ransom demand was not met prior to a countdown clock expiring. The ransom demand increased as the clock came closer to running out. Rather than pay, Richmond Region Tourism called in a computer security firm that worked to isolate the attack and assisted in restoration of the locked files from a backup system. The total cost of this attack was estimated at $2,500. Law Firm Attacks: Solo practitioner Paul Goodson and the Redlands, California firm of Ziprick and Cramer LLP were recently attacked by ransomware that deprived them of access to client files. Goodson attempted to pay the very modest $300 ransom demanded of him but failed to do so within the 36-hour time limit set by the ransomware, which then deleted all of his files. The Ziprick firm declined to pay the ransom, alerted authorities and notified clients of the security breach. Fortunately for the firm, minimal data was lost due to its maintenance of a robust backup system for all files. Plainfield, New Jersey: On March 21, 2016, The Washington Post reported the City of Plainfield had been the latest municipality hit with ransomware, as three servers containing a variety of memoranda, city newsletters and official files were rendered inaccessible. The hackers responsible demanded 650 euro, payable in bitcoin, to release the files. When law enforcement was notified, the hackers disappeared and the city was left to muddle on without access to these files. Similar attacks have been launched against Ilion, New York and the Melrose Massachusetts police department, the latter paying slightly under $500 in bitcoin to regain access to its systems. Gaming Apps: Proof that no target is too small for cyber criminals, internet technology security firms have confirmed the existence of ransomware posing as a Pokemon Go related app. This new version of a well-known form of malware inserts itself into a users phone, encrypts all data stored therein and presents a demand for payment of .1 bitcoin (about $57). One variation of this virus also creates a backdoor into a phones windows operating system. Internet security experts have not determined why this is being done. Protect Yourself and Your Company To date, while some ransom demands have been shockingly large, actual payments accepted to release locked-up systems have been relatively modest. There is, however, no guarantee this will remain the casein fact, the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center indicates that in 2015 it received nearly 2,500 reports of ransomware attacks in which victims paid in excess of $24,000,000 to secure access to their own data. The $57 demand to cell phone users, however, should serve as a prominent reminder that these cyber criminals will attack any target, large or small. In fact, small businesses often make the easiest targets for this kind of attack. They often believe they lack the resources to establish a robust cyber-security protocol. The ultimate cost of the failure to do so can, however, be devastating. A single attack has the potential to put a small business out of operation for a long period of time, perhaps causing fatal damage to its operations. Compounding the problem is that many such businesses do not have highly skilled IT personnel on staff, meaning the initial response to a ransomeware (or any kind of cyber) attack is often handled by someone without the expertise to deal with the situation effectively. The real key is to ensure staff is trained in basic internet security precautions. This includes not opening emails from unknown sources, not bringing unauthorized memory sticks into the business, not clicking on links to unknown websites and use of strong and unique passwords for both personal and business accounts and devices. Training and reminding staff of these very basic precautions can greatly reduce a companys risk of learning about ransomware and bitcoin the hard way. Looking for more on how data privacy and digital security will affect your business? Join us for the Digital Transformation and the Need for Data Security panel discussion on Thursday, Oct. 6, at SupplySide West 2016. Marc Ullman is of counsel to the law firm Rivkin Radler LLP. Ullman represents clients in matters relating to all aspects of FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration matters, regulatory issues, FTC proceedings and litigation. An official necropsy report revealed that the humpback whale discovered in the shore of Sea Isle City died due to human interaction and was already dead when it ended up in the shore. Previously, Nature World News reported the discovery of the carcass of a young humpback whale in Sea Isle City. Just before washing up to the shore, the body was first seen off the coast of Strathmere earlier in that day. Officials from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center who were on the site last Friday noted that the young male whale, which weighs 20 tons and is around 33 feet long, has no indications or marks in its body to point out that it was killed by sharks or other marine predators. Bob Schoelkopf, founding director of Marine Mammal Stranding Center, told Press of Atlantic City that it is more likely that the juvenile whale may have been sick or lost its mother. However, necropsy revealed a scaring on the whale's body, suggesting that the whale was entangled in a commercial fishing line in some point. The injury from the entanglement might be excruciating making the large mammal unable to eat. The small amount of food found in its stomach proves that the whale was very emaciated, which the officials believe led to its death. The whale is believed to be dead for four to five days before washing ashore in Sea Isle City. During this time, officials believe that the dead whale was hit by a ship. After the necropsy, the whale was properly buried by the center. Entanglements have been considered to most prevalent cause of death of whales, following ship strikes. A recent study revealed that 85 percent of whale deaths between 2010 and 2015 was caused by entanglements, while ship strikes was reduced to 15 percent. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Vega rocket has launched five Earth observation satellites into two different orbits. The complex five-satellite mission, which consisted of four satellites for Google-owned Terra Bella and one for the Peruvian government, launched on Sept. 15 at Europe's Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, marking Vega's seventh successful launch in seven missions since it debuted in February 2012. According to a press release, the mission demonstrated the flexibility of the Vega rocket's upper stage and multisatellite carrier. The rocket carried four SkySat microsatellites for Terra Bella, which is owned by Google and operates a constellation of satellites for commercial Earth imaging, into their target orbit around 40 minutes into the mission. The microsatellites--SkySat 4, 5, 6 and 7--had a total mass of 440 kg at liftoff and had separated from the rocket's upper stage over a ground station in South Korea in an orbit of about 310 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth, Spaceflight Now reports. About 62 minutes later, the cover was released to expose the 430-kg PeruSat 1 satellite, which is Peru's first Earth observation satellite. The satellite was carried in the lower portion of Vega's Vespa dual-payload adapter system. Vega is the new-generation rocket of French commercial launch service provider Arianespace, and is designed to carry small to medium-sized satellites. Vega offers configurations that could handle a wide range of payloads, from a single satellite to one main satellite plus small additional satellites. "This seventh successful Vega flight since its introduction demonstrates how quickly Vega has convinced the market," Stephane Israel, Arianespace chairman and CEO, said in a report by Spaceflight Now. "After two new contracts awarded this year, Arianespace can count on nine more Vega launch contracts in its backlog, at the service of both institutional and commercial customers." The Vega rocket will also carry ESA's Aeolus satellite into orbit in 2017. Aeolus is the first mission to probe the Earth's winds, and will explore atmospheric dynamics, such as thunderstorms, jet streams, hurricanes and global air circulation to improve weather tracking, cloud scanning and gauging. Social media has gone haywire over the past couple of days, all thanks to a report that NASA has shifted the astrological dates. The shift has reportedly caused the zodiac signs to change plus a 13th zodiac being added to the original 12 signs. However, the space agency has issued a statement about the controversy that has veered across international publications as well. The uproar started when a news outlet reported a blog post published by NASA in January. Thie said post was originally published on The Space Place, an educational site by NASA where kids could learn all there is about astronomy. In the article, however, it clearly states the zodiac signs are all based on "faulty science." In the post, NASA states that the Babylonians originally created 13 constellations, which directly relate to 13 zodiac signs. However, due to the 12-month calendar followed by the Babylonians, they narrowed it down to only 12 zodiac signs. Yet, since the constellations have changed, the astrological calendar followed by the Babylonians are less than accurate. While this clearly doesn't prove that there are more than 13 zodiac signs, NASA was quick to clear it all up, saying that even though they do study astronomy, astrology isn't one of their fields of study. NASA clarified that the astrological signs are still one and the same. "We didn't change any Zodiac signs, we just did the math," stated Dwayne Brown, a NASA spokesperson in an exclusive report by Gizmodo. "The Space Place article was about how astrology is not astronomy, how it was a relic of ancient history, and pointed out the science and math that did come from observations of the night sky." Clearly, everyone can relax as the zodiac signs remain the same. NASA has cleared that there is no such thing as a 13th zodiac sign. To conclude, as Brown has stated: "NASA studies astronomy not astrology." Residents of Louisiana have been advised by the St. Tammany Parish government to avoid the water of the Bogue Chitto River at all costs. This warning comes after a 6 million gallon sewage spill that occurred Friday. Officials are currently testing and monitoring the water. The state Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health had issued a water contact advisory Saturday. Residents are temporarily ceased from all activities in the water which include fishing, wading, and swimming. This advisory is for the entire length of the Louisiana River due to possible contamination. The river runs south from Mississippi through Washington and the parishes of St. Tammany. "Because of this release of raw sewage into the river, we are advising citizens that contact with the water could present a health risk," stated Dr. Jimmy Guidry, a Louisiana state health officer. "Although all waterways will have some level of contamination, this sewage release has the possibility of elevating the levels of bacteria. People should take precautions to lessen their chance of getting sick from exposure to the water." The raw sewage spill could reportedly cause fecal coliform readings in the Bogue Chitto River to reach an unsafe level. Exposure to the contaminated water of the Bogue Chitto River could cause illnesses such as sore throats, stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. Microorganisms in the water may enter the body through small cuts and wounds, the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The elderly, people with weak immune system, and children are more at risk of getting sick if exposed to the contaminated water. Health officers advise residents to immediately shower if exposed to the water. For now, the Louisiana Department of Health has run tests on the water and St. Tammany Parish officials are waiting for results. Residents will have to wait for an all-clear advisory before heading out to the Bogue Chitto River. The Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) for Ukraine has a document confirming a final decision by the Interpol General Secretariat not to put out no red notice for former Health Minister of Ukraine Raisa Bohatyriova, Interior Minister spokesman Artem Shevchenko told Interfax-Ukraine. "The Interpol Bureau for Ukraine has the document at its disposal," he said on Monday. Bohatyriova's lawyer Dmitry Beliayev earlier told Ukrainian media that Interpol had met his claim and stopped any measures against the former minister. Bohatyriova is suspected of budget fund embezzlement on a large-scale basis under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Jeb Bush is ready to poke fun at his failed presidential bid and skewer his former rival Donald Trump. The former Republican presidential candidate made a surprise cameo appearance in the opening taped sequence of the Emmy Awards telecast Sunday night, as of all things, a limo driver. Saying he was "between jobs," Bush appeared just in time to whisk a running late Jimmy Kimmel on the way to the award show. But before they could get under way Bush asked him what it was liked to be nominated. "If you run a positive campaign, voters will ultimately make the right choice," a deadpan Bush said, showing surprising comedic timing and some self-deprecating humor largely absent during his recent campaign run. "That was a joke Jimmy," Bush said. Trump memorably labeled Bush as low energy, and the former Florida governor could not recover his momentum, eventually dropping out of the GOP primary. Kimmel also joked that, We dont have to watch reality shows anymore, because were living in one. He then asked audience members if they were ready to make the Emmys great again. Later in the opening, Kimmel blamed "Celebrity Apprentice" producer Mark Burnett for Trump's successful primary run. Many have asked whos to blame for Donald Trump and Ill tell you who, he's sitting right there, that guy Mark Burnett, he said. Thanks to Mark Burnett we dont have to watch reality shows anymore , were living in one. Who do you have lined up to fill in the spot on the Supreme Court, Kimmel cracked. Miley Cyrus or CLo? What to Know Ahmad Rahami, 28, was taken into custody Monday in connection to a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey Officials said they believe the suspect acted alone Rahami has been linked to a bomb that went off in Chelsea, injuring 29, and one that went off ahead of a Marine 5K race in Seaside Park Ahmad Rahami was not on federal or NYPD terror watch lists before allegedly planting bombs in New York and New Jersey, but officials said Monday they did not believe he was part of a terror cell. Rahami, a naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan who came to the country as an asylum seeker in 1995, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police in Linden, New Jersey, that left two officers shot. The suspect was also wounded. Officials believe he is connected to a blast in Chelsea in Manhattan that injured 29 people and at least one explosion in New Jersey. [[393851151, C]] "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," Mayor de Blasio told a Monday afternoon news conference, adding that authorities were not looking for any other suspects. FBI officials said the investigation was ongoing and nothing was off the table, but as of now Rahami did not appear to be part of an organized group. "I have no indication that there's a cell operating in the area," FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said at the news conference. Ahmad Rahami, the naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan hunted in connection with a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police that left two officers injured, four law enforcement sources and other officials said. The chaos began to unfold Saturday morning, when a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can near a Marine race in Seaside Park, New Jersey. The race had been running late, and authorities have said they believed the device was timed to detonate when runners would be racing by the bin. Hours later, an explosive device went off in or near a large construction bin on a busy block in Chelsea, leaving 29 people with minor injuries. Another device was found four blocks away and removed to a Bronx firing range for controlled detonation. Then, late Sunday, five pipe bombs were found in a trash can near an NJ Transit station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of the bombs exploded as a robot tried to disarm it. No one was hurt. The pipe bombs were similar to the one that detonated in Seaside Park, but they have not been linked to Rahami. Ahmad Rahami, the naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan hunted in connection with a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police that left two officers injured, four law enforcement sources and other officials said. The news of the suspicious bag at the Elizabeth station in New Jersey was first reported late Sunday, around the same time that the FBI said it had taken five people into custody for questioning after a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge. The agency said that the five individuals were from Elizabeth, New Jersey and were in a vehicle previously associated with Rahami. The FBI said Monday afternoon that none of the five were under arrest. One of five explosive devices found in a bag near a train station in New Jersey exploded as a police robot investigated it early Monday morning. Katherine Creag reports. U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch has announced that an ad hoc U.S. mission has handed over customs reform recommendations to Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers. "I'm not going to go into detail about the work that has been done by my colleagues from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but I want to say that they have had many consultations with government officials, government ministries, the report they have drawn up contains this information. I hope that you find this report clear and contributing to the transformation of this area, ambitious and realistic," she said during a meeting customs reform, which was held between a U.S. delegation and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in Kyiv on Monday. The implementation of the recommendations is not possible without dedication and focus on reforms from the side of the government of Ukraine. The creation of a professional, efficient and trustworthy Customs Service of Ukraine, which will be able to contribute to trade and counter corruption, should become the result of the reform, Yovanovitch said. Groysman in turn said that the Cabinet of Ministers intends to consider and approve the recommendations in the form of an action plan for the reform of Ukraine's customs houses. Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect in the bombings in New York City and a shore town in New Jersey, immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan and lives in New Jersey, where his father owns a fried chicken restaurant. Rahami was wounded during a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, Monday after he was found sleeping in the doorway of a bar, according to authorities. Two police officers were shot, but both have been released from the hospital. Rahami was taken into custody and, Monday evening, charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law-enforcement official in Union County. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors filed charges in the New York and New Jersey bombings and bombing attempts. Rahami, 28, is a U.S. citizen whose family opened First American Fried Chicken in 2002 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The restaurant was searched by authorities Monday. The family came to the United States in 1995 as asylum seekers. Rahami lives with his family above the restaurant, according to The Associated Press. "He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary," Ryan McCann of Elizabeth told the AP. They called it a war zone and something out of the movies. Witnesses describing the dramatic scene as police closed in on suspect Ahmad Rahami in Linden this morning. Sarah Wallace reports. Travel to Pakistan, Middle East A senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News on Monday that Rahami, who was born on Jan. 23, 1988 in Afghanistan, made several trips to Pakistan and visited Afghanistan in 2013. The Afghan Taliban distanced themselves from Rahami, telling NBC they knew nothing of him. He was not on a U.S. terrorist watch list nor on one maintained by the New York Police Department, senior officials told NBC News. Previous FBI Investigation The FBI looked into Rahami two years ago after his father called his son a "terrorist" following a domestic dispute involving Rahami's sister and brother, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. A neighbor overheard and called police, prompting an FBI probe, law enforcement officials said. The father walked back the statement, telling FBI investigators he just meant his son was hanging out with the wrong crowd, the officials said. He reiterated as much in a later FBI interview. The FBI checked its databases, interviewed other relatives and found nothing connecting Rahami to terror groups, three law enforcement officials said. The case was closed in a matter of weeks. Rahami was not interviewed at the time because he was jailed in connection with the domestic dispute. A grand jury declined to indict him and the matter was dropped. Grainy surveillance video captures bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami running from police as a gun battle erupted on a street in Linden, New Jersey, Monday. High School and College Friends and former classmates told NBC News that Rahami was a "cool dude" in high school with the nickname Bo. He liked to have fun and served as a father figure to his younger siblings. "I played lacrosse with him until he was kicked off the team for being late all the time," said one former classmate, who didn't want his name made public. "He definitely didn't seem like the kind of guy you would think would do something like this." Rahami was a criminal justice major at Middlesex Community College from 2010 to 2012 but did not graduate, a college spokesman said. The school said there was nothing concerning in his file. Ahmad Rahami, the naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan hunted in connection with a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police that left two officers injured, four law enforcement sources and other officials said. Wives, Girlfriends and Kids Rahami has a wife, Aziza, who is not in the United States. Rep. Albio Sires, who represents Elizabeth in Congress, told NBC that Aziza Rahami had previously sought a visa to entire the United States via Pakistan, but was denied because her passport was expired. Rahami also has a child with a former high school classmate, Maria Mena. She went to court Tuesday seeking a restraining order against him as well as full custody of their child. Mena told the court she has not spoken to Rahami since January. Court records show that as of last year, he owed thousands of dollars in child support. Rahami Family's Lawsuit Five years ago, Mohammed Rahami and two relatives claimed in a lawsuit filed in federal court that they were harassed by city officials over the restaurant's hours of operation. Neighbors had complained that the restaurant was a late-night nuisance. They accused the city of targeting them because they were Muslim, according to the the civil rights complaint. [NATL-NY] Bombs in New Jersey, New York Spark Manhunt The restaurant had an exemption to stay open past 10 p.m., but police repeatedly tried to close it early, according to the lawsuit. During one confrontation with police, one of Ahmad Rahami's older brothers was arrested after a fight with an officer, and later fled to Afghanistan, The New York Times reported. One man, James Dean McDermott, told the family, "Muslims make too much trouble in this country," according to the complaint. McDermott, a freelance television cameraman, denied the accusation, telling NBC News, "it never happened." He said his dispute with the Rahamis was over the restaurant's hours and not their religion. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage told The AP that Rahami's father and two brothers sued after the city passed an ordinance requiring it to close early. The owner of a neighboring business described the family as "very secluded" and said the children usually worked behind the counter. Rahami's father told NBC News in a brief interview Monday that he had no idea his son was plotting an attack. For more coverage of the New Jersey and New York bombings, click here. Jose Vazquez, 66, trembled as he recounted being helped by stranger. Erica Byfield reports. Chicago musician Chance the Rapper is teaming with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to register concertgoers to vote during stops of his upcoming Magnificent Coloring World Tour. Chance, whose real name is Chancellor Bennett, kicked off his tour Saturday in Los Angeles. Registration drives are set to begin Saturday during the Magnificent Coloring Day Festival at Chicagos U.S. Cellular Field. Chance is hosting the event which features scheduled performances from John Lennon, Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne and others. Proud to announce Ill be teaming with @NAACP for #magnificentcoloringworldtour to bring Voters Registration to the show #staywokandvote, Bennet tweeted last week. The NAACP lauded the rapper in a press release announcing the initiative last week. Chance the Rapper is an artist whose music praises and lifts up our common humanity, and whose call for action speaks to the yearning of this moment, NAACP President and CEO Cornell Williams Brooks said. This year, more than it has in a generation, we must use the power of our voices and our votes to exercise our sacred right to vote. Chance is the son of Ken Bennett, who serves as the deputy chief of staff and director for Mayor rahm Emanuels Office of Public Engagement. The elder Bennett has also worked for former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and President Barack Obama. Voting and becoming knowledgeable about this years upcoming presidential election is imperative, Chance said in a statement. With a great deal of help from the NAACP, I have been able to provide this awesome opportunity for people to sign up and make the pledge to vote at a few of my upcoming shows. This is super important to me because I want my fans to know that their voices matter and that their vote counts now more than ever, he added. Registration drives will also be held at Chances concerts in Fairfax, VA, Raleigh, NC, Atlanta, GA, Miama and Tallahassee, FL, New Orleans, LA, Houston and Dallas, TX and San Francisco, CA. I was a good night to be a cast member of "The People Vs. O.J. Simpson." The FX hit show came into the night with a near record 22 Emmy nominations. Before the evening was over, much of its cast had taken to the stage to accept awards. Sarah Paulson, who came to the Emmys accompanied by the real-life Marcia Clarke, Courtney B. Vance, who portrayed Johnny Cochran, and Sterling K. Brown who portrayed Christopher Darden, all won Emmys. Cuba Gooding Jr., who was also nominated for his title role as O.J. Simpson, lost out in his Emmy bid to Vance. The program also won the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series. During her acceptance speech Paulson thanked Clarke, and apologized for having a narrow opinion of the prosecutor prior to taking the role. "The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark, not the two-dimensional cut-out I saw in the news, but the complicated, whip-smart, mother of two who woke up every day, put both feet on the floor and dedicated herself to writing an unconscionable wrong, the loss of two innocents, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown, I had to recognize that I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial and careless in my judgment," Paulson said. "And I am glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you I'm sorry." The Chicago Youth Dance Coalition held its Annual Back to School Showcase on Saturday, giving kids the opportunity to show off their talents in a positive light. The event was held at Sherman Park Auditorium in the city's Englewood neighborhood and was hosted by the Chicago Defender Charities to highlight the positive opportunities available for Chicago's youth. The CYDC is one of many dance teams to take part in the Bud Billiken Parade among many other events year-round, and Saturday's event gave members the opportunity to not only keep their skills fresh but to cultivate the sense of community that dancing creates. "When I first started dancing I thought like, this is going to give me an opportunity to just think more about life than just being in the streets like other teens," said Kahari Green, one of the performers. Doctors were able to save a baby girl's life after she was born prematurely when her mother was shot and killed at six months pregnant in a drive-by shooting on Chicago's South Side. Authorities say 19-year-old Parashay Beard was sitting in a car outside her home in the 8700 block of South Marquette Avenue just after 6 p.m. Sunday when a gunman pulled up and opened fire. She was hit in the neck by the gunfire, police said. Beard was in the vehicle with a 26-year-old man at the time, who family said was her boyfriend. The man was also shot in the chest and neck and left critically wounded. Police say the man has documented gang ties. Both victims were rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where Beard was pronounced dead and her baby was delivered. Family members told NBC 5 that the baby girl, who they are calling a miracle, is in critical condition but they are just grateful for her survival. "It's a blessing," Beard's cousin, Tinishia Jackson, said. "That's all I can say." The child was born three months premature, according to her family. Beard was due to give birth in December. "I was happy they didn't get to take two lives," Jackson added. Beard was also the mother to a 4-year-old daughter, family members said. She worked at Portillo's restaurant in suburban Skokie while attending the Chicago Excel Academy of Southwest. Beard's's mother told NBC 5 that she and her sister plan to take in and raise both children. She was a loving child," Beard's aunt, Sandy Jones, told NBC 5. "She went to school, she worked ... And they just took her life." No one is in custody for the deadly shooting. Police say they have only a vague description of the gunman. The stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall look to be the work of a "lone attacker," officials said Monday, though federal authorities are still looking at whether it was a potential act of terrorism in an the immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including the Islamic State. "We haven't uncovered anything that would suggest other than lone attacker at this point," St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said at a news conference with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. "If that changes, we will be transparent about that." A young Somali man dressed as a private security guard entered the Crossroads Center mall Saturday wielding what appeared to be a kitchen knife. Anderson has said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. The man was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. None of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds. The motive of Saturday's attack is still unclear, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton has said it is being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism." The Islamic State claimed responsibility, but it wasn't clear whether the attacker was radicalized. Authorities were digging into his background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts and electronic devices and talking to his associates, Thornton said. The attack in St. Cloud, a city of about 65,000 people, began shortly after an explosion in a crowded New York City neighborhood injured 29 people. Hours before that, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a 5K race. But President Barack Obama said Monday that authorities see no connection between the New York area explosions and the Minnesota stabbing. Leaders of Minnesota's large Somali community have condemned the stabbings, saying the suspect identified by his father as 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan does not represent them and expressing fear of backlash. St. Cloud Mayor David Kleis said an attack like Saturday's is the type of worry that keeps him "up at night," but Dayton urged people in St. Cloud and around the state to "rise above" such violence. Experts say that if Saturday's stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil. An Islamic State-run news agency claimed Sunday that the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition, but it wasn't immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand. It doesn't appear anyone else was involved in the attack, which began at about 8 p.m. and ended minutes later, Anderson has said. Authorities haven't identified the attacker, but his father, Ahmed Adan, told the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune his son's name through an interpreter and local activists also identified Dahir Adan as Somali. Ahmed Adan said his son was born in Kenya but was Somali and had lived in the U.S. for 15 years. He also said police told him about an hour after the attack that his son had died at the mall and that the family's apartment had been searched, with photos and other materials seized. He said he had "no suspicion" that his son had been involved in terrorist activity, the newspaper reported. Police had had three previous encounters with the attacker, mostly for minor traffic violations, Anderson said. The man was an employee of the security firm Securitas and was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux facility; that assignment ended in June, Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale said. A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student majoring in information systems, but hadn't been enrolled since the spring semester. Anderson has said the man began attacking people right after entering the mall, stabbing people in several spots. The victims included seven men, one woman and a 15-year-old girl. All have been released. Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon who was there shopping, began shooting the attacker as he was lunging at him with the knife, Anderson said, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. "He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life," Anderson said. The mall reopened Monday after being closed Sunday. Sydney Weires, 18, and two of her friends saw a man who appeared to be a security guard sprinting down the hallway, and then two men stumbled out. "One was covered in blood down his face," she said, and the other man had blood on his back. "They were screaming, 'Get out of the mall. Someone has a knife,'" Weires said. Falconer is the former police chief in Albany, about 15 miles northwest of St. Cloud, and the president and owner of a firing range and firearms training facility, according to his LinkedIn profile. His profile says he focuses on firearms and permit-to-carry training and teaches "decision shooting" to law enforcement students at St. Cloud State University. No one answered the door Sunday at a home address listed for Falconer, and voicemail for a telephone listing was not accepting new messages. In a brief interview with the Star Tribune, Falconer said he had "been trying to stay away from it all, for the time being." Donald Trump is hitting back at the former defense secretary who called him "beyond repair" when it comes to national security. Robert Gates served under presidents of both parties. He wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday that Trump is "stubbornly uninformed" about the world. Trump first swiped back on Twitter, then went further at an evening rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Republican nominee suggests that Gates "probably has a problem we don't know about" and claims that he would be "so much better at what he's doing" than Gates. Trump also called the former secretary of defense "a nasty guy" and "an absolute clown." And he said, "I don't like critics." Earlier Saturday, Trump addressed the Remembrance Project in Houston. That's an organization founded to advocate for tougher immigration laws in honor of those killed by people in the country illegally. Trump says he is "shining a national spotlight" on Americans killed by immigrants living in the United States illegally. The Republican nominee says "not one more American life should be given up in the name of open borders." Trump told the group most "politicians ignore your cries, but I never will." The Republican nominee has appeared with the group before and has made its cause part of his platform. But his position on immigration has shifted repeatedly in recent weeks. A career expo with 70 employers looking to fill 3,200 open positions will take place Wed., Sept. 21 in Hartford. Goodwill of Western and Northern Connecticut will host the "Get Hired Hartford" Career Expo with the goal of connecting jobseekers with hiring managers. The event is set to take place at the Connecticut Convention Center from 11am - 3pm on Sept. 21. Employers at the event are hiring in a number of fields such as health care, insurance, banking, manufacturing and retail. In addition to meeting job seekers, job candidates will able to utilize other resources including resume reviews, free career workshops, and professional portraits or headshots. NBC Connecticut is a media partner of the "Get Hired Hartford" career expo. For more information, including a full updated list of employers who will be at the event, visit www.gwct.org or call (203) 581-5040. Exclusive Interview with the Senior Procurement Consultant at Crown Agents: "If we had started a lawsuit we could have jeopardize the supply".While we have not supplied 100% of medicines, we cannot talk about success. However, it is very important to understand, that it is first experience in Ukraine for all participants of the process, in particular for Ministry of Health, Crown Agents, for Ukrmedpostach government enterprise, for Ukrainian distributors and manufacturers. Considering this, I believe, that so far the process is going on successfully. In the course of purchasing, we had obstacles and problems, but there are people, who strive to support the reforms, they are proactive and find ways of solution. When reforms are implemented we shall remember, what we are doing this for. For example, the reform of purchase system is implemented to assure the strongest competition possible and ensure the lowest price possible. Concerning many parameters transparency factor, price, provision, we may say, that the process of purchase is successful.It is the question to those who criticized us as well as to mass media that transmitted the critics missing the point. But, I think, that we are an easier target than the agencies of UN UNDP or UNICEF. I think it was easier to attack us, because oncology program has biggest list of positions (314 items) for procurement. But, we communicate with UN agencies frequently and know, that we had many shared problems and we find coordinated solutions thereof. But we think in Crown Agents, that such severe criticism towards us was biased, that is why we try to contend demonstrating facts and figures to public, providing weekly report to MOH, publishing all reports on our web. We are ready for dialogue.As of September 19, 2016 Crown Agents has supplied, in monetary terms, over 86.06% of contracted medicines for the child oncology program; 85.48% of contracted medicines within the centralized procurement program for adult oncology; and 64.54% of the contracted reagents. Really, children's oncology program is 6-8 weeks late in comparison with the adults one. Mainly it happened because Ministry of Health had been approving this program two months longer than the adults one. Moreover, technical committee of Ministry of Health is of the drugs - many of the childrens drugs had a shorter shelf life than those of the adults ones, that is why we paid great attention to the drugs to have maximum shelf life. Here it is important to take into account our approach to purchasing. We divided all drugs into two categories the drugs available on shelves, ready-made, that can be quickly delivered, and those, necessary to be manufactured. And such groups of drugs could be formed even for one nomenclature item a part of the necessary amount was on shelf, and a part was necessary to be manufactured. These drugs, already available on shelf, may have not maximum shelf life. It is a standard situation all over the world. That is why working groups of Ministry of Health made a decision on each item where the shelf life was less than maximum. I want to make it clear, that this is not about expired medicines, but about those, where the shelf life is not 100%, but, for example, 72%. This also extended the purchase period it is children's oncology, and both we and Ukrainian side regard these issues highly delicate, we dont want to supply something that cannot be used. These are oncology drugs, they cannot be kept for a long time, their shelf life may be 12-15 months, not more. Nevertheless, today we have almost rectified the situation and the supplies are performed in time.Our strategy is not to deliver the medicines for a year at the beginning of the year, but to insure availability of required quantity of fresh drugs in due time. We mean that even by the end of the year the drugs must be available. Reliability of supply is the main thing.Yes, it does. If the shelf life of a drug is 12 months, there is no point in purchasing it for the whole year in January. That is why, probably, there is no reason to worry, that only 60% of the drugs are supplied in the middle of the year the rest 40% are being manufactured and will be supplied when they are necessary. To provide fresh drugs continuously, by agreement with working groups of Ministry of Health, we decided to purchase 50% of ready-made drugs that we can purchase promptly and 50% more are drugs that are being manufactured. Why did not you announce such concept at the beginning of purchase? It would allow avoiding the critics. When we just started, we did not know that working group of Ministry of Health would take exactly such decision. Initially we thought that the whole purchase amount was required immediately and started searching the ready-made drugs. By the way, this influenced the purchase price as well. But simultaneously we estimated the process by ourselves, based on the main criteria of the agency, and submitted our calculations to Ministry of Health. It emerged that anyway price was the main criterion for Ministry of Health. And already at that stage we started changing the approach, not to sweep away everything from the shelf, but plan which drugs may wait to be purchased to get a fresher drug at a cheaper price. It is that time when we decided to take 50% from shelf and order 50% of fresh drugs. Unfortunately, the decision-taking process took quite a long time.Three batches of medicines, supplied by Ludmila-Pharm, stayed in Boryspil Airport. Ludmila-Pharm is one of the 29 suppliers of Crown Agents, besides, one of our biggest suppliers in terms of list of positions. This company had long-term relations with a great number of big international manufacturers. In the first batch, there were problems with, included many drugs of international manufacturers that could not be directly involved in purchases they considered, that it was better for them to work through a distributor in Ukraine and had a distributor network here. They wanted to see how the process would go on before dealing directly with government purchases. Ludmila-Pharm was their distributor. One more thing: as there were no purchases in 2015, most of products, ready for purchase, were at stock in Ukraine. These drugs were produced by international manufacturers, who proceeded from the fact, that every year Ministry of Health purchases large amount exactly of these drugs. These medicines were manufactured specially for Ukraine, in Ukrainian packages, and stayed in stock waiting somebody to supply them. We found correct to purchase exactly these medicines, because they were in nomenclature and were ready for supply. Moreover, Ministry of Health would also prefer this variant. Moreover, these medicines have been already registered and well known to Ukrainian medical workers. It was a perfect situation. The medicines were at stock of Ukrainian distributor in Ukraine, that is why we selected this distributor for purchase of these medicines. I would like to mention, that Ludmila-Pharm started working highly professionally, and the medicine were supplied from stock very quickly, where it was necessary they dealt with customs clearance, as required pursuant to the law. Thus, the list of medicines we wanted to purchase from Ludmila-Pharm included also those that were not available at stock in Ukraine. In this case Ludmila-Pharm had to deliver them in Ukraine as a distributor. In this case, we were following one pattern with all the distributors distributor imports and conducts customs clearance of the medicine. But for some medicines Ludmila-Pharm refused to do it. The delay was due to differences in interpretation of the VAT exemption mechanism on medical import deliveries for Ukrainian pharm distributors. As the result, Ludmila-Pharm just two batches of drugs in the Boryspil airport. Crown Agents warned them about inappropriateness of such import and that they should not supply anymore, but in few days we learnt that one more large batch had arrived. Thus, distributor imported three batches of drugs to the Boryspil and the drugs are in suspension. Thus, weve repeatedly suggested solutions to the matter, working closely with all law experts and government representatives but until the Prime Minister got involved the issue was not getting resolved.Until we received the medicines these supplies were not paid for. We never make a prepayment and never pay in advance. Only when the medicine was delivered in appropriate amount and has proper quality, and was accepted by the authorized state enterprise, only after that we are paying for it.Ludmila-Pharm refused conducting customs clearance and theauthorized state enterprise of the Ministry of Health stated they could not perform it legally on behalf of Ludmila-Pharm Company. We tried to find a solution but the position of Crown Agents is that we strictly abide by the law and resolutions. The problem being caused by legislative interpretations which are significantly beyond our scope of responsibility. We proposed several alternate solutions to "Ludmila-Pharm", but they did not want to take advantage of any of them. I want to point out that during those 90 days when the drugs were blocked in the Boryspil, we were in constant contact with Ukrainian authorities, trying to find a solution. The lawyers of "Ludmila-Pharm," the lawyers of Crawn Agents, specialists of the SE "Ukrmedpostach," were trying to resolve the problem, but it all took too much time. I want to point out that we had no problem with "Ludmila-Pharm" as to delivery. This company has been delivering and continues to deliver quite large volumes of medicines, successfully conducting custom clearance. Why they did not want to conduct custom clearance with this particular cargo is unclear. The solution agreed upon during the multi-hour meeting on September 13 between MOH Ukraine, State Security Service of Ukraine, Ukrmedpostach, Ukrvaccine, Lyudmyla-Pharm, Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, Customs Service of Ukraine and several parliamentary deputies, is based on the Crown Agents and Ukrmedpostach solution offered when the problem first emerged, yet not accepted at the time, likely due to difficulties in implementing new non-standard procedures within the yet-to-be fully reformed Ukrainian legislative system. It is important to understand that there is no global suspension in supply. The goods are being supplied, the problem emerged only with part of the cargo.This situation made us more cautious in our work with Ukrainian suppliers.Currently "Ludmila-Pharm" continues supplying the medicines and if we had started a lawsuit we could have jeopardize the supply. Our task is to receive the medicines from "Ludmila-Pharm" as soon as possible. We are working with other Ukrainian suppliers and distributors. As of today, we have 29 various suppliers, including foreign producers, foreign distributors, national producers and national distributors. We have maximum competition and have no problem with other Ukrainian suppliers.True, doctors had many questions as to why one or another medicines are purchased, as the responsibility ultimately lies on final users, the doctors. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that Ukrainian law on procurement does not envisage any subjective criteria for selecting supplier or the medicine. Good process of supply always provides for flexibility, therefore we must take into account both the objective parameters - price, delivery terms, and the subjective ones - opinion of expert community of doctors about the drug. The law envisages the procurement not by the name of the trademark, but by the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) of the actual substance. Besides, the medicine should be registered in Ukraine. For instance, there were situations when we had global list of 314 medicines with one INN, but only one of them was registered in Ukraine - in that case it is possible to purchase only this one registered medicine. But I would like to point out that this is not the problem of Ukraine only, it happens throughout the world - how does one find the balance between the preferences of the doctor, state budget and equal approach to all the trading participants.We are satisfied because I am sure we can complete the procurement program within the schedule time. Thanks to an effective procedure and clear tender process, over 90% of line items were procured cheaper versus 2014, in some cases over 80%, thanks to an effective procedure and clear tender process, leading to over 45% (~UAH 500 million) of savings for the MOH within the adult and child oncology procurement programs. I know that everything under the agreement will be supplied in time in accordance with the contract conditions. We believe that all the end users who received the medicines would be satisfied with them. What is also important is that Crown Agents had not received written complaints about the medicines during all this time. There were gossips, talks, but no complaints had been documented.5.5%We never take advance payments. We take our money only when the product is delivered to the end user, when the contract is closed. We are working with the MOH to procure and supply USD32 million worth of child and adult cancer pharmaceuticals on the global supply market. It means that even including commission for services, due to introduction of transparent approach state budget of Ukraine saved crucial amount We take no extra or administrative fee, the stated fee fully meet international standard and practice As long as the contract is open the money transfered by the Ministry of Health is in the bank and is not used by us in commercial turnover. We have vast experience of working for various governments, including government of the countries we call the classic ones - Great Britain, USA, Japan. We cannot use the money until the contract is closed. This money is protected money.We do not know yet what the Ministry of Health will decide on this matter. We are still working under the initial list. According to the valid law, the savings under one program can only be used for the same program, to increase the purchases, amendments should be made in the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. All our efforts are directed towards improving life for the society. We fully believe in Ukraines potential and ultimate success in spite of the difficulties the reform processes are facing on a daily basis and we are proud to serve this success in every way we can. The flu is here ad so is the decision about when to get your flu shot. Some doctors say if you get it now, you may not be protected the entire flu season, but that may not be the case. Dr. Arash Tirandaz, General Practitioner at Texas Health Plano says North Texas weather patterns result in an unpredictable flu season. "With the change in the weather pattern we're seeing, we are having crazy weather all year long. There's no guarantee that the major flu outbreak is going to be in January or in February. It might be in November, so then you'll be out of luck if you wait until then," says Dr. Tirandaz. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that flu vaccinations begin by the end of October, if possible. While seasonal flu outbreaks can happen as early as October, most of the time flu activity peaks between December and February, although activity can last as late as May. There is some evidence, however, that immunity may decline more quickly in older people. For older adults, a high-dose vaccine, designed specifically for people 65 and older, is recommended. This vaccine contains a higher dose of antigen (the part of the vaccine that prompts the body to make antibody). "Once you get the immunologic reaction, it's kind of like chicken pox or any other vaccine. It should last life long. The only reason we get a shot every year is because the strain of the flu changes," says Dr. Tirandaz. According to the CDC, "while delaying getting of vaccine until later in the fall may lead to higher levels of immunity during winter months, this should be balanced against possible risks, such as missed opportunities to receive vaccine and difficulties associated with vaccinating a large number of people within a shorter time period." The flu is here and so is the decision about when to get your flu shot. According to some reports, doctors say if you get it now, you may not be protected the entire flu season, but that may not be the case. Dr. Arash Tirandaz, General Practitioner at Texas Health Plano, says North Texas weather patterns result in an unpredictable flu season. "With the change in the weather pattern we're seeing, we are having crazy weather all year long. There's no guarantee that the major flu outbreak is going to be in January or in February. It might be in November, so then you'll be out of luck if you wait until then," said Tirandaz. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that flu vaccinations begin by the end of October, if possible. While seasonal flu outbreaks can happen as early as October, most of the time flu activity peaks between December and February, although activity can last as late as May. There is some evidence, however, that immunity may decline more quickly in older people. For older adults, a high-dose vaccine, designed specifically for people 65 and older, is recommended. This vaccine contains a higher dose of antigen (the part of the vaccine that prompts the body to make antibody). "Once you get the immunologic reaction, it's kind of like chicken pox or any other vaccine. It should last life-long. The only reason we get a shot every year is because the strain of the flu changes," said Dr. Tirandaz. According to the CDC, "while delaying getting of vaccine until later in the fall may lead to higher levels of immunity during winter months, this should be balanced against possible risks, such as missed opportunities to receive vaccine and difficulties associated with vaccinating a large number of people within a shorter time period." Doctors recommend the quadrivalent flu vaccine, which protects against four different flu viruses, for all adults. A North Texas boy is using his cancer fight to inspire other children to celebrate their differences. Luis Collazo is only in the fifth grade, but he's already accomplished so much. At 10 years old, he is a published author and cancer survivor. "I got sick over retinoblastoma, but that's something that's just really special about me," he said. Diagnosed with cancer of the eye as a baby, Luis has lived most of his life with a prosthetic eye. "When I first came into first grade, there were some kids who bullied me," he said. "They called me 'alien' because I had one eye." The bullying made Luis shy and he never told his mother or his teachers about it. Instead, he turned to writing. "It popped into my head 'Maybe if I write a book I'll feel better about my feelings,'" said Luis. "So then I wrote it, it got published and now it's viral." Using his cancer battle and challenges as inspiration, Luis crafted characters to tell a universal story about embracing what makes us unique in "Todd the Odd Boy." "Even if you're unusual, everybody is special, no matter how you are," he said. "My [eye] is something that I love, something about me, something really special." Today, Luis remains cancer free. He attends critical checkups at Children's Medical Center Dallas to track his long-term recovery. Luis already has plans for another book and said when he grows up, he'd like to become a scientist so he can help cure diseases like cancer. Police said they arrested a man accused of crashing into his brother and fatally shooting him in Arlington Sunday morning. [[393946411,C]] Arlington police said they responded to reports of shots being fired in the 700 block of Truman Street at about 11 a.m. and found a man with an apparent gunshot wound sitting in a car. The man later identified as 31-year-old Marcos Soto-Palacios was transported by air ambulance to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Detectives said a man driving a pickup truck crashed into Soto-Palacios' car on Truman Street. After the crash, witnesses said the man exited the pickup, shot at Soto-Palacios and ran. Officers found a license plate that they think fell off the during the crash. Arlington and Fort Worth police traced the plate to 28-year-old Luis Aron Soto. Soto initially lied to police, telling them his name was Angel Diaz Tamayo. Soto was taken to the Arlington City Jail and charged with one count of murder. Investigators said they're not sure what led up to the shooting. College Station police said an Austin-area man arrested in Fort Worth has been charged with murder for the shooting death of a 21-year-old Texas A&M student killed at her off-campus apartment during the weekend. Police say 22-year-old Victor Manual Garcia-Loyo, of Del Valle, had been dating Maricarmen Quiroz-Octaviano. Police were called Saturday night to the apartment complex not far from the College Station campus after reports of gunfire. They found the woman's body inside her apartment. Garcia-Loyo was tracked by his cell phone to Fort Worth, where he was arrested. He's now jailed without bond. Police have described the shooting as a case of domestic violence. President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will strategize about the upcoming offensive to take back the northern city of Mosul when they meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Increasingly, and not without irony, Iraq has become the bright spot in Obama's campaign against the Islamic State group, though profound challenges remain. In neighboring Syria, the chaotic civil war continues to plague efforts to defeat IS extremists, but in Iraq, cooperation with Abadi's forces has helped the U.S.-led coalition wrest back half the territory that IS once held, according to the U.S. Yet a key city remains under IS control: Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the extremist group's stronghold in the country. An intensely difficult urban fight to oust IS from Mosul is expected to ramp up in the next two to three months, following recent victories in reclaiming other Iraqi cities including Fallujah and Ramadi. Some 1 million people could be displaced by the battle in Mosul, U.S. and U.N. officials say. Washington considers the Iraqi government's handling of the displacement to be a major test case for reconciliation in Iraq, given the blend of sectarian groups with an interest in the northern city's future. "We've always believed that progress on the battlefield needs to be accompanied by continued political progress among Iraq's different communities," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said ahead of the meeting scheduled for Monday. He said that Obama and Abadi planned to discuss preparation for an "effective and sustainable campaign to liberate Mosul." The session comes at a critical time for Obama, who has just a few months left in office to make progress against IS before passing on the conflict to his successor. The Obama administration considers Abadi to be a major improvement over the sectarian approach of his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, though Abadi has faced serious domestic political challenges in recent months. Obama's meeting with the Iraqi leader marks the start of a hectic week of diplomacy as he makes his final appearance as president at the annual U.N. gathering. Obama also planned to meet Monday with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and socialize with U.S. diplomats who work at the U.N. He was also to raise money in private for Senate Democrats, a day after holding another fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential nominee was holding her own program of meetings with foreign leaders attending the U.N. summit as she works to portray herself as more presidential than Republican Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Obama will give his farewell speech to the General Assembly, meet with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and co-host a summit on the refugee crisis stemming largely from the Syria conflict. The U.S. has told invited countries they must show up with significant commitments in hand to resettle and support more refugees. Obama planned to take part Wednesday in a U.S.-Africa forum and meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos before returning to Washington. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton returned to Philadelphia Monday to reach out to millennial voters. Clinton briefly turned her focus from national security, wooing younger voters at a midday rally at Temple University. Her campaign acknowledges she needs to do more to get millennials on board. At the invitation-only event at the Great Court at Mitten Hall, she said she needs to do more to get millennials on board. "Even if you are totally opposed to Donald Trump, you may still have some questions about me. I get that. And I want to do my best to answer those questions," she told several hundred students gathered in an ornate, wood-paneled lecture hall. This election marks the first presidential campaign where millennials make up the single largest generation among U.S. adults, having surpassed baby boomers in the past four years. The group helped anchor President Barack Obama's support, but Clinton has failed to attract them in the same numbers. The event took place amid new national polls and surveys in swing states including Pennsylvania which show Clinton has seen a slide with millennial voters, particularly when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are factored in. The Clinton campaign launched Pennsylvania Millennials for Hillary, a group that aims at highlighting her agenda to increase economic opportunities for young people as well as address student debt and college affordability. There are a lot of energized people my age who are paying attention to this election, said Malcolm Kenyatta, a 26-year-old community advocate, North Philadelphia resident and member of Pennsylvania Millennials for Hillary. Now we have to get out and mobilize with the candidate that has supported us and I believe will continue to support us. Kenyatta said Clinton would list the issues that she wants to be held accountable for" during Monday's event. We are a generation thats struggled since the economic crash of 2008, Kenyatta said. This country needs a president who will build an economy that is fair and works for everyone. We want a president like Hillary Clinton who will tackle progressive issues like raising the minimum wage, addressing student debt, enacting criminal justice reform and combating climate change." Taking another step in the fight against climate change, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill with new restrictions on super pollutants Monday in Long Beach. Super pollutants like black carbon and methane trap more heat than carbon dioxide but stay in the atmosphere for a shorter time. Reducing super pollutant levels can have a more immediate impact on climate change, he said during the signing event in Long Beach. "Cutting black carbon and other super pollutants is the critical next step in our program to combat climate change," Brown said. "This bill curbs dangerous pollutants and thereby protects public health and slows climate change." The new legislation establishes the countrys toughest restrictions on these pollutants. The law mandates a 50 percent reduction in black carbon and 40 percent reduction in methane and hydrofluorocarbon from 2013 levels by 2030. The pollutants are generated by sources including waste-disposal, petroleum-based fuel, agriculture and synthetic gases used in refrigeration, air conditioning and aerosol products. The National Federation of Independent Business criticized the legislation, with the organization's state director Tom Scott saying it creates an inconsistent policy that will "further increase the cost of doing business in California," particularly for the agricultural industry. The mandated reductions represent "a direct assault on California's dairy industry and will hurt manufacturing by creating an arbitrary limit on natural gases which dissipate quickly," he said. The signing comes just weeks after Brown extended by 10 years another climate change law which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The expanded law set a new target for 2030. The bill signing also coincides with the start of Climate Week in New York City and the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly since the Climate Change Conference in Paris last December. HBO's "Game of Thrones" on Sunday won an Emmy for best drama series. The show also won the best drama award last year. Rami Malek took home his first Emmy for best actor in a drama series "Mr. Robot" while Tatiana Maslany won best actress in a drama series award for "Orphan Black." Ben Mendelsohn won for best drama supporting actor for his "Bloodline" role, while Maggie Smith won for the best drama supporting actress Emmy Award for her role on "Downton Abbey." It is Smith's fourth Emmy win and her third for playing the Dowager Countess of Grantham on the series, which aired for six seasons on PBS. [NATL] Emmy Awards 2016 Red Carpet: Best and Worst Dressed Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Veep" received a record-breaking sixth Emmy Award as best comedy series actress, using her victory to take a dig at GOP contender Donald Trump in a ceremony loaded with election-year asides. "Veep" also won the Emmy Award for best comedy series. It is a repeat win for the HBO series, which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a fictional U.S. politician who ascends to the presidency. Jeffrey Tambor captured his second consecutive best comedy actor trophy for "Transparent," in which he plays a transgender character. He called for Hollywood to make him the last non-transgender actor to get such a role. A shaking Louis-Dreyfus ended her speech by dedicating the trophy to her father, who she said died Friday. Before that, she honed in on GOP contender Donald Trump's campaign. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to personally apologize for the current political climate," she said. "I think that 'Veep' has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary." She promised to "rebuild that wall and make Mexico pay for it." Her victory gave her six best comedy wins five for "Veep," one for "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and broke her tie with Candice Bergen and Mary Tyler Moore. [NATL] Emmy Awards 2016: Best Moments Sarah Paulson won the Emmy Award for best actress in a limited series for her role in "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story." It was Paulson's first Emmy win and came for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark, who endured widespread criticism as she tried to convict NFL legend O.J. Simpson of double murder under the glaring spotlight of the so-called "Trial of the Century." Paulson's co-star Sterling K. Brown, who played prosecutor Christopher Darden in the series, won the best supporting actor award and she thanked him in her acceptance speech. Paulson also thanked Clark, who she brought to the Emmys, and apologized to her for having a two-dimensional view of the prosecutor before signing on to play her onscreen. Louie Anderson was honored as best supporting actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of a loving but tough mom in "Baskets." "Mom, we did it!," Anderson shouted, hoisting his trophy and dedicating the award to his late mother, Ora Zella Anderson. "I have not always been a good man but I play one hell of a woman." "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kate McKinnon won the trophy for best supporting actress in a comedy for, officially, playing various characters. But she knew who to credit. "Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, thank you, Hillary Clinton," she said, naming two of the famous people she's caricatured on the show. The ceremony started out with an political edge. In a video bit, Jimmy Kimmel was shown trying to get to the ceremony and encountering former GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush as a limo driver. "Did you know you could make $12 an hour working for Uber?" a game Bush said, smiling. He advised Kimmel that "if you run a positive campaign, the voters will ultimately make the right choice" then told Kimmel curtly it was a joke. On the red carpet, Judith Light was being fully transparent when she told bleacher fans how difficult it is to walk a red carpet in heels. "I can't walk, but thanks," the actress, nominated for her role in a comedy series for Amazon's "Transparent," said as she responded to shouts and cheers from fans in the red-carpet bleachers. Jeffrey Tambor, who plays her transgender ex-spouse and is vying to repeat as best comedy actor, shared serious words about the series. It's "changing the landscape of television. I think it's changing the landscape, period," he said. If the stars looked especially hot this year, the mercury was involved: Temperatures were in the 90s. Fans who waited hours for celebrities to arrive had the worst of it, with one women requiring treatment by paramedics. For this year's awards, Golden Globe-winning "Mr. Robot," a conspiracy thriller about a troubled hacker, is vying for the top drama series award and best actor honors for star Rami Malek. Biting political satire "Veep" is seeking its second consecutive best comedy series award, and bleak political drama "House of Cards" is looking for its first major win, as are its stars, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. A sitcom that has aggressively taken on issues including use of the "N-word" and police brutality, "black-ish" is up against "Veep" for top comedy honors in a field that also includes "Master of None," ''Modern Family," ''Silicon Valley," ''Transparent" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." [[393972311,C]] Jury selection began Monday in the trial against a suspended South Florida police sergeant accused of stealing county gas. Emil Van Lugo, a 16-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department, says he's innocent because he would never use regular gas in his luxury cars. In May of 2015, state prosecutors released surveillance video showing Van Lugo filling up his patrol car and his personal cars with county fuel. The embattled sergeant claimed he keeps gas cans that look identical; one filled with county gas and the other with his own gas, for his and his wife's cars. Van Lugo's attorney, David Edelstein, explained in court Monday that the can filled with county gas is still in Van Lugo's garage. "He has nothing to put it in, because they took away his police car. They didn't seize his wife's car and they could have tested the gas in her car," said Edelstein. An internal police investigation tracked Van Lugo fueling up 55-times in an 18-month period. He is charged with organized fraud. Van Lugo has been suspended pending the trial. A man was taken into custody after he was found walking around naked at Miami International Airport Monday morning, police said. Witnesses reported seeing the man roaming a terminal's departure level around 7 a.m. Grainy cell phone images showed the man talking with airport employees before fleeing. Miami-Dade Police officials said officers tracked down the man, who was taken to a nearby hospital for a mental evaluation. Police did not identify the suspect. No other information was immediately known. Check back with NBC 6 for updates. The interactive timeline above charts a series of events beginning with a pipe bomb explosion at a Marine 5k race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, Saturday. Hours later, a device exploded in or near a large bin on a packed block in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. Another device was found nearby. Late Sunday, five devices were found in a trash can near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A robot trying to disarm the devices inadvertently detonated one, causing an explosion. No one was injured in the New Jersey cases. Suspect Ahmad Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, was taken into custody following a gun battle with police Monday. (Global Times) 09:19, September 19, 2016 An Apple store employee in Sanlitun shopping area surrounded by customers who are interested in new features of iPhone 7products, in Beijing on Sunday. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT Graphics: GT Two days after the launch of new iPhone products in Beijing, fans lined up outside of an Apple store in the city's downtown area, but iPhone scalpers said that those customers are less enthusiastic about the gadgets compared with previous years. Customers had to make an online reservation before lining up outside the Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun shopping area to purchase iPhone 7 smartphones, which debuted on Friday. A dozen iPhone scalpers waiting on the other side of the building asked those who had just picked up their preordered iPhone 7 gadgets to resell them, earning about 1,000 yuan ($150) each. "Due to the lack of inventory in the store, some people may want to pay more for these new products, as it will take a long time for them to wait for the arrival of preordered ones," a iPhone scalper, who only gave his surname as Wang, told the Global Times outside the store on Sunday. The company's press representatives in China did not respond to a request by the Global Times concerning the store's inventory of iPhone 7s in Beijing as of press time on Sunday. As the jet-black iPhone 7 Plus is favored by more people for its look and its two cameras, which provide a depth of field effect, it is the most in-demand product now, Wang said. "We resell it at 20,000 yuan each and fans may accept the price because it is impossible to buy in the store right now," he said. This product is priced at 7,188 yuan with 128 GB and 7,988 yuan with 256 GB on Apple's official website, which said phones will be delivered in November. It is quite normal for iPhone scalpers raise the prices for the new iPhones because of low inventories in stores, which can't meet demand immediately after the iPhone 7 products were unveiled, Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent industry analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday. "But there will be fewer iPhone scalpers who make a profit through reselling those products in a month," Liu predicted. Also, fewer fans have lined up for the new products this year, compared with years before, iPhone scalpers outside the store told the Global Times. A 25-year-old man surnamed Zhang spent few minutes listening to an employee in the Apple store making a presentation of the iPhone 7, and left without preordering anything online. "The only new feature attractive to me is the camera system of the iPhone 7 Plus, but I am not ready to buy," Zhang said. Still, some customers who ordered the new products online said they did so because they are regular users of Apple products. "For example, the iPhone's 'Siri' function is convenient for making a call or sending messages," a student in Beijing who only gave his surname as Lin told the Global Times on Sunday. "But the only differences between iPhone 7 smartphones and iPhone 6S Plus models are that the latest ones offer a solid-state home button and it sounds louder," Lin said. A lack of innovation has become a major hurdle for Apple to gain market share in China, especially when domestic brands have been rising in recent years, Liu noted. "The reduced enthusiasm for the new iPhone 7 products shows Chinese buyers are becoming more rational, and they also have more choices," Liu said. The top domestic smartphone vendors, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo, had 46.6 percent of China's smartphone market in the second quarter of 2016, which reflects their brand-building efforts and aggressive marketing strategies, International Data Corp (IDC) said in a report released in August. Meanwhile, Apple continued to decline in terms of its shipment volumes, according to the report. With 19.1 million units shipped, Huawei was the No.1 vendor in the Chinese market, holding a 17.2 percent share in the second quarter of 2016, the IDC report noted. Next came OPPO and Vivo, which reported 18 million and 14.7 million units shipped, respectively. They held market shares of 16.2 percent and 13.2 percent. Apple, which recorded 8.6 million units shipped during this period, was ranked fifth after Chinese tech firm Xiaomi, according to the report. The crackdown on parallel goods trading activities in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, neighboring Hong Kong, kicked off after the new iPhone products were unveiled. The local customs confiscated about 400 iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus phones, worth more than 3 million yuan, according to Guangzhou Daily on Sunday. What to Know Ahmad Rahami, 28, was taken into custody Monday in connection to a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey Officials said they believe the suspect acted alone Rahami has been linked to a bomb that went off in Chelsea, injuring 29, and one that went off ahead of a Marine 5K race in Seaside Park Ahmad Rahami was not on federal or NYPD terror watch lists before allegedly planting bombs in New York and New Jersey, but officials said Monday they did not believe he was part of a terror cell. Rahami, a naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan who came to the country as an asylum seeker in 1995, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police in Linden, New Jersey, that left two officers shot. The suspect was also wounded. Officials believe he is connected to a blast in Chelsea in Manhattan that injured 29 people and at least one explosion in New Jersey. [NATL-NY] Bombs in New Jersey, New York Spark Manhunt "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," Mayor de Blasio told a Monday afternoon news conference, adding that authorities were not looking for any other suspects. FBI officials said the investigation was ongoing and nothing was off the table, but as of now Rahami did not appear to be part of an organized group. "I have no indication that there's a cell operating in the area," FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said at the news conference. Ahmad Rahami, the naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan hunted in connection with a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police that left two officers injured, four law enforcement sources and other officials said. The chaos began to unfold Saturday morning, when a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can near a Marine race in Seaside Park, New Jersey. The race had been running late, and authorities have said they believed the device was timed to detonate when runners would be racing by the bin. Hours later, an explosive device went off in or near a large construction bin on a busy block in Chelsea, leaving 29 people with minor injuries. Another device was found four blocks away and removed to a Bronx firing range for controlled detonation. Then, late Sunday, five pipe bombs were found in a trash can near an NJ Transit station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of the bombs exploded as a robot tried to disarm it. No one was hurt. The pipe bombs were similar to the one that detonated in Seaside Park, but they have not been linked to Rahami. Ahmad Rahami, the naturalized 28-year-old native of Afghanistan hunted in connection with a series of bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, was taken into custody after a gun battle with police that left two officers injured, four law enforcement sources and other officials said. The news of the suspicious bag at the Elizabeth station in New Jersey was first reported late Sunday, around the same time that the FBI said it had taken five people into custody for questioning after a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge. The agency said that the five individuals were from Elizabeth, New Jersey and were in a vehicle previously associated with Rahami. The FBI said Monday afternoon that none of the five were under arrest. One of five explosive devices found in a bag near a train station in New Jersey exploded as a police robot investigated it early Monday morning. Katherine Creag reports. What to Know Five people were taken into custody by the FBI Sunday for questioning after a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge As that was happening, a suspicious package was discovered at the Elizabeth train station in New Jersey Trains were halted between EWR and Elizabeth, halting traffic on the busy North East Corridor ahead of the morning rush Commuting will be a struggle Monday for thousands of NJ Transit and Amtrak commuters as authorities continue their investigations into a series of explosions and incendiary devices in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. New Jersey Transit warned trains on multiple lines were subject to delays of up to an hour amid the ongoing police investigation. Service on all Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines resumed Monday morning. It had been suspended in both directions late Sunday night after a device found inside a bag near the NJ Transit station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, exploded. NJ Transit said commuters should expect residual delays and service changes as the investigation in Elizabeth continues. All New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were also held at New York Penn Station after the bag was discovered in Elizabeth, hampering travel on the busy North East Corridor. Trains began moving out of New York Penn around 5:30 a.m. Amtrak said that Acela Express, Northeast Regional and other services will operate Monday with some schedule modifications. The railroad service said that passengers should expect cancellations and delays throughout the day. In Manhattan, West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues reopened by 9 p.m. Monday after police spent the weekend investigating the blast there. Other roads that were initially closed for the investigation -- including parts of Sixth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and West 14th to West 23rd streets -- were reopened earlier. PATH trains are skipping 23rd Street in Manhattan. PATH will cross-honor NJT passengers at NWK, HOB, WTC and 33rd Street stations. Leaked video of the initial explosion in #Chelsea pic.twitter.com/nBMbh7iBCl REGATED (@regated) September 18, 2016 The 1 train has resumed making normal stops at its 23rd and 28th street stations, though the northeast stairway at the 23rd Street station remains closed, according to @NYCTSubway. The E and F trains are also stopping again at 23rd Street stations. Due to the 23rd Street closure, MTA buses M5, M7, M23 and X1 are detoured in both directions. The news of the suspicious bag at the Elizabeth station in New Jersey was first reported late Sunday night, around the same time that the FBI said it had taken five people from Elizabeth, New Jersey into custody for questioning after a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge. The FBI confirmed that the 8:45 p.m. Verrazano traffic stop was part of an investigation into Saturday's bombing in Manhattan that injured 29 people. None of them have been charged with a crime and the investigation is ongoing. The devices in Elizabeth apparently looked similar to what detonated in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on Saturday morning ahead of a race. No one was injured in the Seaside Park explosion. Governor Cuomo said that close to 1,000 additional New York State Police and National Guard troops will be dispatched to New York to guard transit stations and airports as a precuation following an explosion in Chelsea Saturday night. Authorities continued to hunt for clues Sunday in the growing investigation into the explosion in Manhattan Saturday night that injured 29 people. Investigators are analyzing possible similarities between two devices seized in New York and one that detonated earlier Saturday in New Jersey, including the fact that all three devices apparently contained old-style mobile flip phones, according to officials familiar with the probe. The explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, was reported at around 8:30 p.m. Twenty-nine people were hospitalized with injuries, but they had all been released by Sunday afternoon, authorities said. Less than three hours after the New York blast, an object police described as a "possible secondary device" was found just a few blocks away from the original explosion on 27th Street while officers were combing the area. A former lawyer cried as she pleaded guilty Monday for her role in a home invasion and attack on her ex-boss and his wife, a crime for which her husband is already serving life in prison. Alecia Schmuhl, of Springfield, Virginia, pleaded guilty to five charges in the case. The 2014 attack was an act of revenge against her former boss, who had fired her from his law firm weeks earlier, prosecutors said. Monday, Alecia Schmuhl pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, two counts of abduction, and one count of burglary with a deadly weapon. She cried as she pleaded guilty to each charge. Her plea deal sets a possible sentence range of 10 to 45 years in prison. Without a plea, she could have received life in prison like her husband. The prosecutors told the judge that both victims supported the terms of her plea deal. "Tt was after giving strong consideration to the victim's wishes in this case regarding the trials and tribulations of a second trial and the prospect of having to go thru a second trial and testify," said Casey Lingan, chief deputy in the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney. Prosecutors said in November 2014, Schmuhl's husband, Andrew Schmuhl, broke into the McLean home of lawyer Leo Fisher and his wife, Sue Duncan, and held them captive for three hours as he shot, stabbed and shocked them with a Taser. Prosecutors said Alecia Schmuhl was just outside the home during the attack, communicating by phone with her husband. The victims were critically injured in the attack. Fisher said he was in and out of consciousness but remembers his wife covered in blood while they struggled to call 911. Finally, Duncan was able to hit a panic alarm, and Andrew Schmuhl fled. Andrew Schmuhl was convicted in June and sentenced earlier this month to two life terms plus 98 years. Fisher has previously said that the brutal attack left both him and his wife with permanent scars and impairments. "I've never been a person who hated before, and I hate now," he said. Duncan has constant nightmares about someone trying to kill her, her husband said. "I just don't want this guy and his wife, these two monsters, to ever do this to anyone else again," Fisher told jurors during Andrew Schmuhl's trial. Alecia Schmuhl is scheduled for sentencing for two days on Jan. 18-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted a warning for pregnant women to stay out of Wynwood altogether, but continued to caution them about traveling to the city and surrounding areas out of concerns for catching the virus, which can cause serious birth defects. In nearby Miami Beach, health officials have broadened their declared zone of active local transmission. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted a warning for pregnant women to stay out of Wynwood altogether, but continued to caution them about traveling to the city and surrounding areas out of concerns for catching the virus, which can cause serious birth defects. The announcement came after a Monday morning press conference where Gov. Rick Scott was joined by City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, declaring that the Wynwood area north of Downtown Miami has not had a new case of the virus detected. "We had an issue, everybody took it seriously, and we resolved it," Scott said. Scott and CDC officials attributed the drop-off in infections in Wynwood to aggressive aerial spraying with naled, an insecticide that targets adult mosquitoes, and street-level spraying with another pesticide that kills mosquito larvae. Scott said residents and business owners who kept their properties clear of standing water also helped. Gimenez did say that spraying to combat the virus would continue in the Wynwood area but no more flights will be done to drop pesticide on the area. Scott continued his criticism of the federal government, who continue to disagree over funding to help Florida fight the virus. He also said the state has asked for more kits to help test pregnant women for Zika. Officials also said that a "Dine Out Wynwood Day" would be held on September 30th to help businesses in the area that have been hurt during the crisis. Scott's news comes just days after authorities expanded a local transmission area in nearby Miami Beach, which had seen their own outbreak of the virus in recent weeks. Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that the Department of Health was expanding the area of local transmission on Miami Beach from 8th Street to 63rd Street. Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health announced there were two new non-travel related Zika cases in Miami-Dade. One was in Miami Beach and the department is investigating where the other case occurred. Mayor Gimenez announced in a statement that local officials will continue "aggressive on-the-ground and truck spraying'' into next week in the entire affected area that still exists in Miami Beach. He said aerial spraying is not planned for the expanded area unless the CDC tells them to do so. Hundreds of people in the state have become infected with the virus that can cause severe birth defects. Most of those who have the virus caught it while traveling, but 85 cases have not been travel related. The governor on Friday authorized spending an additional $10 million in state funds for Zika response. Rutgers University urged people to avoid a New Brunswick parking garage for a couple hours Monday morning as police investigated a suspicious package. The item found at the Douglass Parking Deck off George Street in New Brunswick around 8 a.m. turned out not be dangerous, said the university. [[393957431, C]] No injuries were reported as shortly after 10 a.m., the university deemed the package "safe" and thanked everyone "for your patience" as they reopened the area around the garage. "The Rutgers University Police Department (RUPD) has determined that the package discovered in the Douglass Parking Deck is safe," said a university statement. "All facilities in the area are open and operating normally." No word yet on what type of device was being investigated. During the investigation, students wondered on social media if classes would be canceled. Classes went on as normal Monday morning. President Obama proclaimed this week, Sept. 18-24, Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week. As part of NBC10's continuing coverage of the addiction crisis after our special report, Generation Addicted, we are sharing the stories of local families affected by the epidemic and their fight to make change. If help came for him a week earlier, David Ramsey might have made it. The young father might still be here today to watch his son grow up. But it didn't. In March 2013, within weeks of being released from his last in a series of rehab stays, David, 30, died of a drug overdose. A week later, the call that he and his whole family had been longing for finally came: funding for him to stay in treatment longer came through. But it was too late. Out of money to continue his care, David's latest rehab sent him home from treatment before he was ready to leave, David's mother, Joanne Ramsey, said. They [the rehab] called and said, We have to release him, his mother recalled recently. Davids insurance coverage had run out, and his family had to fight to have it extended so he could continue treatment. He wanted to stay. He said, Please, call whoever you can, Ramsey said. Davids family spent 15 years -- half his life -- standing with him as he fought the unrelenting demon of heroin addiction. His mother recalled David, her youngest of three children, going in and out of detoxes and rehabs, stuck on the roller coaster of addiction, recovery and relapse that so many families like hers know all too well. Family Photos 'Not Who He Was' The system fell short when it came to the treatment that David so desperately needed. It would have been easy for his mother, father and his two surviving siblings to place blame and become despondent. Instead, though, led by his older sister, Julie Smith, Davids family continues to make it their mission to ensure that more people don't fall through the cracks like David did. I didnt want who he was to be remembered by that one tragedy, Smith, 37, said. Thats not who he was. Within about a year of Davids death, Smith established Davids New Day, a nonprofit based in Bucks County that awards grants to people to support them through the tenuous time after they leave inpatient treatment. The grants help with unforeseen costs, like rent to stay in recovery houses, medication-assisted treatment after rehab and transportation to and from work and recovery meetings. Nationwide, overdoses killed more people than car crashes in 2014, and in Philadelphia alone, paramedics responded to an overdose call roughly every 45 minutes that year. As part of Generation Addicted, an NBC10 exclusive airing Monday, March 21 at 7 p.m., NBC10 Digital Reporters Vince Lattanzio and Morgan Zalot take a deeper look at heroin statistics. Smith said she saw all of the barriers people fighting addiction face when they leave rehab that threaten to propel them into relapse. She doesn't want anyone else to face what her family and David faced. Davids father foresaw his tragic death while he and Joanne Ramsey frantically called everyone they could think of to help find the funding so that David could stay in treatment. They begged for David to be allowed to stay, knowing he wasn't ready to leave. Amanda Leigh Photography NBC10 reporters Vince Lattanzio, Morgan Zalot and Denise Nakano explore the tragic world of heroin and opioid addiction in the Philadelphia area and beyond. This special long-form presentation is just one of a series of stories as part of our investigation. Dive into our in-depth coverage and many more stories here. A New Day For Davids family, the most important thing now is that his death continues to be so much more than a number added to Pennsylvania's overdose tally for that year. His legacy lives on in the foundations support of people in recovery. The new day David wanted so badly for himself but never got the chance to see is repeated time and time again as his namesake foundation helps people on their journey to beating addiction. To date, the nonprofit has helped nearly three dozen people, raising $40,000. Smith said the turnout at the annual 5K has increased each year since it began, and shes hoping this year to see the biggest turnout yet. Family Photo Davids New Day helps his family heal, too. Its helped me tremendously, Smith said. When somebody dies like this, you feel helpless. His son, now 7 and in the second grade, buzzed around the house, playing with his younger cousin. Smith and Ramsey said Davids son doesnt know yet how his father died -- just that he was sick. Davids family shares his story in hopes of breaking the stigma around addiction and recovery. Smith said she plans to continue to expand Davids New Day so that other families will never have to face the tragic ending her family did. For Ramsey, the sense of relief other parents describe in the support group meetings she attends for people who have lost children to addiction has never come, though. And she knows it never will. To me, there was no relief, Ramsey said. We would go through all this again just to have him back, no matter how hard it was. Welcome to the NBC10 Digital Exclusive investigation into the tragic world of heroin and opioid addiction in the Philadelphia region and beyond. On September 12th, 2016, journalists engaging in Interview Activities To Foreign Media To Emeishan City in 2016 had a tour to the Golden Summit of Mt.Emei, the Great Buddha Temple and had a taste of the stunning scenery and the unique Buddhism and martial arts as well. In the morning, over 20 media outlets, including the foreign ones and the central ones, took the tour to the Golden Summit of Mt.Emei, exploring natural spectacles and Buddhism. Its a pure spiritual journey when I find myself is closer to sky at the Golden Summit. Its like traveling in clouds. Elwan, journalist with Middle East News Agency said. Apart from extensive historical culture of Mt. Emei, what astonished Elwan most was that the temple and giant Buddha statue were built at 3079 meters high above the sea. The Buddha statue, which Elwan referred to, is the one that erected on the summit with its height of 48 meters ( 6 meters for its base and 27 meters for its width and length.) and weight of 660 tons. Made of copper and gold and decorated with black granite, the Buddha statue reminds the highest one in the world. Erected by the side of Shesheng Cliff, the statue, along with three Halls in gold, silver and bronze, created a heaven-like surroundings where nature and Buddhism integrate together, which impressed all the journalists. Apart from Buddhism, Mt.Emei Martial Arts, the state-level intangible cultural heritage, is one of unique tourism resources as well. In the last half day, the Great Buddhism Temple saw the presence of journalists and martial arts performance as well. The breath-taking performance with various weapons, such as Emei Fisting, Emei Blade, Emei Spear, Emei Sword, Emei Luohan Fisting, Emei Horse Whisk, Emei Stabs, Emei Xingyi Sword, Emei Xiaohong Fisting, Emei Cane and Kids Kungfu, won rounds of applaud from journalists. With curiosity, presented guests started learning and imitating the style and movements of Emei Martial Arts. "The view is stunning here and the extensive Buddhism here shares a lot in common with Buddhism in Vietnam." Su Liming, journalist with Nhan Dan News Agency of Vietnam said excitedly. Though Kung Fu novels by Jin Yong and Gu Long are no foreign for Vietnamese, it was still the first time for him to witness Chinese martial arts in live. Drexel Universitys College of Medicine is expanding its long-standing academic affiliation with Crozer-Chester Medical Center by designating the Delaware County hospital as its sixth regional medical campus next year. Regional medical campus is a term used by the Association of American Medical Colleges to refer to hospitals and health systems that serve as alternative venues for medical students to gain clinical education. Under the new designation, Drexel medical students beginning in 2017 will have the option to select Crozer in Upland, Pennsylvania, as their primary clinical campus and complete all of their required clinical rotations at the medical center during their third year of medical school. Up to 24 students per medical class will be eligible to complete all of their clinical rotations at Crozer. To read the full article, click here. For more business news, visit Philadelphia Business Journal. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police is supporting Donald Trump for president. FOP Lodge #5 President John McNesby confirmed with NBC10 they were supporting the Republican presidential nominee, following the lead of the National Police Union which endorsed Trump Friday. Earlier this year, the Philly FOP slammed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over the lineup for the Democratic National Convention because they didnt see any widows or family members of slain police officers on the initial itinerary for planned speakers. However, Wayne Walker, the mother of slain Philadelphia Police officer Moses Walker, ultimately spoke at the convention. After Walkers speech, McNesby told Philly.com he praised the decision by the Clinton campaign and convention organizers to add family members of slain officers to the speaking lineup. He also claimed however that they wouldnt have been added to the lineup if the FOP hadnt made a statement. Friends and family are mourning a woman who was shot and killed during a rampage attack in West Philadelphia late Friday night. Sara Salih, 27, was sitting in a car with her boyfriend on Sansom Street when a gunman, later identified as Nicholas Glenn, approached their vehicle and opened fire. Salih was struck several times in the chest while her boyfriend was struck in the arm and chest. They were both taken to Penn-Presbyterian Hospital where Salih succumbed to her injuries. Her boyfriend remains in critical condition. Before opening fire on Salih and her boyfriend, Glenn had already shot Philadelphia Police sergeant Sylvia Young in an ambush attack as well as a man and woman working at the Maximum Level Lounge on 5118 Sansom Street, investigators said. After shooting Salih and her boyfriend, Glenn continued his rampage attack and shot University of Pennsylvania Police officer Edward Miller. Glenn was then shot several times by responding police officers and later died from his injuries. Salih is the only victim from Fridays shooting who died from her injuries. Police are still unsure of Glenns motive though they found a raving, barely coherent note in his possession that was addressed to doomed people. Police described the note, written in the first person, as a bunch of ramblings in which Glenn expressed anger towards his parole officer as well as police. Police believe Salih and the other civilians who were shot during the attack were random targets. Salihs uncle, Mohamednur Salih, told NBC10 his niece had just gotten home from a night out when the shooting took place. Sara was a very pretty lady and very young, her uncle said. Very beautiful. Its unbelievable, the loss of life like this. Salih moved to America from Saudi Arabia when she was a young girl. She was studying fashion design prior to her death. She was eight years old when she came in, her uncle said. She finished high school and then she went to community college. Its very sad to loss this way. And you try the best you possibly could. You always try. Lawmakers are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a program local school districts use to acquire EpiPens for students, alleging violations of anti-trust laws. The program, EpiPen4Schools, benefits school districts across the nation, including schools here in San Diego County, by providing EpiPens to schools to be used in case of emergencies. The EpiPen contains epinephrine, a drug used to treat someone experiencing a life-threatening allergic reaction or anaphylaxis. Dr. Howard Taras with the University of California San Diego writes prescriptions locally for the EpiPen4Schools program and said he has written prescriptions for 25 school districts in San Diego County. The purpose of these standing orders is so that school sites have these injectors around so that staff can respond to severe allergic reactions, Dr. Taras told NBC 7 Investigates by email. My prescribed standing orders are primarily for students without previously known risk for allergic reactions. In 2014, the California Governor signed a law that requires schools to be supplied and trained with epinephrine auto-injectors, to be prepared in the event of a student having an allergic emergency with no previous knowledge of the allergy. According to Taras, school districts are worried Mylan, the company that purchased and took over production of EpiPens in 2007, could remove the free epinephrine program making it very expensive for the schools to comply with the 2014 California law. Mylan has stated they plan to continue offering the EpiPen4Schools program in their efforts to enhance access to the EpiPen. Analysts say Mylan began to raise the price for a two pack of EpiPens by over 400% since 2011, leaving some patients having to pay over $600 out-of-pocket for the medication. Mylans CEO Heather Bresch, in an interview with CNBCs Squawk Box on August 25 said Mylan is not responsible for the rise in price. This isnt an EpiPen issue; this isnt a Mylan issue; this is a healthcare issue, Bresch said. The irony is that the system incentivizes higher prices. In August, 2012, Mylan launched the EpiPen4Schools program in an effort to provide the medication to schools at no cost. Since then, Mylan says it has distributed more than 700,000 pens to approximately half of all U.S. schools. Now, a requirement these schools had to agree to in order participate in the discount program is being called into question. Section six (vi) of the Mylan certification form for schools and school districts states, the school hereby certifies that it will not in the next twelve (12) months purchase any products that are competitive products to EpiPen Auto-Injectors To see the application being questioned, click here. Mylan states schools accepting a majority of the EpiPens distributed through the EpiPen4Schools program did not have to abide by this restriction. Earlier this month, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar said this requirement violates antitrust laws and should be considered as exclusionary practices to hinder its competitors and maintain its monopoly position in the market. The FTC has been asked to investigate what effect, if any, this requirement had on schools and competing companies. NBC 7 Investigates reached out to Mylan, asking if the company had any comment in regards to lawmakers asking the FTC to investigate antitrust claims. While the company did not directly respond to the inquiry, Mylan noted the program has always and will continue to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations. Mylans CEO Heather Bresch told CNBCs Squawk Box the company is responsible for passing legislation in 48 states, allowing undesignated EpiPens to be in schools. In one year alone, 2015, there were 1,000 anaphylactic events in schools and 25% of the time, people had no idea they had a known allergy, Bresch told CNBC. In San Diego County, children having to go to the emergency room for anaphylaxis increased greatly from 2006 to 2014 according to the most recent data from the San Diego County Health Department. According to the Health Department data, there was a 265% increase in the number of emergency room visits where anaphylactic shock was the diagnosis. The data says that increase was highest among 10 to 14 year olds, with a 783% increase and 15 to 19 year olds with a 600% increase in that time period. NBC 7 Investigates reached out to every school district in San Diego County but only a handful responded to our request. A representative from San Diego Unified School District told NBC 7 Investigates, in 2012-2013 the district began providing EpiPens to all schools, approximately 180 sites, through the EpiPen4Schools program. Because the applications for the EpiPen4Schools program are submitted online, an SDUSD representative said it did not have a copy of the application SDUSD submitted for the program. To read Mylan's full statement, click here. This article is sponsored by Sharp HealthCare. It does not reflect the work or opinions of NBC San Diegos editorial staff. To learn more about Sharp HealthCare, click here. Heart failure is a common, yet serious condition and its symptoms should not be ignored. To register for Sharps free Congestive Heart Failure Seminar, visit www.sharp.com/heartfailure or call 1-800-82-SHARP. __________________________________________________________________ As a mother of four children and a grandmother to another six, 58-year old Maria Valadez had long been the center of her tight-knit family, the glue that held everyone together. But inside, Maria was falling apart. Suffering from a damaged heart that pumped only 23 percent of the blood she needed, Maria was unable to walk the short distance to her neighbors homes, let alone lead an active life with the large family she loved so much. With only a 10 percent chance of living for another six months, Maria decided to meet with the cardiovascular specialists at Sharp Memorial Hospital. And in April of 2015, under the expert care of Dr. Rob Adamson, medical director of Sharps cardiac transplant program, she became the first person on the West Coast to receive a new, mechanical heart pump. At that time, Maria joined only a handful of people across the nation implanted with the HeartMate III Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) as part of a clinical trial. LVADs keep patients with advanced heart failure alive by supplementing the pumping function of their weak hearts. This newest version is designed to be safer and more patient-friendly. Not only did the LVAD save Maria, it rejuvenated her. By allowing her to lead a more active lifestyle with her family, she lost weight and became a candidate for a donor heart that may have been too small for her frame before the LVAD was implanted. On January 16, 2016, Maria became the 402nd person to receive a heart transplant at Sharp Memorial. "Until Sharp, I didn't have an answer for so many years," Maria says about her declining health over the last decade. "And then for me to get my heart so fast, I was like, 'Wow, that was quick.' I'm so grateful." Today, Maria leads the life shed always wanted, happy, healthy, and surrounded by a loving family. Unfortunately, however, many Americans arent so lucky, with an estimated five million suffering congestive heart failure, a major chronic condition often marking the end stage of heart disease. This serious condition can develop slowly or happen quickly, with symptoms like shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, or fatigue setting in before becoming severely disabling. Thankfully, Sharp Memorial Hospital offers a full range of treatment options for patients with heart failure. If you or someone you love is experiencing heart failure symptoms, join Sharp HealthCare at a free seminar to learn about the latest treatment options: Tuesday, September 27, 6 to 8 p.m. presented by Sharp Memorial Hospital A team of cardiovascular doctors and other heart specialists will discuss congestive heart failure symptoms, diagnosis, and the latest treatment options, followed by a Q&A session. Registration is free but space is limited. Register online at www.sharp.com/heartfailure or call 1-800-82-SHARP. For more than three decades, Sharp Memorial Hospital has set new standards of care for the treatment of heart failure. At Sharp, an internationally renowned team of heart specialists are committed to your well-being from before surgery through rehabilitation and recovery at home. Its all part of the extraordinary level of care called The Sharp Experience. Tijuana Police have arrested a man who allegedly admitted to dumping his girlfriend's dead baby in an empty lot in Tijuana. Luis Espinoza was arrested Monday morning in Tijuana, a source with Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado de Mexico (PGE) told NBC 7. Specific charges are unknown at this point. Seven-month old Elliot Villalobos was found dead on Sept. 2 in the Lomas de la Presa neighborhood, about 12 miles south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The babys mother, 20-year-old Jasmine Villalobos, led Chula Vista police to the body after officers found her living with her boyfriend, Espinoza in San Diego. The FBI was involved in the investigation into the death of Elliot, a U.S. citizen. Law enforcement officials in San Diego and in Tijuana believe the baby was killed in Mexico. But, the FBI was considering whether it can bring charges based on a federal statute that says a U.S. citizen cannot kill another U.S. citizen in foreign lands. Villalobos relatives had reported her missing on August 31, concerned after they did not hear from her since the end of June. According to authorities, Villalobos and Espinoza told officers that baby Elliot had suffered a fatal fall. They didnt know what to do so they wrapped up the baby in blankets and left him in the empty lot in Tijuana. Espinoza is the not the babys biological father. Ed. Note: A previous version of this article reported incorrect information from investigators. We regret the error. Just as hip-hop artist Ludacris was set to take the stage Saturday night disorder overtook KAABOO. It turned into a big chaotic riot of people just throwing stuff, fights breaking out, cops tackling people with pepper spray, tasers, it was the whole nine yards for sure, fan David Lopez said. Lopez said San Diego Sheriff's deputies ordered people to leave. Thats one reason why people weren't too happy when KAABOO later tweeted that Encore was at capacity, all acts were on schedule and deputies had contained what they called "unruly guests." They weren't giving us any information at all. And that frustrated me the most, Lopez said. For others the experience was the opposite. A KAABOO spokesperson apologized to those who couldn't enjoy Encore, saying they couldn't allow more people in the venue due to safety reasons. Still, Philip Nauman said he felt far from safe. There were three police officers that I would say I was legitimately scared of, he told NBC 7. Authorities say the crowd became unruly but Nauman argues deputies are to blame. It seemed like sort of a bullying situation where they were inciting it instead of stopping the incidents from happening, Nauman contended. Deputies arrested up to four people, at least one for pushing a sergeant. At least one fight erupted Saturday night at the KAABOO Musical Festival in Del Mar when festivalgoers became frustrated trying to get into a popular event in a small venue, according to witnesses and officials. Tempers flared Saturday night as people who had been waiting for two hours to see Steve Aoki perform at the ENCORE stage became angry when the venue reached capacity. "When you get a high personality like Steve Aoki and tell people you're going to sell out, while you have 10,000 people scheduled to go see him into an arena that only holds like, 4,000 people, it's not the best planning," said festivalgoer David Lopez, a Chula Vista resident. He spent $280 on tickets for the 3-day festival and went to see Aerosmith last night. Lopez said he eventually transitioned to go see Aoki. But when he went to the venue, he noticed it quickly became unruly. "It turned into a big chaos riot," Lopez recalled. "People throwing stuff, fights breaking out and cops tackling people with pepper spray and tasers." Lopz said he was surprised, as he expected the event, now in its second year, to be mellow. A San Diego County Sheriff's Lieutenant told NBC 7 San Diego the venue filled up as people from other venues were trying to leave, and the crowd became unruly. There were several fights, the Lieutenant said. He did not have a specific number, but said between one and four people were arrested. A KAABOO spokesperson siad they understood some people were disappointed they could not get into the venue, but safety comes first. "KAABOO and the Del Mar Fairgrounds apologize to those who were unable to enjoy ENCORE last night. The venue was at capacity. For the safety of our guests, security and the Sheriffs Department dispersed any unruly crowds. There were no injuries. All experiences are on schedule as planned for today. We are very much looking forward to seeing you," a KAABOO spokesperson said in a statement. Sheriff's officials formed a skirmish line and people eventually dispersed into the parking lot to end the incident. Lopez said it took anywhere from two to three hours to get out of the parking lot, as well. "The parking management was just horrible," he said. "You have people waiting in line two to three hours to get out of a dirt area of Del Mar." No one was injured, Sheriff's officials said. No other information was immediately available. Hangzhou, the host city of the 2016 G20 summit, saw a total of 5,105 houses sold on Sept. 18, one day before the citys new home-buying restriction took effect, setting a record high. Some 3,265 new houses, together with 1,840 second-hand properties, were sold to buyers whose household registrations are not for Hangzhou. Some real estate developers even traveled to other cities where clients lived to seal the deal. An increasing number of people have begun setting their sights on Hangzhou with regards to property investment, especially after the G20 summit, with housing prices increasing by about 50 percent, news site Sina.com.cn reported. Unfortunately, overheated investment can also increase the price of innovative entrepreneurship in Hangzhou, not to mention living costs. This could pose a challenge to future development of the city, warned Professor Yu Xiaofen from Zhejiang University of Technology in an article published by Hangzhous housing administration bureau. Amid the home-buying craze, the city government announced on Sept. 18 that it would impose a home-buying restriction on non-Hangzhou registrants who have already bought one house in Hangzhou, banning them from purchasing additional properties. It was announced that the order would take effect on Sept. 19. Hangzhou is just the latest Chinese city to impose a new home-buying restriction. The cities of Suzhou and Xiamen in Jiangsu and Fujian provinces also placed restrictions on second-time home buyers in August, while provincial capitals Hefei and Wuhan of Anhui and Hubei provinces imposed limitations on housing loans, according to Sina.com.cn. Trolley service has resumed after a suspicious device temporarily halted the green line at Qualcomm Stadium. Authorities began investigating the suspicious item near the stadium trolley station at approximately 1:45 p.m. Sunday, San Diego Police (SDPD) said. "The object was very close to the platform. Under the abundance of caution, we called out Metro Arson Strike Team to come out to make sure that object that was very suspicious in nature did not pose a threat to anyone that would be leaving the Chargers game," said Chief of San Diego Police, Shelley Zimmerman. Zimmerman would not specify what type of item they found, but did say it was clear the item did not fit in and was not supposed to be there. We ask the public that if they see something out of the ordinary, and I can tell you this was definitely out of the ordinary, to make sure to say something to police, Zimmerman said. During their investigation, authorities halted green line trolley service between Fenton Parkway and Grantville. Trolley service has since resumed. At the time, the San Diego Chargers were approximately an hour into their home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Police say fans inside the stadium were considered safe during the investigation. I think we're all very thankful especially in light of what's been going on in the world in these last few days," Zimmerman said. "Public safety is always going to take precedence in everything we do." No other information was immediately available. The presidential candidates, following the bombings in New York and New Jersey, sparred over who would better fight terrorism, with Hillary Clinton citing her experience as secretary of state and Donald Trump saying she had emboldened terrorists to attack the United States. Trump, at a campaign rally in Estero, Florida, blamed poor screening of immigrants for the attacks and criticized his opponent's record. "You cant have vetting if you don't look at ideology," he said. Ahmad Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan wanted for questioning in the bombings, was captured Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police. The arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami. Clinton said that she understood how to fight terrorism and that she was the only candidate who had been "part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield." "I have sat at that table in the Situation Room," Clinton said, adding, "I know how to do this." The Democratic presidential nominee took questions from reporters Monday morning about the weekend bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey, which officials say increasingly look like acts of terrorism with a foreign connection. She said Trump's comments had been "seized on by the terrorists" as a recruiting tool. Trump, at the rally, blamed Clinton and President Barack Obama for the rise of ISIS and characterized her as weak and ineffective. He taunted Clinton for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorist." "We will not defeat it with closed eyes or silent voices," he said. "Anyone who cannot name our enemy is not fit to lead this country." But in June, on CNN's "New Day," Clinton did use the terms "radial jihadism" and "radical Islamism." "From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say," Clinton said on "New Day." "And it mattered we got bin Laden, not what name we called him. I have clearly said we -- whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I'm happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing." Trump on Monday also called for the use of "whatever lawful methods are possible to get information from Rahami before it was no longer timely. Clinton said the attacks were "a serious challenge" that the country can meet in "concert with our values" and said she has been in favor of "tough vetting." "Let us remember there are millions and millions of naturalized citizens from all over the world," Clinton said. "We're not going to go after an entire religion," she added. That was a dig at the proposals of Trump, who has said he would bar immigration from nations with ties to terrorism. "Once again someone we were told is ok turns out to be a terrorist who wants to destroy our country & its people- how did he get thru system?" Trump wrote on Twitter. On Facebook, he attacked Clinton, writing, "Hillary Clinton's weakness while she was Secretary of State, has emboldened terrorists all over the world to attack the U.S., even on our own soil. They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes President - so that they can continue their savagery and murder." Trump earlier announced that the cause of Saturday's explosion was a bomb before authorities had publicly said so. The Republican presidential nominee told "Fox and Friends" that "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news." He spoke in a phone interview Monday. Trump also said he believed there was a foreign connection to the attack. It is unclear whether Trump obtained his information from some sort of briefing. His campaign has declined to say. Trump is also saying that people who publish bomb-making instructions in magazines and on websites should be arrested "immediately." He said: "They're making violence possible." Lightning and thunder awakened San Diegans early Monday and sparked several fires. In North Park, resident Graden Tonna shot out of bed when she heard what she described as an explosion. It sounded like the sky was ripping open outside of our window, Tonna said. Tonna lives near the intersection of Dwight and 32nd Street where a utility pole burst into flames at approximately 3 a.m. One couple who live on the corner told NBC 7 they had been listening to the thunder when they heard a blast right outside their window. They came out to see the pole on fire. They immediately called 911. San Diego Police and San Diego Fire-Rescue crews arrived. The street was quickly blocked off. San Diego Gas & Electric crews used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. In Valencia Park, lightning struck a palm tree and sparked a fire in the middle of the tree's trunk, according to SDFD officials. Eleven people were transported to the hospital after a van crashed into a Metrobus in northeast Washington Sunday morning. The V4 Metrobus was on Minnesota Avenue NE when a speeding van crashed into it at about 11:30 a.m., police said. Eleven people were taken to the hospital. Their conditions are not known at this time. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Two D.C. police officers are in serious condition after they stopped on a freeway to help a driver and were hit by an SUV, officials say. The Metropolitan Police Department officers stopped about 1 p.m. Monday on Anacostia Freeway (I-295) northbound at the westbound ramp to Southeast/Southwest Freeway (I-695), just east of 11th Street Bridge, officials said. The driver of a silver SUV had spun around on the freeway and the officers stopped to help, police said. The officers were outside their two cruisers when the driver of a blue SUV crashed into them, police said. Both officers were rushed to MedStar Washington Hospital Center via helicopter. They are in serious condition, Mayor Muriel Bowser said. Their injuries are non-life-threatening, police said. "They sustained trauma to their lower bodies," trauma surgeon Dr. Christine Wall said at a news conference. "Both of them will remain in the hospital at least tonight." Our thoughts and prayers are with two MPD officers injured while helping driver of disabled vehicle on 695/295 interchange. Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) September 19, 2016 The drivers of both SUVs also were hurt, police said. Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham thanked the officers. "This is the type of thing that police officers do on a daily basis," he said. No information was released immediately on the cause of the crash. Major crash investigators are working the case and will determine if the driver of the blue SUV will be charged with a crime. Some lanes of I-295 northbound headed toward I-695 westbound were closed, D.C. police said. Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story. Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza announced her resignation from her post, according to a blog posted on the school systems website. Garza wrote she was leaving by Dec. 16 for a position as president and CEO of Battelle for Kids, a nonprofit education organization based out of Columbus, Ohio. The blog post was published on Monday, Sept. 19. She said she was grateful for the opportunity to work with the school system since 2013. Garza said she would work with the school board and the leadership team to provide for a smooth, positive transition. "It has been an honor and privilege to have worked with the dedicated and professional staff who make FCPS the finest school system in the country," Garza said. "I am so proud to have been a part of this outstanding system and this great community. I wish Fairfax County Public Schools much continued success in the coming years." Battelle for Kids helps educators and school systems with services, solutions and products designed to advance student-centered learning. it was established in 2001 and works with education organizations in more than 30 states. News4's David Culver said the board was surprised by the announcement when they were told late Monday afternoon. He said the county will begin an immediate search for an interim superintendent. Garza recently signed a contract extension for another four years. Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Stork was a member of the county school board when Garza was hired. He pointed to her accomplishments that included a later start time for high school students and abolishing half day Mondays in elementary schools. "It will be tough to replace her," Stork told News4's Jackie Bensen. "I was very pleased to have hired her. She has done a great job of doing all the things we asked her to do." Garza was the first female superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, the 10th largest in the nation. The grand interview of Mount Emei in eyes of foreign reporterssponsored by People's Daily and Leshan Municipal Committee of Publicity and held by Sichuan Branch of People's Daily, Mount Emei Scenic Area management Committee and Emeishan Municipal Committee of Publicity was officially launched in Sept. 11. Over 20 reporters from overseas and foreign channel of domestic central media gathered in Emeishan City to help spread charm of Emeishan and Leshan Citys tourism resources and culture of Buddhism, tea and martial arts during their 3-day visit. Wang Bo fromSichuan Branch of Peoples Daily reports in Emeishan, Sept. 11. Lai Shufang, Member of Leshan Municiple CPC Standing Committee, Minister of Publicity said in her speech that Leshan City used to be referred to as Jiazhou City, which is renowned for extensive and historical culture, gorgeous natural scenery and the birth of talents. As the saying goes,The scenery of world landscape goes to Sichuan, the most beautiful scenery in Sichuan is Jiazhou. The city boasts the world cultural and natural heritage, Mount Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha, both are well-known for its stunning scenery and Buddhist culture in the world. With the theme of Trade on Tourism and Open Cooperation, the third Sichuan International Travel Expo (SCITE) is about to kick off here. Today is the perfect time for the elites of overseas and foreign channel of domestic central media to come to the City. The interview aims to offer an opportunity to the reporters to visit the place and interview and communicate with local people so as to promote the natural scenery, history as well as the ethnic custom of E'meishan and Leshan City to the world. As one of the national key scenic area and Chinas four great mountains, Mount Emei enjoys the fame of the most elegant mountain under heavenand it has been enlisted in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites for its unique tourism resources and profound culture. Ranging from September 22nd to 28th, the third SCITE is bound to be a tourism expo with great international influence. More than 20 repoters from overseas and foreign channel of domestic central media will come to cover the tourism resources, culture and social-economic developments of Emeishan City on spot ahead of the expo, which is going to create a favorable environment for the opening of the SCITE, said the vice Chief Editor Li Xinyu on the opening ceremony. And he added that the interview would definitely help spread Emeishan and Leshan Citys resources and culture of Buddhism, tea and martial arts and further enhance the citys international image. Hu Changming, a Spanish reporter, who came to the Mount Emei for the first time noted that traditional culture was an important part for foreigners to learn about China. Since Mount Emei is one of the four great Buddhism Mountains in China and its martial art performance is rarely seen by foreigners, they are full of expectations toward the schedule of their three-day trip and they all wish to learn about the local Buddhism and martial art culture. Firefighters have rescued a woman who was trapped in her burning home. Prince George's County Fire and Rescue officials say the rescue occurred 2 p.m. Sunday on Country Club Court in Landover, just a few miles from FedEx Field where the Washington Redskins were hosting the Dallas Cowboys. A 911 caller alerted the dispatcher that a woman was still inside the home. Firefighters initiated a rescue search when they arrived. The woman was listed in critical condition Sunday evening with burns and smoke inhalation. The fire was extinguished within 20 minutes of arrival. No additional injuries were reported. More than 80 cats and kittens were removed from a Falls Church, Virginia, home after a tip to authorities, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Animal Protection Police removed the felines from a home in the 7200 block of Westmoreland Road on Saturday, Sept. 17. They received a tip from an investigator with the Department of Code Compliance. Police said 82 cats, ranging from newborns to about 7 years old, were found inside the home. They said dozens showed varying signs and symptoms of illness. Officers also found five dead cats inside the home. The 82 cats were transported to the animal shelter and treated by a veterinarian. Police said the investigation is continuing, and charges would be filed against a 52-year-old man who was living in the home, if appropriate. It is not known at this time when the cats and kittens may be ready for adoption. A second man has been charged in the killing of a 22-year-old transgender woman in D.C. on July 4. Jalonte Little, 26, was arrested Monday in the death of Deeniquia Dodds. Little, of Southeast D.C., was charged with first degree felony murder while armed, D.C. police said. A first man, Shareem Hall, 22, was arrested Thursday, Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham announced at a news conference. "In all likelihood, we believe the motive in this case was robbery," he said. Dodds, known to loved ones as Dee Dee, was shot just a few blocks from home, on the 200 block of Division Avenue NE, police said. She was pronounced dead July 13. "Her murder reminds us all of how often the transgender community is targeted for violence in our society," LGBT activist Earline Budd previously said in a statement. Hall, of District Heights, Maryland, was charged with murder while armed. Hate crime charges and an enhanced penalty will be "a serious consideration," Newsham said. No information was available immediately on whether Little also may face hate crime charges. Dodds was "a beautiful person," according to Joeann Lewis, who raised her. "Loved to make you laugh. Loved to make you smile," she previously told News4. World leaders meeting at the United Nations starting Monday will be trying to make progress on two intractable problems at the top of the global agenda the biggest refugee crisis since World War II and the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year which has claimed over 300,000 lives. Against a backdrop of rising ethnic and religious tension, fighting elsewhere in the Mideast and Africa, extremist attacks across the world and a warming planet, there are plenty of other issues for the 135 heads of state and government and more than 50 ministers expected to attend to try to tackle. "It's no secret there's a lot of fear out there," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters Thursday, citing the uncertainties sparked by Britain's vote to leave the European Union, the threat posed by the Islamic State extremist group, and attacks in many parts of the world by IS and other terrorist groups. But Syria, where a tense cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington went into effect last Monday, remains at the top of the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting. An apparently errant airstrike on Saturday in which the U.S. military may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group could deal a crushing blow to the U.S.-Russian-brokered cease-fire. The cease-fire, which does not apply to attacks on IS, has largely held for five days despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides. The U.N. Security Council held a closed emergency meeting Saturday night at Russia's request to discuss the airstrike. The acrimonious meeting offered a harbinger of the difficulties ahead as the U.S. and Russia remain suspicious of each other's intents in Syria. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power accused Russia of pulling "a stunt" that is "cynical and hypocritical" in calling for the meeting while not taking similar action in response to atrocities committed by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he had never seen "such an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness" as displayed by Power. The acrimony over the airstrike could spill over into a Security Council ministerial meeting on Syria scheduled for Wednesday. Russia was pushing for a resolution to endorse the cessation of hostilities and look ahead, but the U.S. refused to make public details of the cease-fire deal citing "operational security." Churkin earlier had called the U.S. uncooperative and said most likely "we're not going to have a resolution." With the truce still fragile, no sign yet of humanitarian aid deliveries, and supporters and opponents of the Syrian government trading accusations, diplomats said there may be a meeting Tuesday of some 20 key countries on both sides who are part of the International Syria Support Group to chart the next steps. The spotlight during the week is also certain to shine on three leaders, who are all scheduled to speak at the assembly's opening ministerial session on Tuesday morning. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who steps down on Dec. 31, and U.S. President Barack Obama who will leave office in January, will be addressing the 193-member world body for the last time. And British Prime Minister Theresa May will be making her debut on the world stage less than three months after the vote to leave the European Union. In U.N. corridors and at private meetings, the question of Ban's successor will be a hot topic. Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has topped all four informal polls in the Security Council but he could be vetoed, possibly by Russia, and there are constant rumors of new candidates throwing their hats in the ring. The U.S. presidential race is already a hot topic at the U.N., and no doubt leaders will be privately discussing the impact of a victory by Hillary Clinton, and especially Donald Trump, on the United Nations where the United States is the largest financial contributor and has veto-wielding power in the Security Council. In one of the week's highlights, the secretary-general has invited leaders to a first-ever U.N. Summit on Refugees and Migrants on Monday. According to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, an "unprecedented" 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from a year earlier and the highest number since World War II. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million people internally displaced within their own countries. ''More countries must resettle more people who have been forced from their homes," Ban told reporters Wednesday. "And everyone, everywhere, must stand up against the animosity that so many refugees, migrants and minority communities face." The political declaration set to be adopted calls for separate Global Compacts for refugees and migrants to be adopted within two years. But human rights groups complained that it was watered down, eliminating Ban's proposal to resettle 10 percent of the world's refugees annually. At a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by Obama, at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that will meet or exceed U.S. goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and lawful admission spots, and increasing access to education for one million youngsters and access to employment by one million, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the summit. "We are not going to solve the refugee crisis on Tuesday," U.S. envoy Power said, "but I think you'll see an important show of political will from leaders around the world." According to the United Nations, 545 meetings have been requested and Ban will take part in 62 events. The U.N. chief, who has made climate change a top priority, has organized an event Wednesday for countries to deliver their ratifications of the Paris Declaration to tackle global warming. He is hoping to get the required 55 countries representing 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, if not Wednesday, by the end of the year. Nigeria's Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, whose government is battling the insurgency by Boko Haram Islamic extremists, told reporters Friday that addressing "this global phenomenon of terrorism" will be high on his country's agenda along with tackling the U.N. development goals for 2030 and promoting a new U.N. body to focus on youth. The Security Council is holding a ministerial meeting Thursday on improving aviation security, and it could meet again if agreement is reached on a resolution to support the nuclear test ban treaty which will likely single out North Korea, the only country to conduct tests in the 21st century. The parties to the Iran nuclear deal are also scheduled to meet Thursday as well as the Quartet of Mideast mediators the U.S., U.N., EU and Russia who are trying to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Police say a 15-month-old child fell out of a third-floor window in Springfield's North End section in Massachusetts over the weekend and was severely injured. The Republican newspaper reports the accident happened around 1:30 p.m. Sunday at a residence on Cumberland Street. The unidentified child's parents were home at the time of the incident. Lt. Mark Rolland says the child was rushed to Baystate Medical Center, which is just around the corner from the home. The victim is listed in critical condition but is expected to survive. The Springfield Police Department and the state Department of Children and Families are investigating. The Coast Guard is searching for two missing boaters who did not return from a fishing trip near Block Island, Rhode Island, Sunday. Officials received a report around 6:30 p.m. that 54-year-old Linda Carmen and her 22-year-old son Nathan Carmen had not returned. They were last Saturday evening departing from Ram's Point Marina in Point Judith in a 32-foot boat. The Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England, in Boston, said Monday evening the search was focused on Hudson Canyon, about 115 miles south of Montauk, New York. No further details were released. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Coast Guard at 508-457-3211. Sugon, a leader in China's high-performance computing sector, has launched its E generation high-performance computer prototype project, and will soon demonstrate the applications of the project in Shanghai and Shenzhen, Xinhua reported on Sept. 18. E generation supercomputing refers to supercomputers that are capable of performing a billion billion calculations per second. Such computers can play an essential role in solving crucial problems like those related to energy and climate change. In the national 13th Five-Year Plan for computing research, Sugon, together with National University of Defense and Technology and Jiangnan Computing Technology Research Institution, was approved to execute an E generation prototype research project, positioning the three parties to lead the Chinese market in E generation calculation. "The prototype system is able to support applications in the field of high-performance computing, big data and cloud computing, as well as accelerate the industrialization of technological achievements, which plays a major role in the development of China's high-performance computing industry," said Sha Chaoqun, vice president of Sugon. Sugon has promised specific solutions to the potential challenges involved in E generation computing, specifically with regards to calculations, storage, networks, software, system cooling and reliability. According to Sugon, the E generation computing prototype system will provide commercial services including high-performance computing, cloud computing and big data solutions once it is completed. The investigation into explosions in New York City and a New Jersey seaside town over the weekend has led law enforcement to a fried chicken restaurant and allegations of anti-Muslim discrimination after the family of suspect Ahmad Rahami sued the city of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The lawsuit, which named the police department and neighbors, including a news photographer, was filed by Rahami's father, the owner of First American Fried Chicken in Elizabeth. Filed in 2011, the 19-page lawsuit claims repeated citations against their business, a restaurant in an area police allegedly said was "known for criminal activity," was discrimination against Muslims. The lawsuit documents police repeatedly telling them to close the business by 10 p.m. saying the "the restaurant presented a danger to the community" and "there is a lot of crime around here." Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage says the family sued after being told to curtail round the clock hours. "There was lots of noise, it was open 24 hours, neighbors in this neighborhood complained. The city of Elizabeth could not tolerate all of the hours they were open disruptive in the neighborhood for many, many years," he said. The restaurant was repeatedly cited and ticketed. At one point, two people, including the suspect's father, were arrested and taken to jail for disorderly conduct. The lawsuit claims news photographer Dean McDermott, who lived on the corner, allegedly told the owners that "Muslims should not have businesses here," "Muslims are trouble" and that "Muslims don't belong here." Asked if discrimination against Muslims triggered the complaints, Bollwage said, "I've attended many city council meetings and that had absolutely nothing to do with it ... nothing to do with race, religion, or anything else". We called the First American Fried Chicken for comment, but calls go to a voicemail that is full. McDermott also did not answer. The New York Times reports bombing suspect Ahmad and his brothers have worked in the restaurant. Police in Laconia, New Hampshire, have arrested a woman they say was speeding while drunk, fled officers and resisted arrest. Sherry Giddis, 47, of Gilmanton, was clocked traveling at 90 mph in a 45 mph zone on Route 106 in Belmont around 11 p.m. Sunday. Police say they attempted to stop her vehicle to no avail and she drove into Gilford and then Laconia. Giddis eventually drove to a McDonald's where police stopped her. They say Giddis refused to open the door. Officers broke a window to reach her and Giddis allegedly fought with officers during the arrest. Officers determined Giddies ran another car off the road earlier in the night. She was charged with three counts of Disobeying an Officer, Aggravated DWI, Resisting Arrest or Detention, and Felony Reckless Conduct all out of Laconia. Belmont Police have pending charges against Giddis for Disobeying, Theft and Reckless Driving. Gilford Police have pending charges for Disobeying, Criminal Mischief and Reckless Driving. She refused bail and will be arraigned Monday. It's not clear if she has an attorney. A 19-year-old Vermont man was cited after allegedly crashing his car while drunk. State police say Rory Kilpatrick was behind the wheel when he crashed his car into a tree on Dunham Avenue in Shaftsbury Sunday evening. Kilpatrick, a Shaftsbury resident himself, had minor injuries in the crash. When troopers arrived at the scene, they suspected he was driving under the influence of alcohol, and took Kilpatrick into custody for suspicious of DUI and careless and negligent operation. State police say Kilpatrick then provided a preliminary breath sample, which put his blood alcohol content at 2.5 times the legal limit. Kilpatrick refused to provide another breath sample at the Shaftsbury barracks. He's due in court on Oct. 3. It's unclear if he has an attorney. MP praise for Norwich church drop-in centre The Salvation Armys Pottergate Advice and Refreshment Centre for people in need welcomed Shadow Defence Secretary, Clive Lewis MP, on September 16 to raise awareness of homelessness in Norwich city centre. The MP for Norwich South met with Salvation Army staff who gave him a tour of the drop-in centre which provides support to anyone over the age of 16 who is in need, vulnerable, rough-sleeping or homeless. Service users were then given the opportunity to share their personal experiences with Clive Lewis MP and discuss the issues surrounding homelessness in Norwich. The Salvation Armys Pottergate Advice and Refreshment Centre (ARC) supports people on their journey towards a more fulfilling life. Staff and volunteers offer professional advice on a variety of issues and facilitate engagement with programmes and learning activities that equip service users for the future. From one-to-one job search support, hygiene facilities and emergency food and supplies provision, the centre combines compassionate support, with a listening ear and practical help. Mr Lewis said: It was a pleasure to be able to visit the Pottergate Advice and Refreshment Centre (ARC) - a drop-in run by The Salvation Army to support those in Norwich who are vulnerable or experiencing homelessness. Here, as well as offering basic amenities such as food, shower facilities and emergency clothing, they connect people with the appropriate help and advice services so their situation can be improved. The ARC sees an average of 1124 visits each month. Although its upsetting to know that so many people in our city need help in this way, Im proud of the great work The Salvation Army are doing to make a difference. I was able to see this first hand during my visit to ARC, where I also learnt more about other initiatives they run in Norwich such as the Soup Run. Ill lend my support to The Salvation Army in whatever way I can going forward so this fantastic work can continue to happen. Major Derek Jones, The Salvation Armys Divisional Commander for Anglia, said: We have a long history of offering practical support to people who are vulnerable or in need in Norwich city centre. Our church and community centre on St Giles Street, soup run, charity shop on Lower Goat Lane and Pottergate drop-in centre demonstrate The Salvation Armys commitment to providing opportunities for transformation in peoples lives. We were glad to welcome Clive Lewis MP to our Pottergate drop-in centre and share our expertise and policy recommendations. We hope the conversations Mr Lewis had with our service users increased his awareness of the challenges local people in need face. The Salvation Army has been have been a leading provider of social services for more than 130 years. The Pottergate drop-in centre is part of a network of homelessness services run by the Church and charity throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland supporting more than 8,000 people and including Lifehouses (residential centres for people experiencing homelessness), floating support services and church-based community programmes. Elastic is the commercial vendor that sits behind the Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash and Beats open source projects. Elasticsearch was created back in 2010 by Shay Banon, co-founder and CTO of the Elastic company, and is built upon the Apache Lucene information retrieval project. All of the different projects focus on taking structured and unstructured data and delivering search, logging and analytics on top of it. Since that time, its commercial productsElastic Stack, X-Pack and Elastic Cloudhave seen over 70 million cumulative downloads. Elastic has been smart about making strategic acquisitions. It acquired visualization vendor Kibana, and a year or so ago it acquired Norwegian company Found, which was commercializing Elasticsearch and offering it as a service on top of Amazon Web Services. This strategy appears to have worked, and it is interesting to look at the graph below that tracks the relative exposure of Elasticsearch and one of the competitive offerings, Splunk. Given that Splunk is a big, publicly listed company and that the machine data use case is only one of the areas Elastic goes after, this is impressive and an indication of the companys importance. Elastic is today expanding that commercial applicability with another acquisition, this time of behavioral analytics vendor Prelert. I first talked with Prelert last year and wrote a story about how its offering was being applied within small banks to reduce the fraud they face. Interestingly, Prelert was integrated into Splunk a year or so ago. The company, however, decided Elastic as a company, and Elasticsearch as a project, was better aligned with it and jumped all in with the Elastic community. Prelert was founded in 2008 to create technology that automates the discovery of anomalies in large, complex datasets; predicts actions and outcomes; and provides enterprises and their end users with a consumable application that doesnt require them to perform data science. Using unsupervised machine learning techniques applied to a customers historical and real-time continuous data, Prelerts predictive models perform behavioral analytics to understand the probability of failures and events occurring with built-in alerting and notifications for end users to explain why something has happened and what to do with that information. Banon said he discovered Prelert while the company was exhibiting at a previous Elastic conference. He was impressed by how well the company was executing. In particular, he said Prelert, even as an outside party, felt like a native integration into the Elastic family. Providing intelligence on top of data Given the Prelert teams proof of execution and the fact that machine learning opens up a whole new angle of effort around the mass of data Elastic already handles, this acquisition made sense. It allows Elastic to move on from merely search and visualization and start offering intelligence on top of all that data. For his part, Prelert CEO Steve Dodson was similarly complimentary of his new boss. He said both Elasticsearch and Prelert, despite being somewhat pigeon-holed by commentators into one particular vertical, are generally broad products that can be applied to many different use cases. With the addition of the 30-person Prelert team, Elastic can target these different opportunities and go head to head with not only Splunk, but also other vendors as they target machine learning, Internet of Things, fraud detection and other specific use cases. Dodson founded Prelert in 2008. Before that, he was a founding member of the Riversoft engineering team, which created root-cause analysis technology used today within IBM Tivoli, HP OpenView and Cisco tools. That previous experience, plus the past years learnings from Prelert, will be integrated into the Elastic product line and business. From a product perspective, Elastic will integrate the Prelert technology into the Elastic Stack and will offer it as part of its subscription packages in 2017. What this means for product offerings Prelert integrated into Elastics Kibana will be targeted. Some broad-ranging use cases include the following: Detecting advanced security threat activities and anomalies in log data Discovering hidden fraud patterns in highly sensitive data Identifying anomalous systems or metrics and their root cause across IT systems Linking together complex series of events in data to expose early-warning signals Automatically pinpointing where and why critical system outages are occurring Detecting unexpected drops in transactional activity While not calling out Splunk in particular, Prelert points to the benefit that open-source solutions bring to this space. With the shift to enterprises standardizing on open-source solutions like the Elastic Stack for logging and security use cases, we saw a tremendous opportunity to add value on top of the Elastic Stack, said Dodson. We are very excited to join the Elastic team and embed our behavioral analytics engine into the Elastic Stack so that Elastics customers can gain powerful and proactive insights, and solve new use cases. This is a great acquisition by a company that has been growing like weedsa company that has some pretty exciting product opportunities. It will be interesting to see the progress of integrated Elastic/Prelert solutions when they come to market next year. [File photo/ People's Daily Online] China should observe, guide and regulate cyber language instead of pushing to eliminate it, according to a Chinese education official on Sept. 18. The communication between computers and people has created a virtual space, in which netizens can simplify their language and say whatever they want. This has led to the boom of cyber language, explained Yao Xishuang, director of the Department of Language Application and Administration of the Ministry of Education, during an interview with Peoples Daily Online. According to a survey on cyber language conducted by Peoples Daily Online in 2015, the top three buzzwords in Chinese cyberspace in 2015 were "yanzhi" (a reference to peoples physical appearances), "doubi" (a descriptor for funny and simple-minded people) and "yeshizuile" (speechless). As time goes by, some 'cyber words' go out of fashion and stop being used ... [Authorities] should lead the trend of cyber language, regulate online slang and get rid of vulgar expressions. Some positive cyber words that are widely used by the public can actually become part of the Mandarin language, Yao said. As an important part of Chinas Internet culture, cyber language routinely finds its way even into the lexicons of Party and government officials. The expression that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang used to convey the idea that those with power must not be capricious became a surprise hit among Chinese netizens last year. The expression has been a popular online phrase in China ever since, used to describe capricious behavior in a somewhat ironic way. Cyber words ... have been used even by Chinese leaders, which is indicative of their universality. We should analyze cyber language and guide it, rather than wipe it out, Yao recommended. This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitters approach. Theres been a lot of talk about security automation, but its increasingly unclear what is what. For example, a Network World article on security automation last year focused mostly on threat detection, a Gartner report on Intelligent and Automated Security Controls focused on the threat intelligence component, and another recent piece referenced security automation simply as the automation of cybersecurity controls. The fact is, security automation is starting to go beyond prevention and detection technologies, reaching into other important components of IT infrastructure to more reliably protect organizations. Here are four of the newest and most advanced elements you should consider when discussing security automation: 1. Policy execution. As networks have grown significantly more complex, manually managing associated security policies has become nearly impossible. Enter policy execution automation, which refers to the automation of any administrative work required of IT security. A variety of vendors offer tools for automating the management of network security policies, which can help you more easily meet internal or regulatory security requirements. Some also offer automated services for administrative tasks like user onboarding/offboarding and user lifecycle management. Automating the provisioning, deprovisioning and user access can help IT teams gain greater control over data, costs and time, and the companies offering the tools sometimes refer to themselves or are generically referred to by others as offering security automation. 2. Alert monitoring and prioritization. Some people view the job of automation through the lens of monitoring and prioritizing alerts. Traditionally, alert monitoring and prioritization was a manual task, and a very tedious one at that. A team of analysts in a security operations center would have to compile alerts and literally stare at monitors all day in order to determine which data points were important. Today, there are methods for automating alert monitoring and prioritization that vary in sophistication. For example, this might include setting rules and thresholds, relying on threat intelligence or implementing more advanced behavioral analytics or machine learning technology. Setting rules and thresholds is dwindling in its effectiveness, as it relies on manual input from a person to determine which alerts are important and which arent. And it also requires regular maintenance of those rules because cybersecurity threats are constantly changing and often hackers know exactly which alerts companies will be looking for. Relying on threat intelligence, on the other hand, is a little more reliable. This form of automation refers to the collection of threat intelligence from multiple sources, and it can help companies know which alerts to look for and which are important. For instance, if a company is able to access and consume multiple intel sources, it would know when a certain type of attack is occurring across the globe. Automated threat intelligence can then help the company prepare to protect itself against that potential, incoming attack before its too late. Behavioral analytics and machine learning are among the most advanced forms of automation for alert monitoring and prioritization because they dont rely on rules and thresholds or known threats. Instead, this type of technology can learn what normal network behavior looks like, easily and immediately pinpoint any abnormal behavior, and then statistically score the priority of each potential threat that should be investigated. 3. Incident response planning. Incident response planning is also being referred to as security automation. One way to think about this technology is as a smart ticketing system that helps companies track the evolution of a security incident and coordinate the actions required to respond. Vendors in this space help companies develop playbooks for different types of threats so they can automate portions of their response when every second counts. They automate workflow so companies can make sure theyre communicating with the appropriate internal and external contacts, adhering to regulations for topics like privacy notifications, and establishing a clear audit trail. 4. Investigation, action and remediation. Automating the investigation, action and remediation of a cyber threat is about utilizing technology to perform tasks just as a qualified cyber analyst would. In a way, the other elements of security automation from policies, to prioritization, to planning are all working towards this end goal of quickly finding threats and shutting them down before they impact operations. There are different aspects of what a vendor might automate when it comes to investigation, action and remediation. For example, some might only address one of those three components, while others focus on a specific task, such as automating the containment of compromised devices. There are also companies that use automation and artificial intelligence to conduct the entire process from end-to-end, just as a cyber analyst would. All of these security automation technologies free up overtaxed security resources, allowing security teams to be less focused on mundane but essential tasks, and more focused on strategic initiatives that will make their organization more secure. According to data from the Breach Level Index, 1.9 million online records were compromised every day in 2015. Thats 80,766 records every hour, or 1,346 records every minute. The near constant occurrence of data breaches shows no signs of slowing down, so companies cant afford to have any lingering questions about the concept and capabilities of security automation. Prioritize the automation of your IT security infrastructure and recognize that multiple elements can be automated to help keep your business safe. Automating policy execution, alert monitoring and prioritization, and incident response planning can drastically increase company productivity and reduce costs. And by fully automating the investigation, action and remediation of threats, companies can simulate the experience and logic of experienced cyber analysts at scale, thereby guaranteeing stronger security and compliance overall. Barak is CEO and Co-Founder of the security orchestration and automation company, Hexadite. Prior to founding Hexadite he was the head of Elbit Systems Ltd.'s Cyber Training and Simulation Team, training analysts to respond to cyber threats in both private and public sectors, and served five years in an elite intelligence unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). A security researcher going by Minxomat scanned IPv4 addresses and then released a list of nearly 800,000 open FTP servers, meaning no authentication is required to access them. His scan revealed that 4.32 percent of all FTP servers in the IPv4 address space allowed anonymous users to log in with no password. This is a list of all (796,578) FTP servers directly connected to port 21 in the IPv4 address space that allow anonymous logins, Minxomat wrote on GitHub. The login must be completed in less than five seconds to qualify for this list. If an FTP server was meant to be public, he did not include it in the list. In his post describing mass-analyzing a chunk of the internet, Minxomat said he set up filters to exclude other results such as POS system firmware update servers and printers (firmware|printer). Unless a person really enjoys being threatened with legal action, those results can also be excluded. Minxomat wrote, There are some really aggressive servers that threaten you with criminal prosecution (which is not enforceable in most countries) if you so much as even access the server. Ironically these are mostly .gov servers that have no access restriction at all. Later, he decided the five-second response time was not long enough to catch the really interesting stuff, so he is currently rescanning with a 15 second response time. Teenage hacker claims to have accessed all FTPs on .us domainsincluding .gov Although the two incidents may not be related, shortly after Minxomat released the list of open FTP servers, a teenage hacker going by Fear claimed to have gained access to and downloaded massive amounts of data from every state with a domain on .us, as well as some .gov domains. I gained access to an FTP server that listed access to all the FTPs on .us domains, and those .us domains were hosted along with .gov, so I was able to access everything they hosted, such as public data, private data, source codes etc., Fear told DataBreaches.net. It was very simple, he said, to gain access to the first box that listed all the .us domains and their FTP server logins. He made off with tons of highly sensitive data, such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, contact information (including email addresses, snail mail addresses and phone numbers), and even some web-banking transactions. Fear claims there was no encryption to protect the data and that he could read all of it in plain text form. Although Fear did provide some screenshots as proof, Dissent at DataBreaches did not see any of the pharmacy prescription monitoring program in Florida. However, Fear claimed he accessed the program designed for law enforcement to keep tabs on prescription use. They had monthly reports on every citizen in Florida, and it included phone, address, name, SSN, he said. He intends to dump small portions of private data. His message to those responsible for securing state and government FTP servers is: 5 char passwords wont save your boxes. On Sunday, someone in Florida attempted to secure the data, taking down the FTP server before password-protecting it and bringing it back up, but Fear said, Too bad they dont know its backdoored LOL. they legit suck at security. Florida was allegedly the only state that Fear backdoored before he removed it, but as DataBreaches.net pointed out, A lot of damage can be done with 13 hours of access to a lot of states, though. With the implementation of China's first Charity Law, 13 online platforms have obtained qualification from the Ministry of Civil Affairs to vet and operate online charitable donations. The new system is aimed at making online donations more transparent. With Internet use growing among nearly all populations, online charity has become the most common and popular form of charity. From Weibo to WeChat, netizens are turning to the Internet to educate themselves about charities and make donations with just one click. However, the Internet has also become a breeding ground for online scams. On Aug. 9, police in the city of Handan arrested a fraudster who was pretending to be a representative of the China Charity Federation. On Sept. 6, police in Anhui and Jilin provinces cracked two crime rings that were defrauding innocent citizens by falsely adopting the name of a charity. Rampant online scams not only dampen the enthusiasm of potential donors, they also deal a serious blow to many charities. The newly enacted Charity Law stipulates that charity organizations must release information about donations on platforms that are approved by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs. "If charity organizations fail to release the information on designated platforms, we will now hold them accountable in accordance with the law," said An Ning, an official with the ministry. The ministry began to assess the qualification of 47 online platforms in April, ultimately selecting 13 for approval, including platforms operated by Taobao and Tencent. The Charity Law requires these platforms to verify the certificates and qualifications of any charity organization seeking to solicit donations on their platforms. According to An, the ministry is currently developing a report system for the platforms to improve their supervision. Joyce Lovelock's good works recognised in new BBC series ONE of Thatchams local celebrities is to have her 15 minutes of fame on television later this month. Back in June, Joyce Lovelock was named as the surprise star of a new BBC series called. The programme sees residents enter items into a pop-up community auction and all proceeds are donated to a deserving member of the community. Mrs Lovelock was chosen by the BBC for her tireless and selfless work, day in, day out. The 91-year-old helps residents in Ferndale Court, collecting shopping and prescriptions, and taking them back if they arent correct. Mrs Lovelock told the that she had raised more than 60,000 for the Royal British Legions Poppy Appeal over the last 56 years, including more than 1,100 last year. She is also a founding member of Thatcham Blind Club and is still active within the group. Mrs Lovelock also raises money for the RNLI. With tears in her eyes when she was announced as the shows recipient, Mrs Lovelock said: I feel so shocked. I had no idea. I have got such a wonderful family and good friends. I spend my life looking after people. I just enjoy doing it. Now, Thatcham residents who attended the street auction hosted by presenter Paul Martin, and people across the country, can catch Mrs Lovelock on air at the end of the month. Mrs Lovelock will be kicking off the new series when it starts on BBC 1 at 11am, on Monday, September 26. Her daughter, Susan Popiolek, said that her mother was still active, but was embarrassed by all the publicity surrounding the show, with countless people asking when she was going to appear on TV. Were very excited really and totally honoured that mum was picked, Mrs Popiolek said. Its fabulous that after all these years of doing what she does shes been recognised. Its just her way of life and what she enjoys doing. Were extremely proud that shes been noticed. The show raised 1,239, which the BBC used to treat the family to a trip out to the National Memorial Arboretum in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Mrs Popiolek said the family had had the most fabulous day and one that her mother would never forget. Mrs Lovelock was treated like a queen and asked to stand on a podium and had high-ranking army personnel saluting her. The Royal British Legion also presented her with a bouquet of flowers as a thank you for her fundraising over the year. There was also a touching moment for the family when Mrs Lovelock and her sisters linked arms and laid a wreath at a memorial to her fathers regiment, which fought in the First World War. There wasnt a dry eye anywhere. That was wonderful that we could do that for all these people who gave their lives for everybody, Mrs Popiolek said. Liu Jiqiang, a Chinese man who was jailed for 18 years for a murder he did not commit, recently applied for 19.37 million RMB in state compensation. Jilin Provincial Higher People's Court accepted his application letter. The compensation request includes payment for spiritual and physical damage, violation of personal freedoms and missing social security. Liu, a resident of Jilin, was convicted of murdering a 27-year-old woman in her home on Feb. 14, 1998. Liu was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in December 1999 by Jilin Municipal Intermediate People's Court. He lodged an appeal against the decision, which was rejected due to a lack of evidence. Jilin Provincial People's Court eventually ordered a retrial in March 2000. Jilin Municipal People's Court handed down a second death sentence with reprieve for Liu in November 2002. Liu appealed, as he did the first time. The court made a final ruling and upheld its conviction in March 2003. When Liu and his family appealed for a third time, Jilin Provincial People's Procuratorate recommended a retrial to the provincial higher court in July 2015. The Jilin Provincial People's Court held a public trial on April 19, 2016. The court finally declared Liu innocent due to a lack of evidence. (Left: Professor Xue Qikun; Right: Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-Ming) Two Chinese scientists have been chosen as laureates for Chinese mainlands first Future Science Prize, modeled after the Nobel. Each scientist will be awarded $1 million. Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo, from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), was awarded a Life Science Prize for his contribution to a widely used, noninvasive prenatal test based on the discovery of fetal DNA in maternal blood. The Physical Science Prize will go to Xue Qikun, from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Xue has made groundbreaking discoveries about novel quantum phenomena by using molecule beam epitaxy (MBE). He is being recognized for his work on the quantum anomalous Hall effect and monolayer FeSe superconductivity. According to the official website of the Future Science Prize, each prize is funded by four entrepreneur donors. Candidates are nominated by leading Chinese scientists at home and abroad, and undergo review by a committee to ensure fairness. I hope the prize can encourage the Greater China region to realize the best scientific achievements, and I hope it will become more globally recognized, especially by Nobel Prize laureates. Frankly speaking, I am expecting our prize to maybe lead the Nobel Prize as well, said Ding Hong, a chief scientist at the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is also a member of the selection committee. In an exclusive interview with The Intellectual, an official WeChat account about science and intellectuals in scientific fields, Ding said he hoped the prize would attract more foreign scientists to work in China, and that it would inspire young people to study and work in the sciences. Science is cool. Its not boring. I hope [the prize] can make science more fashionable and keep influencing our young people on the cultural level, Ding noted. Established in 2016, the Future Science Prize was jointly established by scientists and entrepreneurs in Chinese mainland. It aims to recognize scientific breakthroughs and innovations, primarily in the Greater China region, though independent of citizenship. It will also be an effective supplement to government efforts in this regard, according to the prizes official website.. The healthy sales of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which feature wireless headphone capability and a dual camera, have again demonstrated the company's unbeatable status in wearable devices. As a result, stock commentators have foreseen Chinese suppliers benefiting from the new demand. Citing supply chain sources, Economic Daily News reported on Sept. 6 that Apple recently requested a batch of wireless charging chip samples from IDT and NXP for upcoming iPhone products. IHS Markit forecasts that the total market for wireless charging in wearable technology will be worth over $1 billion by 2019. Based on market prospects, Chinas Founder Securities has ranked Shenzhen-based battery maker and a wireless charging developer Desay Battery Technology 000049 as a highly recommended product for investors. The developer is expected to have an EPS of 0.97 RMB and a P/E ratio of 40 times in 2016, reaching an EPS of 2.7 RMB and a P/E ratio of 14.5 times in 2018. Essences Security has also forecast the stock market success of battery makers LUXSHARE-ICT 002475), Shenzhen Sunway Communication Co., Ltd. 300136) and Huizhou SPEED Wireless Technology Co. Ltd. 300322. Japanese publication Nikkei reported that Apple plans to launch three iPhone models in 2017, one being a premium version with a curved, organic, light-emitting diode (OLED) display. Dai Pengju, Sealand Security analyst, believes that OLED screens will soon be used more widely in high-end smart phones due to the "Apple effect." Dai recommended Shenzhen-based Mason Technology 002643 for Chinese investors, which is Chinas only supplier for the worlds largest liquid crystal makers - Merck, Chisso and DIC Corp. The iPhone 7 Plus features both an f/1.8, 28-millimeter wide-angle lens and a 56-millimeter telephoto lens on its back. Apple follows HTC, LG and Huawei down the dual-shooter path, with more phone makers expected to jump on the wagon in coming months. Pingan Security has recommended to investors the Chinese optics manufacturing companies Shenzhen O-FILM Tech Co., Ltd. 002456, Jiangxi Lianchuang Electronic Co., Ltd. 002036) and Zhejiang Crystal-Optech Co., Ltd. 002273. Apple stock had soared nearly 10 percent by Sept. 14, as investors cheered the latest iPhone's strong start. Initial quantities of the iPhone 7 Plus have sold out globally in just in a week, the company announced on Wednesday. A Chinese firm has availed funds for Zimbabwean students to enroll at Ocean University of China following a Memorandum of Understanding to fund the learners under the Presidential Scholarship Scheme. The first batch of 50 students was welcomed at the university campus in Qingdao recently by Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group and university officials. Zimbabwean Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Dr Christopher Mushohwe, who is also the executive director of the Presidential Scholarship Department in the Office of the President and Cabinet, also attended the function. The enrollment will be increased to 100 students per year from next year under the MOU signed between Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group officials and the Zimbabwean government last year. The group became the first private company to partner the Zimbabwean government in funding the Presidential Scholarship Scheme, which has benefited more than 20 000 underprivileged students since its inception in 1995. The students were mainly being sent to South African universities and the 50 students are the first batch to be sent to China under the scholarship scheme. Speaking at the welcome ceremony, Dr Mushohwe thanked Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group for sponsoring the students, indicating that the firm already has some projects in Zimbabwe. Due to financial difficulties being experienced by Zimbabwe emanating from the effects of economic sanctions imposed by America and Europe, this important programme was heavily affected and heading for discontinuation, he said. The timely intervention by the Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group is a God sent blessing. Your offer of this scholarship to meet the educational needs of the beneficiaries of the programme is most welcome. Western countries imposed illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe after the country embarked on land reform in 2000, which took land from white settlers and redistributed it to the majority indigenous people. Dr Mushohwe said after graduating, the students would take up posts with the Zimbabwean government related China-Zimbabwe cooperation. He invited more Chinese firms to invest in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is endowed with natural resources and this is why we want the Chinese to come and partner with us in exploiting those resources, said Dr Mushohwe. The Presidential Scholarship Scheme was established by President Mugabe to cater for poor, disadvantaged and orphaned students who could not proceed to university. In selecting the students, President Mugabe insists on equitable distribution between boys and girls, fair distribution among the eight rural provinces and targeting poor beneficiaries. The programmes of study are selected because of their greater importance to Zimbabwe such as engineering, health sciences, dentistry, accounting, architectural science, actuarial science and agricultural sciences. President of Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group Jia Xiaoyu said they were grateful with the opportunity to sponsor the students. He said the decision to provide funds to the Presidential Scholarship Scheme was part of enhancing relations between China and Zimbabwe. This scholarship is very important to the Zimbabwean government and students who are the beneficiaries, said Jia. We are very grateful that this is will help solidify relations between Zimbabwe and the Peoples Republic of China. President of Ocean University of China Yu Zhigang welcomed the students at the campus, imploring them to be good ambassadors of Zimbabwe. China and Zimbabwe enjoy a good relationship in their cooperation and exchanges in many areas, he said. As Ocean University of China, we attach great importance in working with other developing countries in the education sector. We will ensure that the students get high quality teaching and hope they will excel in their studies. The students, who had given up hope of proceeding to tertiary education, paid tribute to Qingdao Hengshen Zhongshen Group and the Zimbabwean government for affording them another chance. They pledged to work hard as a way of repaying the trust put on them by being awarded the scholarship. I am very excited to be at this university, said 23-year old Viola Mashiri. I had failed to proceed to tertiary education after finishing school in 2012 partly because my parents died when I was very young. My guardian could not take me to tertiary level. Its a new beginning and a new life for me. I have been given hope where I had lost all optimism about life. From a hopeless background, Viola, who is studying for a degree in Chinese language, is already thinking big about her future. After attaining my degree, I see myself working in Government as an interpreter, she said. I also see myself getting a job at the Zimbabwean embassy in China and even become the ambassador. Qingdao Hengshun Zhongshen Group is incorporated in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China and is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. It has more than 20 subsidiaries in China, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The firm specialises in electric power infrastructure and energy investment, non-ferrous metal mine operation and industrial chain integration, among other operations. It is hoped that the involvement of Qingdao Hengshen Zhongshen Group in the education sector in Zimbabwe will be an example to other Chinese firms operating in the country. By helping out in the education sector, the Chinese would be participating in the training of experts they will need to work on their projects. The concept of the Presidential Scholarship Scheme started soon after Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, with an internal programme being spearheaded by President Mugabe. President Mugabe, who was Prime Minister by then, offered three of his offices under a study programme to assist newly appointed commanders of the army and government ministers who left school mid-stream to join the liberation struggle. Under the programme, President Mugabe taught the officials law for those studying for degrees and economics at high school level. Lovemore Chikova is the News Editor for The Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe and a fellow at the China-Africa Press Centre. He can be contacted on [email protected] (Xinhua) 17:56, September 19, 2016 Chinese and Russian naval forces on Monday concluded their joint military exercise in the waters off the southern province of Guangdong, pledging to enhance practical cooperation. Addressing the closing ceremony of the drill, which ran from Sept. 13 to 19, Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, lauded the exercise as successful and the activity had achieved the desired aim. Wang said the drill had improved the actual combat capabilities, informationization and standardization of the two navies, adding that they will expand practical cooperation and boost communication. Alexander Fedotenkov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, said the two navies shared theoretical and practical experience and were engaged in sound collaboration throughout the exercise. Fedotenkov said the two sides will maintain close marine cooperation ties, deal with new challenges and threats, and together safeguard world peace and regional stability. The "Joint Sea 2016" drill featured surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, marines and amphibious armored equipment. (Xinhua) 08:25, September 19, 2016 WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- With the race between U.S. Democratic candidate Hillary Clintonand her Republican rival Donald Trump running neck and neck, the upcoming presidential debates could determine who will clinch the White House. Clinton is now still the favorite to win the presidential race, but now it could become a very tight race," Republican strategist Ford O' Connell told Xinhua. "The polls are tightening and the Clinton camp is concerned about turnout," said O' Connell. The Clinton camp has realized that there's "an enthusiasm gap in favor of Trump," he noted. Indeed, Trump has galvanized working class whites more than any Republican candidate in decades, whereas Clinton has not garnered anything near that sort of enthusiasm. Many Clinton supporters don't feel passionate about the candidate, but rather support her simply because they don't like Trump. Trump was trailing Clinton several points in the polls just a month ago, but behind only 1.5 points in the Real Clear Politics poll average on Saturday. The past month has looked good for Trump but increasingly bad for Clinton, especially after her collapse last Sunday in New York. That has sparked concerns that the 68-year-old candidate may not be healthy enough to lead the country. At the same time, Trump has in recent weeks made an effort to appear more presidential, making serious policy speeches with cogent arguments, instead of controversial, offensive and over-the-top statements that get him into trouble with voters. "Clinton's had a bad month. Trump has had a very, very good September. Obviously we still have half the month to go, but between the health issue and the 'deplorables' comment, things are looking up for Trump," O' Connell said. He was referring to Clinton's recent attacks on voters who support Trump, calling half of them "deplorables." This marked a very rare occasion in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has attacked an opponent's supporters rather than the opponent. The comment may hurt Clinton, especially in the upcoming debates, when Trump will have a chance to paint her as an elitist who is way out of touch with the country' s working class - the bulk of Trump' s supporters. Clinton has also been criticized for her campaign's lack of transparency concerning her health after the Sunday collapse. But Clinton has an edge in the ground game, with experienced campaign managers who know how to go door-to-door in various districts and counties nationwide to drum up support for Clinton. Trump's ground game is lacking, and much of his campaign has depended on media coverage of the bombastic candidate. Given the trends and the fact that the candidates are neck-in-neck less than two months before the election day on November 8, the upcoming three presidential debates may well determine who wins the White House. "At the rate things are going, the debates could very well decide this presidential election," said O' Connell, adding that the first debate could attract as many as 100 million viewers due to the controversies of this presidential race. For many voters, their first perception of the candidates is likely to be made at the debates, because they don' t really follow the election campaign closely, he explained. The first presidential debate is scheduled to be held on Sept. 26, while the two others will take place on Oct. 9 and Oct. 19. (Xinhua) 08:38, September 19, 2016 BEIJING, Sept. 18 -- The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, has criticized the United Statesas the "source of turmoil in the world." The newspaper on Sunday published three articles by Chinese scholars to analyze the causes of expansive and hegemonic moves by the United States from systemic, ideological and strategic perspectives. An editor's note on the page said that U.S. interventions are behind unrest and disputes in many places, including the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the South China Sea. "The United States is keen to make messes in the world, cast shadows on order and stability in multiple regions and jeopardize peace and development in relevant countries," the note said. An article by Yang Guangbin, a professor of politics at Renmin University, pointed out that the "military-industrial complex," which former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against, is "kidnapping U.S. domestic and diplomatic policy." The "military-industrial complex" naturally demands war and military expansion, resulting in the Iraqwar, "Arab Spring" uprisings and growing tensions with Russiaand China, Yang said. Yang also criticized the United States for selling its ideology, which has brainwashed the elite in some non-Western countries. "Countries that have followed American-style 'liberty and democracy' are not turning into American-style states. Instead, their lives remain the same, or even become worse," the article said. Yang said remarks by American diplomat George F. Kennan, who said the Soviet system "moves inexorably along the prescribed path, like a persistent toy automobile wound up and headed in a given direction, stopping only when it meets with some unanswerable force," is now applicable to the U.S. system. "Over the years, the United States has developed a 'chariot system' like a perpetual motion machine driven by the 'monster' of capital power," the scholar wrote. The article further criticized the opinions judging China based on a so-called "mainstream theory" and called for a greater voice for China that is commensurate with its standing in international society. Another article by Li Wen, a researcher with an institute for the study of the theoretical system of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that the United States' eagerness to make trouble around the world is due to its "hegemonic anxiety." It is "to a large degree, a reflection of a twisted mentality of an empire moving downhill," according to the article. The United States no longer tends to build and protect world order and peace in order to improve its international status. Instead, it has turned into a disrupter of order and peace to maintain its status quo, the article read. The United States is making mischief in the world to sustain the U.S. dollar's supremacy and the country's hegemony in military, political and cultural fields, the article said. The scholar also denounced the United States' measures to contain China by causing trouble in East Asia. A third article by Lin Hongyu, a professor at Huaqiao University, said U.S. maneuvers in the Asia-Pacific region are just part of its overseas expansion and interventionist diplomacy to maintain its leading international role. The article called on Chinese authorities to manage disputes between China and the United States in a constructive way and to build a new type of major-country relationship together. Samsung plans to update the software on Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to stop the devices from catching fire next week. [File Photo] Samsung says it's investigating what could be the first battery explosion in one of its phones in China, according to a report from Caixin.com. JD.com says it believes the phone itself was purchased by a customer in China through its online platform, according to the report. However, the investigation is still taking place, as the alleged phone explosion has only been reported online, and has yet to be verified. Samsung has announced a recall of its Galaxy Note 7 handsets in China after being officially 'called to the carpet' by China's quality watchdog last week. Samsung is backtracking after coming under criticism for not adding China to its list of countries involved in a global recall of certain Galaxy 7 phones. The South Korean company had insisted that batteries in its phones sold on the mainland come from a different supplier, and don't have the same risks as other Galaxy Note 7's in different parts of the world. Samsung has been forced to launch a global recall of hundreds-of-thousands of its Note 7 models amid reports of the phone's batteries exploding while being charged. (Xinhua) 08:17, September 19, 2016 Premier Li Keqiang arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sept 18. [Photo/Xinhua] NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived here Sunday to attend the 71st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. China is an active supporter of all causes of the UN, and strongly defends the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and actively participates in the work of the UN as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Li said. China is willing to work with all sides to make contributions to better address global challenges and promote world peace and development, the premier said upon his arrival. Li, accompanied by his wife Cheng Hong and senior Chinese officials, arrived in New York as guest of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. During his stay in the city, the premier will outline China's stance on major issues including international order, global governance, and peace and development, while addressing the general debate of the UN General Assembly. The premier is also expected to announce China's pragmatic measures to support the UN's endeavor and cope with global challenges. Li is also scheduled to chair a symposium on sustainable development, attend the UN General Assembly's high level meeting on solving the problem of mass movement of refugees and immigrants, and a leaders' summit on refugee issues. The premier's attendance at the UN General Assembly is one of China's major diplomatic events in the multilateral arena this year and shows that China values the UN and multilateralism, Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said Wednesday in Beijing. "China hopes to take the premier's UN tour as an opportunity to strengthen communication with other sides and underline the basic norms of international relations. The international community should jointly establish a new international order with cooperation and reciprocity at its core," Li Baodong told a press conference. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the restoration of China's seat in the United Nations. On the sidelines of the UN conferences, the premier will meet with Ban and hold talks with some state leaders. During his stay in New York, the premier is also expected to hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, and meet local figures in the fields of economy, finance, think tanks and media, and attend events held by institutions including the Economic Club of New York. After concluding his tour in New York, Li will leave for official visits to Canada and Cuba. During the upcoming visit to Canada, the first by a Chinese premier in 13 years, Li and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold talks to promote bilateral relations. Cuba, the first country in Latin America to establish diplomatic ties with China, is the last stop of Li's visit. It will be the first official visit by a Chinese premier since the two countries established diplomatic ties 56 years ago. Enditem File photo of the closing meeting of the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress in March, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua) Recently, students from a fourth grade class in Nanjing's Langya Road Primary School received an unusual letter, which was sent from the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) Standing Committee. The letter was an official response to legislative suggestions that the students had submitted in June. At the beginning of the summer, nine students from Langya Road Primary School wrote to the NPC Standing Committee of Jiangsu province to give suggestions regarding the possible amendment of advertisement law, requiring limits to be set on the frequency and content of advertisements broadcast during childrens programming. The letter was later forwarded to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee. An official from the Legislative Affairs Commission said that the students suggestions were valuable to the creation and implementation of the law. In fact, the students suggestions were not only valued by the legislative body, but also received affirmative responses from several national ministries. The General Administration for Industry and Commerce, as well as the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, both gave the students credit for their suggestions, and stated that they would take those suggestions into consideration. In the response letter, which marked the first time the Legislative Affairs Commission has ever sent an official response to suggestions from primary school students, the commission provided the students with feedback on their recommendations. The letter also encouraged the students to stay engaged with the NPC's legislative work and send more suggestions in the future. What if one blood test could screen for more than 50 types of cancer? Champaign, IL (61820) Today Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. File photo of China's in-flight first aid. In-flight first aid is still a relatively new concept in China. However, it has lately been gathering strong momentum. From medical helicopters to low-attitude airlines, Chinas in-air medical emergency system is becoming increasingly developed. There is a parking apron that can accommodate three medical helicopters on the roof of the outpatient building of Shanghai Ruijin Hospital. Only recently, a patient wounded in a car crash was transported to the hospital by air. Medical staff from relevant departments were in place in less than 10 minutes, and a medical helicopter took less than half an hour to transport the severely wounded patient from the Shanghai-Nanjing expressway to the hospital. Within one minute after the helicopter landed, the patient had been taken to the operation room. Chen Erzhen, vice president of Ruijin Hospital, told Peoples Daily that air transport can save precious minutes for patients in critical condition. In emergency treatment, time is a matter of life or death, Chen said. Currently, in-flight first aid in China is still in its early stages. China has only 1,000 airports that can facilitate the take-off and landing of small aircraft. The air fleet of Shanghais police department has been established for several years; however, in that time, it has only undertaken a dozen patient transfers. In comparison, large hospitals in developed countries often receive several patients transported by helicopters every day. Shanghais emergency centers, police air fleet and other emergency units have conducted air medical drills every month or two since May, so as to improve and streamline procedures for in-flight first aid. In recent years, along with simplifying the approval process for low-altitude flights engaged in emergency medical aid, China has made it a priority to advance its in-flight first aid. According to civil aviation authorities, over 500 airports will be built or altered to meet the needs of in-flight emergency medical aid during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute in the USA and the Babraham Institute, UK, have discovered how a mineral ion leaked from tumour tissue as it dies acts to stop the work of anti-tumour immune cells. This discovery provides a new approach in the development of treatments to engage the immune system in the fight against cancer. Tumours consist of a mix of actively multiplying cells and areas of dead tissue. Previous research has found that tumours can repress the immune cells that act against them but until now, it wasn't known how. New research, published online today in Nature, found that cells within tumours release potassium into the extracellular space upon dying. Potassium is an ion that is usually found at high concentrations within cells and not outside them. The increased level of potassium in the extracellular tumour environment dulled the activity of T cells, a specialised effector cell of the immune system, preventing their anti-tumour function. The researchers molecularly engineered tumour-specific T cells to increase their capacity to remove potassium from the cell. This created T cells which could effectively function to stimulate an anti-tumour immune response despite the elevated potassium environment surrounding them. The cells were engineered to express more molecular pumps specifically to deport excess potassium from the cell. Boosting the cells' 'potassium export' capabilities prevented the high levels of intracellular potassium accumulation responsible for cellular dysfunction. Modifying the T cells in this way enhanced the clearance of tumours and survival rates in mice with skin cancer. Dr Rahul Roychoudhuri, group leader in the Lymphocyte Signalling and Development programme at the Babraham Institute and an author on the paper, said: "While ions such as calcium are known to play critical roles in the activation of T cells when they encounter foreign invaders and cancer cells, very little was known about how extracellular potassium might affect this. Surprisingly, we found that high levels of potassium, which was released by dying cells in tumours, had very little effect on calcium but blocked activation of a cellular signalling pathway called the PI3K pathway when T cells encountered tumour antigens. We have a lot of experience studying the PI3K pathway at the Institute so were well positioned to help understand the mechanisms by which potassium was blocking T cell activation." This research uncovers a new mechanism by which tumours act to block anti-tumour function and identifies new target points for the design of new immune-based therapies for cancer. Dr Nicholas Restifo, lead author from the National Cancer Institute, said: "The findings provide new insights into how ionic imbalances in the tumour microenvironment can powerfully impede the functions of immune cells infiltrating tumours. We're particularly excited about how this may help us to develop new therapies to activate immune function in cancer patients." Acute Cardiovascular Care 2016 will put a spotlight on managing high risk patients. The annual congress of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), is held 15 to 17 October at the Centro de Congressos de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal. The full scientific programme is available here. This year features state-of-the-art presentations by leading experts on "managing risk in acute cardiovascular care", the congress theme. Professor Doron Zahger, Chairperson of the Scientific Programme, said: "All healthcare professionals working in acute cardiac care manage high risk patients in various situations such as acute heart failure, cardiac arrest, acute coronary syndromes, and high risk arrhythmias which can lead to sudden death." Acute cardiovascular care is the specialty of cardiology dealing with acute problems in need of urgent care including heart attack, cardiac arrest, and acute heart failure, but also other conditions leading to acute cardiovascular problems such as pulmonary embolism or stroke. Original scientific research will be unveiled in a rich abstract programme covering the entire spectrum of acute cardiac care. New studies will be presented on the hot topic of diagnosing myocardial infarction in the ambulance and emergency room. Professor Zahger said: "Prompt and accurate diagnosis is essential to ensure that patients receive the right treatment quickly, that the damage caused by heart attack is limited, and that the risk of heart failure is minimised. Accordingly, much research is ongoing in an effort to diagnose myocardial infarction earlier and more accurately." Novel methods using shock wave therapy or medication for regenerating heart tissue that has suffered from restricted blood supply (ischaemia) will be revealed. The techniques may reduce infarct size, control inflammation, and improve heart function in patients with ischaemic heart disease. Inequalities in treatment of cancer patients who have a heart attack will be presented for the first time. The media will hear first-hand how care of these patients compares to those without cancer and the impact on in-hospital outcomes. The use of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to prevent sudden death is explored in patients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest that was caused by acute myocardial infarction. "This is a unique use for ICDs and journalists will hear whether or not it shows promise for the future," said Professor Zahger. ESC Gold Medallist Professor Keith Fox will give a keynote lecture during the inaugural session entitled "Vulnerable plaques in vulnerable patients", providing journalists with new insights in this exciting field. An innovative virtual case area will showcase interactive demonstrations on a digital patient simulator. Cases with symptoms including palpitations, breathing difficulties, and swollen legs will be enacted in virtual patients created for the congress and discussed by international experts. This is the prime scientific event for all healthcare professionals working in acute cardiac care. More than 1000 delegates from around 80 countries are expected, including cardiologists, emergency physicians, intensive care physicians, interventionists, anaesthesiologists, imaging specialists, internists, cardiac surgeons, nurses, paramedics and other allied professionals who care for acutely ill cardiac patients. With hundreds of abstracts and more than 50 scientific sessions over three days, this is the event of the year in acute cardiovascular care. Professor Stephen B. Kaye THOUGHT LEADERS SERIES ...insight from the worlds leading experts Please can you give a brief overview of corneal transplants? The cornea is a transparent tissue lining the front of the eye, that is invisible tissue to the naked eye. It is a delicate tissue and disease or injury may lead to a loss of transparency or a change in the shape of the cornea, resulting in severe visual impairment. For many patients, the only treatment option is corneal transplantation. This involves the removal and replacement of a circular disc of the patients cornea with a similar disc of healthy tissue taken from a donor cornea. The aim of this is most commonly to achieve an improvement in the overall clarity, integrity or shape of the recipients cornea. The term keratoplasty is often used synonymously with corneal graft transplantation. The term cornea derives from the Latin cornea tela which literally means horny tissue; hence use of the earlier Greek word keras which means horn. Penetrating keratoplasty, therefore, refers to a corneal transplant that includes the full thickness of the cornea. Corneal transplantation is a successful operation with overall 5 year graft survival outcomes of >74%. Importantly however, is the effect on vision, with an improvement from a median of 6/60 (able to see at 6m what a normally sighted person would see at 60m) to a median of 6/12 (able to see at 6m what a normally sighted person would see at 12m). Not all diseases affect all the layers of the cornea, tending to affect either the anterior or posterior layers. As such, the majority of corneal transplants that are now performed, replace only the diseased layer(s) of the cornea The anterior layer is replaced in a condition known as keratoconus, whereas the posterior layer is replaced in patients with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy. Fuchs corneal endothelial dystrophy is a condition where the back layer (endothelium) fails so that the cornea becomes water-logged. This also happens after cataract surgery and is known as pseudophakic, as the cataract is replaced by a synthetic (pseudo) intraocular lens (phakic). Together these conditions account for approximately 50% of corneal transplants. For Fuchs dystrophy the posterior (endothelial) layer is replaced. This is known as an Endothelial keratoplasty. Because only the abnormal endothelium is replaced, the anterior healthy tissues are left intact so allowing a faster visual rehabilitation. The condition keratoconus accounts for approximately 25% of corneal transplants. In this condition, the anterior layers of the cornea become thin so that the cornea bows forwards assuming a conical shape, hence the name keratoconus. These patients are usually young and have a healthy endothelial layer lining the back of the cornea. Therefore, if their endothelial layer could be left intact and only the diseased cornea is transplanted, then not only is the risk of rejection avoided, but the patient retains their own healthy endothelium and the integrity of the eye is less disturbed. Because keratoconus affects the anterior layers of the cornea, surgery has been developed to only replace these layers. This involves an intricate lathe or lamellar dissection removing the anterior layers, leaving the patients endothelium intact, and replacing the anterior layers with healthy donor cornea. This procedure is known as Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty. What prompted your research into whether gender incompatibility influences corneal transplant rejection? In 1957, the investigators Eichwald, Silmser and Wheeler showed that in identical mice, a male skin graft would be rejected by female but not male, recipients. Then in 1995, Scott, Ehrmann and Ellis, identified a mouse male-specific transplantation antigen. In 2006 in human beings, Bohringer, Spierings and Enczmann in a small but important study, noted that male-to-female corneal transplants were associated with increased rejection episodes. Despite its importance, there had been little subsequent work on gender compatibility in corneal transplants and work on HLA matching has only shown equivocal results. We therefore, recognized the potential importance of gender incompatibility and the influence it may have on corneal transplantation. How do corneas from men and women differ? There are no differences between a woman's and a man's cornea, except for a very slight difference in diameter. The cells of a cornea from a female, however, would not express the Y antigen. What were the main findings of your study on gender incompatibility and corneal transplant rejection? More than 18,100 patients were identified in the UK who had undergone a first corneal transplant. While over 80 percent of all patients included still had a functioning graft at 5 years, a higher proportion of male to female transplants failed or rejected during this time, when compared to gender matched transplants. For every 1000 people transplanted with a gender matched cornea, on average 180 will fail, compared to 220 for male to female mismatched grafts. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The effect of gender matching was especially evident in patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy. Of 4,046 patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy,18 percent of male to female mismatched grafts failed compared to 12 percent of female to female transplants. After risk adjustment, female to female transplants were 40 percent less likely to fail and 30 percent less likely to reject compared with male to female mismatches. These findings are most likely a result of H-Y antigen incompatibility associated with the male Y chromosome. Females do not have a Y chromosome so there is no H-Y incompatibility from female donors to male patients. This effect, however, is not reciprocated when the roles are reversed, that is, when male donors are matched with transplanted in female recipients. Was the effect of gender mismatch higher in any particular patients? Yes the effect was most pronounced in patients with Fuchs corneal endothelial dystrophy and in keratoconus. What do you think is the reason behind the lower failure and rejection rates for gender matched transplants? It is important to note, that corneal transplants predominantly fail because of endothelial failure (the cells lining the back of the cornea). The endothelium may fail from senescence, inflammation or other factors. Although rejection is an importance cause of graft and endothelial failure, it accounts for a relatively small percentage of graft failure. Our findings would suggest that the gender (H-Y incompatibility) leads to a less tolerant environment in the eye for the donor cornea possibly mediated through an immune response. It is also possible that differences in sex steroids such as androgens, estrogens and progestins, may contribute to this effect as they have been reported to account for many of the gender-related differences in the eye. In organ transplants there is evidence that female recipients of male organs have higher rates of acute immunological rejection in cardiac, hepatic, pulmonary, and renal transplantation. This gender effect may be overshadowed by the effect of HLA matching in organ transplantation, whereas in corneal transplantation, HLA matching has not been shown to be of significant benefit. What impact do you think the findings of your study will have? We hope that it will lead to consideration for a change in policy for corneal transplantation in situations where there are sufficient donors. Will further studies be required to confirm the findings and justify gender matched transplants? It is important that other centers in the world investigate these results and undertake similar work. Although it would appear that the effect of gender incompatibility is based on H-Y incompatibility, there may be other gender related factors, which are of importance. We would therefore, like to undertake a prospective study, examining in more detail these and other potential factors. In addition, there have been and continue to be, important developments in the surgical techniques used to perform a corneal transplants and these will need to be taken into account in future studies. Is gender matching likely to cause delays in donor tissue allocation to patients? Potentially yes, if there are insufficient donors. Where can readers find more information? Bohringer D, Spierings E, Enczmann J, et al. Matching of the minor histocompatibility antigen HLA-A1/H-Y may improve prognosis in corneal transplantation. Transplantation 2006; 82 (8): 1037-41. 2006; (8): 1037-41. Eichwald EJ, Silmser CR, Wheeler N. The genetics of skin grafting. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1957; 64 (5): 737-40. 1957; (5): 737-40. Goulmy E, Termijtelen A, Bradley BA, van Rood JJ. Y-antigen killing by T cells of women is restricted by HLA. Nature 1977; 266 (5602): 544-5. 1977; (5602): 544-5. Scott DM, Ehrmann IE, Ellis PS, et al. Identification of a mouse male-specific transplantation antigen, H-Y. Nature 1995; 376 (6542): 695-8. 1995; (6542): 695-8. Kawauchi M, Gundry SR, de Begona JA, et al. Male donor into female recipient increases the risk of pediatric heart allograft rejection. The Annals of thoracic surgery 1993; 55 (3): 716-8. 1993; (3): 716-8. Prendergast TW, Furukawa S, Beyer AJ, 3rd, Browne BJ, Eisen HJ, Jeevanandam V. The role of gender in heart transplantation. The Annals of thoracic surgery 1998; 65 (1): 88-94. 1998; (1): 88-94. Candinas D, Gunson BK, Nightingale P, Hubscher S, McMaster P, Neuberger JM. Sex mismatch as a risk factor for chronic rejection of liver allografts. Lancet 1995; 346 (8983): 1117-21. 1995; (8983): 1117-21. Roberts DH, Wain JC, Chang Y, Ginns LC. Donor-recipient gender mismatch in lung transplantation: impact on obliterative bronchiolitis and survival. The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation 2004; 23(11): 1252-9. About Professor Kaye Professor Stephen B. Kaye is Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and University of Liverpool. Through his work on corneal transplantation and ocular infections, he has achieved an international reputation. He contributes on national and international platforms to advance our knowledge of corneal transplantation, corneal angiogenesis and infections of the ocular surface. He leads the Cornea and Ocular Surface Disease Service at The Royal Liverpool University Hospital and is Director of The Liverpool Research Eye Bank. Professor Kaye also leads the National Microbiology Infection Group and was chair of The Ocular Tissue Advisory Group whose efforts have directly impacted on patient care and improved the standards & outcomes of corneal transplantation. Teaching kids about drugs, alcohol and sex appears to be less controversial than ever before with the majority of parents in a new poll saying schools should and do teach these subjects. Many parents want more saying those topics are not enough finds the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. Researchers surveyed a nationally representative sample of parents with kids in middle or high school. Two-thirds of parents polled say schools should definitely cover emotional and mental health issues which may include such subjects as dealing with depression, stress and bullying yet only a third say these topics are currently covered by their child's school. Another 68 percent of parents want to see schools cover basic first aid, and 63 percent say kids should learn CPR. "Most parents today support traditional health education topics like pregnancy prevention, drug abuse and other risk behaviors that used to generate more debate in years past. However, they clearly perceive a gap between what their children need and what they are receiving in the area of mental health education, as well as basic first aid and CPR," says Sarah Clark, M.P.H., co-director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. "We are seeing increasing concerns for such issues as stress, depression and suicide among young people, and parents want schools to be a part of the solution. These results suggest that the stigma of mental health issues may have relaxed among today's parents, in favor of using a broad array of resources to help children and adolescents with these critical areas." Changing trends in health education Mental health topics dominated parent concerns in an August Mott Poll report on the top 10 child health concerns, with bullying, stress, suicide and depression all making the list. Teen suicide is a growing health concern, recently moving from the third to second leading cause of death for adolescents, surpassed only by car accidents, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sex education has come a long way from 1975 when nearly half of state legislatures voted to restrict or abolish it compared to today when most adolescents in the U.S. receive some form of sex education between sixth and 12th grade. Parent perspectives reflect the trend, too, with more than two-thirds of parents polled saying traditional health topics should definitely be covered at their child's grade level, including physical activity, drug and alcohol abuse, healthy eating and sex education and pregnancy prevention. Most parents say these topics are currently taught at their school. Nearly four in 10 parents (39 percent) also believe schools should educate students on how to use the health care system. But only one in 10 parents say the topic is covered in their child's school. Low-income parents are more likely to say schools should teach students how to use the health care systemperhaps, Clark notes, because these parents face challenges themselves in accessing health care. Clark also notes that schools face significant barriers in expanding their formal health education curriculum. Core academic requirements, parent or student preferences for electives and the financial burden of hiring more teachers can limit opportunities to expand health education courses. But schools may seek other strategies such as recruiting health care professionals from local hospitals or clinics or nonprofits to offer occasional sessions on first aid or CPR. Schools with onsite health centers may ask those staff to expand their educational sessions. "Most parents believe schools are on the right track with what kids are learning in health education, but recognize that today's youth face a growing set of issues impacting their health," Clark says. "School leaders may consider ways to incorporate health topics in the classroom." Physicians from Children's Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University, UC Davis Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital, in collaboration with 19 other pediatric emergency departments around the country, have established a "proof of principle" for measuring patterns of ribonucleic acid (RNA) expression in the bloodstream that can enable clinicians to distinguish bacterial infections from other causes of fever in infants up to two months old. The diagnostic testa high through-put RNA analysis that yields specific markers known as RNA biosignaturesmeans that emergency department physicians could someday avoid ordering painful, invasive exams for many of the more than 500,000 febrile infants who arrive at hospitals each year and must be evaluated to determine whether a bacterial infection is the cause of their fevers. Results that indicate no bacterial cause would also help reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and antibiotic treatments. The findings of a study conducted in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) and led by principal investigators Prashant Mahajan, Nathan Kuppermann and Octavio Ramilo are published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association in an article titled "Association of RNA biosignatures with bacterial infections in febrile infants 60 days of age or younger." Typically, fewer than 10 percent of infants evaluated for fever in emergency departments have serious and potentially life-threatening bacterial infections, including bacteremia (bacteria in the blood), bacterial meningitis or a urinary tract infection. But because of their age and current treatment guidelines, many febrile infants undergo invasive testing and are hospitalized and given antibiotic treatment until a bacterial infection can be ruled out. "Finding an accurate but less invasive method to determine if babies with fevers have bacterial infections is a 'holy grail' for emergency department physicians," said Kuppermann, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine. "This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that the evaluation of RNA biosignatures could one day be that tool." Current guidelines for evaluating young febrile infants call for culturing bacteria from blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid samples. Cultures typically take 24 to 48 hours to determine if bacteria are present. The tests, while effective, are invasive and can be painful for young patients as well as stressful for parents. Testing also is costly, involves some degree of clinical risk and may require hospitalization, all of which pose important questions for pediatricians and emergency department physicians who do not want to miss a serious infection. Although the RNA biosignatures approach has been shown to be valuable in detecting certain infections in older children and adults, the current study is the first to show that the test could also be used in very young febrile infants. Some physicians and researchers had concerns that RNA biosignatures may not work in this patient population because the immune cells in the blood of these youngest patients were too immature to mount a detectable response to bacterial infection. "Despite the young age of the babies in this study, they did carry robust RNA biosignatures," said Ramilo, chief of infectious diseases at Nationwide Children's Hospital and professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University. "Regardless of whether they had a viral or bacterial infection, their immune systems were already programmed to respond with specific patterns." Although cultures are the current standard for diagnosing bacterial infections, they can deliver false results. If not enough blood is drawna common problem with the youngest babiesbacteria may not grow in a culture medium even if present, causing the diagnosis to be missed. In addition, bacteria can be picked up from the skin during a blood draw, contaminating the culture and leading to a false-positive result. In contrast to blood cultures, an RNA biosignature assay requires only a small amount of blood to detect immune system responses to pathogens. DNA within white blood cells are prompted to produce different RNAs according to environmental cues, the first step in making proteins that are essential for keeping the cell functioning and able to cope with changes in the surroundings. For example, RNAs associated with inflammation are produced in response to bacterial infection, and RNAs associated with interferons (a group of signaling proteins) are expressed in response to certain viruses. By analyzing the patterns of RNAs producedthe RNA biosignaturesit can be determined with a high degree of certainty whether an individual has a bacterial infection or not. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The prospective study was conducted with infants 60 days or younger with fever (defined as having a rectal temperature of at least 38C/100.4 F). RNA biosignatures were measured on a selected group of 279 infants, of whom 89 were determined to have bacterial infections. Nineteen healthy infants with no fever served as controls. The research team found that RNA biosignature testing was highly sensitive and specific for categorizing patients with and without bacterial infections when compared with the current standard using bacterial cultures. In infants who had bacteremia (bacteria in the blood) the test had 94-percent sensitivity; meaning it aligned with the bacterial culture in 94 percent of the cases. For febrile infants whose fever was not caused by bacteremia, the RNA biosignature test agreed with the negative culture 95 percent of the time (95-percent specificity). For all cases of serious bacterial infections, which included bacteremia, meningitis and urinary tract infections, the RNA biosignatures test had an 87-percent sensitivity for detecting bacterial infection and an 88-percent specificity for infants without bacterial infection when compared to the standard culture results. It may be that in the cases of disagreement between RNA biosignatures and standard cultures, the RNA biosignatures are more reflective of the true type of infection. "The implications of these findings are potentially paradigm-changing," said Prashant Mahajan, professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Wayne State University and chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Children's Hospital of Michigan. "For 100 years, doctors have looked directly for bacteria in body fluids to make a diagnosis. We have now shown that genomic analysis to detect the response of the human immune system is also very accurate and potentially can be more rapid in determining if a young baby has a bacterial infection." The RNA biosignatures testing was much more accurate than the Yale Observation Scale, which currently is used as a screening test in emergency departments to help determine if young infants with fever are likely to have a bacterial infection. The scale is based on behaviors such as the quality of a baby's cry, and reaction to parents and social response. With a renewed five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the research team will be validating the study findings on a larger patient population and evaluating whether the RNA biosignature is stable at two different time-points. They also will be testing a new RNA biosignatures polymerase chain reaction platformcurrently available only for research purposeswhich they anticipate will produce faster results and be more applicable in clinical laboratories. The new study will also determine if RNA biosignatures testing can detect the presence of a simultaneous bacterial and viral infection in a single patient. This study was conducted through PECARN, a network of pediatric emergency departments throughout the country that has established new, evidence-based standards for managing common and important problems in pediatric emergencies. PECARN, which annually evaluates more than 4,000 febrile infants ages 60 days or younger, offers an ideal setting to evaluate the application of RNA expression analysis for diagnosing and managing young infants with fevers in a prospective manner. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been awarded $2.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop innovative ion conduction materials for next-generation renewable energy conversion and storage technology. The award is part of a $37 million package of funding from ARPA-E in support of 16 innovative new projects as part of the new Integration and Optimization of Novel Ion-Conducting Solids (IONICS) program. IONICS project teams are paving the way for technologies that overcome the limitations of current battery and fuel cell products. The IONICS program is focused on creating high-performance parts built with solid ion conductors - solids in which ions can be mobile and store energy - and processing and integrating these parts into devices to accelerate commercial development. In particular, IONICS projects will work to improve energy storage and conversion technologies in three categories: transportation batteries, grid-level storage, and fuel cells. At Rensselaer, Chulsung Bae, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology and a member of the New York State Center for Polymer Synthesis and the New York State Center for Future Energy Systems, will lead an effort to develop highly ion conductive, chemically stable, and mechanically durable alkaline membrane materials. Such membranes will serve as a critical component in next-generation fuel cells designed to allow efficient and clean conversion of chemical energy directly to electricity. Curt Breneman, dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer, said that the work builds on the history of involvement in fuel cells at the New York State Center for Polymer Synthesis and the New York State Center for Future Energy Systems. In fact, most current fuel cell designs are based on an alternate acidic membrane approach that incorporates technologies refined at Rensselaer. The hydroxide approach, using alkaline conditions, is now seen as more promising and, with this award, Rensselaer will have a major role in the development of these technologies as well. "This is part of a nationwide push to develop better fuel cell technology, and our strong background in fuel cell research and our forward momentum in new energy technologies is being recognized with this award," Breneman said. "Rensselaer has a research focus in energy, environment, and smart systems, and this work is a clear outgrowth of that focus. Chulsung Bae is a rising star in this area, and we are proud of the work he is doing." Bae will lead an effort with a team of researchers from Rensselaer and partners at Georgia Tech, Xergy, and Proton Onsite. "To be successful, a fuel cell membrane needs to be highly conductive - facilitating the flow of charge carriers - as well as chemically stable and mechanically durable," said Bae. "Our work shows that high-performance alkaline conductors can improve efficiency and lower the cost of energy conversion technology. It's cheaper, better, and more durable." The water repelling backbone of the membrane allows hydroxide ions to pass through extremely small channels while preventing it from swelling and sustaining structural damage. By using a polymer chain requiring fewer fluorine-based components, the team expects to reduce production costs. Side chains attached to the backbone facilitate the passage of hydroxide through the electrolyte. The use of alkaline membranes in electrochemical reactions avoids the need for expensive platinum catalysts and allows the use of less expensive, Earth abundant metals as catalysts, offering huge economic advantages in renewable energy technology. At Rensselaer, this research is enabled by the vision of The New Polytechnic, an emerging paradigm for higher education which recognizes that global challenges and opportunities are so great they cannot be adequately addressed by even the most talented person working alone. Rensselaer serves as a crossroads for collaboration working with partners across disciplines, sectors, and geographic regions to address complex global challenges, using the most advanced tools and technologies, many of which are developed at Rensselaer. Research at Rensselaer addresses some of the world's most pressing technological challenges from energy security and sustainable development to biotechnology and human health. The New Polytechnic is transformative in the global impact of research, in its innovative pedagogy, and in the lives of students at Rensselaer. Discovery of a novel, advanced technique to identify the rare cells where human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) hides in patients taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is an important step forward in the search for a HIV/AIDS cure. Why wake up the virus? To better kill it, of course. A team from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) has taken an important step forward in the search for a HIV/AIDS cure. The laboratory of Dr. Daniel Kaufmann has developed a highly accurate technique for detecting the rare cells that hide the virus and prevent current therapies from curing HIV infection. "We can wake up the virus and then find the rare cells that have been hiding it at very low numbers, a limit of one cell in a million. This is an unprecedented level of accuracy, which opens the door to individualized monitoring of HIV-positive patients and could facilitate the development of personalized treatments," said Dr. Kaufmann, senior author of a study on the subject published in a featured article in the current issue of Cell Host & Microbe. HIV reservoirs are cells and tissues in which the virus persists despite ART. The virus predominantly lives and replicates in a particular type of white blood cell, CD4+ T lymphocytes. While antiretroviral drugs are generally successful in controlling the viral load in infected individuals, preventing the progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), some viruses remain hidden for years and can be reactivated if patients stop their treatment. "CD4+ T lymphocyte populations are highly variable. To develop new, targeted treatments to eliminate these residual infected cells, we need to find exactly where in the CD4 T lymphocyte population the virus hides. Our research has uncovered these HIV hiding places. We were able to identify and quantify the cells containing hidden virus and then test drugs to wake up HIV," said Kaufmann, who is a researcher and infectious disease specialist at the University of Montreal Hospital Centre (CHUM). His team has developed an innovative technique for detecting these reservoirs - a way of taking a "photo" of each individual cell hiding the virus - a significant breakthrough, as this approach is 1,000 times more accurate than current technologies. Once the HIV hiding places are found, the researchers can use a "shock and kill" strategy to eliminate the virus in two stages. Firstly, the HIV must be woken up from its dormant state in the cells. The virus then becomes visible to the immune system or drugs that can eliminate it. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Professor Kaufmann's team analyzed the blood of 30 patients infected with HIV, both before patients started treatment and after they received ART. "We were able to detect the virus in CD4+ T lymphocytes in almost all of the patients we analyzed," said Amy Baxter, a postdoctoral fellow at the CRCHUM and first author of the study. The researchers then tested two so-called latency reversal drugs: bryostatin and a derivative of ingenol. These drugs were developed to fight cancer, but might also be used against HIV. "While our studies were conducted in the laboratory, a clinical trial would involve using such drugs to wake up the virus while the patient continues taking ART to ensure that the reactivated virus can not infect other cells," explained Dr. Kaufmann. "In the laboratory we found that the two drugs wake up different populations of CD4+ T lymphocytes, thus waking up different reservoirs. The ingenol derivative activates a population called central memory cells. These cells can live for years in patients, all the while hiding the virus. Therefore, it is particularly important to target these reservoirs," noted Baxter. At first sight it appears as though the virus hides in similar places in different patients. However, Dr. Kaufmann's team has revealed that there is also large variability from one patient to another. "We may have to adjust the treatment for individual patients, depending on the specific HIV hiding places in each case. To minimize the virus pools, we will have to assess patients and tailor the "shock and kill" therapies to their profiles," said Dr. Kaufmann. Before arriving at a potential treatment for humans, the researchers are planning to evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs to awaken similar virus reservoirs in monkeys and determine where the virus is hidden. If the drugs are well tolerated, clinical trials will begin in a few years. After 30 years of research to cure HIV infection and AIDS, this opens a whole new avenue in understanding how scientists could track and find infected cells, then wake up and kill the virus hiding deep inside. Screen and treat strategy for pregnant women in sub Saharan African does not reduce adverse outcomes compared with standard preventative treatment for malaria A novel strategy to screen pregnant women for malaria with rapid diagnostic tests and treat the test-positive women with effective antimalarials does not lower the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared with treating all pregnant women with the malaria preventive sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) in sub-Saharan Africa, according to an open label randomized trial published this week in PLOS Medicine by Feiko ter Kuile, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and colleagues. During pregnancy, infections with Plasmodium malaria parasites can be asymptomatic but still lead to maternal anemia, low birthweight, and foetal loss.. In areas where malaria is endemic, the World Health Organization currently recommends treating women with SP three or four times during pregnancy. But in some areas, more than 90 percent of Plasmodium parasites are now resistant to SP. In the new study, the researchers compared this standard of care to a screening approach where women are tested approximately monthly for malaria using rapid diagnostic tests and treated with a different drug, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) only if positive for the parasite. The study involved 1873 HIV-negative women at three sites in Malawi who were randomly assigned to receive either strategy. The prevalence of adverse birth outcomes and maternal deaths was similar in the two groups. However, there were eight percent more cases of malaria at delivery in women assigned to the rapid screening and DP treatment group, meaning an additional eight out of every 100 pregnancies would be affected by malaria using this approach compared to broad prevention using SP. Moreover, the rate of foetal loss was 2.6 percent, double the rate of 1.3 percent seen among women who took intermittent doses of SP. The current results, however, may not hold true in all areas since malaria transmission varies and parasites also vary in their resistance mutations. In addition, the researchers were not able to test the efficacy of using monthly DP for prevention, rather than only coupling it with screening, but this will be studied in the future. Professor Feiko ter Kuile said: "These results suggest that intermittent screening and treatment with DP may not be a suitable alternative strategy to replace intermittent preventive therapy with SP in settings similar to those studied and may even predispose to unfavorable pregnancy outcomes in these settings." Source: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine One Medicine: how human and veterinary medicine can benefit each other Professor Roberto La Ragione News-Medical speaks to Professor Roberto La Ragione, Chair of Trustees at Humanimal Trust, about the concept of One Medicine and how human and veterinary medicine can collaborate, share knowledge, and initiate research for the benefit of both humans and animals. Photo: Reuters/Buddhist nuns from the Drukpa lineage pose for a picture in Himachal Pradesh during their cycle across the Himalayas to raise awareness about human trafficking.) Clad in black sweatpants, red jackets and white helmets, the hundreds of cyclists pedaling the treacherously steep, narrow mountain passes to India from Nepal could be mistaken for a Himalayan version of the Tour de France.The similarity, however, ends there. This journey is longer and tougher, the prize has no financial value or global recognition and the participants are not professional cyclists but Buddhist nuns from India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.Five hundred nuns from the Buddhist sect known as the Drukpa Order, on Saturday complete a 4,000-km (2,485 mile) bicycle trek from Nepal's Kathmandu to the northern city of Leh in India to raise awareness about human trafficking in the remote region."When we were doing relief work in Nepal after the earthquakes last year, we heard how girls from poor families were being sold because their parents could not afford to keep them anymore," 22-year-old nun Jigme Konchok Lhamo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation."We wanted to do something to change this attitude that girls are less than boys and that it's okay to sell them," she said, adding that the bicycle trek shows "women have power and strength like men."South Asia may boast women leaders and be home to cultures that revere motherhood and worship female deities, but many girls and women live with the threat of violence and without many basic rights.From honor killings in Pakistan to foeticide in India and child marriage in Nepal, women face a barrage of threats, although growing awareness, better laws and economic empowerment are bringing a slow change in attitudes.The bicycle trek, from Nepal into India, is nothing new for the Drukpa nuns.This is the fourth such journey they have made, meeting local people, government officials and religious leaders to spread messages of gender equality, peaceful co-existence and respect for the environment.They also deliver food to the poor, help villagers get medical care and are dubbed the "Kung Fu nuns" due to their training in martial arts.Led by the Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the Drukpa Order, the nuns raise eyebrows, especially among Buddhists for their unorthodox activities."Traditionally Buddhist nuns are treated very differently from monks. They cook and clean and are not allowed to exercise. But his Holiness thought this was nonsense and decided to buck the trend," said Carrie Lee, president of Live to Love International, a charity which works with the Drukpa nuns to support marginalised Himalayan communities."Among other things, he gave them leadership roles and even introduced Kung Fu classes for the nuns after they faced harassment and violence from the general public who were disturbed by the growing shift of power dynamics," she said.Over the last 12 years, the number of Drukpa nuns has grown to 500 from 30, said Lee, largely due to the progressive attitudes of the 53-year-old Gyalwang Drukpa, who was inspired by his mother to become an advocate for gender equality.The Gyalwang Drukpa also participates in the bicycle journeys, riding with the nuns as they pedal through treacherous terrain and hostile weather and camp out in the open.The Drukpa nuns say they believe they are helping to change attitudes."Most of the people, when they see us on our bikes, think we are boys," said 18-year-old nun Jigme Wangchuk Lhamo."Then they get shocked when we stop and tell them that not only are we girls, but we are also Buddhist nuns," she said. "I think this helps change their attitudes about women and maybe value them as equals."South Asia, with India at its centre, is also one of the fastest growing regions for human trafficking in the world.Gangs dupe impoverished villagers into bonded labour or rent them to work as slaves in urban homes, restaurants, shops and hotels. Many girls and women are sold into brothels.Experts say post-disaster trafficking has become common in South Asia as an increase in extreme events caused by global warming, as well as earthquakes, leave the poor more vulnerable.The breakdown of social institutions in devastated areas creates difficulties securing food and supplies, leaving women and children at risk of kidnapping, sexual exploitation and trafficking.Twin earthquakes that struck Nepal in April and May 2015, which killed almost 9,000 people, left hundreds of thousands of families homeless and many without any means of income, led to an increase in children and women being trafficked.More than 40,000 children lost their parents, were injured or were placed in precarious situations following the disaster, according to Nepali officials.The Drukpa nuns said the earthquakes were a turning point in their understanding of human trafficking and that they felt a need to do more than travel to disaster-hit mountain villages with rice on their backs."People think that because we are nuns, we are supposed to stay in the temples and pray all the time. But praying is not enough," said Jigme Konchok Lhamo."His Holiness teaches us that we have go out and act on the words that we pray. After all, actions speak louder than words," she said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Azad Hasanli, Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Iranian companies have invested $2.6 billion in Azerbaijans economy, said Azerbaijans Deputy Economy Minister Sahil Babayev. He made the remarks during Iran Project 2016 Exhibition in Baku Sept.19. The deputy minister said that only $145 million of this amount was invested in the non-oil sector. Around 450 companies with Iranian share operate in Azerbaijan, added Babayev. The relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have entered a new phase. In particular, they have been actively developing over the last 2.5 years, said the deputy minister. Throughout a little more than two years, the presidents of the two countries have met seven times. The two sides have held 80 meetings and signed more than 40 documents. He pointed out that the intergovernmental commission has held two meetings during that period. Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev paid a very successful visit to Iran in February and Irans President Hassan Rouhani visited Azerbaijan in August. The sides signed more than 20 documents during those visits and this is the greatest proof of strategic importance of our relations, said Babayev. The deputy minister said that warm relations between Azerbaijani and Iranian governments, as well as historical, cultural and religious unity between the two countries peoples have produced results in the economic sphere as well. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran has increased by 70 percent. It is gratifying that both the export from Azerbaijan and import from Iran have increased, said Babayev. These figures show the trust and business climate created between the two countries, according to the deputy minister. Azerbaijan is ready to support the activities of Iranian companies in the country with help of industrial parks, industrial districts, special economic zones, investment promotion documents and so on, he added. Here's a thing that happened with me when I was in school. (1/1) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 It was the annual school debate and I was a participant. I was going up against a very sharp student. I was anxious about my topic. (1//) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 The topic given to us was "Should India go to war against Pakistan over Kashmir?" - I was supposed to argue against the motion. (1/3) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I was relieved. I was in 8th grade and I felt that people dying for no reason isn't the solution. Don't ask, I was a weird kid. (1/4) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I was well prepped for the debate with facts about how wars can be expensive, destructive etc. etc. You know, crazy people arguments. (1/5) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I went up first in front of 200 kids in the 8th grade, and all my teachers, and tried to convince them that war is a bad idea. (1/6) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 I thought I did reasonably well. Some of the kids seemed convinced that pointless killing was futile (weirdos) Teachers looked proud. (1/6) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 Twas time for my opponent (an 8th grader) to convince others (8th graders) that we should nuke Pakistan (probably including 8th graders) 1/7 Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 The kid got onto stage and began narrating an incident. Genius, begin with an anecdote. Should've thought of that myself. 1/9 Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "When we were in PT period yesterday, I threw a stone into my dear friend Tanmay's pocket..." He said. (1/10) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "The first time I did it, he got annoyed and shouted at me. So I did it again. This time again he shouted at me" He continued. (1/11) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "I did it 4-5 times. He went and complained to the teacher. But even that didn't stop me.." (1/11) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "Until the final time that I threw a stone in his pocket, he got up and pushed me.." Stunned silence in the audience right now. (1/12) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "Now you tell me, if Tanmay can hit me back for doing something so small like throwing stones, WHY CAN'T WE ATTACK PAKISTAN!" (1/13) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 "And he toh is a friend! IF HE CAN DO IT, WHY CAN'T WE AS ENEMIES ATTACK THEM!" - I could see concentric circles forming in 8th grade eyes Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 He ended his speech by yelling Bharat Mata Ki (no jokes) while 8th graders yelled JAIII officially giving their consent for violence. (1/15) Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 The teachers watched in horror. They were the judges of course and I won't the debate. But none of the students thought I deserved to. Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) September 19, 2016 The terror attack at Uri in Kashmir that killed 17 soldiers has resulted in renewed discussions of retaliation by the general public. Twitter all day today, 19th September, has been an odd mixture of "nuke them" and "doodh mangoge toh kheer denge...".Within all the commotion, Stand-up comic Tanmay Bhat of All India Bakchod decided to tell a little story about a debate that happened when he was in school. This supposed 8th grade school debate had a sensitive issue like "Should India go to war against Pakistan over Kashmir?" as the Topic.Bhat's story involved him speaking against it and his opponent using a simple parable like throwing stones till the breaking point as his argument. In this supposed story, Bhat's opponent ended his "argument" with "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and got a mass response from all the students.While as a story, it does speak on several levels about knee-jerk decisions and blind jingoism, it seems pretty unlikely that any school would pit 13-year-olds against each other in such a volatile and politically charged debate. Fake story or not, it still is an entertaining and intelligent read. Ahmedabad: Gujarat Dalit rights activist, Jignesh Mevani and 200 supporters, who were demonstrating outside the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, were detained on Monday. Two women members of the rights group, who are fighting for land allocation to Dalits, reportedly fainted and their health deteriorated during the detention. The Dalit activists were taken to Shahibaug Police Headquarters around 11.30 a.m. and Mevani alleged that no medical help was provided for several hours. The activists had been demanding land for Dalits in the Dholka region of Ahmedabad district, allotted to them under the Agricultural Land Ceiling (ALC) Act for many years. There are 331 allottees in Saroda village of Dholka under the ALC Act, most of whom are Dalits. When requests for medical help to the police reportedly failed Mevani posted his protest through his Facebook page. He asserted, "Gujarat Model: pathetic, obnoxious and disastrous. Even after an hour of fainting ... women are not being taken to hospital .... These women ...are bona fide owners ...We are all under detention and ready to face anything." He also added, "Ye andolan ab rukne wala nahi (this agitation won't stop now)...we want our land at any cost." Mevani said land allotment to Dalits in the region had remained on paper for years. He threatened the District Collector that if the allotment process was not initiated immediately, the activists would launch a 'rasta roko' (road block) agitation from the busy Income Tax Crossroads in Ahmedabad. Mevani was also rounded up hours before a public demonstration that he had announced in protest against the murder of a Muslim youth, Mohammed Ayyub, in the city allegedly by cow vigilantes last week. He had given a call for Dalit-Muslim unity and stated that just like the Muslims had supported the torture victims of Una, the Dalits would also back them. He had termed the killing of Ayyub on September 12 by cow vigilantes as Dadri-2 comparing it with the lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh on charges of cow slaughter earlier this year. Paris/New Delhi: France on Monday condemned the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers, and called for "decisive action" against terror groups targetting India, especially the LeT, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. In a statement, the deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, said that nothing can justify terrorism and that Paris remains "at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". To a question on Sunday's terror attack, the spokesperson said that France condemned the "terrible attack carried out in Uri". He said after the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base, "this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". It also quoted French President Francois Hollande as saying during his India visit in January this year that "all countries must effectively combat terrorism emanating from their territory or from territories under their control". "We call for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-eTaiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. "Nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combatted everywhere with the same determination," the spokesperson said. Earlier, in a statement, the French foreign ministry, while condemning the Uri attack also said that it "recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir". Eighteen Indian army soldiers were killed in a fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday morning. New Delhi: India will carefully decide its future course of action in the aftermath of the terror attack in Uri and will not do anything on the basis of what Pakistan says, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday. "We must not pay heed to Pakistan's reaction. Everything is in front of the people. We will take our next steps carefully. It does not matter what Pakistan says," he told reporters here. The Minister of State for Home's comments came a day after heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 17 jawans. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it. In the evening, Modi called on President Pranab Mukherjee and briefed him about the high-level meeting attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the chiefs of the army, air force and navy, and senior officials of the home and defence ministries. We reserve the right to respond at a place and time of our choosing. We have the desired capability to reply to such a blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us." Pakistan has denied any involvement in the Sunday assault, saying India was blaming it even without conducting any investigation. "Pakistan's armed forces ... will thwart any sinister design against the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan." Neighbours Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka also condemned the terrorist attack. : India on Monday weighed its options against Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack, with the army vowing to pick its own "time and place" to retaliate and the political leadership authorising a global diplomatic blitz aimed at isolating Islamabad as a hub of terrorism.On a day that saw emotions running high over the death of 18 soldiers in Sunday's attack who were given farewell with military honours in various parts of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoned a meeting of senior ministers and military and security advisers to formulate an appropriate response.Meanwhile, the Director General Military Operation (DGMO), Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, told reporters that the army found more articles from the four attackers who were killed at the Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir close to the Line of Control (LoC) -- a de facto border with Pakistan.The evidence indicated that the militants came from Pakistan, he said.Earlier, India has blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack.The group, which has not claimed responsibility, was also accused of mounting the January attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot that left seven soldiers dead.Among the arms and ammunition recovered in Uri were 39 UBGL grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPS devices, two maps and "large quantities of food and medicines with Pakistani markings on them", the DGMO said.Lt. Gen. Singh said there had been 17 infiltration bids from across the border in 2016. They were foiled, leaving 110 terrorists dead."This indicates a desperate attempt from across the border to push infiltrators and create disturbances in India.It was amid pressure within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to "teach a lesson" to Pakistan -- with senior party strategist Ram Madhav demanding "for one tooth, a complete jaw" -- that Modi chaired the high-level meeting in New Delhi to review the situation.Informed sources said that apart from the diplomatic offensive at major global fora -- including the upcoming UN General Assembly -- the meeting considered several other options, but these were likely to be measured and well thought-out.The sources said Modi sought all evidence to expose Pakistan at international fora for their involvement in the attack.The meeting also discussed Modi's proposed visit to Pakistan in November for a Saarc summit. The option of the Islamabad trip was left open as any decision would be taken on the basis of the bilateral situation then, the sources said.The high-level meeting came shortly after Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation along the border and the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.Patrols on the borders were increased and frontier districts in various states were put on a high alert. India and Pakistan are currently observing a 2003 ceasefire along the borders and the LoC, which has largely stayed despite violations.Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif told a Corps Commanders conference in Rawalpindi his forces were "fully prepared to respond to an entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat".In New Delhi, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters that India was not concerned about Pakistani denials."Everything is in front of the people. We must not give much attention to Pakistan's reaction. We will take our steps carefully," Rijiju said.The terror attack drew condemnation from around the world, including Russia, France, Canada, UN and China.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the perpetrators of the Uri attack will be brought to justice and all stakeholders in the region will meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability.While condemning the terror act, China said it was concerned over the "rising temperatures" in its aftermath.Beijing also asked India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue."China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding the Kashmir situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.On Sunday, the US had expressed strong condemnation of the terror attack."The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said. The Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) on Monday ordered Karnataka to release 3000 cusecs of water till September 30 after the state chief secretary Arvind Jadhav refused to release more water saying that state is not in a position to release even a drop of water. The Union Water Resources secretary Shashi Shekhar who chaired the CMC meeting said that Karnataka had been ordered to release 3000 cusecs of water till this month end. The Supreme Court order in which it directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day comes to an end on Tuesday. But the CMC analysed the available data and concluded that Karnataka should release 3000 cusecs of water from Wednesday. This order can be challenged before the Supreme Court by both the states. According to ground reports on an average 6000-7000 cusecs of water flows into TN from Karnataka and it is called a natural flow of water. The experts feel that actually Karnataka does not need to release any water from its reservoirs in the state to honour the CMC decision. The CMC will meet once again in October to decide future release of the water. Karnataka water resources minister M B Patil said that the state was not in a position to release the water and the outflow continues like this Cauvery basin in Karnataka could become another Latur, the worst drought hit district in Maharashtra. Anticipating trouble Karnataka police have made elaborate security arrangements across the Cauvery basin districts including state capital Bengaluru. Two weeks ago the SC had ordered Karnataka to release 15000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till September 20. It led to wide spread violence in both the states killing two and damaging properties worth several crores. Srinagar: Hours after one of the biggest attacks on the Army in 15 years, unidentified militants on Sunday snatched weapons of police personnel guarding the residence of ruling People's Democratic Party's district President Jawed Ahmed Sheikh from Anantnag in Kashmir, police said. Six to eight militants attacked the guard post at the residence of Advocate Jawed Ahmed Sheikh, district President of PDP at Dayalgam, at around 9.30 PM and snatched four AK rifles from the security personnel, a police official said. An alert has been sounded in south Kashmir area to trace the militants, he said, adding, this is the fifth incident of weapon snatching from police personnel in Kashmir since the ongoing unrest in the Valley. Four heavily-armed terrorists said to be "foreigners" had sneaked into an army camp near the LoC with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday morning in the worst attack on a military base in the state in a decade that left 17 soldiers dead and many injured. All the four Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) fidayeen or suicide attackers, who stealthily entered the camp near Uri town at 5.30 a.m. after cutting the barbed wires, were killed in fighting that raged for some two-and-a-half hours, military officials said. New Delhi: With Masood Azhar-led JeM suspected to be behind the Uri attack, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday sought to put the National Democratic Alliance government in the dock, suggesting the earlier NDA regime had "compromised" with national security by releasing the terrorist following the 1999 Indian airlines hijack. In a series of tweets, he also made a strong pitch for building strong international pressure to isolate Pakistan in the wake of the terror strike and also stressed on looking into the "failure" of the Army to protect its camp near the LoC. "We compromised to let Masood Azhar go after Indian Airlines hijack. Lesson? Never compromise with National Security," the Congress General Secretary said. "Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammad is behind the attack. Of course, with full connivance of Pakistan establishment. Should also look at the failure of the Army to protect its Army Camp near the LOC," he said. "Pay homage to the Martyrs in Uri. GOI must strongly build International pressure to isolate Pakistan", the Congress leader added. Flight IC 814, which was en route from Nepal to Delhi, was hijacked on December 24, 1999 with 176 passengers onboard. Three terrorists, including Masood Azhar, were released by the Indian government in exchange for the safe release of passengers and the crew. Margarita Island (Venezuela): India on Sunday said the terrorist attack in Uri in Kashmir has highlighted Pakistan's desire to use "poison" instead of dialogue as it lodged a strong protest against Islamabad at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Margarita Island for its "mischievous" and "malignant" support to terror. Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar hit out at Pakistan, saying it has reduced itself to "pariah" status in the international community because of its hypocrisy and its blatant sponsorship of terrorism and of terrorists. Speaking to reporters after Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz raised the Kashmir issue at the 17th NAM Summit, Akbar slammed Pakistan for giving "sanctuary and support, both domestic and international to terrorists" and investing in the evil menace of terrorism. He said India has lodged a strong protest in writing with NAM against Pakistan's "mischievous, malignant use of terrorism particularly evident even while the summit is taking place in the tragic incident at Uri". "The tragic incident at Uri has highlighted Pakistan's desire to use poison instead of dialogue. We will never accept the use of brutality as an instrument in international affairs," he said. "The incident in Uri is a grave incident and not only India but the world is aggrieved by it. Pakistan should understand that it will be given a befitting reply and no one will back Pakistan on this," he asserted. Seventeen Indian soldiers where killed in a terror attack on an Army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir by suspected Pakistan-based militants early Sunday. Aziz, in his address as the Pakistan delegation head, had said, "Peace in South Asia cannot be achieved without the settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council." Akbar said that one of the important developments of the NAM summit was the fact that 118 nations out of 120 supported a stand on terrorism and wanted a working group on terrorism. "The incoming president of NAM has assured us that terrorism will be high if not the highest on his objectives. He supports the need for a working group. I think all countries understand that irrespective of what might be attributed as reasons terrorism is now completely unacceptable to the world community," Akbar said. "Pakistan's inability to support the idea of a working group is further evidence that it has always been a sponsor. If it was not a sponsor why was it afraid of setting up a working group," Akbar asserted. Asked about Pakistan's continuous campaign of raising Kashmir on global platforms, Akbar said, "The world understands that our position in Kashmir is legitimate. It has the backing of history and equally important it has the backing of moral behaviour in international affairs. "And that is why Pakistan's continuous invidious attempts to keep raising the issue get no traction. It's a voice crying in the wilderness," he said. New Delhi: The government is gathering evidence on Pakistan's role in the Uri terror attack which killed 17 Indian soldiers, sources said on Monday. It is learnt that the government wanted to gather evidence to expose Pakistan's role before the SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad from November 9-10. Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to Islambad to attend the SAARC Summit, sources said adding that the decision was taken before the Uri attack. It is yet to be known who will attend the meet from India's side to press the case that Uri terrorists actually came from Pakistan. The government will also raise the Pakistan terror issues during the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled to be held on September 26 in New York. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the UNGA and she is expected to make a strong speech on how Pakistan is using terrorists to destabilise India's peace and development. Meanwhile, DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh told the media that the terrorists belonged to the Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed. He said, "Initial reports indicate the role of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). They carried items with Pakistani markings. I already apprised the DGMO Pakistan about the incident and conveyed India's sentiments over the issue." It is learnt that NIA along with the officers of Military Intelligence will work jointly on collecting adequate evidence to show that the Uri terror attack was masterminded by JeM backed by the Pakistan government. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 Trend: The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has made an investment commitment in the amount of 100 million euro in the first closing of the Equity Participation Fund (EPF), a debut fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EPF is established to give institutional investors an opportunity to participate in the EBRDs direct equity investment portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, as well as in Turkey, with the objective of achieving long term capital growth by making investments in financial, industrial, agricultural, infrastructure, and energy sectors. Investing in the EPF is a natural progression for our investment strategy and further cements our plans to diversify into different asset classes and geographies, Shahmar Movsumov, executive director of SOFAZ, said. This innovative investment structure is also an attractive opportunity to partner with the EBRD which has the extensive experience and strong local presence in the region. EBRDs investments are exposed to a number of long-term growth drivers that we look for, and we believe that these investments will deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for the Fund, he added. New Delhi: As India mulls its options against Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri attack, Bangladesh has said that the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan will remain in the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka. As a freedom fighter of 1971, we fought alongside the Indians during our war of liberation, I want the spirit of 1971 to remain in our relations, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali told CNN-News18. The Bangladesh High Commissioner also asserted that in case India decides to strike Pakistan militarily, there will be consultation at the highest political level between New Delhi and Dhaka. Its a sensitive issue, Ali said, adding, right now its hypothetical, but as close neighbours and allies and friends we will act together. Our PM has strongly worded Bangladeshs position. We have zero tolerance towards terrorism. Bangladesh stands with India at this difficult hour, Ali said. Adding that Bangladesh will continue to work together to eradicate terrorism from this region, the high commissioner said Dhaka was waiting for Indian agencies to complete their investigation. After they have done it, we will take it up at the highest level for consultation, he said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh calls for a high level review meet on #UriAttack at 10 AM, today. ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar likely to meet and brief PM Narendra Modi on #UriAttack. ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #TopStory: Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to leave for Srinagar, today to meet top State officials in wake of #UriAttack ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Pak has reduced itself to 'pariah status' in int'l community because of its hypocrisy & terror sponsorship: MJ Akbar pic.twitter.com/M7EgF40pTD ANI (@ANI_news) September 18, 2016 Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Uri terror attack and also submitted a report based on how the attack took place.Union Home Minister Home Minister Rajnath Singh too called for a high level review meet at 10 AM.Later in the afternoon Rajnath Singh, Parrikar along with top security officials met PM to discuss on what would be India's stand after the Uri attack.Sources in the home ministry said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to probe the attack. A team of NIA officials already reached Uri and waiting for final approvals to initiate probe.Four terrorists sneaked into an army camp in Uri town early on Sunday and martyred 17 soldiers. All four heavily-armed terrorists were also killed at the end of a gun battle that lasted for more than four hours.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns the attack.The Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi also was asked to visit Srinagar on Monday to meet top state officials to review security measures in the state.The government reacted strongly to the audacious attack and Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned it."We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had tweeted.Union Minister MJ Akbar said, "Pakistan has reduced itself to 'pariah status' in international community because of its hypocrisy and terror sponsorship."DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh claimed the terrorists belonged to the Pakistan based group Jaish-e-Mohammed. "We have found Pakistani markings from the seized items of the slain terrorists. The marking suggests that they came from Pakistan," he said.The terrorists managed to enter the army camp from the rear reportedly after cutting the barbed wire fencing. Surprisingly, they managed to overcome a 10 feet boundary wall unchallenged and resorted to indiscriminate firing.They also lobbed grenades at tents where soldiers were asleep, catching them unawares. Most of the martyred soldiers were from the Bihar Regiment. Two soldiers of the Dogra Regiment also died.Uri is close to the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan. The camp is close to the headquarters of army's 12 Brigade. Islamabad: Ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wrote to the permanent members of the Security Council over the Kashmir issue saying it is a "constant source of tension and instability" posing a threat to world peace and security. Sharif has written to the Heads of Government/State of China, France, Russia, the UK and the US regarding "grave human rights violations" in Kashmir, Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday. "The letters emphasise the extremely negative implications of the dire situation in Kashmir, on regional, as well as international peace and security," it said in a statement. Sharif wrote the "non-resolution of the Kashmir issue is a constant source of tension and instability in the region and a threat to international peace and security". Last week, Sharif met Hurriyat leaders from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and had assured them that he would "emphatically highlight" the Kashmir issue at the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Highlighting the 'violations' of international human rights and humanitarian laws in Kashmir, Sharif in his letters asked the permanent members of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibility with regard to the Kashmir issue, which he said is one of the oldest internationally recognised unresolved disputes on the agenda of the UNSC. Despite the passage of more than 68 years since the adoption of multiple resolutions, the people of Jammu and Kashmir still await the implementation of these resolutions which promised them the right to self-determination to be exercised through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices, he wrote. Sharif urged the permanent members of the Security Council to call upon the Indian government to immediately stop the bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir and honour its human rights obligations as well as its commitments to the Kashmiri people. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met President Pranab Mukherjee to brief him on the developments related to the Uri terror attack, hours after he discussed the issue with senior ministers and top officials. Modi went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening and apprised the President of the details related to the attack on the Army camp that took place on Sunday, official sources said. The Prime Minister's meeting with the President came hours after he chaired a meeting on the Uri attack with senior ministerial colleagues top officials. The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NSA Ajit Doval, Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh, and senior officials of the ministries of Home and Defence. Modi on Sunday had asserted that "those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished." The people of Jammu and Samba districts on Monday bid a tearful adieu to the two brave-heart jawans, who died fighting the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri early on Sunday morning.The mortal remains of Sub Karnail Singh and Hav Ravi Paul of 10 DOGRA were cremated with full military honours in their native hamlets of Shibu Chak (Tehsil Bishnah) of Jammu district and Ramgarh village of Samba district on Monday.A pal of gloom descended the bordering villagers here after the mortal remains of the two soldiers arrived after being flown to Jammu.Special Indian Airforce helicopter flew in the mortal remains of Singh and Paul of 10 DOGRA at the Technical Area Airforce Station Jammu.The wreath laying of the two jawans was done by Kavinder Gupta, Speaker J&K legislative Assembly, Ministers- Bali Bhagat, Zulfkar Ali, Chander Parkash Ganga, Jugal Kishore MP, and MLAs -Sat Sharma, Rajesh Gupta.The wreath was laid on behalf of Dr Jitender Singh, MoS PMO, Ravinder Rana, MLA, Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Danesh Rana, IGP, brotherin-laws of martyr Sub Karnail Singh, Bhav Singh and Devi Raj Saini, Major General Sanjeev Sharma, General Officer Commanding Tiger Division, Air Commodore Ashutosh Lal, Brigadier Randir Singh and other Senior Officers from the Civil Administration and the Army.The mortal remains were taken to respective hamlets in Jammu and Samba districts.A TV grab of sand artist Sudarshan giving a tribute to the martyrs of the Uri attackA large number of people had converged at both the places to bid a final adieu to the two soldiers.After final bugle and gun salutes by Army, the duo were cremated amid presence of the family, top officials and huge number of people.In a programme organized by BJP, State President & MLA Sat Sharma, State General Secretary Ashok Kaul and other leaders paid tributes to the soldiers killed in the Uri terror attack.Sat Sharma, on this occasion, said that "the fidayeen attack in Uri at the behest of Pakistan is the worst kind of inhuman act and is highly condemnable"."The terrorist attack at army brigade, which resulted into sacrifices of our brave soldiers, has shook the entire nation and the time has come when Union government should adopt a clear and decisive strategy to teach Pakistan a lesson."Whatever the nation is facing in Jammu and Kashmir is due to the blunders committed by Congress under its appeasement policy which promoted separatism and encouraged Pakistan to impose direct and proxy wars against India in Kashmir," he said.J&K Congress condemned the Uri attack and termed it as a "serious security lapse".Vikram Malhotra- General Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee expressed deep shock and pain over the death of Army personnel and conveyed heartfelt sympathies to the family members of the soldiers.Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) held a homage meeting here and condemned the outrageous and cowardice attack by terrorists on Army's Brigade Headquarters on Sunday in which 18 Army soldiers were killed. On my way.. #emmyswithpc A video posted by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Sep 18, 2016 at 2:51pm PDT Priyanka Chopra attended the prestigious 68th Emmy Awards as a presenter this year. The actress, who is now a popular face in the west too, looked stunning in a scarlet red gown as she sashayed down the red carpet at the Microsoft Theater to attend the awards ceremony.Not only did she turn heads in a flowing Jason Wu gown, but also ruled the red carpet with her quirky poses for the shutterbugs.Elegant to the core, the actress could not stop twirling and showing off its delicate layers.She also shared a small video on her Instagram account and captioned it as, "On my way.. #emmyswithpc".(Image Courtesy: AP) Saddened to hear of the cowardly attack in Uri. Prayers for the families of our martyred soldiers. & may the terrorists b punished soon! Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) September 18, 2016 This is really sad & an attack on the state.There will never be peace till there is violence 2 achieve it #UriAttack https://t.co/MF3abBGipz Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) September 18, 2016 Deeply saddened & angered by the mindless #UriAttack . Prayers for the Martyrs & their beloved families. Adnan Sami (@AdnanSamiLive) September 18, 2016 : Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Shekhar Kapur, Riteish Deshmukh and Adnan Sami have offered condolences to the families of the Uri attack martyrs and demanded a strong action against the attackers.Terrorists sneaked into an army camp here in Jammu and Kashmir early on Sunday and slaughtered 17 soldiers in the worst attack in a decade on a military centre in the state.According to military officials, over two dozen soldiers were also injured in the audacious attack that left all four heavily-armed militants who barged into the camp near Uri town at 5.30 a.m. dead after two-and-half hours gun battle.Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other political leaders, various Bollywood celebrities have also condemned the attack on Twitter.Here's what the celebrities tweeted:Shah Rukh Khan: Saddened to hear of the cowardly attack in Uri. Prayers for the families of our martyred soldiers. And may the terrorists be punished soon.Riteish Deshmukh: Deepest condolences to the families of Uri attack martyrs who laid down their lives fighting for their motherland.Randeep Hooda: This is really sad and an attack on the state. There will never be peace till there is violence to achieve it. Uri attack.Shekhar Kapur: Paradise burning. Heartbreak of Kashmir. Beautiful town of Uri. Uri attack.Madhur Bhandarkar: Saddened to know about the cowardly militant attack at Uri. My salute to the brave-hearts martyred and condolences to the families.Adnan Sami: Deeply saddened and angered by the mindless Uri attack. Prayers for the martyrs their beloved families.Esha Gupta: They lived to be called a martyr. Uri attack -- this needs to stop now. India needs to reply to this. Narendra Modi.Vivek Agnihotri: It's a good day to find out the difference between the wise and the stupid on Twitter. Uri attack.Ameesha Patel: Cowardly attack on Uri. Prayers with all... Another disgusting attack. So many innocents suffer for no fault of their own.Ashoke Pandit: 17 jawans martyred. Uri attack -- My head bows down in shame at the impotency of our so called great country to value the lives of our soldiers.Neha Sharma: Deeply saddened to hear of the cowardly attack in Uri. Prayers for the families of our martyred soldiers.Vatsal Sheth: Salute the brave and martyred in Uri who fought for the country. Condolences to their families. Uri attack. So what gives? Has the truce brokered by Mulayam in the party fallen through in the matter of a day? I have also been a teacher to Akhilesh for a long time"; he remarked. : RAJENDRA Chaudhari is perhaps the most visible face of the Uttar Pradesh government after chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. The grey-headed socialist, bent slightly double with age, has been a permanent fix in government photo-ops along with the young CM as if to add a dab of maturity to every frame.On Sunday afternoon, just few hours after formally taking over as the state president of the Samajwadi Party, Shivpal Yadav struck the first blow by sacking Chaudhari as the spokesperson of the party, a post he had held since SPs founding over 25 years ago. Within a few hours, Chaudhari was seen moving out of the party HQ in Lucknow with his personal belongings.The next to go was Arvind Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadavs nephew and member of legislative council. A day later, Shivpal expelled six youth leaders and close aides of Akhilesh Yadav for anti-party activities. Of these four had been hand-picked by the CM to lead front organisations.In the last 48 hours since Shivpal cemented his new position as the state president of SP, he has sacked seven Akhilesh loyalists including three MLCs on a raft of charges from anti-party activities to making charges against party leadership.Its not just rancour, say political observers, arguing that there could be more to this methodical purge of Akhilesh supporters within the party. Shivpal is using the crisis to bequeath his political legacy on to his son Aditya Yadav.Crisis came calling on the ruling Samajwadi party in Uttar Pradesh last week after CM Akhilesh effected a series of purges in the government and bureaucracy sacking confidantes of his uncle Shivpal. As if to restore balance of power, Mulayam replaced Akhilesh with Shivpal as state party chief.The dust settled with Shivpal retaining his cabinet portfolios (apart from PWD that he held prior to the crisis) besides the newly-acquired party state chiefs post. The understanding was that Akhilesh could be made the parliamentary party head or be given more say in selecting candidates for the assembly polls slated for next year.In fact, a day after he was stripped of key portfolios, Shivpal Yadav flew down to Delhi and drove straight to brother Mulayam Singh Yadav's residence on Ashok Road. Later in the evening, meeting his supporters at UP Sadan in Chanakyapuri he reminisced about his fond relationship with nephew Akhilesh.After a brief pause, he turned his head and broke into a quintessential titter.But this time around, as he flexed his muscles to take the battle to the streets of Lucknow against the Chief Minister, he played a perfect political mentor to his own son Aditya.An MBA from Lucknow University, Shivpal's son Aditya is the chairman of the State Corporative Federation. He has so far been managing his father's assembly constituency Jaswantnagar in Etawah district.For the first time, Aditya accompanied Shivpal for every important political negotiation in the last one week. He was by his father's side when Shivpal rushed to Delhi to settle matters with Mulayam and also during the brief 10 minute meeting with the CM which was followed by his resignation from both government and as state chief.Soon Shivpal supporters were at his gate, protesting against treatment meted out to their leader. It was well past midnight that Shivpal came out to placate them. A bench was strategically placed for Shivpal to step up so that TV cameras could capture the moment.On Shivpal's right, stood a tall bespectacled lad learning the ropes of the trade. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Seba Aghayeva - Trend: The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) called for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan at the 17th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Venezuela on September 13 18, 2016. The Final Document adopted at the NAM summit also includes the paragraphs related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The heads of state and government of the NAM member-states expressed regret that despite the UN Security Council resolutions (S/RES/822, S/RES/853, S/RES/874, S/RES/884), the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unresolved and continues to endanger international and regional peace and security. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. The summit reaffirmed the importance of the principle of non-use of force enshrined in the UN Charter. The heads of state and government welcomed the offer of Azerbaijan to host the 18th NAM summit of the heads of state and government in 2019. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an international organization bringing together 120 countries on the principles of non-participation in military blocs. The NAM was officially founded by 25 states at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. Azerbaijan became a NAM full member in 2011. New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was on Monday attacked with ink just outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's office by a man who claimed to be from an obscure political outfit. The attacker was identified as Brajesh Shukla who shouted he was upset that AAP leaders were "leading a life of luxury" when the rest of Delhi was "suffering hardship". "We are working on the improvements in health and education sectors but the opposition is working on ink only. Cheap politics by BJP and Congress," Sisodia told reporters after the attack. Sisodia had gone to meet Jung after returning from Finland where he had gone to study the educational framework of that country. Jung on Friday had sent a fax to Sisodia in Finland and asked him to return immediately owing to the outbreak of vector-borne dengue and chikungunya in the national capital. Sisodia came under fire over his Finland tour as Delhi witnessed a spurt in chikungunya and dengue cases. So far 32 people have died of vector-borne diseases in recent days. Panaji: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday got a "tongue lashing" from AAP over his comments on Arvind Kejriwal's throat surgery with the party saying he should concentrate on managing security affairs or make way for someone else in the key post. The outfit, which has set its sight on taking on Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017 Assembly elections in Goa, demanded Parrikar be removed as Defence Minister as he is "not concentrating" on looking after security issues. "We urge Prime Minister Modiji to either ask Parrikar to concentrate on security of the nation or give this responsibility to someone else so that Parrikar could continue making comments on health issues of other individuals," Goa AAP Secretary Walmiki Naik said at a press conference in Panaji after 17 soldiers were martyred in a terrorist attack in Uri. On Saturday, Parrikar had said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's tongue had to be trimmed as it had grown long due to speaking much against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and him. Kejriwal recently underwent a tongue surgery. "On one hand the defence of our nation is continuously being challenged by forces working against the country, and on the other we have our Defence Minister sarcastically commenting on personal health issues of Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal. This is unbecoming of a Defence Minister," he said. Naik said his party is deeply pained and shocked by the death of 17 soldiers in the Uri terror attack. "AAP salutes the jawans for their supreme sacrifice and expresses solidarity with their families," he added. Amethi: Taking a dig at the family feud in the ruling Samajwadi Party, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Sunday said the system in Uttar Pradesh has derailed due to the infighting between the two. "Chacha-bhatije ki ladai me state me sab kuchh disturb ho gaya hai" (following the infighting between uncle (Shivpal Yadav) and nephew (Akhilesh Yadav), system in UP has been derailed). It is not good," she said. Irani, Minister of Textiles, was addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a medical camp during her one day visit here. She targeted Congress vice president Rahul for maintaining silence over the malpractices of the state government for last four and half years. "Notably, Rahul Gandhi, in some of his meetings in the state repeatedly said 'pahle cycle ka pahiya puncture tha magar ab pura tyre hi fat gaya hai' (earlier, the tyre of the cycle was puncture, but now it has burst)," Irani said. Earlier, she paid obeisance at the historical temple of Ahorwa Bhavani under Tiloi assembly and addressed a meeting in Haliyapur under Jagdishpur assembly. This was her first visit to Amethi after the cabinet reshuffle where she was scraped off the Human Resource and Development Ministry. Beirut: A Syrian activist group says 92 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the US-Russia-brokered ceasefire a week ago. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that 29 children and teenagers are among those killed, as well as 17 women. The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and Islamic State militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The truce excludes IS and al-Qaida-linked militants. Uncertainties are prevailing about the truce, which is now in its seventh day. The Syrian army said in a statement last week that the cease-fire would last until midnight yesterday but it's not clear if the US-Russia-brokered deal set a time limit for the truce. There have been remarks from the Syrian military in Damascus that the truce might be extended by 72 hours. New York: Amidst the rising tension between India and Pakistan over the attack on Indian Army camp by four terrorists backed by Pakistan, Prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday met US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of his address at UNGA. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion, Radio Pakistan reported. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. New York: With Kashmir high on his agenda, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly where he would enunciate Islamabad's position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New York's Kennedy International Airport by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, the Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's delegation includes Tariq Fatemi Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule including addressing the 193-member Assembly on September 21 and meeting at least ten world leaders among other activities. He said the Prime Minister would specifically focus on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir particularly the "continuing grave violations of human rights" taking place there. The Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister would call on the international community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, Prime Ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon. US Secretary of State John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. New York: US President Barack Obama on Monday blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying he treats the presidential race as an "infomercial" and shows no interest in gaining "rudimentary knowledge" required to make "hard decisions" on the job. Obama, who arrived in the city on Sunday for his final UN General Assembly session, addressed about 65 people at a fundraiser hosted by restaurateur Danny Meyer and his wife, here. Calling Trump, 70, as the "other guy" in the election, Obama reiterated that the New York billionaire is not qualified to be President of the US and slammed him for not showing any interest in gaining knowledge required to make tough decisions on a daily basis in the White House. "This guy is not qualified to be President. And he shows no interest in even gaining the rudimentary knowledge required to make really hard decisions on a day-to-day basis. There's no curiosity, there's no desire to get up to speed. It's an infomercial. It's a reality show," Obama said. He called it disturbing that Trump's race for the White House is "tapping into some of our worst impulses as a country -- ones that divide us rather than bring us together; ones that seek to put down people who have been historically vulnerable as opposed to lifting them up". Obama lauded Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her "unerring" judgement, experience and discipline in every job that she has had, saying he is "absolutely confident" she will be a "great President". He also pointed out that America has not had a woman president so far since the society is intimidated by powerful women. "I will also say that there's a reason why we haven't had a woman President; that we as a society still grapple with what it means to see powerful women. And it still troubles us in a lot of ways, unfairly, and that expresses itself in all sorts of ways," he said. He described 68-year-old Clinton as "smart, who is tough, and most importantly, who cares deeply about making sure that this country works for everybody and not just a few". "And she's displayed it again and again and again. And when I said that I think she is somebody who is as qualified as any individual who has ever run for this office, I meant it. And her judgment has been unerring, and she has been disciplined, and she has been extraordinarily effective in every job that she's had," he said. Noting that while every election is billed as the most important of a lifetime, Obama said this is "true" for the 2016 race. "So this should not be a close election, but it will be. And the reason it will be is not because of Hillary's flaws, but rather because, structurally, we've become a very polarised society," he said. He expressed confidence that the American people will make a "good decision and we're going to win this thing". BWX Technologies names three new directors BWX Technologies, a Lynchburg-based nuclear-technology firm, has named James M. Jaska, Kenneth J. Krieg and Barbara A. Niland to its board of directors. Jaska is president and managing director of Nova Global Services, an operations and advisory firm. Previously he worked for AECOM, Tetra Tech, Alliant Techsystems, Honeywell and Ecolab. Krieg is founder of the consulting firm Samford Global Strategies. He worked for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2007 and for International Paper for 11 years before that. Niland worked for Northrup Grumman and the former Westinghouse Electronics for more than 30 years and at Huntington Ingalls Industries for more than five years before retiring this year. We are very fortunate to add three board members of this caliber to our board, John A. Fees, BWXTs Executive Chairman, said in a news release. Each of them brings extensive, market-specific experience that will be important as our board continues to provide appropriate governance and oversight of BWXT as well as guiding the company toward continued growth. BWXT is a major employer in the Lynchburg region, supplying nuclear reactor components, fuel and technical services to the U.S. Navy. Staff reports Standard Insurances Altavista office opens Standard Insurance Companys new satellite office in Altavista opened Sept. 7. The new division is supporting the companys Life and Disability Services organization. The office currently employs 40 people but will grow to more than 200 employees by 2020. The Standard is delighted to welcome our first employees in Altavista and were excited to be part of this community, said Dan McMillan, vice president of Employee Benefits at Standard Insurance. As a leading employer, we look forward to being a good neighbor and an engaged corporate citizen. The new office is the companys fifth regional site, along with Portland and Hillsboro, Oregon, White Plains, New York and Cincinnati, Ohio. Margaret Carmel Young Entrepreneurs Academy seeks applicants Lynchburgs Regional Business Alliances Young Entrepreneurs Academy is seeking applications for its 2016-2017 academy. The program is open to 24 middle- and high-school students who are interested in learning how to start their own business. Students from the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell or the city of Lynchburg are eligible to apply. The program meets Tuesday nights at Central Virginia Community College. The application deadline is Sept. 30 and can be found at www.leadershiplynchburg.com under the YEA tab. Margaret Carmel The final tab of the yet-to-be-completed Midtown Connector project has just gotten bigger. Last week, the city announced it will pay Fielders Choice Enterprises $2.45 million through a settlement agreement after the city and the contractor met in voluntary mediation to resolve claims of compensation arising out of the project. The settlement agreement is a legally binding document that resolves a potential lawsuit, City Attorney Walter Erwin said. City Manager Bonnie Svrcek and Fielders Choice President Donald Cantore both declined this week to discuss details of the settlement. Svrcek cited the confidentiality of the agreement. The city thought this was a fair settlement for everybody, Erwin said. For the city and for Fielders Choice, both parties agreed this is a fair settlement. According to Cantore, Fielders Choice is satisfied with the agreement but only because its a settlement. In what has been described as a corridor of confidence, the Midtown Connector serves to create more efficient access to the citys medical district from the Lynchburg Expressway. The project has consisted of widening roads, the installation of a roundabout at the intersection of Langhorne Road and Park Avenue, and streetscape features such as new lighting and sidewalks and upgrades to water and sewer lines. Fielders Choice Enterprises Inc. entered into a $15.1 million contract with the city in May 2012; the projects groundbreaking occurred in July 2012. The original completion date for the Midtown Connector was set for November 2014 but later was revised to January 2015. The city said last week the completion date now is scheduled for next month, aside from the construction of two retaining walls. Through July, the city has spent $17 million on the project for reasons that include change orders, Svrcek said last week. A change order is a modification to a contract, which may alter project costs or construction methods. The $17 million does not include the $2.45 million in settlement money, which will be paid by the end of the month. In June 2012, project manager J.P. Morris explained to Lynchburg City Council that while the contract value was for a little more $15 million, when you look at the cost of construction, construction engineering, inspection, lab testing of materials and VDOT oversight, you should think about the construction phase of the project being slightly over $18 million. In earlier interviews, city officials have spoken of weather challenges and unforeseen conditions encountered during the course of the project as reasons for the projects delayed completion. Unforeseen conditions could include the discovery of items found underground the city was not aware of, Svrcek said. Cantore declined to comment this week on project delays. The contract between the city and Fielders Choice notes time is of the essence, and to cover losses the city may suffer because of potential delays, the contract lists liquidated damages of $4,700 for each day extending past the time specified for completion. When asked if the city assessed liquidated damages on the project, several members of Lynchburg City Council referred the question to either the city manager or the city attorney. Svrcek declined to provide an answer about any liquidated damages on the project. The settlement agreement is confidential, and I cant talk about anything beyond what was in the press release, she said in a phone interview last week, referring to an earlier news release about the settlement. Cantore also declined to provide comment on whether the city assessed liquidated damages. According to Erwin, Fielders Choice notified the city it was submitting claims for additional money beyond the sums specified in the contract, and if the city was not willing to pay those claims, then Fielders Choice would pursue litigation. Erwin and Cantore declined to specify what those claims for additional compensation were for. I can say that in general, when contractors make claims for additional compensation, the claims are usually on such things as weather delays, unforeseen site conditions, changes in the design of the project, etc, Erwin said in a later email. The city believes since the project was not finished by the completion date, it had a claim for liquidated damages, Erwin said. Both parties agreed mediation was a much less expensive and less adversarial means of trying to resolve the dispute, Erwin said. And it was successful, Erwin said. Mediation occurred Aug. 3 and 4 in the law offices of Gentry Locke in Roanoke. The firm has attorneys that specialize in construction law, and two attorneys from Gentry Locke assisted the city in the mediation. The chosen mediator was Roger J. Peters, from Belleair, Florida. Peters is a lawyer who is familiar with construction work, Erwin said Among those participating in the mediation on the citys behalf were former City Manager Kimball Payne; Director of Public Works Gaynelle Hart; the citys project manager for the Midtown Connector, J.P. Morris; and city principal engineer Dee Dee Conner. Payne, who retired as city manager June 30, voluntarily agreed to assist the city with the mediation without pay because of his knowledge with the project, Erwin said in an email. The mediation also was attended by representatives of Fielders Choice. The attorney representing Fielders Choice was Joseph Kasimer, whose office is based in Tysons Corner. City Council authorized Svrcek to sign the settlement agreement, which she did Sept. 2. The city has used mediation to resolve condemnation lawsuits, such as those involving three properties along the route of the Midtown Connector project. According to Erwin, the city filed 11 condemnation lawsuits in 2011 to acquire easements and property needed for the Midtown Connector project. He said each of those condemnation lawsuits were resolved as a result of negotiations with the property owners or through mediation. In 2015, The News & Advance reported the city paid a total of $653,000 to three businesses along the project corridor through legal settlements. In each case, the citys initial offer was disputed by the businesses, and the amounts that were paid for the properties were increased in mediation. Speaking of the dispute involving Fielders Choice, it is the first time the city has used mediation to resolve a construction dispute, Erwin said. The $2.45 million payment to Fielders Choice Enterprises will be made through two sources. An allocation of $1.68 million will come from funds that formerly were appropriated to address deficiencies at the College Lake dam, a construction project that since has been delayed because of a deferral of a state mandate and excess funds from the downtown streetscape project for the amount of $770,000. The full payment will be made by Sept. 30, Svrcek said. Mayor Joan Foster said the city strived to get the best outcome possible for the community. We worked diligently and had excellent people that helped us through that process to come to this conclusion, she said. I feel that compared to what it could have been in litigation it could have been more expensive down the line I think it was the best result in the long run. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended a ground breaking ceremony of a new bitumen production facility as part of reconstruction of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery. President of Azerbaijan State Oil Company Rovnag Abdullayev informed President Aliyev about the construction of the new bitumen production facility and the work to be carried out at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery as part of the reconstruction project. He said that a new bitumen production facility to be built at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons. The 40/60 brand road bitumen will be produced here and the facility is expected to be commissioned in mid-2018. The construction of the new bitumen facility will be the first stage of the reconstruction works to be carried out at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery. The Austrian engineering company Porner and the Heydar Aliyev Refinery signed an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management contract for the construction of the plant. By the construction of a new bitumen production facility, the current infrastructure of former Azerneftyag oil refinery will be fully decommissioned and the coastal areas will be emptied and handed over for the realization of the White City project. Furthermore, running costs of Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery will be optimized and the country will be provided with high-quality bitumen. The company plans to produce high-quality oil products as part of the next stage of the reconstruction work to be carried out at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery. Under the program, the oil refinery will produce Euro-5 standard diesel in 2019 and the Euro 5 standard petrol in 2020. By realization of the project the processing capacity of the refinery will be increased to 7.5 million tons. This will help to fully meet the country's domestic consumption of car fuel for the next 15-20 years and increase the export potential of high-quality oil products. The implementation of the project will contribute to the improvement of the environmental situation in Baku and to the country's socio-economic development. President Aliyev laid a foundation stone for the new bitumen production facility. The president was informed that more than 80 tractor and machine mechanisms, stationary power aggregates and other equipment have recently been purchased and brought to the country. All the equipment was successfully tested. President Aliyev then met with the staff of the plant, and posed for photographs with them. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 Trend: Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR president, member of the National Parliament, congratulated twin brothers, Nurlan Nazaraliyev and Ravan Nazaraliyev during the ceremony held at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) in connection with September 15 - Knowledge Day as two brothers were admitted to the higher school in the 2016-2017 academic year to study the process automation engineering specialization. While congratulating the students also for winning the Presidential scholarship envisaged for students admitted to the higher educational institutions for the 2016-2017 academic year by the order of the president of Azerbaijan Republic on granting Presidential Scholarship, SOCAR president wished them every success. In addition, Abdullayev congratulated the elder brother of the mentioned twins BHOS four year student from petroleum engineering specialization Rashad Abdullayev as he was awarded the title of Student of the Year on the part of Heriot Watt University, UK, for his excellent performance during the 2015-2016 academic year. During the entrance examination held for higher educational institutions two brothers Nurlan Nazaraliyev scored 685 points and Ravan Nazaraliyev scored 700 points and selected process automation engineering of BHOS. Elder brother of twins Rashad Nazaraliyev is studying petroleum engineering specialization program of BHOS. He is fourth year student. He scored 677 to be admitted to BHOS. Thus, three brothers are students of BHOS. Hawk Claus spreads Christmas cheer in DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer first look Take a look at two stories from the DC holiday special including the titular chapter and a Hawkwoman and Hawkman tale DRESS DOWN FOR FRANKIE There has been absolutely no discussion on a dress code for teachers between the TTUTA and Ministry of Education, Association 2nd Vice President Lynsley Doodhai stated when contacted by Newsday. We have had no discussions with the Ministry since a July 28 Statutory Meeting with the Permanent Secretary. The matter of a dress code was not on the agenda, it was not under Business Arising...it was nowhere. So I was flabbergasted, Doodhai added, when Peoples National Movement (PNM) Chairman Franklin Khan said that discussions were at a sensitive stage. There have been absolutely no discussions on a dress code for teachers between TTUTA and the MoE. Doodhai was responding to statements by Khan during a press conference that followed the PNM General Council meeting on Saturday. Khan who is also a Government Senator and Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, was quoted as saying Education Minister Anthony Garcia and TTUTA had reached, a sensitive stage in discussions on the matter. Furthermore, Doodhai yesterday expressed concern that such a decision was announced by the ruling political partys chairman and not by the relevant minister. I would think that if there is to be discussion on this particular issue, it would emanate from the Ministry of Education and not from a political front, in terms of an announcements at a press conference after a General Council meeting of the PNM, Doodhai stated. In announcing the ruling PNMs intentions to improve the standard of attire worn by teacher, Khan lamented that unlike his school days when many male teachers wore ties, the dress code has deteriorated significantly. He added that a poor dress code among teachers had far-reaching consequences in relation to the moulding of the countrys young, impressionable minds and that the lack of discipline in all aspects of national life, including schools, were rooted in many issues. Commenting on the issue, on Saturday, President of the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA), Zena Ramatali, told Newsday the association was in agreement with the proposal. The dress code has gone to a very low standard across the country. I am hoping that teachers would agree because we have students that see teachers as role models and if they are telling the students that they should adhere to the Code of Conduct for schools, we will hope that there will be a change of attitude in how they adorn themselves in the classroom, Ramatali said. Looking at the issue from the unions perspective, Doodhai yesterday cautioned on deciding what is an appropriate dress code for teachers and what is not. This is very subjective, with a persons views on what is/isnt conservative playing a part in their opinions of how teachers dress, Doodhai said. What I can tell you is that if any dress code is to be introduced into the teaching service, there must be proper and meaningful dialogue and consultation (between) the Ministry and TTUTA, the union executive said and he reiterated that no such discussion has been held. If there is to be a dress code, Doodhai added, there are things that would have to be put in place. First and foremost, we have tried to negotiate a uniform allowance for our teachers before. So there can be no talk of a dress code now unless the Ministry is prepared to pay or to give a uniform allowance to teachers. Im the first to say that, just like any other profession, there may be a few teachers who are inappropriately dressed but by and large, teachers dress in a professional manner in our country. Doodhai expressed confidence however that if teachers are required to dress a certain way, they would do so, once they are given a uniform allowance. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Seba Aghayeva Trend: Bulgaria's economy and energy ministers Bozhidar Lukarski and Temenuzhka Petkova will visit Azerbaijan. Bulgarian government delegation will take part in the 4th session of the Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation to be held in Baku Sept. 27-29, 2016, Embassy of Bulgaria in Baku told Trend Sept. 19. An exchange of views on strengthening cooperation between the two countries, as well as on the implementation of joint projects will be held during the session. A key aspect of the negotiations will be the study of opportunities to expand trade and economic relations, prospects of cooperation in the fields of energy and transportation, cultural and educational exchanges, and other priorities. Representatives of Bulgarian companies, specialized in various spheres of economy and intended to supply products to Azerbaijan, will also be included in Bulgarias delegation. Bulgarias Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev previously told Trend that there are many promising areas, where mutually beneficial cooperation can be established. Bulgarian government believes that Azerbaijan can become an important market for supplies of Bulgarian products, in particular, mechanical engineering, agricultural products and others, he added. Bulgaria is also interested in cooperation in the energy sphere and is ready to act as a transit state for the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria amounted to $16.5 million in January-July 2016, compared to $6.6 million in the same period of 2015, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa Install the Newser News app in two easy steps: 1. Tap in your navigation bar. 2. Tap to Add to Home Screen. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 19 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: It is planned to build some ten gas chemical complexes in the nearest future in Turkmenistan, which will produce up to 17 items of finished products of gas and chemical sphere oriented for export as well, according to the message of the countrys Oil and Gas Complex. First such complexes on processing natural gas into finished products, including polyethylene, polypropylene, liquid motor fuels are currently being built in Turkmenistan in partnership with Japanese and South Korean companies. At the recent government meeting, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov formulated the key task for the fuel and energy sector of the country, which is to ensure dynamic growth of manufacturing finished products. It is necessary to focus not on the supply of raw materials to foreign countries, but on increasing manufacturing volumes of finished products, Berdimuhamedov said. Thus we can leave a legacy of huge reserves of hydrocarbon resources to our future generations. Turkmenistan annually produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas. The gas has been exported to Iran for a long time, and gas deliveries to China have been established since 2009. Russia refused from buying Turkmen gas in 2016. (Newser) It was snowing on Feb. 24, 1944, when Jewish children in the French town of Gemeaux were rounded up at their school. Two sisters, Denise and Micheline Levy, aged 10 and 9, clutched dollsone pink, one blueas they were led away to Auschwitz. A gendarme grabbed the dolls and flung them to the ground, Le Parisien reports, via the Telegraph. A shopkeeper picked them up and gave them to the grandmother of Frederique Gilles, a 38-year-old schoolteacher, who has now donated them to the Shoah Memorial, the Holocaust museum in Paris. The dolls were among 200 items put on display Sunday, out of 19,000 objects collected by volunteers. In many cases like the Levy sisters, they are all that remain of the deported. For two generations, Gilles' family minded the dolls. "But nobody ever played with them," she told the paper. "We knew their history." They tried to find out what happened to the Levy sisters, but turned up no clues. Gilles said it seemed wrong to keep the dolls. "We wanted to give them to a museum, or a place of memorial." It was difficult to let them go, she added, "but it was the best thing we could do for the memory of those little girls." Over the past two years, volunteers for the Shoah Memorial criss-crossed France collecting a trove of objects belonging to those deported, including photos, a jersey emblazoned with a Star of David, a violin case, and fading slips of paper noting the Jews in hiding stacked in a little red box, reports Telerama. "Some preferred that we borrow the objects so they could pass them on to their children," Shoah curator Lior Lalieu-Smadja told Telerama. "We understand their choice but, unfortunately, we know that quite often this evidence will be lost." (Read more Holocaust stories.) (Newser) The Miami Dolphins should get private security instead of cops to protect them if players won't stand up for the national anthem, according to the local president of a police union. Jeff Bell, president of the International Union of Police Associations, says the chapter has asked police and the Broward County sheriff's office to stop providing security for Dolphins games, USA Today reports. Before Sunday's game against the Patriots, three Dolphins knelt in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, although Jelani Jenkins, who knelt for the anthem last week, stood up this time around. Bell says the team should force players to stand. "I respect their right to have freedom of speech. However, in certain organizations and certain jobs you give up that right of your freedom of speech" while you do that job, he tells the Miami Herald. Miami-Dade police also provide security for Dolphins games. In a statement, they said the security of visitors and residents is their main concern and they will continue to honor their contract. NBC Bay Area reports that another four 49ers showed solidarity with Kaepernick's protest on Sunday, raising their fists while the anthem played and Kaepernick and Eric Reid knelt before their game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. (Read more Miami Dolphins stories.) (Newser) The daughter of a British lord is the latest casualty of the war on drugs raging in the Philippines, reports Time. Aurora Moynihan, 45, was found dead on a Manila street alongside a cardboard sign reading, Drug Pusher to the Celebrities You Are Next. Her sister is Filipino movie star Maritoni Fernandez, and her father is the late Baron Tony Moynihan, who gained notoriety for drug smuggling in the 1970s. She was suspected of supplying drugs to celebrities, Quezon City police chief Guillermo Eleazar told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Her death came hours after the arrest of three suspects charged with supplying ecstasy to celebrities, Time notes. Moynihan was shot in an SUV before her body was dumped on a street before dawn on Sept. 9, police said. They did not comment on who was behind the slaying, saying it was under investigation. The Philippine Star, which published a graphic photo of the scene, reported that drug paraphernalia was found in Moynihan's bag. More than 1,800 people have been killed in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office in June. Human rights groups have blasted the crackdown, and world leaders have raised concerns. The criticism has prompted foul-mouthed tirades from Duterte, who has threatened to withdraw from the "stupid" UN and called President Obama a "son of bitch." Moynihan's sister did not address the drug allegations but said in a statement that "we as a family may take this time to grieve, mourn but most of all celebrate the life of this exceptional human being." (Read more Maritoni Fernandez stories.) (Newser) The US Forest Service has ripped up a portion of the Trail of Tears in the Appalachian Mountains, reopening wounds for Native Americans who consider sacred the land where thousands of their ancestors died during their forced migration westward. Manmade trenches and berms were discovered last summer, but details about how it happened and those responsible hadn't been publicly IDed. In documents obtained by the AP, the Forest Service acknowledged an employee-approved construction along a -mile section of the trail in eastern Tennessee without authorizationembarrassing for an agency tasked with protecting the trail for future generations. When the Forest Service dug up portions of the trail in March and June 2014, it didn't even own the land, though it was planning to buy it. The portion of the damaged trail lies near Fort Armistead, one of the stops where Cherokees were held during their forced migration in the 1830s. The Forest Service has apologized to the tribes for the damage, both physical and emotional, and is consulting with them over how to repair it. It's not clear what, if anything, happened to the employees who ignored the law; the Forest Service said it won't discuss personnel matters. The director of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says that's not good enough. "This is one the most blatant official desecrations of a sacred site in modern American history," Jeff Ruch said in a statement. "Jaw-dropping incompetence mixed with abject dereliction of duty coated in an impenetrable mantle of bureaucratic self-preservation spawned this debacle." (Read more US Forest Service stories.) Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 19 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: The annual Turkmenistan Oil and Gas Conference OGT 2016 will be held 7-8 December in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, according to updated report of Turkmenistans Oil and Gas Complex. The event will be organised in the new venue this year - The Congress Hall of the Chamber of Commerce of Industry of Turkmenistan. The organiser of the conference is State Oil Company "Turkmennebit". The British company "Summit Trade Events" is the co-organiser of the OGT 2016 conference. Turkmenistan ranks the second in CIS after Russia in terms of volume of natural gas reserves. Currently, the country delivers gas to Iran and China. In accordance with the program for developing the oil and gas industry, Turkmenistan plans to increase the annual natural gas production to 250 billion cubic meters and oil production to 110 million tons in 2030. In order to fulfill these tasks, the country will continue the large-scale work on exploration, production, transportation and refining oil, natural gas, as well as on providing the domestic market with oil products. (Newser) Authorities have released their first "wanted" name in connection to Saturday night's Manhattan bombing. The FBI is looking for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is described as a naturalized US citizen born in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, NJ, where five more devices were found. The release says only that he is wanted for questioning. The development comes after five people were detained as authorities try to determine whether weekend blasts in New York City and New Jersey are related. More details on the investigation and on new devices found in New Jersey here. (Read more Ahmad Rahami stories.) (Newser) Syria's military command has declared the US-Russian brokered ceasefire over, blaming the country's rebel groups for undermining the agreement that lasted seven days, reports the AP. In a statement Monday, the Syrian military said that "armed terrorist groups" repeatedly violated the ceasefire that came into effect last week. It said the armed groups also took advantage of the truce to mobilize and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas. The statement said the rebels wasted a "real chance" to stop the bloodshed. Activists and rebel groups also accuse the government of violating the ceasefire. The UN said the Syrian government has obstructed the delivery of aid, a key component of the deal. Speaking earlier Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, US Secretary of State John Kerry said some humanitarian assistance is moving. The truce took effect last Monday with the goal of creating a joint US-Russia military facility to coordinate airstrikes on ISIS and an al-Qaeda affiliate. That was to be set up after seven days of reduced violence and sustained aid deliveries to Aleppo and other areas. Syrian state TV earlier quoted President Bashar al-Assad as saying that the airstrike of the US-led coalition against his troops was meant to support ISIS. Assad described the attack that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zour as a "blatant American aggression." (Read more Syria stories.) (Newser) Remember Bridgegate? The New Jersey political scandal in which Chris Christie's administration is accused of snarling traffic on the George Washington Bridge to punish a rival mayor is making headlines again as the trial of two Christie allies begins. And if prosecutors are correct in their opening statements, the trial will be bad news for the governor: They say they can prove that Christie himself knew about the lane closings despite his repeated denials, reports NJ.com. They promise that David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official and Christie ally who has pleaded guilty in the scheme, will testify that he and defendant Bill Baroni boasted to Christie about "traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor (Mark) Sokolich was not getting his calls returned." In this trial, Baroni (another former Port Authority exec) and Christie's former chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, are on trial for multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud over the lane closings. Both have pleaded not guilty, though prosecutors say Wildstein will testify that after he came up with the idea, "Kelly instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it." Kelly is the aide who sent the infamous "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email in August 2013. If you need a reminder about the key players and the scandal itself, see this primer at NBC News. It notes that the trial is expected to last six weeks. (Read more Chris Christie stories.) Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev will not attend the 71st session of the UN general Assembly in New York due to health problems, a statement on his official website said Monday. Atambayev suddenly felt ill on the way to New York and was advised by his doctors to pass a preliminary medical exam. "After the exam, the doctors decided that Atambayev, who complained about chest pains, should undergo a thorough examination as the symptoms of possible heart problems had been discovered," the statement said. According to the statement, the Kyrgyz delegation at the UN General Assembly will be led by Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting attended by top ministers and other officials over the deadly terror attack in Uri. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting. The top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri in which 17 soldiers were killed, official sources said. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief had visited Kashmir after the terror attack on Sunday. As it happened: (For fresh updates, click here) #Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan succumbed to his injuries at R&R Hospital, New Delhi. Death toll rises to 18 #People say that culprits will be punished but who to punish, terrorists are dead:Prithvi Raj Chavan (Cong) #Maharashtra Govt announces financial assistance of a15 lakh each for families of soldiers from Maha, who lost their lives in Uri attack #Evidence of Pak hand in Uri attack i.e, GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan army marked arms to be given to Pakistan at DGMO level: Sources #PM Level meeting gives nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping: Sources #India to present all actionable evidence if required at international bodies Patna (Bihar): BJP youth wing stage protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/88u81jy9uM ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 We hope that the Government will take stern action against this: Amitabh Bachchan on #UriAttacks pic.twitter.com/n5t2bb0Wre ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #It is a sad news. Our soldiers are losing their lives without any provocation: Amitabh Bachchan #UP CM announces financial assistance of Rs. 20 lakh each to the families of jawans from UP, who lost their lives in Uri attack. #Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announces Rs 5 lakh for the families of soldiers from the state who lost their lives in Uri attack #After UriAttack,India needs to give befitting reply to elements in Pak who're against peace:Yashwant Sinha,Frmr EAM #Poonch: Terrorism in itself is wrong. One's involved in this aren't humans, they're animals: Pak National #Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announces Rs 10 lakh for the families of soldiers from the state who lost their lives in Uri attack Firozabad (UP): School kids pay tribute to the soldiers, who lost their lives in #UriAttack; light candles for them. pic.twitter.com/BBn9M9aWRP ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 19, 2016 Delhi: Meeting underway with PM Modi at 7RCR, HM Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, NSA present #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/caPaTrDbq3 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #Meeting underway with PM Modi at 7RCR, HM Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, NSA present Lawyers in Jammu protest against Pakistan over Uri terror attack #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/njHBWLd2GO ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Chandigarh: Youth Congress party workers stage a protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/ktLHkInUHs ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and NSA reach 7 RCR to meet PM Narendra Modi Srinagar: J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti at wreath laying ceremony of 17 soldiers who died in Uri terror attack. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/ZA0WqXZ4YC ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Srinagar: Wreath laying ceremony of 17 soldiers who died in Uri terror attack. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/fyeSjzqz91 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Srinagar: Wreath laying ceremony of 17 soldiers who died in Uri terror attack. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/hGOlneKfNl ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #Gen VK Singh (on Uri & Pak): We cannot take action on emotional level, as PM said there will be some decision #Total death toll is 17, remaining injured: MoS Defence Subhash Bhamre clarifies his earlier statement on Uri Attack ALSO READ: Mehbooba Mufti pays tributes to martyrs #France most firmly condemns the Uri Attack. France remains at Indias side in the combat against terrorism: French Foreign Affairs Ministry #We must not pay heed to Pak's reactions. Everything is in front of people: Kiren Rijiju, MoS Home #The sooner some countries, especially our neighbour, realise it, the better it is: AM Singhvi, Congress #Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviews the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh): Father of Sepoy Harinder Yadav who lost his life in #UriAttack, yesterday pic.twitter.com/EeyZhv6LRJ ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 19, 2016 Delhi: Defence Min. Manohar Parrikar & MoS PMO Jitendra Singh arrive for high-level meet chaired by HM #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/wEzVSuaaZH ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh): Family members of Sepoy Harinder Yadav who lost his life in #UriAttack, yesterday pic.twitter.com/eUwV6KXq7H ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 19, 2016 Delhi: High level review meet chaired by HM begins. IB Chief, Army Chief, DGMO arrive for the meet. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/ikSMk88PW7 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #Delhi: High level review meeting chaired by HM Rajnath Singh begins. IB Chief, Army Chief, DGMO arrive for the meet #India to raise Uri Attack in UN General Assembly, EAM Sushma Swaraj to strongly emphasize on Pak involvement in her speech on 26th: Sources #In this hour of grief, whole nation is united. Its time to hit back: MoS for Defence Subhash Bhamre on Uri Attack #Befitting reply must b given to those who attack security forces: Daughter,Naik SK Vidarthi who died in Uri Attack #The whole nation is in shock. 20 of our soldiers lost their lives. We condemn this cowardly act and salute our jawans: Subhash Bhamre #NIA team is reaching Srinagar. Next course of action by NIA will begin after direction from MHA: NIA Spokesperson to ANI #UriAttack #High-level meetings are going on;lets be sure, befitting reply will be given: MoS Defence Subhash Bhamre on Uri Attack #No decision has been taken as yet on PM Modi's participation at the SAARC summit meet in Islamabad: Sources #PM Modi likely to meet top ministers to review situation after Uri attack, say sources #Home Minister Rajnath Singh calls a high-level review meet on Uri attack at 10 AM, today. Defence Minister, NSA, Director of IB, RAW Chief, Home Secy, Defence Secy, DG BSF, DG CRPF and other senior MHA and MoD officials to be present. #Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar likely to meet and brief PM Narendra Modi on Uri attack #This is due to lopsided policy of Indian Govt, at present & past towards Pak, terrorists & in particular towards Hurriyat conf: NK Kalia #Don't think we can conclude that it(#UriAttack )may b due to lapse on part of security system becoz brave soldiers are on duty 24/7-NK Kalia #Very painful to see such incidents on our soil: NK Kalia(father of Kargil war martyr Capt. Saurabh Kalia) #UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns #Uri terrorist attack in which 17 soldiers lost their lives and 4 terrorists were killed #The wreath laying ceremony of 17 soldiers, who were martyred in Uri terror attack, will take place in Srinagar on Monday #Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to leave for Srinagar on Monday to meet top State officials in wake of Uri attack ALSO READ: Take firm action against those responsible, Parrikar instructs Indian Army India has lodged a strong protest against Pakistan at the NAM summit in Margarita Island, Venezuela following the terrorist attack in Uri in Kashmir. It said that the Uri terror attack has highlighted Pakistans desire to use poison instead of dialogue as it slammed Islamabad for its mischievous and malignant support to terror. Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar hit out at Pakistan, saying it has reduced itself to pariah status in the international community because of its hypocrisy and its blatant sponsorship of terrorism and of terrorists. ALSO READ: Uri attack kills 17 soldiers: 10 big statements After Pakistan Prime Ministers Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz raised the Kashmir issue at the 17th Non-Aligned Movement Summit, Akbar slammed Pakistan for giving sanctuary and support, both domestic and international to terrorists and investing in the evil menace of terrorism. He said India has lodged a strong protest in writing with NAM against Pakistans mischievous, malignant use of terrorism particularly evident even while the summit is taking place in the tragic incident at Uri. ALSO READ: Uri Terror Attack: Pakistan refutes charges, asks for actionable intelligence The tragic incident at Uri has highlighted Pakistans desire to use poison instead of dialogue. We will never accept the use of brutality as an instrument in international affairs, he said. The incident in Uri is a grave incident and not only India but the world is aggrieved by it. Pakistan should understand that it will be given a befitting reply and no one will back Pakistan on this, he asserted. 17 Indian soldiers were killed in a terror attack on an army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir by suspected Pakistan-based militants on Sunday. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The national capital continues to reel under the chikungunya outbreak, its worst in the last six years, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a fervent appeal to all to shun politics and jointly tackle the menace of vector-borne diseases on a war-footing. Dengue and chikungunya complications have claimed at least 33 lives this season and affected over 2,800 people.A Kejriwal, who on Sunday returned from Bengaluru after a throat surgery, in a brief video message, made a plea to aset aside politicsa and adeclare an all-out war against the mosquito menacea. aMosquitoes donat know who belongs to which party. A Leaving politics behind, all should come together to fight the menace. We kept on saying MCD did not perform its duties. But since it has not, letas do it together. Let us all work together,a he said. A visibly feeble Kejriwal said he has ordered procurement of as many fogging machines needed to battle out this crisis.Earlier in the day, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung visited several hospitals across the city to take stock of their preparedness in dealing with the rising number of chikungunya and dengue cases in the national capital, and stressed on aspecial attentiona to the elderly. His visit came a day after the AAP government accused him of adopting a acasual approacha in dealing with the health crisis in the city. Meanwhile, Delhi government today launched a mass awareness drive to motivate people to clear out stagnant water in residential and public building premises, even as the city continued to battle rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes breed in clear water and flower pots, coolers, tyres and bird feeders and other utensils are common places where breeding is found. But, amid call for eschewing politics to fight this health crisis together, the debate over whether chikungunya can lead to death today assume a bit of a political colour. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said city Health Minister Satyendar Jainas statement that people cannot die of chikungunya ashows his insensitivity and ignorancea. Jain has been reiterating that aas per medical literature chikungunya cannot cause death,a and accused media of spreading panic. aAccording to the 2015 report of WHO (World Health Organisation), 191 people in North America and South America had died of chikungunya,a Maken said. According to municipal figures, the current outbreak of chikungunya is the worst in the last six years. aIn 2011, the total number of cases for chikungunya was 107, 6 (in 2012), 18 (2013), 8 (2014) and 64 last year. No deaths were recorded in these five years,a a civic official told PTI. Health experts say the sudden aupsurgea of the disease this year could be a result of aevolutiona of the viral strain.A For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The terrorist attack on the Uri army base on September 18 saw a large number of soldiers from the 6th battalion of the Bihar regiment attaining martyrdom. The Bihar regiment is one of the finest regiments of the Indian army and has the distinction of taking part in many undulating operations in the glorious military history of the Indian army. In the highest traditions of the Indian army, the infantry soldiers of the Bihar regiment yet again made the supreme sacrifice to defend the sovereign and territorial integrity of our motherland. Here are more insights into the Bihar Regiment of the Indian army 1. Overview The Bihar Regiment is one of the oldest infantry regiment of the Indian Army. The regiments lineage can be traced back to the British Indian Army. The Bihar Regiment was formed in 1941 by regularising the 11th (Territorial) Battalion, 19th Hyderabad Regiment, and raising new battalions. Year of Formation: 1941 Regiment Type: Infantry Insignia: The Ashoka Lion Motto: Karam Hi Dharam (Work is Worship) War Cry: Jai Bajrang Bali (Victory to Bajrang Bali)................ Birsa Munda Ki Jai (Victory to Birsa Munda) Bihar Regimental Centre: Danapur Cantonment, the second oldest cantonment of India 2. History of the Regiment The Bihar regiment traces back its history to the sepoy battalions raised by Lord Robert Clive in 1757. In 1757, Lord Clive of the British East India Company at Patna raised the 'sepoy' battalions. These battalions were formed by the men from the Bhojpur region of Bihar. Mir Qasim was impressed with their skills in warfare and began training these units in western combat techniques. Bihari battalions raised by Mir Qasim registered impressive victories over the mighty British in some engagements. Once they made a name for themselves in military warfare, the 'Bihari' or 'Purbiya', soldiers formed the backbone of the Bengal Infantry of the British Colonial Army. The 'Bihari' soldiers were not only physically tough but had a great mental acumen to grasp the tactical nuances of warfare. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 which sparked off with the introduction of greased cartridges, was led by Bihari troops, who preferred being blown by the guns to losing their faith. Biharis thereafter were not encouraged to enter military service by the British until after World War. 3. Composition and Recruitment The regiment recruits its troops from the Indian state of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The troops of the regiment mainly belonged to the Rajput and Bhumihar castes. 4. Military Operations The regiment has taken part in some of the toughest operations at different war fronts, right from the Kashmir Valley operations during 1948-49, the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971 and the 1999 Kargil intrusion. The regiment has been decorated with many battle honours for doing exceedingly well in military operations and turning the tide of many important battles by capturing strategic features. 5. Battle Honours Pre-Independence - Haka, Gangaw Post-lndependence - Akhaura, Batalik 6. UN Peace Keeping Assignments The battalions of the regiment have the distinction of having proudly represented the Indian Army in the UN Peacekeeping operations in Somalia (UNOSOM) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Shiv Sena on Sunday warned the BJP-led central government that it would have to face the anger of the people if it did not take urgent steps against Pakistan for stopping terror attacks. We dont believe that it (attack on Armys battalion headquarters in Uri, north Kashmir) is a terrorist attack. It was a planned attack by Pakistan, Sena MP Sanjay Raut said. There is no need to talk now. It is time for urgent and rigid action against Pakistan. If these attacks do not stop now, people will turn against the government, Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, said. Heavily armed militants, suspected to belong to the terror group JeM, stormed battalion headquarters of the Army in Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday. Seventeen jawans were killed in the attack and 19 others sustained injuries. Four militants involved in the strike were killed by the Army. Shiv Sena is a partner in the BJP-led governments both in Maharashtra and at the Centre. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The US on Monday strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Uri in which 17 soldiers were killed even as the State Department asserted it was committed to our strong partnership with India to combat terrorism. We strongly condemn the terror attack in Uri, J&K. Our thoughts are with the families of the brave soldiers who lost their lives #UriAttack, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma tweeted. Separately, the US State Department issued a statement in Washington strongly condemning the attack. The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir during the early morning of September 18. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism, John Kirby, Assistant Secretary and State Department spokesperson said in the statement released by the US embassy in New Delhi. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmirs Uri town in the wee hours, one of the deadliest attacks on the Army in recent years. Explosions and gunfire erupted as the militants attacked the camp, which is located barely few metres away from the Armys Brigade Headquarters in Uri town, 102 kms from Srinagar, around 4 AM, official sources said. The jawans of the Dogra Regiment were sleeping in a tent which caught fire due the explosion. The fire also engulfed the nearby barracks, the sources said. It is believed that the attack was the handiwork of a group of freshly infiltrated militants who could have entered from an area along the Salamabad Nallah, the sources said. Seventeen jawans were killed in the terror attack, the Northern Command of the Army said while 19 other personnel were injured in the strike. Four militants involved in the terror strike were killed by the Army. In January, seven military personnel were killed when six terrorists attacked the Pathankot air base. The attack comes two years after militants had carried out a similar type of attack at Mohra in the same area. Ten security personnel were killed in the attack that took place on December 5, 2014. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chennai: A Porsche car driven be a law student, who was allegedly drunk, rammed into as many as 12 auto rickshaws in Chennai on early Monday morning, leaving one dead and others injured, reports said. Police have arrested 22-year-old Vikas Vijayanand. A dozen auto rickshaws were parked in a row on the city's Cathedral Road. The auto-rickshaw driver, who was killed in the mishap, has been identified as Arumugam. The blue Porsche was completely smashed and the auto-rickshaws were damaged in the accident. "The student Vikas Vijayanand was drunk while driving. We are investigating," a police officer was quoted as saying. Chennai: 1 dead after a drunk student rams luxury car into 12 parked auto rickshaws; 22-year-old driver arrested. pic.twitter.com/JF6IODULyr a ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 "I heard a screeching noise of brakes...that's all. My chest was hurting and I went blank. I realized what had happened only when the police came... they only helped the car driver and took him away," said Sundar, one of the drivers who witnessed the accident and was also injured. "An ambulance came for us only after twenty minutes," he added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The killing of 17 jawans in a terror attack on an army base in Uri, South Kashmir on Sunday led to fresh protests against Pakistan by workers of major political parties earlier in the day. The Congress workers staged a protest against Pakistan in Ludhiana while the youth wing of the BJP protested against the brutal Uri terrorist attack in Patna, Bihar. A Ludhiana: Congress workers stage protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/QW7KijYAa7 a ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Patna (Bihar): BJP youth wing stage protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/88u81jy9uM a ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 The Uri terror attack on an army base in Uri in South Kashmir on September 18 had lead to anti-Pakistan protests in the Jammu and Udhampur districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.A Condemning the loss of lives of 17 soldiers in the attack, the local Shiv Sena and Dogra Front workers here staged a protest during which they raised slogans against Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the neighbouring nation for "encouraging terror activities" in India. Led by its President Ashok Gupta, the protesters gathered in large numbers and raised anti-Pakistan slogans and also burnt Pakistani flags during the protest.A Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir killing 17 jawans, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assert that those responsible "will not go unpunished". Speaking to reporters, Gupta said, "We condemn it. We are angry over it. It is clear that 17 people have died. There is sorrow everywhere and (some people) are making fool out of India. There is shutdown everywhere in Kashmir against India." "Pakistan should be nailed. Time has come to teach them a lesson. Centre should act now," he said.A "If the people want to go Pakistan then open the border gates and whoever wants to go let them go there. No Pakistani should be seen in Jammu and Kashmir be it Hurriyat. I want to make it clear that now it's time for Modi to show his 56-inch chest," Gupta said. The activists of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers party (JKNPP) led by President Balwant Singh Mankotia held a protest against Pakistan. They blocked National Highway at Slathia Chowk and torched the effigy of Pakistan for "sponsoring militancy in India territory and waging war against India" amid raising of anti-Pakistan slogans. While addressing the gathering, Mankotia urged the Central government to take direct action against Pakistan for "repeatedly interfering in India territory and targeting army camps as well as civilians" for the last more than thirty years. Mankotia demanded that militants' training camp running in PoK should be destroyed without further delay so that the "Pakistan-sponsored militancy can be rooted out from Indian soil". He claimed that the root cause of infiltration in Indian territory are training camps running in PoK in which the militants are trained by Pakistan and sent to India territory for disturbance. "If these camps are destroyed, the infiltration will be controlled automatically. Centre should take a call on it," he said. A large number of Shiv Sena workers also held protests at a function in Bari Brahamana area here against Pakistan. State President Dimpy Kohli condemned the attack and said that the condition of the whole state, particularly Kashmir Valley was becoming "worse" with each passing day and Central Government was "sitting as a mute spectator" to all this. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Jammu Mahanagar held a protest at Central University of Jammu.A The activists of ABVP burnt an effigy of Sharif and raised Slogans like "Pakistan Murdabaad", "Indian Army Zindabaad" and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai". Speaking to the media persons, Rajinder Kumar, President Central University of Jammu, demanded stern action against those responsible for the terror attack.A For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. On September 19, 2016 the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) holds in Warsaw the OSCE meeting to review the implementation of the commitments, the Human Dimension implementation meeting - Europe's largest human rights conference. This meeting has been held for more than fifteen years. This two-week meeting in the Polish capital is attended by the representatives of OSCE participating States, experts on international issues, activists of non-governmental organizations and human rights defenders. The meeting is attended by the delegation of Turkmenistan, Turkmen embassy in Baku reported. During the meeting, participants exchanged views on the work related to the implementation of commitments in the humanitarian sphere. In particular, the delegation of Turkmenistan conveyed to the participants the main results of the work carried out by Turkmenistan in the humanitarian sphere, including the adoption of the National Action Plans on human rights, on gender equality and on combating human trafficking. The representative of the European Union, in his statement, welcomed the participation of the Turkmen delegation at the meeting, the adoption of the National Action Plan on human rights and looked forward to its implementation. OSCE Human dimension implementation meeting continues its work. New Delhi: P Ram Kumar, accused of murdering 24-year-old Swathi, an IT professional from Chennai, committed suicide in jail on September 18. The suicide happened at around 4:30 pm on Sunday after the accused bit a live electric wire in Puzhal Central Prison, where he was lodged, sources said. He was taken immediately to a hospital, but doctors declared him dead on arrival, said a police officer investigating the case. It is still not certain as to where did the alleged suicide took place. It seems a little dubious as to why officials chose to take him to a hospital more than an hour away from the jail. Officials at the jail were not available for comment. The postmortem is likely to be performed later in the day and the report will give police more clarity. Ram Kumar's lawyer SP Ramaraj, however, alleged foul play. "It's a murder in jail. Nowhere in a jail would there be a power supply strong enough to kill a person. We would ask for an open postmortem," said the lawyer claiming Ram Kumat did not show any suicidal tendency when he met him yesterday in the jail. Ram Kumar, who had allegedly hacked Swathi to death at the Nungambakkam Railway Station in June, had attempted suicide earlier too. On July 3, he slashed his neck as the police was about to arrest him. He had been in hospital in Tirunelveli for a while, undergoing treatment. An engineering graduate, Ram Kumar had allegedly killed Swathi after she rejected his advances. The police zeroed on him from the CCTV images retrieved from apartments close to the railway station. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Delhi's deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia attacked with ink outside Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's house in the city on Monday. Sisodia returned to the city from Finland on Sunday, notwithstanding the LG's order to cut short his visit in the wake of sudden spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases in the national capital. Delhi: Ink thrown at Deputy CM Manish Sisodia outside LG office pic.twitter.com/C4uqtVYC9B a ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Jung had on Saturday asked Sisodia to cut short his trip to Finland and immediately return to Delhi in view of the outbreak of chikungunya and dengue which trigged further tussle between the Kejriwal government and the LG office. Brijesh Shukla threw ink at Sisodia which splattered across his arms and on a portion of his forehead. Sisodia said the ink attack on him was reflection of the "dirty politics of Congress and BJP". Shukla, a resident of north east Delhi's Karawal Nagar, has been detained by police. He said he was angry with the Deputy Chief Minister for visting Finland at a time when the city was grappling with rising cases of chikungunya and dengue. #WATCH: Man throws Ink at Manish Sisodia in Delhi, says Sisodia goes abroad but people of Delhi are left suffering. pic.twitter.com/0T9fUvoGk5 For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Indian Army on Sunday said that the Uri terror attack, in which 17 jawans were martyred, was orchestrated by terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM). In a long gun-battle, the Indian soldiers gunned down four terrorists. Among the martyrs, 15 jawans belonged to the Bihar Regiment, while two were from the Dogra Regiment. Condemning the attack in strong words, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that those responsible for the attacks would be punished. The Uri terror attack has drawn global condemnation. Here is a look at how the Pakistan media covered the Uri terror attack. We take a look at how Pakistani media covered the Uri terror attack: ALSO READ: What the defence experts have to say The News International The News International reported that militants attacked the military camp in Uri. The report had the statement of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The newspaper said that Pakistani security officials were confident that the Uri attack was Pathankot-like stage drama to trumpet its terrorism mantra against Pakistan The Express Tribune The Express Tribune reported that India is again blaming Pakistan for an attack which killed its 17 jawans. The newspaper also included Pakistan Defence Minister Khawja Asifs tweet that said: Dont rule out inside job to malign Azadi movement by blaming Pakistan. The article also said that the brazen militant attack near the LoC had triggered a verbal spat between New Delhi and Islamabad escalating the tension between the two bitter and nuclear-armed neighbours. Pakistan Observer The Pakistan Observer reported that four heavily-armed suspected militants killed 17 soldiers in an army base. It rejected baseless allegations from India and quoted Pakistans Director General of Military Operations saying that no infiltration is allowed from Pakistani soil because water-tight arrangements were on both sides of the LOC Working boundary all along. The newspaper also termed Home Minister Rajnath Singhs statement on Pakistan as an anti-Pakistan rant. Dawn The lead article in Dawn said that India regularly accuses Pakistan of arming and sending the militants across the LoC to launch attacks on its forces. The newspaper also dedicated an editorial column to the Uri attack and noted that the Indian authorities accusations against Pakistan has plunged Pak-India relations into a dangerous and unstable new phase. It also quoted Pakistans Foreign Office spokesperson saying, Pakistan is always blamed for any untoward incident in India. Click here for live updates on Uri terror attack For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday offered deep sorrow over the bus accident which killed at least 35 passengersA when a bus fell into a roadside pond in Bihar's Madhubani district on earlier in the day.A "Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Biharas Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," PMO tweeted.A Accoridng to reports, as many as 35 other passengers are dead. The accident took place at Basaitha chowk under Bennipatti police station in Madhubani, about 50 km from the district headquarters. Here are the live updates:A A #Bihar Government announces Rs 4 lakh compensation for the kin of the deceased persons in the accident. Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Biharas Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief: PM a PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 19, 2016 #UPDATE: Death toll rises to 35, after a bus travelling from Madhubani to Sitamarhi fell into a gorge in Bihar. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Benipatti Nirmala Kumari said four bodies have been fished out so far and search is on for others. About 65 passengers were on board the bus. Some of them swam to safety while over a dozen are feared to have been killed. The private bus was on way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when the mishap took place on state highway. Villagers angry over delay in reaching of crane pelted stones on police team on way to the accident spot. The SP and other policemen are stranded at the accident site and waiting for police reinforcement to reach the spot. Meanwhile, in Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed deep sorrow over death of passengers in the bus mishap at Madhubani. The CM said in a statement that reason of the accident was being looked into. He instructed officials to speed up relief and rescue operation. Kumar instructed Revenue minister Madan Mohan Jha and Panchayati Raj minister Kapildeo Kamat to rush to the accident spot. A team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) has reached the mishap site. The CM issued instruction to provide all possible assistance to victims of the bus tragedy. With PTI inputs For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Balochistan is on the boil, once again. As per reports, the Baloch leaders have decided to up the ante against Pakistan as the leader of Baloch Republican Party, Brahamdagh Khan Bugti is all set to file asylum papers to India. The Baloch Republican Party, a nationalist group fighting for liberation of Balochistan from Pakistani rule has decided to file a case against China at International Court of Justice. Further, the party has also decided to file criminal cases against Pakistani army generals at International criminal courts. All about Balochistan row Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan with massive natural resources has been up in arms against Pakistani rule since its accesion to the Pakistani state. The province was divided into four princely states, Makran, Las Bela, Kalat and Kharan. The history of the conflict can be traced back to 1948 when apart from Kalat, the other three states acceded to Pakistan. Kalat declared its independence which didn't go down well with Pakistan's expansionist agenda. On 27 March 1948, Balochistan was annexed by Pakistan through military might. However, the Baloch, known for their fiercely independent nature were unable to accept slavery. Thus, began the armed resistance of Balochs which has taken the shape of a full fledged freedom struggle. Although the Baloch people have been waging a long war against the Pakistani army's atrocities, their voice has been largely ignored on the international stage. However, Prime Minister Modi raised the issue of human rights exploitations in Balochistan during his recent Independence Day address. The Indian government's diplomatic offensive through the Red Fort ruffled a lot of feathers in the Pakistani establisment. Islamabad was completely caught off gaurd as India raised the Baloch issue at United Nations. Balochistan is the least developed province of Pakistan with deplorable living conditions. Neglible health facilities and a pathetic education structure are Pakistani establishment's gifts to the Baloch people. Further, a brutal human rights record, murder and disappearance of Baloch activists are some of the tragedies inflicted on the Baloch. The Pakistani army, which wields immense power in its land has even used fighter jets against the Baloch populace. Various Baloch leaders have taken asylum abroad and consistently protest against Pakistani atrocities at different world capitals. However, since PM Modi expressed his concerns on the Baloch issue, the Baloch freedom movement seems to have gained a new momentum. Their leaders have openly praised the Indian Prime Minister's stand and thanked him for his fearless stand. Due to the renewed diplomatic support that the Balochistan movement has received from India, the day doesn't seem far when the Baloch people will be inhabitants of an independent land. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The death toll in the terror attack in Uri on Monday rose to 18 as Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan succumbed to his injuries at R&R Hospital in New Delhi. aUpdate Uri Ops- A #ArmyCdrNC & all rks offer condolences to family of Sep K Vikas Janardhan who succumbed at R&R Hospital, New Delhi @adgpi,a NorthernComd_IA tweeted on Monday. Update Uri Ops- #ArmyCdrNC & all rks offer condolences to family of Sep K Vikas Janardhan who succumbed at R&R Hospital, New Delhi @adgpi a NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) September 19, 2016 Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM had on Sunday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir. Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting attended by top ministers and other officials over the deadly terror attack in Uri. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with the Prime Minister strongly condemning it. aWe strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished,a Modi had said. The Home Minister, who had on Sunday called an emergency meeting in Delhi, had pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a aterrorist statea and should be isolated while BJP leader Ram Madhav said days of strategic restraint are over and suggested that afor one tooth, the complete jawa should be the policy after the attack. (With inputs from PTI) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: National Investigation Agency team on Monday arrived at the site of Uri terror attack to conduct probe into the terror strike which left at least 18 soldiers dead on Sunday. In response to the attack, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu called upon the world leaders to come together to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and stop giving it military and other aid. Naidu also pitched for punishing the perpetrators of the brazen assault on the army base in Uri in Kashmir. India will have to respond and punish the perpetrators of the terrorist attack and can no more take it lying down, he said. The world community should come together to isolate Pakistan, declare it a terrorist state and stop giving it military and all other assistance. The UN should take it up in a serious manner as terrorism is the enemy of humanity, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Gannavaram near Vijaywada. Pakistan is training, abetting and funding terrorists who want to cripple Indias economy. They want to weaken our country. This is not acceptable at all. India is running out of patience. It was high time we taught a lesson to Pakistan, he said. They (Pakistan) are not walking the talk. Whatever they had promised during the period of Gen Pervez Musharraf...Atal Bihari Vajpayee...they are going back on that. And now you cannot take it lying down. India had reacted strongly to the deadliest attack on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency that sparked an outrage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemning it. As it happened: #Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Pranab Mukherjee over Uri terror attack. Samba (J&K): Last rites ceremony of Havildar Ravi Paul, who lost his life in Uri terror attack. pic.twitter.com/lziZUTtJJj ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #WATCH: Mortal remains of Havildar Ravi Paul (lost life in Uri attack) were brought to Samba (J&K) (earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/hnZ2YqgFcU ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Manoj Tiwari holds protest near Pakistan High Commission in Delhi over #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/rIexzJX5QR ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh #We have the desired capability to reply to such blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh #Of a total of 110 terrorists killed during various operations this year, 31 were killed while they were attempting to cross the LoC: DGMO #During 2016, there have been a total of 17 infiltration bids across the LoC, which have been sucessfully eliminated by Indian Army: DGMO #Recoveries include, large quantity of food and medicine packets, having markings of Pakistan: DGMO on Uri operation #Recoveries also include 39 under barrel grenade launcher grenades, 5 hand grenades, 2 radio sets, 2 global positioning systems, 2 map sheets, 2 metric sheets...that they use when they move from one place to another as guidance points, also recovered: DGMO Total recoveries during #Uri operation include 4 AK rifles,4 grenade launchers,4 under barrel grenade launchers:DGMO pic.twitter.com/VIOQfqc0Tp ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #Infiltration bids have increased this year in comparison to the last 3 to 4 years: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh #Operation has been called off this evening, complete area has been cleared: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on Uri terror attack. #National Investigation Agency (NIA) team arrives at the site of Uri terror attack Subedar Karnail Singh's brother & son at his last rites ceremony in Jammu. pic.twitter.com/F3q9qqNDCD ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Jammu: Last rites ceremony of Subedar Karnail Singh who lost his life in Uri terror attack yesterday pic.twitter.com/VlmUEOap2W ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 We hope countries in region & world community joins us to fight terrorism that affects people all over world: Afghan Ambassador to India ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Afghan is absolutely ready to co-op with India. We are true egs of nation fighting terrorism in true meaning: Afghan Ambassador to India ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Jammu: Last rites ceremony of Subedar Karnail Singh who lost his life in #UriAttack yesterday. pic.twitter.com/AbXYZljCLr ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Jammu: Last rites ceremony of Subedar Karnail Singh who lost his life in Uri terror attack yesterday pic.twitter.com/NXUxT32RVW ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 #Indian Army to hold a press conference at 5:30 pm in New Delhi War is not a solution but we've to take some strict action, otherwise there will be more such incidents: Baba Ramdev pic.twitter.com/6l0R4NzTpZ ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Bodies of four terrorists killed in Uri (Jammu and Kashmir) encounter yesterday. pic.twitter.com/YRRHgV36Y9 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Attackers had sufficient info about the camp, many question arise but we only have tweets & statements: Prithvi Raj Chavan on #UriAttack. ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 Earlier in the day, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that India will carefully decide its future course of action in the aftermath of the terror attack in Uri and will not do anything on the basis of what Pakistan says. We must not pay heed to Pakistans reaction. Everything is in front of the people. We will take our next steps carefully. It does not matter what Pakistan says, he told reporters in New Delhi. The Minister of State for Homes comments came a day after heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based JeM stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. Also read: India to take future course of action regarding Uri attacks independently of Pakistan, says Rijiju on Uri Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting attended by top ministers and other officials over the deadly terror attack in Uri. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting. The top security brass briefed the Prime Minister on the prevailing ground situation in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the terror attack at a Brigade Headquarters in Uri in which 18 soldiers were killed, official sources said. The Defence Minister and the Army Chief had visited Kashmir after the terror attack on Sunday. Also read: Here is how events in Uri attack unfolded Meanwhile, Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan, who was airlifted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi after being critically injured in the Uri attack, succumbed to injuries on Monday, raising the toll in the terror strike to 18. Also read: Death toll rises to 18 as soldier succumbs to his injuries Two other critically injured soldiers have also been airlifted to the military hospital situated in Delhi. Click here for more and latest updates on Uri Attack For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Geneva: Organization for Pakistani Minorities, on September 16, organised a side event titled Plight of Pakistani Minorities at the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. The speakers included Fulvio Martusciello, Member of the European Parliament, Mario Silva, Executive Director, International Forum for Rights and Security, Canada, Dr. Rubina Greenwood, Vice Chairperson, World Sindhi Congress and Senge Sering, President, Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies. Speaking on the occasion, Fulvio Martusciello highlighted Pakistans discriminatory laws against minorities and use of extremist groups as proxies to target minorities including the Christains, Hazaras, Ahmadiyas, Hindus and Balochs. He expressed deep concern regarding the growing intolerance in Pakistani society, a phenomenon aggravated by the actions of the Pakistani government. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A delegation of West Pakistani refugees on Monday met Union Minister Jitendra Singh and demanded action against Pakistan in the wake of Sundays Uri attack resulting in the martyrdom of at least 18 Indian soldiers. In a meeting lasting over 45 minutes, the members of delegation said that they are among the earliest victims of Pakistan hostility towards India and have suffered injustice for nearly seven decades since the time of partition. They said, as true patriots, while they have constantly suffered for their genuine rights, they also feel extremely distressed by the losses suffered by Indian brave hearts. The delegation was led by Labha Ram Gandhi, President of the refugees association. Heavily armed militants suspected to be from Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) had yesterday stormed an army base in Uri in Kashmir, killing 18 jawans. Singh, Minister of State in Prime Ministers Office, assured them that whatever future strategy the government of India decides, will be in the best interest of nation and in keeping with the expectations of 125 crore people of India. The Minister Singh assured the delegation that the Modi government is seriously ceased of their concerns and a mechanism is being worked out to address each of them. Singh noted that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has started a special recruitment drive for West Pakistan refugees, but they were facing problems because of the non-issuance of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class certificates by the state government, since they did not figure in the list of state citizens. He said, the officers in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs are working out a suitable provision to overcome this anomaly. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its reign of terror in Kashmir by a spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements following the terror attack in Uri that killed 18 soldiers. Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterdays attack in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Government. It is a blatant attempt on Indias part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. He said that the situation in Kashmir is not of Pakistans making but a direct consequence of illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100 thousand deaths. Nobody has been spared the brute state force including the elderly, wounded patients in hospitals as women and children. This should awaken international conscience, Aziz said. Reacting to Home Minister Rajnath Singhs statement Pakistan is a terrorist state and should be isolated, Aziz said that it was deplorable that the Indian Minister chose to blame Pakistan for the incident even prior to conducting proper investigation. The statement is part of a pattern to mislead world opinion and cover up Indias reign of terror in Kashmir, the statement said. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmirs Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 17 jawans and injuring 19 other personnel in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised.Another jawan on Monday succumbed to his injuries. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Tehran, Iran, September 19 By Mehdi Sepahvand Trend: The Iranian Perse Transport Bar and Switzerlands TransInvest Holding signed a deal to jointly develop a rail hub in the vicinity of Irans capital city Tehran. Called Aprin Dry Port, the facility will connect Irans port cities to the center and will act as Irans central cargo train intersection, Trend correspondent reported from the signing ceremony held at Islamic Republic of Iran Railways headquarters September 18. The 25-year contract is to receive an investment of $30 million for its first phase, which will take 2.5 years to become operational. Aprin Dry Port will be staged 20 kilometers to the southeast of Tehran in an area of 700 hectares. The plan for developing the port was made 40 years ago, but economic problems hindered it so far. Trains will be able to load containers directly from ships at Persian Gulf ports and carry them to Aprin in 60 hours. Clearance procedures will be undertaken at Aprin. The contractor has guaranteed a minimum load traffic of 400,000 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) through the port. The railways company is also planning to develop a double-stack rail transport system from Bandar Abbas (port city by the Persian Gulf) to Aprin in two years. The dry port is especially significant since its being developed at the same time as the North-South Corridor is under construction. The international corridor will take cargos from India on board ships to Iran, and from there to Azerbaijan, Moscow, and eventually Europe. Mohsen Pourseyyed Aghaei, CEO of Iran Railways, told Trend that the dry port will find special significance side by side the North-South Corridor. We are trying to turn the port into special economic zone which will be of great impact considering the nearness of the North-South Corridor railway, he said. New Delhi: Russia strongly condemn on Monday the Uri terrorist attack on the Indian military camp in Jammu and Kashmir which took place on Sunday morning. 18 Indian soldiers were martyred and 30 wounded. Russia also expressed the gravity of the situation and intensified terrorist activity along the line of control by referring to the attack on the Indian airbase in Pathankot last January. We are convinced that this crime will be properly investigated and its masterminds and perpetrators will undergo deserved punishment. We reiterate our unwavering support towards the efforts by the Government of India in their fight against terrorism, an official Russian press release said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beijing: Chinese and Russian navies on Monday concluded their joint military exercise in waters off the southern province of Guangdong, with a drill to seize an island, in a symbolic move by Beijing whose claims over the South China Sea was struck down by an international tribunal. Though held off Guangdong coast far from nine-dash line claim over SCS, the drill has a strategic value for China as it comes nearly two months after an international tribunal struck down Beijings claims over almost all of SCS. Under pressure from the US and Japan, China regards the drills as significant as they demonstrate Russias backing to it, downplaying reports of international isolation. The eight-day long exercises have ended with both navies staging a mission to seize an island. Besides the SCS which has numerous islands with rich mineral deposits, China also stakes claims over the islands held by Japan in the East China Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed Chinas decision to reject the SCS tribunal verdict which the US and Japan said is legally binding. As the key element of the annual drill, the Chinese and Russian navies dispatched vessels including missile destroyer, anti-submarine vessels, missile frigates, ship-based helicopters and conventional submarines, among others, official media here reported. The exercises demonstrated the Chinese and Russian navies capacities in command management, telecommunications coordination, and intelligence and information sharing, Senior Captain Li Xiangdong, who commanded the Chinese warships, told state-run China Daily. Addressing the closing ceremony of the drill, which ran from September 13 to 19, Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, lauded the exercise as successful and said the activity had achieved the desired aim. Wang said the drill had improved the actual combat capabilities, informationisation and standardisation of the two navies, adding that they will expand practical cooperation and boost communication, state-run Xinhua news agency said. Alexander Fedotenkov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, said the two navies shared theoretical and practical experience and were engaged in sound collaboration throughout the exercise. Fedotenkov said the two sides will maintain close marine cooperation ties, deal with new challenges and threats, and together safeguard world peace and regional stability. The Joint Sea 2016 drill featured surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, marines and amphibious armored equipment. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beijing: China may take up with Pakistan the recurring terrorist attacks leading up to the assault on the army camp in Uri as Beijing is deeply concerned that growing Indo-Pak tensions will affect the future of the USD 46 billion CPEC, an official Chinese think tank said on Monday. It is an inhuman attack that should be condemned in strongest terms, Hu Shisheng, Director of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry said while reacting to the attack on the army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in which 18 Indian soldiers were killed and several injured. Though he did directly speak about involvement of Pakistan-based militant groups, Hu, a strong proponent of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said China will and must take up with Pakistan about growing terrorist attacks as the violence is hardening New Delhis stand towards the project which will effect it in the long run. China wants India and Pakistan to jointly counter terrorism. The larger aim of CPEC is regional development and it cant happen in a violent atmosphere, he said. He said tensions abated between India and Pakistan after Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Lahore last year. But the Pathankot military base attack reversed the peace process. The Pathankot attack has destroyed all the good atmosphere created by Modis visit to Lahore, he said. The new attack will further escalate India-Pakistan tensions which is not in the interest of the CPEC. This may prompt India to harden its attitude against CPEC and it will impact its future, Hu said. India has already expressed concern over the CPEC project that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He said the immediate concern is also how the SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan in November will take place. The attack will also bring concerns on terrorism to the fore in next months BRICS summit to be held in Goa, Hu said. President Xi Jinping is due to attend the summit and hold talks with Modi on its sidelines. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Geneva: In a blunt message, India on Monday asked Pakistan to stop supporting terrorism and vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as it highlighted human rights violations in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh and persecution of minorities including Hindus. We, once again, ask Pakistan to stop inciting and supporting violence and terrorism in any part of India and refrain from meddling in our internal affairs in any manner. We call upon the Council to urge Pakistan to fulfill its obligation to vacate illegal occupation of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, India said in its right to reply at the 33rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. It said Pakistan continues to test the patience as well as wisdom of the Council with its unceasing false-narrative backed by fabricated facts and figures about Jammu & Kashmir.Pakistan has had territorial ambitions over Kashmir since 1947 that has found concrete expression in the aggression it embarked on in 1947, 1965 and 1999. As on date, Pakistan is in illegal and forcible occupation of 78,000 sq kms (approx) of Indian Territory in Jammu & Kashmir, it said. The fundamental reason for disturbances in Kashmir is cross-border terrorism promoted by Pakistan, it added. Raising human rights violations in Pakistan, India said, the people of Balochistan, amongst other provinces, have been waging for decades a bitter and brave struggle against their daily abuse and torture. Religious and sectarian minorities such as Hindus, Christians, Shias, Ahmaddiyas, Ismailis and others continue to face discrimination, persecution and targeted attacks in Pakistan. Places of worship belonging to minorities have been destroyed and vandalized. Blasphemy laws remain in force and are disproportionately used against religious minorities. Noting that various international organizations have documented how enforced disappearances continue with impunity, particularly in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh where members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement are routinely abducted and killed, India said selective but extremely opaque and high-handed use of force by Pakistani authorities has affected civilian populations on a large scale. Underlining that more than one million people remain displaced as a result of the current and past armed conflicts in the northwest of Pakistan, India said, Pakistan will be well-advised to focus its energies on setting its own house in order and acting against the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on its neighbours instead of ritually raking up alleged human rights violations elsewhere. Earlier, making a statement at the session here, India called upon the Council to urge Pakistan to put an end to cross-border infiltration; dismantle the terrorism infrastructure; and stop acting as an epicentre of terrorism. India said it firmly believes that a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to its own people. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Tehran, Iran, September 17 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Opening Iran-Khodros new site in Azerbaijan will turn Azerbaijan into the companys export hub in Central Asia and the Caucasus, the company told Trend September 17. Iran-Khodro plans to manufacture 10,000 cars per year in Azerbaijan, which will be exported. Car imports to Azerbaijan fell after introducing the Euro-4 ecological standard over a year ago. In the first half of 2015, the country imported 17,640 vehicles, compared to 34,359 units in the same period of last year. Azerbaijan plays an integral role in regional projects thanks to its advantageous geographical location. The active implementation of projects in energy and other sectors will allow Azerbaijan to enter a new market, which corresponds to an overall strategy to diversify the economy and reduce its dependence on oil and gas. Iran-Khodro is launching the production line in Azerbaijan through partnership with Aziorocar. Aziorocars record of selling cars in Azerbaijan and its good cooperation with Iran-Khodro as an agent for selling CBU (complete built up) cars make us see a bright future for the project, Iran-Khodro said. According to Iran-Khodro, preliminary agreements say that the Azerbaijani partner will make the initial investment, then Iran-Khodro will provide equipment and install the production line, which will make about 25 percent of the whole investment. To be inaugurated by September 2017, the production line in Neftchala district will be able to support the production of more modern versions of cars as the market would demand. The number of Iranian experts who will work in Neftchala district will depend on the stage of progress of the project. As the project will include the transfer of know how, Iranian experts will be always working as administers, supporters, or inspectors, the Iranian company told Trend. Right now Aziorocar after sales and customer service agencies are responsible for covering the needs of their CBU customers in Azerbaijan, where the gratification of customers is being monitored. As for other target markets, Iran-Khodros preference is to create a network of agencies with the companys standards, which will come as a prerequisite for giving sales permits. Iran-Khodros policy is to localize the production once setting a unit in another country, so local production of parts are encouraged if the ability exists, the Iranian partner added. Iran-Khodro products find favor with Azerbaijani customers, making it possible to imagine Iran-Khodro gaining a good part of the market. This will become more feasible once the new production line in Azerbaijan goes on stream, lowering production cost and eliminating customs tariffs. Iran, as a powerful oil country, has had little opportunity to improve cooperation with Azerbaijan in the various economic sectors due to international sanctions. After Iran was freed from the Western sanctions in January, however, it has become more open to further business agreements and relations. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Umid Niayesh Trend: An advisor to commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has banned the former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from running in the 2017 presidential election. Mehdi Fazaeli, who previously served as managing director of the Fars news agency, in a commentary published by the agency, wrote that Khamenei had explicitly opposed Ahmadinejads candidacy in the upcoming presidential race. According to Fazaeli, Irans supreme leader wants to prevent the repetition of the past costly and detrimental experiences and a rollback. There were speculations in Iran that Ahmadinejad, who headed the country for two terms from 2005 to 2013, is eyeing to participate in the upcoming election for a third term. The presidential election is scheduled for May 29, 2017. The incumbent President Hassan Rouhani is expected to run for his second term. Each of Rouhanis four predecessors has held office for two consecutive terms. Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq said that the UN convoy of humanitarian aid destined for Syria's province of Aleppo came under fire, Sputnik International reported. A UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy was struck while delivering aid in Syrias Aleppo governorate, UN Secretary-Generals deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told Sputnik on Monday. "Yes, we can confirm it happened to our convoy travelling to Orem, in Aleppo governorate," Haq stated. Earlier on Monday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that an interagency aid convoy crossed the conflict line in the Big Orem area of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Syrian Arab Red Crescent spokesperson Stephen Ryan told Sputnik that the organization had received news that one of its structures in rural Aleppo had been attacked. The situation on the ground is very chaotic at present, and we are still getting details, Ryan stressed. According to media reports, the convoy was hit by airstrikes or mortar fire after offloading aid. The UN convoy was dispatched earlier in the day to deliver relief to the beleaguered provinces of Aleppo and Homs for over 160,000 people. Despite the US-Russia deal reached on September 9, fragile nationwide ceasefire in Syria in force since September 12 is undermined by numerous outbreaks of hostilities. Earlier on Monday, the Syrian army declared the end of ceasefire regime blaming militants for numerous violations that made the cessation of hostilities unreasonable. Alberta government to try to prohibit COVID-19 mask mandates in schools, Smith says The Alberta government is moving to try to prohibit any COVID-19 mask mandates in schools, Premier Danielle Smith said Saturday morning. South Korea in shock, grief as 151 die in Halloween crowd surge Concerned relatives raced to hospitals in search of their loved ones Sunday as South Korea mourned the deaths of at least 151 people, mostly in their teens and... Week ahead: Bank of England to rock markets with 75bps rate hike Markets are preparing for a steep rate hike by the Bank of England on Thursday, but not as bad as first feared after former prime minister Liz Trusss tax... Strictly fans complain over Halloween show as they 'demand licence fee back' The Halloween spook-tacular weekend is always highly anticipated but some fans were disappointed with the song choices. Livingston vs Celtic LIVE score and goal updates from the Premiership clash The champions travel across the M8 looking to restore their four-point lead at the top of the table against a Lions side who took a point from Rangers last... Russia-Ukraine updates: Moscow suspends UN-brokered grain export deal Russia blamed a drone attack in Crimea's Bay of Sevastopol for the halt, a day after the UN urged both sides to renew the grain deal. Meanwhile, the EU has... 'This wave of people just came rushing towards us': Seoul partygoer describes panic of crush Janelle Story was one of thousands of young people who went to Seoul's Itaewon district to celebrate Halloween last night. Man, 79, arrested on suspicion of murder after woman found shot dead A 79-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found dead with a suspected gunshot wound. Liam Hemsworth To Replace Henry Cavill In Witcher's Netflix Series The Witcher Netflix series based on Andrzej Sapkowski's best-selling books, and drawing some inspiration from CD Projekt Red's video games, has announced a major... Gove insists Braverman is 'first-rate politician' as pressure mounts over reappointment Michael Gove has defended cabinet colleague Suella Braverman's controversial reappointment, describing her as a "first-rate, front rank politician". Philippines storm victims feared tsunami and ran towards mudslide Victims of a huge mudslide set off by a storm in a coastal Philippines village that was once devastated by a tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming... Clashes as thousands protest French agro-industry water 'grab' Sainte-Soline, France (AFP) Oct 29, 2022 Thousands of demonstrators defied an official ban to march on Saturday against the deployment of new water storage... S Korea in shock, grief after 151 die in Halloween crowd surge Concerned relatives raced to hospitals in search of their loved ones Sunday as South Korea mourned the deaths of at least 151 people, mostly in their teens... Best Celebrity Halloween Costumes 2022: Lizzo, Kylie Jenner Including Lizzo as Marge Simpson and Kylie Jenner as the Bride of Frankenstein. #kyliejenner #margesimpson #celebrity #brideoffrankenstein Brazil goes to the polls to decide between Jair Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva Brazilians are voting in a presidential runoff election that pits an incumbent vowing to safeguard conservative Christian values against a former president... Somalia: At least 100 killed in car bombings outside gov't offices The first of the explosions hit the education ministry near a busy junction in Mogadishu. The second occurred as ambulances arrived and people gathered to help... RAF war hero and wife face 400,000 dementia care bill Keith Fretwell says his father would be heartbroken if he knew how much his family have had to spend on care for him and his wife At least 100 people killed as twin car bombs strike Somalia The terror attack has targeted the same location as a 2017 bombing that killed more than 500. Elaine C Smith takes on new role as only witness who met notorious killer Bible John The Two Doors Down star performs a monologue as the sister of Bible John's final victim in a new BBC podcast. Ghostwatch remembered 30 years on as terrifying show led to teen taking own life Viewers at home tuned into the BBC to watch what they thought was a live broadcast investigating "the most haunted house in Britain". Jet2 treated us like caged animals say grieving family after 'traumatising' 46 hour flight delay Kelly Orford claimed her young family was kept on the runway without food or water for hours with 'people collapsing' and 'children being sick' 'Furious' mum who took away daughter's phone divides opinion The phone was a present from the girl's dad - but the mum thought this was unfair on the rest of her children who have a different father and different rules Nancy Pelosi 'heartbroken and traumatised' over life-threatening attack on husband US house speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she and her family are "heartbroken and traumatised" after a "violent man" broke into her San Francisco home and attacked... Supporters outnumber protesters outside Winnipeg drag queen story hour event A group of nearly 200 counter-protesters stood outside a Winnipeg coffee shop on Saturday morning as a drag queen story hour took place inside an event which... Cincinnati, OH (45221) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to cloudy skies and rain during the afternoon. High 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 56F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Report says systemic corruption undermined U.S. in Afghanistan (NationalSecurity.news) U.S. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan were substantially undermined by systemic corruption occurring from the very beginning of military operations in 2001, according to a review released Wednesday. The report from John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, is the first in a series his office will issue on lessons learned from the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. It said the failure to effectively address the problem means U.S. reconstruction programs, at best, will continue to be subverted by systemic corruption and, at worst, will fail. Sopkos report said corruption, which was already widespread before U.S. operations began, fed existing grievances against the Afghan government, and helped channel material support to the insurgency. The U.S. government made the situation worse, Sopko said, by injecting tens of billions of dollars into the Afghan economy, using flawed oversight and contracting practices, and partnering with malign powerbrokers. Former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker told SIGAR investigators the ultimate point of failure for our efforts wasnt an insurgency. It was the weight of endemic corruption. Sopko said the U.S. government was slow to recognize the magnitude of the problem, and in some instances, made matters worse. The report said even when U.S. officials recognized that corruption posed a strategic threat to ongoing operations, anti-corruption efforts took a back seat to security and political goals. When U.S. and Afghan officials united to fight corruption, they had little success, because there was no sustained Afghan and U.S political commitment. Sopko said the U.S. focused on military operations aimed at removing both the Taliban and al-Qaida. But that focus, Sopko said, lead the U.S. to ally itself with strongmen who often engaged in rampantly corrupt activities. The U.S. government failed to recognize that billions of dollars injected into a small, underdeveloped country, with limited oversight and strong pressures to spend, contributed to the growth of corruption, Sopko said in his report. The report said the U.S. could have used more aggressive tools to pressure the Afghan government to crack down on corruption, such as revoking travel visas, adding conditions to aid programs, and prosecuting corrupt Afghan officials with dual U.S. citizenship, but chose not to because such efforts might have lessened Afghan cooperation in other areas. Sopkos report made a number of recommendations to Congress and the president, the bulk of which centered on making anti-corruption programs a top priority. The U.S. government should recognize that solutions to endemic corruption are fundamentally political, Sopko said. In the future, the U.S. should use high-level, consistent political will when pressing the host government for reforms and ensuring U.S. policies and practices do not exacerbate corruption, the report said. Neil Gordon, an investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, told AMI Newswire that Sopkos report largely covers areas discussed in prior audits, and doesnt seem like its going to get much attention inside the Washington Beltway. People have gotten used to the corruption stories coming out of Afghanistan, Gordon said. Most of the money has been spent, he said, though oversight is still needed for ongoing projects that have yet to be transferred to Afghan control. Gordon said the reports recommendations are important, and should serve as a guideline for future operations like Afghanistan. Sopko, who was appointed to the special inspector general post in 2012, has some critics in the inspector general community, who have challenged both his personal style and the quality of some of his reports. Gordon said this most recent report, while it makes some damning statements, should be able to stand on its own merits. People may have a problem with Sopko, the man, Gordon said, but they should not have a problem with the office, or its work. Reporting by Norman Leahy, AMI Newswire. More: (c) 2016 USA Features Media. Submit a correction >> Foreign ministers for the United States, Japan and South Korea met in New York on Sunday, ahead of U.N. meetings, to discuss stepped-up measures against North Korea and expand collaboration with one another after Pyongyang's fifth and largest nuclear test, Reuters reported. The Sept. 9 blast was in defiance of U.N. sanctions that were tightened in March. The meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and their South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, was the first since the latest nuclear test. It will be one of the main issues discussed by world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly this week. In a joint statement, the ministers said North North's disregard for multiple U.N. resolutions prohibiting its missile and nuclear programs called for even stronger international pressure. North Korea has been testing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate this year under leader Kim Jong Un. "They discussed the important work currently taking place in the Security Council to further sanction North Korea and considered other possible measures of their own, in particular ways to further restrict revenue sources for the DPRK's missile and nuclear programs, including through illicit activities," the ministers' statement said. "They reaffirmed that they remain open to credible and authentic talks aimed at full and verifiable denuclearization of the DPRK," the statement said, referring to the country's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The United States has said it is willing to negotiate with the North if the country commits to denuclearization, which Pyongyang has refused to do. Washington has pressed Beijing, which is Pyongyang's most important diplomatic backer and trading partner, to do more to rein in North Korea. China has expressed anger with North Korea for its largest nuclear test to date, but has not said directly whether it will support tougher sanctions. It has said it believes sanctions are not the ultimate answer and called for a return to talks. Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media T3 Worldwide has been acquired by Equian, an Indianapolis company whose systems manage more than $250 billion in insurance company claims data, with the companies not disclosing financial terms of the transaction. Founded in 2006 and based in Norwalk, T3s own systems are designed to streamline the process through which insurers audit the health providers to whom they pay claims, among other services. Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media The American Red Cross urges eligible donors to give blood and platelets this fall to help restock the shelves following a significant summer shortage to ensure an adequate blood supply for patients in need. Through the first two weeks of September, the Red Cross is down more than 10,000 donations from what is needed to replenish the blood supply and be prepared for emergencies large and small. Declines in donations can lead to blood shortages and make it difficult to meet patient needs should a disaster or emergency occur. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BETHEL - The State Election Enforcement Commission has fined First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker $1,000 after ruling that Knickerbocker used public funds to send two letters that the agency said implied he should be re-elected. State law prohibits incumbents from using public funds within three months of an election "to mail or print flyers or other promotional materials" that are intended to promote his or her candidacy. Knickerbocker said this was not his intention and that the commission had previously determined it was legal to send the types of letters in question. The letters contained facts and figures about the towns accomplishments and plans for the future, he said. Personally Im disappointed because what it effectively means is we have a gag order which prohibits us from sending news to taxpayers if its 90 days before the election, Knickerbocker said. The commission fined Knickerbocker $500 for the biannual newsletter the Board of Selectmen and Board of Education sent out in October 2015. The letter included information on new features to the towns website, updates on downtown and the progress on road projects. The commission found issue with the following language in the newsletter, writing in its decision that by discussing the towns accomplishments the newsletter advocated for Knickerbockers reelection. The pleasant weather has allowed our highway department and parks and recreation maintenance crews to get a lot of critical outdoor work done this year, the newsletter said. In addition, town hall staff members have been very busy putting the finishing touches on other projects that we hope will help make Bethel an even better place to live, work and raise a family. There are many important projects now under way. Knickerbocker was fined $500 for another October 2015 letter that said the town would complete about 75 percent of its construction identified in its road recovery plan by the end of 2015. The crux of it is if someone reads it and says, gee they must be doing a good job, then theyre in violation, Knickerbocker said. Former First Selectman Robert Burke filed three complaints against Knickerbocker in 2011 for the towns fall newsletter, an update on road projects and a taxpayer report. But the commission dismissed these cases, saying the language in the newsletter was not laudatory enough to advocate for Knickerbockers reelection. The commission attorney said in light of these rulings it was reasonable for Knickerbocker to believe the 2015 letters were legal. But then he just said what was legal a few years ago is not now, Knickerbocker said. Matthew Paulsen, who splits his time living in Bethel, Colombia, Peru and Argentina, filed the complaint against Knickerbocker last fall. After reading just the first few paragraphs of both fliers, it was clear the language used was intended to influence the outcome of the election by using laudatory phrases, and that is simply not allowed per state statute, Paulsen said in an email. Paulsen said Knickerbocker should have known sending the letters would be illegal because he has been involved in Bethel politics for years. Knickerbocker questioned why the complaint was filed only against him, rather than all three selectmen. Its a politically motivated complaint to some degree, he said. Knickerbocker said he considered hiring a lawyer and asking for a full hearing to appeal the case, but decided against it because it would have been a waste of his and taxpayer money. He will pay the fine with his own money, but still says the ruling is unfair to residents and first selectman. I think taxpayers should have a right to know whats going on if there are important announcements to be made, even if its 90 days before the election, he said. The commission would not comment on the decision. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY - More than 200 people walked to raise awareness for suicide prevention in Tarrywile Park Sunday afternoon. The Southern Connecticut chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) hosted Danburys first Out of the Darkness walk, aiming to raise $30,000 for suicide research, education and policy. As of the walks start, the chapter had raised $10,000. Out of the Darkness walks are held in 375 different locations across the country and draw thousands of people each year. Kim Cutro started the Danbury walk this year after participating in Westports walks since 2005 when her older brother took his life at 49. She said she hopes the event makes people aware of the resources available to those struggling with a mental illness. People hide in the dark because they figure theyre judged for what problems they have or [others] look at them like, Oh, so youre crazy, she said. Thats what this whole thing is about. Were just trying to raise awareness so that people will talk about it and maybe help their friends or even a total stranger. To read more, click here or below. A peaceful global environment is essential for development: Vice President of India Venezuela, Mon, 19 Sep 2016 NI Wire Addresses 17th NAM Summit The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that a peaceful global environment is essential for development and for development cooperation; such cooperation must be undertaken in exercise of the sovereign will of each member of the community of nations. He was addressing today the 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Margarita Island, Venezuela. The President of Venezuela, Mr. Nicolas Maduro, the President of Iran, Mr. Hassan Rouhani and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. The Vice President said that today, the biggest threat to international peace, and to the sovereignty of States, is the phenomenon of Terrorism and no cause justifies the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians as a means to achieve a political goal or change of policies. He further said that terrorism is one of the most egregious sources of human right violations today, and its use as an instrument of State policy is to be unequivocally condemned as it has become a major impediment to development. The Vice President said that the imperative for the Non-Aligned Movement to galvanize the international community to address this menace of Terrorism, including by adopting the draft Comprehensive UN Convention on Terrorism. He further said that urgent reform of the Security Council as part of the effort to make the United Nations fit for the 21st century. We need to establish a mechanism within our movement that will ensure effective cooperation in combating terrorism, that is the main threat to security, sovereignty and development, he added. The Vice President said that theme for the next three years Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development is in congruence with our founding principles. He further said that sustainable development is both the bedrock and the highest aspiration of our efforts; hence the importance of solidarity that this Movement attaches to achieving it. He also said that the other two elements of our triad of objectives Peace and Sovereignty are a pre-requisite for development. NAM must be in the vanguard of the principal international debates on political, strategic and even economic and social issues, he added. Following is the text of Vice President's address: " I congratulate the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for assuming the Chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement. I felicitate His Excellency President Hassan Rouhani for the outstanding leadership that the Islamic Republic of Iran provided to our Movement over the last four years. The world of today, Excellencies, would certainly appear very different to the leaders who took the initiative to meet in Belgarde in 1961. While the global landscape has changed, the values and principles on which they laid the foundations of our Movement, namely respect for sovereignty, peaceful settlement of disputes and international cooperation are as relevant today as they were at the time of our first Summit. Our theme for the next three years Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development is in congruence with our founding principles and I congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, for shouldering the responsibility to carry it forward in this Summit. We do believe that cooperation, and Development Cooperation, is an essential means of promoting and developing international solidarity, of putting a human face on the impact of economic globalization. This becomes all the more important in the light of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Agenda 2030 which, if implemented successfully, will transform the lives of all our citizens. It would be a reaffirmation of our commitment as a Movement to ensure the dignity and development of all humankind. As a Movement that has stood steadfastly in the forefront by highlighting global economic issues that affect the developing world, we must ensure wholehearted and holistic implementation of the SDGs and remain attentive to any effort to modify or distort Agenda 2030 by laying overemphasis on particular SDGs over others, or by trying to create a standard of measurement that could be intrusive and has no relationship to national contexts. Sustainable development, Excellency, is both the bedrock and the highest aspiration of our efforts; hence the importance of solidarity that this Movement attaches to achieving it. This is epitomised in the theme of the Summit - Solidarity for Development. The other two elements of our triad of objectives Peace and Sovereignty are a pre-requisite for development. A peaceful global environment is essential for development and for development cooperation; such cooperation must be undertaken in exercise of the sovereign will of each member of the community of nations. The interdependence of the three is thus evident and essential. The impediments to each must also be discerned clearly. Mr. Chairman, Today, the biggest threat to international peace, and to the sovereignty of States, is the phenomenon of Terrorism. No cause justifies the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians as a means to achieve a political goal or change of policies. Terrorism is one of the most egregious sources of human right violations today, and its use as an instrument of State policy is to be unequivocally condemned. It has become a major impediment to development. It is therefore imperative for the Non-Aligned Movement to galvanize the international community to strengthen the international legal framework to address this menace, including by adopting the draft Comprehensive UN Convention on Terrorism, to ensure the closest cooperation amongst the international community to counter the scourge of terror. We must also ensure that all existing structures that are the building blocks of UN's Global Counter Terrorism Strategy function in a non-partisan and professional manner. Mr. Chairman you will agree that the time has come for our movement to recognize the need for concrete action in the fight against terrorism- We need to establish a mechanism within our movement that will ensure effective cooperation in combating terrorism, that is the main threat to security, sovereignty and development. Mr. Chairman, The United Nations lies at the heart of the multilateral system set up at the end of the Second World War. Today we need to ask whether an organization designed in 1945 with just 51 member States, is really appropriate to serve the needs of an international community that now comprises 193 independent sovereign States facing 21stcentury challenges to their citizens' well-being and security. World leaders at their Summit at the UN in 2005 had called for urgent reform of the Security Council as part of the effort to make the United Nations fit for the 21stcentury. The Inter-governmental Negotiations process currently underway in the UN General Assembly seeks to fulfil that mandate. We must use the forthcoming 71st UNGA to ensure that our discussions in the IGN move forward. Mr. Chairman, In 1983, at New Delhi, the NAM Summit had noted that 'the earth belongs to us all' and had implored humanity to 'cherish it in peace based on the `dignity and equality' of humanity. As the largest peace movement of the world, NAM must be in the vanguard of the principal international debates on political, strategic and even economic and social issues to achieve that ideal. I do hope that one of the priorities during your Chairmanship of this Movement will be to modernize the manner in which we function. We began a discussion on this at the Cartagena Summit in 1995; this discussion must continue and fructify so that NAM may achieve its full potential. Thank you. Source: PIB A man wearing a private security company uniform stabbed eight people at a mall in Minnesota before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer, Anadolu reported. Seven victims have been treated and released and one remains in the hospital, according to media reports. St. Cloud Police Chief William Anderson said there was no evidence that the attack Saturday night was an act of terrorism. "What we know is it is a lone suspect who attacked at least eight people," he said. "Whether that was a terrorist attack or not, I'm not willing to say that right now because we just don't know," he added. The suspect reportedly asked at least one person if he or she were Muslim before the attack, according to witnesses quoted in the media. A Daesh-run news agency, Rasd, reported Sunday that the terror group was taking responsibility for the attack, calling the perpetrator its "soldier". The group encourages so-called lone wolf attacks in countries participating an anti-Daesh coalition led by the U.S. St. Cloud is a city of 67,000 residents that is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the states largest metropolitan area, Minneapolis-St. Paul. NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Open Society Foundations have agreed to launch a joint initiative aimed at increasing private sponsorship of refugees around the world. Research demonstrates that privately sponsored refugees tend to have relatively early, positive integration and settlement outcomes, thanks in part to the social support provided by sponsors. Coinciding with the UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants in New York City, the new joint initiative has three primary objectives: Contribute to enhanced responsibility-sharing by expanding the use of private sponsorship as a pathway for refugees in need of protection and solutions; Encourage the expansion of resettlement by building the capacity of states, civil society actors, and private citizens to launch private sponsorship programs; and Provide a vehicle that mobilizes citizens in direct support of refugees and encourages a broader political debate that is supportive of refugee protection. The Canadian government has facilitated the resettlement of more than 275,000 privately sponsored refugees since introducing its program in the late 1970s. Thousands of individuals, groups, and organizations have taken responsibility for supporting and helping to integrate refugees during this period, including many who participated in Canada's recent Syrian resettlement program. (Backgrounder with more details on the Canadian private sponsorship program) The new joint initiative will support two initial activities. First, it will create a series of training modules on private sponsorship, based principally on a careful analysis of the Canadian model and made available to other countries who are interested in private sponsorship. Second, it will build the capacity necessary to disseminate the training modules and offer tailored advice on how to adapt and implement private sponsorship programs. This project will complement other initiatives under development elsewhere in the world also aimed at mobilizing citizens and creating complementary pathways for admission of refugees. The joint initiative will commence its activities at an initial meeting of stakeholders in Ottawa, Canada, in December 2016. Quotes: "Canada is committed to working to help facilitate a stronger global response to the ongoing refugee and migration crises. We have seen first-hand how many Canadian citizens have come forward to sponsor refugees from around the world, and we want to encourage and support other states to engage their citizens to do the same." John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada "There are millions of people across the world who want to do more to help welcome refugees. Private sponsorship is a proven way to engage individuals, community groups, and companies to directly contribute to refugee protection, and I hope others will also be interested in supporting this new joint initiative's objectives." George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundations "In the face of record levels of displacement and soaring resettlement needs, UNHCR has been calling for a massive expansion in opportunities for refugees to find protection in third countries. This joint initiative is an excellent way for resettlement States to l learn from Canada's very successful model of private sponsorship. It also provides an avenue for civil society and local communities to actively contribute to refugee protection." Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees SOURCE Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada For further information: Camielle Edwards, Minister's Office, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Ottawa, 613-954-1064; Communications Branch, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, [email protected], Ottawa, 613-952-1650; Rebecca Beyer, Open Society Foundations, [email protected], New York, 212-548 0378; Ariane Rummery, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), [email protected], Geneva, +41 79 200 7617; Gisele Nyembwe, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), [email protected], Ottawa, 613-232-0909 ext.225, Cellular 613-986-4300 OTTAWA, Sept. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) welcomed the announcement by Science Minister Kirsty Duncan that the University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS) will be reinstated. "As part of our ongoing dialogue with the federal government, we have called for better data collection. Reliable data collection allows for good public policy and effective resource planning. The UCASS will give us the information we need to ensure that colleges and universities have optimal resources to be leaders in research, innovation and higher education" said Dr. David Dozois, President, CPA. "We are very glad to learn that our concerns and advocacy efforts around the reinstatement of the UCASS have paid off." The previous discontinuation of the UCASS left significant gaps in the ability of the CPA and other scientific and professional associations to understand and plan for the country's academic resource. Reinstatement of the UCASS allows us to track academic positions, predict faculty age and retirement and examine the composition of faculty by salary, field, age, gender and rank. "The reinstatement of the UCASS builds on the successful relaunch of the Long-Form Census, which was another vital tool for the collection of high-quality data," added Dr. Lisa Votta-Bleeker, Deputy CEO, CPA. "We look forward to continuing to work with the federal government to address gaps in data collection and broaden the tools available to researchers in our field." About the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) is the national association for the science, practice and education of psychology in Canada. With over 7,000 members and affiliates, CPA is Canada's largest association for psychology. To find out more information go to www.cpa.ca. SOURCE Canadian Psychological Association For further information: Press inquiries should be made to: Stephanie Miksik, Communications Coordinator, Phone: 888-472-0657 ext. 337, Cell: 613-462-3997, [email protected] LONDON, ON, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - Four exceptionally bright and community-minded students are beginning their university education with a little help from the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame / Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life Scholarship. One high school student in each of four regions across Canada has been named to this scholarship that provides $4,000 toward their undergraduate degree in medicine or the health sciences at a Canadian university. The 2016 scholarship recipients are: Winnica Beltrano of Winnipeg, MB; Lily Wu of Ancaster, ON; Kathy Nodzynski of Pierrefonds, QC; and Amelia English of Pictou, NS. Between them these young leaders have received more than 60 academic and leadership awards and have founded or contributed significantly to 10 community service and charitable organizations. Read more about these accomplished students in the attached fact sheets or on our website. CLICK HERE "What an impressive group of outstanding young people who have demonstrated leadership skills and passion for community engagement through their academic and extra-curricular success," said Lissa Foster, CMHF Executive Director. "We are grateful to Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life for enabling us to continue to inspire young people to pursue their dreams in health science through this scholarship." "We congratulate all four recipients who are taking the first steps in their journey to build successful careers in medicine," said Cathy Weaver, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, Canada. "Developing medical expertise in Canada benefits the long-term health and well-being of Canadians. We're proud to help support these four in achieving their goals." Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life serve the financial security needs of more than 12 million people across Canada. Through their national corporate citizenship program, the companies work alongside non-profit, charitable and community organizations to build stronger communities together. The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame is a national charitable organization that celebrates Canada's medical heroes and inspires young people to pursue careers in the health sciences through the annual induction of inspiring Canadian health leaders, educational programs and a virtual and physical exhibit hall. The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame / GreatWest Life, London Life and Canada Life Scholarship Award Report on 2016 Scholarship Winners Four young Canadians with stellar academic careers and a passion for helping others and improving lives have been selected as this year's winners of the 2016 Canadian Medical Hall of Fame / GreatWest Life, London Life and Canada Life Scholarship Award. Each recipient receives $1,000 per year toward a fouryear undergraduate degree in Health Sciences. Our scholarship program is administered in association with The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC). The selection committee is currently chaired by Dr. Michael J. Rieder of Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University and includes the CMHF board student rep and a faculty of medicine administrator. Winnica Beltrano of Winnipeg, MB attending University of Calgary "I am filled with immense joy and gratitude as a recipient of this scholarship, which further encourages me to pursue a health science path with enthusiasm and resilience, while knowing I have a strong support network along the way. I truly believe that it will not only provide financial support, but also a source of meaningful inspiration and motivation as I begin university while continuing to promote values of dedication, compassion, and lifelong learning. Thank you so much for supporting my goals!" Lily Wu of Ancaster, ON attending McMaster University "I am so thankful for this scholarship from The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life. It is encouraging to know that there is this amazing organization that is willing to recognize students' hard work and help alleviate the burden of tuition. This scholarship motivates me to continue my pursuit of a career in medicine. Thank you!" Kathy Nodzynski of Pierrefonds, QC attending 2nd year CEGEP, John Abbott College "It is an absolute honour to receive the Canadian Hall of Fame scholarship. This scholarship has given me further courage and inspiration to pursue my passion in the medical field. I cannot wait to see what the future will hold for me!" Amelia English of Pictou, NS attending St. Francis Xavier University "I am very grateful and honored to be chosen as one of the recipients receiving the prestigious Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Scholarship. I realize there is a long road ahead, both financially and educationally, as I pursue my goal of becoming a medical oncologist. This scholarship will greatly assist me on this journey. Thank you very much!" 519.488.2003 www.cdnmedhall.org SOURCE Canadian Medical Hall of Fame For further information: Lissa Foster, Executive Director, The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, 519.488.2003, x100, [email protected], Be inspired. Explore the stories of our Laureates. www.cdnmedhall.org; Tim Oracheski, Director, Communication Services, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life, 204.946.8961 [email protected] TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2016 /CNW/ - The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its annual Adopt a School grassroots fundraiser. Running September 18th through October 9th, this three-week program brings together Indigo employees, customers and communities to raise funds in support of local high-needs elementary school libraries. In schools where books are scarce, the goal is simple: add one new book for every student, transform school libraries, and build a brighter future for Canadian kids from coast-to-coast. Since its inception in 2009, the Adopt a School program has put more than 325,000 books into the hands of children across the country. "Canadian high-needs elementary schools are in crisis," said Ariel Siller, Executive Director of the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. "These schools severely lack the funds and resources they need to keep libraries up to date and student literacy rates high. In Canada, where a shocking 43% of students leaving high school have insufficient literacy skills to cope with the demands of work and everyday life,[1] the Adopt a School program supports literacy development at a young age, when the impact is greatest. We are proud to provide a program that supports local communities as they put books back at the heart of their school libraries, and inspire a love of reading in every Canadian child." Since the inception of the program, the annual Adopt a School campaign has raised over $3.7 million to support more than 2,000 Canadian high-needs elementary schools. The program has helped replenish school libraries in every Canadian province and territory, and has impacted the lives of more than 650,000 students. This year, approximately 500 schools with more than 150,000 total students are registered to participate in the program. To get involved or find out more information about the program, visit adoptaschool.indigo.ca. How it works: All participating Indigo, Chapters, and Coles stores have "adopted" a local school to fundraise on its behalf during the three-week campaign period. All adopted schools are high-needs elementary schools that have a library budget of less than $30 per student per year consequently, these schools often have old, outdated and insufficient library collections. During the campaign, Indigo employees and their communities rally together to raise in-store donations, with each dollar raised going towards transforming their adopted school's library. In addition to in-store support, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation provides a free online fundraising platform that is open to more than 200 schools that are adopted by stores, as well as approximately 300 other high-needs elementary schools across Canada. At adoptaschool.indigo.ca, schools can sign up and create a unique profile. Supporters can find a participating school of their choice and donate directly to that school. New for this year, the Foundation will be offering a matching program through the online platform so donations can go even further. This innovative online program helps participating schools to build awareness of their ongoing work to promote literacy in their schools and the tremendous impact that additional books would have on their students. The online program is a megaphone through which parents' and educators' voices can be amplified to further their fundraising and awareness building goals. How to support your local school: Donate! All schools participating in Adopt a School receive 100% of the donations fundraised in-store and online at adoptaschool.indigo.ca. At the end of the program, the Foundation will provide each school with their funds as an e-gift card. Schools will also receive 30% off all books at Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores. Book Bonus! When supporters donate $20, the equivalent value of two books, to a participating school of their choice on adoptaschool.indigo.ca, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation will contribute a donation of $10, the equivalent of one extra book. For every two books given, the school will receive a third for free! Tell a Story, Give a Story! Through adoptaschool.indigo.ca, supporters are also able to provide support to their school of choice, with no donation required. When supporters share a short story on the profile of a participating school and that story is selected to be featured on adoptaschool.indigo.ca, the Foundation will donate a book to that school's library, for free! About the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation Indigo Books & Music Inc. founded the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in 2004 to address the underfunding of public elementary school libraries. To date, the Foundation has committed over $23 million to more than 2,600 schools through its signature programs. Each year the Foundation grants $1.5 million to 25 high-needs elementary schools so they can transform their libraries with the purchase of new books and educational resources. To date, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation's Literacy Fund has committed $18 million to more than 215 schools nationally. The Foundation's annual grassroots Adopt a School program unites the Foundation with Indigo, its employees, its customers and their communities to raise funds to support high-needs elementary schools across Canada and put even more books into the hands of children. Over the past seven years, the program has raised over $3.7 million to support school libraries, so 650,000 children have a book to call their own. To learn more about the Foundation, visit www.loveofreading.org [1] Source: http://www.literacy.ca/content/uploads/2012/12/State-of-the-Field-2012.pdf SOURCE Indigo Love of Reading Foundation For further information: For media requests, images and additional information please contact: Indigo Books & Music Inc., Kate Gregory, [email protected]; MSLGROUP Canada, Marni Zaretsky, [email protected] TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - Members of the media are warmly invited to join representatives from Centennial College and the Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench for the unveiling of a yellow Friendship Bench and launch of the #YellowIsForHello student mental health program on campus. Date: Wednesday, September 21 Time: 11:30 welcome, program begins 12 noon Location: Story Arts Centre Courtyard, Centennial College 951 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto Speakers: Nate Horowitz, Dean, School of Communications, Media, Arts & Design, Centennial College Ann Buller, President, Centennial College Steven Ruhinda, Counselling Coordinator, Centennial College Sam Fiorella, Managing Director, Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench Photo opportunities and one-one-one interviews with representatives will be available immediately following the bench unveiling. About The Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench The mandate of the Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench is to connect students dealing with mental health issues, and who are unsure or unable to ask for help, with campus resources and other students willing to help or listen. The yellow benches being installed on high school and university campuses across Canada serve as a visual reminder of the importance of mental health awareness and conversations among students. About Centennial College Established in 1966, Centennial College is Ontario's first public college primarily serving the eastern portion of the Greater Toronto Area through four campuses. It has a record of exemplary teaching, innovative programming and extensive partnership building. With enrolments of 20,000 full-time students and 20,000 part-time learners, Centennial is recognized as one of the most culturally diverse post-secondary institutions in Canada. It offers more than 250 diploma, certificate and degree programs in business, media, community and consumer services, engineering technology, health care and transportation. SOURCE Centennial College For further information: Scott Hosmer, Marketing and Communications Officer, Centennial College, School of Communications, Media, Arts & Design, 416-289-5000 ext. 8506, [email protected] The organization will take advantage of this event to announce the amount collected to date for the Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday campaign MONTREAL, Aug. 19, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Members of the medias are invited to a morning of initiation to volunteering, which will be held at Moisson Montreal, in the presence of the Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and campaign spokeswoman, comedian Florence Longpre (Like-Moi, 19-2, La Galere, etc). This event, taking place on August 26, 2016, is part of the organization's first summer campaign: Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday. This campaign's objective is to raise $45,000 in order to substantially improve the daily lives of 17,000 children between the ages of 3 and 17, who suffer from hunger and who rely on food banks to live. WHO: Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montreal Florence Longpre, Comedian and spokeswoman for Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday Richard D. Daneau, Executive Director, Moisson Montreal WHEN: Friday, August 26, 2016, from 9:30 am to 11:00 am WHERE: Moisson Montreal 6880, chemin de la Cote-de-Liesse Montreal - H4T 2A1 About Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday The goal of this new campaign is to raise $45,000, which will be used by Moisson Montreal and its partner organizations to address the growing need among Montreal families for food assistance during the summer. This campaign has been made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and partners: Desjardins, ACCEO Solutions, CIBLE, La Ronde, Poche et fils and Quebec's Food Truck Association. Visit noholidayforhunger.com for more details. About Moisson Montreal A non-profit organization founded in 1984, Moisson Montreal is today the largest food bank in Canada. Through its centre for collecting, sorting and distributing emergency food assistance, the organization allocates nearly 1,000 tons of food per month to close to 250 accredited community organizations on the Island of Montreal. In turn, these organizations provide food assistance to 146,000 people, including close to 34,000 children. Moisson Montreal receives funding and supplies mainly through donations. Its operations require the collaboration of nearly 8,000 volunteers each year and result in the redistribution of about 13 million kilos of foodstuffs, representing a total value of close to $61 million. Moisson Montreal has won three awards for its Food Recovery Program in Supermarkets: the Sustainable Development award from Mercuriades, the 2015 Corporate Citizenship (Supply category) award from Novae and the Elixir (Coup de Coeur category) prize from PMI. For additional information: www.moissonmontreal.org SOURCE MOISSON MONTREAL For further information: or to request an interview with campaign spokeswoman Florence Longpre or with Moisson Montreal representatives, please contact: Emilie Lafond, SYRUS, Bureau : 514 935-2777, ext. 212, Cellulaire : 514 652-7680, [email protected] Only a few days left to give to the Hunger doesn't take a holiday campaign to help 17,000 hungry children MONTREAL, Aug. 26, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - As the first Hunger doesn't take a holiday campaign is coming to an end, Moisson Montreal presented this morning an initiation to volunteering which took place at its premises to launch a final appeal to the generosity of Montrealers. Citizens have until August 31 to donate and help Moisson Montreal reach its objective of $45,000. Donations will help 17,000 hungry children from across the city aged between 3 and 17 and who depend on food banks in their daily lives. Among the dignitaries who came to volunteer were Mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre, Mayor of Saint-Laurent Alan DeSousa, Norman-McLaren District City councillor Aref Salem, Vieux-Rosemont District Councillor Erika Duchesne, and member of the executive committee responsible for social development, community and homelessness Monique Vallee. Actress Florence Longpre, the campaign's spokesperson, was also on hand. Moisson Montreal's Executive Director, Richard D. Daneau, provided a campaign update during the event open to the public, held at its headquarters. Several dignitaries, such as Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, attended the event. Mr. Daneau said: "I am glad to report that we are about to reach our goal of $45,000 we established for this first ever summer campaign. I want to thank each and every Montrealer for their support. However, we need one last effort to cross the line and to make this campaign a true success. Hunger remains a priority all year long, and this is why I want to remind Montrealers that every donation makes a difference." Campaign Update With only a few more days to go to the Hunger doesn't take a holiday campaign, Moisson Montreal has raised $43,105, which is very close to the original objective. About Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday The goal of this new campaign is to raise $45,000, which will be used by Moisson Montreal and its partner organizations to address the growing need among Montreal families for food assistance during the summer. This campaign has been made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and partners: Desjardins, ACCEO Solutions, CIBLE, La Ronde, Poche et fils and Quebec's Food Truck Association. Visit noholidayforhunger.com for more details. How to make a donation to the Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday campaign? By texting VACANCES at 20222 to make a $10 donation ; donation ; By making a donation online at faimdesvacances.com. About Moisson Montreal A non-profit organization founded in 1984, Moisson Montreal is today the largest food bank in Canada. Through its centre for collecting, sorting and distributing emergency food assistance, the organization allocates nearly 1,000 tons of food per month to close to 250 accredited community organizations on the Island of Montreal. In turn, these organizations provide food assistance to 146,000 people, including close to 34,000 children. Moisson Montreal receives funding and supplies mainly through donations. Its operations require the collaboration of nearly 8,000 volunteers each year and result in the redistribution of about 13 million kilos of foodstuffs, representing a total value of close to $61 million. Moisson Montreal has won three awards for its Food Recovery Program in Supermarkets: the Sustainable Development award from Mercuriades, the 2015 Corporate Citizenship (Supply category) award from Novae and the Elixir (Coup de Coeur category) prize from PMI. For additional information: www.moissonmontreal.org SOURCE MOISSON MONTREAL For further information: For information or to request an interview with Moisson Montreal representatives, please contact: Emilie Lafond, SYRUS, Bureau : 514 935-2777, ext. 212, Cellulaire : 514 652-7680, [email protected] TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - Ontario's colleges will be developing new engineering degree programs in specialized fields after the provincial government approved the expansion of engineering degrees at colleges. "This responds to a clear demand for graduates with engineering degrees in highly specialized areas," said Linda Franklin, the president and CEO of Colleges Ontario. "These graduates will play a critical role in strengthening the economy by helping many small and medium-sized businesses become more innovative. "We're thrilled with the government's decision as it will provide more students with opportunities to pursue technology careers in fields that are in great demand." "We know that engineers are vital to creating the highly skilled workforce that Ontario needs today and tomorrow," added Deb Matthews, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development. "By supporting the expansion of engineering degree programs, we're creating more opportunities for students to acquire and graduate with the skills that are in-demand among Ontario's employers." The labour-market demand for the colleges' engineering degrees is in a range of specialized areas such as automation and robotics, power-systems transmission, and energy systems engineering management. Currently, Conestoga College is the only college that offers engineering degrees in electronic systems and mechanical systems at its Cambridge campus. However, a number of industry partners in communities throughout the province have identified a need for similarly targeted engineering programs. Colleges can now apply to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development for approval of specific programs, based on industry needs within the college's community. In addition to addressing specific labour-market challenges, the new engineering degree programs will also expand the range of experiential learning opportunities for students. Much like the programs currently offered at Conestoga, the intention is that all of the engineering degrees at colleges would be accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board. "This announcement marks an important step forward in Ontario's efforts to produce a more highly skilled and qualified workforce," Franklin said. "It reinforces the essential role that colleges play in producing graduates with the professional and technical skills valued by employers. Follow us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter SOURCE Colleges Ontario For further information: Amy Dickson, Manager, Media Relations and Communications, Colleges Ontario, 647-258-7686, [email protected] CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 15, 2016 /CNW/ -- Today more than ever, children need diverse, inclusive and inspiring books. This month, award-winning, multicultural children's publisher, Barefoot Books, releases The Barefoot Book of Children, its most important publication since it was founded 24 years ago. With all of the divisive, and often depressing, conversations in the media, even the most optimistic among us can feel a little helpless, especially when we think about our children, and the future world they might inherit. From a very young age, children can understand, absorb and internalize negative messages around them, increasing the need for discourse at school and around the dinner table. Books offer an accessible resource for parents and educators to discuss topics children sometimes struggle to grasp, including differences in appearances, beliefs and lifestyles. With beautiful illustrations and a simple compelling story, The Barefoot Book of Children ignites kids' curiosity and compassion, while also inspiring adults to discuss topics like: "Our children are watching": Hillary Clinton has a campaign ad showing Donald Trump's language as an example of what we don't want our kids to watch/hear/pay attention to. But what DO we want them to notice and how do we shift the conversation? has a campaign ad showing language as an example of what we don't want our kids to watch/hear/pay attention to. But what DO we want them to notice and how do we shift the conversation? President Obama's "Empathy Deficit": How can we use diverse and inclusive books to foster empathy in children? How do we prepare them in the 21st century to thrive and contribute in their communities, and in professional and academic spheres? How can we use diverse and inclusive books to foster empathy in children? How do we prepare them in the 21st century to thrive and contribute in their communities, and in professional and academic spheres? Why children need diverse books: All children deserve to see themselves, their families and their experiences in the books they read. They also need to see and understand others in order to grow into compassionate, responsible global citizens. "The Barefoot Book of Children encapsulates the mission that we have been committed to from the very beginning," says Nancy Traversy, Co-founder and CEO of Barefoot Books. "Perhaps if we all start sharing its important message far and wide, we can begin to change the conversation and help build a better future for our children." "Children takes its readers on a visual trek across the globe, where they discover that despite our different clothes and homes and languages we are more alike than different." Caryl Stern, President and CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF The Barefoot Book of Children, written by Tessa Strickland and Kate DePalma, illustrated by David Dean, was published on September 6, 2016 (64 pages, hardcover, $19.99 USD / $24.99 CAD). View digital book View more information View more diversity and inclusive books About Barefoot Books Founded by two young mothers in England in 1992 and based in Cambridge, MA, Barefoot has published 600+ books for children that encourage discovery, compassion, creativity and global awareness. Learn more... Contact Jeanne Stafford, [email protected], 617.335.7946 to receive an advance copy of The Barefoot Book of Children, for further resources or to arrange an interview. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160914/407980 SOURCE Barefoot Books SYDNEY, NS, Sept. 15, 2016 /CNW/ - The Government's commitment to strengthening Canada's middle class and helping those working hard to join it means making post-secondary education more affordable for students. Today, Rodger Cuzner, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and Member of Parliament for Cape BretonCanso, on behalf of the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and Dave Wilton, MLA for Cape Breton Centre, joined students at Cape Breton University to talk about the increases to Canada Student Grants and enhancements to the government's Repayment Assistance Plan. The Parliamentary Secretary told students that, as of August 1, the Government is providing more money for over 11,000 students in Nova Scotia. Canada Student Grant amounts have been increased by 50 percent: From $2,000 to $3,000 per year for full-time students from low-income families per year for full-time students from low-income families From $800 to $1,200 per year for students from middle-income families per year for students from middle-income families From $1,200 to $1,800 per year for part-time students from low-income families As a result of these enhancements, when combined with provincial student grants, the average full-time undergraduate student from a low-income family in Nova Scotia could receive approximately $5,500 in grants. The Parliamentary Secretary also highlighted that, beginning November 1, no single Canadian will be required to make any repayment on her education loans until she or he is earning at least $25,000, thanks to the Government easing rules for Canada's Repayment Assistance Plan. Thanks to these new measures, students are getting financial relief that will allow them greater access to post-secondary education, and the ability to start their careers not only with the skills they need, but with more money in their pockets. Quotes "Ensuring our students have access to post-secondary education is part of our government's commitment to strengthening the middle class and helping those working hard to join it. It's not only an investment in the leaders of tomorrow, it's an investment in leaders today. Through these enhancements, our government is helping Canadian students get the skills and training they need to pursue the careers they want in the high-value jobs of the future." Rodger Cuzner, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and Member of Parliament for Cape BretonCanso "Education is the key to future success and prosperity. Our investments are making post-secondary education more affordable and more accessible for more students. It's going to help grow the Canadian middle class and help Canadians get the skills and experience they need for good jobs." The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour "We're so pleased with the Government of Canada's investment in student assistance. These changesparticularly the increase in non-repayable grantswill help make post-secondary education more affordable for students in Nova Scotia." The Honourable Kelly Regan, Nova Scotia Minister of Labour and Advanced Education "Canada Student Grants help make higher education accessible for students who otherwise would not be able to attend post-secondary school. Allowing them to receive a quality education is what helps create our future leaders and a better tomorrow. As a student advocate, I can say that seeing improvements to the Canada Student Loan Program is a win, as we have been asking for increased public funding. I look forward to working with the Government of Canada to continue to make student assistance better." Roy Karam, Cape Breton University Student Union President Quick Facts Budget 2016 provided the first significant increase to Canada Student Grants and the Repayment Assistance Plan income thresholds since 2009. Increases to Canada Student Grants are expected to benefit 11,000 students from Nova Scotia . . Over 550 students at Cape Breton University received Canada Student Grants during the 201314 school year. received Canada Student Grants during the 201314 school year. The increase to Canada Student Grants will provide additional assistance of $1.53 billion over five years. over five years. The increase to the Repayment Assistance Plan eligibility thresholds will provide additional assistance of $131.4 million over five years. over five years. According to Statistics Canada, over a 20-year period, students with a bachelor's degree will earn between $442,000 and $728,000 more than someone with only a high school diploma. Associated Links Budget 2016 Canada.ca/Student-Financial-Assistance Student Financial Assistance Estimator Follow us on Twitter Backgrounder BUDGET 2016 Making Post-Secondary Education More Affordable Enhancing Canada Student Grants Canada Student Grants (CSGs) provide up-front, non-repayable financial assistance to low- and middle-income students and students with permanent disabilities or dependants. Eligibility is assessed at the time the student applies for student loans. Budget 2016 proposed to increase CSG amounts by 50 percent: from $2,000 to $3,000 per year for full-time students from low-income families; per year for full-time students from low-income families; from $800 to $1,200 per year for full-time students from middle-income families; and per year for full-time students from middle-income families; and from $1,200 to $1,800 per year for part-time students from low-income families. Increasing the CSGs would benefit over 350,000 students across Canada: approximately 247,000 low-income students; 100,000 middle-income students; and 16,000 part-time students per year. This measure will provide assistance of $1.53 billion over five years, starting in 201617. Budget 2016 also proposed to expand eligibility for CSGs to help even more students receive non-repayable assistance through an investment of $790 million over four years. The new eligibility thresholds are expected to be in place for the 201718 academic year, following consultations with provinces and territories. Under the new model, the existing low- and middle-income thresholds will be replaced with a single progressive threshold under which grant amounts will gradually decline based on income and family size. Repayment Assistance Plan For Canada Student Loan borrowers having difficulty making their payments following their studies, the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) can offer help. The RAP makes it easier for borrowers to manage their student loans by paying back what they can reasonably afford, based on their family income and size. Students must apply for the RAP in order to receive this support. Since its introduction in 2009, the Repayment Assistance Plan income thresholds, which currently begin at $20,210 (gross income), have not been adjusted and do not reflect minimum wage increases. In Nova Scotia , for instance, $8.60 /hour in 2009 amounted to a yearly salary of $17,888 at 40 hours/week. However, the increase to $10.60 /hour by 2015 amounted to a yearly salary of $22,048 , which is above the current minimum affordable payment threshold. Budget 2016 proposed to increase the loan repayment threshold under the Canada Student Loans Program's Repayment Assistance Plan to ensure that no borrower who applies will have to repay their Canada Student Loan until they are earning at least $25,000 per year. This income threshold is for a single individual; for other family sizes, see the table below. Students earning more than this amount may also be eligible for reduced payments. Students who think they may face difficulties repaying their loans should contact the National Student Loans Service Centre to learn more. This measure will provide assistance of $131.4 million over five years, starting on November 1, 2016. Annual Family Gross Income Thresholds for RAP Zero Payment by Family Size Family Size Current RAP Thresholds RAP Thresholds as of Nov. 1 Percentage Change 1 $20,210 $25,000 23.7% 2 $31,570 $39,052 23.7% 3 $40,790 $50,457 23.7% 4 $48,110 $59,512 23.7% 5+ $54,830 $67,825 23.7% Provincial and territorial information for Canada Student Loans and Grants The Government of Canada works with most provincial or territorial governments to deliver federal and provincial student loans and grants. In Ontario , British Columbia , Saskatchewan , New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador , the Government of Canada and the provincial governments work together to provide financial assistance through Integrated Student Loans and Grants. , , , and and , the Government of and the provincial governments work together to provide financial assistance through Integrated Student Loans and Grants. In Alberta , Manitoba , Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island , Canada Student Loans and Grants are available alongside provincial or territorial student financial assistance. , , and Prince , Canada Student Loans and Grants are available alongside provincial or territorial student financial assistance. In Yukon , only Canada Student Loans and Grants and territorial grants are available to permanent residents of Yukon . Non-participating jurisdictions Quebec, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories chose not to participate in the Canada Student Loans Program and receive an alternative payment from the Government of Canada to administer their own student financial assistance measures. Nova Scotia Although the Government of Canada directly finances federal student loans, Nova Scotia processes Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) applications and conducts eligibility assessments for Canada Student Loans and Grants alongside provincial student loans and grants. Up to 60 percent of a Nova Scotia student's demonstrated financial need is covered by the CSLP, with Nova Scotia covering the remaining need through the Nova Scotia Student Assistance Program, up to a stipulated maximum amount. Nova Scotia provides additional financial supports to students in the form of provincial grants, loan forgiveness measures and interest-free loans for Nova Scotia students who remain in the province after graduation. Nova Scotia is working with the CSLP to implement changes to the federal student assistance program and will be mirroring the new federal income threshold for the Repayment Assistance Plan effective November 1, 2016. The CSLP and Nova Scotia, alongside other provinces and territories, work closely together to improve the coordination of federal and provincial programs, to improve student financial assistance and to respond to the needs of students. SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada For further information: Carlene Variyan, Director of Communications, Office of the Hon. MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, [email protected], 819-654-5611; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected] Two police officers from Linden, New Jersey were shot during a confrontation with the New York area bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, New York police commissioner James O'Neill stated in a press conference on Monday, Sputnik International reported. Earlier on Monday, two Linden, New Jersey police officers confronted and shot Rahami outside a bar. One officer was struck in an exchange of gunfire and a second was injured by glass, but neither is in critical condition, Park explained. "We had two police officers that were injured out in Linden, New Jersey," O'Neill stated. Rahami is a suspect in three separate weekend incidents in the New York metropolitan area. On Saturday night, an explosion in New York Citys Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. A second device was discovered on nearby 23rd Street. Earlier in the day, a bomb exploded near a US Marine Corps charity race in the city of Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 80 miles south of New York. No one was hurt in the New Jersey incident. On Monday morning, a third bomb exploded near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey as police were trying to disarm the device. MONTREAL, Sept. 15, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Moisson Montreal's Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday campaign has concluded on a very positive note, with $46,625 raised for the cause. The campaign has been running since July 21 and was the organization's first ever summer operation. It was set up to help 17,000 young Montrealers aged 3 to 17 years, who rely on food aid to survive. "We are pleased to announce that we successfully surpassed our objective of raising $45,000 for this campaign," said Moisson Montreal General Director this morning, Richard D. Daneau, in the company of actress and campaign spokesperson, Florence Longpre. "This is great news and we are all very grateful. Our team works hard alongside our group of volunteers to offer quality services to organizations, and when we attain or surpass our objectives, the entire community of Montrealers in need reap the benefits." Richard D. Daneau and Florence Longpre also used this opportunity to acknowledge public generosity. "We would like to extend a warm thanks to all the donors, businesses, foundations and the general public, whose generosity was the key to the success of this campaign," added the actress and campaign spokesperson. Food banks are in high demand during the summer season, as children no longer have access to meals at schools and the activities of many family-support programs go on hold. This first edition of the Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday helped Moisson Montreal and its partners ensure this continuity and offer healthy food to these families, who rely on the organization's support throughout the summer months. No Rest for Hunger in Montreal The Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday Campaign speaks for itself the call of hunger doesn't fluctuate from season to season, and Moisson Montreal's efforts are a year-round pursuit. Last month alone, 146,230 individuals sought emergency food aid in Montreal. With the holiday season on the horizon, Moisson Montreal, the largest food bank in Canada, is already preparing to assemble its Christmas baskets. These offer a variety of high-quality foods to its 254 partner organizations, including meats and other fresh foods. About Hunger Doesn't Take a Holiday The goal of this new campaign was to raise $45,000, which was run by Moisson Montreal and its partner organizations to address the growing need among Montreal families for food assistance during the summer months. This campaign was made possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and partners: Desjardins, ACCEO Solutions, CIBLE, La Ronde, Poche et fils and Quebec's Food Truck Association. Visit www.noholidayforhunger.com for more details. To watch the video with Florence Longpre, click here. About Moisson Montreal A non-profit organization founded in 1984, Moisson Montreal is the largest food bank in Canada. Through its collection, sorting, and distribution centre for emergency food assistance, the organization allocates nearly 1,000 tons of food per month to 254 accredited community organizations on the Island of Montreal. In turn, these organizations provide food assistance to 146,000 people, including nearly 34,000 children. Moisson Montreal receives funding and supplies mainly through donations. Its operations require the collaboration of nearly 8,000 volunteers each year and result in the redistribution of about 13 million kilos of foodstuffs, representing a total value of approximately $61 million. Moisson Montreal has won three awards for its Food Recovery Program in Supermarkets: the Sustainable Development Award from Mercuriades, the 2015 Corporate Citizenship Award from Novae (Supply Category), and the Elixir Prize from PMI (Coup de Coeur Category). For more information, visit www.moissonmontreal.org. SOURCE MOISSON MONTREAL Image with caption: "Florence Longpre and Sylvie Bourbonniere, Communications, Marketing and Philanthropic Development Director for Moisson Montreal. (CNW Group/MOISSON MONTREAL)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160915_C3838_PHOTO_EN_774363.jpg For further information: Gabrielle Marcoux, Communications and Medias Coordinator, Moisson Montreal, T: 514-344-4494, ext. 239 | C: 514-701-4206, [email protected] Canadian companies will explore new midstream supply chain infrastructure that would link natural gas resources to Steelhead LNG's proposed LNG export projects VANCOUVER, Sept. 19, 2016 /CNW/ - A new development agreement announced today between Steelhead LNG and Seven Generations Energy Ltd. sets the stage for engaging Aboriginal groups and communities as the two companies explore the development of new midstream infrastructure to support Steelhead LNG's proposed natural gas liquefaction and export projects on Vancouver Island. The arrangement, through which Seven Generations has also acquired a minority interest in Steelhead LNG, is expected to provide potential new markets for Seven Generations' production as well as increased certainty of natural gas supply for Steelhead LNG. "This arrangement with Seven Generations creates an opportunity, in the current price environment, for a liquefied natural gas solution from well-head to customer that's uniquely led by Canadian companies," said Steelhead LNG Chief Executive Officer Nigel Kuzemko. "Our shared focus on engaging early and often with Aboriginal groups and communities, combined with our collective commitment to produce and deliver low cost, low emissions Canadian natural gas, positions each company to succeed in expanding Canada's exports of clean-burning natural gas to Asian markets." "This partnership formed by Steelhead LNG and Seven Generations Energy is an example of Canadian companies working together in innovative ways to deliver Western Canadian natural gas to market, which benefits not only British Columbians and Albertans, but all Canadians," said Rich Coleman, BC Minister of Natural Gas Development. "Their commitment to work with First Nations and communities in a collaborative manner, while at the same time support British Columbia's role as a leader in progressing global climate change objectives, will contribute to the success of these projects. While LNG markets are challenging at the moment, with projects like these and others under development, British Columbia will be exceptionally well-positioned to become a leading supplier of LNG to Asian markets in the coming years." "This export market development initiative aims to achieve long-term and sustainable success through the meaningful engagement of those who care about the environment, governments and regulators, communities, business partners and infrastructure customers, suppliers and service providers, employees and shareholders and capital providers," said Pat Carlson, Seven Generations' Chief Executive Officer. "We believe scalable projects like those being proposed by Steelhead LNG, that engage First Nations and communities from the beginning and place a high priority on our environment and safety, will deliver strong benefits to local communities, British Columbians, Albertans and Canadians. Steelhead LNG's approach aligns with our Code of Conduct, which puts a fundamental emphasis on working collaboratively with communities by incorporating local insight, wisdom and advice during project planning," said Carlson, who has joined the board of directors of Steelhead LNG. Steelhead and 7G believe that helping countries to shift away from GHG-intensive energy sources such as low-quality coal to reduce global greenhouse gas and particulate emissions, which impact Canada and other parts of the world, is a global priority. Canada has the means to meaningfully contribute to this objective, affirming its role as a leading global citizen. Steelhead LNG and 7G are uniquely poised to support this effort by providing low-cost delivery of cleaner-burning natural gas produced in a responsible manner through sustainable practices focused on reducing GHG emissions throughout the Canadian supply chain. The proximity of Steelhead LNG's projects to market also reduces GHG emissions during shipping. "Our proposed projects remain very promising opportunities. This agreement with Seven Generations is a positive step toward realizing our sustainable and economic delivery model for LNG. At the same time the economic circumstances are challenging and there is more work to do and milestones to achieve for our projects to succeed," said Kuzemko. Steelhead LNG is also exploring ways of accessing newly emerging LNG markets such as the conversion of international shipping vessels to LNG from bunker fuel and diesel. With the transportation industry responsible for one of the largest shares of global GHG emissions, converting to natural gas will help industry support emissions reduction targets. This is due to LNG putting about 25 per cent fewer GHG emissions into the atmosphere compared to diesel and oil. At-Shore LNG Concept Steelhead LNG is continuing to refine its At-Shore LNG (ASLNG) concept design, which makes use of floating LNG production and storage units moored to marine jetties. The concept will contribute to the low-impact, low-cost development of Steelhead LNG's proposed Malahat LNG and Sarita LNG projects. The ASLNG concept requires a limited land-based footprint at each site, significantly reducing potential local impacts and potentially allowing for remediation of existing brownfield land. A single ASLNG production and storage unit can be designed and replicated providing scalable production capacity at Steelhead LNG's proposed facilities and an efficient decommissioning process at the end of the facility lifespan. The National Energy Board has granted Steelhead LNG five licenses to export in the aggregate of up to 30 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year for 25 years. Malahat LNG Project In August 2015, Steelhead LNG and the Malahat Nation announced that they had agreed to explore the proposed Malahat LNG Project located on the Bamberton Industrial Lands just south of Mill Bay. The Bamberton site is a natural deep-water port with a very steep foreshore gradient, located close to international shipping lanes. The land has been used by local industry for more than 100 years, which minimizes environmental impacts. Steelhead LNG's engineering team and consultants are continuing to refine how the ASLNG and Malahat LNG concept design tie together, and continue to conduct robust environmental studies. "Once we have furthered our concept design, incorporating feedback that we have received from Aboriginal groups and the community, we'll be in a position to progress in the regulatory processes. In the meantime, we will continue consulting with potentially affected Aboriginal groups, local communities and the public," said Kuzemko. Sarita LNG Project Steelhead LNG is continuing discussions with the Huu-ay-aht First Nations to develop another At-Shore LNG export facility at Sarita Bay at the southern end of the Alberni Inlet. The project would be located on Huu-ay-aht First Nations owned land at Sarita Bay, about 10 kilometres north of Bamfield, and about 70 kilometres southwest of Port Alberni. The proposed Sarita LNG Project is in the preliminary engineering and conceptual design stage. In November 2014, Huu-ay-aht Aboriginal groups' citizens voted in favour of continuing to explore the proposed project with Steelhead LNG. Steelhead LNG Steelhead LNG is a Vancouver-based energy company focused on LNG project development in British Columbia. Steelhead's management team's experience includes guiding some of the world's leading energy companies and projects, with commercial and technical expertise that spans the entire LNG value chain. From project concept to product delivery, Steelhead is committed to responsibly creating and delivering value for the communities, suppliers and customers that it serves. For more information about Steelhead LNG, visit www.steelheadlng.com. Seven Generations Energy Ltd. Seven Generations is a low-supply-cost, high-growth Canadian natural gas developer generating long-life value from its liquids-rich Kakwa River Project, located about 100 kilometres south of its operations headquarters in Grande Prairie, Alberta. 7G's corporate headquarters are in Calgary and its shares trade on the TSX under the symbol VII. Further information about Seven Generations is available on the company's website: www.7genergy.com. SOURCE Steelhead LNG For further information: Steelhead LNG, Trevor Boudreau, Director, Communications, Office: +1 604 235 3810, Cell: +1 778 991 7412, Email: [email protected] September 19 23, 2016 MISSISSAUGA, ON, Sept. 15, 2016 /CNW/ - Food bank use across Canada is 26 per cent higher than during the 2008 economic downturn. This is an unacceptable fact in a country as affluent as Canada. This year during Hunger Awareness Week (September 19 23), Food Banks Canada is calling on Canadians to draw the line on hunger and share how we can make an impact on this solvable issue. The first food bank was established in Canada in 1981, as a short term solution to address the growing need for food assistance. Today, there are over 800 food banks and 3,000 agencies and food programs working to provide essential food for people living with household food insecurity. Food banks across the country will be supporting Hunger Awareness Week by inviting community residents and businesses to participate in local events and activities. And this year, supporters are encouraged to Draw the Line on Hunger by creating and sharing their own drawings, images and ideas on the hunger issue. Learn about the impact hunger has on families and individuals who find themselves needing the assistance of a food bank at www.hungerawarenessweek.ca Join the conversation by using the interactive drawing tool to create and share your messages or share your own images using #HungerWeek Follow the conversation on Twitter and Facebook with @foodbankscanada Watch the Hunger Awareness Week video on https://youtu.be/7T6XOw8vtb4 "Food Banks Canada and the food bank network is asking all Canadians to tell us where to draw the line on hunger this year," says Pam Jolliffe, Executive Director, Food Banks Canada. "We are asking supporters to take pen to paper, their cameras or their smartphones by collectively drawing and sharing their concerns and thoughts on how we can make an impact and find solutions for hundreds of thousands of people across the country that struggle with hunger." For the last decade, Food Banks Canada and the food banking network has organized a national awareness initiative to educate Canadians about the issue of hunger across the country and the role food banks have in assisting communities in need. Hunger Awareness Week, now held each year in September, kicks off the important charitable giving season by asking people to donate food, funds and time to their local food banks. During any given week, more than 200,000 Canadians go hungry, including almost 70,000 children. Together, Canadians can make an impact on the solvable issue of hunger in Canada. For more information on Hunger Awareness Week visit www.hungerawarenessweek.ca. The national Hunger Awareness Week campaign is supported by Hunger Champion Farm Credit Canada, a long term supporter of the hunger cause in Canada through many national and local initiatives including their long-standing FCC Drive Away Hunger campaign which has raised 27 million meals to date. About Hunger Awareness Week Hunger Awareness Week (hungerawarenessweek.ca) was created in 2006 to provide food banks with an opportunity to educate about the reality of hunger in Canada and to encourage all Canadians to make a choice to help those in need. This is the first year that Hunger Awareness Week is being held in September. Together, Canadians can make an impact on the solvable issue of hunger in Canada. Follow the conversation at #HungerWeek. About Food Banks Canada Food Banks Canada supports a unique network of over 3,000 food-related organizations in every province and territory that assists more than 850,000 Canadians each month. Together our network shares over 200 million pounds of essential, safe, quality food annually, provides social programs that help to foster self-sufficiency, and advocates for policy change that will help create a Canada where no one goes hungry. Follow Food Banks Canada at Facebook.com/FoodBanksCanada and on Twitter @FoodBanksCanada. Stats drawn from: HungerCount 2015, Food Banks Canada. For the complete 2015 HungerCount report please go to foodbankscanada.ca/hungercount2015. SOURCE Food Banks Canada Image with caption: "Hunger Awareness Week (CNW Group/Food Banks Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160915_C2821_PHOTO_EN_774311.jpg Image with caption: "This Hunger Awareness Week, Lets Draw the Line on Hunger (CNW Group/Food Banks Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160915_C2821_PHOTO_EN_774330.jpg For further information: Media Contacts: Sonia Prashar, spPR, T: 416.560.6753, E: [email protected]; Marzena Gersho, Food Banks Canada, M: 647 242 5919, T: 905 602 5234 x228, E: [email protected] The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, says President Muhammadu Buhari spent less than... The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, says President Muhammadu Buhari spent less than 50,000 (N20.5m) on the treatment of an ear infection in the United Kingdom.Shehu said this in a Facebook post on Sunday night while responding to an allegation by Prof. Farooq Kperogi that Buhari spent 6m during his treatment in June.The Presidents spokesman said Buharis government believed in accountability and curbing wastShehu said the Presidency had approved over 50,000 for the Presidents treatment but Buhari rejected it.He said, The disclosure on Prof. Farooq Kperogis wall that President Muhammadu Buharis ear treatment in the United Kingdom cost a whopping 6m must have shocked many of the respected scholars followers.Im prepared to share documents with Farooq, one of the brightest ever produced from the Bayero University Kano that the whole treatment, including a follow-up visit by a specialist to Nigeria didnt cost 50,000.For the records, the administration advanced a higher sum, but the Presidents doctor returned the balance to the treasury.Indeed, its a New Day, and President Buharis change mantra is real. Let no one confuse my fellow countrymen and women.Shehu made an indirect jibe at Dame Patience Jonathan wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan who claimed that the $15m found in some company accounts was for her medical treatment.He added that President Buhari would have rejected the bill if the doctor had charged him 6m.He added, The story reads like an incredible tale by moonlight that belongs to a different era, which fortunately is now history. Thats when a fortunate lady saved $15m for medical treatment!But was it possible that the account of this balanced journalism teacher was hacked? I will give him the benefit of the doubt.Given the austere President we have, Muhammadu Buhari would not have approved this amount if he was shown a 6m bill. I wont be surprised if the President may have asked if the fat bill was for the purchase of a brand new pair of ears! US Senates Torture Report documented 119 victims of CIA torture In Search for the Dark Prison, a moving two-part Fault Lines documentary on Al Jazeera, Sebastian Walker speaks with the family of Gul Rahman, the only detainee known to have died in the CIA torture program.Gul was detained in a huge raid in Islamabad in 2002, flown in a hood and shackles to Detention Site Cobalt, and then beaten and doused in cold water by CIA interrogators. On 19 November 2002, he was left chained to the floor of his cell, half-naked. In the morning, he was found dead. The CIA listed hypothermia as the likely cause of death.Sebastian speaks to Guls mother, Morwary, at an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan the first time the family has appeared on camera. Our grief is the same every night; it has never changed, she says. The pain has consumed us like a fire, and no one noticed. He left us, we dont even know how, and we dont even have his dead body.No one from the CIA ever contacted the family about Guls death, let alone returned his body for a proper burial. Instead Sebastian is shown correspondence from US authorities denying that they held Gul, even after his death. Morwary only learnt of her sons death a year ago, despite relatives continually approaching the authorities.Whether Muslim, non-Muslim or whatever, we are all humans, says Guls brother Habib. We feel what you would feel in this situation.Post 9/11, the CIA tortured 119 detainees from 20 countries, according to a heavily-redacted 2014 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) report. 26 of these did not meet the CIA's own standards for detention, according to the US government report.The SSCI report revealed for the first time - the names of the CIAs torture victims. But nearly two years after President Obama admitted the USA tortured suspects in the aftermath of 9/11, the world has heard very little from these victims, dozens of whom were never charged with a crime and have now been released.As attorney James Connell claims, There was a coordinated campaign to silence the torture victims. The survivors of it have never had a voice in this process.Sudanese journalist Sami al-Haaj appears in Search for the Dark Prison and helped Fault Lines locate the detainees featured. Sami was arrested in 2001 while working as an Al Jazeera journalist in Pakistan, then detained for over six years in Guantanamo. After going on hunger strike, he was finally released without charge in 2008.While he was in Guantanamo, Sami realized he should continue his work as a journalist from the inside - he had exclusive access! So he interviewed many of the detainees and has kept in touch with many of them on their release, says producer Singeli Agnew, singing his praises as one of Al Jazeeras best.With torture re-emerging as a US election issue, Search for the Dark Prison is essential viewing to understand whats at stake. Stream the full documentary at http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/ or watch part two on Al Jazeera English, premiering on 20 September 2016 at 2230 GMT. Premier League leaders Manchester City continue to impress under Pep Guardiola, but Jose Mourinho has problems at Manchester United afte... Premier League leaders Manchester City continue to impress under Pep Guardiola, but Jose Mourinho has problems at Manchester United after a third consecutive defeat in all competitions.Here are five things we learnt this weekend:Pogba emblematic of Man Uniteds problemsAs the standard-bearers of Jose Mourinhos Manchester United revolution, it was instructive to note the differing reactions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba to their embarrassing 3-1 loss at Watford. After a chastening afternoon that saw United suffer their third successive defeat, Ibrahimovic could barely disguise his disgust as he grimaced and cursed at the final whistle. Pogba, in contrast, did not look unduly bothered by Uniteds troubles as he strolled off following another tepid personal display. To date, Pogba has not come close to justifying the world-record 89 million pounds ($115.7 million, 103.7 million euros) fee United paid to sign him from Juventus. He seems misused in a deep-lying role and produced just one moment of note, rattling the crossbar with a 25-yard shot. If United are to challenge for their first English title since 2013, Mourinho must get much more from Pogba, as well as making sure Ibrahimovics competitive streak rubs off on the rest of the team.De Bruyne plugs Aguero gap for Man CityManchester City have been without striker Sergio Aguero for their last two league games, but they have not missed him thanks to the superb form of attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgium international scored one goal and helped make another in last weekends 2-1 win at Manchester United and was equally influential in the 4-0 victory over Bournemouth. He opened the scoring by cleverly stroking a free-kick beneath the jumping defensive wall and had a hand in all of Citys other goals. Maybe Messi can sit alone at the table. But that table aside, Kevin can stay there, said City manager Pep Guardiola. He sees absolutely everything.Things are happening at EvertonEverton beat Middlesbrough 3-1, giving them their best start to an English top-flight season since 1978 and leaving them two points behind Manchester City in second place. Manager Ronald Koeman has hit the ground running since succeeding Roberto Martinez as manager and new signings Ashley Williams, Idrissa Gueye and Yannick Bolasie are bedding in quickly. (Koeman) has kept things pretty simple, said midfielder Gareth Barry, who marked his 600th Premier League appearance with Evertons equaliser. Weve taken on board the managers instructions this season and the team is playing with confidence.The big teams need fear LiverpoolLiverpool have wasted no time flexing their muscles this season, beating Arsenal, Leicester City last seasons top two and 2015 champions Chelsea in their first five games. Fridays 2-1 win at Chelsea was another lesson in asphyxiating intensity and breathless endeavour. Dejan Lovrens volley and Jordan Hendersons superb long-range curler put the visitors in control and although Diego Costa reduced the arrears, the margin of victory was misleading Liverpool were never in trouble. Jurgen Klopps side look a match for any team in the division, but as their 2-0 loss at Burnley demonstrated, they can struggle when opponents sit back and force them to take the initiative. It may be matches such as next weekends home fixture with Hull City, rather than the glamour games in which they have already excelled, that dictate whether Liverpool can go the distance.Stoke arent very Stoke anymoreStoke City manager Mark Hughes was applauded for introducing a slicker playing style at the club last season, with talented forwards Xherdan Shaqiri, Marko Arnautovic and Bojan Krkic delighting neutrals. They finished ninth, but have made a dreadful start to the current campaign and were left bottom of the table after losing 4-1 at Crystal Palace. Palaces first three goals all stemmed from set-pieces exactly the kind of goal Stoke were renowned for not conceding under Hughess no-nonsense predecessor Tony Pulis.AFP Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Baghdad is against the expected military operations by Turkey in Iraq if they are not coordinated with the countrys government, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, head of Iraq's Foreign Ministry, said Sept. 19, Hurriyet newspaper reported. If the Turkish Armed Forces begin operations in Iraq against the Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group, they should be coordinated with the Iraqi government, he said. Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan has previously said that any threat for Turkey coming from the neighboring countries, in particular Syria and Iraq, must be neutralized. With regards to Iraq, Erdogan had said that Turkey's Armed Forces may participate in the operation for the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul, taken over by IS militants. Turkey has intelligence data that concentration of troops of militants is observed in northern Iraqi city of Mosul, as well as Iraqi town of Telafer consisting of mainly ethnic Turkmen, and these militants plan to kill the Turkmens living in northern Iraq, which is unacceptable for Turkey, Erdogan had said. Being one of the key oil centers of Iraq, the city of Mosul went entirely under the control of the IS terrorists June 10, 2014. Patience Jonathan, former first lady, has described the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a big thief for freezing her ... Patience Jonathan, former first lady, has described the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a big thief for freezing her accounts with Skype Bank containing more than $15million in all.Mrs. Jonathan is the subject of an EFCC investigation regarding the source of the money but she has continued maintaining her innocence even though the four individuals representing the companies linked with the alleged laundering have pleaded guilty to the charge in court.The companies Seagate Property Development & Investment Co. Limited; Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Development Company Limited pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder $15 million.Directors of the companies are domestic workers of Waripamowei Dudafa, Jonathans special adviser on domestic affairs.The former first lady had previously clarified that the $15m was for her foreign medical bills and other private expenses. But responding in an open letter to the EFCC chairman released late Sunday night by her lawyers, FirstLaw Solicitors, she said it would be counter-productive and inimical to the public interest if the attorney general of the federation and/or the EFCC heeds the irresponsible calls for her arrest and prosecution based on suspicion.On the freezing, her lawyers told Ibrahim Magu: Sir, instead of strict compliance with the above pattern, as laid down by SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the EFCC went after our Clients money by ordering a freeze of her accounts. With all due respect, the EFCC is a BIG THIEF!THE FULL STATEMENT1. By virtue of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, we are Solicitors to HER EXCELLENCY, MRS. PATIENCE IBIFAKA GOODLUCK JONATHAN, the wife to the immediate past President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, HIS EXCELLENCY, DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR. We shall hereinafter, refer to Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan as OUR CLIENT.2. Our Client is a respected senior citizen of international repute, a retired Permanent Secretary and the immediate past First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our Client is a law-abiding citizen who has never or at all been the subject of any criminal and/or financial investigation, whether at home or abroad. Accordingly, she has not been found guilty of any criminal conduct throughout a sparkling public service career spanning over 35 years.3. During the 5 years our Client served as First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria between May, 2010 and May, 2015; she was the Initiator/Founder of the A. ARUERA WOMEN FOUNDATION as well as the WOMEN FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE; both of which Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) substantially contributed to the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in the country. Our Client is the recipient of numerous local and international awards in recognition of her untiring commitment towards uplifting the living standard of women, children and the aged in Nigeria.4. Sir, it is against this sterling and meritorious background of our Client that we most respectfully, write to draw your attention to the numerous breaches of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 2004 committed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in cause of the Commissions illegal and unlawful investigation of our Client for alleged money laundering. These investigations have reportedly led to the freeze of our Clients accounts and led to untold consequences to our Clients health and wellbeing.5. Firstly, the EFCC must realize that the ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (ESTABLISHMENT) ACT 2004 is inferior in content and quality to both the 1999 CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (AS AMENDED) and THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS 2004.6. To that extent, it is trite law that, where there is a conflict or an inconsistency between the EFCC ACT, on the one hand; and the combined provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004, on the other hand; the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004 must necessarily prevail to the extent of the said inconsistency.7. However, we note, with regret, that in the current matter involving the curious and bizarre investigation of our esteemed Client, the EFCC under your watch has not only undermined the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights; the Commission has actually conducted itself in a most desperate, despicable and arrogant manner. This is rather unfortunate.8. Sir, one of the cardinal principles enshrined in both Nigerian and African jurisprudence, is that of the presumption of innocence which is guaranteed to all citizens, including our Client.9. Consequently, the SPECIAL POWERS of the Commission as defined by SECTION 7(1) & (2) of the EFCC ACT 2004 to, among others, cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the persons life style and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income, is inconsistent with and contrary to the mandatory requirement of SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which states thus:Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to (a) be informed promptly in the language that he understands and in detail of the nature of the offence; (b) be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;10. The necessary implication or import of SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is that the EFCCs so-called power to arbitrarily and unlawfully investigate our esteemed Client and thereby, freeze her accounts with total sum in excess of FIFTEEN MILLION US DOLLARS which are domiciled with SKYE BANK PLC is NOT ABSOLUTE.11. Sir, it is our Clients brief that there is no formal criminal complaint of economic and financial crime as defined by the EFCC ACT 2004 written by any person or institution against her which warranted the EFCC to freeze her accounts.12. It is also our Clients brief that the EFCC failed to obtain a Court Order as required by SECTION 34 of the EFCC ACT before her accounts were frozen.13. It is our Clients further brief that, up until the writing of this Open Letter, she has not received any formal invitation to appear before the Commission for questioning; whereas her accounts domiciled with SKYE BANK PLC have since been frozen by the Commission without recourse to her.14. Sir, the argument put forward by the Commission in the public domain that, investigations are ongoingMrs. Patience Jonathan shall be invited in due course, are not only vexatious and provocative. They constitute an outright violation and rape of the fundamental right to fair hearing and ownership of property as guaranteed to our Client by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004.15. Indeed, SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), contains or laid down a sequence or pattern of commencement of investigation which MUST BE FOLLOWED STRICTLY, to wit:a. Persons charged with a criminal offence must be informed in the language they understand and in detail of the nature of the offence;b. Such persons must be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence; etc16. Sir, instead of strict compliance with the above pattern, as laid down by SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the EFCC went after our Clients money by ordering a freeze of her accounts. With all due respect, the EFCC is a BIG THIEF!17. We are very much aware of numerous instances where EFCC used strong-arm tactics to dispossess hard working Nigerians of their legitimately earned money; only to turn around to brazenly and shamelessly loot the recovered loot. This is one of such unfortunate instances. Clearly, it is a failed politically-motivated attempt by the EFCC to steal our Clients money using the cover of the present political climate.18. We are sufficiently convinced that prebendal politics of the sort that smears the image and reputation of former public office holders, together with that of members of their families which automatically, distracts from governance and slows down the nations pace of development is one of the major reasons for the persistent and unrelenting politically-motivated attacks on our Client who is extremely popular with Nigerian women, children and the aged.19. We have rightly observed that each time a new Government was sworn into office, political jobbers such as the EFCC promptly mobilized themselves to throw mud, blackmail and/or otherwise label members of the immediate past Government; all in a desperate bid to accomplish or satisfy narrow and base political interests to the detriment of the entire country. This disturbing familiar pattern of unjustifiable, bankrupt and hollow harassment of the nations former leaders is deplorable.20. Our Client has unfortunately, come under the vice grip and stranglehold of the cabal of political jobbers who would not allow her concentrate on her private life in retirement. Ironically, our Clients most virulent critics and traducers come from the human rights community in Nigeria which benefited immensely from her husbands fairly commendable human rights record, while he served as President.21. Notably, we recall that the Freedom of Information Act 2015 was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Criminal Justice Administration Law 2015 was also signed into law by the former President. Needless to say, these extant laws have strengthened Nigerias civil society to act effectively as the nations fourth arm of government.22. For the avoidance of doubt, it shall be counter-productive and inimical to the public interest if the Attorney General of the Federation and/or the EFCC heeded the irresponsible calls to commence the arrest and prosecution of our Client based on suspicion. If they did otherwise, they shall be violating the extant provision of SECTION 174(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which clearly prohibits criminal proceedings that were not in the public interest. Besides, suspicion; no matter how strong it may seem; cannot ground a conviction.23. We hereby categorically and emphatically state that, HER EXCELLENCY, MRS. PATIENCE IBIFAKA GOODLUCK JONATHAN SHOULD BE LEFT ALONE!24. Furthermore, there is no established legal or political precedent for what the EFCC is currently doing to our Client. How many former First Ladies in Nigeria have received the Patience Goodluck Jonathan Treatment (PGJT) to have warranted the EFCC to engage in the effrontery to freeze our Clients accounts and subject her to public opprobrium, ridicule and disgrace? This nonsense must stop forthwith!25. Consequently, we urge the EFCC to de-freeze our Clients accounts WITHIN 14 DAYS from today, September 18, 2016 and tender a public apology to our Client.26. TAKE NOTICE; AND NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that if the EFCC fails, refuses and/or neglects to comply accordingly, we shall file an action at the AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS at The Gambia demanding FIVE BILLION NAIRA in exemplary and punitive damages.Yours faithfully,FOR: FIRST LAW SOLICITORS (Legal Practitioners)SIGNED:TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE, ESQ.Senior PartnerSeptember 18, 2016 Former Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has denied allegations that he operates an ... My attention has been drawn to a widely circulated report that I own an account with ING bank UK with Essex adress and balance of 1.3m Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) September 19, 2016 The document is FAKE, I DO NOT own such account or balance neither do I have anything what so ever to do with the said address at Essex Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) September 19, 2016 The document is FAKE, I DO NOT own such account or balance neither do I have anything what so ever to do with the said address at Essex Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) September 19, 2016 Former Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has denied allegations that he operates an account with ING bank in the UK and has a balance of 1.3m in the account.The denial was made via his twitter handle @AbdulAbmJ. Jibrin described the document attached to the report as fake, saying he does not own such an account, balance attributed and has nothing to do with the Essex address.He described the media report as part of a wider propaganda scheme directed by Mr. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, using his Deputy Chief of Staff Mr. CID Maduebum.See tweets: A Niger Delta militant group, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate has attacked another major crude oil delivery line belonging to the Ni... A Niger Delta militant group, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate has attacked another major crude oil delivery line belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company in Delta State.The incident occurred on Sunday at about 11: 30pm around Ekuigbo, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state.Spokesman of the militant group, Aldo Agbalaja, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued on Monday.It described as waste of resources the use of military men to guard oil and facilities in the region, adding such would never yield any positive result. The Kwara State Police Command has appealed to Nigerians to always ensure proper monitoring and documentation of details about their servi... The Kwara State Police Command has appealed to Nigerians to always ensure proper monitoring and documentation of details about their serving and former domestic staff.The Commissioner of Police made this plea while parading three men suspected to have attacked and robbed a professor at the University of Ilorin.CP Olusola Amore said that the three-man armed robbery gang was led by a former driver of Professor Abdullahi Onimisi to commit the crime.Addressing journalists, the Police boss emphasized the need for citizens to have proper documentation of the identity of their domestic staff for security purposes.According to him, the former driver, Opeyemi Esan, allegedly left Lagos to recruit two others in Ilorin to rob Professor Abdullah Onimisi of his belongings, inflicting bodily injuries on him during the attack, as they were armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons.The Police Commissioner said that his men had acted on intelligence to arrest two of the suspects in Ilorin, who confessed to have conspired with Opeyemi to rob the professor.The gang leader took policemen to four different locations before he finally took them to where the stolen items were kept.Valuable items like jewelries, mobile phones and a Toyota Camry were recovered from the suspects.The suspect, Opeyemi Esan admitted that he indeed committed the crime but explained that it was as a result of the professors refusal to settle his salary arrears after being sacked for allegedly inflating the money to fuel his car.The Police boss also said that the suspects would be charged to court after investigations. New York officials are looking for a naturalised United States citizen who was born in Afghanistan for questioning over Saturdays blast... New York officials are looking for a naturalised United States citizen who was born in Afghanistan for questioning over Saturdays blast in the Chelsea area in which 29 people were injured.The BBC reports that the suspect has been named as Ahmad Khan Rahami, aged 28.Early on Monday, a backpack containing up to five devices exploded in Elizabeth, New Jersey, when a bomb disposal robot tried to deactivate it.The suspects last known address was in Elizabeth.FBI officials were searching a residence in the New Jersey city on Monday.Investigators have warned that the suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.Anyone who sees this individual or knows anything about him or his whereabouts needs to call it in right away, New York Mayor, Bill de Blasio, said on CNN.Both the bomb that went off in New York on Saturday and an unexploded device found nearby were shrapnel-filled pressure cookers, according to U.S media.New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, said on Monday that there might be a foreign connection to the Manhattan attack.Officials had said over the weekend there were no confirmed links to international terrorist groups. 2,570 aides are engaged by members of the 8th National Assembly, totaling 469, an investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has r... 2,570 aides are engaged by members of the 8th National Assembly, totaling 469, an investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has revealed.Out of the number, 700 aides work for lawmakers in the Senate, while the remaining 1,870 are engaged by House of Representatives members.As provided in the National Assembly Act, each lawmaker, excluding principal officers, is entitled to five aides one senior legislative aide, two legislative aides, a personal assistant and a secretary.It was discovered that in the provision, President of the Senate is entitled to 45 aides, his deputy, 30 and 20 each for principal officers.Similarly, Speaker of the House of Representatives has 35 assistants, Deputy Speaker, 15 and 10 each for the six principal officers.The number of aides to each legislator, it was gathered, includes those in their Constituency offices.The monthly emolument of the aides, which ranged from N150, 000 to N250, 000, sources close to the assembly said, has been reduced to between N75, 000 and N180, 000 by the current leadership of the assembly.The investigation revealed that in addition to the regular aides, the principal officers of both chambers have Special Assistants, Senior Special Assistants and Special Advisers of varying numbers.This category of aides, it was learnt, had a monthly salary of a minimum of N950,000, but was reduced to N400,000 by the current management of the assembly. All the aides are paid from the coffers of the assembly.However, it was gathered that some of the lawmakers, especially principal officers, have more than the statutorily approved number of aides in their employ, who also draw their salary from the assemblys funds.Some lawmakers, however, pay the aides from their own resources.It was also revealed that many legislators draw the emolument of their aides from the assemblys funds but pay them fractions. Some of the lawmakers employed only one or two aides but are collecting the full salary for the five they are entitled to.This act was discovered to be perpetrated more by the members through their constituency offices, which they are mandatorily expected to have in their areas, but deliberately failed to do so.They submit names of non-existent staff in the constituency office to the national assembly service commission and collect their entitlements directly.An aide to a senator from the South-West, working with him in Abuja, said that he had never heard of other aides or office his boss had in his constituency.All of us, his aides are here; it is only when he is travelling to the state that he goes with the senior legislative aide and his younger brother.The brother works with him; he is not documented but he is in charge whenever oga (the boss) is not around.But, all of us are always in the office in Abuja, I do not know of assistant or aide he has at the constituency level or in the state, he said, adding that it was the same with some other lawmakers.The source declined to disclose his salary, allowance and pay point, but said that the emolument depended on the grade of the aide.He, however, disclosed that the least-paid aide earned N120, 000 from the assembly commission.The lawmakers contacted on the issue declined to comment, with some of them saying that they were complying with the rules. The Clerk of the National Assembly and officials in his office also rebuffed enquires on the issues.Reacting to the findings by NAN, some stakeholders called for reduction in the number of aides working for federal lawmakers and a slash in their pay.They said that the reduction was necessary in view of the current economic challenges facing the country.Mr Ahmed Haruna, a trader in Wuse Market in Abuja said from my own point of view, I think the number of aides assigned to legislators is much and consumes a huge amount from public funds.These aides are paid monthly but if their number is slashed and their pay reduced, the money can be redirected into providing infrastructure in the country.Paul Imohiosen, a civil servant, believes that the lawmakers do not need the number of aides they are officially entitled to.He said, some of these aides are not useful; most of them are there for mere decoration. They are just too many.The countrys economy has gone into recession so this is not the appropriate time to use as much as 45 or 35 aides by one government official.Imohiosen also decried the number of security details attached to some government officials and other elite in the country.According to him, Nigeria is in need of adequate security to protect lives and property but government officials have huge number of security aides all to themselves which is not fair.In her view, Miss Igoni Mirabel, a student, insisted that there was need to cut the number and salary, respectively, of the legislative aides by 50 per cent.The 50 per cent cut should serve as intervention and the remaining percentage could be used judiciously to improve the economy of the country.The Nigeria economy is in a bad state presently, so all expenses must be cut down so that the citizens can benefit immensely, she added.On her part, Miss Imelda Omelogo said that the number of aides and their emoluments does not suggest a prudent approach to the management of public expenditure.If the call for the reduction in number of aides to the lawmakers is implemented, it will greatly reduce wastage, thereby leaving more money to be ploughed into other sectors.Condemning the large number of the federal lawmakers aides, Mr Emmanuel Sawyer, a legal practitioner, said that it did not tally with the economic hardship in the country.He said that the number of aides should have been slashed along with their salaries by the new leadership of the national assembly.We are in a period when Nigeria is facing recession and the cost of running government is still too high.At this point in time, we should be talking of merging both chambers into one to reduce the cost of running governance, Sawyer said.Mr Teddy Nwanunobi, a civil servant, said that it was unfair for such big salaries to be paid to aides of lawmakers when they were not doing any work commensurate to the pay.Nwanunobi questioned why some of the principal officers should be entitled to many aides.My honest thinking is that the principal officers do not need more than five aides to start with. That way, the aides would be up the task on their duties.Secondly, the nearly N1 million monthly salary is just too large for one aide; most of them do not merit that sum, and thats why they misbehave.Personally, I suggest that aides should be graded, and salaries paid accordingly; their salaries should not only be slashed, but paid in accordance with grade and level, he said.Mrs Adanna Uwaleme, a political analyst, however said that the call for slash in the number of aides to the lawmakers should be extended to the Executive arm of government.Uwaleme said most of the ministers, and even the President, have too many aides.She said, however, that she was not suggesting that people be sacked but said that there was need to save cost.There is no need employing too many aides and paying them so much when other people who do so much work are paid very little.I feel that there should be a harmonisation of salaries and allowances of aides and staff of choice government agencies like the NNPC and FIRS with other federal workers.There is no justification for paying someone in NNPC so much salary while his colleague on the same level in the ministry takes less than quarter of his salary, she said.Mr Emeka Ogwuru, a businessman, said that those on the payroll of the lawmakers were just lucky; many other Nigerians would do anything to get the same position.Even if its N400, 000 a month, at least they can afford a bag of rice, a basket of tomatoes, 50 litres of petrol and book a local flight online in this recession, he said. President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said the solutions to the various challenges facing Nigeria must be fast tracked by his administrati... President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said the solutions to the various challenges facing Nigeria must be fast tracked by his administration in order to get the economy up and running again.He spoke at the 2016 Annual National Management Conference organized by the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) in Abuja with the theme: Building a new Nigeria: Strategic Options and Policy Imperative.The President, who was represented at the event by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, stated that his administration would continue to offer great leadership built on good governance.He assured Nigerians that the Federal Government had not relented in its resolve to ensure it provides dividends of democracy to them by providing security, fighting corruption, employment generation and diversification of the economy.He said: The Nigerian project is faced with several challenges on every facet of the society and the solutions to these challenges must be fast tracked if we must get the economy up and running again. I urge the Institute to sustain its current efforts in ensuring professionalism and good ethical conduct among its members and Nigerians in general.Since the inception of this administration, the federal government has not relented in its resolve to ensure that it delivers the dividends of democracy to the teeming populace through good governance especially in the areas of providing security, fighting corruption, employment generation and diversification of the economy.He urged Nigerians to eradicate all forms of corrupt practices from their minds in order to reposition the country on the path of greatness.Buhari said his administration would continue to fight corruption and associated social vices at all levels until they are eliminated from our body polity. A Nigerian lawyer, Oluwakemi Makun, has advised young Nigerians who have just completed their first degree not to be in a hurry to do mast... A Nigerian lawyer, Oluwakemi Makun, has advised young Nigerians who have just completed their first degree not to be in a hurry to do masters.There is an additional advantage for a young graduate to first gain some work experience, know his strength and weakness, before deciding on area of interest and the type of education that would fit into his career choice, says Mrs. Makun, an expert in corporate and commercial law, and the principal of an Abuja law firm, Allianz Solicitors.Mrs. Makun, who spoke from Abuja after finishing top of her class, with a cum laude and four distinctions, at the Executive MBA programme of the Business School Netherlands, Abuja, said she draws example from her personal experience.Mrs. Makun and 72 other Nigerians who completed the programme in the country, in September, received their certificates at a ceremony at The Hague, Netherlands.If I had gone for my masters immediately after graduating from the University, I probably would not have made any sense of it. Studying at this stage in my life makes more sense to me because I already know what I want and what I need, said Makun who has about 13 years of experience in legal practice, and is also a part time businesswoman.As a lawyer, I should have gone for LLM, but over the years, I developed an interest in commercial law, business advisory, and development, she said. An MBA is just right for me.Makun said she was one woman riot squad before enrolling for the MBA. She was using her car as a mobile law chambers, she said.Determined to succeed by applying the right techniques to accomplish my goals, I knew I needed to be a master of the art of learning and knowing how to go about business development and management.Today, Makun says, she and her business have been transformed. She now has an office and has employed a few staff. She said her thinking has been changed positively, and that she now has all that is needed for her to compete in the industry.The programme was quite challenging for me, given that I had no business or management background I asked the most stupid questions in class because it was a strange area for me, she said of her experience in the MBA programme.I guess those stupid questions paid off eventually.I deprived myself of some unnecessary leisure such as watching TV because I had to read up all my books and articles. Being a mum, I also had to manage my primary duties with my study. I got a grip during my fourth module, by which time I had gotten used to it. You have to be determined.She advised young people to be diligent and committed to whatever they are doing, for positive result would start showing before long. Failure is not an excuse to give up your dream. It is just an indication that you have done something wrong that needs to be fixed at the drawing board, she said.She also has an advice for business owners and managers.This period (of economic recession) is a blessing in disguise. Owners and managers of businesses can leverage on the situation in Nigeria to explore onshore outsourcing in place of offshore, patronize locally made products more, (and) avoid credits. 2016 Kazakhstan Expo Starts Inviting Exhibitions Details Category: Ningbo Business Published: Monday, 19 September 2016 09:48 In order to help enterprises in Ningbo to connect with marketplace in Kazakhstan, 2016 China (Kazakhstan) Expo will mainly invite enterprises in Ningbo to exhibit. Enterprises with the intention to participate in can contact with Ningbo Urban Council for the Promotion of Trade. It is learned from Silk Road Economic Belt International Economic and Trade Exhibition Union Conference held recently that this years expo will be held in Kazakhstan Atakent Exhibition Centre from 30th, November to 2rd, December, with the exhibition area reaching 10,000 square meters. Kazakhstan, as an emerging economy with the strongest purchasing power in five Midlle Asian countries, is the largest consumer market ,ranking only second to Russia in the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as an important node on Silk Road Economic Belt. China (Kazakhstan) Expo, co-held by Ningbo Urban Council for the Promotion of Trade and Meorient International Exhibition, is the largest exhibition for home furnishing and crafts. In November, 2015, Ningbo organized 32 enterprises to exhibit, which set up 96 stalls. And the onsite and intended volume of business reached 4.08 million US dollars, a remarkable achievement. The economy in Kazakhstan mainly depends on resource-intensive heavy industry, while the light industry is backward and most goods for everyday consumption rely on import. According to Lin Shanshan, manager of Meorient International Exhibition Foreign Cooperation Purser Department, dominant manufacturing cities in China, including Ningbo, are highly complementary to industries in Kazakhstan. As a significant node on Silk Road Economic Belt, Kazakhstan has wide market coverage. The rapid development of sea-rail transport in Ningbo has created great opportunities for our export to Kazakhstan. Therefore, we have been exerting ourselves to promote investment and trade between Ningbo enterprises and Middle Asian countries by cooperation with professional exhibition organizations said by an official from Ningbo Urban Council for the Promotion of Trade PARAMUS -- Josh Gottheimer, the Democratic candidate for New Jersey's 5th Congressional District, called on law enforcement to work with Internet service providers to root out potential terrorists. Gottheimer, speaking Monday morning on a press call in response to bombings in New Jersey and New York, said "lone wolf" terrorists have easy access to anti-American propaganda and information on how to make improvised bombs. "So much of this fight is not just on the front lines in the caliphate, but is actually on the front lines here, online," he said. Gottheimer's plan to combat terrorism includes banning anyone on terrorism watch lists from buying assault weapons. He would also push to shut down websites that host terrorist propaganda and communication. The United States must also continue to battle extremist groups like ISIS and the countries that fund terrorism, like Iran, Gottheimer said. Gottheimer opposed a deal in which Iran agreed to limit nuclear activity in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. He accused his Republican opponent Scott Garrett of being "soft" on Iran. He cited a 10-year-old letter asking President George W. Bush to re-open diplomatic relations with Iran after 26 years. Garrett was one of a dozen signers. Garrett's campaign responded that the congressman was an early opponent of the Iran deal and that Gottheimer has campaigned with members of Congress who supported the deal. Gottheimer has called Garrett a "coward" for not backing federal legislation that would assist emergency workers sickened by the 9/11 attacks. The Wyckoff Democrat hopes to unseat Garrett, who was first elected in the reliably Republican district in 2002. Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey will begin a new stage of fighting the Fethullah Gulen movement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, TRT Haber TV channel reported Sept. 19. President Erdogan added that Turkey will until the end fight the Gulen movement, directly connected with a military coup attempt in the country. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu JHW_1882.JPG Margaret Burke stands with her broken dishwasher. (Joe Warner/For NJ Advance Media) Extended warranties are often the target of consumer watchdogs. Warranty providers make a buck and salesmen get hefty commissions, critics say. And then, while warranties are often described as "comprehensive," when something breaks, it's not unusual for consumers to find the needed repair is not covered. Margaret Burke, 84, had a different problem with an extended warranty she and her husband Daniel, 89, purchased on a GE dishwasher. The dishwasher was installed in August 2010, and in the summer of 2014, Burke paid $219.43 for the extended warranty. The warranty provider was Assurant Solutions, a company referred to customers by the manufacturer, documents show. In addition to the dishwasher warranty, the Burkes bought two other extended warranties from Assurant: one costing $110.57 to cover their washing machine and another for $145.78 to cover their electric range. When the dishwasher stopped working in August, Margaret Burke said, she called Assurant. She said she reported the problem, and someone was supposed to call her back to set up an appointment with a repairman. That was on Aug. 16. Burke said no one called her back, so she called Assurant again on Aug. 19. This time, the rep promised, someone would call her back in 15 minutes. But after not getting a call for three hours and 25 minutes, Burke said, she called again. This time, she was told to call the repairman herself, and the Assurant rep provided her with a phone number. "I called several times and on Aug. 22, I was able to leave a message," Burke said. "That was the only time I got through. After that, the mailbox was full." She said she kept trying to call at different times -- at 6 a.m., at 6 p.m. -- but she never got through and no one returned her message. Margaret Burke reviews the extended warranty for her broken dishwasher. Burke decided to do some research, and she found a host of online complaints about Assurant. Frustrated, she sent a letter to General Electric to complain about Assurant. "I want you to know that this company is not in the business of repairing appliances," she wrote. "They only sell warranties which have no value." She recounted her experience and she asked for assistance in getting a refund on the $475.78 she paid for the three warranties. "I fear that all the money spent on these extended warranties has been wasted," she wrote. The Burkes decided to call in another repairman. More than $150 later, the dishwasher was fixed. Maybe. Burke said she was told the problem was with the switchboard, and it could happen again. If it did, she'd need a new switchboard. A few days after the repair, the dishwasher failed. And she still hadn't gotten a call back from the Assurant repairman. But more than two weeks later, Assurant called to ask if she was having a problem with the dishwasher, Burke said. She said she told her story to the rep and asked for refunds on the costs of the three warranties. The rep said he would look into it and call her back, she said, but no one called. "At this point I am really not interested in getting the dishwasher repaired. Enough already," Burke said. "My plan is now to shop for a new dishwasher." GETTING A FIX We reviewed the extended warranties and took a closer look at Assurant. The company is indeed the subject of many online complaints. Assurant has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau even though it has 1.231 complaints in the last three years. Interestingly, the Better Business Bureau has received 1,231 complaints against the company in the past three years. Despite the large number of complaints, Assurant still has a grade of "A+" because it has answered all the complaints, the BBB website said. (Stay tuned. Bamboozled is working on an upcoming column with a deeper look at how companies with many complaints can still get a high grade from BBB. If you have questions you'd like us to pose to BBB, send us a message at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com.) We reached out to Assurant about the Burkes, and we also asked General Electric to examine the case. Assurant got to work quickly. The company said what happened to the Burkes was "a bit of a unique circumstance." "We have a network of servicers that we use to handle repairs and all of those in Mrs. Burke's area were booked out for more than a week, so we searched for someone else," spokesman Andy Mus said. Assurant found someone who promised to promptly handle the repair, Mus said. "But that never happened," he said. Mus said Assurant has contacted Burke to apologize for everything she went through, and the company has agreed to cancel and refund her for all three extended warranty contracts. He also said the company will "provide compensation" to repair or replace the dishwasher, but those details weren't worked out yet. We asked about all the consumer complaints the company has received. "We have in the U.S. some 78 million policies," Mus said, noting they included warranties for vehicles, appliances, electronics, phones and other household goods. "Relative to 78 million, it's a tiny fraction." He's got a point. Then Burke had an update. She said in addition to refunding the warranty costs, the company promised to reimburse her the money she paid for the repair cost. It would also give her $207.60 for the value of the broken dishwasher, she said. "I am quite satisfied with what they offered," Burke said. "Now I can purchase almost any dishwasher I want -- if the checks come through." We're glad she's now a happy customer, and we're also glad to see Assurant went above and beyond to do the right thing here. One other side note: GE finally responded to our request, saying that GE Appliances was sold earlier this year to Haier. Haier, a multinational Chinese company that makes consumer electronics and home appliances, made the purchase for $5.4 billion, reports said. Haier did not respond to requests about its relationship with Assurant. Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter. CAMDEN -- The fate that likely awaited the former city residence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lurked just beyond the backyard: demolition. As concerned residents, local clergy, NAACP officials and more joined forces Monday morning with Congressman John Lewis and Rep. Donald Norcross, an excavator went to work tearing down one of the hundreds of properties the city has targeted in an effort to combat crime and blight. "This house stands as a link to Dr. King's life and legacy and preserving it will affirm his rightful place in Camden's history, and our country's history," Norcross said of the "non-distinct three-story row home" at 753 Walnut St. that King called home during the 1950s while studying at Crozer Theological Seminary, in Pennsylvania. At Monday's gathering, Norcross said he's been in touch with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bob Martin in hopes of securing a historical designation for the long vacant home left in shambles by prior tenants and drug users. A demolition notice had been issued in July to property owner Jennatte Hunt, who said the home has been vacant for at least the past 20 years. While city officials said demolition is no longer likely, boosters are still seeking a better fate that that of sitting empty and boarded up next to a dirt lot. Bob Considine, with the DEP's press office, said his department has been "actively trying to assist in getting this application to a point where we have the necessary, documentary evidence to support a National Registry listing," adding that "the idea that we could commemorate a location associated with Dr. King to New Jersey is something that excites us and the Historic Preservation Office. So we're going to keep working on it." The discovery of King's ties to Camden were coincidental, according to Patrick Duff, a local historian who had been researching an encounter King had at a Maple Shade restaurant in 1950. The criminal complaint King and his friends filed after being refused service listed his address as 753 Walnut St. -- in Camden. Duff joined forces with Camden County NAACP branch President Colandus "Kelly" Francis to track down Hunt, who when asked by Duff if she had any ties to King, said, "Well, he used to live in my house." "The city of Camden has a historic place in the annals of civil rights history," said Francis. "We're small, but we're mighty." Lewis, who worked alongside King during this country's civil rights struggles, joined the call to preserve the property and save "this piece of historic real estate." "The work Dr. King started decades ago is still unfinished. The property, which stands now as as a simple row home, can serve as a touchstone for generations to come as they learn about Dr. King and his deeds to make our country stronger and more inclusive," Lewis said. Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook. MaRainey1.jpg Arnetia Walker stars as blues singer Ma Rainey in August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," now being staged by Two River Theater in Red Bank (Photo by T Charles Erickson Photography) With "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," Red Bank's Two River Theater continues an extraordinary run: Beginning with "Jitney" in 2012 and continuing with "Two Trains Running" (2013) and "Seven Guitars" (2015), the theater has staged four seminal works by the great playwright August Wilson. Under the direction of Wilson maestro Ruben Santiago-Hudson (who also directed Two River's "Jitney" and "Two Trains"), this new production sizzles and pops. Santiago-Hudson -- who won a Tony for his supporting role in the original 1996 production of "Seven Guitars" -- has assembled a cast of Wilson veterans, and their expertise shines through in their deft negotiation of the playwright's poetic language and their full-bodied evocation of his complex, troubled characters. The result is a "Ma Rainey" that feels true and powerful; it's a wonderful evening of theater. "Ma Rainey" is the 1920s play in Wilson's Century Cycle -- a series of ten plays, each examining the African-American experience in a different decade of the 20th century -- and the only one set outside of Pittsburgh. One tumultuous recording session unfolds in a Chicago studio: the title character clashes with management, tension brews among her band members, and society's racial politics loom. Ma Rainey (Arnetia Walker) is a diva of the highest order, and makes no apologies. As far as she is concerned, she has made a lot of money for the record company so "they gonna treat me like I want to be treated no matter how much it hurt them." The white men running the session -- executive Sturdyvant (Peter Van Wagner) and manager Irvin (Michael Cumpsty) -- believe they can reign in her attitude. Walker embraces the various facets of this character well. Certainly her Ma rails shrilly when necessary, but she is also tender, studied and discerning. She knows exactly how she is perceived, but Walker -- who also sings beautifully -- simultaneously shows us that this persona is purposefully constructed and cleverly managed. A long career as a black woman in the music business has taught Ma how eager others are to exploit her. Walker makes clear that this character is bringing all of these life lessons to bear on this one recording session. While Ma tussles with the businessmen upstairs in the recording studio, more drama unfolds downstairs (Charlie Corcoran's scenic design is meticulous) as the four-man accompaniment band spends more time arguing than warming up. Hot-shot trumpet player Levee (Brandon J. Dirden) tries to assert his musical superiority while pianist Toledo (Brian D. Coats) philosophizes about racial inequality, bassist Slow Drag (Harvy Blanks) sips whiskey, and band leader Cutler (James A. Williams) attempts to maintain order. All the various conflicts will come to head over the course of the play, but the real strength of "Ma Rainey" lies in the journey towards the climax. Dirden, Coats, Blanks, and Williams evince a comfort and fluency with Wilson's characters honed through years of experience. Williams, for instance, like he did recently as Holloway in "Two Trains," Daub in "Jitney," and Doaker in "The Piano Lesson" (all directed by Santiago-Hudson), breathes depth into Cutler, showing himself the resident master of Wilson's most reflective characters. Two River regulars will recognize Coats from last season's stellar "Seven Guitars," where he was Hedley, himself an assertive and deceptively wise community sage. Hedley and Toledo may seem quite different on the surface, but Coats reveals how both share the heart of a revolutionary. Arnetia Walker stars as Ma Rainey along James A. Williams, Brian D. Coats, and Harvy Blanks in August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." (Photo by T Charles Erickson Photography) Toledo's adversary is the slick, self-interested Levee, played here with real urgency by Dirden, a regular on the Two River stage who made his directorial debut for last season's "Seven Guitars." Dirden's Levee is loud, forceful, cocky, and in no mood to be lectured by some philosophical piano player. This "Ma Rainey" makes Two River four-for-four in its recent run of Wilson's Century Cycle, continuing a trend of quality that bodes well for the future; artistic director John Dias has pledged that the theater will stage all ten Cycle plays. (And who knows, maybe we'll get Wilson's one-man memoir play, "How I Learned What I Learned," as a coda). Wilson's blues, poetry and penetrating social critique have found an exciting home in Red Bank. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Two River Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, through October 9 Tickets available online (http://www.tworivertheater.org/) Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter @PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook. marley-dias-marley-mag-elle-editor-in-residence.jpg Marley Dias launched #1000BlackGirlBooks last year. Now she's an editor-in-residence at Elle.com. (Andrea Cipriani) When Marley Dias started her #1000BlackGirlBooks social media campaign to collect books featuring black girls as main characters, she didn't expect to exceed her goal of a thousand books. Dias, an Essex County middle-schooler, came up with the campaign last year after becoming frustrated with the lack of black, female main characters in books she had to read for school, the ones filled with "white boys and their dogs." But the effort drew a surplus of books -- more than 7,000 so far -- and a significant amount of attention from national media. Marley wound up a guest on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and later got to meet Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. Now the 11-year-old from West Orange has been made an editor-in-residence for Elle.com, which on Monday launched Marley Mag, a 'zine of her very own. "When you see a character you can connect with, if they learn a specific lesson, you're more likely to apply that to your life," Dias told NJ Advance Media in January when talking about the impetus behind her book campaign. Dias, then a sixth grader at Thomas A. Edison Middle School, said her ultimate goal was to edit her own pop culture and lifestyle magazine. So excited. My mini @ELLEmagazine named "Marley Mag" launches this week. Join me at the launch party with @MHarrisPerry. RSVP @WarbyParker -- Marley Emerson Dias (@iammarleydias) September 19, 2016 "In the blink of an eye, I've gone from being a book nerd in West Orange, New Jersey, to an Editor-in-Residence in New York City," Dias wrote in a welcome letter for Elle.com. "I've always said that books have taken me on many adventures, but none of those adventures have been quite like this one. This isn't a dystopian novel or a fantasy. It's my real life. I, Marley Emerson Dias, have gotten the chance of a lifetime. I'm creating a brand-new zine for one of the most-read magazines in the world." Dias, who interviewed writer-director Ava DuVernay and ballet dancer Misty Copeland for her Elle 'zine, ran a pitch meeting at the magazine this past summer. She was also interviewed by Melissa Harris-Perry, Elle's editor-at-large. "Every story needs to be told, in every way possible, so that everyone can get the information that they need," she told Harris-Perry. "And that's very similar to what I do with my campaign." The Essex County tween donated the first 1,000 books she collected to the Retreat Primary and Junior School and library in Jamaica, where her mother grew up. Extra books went to Dias' old school, St. Cloud Elementary in West Orange. Drawing on all the book donations Dias received, her mother, Janice Johnson Dias, president of the GrassROOTS Community Foundation -- a West Orange-based social action organization co-founded by Black Thought, emcee for The Roots -- whose mission it is to improve the health and well-being of women and girls, created a "1,000 Black Girl Books" resource guide for parents, teachers and students, which details the reading level of each title. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. FREEHOLD -- "I'm gettin' the willies," Bruce Springsteen said, walking the halls of Saint Rose of Lima School in Freehold, where he went to class 60 years ago. "How did you do while you were here," asked Anthony Mason, the "CBS Sunday Morning" reporter who followed The Boss down Memory Lane. "Not particularly well, I didn't fit in the box so well," Springsteen said, in a wide-ranging, homecoming interview that aired on the program Sunday morning. The Jersey icon strode the streets in the Monmouth County borough where he grew up, and discussed not only his upbringing, but also his strained relationship with his father Douglas, and more recent struggles with depression. "I got to where I didn't want to get out of bed, you know?" he said, from his home in Colts Neck. "And you're not behaving well at home, and you're tough on everybody. Hopefully not the kids. I always try to hide it from the kids. But, you know, Patti (Scialfa) really had to work with me through it - and she was... her strength and the love she had was very important." Each of the topics Bruce discussed are expanded much further in his new autobiography, "Born To Run," a 500-page memoir set to be released Sept. 27 by Simon and Schuster. Springsteen will return to Freehold that same day, for a book signing at Freehold's Barnes N' Noble from 12 to 4 p.m. Tickets are, expectedly, sold out. Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook. WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- A grand jury has indicted a woman who allegedly posted a message on Facebook saying she would blow up a local high school, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office. Kameria J. Johnson, 31, of Paulsboro, was apparently angry about racially insensitive social media posts made by a West Deptford High School student, authorities said at the time of her arrest in February. In January, a West Deptford student posted a poll on Twitter asking "What's more annoying at WDHS?" Respondents were given two choices -- "how cold it is" or "black hallway kids." In a second incident, someone altered an image of the school's website to say, "West Deptford HS home of all WHITE PEOPLE." While the image was shared online, the school's website wasn't actually altered. The incidents prompted a silent protest among students and administrators disciplined two students responsible for the posts, school officials reported. Johnson read about the incidents and allegedly posted "Ima blow that skol up" on her personal Facebook page, according to the complaint signed against her. She was charged at the time with causing false alarm and contempt. She was indicted this week on a third-degree charge of false public alarm. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- The Newark man shot by a police officer Friday in the Kearny Walmart parking lot was behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle when he was struck in the arm by a bullet, court documents indicate. Wearing a sling on left his arm, Ramon L. Martinez, 43, of Lexington Avenue made his first court appearance on the charges today in Central Judicial Processing from Hudson County jail in Kearny. He is charged with eluding police by failing to stop his vehicle after receiving a signal from the officer to stop, and placing the officer at risk of death or serious injury, the criminal complaint states. Martinez, who court officials said has 28 prior arrests, is also charged with receiving stolen property - the 2012 Honda he was driving at the time of the incident. The officer fired multiple shots at him in the Walmart parking lot, striking him in the arm through the windshield. Finally, he is charged with shoplifting, the complaint says. Authorities say Martinez had shoplifted at the Walmart and was fleeing the scene when the officer arrived and commanded him to stop. Probable cause for the charges is listed as the statements of witnesses and video surveillance footage that shows he "eluded a uniformed Kearny police officer after receiving multiple commands to stop his vehicle while creating a risk of injury to the officer," the complaint says. Martinez, who had a passenger in the vehicle, fled the parking lot but was arrested hours later in Newark by Kearny police. The passenger, Diego C. Dosreis, 28, also of Newark, was charged with receiving stolen property, officials said. The officer was not injured but he was evaluated at a local hospital, which is standard procedure when an officer fires his weapon, Kearny Mayor Al Santos said. He was later released. The mayor added that the officer had been nearby at the time of the incident and responded immediately. "The suspect is believed to have been a fleeing shoplifter and he threatened the officer with his vehicle," Santos said Friday. "The officer had to respond. He shot at the suspect because he was threatened by the suspect's vehicle as he tried to get away from the police officer trying to apprehend him." The shooting is being reviewed by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, as is the case in all instances when a law enforcement officer discharges his weapon in Hudson County. Martinez was informed that his bail has been set at $40,000 cash only when he appeared in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City this afternoon via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. Martinez said little at the hearing but did mention that his arm hurt. Dosreis did no appear in CJP today. JERSEY CITY -- About a dozen police officers, firefighters, and EMTs cooked up their best dishes Sunday afternoon with their sights set on being named the top chef among the city's first responders. The inaugural First Responders Charity Cookoff was held at the Beacon to benefit the Jersey City Firefighters Distress Fund, the Police Unity Tour and the Code Green Campaign. Cake Boss Buddy Valastro and New Jersey Devils legend Ken Daneyko were among the celebrity judges who helped taste and judge the first responders' dishes. Jersey City Police Officer Mariela Nieves took home two of the top five prizes -- the People's Choice Award and the Cake Boss Award -- for her Spanish pork and rice dish. The 11-year veteran and South District officer said she's looking forward to competing again next year. "I love things like this," Nieves said of the event. "You get to talk to the people of the community." Jersey City Medical Center EMTs Ernie Rios and Ray Krajovics placed second in the People's Choice category for their butternut squash pasta with brown butter sauce and grape tomatoes. Emergency Service Unit officer Emilio Ramos won the best overall dish for his pancit palabok and East District officer Franky Marto earned the Chief's Choice Award for his chicken fajita meatballs with black beans and jalapeno macaroni and cheese. Th other officers to compete in the challenge included: West District Det. Doris Johnson: savory collard greens and Greek grilled chicken salad South District officer Jermaine Truesdale: stuffed chicken breast over pasta East District officer Joe Boccassin: pasta puttanesca, North District officer Matt Lowenwirth: slight kicker chili North District officer Michael Tamburri: chicken over angel hair pasta Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. path train.jpg PATH trains are continuing to bypass the 23rd Street station while authorities continue to investigate Saturday's explosion that injured more than two dozen people. (Journal file photo) PATH service has resumed at the 23rd Street station in Manhattan for the first time since Saturday's explosion that injured more than two dozen people. The Port Authority said in a 10:55 a.m. PATHAlert that service to 23rd Street has resumed in both directions. Residents in New Jersey and New York are on high alert Monday morning after bombs and explosives were found in Seaside Park, Manhattan and Elizabeth this weekend. Police are searching for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan in connection to at least the Seaside Park and New York City bombings. Shuttle bus service along Sixth Avenue was suspended over the weekend while officials continued to investigate the Manhattan explosion. Authorities investigated a suspicious vehicle parked in a residential neighborhood of Secuacus this morning after police reported that wires were sticking out of it, Mayor Michael Gonnelli said. The vehicle was deemed safe and not a threat following the investigation. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY - Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the Katyn memorial at Exchange Place on Sunday as part of an annual ceremony honoring the victims of the Katyn Forest Massacre. Duda joined members of the Jersey City Polish community and the Katyn Forest Massacre Memorial Committee to remember the thousands people executed by Soviet Union forces between April and May of 1940. More than 22,00 Polish soldiers, officers, intellectual leaders, prisoners of war, religious leaders and other members of Polish society were brutally executed by Soviet Union forces. More than 4,500 bodies were found in a mass grave in Katyn Forest. The event also commemorated the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as well as the 77th anniversary of World War II. The Katyn Forest monument was unveiled at Exchange Place in 1991. Members of Polish veteran groups and the Polish American Congress gather there each year hold a memorial for the victims of the 1940 atrocities. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Orkhan Quluzade Trend: The agreement on normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel can de facto enter into force this week, Haber TV channel reported Sept.19. Preparations are underway in Turkeys Foreign Ministry for appointing Turkeys first ambassador to Israel after restoration of relations between the two countries. At the same time, Israel is expected to appoint its ambassador to Turkey. Moreover, this week, Ankara expects to receive compensation from Israel for the Freedom Flotilla incident. Relations between Israel and Turkey deteriorated after the Freedom Flotilla incident in 2010, when a convoy of six ships, including one flying Turkey's flag, tried to approach the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid and activists on board. The flotilla was blocked and stormed by Israeli forces, with eight Turkish citizens being killed as a result. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel should apologize for the Freedom Flotilla incident, pay compensation to the families of those killed, and end the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag earlier said that Israel will pay Turkey a compensation of $20 million for the Freedom Flotilla incident. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade jjxswat0919.JPG A SWAT team stands guard in West New York during the Salvadoran Parade after explosions in Seaside Park and Manhattan. (Richard J. McCormack Photo) It was anything but a normal September Saturday. In Seaside Park at the Jersey Shore in the morning, a pipe bomb exploded just before a large number of runners were about to pass. The start of the race, luckily, had been delayed because of the number of entrants. In Manhattan that night, an explosion injured 29 people and a second device was found just blocks away. Again, luckily, no one was killed. And in Minnesota, a man went on a slashing spree in a mall, injuring eight people before he was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. So far, investigators haven't found any link to international terror groups in the Seaside Park and Manhattan incidents. In the Minnesota incident, however, ISIS took credit although that hasn't been established. Saturday's results: Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkish armed forces have liberated more than 5,000 square kilometers of Syrian territories from the militants of the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group, the TRT Haber news channel quoted Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying Sept.19. Erdogan noted that currently, Turkish troops stationed in Syria are moving to the south as part of the Shield of the Euphrates operation. The ongoing terror in Syria is a problem not only for Damascus, but for the whole world, he added. On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force, with the support of the coalition aircraft, launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS in northern Syria, near Aleppo. The operation was dubbed the Shield of the Euphrates. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The IS, the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The Shield of the Euphrates operation in Syria is meant to ensure Turkeys security, Milliyet newspaper quoted Chief of the General Staff of Turkish Armed Forces Hulusi Akar as saying Sept. 19. Akar pointed out that the Shield of the Euphrates operation is not aimed against Syrias territorial integrity. Turkey has the right to ensure the security of its southern borders, he added. On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force, with the support of the coalition aircraft, launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL) terrorist group in northern Syria, near Aleppo. The operation was dubbed the Shield of the Euphrates. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The IS, the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey and the meaning of the word terrorism Huawei Expands Globally and Gets Respect from Chinese Tech Savvy Buyers Huawei gains more Chinese customers as it competes internationally. (Photo : Getty Images) Technology giant Huawei is gaining more success due to the increased patronage from Chinese consumers, now that the company is gearing up for a wider global audience. The Chinese company's sales are escalating and are posing a major threat to major smartphone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung. Advertisement "Huawei has a special quality that it dares to challenge Western high-tech giants and defeat them," says Tian Yiyan, a mobile-app developer in Shanghai. However, getting a major market share in China is not a simple feat. Many Chinese consumers favor imported brands, as seen in the food sector. Huawei is spending heavily in research and development. In the past three years, Huawei has spent $9.2 billion in R&D, compared to Apple's $8.1 billion. The company's position to take on companies from other countries is what is believed to get the patronage from Chinese buyers. "Huawei is a name that inspires pride in Chinese and Chinese companies," wrote business commentator Jiang Bojing. Many consumers prefer Huawei smartphones because of its cheap price and high-end specifications. A P9 Plus sells at 4,388 yuan or $657 compared with Apple's iPhone 7 Plus at 7,188 yuan. In the global arena, Huawei is also gaining traction as shipments rose 44% to 106 million units last year, with about 40% sold outside China. Sales in America is only around 960,000 units but is gaining in other countries. However, in the U.S., Huawei is nonchalant. The company claims that the although their sales in the U.S. is small, they are big in other places. Ge Chuanfeng, a geological engineer, said, "It represents the Western world's attempts to rein in China's growth and rise. In his social media, Ge encouraged consumers to stay loyal to Huawei. He posted, "Buy Huawei, support Chinese brands and dump Apple." A museum in Beijing shows remains from the Chinese Japanese war. (Photo : Getty Images) The victims of the Japanese war were served justice and as Wang Jianxue recalled, the memories and lessons live to this day. "The September 18th Incident was the beginning of the Japanese invasion of China, and the military trial in Shenyang was a part of the process of ending the aggression. The Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) began in Shenyang, and also ended in the city, he said. Advertisement Wang Jianxue is the chairman of the September 18th Incident Study Research Institute. Thirty-six personnel of the Japanese army was sent to a tribunal for war crimes set up by the Japanese government in 1956. All of the criminals guilty and included Suzuki Keiku and Rokusashi Takebe. Keiku was the lieutenant general and Takebe was commander of the 117th Division of the Japanese army and chief of general affairs of Manchukuo. Quan Deyuan was selected to be an assistant judge in the trial. When he was a law student in Peking Univeristy, he was asked to participate because he can speak Japanese. Quan said, "All the criminals pleaded guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence. And they never expected that Chinese people would be able to return good for evil because none of them were sentenced to death. Some of them even knelt down in court to apologize to their Chinese victims." "All the procedures of an international court were followed. According to international practice, lawyers should wear dark suits, white shirts and leather shoes. But this was in 1956, no one in China wore clothes like that, so they drew a great deal of attention when they were walking down the street," he said. The criminals were sent to serve prison terms of 20 years. Dangerous real estate. The attack yesterday by Muslim terrorists on an Indian Army base in Kashmir that killed 17 "jawans" has had the geopolitical result of the United States standing squarely by India against Pakistan, which India accuses of being behind the attack. Much to Pakistan's dismay, the U.S. said it is committed to a "strong partnership" with India to combat terrorism instead of calling on both India and Pakistan to avoid inflaming tensions, as was its usual response in past terrorist attacks on Indian forces. Advertisement "The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Kashmir during the early morning of September 18," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. "We extend our condolences to the victims and their families," he said. "The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism." The full-on expression of support by the U.S. is the latest indication of Washington's new world view of India as an indispensable ally in containing an aggressive China, whose rise is also undermining India's security. The U.S., however, did not blame Pakistan for launching the attack using its surrogates in Kashmir. Some analysts believe the wording of the official U.S. statement is telling since it again uses the phrase "strong partnership" that echoed a similar phrase used by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a recent news briefing in New Delhi. Here, Kerry said the U.S. "cannot and will not make distinction between good and bad terrorism," a viewpoint similar to India's. That statement was interpreted as a backhanded compliment to Pakistan that makes a distinction between good terrorists (or those it uses as an instrument of state policy such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed against India) and bad terrorists such as the Pakistani Taliban responsible for unrelenting attacks on Pakistani soil. The Kashmiris that attacked the army base at Uri are believed to be members of Jaish-e-Mohammed. Some Indian observers said it was clear to the U.S. who was behind the attack on the Indian Army's base at Uri in Indian-controlled Kashmir despite the U.S. not naming names. Pakistan is a hub of terrorism and is involved in subversive activities against India, claims Indian environment minister Prakash Javadekar. "Pakistan has become a big center of terrorism and is resorting to subversive activities as it cannot win an open war with India," he said. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA operative and long-time expert on the region said it's "been clear for several months that the Pakistan Army believes the situation in Kashmir is ripe for a re-intensification of the conflict and that India has few credible options to respond." Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert with the Wilson Center, said the attack might have been triggered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent comments about human rights violations in Balochistan, the Pakistani province where an insurgency by the dominant Baloch people fighting for independence from Pakistan has been going on since 1948. Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. CHICAGO - The children and adults travel from as far as Australia, Africa and Mongolia to see her, because she is one of the few dermatologists in the world who specializes in the rare and perplexing genetic disease that causes their skin to be disfigured by redness and dark scales across their entire bodies. There arent any great treatments for the disease with the hard-to-pronounce-name, ichthyosis. But now Dr. Amy Paller, who has spent 30 years researching the disorder, for the first time has found the reason the disease causes the red skin and has a promising biologic drug to begin testing soon in clinical trials. In a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Paller, the Northwestern Medicine chair of dermatology, together with Dr. Emma Guttman-Yassky of Mount Sinai Medical School, discovered that an arm of the immune system the Th17 pathway in these patients is way too active, and the higher its activity, the worse the disease severity. Paller is about to launch a clinical trial to test a new biologic (a cutting-edge drug) for it, with the goal of targeting and calming down this pathway. In ichthyosis, the skin barrier is abnormal, so the skin is inflamed, dry and scaly. These patients are tremendously disfigured by this skin disease, said Paller, also an attending physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago. It can be painful, itchy and easily gets infected. They may have trouble using their hands and walking. Patients also have trouble sweating, so its hard for kids and adults to participate in sports. The drug Paller will test, secukinumab, has already been highly effective in psoriasis, a more common skin disorder with an increase in this Th17 pathway, leading to inflammation and scaling. And with Pallers new discovery, she thinks the drug could be even more helpful in ichthyosis because the overactive immune pathway was actually more strongly correlated with ichthyosis than with psoriasis. The research was supported by the Foglia Family Foundation Endowment and the National Psoriasis Foundation. New report claims Google Nexus 2016 will get launched on October 4. (Photo : Getty Images/ Justin Sullivan) Google Nexus 7 2016 model is rumored to be on its way for the public to see. Although Google has remained silent about the Nexus 2016 smartphone release date, price and specs details, various leaks have confirmed that the upcoming Nexus 2016 will get a brand new name Pixel. With the online circulation of specs and other details, sellers on online sites have already begun selling the front panels of the handsets. Advertisement The touchscreen and front panels of the highly anticipated Google Pixel/Nexus 2016 smartphone have been put on sale on the Canadian eBay website by seller Oneby_tech, Android Headlines reported. The designs are based on current leaked images and renders of the Pixel handsets. Previous reports suggested that changes are going to be made with the series. It is alleged that there is a chance that the upcoming Google Nexus 7 will no longer be called as such. The smartphones may be changed from Nexus to Pixel (Codenamed Sailfish) and Pixel XL (Codenamed Marlin) considering the latest HTC-made smartphones for Google. Both the gadgets will allegedly be manufactured by Taiwan's HTC. According to Huawei blog, Google Pixel XL is expected to features Snapdragon 820 64-bit quad-core SoC paired with Adreno 530 GPU, a 5.5-inch Quad HD display and 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The device is alleged to get an 8-megapixel front camera and a 13-megapixel rear camera with Android 7.0 or Android 7.1 Nougat pre-installed. On the other hand, the Google Pixel is said to get a 5-inch full HD display, 3 GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 2,770 mAh battery. As for the price, the purported device will retail for higher price than last year's Nexus handsets if it is going to be based on the 10.2-inch Pixel C which costs around $500. But there is still a possibility that Google will maintain the price range of the Nexus line. The release date of Google Pixel/Nexus 2016 smartphones are alleged to be unveiled by the tech giant during a launch event tipped to happen on Oct. 4, 2016. There are even reports which claim that the highly anticipated Pixel and Pixel XL handsets will be available for pre-orders in U.S. the same day the handsets are announced. For now, fans who are anticipating the Google Nexus 7 2016 model will have to take this information with a grain of salt as nothing yet have been announced about Google Pixel/Nexus 2016 smartphone specs, release date and price details. Samsung's upcoming flip phone codenamed 'Veyron' is revolutionary, but only China will use it Samsung's high-end flip phone code-named 'Veyron' only targets the Chinese market. (Photo : YouTube/Samsung) After the announcement of the Galaxy folder 2 earlier this month, another of Samsung's upcoming devices has leaked online. Samsung SM-W2017 is an Android-powered high-end flip phone, codenamed "Veyron," and is expected to unveil soon. Rumors about the device have been rare although some publications such as Sam Mobile had previously noted of the device's existence. The smartphone succeeds the earlier model, SM-W2016, which was released last year with high-end specs and a clamshell design. Advertisement Apparently, Samsung has not stopped releasing clamshell Smartphones in china. With the leaked photos, it is now evident that SM-W2016 already has a successor, which will also be released exclusively in China. According to Phone Dog, the flip phone features a 4.2 Super AMOLED display, 4GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal storage, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, a 200mAh battery, and a USB Type-C port. It also comes with a 12MP camera with dual-pixel phase detection autofocus, 4K recording, and a 5MP selfie camera. Apart from those, Samsung SM-W2017 also come with what seems to be a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and a heart rate monitor. The overall design of the flip phone, according to mobile analysts, might have been inspired by that of the Samsung galaxy S7. And just like the latest Samsung phones, it is said to feature NFC and Samsung Pay. It is, nevertheless, more high-end than the recently released Galaxy folder 2, which features a 3.8-inch display, 2GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal storage. The only common thing between the two is that both devices will target the Chinese market. It is not clear if Samsung will extend availability to other markets. As of now, there is no official announcement of Samsung's flip phone although educated guesses suggest that the company will launch the device in the near future. The company is expected to rebuild its image with upcoming devices after the Galaxy Note 7 saga. Watch the video below for more info about the SM-W2017: Broncos back-rower Matt Gillett has avoided suspension for tripping, accepting an early guilty plea for his charge from Brisbane's semi-final loss to North Queensland. Gillett's 78th minute trip on Cowboys halfback Johnathan Thurston allowed the No.7 to kick a crucial penalty goal which levelled the scores at 20-all, but a previous good record means the Queensland forward won't face suspension, picking up 56 carryover points. For more than a decade, members of a little-known group called the Pain Care Forum have blanketed Washington with messages touting prescription painkillers' vital role in the lives of millions of Americans, creating an echo chamber that has quietly derailed efforts to curb U.S. consumption of the drugs, which accounts for two-thirds of the world's usage. In 2012, drugmakers and their affiliates in the forum sent a letter to U.S. senators promoting a hearing about an influential report on a "crisis of epidemic proportions": pain in America. Few knew the report stemmed from legislation drafted and pushed by forum members, and that their experts had helped author it. The report estimated more than 100 million Americans roughly 40 percent of adults suffered from chronic pain, an eye-popping statistic that some researchers call deeply problematic. The letter made no reference to another health issue that had been declared an epidemic by federal authorities: drug overdoses tied to prescription painkillers. Deaths linked to addictive drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet had increased more than fourfold since 1999, accounting for more fatal overdoses in 2012 than heroin and cocaine combined. An investigation by The Associated Press and The Center for Public Integrity reveals that similar feedback loops of information and influence play out regularly in the nation's capital, fueled by money and talking points from the Pain Care Forum, a loose coalition of drugmakers, trade groups and dozens of nonprofits supported by industry funding that has flown under the radar until now. Hundreds of internal documents shed new light on how drugmakers and their allies shaped the national response to the ongoing wave of prescription opioid abuse, which has claimed the lives of roughly 165,000 Americans since 2000, according to federal estimates. Painkillers are among the most widely prescribed medications in the U.S., but pharmaceutical companies and allied groups have a multitude of legislative interests beyond those drugs. From 2006 through 2015, participants in the Pain Care Forum spent more than $740 million lobbying in the nation's capital and in all 50 statehouses on an array of issues, including opioid-related measures, according to an analysis of lobbying filings by The Center for Public Integrity and AP. The same organizations reinforced their influence with more than $140 million doled out to political campaigns, including more than $75 million alone to federal candidates, political action committees and parties. Of that $880 million, nearly $2 million went to political candidates and parties in Indiana. That combined spending on lobbying and campaigns amounts to more than 200 times the $4 million spent during the same period by the handful of groups that work for restrictions on painkillers. Meanwhile, opioid sales reached $9.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a health information company. "You can go a long, long way in getting what you want when you have a lot of money," said Professor Keith Humphreys, of Stanford University, a former adviser on drug policy under President Barack Obama. "And it's only when things get so disastrous that finally there's enough popular will aroused to push back." Obama gave his first speech on the opioid epidemic last fall. In July, Congress passed its first legislation targeting the crisis, an election-year package intended to expand access to addiction treatment. But the law includes little new funding and no restrictions on painkillers, such as mandatory training for prescribers, a step favored by federal advisory panels. Obama administration officials said they have tried to strike a balance between controlling the harms of opioids and keeping them available for patients. "We did not want to deny people access to appropriate pain care," said Michael Botticelli, Obama's drug czar. "We were all trying to figure out what the balance was, and that's still the case going forward." Painkillers are modern versions of ancient medicines derived from the opium poppy, also the source of heroin. Prescription opioids were long reserved for the most severe forms of pain associated with surgery, injury or terminal diseases like cancer. That changed in the 1990s with a surge in prescribing for more common ailments like back pain, arthritis and headaches. A combination of factors fueled the trend, including new medical guidelines, insurance policies and pharmaceutical marketing for long-acting drugs like OxyContin. The drug's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $600 million in fines in 2007 for misleading the public about the risks of OxyContin. But the drug continued to rack up blockbuster sales, generating more than $22 billion over the last decade. Despite having no physical address or online presence, the Pain Care Forum hosts high-ranking officials from the White House, Food and Drug Administration and other agencies at its monthly gatherings. Purdue's Washington lobbyist, Burt Rosen, co-founded the forum more than a decade ago and coordinates the group's meetings, which include dozens of lobbyists and executives. Purdue declined to make Rosen available for interviews and did not answer specific questions about its lobbying activities or financial support for forum participants. Purdue said it supports a range of advocacy groups, including some with differing views on opioids. "In practice and governance, the Pain Care Forum is like any of the hundreds of policy coalitions in Washington and throughout the nation," the company said in a statement, adding: "Purdue complies with all applicable lobbying disclosure laws and requirements." While Purdue, Endo Pharmaceuticals and other members have maintained the forum does not take policy positions, the AP and Center for Public Integrity's reporting shows the group's participants have worked together to push and draft federal legislation, blunt regulations and influence decisions around opioids. Opioid drugmakers said they are striving to improve the safety of their products and how they are used. They point to new harder-to-crush pills and initiatives that, among other things, allow states to share databases designed to spot "doctor shopping" by patients. Elsewhere, experts are re-evaluating the effectiveness of opioids for most forms of chronic pain, noting little long-term research. "The biggest myth out there is that there's a conflict between reducing our dependence on opioids and improving care for patients in pain," said Dr. Caleb Alexander, co-director of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness. "It's an artificial conflict, but there are lots of vested interests behind it." 'THE EPIDEMIC OF PAIN' By spring 2014, the figure that 100 million Americans suffered from chronic pain was getting new attention: as a talking point for the nation's top drug regulator. The head of the FDA used the statistic to illustrate the importance of keeping painkillers accessible, despite the escalating toll of opioid addiction and abuse in American communities. In an online essay, then-Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said reducing the toll was a "highest priority," but that her agency had to "balance it with another major public health priority: managing the pain that affects an estimated 100 million Americans." That line populated her speeches and interviews for months. But Michael Von Korff, of the Group Health Research Institute, whose research contributed to the statistic, said the number has no connection to opioids. Instead, he said, it mostly represents "people with run-of-the-mill pain problems who are already managing them pretty well." Von Korff's work is funded by federal, foundation and health insurance sources. He also is an officer with Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a group pushing for restrictions on the drugs. Pain Care Forum participants spent nearly $19 million on lobbying efforts that included the legislation requiring federal research on pain and the Institute of Medicine report that first highlighted the figure. Concerns about the use of the statistic in connection with opioids and ties between some of the report authors and the pharmaceutical industry were covered by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2014. Nearly half the experts assembled by the Institute of Medicine to write the 364-page report had served as leaders in Pain Care Forum-affiliated groups, such as the American Pain Foundation, the American Pain Society and the American Academy of Pain Medicine all supported by industry funding. Hamburg said in an email that the report was "another piece of scientific literature that helped inform the broader field," which her agency had no role in producing. The Pain Care Forum discussed the legislation that led to the report at its first meeting in February 2005, according to notes by one of the group's principal members, The American Pain Foundation. Memos from the now-defunct foundation are among hundreds of documents obtained through public information requests by AP and Center for Public Integrity from the city of Chicago, which accused six drugmakers of misleading the public about opioid risks in an ongoing lawsuit. In June 2006, the forum organized a Capitol Hill briefing headlined, "The Epidemic of Pain in America." Briefing materials included statements such as: "Appropriate use of opioid medications like oxycodone is safe and effective and unlikely to cause addiction in people who are under the care of a doctor and who have no history of substance abuse." Attendees were asked to support a bill from then-Congressman Mike Rogers, which later would be rewritten by the forum and reintroduced in 2007 and 2009, according to the memos. It called for the Institute of Medicine now a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to develop a comprehensive report on pain in America. Parts of the legislation eventually passed with Obama's sweeping health care overhaul of 2010. Rogers, a Republican from Michigan, received at least $310,000 in contributions from forum groups from 2006 to 2015, which went to his campaign and to a leadership account that he could use to donate to his peers. Rogers, who left office last year, rejected the idea that he was influenced by the contributions, and said he began working on pain issues as a state senator after helping his brother through a series of back surgeries. "I think they said, 'This guy is a champion, he's doing something we believe in and we want to support guys like that,' " he said. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who together introduced the Senate version of the bill, received more than $360,000 and $190,000 respectively from forum participants. Staffers for Hatch did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Dodd, who left office in 2011, said in a statement: "Sen. Hatch and I worked together to increase awareness and understanding of this serious medical condition in the hopes of providing relief to the millions of Americans who suffer from chronic pain." U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, a Democrat whose district covers Northwest Indiana, said in a statement that the Pain Care Forum has not reached out to his office as he has worked to address the opioid epidemic. "I supported the most recent federal law that aimed to enhance the resources available for individuals and communities fighting to address this critical issue, and as a member of the House Appropriations Committee I will continue to exercise independent judgment to support the designation of federal funds for these new and existing resources," he stated. Phil Saigh, the executive director of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said he informed the Pain Care Forum years ago that his group did not consider itself a member of the coalition. Yet the academy has continuously appeared in directories of forum participants since 2006, including as late as 2013, the most recent documents available. The academy and the American Pain Society said some of the funding they receive from drugmakers is in the form of grants used for expenses tied to educational meetings and events. Both organizations also operate separate "corporate councils," in which companies are granted meetings with physicians in exchange for annual payments up to the $20,000 range. Jennifer Walsh, a spokeswoman for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, said, "We stand by our report, the committee, and the process that produced it." Experts who could personally profit from reports are prohibited from serving on its committees, she said. But the academies, which advise the federal government on scientific and medical topics, declined to release financial disclosure forms completed by panelists. Those on opposite sides of the opioids debate agree the report raised important points about pain treatment, including warnings about the addictiveness of painkillers. After the report's release in June 2011, the American Pain Foundation received $150,000 from Purdue to promote its findings through the Pain Care Forum. The foundation planned "congressional briefings and hearings" and "meetings with the leadership of various federal agencies," according to a November 2011 letter. The foundation closed the next year. Senate investigators had asked about the nonprofit receiving nearly 90 percent of its funding from industry. Meanwhile, a handful of lawmakers tried to draw attention to rising rates of painkiller abuse. In 2010, then-Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., co-founded the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, which focused on educating lawmakers about drug abuse. She clipped newspaper stories from her colleagues' home states, but recalled, "They'd just say 'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' and move on to more pressing matters." Bono, whose family had dealt with opioid addiction, drafted legislation in 2010 designed to curb opioid prescribing by requiring the FDA to limit the labeling for OxyContin and related drugs to "severe pain." OxyContin had long been marketed for a broader indication listed on the label as "moderate-to-severe pain." According to Bono, a Purdue lobbyist visited her and threatened to pull back on its state-level funding for drug abuse initiatives. "They were just letting it be known that if I didn't play nicer with them, they could cause some things to happen that I wouldn't like," she said. Purdue said in a statement that it met with Bono to support "her efforts to stop prescription drug abuse." The company said it does not oppose measures that "improve the way opioids are prescribed," even when they could reduce sales. Former Rep. Bill Brewster, D-Oklahoma, a contract lobbyist for Purdue at the time, said in an email that he recalled the conversation as "cordial and constructive." Purdue spent nearly $800,000 on lobbying efforts that included Bono's bill and subsequent versions of it. Pain Care Forum participants gave her campaigns more than $60,000 from 2006 through 2012. Bono's bill, the Stop Oxy Abuse Act, never received a congressional vote or hearing, even after Republicans regained control of the House in the November 2010 elections. She lost her congressional seat in 2012. 'WHAT'S A REGULAR TO DO?' In June 2012, a senior FDA official gave a presentation to the Pain Care Forum titled: "FDA and Opioids: What's a regulator to do?" For several years, the FDA had been developing risk-management plans to reduce misuse of long-acting opioids like OxyContin. With oversight of drugmakers and their marketing efforts, the agency seemed perfectly positioned to tackle the problem. But the plans the FDA laid out lacked the major reforms suggested by the agency itself in 2009, when it announced the initiative. Instead of mandatory certification training for doctors and electronic registries to track opioid prescriptions to patients, the FDA official outlined much milder steps: Drugmakers would fund optional classes for prescribers and supply pharmacy brochures to patients about opioid risks. Over several years, the FDA seemed to have backed away from any significant restrictions. "It was my observation that the staff at FDA had really bought into the idea that pain was greatly undertreated in the United States," said Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, former chief medical officer with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, a federal health agency. As early as December 2008, the Pain Care Forum was developing a strategy to "inform the process" at the FDA, according to meeting minutes from the American Pain Foundation. When the FDA sought public comment on how to proceed, the forum helped generate more than 2,000 comments opposing new barriers to opioids, according to a 2010 foundation memo. Additionally, the forum produced a 4,000-signature petition opposing electronic registries for opioid prescriptions, which advocacy groups said would stigmatize patients. Finally, in July 2010, the FDA assembled a panel of outside advisers primarily physicians to review its plans to manage opioid risks, including voluntary doctor training. During a comment period, several members of the public warned it was a mistake. Dr. Nathaniel Katz, a former FDA adviser turned pharmaceutical consultant, traveled from Boston to implore the panel to support tougher requirements. "The days of prescribers not being trained how to safely prescribe the number one medication in the United States have to be brought to an end by you today," said Katz, who had previously chaired the FDA panel, according to a meeting transcript. Ultimately, the panel voted 25-10 against the measures developed by the FDA, saying they would have little effect on opioid abuse. But the FDA put them in place anyway, one month after the agency briefed the Pain Care Forum on the plans. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels. Agency officials said they decided that requiring certification for opioid prescribers would have been overly burdensome and disrupted care for patients. "You can't imagine the bitter screeds we hear from the prescribing community about the paperwork involved," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA's drug center. She added that the opioid crisis fundamentally stems from individual prescribing decisions, saying, "We don't regulate medical practice." In the last two years, the FDA has placed several limitations on opioids, including adding new bolded warnings to immediate-release opioids such as Vicodin and Percocet. But prescriber training remains optional, even after a second FDA advisory panel again recommended the step earlier this year. Woodcock says the agency is still weighing that recommendation. Currently, states such as Massachusetts are imposing their own physician-training requirements, a development that Katz attributes to a lack of federal action. "The FDA failed to make a decision that could have averted many of the thousands of deaths we're seeing per year," Katz said. "So when people continue to die and communities continue to be devastated, then others will arise to do the policing." CHARTING A 'SAFER COURSE' It was a federal agency hundreds of miles from Washington that finally sidestepped the influence of the pain care lobbyists. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, located in Atlanta, overcame threats of congressional investigation and legal action to publish the first federal guidelines intended to reduce opioid prescribing earlier this year. Essentially, the agency said the risks of painkillers greatly outweigh the benefits for the vast majority of patients with routine chronic pain. Instead, the guidelines said, doctors should consider alternatives like non-opioid pain relievers and physical therapy. For more than 15 years, CDC officials have tracked the precipitous rise in painkiller overdoses, which has been followed by a similar surge in heroin deaths. The CDC called the painkiller trend an epidemic in 2011, pushing Washington officials to do the same. The agency's director, Dr. Tom Frieden, labeled opioids "dangerous medications" that "should be reserved for situations like severe cancer pain." When the CDC drafted its opioid guidelines, it moved quickly and quietly, initially giving outside groups just 48 hours to comment on draft guidelines distributed last September. Opioid proponents said the guidelines were not based on solid evidence and criticized the CDC for not disclosing outside experts who had advised the effort, alleging that they included physicians who were biased against painkillers. One pharma-aligned group, the Washington Legal Foundation, said the lack of disclosure constituted a "clear violation" of federal law. And a longtime Pain Care Forum participant now known as the Academy of Integrative Pain Management asked congressional leaders to investigate how the CDC had developed the guidelines. A House committee asked the CDC to turn over documents about its advisers, but staffers said the probe did not uncover any violations. Some of the most vigorous pushback came from Pain Care Forum affiliates embedded in the federal system. Under the 2010 pain legislation backed by the forum, the NIH had created a 19-member panel to coordinate pain research made up of federal officials, civilian physicians and pain advocates. At the group's December meeting, panelists with connections to the Pain Care Forum called the CDC's approach "horrible" and "shocking." Dr. Richard Payne, a former board member of the American Pain Foundation, questioned whether the experts advising the CDC had "conflicts of interests in terms of biases, intellectual conflicts that needed to be disclosed." Payne himself had received more than $16,240 in speaking fees, meals, travel and other payments from drugmakers, including Purdue, between 2013 and 2015, according to federal records. Myra Christopher, a longtime Pain Care Forum participant, said the panel should inform the CDC that it could not support the opioid guidelines and that their release should be delayed. Christopher holds a chair at the nonprofit Center for Practical Bioethics, which receives funding from opioid drugmakers, and her position was established through a $1.5 million gift from Purdue. Both she and Payne also served on the Institute of Medicine panel on pain in America. Christopher and Payne said they were thoroughly vetted before serving on the panel and disclosed their past work and activities. Federal officials who oversee the panel responded that all members met federal requirements to serve, including completing financial disclosure forms, though the NIH said those cannot be publicly released. One week after the NIH panel's critique, the CDC said it would delay finalizing its guidelines to allow more public comment and released a list of advisers. One of 17 "core experts" advising the agency reported serving as a paid consultant to Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, the law firm suing multiple opioid drugmakers on behalf of the city of Chicago. In March, the final guidelines appeared. The first recommendation for U.S. doctors: "Opioids are not first-line therapy" for chronic pain. It was a statement considered common practice by many doctors as recently as the early-1990s, a decade before the Pain Care Forum formed in Washington. "We're trying to chart a safer and more effective course for dealing with chronic pain," Frieden said. "We don't expect any magic. We don't expect things to be better in 15 months when it's taken 15 years to get this much worse." HAMMOND Five years ago, George Rogers Clark High School administrators joined forces with the state and Conexus Indiana, its manufacturing and logistics initiative, to implement new elective courses to help students become job-ready. The advanced manufacturing and logistics course of study was identified as a high-need area not only for Northwest Indiana but across the country, said Theresa Mayerik, assistant superintendent of Hammond schools. In late August, Conexus Indiana honored Clark High with its 2016 Conexus Indiana Hire Tech Legacy Award, recognizing its successful strategy to grow the Hire Tech workforce development program and supporting student success. When the Indiana Department of Education and Conexus Indiana approached our district to be a pilot site for the advanced manufacturing and logistics (classes), we identified Clark as a possible host site, Mayerik said. The rest is history, she said. Since that time not only have we developed and implemented the program at Clark, but we also serve as a model program for districts in Indiana and other states, she said. Conexus Indiana created the two-year Hire Tech curriculum in partnership with Ivy Tech Community College, with support from the Indiana Department of Education. As a result of the pilot, we received our initial equipment for the program from Conexus. The School City of Hammond continues to support this program through general funding, Title I and Title II funding, she said. The classroom instruction is paired with experiences with local industry partners, called Conexus A+ Partners, who work with local area high schools to implement the curriculum that provides students real-world experiences and opportunities in advanced manufacturing and logistics. There now are 177 schools involved. Clark Principal Robert Wilson has been a strong supporter of Hire Tech and works closely with classroom teacher Jim Bryant. Clark has a total enrollment of 1,355 students in sixth through 12th grade. Of that number, nearly 100 are enrolled in the Hire Tech classes. College credits, industry certification The class is a dual credit course, allowing students to receive college credits. Many of our kids are struggling in an urban area, looking for what is in their future. Hire Tech gave them an answer, Wilson said, adding that 84 percent of the students earn six credits and industry certification. He said many of the students have gone on to college and earned a better scholarship because of their Hire Tech background. Bryant said they show students and parents how technology has changed manufacturing and logistics, and he said its another path to success for students. Students who take Hire Tech are enrolled in Ivy Tech Community College, so I try to give the class a college-type atmosphere, he said. They have an opportunity to earn the college credits and industry certification. They take ownership of the projects, of their lessons and of the room. However, Wilson and Bryant said the biggest roadblock has been finding industry partners to give students an opportunity to work and apply their skills. There would be financial benefit to the partners, because Conexus will subsidize the student workers, Wilson said. Some of them have had concerns about their insurance and liability. We have been talking to some local companies but its still in the infancy stages. Bryant said instructors can tailor the course of instruction to local industry needs. For example, if Lever Brothers down the road had something specific they wanted students to learn, we could focus on that. We need local industry to participate with us, he said. Raquel Haro, 19, of Hammond, graduated from Clark in 2015 and now is a sophomore at Valparaiso University majoring in electrical engineering. She took the advanced manufacturing and logistics classes in her sophomore and junior years in high school. I learned a lot about the manufacturing process and what it takes to build a company and the logistics, she said. During interviews that Ive had for a couple of jobs, Ive mentioned the certifications that I earned at Clark and they were very impressed, especially by the fact that I earned those certifications while in high school. Everyone in Northwest Indiana has seen the Steelworker for the Future billboards that tout the opportunity to make $90,000 a year. ArcelorMittal launched the program eight years ago to train workers for the increasingly high-tech work at its steel mills, and is now considering making some changes. So far, 48 people have graduated from the program, 15 are ready to graduate and in process to be hired, and nine are in final testing, R.D. Parpart, Steelworker for the Future team leader, told an Indiana Manufacturing Association gathering at Avalon Manor last week. But about half of ArcelorMittal USAs hourly employees are eligible for retirement, and the the steelmaker expects that more than 500 will leave every year. It would be more if not for the Great Recession that turned everyones 401(k)s into 201(k)s, he said. So Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal is considering modifications to the Steelworker for the Future program to interest more students and especially their parents, to counter negative perceptions about manufacturing and the steel industry, Parpart said. ArcelorMittal could change it to a cohort program, let students get hired on before pursuing their college degrees or make it into a multi-company endeavor, perhaps rebranding it as Manufacturing Technician of the Future, Parpart said. Other companies could partner with ArcelorMittal so it could offer a broader program to train students for careers at NIPSCO, BP, Pratt, Praxair and U.S. Gypsum. That might have broader appeal that would attract more students, Parpart said. The steelmaker also could let students start earning college credits while still in high school, which might make make parents more willing to allow their children to participate. A struggle has been that so many parents push their children to get four-year bachelors degrees, regardless of the job prospects afterwards, Parpart said. I was just at a college fair in Crown Point, he said. Why not a college and career fair? There were over 100 tables and it was all colleges, except for us and the carpenters union. Theyre selling you to pay them $50,000 a year and at the end you might get a job. Im not selling you anything. You can come get a job. Steelworker for the Future is a 2.5-year program thats offered locally at Ivy Tech, Purdue University Northwest, Moraine Valley Community College and Prairie State College. Students have to maintain a 2.8 GPA and pass drug tests while training for careers as electricians and maintenance technicians. About 97 percent of graduates are now working for ArcelorMittal, and the few that are not decided they didnt want to work in a steel mill, Parpart said. About 10,000 people apply to any ArcelorMittal job openings at WorkOne, but what the company really needs is skilled employees. Forty years ago, the steelmakers predecessors employed 40,000 at Indiana Harbor, but today its just 4,600. The mill runs with only 15 percent of the employees it once had because its so heavily automated, but that also creates the need for better trained, higher skilled workers, Parpart said. Now we need someone who can operate GPS tracking for a locomotive that once had five people but now has one, he said. Now we need someone who can run a programmable logic controller for a rolling mill that once had 15 people but now has two, and theyre just watching it. We need someone who can work on robots. Forty years ago, no one would have imagined that. Robots were a thing of the future. If family's in town during the holiday season, why not round up everyone and head to Teibel' GARY A 30-year-old man died Friday from wounds he suffered in a shooting Tuesday, officials said.* Antonio Hill, of Gary, was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m. Friday at Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary, according to the Lake County coroner's office. Hill was shot multiple times Tuesday in the 4200 block of Connecticut Street in Gary, according to police. Officers found Hill in an alley. His death was ruled a homicide, a coroner's release said. The cause of death was listed as gunshot wounds. * Editor's note: Due to incorrect information provided by the Lake County coroner's office, a story Sunday was wrong about when a homicide victim was shot in Gary. Antonio Hill, 30, was shot multiple times Sept. 13, 2016, in the 4200 block of Connecticut Street. CHESTERTON A woman reported to police last week that she had likely been scammed by a telephone loan service. The woman told police she had been attempting to get a loan online. She said a company, Loans All Success, of New York, called her and offered to loan her the money. A man named Steven asked for information, including her banking numbers and passwords, then told her to purchase a $100 iTunes gift card. She followed directions, but when she attempted to access her bank account, she found she had been locked out. She also tried to redeem the gift card, but it had already been used. INDIANAPOLIS The LaPorte man convicted in 2014 for the cold case murder of 16-year-old Rayna Rison received a fair trial and is not entitled to any reduction in his 40-year prison term. Thats the unanimous ruling of the Indiana Court of Appeals, which last week affirmed the murder conviction of Jason Tibbs, now 41, for strangling Rison on March 26, 1993. According to court records, Tibbs and Rison briefly dated in middle school and Tibbs sought to rekindle the relationship outside the Pine Lake Veterinary Hospital where Rison worked. When Rison told Tibbs she didnt want to be with him he choked her to death. Tibbs then weighed down Risons body and with a friend, Eric Freeman, dumped it in a LaPorte County pond where police discovered it a month later, court records indicate. Risons brother-in-law, Ray McCarty, initially was indicted for the crime as he previously had been convicted of molesting Rison and was on probation at the time of her murder. However, prosecutors soon dismissed the charges against McCarty for lack of evidence and Risons murder went unsolved until 2008 when a previously unknown witness contacted investigators who gave Freeman immunity in exchange for telling what he knew. Tibbs argued in his appeal for a new trial claiming that he was unfairly denied the opportunity to suggest McCarty was the real murderer and to effectively challenge Freemans truthfulness. Appeals Judge Michael Barnes, weighing the record and the law, found the trial court properly excluded Tibbs claimed third-party perpetrator and appropriately disallowed the introduction of records intended to impeach Freemans testimony. We affirm, Barnes said. Tibbs, who is incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, still can ask the Indiana Supreme Court to review the appellate decision. INDIANAPOLIS Portrait artists with ties to Indiana have only until Friday to apply to paint an image of Gov. Mike Pence that will hang in the Statehouse for decades to come. The Indiana State Museum is coordinating the search for an artist to paint the 42-inch by 32-inch oil or acrylic portrait of the outgoing Republican governor, whose single term as Indianas chief executive ends January 9. Applicants must have Hoosier connections and experience in portrait painting. They must also submit a statement detailing how they approach their art, a suggested commission fee and images of prior work. Finalists will be determined in mid-October and the artist selected for the commission is set to be named by October 31. The painting must be completed no later than June 2017 for an unveiling later that summer. Due to Pences ongoing absence from Indiana as he campaigns for vice president of the United States, the museum recommends artists apply only if they are free to travel, at the museums expense, to meet and photograph the governor wherever he is. According to the museum, privately-raised funds will be used to pay for the painting, which will become part of the Indiana Governors Portrait Collection on display in offices throughout the Statehouse. The artist application is available online at: indianamuseum.org/governors-portrait-application. The portrait of Indianas most recent prior governor, Mitch Daniels, currently hangs above the security desk in the public lobby of Pences second floor Statehouse office. Lafayette native Richard Halstead depicted the two-term Republican standing in the governors office wearing a blue shirt and paisley tie. His left arm is resting on top of a yellow wing chair and hes holding a pen in his right hand. WASHINGTON Last years nuclear deal has removed for now the threat of a U.S.-Iranian military confrontation. But the deal rests on shaky ground. The accord curtailed Irans nuclear program, pulling it back from atomic weapons capability in exchange for the end of various oil, trade and financial sanctions by the U.S. and six other world powers. The sides fulfilled their pledges in January. Relations between the U.S. and Iran have warmed since the agreement, to the dismay of U.S. allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia. The once hostile foes are cooperating to end Syrias civil war. Each military is staying out of the others way as they battle the Islamic State group in Iraq. Nuclear consultations occur daily. But the next president could have his or her hands full. The Iranians are threatening to renege unless they receive greater economic benefits. In Congress, many Republicans and even some Democrats still want the deals collapse. Even if the accord survives, its nuclear restrictions start ending in about seven years meaning the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran could re-emerge. Where they stand Its basically a question of continuity versus change. Hillary Clinton helped lay the groundwork for the nuclear deal. As secretary of state, she tasked two of her most senior aides to meet secretly with Iranian officials. Those talks set the framework for the larger negotiations. Still, the Democratic presidential candidate has staked out a tougher tone than President Barack Obama. In a speech last year, she spoke of confronting Iran across the board from its military activity in Syria to destabilization of the Middle East. Republican Donald Trump has called the Iran deal stupid, a lopsided disgrace and worse. He says that unlike Obamas diplomats, he would have been prepared to walk away from negotiations. But Trump doesnt want to tear up the accord. Instead, he speaks of tougher enforcement and possible renegotiation. Trump has railed against several of the deals particulars, such as the timespan of restrictions on Irans enrichment of uranium and other nuclear activity. He says Iran got too much relief from economic sanctions. Its unclear, though, how he might persuade Iran to accept less favorable terms in a done deal. Libertarian Gary Johnson expressed mixed feelings about the Iran deal with ProCon.org in June. I came to recognize that in fact Iran is the largest funder of terrorism, and that this deal unfroze assets that, from what I can ascertain, are between 100 billion and 155 billion dollars, and Secretary (of State John) Kerry himself says that some of this money will in fact be spent on terrorism, Johnson told ProCon.org. However, theres a 10-year deal, subject to verification, that Iran wont develop nuclear weapons. Well just see what happens, he said. Why it matters Until nuclear diplomacy gained speed in 2013, a U.S.-Iran war was a distinct possibility. Clinton and Trump say they would use force if necessary to prevent Tehran from acquiring the bomb. If the deal unravels and Iran increases its enrichment of uranium toward weapons capability, a U.S. military intervention would be back in play. Any conflict risks broad consequences. Iran can retaliate by disrupting global fuel supplies from the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of the worlds oil flows. It can unleash its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas on U.S. ally Israel. Tehran can block attempts to end Syrias war or it can play a bigger spoiler role in Yemen, where it has backed rebels whove seized much of the country. If Iran sticks to the agreement, the next president may still face big decisions as the deal begins winding down. By 2024, Iran can resume manufacturing and testing of advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium. INDIANAPOLIS Both of Indianas major statewide races in the Nov. 8 general election now are rated Toss Up by national, nonpartisan election prediction organizations. On Monday, Larry Sabato, of the University of Virginias Center for Politics, revised his Crystal Ball to no longer classify Indianas U.S. Senate contest as Leans Democratic. He said the change to Toss Up was prompted by new poll results showing Democrat Evan Bayhs formerly massive lead over Republican Todd Young is within the margin of error, as well as trickle-down effects from the presidential race. (Donald) Trumps vice presidential nominee, incumbent Gov. Mike Pence, has united the GOP factions behind the ticket in a normally Republican state, and it benefits the whole Hoosier GOP ticket, Sabato said. Young spokesman Jay Kenworthy attributed the change to Hoosiers figuring out they dont like what Bayh a former two-term governor who represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate from 1999 to 2011 has become. The more they hear about his time in Washington voting with Hillary Clinton and then making millions as a lobbyist, the more they want to send a Marine like Todd Young to the Senate, Kenworthy said. Sabato and the Cook Political Report both also rate the Indiana governors race, between Democrat John Gregg and Republican Eric Holcomb, as a Toss Up. LOWELL Venture Crew 1320, local Boy Scouts of America, are sponsoring a car, truck and bike show Saturday on the grounds of American Legion Post 101, 101 1/2 E. Commercial Ave. From 8 to 11 a.m., participants can register at a fee of $15. Discounts will be offered to clubs with 10 or more members participating. The entries will be judged from noon to 1 p.m. and dash plaques awarded. Mike Holt of Venture Crew 1320 said a swap meet will be held in conjunction with the show, so those with entries are invited to bring items for swapping as well. Door prizes will be awarded. Holt said proceeds from the show will help pay for tents and camping gear for the scouts. For more information, contact Holt at (219) 488-7139. LOWELL The Town Council is joining South Shore Clean Cities with an aim toward saving money and reducing the carbon footprint. It will begin by participating in the propane-fueled vehicle grant program. Town Manager Jeff Sheridan said he'd like to switch out two to three diesel-operated town vehicles for propane. Specifically, the town could realize an 80 percent savings for a parks department truck with a snowplow and a 2-ton truck for the street department. A diesel vehicle must be pulled out of service for each propane vehicle secured through the grant. "They want diesels off the road," Sheridan said. Town Council President Chris Salatas, R-4th, said the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is clamping down on diesel and fossil fuels, in general. He said he expects to see an articificial price hike to make that happen. SCHNEIDER Lake County police said a worker was critically injured Monday when a crane he was operating tipped over. Dan Murchek, assistant county police chief, said the person, who wasnt identified late Monday, was flown by helicopter to an Illinois hospital for treatment. His condition is unknown. Police said the victim, a 65-year-old from Lake Village, was operating a crane 10:15 a.m. Monday on a railroad car sitting on tracks near 236th and Highland in Schneider when it fell over. County officers arrived and assisted the Tri-Creek Fire Department and several other fire departments that arrived to assist. Officers radioed the county E-911 department to contact the railroad company to stop any incoming trains since the crane had fallen near the tracks. Officers blocked the roadway and secured the scene for fire personnel and for a medical helicopter to land on scene. Fire personal were able to free him and he was transported by helicopter to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill. A spokesman for the Norfolk Southern Corp. said he didnt have a report on the accident. Murchek said the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to investigate of the accident. LINDEN, N.J. A New Jersey police officer responding to a call about a hoodied vagrant curled up asleep in a bar doorway roused him and quickly recognized the bearded face of perhaps the most wanted man in America. Ahmad Khan Rahami identified in an FBI bulletin just hours earlier as a man wanted in the weekend bombings in New York City and New Jersey pulled a gun, shot the officer and triggered a running gun battle in the street that ended with Rahami wounded and in custody Monday, authorities said. A bloodied Rahami was loaded into the back of an ambulance, just 50 hours after the first blast that started it all. Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the New York area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said officials have every reason to believe the series of bombings "was an act of terror," though investigators said Rahami's exact motive isn't yet clear. With Rahami's arrest, officials said they have no indication there are more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they are still investigating. Still, after a whirlwind investigation that put Rahami in custody in just two days' time, "I'm a lot happier today than I was yesterday," New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said. The probe started when a pipe bomb blew up Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured. Then a shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack exploded Saturday night in New York's Chelsea section, wounding 29 people, none seriously. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away. Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. Late Monday, a hospitalized Rahami was charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with the shootout and was held on $5.2 million bail. Federal prosecutors said they were still weighing charges over the bombings. It wasn't known if Rahami had an attorney. Messages left for family members were not immediately returned. Rahami lived with his family above their fried-chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, and his relatives have clashed with the city over closing times and noise complaints they said were tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment. A childhood friend, Flee Jones, said Rahami had become more religious after returning from a trip to Afghanistan several years ago. Still, some of the family restaurant's customers said that while Rahami was devout, he was more likely to talk about his interest in cars than to mention faith. William Sweeney Jr., the FBI's assistant director in New York, said there were no indications Rahami was on law enforcement's radar at the time of the bombings. Authorities zeroed in on him as the potential bomber after a fingerprint and DNA obtained from one of the New York sites and "clear as day" surveillance video from the bombing scene helped identify him, according to three law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami but were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might later face charges. The law enforcement officials said at least one of Rahami's relatives was in the car, which appeared headed toward Kennedy Airport in New York after coming from New Jersey. Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late Monday morning, when a bar owner reported someone asleep in his doorway. Jack Mazza, co-manager of nearby V.C.M.R. Truck Services, said the bar owner came over exclaiming about the sleeping man, and Mazza walked over to see a man curled up with a sweatshirt hood pulled over his head in the rain. "He looked like a bum," Mazza said. After an officer arrived and recognized Rahami, Rahami shot the officer, who was saved by his bulletproof vest, authorities said. More officers joined in a gun battle that spilled into the street. Another police officer was grazed by a bullet. Authorities said neither officers' injuries were life-threatening. Peter Bilinskas said he was standing by his desk at his Linden bowling-supply shop when he heard what sounded like gunfire and saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand. As a police car pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him, Bilinskas said. As the East Coast was rattled by the bombings, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall Saturday before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. Authorities are investigating it as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group, welcomed Rahami's arrest. The organization and the Afghan Embassy in Washington condemned the bombings. Around the time Rahami was captured, President Barack Obama was in New York on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He called on Americans to show the world "we will never give in to fear." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for using "whatever lawful methods are available" to get information from Rahami, mocked the fact that he would receive quality medical care and legal representation, and called for profiling foreigners who look like they could have connections to terrorism or certain Mideastern countries. Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said her rival's anti-Muslim rhetoric gives "aid and comfort" to Islamic terrorists by helping them recruit fighters. Rahami's father, Mohammad, and two of Rahami's brothers sued the city of Elizabeth in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring their restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, to close early because of complaints from neighbors that it was a late-night nuisance. The Rahamis charged in the lawsuit that they were targeted by neighbors because they are Muslims. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 after Mohammad Rahami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Ahmad Rahami working there more. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," McCann said. ___ Pearson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Dake Kang and Michael Catalini in Elizabeth; Tom Hays in San Francisco; and Eric Tucker, Alicia A. Caldwell and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. Suburban Indianapolis police say an auto theft suspect fatally shot by an officer had produced a weapon at the end of a brief, high-speed pursuit. Lawrence Police say in a news release that three people were in the suspected stolen vehicle Thursday afternoon when the driver fled from a traffic stop. Police say the driver at one point slowed down and two passengers got out and surrendered. Police say the pursuit ended on the east side of Indianapolis after the man lost control of the vehicle and it came to a stop. They said Friday that after the man produced a weapon, one Lawrence officer shot the suspect one time. The Marion County Coroners Office identified him as 36-year-old Carlos Trotter. UNITED NATIONS World leaders meeting at the United Nations starting today will be trying to make progress on two intractable problems at the top of the global agenda the biggest refugee crisis since World War II and the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year which has claimed over 300,000 lives. Against a backdrop of rising ethnic and religious tension, fighting elsewhere in the Mideast and Africa, extremist attacks across the world and a warming planet, there are plenty of other issues for the 135 heads of state and government and more than 50 ministers expected to attend to try to tackle. Its no secret theres a lot of fear out there, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters Thursday, citing the uncertainties sparked by Britains vote to leave the European Union, the threat posed by the Islamic State extremist group, and attacks in many parts of the world by IS and other terrorist groups. But Syria, where a tense cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington went into effect last Monday, remains at the top of the agenda at the U.N. General Assemblys annual ministerial meeting. An apparently errant airstrike on Saturday in which the U.S. military may have unintentionally struck Syrian troops while carrying out a raid against the Islamic State group could deal a crushing blow to the U.S.-Russian-brokered cease-fire. The cease-fire, which does not apply to attacks on IS, has largely held for five days despite dozens of alleged violations on both sides. The U.N. Security Council held a closed emergency meeting Saturday night at Russias request to discuss the airstrike. The acrimonious meeting offered a harbinger of the difficulties ahead as the U.S. and Russia remain suspicious of each others intents in Syria. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power accused Russia of pulling a stunt that is cynical and hypocritical in calling for the meeting while not taking similar action in response to atrocities committed by Syrian President Bashar Assads regime. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he had never seen such an extraordinary display of American heavy-handedness as displayed by Power. The acrimony over the airstrike could spill over into a Security Council ministerial meeting on Syria scheduled for Wednesday. Russia was pushing for a resolution to endorse the cessation of hostilities and look ahead, but the U.S. refused to make public details of the cease-fire deal citing operational security. Churkin earlier had called the U.S. uncooperative and said most likely were not going to have a resolution. With the truce still fragile, no sign yet of humanitarian aid deliveries, and supporters and opponents of the Syrian government trading accusations, diplomats said there may be a meeting Tuesday of some 20 key countries on both sides who are part of the International Syria Support Group to chart the next steps. The spotlight during the week is also certain to shine on three leaders, who are all scheduled to speak at the assemblys opening ministerial session on Tuesday morning. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who steps down on Dec. 31, and U.S. President Barack Obama who will leave office in January, will be addressing the 193-member world body for the last time. And British Prime Minister Theresa May will be making her debut on the world stage less than three months after the vote to leave the European Union. In U.N. corridors and at private meetings, the question of Bans successor will be a hot topic. Portugals former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has topped all four informal polls in the Security Council but he could be vetoed, possibly by Russia, and there are constant rumors of new candidates throwing their hats in the ring. The U.S. presidential race is already a hot topic at the U.N., and no doubt leaders will be privately discussing the impact of a victory by Hillary Clinton, and especially Donald Trump, on the United Nations where the United States is the largest financial contributor and has veto-wielding power in the Security Council. In one of the weeks highlights, the secretary-general has invited leaders to a first-ever U.N. Summit on Refugees and Migrants on Monday. According to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, an unprecedented 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from a year earlier and the highest number since World War II. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million people internally displaced within their own countries. More countries must resettle more people who have been forced from their homes, Ban told reporters Wednesday. And everyone, everywhere, must stand up against the animosity that so many refugees, migrants and minority communities face. The political declaration set to be adopted calls for separate Global Compacts for refugees and migrants to be adopted within two years. But human rights groups complained that it was watered down, eliminating Bans proposal to resettle 10 percent of the worlds refugees annually. At a follow-up summit on Tuesday called by Obama, at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that will meet or exceed U.S. goals of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and lawful admission spots, and increasing access to education for one million youngsters and access to employment by one million, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the summit. We are not going to solve the refugee crisis on Tuesday, U.S. envoy Power said, but I think youll see an important show of political will from leaders around the world. According to the United Nations, 545 meetings have been requested and Ban will take part in 62 events. The U.N. chief, who has made climate change a top priority, has organized an event Wednesday for countries to deliver their ratifications of the Paris Declaration to tackle global warming. He is hoping to get the required 55 countries representing 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, if not Wednesday, by the end of the year. Nigerias Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, whose government is battling the insurgency by Boko Haram Islamic extremists, told reporters Friday that addressing this global phenomenon of terrorism will be high on his countrys agenda along with tackling the U.N. development goals for 2030 and promoting a new U.N. body to focus on youth. The Security Council is holding a ministerial meeting Thursday on improving aviation security, and it could meet again if agreement is reached on a resolution to support the nuclear test ban treaty which will likely single out North Korea, the only country to conduct tests in the 21st century. The parties to the Iran nuclear deal are also scheduled to meet Thursday as well as the Quartet of Mideast mediators the U.S., U.N., EU and Russia who are trying to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Highland High School alum Ryan Grigson now has one of the top jobs in the NFL. Rick's Favorite Places When it comes to shopping, Thacker says that Elizabeths and his hands-down favorite shopping destination is Costco. For dining out, they enjoy Lighthouse in Cedar Lake, Olive Garden, and Chick-fil-A. Of course, music tops the list for local entertainment. We like to attend the outdoor summer concerts put on by the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra," he says. "Plum Grove students are frequently featured as soloists at those concerts, so we go to support them as well as the orchestra. MUNSTER The Regions Theatre at the Center has won four nominations for Jeff Equity Awards On the Marquee The 2017 season is the first season that I got to choose, Fortunato says, so I worked really hard to find a variety of shows that will appeal to our current audience and hopefully draw in a new audience. After putting the puzzle together and stepping back, Im really pleased where it ended up. Annie Warbucks Nov 17-Dec 18, 2016 Its a sequel to Anniemost people are familiar with the story of Annie and the characters, but this is a new story, so its known to a degree, but completely fresh. My WayA Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra Feb 9-March 19, 2017 Nobody is trying to impersonate him; its a tribute, and its such great musicthe classics and standardsthat I think it will be very enjoyable. Cabaret May 4-June 4, 2017 One of my all-time favorite musicals, and its also so very timely. Very entertaining, great music and dancing, and a really powerful story. The Tin Woman July 13-Aug 13, 2017 This will be the Chicago area premiere. Its very funny and heartfelt, and theres a wide range of emotions that go along with the play. Its really a beautiful story. Big RiverThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Sept 14-Oct 15, 2017 This is a timeless story with really fun music. Its very theatrical with an inviting format. A Wonderful Life Nov 16-Dec 23, 2017 A beautiful retelling, based on the film. Its very true to the movie, plotwise, and there are some really beautiful songs. It will be great for people to bring the whole family. [Artistic director emeritus] Bill Pullinsi will be directing this, and hes been great at providing support for me in transitioning to this position. For more information, visit theatreatthecenter.com. The Associated Press is reporting that law enforcement officials have discounted a social media post claiming responsibility for the explosion that injured more than two dozen people in Chelsea Saturday night. Investigators were reportedly looking into a statement posted on the social blogging site Tumblr that was titled "Manifesto of the New York City Bomber." The author claimed to have planted the explosives as a way to call attention to LGBT rights. The post has since been taken down. A law enforcement source tells the AP that investigators have determined that the post was not relevant to the case. The FBI and NYPD say they have the man responsible for terrorizing New York and New Jersey by setting off bombs this past weekend. But it took a gun battle to bring him in. It's been a remarkably fast-moving investigation and NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger has the details. A wild scene in Linden, NJ as police got into a shootout with Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in the bomb blast that shook Manhattan Saturday night. Rahami is charged with five counts of attempted murder after the exchange of gunfire with police. "The officer just said show me your his hands and the suspect pulled out a handgun and fired," said Linden PD Captain James Sarnicki. Linden police fired back, hitting Rahimi several times. "The suspect shot at a police car, the bullet went through the windshield and there was a glancing off the officer's facial head area." Police in Linden were called Monday morning because of a man sleeping in a bar doorway. When cops tried to wake him, they discovered it was the 28-year-old Rahami the person wanted by the NYPD and FBI for the 23rd street explosion, a pressure cooker bomb on 27th Street that didn't go off, and a bombing on the Jersey shore near a 5K military race. "Based on the information we have now, we have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan, was living in Elizabeth, NJ. That's where homeless men found a bag with pipe bombs in Sunday. One bomb exploded as it was handled by a police robot. Rahami's arrest occurred nearly 12 hours after the FBI and NYPD pulled over a car in Brooklyn with his relatives inside. "That vehicle had been observed by JTTF personnel at a location associated with Rahami," said FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney Jr. They were questioned and released. Officials said they were looking for no other suspects. "I have no indication that a cell is operating in the city or the area," Sweeney Jr. said. But this investigation is not over. The FBI and NYPD say they're going to dig for more information. "That's what we do," said NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill. "We are going to talk to family and talk to friends and see what the connections are." Police say clues from all of the scenes including the pressure cooker bomb, which had a cell phone connected to it, led to Rahami. Cops are also searching for two men who took the pressure cooker bomb out of a suitcase, and took the suitcase while leaving the bomb on the street, apparently not knowing it was a potentially deadly device. "They look like they were just two just strolling up and down 7th Avenue at the time," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "We have no information that would link them to this at all." But investigators want to know if those men saw anything. The bomb blast in Chelsea occurred just as world leaders head to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. It has resulted in even greater security and concern. NY1's Roger Clark filed the following report. New Yorkers who live and work around the United Nations are accustomed to a traffic mess and enhanced police presence during the General Assembly. "It's scary," said one New Yorker. "I walk around looking at people, which I never usually do." But this year, with the city on edge, there's even more of a contrast from everyday life here. And indeed, there is a substantial law enforcement presence in the area around the United Nations to go along with numerous street closures as diplomats and leaders from around the world visit. There are lanes closed for emergency vehicles and diplomatic entourages on busy thoroughfares like 42nd and 57th streets and Second Avenue. First Avenue is shut down from 42nd to 48th, and side streets near the UN from 44th to 46th are closed to traffic between First and Second Avenues. It's something some residents say they can never get used to. "How can you get used to horrible traffic?" said one resident. "They close everything down for a week. It makes it hard for people to live in the neighborhood," said another. But maybe even more on the minds of folks around here were fears of an attack like the one in Chelsea Saturday night occurring around here. That's why residents NY1 talked with said the extra police presence is welcome. "I think they do a great job keeping the city safe. They do. In light of everything that happened. So, I feel pretty safe walking around," said one resident. "I feel this is a very secure neighborhood. And I think having the police here obviously makes it more secure," said another. So others say they will go about their business, with maybe a bit more vigilance than usual. "I'm not surprised or scared at all," said one resident. "Got to live and keep going. That's all." "You do what you can to protect yourself and don't take chances," said another. One woman told NY1 she doesn't mind all of the extra police and flashing lights in the neighborhood but said it's terrible that things like this keep happening. It's scary. But you just have to go on and keep living. Montreal POP Montreal Various venues, Sept 21-25 Over 450 music groups, mostly indie names, will play in venues around Montreals city center for this major festival, which takes place here this fall. Headliners include Angel Olsen, who has made her name with a country music-infused brand of rock; the British group, Lets Eat Grandma, which made its debut this year with the ambient album I, Gemini; and Slow Down Molasses, a group of indie rockers from Canadas Saskatchewan province. The French-Lebanese trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf will play a Sept. 23 concert at the Maison Symphonique. popmontreal.com Shanghai Overpop: New Art From Yuz Collection and Beyond Yuz Museum, through Jan. 15 This exhibition focuses on the latest generation of post-pop artists, contemporary artmakers whose work nods to consumer culture and the pop market (The term OVERPOP was coined by the art dealer Jeffrey Deitch, who helped curate the show). It includes a mix of artists from Europe, the United States and China, like Alex Israel, whose work includes a giant sunglass lens; Wu Di, best known for a series of eerie portraits of people in strange face masks; and Samara Golden, who makes giant immersive installations. yuzmshanghai.org [ Our full report on the 2016 Emmy Awards | the list of Emmy winners | red carpet looks | our critics review of the show ] On the night of TVs biggest awards, the men have it easy and the women have it tough. The male nominees, navigating the red carpet and the pit of interview opportunities that await them there, mostly look unbothered or bored, in black (and, occasionally, navy) tuxes hauled out for an evening. The actresses, on the other hand, do the heavy lifting, at least where fashion is concerned. Kristen Bell, a presenter for the evening, looked radiant in a floral, crystal-embroidered gown by the Lebanese couturier Zuhair Murad. I wanted to do something more whimsical than Ive done before, Ms. Bell said, and whimsical it was except when she had to scoop up its enormous skirt in huge armfuls and make her way up and down for interviews. [ Our full report on the 2016 Emmy Awards | red carpet looks | our critics review of the show ] These are the major winners of the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Additional winners are listed at emmys.com. Drama Series: Game of Thrones (HBO) Comedy Series: Veep (HBO) Mini-Series or Movie: The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX) TV Movie: Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Masterpiece) (PBS) Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO) Variety Sketch Series: Key & Peele (Comedy Central) Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent Adblock Plus, an ad blocker now used on more than 100 million devices, started out as an almost utopian idea a decade ago. Wladimir Palant, a 20-something developer who was annoyed with intrusive ads online, created it as an open-source project and quickly built it up with the help of volunteers who also wanted to make the internet faster, less cluttered and safer from malware. Mr. Palant wanted publishers to make ads that did not degrade internet users with interruption and animation, he wrote on his blog in 2007. As Adblock Plus surged in popularity, he was able to turn it into a full-time job, increasing its staff to three employees in 2011 and housing it under a company named Eyeo GmbH in Germany. Its motto: We want to make the internet better for everyone. Purging bad ads is a good start. But shortly after that, in 2011, Adblock Plus was altered and became a tool that, instead of blocking bad ads, allowed ads it deemed acceptable to be seen, often for a price a controversial move that has positioned it as a gatekeeper between advertisers and its huge user base. Now, with a staff of about 70, the company has moved even deeper into that business with an automated online advertising service that will allow more websites to place ads deemed acceptable in front of Adblock Plus users. It is a coveted group for advertisers and publishers: Users are often relatively young, well educated, tech-savvy and hard to reach. But the introduction of the service last week ignited a backlash among consumers, who accused Adblock Plus of veering from its purpose. Last week, I caught Larry King on his post-CNN media perch, the RT America television network. His guest, the actress and activist Kamala Lopez, was powerfully emotional as she called for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Just as intriguing was the RT host and former MSNBC personality Ed Schultz. His program on Wednesday, for instance, featured a fairly typical discussion about Colin Powells leaked emails. One unique feature of the conversation, however, was what it did not include: any mention of Russias suspected connection to the leak. But what do you expect? RT America is the United States version of Russia Today, the global satellite network financed by the Russian government. You can watch it on Dish Network; on cable in select cities like New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia; or online anywhere. If we lived in normal times with perspective and some minimal grounding in history a reader would now ask: WHAT? Larry King and Ed Schultz are on a Russian state-financed television outlet? Part of the network President Vladimir Putin formed a few years ago to break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams? Many restaurants host an evening for friends and family before a formal opening as a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Such was the case on Sept. 16 at the Brooklyn bistro 21 Greenpoint, formerly known as River Styx. It was reopening, under the same owners, with a new menu and a new look. Most friends-and-family nights are intimate affairs. Not this one. There were camera crews on the sidewalk and a line of people stretching from Greenpoint Avenue nearly to the East River. The restaurants co-owner, Homer Murray, had let it be known that there would be a special guest bartender on duty that night: his father, the actor and urban folk hero Bill Murray. But at 7:15 the 65-year-old star of Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation had yet to arrive for a shift scheduled to begin at 7. From inside 21 Greenpoint, the younger Mr. Murray and the restaurants bar director, Sean Patrick McClure, a veteran of Le Bernardin and Dirty French, kept an eye on the growing crowd. Asked to describe his fathers bartending skills, Mr. Murray said: He just kind of pours Slovenia Vodka into peoples glasses when they look thirsty. Hes about efficiency. Turn-and-burn. Unlike other past events that were labeled terrorism, including a 2014 ax attack on police officers in Queens by a man said to have been inspired by the Islamic State, the authorities have yet to identify a suspect or suspects in the bombing that would allow them to determine through interviews or a history of online activity the underlying reason for the attack. The F.B.I., as of late Sunday, had not officially labeled the attack as terrorism, though Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president who is supported by Mr. de Blasio, released a statement that characterized it as among three apparent terror attacks on Saturday, including an explosion in New Jersey and a knife attack in Minnesota. It could have been something personally motivated, Mr. de Blasio said. We dont know yet. The approach by Mr. de Blasio at news conferences over the weekend appeared similar to the initial response to another recent explosion in Manhattan, in which a man from Virginia was seriously injured in July when he jumped on a device similar to a homemade firework in Central Park. City officials quickly tried to dissociate that explosion from any broad terrorism plot, instead labeling it the act of a hobbyist experimenting with fireworks. This drew criticism from some New Yorkers, who felt officials did so in haste simply to quell fears. No one has been arrested for placing or assembling the Central Park device, and the police have not wavered from their initial hypothesis about the explosion. The police later announced the device contained substances which are commonly and legally available for sale in certain hardware stores. One of the chemicals was TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, which has been used to detonate bombs in terror attacks overseas and has become the Islamic States explosive of choice. On Sunday, police officials said there was no link between the Central Park explosion and the one in Chelsea. In striking a tone of deliberation on Sunday, Mr. de Blasio risked creating a dissonance between the dictionary definition of terrorism violence with a political motive and the creeping sense of inevitability that the terror attacks more common elsewhere in the world would find their way to New York. Updated, 12:25 a.m. Good morning on this soggy Monday. The New York Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are still delving into the explosion in Chelsea on Saturday night that injured 29 people. The story is fast-moving and we will be updating with developments throughout the morning. Heres what we know so far about the explosion and the investigation: The police arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami on Monday, the man they believed to be behind the bombings Saturday night, according to law enforcement officials. Mr. Rahami was wounded by gunfire before his capture in Linden, N.J. on Monday, a law enforcement official said. Two police officers were also shot, according to Breaking News Network, a service that monitors police scanners. Pipe bombs were discovered near the train station in Elizabeth, N.J., late Sunday night. Early Monday morning, robots tried to clip a wire to disarm one of them, accidentally detonating it, the mayor of Elizabeth said. To the Editor: Re Tobacco Lobby Tries to Shield E-Cigarettes (front page, Sept. 3): Not much has changed. Decades ago tobacco companies were advertising that cigarettes were good for you and that certain brands were recommended by doctors. Now the industry is claiming that e-cigarettes improve peoples lives. They insist that if the Food and Drug Administration examines their products for public health and risks, it could hurt public health by forcing a large share of e-cigarette companies out of business. A 900 percent increase in high schoolers using e-cigarettes is what hurts public health not the purveyors going out of business. I presided over the first tobacco litigation for about 10 years until I was removed from the cases because I criticized the industry too harshly. At my Senate hearing for elevation to the Court of Appeals, I conceded quite reluctantly that my language may not have been appropriate for a judicial opinion. I now wish to retract that concession and declare that it wasnt harsh enough. I repeat what I said in my opinion 24 years ago, because apparently it is just as apt today: All too often in the choice between the physical health of consumers and the financial well-being of business, concealment is chosen over disclosure, sales over safety, and money over morality. Who are these persons who knowingly and secretly decide to put the buying public at risk solely for the purpose of making profits and who believe that illness and death of consumers is an appropriate cost of their own prosperity! To the Editor: Re World War II Pilot Is Finally an Equal at Arlington (news article, Sept. 8): The story of Elaine D. Harmons burial lays bare the betrayal of the women of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, who volunteered during the dark days of World War II. In 2002, I led the fight to successfully challenge the Army secretary to gain full military honors burial rights for these World War II veterans, including my mother, Irene Englund. She was the first WASP to officially receive the military funeral burial honor at Arlington National Cemetery on Flag Day 2002, attended by Mrs. Harmon and eight other WASPs. In 2002, we thought that the right for burial was won. It wasnt. We painfully learned that decisions of Army secretaries were nonbinding on successors and that the Army had rescinded its earlier decision. It took another WASP family, the family of Mrs. Harmon, to take up the fight once again to secure a permanent solution in Congress. Congress was right to pre-empt the Army secretary and restore the WASPs rights to burial at Arlington. Honor and service to country are timeless; these female veterans should also have the right to a dignified resting place in our countrys most hallowed ground. For the first time in its 20-year history, Fox News is stumbling. Roger Ailes, its founder and guiding force, has been driven out by embarrassing revelations of repeated sexual harassment. The newsroom is sharply divided, some long-term contributors are leaving, and the channels parent company has started the expensive process of settling with Mr. Ailess accusers. This might sound like bad news for the Republican Party, which has tied itself to the network for years. But Fox News has long been a double-edged sword for Republicans, and perhaps nothing illustrates that contradiction quite like the rise of Donald J. Trump. Fox News can be a virtual kingmaker leading up to the primaries, providing candidates with a platform, firepower for their arguments including Mr. Trumps long-held assertion, which he rejected only on Friday, that President Obama was not born in the United States and a large, receptive audience. But it also boxes in candidates with the narrow, cosseted views of its audience, making it almost impossible to reach out to more moderate Republicans during the general election. Now some conservative intellectuals, such as The Wall Street Journals Bret Stephens and the Wisconsin radio talk show host Charlie Sykes and others, are asking whether Fox is a net plus or minus for their movement. They wonder what good it accomplishes when it leads to the nominations of Republicans like Mr. Trump, who have a low chance of winning a general election. We were sitting in his loft in TriBeCa, Edward Albee and I, talking about families. Edward and his partner, the artist Jonathan Thomas, had never had children (It never occurred to us, never for a second). They did raise Irish wolfhounds, though. I once asked Edward how many Irish wolfhounds could fit in a king-size bed with two grown men in it, and without hesitation, he provided the answer: seven. It was a fall day in 2011. I was talking to Edward as part of research I was doing on a book about motherhood and fatherhood. Edward, adopted and then rejected by his family, wished that he could have met his biological father. I just think he would have been interesting, he said. I would like to know where I got my odd mind from. It ties into my great love for the line from Knoxville, from James Agees book, he said. After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am. A sudden rainstorm had begun, and we listened to it for a while. There is no one to tell you who you are, he said, except yourself. To the Editor: Re The Disputed Vote in Gabon, (Opinion, Sept. 9): Last months election was conducted in accord with Gabonese law, which requires voters to register using a biometrically secure ID card or birth certificate. At all polling places, an election committee from Gabons independent electoral commission and representatives of each candidate were present and publicly counted the votes. Gabon invited more than 1,200 international observers from the European Union, the African Union, N.D.I. and other election experts to observe this process. All said, the election was free, fair, and transparent. The State Department and the African Union stated that any challenge to the election results conform to Gabonese election law. The Constitutional Courts review will also conform to the law. A recount of the vote will be completed by the Constitutional Court and the winner confirmed. MICHAEL MOUSSA-ADAMO New York The writer is the ambassador of the Gabonese Republic to the United States, the United Nations, the United Mexican States, and the Republic of Haiti. Does it make sense to vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president? Sure, as long as you believe two things. First, you have to believe that it makes no difference at all whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump moves into the White House because one of them will. Second, you have to believe that America will be better off in the long run if we eliminate environmental regulation, abolish the income tax, do away with public schools, and dismantle Social Security and Medicare which is what the Libertarian platform calls for. But do 29 percent of Americans between 18 and 34 believe these things? I doubt it. Yet that, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll, is the share of millennial voters who say that they would vote for Mr. Johnson if the election took place now. And the preponderance of young Americans who say theyll back Mr. Johnson or Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, appear to be citizens who would support Mrs. Clinton in a two-way race; including the minor party candidates cuts her margin among young voters from 21 points to just 5. So Id like to make a plea to young Americans: your vote matters, so please take it seriously. Why are minor candidates seemingly drawing so much support this year? Very little of it, I suspect, reflects support for their policy positions. How many people have actually read the Libertarian platform? But if youre thinking of voting Johnson, you really should. Its a remarkable document. Attention deficit disorder is the most common mental health diagnosis among children under 12 who die by suicide, a new study has found. Very few children aged 5 to 11 take their own lives, and little is known about these deaths. The new study, which included deaths in 17 states from 2003 to 2012, compared 87 children aged 5 to 11 who committed suicide with 606 adolescents aged 12 to 14 who did, to see how they differed. The research was published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics. About a third of the children of each group had a known mental health problem. The very young who died by suicide were most likely to have had attention deficit disorder, or A.D.D., with or without accompanying hyperactivity. By contrast, nearly two-thirds of early adolescents who took their lives struggled with depression. Suicide prevention has focused on identifying children struggling with depression; the new study provides an early hint that this strategy may not help the youngest suicide victims. Just after midnight in Paris on a cool evening in June, Charlotte Le Bon is packed into a small car with four friends, on the lookout for a wall to tag. Dressed in high-waisted jeans and a cropped sweatshirt, the 29-year-old French Canadian actress is holding a rolled-up print of one of her recent drawings and a vat of glue mixed earlier in the day at a friends apartment. You know that feeling when you walk into a house and you immediately want to buy it? she asks as we wind through the arrondissements of Paris. Thats what Im looking for. Born in Montreal to actor parents, Le Bon spent seven years as a model before being cast as a comedic weather girl on a French talk show. With her gamine looks and anime eyes, Le Bon introduced herself to Hollywood as what she calls the joyful, pretty girlfriend in films by directors such as Lasse Hallstrom and Robert Zemeckis, but it was the nonchalant fizz she brought to the biopic Yves Saint Laurent, as the designers muse Victoire Doutreleau, that caught peoples attention. Le Bon, who shot five movies in the past year, is determined to escape the role of ingenue with performances as a love interest to Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale in the World War I drama The Promise and as an accomplice to an assassination opposite Jamie Dornan in the Nazi spy thriller Anthropoid. So why the late-night wilding? Its easy to be insecure when youre doing this job, says Le Bon, who, while enjoying her moment of success, also knows how fleeting it can be. Thats why I need to draw, because it feeds my soul and makes me feel good. This is something I will own all my life. Good morning. Welcome to California Today, a morning update on the stories that matter to Californians (and anyone else interested in the state). Tell us about the issues that matter to you and what youd like to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Want to receive California Today by email? Sign up. Quentin Hardy, deputy technology editor for The New York Times, provides todays introduction with a look at new government data on the state of poverty in California. The results encouraged the Clinton administration to take the experiment national in the 1990s with a similar program, Moving to Opportunity, designed to benefit several thousand households in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. There was one big difference from Gautreaux: Only some families got vouchers designed specifically for moves to the suburbs. Others received aid but essentially had to stay where they were. Still others that took part in the project got no vouchers. The assumption was that Moving to Opportunity, like Gautreaux, would cause suburbanized households to outperform their public-housing counterparts. It did not work out that way. A decade later, researchers detected no significant difference in achievement between children who had moved to wealthier neighborhoods and those who had not. And that seemed to be that. Only it wasnt. Moving to Opportunity faded away, but social scientists who explored it more deeply after nearly another decade found reasons for optimism. Yes, children who were taken from the projects to the suburbs in their teens did not do so well; teenagers are not known for handling disruption gracefully. But their younger brothers and sisters, who spent many more of their formative years in the suburbs, performed noticeably better at school and in future jobs. ZIP codes counted. Every extra year of childhood spent in a better neighborhood seems to matter, Raj Chetty, a Stanford economist who studied the program, has said. Another researcher, the Harvard economist Lawrence F. Katz, told Retro Report: Neighborhoods and childhood development are long investments, and one has to have some patience. Most things that are investments take a while to pay off. Obviously, segregation in America is a complex matter, historically replete with unsavory practices like redlining and blockbusting, and filled with anger and fear on all sides. Many people, both black and white, are less than enchanted with government efforts at integration that they regard as unwelcome social engineering. Even two of Ms. Morriss daughters, though beneficiaries of suburban childhoods, found as adults that they felt more at home living in a city. The face of public housing has changed over the years. In some cities, huge public housing projects have been demolished, including notorious complexes like Cabrini-Green, a Chicago monument to violence, degradation and failure. During talks with Yemeni President on Sunday, El-Sisi stressed on the need for a political solution to the current crisis in Yemen Egypt has reiterated its backing of the exiled government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is fighting the Houthis, a rebel group that controls much of the countrys north. The remarks came as Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met late on Sunday with the Yemeni leader in New York, on the sidelines of the 71st United Nations general Assembly session. Egypt stressed that it "stands by Yemen and continues to support the legitimate government of President Hadi and is backing efforts to ensure the countrys stability," El-Sisi's spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement. The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is backed by a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states. During Sunday's talks, El-Sisi highlighted the need to press on with UN-sponsored negotiations towards reaching a political solution to the crisis in Yemen, where an 18-month civil war has killed thousands of people, including civilians. The United Nations said last month that at least 10,000 people have been killed in the past 18 months. It said the war has displaced three million Yemenis and forced 200,000 to seek refuge abroad. Some 14 million of Yemen's 26 million population need food aid, it added. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has waged an air campaign aiming at regaining cities under their control of Houthis. Earlier this month, a Yemeni minister said that Egypt is hosting an international conference in March to raise humanitarian aid for Yemen. However, Egypt -- part of the Saudi-led coalition and supporter of the Saudi-backed government -- is yet to officially announce the conference. Search Keywords: Short link: WASHINGTON The sun was shining, thousands of supporters were chanting his name, and President Obama was basking again in the electricity of a campaign rally. But for a moment last week, he could not hide his exasperation at the circuslike atmosphere of this years presidential race. Do you mind if I just vent for a second? he said on Tuesday at an outdoor event for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia, after marveling aloud at the news medias preoccupation with frivolous things. Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered as disqualifying for being president, Mr. Obama said. And yet, because he says it over and over and over again, the press just gives up and they just say, Well, yeah, you know O.K. They just stop. So, the bottom line is, he added, is that we cannot afford suddenly to treat this like a reality show. Younger black voters, in particular, have expressed misgivings about Mrs. Clinton because of some of the policies of her husbands administration. These voters specifically point to the 1994 crime bill, which put more police officers on the streets, but also led to tougher sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and the overhaul of welfare, which reduced federal assistance for the poor by nearly $55 billion over six years. In addition, it is hard for Mrs. Clinton to replicate the deep personal affection and pride that many African-Americans feel for Mr. Obama. People say, It doesnt matter because Hillary Clinton will get 90 percent of the African-American vote, said Charlie King, a prominent New York Democrat. The question is, Ninety percent of what? Turnout makes a difference. With 50 days until the election, Minyon Moore, a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign, called Mr. Obamas remarks on Saturday a true wake-up call to his coalition of supporters. In part, the speech reflected the presidents eagerness to use the outsize sway he has with black voters, especially younger people who had not been engaged in politics before his bids for the White House. But in recent days, advisers to Mr. Obama say, the president has grown exasperated with the tenor of the campaign including the re-emergence of questions about his birthplace, an issue that he and many of his supporters have long regarded as racist. While his advisers have suggested his most powerful role in the Clinton campaign is as a convert who has come to respect his onetime rival, Mr. Obama is also determined to warn his supporters about the dangers of failing to turn out and essentially ceding the presidency to Mr. Trump. UNITED NATIONS President Obama is planning to use his last appearance before the United Nations General Assembly this week to corral world leaders to uplift the lives of refugees crossing borders in droves. But critics say the United States faces a credibility test of its own. Even those who praise Mr. Obamas plan to host a meeting on the global refugee crisis as the annual General Assembly session opens on Tuesday wonder why the United States waited so long to mount an international response to the crisis, and why it has taken in such a paltry number of Syrian refugees fleeing the worlds deadliest battlefield. Moreover, American officials are being criticized for trying to keep out people fleeing gang violence in Central America, even jailing children who show up at the border without legal papers. Only recently did the White House agree to let a small number of people from the region apply for resettlement from their home countries. That ambivalence was summed up by Elvis Garcia, who fled the notoriously violent city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, only to find himself locked up in the United States. He was 15 at the time. Organizers of a high-profile event to be held during the annual United Nations conclave this week have at the last minute canceled an award they had planned to give a Malaysian organization over concerns about its links to Malaysias first lady, whose family is mired in corruption allegations. The event, to be held Thursday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honors people and groups that have fought extremism. Among the scheduled honorees was Permata, a Malaysian childrens organization that was founded several years ago under the auspices of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak. Ms. Rosmah is known for her lavish spending on luxury items like Hermes Birkin bags. The couples family and close friends are at the center of a Justice Department lawsuit claiming that $1 billion in assets including a $30.6 million penthouse at the Time Warner Center in New York and a $39 million mansion in the Los Angeles hills were bought with money stolen from Malaysias sovereign wealth fund, called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. A statement on Sunday from Tudor Parfitt, a scholar involved in the event, confirmed that the honor had been withdrawn. MOSCOW The Kremlins United Russia party and its three main allies maintained their lock on Parliament in national elections on Sunday, according to early results, with particularly low turnout in the largest cities. The expected outcome will result in a business-as-usual State Duma, or lower house of Parliament, which has long supported President Vladimir V. Putin as he curbed civil liberties and sent the military on new foreign adventures. Ella A. Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, announced that there were some reports of irregularities, but nothing excessive. Ms. Pamfilova, a respected human rights advocate newly appointed to the post, vowed to nullify the results if any obvious fraud something of a tradition in previous elections was detected. Widespread perceptions of vote rigging in the last parliamentary election, in 2011, prompted mass street demonstrations, and the Kremlin, determined to avoid a repeat, seemed to try to make the entire campaign as uneventful as possible. It even moved the election date to September from December, apparently in the hope that many Russians would ignore the monthlong election season. The new plan to reduce violence was designed to prevent Syrian forces from bombing American-backed opposition groups while claiming the groups were embedded with Nusra forces, which until recently were officially linked to Al Qaeda. The situation in Syria on Sunday showed that the cease-fire that began last Monday was fraying. Fighter jets fired at least four missiles at opposition neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syrias largest city, while Syrian government helicopters dropped improvised barrel bombs on a village in the countrys south, killing at least nine people, a conflict monitor said. Many American officials believe that the Russians were never serious about the deal that was sealed in Geneva. The officials argue that the Russians were looking for an excuse that would derail it and keep a status quo in which they have more control over events in Syria than any other power, with the possible exception of Iran. If so, the accidental bombing made that process easier. Mr. Kerry faced many skeptics in Washington that the arrangement he worked out with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, would ever work. Chief among them was Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, the only senior member of the administration to vocally oppose the deal on the night Mr. Kerry reached it in Geneva. Mr. Carter feared that the accord would reveal too much to the Russians about American targeting intelligence, and argued that Moscow was cynically dragging out the process in President Obamas final months in office. Mr. Kerry had argued that it was worth testing the Russians on their willingness to act. But on Sunday, whatever optimism he once had seemed gone. The humanitarian assistance is supposed to be flowing, Mr. Kerry said. The regime once again is blocking it. So Russias client, Russias supported friend, is the single biggest blockade to the ability to move forward here. But the deadly bombing underscored how difficult it has been to ensure that the American and Russian militaries do not become entangled on Syrias complicated battlefield, much less to coordinate their targeting. The painting has since been authenticated and is now part of the Leiden Collection in New York, a private grouping assembled by Thomas S. Kaplan and Daphne Recanati Kaplan, a married couple. The collection already contains two works in the series, depicting the senses of hearing and touch. These three were exhibited together at the Getty Center in Los Angeles in May. Now they are joined by the allegory of sight, on loan from Museum De Lakenhal in the Dutch city of Leiden, Rembrandts hometown. Abbott Laboratories may have eased the flow of its merger pipeline. The $62 billion health firm is selling its eye surgery unit to Johnson & Johnson for $4.3 billion. With two looming acquisitions worth over $30 billion and the purchase of Alere, in particular, not going smoothly it is a sensible way for Abbott to gain some breathing room. Abbott arguably bit off more than it could chew when it agreed to buy the diagnostic company Alere for $5.8 billion in February and then St. Jude Medical for $25 billion just two months later. After agreeing to its sale to Abbott, Alere failed to file financial statements, announced a product recall, and acknowledged multiple investigations into billing and foreign sales practices. The relationship turned acrimonious. Alere said Abbott was dragging its feet in seeking needed regulatory approvals, while Abbott claimed Alere was hindering attempts to find necessary information. Moreover, Abbotts travails left investors jittery about its merger and acquistion intentions. A claim by the short-seller Muddy Waters in late August that St. Judes cardiac devices were hackable, with potentially fatal results, hit St. Judes shares severely and dented Abbotts. Such worries have been making the rounds for more than a decade and so far seem more Hollywood plot than reality. St. Jude has sued Muddy Waters, but a certain amount of damage has been done. In a recent Deal Professor column, Steven Davidoff Solomon gives the Federal Reserve a symbolic F for failing to justify its recommendation that Congress repeal existing statutory provisions allowing big Wall Street banks to run in-house private equity funds. Of course, if the Fed were writing an exam on a typical question of basic corporate law, then it might make sense to defer to a corporate law professors judgment on its merits. But this is a question of banking law. And, on a banking law exam, his critique of the Fed would not pass muster. Let me explain. In banking law terms, the Fed is simply asking Congress to take back a specific authorization to conduct so-called merchant banking activities, which was originally granted to bank conglomerates in 1999 as part of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that famously ended the Glass-Steagall era. This is an important point. Before 1999, American banks were prohibited from acquiring equity ownership of commercial companies, with certain minor exceptions (such as holding less than 5 percent of a voting stock class of any company or taking equity in satisfaction of a defaulted borrowers debt). That general prohibition on banks equity investments reflects the longstanding principle of separating banking from commerce, which early Americans brought here from Britain. The Gramm-Leach-Blileys merchant banking provisions created a broad exception to this principle by allowing banking entities to acquire up to 100 percent of equity in any commercial company they deemed a profitable investment. The reason for this exception, however, was not any objective scientific research showing that private equity was a risk-free business for banks; it was big banks barely concealed eagerness to get into the Silicon Valley speculative stock bubble. Only a few limitations were placed on this newly created merchant banking authority at the time, and policing banks compliance with those limitations subsequently proved to be inherently difficult. To investigate his hypothesis, Mr. Coates and his colleagues worked with 18 traders at a hedge fund in London in 2012. The subjects, all men, were high-frequency traders, buying and selling bond futures and other products. Using heart rate monitoring equipment, Mr. Coates and his colleagues assessed the traders ability to silently count their own heartbeats without touching their chest or any pulse point. A control group of 48 men who were not traders was also tested for their ability to monitor their heart rates. Over all, the hedge fund employees were substantially more accurate than the control group, suggesting that on balance, the high-frequency traders were more attuned to their own bodies than the general public. The hedge fund, which was not identified, gave Mr. Coates and his colleagues access to the traders employment history, including their profits and losses, and tenure in the industry. And among the traders, more accurate heartbeat awareness was correlated with profitability. That is, the better a trader was at sensing his own heart rate, the more successful he was at high-frequency trading. What is more, the longer an employee of the hedge fund had been working as a trader, the more accurate he was at counting his heart rate. What were realizing more and more is that these things are doggone complicated, said Bruce S. McEwen, a Rockefeller University professor studying how stress affects the brain, who was not involved in the research. There is no simple explanation of them, but we have to be aware of the phenomenology. Coates and colleagues are making people aware of possible factors that are ones other than those we normally think about. The maps currently included in the curriculum merely show that the islands are located in the Gulf of Aqaba Egypt's education minister El-Helaly El-Sherbeeny stated on Monday that maps included in this year's school text books do not specify which country holds sovereignty over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, reported the Ahram Arabic website. At a press conference held at the ministry, El-Sherbeeny said the maps currently included in the curriculum merely show that the islands are located in the Gulf of Aqaba. The government decision last April to cede control of the islands to Saudi Arabia has stirred controversy and protests in Egypt over the past months. Cairo argues that the islands, long under Egyptian control, have in fact been Saudi all along, an argument that has been challenged by critics, who filed lawsuits to stop the transfer. In June, Egypt's High Administrative Court ruled that the Egyptian-Saudi border demarcation agreement is void, and that the islands are to remain under Egyptian control. The government is appealing the ruling. Search Keywords: Short link: Wells Fargo is facing a perfect storm of bad publicity and demands for changing its corporate culture after employees opened millions of fake customer accounts to hit their sales targets. The Justice Department has begun a preliminary inquiry into the banks conduct while its chief executive, John Stumpf, will be grilled this week by the Senate Banking Committee, including Senator Elizabeth Warren the scourge of the big banks. Wells Fargo was sure to face criticism over the misdeeds of employees once The Los Angeles Times broke the story three years ago, detailing a hard-driving sales culture in which retail bank employees opened the accounts without customer permission to pad performance numbers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a relatively new regulatory agency, eventually took up an investigation and announced a $185 million settlement this month. What is unusual is that the reaction to the settlement seems to have caught Wells Fargo by surprise, as if management had no idea that it would be hit with so much scrutiny on different fronts. Unlike many companies that signal the existence of an investigation and its impending settlement in their regulatory filings, Wells Fargo did nothing to condition the market to what was going to come. Maybe that was out of a naive belief that the size of the settlement only $185 million would not attract much attention in an era of multibillion dollar penalties. Wells Fargos 2015 annual report, issued in February, blandly describes other lawsuits and investigations involving the bank, including mortgage issues related to the financial crisis, and notes that it had set aside approximately $1.3 billion to cover the cost of litigation. But it mentions nothing about the C.F.P.B.s interest in how it treated its customers. JetBlue, seeking to get ahead of looming restrictions on airliners greenhouse gas pollution, has agreed to buy more than 330 million gallons of renewable fuel over 10 years, the company said on Monday. It is one of the largest such purchase agreements yet. Under the agreement with the bioenergy company SG Preston, JetBlue would cover about 20 percent of its annual fuel use at Kennedy International Airport, its home base, with a biofuel blend. That is equivalent to 4 percent of the fuel used throughout its network, the airline said. Its thinking long term about our biggest cost, but its primary motivation is to reduce our greenhouse gases, said Sophia Mendelsohn, JetBlues head of sustainability. What we really want to do is jump-start the industry and quite frankly enable all airlines, very much ourselves included, to diversify our fuel supply. Biofuels, made from various sorts of organic matter whether from agriculture, wood scraps or even municipal waste have long been considered important to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation. United States rules for gasoline, for example, require at least 10 percent ethanol, which typically comes from corn. WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug to treat patients with the most common childhood form of muscular dystrophy, a vivid example of the growing power that patients and their advocates wield over the federal governments evaluation of drugs. The agencys approval went against the recommendation of its experts. The main clinical trial of the drug was small, involving only 12 boys with the disease known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and did not have an adequate control group of boys who had the disease but did not take the drug. A group of independent experts convened by the agency this spring said there was not enough evidence that it was effective. But the vote was close. Large and impassioned groups of patients, including boys in wheelchairs, and their advocates, weighed in. The muscular dystrophy community is well organized and has lobbied for years to win approval for the drug, getting members of Congress to write letters to the agency. A decision on the drug had been delayed for months. The approval was so controversial that F.D.A. employees fought over it, a dispute that was taken to the agencys commissioner, Dr. Robert M. Califf, who ultimately decided that it would stand. BRUSSELS European Union regulators stand accused of unfairly targeting American companies in a series of inquiries. So with the regions antitrust chief visiting the United States this week, the blocs officials said on Monday that they were investigating whether a French company signed a sweetheart tax deal with Luxembourg. The inquiry into the French utility Engie is at an early stage and officials gave no estimates of the amount of taxes the company potentially owed. Still, the investigation could help Margrethe Vestager, Europes competition commissioner, rebut allegations of bias as she begins her meetings in the United States on Monday. Ms. Vestager last month ordered Ireland to collect up to 13 billion euros, or $14.5 billion, in taxes from Apple as part of a crackdown on favorable tax deals with global multinationals. European authorities are also investigating Amazon, McDonalds and other companies in multiple areas. The move against Apple prompted anger in Washington, where officials said Ms. Vestager was too focused on American companies. And in 2006, she introduced CoutureLab, an e-commerce site that she called a laboratory of ideas for young entrepreneurs and craftspeople but that evolved into a vehicle for her to invest in emerging luxury ventures. This month, the site underwent a face-lift, re-emerging as carmenbusquets.com with a profile, portfolio listing and journal, a prominent move into the public eye from an angel investor who is dyslexic and partly deaf, and who was content in the past to stay out of the spotlight. So why is this the right time for her to appear from behind the curtain? People were getting confused, Ms. Busquets answered matter-of-factly. Many thought they were still able to buy things from the site, while others looking to discuss investment opportunities didnt know where to look. Even more important, she said, I realized there needed to be more female voices at the table, and that we needed to show that investors today arent just white men. I felt a sudden sense of responsibility, she said. Increasing female voices became something of a crusade after a high-profile falling out between Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter, and the Swiss luxury giant Richemonts majority shareholders when it chose to merge Net-a-Porter with a rival, Yoox, in September 2015. Johann Rupert said on a conference call, Its time for the big boys to take over, Ms. Busquets said, referring to remarks made by the chairman of Richemont about fashion e-commerce as a whole, and the maturation of the sector to one dominated by established companies instead of start-ups. It made me so angry. How can you say that when more women are buying your clothes and jewelry for themselves than ever? Your clients are top women, this company was built by a woman and there are more women in power than ever before. Do you even understand your own market anymore? I invest in businesses that complement my lifestyle, do you think I dont understand mine? LONDON Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter, describes the story behind Carmen Busquetss investment: We probably met several lifetimes ago, but that is another story. Carmen and I met in late 1999 when I was just starting Net-a-Porter, and she became the lead investor in the first round of funding. She had actively been looking to back an e-commerce fashion start-up, and I was looking for an investor. You have to remember that this is before Boo.com launched, and you had to unplug your phone to connect to the internet so fashion and luxury internet start-ups did not exist and people who believed in it were nonexistent. Luckily, we found each other. My co-founders and I had raised about 500,000 pounds [now equivalent to about $650,000] from a large number of people and needed at least another quarter of a million to get things off the ground. I had been introduced to a financier, Carmens then long-term boyfriend, as a potential investor, but after reviewing the plan, he called me to say he was passing because he didnt believe in selling clothes online. It was disappointing as we needed the money. But he offered instead that his Venezuelan girlfriend, who had a boutique in Caracas, DID believe in fashion e-commerce. This felt a bit far-fetched to me, and I was really skeptical about who she was and made her sign a nondisclosure agreement before I would let him share the business plan with her. With its broad expanses of glass, the gleaming white six-story structure at 433 Broadway is obviously modern, though it seems comfortably at home with its nearby 19th-century cast-iron cousins. It is one of the first co-working spaces in New York built from the ground up, rather than having been renovated from another use. Though the $10 million project opened this spring, it has been under development for 15 years, longer perhaps than the co-working coinage has existed for shared office space. Image From 1967 to 2002, a one-story bank building and vest-pocket park occupied the site of 433 Broadway, seen here in 1987. It was built by Franklin National Bank, then taken over by European American Bank. Credit... David W. Dunlap For more than 35 years, the site of 433 Broadway was occupied by the oddest structure among the cast-iron lofts of SoHo: a one-story, hexagonal, vaguely neo-Colonial bank set in a vest-pocket park. Across New York City, cellphones blared on Monday morning with the dissonant but familiar tone of an emergency alert, typically used for weather-related advisories or abducted children. But this was different. For what is believed to be the first time, the nations Wireless Emergency Alerts system was deployed as an electronic wanted poster, identifying a 28-year-old man sought in connection with the bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey over the weekend. Suddenly, from commuter trains to the sidewalks of the city, millions were enlisted in the manhunt. The message was simple: WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen. In an instant, the reach and ubiquity of law enforcement in an age of terrorism and digital technology became apparent. Along the winding drive through the 300-acre compound of Long Islands only veterans medical center, banners line the road stating the presumed values of the institution: integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. But in recent months, a series of troubling failings and allegations of wrongdoing have called into question the care being provided to thousands of the nations military personnel by the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Northport, N.Y., with charges of abuse that include widespread billing fraud and the failure to report the death of a patient for months after his body was found in a building on the complex. The problems plaguing the medical center first drew attention after all five of the hospitals operating rooms were shut down in mid-February, because sand-grain-size black particles had begun falling from the air ducts. Veterans in need of surgery had to go to other hospitals for care, often leading to further delays in their treatment or postponed operations. The closing of the operating rooms was first reported by The New York Times in May. Representative Lee M. Zeldin, a Republican who represents the First District on Long Island and is a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, then collected information from whistle-blowers and others and turned it over to the committee, which will hold a public hearing at the medical center on Tuesday. The man who the police said sowed terror across two states, setting off bombs in Manhattan and on the Jersey Shore and touching off a furious manhunt, was tracked down on Monday morning sleeping in the dank doorway of a neighborhood bar and taken into custody after being wounded in a gun battle with officers. The frenzied end came on a rain-soaked street in Linden, N.J., four hours after the police issued an unprecedented cellphone alert to millions of people in the area telling them to be on the lookout for Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, who was described as armed and dangerous. Even as the remarkably swift arrest eased fears across the region, investigators were still in the earliest stages of trying to determine what provoked the attacks, why a street in Chelsea was one of the targets and whether the bomber was aided by others. While investigators have been focused on Mr. Rahamis actions immediately before and after the bombings, they were also working on Monday to trace his activities and travel in both recent months and years. One law enforcement official said that the bomb technicians involved in the investigation believed that Mr. Rahami constructed all the devices and that his handiwork raised the possibility that he had received training from someone with experience building improvised explosive devices. The two officials also discussed recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly regarding the war on terrorism Egypt's defence minister Sedki Sobhi met on Monday with his UK counterpart Sir Michael Fallon in Cairo where they discussed military cooperation between the two countries, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced. In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Egyptian army spokesman Mohamed Samir said that the two officials also discussed recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly issues regarding the war on terrorism. The meeting was attended by Egypt's Army Chief-of-Staff Mahmoud Hegazy. Fallon is currently visiting Cairo along with a delegation of officials from the British ministry of defence. After the meeting with Sobhi, Fallon visited Egypt's Unknown Soldier memorial and paid his respects at the tomb of late president Anwar El-Sadat. Search Keywords: Short link: ELIZABETH, N.J. The bomb drama that rattled the New York region over the weekend arrived here on Sunday night when two men walked out of Hectors Place Restaurant near the citys train station and found a backpack containing five explosives resting atop a municipal garbage can, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said. After finding that the backpack contained wires and a pipe, the mayor said, the men dropped the item in the street and contacted the Elizabeth Police Department around 8:45 p.m. The police, in turn, called the Union County bomb squad, and the investigation was quickly turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Jersey State Police, Mr. Bollwage said. The F.B.I. then sent in a pair of robots and determined that the backpack held five bombs, some of which were pipe bombs, the mayor said. Around 12:30 a.m. on Monday, the robots tried to clip a wire to disarm one bomb and accidentally detonated it, Mr. Bollwage said. No injuries were reported. He said around 3 a.m. on Monday that one robot was destroyed and another had a mechanical arm blown off. TEL AVIV In a little more than a year and a half, Israel will celebrate its 70th birthday. A few weeks after that, Shimon Peres our countrys former president, prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, finance minister and so much more will turn 95. We hope and pray. Israel will never again have a leader like Mr. Peres. He is the last of the giants of the founding generation, and we have been lucky to have him stick around for so long. Mr. Peress presence gives Israel the luxury of still feeling young. Since Sept. 12, when he suffered a major stroke, Israelis have united to pray for his health. But as we follow updates from the hospital, we are not just praying for him, but also for ourselves and for our countrys bygone youth. When can a country no longer claim to be young? It may be when the last of the generation who built it fades away and takes with him the spirit of a fading era. Mr. Peres began his life in Vishneva, a village on the border of modern-day Poland and Belarus. When he left for Palestine in 1934, under his original name, Shimon Persky, his grandfather told him, Be a Jew, forever! The grandfather, along with much of his family, perished in the Holocaust. To the Editor: A Former Taliban Minister Senses a Growing Demand for Afghan Peace (The Saturday Profile, Sept. 10), about Agha Jan Motasim, a former Taliban leader, reports that an early attempt to seek reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government through the governor of Kandahar was rejected, so the Taliban had no other choice but to fight. The passive voice (was rejected) conceals the fact that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld vetoed a tentative agreement between President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban the day after the signing of the Bonn Accords in December 2001, which named Mr. Karzai president. The New York Times reported that when Mr. Rumsfeld was asked about the emerging agreement, he answered, I do not think there will be a negotiated end to the situation thats unacceptable to the United States. But United States opposition to allowing the Taliban to surrender in dignity scotched any peace agreement and continued to do so until the Obama administration revised the policy in April 2010. To the Editor: Re Bombs Built for Carnage Provide a Trove of Clues (front page, Sept. 19): I applaud law enforcement authorities for arresting someone in connection with the bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey so quickly (nytimes.com, Sept. 19). They will run every lead into the ground and round up any and all of his accomplices. We dodged a bullet on this one, as no one was killed. Our best defense against these murderers is one another. Keep your eyes open. Pay attention to what is going on around you. Put the cellphone in your purse or pocket and pull the earbuds out of your ears. Look and listen. You dont have to be paranoid, just be aware. You dont have to mistrust, just be alert. We can beat this thing. We will beat it. We will win if we are one and all pull together. In the battle against terror, we truly are our brothers keeper. BRUCE ROZENBLIT Kansas City, Mo. To the Editor: The conduct of the individual or individuals who placed the explosive devices is appalling, but, thankfully, rare. ATHENS I have a profound respect for the intelligence of the voter. Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter, but more important is what he actually said in the House of Commons on Oct. 31, 1944: At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly palliate the overwhelming importance of that point. Nobody, looking back at the first 16 years of this century, can suggest that the political, economic and financial elites who brought you the euro crisis, the war in Iraq, the Great Recession of 2008, growing inequality and (at least until last year in the United States) middle-class income stagnation have not made some very serious mistakes, of very enduring consequences, with very startling impunity. This has not been lost on the little woman with the little pencil in the little booth. No wonder experts are increasingly viewed as being in the business of bamboozling for their own ends. Ordinary folk reckon the system is rigged, that elites are not in it for the people but, rather, the money. This is the Age of Distrust. No two presidential candidates have ever been as distrusted as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The grave mistakes that I have mentioned occurred in the midst of a technological whirlwind that moved factories offshore and migrants onshore, and offered huge opportunity for the initiated at the hubs of globalizations churn while stripping many outlying places and outcast people of their raison detre. Soon after the detainee population at Guantanamo Bay dropped to 61 last month, Republicans in the House went into a panic. Representative Jackie Walorski of Indiana figured it was time to halt any and all new transfers. Americans are safer with these dangerous detainees securely locked up, she railed on Thursday on the House floor, urging others to back a bill that would halt detainee resettlements until more onerous restrictions could be placed on releases or President Obama left office. Speaker Paul Ryan offered a full-throated endorsement, which helped the bill pass the House with 244 votes. Republicans, who have barred the Pentagon from transferring detainees to the United States and made it difficult to repatriate them, have worked ceaselessly to prevent Mr. Obama from keeping his pledge to shut down the prison in his first year in office. They can stop worrying about it now. White House officials are resigned to having to hand over the prison, and its legal morass, to the next administration. Since it opened in 2002, the prison has been an emblem of America at its worst, a place of torture, in which fundamental principles, including the right to due process, were abandoned. It has subjected Washington to international scorn and given credence to the propaganda of extremist groups. It is no coincidence that the Islamic State has adopted Guantanamos familiar orange jumpsuits in videos depicting the execution of Western hostages. SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA For decades, archaeologists here kept their eyes on the ground as they tramped through thick jungle, rice paddies and buffalo grazing fields, emerald green and soft with mud during the monsoon season. They spent entire careers trying to spot mounds or depressions in the earth that would allow them to map even small parts of Angkor, the urban center at the heart of the Khmer empire, which covered a vast region of what is now Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos from roughly A.D. 802 to 1431. In modern times, little material evidence existed beyond a network of monumental stone temples, including the famed Angkor Wat, and the sprawling settlements that presumably fanned out around the temples long since swallowed up by the jungle. But earlier this year, the archaeologists Shaun Mackey and Kong Leaksmy were armed with a portable GPS device containing data from an aerial survey of the area that is changing the way Angkor is studied. The device led them straight to a field littered with clods of earth and shot through with tractor marks. It looked to the naked eye like an ordinary patch of dirt, but the aerial data had identified it as a site of interest, a mounded embankment where the ancestors of todays Cambodians might have altered the landscape to build homes. Jitendra Malik, a researcher in computer vision for three decades, doesnt own a Tesla, but he has advice for people who do. Knowing what I know about computer vision, I wouldnt take my hands off the steering wheel, he said. Dr. Malik, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was referring to a fatal crash in May of a Tesla electric car that was equipped with its Autopilot driver-assistance system. An Ohio man was killed when his Model S car, driving in the Autopilot mode, crashed into a tractor-trailer. Federal regulators are still investigating the accident. But it appears likely that the man placed too much confidence in Teslas self-driving system. The same may be true of a fatal Tesla accident in China that was reported last week. Other automakers like Ford, which last week announced its plan to produce driverless cars by 2021, are taking a go-slow approach, saying the technology for even occasional hands-free driving is not ready for many traffic situations. The composition of the food and the surface on which it falls matter as much if not more than the length of time it remains on the floor, the study found. Watermelon, with its moisture, drew the highest rate of contamination and the gummy candy the least. In an interview, Professor Schaffner said, I will tell you on the record that Ive eaten food off the floor. He quickly added: If I were to drop a piece of watermelon on my relatively clean kitchen floor, Im telling you, man, its going in the compost. Where did the rule get its start? The history of the five-second rule is difficult to trace but it is attributed apocryphally to Genghis Khan, who declared that food could be on the ground for five hours and still be safe to eat, Professor Schaffner said. Why do people do this anyway? William K. Hallman, an experimental psychologist and a professor at the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University, said people do not put every decision through a risk-benefit filter and instead rely on cognitive shortcuts called heuristics to help in their daily lives. Its a way of making a very quick decision with whatever data is available, he said in an interview. But sometimes those shortcuts can be based on flawed assumptions or missing information. For instance, germs are invisible and so they are easy to ignore when something of particular value, like a yellow peanut M&M falls to the floor, he said. Because germs are out of sight, the belief is there is no harm in picking up the M&M and popping it in your mouth. Adi Barocas, a doctoral student at the University of Wyoming, has been studying river otters as part of a project that the university has had going for about 25 years. It began shortly after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the Alaskan coast. The project involves research on many aspects of otter life, including how they form social groups. Among coastal river otters, which are different from more inland populations, the males live and forage for fish in fluid groups of as few as four otters or as many as 18. Females are solitary, and males leave their groups during mating season to find females. When the males are together, however, they play and groom each other and, before they defecate, often do what Mr. Barocas describes as the poop dance. In videos taken by cameras set up near latrines, the male otters wave their back ends rhythmically, stepping from one hind foot to the other. Exactly what the poop dance means isnt clear, Mr. Barocas said. But he and Merav Ben-David, his adviser, and other researchers, reported in the October issue of Animal Behaviour, that the interactions at the latrines are helping the males decide which groups to join. They may be learning, for example, which otters are catching more fish, from chemical clues in the scat. Egypt is currently working on finalising legalisation to combat illegal emigration from the country, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said during his speech at a high level UN plenary meeting in New York addressing the immigration and refugee crises. "Let's all agree that combating illegal immigration should be at the top of our international priorities," El-Sisi told world leaders. "Let's also agree that there is no way to stop the flow of illegal immigration except through addressing its main roots and opening up doors for legal migration." El-Sisi explained that Egypt will combat illegal immigration through updating already existing anti-human trafficking legislation. Egypt already outlaws all forms of human trafficking with its 2010 anti-trafficking law (Law No. 64), which stipulates punishments from three to 15 years imprisonment along with monetary fines. The president highlighted the Egyptian government's commitment to spreading awareness on the dangers of illegal immigration, and discussed efforts undertaken by Egyptian security forces to secure maritime and land borders as well as foil illegal immigration attempts. Egypt's army has repeatedly announced over the past years the thwarting of illegal immigration attempts from the Mediterranean coast to Europe. The Egyptian president also said that Egypt currently hosts five million refugees of different nationalities "in accordance with our principled commitments on the issue since the outbreak of the refugee crisis." According to the UNHCR website's profile on Egypt, the country is hosting 261,741 registered refugees, mostly from Sudan, Syria and Libya, with the number of unregistered refugees believed to be much higher. "We are working on providing [refugees] with respectable living conditions without isolating them in camps," El-Sisi said. "Many of the refugees in Egypt enjoy equal rights with Egyptian citizens in education, health and housing services. They are also benefiting from the subsidy system despite the huge burden on Egypt's general budget." Addressing the UN's secretary-general, El-Sisi said that Egypt appreciates the push for international momentum to discuss the crisis, and welcomes ongoing efforts to issue two international UN convents on refugees and immigration. "I stress Egypt's commitment to supporting efforts in dealing with the migration issue," El-Sisi said. "I ask you all to promote cooperation to support development efforts and reach a solution to the political conflicts in the region so that people are not emigrating from their countries in search for security or the right to live." Search Keywords: Short link: PRINCETON, N.J. A Roman Catholic priest faces what might be called a crisis of humanity, rather than a crisis of faith, in Bathing in Moonlight, the gauzy new play from Nilo Cruz, which is having its premiere here at the McCarter Theater Center, where Mr. Cruzs Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics was also presented before moving to Broadway. Raul Mendez plays Father Monroe, a priest who starts things off with a sermon, addressed to the audience, in which he shares an anecdote about a priest during World War II who expanded the boundaries of his churchs cemetery to include the grave of a soldier whose faith was unclear. God wants us to remove barriers and walls, Father Monroe says. God wants us to extend the perimeters. These words will have wrenching personal meaning for Father Monroe when he becomes more intimate with a member of the Cuban-American family at the heart of the play. Living together in a house they can no longer afford are the widowed matriarch, Martina (Priscilla Lopez), in her 70s; her daughter, the recently laid off Marcela (Hannia Guillen); and Marcelas daughter, Trini (Katty Velasquez), in her late teens, whom Marcela has raised by herself. All are assembled in the living room, discussing Father Monroes sermon, when they are surprised by the return of Marcelas brother, Taviano (Frankie J. Alvarez), who disappeared for two years, to go to medical school. His arrival is so unexpected that Martina, who has become a bit addled, initially imagines that Taviano is her long-dead husband, of the same name. Your dentist has probably offered dental sealants for your child. Mine has. Without knowing whether they work, Ive always accepted them. Turns out, this was a good move. Introduced in the 1960s, dental sealants are plastic coatings applied to the surfaces of teeth. They fill in and seal pits and grooves of teeth, making them more resistant to bacteria that can cause cavities. Because molars are more cavity-prone, sealants are usually applied there. Dental sealants are most often recommended when childrens first permanent molars come in between ages 5 and 7 and again when their 12-year molars arrive usually between ages 11 and 14. Dentists may also offer sealants for older children and for adults prone to cavities. In 2013, the Cochrane Collaboration published a systematic review of the evidence on sealants. It assessed the results of 34 studies involving 6,529 children and adolescents. Some studies compared one sealant material with another, but 12 of the studies, with 2,575 total participants, compared outcomes of sealants versus no sealants. From these, the review concluded that sealants are effective in reducing cavities for at least four years after each application. For instance, one randomized trial followed children with and without sealants for nine years. At the beginning of the study, participants were between ages 6 and 8. By the time they were in their mid-to-late teens, 77 percent of their teeth without sealant treatment had cavities, compared with 27 percent of teeth with sealants. Another randomized trial studied children 8 to 10 over two years. It found cavity rates more than twice as high for those without sealants as for those with. Mr. Hufbauers analysis is already causing waves among policy wonks in Washington and economists on Wall Street. The easiest promise for Mr. Trump to deliver is the one to renegotiate or leave Nafta, the agreement that abolished tariffs between the United States, Canada and Mexico. That agreement like nearly all free trade agreements includes an escape hatch: The United States can withdraw from the pact after giving six months notice. Thus Mr. Trump doesnt need to rip up the agreement, but simply to send Canada and Mexico a letter putting them on notice. Similar escape hatches would also allow Mr. Trump to withdraw the United States from free trade agreements with other nations, and even from the World Trade Organization. Leaving the World Trade Organization would immediately allow other countries to raise the tariffs they charge on American exports. How has the White House accumulated such powers? As the United States entered World War I, Congress passed the Trading with the Enemy Act, which gave the president the power to regulate all international trade and financial flows, and even to freeze or seize foreign assets. It was an extremely broad grant of power because the law applies to all international commerce, not just that with enemy nations. Its a power meant to be used only in national emergencies or times of war, but this tends to be interpreted very broadly. For instance, the courts allowed President Nixon to add a 10 percent import surcharge in 1971, based on the continuing economic emergency. Mr. Hufbauer argues that continuing military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan would seemingly suffice to satisfy this requirement. Alternatively, the president could rely on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, originally written to give the president the tools to inflict economic sanctions on Americas enemies. The law could easily be used to restrict trade with just about any country. While the law is supposed to be exercised only in the wake of an unusual and extraordinary threat, Mr. Hufbauer says that this is a standard that is easily met, as the courts have never questioned presidential declarations of a national emergency. Beyond these emergency powers, two separate Cold War-era statutes also give the president power to regulate international trade. Under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the president can raise tariffs as necessary to strengthen national security. Mr. Trumps rationale for raising tariffs against Mexico or China probably meet this standard. ATLANTA Gasoline prices increased again across the Deep South on Monday, 10 days after the discovery in Alabama of a pipeline rupture that threatened fuel supplies and prompted worries about environmental contamination. The AAA motor club said that Mondays average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Georgia was nearly $2.32, up from $2.26 on Sunday and about $2.10 the previous Monday. Prices also increased in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, even as state officials asked drivers to conserve supplies and avoid topping off their tanks. I urge the public to maintain regular consumption levels and travel schedules in order to reduce further interruption in fuel supply, Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia said in a statement. The rising prices and sporadic uncertainty here followed the rupture of a 36-inch pipeline that ordinarily carries about 1.3 million barrels of refined gasoline a day. Colonial Pipeline, which operates the system and shut down the line soon after the discovery of the leak on Sept. 9, said up to 336,000 gallons might have been spilled in Shelby County, Ala., south of Birmingham. WCCO - COURTESY WCCO, NO ACCESS MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL St. Cloud, Minnesota - 18 September 2016 1. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Schliep, stabbing victim: Every time you usually go into a mall or some type of building, there is a first set of doors, and then there might be some trash cans and seating, and then a second set of doors. And then you go through that set of doors, and then youre in the mall. I was in that in between spot, that really small corridor. And then the guy walked in behind me, and I turned around and looked at him like, seriously guy? And then. ++SOUNDBITE SEPARATED BY BLACK++ 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Schliep, stabbing victim: He didnt say anything, just walked straight towards me. And I just got back from basic training from Georgia. So, I looked at the guy and Im like okay Im going to have to fist fight this guy, and I didnt know he had a knife. And it was like, it looked like that like something was sticking out of his hand, maybe the length of my thumb. And then he just came up, i braced myself, side of head, fell down to the ground. I never went unconscious or anything like that. Kind of grabbed myself, and Im like okay Im on the ground. This is the worst that I can be in, and he was going to get on top of me or something. But, he didnt say a single word - just walked right past me like a machine or something and walked into the mall. So, and then I got up. Another individual from outside came and he had been stabbed in the back multiple times. And then me and him went into the mall and followed the guy trying to stop him for like 15 meters. And then, by that point he was like heading north in the mall. He was so far gone, like he was heading towards Target. And, so I stopped following him. And then I turned around the other guy was there too. And then I could see I believe the store is Pink, or Victorias Secret, one of those two. And I felt my head - my hand was covered in blood. Blood was running down my neck and on my shirt. And I looked, there was no like official lockdown or alarm going off. There was no mall security anywhere. Everyones panicking. And I looked at the people in Victorias Secret and they just closed the gate right there. And Im standing on the outside like, what am I going to do? I turned to the left, theres a shoe store there. The guy closed his door and others, me and that other guy whos been stabbed, his pregnant girlfriend who was attacked, walking by, and theres a couple other individuals. And then I thought about where my girlfriend went because she was behind me when I got attacked. And thats the reason I got up and followed the guy, because i thought that hed go on and attack her potentially. And, so then at that point, I pulled out my cell phone and tried calling my girlfriend. She answered. She was in Forever 21, which is right there on the corner. And they have two doors and one they had already closed and locked, but the other one was wide open. So I went through that wide open door, and then they locked it. Someone there started helping me. The employees didnt have like a medical kit or anything like that with them to help me or anything. Some random other citizen took clothing and tried to bandage my head, and then the ambulance came and they rushed me out, put me in with another individual who was stabbed. And then they rushed to the hospital, and we were probably there in less than five minutes. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate, who has struggled in recent weeks to recover from a gaffe in which he was unable to identify Aleppo, in war-torn Syria, appeared to fumble once more on Sunday when he said no one had been injured in two violent events in New York City and Minnesota over the weekend. Well, first of all, just grateful that nobody got hurt, Mr. Johnson told CNNs Brian Stelter in an appearance on the networks Reliable Sources. In fact, 29 people were injured in an explosion in New Yorks Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday, and nine people were stabbed in St. Cloud, Minn., before the suspect was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Mr. Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, has been an object of curiosity for younger voters, as has Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee. Some establishment Republicans who do not support Donald J. Trump have been drawn to Mr. Johnson and his running mate, William Weld. The two campaigns have also been a source of alarm for Democrats, who fear that a third-party threat could shake up results in the coming election. More than 50 former government officials and national security and military figures have signed an open letter to Donald J. Trump, urging him to disclose details of his overseas business investments before Election Day. The letter signed by dozens of supporters of the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton was drafted as Mr. Trump, the Republican pick who is reported to have extensive overseas entanglements, has refused to release his tax returns. Michael J. Morell, a former acting director of the C.I.A., and Michael G. Vickers, a former under secretary of defense for intelligence, put together the letter with input from Samantha Vinograd, a former senior adviser to Thomas E. Donilon, a former national security adviser. Donald Trump still has not revealed to the American public his international business relationships, even as it becomes increasingly clear that his overseas ties could well constitute significant conflicts of interest when it comes to charting U.S. foreign policy, the letter reads. This is unprecedented for a candidate for the nations highest office. As such, we are calling on Mr. Trump to disclose, in full, the nature of his business relationships overseas to include specifically who his business partners are and what and where are his foreign investments. A suspect in a bombing was still at large Monday morning, his motives and intentions unknown but Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump were already racing to seize the political upper hand. With a manhunt still in progress before an arrest later in the day, Mrs. Clinton sought to shift the terms of the presidential contest back in her direction. She called Mr. Trump a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists and, from a rainy airport in White Plains, offered herself as a seasoned warrior against terrorism. Mr. Trump returned fire hours later, blaming Mrs. Clinton and President Obamas handling of immigration and the Iraq war for bringing terrorism to American shores. He called for vigorous police profiling of people from the Muslim world and drew a direct equation between immigration controls and national defense. The attacks could reframe the presidential race around stark questions of national security after weeks of often-bitter sniping between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton over more personal matters of character, transparency and medical records. The violence of the weekend is all but certain to ripple in the first presidential debate, set for next Monday at Hofstra University on Long Island. PHILADELPHIA Hillary Clinton spoke slowly, as if instructing an early-morning seminar, as she stared out at a roomful of students. She extolled the virtues of a tax credit plan tied to paid apprenticeships, seeming to test a few attention spans. She shouted the name of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and the crowd shouted back, more loudly than it had before then. And as Mrs. Clinton concluded a half-hour address here, aimed at young voters who have often proved resistant to her overtures, her tone grew urgent, almost pleading. I need you, Mrs. Clinton said, amid the chandeliers and regal wood paneling of a hall at Temple University. I need you as partners, not just for winning this election, but for driving real change. I think if I would have won, maybe it wouldnt have made a change to everyone in the country, maybe just in Colorado, he said. Now that its at the Supreme Court, I think its got a chance to make a difference for other people. In earlier cases, the United States Supreme Court has said that even egregious misconduct in the jury room cannot be used to challenge a conviction if it would require jurors to testify about what was said there. But the court has never squarely confronted whether racial or ethnic prejudice requires an exception to the general rule. In 1987, in Tanner v. United States, the Supreme Court let stand convictions in a mail fraud case in Florida even though the jury had treated the trial as one big party fueled by rampant drug and alcohol abuse, as one juror described it. During recesses, jurors drank pitchers of beer and liters of wine, and they used marijuana and cocaine. Afterward, in the courtroom, some jurors slept. One was in a sort of giggly mood. Justice Sandra Day OConnor, writing for the majority, said there were good reasons to ignore irresponsible or improper juror behavior if it was based on jurors accounts of what had gone on in the jury room. After-the-fact challenges based on jurors testimony, she wrote, would make it less likely that jurors would speak candidly during deliberations. Allowing such challenges would encourage lawyers to harass former jurors, she said, and undermine the finality of verdicts. In 2014, in Warger v. Shauers, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that jurors may not testify about what went on during deliberations, even to expose dishonesty during jury selection. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan plans to discuss the crises in Syria and Iraq, the fight against terrorism and the failed July 15 coup attempt at speech at the United Nations General Assembly this week, he said on Monday. Erdogan, who was speaking to reporters at a news conference before departing Istanbul for New York, also said that Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria could push further south after clearing an area along the border of Islamic State militants. Search Keywords: Short link: MIAMI After returning from a honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, Jamie Palmeroni-Lavis asked to be tested for the Zika virus. Ms. Palmeroni-Lavis, 28, a publicist in Rochester, N.Y., wants to get pregnant, but not before she knows her body is Zika free. But she and other would-be parents are quickly learning that getting a Zika test isnt easy. As worries about the spread of the virus in the United States continue to mount, public health department labs in Florida and New York City are running at or close to capacity, while private commercial labs have won emergency approval to run Zika tests and have ramped up their testing capacity. But that doesnt mean that just anybody can get a test. Even people like Ms. Palmeroni-Lavis, who have compelling reasons to be tested for a virus known to cause devastating brain defects in the fetus, cant walk into a local health department and get tested on demand. Thats because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued strict guidelines about who should be tested, giving priority to pregnant women with possible exposure to Zika and people with Zika-like symptoms. Already public health officials in Florida say they face a backlog of tests for pregnant women, some of whom may be waiting to make decisions about whether to have abortions if they test positive. But the C.D.C.s testing policy largely ignores a sizable subgroup of women and men also at risk those who are trying to conceive but fear they have been exposed to Zika. The C.D.C. recommends women contemplating pregnancy avoid travel to areas where Zika transmission is occurring and, if they have traveled, says they should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive. But it does not recommend testing. After a police officer was coaxed into organizing an escort, dozens of travelers piled into cars that raced one another down the deserted boulevards at terrifying speed, tucking in behind an enormous armored police truck that blasted its horn and swiveled its water cannons at anyone who approached. The wreckage stretched for miles. The bitter smell of burned rubber tinged the air. Concrete barriers in the middle of the road were scrawled with obscenities cursing President Joseph Kabila. The Constitution requires Mr. Kabila to step down at the end of the year, but nothing has been done to prepare for an election. Many Congolese fear that Mr. Kabila is trying to wiggle out of term limits like several of his presidential cohorts across Africa and hold onto power indefinitely. Congo has a brutal history going back to the 19th century, when it was colonized. Not once has it had a peaceful transfer of power. On Monday morning, opposition supporters met at a statue of Patrice Lumumba, Congos first democratically elected prime minister, who was assassinated in 1961. The protesters had worked out a plan with Kinshasas municipal government to send emissaries from a slum into downtown Kinshasa to deliver a letter to the election commission calling for a clear path forward. The plan was for the march to be peaceful. It didnt quite work out that way. A half-century of civil war has deeply injured the psyche of Colombians, the countrys president said on Monday, weeks before a nationwide referendum on a peace deal that would end Latin Americas last major guerrilla conflict. Making peace is much more difficult than making war because you need to change sentiments of people, people who have suffered, to try to persuade them to forgive, the president, Juan Manuel Santos, said in an interview. Three generations of war have taken away from us our capacity to feel and suffer for other people, he added. KABUL, Afghanistan A misdirected American airstrike killed at least seven Afghan police officers in the hard-pressed southern province of Oruzgan, Afghan officials said on Monday. Taliban insurgents have taken control of much of the province and have been besieging its capital, Tirin Kot, for weeks, held off mainly by the American air support for Afghan security forces. On Sunday around noon, a police post known as Saqi, on the main highway into Tirin Kot, was under assault, and an airstrike hit the post instead of the attackers, said Abdul Qawe Omari, the deputy police chief for the province. It was hit mistakenly and due to wrong directions or coordinates being given, Mr. Omari said. The fighting was ongoing at the time. JAKARTA, Indonesia The forest fire and haze disaster in Southeast Asia last year may have led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people, according to a study released Monday by researchers from two United States universities. A vast majority of the cases were in Indonesia, where fires were deliberately set to clear land for agriculture. The study, led by experts in public health and atmospheric modeling from Harvard and Columbia, estimated that 91,600 people in Indonesia, 6,500 in Malaysia and 2,200 in Singapore may have died prematurely because of exposure to fine particle pollution from burning forests, in particular carbon-rich peatlands. The study said those figures were nearly 2.7 times higher than the 37,600 estimated deaths in the three countries because of exposure to fine particles during a fire and haze crisis in 2006. The particles, known as PM 2.5 because they are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller, are also typical in diesel emissions, among other things. When inhaled, they can cause severe health problems, including asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. Rather, he said, it seems that the public is still enamored of Modi. Mr. Modi swept into power in 2014 on a wave of public support for his development agenda and on disaffection with the previous governing coalition, led by the Congress party. Though economic changes have been intermittent, partly because of lack of support in Parliament from other parties, eight in 10 Indians have a positive view of the economy, and about two-thirds are satisfied with the way things are going in India generally, according to the survey. Part of the good will could be explained by the countrys economic growth; an annual rate of 7.1 percent for the most recent quarter makes Indias the fastest-growing large economy in the world. But significant economic alterations, including those regarding land acquisition and labor, which are seen as crucial for modernizing Indias economy and expanding its formal work force, have stalled because of lack of support in Parliament. In one sign of progress, however, the government in August pushed through the Goods and Services Tax, a uniform code that should do away with overlapping state and federal taxes, helping to unify the economy. People are not willing to give up on him on the economy so quickly, said Shekhar Gupta, a journalist and political commentator, adding that Mr. Modis frequent speaking engagements may have helped bolster his popularity. After a long time, Indians have a leader whos speaking to them directly and speaking to them all the time. The pollsters interviewed 2,464 randomly selected adults from April 7 to May 24 in 15 states and in New Delhi, the capital. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. Though many expressed support for Mr. Modi and for his party, increasing polarization between backers of Bharatiya Janata and those of the Congress party was apparent in the survey. Those differences were particularly stark on domestic issues like corruption, unemployment and help for the poor, where support from Congress party backers for Mr. Modis efforts has fallen since last year. North Korea has mobilized soldiers and workers in internal relief efforts for an estimated 140,000 victims in its northern provinces after torrential rains last month caused what it has described as some of the worst flooding in its history. International relief agencies like the United Nations World Food Program have also sent food and other assistance and have appealed international donations. On Monday, the South Korean government said it would not help. North Korea has not asked for help, and we dont expect it to, Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman for the Souths Unification Ministry, said at a news briefing. Even if it does, I think, given the present situation, that the possibility of providing aid is low. BERLIN Throughout the almost 11 years Chancellor Angela Merkel has been in office in Germany, her nation has been reassuringly stable in the midst of tumult throughout Europe, maintaining a steady economy and stolidly predictable politics. But it is becoming increasingly clear that Ms. Merkels decision last year to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the country has set off aftershocks that continue to upend politics in Germany and beyond. And on Monday, a day after voters in Berlin dealt her party another stinging loss in the second regional vote in two weeks, she was left to convince voters that she was not out of touch with their anger and anxiety over the flood of immigrants. If I could, I would turn back time by many, many years to better prepare myself and the whole German government for the situation that reached us unprepared in late summer 2015, Ms. Merkel said after meeting with leaders of her party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union. Nobody, including myself, wants a repeat of this situation. In a speech that was at times personal, Ms. Merkel took responsibility for her partys record-low showing in balloting in Berlin. She also acknowledged a role in the partys humiliating third-place finish, behind the Social Democratic Party and a nationalist party, Alternative for Germany, two weeks ago in her home state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. She pledged to work to regain voters trust. In December, a storm caused so much damage that part of the Lake Districts main north-south thoroughfare was washed away, in effect cutting the region in two for five months. The floods were only one among recent calamities since a crippling outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. Cumbria, the county that overlaps the Lake District, was hit particularly hard, and hundreds of thousands of sheep were incinerated. The look and the feel of the Lake District could be changed utterly for generations to come, Tim Collins, a local legislator, said at the time. His fears were not borne out, but to a longtime visitor, the region seems caught more than ever between a rose-glow of nostalgia and 21st-century pressures. I can still remember my grandfathers day when their life was pretty simple, Mr. Edmondson said. He couldnt drive a vehicle. He didnt ride a bike. All he had was two dogs, a walking stick and his tobacco. Sometimes, he said, it would take 14 days to walk his flock to market. These days, tour buses clog narrow lanes, spandex-clad cyclists dodge between them, and kayakers take to the rivers and lakes that inspired Arthur Ransomes Swallows and Amazons childrens stories. Such is the quest for adventure in Britains leisured society that developers want to build zip wires down precipices. As they have since the 19th century, rock climbers scale vertiginous crags. Walkers clamber over the high passes and summits, sharing the terrain with the sheep. Each year about 17.5 million tourists visit the Lake District, a national park spread over 912 square miles that brings some 2.6 billion worth of business to its 41,000 year-round residents. But the inexorable rise in visitor numbers also propels an enduring debate about how many people it can absorb. Sooner or later saturation must be reached, said Terry Fletcher, a columnist in the monthly magazine Cumbria. Sooner or later enough must be enough. PARIS France is frightened about many things these days, terrorism above all. But there is another fear raised recently by prominent politicians on the right and on the left of slipping into an acceptance of what is often called an Anglo-Saxon multicultural model, in which ethnic communities live separately, even autonomously. The idea that this model, or communautarisme, should be so repellent can be baffling to Anglo-Saxons, largely understood by the French to be British and Americans who, for the most part, stopped thinking of themselves exclusively in such narrow terms long ago. Frances idea of an Anglo-Saxon model has meant many things over the last century, sometimes referring to liberal capitalism, rampant individualism, consumerism or, in the view of President Charles de Gaulle, the threat of a global hegemony based on American power and the English language. But today the perceived Anglo-Saxon threat is about the breakdown of France into distinct communities based on ethnic identity. Prime Minister Manuel Valls referred to this obliquely in criticizing a New York Times article about the European experience of Muslim women, who described a day to day struggle. Mr. Valls, a Socialist, stressed that France, as distinct from other countries, does not see itself as a juxtaposition of communities, each with their autonomous path. IS group shot down a Syrian military plane in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, the Islamic State-affiliated news agency Amaq said on Sunday. "A Syrian warplane belonging to the Syrian regime was brought down when targeted by fighters from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zor," Amaq said in an online statement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict now in its sixth year, said the pilot of the MiG Syrian warplane was killed. The Observatory said the plane came down in the Jebel Tharda area which overlooks the government's Deir al Zor military airport. Jebel Tharda is where on Saturday U.S.-led coalition air strikes reportedly killed dozens of Syrian soldiers, endangering a U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire and prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated. The city's airport and some government-held districts have been entirely surrounded by Islamic State since last year, with the airport providing the only external access. Intense air strikes over the past 24 hours have hit Islamic State controlled areas near Deir al Zor city, the Observatory and Syrian state media said. Search Keywords: Short link: ROME When Virginia Raggi, Romes first female mayor, was elected in June, she represented the anti-establishment Five Star Movements highest aspiration to show Italy how nonprofessional politicians could turn things around. Yet three months later, the Five Star Movements shining moment has become a mess, and Ms. Raggi, 38, a lawyer with almost no political experience who ran as a clean-hands reformer, appears to be floundering. Garbage piled up in the streets through the summer. Five important officials have resigned, some tainted by investigations for malfeasance. By this month, things were so bad that the comedian Beppe Grillo, a founder of the movement, reversed a vow to stay out of politics and stepped in to shore up Ms. Raggi amid speculation about an early resignation. On Monday, one of Italys leading newspapers, La Repubblica, published excerpts from a letter to Ms. Raggi, signed by about 70 City Hall managers in Rome, that lamented administrative paralysis and a lack of guidance. Residents, too, seem to be at the end of their ropes. MOSCOW President Vladimir V. Putin leveraged his popularity to assert even greater control over Russias already malleable Parliament in national elections, with nearly complete results released on Monday showing the ruling United Russia party gaining an absolute majority of seats. The landslide was made possible, in some part, by a record low voter turnout of just under 48 percent in elections on Sunday for the 450-seat State Duma, or lower house of Parliament. Voters in the largest cities, where opposition to Mr. Putin is concentrated, tended to stay home, while many rural voters, a bastion of support for the president, went to the polls. United Russia actually won far less votes this time than in the previous parliamentary election, in 2011, but it gained more seats because of the low turnout. Voting against the authority in more traditional, rural areas of Russia is still something of a revolution, said Abbas Gallyamov, a political scientist and an adviser to several candidates. Opposition parties can only succeed in Russia when the turnout is high. BEIRUT, Lebanon A humanitarian aid convoy was attacked in Syria on Monday after the Syrian military declared that a seven-day partial cease-fire was over and immediately began intensive bombardments in rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the divided city that has come to symbolize the ravages of the war. The convoy attack, military declaration and bombings were the strongest signs yet of the gradual unraveling of a broader agreement between Russia and the United States aimed at restarting peace talks to end the conflict in Syria, which has killed an estimated 500,000 people and displaced millions. Minutes after the Syrian military declared the cease-fire over around sunset, aerial attacks began pummeling insurgent-occupied neighborhoods of Aleppo, residents reported. The few remaining hospitals were back to overflowing, and rescuers struggled to find people in the dark, with the electricity out. By midnight, 34 people were reported killed. United Nations officials were dumbfounded by the attack on the convoy of 31 trucks, which was escorted by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was carrying food, medicine and supplies bound for rebel-held areas of western Aleppo Province. The convoy was among the first to try to deliver humanitarian aid to these areas, a relief plan permitted under the cease-fire agreement. In the face of some of the worlds worst conflicts, the Council has proved to be ineffective, in large part because one or more of its veto-wielding permanent members have backed one warring party or another. Mass atrocities continue in the Darfur region of Sudan as China and Russia support the government. In Yemen, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the West is implicated in the bombing of schools and hospitals. The Councils starkest recent failure has been over Syria, with Russia backing the government as the United States, Britain and France support some opposition groups. The Councils considerable powers include sending in peacekeepers, and, today, about 100,000 soldiers and police officers are deployed to some of the worlds worst battlefields. But the United Nations faces a crisis about what its troops are willing and able to do. And peacekeepers have sometimes been accused of hurting the civilians they were sent to protect, with claims of sexual abuse in the Central African Republic and failure to prevent a massacre in South Sudan. Perhaps most damaging, peacekeepers have been blamed for introducing cholera to Haiti, killing more than 10,000. Human Rights PARIS A to-do list for a South Korean tourist visiting Paris: Eiffel Tower? Check. The Louvre? Check. Pharmacie Monge? Check. Thats right. Along with the citys famous monuments and museums, an ordinary pharmacy in the Fifth Arrondissement, marked with the traditional green neon cross, has become a big attraction for travelers from South Korea. They crowded the stores aisles one recent morning as they often do, filling baskets with piles of face creams, skin lotions and lip balms, with smartphones at the ready to look up items online, and suitcases in tow to carry them all home. Umber Ahmad was an investment banker whose specialty was the global expansion of food brands. Tom Colicchio was a client, and they talked food. After Ms. Ahmad treated him to samples of her cakes and cookies she grew up baking with members of her Pakistani family in northern Michigan, he encouraged her to go into the business. Since founding Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery in 2013, she has been baking in a commercial kitchen with Shelly Barbera, her executive pastry chef and partner, and selling her finely wrought pastries online to consumers as well as to wholesale clients like Jet Blue. And finally, a long year later than expected, she has a spacious West Village shop, opening Thursday, thats done in pearl gray with a tufted banquette and marble displays for her lush tarts, cookies, cream puffs, bars, cakes, brioche doughnuts and other sweet and savory items. Theres a back room with a communal table that she plans to use for classes, and a big kitchen downstairs. The name of the company is based on the Urdu word mazedar, meaning the essence: Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery, 28 Greenwich Avenue (10th Street), 212-498-9810, mahzedahrbakery.com. In his first speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Brazils new president, Michel Temer, defended on Tuesday the contentious impeachment proceedings that ousted his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, and placed him in power. Everything happened with absolute respect for the constitutional order, said Mr. Temer, 75, a career politician who recently emerged victorious from a power struggle that consumed the countrys political establishment. He called the impeachment process, which Ms. Rousseff claimed was an illegitimate usurpation of power, an example for the world. Mr. Temer also praised Brazils diversity in the speech, without touching on the criticism he received for naming an all-white cabinet in a country where more than half the population defines itself as black or mixed-race. He spoke positively about recent political shifts in Latin America, including the thawing of ties between the United States and Cuba and the deal between Colombias government and the countrys largest rebel group to end the longest-running war in the Americas. Temers main objective is to put the impeachment issue behind him and start with a clean slate in the international arena, said Geraldo Zahran, a professor of international relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo. In a place like Syria, where theres no ultimate military victory to be won, Mr. Obama said, were going have to pursue the hard work of diplomacy that aims to stop the violence and deliver aid to those in need and support those who pursue a political settlement and can see those who are not like themselves as worthy of dignity and respect. There are a couple of explanations for Mr. Obamas circumspect tone. The obvious one is that he has only four months left in office, which means that intractable problems like Syria are not going to be fixed on his watch. Mr. Obama also finds himself in a political bind: He does not want to saddle Mrs. Clinton with policies that could backfire with voters, like a new plan to push Israel and the Palestinians back to the bargaining table. Mr. Obama was reticent even about his diplomatic achievements. The nuclear agreement with Iran, for example, consumed him and Mr. Kerry for months, requiring a titanic battle against opponents on Capitol Hill and months of diplomatic repair work with allies in the Persian Gulf. Yet on Tuesday Mr. Obama described the deals benefits in the blandest terms, saying that it enhances global security and enhances Irans ability to work with other nations. He coupled this unenthusiastic boast with a warning about another major proliferation threat, North Korea, which recently tested another bomb. Whatever its long-term risks and payoffs, the Iran nuclear deal remains a source of political static in the United States. To the extent that Mrs. Clinton refers to it on the campaign trail, which is not often, she mostly promotes her credentials to police Tehran aggressively. For his part, Mr. Obama saved his activism for what would otherwise be a less controversial issue: the plight of refugees. He led a meeting of fellow leaders to nail down commitments from countries to take in more displaced people, and to spend more to integrate them. But even here, in an election year in which fears of terrorism loom large, the constraints on Mr. Obama were clear. In noting that the United States had agreed to admit 110,000 refugees in 2017, up from 85,000 this year, he said that refugees are subject to more vigorous screening than the average tourist. Mr. Obamas annual speeches to the United Nations are a good way to track the evolution of his foreign policy. The soaring ambition of 2009 gave way to a more restrained tone in 2013, when Mr. Obama acknowledged the limits of American military force. A year later, however, the president struck a more hawkish tone, trying to enlist the world in the fight against the Islamic State and promising to resist Mr. Putins aggression in Central Europe with sanctions and force, if necessary. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada made his first address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, he spoke before not only an enthusiastic audience, but one whose agenda largely mirrored his own. Two hallmarks of Mr. Trudeaus government since it took power 10 months ago have been admitting Syrian refugees and promising action on climate change. While he raised both of those issues in his speech on Tuesday, Mr. Trudeau also used the occasion to underscore another two of his favorite themes: optimism and internationalism. We need to focus on what brings us together, not what divides us, Mr. Trudeau said. For Canada that means re-engaging in global affairs. I only have one thing to say: Thats enough, he added, laying blame for the collapse of a cease-fire squarely on the Syrian government and its foreign backers. He urged the governments allies to force peace lest they bear shared responsibility for chaos and partition in Syria, and he called for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. If the world acts, Mr. Hollande said, there will finally be hope for the displaced and for the refugees. He added that ending the Syrian conflict would help hobble the Islamic State, which occupies territory in both Syria and neighboring Iraq. Mr. Hollande also called on the gathered countries to do everything to implement the historic agreement on climate change that was signed in Paris last year because there was no time to lose. The French president, who is eager to make the climate change deal part of his legacy, praised the United States and China for announcing that they would ratify the agreement, and he urged other countries to accelerate their ratification processes. Mr. Hollande touched only briefly on the problems facing Europe, saying he would convene a meeting to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but he made no mention, for instance, of Britains decision to leave the European Union. Turkish schools reopened Monday for the first time since the July 15 coup following a summer which saw tens of thousands of teachers sacked or suspended over "links" to the plotters or to Kurdish rebels. As more than 18 million children began the new term after the summer break, Huseyin Ozev, president of the Istanbul teachers' union, told AFP there were fears the academic year would begin with "chaos" because of huge staff shortages. After a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in mid-July, Ankara embarked on a massive crackdown, dismissing and detaining tens of thousands of people within the judiciary, the police and the education system over alleged links to the plotters. Students arriving at school on Monday were handed pamphlets from the education ministry commemorating "the triumph of democracy on July 15 and in memory of the martyrs" as well as their usual school books, an AFP photographer said. Pupils will be shown two videos about the coup, the ministry said, including footage of Erdogan reading the national anthem alongside images from the night of the coup showing tanks and war planes firing in the capital Ankara. One video shows the moment when people took to the streets in their thousands in Istanbul and Ankara to counter the coup attempt, which claimed nearly 270 lives, among them 24 putschists. In schoolyards, students observed a minute of silence for the victims and a prayer was said. Union chief Ozev warned that children's education could suffer if inexperienced teachers were called in to fill the staffing shortages. Speaking to AFP, he said the school year was likely to be characterised by "general chaos" due to the fact "there are 40,000 to 50,000 vacancies and no preparation on the side of the ministry of education." Cigdem, a teacher in Istanbul, attacked the government's actions as opportunism as she defended her colleagues. "We won't them let do that, we will not let down our schools. We are not coup-mongers or terrorists, we are teachers." Authorities have blamed the attempted coup on Erdogan's arch-enemy, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, and followers of his moderate Islamic "Hizmet" movement which encourages its members to work in the public sector. Gulen, who lives in self-exile in the United States, strongly denies any involvement in the coup, and the mass crackdown on his alleged supporters has sparked alarm among Turkey's Western allies. Tens of thousands of staff in the education sector alone have been suspended or dismissed, while another 11,500 teachers suspected of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were suspended earlier this month. The PKK, which has waged a insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is considered as a terror organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. There have been almost daily attacks by the PKK since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, while the Turkish authorities have stepped up their military campaigns in the restive southeast in response. Search Keywords: Short link: Theresa May, Britains new prime minister, in her first speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, vowed that Britain would remain an important and responsible international player despite its vote to leave the European Union. For Mrs. May, who became prime minister in July after the so-called Brexit referendum, the speech represented another first: her first foreign policy speech as prime minister. In about 20 minutes, she tried to reassure the United Nations and Britains allies that the United Kingdom will be a confident strong and dependable partner internationally. Given Britains importance as a nuclear power and permanent member of the Security Council, the world will be watching closely to take her measure. Mrs. May pledged that Britain would keep its commitment to spend not only 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, a NATO target, but also 0.7 percent of G.D.P. on development aid, which is more than most countries spend. Mrs. May is not associated with any particular foreign policy, but the main themes of her speech were aviation security; modern slavery and human trafficking, a subject of particular interest to the British government; and the war in Syria. Sherman became a fledgling environmentalist and got his revenge after a giant fish kill threatened the livelihood of nearby fishermen. Company officials feigned innocence, but Sherman barged into a public meeting with an incriminating sign: IM THE ONE WHO DUMPED IT IN THE BAYOU. Fast-forward a couple of decades and Sherman, still an environmentalist, is campaigning for a Tea Party congressman who wants to gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Sherman still distrusts chemical companies, but he distrusts the federal government more, because it spends his tax money on people who lazed around days and partied at night. In Strangers in Their Own Land, which has been nominated for a National Book Award, Hochschild calls this the Great Paradox opposition to federal help from people and places that need it and sets off across Louisiana on an energetic, open-minded quest to understand it. A distinguished Berkeley sociologist, Hochschild is a woman of the left, but her mission is empathy, not polemics. She takes seriously the Tea Partiers complaints that they have become the strangers of the title triply marginalized by flat or falling wages, rapid demographic change, and liberal culture that mocks their faith and patriotism. Her affection for her characters is palpable. But the resentments she finds are as toxic as the pollutants in the marsh and metastasizing throughout politics. What unites her subjects is the powerful feeling that others are cutting in line and that the federal government is supporting people on the dole taking money from the workers and giving it to the idle. Income is flowing up, but the anger points down. The people who feel this are white. The usurpers they picture are blacks and immigrants. Hochschild takes care not to call anyone racist but concludes that race is an essential part of this story. When she asks a small-town mayor to describe his politics, his first two issues or is it one in his mind? are welfare and race: I dont like the government paying unwed mothers to have a lot of kids, and I dont go for affirmative action. Officials connected Mr. Rahami to an explosion in Seaside Park, N.J., on Saturday morning as well as bombs found in Elizabeth, N.J. Manhattan New Jersey Elizabeth Location of Chelsea explosion Seaside Park explosion New Jersey Bombs found near train station New York Elizabeth Suspects family home Brooklyn Linden Authorities stopped a car here Staten Island Suspect arrested 2 Miles Manhattan Elizabeth Location of Chelsea explosion Seaside Park explosion N.J. New Jersey Bombs found near train station New York Suspects family home Authorities stopped a car here Suspect arrested Manhattan New Jersey Elizabeth Location of Chelsea explosion Seaside Park explosion New Jersey Bombs found near train station Elizabeth Suspects family home Brooklyn Linden Authorities stopped a car here Staten Island Suspect arrested 2 Miles Manhattan Queens Elizabeth Hoboken Location of Chelsea explosion Seaside Park explosion New Jersey New Jersey Jersey City Newark New York Bombs found near train station Upper New York Bay Bayonne Elizabeth Suspects family home Brooklyn Linden Suspect arrested Staten Island Authorities stopped a car here 2 Miles Manhattan Elizabeth Location of Chelsea explosion New Jersey Seaside Park explosion New Jersey N.J. Bombs found near train station New York Suspects family home Elizabeth Brooklyn Linden Authorities stopped a car here Staten Island Suspect arrested 2 miles By The New York Times 9:30 a.m. Saturday A pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, N.J., near the route of a 5-kilometer run. No one was injured. 8:30 p.m. Saturday A pressure-cooker bomb went off near a Dumpster on 23rd Street in Manhattan. Second device found here Seventh Ave. Explosion in this area MANHATTAN Ave. of the Americas W. 23rd St. AREA SHOWN Second device found here Seventh Ave. W. 27th St. West 23rd St. Explosion in this area MANHATTAN Ave. of the Americas Area Shown Second device found here Seventh Ave. W. 27th St. West 23rd St. Explosion in this area Ave. of the Americas MANHATTAN Area Shown Second device found here Seventh Ave. West 27th St. Explosion in this area Ave. of the Americas West 23rd St. MANHATTAN Area Shown By The New York Times | Source: Terrain and aerial imagery by Google Investigators used surveillance videos to identify Mr. Rahami as the suspect. He was seen on West 23rd Street at approximately 8:30 p.m. AFP Photo/New Jersey State Police About 11:30 p.m. Two state police officers found a second bomb in a pressure cooker on 27th Street. The police used a robot to inspect the device and transported it away in a total containment vessel, a spherical chamber hitched to a police truck. W. 27th St. Second pressure-cooker bomb Lucien Harriot 8:45 p.m. Sunday Five pipe bombs were found in a backpack near a train station in Elizabeth, and police officers detonated one as they sought to disarm them. Two men found the backpack on a trash can. Elizabeth train station New Jersey Transit They dropped the bag and called police when they saw what was inside. Elizabeth train station Two men found the backpack on a trash can. They dropped the bag and called police when they saw what was inside. E. Broad St. Two men found the backpack on a trash can. Elizabeth train station N. Broad St. They dropped the bag and called police when they saw what was inside. New Jersey Transit E. Broad St. Elizabeth train station Two men found the backpack on a trash can. N. Broad St. They dropped the bag and called police when they saw what was inside. New Jersey Transit E. Broad St. By The New York Times | Source: Aerial imagery by Pictometry Late Sunday night Authorities stopped a vehicle near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge that was observed at a location associated with the suspect. Five people were questioned, but no one was arrested. About 8 a.m. Monday A citywide cellphone alert was sent out: "WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-yr-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen." 11:20 a.m. Monday Police in Linden, N.J. captured Mr. Rahami after confronting him as he was sleeping in the doorway of a bar. Suspect was discovered here. Linden E. Elizabeth Ave. Suspect fired at cars. Suspect was shot here. Essex Ave. Suspect was discovered here. E. Elizabeth Ave. Suspect fired at cars. Linden Essex Ave. Suspect was shot here. Roselle St. Suspect was discovered here. E. Elizabeth Ave. Suspect fired at cars. Linden Essex Ave. Suspect was shot here. Roselle St. Suspect was discovered here. E. Elizabeth Ave. Linden Suspect fired at cars. Essex Ave. Suspect was shot here. Roselle St. By The New York Times | Source: Aerial imagery by Pictometry Police said he opened fire, striking one officer twice with bullets that did not penetrate his protective vest. Moving southwest on Elizabeth Avenue, he was confronted by more police and shot numerous times, including in the leg and shoulder. Estimated Florida vote Strongest for Clinton Strongest for Trump Tallahassee Jacksonville Pensacola Panama City Gainesville Daytona Beach Ocala Orlando Tampa Port St. Lucie Fort Myers Ft. Lauderdale Miami Tallahassee Jacksonville Pensacola Panama City Gainesville Daytona Beach Ocala Orlando Tampa Port St. Lucie Fort Myers Ft. Lauderdale Miami Tallahassee Jacksonville Pensacola Panama City Orlando Tampa Fort Myers Ft. Lauderdale Miami Orlando Tampa Miami New York Times Upshot/Siena College Poll Clinton 41% Trump 40% Donald J. Trump has almost no plausible path to the White House unless he wins Florida, a rapidly changing state where Hispanic voters could deal a decisive blow to his chances. But a new poll, by The New York Times Upshot/Siena College, suggests that Mr. Trump is keeping his hopes alive in Florida, the largest and most diverse of the crucial battleground states. The reason: White voters favor him by a large margin. Mrs. Clinton leads by a single point, 41 to 40 percent, among likely voters in a four-way race that includes Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. The race is tied in the head-to-head race, 43-43. The poll, the first of its kind by The Upshot, was based on voter records that allow unusually detailed analysis of the electorate. It indicates that Mr. Trump leads Mrs. Clinton by 51 percent to 30 percent among white voters and that includes all white voters, not just those without a college education who have been so vital to his campaign. Shes winning white voters registered as Democrats by only 63 percent to 17 percent. As has been expected, Mrs. Clinton appears on track for a record-setting state performance among Floridas Hispanic voters. She leads Mr. Trump by a 40-point margin, 61 percent to 21 percent, more than doubling the 18-point margin President Obama recorded four years ago, according to Upshot estimates. The result is a stronger one for Mrs. Clinton than those of some recent surveys. She is also doing very well among black voters, though not quite matching the huge margin or the enthusiasm that Mr. Obama enjoyed in 2012, at least not yet. Mrs. Clintons huge lead among black and Hispanic voters is offset by a large deficit among whites White voters Mrs. Clinton is competitive among white voters in southeast Florida. Black voters Black voters are nearly unanimous in not supporting Mr. Trump. Hispanic voters Republicans tend to do better among Cuban voters in South Florida. Its a story thats playing out across the country. National polls suggest that the bottom has fallen out for Mrs. Clinton among white voters without a degree, causing her substantial lead in national surveys to all but evaporate. White working-class voters have given Mr. Trump a lead of three to eight points in recent surveys of Ohio and Iowa two states with a lot of white working-class voters that Mr. Obama won fairly comfortably four years ago. But these gains have not done Mr. Trump quite as much good in Florida, a more diverse state where Mr. Obama fared poorly among white voters in 2012. If Mrs. Clinton continues to struggle among white voters nationwide, diverse states like Florida or North Carolina, where The Upshot will release a poll later this week, will become more important to her chances. White working-class voters are keeping the race close across the U.S. Vote choice among white voters without a college degree in national pre-election likely voter polls, 2012 and 2016. Source: September 2016 polls include Fox News, CNN, ABC/Washington Post and Quinnipiac surveys for the four-way race among likely voters; 2012 polls are from an Upshot compilation of pre-election polls from the Roper Center. The good news for Mrs. Clinton is that she still has a solid chance of a knockout blow in Florida. If she wins the state, it will be extremely difficult for Mr. Trump to win the presidency. He would need to sweep the most hotly contested battlegrounds Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire then win somewhere Mrs. Clinton is thought to have a considerable edge, like Michigan or Virginia. The same trends are not so evident in the states Senate race. Marco Rubio, the Republican senator running for re-election, leads his Democratic challenger, Patrick Murphy, by six percentage points, 48 percent to 42 percent. Mr. Trumps unpopularity with nonwhite voters has not hurt Mr. Rubios chances. He trails among Hispanic voters by just six points, even as Mr. Trump trails by 40 points among the same voters. Model of a Shifting State Unlike many public polls, the Upshot/Siena survey was conducted using voter registration files, the core of the big data that has transformed campaigning over the last decade. The voter file data here from L2, a nonpartisan voter file vendor includes information on the race, vote history and partisanship of every voter in the state, a big advantage for polling. We used the responses to our poll to build a statistical model of the vote preferences of every registered voter, based on the information available in the L2 voter file. Its the same basic approach taken by the major campaigns data analytics and targeting teams. The maps above are based on these estimates. The model suggests that the race has the potential to reshape the familiar political geography of Florida. Miami-Dade County, once fairly competitive, could be on the cusp of becoming a Democratic bastion. Over all, the model indicates that Mrs. Clinton could approach 70 percent of the vote in Miami-Dade where Al Gore received only 53 percent in 2000 depending on the number of third-party votes. Heavily Cuban enclaves in west Miami and Hialeah are divided, according to the model, even though they voted heavily for Mitt Romney in 2012. The survey did not sample a large number of Cuban voters, so the findings should be interpreted with caution, but Mrs. Clinton held a tentative lead of 43 to 32 among Cuban voters. Mr. Trump holds only a 60 percent to 25 percent lead among Hispanics registered as Republicans. The I-4 corridor looks more like a patchwork of racially polarized Democratic and Republican enclaves than a swath of purple neighborhoods. Many areas where Democrats used to be competitive with white voters north of Tampa or around Daytona Beach, for example appear to lean to Mr. Trump. Its gains like these that have helped Mr. Trump stay in the race, despite his loss of ground in South Florida. There are growing Puerto Rican enclaves south of Orlando poised to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. And there are overlooked, rapidly growing and mostly white communities poised to vote overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump. The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida with a population now over 150,000, was the fastest-growing city in the United States in 2013 and 2014, according to the census. Its expected to break heavily for Mr. Trump. Older voters in Florida strongly support Mr. Trump Mrs. Clinton doesnt excel among young voters, even though Mr. Trump struggles. Share of support among registered voters Age of voter Clintons Turnout Challenge Mrs. Clinton may have a narrow edge among likely voters, but the race isnt quite so close among registered voters, who support her by a four-point margin. Her challenge is straightforward: to get less likely voters to the polls. Mr. Trump has a considerable lead among the likeliest voters, the older, generally whiter voters who regularly turn out in primaries and midterm elections. He has a five-point lead, for instance, among voters who participated in the 2014 midterm election. The model, similarly, finds that Mr. Trump has a seven-point lead among registered voters with a greater than 90 percent chance of turning out. The presidential election will inevitably draw millions of additional voters from the pool of less regular voters, who are younger and more diverse. Mrs. Clinton has a sizable lead among these less regular voters. The poll, for instance, gives Mrs. Clinton a 10-point lead among registered voters who did not participate in the 2014 midterm elections. The model gives her a lead among every group of voters who are less than 90 percent likely to vote. Support among voters who are... Her aim is to get these voters to show up. The chart below is identical to the one above, except that the groups are scaled according to their share of the likely electorate. The most likely voters make up around two-thirds of the electorate. Just how many irregular voters actually cast a ballot could easily make a difference in a contest this close. Scaled to size of the electorate In Florida, younger voters support Mrs. Clinton by a wide margin even in a four-way contest but more than half say they have an unfavorable view of her. And more young voters than any other age group are considering a third-party candidate. The potential upside for Mrs. Clinton is obvious. If everyone in the state turned out and chose between one of the two major candidates, the model suggests that Mrs. Clinton might lead by six points. But these are not people with a robust track record of voting, and theyre not yet ready to indicate their support for Mrs. Clinton, let alone turn out and vote for her. A lack of enthusiasm among younger voters wouldnt just mean an older electorate; it might also mean a whiter electorate. Over all, 69 percent of likely voters in the survey were non-Hispanic whites (as indicated on their voter registration form when they registered to vote), compared with 68 percent in the 2012 presidential election and 73 percent in the 2014 midterm electorate. The main reason for the slightly whiter electorate is a projected decline in the black share of the electorate. Newly registered voters will probably drive down the white share of the electorate slightly before the election. The Republicans have a one-point edge in party registration among likely voters in the survey, despite a two-point deficit in registration among active voters. How Confident Are We? No poll is perfect. As a result, its generally better to look at an average of recent surveys, which currently shows a very close race in Florida. Where this poll fits in with other polls of Florida voters Type, Respondents Margin NYT Upshot/Siena New Live Phone 867 Likely Voters Clinton +1 Latest Polls Type, Respondents Margin CNN New Live Phone 788 Likely Voters Trump +3 CBS/YouGov New Online 1193 Likely Voters Clinton +2 PPP New I.V.R./Online 744 Likely Voters Trump +1 Quinnipiac New Live Phone 761 Likely Voters Even All polls, of course, are subject to a margin of error. But the margin of error does not include many other potential sources of error, like the choices of the many undecided voters, or decisions made by pollsters about how to adjust the poll. One such choice is the likely-voter model, the process of determining which registered voters are likely to vote on Election Day. Our likely-voter screen averages two methods: asking voters whether theyll vote, and using a statistical model to estimate the probability that voters will participate in the election. Mrs. Clinton fared worse than she did among registered voters under both measures. But if we had used only self-reported vote intention, as many public polls do, Mrs. Clinton would have had a two-point lead. If we had used our model based on vote history, the race would have been tied. With the result so close, there are different choices we could have made that could have given either Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton the lead. In seven weeks, well have a decisive answer. US Secretary of State John Kerry said he expected more aid deliveries to reach civilians in Syria on Monday but it remained to be seen if a ceasefire would hold. The ceasefire "did pretty well last night, trucks are moving to maybe eight locations or more" to deliver aid, Kerry told reporters as he met Tunisia's foreign minister in New York. "Let's wait," he said, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting. Russia's defense ministry appeared to bury the week-long ceasefire brokered with the United States, saying rebel violations made it "pointless" for government troops to uphold the truce. After months of negotiations, the United States and Russia reached the agreement on September 9 that calls for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and the joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria. The ceasefire ran into trouble at the weekend when rebel-held districts of Aleppo came under a barrage of air strikes and the US-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in a strike that Washington said was unintentional. A senior military source in Damascus told AFP that the truce would expire later Monday at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) if no extension was announced. Search Keywords: Short link: Statistics indicate that nearly 90% of all completed or attempted rapes on campuses are committed by acquaintances. Please remember that: Having sex with someone who is incapacitated (rape) is against the law and is a felony. Alcohol is the most common drug used to facilitate sexual assault. It is important for everyone involved in a sexual act to give consent to all aspects of the act. Consent means a clear and sober yes, given freely. It is a myth that it cant happen to you. Sexual assault can happen to anyone, regardless of age, race, class, religion, occupation, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, educational background, or physical description. Rape is never the victims fault. If you are a victim of sexual assault, you should: Preserve evidence. Do not shower or change your clothing. Dial 911 for emergency assistance or immediately go to the nearest hospital (in the Auburn area, East Alabama Medical Center located at 2000 Pepperell Parkway in Opelika, Alabama) to get medical care and request a Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (rape kit). Report it. Notification options include: Dial 911 (emergencies) or 334-501-3100 to reach the Auburn Police Division. The police are the only entity that can investigate a sexual assault for the means of criminal prosecution. It is important for them to gather evidence as soon as possible. Dial 334-844-4794 to report the incident to the Auburn University Title IX Coordinator. The Title IX Office receives official complaints of violations of the universitys Title IX Policy. All survivors are encouraged to report the assault, but it is always the survivors choice whether or not to do so. Sexual Assault Survivor Advocates On and Off Campus (24 hours a day) Safe Harbor (on campus) 334-844-7233 or safeharbor@auburn.edu Rape Counselors of East Alabama (community) 334-705-0510 Resources for Survivors: www.auburn.edu/titleix Lee County Sheriffs Office Second-degree theft of property was reported Saturday in the 400 block of Lee Road 246 in Smiths Station. Unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle was reported Sunday on Lee Road 270 in Cusseta. Discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and an unoccupied vehicle was reported Sunday in the 100 block of Lee Road 65 in Auburn. Auburn Police Division Second-degree criminal trespassing was reported Friday in the 600 block of Opelika Road. Second-degree criminal mischief was reported Friday in the 300 block of North Gay Street. First-degree forgery was reported Friday in the 1700 block of South College Street. Discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling or vehicle was reported Friday in the 500 block of Lee Road 57. Theft from residence was reported Friday in the 300 block of West Longleaf Drive. Aggravated assault non-family-other weapon and robbery of a residency was reported Saturday in the 300 block of Lee Road 55. Fraudulent use of a credit/debit card was reported Saturday in the 100 block of West Magnolia Avenue. First-degree theft of property was reported Saturday in the 400 block of South Gay Street. Unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle was reported Sunday in the 1900 block of Lee Road 137. Robert Allen Thomas, 47, of Opelika, was arrested Friday and charged with unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle and third-degree theft of property. A 26-year-old, of Auburn, was arrested Friday and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. A 28-year-old, of Auburn, was arrested Friday and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and attempting to elude law enforcement. A 20-year-old, of Columbus, was arrested Friday and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. A 24-year-old, of Auburn, was arrested Saturday and charged with possession of a controlled substance. A 22-year-old, of Opelika, was arrested Sunday and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and firearms license required. A 25-year-old, of Auburn, was arrested Sunday and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and firearms license required. A 25-year-old, of Tuskegee, was arrested Sunday and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. A 23-year-old, of Lanett, was arrested Sunday and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and carrying a pistol unlawfully. Opelika Police Department A fraudulent use of a credit/debit card occurred in the 1900 block of Marvyn Parkway A discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling occurred in the 500 block of Commanche Drive. No injuries were reported. An unlawful breaking an entering a vehicle occurred in the 1000 block of Fox Run Avenue. A discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling occurred in the 1200 block of Monroe Avenue. A total of four residences were damaged in the offense. No injuries were reported. Ashlie Chae Lappe was arrested as a fugitive from justice from the state of Florida. Lappe was arrested and booked into the Lee County Jail to await extradition back to Florida. Chambers County Sheriffs Office Corey Knith Warner, 36, of Lanett, was arrested between Friday and Saturday and charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. Steven Lee Henry, 44, of Opelika, was arrested between Friday and Saturday and charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. Lanett Police Department First-degree possession of a forged instrument was reported between Friday and Sunday in the 1000 block of Cherry Drive. Fraudulent use of a credit/debit card was reported between Friday and Sunday in the 4200 block of 28th Street Southwest. Jeffrey Keith White, 44, of Lanett, was arrested between Friday and Sunday and charged with possession of a controlled substance. The US-Russian ceasefire deal for Syria is fragile but remains the "only basis" for achieving a political settlement of the conflict, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Monday. "The agreement is particularly fragile -- these past hours have shown this -- but it must retain a glimmer of hope. It is the only basis that the international community can draw on" to resolve the Syrian crisis, he said. Search Keywords: Short link: Rami Malek pulled off one of the nights bigger upsets when he won outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his role in Mr. Robot. Backstage, he still seemed slightly stunned, though delighted, too. I was sitting there and the category came up, he said. And just for a second I thought, Im not incredibly nervous, because I truly was waiting to hear somebody elses name, because those guys are fantastic. When I heard my name I said, Do not move, because it wasnt you. And then faces started to turn towards me. I think I must have looked like I was in shock. Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black, who won outstanding lead actress in a drama series after several years of being nominated, said backstage that her victory hadnt yet sunk in. Its such an honor, she said. The category Im in is all these women Ive looked up to for so long. The biggest challenge to her role, or roles she plays a variety of cloned young women is finding ways to make them all clearly different from each other. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story was one of the biggest winners of the night, a success its producers said backstage was largely due to the fact that America is still dealing with the themes that the trial encompassed. I think the case touches on everything that America is obsessed about: race, gender, class and justice, said producer Nina Jacobson. And the fact that justice is not blind, not so nearly as much as it wants to be, or says it wants to be. This case was so divisive at the time that our hope was in giving people access to it, she said, that they might be able to see it with different eyes. Sterling K. Brown, who won outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie for his portrayal of Christopher Darden in the miniseries, candidly admitted that hed changed his opinion of not just Darden, but the trial as well, as he worked on the series. I was squarely on the side of the defense and rejoiced with most of my classmates when this thing went down, Brown said of the original verdict. The injustice I was concerned about was how I got pulled over for being black. I didnt think about Ron and Nicole. They almost occurred as an afterthought. So to be on the side of the prosecution and realize that two young people had their lives brutally snuffed out? The prosecution tried to speak for those who could not speak. Jeffrey Tambor, who repeated as lead actor in a comedy series for his role as a transgender woman in Transparent, arrived backstage with Jill Soloway, the shows creator and herself a winner on Sunday for outstanding directing for a comedy series. Both talked about the importance of placing those who come from other backgrounds of gender, of race, of religion to name a few in the roles of protagonists as a way to change how they are seen by society at large. I think weve realized over the last few years that (a protagonist) projects and protects privilege, said Soloway, who based Transparent on her own fathers coming out as a trans woman. The world changes. Laws change. We just feel privileged to go to work and feel like were changing the world, in a comedy. Tambor repeated his sentiment also expressed on stage that he hopes he is the last cisgender male the term reflects someone who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth to play a female transgender role. Its time to hand over the keys to the kingdom, open the gates and allow more of these people to tell their own stories, he said. Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com LINDEN, N.J. A New Jersey police officer responding to a call about a hoodied vagrant curled up asleep in the doorway of a bar roused him and quickly recognized his bearded face as that of perhaps the most wanted man in America. Ahmad Khan Rahami identified in an FBI bulletin just hours earlier as a man wanted in the weekend bombings in New York City and New Jersey pulled a gun, shot the officer and triggered a running gun battle in the street that ended with Rahami wounded and in custody Monday, authorities said. A bloodied Rahami was loaded into the back of an ambulance, just 50 hours after the first blast that started it all. Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the New York area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said officials have every reason to believe the series of bombings was an act of terror, though investigators said Rahamis exact motive isnt yet clear. With Rahamis arrest, officials said they have no indication there are more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they are still working to understand Rahamis connections. Still, after a whirlwind investigation that put Rahami in custody in just two days time, Im a lot happier today than I was yesterday, New York Police Commissioner James ONeill said. The probe started when a pipe bomb blew up Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured. Then a shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack exploded Saturday night in New Yorks Chelsea section, wounding 29 people, none seriously. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away. Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. Late Monday, Rahami was charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with the shootout. Federal prosecutors said they were still weighing charges over the bombings. Rahami lived with his family above their fried-chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, and his relatives have clashed with the city over closing times and noise complaints they said were tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment. A childhood friend, Flee Jones, said Rahami had become more religious after returning from a trip to Afghanistan several years ago. But William Sweeney Jr., the FBIs assistant director in New York, said there were no indications Rahami was on law enforcements radar at the time of the bombings. Authorities zeroed in on him as the potential bomber after a fingerprint lifted from one of the Manhattan New York sites and clear as day surveillance video from the bombing scene helped identify him, according to three law enforcement who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami but were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might later face charges. The law enforcement officials said at least one of Rahamis relatives was in the car, which appeared headed toward Kennedy Airport in New York after coming from New Jersey. Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late Monday morning, when a bar owner reported someone asleep in his doorway. Jack Mazza, co-manager of nearby V.C.M.R. Truck Services, said the bar owner came over exclaiming about the sleeping man, and Mazza walked over to see a man curled up with a sweatshirt hood pulled over his head in the rain. He looked like a bum, Mazza said. After an officer arrived and recognized Rahami, Rahami shot the officer, who was saved by his bulletproof vest, authorities said. More officers joined in a gun battle that spilled into the street. Another police officer was grazed by a bullet. Authorities said neither wounded officer was critically hurt. Peter Bilinskas said he was standing by his desk at his Linden bowling-supply shop when he heard what sounded like gunfire and saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand. As a police car pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him, Bilinskas said. As the East Coast was rattled by the bombings, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall Saturday before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. Authorities are investigating it as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group, welcomed Rahamis arrest. The organization and the Afghan Embassy in Washington condemned the bombings. Around the time Rahami was captured, President Barack Obama was in New York on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He called on Americans to show the world we will never give in to fear. An AP reporter went to the building that houses the familys restaurant and home, but it was cordoned off. Rahamis father, Mohammad, and two of Rahamis brothers sued the city of Elizabeth in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring their restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, to close early because of complaints from neighbors that it was a late-night nuisance. The Rahamis charged in the lawsuit that they were targeted by neighbors because they are Muslims. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 after Mohammad Rahami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Ahmad Rahami working there more. Hes always in there. Hes a very friendly guy, thats whats so scary. Its hard when its home, McCann said. Caldwell reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Karen Matthews, Maria Sanminiatelli, Michael Balsamo and Dake Kang in New York and Eric Tucker and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. Fresh off of a pregame performance at the Los Angeles Rams home opener Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers announced the first three legs of its 2017 North American tour schedule Monday morning. The outing is in support of the L.A. groups eleventh studio album, The Getaway, which dropped June 17 and the tour will come to Staples Center (1111 S. Figueroa Street) in Los Angeles on March 7. Tickets are $49-$99 and go on sale at noon on Friday at 213-457-1647 or AXS.com. There is also a special fan club presale that launches at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The Getaway was produced by Danger Mouse and debuted at No. 1 on the charts with help from the first single Dark Necessities that hit the airwaves on May 5. A second single, Go Robot, was released on Sept. 8. Fans that purchase tickets for the tour, which kicks off in San Antonio on Jan. 5 with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue serving as support, will also have the choice of either a standard physical or standard digital copy of the new album. The last time Red Hot Chili Peppers were set to headline in the area was the annual KROQ 106.7 FM Weenie Roast at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on May 14, but the fest was cut short when vocalist Anthony Kiedis was rushed to the hospital from the venue and treated for intestinal flu. He has since fully recovered. Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com ST. CLOUD, Minn. One of the victims wounded in a stabbing at a central Minnesota mall says the man who carried out the attack showed no emotion and his eyes looked blank. Ryan Schliep, one of 10 people who suffered wounds that were not life-threatening before the attacker was fatally shot, told WCCO-TV that the man just walked right at me before striking quickly and penetrating the skin of his scalp. He looked just blank in the eyes like he wasnt even there, Schliep said shortly before being released from a St. Cloud hospital. Authorities are treating Saturdays stabbings at Crossroads Center Mall as a possible act of terrorism, in part because an Islamic State-run news agency claimed that the attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State who had heeded the groups calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. But it wasnt immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said Monday the attack appeared to be the work of a single individual and there was no sign that the attacker, identified by his father as 20-year-old Dahir Adan, was radicalized or communicated with any terrorist group. President Barack Obama said the stabbings had no apparent connection to weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey. Because Adan was Somali, leaders of the states large Somali community acknowledged the prospect of a long winter for their people after the stabbings, but warned not to quickly accept the terrorism connection. We cannot give ISIS and other terrorist organizations more air time and propaganda without real facts, said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota chapter. Little is known about Adan, who was identified Sunday by his father, Ahmed Adan. He had only a traffic ticket on his record, was apparently out of work after his job as a part-time security guard ended and hadnt enrolled in college since the spring semester. Adan was wearing a security guards uniform during the attack. Federal officials released no new information Monday on the investigation into the stabbing, which was stopped by an off-duty police officer just minutes into it. FBI Special Agent in Charge Rick Thornton has said authorities were digging into Adans background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts and electronic devices and talking to people he knew. Minnesota has the nations largest Somali population, an estimated 57,000 people. Both Anderson and Gov. Mark Dayton warned against a possible backlash due to the stabbings, especially in St. Cloud, where Somalis in the 65,000-resident city about 65 miles (104 km) northwest of Minneapolis have spoken about mistreatment in the past. I implore the citizens of St. Cloud and the citizens of Minnesota to rise above this incident and remember our common humanity, Dayton said. Somali leaders planned a Monday evening news conference to urge unity. Its going to be tough times. We know its going to be a long winter for this community, said Haji Yusuf, who is part of UniteCloud, a local group founded to tackle racial and ethnic tension in the city. Last year, St. Cloud school officials met with Somali parents, community elders and students after Somali-American students walked out to protest their treatment. One student had said Somali-Americans were called Islamic State members and had their headscarves pulled off, and a photo posted on social media of a Somali-American student who was using a wheelchair after breaking her leg with a caption that said she was disabled in ISIS. Five years earlier, CAIRs Minnesota chapter asked for a federal civil rights investigation into allegations that Muslim students had been harassed at two St. Cloud high schools. A 2011 agreement resolved the case, but the U.S. Department of Education still was monitoring the case last year. In 2013, CAIR called on police in nearby Waite Park to reject a training program about Somalis because a flier unfairly suggested the activities of al-Shabab a militant group in east Africa that has had success in recruiting Somali-Americans in Minnesota are supported by most Muslims. If the stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil. Adan was employed by the security firm Securitas, and was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux factory near the mall, Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale said. His father, speaking through an interpreter, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he was 22, but court records and a drivers license database showed his age as 20. A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student majoring in information systems, but hadnt enrolled since the spring semester. Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon who was there shopping, began shooting the attacker as he was lunging at him with the knife, Anderson said, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. Avon Police Chief Corey Nellis said Monday that Falconer owns a firing range and is the citys firearms instructor. If I was going to ask anybody to fire live rounds in a crowded mall, I would trust his abilities next to anybodys, Nellis said. The mall reopened Monday after being closed Sunday. Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in St. Cloud, Minnesota, contributed to this report. NEW DELHI one of the deadliest attacks in the disputed region of Kashmir, heavily armed militants stormed an Indian army base near the border with Pakistan early Sunday, killing 17 soldiers. Indias home minister, Rajnath Singh, in a series of pointed comments on Twitter, appeared to accuse Pakistan of being behind the attack. I am deeply disappointed with Pakistans continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups, he said. Indias director-general of military operations, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, said in a televised statement that the militants were foreign terrorists carrying items with Pakistani markings and that he had contacted his counterpart in the Pakistani army to express our serious concerns. Singh said initial reports suggested the attack was carried out by the Pakistani-based Jaish-e-Muhammad, a militant group that India has blamed for an attack in January on the Pathankot air force base as well as numerous other attacks in recent decades. In an interview on Sunday, Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, a spokesman for the Pakistani Ministry for Foreign Affairs, rejected allegations of Pakistani involvement. The Indian army said that at 5:30 a.m., the attackers, carrying AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, entered the grounds of the base in Uri, a town in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir that is among those closest to the de facto border with Pakistan. Four militants were killed in the ensuing fighting, said S.D. Goswami, a spokesman for the armys Northern Command, which oversees Kashmir. India and Pakistan have been locked in a dispute over the Himalayan region since the two countries secured independence from Britain in 1947. There has been a resurgence of protests in the Indian-administered portion since early July, when Indian security forces killed a 22-year-old militant leader, Burhan Muzaffar Wani. Young people have taken to the streets to demonstrate, many by pelting stones at security forces, who have retaliated by firing pellet guns and rifles. More than 70 people, most of them civilians, have been killed, and thousands have been injured, including many members of the security forces. Syria's armed forces said Monday that a week-long ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia was over, blaming rebels for the failure of the truce. US Secretary of State John Kerry said meanwhile that the terms had not been met for a key aspect of the deal -- US-Russia cooperation against Islamist militants in Syria. In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, Syria's army said a freeze on fighting it had announced last week had ended, blaming rebel groups it said "did not commit to a single element" of the truce deal. "Syria's army announces the end of the freeze on fighting that began at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on September 12, 2016 in accordance with the US-Russia agreement," the statement said. The truce backed by world powers aimed to help end Syria's brutal five-year conflict, which has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions. But after several days of relative calm, fighting escalated across major battlefronts, culminating in a deadly US-led air raid at the weekend on a Syrian army position and fresh strikes on Aleppo. The truce "was supposed to be a real chance to stop the bloodshed, but the armed terrorist groups flouted this agreement," Monday's army statement said. Syria's armed forces "exercised the highest degree of self-restraint while facing violations by terrorist groups," it said. Kerry -- who brokered the deal along with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov -- said in New York that Russia had failed to meet its side of a deal to enforce the truce, but that Washington was willing to keep working on it. Under the terms of an agreement, the US military would set up a joint cell with Russian forces to target Syrian Islamist militants if the ceasefire held. Kerry had earlier insisted the ceasefire was "holding but fragile". He told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that American officials were "meeting now with the Russians in Geneva. That process is continuing and we'll see where we are in the course of the day." However, Russia's defence ministry appeared to bury hopes that the truce would last past Monday night. "Considering that the conditions of the ceasefire are not being respected by the rebels, we consider it pointless for the Syrian government forces to respect it unilaterally," Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said in a televised briefing. He said "the main issue" was that non-Islamist militants rebels had not been separated from Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate on the ground. Violence increased across the country on Monday, with fierce clashes reported east of Damascus and one child killed in regime shelling on the edges of Aleppo. Since September 12, 27 civilians, including nine children, have been killed in areas where the truce had been set to take hold, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bloodiest day for civilians was Sunday, when a barrel bomb attack killed 10 in a southern rebel-held town and one woman died in the first raids on Aleppo since the truce started. The ceasefire came under additional strain after a US-led coalition strike hit a Syrian army post Saturday near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where government forces are battling the Islamic State (IS) group. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Monday the coalition raid showed world powers support "terrorist organisations" like IS. "The latest example of this is the flagrant American aggression on one of the Syrian army's positions in Deir Ezzor," he said. Senior government adviser Buthaina Shaaban told AFP Sunday that Damascus believed the raid, which killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers, had been "intentional". Loyalist forces backed by Russian and Syrian warplanes were fighting to roll back IS's advance there, a military source told AFP on Monday. Under the US-Russia agreement, fighting was to have halted across Syria and humanitarian aid would reach civilians suffering increasingly dire humanitarian conditions. On Monday, convoys of food and medical aid reached two hard-to-reach areas, according to David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Aid was delivered to tens of thousands in rebel-held Talbisseh, where at least two people were killed by shelling during the truce. Another 78,000 people living in and around Greater Orum in the north of Aleppo province would also receive flour and health supplies, Swanson said. But convoys to rebel-held districts of Aleppo were still stuck on the border with Turkey. UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said he was "pained" that Aleppo had still not received promised aid deliveries. Search Keywords: Short link: At precisely 11:12 p.m., on Nov. 6, 2012, America learned that Barack Obama had been reelected president. The call made first by NBC probably came as no surprise to either the Obama or Mitt Romney campaigns, both of which operated sophisticated war rooms tracking their needed voter turnout. So heres a question: Why should the public be out of that loop? If the campaigns know how they are doing in real time, why cant that information be made available to the public? There is no secret sauce in this. Campaigns have been doing it for decades, said Ken Smukler, who is trying to change the status quo, where the only reports during the voting on Election Day are about the weather and subjective assessments about heavy turnout. The veteran of Philadelphia political wars is the founder of VoteCastr, a project that has teamed him with some Silicon Valley tech types and Slate.com. Smukler thinks hes poised to give Americans insight into who is winning the election as the voting is taking place. Heres how it will work: Come Nov. 8, VoteCastr will disperse hundreds of representatives to predetermined polling places to track actual turnout. These locales will represent polling places believed to strongly favor Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, allowing the easy tracking of how each camp is doing in getting out its core vote. That will then allow modeling to project the outcome in larger areas. The plan is to do this for the presidential race and competitive Senate campaigns in seven swing states. Its a concept Smukler first piloted in 2003, using my CBS radio platform in Philadelphia, an experiment he now refers to as his proof of concept. That election was a rematch of the 1999 John Street/Sam Katz mayoral race, which was decided by a razor-thin margin of less than two percentage points. Street receiving just 9,447 votes more than Katz, and voter turnout citywide was 44.8 percent. Their rematch four years later was made famous by the late discovery of an FBI listening device in Mayor Streets City Hall office. On Election Day in 2003, Smukler engaged students from the University of Pennsylvanias Fels Institute of Government, and paid them to camp out at 50 different polling places scattered across the city. Any seasoned observer could have easily projected the wards each candidate would win largely based upon the race of the residents the open question was the margin. Smukler believed that by tracking the turnout in areas decidedly pro-Street or pro-Katz, he could gain real-time insight into the big picture. Toward that end, the students made reports every few hours on turnout. I pulled the radio tape from my noon broadcast that Election Day to remember how the information was culled and disseminated. The ending wasnt spoiled instead, it sounded like a running commentary of a live news event. For example, Smuklers data showed that, one hour into voting, at 8 a.m., Katz was turning out 5 percent of his vote while Street was at 3.9 percent. By 11 a.m., Street was turning out 10.5 percent of his vote while Katz was at 9.8 percent. When Smukler then ranked all 50 locales he was tracking, nine of the top 10 performers were in Street strongholds. But he warned that it was is incorrect to judge what was going on based on the top performers alone. What these numbers give you is just a snapshot of what is going on out there, he cautioned at the time. Just before 1 p.m., I asked him where things stood. The morning rounds are over, he replied. Katz landed some hard blows in the initial rounds but it looks like Street came back toward the end of the morning. I recently played the tape of that broadcast for Smukler. Neither of us had heard it in 13 years. I do recall that we did make a call that said Katz would be losing this race by double digits, he recently said. (Street won convincingly: 58.34 percent to 41.34 percent.) But I want you to remember something else, he added. Remember we were doing this for a [CBS] station. And I was read the riot act by the lawyers at the station who said, You cannot give [result] numbers. The only thing we will let you do on our air is to give people a sense and you must disclaim at all times what your numbers are. Thats not exactly what Im doing right now. This time were gonna give the numbers. Some worry that release of real-time turnout information will suppress or otherwise impact the vote. Veteran political journalist Jeff Greenfield told me the idea made him think of the 1980 election, which was called for Ronald Reagan before the polls had closed in California. If reporters are using modern tools to model whats going on while its going on, he said, I have the same kind of question: Do campaigns that hear they are lagging redouble their efforts, or do their followers say, Its hopeless? I dont know. But I fear an outbreak of total, uncontrolled hysteria by 2p.m. My observations in the 2003 mayors race left me less concerned. What I most recall was the excitement that the analysis added while there was still time to energize voters who had yet to cast ballots. I doubt anyone who listened to Smuklers data stayed away from the polls. Instead, it was like hearing the play-by play of a sporting event where you could get off the sofa or out of your car and influence the outcome. And if that causes more people to vote, thatll be a good thing. Michael Smerconish can be heard from 9 a.m. to noon on SiriusXMs POTUS Channel 124 and seen hosting Smerconish at 9 a.m. Saturdays on CNN. JERUSALEM President Barack Obama will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in New York this week as the White House considers laying out its proposed framework for Middle East peace over the objections of the Israeli leader. The two leaders, who have been at odds for years over the Iran nuclear agreement and other issues, will sit down on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session on Wednesday for what could be their final get-together before Obamas term ends in January. The meeting will come a week after the two nations sealed a $38 billion, 10-year American security aid package to Israel, the largest ever granted to an ally. The two sides hailed the agreement as proof that the tense relationship between Obama and Netanyahu did not detract from the enduring ties between their two nations. But Obama made clear on Sunday that now that he has demonstrated a commitment to Israels security, he plans to press Netanyahu to move toward reconciliation with the Palestinians. The meeting also will be an opportunity to discuss the need for genuine advancement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the face of deeply troubling trends on the ground, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said. Left unclear was whether Obama would go beyond simply urging Netanyahu. The president is considering whether to publicly lay out his parameters for a settlement of the long-running conflict, a prospect Netanyahu has strongly opposed. Many eyes will be on Obama during his speech to the General Assembly, but if he does decide to lay out his peace plan, he might wait until after the November election to avoid having it become caught up in campaign politics. If he proceeds, he could give a speech outlining his ideas or even encapsulate them in a resolution before the U.N. Security Council. Costa Mesa Police are asking for the publics help in identifying a man accused of stealing two bikes early Sunday from a shop on Newport Boulevard. Costa Mesa Police responded to a burglary call at Cyclist Bike Shop in the 1700 block of Newport Boulevard at 3 a.m. They found a smashed window but no suspects inside or near the building. Shop management said two bikes valued at $6,000 had been stolen, said Sgt. Patrick Wessel. A video surveillance showed a clean-cut-looking man wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt, shorts and work boots, Wessel said. Both bikes were 2016 models. One was a black Specialized Stump Jumper with a white fork. The other was a candy red Specialized Fuse Comp, Wessel said. Anyone with information on the suspect or the two bikes is asked to call Costa Mesa police Detective Sgt. Matt Grimmond at 714-754-5352. Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @lagunaini LOS ANGELES Police were looking for suspects Monday after a 19-year-old U.S. Marine was shot in the head while on weekend leave in Los Angeles, authorities said. Carlos Segovia, who was found slumped over in the drivers seat of his car in South Los Angeles on Friday night, was unlikely to survive, officials said. A vehicle pulled up beside Segovias car, and at least one person opened fire, striking him once in the head, Officer Norma Eisenman. A family friend, Claudia Perez, told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/2cCJbf0 ) that the Marine was visiting family and friends while on leave from Camp Pendleton near San Diego. Segovia had spent time with his girlfriend and was on his way to Perezs home, where he usually stays while in Los Angeles, when he was struck by gunfire, she said. He texted my son that he was bringing pizza home. He never made it, Perez said. Police notified the U.S. Marine Corps, which in turn notified Segovias family about the shooting. Los Angeles police Capt. Peter Whittingham said Segovia is unlikely to survive and had little to no brain function. Perez said Segovia is being kept on life support but acknowledged that the family will have to make a decision about ending medical care. Hes fighting for his life, she added. Segovia was not in uniform when he was shot. No suspects have been identified and investigators did not have a motive. Police said Segovia has no connections to gangs or other activity that would seem to make him a likely target of gun violence. Born in El Salvador, Segovia came to the U.S. with his mother. Both are U.S. citizens, Perez said. He joined the Marines about six months ago after finishing high school. It was a night of surprises at the 68th Primetime Emmys held Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in downtown L.A. While The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story dominated the telecast, it was a record-breaking night for Game of Thrones as HBOs swords-and-dragons epic became the most-decorated series in Emmy history. It was no surprise that Thrones was named the best drama for the second year in a row. The landmark series picked up 12 Emmys altogether, giving it 38 over six seasons surpassing the NBC sitcom Frasier. HBO also scored with the political satire Veep, which was named best comedy for the second straight year. Delivering the most entertaining award show in years, ABC late-night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel, who was hosting for the second time, opened with a bit about getting to the show that included the famed O.J. SImpson Bronco chase and a joke that featured former presidential candidate Jeb Bush as a limo driver. The show also acknowledged the diverse and changing landscape on television, not only in the presenters but in the range of winners. Please tell me youre seeing this, too, said Emmy winner Rami Malek, who plays a computer hacker on USAs Mr. Robot. It was the first nomination and win for the young actor, who was born in Los Angeles to Egyptian parents. He described his character, Elliot, as being alienated, but wanted to honor people like him. Theres a little bit of Elliot in all of us, he said. Tatiana Maslany of BBC Americas Orphan Black won the best actress in drama award, beating favorites Claire Danes and last years winner Viola Davis. Im so lucky to be on a show that puts women at the center, said the actress who plays multiple roles on the sci-fi show. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, about the trial the captivated the nation two decades ago, was named best limited series. Sarah Paulson, wearing an emerald green dress, won her first Emmy, after five nominations, as best actress in a limited series or movie for portraying Marcia Clark in The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. The former district attorney from the O.J. case accompanied the actress to the ceremony. Courtney B. Vance beat out favorite Bryan Cranston to win best actor in a limited series or movie for playing lawyer Johnnie Cochran in People vs. O.J. Julia Louis-Dreyfus picked up her fifth consecutive win as best actress in a comedy for Veep. After accepting the award, Louis-Dreyfus joked that she wanted to apologize for the current political climate. I think that Veep has torn down the wall between comedy and politics. Our show start off as a political satire it now feels like a sobering documentary, she said, drawing laughs from the crowd before concluding on a serious note about the death of her father this past Friday. There was a certain amount of deja vu in the number of back-to-back winners, including Jeffrey Tambor for Amazons Transparent and Regina King for ABCs American Crime. Tambor won his second straight Emmy for playing a transgender woman. Give transgender talent a chance, he urged The series creator, Jill Soloway, was named best director for a comedy and noted, Its also creates privilege when you take women, people of color, trans people at the center of a story, the subject instead of the objects. You change the world we found out. She ended by chanting, Topple the patriarchy. Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss won best writing for a drama for the Battle of the Bastards episode. Miguel Sapochnik took home the best director for a drama award for the episode, which featured a much-discussed battle scene. The In Memoriam segment began with a tribute to producer-director Garry Marshall, who died July 19, from his Happy Days star Henry Winkler. Earlier, Tambor honored Garry Shandling, with whom he starred with on the groundbreaking The Larry Sanders Show. Others honored included David Bowie, Prince, Gene Wilder, Muhammad Ali and George Martin. But back to those big wins. The fact that in just 60 episodes Thrones beat out Frasier, which had network 264 shows, says the Emmys have come a long way. By the way, Thrones wont have a chance for a three-peat. Creators have announced that there will only be two limited seasons left, and the next wont start until next summer after the 2017 nominations are announced. BEIRUT A U.N. humanitarian aid convoy inside Syria was hit by airstrikes Monday, U.N. officials said, as the Syrian military declared that the week-long U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire had failed. With the truce apparently teetering, the U.S. brushed off Damascus assertions and said its prepared to extend the agreement, while Russia after blaming rebels for the violations suggested it could still be salvaged. U.N. officials said the U.N. and Red Crescent convoy was delivering assistance for 78,000 people in the town of Uram al-Kubra, west of Aleppo city. Initial estimates indicate that at least 18 of the 31 trucks in the convoy were hit, as well as the Red Crescent warehouse in the area. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 12 were killed in the attack, mostly truck drivers and Red Crescent workers. The Syrian Civil Defense, the volunteer first responder group also known as the White Helmets, confirmed that casualty figure. Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid coordinator in the office of the U.N. envoy for Syria, told The Associated Press in a text message that the convoy was bombarded. Egeland added, It is outrageous that it was hit while offloading at warehouses. U. N. Humanitarian Chief Stephen OBrien called on all parties to the conflict, once again, to take all necessary measures to protect humanitarian actors, civilians, and civilian infrastructure as required by international humanitarian law. The convoy, part of a routine interagency dispatch operated by the Syrian Red Crescent, was hit in rural western Aleppo province. The White Helmets first responder group posted images of a number of vehicles on fire in the dead of the night. A video of the attack showed huge balls of fire in a pitch black area, as ambulances arrive on the scene. A Red Crescent official in Syria confirmed the attack, but said no further information was available. Elsewhere at least 20 civilians, including a 1-year-old girl, were killed in fresh airstrikes on rebel-held Aleppo city and the surrounding areas, according to the Observatory. And Russia said government positions in southwestern Aleppo came under attack from militant groups, including a massive barrage of rockets. With the week old cease-fire in danger of unraveling, both Moscow and Washington have indicated a desire to try and salvage the agreement which had brought a brief respite to at least some parts the war-torn country. In the wake of the Syrian military declaration, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the first stage of the truce which called for a week of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid to several besieged communities had never really come to fruition. Earlier in the day, Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that the truce was holding but fragile. The State Department said that it was ready to work with Russia to strengthen the terms of the agreement and expand deliveries of humanitarian aid. Spokesman John Kirby said Russia, which is responsible for ensuring Syrias compliance, should clarify the Syrian position. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement late Monday night appeared to signal that the deal could still be salvaged, saying that the failure by the rebels in Syria to respect the cease-fire threatens to thwart the agreement. The cease-fire came into effect on Sept. 12. Under terms of the agreement, the successful completion of seven days of calm and humanitarian aid deliveries would be followed by an ambitious second-stage plan to set up a joint U.S.-Russian coordination center to plan military strikes against the Islamic State group and a powerful al-Qaida-linked militant faction. But from the start, the truce has been beset by difficulties and mutual accusations of violations. Aid deliveries to the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo have not reached their destination. The U.N. accused the government of obstructing the delivery while Russian officials said rebels opened fire at the delivery roads. Rebel forces and activists say government planes have bombed areas that are under the truce agreement, including rebel-held parts of Aleppo. At least 22 civilians were killed in government bombings over the last week, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group. The group said four civilians were killed in government-held areas. There were no independent reports of deaths of civilians on the government-side since the cease-fire came into effect. By Monday, both the Syrian government and prominent opposition activists were speaking of the truce as if it had already failed. George Sabra, of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that the truce has been repeatedly violated and did not succeed in its main objective or opening roads for aid. Hundreds of thousands of people in Aleppo are waiting for this truce to allow aid to enter the city, he said, adding that there are aid trucks still waiting on the Turkey-Syria border. I believe that the truce is clinically dead. The Syrian military statement placed the blame on the rebel groups. Damascus refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists. This step (cease-fire) was to constitute a real chance to stop the bloodshed. But the armed terrorist groups didnt take it seriously and didnt commit to any of its articles, the military command statement said. The armed terrorist groups took advantage of the declared truce system and mobilized terrorists and weapons and regrouped to continue its attacks on civilian and military areas. One of the major rebel groups in Syria, Nour el-Din el-Zinki, said soon after the Syrian military declaration that the government, Russia and Iran, another major ally of President Bashar Assad, are responsible for the truces failure. The regime of Bashar Assad had no real intention to commit to the truce. Instead it worked to undermine it with organized violations during the week as well as preventing aid from reaching Aleppo, the group said in a statement sent to reporters. Earlier Monday, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian militarys General Staff said in a briefing that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations. With the rebels failing to fulfill conditions the cease-fire agreement, we consider its unilateral observance by the Syrian government forces meaningless, Rudskoi said. Rudskoi said the rebels violated the truce 302 times since it took effect a week ago, killing 63 civilians and 153 Syrian soldiers. The opposition reported on Monday 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started. The current tensions come on the heels of the weekend air strike by the U.S.-led coalition on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour. Syria and Russia blasted Washington over the attack. The Saturday airstrikes involved Australian, British and Danish warplanes on Syrian army positions. The U.S. military said it would not intentionally hit Syrian troops, and that it came as it was conducting a raid on IS positions. Russias military has said that it was told by the Syrian army that at least 62 Syrian soldiers were killed in the Deir el-Zour air raid and more than 100 wounded. The Observatory gave a different death toll, saying 90 troops were killed in the strikes. Assad said Monday the airstrikes of the U.S.-led coalition against his troops was meant to support the Islamic State group, calling the attack a blatant American aggression. Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Bassem Mroue and Philip Issa in Beirut, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Donald Trumps running mate says it is nonsense to suggest that the Republican presidential nominee was encouraging violence against Hillary Clinton when he told a crowd in Miami Friday that her bodyguards should drop all weapons and lets see what happens to her. In an interview that aired Sunday on ABCs This Week, host Martha Raddatz asked Indiana Gov. Mike Pence what Trump meant by a comment that the Clinton campaign quickly denounced as out of bounds for a presidential candidate. Well I think, you know, Donald Trump believes in the safety and security of every American, and any suggestion otherwise regarding Secretary Clinton is just nonsense, Pence said. I mean, the point that he was making is that Hillary Clinton has had private security now in her life for the last 30 years, but she would deny the right of law-abiding citizens to have a firearm in their home to protect their own families. I think what Donald Trump was saying is that if Hillary Clinton didnt have all that security, shed probably be a whole lot more supportive of the Second Amendment. Trump has made the point Pence described several times before, without causing an outcry. In an address to the National Rifle Association in May, for instance, the real estate mogul said heartless hypocrites like the Clintons want to get rid of guns, and yet they have bodyguards that have guns. Lets see how they feel walking around without their guns and their bodyguards, Trump added in that speech. His remarks on Friday were more ominous focused not on Clintons supposed hypocrisy and how she would feel without armed guards but on what might happen to her if the Secret Service were to disarm. It would be very dangerous, Trump said in Miami. On ABC, Pence blamed the media for making a big deal out of nothing. Graham Smith, an engineer from Lancashire, England, was recently in the news for performing surgery on himself to remove eight millimeters of stitches left by surgeons inside his body years ago, after operations to correct it were cancelled twice. Smith had underwent bowel surgery 15 years ago, and was left with stitches protruding through the skin on his abdomen. He first brought up the issue with the hospital where he had the original surgery in 2011, but he was put on a waiting list and an operation to fix the problem was cancelled twice. Rather than waiting for his turn and risk of dying of septicaemia, the crafty engineer decided to operate on himself, using modified titanium instruments he sourced from a dentist friend. I tried to do it through the normal channels but I had septicaemia, Mr. Smith told the BBC. I didnt make the decision lightly I was desperate, but I had to take control of it and I was not prepared to sit and die on a waiting list. Photo: BBC video screengrab Regarding the wire protruding through his abdomen, Graham said it was a lump of nylon 8mm-long with 12 really tight compressed knots. I couldnt just cut it off as it might have retracted and I would have been in real trouble so I had to undo these knots one by one and I had to make a few tools to allow me to do this, he said in a recent interview. There was a bit of blood and it stung a bit but I was confident in what I was doing. Believe it or not, the surgery was a success, and Smith says that after 15 years he now feels like a new man. The original operation had left him hunched over and leaning to the left, but he managed to fix the problem by meticulously removing the botched stitching. Im a specialist engineer. I do jobs people cant do, but Im not a surgeon so dont try this at at home, he cautioned anyone contemplating DIY surgery. A spokesman for the Royal College of Surgeons also said that they would strongly advise against people performing surgery on themselves or others. If you do try to perform self-surgery without surgical training, there is a high risk that the procedure could go wrong, or damage another part of the body. There is also a possibility of infection, they said. Aintree Hospital, in Liverpool, where Graham Smith had his original surgery, said in a statement that he he had been booked in for a consultation last Monday and that it would contact him about his care. Graham is certainly not the first and probably not the last person to attempt operating on themselves. Back in 2011, we posted the story of Wu Yuanbi, a Chinese woman who performed surgery on herself using an ordinary kitchen knife due to not being able to afford a proper clinical procedure. Source: BBC 19/9/2016 - OECD countries need to address the growing anti-immigration backlash and reinforce migration and integration policies while fostering international cooperation in this area, according to a new OECD report. The share of the public holding anti-immigration views has grown, driven by concerns that borders are insecure, immigrants stretch local services and some do not want to integrate. The 2016 International Migration Outlook stresses that systematic and co-ordinated action is needed to vigorously address these concerns and tap into the many opportunities that migration offers to recipient economies and societies. Too many people in too many countries are losing faith in how we manage migration, and the refugee crisis has exacerbated this, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, launching the report in New York City during the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly. The OECDs analysis reveals that immigration is positive in the medium and long-term for public finances, economic growth and job markets. To counter the rising tide of anti-immigration voices, governments need to explain these benefits, in a clear and unequivocal way, as well as how they intend to manage these flows. They must also develop more effective migration and integration policies to maximise the contribution that newcomers can make to their countries. The Outlook says that with more than one and a half million new asylum seekers arriving in OECD countries in 2015, mostly to Europe, the refugee crisis has led to a record number of asylum seekers. In absolute numbers, Germany received the largest inflows in the OECD in 2015, with 440 000 formal registrations and more than a million pre-registrations. But in relative terms, Sweden received the most, the equivalent of 1.6% of its population. In Turkey, the number of Syrians with temporary protection reached 2.7 million in 2015. The most recent data available show that in the first half of 2016, around 750,000 new formal asylum registrations have been filed in OECD countries more than half of them in Germany. Integration measures for asylum seekers and refugees were stepped up in many European countries affected by the refugee crisis. Expenditure on education and language courses significantly increased in Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. Several countries reduced waiting times to enter the labour market or facilitated early access to language courses and skills assessment. The Outlook says that even in 2015 refugees were still a relatively small part of the estimated 4.8 million people who moved to OECD countries. Today, around 120 million people living in OECD countries were born elsewhere and new migrants moving to OECD countries represent less than 0.5% of their total population. In addition to increased integration efforts, for countries to reap the full benefits of migration and heal the social schisms appearing in some countries, the OECD urges action on three fronts: Address the local impact of migration. Large and sudden inflows of migrants are generally concentrated in specific regions and urban areas often the most disadvantaged ones. This puts pressure on local services, such as housing, transport and education. Arrivals of low-skilled migrants may sometimes also have an impact on the job market for low-skilled residents. Scaling up public services to address this is essential, as well as enforcing minimum wages and other labour market regulations. Global challenges need global solutions. International co-operation needs to be stepped up, with different countries making different contributions. Needs must be identified and addressed more rapidly. Protracted crises that displace large numbers of people generate a growing tension between the need to find and fund long-lasting solutions and the general preference for short-term protection measures. A longer-term solution would be to set minimum standards in terms of short-term protection and to facilitate a pathway towards more stable protection where necessary. The international community also needs to significantly increase its effort in terms of resettlement. For more information, journalists should contact the OECD Media Division (tel. + 33 1 45 24 97 00). An embeddable data visualisation for this publication is available at: www.compareyourcountry.org/migration Please use the +share/embed button to customize this tool for your country and language and to generate the embed code for your website. Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Related Documents The Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards programme, the only youth initiative of its kind, has launched its search for Irelands top young volunteers of 2017 and is calling on County Offaly students to enter the awards. Applications are now open at www.pramerica.ie/spirit. The awards programme, which recognises post-primary students for outstanding acts of volunteerism, has been rewarding the work of inspiring young people across the island of Ireland for 11 years. In that time, Pramerica has rewarded over 200 young volunteers to highlight the considerable impact they make in their local communities. James Butler, blogger, social media expert and volunteer, was on hand to launch this years awards. Volunteering has been an important part of my life for over eight years, however, its something that not many people know about, said Butler. Giving our time and commitment to causes that affect our families, our communities and those further afield is one of the most admirable traits you can find in people. That is why it is such a positive sign for our society to see young people putting themselves forward, despite any adversity they have in their own lives, to help those that are less fortunate. The Pramerica Spirit Community Awards gives a voice to these selfless young people and what they are doing. The awards inspire us as to how important volunteering is and encourages us all to put the phones and the tablets down and do what we can for those who need it, he said. Pramerica believes in supporting young people committed to making a difference in their local communities, who see the challenges that society faces and are determined to create positive outcomes, said Andrea McBride, vice president, Pramerica. After 11 years, the stories of the contributions of these young people still makes me sit back in admiration, she said. Im looking forward to finding out about the outstanding work of new volunteers across Ireland through our awards programme this year. The closing date for student online submissions is October 21. Principals then have until November 11 to nominate up to two students from their school for national-level recognition, from which 20 finalists will be selected to go forward to national judging. Two overall winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in March 2017. These All-Ireland Youth Volunteers of the Year will be awarded 1,000 each for their chosen charity and a trip to Washington, D.C. for the annual international Prudential Spirit of Community Awards celebration. The 20 finalists will all be awarded 500 for their charities at the ceremony. The Awards partners include the National Association of Principals & Deputy Principals (NAPD) and the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI). The programme is also supported by notable organisations including Volunteer Now, Volunteer Ireland, Foroige and Scouting Ireland. The United States, Russia and other key players in the Syria peace process will meet Tuesday in New York after Syria's army announced the end of a week-long truce, a US spokesman said. Foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) comprised of some 20 countries including Saudi Arabia and Turkey will assess the situation, said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. Search Keywords: Short link: Looking for an easy, light and delicious side dish? Our Greek lemon roasted potatoes are absolutely delicious and only need a few ingredients. All summer long we enjoy fresh produce and recipes that are light and bright. Now, I have an Idaho raised mother so Ill be the first to admit that it is not potato season. Thats in the fall and spud harvest is a wonderful time to visit Idaho. Kids are working so hard to help the family bring in all of those potatoes. It just feels good. Kind of like how youll feel enjoying these Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes. We have always loved the simplicity of roasted potatoes but over the years Ive learned that there are two ways to roast potatoes and which way you choose to do it all depends on what youre in the mood for. The first way to roast potatoes is one I do often, throw them on the pan with a little olive oil and kosher or sea salt. Thats it. Simple. Let the flavors come out on their own, or add a simple dash of herbs. Kind of like Crash potatoes. Such a delicious recipe. The other way it for something a little more light and airy but still that warm, roasted flavor and texture. This involves adding water or chicken broth (stock or vegetable stock work well too) which creates an almost caramelized flavor. Now, Im hesitant in saying that because you arent going to see anything caramel looking, but it makes the potatoes moist and wonderful. Add a little lemon, oh gosh, especially grilled lemon if you have a moment as the grilled lemons add a wonderful sweetness, and a pinch of fresh herbs, we prefer oregano or thyme. It is wonderful!! Throw it all in the oven, stir occasionally as the side touching the pan is what gets that beautiful color. Serve it with absolutely anything and your guests will adore you. Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes Launched! Our new book is now available! This unique cookbook guides the way through every step, including meal lists and easy-to-follow recipes, and features dollops of heartwarming family stories. Buy now Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes No ratings yet Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes Servings: 6 -8 servings Save Recipe Print Recipe Looking for an easy, light and delicious side dish? Our Greek lemon roasted potatoes are absolutely delicious and only need a few ingredients. Ingredients 5 Russet Potatoes cut in wedges 3/4 Cup Water broth or stock Zest of 1 Lemon Juice of 1 Lemon see note 1/4 Cup Olive Oil 3 Cloves Garlic minced 1 1/2 Tablespoons Sea Salt or Kosher salt 2 Teaspoons Fresh Oregano Instructions Heat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk together the water, zest, lemon juice, oil and garlic. Toss the potatoes in the salt then pour on the water mixture. Sprinkle with the oregano and toss again. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, stirring the potatoes every 20 minutes. If the pan becomes totally dry you can add 1/4 cup more water, but we never need to. Serve hot! Notes If you're grilling, cut the lemon in half and brush the flesh with olive oil. Grill over high heat until grill marks appear. This brings a sweetness to the lemons that is delicious! To reheat: Heat your oven to 400 degrees, spread potatoes on a sheet pan and cover them in tin foil. Re-roast them until they're warm all the way through, about 10-15 minutes. Nutrition Facts Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes Amount Per Serving (1 g) Calories 258 Calories from Fat 90 % Daily Value* Fat 10g 15% Saturated Fat 2g 13% Polyunsaturated Fat 8g Cholesterol 2mg 1% Sodium 1820mg 79% Carbohydrates 36g 12% Fiber 4g 17% Sugar 3g 3% Protein 6g 12% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Fried Potatoes Broccoli and Cheese Sauce Loaded Potatoes Funeral Potatoes Crash Potatoes Honey Roasted Potatoes Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Agricultural News Corn Export Sales Up 1.8 Percent with Mexico, Japan and Colombia Ranked as Top Importers The United States exported more than 1.8 billion bushels of corn in the 2015/2016 marketing year, a 1.8 percent increase from the prior year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly sales reports. Mexico, Japan and Colombia ranked in the top three for total accumulated exports of U.S. corn with more than 492.1 million bushels, 413.4 million bushels and 177.2 million bushels, respectively. Export sales rose 16 percent to Mexico and 5 percent to Colombia from the previous year. Both of these markets have benefited from aggressive marketing and long-term development efforts by the U.S. Grains Council, of which the National Corn Growers Association is a founding member. The weekly sales report issued Sept. 15 also showed that the 2016/2017 marketing year is starting off strong for corn with more than 55.1 million bushels in sales and carried over sales from the prior marketing year, an increase of 33 percent from a year ago. USDA provides weekly export sales reports to identify outstanding sales and accumulated exports broken down by trading partner, allowing the trade and industry to measure export activity for selected U.S. agricultural commodities. The full reports are available here. Source - National Corn Growers Association WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady NSI Top Agricultural News The weekend bomb attack in New York's Chelsea district, which wounded 29 people, was an act of terror, the city's mayor confirmed Monday following the arrest of an Afghan-born suspect. "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," Bill de Blasio told a news conference two days after the attack, and after the arrest earlier Monday of 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami following a shootout with police in New Jersey. Search Keywords: Short link: Related Kerry urges Cambodia to give space for political debate Four women land rights activists were sentenced to six months in prison by a court in Cambodia on Monday for insulting and obstructing public officials during a 2011 violent land rights protest. Seizure of land for development is a major cause of protests in Cambodia and other countries in the region, including Laos. Last year was the deadliest on record for land rights campaigners, with more than three people killed each week protesting agribusiness firms, loggers, mining firms and hydro-electric dams, according to London-based NGO Global Witness. The court in the capital Phnom Penh found activists Tep Vanny, Heng Mom, Kong Chantha and Bo Chhorvy guilty following a three hour trial and sentenced them to six months in prison over a protest in November 2011 which turned violent. Suong Sophal, a lawyer for Phnom Penh Municipality told the court that the four women joined the protest in 2011, blocked roads, insulted and hit officials at the scene. Two security guards were injured, he said Following the verdict, the activists yelled "injustice! injustice! injustice!" Tep Vanny has been in pretrial detention since last month over a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen's house. The other three activists remain free. All four have a month to appeal the verdict. Activists Vanny and Chantha said they would appeal. "I did not commit the crime," Vanny said. Around 50 protesters gathered outside the court on Monday calling for the case to be dropped while hundreds of police deployed to keep the peace looked on. Search Keywords: Short link: An 18-year-old Glenwood, Iowa, woman who was slain Saturday was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend, her current boyfriend told police. The man described as her ex-boyfriend, Mark Troutman, 27, of Sylvania, Ohio, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Kathryn Katie Lauren Weber. The shooting took place outside Linnwood Estates, the Glenwood assisted living center where she worked. An arrest affidavit for Troutman said police were called to Linnwood Estates about 6:35 p.m. Saturday. There, officers and paramedics found Weber outside the building, bleeding and unresponsive with a gunshot wound, the Mills County Attorneys Office said. She was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. by the Mills County coroner. Police at the scene spoke to her boyfriend, who is not identified in the affidavit. The boyfriend told police Troutman drove a blue car and was staying at a local motel. Officers located the car at the motel. About that time, Troutmans mother called Mills Countys 911 center and said her son was suicidal. Police apprehended Troutman about 7:50 p.m. and found a handgun, officials said. Troutman appeared before a judge on Sunday. He is being held on $5 million bail in connection with Webers death. Webers funeral Mass will be 2:30 p.m. Monday at Glenwoods Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Visitation is 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the church. Crisis counselors were on hand Monday at Glenwoods middle school and high school. Weber graduated from Glenwood High this past spring, said Devin Embray, superintendent of the Glenwood Community School District. She was a great young lady and a caring person, Embray said. This is a tragic loss for all of us. Any loss of life is sad, but to lose someone so young, its especially tragic. Weber was attending Iowa Western Community College. A statement released by the school system said: Staff members and students send their deepest condolences to the family of Katie Weber. ... She is fondly remembered today as a quiet, soft-spoken young woman who was goal-driven and determined to become a nurse. Those she cared for at the nursing home brought out her caring and affectionate smile. World-Herald staff writer Kevin Cole contributed to this report. A 24-year-old man was taken into custody without incident about 11 a.m. at a Peru residence. He was also arrested on suspicion of use of a weapon to commit a felony and booked into the Nemaha County Jail. Legal observers rarely see this caption on a court case: State of Nebraska v. Judge. Douglas County prosecutors went to that extreme Monday as they sought to overturn Judge Gary Randalls decision preventing them from introducing an advanced DNA analysis in their case against quadruple-murder defendant Anthony Garcia. Prosecutors say that analysis more strongly connects Garcia to a burglary committed at a Creighton doctors Omaha home the same day that another Creighton doctor and his wife were killed. As promised, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine filed an appeal known in legal circles as a writ of mandamus to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The rare request asks the high court to intervene and determine that a judge failed to follow the law when he prevented prosecutors from using the new analysis. Prosecutors also asked to delay the Garcia trial in the March 2008 slayings of 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman and the May 2013 slayings of Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary. There is no precise timetable for the Nebraska Supreme Court to decide whether it will hear prosecutors case. The judges routinely meet on Wednesdays in whats known as the courts consultation. Garcias trial is scheduled to begin Monday. The State of Nebraska would suffer irreparable harm if this matter were to proceed to trial before the final judgment on the State of Nebraskas (evidence), Kleine wrote. Prosecutors rarely appeal evidentiary issues before trial; in fact, they rarely are allowed to. Case law typically limits prosecutors to appealing only when a judge suppresses evidence. Randall essentially suppressed the new DNA analysis. This Court believes any additional delay in this trial is not in any partys best interest and it would likely negatively impact the evidence that can be presented by both the State and the Defendant, Randall wrote. At some point, the State, the Defendant and the public are entitled to a resolution of this case. Kleine said he took the extraordinary step because he believes the evidence is important and because he believes the judge had no legal basis to exclude it. Kleine wrote that the (DNA) results produced in May of 2016 are significant in this case, because it shows a significant increase in the statistical data establishing defendants DNA was on the door handle of Dr. Chhanda Bewtra, a former supervisor of Garcias. Garcia has been charged with attempted burglary of Bewtras home. Authorities allege he left Bewtras home when he determined that no one was there and targeted the Brumbacks later the same day. Randall ruled that prosecutors could not present the new analysis, citing Garcias rights to a speedy trial and the amount of time it might take Garcias defense team to retain the expertise to properly defend Garcia against the analysis. Prosecutors countered that Garcia didnt invoke his speedy-trial rights until May 2016, nearly three years after he was charged in the murders. Other delays have been at the request of the defendant or to have the defendant evaluated for competency to stand trial. Jeremy Jorgenson, one of Garcias attorneys, declined to comment Monday. He previously has said that prosecutors didnt have the DNA analysis in April, when the trial was last set to begin. Prosecutors say they werent informed that this type of analysis existed until April. They say they received results in late May and turned the results over in June, three months in advance of Garcias trial. The state continuously pursues to seek the truth in every prosecution, Kleine wrote. There was no intentional procrastination nor intentional delay by the State of Nebraska. Defendants right to speedy trial has not been and would not be violated by a short continuance for the defense to prepare for the state to proceed with this new DNA evidence. Kleine asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to step in and prevent the miscarriage of justice which would result from the preclusion of such significant evidence being presented to the jury. The Whittier Research Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been renamed the Prem Paul Research Center at Whittier School. Paul, longtime vice chancellor of research and economic development at UNL, died this month. The research center is at 2200 Vine St. in Lincoln. It started as a junior high school in 1923 and was named after poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier, who died in 1892. The NU Foundation bought the building in 1983. The NU Board of Regents nine years ago approved a $24 million renovation of much of Whittier to create research space. The regents approved the name change Friday. Paul was 68 when he died of cancer. He was credited with boosting the profile and funding of research at UNL. Chadron State exhibit will explore nano phenomena An exhibit at Chadron State College explores a world that is much too small to see. The exhibit is titled Nano, which refers to a nanometer, one-billionth of a meter. Interactive stations encourage exploration of nano phenomena in science, technology and engineering. The exhibit is sponsored by the Nebraska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. It can be viewed at the Chadron State College math and science rotunda. The building is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The exhibit will continue until Dec. 9. CHI Health administrator will talk about life after UNK A CHI Health administrator will speak Sept. 22 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Jeanette Wojtalewicz, chief financial officer at CHI Health, will address students and others at 11 a.m. in the Nebraskan Student Union Ponderosa Room. The talk is free and open to the public. Her topic: Keep the Door Open Life After UNK. CHI Health is the Nebraska-southwest Iowa arm of Catholic Health Initiatives, a hospital and clinic organization in the U.S. Wojtalewicz, a 1984 graduate of what was then Kearney State College, is the Ron Landstrom executive-in-residence at UNK for 2016. That role includes participating in classes and making campus presentations. She will encourage students to get engaged and to accept invitations to be involved, she said through a press release. Getting out of your comfort zone every once in a while is important. Two candidates have dropped out of the Millard school board race, leaving two long-serving incumbents and two challengers competing for three seats. Democrat Kara Teri moved into the Elkhorn school district. She filed paperwork to withdraw, and her name wont be on the ballot. Her withdrawal leaves former State Sen. Amanda McGill Johnson as the sole Democrat in the race. Republican Terry Dale told The World-Herald he has withdrawn. Because he missed the Sept. 1 deadline to officially withdraw, his name will still appear on the ballot. Dale said he will not campaign and, if elected, would resign the post. Dale said he withdrew because of changing goals and priorities. His departure leaves Republicans Amber Parker, Mike Pate and Linda Poole. Pate and Poole are running for re-election, which theyve successfully done several times before. Incumbent Republican Paul Meyer chose not to run, leaving an open seat. His occasional blunt comments have drawn criticism. Earlier this year, he said atheists who didnt want to rename winter break Christmas break could crawl back into their hellhole. He later apologized. Asked to outline priorities, Poole, a schoolteacher, said safety is the first building block of everything we do. On her watch, the district has improved security with locking all doors, providing video and audio monitors of entrances, and remodeling the districts open-concept buildings. Officials will continue that focus, she said, staying in contact with authorities, operating the 24-hour safe schools hotline, and exploring new ways to reach out to students to make sure they are doing well and making good choices, she said. Poole said Millard families expect quality, and the districts been delivering, differentiating teaching to reach all elementary students, emphasizing an AP culture and integrating technology into classrooms through iPads in the elementary grades and a one-to-one laptop program rolling out in high school next spring. The plans call for one-to-one technology to be in the middle schools within a couple of years, Poole said. Im excited to see these developments. She described herself as a fiscal conservative. We have always been exceedingly careful with expenditures, she said. With continuous growth in students, and limited resources, this is more important now than ever. Pate, a banker, said the district must continue to focus on academic excellence and common-sense fiscal management. I have no hidden agenda and will work hard to ensure our students receive a holistic quality education and our taxpayers receive a return on their investment, he said. If re-elected, Pate said he would work on initiatives related to bullying and bullying prevention. Bullying can take many different forms and can threaten students physical and emotional safety at school and can negatively impact their ability to learn, he said. This is not just a school issue, its a community issue as well. He said parents, staff, students, clergy, community and others have roles to play in preventing bullying. He said he would bring awareness to the issue and engage the public in discussions on how to prevent it. McGill Johnson said her first priority would be to keep a world-class education for students while navigating difficult financial times. I would fight to keep budget changes as far out of the classroom as possible, she said. I would also fight to keep programing for both gifted students and those needing extra help. Drawing on her legislative experience, McGill Johnson said she would work with board members to persuade state senators to financially support career academies and college preparedness programs. She said lawmakers should reinstate funding to support educators with the masters degrees necessary to teach college-level courses, she said. McGill Johnson is a former Nebraska state legislator. She had been working as district director for Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford until July, when she resigned to take a job as community impact and strategic initiatives director for the Nebraska Childrens Home Society. She said shes concerned about the mental health of children and the effect that behavioral issues are having on schools. She said she would look for ways to help. Our young people have a host of pressures ranging from social media and bullying to teen dating violence, she said. I believe schools play a role in teaching our young people how to cope with lifes challenges and how to build healthy relationships while at the same time making sure every student feels safe at school. Parker, a childrens author and homemaker, said she would focus on safety, transparency and accountability, ensuring that children have the best opportunity for a high-quality education. She said she would oppose Planned Parenthoods sex education curriculum and keep books like Its Perfectly Normal out of Millard schools. I will also oppose the Common Core standards, as they are destroying knowledge-based education in this country, she said. I am an advocate for phonics, and I want to see our students excel in reading in all of our Millard schools. She said she would be a tough advocate working to ensure that tax dollars are used in the classroom. In July, Parker questioned whether the board should have purchased a history textbook from Pearson, a global publishing company with a fraction of its shares held by Libyan investors. ******** Mike Pate Age: 61 Party: Republican Home: Omaha Occupation: bank president and CEO Public offices held: Millard school board, 1997-2016; Learning Community Coordinating Council, appointed, 2011-16 Education: attended University of Nebraska at Omaha, no degree; Graduate School of Banking, University of Colorado, diploma; American Bankers Association Commercial Lending School, University of Oklahoma, diploma Family: married; one child and two grandchildren Faith: Catholic Website: none Linda Poole Age: 52 Party: Republican Home: Omaha Occupation: third-grade teacher at Prairie Queen Elementary School in Papillion Public offices held: Millard school board, 1997-2016; 17 years as member of board of directors of Nebraska Association of School Boards; one year as director on National School Boards Association Education: bachelors degree in elementary education, UNO, 1987; masters degree in curriculum and instruction from Doane College, 2010; math specialist degree, UNL, 2012 Family: married; three children Faith: Christian Website: none Amanda McGill Johnson Age: 36 Party: Democratic Home: Omaha Occupation: community impact and strategic initiatives director for the Nebraska Childrens Home Society Public offices held: Nebraska state senator in District 26, Lincoln, 2007-2015 Education: bachelors degrees in journalism and political science, UNL, 2002 Family: married Faith: Christian Amber Parker Age: 35 Party: Republican Home: Douglas County Occupation: childrens author, homemaker Public offices held: none Education: Lincoln Southeast High School Family: married Faith: Christian Website: Facebook page, Amber Parker for Millard School Board Omaha youths and their elders will get the chance to share stories and swap experiences through submissions to the Intergenerational Poetry Contest. The contest aims to bring together people from both ends of the age spectrum to, in part, foster better understanding. The annual contest, which was created in 2009, is supported by the University of Nebraska at Omahas Department of Gerontology, Omaha Public Library, Nebraska Writers Collective and Omaha Public Schools. Submissions will be accepted until Sept. 30. Students from grades seven through 12 and adults age 50 and older may submit two poems, one about how the world treats teens and another about the treatment of older people. Cash prizes will be awarded for the top 20 submissions. Some of the winners will be invited to read at least one of their poems during an event Oct. 16 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Milo Bail Student Center. Afterward there will be an open-mic poetry slam. Contest submissions can be entered online at www.omahapoetsplace.net or mailed to UNO Department of Gerontology CB211, 6001 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182, attention Sigma Phi Omega Poetry. Find submission requirements at the website. Thousands of migrants on Monday fled one of the country's main camps on the island of Lesbos after apparently setting fire to the facility, police said. "Between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants have fled the camp of Moria," a police source told AFP, adding that strong winds were fanning the flames. Search Keywords: Short link: High school students in Bellevue got a lesson in science last week, with a German flair. German scientist and radio personality Joachim Hecker made stops at both Bellevue East and Bellevue West on Sept. 7, talking about the importance of STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics as well as conducting fun and enlightening experiments. Bellevue Public Schools German teacher Amanda Messerschmitt, attended a STEM workshop for German teachers in the summer of 2015 and learned the importance of integrating student development of fluency through STEM education. Its kids getting excited about science and learning about these experiments in a German language, Messerschmitt said. Its all about connecting to the German language. Hecker spoke in both German and English during his presentation as he addressed students from both East and West, as well as students from Millard West, Papillion-La Vista South and Gretna. Both German and science students were invited to attend, along with several honor students. Hecker said he has been on the speaking tour for about 10 years, but this is just his second trip to the United States. Along with his stops in Bellevue, he will also speak in Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana and Alaska. MINT [the German version of STEM] is reaching down to the kindergarten students in Germany, he said. Even little children are being impacted. Ninety-nine percent of science is around us every day. Technology is not just in the lab. Hecker conducted several experiments throughout his presentation, using everything from plungers to fire extinguishers. He ended his presentation by making snow. I enjoy it because you get to do dangerous and fun things to show the students, he said. Messerschmitt said there are about 200 German students in BPS and believes this was an instrumental tool in helping them learn more about the German language, as well as science. I think it was well responded and I learned a lot myself, she said. Its exciting to see everyday things that are a part of science. Its good to see more things with STEM being incorporated into our German lessons. DES MOINES (AP) The space where patients were treated at the now-closed state mental health institute in Clarinda, Iowa, is reopening under new management. The Iowa Department of Corrections is expected to sign a contract this month with a company to lease four wards at the facility once known as the Clarinda Mental Health Institute. Zion Recovery Services, which offers substance-abuse treatment around Iowa, is set to expand its residential services. The three-year contract, which includes an option to renew, could complicate an ongoing legal challenge to reopen the space as a state-run mental health facility. It could be very difficult, said Meredith Baker, a corrections administrator who oversees the facility at Clarinda and handled the contract negotiations. The Iowa Supreme Court is reviewing a lawsuit that challenges Gov. Terry Branstads decision last year to close the institute, along with a similar facility in Mount Pleasant, in southeast Iowa. The centers in Cherokee and Independence remain open. The lawsuit, filed by the president of Iowas largest public employees union and two dozen Democratic lawmakers, said Branstads veto that defunded the institutes was illegal, because state law requires the operation of the four institutes. A state attorney for Branstad has emphasized the governors veto authority regarding state appropriations. The lawmakers and Danny Homan, president of Iowa Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, want the closed institutes reopened. Their attorneys reiterated that point Sept. 14, following a hearing at which justices asked questions about the case. Mark Hedberg, one of the attorneys, said he didnt know the closed space at the Clarinda facility would soon be rented out. He argued that if both facilities are ordered to be reopened it would be up to the state to sort out the potentially complicated logistics of rehiring staff, bringing back patients and restocking the spaces. Theyre the ones that caused the problem, and if theyre ordered to open them back up, theyre the ones that are going to have to solve it, he said. They cant benefit from their own wrongdoing. Even before the institute closed in Clarinda, part of the facility was used for other services, including work areas for inmates from a nearby state prison and dormitory space for at-risk youths from a local academy. Zion Recovery Services has also used some space to house men for residential treatment services. The new lease will expand Zions residential services to women by moving into space previously used to treat mental health patients, Baker said. Messages left for Zion were not returned Friday. The facility in Mount Pleasant, which is on the same campus as a state prison, remains empty, said Sen. Rich Taylor, a Democrat whose district includes Mount Pleasant. Amy Lorentzen McCoy, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, said there are no plans for anyone to use the space. She emphasized that the campus remains busy because of the prison. Taylor, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said he recognizes the work it would take if the Iowa Supreme Court rules that the institutes must be reopened. He compared the situation in Mount Pleasant with responding to a tornado. If a tornado would have taken the building down and we needed the facility, we would have rebuilt, he said. This is basically what happened, Taylor said. A tornado took the building down and the law says it shall be there. If we prevail in the lawsuit, Im of the position that we have to rebuild. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. LAKE VIEW, Iowa (AP) Authorities are investigating the death of a woman who was shot while sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle in northwest Iowa. The Sac County Sheriff's Office said the shooting was reported around 11:40 a.m. Sunday around two miles east of Lake View. The office said a man in the front passenger seat was handling a loaded handgun when it went off. The bullet struck the 24-year-old woman. The sheriff's office said the woman was taken to Loring Hospital in Sac City and then flown to a Des Moines hospital, where she died. The names of those involved have not been released, pending additional investigation and autopsy results. An off-duty Omaha police officer was accidentally shot when a gun his friend was holding went off, officials said. Ben Weidner, 31, suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen from a .357 Magnum, Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning said. Weidner was in a large metal storage building in the Bennington area when the accident happened, authorities said. The shooting occurred about 9:50 a.m. Monday just east of North 156th Street and Pawnee Road. The preliminary investigation found that it most likely was an accidental shooting, Dunning said. Weidner and his mother had gone to visit the friend, said Tom Wheeler, chief deputy of the Douglas County Sheriffs Office. Douglas County 911 dispatchers said Weidner was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition. Weidner underwent surgery Monday, Omaha police said, and was expected to be OK. He has been with the Omaha Police Department since June 2008. In 2015 the department awarded him with a letter of work well done, given to officers who perform duties above that which would be normally expected. LINDEN, N.J. (AP) An Afghan immigrant wanted in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was captured Monday after being wounded in a gun battle with police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway, authorities said. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg, and two officers were wounded but were not believed to be seriously hurt in the shootout that followed a weekend of fear and dread across New York and beyond. The arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family in an apartment in Elizabeth, New Jersey, over a fried-chicken restaurant owned by his father. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, chief federal prosecutor in New York, said New Jersey officials will probably bring charges against Rahami in the police officers' shooting while federal authorities weigh charges of their own. "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after Rahami's capture. On Saturday night, a shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack exploded in New York's Chelsea section, wounding 29 people, none seriously. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb blew up in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured. Then on Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence on those bombs and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. With Rahami's arrest, officials said they have no indication there are more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they are still working to understand Rahami's connections. His motive remains unclear, New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill said. William Sweeney Jr., the FBI's assistant director in New York, said there were no indications Rahami was on law enforcement's radar at the time of the bombings. As for how investigators zeroed in on Rahami as a suspect, three law enforcement officials said the clues included a fingerprint lifted from one of the New York sites and "clear as day" surveillance video from the bombing scene that helped identify Rahami. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami but were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might face any charges. The law enforcement officials said at least one of Rahami's relatives was in the car, which appeared headed toward Kennedy Airport in New York after coming from New Jersey. Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late Monday morning, when the owner of a bar reported someone asleep in his doorway. A police officer went to investigate and recognized the man as Rahami, police and the mayor said. Rahami pulled a gun and shot the officer who was wearing a bulletproof vest in the torso, and more officers joined in a gun battle that spilled into the street, bringing Rahami down, police Capt. James Sarnicki said. Peter Bilinskas was standing by his desk at his Linden bowling-supply shop when he heard what sounded like gunfire and saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand. As a police car pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him, Bilinskas said. As the East Coast was rattled by the bombings, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall Saturday before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. Authorities are investigating it as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group, welcomed Rahami's arrest. The organization and the Afghan Embassy in Washington condemned the bombings. Around the time Rahami was captured, President Barack Obama was in New York on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He called on Americans to show the world "we will never give in to fear." Rahami lived with his family on a busy street a few miles from the Newark airport. An AP reporter went to the building that houses the family's restaurant and home, but it was cordoned off. Rahami's father, Mohammad, and two of Rahami's brothers sued the city of Linden in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring their restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, to close early because of complaints from neighbors that it was a late-night nuisance. The Rahamis charged in the lawsuit that they were targeted by neighbors because they are Muslims. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 after Mohammad Rahami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant. Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing the younger Rahami working there more. "He's always in there. He's a very friendly guy, that's what's so scary. It's hard when it's home," McCann said. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. One of the five devices found at the Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. No one was hurt. Egypt's government aims to provide women and youth with lines of credit for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said on Monday. Although women make up around 50 percent of the country's population of 91 million, they constitute less than a quarter of the country's labour force, according to a March report from the state's official statistics body CAPMAS. In a statement made on Monday at the Euromoney Egypt Conference 2016, Nasr added that women-owned SMEs are the key to female empowerment, both politically and socially. Nasr also said that the ministry is conducting a survey to prioritise reforms, stressing that even though "my top priority for women in Upper Egypt may be to promote SMEs, their top priority could be to have water and sanitation for their children." Egyptian women are the heads of 17.8 percent of the country's households, according to data released by CAPMAS in 2014. Women have contributed up to 50 percent to the 1.2 million micro enterprises across Egypt supported by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) from 2009 to 2015, according to a CAPMAS study titled 'The Reality of Small and Medium Enterprises' released in September. CAPMAS revealed that there are a total of 2.4 million small and micro-sized enterprises across Egypt with 6.3 million employees. The international cooperation ministry announced last week that Egypt will sign a 500 million euro agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support SMEs, among a number of financing agreements in the second half of October. In January, Egypts central bank announced the launching of a four-year programme to increase financing of SMEs nationwide, as these businesses are key contributors to the states investment and production sectors. The cabinet approved in August a draft law allowing individuals to launch single-person companies without the need for more employees, as part of its efforts to support SMEs. With the country's ailing economy and unemployment at 12.5 percent in the second quarter of 2016, analysts believe SMEs constitute a great opportunity to boost the economy and create jobs. Egypt's economy has been struggling since 2011 due to a sharp drop in tourism and foreign investments, two main sources of hard currency for the import-dependent country. Search Keywords: Short link: NORTH LOUP, Neb. A leap of faith and countless helpers brought a community and wall together in North Loup. The Loup Valley Veterans Memorial Park is a project that the American Legion and Auxiliary Ralph R. Rich Post and Unit 285 have been working on for nearly two years. The park will include a memorial wall, which is nearing completion, and all military branch flags. The project came about when Ord wasnt able to approve a memorial wall. The local Legion and Auxiliary decided one should be built in Loup City if it wouldnt be in Ord. The Auxiliary ladies got the ball rolling. Volunteers made and are still making the park possible. Auxiliary members researched and compared designs for what they were looking for. Students from the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Great Plains Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architecture Student Group designed plans for the park. Members chose the design that best fit the needs to honor veterans. Weve never seen one like this, Deb Cadek, an Auxiliary member, said of the final design. Donations and volunteered time made the project possible. Elaine Asper, an Auxiliary member, said the land the wall sits on was donated by Robin Dahlsten, an Auxiliary members son. An empty house and many trees sat on the land, but Vlach Construction volunteered to clear it for the project. The UNL students volunteered their ideas and designs. Community members offered equipment for constructing the wall. Others volunteered their summer to working on the wall every day. Volunteers broke ground on June 15 and have been working ever since. Everyone is volunteering, Asper said of those working on the memorial. There is not a person who has been paid. Without the communitys dedication and passion, the memorial might not be possible. Asper has applied for grants, and other Auxiliary members have worked hard to raise funds. Phyllis Hanson, who handles donations for the memorial, said the project is at $59,000 of the $75,000 goal. Bricks are being sold to put on the wall. Each brick is sold for $100, and the wall can hold more than 800 bricks. So far, 180 bricks from people around the Loup Valley area have been sold. Wars are represented all across the board with the bricks, including bricks that honor veterans who have fought in the Revolutionary War, Civil War and Vietnam War. So many people in our family were veterans, so I figured I might as well help for what they did for our country, said Reilly Cadek, 13, who helped with the memorial throughout the summer. Reilly said that in addition to honoring all veterans, the memorial wall and the park could bring more people to the town. Gary Miller of Omaha, a disabled Vietnam Navy veteran, spent his summer in North Loup to build the memorial. Miller visited the Aspers in 2015 and, upon hearing that the memorial project needed help getting started, he decided to volunteer his time and 30 years worth of concrete business skills. Miller said that seeing the memorial come together gives him a sense of achievement. He said hes honored to work on the wall and to be a part of North Loup. The people Ive met are pretty special, Miller said. Asper said she cant wait to see the completed memorial and see the flags flying high, which will hopefully be in early spring. Jerry Marshall, one of the volunteers who has helped build the memorial, said its awesome to see the support. Its a pretty good small community that everyone can come together and make it happen, Marshall said. The enthusiasm woes that Hillary Clinton faces within her own political party stood out last week like a pack of bicyclists in neon spandex as the talk turned political inside a Benson bicycle shop. Even among Democrats and left-leaning independents, Clinton can divide a room. One woman in the bicycle shop argued that the Democratic presidential nominee has been unfairly treated by sexist critics and others, while another argued that Clinton has proved herself untrustworthy and deceptive. A man in his 20s said he planned to vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. This is like the scariest election Ive ever witnessed. Its a fear-based election, said Sarah Johnson, 35, owner of the Omaha Bicycle Co., who said she will grudgingly vote for Clinton because she does not want GOP candidate Donald Trump anywhere near the White House. Im definitely not voting for Trump, but I dont respect either of them, she added. The hesitation found among some Democrats toward Clintons candidacy has been labeled the enthusiasm gap by national pollsters. It is arguably Clintons biggest hurdle, the thing that may keep her and her campaign staff up at night. Elections always come down to voter turnout. And the more excitement a candidate can generate among his or her supporters, the easier it is to get them to the polls as proved by President Barack Obamas historic turnout efforts in 2008. The enthusiasm gap between Clinton supporters and Trump supporters has been apparent in numerous polls for months and was underscored in a poll conducted this month by the Washington Post-ABC News. The survey found that 46 percent of Trump supporters described themselves as very enthusiastic about him, compared with 33 percent for Clinton. Whats even more troubling for Clinton is that 93 percent of Trumps supporters say they will vote for him on Nov. 8, compared with 80 percent of Clintons supporters. John Hibbing, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he sees the enthusiasm gap in his own classrooms. Many of his students had supported Bernie Sanders, the insurgent candidate from Vermont who ran a competitive campaign in the Democratic primary, and who for a time stripped the inevitability from Clintons campaign. Some of Hibbings students applaud the historic nature of Clintons campaign but still have trouble getting revved up about the first woman ever nominated for the presidency by a major political party. I dont sense that same kind of enthusiasm as for Sanders, Hibbing said. Certainly among my students theyre happy about the prospects of a woman president, but enthusiasm is another story. Still, he argued that enthusiasm is not the end-all and be-all of a campaign. He noted that Sanders had a fervent fan base in the primary campaign, drawing noticeably much larger crowds than Clinton could muster at their respective rallies. But in the end Clinton won, and she won with the help of a core group of solid supporters many of them middle-aged women who walked neighborhoods on her behalf. Hibbing also noted that Clinton has a far superior ground game in this years election as she has sought to emulate Obamas campaign strategy in 2008, when his campaign expended a great deal of effort in using volunteers in battleground states to identify Obama voters and get them to the polls on Election Day. By all accounts Trumps campaign has not put as much time and effort into building ground games in crucial states, with some Iowa Republicans openly complaining in Politico magazine that his effort has been nonexistent in the state. By contrast, Clinton has opened at least nine offices across Iowa, including one in Council Bluffs. Clintons stronger ground game is also on full display in Nebraska, where she has established two offices in Omaha to compete for a single electoral vote in the Omaha-based 2nd District. Trump has no office in Omaha, and it does not appear that he has any paid campaign staffers working full time in the congressional district. The ground game is wonderful for the Democrats. Theyve been good at it for several years, clear back to Bill Clintons administration, and (this year) theyre drawing on the Obama ground game, Hibbing said. Even so, Clinton is having trouble with one key group of Democrats: former Sanders supporters, who are reluctant to line up behind the candidate who was his nemesis during the primary campaign. Marq Manner, a Clinton supporter, said he spends a lot of his time on social media trying to persuade his Sanders-supporting friends to back the Democratic nominee. He said he understands some of their concerns with Clinton but believes now is the time to unite behind her, arguing that the alternative is pretty horrible. He also said he tells them that their votes are needed, especially in the 2nd District. Im extremely worried about (the enthusiasm gap). And Im frustrated. I actually spend too much time online talking about it, he said with a smile. Johnson, the bicycle shop owner, is a former Sanders supporter who is unenthusiastic about backing Clinton. Clintons response to the email controversy left Johnson questioning the candidates honesty. Thats when I started to dislike her, when someone asked and she said Did I clean my server? Like just dust it off? said Johnson. Shes as big a liar as the rest of them. But Johnson said she will vote for Clinton if it comes down to it. Many Sanders supporters, however, said they would have no problem voting for Clinton, because of their strong dislike for her opponent. Mallory Finch, 28, who works in the bicycle shop, said she had supported Sanders but now backs Clinton. She also contends that Clinton has been depicted unfairly, and that many peoples strong reaction against her may be a case of sexism. For example, she noted, Clinton is often portrayed as a cold woman a description that is seldom applied to men. Finch said she believes that Clinton may not be the most transparent candidate but shes clearly the most qualified in the race. For me, it comes down to the gross lack of qualifications Donald Trump has for the presidency, Finch said. This isnt a joke. Others who had backed Sanders said that the general election race isnt really about Clinton as much as it is about Trump. Andrew Yolland, a 31-year-old web developer, said he is ambivalent about Clintons candidacy, but he has strong feelings about Trumps campaign that will drive him to the polls. I dont like the grim picture a Trump presidency paints, Yolland said as he was out for lunch last week in downtown Omaha. Teri Truscott, who had backed Sanders but is now in Clintons camp, said her biggest frustration comes when some of Sanders supporters say they wont vote. I was a huge Bernie Sanders supporter, but Id rather see anyone else in office than Trump, said Truscott, who works in the human services field. I think they all lie, theyre all misleading, but I feel (Clinton) represents my interests more than the other candidate. The author is the executive director for the Nebraska Catholic Conference. Among the chief issues for Nebraska voters this November is whether to retain the repeal of the death penalty. Unsurprisingly and justifiably, the death penalty elicits convicted arguments and strong emotions. Unfortunately, these convictions and emotions can sometimes result in unjustified attacks during heated debates on the death penalty. But these types of attacks often rooted in identity politics undermine robust civil discourse and public conversation. As a remedy, Nebraskas Catholics can offer the balanced wisdom of our churchs teaching as a guideline for all people considering the fate of the death penalty. Catholic voters have a strong tradition of social teaching extending throughout the biblical and churchs historical tradition that recognizes the justice of the death penalty as exercised by state authority under certain strict conditions. It is true that the gravity of certain criminal offenses raises the possibility of capital punishment. Greater crimes call for greater punishment. This is commonly referred to as the retributive aim of justice. At the same time, more recent developments within the churchs rich moral tradition clarify serious limitations on the states just use of the death penalty. Pope St. John Paul II was clear that other aims of justice in addition to retribution must be considered. Pope John Paul II asserted that the state ought not go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity: in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Looking at the issue globally, he adds: (A)s a result of steady improvements in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent. The Catechism of the Catholic Church proposes: If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of the persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. In short, while retributive justice may justify the death penalty, it must also be determined whether the death penalty would protect public safety. Further, it should be determined whether the death penalty is rehabilitative for the criminal and deters crime. This teaching has been clearly echoed by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. The late Avery Cardinal Dulles, a lion of American Catholic intellectual life, summarized the issue well: (T)he real issue for Catholics is to determine the circumstances under which (the death) penalty ought to be applied. This is the essential question that applies not only to all Catholic voters, but also to all reasonable people of good will. In our particular situation in Nebraska, our three bishops Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha; Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln; and Bishop Joseph G. Hanefeldt of Grand Island have reasoned that far too often, the death penalty is reduced to a means for bloodthirsty vengeance. The deterrent effect of the death penalty is not sufficiently demonstrated by sociological evidence. The death penalty, while it may motivate a criminal to repentance and reconciliation with God, does not reintegrate the criminal into society. Finally, modern improvements in our penal system indicate that the public safety can be maintained without recourse to the death penalty. In short, the bishops firmly conclude that the clear and specific conditions for the just use of the death penalty do not exist in Nebraska at this time. While it may be claimed that the death penalty is necessary for Nebraska, there is an extremely heavy burden of proof and a high bar to overcome: It must be absolutely necessary to defend society. The bishops of Nebraska do not believe this heavy burden can be met and believe that supporting the death penalty is unwarranted and morally unjustifiable. For these reasons, the bishops of Nebraska urge Catholics and all people of good will to vote to retain the repeal of the death penalty this November. Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Cauvery row: All eyes on Supervisory Committee meet at New Delhi Bengaluru oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Sept 19: All eyes would be on the meeting of the Cauvery Supervisory Committee which is scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Monday. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu would both make out a case before the Committee on Monday. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court would hear the Cauvery Waters case in which Karnataka will say that it has complied with the directive to release water to Tamil Nadu. The committee would comprise Union Water Resources Secretary, the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala and the Chairman of the Central Water Commission. Security beefed up in Karnataka ahead of Cauvery Supervisory On Monday, when the committee meets, Karnataka would inform that it has already released water as per the directive of the Supreme Court. Karnataka would also express its inability to release more water. The committee is currently analysing the data that has been provided by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Both states have provided rainfall data and also the manner in which it has been used over the past several years. While Karnataka will express its inability to release any more water as there would be shortage of drinking water in Bengaluru and other parts, Tamil Nadu will insist on more. On Sunday, Karnataka stopped the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka says that it has complied with the SC order which had ordered the release of 1,68,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will tell the committee about the ground reality. The committee which will hear the case on Monday will, however, not take any decision today. A member of the Karnataka legal team informed OneIndia that the committee will take a considered decision and look to provide a solution to the problem being faced by both states. OneIndia News Cauvery row: All eyes on Supervisory Committee meeting underway now Bengaluru oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Sept 19: The response by both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court would depend on the proceedings that take place before the Cauvery Waters Supervisory Committee. The committee which is meeting on Monday is expected to take a decision on the water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The meeting that gets underway at 11.30 am will hear both parties and the decide on the quantum of water that needs to be released. Counsel for Karnataka, Mohan Katarki tell OneIndia that while the compliance of the order would be reported to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the future course of action would be decided based on what the committee has to say on Monday. Katarki says that the states are being represented by their respective chief secretaries. A meeting with the legal team would be held after the meeting of the committee he also adds. When asked if the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to pass orders especially when the committee was hearing the matter, Katarki said that only ad interim orders were being passed. Katarki explained that the Supreme Court is basically monitoring the committee. In the absence of a decision by the committee, the Supreme Court was only passing ad interim orders. Once the committee has its verdict out, it would final, he also added. OneIndia News Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Restoring normalcy in J&K should priority No. 1 Bengaluru oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Sept 19: Clashes in the Valley that have led to the death of 80 persons and injured over 10,000 has only worsened the situation along the border. The immediate priority should be to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir. With the army being posted in civilians areas for a prolonged period of time, the borders have been exposed to a large extent as a result of which the infiltrations have risen. Ajit Doval's Kashmir doctrine- Don't overreact, it will pass off as they cannot sustain The experts feel that the first priority should be to restore normalcy in the Valley. Once this is done, the army and BSF can completely focus on the borders. This would prevent infiltrations to a large extent and terrorists would find it hard to operate. Valley boils and borders become vulnerable In the past 70 days, the army has been used extensively in rural areas of J&K to control the protesters. When the army is on the move it becomes extremely vulnerable to terror strikes or ambushes. V Balachandran, former officer with the Research and Analysis Wing says that the top priority should be to restore peace in the Valley. "You cannot make the army do the work of a police man. The borders need more attention where all the infiltration is taking place. It is now time for political will and the civilian leadership to take over," Balachandran also adds. The problem today in Kashmir is that we are losing the youth who are now part of a leaderless crowd. Civilian leaders are falling prey to a higher rhetoric and there has been a failure of strategic thinking. Instead of involving the civilian government more, the army is being deployed as a result of which more damage is being inflicted on the soldiers, the former R&AW officer also adds. "There is no point in overburderning the army. If the army fails, we fail. The attacks on an army camp is never a good sign. It demoralises the force to a great extent and this should be avoided at any cost," Balachandran also says. It is time to restore peace in the Valley on a priority basis and stop the grandstanding which never gives us any results, the former officer of the R&AW added. OneIndia News Odisha unhappy over Chhatisgarh's stand on Mahanadi issue Bhubaneswar oi-PTI Bhubaneswar, Sep 19: Unhappy over Chhattisgarh's refusal to halt construction activities in the upper catchment of Mahanadi river, the Odisha government today decided to explore all options including legal steps for equitable share of water to safeguard the interest of the state. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet here this evening, a day after a tripartite meet convened by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti in Delhi in a bid to resolve Mahanadi river water issue failed to yield any concrete result. At the meeting, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik emphasised that construction of barrages and other projects in the upper reaches of Mahanadi river in Chhattisgarh should be stopped and the whole matter be scrutinised, Chief Secretary A P Padhi told reporters. As the Chhattisgarh government declined to stop work, the Odisha cabinet felt there is no option but to explore other means to protect the interest of the state, the livelihood and well being of people, he said. "After deliberations, the cabinet unequivocally endorsed the stand taken by the state government and resolved to explore all possible options for protecting the interests of the people of Odisha," Padhi said. "We are now exploring all options. The government will do whatever is necessary. The step to be taken will be decided in the next few days...very soon," the Chief Secretary said. Asked about legal option, Padhi said "all options -- legal or other steps -- are being considered. It will not be proper to spell out any definite option now." An official statement issued separately said, "We will explore all options...that would certainly include the legal options." Earlier in the day, soon after his return from Delhi, the Chief Minister said that while Chhattisgarh has refused to stop the construction work on the river, unfortunately the Centre too was reluctant to intervene strongly. Padhi said the Chief Minister stressed at the tripartite meeting that the Odisha government and people are concerned over Chhattisgarh's construction activities in the upper catchment of the river basin without sharing the critical data with us or without our consent wherever necessary. The CM pointed out that he had also apprised the Prime Minister of Odisha's concern in this regard, sought his intervention and hoped that the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government will treat the Mahanadi water issue in right spirit of federalism, he said. PTI Jaitley statue at Kotla: Angry Bedi asks DDCA to remove his name from stands, quits membership Reforms in India being done by conviction, not compulsion: PM Narendra Modi BJP leaders pay tribute to former minister Arun Jaitley on his third death anniversary Arun Jaitley inaugurates Startup School at LPU India oi-PTI Phagwara, Sep 18 Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today inaugurated Startup School at Lovely Professional University's (LPU) Chaheru campus here. Addressing the students, he said, "I wish to see many upfront entrepreneurs from LPU. The US, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea have advanced in technology and research and have grown rapidly by targeting global market", Jaitley said. The Union minister also inaugurated a three-day International Day of Peace event at the university. Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore, who presided over the event asked the students to be innovative in their approach. Before the programme, a two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to the soldiers killed early this morning in a terrorist attack in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir. PTI Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei Thursday unveiled thousands of mobile phone pictures of refugees at his newest exhibition, saying it aimed to speak with "one voice" for those who have fled to Europe's shores. Entitled #SafePassage, the exhibition in Amsterdam's Foam museum of photography features images snapped by Ai since December, during visits to refugee camps in France, Greece, Israel, Syria and Turkey. It also includes sculptured marble lifebuoys and a marble surveillance camera, which Ai said represent the "struggle between the individual and the structures put in place to dominate society". "I want to show my position" on the refugee crisis, Ai told journalists and art experts gathered for the exhibition's launch at Foam, situated in the heart of the historic city's canal belt. "In many cases I wanted to give people one voice," he said of the photographs, which are often composed of sequential shots of refugees coming ashore, while others see him posing for a selfie with smiling migrants in a camp. The soft-spoken, bearded Ai said: "When I saw women come to shore on a boat, it really made me suffer knowing that I couldn't help." He added: "Our incapability to protect their basic rights, humanity, human dignity... that makes me feel very, very sad." Ai, China's most prominent contemporary artist, helped design the Bird's Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics. But his works have often fallen foul of China's authorities, and in 2011, he was detained for 81 days. Part of the exhibition showcases Ai's experiences while under tight surveillance by the Chinese government. He eventually moved to Berlin after Beijing returned his passport in July 2015, having confiscated it for four years. Ai, who now regards himself as a political refugee in Germany, has taken a close interest in migrants' plight since visiting the Greek island of Lesbos in December 2015. "If you have, not willingly, had to give up your home, your family, then you are a refugee too," Ai said. He caused a stir in February after posing for India Today magazine on a Lesbos beach as Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose tiny body was found lying face down on a Turkish beach last September, an image that reverberated around the world. The 59-year-old went on to wrap some 14,000 life jackets discarded by migrants around Berlin's Konzerthaus theatre. In Vienna in July, the Chinese artist floated 1,005 life jackets in a pond at the city's Belvedere palace. Now a regular visitor to Lesbos, Ai plans to create a refugee memorial on the island. More than one million people made the journey to Europe in 2015, the majority fleeing war in Syria and the Middle East, and a further 208,000 have come since January, according to UN figures in June. In one room of the exhibition, Ai displays pictures showing a listening device concealed in an electrical socket found during a visit to China, as well toy pandas stuffed with documents leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden. An explanation on the wall says the pandas refer to a metaphor for the Chinese secret police. The #SafePassage exhibition runs until December 7. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Can India carry out covert operations in Pakistan? Here are the options India oi-Vicky Pakistan cannot go unpunished for the horrific attack its actors carried out in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday in which 17 soldiers were martyred and four terrorists were killed. As India weighs its options, there is also the thought on the mind of the officials and that is Pakistan is a nuclear state which advocates the first use policy. Officials in India say that there is an urgent need to strike. The reason Pakistan continues to launch its actors on Indian soil is because they have come to believe that they will never be hit. Be it the 26/11 or Pathankot attacks, India has never had a military response to Pakistan despite the role of the country being so clear in both those incidents. Uri attack: India's response to Pakistan to be discussed today What are India's options? India is capable of carrying out a strike in Pakistan and even succeeding in it. India's special forces are one of the best in the world. Most officers are in favour of a swift covert strike across the border. It may be recalled that a similar operation had been carried out in Myanmar after 18 soldiers had been killed at Manipur. While there is no doubting India's capabilities, there is another issue that needs to be factored. No nuclear state has ever been hit in a covert of targeted op. India will need to not just consider Pakistan but also China which is a nuclear state. China has maintained that Pakistan is an all weather ally. A hit on Pakistan would well lead to escalation of military operations. Further an atomic crisis too cannot be ruled out if covert operations are carried out in Pakistan. If India needs to carry out such a strike, there has to be an extreme amount of precision backed by Intelligence and policy decision making. India is also positioning itself as a rising power and hence if anything does go wrong it could affect its position. Pakistan, on the other hand, nurtures no such ambition and hence experts point out that India will have everything to lose if things do go wrong. However, Pakistan has nothing to lose, experts also point out. In the aftermath of the 26/11 attack, India had decided to carry out a strike on terrorist camps across the border. However, the plan was dropped after both the Intelligence Bureau and the army informed the government that they cannot guarantee 100 per cent success. India would need to ensure that the international community does build up pressure on Pakistan to tone down its narrative. It would require some serious discussions and mere statements from the International Community will not do. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 11:05 [IST] Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Cauvery row: Cops keeps tight vigil in Bengaluru as panel meets in Delhi India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, Sept. 19: As the Cauvery Supervisory Committee (CSC) meeting got underway in Delhi, police beefed up security in and around Bengaluru to prevent a repeat of last week's violent protests. The CSC is expected to decide the total quantum of water Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu for its samba crop season, even as Karnataka is pressing the committee to send a fact-finding team to both states to understand the water situation before it makes its decision. Bengaluru police have clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, which will be in force in the city until September 25. Additional forces, including reserve batallions and paramilitary forces, have been deployed in sensitive areas to avert untoward incidents. Patrolling has been intensified in violence-prone areas, an officer said. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 13:39 [IST] Tamil Nadu bandh over Cauvery issue today: All you need to know Cauvery row: In Attibele, Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj detained India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, Sept. 19: Kannada activist and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj and several fellow protesters were detained on Monday afternoon at Attibele, on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, as protests threatened to get out of hand despite several platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and paramilitary forces being deployed there. The protests are taking place even as the Cauvery Supervisory Committee is meeting in New Delhi to decide the quantum of water Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka had on Monday morning reportedly stopped the release of water after having let out 168,000 cusecs of water as directed by the Supreme Court. The so-called Kannada Federation, which has brought together several pro-Kannada organisations, was marching towards the border with Tamil Nadu in Attibele when Nagaraj was detained. Federation member M. Nagaraj told OneIndia that the activists were raising pro-Karnataka and anti-Jayalalithaa slogans as they marched, but said they would not cross the border into Tamil Nadu. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC are already in force in Attibele and in many parts of Bengaluru. Additional forces have been deployed to secure sensitive areas. As many as four platoons of KSRP, 16 personnel from the Border Security Force, Rapid Action Force and local police personnel are present in Attibele. Government-run buses from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are operating only upto the respective borders. A few private vehicles, however, have crossed the border in either direction, police sources said. The Cauvery Supervisory Committee meeting, currently underway in Delhi, is being attended by chief secretaries from the four riparian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. While the committee will decide on the quantum of water to be released to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka is expected to press for a fact-finding committee to study the situation in the two states before making such a decision. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 13:28 [IST] Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Cauvery row: Schools to decide whether to work on Tuesday India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, Sept. 19: Mandya Deputy Commissioner M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan has declared that schools and colleges in the district will remain shut on Tuesday (September 20) as a precautionary measure after the Cauvery Supervisory Committee (CSC) on Monday directed Karnataka to release more water to Tamil Nadu -- 3,000 cusecs a day for 10 more days. Protests erupted in Mandya soon after the CSC decision became public. The agitators blocked the Mysuru-Bengaluru road causing traffic disruption for several minutes before police stepped in and cleared the road. In Bengaluru, Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj and his fellow protesters were detained on Monday afternoon while they were protesting in Attibele on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. The police may keep Nagaraj in detention on Tuesday too to thwart any plans to call for protests and violence on the streets of IT city. The Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA) said the association has not issued any directive to schools on whether to function on Tuesday or not. "The decision to declare holiday is left to the individual schools," a KUSMA official said. Bengaluru City Police have tweeted saying there will be no bandh on Tuesday and has advised people not to go by rumours. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 19:27 [IST] In India terror down by 34%, civilian deaths by 90% since Art 370 scrapped: Shah Fight against terror now in decisive stages: Amit Shah India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Sep 18 BJP President Amit Shah, condoling the death of 17 soldiers in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday said India has been fighting against terrorism for long and the fight is in its decisive stages. "Pakistan has been supporting terrorism and terrorist outfits to destabilise India. India has been fighting against terror and this fight is in the decisive stages now. The martyrdom of country's brave soldiers won't be allowed to go waste," Shah said in a statement. The Bharatiya Janata Party chief also expressed condolences at the death of 17 soldiers who were killed in the terrorist attack on Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir early on Sunday. "I am deeply pained at the news of the death of our 17 brave soldiers. I bow to their valour and the supreme sacrifice they made in difficult conditions," Shah said. Heavily-armed militants attacked the army camp at Uri early on Sunday morning, killing 17 soldiers and wounding many others. Security forces shot dead all four attackers. IANS Meghalaya CM encourages cultivation of spices in Garo Hills India oi-PTI Shillong, Sep 19: Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul M Sangma has encouraged the cultivation of spices in Garo Hills as an alternative means of cultivation and livelihood. The cultivation of spices will enhance livelihood opportunities in the rural areas, he said while attending the Promotion of Black Pepper Cultivation at Rongjeng Government-aided Higher Secondary School, East Garo Hills, organized by District Horticulture Officer, East Garo Hills Williamnagar. Pointing out that spices like pepper, cinnamon and cardamom are used for cooking and medicinal purposes all over the world, the CM said resilient means of livelihood infused with scientific approach will bring in higher returns to cultivators and also reverse the ill effects of climatic change as planting of certain condiments like pepper also increases the vegetative cover. Urging the villagers to start the cultivation of spices he said the cultivation of pepper known to be king of spices, is highly profitable with India being the largest exporter of black pepper. He also said that black pepper cultivation is inter-cropping with the focus being the tree of the crop like coconut and areca nut tree both of which are grown extensively in Garo Hills. Saplings of high yielding varieties of black pepper were distributed to 84 villages. PTI Nitish Kumar has been affected by his age: Prashant Kishor Could not care less: Nitish on Amit Shahs jibe Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again Nitish Kumar conducts aerial survey to review erosion in Gopalganj India oi-PTI Patna, Sep 18 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today conducted an aerial survey to take stock of the scale of erosion caused by floods in Gopalganj district. Later, Kumar reviewed the flood situation, erosion and drought at a high-level meeting in Gopalganj, an official release said here. The meeting was attended by state Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Art and Culture Minister Shivchandra Ram, Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and other senior officials. During the meeting, the CM said water was receding and this may lead to erosion. He also reviewed the steps and preparedness to deal with erosion. Meanwhile, flood situation has eased in Bihar with almost all major rivers except four flowing below danger-level, further mitigating the chance of threat of floods, the release said. The four rivers which are still flowing above the danger mark are Punpun, Baghmati, Kamlabalan and Kosi. Flood waters had entered a few villages of Punpun block of Patna district after seepage at its sluice gate on September 13 following heavy rains. But the seepage was blocked the same night, and flood waters stopped entering the villages, the release said, adding Punpun is witnessing a receding trend. As per the Central Water Commission report, water level of Punpun was flowing 96 cm above the danger mark of 50.6 meters. Baghmati is flowing 46 cm above danger mark in Benibad area of Muzaffarpur district, Kamlabalan is 63 cm above danger mark in Jhanjharpur and Kosi is flowing 85 cm above danger mark at Baltara in Khagaria district. PTI Obama policy on Syria, ISIS working: Kaine India oi-PTI Washington, Sep 18 The Syria and ISIS policy of President Barack Obama is working as the terrorist outfit is shrinking in its occupied space, Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine said today. "We have dramatically improved in the last year. And the proof is in how much ground ISIS has lost," Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. A year ago, Kaine was highly critical of Obama's Syria policy and described it as a joke. It's no longer the case, he said. "A year ago, I think you remember, we had a small force that we were trying to put into Syria. And the opening of that was a dismal failure. But now we're taking the fight to ISIS to defeat and destroy them," he told CNN. "If you look at what's happened in the last year, ISIS' territory has dramatically shrunk because of a significant uptick in cooperation between the US, the Iraqi military, the Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq, the Kurds in Northern Syria and the Syrian opposition," Kaine said. Russia can demand that Syria stop its atrocities against its civilians. Russia has always had the ability to mandate a ceasefire, because they're there in Syria. They're Syria's chief backer, he said. At the same time, he hoped that Moscow will stick to the table, stick to the ceasefire agreement, because that's what's necessary to solve this humanitarian crisis. Responding to questions, Kaine acknowledged that situation has deteriorated in Iraq. "In Iraq, it spiraled downward. And then, in Syria, where we didn't have troops, it spiraled downward because of the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad. We can't make governments govern wisely," he said. "But what we need to do is, when terrorists pose a threat to allies or to the United States, we need to engage in punishing activity to destroy them. We are now on track to defeat ISIS on the battlefield. But we have got to be sharing intelligence with our allies, so that we can keep America and our allies safe," Kaine said. PTI How Statue of Unity is becoming a major tourist destination with PM Modis vision PM Modi saddened by bus mishap in Bihar India oi-PTI New Delhi, Sep 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expressed deep sadness over the bus mishap in Bihar's Madhubani in which a number of people were killed and said his thoughts were with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. "Deeply saddened by the bus accident in Bihar s Madhubani district. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," he tweeted. A private bus, carrying 65 passengers, was on way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani when it fell into a pond at Basaitha chowk along the state highway. Some of the passengers swam to safety while 10 bodies were fished out from the pond, according to Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar Barnwal who said six others were feared dead in the mishap. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 18:05 [IST] Raising anti-RSS slogans, three men attack Hindu youth with stones in Shivamogga Two arrested for firing at a person in north Delhi Goa: Two held for stabbing cab driver, his father over parking row Police post attacked in Handwara: Report India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Jammu, Sep 20: A police post has been attacked by terrorists near Handwara. The latest attack has come a day after the terrorist attack on an Army camp in Uri that killed 18 soldiers. More deatils abaout the atatck is yet to come out. The terror attack on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri base has drawn condemnation from around the world, including Russia and the UN. #FLASH Police post attacked by terrorists at Langate (Handwara, J&K); more details awaited. ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 20, 2016, 2:25 [IST] The Ministry of Antiquities launched the fifteenth edition of the Cahier de Karnak in collaboration with the French Egyptian Center for Karnak Temples studies Within the framework of the ministry of antiquities efforts to encourage scientific publicaltion, the fifteenth edition of the Cahiers de Karnak was released. The new edition is the product of cooperation between the ministry and the French-Egypitan Center for Karnak Temples Studies. Hussein Bassir, director general of Scientific Publication at the ministry, told Ahram Online that this edition is devoted to studies and research on a variety topics related the Temples of Karnak. Bassir explained that the periodical, which is issued annually, usually features a variety of studies in French and English, in addition to summaries translated into Arabic. Cahiers de Karnak also carried studies of stelae and chapels such as the chapel dedicated to the god Khonsu between the Mut Temple and the Nile. Search Keywords: Short link: Such josh in there says Piyush Goyal while citing Uri in Budget 2019 Response to Uri: After the strident rhetoric, India falls back on diplomacy, to 'isolate' Pakistan India oi-Vicky India has decided to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at all international groupings as part of its response to the Sunday morning attack by Pakistan-based terrorists on an army station in Uri, Kashmir, in which at least 18 soldiers died. Narendra Modi chairs high level meeting on Uri attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his nod for this line of attack against Pakistan during a high-level meeting of his Cabinet and the national security adviser. Modi is under pressure to act tough against Pakistan, from the military and strategic establishment as well as from his own support base, with even his most ardent followers quoting from his many election campaign speeches in which he promised to take on Pakistan if it continued support for terrorism. At the high-level meeting, it was also decided to present actionable evidence relating to terror attacks sponsored by Pakistan and submit it to international bodies. Can India carry out covert operations in Pakistan? Here are the options Following the Uri attack, investigations have shown that terrorists had carried with them material with Pakistani markings. Evidence on the GPS coordinates too are being collected by the investigators, which will further help nail Pakistan's involvement in the attack. India will make a strong pitch against Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly, which begins later today. The government has directed that the investigations be conducted quickly so that these points could be raised by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the UNGA on September 26. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met among themselves earlier in the day before meeting Prime Minister Modi at his 7 Race Course Road residence. OneIndia News Uri attack: 2 soldiers given tearful adieu by Jammu, Samba people India oi-PTI Jammu, Sep 19: The people of Jammu and Samba districts today bid a tearful adieu to the two brave-heart jawans, who died fighting the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri yesterday. The mortal remains of Sub Karnail Singh and Hav Ravi Paul of 10 DOGRA were cremated with full military honours in their native hamlets of Shibu Chak (Tehsil Bishnah) of Jammu district and Ramgarh village of Samba district today. A pal of gloom descended the bordering villagers here after the mortal remains of the two soldiers arrived after being flown to Jammu. Special Indian Airforce helicopter flew in the mortal remains of Singh and Paul of 10 DOGRA at the Technical Area Airforce Station Jammu. The wreath laying of the two jawans was done by Kavinder Gupta, Speaker J&K legislative Assembly, Ministers- Bali Bhagat, Zulfkar Ali, Chander Parkash Ganga, Jugal Kishore MP, and MLAs -Sat Sharma, Rajesh Gupta. The wreath was laid on behalf of Dr Jitender Singh, MoS PMO, Ravinder Rana, MLA, Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Danesh Rana, IGP, brotherin-laws of martyr Sub Karnail Singh, Bhav Singh and Devi Raj Saini, Major General Sanjeev Sharma, General Officer Commanding Tiger Division, Air Commodore Ashutosh Lal, Brigadier Randir Singh and other Senior Officers from the Civil Administration and the Army. The mortal remains were taken to respective hamlets in Jammu and Samba districts. A large number of people had converged at both the places to bid a final adieu to the two soldiers. After final bugle and gun salutes by Army, the duo were cremated amid presence of the family, top officials and huge number of people. In a programme organized by BJP, State President & MLA Sat Sharma, State General Secretary Ashok Kaul and other leaders paid tributes to the soldiers killed in the Uri terror attack. Sat Sharma, on this occasion, said that "the fidayeen attack in Uri at the behest of Pakistan is the worst kind of inhuman act and is highly condemnable". "The terrorist attack at army brigade, which resulted into sacrifices of our brave soldiers, has shook the entire nation and the time has come when Union government should adopt a clear and decisive strategy to teach Pakistan a lesson. "Whatever the nation is facing in Jammu and Kashmir is due to the blunders committed by Congress under its appeasement policy which promoted separatism and encouraged Pakistan to impose direct and proxy wars against India in Kashmir," he said. J&K Congress condemned the Uri attack and termed it as a "serious security lapse". Vikram Malhotra- General Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee expressed deep shock and pain over the death of Army personnel and conveyed heartfelt sympathies to the family members of the soldiers. Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) held a homage meeting here and condemned the outrageous and cowardice attack by terrorists on Army's Brigade Headquarters yesterday in which 18 Army soldiers were killed. PTI Induction of Congress MLAs into BJP is death of Parrikar's legacy, says outgoing Goa deputy CM Swaraj, Parrikar, Ananth Kumar: BJP has lost some of its tallest leaders recently This Goa's Parra village suspends 'photography tax' imposed on Tourists for clicking photos Goa Election 2022: Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal gets thumbs up from Shiv Sena, AAP News flash: Pak should cleanse itself of its terrorists: India India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Sept 19: Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to leave for Srinagar, today to meet top State officials in wake of Uri attack. Meanwhile, Wreath laying ceremony of the 17 soldiers who lost their lives in Uri attack to take place, today in Srinagar. Get all the latest news updates of the day: 12.00: Pak PM Nawaz Sharif brings up issue of Kashmir in meeting with John Kerry. 11:30 pm: Uri attack: Last rites of martyr sepoy TS Somnath held in Nashik. 11:00 pm: Police post attacked by terrorists at Langate in Handwara 10:30 pm: China & Pakistan have no legal right to construct any project on Baloch soil, any construction is illegal: Mehran Mari 10:00 pm: We, once again, ask Pak to stop inciting and supporting violence and terrorism in any part of India: India to Pak at UNHRC 9:40 pm: Rather than internationalizing issues with India, Pak should cleanse itself of its terrorists: India during 33rd Session of UNHRC 9:30 pm: FIR against AAP MLA Sahiram Pahalwan, booked for scuffle and threatening. 9:15 pm: India has been a long-suffering victim of terrorism emanating from our neighbourhood: Statement by India during the 33rd Session of UNHRC. 9.00 pm: US president Barack Obama praises all police officers & first responders in both New York & New Jersey incidents for their quick response: 8:50 pm: Uri attack: School children in Moradabad pay tribute to soldiers who lost their lives.. 8:35 pm: Japan expresses its solidarity with India in the fight against terrorism. 8:20 pm: Uri attack: Japan condemns terrorism in all forms regardless of its purposes, strongly reiterates that no act of terrorism can be justified. 8:15 pm: Russia confirms its continued support for the Indian government's counter terrorism efforts. 8.10 pm: We dont have an idea as to how the accident happened yet, rescue ops were our priority: Official on Bihar mishap. 8.00 pm: Bihar mishap: SDRF & NDRF teams are working at the spot. 15 bodies recovered until now: Officer 7:55 pm: Uri attack: These attacks are happening one after other. PM used to say "dont write love letters to Pak". Whats he doing now?: Tejashwi Yadav 7:50 pm: Bihar bus mishap: Why this happened will be looked into, this is very sad: Tejashwi Yadav 7:40 pm: Mortal remains of 2 soldiers from Jharkhand & 1 from Bihar who lost their life in Uri attack brought to Ranchi. 7:30 pm: Uri attack: Mortal remains of 3 soldiers who lost their life brought to Maharashtra. 7:10 pm: Bengaluru city police commissioner orders closure of all liquor outlets from 6 AM on 20th September to 1 AM 21st september as a preventive measure following the cauvery waters supervisory committee order. 6:56 pm: Uri attack: PM Narendra Modi meets President Pranab Mukherjee. 6:41 pm: Chhattisgarh: Naxals put up posters in Dantewada declaring to celebrate their 12th foundation day on 21 Sept 2016. 6:32 pm: Government invites application for new SEBI chairman. 6:29 pm: We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing: DGMO. 6:22 pm: We have the desired capability to reply to such blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh. 6:17 pm: Total recoveries during Uri operation include 4 AK rifles,4 grenade launchers,4 under barrel grenade launchers:DGMO. 6:12 pm: Operation has been called off this evening, complete area has been cleared: DGMO on Uri Attacks. 6:11 pm: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh addresses the media on Uri Attack. 6.09 pm: Operation has been called off this evening, complete area has been cleared: DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on Uri terror attack. 6.00 pm: Locals in UP offer special prayers for soldiers who lost their life in Uri Attack. 5.59 pm: Bihar Government announces Rs 4 lakh compensation for the kin of the deceased persons in the accident. 5.47 pm: Death toll rises to 35, after a bus travelling from Madhubani to Sitamarhi fell into a gorge in Bihar. 5.46 pm: Last rites ceremony of Subedar Karnail Singh who lost his life in Uri Attack yesterday. 5.36 pm: We shouldnt be speaking about this terrorist or that, but we must fight every terrorist: Afghan Ambassador to India. 5.33 pm: Last rites ceremony of Subedar Karnail Singh who lost his life in Uri terror attack yesterday. 5.17 pm: Bengaluru police says city safe, Rapid Action Force deployed in all sensitive places as Cauvery Supervisory Committee directs Karnataka to release more water to Tamil Nadu. 5.09 pm: Team of the National Investigation Agency at Uri to probe how terrorists managed to breach three levels of security. 5.08 pm: It is a matter of great sadness, we condemn this strongly: Shaida Mohd Abdali, Afghan Ambassador to India in Uri Attack. 5.07 pm: Afghanistan has been facing similar attacks on our security forces and our innocent people, says Afghan Ambassador to India on Uri Attack. 5.02 pm: The Cauvery Waters Supervisory Committee has directed Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from September 21 to 30. 4.55 pm: CBI arrests Head Constable of Haryana Police working in the office of ACP, Kalka for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs.5000 from complainant. 4.33 pm: More than 14000 Baloch people are still missing, while Balochistan provincial Govt has just recognised less than 100, says Shaukat Ali (UKPNP). 4.27 pm: US 'friendly fire' air strike kills eight Afghan police, says Officials. 4.26 pm: Would like to bring to notice of UNHRC blatant human rights violations by Pak Govt and military on people of PoK and Gilgit Baltistan, says Shaukat Ali. 4.12 pm: UKPNP deeply concerned about the state of human rights & security situation in formerly princely state of J&K & Pakistan, says Shaukat Ali. 4.08 pm: Have conveyed our stand to Human Rights Commissioner and UNHRC President, says Shaukat Ali (UKPNP). 4.04 pm: Bus travelling from Madhubani to Sitamarhi carrying around 50 people falls into a gorge. 4 bodies recovered. Search ops underway in Bihar 4.03 pm: 70% of sindhi people in Pak suffer from malnutrition, most of sindhi people are illiterate and unemployed: Lakhu Luhana. 3.53 pm: Will call Indian embassy today or tomorrow to take an appointment, says Brahamdagh Bugti on filing asylum papers. 3.50 pm: Will take China to International Court of Justice, with help of Bangladesh, Afghanistan & India: Brahamdagh Bugti. 3.45 pm: War is not a solution but we've to take some strict action, otherwise there will be more such incidents: Baba Ramdev 3.39 pm: Everybody is facing discrimination in Pak on the basis of their Constitution, says Shaukat Ali (UKPNP). 3:33 pm: 50 people feared dead after bus falls into pond in Bihar's Madhubani district. 3:25 pm: Uri attack: Kargil war braveheart Saurabh Kalia's father blames 'lopsided' Indian foreign policies. 3.18 pm: Ramkumar's (who committed suicide) cousin had approached the MHC to reconstitute the team of doctors to carry out the autopsy. 3.17 pm: Madras High court directs to form a 4 member team of doctors & experts to conduct Swathi Murder accused Ramkumar's autopsy. Bodies of four terrorists killed in Uri (Jammu and Kashmir) encounter yesterday. pic.twitter.com/YRRHgV36Y9 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 3.05 pm: Attackers had sufficient info about the camp, many question arise but we only have tweets & statements: Prithvi Raj Chavan on #UriAttack. 3.03 pm: FLASH: Sepoy K Vikas Janardhan succumbed to his injuries at R&R Hospital, New Delhi. Death toll rises to 18 #UriAttack 3.03 pm: Ppl say that culprits will be punished but who to punish, terrorists are dead:Prithvi Raj Chavan(Cong) on #UriAttack 3.01 pm: Maharashtra Govt announces financial assistance of 15 lakh each for families of soldiers from Maha, who lost their lives in #UriAttack 2.57 pm: Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti has decided to file asylum papers to India 2.49 pm: Baloch Republican Party to approach India, Afghanistan or Bangladesh to file case against China at International Court of Justice. 2.47 pm: Baloch Republican Party decides to file case against China at International Court of Justice. 2.46 pm: FLASH: Baloch Republican Party decides to file criminal cases against Pakistani army generals at International criminal courts. 2.44 pm: FLASH: Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti has decided to file asylum papers to India 2.42 pm: Sources: Evidence of Pak hand in Uri attack i.e, GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature Pakistan army marked arms to be given to Pakistan at DGMO level, say sources #UriAttack 2.41 pm: Sources: India to present all actionable evidence if required at international bodies #Uriattack 2.41 pm: Sources: PM Level meeting gives nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. #UriAttack 2.40 pm: They've been victimized by Pak since partition, due to some laws they are not able to move into J&K: Jitendra Singh. 2.38 pm: Delhi: Asylum seekers from West Pakistan meet MoS PMO Jitendra Singh 2.19 pm: Satara (Maharashtra): Family mourns the death of Lance Naik G Shankar who lost his life in #UriAttack 2.17 pm: 2 civilians dead,18 policemen injured in Kaziranga nat'l park after locals clashed with police over eviction drive 2.16 pm: Amravati (Maharashtra): Family mourns the death of Sepoy Uike Janrao who lost his life in #UriAttack 2.06 pm: Kuch nhi chahiye,humko humare pati & 17 jawano ka badla chahiye- Wife of Havildar Ashok Singh who died in #UriAttack 2.02 pm: Ludhiana: Congress workers stage protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack 1.55 pm: Bhojpur (Bihar): Family mourns the death of Havildar Ashok Kumar Singh who lost his life in #UriAttack 1.50 pm: Patna (Bihar): BJP youth wing stage protest against Pakistan over #UriAttack 1.43 pm: Desh ke liye kurbaan ho gaya toh koi afsos ki baat nhi-Brother of Sepoy Rakesh Singh who lost his life in #UriAttack 1.40 pm: Kaimur (Bihar): Family mourns the death of Sepoy Rakesh Singh who lost his life in #UriAttack 1.35 pm: NGT directs the Tamil Nadu Govt to submit it's view on shale gas exploration in 3 weeks time. Next hearing on October 24th. 1.33 pm: Nashik (Maharashtra): Family mourns the death of Sepoy TS Somnath who lost his life in #UriAttack 1.32 pm: Govt must take sternest action against the perpetrators: Family member of Sepoy TS Somnath who died in #UriAttack 1.30 pm: We are very proud of him: Family member of Sepoy TS Somnath who lost his life in #UriAttack 1.29 pm: Yesterday when the #UriAttack happened, there was panic all over. It was shocking for all of us: Resident, Uri (J&K) 1.28 pm: SC asks petitioner to file a fresh application in High Court against his plea alleging that petition challenging Maha Govt's decision to grant 16% quota to Marathas in jobs and education in state were still pending adjudication. 1.26 pm: Loss of so many lives is sadenning, and this has never happened in this area: Resident of Uri (J&K) #UriAttack 1.25 pm: Bihar: Bus travelling from Madhubani to Sitamarhi falls into a gorge, four bodies recovered. Search operation on. 1.23 pm: We hope that the Government will take stern action against this, says Amitabh Bachchan on Uri Attacks. 1.22 pm: Karnataka Rakshana Vedike stages protest over Cauvery Issue, in Attibele. 1.21 pm: It is a sad news.Our soldiers are losing their lives without any provocation: Amitabh Bachchan on Uri Attacks. 1.19 pm: Terrorism in itself is wrong. One's involved in this aren't humans, they're animals, says Pak Nat'l in Poonch on Uri Attack. 1.15 pm: The person who thew ink (on Manish Sisodia) has been detained, and is being interrogated: DCP North Madhur Verma. 1.14 pm: UP CM announces financial assistance of Rs. 20 lakh each to the families of jawans from UP, who lost their lives in Uri attack. 1.13 pm: 3 Pak army personnel killed in gun attack in Peshawar on Sunday, ISIS claims responsibility for attack. 1.10 pm: Police arrest 5 naxals in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. 1.07 pm: This is matter of great concern for us. We should guard against the rise of ISIS here. Time has come to take stern measures: Yashwant Sinha. 1.06 pm: SC issues notice to Shahabuddin while hearing plea of Bihar Govt and Chandrakeshwar Prasad (father who lost 3 sons) against bail granted to him. 1.05 pm: SC refuses to stay Patna HC's order regarding bail to former RJD MP Shahabuddin. Matter to be heard on Next Monday (Sep 26). 12.56 pm: 3 MLCs, Sanjay Lathar, Anand Bhadoria and Sunil Sajan, suspended from the Samajwadi Party for 6 years. 12.48 pm: SP's Mohammad Abad, Digvijay Singh Dev, Muntazim Kidwai, Pradeep Tiwari, Vikas Yadav and Brijesh Yadav suspended from the party for 6 years. 12.47 pm: He is going abroad on our money and people of Delhi are suffering: Brajesh Shukla, who threw ink at Manish Sisodia. 12.40 pm: Ink thrown at Deputy CM Manish Sisodia outside LG office in Delhi. 12.38 pm: Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son: Mother of sepoy G Dalai on Uri Attack. 12.36 pm: Why did they do so? God will see them, says Sister-in-law of sepoy G Dalai breaks down on Uri Attack in Kolkata. 12.35 pm: Family mourn the death of sepoy G Dalai who lost his life in Uri Attack. 12.30 pm: Wreath laying ceremony of 17 soldiers who lost their lives in Uri Attack CM Mehbooba Mufti present. 12.20 pm: Meeting underway with PM Modi at 7RCR, HM Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, NSA present in Delhi. 12.18 pm: Lawyers in Jammu protest against Pakistan over Uri terror attack Lawyers in Jammu protest against Pakistan over Uri terror attack #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/njHBWLd2GO ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 12.07 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs high-level meeting on Uri terror attack. Delhi: Meeting underway with PM Modi at 7RCR, HM Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, NSA present #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/caPaTrDbq3 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 11.55 am: Rajnath Singh, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and NSA reach 7RCR to meet PM Narendra Modi. 11.30 am: France most firmly condemns the Uri attack. France remains at India's side in the combat against terrorism: French Foreign Affairs Ministry. 11.18 am: 2 civilians dead, 18 policemen injured in firing near Kaziranga national park after locals clashed with police over eviction drive: Nagaon SP. 11.11 am: Gujarat riot case: SC orders to complete the trial of Naroda Gam riots case within six months. 11.05 am: We must not pay heed to Pak's reactions. Everything is in front of people: Kiren Rijiju, MoS Home. 10.45 am: Vladimir Putin's party wins parliamentary majority in Russia. 10.24 am: NIA team leaves for Srinagar, 3 member NIA team to visit Uri. 10.20 am: High level review meet chaired by Home Minister begins. IB Chief, Army Chief, DGMO arrive for the meet. Delhi: High level review meet chaired by HM begins. IB Chief, Army Chief, DGMO arrive for the meet. #UriAttack pic.twitter.com/ikSMk88PW7 ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 10.09 am: India to raise Uri attack in UN General Assembly, EAM Sushma Swaraj to strongly emphasize on Pak involvement in her speech on 26th: Sources 10.00 am: Drunk 22-yr-old in Porsche car in Chennai rams into parked autos, kills auto-driver. 9.23 am: The attack at Uri has put in doubt the participation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad. The external affairs ministry is in the process of preparing a strong response to the Uri attack which will be raised at the UNGA. The focus for now is gathering evidence against Pakistan. 9.21 am: Srinagar (J&K): Shutdown and restrictions continue for the 73rd day. Srinagar (J&K): Shutdown and restrictions continue for the 73rd day. pic.twitter.com/Uc3qJDukEE ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 9.15 am: Train services suspended in New Jersey/New York City area after suspicious package is found: US media reports. 9.05 am: 3 Pakistani army personnel killed in a gun attack in Peshawar on Sunday, ISIS claims responsibility for the attack. 8.37 am: Home Minister Rajnath Singh calls for a high level review meet on Uri attack at 10 AM, today. 8.28 am: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar likely to meet and brief PM Narendra Modi on Uri attack. 8.09 am: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns Uri terrorist attack in which 17 soldiers lost their lives and 4 terrorists were killed,on Sunday. 8.00 am: Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to leave for Srinagar, today to meet top State officials in wake of Uri attack. OneIndia News Uri attack: Mayawati calls for firm Pak strategy India oi-PTI Lucknow, Sep 19: Terming the deadly Uri militant attack as "unfortunate", BSP president Mayawati today asked the Central government to chalk out a firm long-term plan to deal with "Pakistan-backed" terror. "The attack on the army installation in Uri killing 18 jawans is most unfortunate and a matter of concern," Mayawati said in a press release here. "Now it is time for the Central government to chalk out a long-term plan by striking a consensus to deal with such incidents backed by Pakistan," she said, adding that the inconsistent Pakistan policy pursued by successive governments at the Centre has caused massive loss of life and property in the country. "Such terror strikes have been going on at regualar intervals ... now the time has come to chalk out a firm stragegy to put an effective check on them and this is what the people of the country want," she said. Commenting on the turmoil in the Valley, she said it proves that the PDP-BJP governnment there has "failed", not only in providing security to the citizens there, but also in working for peoples' welfare. Uri attack: Are you not weak, Congress asks PM Modi The BSP chief said there has also been "no positive result" of the all party delegation which was sent to Jammu and Kashmir. There should be no pre-conditions on holding talks with Indian citizens under the ambit of constitution, she said, and hoped that state and union governments would initiate steps in this direction soon. PTI Who was Jaish-e-Mohammad's 'mole' in Uri? India oi-Vicky As officials get down to probing the Uri attack, there are various aspects that will be considered. The mole that the Jaish-e-Mohammad had in Kashmir who gave out crucial information is one major aspect of the probe. The breach at the border as a result of which terrorists managed access is also another part of the probe. While at first, the Intelligence Bureau were weighing in the possibility of the attack being staged by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the focus later shifted to the Jaish after a call was received by a Kashmir journalist. The journalist was told by the Jaish operative that they were behind the attack. Uri attack: India's response to Pakistan to be discussed today Intelligence Bureau officials say that the four terrorists had entered into Indian territory late on Saturday night. In Uri, terrorists tend not to linger on for too long as the public which 100 per cent behind the army report such incidents immediately. The army too has a huge task ahead as the number of infiltrations have gone up. Most of the security forces are positioned in the heart of Kashmir and are dealing with the protestors. The focus of the security forces has been on the unrest that broke out on July 9, a day after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. This scenario led to the number of infiltrations go up. Officials suspect that there are at least 120 to 130 terrorists, who may have infiltrated since the unrest began. Officials feel the need to find an urgent solution to the unrest so that the entire focus would be on guarding the border and preventing the infiltrations. OneIndia News Video: Why Chinas former president was escorted out from stage China, Russia conclude joint naval exercise International oi-PTI Beijing, Sep 19: Chinese and Russian navies today concluded their joint military exercise in waters off the southern province of Guangdong, with a drill to "seize" an island, in a symbolic move by Beijing whose claims over the South China Sea was struck down by an international tribunal. Though held off Guangdong coast far from nine-dash line claim over SCS, the drill has a strategic value for China as it comes nearly two months after an international tribunal struck down Beijing's claims over almost all of SCS. Under pressure from the US and Japan, China regards the drills as significant as they demonstrate Russia's backing to it, downplaying reports of international isolation. The eight-day long exercises have ended with both navies staging a mission to seize an island. Besides the SCS which has numerous islands with rich mineral deposits, China also stakes claims over the islands held by Japan in the East China Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed China's decision to reject the SCS tribunal verdict which the US and Japan said is legally binding. As the key element of the annual drill, the Chinese and Russian navies dispatched vessels including missile destroyer, anti-submarine vessels, missile frigates, ship-based helicopters and conventional submarines, among others, official media here reported. The exercises demonstrated the Chinese and Russian navies' capacities in command management, telecommunications coordination, and intelligence and information sharing, Senior Captain Li Xiangdong, who commanded the Chinese warships, told state-run China Daily. Addressing the closing ceremony of the drill, which ran from September 13 to 19, Wang Hai, deputy commander of the Chinese Navy, lauded the exercise as successful and said the activity had achieved the desired aim. Wang said the drill had improved the actual combat capabilities, informationisation and standardisation of the two navies, adding that they will expand practical cooperation and boost communication, state-run Xinhua news agency said. Alexander Fedotenkov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, said the two navies shared theoretical and practical experience and were engaged in sound collaboration throughout the exercise. Fedotenkov said the two sides will maintain close marine cooperation ties, deal with new challenges and threats, and together safeguard world peace and regional stability. The "Joint Sea 2016" drill featured surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, marines and amphibious armored equipment. PTI Slip of Tongue in Pak Parliament: Speaker pronounces Nawaz Sharif's name instead of Shehbaz Sharif Nawaz Sharif arrives in US to attend UNGA; Kashmir on agenda International oi-IANS By Ians English New York, Sept 19: With Kashmir high on his agenda Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly where he would enunciate Islamabad's position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New York's Kennedy International Airport by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, the Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's delegation includes Tariq Fatemi Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule including addressing the 193-member Assembly on September 21 and meeting at least ten world leaders among other activities. He said the Prime Minister would specifically focus on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir particularly the "continuing grave violations of human rights" taking place there. The Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister would call on the international community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, Prime Ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon. US Secretary of State John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. IANS Pak off the FATF grey list doesn't mean it's not under scrutiny anymore: MEA secretary Imran Khan again targets Pakistan's establishment on Day 2 of protest march; govt rules out talks over snap polls Nawaz Sharif meets Kerry; seeks US role in Kashmir dispute International oi-PTI New York, Sep 19: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today raised the Kashmir issue in his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry here, urging Washington to "play a role" in the resolution of the dispute. "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two very productive meetings at start of General Assembly visit with US Secretary of State John Kerry & PM of New Zealand," Pakistan's envoy to the UN Maleeha Lodhi tweeted. "PM urged the US to play a role in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and highlighted human rights abuses in occupied Kashmir," she said. During the meeting, regional and international issues came under discussion. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. Sharif will address the UN General Assembly's high-level summit on refugees and migrants today and address the General Debate on September 21. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. Pakistan a 'factory of terrorism': Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours yesterday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. PTI My party-BJP have different ideologies but common aim of uplifting poor: Nepal ex-PM Prachanda Nepalese PM cancels UN trip to address the concerns of Madhesis International oi-IANS By Ians English Kathmandu, Sept 19: Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has cancelled his scheduled visit to the United Nations, in order to address the concerns of the Madhesis and Janjatis over the Constitution, a statement said on Monday. Prachanda and his Nepalese delegation were supposed to fly to New York on Monday to take part in the 71st session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Solution to Madhesi problem soon: Nepal PM Prachanda He returned home on Sunday after completing his four-day state visit to India. The Prime Minister decided not to leave the country after voices were raised from several quarters that he needed to address the demands and grievances of Madhesi, Tharu, Janajatis, rather than undertake the foreign trip, said the Prime Minister's secretariat in a statement. In his absence, Nepal's Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat will lead the country at the UN. Domestic issues were more pressing than the UN visit so the Prime Minister decided to cancel the visit, said a Prachanda aide. It further stated that there were calls and it was high time to focus on implementation of the Constitution and carry out reconstruction work of the damaged structures, so the Prime Minister decided to remain in the country. Prachanda, who was elected Prime Minister in August, had prioritised the amendment of the one-year old Constitution to address the grievances and aspirations of agitating Madhesi based parties and other sections but little was done so far. Having back-to-back foreign visits at a time when the nation is in a crucial political transition seemed "not good", so the cancellation does have a meaning, said the aide. The other reason being the constraint on time as per commitment made to Madhesi and other communities to address their demands if he had left for the UN. Prachanda was scheduled to return on September 27 in the midst of festivities in Nepal. Big festivals are coming up so it would be inappropriate for him to seek time for deliberations on constitutional matters so before the festivals begin, the Prime Minister is planning to implement the constitution, said the aide. IANS Thailand: PM Prayuth can stay in office, court says Thailand shooting: 34 killed in a shooting and knife attack at child care center, officials say Thailand shooting: PM orders probe into childcare attack that killed 34, including many children Thais search for missing as 15 die in boat accident International oi-PTI Bangkok, Sep 19: The search for several missing passengers continued today after a boat carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river leaving at least 15 people dead, a provincial governor said. The accident happened yesterday near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong tides. "The death toll is now confirmed at 15, with 11 people still missing," Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong told AFP, updating the overnight toll from 13 dead. "Fourteen people are still in hospital," he said, adding "the rescue operation resumed this morning to find those missing." No foreigners were believed to be among the dead. Local television stations showed graphic footage of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people on the bank. Passengers were trapped on the lower deck of the pleasure boat, which was submerged in the swollen, brown waters agonisingly close to the bank. Despite its wealth compared to regional neighbours and huge tourism sector, accidents are common on Thailand's public transport network. Safety regulations are often weakly enforced, including on boats with overcrowding, sinkings and crashes common -- in particular in busy tourist areas. The Chao Phraya, the main river that flows through Bangkok, is a key commuting artery, filled with often packed boats plying the waterways at breakneck speed. It runs through Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital whose riverside is studded with the remains of Buddhist temples. Thailand's reputation as the "Land of Smiles" has suffered in recent years amid frequent deadly bus and boat accidents, crimes against foreigners and political unrest. But visitors keep coming. A record high of nearly 30 million travelled to the kingdom in 2015, a number boosted by a surge in mainland Chinese tourists, with some 33 million expected this year. The junta government this week said they expected tourism to account for as much as 17 per cent of GDP this year. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 16:25 [IST] The Malawi Archaeological Museum in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya has been a hive of activity over recent weeks, with curators, restorers and exhibition design specialists all busy at work to meet the museums scheduled re-opening on Thursday Workers are cleaning the dust from gigantic colossi, and curators are placing labels at the foot of artefacts as others install descriptive panels beside showcases. Restorers are on the scene inspecting the condition of every object. Finally after three years of rehabilitation work the Malawi Museum is in the limelight again, with a little twist, head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities Elham Salah said. She said the two-storey museum building had been overhauled and its indoor decoration and design renewed. The first floor was formerly dedicated to displaying the museums treasured collection and the second floor for administration. But the new design concept of the museum no longer depended on placing artefacts next to each other to illustrate ancient Egyptian civilisation, she said. Instead, it provided a broader educational service to visitors and sent out messages that would raise archaeological awareness and loyalty towards Egypt. It informed Egyptian visitors about how their ancestors had built such a great civilisation through showing daily life, industries and culture, she said. This is a new philosophy that the ministry of antiquities is adopting in order to turn the countrys regional museums into more educational, cultural and productive institutions, Salah said, adding that the idea was for these museums to help educate people about culture, religions and politics. Egypts regional museums had sometimes not fulfilled their true potential because they had often displayed objects without a thematic storyline. This had meant that they had not always attracted their fair share of visitors. Every regional museum should reflect the city or town in which it is located, Salah said, explaining that in the new Malawi Museum, for example, the exhibition design provided clear information about the history of Malawi and Minya and the role these had played in Egyptian civilisation. The museum has a permanent exhibition of 425 artefacts, some of them from its former collection while the rest have been carefully selected from the Al-Ashmounein and Al-Bahnasa storerooms in the Minya Museum. The exhibition is divided into sections displaying Minya residents daily lives in ancient times and the utensils they used in their houses for cooking as well as the tools they used to make goods and those used for cultivation and trading. The museum has sections on clay pots and pans, textiles, medicines and writing styles. Panels explaining the development of tools in the area are on display, as is information on how the ancient Egyptians used natural and artificial light. Jewellery is on display in one section of the new museum, shown through a display of make-up containers, wigs, necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Ancient Egyptian religious rituals are highlighted in the new museum, since Minya was a main centre of the monotheistic religion introduced by the pharaoh Akhenaten in ancient times. A collection of mummified animals is also on display to show visitors that the ancient Egyptians not only worshipped animals but were also very fond of them. Concepts of justice, love and eternity are also illustrated. The funerary collection of Henu, one of the regions ancient nobles, is on display, for example, reflecting traditions regarding the afterlife in ancient times. Workshops to revive ancient Egyptian handicrafts are being organised in the museum, Salah pointed out, adding that these would teach ancient tapestry weaving in order to help local people gain skills that could lead to sustainable employment. Goods produced by the workshops would be sold under an agreement with the ministry. Waadallah Abul-Ezz, head of the Projects Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, told the Weekly that the restoration of the museum had cost around LE10 million provided by the ministry, the Minya governorate and Belgian donors. The building, he said, had been completely renovated, changed from being a mostly outdoor museum to indoor exhibition halls. A new lighting and security system had been installed and walls cleaned and polished and damaged showcases had been replaced with new ones. Minister of Antiquities Khaled Al-Enani visited the museum earlier this week in order to inspect the restoration work and preparations towards the re-opening. He said that larger pieces damaged when the museum was looted had been restored and recovered objects would be returned to their original places. The Malawi Archaeological Museum was looted during clashes between supporters of deposed former president Mohamed Morsi and the security forces after the latter broke up the sit-ins in the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Squares in Cairo in 2013. Some 1,049 of the museums 1,089 artefacts were reported missing, including a collection of faience beads, statuettes of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, clay pots, a limestone statue of the god Thot in the shape of a baboon, a rectangular relief of an ibis bird and the palm of the goddess Maat, as well as a collection of papyri written in ancient Egyptian demotic script and various Graeco-Roman marble and limestone reliefs. Artefacts too heavy for the vandals to carry away were damaged in situ. 663 objects were recovered after being handed in by Malawi residents or left at the museums gates after the ministry declared an amnesty on the return of any looted artefacts. *This story was first published in Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemns Uri terror attack International oi-PTI United Nations, Sept 19: Condemning the militant attack on an army camp in North Kashmir's Uri town that killed 17 soldiers, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped the perpetrators of the crime will be brought to justice and re-establishing stability and preventing any further loss of life will be the priority of "all involved". "The United Nations is following developments closely and shares the concerns of people living in the region for peace," a statement issued by Ban's spokesperson here said. Uri, J&K attack: 17 soldiers make supreme sacrifice, 4 terrorists killed Ban expressed hope that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and all stakeholders will meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability. "The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice," it said. He hopes that all involved will prioritise the re-establishment of stability and prevent any further loss of life. The Secretary-General encourages all stakeholders to meet their respective responsibilities to maintain peace and stability," the statement said. Condemning the "militant attack", Ban expressed his "deepest sympathy and condolences" to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and to the government of India and wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the attack. Meanwhile, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as the head of the Non-Aligned Movement, also expressed solidarity with the people of India "who have suffered a terrorist attack." "We are committed along with our brotherly people of the world to get into the depth of this problem that has generated proliferation of terrorist movements, which doesn't respect life and the need for coexistence of people," he said at a press conference after the summit in Margarita Island on Sunday. In one of the deadliest attacks on the Army in recent years, 17 soldiers were killed and 19 others injured as heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmir's Uri town early on Sunday. Four militants involved in the terror strike were killed by the Army. The attack comes two years after militants had carried out a similar type of attack at Mohra in the same area. Ten security personnel were killed in the attack that took place on December 5, 2014. PTI In his maiden visit to Russia since Ukraine war, Jaishankar to hold talks with Lavrov Uri attack: Russia says no to military exercise with Pakistan International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer New Delhi, Sep 20: A joint miltary exercise between Russia and Pakistan has been called offafter the Uri terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir. The move is seen as diplomatic gain for India. Russia on Monday condemned the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said it is "concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base was attacked from Pakistani territory". In a statement, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the "criminal act" should be investigated properly and that "its organisers and perpetrators be held accountable. Russia condemns Uri attack "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack against an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of September 18, which killed 17 and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured," the statement said, according to the Russian Embassy in Delhi. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 20, 2016, 2:38 [IST] 'Zero tolerance' against terror international obligation:India International oi-PTI Geneva, Sep 19: India today said it firmly believes that a policy of "zero tolerance" against terrorism is as much an international obligation as it is a commitment to its own people, a day after terrorists killed 18 soldiers in Kashmir in one of the deadliest attacks on its military. Making a statement during the 33rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) here, India also called upon the Council to urge Pakistan to put an end to cross-border infiltration; dismantle the terrorism infrastructure; and stop acting as an epicentre of terrorism. "It is time that moral and material support provided by Pakistan to the perpetrators of this continuing heinous violence on the Indian soil should attract this Councils attention," it added. Raising once again the "blatant abuse and violation of human rights in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in other parts of Pakistan, including Balochistan, India said it was adversely impacting the stability of the entire region. Pakistan a 'factory of terrorism': Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi "Pakistan's continued mistreatment of large parts of its own population has created a cauldron of tumult that has begun to jeopardise the safety and security of its neighbouring countries". PTI SC asks Shahbuddin why his bail should not be cancelled New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Sept 19: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay an order of the Patna High Court which had granted bail to former RJD MP Shahbuddin accused in the murder of two brothers. The court issued notices to Shahbuddin returnable by Sept 26 while asking him to explain why his bail should not be cancelled. The Bihar government on Monday sought before the court that his bail be cancelled. Appearing for the Bihar government counsel, Gopal Singh sought that the court issues a non bailable arrest warrant against him. Singh also termed Shahbuddin a 'chronic history sheeter'. Prashanth Bhushan who is appearing for the father of the sons who were murdered also sought cancellation of bail. He demanded that Shahbuddin be shifted to a jail outside Bihar. He further said that the trial against Shahbuddin can go on through video conferencing while he is lodged in a jail in another state. Shahbuddin walked out of the Bhagalpur jail on Sept 10 after he was granted bail by the Patna High Court. The court had last February directed the government to conduct the trial in nine months. However, a failure on part of the government led to bail being granted on a technicality. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 13:43 [IST] Uri attack: India's response to Pakistan to be discussed today New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Sept 19: Top security officials will meet in Delhi on Monday to chalk out a response mechanism in the wake of the attack at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir in which 17 soldiers were martyred and four terrorists killed. "We will respond for sure and this will not go unpunished," said a top official in New Delhi. The army, intelligence bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing will have a lot of work ahead and they have been asked to come up with proposals on how to counter this incident. Uri attack: Most soldiers were preparing for posting in peaceful areas After the details are shared, the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval would make a presentation to the Prime Minister, based on which the next course of action would be taken. A meeting has been scheduled for 10 am on Monday which would be presided over by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh All in favour of strikes At the various meetings that were held on Sunday, all officials were in favour of carrying out strategic strike along the border. Top officials felt the need to respond in a hard manner and ensure that terrorists camps across the border are eliminated. This time around the air force has indicated that they would be prepared to carry out a surgical strike. However, none are in favour of a brash response and want to take this operation to a logical end. In the aftermath of the 26/11 attack, the Air Force Chief had said that they were ready to strike. However, the air force wanted more backing from the intelligence bureau. Why is the army base at Uri so vulnerable? The plan to carry out a strike was dropped as both the intelligence bureau and the armed forces had said that they cannot ensure success. This time around the establishment wants to be extremely sure before they can launch a strike in Pakistan. There can be no scope for failure and the strikes have to ensure a 100 per cent rate of success, an officer also noted. The IB, R&W and the army would discuss this issue over the next couple of days before a final presentation can be made to the Prime Minister who would need to give the final approval. The aim is to carry out a precise military operation across the border in a bid to shut down jihadi camps, a senior officer also informed. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 9:34 [IST] Uri attack: India to make strong statement at UNGA on Pakistan New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Sept 19: India will make a strong pitch against Pakistan at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) apart from highlighting the country's role in the Uri attack that took place on Sunday. The government has directed that the investigations are conducted quickly so that these points could be raised by the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj at the UNGA on September 26. Uri attack: India's response to Pakistan to be discussed today Initial rounds of investigations point clearly towards Pakistan. The material recovered from the terrorists who were killed on Sunday have Pakistan markings on it. Moreover, following the attack a call was made to a person in Kashmir from Pakistan claiming responsibility for the attack. It has also been ascertained that the terrorists had crossed over from Pakistan late on Saturday before they launched the attack on the army base at 5.20 AM on Sunday. The investigations are still at a very preliminary stage. We are coordinating with the intelligence bureau for more inputs, an officer part of the probe informed. Meanwhile, following a high level security meet, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley and National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval arrived at 7 RCR to meet with the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The PM would be briefed about the security meet and a final decision on what steps need to be taken would be taken. Union Minister, General V K Singh said that India cannot take action on an emotional level. As the PM said there will be some decision, he also added. The attack at Uri has also put in doubt the participation of the Indian Prime Minister at the SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad. Sources say that it is very unlikely that the PM would take part in the summit. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 12:47 [IST] Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000 Bihar's Gopalganj by-poll to see a tough fight between BJP and RJD Alert Bihar chief secy foils bid to withdraw money from his bank account 35 feared drowned in Bihar after bus falls in pond Patna oi-IANS By Ians English Patna, Sep 19: At least 35 people were feared dead when a bus fell into a deep pond near village Basaith under Benipatti police station in Madhubani district of Bihar on Monday. A 50-seater bus fell into a deep pond in Bihar's Madhubani district on Monday, officials said.The accident took place near Basakha Chowk in Benapatti area, about 250 km from here. Officials said none of the passengers have been found and the bus too had not been pulled out of the water. The bus was on its way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani. The administration has started search and rescue operations. Bihar: Bus travelling from Madhubani to Sitamarhi carrying around 50 people falls into a gorge. 4 bodies recovered. Search ops underway. ANI (@ANI_news) September 19, 2016 IANS Facebook has paying a bounty of Rs 10.70 lakh to Indian techie for notifying flaw in there website. Arun S Kumar, a 20-year-old computer engineering student exposed a flaw in Facebook Business Manager which allows a hacker to take control of the website in just 10 seconds. A girl was found dead on the outskirts of Hyderabad with her throat slit and hands tied. The police suspects that the girl was raped. The deceased woman in her early twenties was dressed in jeans and t-shirt. This is one of the deadliest militant attack on Indian army in Kashmir in the recent past. Four heavily-armed suicide attackers stormed an Armys brigade headquarters in Uri town in Baramulla district killing at least 17 soldiers while leaving 20 others injured on Sunday. This took place at 5:25 am. Four militants were also killed in over three-hour-long gunfight. After much wavering, the state finally announced an economic plan with a set of concrete fiscal and monetary measures designed to staunch the hemorrhage of the public budget and restore balance to the currency market. Just announcing that plan is a positive step, because it allows the public to follow up, engage, and differ, all of which is needed for the nation to climb out of the current crisis. On the other hand, the state seems set on undertaking these fiscal and monetary reforms without substantially changing the larger economic or political climate, which could hinder the achievement of the plans objectives. According to media reports, the economic plan includes short- and medium-term measures. In the short term, the state is relying on a $12-billion IMF loan, and additional international financing of no less than $6 billion this year, to provide the liquidity needed to bring stability to the currency market, finance immediate import needs, and fund the completion of megaprojects. The state also intends to float the Egyptian pound, apply a value added tax, cut energy subsidies, freeze government wages, and sell off some of its assets and shares in public companies. In the medium term, the state hopes to see the return of tourism and foreign investment, boost exports, start production from Mediterranean gas reserves, and complete new infrastructure projects. This would get the economy moving again and spur the growth needed to jumpstart the Egyptian economy. This in brief in the states economic vision, which sets a clearer course than weve seen in the past. But while the current critical condition of the Egyptian economy leaves little room for maneuver or alternative actions in the short term, over the longer term, international loans alone will not be enough. Moreover, austerity should not remain the core state economic policy while the problems that brought us to this juncture continue to fester. That would be like treating the symptoms of a disease while ignoring the cause. In my view, the principal dysfunctions we face are three: the economys capacity to grow and attract investment, accompanying social policy, and the political framework which needs radical reform. If the state does not take note of these considerations, I fear it will buy some time by pumping in liquidity and foreign currency in the short term without putting the economy on the path to recovery. As far as the general investment climate goes, we must pursue a broad set of policies and reforms to attract investors, local and foreign, large and small alike. First and foremost, we should reconsider the vastly expanded role of the state, including the armed forces, in the economy. This crowds out the private sector in fields that are neither military nor strategic and undermines competitiveness. We must also undertake a comprehensive review of laws pertaining to investment, one that goes beyond merely tinkering with the catastrophic investment law issued shortly before the Sharm al-Sheikh conference in 2015 or restoring the tax exemptions and incentives that cost the public treasury so much. The goal should be to overhaul laws that govern all aspects of the formation, operation, and liquidation of firms and businesses. The state should also address the morass of red tape and the attendant corruption at all levels from an institutional perspective. Instead of arresting an official now and then to create a media splash and appease the public, it must look at the root causes of corruption, and regulate and limit the authorities of administrative employees that provide fertile soil for its growth. Finally, it must provide the market with adequate information. Investors can adapt to many conditions, but they must be aware of state policies and be able to rely on their constancy. In terms of social policy, the government and opposition both, as well as the general public, continue to have confused conceptions of social justice and how to achieve it. Absent this vision, we are again back to reducing social justice to state spending on pensions and subsidies while the poverty rate continues to rise. Instead, we need to look at the sum total of public services, guarantees, and resources provided to citizens by the state and then determine if they offer the opportunity to escape poverty or instead entrench and deepen already sharp social disparities. A simple look at the ongoing deterioration of education, health, and public transport and a lack of programs to employ youth demonstrates that the state pays inadequate attention to fighting the roots of poverty, making do with supporting those in real need with additional pensions. While these are important and necessary, they're not enough to correct the alarming social imbalance in Egyptian society. In addition, we need to review public investment priorities, especially spending on megaproject that may have long-term economic benefits, but are sapping away major resources now and crowding out urgent needs. Renewed protests at water outages, shortages in baby milk, growing trash heaps, declining train services, and incomplete sanitation networks in villages and informal areas should alert officials to the fact that people have immediate, legitimate needs that cannot wait on long-term projects of uncertain utility. Finally, as concerns political reform, the prevailing belief that rapid economic growth and a surge in investment can happen under a closed political system that disregards rights and liberties must be questioned. This development model is unacceptable and in any case is not replicable today, even if it worked in parts of Asia and Latin America 30 years ago. The world, and peoples expectations and aspirations, are different today; youth of the 21st century are a different breed. There can be no economic development under laws and practices that prohibit the freedom to peaceful protest, suppress civil society, ignore security excesses and constitutional provisions, and bar popular participation in national decision making. The belief that increased economic growth will appease the public is a grave error, one made by several regimes in the past in and out of Egypt. These experiences cant be ignored while reverting to assumptions that do not suit the present age. Political reform must keep pace with economic reform, or even outpace it. Otherwise, society will remain restless and divided, which will impede or thwart any economic reform efforts. We all want an economic recovery and development. What I fear is that we pursue short-term fiscal and monetary reform without working to fundamentally change the broader economic and political framework. As a result, all our efforts will be for naught and well find ourselves burdened with massive debt without sustainable reform. *The writer holds a PhD in financial law from the London School of Economics. He is former deputy prime minister, former chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and former chairman of the General Authority for Investment. This article was published in Arabic in El-Shorouq newspaper on Monday, 19 September. Search Keywords: Short link: Uri attack: Most soldiers were preparing for posting in peaceful areas Srinagar oi-Vicky Srinagar, Sept 19: It was a sad day for the armed forces and the entire nation on Sunday after a ghastly terrorist strike in which 17 soldiers were martyred and several others were injured. Had the Uri attack not taken place, most of the soldiers would have returned to peaceful areas after completing a gruelling two and half years of duty along the Line of Control. The armed forces put up a brave fight and killed 4 terrorists who launched the attack. However, for the army the casualties were higher due to the tents catching fire. Moreover the base had a large number of troops who were turning over after their duty. Most of them were stationed in temporary shelters and tents which caused a high number of casualties. Some of the soldiers who died in the attack would have either gone home or to a peaceful area. They had completed two and a half years at the Line of Control. The duty at the Line of Control is considered to be the toughest and gruelling. Had the attack not taken place, most of these soldiers would have got a much deserved break from such hectic and dangerous duty. It was clear that the terrorists took full advantage of the changeover of troops. In the attack 11 from the Doghra regiment were killed while 8 were from the Bihar regiment lost their lives. The changeover was taking place when the attack took place. Personnel of the Bihar regiment were to replace the Doghra regiment. At the time of the attack several personnel of the Bihar regiment were at the gate. Investigations that are being conducted would focus on a lot of aspects. Whether the terrorists were aware of a changeover taking place is also part of the probe. An officer when asked if there was a possibility of information being leaked, he said that the probe is still underway and all aspects would be examined. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, September 19, 2016, 9:00 [IST] 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. 09.19.2016 16:25 Combined company will be world's second-largest steel maker By Fan Ruohong, Yu Ning and Han Wei (Beijing) Two of China's largest steel makers have received regulatory approval to merge by the end of this month part of Beijing's plan to cut overcapacity and nurture bigger, more-competitive industry leaders. The planned merger of China's second-largest steel maker, Shanghai-based Baosteel Group Corp., and smaller rival Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp. (WISCO), won approval for the deal in late August from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which overseas state-owned companies. The plan has been submitted to the State Council, China's cabinet, for final review and approval, which is expected later this month, several sources close to the merger told Caixin. (Beijing) Sunshine Insurance Group disclosed Monday that its stake in dairy-products maker Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. Ltd. has reached 5 percent, prompting debate over whether the move is a simple investment or prelude to a hostile takeover bid. Trading in Yili shares was halted on Monday after the disclosure. Sunshine said it bought 5.67 million Yili shares Wednesday, boosting its total holdings from 4.91 percent to 5 percent the threshold that requires a public disclosure. Chinese insurers traditionally have been limited to buying mostly low-risk bonds due to the insurers' lack of investment experience. But they began aggressively buying stocks after China's regulator relaxed rules in 2012, sometimes even acquiring companies outright, prompting concerns about growing levels of risk exposure in the insurance industry. Sunshine said in a statement it is not seeking to make changes at Yili with its investment, and will not buy more of the company's shares in the next 12 months. But Yili's executives are worried about the potential for an attempt at a hostile takeover, or that Sunshine might seek a management role at the dairy, said a company source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Yili was negotiating with other shareholders for funding support to avoid such an outcome, the source added. Huhhot Investment Co. Ltd., a state-owned enterprise in Inner Mongolia, is Yili's largest shareholder with 8.79 percent of its shares, followed by Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co. with 6.22 percent, according to Yili's earnings report for the first half in 2016. Contact the reporter, Dong Tongjian, at (tongjiandong@caixin.com), and the editor, Doug Yong, at (dougyoung@caixin.com) 09.19.2016 18:28 Recent internal investigation finds 17 'serious discipline violations' throughout search-engine giant By Zhang Erchi and Dong Tongjian (Beijing) Chinese search-engine giant Baidu said in an internal document that it has uncovered more than a dozen cases of "serious discipline violations," including embezzlement and fraud, sources at Baidu told Caixin. The violations, widely rumored, were confirmed by Caixin on Sunday. The company has dismissed 30 employees involved in the illegal activities, according to Baidu sources. Some cases have been referred to police. In other cases, individuals had already been sentenced to prison. 09.19.2016 19:17 Plan to save troubled steel maker crumbles after main backer, former Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo, accused of corruption By Wu Hongyuran and Wang Yuqian (Beijing) A controversial plan to save a state-owned steelmaker is in doubt after the plan's main architect was detained on suspicion of corruption. Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo's removal from office and detention on suspicion of corruption deals another blow to Beijing's efforts to downsize a bloated sector dominated by local interests. The northern city of Tianjin had announced a new plan on Sept. 11 to help the locally based Bohai Steel restructure its debt, worth more than 192 billion yuan ($28.8 billion) owned to 105 Chinese and foreign banks and other financial institutions. GlobeNewswire 27 Oct 2022 Experts are predicting that green hydrogen could be the way forward to a cleaner future - but what exactly is green hydrogen? It.. WhatCulture 25 Oct 2022 Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and those other A-listers you didn't know were retired! - - For more awesome content,.. Rumble 15 Oct 2022 Gooseberry Falls in Gooseberry Falls State Park along the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota off of Highway 61. Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more Cherry Solidifies Swedish Gambling Market Dominance Purchasing Betman AB Published September 19, 2016 by Ivan P Swedish Cherry AB has entered the deal to purchase Betman AB, the company in control of 15 'restaurant casino' points across the country. Swedish gambling giant Cherry AB has announced their deal to acquire Betman AB, a company operating numerous 'restaurant casino' points all over the country. The acquisition will see Cherry increase their market share to a total of 68%, establishing the company as an overwhelmingly dominant market force. Acquisition Details Cherry agreed to pay a total amount of SEK 3.9 million (roughly 350,000) to take over the ownership of 15 restaurant casino points operated by Betman. There is a total of 27 gaming tables across these establishments situated in Salen, Visby, and Stockholm. The deal will see Betman receive the amount of SEK 2.3 million immediately, while the remainder of the payment will be made no later than the Q3 of 2017. Cherry expects this purchase to contribute around 11 million SEK to the company's overall income. Fredrik Burvall, the CEO of Cherry AB, explained how the acquisition will help solidify the company's position in the market, especially in the three cities where the restaurant establishments are located. At the same time, they expect to improve the performance of the casino points using their well trained and experienced personnel. Continued Growth and Potential Legal Issues The company's continuous expansion has ensured their position as an absolute market leader, but Cherry could face certain legal problems if the trend continues. Namely, with 68% of the total market share, they are very close to actually becoming the market themselves, and future acquisition could trigger competitive legislation. However, experts believe that Cherry is not there yet and there is still room for expansion before these concerns become a serious consideration. Apart from their land-based operations, the company also has a very strong online sector, with the casino games developer Yggdrasil as their main wildcard. Yggdrasil Gaming has recently launched their White Label Studios solution for game development and many experts believe that the company has a very bright future ahead. EEGS Set to Blow The Top off Gaming in Eastern Europe Published September 19, 2016 by Lee R From debates to presentations to reaching Millennial, the insights will proliferate. The 9th Eastern European Gaming Summit EEGS is set to kick iGaming in that region into high gear. Identifying Trends Identifying the latest trends and challenges is the key to determining where the gaming industry in the region is heading, in light of the impact of important political changes such as Brexit on the Eastern European sector. Trade Association Sponsorship Taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria at the end of November, the Summit is organized under the auspices of the Bulgarian Trade Association of Manufacturers and Operators in the gaming industry. Best Minds The Summit will bring the gaming sectors best minds for the 9th consecutive year at Sofias Inter Expo Center to preview key regulatory changes, industry trends and product developments. Making Sense of Regulation The Summit will kick off with an overview of emerging developments and new opportunities on the European market. Moderated by leading gambling consultant Steve Donoughue, keynote speakers will make sense of regulatory changes in key related territories of Netherlands, Malta, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Special Session A further special session is slated to examine new certification required from individual Eastern European jurisdictions. Special section discussions covering EU anti-money laundering enforcement will be moderated by Zurich law practitioner and University of St.Gallen Law lecturer Dr. Simon Planzer. Regulatory Debates An important part of this years agenda is a closed door live Regulators' Roundtable debate pitting leading EU representatives against each other. Omni-Channeling EEGS will address the rapid changes in the gaming industry through a special EEGS session on channelization of the gaming experience. Experts will speak on the hot topic of omni-channels to reveal the magic formula for making it successful. Reaching Millennial Key tips to be disclosed on reaching out to Millennials will be revealed through disclosure of key distinctions between virtual reality and augmented reality prevalent to young peoples lives today. VR vs AR EEGS experts will thoroughly analyze the similarities and differences to bring a practical perspective to the potential of Virtual Reality gaming with invaluable insight from 10-year veteran VR Casino pioneer Alex Tomic, whose team recently launched the first VR casino. Outlook The programming, information, and specialization coming out of Eastern Europe at EEGS can empower iGaming professionals from any sector of the globe, and should not be missed. Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Even though many European countries are dealing with slow growing economies, investors are still piling money into European private funds. Late last week, French private equity firm Ardian closed its sixth fund on 4 billion. The fund hit its hard-cap and was oversubscribed. The firm said in a statement that it believes fundraising was boosted by the recent Brexit vote, adding that investors were looking for ways to maintain investment exposure on the continent. "Together with our multi local network, this gives us a unique proposition with both potential investee companies, as well with our investors across the globe who are able to access different European markets through a single partner," said Philippe Poletti, Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Ardian Mid Cap Buyout. What Ardian is seeing in the market jibes with recent research done by Aberdeen Asset Management. The firm recently engaged its GPs in a brief survey to understand how they are viewing Brexit and other policy uncertainties within Europe. Graham McDonald, Head of Private Equity at Aberdeen says that despite macroeconomic weakness and the Brexit vote, the fundraising environment in Europe remains strong. "We're still seeing good volume in terms of private equity deals and fundraising is going well in the UK and Europe, so even though Brexit is happening we aren't seeing it show up in the market yet necessarily," he said in an interview. Bri...................... To view our full article Click here This sad reality is a patent example of injustice. No nation can sustain itself without ensuring justice to its citizens. The report suggests that in order to successfully mitigate the worst case scenario, 1/3 of the world's oil reserves, 1/2 of its gas, and 4/5 of its coal must all remain in the ground. What may sound radical today, will in hindsight from 2030 look like common sense. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. Jill Stein, the Green Party Presidential candidate, who will appear on the ballot in 48 states this election, has presented a first-in-class solution for the Climate Change crisis, The #GreenNewDeal. The Green New Deal is a war-time call to action, America will conduct a rapid, inclusive, and sensible transition from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy by the year 2030. 20 million jobs are proposed to facilitate this plan. Corresponding repair and modernization of public transit, agriculture systems, active resource conservation systems, and critical infrastructure are also required components of the plan. When the Hitler rose to lethal power and presented an existential threat to America, and our Allies, we responded with conviction, with haste, and with the unique capacity that only our Great Nation holds. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. It is America's time to once again lead the world back to security. Climate Change is the new existential threat to America and our allies, we must act now. (Beijing) Amazon China has denied a report circulating on Chinese social media that claimed the U.S.-based e-commerce company planned to sell its China operations. An Amazon China representative told Caixin on Monday one day after the claim was posted on the WeChat platform that the company was not considering a sale of its China unit to LeEco, a Chinese company that produces televisions and online video content. In addition, in a letter sent to Chinese media outlets Monday, Amazon China President Zhang Wenyi said China is one of his company's strategically important markets. He also said China would continue to be an investment target for Amazon. LeEco did not respond to Caixin's request for comment. WeChat users who subscribe to a popular technology news account were the first to read the report, which later was circulated widely on Chinese social media. Five Part Series: 15th anniversary of 9/11, 2016 The End of the Game The inspiration behind Winston Churchill's famous Iron Curtain speech of 1946 and its warning of the growing Communist threat to "Christian civilization" was the American child of British immigrants, James Burnham. As the "first neoconservative," Burnham would work his way from acting as an assistant to Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky in the 1930s, to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. His much critiqued landmark 1940 The Managerial Revolution would be read and admired by Hitler's general staff and viewed as the blueprint for George Orwell's 1984 in which a new class of business executives, technicians, government bureaucrats and soldiers would destroy the old capitalist order, crush the working class and seize all of society's wealth for themselves. In a 1945 Partisan Review article titled "Lenin's Heir" Burnham, while still at the OSS, infused his apocalyptic political views with mystical allusions to the Eurasian heartland. Defined as "the magnetic core" of Soviet power, he compared it to the mystical "reality of the One of Neo-Platonism," whose inexorable and unstoppable "emanative progression" descends through the stages of Mind, Soul, and Matter" towards its ultimate destination beyond the Eurasian boundaries and through "Appeasement and Infiltration (England, the United States)." Burnham was a keen advocate of dirty tricks. He would play an important role in the overthrow of Iran's Mohammed Mosaddeq and the installation of the Shah. His book The Machiavellians would become a handbook for CIA planners. As an "anti-Communist ideology" Burnham's apocalyptic warnings about the inevitability of Soviet expansion from Eurasia's magnetic core, ring like a medieval incantation throughout Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech. George Orwell even makes clear in his 1946 "Second Thoughts on James Burnham" that Burnham's words read like a mystical invocation and were most likely intended to hypnotize. Twenty six years later, Senator J. William Fulbright would realize that only because of the disastrous outcome of Vietnam was there any willingness at all to reexamine the basic assumptions of American postwar policy toward the Soviet Union and what had brought the United States to such a sorry state. The 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks SALT would spring from this realization, as would the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty ABM and eventually SALT II, until in January of 1980 President Jimmy Carter would ask the Senate to delay consideration of the Treaty on the Senate floor because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That treaty would never be passed. At the time few understood that Carter's national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski had masterminded the campaign to bait the Soviets into invading Afghanistan and then used the invasion as a pretext for moving an extremist neoconservative agenda into the mainstream of American politics. Our involvement in the Afghanistan story started in the summer of 1979 when we began production of a documentary titled Arms Race and the Economy: A Delicate Balance. During the next months numerous experts including economist John Kenneth Galbraith lent their experience to our understanding of the unseen damage that a massive new diversion of tax dollars and investment capital would represent to the civilian economy. Galbraith insisted that accelerated defense spending and renewing the Cold War -- as the neoconservative right was demanding at that critical moment -- would ultimately destroy the civilian economy. He was convinced that the Cold War had already made America more and more like the Soviet Union, ruled by a military-industrial-academic establishment suspended from reality. But by the time our program aired that winter, the argument was no longer whether our government should call a halt to the nuclear arms race and reinvest in the civilian economy. The December 27, 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had rolled back the narrative to 1947, the Truman Doctrine, to Churchill and Burnham's mystical, medieval enchantment and the psychological warfare campaign necessary to bring it back to life was about to begin. J. William Fulbright's 1972 "Reflections: In Thrall To Fear" represented an awakening from the deep hypnotic trance imposed upon Americans by Cold War ideology. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan brought about its re-emersion, but this time to a deeper and totally detached level of unreality. With the election of Ronald Reagan in the fall of 1980, the United States rejected Fulbright's concerns for the intellectual dishonesty represented by the Cold War and America's disgust with the Vietnam war and committed itself to taking it one step further. The U.S. crossed through a mirror in 1947 with the creation of President Harry Truman's second and covert national-security-government. Few if any would fully understood at the time that the creation of this Double Government would soon lead to the transfer of power from the Congress, the courts and the Presidency to a concealed "Trumanite network" of military managers, diplomatic, intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The 1980 election would renew this shadow government's power through a two dimensional Hollywood invention named Ronald Reagan and America would never be the same. The Reagan campaign's militaristic motto of Peace through Strength was sold to Americans as the Reagan Revolution. It was in fact a counter-revolution engineered by a reactionary group of insiders headed by former Research Industry of America employee, OSS veteran and Wall Street lawyer William J. Casey with the intention of burying the Vietnam legacy and restoring the power of America's hidden Cold War masters. Casey's mandate for control of the American mind was simple and clear. As he told the President of the United States in 1981 "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." As a top level intelligence professional since 1939, Casey had built key access to the concentric circles of international power necessary to carry off the tectonic shift of wealth from Main Street to Wall Street that the Reagan Revolution really represented. And as Director of Central Intelligence he was perfectly positioned to put James Burnham's dirty tricks and Machiavellian philosophy to work in the heartland of Eurasia. Casey's passion for the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union was messianic. As an ultra-conservative Catholic, he saw little difference in the antimodernism of the House of Saud and the anti-enlightenment views of the newly installed Polish Pope, John Paul II. Disguised as a war to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet aggression, Casey's campaign picked up where Zbigniew Brzezinski's left off by expanding the infiltration of an extremist terror network beyond Afghanistan into the Soviet Union's Muslim provinces to provoke an insurrection. Backed by neoconservatives, the Saudis and secretive organizations like the Safari Club, Le Cercle, the Bilderberg Group and the 6I, the secret plan would ultimately play out in American propaganda from Rambo to Charlie Wilson's War as the greatest American victory of the Cold War. In the end, Casey's team would so tear down the wall between fact and fiction, legal and illegal, truth and the lie; it would open the door for chaos from South America to South Central Asia. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Truthdig Thomas Frank's marvelous scorched-earth assault on the Democratic Party and professional elites in his book "Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?" has one fatal flaw. Frank blames the liberal class, rather than the corporations that have seized control of the centers of power, for our descent into political dysfunction and neofeudalism. Yes, self-identified liberals such as the Clintons and Barack Obama speak in the language of liberalism while selling out the poor, the working class and the middle class to global corporate interests. But they are not, at least according to the classical definition, liberals. They are neoliberals. They serve the dictates of neoliberalism -- austerity, deindustrialization, anti-unionism, endless war and globalization -- to empower and enrich themselves and the party. The actual liberal class -- the segment of the Democratic Party that once acted as a safety valve to ameliorate through reform the grievances and injustices within our capitalist democracy and that had within its ranks politicians such as George McGovern, Gaylord Nelson, Warren Magnuson and Frank Church and New Deal Democrats such as Franklin D. Roosevelt -- no longer exists. I spent 248 pages in my book "Death of the Liberal Class" explaining the orchestrated corporate campaign to erase the liberal class from the political landscape and, more ominously, destroy the radical labor and social movements that were the real engines of social and political reform in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Democratic and the professional elites whom Frank excoriates are, as he points out, morally bankrupt, but they are only one piece of the vast, fake democracy that characterizes our system of "inverted totalitarianism." The problem is not only liberals who are not liberal; it is also conservatives, once identified with small government, the rule of law and fiscal responsibility, who are not conservative. It is a court system that has abandoned justice and rather than defend constitutional rights has steadily stripped them from us through judicial fiat. It is a Congress that does not legislate but instead permits lobbyists and corporations to write legislation. It is a press, desperate for advertising dollars and often owned by large corporations, that does not practice journalism. It is academics, commentators and public intellectuals, often paid by corporate think tanks, who function as shameless cheerleaders for the neoliberal and imperial establishment and mock the concept of independent and critical thought. The Democratic and the professional elites are an easy and often amusing target. One could see them, in another era, prancing at a masked ball at Versailles on the eve of the revolution. They are oblivious to how hated they have become. They do not understand that when they lambast Donald Trump as a disgrace or a bigot they swell his support because they, not Trump, are seen by many Americans as the enemy. But these courtiers did not create the system. They sold themselves to it. And if Americans do not understand how we got here we are never going to find our way out. During Barack Obama's administration there has been near-total continuity with the administration of George W. Bush, especially regarding mass surveillance, endless war and the failure to regulate Wall Street. This is because the mechanisms of corporate power embodied in the deep state do not change with election cycles. The election of Donald Trump, however distasteful, would not radically alter corporate control over our lives. The corporate state is impervious to political personalities. If Trump continues to rise in the public opinion polls, the corporate backers of Hillary Clinton will start funding him instead. They know Trump will prostitute himself to money as assiduously as Clinton will. Our political elites, Republican and Democrat, were shaped, funded and largely selected by corporate power in what John Ralston Saul correctly calls a coup d'e'tat in slow motion. Nothing will change until corporate power itself is dismantled. The corporate elites failed to grasp that a functioning liberal class is the mechanism that permits a capitalist democracy to adjust itself to stave off unrest and revolt. They decided, not unlike other doomed elites of history, to eradicate the liberal establishment after they had eradicated the radical movements that created the political pressure for advancements such as the eight-hour workday and Social Security. Lewis Powell, then the general counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in August 1971 wrote a memo called "Attack on American Free Enterprise System." It became the blueprint for the corporate coup. Powell would later be appointed to the Supreme Court. Corporations, as Powell urged, poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the assault, backing candidates, creating the Business Roundtable, funding The Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and Accuracy in Academia. The memo argued that corporations must marginalize or silence those who in "the college campus, the pulpit, the media, and the intellectual and literary journals" were hostile to corporate interests. Powell attacked Ralph Nader and called for a concerted campaign to discredit him. Lobbyists eager to dole out huge sums of cash flooded Washington and state capitals. It soon became difficult and often impossible, whether in the press, the political arena or academia, to challenge the dogma of neoliberalism. "It laid out a strategy to attack democracy in America," Ralph Nader said of the Powell memo. "He basically said to the business community, you've got to hire a lot more lobbyists swarming over Congress, you've got to pour a lot more money into their campaigns, both parties, Republican and Democrat. You've got to get out on the campuses and get right-wing speakers to combat progressive speakers." The eight-page memo, Nader went on, said, "Look, galvanize, come into Washington like a swarm, media, lobbying, put your high executives into government offices, regulate offices, Department of Defense, and so on. But that wasn't the most successful strategy, although it was successful. The most successful was that the Powell Memorandum led to the massive corruption of the Democratic Party. And that came at the same time that Tony Coelho, who was a congressman from California, took over the fundraising for the House of Representatives Democrats." The infusion of corporate money into the Democratic Party left the liberals in the party with a stark choice -- serve corporate power or get pushed out. Those, like the Clintons, who were willing to walk away from the core values of liberalism profited. At that point they became liberals only in name. They were assigned their part in the empty political exercise, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nader calls these faux liberals "rhetorical snake charmers." Once corporate money started to pour into the Democratic Party in the early 1970s, legislation that sought to check or regulate corporate power -- the auto and highway safety laws, oil pipeline safety laws, product safety laws, the revised Clean Air Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the measure that established the Environmental Protection Agency -- was no longer possible. The Democrats began to compete with the Republicans to propose legislation that would provide tax loopholes for corporations. Such legislation now legally permits oligarchs such as Trump and corporations to engage in a de facto tax boycott. The system, designed to exclusively serve corporate power, fell into political paralysis. The consent of the governed became a joke. "There hasn't been a single major piece of legislation advancing the health, safety and economic rights of the American people since 1974, arguably since 1976," Nader told me. "That's the effect of money in politics. That's the effect of a totally subservient strategy by the liberals." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. Chinese Cards and Payments Market Expected to Grow at a Healthy Rate www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/china-cards-and-payments-market www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/financial-services www.psmarketresearch.com The research report provides in depth analysis and insights into the China Cards and Payments Market including, strategies deployed by banks to market debit and credit cards and competitive landscape (card issuers in the country) for both debit cards and credit cards. The study includes 3 years historical market size and 6 years market forecast in terms of number of cards, value and volume of transactions processed through these cards, and other key metrics. The report also provides information on the key industry trends, major schemes, banks and detailed segmentation of card and payment industry. The research report is a new offering from the companys Financial Services domain, and leveraged from the companys existing cards and payments database of 50+ countries.Explore Report with Detailed TOC at:The Chinese payment card market is dominated by the debit cards segment, in terms of number of cards in circulation. In 2014, the debit cards accounted for 90.5% of the total number of payment cards in circulation. The frequency of debit card use grew at a CAGR of 5.5% during 2012-2014. The frequency of transaction is expected to reach up to 7.7 times a year by 2020. Key players in the debit cards market include Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and Bank of Communications.Banks and card issuers target various customer groups to offer different card products, such as retail and corporate clients and specific customer segments. The card issuers target female customers, frequent travelers and corporate customers within the credit card category. In debit card category, the issuers target regular account holders, public transport users and frequent shoppers. While in the charge card category, the banks target corporate customers and high net-worth individuals.Browse Other Related Report at:The credit cards in the country are primarily used by consumers at POS terminals for retail purchases, rather than for cash withdrawals at ATMs. The credit card market is expected to grow over the forecast period at a CAGR of 38.0%. The frequency of credit card use increased at a CAGR of 8.6% during 2012-2014. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was the leading bank in credit card segment in 2014, in terms of number of credit cards in circulation.Reasons to buy Access the historical and forecast data of cards and payments market in China. Understand the key trends, drivers and growth opportunities in Chinas cards and payments market. Frame informed and customized strategies for market expansion by identifying the strategies adopted by the key players. Access to banks and card issuers competitive intelligence.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:DeepAssistant Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:347 5th Ave. #1402- 210New York CityUnited States The Total Number of Payment Cards in Circulation in Indonesia reached 107 million in 2014 www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/indonesia-cards-and-payments-market www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/financial-services www.psmarketresearch.com P&S Market Research releases a new research report on cards and payments market:Indonesia: Cards and Payments Market - Size, Share, Development, Growth and Forecast to 2020The research report provides in depth analysis and insights into the Indonesia Cards and Payments Market including, strategies deployed by banks to market debit and credit cards and competitive landscape (card issuers in the country) for both debit cards and credit cards. The study includes 3 years historical market size and 6 years market forecast in terms of number of cards, value and volume of transactions processed through these cards, and other key metrics. The report also provides information on the key industry trends, major schemes, banks and detailed segmentation of card and payment industry. The research report is a new offering from the companys Financial Services domain, and leveraged from the companys existing cards and payments database of 50+ countries.Explore Report with Detailed TOC at:The total number of cards in circulation reached 107.1 million in Indonesia by the end of 2014, representing a penetration of 0.42 cards per person in 2014. The growth of cards in circulation during 2012-2014 can be attributed to rising banked population and growing disposable income.Indonesias population grew from 245.4 million in 2012 to 252.1 million in 2014, and is expected to reach 272.6 million by 2020. This increase in population is expected to encourage card spending over the forecast period. Also, Indonesias GDP per capita increased from IDR 31,484,474 in 2012 to IDR 33,978,238 in 2014. GDP per capita is likely to increase further over the forecast period to IDR 43,359,914 in 2020. The increase in GDP per capita is expected to increase the scope of payment cards use over the forecast period.The debit card transaction value at ATM remained considerably higher than the transaction value at POS terminals. The transaction value of debit cards at ATM accounted for 90.6% of the total debit card transaction value in 2014, which states that consumers prefer to use debit cards at ATMs for higher value transactions, rather than POS terminals. Some of the key players in the debit cards market include Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Central Asia, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Mandiri. Bank Rakyat Indonesia was the leading bank in terms of number of debit cards issued in 2014.The frequency of credit card use increased at a CAGR of 3.9% during 2012-2014. The frequency of transaction is expected to reach up to 17.1 times by 2020. Some of the key players in the credit card market in the Brazilian card payments include Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Central Asia, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Mandiri, HSBC and Citibank.Browse Other Related Report at:In January 2016, UOB Indonesia launched travel-focused PRVI Miles credit card catering to the needs of Indonesian travelers. Ms. Lynn Ramli, Executive Director, Head of Personal Financial Services, UOB Indonesia, said that the increase in overseas spend was aided by the ease of travel. Today, Indonesians are able to visit more than 50 countries that provide visa waivers or visa on arrival. Indonesians growing love for travel is also supported by increasing e-commerce, which allows travelers to plan and book their holidays online.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:DeepAssistant Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:347 5th Ave. #1402- 210New York CityUnited States Epilepsy Therapeutic Drug Market: Mostly driven by increasing prevalence of neurological disorders and technological advancements across many countries, 2021 http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/epilepsy-therapeutics-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/epilepsy-therapeutics-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/epilepsy-therapeutics-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/prebook/su/epilepsy-therapeutics-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by unpredictable seizures. Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder that affects peoples of all age group. Seizures may be classified as focal seizures, generalized seizures, and other seizures. Focal seizures are the most common type of epilepsy which involves secondary generalized tonic/clonic seizures (sGTCS) and complex partial seizures. Generalized seizures include myoclonic seizures, tonic seizures, atonic seizures, absences, and clonic seizures. These seizures occur when neurons in the brain or a group of nerve cells send wrong signals to the body.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Treatment of epilepsies is done by using antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Antiepileptic drugs are segmented into two major categories namely first generation AEDs and second generation AEDs. Selection of drugs is done by prescriber depending upon the type of seizure, part of brain involved in epilepsy, age of patient.Epilepsy therapeutic drug market is mostly driven by increasing prevalence of neurological disorders and technological advancements across many countries. Moreover, increasing awareness about diagnostics and treatment of neurological disorders in global market also help in driving the epileptic market growth. Non availability of medical facilities in poor and developing countries can restrict or hinder the growth of epileptic therapeutic market over the years. Conversely, the prescribing pattern of drugs that give preference to first generation AEDs over second generation AEDs is restraining the epilepsy therapeutics market. Nonetheless, ongoing research and development in the healthcare literacy rate are expected to open growth avenues for the market over the years.Know more before buying this report @The report covers forecast and analysis of the epileptic therapeutic market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on revenue (USD Million). To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the epileptic therapeutic drug market has also been included in the study. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein type segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.The report provides detailed segmentation of the epileptic therapeutic drug market based on type and regional segment.Geographically, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Demand has been analyzed and forecast based on the current trends for the period of six years. North America & Europe were the leading regional segments of the epileptic therapeutic drug market due to availability of second generation antiepileptic drug.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @Three new AEDs have been approved in the U.S. since 2012 including ezogabine/retigabine, perampanel and eslicarbazepine acetate. Ezogabine/retigabine and perampanel among these have new mechanism of action and thus it is capturing good amount of market share in the U.S. The epileptic therapeutic market is expected to witness the highest growth in the Asia-Pacific region in the coming years due to high prevalence of epilepsy in India and China, increasing health care infrastructure, incomes and awareness.Key players in epileptic therapeutic market include Abbott Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Cephalon, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Sanofi S.A. and Shire.This report segments the epileptic therapeutic market are:-Epileptic Therapeutic Market: Type Segment AnalysisFirst GenerationSecond GenerationPurchase a direct copy of report with TOC @Epileptic Therapeutic Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia pacificLatin AmericaMiddle east & AfricaAbout Us:Zion Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Zion Market Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading industry and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Cobalt Boride Alloy Market Revenue, By End-Users, 2016 - 2022 Cobalt Boride Alloy http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-cobalt-boride-alloy-market-2016-production-sales.html http://bit.ly/2d9RoD0 MRS Research Group addsGlobal Cobalt Boride Alloy Market 2016 Share,Size,Trends and Forecast to 2022 Market Research Reportreports to its database.Global Cobalt Boride Alloy market report is sole collaboration of the data and market research methodology to gain highest performance. Our research team has put immense efforts to make it better to understand. The report global Cobalt Boride Alloy market represents recent developments, technology, raw material, restraints and opportunities in the market. Market information will includes demanding sector and opportunities, challenges and future trends. We offer our reports to small, medium and big organization. We gather information from multi-dimensional sources like primary, secondary and direct sources.Access Full Report @ :We provide an experts knowledge to the client which offer solution to the client specific needs. We explore recent technology and R&D to resolve complex problems of the client. Our team is accompanied with analyst, research team, talented expert and which serves you worlds best report. It keeps belief to retain customers by providing them comprehensive analysis about market attractiveness, future forecast, recent trends and its competitors. This report offers you accurate and authentic first hand information on market that will help user to plan the organizations actions in future.The report will provide you deep knowledge of historical information, market drivers and related parameters of the market. The report includes accurate and sharp information on global market which allow you to take proper decision. It handles numerous reports on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, food and beverages etc.The 'Global Cobalt Boride Alloy Industry, 2016-2022 Market Research Report' is starts with definition, application, products, technology and others. It includes major players of the market, company profile, installed capacity, competitors strategies and others. The report will allow you to understand easily with schematic diagrams and statically data. It also represents supply and demand, production capacity, import and export and many more. Further it covers points segments on the basis of products, types, application; end users, geography whichever applicable for the competitive landscape analysis.Request For Free Sample Report @ :Table Of Content On Cobalt Boride Alloy Market (Index) :Chapter One Introduction1.1 Brief Introduction1.2 Development of Industry1.3 Status of IndustryChapter Two Manufacturing Technology2.1 Development of Manufacturing Technology2.2 Analysis of Manufacturing Technology2.3 Trends of Manufacturing TechnologyMRS Research Group is the worlds giant collection of the Market research Reports. Where we specialized in global publisher, tailor made reports and specialists consulting. Global Publisher provides in-depth analysis of global and Chinese market. Tailor-made reports represent methodologies deliverable to proper insight of the client. While, expertise research specialist helps to provide strategic solution in specialists consulting. It consists of head such as, latest report, category, niche market and news. Reports published on the million of category like chemical, machinery and equipment, consumer goods, manufacturing and construction etc. Latest national, international, business News published under news portal.3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442 Global Color LCD Monitors Market Revenue, By End-Users, 2016 - 2022 Color LCD Monitors http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-color-lcd-monitors-market-2016-production-sales.html http://bit.ly/2cxpTCB http://bit.ly/2cWYcru MRS Research Group addsGlobal Color LCD Monitors Market 2016 Share,Size,Trends and Forecast to 2022 Market Research Reportreports to its database.Global Color LCD Monitors market report is sole collaboration of the data and market research methodology to gain highest performance. Our research team has put immense efforts to make it better to understand. The report global Color LCD Monitors market represents recent developments, technology, raw material, restraints and opportunities in the market. Market information will includes demanding sector and opportunities, challenges and future trends. We offer our reports to small, medium and big organization. We gather information from multi-dimensional sources like primary, secondary and direct sources.Access Full Report @ :We provide an experts knowledge to the client which offer solution to the client specific needs. We explore recent technology and R&D to resolve complex problems of the client. Our team is accompanied with analyst, research team, talented expert and which serves you worlds best report. It keeps belief to retain customers by providing them comprehensive analysis about market attractiveness, future forecast, recent trends and its competitors. This report offers you accurate and authentic first hand information on market that will help user to plan the organizations actions in future.Request For Free Sample Report @ :The report will provide you deep knowledge of historical information, market drivers and related parameters of the market. The report includes accurate and sharp information on global market which allow you to take proper decision. It handles numerous reports on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, food and beverages etc.The 'Global Color LCD Monitors Industry, 2016-2022 Market Research Report' is starts with definition, application, products, technology and others. It includes major players of the market, company profile, installed capacity, competitors strategies and others. The report will allow you to understand easily with schematic diagrams and statically data. It also represents supply and demand, production capacity, import and export and many more. Further it covers points segments on the basis of products, types, application; end users, geography whichever applicable for the competitive landscape analysis.Table Of Content On Color LCD Monitors Market (Index) :Chapter One Introduction1.1 Brief Introduction1.2 Development of Industry1.3 Status of IndustryChapter Two Manufacturing Technology2.1 Development of Manufacturing Technology2.2 Analysis of Manufacturing Technology2.3 Trends of Manufacturing TechnologyInquiry For Buying Report @ :MRS Research Group is the worlds giant collection of the Market research Reports. Where we specialized in global publisher, tailor made reports and specialists consulting. Global Publisher provides in-depth analysis of global and Chinese market. Tailor-made reports represent methodologies deliverable to proper insight of the client. While, expertise research specialist helps to provide strategic solution in specialists consulting. It consists of head such as, latest report, category, niche market and news. Reports published on the million of category like chemical, machinery and equipment, consumer goods, manufacturing and construction etc. Latest national, international, business News published under news portal.3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442 Global Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Market to be worth US$22.12 bn by 2023 driven by Rise in Urban Warfare http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2960 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/small-arms-light-weapons-market.html As a result of increasing instances of violence across the world, several countries have adopted initiatives to modernize their police force. Moreover, measures undertaken by various countries to counter illegal mining, deforestation and drug trafficking has also impacted the growth of the market positively. Considering these factors and also due to the rise in crime rates across most countries, the impact of this driver is currently high and is expected to remain high throughout the forecast period.In addition, rising number of illegal activities in urban areas has led to the adoption of small weapons by various law enforcement and homeland security personnel. Small arms are best suited for counter attacks in such situations. Moreover, increasing instances of terrorist activities and conflicts have led to encounters and close quarter combat scenarios. In such situations, small arms are the most suitable weapon of choice. The impact of this driver is presently high and is expected to remain high throughout the forecast periodDrug trafficking is a major issue, which in turn gives rise to numerous anti-social activities. The U.S. is one of the biggest victims of this problem as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamines are illegally imported from neighboring nations quite easily. Underground organizations of Colombia and Mexico produce bulk amounts of the drugs that reach the U.S. markets. Weak penal and judicial institutions of these countries indicate that their struggle against drug trafficking will continue for years to come. Consequently, the impact of this driver (drug trafficking) on the adoption of SALW is expected to remain high throughout the forecast periodDownload free exclusive Sample of this report:By type, the market is segmented into two different classes of weapons; small arms and light weapons. Small arms refer to weapons designed solely for individual use. Small arms include pistols, rifles, handguns, shotguns, man-portable machine guns and others, whereas light weapons include arms designed to be used by a crew of two or three persons. It comprises landmines, mortars, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), anti tank weapons, anti aircraft weapons and others. Small arms and light weapons (SALW) are widely used in military defense, homeland security, and civil utilities among others.In terms of application, market is segmented into military, law enforcement and others which include civilian, trainers and hunters among others. The military segment was the largest segment of the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) market in 2014 in terms of revenue and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period.Recent trends have shown that 3D printed guns and corner shot rifles are emerging trends of the small arms and light weapons market. The market has also experienced technological advancements such as the corner shot, which is a highly technological system that can be attached to most of the handguns such as the Sig Sauer, Glock, and Beretta and are extensively used by the Special ForcesView exclusive Global strategic Business report:On the basis of geography, market has been segmented into four categories North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). Europe occupied the largest share in the market in 2014 accounting for more than 30%, whereas North America was the second largest market in 2014.Some of the major players in the market are Heckler & Koch GmbH (Oberndorf am Neckar, Germany), General Dynamics Corporation (Virginia, U.S.), FN Herstal S.A. (Herstal, Belgium), Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (Connecticut, U.S.), SIG SAUER GmbH & Co. (Eckernforde, Germany), Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC (Connecticut, U.S.), Carl Walther GmbH (Ulm, Germany), Lockheed Martin Corporation(Maryland, U.S.), Glock Ges. m.b.H. (Deutsch Wagram, Austria), Browning Arms Company (Utah, U.S.) and Beretta S.p.A. (Gardone Val Trompia, Italy) among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Tropical Spastic Paraparesis Market: Competitive Dynamics & Global Outlook 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13436 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/tropical-spastic-paraparesis-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) also called as HTLV-1associated myelopathy (HAM) is a type of tropical myeloneuropathies caused by the human T-lymphotrophic virus 1 (HTLV-1). Although initially described in tropical countries, TSP has also been found in temperate regions such as southern Japan. HTLV-1 virus belongs to the Retroviridae family, and preferentially infects CD4 lymphoid cells. The virus has been known to cause certain kinds of leukemia and lymphoma and is transmitted through exposure to infected blood, sexual contact, and use of illegal intravenous drugs. As the virus is also known to spread through breast milk, mothers infected with HTLV-1 virus must avoid breast feeding.According to an article published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology in 2012, the HTLV-1 virus is prevalent in certain regions including the Southwestern part of Japan, sub-Saharan Africa and South America, the Caribbean area, and certain areas of Middle East and Australo-Melanesia. The study also estimates that 5 million to 10 million individuals have been affected globally with HTLV1 virus, however various other publications estimate the global prevalence of 10 million to 20 million.Get Free Sample of Research Report at -HTLV-1-associated myelopathy mostly affects the spinal cord, and results in an upper motor neurone syndrome, that usually affects lower limbs. Spastic paraparesis or paraplegia is the main characteristic of the infection. Tropical spastic paraparesis results in demyelination, inflammation and necrotic lesions in spinal cord. The progressive disease is associated with degeneration of neurons in the spinal cord, and results in gradual paralysis of the lower limbs. Other rare symptoms include optic atrophy, reduced ankle reflex and cranial nerve lesions. An article published in journal Revue Neurologique in 2012, more than 90% of the tropical spastic paraparesis cases, the neurological features involved urinary bladder disturbance, spasticity and/or hyperreflexia of the lower extremities, and lower extremity muscle weakness.Tropical Spastic Paraparesis Market: Product and Treatment LandscapeVarious immunoassay kits are available for diagnosis of HTLV-1 virus. Companies manufacturing such diagnostic kits include MP Biomedicals LLC, Fujirebio, Inc., Quest Diagnostics, DiaSorin S.p.A. Although the disease cannot be cured completely, medications are available for management of symptoms. Corticosteroids such as methylprednisolone are prescribed to decrease the inflammation of the spinal cord, while pain is treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.Symptoms of urinary dysfunction can be treated by prescribing darifenacin, oxybutynin, tamsulosin, terazosin, and other drugs which reduce the activity of bladder muscles. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is currently conducting phase I clinical trials for Hu MiK-Beta-1. The investigational drug is monoclonal antibody directed toward IL-2/IL-15R-Beta Subunit which blocks IL-15 action. Washington University School of Medicine in association with Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. is also conducting phase II trials for Raltegravir. Various other institutes are also conducting research programs for discovering new and effective treatment options for Tropical spastic paraparesis. Scientists have also tried antiretroviral agents for treatment of HTLV-1 infections. Gradual progress in the research activities is expected to launch more treatment drugs and expand the market in the future.Browse the full Hospital Infection Therapeutics Market report atDue to low and restricted geographical prevalence of the disease, the market for tropical spastic paraparesis is small. Government initiative for increasing awareness of the disease and its available treatment may curb the spread of infections. Lack of sufficient information on geographical prevalence, and epidemiology has restricted the research activities. These factors will also be responsible for a slower global market growth.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Market 2016 - Global Industry Size, Trends, Growth, Share and Forecast by 2021 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-lithium-iron-phosphate-material-and-battery-76481 http://bit.ly/2cSmL7w Global Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry 2016The report provides a basic overview of Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery industry including definitions, applications and industry chain structure. Global market analysis and Chinese domestic market analysis are provided with a focus on history, developments, trends and competitive landscape of the market. A comparison between the international and Chinese situation is also offered.Global Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry Research Report 2016 also focuses on development policies and plans for the industry as well as a consideration of a cost structure analysis. Capacity production, market share analysis, import and export consumption and price cost production value gross margins are discussed.Browse Complete Report With TOC@A key feature of this report is it focus on major industry players, providing an overview, product specification, product capacity, production price and contact information for Global Top15 companies. This enables end users to gain a comprehensive insight into the structure of the international and Chinese Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery industry. Development proposals and the feasibility of new investments are also analyzed. Companies and individuals interested in the structure and value of the Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery industry should consult this report for guidance and direction.The report begins with a brief overview of the Global Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery market and then moves on to evaluate the key trends of the market. The key trends shaping the dynamics of the Global Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery market have been scrutinized along with the related current events, which is impacting the market. Drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats of the Global Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery market have been analyzed in the report. Moreover, the key segments and the sub-segments that constitutes the market is also explained in the report.Get Free Sample @Table of ContentsChapter One Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry Overview1.1 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Definition(Product Picture and Specifications)1.2 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Classification and Application1.3 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry Chain Structure1.4 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry Overview1.5 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry History1.6 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry Competitive Landscape1.7 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry International and China Development ComparisonChapter Two Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Market Data Analysis2.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Price List2.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Gross Margin List2.3 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Capacity and Market Share List2.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Production and Market Share List2.5 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Production Value and Market Share ListChapter Three Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Technical Data Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Product Quality List3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Product Line Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.3 2016 Manufacturing Base(Factory) Global Regional Distribution3.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery R&D Status and Technology Sources3.5 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Equipment Investment and Performance3.6 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Raw Materials Sources AnalysisChapter Four Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Government Policy and News4.1 Government Related Policy Analysis4.2 Industry News Analysis4.3 Lithium Iron Phosphate Material and Battery Industry Development TrendAbout Us:MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 Global Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry demand, analysis & forecast to 2021 available in New report Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-li-ion-battery-market-for-hevs-market-2016-76475 http://bit.ly/2cSpLk8 Global Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry 2016The report provides a basic overview of Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs industry including definitions, applications and industry chain structure. Global market analysis and Chinese domestic market analysis are provided with a focus on history, developments, trends and competitive landscape of the market. A comparison between the international and Chinese situation is also offered.Global Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry Research Report 2016 also focuses on development policies and plans for the industry as well as a consideration of a cost structure analysis. Capacity production, market share analysis, import and export consumption and price cost production value gross margins are discussed.Browse Complete Report With TOC@A key feature of this report is it focus on major industry players, providing an overview, product specification, product capacity, production price and contact information for Global Top15 companies. This enables end users to gain a comprehensive insight into the structure of the international and Chinese Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs industry. Development proposals and the feasibility of new investments are also analyzed. Companies and individuals interested in the structure and value of the Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs industry should consult this report for guidance and direction.The report begins with a brief overview of the Global Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs market and then moves on to evaluate the key trends of the market. The key trends shaping the dynamics of the Global Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs market have been scrutinized along with the related current events, which is impacting the market. Drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats of the Global Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs market have been analyzed in the report. Moreover, the key segments and the sub-segments that constitutes the market is also explained in the report.Get Free Sample @Table of ContentsChapter One Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry Overview1.1 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Definition(Product Picture and Specifications)1.2 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Classification and Application1.3 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry Chain Structure1.4 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry Overview1.5 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry History1.6 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry Competitive Landscape1.7 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry International and China Development ComparisonChapter Two Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Market Data Analysis2.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Price List2.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Gross Margin List2.3 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Capacity and Market Share List2.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Production and Market Share List2.5 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Production Value and Market Share ListChapter Three Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Technical Data Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Product Quality List3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Product Line Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.3 2016 Manufacturing Base(Factory) Global Regional Distribution3.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs R&D Status and Technology Sources3.5 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Equipment Investment and Performance3.6 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Raw Materials Sources AnalysisChapter Four Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Government Policy and News4.1 Government Related Policy Analysis4.2 Industry News Analysis4.3 Li-ion Battery Market for HEVs Industry Development TrendAbout Us:MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 Global Lyophilization Equipment and Services Market by Applications, Equipment, Service Type in 2020 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1502 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1502 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The lyophilization equipment and services market is fragmented in nature, having a large count of small players and a meagre count of large players. The manufacturers operating in this market are constantly putting in efforts for the development and commercialization of new, improved, and cheaper technologies employing the long-term utilization of the lyophilization method. Azbil Telstar, S.L., BioPharma Solutions, and Biopharma Technology, Ltd., among others, are the key players in the global lyophilization equipment and services market.Request a Free PDF Brochure with Report Analysis:The global lyophilization equipment and services market is predicted to touch US$4,805.4 mn by 2020. In terms of equipment type, the segment of tray lyophilizers is predicted to lead the market all through 2020. The demand for this segment is on the rise owing to longer service life, corrosion resistance, ease of handling, optimum performance, and compact designs of tray lyophilizers. This segment is predicted to rise at a CAGR of 8.20% from 2014 to 2020.Strong Demand for Lyophilization Equipment from Nutraceuticals to Drive Market GrowthBy service type, bulk lyophilization segment held the leading share in the past and is predicted to maintain its superiority all through 2020. This is owing to large production capabilities associated with the use of bulk lyophilization service. Application-wise, there is a substantial demand for lyophilization equipment from the segment of nutraceuticals and this segment is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 8.60% between 2014 and 2020. There is an increasing demand for lyophilization equipment and services in both Europe and North America owing to the rising research activities in these two regions.A number of biopharmaceuticals including biologics, peptides, enzymes, plasma, proteins, vaccines, and antibodies experience a huge demand owing to their high employment in life-saving medications. All these products undergo a number of chemical reactions such as aggregation, fragmentation, hydrolysis, etc., hence reducing their overall biological activity and resulting in degraded products. Thus, these substances are lyophilized for manufacturing high-quality products, hence boosting the growth of the lyophilization equipment and services market.Growth in Contract Services Market to Increase Adoption of Lyophilization Equipment and ServicesFurthermore, the cost and time reduction and an exponential product commercialization have fuelled the overall market for contract services. This has further enabled the manufacturers operating in nutraceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, and pharmaceuticals to outsource expensive procedures including lyophilization equipment and services, thus fuelling the growth of the overall market, stated TMR.On the other hand, the process of lyophilization is immensely labor-intensive and costly and demands adept manpower for delivering high-quality products. In addition, the installation of freeze drying microscopy lab may incur substantial cost owing to the employment of components such as polarized-light microscope, liquid nitrogen-cooled thermal stage, imaging system, and , vacuum pump. Hence, the huge cost of installing a well-organized lyophilization facility may raise the cost of services. This factor may impede the development of the overall lyophilization equipment and services market, says a TMR analyst.Nonetheless, the introduction of newer technologies such as precipitation, deep freeze drying, and vacuum freeze drying is a key opportunity in the market, Transparency Market Research (TMR) finds in its new study.Browse Research Report on Global Lyophilization Equipment and Services Market:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Acne Vulgaris Treatment Market: Segment and Analysis up to 2015 2020 http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?flag=S&repid=50879 http://bit.ly/2chlgvo http://bit.ly/2da4osw http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/market-analysis/acne-vulgaris-treatment-market.html http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com Acne vulgar is a long lasting skin disease that occurs when dead skin cells and oil from the skin become clogged with hair follicles or skin pores. Acne vulgaris affects to the areas of skin includes the face, the upper part of the chest, and the back. Severe acne is inflammatory, but acne can also manifest in noninflammatory forms. Acne lesions are commonly known as spot, pimples and blemishes.Request Sample Report:The major driving factor for the global acne vulgaris treatment market is rapidly growing population of the world and increasing number of teenagers suffering from skin disease. Acne is the most common skin disorder in the U.S. hence, it expected to drive the growth in North America region. The study includes drivers and restraints for the acne vulgaris treatment market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the acne vulgaris treatment market on a global level.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @The report covers forecast and analysis for the acne vulgaris treatment market on a global and regional level. The report also offers detailed competitive landscape of the global acne vulgaris treatment market. The report provides detailed segmentation of the acne vulgaris treatment market based on treatment segment and region.The Treatment segment segmented into therapeutics and other treatment. Therapeutics segment is further bifurcated into as antibiotics (erythromycin and clindamycin), retinoid (adapalene, tazaroteen, tretinoin and isotretinoin), combination medications, anti-inflammatory, hormonal agents and other agents (azelaic acid and resorcinol). Other treatment includes laser and light therapy, cosmetic procedures and acne scar treatments. Therapeutics accounted for largest segment for acne vulgaris treatment market and expected to be significant growth over the forecast period.Do Inquiry before buying:The report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of market data and trends in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa with its further bifurcation of region on the country level, which includes U.S., Germany, UK, France, China, Japan and India. Among the all region, North America was dominated the acne vulgaris treatment market and expected to exhibit strong growth over the forecast period. Europe accounted for significant share for acne vulgaris treatment market.Some of the key players in the acne vulgaris treatment market includes Galderma S.A., Hygeia Laboratories Inc., Allergan, Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. Bayer AG, Cipher, Johnson & Johnson Private Limited and Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc.Browse report at:Acne Vulgaris Treatment Market: Treatment Segment AnalysisTherapeuticsRetinoid (Adapalene, Tazaroteen, Tretinoin and Isotretinoin)Antibiotics (Erythromycin and Clindamycin)Hormonal agents, combination medications, anti-inflammatoryother agents (Azelaic acid and Resorcinol)Others (laser & light therapy, cosmetic procedures acne scar treatments)Acne Vulgaris Treatment Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaAbout UsSyndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries includsing energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite: Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Market 2016 Industry Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast to 2021 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors http://bit.ly/2da5m7X http://bit.ly/2cBN188 Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors IndustryThe Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Industry report gives a comprehensive account of the Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market. Details such as the size, key players, segmentation, SWOT analysis, most influential trends, and business environment of the market are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, this report features tables and figures that render a clear perspective of the Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market. The report features an up-to-date data on key companies product details, revenue figures, and sales. Furthermore, the details also gives the Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market revenue and its forecasts. The business model strategies of the key firms in the Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market are also included. Key strengths, weaknesses, and threats shaping the leading players in the market have also been included in this research report.The report gives a detailed overview of the key segments in the market. The fastest and slowest growing market segments are covered in this report. The key emerging opportunities of the fastest growing Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market segments are also covered in this report. Each segments and sub-segments market size, share, and forecast are available in this report. Additionally, the region-wise segmentation and the trends driving the leading geographical region and the emerging region has been presented in this report.Get Complete Report with TOC :The study on the Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market also features a history of the tactical mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships activity in the market. Valuable recommendations by senior analysts about investing strategically in research and development can help new entrants or established players penetrate the emerging sectors in the Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors market. Investors will gain a clear insight on the dominant players in this industry and their future forecasts. Furthermore, readers will get a clear perspective on the high demand and the unmet needs of consumers that will enhance the growth of this market.Table of ContentChapter One Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Industry Overview1.1 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Definition1.1.1 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Definition1.1.2 Product Specifications1.2 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Classification1.3 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Application Field1.4 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Industry Chain Structure1.5 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Industry Regional Overview1.6 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Industry Policy Analysis1.7 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Industry Related Companies Contact InformationGet Sample Copy of Report @Chapter Two Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 High Purity colloidal silica Supplier and Price Analysis2.2 Equipment Suppliers2.3 Labor Cost Analysis2.4 Other Cost Analysis2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure2.5 Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Manufacturing TechnologyChapter Three Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Capacity Production and Production Value3.1 Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Manufacturing Base3.2 2011-2016 Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Capacity and Production3.3 2011-2016 Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Production Value and Growth Rate3.4 2011-2016 Global Axial Piston Hydraulic Motors Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value and Gross MarginAbout Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Hypercholesterolemia Market size, 2015 - 2020 http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?flag=S&repid=51864 http://bit.ly/2cJt6Sb http://bit.ly/2cMdDO5 http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/market-analysis/hypercholesterolemia-market.html http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com Hypercholesterolemia is an inherited condition that results in high levels of total cholesterol. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that occurs naturally in the body that can be dangerous when it builds up on artery walls. Hypercholesterolemia can cause atherosclerosis and increase your risk of heart disease called coronary artery disease. Human blood cholesterol includes of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol.Request Sample Report at:One of the major factors that have been driving the global hypercholesterolemia market is increase in prevalence of heart disorders coupled with increasing population. Additionally, factors such as growing health awareness, government initiatives and technology advancements are driving the hypercholesterolemia market. However, high costs of treatment are expected to hamper the market growth during the forecast period. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @The study provides a decisive view on the hypercholesterolemia treatment market by segmenting the market based on disease and regions. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2014 to 2020. Based on disease the market is segmented into type II hyperlipoproteinemia and others. Regional segmentation includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India and Brazil. The hypercholesterolemia market is dominated by North America followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period.Inquire more before buying this report @The report provides a comprehensive view on the hypercholesterolemia market. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the hypercholesterolemia market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein application segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness.The detailed description of players includes parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business and recent developments of the company. Some of the major in the global hypercholesterolemia market include Pfizer, Inc., Astrazeneca Plc, Merck & Co., AbbVie, Inc., Amgen, Inc., Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Novartis AG, Cerenis Therapeutics Holding SA, Regex BioSciences LLC and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.Browse the full report at:This report segments the global hypercholesterolemia market as follows:Hypercholesterolemia Market: Disease Segment AnalysisType II hyperlipoproteinemiaOthersHypercholesterolemia Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaAbout UsSyndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries includsing energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@SyndicateMarketResearch.comWebsite: Human Microbiome Based Drugs and Diagnostics Market 2016: Global Industry Insights, Statistics, Market shares and Forecasts to 2022 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/world-human-microbiome-based-drugs-and-diagnostics-71743 http://bit.ly/2cjADrO http://www.marketresearchstore.com/ Latest industry research report on Human microbiome drugs and diagnostics basically involves the use of microorganisms of human body for the treatment of diseases. The modern approach involves exploiting the interaction between humans and the bacteria that live in or on the body to develop new drugs and therapies to treat chronic diseases such as diabetes. These microbiomes derived drugs help the physician in better diagnosis of the illness. The emergence of healthcare cum technology devices have addressed the increasing needs for better therapeutics. The technologically advanced human microbiome drugs and diagnostics have surmounted the conventional methods in terms of reducing the side effects caused due to the excessive use of antibiotics.View complete report, here@Rising cases of chronic diseases such as diabetes, disorders at early stage and the ability of the drugs to diagnose them and increased awareness among people to maintain healthy lifestyle is driving the growth of this market. Besides, rise in geriatric population, increasing expenditure on healthcare and growing demand for effective procedures and safe medication are expected to further fuel the market growth. However, lack of awareness about the health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics coupled with unfavorable government regulations have restricted the growth of the market in developing regions.Request a Brochure of This Report, here@Contemplating its segmentation, the market is divided on the basis of product, application, disease, and geography. On the basis of research spending market, human microbiome is segmented by product and technology type. By product, market is segmented into food, probiotics, prebiotics, medical food, diagnostic devices, drugs and other probiotic supplements. The human microbiome based drugs and diagnostics market is segmented on the grounds of application type into therapeutics and diagnostics. On the basis of disease market is divided into acute diarrhea, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, cancer, mental disorders and other diseases.Geographically the demand of human microbiome drugs and diagnostics market is in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and LAMEA. Considering the market segmentation by research spending, human microbiome market is divided by product and technology. By product type market is divided into instruments and consumables. By instruments the market can be further segmented as laboratory instruments and analyzers and by consumables it can be divided into kits and reagents. By technology the market is segregated into cell culture technology, high throughput technology, omics technology and computational tools.Strategies such as collaboration and agreement have been adopted by the companies for market growth. Enterome signed an agreement with Vertex pharmaceuticals Inc. (April 2016) to develop small molecules FimH anatgonists to treat inflammatory bowel disease. Besides, Second genome and Mayo clinic entered a partnership (October 2014) to develop therapeutics products for microbiome mediated pathways.The key players of this market include Second Genome Inc., Enterome Bioscience, Yakult, DuPont, Vedanta BioSciences, Metabiomics Corporation, ViThera Pharmaceuticals, MicroBiome Therapeutics LLC, Osel and Merck.About Market Research StoreMarket Research Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Market Research Store is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact UsJoel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.comWeb: Research Report Covers United States Green Solvents Market 2016 http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=815765&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/united-states-green-solvents-market-report-2016.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/category/chemicals-market-reports-57.htm In the current competitive era, it is imperative to keep a track of the latest policies adopted by key companies operating in any market. This can help vendors, stakeholders, and clients form better decisions about the market. The study on the United States Green Solvents market provides key insights into the competitive background of the United States Green Solvents market. The research report covers a comprehensive analysis of all key organizations and new entrants operating in the United States Green Solvents market. New strategies adopted by key companies are briefly evaluated by the analysts in the report.The research lays its entire focus on the key local and international companies functioning in the United States Green Solvents market. Every company is profiled with details such as production capacity, key areas of operation, new product developments, and revenue. Offerings of key companies are examined in the United States Green Solvents market report. By using SWOT analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of key companies are measured in the report. Moreover, analysts also study the status of research and development activities of all companies operating in the market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Along with the information about the key companies and their developments, the research report also measures the cost, price, revenue, and gross of the companies. Statistics related to key firms provided in the report help vendors and stakeholders understand their dominance. The report provides data about the feasibility of new projects in the United States Green Solvents market. The report highlights key factors that can assist the new entrants in increasing their contribution.Details regarding new project investment are also given in the report by the analysts. The report is an ideal blueprint of the United States Green Solvents market and provides the current scenario and future prospects of the market.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsChapter One Green Solvents Industry Overview1.1 Green Solvents Definition1.1.1 Green Solvents Product Pictures & Product Specifications1.2 Green Solvents Classification & ApplicationChapter Two Green Solvents Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Green Solvents Raw Material & Equipments Supplier and Price Analysis2.2 Green Solvents Labor & Other Cost Analysis2.3 Green Solvents Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.4 Green Solvents Manufacturing Process AnalysisChapter Three Green Solvents Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 2016 United States Key Manufacturers Green Solvents Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.2 2016 United States Key Manufacturers Green Solvents Manufacturing Plants Distribution3.3 2016 United States Key Manufacturers Green Solvents R&D Status and Technology Sources3.4 2016 United States Key Manufacturers Green Solvents Raw Materials Sources AnalysisChapter Four Green Solvents Production by Regions, Technology and Applications4.1 2010-2016 Green Solvents Production by Regions(such as US, EU, China and Japan etc)4.2 2010-2016 Green Solvents Production by Product Type & Application4.3 2010-2016 Green Solvents Price by key Manufacturers4.4 2010-2016 US & China Green Solvents Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value Analysis4.5 2010-2016 Europe and Japan Green Solvents Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value Analysis4.6 2010-2016 US and China Green Solvents Supply Import Export Consumption4.7 2010-2016 Europe and Japan Green Solvents Supply Import Export ConsumptionChapter Five Green Solvents Sales and Sales Revenue by Regions5.1 2010-2016 Green Solvents Sales by Regions (such as US, EU, China & Japan etc)5.2 2010-2016 Green Solvents Sales Revenue by Regions (such as US EU China Japan etc)5.3 2010-2016 Green Solvents Sales Price by Regions (such as US EU China Japan etc)5.4 2010-2016 Green Solvents Demand by ApplicationsRead More @About Us :QYresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com ASEAN Organic Cosmetics Market Will hit at a CAGR of 10% from 2014 to 2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-as-29 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-as-29 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/asean-organic-cosmetics-market www.futuremarketinsights.com The global organic cosmetics market was valued at nearly US$ 40 billion in 2015, and by 2020, it is expected to reach US$ 66 billion, increasing at a CAGR of over 10%. ASEAN, an emerging market for organic cosmetics, is expected to witness high demand, driven a number of factors on which information is offered in the report, Organic Cosmetics Market: ASEAN Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2014-2020.Rising awareness about the potential side effects of synthetic cosmetics is a key factor driving increased demand for organic cosmetics. Positive perception towards organic cosmetics, availability of wide range of organic cosmetics, and emergence of a strong middle class in ASEAN are the other key regions fuelling demand. On account of these factors, the organic cosmetics market in ASEAN is expected to increase at over 9% through 2020 and reach US$ 4.4 billion in revenues.High cost, limited shelf life, and lack of standard certification have been identified as key challenges to the growth of the ASEAN organic cosmetics market. There is an urgent need for establishing rigorous certification standards, so that only those reliable and genuine brands are able to launch their products in the market.Request Free Report Sample@On the basis of product type, the ASEAN organic cosmetics market can be broadly segmented into skin care, hair care, make up, fragrances, and toiletries.Among these, organic hair care products accounted for the highest revenue share of the market in 2015. Valued at US$ 780 million in 2015, demand for organic hair care products in ASEAN is expected to reach US$ 1.24 billion by the end of 2020.Skin care is the second-highest product type on the basis of revenues, valued at US$ 671 million in 2015. This segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.7% through 2020, and surpass US$ 1 billion in revenues by 2020. Organic fragrances and toiletries are also expected to expand at healthy CAGRs through the forecast period.In terms of revenues, Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines are the three largest markets for organic cosmetics in ASEAN.Speak To Analyst@Thailand, the largest market for organic cosmetics in ASEAN, accounted for nearly 30% revenue share of the overall market in 2015. Valued at US$ 809 million in 2015, the Thailand organic cosmetics market is expected to expand at 9.4% CAGR to reach US$ 1.29 billion in revenues by 2020. Beauty specialist salon and pharmacy/drugstores are the two largest distribution channels in Thailand, collectively accounting for nearly 57% of overall sales.Indonesia is the second largest market, with total revenues totalling US$ 671 million in 2015. However, the Indonesia organic cosmetics market is expected to expand at slightly lower CAGR than rest of ASEAN countries. Beauty salon and e-commerce websites are the two largest distribution channels for organic cosmetics in Indonesia.The Philippines organic cosmetics market was valued at US$ 552 million in 2015. General merchandise retailers account for a high percentage of total sales of organic cosmetics in Philippines.Browse Full "Organic Cosmetics Market: ASEAN Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2014-2020" Report atASEAN Organic Cosmetics Market: Key PlayersThe leading players in the ASEAN organic cosmetics market are Estee Lauder Inc., Le Groupe L'OCCITANE, L'Oreal Group, Weleda Inc., W.S. Badger Company Inc.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Southeast Asia Pet Care Market expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% during 2014 to 2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-45 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-45 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/details/southeast-asia-pet-care-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers incisive insights into emerging regions in its latest report titled, Southeast Asia Pet Care Market Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2014 - 2020. The report states that the SEA pet care market is mainly driven by the burgeoning trends of pet humanization and increasing adoption of private label brands in countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.FMI analyst P.S. Neha sheds light on why the SEA pet care market will become one of the major markets in the region in the near future: Growth of the pet care market across Southeast Asia is driven by increasing adoption and humanization of pets. Pet owners are now more inclined towards more nutritious, healthy and organic foods for their pets.By type, the overall SEA pet care market is segmented into dog food, cat food, pet products and others. Dog food is the major segment in this region, accounting for a 51.6% share of the market in 2014; however, this is expected to decrease by 30 BPS by 2020.Request Free Report Sample@This report also covers the pet care market by category and by channel. On the basis of channel, the market is segmented into supermarket, pet shop, veterinary clinic and others. The supermarket segment is the leading distribution channel in the SEA pet care market. However, veterinary clinics are anticipated to exhibit the fastest CAGR at 7.1%, followed by supermarket at a 6.8% CAGR during the forecast period. This growth is attributed to a shift in consumer buying habits and an increasing inclination of pet owners to purchase health and wellness products from reliable sources such as veterinary clinics.Furthermore, by category, the market includes economy-priced, mid-priced and premium-priced products.Improving consumer lifestyles and increasing disposable income in Southeast Asian countries has resulted in a growing acceptance for pets, not only among the high-income group, but also the middle-income group. In 2014, Thailand was the dominant country in the overall Southeast Asia pet care market with a 43.62% share, followed by Malaysia and Indonesia, accounting for 21.74% and 15.47% respectively.Speak To Analyst@The pet care market in the Philippines is expected to register a significant CAGR of 8.4%. This is expected to be followed by Vietnam at a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period.Innovation remains the key to gaining a competitive edge in the SEA pet care market, especially in the pet food category. Companies such as Nestle Purina, Zoetis, Mars, Inc. and Merck & Co., account for over 50% of the overall market share and constantly focus on mergers and acquisitions to expand their geographical presence and customer base.Browse Full: "Southeast Asia Pet Care Market Analysis & Opportunity Assessment, 2014 - 2020" Report atAbout Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: CONNECTING PREMIUM BRANDS WITH MOUNTAIN TRAVEL CONSUMERS: THE MOUNTAIN TRAVEL AUDIENCE PLATFORM www.mountainnews.com www.mountainnews.com Mountain News Corporation is pleased to announce the name of its new premium audience targeting advertising platform, the Mountain Travel Audience Platform.The MOUNTAIN TRAVEL AUDIENCE PLATFORM is the first of its kind that connects premium brands with more 30 million highly affluent, highly engaged mountain travel enthusiasts known as Mountain Travel Consumers. These consumers engage with content that aligns with their interests, year-round.Utilizing premium 1st-party data, the Mountain Travel Audience Platform enables advertisers to deliver targeted, personalized content and impactful digital experiences across mobile devices and the web to Mountain Travel Consumers anywhere, on and off the mountain. The combination of 1st-party data, creative and decades of experience provides advertisers the opportunity serve hyper-targeted, relevant ads and meet their challenging revenue goals.We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Mountain Travel Audience Platform. With over 45 years of history enabling the mountain travel experience on a global level, we now have ability to connect our partners to this premium 1st-party audience in a highly targeted way, said Johannes Jobst, European Sales and Advertising Director for Mountain News. We continue to provide the most sophisticated solutions for our partners marketing needs and we are confident the Mountain Travel Audience Platform will be no exception.The Mountain Travel Audience Platform segments include, but not limited to, global jetsetters, eco-friendly consumers, social influencers and proud parents among the avid skiers and snowboarders.More information on The Mountain Travel Audience Platform:Mountain News helps global brands reach an active and affluent audience called the Mountain Travel Consumer. We leverage premium 1st-party data to help our partners deliver targeted brand messaging across our multi-channel platform, enabling our clients to achieve measurable marketing results.With a global reach of more than 30 million unique visitors each year, MNC operates 26 global websites in 14 different languages and is the top provider of snow reports to more than 2,500 websites throughout the world, including approximately 400 news media websites.Mountain News is a subsidiary of Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) and is the publisher of OnTheSnow, Skiinfo and the Ski & Snow Report mobile app. Mountain news has offices in the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Norway.Mountain News GmbHZweibruckenstr. 680331 Munich /GermanyContact: Karolin WladarPhone: +49 (0)162 2547902E-Mail: KWladar@mountainnews.comInternet: Conveyor Systems Market Globally Expected to Drive Growth through 2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-48 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-48 www.futuremarketinsights.com Automation in every industrial segment has become an integral part of industrial operations. Conveyor systems are mechanically-operated material handling equipment, which are used to transport material within premises. They provide a quick and effective transportation solution with a high degree of safety. Therefore, due to effectiveness of conveyance, a considerable amount of cycle time is reduced in the industrial process. The same factor helps in reducing the errors in handling manual material. Early commercialisation of the conveyor system took place for transportation of heavy materials in the industrial sector.On the basis of their end user applications, conveyor systems can broadly be categorised as automotive, airport, retail, mail logistics,and food and beverage.Assembly line, body shop, paint shop and few others are key application areas of conveyor systemsin the automotive sector. Nevertheless, the retail sector utilises these systems for distribution and warehousing, sorting, cross-docking, and distribution. Conveyor systems are an integral part of airport facilities for baggagehandling. Usage of the conveyer system in airport facilities is likely to increase due to growing air traffic across the globe, and the development of new airport locations. Moreover, the growing demand for food and beverage is propelling the adoption of conveyor systems to boost production rates.Request Free Report Sample@On the basis of their design modification, conveyor systems can be categorized as roller conveyor, belt conveyor, crescent conveyor, palletconveyor, overhead conveyor and others.In order to meet the needs and demands of customers, manufacturers provide highly customized products.Growing demand for cost-effective material handling systems and increasing automation in the industrial sector are two of the major driving factors of global conveyor systems market. It is expected that, global conveyor systems market will witness a steady CAGR of around 3%-4% for the period of 2014-2020. The developing automotive, retail, and food and beverage industriesare also likely to fuel the growth inAsia-Pacificconveyor systems market. Europe is dominating the overall conveyor systems market at present and has a large conveyor system supply network with broad distribution channel. Nevertheless, Europe is likely to hold its dominance over the global conveyor systems marketat the end of forecast period. Latin America region is expected to be the fastest growing conveyor systems marketespecially in the emerging economies such as Mexico and Brazil where the industrial sector is booming. Increasedsophistication of conveyor system along with advanced technology are major trends in this market.Visit For TOC@A few of the most prominent market players in global conveyor systems market areDaifuku, Dematic Group, Emerson Electric, Siemens AG, Allied Conveyor Systems, Caterpillar, Dorner Conveyors, Dynamic Conveyors, Fives Group, FMC technologies, Interroll and Intelligrated. One of the key market strategies is the development of patented products with high customisations. In addition, acquisitions and strategic alliances to share technologies, can be seen in the market.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Cloud-RAN (Radio Access Network) Market Size, Analysis, and Forecast Report 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-52 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-52 www.futuremarketinsights.com Cloud-RAN,orCentralized-RAN (C-RAN) is an advanced cellular network architecture for mobile network infrastructure that can support 2G, 3G and 4G system and meet wireless communication benchmarks. Cloud-RAN is outpacing traditional cellular network system as it doesnt require RF (radio frequency) equipment, antenna, BTS (baseband unit) and digital processor to be deployed in the cell site. Traditional cellular network architecture demands more power, space, additional big cell towers and directional antennae to support new air interface technologies such as LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and multi-frequency bands. Moreover, enhancement of traditional cellular network in a wireless network to support data traffic demand becomes economically unsustainable. In contrast, Cloud-RAN enhances mobile communications and helps cellular network operators in delivering qualitative and effective mobile communication services at a reasonable cost.Cloud-RAN ensures centralization of baseband processing in one location. To connect to RRH (remote radio heads), fibre optical cables are required.Cloud-RAN is based on new technologies,viz. cloud computing thatcan take advantage of advanced remote antennae or radio head techniques and SDN (software-defined network) approaches.Cloud-RAN offers various benefits like reduction in cost of network operations. The three types of cost reductions are energy consumption, site rental expenses and operational & maintenance cost of network. These savings can be balanced against cost incurred on fibre optical cables required to meet fronthaul capacity and latency requirements. Cloud-RAN also enhances capacity due to coordinated multipoint and ensures speedy performance. Aforementioned benefits of Cloud-RAN architecture automatically increase the value of service to end-users. However, initial high investment required to deploy Cloud-RAN architecture acts as one of the major challengesfor the growth of Cloud-RAN market.Request Free Report Sample@The Cloud-RAN market can be categorizedinto component, services and geography.The market is segmented on the basis of thenatureof its components, which includes six major categories -BBU (Baseband Units), RRU (Remote Radio Units), optical transport network, servers, processors and measurement device. On the basis of services segment, the Cloud-RAN market can be categorized into network services, custom services and system integration services. The market can also be segmented on the basis of major geographies, into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Eastern Europe and Middle East & Africa.Cloud-RAN is a global multi-billion dollar market which is expected to exhibit a considerable growth in CAGR, from 2014 to 2020. The key drivers include need to reduce increasing data traffic and Capex&Opexexpenditure, which are the biggest revenue generators for the Cloud-RANmarket. The key restraint to this market is high initial cost of deployment and dependency on availability of fibre. Major players in Cloud-RAN market focuses on partnerships, joint ventures, and acquisition &merger strategies in order to outperform their competitors. For instance, in 2013 Intel Corp. acquired Mindspeed Technologies and extended its offerings with new mobile system services i.e. Cloud-RAN.Visit For TOC@Some of the key players identified in the Cloud-RAN market are Ceragon Networks Ltd.,Actix Ltd., Aricent Technologies, JDSU, 6WIND, MTI Radiocomp, Altera Corp., Mindspeed Technologies, Inc., Intel Corporation, VitesseSemiconductor, Telco Systems, VPI Systems, Telco Systems and TEOCO among others.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Automotive Brake System Market Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2015-2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-503 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-503 www.futuremarketinsights.com The developing industry of automotive has largely emphasised on the development of the vehicles that are fast and safe. Brakes have become an important and crucial part of any vehicle so as to ensure the safety which becomes very essential when the demand of speed is increasing steadily. Being commonly used in different automobiles an automotive brake system comprises a brake device having different components (such as brake pads, brake shoes, brake drum, rotor, piston, calliper, master cylinder, and brake booster) which are used for decelerating a vehicle.The growth in automotive industry is anticipated to fuel the growth of global automotive brake system market along with the increasing concerns over safety and resulting government pressures that have upturned the OEMs towards the launching of higher technology content, thereby driving the demand for global automotive brake systems across the globe.Automotive Brake System Market: Drivers & RestraintsEver-increasing demand and succeeding vehicle production is considered as one of the biggest driver for the increasing demand of the automotive brakes and global automotive brake system market penetration. Also the increasing governmental mandates for improving the vehicle safety has strongly contributed to the demand of the global automotive brake system market. The major restraint in the global automotive brake system market implies to be the higher cost of the newer technology of Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) when compared to the commonly used Hydraulic Brakes.Request Free Report Sample@Automotive Brake System Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Disc Brakes and Drum Brakes.On the basis of applications the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Two Wheeler Motor Vehicles, Passenger Car Vehicles, and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV).On the basis of technology the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Traction Control System (TCS), and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) that comes under the electronic braking systems (EBS).Automotive Brake System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global automotive brake system market is expected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. Asia-Pacific is projected to endure its control on the global automotive brake system market. The key countries in the mentioned region are projected to be India, South Korea, and China as an outcome of the increasing demand for commercial vehicles and passenger cars. Japan also contributes to the global automotive brake system market remarkably. China is expected to be the largest opportunity in terms of revenue of the industry. Europe is expected to be the second largest market in global automotive brake system market followed by North America.Visit For TOC@Automotive Brake System: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global automotive brake system market are TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd., Continental AG, Akebono Brake Industry Co. Ltd., Brembo S.P.A., Halla Mando Corp., and others.About Us:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Opt For Quality - Based PSD To HTML Service At HTMLPanda http://www.htmlpanda.com/ 19 September 16, Delaware, USA -If you are looking for a reputed PSD to HTML service provider for designing your website, then hire HTML Panda in order to own an outstanding website which is dynamic as well. The process for carrying out PSD to HTML conversion is not a cup of tea, it is a very crucial task to do and requires expert guidance. PSD files are static and thats why they are not attractive enough to catch the viewers attention. 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Gestures can be divided into two types; gestures emulating computer mouse and extended gestures. Smart TV gesture recognition is a system is basically used to provoke a better utilizing experience in terms of interactive communication and connectivity between the machine and human. Systems those are created to the integrated gesture and voice control in it from a normal smart TV have a longer duration.This whole gesture recognition is programmed by the software which is able to execute all types of gesture functionality but the major drawback is, it is not that reliable while utilizing on a broader aspect. The gesture recognition technology is emerging to the end utilize application from the semiconductor level which is perpetually transforming the smart TV market. The global gesture recognition market is expected to grow at a substantial growth.Get FREE Sample PDF file of Gesture Recognition for Smart TV Market :The global Smart TV gesture recognition market is segmented into two major categories, on the basis of functionality into image acquisition, feature extraction, gesture classification. On the basis of technology into 2D camera based and 3D camera based.The market is also segmented by components into microcontroller, image sensors, IR proximity sensors, IR temperature sensor, light sensor and others. The market is further segmented by geography into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and rest of the world regions.Some of the key players in this market are Eyesight Tech, Leap Motion Inc., LG Electronics Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Pointgrab Limited, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Softkinetic, Sony Corporation, Tesna Inc., Texas Instruments Incorporated, Thalmic Labs Inc., andThe Linux Foundation among others.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us :-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Telemedicine Technologies Market to Reach US$2.4 bn by 2018 as Healthcare Sector Embraces Technology http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/global-telemedicine-technologies-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=739 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ A new report by Transparency Market Research showcases an accurate account of the global telemedicine technologies market. The research report, titled Telemedicine Technologies Market - Global Industry Size, Market Share, Trends, Analysis And Forecasts 2015 - 2023, gives a comprehensive view of the market. The research data has been studied through a microscopic lens to offer a well-rounded overview of the market. The report helps the readers make key business decisions pertaining to the growth of their businesses by identifying the strengths, the weaknesses, the threats, and the opportunities present in the global telemedicine technologies market.Browse Full Report Description of Telemedicine Technologies Market at:The global telemedicine market has been growing at a remarkable pace in recent years due to the high adoption rate of advanced products and technologies in the healthcare sector, increasing awareness about medical conditions, and improving healthcare facilities. The global telemedicine technologies market has revolutionized the healthcare sector by making it interactive and increasing its network, and has brought medical help to those who need it the most in the remotest regions.Telemedicine technologies make use of telecommunication technologies to offer healthcare facilities to patients in remote areas. This form of medical intervention has become its unique selling point. The ability to treat patients in inaccessible regions, the growing demand for telesurgery, improving healthcare awareness, and rise in the adoption of technology in developed regions are some of the factors propelling the global telemedicine technologies market. Owing to these reasons, the global telemedicine technologies market is expected to reach US$2.4 bn by 2018 from US$740 mn in 2011, expanding at a CAGR of 18.58% from 2012 to 2018.Telemedicine technologies have made a considerable contribution in bringing down healthcare costs and saving patients the trouble of making hefty payments towards healthcare. The biggest advantage of telemedicine technologies is their ability to offer excellent medical help or intervention to those who cannot physically reach it. The implementation and flawless execution of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is also driving the global telemedicine technologies market, as a lot of patients can now seek healthcare insurance and other medical services.Visit For the Insights of Telemedicine Technologies at:Some of the important players in the global telemedicine technologies market profiled in the report are Medical International Research, International Business Machines Corp., Cardiocom, Intouch Technologies, Diagnostics, 3m Health Information Systems, Medtronic Inc., Roche, Aerotel Medical Systems Ltd., Siemens Healthcare, Agfa Healthcare Nv, Telemedicine Software Providers, and Telecom Players. The report offers an insightful take on the financial overview, product portfolio, research and development activities, investment outlook, business and marketing strategies, and strategic mergers and acquisitions of these players in the near future. With these details, the report gives a complete explanation of the competitive landscape of the global telemedicine technologies market.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: SmsCoin has participated in Wholesale World Congress 2016 From September 14 till September 15 Madrid has become a meeting point for the telecommunication industry professionals they all have gathered at the great event Wholesale World Congress (WWC). The event organizational committee has created relaxed atmosphere for communication and it is excellent because such condition is the best for business matters discussing. SmsCoin and Bulkness representative Irina Izverskaya has met up with many industry colleagues within the conference and actively participated in Wholesale Congress Series history creation.The event has gone smoothly and has been aimed at efficient communication between participants and setting up new business contacts. This year almost 600 telecom market representatives from 56 countries around the world have arrived to the congress. Except for participants from European countries, many local and Latin American companies have attended the conference. The majority of participants have agreed meetings beforehand: companies have come to WWC not only for getting acquainted with other companies and introducing theirselves, but for meeting with partners as well. Attendees didn't set exclusively advertisement goals, but shared ideas, discussed further market evolution, future business development in various countries.Attendees' focus areas covered various directions: mobile communication, VoIP, satellite communication, wireless technology and data solutions. The event also included SMS corner. Here one could meet SMS aggregators, resellers, wholesale and bulk SMS platforms, etc. SMS telecom zone was created especially for SMS community to share experience, services and contacts. It offered bilateral tables, exhibit booths and meeting rooms. All participants felt free to communicate outdoors near the swimming pool and drink a cup of hot coffee in the pleasant company of their colleagues.Irina Izverskaya, SmsCoin and Bulkness manager, is impressed by special conference atmosphere, friendly way of communication between participants but at the same time high level of the event preparation for business conversations and meetings. While attending WWC 2016, Irina got the chance to have talk with the representatives of the following companies: Viahub.de, Jet Telecom, Mitto, Silverstreet, 42Telecom, Infobip, Vertex, Nobel and many other telecommunication market majors. The event has left pleasant memories: high-quality arrangement, positive thinking, participants' openness to communication, all this supports establishment of long-term business relations.SmsCoin company operates within the SMS payments market for 10 years already. Presently, SmsCoin offers Premium SMS services in almost 100 countries worldwide. Thousands of projects are based on the company services, dozens of unique scripts have been developed and millions of messages have been processed. SmsCoin will continue expanding cooperation and surprising its partners with unique ideas and innovative approach to its implementation.SmsCoinOffice 4C, Roussos Limassol Tower,Kiriakou Matsi 3,Limassol 3040Cyprus(+357) 25281784pr@smscoin.com Fibrin Glue Market By Products, Application in Geography Industry https://goo.gl/ONHfnP http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/fibrin-glue-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The skill of surgery has progressed over the years. Suture like threads produced from a wide-range of substances were used prior as a mechanical closure for the wounds. Surgical adhesives and hemostats consist of five new families, which consist of fibrin glue, cyanoacrylate, polyethylene glycol polymer, albumin cross linked with glutaraldehyde and bovine collagen and thrombin. Now in the last 30 years, fibrin glue has beenused in various indications throughout all surgical fields.Request a Free PDF Brochure with Report Analysis:Fibrin glue is a derivative of human blood products andanimaland it is mostly withdrawn from collective plasma and comprises of different quantities of purified and virally inactivated human proteins. Biological fibrin glue typically contains two basic components such as human thrombin and human fibrinogen, together with a fibrinolysis inhibitor to prevent fibrin degradation during the storage. The various features of fibrin glue are high surface adherence strength, high internal bond strength and capability to improve tissue regeneration and clot formation. Fibrin glue is primarily used inhemostasis, but it isalso used to heal the wounds and as biological sealants,it in different situations such as air, gastrointestinal, bile and lymphatic leaks on a larger scale. Fibrin glue reducesthe threat of infection, offersquick hemostasis on the treated part, and improves cosmesis. Fibrin glue permits the surgeon to execute the operation using minor incision and with reduced tissue trauma. It also encourages natural tissue healing. On the other hand, one of the drawback of fibrin glue is the risk of passing on of infectious organisms from human bodies to the glue. Additionally, their role in tissue engineering is recently under investigation. Recently fibrin glue has received approval from U.S. FDA and European Union for their use in spleen trauma, cardiovascular surgery and for the closure of colostomies. Tisseel, biocol, and beriplast are some of the commercially prepared fibrin sealants.The global fibrin glue market is segmented based on application and geography. The applications of fibrin glue arein cardiac surgery, pulmonary surgery, burn bleeding, vascular surgeries, orthopedic surgeries, lacerations of liver and spleen, neurosurgery, plastic surgery,general surgery and wound management. The burn bleeding and cardiac surgeriessegment dominates the fibrin glue market in applications category.Based on the geography, market is segmented intoNorth America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. North America dominates the market due to higher ageing population and increasing number of surgical procedures whereas, developing countries such as India and China are expected to be fastest growing in the fibrin glue market due to high spending in health expenditure and increase in the government funding.In the recent years, the usage of fibrin glue has risen due to the factors such as increasing number of surgical procedures, rising incidences of complications such as diabetic ulcers, pressure sores chronic wounds etc. increase spending on health expenditure and increase in the ageing population. All these factors are responsible to drive the fibrin glue market. Government funding and technological advancement are known to create an opportunities for fibrin glue market.However,the rise in the minimum invasive procedures such as endoscopic and laparoscopic surgeries can hinder the growth of fibrin glue market.Browse Research Report:Some of the key players of fibrin glue market areHaemcure Corporation, Baxter International Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceutical, Inc., Vivostat A/S, CSL Behring, CryolifeInc.and Interpore Cross.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Blood Collection Tubes Market is promising 8.60% CAGR end of 2023; Coverage industry in north america http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=8689 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/north-america-blood-collection-tubes-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com As per the research study, in 2014, the North America market for blood collection tubes stood at US$300.8 mn and is predicted to reach US$632.1 mn by the end of 2023. The market is estimated to register a promising 8.60% CAGR between 2015 and 2023. The research study offers insightful inputs by industry experts along with projected figures to help decision-makers in formulating business strategies in an effective manner.Download Complete Healthcare Analytical Brochure:Growing concerns about spread of infectious diseases through donated blood has surged the demand for blood and blood products. Blood collection tube is a disinfected glass or plastic tube with a closure that is evacuated to create a vacuum inside the tube enabling the draw of a predetermined volume of liquid. The tubes are most commonly used to collect blood samples, but can also be used as urine collection tubes and as serum separator tubes. The research report on the blood collection tubes market provides detailed analysis of the North American market and helps in understanding the driving forces responsible for the growth of these tubes. With the increase in aging population and prevalence of diseases, there is an increase in the blood testing in the developed regions such as North America. Moreover, increasing government initiatives and rise in the number of surgical procedures in North America are the factors driving the demand for blood collection tubes. Demand for blood is continuously rising with patients undergoing advanced surgeries that require blood transfusions. In order to support patients, countries are expanding their healthcare coverage so that maximum number of people can avail of required treatment. While there are opportunities in the market for developing cell therapies, the cost of blood handling equipment is a major disadvantage.The North America blood collection tubes market is segmented by tube type and by geography. The market by tube type includes serum separating tubes, plasma separating tubes, EDTA tubes, heparin tubes, rapid serum tubes and other tubes. The serum separating tubes account for considerable share of the market followed by EDTA tubes and others. Geographically, the market has been studied and estimated for North America region including the U.S. and Canada. The serum separating tubes segment dominated the market due to higher number of serum samples collected and used for various diagnostic applications. However, the rapid serum tubes market is expected to grow at a higher rate due to advanced technology and increase in work efficiency offered by the product.The market overview section of the report demonstrates major market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the current and future status of the industry. The market overview section includes market attractiveness analysis, by geography, to provide a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in North America blood collection tubes market. This section of the report also includes the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the competitive landscape. The market has a bright outlook for implementing new blood collection techniques, screening tests and implementation of automation in the process of collection of blood. These factors are expected to create a significant demand for blood collection tubes across the globe. However, stringent regulatory guidelines and healthcare policies also influence the growth of the market. Manufacturers are coming up with new, improved and safe technologies for blood collection. Moreover, developed markets such as North America are expected to grow due to increased level of awareness, government support and advancements in blood collection technologies.Market share analysis is also provided in the market overview section of the report for 2014 in terms of value (%). The report also provides important recommendations for market players and new entrants. These recommendations would enable existing market players to expand their market shares and help new companies to establish their presence in the blood collection tubes market across North America. The report concludes with the company profiles section, which includes key information about major players in the market such as financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments.Browse Research Report:Major players in this market are Becton, Dickinson & Company (U.S.), Greiner Group AG (Austria), Sarstedt AG & Co. (Germany), QIAGEN N.V. (Germany), Terumo Corporation (Japan) and FL Medical srl (Italy).About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: By Peter Van Buren I recently sent my last kid off for her senior year of college. There are rituals to such moments, and because dad-confessions are not among them, I just carried boxes and kept quiet. But what I really wanted to say to her -- rather than "See you later"; "Call this weekend"; or "Do you need money?" -- was: I'm sorry. Like all parents in these situations, I was thinking about her future. And like all of America, in that future she won't be able to escape what is now encompassed by the word "terrorism." I really wanted to tell my daughter just how sorry I was that she would have to live in what 9/11 transformed into the most frightened country on Earth. Want the numbers? Some 40 percent of Americans believe the country is more vulnerable to terrorism than it was just after September 11, 2001 -- the highest percentage ever. Want the apocalyptic jab in the gut? Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley said earlier this month that the threat remains just as grave: "Those people, those enemies, those members of that terrorist group, still intend -- as they did on 9/11 -- to destroy your freedoms, to kill you, kill your families. They still intend to destroy the United States of America." All that fear turned us into an engine of chaos abroad, while consuming our freedoms at home. And it saddens me that there was a different world, pre-9/11, which my daughter's generation and all those who follow her will never know. My kids grew up overseas while, from 1988 to 2012, I served with the State Department. For the first part of my career as a diplomat, wars were still discreet matters. For example, though Austria was a neighbor of Slovenia, few there were worried that the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s would spill across the border. Suicide bombers didn't threaten Vienna when we visited as tourists in 1991. That a war could again consume large parts of the globe and involve multiple nations would have seemed as remote to us vacationers that year as the moon. When September 11, 2001, arrived, I was on assignment to Japan, and like everyone, as part of a collective trauma, I watched the terrible events on TV. The varieties of post-9/11 fear sneak up on us all. I spent a week this summer obsessively watching the news for any sign of trouble in Egypt while my daughter was there visiting some old embassy acquaintances. I worried that she was risking her life to see a high school friend in a country once overrun with tourists. So I want to say sorry to my daughter and her friends for all the countries -- where we Americans, with our awkward shorts and sandals, were once at least tolerated -- that are now dangerous for us to visit. Sorry that they'll never see the ruins of Babylon or the Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq unless they join the military. If anyone is going to fix this mess, I want to tell my daughter, it's going to have to be you. And I want to add, you've got to do a better job than I did -- if, that is, you really want to find a way to say thanks for the skating lessons, the puppy and that night I didn't get angry when you violated curfew to spend more time with that boy. After the last cardboard boxes had been lugged up the stairs, I held back my tears until the very end. I know I'm not the first parent to grow reflective watching his last child walk out the door, but I have a sense of what's ahead of her: an American world filled with misplaced fears. Fear is a terrible thing to be sorry for -- and that in itself can be scary. * Peter Van Buren is a retired 24-year veteran of the U.S. Department of State. Hillary9.JPG Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton (AP Photo/File) By Leonid Bershidsky One of the hardest things for a foreigner to understand in U.S. politics, especially its rather extreme 2016 version, is the willingness of voters to support candidates they deemed unacceptable earlier in the campaign. Because the U.S. presidential election narrows to a two-candidate race, the calculus of voters and political operatives shifts in spectacular ways. Plenty of this was on display in New Hampshire last week. On Wednesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was in the state, which gave him his best performance of the primary season -- 7.4 percent of the vote -- to push a simple message to Republicans. "If you are a Republican and you are not working for Donald Trump over the next 55 days, you are working for Hillary Clinton," he said at a party "unity breakfast." This is the man who summed up his attitude toward Trump in December 2015 by saying: "We do not need reality TV in the Oval Office right now. President of the United States is not a place for an entertainer." I saw him on the stump in New Hampshire seven months ago, and he was dismissive of Trump. Then, it seemed that the group of pragmatic, traditional conservatives with strong management experience -- John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Christie -- still had a chance to surge ahead of the showman. Michael Biundo, a veteran Republican consultant who worked for Rand Paul and then Kasich in the early stages of the campaign and who then mocked Trump on the social networks, has been the nominee's point man in the state since June. He's credited with setting up a genuine Trump ground game, with volunteers knocking on doors, a development that many analysts believed impossible just a few months ago. I asked the political consultant Patrick Hynes, of Laconia, about the apparent turnarounds. Hynes worked for Bush during the primaries, and for John McCain and Mitt Romney in the 2012 race. These are all traditional conservatives who have made known their visceral dislike of Trump. Hynes says the billionaire is not his first choice, yet he plans to vote for Trump in November and says the state's Republican machine has fallen in line, too. "In the U.S., it always gets down to two," Hynes said. "There's Coca-Cola and there's Pepsi, and RC Cola goes the way of the dinosaurs. There's Ford and Chevy, and Chrysler is a distant third. There's McDonald's and Burger King, and Wendy's is a distant third." Americans, of course, shouldn't act all that differently from people of other nationalities when it comes to making decisions. People like to reduce complexity, and binary decisions are the simplest. Research by Eldar Shafir, Itamar Simonson and Amos Tversky has shown, though, that sometimes having a third, middle option can simplify the choice thanks to a phenomenon called "extremeness aversion": As Simonson described it, "within an offered set, options with extreme values are relatively less attractive than options with intermediate values." New Hampshire provides a prime example of this kind of thinking. Joe McQuaid, the publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, the state's most influential newspaper, has long crusaded against Trump, whom he compared to Biff, the bully from the "Back to the Future" movies (Trump called him a "lowlife" in response). The Union Leader, which has been staunchly Republican for more than a century, endorsed Christie in the primary, and McQuaid has claimed that the New Jersey governor promised him he wouldn't endorse Trump if he dropped out (Christie denies that). Now that Christie has reverted to the binary logic, McQuaid has not. In an editorial this week, he endorsed the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and his running-mate Bill Weld because "in today's dark times, they are a bright light of hope and reason." To the conservative publisher, both Clinton and Trump represent extremes. McQuaid appears genuinely optimistic that a third option could be viable in New Hampshire. When I asked him what he hoped to achieve by endorsing Johnson when Republican voters are mainly united behind Trump, he replied that he didn't "see a lot of evidence one way or the other." "Most of the big office-holders are doing the we-are-concentrating-on-state-races line," he said in an e-mail. "As for Trump, his primary vote total here was not huge." Trump, however, won the New Hampshire primary in New Hampshire, with 35.3 percent, or more than 100,000 votes, more than twice as many as the runner-up, Kasich. There's little chance that Johnson will make a dent here: Everyone else I talked to said they planned to back their party nominee, and both Hynes and an operative close to the Trump campaign confirmed that the state's Republican machine was working single-mindedly for Trump. This is probably occurring because this election's stark belligerence makes it more about rejection than selection. McQuaid's approach is to pick a candidate to support "without holding your nose." This year, many Republicans "have a sense of dread and despair, a sense that Washington is broken and cannot be fixed, that everybody is a crook," Hynes says. So to them, the election is about not voting for Clinton, who embodies the status quo. Under such circumstances, Shafir, Simonson and Tversky wrote, a candidate's negative features become more important than positives: "We propose that the positive features of options (their pros) will loom larger when choosing, whereas the negative features of options (their cons) will be weighted more heavily when rejecting. It is natural to select an option because of its positive features, and to reject an option because of its negative features." Trump has Clinton and her strong negatives to thank for the somewhat reluctant unity of his backers here. (c) 2016, Bloomberg View Bloomberg View columnist Leonid Bershidsky is based in Berlin. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden speaks via video link during the Athens Democracy Forum, organised by the New York Times, at the National Library in Athens, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. (Kostas Baltas, InTime Sports via AP) By The Washington Post Editorial Board Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who blew the cover off the federal government's electronic surveillance programs three years ago, has his admirers. After the inevitably celebratory Oliver Stone film about him appears this weekend, he may have more. Whether Snowden deserves a presidential pardon, as human rights organizations are demanding in a new national campaign timed to coincide with the film, is a complicated question, however, to which President Barack Obama's answer should continue to be "no." Snowden's defenders don't deny that he broke the law - not to mention oaths and contractual obligations - when he copied and kept 1.5 million classified documents. They argue, rather, that Snowden's noble purposes, and the policy changes his "whistle-blowing" prompted, justified his actions. Specifically, he made the documents public through journalists, including reporters working for The Post, enabling the American public to learn for the first time that the NSA was collecting domestic telephone "metadata" - information about the time of a call and the parties to it, but not its content - en masse with no case-by-case court approval. The program was a stretch, if not an outright violation, of federal surveillance law, and posed risks to privacy. Congress and the president eventually responded with corrective legislation. It's fair to say we owe these necessary reforms to Snowden. The complication is that Snowden did more than that. He also pilfered, and leaked, information about a separate overseas NSA Internet-monitoring program, PRISM, that was both clearly legal and not clearly threatening to privacy. (It was also not permanent; the law authorizing it expires next year.) Worse - far worse - he also leaked details of basically defensible international intelligence operations: cooperation with Scandinavian services against Russia; spying on the wife of an Osama bin Laden associate; and certain offensive cyber operations in China. No specific harm, actual or attempted, to any individual American was ever shown to have resulted from the NSA telephone metadata program Snowden brought to light. In contrast, his revelations about the agency's international operations disrupted lawful intelligence-gathering, causing possibly "tremendous damage" to national security, according to a unanimous, bipartisan report by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. What higher cause did that serve? Ideally, Snowden would come home and hash out all of this before a jury of his peers. That would certainly be in the best tradition of civil disobedience, whose practitioners have always been willing to go to jail for their beliefs. He says this is unacceptable because U.S. secrecy-protection statutes specifically prohibit him from claiming his higher purpose and positive impact as a defense - which is true, though it's not clear how the law could allow that without creating a huge loophole for leakers. (Snowden hurt his own credibility as an avatar of freedom by accepting asylum from Russia's Vladimir Putin, who's not known for pardoning those who blow the whistle on him.) The second-best solution might be a bargain in which Snowden accepts a measure of criminal responsibility for his excesses and the U.S. government offers a measure of leniency in recognition of his contributions. Neither party seems interested in that for now. An outright pardon, meanwhile, would strike the wrong balance. (c) 2016, The Washington Post By E.J. Dionne WASHINGTON -- Spiro Agnew is remembered for pleading no contest to tax evasion charges related to bribery and resigning as Richard Nixon's vice president. But his signal political achievement was igniting a campaign that endured for more than four decades painting the mainstream media as biased, liberal and elitist. Anti-media sentiment had long been bubbling on the right when Agnew targeted what were then the Big Three television networks for representing "a concentration of power over American public opinion unknown in history." "The American people would rightly not tolerate this kind of concentration of power in government," Agnew declared in a 1969 speech in Des Moines. "Is it not fair and relevant to question its concentration in the hands of a tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one, and enjoying a monopoly sanctioned and licensed by government?" Agnew was unrelenting. With help from William Safire and Pat Buchanan, gifted Nixon speechwriters (and, later, columnists), he coined many memorable phrases, including the alliterative "nattering nabobs of negativism." Rarely has a concerted political effort been more successful. Ever since, reporters, editors and producers have incessantly looked over their right shoulders, fearing they'd be assailed as secret carriers of the liberal virus. But the 2016 campaign has brought an intense progressive counterattack on media timidity toward the right. Coverage of Donald Trump has become the occasion for a new crisis of credibility. There is the matter of Trump's outsized access to television time during the primaries that dwarfed the attention given to his competitors. Liberals insist further that Trump is being held to a much lower standard than is Hillary Clinton, which, in turn, means that while relatively short shrift is given to each new Trump scandal, the same old Clinton scandals get covered again and again. Allowing Trump to dominate television time during the primary campaign has nothing directly to do with the liberal-conservative argument, but it's something the media will have to answer for. This disadvantaged other Republican presidential candidates and reflected a hunger for ratings that overcame any concern for balance. But the coverage of Trump and Clinton does suggest that a media exquisitely sensitive to conservative criticism now overcompensates against the other side. Josh Marshall, the founder of the Talking Points Memo blog, offered one of the clearest statements of the problem. "There's little doubt," he wrote last week, "that the scrutiny of the Clinton Foundation and Clinton's emails has had a repetitive, hyper-skeptical and saturation coverage that hasn't been close to matched by any investigative story about Donald Trump. It's not remotely close." The issue is not asking the media to shy away from holding Clinton accountable. But journalists need to ask whether they have created a narrative about Clinton that paints her as less trustworthy than Trump even though the factual evidence is overwhelming that he lies far more than she does. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof pointed to PolitiFact's finding that while 53 percent of the Trump statements it checked were "False" or "Pants on Fire" howlers, only 13 percent of Clinton's were. "There's no comparison with Trump," Kristof wrote. Ideological concerns aside, Marshall argued that "Trump's repeated false statements were so brazen and repetitive" as to put all of the media's traditional rules and practices "under strain." Trump keeps saying that he opposed the Iraq War when the evidence from 2002 and 2003 shows he supported it. And the birther in chief who made his name on the right by insinuating for years that Barack Obama was ineligible to be president had the effrontery to say, falsely, that Clinton had started the whole thing. Yet journalists are often reluctant to call Trump a liar, even when he lies, lest their objectivity be questioned. Liberals' complaints about the media are themselves typically dismissed as partisan, and sure, the liberals are furious. They're furious that the right's own partisan media campaign has intimidated journalistic institutions. They're furious that Clinton's shortcomings are magnified and harped on while negative stories about Trump often get report-once-and-move-on treatment. And they're furious when Trump's lies aren't called lies. But critics' motives shouldn't matter. What counts is whether their complaints are justified. For the first time since Agnew kicked off the great conservative campaign against the media, those who run our journalistic institutions are being systematically challenged as to whether they are so worried about condemnation from the right that they're now demonstrably biased against the Democratic candidate for president. Thus has media criticism -- finally -- become fair and balanced. E.J. Dionne's email address is ejdionnewashpost.com. Twitter: EJDionne. (c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group kerry.JPG Secretary of State John Kerry (AP Photo/File) By Peter Kornbluh When Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Chile in October to attend an international conference on ocean preservation, he carried something that had nothing to do with environmental collaboration. The computer disk he brought contained 282 newly-declassified records on Gen. Augusto Pinochet's role in a brazen act of international terrorism in Washington, D.C. The car bombing in Sheridan Circle that occurred 40 years ago this week took the lives of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and his 25-year old colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt. Kerry personally handed the disk of documents to Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. Last month, when Kerry flew to Buenos Aires for trade talks, he carried another disk, this one loaded with 1,078 pages of records on the Argentine "dirty war" of repression during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. Kerry gave those documents to President Mauricio Macri and promised "more to come in the future." Alongside the traditional instruments of statecraft, the Obama administration has developed an entirely new tool: declassifying decades-old secrets of state to share with other governments and their societies. President Barack Obama has used this declassification diplomacy to mend fences with other countries, advance the cause of human rights and even redress the dark history of Washington's support for repression abroad. Allies are grateful and historians are delighted. And given the depth and range of still-secret U.S. Cold War records, declassified diplomacy has the potential to go much, much further. Obama's very first decree as president was intended to strengthen access to information. Executive Order 13489 rescinded restrictions on the Presidential Records Act imposed by his predecessor, George W. Bush. "For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city," the new president declared on Jan. 21, 2009. "This administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information but those who seek to make it known" - an admirable goal but one his administration has not always advanced, especially with regard to Freedom of Information Act requests from reporters. Among those who have sought to know what information remains withheld in the secret vaults of the U.S. national security agencies are Latin American countries such as Brazil, Chile and Argentina, where human rights advocates, lawyers and judges continue the quest for accountability for crimes against humanity committed by past military regimes. Just as thousands of victims were "disappeared" by those regimes, the military dictatorships managed to "disappear" the documentation of their atrocities. Vast troves of evidence remained beyond their destructive reach, however - in the United States. Indeed, the only positive outcome of the dark role the United States often played in the repressive histories of these and other nations is the detailed paper trail now residing in the vaults of the CIA, the FBI, and the Defense and State departments. The Clinton administration was the first to recognize the political currency of these secret records and to use the president's executive authority to declassify them. After The Washington Post published a major expose on the Reagan administration's approval of military massacres and death-squad operations in El Salvador, President Bill Clinton ordered more than 15,000 confidential documents released, creating a new, publicly accessible archive of information on the U.S. role in El Salvador's infamous counterinsurgency war. After the New York Times broke the story of CIA support for a Guatemalan colonel who ordered the killing of an American hotel owner living in Guatemala, as well as the torture and disappearance of a guerrilla leader who was the husband of another U.S. citizen, the Clinton administration released several thousand more secret records relating to that scandal and the U.S.-backed counterinsurgency efforts in that country. After the October 1998 detention of Chilean Gen. Pinochet in London, Clinton responded to demands from the families of Pinochet's victims, human rights advocates and the U.S. Congress by authorizing the Chile Declassification Project, an 18-month multi-agency review of secret U.S. documents dated between 1968 and 1991. It yielded about 23,000 never-seen-before records on repression during the Pinochet regime - as well as on the covert CIA intervention that helped bring him to power. "We declassified more documents than any other administration," Clinton proudly told me years later. The Bush administration was not nearly as zealous about access to information. The State Department released more than 4,000 records on Argentina's "dirty war," but the project had been initiated in the final months of Clinton's presidency. The State Department's Latin America bureau also expedited a small release of documents on Ecuador, as a positive gesture to the often hostile government of Rafael Correa. While Clinton employed his executive declassification authority in response to major scandals and events, the Obama administration has used declassified records as a tool of statecraft. Take the example of Brazil: In 2012, Brazil's National Truth Commission, newly created to investigate human rights violations during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, asked the White House for relevant papers. Officials planned to have Obama provide them to then-President Dilma Rousseff during a White House state dinner scheduled for October 2013. But after Edward Snowden's files showed that the United States had tapped her cellphone, Rousseff canceled her visitto Washington. Relations between the two countries were tense until the next June, when Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Brazil to try and mend the breach. As a peace offering, he gave Rousseff a disk of declassified documents on repression in Brazil. "I hope that in taking steps to come to grips with our past, we can find a way to focus on the immense promise of the future," Biden told Rousseff, who, as a young leftist, was tortured and imprisoned in the 1970s by her country's military dictatorship. The Obama administration also took dramatic steps for Chile, a nation that Washington has tried to cultivate as an economic, environmental and political ally in the region. In early 2015, the White House agreed to a formal request from the government of Bachelet - who was also a victim of human rights abuses during the military era - for still-secret records relating to Pinochet's role in the September 1976 car bombing that killed Letelier and Moffitt, in downtown Washington. Under the direction of David McKean (now ambassador to Luxembourg), the State Department's policy planning office expedited the declassification of hundreds of detailed records on this act of international terrorism - in time for Kerry to personally carry them to Santiago last October. Among the documents was a secret 1987 memorandum titled "Pinochet and the Letelier-Moffitt Murders: Implications for US Policy," from Secretary of State George Shultz to President Ronald Reagan. In an intelligence review, the CIA had compiled "convincing evidence that President Pinochet personally ordered his intelligence chief to carry out the murders," Shultz advised the president. "This is a blatant example of a chief of state's direct involvement in an act of state terrorism, one that is particularly disturbing both because it occurred in our capital and since his government is generally considered to be friendly." The CIA's stark conclusion about Pinochet's role in a savage act of international terrorism created an uproar in Chile and generated headlines around the world. The impact of this new diplomatic tool depends partly on the keepers of secrets in the U.S. intelligence community. Because the CIA cares more about protecting the covert nature of its operations than about diplomacy and the accuracy of the historical record, the agency has not been eager to cooperate in these declassification projects. During Clinton's declassification on Chile, for example, the CIA twice reneged on its commitment to release its records on covert operations against the elected government of Salvador Allende. Only after Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, personally interceded with CIA Director George Tenet did the agency finally comply. To date, the CIA has rejected Freedom of Information Act efforts by my organization, the National Security Archive, to release even one sentence of the secret intelligence review on Pinochet that Shultz cited in his dramatic memorandum to Reagan on the Letelier assassination. Without that document, the historical record on an act of terrorism in downtown Washington will remain incomplete. The CIA seems not to have gotten Obama's directive that "no information may remain classified indefinitely." That position will be tested by Obama's special declassification project on Argentina. During his trip to that countryin March, Obama put his presidential imprimatur on the practice of declassification diplomacy. Just before he left for South America, he authorized a major declassification review of hundreds of intelligence-community and Defense Department records relating to the massive human rights violations committed by the Argentine military between 1976 and 1983. "I believe we have a responsibility to confront the past with honesty and transparency," Obama stated during a visit with human rights activists and victims in Buenos Aires on March 24, the 40th anniversary of the military coup that, with U.S. support, ushered in seven years of the most brutal repression ever seen in the southern half of the continent. If the intelligence community cooperates with this project, the release promises to supply evidence for ongoing human rights cases in Argentina. The documents are also likely to shed light on U.S. policy toward the coup and the repression that followed. Their declassification will provide not only the "honesty and transparency" Obama advocates but a modicum of historical atonement for the support his predecessors gave to the Argentine military in the days and months after the coup. There are plenty of other countries for which a special declassification of U.S. records would help heal the wounds of history and advance an alliance - among them Laos and Japan, where Obama recently visited; U.S. efforts to rebuild relations with Iran might similarly benefit. Indeed, in his final few months in office, Obama faces plenty of opportunities to expand the practice of declassification diplomacy. A special declassification on Colombia's counterinsurgency war would help local officials implement the recently signed peace accord between the government in Bogota and the FARC rebels. The ongoing rapprochement with Cuba could benefit from a gesture of declassification regarding key Cold War conflicts between Washington and Havana. Even the Chileans are hoping for another round of documents when Bachelet visits the monument to Letelier and Moffitt in Sheridan Circle this coming week to commemorate their assassination 40 years ago. Pinochet is no longer alive to be judged in a court of law. But declassified records would help provide the lasting judgement of history. (c) 2016, The Washington Post Peter Kornbluh is a senior analyst at the National Security Archive and the author of "The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability." He wrote this piece for The Washington Post. Highway_42.JPG One of at least four major crashes on state highways over the weekend occurred in southern Oregon, where a man in a Ford Explorer drifted off an exit ramp and landed on a semi-truck driving east on Highway 42. (Photo courtesy of Oregon State Police) UPDATE SEPT. 20 AT 9:30 P.M.: Oregon State Police have identified the driver of the 2001 Volkswagen Jetta as Elisa Alvarez-Martinez. Alvarez-Martinez, a 49-year-old from Keizer, was killed after her car drifted into the center median of Highway 22 and rolled over. *** Oregon troopers responded to four vehicle crashes on the rainy west side of the state in the span of about 12 hours this weekend. The first crash was at 4 p.m. Saturday on Highway 22, just west of Santiam Junction in the Cascade mountains. Alexander Shumilov, 31, of Salem, was driving west on the highway in a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta and tried to pass a slower vehicle, according to a police press release. The highway was wet at the time and Shumilov lost control, slid off the south side of the highway, hit a tree and continued to roll down the embankment several times. Shumilov was pronounced dead at the scene. At approximately 6:40 p.m., there was another fatal crash near the Oregon coast. Maricela Trujillo, 42, of Woodburn, was driving east on Highway 18 in a 1999 Honda Civic with two passengers, Sarah Trujillo and Rebeca Amador, both 20 and also from Woodburn. The road was wet and when Maricela Trujillo was going around a curve, the Honda slid into the oncoming lane and collided with a 2010 Kia Soul going the opposite direction, according to police. The two passengers died at the scene, and Maricela Trujillo was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital with life threatening injuries. The driver of the Kia Soul, 23-year-old Douglas Bender, of Milwaukie, was not injured, although his two passengers were taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The next crash was at 10 p.m. west of Salem, near the Highway 22 and Highway 99 West interchange. An unidentified 49-year-old woman from Keizer was driving west on Highway 22 in a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta when she drifted into the center median. The car rolled over and came to rest on the passenger side, on the south side of the highway. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. The fourth crash occurred at 4:15 a.m. in southern Oregon, when a man in a Ford Explorer drifted off an exit ramp and landed on a semi-truck driving east on Highway 42. The driver of the Ford, Anthony Webber, 31, of Roseburg, was going south on I-5 when he took the exit for Highway 42. As Webber drove on what police described as "the sweeping right corner of the off-ramp," he drove off the ramp and rolled into the area between the ramp and Highway 42. While still airborne, Webber's Ford hit a Peterbilt semi-truck driven by Richard Arceo, 33, of Pasco, Washington. Webber was pronounced dead at the scene, and Arceo was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg where he was treated for minor injuries, according to police. -- Hillary Borrud 503-294-4034; @hborrud Monday 19 September 2016 2:16pm Smokefree researchers at the University of Otago are calling on policy makers to develop stronger regulation of roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco. In a new paper published in the prestigious international journal Tobacco Control, ASPIRE2025 co-director Professor Janet Hoek and colleague Dr Shelagh Ferguson from the Department of Marketing explored factors underpinning the rising popularity of RYO tobacco among young people. Professor Hoek says that earlier work has concluded that RYO tobacco users find it less expensive per stick than manufactured cigarettes. Yet, as a cheaper form of tobacco, RYO has evoked stereotypes of older, heavily addicted smokers that are very different from the image young people wish to communicate, she says. Young adults who use RYO tobacco face a dilemma. On the one hand, they want to smoke as cheaply as possible, but, on the other, they dont want to be associated with negative stereotypes. The research team, which also involved summer student Erin Court and international collaborator Professor Karine Gallopel-Morvan of the EHESP School of Public Health in Rennes, undertook a detailed qualitative study involving 20 young adults to explore how they managed this dilemma. We found they associated positive attributes with RYO cigarettes such as being more natural or organic, and less harmful. says Professor Hoek. They also developed cigarette rolling rituals and saw the sticks they created as personal creations that provided them with social cachet. The researchers probed how changing the colour of rolling paper would affect participants views of RYO cigarettes and found an unattractive mustard colour could reduce their appeal. When put in the context of earlier work into RYO tobacco use, the researchers point to several policy implications. First, RYO tobacco remains less expensive than manufactured cigarettes, which means smokers may switch to RYO rather than quit. The government needs to remove this anomaly, introduce differential excise tax increases on rolling tobacco, and ensure there is no cost advantage in buying RYO tobacco, says Professor Hoek. The researchers also suggest measures to make RYO cigarettes less appealing. We need unattractively coloured rolling paper, and packaging used to contain rolling paper and filters should have to adopt standardised packaging, which features an unappealing colour and large pictorial warnings. The researchers also call on policy makers to address widely held misperceptions that RYO tobacco is more natural and less harmful than manufactured cigarettes. ASPIRE2025 co-director Professor Richard Edwards, who has examined these false beliefs in previous research, suggests there may be a place for educational interventions to correct misperceptions. However, the researchers argue that if future studies continue to find high rates of RYO use and false beliefs about RYO, particularly among youth and young adults, there would be grounds for banning RYO tobacco sales altogether. For more information, contact: Professor Janet Hoek Department of Marketing University of Otago Tel 03 479 7692 Email janet.hoek@otago.ac.nz Delta Colleges enrollment continues to slide but officials are heartened by growth in areas such as dual enrollment and new students. Student headcount for fall 2016 is 9,132, a 1.7 percent decline from last fall. While a 1.7 percent dip is still cause for concern, its not as dramatic a decrease as the 5 percent hit Deltas enrollment has experienced the past few years. We definitely have some very encouraging developments this year, said Zachary Ward, director of admissions and recruitment. Even though our overall numbers have still gone down, we brought in one of the largest classes in years. Delta welcomed 2,863 new students, up 8.45 percent from fall 2015. In addition, there are 938 high school students taking Delta classes, our highest number ever, Ward said of the growing dual enrollment picture. Helping spark overall growth in new student enrollment is a rise in the traditional student population, typically described as the 18-22-year-old demographic. This grew by 5 percent, which is the first time it has gone up in several years, Ward said. We are extremely happy with what we were able to accomplish this year. Our new student growth is really showing that our local populations are continuing to see the value in a Delta education and are making us their top choice to pursue an education. Since peaking at a record 11,766 students in winter semester 2011, Delta has endured a precipitous decline in enrollment, a trend that concerns all of us, President Jean Goodnow noted at her recent state of the college address. Officials said enrollment management and retention initiatives, including the implementation of a $327,000 customer management system from Ellucian Strategic Planning Services, are in place to attract a larger percentage of a declining K-12 population and adults seeking new skills. Delta College continues to be a great choice for recent grads and adult students, Ward said. Delta is supporting the growing needs of local businesses with graduates in a variety of health, business, computer technology and skilled trade fields. While overall numbers remain down, Delta did exceed its credit hour projections by 1.5 percent. We are very pleased to meet and exceed our budgeted projection, Ward said. The college did plan for a decline in enrollment because, historically, as the economy improves community college enrollments across the nation slip. Additionally, in our region, general population and K-12 enrollments are declining. Ward also cited the colleges online course offerings as a highlight of the fall 2016 enrollment profile. Delta College continues to be a convenient option for many students as those taking an online course is up 2 percent from last year, and up almost 9 percent from 2014. In September 2014, the Michigan Association of United Ways released the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report, a study on the size and scope of Michigan workers who live paycheck to paycheck, hovering on the brink of poverty. The Consumers Energy Foundation has again provided a $25,000 grant to MAUW to update the report to measure changes in the ALICE population over time and to expand awareness and deepen engagement across various sectors in Michigan. The report will be released in spring 2017. The first report provided a county-by-county look at the state of Michigans ALICE population residents who earn more than the U.S. poverty line, but less than the basic cost of living and noted that 40 percent of Michigan households dont make enough money to cover their costs for housing, child care, transportation, health care and food. In addition to the size of the ALICE population in Michigan, the report sought to identify the obstacles that keep these residents from achieving financial stability. We are committed to helping Michigan residents manage their bills and helping provide resources that help them build strong households and communities, said Carolyn Bloodworth, Consumers Energy Foundations secretary/treasurer. Updating the ALICE report will enable us to keep a spotlight on the number of ALICE households and what else we all can do to support the states working families. With the grant from the Consumers Energy Foundation, MAUW will update the report to provide new data for the core measures, including number of ALICE households, cost of household survival budget, economic conditions and public assistance. Additionally, the updated report will identify changes between 2014 and 2016, such as the impact of the Affordable Care Act or increase in Michigans minimum wage, as well as new trends across the state and the consequences of insufficient household income for the greater community. United Ways across Michigan use the ALICE report data to convene local and regional leaders at all levels to discuss the importance of affecting change, align investments for greater impact identifying areas of greatest needs and supporting strategic planning efforts, and develop resources to help the most vulnerable, the MAUW stated. ALICE has demonstrated success as a unifier not only in our United Way system, but across community partners as well, said Scott Dzurka, MAUW president. While weve identified the core issues in our first report, we need to determine if the information has been used to institute change to ensure working families are able to pay for basic necessities. We are grateful for the continued support Consumers Energy is providing to the ALICE initiative. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate On paper, annual health reports consistently rank Midland County among the best in state. Midlands health ranking moved to No. 8 best in state this year, up from 23rd in 2010, according to the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institutes annual County Health Rankings study. Quality of life, health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors and physical environments all fare well here, the study shows. By another measure, child poverty has gone up in nearly every county since 2006. That includes Midland, where nearly 15 percent of children lived in poverty in 2014 a 10 percent increase from nine years ago. Still, Midland County ranked sixth best for child wellbeing this year, according to the Michigan League for Public Policys Kids Count data. The reports, chock-full of stats and evaluations, give a birds eye view. And numbers rarely tell the whole story. So this week, United Way of Midland County packed a bus and gave tour-goers a firsthand look at agencies that help Midlands working poor almost 20 percent of the countys total population, United Way says and others in need. The organization said it is at an encouraging 10 percent ($447,352) of its $4.5 million fundraising goal in the first of its seven-week campaign. The campaign seeks to improve education, health and self-sufficiency in Midland. The Daily News followed along the bus tour. First stop: Life can be challenging some days Some 20 people step down from the bus and walk up a driveway on West Union Street to an open garage. Jennifer Gentile, 40, is seated in a wheelchair. She eagerly talks about her fully accessible house built by the city and Midland Public Schools, parts of which she helped sand down during construction. She told of a misconception in some communities that people with disabilities cannot give back. Not in Midland, she said. Gentile has cerebral palsy, ADD and ADHD. Her parents were addicted to drugs and alcohol, which she said creates a constant craving for her. Life can be challenging some days, she said. She works at the Arnold Center and has been a volunteer at the nonprofit Arc of Midland since 2008, helping the organization promote the welfare of those with disabilities. She said its important to tell others of the value of self-advocacy and independent living. She speaks on a circuit, shes all over the place, said Holly Miller, United Ways vice president of impact and communications, as Gentile escorted visitors along a widened hall to a bedroom and bathroom. People with disabilities, Gentile said, have the same heartaches and same dreams as everyone else. Between the two parallels, Im living my dream at the moment, she said. I will still advocate, always. Thats my main mission. Its truly what I believe I was put on this earth to do, she said. Twenty years ago at a nursing home, she said she wouldnt have said the same thing. Its because of supporters like you guys that Midland has come as far as it has, Gentile said. A sobering stop at Safe and Sound Safe and Sound Child Advocacy Center, in a small office building on South Jefferson Avenue, formed in 2007 to prevent child abuse and neglect, and improve the quality of life for children. Paintings inscribed with the words hope and love are pinned to soft-colored walls, parenting resources and crayons on tables. Sexual assault interviews take place in a room with cameras, one-way mirrors and small microphones. Forensic interviewers and a multi-disciplinary team watch the narrative from an adjacent room. A decision is made whether to refer cases to nurses, with the help of detectives. The center handled more than 150 cases in its first year. Center officials told tour-goers they get referrals involving children as young as 2. United Way has regularly allocated funds to Safe and Sound, as have several other county organizations. Stop No. 3: Midlands poorest of the poor At Salvation Army on Waldo Avenue, tour-goers sat in an open chapel, listening to Capt. Brian Goodwill explain the organizations services over the past 75 years. (In large part: Helping verified county residents pay rent, utilities, transportation costs. Salvation handles more than 1,000 cases and makes about 900 referrals per year for those facing eviction or shut-offs, Goodwill said.) From there, the group headed downstairs to a walk-in pantry. Inside were dozens of shelves of food. Toiletries and diapers. Meats stored in freezers. A still air thick with a familiar scent. A family of four with an income of $24,300 would be at 100 percent of the current federal poverty guidelines; with an income of $36,450, that family would be at 150 percent. Most Salvation Army clients fall in between zero and 100 percent, and about 20 to 30 percent are at the 150 percent level, Goodwill said. Were really working with some of the poorest of the poor in our county, he said. Panera Bread, a huge donor, had made a drop-off Wednesday morning. Also at Salvation Army, Megan Potts told of the push for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and coding within the Boy Scouts Heartland District, which includes 1,277 Scouts in Midland, Gladwin, Clare, Isabella and Gratiot counties. The tour was sponsored by The Dow Chemical Co. and Dow Corning, both of which allowed all employees to sign up, Miller of United Way said. It was the second year United Way did the tour. Community members were invited to a similar ride in the spring, Miller said. These tours serve as a gateway to better understand the needs of the community, she said. When people are struggling, its not just one need. (Homeless people) may need job retraining. They may not have enough money to pay for food. These arent strangers. They are people we see in the aisles of Meijer and waiting on us in the drive-thru. The route didnt hit all of some 60-plus programs United Way helps fund, but it did paint the picture for tour-goers, Miller said. In an effort to boost literacy, volunteers this week kicked off United Ways 2016 campaign by reading Judith Viorsts 1972 childrens classic Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to every first grade classroom in Midland County (story: http://bit.ly/2cs7abd). Volunteers will read to second graders next week and third grade classrooms the week after. The campaign runs until Oct. 31. SEE RELATED: United Way's investment areas SPRINGFIELD Barring future court action, David Gill's name will not appear on the Nov. 8 ballot as an independent candidate in the 13th Congressional District. The Illinois State Board of Elections voted unanimously Monday to remove Gill, a Bloomington physician whos previously run for Congress four times as a Democrat, because he failed to collect the 10,754 signatures he needed on his nominating petitions to earn a spot on the ballot. The move comes less than a month after the elections board certified the ballot with Gills name on it despite his failure to collect enough signatures. When the board met Aug. 26 to certify the ballot, it was under an order from U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough to allow Gills name to appear alongside those of incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and Democratic challenger Mark Wicklund of Decatur. After Gill filed a federal lawsuit challenging the signature requirement, Myerscough found that he and his supporters would suffer irreparable harm if he wasnt on the ballot. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in and blocked Myerscoughs order, pending the outcome of an appeal from the Illinois attorney generals office. Gills attorneys have asked the full 7th Circuit to reconsider, and theyve requested an accelerated appeals process due to the tight time frame. Local election authorities have until Friday to prepare absentee ballots to be mailed to military and overseas voters. As of Monday afternoon, the appeals court had yet to act on the requests from Gills attorneys. Meanwhile, a hearing officer for the elections board found that Gill collected even fewer valid signatures than originally thought. An initial review found that Gill and his petition circulators had collected 8,593 valid signatures, but a further examination found more than 100 additional invalid signatures, general counsel Ken Menzel told board members Monday. Jerry Stocks, the former Macon County Republican Party chairman who filed an objection to Gills petitions, alleges that one circulator submitted a large number of signatures in the same handwriting. Menzel told the board that the hearing officer believed the allegation to be credible, and the board directed staff to refer the matter to local states attorneys for further investigation, which is standard practice in situations involving possible fraud. Sam Cahnman, a Springfield attorney representing Gill, said the candidate never met the circulator who collected the signatures in question, and he argued that there was insufficient evidence to show they were illegitimate. Cahnman said the boards action to remove Gill from the ballot isnt the final word on the subject. Were not done yet, he said. This is not the last stage of this scenario. If the appellate court wont agree to reconsider the three-judge panels decision, Gill could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He argues the signature requirement for independent candidates is unconstitutional because its out of line with the requirements for major party candidates. While Gill had to collect 10,754 signatures, Davis and Wicklund each had to gather fewer than 740. BLOOMINGTON The Illinois chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is renaming its annual community award in honor of Michael Collins, who was killed by a drunk driver in Bloomington in March 2014. The announcement came at the organization's recent Law Enforcement Recognition Banquet in Springfield. The award is given to the individual or organization that demonstrates fellowship with others by sharing similar attitudes, values, interests and goals with respect to MADDs mission and an overall desire to improve the quality of life in their community. Collins was a 22-year-old senior at Illinois State University when a car he was a passenger in was struck by another traveling at more than 100 mph at Main and Empire streets near downtown. The driver's blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit and she ran a red light before striking the car Collins was in. He died four days later. In announcing the change, Sam Canzoneri, state executive director of MADD, noted that The Michael Collins Foundation, founded by his parents, Jim and Kelly Collins of Normal, has been "extremely generous to MADD Illinois and have donated considerable funds, as well as their time and leadership that has allowed for MADD to further pursue its mission to stop drunk and drugged driving, prevent underage drinking and provide services to victims of this violent crime. Our family is deeply humbled that MADD has changed the name of the award to embody Michaels spirit and the mission of his foundation. We will continue to partner with MADD to raise awareness and fight against this senseless and preventable crime, said Kelly Collins in a statement. MADD is marking its 35th year as the nation's largest nonprofit working to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of those crimes and prevent underage drinking. NORMAL A second traffic citation has been issued to the driver involved in an Aug. 23 crash that killed a Normal man. Monica Mendoza, 21, is charged with disobeying a stop sign. Mendoza, an Illinois State University student from Belvidere, was previously issued a ticket for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Lanny Lodbell, 74, was killed as he jogged across the crosswalk at intersection of Grandview Drive and Vernon Avenue in Normal, which is marked with four-way stop signs. According to police, the victim was pinned under the driver's car when emergency workers arrived on the scene. An autopsy report indicated that Lobdell died of multiple blunt force injuries to the chest. Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said Monday the second traffic citation was issued after a review of an accident reconstructionist's report of the crash scene. The accident reports will be forwarded to the McLean County state's attorney's office for further review, said Bleichner. A Sept. 27 hearing previously was set in McLean County Circuit Court. Belgium has granted the first doctor-assisted suicide to a minor, who is only 17-year-old. The teenager has reportedly been suffering from a terminal illness and sought the right to die after Belgium lifted its age restriction for euthanasia. CNN reports that the doctor-assisted suicide was done a few weeks ago but details about the 17-year-old have been kept confidential. The European country's Federal Control and Evaluation Committee on Euthanasia stated that there have generally been quite a few minors seeking mercy killing but after reviewing the policies, lawmakers decided that euthanasia should not be denied to young people. In 2002, Belgium made doctor-assisted suicide legal in the hopes of giving adults the most dignified death. But by 2014, the government removed the age restriction. However, minors wishing to die by euthanasia must have the complete consent of their parents and is only applicable to children suffering from an incurable disease, per Patients Rights Council. According to Euronews, Belgium remains the only country in the world to allow doctor-assisted suicide for minors, regardless of age. Since the country made euthanasia legal, there have already been 8,752 cases of mercy killing. In the United States, only four states have made doctor-assisted suicide legal California, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Certain states, such as Montana and New Mexico, have select counties allowing euthanasia, New York Times noted. CNN has compiled a separate historical timeline of how euthanasia laws have been enforced in some states in America. Patients who long to have doctor-assisted suicide, should the time come, believe that this should be a basic right for humans with life-long, incurable and terminal illness. However, the teachings of the Church oppose euthanasia and this still remains a sensitive debate in many countries. According to Action Life, the arguments for and against euthanasia are as heated as debating on abortion. Where do you stand on euthanasia? As a parent, would you consent to this, if it happens to your own family? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. The leader of the Catholic Church scrubbed in and visited babies at a maternity ward in Rome, Italy last Friday, Sept. 16. Most of these babies were born premature or had different serious medical conditions while some have been slowly been progressing. The pope carried at least 12 babies in his arms and talked with their parents at the San Giovanni Hospital. Yahoo reports that Pope Francis' visit was unexpected. "The Pope, who was greeted with astonishment by the staff, put on a face mask and underwent all the necessary hygiene precautions for the aseptic environment," said the Vatican in the official statement, per Yahoo. The pope then checked the babies who were in the incubators. According to Radio Vatican, five of the 12 infants have complicated conditions. Pope Francis supposedly offered comfort to their parents. After his visit to the maternity ward, the pope then went to a hospice facility, which has been caring for terminally ill patients. The staff and patients at Villa Speranza were also not aware that the pope would be dropping by. Pope Francis' has been doing this surprise visits as part of the Holy Year of Mercy observance of the Catholic Church. The pontiff wanted to send a message regarding "the importance of life from its first moment until its natural end," the official Vatican statement highlighted. According to the Daily Mail, the pope plans to spend one Friday of each month in the Holy Year of Mercy to visit hospitals and other care facilities. The move comes just a few weeks after the Vatican canonized Mother Teresa, whom the pope believes to be the epitome of mercy and service. "Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded," Pope Francis said in the homily celebrating Mother Teresa's sainthood, per CNN. Meanwhile, watch the video below to see Pope Francis with the babies at the maternity ward in San Giovanni Hospital. For more news and updates, check out Parent Herald. Schools across America are making lockdown drills as common as fire drills. However, as this becomes a requirement to prepare the students in case of attacks, shouldn't parents also be involved in the drills? According to the Washington Post, parents should be oriented about these lockdown drills, along with the students and teachers, so that they can also discuss and process this better with their children. Even as the school lockdown drills are efficient, the safety plan might become lost on the parents, when this can be a highly-charged emotional situation. Parents should be included in the training to deliver the most appropriate response to such an emergency. "That [preparation of the parents] piece seems so simple, but that was something that really fell apart for our [Sandy Hook] school community," said Michele Gay, who lost a child in Sandy Cook in the December 2012 school shooting. Just this September, a lockdown instituted at a high school in Memphis after a police chase with a suspect caused panic among parents, WREG reports. It took hours for the school to finally give parents an assurance that the incident has been controlled. But while the adults are thankful the school informed them of the situation, some hoped they weren't left in the dark for hours. Since the rise in shooting incidents, school districts in New York have mandated lockdown drills for students, where at least four drills must be done within this school year. John Gammon of the Livonia High School Assistant Principal/Safety Coordinator stated (via 13 WHAM), doing just one lockdown drill in a year won't cut it. "We find some glitch an area in the building that we can be more secure." During school lockdown drills, the students are taught about how they can protect each other in case of an intruder attack or a shooting incident. Although the hope is that the lockdown drills won't have to be executed, preparing the students is necessary and helpful. "We'd be naive to think an incident -- when we see Columbine, when we see Sandy Hook -- couldn't happen here in our community," said Lt. Patrick Fitzgerald of the Orchard Park police, via Buffalo News. The year isn't over yet, but there have already been 136 mass shootings from Jan. to June 2016, per CNN. Many of these happened in schools and universities. Parents, what's your take on school lockdown drills? Would you be pushing to have parents join in the training as well? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Wynwood is reportedly to be visited by Florida Governor Rick Scott and it is expected that he would clear the "Zika Zone" in the area. According to reports, the visit by Scott will take place on Monday and will start at 8:15 a.m. He will be joined by Tomas Regalado, the City of Miami Mayor; Carlos Gimenez, the County Mayor; and the Wynwood Business Improvement District. The visit will be held at Wynwood Walls. NBC Miami reveals that the state and local leaders visiting Wynwood are likely to announce that the area is no longer considered a Zika zone since it has been 45 days since new cases were reported there. The Zika Zone has affected businesses for the different bars, galleries and restaurants in the artsy district. The Vice President of the Wynwood Business Improvement District, Albert Garcia, said in a statement that they are relieved there have been no additional cases locally transmitted and that the declaration of Zika Zone has made Wynwood stronger than ever, Miami Herald reports. Garcia added, "We encourage the public to rediscover our world-renowned street art, cultural, retail and unique dining experiences." Wynwood was the first community in the U.S. where it was believed that the mosquitoes carrying the virus lived. The other Zika Zone is the Miami Beach. Days ago, it has been reported that an expansion of the local transmission area in Miami Beach was recorded. Scott announced last Friday that the Department of Health decided to expand the area of local transmission on Miami Beach from 8th Street to 63rd Street. These areas will continue to be sprayed with insecticide until next week, said Mayor Gimenez. Hundreds of people in Florida have been infected with the virus, which can cause severe birth defect such as microcephaly. Pregnant women have been advised not to travel to countries with high cases of Zika virus. It seems that Poland, the home and origin of the acclaimed "The Witcher Saga," has decided to honor the sheer popularity and success of one of its own by issuing a line of postal stamps with a design featuring the likeness of "The Witcher" main protagonist Geralt of Rivia. Game Informer reported the news, revealing that the legendary glare of "The Witcher" himself, Geralt of Rivia, is now gracing an officially sanctioned stamp design. Damien Monnier, the lead designer of the real life version of the in-universe card game "Gwent," originally shared the news on Twitter. The new stamp design features one of the more iconic graphic arts from "The Witcher" franchise, showing Geralt drawing his sword while shooting a glare with his cat-like yellow eyes. Sure enough, a posting on the website for the Poctza Polska, the Polish state postal service, confirms the validity of the stamp as being official and not just some third-party collectible. The description of the site indicates that the Geralt of Rivia "Witcher" stamp will equal about 6 Polish zloty, which is about $1.55. Other details for the stamp indicates the line will be printed with photogravure, and on fluorescent paper with dimensions sitting at 31.25 mm in width and 39.5 mm in height. As an official postal stamp, the "Witcher" Geralt of Rivia stamp is valid for use on mail. However, the line will reportedly be limited edition according to Polygon, meaning that the stamps could eventually have added value as outright collectibles likely sometime in the future. Geralt is getting his own Polish stamp O__O pic.twitter.com/EAtAUlNnmZ Damien Monnier (@Bacon_is_life) September 15, 2016 Poland honoring "The Witcher" franchise by including the face of its main protagonist into official stamps is unsurprising, considering the country is where the very root of the franchise is located. "The Witcher Saga" of books are written by Andrzej Sapkowski, a Polish fantasy author. Initially, "The Witcher" series was a relative unknown in mainstream media. It was not until Polish video game development company CD Projekt Red, now a booming household name, brought the series to a notice of the non-Polish audience with the universally acclaimed "The Witcher" series of video games that began in 2005. 2015 saw the release of the final entry in the series in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," with 2016 featuring the final major expansion for the story and supposedly CD Projekt Red's final work in the series. Infidelity and lying are the most common issues, causing a marriage to fail. There are also silent threats that slowly destroy a marriage -- though they may appear insignificant for some couples. Ryan Howes, a psychologist in Pasadena, California, said couples should "build and sustain" friendships outside of the relationship, according to The Huffington Post. By having friends, a person can gain new experiences, insights, and support that can improve his/her marriage. Despite the positive results of maintaining close friendships, it's also important that these friends aren't bad influences. Laura Heck, the creator of the online couple's therapy course forBetter, said bad friends can negatively impact your own relationship and influence your mindset for the worse. Having close friendships doesn't mean your deep bond with your husband or wife should be overlooked. Liz Higgins, a couple's therapist based in Dallas, Texas, said that "intentional conversations" that have "deeper, more open-ended questions" about the relationship should always exist between partners. Insightful conversations between couples should be supplemented with physical touches, too. Partners who have reached the point where it's alright for them to have "special occasion only" sex such as birthdays and anniversaries are hurtling towards a marriage without sex and passion. Debra Campbell, a psychologist and couple's therapist based in Melbourne, Australia, said everyday sex isn't necessary, but "some kind of near-daily sexual or erotic acknowledgement is important in relationships." The slightest touches are a sign of intimacy and remind both partners that they are still wanted by the other. Having less physical contact is also a sign that your marriage has fallen into the "roommate syndrome." This arrangement means the couple's married life has become a routine, with their children, their shared space, and joint bank accounts serving as the only link between them. Being stuck in this rut can be fixed by working on a project that both partners enjoy. Another silent marriage killer is one partner's refusal to help clean the house. The person who's always tidying up the family home can feel resentment towards his/her partner that can build up over time and explode later on. Work can also damage a marriage. It's okay to be dedicated to your job, but it becomes wrong when the majority of your everyday life revolves around work and you become too tired to spend time with your partner, according to Business Insider. It's a bad sign when a person doesn't have anything to talk about with their spouse other than his/her job. Prioritizing work responsibilities than the activities you normally do with your spouse is also a silent marriage killer. Children inherit intelligence directly from their mom, according to a study. It is then important that men should look for smart women to make sure that the kids get the right intelligence genes. A mother's genes are heading to the cerebral cortex while those of the father's go to the limbic system. "Genes housed on the X chromosome shed new light on the human mind, including why identical female twins differ more than male twins, why there are more male geniuses and male autists, and why you may have mom to thank for your brains..." Psychology Today reports. Your child may give the credit to your future wife but it does not matter as long as your kid is a genius, if you prefer that. Here is something to take note from the study. If the child is a girl, the X chromosome inherited from her mother is like any other chromosome, or a random combination of genes from both of her mother's Xs. On the other hand, the X a woman inherits from the father is his one and only X chromosome, which is totally passed on, undiluted. The father therefore is twice as closely related to his daughter through the X chromosome genes that he has passed on as is her mother. Hence, any X gene from any mother has a 50/50 chance of being inherited by a daughter. But the X gene in a father is certainly passed on to the daughter. A report on Intelligence and the X Chromosome that went viral recently claims that "genes on the X chromosome contribute disproportionately to human intelligence. There are several methodological and conceptual difficulties with this analysis ... and that X chromosomes can only be inherited from the mother, males would inherit most of their intelligence from their mothers." Science explains the importance of chromosomes to the intelligence of a child. Nonetheless, not all human beings are born with the same intelligence. Some enter this world with autism. There are those who are categorized as high-functioning autistic individuals, who are mostly way too intelligent or genius so to speak. Some, however, have to journey this world as the opposite. Samsung Electronics continues to remain strong over the latest controversy involving its newest flagship, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The hardware issue concerning the battery fiasco has been carefully addressed by the smartphone giant since Monday this week. It has been known that even airline companies have been prohibiting its passengers to bring along any Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on-board flights, and now even shipping companies are already reluctant to carry the faulty units as a safety precaution, reports GSM Arena. UPS and FedEx are among them to confirm, prompting Samsung to announce a new program to facilitate the exchange for new ones. OMG I'm on an @AerLingus flight and they just made an announcement that the @samsung #Note7 is banned from use due to #Note7Recall.... Clare Cullen Clisare (@Clisare) September 19, 2016 Meanwhile, the exchange program has already been underway for replacement units to be delivered in the UK, Canada, and Ireland. U.S. owners of the faulty Samsung Galaxy Note 7s may need to wait until September 21st for the new Note units, as told to CNET. Samsung Mobile UK & Ireland VP Conor Pierce also stressed the need for current Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners to surrender their defective pre-owned units to go for the replacement right away. Pierce further stated that by facilitating the exchange, their customers would still be able to enjoy the maximum benefits of owning Samsung's flagship mobile offering. In other news, customers who had already received their replacement units via the Samsung exchange program have reported seeing a black square as one indicator that the unit is regarded safe to use. Some U.S. customers also said that the replacement phones are without the green battery indicator feature, and instead have a white battery indicator upon receipt of the new unit. Still, manually reporting a defective Samsung Galaxy Note 7 device yourself is another way to do it. It may take a while longer to wait for a replacement, however, it is better to stay safe at all costs. Jamie Dornan and Amelia Warner are in the news again as reports regarding Amelia Warner not supporting her "Fifty Shades Darker" Christian Grey with her Hollywood dreams come into focus. Warner who was always following Jamie Dornan around as he becomes a very in-demand actor is reported to be complaining because he is not always not around and is reported to be secretly seeing Dakota Johnson. Celeb Dirty Laundry reported that Jamie Dornan bought a house worth $2.8 million in Hollywood Hills so that he can get closer to Los Angeles as he needs to be near his work. However, Amelia Warner dislikes the house and prefers to live in their house in England where there are less noise and people who know her husband. News that Jamie Dornan also wants to be near Dakota Johnson also surfaced since the two are rumored to be having an affair. Fans of "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" also noticed that Amelia Warner was very protective of her husband during the filming of the "Fifty Shades" trilogy and could be seen on the set while Dornan and Johnson were doing their steamy scenes. Amelia Warner is not happy about the new house Jamie Dornan as she still wants her husband all for herself. But it is difficult for the "Fifty Shades Darker" actor to run away from his character now as the said movie made him an A-Lister now. Warner is complaining about going to Hollywood since she is still raising their young kids and raising them in Hollywood will be very difficult for the family as the paparazzi will always be there to watch their every move. As for the news regarding Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson having a relationship, there is still no proof regarding the "Fifty Shades Darker" pair as they have not been photographed together since the film already finished. Amelia Warner and Jamie Dornan will be facing a lot of challenges now that they have moved to Hollywood and Amelia Warner may need to be more protective of Dornan if she wants to keep her husband as there are a lot of women who will be after him because of his role in "Fifty Shades Darker." Before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube made their entry in the media market, the PatnaDaily had already registered its presence in... Patna: Even before the bodies of 17 Indian army jawans could turn cold in the latest attack by Kashmiri separatists with allegiance to Pakistani terror groups, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders and father-son duo Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav wasted no time in politicizing the tragedy accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the loss of 17 lives because of his 'poor foreign policy'. While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind expressed their grief over the deaths of Indian jawans, RJD chief accused Modi of letting Kashmir to slowly slip away from India's hand due to his 'inept' Pakistan policy. "It is due to the irresponsible actions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we lost 17 jawans, six of them from Bihar, in Kashmir," Yadav said. His son and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav, following the footsteps of his father, advised Prime Minister to cease 'sacrificing the lives of Indian soldiers in the name of peace and foreign policy'. "The Uri attack and the deaths of Indian soldiers is the direct result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's failed foreign policies. The fact that terrorists are able to rush into Indian army camps is a matter of great concern. There should be no compromise when it comes to national security," the Deputy Chief Minister said. As reported, the terrorist assault on Army Brigade HQ in Uri along the Line of Control (LoC) took place on early Sunday morning in which 17 soldiers lost their lives. Six of them belonged to the Bihar Regiment. An Indian commando team managed to kill four terrorists. Podcast About 75% of military recruits arrive at a training base with no bank account and have to be bussed to a local bank to open one, says Jill Castilla, CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond. The bank's team is building a platform that will help service members save and build credit. The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops These are the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now A man is in the hospital recovering from second- and third-degree burns he received when authorities say a honey oil lab ignited a blaze at a Highland home Saturday afternoon. Gustavo Lopez Felix, 24, was found lying in the front yard of the burning home in the 26900 block of Fisher Street, just east of Central Avenue, on Saturday afternoon and was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. An arrest is pending, according to a San Bernardino County sheriffs news release. Just after 12:30 p.m. deputies and San Bernardino County fire personnel were called to the Fisher Street home, officials said. When they arrived they found the front rooms burning. After the fire was extinguished, investigators recovered evidence of an illegal drug lab inside one of the bedrooms, sheriffs officials said in the release. Sheriffs bomb and arson detectives and narcotics detectives are assisting with the investigation. A committee that reviews the work of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control will hold three meetings in Southern California this week, including one Wednesday, Sept. 21, in Jurupa Valley. The departments Independent Review Panel was created in 2015 and includes members appointed by the governor, Assembly speaker and Senate rules committee. It makes recommendations on improving the departments public outreach, financial management and backlog of enforcement cases. The Inland meeting will be at 10 a.m. at Jurupa Valley City Hall, 8930 Limonite Ave. Other meetings in Southern California are Tuesday in Chatsworth and Wednesday evening in Commerce. Details and meeting agendas are available at www.dtsc.ca.gov/GetInvolved/ReviewPanel/Independent-Review-Panel.cfm or by calling 916-327-4493. Police in Los Angeles say a young U.S. Marine shot in the city while on weekend leave is unlikely to survive his injuries. The Los Angeles Police Department says Carlos Segovia was shot once in the back of the head while sitting in a car Friday night. KABC-TV reports police say a vehicle pulled up beside Segovias Dodge Charger, and one or more people opened fire on Segovia. Police tell the Los Angeles Times that Segovia has little to no brain function. A family friend tells the Times that Segovia was on leave from Camp Pendleton near San Diego and was visiting family and friends in Los Angeles. Police say Segovia wasnt in uniform during the shooting, and no suspects have been identified. Investigators dont have a motive. Ghana, since 1992 has undergone significant political transformation from the days of J.J Rawlings against Adu Boahene (1992), J.J Rawlings against J.A Kuffour(1996), J.A Kuffour against J.E.A Mills (2000), J.A Kuffour against J.EA Mills (2004), J.E.A Mills against Akufo-Addo (2008) and J.D Mahama against Akufo-Addo (2012). Until the fourth republic, the voting patterns in election years had been between Nkrumah and Danquah/Busia traditions. The origin, political ideologies of the leaders of these two traditions greatly influenced the regional voting behaviour of the electorates. The beginning of the fourth republic has seen a paradigm shift in voter support and subsequent voting trends from the previous Nkrumah/CPP Danquah/Busia lines to a Rawlings/NDC Danguah/Busia (NPP) tradition. Ghana, being a ten-regional nation has suffered from continuous political divisiveness based on ethnic/tribal belongingness engineered by political party affiliations, ideologies, birth places of majority of the leaders and by dent of family heritage. A critical look at the regional/ethnic voting patterns from the 2000 to 2012 show clearly that, Ghana is indeed politically divided. Without any un-biasness, Ghana could by far be described as a two party state (National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party) since 1992, have all tested political power in turns. However, the determinants of these two political parties reign have not been on socio-development ideas but rather two regions considered to be their world banks. The NDC, per the origin of its party founder (J.J Rawlings) have benefited immensely from the Volta Region whiles the NPP has equally gained much support from the Ashanti Region. In the 2000 general elections, NPP, represented by J.A Kuffour amazed 78.80% whiles the NDC, led by J.E.A Mills tried hard to secure 22.51% of the total ballot cast in the Ashanti Region. This gave a clear difference of 56.29%. On the other hand, the story was totally different in the Volta Region, where the NDC bagged 86.28% as compared to the NPP which begged for 7.90% of the total ballot cast. Here, the difference was 78.38%. Mind you, J.A Kuffour is a born and bred Ashanti man so it was not surprising that he was able to amaze the said total number of votes from his home region. The overwhelming record of the NDC in the Volta Region was attributed to the founder J.J Rawlings; who is a native of the Volta Region but not the partys candidate, J.E.A Mills. Having won the 2000 general elections, J.A Kuffour was optimistic of a second term in office after the 2004 elections. However, though the Ashanti region gave him 76.97% as compared to his competitor J.E.A Mills who secured 21.84% of the total ballot cast. The Volta Region still showed enough love and support for the NDC with an 84.06% vote which was a slight decline to the previous election. The NPP on the other hand had by means of development projects, increased its popularity in the region by gaining 13.68% which was an appreciable increase in the previous election. Despite the differences the in the votes gained, the Ashanti and Volta Regions never rescinded their loyalty to the two parties. Akufo-Addo, in 2008 was a new candidate for the NPP, going by the matrixes of previous elections and if indeed Ghanaian elections were based on programs, policy ideas and candidates popularity, J.E.A Mills, who was contesting for a third consecutive time should have indeed garnered more votes in the Ashanti Region. The NPP still dominated with 72.53% as compared to the NDCs 26.01% of the total ballot cast. NDC recorded 85.47% with the NPP bagging a consoling 15.38% votes in the Volta Region. J.E.A Mills emerged the winner of the 2008 general elections with a tally of votes from his hometown region; Central Region which gave him 50.58%. The sudden and tragic demise of J.E.A Mills gave way to the then sitting Vice president John Mahama. After serving the remaining term of J.E.A Mills, the NDC endorsed him as their flagbearer going into the 2012 general elections. John Mahama had less than six months within which to tour the length and breadth of Ghana to campaign. But then again, the world bank of the NDC (Volta Region) did the magic, supported by the three Northern Regions because Mahama hails from there. The voting trend was more of a recurrence; Ashanti Region gave 28.35% to NDC and 70.86% for NPP. Volta Region never disappointed the NDC with a resounding majority vote of 85.47% with 12.93% going to the NPP. This phenomenon is very detrimental to the democracy, security, economic stability and social cohesion of Ghana. A rigorous national sensitization and an equitable distribution of all natural resources of the nation backed by an all-inclusive/comprehensive development agenda must be the strategic formula in bridging this political divisive gab. Source: Good Governance Africa-West Africa Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President John Mahama has left Accra for New York to attend the 71st General Assembly of the United Nations. This years General Debate will open on Tuesday, with President Mahama scheduled to address the world body on Wednesday, September 21. As Co-Chair of the UN Advocacy Group on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), President Mahama will be co-hosting a number of side events related to the successful implementation and advocacy for the SDGs. These include a GSM Association-organised event on the role of Mobile Innovation and the Private Sector towards accelerating the implementation of SDGs and achieving the 2030 Agenda. President Mahama will also co-host with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), a side event on Pathways to Zero Hunger, which will showcase concrete transformations in food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture in support of the delivery of the 2030 Agenda. The President will join other leaders at a US-Africa Business Forum being organised by the US Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and also attend meetings of the SDG Advocacy Group. President Mahama will also hold bilateral meetings with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, President David Granger of Guyana, the Chief Executive of the Millenium Challenge Corporation and other Organisations. President Mahama is accompanied by his wife, Lordina, who will be chairing meetings of the Oraganisation of African First Ladies against HIV & AIDS (OAFLA) and other side events for First Ladies. Also on the delegation are the Ministers responsible for Foreign Affairs, Interior, Communications and Trade & Industry. Source: Flagstaff House Communications Bureau Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon has implored Madam Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, not to disallow the vote transfer from the University of Ghana. Speaking on Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' programme, Hon. Kyeremateng Agyarko noted that the Electoral Commission has planned not to allow the students of the University of Ghana to vote on campus due to the absence of a polling center in the institution. According to him, the EC's action means the students are to go outside the campus to cast their votes which inadvertently will incapacitate some of the students whose polling centers are outside the Greater Accra Region. He stated that the EC is the referee for the elections and so "must be seen to be rather helping and facilitating. They are the elections management body. They must be facilitating. They must not be impeding people. But to him, if the EC fails to adjust their laws to suit the students, the Commission will disenfranchise a large number of the students. He advised the Commission to heed the calls from the students, saying "they should listen to the students. Then they will be seen as a friend of the electorate. They will be seen as facilitating what they need to do . . . They are Ghanaians. Theyve written their names. They hold the future. Whatever we can do for them to vote and have their heart desires answered for the government they desire to come to power. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A press conference addressed by Boakye K. Agyarko, NPP Policy Advisor/ Chairman of the NPP Manifesto Committee at the NPP Headquarters on September 19, 2016. Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the press. There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept. If you succeed in deceiving the electorate, do not take them for fools. Realize that the people of Ghana trusted you more than you deserved. Exactly 78 days from today, the people of Ghana will embark on the extremely important exercise of electing a new president of the Republic and 275 Members of Parliament In the past four years, Ghanaians have found out the hard way that elections have consequences, which may not always be pleasant. The choices we make on Election Day will not only determine the direction Ghana will be led on for the next four years, but also the impact of this stewardship on our country long after the four-year term has ended. The decision in December will revolve essentially around whether Ghanaians should give President Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) another four years making a total of twelve straight years in office; or whether Ghanaians will vote for change and bring back, after eight years out of office, the New Patriotic Party, under the new leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. In spite of all the efforts by our main opponents, the NDC, to dumb down the debate and get the electorate to focus less on bread and butter issues, we, of the NPP, understand politics to be nothing but a competition of innovative ideas to propel a country forward. And these ideas can only be successfully executed with the right mix of competence, conviction, discipline and integrity. So we invited you here today to share a few initial comments and observations we have on the 2016 NDC Manifesto that was effectively re-launched on Saturday, after the President spent two hours to take us through it last Tuesday. The NDC is coming to the end of its second term in office. As an incumbent government, one expects them to make this bid for re-election based on their performance of the past years. Instead, we see the NDC making very grandiose promises to Ghanaians of what they would do if re-elected whilst staying silent on how their performance in the past is an indicator of how well they will do, if re-elected. At the weekend, yet another avalanche of promises were made in Sunyani. Never mind that a litany of broken NDC promises littered their path to Sunyani. One can only predict the future under another Mahama government by judging from what featured in his recent past performance - a future of promises, lies, excuses and more broken promises. At the end of this news conference, we will share with you a tall list of their failed promises for your perusal. Voters can be forgiving, if a performing government fails to fulfil some line items in its manifesto. The purpose of government is to improve the lives of its people. Are people better off as you promised? Are businesses doing well? Have you improved the quality of delivery of public services? Have you strengthened the institutions of state and deepened democratic governance? Have you improved the management of the economy and public finances? Have you tackled corruption and waste in public expenditure? These are the benchmarks by which Ghanaians should measure President Mahamas performance not the phantom achievements outlined in the Green and promises in the manifesto which they intend to break. In their rule book, promises are made to win an election and not to govern a nation. However, President Mahama explains his Manifestos rationale by saying if re-elected he would continue with the work he is doing, saying: We still have more roads to construct, more houses to build, more food to produce, additional educational and health facilities to provide and , most importantly, more jobs to create. It appears he is proud of his achievements of the past four years. What we have in John Mahama is a president who is so out-of-touch with the problems of the average Ghanaian that he sees his non-performance in these sectors as a success. And, yet, when you speak to random people around Ghana, it appears their concerns, problems and anxieties are the same. Unemployment, bad roads, the lack of decent and affordable accommodation and the high costs as well as the falling standards in education and health. President Mahama wants Ghanaians to believe that if re-elected, he would ensure equitable development for all our citizens. The reality, however, is starkly different. Even members of his own party recognise that the Presidents Better Ghana Agenda has been for the benefit of only his family and friends. Today, we want to focus our attention on assessing the credibility of the Presidents intentions, as captured in the four thematic areas, around which the NDC manifesto was prepared. 1. PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST Putting people first suggests that whatever government policies are in place should benefit the people positively. This leads to the question: How many Ghanaians believe the President has put them first in the last four years? The NDC believes they can lie their way into another term. On Page 10, they claim: One hundred million (100,000,000) free exercise books have been distributed. They make the exact claim in their Green Book and add that a total of forty two million exercise books were distributed in 2013 and 2014. Does this mean they supplied 58 million exercise books in 2015 alone? We urge the media to ask for directions to where the evidence might be based. According to their manifesto: Twelve million five hundred thousand (12.5million) English, Mathematics and Science textbooks were distributed to public basic schools between 2013 and 2015. This enabled Ghana to exceed the universal textbook-pupil ratio of three textbooks to one pupil. We note, however, that the Education Sector Performance of 2016, published by the Ministry of Education, clearly indicates that the Core Textbook to pupil ratio in public basic schools both at the National and Deprived District levels have been in decline since 2013/14. At the national level, it fell from 2.2 in 2013/14 to 2.0 in 2014/15 and to 1.7 in 2015/16. At the Deprived District level, the figures for the corresponding years are 2.1, 1.8 and 1.6 respectively. (See page 21, Table 13) Also, last week when the President presented highlights of the manifesto, he mentioned specifically that beginning this academic year, 120,000 SHS boarding students will get free education. This promise is completely missing from the published Manifesto. Perhaps, there is some explanation. Members of the media, please help us unravel this. Schools are reopening this September and parents are struggling to pay fees for their children. Parents may recall Mahama and the NDC screaming in 2012 from the rooftops that Free SHS was impossible and soon after the NDC was elected saying it now was and they would introduce it progressively. And then they set out to implement a watered down version. The 2016 Education Sector report captures exactly how badly they have done: The first disbursement of funds for the first term of the 2015/16 academic year was completed in September 2015 with 320,488 day students across the country supported at a cost of GHC 12,178,544.00. Disbursement of funds were made to SHS2 and SHS3 students as SHS1 students had not been placed in schools at the time of payment. So the NDC gives 320,488 day students a mere 38 cedis for the entire academic year to offset Government-approved fees of 420 cedis per year? This 38 cedis is not even 10% of the approved fees. Meanwhile, day students who entered Form 1 last year did not benefit from this policy. Who are the NDC trying to fool? Stealing ideas they cannot implement and by so doing impoverishing Ghanaians even more. In todays Ghana, with so much suffering and hardship, nothing shows that John Mahama has put Ghanaians first. After all today, they pay more for their electricity than their rent. They bear testimony to how four years of Dumsor destroyed their small businesses. And Ghanas young people have lived the nightmare of searching for non-existent jobs, a situation that has led to nearly half of that population being jobless. A government that puts people first is a government with competence, compassion, foresight, discipline and integrity to implement policies that will help create jobs and not one that will kill jobs with poor policies. It cannot be disputed that President Mahama has made Ghanaians poorer. The prices of everyday items have skyrocketed under John Mahama. The price of a gallon of petrol has gone from GH3 to GH16. Bread has moved from from GH2 to GH7, milk from GH11 to GH3, kenkey from 30 pesewas to GH2, fish from 50 pesewas to GH2, sachet water from 5 pesewas to 20 pesewas, and a bag of cement from GH12 to GH32. It is evident that The John Mahama government is not one that can be trusted to put people first. A government that puts corruption first can only pay lip service to putting Ghanaians first. 2. BUILDING A STRONG ECONOMY FOR JOB CREATION Two weeks ago, Dr. Bawumia provided incontrovertible proof to show that the Ghanaian economy is in crisis by stating: The years under President Mahamas leadership have been characterized by a steady decline in GDP growth. The data would seem to suggest that the period from 2011 represents the period of the most consistent decline in GDP growth since independence. This crippling economic environment cannot lead to job creation. This is why graduate unemployment has reached crisis heights, with some 60% of graduates unable to find jobs. This is an extremely dire situation which threatens Ghanas peace and security. Today, Ghana is currently ranked 114th on the World Banks Ease of Doing Business index. The multiplicity of counterproductive taxes, levies and duties, high cost of utilities, erratic supply of electricity etc led to this ranking. Meanwhile, the NDC manifesto is silent on how these real issues will be tackled. The biggest source of employment for Ghanaians is the agriculture sector. Under Mahama, this sector has declined considerably. Cocoa production more than doubled from 341,000 metric tonnes to over 737,000 metric tonnes under President Kufuor. In 2015, it declined to 750,000 metric tonnes having hit one million metric tonnes in 2011. The NDC Manifesto claims that the Youth Employment Agency is offering employment to over 100,000 youth. This is a clever way to hide the fact that the Mahama government has not been able to hit even its modest target of creating 100,000 jobs by the end of this year. Now, let us compare this to what the YEA replaced. It replaced GYEEDA, which came became a vehicle to steal and loot over GH1 billion of taxpayers money. The NPPs National Youth Employment Programme, which became GYEEDA under President Mills, was launched on October 3rd 2006. The pilot project which ushered it in had by this time employed nearly 33,000 youth in community education and agriculture. By the time the NPP left office on January 7, 2009, 110,000 young people were employed under the scheme. In under 2 years with the right policies in place, a positive change was made. Now compare that to what the NDC has done in Youth Employment. Immediately the NDC, took office, they created a horde of unemployed youth by laying off all these 110,000 young people previously employed. In these 8 years, the NDC has been unable to recruit even 100,000 youth, with their performance hovering around 70,000. What the NPP achieved in under two years, the NDC has been unable to achieve in 8 years. It is not surprising that their greatest achievement in this sector has been the creation of ingenious schemes to facilitate the stealing of over one billion Ghana Cedis from the sector and the sharing of this loot amongst themselves and their cronies. With John Mahamas track record, The NPP cannot fathom how the unemployment situation will improve under a future Mahama-led government. It is this outright theft from the public purse, fiscal indiscipline, reckless expenditure, mismanagement of our finances that has presented President Mahama with the unenviable record of being the only leader in Ghanas history to superintend over three back-to-back double digit fiscal deficits. Today, the relative-but-shaky stability that the President claims we are seeing has been made possible because of the IMF bailout. This simply confirms President Mahamas incompetence and lack of vision. Ghanaians elected him to do a job. He has failed miserably. He then called the IMF who made him agree to all kinds of conditions before they offered their help. Now, Ghanaians have to endure hardship and suffering brought about by the austerity measures of the IMF. After all, President Mahama agreed with the IMF as one of the conditions for the bailout to lay off public sector workers starting from 2017. The agreement 2015 IMF report spells this out clearly: "The Government will undertake, with the assistance of development partners, a comprehensive plan to rationalize the size and increase the efficiency of the civil service and allied services on the payroll. The related strategic plan will be ready in December 2015, the results of which will inform the actual rationalization of staff, which is expected to begin in 2017." Source: 2015 IMF Country Report No.15/103, page 17, Sub-heading: CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policy 65 (MEFP65). Rationalization is another way of saying retrenchment, lay-off or downsizing. What this simply means is that the current freeze on employment in the public sector would not be lifted to give jobs to Ghanaians. Instead, the grand plan is to rob public sector workers of their jobs in 2017. Public sectors vote for Mahama at their own peril. His track record in job creation has been totally abysmal. A future with him at the helm would be extremely bleak. 3. EXPANDING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ACCELERATED DEVELOPMENT Building infrastructure is expected of every government. Nana Akufo-Addo, our Presidential Candidate once said: The people of Ghana have a right to expect a government to improve, at the very least, upon what it inherits from an outgoing one But, that must be done on a value for money basis. On August 31st, 2011, Akufo-Addo warned against what he called the loan rush of the NDC government. We may have to revisit our HIPC experience if we dont borrow responsibly, When Nana Akufo-Addo said this in 2011, the loan bill was around $10 billion. Today, it has shot up in real terms to over $39 billion worth of loans (or some $27 billion in nominal terms). Much of this borrowing was supposed to help accelerate Ghanas development. But, our roads remain so poor that only those with access to helicopters, like President Mahama and his officials, can safely travel across the country without any stress. Our communities lack proper sanitation because we prefer to pay more than the going rate to companies that have special relations with The Flagstaff House. To borrow a famous phrase: Na Sika No Wo He? What has been the impact of these massive resources on the lives of the people? Where are the projects? Mahama and his government should let Ghanaians know what the NDC has got to show for the billions of dollars it has borrowed in our name. In actual fact, the NPP strongly believes Ghana can and will develop three times as fast, if we got rid of President Mahama and this NDC this December. This anecdote illustrates why we feel strongly that Mahama at the helm slows our development. On Nov 8, 2015, the GNA reported that the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, together with the Kpone Katamanso District Assembly had inaugurated a 6-unit classroom block, with dual desks, at Katamanso Presbyterian School at the cost of GH510,000. Twenty days later, on Nov 28, the GNA reported that the MTN Ghana Foundation had inaugurated a fully-furnished six-unit classroom block, an office and a store at a total cost GH 170,000 for the Asikasu Methodist Basic School in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region. What this tells us is that the private sector can build schools at three times less than the Mahama government. This means that for every school built by the Mahama government, three schools could have been built for the same amount. If the choice then is between President Mahama and MTN or an incorruptible leader like Nana Akufo-Addo, who will provide Ghanaians value for their money, who should Ghanaians choose? It is clear that Mahama and his government have eaten greatly into the education sector budget through corrupt schemes that have neither protected the public purse nor given Ghanaians value for money. How many more teachers could have been employed if three schools had been built instead of one? How many children would have had a shorter walk to school because a school had been built closer to their homes? How many more communities would have benefitted from three schools instead of one? Such examples of such blatant corruption exist in virtually every sector. Today, under Mahama, Ghana is spending $1.4 million per km to asphalt roads, against the African average of $600,000. (Source; Study on Road Infrastructure Costs: Analysis of unit costs and cost overruns of road infrastructure projects in Africa AfDB Chief Economists Report, 2014). Here is another example why the NDC has achieved so very little with so much. The NDC has presented loans to Parliament to build 12 district hospitals at the cost of $40 million each. President Kufuor built district hospitals at $13 million. The NDCs pricing of infrastructure defies any costing principles and will soon make its way into the Guinness Book of Records. While, all this incompetence and corruption is going on, our neighbor Burkina Faso, which is drier than Ghana, through various irrigation schemes is growing big, juicy, delicious strawberries for export and processing strawberries into jam. Meanwhile, here in Ghana we are subjected to leaders who know how to fly akomfem to Burkina Faso, but do not believe the NPP can provide irrigation to help our poor farmers in the North through its One Village: One Dam solution. For lack of vision, Ghanaians suffer! 4. ADVANCING TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNANCE The main obstacle to achieving transparent and accountable governance is corruption and the lack of political to fight it. We will continue to remind Ghanaians that there is a huge gap, running into billions of dollars, between the funds that have come into the hands of the NDC and what they have delivered for country and people. Reports on the Audit Services website (www.ghaudit/org) show that by 2014, under President Mahama, over GH5 billion of taxpayers money spent could not be accounted for and nothing has been done by the Mahama Government to trace and retrieve these funds. This does not include the hundreds of millions of dollars believed to have been lost through inflated contracts as the President has presided over the effective shredding of the Public Procurement Act, giving him and his people the free range to award contracts without the very transparency and accountability he is now promising to deliver if re-elected. Our elders say Agoro b3 so a efiri anopa. Ghana, as Nana Akufo-Addo, famously remarked, is not poor, but it is bad leadership that makes us poor. President John Mahama can never fight corruption even if he is forced to. How can Ghanaians expect a Vice President, John Mahama, who was investigated by his boss, President John Atta Mills, over allegations of corruption, be expected to have the moral authority and desire to fight corruption when he is now the boss? How can we expect a president who admits to accepting a $100,000 gift from a foreign contractor, who was awarded a government contract through the efforts of the President, to have the courage and desire to stop his Ministers and other officials from dipping their hands into the state coffers? How can we expect a president who has spent four years to protect his friends who were found to have allegedly stolen public funds through instruments such as GYEEDA and SADA to allow any case of corruption to be prosecuted? Let it be stressed, when it comes to corruption, President John Mahama sees no wrong, hears no wrong and speaks against any wrong. To him that is just the way it is. The Presidency is a vehicle for amassing wealth for family and friends rather than for looking after the welfare of the masses. We want Ghanaians to think about this: if this has been his attitude in his first full term as President, what then would his actions be if re-elected for his last and final term? What then would restrain President John Mahama and his family of corrupt cronies in his last term from pillaging the national coffers? We want to highlight this because it is extremely scary. Let us not make any mistake about it. John Mahama for another four years, unchecked by the threat of losing another presidential election, is an exceptionally frightening prospect. WHY MAHAMA CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO DELIVER. Having poorly managed the economy and blatantly misused public funds, there is evidence that the NDC government would have no money to fund their new catalogue of promises. Ghana is broke. There is also evidence that John Mahama if re-elected will not have the credibility, competence and the integrity and the innovative ideas to fix it. On 28th June, 2016, the Mahama Government published for the attention of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Guidelines for the Preparation of the 2017-2019 Budgets. It provides a caution that finances are extremely tight and states that Due to the continuous increase in the wage bill, as well as interest payments, and amortization among others, MDAs are entreated to budget within the given ceiling. What an interesting state of affairs. You campaign with a set of promises. You are voted into office. You borrow billions of dollars. You spend these billions recklessly. You cannot fulfil your promises. Money becomes tight. In spite of this, you go on to make even more grandiose promises to Ghanaians. And then behind their backs you tell those who execute these promises to try and work within a small budget. Only John Mahama, for whom making and breaking promises is a way of life, can govern Ghana this way. So, as Ghanaians listen to the flowery promises, please bear in mind that the Mahama government already knows how much it has programmed to spend and how very little that can do. Also from 2017, Ghana will pay more in servicing our debts than on paying wages and salaries. Now, before you clever journalists start saying how will an Akufo-Addo government manage to execute the solutions in our Manifesto when, God willing, elected to take charge from January 7, 2017, let me serve notice that in the next few weeks we will outline how we intend to deal with the debt situation. We found a solution in 2001 after the then NDC regime left Ghana in debt after eight years in office and we want you to trust that we shall find another solution to deal with the current debt crisis created over the last eight years by this NDC government. Now, I would like us to embark on a little mathematical exercise regarding the budgeting as prepared by the NDC for 2017-2019. 60 billion Ghana Cedis (GH60,293,080,078) out of the resource allocated for 2017, 2018 and 2019 will be used to service the nations debt. For 2017, the NDC has already provisioned a total of GH34 billion for MDAs. The total resource envelope for 2017 is 56,689,811,909. Now, let us look at how much trouble we find ourselves in. Please pay rapt attention. Out of this GH 56,689,811,909, salaries and wages, will be allocated GH15.6 billion. (15,604,905,129). Payment of debts will be GHC17.55 billion Some GH11,178,409,057 for interest payments and GH6,371,656,454 for loan repayments and GH1.9 billion to settle non-road arrears alone. If you add up these items, the Mahama government will have less than GH3 billion in precise figures, GH2,903,499,974 to spend. The GH3 billion left will be expected to take care of the following: GH11.77 billion on grants to other government units; GH6.6 billion must be spent on capital expenditure; GH2 billion on goods and services for MDAs; GH1 billion on tax refund; GH83.5 million on social benefits GH50 million on subsidies, which the election-time ONLY Social Democratic government says it intends to use to cushion the hardships it has imposed; These items come up to a total of GH23.7 billion. Out of the GH2.9 billion left over, the Government will have to spend GH23.7 billion on all the other things in the Budget. In the past, faced with scenarios like this John Mahama puts his borrowing cap on or increases taxes. The Mahama Government has found borrowing a solution to all ails. It used to borrow to pay wages and salaries, now it is borrowing to pay debt and in the process piling up higher the debt mountain. Unfortunately, the IMF agreement which it sets out in the budgetary guidelines doesnt make room for any more reckless borrowing: MDAs are to note that, there is a new debt ceiling of the Government of Ghana for the annual budget. This forms part of the Extended Credit Facility with the International Monetary Fund. The performance criteria relates to a ceiling on the contracting or guaranteeing of new external non-concessional debt and it is not even automatic that all concessional loans [if any] can be accommodated within [sic] the ceiling. Ghana is broke. This is the fact. The NDC manifesto promises pitched against the high level of incompetence that the Mahama government has abundantly displayed when it comes to running the economy is a recipe for failure. If Ghana is in crisis today, then we hate to warn you that Ghana faces a catastrophe under a future Mahama government. If he could not care, when he knew he still had to go back to the electorate for another re-election mandate, then imagine, just imagine, how very insensitive and even more uncaring he would be if given another four years, after which he doesnt need to go and beg the electorate. There will be plenty trouble. Dear Ghanaians - it doesnt matter which political party you support - The NPP urges you to fully consider the danger to your own livelihood and the threat to your future. Imagine the further hardship and suffering Ghanaians will be compelled to endure with another four years of a Mahama Presidency. Dear, President John Dramani Mahama, if you succeeded in deceiving the voters of Ghana in 2012, do not take them for fools. You must realise that they trusted you more than you deserved. After all, Ghanaians know the manufacturing sector was doing far better under Mills than now under Mahama. They know the number of manufacturing companies, big and small, that have collapsed over the last four years and the number of people who have lost their livelihoods thereby. And, yet they hear this economic mismanagement expert, President Mahama promise to revive the factories created by Kwame Nkrumah. A little reminder, John. Many of these factories were completely buried, broken up and sold off by your previous NDC government in which you served as Minister. The Ghanaian electorate is aware that growth in the industrial sector has declined sharply under Mahama, from 17% in 2011 to 2.0% in 2015. And, yet, he claims to be transforming Ghana. President Mahama has been the worst manager of the cedi in the last 15 years. The worst performance between 2001 and 2016 has been between 2012 and 2016 (during the tenure of John Mahama as President). Nobody in the NDC has been able to come out to deny these facts. Instead, what we have seen are panic reactions all over. The Vice President threatened to respond and then recoiled. And the President to hastily addressed the nation in a two-hour broadcast to effectively launch the NDC manifesto four days before the scheduled launch. The fact that remains to be disputed by the NDC and cannot be disputed is that President Mahama has destroyed whatever little performance credibility that he inherited from his predecessor. And, the Mills performance itself was a retrogression on the Kufuor years. It is with one eye on this abysmal performance of the President that the voters of Ghana must view the credibility of the long list of promises delivered at the weekend from a Government that has no policy credibility and had to run to the IMF in 2014 for some limited injection of credibility from that external body. Just last week, Government was compelled to come out to effectively admit to newspaper publications that in order to pay salaries for September it had to take back almost half a billion Ghana Cedis allocated to various MDAs for their work. Among this amount was GH200 million the Treasury took back from the Ministry of Roads & Highways meant to construct roads and pay contractors for work already done. The future under another Mahama term would indeed be bleak. From their own resource allocation for the next four years, the likely scenario is that we are very likely not to have any money to pay salaries next year. We can do what others are doing and many others take for granted: schools that work, decent homes, good jobs with good income for those willing to work, roads that are motorable and a public service system that works for the people. Yes, we can and so we must! In my capacity as policy advisor to the NPP Presidential Candidate, I wish to assure Ghanaians that in Nana Akufo-Addo you will have a competent, incorruptible, selfless, honest, and compassionate leader with a competent and disciplined team to deliver on the solutions to our nations problems. Change is coming. Yes we can. Yes we must. But it is up to you and I to make that change happen. God bless Ghana. video below Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bill Murray is one of the rare celebrities who uses his fame not as a shield to many and myriad crimes, but instead as a way of being a weird, loose unit and maintaining the veneer of plausible deniability. Like the other week, when he was spotted nicking chips from some bloke at an airport. Who does that? Well, he spent his Friday and Saturday nights serving the bar at his son Homer Murrays new restaurant in Green Point, New York City. Its obvious he isnt a bartender though the bar features elaborate cocktails, Murray was only capable of serving up shots of tequila and whiskey and occasionally vodka-sodas. It was documented in painstaking detail on Instagram: So that whole guest bartending thing worked out nicely. A great part time play should BFM want to pick up a few bucks on the side. #BillMurray #CocktailsAndDreams #Casamigos #TequilaLife A photo posted by William Murray Golf (@williammurraygolf) on Sep 17, 2016 at 1:24pm PDT Bill Murray was bartending at his sons new bar, 21 Greenpoint. See more photos & videos on Gothamist-link in bio! (??: @nellcasey) A photo posted by Gothamist (@gothamist) on Sep 17, 2016 at 6:59am PDT Bill Murray is our new favorite bartender ???????? #bloombergdrinks- KK A photo posted by Bloomberg Pursuits (@bloombergpursuits) on Sep 17, 2016 at 10:25pm PDT [My dad] has been very supporting of me, Homer told The New York Post. He didnt do this because I asked him to. He didnt do this because he thought it would drum up business. He did this because he wanted to. Thats the beauty of it. Apparently, Murray showed up in an Uber because his car broke down in the Bronx. He arrived, Wes Anderson style, with an armful of weird junk like a stuffed badger wearing a hunting jacket. You do you, Bill Murray. You do you. Source: New York Post. Photo: Instagram. Kim Kardashian West has taken out a full-page ad in the New York Times slamming the Wall Street Journal for publishing an ad earlier in the year which denied the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide was the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The current government of Turkey the successor state to the Ottoman Empire does not accept the term genocide for what transpired, and many Turkish lobbying groups work hard to change that perception internationally. Its also the one political issue on which Kim K is very, very outspoken unsurprising given that the Kardashian clan are of Armenian descent through father Robert Kardashian. Kim describes the publication of the ad by the WSJ reckless and morally irresponsible. She writes: Many historians believe that if Turkey had been held responsible for the Armenian genocide, and reprimanded for what they did, the Holocaust may not have happened. In 1939, a week before the Nazi invasion of Poland, Hitler said, Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians? We do. We must. We must talk about it until it is recognized by our government because when we deny our past, we endanger our future. The original WSJ ad was published back in April, and Kardashian issued a short statement via her wildly popular app, which was altered and republished in this new ad. My family and I are no strangers to BS in the press. Weve learned to brush it off. Lies make good headlines, good headlines make great covers, great covers sell magazines. But when I heard about this full-page ad that ran in the Wall Street Journal denying the Armenian genocide, I couldnt just brush it off. Honestly? Good shit. You can rip on the Kardashians all you like for being the icons of self-obsessed 21st century vapidity and it is indeed your right to do so but their advocacy on this issue is pretty welcome. Its not an issue that gets a lot of airplay among celebrities, and if its getting her fans to think about it, then great. Source: UPROXX. Photo: Getty Images. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has defied the more careful statements of NYC mayor Bill de Blasio, calling the bombing in Manhattan an act of terrorism, while also stating that there did not appear to be any evidence that it was linked to any international group like ISIS. .@NYGovCuomo: No link to international terrorism, but a bomb exploding in NY is obviously an act of terrorism https://t.co/smb1zdp0xR ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 18, 2016 A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but its not linked to international terrorism. In other words, we find no ISIS connection, et cetera, said Cuomo. We have no reason to believe at this time that there is any further immediate threat, he continued. The bomb exploded in a dumpster outside the Townhouse Inn in Chelsea, at around 8:30pm on Saturday. 29 people were wounded in the explosion at least one seriously but all are expected to make a recovery. The New York Post today reports, courtesy of apparent sources in the New York law enforcement community, that a 911 call was placed at the time of the bombing by an unidentified male who promised further explosions. Im looking at the explosion down the block. There will be more, the caller reportedly said. A second bomb in the form of a crude device fashioned from a pressure cooker was found on 27th Street, but it was dealt with by a bomb squad and did not detonate. Malcolm Turnbull, who is in New York City, spoke to reporters in Central Park and praised the resolve of New Yorkers. We dont know what the motivations were, Turnbull said. But it was clearly a deliberate explosion. The one thing we cant do is let people who seek to do us harm, whatever their motivations may be, to coward us. We defy them by going about our lives in the normal way. Source: News.com.au. Photo: Getty Images. The murder of JonBenet Ramsey in 1996 completely stumped police and civilians alike, thanks to some utterly bizarre facets of the super creepy, super weird case. Now, 20 years later, a team of experts lead by former New York City prosecutor Jim Clemente reckon theyve cracked the case after re-examining the evidence using modern tools and going as far as to completely re-create the Ramsey family home. So far weve only seen one half of the two-part documentary series but it already seems pretty clear that theyre suggesting that Burke, JonBenets 9 year old brother, was responsible for the murder, and the parents, John and Patsy, were responsible for covering it up. The investigators re-visited the audio of the original 911 call made about the kidnapping, made by Patsy. In particular interested in a snippet that occurred after Patsy believed she had hung up. It seems a little bit spurious, but they reckon they can make out the following exchange: John: Were not speaking to you. Patsy: Either What did you do? or Help me, Jesus. Burke: What did you find? My gut reaction was that if you cant tell the difference between What did you do? and Help me, Jesus. it might not be all that conclusive, and also that if that was real that is straight up creepy as fuck. Other than being a conversation that sounds like its from a horror movie, its also incriminating because the Ramseys insisted that Burke had been asleep for all of these proceedings. They also suggested that the cause of death might well have been from a pre-pubescent boy lethally hitting her in the head with a flashlight, which they demonstrated by getting a pre-pubescent boy to smash a skeleton wearing a wig and a pig-skin scalp with a flashlight, creating a fracture that looked very similar to what was found in JonBenets skull. At this stage theyve drawn no conclusions, and also finished the episode with a big disclaimer about how there are many theories, of which they are presenting only one, and they suggest viewers do their own research, so time will tell how this turns out. Photo: Splash News. Only a couple of days after its release, owners of the brand new iPhone 7 are reporting a particularly strange behaviour of the device. And look, its certainly not as bad as the Samsung Note7s exploding battery, but theres no doubt its quite strange. The Apple smartphone is hissing. According to a number of users, the phone goes full-snek when its processing ability is stretched to the max, like when running a number of applications at the same time. While the cause is not yet confirmed, many tech experts are claiming its the result of certain electromagnetic effects such as coil whine. Well that aint gonna stop it. But not all owners of the widely-frothed phone are reporting the issue. Some have even deliberately pushed their phone to limit and reported no snek hissing at all, meaning its likely a manufacturing issue rather than a design flaw. Apple are yet to address the issue, but according to the first reporter of the parseltounge phone, Stephen Hackett from 512 Pixels, the company have offered him a replacement unit. Source: News.com.au. Photo: Getty. FOOD3_0713_PAC A food stacked aisle in Central Pennsylvania Food Bank warehouse. PAUL CHAPLIN, The Patriot-News (PAUL CHAPLIN) M&T Bank has made a multi-year commitment to donate $100,000 to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. The contribution helped trigger a $200,000 matching grant from the Harrisburg-based Stabler Foundation, pushing Central Pennsylvania Food Bank halfway toward the $1 million goal of its Bold Journey, Until No One is Hungry campaign. The campaign, chaired by M&T Senior Relationship Manager Ron Frick, is raising funds for the expansion of the organization's Healthy Food Hub in Williamsport, PA, as well as supporting its work across 27 central Pennsylvania counties. This year, the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank will provide over 40 million meals to over 400,000 individuals while working with its 900-plus member partner network of nonprofit organizations. In Harrisburg it works with more than 170 local organizations to provide food to those in need. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Several individuals were being questioned Sunday night after their car was stopped on the Belt Parkway near the Verrazano Bridge. Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden took to social media to inform the public of a "possible connection to the bombing last night in Chelsea." The FBI said that the individuals were being questioned after a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest, but that no one had been charged with a crime. A blast Saturday night in the Chelsea section of Manhattan left 29 people injured in what Mayor Bill de Blasio described as an "intentional act." "Tonight, New York City experienced a very serious incident," the mayor said. "Injuries are significant -- but none of those injured are likely to die." An explosive device ws also found blocks away from the initial incident. That device was later detonated in a controlled explosion at the NYPD firing range in the Bronx. Ahmad Khan Rahami The FBI is seeking 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, who could be armed and dangerous. (FBI) Police have connected the New York City and New Jersey shore town bombings and say the same man is being sought for questioning in both. New Jersey State Police say that information comes from the FBI. Authorities are seeking 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, N.J., where the FBI executed a search warrant on Monday morning. An explosion in Manhattan on Saturday injured 29 people. A pipe bomb also exploded Saturday in Seaside Park ahead of the race for Marines and sailors, but no one was injured. The apartment search began after one of five devices found at the nearby Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it. No one was injured. The White House says President Barack Obama was briefed throughout the night and early Monday on the investigation into bombs found in New York City and New Jersey. Spokesman Josh Earnest says the White House is following the situation closely. He says Obama will comment publicly "relatively soon." He was expected to comment Monday afternoon after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. New York's governor now says it looks like the Manhattan bombing could be an act of terrorism with a foreign connection. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the statement Monday after the New York Police Department said authorities were searching for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the bombing. He is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan. Cuomo says: "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes." On Sunday, Cuomo had effectively ruled out a link to international terrorism, saying there was no evidence to suggest that. LOS ANGELES -- Charmian Carr will always be 16 going on 17 for fans of "The Sound of Music." In the 1965 movie adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, she played the rebellious Liesl von Trapp, eldest daughter of a privileged Austrian clan of seven children living under the strictures of their militaristic father, played by Christopher Plummer. In reality, Carr was an unknown 21-year-old performer from Los Angeles when executives at 20th Century Fox chose her for the movie. She was required to hold her own singing talents against those of Julie Andrews, who played Maria, the headstrong novitiate hired to be the family's governess. Among the memorable songs Carr performed in the Oscar-winning movie was "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," an ode to the allure and thrill of teenage romance. Years later, Carr revealed that she harbored a crush not on the actor who played Rolfe, her adolescent paramour, but on Plummer, who played her on-screen father. "I had a huge crush on him," the actress recalled in 2010 during an interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." "He was so perfect, and he spoke with this perfect British accent." Carr died Saturday in Los Angeles of complications from a rare form of dementia, according to a statement from her family. She was 73. Despite the global success of "The Sound of Music" and five Oscars, including best picture, Carr shunned Hollywood to focus on her family and a career in interior design. Her only other screen credit was a 1966 TV movie, the offbeat Stephen Sondheim musical "Evening Primrose," co-starring Anthony Perkins. But the actress still maintained great affection for "The Sound of Music," participating in sing-along screenings at the Hollywood Bowl until 2012. She also penned two books about her experience on the movie, "Forever Liesl" in 2000 and "Letters to Liesl" the following year. "When people look at me and see Liesl, I believe they are looking into a mirror," she wrote in the 2000 book. "If the film has touched them in some way, it is because it represents the world as they want it to be. If it makes them feel love or happiness or hope, it is because they have these feelings inside them." Carr was born Charmian Anne Farnon in Chicago in 1942 and moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was 13. (At director Robert Wise's suggestion, she later changed her last name.) Show business ran strong in her family: Her mother, Rita, was a vaudeville actress, while her father, Brian, was a musician and orchestra leader. "The Sound of Music" was a momentous event in the young actress' career, and she spent two years with the cast promoting the movie around the world. After leaving Hollywood, she married a dentist and had two children. Later in life, she launched her own interior design firm, Charmian Carr Design, which counted pop star Michael Jackson as a client. Throughout her life, she stayed in contact with her on-screen siblings from "The Sound of Music." She also enjoyed interacting with the movie's fans at the sing-alongs and reminiscing about the movie. She once recalled that her first scene on the lengthy shoot was when Liesl sneaks into the house late at night and attempts to sneak past a praying Maria. She missed two cues in part, she said, because a thunderous sound effect prevented her from hearing her co-star. She recalled that Wise was patient with her. "Rather than make me feel like an amateur or that I was ruining the scene or upsetting the star, Bob Wise took the time to help me become an actress," she wrote in "Forever Liesl." The actress, who was divorced, is survived by two daughters, Jennifer and Emily, four siblings and four grandchildren. PA-neighbors-shocked-as-body-of-man-dead-for-months-found-in-home.jpg People in a Pa. neighborhood are questioning themselves after a reclusive member of their community was found dead, his body rotting inside this house for months as the mail piled up and neighbors had not seen any sign of him. (screen shot/KDKA) Neighbors on a Pittsburgh street are questioning themselves after a reclusive member of their community was found dead, his body rotting inside his house for months as the mail piled up and people had not seen any sign of him. KDKA in Pittsbugh reports that the skeletal remains were found Friday on the first floor of a home in South Oakland. The remains are pending an official identification by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. But investigators are assuming the victim is the reclusive home owner who neighbors say would largely keep to himself. KDKA adds that officials say that circumstances of the death do not appear to be suspicious. But there are troubling questions related to the case, especially why no one checked on the man for months on end. For example, some of the mail on the man's porch and in his mailbox was postmarked as being from May, KDKA writes. And he had not been seen for months, according to the news station, which adds: "No one noticed the mail or anything?" Dustin Regec told KDKA. "The mailman didn't wonder, 'Hey, what's going on here?'" Another resident, Rita Sims, told KDKA: "I would see him in the first Tuesday every month at the Food Bank, but lately, I haven't seen him for a while, and I didn't know who to get in touch with." MORE PA. BUZZ: A Pequea Township man convicted of child sex abuse in 2014 will serve another prison term for breaking court orders for a second time. Frederick Townsend, 57, will serve 18 months to 3 years in state prison after pleading guilty to felony violations of Megan's Law, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office. Townsend was sentenced to 1 to 2 years in prison, plus 5 years of probation, for abusing an 11-year-old girl at his wife's daycare in New Providence. Within days of being paroled, he violated by being in contact with children - and was jailed for another 4 months. On Friday, he plead guilty to having an email address and Facebook profile without telling police. The sentence was part of a plea agreement. jonathan fisher.png Jonathan David Fisher (Cumberland County Prison) Police have charged and identified a man believed to have been involved in a Chambersburg Road rage incident Saturday. Jonathan David Fisher, 34, of Chambersburg, is accused of flashing a gun at a driver and threatening people in six separate vehicles after an initial incident in Chambersburg, according to a news release from Mount Holly Springs police. The incidents began when a man, later identified as Fisher, pointed a gun at another driver at around 4:45 p.m. near a Wal-Mart on State Route 30 in Chambersburg. Fisher fled the scene heading East on Lincoln Highway East in his brown 2007 Ford Explorer. State police said he cut other drivers off while fleeing. About an hour later, Mount Holly Springs police started receiving reports of a man driving north on State Route 34 brandishing a gun and threatening motorists in other cars. Police saw the vehicle and its driver parked at the Family Dollar on Route 34 and attempted a traffic stop. Fisher fled the traffic stop, continued to head north on State Route 34, and merged onto Interstate 81. Shortly after Fisher drove onto the interstate state troopers and Carlisle police joined in the pursuit. Moments later, Fisher struck a dump truck heading north on the highway, police said. A state trooper used a tactical maneuver to stop Fisher's vehicle and he was arrested and taken to Carlisle Regional Hospital. After receiving treatment, Fisher was taken to the Cumberland County prison, police said. Mount Holly Springs police said state police have received at least three reports stating that Fisher pointed brandished his gun while on Route 30. Online court records show Fisher is charged with 62 counts including felony counts of fleeing police and illegal possession of a weapon at this time. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Sept. 28. joseph brimmeier Former Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier leaves the Dauphin County Courthouse with his wife Jeanne following the preliminary hearing on the pay to play case. (Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com, file) Former Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier III has failed to convince a panel of state judges that the Turnpike Commission should reimburse him for more than $300,000 he spent defending himself in the pay to play scandal. The Commonwealth Court judges on Monday dismissed a lawsuit Brimmeier filed seeking that money, finding, among other things, that the commission is immune from most of his financial claims. That decision, presented in an opinion by Judge Anne E. Covey, comes nearly two years after Brimmeier pleaded guilty in Dauphin County Court to felony conflict of interest charges. He is serving a 5-year probation sentence. Covey's opinion could mark the end of a quest that began less than a month after his conviction when Brimmeier asked the commission to reimburse him for $300,261 that he said were tied to his successful defense against most of the pay to play charges filed against him by the state attorney general's office. He claimed his employment contract with the commission specified that he had to receive that repayment for legal defense of charges on which he was not convicted. Brimmeier , 68, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty to the ethics count under an agreement with prosecutors. He admitted to accepting hospitality and political donations for then-Gov. Ed Rendell from a contractor in return for steering work that firm's way. Those charges were tied to Brimmeier's advocacy for Orth-Rogers & Associates to receive a contract for a fog detection and traveler information system, court filings show. In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed multiple other criminal counts, including bribery and bid-rigging, against Brimmeier, who was the turnpike's CEO from February 2003 to March 2011. Covey noted in her opinion that the legal basis for Brimmeier's plea for attorney fee reimbursement is unclear "when doubt exists regarding whether Brimmeier's plea constituted a successful defense." Brimmeier was among eight people - turnpike officials, a state senator and employees of contractors - who were charged by the AG's office in March 2013. Despite considerable fanfare over the arrests, none of the accused went to jail by the time the prosecutions concluded in November 2014. No defendant received more than a probation sentence. Brimmeier could appeal the Commonwealth Court ruling to the state Supreme Court. U.S. Courthouse The U.S. Courthouse in Harrisburg (Matt Miller, PennLive) A former Harrisburg-area businessman who went from wealth to financial ruin is now headed for federal prison in a tax fraud case. U.S. Middle District Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner on Monday sentenced Paul M. Biko, 66, to 18 months behind bars for failing to forward federal income taxes he collected from employees of his businesses to the IRS. Conner also ordered Biko to pay $437,338 in restitution to the government. Biko's sentencing occurred nine months after he pleaded guilty to the tax fraud charge. His plea agreement contained a provision that similar counts would be dismissed against his daughter, Maura Whetsel, in return for his own admission of guilt. The federal counts against Biko, a former president of the Colonial Country Club, involve frauds committed with Clearview of Harrisburg, Clearview Landscaping and Clearview Builders. Conner imposed the jail term after hearing from a parade of Biko's supporters, including friends, neighbors and Biko's son. All described Biko as a caring and giving man who worked to help support worthy causes such as cancer research. They said the former insurance salesman got out of his depth when he started multiple businesses. "These were businesses for his friends, his family," Biko's son, Leonard, told the judge. "All he wanted was to give other people the opportunity to succeed." Assistant Federal Public Defender Heidi Freese said Biko had been warned there were tax problems with his firms. "Instead of taking care of the problem he buried his head in the sand," she said. The criminal case not only cost Biko his businesses and his house, it has put great stress on his health, said Freese, who asked Conner to show mercy to a man who "needs to completely rebuild his life." "At the end of the day, he doesn't blame anyone else," she said. "I pled guilty because it was my fault," Biko told the judge. "I want the chance to pay everything back." Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Terz urged Conner to impose at least a 2 1/2-year prison term. Biko's crime was hardly accidental, the prosecutor said. "This was not about bad judgment. It's not about neglect," Terz said. "What this case is about is criminal attempt..He stole these monies." Conner agreed that Biko's case wasn't a matter of "simple negligence," since his own accountant and bookkeeper told Biko about the failure to remit the tax money to the IRS. The judge cited evidence that Biko spent at least some of the money due on the taxes for personal expenses, including his daughter's wedding. Still, Conner credited Biko for his past good deeds and said he took into account his age and health issues. "I'm convinced Mr. Biko's criminal actions are behind him," Conner said. "Mr. Biko has clearly learned a difficult lesson. Conner ordered Biko to begin serving his prison sentence on Oct. 20. Biko must serve 2 years on probation after his release from prison and must pay his restitution in installments of at least $150 a month. Monday's hearing marked the second time Biko appeared before a judge to be sentenced in a tax fraud case. In November, a Dauphin County judge sentenced him to repay $100,000 to the state and serve 5 years of probation for failing to remit sales and income taxes collected through three other businesses: Bruster's of Central Pennsylvania, Strategic Market Resources and Luxury Limousine of Harrisburg. Biko pleaded no contest in that case. COUDERSPORT -- On Saturday morning, while preparing for a niece's weekend birthday party, Joe Leschner received a Facebook notification that stopped him in his tracks. Fellow residents in this borough of 2,500 had awoken that morning to find plastic baggies containing rocks, lollipops and a startling message strewn across their lawns. "Are there troubles in your neighborhood? Contact the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan today," a flier tucked inside the baggies read. It adds, "You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake." Leschner headed outside and grabbed what baggies he could. Then he returned home, grabbed his cellphone and hit record. "It's kind of creepy," he says into the camera in a Facebook Live post that has garnered 33,000 views and more than a thousand shares since. "It's not in everybody's yards," he continues. "Just in certain people's." Police tell PennLive they're aware of the leafleting, and estimate the number of homes affected to be between 10 and 15. But Leschner said he believes the number is far higher and even extends into a neighboring municipality. And while the authorities say a Klan-link has yet to be confirmed, the packaging matches that of similar outreach efforts undertaken on the group's behalf in California and Indiana in years past. In Coudersport, the overture comes amid what some have billed as a white supremacy revival, with recent rallies drawing local headlines and outrage in this community tucked high atop Pennsylvania's rugged northern tier. Alex Davis of the Bradford Era has helped lead the media coverage, with articles about planned Neo-Nazi and white nationalist events in August and the bitter community reaction that followed. As he explains, within that backlash is both a shared sense of dread and Deja vu. This as Potter County, of which Coudersport is the seat of government, continues to revolt against its place in the public history of white supremacy, and against perceptions of it as fertile ground for encapsulated movements. In the late-80s and early 1990s, the county was home to an Aryan Nations leader named August Kreis III who found its vast pinelands and majority white population to be the perfect setting for a base of operations. Kreis, a particularly media-savvy figure, is perhaps best known for his turns on the Jerry Springer show and his widely publicized calls for the formation of an alliance between Neo-Nazis and Al-Qaeda in the mid-2000s. He is currently serving 50 years in prison for the sexual molestation of a child. In Potter County, a rural place with an arguably growing progressive streak, locals are careful to portray Kreis and the movement he represents as outliers, not the norm. But there is still concern, and a belief among some here that talk of white nationalism swirling around this year's presidential election has prompted the resurfacing of a movement that before now was increasingly relegated to the shadows. "I mean, truth be told, I think it has everything to do with politics on a bigger scale, simply because you have a presidential candidate who will not denounce them," Leschner said on Sunday, referring to the Trump campaign's complicated relationship with a list of white supremacist endorsers like David Duke. That list now also includes August Kreis. "He's not coming right out and saying 'I disavow these people.' 'They're wrong. 'I don't want their support,'" Leschner added of Trump. "And I think they [white supremacists] are feeling a little bit more free to speak their mind with the chance of a president coming to power that may or may not share the beliefs they do." For the record: Trump renounced white supremacist supporters in March, and more recently a campaign adviser did as well. But much has been made of their initial reluctance to do so. Meanwhile, in Coudersport, a fringe element of white supremacists has literally reached Main Street. Saturday's leafleting, which included the main thoroughfare and side streets, was the first of its kind in the borough according to Leschner and the local police, or at least the first in recent memory. In a phone conversation with PennLive on Sunday afternoon, Leschner said police told him that while they have an idea who may be responsible, beyond a possible littering charge there is little they can do. The activity is firmly covered by the First Amendment. But Leschner said he'll continue to organize a community-level resistance, launching pro-unity Facebook pages and protesting events like the August rally just outside town, where he said protesters outnumbered participants by as much as 40 to 8. On Sunday, he acknowledged he may have a more vested interest than most as one-half of an interracial marriage. But Leschner said he would be protesting the Klan's presence locally even if that wasn't the case. "Honestly, it's scary," he said. "I'm not scared for myself because I think they're just trying to frighten us and I'm not going to let them succeed in that. But my wife, of course, she's never had to deal with this stuff coming from Jamaica and she sees this and she's scared, and I'm scared that she's scared and I don't want her to have those feelings. She should be able to come up here and feel welcomed and make her new life with me." Leschner said most of the other residents he's spoken to are similarly "shocked," while a few are more forgiving or at least willing to look the other way. "They say 'Oh, they're just exercising their First Amendment rights. Let them do what they want and they'll go away," Leschner recalled. "And I say to them, 'You could say that 30, 40 years ago when they were lynching people from trees. I'm not gonna stand down when they're trying to make us fearful to live in our own homes.'" In his Facebook Live video, as he piles the plastic bags he'd retrieved from neighbors' lawns onto his kitchen table, Leschner asks anyone else who received one to bring it to him, explaining he hopes to gather them and return them all to sender. "Anybody in Coudersport who has these or in nearby towns, please keep ahold of them because I'm going to send them back to them as a gift with a nice pink bow," he says in the video, adding "I guess it's time to step up our efforts to tell them they're not wanted here." As of Sunday, Leschner had yet to locate a return address, and a "24-hour Klanline" number included on the fliers led straight to a full mailbox. It was no longer accepting new messages, a recording explained. By Barron H. Lerner When Hillary Clinton announced a diagnosis of pneumonia last week, soon after leaving a Sept. 11 memorial service, she elicited a predictably partisan response. Fans of Donald Trump speculated that she wouldn't survive the year, while her own supporters pointed out that hardworking people get sick all the time. Both presidential candidates have been pressured to release more information about their health. But this information may not be as useful as we think. Past assumptions about the health of presidents and candidates often have been shrouded in myth. Myth No. 1 Franklin D. Roosevelt gave away Eastern Europe to the Soviets because he was sick. As the Soviet Union took control of more and more of Eastern Europe after World War II, critics of Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that he - increasingly lethargic and confused because of illness - had been unfit to negotiate. The "sick man of Yalta," according to this theory, had been duped by his Soviet counterpart, Joseph Stalin. Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's physician who attended the 1945 Yalta conference that divided territory after the war, wrote that Roosevelt "intervened very little in the discussions, sitting with his mouth open. . . . I doubt, from what I have seen, whether he is fit for his job here." The reality was probably much more complex. It is true that Roosevelt was suffering from severe hypertension and congestive heart failure, which the medications of the era could not effectively treat. And the trip to Yalta, located in the Crimea region of the Soviet Union, had been arduous. Roosevelt had suffered periods of extreme fatigue. But his personal physician Howard Bruenn, who was also at Yalta, observed that the president's mental faculties remained intact. "His memory for both recent and past events was good," Bruenn wrote in a 1970 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine. "His behavior toward his friends and intimates was unchanged and his speech unaltered." Moreover, Yalta represented a complex series of negotiations on many postwar issues, not only the fate of Eastern Europe. Churchill, who was surely of sound mind, had participated in the negotiations and had trusted Stalin as well. And, as historian James MacGregor Burns has argued, the West had only so much leverage over the Soviets, who, after all, had suffered the greatest human sacrifices in defeating Hitler. Roosevelt, Burns wrote, was a realist who had "reached the limit of his bargaining power." His illness did not determine the fate of postwar Europe. Myth No. 2 Sick presidents aren't good at the job. Several books appeared in the 1980s and 1990s detailing the secret illnesses of American presidents and other leaders. With titles such as "The Impact of Illness on World Leaders" and "Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust," the authors of these volumes showed that medical cover-ups were frequent in the White House. As Jerrold Post and Robert Robins wrote in their book on the topic, such leaders became both incompetent and manipulable. And it's true that Edith Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson, essentially ran the United States after her husband suffered several strokes while in office. But there is no clear relationship between a president's performance and his well-health. For instance, Dwight D. Eisenhower had a series of medical issues while in office, including a heart attack, a bowel obstruction and a stroke. But historians have written approvingly of his presidency and his ability to achieve consensus. In a 2015 ranking of the presidents from a survey of political scientists, he came in seventh. Perhaps one of the sickest presidents in the country's history was John F. Kennedy, who suffered not only from a failure of the adrenal glands, known as Addison's disease, but also from debilitating back pain. A physician, Janet Travell, treated Kennedy with narcotics, stimulants and various hormones. Most worrisome, Kennedy retained the services of a shady physician named Max Jacobson, who injected him with amphetamines. Yet while some of Kennedy's decisions, such as the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, involved poor judgment, Kennedy biographer Robert Dallek found no definitive evidence that the illnesses or medications were the cause. And historians have praised many aspects of Kennedy's tenure, such as his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and his efforts to improve poverty and race relations. Myth No. 3 A clean bill of health during the campaign is a good predictor of health in office. The revelations about past cover-ups led to calls for better disclosure from candidates and officeholders. In 2008, a group of prominent doctors proposed forming an independent panel of physicians who would examine all potential presidents and vice-presidents. Connie Mariano, who was the White House physician in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, favored this strategy, comparing it to the screening of airline pilots or military personnel. The message, she told CNN, would be: "Okay, I'm good for four to eight years." But being healthy at one point in time may have little relevance to what happens during a future presidential term. George H.W. Bush was healthy when he assumed office in 1989, but in 1991 he developed atrial fibrillation, a potentially dangerous heart rhythm. Doctors subsequently diagnosed Graves' disease, an excess of thyroid hormone that had caused the heart abnormality. Perhaps the most telling example of false reassurance was the case of Ronald Reagan. Reagan, who was 69when he ran for the presidency in 1980, authorized the release of information from his doctors. They raised no concerns, describing him as in "excellent health." But many commentators, including Reagan's son Ron, now think that Reagan was showing signs of Alzheimer's disease by the time of his second term. Even during the campaign, Ron Reagan said, his father looked "tired and bewildered" during a debate against Walter Mondale. Myth No. 4 The doctors of presidential patients tell the public the truth. When Eisenhower suffered his heart attack in 1955, he decided that Americans deserved to know what had happened. As he recuperated, his doctors held news conferences to educate the public about heart disease and to detail the president's condition. This type of disclosure became routine over the years, as in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981. Reagan's doctors took this task seriously; one doctor stated that the hospital "recognized the need to provide accurate information to the news media." In practice, however, presidential physicians have lied, often blatantly. Ross McIntyre, Roosevelt's first White House physician, continually characterized his patient's shortness of breath - from congestive heart failure - as a sinus problem. The most egregious lie, perhaps, was one of omission. When Paul Tsongas was running for president in 1992, his hematologist confirmed his patient's history of lymphoma but not that the disease had recently recurred and thus probably was incurable. Had Tsongas been elected, he would have died two days before completing his first term. Myth No. 5 Presidents shouldn't, and don't, have some mental illnesses. In July 1972, Thomas Eagleton, the vice-presidential nominee of George McGovern, was forced to withdraw his candidacy when reporters discovered that Eagleton had been hospitalized for depression three times, including receiving electroshock therapy. Common consensus held that he could not serve. McGovern, one newspaper editorial read, "does not need the added burden of a presidential running mate with a precarious health problem in the area of mental illness." In 1988, presidential candidate Michael Dukakis aggressively denied any history of depression when rumors surfaced. Dukakis, his physician told the news media, "has had no psychological symptoms, complaints or treatment." A 2006 study of the first 37 presidents concluded that 18 of them had some type of psychiatric disorder during their lives, ranging from depression to anxiety to alcoholism. Ten exhibited symptoms while in office. Although the paper concluded that these conditions had negatively affected aspects of their presidencies, some of those affected were nevertheless extremely successful leaders. One of them was Abraham Lincoln, who is routinely at or near the top of "best presidents" lists, but had a major depressive disorder with psychotic features. Woodrow Wilson, who suffered from depression and anxiety in office, was listed at number 10 on the 2015 list. And Teddy Roosevelt, the study concluded, probably had bipolar disorder during his presidency, but his symptoms did not interfere with his effectiveness or performance. Lerner, a professor in the division of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Medical Center, is the author of "The Breast Cancer Wars" and, most recently, "The Good Doctor." He wrote this piece for The Washington Post, where it first appeared. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a speech at the General Debate of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Sarah Paulson walked the red carpet at the 2016 Emmy Awards on Sunday with a very special guest. The 41-year-old actress brought O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark, 63, with her on the red carpet, then sat beside her at the awards show. Paulson portrayed Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and received a nomination for playing her in the outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie category. Host Jimmy Kimmel joked about the pairing during his opening monologue as cameras panned to the duo. Id also like to acknowledge the winner of tonights plus-one contest Sarah Paulson, who played Marcia Clark and actually brought Marcia Clark with her tonight, he said. Because everyone in L.A. knows, if you want to win, sit next to Marcia Clark, he said as the crowd roared and the pair looked less than amused. Hi Marcia, he continued as he addressed the attorney-turned-author. This must be very strange for you: Are you rooting for OJ to win this time? The joke was met with boos for Paulson and Clark. Paulson is up against Audra McDonald (Lady Day at Emersons Bar & Grill), Kerry Washinton (Anita Hill), Kirsten Dunst (Fargo), and American Crime actresses Lili Taylor and Felicity Huffman on Sunday. Shes also nominated in the supporting category for her role in American Horror Story: Hotel. Check out PEOPLEs full 2016 Emmy Awards coverage and complete winners list! Surprisingly, Paulson hasnt seen herself in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. I havent watched it, she told E! News Giuliana Rancic on the red carpet. I dont think I want to watch her lose, and I know thats what happens. I think I feel a little bit of pressure like I dont want to let anybody down, she added, of her nomination. RELATED VIDEO: Allison Janney Reveals Where She Keeps Her Seven Emmy Awards Earlier, the pair looked happy on the red carpet, smiling side by side in stunning green and black dresses. So where was Paulsons girlfriend Holland Taylor? Back in New York prepping for the upcoming The Front Page revival. Holland Taylor is in rehearsals for a Broadway show that opens Tuesday, she explained to a fan on Twitter. Hi Holland, Paulson yelled to the camera quickly on the E! telecast. If youre watching, Holland Taylor, I love you. Dont worry she was watching at home, and was quick to send her love to Paulson. If Im watching?? If Im WATCHING??? YES, Im watching!!! Taylor wrote back. Good LORD! I LOVE you!!! Pete Buttigieg visits Charlevoix to support Democratic candidates In a show of support for the local slate of Democratic candidates, Pete Buttigieg made an appearance at the Charlevoix Public Library on Saturday. PDVSA sweeten $7 billion bond swap offering Citgo backing BOGOTA/SANTIAGO Petroleumworld.com 09 19 2016 Venezuela's state-owned oil company says it won't pay bond investors any more than face value to exchange their debt for longer-maturity notes. Instead, it proposes offering half its U.S. refining arm as collateral. Petroleos de Venezuela SA will offer to swap $7 billion of bonds maturing in April and November next year for new 8.5 percent notes with payments staggered over the next four years. The new bonds will be backed by a 50.1 percent stake in Citgo Holding Inc., the unit that owns its U.S. refining arm. PDVSA is seeking to postpone debt payments after the collapse in oil prices and a decline in crude output hampered its ability to pay. Half of the $4.1 billion of bonds that mature November 2017 will be paid back this year. Venezuela has been on default watch for the past two years, yet has always managed to scrape together enough money to service its debts, even as foreign-currency reserves fell and its hard-currency drought led to shortages and protests. The company will offer $1,000 of new bonds for every $1,000 of old debt tendered until Sept. 29, when the offer will fall to $950 per $1,000, it said on its website. The offer released late Friday didn't include a $1 billion note coming due next month. It was mentioned when officials said Tuesday that they were planning a swap. D.F. King & Co. was named as the exchange agent for the deal. Citigroup Inc. on Wednesday said that the value of Citgo collateral may be low as prior creditors may seek to challenge it in court. It is questionable if the bond exchange will be a solution for PDVSA/Venezuela debt sustainability, Citigroup strategist Donato Guartino wrote in the Sept. 14 note to clients. We think this exchange is simply a vehicle to swap the bonds in the hands of the public sector since private investors will have limited incentive to participate. The government owns a portion of the notes, but how much isn't public. For the deal to have a meaningful impact, PDVSA would need at least half the remaining bondholders to agree to the swap, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives look set to suffer losses Sunday in a Berlin city vote -- the second electoral blow within two weeks -- as a growing number of voters are expected to express their unease with her refugee-friendly policy. The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to profit from a popular backlash over Merkel's decision a year ago to keep German borders open for refugees, and the party could enter its 10th regional assembly out of Germany's 16 states. Polls point to heavy losses for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) in the vote for the Berlin city assembly, which means the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) may be able to ditch them from their current coalition. That would most likely raise the pressure further on Merkel one year before a federal election and could deepen divisions within her conservative camp. A drubbing in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern two weeks ago triggered calls from Merkel's conservative allies in Bavaria to toughen up her migrant policy, with measures such as introducing a cap of 200,000 refugees per year. Merkel rejects such a limit and defends her approach to finding a European solution to the migration issue by securing the continent's external borders, agreeing on migration deals with countries like Turkey and distributing refugees across Europe. A former U.S. military leader has called for a preemptive strike on North Korea to prevent further provocations after its fifth nuclear test earlier this month. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was speaking at a seminar hosted by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on Friday. Mullen said it would be possible to launch a preemptive strike on the North if it comes "very close" to being capable of attacking the U.S. The strike could in theory destroy North Korean missile launch pads, he said. He claimed the North has miniaturized nuclear warheads to the point that it could attack the U.S. and a preemptive strike was one of several options to respond to its provocations. But a diplomatic source warned that a preemptive strike "could lead to a military intervention by China and Russia." During the first North Korean nuclear crisis in 1994, the Clinton administration in the U.S. considered precision bombing of the North's nuclear facility in Yongbyon, but the idea was dropped in the face of opposition from then President Kim Young-sam, who feared a full-scale war. Incheon International Airport was packed on Sunday as Koreans taking full advantage of the long Chuseok break returned from overseas trips. On the final day of the five-day break, more than 180,000 people moved through the nation's main airport. There was a 20 percent increase in passengers compared to last year's Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving with the total over the five-day period coming to over 970,000. Alchemy Bicycles' Arktos Custom, previously known simply as the Arktos, is the stuff of many mountain biker's dreams; a carbon fiber front triangle that's manufactured in the United States (the swingarm comes from Asia), and 150mm of travel controlled by their efficient Sine Suspension layout. Owning an Arktos Custom is a bit like having your own Serval house cat while your friend has a tabby that he found in the classifieds for free. And like a Serval, the American-made Arktos Custom isn't inexpensive; $3,799 USD for the frame and Fox Float X shock, which is, of course, pricier than the very large majority of carbon frames born in Asia. Arktos Details Intended use: trail / all-mountain Travel: 150mm 27.5" wheels Carbon frame 66.5 head angle 438mm chainstay length 12 x 148mm rear spacing Sizes S, M, L, XL Frame price w/ shock: $2,999 USD Made in Asia Alchemy going this route shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone; as Pinkbike's Vernon Felton The reason? Labor is much cheaper in Asian countries, and saving money on labor means customers can hopefully save money on the final product. ''Were well aware that price can be a barrier to entry for premium designs and builds,'' Alchemy President Ryan Cannizarro explained in a press release that went out earlier today. ''We received a flood of comments expressing that potential customers cared less about where the bike was produced and more about the price tag,'' Cannizarro went on to say in the PR. ''The Arktos was so well-received last fall that we had to think about how the production of this bike would affect the production of our custom offerings,'' Cannizarro said of his concerns. ''By utilizing Dave Earles overseas production expertise and supervision for the new Arktos we can continue the Alchemy tradition of offering top-tier bikes, but at a price point new to us.''Alchemy going this route shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone; as Pinkbike's Vernon Felton stated in his interview with Matt Maczuzak , Vice President of Alchemy's R&D, from this year's Sea Otter event, 99-percent of the 17.8 million bicycles imported into the United States came from overseas (the vast majority from China and Taiwan) in 2014. That takes into account everything from department store specials to high-end carbon dream machines, but you get the point.The reason? Labor is much cheaper in Asian countries, and saving money on labor means customers can hopefully save money on the final product. But now Alchemy Bicycles is offering an Asian-made version of the frame named the Arktos (without the 'Custom' designation) that costs $2,999 USD with a Float X shock, which is a full $800 less than the American-made Arktos Custom that will still continue to be available.''Labor is the big differential,'' admitted Maczuzak back in the April interview. ''Technology is equal here and in Asia, so what you are paying for is labor. We pay our employees very well; we have very highly skilled people working for us, and that makes a difference. If you go to an Asian factory youll see that they break down one process into fifty different steps because it is no longer a skilled labor. One person does one little task and the next person in line does another little task. We have very skilled guys who handle it all the way from the mold to paint. To make that work, you have to design a process that lets you do it this way while still being efficient.''It would have been easy for Alchemy to get on a high-horse over their made in America ethos, but that has never been the case, which is probably a good thing given today's announcement that they've begun to offer a less expensive, Asian-made option in tandem with the US-made Arktos Custom. ''Its not a USA versus Asia thing for us,'' Maczuzak told Felton in April. ''Its just what we know and what we do best. The only advantage for us is that we have our hands on whats coming out of our factory. We have control over the product that has our name on it. If riders are into that too, we have bikes for them.''And now they'll also have the standard, $2,999 USD Arktos for riders who can't justify the $3,799 USD Arktos Custom. The two bikes share the exact same geometry and suspension design, but the more expensive Arktos Custom is painted to the customer's spec in Denver by Ethic Paint Works, and one-off custom paint schemes are also offered to Arktos Custom customers for an addition fee. The Asian-made Aktos is available in either yellow or blue ying-yang paint options. Press Release Kali Protectives Macduff Nano Core A sneak peek. Come by the Kali booth for a full demo and to meet the man himself, Matt Macduff. COMPOSITE FUSION Composite Fusion SHIVA 2.0 Shiva 2.0 LDL (Low-Density Layer) The Shiva 2.0 CHECK US OUT Dates: Times: Location: The future of protectives is coming in hot!arrives at Interbike 2016 with some next level technology including the release of the, the worlds first multiple impact bicycle helmet. Available only in Matt black, the Macduff is a dirt/street half shell that utilizes Kalis newtechnology, the product of an exclusive partnership with Italian materials manufacturer Alia Mentis . Nano Core combines Kalis proprietary Composite Fusion technology with Casidion - self-healing acrylic foam that incorporates carbon Nano-tubes, effectively replacing the EPS foam found in traditionally constructed helmets.Nano Core dissipates impact energy more efficiently than traditional EPS and can do so in a much smaller volume producing a lighter helmet. After an impact, a helmet using a traditional EPS foam liner will dent as it absorbs impact energy. EPS foam does not rebound; it stays impacted even though the helmet shell may return to its original shape and should be replaced. The Macduff however, equipped with Nano Core, will rebound without any loss in protection, and can continue to be used. No more crash and trash, the Macduff can withstand up to 8 impacts before needing to be replaced.Over a decade ago Kali founder and lead engineer, Brad Waldron developed the tooling and technology to completely in-mold a full-face helmet, something that has yet to be replicated. This breakthrough in safety technology is called Composite Fusion, a process that eliminates the need to tape or glue foam into helmet shells. Instead, Kali bonds the shell and foam liner allowing the use of a thinner shell, producing a lighter and ultimately stronger helmet. Lighter means less mass attached to your head. In a crash, less mass on your head reduces the resultant impact g-forces acting on your grey matter.- Better impact energy management, increased dynamic range - smaller, lighter and stronger. It's a no-brainer.In 2014 Kali released Composite Fusion Squared, launched the Shiva and changed what was possible for a full-face helmet. The revolutionary Shiva delivered DOT protection in a full carbon fiber helmet that weighed 1050 grams, and was an unprecedented 30% smaller than other DOT helmets. After extensive research, lab testing and some unprecedented real-world testing including Nicholi Rogatkin's 2015 Red Bull Rampage 30 ft crash and Matt Macduff's Loop Of Doom , Kali is pleased to release thefor 2017.The Shiva 2.0 features the same strong and lightweight full carbon fiber shell as its predecessor, but with an entirely new interior. Kali uses Composite Fusion Squared to in-mold Nano Core and EPS into geometric cone shapes, allowing for exceptional interior and exterior energy management.The 2.0 incorporates Kali'srotational impact technology. LDL is a proprietary padding system placed throughout the helmet, reduces rotational impact forces up to 25% and low-g linear forces by up to 30%.These advanced technologies were put to the test in 2015 when Nicholi Rogatkin, wearing an LDL equipped Shiva prototype, crashed at Red Bull Rampage falling over 30ft before coming to a stop. Luckily, he survived the crash without losing consciousness or sustaining significant injury.A team of concussion researchers from the London Imperial College recreated Rogatkin's crash in laboratory conditions. They were able to calculate the linear and rotational g-forces Nicholi experienced. They found that the addition of LDL to his Shiva reduced Nicholi's chance of experiencing MTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) from 60% down to 10%.- Engineered to help you be unstoppable.If you're at Interbike, make sure to drop in to see the booth to experience Kali's approach to innovation in safety technology. Team riders, Nicholi Rogatkin and Matt Macduff will also be on hand to sign posters and answer questions between 11am - noon on each day of the indoor expo.9/28-3011am - noon dailyKali BoothFor more info contact: marketing@kaliprotectives.com @sterlinglorence / @aledilullo / @coldsalt Samsung Electronics has been forced to hang its own affiliate Samsung SDI out to dry over combustible batteries that ruined the victory lap of its latest smartphone. Samsung Electronics began replacing Galaxy Note 7 phones sold worldwide on Monday. All the new devices will have batteries made by ATL of China instead of Samsung SDI. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has approved Galaxy Note 7s with ATL batteries, so Samsung can proceed with the recall and resume sales. Only last year Samsung SDI accounted for a quarter of the world's compact rechargeable battery market, ranking first ahead of LG Chem, Panasonic and ATL, who just had around 10 percent each. But market share is mostly determined by sales to affiliates, and there is not much difference in technology. And now ATL has clearly stolen a march on Samsung SDI in terms of quality by the simple expedient of preventing its batteries from going up in flames on recharging. Based in China, ATL is well known in the industry for supplying pouch-type batteries to Apple, which has a reputation for high quality standards, including the new iPhone 7. Market insiders say Samsung's habit of keeping it in the family caused Samsung SDI to slacken quality controls and innovation. In the first half of this year, 31.6 percent of Samsung SDI's revenues came from other Samsung affiliates, and in 2014 the proportion was 49.6 percent. Samsung SDI supplied 70 percent of the Galaxy Note 7 batteries. Over-reliance on affiliates ended up costing Samsung SDI its advantage in developing cutting-edge technologies. LG Chem, ATL and other rivals wasted no time switching to pouch-type batteries to meet emerging demand, but Samsung SDI kept churning out stick-type batteries because its main client had not caught on. When Samsung SDI finally started making large-capacity, 3500mAh pouch-type batteries to meet orders from Samsung Electronics, they were not up to scratch. The Galaxy Note 7 is slimmer than its predecessor, and its waterproof and vibration-resistant design further constrains battery space, which proved too tall an order in too little time. Another problem was a mass exodus of technicians due to money-saving layoffs at Samsung SDI. The company's total staff shrank from 7,408 in late 2015 to 6,937 as of June. One industry source said, "The staff cuts were probably at least partly responsible for the battery defects." Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The following post, written by The Rev. Robert A. Franek, is a part of Politicus Policy Discussion, in which writers draw connections between real lives and public policy. Since Hillary Clinton made her basket of deplorables comment calling out the racist, bigoted, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic following in the Trump campaign, there has been seemingly no end to calling things in that campaign and in media coverage deplorable. The truth is this needed to be said. The unprecedented level of hate and fear in Trumps own rhetoric and among much of his supporters needs to be called out at every instance. This rhetoric and ideology has no place in todays presidential politics and must be repudiated repeatedly, lest it become normalized, as it is becoming in much of the media. Sarah Jones in her writing continues to be an exemplary example of how this is done daily. See here, here, and here. However, there is another half to Hillary Clintons comment. Her call for empathy for the people who feel forgotten, left behind, disillusioned, and frustrated with the status quo. This basket has gotten little to no attention, and yet it is where our collective societal attention needs to be. Instead for the past week we have been treated to endless coverage of our presidential candidates health and health records. Hillary Clinton was pummeled for not disclosing her pneumonia diagnosis for two days, and there was much speculation about her health as she took a few days to rest and recover. Meanwhile, Donald Trump treated the country to another bait and switch stunt with an appearance on the Dr. Oz Show to discuss his medical records. All the while the country waits for Congress to fund Zika virus research and treatment before it reaches epidemic proportions. Trumps rhetoric is reprehensible. His repeated calls for violence against Hillary Clinton inexcusable. The medias repeated false equivalence, misogyny, and double standards a failure of duty. All unequivocally deplorable. Nonetheless, the following story caught my attention last Monday. David Smith of The Guardian writes, Teenagers in America are resorting to sex work because they cannot afford food, according to a study that suggests widespread hunger in the worlds wealthiest country. This is heartbreakingly deplorable. How can anyones conscience be content not only while children are hungry, but when they feel compelled resort to sex work to obtain food. I can scarcely imagine such a reality and grieve its existence. It is for these and so many more that as a civil and humane society we must have compassion. And we must act from that compassion towards ending these deplorable realities. While all the people in Hillary Clintons basket of deplorables need to be called out for their ideology of hate and discrimination, the people in her other basket deserve our empathy. This is especially hard to do when it is all too easy to get caught up in the media hype of polling numbers and distortions and distractions in campaign coverage. Nevertheless, as Sarah Jones continues to counsel, we must not panic for when we do we lose the ability to think carefully and critically. Keeping calm and focused in the midst of all the deplorable behaviors of these days is imperative if we are to overcome them and not simply add to the noise in an already alarming environment. I believe that it is finally through compassion and empathy for the suffering vulnerable ones that all the hate and fear will be overcome as we encounter our diversity of neighbors as human beings worthy of dignity and respect. Working together for the common good of all people we will build bridges where difference divides and our eyes will be opened to new understandings. If we fail in this call to empathy and compassion for our neighbors in need that will be the greatest moral failing of all. And there is only one word to describe this: deplorable. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* Although Donald Trumps ascendancy as leader of the Republican movement may surprise some Americans, it was bound to happen sooner than later due simply to the percentage of the population that suffers from tragically low-intellect and desire to stay woefully ill-informed about anything other than religion and bigotry. Of course ignorant Americans would be fooled by a consummate con man and criminally fraudulent television celebrity because without gullible idiots a scam artist like Donald Trump would never achieve more than being a big-time wrestling celebrity. What is simply stunning, though, is the ease at which Mr. Trump continues to punk the media into doing his bidding because one likes to believe that journalists and top-flight reporters do not meet the criteria or possess the low-intellectual standards of Trumps boneheaded acolytes. On Friday when the media was conned into believing there was going to be a press conference that Donald Trump set up the previous day in an interview with the Washington Post. Trump renewed the birther issue by declining to say whether he believed President Obama was really an American. In the WaPo interview, Trump said Ill answer that question at the right time. I just dont want to answer it yet. That tease set up the Donalds masterful manipulation of network and cable news outlets for what amounted to a [free] extended advertisement for Trumps newest hotel and testimonials from veterans. By now a couple of Americans are likely aware of the outrage from the press over being scammed by a notorious confidence man, and if it was a first-time occurrence, the furious media would be a little easier to take seriously. However, this was not the first time the media was conned and judging by their collective reaction, it was like they were surprised the Donald would pull such an underhanded stunt; even though he telegraphed, in advance, that the event at his fabulous brand new hotel was nothing more than manipulating national media into providing free advertisement. It is not as if the media wasnt aware that Trump was likely to trick them into giving free television advertising time for his new hotel. In fact, one media personality who will, out of deference to a journalist, not be named, said after the major scam: We got played, again, by the Trump campaign, which is what they do. Now, there is an old adage that George W. Bush couldnt quite get straight, but even he understood the meaning of Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. As Mr. Bush and rock royalty The Who said about being scammed; We wont get fooled again. The media certainly got fooled again and for them to be angry at anyone other than themselves is simply absurd; as the journalist noted above said, playing the media is what the Trump campaign does. The media knows it better than anyone and yet they willingly, yes willingly, continue letting a television con man make fools of the people who are alleged to be the most savvy and observant among the population. Look, even if the Trump campaign hadnt faithfully tricked the media in the past, these folks are well aware that the man theyre covering is as dishonest as the day is long and will go to any length to advance his own interests at other peoples expense. The media knows, for example, that Trump is being investigated for conning thousands out of millions of dollars in his fake Trump University scandal. They also know that Trump paid bribes to not one, but two separate state attorneys general to sweep investigations into the fraudulent celebritys university out of existence at their political lives peril. Remember, Trump just gave political donations; the current Florida and former Texas attorneys general are the only ones likely to be investigated for taking a bribe. The media is also well aware that Donald Trump swindled the Republican National Committee into paying about a million dollars for two parties attended by the Donalds wealthy country club buddies. Parties that experts say should have cost, at most, about $45,000 instead of a million that went directly into Trumps pocket because the parties were held at his Mar-a-Lago resort. It is disappointing that while one can barely accept that ignorant and low-intellect Americans are gleefully swallowing Trumps fraud as a serious presidential candidate, it is beyond the pale that the press continues letting a disreputable con man punk them with increasing regularity. One journalist told this author that the reporters and news crews are sent to cover Trump and that they have little choice in the matter. That actually makes the situation more deplorable; editors, publishers, news producers and assignment editors responsible for authorizing payment for news and camera crews covering the events are certainly aware that Trump is a con artist. As Jason Easley observed here on Friday, The media knows that they have been played. With one colossally arrogant blunder, Donald Trump may have put an end to his media free lunch. One desperately hopes Trumps media free lunch is finally at an end, but facts are facts; the media knew they had been played in the past and yet they still let the film-flam man dupe them again. Even if the media werent regularly manipulated by Trump, theyve seen him con thousands of students out of millions of dollars, reported that he conned two attorneys general to sweep his fraud under the table, and wrote about how he tricked the Republican National Committee into paying a million dollars for two parties for his country club cohorts. And yet they still willfully served up thirty minutes of free national television advertising for his new hotel and campaign endorsements. Chances are the media have not learned their lesson and that they will certainly get fooled again even though they are waist deep in the shame on me aspect of the fool me once adage. Even if they have learned their lesson, they had already lost any right to complain when they all knew in advance they were dealing with a scam artist because they said, We got played again by the Trump campaign, which is what they do; and the Trump campaign continues doing it because the media keeps going back to get played. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump appeared this morning on Fox News Fox & Friends to express outrage over his imagined unfair treatment at the hands of CNN. Trumps latest round of fabricated victimization was pretending CNN covered up for Hillary Clinton with respect to their use of the word bombing before official confirmation that the explosions were indeed caused by bombs. Watch Donald Trump invent something to be outraged about courtesy of Media Matters for America: STEVE DOOCY: When we first started the interview with you Mr. Trump, mentioned that we had not heard from you since Saturday night when you came off your plane and said a bomb went off in New York. Nobody knows whats going on. And then you were hit by mainstream media that were attacking you for using bomb before the authorities had confirmed the facts of the attack. Yet, Hillary Clinton referred to the bombings in New York and New Jersey, but CNN edited that out. What do you make of that? DONALD TRUMP: Well CNN is disgusting and theyre disgraceful. I watch it all. I watch all of it folks. And sometimes Fox actually doesnt treat me well also, by the way, but thats OK. You people do, thats all that matters. DOOCY: Were fair and balanced. TRUMP: Youre fair and balanced, I agree. [] These people are the most dishonest people. CNN is so disgusting and dishonest. And I watch it. It is so unfair. They call it the Clinton News Network. Well, only Trump calls CNN the Clinton News Network. CNN, which has hosted Trumps own employee, Corey Lewandowski, as a journalist to promote Trumps campaign, certainly doesnt call itself the Clinton News Network. CNN did report, however, the uncomfortable fact that Donald Trump told his supporters that a bomb went off in that city, and that he made the statement before local officials had publicly confirmed details of the incident or what caused the explosion. In fact, disgusting CNN also reported that, Trumps Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, spoke to reporters in White Plains nearly two hours after the explosion and similarly called the incident a bombing.' Facts have long been the Achilles heel of Republican politics, and Donald Trump is as anti-fact as you can be in a day and age when very little escapes the attention of the media, or of those who just happen to have a recording device handy. Trump has expressed outrage over CNNs sometimes-use-of-facts, as well as The New York Times, becoming so irate in the latter case that he threatened to sue them under a non-existent law if they didnt stop using facts. Life is so unfair to Donald Trump. It gets in the way of a good lie multiple times in a single day. The fact is, Donald Trump is not treated unfairly. He was not treated unfairly by CNN and he has not been treated unfairly by the Times. For a guy who claims to be strong, one fact stands out: Donald Trump whines like a baby when he doesnt get what he wants, and that is something truly strong men absolutely do not do. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Hillary Clinton said what the media wouldnt by accusing Donald Trump of committing treason by giving aid and comfort to the adversaries of the United States of America. Video: Clinton said: I dont want to speculate, but heres what we know, and I think its important for voters to hear this and weigh it in making their choice in November. We know that a lot of the rhetoric weve heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they are looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists, violent terrorists, people who number in the maybe tens of thousands, not but tens of millions. They want to use that to recruit more fighters to their cause by turning it into a religious conflict. Thats why Ive been very clear; were going after the bad guys and were going to get them, but were not going to go after an entire religion and give ISIS exactly what its wanting in order for them to enhance their position. Secondly, we know that Donald Trumps comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists. Weve heard that from former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who made it a very clear point when he said Donald Trump is being used as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists. We also know from the former head of our Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, that the kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr. Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries. That last phrase aid and comfort to our adversaries is almost a word for word quotation of the constitutional definition of treason. According to Article 3 Sec. 3 of the US Constitution, Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. Hillary Clinton didnt come out and directly say that Trump is a traitor who has committed treason against the United States of America, but by referencing the constitutional definition of treason almost word for word, she made her point very clear. One of the problems that Democrats have faced in the general election campaign is that many in the media has glossed over Trumps behavior or handled him with kid gloves. As far as Hillary Clinton is concerned, the gloves are off, and she is calling out Trumps behavior for exactly what it is. With one week to go before the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton went there, and the presidential election just got real. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The roller coaster 2016 presidential election did another loop to loop as a new poll of red state Georgia shows Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump statistically tied. According to the new Monmouth University poll of Georgia: Among Georgia voters likely to participate in Novembers presidential election, 45% support Trump and 42% back Hillary Clinton. Another 8% intend to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson and 5% are undecided. Clinton actually holds a 55% to 35% lead over Trump in the greater Atlanta area the six congressional districts surrounding Georgias capital city while Trump leads 51% to 33% in the rest of the state. The Democrats advantage around Atlanta is due almost entirely to the larger share of black voters who live in that region. Clinton has a commanding 88% to 4% lead over Trump among black voters statewide. Trump holds a strong 66% to 20% advantage, though, among white voters across Georgia. This margin is similar among both white men (67% to 20%) and white women (65% to 21%). Trump has an even larger lead among white voters without a college degree (78% to 10%) than he does among white college graduates (54% to 31%). Among white voters age 50 and older, 68% support Trump, 23% support Clinton, and 6% support Johnson. Among white voters under 50 years old, 63% support Trump, 16% support Clinton, and 16% support Johnson. The 2016 race for the White House is shaping up to be a base turnout election. If there is one thing that Donald Trumps supporters have proven since he entered the race, it is that they show up to vote. For Democrats to win in Georgia, and win nationwide, they have to get the same constituency that powered President Obama to two victories out to vote. After all of the hand-wringing in some Democratic circles over the polls, it may seem hard to believe, but Hillary Clinton still can win in states like Georgia and North Carolina. Hillary Clinton is not losing this election. Momentum is often a mythical term that losing campaigns and the media are fond of because it is helpful in creating storylines. The bottom line is simple. Hillary Clinton can both flip states like Georgia and win the White House in November, but the fate of her bid to be the next president hinges on turnout more than her message. If Democrats show up as they did for Obama, Clinton will likely be the next President Of The United States. Proof of Clintons good odds is that she is still in position to have a chance to flip a red state like Georgia into her column. Hanjin Shipping has been able to unload cargo in Japan again after offloading also resumed in the U.S. and Spain. The bankrupt shipper said Sunday that the cargo ship Geneva offloaded its containers in Japan and headed to Busan. Japan is the third country to allow Hanjin to unload cargo since the firm filed for court receivership on Aug. 31. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The Fox News spin machine is busy this morning in the wake of terror attacks in Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey. We saw earlier how they gave Donald Trump a soap box from which to preach his persecution myth at the hands of a hostile mainstream media. The same gang of propagandists at Fox & Friends gave St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson the opportunity to join the Trump hate chorus. This, Chief Anderson steadfastly refused to do, telling Fox & Friends now is not the time for us to be divisive. This is a flat rejection of Trumps embrace of collective guilt made earlier on Fox & Friends: Trump: Clinton wants to allow "100s of thousands of these same people" that have "hatred & sickness in their heart" pic.twitter.com/RHESH5Ml8h Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) September 19, 2016 Watch Chief Anderson reject hatred courtesy of Media Matters for America: STEVE DOOCY: So, Chief, as you listen to Donald Trump talking about of course, he would like extreme vetting going forward. I know there are close to 6,000 Somalis who live in the St. Cloud area. Do you share his concern about who is coming into the country? POLICE CHIEF WILLIAM BLAIR ANDERSON: Well, first of all, my job is public safety. Its not immigration policy. I can tell you that the vast majority of all of our citizens, no matter their ethnicity, are fine, hard-working people, and now is not the time for us to be divisive. We already have a very cohesive community, and I expect that this will draw us even closer together. But at the end of the day, our job is public safety, period. AINSLEY EARHARDT: Chief, how do you work with the Somalian community there? Do you stay in touch with the imams? Because since 2007, more than 20 young Somali men have traveled from Minnesota to Somalia to join the terrorist group Al Shabaab, and Minnesota leads the nation in the number of people who have left or sought to leave the country to go and fight terrorism or terrorists aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as well. So, how do you fight this? Because its a mentality that theyre learning, many of them, behind closed doors. ANDERSON: We actually work very well not just with our East African community, but all of our community. We meet regularly with any number of people, whether they are advocates for a specific ethnicity or different cause. Its one of things that makes St. Cloud a wonderful place to live, and I know that might sound corny, but its the truth. We have established and maintained a very good rapport with our East African community and our community at large. Fox News is eager and ready to spread the Trump gospel that immigrants particularly Muslim immigrants carry hatred and sickness in their heart. Trump says hes the cure for that, but his message seems like an awful lot of hate for somebody who claims to be rejecting hate. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump responded to incidents in Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey this weekend with shameless self-promotion. He offered nothing substantive in the way of remedies or means by which America can be made entirely secure from people who might want to act in the name of one cause or another. He spoke to an audience Saturday night and his utterances Sunday were no less fact-free and bombastic. On Saturday we heard, Weve got to get very tough. Its a terrible thing whats going on in our world, whats going on in our country, but we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant and we are going to end it. And Sunday night, he tweeted, Under the leadership of Obama & Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2016 President Obama has pursued al Qaeda relentlessly since he took office, finally killing the architect of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, in his hiding place in Pakistan. Under his direction, drone attacks have decimated the ISIS leadership and a coalition of US-backed forces have contained and even regained lost ground from the Islamic State. Yet Trump followed this up with another tweet: Saturdays attacks show that failed Obama/Hillary Clinton polices wont keep us safe! I will Make America Safe Again! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2016 And in fact, as more details emerge, we find that more Americans were saved this weekend than injured. In Minnesota, first responders were on the scene within 5 minutes of the first 911 calls and an off-duty cop shot and killed the attacker, and the FBI revealed this morning that, There was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices this evening at the Elizabeth Train Station in NJ. #Elizabeth FBI Newark (@FBINewark) September 19, 2016 And now authorities have a name and are seeking in connection with the Chelsea bombing, 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami. Trump is not going to laud the successes of law enforcement against terrorism because it is not congenial to the dystopian world he creates with his rhetoric. And lets put these attacks in perspective for a moment: No one was killed in the three incidents. One bomb injured 29, and 9 people were wounded by a knife-wielding man in Minnesota, and the other bomb caused no injuries. On the other hand, according to the Gun Violence Archive, 42 Americans were killed as a result of gun violence on Saturday, and another 20 Americans on Sunday. Trump said nothing about being tough and smart and vigilant on gun violence, let alone saying we are going to end it. All those fatalities went, as they so often are, completely unremarked. Yet 62 Americans are dead in a single weekend as a result of gun violence. Trump ignores gun violence. The NRA loves Donald Trump and Trump loves the NRA. Trump does not ignore Islamic terrorism which kills far fewer Americans than do our own children. And Trump is not about to get tough on gun violence, or children wielding guns. Yes, toddlers with guns kill more Americans than terrorists. From Trump? Silence. And while Trump does his level best to speak of Obama and Clinton as a single unit, Clinton was Obamas Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, but has not acted in an official capacity since February 2013, and therefore has had no role in formulating US policy for going on four years. Trump likes to talk and he likes to denigrate and he likes to bully, but he doesnt like facts. He hates facts so much he wants to sue the New York Times using laws that dont exist to stop the paper from using them. This weekends two bombings and mass stabbing are just another opportunity for personal political gain; for Donald Trump to shamelessly promote himself while ignoring every relevant fact. The fact is, the system worked this weekend: the Minnesota stabber was shot dead; a man is already sought in connection with bombing; and more bombs found in train station before they could be set and detonated. Success in the war on terror is the last thing Donald Trump wants to advertise. Trump and terrorists ironically have the same goal: the spread of fear. And both shun the only antidote to fear: facts. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. Why Foreign Property Investors Still Love Budapest (x) New Waves of International Property Investors Are Arriving to Hungary. Hungary has world-class architecture, stunning buildings, with countless prime quality real estate developments in progress; corporation tax is low as is the cost of labour, the country is one of the EUs few low-tax destinations and foreign investors have taken notice. The Financial Times considered the year 2014 as having been a turning point for Hungarys property market. Strong macroeconomic performance, combined with loose monetary policy restrictions and a greater risk tolerance from investors contributed to lifting the housing industry out of its financial crisis-era stagnation. The Telegraph - based on the findings of the Global Property Guide - ranked Hungary among Europe's top 20 places to invest in property. In addition, Budapest is at the forefront of other lists, too. It ranked as the 12th of 150 cities listed in Knight Franks Q1 Global Residential Property Index, and it is among the most attractive investment cities according to CBREs 2016 EMEA Investor Intentions Survey. Andras Cornides, Investment Consultant of Tower International "Budapest remains a highly attractive investment location. International buyers are active on the market, and at an annual return of around 7% they will continue to remain interested" - summarizes Andras Cornides, Investment Consultant of Tower International Ltd, a company offering real estate services and residential property management in Budapest for foreign investors. New Waves of Foreign Investors Inward-bound direct investment by foreign non-residents totalled a staggering 1.16 billion in 2015, according to figures published by the National Bank of Hungary this year. Compared to last year, investor interest by non-EU citizens has largely risen, growing by 50%. European investors still play a crucial role; whilst German institutional investors have become more active, American venture investors also carry increasingly significant weight. Investors Love Budapest Not Merely for the High Return on Investment Before the financial crisis we mostly had waves of Irish, British and Spanish buyers. In recent years we still have EU investors but now there is also a significant amount of non-EU buyers that have emerged from the Ukraine, Russia, Middle East, and the Far East. For many of these buyers investment in Hungary also means easier access to the EU"- explains Cornides. Preferred Investment Models In Q1, half of the foreign transactions was concentrated mainly on 60-80 sq. m apartments located in central Pest. The price of a decent apartment there starts from US$150,000 before renovation, which doesn't add significant cost due to cheaply available good quality labour. "Many investors buy to rent for long term; their target audience are international expats, university students and local Hungarians. Another investment possibility is to buy cheap, renovate and rent the unit out, or alternatively offer it for resale for profit. As prices have been steadily increasing, some investors have also been buying property in Budapest with the aim of reselling it in a relatively short term with a mark-up" - points out the property consultant. (x) Fed up with legislative inaction, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce Rob Miller is urging citizens to make their voices heard. Speaking during a southeast Minnesota economic forum last week, Miller issued a call to action to the nearly 600 business leaders in the room. He said it's time they demand the governor and legislative leaders agree to a special session so a $260 million tax-cut package and $1 billion public works bill can get done. "I said the words, 'I am begging and am pleading with those of you in the audience to get on your mobile devices and take action,'" Miller said in an interview. The Rochester chamber leader also penned a column for the Post-Bulletin demanding legislative action. The way Miller sees it, it's ridiculous that a tax bill that had broad support from lawmakers would't become law. House and Senate lawmakers passed the bill in May, but Gov. Mark Dayton refused to sign it because of a $100 million wording error. "I don't understand how you get a 90 percent bipartisan "yes" vote on a tax bill, and it doesn't become effective. It doesn't happen," Miller said. ADVERTISEMENT He notes that the biggest stumbling block to a special session dispute over light-rail transit funding in the Twin Cities appears to be resolved. As such, he said it's time for legislative leaders and the governor to cut a deal on a special session. "Let's get it done because we have a whole new set of issues coming next year, and we shouldn't be revisiting something that should have gotten done last year," Miller said. But prospects for a special session appear dim. Dayton and Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt chatted about the potential for a special session at a previously scheduled breakfast earlier this month. But there's been no indication that meeting has led to any movement. The governor have said there are still other issues that need to be ironed out before a special session can move ahead. That includes getting rid of earmarks for transportation projects in the bonding bill and additional spending for the St. Peter treatment facility. With all 201 lawmakers on the ballot and just over seven weeks until election day, political insiders say it's unlikely a special session will happen. But Miller said he can't accept the idea that governor and lawmakers would walk away from the table when there is so much at stake. He added, "How could you in clear conscience not do the work that you are paid to do two years in a row? To me, that's unconscionable." Should trackers be allowed to film candidate forums? A recent candidate forum in Red Wing is getting plenty of attention and not because of what the candidates had to say. Tom Steward with the conservative think tank the Center of the American Experiment wrote online that League of Women Voters Red Wing officials prohibited a tracker with the conservative group Minnesota Jobs Coalition from filming the forum, which was held in the Red Wing City Council chambers. His post includes a link to a YouTube video of the confrontation between videographer Reilly Griffin and league leaders. Red Wing police were called in to have Griffin removed. During the confrontation, league officials say that forum was being taped by the league and would be made available to the public in its entirety online. They said league rules prohibit filming by others. They also said such taping would run afoul of Federal Communications Commission rules. ADVERTISEMENT Steward quotes Minnesota Jobs Coalition president Kevin Magnuson stating, "All Minnesotans deserve the right to know where those who hope to represent them stand on issues that are important to them. In the future, I hope the league doesn't try to limit public participation in any of their debates." In his post, Steward cites a 2014 statement from League of Women Voters Minnesota Executive Director Susan Sheridan Tucker saying "local media and audience members may also record the event. League reserves the right to restrict video cameras and tripods to the rear of the room." Several local League of Women Voters forums are scheduled in the coming weeks, so it will be interesting to see how league officials decide to handle trackers. Keillor to fundraise in Rochester Public radio legend Garrison Keillor will be in Rochester next weekend to headline a fundraiser for the Minnesota House DFL Caucus. The retired host of "A Prairie Home Companion" will attend the Saturday evening fundraiser in the Rochester Marriott Ballroom. The event will feature music from the Nodding Wild Onions. There's no set cost for the fundraiser, but a suggested donation of at least $50 per person is suggested. Keillor has done fundraisers to support local DFL groups in the past, including a 2013 event to support Olmsted County Democrats and a 2012 appearance for the Fillmore County DFL. ADVERTISEMENT While we all have access to tomatoes in even the depths of winter, the words we use to describe them all sound like other names for disappointment mealy, bland and sad. But describe an encounter with the best summertime tomatoes, and suddenly it sounds as if you're reliving some steamy affair luscious, sumptuous and messy. The best summertime tomatoes have a super juicy interior with a taste that hovers from sweet to acidic to, most importantly, savory. You probably think I'm joking, but tomatoes contain a high proportion of glutamic acid, which also lends Parmesan cheese and soy sauce their oddly meaty powers. Kind of amazing, no? This partly explains the appeal of the summertime tomato sandwich. Even though you're feasting on fruit (tomatoes are, as you know, not a vegetable), something feels greedy and exciting about the whole affair. As an American, I make sure to eat my fair share of BLT sandwiches; when done right, it is a nearly flawless creation. But it's not the only word on tomatoes and bread. There's a wide world of options out there, and making the slightest adjustment to the bread or the fat used completely changes the result. The only rule is to keep things simple. ADVERTISEMENT Let's start with the obvious. We're all heard of bruschetta, right? At its simplest, the base recipe is nothing more than toasted or grilled slices of bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil and salt. If you're using great bread, this can be satisfying, if a tad boring. But add tomatoes to the mix and maybe some torn basil, and now you have one of the most ubiquitous appetizers on earth. The crunch of the bread contrasts with the soft chopped tomatoes, with the garlic heat coming at the end. In northern Spain, they also serve a toasted bread and tomato dish called pan de tomate (or pa amb tomaquet in the Catalan language), but while the ingredients are extremely similar to bruschetta, the dish differs dramatically. Instead of neatly chopped tomatoes and a pop of bright green basil, cooks drag a halved tomato across the toasted bread, saturating the slice and leaving a trail of pulp and seeds in its wake. Compared to bruschetta, it's a messy, unkempt sight. But it's immensely satisfying, perhaps even more so than the Italian version, because of the mix of crunchy toasted bread and the soft tomato-soaked interior. So what if looks like you're eating an old soggy shoe? If you prefer your sandwich more handsome, follow the example of Denmark's meticulously composed open-faced sandwiches, called smorrebrod. Though topping options are nearly limitless, they all start with a firm foundation of grilled or toasted rye bread spread with butter. One of the simplest is to pair sliced tomato with hard-cooked egg and watercress. You could stack all the ingredients on top of each other, but Nika Hazelton, in her book "Classic Scandinavian Cooking," suggests placing eggs on one side and tomatoes on the other, with watercress neatly positioned on top. Be as fiddly as you like. The result certainly looks much neater, but if you're using plump summertime tomatoes, each bite is still adequately messy. The sliced egg adds a creaminess, while the tangle of watercress lends a pleasing peppery bite. Not all tomato sandwiches need to be toasted. In the Southern United States, tomato sandwiches are usually built on untoasted, pearly white bread. While the softness of the bread seems destined to buckle under the juicy tomato slices, a healthy coating of mayonnaise helps protect it. What kind of mayonnaise? According to Southern cookbook author Virginia Willis, store-bought brands are actually the traditional way, with the regional brand Duke's being mentioned often, though Hellman's works, too. Honestly, I quite enjoyed the sandwich I made with Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise, though that will seem sacrilegious to some. Regardless of which recipe you try, the tomato sandwich should be unreasonably messy, necessitating a nearby stack of napkins for backup. That part of the sandwich crosses all borders. If the flavor you are looking forward to this fall is pumpkin spice, I have news for you. That's history. So last year. The taste of this fall is caramel apple, and if you haven't seen or tried it yet, you likely will. It's showing up everywhere. Combining the flavor of a crispy tart apple with creamy sweet caramel what a perfect marriage. That's exactly what food manufacturers thought as well, so watch as caramel apple gives pumpkin spice a good run for its money this fall. We can thank or blame a fellow named Dan Walker, who in the 1950s was a sales representative for Kraft Caramels, who had the brilliant idea of combining the two flavors. In fact, all these years later the recipe for caramel apples still appears on most Kraft caramel packages. To see how much this flavor invasion had taken hold, I went through the aisles of Hy-Vee, Trader Joe's, Target, Silver Lake Foods and Fareway. And yes, it's definitely there in drinks, breads, cereals, cookies and candies, even liquor. ADVERTISEMENT What caught my eye initially were Oreo cookies with a caramel apple-flavored filling at Target, though I didn't see those cookies anywhere else. Must be an exclusive or maybe not on other shelves yet. You can get Pillsbury caramel apple cake mix, and you can frost it with caramel apple frosting. And how about cupcakes and muffins? Just the thing to go with coffee made from caramel apple-flavored coffee beans. In fact Starbucks, which brought us pumpkin spice, is making a caramel apple-flavored brew topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel. Still thirsty? Celestial Seasonings has a tea blend, Caramel Apple Dream, which has a strong apple-cinnamon sweet flavor. There's caramel apple juice drink in the juice aisle. The flavor has also made its way into the adult beverage market. Want to try caramel apple-flavored vodka? Or Blue Moon Brewing's Caramel Apple spiced ale? Me neither. For breakfast you can toast up slices of Pepperidge Farm's Caramel Apple Swirl bread or have a Quaker Oats granola bar in that same flavor. This snack sounds pretty addictive: dried apple chips with sea salt and bits of caramel. Where caramel apple flavor turns up the most is in the candy aisle. Twizzlers has a mini version of its product in caramel apple flavor, and Werther's has packaged a caramel shell with a soft caramel apple filling. There are also M&M's and mini Milky Ways in limited editions. Of course you can also get a taste of caramel apple in salt water taffy and jelly beans. ADVERTISEMENT Candy corn, that iconic candy of fall, has added a caramel apple flavor, and of course Peeps which used to be available only at Easter have added a caramel apple version. This one is apple-flavored marshmallows with some having their bottoms dipped in what is called caramel fudge. I ate one so you don't have to. Whether any of these appeals to us is a good question. Manufacturers are certainly hoping that some of this variety of products will. They certainly are worth trying. However, at the end of the day the real thing a caramel apple on a stick or apple slices with a caramel dipping sauce will always be the real fall favorite. The rest are "also-rans." Rochester is in the top 10. According to the Sierra Club , the Med City is one of 10 cities nationally that have made a commitment to being powered by 100 percent clean, renewable energy. That doesn't mean that starting tomorrow we'll rely on nothing but the wind and the sun to keep the lights on. It just means the city has a path to make it happen in the not-too-distant future. "Rochester was highlighted in that report on the basis of the strides that it's making," said Rick Morris, Rochester clean energy organizer for the Sierra Club North Star Chapter . "It's part of the GreenSteps Cities program, there's the proclamation by the mayor , and the DMC commitments based on proposed guidelines from U of M." The Sierra Club report cites influences such as the Rochester Energy Commission , an advisory board to the city that was formed in 2009, the chance to make a change that is the DMC project, and the state's overall goal to move toward renewable energy. But Morris said the best start toward 100 percent renewable energy is the simple one we can all take part in. "We need more conservation," he said. "We want to reduce the amount of electricity we use and the greenhouse gas emissions." ADVERTISEMENT With all these stars aligned to, well, make the skies more clear, there are obstacles in the way. First, there is Rochester Public Utilities ' contract with SMMPA the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency -- which sells power to RPU, much of which comes from non-renewable sources. That contract runs through 2030, so hitting the 100 percent renewables goal isn't likely to happen until that contract runs its course. But there's no reason the community should not start working toward the goal to make it happen on Jan. 1, 2031, Morris said. "The public wants to be more sustainable," Morris said, adding that there can be resistance when business interests take a quick route instead of planning for the long term. For example, if businesses are trying to attract the top young talent, those millennials tend to sign on with businesses that take a green approach to their corporate philosophies. Some of the simple steps, Morris said, is making sure a building is ready for renewable energy. When building new or doing a major remodel, make sure the roof is set up to be capable of solar installations. Have a south-facing area. Make the wiring capable of easy hook-up to solar. Over the longer term, downtown areas can be set up with districts for shared heating and cooling. "The University of Minnesota is doing great work with that," Morris said. For Rochester to make good on its place on the Sierra Club list, though, the city needs to start taking those individual steps toward reducing usage and making its infrastructure more accommodating to renewables such as solar and geothermal. "We're not going to hit the 100 percent mark easily or soon," Morris said. "But Rochester is one of the best cities in this state to reach it." Another Zika infection was reported in Korea on Sunday, bringing the total to 13. The patient is a man in his late 20s who traveled to the Philippines early this month. The man is suspected of having contracted the virus from a mosquito bite. He did not display severe symptoms and was sent home after being given medication. Three coworkers who traveled to the Philippines with the infected patient will also be tested for the virus. An official at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, "There has been a rise in Zika infections among people traveling to Southeast Asia and we urge travelers to those areas to exercise caution, refrain from giving blood for a month after arriving in Korea and put off getting pregnant for at least two months." MINNESOTA CITY Elizabeth and Kathryn Girtler are healthy 9-year-old twin girls. But that wasn't always the case. Friday night, at a gala event for Be The Match, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization that matches patients with bone marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants, the Girtler girls finally met the man who changed and saved their lives: Ingo Gruda. The girls the whole family said thank you. "Saying thank you isn't enough," said Michelle Girtler, the girls' mother. "It's like a cliche. We said, 'You are forever our hero.'" For his part, Girtler said, Gruda told the girls they were now a part of his family. Which is correct in a way. According to the Mayo Clinic, a bone marrow transplant is a type of stem cell transplant, which means the blood created in the recipients has the DNA of the donor. The Minnesota City twins were diagnosed with amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia, a rare condition that prevents blood from forming the platelets needed for clotting. The condition, which is inherited, eventually can lead to leukemia. ADVERTISEMENT The Girtlers knew something was wrong when, as infants, the girls were pricked on the heel during a routine blood test and the wound would not clot. It took nearly three years to get a precise diagnosis first for Elizabeth then the girls were connected to Be The Match by the Mayo Clinic. "It wasn't even 90 days to find the match," Michelle Girtler said. "It was really fast." In fact, she said, several donors were found. But the girls' doctors wanted a donor who could donate enough marrow for both of the twins. That meant Gruda, who lives in Munster, Germany. The idea was if the girls ever needed any blood or marrow in the future, one could be the donor for the other. At the age of 3, Elizabeth went first. Girtler said the transplant team did not want to do both girls at once for a variety of reasons, including the confusion of having two transplant patients with the same disease and same last name in the hospital at once and the impact it would have on the family Michelle and her husband, Brett, and their son, LeeRoy. Because the girls, with their diminished immunity, could not be in the same room recovering, the hospital knew it would be hard on the family. "How would I spend my time?" Michelle asked. "Which room would I go to?" Kathryn received her transplant a year later at age 4. Once she recovered, both girls have lived normal lives. "They have no limitations," Girtler said. "It's not like a liver transplant. They don't have to live on medication. This is their cure." Friday night, the girls had a normal reaction to meeting Gruda. "They cried," Girtler said. "We all cried." ADVERTISEMENT It started with Elizabeth. Michelle Girtler said the girls never have been shielded from the condition they had and how sick they were. During a video montage, Girtler said, her daughter saw a photo from when she was sick and the tears just started. "I think, for us, it gave us closure on their illness, being able to thank the man who saved our kids when we couldn't," Girtler said. WINONA Mary Johnson not only forgave the man who shot her son, she has dedicated her life to helping others find forgiveness, even under the most traumatic circumstances. As part of International Lasallian Day of Peace, Saint Mary's University's Office of Campus Ministry is hosting a presentation by Johnson, founder of the organization From Death to Life. The public is invited to hear Johnson speak, beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, in Salvi Lecture Hall on the third floor of Saint Mary's Hall. On Feb. 12, 1993, Johnson's only son, 20-year-old Laramiun Byrd was murdered. The perpetrator was 16-year-old Oshea Israel who received a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder. Many years later, Johnson visited Israel in prison, and since his release in 2010 they have lived as neighbors in the Northside community of Minneapolis. Johnson now claims Israel as her "spiritual son," and together they share a story of healing and reconciliation. ST. PAUL As politicians ponder how Donald Trump will affect down-ballot races big and small, two Congressional races in Minnesota offer a case study in how the brash businessman and presidential nominee could hurt or help his fellow Republicans. Democrats are eyeing an upset in Minneapolis' western suburbs, where they've recruited an unusually strong challenger and hope that the area's well-educated and wealthy voters put off by Trump will drag down the district's popular GOP incumbent. The script is flipped in northeastern Minnesota, where Republicans are trying hard to unseat a Democratic incumbent in a labor stronghold by banking that Trump's economic populism will resonate in iron mining towns where unemployment has soared. The challengers to Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan and Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen concede that ousting them will be difficult, no matter who is at the top of the ballot. But with the distaste for Trump in some corners of the GOP and Hillary Clinton's own vulnerabilities among Democrats, once implausible victories now seem within reach. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in outside political spending have already flowed into Minnesota's 8th and 3rd congressional districts, with millions more in attack ads on the way. It's strange territory for Paulsen, a no-nonsense Republican who hasn't faced a serious challenger since he was first elected in 2008. But Trump's poor performance in the 3rd district in the March 1 caucuses has Democrats feeling unexpectedly confident. Years of trying to recruit conservative Democratic state Sen. Terri Bonoff finally paid off as Trump tightened his grip on the Republican nomination this spring, prompting a lesser-known candidate to step aside. ADVERTISEMENT While the mild-mannered Paulsen has little in common with Trump, national Democrats haven't hesitated to link the pair, equating the congressman's prior pledge to vote for his party's nominee to his outright support of Trump. Bonoff, a former businesswoman who served 10 years in the Legislature, is also confident that Trump's brand won't fly in the district, which is one of the nation's most-educated and wealthiest and which voted for President Barack Obama twice. Case in point: Her first television spot closes by saying she'll stand up to Trump, yet doesn't mention Paulsen. During a visit to a senior living center last week, Bonoff rattled off Trump's positions and statements that she considered unacceptable, such as his questioning of the importance of standing with the country's NATO allies and his feuds with female reporters. She then turned her attention to Paulsen. "My own congressman doesn't stand up and say ... that man is not fit to lead. He doesn't do that," she told a crowd of 30 senior citizens in Bloomington. "Him not standing up to Donald Trump is a symptom of everything he's done." Paulsen is playing it careful, insisting that Trump still must earn his vote while promoting his legislative accomplishments, including laws he helped pass to combat sex trafficking and to repeal the medical device tax, which is a major issue in the district. "I'm like a lot of voters: They're not happy with either Trump or Clinton. Unlike my opponent, I haven't endorsed either one of them," he said. It's a different story in the 8th District, where Trump notched a stronger finish in the state's Super Tuesday caucuses. In a rematch from 2014, Republican challenger Stewart Mills hasn't shied away from Trump like other many other Republicans in Minnesota and elsewhere. "Especially on trade, I think Donald Trump is on message," Mills said last month. Trade is key issue in the district, where local steelworks blame thousands of layoffs in the last year on an influx of foreign steel imports. That's partly what powered Sen. Bernie Sanders' resounding victory in the district's Democratic caucus and has bolstered Republican hopes of an upset in November. ADVERTISEMENT Normally a reliable Democratic district in presidential years thanks to surging voter turnout, Nolan and the Democrats are on their heels this year. Nolan is stressing his work to curb that illegal steel dumping and his support from mining unions and executives alike. "Those kind of layoffs send a lot of concern and nervousness, even among all those that are working," said Nolan, who is seeking his third term, including a stint in the mid-1970s. "The anti-trade, anti-elite, anti-Wall Street sentiment is strong, and it runs deep. I understand it." ST. CLOUD Authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a potential act of terrorism a finding that would realize long-held fears of an attack in the immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including the Islamic State. A young Somali man dressed as a private security guard entered the Crossroads Center mall during the weekend wielding what appeared to be a kitchen knife. The city's police chief said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking. The rampage ended when the man was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. None of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds. The motive is still unclear, but FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton said Sunday the stabbings were being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism," and the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Authorities were digging into the attacker's background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts, his electronic devices and talking to his associates, Thornton said. It doesn't appear anyone else was involved in the attack, which began at around 8 p.m. and was over within minutes, Police Chief Blair Anderson said. Leaders of the Somali community in central Minnesota united Sunday to condemn the stabbings. They said the suspect identified by his father as 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan does not represent them, and they expressed fear about a backlash. ADVERTISEMENT Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali community, with census numbers placing the population at about 40,000, but community activists say it's higher. The community has been a target for terror recruiters in recent years. More than 20 young men have left the state since 2007 to join al-Shabab in Somalia, and roughly a dozen people have left in recent years to join militants in Syria. In addition, nine Minnesota men face sentencing on terror charges for plotting to join the Islamic State group. Mayor worried The possibility of an attack on U.S. soil has been a major concern for law enforcement. Stopping the recruiting has been a high priority, with law enforcement investing countless hours in community outreach and the state participating in a federal project designed to combat radical messages. If Saturday's stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil, said Karen Greenburg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law. St. Cloud Mayor David Kleis said an attack like Saturday's is the type of worry that keeps him "up at night." An Islamic State-run news agency, Rasd, claimed Sunday that the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. It was not immediately clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand. IS has encouraged so-called "lone wolf" attacks. It has also claimed past attacks that are not believed to have been planned by its central leadership. Authorities didn't identify the attacker. The identification of Adan came from his father, Ahmed Adan, who spoke to the Star Tribune through an interpreter. Ahmed Adan said his son was born in Kenya but was Somali and had lived in the U.S. for 15 years. Local activists also identified Dahir Adan as Somali. ADVERTISEMENT Ahmed Adan said police told him around 9 p.m. Saturday that his son had died at the mall, and that police had searched the family's apartment, seizing photos and other materials. He said police said nothing to him about the mall attack, and that he had "no suspicion" that his son had been involved in terrorist activity, the newspaper reported. Police had had three previous encounters with the attacker, mostly for minor traffic violations, Anderson said. A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student there, but had not been enrolled since the spring semester. Spokesman Adam Hammer said Adan's intended major was information systems, which is a computer-related field. Anderson said the man began attacking people right after entering the mall, stabbing people in several spots inside. The victims included seven men, one woman and a 15-year-old girl. Five minutes after authorities received the first 911 call, Jason Falconer, a part-time officer in the city of Avon, shot and killed the attacker. Anderson said Falconer fired as the attacker was lunging at him with the knife, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. "He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life," Anderson said. "Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place," he said. Other attacks The attack in St. Cloud, a city of about 65,000 people, began shortly after an explosion in a crowded New York City neighborhood injured 29 people. A suspicious device was found a few blocks away and safely removed. Hours before that, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, N.J., shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5K race. There was no immediate indication that the incidents were linked. ADVERTISEMENT The mall was expected to reopen Monday after being closed Sunday. Photos and video of the mall taken hours after the incident showed groups of shoppers waiting to be released, including some huddled together near a food court entrance. Sydney Weires, 18, and two of her friends were shopping when the stabbings happened. Weires said she saw a man who appeared to be a security guard sprinting down the hallway, and then two men stumbled out. "One was covered in blood down his face," she said, and the other man had blood on his back. "They were screaming, 'Get out of the mall. Someone has a knife,'" Weires said. Falconer, who was shopping when he confronted the attacker, is the former police chief in Albany, which is about 15 miles northwest of St. Cloud, and the president and owner of a firing range and firearms training facility, according to his LinkedIn profile. His profile says he focuses on firearms and permit-to-carry training, and also teaches "decision shooting" to law enforcement students at St. Cloud State University. No one answered the door late Sunday at a home address listed for Falconer, and a voicemail box for a telephone listing was full and not accepting new messages. In a brief interview with the Star Tribune, Falconer said he had "been trying to stay away from it all, for the time being." He told the newspaper he wasn't hurt and declined to talk further, citing the ongoing investigation for not saying more. MINNEAPOLIS A Minnesota man says freedom from prison is "wonderful" after serving a decade behind bars for a 1979 murder he says he did not commit. Terry Olson, 57, was released from Faribault Correctional Facility on Tuesday. Olson received credit for time served, but did not receive a legal declaration that he did not commit murder. Olson was convicted in 2007 in Wright County of killing Jeff Hammill, whose body was found on a road outside of Buffalo, Minnesota, in August 1979. Olson's attorneys and the Innocence Project of Minnesota fought for his release. He faced seven more years in prison and said he accepted the deal that freed him so he could help his mother, who lives in a Twin Cities nursing home. "I'm ecstatic for Terry and his family," said Julie Jonas, legal director of the Innocence Project of Minnesota, who estimated that about 3,000 hours of legal time were spent on the case. "It's been one of the best weeks in my life." ADVERTISEMENT In an interview Friday in his lawyer's Minneapolis office, Olson said that prison "was lonely" and his incarceration "was a nightmare." "I'm innocent of a crime that in all likelihood never occurred. You feel like you're standing on top of Mount Everest screaming for help, and nobody's listening," Olson said. But Wright County Attorney Tom Kelly said Friday he continues to believe Olson was guilty of killing Hammill. "I don't have a hard time sleeping at night," Kelly said. The prosecutor said his office agreed to Olson's release because he had already served more time than he would have faced under 1980 sentencing guidelines. Hammill's mother agreed to Olson's release, Kelly said. Hammill was found dead of a head injury on the side of the road around 4 a.m. on Aug. 11, 1979. Olson said Friday that he was at a bar with a friend the night before when they left to go to Olson's sister's house for a party. On the way the two men picked up Hammill, who was hitchhiking, Olson said. Olson said he had met Hammill three weeks earlier at a fabricating plant where they both worked. Hammill had wanted a ride home and left the party "after about two minutes," Olson said. "He went walking down the road. That was the last we saw of him," Olson said. ADVERTISEMENT After Hammill's body was found, investigators interviewed people from the party, but no one was charged and the medical examiner listed the cause of death as undetermined. But the case was reopened in 2003 after an inquiry by Hammill's daughter. The medical examiner changed the cause of death to homicide based on a statement by Olson's friend, who implicated Olson and another man who was at the 1979 party. All three were charged in Hammill's death. Olson was convicted of second- and third-degree murder and sentenced to 17 years in prison. The friend testified at Olson's trial but later recanted, saying none of the three men were involved in Hammill's death. But the Minnesota Court of Appeals reaffirmed Olson's conviction, and the state Supreme Court declined to review the case. Hours after being released from prison, Olson said he went to visit his mother, Gladys, in the nursing home. "To see the look on her face and see her step out of her wheelchair, you can't imagine," Olson said. China UnionPay presented at a workshop with local Guam business people yesterday to promote the use and acceptance of UnionPay debit and credit cards as payment options. Data from the 2016 Nilson Report showed that UnionPay dominated other card options in terms of cards in global circulation at 5.4 billion. Talent Basket, an organization aimed at providing improved services to international tourism, organized the workshop session in an effort to educate local business owners about UnionPay and to provide them with information that could potentially open them up to maximized revenue via tourist expenditures. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. China exit surveys conducted by the Guam Visitors Bureau in 2015 reported overall mean average per person on-island expenditures at $1,179.36. Commonly used cards Jason Lin, president of Talent Basket, told the Post that more than 90 percent of Chinese nationals own a UnionPay debit or credit card and that they typically used these cards for making purchases abroad. UnionPay rides on the Discover network in the U.S., he said. So its very easy to use as long as they (the vendor) already accept Discover cards. UnionPay is the most commonly used card in China and it is commonly used by Korean and Japanese consumers as well. The workshop stated that UnionPay cards are favored by Chinese consumers for foreign travel because use of the card does not impose foreign transaction fees or USD spending limitations. Catherine Bungabong, Talent Basket account manager, said in an email to the Post that more and more Chinese tourists were visiting America. Due to the travel visa being extended to 10 years back in 2014 for outbound tourists in China, the world is seeing more and more Chinese travelers, she said. Guam, being the closest thing to America, along with tax-free shopping, has already been seeing this increase in the past couple of years. Statistics provided by the Guam Visitors Bureau corroborate these claims. More visitors from China According to visitor arrivals numbers provided on the GVB website, the total number of visitors to Guam from China has steadily risen from 2012 to the present. Further statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Administration reported the number of tourists from China visiting the U.S. at 2.2 million in 2014 and forecast 3.6 million in 2017 and 5.8 million in 2020. In a statement read at Catholic Masses throughout Guam yesterday, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana, urged Gov. Eddie Calvo to veto Bill 326, now on the governor's desk, that would remove the statute of limitations on civil suits involving accusations of child sex abuse. "Putting the house in order without burning it down" was the title of the address read by clergy at all Masses. Hon, who is in Rome, said he is urging the Holy See to remove Archbishop Anthony Apuron as Archbishop of Agana and to appoint a successor. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. "I can assure you that the gravely serious allegations against Archbishop Apuron will continue to be dealt with by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which will hold a canonical trial," he said in the release. Since mid-May, there have been five specific accusations of sex abuse against Apuron involving altar boys in the 1960s and 1970s. Hon stated that Bill 326-33, which passed with a unanimous vote on Sept. 12 and now awaits the governor's signature, would have serious and unintended consequences for the Archdiocese of Agana. If Bill 326 is signed into law, lawsuits permitted by it could force the sale of church properties and otherwise cause the archdiocese to lose assets necessary for the continuation of charitable services. In the statement, Hon offered condolences and reiterated the church's stance on reports of child sexual abuse leveled against members of the clergy. "I have been working with our leadership in different sectors of the archdiocese to create a fund to provide survivors with financial compensation for all they have gone through," Hon wrote. "I have also set up a task force to heighten the awareness of protecting children and continue to strengthen our policies and protocols." Unintended consequences Hon stated that removing the statue of limitations could potentially threaten essential church institutions. "I understand why the legislature passed this bill," he said. "Clergy have been accused of committing grave delicts against children; ... however, the bill the legislature passed will have some very damaging unintended consequences." Hon referenced dioceses in the U.S. mainland that were driven into bankruptcy because of settlements resulting from civil litigation. Such bankruptcy, Hon stated, forced the closing of schools and social services in those dioceses. "In permitting lawsuits to be revived from decades ago, the archdiocese will be exposed to unlimited financial liability," he wrote. "One of the unforeseen side effects of the bill will be to erase the good work of those in the archdiocese who serve the neediest." Though not stated in the letter itself, clergy asked parishioners to consider signing a petition requesting the governor veto the bill. The petition said that while it was understood why the bill was passed by the legislature, the potential harm it brought to the Catholic Church as a charitable institution made it untenable. The petition concluded with a request that Calvo veto Bill 326 and that the legislature instead introduce a bill that would specifically target the guilty, allowing "survivors to come forward and achieve justice without crippling the innocent work of countless others." Lay response While Hon's message was read in Guam parishes, lay organizations including the Concerned Catholics of Guam, Laity Forward Movement and Silent No More continued in their weekly protests outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagatna. LFM spokeswoman Lou Klitzkie stated that more than 70 individuals took part in the protest yesterday morning. "The message for this morning is that those who oppose Bill 326 support Apuron's evil doings," she told the Post. Sen. Tom Ada, who was present at yesterday's lay demonstration, said he felt there needed to be proper separation of church and politics. "I felt it was improper to bring politics into the church," he said concerning Hon's message. "Leave the politics of the legislation where it is in the political arena." Ada said he has been involved with the protest movements for some time, but that Hon's statement pushed him even more to attend the weekly picket. David Sablan, president of CCOG, said he became incensed when the message was first read at Santa Barbara parish in Dededo at the conclusion of the Saturday evening Mass. "Hon's message was a low blow and an insult to the intelligence of parishioners," he told the Post. "He would rather protect the assets of the church over providing comfort and closure for the victims of child sex abuse." Sablan called Hon's message no less than mere fear-mongering tactics aimed at protecting abusers employed by the archdiocese. In addition, Sablan pointed out that in the two public hearings held to discuss Bill 326, the archdiocese failed to submit any kind of statement. "Where were Hon and clergy during the public hearings?" he asked. In response to Hon's claim that the bill would open the church to significant financial liability and thus result in the eventual bankruptcy and closing of essential charitable services and educational institutions, Sablan called it a ruse to hide the crimes committed by the clergy. Sablan said the 13 dioceses Hon cited as going bankrupt are all financially stable now after a thorough "house cleaning" and further stated that bankruptcy actually helped them by consolidating all their debt. Sablan further stated that removing "institutions" from the language of the bill would leave victims unable to prosecute viable parties because such parties are either dead, as in the case of Rev. Antonio Cruz, or without the assets necessary to provide compensation as a result of successful litigation, as in the case with Rev. Louis Brouillard who survives on a monthly $550 honorarium check from the archdiocese. Cruz and Brouillard were priests in Guam in the 1960s and 70s and have been accused of sex abuse of altar boys during that time. Sablan said the Catholic faithful would come forward and care for the church in the event of its bankruptcy and would do so using any of the church's many assets up to and including the selling of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary property in Yona. "We (the laity) own the assets," he said. "I'm happy to pay my share to clean house." Congressional candidate Jim Moylan will not let truth or distortions stop him from saying anything to get elected. It is up to political analy Read morePolitical ploys at the last part of election? Following the terrorist attack in St. Cloud, Minnesota (not France), John wrote about what he called delusional efforts to combat the influence of ISIS on Somali youth in Minnesota. The efforts consisted of funding a broad array of mental health and education programs and also the developing community-led intervention teams groups of Somali leaders and educators enlisted to identify and intervene with young people believed at risk for radicalization. I gather from Johns post that the latter approach was hampered by a lack of volunteers. It may be, as John says, that a great many Somalis in Minnesota have mixed feelings about Islamic terrorism. But perhaps they just lack sufficient incentive to root out jihad from within. I have an idea for creating one. What if we banned all immigration to the U.S. by Somalis. The ban would be subject to reconsideration in, say, four years. If after that period there has been no terrorism by Somalis in the U.S. and no criminal conduct by Somalis living here to assist in terrorism here or abroad, the ban would be lifted. We could also require evidence of progress towards assimilatation, though Id prefer a simple terrorism/no terrorism standard. An instance of terrorism by a Somali would reset the four year ban. In effect, wed be requiring four clean years. Somalis in America undoubtedly want to see more Somalis admitted. Many have relatives and friends whom they hope will come here. Thus, my proposal gives them a powerful incentive to police their communities and work with authorities to identify potential terrorists. We wouldnt have to induce cooperation by giving Somalis resources or abstaining from raids and other policing tools that alarm and anger them. (See Johns post.) But my approach certainly doesnt preclude providing community services if they make sense on their own terms. My approach would also extend an incentive to other immigrant communities that are producing terrorists. They will likely become more vigilant and cooperative in order to avoid an immigration ban. To many liberals, my proposal will sound draconian, but it isnt. No action would be taken against innocent Somalis and they would be deprived of no rights. Sure, members of the Somali community would like to see more Somali immigration. But there are plenty of things Id like to see but wont because of public policy decisions I disagree with. Somalis living here have no right to have more Somalis enter the U.S.; nor do Somalis living elsewhere have a right to come here. Even if the ban on Somali immigration doesnt stop terrorism by Somalis, it will at least keep new potential terrorists from entering the U.S. In other words, its a win-win. One thing you can count on after an act of terrorism: the blood wont be dry before worries about a backlash take center stage. So it is with last nights terrorist attack at a St. Cloud, Minnesota shopping mall. The Minneapolis Star Tribune headlinesrather bizarrely, under the circumstancesAnti-Muslim tension isnt new in St. Cloud. The story begins [see Update below, story has now been completely rewritten]: A cloud of anti-Muslim sentiment and tension has hung over St. Cloud for the past seven years, with incidents ranging from bullying Somali and other East African immigrants at St. Cloud Technical High School, to women being screamed at in grocery stores, pig intestines wrapped around the door handles of a halal grocery store, and offensive billboards and license plates. The most physically injurious incident came Saturday evening when a man stabbed nine people at the citys Crossroads Center before the attacker was killed inside the mall by an off-duty police officer. What a transition! The most physically injurious incident, indeed. If you didnt know better, you would have, at this point, the impression that someone had gone on an anti-Muslim rampage, part of the cloud of anti-Muslim sentiment. The rest of the article is a recitation of anti-Muslim incidents in St. Cloud, going back to 2010. There is a point lurking here, but what is it? The terrorists actions were justified, or nearly so? Or, watch out for the backlash, here it comes? Its hard to say. Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations made its priorities clear. No pretense of any concern for the innocent victims of the Somali terrorist. No suggestion that a little introspection might be in order for a Muslim community that has produced more terrorists and would-be terrorists than any other in the U.S. Nope: its all about the backlash. Jaylani Hussein, executive director in Minnesota of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Sunday afternoon that we are definitely concerned about the potential for backlash in the community, both in the immediate run and the longer term. There may be more grounds for worries about backlash soon. There are suggestions that the pressure cooker bombing in New York may have been Islamic terror: A 911 caller warned of further explosions right after the blast that rocked Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood and injured 29 people, The Post has learned. Im looking at the explosion down the block. There will be more, the unidentified male said, claiming to be standing at 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue in the aftermath of the terrifying incident, according to law-enforcement sources Sunday. *** In another new wrinkle, a hand-written letter, a portion of which is in Arabic, was found inside a plastic bag that held the second device, sources said. Cops were interviewing two men who claim to have spotted a potential person of interest in the case, sources said. The witnesses were dining at the Krush bar and grill on 32nd Street about a half-hour before the 8:30 p.m. Saturday explosion when they saw an Arab-looking man who was carrying a suitcase and appeared out of place, sources said. Investigators have obtained surveillance video of a person placing the unexploded device, sources said. Time will tell. Early reports are usually wrong, but the surveillance video should generate some hard information. There are other possibilities: on a Tumblr page, an anonymous person claiming to be a homosexual says he planted the New York bombs as an anti-Donald Trump protest. I highly doubt that this confession is legitimate, but once again, we should know more soon. UPDATE: The Star Tribune story has been completely rewritten and has been given a new headline, most likely in response to this post. It now begins: St. Cloud has dealt with tensions between Muslims and some non-Muslims for the past seven years, with incidents ranging from bullying Somali and other East African immigrants at St. Cloud Technical High School, to women being screamed at in grocery stores, pig intestines draped on the entry of a halal grocery store, and offensive billboards and license plates. Whether those incidents held sway over a 22-year-old Somali man who stabbed nine people at the Crossroads Center on Saturday evening isnt known and may never be known. The attacker was killed inside the mall by an off-duty police officer five minutes after the first 911 call was made. All of his victims survived. Authorities said the man reportedly asked at last one victim whether they were Muslim before assaulting them and referred to Allah during the attacks. On Twitter, ISIL called the attacker a soldier of the Islamic state. The Minnesota Muslim community condemns all such acts of violence as inexcusable and un-Islamic, said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Better late than never, I guess. I wrote on Power Line about the huge federal terrorism case against Minnesotas Somali ISIS wannabes daily during the trial of the three defendants who contested the charges as well as in the Weekly Standard articles The threat from Minnesota men, Judging the Minnesota men,' and Minnesota men on trial. I also reviewed it in the Star Tribune column What I saw at the trial. Yesterday I recalled one moment in the trial in connection with the stabbing rampage at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud on Saturday evening the presentation of a piece of evidence that passed in a flash without comment. The evidence was a photograph of one of the defendants dressed in the uniform he wore when he worked as a security guard in the Twin Cities. I think the photograph must have had the same effect on the jury as it did on me. It made me reflect on the the Alice-in-Terrorland world we have in Minnesota. As I recall (and on this point I am writing from recollection), the defendant was smiling in the photograph. Who was that smiling man? Reviewing my pieces on the trial, I see that it was Guled Omar. Omar was the only defendant to testify on his own behalf at trial, I believe against the advice of his attorney. He fell apart on the mediocre cross-examination conducted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Winter, but it didnt matter. He would have been convicted even if he had stood on his right not to testify, as his two co-defendants at trial did. The family background Omar presented at trial proved instructive. Omar was born in a Kenyan refugee camp. He was roughly three years old when his family moved to the United States. His family emigrated to Kenya as a result of the Somali civil war. His father was shot three times in the conflict and lost his left leg as a result of the injuries. His father is disabled, but his disability gave him preferential immigration treatment by the United States. Dont ask me; I cant explain. Omars father has disappeared from the United States. He has left Omars mother with a rather large family. Omar has nine sisters and four brothers. They live in housing subsidized by a Section 8 voucher, although that must be the least of it. Omar was easily the most dour of the defendants. Thats his mug shot above. Think about the security he radiated working as a security guard detailed by a temp agency to the Target Northern HR campus in suburban Minneapolis. Orlando mass murderer Omar Mateen also worked as a security guard at PGA Village just before he committed the massacre. Dahir Adan went one better. Adan, the perpetrator of the St. Cloud stabbing rampage, not only worked as a security guard, he committed the stabbings in uniform. Well, it could have been worse. He could have worked on the tarmac at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport along with two other of the Minnesota men involved in the federal terrorism case. Jeremy Carl is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. NROs Corner has posted Jeremys The atrocity in St. Cloud and the continuing Somali immigration madness. It credits us for our continuing reportage and commentary, but more importantly raises the issues implicit in it. Among other pieces, Jeremy links to my post Trump touches Minnesotas untouchables, which I had already forgotten about. Im taking the liberty of posting Jeremys NRO piece below. Please check it out at NRO for the links. Jeremy writes: About a month ago, I wrote a piece here on how Donald Trump, however inartfully, had raised the important issue of Somali mass immigration that the rest of the GOP had steadily ignored. As I mentioned then, Scott Johnson at Power Line has done great work on this issue. Yesterday, we learned the sad but utterly predictable news that a Somali-American soldier of the Islamic State had stabbed [nine] people in a St. Cloud, Minnesota mall (the toll would have been far worse, except for the lucky fact that an off-duty police officer shot the terrorist dead). This is the latest in a rash of ISIS-linked incidents in the community. Johnson (who is based in Minneapolis) and his Power Line colleague John Hinderaker are fortunately both on the case, asking the questions that the local media wont ask. And again, the questions must be asked of the GOP, including the so-called immigration hawksHow does mass immigration from Somalia benefit America? Why do we refuse to talk seriously about it or do anything about it? What unique skills are Somali immigrants bringing that Americans dont have? How much law enforcement is being dispatched to deal with this community that could be otherwise more usefully deployed if we were not importing huge numbers of Somalis? Yet Somali mass immigration continues onward, unabated, with all of these questions unanswered, and, for the most part, unasked. The Democrats cheer on their latest voting bloc and Republicans taking no meaningful actions to stop it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Minnesota is about to elect its first Somali state legislator, who appears to have committed marriage and immigration fraud, a finding being studiously ignored by the Minnesota press. As for the St. Cloud terrorist attack, a friend of the family identified the perpetrator, Dahir Adan as The most assimilated kid in the neighborhood, further pointing out the naivete of those who claim we just need to screen immigrants effectively (Adan came to the U.S. as a child in any case.) This isnt a question of saying that all, most, or even many Somali-Americans are terroristsof course theyre notnor are we saying that some will not become fine, patriotic Americans of course some will be. But if even a small, but meaningful number of Somali immigrants join terror groups, which they most certainly do in numbers far out of proportion to their population, why do we need to bring in more? Again and again, our politicians show themselves to be cowards on the immigration issue, refusing to address this basic question. But Donald Trump was willing to raise it, and its a major reason why, despite all of his flaws, he is the GOP nominee. At the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, La La Land, a musical tale of star-crossed lovers chasing their dreams in Hollywood, won the top prize. The Peoples Choice Award, chosen by the votes of audience members, made La La Land an early front-runner in the Oscar best picture race. Other recent winners of the Toronto prize had gone on to win the top Oscar such as Slumdog Millionaire, The Kings Speech and 12 Years a Slave. Starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, La La Land follows the two leads as their lives converge in poetic chaos while trying to make their dreams come true in the midst of a blossoming love affair. La La Land is from 31-year-old Writer, Director Damien Chazelle, who made a splash with his 2014 film Whiplash, an intense study of a jazz drummers quest to perfection. Whiplash won three Oscars. Getting to even make this movie was a dream come true, Chazelle, in his absence, said in the statement read at the ceremony. To see it connect with Toronto audiences in this way is deeply gratifying. Now in its 41st year, the Toronto festival ranks with Cannes and Sundance as one of the worlds top movie gatherings. The sprawling festival, with more than 400 films screened, often serves as a launch pad for films and performances for the awards season that culminates with the Oscars. Toronto Platform Prize winner Jackie, a portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the aftermath of the assassination of her husband, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, directed by Pablo Larrain, was also honoured at the ceremony. The Platform Prize is determined by a jury that this year comprised directors Brian De Palma and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and actor Zhang Ziyi. Zhang said Jackie explored the myth of the American Camelot and lauded its preeminent performance by leading woman Natalie Portman. Jackie came to Toronto without a U.S. distributor, but the rights were soon acquired by Fox Searchlight, a studio that has proven to be a savvy awards season campaigner. The Peoples Choice Award for top documentary went to I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck, which examines what it means to be black in the United States. Free Fire by Ben Wheatley won The Peoples Choice Award for top film in the Midnight Madness programme, which often showcases horror and offbeat films. (Reuters/NAN) The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, has identified seven key implementation strategies to boost the petroleum industry and enable export of refined products by 2019. He announced this at the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum between the Private Sector and the Economic Management Team, EMT, in Abuja on Monday. Represented by Johnson Awoyemi, the Senior Technical Adviser of the ministry, the minister identified peace and security in the Niger Delta region as crucial in the programme. Mr. Kachikwu mentioned policy and regulation; business environment and investment drive; transparency and efficiency; stakeholder management and international coordination as primary concerns of the ministry. The others, he said, were engaging in gas revolution as well as increasing refineries and local production capacity. Oil and gas will drive diversification but the drop in oil production to 1.56 billion barrels per day from the annual estimate of 2.2 billion barrels per day will negatively affect growth. The minister stressed the need to empower the Niger Delta region and ensure peace in the region by stopping militancy in enhancing the attainment of national aspirations in oil and gas production. Mr. Kachikwu said that a lot of companies in the sector were indebted in payment of royalties, adding that the companies were in default to the tune of about $4 billion. He said there was need for policies on oil, gas, downstream and fiscal reform, adding that the proposed petroleum industry bill (PIB) had become very imperative. He said there were challenges in the oil and gas sector which led to drop in the nations GDP growth from 6 per cent to 4 per cent. The minister said this had led to shortage of funds for providing critical infrastructure. He explained that there was 29 per cent decline in oil production amounting to loss of 700,000 million barrels per day. Accordingly, there was 32 per cent decline in gas production from 8,000 million cubic feet per day to 5,500 million cubic feet. He announced that 3,000 pipeline vandalism incidents were recorded from 2010 to 2015, while 643 million litres of petroleum products amounting to N51.28 billion was lost in 2015 alone. The minister explained that between January and June 2016, the ministry recorded 1,600 vandalism incidents in spite of efforts to boost local production and refining of products. Until we are able to locally refine what we produce, we wont be able to go forward. It is the plan of the ministry that by 2019 the country has to export Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). Mr. Kachikwu advised investors to embrace the ministrys policy for creating modular refineries and asked them to come up with proposals. He noted that some successes were recorded in the oil and gas sector since November 2015, including the elimination of subsidy payments yielding N15.4 billion monthly savings. Mr. Kachikwu had started the liberalisation of downstream sector with 47 per cent reduction in PMS truck loads and signing of 80 billion dollar MOUs at the China Investors Roadshow in June 2016. The minister said that plans were on to increase oil production to 1.8 billion barrels per day by October and to two billion barrels by December. Also, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said that the Federal Government had released N720 billion into the economy so far. According to her, the administration has released N420 billion for capital projects, will release additional N350 billion to ministries, departments and agencies this week and ready to release another N350 billion in November. Mrs. Adeosun said the administration was targeting real GDP growth in 2017, rapid infrastructure development to drive the economy as well as diversification and growth of non-oil sector. She added that government was concerned about improving the overall business environment as well as key socio-economic indicators. In another paper, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukhu Enelamah, said Nigeria remained the best industrial hub in Africa. Represented by Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of State, Enelamah, said that the country plans to move from 169 to 100 in the ease of doing business ranking in three years. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said the administration was making efforts to pull the country out of recession through injection of funds into the economy. He said the funds would come through asset sales, advance payment for licence renewals, infrastructure concessioning, use of recovered funds and other means to reduce funding gaps. (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari has said that advances being made against Boko Haram insurgents go beyond degradation through just force of arms. Speaking at a bilateral meeting with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Monday in New York, on the sidelines of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, President Buhari said, the de-radicalization process is also going on, and we are achieving some measure of success. Even suicide bombing is becoming rare, as the local people are themselves rejecting indoctrination by the insurgents, Mr. Buhari said. The president assured existing and potential investors in Nigeria of adequate protection of their lives, investments and property. President Buhari said Nigeria was working hard to diversify the economy and expressed willingness to collaborate with South African businessmen especially in the areas of mining and agriculture, for the mutual benefit of the two countries. In his remarks, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa recollected his visit to Nigeria earlier this year which he described as very successful. He added that he was interested in the promotion of economic and trade partnerships between the two countries. At another bilateral meeting with President Macky Sall of Senegal, both President Buhari and the Senegalese President expressed their happiness at the good cropping season being experienced in their countries as it portends bumper harvests which will ultimately translate into an enhancement of the quality of lives of their people. The two presidents also reviewed the situation in Guinea Bissau and concluded that political leaders in the country need to make sacrifices to guarantee peace and development of the country. There is an uneasy calm in the camp of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State as governorship aspirants and party members await the report of the Appeals Committee handling complaints arising from the September 3 primary election. PREMIUM TIMES gathered on Sunday that activities at the party secretariat in Akure have come to a halt amidst fears that the outcome of the report could break up the party and mar its chances of winning the next governorship election. A source at the partys secretariat disclosed that besides the earlier resignation of the chairman of the party in Ondo Central, the state Chairman of the party, Isaacs Kekemeke, had planned to resign after the primary but delayed following the suspense created by the appeals against the election. Right now everything is in a standstill. We dont know who is in control because of the suspense created by the delay in making the content of the report public, the source said. We hear that the party leaders are trying to delay the report so that by the time it is made public it will be difficult for aspirants to decamp to other parties. Kekemeke had prepared to resign earlier, but with the appeals, he has slowed down, because if the appeals upholds the election of Rotimi Akeredolu, then he might as well resign. But if the election will be conducted afresh it might give him another opportunity to ensure his candidate wins the election. The greatest fear, it was gathered, is that some aspirants who alleged rigging at the primary and sought for cancellation, could dump the party should the report uphold the result of the primary. The APCs Director of Publicity, Steve Otaloro, told PREMIUM TIMES that the Appeals Committee had submitted its report to the National Working Committee. He said it was not clear when the decision of the appeals committee would be made public, noting that the report is being awaited by both aspirants and members. He admitted that the decision of the appeals committee was crucial in determining the partys next line of action in its quest to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party in the coming governorship election. The result of the primary, won by Rotimi Akeredolu, was contested by three of the aspirants: Ajayi Boroffice, Olusegun Abraham, and Olusola Oke. They alleged that the election was fraught with irregularities and that the delegates list used for the primary was illegal. Mr. Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, won the primary after scoring 669 votes, while his closest rival, Mr. Abraham, polled 635 votes. Mr. Oke came third with 576 votes, closely followed by Mr. Boroffice with 471 votes. All the appellants have urged the Appeals Committee to cancel the primary and conduct a fresh one. PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Mr. Oke has perfected plans to leave the party should the committee decide to uphold the election of Mr. Akeredolu. A source close to his campaign team said although it was unclear where the former PDP National Legal Adviser would be heading, it was clear he was heading out of the APC. It is true that he has plans to leave the party, but it would depend on the outcome of the partys appeal committee sitting on the matter, the source said. There were, however, rumours that Mr. Oke had perfected plans to pitch his tent with the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. But his spokesman, Rotimi Ogunleye, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Oke was not going to join APGA. We are waiting for the report of the appeal committee, Mr. Ogunleye said. No decision can be taken until the report is out, so the rumours that he (Mr. Oke) has decamped is not true. An Ota Chief Magistrates Court in Ogun, on Monday fixed November 21 to hear an application by Joachim Iroko, challenging a charge preferred against him for naming his dog Buhari. Mr. Iroko, 40, was arraigned for naming his dog Buhari, and parading the pet around the Hausa section of the Ketere Market in Sango, Ogun, on Aug 22. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail. When the case was called before Chief Magistrate Bolaji Ojikutu, on Monday, counsel to the accused, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said Mr. Iroko had the right to give his dog any name, adding that he haboured no ulterior motives. He said the subject matter of the charge against him did not disclose a criminal offence in law for which the applicant could be put on trial. He said the court had the jurisdiction to quash a charge where there was no disclosure of an offence as the trial would amount to an abuse of the process of the court. Mr. Adegboruwa told the court that his client had filed two applications to challenge the jurisdiction of the court. He informed the court that the prosecution had declined service of the said applications in court, and had insisted that service be effected at his office. Mr. Adegboruwa urged the court to suspend the trial since the accused was challenging the jurisdiction of the court. He also prayed the court to direct the prosecution to furnish the defence with the proof of evidence of the case. After listening to arguments, the court fixed hearing of the application for Nov. 21, and also directed the prosecution to furnish defence counsel with the proof of evidence. In the motion on notice dated Sept. 16, Mr. Iroko sought an order quashing Charge No: 671C/2016 preferred against him, for want of jurisdiction. The applicant argued that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain and adjudicate on the charge. (NAN) The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, has said that the National Judicial Council is currently investigating cases of contrasting judgements emanating from courts of coordinate jurisdiction. Mr. Mohammed stated this at the swearing in of New Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Abuja. Cases of conflicting judgements increased recently with the leadership tussle in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP witnessing contrasting judgements from three Federal High Courts, FHCs, in Lagos, Rivers, and Abuja. On May 12, a FHC in Lagos ordered the PDP to refrain from conducting election into its national offices at a meeting that was to be held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. But shortly before the date of the said meeting on May 21, the PDP received a different judgement from another FHC in Port Harcourt allowing the conference to continue. After the meeting on May 25, two FHCs in Lagos and Port Harcourt gave conflicting judgements allowing and nullifying the proceeding of the conference, at the same time. Then on August 15, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja gave an order suspending a planned national convention of the PDP on August 17, after the Port Harcourt branch of the same court gave an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and the police to ensure the conduct of the convention. Mr. Abang nullified the May 21 gathering of the party, where the caretaker committee chaired by Mr. Makarfi was elected. The judge ruled that the decision of senator Ben Obi whose application gave birth to the May 9 ruling of the Port Harcourt court was illegal. According to Mr. Abang, Mr. Obis decision to approach the court of coordinate jurisdiction amounted to a slap on the face of his court. The court rulings fuelled rival camps in the PDP, with a faction loyal to former Borno State governor, Ali-Modu Sheriff, appearing with his lawyers different from that of Mr. Makarfi in a PDP case in court. Both factions claimed to be representing the PDP chairman. Responding to comments by leaders of the judicial officers at the event, the Chief Justice said the cases of contrasting judgements were already before the National Judicial Council and that disciplinary actions will be taken. Let me say before the court stands that the case of courts of coordinate jurisdiction giving conflicting judgements will be addressed. All the judges involved are being investigated and action will be taken accordingly, he said. Some suspected Boko Haram members on Sunday afternoon opened fire on a group of persons outside a church in Kwamjilari, a village few kilometres from Chibok in Borno State, an official and a witness have said . The gunmen, according to an operative of the local vigilante group in Borno State, succeeded in killing eight people who were said to be on their way home after a church service. Kwamjilari is about 19km from Chibok, a local government headquarters in Borno State. A resident of Chibok, who spoke to journalists on phone but wished not to be named for safety reasons, said many of the attacked villagers ran to Chibok on Sunday afternoon. It was a sad incident in Kwamjilari village, he said. The gunmen who invaded the village on motorbikes opened fire on the people as they returned home after the Sunday church service. Eight people were killed according to the villagers. The bodies of the deceased persons were buried on Monday. The police and have not reacted to the latest attack. But an operative of the local vigilante group in Maiduguri, Malam Musa, confirmed the attack to PREMIUM TIMES. The attack occurs one week after the terrorists released a video showing hundreds of people whom they called their members praying during the Islamic festival, Eid-el-Kabir. In the video, the insurgents threatened more attacks and claimed they were not losing the war against the Nigerian military. The military has discountenanced the video and described it as adulterated. While the military continues to reclaim territory from the insurgents, the federal government has indicated willingness to do a prisoner swap with the sect in order to free the over 200 kidnapped Chibok secondary school girls. Festus Owete in this analysis examines how the House of Representatives may approach the allegation of budget padding upon resumption on Tuesday. One issue that is certain to feature prominently as the House of Representatives reconvenes from its three-month recess, Tuesday, is the controversial allegation of budget padding against its Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers of the House. In June, a former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumuni Jibrin, accused the Speaker, his deputy, Yusuff Lasun, the Chief Whip, Ado Doguwa, and the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, of surreptitiously inserting in the 2016 budget projects worth over N40 billion. These members of the body of principal officers were not comfortable with my independent disposition and my refusal to cover up their unilateral decision to allocate to themselves 40 billion naira out of the 100 billion allocated to the entire National Assembly, Mr. Jibrin, a former ally of Mr. Dogara, claimed in a statement shortly after his exit from his position. Aside publishing in the media, documents, some of which also fingered the principal officers for collecting illegal allowances, the embattled former appropriation committee chair took his allegations to the anti-graft bodies, including the EFCC, ICPC and the police, urging them to launch investigations into his allegations. He also visited the National Human Rights Commission and the national secretariat of his party, the All Progressives Congress, to state his case against the four principal officers. The accused, on their part, have at different fora stoutly denied the allegation. Mr. Dogara, in particular repeatedly said he never doctored the budget, on which legislative action was completed on March 23 before it was transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent. I wish to reiterate that no kobo belonging to Nigerians has been misappropriated, stolen or lost in this budget saga, Mr. Dogara said on his Twitter handle. I wish to state clearly that there was no act of corruption by me during and/or after the preparation of the 2016 budget. The House accused Mr. Jibrin of inserting projects in the budget without its authority with a view to currying favour from prominent Nigerians. One of the projects, it said, was the Muhammadu Buhari Film Village to be sited in Mr. Jibrins Bebeji/Kiru federal constituency of Kano State. The House said he did so not only to curry favour and use it to blackmail people, but also to justify the N4.1 billion he allocated to his constituency alone in the budget, which has assumed the most controversial in the recent past. Since the scandal broke out, some lawmakers as well as members of the public have expressed divergent views on the propriety or otherwise of the action of the principal officers. To some, the lawmakers merely performed their constitutional role of amending the 2016 appropriation bill just like it would do to any other executive or private member bills introduced into the House. Those on the other divide say beefing up the budget, which Mr. Jibrin allegedly claimed the principal officers did, was criminal and should be investigated and possibly punished. Even with scanty evidence on the matter, those who hold this view say it would help to sanitise Nigerias budget-making process which has been profusely abused since 1999. Amid the discordant voices, calls for investigation have not abated. Auwal Musa, the Executive Director of the Centre for Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, said launching investigation into the matter is the only way to establish the truth about Mr. Jibrins allegations against the quartet. It has been going on for a long time in the National Assembly, Mr. Musa told PREMIUM TIMES. These people who have been given responsibility divert funds and projects without following due process and so this is the time for Nigerians to resist such things. So, there must be investigation into the allegations that have been made if this thing has to stop. They need to be thoroughly investigated and, if possible, prosecuted. Eze Onyekpere, the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, a group that campaigns to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and reduce corporate domination, says though the issue of revamping the economy should take a centre stage as the House reconvenes, the budget padding saga must also be resolved. He said, I expect them to get to the root of the matter, but unfortunately, there is also the problem of the economy, which should be sorted out. So they should look at the larger picture. I am saying that they should try and resolve that challenge and ensure it does not happen again but for me they should settle down with the executive and resolve the economy, which also seriously affects the Nigerian people. On its part, ahead of the House resumption, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has filed a suit in the Federal High Court asking for an order to compel the EFCC to investigate and prosecute allegations of budget padding and abuse of office levelled against Mr. Dogara and others. In the suit filed on its behalf by Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, the group argued that Mr. Dogara and the others are not immune from investigation under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, even though the speaker has been talking tough saying that the EFCC cannot investigate him. Will the 360-member House investigate the matter that has heavily polarized the House? Will the House subject its leadership to scrutiny? Should it decides to do so, who undertakes the task? The House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, said he has no idea how the matter would be resolved when it reconvenes. I have no idea yet, Mr. Gbajabiamila told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday. But he quickly added, The House will be objective, follow due process and come to a decision that will be in the best interest of the institution and the country. Nicholas Ossai, the Chairman of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, the investigative body of the chamber, declined comment when PREMIUM TIMES sought his view. Leave me out of the matter until we resume; we are resuming on Tuesday, Mr. Ossai said. At the peak of the crisis in July, Mr. Ossai had told this newspaper that his committee would handle the matter if it was referred to it. We are waiting for petition and I know pages of newspaper are not petitions, he had said. The ethics committee looks forward to receiving petition. No petition has been brought before the committee; the committee must receive petition before it dabbles into any issue. Asked if his committee could not act proactively in the face of the damaging allegations, he denied any damage to the House, saying No petition does not stop the committee from its internal investigation. Without petition, you dont know if we have started or not. Petition formalises everything. Without recourse to letter that comes from the House (after it received petition), the ethics committee can move into and investigate the matter, but it is better empowered if a petition is forwarded to it. Mr. Ossai, however, frowned at suggestions that EFCC or any eternal body should probe the allegation. According to him, Anything done at plenary or premises of the House cannot be investigated by external bodies. The House can regulate itself using its rules and procedures. Nigerians are yet to appreciate what the legislature is. We have mechanisms to discipline ourselves. Even so, the House may decide not to approach the matter at all since it is already a matter of litigation. Apart from the latest suit filed by SERAP, Mr. Jibrin had in August approached the court asking it to shield him from being arrested and interrogated over his allegation against Mr. Dogara and others. The Standing Orders of the House forbid it from discussing any matter that is before a court. According to Order IX Section 57 (5) Reference shall not be made to any matter on which a judicial decision is pending in such a way as might in the Speakers opinion prejudice the interest of parties thereto. But the Speaker and indeed the House may want to clear the legislative institution of any wrongdoing and insist on investigation, especially given the anti-corruption posture of the Buhari administration. If it toes this path, two things are likely to happen. First, going by previous experiences, a pro-Dogara lawmaker would come up with a motion complaining that Mr. Jibrin had brought the House to disrepute. The lawmaker, invoking Section 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the Standing Order, would not only say his privilege as a member and that of the speaker had been breached, but also push for the suspension of the erstwhile appropriation committee chair. If the speaker allows debate on the matter, there would be argument over whether consideration of appropriation bills amounts to padding or not, especially where no case of bribery was established as was the case of former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara and others in 2005. Also, depending on the prayers sought by the motion, Mr. Dogara, invoking his enormous power, may cause the matter to be referred to the ethics and privileges committee for investigation if it (motion) is carried. This means that Mr. Jibrin may appear before the committee to state his case. Section 123 (3) (b) empowers the committee to investigateany alleged violation, by a member of the Code of Conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such member and, after notice and hearing, to recommend to the House by resolution or otherwise, such action as he Committee may deem appropriate in the circumstances. Under the rules, the committee can recommend punishment for misconduct as it deems appropriate, after investigation. Such punishment could be suspension, which may be for weeks or up to six months. Even so, the Speaker can invoke his powers to unilaterally suspend Mr. Jibrin if there is turmoil at any point in time at the plenary, as former Speaker Dimeji Bankole did to Dino Melaye and 10 others on June 22, 2010 or extend the suspension as it suits him. But the committees handling of matters involving the House members since the return of the Legislature in 1999 is hardly impressive. The committee has the reputation of not only clearing its members but carrying out shoddy jobs. A few examples suffice. In 2008, former Speaker Dimeji Bankole, was named in a scandal over the alleged purchase of 380 units of Comfort (Auto) and ST Sport (Auto) Peugeot 407 cars for the oversight function of the House standing committees. The contract was valued at N2.3 billion. The House at its plenary session asked its ethics and privileges committee to investigate the matter. That was after Lagos Lawyer, Festus Keyamo, in a letter dated October 7, 2008 asked the Speaker to explain the difference in the N1.1 billion in the price quoted by the Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria and the actual amount the company sold the cars. In its report, the committee cleared Mr. Bankole and the leadership. It also said that Mr. Keyamos letter was faulty and baseless in its allegation. The same year, the 27-member House committee on Power and Steel was accused of receiving N100 million bribe to water down its report on the investigation into the alleged expenditure of $16 billion by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 on the power sector. The then newly reconstituted ethics and privileges committee, led by Sani Minjibir (ANPP, Kano), was asked by the House to conduct the investigation. The committee in its seven-page report said that the allegation against the committee on power is unfounded and untrue. In 2012, after it was heavily criticized for shielding one of its own, the House removed Farouk Lawan, a former Chairman of the Ad hoc committee on Fuel Subsidy for allegedly receiving $620,000 as bribe from Zenon Oil boss, Femi Otedola, to shield his company from indictment. Mr. Lawan was also removed as chairman of committee on education. The House mandated the ethics and privileges committee to investigate the matter and report back in two weeks. It has yet to do so, though the matter is in court. However, another window open to Mr. Dogara as a way of maintaining his innocence is to establish an independent panel to investigate the budget padding allegation. In this wise, he would be expected to testify before the panel. This is not strange to the House. In September 2007, it set up a nine-member committee headed by David Idoko, a PDP member from Benue State, to investigate the alleged award of contract valued at N628 million by former Speaker, Patricia Etteh. The money was meant to upgrade her official residence and that of her deputy, Babangida Nguroje, and also for the purchase of utility vehicles for the 10 principal officers. Mrs. Etteh, the only woman to be Speaker of the House since inauguration in 2007, bowed to pressure to float the panel to to examine in totality the award of contract for upgrading of the residences of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker; and to examine the contract for the purchase of official and utility vehicles for the officials of the House. The embattled speaker appeared before the committee she set up just like others but denied not following procedure. But the panel, in its report, said she did not. On October 30, Mrs. Etteh was forced to resign. In 2000, the late Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, set up a panel chaired by Idris Kuta to probe an allegation of anticipatory contract award by his leadership. In the end, Mr. Okadigbo, like Mrs. Etteh, also fell from power after the panels assignment. Can Mr. Dogara take the risk? Will he subject himself to public scrutiny? It is difficult to establish how Mr. Dogara, a lawyer and lawmaker from Bauchi State, would approach the matter. What is certain is that the speaker has enormous powers to determine which way things should go at the plenary. He has committee chairs and deputies to back any strategy he would come up with. Yet, the granite support of the committee leaders can also not be guaranteed if the experiences of Mr. Wabara and Mrs. Etteh are anything to go by. As in those cases, some of those may join the call for Mr. Dogara to step aside not only to ensure unfettered investigation but also because of the need to purge the legislature and its leadership of immoral financial acts, if any. Widespread belief in witchcraft is hindering the fight against cancer in Akwa Ibom State, a campaigner against the dreaded disease, Ella Obott, has said. Ms. Obott said there was a growing tendency for people in the state to attribute cancer to some witchcraft powers. That is actually one impression I am trying to correct in the minds of Akwa Ibom people, said Ms. Obott, a third-year political science student, who started dedicating her time campaigning against cancer after losing her 45-year-old mother to it in 2015. I know there are witches and wizards, but it is not every ailment that is caused by witchcraft. Its really a problem, and it is really sinking deep, she said. Cancer is a top killer in Nigeria, where an estimated 100,000 people are diagnosed with the disease yearly. Of that number, about 80,000 dont survive. The high mortality rate is partly a result of the limited medical care available in the country. Only two hospitals in Nigeria the National Hospital, Abuja, and Usman Dan Fodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto had functional radiotherapy machines as of December 2015. Now, rampant belief in witchcraft is making things worse, Ms. Obott said. I remember this woman, somewhere in Eket, she said. She was diagnosed of cancer two years ago, and she refused to go for treatment because she believed it was ifot (witchcraft) that was afflicting her. The son took me to talk to her. Luckily, I was able to convince her to go for treatment. I told her she could go to the hospital, while the family helped out with prayers. She was taken out of the country, she had her surgery successfully, and came back. She is a survivor, and she will actually be speaking in my event this October, she said. Ms. Obott said the witchcraft drama unfolded when her mother passed away. When my mom died, a whole lot of that drama happened; people said they knew who killed her, and that they wanted to find out. But I made them understood that my mother died of cancer, nothing more, nothing less. Each time they brought up that topic, I made them understood that I believe so much in God, and that I am a strong Christian. I believe that if God did not agree for her to go through that process, she wouldnt have. Does it mean that witches now have more power than God? I actually, dont believe in all of that. The young campaigner said the argument about ifot being responsible for her moms death was pushed by family members, and some friends, but she stood her grounds. She says the best way to check the brain wave about witchcraft, as far as the campaign against cancer is involved, is to keep preaching the message of early detection and early treatment. When her mom was diagnosed of cancer, Ms. Obott was afraid that it could someday get to her turn. But she later developed a positive mindset that cancer could be cured, after all. Later, she went for a mammogram to be sure she was in the clear. Ms. Obott now runs a non-governmental organization, Noami Obot Foundation, named after her late mother. She uses her personal money and also relies on small donations from friends and kind-hearted individuals for the organisations activities. So far, the foundation has visited secondary schools in Akwa Ibom to enlighten female students about breast cancer. It is organizing free cancer screening, this September, for students at the Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden. On October 20, there will be street campaign in Uyo, the state capital, to officially launch the foundation. Ms. Obott advised young women to be mindful of their lifestyle, as it was capable of causing cancer. Smoking is one thing women should avoid. Secondly, they should be committed to their personal hygiene. Another one is skin bleaching. I dont understand why a lady who is beautifully black would want to turn white overnight, she said. President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said Nigerian professionals should consider supporting his administration in every way they could rather than churning out criticisms. Mr. Buhari said he was convinced that Nigerians have good initiatives that could help his administration perform its functions better. The appeal came when Mr. Buhari addressed members of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) at their 2016 Annual National Management Conference which is underway in Abuja. I want to use this opportunity to urge other professional bodies, corporate bodies and well meaning Nigerians to emulate the kind gesture of NIM by lending their support to this administration instead of seating by to criticise every attempt at governance, Mr. Buhari said. It is by synergising with government that we can all build the Nigeria of our dreams. Mr. Buhari was represented by the Head of Service of the Federation Winifred Oyo-Ita. He spoke on the theme Building a New Nigeria: Strategic Options and Policy Imperative during which he challenged members of NIM to focus their attention on the activities of the legislature. I further challenge the Institute to improve its visibility at public sessions of the National Assembly when Bills are being considered so as to make more robust professional management input that will be most relevant in the public domain. To set this country on the path of greatness and prosperity, complete elimination of all forms of corrupt practices must be in the front burner and our collective consciousness always. You will agree with me that great nation is the reward of great leadership built on good governance. This is our motivation and value proposition. My administration will, therefore, continue to fight corruption and associated social vices at all levels until they are exterminated from our body polity, Mr. Buhari said. Mr. Buhari said he had confidence in the ability of the NIM members to channel the outcome of their event for the betterment of his administration. With your antecedents, I am convinced that the outcome of this conference will be used to further support the good initiatives of the federal government. The NIM event this year holds between September 18 and 20. President Muhammadu Buhari has urged member-states of the Non-Aligned Movement, NAM, development partners and international community to assist security personnel, victims and countries affected by Boko Haram insurgency. This is contained in a statement by the spokesperson, Nigerian Mission to UN, Akinremi Bolaji, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday. The statement quoted the president as making the call in his speech at the 17th Summit of NAM at the Island of Margarita, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. NAM is a group of states which are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. Mr. Buhari stressed the need to provide assistance to member-countries that had borne the brunt of Boko Haram terrorism, and relief to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees. He explained that twin scourge of terrorism and violent extremism had continued to wreak havoc in Nigeria and countries around Lake Chad Basin. According to him, thousands of nationals have been killed and maimed in addition to the millions displaced from their homes. He, however, stated that the capacity of Boko Haram had been severely degraded with huge sacrifices of the Nigerian Armed Forces and those of Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). While noting that the situation in some other parts of the world such as Libya, Iraq and Syria had continued to be a major concern, Buhari urged support for the peace process in those countries. It is essential that the Non-Aligned Movement finds a role for itself in addressing these challenges so as to retain its relevance in the world of today and in the future. In addressing the challenge of resource mobilization and flows for sustainable development of our countries, our collective solidarity is required now more than ever before, to uphold the Bandung Principles. I need not stress that cooperation among nations is an essential condition for global peace, security and a just world and economic order anchored on democratic values. Mr. Buhari said that there was the need to associate fully with the statement by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha, on behalf of Group 77 and China. Mr. Chan-o-cha, had said that there was a great opportunity for NAM to place the priority and concerns of the developing countries on the global agenda. Mr. Buhari said the international community was currently faced with severe economic crisis characterized by the collapse of commodity prices, worsening youth unemployment and exchange rate instability, among others. We need to exchange experiences in tackling these challenges. We must create jobs for our teeming population and explore creative ways of adding value to our terms of trade among ourselves and the rest of the world. We must continue to fashion out concrete steps to enhance good governance in our countries, including tackling head on, the challenge of corruption and efficient allocation of scarce resources, he said. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Abba-Ibrahim, said at the meeting that Nigeria was firmly committed to the protection of civilians during armed conflict. According to her, Nigeria recognises the primary responsibility of States to protect civilians within their national jurisdiction. This conviction underlines our governments resolve to take all measures necessary to protect civilians in the battle against the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Surely, terrorism must be roundly condemned and rejected by all peace-loving nations and should never be justified or defended under any guise. Similarly, no action should also be taken to undermine the morale and professional efficiency of the gallant officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces and those of their partners in the sub-region as they prosecute this campaign, she said. (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari has called on leaders of parties to the lingering conflict in South Sudan to honour the terms of the August 2015 Peace Agreement signed by them. Speaking at the meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council on the Situation in South Sudan held on the sidelines of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA71), in New York on Monday, the President described the unconditional implementation of the Agreement as the cornerstone of peace and reconciliation in that country. He noted that whatever reservations that may exist against the agreement, should under no circumstances be the pretext for failure to implement the Agreement. According to President Buhari, it is regrettable that lack of unity and political progress in South Sudan has remained a major obstacle to peace, stressing that Africa and indeed the entire world had high hopes and expectations for South Sudan as an independent nation. He noted that recurrent conflict and political instability with grave human rights and humanitarian consequences have overshadowed any progress that might have been made towards South Sudans development. In order to strengthen the peace process in the beleaguered East-Central African nation and newest member-state of the United Nations, President Buhari also stressed the need for stronger cooperation among the United Nations, the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority for Development and other stakeholders for the immediate deployment of the Regional Protection Force in South Sudan, as mandated by Security Council Resolution 2304. He condemned in strong terms crimes against civilians of all ethnic groups and political parties and attacks on United Nations Mission personnel as well as local and international aid workers in South Sudan, noting that perpetrators of such heinous crimes must not be allowed to go unpunished. A group, Anti-Corruption Unit, on Sunday accused the former Chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, of running a bank account in the United Kingdom. The group said Mr. Jibrin allegedly contravened Nigerian civil service rules which forbid elected public officeholders from operating a foreign bank account while in office. The allegations come as the lawmakers are returning to Abuja after a two-month-long recess. In a statement signed by its director, Ifeanyi Okonkwo, the ACU said Mr. Jibrin operated a bank account in the Channel Islands, UK. Mr. Okonkwo emailed what appeared to be a bank account statement from Dutch banking giant, ING Group, to PREMIUM TIMES. Details of the account statement obtained by some lawyers in the UK show that Jibrin has a total 1.558 million pounds (N825 million equivalent) in the account between June 1, 2016 and June 30, 2016, Mr. Okonkwo said. Jibrin, however, withdrew the sum of 623.44 within the one month period bringing the balance in the account to 1, 376,193.84. But PREMIUM TIMES understands from the bank statement that the 623.44 debit was annual equivalent rate deduction and not a withdrawal. Jibrin opened the account with his address at 453 Crankbrook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW, Mr. Okonkwo said. A reverse search done on the address showed that it was used by a company in which one Abdulmumin Jibrin born in September 1976 was a director until 2012. Mr. Jibrin, the lawmaker, was born on September 9, 1976. Jibrins ownership of foreign account contravenes the provisions of the 1999 constitution which bars public officer from owning and operating foreign account, Mr. Okonkwo said. Mr. Okonkwo said Mr. Jibrins alleged ownership of the account is part of the evidence he included in a petition he planned to submit to the EFCC on Monday morning. Mr. Jibrin was chairman of the Appropriation Committee until July 20. It is not immediately clear if the revelation was part of the media war over the scandal. Mr. Jibrin did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES request for comment, but a message he posted on his Twitter account said the ACU allegations marked the latest blackmail against him. The Presidency will this week transfer a deputy director, blamed for the plagiarism of U.S. President Barack Obamas speech, out of the State House, Abuja. The presidency had on Friday blamed the yet-to-be-named deputy director for the scandal that has embarrassed the Nigerian government. Already, a Deputy Director in the Presidency has accepted responsibility for the insertion of the contentious paragraph, Garba Shehu, Mr. Buharis spokesperson, said in a statement on Friday. The Presidency wishes to state in the clearest possible terms that it regrets this unfortunate incident and will ensure that this does not happen again. This serious oversight will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate sanction meted, he added. The official will start facing disciplinary proceedings in accordance with civil service rules today (Monday), presidency sources said. But he will first be directed to vacate his seat at the presidents office, officials have told PREMIUM TIMES. The Permanent Secretary of the State House, Jalal Arabi, is expected to query the official and then refer his case to the Head of Service for further actions, our sources said. The unnamed official has been blamed for tinkering with a speech prepared for President Buhari, plagiarising a famous speech Mr. Obama delivered when he was elected the first black President of the United States. The plagiarism was first detected by THISDAY Newspaper and Mr. Buhari apologised for the wrongful insertionFriday night. PREMIUM TIMES sources said the official committed the embarrassing act after Mr. Buharis speech had already been vetted by officials at the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration. Presidential spokespersons, Femi Adesina, and Garba Shehu, did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES requests for comments on the disciplinary actions being taken against the deputy director. Former chairman of House Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Monday described accusations that he owned and operated a bank account in the United Kingdom while serving as a federal lawmaker as the latest assault on his person. In a response on his Twitter page Monday morning, Mr. Jibrin said the allegations had no merit. The document is fake. I do not own such account or balance; neither do I have anything whatsoever to do with the said address at Essex, he said. A group, Anti-Corruption Unit, had distributed what it said was the printout of Mr. Jibrins account balance in the UK, showing that the lawmaker had about 1.5 million stashed in an ING Group branch in the Channel Islands. Jibrins ownership of foreign account contravenes the provisions of the 1999 Constitution which bar public officer from owning and operating foreign account, the ACU said in an accompanying statement signed by its director, Ifeanyi Okonkwo. Jibrin opened the account with his address at 453 Crankbrook Road, Ilford Essex IG2 6EW, Mr. Okonkwo said. A reverse search done on the address showed that it was used by a company in which a person with the name, Abdulmumin Jibrin, born in September 1976, was a director until 2012. Mr. Jibrin, the lawmaker, was born on September 9, 1976. Mr. Jibrin declined comments to PREMIUM TIMES about the document Sunday night, but moved aggressively this morning to deny the reports. Mr. Jibrin also alleged a link between the allegations and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, with whom he had been locked in a fierce political and media battle for months. This blackmail is part of a wider propaganda arranged by the desperate Speaker Dogara through his Deputy Chief of Staff Hon. CID Maduabum, Mr. Jibrin said. Mr. Dogaras media adviser, Turaki Hassan, declined comments on Monday. Mr. Jibrin was compelled to address the scandal after coming under fire on social media Sunday night, sparring with Kayode Ogundamisi at midnight Monday. Mr. Ogundamisi, a social critic, demanded explanations from Mr. Jibrin about the newly-emerged document linking him with a foreign account. After initial back and forth, which included screenshots of websites that matched Mr. Jibrins address in the UK to the address on the bank account, Mr. Jibrin later said to Mr. Ogundamisi: Oga, now that you have found that I own the property and the account, whats next? But a few hours later, Mr. Jibrin deleted his earlier exchanges with Mr. Ogundamisi, drawing criticisms from Nigerians who accused him of being evasive. Mr. Jibrin said he would pursue legal actions over the development. I will be reporting these hatchet men to the police and EFCC this morning and my lawyers are taking the necessary legal actions. Enough is enough! he said. The allegations came as the lawmakers are returning to Abuja after a two-month-long recess. Political analysts predict a major brawl could break out if the House moves a motion to suspend Mr. Jibrin. A former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday said Nigeria should invest more in education in order to curb corruption in the country. Mr. Ribadu said if people were better educated, their ability to filter right from wrongdoing would attain an appreciable level. Education is important to this process. Citizens need to be sufficiently educated to be able to sieve right from the wrongs and demand for what is right, Mr. Ribadu said. The observation was amongst the 12 recommendations Mr. Ribadu proposed to solving Nigerias endemic corruption when he spoke at the 2016 Annual National Management Conference organised by the National Institute of Management (Chartered) in Abuja. Mr. Ribadu, who spoke on the theme: Minimizing Corruption in Public Life, decried the pervasive graft in Nigeria and said the time to address the scourge is now. The big question is, how do we tackle corruption and minimize its cancerous spread on this our ladder that is public life? How do we stop the termites from eating off the parts that make up this ladder, that may stop our country from ascending to the Eldorado of progress? Mr Ribadu said. Education has remained a major concern for Nigeria, with UNICEF finding over 40 per cent of children between the ages of 6 and 11 out of school. Mr. Ribadu also used his speech to urge transparency, saying an opaque public service is undesirable as it encourages corruption. Transparency should be the keyword in all government businesses; from budgeting to award of contracts and even employment. Lack of transparency is the first thing that sows the seed of corruption. Honesty has to be lifted to the position of a prized and rewarding national value. Criminals should not be celebrated as heroes on account of their wealth. All government expenditures should be budgeted. Extra-budgetary spending should be criminalised and security votes should be completely phased out, Mr. Ribadu said. The 12 recommendations, which include a proposal on cash transactions, subsidies and deployment of technology for efficient procurement in the public service, are listed as follows. Leadership is essential. Leadership at all levels should be beyond reproach to provide the needed example. There should also be the will to apply the sanctions. As I have pointed out several times, lack of will by the political leadership to prosecute the war against corruption takes us to nowhere. The political leadership should be determined and it should be seen to be serious about it. Honesty has to be lifted to the position of a prized and rewarding national value. Criminals should not be celebrated as heroes on account of their wealth. All government expenditures should be budgeted. Extra-budgetary spending should be criminalised and security votes should be completely phased out. Transparency should be the keyword in all government businesses; from budgeting to award of contracts and even employment. Lack of transparency is the first thing that sows the seed of corruption. Smart technology should be deployed in procurement process to give room for transparent and accountable system of doing business. Cash transactions should be completely abolished or minimized as much as possible. With electronic movements of cash everything could be within watch and can be tracked. We should weed out corruption in our electoral process. If corruption thrives in the way leaders are brought to offices, we are indirectly bringing corrupt people to power and thus perpetuating corruption. The civil society and the media should be encouraged to be very vigilant and honest watchdogs of all systems. Whistle-blowers must be encouraged and protected. Red tapes and administrative bottlenecks in the bureaucracy should be tackled. Reducing unnecessary process will cut down tendencies of corruption as people need not to bypass established rules to accomplish any task. Subsidies should be phased out by the government to stop all the haemorrhage and abuse. As a discretionary intervention, subsidies on whatever service or product is very much prone to corruption by both the beneficiaries and those managing it, as we have seen with petroleum subsidy in this country. Education is important to this process. Citizens need to be sufficiently educated to be able to sieve right from the wrongs and demand for what is right. Lastly, at the root of achieving all these is a resolve by all Nigerians individually and collectively to not compromise. We must resolve to shun corruption entirely by taking a stand that I will not take bribe again no matter the consequences. Time will come when there will be no takers! The outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, has warned against politicizing the appointment of the nations Chief Justice. Speaking at the swearing-in of 22 New Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Abuja, Mr. Mohammed, whose tenure elapses in November, said it was important to address speculations surrounding appointments into the office in recent times. Given that this is my last legal year speech, I must use this medium to address speculations that have arisen as regards the appointments to the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Permit me to restate that Section 231 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) is clear as to the procedure that must be followed in appointing a Justice of the Supreme Court, or indeed a substantive chief justice of Nigeria. The National Judicial Council recommends, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria approves, and the Senate confirms such appointment. While I would admit that there is no constitutional restriction as to where those to be appointed are selected from; the long-held practice, which I dare say has been apolitical, transparent and fair, has been to appoint the most senior justice of the Supreme Court to the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. With the exception of two chief justices who were appointed from outside the Supreme Court during the military regimes and in exceptional circumstances, this system has proven to be seamless, predictable, respectable and dignified, he said. Mr. Mohammed said any other method in appointing the CJN would reduce the office to something that can be lobbied for. The idea that we can appoint legal practitioner without the proven experience or the temperance of character, developed through years of active participation in adjudication, may indeed be fraught with risk, none greater than the risk of creating another sinecure of party loyalists or reducing the office of the CJN to the office which can be lobbied for. This will undoubtedly and irreversibly hurt our justice system, Mr. Mohammed said. He lamented what he described as an increased rate of communication of complaints against judicial officers to the Presidency and described the development as disturbing. The constitution clearly places powers to exercise disciplinary control over judicial officers in the National Judicial Council. Furthermore, in line with the provisions of the constitution, the Judicial Discipline Regulation 2014 comprehensively sets out the procedure for making a complaint without undue interference from other arms of government, he said. Mr. Mohammed said members of the judiciary engaged in such acts have been marked for action and would be disciplined. Mr. Mohammed added that out of 1,489 cases heard between 2015 and 2016, 908 were motions while 581 were substantive appeals and 268 judgements were delivered, within one year. He lamented the practice of delaying cases through the use of unethical and frivolous applications by certain members of the bar. He warned that the apex court was taking a dim view of such delays and will introduce measures aimed at reducing delays in the administration of justice. Mr. Mohammed warned the new senior advocates and all judicial officers to desist from acts capable of eroding the integrity of the legal profession. The Nigerian Hunters Association has said its members would overrun Sambisa forest and capture Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, alive, if given the permission. Garba Tarfa, who is in charge of the associations security, in Adamawa, said several hunters were eager and waiting for the go-ahead. We are ever physically ready at any given time if permitted to besiege Sambisa forest to capture the coward, Shekau, like fowl and his dreaded commanders, Mr. Tarfa, a retired police officer, said in Yola on Monday. We know the nooks and crannies of Sambisa forest. In fact we know exactly where Shekau is hiding in the forest. They fear us more than conventional army, because they know we knew their secrets, Mr. Tarfa said. He said the Boko Haram Shekau was hiding in Sambisa at a heavily-guarded location codenamed Parisa, surrounded by his commanders. Mr. Tarfa said in the past three months, his members, working with the Army, intensified attacks on suburbs of Sambisa forest and rescued over 500 women and children. He said during the attacks, about 50 Boko Haram members were either killed, injured or arrested and handed over to security. He said the insurgency would be ended if the government worked more closely with hunters. He said the group would need logistical support and patrol vehicles. He also accused the authorities of paying more attention to the missing Chibok girls than other women and children abducted by Boko Haram. New York September 19, 2016: Speaking at the weekend in Delaware as the Keynote Speaker at the US Senator Chris Coons Opportunity Africa Conference 2016, Tony Elumelu urged candidates Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton that on the US-Africa Policy, some things dont need to change. What they need is to be expanded and scaled up. In other words, we need more U.S. engagement in Africa through mutually beneficial trade and investment. Speaking further, Mr. Elumelu said That is exactly what I, and 200 other US and African political and business leaders including President Obama and over 30 African Presidents, will be discussing next week at the US-Africa Business Forum in New York- how to strengthen mutually beneficial economic ties between the African and American peoples. Mr. Elumelus theme is entrepreneurship. One of Africas leading entrepreneurs; he is dedicating time and money to create a new generation of African business women and men, committing $100 million of his own money. According to Mr. Elumelu, If we give our people the economic tools to thrive, living standards increase, the political challenges that Africa faces can be tackled and fundamental positive change can be assured. Hecalled on the next US President to work in Shared Purpose with Africans on implementing innovative solutions to the complex but surmountable challenges in Africa. He also challenged the American electorate that So when you meet, write, call and email your political candidates and representatives and the elected President in November, tell them that when it comes to Africa, you want More. And by More, I mean more engagement, more positively impactful policies and more development and commercial investment in Africa. In closing, Mr. Elumelu said I am an unashamed optimist and I believe that working together, in Shared Purpose, which is what Africapitalism is about, we can help usher in economic transformation that will ensure Africa is a critical player in the 21stcentury global economy. We, members of the Unity Forum of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria welcome all Nigerians and all members of the National Assembly from the Eid-el-Kabir holiday and the Summer Recess. We further wish to add our voice in support of the initiatives and the recently unveiled policies of the Buhari administration and our Party, the APC, towards pulling the nation out of the current economic recession and security challenges. On this we are on the same page with the Nigerian Governors Forum and the recently concluded Economic Summit. We shall always tow the path of propriety and national unity by rendering committed support to our Party and Government by having faith in their capacity to pull the nation out of its current economic and social crises. We must see through and go beyond the cacophony of negative narratives designed by some misguided publicists, our opponents and traducers to misinform the public about the performance of the government and our party, the APC, in the last one year and four months we had been in office. Today is not the time to regurgitate the positions of the cynics or ruminate on the perilous state of the nation at the point of our takeover of the reins of government on 29th May, 2015. We simply want our discerning compatriots to appreciate what the government has achieved since it came into office under our CHANGE mantra. The APC campaigned on a platform with three interlocking objectives, namely; securing the country; fighting corruption, and; rebuilding the economy. We should therefore be judged by the extent to which the government has moved in the direction of achieving those objectives. Any judgement of performance that does not tally with these genuine campaign promises is suspect and fraudulent. Security Boko Haram has been utterly degraded and reduced to roving bands of violent criminals facing imminent extinction; millions have been freed from the menace of the misguided sect and its adherents; today we are working assiduously to ensure the welfare of the internally displaced people and provide for their safe return to their respective towns and villages to pick up with their lives and move on; Niger Delta is stabilising; cattle and livestock rustlers and armed herdsmen are being routed; armed robbers and kidnappers are daily being exposed, arrested and prosecuted. The rate at which this is taking place has never been witnessed in the recent history of the country. Unlike the situation before the change, one can now travel across the length and breadth of this country free of ubiquitous check points and fear of the unknown. Consequently we commend our security forces for their hard work and sacrifice in their valiant effort to secure the nation from violent criminals and extremists. We further wish to commend the government on all the efforts it has so far made both open and clandestine to secure the release of the Chibok girls. We are confident that very soon their ordeal shall come to an end. Anti-Corruption The fight against corruption, which is a national security priority, is relentless and ongoing. We are all witnesses to the mind boggling revelations of how our common patrimony was looted and our national development initiatives strangled by unscrupulous officials, politicians and their business associates. Pursuant to the commitment of this administration to constitutionalism and the rule of law, many cases are currently before the nations judiciary, and many are to follow after conclusive investigations by the law enforcement and anti graft agencies. Predators and crooks stealing the future of our country are busy fighting back through several schemes of subterfuge, misinformation and character assassination. In this, we are determined that they will not succeed. We advice them to turn a new leaf and seek legitimate business opportunities. We further urge our colleagues in the National Assembly irrespective of party affiliation to render full support to any legislative initiative from the Executive that is designed to fast track the fight against corruption and impunity. Economy The old economy and its paradigmatic assumptions are dead, thanks to the collapse of inscrutable oil revenue that undermined the unsustainable consumption habits of our elites and their retainers. An economy built around the export of oil and gas and the importation of every other thing including food and refined petroleum products cannot last in a volatile and competitive world. An economic model based on mass consumption that de-industrialised the nation and denied employment to the mass of our people, turning all of us into mass consumers and purveyors of foreign products, is inappropriate for contemporary Nigeria. As petroleum revenues dwindle from about $110 per barrel to as low as $30 per barrel, the economy, like most of the oil dependent economies, with no savings for the rainy day, entered into a recession. The party is over. Now is the time for realism. A time for building a productive, self-reliant and prosperous economy that puts our people back to work. The agenda of our APC government is to diversify and reconstruct our economy around the production and manufacturing of goods and services for domestic consumption and export and for the employment of our vast population of idle youths. This agenda of economic reconstruction through diversification and reflation of the economy is the surest path out of the current recession and into a new era of sustainability and prosperity. The journey will not be easy but the objectives are clear and attainable. The first objective was to pay attention to the promotion of Agriculture, solid minerals prospecting and mining and support for investment in domestic manufacturing, construction and commerce. The second strategy was to pursue an expansionary public spending programme directed at rebuilding our infrastructure in the area of roads, railways, power, housing and associated enterprises. In order to remain people-focussed, education and health were given appropriate priority. Support for the needy and downtrodden was envisaged in a programme of providing safety net for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors of our people. All these are captured and are being implemented in our 2016 Budget. Since May 2016 when the budget implementation started, the Government had released nearly N800 billion out the N1.8 trillion earmarked for capital spending. In addition to this the Government will soon place before the National Assembly foreign borrowing programme from the World Bank, African Development Bank, China Export-Import Bank, etc. all geared towards investment in the nations infrastructure. We therefore want to seize this opportunity to call on all Nigerians to set partisan considerations aside and support this process of CHANGE for a greater future and a prosperous nation. To this end, we call on our colleagues in the National Assembly to support Mr. President on any initiative that he may require to stabilise the economy and fast track the implementation of policies designed to advance economic integration and reconstruction, social welfare and accelerated growth of the economy to deliver the country out of the current recession in the shortest possible frame of time. Thank you and God bless us all. Signed SENATE UNITY FORUM The Rivers Police Command said it has rescued 14 oil workers abducted by unknown gunmen on Sept. 2 along Elele-Omoku road. The command`s spokesman, Nnamdi Omoni, a DSP, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that the workers were freed in the early hours of Sunday. Mr. Omoni said the Command`s Tactical Units, engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle, which lasted for one and half hours, to rescue the victims. The Oil Workers were rescued unhurt due largely to the efforts of the Commands Tactical Units, who, at the early hours of Sept. 18,engaged the hoodlums, in a fierce gun battle which lasted for one and half hours, leading to the rescue of the victims. The hoodlums took to flight abandoning their hostages. Efforts are on to arrest and bring them to justice, he said. Mr. Omoni said no ransom was paid to rescue the workers. They have been debriefed and are receiving medical attention in the hospital. Investigation is on-going at the Commands Anti-Kidnapping Unit, he said. Mr. Omoni said that the police was determined to fight all forms of criminality and crime in the state. He appealed to residents to give the police useful information that would assist it achieve set objectives. (NAN) Lanre Ogunsuyi, Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Youth and Sports, has defended the proposed construction of a new governors office, saying it is not a waste of public funds. Mr. Ogunsuyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, that the new office is being constructed to provide security for Gov. Ayodele Fayose. He said the current governors office was congested and could not accommodate the governors personal aides and security personnel. He said the office of Secretary to the state government, Chief Press Secretary to the governor and their personal assistants were located in the governors office complex which was not supposed to be. Mr. Ogunsuyi said: the governors security is very important; that is why the state House of Assembly agreed to include the construction of a new governors office in the 2016 budget. The 2016 budget is open to the public to access in order to inform and educate the residents, civil servants and opposition party members about the various government policies and plans. The proposed office is to also create an exclusive environment for the governor and his immediate security contingent. Those unpatriotic people who are critisising the ongoing projects of governor Fayose are mere political jobbers. I wish to say with all sense of responsibility that we are not building the governors office, overhead bridge and market with bank loan. The projects will be completed at end of the tenure of governor Fayose, he said. (NAN) Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, An increasing number of states is confronted with the unprecedented scale of migratory flows in various parts of the world. This phenomenon does not concern only Europe, Africa and Middle East. In fact, every region, every continent struggles nowadays with large movements of people. Their source is not only in armed conflicts, aggressions and violence, they also arise as a consequence of economic crises and natural disasters. When I ponder on the solution to the problem of mass migrations I come to the conclusion that the element that is often missing in debate on the subject, is the differentiation between economic migration and war refugees. These different phenomena require entirely different reactions as a matter of fact. If we tend to merge the tragedy of refugees with the needs of economic migrants, we are not in a position to give effective aid to any of those groups. This is because their aspirations are entirely different. While what causes economic migrations is generally peoples striving to improve their financial situation and to obtain entitlements to social policies, the source of war and political refugee flows is always desire to save ones life or protect ones health. The scale of migratory flows in the world of today is immense. According to estimates in my country, Poland, permanently reside more than one million of economic migrants, mainly coming from the East. In turn, based on various estimated figures, about one up to two million of citizens left Poland to work in other European Union countries. Major social migrations require from politicians a very responsible course of action. There are many areas where social migrations may produce social tensions, prejudice, false charges about alleged stealing of jobs or intention to abuse the social system of the receiving state. Unfortunately, there are some politicians who make use of such attitudes. Dwelling on unfair generalizations, they try to gain popularity. Whereas it should be incumbent on politicians to prevent such harmful stereotypes from emerging and destroying social order. I do realize the fact that there are also people for whom the object is not to improve their situation in life through work but to abuse social rights. Obviously, state authorities are obliged to curb such practices. All the more so since the latter tend to reinforce the conviction among the public that all economic migrants are dishonest. As far as war refugees are concerned, I would like to flag up two tasks ahead of us. In the first place, it is incumbent on the international community to eliminate the real root causes behind refugee flows and to restore to everyone the right to live in his or her home country. We shall never consign to the past the tragedy of refugees as long as we do not put an end to conflicts which often arise from imperial ambitions, ethnic hatred or economic interest. There are no wars without reasons, thus, there are no wars which could not be terminated. In the second place, it is our duty to engage in cooperation for a permanent erasure of criminal procedures run by the people who in an inhumane way prey on the tragedy of refugees. What I have in mind is the operations of criminal groups which collect protection money for transportation or smuggling of refugees, and also the phenomenon of laundering of money procured in such a way in renowned banks of the civilized world, and striking deals with criminals and murderers. Putting an end to such practices will not solve the problem entirely but will certainly reduce the tragedy of people who suffer twofold: first, as a result of war, and then because of actions perpetrated by those who prey on their misfortune. We cannot turn a blind eye on bloodstained money which circulates around the world. In each of those aspects, the situation today requires from us effective solutions to be found. The Republic of Poland is prepared to actively participate in such pursuits. Thank you for your attention. Albert Semerville follows a simple philosophy: With the right inspiration and enough determination, success will come. Even with a lofty, fashionable goal. Even in South Jersey. Semerville, of Egg Harbor Township, creates beautiful, wearable art: silk scarves that have earned him a following. He is becoming increasingly known by another name VeVelle. He grew up in Haiti as the son of a seamstress and a tailor, surrounded by the Caribbean culture known for its colorful art, food and symbolism. Being around fashion in one form or another all his life, Semerville found a way to embody this rich culture in his scarves. Semerville will showcase VeVelle at Atlantic City Fashion Week, which runs Sept. 22-24. Both Atlantic City Fashion Week and VeVelle have grown in the past few years. Semerville is pleased to be involved with the event, where this year his work will be featured in the main Friday evening show. Every year it is getting better and better, he said of Fashion Week. But Semervilles journey into design wasnt without hard work and bumps. And his parents werent always crazy about the idea of his following in their fashion footsteps. His first taste of fashion freedom came from convincing his father to let him to buy clothes from another tailor, allowing him to try different styles. I was 15 years old, there were so many different styles coming out, and my dad didnt want to make them. I wanted to wear them; all the kids were wearing them. It was around 1974, all these pants with the bell bottoms, Semerville said. Semerville said that while fashion was always around in his household, in Haiti, parents often urge their kids to enter careers in medicine, engineering or law. You tell your parents you want to be a fashion designer and theyd say, Are you crazy, man? How will you survive? he said. My dad said, I dont want you falling in love with this. I want you to become bigger and bigger. Your parents want you to be something else other than a tailor. That mentality comes partly from the fact that there wasnt a booming Caribbean fashion market. But Semerville was convinced the U.S. market was different, and that success would come if he was a good designer and if he believed in himself. Even though he was inspired to follow fashion, Semerville spent two years in medical school in Haiti before he decided it wasnt the right path for him. In 1984, Semerville made the move to New York. He taught information technology courses at CUNYs LaGuardia Community College and worked as a systems analyst and programmer on Wall Street. Eventually he decided that whatever he did next, he wanted to live in South Jersey. After about 25 years in New York, Semerville didnt think Brooklyn was where he wanted to raise his three young children. His sister lived in Sicklerville in Camden County. He started looking at houses on weekends and fell in love with his development in Egg Harbor Township. I said to my wife, I dont know how Im going to pay this, I dont know where Im going to go, but this is where Im going to live. Semerville is nothing if not determined, and when he sets his mind to something, he simply makes it work. For the next 14 years, Semerville made the commute from Egg Harbor Township to Wall Street. He eventually found a bus that would take him from Atlantic City casinos to Chinatown, and he walked the rest of the way. Semerville got back to his fashionable roots in the fall of 2014 with the birth of VeVelle, the silk scarf line that has progressed from a handful of designs to about 50 in two years. He now also makes mens silk ties and pocket squares. The scarves are made of 100 percent silk in three types: silk twill, silk georgette and silk chiffon. They are made in Europe, Semerville said, because there are no major silk manufactures in the U.S. Right now the powerhouse is France, Italy and the Indian market. Im doing batches of about 100. It costs me, but the quality is unbelievable, he said. Every scarf has a name, a title. Some names are in French. Some names are in English. Theres a reason for that: Its art. Semerville said his Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook accounts have been a key to his success. He used his information technology background to build his online business himself. I have a designer in Europe, Russia, Haiti. I can deal with all of these people around the world because of that. If I want to do a photo shoot, Ill do it in Egg Harbor Township. Ill do it in South Africa. Next week I have a photo shoot in Williamsburg, New York, he said. Ive done some in Galloway with local models. I have the flexibility of harnessing the resources that we have around the world. Otherwise it would be almost impossible to do this. And while the company is growing every year, Semerville says he has a very specific future in mind for VeVelle. My next thing is I want to target a few specialty stores who can carry it. I do not want to be, in other words, in Macys. Its for people looking for fine items. For now, I dont see myself creating a brick and mortar store. A store is for display. The way I see it, I have a piece of art. You can wear it how you want, you can store it. Its a wearable art. Semerville is also celebrating another major success in the company: a collaboration with famous Dutch artist Christie van der Haak. Van der Haak is well-known for her colorful, geometric designs that include paintings and large-scale textile designs. She is debuting an installation at Miami Beachs The Wolfsonian-FIU museum that will last from November to next June a lengthy residency. After seeing Van der Haaks work, it makes sense that the pair would work together. So how did a Dutch artist and American designer meet? Van der Haak liked what she saw from VeVelle on Instagram. From that like, a partnership was born. The two designers admire each others work and will now work together to create six scarves with Caribbean themes. The peacock an important symbol in Caribbean culture will appear on one. Now they are working on their third scarf design. The Wolfsonian-FIU museum has placed a large order for Semervilles scarves, which will be sold during Van der Haaks residency. Theres lots of scarves, but theyre not created equal. This, youre buying a luxury item a piece of art. Thats the investment, Semerville said. Contact: 609-272-7209 Twitter @ACPressSchweder A 28-year-old Atlantic City man was arrested Saturday hiding in the back of a car with children in it after allegedly firing several shots in the city, police said Monday. At 10:22 p.m. officers responded to South Carolina and Adriatic avenues for a ShotSpotter notification. Officers arrived on scene and located shell casings on the ground, police said. Later they identified a suspect and the car he fled in, according to a news release. Officers Marinela Pali, Ryan Kov, and George Mancuso located the vehicle in the 1300 block of Caspian Avenue. Naim Jackson, of Atlantic City was found hiding in the backseat of the vehicle and was taken into custody. There were also two small children in the backseat, one of which was sitting in a car seat. Officers located a loaded handgun under the seat. Jackson was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, certain persons not to possess a weapon, endangering the welfare of a child, and aggravated assault. He was sent to Atlantic County jail on $100,000 bail. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Detective David Shapiro with the Atlantic City Police Department Criminal Investigations Section at 609-347-5766. Information can be text to TIP411 (847411). Begin the text with ACPD. All texts are anonymous. NEW YORK (AP) Authorities are looking for a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan for questioning in a weekend explosion in a Manhattan neighborhood that injured 29 people as the governor conceded Monday that investigators could no longer rule out international terrorism. The man sought for questioning was identified as 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he could be armed and dangerous. "We need to get this guy in right away," de Blasio said on CNN. "My experience is one the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them." Cuomo had said Sunday that there was no evidence to suggest that the bombing was related to international terrorism, but he appeared to walk that back Monday. "Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," he said. Authorities were still working to determine whether there is a connection between multiple explosive devices found over the weekend in two states: the Manhattan explosion, an unexploded pressure cooker device blocks away, a pipe bomb blast at a Jersey shore town and five explosive devices at a New Jersey train station. On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped "a vehicle of interest" in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She wouldn't provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the car were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation. No one has been charged with any crime, and the investigation is continuing, Langmesser said. Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday's blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, said the unexploded pressure cooker device appeared "similar in design" to the bomb that exploded in Chelsea, but he didn't provide details. On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores. The discovery of Tannerite may be important as authorities probe whether the two New York City devices and the pipe bomb at the Jersey shore are connected. Cellphones were discovered at the site of both bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn't authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The pipe bomb exploded Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was canceled and no one was injured. Late Sunday, five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a trash can by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City. Officials haven't revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it. On Sunday night, police blew up the device, rendering it safe. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said. Homemade pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013 that killed three people and injured more than 260. On Sunday, a team of five FBI agents searched an Uber driver's vehicle that had been damaged in the Manhattan blast. The driver had just picked up three passengers and was driving when the explosion occurred, shattering the car's windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door. The Chelsea explosion left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a week earlier and that was schedule to hold a United Nations meeting Monday to address the refugee crisis in Syria. Witnesses described a deafening blast that shattered storefront windows and injured bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighborhood on the city's west side. One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his apartment when the blast went off. At first he thought it was thunder and lightning. "Then all of a sudden, car horns went off, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, this isn't lightning. This is too loud," Stanhope said. "This is a bomb." ___ Caldwell reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Karen Matthews, Maria Sanminiatelli, Michael Balsamo and Dake Kang in New York and Eric Tucker and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. NEWARK A federal prosecutor told jurors on Monday that a witness will testify that Republican Gov. Chris Christie was told about a plan to close traffic lanes near the George Washington Bridge as part of a political vendetta while the shutdown was happening, a claim Christie has contested for years. The trial comes three years after gridlock paralyzed a town next to the busy bridge, which connects New Jersey and New York City, for four days. Prosecutors said two former Christie allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, had sought political revenge against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who didnt endorse Christie for re-election. Baroni was a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area bridges, tunnels and transit hubs. Kelly was Christies former chief of staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna told jurors that another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in connection with the scandal last year, will testify he and Baroni made Christie aware of the plan during a Sept. 11 memorial in New York in 2013, three days after the gridlock started. The evidence will show that ... they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned, Khanna said. Christie has denied knowing about the scheme until well after it was carried out, and a taxpayer-funded report he commissioned absolved him of wrongdoing. He wasnt charged in the federal investigation. A message left at his office seeking comment wasnt immediately returned Monday. Christie, an unsuccessful candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, conceded last week that the bridge scandal was a factor in GOP nominee Donald Trumps not picking him as a running mate. Defense attorneys spent considerable time in their opening statements castigating Wildstein, a former political blogger and high school classmate of Christie who they called the governors hatchet man at the Port Authority. They characterized him as a vulgar, power-smitten opportunist aiming to ride Christies coattails to Washington, D.C., at a time when Christie, about to easily win re-election in his heavily Democratic state, was seen as a top presidential hopeful. Kelleys attorney, Michael Critchley, called Wildstein and others in Christies inner circle cowards who were addicted to power and said Kelly, who had been deputy chief of staff for three months at the time of the lane closures, was a sacrificial lamb. The idea that Bridget Kelly is directing the affairs of the state of New Jersey is almost laughable, he said. They wanted to throw her, in some sense, under the presidential bus. Baronis lawyer, Michael Baldassare, called Wildstein a liar and a horrible person, a vindictive individual who would destroy your life. In the governments opening, Khanna described how crushing gridlock engulfed Fort Lee on four days beginning Sept. 9, 2013, and how the defendants ignored Sokolichs texts, emails and voicemails seeking help. Kellys Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee email to Wildstein was sent Aug. 13, 2013, a day after she was notified Sokolich wouldnt endorse Christie, Khanna said. He added that although the lane realignment was Wildsteins idea, Wildstein will also tell you Kelly instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it. And the three of them worked hand in hand. Critchley, Kellys attorney, said Kelly regretted sending the email but it was merely joking banter taken out of context. He told jurors Kelly believed Wildsteins proffer that the three access lanes from Fort Lee to the bridge were part of a corrupt political deal years ago and should be re-examined. Baroni and Kelly face counts of wire fraud, conspiracy, deprivation of civil rights and misusing an organization receiving federal funds, the Port Authority. The most serious charge in the indictment, wire fraud conspiracy, carries a maximum 20-year prison term upon conviction. Bridgegate court filings focus on missing text messages NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case co Witness testimony is scheduled to begin Tuesday, with Fort Lees police chief. Heavy rain and a full-moon tide caused flooding Monday along the barrier islands in Atlantic and Cape May counties. The National Weather Service in Mt. Holly said more heavy rain was expected overnight in parts of Cape May, Atlantic and Ocean counties. High tide in South Jersey will take place between 10:45 and 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. South Jersey saw as much as 3 inches of rain Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. The agency issued a hazardous weather outlook warning of moderate to heavy rainfall early Tuesday that could result in localized flooding. Atlantic County Deputy Director of Emergency Management Ed Conover said the storms Monday caused extensive flooding across the region. Were having some problems with ponding and pooling of water. We havent had rain in a while, so the ground is soaking up a lot of it. But theres still a lot of runoff, he said. Atlantic City saw as much as a foot of flooding from nearly 2 inches of rain that fell. The Newport section of Downe Township in Cumberland County saw 3.1 inches of rain. We had a frontal boundary that approached the coast that interacted with some tropical moisture. Its noticeably humid out there, and that led to some heavy rain, weather service meteorologist Lance Frank said. It was a beneficial rainfall. It will definitely help with the dry conditions weve seen. As with most barrier islands, Atlantic City saw its worst flooding near the bay. Chris Macaluso, 30, of Arizona Avenue, said his street floods even in a normal rainstorm. On Monday morning, one of his neighbors stood in water up to his knees collecting boards that had washed down the street. Macaluso, a casino worker, said he bought an SUV to drive through the flooding because a sedan typically gets stuck during a rainstorm. He also said he and his neighbors have brought the issue to city officials but were rebuffed because the city has no money. Macaluso said he may have to sell his home. I love my neighborhood, and I love this city, he said, noting that many streets near the bay experience significant flooding. But it just keeps flooding, so what am I supposed to do? North Wildwood got its Humvee ready to respond to emergencies caused by the flooding, which stretched across the bay past normally dry New Jersey Avenue, police Capt. John Stevenson said. Don't call it Revel anymore, call it "TEN" ATLANTIC CITY On a scale of one to 10, Glenn Straub and the rest of his management team at The Humvee has a snorkel that keeps the exhaust system from being submerged by flooding. The main bridge into town remained open at high tide, but getting to the bridge was a challenge, especially on the west side. Police detoured traffic through the Anglesea neighborhood, parts of which were also flooded. Flooding is all over, from what were seeing. Its a combination of the high tide and the full moon and the rain hitting all at once, Stevenson said. The George Redding Bridge entering Wildwood was closed for part of Monday but was reopened about 4 p.m. West Wildwood residents, who saw heavy flooding during Winter Storm Jonas earlier this year, were asked to move their cars off the street. A spokeswoman from the Cape May County Office of Emergency Management said no one had reported damage or injuries. Another high tide was expected between 10 and 11 p.m. Monday in Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties. Contact: 609-272-7260 Twitter @ACPressDeRosier LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP Ocean County authorities said two women and a baby were killed and a child and adult were critically hurt in a head-on crash Saturday night on Route 539. Tuckerton resident Shannon Tomkins, 27, and her 6-month-old daughter died after Tomkins car collided with an SUV driven by Nora Magnani, 67, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, at about 8:55 p.m. just west of North Shore Drive, Ocean County Prosecutors Office Al Della Fave said in a statement. Tomkins and Magnani died at the scene, according to the statement. Della Fave said Tomkins was driving east with her two children when her car crossed the center line into the westbound lane and hit the SUV, the report said. The baby was taken to Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford Township, where she later died. Tomkins 5-year-old son was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition. Magnanis passenger, Andrea Pallanollo, 65, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. PLEASE BE ADVISED: Soon we will no longer integrate with Facebook for story comments. The commenting option is not going away, however, readers will need to register for a FREE site account to continue sharing their thoughts and feedback on stories. If you already have an account (i.e. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. ROBERT A. LANDINO, CEO Founded and helped grow several industry-leading firms, from engineering to solar to fashion, throughout the United States Co-founded and served as president and CEO of BL Companies, an Engineering News Record Top 500 Architect & Engineering firm with offices throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. BL has twice been named one of the nations 500 fastest growing privately held firms by Inc. Magazine. Co-founder of Dolan Clothing in Los Angeles Served three terms as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives until his retirement in 2000 Has a bachelors degree in civil engineering Don't call it Revel anymore, call it "TEN" ATLANTIC CITY On a scale of one to 10, Glenn Straub and the rest of his management team at the shuttered Revel Casino Hotel are giving thems ALAN GREENSTEIN, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Brings about 30 years of gaming industry and hospitality resort experience, most recently serving as chief financial officer of Revel Casino Hotel for about seven years Prior to his position with Revel, Greenstein was senior vice president and chief financial officer of Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, where he worked from October 1995 to December 2005 As CFO for both Mohegan Sun and Revel, Greenstein was responsible for overseeing start-up operations, including but not limited to the preparation of internal and accounting controls, financial accounting, operational accounting, casino credit, count-rooms, cage operations, internal audits, and budgets and analysis. Greenstein is a certified public accountant and holds a Key Qualifier license issued by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission Senate President Steve Sweeney introduced a bill Thursday that would disqualify a casino license applicant for five years if that person substantially closes a casino in the state. The bill is in response to concerns that Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort will close and warehouse the license, or reopen the casino with reduced wages for workers, the Senate Majority Office said in a news release. Taj owners plan to close the casino Oct. 10. The casino employs about 2,800 people. A Taj spokesperson didnt immediately return a request for comment. The bill, S-2575, amends existing law that gives gaming regulators the responsibility to require license holders to abide by certain standards. Sweeneys bill will update those standards to prevent the manipulation of bankruptcy law and gaming licensing, the release said. State hosts job fair for Trump Taj Mahal employees ATLANTIC CITY For last 17 years, Anna Swierczewski of Ocean County has been a table games Labor disputes happen and usually get resolved one way or another, said Sweeney, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland. But casino owners shouldnt be able to misuse bankruptcy laws and gaming regulations in order to warehouse a license or take money out of the pockets of casino workers and strip them of benefits simply because they refuse to come to a labor agreement with their employees. The bill lets the Division of Gaming Enforcement determine what constitutes a substantial closure of a casino. It would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016, but would not apply to other casino licenses held by the owner, the release said. This bill encourages casino owners to keep their properties open and rebuild Atlantic City rather than keep their license and throw thousands of families to the curb, Sweeney said in a statement. Atlantic City casino win down over 6% in August ATLANTIC CITY Gaming revenue at the citys eight brick-and-mortar casinos fell nearly 7 pe Contact: 609-272-7215 Twitter @_Hetrick From Buenos Aires to Hiroshima, President Barack Obama has spoken of the harm done abroad by the foreign policy decisions of his predecessors. The most recent instance occurred during his visit last week to tiny Laos, where he reviewed the destruction wrought by U.S. bombing of that country during the wars in Southeast Asia nearly half a century ago. "Countless civilians were killed," he lamented. Republican critics in this country have derided these "apology tours," but that's not fair. Obama has generally stuck to passive-voice formulations, as he did in Laos, and avoided explicit apology. Still, the moralizing comes through, which raises a question: Just how different is Obama's conduct from that of the past presidents whose judgments he reviews today? Obama said the U.S. air campaign in Laos - aimed at North Vietnamese communists who were illegally using the neutral country as a supply route to South Vietnam - not only caused massive collateral damage, it was also "a secret war," whose full scope is not widely known "even now." Adjusted for the greater precision of modern weaponry, you could say something similar about the nontransparent U.S. campaign of drone strikes against suspected terrorists that Obama is conducting around the Middle East today, at the cost - minimized but unavoidable, the administration says - of many innocent civilian lives. In March in Argentina, Obama noted the anniversary of a 1973 military coup, calling the Nixon and Ford administrations' initial acceptance of the junta a case of betrayed American ideals, in which the United States was "slow to speak out for human rights." He offered disclosures of U.S. classified documents about the period as a form of penance. One wonders what archives will eventually reveal about Obama's own tolerance of the brutal military regime in contemporary Egypt, which took power in a 2013 coup, and which the United States, after a brief suspension, supplied with more than a billion dollars in military aid - made possible by an administration waiver of human rights conditions in U.S. law. The New York Times' analysis of Obama's Laos speech appeared on Page A8 of its Sept. 8 edition. On Page A9, a headline read: "Pressing His Asia Agenda, Obama Treads Lightly on Human Rights." The accompanying article explained how, in dealing with the dictators of China, Vietnam and, indeed, Laos, Obama played down their repressive rule for the sake of other diplomatic goals. Page A10 carried the claim by Turkey's authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Turkey and the United States were readying joint military action against the Islamic State in Syria. Erdogan had just met with Obama, after which the latter praised Turkish "cooperation" against the Islamic State and said the two leaders had "discussed ways in which we can further cooperate in that regard" - and glossed over Erdogan's nationwide crackdown on political opponents in the wake of a failed July coup against him. Obama must believe that U.S. national security requires him to make these trade-offs, or that his course will minimize civilian deaths, and maximize human rights, over the long run. Or all of the above. In other words, he must be telling himself exactly what his predecessors during the Cold War (and Harry Truman at Hiroshima) told themselves. Susan Rice, the president's national security adviser, framed the president's retrospective comments as an effort "to face and acknowledge our history," by noting "points of departure" from the United States' "overwhelmingly positive" global role. Perhaps, but the clear implication of Obama's expressions is that the U.S. effort to stop the Soviets from accumulating global power and influence was often unjustified in view of the costs. When discussing the bombing of Laos, for example, the president was evaluating part of a wider struggle, Vietnam, that he had already publicly labeled a "quagmire" that "ultimately ... weakened us." Fair enough. Still, at the time of Vietnam - and the Argentine coup, and the revolution in Cuba - U.S. presidents considered the nuclear-armed Soviet Union, not implausibly, as a mortal threat to us and our allies. We'll never know what, say, Latin America would be like today if the United States had done nothing to stop Cuban attempts to spread revolution during the Cold War, though the current chaos in Venezuela suggests a possible outcome. Today, Obama seeks to work with the likes of Erdogan against the Islamic State even though he believes the terrorists "do not threaten our national existence," as he put it in his January State of the Union address. Erdogan certainly seems like the lesser of two evils - but Obama's policy is nevertheless one of many moral compromises during his tenure, including his fateful decision not to intervene militarily in Syria. Someday Obama, too, will face history's judgment. Meanwhile, he ruminates on the doleful impact of his predecessors' choices, seeking to communicate a certain humility about his country. Less intentionally, he communicates a certain lack of humility about himself. The Christie administration and the New Jersey Education Association, patron of Democrats, never seem to miss an opportunity to do their worst to each other. Another skirmish in the endless war came as August ended and the state had to announce how much student performance on PARCC tests would count in teacher evaluations next year. The answer: Triple the 10 percent of teacher evaluations it comprised this year. That's not as momentous as it sounds. It only applies to math and English teachers in grades four through eight, so only about 15 percent of N.J. public school teachers will have 30 percent of their rating based on student test performance. And since in this year's Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test student scores improved significantly in all grades, the test performance component seems unlikely to adversely affect many teachers. The 30 percent level was specified in the 2012 tenure reform law. This year it was to be 20 percent, but in a concession to teachers the state allowed test performance to count for just 10 percent for another year. Gov. Chris Christie said the schools, teachers and students have adjusted to the relatively new test and it's time to make full use of it in teacher evaluations. The teachers union warned that the weighting would prompt teachers to spend more time on test preparation and less on teaching and learning, although it's unclear why the best preparation for a test of what students have learned wouldn't be teaching and learning. As we've said before, we're convinced the PARCC test will benefit students, teachers and parents by showing in detail where individuals are attaining mastery of subjects and where they could use more help. That's its best function. Its use to ensure that New Jersey high school graduates are indeed ready for college and careers is appropriate, but note that such a requirement starts in 2021. We would have preferred that the state phase in the test's use in teacher evaluations more in line with that schedule, allowing a sufficient track record and experience to make clearer the relationship between student test performance and teacher performance. But what we'd really like to see is state and education leaders start reducing their level of political combat, which seems more concerned about serving themselves than New Jersey students. Our view Disregard for pedestrians and law outrages visitors We are visiting Atlantic City from New Zealand and were due to fly home on Sept. 11. My partner was crossing Atlantic Avenue on a "Walk" signal on a morning the week before when a driver on Michigan Avenue turned left and hit her. She is about to have an operation to put screws in both sides of her leg plus some bone grafts; she will have to undertake rehab and we will be forced to stay in New Jersey for some additional weeks. She will also now be unable to undertake a planned trip to Tanzania in October and may well lose about $25,000 in deposits. All because a young New Jersey driver was so incompetent, she made a left turn and mowed down a pedestrian. I've been advised by the Atlantic City police that this is a civil matter. I find that absolutely incredible! So a person who is that bad at driving can just keep driving? As visitors from New Zealand, we are absolutely gob-smacked. Rob Crozier Te Horo Beach, New Zealand Society has produced 2 deficient candidates As the time draws near to choose the next president, I am more disillusioned with both candidates. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, by his very own words, has indicted himself as a candidate unworthy of the esteemed office. He regularly spews forth so much specious bile that one can predict his every statement to be freighted with bigoted lunacy and narrow-minded intolerance. Yet on the other side of this inept coin, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, as charity philanthropist and secretary of state has made some very questionable decisions that warrant microscopic scrutiny before she's the next potential leader of the free world. My quandary, however, is not so much with those two deficient presidential hopefuls whom I find extremely wanting as it is with American society. We've produced such presidents as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and yes Barack Obama; such scientists as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and J. Robert Oppenheimer; such social leaders as Martin Luther King, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. As the most enlightened society in the world, are Trump and Clinton the best we have for the most powerful office in the free world? If we don't get our ducks in order as an accomplished society, we could soon find the next presidential hopeful coming from the Barnum & Bailey circus, in the form of Bozo the Clown. Edsel Coates Atlantic City U.S. automakers are doing just fine Regarding the Sept. 4 letter, "Change economic policies": The writer says the auto industry is in a downward spiral, and pushes the ongoing doom and gloom conspiracy of the GOP. The auto industry in the U.S. has had its best sales year ever so far. The great losses referred to were during the Bush/Cheney administration recession. Toyota does manufacture vehicles and parts in several states. This creates many American jobs and revenue for this country. Yes, some manufacturers are expanding into Mexico but the U.S. is still holding its own. Clearly the facts are being skewed, blaming losses in the American auto industry on President Obama. Kevin Dolan Mays Landing For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. LONDON, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Liv Tyler's 2nd capsule for Belstaff captures the heady vibe of the English countryside at the end of the 60s and the rock'n'roll characters drawn to it at the time. Silhouettes reference the free-spirited women who were part of that scene, ie Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull. This combined with Liv's feminine style and her love of Belstaff's military archive pieces result in a capsule that is strong, feminine, playful. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408518 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408519 ) The palette reflects the summer countryside - taking a cue from Liv's break-out film Stealing Beauty by Bertolucci - rich with neutrals and washed-out denim, while a floral motif on black gives an edge. Soft tactility is at the heart of the collection, in a cropped leather biker with epaulettes (inspired by a blouson from Belstaff's archive) to a sage-green suede skirt suit. A four-pocket trench in structured cotton hints at Pallenberg's style while a cape-like coat from Belstaff's archive has been reinvented in a lightweight linen blend for a looser, more contemporary femininity. Military influence is also visible in a 4-pocket trench and a cape, both water-repellent. Military buttons also feature in a striped knit and cropped regalia jacket. Such structured pieces are juxtaposed with more relaxed shapes like a 4-pocket denim dress referencing Belstaff's heritage outerwear and matching wide-leg cropped jeans and a bold polka-dot silk top and wide trousers that Liv took from Katherine Hepburn. The Amira bag from Liv's AW16 capsule has proved so popular it's been reproposed in suede and other colours. A studded sandal completes the look. ACROSS THE WILDERNESS BELSTAFF SS17 Belstaff's SS17 collection celebrates an epic 5,500-mile bike journey across America by the Van Buren sisters in 1916, who campaigned for women in the armed forces and paved the way for the female vote. This collection draws upon the military and moto-style apparel they wore while referencing the landscapes they crossed, alongside more feminine silhouettes. "This year marks 100 years since the Van Burens' trip - which really brings home how progressive they were. We wanted to tap into such force of nature, expressing their strength alongside their femininity through the clothes" explains Delphine Ninous, Belstaff Collection Creative Director. 4 looks from the Men's SS17 collection were also included. To recreate the mood of the journey and the US wilderness, models were positioned in front of deserted plains scenes. Gavin Haig, Belstaff CEO said: "Belstaff has always attracted and dressed daring and independent characters with a yearning to venture free - testing both theirs and the brand's limits. The Van Buren sisters are a perfect example of this spirit, and this collection they've inspired delivers on the brand's key attributes: protection, function and style - without compromising on femininity." Outerwear and Leatherwear are key as expected, but softs take on a new importance. Lingerie details are a big influence, such as draping across bust and asymmetric hemlines. Key pieces include cotton shirts and silk dresses with ruching - a feature throughout. Jerseys are moto-inspired; pants feature contrast red and white side stripes; knitwear is lightweight and feminine yet inspired by military undergarments. Belstaff introduces a hi-top trainer here in white and silver. Belstaff and Imatta (a market leader in manufacture and distribution of luxury eyewear) announce today that they have signed an agreement for Belstaff eyewear. The first collection launching Spring 2017 takes inspiration from Belstaff's DNA, balancing tradition and innovation. Classics like the Aviator have been revisited with Belstaff's signature wax leather across the bridge (removable) along with introduction of new shapes like a round lens with metal mesh on sides (again removable). The deal is for sun and optical frames, all handmade in Japan using the finest materials. The collections will be carried globally in Belstaff stores, select departments, fashion and travel retails, as well as independent opticals. #AcrossTheWilderness @Belstaff About BELSTAFF: Belstaff is a modern British heritage brand steeped in the spirit of adventure, protecting independent spirits to venture free. In Belstaff, the fearless explorer and the stylish alike will discover clothing for a contemporary lifestyle influenced by Belstaff's rich 92 year history, yet firmly rooted in the present and forever forward-looking. Belstaff is headquartered in London and showrooms reside there and in New York, Milan and Munich. Belstaff is currently sold through its flagship on New Bond Street, and twelve stores in Europe, the United States and Asia, through select wholesale distribution worldwide and on http://www.belstaff.com SOURCE Belstaff NEW YORK, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The upcoming referendum in Azerbaijan on constitutional changes is "both deeply held and enthusiastically supported," according to the results of a survey by renowned U.S. polling firm Arthur J. Finkelstein and Associates. The national pre-referendum survey of voters showed that over 92 per cent of the electorate support the referendum to bring about constitutional reforms, with a large majority of them saying they are very likely to vote. "All the internal indications show that support for the government and its actions have reached extraordinary levels as concerns over the Nagorno-Karabkah conflict have continued to rise," said George Birnbaum, Executive Director of Arthur J. Finkelstein. The Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding provinces - which resulted in nearly a million displaced Azerbaijanis - remains a hot-button issue for voters, especially after the long-simmering hostilities escalated in April, leaving dozens dead. Many international organisations, including the United Nations and European Parliament have called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territories. "During our first nationwide look at Azerbaijan in 2013, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue ranked third at 16.1 per cent," Birnbaum said, adding that the issue rose to first place in 2015 at 41.3 per cent. "By April of 2016 that number reached 81.5 per cent and today it's a staggering 96.7 per cent." Birnbaum noted that over 98 per cent of respondents credit the government for protecting its citizens from terrorism and over 95 per cent believe that Azerbaijan is the most stable country in the region. "In 2015, 77 per cent of respondents said the country was going in the right direction," Birnbaum said. "Today that number is 91.4 per cent, clearly indicating that Azerbaijanis trust their elected politicians to maintain political and economic stability and to keep fighting for the return of Nagorno-Karabakh." On September 26th, over five million Azerbaijani voters will be asked whether they approve of 29 constitutional amendments, with a separate vote on each one. Among the key changes proposed are an extension of the presidential term from five to seven years as well as the introduction of the new position of First Vice President, who would become the country's number two, instead of the Prime Minister as is the case now. According to the Finkelstein survey, over 86 per cent agree with the changes to the structure of executive power. SOURCE Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates Kirkegaard, previously CSM's senior vice president of markets and chief commercial officer, succeeds Robert A. Sharpe, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. "Marianne Kirkegaard is an extremely effective leader and builder of businesses," said James Singh, chairman of the CSM board of directors. "In her five years with CSM, she has played a key role in articulating our value proposition, creating our marketing, sales and business development capabilities, and building strong customer and industry relationships. She is the right person to lead CSM forward. "We would also like to thank Bob Sharpe for his leadership during CSM's formative phase," Singh said. "In building a strong leadership team and forging one global business culture out of three separate entities, Bob has provided the elements that constitute a solid foundation for growth." Since joining CSM in 2011, Kirkegaard has served in senior marketing, sales and commercial roles, including senior vice president, products and marketing, as well as her most recent position as chief commercial officer. She has spearheaded the globalization and digitization of the company's sales and marketing capabilities and led the development of new category and channel strategies as well as the optimization of the company's product portfolio. Kirkegaard joined CSM from Unilever, where she spent 20 years in various commercial general management roles of increasing seniority. She has also held executive positions at Carlsberg Group and the Coca-Cola Company. Kirkegaard is a member of the board of directors of AAK, a Swedish-Danish company producing high value-added vegetable oils and fats, and of Dansk Supermarked Group, the market leader in retail in Denmark. She holds an Executive M.B.A. from the Scandinavian International Management Institute and a Master's degree from the Aarhus School of Business. About CSM Bakery Solutions CSM Bakery Solutions is a global leader in bakery ingredients, products and services for retail and foodservice markets as well as artisan and industrial bakeries. Through the dedicated efforts of more than 8,500 employees, CSM serves customers in 100-plus countries, providing specialized ingredients and finished products. CSM's mosaic of heritage bakery brands includes some of the industry's most trusted names: BakeMark, Brill, Meister Marken, Multifoods, Waldkorn, and Westco, and many others. For More Information Contact: Dennis Murphy Vice President Communications CSM Bakery Solutions O: +1 (404) 478-5529 M: +1 (770) 377-6329 Related Links http://www.csmbaking.com SOURCE CSM Bakery Solutions OXFORD, England, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announces the launch of two new journals: Materials Today Chemistry and Materials Today Energy. These journals are the latest addition to Elsevier's Materials Today family; a growing collection of six branded titles, and an extended family of over 100 publications in materials sciences and related fields. Materials Today Chemistry and Materials Today Energy are multi-disciplinary journals focused on two of the largest areas of materials science. Both titles will publish original research articles, short communications and reviews, and articles will be made available on ScienceDirect and MaterialsToday.com. Leading the new energy-focused title is Editor-in-Chief Professor Chun-Sing Lee from the City University of Hong Kong. "Our quality of living is closely related to how we can harvest, convert and store energy in an efficient, safe and clean manner. Although great progress in energy-related technologies has been achieved, more work is urgently needed; all of these technologies are closely related to the development of new materials" commented Prof Lee. "With extensive and increasing international research on advanced materials for energy applications, the editorial team expects to see high demand and rapid growth of Materials Today Energy over the next few years." Meanwhile, Professor Xian-Zheng Zhang from Wuhan University China is at the helm of Materials Today Chemistry, as the Editor-in-Chief. Materials chemistry is one of the fastest developing areas of science, covering the application of chemistry-based techniques to the study of materials. Prof Zhang described his excitement at being involved in the new title; "I am delighted to be leading one of the two newest Materials Today journals. Materials Today Chemistry will provide researchers with a new forum for the discussion of ground-breaking results in materials chemistry and related disciplines, and is expected to become one of the leading publications in the field." The new publications join a wide range of materials science and related journals, including the flagship journal Materials Today, Applied Materials Today, Materials Today: Proceedings, and the sound science publication Materials Today Communications. Find out more about the Materials Today family of journals. About Materials Today Materials Today is dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience. Supported by Elsevier, we publish journals that provide authors and readers with comprehensive coverage across materials science, spanning ground breaking discoveries to highly specialized research; offering exceptional diversity, high quality peer review, rapid publication, maximum visibility and the widest choice. www.materialstoday.com About Elsevier Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com Media contact Stewart Bland Elsevier +44-1865-843124 s.bland@elsevier.com SOURCE Elsevier EVERLAM at Glasstec: Hall 10, Stand 10/B34 LUXEMBOURG, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of Glasstec, EVERLAM announced today the launch of EVERLAM QUIET, its new acoustic PVB offering and a key addition to its portfolio of quality products and services. EVERLAM QUIET is an acoustic solution combining a high-performance product with the superior level of technical expertise that is the company's trademark. EVERLAM QUIET is a three-layer PVB that can be laminated in single or multiple glass configurations, bringing extra sound insulation and comfort to building occupants while minimizing the weight of the glass structure. It also ensures optimum processability on laminators' lines. Produced according to the EVERLAM standards of absolute quality and consistency, it is backed by the company's outstanding customer service and technical support. It will be presented at Glasstec (Hall 10, Stand 10/B34). Harald HAMMER, EVERLAM CEO, commented: "I am proud of EVERLAM's innovative spirit, proactivity and capacity to bring value-added solutions to the market. We are confident that EVERLAM QUIET will create great interest from the market as it combines a state-of-the-art acoustic product with our outstanding customized technical service, offering unique value to our architectural customers." Paul Van Lierde, Director Technology at EVERLAM said: "The expansion strategy for R&D capabilities that we have in place to accelerate our new product development program is the right path forward. EVERLAM QUIET is a significant step to build our portfolio of high-performance products that makes us stand out on the market place." About EVERLAM EVERLAM is an innovative manufacturer of high-quality polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer for laminated architectural safety glass, dedicated to proposing high-value solutions, comprising quality products that are supported by outstanding technical expertise. Its portfolio includes EVERLAM CLEAR, EVERLAM WHITE and EVERLAM COLORED PVB interlayer, as well as EVERLAM QUIET, its new acoustic offering. EVERLAM PVB interlayer (formerly sold in Europe under the trademark Butacite) is used by glass laminators worldwide to produce attractive, durable and high-performance architectural laminated glass products. The company's commercial headquarters and technical center are located in Mechelen, Belgium. Its production plant is in Hamm Uentrop, Germany, where its PVB interlayer has been manufactured for over 25 years. All sites are ISO 9001 certified. EVERLAM was spun out of DuPont in 2014 and is wholly owned by GVC Holdings, a growth equity investment company specializing in the chemicals industry. For more, please visit www.everlam.com. Related Links http://www.everlam.com SOURCE EVERLAM NEW YORK, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the Basis of Operating System, the iOS Segment is Anticipated to Account for US$ 584.9 Bn by 2024, Registering a Substantially High CAGR of 9.1% Over the Forecast Period With a Relatively High Value Share of 59.8% Persistence Market Research delivers key insights on the global smartphone market in a new report titled, "Smartphone Market". The global smartphone market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 7.9% in terms of value and 5.8% in terms of volume during the forecast period 2016-2024. On the basis of operating system, the iOS segment is anticipated to account for US$ 584.9 Bn by 2024, registering a substantially high CAGR of 9.1% over the forecast period with a relatively high value share of 59.8%. The Android segment is expected to follow closely with a value share of 47.6% and a CAGR of 6.7%. In terms of volume, the Android operating system is estimated to account for the largest market share of 69.3% in the global smartphone market by the end of 2016 and is expected to increase to 70.0% by 2024. The Android segment is estimated to account for 50.7% value share in 2016 while the iOS segment is estimated to account for a revenue share of 46.2% in 2016. In terms of value, the Android segment is likely to register a high CAGR between 2016 and 2024 and this can be attributed to an increase in the demand and supply of reasonably priced android smartphones. The Blackberry Operating System segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 7,563.1 Mn in 2016 while the Windows Operating System segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 8,819.9 Mn in 2016. Download Full Report Table of Content at: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/smartphones-market/toc On the basis of distribution channel, the e-Commerce segment is expected to show a significantly high growth rate of 9.3% followed by the OEM segment with a 7.9% growth rate by the end of 2024. The e-Commerce segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 175.3 Bn in 2016. The OEM segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 221.2 Bn in 2016 while the Retailer segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 218.1 Bn in 2016. As compared to the other segments, the OEM segment is expected to exhibit a relatively high attractiveness index over the forecast period. In terms of value, the global smartphone market is likely to project a healthy incremental opportunity during the forecast period. Browse Full Report Analysis and Market Overview on Global Smartphone Market: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/smartphones-market.asp On the basis of region, APEJ is estimated to be the largest market for smartphones, accounting for 33.7% value share of the global smartphone market in 2016. The APEJ region is projected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. There is a rapid growth of infrastructure and economic development in several countries in the APEJ region and this is expected to boost the growth of the smartphone market in this region. An increasing inflow of low priced high-end electronic components and products in APEJ is another key factor significantly impacting the smartphone market in the region. MEA is projected to be the fastest growing market over the forecast period, with a growth rate of 13.3%. The MEA region has witnessed rapid urbanization over the last few years and this has subsequently led to an increase in the number of consumers willing to purchase high-end smartphones. A rise in the disposable income and increasing demand for consumer electronics has led to a growing adoption of smartphones in the MEA region and this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. View Sample Report: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11827 Key market players featured in the report include Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Apple Inc., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Lenovo Group Limited, LG Electronics Inc., TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited, ZTE Corporation, and Vivo Communication Technology Co. Ltd. Browse Full Press Release @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/mediarelease/smartphones-market.asp About Us: Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. Journalist Resources: Analysts who have compiled this report are available for interviews and quotes at media@persistencemarketresearch.com Contact Persistence Market Research U.S. Sales Office: 305 Broadway, 7th Floor New York City, NY 10007 United States USA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353 Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Web: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Blog: https://pmrblog.com SOURCE Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd. BRUSSELS, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fourth Annual Head an d Neck Cancer Awareness Week kicks- off with a variety of activities promoting awareness and early diagnosis of head and neck cancer This year ' s theme, ' Uniting Voices ' brings together the voices of patients, caregivers, HCPs and government officials to support Head and Neck cancer patients Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer, affecting 686,000 people globally Today, on the opening day of the Fourth Annual Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week (19-23 September), the European Head and Neck Society (EHNS) and the Make Sense campaign announce a number of activities aiming to increase awareness of head and neck cancer risk factors and symptoms to support earlier diagnosis in patients. Building on the success of last year's campaign, this year's activities fall under the theme of 'Uniting Voices', encouraging the unity of patient, caregiver, HCP and government official voices to encourage improvements to all aspects of the patient diagnosis and treatment journey. "Over the past three years, the Make Sense team and participants have worked incredibly hard to ensure the campaign is as impactful as it is today and we look forward to our upcoming Fourth Annual Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week. With that said, there is still much work to be done as we continue to drive awareness of the signs and symptoms and encourage earlier diagnosis of head and neck cancer, with the ultimate goal to of saving patients' lives," said Professor Rene Leemans, President of the EHNS and Professor and Chief of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam. "Over recent years, we have seen the head and neck cancer landscape continue to evolve and our goal is to further influence this shift to help enable better patient outcomes." With the landscape of head and neck cancer continually changing, this year's activities focus on providing stakeholders with credible up-to-date information on head and neck cancer to help ensure optimal diagnosis and patient care. Activities include the content update, re-design and launch of the Make Sense website, a number of 'Early Diagnosis Day' clinics across Europe, where people can receive a free head and neck cancer screening, and 'Youth Educations Days' communicating information about the disease and its symptoms to students and young adults. An interactive map is available on the redesigned Makes Sense website to showcase awareness raising activities that are taking place across the globe. Make Sense Website Re-Launches The updated, more user friendly Make Sense website aims to facilitate greater engagement with patients, caregivers and HCPs and bring it to a wider audience. You can explore the new website content as well as discover local Head and Neck Awareness Week activities by visiting: http://makesensecampaign.eu/ Making Sense of HPV In recent years, one of the biggest developments in head and neck cancer has been the increased understanding of the role of the human papillomavirus (HPV) in the disease. You can learn more about HPV in head and neck cancer by visiting: http://makesensecampaign.eu/en/cancer-information/hpv-in-head-and-neck-cancer/; newly created materials can also be downloaded from here: http://makesensecampaign.eu/en/resources/#Leaflets How to Get Involved: If you would like to get involved and help raise awareness of head and neck cancer, you can: Join the conversation on Twitter - use our hashtag #UnitingVoices Visit us on Facebook - share your video with our campaign webpage and use our hashtag #UnitingVoices Attend and promote any local 'Early Diagnosis Day' clinics and 'Local Education Day' events http://makesensecampaign.eu/en/current-activities/ Get people talking - download our leaflets and posters to educate about head and neck cancer: http://makesensecampaign.eu/en/resources/ For more information, visit http://www.makesensecampaign.eu. About the Make Sense Campaign The Make Sense campaign, run by the European Head and Neck Society (EHNS), aims to raise awareness of head and neck cancer and ultimately improve outcomes for patients with the disease. It will do this through: Education on disease prevention Driving understanding of the signs and symptoms of the disease Encouraging earlier presentation, diagnosis and referral The Make Sense Campaign is supported by Merck and Boehringer Ingelheim. About the EHNS The European Head and Neck Society (EHNS) is an international non-profit association based in Belgium. The EHNS is composed of individuals, national and multinational societies, and associated study groups oriented towards head and neck cancer research, training and treatment throughout Europe. Individuals from the rest of the world are also welcome to apply for membership. The intent of the EHNS is to promote exchange of knowledge in all aspects of head and neck neoplastic diseases and to promote the highest standards of research, education and training, disease prevention and patient care. For more information on the society, please visit: http://www.ehns.org About Head and Neck Cancer Head and neck cancer is a way of describing any cancer that that is found in the head or neck region, including the inside of the mouth and tongue ('oral cavity'), the throat ('pharynx') and the voice box ('larynx') and excluding the eyes, brain, ears or oesophagus. This type of cancer usually begins in the squamous cells that line the moist, mucosal surfaces inside the head and neck: for example inside the mouth, nose and throat. Killer Facts Head and neck cancer is the 7 th most common cancer worldwide most common cancer worldwide It is about half as common as lung cancer, but twice as common as cervical cancer Approximately 60% of people with head and neck cancer present with locally advanced disease at diagnosis Approximately 60% of people diagnosed at an advanced stage will die from the disease within five years Men are two to three times more likely to develop head and neck cancer, although the incidence in women is increasing Head and neck cancer is most common in people over the age of 40, but there has been a recent increase in younger people developing the disease Media contacts Edward Brightman +44 (0)20 3595 2430 edward@makesensecampaign.eu Karley Ura +44 (0)20 3595 2415 karley@makesensecampaign.eu SOURCE European Head and Neck Society BANGALORE, India, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dear Sir/Madam, Sub: Press Release Please find attached the press release titled "Infosys Wins Seven Prestigious Oracle Excellence Awards". The details will also be made available on the Company's website with the following link - https://author1.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/oracle-excellence-awards2016.aspx This is for your information and records. Yours sincerely, For Infosys Limited AGS Manikantha Company Secretary This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire. SOURCE Infosys Limited DUBAI, UAE, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ingram Micro today announced a strategic channel alliance with Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places and things over wired and wireless broadband. As a premier distribution partner, Ingram Micro will help to accelerate the rapid growth that Cradlepoint has achieved and extend their regional market share in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406411LOGO ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160912/406410LOGO ) Cradlepoint provides innovative solutions for cloud-managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile, and M2M/IoT. Dr Ali Baghdadi, Chief Executive, Ingram Micro, Middle East, Africa & Turkey said: "Cradlepoint's networking technology is world-class and fits perfectly within our portfolio. We will leverage our combined technical capabilities and expertise to build value-added solutions for tactical customer segments and vertical markets that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability." George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint, said: "Ingram Micro's dedicated excellence in serving the channel has set the pace for a great partnership and Cradlepoint's further geographic expansion." Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, said: "We are looking forward to driving new business opportunities alongside Ingram Micro for our mutual vendor partners." About Ingram Micro Ingram Micro helps businesses Realize the Promise of Technology. It delivers a full spectrum of global technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Deep expertise in technology solutions, mobility, cloud, and supply chain solutions enables its business partners to operate efficiently and successfully in the markets they serve. Unrivalled agility, deep market insights and the trust and dependability that come from decades of proven relationships set Ingram Micro apart and ahead. http://www.ingrammicro.com Svetlana Sorokina svetlana.sorokina@ingrammicro.com About Cradlepoint Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-based network solutions for connecting people, places, and things over wired and wireless broadband. Cradlepoint NetCloud is a software and services platform that extends the company's 4G LTE-enabled multi-function routers and ruggedised M2M/IoT gateways with cloud-based management and software-defined network services. With Cradlepoint, customers can leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, failover, mobile, and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security, and control. Over 15,000 enterprise and government organisations around the world-including 75 percent of the world's top retailers rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical sites, workforces, vehicles, and devices always connected and protected. http://www.cradlepoint.com Hubert Da Costa hdacosta@cradlepoint.com SOURCE Ingram Micro and Cradlepoint PARIS, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Areas, the global concession catering brand of Elior Group, has just gained a foothold in Denmark by winning a concession catering contract for Copenhagen Airport. This contract confirms Areas' expansion strategy in Northern Europe. As of March 2017, Areas will be offering the 26 million or so travelers passing through Copenhagen Airport every year catering solutions at a point of sale owned by the Danish brand, RETREAT. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160411/353501LOGO ) Operating in conjunction with RETREAT, a brand that enjoys tremendous success in Denmark, Areas has been able to fulfil the expectations of Copenhagen Airport which is reputed for the quality of its shopping areas and was elected the World's Best Airport for its catering offer[i]. In line with current trends, this Danish catering format offers fresh bio health-food products, as well as gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian food. The RETREAT point of sale is located in the reserved zone of Terminal 3. Alexandre de Palmas, CEO of Areas in France and in Northern Europe, stated, "This first foothold in Denmark serves to underpin Areas' expansion strategy, announced in early 2016. This penetration into the Northern European market underscores our ability to identify the innovative concepts that attract major international airports." Leader in the travel catering sector in France and Spain, Areas operates in 13 countries in Europe, the US and Latin America. By winning this contract for Copenhagen Airport, a prestigious gateway to Northern Europe, Areas has underlined its ability to expand and strengthen its position as international leader in concession catering. For more information : eliorgroup.com i. The Airport Food & Beverage Conference & Awards [ http://www.moodiedavittreport.com/fab-2016-winners-revealed-as-travel-fb-industry-gathers-in-geneva ] 2014 & 2016 SOURCE Elior Group ATHENS, Greece, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Company Promotes its FCC Compliant 4G Small Cell Backhaul Solution Intracom Telecom, a global telecommunication systems and solutions vendor, announced today that it has become an associate member of Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), which brings together nearly one hundred wireless operators and more than 150 industry suppliers. Earlier this year, Intracom Telecom announced the availability of its FCC Compliant 4G Small Cell Backhaul Solution, StreetNode, operating at 28 GHz and 60 GHz. StreetNode is specifically designed to meet the multiple challenges of deployment at street level on lamp posts, at bus stops and on walls incorporating unique features such as auto-aligning and zero-touch provisioning. Its software-defined radio operation allows operators to switch between PtP and PtMP mode without hardware and software changes. Controlled by an intelligent SON (Self-Organizing Network) Manager, which simplifies provisioning, ensures service availability and automates optimization, StreetNode can be connected to the network within a few minutes. "I am extremely pleased to have Intracom Telecom join CCA as new members, bringing with them advanced technology to address 4G small cell backhaul solutions that competitive carriers want and need," said Steven K. Berry, President & CEO of CCA. "I am positive that our members will benefit from these new services and Intracom Telecom's innovative approach to enhancing network capabilities." John Tenidis, Marketing Head of Intracom Telecom's wireless solutions portfolio, commented: "We're excited to use our Associate Membership with the CCA as a platform to collect valuable feedback from regional carriers while engaging with them to discuss their current 4G/LTE needs and smooth transition to next generation networks. Our FCC compliant Small Cell Backhaul product line, at the 60 GHz frequency band, is ideal for 5G deployments and offers the highest capacity in the market, exceeding 1.6 Gbit/s, and addresses successfully the hungry bandwidth backhaul applications". -Ends- About CCA CCA is the nation's leading association for competitive wireless providers and stakeholders across the United States. The licensed service area of CCA's nearly 100 carrier members covers 95 percent of the nation. Visit www.ccamobile.org About Intracom Telecom Intracom Telecom is a global telecommunication systems and solutions vendor operating for over 35 years in the market. Intracom Telecom innovates in the areas of small-cell backhaul, wireless transmission and broadband wireless access and has successfully deployed its industry leading point-to-point and point-to-multipoint packet radio systems worldwide. Moreover, the company offers a competitive portfolio of revenue-generating telco software solutions and a complete range of ICT services, focusing on big data analytics, converged networking and cloud computing for operators and private, public and government clouds. The company invests significantly in R&D developing cutting-edge products and integrated solutions that ensure customer satisfaction. Over 100 customers in more than 70 countries choose Intracom Telecom for its state-of-the-art technology. The company employs more than 1,800 people and operates subsidiaries in Europe, Russia and the CIS, the Middle East and Africa, Asia and North America. For more information, visit www.intracom-telecom.com SOURCE Intracom Telecom SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Springfield, IL-based Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) announced that it is acquiring Stockholm, Sweden-based software company Cirrato Technologies AB (Cirrato). The Cirrato group will be a part of the Enterprise Output Management division of LRS, helping LRS expand its market reach and solution offerings. Established in 2005, Cirrato developed and patented a well-regarded Single Server Printing solution called Cirrato One. This popular print management solution will continue to be enhanced and supported by existing staff in their current locations. LRS' VPSX and Cirrato One development teams will collaborate and share key technologies to provide all LRS customers the most flexible, reliable, and efficient solutions for delivering business-critical documents. Cirrato founder Gorm Halberg-Lange explained, "We are proud to become part of LRS. It represents a turning point for Cirrato. Since we first started offering single server printing in 2005, we have continued to develop the software in order to remain a front runner in the market. As part of the LRS Enterprise Output Management division, Cirrato will have everything that is required to remain in that position and to keep offering a solution that will benefit those organizations that are looking to reduce the number of print servers and centrally manage their print environment." John Howerter, LRS Senior Vice President of Product Marketing, added, "We are excited to welcome this talented group of printing experts to the LRS family. In addition to an innovative product set and loyal customer base, they bring a fresh perspective to the topic of Enterprise Output Management. Though LRS and Cirrato evolved separately, we share a common set of values regarding how we develop our products and support our customers. Together, we will continue to offer customers new ways to eliminate print servers, improve business processes, and save money." About LRS LRS is a privately-held U.S. company with corporate headquarters located in Springfield, Illinois, USA. Remote offices are located throughout the United States and in key geographic regions around the world. More than half of the Fortune 1000 companies rely on industry-leading LRS solutions, with products in use in over 30 countries. Industry analyst groups recognize LRS as a global IT leader and Software Magazine consistently ranks LRS as one of the top software companies in the world. For more information about LRS, visit www.LRSOutputManagement.com. LRS, LRS in the diamond device, and VPSX are registered trademarks and Cirrato One is a trademark of Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or service marks of their respective holders. Shannon Heisler +1 217-793-3800 Shannon.Heisler@lrs.com Related Links http://www.LRSOutputManagement.com SOURCE Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. ALBANY, New York, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The GCC processed meat market is rather fragmented and the top six players accounted for a share of just under 35% in 2015. These players are National Food Co., Al Islami Foods, Sunbulah Group, BRF SA, Gulf Food Industries, and Almunajem. Transparency Market Research notes a strong presence of several of these companies in the GCC region. An increasing number of vendors in the processed meat market have been concentrating on diversifying their product portfolio through product innovation and development. Understanding the requirements of the consumers and end users is key in this regard. In July 2015, BRF SA brand Perdigao introduced its line of smoked sausages, hams, and pork cuts. The opportunity in the GCC processed meat market was pegged at US$760.7 mn in 2015 and, rising at an 8.4% CAGR, is estimated to be worth US$1.5 bn by 2024. Rest of GCC to Continue its Lead in GCC Processed Meat Market Based on type of meat, the GCC processed meat market was led by poultry, which accounted for over 43% in 2015 in terms of revenue. Lamb, on the other hand, is anticipated to register a strong growth rate of 8.9% from 2016 to 2024. In terms of volume as well, poultry leads the GCC process meat market while the lamb segment will expand at a rapid pace. Browse Research Report with ToC: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/gcc-processed-meat-market.html By type of product, frozen processed meats held the dominant share in terms of sales and demand, while the others segment, which comprises shelf-stable meat, will register a CAGR higher than the any of the segments from 2016 to 2024. On the basis of package type, the GCC processed meat market was led by retail packaging and bulk packaging, on the other hand, is projected to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period. Geographically, the processed meat market in segmented into Qatar and Rest of GCC. The latter accounted for a whopping 87.7% share in 2015 in terms of revenue. Qatar, on the other hand, will present an 8.8% CAGR from 2016 to 2024, higher than that exhibited by the Rest of GCC segment. Sales of Processed Meat on the Rise in Developing Economies Retail is the largest distribution channel for processed meat products across the GCC and the rapidly growing retail sector has played a significant role in the growth of this market. "Modern grocery retailers such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores and traditional retailers such as independent small grocers are both contributing to the sales of processed meat in the GCC region," the lead analyst states. Developing economies have been witnessing the highest development as far as the retail sector is concerned and this is a key characteristic of the GCC processed meat market. Get Latest Industry Research PDF for more Professional and Technical Industry Insights: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=14666 Product innovation and the rising inflow of tourists also act as major growth drivers. In contrast, the rising cost of raw materials for animal feed serves as a key deterrent to the expansion of the GCC processed meat market. This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled "Processed Meat Market (by Meat Type - lamb, poultry, beef; by Product Type - frozen processed meat, chilled processed meat and others; by Package Type - retail packaging and bulk packaging) GCC Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024." Browse Research PR: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/gcc-processed-meat-market.htm GCC Processed Meat Market, by Meat Type Lamb Poultry Beef GCC Processed Meat Market, by Product Type Frozen Processed Meat Hot Dogs Salami Mortadella Others Chilled Processed Meat Burger Nuggets Others Others (Shelf Stable Meat) GCC Processed Meat Market, by Package Type Retail Bulk GCC Processed Meat Market, by Region Qatar Rest of GCC Browse Other Research Reports: Ambient Meat Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ambient-meat-market.html Food Emulsifier Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/food-emulsifier-market.html About TMR Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Transparency Market Research State Tower 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog: http://www.tmrblog.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research The solution represents a significant achievement since the two parties announced their strategic partnership in December 2015 to create the next generation of B2B trade sourcing experiences. By integrating the online and offline trading scenes, resulting in unprecedented convenience for buyers to search and contact sellers, arrange meetings and place orders online, the 'O2O2O Solution' is expected to reshape the B2B trading experience. The SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA events will be held from September 19-22 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). The 'O2O2O Solution' display at SIGN and LED CHINA encompasses a 350+ square meter booth space that includes interactive demonstrations of the O2O2O Solution System, VIP meeting rooms and lounges, an experiential wall showcasing the Trade Assurance program by Alibaba B2B -- a program aiming to boost trust between buyers and sellers engaged in cross-border trading -- and a fully dedicated O2O2O Solution Concierge Team to help facilitate business matchmaking. The full 'O2O2O Solution' encompasses the best qualities of the online and offline worlds of trade sourcing. For SIGN and LED CHINA, all participating exhibitors were given online product and company showrooms by Alibaba B2B through the O2O2O Solution System, allowing potential buyers to search and view their listings, contact the exhibitors, and even request a meeting ahead of the event. The 'O2O2O Solution' experience continues live onsite at SIGN and LED CHINA, where both exhibitors and visitors can meet face-to-face in the lounge, in private meeting rooms, or even at their booths. Onsite visitors can also better search for best-fit suppliers on the spot, with the help of the O2O2O Solution Concierge. Finally, reflecting the unique nature of the final 'O' in 'O2O2O Solution', both buyers and sellers can place orders online while enjoying all the logistical and Trade Assurance benefits offered through the Alibaba.com network. "The year-long collaboration between Alibaba B2B and UBM culminates with our launch of the 'O2O2O Solution' in Shanghai this week," said Jime Essink, President and CEO UBM Asia. "Through our strategic partnership we have discovered the keys which unlock a greater potential for enabling better trade sourcing through the online and offline world." "We are excited to see the collaboration yield fruit with the official launch of the 'O2O2O Solution'. We look forward to working with an influential partner like UBM to bring unprecedented trading experiences to the B2B community," said Kevin Ren, General Manager, Alibaba.com. "We are honored to play host to the debut of the 'O2O2O Solution'," said David Tang, Managing Director of UBM Trust and organizer of SIGN and LED CHINA. "Through this collaboration between UBM and Alibaba B2B, we are able to offer new added value for our exhibitors and visitors. For example, the online showroom further enhance our exhibitors' business opportunities, allowing our visitors and buyers to better search and meet their next supplier or business partner in China!" SIGN & LED CHINA 2016 -- China's definitive sign event and the co-located LED CHINA -- the world's largest event dedicated to the entire LED industry chain -- will host over 900 participating brands, covering all areas of sign technology. The latest in laser engravers, fiber cutters, indoor and outdoor large-format printers and the best in LED displays and technology from the region can be found at SIGN and LED CHINA. Show hours are from 9:30a.m. - 6:00p.m. from September 19-21 and from 9:30a.m. - 3:00p.m. on September 22. To learn more about visiting the fairs this week and experiencing the 'O2O2O Solution' please visit: http://expo.alibaba.com http://www.signchina-sh.com http://www.ledchina-sh.com Contacts Christine Chen Marketing Manager UBM Trust Co Ltd. T: +86-20-3810-6261 x 866 E: chrsitine.chen@ubm.com Ben Veechai Regional Director International Marketing, UBM Asia Ltd T: +852-2516-1691 E: ben.veechai@ubm.com Crystal Liu Alibaba Group T: +852-6378-5626 E: crystal.liu@alibaba-inc.com About UBM Trust (www.ubmtrust.com) UBM Trust is a joint venture company of UBM Asia, which is owned by UBM plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange. We have extensive experience in organizing large-scale exhibitions covering different industries in China, as well as organizing Chinese enterprises to participate in famous fairs abroad. Our flagship events serve the sign and LED industries. Among the definitive exhibitions of their kind in the world, these two events have become an important catalyst for the development and upgrading of China's sign and LED industries, offering a comprehensive one-stop trading platform for exhibitors and visitors. We take pride in providing professional high-quality services to our customers. About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com) Owned by UBM plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organizer in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face trade exhibitions and associated print/online products for over 2,000,000 quality sellers and buyers from all over the world. Most recently, UBM Asia was awarded 'Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organiser Award' in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016. About Alibaba.com The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com) is the leading platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in other countries. Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States and Thailand. Related Links http://www.ubmtrust.com SOURCE UBM Trust SINGAPORE, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The facade, which is a part of the building envelope, is the most important component in a building. It plays an important part in the building's aesthetics, complementing the structural form and defining its visual impact on the urban environment. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408603LOGO ) The facade of a building is essentially responsible for preventing anything undesired from the outside coming to the inside vis-a-vis bad weather, rain, wind, pollution, heat, among others. This is especially important for buildings in Singapore, which have to cope with high humidity and temperatures. Keeping a view of this, the BCA recently released the Green Mark 2016 regulations earlier this month and is keeping a strict vigil on the use of energy consumption for air conditioning. Buildings are typically being measured for their Envelope Thermal Transfer Value (ETTV) and Residential Envelope Transmittance Value (RETV). In simple terms, these measure how much heat is coming through the building envelope, such as the roof, doors, windows and facades. The Zak World of Facades conference, now marking its debut in South East Asia, shall aim to address this very pressing issue of energy leakage through facades along with exploring ways for buildings to be sustainable with smart facades execution strategies. The conference will take place on 13th October, 2016 at Marina Bay Sands and is a full day event, which will cover important aspects from design, engineering and delivery of facades. It will feature presentations and group discussions by domain experts. Opinions from leading architects, clients, facade consultants, contractors, etc., will be debated upon and a solution will be presented to comply with the current and proposed standards. Some of the key firms presenting and debating in this event would be Arup, Safdie Architects, RSP Architects, Meinhardt Facade, SAA Architects, ALT Cladding, Gensler, Langdon & Seah, Architects61 and many more. "Facade engineering is becoming a more important and integral part of green building design because it affects the life cycle costs heavily in the long-run," said Mr Benedikt Herweg from Schueco South East Asia, one of the principal sponsors of this event. About Zak World of Facades: Zak World of Facades (http://www.facades.sg) is an International conference series on facade design and engineering having completed 23 editions in 5 countries. The event attracts senior architects, developers, facade consultants, PMC's, facade contractors along with key consultants and decision makers. Media Contact: Syed Ahad Ahmed Director Zak Exhibitions & Conferences Pte. Ltd ahad@zakgroup.com +65 9161 1978 SOURCE Zak Exhibitions & Conferences Pte. Ltd. LONDON, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ***New site for expanding, innovative Sloane Bros. brand*** London's newest independent and most indulgent British frozen yoghurt parlour, The Sloane Bros Frozen Yoghurt Co., has opened its first site outside of London, in Nottingham's Intu Victoria Centre, proudly serving thick and creamy British-sourced fat-free frozen yoghurt and scrumptious toppings, thick smoothies and freshly made waffles. Frozen yoghurt lovers can be as virtuous or extravagant as they like, with a choice of fat-free frozen yoghurts topped with fresh-cut fruits, classic British biscuits and specialty baked treats and sauces. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408701 ) While focusing on serving the tastiest and best possible frozen yoghurt (froyo) and toppings, and to maintain its unique philosophy of combining British tradition and innovation, Sloane Bros. have introduced a new product offering that's quite simply a treat on a treat on a treat: To celebrate 200 years since Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, Sloane Bros. has introduced the Franken' Fraffle. Sloane Bros say that since their expanding customer base and enthusiastic social media following reflect their customers' love for both the company's froyos and freshly-made waffles, the whole Sloane Bros. team put their heads together one evening to make a treat that had it all. They came up with the ultimate indulgent treat with a difference, containing all the tasty treats their customers know and love. A monster was created! However, unlike Mary Shelley's creation, the Franken' Fraffle is real! The Sloane Bros. commented: "Our customers tell us that our frozen yoghurt is just as good a tasting product as ice cream or gelato, but with either no or low fat content, and our waffles are extremely popular. The Franken' Fraffle combines both treats, and then some! However, it remains virtually impossible to have all of Sloane Bros.' delicious treats in one go, and the Franken Fraffle is a great sharing treat!" About Sloane Bros. Frozen Yoghurt Co. : Sloane Bros' traditional British branding was conceived from the inspiration of a bygone era, which embraced the independent producer, an appreciation for world-renowned British craftsmanship and the quality and taste of British dairy. The Sloane Bros Frozen Yoghurt is the ultimate taste experience which promises quality and indulgence served up with a genuine passion and an overriding sense of fun. The Sloane Bros.' creamy frozen yoghurt, freshly made waffles and thick refreshing smoothies are available at both the company's London Brick Lane and Nottingham's Intu Victoria Centre locations. The Sloane Bros' locations, with their unique clean and pastel colours and tilings, reflect the inspiration of British traditional dairy and traditional independent small businesses. SLOANE BROS, the Hat and Swirl Logo, The Sloane Bros Frozen Yoghurt Co., The Sloane Bros Frozen Yoghurt Co. roundel logo and Fraffle are trademarks and / or registered trade marks. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information about Sloane Bros. Frozen Yoghurt: http://www.sloanebrothers.co.uk Email: hello@sloanebrothers.co.uk SOURCE Sloane Bros Frozen Yoghurt Co. HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Stewart & Stevenson LLC announced today the appointment of Jack L. Pieper to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408767LOGO Currently serving as the Company's Chief Accounting Officer, Jack has the distinction of being a second generation Stewart & Stevenson employee with a successful background of service in diverse positions. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Summa Cum Laude from the University of Colorado. In this new position, Jack will serve as a member of the Office of the Chairman and play a major role, in close collaboration with our Senior Management Team, in ensuring fiscal discipline, financial planning, budgeting, cost containment, corporate development, treasury, banking and related subjects. Stewart & Stevenson, based in Houston, is a leading provider of specialized equipment and aftermarket parts and service to the global oil & gas, marine, construction, power generation, transportation, material handling, mining, agricultural and other industries. For more information, visit www.stewartandstevenson.com. Contact: Chris Archie Office of the Chairman 713-751-2772 Related Links http://www.stewartandstevenson.com SOURCE Stewart & Stevenson LLC GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Import and Export Fair (the Canton Fair) has announced Qatar Airways as the official partner airlines of the 120th Canton Fair. The raffle of round-trip tickets to Guangzhou has been drawn during the two remote video conferences in Jordan and UAE on 4th and 5th September, 2016 respectively. The special fare offer mainly targets buyers from Middle East and Africa. Buyers who depart from designated cities could enjoy discounts on different Qatar Airways tickets. This campaign covers 25 cities, of which 13 are in the Middle East and 12 African countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa, offering options of both one-way and round-trip in economy as well as business classes. Airfare concession depends on the cabin class and is up to 20% off. To apply for the offer, buyers can log in to the "BEST" (Buyer E-Service Tool) platform on the official Canton Fair website at http://invitation.cantonfair.org.cn/en (Registration required for first time attendant), visit the Qatar Airways special airfare campaign page and fill in the required information. Then the promotion code can be obtained and applied when booking tickets via Qatar Airways official homepage at http://www.qatarairways.com/cn/cn/cugs/cantonfair-2016.page. The team-up between the Canton Fair and Qatar Airways will extend the Canton Fair's service chain. "The Canton Fair has a solid connection with Qatar," said Liu Quandong, Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair, "we are both committed to providing our guests with high-quality services. Our cooperation with Qatar Airways will offer more comfortable, convenient and economical visiting experiences for buyers all over the world." The crossover cooperation, according to Liu, is an implemented integration of the advanced business and tourism resources to establish an eco-system of exhibition services with global leading companies. For more information, please visit: http://invitation.cantonfair.org.cn/Home/Index http://www.qatarairways.com/cn/cn/cugs/cantonfair-2016.page About Canton Fair: China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is held biannually in Guangzhou during spring and autumn. Established in 1957, the Fair is a comprehensive exhibition with the longest history, highest level, largest scale and largest number of products as well as the broadest distribution of global buyers and the highest business turnover in China. The 120th Canton Fair has launched a series of special offers and services to best accommodate global buyers. In addition to the Qatar Airways partnership, the fair also features exclusive sourcing services, Advertisement Reward for New Buyers (ARNB), VIP lounge and self-service online platform Buyer E-Service Tool (BEST) to create the most comprehensive and convenient experience. SOURCE Canton Fair An exquisite sipping rum, Angostura 1787 commemorates the establishment of the first sugar mill in Trinidad, at the famous Lapeyrouse sugar plantation, in 1787. It is made from a selection of rums carefully chosen from the House of Angostura's vast ageing warehouses, each of which has been ageing for 15 years in charred oak barrels. Among the best of the best, Angostura 1787 honours the tradition of excellence established by the House of Angostura almost two centuries ago, combining traditional ageing skills with contemporary blending expertise, to create a spirit of multi-faceted sensory appeal. "Angostura 1787 celebrates the history of a quintessentially Caribbean spirit, highlights the importance of rum in our history, and promotes the awareness of rum as the true spirit of Trinidad and Tobago," says Executive Manager International Sales & Marketing, Genevieve Jodhan. A rich mahogany in colour with hints of bronze, Angostura 1787 is beautifully balanced, with a medium-bodied palate, and a sweet bouquet of banana, dried fruit and oak with top notes of apples. Its taste carries a hint of dried prunes and sweet rounded oak notes entwined with toffee nuances, with a long, crisp finish. It offers all the quality and taste expected by Angostura's aficionados. Angostura 1787 Rum is the newest addition to the House of Angostura's award-winning family of premium rums, a range which includes Angostura 7 Year Old Rum, Angostura 1919 and Angostura 1824. It is presented in a heavy, rounded bottle with a thick glass base, emblazoned with the signature of Dr. J.G.B. Seigert, the founder of Angostura, and packaged in an exquisite, heavy brown and orange box. Angostura 1787 is a premium 15 year-old rum, backed by the House of Angostura's more than 130 years of expertise in the art of rum making. This exquisite sipping rum commemorates the establishment of the first sugar mill at the famous Lapeyrouse sugar plantation in Trinidad, in 1787. Imagine the cheers that must have greeted the first trickles of sweet, golden-green sugar cane juice flowing from the great rollers of the sugar mill. A rich bounty, not just the golden crystals of sugar, but that fascinating new spirit, rum, distilled from its secondary product, molasses. Angostura 1787, a rum to celebrate history. NOTES FOR EDITORS The Year 1787: A Historical Note In 1776, Trinidad, then a colony of Spain, finally opened its shores to the French planters of the Eastern Caribbean islands to. It was the beginning of the transformation of Trinidad from a Spanish backwater to the newest sugar plantation frontier. The sugar revolution, which had swept the Caribbean since the beginning of the century, had finally arrived. The year 1787, the year which Angostura 1787 Rum celebrates, was a landmark year in this context. For it was then that Trinidad's very first sugar mill was established at the Lapeyrouse Estate. After that there was no turning back; change was rapid for this late blooming plantation economy and, just ten years later, the number of sugar plantations had leapt to 159 huge estates that so captured the attention of the British, that they seized the colony in 1797! In this sense, 1787 marked Trinidad's inevitable climb to the heights of fine rum production. During the 17th and 18th century, planters preferred European imported drinks but by the end of the 18th century rum had become universally popular. From pirates and buccaneers to English Navy men, to the plantation owners themselves, everyone drank rum! It is this blending legacy that the House of Angostura is keeping alive with the exquisite homage that is, Angostura 1787 Rum! The House of Angostura Capitalizing on its heritage as the world's most well-known maker of aromatic bitters, the House of Angostura has catapulted into the 21st century with an exquisite range of rums, the magnificent Amaro di ANGOSTURA and of course, ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters and ANGOSTURA orange bitters, now in demand in more than 170 countries across the world. The Making of Angostura Rums The rums of the House of Angostura are a treasured legacy, a tribute to the evolution of the rum industry in the Caribbean and the men and women who nurtured it. The House of Angostura owns the only rum distillery in Trinidad today, and controls its rum manufacturing process from end to end. Our rums are blended by masters with years of experience and training in original traditions, who closely maintain guarded formulas and techniques. Master Distiller, John Georges and our blenders are involved at every stage to ensure the highest quality and consistency, from molasses selection through to cask selection. As Master Distiller Georges says: "Our rums are 100% Trinidadian, made in one distillery on one Island. Much like a single malt only better." The House of Angostura is renowned for its unique, signature style, which stems from techniques that have stood the test of time. Our premium rums are made from the highest quality molasses fermented with proprietary yeast cultures, distilled in continuous stills, then aged in charred oak barrels. The House of Angostura: A Rich Rum History The House of Angostura's award winning rums are steeped in more than 190 years of tradition. The journey started in 1824 when founder Dr. Johann Siegert first produced aromatic bitters in Angostura, Venezuela (today called Ciudad Bolivar). In the 1870's, Dr. Siegert's three sons migrated to Trinidad, among them Don Carlos Siegert, who pioneered the brand, establishing ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters as an integral ingredient in premium cocktails and ultimately a mainstay of cocktail culture. The family's Siegert Bouquet Rum became a Trinidadian tradition up until the early 1960's and part of the company's rich rum heritage. In the 1970's, The House of Angostura expanded, acquiring the Fernandes family distillery, which was founded in the 1890's by Manoel Fernandes, an immigrant from Portugal, and known for making high quality rums. www.angostura.com Related Links http://www.angostura.com SOURCE House of Angostura PowerConcept is the latest addition to the Automated Insights suite available within the QuickSurveys platform; methodology powered by Harris Interactive WILTON, Connecticut, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Toluna, leading provider of on-demand, real-time digital consumer insights, announces the launch of the latest addition to the Automated Insights suite available within the QuickSurveys platform, PowerConcept. Toluna's revolutionary QuickSurveys platform boasts an ever-expanding suite of Automated Insights products that guide users from survey design through deployment, respondent targeting, and data visualization with a click of a button, all in real-time. Frederic-Charles Petit, Toluna's CEO believes that, "Automation and digitalization are the keys to success for market research professionals, and marketers who rely on direct access to research solutions to power real-time, informed decision-making. PowerConcept is comprehensive, the interface is easy-to-use, insight is available in real-time, and extremely actionable. We've built a suite of tools that meet the needs of brands and agencies alike." Phil Ahad, Senior Vice President, Digital Solutions states, "We're changing the way people conduct research and empower them to do it on their own, armed with superior methodologies embedded into an intuitive platform. PowerConcept is powered by Harris Interactive, and provides brands and creative agencies with the best tool possible as research quality is infused in the process." Ahad continues "We've found speed and accessibility are critically important for concept testing in particular. PowerConcept provides the fastest and highest quality of concept research data in the market." PowerConcept enables users to understand the overall strength of their branding, product, or advertising concepts, yielding insights ten times faster than traditional concept testing methods and at a fraction of the cost, with high-quality results. How PowerConcept works within QuickSurveys Automated Insights; 1. Select a concept product, or service category. 2. Add up to 8 concepts, which can be images, video, or copy. 3. Create the survey with an intuitive wizard guiding the way 4. Target their audience in real-time leveraging the Toluna community of 10+ million (in most of Toluna's 59 markets). PowerConcept then builds the survey in real time, with a full reporting suite available in minutes: Read-to-share infoboard of actionable and directional insights. Comprehensive PowerPoint deck of customizable slides. A TolunaAnalytics TM dashboard for advanced data visualization and analysis capabilities. dashboard for advanced data visualization and analysis capabilities. Toluna QuickSurveys received 10 million dollars in private funding in Q4 2015 to accelerate development. About Toluna Toluna is a leading provider of real-time digital consumer insights and empowers companies to brainstorm ideas, uncover new business opportunities and answer their questions in real time. Toluna is transforming the way marketing decisions are made by bringing consumers and brands together via the world's largest social voting community of 10 million members across 59 countries. This real-time access to consumers is coupled with its state-of-the-art, market research survey and analytics platform. Toluna has 19 offices in Europe, North America, Asia, and MENAP. For more information, please visit corporate.toluna.com. CONTACT: Michelle McQueen, 1-917-370-6016, michelle@davellepr.com Related Links http://www.toluna-group.com SOURCE Toluna New data presented at PCR London Valves conference CAESAREA, Israel and TAMPA, Florida, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Keystone Heart Ltd., an emerging medical device company focused on developing cerebral protection devices for patients undergoing cardiac procedures, today announces the safety and efficacy of the TriGuard Cerebral Embolic Protection device when used during Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), according to preliminary findings from real-world experience of 51 patients discussed at the PCR London Valves 2016 Conference today in London, England. Results demonstrated a significant difference in the number of patients with brain lesions incurred during the TAVR procedure with 68% of unprotected patients experiencing new lesions compared to only 20% of patients for which the TriGuard embolic deflection device was used (p=0.004), based on MRI evaluations of patients conducted by Joachim Schofer, MD, Professor, Hamburg University Cardiovascular Center and Department of structural heart disease, Hamburg, Germany. "These data, together with previously reported positive safety, and clinically meaningful outcomes, reinforce the importance of using TriGuard to protect the brain from damage potentially incurred during TAVR procedures," said Alexandra J. Lansky, MD, Division of Cardiology, Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cardiovascular Research Group, New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the TriGuard HDH embolic deflection device in protecting the brain from lesions during TAVR procedures compared to the current standard of care in the US and Europe, which is no cerebral protection during these procedures. The TriGuard Cerebral Protection Device is commercially available in Europe but it is not yet commercially available in the US. In this real world study, physicians from two institutions enrolled a total of 51 patients undergoing TAVR (80 8 years, 51% male, logistic EuroSCORE 12.68.3) with either transfemoral (96%) or transapical (4%) insertion. Peter R. Stella, PhD, MD, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands enrolled 41 patients and Dr. Schofer enrolled 10, as noted above. The 10 enrolled by Dr. Schofer were were also tested with post TAVR MRI using clinical criteria, and were compared to 150 historical controls from the same institution. Of the 51 patients protected by the TriGuard device in this study, none experienced strokes, and a successful device performance of 100% was observed without interference during TAVR procedures. In the MRI arm of the study, additional endpoints demonstrated clear improvement in the mean number of new lesions (2.1 for unprotected historical controls vs 0.06 for protected patients, p= 0.06), mean total lesion volume (206 mm3 for unprotected historical controls vs 44 mm3 for protected patients, p=0.08) and mean single lesion volume (74 mm3 for unprotected historical controls vs 15 mm3 for protected patients, p=0.05). TriGuard is a cerebral embolic protection device designed to reduce the amount of embolic material that enter blood circulation to the brain during transcatheter heart valve replacement or implantation. TriGuard is the only device designed to provide full coverage of all brain territories without the need for third access site during TAVI. At the PCR London Valves conference, Dr. Lansky is also presenting an update on NeuroARC, an initiative aimed at establishing standardized neurologic endpoints for cardiovascular clinical trials to ensure clinically meaningful patient outcomes and improve the quality of clinical research. The initiative is spearheaded by a diverse working group comprised of physician and scientific leaders in interventional and structural cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurology, neuroradiology, neuropsychology, as well as clinical trialists representing academic research organizations from the US and Europe, and representatives from the medical device industry and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). "Neurologic damage due to TAVR is overlooked, and protecting the brain has become a priority to improve our patients' outcomes," stated Dr. Lansky. "Consensus-driven definitions of neurologic measures will facilitate more informed benefit-risk assessments for all procedures and devices, and improve our care of patients." About The TriGuard Cerebral Protection Device Keystone Heart's TriGuard is the only cerebral protection device designed to provide full coverage to all brain territories to minimize the risk of cerebral damage during TAVR and other cardiovascular procedures. The CE marked TriGuard device is shaped to accommodate anatomic variations of the aortic arch. Formed to withstand potential interface with the TAVR delivery system and other procedure related accessories, it uses a Nitinol frame and mesh flexible and atraumatic, yet robust and sturdy. The TriGuard Cerebral Protection Device is placed via one of two femoral artery access ports typically used in TAVR, thereby eliminating the need for a third puncture site. It deploys rapidly, and self-positions through a small 9F catheter. It provides stable, atraumatic protection, with simple retrieval. The TriGuard Cerebral Protection Device has been granted the CE Mark in the European Union and is commercially available in Europe. In the United States, the device is currently available for investigational use only. About Keystone Heart Keystone Heart Ltd. is a medical device company developing and manufacturing cerebral protection devices to reduce the risk of stroke, neurocognitive decline and dementia caused by brain emboli associated with cardiovascular procedures. The Company is focused on protecting the brain from emboli to reduce the risk of brain infarcts during TAVR, surgical valve replacement, atrial fibrillation ablation and other cardiovascular procedures. The TriGuard product pipeline is designed to help interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists and cardiac surgeons to preserve brain reserve while performing these procedures. Headquartered in Israel with US operations in Tampa, FL, Keystone Heart is dedicated to advancing patient care through innovative technology and clinical research. The Company's management has extensive experience in the fields of interventional cardiology and medical devices. For additional information, please contact us. Related Links http://www.keystoneheart.com SOURCE Keystone Heart Ltd. PUNE, India, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RnRMarketResearch.com adds "Global and China UBI Industry Report, 2016-2020" and "Global UBI Products Industry 2016 Market Research Report" with 2020 and 2021 forecasts data and information to its online business intelligence library. UBI Industry Report, 2016-2020 focuses on the followings: UBI overview (definition, value, methods of acquisition, difficulties for UBI development in China), Foreign UBI markets (global; UBI in United States, Canada, UK, and Germany; 10 UBI companies and products in United States, Canada, UK, Germany, and Italy), UBI in China (future scale, drivers, players, trends) and Local Chinese UBI companies (business, operation, and UBI products of China Life, PICC, Ping An Insurance, Zhong An Online P&C Insurance, Cihon, DiNA Technology, Shenzhen Dingran Information Technology, Shenzhen Autonet, Launch Tech, Renrenbao, Carsmart, MSD, and Deren Electronic). Complete report of 110 pages and 75 list of charts is available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/global-and-china-ubi-industry-report-2016-2020-market-report.html . Staring from 2012, UBI in China lags behind that in foreign countries. Hence, domestic UBI products are operated with reference to some foreign mature models. Various Chinese parties are actively promoting the development of UBI for now. OEMs + Insurers OEMs usually cooperate with third parties and insurers in UBI field, represented by SAIC Motor + Cihon + CPIC. SAIC Motor and CPIC give a personalized quota for car insurance on auto models carrying OnStar according to consumers' driving habits, mileage, and other factors. Cihon is responsible for data analysis and insurance model development. UBI Cases in Europe at UnipolSai, Generali, Allianz, Insure The Box and RISK Technology. UBI Cases and Companies in North America are Progressive, State Farm, Allstate, Desjardins and Hartford. UBI-related Companies in China are China Life Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Ltd., PICC P&C, Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of China, Zhong An Online P&C Insurance Co., Ltd., Carsmart, Cihon, DiNA Technology, Risk Network, Shenzhen Dingran Information Technology, Shenzhen Autonet, Launch Tech, MSD, Nanjing Renrenbao Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Deren Electronic. Purchase a copy of Global and China UBI Industry Report, 2016-2020 at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/purchase?rname=675415 . Telematics Platforms or Parts Manufacturers + Insurers Telematics platforms are dominated by AM TSP in UBI field. For example, the insurer (PICC), via Shenzhen Autonet's Telematics platform, provides car owners with one-key insurance claim, quick settlement of claim, and inquiry of insurance status, and develops floating car insurance business. Parts manufacturers launch their own AM hardware or set up UBI-related companies. For instance, Deren Electronic, on the one hand, teams up with ATzuche to release its own OBD, and on the other hand, acquires Telematics-related companies and set up Dedao TSP with CPIC. Independent Service Providers + Insurers Independent service providers usually acquire customer data via APP + OBD to work with insurers to develop UBI and at the same time provide customers with preferential services with regard to maintenance and other aspects. Big Data + Insurers In UBI field, some insurers, on the one hand, have self-operated platforms, such as Zhong An Online P&C Insurance's O2O car insurance, and on the other hand, co-develop platforms with Internet businesses or other Telematics firms. For example, CPIC organized Internet companies with Baidu and invested in Atzuche. Big data enterprises employ various methods in UBI field, like Jingyou, a provider of database and risk models. Chinese UBI market will grow rapidly propelled by the aforementioned parties, reflected in not only iterative acceleration in market size but also more diversified service mechanisms. For example, insurers will provide not only price discounts but also other services like emergency rescue, remote diagnosis, maintenance reservation, and weather & traffic conditions; with development of mobile phone hardware and the popularity of 4G network, mobile APP-based UBI will burgeon; driving habits and mileage will not be the only criteria for privileges, and age, gender, and devices installed on the vehicle will be taken into account when the discount is calculated. On similar lines, RnRMarketResearch.com has another Global UBI Products Industry 2016 Market Research Report that is spread across 157 pages and supported with 284 data tables and figures. This UBI Products industry research profiles 15 companies like include Baseline Telematics, Vodafone Automotive, Masternaut, Modus, MyDrive Solutions, Octo Telematics, TomTom Telematics, Tencent Lobo, Beijing Carsmart Technology, Nanjing Renrenbao Network Technology, Launch Tech, Shenzhen Autonet, Risk Network, JiangSu CPS Digital DNA Science Technology Development and NICIGO. With 284 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. Read more at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/global-ubi-products-industry-2016-market-research-report-market-report.html . Explore more Insurance market reports at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/reports/business-financial-services/financial-services/insurance-financial-services . About Us: RnRMarketResearch.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 100+ leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports. Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: +1-888-391-5441 sales@rnrmarketresearch.com Connect with Us: G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104156468549256253075/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/RnRMR Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/RnR-Market-Research/413488545356345 RSS / Feeds: http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/feed SOURCE RnR Market Research LAVAL, Quebec, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The newly designed website of United Bottles & Packaging (UBP) makes its official debut today. It aims to provide a seamless, more refined and pleasant navigational experience to customers seeking high-quality and unique glass packaging products in the beverage and food industries. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409544LOGO After intensive study of the market, United Bottles & Packaging came to acknowledge the necessity for improved and optimized tools for its website platform. Numbers indicated that over 70% of its customers prefer to make inquiries online. With these growing demands in mind, UBP decided to completely re-organise and re-design its website to serve its customers better. Making it visibly attractive was important to them, but more importantly, was keeping the website lightweight and uncomplicated for the clients to use. It also had to be responsive and adapt to any digital device whilst maintaining its look, its rapidity and its refined navigational qualities. It had to provide simple access to its catalogue with filters that could narrow the search parameters. Link to catalogue: http://www.unitedbottles.com/bottles-and-accessories Creating a simple path whereby customers could make a request online for quotes, samples and subscription to the UBP newsletter was also crucial. The whole browsing experience had to be effortless and engaging all at the same time. Link to quote / free sample request: http://www.unitedbottles.com/quote-request Link to newsletter subscription: http://www.unitedbottles.com/newsletter According to Mr. Normand Tremblay, President of United Bottles & Packaging, he acknowledged "The consensus was clear at United Bottles & Packaging that an optimized and updated web platform was not only essential to enhancing the navigational experience of the customer but also to the growth of the company." After several consultations with BDC (Business Development Bank of Canada) https://www.bdc.ca/en/pages/home.aspx and Voyou Performance Creative, (specialists in the field of communications and advertising) https://www.voyou.com on the optimization and re-design of a user-friendly platform, United Bottles & Packaging made the decision to collaborate with them and to completely revamp the website. Guidelines and criteria were submitted by BDC for United Bottles & Packaging and Voyou Performance Creative to follow. The design, SEO optimization process and quality assurance phase was successfully completed by Voyou Performance Creative. Upon approval by the BDC and compliance of specifications required by BDC, the website is now ready for launching. About United Bottles and Packaging (U.B.P.) Well-established for over 20 years and based in Quebec, Canada, United Bottles & Packaging (U.B.P.) distinguishes itself for its strong presence in over 19 countries and specializes in the washing of over 50 million recycled bottles annually as well as the distribution of new bottles to over 950 clients in North America. With its constant evolution, the company which includes over 78 employees remains at the cutting edge of the market in order to provide first-rate service to its customers and to offer diversity in its selection of high-quality products at competitive prices. For more information: President : Normand Tremblay, President, United Bottles and Packaging (U.B.P.), Tel. : 450 622-1600 normand.tremblay@unitedbottles.com; Media Contact : Natalie Howard, Communications and Digital Marketing, United Bottles and Packaging (U.B.P.), Tel. : 450 622-1600 ext. 225, natalie.howard@unitedbottles.com Related Links http://www.unitedbottles.com SOURCE United Bottles & Packaging A milestone as a new generation of made-in-China medical products find their rightful place in European hospitals LONDON and HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Venus P, the transcatheter pulmonary valve developed in-house by Hangzhou, China-based medical instrument producer Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc., was successfully implanted in a European patient in London on September 13th, 2016. Venus Medtech is the sole owner of the intellectual property rights to the valve. This is not only a milestone for the official launch of CE Mark certification clinical trials being undertaken for Venus Medtech's Venus P-Valve, but also marks the start of a journey for the entry of China-made transcatheter valve in the developed markets of the U.S. and Europe. The first patient who participated in the trial received a successful implant of the Venus P-Valve, with the operation performed by Prof. Shakeel Qureshi at Evelina Children's Hospital in London on September 13th, 2016. The 27 year-old female patient suffered significant pulmonary regurgitation following surgery for tetralogy of Fallot. And she didn't show any signs of the regurgitation after the successful implant and the valve works well. The patient's vital signs including blood pressure have remained within normal ranges since the operation. The doctors were quite impressed with the clinical performance of the Venus P-Valve. Venus P-Valve is designed to treat pulmonary regurgitation with or without stenosis in patients. Prof. Shakeel Qureshi is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the CE Mark certification clinical trial in Europe, the first phase of the clinical trials of which involved 6 locations, and 80 to 100 patients across Europe, including a few locations outside of the continent. This is the first formal set of clinical trials in multiple locations across Europe that used China-made transcatheter valves. Venus Medtech is fully dedicated to the research and development of medical instruments for cardiac valves that require minimally invasive treatment. The firm has twice been the first worldwide to produce the models for new valve systems: the pre-loading transcatheter valve system and the transcatheter self-expanding pulmonary valve system. Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc., located in Hangzhou National Hi-tech Development Zone (Binjiang District), focuses their R&D on internationally advanced artificial valve systems with commercial applications and has gone a long way in satisfying the need for such products both in China and around the world. For more information, please visit http://en.venusmedtech.com/ Related Links http://en.venusmedtech.com/ SOURCE Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc. With the theme "Sustainable Aquaculture in Practice", Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 Conference is hosted by Directorate of Fisheries of Vietnam (DFish), supported by, Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS), International Collaborating Center for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability (ICAFIS), and the UK-based Aquaculture without Frontiers. Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 is slated on October 20, 2016 at the Conference Hall Level 2 of Saigon Exhibition Convention Center (SECC) where a series of pertinent and timely discussions will be led by top industry individuals such as Mr. Cliff Spencer, chairman of Aquaculture without Frontiers, VINAFIS president Dr. Nguyen Viet Thang and Rogert Gilbert, chairman of International Aquafeed. Vietnam ranks fourth in global aquaculture production and among the powerhouse in Asia where the region raked 88.91% of the world aquaculture output in 2014. According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, the country's annual aquaculture exports are valued at US$7 billion to US$8 billion. But diseases, lack of technology and other issues have somewhat weakened Vietnam's competitive edge in the global aquaculture trade. Thus, the broad scope of Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 is expected to address this challenge, says Ms. Rungphech (Rose) Chitanuwat, Business Director of UBM Asia Manager: "If we look at Vietnam's long coast and good river systems, Vietnam can achieve more in aquaculture if we know how to take advantage of that strength and to do that, we should update our production technologies as well as our knowledge and Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 conference should be able to provide all of that." The economic significance of Vietnam's aquaculture industry plus its merging with VIETSTOCK 2016 Expo & Forum -- which will take place on October 19-21, 2016 at SECC -- makes Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 Conference truly a worthwhile event. The conference and exhibition are free of charge for all livestock members, for re-registration please visit: http://www.vietstock.org/en-us/Show-Highlight/Aquaculture-Vietnam-2016-Conference Notes to Editors About VIETSTOCK (www.vietstock.org) VIETSTOCK 2016 Expo & Forum is the biennial livestock exhibition hosted by the Department of Livestock Production -- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). This year, the show has expanded by 40% with 300+ exhibitors. Moreover, it is expected to welcome 9,000+ visitors in different countries, especially the CLMV (Cambodia-Lao-Myanmar-Vietnam) regions. SOURCE UBM Asia (Malaysia) VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Future Market Insights delivers key insights on the global workstation market performance in a new report titled "Workstation Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026". The global workstation market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 9.8% in terms of value and 4.3% in terms of volume during the forecast period 2016-2026. A workstation is an advanced computer designed for scientific and technical applications. Workstations are professionally designed for high end user applications such as digital content creation, finance modelling, and software engineering among others. Workstations can run multi-user operating systems and are featured with a redundant array of independent disks, SSDs, and optimised GPUs. The global workstation market has been segmented on the basis of - Product Type (Tower Workstation, Mobile Workstation, Rack Workstation, Blade Workstation, All-in-One Workstation); Operating System (Windows, Linux, Unix); and Application (Digital Content Creation, Economic/Finance, Engineering, Scientific, Software Engineering, Other Commercial). Demand for Mobile and All-in-One workstations is increasing rapidly owing to their usage in a wide range of applications such as digital and graphics, finance modelling, and software engineering. Workstation products are gaining traction in terms of application in digital content creation and in the graphics and animation industry. This is expected to bolster the growth of the global workstation market during the forecast period. Request a Free Sample Report with Table of Contents: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1860 A growing demand for 3D animation software, digital content creation, and networking and graphics is expected to fuel the growth of the global workstation market over the forecast period. There is an increasing global adoption of CAD, which is impacting the growth of the 3D animation software market in the manufacturing, architecture and design, construction, and building industries. Workstations are the most demanding hardware for 3D animation software and hence, an accelerated growth of the 3D animation software market is directly influencing the growth of the global workstation market. Also, workstations are being widely used in a large number of applications across industries. Workstations are the standard equipment required by engineers, analysts, content creators, and other professionals requiring significantly high levels of performance, data integrity, and visualisation. This factor is also contributing greatly to the increasing demand for workstations in the professional and business world across the globe. However, longer replacement cycles and increasing competition from alternative computing platforms that deliver quality, high performance, and value can pose major challenges to the sustained growth of this market over the next few years. The global workstation market is likely to witness several big trends in the next 10 years. A few notable trends include migration of PC and Apple Mac users to workstations, an increase in the global demand for virtual workstations, a rising preference for mobile workstations in oil and gas exploration applications, a growing demand for tower workstations in digital content creation applications, and a high demand for mobile workstations in software engineering applications. Preview Analysis on Global Workstation Market By Region: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/workstation-market The Mobile Workstation segment is estimated to account for a revenue share of 23.7% in the global workstation market by the end of 2016 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.9% over the forecast period (2016-2026). Growth of this segment is likely to be driven by a growing demand for networking and graphics. The All-in-One Workstation segment is anticipated to register a comparatively high CAGR as compared to the Mobile Workstation segment during the forecast period while the Mobile Workstation segment is expected to account for a significant share of the global workstation market throughout the forecast period. The Windows Operating System segment is expected to expand at a comparatively high CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period - estimated to account for a relatively high value share of 90.7% by the end of 2016. This segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.9% over the forecast period. The main factor driving this growth is the rising demand for 3D animation software. The Linux segment is estimated to account for a revenue share of 5.8% in the global workstation market by the end of 2016 and is expected to register a CAGR of 8.1% over the forecast period. The Unix segment is anticipated to witness steady growth as compared to the Windows segment during the forecast period. The Digital Content Creation workstation segment is expected to expand at a high CAGR (11.6%) in terms of value over the forecast period, owing to an increase in end-user application. This segment is estimated to account for 31.8% value share by the end of 2016. On the basis of region, North America is anticipated to be the largest market for workstations, accounting for 40.4% value share of the global workstation market in 2016 and the market in this region is expected to register a CAGR of 9.6% over the forecast period. North America continues to dominate the market and is expected to remain consistent throughout the forecast period. There is a great demand for digital content creation in North America and this is driving the growth of the workstation market in this region. The markets in APEJ, Western Europe, and MEA are likely to contribute greatly to the global workstation market. The APEJ workstation market is estimated to be valued at US$ 7.2 Bn by the end of 2016 (accounting for 22.3% value share by the end of 2016); expanding at a CAGR of 10.7% over the forecast period. This market is expected to be valued at US$ 19.9 Bn by 2026. Demand for workstations in the APEJ region is expected to project a significant rise during the forecast period. The main reason for this is the rapid expansion in infrastructure, digitisation evolution, and economic development across key countries in APEJ. The markets in Western Europe and Eastern Europe are estimated to account for 27.8% and 2.6% value share by the end of 2016. As compared to the other regions, the workstation market in North America is estimated to exhibit a high attractiveness index during the forecast period. Speak with Analyst for any Report Related Queries: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1860 The report showcases some of the leading companies operating in the global workstation market. Key market players profiled in the report include Hewlett-Packard, Dell Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, Fujitsu Ltd., and NEC Corporation. More From FMI's Cutting-edge Intelligence: Mass Notification Systems Market Segmentation By Application - Interoperable Emergency Communication, Integrated Public Alert and Warning, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery and Business Operation; By Solution - In-building Solution, Wide-area Solution and Distributed Recipient Solution; By Product Type - Hardware, Software and Services; By End-user Vertical - Ommercial, Education, Energy and Power, Healthcare, Defence, Automotive, Transportation and Logistics and Government Institutions: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/mass-notifications-systems-market India Content Delivery Network Market Segmentation By Service Provider - Telecom CDN Provider, Conventional CDN Provider, Prominent Trends; By Application - Web Acceleration, Streaming, Gaming, CDN Storage; By End-user Vertical - Media and Entertainment, E-Commerce, TELCO, Mobile Network Operator, Healthcare, Government and Education: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/india-content-delivery-network-market Interactive Whiteboard Market Segmentation By Digitizing Technology - Digital Vision Touch (DViT) Technology, Infrared Digitizing Technology, Electromagnetic Digitizing Technology and Others (LASER, Resistive, Capacitive, Ultrasonic, Etc.); By End Users - Education Sector and Others: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/interactive-whiteboard-market About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends. Contact Us 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790 Sales: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Website: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com Press Release: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/press-release SOURCE Future Market Insights New York City to deploy 'bigger than ever' police presence 2016-09-19 09:45 Investigators are seen near the blast site in New York, US, Sept 18, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] NEW YORK -- New York City will deploy "bigger than ever" police presence during the upcoming UN General Assembly week after an explosion injured 29 on Saturday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. "You will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week, bigger than ever," de Blasio told reporters at a press conference on the explosion. Police officers will be deployed in force in key public locations around the United Nations headquarters and the Times Square, including the newer units of Critical Response Command and Strategic Response Group, said de Blasio. The city will also see an increased bag search and canine activities throughout the mass transit systems, said city officials. At the press conference, the mayor said all 29 people wounded in Saturday's blast were released from hospitals and the motivation behind the explosion remains unknown. He termed the Saturday blast which occurred around 8:30 p.m. Saturday EDT (0030 GMT Sunday)) in the popular Chelsea district in west 23rd street, Manhattan, "a very serious incident", saying a lot more work needs to be done to find out the motivation behind the blast. He called the blast an "intentional" and "criminal" act. However, he declined to call the blast a terrorist attack. "We'll not jump to conclusions," he said. A second explosive device was found a few blocks near the explosion site. The mayor noted there was no specific and credible threat against the city, calling for the vigilance of New Yorkers and asked for tips and information from the public. He also said there was no specific evidence of connection between the New York explosion and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast, which happened on Saturday along the route of a Marines charity run, causing no injuries or damage. Meanwhile, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at the press conference that no one has claimed responsibility for the New York explosion, which he categorized as a "violent criminal act". City officials confirmed that the explosion in the popular Chelsea neighborhood was caused by a bomb with "components indicative of an IED", not an accident. With New York Governor Andrew Cuomo alongside, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, seen shaking hands with a policeman, surveys the site of an explosion which occurred in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, US, September 18, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] New York police are beefing up extra security at bus terminals, airports and on subways in the city for the UN General Assembly week. In an earlier press briefing, New York State Governer Andrew Cuomo also said the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout New York City. The suspects and motives were still unknown, and investigations were still in early stages, according to city officials. Also on Saturday night, a man wearing a private security company uniform stabbed nine people at a mall in St. Cloud, 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Minneapolis, the capital of the US state of Minnesota, before an off-duty police officer shot him dead. Three of the nine victims were hospitalized, one with life-threatening injures, local police said on Sunday at a news conference. The Islamic radical group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the mall stabbing attack, CNN reported on Sunday. The US Federal Bureau Investigation has investigated the Minnesota stabbings as a "potential" act of terrorism. CNN cited a police chief in St. Cloud as saying that there was no evidence at this point of a link between the New York blast and the mall stabbing spree. CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 10th Magnitude, the leading Microsoft Azure services firm in the U.S., announced today that Ryan McDonald has joined the company as Cloud Solutions Architect. McDonald brings over 20 years of experience delivering complex technical projects in areas like cloud architecture and design, Internet of Things (IoT) and information security. "We are excited to have Ryan join our team in the South Central District. He brings a great deal of experience in cloud platforms, having recently led a team through a cloud transformation effort that involved application modernization, IoT, big data and machine learning built in Azure," says Saunders. "Ryan's leadership and vision in the areas of IoT and cloud security, as well as his deep experience in the oil and gas industry, will be invaluable in deploying innovative solutions for our clients in the South Central market and beyond." McDonald most recently served as Chief Information Officer for eLynx Technologies, the leading provider of cloud-based SCADA monitoring and field automation services in the oil and gas industry. As CIO, he oversaw all aspects of the company's information technology and led high-impact projects in areas like Microsoft Azure migration, predictive analytics and cloud information security. McDonald was a featured speaker at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July. He shared the stage with Microsoft's Judson Althoff to describe how leveraging the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite helps oil and gas customers optimize operations and improve their field production. "10th Magnitude is on the cutting edge of helping companies use Azure transform their businesses," says McDonald. "I'm excited to apply my experience to help our customers take advantage of Azure's continuous innovation in areas like IoT, analytics and cloud security." About 10th Magnitude 10th Magnitude helps businesses transform with innovative, cloud-based solutions that harness the power of Microsoft Azure. The company combines elements from multiple deep cloud competencies, as well as the most efficient and innovative technology tools and platforms to help clients become more agile, more customer-focused and more operationally efficient. A Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform Partner and a Chef Certified Partner, 10th Magnitude is headquartered in Chicago with offices around the U.S. and clients worldwide. www.10thmagnitude.com Contact Dorinne Hoss 10th Magnitude 312-281-7150 [email protected] SOURCE 10th Magnitude Related Links http://www.10thmagnitude.com SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- McKesson, a healthcare services and information technology company, announced today that more than 18,000 McKesson employees at more than 180 locations across the U.S. and Canada will participate in annual "Community Days," volunteer event. Held September 19 - 30, 2016, Community Days lets employees give back and raise awareness about the struggle many cancer patients face to afford basic items during chemotherapy treatment. This year, McKesson employees in the U.S. and Canada will make more than 20,000 blankets, decorate "hope chests," and write personal notes of encouragement for cancer patients. These items will be included in care packages that are distributed through Giving Comfort, a program of the McKesson Foundation. "Our company is dedicated to better health for our communities, and volunteering is one of the ways we demonstrate that commitment," said Christine Lopez, president of the McKesson Foundation. "Our employees have a lot of heart and share the belief that no one should face cancer alone. In fact, research shows that psychological and social support can decrease cancer patients' risk of recurrence and death by nearly 50 percent. By giving our time to prepare care packages, combined with grants from the McKesson Foundation, we aim to provide patients in our communities with the encouragement and support to keep fighting." Each year, 1.6 million people in the U.S. are newly diagnosed with cancer. After surveying hundreds of cancer patients, social workers and oncology professionals, Giving Comfort was established in 2012 to provide cancer patients with care packages that are filled with items to offer comfort and relief during treatment. Through the support of the McKesson Foundation, the care packages are provided to patients in need free-of-charge. The packages are delivered into the hands of patients through Giving Comfort's partnerships with hospitals, cancer treatment centers, and cancer support organizations in more than 280 locations such as the American Cancer Society, the Mayo Clinic, and Veterans Administration cancer centers to name a few. "I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who took the time to make my amazing care package. I was literally speechless when I opened my bag and found so much love in each detail and the supportive words that had been poured into my bag," said Jennifer, a patient who received her care package through one of Giving Comfort's partners. In addition to McKesson employees' efforts to create comfort items for patients, the McKesson Foundation will donate a grant to a local partner of each of the more than 180 McKesson locations participating in Community Days. In total, McKesson is expected to award more than $200,000 in grants to local partners across the country, providing further funding for patient services such as transportation, lodging and counseling. To learn more, please visit www.givingcomfort.org. About McKesson Foundation Founded in 1943, the McKesson Foundation is dedicated to supporting McKesson employees' community involvement efforts and cancer care. To maximize our impact, the Foundation invests in organizations that provide cancer support programs, providing care packages for cancer patients through McKesson Foundation's Giving Comfort program, and growing and diversifying the international bone marrow registry through the McKesson Marrow Drive. Each year, the McKesson Foundation contributes more than $4.5 million to nonprofit organizations working to improve the health of our communities. Over the past three years, the Foundation has matched more than $3.4 million in employee donations to charitable organizations. For more information, please contact us at [email protected]. About McKesson Corporation McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 5th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. McKesson partners with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational, and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, healthcare information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visit www.mckesson.com. Media Contact: Michelle Blundell, 202.478.6176 [email protected] SOURCE McKesson Foundation Related Links http://www.mckesson.com MILWAUKEE, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A. O. Smith Corporation and The Water Council have selected SofTap Water Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio as the 2016 winner of the BREW Corporate: Powered by A. O. Smith challenge. SofTap Water's unique water-softening technology utilizes a proprietary, passive filtration system to remove dissolved calcium and magnesium bicarbonates that form scale in drinking and industrial water systems. In addition to softening, this technology also provides water filtration benefits including the removal of endotoxins, viruses, bacteria, cysts, polysaccharides, colloids, iron, manganese, sub-micron particles, and trace pharmaceuticals. The company's motto is simple: to reuse, recycle and regenerate. "Unlike other water treatment and softening products on the market, SofTap Water's unique filter combines the best of both worlds, reducing waste while cleaning and softening water. We're excited about the potential possibilities to partner with the SofTap Water team alongside our engineers at the Corporate Technology Center and the Global Water Center," notes Dr. Robert Heideman, chief technology officer at A. O. Smith Corporation. The SofTap Water team, which includes: Inventor Rakesh Govind and Managing Directors Patrick Hayes and Doug Dennis has developed this new water-softening technology under license from its parent holding company PRD Tech, Inc. SofTap Water technology is expected to offer superior softening performance at a price that makes the technology affordable to a much larger market than traditional softening methods. The system can be sized from residential point of use to commercial and large industrial applications. The technology is simpler and more cost-effective than other softening systems that use zeolites, which have to be regenerated using brine or membrane nanofiltration that requires significant pumping costs, water usage, and chemical additives. "Our vision to be the globally connected epicenter of freshwater research, innovation, education, and business development is central to developing entrepreneurs such as the SofTap Water team. We anticipate their new unique technology will be a catalyst in helping to reduce the amount of water that's wasted by many products that soften and treat water in the market today," says Dean Amhaus, president and CEO at The Water Council. The Business, Research, Entrepreneurship in Wisconsin (BREW) Corporate challenge focused on three areas of interest to A. O. Smith: water purification, water heating, and sensors. The challenge delivered more than one dozen viable applicants. "Ultimately all entries were reviewed by a panel of A. O. Smith employees, The Water Council senior staff, and subject matter experts in the area of freshwater science. SofTap Water was the overall leader, and we felt it was the best investment for both A. O. Smith and The Water Council," Heideman continued. The SofTap Water team will receive an investment of $50,000 in the form of a note from A. O. Smith, as well as tuition to participate in The Water Council's 12-month accelerator program in Milwaukee. In addition to the investment, the winning entrepreneurs will receive: A suite in the Global Water Center for up to 12 months; Business model and operations training through The Water Council and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Institute for Water Business; Institute for Water Business; Access to faculty and students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School for Freshwater Sciences and Marquette University ; School for Freshwater Sciences and ; Access to the Global Water Center's Flow Lab and A. O. Smith product engineering labs; product engineering labs; Mentorship from A. O. Smith corporate development and senior engineering staff, as well as direct access to BREW Preferred Partners; corporate development and senior engineering staff, as well as direct access to BREW Preferred Partners; Attendance to conferences and pitch sessions with The Water Council; and A one-year membership to The Water Council providing access to an extensive water technology network. About BREW Accelerator BREW Accelerator, a program of The Water Council, is a world-class seed accelerator that unleashes water innovation by funding water technology startups with commercialization potential. The first-of-its-kind accelerator pairs a unique water-focused startup community with credible resources of the World Water Hub to help entrepreneurs from around the world accelerate results. Now in its fourth year, BREW has sponsored a total of 20 freshwater technology companies. An expansion of the BREW Accelerator program, BREW Corporate, partners with global corporations looking for new technologies to solve a specific challenge. About PRD Tech, Inc. PRD Tech, Inc. is a research and development corporation based in Cincinnati, Ohio specializing in biological treatment processes for water, wastewater, air, and soil applications. For water and wastewater applications, PRD Tech maintains a portfolio of products, patents, and processes focusing on energy-efficient and cost effective solutions for advanced treatment needs that enable water re-use to reduce net consumption of fresh water. These technologies include patented applications for nutrient removal, desalination, degassing, and advanced decentralized wastewater treatment. The company was recently recognized by the U.S. EPA for its unique Nutrient Recovery Process that can remove nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewaters more effectively than traditional means. About A. O. Smith A. O. Smith Corporation, with headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis., is a global leader applying innovative technology and energy-efficient solutions to products manufactured and marketed worldwide. The company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of residential and commercial water heating equipment and boilers, as well as a manufacturer of water treatment products. For more information, visit www.aosmith.com. About The Water Council The Water Council was established in 2009 by Milwaukee-area businesses and education and government leaders. The nonprofit organization, consisting of more than 180 members, links together global water technology companies, innovative water entrepreneurs, acclaimed academic research programs and, most importantly, some of the nation's brightest and most energetic water professionals. The Water Council is capturing the attention of the world and transforming the Milwaukee region into a World Water Hub for freshwater research, economic development and education. For more information, visit www.thewatercouncil.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130724/CG52107LOGO SOURCE A. O. Smith Corporation Related Links http://www.aosmith.com HORSHAM, Pa., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AAMCO Transmissions, Inc. ("AAMCO"), franchisor of the world's largest branded chain of transmission specialists and an industry leader in total car care services, announced today the owner of its New Windsor, New York service center, located at 295 Windsor Highway, went above and beyond to help a veteran in need. The New Windsor service center recently repaired and delivered a Vietnam veteran's van while on vacation. The AAMCO of New Windsor is owned and operated by local resident Ray Segalini. Cliff McKenzie, a 74-year-old Vietnam veteran, and his wife Lori, were on a camping trip to West Point's Round Pound Recreation Area to celebrate fifty years of marriage when their 2008 Dodge Caravan broke down. McKenzie had worked with franchises the majority of his life, so he reached out to the closest AAMCO franchise, AAMCO of New Windsor. The owner of the center, Ray Segalini, went above McKenzie's expectations by repairing and returning his car before he and his wife had to return home. "It's not easy to leave your car with strangers and have the confidence they will do what is right for you, but with a trusted brand like AAMCO, Cliff had peace of mind. I always focus on my customer's needs first, and in this case, Cliff needed his car back quickly in order to return home from vacation," said Segalini. "Together, we developed a service plan and made sure to get his vehicle back into shape. It is my top priority to make anyone who walks in the door feel safe, secure, and know that we will deliver their car back to them fixed properly and for a reasonable price." The AAMCO of New Windsor offers a 10 percent discount off all vehicle repairs for veterans up to $100. As a resident of Middletown for almost 20 years, Segalini has spent more than a decade managing auto repair facilities. He purchased the AAMCO of New Windsor last February and has since doubled the sales of the center. For more than 50 years, AAMCO's network of locally-owned and independently-operated automotive service centers have employed the latest technology. Expert technicians diagnose a repair, fix it right the first time and back it with a nationwide warranty. Known as the world's leading transmission expert, the company has evolved into a total car care brand that provides a variety of services, including brake repair, tune-ups, shocks and struts, routine maintenance and more. AAMCO was recently named to Entrepreneur's 2016 Franchise 500, ranking at the top of the transmission repair category. Based on network size, growth rate and financial strength, the brand also earned a spot on Entrepreneur's "Best of the Best" list. The AAMCO of New Windsor is open Monday Saturday from 8 a.m. 5 p.m. For more information, please visit www.aamconewwindsor.com or call 845-234-4746. About AAMCO AAMCO is the world's largest branded chain of transmission specialists and a leader in total car care services. AAMCO has nearly 700 franchised automotive centers throughout the United States and Canada. Established in 1962, AAMCO-branded centers are proud to have served more than 45 million drivers. For more information, visit: aamcouniversity.com, aamco.com or aamcoblog.com. Contact: Claibourne Smith Fish Consulting 407-808-2426 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150521/217798LOGO SOURCE AAMCO Transmissions, Inc. Related Links http://www.aamco.com ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Ohio's election reform law, but courts have struck down voter photo ID laws in North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin, and proof-of-citizenship laws in Alabama, Georgia and Kansas. Given the outrageous allegation that election integrity safeguards are evidence of racism, ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight compiled a guide, excerpted here. Mandatory Voter Registration What proponents call "automatic voter registration" is really "mandatory" registration a bad idea. -- Not everyone wants to be registered. Forcing inclusion is an act of an authoritarian government and violates privacy. -- It opens the door for fraud, filling rolls with people who may not vote, transients, or students who could vote again in their home districts. -- It's a stalking horse for mandatory voting, which President Obama has floated. Compliance could be forced via the IRS, similar to ObamaCare. Early voting For more than 200 years, Americans voted on Election Day. Progressives are stretching out the process sometimes for weeks. It's a bad idea. -- Some ballots are cast even before the televised debates. -- It's expensive and unnecessary. An MIT study pegged the average Election Day wait at 14 minutes, and early voting doesn't enlarge turnout. Same-Day Registration Progressives want to allow procrastinators to register on the same day they vote, without proof of citizenship or even a valid ID. This is suicidal public policy. Voter Photo ID Laws No safeguard is more dishonestly attacked than requiring a voter to prove they are who they say they are. -- More than 200 counties around the nation have more than 100 percent of their age-eligible residents registered to vote. Four years ago the Pew Center found problems with more than 24 million voter registrations, including 1.8 million deceased people. These numbers are undoubtedly worse now. -- In 2008, the Supreme Court found no evidence such laws disadvantage minorities, and minority turnout increased in the voter ID states of Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina. -- Opponents insist that 25 percent a full quarter of black American adults lack a government-issued photo ID. This would mean that millions of African-American men and women cannot legally drive, cash a check, or do many other everyday activities. The full article can be found here. SOURCE ACRU Related Links http://www.theacru.org Ahead of this summit, 31 members of InterAction the largest U.S. alliance of international nongovernmental organizations announced their commitment to collectively invest over $1.2 billion in private resources on global humanitarian assistance efforts over the next three years. Through this pledge, the NGOs will work to provide urgent medical assistance, food and nutrition security, shelter, education and other essential services to refugees and displaced populations worldwide. In a recent article, InterAction CEO Sam Worthington detailed how the InterAction pledge represents the American people's ongoing commitment to assisting those who have been forcibly displaced. American Support for Humanitarian Assistance Reflected in $1.2 Billion Pledge By Sam Worthington I've often traveled to New York for the opening week of the UN General Assembly, but this year I'm honored to join other civil society leaders at President Barack Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees. And U.S. civil society, once again, has stepped up to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to helping affected people lift themselves out of hardship in a time of historic humanitarian need. On Sept. 15, InterAction announced that 31 of its member NGOs had pledged to collectively invest over $1.2 billion in private resources on global humanitarian assistance efforts over the next three years. These funds will assist the participating NGOs with providing urgent medical assistance, food and nutrition security, shelter, education and other essential services to refugees and displaced populations across the globe. A majority of the $1.2 billion will come from the American people, who have chosen to donate to the participating NGOs. As recent research found, contributions from individuals between 2010 and 2014 accounted for around 69% of all private funding humanitarian funding more than trusts, foundations or the private sector. Read Sam Worthington's full article at: www.interaction.org. InterAction is the largest U.S. alliance of nongovernmental international organizations, with more than 180 members. Our members operate in every developing country, working with local communities to overcome poverty and suffering by helping to improve their quality of life. Visit www.interaction.org. Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhcmgiV2pM Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409229 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121101/DC04603LOGO SOURCE InterAction Related Links http://www.interaction.org NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- APPrise Mobile, the native app platform for mobile communications and creator of theEMPLOYEEapp and theIRapp, today announced that it has closed its initial "Series Seed" equity capital round of financing. With investments by TMT Investments PLC, principals of Terrapin Partners, LLC and several angel investors, the company raised more than $1 million. Since the creation of its mobile platform in 2012, APPrise Mobile has experienced rapid steady growth within the corporate communications and HR industries and was recognized by the leading technology analyst group, Gartner, as one of its "Cool Vendors" in the Digital Workplace category in 2016. Today more than 400,000 employees have access to APPrise Mobile's theEMPLOYEEapp offered by their employer. With the additional funding, the Company will continue the development of its turn-key software technology and accelerate its sales and marketing initiatives. "We are excited to have the support and partnership of TMT Investments in Silicon Valley and Terrapin Partners in Silicon Alley," said Jeff Corbin, CEO and Founder of APPrise Mobile. "Since we founded our company more than four years ago, Fortune 100 and enterprise organizations across all industries have embraced our technology solution for its simplicity and cost effectiveness. In under a month, any company can have its own branded app to communicate with its employees, investors and other external constituents." "In a very short period of time, Corbin and his team have recognized a need in the communications and HR industries, built a solid platform and gained significant traction among large enterprises as well as SMBs that need a way to communicate with their various internal and external audiences through their mobile devices," said Artyom Inyutin, Head of Investments of TMT Investments. "Their impressive roster of global clients combined with triple digit growth was a driving force in our interest in the company. We look forward to working with the APPrise Mobile team as they capture this market." Nathan Leight, Founder of Terrapin Partners, LLC and an investor said, "Unlike other tech companies trying to enter the space, APPrise Mobile's roots and domain expertise are in the industries they are directly selling to corporate communications and HR. Our decision to invest and partner with them was based on our belief that all companies will need to incorporate mobile into their employee and external communications efforts. APPrise Mobile has removed the barrier to them doing so." About APPrise Mobile Created for and focused on the communications industry (corporate communications, public relations and investor relations), APPrise Mobile is an mobile platform that allows any organization to have its own proprietary branded app on the public app stores or as part of a mobile device management (MDM) or enterprise solution. Its proprietary software allows companies to organize and distribute information as well as to communicate with targeted audiences (e.g. employees/investors) without having to incur the time and expense associated with native app development. The APPrise Mobile family of communications products currently include theEMPLOYEEapp, for secure internal communications and employee engagement; theIRapp, for investor communications; theCOMMSapp, for external communications; and theCONFERENCEapp, for event and conference communications. For more information about APPrise Mobile and its products, visit http://www.APPrise-mobile.com and follow the company on Twitter @APPriseMobile. Media Contact: Kate Tumino / Nick Opich KCSA Strategic Communications [email protected] / [email protected] SOURCE APPrise Mobile Related Links http://www.APPrise-mobile.com NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) granted Argentum Pharmaceuticals LLC's petition for inter partes review (IPR) against all claims of the sole unexpired patent listed as covering Janssen Oncology, Inc.'s ZYTIGA (abiraterone acetate) drug in the Food & Drug Administration's Orange Book that will remain after Janssen's initial patent on the drug expires later this year. Argentum challenges claims 120 of Janssen's U.S. Patent No. 8,822,438, which the Orange Book states will expire in 2027. The PTO concluded that Argentum has established a "reasonable likelihood that it will prevail with respect to its challenge to claims 120 of the '438 patent on the asserted grounds." The decision marks the beginning of an IPR trial that will be conducted by three specialist patent judges within the PTO's Patent Trial & Appeal Board. A final decision on patentability in the IPR is due within 1 year. About Argentum Pharmaceuticals Argentum is a generic drug company with core competencies in intellectual property and pharmaceutical operations. By working with branded and generic pharmaceutical companies and healthcare payors, Argentum intends to reduce the overall cost of prescription drugs by challenging patents that are not innovative and which artificially support high drug prices. http://www.argentumpharmaceuticals.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160201/328477LOGO SOURCE Argentum Pharmaceuticals Related Links http://www.argentumpharmaceuticals.com These announcements mark the beginning of National Staffing Employee Week , Sept. 1925. The week honors the contributions of the more than three million temporary and contract employees who work for U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions companies during an average week. National Staffing Employee of the Year Industrial Sector All-Star Wendy M. Hobbie Hobbie is an employee of HMG Plus in New York City, where she works on assignment as a hospitality captain and waiter. The flexibility that staffing offers allows her to audition and teach dance to deaf children. Hobbie currently teaches hip-hop dance to students aged three to 15 at the Lexington School for the Deaf. Her association with the school led to the opportunity to also teach dance to blind children and teenagers at Camp Helen Keller in Farmingdale, NY. When Hobbie first moved to New York City she taught Sunday school to underprivileged students in low-income neighborhoods through Metro World Child, a religious organization committed to providing services to children living in adverse conditions in metropolitan areas in New York and around the world. She developed strong bonds with the children whose challenges mirrored some of the same ones she faced in her youth. Hobbie grew up in Montgomery, AL, as a disadvantaged youth raised by her single mother. She moved to New York City in 2008. "I am honored to be the National Staffing Employee of Year, and hope that my personal story is inspiring to others considering work as a temporary or contract employee," Hobbie said. "Being a temporary employee is perfect for me at this time in my life. Staffing lets me support myself financially while pursuing my professional dreams and sharing my passion for dance with children, which means the world to me." Engineering, IT, and Scientific Sector All-Star Sharon DeWitt DeWitt's partnership with LaSalle Network in Chicago provides her with the flexibility to travel, continue her education, and volunteer in her community. She generously gives of her free time, leading pro bono IT engagements as an account director with Taproot, and has worked on projects for several Chicagoland organizations, such as Legal Council for Health Justice and Meals on Wheels Chicago. She has worked on several fundraisers and does hands-on volunteer work at a variety of homeless shelters and hospitals. DeWitt has broadened her skills and knowledge with an APICS certification in production and inventory management, and additional project management certificationsas well as through continuing education programs such as those offered by the Center for Creative Leadership. DeWitt currently is a contract program manager focused on enterprise process transformation with Reyes Holdings, the 12th largest privately held company in the U.S. Health Care Sector All-Star Brenda Riser Riser, a pharmacist, is a 13-year employee of Rx relief who has worked on over 500 assignments during her tenure with the staffing company. She currently is on assignment with Valley Children's Hospitala top rated U.S. children's hospital in Fresno, CAand has worked in a variety of other health care environments during her tenure with the staffing company. In part, Riser's staffing success story is unique because of her long-term partnership with her staffing company. She first met an Rx relief vice president in pharmacy school in the 1980s, and decided to join the firm because of her friendship with the company's executive vice president. As a single mom, Riser chose a career in contract work because the flexibility it affords allows her to enjoy extra time with her daughter and mother. As a tight three-generation unit, they enjoy many adventures and travel together extensively. OfficeClerical and Administrative Sector All-Star Dominic Berrini After graduating from college and realizing that a career in teaching wasn't what he expected, Berrini turned to Westaff, in Burlington, VT, for work. He was placed in a variety of temporary assignments, and recently bridged to a permanent job at Burtona worldwide manufacturer of snowboards, bindings, boots, outerwear, and accessories. Berrini enjoyed being a temporary employee because it provided him access to a variety of companies and work experiences. Staffing also provided him with the flexibility to pursue his interest in music. Berrini regularly plays guitar and sings at Burlington-area venues. In addition to being a National Staffing Employee of the Year All-Star, he was the 2016 Westaff Associate of the Year. ProfessionalManagerial Sector All-Star Jeffrey Burt Burt first joined Corporate Brokers in 2010 to pursue a contract opportunity as senior art director with Bank of America in Wilmington, DE. Fast forward six years, and he remains on assignment with the bank's in-house marketing agency. Burt enjoys the flexibility that staffing offers to freelance, travel, read, spend time with family, and pursue creative interestssuch as drawing, making clocks, and photography. He has decided to invest in this long-term relationship not only because he enjoys the assignment, but also because he likes the work environment, his colleagues, and his relationship with Corporate Brokers. "ASA congratulates National Staffing Employee of the Year Wendy Hobbie and all of the industry sector All-Stars for embodying the opportunities of working in the staffing industry," said Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. "Each of these talented individuals has a special success story to tell on how staffing has empowered them, both personally and professionally, by providing work schedule flexibility and a bridge to permanent positions, when desired." Hobbie will be formally honored and celebrated by staffing industry professionals from around the country on Oct. 26 at a recognition ceremony during Staffing World 2016, the ASA annual convention and expo. To learn more about the National Staffing Employee of the Year and National Staffing Employee Week programs, visit americanstaffing.net, or follow ASA on Twitter (@StaffingTweets) and Instagram (@americanstaffingassociation) using the hashtags #NationalStaffingEmployeeoftheYear, #NationalStaffingEmployeeWeek, or #staffingstars. Headshots of honorees are available upon request. About the American Staffing Association The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its affiliated chapters advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net. Contact Michelle R. Snyder Director, Public Relations 703-253-1151 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409312 SOURCE American Staffing Association Related Links http://www.americanstaffing.net W. CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With support from industry and government leaders, ASTM International will host an organizational meeting to potentially create a new technical committee that develops voluntary consensus standards for commercial spaceflight. This meeting comes in part as a result of the updated U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 (CSLCA). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) is recommending the organization of the new group. The no-fee meeting is Monday, Oct. 24, at 1 p.m. EDT at RTCA Inc. in, Washington, D.C., USA. Industry stakeholders and others interested in charting a path towards standardization for commercial spaceflight are welcome to attend. Consensus standards from organizations like ASTM International are known to enhance safety and efficiency in aerospace. New standards could support the growing number of people and entities who design, manufacture, and operate commercial space vehicles for both human and unmanned flights. Human spaceflight occupant safety will be an area of immediate focus, according to those who have expressed initial interest. The objectives of the meeting are to: bring an array of industry experts together; identify specific standards needs; determine if ASTM International should formally launch a new activity; and, if so, develop and approve title, scope, and structure of a new technical committee. The meeting will include: an overview of ASTM International, background on industry and government interest in standards development, and a review of initial areas to be considered. For more information and to register, click here, or contact Christine DeJong at +1.610.832.9736 or [email protected]. DeJong, director of business development, notes that ASTM International stands ready to accommodate this new effort. With nearly 150 committees and more than 12,000 standards in its portfolio, ASTM International is one of the world's largest developers of globally recognized standards and related products and services. It provides a management system to develop standards for materials, products, systems, and services across many industries. ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for developing international standards, and ASTM standards are used globally in research and development, product testing, quality systems, commercial transactions, and more. To learn more about the ASTM International process, visit www.astm.org/ABOUT/full_overview. To join, go to www.astm.org/JOIN. Helping our world work better Over 12,000 ASTM standards operate globally. Defined and set by us, they improve the lives of millions every day. Combined with our innovative business services, they enhance performance and help everyone have confidence in the things they buy and use from the toy in a child's hand to the aircraft overhead. Working across borders, disciplines, and industries we harness the expertise of over 30,000 members to create consensus and improve performance in manufacturing and materials, products and processes, systems and services. Understanding commercial needs and consumer priorities, we touch every part of everyday life: helping our world work better. ASTM Commercial Spaceflight Meeting: Oct. 24, 2016, RTCA, Inc.; 1150 18th St. NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20036 Media Inquiries: Dan Bergels, tel +1.610.832.9602; [email protected] ASTM Staff Contact: Christine DeJong, tel +1.610.832.9736; [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141021/153355LOGO SOURCE ASTM International Related Links http://www.astm.org Popular Israeli play on war returns to China From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-09-19 08:45 Gesher theater will tour China with one of its representative productions, Village.[Photo provided to China Daily] In 1991, during the first Gulf War, a group of Jewish-Russian actors under the leadership of Yevgeny Arye, a prominent stage director in Moscow, emigrated to Israel. In a bold move, they founded a theater that they named Gesher, which means "bridge" in Hebrew. Over the years, Gesher theater has successfully reached across Russian and Israeli cultures by recruiting many Israeli actors and actresses. Its productions are bilingual, in Russian and Hebrew. More than 60 productions have been presented at more than 17 international festivals, winning numerous awards. Village, which was first staged in 1996, was an early success. In 2015, Gesher brought Village to Beijing's Capital Theater after being invited by Beijing People's Art Theater. In November, the play will return to China in a tour of four cities: Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shanghai. "Every year, Beijing People's Art Theater invites foreign theaters to stage their classic productions. Among them, Gesher theater's Village impressed me the most," says Lan Tianye, the 89-year-old actor and director, who has been with Beijing People's Art Theater since 1952. Gesher has come to Beijing four times with several productions, including Enemies: A Love Story, A Pigeon and a Boy, Village and Don Juan. "I was touched by the story of Village, the acting of the ensemble as well as how the theater interprets a story that happened in the 1940s with pioneering approaches," Lan says. Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol tells the story of an innocent boy named Yossi, who lives in a small village and witnesses the fears, love, hopes and dreams of the people against the backdrop of World War II. Sobol, in his 70s now, is known for his political plays, which engage with sensitive issues, such as the Holocaust, Arab-Israeli relations and religious fanaticism. He drew inspiration from his own childhood experiences in Palestine in the 1940s. Gesher theater will tour China with one of its representative productions, Village.[Photo provided to China Daily] Village has toured worldwide for more than 700 times. Gesher director Lena Kreindlin has described the play as "a milestone" not only in the history of her own theater but of Israeli theater as a whole. While some founding members of the theater have died, she says, their children have continued their career by acting with Gesher, carrying on its tradition. Chinese playwright Wan Fang, daughter of China's late literary icon Cao Yu, who was the founder of the Beijing People's Art Theater, says: "The Russian actors' experience of emigration allowed them to identify with the characters in Village. "When the cast came to Beijing last year, I learned that they brought their own childhood memories into the acting. "For them it was a way of connecting with this place that has become their new home. This is an experience lots of people share nowadays. Lots of young people immigrate into bigger cities to live and work. For them, hometown does not exist in geography. It is in time and in their hearts," Wan adds. If you go 7:30 pm, Nov 18-19. Poly Theater, 14 Dongzhimennan Street, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 400-610-3721. WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Announced today, global management consulting firm, A.T. Kearney sponsors the Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center (KCGC) at American University in Washington, D.C. to help promote good governance in cybersecurity research and education. KCGC was created to promote good governance in the preparation for, prevention and detection of, and response to cybersecurity breaches. A.T. Kearney's sponsorship will support the KCGC's cybersecurity research and educational programs. "Mitigating cybersecurity risk across the enterprise requires a new level of innovative strategy, diligence and expertise," said Howard Steinman, Partner, A.T. Kearney. "We are excited to join the Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center at American University as a partner in its efforts to unify industry and government leaders in exploring cutting edge solutions for this dynamic, ever evolving space." KCGC focuses on management, leadership and governance issues faced by corporate board members, C-level executives and IT leadership. It conducts collaborative, objective, multidisciplinary research related to cybersecurity governance and enterprise cyber risk management across business, legal, public and policy disciplines. "Partnering with one of the top management consulting firms is an important step for the Center," said William DeLone, co-executive director, Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center. "A.T. Kearney adds important depth across a broad-range of strategic issues. We share a strong desire to identify and share best practices in cybersecurity governance." A.T. Kearney combines commercial and public-sector expertise to address their client's most challenging issues. Among them they work with Corporate Boards and their executive teams to clarify their distinct roles in the governance and oversight of the organization's management of cyber risk. "A.T. Kearney's real-world experience is critical to the sort of research we are engaged in at KCGC," said Dr. Richard Schroth, co-executive director, KCGC. "With their support we will reach our goal of helping corporate leaders understand the standards necessary to steer their companies during an ongoing period of significant change." About American University American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 140 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation's capital and around the world. The Kogod School of Business has been a leader in the D.C. business community for 60 years and is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for a business school worldwide. About A.T. Kearney A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries. Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world's foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing advantage on their most mission-critical issues. Media Contacts A.T. Kearney Konajilo Barrasso 212.705.1026 [email protected] American University Ericka Acosta 202.885.5935 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120925/CG80591LOGO SOURCE A.T. Kearney Related Links http://www.atkearney.com The palette reflects the summer countryside - taking a cue from Liv's break-out film Stealing Beauty by Bertolucci - rich with neutrals and washed-out denim, while a floral motif on black gives an edge. Soft tactility is at the heart of the collection, in a cropped leather biker with epaulettes (inspired by a blouson from Belstaff's archive) to a sage-green suede skirt suit. A four-pocket trench in structured cotton hints at Pallenberg's style while a cape-like coat from Belstaff's archive has been reinvented in a lightweight linen blend for a looser, more contemporary femininity. Military influence is also visible in a 4-pocket trench and a cape, both water-repellent. Military buttons also feature in a striped knit and cropped regalia jacket. Such structured pieces are juxtaposed with more relaxed shapes like a 4-pocket denim dress referencing Belstaff's heritage outerwear and matching wide-leg cropped jeans and a bold polka-dot silk top and wide trousers that Liv took from Katherine Hepburn. The Amira bag from Liv's AW16 capsule has proved so popular it's been reproposed in suede and other colours. A studded sandal completes the look. ACROSS THE WILDERNESS BELSTAFF SS17 Belstaff's SS17 collection celebrates an epic 5,500-mile bike journey across America by the Van Buren sisters in 1916, who campaigned for women in the armed forces and paved the way for the female vote. This collection draws upon the military and moto-style apparel they wore while referencing the landscapes they crossed, alongside more feminine silhouettes. "This year marks 100 years since the Van Burens' trip which really brings home how progressive they were. We wanted to tap into such force of nature, expressing their strength alongside their femininity through the clothes," explains Delphine Ninous, Belstaff Collection Creative Director. 4 looks from the Men's SS17 collection were also included. To recreate the mood of the journey and the US wilderness, models were positioned in front of deserted plains scenes. Gavin Haig, Belstaff CEO said: "Belstaff has always attracted and dressed daring and independent characters with a yearning to venture free - testing both theirs and the brand's limits. The Van Buren sisters are a perfect example of this spirit, and this collection they've inspired delivers on the brand's key attributes: protection, function and style without compromising on femininity." Outerwear and Leatherwear are key as expected, but softs take on a new importance. Lingerie details are a big influence, such as draping across bust and asymmetric hemlines. Key pieces include cotton shirts and silk dresses with ruching - a feature throughout. Jerseys are moto-inspired; pants feature contrast red and white side stripes; knitwear is lightweight and feminine yet inspired by military undergarments. Belstaff introduces a hi-top trainer here in white and silver. Belstaff and Imatta (a market leader in manufacture and distribution of luxury eyewear) announce today that they have signed an agreement for Belstaff eyewear. The first collection launching Spring 2017 takes inspiration from Belstaff's DNA, balancing tradition and innovation. Classics like the Aviator have been revisited with Belstaff's signature wax leather across the bridge (removable) along with introduction of new shapes like a round lens with metal mesh on sides (again removable). The deal is for sun and optical frames, all handmade in Japan using the finest materials. The collections will be carried globally in Belstaff stores, select departments, fashion and travel retails, as well as independent opticals. #AcrossTheWilderness @Belstaff About BELSTAFF: Belstaff is a modern British heritage brand steeped in the spirit of adventure, protecting independent spirits to venture free. In Belstaff, the fearless explorer and the stylish alike will discover clothing for a contemporary lifestyle influenced by Belstaff's rich 92 year history, yet firmly rooted in the present and forever forward-looking. Belstaff is headquartered in London and showrooms reside there and in New York, Milan and Munich. Belstaff is currently sold through its flagship on New Bond Street, and twelve stores in Europe, the United States and Asia, through select wholesale distribution worldwide and on www.belstaff.com Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408518 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408519 SOURCE Belstaff Related Links http://www.belstaff.com AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 October 15), Big Red, America's original and best-selling red soda, has partnered with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), the only national educational association that represents Hispanic-serving Institutions, to support students pursuing a higher education. Big Red will grant five $1,000 Big Red Avance! scholarships to assist students with the cost of higher education. Scholarships will be awarded for the 2017-2018 academic year. Students can learn more about the scholarships at www.bigred.com/scholarship and sign up to be notified when the scholarship application is live in January 2017. According to Pew Research Center, Hispanic college enrollment has been on the rise. In 2014, 35% of Hispanics ages 18 - 24 enrolled in a two- to four-year college education, up from 22% in 1993. "Big Red is proud to play a part in these students' journey to pursue a higher education. Big Red's partnership with HACU will reach some of America's brightest young leaders and set them on a path for continued success. Big Red is honored to be HACU's first beverage partner by establishing the Big Red Avance! Scholarship Program," says Sergio Trujillo, marketing director at Big Red. Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated every year between September 15 - October 15 to recognize the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States. To reach qualified students about the Big Red Avance! Scholarship Program, Big Red will utilize in-store point of sale, a program microsite, public relations and social media. Allen Bernard Cabanillas and Antonio Huerta are two recent HACU scholarship recipients. "HACU gave me confidence because an organization believed in me and therefore, I can achieve. I am grateful for these opportunities for my education." Allan Bernard Cabanillas, California State University Los Angeles. "The HACU Scholarship Program helped me attend college and gave me tools to achieve my goals. I am truly blessed to have been a part of the HACU Scholarship Program." Antonio Huerta, Colorado State University-Pueblo. To learn more about HACU, please visit: http://www.hacu.net. ABOUT BIG RED Big Red Inc. is one of the top 10 beverage companies in North America with a history dating back to 1937. Along with Big Red, recognized as the number-one selling red soda, Big Red Inc. also markets beverage brands Big Red Zero, Big Blue, Big Peach, Big Pineapple, NuGrape, and Nesbitt's products. Distributed widely throughout the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Independent Bottlers and Pepsi Beverages Company, consumers across the country enjoy Big Red Inc.'s beverages. For more information, please visit www.bigred.com. ABOUT HACU The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) represents more than 450 colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America and Spain. The association's headquarters are located in San Antonio, Texas, with offices in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, California. HACU, the only national association representing existing and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Information is available at www.hacu.net. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160517/368652LOGO SOURCE Big Red Inc. Related Links http://www.bigred.com LONDON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The global bioactive wound care market is expected to reach USD 11.9 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The prevalence of chronic skin conditions, such as pressure ulcers, diabetic foot, and other skin-related infections is on the rise. Bioactive wound care products offer available line of treatment, which act efficiently in curing the aforementioned conditions. Hence, with the increasing target population, the bioactive wound care market is estimated to witness lucrative growth. Rise in awareness among the patients regarding personal hygiene is augmenting the demand for these products. The raised awareness levels cause patients to seek physicians' advice at an early stage thus enabling timely interventions. Rising per capita healthcare expenditure in the recent years and the increasing disposable income is enabling the population to spend a substantial amount on healthcare facilities, thereby contributing towards the growth of the market. The development of advanced products, such as combination wound dressings containing multiple ingredients that offer several benefits to patients, is anticipated to boost the demand for these products. Further key findings from the study suggest: The moist wound care products segment held a lucrative share of more than 50.0% in 2015. The ability of these products to create a supportive moist environment, which expedites the healing process, is a notable feature of these products. Moist wound care products include foams, films, alginates, hydrocolloids, and hydrogels. The antimicrobials segment, comprising products impregnated with silver and non-silver ingredients, is anticipated to witness profitable growth over the forecast period. These products are cost efficient with lower chances of developing resistance to antimicrobial products. The segment of active wound care products, likewise, is anticipated to exhibit a significant growth rate in the coming 8 years. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a couple of biomaterials, Dermagraft, and Alpigraph, for management of skin-related injuries. The ability of these products to mimic biological properties is a key advantage that enables a faster healing process. North America contributed with a share of more than 30.0% of the global bioactive wound care market. Presence of major players, streamlined regulations, and favorable reimbursement policies are some of the key contributing factors responsible for the growth of this region. Asia Pacific with its huge potential is anticipated to witness considerable growth over the forecast period. The presence of a huge untapped population, stirring economic developments in this region, and consistent efforts undertaken to improve the healthcare infrastructure are the key growth drivers. The key players in this industry include Smiths & Nephew, Molnlycke Health Care, ConvaTec, Inc., Paul Hartmann AG, Organogenesis, Inc., Systagenix Wound Management Ltd., 3M Healthcare Ltd., Medtronic, Covalon Technologies Ltd., BSN Medical, and Medline Industries, Inc. The strategic endeavors undertaken by the leading players in the industry include new product launches, collaborations with government bodies, and R&D investments. In July 2015, Smith & Nephew acquired DeOst LLC and DeLLC, part of the DeOST group, which is a manufacturer of medical devices in Russia. This acquisition is expected to help companies expand their global footprints. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4144333/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com WHAT: The Boston Tea Party comes alive this December! It's December 16th, 1773 and trouble is brewing in Boston. Presented by Boston's famed Old South Meeting House and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, the 243 rd Boston Tea Party Anniversary & Annual Reenactment is an opportunity for the public to experience one of America's most iconic public protests. Reenactors from across New England theatrically tell the story of The Boston Tea Party and recreate the evening of December 16, 1773 which sparked the American Revolution. It all begins with a fiery tea tax debate at Old South Meeting House, the actual historic hall where the colonists congregated 243 years ago. Then, the public joins a lively procession to the waterfront and witnesses as the Sons of Liberty destroy 220lbs of actual loose [expired] tea into Boston Harbor. The tea is supplied by London's East India Company, the same company from where the original tea came in 1773 and is still in existence today! WHEN: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2016 - Actual Historic Boston Tea Party Anniversary 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. TIMELINE: 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. The Meeting of the Body of the People - TICKETED EVENT (Ticket includes admission to the meeting at the Old South Meeting House plus special reserved viewing access along Boston's historic waterfront for the Destruction of the Tea) Old South Meeting House - 310 Washington Street at Milk Street Ticket holders join an authentic, spirited and theatrical colonial debate at Old South Meeting House to protest the tax on tea ("No taxation without representation!") just as unprecedented numbers of colonists gathered in this very building 243 years ago. Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and other Patriot leaders join in a heated debate with crown-loving Loyalists in this final attempt to peaceably resolve the crisis before the midnight deadline. Visitors are encouraged to join the debate, letting their voices be heard in the very place where Boston's most famous act of rebellion began. 7:30 - 8:00 p.m. Huzzah to Griffin's Wharf! - OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC Procession from Old South Meeting House to the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum - Milk Street to Congress Street to Pearl Street Led by fife and drums and accompanied by colonial reenactors (in addition to a number of Redcoats along the way), the public is invited to march from Old South Meeting House to Boston's historic waterfront where Griffin's Wharf once stood along the same route the Sons of Liberty took to Boston Harbor to destroy the tea in 1773! 8:00 - 8:30 p.m. Boston Harbor, a Tea Pot Tonight! - OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC (Ticket holders have access to a reserved viewing area on the Harborwalk) Destruction of the Tea at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum - 306 Congress St. The public is invited along with the reenactors to line the shores of Boston Harbor and watch as the Sons of Liberty storm aboard the Brig Beaver and destroy chest after chest of East India tea, just as colonists did 243 years before. In this fully narrated program, the Sons of Liberty board the ship, opening the hold and hoisting tea chests on deck. Tea chests are broken open and actual tea from London's East India Tea Company is spilled into Boston's historic waters. Viewers cheer "Huzzah!" as each chest of tea is dumped into Boston Harbor as they witness the dramatic conclusion of this single most important event leading up to the American Revolution. TICKETS: THIS EVENT SELLS OUT ANNUALLY. GREAT DEALS EARLY! A S OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 - Discounted General Admission prices - $25 /per person ON NOVEMBER 1, 2016 - Ticket prices jump to General Admission pricing - $30 /per person To purchase tickets go to: http://gottea2016.bpt.me or visit Old South Meeting House at 310 Washington Street, Boston, MA. Discounted General Admission tickets ($25/person) are also available for sale at the Old South Meeting House through October 31, 2016. Tickets include admission to the Meeting of the Body of the People at Old South Meeting House and access to an exclusive reserved viewing area on Boston's Harborwalk for the Destruction of the Tea. All ticket proceeds help support Old South Meeting House, a non-profit National Historic Landmark. This event takes place rain, sleet, snow or shine. For general information on the annual reenactment, go to: www.December16.org. NOTE: Both Old South Meeting House and Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum will be FREE and open to the public on Fri., December 16, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. HOTEL INFO: ALOFT BOSTON SEAPORT HOTEL, a new trendy 330-room hotel, is offering a BOSTON TEA PARTY EXPERIENCE starting from $299.00 and includes: Deluxe accommodations in Boston's thriving Seaport District thriving Seaport District Two (2) tickets to the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Adult (21+) Tea Time voucher for two (2) at WXYZ Bar featuring Aboslut Wild Tea Vodka $25 Re:fuel credit, a 24/7 grab & go outlet with snacks, beverages and light meals This package is valid from Dec. 1-31, 2016 and is based on double occupancy, blackout dates apply. To book, call Aloft Boston Seaport 877-462-5638. The hotel is located at 401-403 D St. BOSTON HARBOR HOTEL, a 230-room Forbes five-Star luxury hotel situated on Boston Harbor, is offering a BOSTON TEA PARTY PACKAGE starting from $274.00. This package includes: Deluxe accommodations overlooking Boston's historic waterfront historic waterfront Afternoon Tea for two (2) at Rowes Wharf Sea Grille Tickets for two (2) to the 243rd Boston Tea Party Anniversary & Annual Reenactment This package is available Fri., Dec. 16 ONLY is based on double occupancy (must be booked by Dec. 14, 2016 to guarantee tickets). The package will be bookable as of Nov. 1, 2016 on www.bhh.com. The hotel is located at 70 Rowes Wharf. HOTEL INFO: ELEMENT BOSTON SEAPORT HOTEL, a new 180-room hotel, is offering a BOSTON TEA PARTY EXPERIENCE starting from $299.00. This package includes: Deluxe accommodations in the thriving Seaport District with full kitchens in every room Two (2) tickets to the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Tea Amenity featuring Tea Forte $25 Restore: Gourmet pantry credit, a 24/7 grab & go outlet with snacks, beverages and light meals This package is valid from Dec. 1-31, 2016 and is based on double occupancy, blackout dates apply. To book, call Element Boston Seaport at 877-353-6368. The hotel is located at 391 D St. INTERCONTINENTAL BOSTON, a 424-room luxury hotel located closest/adjacent to the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, is offering a REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY: BOSTON TEA PARTY PACKAGE starting from $299.00. This includes: Deluxe accommodations overlooking Boston's historic waterfront and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum historic waterfront and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Two (2) adult (age 13+) combo tickets with access to both the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum and Old South Meeting House Two (2) tea-infused beverages - RumBa's hard tea rum cocktails (IC-Breeze, Life & LibertTea or Tea Act) or hot tea Tea Amenity - Boston Tea Company Connoisseur's Mini Wooden Tea Chest which includes 20 tea bags in five gourmet blends: English Breakfast, Earl Grey , Oriental Treasure Green, Pomegranate Green & Lemon Honey Chamomile Herbal , Oriental Treasure Green, Pomegranate Green & Lemon Honey Chamomile Herbal Tickets for two (2) to the 243rd Boston Tea Party Anniversary & Annual Reenactment - available Fri., Dec. 16, 2016 ONLY. This package is available year-round and is based on double occupancy, blackout dates apply. To book, call InterContinental Boston directly at 617-217-5033 or 877-747-BOSTON. The hotel is located at 510 Atlantic Ave. overlooking the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. BOSTON RESTAURANT & BAR SPECIALS: OFFERED THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2016 - AVERY BAR (10 Avery St. in the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common): THROW IT INTO THE CARIBBEAN - Owls Brew Coco-Lada, Papa's Pilar Rum - $16 THE NORTHEAST MOJITO - A local gold rum, lemon, sugar, mint leaves, Bohea black tea (one of the teas throwing into Boston Harbor during The Boston Tea Party) - $16 (10 Avery St. in the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common): BASTILLE KITCHEN (49 Melcher St.) - TEA SMOKED MUSSELS MARINIERE with Earl Grey salt, rouille toast - $14 (49 Melcher St.) - with salt, rouille toast - BLUE STATE COFFEE (155 Seaport Blvd & 957 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA ) Also available at cafes in Providence, RI & New Haven, CT ) - PATRIOT BLEND COFFEE & REVOLUTIONARY BLEND TEA (155 Seaport Blvd & 957 Commonwealth Ave., ) Also available at cafes in & ) - & BON ME (313 Congress St.) DEVILED TEA EGG - Eggs soaked in a black tea mixture topped with homemade spicy mayo, cayenne pepper, scallions - $2.50 each (313 Congress St.) - Eggs soaked in a black tea mixture topped with homemade spicy mayo, cayenne pepper, scallions - each HARPOON BREWERY (306 Northern Ave.) Annual December BOSTON TEA PARTY ALE - Craft beer made with Souchong tea, a black tea from the Wuyi Mountains in the Fujian province of China . The tea, provided by the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, is famous for its very distinctive smoky aroma and is one of the five teas thrown into Boston Harbor during The Boston Tea Party. (306 Northern Ave.) Annual December - Craft beer made with Souchong tea, a black tea from the Wuyi Mountains in the province of . The tea, provided by the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, is famous for its very distinctive smoky aroma and is one of the five teas thrown into Boston Harbor during The Boston Tea Party. L'ESPALIER (774 Boylston St.) SOUTHERN EARL GREY - Earl Grey -infused Bourbon, Grand Marnier, oolong and ginger syrup, orange bitters, Champagne - $18 (774 Boylston St.) - -infused Bourbon, Grand Marnier, oolong and ginger syrup, orange bitters, Champagne - THE MARLIAVE (10 Bosworth St.) THE BOSTON TEA PARTY - Lunazul Tequila, Earl Grey tea, ginger beer, lemon - $12 (10 Bosworth St.) - Lunazul Tequila, tea, ginger beer, lemon - THE OCEANAIRE SEAFOOD ROOM (40 Court St.) ABSOLUT BOSTON TEA PARTY MARTINI - Absolut Wild Tea Vodka, muddled with fresh lemons, triple sec, fresh sour mix - $10 (40 Court St.) - Absolut Wild Tea Vodka, muddled with fresh lemons, triple sec, fresh sour mix - RED LANTERN RESTAURANT & LOUNGE (39 Stanhope St.) KOLD TEA - An oversized cocktail (serves 3-4) of jasmine and oolong-infused Tito's Vodka, lemon, beer - $35 (39 Stanhope St.) - An oversized cocktail (serves 3-4) of jasmine and oolong-infused Tito's Vodka, lemon, beer - RESIDENCE INN BOSTON DOWNTOWN/SEAPORT HOTEL LOBBY BAR & LOUNGE (370 Congress St.) GREEN TEA GIMLET - Tanqueray Gin , green tea, lime juice, lemon syrup - $12 (370 Congress St.) - , green tea, lime juice, lemon syrup - RUMBA (rum bar located in the InterContinental Boston - 510 Atlantic Ave.): IC-BREEZE - Barr Hill Gin , fresh brewed mint tea, limoncello, orange juice, Peychaud's bitters, simple syrup, lemon - $15 LIFE & LIBERTEA - Rum steeped with Earl Grey tea, honey syrup, fresh muddled lemons - $14 TEA ACT - Rum, Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur , Mathilde Peche, fresh brewed iced tea , fresh muddled ginger, fresh lemon juice - $14 (rum bar located in the InterContinental Boston - 510 Atlantic Ave.): SCHOLAR'S (25 School St.) THE SCHOLAR'S LONG ISLAND ICED TEA - House-infused honey peach tea vodka, a splash of citrus mix - tall and over rocks - $12 (25 School St.) - House-infused honey peach tea vodka, a splash of citrus mix - tall and over rocks - THE TAP TRAILHOUSE (19 Union St.) THE BOSTON TEA PARTY PUNCH - An oversized cocktail (serves 3-4) of pisco, pineapple juice, lemon, cinnamon, green tea - $39 OFFERED FROM DECEMBER 1 - DECEMBER 16, 2016 - EMERALD LOUNGE (in the Revere Hotel Boston Common -200 Stuart St.) TWO4THREE - Bulleit Bourbon, Barry's homemade sweet tea, lemon, mint - $13 OFFERED THE EVENING OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY ANNIVERSARY/REENACTMENT ON FRI., DEC. 16, 2016 - BARKING CRAB (88 Sleeper St.) THE CRABBY TEA PARTY - one cup of clam chowder, one entree of Harpoon IPA battered fish & chips, a pint of Harpoon IPA - $20.16 (88 Sleeper St.) - one cup of clam chowder, one entree of Harpoon IPA battered fish & chips, a pint of Harpoon IPA - SMITH & WOLLENSKY (294 Congress St.) BOSTON TEA PARTY REENACTMENT PRIX FIXE DINNER - 3-course prix-fixe menu (signature steak or seafood, side & dessert), Samuel Adams Boston Lager - $45 ABOUT OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE: Famed as the place where the Boston Tea Party began, the 1729 Old South Meeting is one of the nation's most important colonial landmarks and was the center for Boston's protests against British rule in the years leading to the American Revolution. Saved from demolition in 1876, this treasured National Historic Landmark has been open to the public since the as a non-profit historic site, museum and an active center for public dialogue and free express in the heart of downtown Boston. The Old South Meeting house is a 501(c) 3 organization supported by The Massachusetts Cultural Council and other public and private funders. Presenting exhibits, rare artifacts and a full schedule of programs and events year-round and open daily 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. from April 1 - Oct., 31, and 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. from Nov. 1 - March 31. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Day. For more information, visit www.osmh.org, [email protected] or call 617-482-6439. Old South Meeting House is located at 310 Washington St., at the intersection of Milk St. in Boston, MA. ABOUT BOSTON TEA PARTY SHIPS & MUSEUM: The Boston Tea Party, "the single most important event leading up to the American Revolution," occurred the night of Dec. 16, 1773. With the grand opening in June 2012, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, owned and operated by Historic Tours of America, is dedicated to accurately reliving and representing a key time in history (1773-1775). Through actors, tea throwing reenactments, high-tech interactive exhibits, authentic replica ships: the Beaver and the Eleanor, and an award-winning multisensory film, Let it Begin Here. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is open 7 days/week from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Summer/Spring) and from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Fall/Winter). Tours run every 30 minutes in the fall/winter and every 15 minutes in the spring/summer and last 1 hr. Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum was voted #1 'Best Patriotic Attraction' in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards 2016, 'Best New Museum' by Yankee in 2012 and 'Best of the New 2012' by Boston Globe Magazine. To learn more visit www.bostonteapartyship.com or call 1-855-(TEA)-1773. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is located at 306 Congress St. on the Congress St. Bridge, Boston, MA. MEDIA CONTACTS: Stephanie Loeber Lauren Reddy Loeber Communications Old South Meeting House Ph: 617-510-0577 Ph: 617-482-6439 ext. 15 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/Boston-Tea-Party-Annivesary-Annual-Reenactment.mp4 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409335 SOURCE Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: BRS) announced today that the Company will be presenting at the Johnson Rice Energy Conference to be held in New Orleans, September 20 22, 2016. Don Miller, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, is scheduled to present on Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m. ET). A live broadcast of the presentation and the accompanying slides will be available in the Investor Relations section of the Bristow Group website at www.bristowgroup.com and will be archived there for approximately 90 days. ABOUT BRISTOW GROUP INC. Bristow Group Inc. is the leading global industrial aviation services provider based on the number of aircraft operated and one of two helicopter service providers to the offshore energy industry with global operations. The Company has major transportation operations in the North Sea, Nigeria and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and in most of the other major offshore oil and gas producing regions of the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia and Trinidad. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.bristowgroup.com. Contact: Linda McNeill Investor Relations (713) 267-7622 SOURCE Bristow Group Inc. Related Links http://www.bristowgroup.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed the arrest of a suspect who is believed to have been involved in recent bombings in New York and New Jersey. CAIR also urged national unity in the face of violence. In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: "We welcome the arrest of the suspect in this case and hope this ends the series of potentially-deadly incidents. American Muslims, like all Americans reject extremism and violence, and seek a safe and secure nation. Our nation is most secure when we remain united and reject the fear-mongering and guilt by association often utilized following such attacks. We stand together with our fellow Americans in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota as we deal with the troubling phenomenon of domestic terrorism." CAIR-NJ Executive Director Jim Sues said: "We thank the law enforcement agencies involved in the apprehension of this suspect for their swift and professional actions." "We urge all New Yorkers and Americans across the nation to stand in solidarity against intolerance aimed at dividing communities," said CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher. Nasher added that CAIR has noted a spike in anti-Muslim discrimination and hate crimes in recent months, which the civil rights group attributes at least in part to Islamophobic rhetoric used by various public figures, like Donald Trump, who today renewed his call for racial and religious profiling of Americans. CAIR: Trump Says Fear of Profiling Inhibits U.S. Terrorism Prevention (Bloomberg) http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-19/trump-says-fear-of-profiling-inhibits-u-s-terrorism-prevention Report: Hate Crimes Targeting Muslims, Arab-Americans Rise Dramatically in 2015 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3110202-SPECIAL-STATUS-REPORT-v5-9-16-16.html One of the latest anti-Muslim incidents include the firebombing of a mosque in Florida. SEE: Video: CAIR-Florida Welcomes Arrest of Suspect in Mosque Arson, Applauds Police Actions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qret7JNsGk The Washington-based Muslim civil rights group is asking Muslim community members to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR's Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420 or by filing a report at: http://www.cair.com/civil-rights/report-an-incident/view/form.html CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. La mision de CAIR es mejorar la comprension del Islam, fomentar el dialogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprension mutua. Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational Subscribe to CAIR's Email List http://tinyurl.com/cairsubscribe Subscribe to CAIR's Twitter Feed http://twitter.com/cairnational Subscribe to CAIR's YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/cairtv CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR-NJ Executive Director Jim Sues, 908-668-5900, [email protected]; CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher, 917-669-4006, [email protected]; Director of Strategic Litigation Albert Cahn, 571-766-6273, [email protected] SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Related Links http://www.cair.com MANCHESTER, England, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chinese boom town of Chengdu is preparing to welcome the international aviation industry this weekend for the 22nd annual World Routes forum (24-27 September). (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150730/250177LOGO ) World Routes moves to a different location every year to highlight different aviation markets. It is the only route development forum that brings together aviation professionals to discuss new air services on a global scale. Rapid economic growth since the 1990s has transformed Chengdu into the largest city in western China with a population of over 1.4 million. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and home to 271 Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Chengdu's GDP increased by 7.9 % in 2015 to 1.08 trillion Yuan which is 1.1% above the national average. Chengdu was included in The New York Times' "52 Places to Go in 2015" list and it is one of China's top ten tourist destinations. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, ancient archaeological ruins, the remains of the Old City and many other attractions drew 2.3 million overseas visitors last year. Economic success and a burgeoning tourism industry has led to high demand for air services. Between 2012 and 2015 Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport's passenger numbers increased by 40% from 30 million to 42 million. During this time dozens of new international routes were launched to cities including Vancouver, Frankfurt, Doha, London, Melbourne, San Francisco, Moscow and Paris. Passenger numbers are expected to reach 47 million by the end of this year. The wider context of China's investment in aviation is crucial to Chengdu's success. The government aims to create a one trillion yuan ($153.8 billion) aviation market by 2020 and a national construction programme will increase the number of Chinese airports to 260, one of which will be in Chengdu. Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (currently under construction) will have the capacity to handle 40 million passengers when the first building phases are complete. It will make Chengdu the third largest aviation hub in China after Beijing and Shanghai when it opens in 2020. Chengdu will also benefit from President Xi Jinping's initiative to create a modern day Silk Road through improved international transport connections. The 'One Road, One Belt' strategy has identified Chengdu as an important hub to improve air services to western Asian, the Middle East and Europe. The host of World Routes 2016, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, will show over 3,100 delegates from 230 airlines, 470 airports and 80 tourism authorities what the destination has to offer while making the case for new air services. Most of the world's major airlines will be present including Air Asia, Air Canada, Air China, Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa and Qantas. The latest challenges facing the aviation industry will be debated at the Strategy Summit conference. The high profile speakers include Peter Bellew, CEO of Malaysia Airlines; Hou Wei, vice president of Hainan Airlines and Benyamin Ismail, CEO of AirAsia X Berhad. The Tourism Summit conference will explore how destinations can attract Chinese tourists and the changing nature of marketing. Speakers include Shanzhong Zhu, executive director of World Tourism Organization (UNWTO); Professor Dr Wolfgang Arlt, director of China's Outbound Tourism Research Institute and David Scowsill, president and CEO of World Travel & Tourism Council. Adrian Newton, group director at UBM EMEA (the organiser of World Routes) said: "The airlines are increasingly looking east for future growth and no other country is currently investing in aviation like China. World Routes will provide a fantastic international platform to plan new air services across the globe." Mr Liwei, board chairman of Sichuan Province Airport Group Co Ltd said: "Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is the largest international aviation hub in central-western China with significant potential for growth. "We are looking forward to meeting senior decision makers from the airlines at World Routes to discuss global aviation and development strategy and share the achievement of cooperation and communication." More information about World Routes can be viewed at: http://www.routesonline.com/events/182/world-routes-2016/ World Routes 2016, Century City New International Exhibition & Convention Centre, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, 24 - 27 September. Notes to Editors About Routes Routes events are unique forums dedicated to the development of new air services. Five 'regional' route development forums are held between February and June in the Americas, Asia , Europe and Africa , with the flagship World Routes event taking place in September. https://www.routesonline.com The events revolve around pre-scheduled meetings and an exhibition and conference which are delivered in partnership with host stakeholders. Hosts tend to be a collaboration between airports, tourism authorities and investment partners (the bidding process takes place two to three years before the event takes place). Routes was founded in 1995 and is part of the EMEA division of UBM plc. For further information contact: Karen Reeves Communications & Content Marketing Manager Routes, UBM EMEA T: +44(0)161-234-2721 M: +44(0)796-6405-105 E: [email protected] SOURCE Routes CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago United unveiled the findings of its biennial report, Inside Inclusion Featuring the Corporate Diversity Profile, which examines trends in the racial composition of board of directors and senior leadership positions in the top 50 Chicago-headquartered companies. The report revealed minimal gains in minority representation throughout executive ranks and examined its significant impact of earning power over minority groups' lifetimes. In addition to leadership diversity trends, this year Chicago United partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to calculate earnings trajectories over a 40-year career of different races/ethnicities, genders and education levels using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The results found that, compared to white males, most minorities experience significantly reduced lifetime earnings regardless of their level of educational achievement. For example, minorities with professional degrees earn less than white males with similar levels of education: Over a lifetime, African American men will earn 74 percent of their white male counterparts' earnings. Caucasian females will earn 68 percent and African American females will earn 67 percent of what white males earn. Latino males will earn 71 percent and Latinas will earn only 55 percent of their white male counterparts' lifetime earnings. Asian females fare slightly better, earning 80 percent of white males' lifetime earnings. Asian males were the one exception to the trend, earning 6 percent more than white males over a lifetime. "The fact that the majority of diverse professionals are subject to lesser lifetime earnings than their Caucasian counterparts, regardless of an equivalent education level, has corresponding negative impact on the ability to purchase homes, accumulate savings, pay for their children's education and build generational wealth. These findings reveal that inclusion is a necessary strategy in addressing disparities which are obviously not linked to educational differences," said Gloria Castillo, president and CEO of Chicago United. "It is clear that intentional action is needed now, more than ever, to implement leading inclusive business practices." An analysis of the larger trends in racial diversity across Chicago's top 50 companies (based on revenue) shows incremental movement across three core areas, including boards of directors, C-suites and executive ranks: Minority representation on boards of directors increased from 12 percent to 14 percent between 2014 and 2016 with African Americans maintaining the largest percentage of representation at 8 percent. Minority representation in the C-suite grew by 1 percent between 2012 and 2014 from 7 percent to 8 percent and remained stagnant (8 percent) in 2016. African Americans, Asians and Hispanics are separated by no more than a couple of percentage points, showing representation levels of 4 percent, 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively. 19 out of 50 (38 percent) of Chicago companies have no ethnic diversity within their executive ranks and minority representation slipped between 2016 and 2014, decreasing from 10 percent to 9 percent. "The people serving on board of directors and in the C-suite make decisions about where corporate investments are made. These critical decisions have a very direct impact on economic opportunity and who benefits in wealth creation," added Castillo. "In order to achieve equal representation in these leadership positions, I challenge our local leaders to consider what purposeful changes they can make to strengthen diversity within their organizations and positively impact the communities of Chicago." To provide organizations with a roadmap to improve in areas critical to diversity and inclusion (D&I) advancement, Chicago United convened a team of leading diversity and human resources professionals to identify the most relevant challenges and best practices of Chicago's corporations. This taskforce, chaired by Warren M. Smith, America's career management leader at Ernst & Young LLP, together discovered insights that informed a Toolkit included within Inside Inclusion that offers insights into leading D&I practices and provides questions to keep leaders and stakeholders engaged in an ongoing dialogue around diversity and inclusion. "The Toolkit provides an introspective review into an organization's talent agenda and how organizations can continue to advance their efforts," said Smith. "It provides a scalable framework that can be applied at the corporate or business-unit leveland that's what makes it so powerful." To download a copy of 2016 Inside Inclusion Report, please visit chicago-united.org. About Inside Inclusion Inside Inclusion examined the top 50 Chicago-based public companies ranked by 2015 revenues as reported in the Crain's Chicago Business Book of Lists, December 2015. The number of incumbents and ethnicity was determined by reviewing company proxy statements. Additionally, in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, an analysis was conducted by Maude Toussaint-Comeau, senior business economist in the community development and policy studies division of the economic research department, to help illustrate the earnings prospects of workers across stages of their career. The calculations are based on American Community Survey (ACS) 2010-2014 five-year estimates. About Chicago United Chicago United is a corporate membership, advocacy organization whose mission is to achieve parity in economic opportunity for people of color by advancing multiracial leadership in corporate governance, executive level management, and business diversity. Founded in 1968, the organization is focused on transforming the Chicago region into the most inclusive business ecosystem in the nation by engaging the top publicly and privately held corporations in leading talent management and inclusive diversity practices. Chicago United's signature programs include its Business Leaders of Color publication which showcases a diverse pool of corporate director candidates and the Five Forward Initiative, designed to invigorate job creation in communities of color by increasing the scale of large MBEs in the Chicago region. SOURCE Chicago United Related Links http://www.chicago-united.org China, Russia navies stage air defense, anti-submarine drill From:Xinhua | 2016-09-18 14:40 Chinese frigate "Huangshan" and Russian Navy's Antisubmarine Ship "Admiral Tributs" sail to a target area during a China-Russia naval joint drill at sea off south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 16, 2016. Chinese and Russian fleets conducted joint operation exercise off Guangdong Province in the South China Sea during the "Joint Sea 2016" drill on Friday. The drill, starting on Sept. 12, will run until Sept. 19, consisting of three phases: preparation at port, exercise at sea and summary. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming) ABOARD WARSHIP GUANGZHOU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian naval forces on Saturday carried out a joint drill on air defense and anti-submarine in the South China Sea off southern China's Guangdong Province. Vessels including a missile destroyer, anti-submarine vessels, missile frigates, ship-based helicopters and conventional submarines, among others, took part in the exercise. The vessels were divided into two fleets and confrontations were staged off the eastern waters of Zhanjiang in Guangdong. A senior officer of the joint drill said the exercise was carried out under a background of actual combat and expected aim of the exercise had been reached. Chinese and Russian navies are currently holding the "Joint Sea-2016" drill that runs from Sept. 13 to 19. It features navy surface ships, submarines, fixed-wing aircraft, ship-borne helicopters, marine corps and amphibious armored equipment from both sides. DENVER, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) announced a promotion to help make heading back to school a little easier. During the entire month of September, high school and college students with a valid ID can enjoy free fountain soft drinks or iced tea with any in-store entree purchase. "It can be tough when the end of the summer collides with the reality of heading back to school," said Chris Arnold, communications director at Chipotle. "We're filling and refilling students' cups at all Chipotle locations to celebrate the beginning of the new academic year." Transactions that include the free student drink will still count toward Chiptopia, Chipotle's loyalty program that rewards customers who make multiple paid visits to Chipotle each month with free food when transactions total at least six dollars. The student drink promotion is open to high school (including home schooled students), undergraduate or graduate college students who present a valid ID. This promotion includes fountain soft drinks and iced tea and excludes any bottled drinks (Izze, Nantucket). Free drinks are limited to one per person, per visit, and are only valid with in-store orders. For more information, please visit Chipotle.com/septemberfreedrink. ABOUT CHIPOTLE Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Through our vision of Food With Integrity, Chipotle is seeking better food from using ingredients that are not only fresh, but that where possible are sustainably grown and raised responsibly with respect for the animals, the land and the farmers who produce the food. In order to achieve this vision, we focus on building a special people culture that is centered on creating teams of top performers empowered to achieve high standards. This people culture not only leads to a better dining experience for our customers, it also allows us to develop future leaders from within. Chipotle opened with a single restaurant in 1993 and operates more than 2,000 restaurants, including 24 Chipotle restaurants outside the US and 14 ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen restaurants, and is an investor in an entity that owns and operates four Pizzeria Locale restaurants. For more information, visit Chipotle.com. SOURCE Chipotle CHICAGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ContextMedia:Health, the leading provider of digital solutions at the point of care, is proud to announce that it will serve as the exclusive provider of point-of-care digital educational information for the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG). ContextMedia:Health will collaborate with the American College of Gastroenterology to help achieve its mission to meet the evolving needs of GI clinicians in the delivery of high quality, evidence-based and compassionate health care to gastroenterology patients. In order to improve the quality of care received by patients, ContextMedia:Health will deliver media from ACG's library of patient education materials to gastroenterology waiting rooms and exam rooms within ContextMedia:Health's network of 25,000 offices, while also working with ACG to produce new video content, including patient and physician interviews. This collaboration will allow for the delivery of actionable GI-related content in the critical moments before and during the physician consultation. "Our shared purpose with ACG creates a powerful partnership, and together, we can continue to help gastroenterologists meet the needs of their patients," said Anil Harjani, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at ContextMedia:Health. "We look forward to working with ACG member physicians to leverage our solutions to create practice efficiencies, engage their patients, and ultimately drive outcomes at scale." Content from the American College of Gastroenterology will be made available to 13,000 members of ACG, existing ContextMedia:Health member offices and qualified GI offices in the United States at no cost. About ContextMedia:Health ContextMedia:Health is the leading provider of digital solutions at the point of care in the United States. The company's technologies impact 378 million patient visits a year at 25,000 physician practices across the nation through digital anatomy boards, patient education tablets and mobile connectivity in outpatient waiting rooms and patient examination rooms. These health technologies deliver measurable results to patient engagement, empowering action and inspiring behavior change for people living with a chronic condition. ContextMedia:Health was founded in 2006 and has been more than doubling each year, aiming to reach ubiquity in 70% of all healthcare practices domestically by 2020 with eyes on global expansion of its technology operations. In addition to hospitals and integrated health systems, ContextMedia:Health also partners with life science companies, medical device companies, health content publishers and medical associations to catalyze conversations between the healthcare provider and patient about lifestyle changes and therapy solutions to improve the quality of life. To find out more about ContextMedia:Health, visit www.contextmediainc.com. Media Contact: Philip de Guzman, Community Relations, ContextMedia, (312) 636-7320, About the American College of Gastroenterology Founded in 1932, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is an organization with an international membership of more than 13,000 individuals from 86 countries. The College's vision is to be the pre-eminent professional organization that champions the evolving needs of clinicians in the delivery of high quality, evidence-based, and compassionate health care to gastroenterology patients. The mission of the College is to advance world-class care for patients with gastrointestinal disorders through excellence, innovation and advocacy in the areas of scientific investigation, education, prevention and treatment. www.gi.org Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160713/389076LOGO SOURCE ContextMedia:Health Related Links http://www.contextmediainc.com PUNE, India, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Dental Implants and Prosthetics Market by Type (Implant, Crown, Bridge, Denture, Abutment, Veneer, Inlay, Onlay), Material (Titanium, Zirconium, Ceramic, Porcelain-Fused-to-Metal), Type of Facility (Hospitals, Dental Laboratories) - Forecast to 2021", the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% between 2016 and 2021 to reach USD 12.32 Billion by 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 320 market data Tables and 45 Figures spread through 275 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Dental Implants and Prosthetics Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/dental-implants-prosthetics-market-695.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. This market growth can be attributed to factors such as the rapidly increasing aging population, growing demand for cosmetic dentistry, and growing incidences of dental caries and other periodontal diseases. This report analyzes the dental implants and prosthetics market on the basis of dental implants, dental prosthetics, type of facility, and regions. The dental implants market is further segmented on the basis of material, procedure, and type. On the basis of material, the dental implants market is segmented into titanium and zirconium implants. By procedure, the dental implants market is segmented into root-form dental implants and plate-form dental implants. Based on type, the dental implants market is segmented into premium, value, and discounted implants. The dental prosthetics market is further segmented into crowns, bridges, dentures, abutments, veneers, and inlays & onlays. Dental bridges are further subsegmented into 3-unit bridges, 4-unit bridges, Maryland bridges, and cantilever bridges. Based on material, the dental crowns and bridges market is subsegmented into PFM, all-ceramic, and metal segments. Based on the type of facility segment, the dental implants and prosthetics market is segmented into hospitals and clinics, dental laboratories, and other type of facility such as academic and research institutes. On the basis of region, the dental implants and prosthetics market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2015, titanium implants accounted for the largest share of the dental implants market. The large share and high growth of this segment can mainly be attributed to higher adoption of titanium implants by dental professionals due to their biocompatibility, strength, and durability. Premium implants accounted for the largest share of the global dental implants market, by type. However, the discounted implants segment is expected to witness the highest growth in the next five years. Growth in the discounted implants segment can mainly be attributed to its increasing use by dental professionals in emerging economies. Dental bridges accounted for the largest share of the dental prosthetics market. By type of facility, the hospitals and clinics segment accounted for the largest share of the global dental implants and prosthetics market in 2015. The large share of this segment is mainly due to the increasing number of dental hospitals and clinics. Ask for PDF Brochure: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=695 Europe is the largest regional segment for the Dental Implants Market. The large share of this regional segment can be attributed to the favorable reimbursement scenario, increasing government expenditure towards healthcare, and growing aging population. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period, due to less stringent regulations, increasing number of hospitals and clinics, growing demand for dental procedures, and growing dental tourism. The market players, namely, Institut Straumann AG (Switzerland), DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (U.S.), Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), and 3M Company (U.S.) held a major share of the dental implants and prosthetics market. These companies focused on strategies such as acquisitions, agreements, and new product launches to sustain their presence in the market. The other key players in the global dental implants and prosthetics market include AVINENT Implant System (Spain), CAMLOG Biotechnologies AG (Switzerland), BioHorizons IPH, Inc. (U.S.), OSSTEM IMPLANT Co., Ltd. (South Korea), and Bicon, LLC (U.S.). Browse Related Reports: Dental Consumables Market by Product (Implants, Prosthetics, Orthodontics, Endodontics, Infection Control, Periodontics, Whitening Products, Prophylaxis, Fluorides, Sealants, Splints), End-User (Hospital & Clinic, Academic, Research) - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/oral-care-products-dental-consumables-market-699.html Single Tooth Implants and Dental Bridges Market by Product (Single Tooth Implants, Dental Bridges), by Type (3-unit, 4-unit, Maryland, Cantilever, Partial), by Material (PFM, All Ceramics and Metal Alloys) - Global Forecasts to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/single-tooth-implants-dental-bridges-market-4567099.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. 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Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets 701 Pike Street, Suite 2175, Seattle, WA 98101, United States Telephone No: 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/healthcare/medical-devices Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Jonathan Cain, longtime keyboardist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Journey, co-writer of the No. 1 digital catalog song in history, "Don't Stop Believin'," as well as writer of "Faithfully" and co-writer of "Who's Crying Now," "Open Arms" and many more international hit songs, will release his solo album, What God Wants to Hear, October 21 on Identity Records with The Fuel Music distribution. "Only God can take a mess and turn it into a message, a test into a testimony, a trial into a triumph, a victim into victory," says Cain, describing the heart behind the album's music. Cain, who continues to tour the world with Journey, one of the most popular American rock bands of all time, crafted his new solo album from his personal faith-journey that started in Chicago when, at a young age, he wanted to be a priest. His faith was challenged after he survived a horrific fire in third grade at his school, Our Lady of the Angels School, where 92 of his fellow students along with three nuns died that day. Cain found healing and redemption in music, and his long "journey" eventually led him back to the seminal faith of his youth. Cain's return to his faith coincided with discovering love and healing through Paula White, senior Pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, whom he married in April 2015. Leading worship at his wife's annual women's conference, Cain found a new joy in his music. "I never heard him sing like this," says White. "Something had shifted in him." "I've always been seeking out songs since I was young," Cain shares. "I never had any idea how rich the Bible was with imagery. I got lost in it. It feels like I'm just starting to believe again." The first single from his new album is available for download with preorder at iTunes beginning September 23. Cain is also exclusively offering, for a limited time, a free download of the bonus track, "Remove Every Veil," along with an introduction to the song from Pastor Paula White at http://jonathancainmusic.com/. What God Wants to Hear, was recorded at Addiction Sound, Cain's state-of-the-art studio in Nashville. The full track listing follows: 01) "Deeper Than Deep" 02) "Bold In Prayer" 03) "Rush Into Me" 04) "Have Your Way With Us" 05) "In Your Waters" 06) "What God Wants To Hear" 07) "Sanctify Segue" 08) "Sanctify" 09) "Fall Into You" 10) "This House" 11) "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" 12) "Why I Breathe" 13) "Because The Blood" * See album teaser at https://vimeo.com/174289859. * Read a recent interview with Cain and Parade Magazine. About Jonathan Cain: In 1976 Jonathan Cain released his first solo record, Windy City Breakdown. In 1979 he joined the band, The Babys, and in 1980 joined the rock band, Journey, rounding out the songwriting genius behind the defining album, Escape. Cain's signature piano, synth playing, and songwriting contributions with Journey, The Babys, and Bad English have earned him many Billboard hits, multiple gold, platinum, and Diamond-selling records, a Star on the Hollywood walk of fame, and the best-selling catalog rock song in iTunes' history ("Don't Stop Believin'"). Journey was named as the fifth best band in rock history in a 2005 USA Today opinion poll, and continues, to this day, selling out arenas worldwide. Websites: jonathancainmusic.com; Addiction Sound | Twitter: @TheJonathanCain Facebook: Jonathan Cain Music | Instagram: Jonathan Cain Music About The Fuel Music: Established in 2008, The Fuel Music & Management, LLC, is a leading artist management and artist solutions company that independently distributes music internationally. Based in Tennessee, the Fuel team brings nearly 70 years of combined music industry experience in record label operations, major label distribution and marketing, and artist management for artists ranging from upstart bands to GRAMMY Award nominated, multi-platinum artists. More information on the company can be found at www.thefuelmusic.com. CONTACT: Johnnie Moore for Jonathan Cain | [email protected] | (434) 426-5310 SOURCE The Fuel Music Related Links http://jonathancainmusic.com SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its commitment to help organizations around the world transform manual, paper-based processes to make every agreement 100% digital, DocuSign the global eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) leader announced its Fall '16 Release. The release includes several enhancements and updates, the most significant of which involve the company's recently-announced Standards-Based Signatures suite and its deep integration with Microsoft's flagship CRM platform, Microsoft Dynamics. DocuSign's Standards-Based Signatures suite was first announced in June of this year, and is focused primarily on companies in or doing business within the European Union (EU). It is a core DocuSign platform feature that allows companies to automate and manage entire agreement workflows, while natively providing all the eSignature types currently defined under the new eIDAS regulation, including simple, advanced and qualified electronic signatures. "Digital transformation is high on the agenda for the EU, but until eIDAS was introduced on July 1 this year, companies had to focus on complying with each EU member state's eSignature guidelines, instead of choosing the best technology solution for their business," explains Ron Hirson, head of product at DocuSign. "eIDAS has simplified and standardized eSignature laws, promoting a single digital market in the EU. With that in mind we offer three EU cloud-based eSignatures: DocuSign Express Signature, EU Advanced Signature and EU Qualified Signature to fit all our customers' use cases, ranging from common everyday transactions to those that are legally regulated. And today's Fall '16 Release announces the availability of the EU Advanced Signature capability in October, typically used when higher value transactions are being conducted." DocuSign also announced that real-time status updates and a clear and consistent manner for matching users will be enhanced within its Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration the latter of which is expected to help manage outliers in the CRM system, and thereby dramatically reduce the number of support calls that need to be made. In addition to the launch of EU Advanced Signatures and the Microsoft Dynamics integration, DocuSign users around the world will benefit from other enhancements in the Fall '16 release, including: Further enhancements to the New DocuSign Experience for sending and signing including the Access Code Generator, which allows senders to create more secure access codes in just one click in the authentication stage in order for signers to access their document(s), and the addition of new Color-Coded Fields, which makes it easier for senders to distinguish which fields apply to which recipient when preparing a document for signature. A host of new updates to the DocuSign Administration Experience to provide greater administrative control with sharing custom fields and downloading form data. New settings available improve permissions, broaden the sending and signing options, and allow customers to select what level of billing information is shared. With latest updates to mobile, signers who have the native mobile app installed will automatically be able to sign in the DocuSign app. The company is also adding iOS and Android support for Signing Groups in mobile apps. With DocuSign for Google, the latest Chrome Extension enables senders to sign and get signatures from others directly from Inbox by Gmail. For more information on the DocuSign Fall'16 Release, visit the blog at www.docusign.com. Contact: Adrian Wainwright DocuSign [email protected] About DocuSign, Inc. DocuSign is changing how business gets done by empowering anyone to send, sign and manage agreements anytime, anywhere, on any device with trust and confidence. DocuSign and Go to keep life and business moving forward. For more information, visit www.docusign.com, call +1-877-720-2040, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Copyright 2003-2016. DocuSign, Inc. is the owner of DOCUSIGN and all of its other marks (www.docusign.com/IP). All other marks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151102/283113LOGO SOURCE DocuSign, Inc. Related Links http://www.docusign.com ZUG, Switzerland, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 70% of the surveyed dermatologists report that their biologic use has increased over the past year, playing catch up to rheumatologists' use in psoriatic arthritis. On top of this increase, dermatologists are also shifting their mix of various MOAs. Indeed, more than half agree with the statement "I anticipate decreasing my use of TNF-inhibitors and increasing my use of alternative MOAs for the treatment of psoriasis in the near future." Share projections show both IL-17s, Cosentyx and Taltz, enjoying significant share gains in the next six months, primarily at the expense of Amgen's Enbrel and AbbVie's Humira but also contributing to a flattening of Janssen's Stelara. It will be a balance of those seeking higher efficacy, where the IL-17s have a perceived edge, and those desiring a strong safety profile, where Stelara outperforms. Celgene's Otezla, while not a biologic, still competes for these patients as well, particularly in the less severe cases. More than 40% of the dermatologists anticipate increasing use of Otezla in the near future, but as a group they are divided on preference for using Otezla prior to biologics. Furthermore, with the exception of Humira, Otezla significantly outperforms all other biologics when it comes to the frequency of patient requests. Familiarity with Taltz is significantly higher compared to the prior quarter, but it's user base has remained stable at around 30% since Q2, around half of that of Cosentyx . In an attribute analysis completed by all respondents, Cosentyx was rated significantly better than Taltz on several attributes, including "improves signs and symptoms". However, among those with moderate-high familiarity with Taltz, when asked for a head-to-head comparison, 40% believe Taltz is more efficacious than Cosentyx while 58% describe them as similar. As familiarity and trial continue to increase, Taltz will present an increasing challenge for Cosentyx. As the launch of Taltz gets into full swing, dermatologists also report increasing awareness of Valeant's Siliq (brodalumab). More than 40% of the surveyed dermatologists report that they have learned something new about Siliq recently, however, most anticipate the product having a limited role in their treatment paradigm. The psoriasis market will be further examined in the upcoming RealWorld Dynamix: Psoriasis 2016 report, an audit of 1000 US PsO patients currently treated with biologics or Otezla. RealTime Dynamix: Psoriasis, is an independent report issued on a quarterly basis that provides highly granular brand insights on the PsO market. About Spherix Global Insights Spherix Global Insights is a business intelligence and market research company specializing in renal, autoimmune, neurologic and rare disease markets. We provide clients with strategic insights leveraged from our independent studies with healthcare providers and other stakeholders. For more information contact: Lynn Price, Immunology Franchise Head Email: [email protected] www.spherixglobalinsights.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409472LOGO SOURCE Spherix Global Insights Related Links http://www.spherixglobalinsights.com NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Leo Denault plans to provide a presentation as part of a panel discussion on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, during the Wolfe Research Power & Gas Leaders Conference. The presentation is expected to start at approximately 10:00 a.m. ET. A live webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of Entergy's corporate website at entergy.com. A replay of the webcast will be available and archived on the website for approximately 90 days. Presentation slides will be posted on the Investor Relations section of Entergy's corporate website at entergy.com before market open on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The webcast and presentation slides will also be available on the Entergy Investor Relations mobile web app at iretr.com. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11.5 billion and more than 13,000 employees. Additional investor information can be accessed online at entergy.com/investor_relations Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120913/MM74349LOGO SOURCE Entergy Corporation Related Links http://www.entergy.com BALTIMORE, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Evergreen Health today announced that it has signed an agreement to provide health care and health insurance services to the Maryland SPCA. The agreement, which will be available to all Maryland SPCA employees, goes into effect immediately. "The Maryland SPCA is one of the most highly-regarded, longest-serving organizations in the Baltimore area and we are very proud to be partnering with them, said Dr. Peter Beilenson, CEO of Evergreen Health. "After looking at all of our options, it became very clear that Evergreen Health was the best choice for us," said Sarah Walton, interim executive director of the Maryland SPCA. Evergreen Health is a non-profit health co-op that was established in 2012 to provide high-quality, affordable, patient-centered health care in Maryland. The company now has 40,000 members. Its affiliate, Evergreen Health Care, operates full-service, innovative health centers in Baltimore City, White Marsh, Columbia and Greenbelt. Founded in 1869, the Maryland SPCA is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to serve and improve the lives of pets and people in the community. The SPCA's new adoption center on Falls Road in Baltimore currently places about 3500 pets in new homes every year. SOURCE Evergreen Health Related Links http://www.evergreenmd.org LEXINGTON, Ky., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fazoli's, America's largest fast casual Italian chain, announced today the opening of its newest franchised restaurant in Warner Robins, Georgia, marking the company's 4th location in the state. Located at 762 Highway 96, the restaurant will celebrate its grand opening with a VIP event on Sept. 26, starting with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. During the ribbon cutting, the restaurant will proudly make a donation to the Alzheimer's Association of Middle Georgia. The restaurant will be open to the public on Sept. 27 at 10:30 a.m. EDT. The new restaurant is owned and operated by Allen Peake and Mike Chumbley, of C&P Restaurant Company, who currently have one location in Macon, Georgia. As former Fazoli's franchisees in the 1990's, the pair was eager to re-join the brand under the leadership of Carl Howard. Having been franchisees of various concepts, Peake and Chumbley have a unique perspective of what works and what doesn't. They consider the key ingredient to franchise success is believing in the franchisor and the concept. "As veterans of the foodservice industry, Mike and I were thrilled to be re-joining the Fazoli's family. We truly believe in the Fazoli's menu and are excited about the direction the company is heading under its new leadership," said Allen Peake, Fazoli's franchisee. "Fazoli's is uniquely positioned in the fast casual arena, and we know that Warner Robins' residents will love our approach to serving quick, affordable Italian food." The expansion in Georgia is part of the brand's overall franchise development plans for this year, with a goal of opening three additional restaurants by the end of 2016. This announcement comes on the heels of significant growth for Fazoli's, including 13 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth with franchisees boasting a 5.1 percent year-over-year same-store sales increase in July. In addition, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing nearly three times the industry average growth rate, with new franchised restaurants setting company-wide records. In fact, Peake and Chumbley's Macon, Georgia restaurant celebrated a record-breaking grand opening week with more than $80,000 in sales. With nearly 220 restaurants in 24 states, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth, and the company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, connect with Fazoli's online at www.fazolis.com, www.ownafazolis.com, @Fazolis, and https://www.facebook.com/Fazolis. About Fazoli's With approximately 220 restaurants, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Post's five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a Fast Casual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth. Visit www.ownafazolis.com for details on development opportunities. Contact: Elayne Jacobs Fish Consulting 202-588-8138 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367316LOGO SOURCE Fazoli's Related Links http://www.fazolis.com LONDON, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of the growing fight against food waste sweeping the United States, Feedback, the environmental nonprofit working to end waste at every level of the food system, today announced the next stage of its campaign to bring its popular Feeding the 5000 food waste awareness festivals to American cities this fall. The events - where thousands of members of the public are given free meals made entirely from fresh ingredients that otherwise would have been wasted - expose the level of food waste and celebrate the delicious solutions to prevent it, all while ramping up the pressure on supermarkets and big businesses to end practices that needlessly cause much of this waste. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, and in partnership with scores of non-profits, chefs & government bodies, and in light of the success of Feeding the 5000 events in New York and Washington DC earlier this year, the campaign trail now includes: Feeding the 5000 Portland ( Friday, October 7, 2016 in Monument Square, Portland, Maine ) ( in Monument Square, ) Feeding the Hudson Valley ( Saturday, October 8, 2016 at Walkway Over the Hudson , Poughkeepsie, New York ) ( at Walkway Over the , ) Feeding the 5000 Front Range ( Saturday, October 14, 2016 in Skyline Park in Denver, Colorado ) In coordination with these events, Feedback is calling on the public to sign a petition demanding that the food industry standardize food expiry labels which currently confuse the public, leading to the needless waste of millions of dollars worth of perfectly edible food. Standardizing date labels is the first of four concrete reforms Feedback advocates the US food industry progress, based on the organization's years of experience driving reform in Europe as well as in the UK, where already food waste has been cut by 20% - saving consumers billions of dollars and reducing carbon emissions equivalent to taking 1.8 million cars off the road. Tristram Stuart, founder of Feedback, said, "The US government has made the boldest food waste reduction commitment in the world, aiming to halve food waste by 2030. I have never seen a country build momentum as fast from every quarter - public appetite, entrepreneurial innovation, government legislation and coordinated solution-building from the nonprofit sector, of which the Feeding the 5000 events are a perfect example. Now, It's time for the corporates to jump into action and help take food waste 'Off the Menu,' too." "Working together, Feedback, The Rockefeller Foundation, and our vast networks of partners have been thrilled to see so many different people and organizations aligning to create a united front against wasted food," said Dr. Zia Khan, Vice President for Initiatives and Strategy at The Rockefeller Foundation. "It is only through cross-sector collaboration that we will be able to reach these ambitious but achievable goals, and we view the scalable, adaptable, and, most importantly, fun nature of Feeding the 5000 style events as an important step in building this momentum." For more information: You can learn more about the Feeding the 5000 events in the USA, its national and city-specific partners and the fight against wasted food, and how to get involved at http://www.feedingthe5000usa.org and through following @FeedbackOrg and #F5KUSA About Feedback and Feeding the 5000 Feedback is a nonprofit environmental organization (UK Registered Charity No: 1155064) working to end waste at every level of the food system. From its humble beginnings as a one-off event in London in 2009, Feedback's flagship Feeding the 5000 event has grown into a global campaign, taking place in more than 40 cities around the world and catalyzing local and international efforts to end food waste. SOURCE Feedback BOSTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rhythm announced today that it has been named to the annual FierceBiotech "Fierce 15," designating Rhythm as one of the top privately held biotechnology companies of 2016 with the potential to have a major impact on the treatment of human diseases. Rhythm is developing peptide therapeutics for the treatment of rare genetic deficiencies that result in life-threatening metabolic disorders. "Rhythm is honored to be recognized as one of the innovative companies selected for this year's 'Fierce 15'," said Keith Gottesdiener, CEO of Rhythm. "We credit our talented team and our clinical collaborators who are working with us to change the treatment of severe obesity caused by genetic defects." The "Fierce 15" celebrates the spirit of being "fierce"championing innovation and creativity, even in the face of intense competition. This is FierceBiotech's fourteenth annual "Fierce 15" selection. The 2016 list of "Fierce 15" companies can be found online at http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-report/fiercebiotech-s-2016-fierce-15. About FierceBiotech FierceBiotech is the biotech industry's daily monitor, an email newsletter and web resource providing the latest biotech news, articles, and resources related to clinical trials, drug discovery, FDA approval, FDA regulation, patent news, pharma news, biotech company news, and more. More than 160,000 top biotech professionals rely on FierceBiotech for an insider briefing on the day's top stories. Signup is free at www.fiercebiotech.com/signup. About Rhythm (www.rhythmtx.com) Rhythm is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing peptide therapeutics for the treatment of rare genetic deficiencies that result in life-threatening metabolic disorders. Rhythm's lead peptide product candidate is setmelanotide, a first-in-class melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) agonist for the treatment of rare genetic disorders of obesity. Rhythm supports The Genetic Obesity Project (www.GeneticObesity.com), which is dedicated to improving the understanding of severe obesity that is caused by specific genetic defects. The company is based in Boston, Massachusetts. SOURCE Rhythm Related Links http://www.rhythmtx.com BINGHAM FARMS, Mich., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FOURMIDABLE, a national real estate management and brokerage company, currently managing nine apartment communities throughout Mississippi, has been awarded the responsibilities for three additional communities. Beacon Hill East and Beacon Hill West are located in New Albany and The Phoenix at Corinth is located in Corinth, Miss. These communities are being developed with the cooperation of the Mississippi Home Corporation and under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. "We've been teamed with these owners since 2007 on other communities and are extremely pleased that they have chosen us to extend our marketing and management services to this next group of properties," said Michael Schocker, president of FOURMIDABLE. "We share their values and expectations and we know those carry over to the residents of these communities." FOURMIDABLE will partner with the same ownership group as they expand into Bishop, Tex., near Corpus Christi. Bishop Courts will be a 44-unit community also funded under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. FOURMIDABLE, through Agility-PM, assumed the back office management of Water Tower Place, a 178-unit low income housing tax credit community in St. Louis, Missouri. FOURMIDABLE began its partnership with this owner in 2016 with full management services of Manchester Apartments in Manchester, Mich., and Pine Knoll Apartments in Greenville, Mich., and began the back office responsibilities through Agility-PM with Greensboro Apartments in Greensboro, Maryland. "We are excited to provide our services to this owner and look forward to continuing our partnership as their portfolio grows," said Michael Schocker. Agility-PM provides flexible, professional back-office support to small and mid-sized companies by providing resources in accounting, IT, human resources and compliance at a fraction of the cost. To learn more about this virtual back office solution, visit agility-pm.com. About FOURMIDABLE FOURMIDABLE is a national real estate management and brokerage company that specializes in managing, marketing and leasing market rate, tax credit, senior and family government assisted, public housing and rural development apartment communities. Founded in 1975, FOURMIDABLE currently manages 81 communities in eight states, with more than 8,260 units under management. FOURMIDABLE is a member of the elite AMO (Accredited Management Organization) and is an approved management firm for HUD, MSHDA and other State Agencies. Additionally, FOURMIDABLE affiliated companies offer support for property management companies and owners, including Agility-PM, a provider of back office accounting, HR, IT and compliance support; eCrosstown, a provider of free WiFi amenity services to apartment residents; ePhonz, a specialized telephone product for apartment management companies and Geeked Apartments, which provides smart devices to each residents' apartment. For more information, please call 248-593-4634 or visit www.fourmidable.com. CONTACT: Michael Schocker, President 248-593-4634 Sue Voyles, Logos Communications 734-667-2005 SOURCE FOURMIDABLE Related Links http://www.fourmidable.com BOSTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FundCount, LLC, (www.fundcount.com) a Boston-based provider of integrated investment, partnership and general ledger accounting software, today announced that it has been awarded Best Fund Accounting and Reporting Systems Firm (http://tinyurl.com/zs753nn) by readers of Hedgeweek. Hedgeweek provides news and information to hedge funds and institutional investors around the globe. The annual Hedgeweek USA Awards, which are determined by a peer review system, recognize excellence in the industry. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408876 FundCount wins Hedgeweek's Best Hedge Fund Accounting System award Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408877LOGO "We are honored to receive this award, which is testament to the benefits that our accounting and investment analysis software brings to the hedge fund, private equity and asset management community," said Alex Ivanov, CEO and founder of FundCount. "We thank the readers of Hedgeweek for their nomination and vote of confidence in our software." FundCount software seamlessly integrates partnership and portfolio accounting through a single multicurrency general ledger. By aggregating all accounting activity in one system, FundCount reduces complexity while improving accuracy and operational efficiency for hedge funds, fund administration, private equity firms and family offices around the world. Comprehensive reports with flexible templates for customization add to the power of FundCount's solution. The Hedgeweek USA Awards are open to hedge funds, administrators, institutional investors, service providers and other professionals in the industry. Readers of Hedgeweek are asked to nominate the best fund performers and service providers in numerous categories. Once votes are tallied, Hedgeweek's editorial team reviews firms with the most votes and makes a final determination. This year's winners were announced on September 15, 2016 in an awards ceremony held in New York. About FundCount FundCount offers portfolio managers, accountants and fund administrators powerful tools for investment management, partnership accounting and reporting. Investment and accounting professionals who serve institutional investors and ultra-high net worth families have relied on FundCount to help manage their operations for over 10 years. FundCount's integrated system streamlines portfolio and partnership accounting, offering higher levels of efficiency to operations and immediate and actionable information for managers and their clients. For more information, visit www.fundcount.com. Media Contact: Abby Friedman 908 904 1926 Email SOURCE FundCount, LLC Related Links https://www.fundcount.com HOUSTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gastar Exploration Inc. (NYSE MKT: GST) announced that the Company's management will participate in the Johnson Rice & Company 2016 Energy Conference to be held September 20-22, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. J. Russell Porter, President and Chief Executive Officer, will make a presentation at 10:30 a.m. Central Time (11:30 a.m. Eastern) on Wednesday, September 21, 2016. The presentation will provide an update on the Company's operations and certain recent developments. To listen to a live audio webcast and view the presentation materials, visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.gastar.com under Events and Presentations. A replay will also be available for rebroadcast on the Company's website. About Gastar Exploration Gastar Exploration Inc. is a pure play Mid-Continent independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, condensate, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Gastar's principal business activities include the identification, acquisition, and subsequent exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties with an emphasis on unconventional reserves, such as shale resource plays. Gastar holds a concentrated acreage position in what is believed to be the core of the STACK Play, an area of central Oklahoma which is home to multiple oil and natural gas-rich reservoirs including the Meramec, Oswego, Osage, Woodford and Hunton formations. For more information, visit Gastar's website at www.gastar.com. Contacts: Gastar Exploration Inc. J. Russell Porter, Chief Executive Officer 713-739-1800 / [email protected] Investor Relations Counsel: Lisa Elliott, DennardLascar Associates: 713-529-6600 / [email protected] SOURCE Gastar Exploration Inc. Related Links http://www.gastar.com The ECO Class tanker, the Bay State, is the fourth of a five-tanker contract between NASSCO and APT, which calls for the design and construction of five 50,000 deadweight ton, LNG-conversion-ready product carriers with a 330,000 barrel cargo capacity. The 610-foot-long tankers are equipped with a new "ECO" design, which provide a very significant improvement in fuel efficiency. The first three ships of the ECO Class program for APT are delivered and in service. The fifth ship under the contract with APT is scheduled to be delivered in 2017. "The christening of a ship is to wish good fortune to those sailing in her and to celebrate the thousands of hardworking men and women who constructed the ship," said Kevin Graney, vice president and general manager for General Dynamics NASSCO. "Even more, we celebrate the significance of the Bay State and her sister ships in the ECO Class program. Upon each respective delivery, the ships constructed as part of this partnership with American Petroleum Tankers will join the ranks as some of the most fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly tankers in the world." "After another great christening ceremony, we now look forward to soon taking delivery of the Bay State, our fourth NASSCO-built, ECO Class tanker. This state-of-the-art vessel will be another welcome addition to our growing fleet one that will provide safe and reliable transportation for our customers in the decades ahead. We applaud our partners at NASSCO for making this day possible," said Rob Kurz, vice president of Kinder Morgan Terminals and president of American Petroleum Tankers, a Kinder Morgan, Inc. subsidiary. The construction and operation of the new ECO Class tankers are aligned with the Jones Act, requiring that ships carrying cargo between U.S. ports be built in U.S. shipyards, further protecting hundreds of thousands of American jobs and almost $100 billion in annual economic impact as a result of the domestic American maritime industry. The Bay State, along with others in the ECO Class, are the first in the Jones Act fleet to obtain a PMA+ Notation, representing compliance with one of the highest standards of human factors in engineering design. The PMA+ notation is created to facilitate safe access to vessel structure and spaces in ways that are rooted in the fundamentals of human ergonomics. The ships were designed by DSEC, a subsidiary of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) of Busan, South Korea. The design incorporates improved fuel efficiency concepts through several features, including a G-series MAN ME slow-speed main engine and an optimized hull form. For more information about General Dynamics NASSCO, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), visit www.nassco.com. For more information about American Petroleum Tankers, visit www.kindermorgan.com/business/terminals/apt.cfm. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140428/81320 SOURCE General Dynamics NASSCO Related Links http://www.nassco.com SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Werkz Publishing Inc. is pleased to announce a new partnership with Global Classroom, an international education research organization and curriculum provider with offices in India, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Global Classroom will use the proprietary PageWerkz eLearning platform to develop and deliver dynamic content for the Compete With Yourself (CWY) system of assessments and progress tools. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409142LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409143 "We had been seeking a partner who understands the education space and possesses the expertise to create a world-class application for our CWY product. PageWerkz proved to be exactly what we were looking for," said Dr. Sunita Gandhi, founder of Global Classroom. "PageWerkz is ideally suited to the exclusivity of CWY's underlying philosophy, which focuses on instilling confidence in pupils by encouraging each child to compete with himself or herself rather than with others. Research has shown this approach helps students achieve their best potential and greater success." Global Classroom will be using PageWerkz to power CWY's mathematics content for primary/elementary school students. Approximately 5,000 pupils across India, the UK, and the UAE will participate in the pilot, with additional users, content, subjects, and markets to be added in the future. Students begin by taking an initial mathematics assessment via an online portal; based on their results, they receive a personalized study plan and access to interactive workbooks that will support their continued progress and improvement. For the initial rollout, Werkz Publishing digitized 100 mathematics study guides. Users access their assigned study materialsknown as Perfection Books or "PerBooks"via the PageWerkz-powered CWY app, which delivers the dynamic eWorkbooks to the student's tablet or computer. Not only does PageWerkz enable users to synchronize their work across multiple mobile and computing platforms, but it allows students to use downloaded PerBooks offline so they can continue working even when they are not connected to the Internet. "We are honored that Global Classroom selected PageWerkz to support its innovative Compete With Yourself learning system, and we are eager to introduce our industry-leading educational technology to CWY users across the globe," said Werkz Publishing CEO Dr. Mark Salata. "In less than 12 months, our usership has rapidly grown to more than 100,000 students throughout Asia, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. We expect 2016 will be our best year yet in helping transform the digital landscape with the unique offline-to-online capability of PageWerkz, which allows students to learn anytime and anywhere without needing continuous Internet access." In addition to collaborating with Global Classroom on its CWY app and PerBooks, Werkz Publishing is actively partnering with a number of other companies to deliver their content via the PageWerkz eLearning platform. PageWerkz is also the foundation for ScienceWerkz, the company's own award-winning line of science education apps. Educational content publishers, in-house corporate training teams, professional development providers, and tutoring companies can learn more about the PageWerkz eLearning platform at http://www.pagewerkz.com. About Global Classroom and Compete With Yourself: Global Classroom is an international education research organization that provides cutting-edge educational solutions for pupils, teachers, and school administrators. The company was founded by Dr. Sunita Gandhi, who earned her PhD from Cambridge University and currently serves as President of the Council for Global Education. A member of the CII National Committee for Primary Education in India, Dr. Gandhi is a globally recognized educator, author, innovator, and researcher who has traveled to and studied educational systems in 38 countries. Global Classroom's Compete With Yourself (CWY) product consists of assessments and progress tools that are designed to help students achieve their best potential. For more information on the CWY system, visit http://www.cwyglobal.com. About PageWerkz: Developed by San Diego-based Werkz Publishing Inc. in partnership with Singapore-based Amdon Consulting, Asia's leading education technology specialist: PageWerkz is a proprietary digital publishing platform that transforms any academic content into a dynamic eWorkbook. This uniquely advanced educational technology can accommodate text, images, animation, videos, simulations, and assessment, and supports writing, drawing, and graphing within the app providing users with an interactive and engaging learning experience that functions offline. PageWerkz is currently available for Windows and Apple computers and for iPad and Android tablets. Werkz Publishing can assist any organization in transitioning their content to the PageWerkz platform. Media Inquiries: Mark Salata, PhD CEO, Werkz Publishing Inc. 1-866-276-4556, ext. 700 http://www.pagewerkz.com/#contact SOURCE PageWerkz Related Links http://www.pagewerkz.com BROOK PARK, Ohio, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenkote PLC (greenkote.com) provider of high-performance anti-corrosion metal coatings, announced the opening of a new facility in Shanghai, PRC, which will provide Greenkote coatings to the Far East region. The new Greenkote licensee, Shanghai Premier Tension Control Bolts Co., Ltd. is a joint venture comprised of Tension Control Bolts Ltd. (TCB) of the UK, Shanghai High Strength Bolts Plant Ltd. (SHS) and Shanghai Yan Yan Trading (YYT). "We take great pride in the first-class coating providers that represent Greenkote around the globe," stated Mark Gore, Greenkote CEO. "So we are especially pleased to welcome Shanghai Premier to the Greenkote team!" "In China, today's users are looking for fasteners with higher levels of corrosion resistance," said Yan Wei, Vice General Manager of SHTCB. "Many of the existing coatings either cannot satisfy customer requirements or are too expensive for customer budgets. With the addition of Greenkote coatings we look forward to being able to satisfy more market needs with more advanced corrosion protection, better coating uniformity, and greater wear resistance, plus a number of other unique benefits such as environmental friendliness." SHTCB has installed a full state-of-the-art Greenkote coating line with a capacity of 300 tons of parts per month. The company is now helping China in its commitment to a cleaner environment by supplying 2000 tons of Greenkote Tension Control Bolts for the new 1 million kilowatt Jiahuwan clean energy power plant in Guangdong Province. The company's Greenkote-coated preload bolts, both tension control bolts (TCB) and hex bolts, all meet the most stringent international standards including C5-M which addresses very high corrosivity marine environments. Greenkote is a proprietary family of high-performance zinc-based coatings that can be applied to ferrous metals and alloys by a patented thermal diffusion process for fasteners and many other applications. Greenkote is designed to replace older processes such as hot-dip galvanizing, zinc plating, sherardizing and metal flake coating. In addition to having superior anti-corrosion qualities Greenkote also has better adhesion, wears longer and eliminates hydrogen embrittlement. Notably, Greenkote is also eco-friendly, from which its name derives. Unlike many other anti-corrosion coatings, Greenkote processing is totally free of acids, chlorides, cyanides, trivalent and hexavalent chromium, cadmium, heavy metals, VOCs and other air pollutants, many of which are increasingly regulated. Greenkote is fully compliant with ASTM A1059/A1059M, an industry standard specification for zinc alloy coatings. About Greenkote PLC Greenkote PLC (greenkote.com) is the inventor and global provider of Greenkote anti-corrosion metal coatings. Headquartered in Brook Park, Ohio, (near Cleveland) Greenkote has become one of the industry's most innovative metal coating technology companies with significant patents in the area of corrosion protection. Greenkote provides its advanced, eco-friendly coatings through Greenkote coating centers and licensee-partners strategically located around the globe, in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. About SHTCB The original company, Shanghai High Strength Bolts Plant Ltd., was founded in 1939 with "Lion" as its trademark. This became a famous brand and SHS become the leading preload bolt manufacturer in China. The company has earned ISO9001: 2008 quality system certification and manufactures high-strength fasteners in a range of types and performance levels to meet domestic and foreign standards as well as custom orders. These products are widely applied in construction, energy, transportation, metallurgy and machinery, and they are exported to over 30 countries worldwide. The new joint venture company, Shanghai Premier Tension Control Bolts Co., Ltd., Is located at 175 Gongxiang Road, Shanghai 201901, PRC. Tel: +86 -21 -5610 1318. Email: [email protected] and [email protected]. *Greenkote is a registered trademark of Greenkote PLC Contact: Al Shultz Advertising Email +1 (408) 289-9555 http://alshultz.com/ Greenkote PLC 6435 Eastland Rd. Brook Park, OH 44142 +1 (440) 243-2865 Email http://greenkote.com/ SOURCE Greenkote PLC Related Links http://greenkote.com NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) and Nashville-area Hyundai dealers will present Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt with a $250,000 Scholar Grant to be used to improve care and increase treatment options for kids with cancer. Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt was one of 24 recipients across the country selected by a rigorous scientific review panel to receive this highly competitive Hyundai Scholar Grant. The $250,000 Scholar Grant will be presented at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, 2200 Children's Way, Nashville, TN 37232 on Monday, September 19 at 2:00pm at a Handprint Ceremony during which the handprints of local Nashville-area brave young cancer patients will be captured on a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson the Hyundai Hope On Wheels hero vehicle to commemorate their fight against the disease. The ceremony will also feature*: Dr. Richard Ho , Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Dr. Steven Webber , James C. Overall Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Dr. Debra Friedman , Director, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Jake Casmir , Senior Manager, Region Marketing and Merchandising, Hyundai Motor America Frank Odrobina , General Manager, Hyundai of Cool Springs *ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW AND PHOTO/B-ROLL OPPORTUNITIES* "Our mission at Hyundai Hope On Wheels is clear: End Childhood Cancer," said Dave Zuchowski, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. "These individual awards to hospitals and organizations across the country are pivotal to ending childhood cancer. Although there remains a lot more work to be done, the innovation that comes from this research will ultimately help us find a cure. To all the kids, families and cancer researchers fighting this terrible disease you are not alone and we remain committed to this important cause." About the Hyundai Hope On Wheels Scholar Grants and Handprint Ceremonies The Scholar Senior Research Grants will fund childhood research projects designed to improve the treatment and quality of life for children with cancer. The ultimate goal of the Scholar Senior Research Grant program is to find cures for childhood cancers once and for all. This year alone, HHOW will award more than $13 million in new pediatric cancer grants. Since 1998, the program has funded $115 million in research to Children's Oncology Group (COG) member institutions nationwide. The program also creates awareness about the importance of the disease, which is the leading cause of death by disease in children in the United States (source). Attendees at the various ceremonies will include HHOW's two national youth ambassadors and pediatric cancer survivors, Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby, who will deliver a message of hope to children's cancer hospitals. Hannah, now 13 years old, was only five years old when she was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Wilms tumor that enveloped her kidney. Since her recovery, she has pursued her love of dancing and singing to help uplift and encourage other children and families through their fight. Thirteen-year-old Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia six years ago, and since his recovery, he has shared his story and words of encouragement with children and families across the country. Watch Hannah and Ryan's story at www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org 2016 National Call To Action: Give Hope A Hand In addition to funding a multitude of research projects this September, HHOW is encouraging the public to contribute to the fight against childhood cancer in a personal way. The journey begins with one simple request: Give Hope A Hand. We invite visitors to the newly refreshed website at www.hyundaihopeonwheels.org, to tell how they will use their hands in the fight against pediatric cancer. Once there visitors can Learn + Care + Do + Give = Hope. There are a number of additional engaging, interactive ways the public can get involved and use their hands for good. HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest nonprofit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 830 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $115 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure. To learn more about Hyundai Hope On Wheels, please visit www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org or follow us on social media at www.facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, www.twitter.com/hopeonwheels, and www.youtube.com/hopeonwheels. HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide. Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/LA86658LOGO SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels Related Links http://hyundaihopeonwheels.org NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) and New York City-area Hyundai dealers will present Drs. William L. Carroll and Teena Bhatla of Hassenfeld Children's Hospital of New York at NYU Langone with a $250,000 Scholar Grant and a $150,000 Young Investigator Grant, respectively, to be used to advance scientific research, expanding the knowledge base of pediatric cancer and improve the standards of care. NYU Langone was one of 34 recipients across the country selected from nonprofit Children's Oncology Group (COG) member institutions after a rigorous grading process. The grants will be presented today, Monday, September 19, 10:00-11:00 am, during a Handprint Ceremony at Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children's Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders, part of Hassenfeld's Children's Hospital, during which the handprints of local New York City-area brave young cancer from Hassenfeld Children's Hospital will be captured on a large canvas to commemorate their fight against the disease. The ceremony will feature participants*: William L. Carroll , M.D., Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics; Professor, Department of Pathology; Director, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology; Associate Chair, Clinical and Translational Research, NYU Langone , M.D., Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics; Professor, Department of Pathology; Director, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology; Associate Chair, Clinical and Translational Research, NYU Langone Teena Bhatla , M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics; Director, Pediatric Hematological Malignancies Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, NYU Langone , M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics; Director, Pediatric Hematological Malignancies Program, Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, NYU Langone Mark Marenzana , Regional Sales Manager, Eastern Region, Hyundai Motor America , Regional Sales Manager, Eastern Region, Hyundai Motor America George Spallina , General Manager, Potamkin Hyundai , General Manager, Potamkin Hyundai Handprint Ceremony: New York City -area children affected by cancer will capture their handprints on a large canvas *ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW AND PHOTO/B-ROLL OPPORTUNITIES* "Our mission at Hyundai Hope On Wheels is clear: End Childhood Cancer," said Dave Zuchowski, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. "These individual awards to hospitals and organizations across the country are pivotal to ending childhood cancer. Although there remains a lot more work to be done, the innovation that comes from this research will ultimately help us find a cure. To all the kids, families and cancer researchers fighting this terrible disease you are not alone and we remain committed to this important cause." About the Hyundai Hope On Wheels Young Investigator and Scholar Research Grants The Hyundai Young Investigator and Scholar Research Grants are awarded to institutions in pediatric cancer research. These $150,000 and $250,000 grants award qualified individuals that are selected from nonprofit COG member institutions after a rigorous grading process. This year alone, HHOW will award more than $13 million in new pediatric cancer grants. Since 1998, the program has funded $115 million in research to COG member institutions nationwide. The program also creates awareness about the importance of the disease, which is the leading cause of death by disease in children in the United States (source). About Handprint Ceremonies Attendees at the various ceremonies will include HHOW's two national youth ambassadors and pediatric cancer survivors, Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby, who will deliver a message of hope to children's cancer hospitals. Hannah, now 13 years old, was only five years old when she was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Wilms tumor that enveloped her kidney. Since her recovery, she has pursued her love of dancing and singing to help uplift and encourage other children and families through their fight. Thirteen-year-old Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia six years ago, and since his recovery, he has shared his story and words of encouragement with children and families across the country. Watch Hannah and Ryan's story at www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org 2016 National Call To Action: Give Hope A Hand In addition to funding a multitude of research projects this September, HHOW is encouraging the public to contribute to the fight against childhood cancer in a personal way. The journey begins with one simple request: Give Hope A Hand. We invite visitors to the newly refreshed website at hyundaihopeonwheels.org, to tell how they will use their hands in the fight against pediatric cancer. Once there visitors can Learn + Care + Do + Give = Hope. There are a number of additional engaging, interactive ways the public can get involved and use their hands for good. HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest nonprofit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 830 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $115 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure. To learn more about Hyundai Hope On Wheels, please visit www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org or follow us on social media at www.facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, www.twitter.com/hopeonwheels, and www.youtube.com/hopeonwheels. HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide. Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/LA86658LOGO SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels Related Links http://www.hyundaihopeonwheels.org EAST HANOVER, N.J., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A new post-hoc analysis demonstrates that the decline in health-related quality of life (HRQL) scores associated with a heart failure (HF) hospitalization among patients taking Novartis' Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan) was lower approximately 50% less of a decline compared to those taking ACE inhibitor enalapril.1 A second post-hoc analysis in the overall study population shows an association between decline in HRQL score and increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) death and HF hospitalization.2 The findings are based on data from PARADIGM-HF, the largest clinical trial ever conducted in HF,3 and are being presented at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA)'s 20th Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando. "Heart failure hospitalizations can significantly decrease a patient's quality of life and lead to poorer outcomes," said Eldrin F. Lewis, MD, MPH, Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. "Heart failure management must focus on strategies to reduce this decline by better managing symptoms which can lead to hospitalization. These analyses suggest that sacubitril-valsartan may help mitigate the impact of heart failure hospitalization on a patient's health-related quality of life, and make a strong case for it as part of optimal treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction." Regardless of treatment, patients experienced a decrease in HRQL following a HF hospitalization.1 The first analysis demonstrated that the decline in HRQL associated with a HF hospitalization among Entresto patients was significantly less compared to that of patients taking enalapril.1 6,981 patients in PARADIGM-HF completed a Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) to measure HRQL at baseline and at 8 months of treatment; during those 8 months, 305 patients were hospitalized for HF. 1 Among patients who had been hospitalized for HF, those on Entresto experienced lower declines in HRQL (approximately half) compared to those on enalapril (5.11 point decline vs. 10.77 point decline in KCCQ Clinical Summary Score (KCCQ-CSS) for Entresto and enalapril, respectively; p=0.003).1 Patients in the PARADIGM-HF study completed a KCCQ at randomization, 4 months, 8 months and annually.1 KCCQ is a self-administered HRQL measure for HF patients, and the clinical summary score of the KCCQ uses a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating fewer symptoms and physical limitations associated with HF.4 In PARADIGM-HF, at 8 months of treatment, HRQL, as measured by the KCCQ clinical summary score, declined less in patients treated with Entresto than those patients treated with enalapril (2.99 point decline vs. 4.63 point decline for Entresto and enalapril, respectively; least squares mean of the between-group difference 1.64; 95% CI 0.632.65; p=0.001).4 A second post-hoc analysis examined the association between HRQL and patient outcomes in the overall patient population, and found that clinically meaningful worsening in HRQL scores (defined as a 5 point decrease in the KCCQ clinical summary score) after 4 months of treatment was associated with an increased risk of worse clinical outcomes, including CV death or HF hospitalization.2 7,155 patients completed a KCCQ at baseline and at 4 months of treatment. 2 Patients with a decline in HRQL, defined by a decrease of at least 5 points in the KCCQ clinical summary score at 4 months, were subsequently at a 24% higher risk of CV death (p=0.009) or 28% higher risk of HF hospitalization (p=0.004).2 "Entresto has already been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction. Now, we have further evidence that reinforces the importance to treat patients with this medication," said Fabrice Chouraqui, president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. "Patients with heart failure face risks of hospitalization which can lower quality of life, and Entresto may help improve their outcomes." About Heart Failure Heart failure is a debilitating and life-threatening condition, which impacts nearly 6 million Americans and is the leading cause of hospitalization among Americans over the age of 65.5,6 About half of people with heart failure have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).7 Reduced ejection fraction means the heart does not contract with enough force, so less blood is pumped out.8 Heart failure presents a major and growing health-economic burden that currently exceeds $30 billion in the United States, which accounts for both direct and indirect costs.9 About Entresto Entresto is a twice-a-day medicine that reduces the strain on the failing heart. It does this by enhancing the protective neurohormonal systems (Natriuretic Peptide system) while simultaneously inhibiting the harmful effects of the overactive renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS).10,11 Other heart failure medicines only block the harmful effects of the overactive RAAS.12 Entresto contains the neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril and the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) valsartan.10 Entresto is indicated in the US to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure in patients with chronic heart failure (NYHA Class II-IV) and reduced ejection fraction.10 Entresto is usually administered in conjunction with other heart failure therapies, in place of an Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB).10 Entresto film-coated tablets are available in three dosage strengths: 24/26 mg, 49/51 mg, and 97/103 mg (sacubitril/valsartan).10 These doses are referred to as 50 mg, 100 mg, and 200 mg in the clinical trial literature including the New England Journal of Medicine publication of the results of PARADIGM-HF. The target treatment dose of Entresto is 97/103 mg twice daily.10 Novartis is committed to providing patients with affordable access and resources through Entresto Central. For more information, please call 1-888-ENTRESTO or visit www.entresto.com. Please visit http://www.pharma.us.novartis.com/product/pi/pdf/entresto.pdf for Entresto full Prescribing Information. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Entresto can harm or cause death to an unborn baby. Patients should talk to their doctor about other ways to treat heart failure if they plan to become pregnant. If a patient gets pregnant while taking Entresto, she should tell her doctor right away. Patients are not to take Entresto if they are allergic to sacubitril or valsartan or any of the ingredients in Entresto; have had an allergic reaction including swelling of the face, lips, tongue, throat or trouble breathing while taking a type of medicine called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB); or take an ACE inhibitor medicine. Patients are not to take Entresto for at least 36 hours before or after they take an ACE inhibitor medicine. Patients should talk with their doctor or pharmacist before taking Entresto if they are not sure if they take an ACE inhibitor medicine. Patients are not to take Entresto if they have diabetes and take a medicine that contains aliskiren. Before they take Entresto, patients should tell their doctor about all of their medical conditions, including if they have kidney or liver problems; are pregnant or plan to become pregnant; are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Patients should either take Entresto or breastfeed. They should not do both. Patients should tell their doctor about all the medicines they take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. They should especially tell their doctor if they take potassium supplements or a salt substitute; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); lithium; or other medicines for high blood pressure or heart problems such as an ACE inhibitor, ARB, or aliskiren. Entresto may cause serious side effects including serious allergic reactions causing swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and throat (angioedema) that may cause trouble breathing and death. Patients are to get emergency medical help right away if they have symptoms of angioedema or trouble breathing. Patients are not to take Entresto again if they have had angioedema while taking Entresto. People who are black or who have had angioedema may have a higher risk of having angioedema if they take Entresto. Entresto may cause low blood pressure (hypotension). Patients are to call their doctor if they become dizzy or lightheaded, or they develop extreme fatigue. Entresto may cause kidney problems or an increased amount of potassium in the blood. The most common side effects were low blood pressure, high potassium, cough, dizziness, and kidney problems. Please see full Prescribing Information, including Boxed WARNING available at http://www.pharma.us.novartis.com/product/pi/pdf/entresto.pdf. Patients are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Disclaimer The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "support," "potential," "being presented," "can," "lead to," "strategies," "suggest," "may," "make a strong case," "evidence," "growing," "committed," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential new indications or labeling for Entresto, or regarding potential future revenues from Entresto. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that Entresto will be submitted or approved for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that Entresto will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding Entresto could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including unexpected clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; unexpected safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Novartis Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation offers a broad range of medicines for cancer, cardiovascular disease, endocrine disease, inflammatory disease, infectious disease, neurological disease, organ transplantation, psychiatric disease, respiratory disease and skin conditions. Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an affiliate of Novartis AG, which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care and cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2015, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.4 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 8.9 billion (USD 8.7 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are available in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com. Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library For questions about the site or required registration, please contact [email protected] References Lewis EF, Claggett B, McMurray JJ, et al. Sacubitril/Valsartan Associated with Lower Declines in Health-Related Quality of Life Compared with Enalapril in Patients with Heart Failure Hospitalization. J Card Fail (2016), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cardfail.2016.06.080. Lewis EF, Claggett B, McMurray JJ, et al. Association between Baseline, and Changes in, Health-Related Quality of Life and Death and HF Hospitalization in PARADIGM-HF. J Card Fail (2016), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cardfail.2016.06.293. McMurray JJ, Packer M, Desai AS, Gong J, et al. Baseline characteristics and treatment of patients in Prospective comparison of ARNI with ACEI to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and morbidity in Heart Failure trial (PARADIGM-HF). Eur J Heart Fail. 2014;16:817-825 (doi:10.1002/ejhf.1s15). McMurray JJV, Packer M, Desai AS, et al. Angiotensin-Neprilysin Inhibition versus Enalapril in Heart Failure. N Engl J Med. 2014;371:993-1004. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1409077. Mozaffarian D, Benjamin EJ, Go AS, et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics2016 Update: A report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2015;133;e38-e360. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000350. Weir LM, Pfuntner A, Maeda J, et al. HCUP facts and figures: statistics on hospital-based care in the United States , 2009. Rockville, MD : Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2011. Owan TE, Hodge DO, Herges RM, et al. Trends in prevalence and outcome of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:251259. Ejection Fraction Heart Failure Measurement. American Heart Association Website.http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartFailure/SymptomsDiagnosisofHeartFailure/Ejection-Fraction-Heart-Failure-Measurement_UCM_306339_Article.jsp. Published March 24, 2015 . Accessed March 10, 2016 . Heidenreich PA, Albert NM, Allen LA , et al. Forecasting the impact of heart failure in the United States : a policy statement from the American Heart Association. Circ Heart Fail. 2013;6:606-619. Entresto Prescribing Information Langenickel T, Dole W. Angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibition with LCZ696: a novel approach for the treatment of heart failure. Drug Discovery Today. 2012:4: e131-9. Yancy CW, Jessup M, Bozkurt B, et al. 2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of heart failure: A report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association task force on practice guidelines. Circulation. 2013;128:e240-e327. SOURCE Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation Related Links https://www.novartis.com MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 70 industry-leading businesses top the list of attending companies for the 11th annual Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit (OGTS), hosted by HighQuest Group, to take place this fall, November 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. Embarking on its second decade as the foremost event in the global oilseed, grain and animal protein industries, this event has earned the reputation for bringing together the sector's most active deal makers to learn, network and conduct on-the-spot business. "I find HighQuest's OGTS to be the right balance of market-related content, industry trend presentations, and opportunities to connect with key business partners," said Dave Brown, vice president of commodity price and risk management at Mondelez International. "I also personally enjoy this forum, as it allows me the chance to reconnect with those I've either worked with or done business with throughout my career." Joining the likes of Mondelez at the Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit are representatives from: Agrex/Mitsubishi AgriBank Bank of America Merrill Lynch Dupoint Nutrition & Health Farm Credit Services of America Kellogg's Mitsui Port of Long Beach Jeremy Tupper, a trader for Jilin Grain Group, a company that also will be represented at OGTS 2016, had this to say about the Summit: "As a soybean and feed ingredient buyer for the Chinese market, I am always pleased to attend the OGTS to network with new businesses and meet old friends in all aspects of the agriculture industry. HighQuest always puts on a great conference with insightful speakers who are in tune with the current markets. I would recommend this event to all members of the industry." The 11th annual Oilseed & Grain Trade Summit is a forum for all participants across the oilseed, grain and feed value chain from buyers, traders and merchandisers to processors and providers of transportation/logistics services. Discussions will be focused on what new developments have arisen in the sector, as well as coverage of the fundamentals to engagement in the sector, such as outlook projections, strategies for risk management, and insight on the impact of weather on agriculture. For those who are looking for the latest insights in the sector, along with countless ways to network and develop new allegiances, the spot-on Summit agenda will not disappoint. Highlights include: INTL FCStone Risk Management Short Course Cutting-edge assessment of 2016 harvest Update on exporting to Cuba Breakout sessions on animal protein vs. non-plant proteins, transportation, agtech innovation, competition from Brazil and Argentina , and more. Learn more at www.oilseedandgrain.com and visit www.ongforum.com, the Organic & Non-GMO Forum, which is co-located with the Summit in Minneapolis, November 14-15. HighQuest Group, based in Danvers, Mass., is a strategic advisory, conference and media company serving corporations, financial investors and governments across the global food and agribusiness value chains. www.highquestgroup.com PR CONTACT: Michelle Pelletier Marshall, 978.887.8800, x117 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/367048LOGO SOURCE HighQuest Group Related Links http://www.highquestpartners.com AUSTIN, Texas, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Advanced Discovery announced today the hiring of industry veteran Chris Clark as VP, Business Development, in Los Angeles. Chris has a long background in business development and account management for enterprise document, data, and legal services, most recently with FTI. Industry Veteran Chris Clark Joins Advanced Discovery as Vice President of Business Development (PRNewsFoto/Advanced Discovery) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160418/356399LOGO ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408830 ) In his new role as Vice President of Business Development for Advanced Discovery, Chris will be based in Los Angeles with a focus on strategic accounts, putting his considerable knowledge at the service of Advanced Discovery's clients nationwide. Chris's decade of work in enterprise data and document services makes him a valuable resource for clients and addition to the Advanced Discovery team. Chris expressed excitement about joining Advanced Discovery: I am excited to be joining Advanced Discovery - particularly during this time of national and international growth for the company. Over the past decade in the industry, I have seen the quality of the services and tools Advanced Discovery offers and how they compare, and I look forward to helping bring those to new clients in Los Angeles. Chris can be contacted at: [email protected]. About Advanced Discovery Advanced Discovery is an award-winning, end-to-end eDiscovery services and software provider, supporting law firms and corporations since 2002. Advanced Discovery and its global family of companies, Millnet, LPI and Ditto, offer project planning and budgeting, data preservation and forensic collection, early case assessment, hosted review, managed document review, and more, from numerous state-of-the-art facilities around the world. The company employs leading professionals in the industry, applies defensible workflows, and provides industry-proven technology across all phases of the eDiscovery lifecycle. This devotion to excellence has earned Advanced Discovery inclusion on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the US five consecutive years and recognition as a top provider by Legal Times, Texas' Best and other publications. More information is available at http://www.advanceddiscovery.com. SOURCE Advanced Discovery SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder rights law firm Johnson & Weaver, LLP has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Infoblox Inc. (NYSE: BLOX) breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the Company to Vista Equity Partners. Infoblox designs, develops, manufactures and sells network control solutions. On September 19, 2016, Infoblox announced it had signed a definitive merger agreement with Vista Equity Partners. Under the terms of the agreement, Infoblox stockholders will receive $26.50 per share in cash. The investigation concerns whether the Infoblox board failed to satisfy their duties to the Company shareholders, including whether the board adequately pursued alternatives to the acquisition and whether the board obtained the best price possible for Infoblox shares of common stock. Nationally recognized Johnson & Weaver is investigating whether the proposed deal price represents adequate consideration; especially given that the price target for one Wall Street analyst is $32.00. Additionally, Infoblox has over $250 million in cash and no long-term debt. If you are a shareholder of Infoblox and believe the proposed buyout price is too low or you're interested in learning more about the investigation or your legal rights and remedies, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ([email protected]) at 619-814-4471. If emailing, please include a phone number where you can be reached. About Johnson & Weaver, LLP: Johnson & Weaver, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://www.johnsonandweaver.com. Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Contact: Johnson & Weaver, LLP Jim Baker, 619-814-4471 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332409LOGO SOURCE Johnson & Weaver, LLP Related Links http://johnsonandweaver.com BANGALORE, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Recognizes the Expertise of Infosys in Delivering Specialized Solutions Oracle today awarded Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, seven of its 2016 Oracle Excellence Awards. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162) The awards recognize Infosys for its commitment to deliver innovative, specialized solutions and services based on Oracle software and hardware. The Oracle Excellence Awards encourage innovation by Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) members, who use Oracle's products and technology to create value for customers and generate new business potential. Infosys has been awarded across the following categories: 2016 Oracle Global Specialized Partner of the Year Award - Cloud Infrastructure 2016 Oracle Global Specialized Partner of the Year Award - Middleware 2016 Oracle Global Specialized Partner of the Year Award - Business Analytics 2016 Oracle North America Specialized Partner of the Year Award - IaaS Cloud Transformation 2016 Oracle North America Specialized Partner of the Year Award - HCM Cloud Core-Talent 2016 Oracle North America Specialized Partner of the Year Award - Middleware Cloud 2016 Oracle APAC Specialized Partner of the Year Award - Business Analytics During the last year, Infosys has supported multiple clients migrate to cloud-based Oracle environments, as a Strategic Partner with Oracle's Customer 2 Cloud Program. Additionally, Infosys has created five differentiated Oracle Cloud Marketplace solutions and launched eight Oracle approved Fixed Scope Offerings (FSOs). These enable rapid implementation, quicker time to market and cost effective Oracle cloud implementation. Quotes Ravi Kumar, President & Chief Delivery Officer, Infosys "Global enterprises are looking for ways to leverage cloud technology to transform their business; technology that can make a sea change in productivity while achieving critical, cost-effective, growth initiatives. Our Zero Distance philosophy, which leverages Design Thinking for structured problem finding and solving, is helping clients use Oracle's cutting-edge technologies to deliver transformational impact. We have delivered as much as 50 percent reduction in effort and cost for our client using our RapidStart methodology for cloud deployments." Camillo Speroni, Vice President, Worldwide Strategic Alliances, Oracle "Infosys has demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation in delivering proven, Oracle-based solutions that solve our joint customers' most critical business challenges. We congratulate Infosys in achieving this wide range of awards. This achievement is a testament to their dedication to excellence and to providing customers solutions and services that drive real business value and results." Infosys CEO, Vishal Sikka's Keynote at Oracle OpenWorld "People and Software: A Purposeful Approach to AI" Tuesday, September 20, at 13.30 Pacific Time More at: https://www.infosys.com/oracle-openworld/pages/index.aspx About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively. Our team of 190,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake. Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this press release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at http://www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is September 19, 2016, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. SOURCE Infosys NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The global advanced patient monitoring market is estimated to be worth $35.2 billion in 2016, according to Kalorama Information. The market, inclusive of devices, peripherals, software, packaged services, monitoring services and other applications, has been fuelled by the demand to integrate data processing capabilities and electronic medical records (EMR) transfer options, as well as an increasing trend to upgrade to ambulatory and hand-held devices. Kalorama's report, Advanced Remote Patient Monitoring Systems, in its ninth edition, is a comprehensive study on the patient monitoring industry, containing detailed market estimates and forecasts. Advanced Remote Patient Monitoring Systems, 9th Edition, can be found at Kalorama Information: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/pub/10307860.html. "New technological advancements in the area of wireless connectivity have increased demand, helping to accelerate the move to more wireless and streamline operations, both within major health facilities and in home treatment markets," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. "Generally there has been growth in monitoring efforts, in an attempt to alleviate healthcare problems before they require hospitalization or emergency department visits." New patient monitoring systems are emerging in response to increased healthcare needs of an aging population, new wireless technologies, better video and monitoring technologies, decreasing healthcare resources, an emphasis on reducing hospital days, and proven cost-effectiveness. The global advanced patient monitoring market has continued its expansion in both the institutional and home segments of the health market, with the United States and many European countries at the forefront of implementation. This market includes equipment and devices with wireless and remote technologies, patient data processing applications and features, and applications that transfer patient monitoring results to EMRs. Patient monitoring produces a vast amount of data and, in some cases, allows patients greater mobility. Both of these mean that data can be disjointed and located in different places. The EMR or electronic health record (EHR) gives patients and physicians greater freedom, improves accuracy, and should result in better outcomes as critical records are all in one, easily transportable record. The growing acceptance of the features and benefits of mobile technologies is illustrated in the growth of telemedicine. Telemedicine includes sending images to a specialist, live two-way video consultations between patient and provider, capturing and sending data from monitoring devices, and/or incorporating data and images into EMRs. It is reported that more than half of U.S. hospitals now offer some level of telehealth services. On the global scale, the number of internet users has almost tripled, increasing from about 1 billion in 2005 to more than 3 billion connected users today. This provides an indicator of the widespread availability of telehealth and telemonitoring connection capabilities. As consumers are increasingly taking on the responsibility for their own health, the self-monitoring of health conditions and telehealth can be expected to increase in the future. A significant focus of the U.S. government and the healthcare industry is to move from paper-based systems to an electronic system. The use of mobile devices may provide program developers with more options that healthcare workers can integrate easily into their workflow. A big part of the easy integration is that healthcare workers are using smartphones for personal use, which reduces the apprehension that can come from learning a new system. Integrating personal use devices with an existing network, while security measures are met, can provide health facilities with an avenue for faster electronics integration. Advanced Remote Patient Monitoring Systems specifically focuses on technologically advanced (including wireless and remote) patient monitors, monitors with patient data processing applications, and monitors which are capable of data transfer to an EMR system including equipment and peripherals that coordinate the flow of data to hospital electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Analysis of the global market in this report includes market sizing and forecasts for the following: the global market for advanced patient monitoring systems, 2012-2021; the global equipment and device market for advanced patient monitoring systems by product segment, 2012-2021 (blood management and function, cardiac event and function, neurological event, respiratory function, others); the global blood management and function monitor market, 2012-2021; global blood pressure monitor outlook, 2012-2021; global glucose monitor outlook, 2012-2021; distribution of sales for glucose monitors by general technology, 2016 (general monitoring technologies, continuous monitoring technologies); global prothrombin time monitor outlook, 2012-2021; the global cardiac event and function monitor market, 2012-2021; global cardiac rhythm/event monitor outlook, 2012-2021; global EKG/ECG monitor outlook, 2012-2021; global fetal heart monitor outlook, 2012-2021; the global neurological event monitor market, 2012-2021; the global respiratory function monitor market, 2012-2021; global anesthesia monitor outlook, 2012-2021; global capnograph monitor outlook, 2012-2021; global pulse oximeter monitor outlook, 2012-2021; global sleep disorder monitor outlook, 2012-2021; the global telehealth and telemonitoring service market, 2012-2021; the global patient monitoring market by end user, 2012-2021; the global advanced patient monitoring market by end user, 2012-2021 (hospital/acute care, home health/mobile care); the global hospital and acute care monitoring market, 2012-2021; global telemonitoring market, 2012-2021; and distribution of telemonitoring market by disease, estimated 2016 (diabetes/obesity, heart conditions, sleep disorders, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), others). The report contains segmentation of the global market for the industry, including market estimates by region, with country level information as well. Information provided includes: the global advanced patient monitoring market by region, 2012-2021 (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, rest of world (ROW), global market); global market for advanced patient monitoring by country, estimated 2016 (United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, China, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Brazil, Mexico, ROW); the North American advanced patient monitoring market, 2012-2021; North American market for advanced patient monitoring by country, 2016 and 2021; the U.S. market for advanced patient monitoring systems, 2012-2021; U.S. advanced patient monitoring market by segment, 2016; the U.S. advanced patient monitoring market by end user (hospitals/acute care and home health/telehealth), 2012-2021; the European advanced patient monitoring market, 2012-2021; the European market for advanced patient monitoring by country, 2016 and 2021 (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, rest of Europe); European advanced patient monitoring market by end user (hospitals/acute care and home health/telehealth), 2012-2021; the Asia Pacific advanced patient monitoring market, 2012-2021; the Asia Pacific market for advanced patient monitoring by country, 2016 and 2021 (Japan, China, rest of Asia Pacific); the ROW advanced patient monitoring market, 2012-2021; and rest of world market for advanced patient monitoring by country, 2016 and 2021 (Brazil, Mexico, ROW). The corporate profiles section of Advanced Remote Patient Monitoring Systems describes companies providing leading products and some of the most interesting new technologies. There is a vast number of companies offering some form of advanced feature: wireless/remote technologies, patient data processing applications and equipment, and applications and equipment that transfer patient monitoring data to EMRs. Companies profiled include Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Philips Medical, and St. Jude Medical. Advanced Remote Patient Monitoring Systems, 9th Edition, can be found at Kalorama Information: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/pub/10307860.html. Please link any media or news references to our reports or data to http://www.kaloramainformation.com/. About Kalorama Information Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased through Kalorama's website and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com. We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog at www.kaloramainformation.com. Contact: Bruce Carlson (212) 807-2622 [email protected] www.KaloramaInformation.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150831/262422LOGO SOURCE Kalorama Information Related Links http://www.kaloramainformation.com/ The new tome details how the human-animal bond between man and dog can provide a healthier mind, spirit, body, and community. It is the second in Levine's series of e-books, after Beginner's Guide to Influencer Marketing for Pet-Friendly Businesses, and the first to target pet parents. Levine is planning several more free pet lifestyle and care guides this year for both consumers and the business-to-business audience. "When you're spending quality time with your dog, you're probably not focused on anxiety relief or cardiovascular health," says Levine. "However, even though it may not be the first thing on your mind when you're walking, playing or snuggling with your pup, there are an amazing number of ways the human-dog bond can benefit you." The e-book is divided into chapters entitled "Healthier Mind," "Healthier Spirit," "Healthier Body," and "Healthier Community." Each chapter then provides scientific findings about how the human-dog bond benefits each area, personal anecdotes that relate to each category, and tips on how you can incorporate additional bonding experiences into your daily routine with your dog to get the most out of your time together. "Benefits to your body might be obvious because of the physical exercise you get from walking or playing with your dog, but there are mental advantages as well," continues Levine. "Bonding with your dog improves your mood and sleep patterns and reduces both stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment." Most dog parents would agree that their pets are good for their health, but more and more scientific research supports the health advantages as well. The Human Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI) Foundation is a nonprofit research and educational organization that focuses on gathering, funding, and sharing scientific research to demonstrate the positive health impacts of companion animals. Currently HABRI is conducting research into how the human-animal bond can help with health conditions such as allergies, heart disease, and even cancer. Some of the additional health benefits enjoyed by dog parents include the following: Stronger immune system Lower risk of developing allergies Better heart health Lower risk of obesity "A dog truly can change the way you see the world," says Gila Kurtz, dog trainer and founder of the Dog is Good lifestyle brand, who is featured in the book, along with her dog BOLO. "If you let them lead you, they can transform the way you experience life on a daily basis." From a social standpoint, dogs allow pet parents to meet new people and can make starting a conversation with others easier. Additionally, dogs can help lift spirits through their unconditional love, listening skills, and the sense of purpose they provide as well as the distraction. "Spending time with your dog takes your thoughts off of difficult issues you may be facing," says Levine. "They keep you in the moment not worrying about the past or the future. That may seem inconsequential, but it's something that could help improve your overall health and happiness." Some of the real-life examples in the book include Henry, a therapy dog who assists special needs students in Detroit; a recent divorcee whose two dogs helped mend her broken heart; a woman diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis whose pets give her a sense of purpose and keep her active; and a town in Alaska called Huslia, which started a youth sled dog program and saw their village transform positively as a result. A pet industry insider for more than 25 years, Levine understands the dynamics of animal welfare, pet and veterinary businesses, and the mindset of pet lovers and consumers. The premise of her brand, Kristen Levine Pet Living, is to meet the need of pet parents who seek content and connection with people who love pets, and who want to also connect with brands and services they can trust. Build a Strong Bond with Your Dog: For a Healthy Mind, Spirit, Body & Community is available for free download at: https://kristenlevine.clickfunnels.com/bond-with-your-dog. For more information about Kristen Levine or Kristen Levine Pet Living, please contact Shannon Stevens at 631.569.2285/[email protected] or visit www.kristenlevine.com. About Kristen Levine Pet Living Pet expert, speaker, author and advocate Kristen Levine founded Kristen Levine Pet Living to connect pet-positive companies with the vast audience of pet product and service consumers. The website is a multimedia platform where Levine offers stories, science and advice for living happier and healthier with pets. An industry insider for more than 25 years, Levine is uniquely positioned to create a bridge between companies and consumers. She served as PR Director for the Tampa Bay SPCA for 15 years promoting adoption and education. In 2003, she launched the first pet-focused marketing agency, Fetching Communications, and later acquired PetPR.com, providing creative public relations, social media and marketing campaigns exclusively to pet and veterinary businesses throughout the world. As a pet lifestyle expert, Levine has logged more than 1,000 live local and national radio and television show appearances, hosts pet-centric satellite media tours and has been a spokesperson for companies including Comcast, Bissell and HSN. She has presented at the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators (SAWA) 2014 National Conference, the Petfood Workshop: Marketing to Today's Consumers, and the Women in the Pet Industry Network Conference & Awards Show. A regular pet contributor to both Fox & Friends and Daytime, Levine received the "Pet Industry Woman of the Year Award," in the Corporate category at the Women in the Pet Industry Network's (WIPIN) Conference and Awards Show in 2015. She lives in Florida with her husband, dog, two cats and two miniature donkeys. Please visit www.kristenlevine.com. SOURCE Kristen Levine Related Links http://www.kristenlevine.com PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lannett Company, Inc. (NYSE: LCI) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently completed a cGMP inspection of the company's manufacturing facility in Philadelphia, as well as inspections of two facilities located in Armenia: Darmantest Laboratory, the company's pharmacokinetic subsidiary, and Firmplace, a stability laboratory with which the company has a strategic relationship. The inspections concluded with two minor 483 observations at the company's facility in Philadelphia and zero observations at the laboratories in Armenia. "At a time of particularly rigorous scrutiny by FDA, we achieved a trifecta of successful inspections at our facilities," said Arthur Bedrosian, chief executive officer of Lannett. "Compliance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) provides confidence to our customers and, ultimately patients, that our products are manufactured under strict adherence to the highest level of quality standards. I commend our entire team for their dedication to regulatory excellence. Also, we are proud to have built and maintained a strong working relationship with FDA, especially with our local FDA Philadelphia District, to ensure that all of the medicines we produce are safe and effective. "Passing inspection at our overseas stability and bio-study laboratories is an important milestone and paves the way for us to ramp up our product development efforts at these locations and reduce certain R&D costs going forward." About Lannett Company, Inc. Lannett Company, founded in 1942, develops, manufactures, packages, markets and distributes generic pharmaceutical products for a wide range of medical indications. For more information, visit the company's website at www.lannett.com. This news release contains certain statements of a forward-looking nature relating to future events or future business performance. Any such statements, including, but not limited to, the successful outcomes of the FDA inspections, ramping up product development efforts overseas and reducing future operating costs, whether expressed or implied, are subject to risks and uncertainties which can cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors which include, but are not limited to, the difficulty in predicting the timing or outcome of FDA or other regulatory approvals or actions, the ability to successfully commercialize products upon approval, including acquired products, and Lannett's estimated or anticipated future financial results, future inventory levels, future competition or pricing, future levels of operating expenses, product development efforts or performance, and other risk factors discussed in the company's Form 10-K and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. These forward-looking statements represent the company's judgment as of the date of this news release. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements Contact: Robert Jaffe Robert Jaffe Co., LLC (424) 288-4098 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150417/199461LOGO SOURCE Lannett Company, Inc. Related Links http://www.lannett.com LONDON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This report examines a decade of lithium-ion batteries and beyond. It analyses needs, applications, technology, future winners, losers, alternatives, competition and profit with 10 year sales forecasts and 400+ suppliers' technology and applications listed. Their cost, safety and performance tradeoff is unchallenged in an increasing number of large new applications including wearable electronics, land, water, airborne vehicles, buildings, off-grid power. Understand how flexible, stretchable, transparent and load-bearing versions will succeed.This report has over 170 detailed slide-format pages of new forecasts, analysis and infographics seeing the future with depth on technology trends, needs and market forecasts. The emphasis is almost entirely on the present and the future such as how parameters will improve and lower costs, new shapes and mechanical properties, improved safety and non-flammable non-toxic versions will open up new markets. Over 450 manufacturers are compared in chemistry, assembly and sales thrust. There is depth on the next technology breakthroughs such as silicon anodes. The key parts of recent presentations by all the key players are embedded in this work, almost entirely researched in 2016 by award winning PhD level IDTechEx analysts travelling worldwide. Interviews, IDTechEx databases, web searches and conference attendance were extensively used. The structure of the report is a comprehensive Executive Summary and Conclusions with forecasts, issues, roadmaps etc. then Introduction looking at battery basics and lithium-ion in particular. An Applications chapter maps parameters and solutions with detail on the largest market of the coming decade - the trillion dollar electric vehicle business in 2026. Subsequent chapters delve into the new characteristics needed and the technology to achieve them, notably "Li-ion for high energy density, low cost, long life" then "Li-ion becomes thin, flexible, stretchable". After that we look closely at, "Li-ion becomes non-flammable, non-toxic, structural" with some extra achievements such as transparency. Finally, the report has a unique new listing of over 450 manufacturers of Li-ion cells by country, anode, cathode, electrolyte, structure and application where data are established. Some of the key findings that are detailed and explained are: The main market value has recently changed to large versions and electric vehicles and this will continue. This creates a paradox where the number of manufacturers is proliferating past 450 but only a few can make relatively safe, acceptable, affordable large versions - the main market demand. This is because it is easy to make small versions of limited life using primitive factory conditions. The Japanese and Koreans are named that control the key technology and, with the Chinese, the production. The Tesla Gigafactory using Japanese Panasonic Technology will exceed all this capacity but our calculations show that many gigafactories will be needed in the decade. We say who will build others. We explain why competitive advantage in Li-ion batteries will primarily be based on energy density, safety record, cost, production capacity and being in the protected large market of China. Competitive disadvantages are detailed. We explain which alternatives to Li-ion are strongest. We detail a feeding frenzy building up with purchasers coming from more widely afield in both territory and interest. We identify how successful niche players are proliferating and attracting bidders. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3908924/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com ALBANY, New York, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research (TMR) has announced the release of a new report on the global lithium-ion battery market. The report examines the historical trajectory of the global market and presents detailed forecasts regarding the market's development from 2016 to 2024. The report examines the competitive dynamics, segmentation, and major drivers and restraints of the global lithium-ion battery market in order to provide a complete overview. The report is titled 'Lithium-ion Battery Market for Consumer Electronics, Automotive and Grid Energy & Industrial Application - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024' and is available for sale on the official website of TMR. According to the report, the opportunity in the global lithium-ion battery market is poised to rise from US$29.68 bn in 2015 to US$77.42 bn in 2024, registering a strong CAGR of 11.6% therein. Download Sample Report Copy or for further inquiries, click here: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=251 Application of Lithium-ion Batteries in Automotive Segment to Gain Momentum by 2024 By power capacity, the low power lithium-ion battery (5-25 Wh) segment held the lead in the global market, accounting for a 35% share in 2015. On the other hand, the 18-28 KWh segment is projected to witness significant growth in the coming years, registering a 16.7% CAGR by value from 2016 to 2024. Based on application, the consumer electronics segment accounted for the leading share in the lithium-ion battery market in terms of revenue. However, TMR predicts that market saturation in several countries will enable the automotive segment to gain much momentum, exhibiting the fastest growth during the forecast period. Geographically, Asia Pacific presently leads the global market for lithium-ion batteries, enjoying a share of over 48% in 2015. This region is also projected to expand at a significant pace in terms of demand and sales during the course of the forecast period. By value, the APAC lithium-ion battery market will register a 12.5% CAGR from 2016 to 2024. Need for Alternative Fuels Drives Demand for Lithium-ion Batteries A growing shift toward sustainable clean fuels in the automotive sector is a key factor driving the lithium-ion battery market. TMR finds that the demand for high power capacity batteries for automobiles has gained precedence in recent years with the rising usage of these batteries in EVs, HEVs, and BEVs. "The increasing level of awareness among consumers and automobile manufacturers alike regarding the benefits of clean fuel, the declining availability of natural resources, and the soaring prices of fossil fuels have warranted the need for alternate solutions and this has significantly driven the global lithium-ion battery market," the author of the report states. The market is also fueled by the rising demand for smartphones and other consumer electronics, TMR finds. A rise in the global population and a surge in consumer disposable income can be attributed to the growing demand for lithium-ion batteries. In contrast, the high prices of these batteries, safety concerns associated with the use of lithium-ion batteries, and the lack of appropriate charging infrastructure threaten the growth of the global market. The global lithium-ion batteries market is consolidated in nature, with the top three players accounting for a share of over 57% in 2025. Panasonic Corporation, Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., and LG Chem Power Inc. offer stiff competition to new entrants owing to the competitive advantage they possess in terms of the easy access to raw materials. Transparency Market Research predicts that the degree of rivalry in the lithium-ion battery market will remain high throughout the forecast period. Competitive pricing, offering dedicated services, and developing innovative application-specific performance materials are some of the key strategies adopted by leading companies. Recognizing the potential lithium-ion batteries present in the automotive sector, Panasonic Corporation collaborated with Tesla Motors in 2014 to set up a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing company in North America. Browse Regional PR: http://www.europlat.org/lithium-ion-battery-market.htm This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled "Lithium-ion Battery Market for Consumer Electronics, Automotive, and Grid Energy & Industrial Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024." Lithium-ion Battery Market - Power Capacity Analysis 5-25 Wh 48-95 Wh 18-28 KWh 100-250 KWh More than 300 KWh Lithium-ion Battery Market - Application Analysis Consumer Electronics Automotive Grid Energy & Industrial Lithium-ion Battery Market - Regional Analysis North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America (RoNA) Europe Germany France Italy U.K. Spain Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific (APAC) Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Egypt Rest of Middle East & Africa (MEA) & Recent Research Reports by Transparency Market Research: Free Space Optics Market : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/free-space-optics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/free-space-optics-market.html GaN Semiconductor Devices Market:http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/gallium-nitride.html About Us Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. US Office Contact Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com SOURCE Transparency Market Research SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Springfield, IL-based Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) announced that it is acquiring Stockholm, Sweden-based software company Cirrato Technologies AB (Cirrato). The Cirrato group will be a part of the Enterprise Output Management division of LRS, helping LRS expand its market reach and solution offerings. Established in 2005, Cirrato developed and patented a well-regarded Single Server Printing solution called Cirrato One. This popular print management solution will continue to be enhanced and supported by existing staff in their current locations. LRS' VPSX and Cirrato One development teams will collaborate and share key technologies to provide all LRS customers the most flexible, reliable, and efficient solutions for delivering business-critical documents. Cirrato founder Gorm Halberg-Lange explained, "We are proud to become part of LRS. It represents a turning point for Cirrato. Since we first started offering single server printing in 2005, we have continued to develop the software in order to remain a front runner in the market. As part of the LRS Enterprise Output Management division, Cirrato will have everything that is required to remain in that position and to keep offering a solution that will benefit those organizations that are looking to reduce the number of print servers and centrally manage their print environment." John Howerter, LRS Senior Vice President of Product Marketing, added, "We are excited to welcome this talented group of printing experts to the LRS family. In addition to an innovative product set and loyal customer base, they bring a fresh perspective to the topic of Enterprise Output Management. Though LRS and Cirrato evolved separately, we share a common set of values regarding how we develop our products and support our customers. Together, we will continue to offer customers new ways to eliminate print servers, improve business processes, and save money." About LRS LRS is a privately-held U.S. company with corporate headquarters located in Springfield, Illinois, USA. Remote offices are located throughout the United States and in key geographic regions around the world. More than half of the Fortune 1000 companies rely on industry-leading LRS solutions, with products in use in over 30 countries. Industry analyst groups recognize LRS as a global IT leader and Software Magazine consistently ranks LRS as one of the top software companies in the world. For more information about LRS, visit www.LRSOutputManagement.com. LRS, LRS in the diamond device, and VPSX are registered trademarks and Cirrato One is a trademark of Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or service marks of their respective holders. Shannon Heisler 217-793-3800 [email protected] SOURCE Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. Related Links http://www.LRSOutputManagement.com LEEDS, England, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- An exclusive, unrivalled intelligence service for the medical textiles sector is launched today (Monday, 19 September) by textiles knowledge provider World Textile Information Network (WTiN). WTiN Logo (PRNewsFoto/WTiN) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409243 ) The new online channel, called Medical Textiles, sits within http://www.wtin.com and complements the range of market intelligence services already provided by WTiN. Delivering market analysis and data, company profiles, textile technology benchmarking and best practice references, the Medical Textiles intelligence service will offer strategic, technical and sales intelligence for companies and institutions working in the medical textile technologies arena. The product is the first-to-market 360 intelligence for the medical textiles industry and will be an invaluable resource for identifying new clients, developing compelling product solutions and achieving higher and above-competition returns. The channel will focus on textiles used in a clinical setting, delivering intelligence to enable competitive market and product differentiation. It will identify key opportunity areas and both track and analyse trends, data, market, OEM, R&D, healthcare-payer and healthcare-practitioner/patient developments in the following segments: Wound care and scar management textiles C ompression management textiles Surgical textiles, including cardiovascular, surgery, neurovascular and orthopaedic textiles In addition, the Medical Textiles channel will cover: Healthcare and hygiene textiles : deciphering trends and identifying high growth areas for market and product development in disposables, hygiene, and medical products and healthcare textiles : deciphering trends and identifying high growth areas for market and product development in disposables, hygiene, and medical products and healthcare textiles Smart medical textiles: tracking and analysing the intelligent and smart textiles market, manufacturers and emerging technologies in wearable smart textiles to support strategic partnerships and market and product differentiation. Wound care and scar management textiles constitutes the 10th largest medical device segment, currently worth US$15 billion and projected to generate US$20.4bn by 2020. The growth in wound and scar management market is estimated at 6%, fuelled by rising prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Despite the advent of active technologies like NPWT, medical textiles are still the materials of choice. Ongoing innovation in fibre, nonwovens and woven technologies promises to meet current and emerging unmet clinical needs. The Medical Textiles intelligence service aims to bridge the current gap between wound care medical devices market and their end users, i.e. clinicians and patients, and the medical textiles manufacturing sector, and bring ongoing in-depth data and analysis to aid competitive product differentiation in medical textiles. Regular updates will come in the form of market intelligence analysis, which aims to keep abreast of unmet clinical needs and the resulting opportunities for innovation, and insight articles on both commercially-available and prototype medical textiles as and when they emerge. And that's not all - in-depth OEM profiles will help subscribers to understand the market players, while HD quality video interviews will capture industry views from key opinion leaders across the market. There will also be a round-up of breaking news from across the web. Mark Jarvis, managing director of WTiN, said: "The rate at which innovation is growing in medical textiles is very fast and, more importantly, it is growing with greater sophistication - meaning it is essential that product developers and marketing teams have a thorough understanding of the industry, all in an engaging, digestible format. "WTiN has already established itself as a reliable, quality provider of key market information and intelligence, and our new Medical Textiles product builds on our years of expertise in this field. There is simply nothing else like it in the market - and yet it has never been needed more than now." About WTiN World Textile Information Network (WTiN) is a multimedia publisher, delivering unmatched intelligence and insight into the global textile manufacturing industry. Its tightly focused web portal, wtin.com, and portfolio of business-to-business magazines event newspapers are recognised for their authority and market-leading coverage. This clear industry focus means WTiN has become an integral part of the textile community, providing the highest-quality business and technical intelligence. Press Contact Chinky Tyagi Head of Marketing & Events Email: [email protected] SOURCE World Textile Information Network (WTIN) TULSA, Okla., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In a 10-week investigation, The Medill Justice Project probed the complex issues involved in the three-strikes laws that have swept the country. The story examines prison overcrowding, the costs of incarceration, prosecutors' discretion in pursuing convictions and the case of prisoner Rodney Fisher, a Tulsa man convicted of multiple burglaries and robberies in the 1980s and sentenced under the habitual offender law to 52 years in prison. In 2004, Fisher was found guilty of escaping from a minimum-security prison, yet again triggering the state's habitual offender law. Typically, the sentence for a prison escape would range from two to seven years. But because Fisher had already been convicted of multiple felonies, the law allowed for the punishment to be multiplied. The range suddenly rose to six years to life. Fisher got life. Under Oklahoma law, those convicted of murder can serve as little as 10 years. A robbery sentence can bring less time than that. Some nonetheless say Fisher, now 52, got what he deserved. Others point to action in states that have reformed draconian sentences. In Oklahoma, leaders are beginning to grapple with the consequences of one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation and the consequences of its habitual offender law. "The three-strikes laws raise important issues about crime and punishment in the United States that need to be addressed but offer no easy answers," said Northwestern University Prof. Alec Klein, MJP's director. Three Northwestern University students at The Medill Justice Project worked in collaboration with Oklahoma Journalists for Justice, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in Tulsa. The story is available at www.medilljusticeproject.org. About The Medill Justice Project The Medill Justice Project, founded at Northwestern University in 1999, is an award-winning national investigative journalism center that examines potentially wrongful convictions, probes national systemic criminal justice issues and conducts groundbreaking research. As journalists, MJP advocates only for the truth. For more information: Prof. Alec Klein, Northwestern University Director, The Medill Justice Project (847) 467-4476 [email protected] Amanda Westrich Director of operations, The Medill Justice Project (847) 467-5307 [email protected] Related Links Medill Justice Project This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Medill Justice Project Related Links http://www.medilljusticeproject.org HARRISON, N.Y., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MGT) announced today that on September 15, 2016, it received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting certain information from the Company. MGT has no indication or reason to believe that the Company is or will be the subject of any enforcement proceedings. The Company is fully cooperating to comply with the SEC's request. About MGT Capital Investments, Inc. MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MGT) is in the process of acquiring a diverse portfolio of cyber security technologies. With cyber security industry pioneer, John McAfee, at its helm, MGT Capital is positioned to address various cyber threats through advanced protection technologies for mobile and personal tech devices, including tablets and smart phones. The Company is currently in the process of acquiring D-Vasive, a provider of leading edge anti-spy software, and Demonsaw, a provider of a secure and anonymous file sharing software platform. MGT Capital intends to change its corporate name to "John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc." upon closing of the D-Vasive transaction. For more information on the Company, please visit: http://ir.stockpr.com/mgtci. Forwardlooking Statements This press release contains forwardlooking statements. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forwardlooking statements." MGT's financial and operational results reflected above should not be construed by any means as representative of the current or future value of its common stock. All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forwardlooking statements. This includes all statements about the Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates and projections, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations, maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business, license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's most recently filed annual report and registration statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forwardlooking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forwardlooking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investor Contact Grace Livingston Director of Investor Relations MGT Capital Investments, Inc. [email protected] 205.999.2524 Garth Russell Managing Director KCSA Strategic Communications [email protected] 212.896.1250 Media Contact Tiffany Madison Director of Corporate Communications MGT Capital Investments, Inc. [email protected] 469.236.9569 SOURCE MGT Capital Investments, Inc. Related Links http://www.mgtci.com HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Sept. 22, the Marshall Small Business Alliance will hold its semi-annual meeting, hosted by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, both in Huntsville, Alabama. More than 500 national representatives of large and small business prime contractors, subcontractors and NASA organizations are expected to attend, along with dozens of exhibitors. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m. CDT and conclude at 12:30 p.m. with the 2016 SBA award recipients. News media are invited to attend and speak with NASA and business representatives during the 10 a.m. networking session. Providing opening remarks will be Jonathan Pettus, Marshall's director of the Office of Chief Information Officer; Mark Russell, member of the Huntsville City Council; Tim Holcombe, Madison City Council president; and Dr. Deborah Barnhart, CEO and executive director of the Space & Rocket Center. Marshall Center speakers will include Steve Miley, director of the Office of Procurement; Jim Turner, associate director for technical management of the Engineering Directorate; Johnny Stephenson, director of the Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications; and small business specialist David Brock. The meeting offers opportunities for participants to network with Marshall managers, Marshall Small Business Office staff, NASA large business prime contractors and others to learn more about pursuing NASA procurement, subcontracting and mentor protege opportunities. The Small Business Alliance was established in 2007 and is sponsored by Marshall's Small Business Office, part of the center's Office of Procurement. News media interested in attending should contact Kim Newton in Marshall's Public & Employee Communications Office at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Visitor parking is available in front of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. To learn more about NASA's Office of Small Business, visit: http://osbp.nasa.gov Follow NASA's Office of Small Business on Social Media at: https://www.facebook.com/NASASmallBusiness https://twitter.com/NASA_OSBP Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov The university, then known as National School of Business, first opened its doors in 1941 on a main street in Rapid City, South Dakota. Its early focus was on providing business classes in subjects like accounting and marketing in anticipation of the need for trained managers after World War II. Early programs were geared towards veterans who were returning from overseas and needed to adapt their skills to the new economy. "Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson and our other instructors wanted us to learn," recalls Toni Marin, a 1944 graduate who still lives in Rapid City. "They wanted us all to become strong, good people. They cared." Since then, National American University has focused on identifying those areas of need in the community and designing programs to fit them. Today, the university offers degrees in a wide range of fields, from its original business focus to healthcare, information technology, and more. It has also expanded its operations. National American University now has over 30 campuses in 10 states and offers online courses. National American University's main focus is on flexibility. Degree options can be tailored to student interests, as well as their lifestyles, with the help of a personal advisor who begins working with the student to identify those needs before he or she ever takes a step in a classroom. The university also tries to make it easy for students who wish to transfer credits or continue their college education after a hiatus. This approach is reflected by National American University's recent efforts to assist students from other institutions that have ceased operations. "National American took us with open arms," said Scott, a former student of Westwood College. "They were saying, 'Yes, we will take you, we'll take all your credits and everything, and we are going to finish you off and let you walk.' It was unbelievably appreciated. They were the only school that was willing to do that. National American offered the best choice." Today, NAU offers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in business, information technology, healthcare, and legal studies. During the past 75 years, NAU has grown to serve students at more than 30 campuses offering courses in traditional, online, and hybrid formats, providing students increased flexibility to take classes at times and places convenient to their busy lifestyles. National American University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (800- 621-7440 | hlcommission.org). For more information about degree programs, admissions, and financial aid opportunities, please visit www.national.edu. For More Information Gregg Peterson, Director of Marketing 605-394-4960 | [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408397 SOURCE National American University Foundation Related Links http://www.national.edu/ContactCampus/Pages/defaul VANCOUVER , Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Nevsun Resources Ltd. (TSX:NSU) (NYSE MKT: NSU) ("Nevsun" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of US$0.04 per common share (US$0.16 per common share annually). The dividend is payable on October 14, 2016, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 30, 2016. This dividend qualifies as an 'eligible dividend' for Canadian income tax purposes. Dividend Reinvestment Program Nevsun also announces that it has adopted its Dividend Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP"), some details of which were previously announced on September 12, 2016. The adoption of the DRIP will offer shareholders an opportunity to increase their investment in Nevsun without additional transaction costs by reinvesting their cash dividends into additional common shares of the Company ("Common Shares"). At this time, the Company intends to have the Common Shares issued from treasury at a 3% discount to the weighted average trading price of the common shares on the NYSE during the five trading days immediately preceding the dividend payment date. The 3% discount will remain in effect for all cash dividends that may be declared, if any, by Nevsun's Board of Directors until otherwise announced. Dividends are paid only when declared by Nevsun's Board of Directors and the Company may, in its discretion, change or eliminate the discount applicable to treasury acquisitions, or any other terms of the DRIP. Participation in the DRIP is optional and open to all registered and beneficial shareholders in Canada and in the United States, and those other jurisdictions where participation in the DRIP would not be prohibited or restricted by applicable law. Eligible holders of Common Shares who are not registered holders and who wish to participate in the DRIP should contact the financial institution, broker or other nominee through which their Common Shares are held to provide appropriate enrollment instructions and to ensure that any deadlines or other requirements that such financial institution, broker or nominee may impose or is subject to are met. Residents of the United States are advised that the Depository Trust Company does not participate in dividend reinvestment plans for Canadian issuers and that in order to participate in the DRIP, such shareholder will either need to become a registered shareholder or contact a financial institution, broker or other nominee that is a participant in the Clearing and Depository Services Inc. ("CDS") depository service. To participate in the DRIP, registered shareholders must deliver a properly completed enrollment form to Computershare Trust Company of Canada (the "Agent") not less than five business days before a dividend record date. Registered shareholders who wish to participate in the DRIP for the October 14, 2016 dividend must deliver a DRIP enrollment form to the Agent no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, September 26, 2016. Non-registered beneficial shareholders who wish to participate in the DRIP should contact the broker, investment dealer, financial institution or other nominee who holds their common shares to inquire about the applicable enrollment deadline and to request enrollment in the DRIP. Full details of the DRIP plan and how to enroll are available on Nevsun's website at www.nevsun.com/investors/dividends/ or on the Agent's web portal at www.investorcentre.com/nevsun. All shareholders considering enrollment in the DRIP should review the terms of the DRIP and consult with their advisors as to the implication of enrollment in the DRIP. The DRIP plan, frequently asked questions and other related information is available at www.nevsun.com/investors/dividends. Common Shares purchased under the DRIP will, at the discretion of the Company, be issued from treasury, be purchased on the open market through the facilities of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), or be acquired through a combination thereof. Common Shares issued from treasury are eligible for a discount of up to 5% at the discretion of the Company. This news release is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer of securities. Nevsun has filed a registration statement relating to the DRIP with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that is available electronically under the Company's profile from EDGAR (www.sec.gov/). About Nevsun Resources Ltd. Nevsun Resources Ltd. is the 60% owner of the high grade Bisha Mine in Eritrea. Bisha has nine years of reserve life, generating revenue from both copper and zinc concentrates containing gold and silver by-products. Nevsun has a strong balance sheet, no debt and pays a peer leading quarterly dividend. Nevsun is well positioned to grow shareholder value through exploration at Bisha and the newly acquired Serbian assets that include the high-grade copper-gold Timok Project. Forward Looking Statements The above contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "hopes", "intends", "estimated", "potential", "possible" and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are statements concerning the Company's current beliefs, plans and expectations about the future including but not limited to statements and information made concerning: statements relating to the business, prospects and future activities of, and developments related to the Company, anticipated dividends, goals, strategies, future growth, planned future acquisitions and explorations activities, the adequacy of financial resources and other events or conditions that may occur in the future, and are inherently uncertain. The actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, the risks that: (i) any of the assumptions in the historical resource estimates turn out to be incorrect, incomplete, or flawed in any respect; (ii) the methodologies and models used to prepare the resource and reserve estimates either underestimate or overestimate the resources or reserves due to hidden or unknown conditions, (iii) exploration activities or the mine operations are disrupted or suspended due to acts of god, internal conflicts in the country of Eritrea or Serbia, unforeseen government actions or other events; (iv) the Company experiences the loss of key personnel; (v) the Company's operations or exploration activities are adversely affected by other political or military, or terrorist activities; (vi) the Company becomes involved in any material disputes with any of its key business partners, suppliers or customers; (vii) the Company is subjected to any hostile takeover or other unsolicited attempts to acquire control of the Company; (viii) the Company is subject to any adverse ruling in any of the pending litigation to which it is a party; (ix) Cukaru Peki Upper Zone Deposit preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature and it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves; and other risks are more fully described in the Company's Management Information Circulars dated May 18, 2016 with respect to the proposed arrangement between Reservoir Minerals Inc. and Nevsun, and the Company's Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made and the Company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015, which is available on the Company's website (www.nevsun.com), filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under cover of Form 40-F. NEVSUN RESOURCES LTD. "Cliff T. Davis" Cliff T. Davis President & Chief Executive Officer SOURCE Nevsun Resources Ltd. ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PenFed Credit Union announced today that the members of High Plains Federal Credit Union of Clovis, New Mexico have voted to accept PenFed's proposal to merge. The partnership leverages PenFed's pricing power and leading edge technology to bring greater value to more than 6,000 new members who will be gained through the merger. Clovis is located in New Mexico's Curry County, which is home to more than 10,000 active duty personnel and military family members at Cannon Air Force Base. Civilian workers employed by the base, military retirees and veterans account for an additional 13,000 members of the county's robust military-affiliated population. James Schenck, president and CEO of PenFed Credit Union said, "The merger with High Plains Federal Credit Union enables us to join and gain access to a very dynamic communityto which we bring decades of expertise in serving the nation's defenders." Schenck said, "A successful credit union merger takes time, planning and a common goal of working toward an outcome that benefits the members. The boards and management teams of our two credit unions demonstrated a commitment to ensuring the impact upon the members was at the forefront of every decision made throughout this process." PenFed will welcome the new members to its suite of award-winning products, low loan rates and high dividend yields when the merger takes effect in early November. In addition to more than 6,000 new members, the entire High Plains Federal Credit Union staff, two branches and almost $39 million in assets will fall under the care of PenFed. Executive Vice President and President of Affiliated Businesses at PenFed Credit Union Shashi Vohra described the appeal of the High Plains partnership. "Merging with High Plains Federal Credit Union heightens the awareness of our brand and the extreme pride we take in being able to serve our members." "Our merger activity is driven by a desire to add value. We are absolutely focused on helping our members to do better financially. And when it comes to the level of service and the quality of the products offered by PenFed, our members clearly have an edge," said Vohra. Senior Vice President for Mergers and Acquisitions at PenFed Credit Union Ricardo Chamorro said, "High Plains Federal Credit Union and the Clovis community are a great complement to our membership base." Chamorro has helped lead PenFed's efforts to merge with credit unions that have attractive markets with growth potential. He expressed excitement about helping PenFed serve more members as it continues with future expansion plans. "New Mexico is a prime state for cultivating merger partnership opportunities. We will continue to explore possibilities as we believe we can add tremendous value to all stakeholders in any future partnership." High Plains Federal Credit Union CEO Marty Tressell discussed his thoughts about joining PenFed. Tressell said, "The possibilities for our memberswhen I think of this merger in terms of scaleare really quite exciting. Partnering with PenFed Credit Union enables High Plains Federal Credit Union to leverage the size and scale of PenFed to do more for both its members and employees." About PenFed Credit Union Established in 1935 as the War Department Credit Union, PenFed Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the country, serving 1.4 million members worldwide; with $20 billion in assets. Its long-standing mission has been to provide superior financial services in a cost effective manner, while being responsive to members' needs. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading mortgages, automobile loans, credit cards, checking, and a wide range of other financial services with its members' interests always in mind. PenFed Credit Union serves a diverse population, and no military service is required to join. We offer many paths to membership, including numerous employee groups and association affiliations. It's easy to apply. We invite you to come see why you belong at PenFed Credit Union. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an equal housing lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org, like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter. Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on Linkedin. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer: M/F/V/D. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150123/170917LOGO SOURCE PenFed Credit Union Legends at White Oak is a brand new Class "A" apartment community comprised of 312 units. Completed in 2015, Legends at White Oak is situated on over 21 acres and boasts high quality construction with top-of-the-market finishes and amenities. Residents' amenities include an expansive salt-water pool with sun ledge, modern fitness center, two fully stocked fishing ponds, business center, billiards room, and a poolside cabana with fire pit. "In addition to being an incredibly attractive asset, Legends at White Oak is perfectly situated near major job drivers within one of the best public school districts in Chattanooga," said Ruyi Li, Acquisitions Manager for Olympus Property. Units feature top-of-the-line finishes, including open floor plans with 9-foot ceilings, balconies with expansive views, oversized closets, stylish wood cabinetry in kitchens and baths, premium granite countertops, ceramic tile baths, faux wood blinds, washer and dryer, hardwood style flooring, ceiling fan with lights, and patios/balconies. The Legends benets from its highly convenient location and provides convenient access to Chattanooga's largest employers in Downtown and along Highway 75/I-75. The $1 billion Volkswagen automotive plant and the Amazon distribution center each employ over 2,400 and are located within a ve minute drive time. Additionally, the property is a short 15-minute drive to the urban core of Chattanooga. "We are thrilled to be expanding our Tennessee portfolio in Chattanooga, a beautiful town attracting employers and families from across the nation," said Anthony Wonderly, Principal of Olympus Property. Legends at White Oak is the fourth property to be added to Olympus Property's sixth fund. The investment structure will provide investors an opportunity to diversify among numerous multi-family assets providing immediate cash flow in strong markets throughout the United States. To learn more about diversifying your portfolio with Olympus Property, please contact Braden Barr at 415-689-5855 or at [email protected]. About Olympus Property Olympus Property, founded in 1992, is a fully integrated real estate investment firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. Over its 24-year history, the company has become a successful and recognized name in the multi-family industry. Olympus currently owns and manages 12,000 units across 8 states including Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Tennessee, Georgia, New Mexico, and California. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409404 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120917/SF74914LOGO SOURCE Olympus Property Related Links http://www.OlympusProperty.com NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Condemning the terrorist attacks in New York City and New Jersey, thousands of Iranian-Americans will hold a rally outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the opening day of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at 10:00 am. They will protest the visit to the UN by the Iranian regime's President, Hassan Rouhani, call for a halt in Tehran's extensive funding and sponsoring of terrorism in the region, demand a halt in the executions in Iran, and urge the prosecution of the regime's leaders. Why: According to the United States Department of State, the Iranian regime remains the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism; it has been the main sponsor of Assad and the cause of carnage in Syria, which has become a breeding ground for extremism and terrorism. The Iranian people have been the main domestic victims of the Iranian regime's political violence. More than 2,500 have been hanged during Rouhani's tenure, including dozens of dissidents, women, minors, ethnic and religious minorities. New evidence implicates Rouhani's cabinet ministers, in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. A symbolic enactment of the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in Iran will be performed. Who: Honorable Joe Lieberman, former Senator from Connecticut, Pastor Saeed Abedini, recently released from prison in Iran, and Sir Geoffrey Robertson, QC, President of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, are among the speakers who also include the voices of the young Iranian-Americans. Sponsor: Organization of Iranian American Communities-US (OIACUS) When: Tuesday, September 20, 2016, 10:00 AM Where: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (2nd Ave. & 47th Street), United Nations Headquarters, NY Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160712/389600LOGO SOURCE OIAC Related Links http://www.oiac.org PHOENIX, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For seasonal residents returning to Phoenix to enjoy pristine winter weather while the rest of the country freezes over, it is important to schedule an inspection of all essential home systems such as plumbing and electrical. As homes sit vacant and unused for months at a time, there is the potential for issues to develop. Homes require regular maintenance. One of the more severe issues which may confront snowbirds, would be backed-up or damaged sewer lines. Parker & Sons offers noninvasive sewer line draining for returning seasonal residents. In times past, inspecting sewer lines meant digging them up. Entire yards would be destroyed in the hunt for leaks or breaks. Hours of backbreaking labor would be required. Parker & Sons uses innovative new techniques to diagnose sewer line problems without having to go through all the effort of digging them up. Parker & Sons plumbing professionals use incredible video inspection technology to learn everything they need about the inner workings of a sewer line system before they begin any repairs. This is done so that seasonal residents avoid unneeded repairs and unnecessary costs. Parker & Sons has always believed in passing down savings to their customers. Parker & Son's plumbers begin a video inspection by inserting a small, miniature camera into a drain. The camera then makes its way through the sewer system, recording everything it sees, and sending the images back to the Parker & Sons plumber. The plumbing professional can then diagnose sewer line problems in a noninvasive manner. Once issues have been identified, repairs can begin. Drain rootering equipment is used to clear out any clogged or backups in the sewer line. If kinked or broken sections have been identified, the Parker & Sons professional can perform repairs in a precise, surgical manner. The sewer line will only be dug up exactly where the repairs are needed. This will minimize the impact repairs have on the beautiful, and precisely landscaped yards of homeowners. "We are always trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology here at Parker & Sons. Whenever someone pioneers a new technique, or invents a new tool, or piece of technology, we want to be able to adopt it, and include it as part of our service. This is a service we are proud to offer all of our loyal customers, not just returning seasonal residents," said Josh Kelly, of Parker & Sons. About Parker & Sons Keeping You Comfortable With Expert Heating, Cooling & Plumbing Service Since 1974. Parker & Sons has been serving homeowners and businesses in Arizona for over 40 years and is recognized nationally. Contact Information Josh Kelly 602.273.7247 [email protected] http://parkerandsons.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160907/405233 SOURCE Parker & Sons Related Links http://parkerandsons.com/ HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Pennsylvania State Police are encouraging motorists to properly restrain children and educate themselves on the updated child passenger safety law as the agencies mark National Child Passenger Safety Week on September 18 through September 24. Additionally, Saturday, September 24 has been designated as "National Seat Check Saturday." "PennDOT urges parents and guardians to remain informed as child safety laws and seats evolve," PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. "We encourage the public to take advantage of our seat checks and educational materials throughout the year to ensure that each child gets to their destination safely." PennDOT funds resources such as training and educational materials for 171 fitting stations across Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania State Police check more than 2,500 seats annually. The checkups are designed to teach drivers the proper installation and use of child safety seats. "A properly installed child safety seat can be the difference in keeping your child safe in the event of a crash," said Major Edward C. Hoke, Director, Bureau of Patrol. "We urge parents and caregivers to take advantage of the free safety seat check events being held around the state during the week." Motorists are reminded that Pennsylvania's primary seat-belt law requires drivers and passengers under 18 years old to buckle up, and children under the age of 4 must be properly restrained in an approved child safety seat. Children ages 4 to 8 must be restrained in an appropriate booster seat. A new Pennsylvania law that went into effect August 2016 requires a child under 2 years of age be securely fastened in a rear-facing child passenger restraint system, which is to be used until the child outgrows the maximum weight and limits designated by the manufacturer. In addition, children ages 8 to 18 must be wearing a seat belt when riding anywhere in the vehicle. Also, drivers and front-seat passengers 18 years-old or older are required to buckle up. If motorists are stopped for a traffic violation and are not wearing their seat belt, they can receive a second ticket and second fine. Because of the potential dangers associated with air bag deployment, children ages 12 and under should always ride buckled in a vehicle's back seat. The State Police Bureau of Patrol also offers the following tips: Read and follow the car seat and vehicle manufacturers' instructions; Use the car's seat belt to anchor the seat to the car unless you are using a child safety seat with the LATCH system; Fill out and return the registration card for your seat so you'll know if it is recalled because of a problem; Make sure the seat's harness fits snugly; and Use a tether strap if the seat requires it. For more information on car seat safety and to get a list of state police car seat safety inspection locations and dates, click on the "Public Safety" link at www.psp.pa.gov. To view a list of PennDOT-supported car seat checks and for more child passenger safety resources, visit PennDOT.gov/safety click on "Traffic Safety and Driver Topics" and then "Child Passenger Safety." MEDIA CONTACT: Ashley Schoch, 717-783-8800 or Adam Reed 717-783-5556 SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Transportation; Pennsylvania State Police Related Links http://www.state.pa.us SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Petco today announced that it has hired John Zavada as senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO); and added William Engen to the company's leadership team as senior vice president, retail market expansion, a new role dedicated to optimizing the company's investments in new retail store growth. "We're pleased to welcome these two proven leaders to the Petco team," said Petco CEO, Jim Myers. "I'm confident their combined experience and expertise will strengthen our ability to achieve our goals, continue to grow and further deliver on our brand promise to nurture powerful relationships between people and pets for better lives together." As CIO, John Zavada brings an extensive background in technology leadership in the retail industry. He will be responsible for leading Petco's information technology strategies, teams and projects, including the company's business process optimization and enterprise program management office. Before joining Petco, Zavada served as senior vice president and chief information officer at Restoration Hardware. Previously, he filled chief information officer roles at Guitar Center, Big Lots, Limited Inc., Victoria's Secret Stores, and others. He earned his bachelor's degree in business information systems from California State Polytechnic University. "I'm thrilled to be joining Petco, a clear leader in the pet specialty retail space for more than 50 years," said Zavada. "The company is well-positioned for continued growth, with strong investments already made in leading technology solutions. I look forward to helping to maximize the return on those investments and driving ongoing business innovation and customer satisfaction through information technology." As senior vice president, retail market expansion, William Engen brings decades of retail operations leadership experience and will be responsible for leading Petco's real estate, construction and store design functions. Previously, Engen served as chief operating officer at Wingstop Restaurants. Previously he held various retail operations leadership roles at 7-Eleven, Circuit City, Bachrach Clothing and Saks Fifth Avenue. He earned his bachelor's degree from Northeastern Illinois University. "As a pet parent, I understand firsthand the importance of the relationship Petco builds with its customers and their pets, particularly through the in-store retail experience," said Engen. "I'm thrilled to become part of the company's outstanding leadership team and look forward to helping shape the future of its overall retail experience." Zavada and Engen both join Petco this month, reporting to the company's executive vice president and chief financial officer, Mike Nuzzo. For more information about Petco or to find a location near you, visit petco.com. About Petco and the Petco Foundation With more than 50 years of service to pet parents, Petco is a leading pet specialty retailer that focuses on nurturing powerful relationships between people and pets. We do this by providing the products, services, advice and experiences that keep pets physically fit, mentally alert, socially engaged and emotionally happy. Everything we do is guided by our vision for Healthier Pets. Happier People. Better World. We operate more than 1,470 Petco and Unleashed by Petco locations across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico; prescription services and pet supplies from the leading veterinary-operated pet product supplier, Drs. Foster & Smith; and petco.com. The Petco Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, has invested more than $167 million since it was created in 1999 to help promote and improve the welfare of companion animals. In conjunction with the Foundation, we work with and support thousands of local animal welfare groups across the country and, through in-store adoption events, help find homes for more than 400,000 animals every year. Contact: Lisa Stark, [email protected], 858-453-7845 x22-2558 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150817/259044LOGO SOURCE Petco Related Links http://www.petco.com GENEVA, September 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The European Organization for Pakistani Minorities, on September 16, organised a side event titled "Plight of Pakistani Minorities" at the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. The speakers included Fulvio Martusciello, Member of the European Parliament, Mario Silva, Executive Director, International Forum for Rights and Security, Canada, Dr. Rubina Greenwood, Vice Chairperson, World Sindhi Congress and Senge Sering, President, Institute for Gilgit-Baltistan Studies. Speaking on the occasion, Fulvio Martusciello highlighted Pakistan's discriminatory laws against minorities and use of extremist groups as proxies to target minorities including the Christains, Hazaras, Ahmadiyas, Hindus and Balochs. He expressed deep concern regarding the growing intolerance in Pakistani society, a phenomenon aggravated by the actions of the Pakistani government. He added that the Pakistan government and the military establishment should realise that their policy to sustain and use extremist elements in its neighbourhood, with the intention of undermining these areas would, sooner or later, not only destabilise Pakistan internally but also spread to other parts of the world. Focusing on the issue of systematic persecution of the Baloch people in Pakistan, Mario Silva was of the view that the State of Pakistan should be held responsible for the genocide against the Baloch people. He emphasised on the need for the international community to recognise and work towards resolving the crisis in Balochistan, adding that the matter had not been adequately addressed in the past. Referring to the wave of killings in the region, that included educators, journalists, lawyers and students, and the 'Kill and Dump' policy of the Pakistani security forces and intelligence, he stated that many of these people were killed for having spoken out against the on going persecution in the province. He concluded by saying that if the situation was not brought under control, it would result in the flight of minorities from Balochistan. This, he said, would be a stark failure of the international community to save the Baloch people. Dr Rubina Greenwood, an activist for human rights of the Sindhi community in Pakistan, in her presentation enumerated the various ways in which the religious minorities were being persecuted in Pakistan. Informing that many from the minority communities were fleeing Pakistan to avoid persecution, she stated that as on April 16, 2016, about 11,500 Pakistanis, mostly Christians, were seeking asylum in Thailand. She also informed that there were thousands of Pakistanis, mostly Hindus and Sikhs, who had moved to India in the hope of securing Indian citizenship. She called on the international community to restrict aid/loans to Pakistan till it improved laws and made institutional changes on issues related to discrimination of religious minorities and to nominating a Special UN Rapporteur who would investigate atrocities against Shias, Hindus, Christians, Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan. She called on UN forums and treaty bodies to put pressure on Pakistan to follow its commitments on all the international treaties on human rights to which it was a signatory. Senge Sering highlighted the persecution being faced by the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Pakistani State imposing the CPEC on the locals of that area. SOURCE European Organization for Pakistani Minorities BEDFORD, Mass., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, EnterpriseDB (EDB), the leading enterprise Postgres database company, will host a webinar featuring Bruce Momjian, a co-founder of the PostgreSQL Global Development Group and a Core Team member. The free, 45-minute webinar titled What's New in PostgreSQL, will be held at 8 am and 1 pm EDT on Tuesday, September 20, 2016. The PostgreSQL Global Development Group is planning a series of performance improvements and enhancements to speed queries for PostgreSQL. The new features and capabilities Momjian will discuss during the webinar include: Parallel sequential scans, joins, and aggregates Elimination of repetitive scanning of old data by auto-vacuum Synchronous replication allowing multiple standby servers for increased reliability Full-text search for phrases Support for remote joins, sorts, and updates in the Foreign Data Wrapper for Postgres (postgres_fdw) Substantial performance improvements, especially in the area of increasing scalability on servers with many CPUs WEBINAR REGISTRATION: DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 TIME: 8am EDT and 1pm EDT REGISTER FOR FREE: 8 am EDT webinar, click here webinar, click here 1 pm EDT webinar, click here To learn more about PostgreSQL, attend Postgres Vision, October 11-13, 2016 at the Innovation Hangar in the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco. Learn more at www.PostgresVision.com About EnterpriseDB (EDB) Corporation EDB is the leading worldwide provider of PostgreSQL software and services that enable enterprises to reduce their reliance on costly traditional solutions and slash their database spend by up to 80% or more. With powerful performance and security enhancements for PostgreSQL, sophisticated management tools for global deployments and database compatibility with Oracle, EDB software supports mission-critical enterprise applications. More than 3,600 enterprises, governments and other organizations worldwide use EDB software, support, training and professional services to integrate PostgreSQL into their existing data infrastructures. EDB is based in Bedford, Massachusetts. EnterpriseDB is a registered trademark of EnterpriseDB Corporation. EDB and EDB Postgres are trademarks of EnterpriseDB Corporation. All other names are trademarks of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160106/319928LOGO Media Contacts for EDB: Nancy Scott Cairbre Sugrue EnterpriseDB Sugrue Communications +1 781.357.3090 +44 (0)1932 429 779 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE EnterpriseDB Related Links http://www.enterprisedb.com TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- m-ize and Premium 2000+ have announced today that Premium 2000+ is implementing m-ize software to manage warranty contracts, support, claims and payment processing. Premium 2000+ has been offering used truck warranties since 2000 and has enabled dealers to offer extended warranties on used trucks as an added feature to help sell the used trucks. Premium has pioneered in offering dealer self-inspection, coverage of various components and simple pricing. "Premium 2000+ offers a comprehensive warranty program for commercial used trucks that was simple to understand and was easy to apply," said Lynn Murphy, CEO of Premium 2000. "The new warranty management system we are implementing makes it easier for dealers and customers to do business with us and demonstrates our commitment to help our dealers sell more trucks and grow their businesses." "We are excited that Premium 2000+ has selected m-ize as their software partner to implement m-ize Warranty Management software to manage their commercial truck warranty programs," said Ashok Kartham, CEO of m-ize. "The system will make it easier for thousands of dealers, repair facilities and customers of Premium 2000+ to process warranty contracts, claims and other inquiries online." m-ize offers complete Warranty lifecycle management software in Cloud using SaaS model making it easier for companies to implement the solution quickly and cost effectively. Using m-ize Service Plans, companies can configure different warranty programs, pricing and reimbursement terms. m-ize Warranty claims capture the repair information, supporting details and communication in one place making the decisions on claims fast and reliable. m-ize CX Connect makes integration with ERP and financial systems seamless to manage contract sales and claim payments. "Our business has been growing and we needed a software system that can enable us to support the growth by helping to streamline the contract and claims processes," said Lynn Murphy. "We selected m-ize as our partner because of their understanding of the industry, specialization in warranty management and software that meets our needs." About m-ize m-ize enables companies to optimize key post-sale customer interaction events such as product registration, warranty, service plans, parts, support, service, and maintenance to increase customer satisfaction and retention. m-ize connected customer experience platform and Smart Blox elevate customer experience and engagement with the customers, build more knowledge about the customers and products, and increase revenue from the existing customer install base. m-ize harnesses web, mobile, cloud, IoT, and analytics technologies to maximize customer lifetime value. Please visit www.m-ize.com for more information. About Premium 2000+ Premium 2000+ is the Original "NO HOOPS" Used Truck Warranty Company. Premium 2000+ fulfills the need for dealers to be able to offer a comprehensive warranty program that allowed the dealer the ability to inspect their own trucks, a program that was simple to understand, and was easy to apply. Premium 2000+ has headquarters and 24-Hour Claims Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and area managers across United States. Please visit www.premium2000.com for more information. SOURCE m-ize Related Links http://www.m-ize.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 600 professionals will attend the second annual Privacy+Security Forum on the campus of George Washington University for a three-day event that will cover the gamut of data security and privacy matters facing companies, governments and individuals, Tom Hay of HB Litigation Conferences, the event organizer, said today. Companies represented on the roughly 300-speaker faculty include Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Government speakers will appear from the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security and several other agencies. Speakers also hail from Germany, Ireland, Korea, Japan, the U.K. and more. Co-founded by Daniel Solove of George Washington University Law School and Paul Schwartz of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, the event was an immediate success in 2015, hailed by one attendee as "the best collection of experts speaking together in one place that I've seen." "The purpose of the event is to bring together seasoned thought leaders to break down the silos of privacy and security, create rigorous discussion, and deliver practical takeaways," Solove said. "I think we've created something truly unique," Schwartz added. "The forum is proving itself invaluable to privacy and security professionals, chief information officers, attorneys, academics, think tanks, technologists and policymakers." Providing depth and rigor in presentations, as well as unparalleled interactivity, the program offers a variety of breakout sessions, workshops and focused sub-seminars, called "intensive days." Categories of discussion include: Healthcare information International privacy Communications regulation Advertising and marketing Big data monetization and discrimination Consumer privacy and security Employment Surveillance Class actions and litigation And much more As many as 300 speakers will present, representing companies including: AT&T Cisco Dell Facebook General Electric Google LG Electronics Microsoft Netflix Northrop Grumman Qualcomm Uber Verizon Federal agencies represented include: Department of Commerce Department of Health & Human Services Department of Homeland Security Department of Justice Department of State Federal Communications Commission Federal Trade Commission Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Secret Service For more information visit http://bit.ly/PSForum2016. Media Contact Tom Hagy (484) 324-2755 www.LitigationConferences.com SOURCE HB Litigation Conferences Related Links http://www.litigationconferences.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With the understanding that 21st century learning intimately involves global competence, the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) welcomes Qatar Foundation International (QFI) as a new member. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408825LOGO "Success in the 21st century requires students to develop attitudes and knowledge to participate in globally interconnected settings," stated Dr. Helen Soule, P21 Executive Director. "QFI's commitment to empower students to become engaged global citizens aligns with P21's vision for learners to master the skills necessary to thrive in college, career, and life." "QFI strives to prepare K-12 students to be multilingual, culturally competent and responsible global citizens in an increasingly interconnected world," said Maggie Mitchell Salem, QFI Executive Director. "We are thrilled to join P21 as the first member that focuses on the Arab world, namely connecting young people in the Americas and the Middle East through quality language and culture programs. We know that our unique perspective will contribute to the P21 community." Maggie Mitchell Salem will represent QFI on P21's Strategic Council and will work with P21 in the development of new resources for advancing global competence for all learners. About QFI: Qatar Foundation International (QFI), LLC, is a U.S.-based member of Qatar Foundation (QF). QFI is both a grant-making organization and a convener of thought leaders on issues related to global and international education, open education and education technologies as they intersect with the three core QFI programmatic areas: Arabic language and Arab culture, STE{A}M (STEM plus the Arts), and Youth Engagement. QFI inspires meaningful connections to the Arab world by creating a global community of diverse learners and educators and connecting them through effective and collaborative learning environments inside and outside the classroom. Through our activities, QFI is committed to providing K-12 students in Qatar and the Americas with the intellectual, communicative, and cultural competencies that will enable them to be engaged global citizens. Learn more at qfi.org. Follow QFI on Twitter @QFINTL About P21: P21 recognizes that all learners need educational experiences in school and beyond, from cradle to career, to build knowledge and skills for success in a globally and digitally interconnected world. Follow P21 on Twitter @P21Learning P21 Members: American Camp Association, American Federation of Teachers, AT&T, Crayola, CreativeFuture, Destination Imagination, EF Education First, Education Networks of America, eLearning Solutions, Faber-Castell, First Five Years Fund, Fisher-Price, Ford Motor Company Fund, Future Problem Solving Program International, Goddard Systems Inc., Intel Corporation, Learning.com, LEGO Education, METEN, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, National Education Association, National Speech and Debate Association, PBS, Pearson, People to People International, Playworld, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation, Qatar Foundation International, School Specialty, SKT Education Group, VIF International Education, and The Walt Disney Company P21 Leadership States: Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin QFI Contact: Sara Al-Hemaidi, QFI Communications Manager +1 571-314-4511 | +1 202-609-7918 Email Lizzette Arias, P21 Program Coordinator 202-750-1362 Email SOURCE Partnership for 21st Century Learning BEIJING, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Future Science Prize, the first privately sponsored science prize in Mainland China, announced its inaugural prize laureates in Beijing on September 19, 2016 after a rigorous selection process lasting a year and half. Qikun Xue of Tsinghua University was awarded the first prize in physical science; Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong was awarded the first prize in life science. Qikun Xue has made groundbreaking discoveries to novel quantum phenomena by using molecule beam epitaxy, an advanced thin film growth method that allows thin film to grow layer by layer and in a crystalline form on a substrate. In particular, he and his collaborators have synthesized many kinds of high-quality crystalline thin films, enabling them in 2012 to first discover Quantum Anomalous Hall (QAH) effect and high transition temperature superconducting monolayer FeSe on SrTiO3 substrate. Both discoveries of Xue have been confirmed by many other groups, and have stimulated further intensive research activities around the world, with the hope that critical temperatures for both QAH effect and interfacial superconductivity can be further increased, and these materials may become more practically useful in the future. Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo discovered the release of DNA from fetus into the plasma of a pregnant woman, which has opened up a new approach of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. In his seminal work in 1997 and 1998, he showed that cell-free fetal DNA exists in maternal blood. Based on these early discoveries, Lo performed a series of pioneering work investigating the circulating fetal cell-free DNA and demonstrated the feasibility and practical utility of using it for diagnosis of genetic disorders. These efforts culminated in the method to quantify fetal DNA using next generation sequencing, resulting in a widely utilized approach for Down syndrome detection. Such noninvasive prenatal test has been used in over 90 countries. Over a million of such tests are performed annually in China alone. This revolutionary approach has allowed countless parents around the world to benefit from noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. The Future Science Prize was established by Future Forum. The Future Science Prize awards scientists who have made outstanding contributions in the Greater China region (regardless of their citizenships). The committee and criteria of the prize were established in accordance with the best practice of top international prizes such as the Nobel Prize. In order to ensure independence, impartiality and fairness, the selection process of the Future Science Prize received nominations only from invited nominators and invited international experts in related fields to evaluate the nominated work. The Science Committee of Future Science Prize made final selection based on these evaluation letters. The Science Committee consists of Hong DING, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chuan HE, University of Chicago; Kai LI, Princeton University; Yi RAO, Peking University; Gang TIAN, Peking University and Princeton University; Xiaodong WANG, National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing; Xiaogang WEN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jeff XIA, Northwestern University; Sunney XIE, Harvard University. The Future Science Prize is currently given in two categories: Life Science and Physical Science. The prize in each category was generously donated by four entrepreneurs. The donors of the Life Science Prize are James DING, Robin LI, Neil SHEN and Lei ZHANG. The donors of the Physical Science Prize are Feng DENG, Yajun WU, Ying WU and Bob XU. The Future Science Prize aims at becoming an internationally well-recognized award, encouraging young people to devote themselves to science. Qikun XUE was born in Shandong Provincein 1963. He completed his PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1994. He is currently a professor at Tsinghua University. Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo was born in Hong Kongin 1963. He received his PhD in 1994 and MD from Oxford University in 2001. He is currently a professor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Cash award for each Prize: US$1,000,000 More information: http://www.futureprize.org/ Phone: +86 10 58751688 Email[email protected] SOURCE Future Forum Related Links http://www.futureprize.org HONG KONG, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Reuter Communications, an award winning and integrated luxury marketing and communications specialist, further strengthened its presence in Greater China by appointing former Bottega Veneta Asia Pacific Head of Communications, Lillian Lim-Hossack, to head its new Hong Kong office. The move further boosts its positioning as a leading agency in the region for premium and luxury brands wanting to engage with Asia's growing group of discerning consumers. The agency currently works with some of the world's most celebrated brands in the luxury lifestyle, fashion, design, and hospitality industries. Industry veteran Lim-Hossack will lead the office as General Manager and Partner. She has more than 20 years experience in luxury brand management, marketing and communications. She was previously Head of Communications, Asia Pacific for Bottega Veneta, where she spent 7 years spearheading the expansion of the brand across the region via integrated communications strategies. http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/mw690/69941105gw1f7yrtftxzjj21kw26hgu5.jpg The team in Hong Kong will provide a full suite of communications services to clients in the premium and luxury industries including digital communications, brand strategy, public relations, influencer marketing, and experiential marketing. "Hong Kong is an important milestone in our growth strategy. It remains a key regional base for our clients as well as an entry point for many premium and luxury brands coming to China and Asia. Lillian is a seasoned luxury and communications veteran, with a proven track record. We are thrilled to welcome her to our growing team," said Chloe Reuter, Founder and CEO, Reuter Communications. Lillian joins Chloe and Nick Cakebread, Managing Partner, as part of the agency's Regional Leadership Team. On her joining Lim-Hossack commented, "I am delighted to be joining Reuter Communications, which is fast becoming a leader in luxury communications in the region. I have tremendous respect for the company's ability to innovate and its exceptional track record of advising brands on how to achieve their goals through strategic communications. I look forward to working with a set of extraordinary and passionate people." This summer, the agency signed a strategic alliance with data and digital marketing agency, INNOMATIVE, in a move that bolsters the agency's deep digital, CRM, data and e-commerce capabilities. About Reuter Communications Reuter Communications is a dynamic, integrated and independent communications agency representing some of the world's most celebrated luxury and lifestyle brands. The agency is headquartered in Shanghai and works throughout Greater China to connect clients with the most discerning consumers. Our team helps clients navigate, communicate and engage with their consumers and stakeholders in an ever complex world, creating innovative consumer experiences, inspiring editorial and social content and impactful digital campaigns to drive brand awareness, affinity and engagement. Clients include Ralph Lauren, Aman, Swarovski, Sotheby's, Harrods, Hasselblad and Delvaux. Reuter Communications was named Winner of PRWeek Asia "Best Places to Work" 2016, has been shortlisted as "Best Boutique PR Agency" by PRWeek 2016, and was a finalist in the "Best Independent Agency in Greater China" by Campaign in 2015. www.reutercomms.com CONTACT: Tom Roberts [email protected], Nicole Zhang - [email protected] SOURCE Reuter Communications MUNICH, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In July 2016, Verizon Wireless, a tier 1 network operator in the United States, supported by leading infrastructure, chipset and terminal manufacturers, published technical specifications that describe the physical layer characteristics of a 5G signal. The specified signal is derived from LTE and adapted to be used at cm frequencies, initially 28 GHz but also 39 GHz. Those frequencies were recently allocated for 5G wireless communications by the local regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The proprietary signal is a multicarrier OFDM signal with a subcarrier spacing of 75 kHz. It is aiming for a bandwidth of 100 MHz per component carrier. Up to eight carriers can be aggregated. The basic mode of operation is TDD. Rohde & Schwarz Supports 5G Signal Generation and Analysis Based on Verizon 5G Open Trial Specifications Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408886 Thanks to their built-in flexibility, the Rohde & Schwarz signal generation and analysis instruments already support the basic characteristic of the specified 5G Verizon signal. The R&S SMW200A vector signal generator equipped with the R&S SMW-K114 5G waveform candidate software option makes it easy to configure OFDM signals with the required 75 kHz subcarrier spacing and 100 MHz bandwidth. Additionally, preamble and user data settings enable creation of 5G signal with the basic characteristics as specified by the Verizon 5G technical forum. This means that reference symbols can be set, and data modulation such as QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM and even higher-order modulation schemes such as 256QAM can be applied. Using the R&S FS-K96 OFDM vector signal analysis software in combination with the R&S FSW signal and spectrum analyzer allows the full characterization of such a 5G signal by simply loading into the software a configuration file that reflects the parameterization of the 5G Verizon signal. When characterizing DUTs such as newly developed power amplifiers for the cm frequency range, test instruments themselves can influence the measurement results. Rohde & Schwarz achieved outstanding performance with the R&S SMW200A and R&S FSW in the trial. When using the test instruments to measure the EVM of a 5G signal at 28 GHz, measurement results were below 1 % across a 10 dB power sweep, meaning that the test instruments did not impact the measurement. With these testing capabilities, Rohde & Schwarz as a leading supplier of test and measurement solutions for LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro, shows its commitment to provide continuous support of 5G test capabilities. Further information about these can be found here: http://www.rohde-schwarz.com/ad/press/5g Press contacts: North America: Pam Sanders, Phone: +1 410 910 7908, Email Contacts for readers: Customer Support North America: +1 888 TEST RSA (+1 888 837 87 72) Email Rohde & Schwarz The Rohde & Schwarz electronics group offers innovative solutions in the following business fields: test and measurement, broadcast and media, cybersecurity, secure communications, radiomonitoring and radiolocation. Founded more than 80 years ago, this independent company has an extensive sales and service network and is present in more than 70 countries. The electronics group is among the world market leaders in its established business fields. On June 30, 2015, Rohde & Schwarz had approximately 9900 employees. The group achieved a net revenue of EUR 1.83 billion in the 2014/2015 fiscal year (July to June). The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and also has strong regional hubs in Asia and the USA. R&S is a registered trademark of Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG. All press releases, including photos for downloading, are available on the Internet at http://www.press.rohde-schwarz.com. SOURCE Rohde & Schwarz Related Links https://www.rohde-schwarz.com The solution represents a significant achievement since the two parties announced their strategic partnership in December 2015 to create the next generation of B2B trade sourcing experiences. By integrating the online and offline trading scenes, resulting in unprecedented convenience for buyers to search and contact sellers, arrange meetings and place orders online, the 'O2O2O Solution' is expected to reshape the B2B trading experience. The SIGN CHINA and LED CHINA events will be held from September 19-22 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). The 'O2O2O Solution' display at SIGN and LED CHINA encompasses a 350+ square meter booth space that includes interactive demonstrations of the O2O2O Solution System, VIP meeting rooms and lounges, an experiential wall showcasing the Trade Assurance program by Alibaba B2B -- a program aiming to boost trust between buyers and sellers engaged in cross-border trading -- and a fully dedicated O2O2O Solution Concierge Team to help facilitate business matchmaking. The full 'O2O2O Solution' encompasses the best qualities of the online and offline worlds of trade sourcing. For SIGN and LED CHINA, all participating exhibitors were given online product and company showrooms by Alibaba B2B through the O2O2O Solution System, allowing potential buyers to search and view their listings, contact the exhibitors, and even request a meeting ahead of the event. The 'O2O2O Solution' experience continues live onsite at SIGN and LED CHINA, where both exhibitors and visitors can meet face-to-face in the lounge, in private meeting rooms, or even at their booths. Onsite visitors can also better search for best-fit suppliers on the spot, with the help of the O2O2O Solution Concierge. Finally, reflecting the unique nature of the final 'O' in 'O2O2O Solution', both buyers and sellers can place orders online while enjoying all the logistical and Trade Assurance benefits offered through the Alibaba.com network. "The year-long collaboration between Alibaba B2B and UBM culminates with our launch of the 'O2O2O Solution' in Shanghai this week," said Jime Essink, President and CEO UBM Asia. "Through our strategic partnership we have discovered the keys which unlock a greater potential for enabling better trade sourcing through the online and offline world." "We are excited to see the collaboration yield fruit with the official launch of the 'O2O2O Solution'. We look forward to working with an influential partner like UBM to bring unprecedented trading experiences to the B2B community," said Kevin Ren, General Manager, Alibaba.com. "We are honored to play host to the debut of the 'O2O2O Solution'," said David Tang, Managing Director of UBM Trust and organizer of SIGN and LED CHINA. "Through this collaboration between UBM and Alibaba B2B, we are able to offer new added value for our exhibitors and visitors. For example, the online showroom further enhance our exhibitors' business opportunities, allowing our visitors and buyers to better search and meet their next supplier or business partner in China!" SIGN & LED CHINA 2016 -- China's definitive sign event and the co-located LED CHINA -- the world's largest event dedicated to the entire LED industry chain -- will host over 900 participating brands, covering all areas of sign technology. The latest in laser engravers, fiber cutters, indoor and outdoor large-format printers and the best in LED displays and technology from the region can be found at SIGN and LED CHINA. Show hours are from 9:30a.m. - 6:00p.m. from September 19-21 and from 9:30a.m. - 3:00p.m. on September 22. To learn more about visiting the fairs this week and experiencing the 'O2O2O Solution' please visit: http://expo.alibaba.com http://www.signchina-sh.com http://www.ledchina-sh.com Contacts Christine Chen Marketing Manager UBM Trust Co Ltd. T: +86-20-3810-6261 x 866 E: [email protected] Ben Veechai Regional Director International Marketing, UBM Asia Ltd T: +852-2516-1691 E: [email protected] Crystal Liu Alibaba Group T: +852-6378-5626 E: [email protected] About UBM Trust (www.ubmtrust.com) UBM Trust is a joint venture company of UBM Asia, which is owned by UBM plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange. We have extensive experience in organizing large-scale exhibitions covering different industries in China, as well as organizing Chinese enterprises to participate in famous fairs abroad. Our flagship events serve the sign and LED industries. Among the definitive exhibitions of their kind in the world, these two events have become an important catalyst for the development and upgrading of China's sign and LED industries, offering a comprehensive one-stop trading platform for exhibitors and visitors. We take pride in providing professional high-quality services to our customers. About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com) Owned by UBM plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organizer in Asia and the largest commercial organiser in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face trade exhibitions and associated print/online products for over 2,000,000 quality sellers and buyers from all over the world. Most recently, UBM Asia was awarded 'Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organiser Award' in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016. About Alibaba.com The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com (www.alibaba.com) is the leading platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in other countries. Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States and Thailand. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408244 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408246 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408247 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408245LOGO SOURCE UBM Trust Related Links http://www.ubmtrust.com SAN DIEGO and VANCOUVER, Wash., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Simplexity Product Development has opened a Menlo Park product design and engineering facility. The new location will serve the growing demand from Bay Area and Northern California technology companies seeking electro-mechanical engineering expertise. As a trusted development partner to some of the world's most advanced technology companies, including HP, Microsoft, Nautilus, and Illumina, Simplexity has recently worked on advanced 3D printing, connected wearable technology, and transformative biotech instrumentation. With the opening of a third design center in Menlo Park, CA. Simplexity is advancing rapidly on becoming the leading supplier of mechatronic product engineering on the West Coast. "Simplexity has experienced double digit growth over the past three years and we are continuing to hire engineers in all of our locations," said Dorota Shortell, CEO of Simplexity. "The Menlo Park facility is assisting scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to commercialize their proprietary technologies. In particular, we are helping them to create designs that lower the cost of manufacturing their products, especially those that incorporate complex electronics with motion-control systems." Simplexity's Bay Area office will be headed up by Gabriel Aldaz. Aldaz holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He has 20 years of experience in product development, including a role as co-founder and president of SparkWorks Engineering, a Bay Area electro-mechanical design consultancy that helped launch the original Jawbone noise-cancelling Bluetooth headset. Simplexity's approach to mechatronics is geared toward the design of products with motion embedded in their hearts, which involve mechanical, electrical, computer and/or control systems engineering and require a custom solution to achieve the highest overall performance to cost ratio. A few examples of products that demonstrate Simplexity's approach of simplifying the complex include: NeuraLabel's 300X on-demand printer, based on HP's page-wide inkjet technology A computer-aided CPR training device An embedded 2-axis stage for scientific imaging that reduced the cost of that subsystem by 50 percent The Senaptec Strobe sensory performance training eyewear, the cutting edge wearable technology designed to help athletes improve performance by training the connection between eyes, brain and body. Simplexity's new facility will be located at 1370 Willow Road, Suite 200, Menlo Park, CA 94025. For more information on Simplexity's product development services in the Bay Area please call or email the Bay Area office at (650) 300-6310 or [email protected]. Simplexity has regional headquarters in San Diego, California and the Portland, OR metro area, serving companies in California, Oregon and Washington. About Simplexity Product Development Simplexity is a product development engineering firm that strives for simplicity in design, reducing product costs and improving the reliability of technology products. It specializes in mechatronics, a systems approach to designing mid- to high-volume products with motion, sensors and electronics in their heart. This results in solutions that reduce risk and accelerate time-to-market for the products it develops for leading technology companies. For more information, visit www.simplexitypd.com or contact Simplexity at 858-385-7834 or [email protected]. Contact: Jeff Fishburn OnPR for Simplexity [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160915/408600LOGO SOURCE Simplexity Related Links http://www.simplexitypd.com "I had so much fun reviewing the emoji entries and was impressed with all of the creative, detailed designs that people from across the country submitted," said Bethany. "Just as Damon Braces helped me gain confidence when I needed it the most, I hope that my fans continue to embrace what makes them unique and special. I love being an emoji and with the newest additions to the Damon-inspired keyboard, it's even more fun to send and share stickers that encourage confidence in every aspect of life." Earlier in 2016, Bethany and Damon Braces launched the interactive emoji keyboard as a way to celebrate self-confidence, encourage consumers to take pride in their unique qualities, and embrace the positive impact of orthodontic treatment with braces. Now comprised of 26 unique emojis that can be shared using popular messaging apps, including iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more, the keyboard can be downloaded for free via the Apple iTunes or Google Play store. "From Damon Braces patients and orthodontists to devout fans of Bethany, the Damon-inspired emoji keyboard continues to help educate people on the impactful benefits of orthodontic treatment and take pride in their smile journey," said Patrik Eriksson, president of Ormco Corporation, the company that manufacturers Damon Braces. "Here at Ormco, we are committed to fostering initiatives that help educate consumers on the value of orthodontic care and spark conversations between Damon Doctors and their patients. We enjoyed seeing so many fans submit ideas to our emoji contest, and look forward to introducing the refreshed keyboard to further inspire confidence among people of all ages." Different than traditional braces, Damon Braces are "tie-less" and allow teeth to move more freely, efficiently and comfortably. Without elastic tieswhich often collect bacteriapatients are able to more easily keep their Damon Braces clean, for better oral hygiene throughout treatment. Damon Braces enable qualified orthodontists to provide high-quality results that can also enhance overall facial aesthetics. For individuals seeking discreet treatment, Damon Clear braces are a virtually invisible option. Unlike clear aligners, Damon Clear braces work 24/7 to efficiently straighten teeth, can treat any patienteven severe casesand can be worn while eating and drinking. To learn more about Damon Braces and the Bethany Hamilton Damon Smile Emoji keyboard visit damonbraces.com. To find a qualified Damon orthodontist in your area, visit the Damon Doctor Locator at damonbraces.com/locator. About Damon System Braces Damon Braces are manufactured and distributed worldwide by Ormco Corporation. For over 50 years, Ormco has partnered with the orthodontic community to manufacture innovative products and solutions that enhance the lives of orthodontists and their patients. For more information, visit the Ormco website. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408928 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160321/346566LOGO SOURCE Damon System Braces Related Links http://www.damonbraces.com Chosen as one of the top-16 up-and-coming destinations in 2016 by CNN, Taiwan proved nothing short of spectacular. At the #TaiwanNowBoarding event, guests enjoyed authentic Taiwanese cuisine provided by Kanpai Restaurant while tasting the signature bubble tea from Chatime. The highlight of the night was the contest where guests used the hashtag #TaiwanNowBoarding for a chance to win a free instant trip to Taiwan with EVA Airways. Immediately following the event, the winners Ryan Woods and Michael Wong were chauffeured by limousine to Toronto Pearson International Airport to take the direct flight and spend the weekend in Taipei. The trip included a two-night stay in a luxurious fivestar hotel and a half-day tour of Taipei. For following winners' journey in Taiwan: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKnOBNq9mz5uaNd_ieKu64A. Two additional free tickets were given away, courtesy of China Airlines. For more information about this exciting event, as well as the beautiful destination of Taiwan please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1459319070750068/ For the best Taiwan travel packages available, visit the official travel deal website of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau at http://www.go2taiwan.net/traveldeal ABOUT TAIWAN TOURISM BUREAU The Taiwan Tourism Bureau is the official government agency responsible for domestic and international tourism policy development and execution. There are three North American Tourism Offices located in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. For information about Taiwan, please visit: http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/ Press Contact: Erin Yang [email protected] / +1 310 649 7700 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409378 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160421/358716LOGO SOURCE Taiwan Tourism Bureau Related Links http://eng.taiwan.net.tw ST. LOUIS, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Walkers and runners across the country will take to the sidewalks, streets and trails on Saturday, Sept. 24 to raise awareness and funds for those living in poverty at the 9th Annual Friends of the Poor Walk/Run, sponsored by the National Council of the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently about 43.1 million people living in poverty. That is approximately 13.5 percent of the population. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409461LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409463 "The Friends of the Poor Walk/Run brings together all of the Conferences (chapters) in our Diocese in one location," said Melissa Scarlata, events and communications coordinator for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Diocesan Council of Rockville Centre, N.Y. "It is so great to see so many people come together, hundreds of Vincentians, family members and friends all walking for the same reason, to help our neighbors in need." All proceeds and donations from the event stay in the area where they are raised and go directly to benefit people living in poverty in the communities served by SVdP. There are no administrative fees for the FOP Walk/Run. Anyone interested in learning more, participating or making a donation can visit www.fopwalk.org for more information. The event in each community is designed and operated by the local SVdP chapter in that area. Therefore, details such as the date and time may vary by location. Most events will be held around Sept. 27, the feast day of the Society's patron, St. Vincent de Paul, who is the patron saint of all works of charity. In 2015, more than 28,000 people participated in the FOP Walk/Run all across the country. Participants raised more than $2.9 million to aid those in need in their local communities. Since the event began in 2008, more than $14.4 million has been raised to help people living in poverty in the U.S. "The FOP Walk/Run helps our members' ability to provide the necessary resources and funds to our neighbors in need," said Dave Barringer, SVdP's CEO. "While the Society provides immediate assistance to people in need, our focus is also on systemic change. We try to identify the underlying causes that have put an individual or family in poverty so that we can assist them in changing their situation. We work to empower people in poverty and give them the necessary tools to move permanently out of a state of extreme need. Events like the FOP Walk/Run help generate the resources to reach that goal." One of the largest charitable organizations in the world, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (www.svdpusa.org) is an international, nonprofit, Catholic lay organization of about 800,000 men and women who voluntarily join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to the needy and suffering in 150 countries on five continents. With the U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, Mo., membership in the United States totals nearly 100,000 in 4,400 communities. SVdP offers a variety of programs and services, including home visits, housing assistance, disaster relief, education and mentoring, food pantries, dining halls, clothing, assistance with transportation, prescription medication, and rent and utility costs. The Society also works to provide care for the sick, the incarcerated and the elderly. Over the past year, SVdP provided over $1.2 billion in tangible and in-kind services to those in need, made more than 1.8 million personal visits (homes, hospitals, prisons and eldercare facilities) and helped more than 23.8 million people regardless of race, religion or national origin. For more information about this release, please contact: Gary Stevens Office: (314)576-3993, ext. 209 Mobile: (314)378-5583 Email SOURCE Society of St. Vincent de Paul Related Links http://www.svdpusa.org Mr Nopparat Maythaveekulchai , President of TCEB disclosed that as a growth driver of Thailand's MICE industry, the conventions sector generates significant economic impact for Thai society. Based on results of an economic impact study in 2015, the Thai MICE industry helped circulate total expenditure in the country's economic system of 220 billion baht, while generating more than 164,000 jobs, and benefiting industry networking, as well as brand and capabilities building. In the conventions sector specifically, more than 66.426 billion baht was spent at conventions in Thailand, generating tax revenue of 2.9 billion baht, and more than 46,000 jobs were created. "From October 2015 until now, Thailand has won bids for 16 conventions, with more than 12,000 international delegates, and targeting revenue generation of more than 1 billion baht. As a government agency tasked to promote the Thai MICE industry, TCEB has provided support for 90 conventions and association meetings, with more than 44,000 international delegates, contributing 3.8 billion baht revenue to the Thai economy. Key highlight events included Asian Utility Week 2016 - a large scale technology conference designed specifically for energy services, which attracted more than 1,000 international delegates, and the Pig, Poultry and Dairy Focus Asia 2016 - a food industry conference, held to develop knowledge on breeding and management of pig, poultry, and dairy livestock, with more than 500 international visitors from Africa, Australia, Asia, and speakers from Europe and the US." Ms Vichaya Soonthornsaratoon, Director of the Conventions Department, TCEB revealed that the Convention Day is being held in a new format this year to showcase the achievements of 16 prestigious Thai associations and organizations, who bid against other countries for international conferences, and received TCEB's support. The winning bids during the 2016 fiscal year will receive honorary pins at the Convention Day - The Essence of Fame, which holds on 19 September 2016, 17.00 - 20.30 hrs. at the Thewarat Sapharom Hall, Phayathai Palace. Deputy Prime Minister General Thanasak Patimaprakorn will preside over the event and present the pins to winning associations and organizations who will host medical, veterinary, animal science, education, music, logistics, and tourism conferences. Additionally, the Convention Day will also highlight a Hall of Fame, exhibiting detailed information of the 16 winning bids, and a special keynote "Inspiration for Thai Future" by Mr Montian Boontan, Vice President of the Blind Association Thailand, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) Committee. "The Convention Day will help raise awareness for bids among professional associations and organizations in Thailand, as a contributor to Thai society. From capabilities building and knowledge sharing, to industry networking and revenue generation, the conventions sector also plays a vital role in helping position Thailand as a premiere conventions destination in Asia, and inspires other associations to bid for associations meetings, conferences, and conventions in the future." Regarding the bureau's strategic plan to promote the conventions sector, Ms Vichaya said that, "TCEB's conventions promotion development plan for the 2017 fiscal year is in line with the Government's Thailand 4.0 economic model, which aims to develop Thailand into a value-based economy, and high income country driven by creativity and innovations. As one of the key focuses in the Thailand 4.0 scheme, the conventions sector will serve as a professional exchange platform that delegates can leverage to further develop innovative products and services, as well as bridge connections that will help reshape future collaboration in Thai society." Focusing on market development and bid support to drive Thailand's leadership position as a premiere conventions destination in Asia, TCEB is set to encourage and provide support for professional associations to bid for major conferences, conventions, and associations meetings to be hosted in Thailand, as well as increase the number of events and international delegates. In 2017, the bureau will also emphasize more major conferences and conventions especially in the five focus industries, including 1) health and wellness 2) energy; 3) food and agribusiness; 4) infrastructure and logistics; and 5) automotive and electronics, in line with the government direction. TCEB will work closely with Thai professional associations, and develop market opportunities with international associations and conventions sector counterparts. Additionally, the 'Convene in Paradise' promotional campaign to support conventions in Thailand, introduced for the 2016 - 2017 fiscal years, provides subsidies for major conventions that meet the following criteria; 1) conventions with a minimum attendance of 1,000 international delegates; 2) conventions in the 5 'Focus Industries' with a minimum attendance of 500 international delegates. The five industries comprise: Health & Wellness, Energy, Food & Agribusiness, Infrastructure & Logistics, and Automotive & Electronics; and 3) offshore meetings of international professional associations with a minimum attendance of 200 international delegates, where 80 per cent of the delegates originate from the same country. "To further develop the sector, TCEB has also put in place a plan to uplift knowledge and know-how about bids and association management among Thai professional associations by collaborating with international convention associations in Europe and the US to provide training for Thai professional associations, equipping them with capabilities to bid for more conventions to be hosted in Thailand," Ms Vichaya added. "In 2017 Thailand expects to welcome 1,109,000 international MICE visitors, generating revenue of 101 billion baht. 315,000 visitors are anticipated to join conventions in Thailand, contributing more than 30 billion baht revenue to the Thai economy. Key activity highlights next year include the 10th International Convention of Asia Scholars, from 20-23 July 2017, with 2,000 international delegates travelling to Chiang Mai to join the exciting event," Mr Nopparat concluded. For further information, please contact: Corporate Communications Division, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) Ms Arisara Thanuplang Tel: +662 694 6095 Email: [email protected] Ms Kanokwan Kadeedang Tel: +662 694 6006 Email: [email protected] Ms Titiwanlaya Thaimongkolrat Tel: +662 694 6103 Email: [email protected] Ms Kwanchanok Otton Tel: +662 694 6096 Email: [email protected] Ms Paniyada Mulalin Tel: +662 694 6091 Email: [email protected] a publicist Tel: +662101 6860 Ms.Thittaya (Jang) +6683 668 1112, Mr.Kosin (Ton) +6681 566 2053, Mr.Sorasak (Earth) +6689 406 5544 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409127 SOURCE InfoQuest Limited NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, has been recognized for the third consecutive year with an Oracle Excellence Award, being named the '2016 Oracle Partner Network (OPN) Cloud Program Solution: PaaS Partner of the Year.' TCS received the award for its global commitment to delivering innovative Oracle Cloud solutions and customer success. TCS developed a portfolio of enterprise mobility offerings that deeply leverage OraclePaaS capabilities, including the TCS Enterprise Mobile Application, which enables an on-premise ERP application to perform 'time critical' business activities in a mobile environment. This intuitive, device-independent platform can integrate disparate enterprise and legacy applications by leveraging Oracle Integration Cloud Service (ICS) and Oracle Mobile Cloud Service (MCS). It has a variety of pre-packaged business functions to meet specific customer needs in supply chain, omni channel commerce, front office transformations, and more. "This is a much deserved award for TCS, being a creative and dedicated partner in our mission to help customers across all geographies and industries harness the power of the Oracle Cloud for operational efficiency, business growth and competitive advantage," said Camillo Speroni, Vice President, Worldwide Strategic Alliances, Oracle. "We extend our congratulations to TCS, and look forward to the continued co-development of solutions that advance our customers' business goals." The TCS Enterprise Mobile Application helps customers lower the total cost of ownership of mobile solutions by enabling informed decision making based on application usage through Oracle MCS-supported user analytics. TCS has also developed a Real-Time Enterprise Process Monitoring solution that tracks business processes across the hybrid cloud infrastructure and provides executives with enterprise-wide visibility into KPIs. "We are proud to receive a prestigious Oracle Excellence Award once again, reflective our commitment to delivering innovative Oracle Cloud-based solutions that can help customers run and grow their businesses with greater efficiency and agility," said Sunder Singh, Global Head, TCS Oracle Practice. "This award demonstrates the quality and depth of TCS' work with Oracle and our joint global clients, enabling critical business activities and decision-making literally on the move." In addition to this esteemed Oracle accolade, TCS has also recently won the 'OPN Specialized Partner of the Year APAC Awards: India, and was recognized by Gartner in 2015 for the Fourth consecutive year as a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for Worldwide Oracle Application Management Services. TCS established its relationship with Oracle nearly 30 years ago and today is a Diamond Cloud Premier-level partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). TCS has more than 15,000 dedicated Oracle certified specialists who are supported by TCS' Centers of Excellence eleven dedicated to Oracle technologies alone that serve joint TCS-Oracle customers in Asia Pacific, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, and North America. TCS is a Premier sponsor of Oracle OpenWorld 2016. To learn more about TCS' presence at OOW 2016, please visit us here. About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 362,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 45 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $16.5 billion for year ended March 31, 2016 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com About Oracle PartnerNetwork Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is Oracle's partner program that provides partners with a differentiated advantage to develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle's products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to be recognized and rewarded for their investment in Oracle Cloud. Partners engaging with Oracle will be able to differentiate their Oracle Cloud expertise and success with customers through the OPN Cloud program an innovative program that complements existing OPN program levels with tiers of recognition and progressive benefits for partners working with Oracle Cloud. To find out more visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners. Follow the TCS-Oracle alliance on Twitter @TCS_Oracle, and stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America at @TCS_NA, and globally at @TCS_News. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131002/LA90934LOGO-b SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services Related Links http://www.tcs.com According to TD Bank's survey of more than 340 small medical practices in the U.S., 39 percent of physicians purchased a partnership in an established practice or an existing practice, while 37 percent started it from scratch. Another change: More women are becoming practice owners. While respondents have been in practice for an average of 16 years, 36 percent of women reported owning their practices for less than five years, while 47 percent of men have been in practice for more than 20 years. When assessing the future, 50 percent of doctors surveyed either have or would consider purchasing, buying into, merging or selling their practice. Among these medical professionals, 73 percent expected to do so within the next four years. Why make such a change? Forty-six percent of respondents explained that it's simply too expensive to run a practice today. "We are seeing a growing trend of more healthcare providers buying into practices with a partnership or purchasing an existing practice because they are seeking added financial security and well-established businesses," said Dan Croft, Head of Healthcare Practice Solutions, TD Bank. "The survey findings reflect a shift in the industry because of the rising cost of doing business from technology to insurance." Financial Trends and Practice Management Concerns In general, medical practices are growing, with 43 percent of respondents expecting to increase revenue over the next two years. Of those surveyed, women (56 percent) and Millennials (75 percent) are most optimistic about expected revenue growth. The most popular methods for financing the needs of a practice including new equipment, computers, practice management software, practice acquisitions and practice buy-ins are lines of credit (41 percent) and cash (36 percent). While Millennials (53 percent) are most likely to prefer using a line of credit, Baby Boomers (40 percent) use cash to finance their needs and Gen Xers are more likely to use credit cards (31 percent). When asked about investing in the next few years, medical practitioners noted the following as priority areas to which they anticipate committing capital spending: Buying or leasing new technology 48 percent Hiring more staff 33 percent Training and education 26 percent Among their current biggest challenges, physicians named receiving timely reimbursements from insurance providers (52 percent); managing overhead costs such as supplies and rent (51 percent); and keeping up with technology (35 percent). Generationally, Millennial medical practitioners stated one of their greatest concerns is staffing and hiring as they build their practices, while Baby Boomers named new technology (41 percent). Others are concerned about the approaching national elections, with 56 percent of medical professionals very or extremely concerned about the election's implications on the healthcare industry. Retirement Plans As with most U.S. workers, finances are dictating retirement decisions for doctors. Eighty-four percent of medical professionals under age 35 who were surveyed think they will retire by age 65, while 76 percent of doctors currently 55 years old or older believe they will have to retire after age 65. More specifically, 30 percent of physicians across all age groups report they will have to postpone their retirement to later than originally planned. A majority (56 percent) of medical professionals expect partners or colleagues to take over the business when they retire, while 19 percent will sell their practice and 14 percent anticipate simply shutting their doors. Fifty-five percent of physicians also expect retirement to be a gradual transition during which they will cut back on hours. When asked about their financial future: Forty-nine percent of physicians report they are extremely or very financially prepared for retirement. Forty-eight percent are extremely or very confident that their practice sale, combined with their savings/ investments, will provide them with enough funds for retirement. Male (54 percent) practitioners are more confident than females (37 percent) when it comes to believing that they have enough cash to support their retirement years. "It is understandable why many near-retirement age physicians plan to cut back on time in the office, but this is not the best strategy," Croft said. "Decreasing hours or patient load can negatively impact practice or partnership value, thereby affecting retirement plans. While most physicians said they are confident they will have enough money to retire, that's not always the reality, and often it is due to the fact that they made changes in their schedule or practice that derailed their plans." Survey Methodology TD Bank's survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 342 U.S.-based respondents consisting mainly of physicians (90 percent) including general practice/family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN and other specialties. The survey also gauged sentiments from other types of medical professionals (10 percent) including dentists, veterinarians and optometrists. Generations are defined as Millennials (ages 18-34), Gen X (ages 35-54) and Baby Boomers (ages 55 and older). The survey was hosted by MARU VCR&C and was conducted Aug. 7-12, 2016. About MARU MARU/VCR&C, formerly the Research & Consulting division of Vision Critical, is a professional services firm dedicated to improving its clients' business outcomes. It delivers its services through teams of sector-specific research consultants that have technology in their DNA, specializing in the use of Insight Community and Voice of Market technology. MARU/VCR&C's research drives decision-making across all aspects of customer experience, including innovation, product, branding, commercialization and communications. About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 8 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,200 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408813-INFO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131120/MM21057LOGO SOURCE TD Bank Related Links http://www.tdbank.com BEAVERTON, Ore., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tektronix, a leading worldwide provider of measurement solutions, today announced a series of enhancements to its optical modulation analyzer (OMA) software. The latest release provides optical research engineers with the ability to evaluate multi-channel coherent modulation schemes with confidence using a single measurement system. Engineers can now calibrate and control multiple OMA's to easily acquire and analyze simultaneous data from multiple channels such as different wavelengths or fiber cores. "This release of our OMA software will improve the multi-channel test experience for researchers developing advanced coherent optical communication and networking technologies such as QAM or DP-QPSK," said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. "We are reducing the cost of setting up multiple OMA systems and we're reducing the time between receiving multiple OMA hardware systems and getting calibrated, synchronized data from those systems." Included in this release is a new visual OMA setup tool that facilitates reconfiguration of the oscilloscopes and coherent receiver front-ends so that the same hardware can be used for many different applications like PAM4 research or increased channel count in DP-QPSK testing. The need for multi-channel coherent research is growing with the use of spatial (or modal) division multiplexing that requires an OMA to down convert and digitize data for each channel. Multi-carrier communication applications also require one OMA per wavelength channel when the wavelength separation is more than the OMA bandwidth. Pricing and availability The new software will be available for download by the end of 2016. For details on the full range of Tektronix Coherent Optical Solutions, go to: http://www.tek.com/application/tektronix-coherent-optical-solutions. Wondering what else Tektronix is up to? Check out the Tektronix Bandwidth Banter blog and stay up to date on the latest news from Tektronix on Twitter and Facebook. About Tektronix Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix delivers innovative, precise and easy-to-operate test, measurement and monitoring solutions that solve problems, unlock insights and drive discovery. Tektronix has been at the forefront of the digital age for over 70 years. Join us on the journey of innovation at TEK.COM. Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160125/325847LOGO SOURCE Tektronix, Inc. Related Links http://www.TEK.COM SUZHOU, China, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TenNor Therapeutics today announced a $25 million Series B financing led by Northern Light Venture Capital. Joining this round were current investors Frontline BioVentures, WuXi PharmaTech Healthcare Fund I, Oriza Venture Capital and Relativity Healthcare Fund. Proceeds will be used to advance new antibiotics into the late-stage of clinical development. TenNor is a clinical stage company focused on the development of dual-acting antibiotics to address major unmet medical needs. The company possesses a strong new drug development portfolio and is advancing several first-in-class dual-acting molecules through its preclinical and clinical development pipeline. The most advanced product, TNP-2092 oral capsule, is a locally acting gastrointestinal tract antibiotic and has the potential to dramatically improve the treatment of digestive diseases associated with Helicobacter pylori and other gastrointestinal bacterial infections. The compound is currently in the early-stage of clinical development. "TenNor team is extremely grateful to Northern Light, Frontline BioVentures and other current investors who recognize the value of the company and support our mission," said Dr. Zhenkun Ma, Company Founder and CEO. "With the infusion of the new capital, TenNor is well positioned to deliver the best treatment for H. pylori and other GI tract infections to patients in the coming years." The funding will be used to advance TNP-2092 oral capsule into Phase III clinical trials, as well as a second product into the clinical proof-of-concept stage and a third product into Phase I of clinical development. "TenNor is a highly capital efficient company with a first class management team, innovative product pipeline, and global IP protection," said Feng Deng, Founding Managing Director of Northern Light. "TenNor is the type of company that we would like to support. We are very glad to join together with Frontline and other existing investors to help the company bring innovative therapies to patients." "Since the inception of TenNor Therapeutics, the company has made remarkable progress towards delivering life-changing products to patients in China and the rest of the world," said Dr. Leon Chen, Founder and Managing Partner of Frontline BioVentures. "The truly innovative products in TenNor's development portfolio have the potential to address some of the major unmet needs in the area of infectious diseases. We congratulate TenNor's accomplishments and will continue to bring our resources to bear to help the company accomplish its mission." TenNor Therapeutics was established in 2013 in BioBAY, a life science park based in Suzhou, China. The company has acquired patents and other assets from Cumbre IP Venture and patents from the TB Alliance. About TenNor TenNor Therapeutics is a clinical stage, product development company with a sharp focus on unmet medical needs in the area of infectious diseases. The company possesses a dual-acting drug discovery platform with several innovative products in various stages of preclinical and clinical development. The company is developing new drugs for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infections, prosthetic joint infections, multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections and some other common and serious infectious diseases. For more information: www.tennorx.com. About Northern Light Venture Capital Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) is a leading China-focused venture capital firm targeting early stage opportunities of innovation and disruptive technology. Since its inception in 2005, Northern Light has backed over 180 ventures in TMT, healthcare and advanced technology. Leveraging significant investing and entrepreneurial expertise in both China and the United States, the NLVC team looks to support entrepreneurs with groundbreaking ideas and exceptional vision to develop lasting ventures that positively impact society. For more information: www.NLVC.com. About Frontline BioVentures Frontline BioVentures is a leading venture capital firm with expertise and a broad network in the life sciences industry in China. Supported by a team of experienced investment professionals and with offices in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Silicon Valley, Frontline BioVentures is one of the most active investors based in China investing in innovative biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. For more information: www.frontlinebioventures.com. SOURCE TenNor Related Links http://www.tennorx.com CLIFTON, Texas, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Who's Who recognizes Stella Teresa Atlas Holt as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in recognition of her contributions to the field of farming. Holt has worked as Owner/Operator of Holt Ranch for 37 years. She attributes her success to her faith and her husband's parents, John (Buster) and Ruby Lee Holt; whose descendants began Holt Ranch 143 years ago. Since then, they have worked tirelessly to keep the ranch in business throughout the years. "We're a small family business," Holt said. "My husband Gary and I married in 1976. We put up a house at the ranch and raised our kids there. Gary started running the business in 1979, prior to my father-in-law's passing in 1985." In 2014, Holt's husband passed unexpectedly just prior to their 38th wedding anniversary. The family tradition continued into the next generation when son Raymond stepped up with Holt to take over most of the ranch's operation. "From when he [Raymond] was born, he was on a tractor," Holt said. In recognition of her hard work, Holt, a graduate of Hill Junior College, was recognized by the National Association of Professional Women as a member of the VIP Women of the Year Circle. She volunteers at the First Baptist Church in her hometown of Clifton, Texas, and maintains an affiliation with the Coon Creek Good Neighbors Club. When not working or volunteering, Holt enjoys cooking, hunting, needlework and spending time with her family, including her daughter Kilee McCain, her son-in-law Kevin, their children Seth, Alexis, Hannah and Ryan, her son Raymond Killis Holt, her daughter-in-law Courtney and their children Brazos and Hadley. She dedicates this recognition in memory of her late husband, Gary Don Holt. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com According to Michael Schwartz, President of Madison Industries, the agreement will result in an initial product assortment of up to 50 styles of home textile product. Vice Presidents Brett Harris and Patrick McCullough will coordinate the marketing launch with kathy ireland Worldwide. The branded product lines will debut at Madison's New York showroom at 295 Fifth Avenue. "However, the initial 50 styles will only represent the beginning of our relationship with kathy ireland Worldwide. Kathy and her team are currently designing additional stunning styles that will debut later this year." McCullough explained. "Our partnership, and kiWW's renowned design genius, will enable us to present fashion, comfort, and quality at an affordable price, while fulfilling kiWW's mission of "...solutions for families, especially busy Moms," Harris said. Harris also notes that the hands on approach of Kathy and the kiWW team in the design direction and product development, brings innovation and a new sense of fashion to slipcovers, table linens, and kitchen textiles. "The combination of fashion, affordability, and the power and recognition of the kathy ireland Home brand is a win-win for Madison Industries, our customers, and North American consumers." "We are thrilled to partner with Madison Industries," says Kathy, kiWW's Chair, CEO & Chief Designer. "In building partnerships, our brand chooses leaders who share the same dedication to their customers as kiWW has to its customers. When we met with the Madison Industries team, we knew this was a perfect collaboration. Both our companies require the core values and the same passion of bringing customers the best in quality and design, yet at affordable prices. The entire Madison team is comprised of extraordinary people, and we are delighted to build our relationship with them in these powerful categories." ABOUT MADISON INDUSTRIES, INC. Madison Industries is a leading U.S. manufacturer and importer of home textile products for over 80 years. Headquartered in New York, New York, the company is led by President and CEO Michael Schwartz. Madison owns and operates manufacturing and warehousing facilities in Sumter, SC, and Dalton, GA, a permanent showroom in New York, NY, and Nanjing, China. OUR MISSION Madison's mission is to provide our customers with innovative, creative, and fashionable product at reasonable prices. We are committed to the highest levels of service and quality. Fair, ethical, and equal treatment of our valued clients, team members and suppliers, is a cornerstone of our mission. About kathy ireland Worldwide: Founded in 1993, the kathy ireland Worldwide brand, celebrates a lifestyle. The missions of "...solutions for families, especially busy moms," "...solutions for people in love," and "...solutions for people in business," translate to all kiWW collections, including: fashion, fine jewelry, intimate apparel, skincare, accessories, weddings, home, office and more. kiWW's unique capability to design and translate fashion trends for all markets and price points allows it to develop product for a wide variety of customer tastes. Listed as the 25th most powerful brand globally by License Global Magazine, with annual merchandise sales of $2.6 billion, according to Forbes Magazine, the success of kathy ireland Worldwide is the result of teamwork and dedication. Kathy has graced the cover of Forbes Magazine twice (2012, 2016) and according to Fairchild Publications, Kathy Ireland is one of the 50 most influential people in fashion. Kathy and kiWW support many non-profits including: YWCA Greater Los Angeles for which she is an Ambassador, Dream Foundation, Providence Educational Foundation, 911 for Kids/AEF, and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Kathy was recently named an Ambassador for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408870 SOURCE Madison Industries, Inc. "Jeff's a smart guy with a great background," said Charles J. Bonfiglio, CEO of Tint World. "He's managed people before and he's really passionate about the industry, those are two things that go a long way in owning a successful store. I also love it when we get an owner who wants to involve their family. We consider everyone at Tint World a part of the Tint World family, so it's great that Jeff wants to get his family involved with his store." Before opening his store, Rackley was a 30 year veteran of the manufacturing industry. "I was looking to make a change in my career," said Rackley. "I wanted to do my own thing, set my own hours and involve my sons to teach them about business. I looked at a few automotive franchises, but none of them grabbed hold of me like Tint World. I flew down for a Tint World Discovery Day and talked to the team there and they were immediately people I could identify with. Super knowledgeable, dedicated and energetic guys. After meeting with them, Tint World just made sense for me." Rackley is excited to bring a car customization shop like Tint World to the growing DallasFort Worth area. "I'm a car guy at heart," said Rackley. "I take my car to the track and talk shop with the guys there, and this is just like an extension of that passion. This area is growing so fast and I'm excited to be a part of it. We have people coming in from all over the area that want to upgrade their cars. There's a lot of opportunity in the auto repair industry, but with this, it's different. It's not like I'm having to tell a single mom she's got to give me two grand to fix her transmission. Instead, we get people who want to spend money on their cars and make them better. That's exciting to me. When we're done with your car it will look better, sound better, and you'll love it." The all-new Tint World The Colony store is located at 3800 Main St., Suite 104, The Colony, Texas, 75056 and is open Monday through Saturday. For those interested in employment opportunities, specifically those with tinting and 12 volt experience, applications are being accepted now. To find out more, call (972) 639-5815. Tint World Automotive Styling Centers are leading providers of automotive, marine, residential and commercial window tinting and also offer sales and installation of mobile electronics, audio video equipment, security systems, auto accessories, custom wheels and tire packages, detailing services, maintenance and repair services, and more. Tint World is also the leading provider of Residential, Commercial and Marine Computerized Window Tinting and Security Film Services with locations throughout the U.S. and abroad, with franchise opportunities available worldwide. About Tint World Founded in 1982, Tint World has grown to become an award-winning franchised provider of automotive, residential, commercial and marine window tinting and security film services. With Automotive Styling Centers in the U.S. and abroad, each franchise location houses approximately 20 profit centers, ranging from in-store accessory installations, to off-site sales and installation of residential, commercial and marine window tinting and security films. To find out more, please visit www.tintworld.com and tintworldfranchise.com. Tint World Contact: Charles J. Bonfiglio, CEO (800) 767-8468 [email protected] MEDIA CONTACT: Heather Ripley Ripley PR 865-977-1973 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408809 SOURCE Tint World LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the world's pre-eminent photography galleries, the Monroe Gallery, is now partnered with the Tony Vaccaro Studio for digital and analog print sales of Tony Vaccaro's iconic photographs. Founded in 2001 by owners Sid and Michelle Monroe in the heart of old Santa Fe, New Mexico, the spacious gallery specializes in the humanist and journalistic side of photography a perfect fit for the 450,000 images in the Vaccaro archive. "It is a privilege to present Tony's historic career in photography," the Monroe gallery reports, "and we are pleased that his work will be featured in this important exhibit alongside so many other great 20th and 21st century photojournalists." Monroe will also contribute to the success of the Tony Vaccaro Studio pop-up gallery under the direction of veteran curator, and art critic, Peter Frank. "Tony Vaccaro: War, Peace, Beauty." TONY VACCARO: WAR PEACE BEAUTY A pop-up photographic exhibit, in association with the Monroe Gallery November 11 21, 2016 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Mondays through Saturdays; opens at noon on Sundays Opening Reception: Friday, November 11, 6:00 to 8:00 pm 508 W 26th Street, Loft 5G, New York, NY 10001 [email protected] HISTORY IN A MOMENT Featuring 20th and 21st century photojournalists. September 30 - November 20, 2016 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. 112 Don Gaspar Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87501 [email protected] "Tony Vaccaro now boasts a seven decade career capturing images iconic to the 20th century. He aimed his camera at the Second World War and its aftermath with the same urgency and grace that made him one of the most artful postwar fashion and celebrity photographers. His portraits of artists, statesmen, and women, invariably present their subjects deeply and vibrantly embedded in their milieus." Peter Frank. Soon to turn 94, Mr. Vaccaro still carries a camera and puts in six or seven hours without a break; creating prints in his darkroom and identifying jobs for the staff. Mr. Vaccaro recently finished a run of ten prints of Eleanor Roosevelt from 1946. Mr. Vaccaro will make appearances in Boston (Sept. 22), at the Margaret Mead film festival in NYC (October 15), at the ICP in NYC (Nov.10), and at his pop up show. Please join the conversation with Tony Vaccaro Studio on Facebook (@MichaelA.TonyVaccaro) Instagram (@tonyvaccarophotographer) and Pinterest (@tonyvaccaro) via the hashtag: #Tonyvaccaro Tony Vaccaro Studio, 44-02 23rd Street, Suite 516, Long Island City, NY 11101 Media Contact: Frank Vaccaro [email protected] Photos: http://www.prlog.org/12587414 Press release distributed by PRLog SOURCE Tony Vaccaro Studio NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Turkish Businesswomen Association (TIKAD) is set to host the First Lady of the Republic of Turkey, as well as prominent business leaders at an exclusive luncheon and panel titled "The Growth of the Turkish Economy and Advancing Democracy," at the Harvard Club in New York City on Thursday, September 22. The invitation-only event will include a keynote address by Her Excellency Emine Erdogan, the First Lady of the Republic of Turkey. Following her speech, a panel discussion will address the current and future economic and business environment of Turkey from both US and Turkish perspectives, as well as the role of Turkish businesswomen in alleviating conflict and the importance of female leadership for global peace efforts. Among the prestigious panelists are: Ahu Yildirmaz, Ph.D., Vice President and Head of ADP Research Institute; Fikret Bila, Ph.D., Columnist at Hurriyet; Dilshad Dayani, Co-Chair Women of Color at the Executive Women for Hillary and Founder of the World Women Global Council; and Zeynep Bodur Okyay, President and CEO of KALE Group. Bloomberg HT NY Correspondent Melike Ayan will serve as the Master of Ceremony, and Yildiray Yildirim, Ph.D., William Newman Real Estate Chair and Director of Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute, Professor at Baruch College, CUNY, will moderate the panel discussion. "We are eager to unite professionals, political leaders, civil society organizations, journalists, academia and the private sector in a candid discussion of the challenges facing Turkey," said Nilufer Bulut, Chair of TIKAD. "The role of businesswomen and female leadership must continue to grow as we seek to establish national and international peace, security and a sustainable economy through collective solutions." Additional TIKAD leadership in attendance will include association President of High Advisory Council Demet Sabanc Cetindogan; Vice Presidents Zehra Nese Kavak, M.D. and Meltem Demiroren, and Board Member Vuslat Dogan Sabanc. The panel will welcome the participation and contributions of invited guests, who will also partake in a networking session before the event's conclusion. About TIKAD The Turkish Businesswomen Association (TIKAD) works to strengthen the status of businesswomen in the world with its supra political party position and its commitment to democracy and universal human rights principles. The organization advocates for businesswomen to parliament, government, foreign nations, international organizations, and to the public via the press, working to amplify the role of women in the developing Turkish economy and socio-political landscape. For more information please contact: Ivette Almeida, Paragon PR T: +1.646.558.6226 C: +1.917.302.9946 [email protected] SOURCE Turkish Businesswomen Association SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global health and wellness giant USANA Health Sciences has once again been recognized with a seal of approval by third-party assessor ConsumerLab.com this time for their omega-3 supplement BiOmega. This marks the 12th time a USANA product has been given the seal of approval by ConsumerLab.com since 2015. USANA's BiOmega is an ultra-pure fish-oil supplement that supports cardiovascular, immune and joint health. "Having the highest quality products on the market is priority number one for us as a company and receiving third-party validation is the best way to prove that," says Dan Macuga, USANA's chief communications officer. "Our research and development and manufacturing teams work around the clock to make sure we are putting out products free of impurities and contain only the ingredients on the label." ConsumerLab.com is an independent tester of the quality, purity and label accuracy of health and wellness products, putting each item through rigorous testing. To be awarded a seal of approval from ConsumerLab.com, USANA's BiOmega supplement had to contain 100 percent of the claimed amount of EPA, DHA and omega-3s used to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system, and to meet quality levels set for lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. "Whenever we receive third-party recognition for the quality of our products, it shows the hard work and effort we all put in to making these supplements," says USANA's executive director of global research and development, Dr. John Cuomo. "BiOmega is USANA's omega-3 fish-oil supplement that contains advanced levels of EPA and DHA, two long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. These ingredients are vital in supporting your memory, learning, cardiovascular system and overall health." Along with BiOmega, several other USANA supplements have been recently certified by ConsumerLab.com, including Procosa, Visionex, CoQuinone 30, Active Calcium, Vitamin D, Pure Rest, USANA Probiotic, USANA Essentials, Usanimals, BabyCare Prenatal Essentials and Body Rox. *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. About USANA Founded in 1992, USANA Health Sciences (NYSE: USNA) is a U.S.-based nutritional company that manufactures high-quality supplements, personal care and healthy products in its FDA-registered facility in Salt Lake City. Learn more about USANA by visiting our website http://www.usana.com or the official USANA blog http://whatsupusana.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120807/LA53885LOGO SOURCE USANA Health Sciences Related Links http://www.usana.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- UTC Aerospace Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX), continues to move its MS-177 multi-spectral and long-range imaging sensor system to new heights. Recently the sensor completed a successful series of flight demonstrations from a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial system (UAS), and the sensor system's program received a U.S. Air Force (USAF) design contract award to expand and enhance the sensor's multi-spectral resolution reach. The MS-177 was built upon the expertise and success of UTC Aerospace Systems' Senior Year Electro-optical Reconnaissance System sensor, currently flown on U-2S aircraft. During the flight demonstrations the sensor's capabilities were proven successful in both land and maritime mission environments. "The MS-177's mission flexibility was exhibited on HALE UASs operating in the air and sea battle domains, and further conveys its ability to collect and deliver mission critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information required by the warfighter," said Kevin Raftery, ISR and Space Systems vice president for UTC Aerospace Systems. The MS-177 sensor demonstrated its increased performance in coverage area per hour, flexibility to operate from multiple ISR platforms, multi-spectral resolution and that its image interpretability far outperforms other like systems. The MS-177 also has the ability to provide the longest-range combat identification imaging capability in the US military's Airborne ISR inventory. The advancements associated with the USAF's design contract will drive the first enhanced model of the MS-177, and this cutting-edge system will be designated the MS-177A. The superior sensor will expand upon the spectral performance and mission capabilities of the current MS-177. The improvements in its multi-spectral imaging capabilities will be designed to provide commanders increased combat identification and actionable intelligence. The MS-177A project is part of a larger technology strategy that UTC Aerospace Systems is developing as it analyzes emerging mission requirements. "The USAF design contract is the next step in applying our expertise in spectral-based airborne technology to support critical global missions. We continue to innovate and provide the war fighter with advanced products such as the MS-177 and the MS-177A which give them an ISR advantage in combatting real-world threats," noted Raftery. Fielding of the MS-177 sensor on the RQ-4B Block 30 Global Hawk, HALE UAS is planned for late 2017. Development of the MS-177A sensor has already begun, and it is planned to be also fielded onto the Global Hawk. The design contract calls for UTC Aerospace Systems to design, develop, manufacture and deliver MS-177A sensor systems for fielding by 2019. Eventual production quantities would be determined year-by-year over the life of the program, based on funding allocations set by Congress and the U.S. Department of Defense acquisition priorities. UTC Aerospace Systems designs, manufactures and services integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries. UTC Aerospace Systems supports a global customer base, with significant worldwide manufacturing and customer service facilities. United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. To learn more about UTC, visit the website at www.utc.com or follow the company on Twitter: @UTC. SOURCE UTC Aerospace Systems Related Links http://www.utcaerospacesystems.com With the theme "Sustainable Aquaculture in Practice" , Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 Conference is hosted by Directorate of Fisheries of Vietnam (DFish), supported by, Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS), International Collaborating Center for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability (ICAFIS), and the UK-based Aquaculture without Frontiers. Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 is slated on October 20, 2016 at the Conference Hall Level 2 of Saigon Exhibition Convention Center (SECC) where a series of pertinent and timely discussions will be led by top industry individuals such as Mr. Cliff Spencer, chairman of Aquaculture without Frontiers, VINAFIS president Dr. Nguyen Viet Thang and Rogert Gilbert, chairman of International Aquafeed. Vietnam ranks fourth in global aquaculture production and among the powerhouse in Asia where the region raked 88.91% of the world aquaculture output in 2014. According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, the country's annual aquaculture exports are valued at US$7 billion to US$8 billion. But diseases, lack of technology and other issues have somewhat weakened Vietnam's competitive edge in the global aquaculture trade. Thus, the broad scope of Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 is expected to address this challenge, says Ms. Rungphech (Rose) Chitanuwat, Business Director of UBM Asia Manager: "If we look at Vietnam's long coast and good river systems, Vietnam can achieve more in aquaculture if we know how to take advantage of that strength and to do that, we should update our production technologies as well as our knowledge and Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 conference should be able to provide all of that." The economic significance of Vietnam's aquaculture industry plus its merging with VIETSTOCK 2016 Expo & Forum -- which will take place on October 19-21, 2016 at SECC -- makes Aquaculture Vietnam 2016 Conference truly a worthwhile event. The conference and exhibition are free of charge for all livestock members, for re-registration please visit: http://www.vietstock.org/en-us/Show-Highlight/Aquaculture-Vietnam-2016-Conference Notes to Editors About VIETSTOCK (www.vietstock.org) VIETSTOCK 2016 Expo & Forum is the biennial livestock exhibition hosted by the Department of Livestock Production -- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). This year, the show has expanded by 40% with 300+ exhibitors. Moreover, it is expected to welcome 9,000+ visitors in different countries, especially the CLMV (Cambodia-Lao-Myanmar-Vietnam) regions. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409118LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121014/HK92339LOGO-d Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160919/409117 SOURCE UBM Asia (Malaysia) BOSTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For 20 years, the Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS Kids series Arthur has entertained and delighted children and adults alike. Today, WGBH Boston, the series' producer, announced Arthur's 20th season and the premiere of all-new episodes starting October 10th. Easily recognized by its timeless and joyful theme song, the iconic animated PBS Kids series has touched audiences around the world with its heartfelt and humorous stories about family, friends, and the challenges of growing up. "WHAT A WONDERFUL KIND OF DAY!" WGBH CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF FAMILY FAVORITE "ARTHUR" ON PBS KIDS The new season of Arthur gives fans a glimpse into the pasts, presents, and futures of their favorite characters. In the first episode, Buster uses a comic book to travel back in time, but ends up changing his fate and friendship with Arthur. Buster also stars in a fun and topical episode entitled "Cereal"a nod to the popular "Serial" podcast seriesin which he seeks to uncover the truth behind a mysterious theft. "I could never have dreamed, 20 years ago, the wonderful adventure I was about to have with Arthur," said Marc Brown, creator of Arthur, "It's been so much fun working with the many talented, smart people who make Arthur happen. I think what's most rewarding for all of us is using the medium of television to try and make children successful." "We are thrilled to be celebrating Arthur's 20th anniversary," added WGBH's Carol Greenwald, Senior Executive Producer. "We hope that fans, new and old alike, will enjoy these new episodes, along with a host of fun, exclusive online and social media content we'll be sharing leading up to and during the premiere." In addition to the broadcast, Arthur continues to help children, parents, and educators through its many digital and print resources, such as the Arthur Family Health Websitea guide for caregivers to help children build and maintain healthy living habits. Fans can also find a wealth of games, lesson plans, videos and activities on PBSKids.org. "Arthur has reached generations of fans through engaging characters and compelling storytelling," said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Children's Media and Education, PBS. "Arthur embodies PBS Kids' commitment to help children learn important social-emotional skills, such as managing their emotions, building friendships and developing self-esteem." Take a peek at what makes Arthur unique here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3rkA4cQUCc Episode information and air dates for Arthur are listed below. The episodes will also be available to stream and will be rolled out on October 10th, 14th, 21st, and 28th on PBSKids.org and the PBS KIDS Video App, which is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One and Chromecast. Program Descriptions and Air Dates (check local listings) Buster's Second Chance premieres Monday, October 10 With the help of a little time travel, Buster turns back the clock to see what his life would be like if he were a genius. Will a life winning science competitions mean a life without Arthur? Arthur and the Whole Truth premieres Monday, October 10 Arthur isn't happy when he discovers that Buster has been telling him some white lies, even if it was just to spare his feelings. Can Arthur handle the harsh truth if Buster finally gives it to him? Fern's Flights of Fancy premieres Tuesday, October 11 Will Fern give up her dreams of being a writer just because of one silly rejection? This is one case George might have to solve alone. Cereal premieres Tuesday, October 11 Buster tells the story of a missing cereal box on his all-new podcast. Will he be able to find the thief and in the process the truth? He Said, He Said premieres Wednesday, October 12 A special episode of Bionic Bunny is interrupted, and Arthur, Buster, and George try to remember what comes next. But Carl is the only one who can straighten out the story Bunny Trouble premieres Wednesday, October 12 D.W. is excited to be taking care of the class bunny, Larry. But when Larry is feeling adventurous and wanders off, it's up to Ladonna the "Bunny Whisperer" to help get him back. That's MY Grandma! premieres Thursday, October 13 D.W. gets jealous when Grandma Thora becomes the most popular babysitter in town. Bud's Knotty Problem premieres Thursday, October 13 When Bud falls in love with a snazzy new pair of boots, he might face his toughest adventure yet learning to tie his shoes. About Arthur ARTHUR, based on the best-selling books by Marc Brown, is television's longest-running children's animated series. Over the past 19 seasons, Arthur has remained one of the highest-rated weekday children's series on PBS among children 4-8. ARTHUR has won numerous awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award, a BAFTA, and seven Daytime Emmys-four for Outstanding Children's Animated Program. ARTHUR is produced by WGBH Boston and Oasis Animation, Inc. Executive producers are Carol Greenwald (WGBH) and Marc Brown (Marc Brown Studios). Directed by Greg Bailey. Funding for Arthur is provided by public television viewers. Corporate funding is provided by ABC Mouse. For more information, visit pbskids.org/arthur and follow ARTHUR on Facebook and Twitter. About WGBH WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Frontline, NOVA, American Experience, Masterpiece and Antiques Roadshow, as well as lifestyle and children's series. WGBH also is a major supplier of programming for public radio, and a leader in educational multimedia for the classroom, supplying content to PBS LearningMedia. WGBH is a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to those with hearing or visual impairments. More info at www.wgbh.org/. About PBS KIDS PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, digital platforms and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby Award-winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including digital games and streaming video. PBS KIDS also offers mobile apps to help support young children's learning. The PBS KIDS Video app is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One and Chromecast. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160916/408808 SOURCE WGBH Related Links http://wgbh.org ATLANTA, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, October 22, Whiskies of the World, one of the largest whisky tasting experiences in the US, will return to Atlanta for its fourth year. Designed for whisky lovers from the novice to the connoisseur, Whiskies of the World will offer guests the opportunity to explore more than 200 whisky expressions from around the globe. Joined by distillers and brand ambassadors, guests will nose and taste their way to an unforgettable experience. "Whiskies of the World was created to foster a broader and deeper appreciation of whisky and all of its complexities," said Doug Smith, Executive Director. "We're the perfect educational and palate-enriching evening for people who are either curious about whisky or die-hard aficionados." The event, located at InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, will offer tastings of Scotch, Bourbon, Irish, Canadian and other whiskies from around the globe, guided tasting seminars, food and whisky pairings and whisky and cigar pairings. Guests will also have the opportunity to participate in one of 6 Masterclasses, featuring whisky leaders Simon Brooking and John Campbell, Laphroaig; Jonathan Wingo, Balvenie; Bruce Russell, Russel's Reserve; David Perkins, High West Distillery; and Brandon McCarron, The Glenmorangie Company. Tickets are $140 for general admission and guests must be 21 years or older to attend. Valid photo ID required. What: 2016 Whiskies of the World Atlanta When: Saturday, October 22nd 7:00-11:00pm Where: InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, 3315 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30326 For more information and to purchase tickets visit whiskiesoftheworld.com. About Whiskies of the World Originating in San Francisco, Whiskies of the World is now a series of five, hugely popular whisky events taking place in California, Texas and Georgia. Whiskies of the World offers guests the opportunity to taste superlative whiskies and to meet the outstanding personalities of the whisky world. Featuring whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Japan and Australia, Whiskies of the World will surprise even the savviest connoisseur. Whiskies of the World is an event of the IWSC Group, a global events company with operations in the UK and US that is focused on bringing together people and brands through authentic experiences. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160913/408372LOGO SOURCE IWSC Related Links http://whiskiesoftheworld.com NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. and LONDON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilson Legal Solutions, a leading global provider of consulting services and analytics software, is pleased to announce the appointments of Daryl Quadros, Paul Steeples, and Victoria Laliberte to the company's EMEA team. Based in London, the team helps law firms and professional services organisations improve performance through the more effective use of practice management software and business intelligence. "Law firms are ever reliant on technology to run profitably, which is increasing demand for our solutions," says Suki Sahansara, EMEA director for Wilson Legal Solutions. "By bringing Daryl, Paul, and Victoria on board, we can better answer this call from initial sales support through the management of technology projects and the technical configuration and customisation of the firm's software." Daryl Quadrosa Senior Technical Consultant Supporting the delivery of technology services and expanding the company's Intapp expertise, Quadros joins Wilson Legal Solutions as a senior technical consultant. Most recently, Quadros worked as a solution engineer with Intapp where he was the technical lead on Intapp Time and Integrate projects. He has worked in various IT roles since 2000 when he began his career as a database administrator (DBA) for Comic Relief. Quadros worked as a DBA for over ten years including his role with SJ Berwin supporting finance systems. He also served as a consultant for Phoenix Business Solutions where he worked with the DTE Axiom product (the original Intapp Time). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Queen Mary University of London. Paul Steeples Senior Project Manager Steeples joins Wilson Legal Solutions as a senior project manager. He is a practised and proficient project manager with in-depth experience supporting the implementations of practice management systems for law and accountancy firms. Having worked in the industry for over 25 years, Steeples is able to offer Wilson's clients a deep understanding and broad knowledge across several project disciplines, including integrations and third-party management. He began his career as a developer, moving then into analysis, team leadership, consultancy, and finally to project and programme management. Most recently, Steeples worked with Aderant as a project manager. Previously, he was a project manager with Atos Origin. Victoria Laliberte Sales Executive Laliberte joins Wilson Legal Solutions as a sales executive where she is focusing on sales of the company's professional and technology consulting services and its Wilson Ideate software. Laliberte has held sales and marketing positions throughout her career. Originally from Canada, she relocated to London to fulfill her role as director of sales for DNE Resources, an international energy consulting firm. In this capacity, Laliberte helped the company expand internationally. She holds a Bachelor of Management degree from Dalhousie University. About Wilson Legal Solutions Wilson Legal Solutions is a leading global provider of consulting services and analytics software that enable law firms and professional services organisations to improve business performance. It is a Certified 3E Services partner with Thomson Reuters Elite and is certified to provide services for all Intapp products. Its advisory services feature globally recognized business of law consultants who enable strategic, data-driven decisions. Its Wilson Ideate software makes it easier to access, analyse, and share the data that drives profitability and performance. For information visit www.wilsonlegalsol.com. SOURCE Wilson Legal Solutions Related Links http://www.wilsonlegalsol.com TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WilsonHCG, a global talent solutions leader, today announced it has been named to HRO Today magazine's 2016 RPO Baker's Dozen list for the sixth consecutive year. The Baker's Dozen list is the only ranking that analyzes the RPO space at a global level. "These awards show how our engaging organizational culture helps us build lasting, beneficial relationships with each of our clients," said John Wilson, CEO of WilsonHCG. "The talent landscape has evolved, and so have we by delivering customized solutions that go beyond standard recruitment practices. We pride ourselves on providing superior service and flexibility to meet the growing needs of our clients." The rankings provide a transparent view of activity in the RPO industry as they are based entirely on anonymous surveys from clients. RPO providers are rated by size of deals, breadth of service and quality of service. Results are determined by statistical analysis using a weighting algorithm. "WilsonHCG has established itself as a leader in the RPO space," said Elliot Clark, CEO of SharedXpertise, publisher of HRO Today. "The company is well known in the industry for innovation, excellent service and a highly engaging corporate culture. I'm impressed by WilsonHCG because the company never stands still it's always growing and evolving to anticipate and meet clients' needs." WilsonHCG and HRO Today are both committed to determining what goes into effective RPO partnerships. Recently, the two organizations conducted research to identify the elements that most impact RPO relationships. The resulting report, "Exactly What Does Quality Mean in the RPO Space?" examines dimensions such as communication, cultural fit, responsiveness, innovation and technology. ABOUT WILSONHCG WilsonHCG is a global talent solutions leader that operates on the principle of providing true partnership to its clients. Delivering business-impacting talent solutions including recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), talent consulting, contingent workforce solutions and executive search WilsonHCG is transforming its clients' businesses through their talent. Founded in 2002, the company's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida. While optimizing clients' talent strategies is essential, WilsonHCG recognizes the relationships it develops lead to the results its clients realize. Better People, Better Business. ABOUT SHAREDXPERTISE SharedXpertise, publisher of HRO Today, is the leader in providing media, summits and forums that develop professional practices in the areas of corporate responsibility, human resources and financial management. Its media offerings include print and online publications; its summits are conferences and its forums offer association membership programs. SharedXpertise serves strategy-level corporate executives in the human resources, finance, compliance and sustainability professions in North America, Europe and Asia. More information about the annual RPO Baker's Dozen can be found at www.hrotoday.com CONTACT: Jessica Lang, 1-813-280-7746, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110823/FL55876LOGO SOURCE WilsonHCG Related Links http://www.wilsonhcg.com If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here New Delhi, Sep 15 : Nepal's new Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' arrived here on Thursday on a three-day state visit to India. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj received him at the airport, ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Prachanda, elected the Prime Minister on August 4, has come to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is accompanied by his wife Sita Dahal. The couple will stay in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prachanda is to meet Modi on Friday. He will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee and union ministers. New Delhi, Sep 16 : India and Nepal held bilateral talks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" here on Friday. "Reviewing the full spectrum of #IndiaNepal relations. Both PMs lead delegation level talks at Hyderabad House," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. some agreements are expected to be signed following the talks. Prachanda arrived here on Thursday on a four-day visit to India. The new Maoist-led government in Nepal assumed power early last month after the ouster of K.P. Sharma Oli as Prime Minister. Earlier on Friday, Prachanda was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Following this, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. Apart from Sushma Swaraj, Prachanda is scheduled to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal later in the day before calling on President Pranab Mukherjee. He will also attend a joint business event organised by Assocham in the evening. In an interview with state broadcaster Doordarshan, Prachanda said that the Nepal-India relationship was a unique one and that his visit was aimed at building "trust and confidence" between the two sides. New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a plea by a Siwan resident seeking cancellation of bail granted to former RJD MP Mohamed Shahabuddin on the ground that the strongman-turned-politician would misuse his liberty to derail the trial in the murder of his son Rajiv Roshan. Meanwhile, the Bihar government too has moved the apex court challenging the grant of bail to Shahabuddin. The court agreed to hear on Monday the plea for the cancellation of bail after counsel Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter before the bench of Chief Justice T.S.Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar. Bhushan, appearing for Siwan resident Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons - two in a twin murder case in 2004 and one later in 2014 - were allegedly killed by Shahabuddin's henchmen, told the bench that release of Shahabuddin would pose a serious threat to people. Seeking the immediate stay of the bail and its eventual cancellation, Prasad, in his petition, has said that if the bail to Shahabuddin was not stayed, "irreparable injury is going to cause to the interest of the present trial as well as other pending cases". Pointing out that that there was a "serious threat" his life and that of his family members, Prasad has told the court that "earlier also it has been seen that witnesses are too scared to depose against him and they turn hostile". The Patna High Court had on September 7 released Shahabuddin on bail on the grounds that there was no progress in the trial of the case involving the murder of Rajiv Roshan. In the case, the Siwan strongman was shown as arrested on November 27, 2014. Assailing the high court order granting bail, Prasad in his petition said that Shahabuddin is a "dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him in the present case would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him". He said that apart from the case of the murder of third son Rajiv Roshan, Shahabuddin was allegedly involved "in at least 58 criminal cases of which in at least 8 he has been convicted". "Further, apparently, till November, 2014, at least 27 trials before magistrates and 11 trials before the sessions courts were pending against him. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment in at least two cases including in the case of twin murder," the petition reads. Describing Shahabuddin as a hardened criminal, it said: "Allowing an accused like him to be released (on) a regular bail, especially when witnesses in the present case are yet to depose, merely on the ground that he has been in custody for about two years and trial is yet to commence is nothing but travesty of justice." Apart from granting Shahabuddin bail in the Rajiv Roshan murder case, the high court had granted him bail in March in the twin murder case involving the two younger brothers. However, he was not released as he was under arrest in the Rajiv Roshan murder case. New Delhi, Sep 18 : The US on Sunday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir that left 17 soldiers dead. "We strongly condemn the terror attack in Uri. Our thoughts are with the families of the brave soldiers who lost their lives," US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said in a tweet. Terrorists sneaked into the army camp at Uri early on Sunday and in the worst attack on a military centre in the state in a decade killed 17 soldiers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the "cowardly terror attack" and assured the nation that "those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished". Modi refrained from saying who was to blame for the bloodbath but Home Minister Rajnath Singh held Pakistan responsible. New York, Sep 19 : New York City will deploy "bigger than ever" police presence during the upcoming UN General Assembly week after an explosion injured 29 on Saturday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday. "You will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week, bigger than ever," de Blasio told reporters at a press conference on the explosion, Xinhua reported. Police officers will be deployed in force in key public locations around the United Nations headquarters and the Times Square, including the newer units of Critical Response Command and Strategic Response Group, said de Blasio. The city will also see an increased bag search and canine activities throughout the mass transit systems, said city officials. At the press conference, the mayor said all 29 people wounded in Saturday's blast were released from hospitals and the motivation behind the explosion remains unknown. He termed the Saturday blast "a very serious incident", saying a lot more work needs to be done to find out the motivation behind the blast. He called the blast an "intentional" and "criminal" act. However, he declined to call the blast a terrorist attack. "We'll not jump to conclusions," he said. A second explosive device was found a few blocks near the explosion site. The mayor noted there was no specific and credible threat against the city, calling for the vigilance of New Yorkers and asked for tips and information from the public. He also said there was no specific evidence of connection between the New York explosion and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast, which happened on Saturday along the route of a Marines charity run, causing no injuries or damage. Meanwhile, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at the press conference that no one has claimed responsibility for the New York explosion, which he categorized as a "violent criminal act". City officials confirmed that the explosion in the popular Chelsea neighborhood was caused by a bomb with "components indicative of an IED", not an accident. New York police are beefing up extra security at bus terminals, airports and on subways in the city for the UN General Assembly week. In an earlier press briefing, New York State Governer Andrew Cuomo also said the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout New York City. The suspects and motives were still unknown, and investigations were still in early stages, according to city officials. New Delhi, Sep 19 : Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi will visit Srinagar on Monday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir with the top police and civil officials under the state government, an official source said here. The visit will come in the wake of the terror attack in Uri town and the directives from Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Seventeen army soldiers and four militants killed in the dastardly attack carried out allegedly by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants. Home Minister Rajnath Singh blamed Pakistan for the attack and said that Islamabad should be isolated. Home Secretary will also call on the state Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Governor N.N. Vohra. Mehrishi is expected to attend a series of meetings with officials of the state government, army, police and paramilitary forces, the source added. London, Sep 19 : British comedian Russell Brand has admitted his call for revolution was a failure. The controversial comedian urged Britons not to vote in the run-up to the General Election last year in the hope that it would help bring about radical social change. But the 41-year-old says his foray into politics was unsuccessful, reports femalefirst.co.uk. He said: "I can't tell if it was spiritual enlightenment or mental illness." The "Get Him to the Greek" actor also admitted to becoming caught up in the attention that surrounded him at the time. Brand shared: "I can smile about it now but at the time it was terrible. "I'd lost myself a little bit. Don't run on the ego energy Russell, you run into trouble." At the height of the campaign, he befriended the then-Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, who he interviewed in his kitchen. According to The Sun on Sunday newspaper, he said: "Do you remember when I broke the general election because Ed Miliband came around my f***ing house, do you remember that?"I was thinking while he was in there, it's a bit weird that this is happening. "I do genuinely feel quite benevolent about Ed Miliband but he does look a scientist who has tried to turn himself into a horse with a potion but then changed his mind half way through." As it turned out, Brand's involvement did not help Miliband's campaign - and he admits to feeling slightly guilty for his part in Labour's failure. The comedian said: "He was really lovely, really sweet. "But I just felt for the fella a little bit and then the next day when it turned out the Conservatives were elected more than ever before, I thought 'oh f**k, I've broken England, s**t'." Baghdad, Sep 19 : Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday that the presence of the Turkish troops near the Iraqi northern city of Mosul is hampering the efforts to free the major stronghold of the Islamic State militants in the city. "What I want to confirm is that the presence of the Turkish forces on the Iraqi territories is hampering our efforts to eliminate IS group)," Abadi told reporters at a press conference in Baghdad. "If Turkey is serious in fighting IS, then they have to withdraw its forces from Iraq," Abadi said, adding "but Turkey is not willing to end its military presence, and is ignoring the principle of violating the sovereignty of Iraq as an independent country." Earlier, Iraq said Turkish forces had entered Iraqi territory without the knowledge of Baghdad, which viewed their presence as a "hostile act". However, the Turkish government said that withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq is out of the question and the Turkish soldiers are in Iraq as part of a training mission. The deployment of the Turkish troops in Iraq, however, has caused a row between Turkey and Iraq as the latter claimed the presence of Turkish troops to the camp was violation of the country's sovereignty. However, Abadi said Iraq has no problem with the people and the government of Turkey, "but we have problem with the (Turkish) mentality that deals with the relations between the two countries". "Turkey has to know that Iraq, as neighbouring country, wants to hold ties built on common interests, but sending those troops (in northern Iraq) is poisoning the relations between the two countries," Abadi said. As for the long-awaited battle to free Mosul from IS extremist militants, Abadi said, the Iraqi government is committed to the timetable of plans that aimed at liberating Mosul. Abadi did not say whether the predominantly Shiite paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units would participate in the battle of the Sunni city of Mosul. "The national interest of Iraq and the nature of the battle will determine which forces would involve in the battle of Mosul, whether it will be Hashd Shaabi units, army, anti-terrorism, or federal police," Abadi said. He said there are some priorities in the battle to liberate Mosul, including implementing well-prepared plans in order to reduce the casualties among the troops as well as the civilians and their property. Iraqi security forces have been fighting IS militants around Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, as part of a major offensive targeting liberating the IS stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been under the IS control for more than two years, when the extremist group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014. New York, Sep 19 : With Kashmir high on his agenda Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistani delegation to the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly where he would enunciate Islamabad's position on key global and regional issues before one of the largest gatherings of leaders from around the world. He was received at New York's Kennedy International Airport by Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, the Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and senior officials of the Pakistani Mission. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's delegation includes Tariq Fatemi Special Assistant to the PM on Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters that the Prime Minister would go through a tight schedule including addressing the 193-member Assembly on September 21 and meeting at least ten world leaders among other activities. He said the Prime Minister would specifically focus on the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir particularly the "continuing grave violations of human rights" taking place there. The Foreign Secretary said the Prime Minister would call on the international community and the United Nations to live up to their promise of the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. According to a PM House statement on the sidelines of the UNGA, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with President of Iran, Prime Ministers of Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal, Romania and UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon. US Secretary of State John Kerry would also call on the Prime Minister. Mumbai, Sep 19 : Five days after offering help to a stranded British couple in Mumbai, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked the UK government when they would issue the passport for their infant daughter of about five-months. In the meantime, she assured that the Indian government would extend the visas of Chris Newman and his wife Michele, which are due to expire on October 7 as they ran from pillar to post for getting a passport for their daughter Lily. "When will Britain give Lily a passport? We are prepared to extend parents' visa till then," Sushma said in a tweet on Sunday. The development came four days after the Newmans' plight was first highlighted in the Indian media by IANS (September 14), about the Britons who are living in a small rented flat in Mumbai and fast running out of resources. They faced hassles in taking their surrogate daughter Lily to the UK as her British passport was not yet ready. Apparently moved by the plight of the Newmans of Epsom in Surrey, Sushma on September 14 gave a heart-warming tweet: "We will help (you) with extension for your visa. Pl(ease) give your details." The problems were compounded by the fact that the Newmans' Indian visas would expire on October 7 - leaving them with the only option of keeping Lily in an orphanage till her passport was issued. However, after the latest assurance tweeted by Sushma - to extend their visas till Britain issues Lily's passport - would prove to be a big relief for the Newmans, who are now in their 40s. In fact, they had applied on June 3 for a British passport for Lily who was born in May. But processing delays with the international checks at the UK Passport Office has effectively left them stuck in India. Frustrated by the delays, they put up a petition a few weeks back, on social media site, Change.org saying: "We are proud new parents to our amazing daughter Lily, who was born in Mumbai through surrogacy in May 2016. We travelled to Mumbai for Lily's birth and to bring her home to Epsom in Surrey." "However, we have been left stranded because of delays due to UK Passport Office (HMPO) checks and may have to leave our three-and-a-half-month-old daughter with a complete stranger as we are forced to leave by the Indian government," the Newmans expressed their apprehensions. Living in a one-bedroom flat in Mumbai, they described how they were unable to venture out with Lily because of the monsoon rains or extreme heat coupled with poor local surroundings. "We have now run out of money to live on due to the weakened pound from the Brexit (Britain voting to exit the European Union) vote and having to keep up our mortgage payments on our UK home," they said. They said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had twice asked them to be prepared to "leave Lily" in India. "Lily is now starting to laugh and giggle like all babies her age, but little does she know that her safe, secure and nurtured world she lives in with her mum and dad could be turned upside down in less than 27 days," they said. After the British media highlighted the Newmans' plight, Sushma Swaraj defended India's Surrogacy (Regular) Bill, 2016 in a series of sharp tweets. "...Will the advocates of commercial surrogacy suggest a solution and help this baby? Commercial surrogacy is banned in Britain... Will British government give a British passport to this surrogate baby? ...Should orphanage be the destiny of a surrogate baby?" the minister asked. But on a more humane note, she advised the Newmans to acquire a British passport for their child as "Orphanage is not an option for baby Lily". Srinagar, Sep 19 : Despite heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack, the peace bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, known as 'Karvan-e-Aman', was operated on Monday. Escorted by heavy convoy of security forces, the scheduled run of the peace bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad was operated carrying members of the divided families between the two parts of divided Kashmir. The State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC)-owned bus headed for Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, was in fact the only civilian vehicle to be allowed to pass through Uri town after Sunday's terror strike in which 17 soldiers were killed and 30 others injured. Trenton (New Jersey), Sep 19 : A suspicious package was discovered on the Northeast Corridor railway track in Elizabeth, New Jersey, causing suspension of services, the authorities said. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage confirmed that a suspicious item was found on Sunday night in the area of North Broad and Westfield Avenue, CBSNewYork reported. The mayor said the suspicious package was found by two men in a garbage can near the train stop. The scavengers had at first pulled it apart, "assuming it was of value" but when they found wires attached to it they left it under the train tracks and informed police, he said. Mayor Bollwage said that the Union County Bomb Squad using drone had examined the package and found "it could be suspicious and could be a live bomb," he added. The FBI was on the scene and New Jersey State Police were also called to investigate. Businesses were shut down in the area around the train line. It was evacuated and secured as bomb technicians carried out a remote checking with robots. A specialised Hazmat team was also requested at the scene. Service were temporarily suspended between Newark Airport and Elizabeth stations in both directions. Mayor Bollwage had also tweeted that there was no threat to public safety as the package was secured and investigated. This comes after separate bombings in New York City and Seaside Park, New Jersey. It is not currently known if this incident is not connected to the other two. Sunday evening, the FBI took several people into custody with a possible connection to the bombing in Chelsea, New York City. New Delhi, Sep 19 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday chaired a high level meet to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Uri terror attack. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar, Chiefs of Intelligence Agencies, Director Generals of paramilitary forces and other senior officials of Home Ministry and Defence Ministry attended the meeting. Sources said that Doval and other top officials briefed the Home Minister on the ground situation in the border areas, especially in the valley that has witnessed continuous unrest since July 9. Sources said that Rajnath Singh is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprise him of the situation. Seventeen army soldiers were killed in the dastardly attack carried out allegedly by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants in an army camp at Uri, in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. Four terrorists were also gunned down. Rajnath Singh had on Sunday blamed Pakistan for the attack and said that Islamabad should be isolated. New Delhi, Sep 19 : Author and journalist Pinki Virani's recent book "Politics of the Womb: The Perils of IVF, Surrogacy and Modified Babies" grabbed headlines for its exposA of the unscrupulous practices involved in the business of "baby-making". The book, dealing with commercial surrogacy, egg-trafficking and in-vitro fertilisation, published by Penguin Random House, assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016, approved by the cabinet in August. The Bill had sparked a controversy as it bans commercial surrogacy, permitting only altruistic surrogacy by close relatives, for childless couples. Virani, in an emailed interview, discusses the shortcomings of the Bill and the need for an unbending ART (Assisted Reproduction Technology) Act to rein in the infertility industry. Excerpts from an interview with IANS: Q: Is the new Surrogacy Bill (2016) needed? What are the inadequacies in the Bill in its current form? A: I have identified four areas of concern and sent to appropriate authorities a detailed note, which has been acknowledged. Broadly speaking, the altruistic surrogate needs more protection. The stipulation of "close relative" needs re-defining. There is not enough clarity on whose genes -- whose egg and sperm -- will result in that IVF-made embryo to be inserted into the surrogate. The Surrogacy Bill 2016 (after addressing these concerns) and answering requirements to protect the altruistic surrogate is "welcome". Q: The Health Ministry is going to release a draft ART Bill soon. Since IVF is a booming business in India, do you think the government can crack down on this influential lobby? What are your suggestions for the proposed ART Act? A: There is no point in any Act, no matter how precisely structured, if the government of the time does not act upon it. And with this lobby -- it will really need to walk the talk. The book has a detailed chapter on what must necessarily be part of such a law. Those points were sent to appropriate authorities when I was writing the book. Q: Have these suggestions been taken into account? What were some of the finer points in your suggestions? A: Talking from my experience, nothing is confirmed until Parliament passes any Bill to be an Act. Thereafter, there is the framing of rules and regulations around it. Broadly speaking, the book calls for an urgent end to all commercial third-party reproduction across the world. This means disallowing of oocyte-sales and sperm-sales. Almost all countries in the world -- which value women's rights and want to protect children as their future citizens -- do not allow commercial surrogacy. India is among the last to ban it. Q: The book reveals how a woman's body is abused due to heavy medication, the painful procedure of IVF and its failure rates. No one seems to be bothered about what happens to the woman herself, either during the process or after. A: She -- and the unborn -- are the reason "Politics of the Womb" is the first book of its kind in international publishing. It became very important, as the research progressed and the evidence mounted, that everything -- no matter how medically-obfuscating -- be seen from their point of view. Q: What made you write the book? A: I find myself still researching and if I continue, 2017 will make it a decade of research. In these weeks (post-Bill), there were two significant studies. One reaffirms the chapter in the book on babies being born through women made into "IVF packages" and put through no-medical-emergency caesarean operations. Such babies have a significantly higher risk of obesity and asthma. The other study has the lead scientist pointing out that the world knows more of what goes into jars of peanut butter than into "culture media" -- the manufactured liquids with which the in-vitro industry works to produce embryos. Q: You also raise a red flag on freezing eggs which some women are choosing in case there may be a late-marriage or as in pre-cancer treatment. Now that some corporates (Apple and Facebook) are also pushing it, what is the socio-economic impact? A: Corporates giving perks does not mean they can insist upon a woman employee to delay childbirth if she prefers to have her baby within the safe-age period -- 35 years. Her entitlement would be the same. Egg-freezing in itself is not easy, nor as effective, as it is cracked up to be by those offering freeze-thaw facilities at exorbitant rates. Women choosing to freeze their eggs may please keep in mind that there is a "hidden" cell-by-date. It is compulsorily needed to be followed by IVF, perhaps even aggressive-IVF (process), which comes with its own dangers of deformities and disorders. (Preetha Nair can be reached at preetha.n@ians.in) Try a taste of every flavour around the world at Kochi's ABOE Restocafe New Delhi, Sep 19 : India need not worry much about Pakistan's reaction to the terrorist attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said on Monday "Everything is in front of the people. We must not give much attention to Pakistan's reaction. We will take our steps carefully," Rijiju told reporters. Pakistan has rejected Indian allegations that Islamabad was to blame for the killing of 17 soldiers at the camp near Uri town on Friday. India blamed "terrorist state" Pakistan for the killings and called for its isolation. Bhubaneswar, Sep 19 : The Odisha Police has sounded alert across the state in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Uri army camp in Jammu & Kashmir that killed 17 soldiers. "Even though we have not received any specific intelligence input of a possible terrorist attack in the state, we do not want to take any chances. The security arrangements have been tightened at crucial places," Odisha's Director General of Police K.B. Singh told reporters here on Monday. He said security has been tightened at airports, bus stands, railway stations and all vital installations in the coastal region. Besides, the state police chief said, security has also been beefed up at army bases in the state, police armouries, Shree Jagannath temple in Puri, Paradip Port, Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur and Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar. Further, the police has made elaborate security arrangements at the state assembly and the Secretariat, Singh added. The monsoon session of the state assembly is scheduled to begin on September 21. Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner Y.B. Khurania also affirmed that they are prepared to handle any untoward incident in the capital city and in Cuttack. Meanwhile, a senior official of the state's Intelligence Wing has said that there is no possibility of any terrorist attack in Odisha. But, the Special Tactical Unit and the Special Operations Group have been kept in a state of readiness to deal with any attack. Mumbai, Sep 19 : After a tepid response on its opening day in Indian theatres, megastar Amitabh Bachchan-starrer "Pink", a courtroom drama that shines the spotlight upon issues of stereotype faced by women in the society, is garnering eyeballs galore -- courtesy positive reviews about the power-packed performances and its socially relevant premise. The film has collected Rs 21.51 crore in its opening weekend, according to industry experts. Directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and co-produced by Shoojit Sircar, the film, which released on September 16, also features Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Piyush Mishra and Dhritiman Chatterjee in key roles. On the Saturday and Sunday which followed the film's release, the collections saw a promising hike -- much in sync with trade expert Komal Nahta's conjecture that after a "poor opening", collections "won't just pick up in multiplexes, they will shoot up" for "Pink". "Starting on a tepid note on Friday morning, the gradual growth in business of 'Pink' is simply phenomenal. Expected to be strong on weekdays too," trade guru Taran Adarsh posted on Twitter on Monday. On Friday, it made Rs 4.32 crore, on Saturday Rs 7.65 crore, and on Sunday, the movie managed a collection of Rs 9.54 crore, registering an upward trend and a total collection of Rs 21.51 crore, said Adarsh. He rated the India business of the film as "excellent". The film features Amitabh as a lawyer, who fights a case of sexual assault involving three girls and a boy who belongs to an influential family. A strong and meaningful message that the film spreads out is that no matter how a woman dresses, what she does or what she thinks, when she says no to sexual advances, it is a definite no. "Pink" has been unanimously lauded by critics, members of the film fraternity and the audience for being creativity and narration at its best. It is supported by overwhelming performances by all actors to convey the complex story and realities of culturally confused society subtly but effectively. Delhi-based distributor Joginder Mahajan told IANS: "'Pink' is doing strong business and has witnessed a good hike over the weekend. The film will definitely remain strong during weekdays because it has been appreciated by all." Multiplex chain Cinepolis India has even increased the number of shows for the movie. "The film started really low on Friday morning, but from evening onwards, it picked up really well. We have increased our capacity and are also re-balancing the movies. We have increased shows for the film looking at the hike it has witnessed. After a good weekend, now we are looking forward to a strong week for the film," Devang Sampat, Director - Strategy Initiative, Cinepolis India, told IANS. Another film that hit the screens on September 16 was Emraan Hashmi's "Raaz Reboot" -- the fourth installment in the popular "Raaz" franchise. Despite being in competition with "Pink", "Raaz Reboot" - directed by Vikram Bhatt - has managed to attract footfalls at cinemas. The horror film has collected Rs 18.09 crore in three days. However, if industry experts are to be believed, "Pink" will have an upper hand over "Raaz Reboot" because of the positive word of mouth. "'Raaz Reboot' will witness a downfall in its earning because of the negative reviews it has received. Expectations are big from 'Pink' in the coming days," Mahajan said. Ahmedabad, Sep 19 : Gujarat Dalit rights activist, Jignesh Mevani and 200 supporters, who were demonstrating outside the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, were detained on Monday. Two women members of the rights group, who are fighting for land allocation to Dalits, reportedly fainted and their health deteriorated during the detention. The Dalit activists were taken to Shahibaug Police Headquarters around 11.30 a.m. and Mevani alleged that no medical help was provided for several hours. The activists had been demanding land for Dalits in the Dholka region of Ahmedabad district, allotted to them under the Agricultural Land Ceiling (ALC) Act for many years. There are 331 allottees in Saroda village of Dholka under the ALC Act, most of whom are Dalits. When requests for medical help to the police reportedly failed Mevani posted his protest through his Facebook page. He asserted, "Gujarat Model: pathetic, obnoxious and disastrous. Even after an hour of fainting ... women are not being taken to hospital .... These women ...are bona fide owners ...We are all under detention and ready to face anything." He also added, "Ye andolan ab rukne wala nahi (this agitation won't stop now)...we want our land at any cost." Mevani said land allotment to Dalits in the region had remained on paper for years. He threatened the District Collector that if the allotment process was not initiated immediately, the activists would launch a 'rasta roko' (road block) agitation from the busy Income Tax Crossroads in Ahmedabad. Mevani was also rounded up hours before a public demonstration that he had announced in protest against the murder of a Muslim youth, Mohammed Ayyub, in the city allegedly by cow vigilantes last week. He had given a call for Dalit-Muslim unity and stated that just like the Muslims had supported the torture victims of Una, the Dalits would also back them. He had termed the killing of Ayyub on September 12 by cow vigilantes as Dadri-2 comparing it with the lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh on charges of cow slaughter earlier this year. Mumbai, Sep 19 : Superstar Salman Khan has been signed as the brand ambassador of Yellow Diamond, snack maker and the flagship brand of Prataap Snacks. He will be the face of the home-grown brand of potato chips, namkeen and snacks. Talking about his association with the brand, Salman said in a statement: "I met with the founders of Prataap Snacks and they shared their journey from small beginnings to becoming one of India's biggest snack food companies -- a Make in India journey. "Yellow Diamond snacks seeks to understand the Indian consumer and the Indian palate to help them take on the global giants. It is a pleasure and privilege to be associated with Prataap Snacks as the brand ambassador for Yellow Diamond." Arvind Mehta, Apoorva Kumat and Amit Kumat, founders of Prataap Snacks, said they are fans of the "Dabangg" star, and to have him as our brand ambassador is a "dream come true". They have described the actor as "the man for the classes and masses". Beijing, Sep 19 : China on Monday condemned the terror attack on the Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said it was concerned over the "rising temperatures" in its aftermath. Beijing also asked India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue. "China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding the Kashmir situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. "We want to express our deep sympathies and condolences to the affected families and the injured," Lu said, referring to the 18 soldiers killed in the Sunday morning terror attack near Uri town. "We hope relevant parties will have dialogue and consultation to resolve their differences and enhance counter terrorism cooperation. Only this way can they safeguard peace and security in their region," he said. Asked if the attack could affect the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through Pakistani Kashmir, Lu said: "The building of the corridor is to drive the development of the regional countries. "It needs the concerted efforts of all countries concerned to ensure the smooth running of this corridor." In his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of G20 this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue of terrorism emanating from Gilgit-Baltistan where the proposed corridor goes through. "At the same time I need to stress that recently in this region especially in Kashmir region, there has been some escalation of tensions," he said. New Delhi, Sep 19 : Unable to move out of Switzerland to campaign for a "free Balochistan", Baloch nationalist leader and Baloch Republican Party (BRP) founder Brahumdagh Bugti will seek official asylum in India within a week, a party spokesperson told IANS. The decision was taken after a two-day meeting of the BRP central committee at Geneva, following which the BRP founder held a press conference expressing his desire to move to India. "Asylum will be sought within a week at the Indian embassy in Bern, Switzerland. For now only Mr Bugti would apply," BRP spokesperson Sher Mohammad Bugti told IANS. Asked for the reason behind applying for asylum in India, he cited "political restrictions" placed by the Swiss government, especially the restriction to move out of Switzerland. "He is not allowed to travel outside Switzerland, the government here is not giving all essential documents for that. With Indian asylum, he can travel throughout the world, meet people and campaign for a free Balochistan," the BRP spokesperson said. The BRP also held an anti-Pakistan protest in Geneva. Grandson of Baloch leader and Bugti tribe head, Nawab Akbar Bugti, Brahumdagh left Balochistan to save his life after Akbar Bugti was killed in a Pakistan Army offensive in 2006. He was first given asylum in Afghanistan from where he shifted to Switzerland in 2010 following a life threat. Panaji, Sep 19 : Instead of exchanging saris as gifts with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should either retaliate promptly to the killing of 18 soldiers or go to Pakistan himself, the Congress said on Monday. Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar also said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar should stop visiting Goa on weekends. "Modi had taken a sari as a gift when he went to meet Nawaz Sharif in violation of protocol... Now the PM should wear a sari and go to Pakistan if he cannot take appropriate action (following the Uri attack)," said Kawthankar. He added that Modi and BJP President Amit Shah's rhetoric about avenging deaths of Indian soldiers in the past appeared to ring hollow. Kawthankar said the Congress took objection to the repeated visits to Goa, especially during weekends, and said India "cannot afford a part-time Defence Minister". "If Parrikar misses Goan fish and food, he should hire a cook and take him to Delhi with him... Parrikar should know that he is not the leader of opposition or Goa's Chief Minister any more," Kawthankar said. Parrikar, a former Goa chief minister, was elevated as Defence Minister in the Modi-led cabinet. He will also be the BJP's star campaigner during the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to criminal-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin on a plea challenging grant of bail to him in a murder case by the Patna High Court earlier this month. The bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy also issued notice on a plea seeking stay of the Patna High Court's September 7 order for bail. Asking the Bihar government to serve notice on him, the bench directed the next hearing on the matter for the coming Monday (September 26). The court order came on a plea by Chandrakeshwar Prasad, whose three sons were allegedly killed by Shahabuddin's henchmen, and that of the Bihar government challenging the High Court order. The Bihar government had also sought issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. However, this was not accepted by the bench. At the outset of the hearing, the bench asked lawyer Prashant Bhushan if he was seeking the cancellation of the bail or challenging the order granting bail and what were the parameters. Bhushan, appeared for Prasad whose two sons were killed in 2004 and third son Rajiv Roshan - who was the sole witness to the killings of his two brothers - too was killed by Shahabuddin's henchmen in 2014. The high court had granted bail to Shahabuddin on the grounds that in Rajiv Roshan murder case, he was jail since 2014 and there was no progress in the trial of the case. Even though Shahabuddin was already in jail in the twin murder case, but in Rajiv Roshan case, the Siwan strongman was shown as arrested on November 27, 2014. Giving details about the notoriety of Shahabuddin, Bhushan told the bench that he was a hardened criminal with no scope of his being reformed and was involved in 58 cases of which in at least 8, he has been convicted. In two cases, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and 10 years jail in another case. Questioning the high court granting bail, Bhushan told the court that the order was "contrary to all the principles laid down by this court" for the grant of bail in such cases. He read out extracts from 2014 order of the top court wherein while acknowledging that he was in jail for ten years, yet it did not grant Shahabuddin bail. Telling the court that Shahabuddin should have been lodged in a jail outside Bihar, Bhushan said that the high court should have, instead of granting bail, said that his trial would take place through video conferencing from Bhagalpur jail. What makes the murder of Rajiv Roshan a serious issue is because he was the crucial witness in the earlier murder of his two younger brothers, Bhushan said that the release of Shahabuddin has unleashed a fear among all the witnesses in all the cases against the criminal-turned-politician. Appearing for Bihar government, advocate Gopal Singh said that the murder of Rajiv Roshan becomes a serious issue because he was a prime witness and he was killed just before he was to depose second time before the trial court in the twin murder of his brothers. Seeking the immediate stay of the bail and its eventual cancellation, Prasad in his petition has said that if the bail to Shahabuddin was not stayed "irreparable injury is going to cause to the interest of the present trial as well as other pending cases". Pointing out that there was a "serious threat" to his life and that of his family members, he has told the court that "earlier also it has been seen that witnesses are too scared to depose against him and turn hostile". Kathmandu, Sep 19 : Nepal on Monday condemned the terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir that led to the deaths of 18 soldiers. In his message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said he was of the firm belief that the perpetrators behind this heinous act will be brought to justice at the earliest. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Prachanda reiterated the Nepal goverment's position of unequivocally condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and said that such acts must be firmly and resolutely dealt with. Prachanda also extended his heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families. New Delhi, Sep 19 : A six-member NIA team is in Srinagar, waiting for the Union Home Ministry's orders to take over probe into the terror attack on the Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir that left 18 soldiers dead, official sources said on Monday. Informed sources said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, led by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officer, is waiting for a nod to visit the site of the terror attack in Uri, a part of Baramulla district, where a group of militants attacked the army camp in the early hours of Sunday. The sources said the DIG level officer reached Srinagar a few hours after the incident on Sunday and took stock of the situation from the agency's sub-division in Jammu. "The NIA team has still not been given orders from the Home Ministry to visit the site as it is a military camp," the sources clarified. Seventeen army soldiers were killed in the dastardly attack carried out allegedly by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants. Four militants were gunned down. The toll reached 18, after an injured soldier died on Monday. Hyderabad, Sep 19 : Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday called upon international community to work towards declaring Pakistan a "terrorist state" and said that it is high time to "teach a lesson" to perpetrators of Sunday's Uri terror attack. "Pakistan is aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorists and it has become its state policy," Naidu told reporters here. He accused the neighbouring country of conspiring to weaken the India's economy and said, "They want to cripple Indian economy, they want to weaken the country. It is not acceptable at all." "(The) country is running out of patience and it is high time to teach a lesson to Pakistan and its perpetrators," he said. He urged the world community to come together to isolate Pakistan. "The world community should come together to isolate Pakistan and declare it as a terrorist state, and stop all military and other assistance to it," said Naidu, who is the Minister for Urban Development also. Naidu said that the United Nations should take up the issue of terrorism in a serious manner as it is an enemy of humanity. Naidu's remarks came a day after a terror attack in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday in which 18 soldiers were killed. Indian Army has said that the attack was carried out by militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said all the countries in the world should come together to "condemn this heinous act of Pakistan". "It (Pakistan) has proved to be a rogue nation and they are not walking the talk which they promised earlier during General (Parvez) Musharraf's period and during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's period," he alleged. "They are going back on their promises and now you can't take it lying down," he blamed. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Cauvery Supervisory Committee on Monday ordered the Karnataka government to release 3,000 cusecs of river water daily to Tamil Nadu between September 21 and 30, a senior officer said. The committee handles matters related to the river water dispute. "The order was passed after a meeting attended by officials of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala failed to evolve a concensus," Shashi Shekhar, Committee Chairman and Union Water Resources Secretary, told reporters. He said: "Karnataka has not agreed to the order, which is otherwise binding." Shekhar said the supervisory committee will meet every month after February next year till September. Another decision taken by the panel was to ensure transparency in data on water reservoirs and building an online system. The cost of such online transparent data system will be borne by all four states proportionately. Shekhar said these two decisions were taken unanimously. The committee had earlier failed to take any decision on September 12 and sought information on water usage and rainfall from the Cauvery basin states by September 15, and deferred its meeting to September 19. Paris/New Delhi, Sep 19 : France on Monday condemned the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers, and called for "decisive action" against terror groups targetting India, especially the LeT, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. In a statement, the deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, said that nothing can justify terrorism and that Paris remains "at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". To a question on Sunday's terror attack, the spokesperson said that France condemned the "terrible attack carried out in Uri". He said after the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base, "this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". It also quoted French President Francois Hollande as saying during his India visit in January this year that "all countries must effectively combat terrorism emanating from their territory or from territories under their control". "We call for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-eTaiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. "Nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combatted everywhere with the same determination," the spokesperson said. Earlier, in a statement, the French foreign ministry, while condemning the Uri attack also said that it "recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir". Eighteen Indian army soldiers were killed in a fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday morning. New Delhi, Sep 19 : A day after BJP strategist Ram Madhav suggested "for one tooth, a complete jaw" following the killing 18 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP on Monday mostly kept mum over the issue. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who rarely miss an occasion to comment on issues related to terrorism and Pakistan refused to speak when asked about what the government's next move must be to "teach a lesson to Pakistan". Most party leaders, when contacted by IANS, did not want to say anything and insisted that it was up to the government to decide what needed to be done vis-a-vis Pakistan. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already spoken and our President has also commented. What should I say now," a BJP General Secretary told IANS on the condition of anonymity. Another party leader spoke on similar lines. "Rajnathji is saying. He is holding meetings. Better you speak to him," he said, referring to Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Yet another General Secretary also said he did not want to discuss the issue with the media. "The whole government is speaking in one voice, so we need not to comment." A handful of other BJP leaders did not call back despite repeated attempts by IANS to contact them. Four terrorists said to be "foreigners" were killed on Sunday after they attacked an army camp at Uri in Kashmir and slaughtered 18 soldiers in the worst such attack on any military camp in the state in 10 long years. Madhav said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the Prime Minister had promised that those behind the Uri terror attack would not go unpunished. "That should be the way forward. For one tooth, the complete jaw," said Ram Madhav, a former senior functionary in the RSS. "Days of so-called strategic restraint are over. If terrorism is the instrument of the weak and coward, restraint in the face of repeated terror attacks betrays inefficiency and incompetence," he added. "India should prove otherwise," he said. BJP President Amit Shah also condemned the Uri attack. Interestingly, apart from Shah and Ram Madhav, no other party leader has commented on the issue although many in the government have -- including the Home and Finance Ministers, both of whom blamed Pakistan. Kathmandu, Sep 19 : Nepal on Monday celebrated the first anniversary of the promulgation of its new Constitution amid opposition from Madhesi parties who marked it as a "Black Day" and held a protest rally here. The Madhesi parties are miffed with the newly-installed government of Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' that was initially seen as comparatively sympathetic to their demands. But a month has gone since the formation of the new government and it is perceived as having done little to address the demands and grievances of the Madhesis, leaving them furious and agitated. Prachanda, who came to power last month, however, said in an address on the occasion that his government was serious towards addressing through suitable amendments the grievances of the Madhesis and the Tharu and ethnic communities regarding the Constitution. "My government is seriously working to make the Constitution acceptable to all and expediting its enforcement by addressing the grievances of the people, unhappy with some of its provisions, through fresh amendment(s). "No country in the world has so far achieved a complete Constitution in the maiden attempt as the Constitution is a dynamic and living document and gets completion through timely revisions as per the needs of the people," said Prachanda, who has cancelled his scheduled visit to the United Nations in order to address the concerns of the Madhesis and Janjatis over the Constitution. The Constitution has established Nepal as a Federal Democratic Republic, guaranteed people's fundamental rights, periodic elections, press freedom, independent judiciary and the basis for a rule of law while paving the way for the achievement of social justice, durable peace, good governance, development and progress. After it was adopted through popular vote by the Constituent Assembly last September, the political groupings from the country's southern plains opposed the move and launched nationwide protests, which left at least 59 persons, including several security personnel, dead. Prachanda said the government had already formed a high-level commission to probe the incidents of violence that took place during the Terai-Madhes movement, had already announced the names of those killed in the movement and a process was on to provide compensation to the victims' families and medical treatment cost to the injured. Likewise, the process of withdrawal of political cases relating to the agitation was afoot. Moscow/New Delhi, Sep 19 : Russia on Monday condemned the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir and said it is "concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base was attacked from Pakistani territory". In a statement, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the "criminal act" should be investigated properly and that "its organisers and perpetrators be held accountable". "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack against an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of September 18, which killed 17 and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured," the statement said, according to the Russian Embassy in Delhi. "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. "We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counterterrorism efforts," it said. Patna, Sep 19 : At least 35 people were killed on Monday when a 50-seater bus fell into a deep pond in Bihar's Madhubani district, officials said. "So far, 35 bodies have been found and the bus was pulled out of the water. But search for missing passengers is still on," a district official said. The accident took place near Basakha Chowk in Benapatti area, about 250 km from here. The bus was on its way to Sitamarhi from Madhubani. District officials along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were engaged in rescue and search of other passengers feared drowned, an official said. According to police, more than 5,000 people from neighbouring villages gathered at the accident site. Angry over the alleged delay on the part of local administration to start rescue operations, a group of people staged protest and pelted stones at district officials, including the vehicle of the District Magistrate. The state government has announced compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each victim. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the incident. Leh, Sep 19 : A 60-foot-tall silk embroidery brocade of Buddha Amitabha was unfurled on Monday at once-in-12-years carnival of spirituality, culture and tradition near the 17th century Hemis monastery of Drukpa lineage, the largest such in the Himalayas. The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the 1,000-year-old Drukpa Order based in the Himalayas, unfurled the brocade amidst chanting of prayers. A special stand was erected at the Naropa Palace, the venue of the festivity, to display the largest silk embroidered "thanka" or brocade. Event organisers said tens of thousands of Buddhist followers, mainly from Ladakh, Bhutan and Nepal, were gathered at the venue to get blessing of longevity and good health by witnessing it. Explaining the display of six bone sacred ornaments of the great Indian saint Naropa during the festival, spiritual leader Thuksey Rinpoche told IANS: "The display of six bone ornaments is rare indeed since this opportunity comes only once in 12 years." It is believed that the sight of the ornaments will alter the trajectory of one's current life and will ensure a favourable rebirth. The fourth edition of the Naropa festival is attribute to the 1,000th birth anniversary of saint Naropa. The week-long celebrations that began on September 16 will conclude on September 22. It is rightly called the Kumbh of the Himalayas. Belaidi Nicolas of Hong Kong-based company Panel Oled Ltd. told IANS that LED bulbs of the total 3,000 watts have been installed to light up the Naropa Palace, just two kilometres short of the Hemis monastery, during the festivity. Over 200 kung fu nuns belonging to various nunneries of the Drukpa sect, who reached Leh in September after traversing 2,500 km on cycles from Kathmandu, also gave drum as well as theatrical performances during the festival. After the conclusion of the festivities, a 10-day-long eco "pad yatra" or walk led by the Gyalwang Drukpa along with a team of thousands of monks, nuns and volunteers will be carried out in interiors of Ladakh to create awareness about the hazards of non-biodegradable waste from September 22. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi attended the first Naropa festival in June 1980. At that time 50,000 devotees had attended the festival. Bengaluru, Sep 19 : State-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) on Monday announced the appointment of Anandi Ramalingam as its first woman whole-time director. Ramalingam, who assumed charge as director (marketing), was General Manager of the military communication strategic business unit in the Bengaluru complex prior to her elevation, said the company in a statement here. With over three decades experience in the city-based public sector enterprise, Ramalingam has expertise in equipment testing gained by working across domains of military communication. "She headed testing for 'Shakti', the flagship artillery combat command and control system, developed indigenously with DRDO for the Indian army and its radio engineered network," the statement said. In 2004, Ramalingam was part of the team, which had set up marketing division for the military communication & electronic warfare unit here, it said, adding that in 2010, she was moved to international marketing division to head defence offsets, establishing the company as a reliance global supply chain partner for original equipment manufacturers. Kolkata, Sep 19 : Low-cost airline SpiceJet is increasing its flights from the city to many domestic destinations from October and also connect Kolkata to international destinations like Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh from December, a company official said on Monday. The airline, which achieved an average load-factor of 92 per cent in the last 14 months, is also exploring the possibility of launching flights from Kolkata to Yangon in Myanmar and Dubai and Sharjah in the Middle East. "We will start a significant number of flights from Kolkata. The company is poised to grow in a meaningful way. One of the first places we chose to start growing from was Kolkata because Bengal is moving forward vary rapidly," said airline's founder-Chairman Ajay Singh. "The airline will increase its network by 40 per cent from October, with flights from Kolkata to Silchar, Aizwal, Guwahati and Vizag. From December, the city will be connected to international destinations," he said. He said the airline is "exploring some other opportunities from Kolkata". "One of those connections will be Yangon. We will explore the route from Kolkata to the Middle East destinations like Dubai and Sharjah," Singh said. Appreciating the airline's decision to increase daily flights from the city, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "Kolkata is the gateway to the north-eastern states. The city is also a gateway to the Asean countries. You will get a ready market." Referring to newly built Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport at Andal, she said: "The airport is not getting flights. You can nurture and review the opportunities to start flights from there as it could cater to Durgapur, Asansol, Birbhum Bankura and Purulia districts. It could cater to Jharkhand as well." Banerjee urged the airline to start direct flights from Kolkata to European destinations. Thimphu, Sep 19 : Bhutan on Monday said it is "deeply concerned" at the "despicable" terror attack on Uri in India and called for the need to step up global cooperation to combat terrorism. The Bhutanese Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said that the people and government of Bhutan express solidarity with the people and Government of India following the terror attack on an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday that left 18 Indian soldiers dead. "Bhutan strongly condemns terrorism in all its forms and stands with India in the fight against terrorism. Such heinous acts of terrorism calls for the need to step-up international cooperation to combat the scourge of terrorism that poses a severe threat to the peace and stability of all countries," it said. New Delhi, Sep 19 : India on Monday weighed its options against Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack, with the army vowing to pick its own "time and place" to retaliate and the political leadership authorising a global diplomatic blitz aimed at isolating Islamabad as a backer of terrorism. On a day that saw emotions running high as many of the 18 soldiers who died in Sunday's attack were bid farewell with military honours in various parts of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoned a meeting of senior ministers and military and security advisers to formulate an appropriate response. In the evening, Modi called on President Pranab Mukherjee and briefed him about the high-level meeting attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the chiefs of the army, air force and navy, and senior officials of the home and defence ministries. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj did not attend the meeting. The Director General Military Operation (DGMO), Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, told reporters that the army found more articles from the four attackers who were killed at the Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir close to the Line of Control (LoC) -- a de facto border with Pakistan. The evidence indicated that the militants came from Pakistan, he said. India has blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. The group, which has not claimed responsibility, was also accused of mounting the January attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot that left seven soldiers dead. Among the arms and ammunition recovered in Uri were 39 UBGL grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two GPS devices, two maps and "large quantities of food and medicines with Pakistani markings on them", the DGMO said. Lt. Gen. Singh said there had been 17 infiltration bids from across the border in 2016. They were foiled, leaving 110 terrorists dead. "This indicates a desperate attempt from across the border to push infiltrators and create disturbances in India. "We reserve the right to respond at a place and time of our choosing. We have the desired capability to reply to such a blatant act of violence in a manner as deemed appropriate by us." It was amid pressure within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to "teach a lesson" to Pakistan -- with senior party strategist Ram Madhav demanding "for one tooth, a complete jaw" -- that Modi chaired the high-level meeting in New Delhi to review the situation. Informed sources said that apart from the diplomatic offensive at major global fora -- including the upcoming UN General Assembly -- the meeting considered several other options, but these were likely to be measured and well thought-out. The sources said Modi sought all evidence to expose at international fora the Pakistani involvement in the attack. The meeting also discussed Modi's proposed visit to Pakistan in November for a Saarc summit. The option of the Islamabad trip was left open as any decision would be taken on the basis of the bilateral situation then, the sources said. The high-level meeting came shortly after Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation along the border and the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. Patrols on the borders were increased and frontier districts in various states were put on a high alert. India and Pakistan are currently observing a 2003 ceasefire along the borders and the LoC, which has largely stayed despite violations. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the Sunday assault, saying India was blaming it even without conducting any investigation. Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif told a Corps Commanders conference in Rawalpindi his forces were "fully prepared to respond to an entire spectrum of direct and indirect threat". "Pakistan's armed forces ... will thwart any sinister design against the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan." In New Delhi, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters that India was not concerned about Pakistani denials. "Everything is in front of the people. We must not give much attention to Pakistan's reaction. We will take our steps carefully," Rijiju said. Pompeii (Italy), Sep 19 : Police detained an American tourist on Monday who allegedly stole a marble fragment from the ancient Roman city of Pompeii near Naples in southern Italy. Security guards called police after they saw the 31-year-old tourist use his foot to dig out a chip of marble from the floor of Pompeii's House of the Small Fountain dating from the first century AD. The fragile 2,500-year-old ruins of Pompeii - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - are one of Italy's top tourist attractions and in 2015 received nearly three million visitors, according to the culture ministry. In May last year, the US returned to Italy three frescoes taken from Pompeii nearly 60 years ago as well as 22 other pieces of stolen art smuggled across the Atlantic. The 1st century BC frescoes depicting a woman with a red mantle, a male figure and a young woman with a cupid were due to be auctioned in New York after an American tycoon died, leaving his valuable private collection. The frescoes were stolen from Pompeii on 26 July, 1957 with three other frescoes that have already been recovered from Switzerland, Britain and the US, Italian police said. More recently, in September 2014, two American tourists were held at Rome's Fiumicino airport with a 30 kg artefact from Pompeii stashed in their luggage which they allegedly hoped to fly home with. The artefact, which would have adorned a building at Pompeii, was discovered in the tourists' luggage in their rental car. Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), Sep 19 : Police on Monday arrested five Maoists, including a 'commander', who were in involved in the killing of a journalist, in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district. Bastar Inspector General S.R.P. Kalluri and Bijapur Superintendent of police K.L. Dhruv told the media that search parties of security forces had gone to villages of Lingagiri, Borguda and Korsaguda of Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh. The search parties in a raid arrested the five Maoists, who were members of the Jan Militia, from Korsaguda village. The arrested Maoists confessed to police that they were involved in the December 6, 2013, killing of journalist Sai Reddy in Basaguda village, police said. The police recovered sharp weapons from the arrested. Damascus, Sep 19 : The Syrian army announced on Monday the end of the Russian-US brokered truce in Syria, without talking about possible extension, according to the state news agency SANA. The Syrian army said the seven-day truce that was brokered by the United States and Russia ended on Monday, as previously declared, Xinhua news agency reported. The army didn't speak of any possible extension of the week-long truce, but accused the rebels of committing over 300 violations to the ceasefire. "The terrorists have taken advantage of the ceasefire to amass themselves and continue to attack residential areas and military positions, mainly in the provinces of Hama, Qunaitera, and Aleppo," the military statement said. The statement said the military forces have practised high self-restraint, and responded in a few cases when it had to do so to silence the fire from the rebels. It renewed old pledges that the army will continue to fight terrorism until restoring peace and stability to Syria. Last Monday, a Russian-US ceasefire was implemented in Syria, bringing relative calm to the most troubled areas, including Aleppo. Still, both warring parties traded accusations of breaching the ceasefire, which was deemed as a good chance to bring the bloodletting in Syria to a close. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have cracked the case of a highway robbery by arresting three members of a gang here, and recovered the goods which were being sold by online e-commerce platform Amazon. The arrested accused have been identified as Deepak Pandey, 26, a resident of Israil Camp in Rangpuri Pahari; Monu Tomar, 26, a resident of Mahipalpur; and Anil alias Hattal, 19, also a resident of Rangpuri Pahari. The robbed consignment of Amazon and the vehicle used in the crime were recovered from them, the police said. According to police, the robbery was reported on September 10 by Vineet Dixit, a resident of Amar Colony area of west Delhi. In his complaint Dixit said that he runs a transport business and his two goods tempos were attached with Mahendra Logistics which transports the goods booked online and supplied by Amazon company. He also stated that his driver Ramdas had informed him by calling from a unknown number that his mini-tempo loaded with goods worth Rs 14 lakh was taken away from NH-8 near Raddison Hotel by six assailants. "The injured driver of the tempo was found from an isolated place in Rangpuri," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Nupur Prasad told reporters. "In his statement Ramdas said that his van was intercepted by a car and six persons of that van, blocked the tempo and then took it to a deserted place and they unloaded the goods in their van," the officer said. "The assailants then beat Ramdas and robbed him of his mobile phone and wallet and dumped him at unknown place behind Ghitorni forest area in south Delhi and fled," the officer added. "During interrogation, Tomar disclosed his involvement in the crime. He confessed that he along with his associates, Deepak Pandey, Shibbu, Sagar, Anil and Rohit committed the robbery," Prasad said. According to the police, Tomar was previously involved in a case of robbery and had been sentenced to jail in Baraut in Uttar Pradesh. The police also said that they are looking for his accomplices Rohit, Shibbu and Sagar who are missing and on the run. Washington, Sep 19 : Ahmad Khan Rahami, an Afghan man suspected in bombings in New York and New Jersey, is now in custody after a shootout with the police, sources said on Monday. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man wanted for questioning in connection with bombings in New York and Seaside Park, New Jersey, is also believed to be connected to the pipe bombs found in a backpack on Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey, CNN quoted sources as saying. The New York police announced earlier they are looking for Rahami for questioning in connection with the Saturday bombing in Manhattan's Chelsea neighbourhood, which injured 29 people. Bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend as well as the discovery of several unexploded devices have led authorities to believe there may be a terror cell at work in those two states, law enforcement officials told CNN on Monday. The New York City Police Department earlier on Monday released a photograph of Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old New Jersey resident, as the suspect in the Manhattan explosion incident. Rahami was described as a naturalised US citizen who was born in Afghanistan on January 23, 1988, Xinhua news agency reported. "I want to be very clear that this individual could be armed and dangerous," said Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York city. Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth in the state of New Jersey. Elsewhere, on Monday, a backpack found near a New Jersey railway station exploded even as a bomb squad was attempting to defuse it, while authorities examined another suspicious package containing up to five devices, media reported. The second package was found in a wastebasket outside a pub and located about 500 feet from the train trestle in Elizabeth city, Mayor Chris Bollwage told CNN. Earlier on Saturday, there was an explosion at Seaside Park, New Jersey, which was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps' charity run. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the bombs have similarities, suggesting "there might have been a common linkage". Cuomo said the investigation is ongoing, and "I wouldn't be surprised if it zeroes in on a particular individual, today even", and that he "wouldn't be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act". A mystery caller telephoned police hours after the bombs were found in Manhattan to warn that there would be more attacks, a local newspaper has reported. The blast is understood to have originated from a device placed in a pressure cooker outside the Associated Blind Housing facility at 135 West 23rd Street. A second device was found four blocks away on West 27th Street. New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blast in Chelsea was an "intentional act" but he insisted that there was no credible terrorist threat to the city and there was no link with the New Jersey explosion. The Joint Terrorism Task Force was called in to investigate the Chelsea blasts well as the New Jersey incident. Nine persons were also injured on Saturday night in a stabbing attack at a mall in the US state of Minnesota. Dhaka, Sep 19 : The twin terror attacks in Bangladesh in July, on a cafe and an Eid congregation, were funded by laundered money from the Middle-East, and the mastermind of both attacks has been identified as Rajib Gandhi, Dhaka police claimed on Monday. Talking to the press at the media centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit chief, Monirul Islam said police have discovered one 'hundi' (money laundering) transaction of about $17,000 and evidences strongly suggests that the money was used in financing and procuring logistics, arms and ammunition for the attack, Dhaka tribune reported. The police are yet to ascertain the exact source of the transaction, whether a foreigner or a non-resident Bangladeshi. "But we are certain that the money came from Mideast." Monirul named another militant -- Rajib Gandhi alias Shuvash Gandhi alias Shanto -- who is said to be the northern part leader of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). "He sent at least three recruits to attack the Gulshan cafA and Sholakia Eidgah from the north. We are looking for him and two others - Marjan, Basaruzzaman. We know two other leadership-level militants have fled to India," The Daily Star quoted Monirul. The chief also said they are yet to ascertain whether the exact source of the transaction was a foreigner or a non-resident Bangladeshi. The July 1-2 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery -- a popular restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic zone -- resulted in the death of 22 persons, including 17 foreigners and an 18-year-old Indian woman, Tarishi Jain. A week later, an attack occurred during prayers in Sholakia Eidgah, where the largest Eid congregation takes place. Four more, including a couple of policemen, were killed. New Delhi, Sep 19 : The terror attack on an Indian army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri base which killed 18 soldiers, has drawn condemnation from around the world, including Russia and the UN. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the perpetrators of the Uri attack will be brought to justice and all stakeholders in the region will meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability. The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the Uri attack and said it is "concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base was attacked from Pakistani territory". It called for the "criminal act" to be investigated properly and that "its organisers and perpetrators be held accountable". "We strongly condemn the terrorist attack against an army base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri in the early hours of September 18, which killed 17 and injured 30 service personnel. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and wish a rapid recovery to all those injured," the Russian statement said. While condemning the terror act, China said it was concerned over the "rising temperatures" in its aftermath. Beijing also asked India and Pakistan to resolve their differences through dialogue. "China opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism. We are concerned about this escalation and rising temperatures surrounding the Kashmir situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. France condemned the Uri terror attack and called for "decisive action" against terror groups targetting India, especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. In a statement, the deputy spokesperson of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development said that nothing can justify terrorism and that Paris remains "at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". He said after the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base, "this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge". "We call for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen." "Nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combatted everywhere with the same determination," the spokesperson said. Canada strongly condemned the attack and said it stands with India in the fight against terrorism. In a statement, Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said his country was appalled by these attacks. Neighbours Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka also condemned the terrorist attack. In his message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said he was of the firm belief that the perpetrators behind this heinous act will be brought to justice at the earliest. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said the country has undergone the scourge of terrorism for almost three decades and resents all forms and manifestation of terrorism. Bhutan said it is "deeply concerned" at the "despicable" terror attack on Uri in India and called for the need to step up global cooperation to combat terrorism. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali, condemning the attack, told CNN-News18 news channel that the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan will remain in the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka. "As a freedom fighter of 1971, we fought alongside the Indians during our war of liberation, I want the spirit of 1971 to remain in our relations," Ali said. On Sunday, the US expressed strong condemnation of the terror attack. "The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the UK "stands shoulder to shoulder with India in defeating terrorism and in bringing the perpetrators to justice". New Delhi, Sep 19 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav has said that the Assam government on Monday evicted 1,800 families of illegal settlers from the Kaziranga National Park area. "Upholding its poll promise the Assam government has today evicted 1,800 families of illegal settlers from Kaziranga National Park area," said Madhav in his Facebook post. According to Madhav, initially the state government had information about less number of occupiers. But when the actual eviction operation began, it turned out that colonies have been put up by infiltrators occupying vast tracts of the national park. "Some 100-odd families have voluntarily left the occupied land while the government was compelled to use force for the eviction of others," reads the post. The state government's bold move to protect the world heritage site of Kaziranga National Park has been widely appreciated by the people of Assam, it added. Stating that Independence Day in Assam earlier used to be a muted affair due to insurgent threats and bandh calls, Madhav said the state government held three-day Independence Day celebrations across the state from August 14 to 16, 2016, after a long time. "Thanks to the government's firm initiative, I-Day was celebrated widely across the state by people with a lot of enthusiasm. People thus gave a strong reply to the insurgents that they are no longer tolerated," said Madhav. Gurgaon, Sep 19 : Haryana's main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has reminded the BJP-led central government of the promise it made during the last Lok Sabha elections that India will behead 10 Pakistani soldiers for one Indian soldier killed if it comes to power. "It's time for the BJP-led central government to fulfil the commitment it made to the nation," senior INLD leader and former Haryana Police chief Mahender Singh Malik said on Monday while speaking to media persons after paying tributes to the Uri martyrs. Condemning the Pakistan-sponsored terror on the Uri army camp in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, in which 18 Indian soldiers were killed, Malik said India must fight back on such terror attacks. The former police chief said that the Uri army camp attack was second big attack after Pathankot attack, in which six Indian soldiers were killed. Malik was in Gurgaon to meet party workers in connection with preparations for the upcoming rally in Karnal on September 25 to coincide with the 103rd birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. Srinagar/New Delhi, Sep 19 : The Indian Army will look into the Uri attack and probe different aspects of the incident, defence sources said. Calling it a routine process, officials said it will be an "after action report" and will look into the different aspects of the infiltration that was followed by an attack at the army camp in Uri. An official stressed it was not an "inquiry" into the attack on Sunday morning that left 18 soldiers dead. The four terrorists that were killed had medicines and food with Pakistan marking on it. Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh said on Monday the infiltration attempts by terrorists have shown a marked increase in comparison to the past 3-4 years. In 2016, there have been 17 infiltration bids eliminated by the Indian Army along the Line of Control. Of a total of 110 terrorists eliminated in the state, 31 have been killed while they were attempting to cross the Line of Control. The attack has been defined as "shallow infiltration" by army officials, which means the terrorists attacked the first army camp that came their way. The DGMO also called it "desperate attempt from across the Line of Control to infiltrate more terrorists into Kashmir with a view to create disturbance and foment unrest". New Delhi, Sep 19 : A case for criminal intimidation and using force was registered here against AAP Tughlakabad lawmaker Sahiram Pehalwan after a scuffle, police said on Monday. "We have registered a case against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA for minor scuffle," a senior police officer told IANS. The case was registered against the AAP legislator on the complaint of Yogendra Bidhuri, police said. Pehalwan has been charged under Sections 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, police said. According to police, the scuffle between the two broke out on Monday morning over an issue of road construction. Pehalwan, considered a heavyweight in the AAP, had switched to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party after resigning from Bahujan Samaj Party. New Space Exploration Gallery - The Journey Begins The Space Exploration Gallery will employ colorful wall graphics, educational and entertaining text, video presentations and artifacts to provide visitors with an exciting,immersive, walk-through experience MEDIA ADVISORY WHAT: A new space exploration gallery spotlighting the history and development of space flight will be unveiled with a ribbon cutting ceremony for news media and invited guests at the Flight Path Museum. The brilliantly colorful and engaging educational exhibit features "The Journey Begins." WHEN: Thursday, September 22, 2016, 10 a.m. WHERE: Flight Path Museum and Learning Center, LAX Imperial Terminal, 6661 West Imperial Highway, Los Angeles. Media and guest parking is available west of the building. WHY: The new gallery showcases a colorful and informative timeline of space history together with a number of important space artifacts, including the flight suit of astronaut Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, commander of the Endeavour and Atlantis space shuttles. WHO: The gallery was developed by nonprofit Flight Path in cooperation with The Aerospace Corporation and Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency which operates LAX. PROGRAM: Lynne Adelman, Flight Path Museum President Steve Soukup, Flignt Path Museum Board Member Omar Pulido, LAX Community Liaison, representing Council member Mike Bonin (CD 11) Dr. Malina M. Hills, Aerospace Corp VP Space Programs Operations Trevor Daley, LAWA Deputy Executive Director & Chief of External Affairs Christina Davis, LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce CEO PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES: Ribbon cutting ceremony Gallery preview tour Astronaut flight suit Other space artifacts Graphic timeline of space history ABOUT FLIGHT PATH MUSEUM The Flight Path Museum and Learning Center (Flight Path) is managed by Flight Path Learning Center of Southern California, Inc. in cooperation with Los Angeles World Airports, Inc. Flight Path is a California 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded in 1995. Flight Path operates an 18,000 square foot facility on West Imperial Highway adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport serving over 13,000 visitors each year. The Museum offers many displays of aviation history memorabilia, graphic exhibits chronicling the history of aviation in Southern California and one of the worlds largest collection of airline and aviation uniforms. Flight Path also operates the William A. Schoneberger Research Library, which houses the over 2,200 volume collection many with historic value - of aviation and aerospace books, technical manuals and related publications. The Museum also manages four college-level technical education scholarship programs that provide financial assistance of $2,000 - $5,000 to a number of deserving students each year. The Museum is open to the public at no cost five days a week. "We exist to help our people win, and that's what got us here. This year's achievements are attributed to our clients, photographers and internal staff," said PlanOmatic CEO Kori Covrigaru. PlanOmatic, a real estate marketing firm specializing in professional photography and interactive floor plans, was named to the 2016 Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest growing companies for a second consecutive year. The Inc. 5000 list is an exclusive group of privately held companies in America who reach outstanding revenue increases over a three year period. "We exist to help our people win, and that's what got us here. This year's achievements are attributed to our clients, photographers and internal staff," said PlanOmatic CEO Kori Covrigaru. "We treat homes like people and people like family. I'm confident that this mindset will lead us to continued success." PlanOmatic met the criteria for the 2016 Inc. 5000 list by increasing its annual revenue by 391% during a three-year period, ranging from 2013 to 2015. PlanOmatic ranked #933 in 2015 and #1013 in 2016. Each of the featured companies are listed on the website at http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2016/ with PlanOmatic viewable at http://www.inc.com/profile/planomatic. This company has never worked so hard towards a common goal, said PlanOmatic COO Chad Gagnon. Company culture has been a big focus for us which has directly contributed to our success, specifically in making our clients feel like they are a part of the PlanOmatic family." Inc. 5000, a New York City publication released monthly, was founded in 1979. The publication began as the Inc. 500 list, then eventually shifted into the Inc. 5000 list. This list honors the fastest-growing private companies of North America, and has gained a strong, positive reputation nationally. PlanOmatic, founded in 2005, is a real estate marketing firm that provides real estate companies with industry leading professional photography, interactive floor plans, seamless integration and outstanding customer support. To learn more about PlanOmatic visit http://www.planomatic.com or https://www.facebook.com/planomatic/videos/10154272273512679 Engaging the residents at the Rockleigh Jewish Home In NJ Rabbi Blane has a style that is contagious and brings smiles to those he meets. On Friday, September 16th Rabbi Steve Blane, Founder of Sim Shalom online synagogue, and Dean of JSLI, Jewish Spiritual Leader's Institute, brought his love of jazz and Judaism together at the Rockleigh, NJ Jewish Home. Joined by New York bass player Kevin Hailey they performed Rabbi Blane's original songs as well as Jazz Standards and traditional Jewish prayers for the residents. As soon as Rockleigh Jewish Home Sunni Herman, Exec VP, encountered Rabbi Blane she decided to bring him to share his musicality at the Jewish Home. "Rabbi Blane has a style that is contagious and brings smiles to those he meets." And smile they did when Blane sat at the piano and crooned "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon." "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof is a standard at Sim Shalom Kabbalat Shabbat services and his original song, "Youth is Wasted on the Young." brought knowing looks from the seniors. The jazz and Judaism combination is not new for Blane. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur 5777 he will lead services with a jazz quartet at the iconic Bitter End in New York City. For more information and to see a video of last year's services click here. About Sim Shalom and JSLI: Sim Shalom is an interactive online Jewish Universalist synagogue which is liberal in thought and traditional in liturgy. Created in 2009 by Rabbi Steven Blane on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Sim Shalom offers a means of connecting the unconnected. Rabbi Blane leads accessible and short Kabbalt Shabbat services every Friday night using a virtual interface and additionally Sim Shalom provides online education programs, Jazz concerts, conversion and life-cycle ceremonies along with weeknight services at 7:00PM EST led by Rabbis and students of this online community. Rabbi Blane is also the founder and dean of the Jewish Spiritual Leader's Institute, JSLI, a rabbinical school for professionals. Sim Shalom, a non profit 501 (3) tax-exempt organization, nurtures a Jewish connection through its mission of innovative services, creative education and dynamic outreach to the global community. For more information visit http://www.simshalom.com or call 201-338-0165 Thomas Hehir will speak at the Windsor Library on October 20 Parents played an enormous role in the success of their children. The Hartford Area Chapter of the national non-profit Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities (SKLD) is sponsoring an inspirational program for parents of children with learning disabilities and attention difficulties. Thomas Hehir, Silvana and Christopher Pascucci Professor of Practice in Learning Differences at Harvard Graduate School of Education, will discuss the importance of parent advocacy for their children and his book: How Did You Get Here? Students with Disabilities and Their Journeys to Harvard at the Windsor Public Library, Windsor, CT. Light supper will be served at 6:30pm; the program will run from 7:00-8:30pm. Compelling, practical, and inspiring, Hehirs book, co-authored with Laura Schifter, profiles 16 young adults who overcame their disabilities to achieve success at Harvard University. Hehir's research uncovered a common theme - support and encouragement from parents. According to Hehir, "Parents played an enormous role in the success of their children. Thomas Hehir has dedicated his career to advocating for the needs of children with disabilities. His book is a testament to the belief that success comes from focusing on childrens strengths and special talents, rather than simply accommodating their weaknesses, states Jane Ross, executive director of SKLD. As director of the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Special Education Programs from 1993 to 1999, Thomas Hehir, EdD., led the effort to implement and reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). He has written extensively on special education, special education in the reform movement, due process, and least restrictive environment issues. The Hartford Chapter of SKLD seeks to educate, guide and inspire parents of children with learning disabilities and ADHD. The evening will encourage parents of children with learning disabilities to support their childrens unique gifts and strengths. Proceeds will support free educational programs throughout the year in the Greater Hartford area. The Windsor Public Library is located at 323 Broad Street, Windsor, CT. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Register at Eventbrite. Copies of the book will be on sale at the event. About Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Inc. Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Inc. is a Westport, CT-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit disorders (ADHD) via its educational programs, award-winning website and blog, and free e-newsletter. The organization also educates the public about these childrens gifts and talents. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy is an Honorary Board member and Henry Winkler, Golden Globe award-winning actor, director and author serves as the organizations Honorary Chairman. For more information, visit http://www.SmartKidswithLD.org The Queen's talent & band search is on. Each month the paddlewheel boat, the Indian River Queen will feature a top band during a music concert cruise. The cruise will depart from the Cocoa Village Marina from 8:00-11:00 pm on a designated Friday night each month. To qualify, bands must have a strong fan base who will enjoy cruising with their favorite band on a three hour tour on the Indian River in the heart of Florida's Space Coast. Once the bands are selected and to ensure a boat load of fans, band leaders can promote their exclusive music cruise directly to their fans on their own social media platform. "I am so excited that the Queen will be offering concert cruises with top bands in 2017. We use to offer FIT Jazz Cruises that always sold out. Passengers looked forward to coming and enjoying great music while on the river. We plan to select a verity of types of bands. It's going to be a exciting time on the river in 2017," said Penny Flaherty, the owner and event planner of the Indian River Queen. "Bands must be able to generate at least 100 passengers to qualify. The music cruises will be limited to 200 passengers." Boarding pass's will be available for sale on http://www.IndianRiverQueen.com once bands are booked for a particular date. Band leaders should contact the Indian River Queen directly to be considered for this unique private concert cruise opportunity. Please email you tube video's and bands bio with all contact information to tours(at)islandboatlines(dot)com. For additional information call 321-454-7414. The 2017 Music Cruise Schedule will be posted on Indian River Queen soon. Don't miss the boat! Karla Jo Helms, CEO of JoTo PR, comments on public relations being the key behind successful corporate social responsibility. Positive publicity and PR will increase the overall success of any CSR being performed simply by creating better word of mouth and getting the news out to the media and ultimately to the public. Many companies in America have been given a bad persona that can usually be traced back to one thing, their lack of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). A study by Cone Communications and Echo Research of 10,000 global consumers found that 91 percent of shoppers worldwide will likely switch to brands that support a social or environmental cause (1). On the other hand, 90 percent of shoppers will boycott a company based off of moral or irresponsible business practices. JoTo PR, an innovative public relations firm in the Tampa Bay area, has found that many companys PR budget allocations are dramatically changing course by focusing as much as 50 percent of their marketing budgets toward PR to influence people before they buy. In order to accomplish this, many more companies are implementing CSR efforts to fall in line with their reputation strategy. Karla Jo Helms, public relations innovator and veteran CEO of JoTo PR, has been advising her clients since the founding of her PR firm to contribute back towards economic development while also improving the overall quality of the workforce by aiding in social, environmental and ethical concerns. Companies such as SeaWorld can agree that all press is not good press. When the release of the documentary Blackfish exposed the cruel treatment of the orca whales within the park, peoples opinion of the business plummeted, and their response towards the documentary didn't help their case. Other companies such as Nestle, Walmart and Chase Bank are not only lacking on the spectrum of their environmental responsibilities, but are also criticized for human rights violations, unethical promotions, financial schemes and more. Positive publicity and PR will increase the overall success of any CSR being performed simply by creating better word of mouth and getting the news out to the media and ultimately to the public, stated Helms. By leveraging your CSR efforts with a proactive PR strategy, the public eye will take notice of the work your company is doing, which studies show heavily influences buying decisions. There are several industries where this is evident, both through successful and failed CSR. Helms says tech companies understand the importance of CSR and leverage their strategies with PR in order to sway consumers interests. With a rise in the field of technology, millennials are a particularly important niche. With 18- to 34-year-olds becoming the largest consumer base in the U.S., the most reputable tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, Apple and Intel, are faring especially well with that age group. These tech companies are listed among the top 10 companies in the world with the best CSR reputations according to a study by the Reputation Institute (2). 42 percent of how people feel about a company is based on their perceptions of the firms CSR efforts. (3) In an effort to increase the trust and public perception, companies are strongly encouraged to not only do well, but publicize their CSR activities. Its a common understanding now that the government cannot be held solely responsible for ethical and societal changes. People believe that businesses have a civic duty to utilize their wealth and success to coincide with strides to improve society by aiding in the growth and wellbeing of society. Helms points out that companies are developing their own CSR departments to solely focus on their sustainable growth. The tech industry is one that understands the importance of catering to their consumers opinions, said Helms. Other industries, such as healthcare, are losing the battle to enter into a positive light in the eyes of the public. One example of this is pharmaceutical companies. Over the last 25 years, they have defrauded federal and state governments by $35 billion, most commonly by marketing drugs for unapproved uses. (4) This turns into a PR nightmare, and gives many pharmaceutical companies a horrible reputation. Positive PR increases return on investment (ROI) for marketing dollars, lowers cost per lead and increases overall revenues for new business by making people more interested and comfortable in doing business with a particular company. (5) Consumers today whether B2B or B2C want to support businesses that make concerted efforts to better their community and the world, said Helms. There are now B-corporations requiring companies to contribute to the greater good in their bylaws. Helms states that companies can no longer reply off of their actions speaking volumes. With todays cluttered marketing environment, companies have to publicize their good works. PR creates safe havens of goodwill for businesses today to be able to expand safely by being in control of public opinion. To learn more about JoTo PR and their strategic efforts to assist in crisis management and CSR to PR correlation, visit http://www.jotopr.com/. About JoTo PR: Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, JoTo PR is an established international public relations agency headed by PR veteran and innovator Karla Jo Helms. After doing marketing research on a cross-section majority of 5000 CEOs of fast-growth trajectory companies, and finding out exactly how they used PR, how they measure it and how they wanted the PR industry to be different, JoTo PR established its entire business model on those research findings. Since its launch in 2009, JoTo PRs team continues to utilize newly established patterns to create timely PR campaigns that comprise both traditional and the latest proven media methods. JoTo PR has taken an innovative approach to PRaligning it with marketing, using social media to leverage publicity and advanced technology to help companies beat out their competition and increase market share as well as improve return on investment (ROI). Today, all processes of JoTo are streamlined PR services that have become the hallmark of the JoTo PR name. For more information, visit JoTo PR online at http://www.jotopr.com/. About Karla Jo Helms: Karla Jo is the CEO and visionary behind JoTo PR, who cut her teeth in PR via Crisis Management, working with litigation attorneys, private investigators and the media to help restore companies of goodwill back into the graces of public opinion. Karla Jo learned firsthand how brutal business could be when there were millions of dollars to be had and how to navigate those treacherous waters via control of public opinion. Since then, Karla Jo has patterned her agency on a combination of her hard-won Public Relations experience, uncompromising high standards and exacting nationwide market research across multiple industries. She is a hands-on executive who hand picks the PR professionals who work on her team to ensure client results always meet client expectations. Helms speaks globally on Public Relations and how corporations can harness it to drive markets. 1. Turney, Carolyn. "Doing Well by Doing Good: How CSR Boosts the Bottom Line - Stop Hunger Now." Stop Hunger Now Doing Well by Doing Good How CSR Boosts the Bottom Line Comments. Stophungernow.org, 07 July 2016. Web. 23 Aug. 2016. 2. Adams, Susan. The 10 Companies With the Best CSR Reputations. Forbes. Forbes.com. 17 Sep, 2015. Web. 24 Aug. 2016. 3. "The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for Your Business' Image." KCD PR. N.p., 21 June 2016. Web. 24 Aug. 2016 4. Geyman, John. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Health Care: No Such Thing." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 June 2016. Web. 24 Aug. 2016 5. JoTo PR. Marketing Research on U.S. Fast-Growth Companies in Healthcare, Finance and IT. JoTo PR. March 2009. 22 Aug. 2016. 6. Monahan, Michael. "How Much Should You Spend on PR?" PR Daily News: Public Relations News and Marketing in the Age of Social Media. N.p., 12 July 2016. Web. 24 Aug. 2016. niXaX Light Steak Tenderizer The improved design of niXaX Light will make it the world's most user-friendly steak tenderizer. Distinguished Japanese manufacturer of high-quality cutlery products, Yoshiharu Cutlery, is all set to improve their popular product niXaX Steak Tenderizer. The company claims that the improved design of the new model, named niXaX Light, will make it the world's most user-friendly steak tenderizer. Yoshiharu Cutlery has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to support the market launch of the niXaX Light Steak Tenderizer. Steak is the favorite dish of millions of people around the world because of its tenderness, juiciness, and delicious taste. However, many steak lovers often complain about tough, chewy steaks that are considered not suitable for human consumption. The popular niXaX tenderizer from Yoshiharu Cutlery was designed to help users prepare tender, juicy, delicious steaks at home. Now, as a follow-up version of this model, niXaX Light Steak Tenderizer delivers the same quality of craftsmanship and tenderizing power in a smaller, easier to use model. The niXaX Light is highlighted by ergonomic design and intuitive functionality. Some of the most noteworthy features of the improved niXaX Light Steak Tenderizer are: 10 handcrafted tenderizing blades Crisscross pattern tenderizing U shaped blades for breaking up tissue without compromising the meat Protective guide pins to prevent the blades from sticking into the cutting board Dishwasher safe, easy to clean design Yoshiharu Cutlery has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to cover all costs leading to the market launch of niXaX Light. The company previously had the experience of managing a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. Starting with a funding goal of $8,000, they ended up with well over $10.000. This campaign helped Yoshiharu Cutlery introduce their niXaX Steak Tenderizer. This time, the company is looking to raise $3,000 to launch the improved niXaX Light model. A successful Kickstarter funding campaign will ensure the start of production by November. To find out more about the campaign, please visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403476566/nixax-light-tm-user-friendly-japanese-handy-meat-t The website of Yoshiharu Cutlery is http://www.yoshiharu-cutlery.com/ About Yoshiharu Cutlery: Yoshiharu Cutlery Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company that was founded in Kyoto over 100 years ago. 40 years later, they moved to Seki City, known as one of the worlds largest cities for cutlery production. The companys main products are chisels for school children, scissors, and meat tenderizers. Crio Bru today announced an agreement to distribute its proprietary brewed cocoa beverage through 80 Affiliated Foods Midwest grocery stores in the U.S. Affiliated Foods Midwest is a solid, stable, and strong member-owned cooperative that serves independent grocers. Initially, the agreement includes a wide variety of premium cocoa roasted through the companys patent-pending process using cacao (cocoa) beans from equatorial climates. The addition of the strong network of Affiliated Foods grocers is exciting, states Dr. Eric Durtschi, CEO and founder for Crio Bru. We fully expect customers in these locations will quickly become fans of this unique brewed beverage. Over the past 40 years, Affiliated Foods Midwest has grown to serve member grocers throughout 15 states and that growth continues. Three distribution centers are located in Elwood, Kansas; Norfolk, Nebraska; and Kenosha, Wisconsin, positioning them well for growth and efficient delivery. Their retail sales have doubled within the past ten years. Crio Bru is available in single-serve K-Cup size in addition to its packaging for brewing in French press or coffee maker. Watch Facebook for product demo dates at retailers everywhere. With headquarters in Utah, production soon goes online in Crios new Santa Barbara, CA facility. Crio Brus notoriety is growing rapidly with more distribution deals soon to be announced. Highlighted in Forbes and on Shark Tank, the company is a recent winner in the national Grow America startup competition. Crio Bru was included in Consumer Reports 15 Healthy Snack Ideas after its recent introduction at the Fancy Foods Show in New York City. See more about the company on YouTube. About Crio Bru Crio Bru is a brewed drink made from 100% cacao beans (cocoa beans), roasted to perfection. It is distributed both online and through a rapidly growing network of more than 1500 locations in almost every state. Named after the most prized of cacao beans, the Criollo, Crio Bru astounds your taste buds with its complex chocolaty flavors and subtle aromas of the worlds finest cacao beans. It is 100% natural and 100% pure. Crio Bru is an ultimate superfood. It is low in calories and contains no sugar, no fat, no dairy, no sodium, no cholesterol and practically no caffeine, yet is extremely high in antioxidants, theobromine and a host of other vitamins and minerals. Media Contact: John Pilmer, PilmerPR 801-369-7535 PilmerJohn[at]gmail[dot]com GlassBoard, a product development company, announced today it is expanding its operation and adding up to 36 new jobs in Indianapolis, Indiana over the next 5 years. The company will invest more than $850,000 for additional space and computer hardware and software to build out its Indianapolis presence. Founded in 2015, GlassBoard is a product design firm that works with new companies and brands to design products, services and processes. The team works directly with clients to turn ideas into working prototypes which later become marketable products. Backed by Indy 500 competitor Wade Cunningham and with clients across all industries including names such as DoubleMap, Cycledyne, Recovery Force and Spir Bikes, the company has seen a 50% quarter over quarter revenue growth over the course of the last 3 quarters. Our team is incredibly invested in the Indianapolis area, so were excited to build upon the success weve already experienced in the product development industry right here in our home state, said Randy Parmerlee, CEO of GlassBoard. The new talent were seeking to hire will give us the momentum we need to continue growing at a sustainable yet rapid rate. Were grateful to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) for their support in helping us achieve our ambitious goals. Indiana is the nations manufacturing leader, which extends beyond just being home to the highest concentration of manufacturing jobs in the nation. Hoosiers at companies like GlassBoard are also the innovators and engineers behind the development of products we use daily, helping turn ideas into reality, said Governor Mike Pence. As a state, we are committed to helping companies like GlassBoard multiply and grow through our plan to invest $1 billion over the next 10 years toward innovation and entrepreneurship in Indiana. Hoosier entrepreneurs need support and resources to grow their businesses, and were dedicated to making sure they find that support here in Indiana. Indianapolis is fortunate to have companies like GlassBoard which are helping design and manufacture the products of the future, said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. From entrepreneurs who need a working prototype, to advice from experts in product development, Indianapolis booming advanced manufacturing sector has a tremendous resource in its own backyard. We congratulate GlassBoard on their success and look forward to seeing the ideas of tomorrow become a reality in our city." GlassBoard currently employs 5 full-time staff members and works with customers across the nation. As GlassBoard plans to create up to 36 new jobs in Indiana in the next 5 years, the company is actively seeking top-level talent including management level hires and engineering related positions. Interested applicants can apply by sending a resume to: info(at)Glassboard(dot)com. About GlassBoard Indianapolis-based GlassBoard is a product design firm that works with new companies and brands to design products, services and processes. The team works directly with clients to turn ideas into working prototypes which later become marketable products. For more information on GlassBoards services, visit: http://www.Glassboard.com/ BoardBookit - World's Fastest Growing Board Portal Software Board governance is no less vital to non-profits than it is to their for-profit counterparts. BoardBookit is proud to provide a board portal that assists non-profit organizations in the valuable work they do for our communities. BoardBookit Inc. announced today that it is launching an initiative that will enable qualifying non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations to use its world-class board management portal at a significantly reduced investment. For non-profit organizations with less than $2 million in revenue (an estimated 80 percent of non-profit organizations), BoardBookit will donate its platform at no cost. Non-profit organizations have regulatory and compliance requirements that can be as stringent as those faced by large for-profit enterprises, but most times they are operating with less financial and staff resources. While most non-profits would benefit from a robust board portal platform, it has been out of reach for many. Hoping to help nonprofits excel at fulfilling their missions, BoardBookit can streamline the way these entities make mission-critical decisions and manage essential resources. "Board governance is no less vital to non-profits than it is to their for-profit counterparts," says BoardBookIt CEO, Marion Lewis. "These are organizations who make huge contributions to our society, and are typically led by a volunteer board of directors. By streamlining the process of governance and board communications, valuable financial and staff resources can be channeled to the missions they passionately care about and impact on a daily basis. BoardBookit is proud to be able to be part of that process. According to the company's leadership, nonprofits face a number of common problems that can prevent them from overseeing their operations effectively. By using BoardBookit, they can more easily address challenges like: Attracting and Retaining Quality Leadership Maintaining Operational Transparency Sustainability Ethical Governance Accreditation BoardBookit will offer non-profit organizations the same board portal software that is used by publicly traded companies and other large enterprises across North America, Europe and Australia. Interested non-profit organizations can learn more by contacting sales@boardbookit.com. About BoardBookit BoardBookit is the board portal solution that perfectly blends security, functionality, optimal user experience and affordability. Fast, intuitive, and flexible, BoardBookit gives companies the control they require and support when they need it. Designed with input from corporate secretaries, administrators and board members to enhance board engagement, effectiveness and governance, BoardBookit is used by companies across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.BoardBookit.com, schedule a demo, or email info@BoardBookit.com. TESOL TESOL is honored to partner on this project with ASU, one of the most innovative and creative institutions of higher education in the country. TESOL International Association has partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) to offer its TESOL Core Certificate Program (TCCP) beginning in January 2017. The program will be offered five times a year, and each cohort will have 30 participants from all over the world who will choose electives in teaching adult or young learners. Revamped to align with TESOLs Standards for Short-Term TEFL/TESL Certificate Programs and relaunched in January 2016, the TCCP is a 140-hour blended training program that provides a foundation in the theory and practice of English language teaching (ELT) for current or prospective teachers and administrators with little or no formal ELT training. TESOL International Association sets and maintains high standards for English language educators worldwide, noted Dianna Lippincott, strategic innovation manager from Global Launch at ASU. As experienced English as a second language professionals and teacher trainers, we are thrilled to partner with TESOL to reach even more professionals and beginning teachers with the TESOL Core Certificate Program. Julia Rosen, managing director at Global Launch, agreed. This partnership between TESOL International Association, the global authority on English Language teaching, and Arizona State University, the largest and most innovative university in the United States, will provide access to top-notch professional training to English teachers around the world, she said. TESOL International Association and ASU are both committed to providing high quality training for teachers which will ultimately impact students acquisition of English language, thus enabling them to thrive in the global marketplace. TESOL's partnership with ASU will expand its reach, enabling the association to offer the TESOL Core Certificate Program to a wider range of English language teaching professionals. Commenting on the newly formed partnership, TESOL International Association Executive Director Rosa Aronson stated, TESOL is honored to partner on this project with ASU, one of the most innovative and creative institutions of higher education in the country. We look forward to offering this type of quality program that will build the capacity of future TESOL professionals. For more information about the TESOL Core Certificate Program, please visit http://www.tesol.org/tccp or contact corecertificate(at)tesol(dot)org. About TESOL International Association Founded 50 years ago in 1966, TESOL International Association is a professional community of educators, researchers, administrators, and students committed to advancing excellence in English language teaching for speakers of other languages worldwide. With more than 13,000 members representing over 150 countries, TESOL fosters the exchange of ideas, research, and peer-to-peer knowledge, and provides expertise, resources, and a powerful voice on issues affecting the profession. Through professional development programs, its international conference, special interest groups, and publications, TESOL engages tens of thousands of professionals to collaborate globally and create a world of opportunity for millions of people of all ages who want to learn English. For more information, please visit http://www.tesol.org. Master Your Card (MYC), a community empowerment program sponsored by Mastercard, today announced a new webinar series on card acceptance, developed in partnership with the Association of Womens Business Centers (AWBC). The webinars are based on input and feedback from small business owners on how to maximize the value and minimize the cost of card acceptance. Building on a partnership first established in 2015, MYC and AWBC created this new resource to help small businesses grow and prosper through the smart and effective use of electronic payment technology. Given that consumers in the United States use cards for approximately 50 percent of purchases, small businesses must accept electronic payments in order to succeed in todays market, said Antonella Pianalto, president and CEO of AWBC, and MYC Small Business Panel member. Partnering with MYC, we are helping small business owners get the knowledge, tools and resources that they need to succeed. The five-part webinar series covers why accepting cards is good for business, the payment processing system, negotiating with processors, understanding contracts and statements, and how business owners can address common challenges to ensure they are getting the most out of electronic payment technology. Kathryn Cleary, an expert in electronic payment technology, and vice president and senior business leader at Mastercard, hosts the webinars. As a champion for women entrepreneurs, AWBC shares a common goal with MYC to help people grow their businesses, said Ravi Aurora, executive director of Community Relations at Mastercard. Working together, we are helping small business owners understand the benefits of accepting payment cards and how electronic payment technology helps them increase sales by opening new channels and providing their clients with more convenience. Leveraging technology also helps them save time and money, and better compete with larger retailers. Electronic payments are an important contributor to the U.S. economy. Between 2004 and 2014, the increased use of electronic payments resulted in nearly $433 billion in gross domestic product and nearly 5.7 million permanent U.S. jobs, according to a study by The Perryman Group. In the United States, there are 28.8 million small businesses, which account for 99.7 percent of all businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Further, there are 9.9 million women-owned businesses in the United States. The webinars created in partnership with AWBC are available at http://www.masteryourcardusa.org/awbc. For more information about MYC, please visit http://www.masteryourcardusa.org. ### About Master Your Card Master Your Card is a community empowerment program sponsored by Mastercard to help consumer advocacy groups, small business groups and governments appreciate the value of credit, prepaid and debit cards as access points to an economically empowering electronic payments network. Learn more at http://www.masteryourcardusa.org. South Carolina DUI Attorney Steve Sumner "Many thanks to the Commerce Club staff, our Charity Classic Committee, and our corporate sponsors for such a record breaking year!" -- Attorney Steve Sumner The Commerce Club in downtown Greenville, SC, a member of the ClubCorp family of clubs, has announced that its 2016 Charity Classic fundraiser, held on August 11th, generated over $40,000. The $40,000 total surpassed the 2015 Charity Classics then record-breaking total of $28,000 a 43% increase in monies raised. All proceeds are donated equally to three charities: The Family Effect, located in Greenville; ALSs Augies Quest; and the ClubCorp Employee Care Foundation, which helps employees and their families in times of crisis. Event Chair, Attorney Steve Sumner, attributed the increase to adding corporate sponsorships for the first time ever, as well as strong community support. The fact that weve been able to significantly increase the amount of money raised over the past two years shows me this event will only continue to grow, said Sumner. We are excited about the possibility of what next year can bring. Gallivan, White & Boyd was the Event Sponsor, with Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Greenville Technical College, Merl F. Code, and Fluor as Community Sponsors. 94.5 The Answer was Media Sponsor for the event. ************************************************************************************************************************************** Event Chair Attorney Steve Sumner is a former DUI prosecutor who has been recognized nationally and locally for defending clients who have been accused of DUI, felony DUI, all driving offenses, and drug cases. He has been named to Best Lawyers in America for DUI Defense; Top 100 Trial Lawyers by The National Trial Lawyers Association; South Carolina Super Lawyers for DUI Defense; Best Attorney Lifetime Member by Rue Ratings Best Attorney of America List; Business of Customer Integrity Award by the Better Business Bureau of the Upstate; Top Attorney in South Carolina by Columbia Living Magazine, and is AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell, the nations oldest rating service for attorneys. Sumner currently represents clients in over 25 courts in Upstate South Carolina including Greenville. Spartanburg, Anderson, Pickens and Laurens counties; as well as the city/municipal courts of Greenville, Anderson, Spartanburg, Simpsonville, Mauldin, Greer, Fountain Inn, Easley, Clemson, Central, and Laurens. Supreme Lending Supreme Lendings growth and longevity are due in large part to hiring the best people and our customer-comes-first approach. The Western Region of Supreme Lending, a Dallas-based nationwide mortgage lender, ended August with its highest origination volume of 2016. The companys Western Region is composed of 18 branches on the West Coast of the United States. Supreme Lendings San Diego branch, headed by industry veterans Mark Schellhase and David Lippe, comprised over 42% of the Regions total volume with 120 loans funded during the month of August. This location and the rest of its West Coast counterparts continue to expand rapidly with new loan officers, processors, underwriters, funders, and marketing and administrative support staff. Up to five new Supreme Lending branches are expected to join the Scotsman Guide-ranked company by the end of October. Supreme Lendings growth and longevity are due in large part to hiring the best people and our customer-comes-first approach, said Scott Everett, Supreme Lendings CEO. By opening new branches and hiring the best loan officers in the industry, were making it easier for homeowners everywhereand specifically on the West Coastto receive not only competitive rates, but also the highest quality service. Potential customers, business partners, and homeowners seeking mortgage information may reach Mark Schellhase and David Lippe at 858-264-1547. Mestel & Company, a leading national attorney placement company established in 1987, has been named as the winner of the Award for Best Attorney Placement Firm 2016 USA in the 2016 CV Magazine Recruitment Awards. CV Magazine is a quarterly publication, read by a worldwide network of CEOs, directors and other top-level professionals as well as investment professionals, spanning an array of industries and sectors. The publications global reach stretches from Europe to the US, Africa to Asia. CV Magazine says Recruitment agencies play an increasingly prominent role in the hiring process, for both job-seekers and firms, owing to the industrys reputation for diligence, dedication and intuition. As such, the 2016 Recruitment Awards are designed to focus on the firms, and the people behind them, that have driven the industry to this enviable reputation. The program looks to reward and recognize the very best consultants, recruiters and industry experts from around the world, regardless of business size or reputation. Skill, dedication and client service are the key focus, not profits or location. All awards are given on merit alone and as such only the most deserving firms, departments and individuals are awarded. Each vote has been subject to a rigorous and in-depth judging process, meaning that all successful nominees can be safe in the knowledge that they are truly among the very best in their field. We are thrilled about winning this award and are very proud to be recognized as a leader in the recruitment industry, said Lynn Mestel, CEO and Chairman. For nearly 30 years, our company has developed the careers of attorneys, built best in class legal teams and effectuated law firm mergers. About Mestel & Company Mestel & Company, a leading national attorney placement company established in 1987, specializes in assisting the careers of individual associates, partners and in-house counsel as well as effectuating the movement of legal teams and law firm mergers. Our experienced recruiters have first-hand knowledge of the practices and cultures of law firms and in-house legal departments, making us the acknowledged leader in our field. Mestel & Company is the only 100% employee owned company in the attorney placement industry, ensuring that each of our recruiters, as an owner, provides best in class service and is committed to the needs and sensitivity of our attorneys. "Its Who You Know." Rashad Davis, an Advisor with Engel & Volkers South Charlotte, has been selected to exclusively represent the mid-century modern home which was architecturally designed by the famous Harvey Gantt in 1970. Harvey Gantt has been highly recognized within the community for many leadership roles, including Charlotte City Council and former Mayor of Charlotte. Gantt was raised in Charleston, South Carolina and attended Iowa State University, Clemson University and obtained his Masters in Architecture from MIT in 1970. Gantt worked for Odell in Charlotte, NC after schooling and was the first black architect the firm ever hired. In 1971, Gantt founded Gantt Huberman in Charlotte and the company is still regarded as one of the most successful architecture firms in the state. During the 1970s, Hyde Park, a historic community off Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, NC, was noted to be one of the first upper-class neighborhoods established by African Americans in the country. Harvey Gantt recognized the value of his creative talent for design and specifically drew the house plans for this amazing architectural showcase from his kitchen table, making this his first residential design of his career. 4221 LaBrea Drive became the epicenter of social life in Hyde Park and later became The Garrett Thomas (Tommy) Nash Home. This home is truly unique and a large part of the communitys history, says listing broker Rashad Davis. The significance of this property has brought new light to Hyde Park and the dream of home ownership. Engel & Volkers is one of the worlds leading service companies specialized in the sale and rental of premium residential property, commercial real estate, yachts and aircraft. Based in over 700 locations in total, Engel & Volkers offers both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of services. Leasing, sales, consultancy and valuations form the core competences of the staff of around 8,000 employees. The Company is currently operating in 32 countries on four continents. Intensive training schemes in its in-house real estate Academy and the high level of quality assurance governing its systematically structured service provision are key factors that account for the Companys success. "An Eminent Domain notice does not making the loss of a business inevitable," says Philip Sanchez, partner Sanchez & Polovetsky, PLLC, (http://www.spnylaw.com) a midtown Manhattan law firm focusing its practice in eminent domain law, is pleased to announce that it has successfully settled a complex eminent domain case in the Matter of Mogul Media vs. State of New York, NYS Court of Claims Claim No. 124789 (2014). Although details of the settlement are confidential, attorneys at the firm have confirmed that they obtained more than a Four Thousand Seven Hundred Percent (4,700%) increase in the condemnation award for their client Mogul Media, Inc., over and above the amount initially paid to Mogul Media Inc. by the State of New York. The long and complex legal proceedings, commenced by the firm in August of 2014, were settled on the eve of trial. Public records show that a stipulation of discontinuance and settlement was filed with the Court of Claims on September 9, 2016, approximately two (2) years after Sanchez & Polovetsky filed Mogul Medias lawsuit. According to court documents, the Condemnor New York State Department of Transportation (the "DOT") permanently acquired the real property known as 536 Porter Avenue a/k/a 38-66 Cherry Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222 through its powers of eminent domain on or about August 4, 2011. Mogul Media was the owner of the sign structure that was located on the seized property. After receiving a small and dissatisfactory amount of compensation for its seized sign from the DOT, Mogul Media retained the legal team at Sanchez & Polovetsky, PLLC to prosecute its claim for additional compensation under the eminent domain laws. The result was a 4,700% increase in Mogul Medias condemnation award. "We are thrilled to have helped Media Mogul increase its condemnation award by over 4,700%. And no thats not a typo-the final award really was close to 5,000% higher than the amount of the initial payment that the DOT made to our client. The Kosciusko Bridge project has displaced many businesses, and we are proud that we can continue to help affected businesses stay open and continue to operate," says Jennifer Polovetsky, Esq. partner at Sanchez & Polovetsky PLLC. "An Eminent Domain notice does not making the loss of a business inevitable. We understand the importance of obtaining a fair condemnation award that will allow a business to be adequately compensated for its loss. The right legal support can ensure that businesses affected by eminent domain do not suffer a loss but instead can grow and relocatethis in turn helps the overall U.S. economy, says Philip A. Sanchez, Esq., partner at Sanchez & Polovetsky PLLC. ABOUT SANCHEZ & POLOVETSKY, PLLC Sanchez & Polovetsky, PLLC is a midtown Manhattan based law firm, with offices at The Commerce Building, which focuses its practice in eminent domain law. The attorneys at the firm have over three (3) decades of combined legal experience in both the public and private sectors. Jennifer Polovetsky, Esq., who started her career as an attorney at the New York City Law Department in 2000 before entering private practice in 2003, is the firm's founding Member and a seasoned litigator with extensive experience in all aspects of Eminent Domain Law and Real Estate Law. Philip A. Sanchez, Esq., who became a Member of the firm in 2012, has over sixteen years of legal experience in both the public and private sectors, with a focus on Eminent Domain Law. Both Jennifer Polovetsky and Philip Sanchez were named to the 2015 and 2016 Super Lawyers list. More information about the firm can be found on its website at: http://www.spnylaw.com Traderwave is focused on building a comprehensive trading workflow solution for global traders, utilizing the modern web technologies. Singapore-based fintech start-up Traderwave is delighted to announce their participation in the Cohort 3 of the MaGIC Accelerator Program. The largest start-up accelerator program in Southeast Asia, this four-month long program has already got underway on 23rd August 2016, and is scheduled to end on December 8, 2016. Traderwave is one of the three start-ups from Singapore to make it to this fully-funded residential program that does not take any equity from the selected startups. The MaGIC Accelerator Program is an initiative of the Government of Malaysia and the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre. The objective of this accelerator program is to promote entrepreneurship throughout Asia. Participants for the final cohort of the program are selected after a rigorous selection process based on three key criteria viz. prospects for regional and global expansion, early-stage investment readiness, and potential of highly scalable products. This year, only fifty startups were selected amongst five hundred and sixty applicants across thirty countries to join the Cohort 3 of the program. As part of the program, all these start-ups gained access to world-class mentors, a monthly stipend, accommodation, workspaces and other benefits worth over $400,000. Traderwave is focused on building a comprehensive trading workflow solution for global traders, utilising the modern web technologies. The company was one of the finalists of SiTF Awards 2015 in the Best Innovative Start-up (Early Stage), administered by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation. Traderwave is also the recipient of a $50,000 i.JAM Reload development grant by Media Development of Singapore to develop their prototype in June 2015. Philip Teo, the Founder and CEO of Traderwave, graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree, but went on to become a technical analysis expert in the financial investment industry over a period of seven years. He founded Traderwave in 2015 to build world-class web solutions for traders all over the world. Expressing pleasure about participation in the MaGIC Accelerator Program, Philip stated, We are honored to be one of the only three Singapore startups selected for this accelerator program. After bootstrapping under the radar for more than a year, we will make use of this opportunity to establish further validation of our product offerings and look to raise our first round of external funding by the end of the program. To find out more about Traderwave, please visit http://www.traderwave.com/ About Traderwave: Traderwave is a financial technology company that aims to use modern web technologies to build a complete trading workflow solution for global retail traders, so as to provide them the convenience to shortlist, analyze, execute, journal and review their trading ideas from one single web-based platform that is broker neutral. On the 24th August 2016, Letaba the large male white lion was released from a safety enclosure out into a new dedicated conservancy to found a new white lion pride in the South African bush for the first time in years. Letaba is one of only 13 wild White Lions remaining in the wild, and under the protection of the White Lion Conservation Project the aim is for him to start a new pride with the two female tawny lion also on the Mbube reserve site. The full story can be read here https://www.thegreatprojects.com/blog/white-lion-release-letaba-starts-his-new-pride Jason Turner, Head of Operations and Lion Ecologist at the project said: A primary objective of the WLT (White Lion Trust) is the reintroduction of white lions to the wild in their natural habitat, integrated with wild tawny lions. Letaba is one of the founder white lion males who was recently released to integrate with the two formidable wild tawny lionesses, Khanyisa and Khanyesi, at the Mbube Conservancy. There was huge excitement and a bit of uncertainty in the lead up to the integration since lions are sometimes injured during pride integration in nature when new males take over a pride. The integration went extremely well with all three lions being very respectful of each other, and the bonds continue to strengthen between them. The next bold step will be to integrate Letabas brother Regeus into the pride, which promises to be an even more exciting step The aim of the White Lion Conservation Project is to enable the incredibly rare White Lion to flourish once again in its endemic home, and this is achieved through the hard work of the staff on the project alongside The Great Projects volunteers. About The Great Projects The Great Projects works with organisations worldwide to establish high standards in animal welfare and conservation within the responsible tourism sector. We believe in using sustainable tourism as a tool to positively impact local communities and at-risk environments to aid the conservation of endangered animals and fragile ecosystems. You can volunteer with endangered animals all around the world, however you won't find any of our projects or tours exploiting the animals or the local area and community, and we won't work with projects that do not adhere to responsible tourism standards. {END} ### Upshot Logo With favorability ratings pretty well baked in and issue positions unlikely to change, the turnout battle, region by region, demographic by demographic, is likely to decide this crucial swing state. -- Siena College Poll Director, Dr. Don Levy Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump are nearly tied in a four-way race for Floridas key electoral votes, according to a New York Times Upshot/Siena College Research Institute poll of likely Florida voters released today. Clinton currently has the support of 41 percent of likely voters to Trumps 40 percent with former Governor Gary Johnson garnering 9 percent and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein with 2 percent. Senator Marco Rubio leads his Democratic challenger, Congressman Patrick Murphy by 48 to 42 percent. Likely voters support passage of additional federal gun control legislation (49-43 percent), oppose building a wall the length of the Mexican border (50-43 percent), and favor, rather than oppose government stimulus programs (44-37 percent). But, they disapprove of the Affordable Care Act (51-42 percent), and are evenly divided when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrants here illegally (44-43 percent). Trump has as large a lead among Republicans (78 points) as Clinton does with Democrats (77 points) and independents are evenly split at 34 percent for Trump and 32 percent for Clinton with 18 percent for Johnson. Women lean towards Clinton but men tend to support Trump, said Siena College Poll Director Don Levy. Trump leads in the North, Bay Area and Central portions of the state, while Clinton leads in the vote rich Southeast and the Southwest is a toss-up. There is not only a significant gender gap in this race, but also large racial divides, Levy said. Trump is up 51 to 30 percent among white voters, while Clinton has a commanding 82-4 percent lead with African-Americans and 61-21 percent among Hispanics/Latinos. Both candidates suffer from a majority of Florida voters having an unfavorable opinion of them. Clinton is viewed favorably by 40 percent and unfavorably by 53 percent while Trumps numbers are 39 positive and 55 percent negative. Equal percentages, 37 percent, view one of the candidates favorably and the other negatively while 15 percent view them both unfavorably and only 2 percent have a favorable opinion of both. Majorities of Blacks and Latinos view Clinton favorably while half of white likely voters have a favorable opinion of Trump. Of those with an unfavorable opinion of both, a third say they will vote for Johnson, 22 percent for Clinton and 17 percent for Trump, Levy said. Florida is not only a battleground state on the Presidential vote but on five key national issues, no more than 9 points separate supporters and opponents on each issue. A small majority, 51 to 42 percent disapprove of the Affordable Care Act but while Republicans and independents disapprove, Democrats approve of the law. While a majority disapprove in four areas of the state, a plurality in the Southeast, approves of Obamacare. Statewide pluralities stand in favor of government stimulus programs (44 to 37 percent) and additional gun control legislation (49 to 43 percent), but white voters oppose both. Voters in the North including the Panhandle support government stimulus, but oppose gun control while voters in the Southwest and Southeast support both issues. Statewide, voters are evenly split on deporting undocumented immigrants here illegally but Democrats, young voters, African-American and Hispanic voters and those from the Southeast oppose deportation while Republicans and voters from the Bay Area and Central Florida support it. And on building a wall on the Mexican border, Republicans, men, white voters and those from Central support it while Democrats, independents, younger voters and minorities oppose it. Right now, Florida is a toss-up. Beneath tied scores on vote choice and issue preferences rest varied competing groups and interests. Voters are split on which candidate they support and they disagree on many issues of the day. Different groups and regions see the issues and the candidates through very different lenses. With favorability ratings pretty well baked in and issue positions unlikely to change, the turnout battle, region by region, demographic by demographic, is likely to decide this crucial swing state, Levy said. This New York Times Upshot/Siena College survey was conducted September 10-14, 2016 by telephone calls to 867 likely voters. Calls were made to a stratified weighted sample of voters from the L-2 Voter list via both land and cell phones. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. A likely-to-vote probability was computed for each respondent based on both their stated likelihood to vote as well as by virtue of the imputation of a turnout probability score based on past voting behavior applied to their specific voting history. This probability to vote was applied as a weight along with a weight that considered party registration, age, region, gender and race. This poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points. The Siena College Research Institute, directed by Donald Levy, Ph.D., conducts political, economic, social and cultural research primarily in NYS. SRI, an independent, non-partisan research institute, subscribes to the American Association of Public Opinion Research Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. For more information, please call Don Levy at 518-783-2901. Survey cross-tabulations and frequencies can be found at: http://www.siena.edu/SRI/SNY. This collaboration between New York Times Upshot and the Siena College Research Institute is dedicated to transparency and welcomes any requests for data as well as discussion of methodology. Swych co-founders Robert Sabella and Deepak Jain debut GiftBots at Finnovate 2016 All gift cards received from the app or GiftBot can be redeemed, saved or "swyched" with more than 100 popular brands offered. The Swych Mobile Gifting Platform, along with the newly unveiled Swych GiftBot (TM) , won the prestigious Best of Show award at the Finovate Fall 2016 conference in New York. Swych was among 71 Fintech companies selected to present at this year's conference held September 8 and 9. Finovate attendees previewed Swychs new patent-pending GiftBot, a first-of-its-kind personal gifting assistant that makes gifting possible from the apps that consumers use most often such as Facebook, Skype and iMessage. The GiftBot is yet another compelling addition to the unique user experience offered by the Swych mobile gift card app currently available for both iOS and Android operating systems. Swych co-founders Deepak Jain and Robert Sabella showcased the simplicity of mobile gift card transactions using both GiftBots as well as the mobile app along with the unique experiences offered by the service such as cash bonuses and instant swyching of a received gift to any merchant brand. We are honored and delighted at the appreciation for the Swych Mobile Gifting Platform from Finovates discerning audience and our peer innovators in the Fintech industry, said Deepak Jain, CEO and co-founder. This Best of Show recognition makes us even more motivated to continue innovating in our quest to reinvent the gifting experience for both consumers and businesses. The Swych Artificial Intelligence-enabled GiftBot provides personable conversations with users while using information from their social and professional networks to complete digital gift transactions in a simple chat session. All gift cards received from the app or GiftBot can be redeemed, saved, or swyched with more than 100 popular brands offered. Discounted gift cards are also available for sale within the app so users can save on their favorite retailers and brands. Users can purchase gift cards securely using Apple Pay, Android Pay, and PayPal directly within the app and save gift cards to their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Plus, every purchase earns users rewards points that can be used to buy additional gift cards. We set out to modernize the gifting experience, making it intelligent, simple, elegant and powerful, said Robert Sabella, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer. Stay tuned for even more exciting additions to our GiftBot technology, coming soon to a messaging app near you. Click here to download the award winning Swych mobile app in the Apple or Google app stores. Click here to learn more about GiftBots Give, Get, Swych. ABOUT SWYCH: Swychs patent pending mobile gifting platform enables users to send Swychable gifts from their mobile device that can be instantly redeemed for electronic gift cards from more than 90 popular brands. Swych users can instantly buy, send, re-gift, upload, Swych and redeem gift cards conveniently from their mobile device. Swych is a private company funded by seasoned angel investors from the banking, financial services, payments, gifting, telecom and enterprise computing space. Swychs headquarters is in Plano, Texas, with offices in San Francisco, California. Swych was formed in 2015 by serial entrepreneurs, Deepak Jain and Robert Sabella. Product Development and Operations are headed by Anu Shultes who is a well-known and highly respected gift card industry expert. Marketing is headed by Stephanie Barrueto and Product Engineering by Linda Yang. For more information please visit http://www.goswych.com. To download Swych click here. Follow us on Twitter @GoSwych, like us on Facebook at fb.com/goswych and follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/goswych. Syrian refugee Ayed Al Enizi was able to find work with a local Jordanian cooperative thanks to an IFAD supported project. The rural dimension of the current crisis needs to be recognized. Many displaced people come from rural areas and settle in rural areas of their host countries, putting pressure on already vulnerable communities, said Mordasini. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today announces the establishment of a new financing facility to assist refugees, displaced people and their host communities to address the increased pressure put on rural areas by the influx of millions of people. The facility will be launched today as a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action at the CGI 2016 Annual Meeting which coincides with the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants. Through CGIs unique model, IFAD will connect and collaborate with global partners ready to take action. The Facility for Refugees, Migrants, Forced Displacement and Rural Stability (FARMS) has been created in response to the rural dimension of the current crisis resulting from the large movements of refugees and displaced people to rural areas of developing countries. While immediate, often life-saving, humanitarian support is urgently needed in developing countries receiving refugees, the long-term solution is to promote actions that balance the needs of displaced people with those of the host communities, which is why we think FARMS is so important, said IFAD Vice-President Michel Mordasini ahead of todays launch. The initial goal for FARMS is to mobilize US$100 million. IFAD has already received requests for support from Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and Tunisia for up to $15 million. IFAD is matching these requests with potential donors. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the current global crisis of forced displacement has affected an unprecedented 65 million people worldwide. More than one-third of the displaced or 22.2 million are from the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. Initially, FARMS will focus on the 9.7 million displaced people living in rural areas in this region where communities are struggling to meet their basic needs. In Jordan alone, over 1.4 million Syrian refugees are being hosted, with 90 per cent of them residing in rural areas. In Lebanon, displaced people make up almost 20 per cent of the rural population. The rural dimension of the current crisis needs to be recognized. Many displaced people come from rural areas and settle in rural areas of their host countries, putting pressure on already vulnerable communities, said Mordasini. FARMS will support people living in rural areas of host countries by helping them to improve sustainable agricultural productivity, which is the basis of their livelihoods. Refugee families will also receive support to develop marketable skills and increase their incomes. Economic opportunities will also be created in countries of origin so that the people who have left have income-generating opportunities to return to, and those who remain have a chance to rebuild their livelihoods. The new facility aims to create at least 1 million days of temporary work and at least 20,000 jobs; more than 500 community infrastructure projects include roads, irrigations systems and markets; improved management of natural resources; a range of agricultural-related trainings and better access to financial services. The creation of the new facility responds to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moons call for new and innovative forms of financing to meet the economic and social costs of hosting large numbers of refugees made at the World Humanitarian Summit in May and reiterated in his recommendations for todays Summit for Refugees and Migrants. We created FARMS because we saw the collateral impact that forced displacement was having on rural host communities and the areas that migrants were leaving behind. It broke my heart to think that decades of development progress in the region could be undone, said Khalida Bouzar, IFAD Director for the Near East, North Africa and Europe Division. Through FARMS, IFAD will help bridge the humanitarian-development gap and ensure that no one is left behind. With almost half of IFAD's ongoing operations in countries with fragile and conflictaffected situations, Bouzar added that IFAD has decades of experience working with displaced persons, host communities and returnees. While the initial focus for FARMS will be in the NENA region, other parts of the world will also be included as needs arise. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Note to editors: Michel Mordasini, Vice-President of IFAD and Khalida Bouzar, Director, Near East and North Africa, are available for media interviews. Contact: In New York Joanne Levitan Mobile: +1 (917) 215-1470 Email: j.levitan(at)ifad(dot)org In Rome Susan Beccio Communications Division Tel: +39 06 5459 2479 Mobile: +39 3349533030 Email: s.beccio(at)ifad(dot)org The French International School of Philadelphia begins the 2016-2017 academic year with a new Head, Kathleen Kotchick, a long-time administrator at the school. Kotchick served as Interim Co-Head alongside Catherine Kosman during the 2015-2016 school year. The French International School of Philadelphia is a not-for-profit, independent school offering bilingual instruction in French and English to a multicultural community of pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students. The Board of Directors selected and approved Kotchick for the Head of School position. In a letter to the school community, Board Chair Deborah R. Willig said, Both the Search Committee and the Board very strongly believe that Kotchick is the right person to lead the French International School in the next chapter of its history. Though new to the position of Head of School, Kotchick is well known by students and parents alike. On the first day of school, she welcomed grinning students by name, alternating between Hello and Bonjour. In her own message following Willigs announcement, Kotchick expressed her gratitude to the Board for the confidence they have placed in me, and said that her primary focus as Head of School would be to maintain the integrity of the mission of the school. September marks the beginning of Kotchicks 22nd year at the French International School. She began her tenure as an English teacher and later joined the schools administration. Her other roles at the school have included English Program Coordinator, Director of Parent Relations, and Assistant Head of School, a position she held for five years. The Scranton, Pa., native began her career in Baltimore, Md., where she was a teacher, technology coordinator, and in-service trainer. She holds a bachelors degree in elementary education and a masters degree in curriculum and instruction from Loyola University. In addition to welcoming a new Head of School, the French International School of Philadelphia celebrates its 25th anniversary. The school first opened its doors in September 1991, in a leased wing of the Baldwin School and counted just 13 students from prekindergarten to second grade. Twenty-five years and more than 300 students later, the school owns two campusesone for children from pre-K to fourth grade adjacent to the Bala Cynwyd Library for children, and one on City Avenue which houses the Upper School. Students and teachers have already started commemorating the schools anniversary with classroom activities based on the number 25. A 25th Anniversary Gala will be held on March 25, 2017 at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. The French International School of Philadelphia is an independent prekindergarten through eighth grade school offering a bilingual curriculum in French and in English. Accredited by both the French Ministry of Education and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the school expects its students to become global citizens with a deeper understanding of and appreciation for other cultures. ### We are very pleased to announce the opening of our newest office in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, and look forward to becoming a part of the community. HFA (Harrison French & Associates, LTD), a Bentonville, Ark.,-based architecture and engineering firm, will celebrate the opening of its new office in Fort Worth, Texas, with an open house on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 5-7 p.m. The open house at 420 Throckmorton Street, Suite 910, will showcase the Fort Worth office and will provide an opportunity to meet our new staff, many of whom bring years of experience and client relations with them. The new HFA office is located in the Chase Building in the heart of downtown. The Fort Worth office will provide single-source delivery and full-service disciplines not only for the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, but throughout the United States as part of HFA. The company has licenses in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. HFA also recently acquired Franklin, Mass.-based Allevato Architects as part of an expansion. This is an exciting time at HFA as we continue to develop into new locations as part of our companys growth strategy, said Larry Lott, President and COO of HFA. We are very pleased to announce the opening of our newest office in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, and look forward to becoming a part of the community. While continuing to bring HFAs expertise to the retail industry, those in Fort Worth have experience in other areas of design and engineering, including industrial, warehouse/distribution, office, educational, multifamily residential and commercial projects. Expanding our national footprint provides us with additional opportunities for growing our talent base and resources to better service our clients, Lott said. As with those in other HFA offices, the new Fort Worth team brings an enthusiasm to their work that is evident in their work. The attitude and teamwork that this office has is fantastic, said CEO Harrison French. The desire for success is very evident, and we can tell that everyone takes great pride in their work. We look forward to seeing the office continue to advance and we continue to be very excited about being in Fort Worth, Texas! About HFA HFA began 25 years ago as Harrison French Architecture in Bentonville by Harrison French and has grown to a multidisciplinary design firm with more than 220 employees and additional offices in Boston, MA, and Fort Worth, TX. HFA provides Architecture, Interior Design, MEP Engineering, Fire Protection, Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering and Landscape Design services nationwide. The firm has participated in projects nationwide and holds professional licenses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Mexico. Please visit us at http://www.hfa-ae.com for more information, and follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @HFA_AE or on Facebook at Facebook.com/HFAAEHome/. Contact: Melissa L. Jones, Media and Communications Coordinator, (479) 2737780 ext. 397 or melissa.jones(at)hfaae(dot)com. Monica Eaton-Cardone, COO of Chargebacks911, advising merchants and issuers to team up against chargebacks. Chargebacks, fraud and false declines are the bane of merchants and issuers alike. A new report issued by Aite Group reveals that U.S. chargebacks will grow to nearly $6 billion this year,(1) and projects that false declines will increase 25% within the next two years.(2) The reports authors propose that merchants and credit card issuers can improve both metrics with better cooperation, data-sharing and communication. Chargebacks911, a leading dispute mitigation and risk management firm, urges merchants and issuers to heed the reports recommendations, emphasizing that collaboration and information-sharing will magnify the impact of each players own fraud-control and loss-prevention measures. According to the Aite Group report, chargebacks rose 25% in the first half of 2016 due to the EMV liability shift and will reach an estimated $5.8 billion this year.(1) Between 60% and 70% of those chargebacks can be attributed to fraud, with the remainder resulting from service or support disputes.(1) At the same time, many valid transactions are being declined when erroneously flagged as fraud. Aite Group says U.S. issuers will decline $264 million in legitimate credit card transactions this year; by 2018, those false declines are expected to total $331 million.(2) Chargebacks, fraud and false declines are the bane of merchants and issuers alike, noted Monica Eaton-Cardone, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Chargebacks911. Merchants often feel issuers enable friendly fraud by siding with customers in chargeback disputes, while issuers suggest merchants processes and policies may be contributing to chargebacks and false declines. However, both parties can make much greater headway against these ongoing challenges by pooling their efforts and resources. The Aite Group report identifies the types of data issuers and merchants each possess that can contribute to better-informed transaction decisions if shared. Issuers have access to cardholders personally identifiable information, credit availability and income, as well as transactional behavior across multiple merchants, transactional tolerances, mobile geolocation and exposure to data breaches. Merchants have insights into consumers transactional behavior, type of merchandise purchased, website activity, IP geolocation and shipping address.(3) Eaton-Cardone is acutely aware of merchants pain points and challenges in managing fraud and false declines, since Chargebacks911 works with retailers of all types and sizesparticularly those operating in a card-not-present (CNP) environmentin implementing multi-pronged chargeback management solutions. A growing number of consumers are abusing the chargeback process. Some intentionally commit friendly fraud by filing unjustified chargebacks to obtain merchandise without paying for it; others may not even realize the harm they do to merchants when filing a chargeback instead of going through proper channels for returns and complaints, explained Eaton-Cardone. Retailers have to scrutinize each transaction to prevent fraud and chargeback-related losses. But if they misidentify genuine orders as potential fraud, they could end up alienating customers and losing future sales from them. Eaton-Cardone believes collaboration and information-sharing will help merchants and issuers to prevent fraud and minimize losses, and advises them to act quickly to establish communication channels to facilitate data exchange. She maintains that sharing key data will make it easier to distinguish fraudsters from legitimate customers, empowering both parties to reduce fraud and false declines. She also urges issuers to refer consumers to merchants for resolution before initiating a chargeback, and she counsels merchants to focus on identifying the true source of each chargeback and addressing those chargeback triggers. By working together, merchants and issuers can reclaim lost revenue and reverse the tide of rising chargebacks, she concluded. Chargebacks911 is committed to educating merchants on fraud risks and loss prevention. As part of these efforts, Monica Eaton-Cardone will be presenting at the IATA World Financial Symposium this month, the ARC TravelConnect conference in October and other upcoming industry events. She is also available for interviews and future speaking engagements. For more information on Chargebacks911 and its comprehensive risk management solutions, visit http://chargebacks911.com. About Global Risk Technologies and Chargebacks911: Chargebacks911 is a division of Global Risk Technologies, which is internationally recognized as a leading provider of comprehensive risk management solutions to the payment processing industry. With offices in Europe and the United States, Global Risk Technologies manages over 200 million transactions worldwide each month. Chargebacks911 is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida, and specializes in chargeback mitigation and dynamic loss prevention. Founded by merchants in direct response to rising chargebacks and friendly fraud, Chargebacks911 combines insider expertise with proprietary technology and deep analytics to isolate threats, resolve disputes and maximize revenue. From small merchants to the nations largest retailers, today thousands of businesses rely on Chargebacks911s scalable, customizable and fully turnkey solutions to achieve sustainable growth and guaranteed ROI. For more information, visit http://www.chargebacks911.com. 1. CardNotPresent.com. Report: Merchant/Issuer Collaboration Key for Reducing Chargebacks and Unnecessary Declines; CNP Report; August 23, 2016. http://cardnotpresent.com/report-merchantissuer-collaboration-key-for-reducing-chargebacks-and-unnecessary-declines-aug-23-2016/ 2. Aite Group. Press Release Chargebacks and False Declines: Cards Ugly Underbelly; press release issued August 18, 2016. aitegroup.com/press-release-chargebacks-and-false-declines-cards-ugly-underbelly 3. Aite Group. Report Summary: Chargebacks and False Declines: Cards Ugly Underbelly; August 18, 2016. aitegroup.com/report/chargebacks-and-false-declines-cards-ugly-underbelly California Closets Boca Raton will be hosting Mix, Mingle & Give, a charity event on November 16, 2016 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 302 S Federal Hwy, Boca Raton. The event will benefit Dress For Success Palm Beaches by collecting gently used purses, gently used costume jewelry, new mascara and new underwear for women re-entering the workforce. Dress for Success is about more than a new outfit. The mission of Dress for Success is to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and development tools to help them thrive in work and in life. Our local affiliate is part of a worldwide organization that was started in 1997 to help women work toward self-sufficiency. Mary Hart, Executive Director, notes that, "Much more than clothing, it's about confidence. We all know the importance of dressing appropriately for an interview; we are just trying to level that playing field for our women." Lori Hoyt, Co- Owner of California Closets Boca Raton is inspired and enthusiastic about the opportunity to open up her showroom for such a remarkable cause I love what Dress for Success stands for. As a woman business owner this is the perfect way to empower women, connect with the community and encourage others to give back, says Hoyt. Mix, Mingle & Give is a great way to connect with local businesses, women and community leaders. Entry to the event is free with a donation of gently used purses, jewelry, new mascara and new underwear (sizes XS XXL). Light bites, cocktails, dessert and California Shortcakes a signature cocktail will be served. California Closets Boca Raton is giving away a $3000 credit (new contracts) towards any customized storage solution. Guests can R.S.V.P by visiting this link: http://bit.ly/2cYgCEn About California Closets For more than 30 years, California Closets has offered custom closet solutions to the greater Fort Lauderdale area. Their longtime loyalty and commitment shines through in every interaction with their clients. Customer satisfaction is their number one priority, and its achieved through honest communication and a commitment to creating the right storage system for each clients needs. Each system is custom-produced regionally in southern Florida, and are installed by their team of experienced installers. Most systems can be installed in your home or business in less than a day. Martin Landon "This is a multi-faceted biomedical organization with areas of focus that complement each other in intriguing ways, creating exciting new possibilities to pursue. - Martin Landon Longtime biomedical industry executive Martin Landon has been named chief executive officer of BioBridge Global (BBG), the nonprofit organization that oversees and supports the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC), QualTex Laboratories, GenCure and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation. The announcement was made today by BBG Board Chair Mike Kreager. Landon will join BBG on Oct. 1 and, to ensure a smooth leadership transition, will work with current CEO Linda Myers through the end of the month, Kreager said. In July, Myers announced plans to retire from the organization. Landon has worked most of his career in San Antonio, including senior management positions with technology company Intelogic Trace, where he rose to the position of chief financial officer. In 1994, he moved into the biotech industry and worked for almost two decades as controller and then CFO at Kinetic Concepts Inc., now Acelity L.P. Inc. At KCI, Landon served as the primary interface with financial stakeholders and participated in numerous business development initiatives, including the 2008 acquisition of the LifeCell Corporation, a large publicly traded regenerative medicine business. During his tenure, KCI grew into a $2 billion global medical device company with 7,000 employees. Since 2014, Landon has served as president and CEO of CeloNova BioSciences Inc., an early-stage, global medical device company focusing on interventional cardiology and endovascular products. In 2015, CeloNova made news when it sold its interventional radiology business to Boston Scientific, the market leader in the peripheral interventions field. Landon will remain on CeloNovas board of directors. Marty has the executive experience and the biomedical industry knowledge to lead BBG and its subsidiaries in extending our reach in the areas of blood products and services, biological testing and in the growing field of regenerative medicine, Kreager said. Because BBG has built close collaborations with emerging biotech firms as well as established biomedical institutions here and across the country, it was clear to the board that Martys reputation, his connections within the biomed industry as well as his success in growing global companies would make him a perfect fit for BBG. Were especially happy to have found such a highly qualified CEO right here in San Antonio, someone who understands the unique nature of both the region and our place in it, Kreager added. For Landon, BBGs mission of saving and enhancing lives through the healing power of human cells helped attract him to the new role. The passion for helping people in our community through medical innovations is something that was instilled in me when I joined KCI almost 25 years ago, Landon said. With BBG and its subsidiaries, I have the opportunity to help grow our mission here in South Texas and beyond. This is a multifaceted biomedical organization with areas of focus that complement each other in intriguing ways, creating exciting new possibilities to pursue. Myers said she is proud of what has been accomplished at BBG in the past four years, as BioBridge Global expanded to a national presence in blood products and blood products testing, as well as a worldwide reach in regenerative medicine. Our people are our biggest asset, and we have a great team in place, said Myers, who joined the organization in 1994 and has been CEO of BioBridge Global since 2013. Im looking forward to working with Marty to ensure a smooth transition and keep our momentum going. About BioBridge Global: BioBridge Global (BBG) is a San Antonio, Texas-based nonprofit organization that offers diverse services in regenerative medicine, blood resource management and biologic testing. Its subsidiaries the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, QualTex Laboratories and GenCure provide products used in regenerative medicine treatment and research, including cellular therapies, donated umbilical cord blood and tissue services, as well as blood and plasma product testing for clients in the United States and worldwide. BBGs roots are in the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, which has a proud history of serving the South Texas region for more than 40 years. BBG is committed to supporting groundbreaking research, addressing unmet clinical needs and enabling the development and commercialization of innovative biotechnology products. Visit us at http://www.biobridgeglobal.org. The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) announces the winners of its 2016 APSP Awards Program. The program recognizes prominent achievements and outstanding performers in the pool, spa and hot tub industry. Being recognized this year are 74 pool, hot tub and water features in the design competition, and 18 individuals recognized for their contribution to the aquatic industry. One APSP Chapter earned top honors. All APSP recipients will be officially recognized in the October issue of AQUA Magazine and honored during the APSP Awards Reception, November 1, 2016 in New Orleans. Individual photos of the award winners can be viewed at APSP.org/AwardsGallery. In its 46th year, the APSP International Awards of Excellence recognizes 74 outstanding pools, spas, hot tubs and water feature installations. Hundreds of entries are submitted each year, representing member firms across the United States and around the world. The award-winning companies and their installations can be viewed at APSP.org/FanFavorite. Viewers can vote and share their favorite installation via social media. Voting begins today and runs through 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 28, 2016. The winner of the fan voting will be announced Nov. 1. Individual APSP professional honors recognize Jason Schallock, CBP, Certified Building Professional of the Year, and Bob Baron, CSP, Certified Service Professional of the Year. The rank of APSP Fellow is an honor bestowed on prominent individuals who have made distinguished contributions that raise the professionalism in the aquatic community through teaching, research and/or exemplary service to others. The 2016 Fellow Award recipients are: Frank J. Borrelle III; Dennis Chapman; Ed Cohen, CBP, CSP; Noel Conley, CSP; Dr. William A. Kent; Guy Larsen, CBP, CSP; Dr. Stanley Pickens; Shawn Still; Gene Wells; and Donald H. Witte. The 2016 recipients of The Young Professionals of the Year Award represent forward-thinking leaders under the age of 40 who are positioned to be the voice and next generation of pool and hot tub professionals. They are: Michelle Ament; Ben Bock; Jacob Durand; Jon Krawczyk; Brandon Miller; Stephanie ONeil; Brian Porter; Joseph Barrone, CBP, CST; and Jason Vaughan, CBP. The APSP Chapter of the Year Award went to the Georgia Chapter in recognition for its proactive stance in the state legislature and regulatory arena. This past year the Chapter fought to obtain mandatory statewide adoption of the International Swimming Pool & Spa Code; began licensing discussions; and worked to amend a bill that would have been detrimental to pool safety. The pool and hot tub industry has a long tradition of recognizing excellence in design, said APSP President and CEO Rich Gottwald. Now we have expanded our recognition program to reflect the many contributions of the individual volunteers who have created and strengthened so many aspects of our association and its educational and technical legacy. For more information and to view award recipients, visit APSP.org/AwardsGallery. About APSP The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP) is the worlds oldest and largest association representing swimming pool, hot tub, and spa manufacturers, distributors, manufacturers agents, designers, builders, installers, suppliers, retailers, and service professionals. Dedicated to the growth and development of its members businesses and to promoting the enjoyment and safety of pools and spas, APSP offers a range of services, from professional development to advancing key legislation and regulation at the federal and local levels, to consumer outreach and public safety. APSP is the only industry organization recognized by the American National Standards Institute to develop and promote national standards for pools, hot tubs, and spas. For more information, visit APSP.org. What is Strobing- Beauty Bakerie So Icy Illuminator CEO and Founder Cashmere Nicole is the mastermind behind the design During a time where the notion of highlighting the face for an added glow has become a popular technique in the application of makeup, Beauty Bakerie will be launching their very own strobing line called the So Icy Illuminators. The San Diego, California-based cosmetic brand announced via their Neapolitan Newsletter that they will release their So Icy Illuminators this October. If Beauty Bakeries current products already sound mouth-watering, the packaging for the So Icy Illuminators will have anyone craving ice cream! CEO and Founder Cashmere Nicole is the mastermind behind the design of the So Icy Illuminator collection. With innovation implemented in the formulary of her other lines, she took elements of one of her favorite go-to treats as inspiration for an ice cream pint meets makeup appeal. The So Icy Illuminator pints will be filled with 13 grams of loose product, and will range from five different pigments. A best practice for the So Icy Illuminator is to pair it with one of Beauty Bakeries infamous smudge-free Lip Whips. Since what is strobing? isnt the question anymore, heres a technique youll want to remember, the next time you strobe! Apply Beauty Bakerie's So Icy Illuminator on the cupids bow with your finger tips or a fan brush. This will allow for a light glow above the lips, and adds for an elegant touch. Once the so Icy Illuminator is applied to the cupids bow, layer a thin coat of one of Beauty Bakeries Lip Whips on to the lips. Voila! Beauty Bakerie fanatics can expect the So Icy Illuminator collection on BeautyBakerie.com late September. About Beauty Bakerie: Beauty Bakerie Cosmetics Brand is a cruelty-free cosmetics brand located in the heart of downtown San Diego, California and was founded in 2011 by Indiana native, Cashmere Nicole. Beauty Bakerie is best known for their smudge-free and long wear products, as well as being Beyonce approved. For more information, contact Beauty Bakerie at info(at)beautybakerie(dot)com. Fontanafredda (http://www.fontanafredda.it/web/en/home-eng/), one of Italys most prominent and historic Barolo producers, announces the launch of Barolo Week beginning on October 10, 2016. Barolo Week, a series of events in 30 countries, will celebrate Barolo, the iconic wines of the Piedmont region of Italy and introduce a new generation of Americans to these storied offerings. The lineup includes a by-the-glass program geared towards new Barolo drinkers in restaurants and bars worldwide. Barolo Week celebrations will include multiple offerings across the U.S., including capstone events at Eataly, the Italian culinary wonderland, and at Del Posto. The main events will be held on October 10 at Del Posto for trade and media, October 17 at Eataly NYC Flatiron for trade and media, October 17 at Eataly Chicago for trade and media, October 19 at Eataly NYC Flatiron for the general public and on October 27 at Eataly Chicago for the general public. Fontanafredda, founded by Italys first king in 1858, is one of Barolos most historic wineries, located in the village of Serralunga dAlba. Its focus is on Barolo, often called the King of Wines in Italy because of how highly the Italian nobility cherished the wines. The winery exports four different Barolos to the U.S.: Vigna La Rosa Barolo, Barolo Riserva, Barolo Serralunga dAlba and Barolo Tradition. We have been making Barolo since the middle of 19th century, over 150 harvests, says Oscar Farinetti, President and Proprietor of Fontanafredda. 150 times that our fathers, their fathers and our sons have been making this marvelous wine. Every year, it gets even better. Year by year, our Barolo becomes enormously better, but its still not enough for us. This continuous improvement is Barolos magic. In addition to these events, vertical tastings and White Truffle Dinners will be held in at least ten other American cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Naples, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. To celebrate Barolo Week, Fontanafredda will also release a limited edition Barolo Riserva Artist Series collection, a six vintage vertical of its Barolo Serralunga dAlba Riserva, each with unique label artwork designed by Ugo Nespolo, the undisputed master of contemporary art in Italy. Fontanafredda is also pleased to announce that VinePair (http://vinepair.com/), the countrys leading website for the latest generation of wine drinkers, will be the official media partner of Barolo Week. A series of articles dedicated to Barolo both the wine and the region will appear on the VinePair website, in addition to a sweepstakes whose winner will enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to Barolo to visit the region and the Fontanafredda estate. Barolo Week events in the month of October include: Oct. 10: Trade and press vertical tasting and Barolo Artist Series launch at Del Posto in New York Oct. 17: Press and trade Five Decades of Barolo and Artist Series tasting at Eataly NYC Flatiron Oct. 17: Press and trade Five Decades of Barolo and Artist Series tasting at Eataly Chicago Oct. 19: Public Barolo Artist Series launch at Eataly NYC Flatiron Oct. 20: Public White Truffle Dinner at Eataly Chicago Oct. 24: Public vertical tasting and White Truffle Dinner in Miami Oct. 25: Public vertical tasting and White Truffle Dinner in Naples, Fla. Oct. 26: Public vertical tasting and White Truffle Dinner in Atlanta Oct. 27: Public White Truffle Dinner at Eataly New York Oct. 27: Public Barolo Artist Series launch at Eataly Chicago Stay tuned for more details about Barolo Weeks many exciting celebrations and initiatives. For images, samples or to attend one of the events, please contact Stephen Schmitz (sschmitz(at)colangelopr(dot)com) or Claire Hennessy (chennessy(at)colangelopr(dot)com) with Colangelo & Partners. About Fontanafredda: For over 150 years, Fontanafredda has been producing outstanding Barolo from its winery in Serralunga dAlba, in the heart of the Barolo region of Northwest Italy. Founded in 1858 by Vittorio Emanuele II, the first King of Italy, Fontanafredda has since been a favorite of Italys nobility and wine lovers alike. Today, the winery is owned by Oscar Farinetti, the founder of Eataly, and the wines imported to the U.S. include the Vigna La Rosa Barolo, Serralunga dAlba Barolo and Barolo Silver Line, among others. In the United States, Fontanafredda is imported by Palm Bay International. For more information, please visit http://www.fontanafredda.it/web/en/. Today, Pearson lauded the University of California, Davis, (UC Davis) for the institutions award-winning Inclusive Access initiative that has saved students $3.4 million in course materials expenses over the last two years. The pioneering approach to digital distribution of course materials and reducing student expenses was designed in partnership with Pearson through the companys Digital Direct Access (DDA) model, as well as other digital content providers. The initiative earned UC Davis the 2016 University of California Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology, which was established in 2000 to encourage and recognize innovative deployment of information technology in support of the universitys mission. The program also won the Innovation Achievement Award from the National Association of College Stores Foundation this spring. Created to provide students with direct access to digital course materials through the campus bookstore, UC Davis launched the initiative with Pearson and other providers in 2014. Since then, the university has digitally delivered required course materials for more than 170 courses, and over 45,000 students have engaged with this program. UC Davis typically delivers required course content for 40 or more courses per quarter using this model, a number that continues to grow. More than 80 institutions around the country have partnered with Pearson in 2016 to implement the DDA model, which enables schools to digitally deliver high-quality digital course materials to their students. In addition to cost savings, DDA provides learners with critical access to course materials on the first day of class and offers instructors valuable insights into students learning activity through data analysis. Our campus was thrilled to have our Inclusive Access program acknowledged as one of the most innovative IT projects in the UC system," said Jason Lorgan, executive director of Campus Recreation, Memorial Union and UC Davis Stores. "Faculty appreciate that students have day-one access to materials and the course can proceed without delay. "Our students continue to embrace the program with high satisfaction levels in our end-of-term surveys," Lorgan added. "The high-quality, vetted digital content in the Inclusive Access program furthers the success of our students, the ultimate goal our entire campus is focused on. We congratulate the UC Davis Stores and its campus partners on receiving these prestigious accolades for the Inclusive Access program, which has delivered significant cost savings to thousands of students at the institution. We anticipate that increased access to high-quality digital content will continue to have a positive impact on student success, as well as provide educators with the critical course data they need to analyze students performance and make necessary instructional adjustments, said Tom Malek, senior vice president of partnerships, Pearson. With digital content from Pearson and other providers, the UC Davis Stores IT department developed the programs web-based application for course and enrollment data, program communication to students, billing and analytics. About Pearson Pearson is the worlds learning company, with expertise in educational courseware and assessment, and a range of teaching and learning services powered by technology. Our mission is to help people make progress through access to better learning. We believe that learning opens up opportunities, creating fulfilling careers and better lives. For more, visit http://www.Pearsoned.com. Media Contacts: Scott Overland, scott.overland(at)pearson(dot)com, 202-909-4520 Jason Lorgan, jplorgan(at)ucdavis(dot)edu, 530-752-9075 We are now seeing HR brought into the conversation more, along with Risk Management, which has traditionally been our buyer. DORN, providers of worksite pain management programs, today announces PeakPerformance, an evidence-based, proactive approach to preventing, managing and eliminating the musculoskeletal discomfort and pain which undermine employee engagement, performance and overall productivity. PeakPerformance provides workforces with onsite, one-on-one pain relief and therapy before the issue becomes chronic, reducing absenteeism, presenteeism, lost productivity and turnover. These early interventions are designed to pre-empt the need for doctors visits or more involved physical therapy, demonstrably reducing medical and workers compensation claims. PeakPerformance treatments are performed onsite by DORN trained and credentialed therapists. Each 15 minute session addresses the employees discomfort and soreness which often result from sedentary office work (back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.), repetitive and/or manual tasks and everyday wear and tear. The standard program provides up to four onsite visits, after which each employee is provided with a self-treatment and pain management plan; companies or employees can opt for more onsite visits if needed. For constant or chronic pain, DORN offers PainRelief, an onsite program comprised of more intensive 30 minute sessions. PeakPerformance is a perfect complement to our PainRelief program, helping employees identify and address pain early, said Kevin Lombardo, President of DORN. We have seen great adoption rates of the new offering so far and the pilot programs have produced excellent results in achieving self-reported higher productivity, a significant reduction in medication usage and overall high morale. DORNs innovative healthcare solutions empower individuals to improve and sustain optimal health, well-being and quality of life while delivering substantial savings to organizations nationally and are easily incorporated into both Risk Management and Wellness programs. They are designed to prevent workers compensation claims and costs, decrease health care claims and costs, reduce medication usage and reduce OSHA recordables. DORN Solutions also include PainRelief Therapy, HeadacheClinic, Pain-Free Back Therapy and StretchRevitalization Documented Benefits of the DORN Programs: 63% Pain Level Reduction 52% Eliminated Medication 92% Productivity Improvement 78% ROI Using DORN DORNs delivery approach is based on the Total Worker Health model, integrating risk management and wellness within a holistic framework that promotes both work-related safety and injury/illness prevention with efforts to advance worker well-being. DORNs white paper on Total Worker Health can be downloaded here. We are now seeing HR brought into the conversation more, along with Risk Management, which has traditionally been our buyer, said Lombardo. These programs (PeakPerformance and PainRelief) working together enable companies to implement and realize the benefits of a Total Worker Health solution. About DORN DORN was founded in 1998 to help employers save money on workers' compensation claims and reduce OSHA recordables. DORN provides highly skilled manual therapists to work on site and treat employees with workers' compensation claims. In the mid 2000s we expanded our business model to include an early intervention/prevention approach. We now treat employees with pain before they develop an injury and file a workers' compensation claim. The vast majority of these employees are relieved of pain over a series of DORN therapy sessions and never escalate to file a claim or require other treatment modalities. Today, due to the success of the therapy and a shift of focus to early prevention and intervention, the DORN programs have organically expanded into proactive wellness benefits. Delivering quality care and outcomes for employees translates to measurable bottom line results for employers. Our mission is to create, implement and manage healthcare solutions that empower individuals and organizations to improve and sustain optimal health, well-being and quality of life. For more on DORN, visit http://dorncompanies.com/ Parallax Health Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB.PRLX) Corporate Update Q3, 2016 Parallax Acquisition of RoxSan Pharmacy Operations Update As previously stated in a series of 8K releases, on August 13, 2015 (the "Closing Date"), Roxsan Pharmacy (RoxSan) and its sole shareholder, Shahla Melamed (the "Seller"), entered into an Agreement to sell 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of the RoxSan s common stock and its assets and inventory to Parallax Health Sciences, Inc. ("the Company"), a Nevada corporation (the Purchase Agreement). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, among other things, Parallax issued the Seller a Secured Promissory Note (the "Note") dated August 13, 2015 in the amount of $20,500,000 (the "Acquisition"). As a result of the Acquisition, RoxSan became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, and a change in control of RoxSan occurred. RoxSan was issued a new permit from the California Board of Pharmacy and the permit under the previous owner was retired. In connection with the Acquisition, the Company entered into an Employment Agreement (the "Employment Agreement") with the Seller. Under the Employment Agreement, the Seller agreed to provide exclusive consulting services to the Company in the areas of public relations and marketing for a term of four (4) years. Subsequent to the closing of the Acquisition, Company Management determined that there were several areas that required immediate attention to be addressed. Pharmacy Compliance Management created the position of Director of Compliance at Roxsan and put a senior pharmacist as the Director. Management developed a strategic plan covering its Regulatory Compliance goals. The first goal was to create foundational standard operating procedures in the filling, processing, and shipping of prescriptions. Under this program an audit report ("Audit Report") was discovered that was previously discarded by the prior ownership as having no relevance as to the results of the findings in that audit. This audit was part of a due diligence requirement imposed by the Company upon the prior owner before the acquisition, which was to have a third party organization verify that the pharmacy was operating within compliance of state regulatory demands. The Audit Report dated prior to the acquisition, which was discovered in abandoned files, indicated that several areas of operation of the pharmacy were in violation of the most fundamental compliance rules, and strict warnings as to the consequences of what would happen to the pharmacys licenses if these areas were not immediately corrected. No corrections to the most egregious violations had been performed by the prior owner, and the Seller did not provide this material information while in due diligence prior to the acquisition. All areas recommended in the Audit Report to be corrected, were in fact implemented by the current ownership. State Pharmacy Licenses The former owner had developed a well-documented contentious relationship with the California Board of Pharmacy as well as a number of other states in which the previous owner was accused of regulatory violations. There were states that had suspended RoxSans Licenses under the prior ownership to operate in their state. The new management began an aggressive program in each state, to appeal to the State Pharmacy Boards to reinstate the licenses. It became apparent that many individual members on several state Boards of Pharmacy, including the California Board of Pharmacy, the Nevada Board of Pharmacy and the Arizona Board of Pharmacy, had an extremely negative perception of Ms. Melamed. With the new management entering into the picture, the negative perception became extremely positive toward RoxSans new ownership, and its new Compliance Program. Thus far, RoxSan has obtained pharmacy licenses in 41 states, and is seeking to obtain licensing in the remaining nine states. As a result of the efforts of new management, all of these issues were corrected and the pharmacy is currently operating in an entirely new status of having great relations with each of the previously strained relationships with individual state Boards of Pharmacy. Pharmacy Benefit Management Business The former owner had created a negative and challenging relationship with Payers and Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBMs) as well as the cancellation of some pharmacy network contracts with PBM contracts that control the approvals for reimbursements for several health insurers. The new management established a plan of action and SOPs to follow as well as address the criteria for contract re-approvals with the PBMs. Roxsan Pharmacy has become qualified and fully accredited member of FocusScripts Compounding Pharmacy Network enabling Roxsan to participate in the Pharmacy Benefit Management Program for one of the largest health insurers in the United States. As of this update approximately 5% of the Compound Pharmacys in the US have been able to achieve this accreditation. A market development has occurred that has produced a payer reaction to the exorbitantly high pricing trends for compound pain medications. That development has affected the viability of the compound pain medication management industry due to rejections and many of the ingredients becoming non-covered. Roxsan has developed a program to restructure the pharmacys approach to creating a more ethically based pricing structure with extraordinarily high efficacy formularies, and is working with several of the industrys leading PBMs in pursuit of partnership arrangements. National Accreditation In addition, under the new management, Roxsan Pharmacy passed the inspection from the Verified Pharmacy Program (VPP) as part of the National Association of the Board of Pharmacy. This was a significant accomplishment, considering that the prior ownership had failed in passing the VPP inspection in the past. Passing the VPP inspection is an exhaustive process requiring high levels of regulatory systems and compliance. This extraordinary accomplishment was achieved in less than one year under the newly restructured operating compliance program under the new ownership, which included strict adherence to documentation retention and categorization. Human Resources In addition to the issues outlined above, it was determined that there were also personnel issues that Roxsans pharmacists, technicians and general operations employees had with the prior ownership. These issues involved compensation, benefits and management style of leadership, which lacked the opportunity for the employees to be empowered to effectively perform their duties. Management also addressed these issues with clarification of job responsibilities, compensation/benefit adjustments including stock option incentives and an overall more inclusive and open communication style of management. Operational Structure and New Business Units Management developed a system of operations that focused on differentiating unique business markets for Roxsan services and developed three additional areas of focus: The Company established the RoxSan Fertility Group that is charged with delivering the highest level of service to Fertility Clinics in California, Arizona and Washington State. The Company built a new brand identity with new logo and website, and produced high quality collateral and sales support material, including mandarin language for our Chinese speaking patients (http://www.roxsanfertility.com/home-cn). The Company is currently developing a line of Chinese Herbs and holistic treatments that will augment the medical treatments supported by our network of Fertility Clinics; and Management established the Roxsan Pharmaceutical Solutions Group that is charged with the development and execution of all of RoxSans custom compounding business that is working to develop high quality solutions for Roxsan customers; and Management established Roxsan Life Nootropics business with the goal of developing a line proprietary Nootropics to target the growing Brain Market. Dispute with Prior Owner Prior to the Company's acquisition of Roxsan, the prior owner of Roxsan had become subject to two (2) disciplinary actions by the California Board of Pharmacy. In February 2015 the California Board of Pharmacy filed its First Amended Accusation against Shahla Melamed in Case No. AC201100427600. In April 2015 the First Amended Accusation was withdrawn and the Pharmacy Board filed new Accusation against Mrs. Melamed in Case No. AC201400545500. The April 2015 Accusation alleges "causes for discipline" against Mrs. Melamed "stemming from nine consumer complaints". The Accusation includes allegations that Mrs. Melamed "Falsified the DEA Biennial Controlled Substance Inventory" report. The Accusation also alleges that Mrs. Melamed, Roxsan Pharmacy, and its then Pharmacist in Charge "Illegally Shipped Drugs Into Other States Without a License," and dispensed a drug which the United States Food and Drug Administration "has not approved...for any purpose in this country and has banned the drug's importation and interstate transfer except for research purposes." The Accusation sought, among other things, the "Revoking or suspending of Pharmacist License Number RPH 42096, issued to Shahla Keyvanfar Melamed". On July 29, 2015, the prior owner executed a Stipulated Surrender of License and Order agreeing and stipulating to the surrender of her Pharmacist License. The California Board of Pharmacy issued a "Decision and Order" on October 7, 2015, adopting the Stipulated Surrender of License and Order. The California Board of Pharmacy issued a Notice of Decision and Denial of Reconsideration on November 6, 2015, following Mrs. Melamed's filing of a Petition for Reconsideration on October 26, 2015. Pursuant to the Notice, the Petition for Reconsideration was "deemed denied by operation of law" and the "Decision and Order with the effective date of November 6, 2015, is the Board of Pharmacy's final decision in this matter." Following the acquisition of Roxsan by the Company, the prior owner initiated two (2) legal actions against the Company, entitled Shahla Melamed v. Parallax Health Sciences, et al.,in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, West District, case number SC 124873 and SC 125705. In her Second Amended Complaint, case number SC 124873, which contains a single cause of action for rescission, the prior owner alleges that the Company "deliberately misrepresented facts and concealed material facts from Melamed in order to fraudulently induce her agreement to sell RoxSan..." and seeks that the "Purchase Agreement be deemed rescinded" along with monetary damages and declaratory relief. The First Amended Complaint in case number SC 125702 alleges that the Company is "in default under the terms of the Purchase Agreement and Secured Note" and the Company "has refused and continue[s] to refuse to allow [Mrs. Melamed] the benefits of her employment agreement...and have wrongfully denied [Mrs. Melamed] the contractual benefits to which she is and was entitled." The current Management firmly believes that it had adequate grounds to justify the termination of Mrs. Melamed's employment, and that it acted within its rights with regard to Mrs. Melamed's other allegations. The Company has likewise initiated legal action against the Seller and filed an action entitled Parallax Health Sciences, et al. v. Shahla Melamed, et al., in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, West District, case number SC 124898. The Complaint in that action alleges that "...in breach of her obligations under the Purchase Agreement, Mrs. Melamed caused various bank accounts of Roxsan Pharmacy to be frozen by Wells Fargo Bank, NA."; ..."Mrs. Melamed has failed to pay all liabilities that arose prior to the closing of the Purchase Agreement..."; " Mrs. Melamed failed to secure marketing agreements . "In breach of her obligations under the Employment Agreement Mrs. Melamed has attempted to take operational control over the pharmacy and continued to attempt to oversee prescriptions on a daily basis at the physical location of the pharmacy; and that Mrs. Melamed concealed from the Company that "...all of the pharmacys corporate records were not accurate, complete, and current in all material respects under Section 3.5 of the Purchase Agreement. She likewise concealed that entering into the Purchase Agreement will result in a default of the lease agreement for the premises per Section 3.7(a) and 3.14; and she concealed that not all of the representations and warranties...were true. [Mrs. Melamed] likewise knew that the surge in revenues in a last few months prior to closing was artificial..." The Complaint seeks to reduce the Seller Note due to undisclosed material changes in the business. Subsequently filed pleadings by the Company and Roxsan in case number SC 124873 allege, among other things, that: "(1) [Mrs. Melamed] misrepresented the true earnings and source of income for the pharmacy business to [Parallax] prior to the sale of the pharmacy; (2) [Mrs. Melamed] failed to disclose to [Parallax] that she had engaged in a fraudulent and illegal scheme to ship medications to states where her pharmacy was not licensed (such as Nevada) while she was the owner of the pharmacy; All three (3) legal matters are currently pending. Acquisition of QOLPOM QOLPOM is an acronym that stands for Quality of Life Peace of Mind. Our primary goal at QOLPOM is to deliver a service that will allow clients who operate medically related residential based services to reduce costs, increase revenues and provide a better client experience through the adoption of innovative new technologies. The QOLPOM Hub, a medication dispensing, management and remote monitoring system developed by various health care technology companies in the last few years. The Problem In nearly all medical facilities at every level of care medication errors are a major concern and source of increasing liability exposure. For the individual in assisted and non-assisted living medication non-adherence is a growing problem. The problem is well known in the medical profession and its ramifications are well documented in regard to patient care and professional liability. The consequences are not only costly but potentially deadly. Yet the problem persists and, in fact, is getting worse as a result of our, in no small part, increasingly aging population. QOLPOM Hub is a personal medication dispensing and remote monitoring solution that ensures seniors and chronic care patients at home (or elsewhere), take the correct medications on time and notifies caregivers and the patients healthcare team if they miss a medication dose or have a medical status report that is outside the limits that their healthcare team has deemed as unhealthy or of potential risk. It can capture (through external sensors), monitor and store vitals along with the electronic patient record for better follow-up by doctors and the health care team. It gives users access to digital health care monitoring and potentially medical interventions via telemedicine. QOLPOM Hub automates the dispensing of packaged medications though a patented process, with these potential benefits: reduces the risk of medication non-compliance; and prolongs an independent quality of life for the client; and provides peace of mind through real time monitoring for the caregiver. It also bonds clients with their service providers and enables a Patient Care Circle that is unprecedented. In addition, the QOLPOM Hub features a full set of modern communications technologies specifically targeted for seniors, the chronically ill and the temporary or permanently disabled, that enable both voice and videoconference communication directly from the device. These same technologies will enable virtual doctors visits that will require no travelling, no time-off-work for a family member to accompany the patient or resultant stress from the sortie. Parallax Diagnostics, Inc. Parallax Diagnostics, Inc. (Parallax-D) is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Parallax Health Sciences, Inc. Parallax-D has rights to, FDA approved, Point of Care diagnostic tests that utilize a single platform. Parallax is also developing a novel, handheld diagnostic testing system that is simple, rapid and elegant, offering the potential to transform the diagnostic landscape by transitioning critical tests from the centralized lab directly to the hands of the physician or clinicians. Our focus is on tests that detect and/or monitor, remotely, infectious diseases and various other medical conditions. We are further developing a rapid test that can be done at the point of care to determine the immune status of patients that are immune-compromised. The company has a technology that is being used as a platform for a test that will detect CD4 and CD8 cells which in turn determine a patients immune status. This novel test will be focused on the areas of immune status identification as part of the treatment program for those individuals afflicted with HIV and AIDS. The test will be used as a monitoring test to determine the patients immune status levels and provide an indication that the medical treatments they are using are working. This test, should provide great value to patients, caregivers and medical professionals in that it allows for the remote testing and monitoring of patients without the cost and inconvenience of multiple visits to the healthcare providers facility. Opportunity for the growth in the Point of Care Market In recent years, there has been a continuing shift from the use of laboratory-based analyzers to more technologically advanced point-of-care tests that can be performed in a matter of minutes. Unlike the centralized clinical laboratory segment, which is mature and highly competitive, the point-of-care market is still a relatively early stage market. Although certain simple single analyte diagnostic tests have been developed, such tests have remained incapable of precise and highly sensitive quantitative measurements. As a result, medical tests that require precise quantization of the target analyte have remained the domain of immunoassay analyzers. Parallax believes that there is significant market potential for advanced point-of-care diagnostic products that provide quick and accurate diagnosis during a patient visit, shortening the decision time to medical intervention and minimizing the need for additional patient follow-up, thereby reducing overall health care delivery costs. The dominant value proposition of Parallax Diagnostics, Inc. is that its business model has the capacity, once deployed into the marketplace, to: Charge as much as 80% less than a comparable test at outside diagnostic labs; and Provide results in less than 15 minutes in a majority of the tests compared with days in outside diagnostic labs; and Reduce the cost of expense to the healthcare insurer/payer; and Provide a new source of revenue for the doctor; and Increase the quality of care by allowing the doctor and patient to discuss the test results at the doctors office at the same appointment as the test is administered; and The Parallax-D platform is a single solution that has very little variance in how a test is performed which reduces the need for increased knowledge of test protocols; and The Parallax-D platform is ubiquitous and interoperable with a large number of potential tests, which will allow for economy of scale in that a single platform investment will offer the capability to provide an enormous value for the costs and dramatically increase the ROI on the purchase of the Parallax-D testing system. Parallax Diagnostic Synergies with Roxsan Pharmacy, Inc The genesis of the Companys pursuit of Roxsan Pharmacy was to exploit RoxSans visibility with over 3,000 doctors across the United States, and it is still a driving force behind the acquisition and operation. Management continues to see this unique opportunity to bypass medical devise distributers and agents as a strategy that reduces the risk inherent with utilizing third parties to promote your products and services. The RoxSan Fertility Group is uniquely positioned as one of the nations largest providers of Fertility drugs to fertility clinics in the country and there is an opportunity to provide multiple tests to Roxsan Fertility Groups clinics they service. Parallax Diagnostics Synergies with QOLPOM As noted above, the market for Remote Healthcare Monitoring and Medicine Adherence Management is one that is growing with that growth being driven by multiple factors. The obvious cost benefit derived from treating and monitoring patients on a remote basis is driven by cost. What is also apparent to anyone who understands the complex nature of the serious problems associated with the Healthcare system in the United States, such as runaway costs and shrinking reimbursements, coupled with an expanding aging population requiring medical attention can see the value of treating and monitoring people from their homes, which expands the number of patients that can be seen by a doctor and at the same time reducing the cost of delivering these services. A large number of patients and those recently discharged from hospitals or are in facilities for long term care, are constantly being monitored through tests or monitoring instruments for weight and heart rate. Management believes that Parallax-D is positioned to provide tests and testing instruments such as its Mobile Target System analyzer currently in development, and augment the healthcare reach of the doctors with their patients. QOLPOM and Synergies with Roxsan Pharmacy As the QOLPOM Hub solution increases market penetration, the ability to offer a combined integrated medication supply service through the fully accredited and widely licensed pharmacy operations of Roxsan to deliver the drug component of the medication dispensing solution, an effective chain of medication management control can be realized as a total solution to all the constituents involved. RoxSan Pharmacy will service, up to its full capacity, the delivery of prescription drugs as part of the QOLPOM Medication Adherence delivered to patients through the QOLPOM Hub and drug dispensing system. Applied Systems and the Applied Client Network today commenced the annual Applied Net Conference, the largest independent insurance agency and brokerage technology conference in the world, at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort. This years conference theme, Connecting the Business of Insurance, focuses on opportunities for agencies and brokerages to embrace digital technologies that connect their business with insurers, current policyholders and prospective insureds to create a great customer experience across the entire insurance industry. The business of insurance is becoming more connected with higher levels of digital interaction between agents and brokers, insurers and their insureds, said Reid French, chief executive officer, Applied Systems. This weeks conference brings together our industrys leading agencies, brokerages, insurers and global insurance thought leaders to discuss how technology is connecting people and businesses in new and exciting ways, fundamentally changing the business of insurance. Applied Net will present remarkable keynote speakers, providing unique perspectives and strategies on leadership, customer experience, and digital transformation: French will begin the conference with his keynote focused on the increasingly connected world of insurance and how agencies, brokerages and carrier partners can digitally connect to drive business success. Brian Langerman, chief executive officer of Applied Client Network, will discuss the various ways members of the Applied Client Network community can benefit from education & resources that meet agencies and brokerages unique business challenges head-on. Guest keynote speaker Captain Sully Sullenberger will share insights and lessons from his life on how to manage an unprecedented crisis and the opportunity technology affords individuals and businesses today to prepare for the unexpected. Michael Howe, senior vice president, Product Management, Applied Systems, will discuss a wide range of production innovation from Applied and how these solutions enable agencies and brokerages to capitalize on opportunities in todays connected world. Kris Hackney, executive vice president, Customer Experience, Applied Systems, will discuss the Applied customer experience and the value it provides the insurance lifecycle. Holly Hoffman, Disney Institute facilitator, Disney Institute, will speak to the innovative customer service strategies supported by technology that set Disney apart. Since 2011, the Applied Net conference has tripled in attendance, making it the must-attend technology event in the industry. As the leading forum for innovation and education, Applied Net 2016 promises keynote presentations, networking opportunities and more than 90 exhibitors from across the insurance industry. Additionally, more than 200 educational sessions will be presented, reflecting how technology can improve the business of insurance, including tracks specifically based on products and roles within the agency to ensure attendees gain the most from their technology investment. As the insurance industry continues to become more digitally connected, we are committed to providing the resources and assistance our members need to fully engage with and take advantage of Applied software, said Brian Langerman, CEO, Applied Client Network. We look forward to this weeks educational sessions and exhibitions, continuing to influence and inform industry professionals to build their businesses through digital connectivity. Click here for all the conference developments. Join the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #AppliedNet. About Applied Systems Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and data exchange between brokerages, insurers and their clients, Applied is the worlds largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied enables millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most. About Applied Client Network Applied Client Network is the global technology community of Applied Systems users. It promotes successful technology and business practices through communication, education and advocacy. Founded in 1985 and based in Chicago, the association represents insurance agencies and brokerages that use Applied Systems software worldwide. AppliedClientNetwork.org Brick-and-mortar retail is still the clear winner vs. online for revenue, however retailers and brands need to take advantage of the power of combining digital and traditional marketing innovations to generate consumer buy-in, said Allan Haims, CEO. StepsAway, the leading mobile retail solution offering mall shoppers smartphone access to hyperlocal in-store deals, today announced that CEO Allan Haims will be presenting at the 2016 PLACE Conference on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 in Chicago. Joining other retail technology innovators to share insights on how retailers can invest in proximity, data, personalization and indoor location solutions to improve the customer experience and loyalty and sales results, Haims will speak on a panel titled, Retail 2.0: Using Location Intelligence to Beat Amazon. Brick-and-mortar retail is still the clear winner versus online in terms of revenue, however retailers and brands need to take advantage of the power of combining digital and traditional marketing innovations to generate consumer buy-in, said Haims. Mobile has become a retailers new front door so brands should apply refined customer engagement strategies to drive sales and increase brand engagement via this critical channel. Sponsored by the Local Search Association, the 2016 PLACE conference brings together multi-location brands, retailers and agencies for a one-day event on cross-platform proximity marketing, indoor experiences and location analytics. The StepsAway web-based mobile app, SAMobile, provides shoppers smartphone access to hyperlocal in-store deals accessible via participating malls Wi-Fi networks. Through StepsAways patent-pending cloud-based technology platform, SAConnect, national retailers can create and deliver promotions across multiple mall properties and mall owners, from their corporate headquarters on a single platform. Retailers can generate time-sensitive flash sales that are valid for a short duration or offer chain-wide promotions that dont expire. They can also micro-target specific malls, test pricing scenarios and dynamically modify offers based on developing business trends or inventory challenges. About StepsAway StepsAway is a market-first, in-mall mobile retail solution offering shoppers smartphone access to hyperlocal in-store dealsdriving more brick-and-mortar transactions. StepsAway empowers mall owners to increase sales per square foot and gives retailers an innovative way to reach and influence on-property consumer purchase decisions. Consumers access StepsAway SAMobile via a web-based mobile app upon signing onto a malls Wi-Fi network and then peruse deals offered on premises. StepsAways cloud-based proprietary technology platform, SAConnect, allows nationally based retailers to create and deliver promotions across multiple mall owners/locations. StepsAway is a privately held company, based in Los Angeles, California. For more information, visit http://www.stepsaway.com. Singh Biotechnology today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to SBT-100, its novel anti-STAT3 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3) B VHH13 single domain antibody (sdAb) SBT-100 for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Many studies have found that elevated STAT3 expression is associated with a poor prognosis of solid tumors, including tumor of the pancreas. STAT3 can be inhibited either by directly targeting the intracellular protein or indirectly, by targeting the upstream regulators of the STAT3 pathway. "We believe, SBT-100, our single domain antibody represents a promising new approach for a targeted immuno-therapy in the treatment of pancreatic cancers since it represents a first-in-class therapeutic which specifically targets intracellular proteins," said Sunanda Singh, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Singh Biotechnology. "Patients with pancreatic cancer have a poor prognosis so there's a clear need for better treatment options, especially since no new medical advancements have been made in over 20 years. We are extremely encouraged by the fact we have made a tremendous progress in a short time to develop a single domain antibody therapeutic which can potentially deliver a highly targeted compound that can improve the quality of patients lives." Orphan designation is granted by the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development to novel drugs or biologics that treat a rare disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 patients in the U.S. For a drug to qualify for orphan drug designation both the drug and the disease must meet certain criteria specified in the Orphan Drug Act (ODA) and FDA's implementing regulations at 21 CFR Part 316. Orphan drug designation may provide certain benefits, including a seven-year period of market exclusivity if the drug is approved, tax credits for qualified clinical trials and an exemption from FDA application fees. About STAT3 Impairment in the regulation of STAT3 activity has been implicated in the development of many malignancies, including pancreatic cancer. In vitro and in vivo models of tumor growth and metastasis have shown that targeting STAT3 activation via inhibitors could be beneficial in tackling this disease. Therefore Singh Biotechnology has developed an anti-STAT3 single domain antibody that binds specifically to the intracellular STAT3 protein for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. About Pancreatic Cancer Pancreatic cancer has a very poor prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of only 7.2%. More than 95% of patients affected eventually die of their disease. Although several factors are responsible for this, the most important is the advanced stage at which patients are diagnosed. Coupled with the poor diagnosis, only 20% of patients eligible for initial surgical resection. The tumor biology of pancreatic cancer is such that even after surgery, the disease recurs, metastasizes and becomes resistant to both chemotherapy and radiation therapy, with patients ultimately succumbing to the disease. Therefore, there is an unmet clinical need and incentive for developing more suitable and specific anti-STAT3 inhibitors that can provide an effective and alternative treatment of pancreatic cancer in patients over the currently available options of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. About Singh Biotechnology Singh Biotechnology (SBT) is a start-up biotech organization established in 2014 which is in the business of discovering and developing unique and proprietary therapeutic single domain antibodies (sdAbs) for the treatment of a variety of cancers, autoimmune and ophthalmic diseases by leveraging our novel technology platform. Using this technology platform, SBT has been able to generate therapeutic sdAbs that specifically target intracellular molecules of interest, which are mutated, over expressed, or play an important role in the pathogenesis of disease(s). Currently SBT has one pre-IND stage program for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and several programs in various stages of pre-clinical development for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), age-related macular degeneration (ADM), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, prostate cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), sarcoma, and glioblastoma. SBT is targeting to file an IND for TNBC in early 2017. Singh Biotechnology is a privately held company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For additional information visit: http://www.singhbiotechnology.com Contacts: Sunanda Singh, M.D., Ph.D. Founder & CEO Singh Biotechnology ssingh(at)singhbiotechnology(dot)com Ashutosh Parihar Vice President Research & Development Singh Biotechnology aparihar(at)singhbiotechnology(dot)com Icing Images announced today the company is excited to be exhibiting at this years International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE 2016). The expo is the largest event in the western hemisphere and scheduled for October 8 11, 2016 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Icing Images will have its premier design team onsite demonstrating its unique line of edible printers. The company also announced edible technologists and decorated chefs Chef Mike Terry and Chef Joshua Simpson and Cake Decorator Joyce Marcellus will be in the booth demonstrating amazing techniques and designs using Icing Images edible printers. Chef Mike Terry is a Certified Master Sugar Artist as well as an instructor from Ivy Tech specializes edible technology and in bakery merchandising and marketing. Chef Joshua Simpson, owner of Twisted Fig Cake Designs, is an executive pastry chef, baking and pastry professional currently residing in Nashville Tennessee. Both chefs are renowned in the baking industry. New to the Icing Images Team is Sugar Artist and Instructor Joyce Marcellus of Toxic Sweet Shop in California. Joyce is one of three sugar artists involved in the creation of Sweets University A site dedicated to teaching the fellow treat makers of the world! The first of its kind to bring together on one platform a diverse background of teachers. Come see Joyces unique talents. At Icing Images, we believe in providing bakers and bakeries of all sizes choices when it comes to selecting the an edible printing supply company which is best suited for their business, says Debbie Coughlin, founder of Icing Images. With the introduction of iPrint and iDesigns, we gave decorators not just the supplies but also the tools to print their photos and designs to meet their specific creative needs. Also appearing on behalf of Icing Images in the PFeil & Holing booth 1721 demonstrating edible printers and the versatile line of supplies will be Adam Starkey of Sugar Sugar Cake Studios and Josh Simpson who will demonstrate and explain to attendees the choice that bakeries have when it comes to the edible printing needs. The expo is ideal for networking with fellow decorators and small business owners. Icing Images invites you to visit the companys booth #11440. Icing Images inspires small businesses to create unique customized designs for any bakery item or need their customers may have. See a design from an Icing Images edible printer by visiting the companys YouTube channel: Youtube.com/IcingImages. We sell our products directly to our customers and eliminate the cost of a middle-man to distribute our products." Cliff Lowe, InSite Solutions Director InSite Solutions, LLC will be at the Shingo Manufacturing Summit in Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 19-21 as an exhibitor. InSite Solutions offers the best products in the industry to help companies achieve peak productivity. Floor markings, safety signs and visual cues are an integral part of a visual workplace. The Shingo Manufacturing Summit brings together a superlative panel of manufacturing leaders. The Summit offers a learning experience for mid-level managers, that enables them to make big transformations in their organizations using the principles of the Shingo Model. Smart, dedicated managers are critical for enterprise excellence. Experienced leaders serve as keynote speakers and in break-out sessions participants can join the discussion. InSite Solutions is looking forward to networking with participants who are serious about finding ways to implement a more efficient work flow and use the best products on the market to reach their goals. And, InSite Solutions will debut its 5S online interactive game to Shingo Summit participants. This cool game is fun to play and tests your organizing skills by adhering to Lean and 5S practices. Come by our booth and see if you can beat our scores. InSite Solutions director, Cliff Lowe said the company is looking forward to introducing its products and technology to Summit participants and demonstrating how using the best products on the market can make a big difference in business bottom-lines. As manufacturing companies seek to be more productive and compete in the global market, learning about tools to increase productivity and reduce waste is a high priority among the participants at the Shingo Summit, Lowe said. InSites flagship product, Superior Mark floor tape, is a patented material that has become popular in manufacturing environments. Superior Mark tape is a proprietary heavy-duty rubber material that makes it easy to get a plant or shop floor organized. InSite Solutions produces Superior Mark tape and other products at its facility in Wake Forest, N.C., and sells directly to customers via its ecommerce website, stop-painting.com. We get to know our clients, always provide superlative customer service and offer top-notch products we design and make ourselves, said Lowe. About InSite Solutions, Inc.: InSite Solutions, LLC (DBA Stop-painting.com) is a leading manufacturer of indoor and outdoor marking tapes and signs. These products are alternatives to painting concrete floors and pavement. InSite Solutions, LLC offers thousands of traffic control and industrial safety supplies on its ecommerce website, http://Stop-Painting.com. About the Shingo Institute Manufacturing Summit: The Shingo Institute Manufacturing Summit will be held Sept. 19-21 in Knoxville, Maryland. Over 400 participants will gather and hear keynote speeches from industry leaders like Sam MacPherson from the Lean Leadership Academy, Kenneth Snyder from the Shingo Institute and manufacturing CEOs, Dan Tracy and Karl Wadensten. Breakout sessions will be held with an even larger slate of expert speakers and industry leaders. DTN/The Progressive Farmer logo In seven years of tracking producers attitudes about their economic situation and prospects, producer confidence has never been worse, said DTN Editor-In-Chief Greg Horstmeier. Bad has become the new normal as ag producer confidence continues its downward spiral after setting yet another all-time low, according to the latest DTN/The Progressive Farmer Ag Confidence Index (ACI). Overall producer confidence has fallen dramatically the past year. In that time, it plunged from a score of 98.2 to a record low of 71.9 in August. The value of 100 is neutral. Values above 100 indicate optimism, while values below signify pessimism. In seven years of tracking producers attitudes about their economic situation and prospects, producer confidence has never been worse, said DTN Editor-In-Chief Greg Horstmeier. The confidence index, which surveyed 500 crop and livestock producers between Aug. 9-23, measures their sentiments on their overall agriculture sector impressions. Producers also rate current and long-term input prices and net farm income to gauge their attitudes toward the present situation and future expectations. Since 2010, DTN/The Progressive Farmer has conducted the ACI three times a year before planting, before harvest and after harvest. The combination of low commodity prices, high input costs and low-income projections have producers feeling more pessimistic about their economic situation than ever before. Harvest time is usually a season of optimism for ag producers, but not this year, said Horstmeier. Many producers will need record crops just to break even given todays rising production costs. Earlier this month, USDA projected record corn and soybean production of 15.1 billion bushels and 4.2 billion bushels, respectively. Producers attitudes for the present situation dropped sharply over the past year from an optimistic score of 105.2 to index all-time low of 56.0. Producers expectations for the future remain pessimistic but did not vary as much as other index scores, falling from 94.6 last August to 80.7. Our previous index research indicated that producers attitudes trended neutral-to-optimistic for their present situation and pessimistic for the future, said Horstmeier. Thats now flipped with producers now more pessimistic for the current situation and optimistic for the future. Horstmeier said this trend change is the result of the declining prices and rising costs that followed multiple years of high commodity prices. Producers knew the good times couldnt continue so they were pessimistic regarding the future. As those conditions changed, producers have become gloomier about their current situation but now appear hopeful things will turn around over the next 12 months, he explained. Other key ACI findings include: The overall indexes for producers in the Midwest (58.5), Southeast (77.8) and Southwest (84.6) remain in the pessimistic range. Driven by low market prices, producers in the large row crop regions of the Midwest (31.6) and Southeast (89.4) remain pessimistic about their present economic situation, whereas producers in the Southwest (107.1), where specialty crops play a factor, are optimistic. With prices falling for most livestock products especially dairy, livestock producer confidence continues its dramatic slide from 107.1 last August to now 63.6, with their present situation at 61.6 and future expectations at 64.5. 40 percent of producers consider net farm income as bad, and 55 percent said it will get worse over the next year. 39 percent of producers surveyed rate input prices as bad, with 57 percent saying that input prices will not improve in the next 12 months. Four times as many producers expect to see input costs, particularly for seed, get worse than get better, said Horstmeier. Land costs show signs for improvement, and producers recently have encountered favorable fertilizer costs. Which leaves chemicals and seed as major cost-reduction targets for crop producers. Horstmeier indicated that producers are extremely hesitant to commit to any 2017 crop expenses right now. He says seed suppliers are reviewing their pricing models and may need to make deeper-than-usual discounts and offer better financing terms to get crop producers to make commitments. Agribusiness Confidence Index Agribusiness confidence has held rather steady over the past year, despite many producers cutting input costs. In fact, agribusinesses feel better about current conditions. According to the latest DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agribusiness Confidence Index, which measured the sentiments of 100 agribusinesses Aug. 15-19, agribusiness confidence remains pessimistic but improved slightly from 88.7 a year ago to now 90.6. Unlike producers, agribusinesses are still optimistic about their present economic situation, which had a value of 105.6 though it fell from 111.4 in August 2015. This is somewhat surprising, but it is likely due to the fact that farmers still need to invest in inputs, though they are being more cautious about purchases. Historically, the Agribusiness Index has been more neutral, with smaller swings to the optimistic or pessimistic sides, than for farmers, Horstmeier said. In addition, agribusiness expectations for the future improved slightly from 72.5 last August to 79.7 last month. Cash from the 2015 farm programs has started to flow to producers, Horstmeier said, which has brightened the outlook for some agribusinesses. For more on the DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agriculture/Agribusiness Confidence Index, visit DTNPF.com. Follow DTN/The Progressive Farmer on Twitter at @DTNPF or on Facebook at facebook.com/dtnprogressivefarmer. # # # About DTN/The Progressive Farmer DTN/The Progressive Farmer is revolutionizing the agriculture industry with its game-changing agricultural information solutions and market intelligence that enable customers to actively and effectively manage their businesses. The companys insightful, independent content along with proprietary business management tools and in-depth market analysis empower better decision making from todays forward-looking agricultural producers, agribusiness leaders and commodity market traders. For the latest editorial, weather and market information or more on all DTN/The Progressive Farmer services, visit dtnpf.com. Follow DTN/The Progressive Farmer on Facebook at facebook.com/DTNProgressiveFarmer and on Twitter at @DTNPF. Delaware County full-service law firm Raffaele Puppio is pleased to announce that family law attorney Tiffany A. Shoemaker has accepted an invitation to join the Doris Jonas Freed Matrimonial American Inn of Court. Shoemaker is a family law attorney who represents clients in various stages of litigation, including legal analysis of high income and complex assets in divorce and support cases. The American Inns of Court bring together attorneys, judges, law school professors and law school students from across the nation to improve the practice and professionalism of law. Each of the more than 350 Inns nationwide is locally chartered and operated. The Doris Jonas Freed Matrimonial Inn is composed of 85 members from the greater Philadelphia area who strive to restore and maintain civility, professionalism and ethics in the practice of family law. A graduate of the Widener University School of Law, Shoemaker focuses her practice on complex family law matters including divorce, equitable distribution, abuse protection, support, custody and adoption. Before joining Raffaele Puppio, she served as Director of the Crime Victims Law Project in Media, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to crime victims in Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Bucks counties. About Raffaele Puppio Raffaele Puppio is one of the largest and most established full-service law firms in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Attorneys within the firm are known for their legal prowess among the bench and bar in Delaware County, having decades of experience representing school districts, municipalities, businesses and individual clients, helping to solve legal problems while avoiding future legal issues. The attorneys provide sound legal counsel in the areas of education law, government and municipal services, family law, general litigation, personal injury, commercial real estate and business transactions, elder law, estate administration and planning, and criminal law. The South Florida Real Estate School of the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI) will present Miamis Premier Real Estate Career Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, September 23 at Jungle Island. South Floridas top brokerage, mortgage, title and inspection companies will be exhibiting at the event to provide guidance to those looking to launch a real estate career. Admittance is free for real estate professionals and the general public. No registration is required. With so many real estate companies gathered in one venue, Miamis Premier Real Estate Career Fair is the place to be for those looking to become a real estate professional, said Richard H. Burch, the director of the South Florida Real Estate School. Brokers are hiring, so this is a great opportunity to learn about becoming a Realtor in one of Americas most dynamic markets. Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, DecoNova International Realty, Elite Sales Group, Florida Title and Trust, Keller Williams Miami & Miami Beach, Keller Williams Realty, The Keyes Company, Kurz Real Estate Corp., La Rosa Realty, MAX Home Inspections, New Miami Realty Corp., Piquet Realty, Real Estate Sales Force (RESF ), Real Living First Service Realty, Realty World South Florida, Square One Realty Group, LLC, Supreme Title & Escrow, Terrabella Realty, Universal Mortgage & Finance, VanDyk Mortgage, VIP Florida Brokers LLC, and Weichert Realtors Best Beach Real Estate will be exhibiting at Miamis Premier Real Estate Career Fair. Current real estate licensees who attend the free career fair will receive a $50 discount off the state required 72-hour broker license course. A drawing for a free South Florida Real Estate School license course will be held at the conclusion of the fair. The South Florida Real Estate School, which is Floridas largest and most recognized real estate school, is committed to providing state-of-the-art real estate education to the local community. Created in 2013, the South Florida Real Estate School has educated thousands of students in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties. The South Florida Real Estate School boasts stellar state-licensed instructors, who are also practicing professionals. The school offers convenient locations and competitive pricing. The South Florida Real Estate School offers courses at six South Florida locations: Miami Springs, Coral Gables and Northwestern Dade in Miami-Dade County; East Broward-DCOTA and West Broward- Sawgrass in Broward County; and Jupiter in Palm Beach County. Pre- and post-license state real estate courses are offered in English and Spanish. All school locations feature state-of-the-art facilities with dual-screen presentations. Day and evening classes available. For more information on the South Florida Real Estate School, call (305) 468-7068, email Info(at)SFRESchool(dot)com or visit http://www.SFREschool.com. About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 96 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents more than 42,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S., and has official partnerships with 137 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.miamire.com ### MyWebGrocer, the leading provider of eCommerce and digital marketing solutions to the grocery and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries, announces that Albertsons Companies, the second largest food and drug retailer in the United States will leverage additional software modules in MyWebGrocers Digital Experience Platform to enable the companys eCommerce strategy at Jewel-Osco, Shaws, United, ACME Market and Star Market. MWGs eCommerce solution will allow the company to ramp up the launch of click-and-collect and delivery options for customers across Chicago, New England, Philadelphia and West Texas markets. We wanted to offer customers an integrated digital experience that leveraged an experienced provider and would bring our eCommerce offering to market quickly, while still providing a best-in-class user experience, said Shane Sampson, Chief Marketing & Merchandising Officer at Albertsons Companies. Our team first selected MyWebGrocers software and services in February 2012 to power our digital channel with shopping trip planning features and digital circular capabilities, so expanding our work with them to include the Digital Experience Platform makes sense for us. Established in 1999, MyWebGrocer has evolved alongside grocery and CPG trends to emerge as an industry leader. Deep market expertise, the Digital Experience Platform and a full suite of eCommerce offerings make MyWebGrocer the single marketplace provider of verticalized services across a variety of platforms for grocers and CPG brands alike. We have had the pleasure of supporting the evolution of Albertsons Companies digital experience alongside their rapid growth, said Eric Healy, President of MyWebGrocer. We are pleased that Albertsons Companies continues to trust our technology, media services capabilities and digital grocery experts to keep them at the vanguard of the digital grocery revolution. To learn more about how MyWebGrocer is helping leading brands strategize, plan and integrate their eCommerce experiences, visit http://mywebgrocer.com. About Albertsons Companies Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with both a strong local presence and national scale. The company operates stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 19 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. Albertsons Companies is dedicated to helping people across the country live better lives. In 2015 alone, with the help of generous customers, Albertsons Companies and the Albertsons Companies Foundation gave more than $270 million in food and financial support to the more than 2,300 communities they serve, improving the lives of millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities, and veterans outreach. Albertsons Companies is committed to making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. About MyWebGrocer MyWebGrocer offers the only complete Digital Experience Platform for grocers and CPG brands. The platform powers every interaction to attract, engage, transact with and retain grocery shoppers through digital offerings ranging from planning and shopping platforms to mobile and social tools. The company also offers opportunities for consumer packaged goods brands looking to reach consumers with relevant advertising, promotions and offers throughout their grocery path to purchase. Founded in 1999, MyWebGrocer manages digital solutions for more than 130 retailers across the globe, representing more than 10,000 stores, and 500+ major CPG brands. For more information, please visit http://www.MyWebGrocer.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. With the FlexTT5 for Panasonic, were giving a whole new group of photographers access to the PocketWizard family of products and opening up unlimited possibilities in their work. PocketWizard engineers have made this possible, noted Karen Marshall, CEO LPA Design, Inc., manufacturers of PocketWizard brand products, the world leader in reliable wireless control of cameras, flash lighting and light meters, developed the first TTL radio system specifically for Panasonic s mirrorless cameras. Panasonic photographers can now take advantage of PocketWizards patented wireless TTL, HSS and HyperSync technology, enabling them to be more creative in every lighting setting. We have been developing a TTL radio system for Panasonics mirrorless gear, specifically the GH4 which is targeted towards professional photographers. Now at last, we have optimized the PocketWizard TTL operating system specifically for their cameras and flashes, states Steve Padnos, Senior Firmware Engineer and Project Manager. The benefits of off-camera flash are impactful and dynamic. PocketWizard is the global leader in wireless triggering, range and reliability with patented technologies engineered into every radio. With the FlexTT5 for Panasonic, GH4 photographers can now trigger any number of remote flashes without line of site limitations. HSS with Panasonic DMW-FL360L and DMW-FL580L speedlights will allow for a full range of sync speeds up to 1/8000- often overpowering bright sunlight in outdoor settings. Studio flash is easily incorporated into a lighting set up with PocketWizards HyperSync technology, which allows photographers to shoot at higher sync speeds, stop action and control both ambient light and flash at the same time. With the FlexTT5 for Panasonic, were giving a whole new group of photographers access to the PocketWizard family of products and opening up unlimited possibilities in their work. PocketWizard engineers have made this possible, noted Karen Marshall, CEO of LPA Design. PocketWizard is currently developing a remote camera cable which will allow Panasonic photographers to trigger a remote camera with their FlexTT5 or any other PocketWizard radio. At release, the PocketWizard FlexTT5 for Panasonic is currently TTL compatible with the Lumix GH4 camera and DMW-FL360L and DMW-FL580L flashes. Compatibility with other Panasonic camera and flash models will be offered through firmware updates. The FlexTT5 for Panasonic is compatible with existing PocketWizard transceivers including the Plus IV and Plus III in manual trigger mode. It also communicates with all PocketWizard-enabled photo gear including select Profoto, Dynalite, Norman and Photogenic flash systems and Sekonic light meters in manual mode. The FlexTT5 for Panasonic will be on display in the Panasonic booth at the Photokina trade fair in Cologne, Germany from September 20-25, 2016. There will be a daily 15 to 20 minute presentation in the Panasonic booth for the duration of the show. Any press interested in learning more about the product are either encouraged to attend this presentation or contact heather(at)pocketwizard(dot)com to set up an appointment to learn more about the new FlexTT5. The PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver for Panasonic will be available at PocketWizard Authorized dealers across the globe at the end of October, 2016. Photographers will have the option of purchasing individual radios or a set of two. The US MAP price of a single FlexTT5 for Panasonic radio will be $186.00 and a set of two radios which includes a PocketWizard G-Wiz Trunk bag will come in at $299.00 US MAP. About Karen L. Marshall Karen L. Marshall is the CEO of LPA Design, the parent company of PocketWizard brand wireless flash triggers. She joined LPA in December 2015 to lead the company in its next chapters of innovation and success in meeting the needs of photographers around the globe. She has spent her career operating at the intersection of technology, telecommunications and media. About PocketWizard Incorporating robust radio technology, PocketWizard radio triggers exceed the demands of the professional and serious amateur photographer with durability, ease of use, advanced capabilities and legendary reliability. PocketWizard products, including the PLUS IV, PLUS III, PLUSX, MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 are made by and distributed throughout the USA by LPA Design, based in South Burlington, Vermont and sold by distributors around the world. # # # Contact: USA Marketing & International Sales Heather Ambrose LPA Design 802.658.0038 heather(at)pocketwizard(dot)com Media Relations Steven Rosenbaum S.I.R. Marketing Communications, Inc. 631.757.5665 sir(at)sironline(dot)com Bureau of Automotive Repair Defense Our mission is to make life easier for station owners and technicians involved in the automotive repair and SMOG check industry in California. Automotive Defense Specialists, a California law firm of attorneys defending against Bureau of Automotive Repair citations, accusations, and letters at http://automotivedefense.com/, is proud to announce the publication of a resource list for station owners and technicians of official Bureau of Automotive Repair resources. Our mission is to make life easier for station owners and technicians involved in the automotive repair and SMOG check industry in California," explained attorney William Ferreira of Automotive Defense Specialists. This quick post to our blog cuts through the fog of information on the Bureau of Automotive Repair website, giving just those assets that are important to station operators and/or technicians as opposed to the general public. To read the post, visit http://automotivedefense.com/2016/08/23/bureau-of-automotive-repair-resources-for-station-owners-technicians/. Station owners, technicians, and other interested parties can learn about the Bureau of Automotive Repair resources. However, those facing some sort of dispute or issue with respect to California's Bureau of Automotive Repair are urged to reach out for a consultation. Information on William Ferreira, for example, can be found at http://automotivedefense.com/about/williamferreira/. Information Overload and the Bureau of Automotive Repair It's no secret that station owners and technicians who work in the California's automobile repair industry, including smog check services, have little to no free time. It is very important for them to stay on the job, and generate billable time, and it's difficult for them to keep up to date with announcements and regulatory changes coming out of Sacramento. Indeed, when they receive a citation, accusation, or other type of formal regulatory correspondence from the Bureau of automotive repair, they are often befuddled as to what it means, and how best to respond. They often head straight to the Bureau of Automotive Repair website, which, which while not terrible for a government website, can be difficult to navigate, especially as it mixes information for the general public with information for technicians and station operators. By providing this handy list of resources that are of interest to technicians and station operators, Automotive Defense Specialists is using the power of its blog to make life easier for those harried repair technicians and station owners who would like to get back to the job of keeping California's air as clean as possible. About Automotive Repair Specialists Automotive Repair Specialists is a top law firm representing auto repair facilities, SMOG check stations, and technicians in every facet of their legal needs including accusations from the Bureau of Auto Repair. The company offers free phone consultations to auto shops, mechanics, technicians and others who are facing disciplinary actions from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair. Web. http://automotivedefense.com/ Tel. (415) 392-2886 MHB offers six annual conferences - in Brussels, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Tel Aviv, where over 1000 future parents receive guidance on ethical surrogacy practices Representatives of LGBT associations from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy will discuss the limited fatherhood options gay Europeans have, and join MHBs call for ethical and effective surrogacy solutions in Europe. Past News Releases RSS Men Having Babies Joined Leading... Men Having Babies' Gay... Brussels Conference Offers European... After a successful conference in May 2015 that attracted prospective gay fathers from all over Europe, the nonprofit organization Men Having Babies (MHB) is holding on Sept. 24-25 the second Brussels Conference on Parenting Options for European Gay Men. More than 200 men from 12 countries have already secured their participation, and only standby tickets are available. The large number of prospective fathers that come to our conferences clearly demonstrates that there is a strong yearning among gay men in Europe to become parents, but who virtually have no legal options available in their own countries said Anthony Brown, MHBs board chairman. The 2015 conference received a considerable amount of public attention though not all of it was positive. We were aware of how sensitive the subject is, however, we were surprised by the misinformation and hyperbole in some of the media coverage. A major Belgian newspaper actually claimed that we are selling babies, which is untrue and utterly ridiculous, said Ron Poole-Dayan, MHBs executive director, who is himself a gay father of teenagers, born with the help of a surrogate. Based on what we heard from some journalists and politicians, there is a lot work to do in Europe, said Marc Faber from the Dutch LGBT association Meer dan Gewenst. In fact, MHB is advocating for stringent ethical standards in surrogacy, and calls for legislation in Europe that will eliminate the need for prospective parents to travel to other countries in order to build their families. At the opening session of the conference (and at a press briefing earlier that day), representatives of LGBT associations from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy will discuss the currently limited fatherhood options gay Europeans have, and will join MHBs call for ethical and effective surrogacy solutions in Europe. MHBs position is based on a new Framework for Ethical Surrogacy, which is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew. The framework was developed with the assistance of an advisory committee comprised of surrogate mothers, two of whom will speak at the conference. Several LGBT partnering organizations in the USA and Europe have already endorsed it or adopted similar positions, including the organizations represented at the conference. Furthermore, private clinics or agencies that do not abide by the baseline ethical protocols are not allowed to participate at MHBs conferences. In particular, the organizers would like to stress the following: 1. Surrogacy can be a beautiful thing if it is done ethically, as a non-commercial act of support between fully consenting human beings (even if the surrogates get compensated), and while protecting the safety and rights of all involved parties. 2. We support regulation of surrogacy, and think it would be best if the intermediaries (surrogacy agencies) are not for-profit organizations. 3. We think that the donors and surrogates should be compensated for the risk, effort and inconvenience associated with their contribution. This in itself does not make the act commercial. We think that the compensation should not be tied to specific outcomes (hence it is not buying anything) and should not be market-driven. 4. We also think the compensation should be limited by law, to avoid undue enticement due to unreasonably large compensations. We feel this will reduce the likelihood that candidates will choose egg donation or surrogacy in the absence of sufficient altruistic motivation, and in circumstance that may lead to adverse long term medical or psychological outcomes. 5. It would be best if surrogacy can be done domestically. We know from experience that when the law forces people to go abroad it makes it harder to establish meaningful relationships with the surrogates and their families, and adds needless cultural and financial obstacles. "We do not accept the American model without criticism, said Poole-Dayan. "We work hard to encourage legislation in the USA and Europe to follow these guidelines. However until that happens, we support the right of prospective parents to seek the help of ethically reputable providers that can help them today, and we want to guide them how to be more mindful of the ethical options they currently have. This is why we organize conferences wherever our members ask us to come. We currently have six annual events - in Brussels, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Tel Aviv. MHB helps its members with information, financial assistance and guidance on ethical surrogacy practices." MHB is a nonprofit organization, not a company, stressed Brown. While we were founded in NY, we now have board members and staff in various locations, and our membership includes about 5000 current and future gay parents worldwide, among them 1400 are from Europe. The 2016 Brussels conference will be held at a larger venue and in an expanded format, and will once again bring together community activists, medical and legal experts, parents and surrogate mothers. On the second day of the conference (Sunday 25 September) several workshops and panels will provide peer advice on surrogacy and adoption of children from the USA. Attendees will learn about finding and choosing professionals to help in the process, and about financial assistance through MHBs Gay Parenting Assistance Program (GPAP). GPAP annually provides prospective fathers who cannot afford the expenses involved with becoming parents with over a million dollars worth of cash grants, discounts and free services for surrogacy and adoption in the USA. Since the last conference in Brussels, MHB strengthened its ties with several European partners and started accepting applicants from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and the UK to GPAP. We received about 40 applications from Europeans, and 21 have been accepted, said A.J. Edge, MHBs director of operations and finance. We also received requests from men in Germany, Sweden and Denmark, and are in the process of making arrangements to include them as well. While the conference is primarily aimed at gay men, the organizers stress that non-gay prospective parents are welcome and will no doubt highly benefit from attending as well. Indeed, It is important to say that while surrogacy is often the only way gay men can form autonomous families (since adoption is often illegal or not widely available), it is not exclusively a 'gay issue, said Poole-Dayan. "Most of the people who receive the help of surrogates are still heterosexuals but they are less visible and public about it than gay couples. With uncertainty the new certainty,' we want delegates to hear from top economic strategists who can help them see beyond the reactive short-term, and grasp the most critical changes on the horizon that will transform the world and the wellness market. The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) today announced that four high-profile European economists will be keynote presenters at the conference taking place from October 17-19 in Kitzbuhel, Austria. With this years Summit having a powerful focus on the future of wellness, David Bosshart, CEO of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute; Barbara Kolm, director of the Austrian Economics Center; Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Associate Professor at Oxford and co-editor of the World Happiness Report; and Thierry Malleret, co-founder of The Monthly Barometer, will analyze the key economic, geopolitical, social, technological and environmental trends now unfolding that will radically change our world, and re-write the wellness concept and market in the future. With uncertainty the new certainty (i.e., Brexit, new waves of terrorism and political populism, lightning-fast technology and climate change), we want delegates to hear from top economic strategists who can help them see beyond the reactive short-term, and grasp the most critical changes on the horizon that will transform the world and the wellness market, said Susie Ellis, GWS chairman and CEO. These are provocative and prescient thinkersand I encourage delegates to fasten their seatbelts. ABOUT THE KEYNOTES David Bosshart, PhD (Switzerland) Bosshart heads up the European think tank, the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute for Economic and Social Studies, which specializes in trend, economic, retail and social research. His keynote that kicks off the Summit, Wellness 2030: From Old-Fashioned Industrial Romance to Data Buddhism, will provide some indication of why he has been dubbed the brains of Europe. Bosshart will outline massive shifts coming (and already underway) because of ever more pan-connected data, and how this explosion will usher in profound changes in everything from geographical boundaries, to the perception of wealth, to what constitutes individual and collective wellbeing, to the very concept of reality requiring entirely new strategies for both individuals and businesses to thrive. Barbara Kolm, PhD (Austria) Director of the Austrian Economics Center and president of the Friedrich A. V. Hayek Institute, both international think tanks, Kolm (one of the few to have predicted Brexit) publishes economic analyses, and provides governments with expertise on budgets and structural reforms. Her keynote will explore crucial macro-economic developments now brewing across Europe, with a special focus on how the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and pensions mean current publicly funded models will not survive. And how this coming reality will give rise to a host of new, private, entrepreneurial models (and incentives for preventative health) with serious implications for the wellness industry. Jan-Emmanuel de Neve, PhD (UK) Associate Professor of Economics and Strategy at Said Business School, University of Oxford; co-editor of the next World Happiness Report; deputy principal investigator for the ESRC What Works Centre for Wellbeing; and a research advisor to the Gallup Organization, De Neves work lies in behavioral economics and political economy, with the underlying theme being the study of human wellbeing. He will present on new ways of measuring happiness/wellbeing/wellness from an economic perspective, why this project is so important, what the real drivers of human wellbeing are, and the objective benefits of driving more subjective wellbeing in the world. He will also explain how this new qualitative data is spurring more policymakers (from the UAE to the UN) to put happiness and wellbeing at the center of policy a clear opportunity for the wellness industry. Thierry Malleret, PhD (France) The co-founder and primary author of The Monthly Barometer, a predictive analysis for private investors and influential decision-makers, Malleret also founded the Global Risk Network at the World Economic Forum. His keynote will provide a crash course on the most pressing economic, social, geopolitical and environmental trends underway globally (i.e., the surge in wealth inequality, political populism, uncontrolled immigration, climate change and rising seas, etc.) to create a global risk/opportunity map: identifying which regions/nations face the biggest threats to their economies and wellness and wellness travel markets and which look to have the brightest, most stable futures. Meet the Economists: On the evening of Summit Day 1, delegates can join an intimate, fireside Kaffee Conversation with Bosshart, Kolm, De Neve and Malleret for more insight on everything from how key economic trends will impact their particular market, to where the EU and Brexit is headed. The Global Wellness Summit attracts leaders from every sector of the wellness industry: tourism, spa, education, beauty, fitness, nutrition, finance, environment, medicine, architecture, workplace wellness, wellness communities and technology. To learn more about the 2016 conference, visit: http://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/2016-summit. To register, click here. About the Global Wellness Summit: The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) is an invitation-only international gathering that brings together leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of the $3.4 trillion global wellness industry. Held in a different location each year, the consistently sold-out event attracts delegates from all over the world. Summits have taken place in the U.S., Switzerland, Turkey, Bali, India, Morocco and Mexico City, and the 2016 Summit will be held in Kitzbuhel, Tyrol, Austria from October 17-19. With the leadership put in place, the commitment to growth, and the values of Lowers Risk Group as a whole, it was an easy decision to join the Proforma Screening team. Employment screening company, Proforma Screening Solutions, welcomes Joe Buerlen to the team as a national account executive. Buerlen previously worked as a regional sales manager for a local Ohio medical device distribution company. He also brings 10 total years of pre-employment screening experience to the table. First as a national account manager for a firm in Cleveland Ohio where he earned the Sales Leadership Award in 2011. Second as director of sales for another Ohio based pre-employment screening company. When asked about becoming a part of Proforma Screening Solutions, Buerlen says, Proforma Screening Solutions is set to reinvent the background screening industry. Whether its our commitment to technology, or our underlining emphasis on integrity in everything we do, I look forward to bringing Proformas screening solutions to companies of all sizes. With the leadership put in place, the commitment to growth, and the values of Lowers Risk Group as a whole, it was an easy decision to join the Proforma Screening team. When it comes to employment screening services, Proforma Screening Solutions does more than just generate a simple background report. The team at Proforma implements accurate, efficient, and cost-effective background screening services, all while maintaining compliance with hiring laws and regulations. Tony Almario, the Vice President of Sales for Proforma Screening Solutions, remarked, We are excited to bring Joe to our growing sales team. His deep experience and subject matter expertise align with our growth and technology strategies. Joe will be an integral part of our team, bringing enterprise-class employment screening systems to our growing client base. About Proforma Screening Solutions Headquartered just outside the nations capital in Purcellville, Virginia, Proforma Screening Solutions is a pioneering firm in the development of cost-effective employment screening technology and services to help employers make better hiring decisions. Proforma provides useful information from public and private data sources at an affordable price. As a unit of the Lowers Risk Group, Proforma Screening Solutions has access to a full range of risk mitigation practices to offer clients a single point for total enterprise risk management. For more information and to get started, visit http://www.proformascreening.com or call (866) 276-6161. Project Concern International (PCI) and Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon (PRRR) announced a partnership to expand the fight against cervical cancer by providing screening and treatment for women in remote communities in Africa. The life-saving partnership will launch in Zambia to screen and treat even more women for cervical cancer and looks to expand this live-saving work in more countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Cervical cancer is the most-common cancer and the second-biggest cancer killer of women in sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for approximately 57,000 deaths each year. Women with HIV are five times more likely to develop cervical cancer than those who are HIV-negative. Thanks to advances in treatment, more women are now living with HIV, but are at much greater risk of dying of preventable and treatable cancers. What a tragedy to save a woman from AIDS, only to lose her to cervical cancer, said Celina Schocken, Chief Executive Officer of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon. Women in Africa do not seek health care in most cases, particularly preventative care, but whats unique about this partnership is PCIs mobile cancer screening program, taking health care to women where they are. The screening is simple, fast, and low-cost, and its the only opportunity many of these women will ever have to be screened. Combining HIV testing with screening and treatment for cervical cancer, especially through mobile outreaches in rural areas, is an effective and efficient approach to bringing life-saving services to women in Africa. Cervical cancer is largely preventable, because of its slow development, the early detectability of pre-cancerous lesions, and the ease of the single-visit Screen-and-Treat approach using visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy. The growing availability in Africa of the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV) will also reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in the years to come, as HPV causes most cases of the disease. Cervical cancer does not have to be a death sentence for women in Africa, and this unique partnership between PCI and Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon helps identify cervical cancer in its earliest stages before it can progress, said George Guimaraes, President and CEO of PCI. We are honored to partner with this incredible organization to scale-up the effort to reach more women with this life-saving service and provide a solid foundation for women to reach their full economic and social potential. Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon and PCI will work together to achieve the following: Educate communities about breast and cervical cancer; Vaccinate girls against HPV, the primary cause of cervical cancer; Screen women for breast and cervical cancer; Treat women for cervical pre-cancer; Provide access to life-saving care and treatment for women; and Train and equip public and private providers to screen for cancers. ### About PCI: Project Concern International is a global development organization that drives innovation from the ground up to enhance health, end hunger, and overcome hardship, resulting in measureable change in peoples lives. PCI works in 15 countries throughout Africa, Asia and the Americas, impacting the lives of more than 19 million people last year alone. For more information, visit http://www.pciglobal.org and follow @PCIGlobal on Twitter. ABOUT PINK RIBBON RED RIBBON: Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, an independent affiliate of the George W. Bush Institute, saves lives from cancer in countries where the need is greatest. A global organization powered by partnerships, PRRR has screened over 300,000 women for cervical cancer, and over 15,000 women for breast cancer. For more information, visit http://www.pinkribbonredribbon.org and follow @pinkredribbon on Twitter. Rockies Venture Club We have often found that female entrepreneurs are more efficient with the capital our investors put into a company. Rockies Venture Club (RVC) an angel investing group based out of Colorado closed two rounds of funding in the third quarter of 2016 bringing the group to fifteen deals closed in the last twelve months. Across RVCs investment portfolio, 55% of the companies that have received funding are led by female or minority founders. The world of Angel and Venture Capital investing is known to be highly homogeneous. In fact, according to the Center for Venture Research, Women-owned ventures accounted for 29.2% of the entrepreneurs that were seeking angel capital and 14.4% of these women entrepreneurs received an angel investment in 2015. This is especially surprising considering a recent study by the National Center for Women in Tech (NCWIT) who conducted a study of over 20,000 venture backed companies and showed that successful tech startups have twice as many women in leadership positions. When asked about this trend in the Clubs portfolio Rockies Venture Club Executive Director Peter Adams stated, RVC has always believed in empowering current and future female entrepreneurs. That is one of the reasons that we helped create the Biz Girls CEOs Accelerator program. Beyond that we have often found that female entrepreneurs are more efficient with the capital our investors put into a company. One of the two female led companies that the club funded in the last quarter was Silvernest. Silvernest is a unique roommate-matching service for boomers and empty nesters who have space to share. Targeting home owners aged 50-75, they have seen impressive 40% month-over-month growth. At the close of this seed round Silvernest was simultaneously accepted into the 500 Startups Accelerator. CEO Wendi Burkhardt states, Beyond a shadow of a doubt, working with the RVC team and investors added incredible value by making us stronger and better prepared us to engage with other qualified investors. Having RVC as a key investor opened the door to other interested investors and offered us a level of credibility that accelerated our funding process. With this funding round, Silvernest has a strong emphasis on growth, using the funds to accelerate rapid expansion and revenue generation through enhanced acquisition strategies and the development of a defined growth engine. Burkhardt again states, Future milestones for the company include a new product release, targeted/formal expansion into 3 additional markets, finalization of several strategic partnerships and a planned Series A raise in 2017. Rockies Venture Club looks forward to Silvernests continued success and hopes to work with many other strong female led companies in the future, states Adams. About the Rockies Venture Club: Rockies Venture Club is the oldest and one of the largest Angel Groups in the U.S.A., founded in 1985, with a mission is to advance economic development by actively connecting the most promising entrepreneurial companies with angel investors, venture capitalists, and other community members. The Club sees nearly 1,000 deals per year and is able to be highly selective in the companies that pitch and those that receive investment. Rockies Venture Club offers a HyperAccelerator program with six action packed, mentor driven days leading to complete venture capital readiness. Throughout the year, the group offers over 150 educational programs, mastermind groups, angel forums, and two major conferences for both investors and entrepreneurs each year. Contacts: Ian McConville: 303-870-6717 ian(at)rockiesventureclub.org Rockies Venture Club Program Manager Dave Harris: dave(at)rockiesventureclub.org Rockies Venture Club Director of Operations ### Stambaugh Ness (SN) has been named one of the Best Places to Work in PA for 2016. The awards program, created in 2000, is one of the first statewide programs of its kind in the country. The program is a public/private partnership between Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Pennsylvania State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Central Penn Business Journal. Stambaugh Ness President and Chief Executive Officer Steven Hake states, We are thrilled to receive this honor for a third consecutive year. The emphasis we place on our employees, from developing their strengths to supporting a healthy work-life balance is key to who we are as a firm. These efforts are intentional and we could not be happier to celebrate this acknowledgment of those efforts, together as a team. The survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Pennsylvania. Rankings will be revealed at the Best Places to Work in PA banquet on Thursday, December 1, 2016, at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster, PA. About Stambaugh Ness Stambaugh Ness is a CPA / Business & Technology Advisory firm serving clients nationally with a strategic focus on the architecture and engineering, construction, manufacturing, not-for-profit, and professional services industries. The firm is an independent member of the BDO Alliance USA, a nationwide association of independently owned local and regional accounting, consulting and service firms with similar client service goals. http://www.stambaughness.com Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? Managing cookies in your browser see what cookies you have got and delete them on an individual basis block third party cookies block cookies from particular sites block all cookies from being set delete all cookies when you close your browser X A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.Website use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google") to help analyse the use of this website. 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You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. More than 740 peopleincluding 141 authors, 162 booksellers, and 100 members of the publicattended the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Discovery Show in Savannah, Ga., this past weekend. The September 16-18 show saw a 25% increase over previous years, and of the 80 SIBA bookstores in attendance, 20 were either new stores or new owners. The shows exhibits, spread across the two conference rooms of the landmark DeSoto Hilton Hotel, drew exhibitors as diverse as David R, Godine from Boston, to Promontory Press from Vancouver, Canada. Kathryn Little, associative director of marketing for Macmillan childrens publishing said: Ive interacted with a lot of the southern booksellers over email and and met many of them at BEA and the Childrens Institute, so I was looking forward to a warm reception and strong book lovers. And it was true: everyone is so passionate and kind. And, as a northerner, I am really appreciating the southern hospitality. Its a very hospitable show and theres a lot of great energy, confirmed Eunice Sibrian, marketing and sales representative for Bublish, based in nearby Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Bublish, which provides author services to independent writers, was one of a handful of exhibitors catering to the self-publishing marketplace. Ingram, also had a program geared for the indie market; it ran an education seminar on Friday offering tips for interacting with self-published authors. The key message to booksellers was not to offer your time, or space, for free to self-published authors. You should charge for your time and any service you provide. Most self-published authors are willing to pay for itand if they are not, you dont want to do business with them, said Josh Floyd, key account sales manager for IngramSpark. Jessica Osborne, co-owner and manager of E. Shaver BooksellerSavannahs top independent bookstore, which was only 25 feet from the back door of the Hilton Hoteltold PW that it was "important for the New York publishers to see just how vibrant the community is here." SIBA executive director Wanda Jewell, who confirmed that the show was very busy, said she thought people found Savannah "really convenient, and enjoyed the city." Jewell also noted that it was a very emotional show, citing the continued debate about SIBAs announcement on Friday, that the Discover Show would move to March and take up permanent residence in Atlanta. Its gratifying to see that the booksellers are so committed to the organization. The topic of the move continued to be debated throughout the weekend. Many booksellers appeared open to the idea, but expressed disappointment in the way in which the decision was presented to themsuddenly and without warning. I am not at all pleased with the idea, said Sally Brewster, owner of Park Road Books in Charlotte, N.C. I dont think it will benefit us as booksellers." Brewster said that one issue is that "the fall lists arent likely to fully ready by the time of the show, and the publishers and reps are going to be distracted as [they are] preparing for their own sales conferences." Brewster also felt that Atlanta isn't a great location because it's "expensive and a bit generic." Doug Robinson of Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Ga., who is a SIBA board member, told PW that he was in no position to speak for the board as a whole, but as a bookseller felt the show would be especially convenient for him and his staff because they are local. And, for others, Robinson felt Atlanta is "a good airline hub." Nonetheless, he added: "I can see why [some] people might not want to do it as well. Both Brewster and Robinson agreed, though, that the matter might be discussed further by the board. At the very least, said Robinson, maybe we can try it for one year as an experiment, see how it goes, and decide after that. CHICAGO (AP) Chicago police announced Sunday that they will expand the use of body cameras to include all officers on patrol by 2018. Numbers of body cameras will increase by several thousand within the next two years so that every officer on patrol has access to the wallet-size cameras, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. "This expansion is a win-win for the public and for officers," he said, adding that their use should improve accountability and help build community trust. The department launched its body-cam pilot program in 2015 and it currently includes seven of 22 city police districts. Expanding it to the other districts will cost around $8 million, money that will come from the department's operating budget and from grants. Several disputed shootings and subsequent protests over the past year increased pressure on the department to find ways to make police more accountable, including by recording more officer interactions with the public. Some activists expressed concern that officers won't properly use the cameras, limiting their benefits. At least one officer's body camera didn't appear to be recording during the fatal July shooting of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal, raising questions about whether officers can switch them off intentionally. Johnson told reporters Sunday that the department is developing policies on the use of the cameras, which are turned on and off manually, saying the general rule is that officers activate them "when they come into contact with the public." "We are trying to get it right," he said. "(Officers) still deserve some amount of privacy during their day-to-day tasks." He said it takes some time to become acclimatized to using the equipment. "Since becoming superintendent, I've worn a body camera when I go out on patrol and I'm still kind of goofing up at times," he said. "It's not really complicated, but you have to become familiar with it." MOLINE -- Dave Coopman knows a thing or three about local history. The Moline man -- former president of the Rock Island County Historical Society -- has penned self-published books on the histories of local radio stations KSTT and WQUA and four books for Arcadia Publishing on Rock Island County, Davenports WOC AM-FM-TV, the Quad City International Airport and his latest, "Legendary Locals of Moline." A member of Moline's Second Alarmers, Mr. Coopman also serves on the Fall Flemish Fest planning committee and volunteered Sunday at the fourth-annual event at Stephens Park. "We try to keep that heritage alive," he said of Moline's strong Belgian history. He wore a cap displaying the flag of Belgium and the festival's red T-shirt sporting the flag's colors and a Flemish lion seal in the middle. "This has been an excellent day for it," he said of the fest. "We lucked out with the weather." On a warm, sunny Sunday, the free festival boasted live music, old-fashioned kids games, rolle bolle, lace-making demonstrations, pigeons, doves, Belgian draft horses, antique cars, fire engines, Bent River beers and Belgian waffles. The 100 festival T-shirts sold out during the three-hour event. "It's an opportunity to get the Center for Belgian Culture out to the general public," Mr. Coopman said. "A lot of people don't know there's rolle bolle not only here, but all over the Midwest," he said. "That was a huge sport in the old days. Some Belgians have heard of it, but have no idea how it's played. "It's heartening to see some of the younger people here. If nothing else, they like to look at the pigeons and enjoy having a waffle," he said. "It's neat they're experiencing it." Many Belgians left their country in the late 1800s for the Quad-Cities because of "lousy crops and no jobs," Mr. Coopman said. The area's farm implement, automobile and railroad industries provided many jobs, he said. "A lot of Belgians were craftsmen, carpenters, woodworkers, a lot of laborers and a lot of professional people," said Mr. Coopman, who has Belgian roots. "In a lot of cases, they had relatives or friends here. Like any ethnic group, they tended to go to the neighborhoods with like people." In Moline, that neighborhood is Olde Towne along 7th Street, where Stephens Park is. The Friends Circle Club -- at the corner of 7th Street and 18th Avenue -- offers a waffle breakfast with fruits from 8 to 11 a.m. the first Saturday of each month. On Sunday, Sandy Coopman served $4 waffles which could be topped with cinnamon, powdered sugar and chocolate syrup. She said the Hershey's is the preferred "to go" syrup in tin foil, since maple syrup is too drippy and messy. "We won't tell your stomach how many calories it is," Mrs. Coopman told one customer. "Everybody likes chocolate." Some people washed the waffles down with $5 beers from Moline-based Bent River Brewery. "A Belgian festival wouldn't be a festival without beer," Dave Coopman said. Last year, the Belgian brew Fat Tire was featured; on Sunday, it was a Czech pilsner. Mr. Coopman called Belgian-style beer more hoppy and fruity, and usually heavy. "When you drink our Belgian beer, you don't drink it like you would a Bud Light," he said. "You sip it, savor it." Ken DeNeve enjoyed a dark beer as he strolled around the festival with his three grandchildren. "I think it's neat," he said of his first time at the fest. Mr. DeNeve's 9-year-old granddaughter, Lily, said the ladies making lace "was pretty cool," and that the waffles "have a really good smell." Holly Jackson, a third-year volunteer at the fest, took credit for the weather. "The sun is shining because I'm here," said the city building and inspections employee. Her T-shirt selling partner, Terri Smith, said the city started this program to showcase the area and the Belgian culture. Mr. Coopman credited Rebecca Gall, who worked for the Moline Main Street program, for extensive research on Olde Towne and getting the event off the ground. The city ran the fest its first year. Since then, it's been operated by the Center for Belgian Culture at 1608 7th St., Moline, with help from volunteers and local sponsors. Earl Wendt, co-owner of Moline's Wendt Funeral Home, displayed some of his classic vehicles -- including a shiny red 1952 Cadillac; a '49 black Cadillac limousine formerly owned by Katherine Butterworth, a descendant of John Deere; and a '77 red-and-white ambulance with the Wendt name on the side, but never used by the funeral home. A former head of the local chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America, Mr. Wendt also owns a 1910 Model T in Deere green. "A lot of friends collect antique cars," he said. "It's sort of a cult, a great hobby. Everybody ought to get into it." DAVENPORT -- Some of the Quad-Cities' newest citizens celebrated the first U.S. Citizenship Honor Dinner Saturday night at the Islamic Center. The Muslim Community of the Quad Cities hosted the event, organized by the Quad Cities Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, that brought together people of many faiths and nationalities to celebrate a shared humanity that creates an inclusive and supportive community. Participants included naturalized citizens and guests from India, Rwanda, Mexico, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan and about a dozen other nations. Dr. Lisa Zaynab Killinger, president of the Muslim Community of the Quad Cities, offered tours of the mosque and prayer room. She also used the event to invite the community at large to ongoing potluck dinners -- "the United Nations of Food," as she termed it -- at 6:45 p.m. Fridays. Bob Babcock, a QCAIR board member, said he was inspired to host the dinner after attending a naturalization ceremony at the Federal Courthouse in Davenport. Its a joyful occasion, and the pride these citizens have in this country is inspiring," he said. "We are here to thank them for their contributions to society. QCAIR President Grant Curtis thanked the immigrants for choosing the U.S. as their new home. They can go anywhere, but they chose us," he said, "We should honor them. He also reviewed the 10 steps to naturalization, noting many are challenging for all citizens, such as civic participation, jury duty and defending the Constitution. One of the Quad-Cities' newest naturalized citizens, 16-year-old Shoaib Farooqui, told attendees it was pretty cool to become a naturalized citizen on Sept. 2. The Bettendorf High School junior, whose Indian family left Great Britain more than a decade ago, said he chose naturalization so he can feel at home in the U.S. He said he later hopes to study business and travel abroad when he goes to college. Exchange students also attended Saturday's event. Noor Al Mousa, of Saudi Arabia, and Noor Ul Ain, of Pakistan, now at Davenport schools, excitedly talked about making new friends, experiencing different cultures and being ambassadors for their countries. The young women plan to be in the Quad-Cities for a year. Saturday's keynote speaker, Ying Sa -- a Chinese immigrant and naturalized Canadian and U.S. citizen now living in Des Moines -- co-founded the Immigrant Entrepreneurs Summit, which helps immigrants start and be successful in business. So far, she has helped 872 Iowa businesses representing 41 countries. She said her best day was when she received her Green Card in the mail in a plain white envelope, though such an occasion seemed worthy of balloons and cake. She also said she was surprised the card wasnt green. The second best moment, she said, was becoming naturalized alongside 55 other people from 45 different countries. But Ying Sa also recalled being told to go back to her own country, saying the words hurt because she felt like she "belonged here. She encouraged the naturalized citizens to learn American history, culture and spirit, and to live with compassion. She also said they should be thankful for where they came from, and to be forgiving. The world is for you," she said. "Be proud, exercise your rights, create community and give, work, respect and have gratitude." QCAIR organizers said they hope the Honor Dinner grows every year. Were here to have a heart for our fellow human beings, no matter who they are and where they come from, said Mr. Curtis. QCAIR began five years ago to help refugees and immigrants integrate into the community by advocating for their needs through existing resources. Volunteers are welcome; for more information, visit qcair.org. The next naturalization ceremonies in the Rock Island and Davenport federal courthouses are planned for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 21. Police on Sunday identified the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man on a city street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Police said in a news release that Officer Betty Shelby fired the shot that killed Terence Crutcher on Friday and that she is on paid leave pending an investigation of the shooting. Officer Tyler Turnbough fired a stun gun at Crutcher, who died at a hospital following the shooting. It's unclear whether Turnbough remains on active duty. Police spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie previously said the shot was fired after the stun gun was used. MacKenzie did not immediately return a phone call for comment Sunday. Police Chief Chuck Jordan has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to help investigate the shooting, contacting the department through the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tulsa, according to an earlier news release. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately return a phone call Sunday for additional comment. MacKenzie has said the shooting occurred after one officer stopped to investigate an SUV stopped in the middle of a street and Crutcher approached the officer and another who had arrived to assist. MacKenzie has said Crutcher refused orders to put up his hands and was shot when he reached inside the SUV, which was his. Police have not said whether a weapon was found. Officials said that information, along with audio and video of the incident, will be released Monday. Crutcher's twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, told reporters Saturday that the family is heartbroken and she does not believe Crutcher was carrying a gun. "We just want answers, we want to know what happened, there's a lot of speculation, but there is one thing, one fact that I do know is that my brother was unarmed." She said her brother had left a class at Tulsa Community College when his SUV stalled in the street. A phone number listed in the name of Crutcher's father has been disconnected. The results of the investigation will be sent to Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, who will determine whether the shooting was justified. "It's obviously a very high-profile matter," Kunzweiler said Sunday, while declining to comment about the Crutcher case. "It's an ongoing investigation and my responsibly is to protect the integrity of that investigation until the report is in my office," Kunzweiler said. "It would be improper for me to comment." ESTERO, Fla. (AP) Hillary Clinton is accusing Donald Trump of giving "aid and comfort" to Islamic terrorists, declaring his anti-Muslim rhetoric helps the Islamic State group and other militants recruit new fighters. Trump is insisting the U.S. should "use whatever lawful methods are available" to get information from the Afghan immigrant arrested in this weekend's bombings. As Trump supporters at a packed rally in Florida shouted "Hang him!" the Republican presidential candidate mocked the fact that Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Afghanistan, would receive quality medical care and legal representation. "We must deliver a just and very harsh punishment to these people," he said. "These are enemies, these are combatants and we have to be tough, we have to be strong." Both candidates moved swiftly to capitalize on investigations into a weekend of violent attacks bombings in New York and New Jersey and stabbings at a Minnesota mall casting themselves as most qualified to combat terrorism at home and abroad. Clinton touted her national security credentials at a hastily arranged news conference outside her campaign plane, accusing Trump of using the incidents to make "some kind of demagogic point." Clinton and her team see her experience and what they say is her steady judgment as key selling points for her candidacy. On the campaign trail, she frequently invokes her role in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, describing to voters the tense atmosphere in the White House alongside President Barack Obama at that moment. But while much of the foreign policy establishment has rallied around Clinton, Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, promises to close U.S. borders and vows to aggressively profile potential terrorists have fueled his presidential bid. On Monday, he called for tougher policing, including profiling foreigners who look like they could have connections to terrorism or certain Middle Eastern nations. "This isn't just a matter of terrorism, this is also really a question of quality of life," he said. "We want to make sure we're only admitting people into our country who love our country." Pointing to her Monday morning comment that Trump's words give "aid and comfort" to Islamic extremists, his campaign said Clinton was accusing him of treason, going beyond the bounds of acceptable campaigning and trying to change the subject from her own failures. She insinuated that Islamic militants, particularly those affiliated with ISIS, are rooting for Trump to win the White House. She said, "We're going after the bad guys and we're going to get them, but we're not going to go after an entire religion." Trump agreed terrorists have a preference: They "want her so badly to be our president." Clinton met late Monday with the leaders of Egypt, Ukraine and Japan in New York City, where they gathered for the United Nations General Assembly. Trump met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Trump has tried to appear more statesmanlike as the November election approaches. Still, he suggested it's fine if some world leaders feel uneasy about him. "Well, maybe that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Right now the world has no respect for our country, they have no respect for our president, whatsoever," he said in an interview on Fox News. You know its a presidential election year when the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues late summer news releases where nearly half the ink touts the Obamas administrations past ag successes even as it announces actual news. On Aug. 1, the USDA issued just such a news release; 315 of its 635 words bragged about the White Houses latest example of USDAs ongoing efforts to knock down barriers to U.S. exports just as the past seven years have represented the strongest period in history for American agricultural exports ... totaling $911.4 billion ... And, oh, by the way, Brazil and the U.S. have agreed to a reopening of the Brazilian market to U.S. beef exports for the first time since 2003. It was an odd announcement for another reason, too: Neither major party presidential candidate, Republican Donald Trump nor Democrat Hillary Clinton, sees expanding free trade as an election-turning issue. In fact, both candidates spent more time at their respective nominating conventions running from the two biggest international trade deals on tap, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, than promoting or even explaining them. Candidates and conventioneers see free trade like free cake -- a small slice might be fine, but too much is definitely not good for you. To U.S. farmers and ranchers, however, free trade is the proverbial icing on that cake; in farm and ranch country its believed to be as important to success as soil and water. They point to the explosive growth of U.S. ag exports in the last generation to prove it. USDA numbers show total U.S. ag exports have risen from nearly $56 billion in 2000 to about $155 billion in 2014. Last year, ag exports dipped to $133 billion as global commodity prices weakened and the U.S. dollar strengthened. Still, 2015s net U.S. ag trade surplus-exports minus imports-weighed in at a highly profitable $19.5 billion. American voters, however, arent as convinced and they arent alone. A month ago, before either presidential nominee clammed up on trade, Politico reported that the European Unions almost automatic ratification of free trade deal with Canada -- once considered an easy and uncontroversial agreement -- was headed for the rocks. The root cause of the sudden reversal, explained Politico, was political upheaval and growing protectionism. A simpler, one-word explanation might be Brexit, the June 23 move by voters in Great Britain to exit the European Union and go it alone. This new push for national sovereignty can, to some extent, be traced to todays hard push for globalism and its ever-brooding stepchild, international trade deals. Current (but not ratified) agreements like the Canadian-EU trade deal, TPP, and TTIP contain broad new avenues for corporations to sue nations whose laws they believe harm corporate interests. Voters both here and abroad now see ideas like this as more anti-national than international, as more bad trade than protectionism. To them, retaining a national identity is more important than gaining access to new international markets. Whatever its called, its here and it has stopped the decades-long move to free (or at least freer) trade dead in its tracks. Following closely in those same tracks, however, are U.S. farmers and ranchers. Indeed, American agriculture is more than tied to trade. In Fiscal Year 2016, estimates USDAs Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S. farmers and ranchers will export $7.8 billion of corn, $5.1 billion of wheat, $17.7 billion of soybeans, $3.1 billion of cotton, $33.5 billion of horticulture products, and $25.4 billion worth of livestock, poultry, and dairy. In fact, ERS forecasts, total U.S. estimated ag exports, presently estimated at $124.5 billion, will account for nearly 30 percent of this years total farm and ranch gross cash sales of $415.7 billion. Thats a huge part of national economy riding on a topic that no one but USDA wants to talk about. September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and I would like to share some information with you. Because there is no widely used early detection test all women (and the men who love them) must be aware of the subtle symptoms, personal risk factors and diagnostic techniques for the best chance to survive this insidious and lethal disease. Hopefully, this information will also empower Quad-Cities women to become vigilant self-advocates for their health. One in 75 women reading this column will develop ovarian cancer, with an estimated 22,000 new diagnoses each year. As the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among American women, about 14,500 will die from it this year -- more than all other gynecologic cancers combined. Currently, less than 50 percent of those afflicted with ovarian cancer live beyond five years. Less than 15 percent of diagnoses are made in early stage when the survival rate is as high as 92 percent. These statistics are scary, but the good news is women can survive ovarian cancer if its detected early. Unfortunately, many women think a pap test screens for ovarian cancer (it doesnt) and women without ovaries cannot develop the disease (they can). At the NormaLeah Ovarian Cancer Initiative, were educating women about the disease in an effort to decrease the mortality rate. Both my mother (Norma) and my aunt (Leah) died from this disease. I started the NormaLeah Ovarian Cancer Initiative in order to create public awareness, promote early detection and support research for ovarian cancer which is often (needlessly) called a silent killer. We accomplish this mission through several programs. Our most well-known campaign, BEAT the BIG O, involves distributing thousands of cards that use the BEAT acronym to list the most common symptoms of the disease -- Bloating, Eating less/feeling fuller, Abdominal and/or back pain and Trouble with your bladder and bowels. These mirror-mountable cards serve as daily reminders for women to recognize changes in their normal habits. The RULE OUT! Ovarian Cancer Early Detection program reaches out to front-line health care professionals so they can recognize and diagnose the disease when its most treatable. Ovarian cancer is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms mimic many non-life threatening illness. Because 80 percent of women have never spoken to their doctor about the disease, we are opening a dialogue between women and their healthcare providers. Sisterly Advice Tea Chats, our newest program, are intimate conversations that educate women about ovarian cancer, how to recognize the subtle symptoms and assess their risk factors for the disease. They inspire women to seek medical evaluation, give them the necessary tools to talk to their doctors, and help them navigate tricky health insurance issues. Its important for women to assess their personal risk factors for ovarian cancer -- especially those with a family history of breast, ovarian or colon cancer -- and utilize active surveillance techniques. I inherited my mothers BRCA2+ genetic mutation and because of my family health history, opted for prophylactic surgery to reduce my risks. We urge woman who are experiencing symptoms or are at high risk to request diagnostic tests, including a CA125 blood test, transvaginal ultrasound and manual rectal-pelvic exam. If ovarian cancer is suspected, seeing a gynecologic oncologist will provide you with the best outcome. I appreciate the opportunity to empower Quad-Cities women. Please LIKE our Facebook page, visit our website at normaleah.org or call us at 309-794-0009 to learn more about the disease and how you can help us rise up against ovarian cancer. We also have openings for our Sisterly Advice Tea Chats and would love to speak to your group! Be well. In the wake of the recent embarrassingly political, 4-3 partisan decision by the Illinois Supreme Court Democratic majority to reject a proposed voter initiative to reduce legislative district gerrymandering, savvy political observer Rich Miller has suggested the nuclear option of a voter initiative that would simply abolish the Illinois House altogether! The idea is not so outlandish as one might think at first blush. First, such a voter initiative would be constitutional, that is, it would meet the state high courts wrong-headed requirement that initiatives be both structural and procedural. Second, many democratic governments operate quite nicely with unicameral legislative bodies. Readers probably know that Nebraska has a one-house legislature, which they call the senate. Costa Rica is probably the healthiest democratic society in the Americas south of the U.S., other than maybe Uruguay. When I was in that sunny clime years ago, I visited their unicameral assembly. And the 30 states of Mexico also operate with unicameral legislatures. I think Miller had in mind that an effort to put such a proposal on the ballot might spur the Illinois General Assembly itself to enact redistricting reform, to stave off the abolition effort. I believe the idea has merit on its own, at least for further consideration. Another major idea that would assuredly pass constitutional muster with the court is to reinstitute cumulative voting for the Illinois House. When I was a young legislator, Illinois House members were elected from three-member districts. Each voter had three votes to cast in a district, and voters could cumulate their votes, that is, cast all three votes for one candidate. This voting scheme was put into the Illinois Constitution of 1870 by Chicago Tribune publisher and delegate Joseph Medill, who saw it as a way of ensuring that the minority party would be represented in each district. So in my predominantly Republican district, the Democrats always elected one House member by cumulating their votes behind him (mostly hims then). The minority representation system had the benefit of putting suburban Democrats (often very effective ones) into that partys caucus, and Chicago Republicans into the GOP caucus, then dominated by downstaters. A kind of cross-fertilization resulted, which moderated the positions of both caucuses and also reduced, but certainly didnt eliminate, the power of the speaker. For example, suburban House Democrats felt a bit more independent of the speaker, confident they could be reelected with their staunch local Democratic supporters, even if the speaker tried to beat them because of apostasy. A proposal to reinstate cumulative voting would also have to be found constitutional by the court, because it would be the exact obverse of the proposal that made it to the ballot in 1980 and eliminated cumulative voting. In 1980, Pat Quinn convinced voters that elimination of cumulative voting and reduction in the size of the legislature would save money -- and send a message to the lawmakers who had earlier given themselves a post-election pay raise. I firmly believe most voters supported the Cutback Amendment because of their desire the get back at lawmakers, not because they wanted to eliminate cumulative voting. Cumulative voting wasnt perfect; no voting scheme is. In practice, as the minority party often had no chance of electing more than one of the three, the party would only nominate one, rather than the two or three it could nominate. This resulted in fall elections in which voters often had only three choices on the ballot in their district -- for three positions! Yet today, with legislative gerrymandering of voters into districts that lean heavily to one party or the other (protecting incumbents), there is probably even less competition in the fall than there was under cumulative voting. The flaw in the old system could be addressed, to some extent, by requiring parties to put at least two candidates on the ballot. In sum, I think cumulative voting had virtues that make it highly preferable to what we have today. Because the state high court has in effect nullified our constitutions proviso that voters be given a chance to change the legislative branch of government, a nuclear option should be considered. As an aside, I hope the four Democrat justices on the Illinois Supreme Court feel ashamed of themselves for hiding behind picayunish, hair-splitting reasoning that will deny voters the chance to reform the almost anti-democratic gerrymandering of the present. And for badly tarnishing the credibility of a state court we would like to hold in high esteem, but cant. G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now! The HarrisX Ragan CEO/Communicators Perceptions Survey needs CEOs, CCOs and senior-level communicators to share their opinions on variety of topics including ESG, CSR and purpose, DE&I, and whether organizations should take a stand on political and social issues. Well share the preliminary findings, including how CEOs and communicators differed in their responses, during Ragans communications Week, Nov. 1-7. Full results will be shared in a special report this winter. Take the survey here. For those who take the time to share their insights and who provide us their email, we will send a copy of the final, aggregated findings and executive report. Your views are important to us and your answers will be kept anonymous. This years exhibition will set a new record with 2950 exhibitors from 60 countries, with 200 of these companies exhibiting for the first time. International participation has reached a record high at 62% with exhibitors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam attending InnoTrans for the first time. This years InnoTrans is the largest ever and with it, the physical limits of the exhibition grounds have finally been reached, Goke says. Just over a year ago the trade fair had a waiting list for 6000m2 of floor space. By optimising all available areas on the outdoor display and in the halls we were able to satisfy every exhibitors request. There are 123 vehicles on display on the 3.5km of track on the show ground. These include Stadlers new EC250 Giruno train for Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the Siemens Velaro high-speed train for Turkish State Railways (TCDD), a Siemens train for the new Riyadh Metro, and a DE 18 locomotive from Vossloh Locomotives. In addition, 140 products will on show at InnoTrans for the first time. PAK vs NED Highlights, T20 World Cup 2022 Updates: Shadab, Rizwan Shine as Pakistan Beat Netherlands by 6 Wickets BAN vs ZIM, T20 World Cup 2022: Bangladesh Survive Dramatic Last Over to Edge Past Zimbabwe by 3 Runs BAN vs ZIM Highlights T20 World Cup 2022: Bangladesh Clinch Thrilling 3-Run Win Over Zimbabwe 'The Game Will be Slightly in Favour of...': Gavaskar's Major Prediction for IND vs SA Tie in Perth The economy remains tepid and surface transportation companies remain focused on controlling costs, limiting capex and searching hard for growth opportunities, according to Cowen and Company Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl, reporting on the firms 9th Annual Global Transport Conference in Boston. There were some bright spots specifically surrounding recent sequential upticks in agricultural products and coal carloads. Commentary remains cautious Following are some of Seidls key takeaways from the surface transportation companies that presented: Genesee & Wyoming: Australia has been a difficult region for GWR as the commodity complex has struggled the past two years, but management noted on a few occasions that new business opportunities are presenting themselves, specifically in the mining and agricultural markets. Thats something the company has not seen in a while. GWR was one of the several companies that noted the sizable level of U.S. agricultural inventory that will likely need to move in the coming months. Management expects the company to benefit. Canadian Pacific: The company maintained its guidance for double-digit EPS growth in 2016, which we think would be a commendable achievement as second-half 2016 EPS would need to grow by 27% year over year. We would not have been surprised to see management lower expectations, but it did not. President and Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel indicated that a mid-50s operating ration would become the norm over time and suggested he was pleased with a 57% to 58% OR today, considering the soft freight market. CSX: Management now expects third-quarter 2016 EPS to be down from second-quarter 2016. We were already looking for $0.46 in 3Q vs. $0.47 in 2Q so we werent terribly surprised. Consensus was also looking for a sequential contraction in EPS. Updated guidance also suggests volumes will likely be down in the high-single-digit range. Thats down from the prior -6% to -8% as carloads are currently tracking -9.6% through September 3. Coal volumes likely wont be as bad as feared, and the company also raised its guidance for 2016 efficiency savings from approaching $350 million to now exceed $350 million. It also appears that CSX management believes Norfolk Southern has taken some intermodal market share in recent weeks at the expense of price. Union Pacific: The Hanjin bankruptcy will likely result in a $0.01 hit to EPS in 3Q16. UP was the only company that quantified the impact of what one industry participant called a black swan event for shippers. Management expressed optimism about the outlook for U.S. grain, something we heard from a few companies. CFO Rob Knight also opined on the STBs reciprocal switching proposal, which is now in the comment period. He discussed a few of the reasons for the companys opposition, which includes a disincentive to invest. The Greenbrier Companies: We expect the company to guide for fiscal year 2017 when it reports earnings in mid to late October. We remain confident in our FY17 EPS estimate of $3.50, which is slightly below the Streets $3.60 estimate. We dont see a material change in market demand, but Greenbriers long-term strategic initiatives remain intact. J.B. Hunt Transport: Management seems cautious on intermodal pricing heading into next year as the market remains softer than it would like. The ICS (intermodal cargo services) business saw some gross margin compression in June and July, which is not surprising given the pickup in the spot market during that time period due to temporary capacity constraints (Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance International Roadcheck, holidays). However, management noted that the spot market has not picked up much. The dedicated and last-miles businesses remain growth engines for JBHT. Norfolk Southern: Management maintained its guidance for a sub-70% OR this year and also acknowledged that more coal is moving than it expected. The company also reminded investors of its commitment to structural OR improvement and noted that a good deal of the cost actions were already being taken prior to CPs acquisition bid. American Railcar Industries: Management remains committed to growing its lease fleet. Thats a good thing, as we think that is part of the reason why the company receives a premium valuation relative to the group, given that segments less volatile nature. President and CEO Jeff Hollister thinks consolidation in the manufacturing industry could make sense. Kansas City Southern: Management maintained sequential 3Q16 revenue growth guidance of mid-single-digits. On a y/y basis, revenue and carloads are both down 4% quarter to date. The company feels it has plenty of ample resources to handle more freight. For example, more than 100 locomotives are currently parked. Radiant Global Logistics: The company said that sellers valuation expectations may be normalizing a bit from where they were a few months ago. RLGT continues to look for small non-asset based targets as the company continues to focus on cross-selling its core freight forwarding capabilities with its Wheels intermodal/brokerage acquisition from 2015. Canadian Pacific announced that Guido De Ciccio, Senior Vice-President, Operations Western Region, is retiring from CP after four decades of dedicated service. After 40 excellent years with the company, it is time to embrace the next phase of my life and make way for the next generation of railroaders at CP, De Ciccio said. CP has transformed for the better under the leadership of Hunter Harrison and I am grateful for his mentorship. While I am excited about the future, I will always look back on my time at CP with great fondness and appreciation. De Ciccio joined CP in May, 1976, first working as a labourer in the Montreal operations. Prior to becoming SVP Operations Western Region, De Ciccio served as General Manager East, Assistant Vice-President East, and Vice-President CP. I congratulate Guido on his 40 years of loyal service and thank him for his leadership and extraordinary commitment to CP, said CP CEO E. Hunter Harrison. I also thank Guido for his friendship; it was a unique pleasure to work alongside a railroader with a vintage in the industry close to mine and I wish him well in all his future endeavours. Taking on De Ciccios day-to-day responsibilities is Mark Redd. Redd joined CP in October 2013 and has worked as General Manager Operations U.S. West, General Manager Operations Central Division, and was appointed to Vice-President Operations West Region in April of this year. Prior to joining CP, Redd had more than 20 years at Kansas City Southern Railway. Since the day I arrived at CP, I have enjoyed a strong working relationship and personal friendship with Guido, said Keith Creel, CPs President and Chief Operating Officer. His passion and enthusiasm for railroading was infectious. While he will be sorely missed, we are delighted to give Mark an opportunity to step up and continue to deliver superior service for our customers, employees and shareholders. Wednesday's meeting of global leaders at the United Nations General Assembly is significant in part because it will be only the fourth time in the history of the UN that a health topic has been on the agenda at a high-level meeting of the General Assembly. The group plans to discuss coordinated efforts to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide. Previously, the health topics they have explored included HIV and the Ebola virus. Their inclusion on the UN agenda indicates the importance of international and coordinated approaches to address them. Significant progress has since been made in these two areas. The threat of HIV still exists, but the devastating impact of the disease has been curbed. Similarly, the threat following the 2015 outbreak of the Ebola virus has largely been eradicated. The focus on AMR is a promising move toward developing a coordinated global plan. The worldwide threat of AMR is significant and requires an international effort. Across the world many common infections are becoming resistant to the antimicrobial medicines used to treat them, resulting in longer illnesses and more deaths. This includes both health care-associated infections common in advanced economies and infectious diseases, such as malaria, that are more prevalent in some low-income countries. Our research for the UK's independent Review on AMR highlighted the scope of the challenge. If the current situation continues without significant change, that is, a world with no increases in the rates of infection or resistance, we can expect a loss of between 11 million and 14 million working-age adults globally by 2050. Meanwhile, under a doomsday scenario, a world with no effective antibiotics, the total loss of life would reach 444 million by 2050. In economic terms, this would result in a cumulative loss of more than 100 trillion U.S. dollars, or an average annual loss of approximately 3 trillion U.S. dollars. This annual loss is broadly equivalent to the size of the UK economy and highlights the scope of the global challenge. When world leaders sit down to discuss sustainable approaches aimed at addressing AMR, there is a need to focus on a holistic approach. This addresses human health concerns but also looks at animal health and the food chain. The EU has been particularly effective at addressing AMR in animals through the development of a new Animal Health Law, which provides new guidelines on the use of antibiotics in animals and for the first time links animal welfare and human health. The attention paid to AMR by public representatives appears to be matched by the private sector. For example, a Declaration by the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Diagnostics Industries on Combating AMR ( PDF ) was signed by 85 companies and nine industry associations in 18 countries at the World Economic Forum in January 2015. This declaration represents a commitment to developing new drugs, as too few are being created to replace older and increasingly ineffective ones. However, simply encouraging pharmaceutical companies to produce more antimicrobial drugs will not resolve the problem, as ultimately even newly produced antibiotics will become ineffective over time in the absence of improvements in how we use them. AMR is a complex problem driven by many interconnected factors. Single interventions are likely to have little impact. Multiple and coordinated interventions that include developing and innovating new drugs, and regulating and promoting the appropriate use of medicines will be required to manage the threat. The UK Review on AMR laid out a 10-point plan for tackling AMR, which included an awareness campaign to encourage the public to stop using antibiotics for minor illnesses, such as the common cold, and a reduction in the use of antibiotics in agriculture. Moreover, the European Commission's AMR Action Plan covered a range of topics that are important for potentially reining in AMR, such as research and development, international cooperation, monitoring and surveillance, and communication. The fact that world leaders are using the UN as a forum for discussions about AMR is a promising move, particularly if it results in a coordinated global response to addressing the issue. The UN is a unique platform that brings together countries with different needs, priorities and capacities. Some countries may stress the need to limit the unnecessary use of antibiotics, while others, particularly low-income countries, may be also concerned about securing access to (safe) antibiotics in the first place. Finding common ground and coordinating next steps that everyone supports will be crucial to finding a workable global solution. Jirka Taylor, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, worked on the RAND Europe study Estimating the Economic Costs of Antimicrobial Resistance. Elta Smith, a Research Leader at RAND Europe, led RAND Europe's evaluation of the EU Action Plan on AMR. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. Indian conglomerate Reliance Communications is looking to transfer its direct-to-home (DTH) television business to help lower its debt-to-EBIDTA ratio. The Anil Ambani-owned firm is also planning to sell its stake in international operations at Reliance Globalcom, monetising its real estate assets and potentially divest its tower unit Reliance Infratel, reports PTI.We are looking to bring down our debt-to-EBIDTA ratio to around three within 18-24 months and are looking at monetising our non-core assets to deleverage the balance sheet, Gurdeep Singh, CEO of Reliance Communications consumer business, told investors. For this, we are looking at hiving off the DTH business.The pay-TV platform Reliance Digital TV currently has around five million registered subscribers, with an estimated two million active subscribers.Reliance has reportedly been seeking a buyer for its DTH business for the past three to four years, although previous talks with Sun TV ended without a deal.Reliance Communications net debt-to-EBITDA ratio currently stands at around 4.64. Russian regional ex-minister to serve 4.5 years in prison for abuse of office MOSCOW, September 19 (RAPSI) The Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court has upheld a 4.5-year prison sentence given to former regional Minister of Industry, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Alexander Makarov, for abuse of power, the regional Prosecutors Office announced on its website on Monday. According to investigation, in 2012, Makarov, then Minister for Public Property and Land Resources of the Nizhny Novgorod region, illegally transferred a land plot with an area of more than 17,000 square meters to a commercial organization for exploitation the companys building standing on it. The plot owned by the Nizhny Novgorod region was sold for 130,000 rubles ($2,000). Investigstors found that Makarov abused his authority and sold a public space reducing the plots market value by 60 million rubles ($923,200). In April, Makarov was convicted. He was also prohibited by court from holding posts in government bodies for 2 years. At this years Insurtech Connect conference, Insider Engage spoke to Pranav Pasricha, Swiss Re's global head property and casualty solutions, Reinsurance, to discuss why the protection gap is the biggest challenge the reinsurance industry faces today and how Swiss Re is using technology to support clients to respond to new and emerging threats. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Property details: More great land deals from rawlandinvestments.com Grab 10 Acres In Mohave County Arizona for Only $200.00 Down and $99.00 a month for 60 months 10 ACRES - Mohave County ArizonaVery affordable 10 acre parcel in the Sandy River Rancheros subdivision 10 miles south of Wikieup, AZ. Access to the parcel is a dirt road off of Signal Rd / Burro Creek Crossing Rd. Great place to affordably establish your off-the-grid homestead. Or maybe youre looking to enjoy recreational activities such as camping o... Price: $ 99 Seller State of Residence: Ohio State/Province: Arizona Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Residential Location: 440**, Willoughby, Ohio You will be redirected to eBay Nearby Residential Though they never knew each other three years ago before they committed to Georgia, Amanda Dachs and Cassidy Anderson have grown into each other's lives as family. Dachs parents even call Anderson their blonde daughter they never had. A lot goes on around campus, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with. From gas to comedy, The Red & Black complied five of the top stories not to miss this week. Going to school at The University of Georgia is a full-time job in itself. Students weeks are filled with studying, club meetings, classes and of course, homework. Here is a list of six things that you can do to make some money without getting an actual job. Historically, news outlets play into racial stereotypes in attempts to sensationalize their stories and bolster their views and ratings. This sort of biased coverage cast a shadow over the true purpose of these demonstrations, and further perpetuated prejudice stereotypes in already tense times for race relations. This undated photo provided by The Trust for Public Land shows Ackerson Meadow in Yosemite National Park, Calif. Visitors to the park now have more room to explore nature with the announcement on Wed. Sept. 7, 2016 that the park's western boundary has expanded to include Ackerson Meadow, 400 acres of tree-covered Sierra Nevada foothills, grassland and a creek that flows into the Tuolumne River. This is the park's biggest expansion in nearly 70 years, and will serve as wildlife habitat. (Robb Hirsch/The Trust for Public Land via AP) SHARE By The Associated Press FRESNO, Calif. (AP) Yosemite National Park is expanding with the donation of Ackerson Meadow, an area of wetlands and grassy meadows surrounded by forests. It is the park's largest addition in nearly seven decades. Here's a look at what it is: ___ SIZE The addition increases Yosemite's total space of nearly 750,000 acres by 400 acres. ___ LOCATION It forms a new part of Yosemite's western boundary. Visitors travel by it on their way to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which supplies San Francisco with drinking water. ___ WHAT'S THERE It features wetlands and a grassy meadow surrounded by tall pine trees on rolling hills. It is home to wildlife with federal and state protection, such as the great grey owl, the largest owl in North American and listed as endangered by California wildlife officials. ___ PURCHASE PRICE The land was bought from a private owner for $2.3 million. Robin Wainwright said he and his wife, Nancy, sold it to the Trust for Public Land at a slight loss. But they prefer that it go to Yosemite so the public can enjoy it, rather than selling it to developer. ___ GROUPS INVOLVED The trust orchestrated the donation, putting up most of the money $1.53 million. The Yosemite Conservancy contributed $520,000, and anonymous donors put up the rest. SHARE By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight Shasta County Supervisors are expected to approve a salary hike for Sheriff's deputies and District Attorney Office investigators at their regular board meeting on Tuesday. The 6-percent increase for investigators and deputies would be spread over a two year period and the first 3-percent increase would go into effect immediately. It carries a cost of $564,000. The new agreement between the county and Deputy Sheriff's Association would also modify benefits and overtime pay for the sheriff's deputies, sergeants and investigators. In July, the Professional Peace Officers Association negotiated a salary hike of $521,000 for about 81 probation and detention officers. In June the board approved a salary hike for appointed county department heads at a cost of $700,000. Those positions included chief deputy auditor, chief deputy district attorney, county executive officer, county counsel, chief probation officer and the forensic pathologist. Prior to that raise the county gave a salary hike to 138 county employees, which carried a cost of $865,000. In all agreements the county offered post-retirement coverage for all its employees. Meanwhile, the county will attempt to recover fines and other charges from property owners levied by the county for nuisance violations and from abatement hearings. The total amount to be collected is $350,984 where the property owners carried out some orders, but racked up penalties and fines. That group includes 16 landowners on properties across the county. A second group, about four property owners, did not comply with any of the orders made during the abatement hearings. The county will try to get about $182,161 from that group. Chalk outline SHARE A 51-year-old Dorris man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a Mount Shasta area man, the Siskiyou County District Attorneys Office announced this morning. Raymond Clark Romani, who entered his pleas on Thursday in Siskiyou County Superior Court in Yreka, is to be sentenced on Oct. 13 to 15 years to life in prison, prosecutors said. His victim, Roger Napolitano, 63, died March 17 at Mercy Medical Center in Redding after being in a coma for nearly month following the Feb. 22 attack upon him, prosecutors said. He died of pneumonia after suffering a severe concussion and traumatic brain injury. Romani was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder, but was subsequently charged with murder once Napolitano died. Prosecutors said Romani is accused of stomping and kicking Napolitano in a wooded area near Berry Street in Mount Shasta. Witnesses reported hearing loud yelling and saw a man later identified as Romani repeatedly kicking and stomping something on the ground, prosecutors said. Those witnesses ran to the area and found Napolitano on the ground, bloody and unconscious. Napolitano, who was warmly known by the community, never regained consciousness, prosecutors said. SHARE Two state agencies will meet today at the Redding Library at 1 p.m. to meet with and get ideas from the public about in-the-works regulations of the burgeoning medical marijuana industry. The Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation and the Office of Medical Cannabis Safety will present an overview of the regulatory framework established by the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act. Those agencies govern almost all aspects of rulemaking for the medical cannabis industry besides commercial grow sites. They are holding seven workships throughout California seeking feedback, with Redding's being the first. The Record Searchlight will provide coverage of parts of the event. Readers can follow below via ScribbleLive. One of the biggest ways in which recent government actions have been seen as investor-unfriendly is New Delhis decision to unilaterally revisit almost every Bilateral Investment Treaty it has signed with other countries, says Mihir S Sharma. The Narendra Modi-led central government has often spoken of its single-minded focus on increasing investment into India. The prime minister has, for example, declared that India is the most open economy in the world for investment. An apparent surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers has been cited as being the happy consequence of both policy changes and the prime ministers tireless pushing of the idea of India as an investment destination. Unfortunately, this claim simply doesnt correspond with the facts. Instead of being welcoming to foreign investment, the government has in fact gone out of its way recently to make investors feel unwelcome and insecure. One of the biggest ways in which recent government actions have been seen as investor-unfriendly is New Delhis decision to unilaterally revisit almost every Bilateral Investment Treaty, or BIT, it has signed with other countries. BITs, as they stand, are supposed to protect investors from arbitrariness and expropriation in foreign countries. One of the mechanisms that is central to this effort in a BIT is that it empowers foreign investors to access international arbitration if they fall into dispute with their Indian partners or feel they have suffered from government arbitrariness. Investors feel more secure knowing that it is more than just the Indian judicial system that serves to protect their investment. International arbitration gives them an additional and swifter channel to rescue their funds. But the new BIT under negotiation would cut off access to this channel. Investors would have to exhaust domestic remedies first - no arbitration might be possible until the matter has wound its way through the entire Indian trial system. Then there is the question of royalties. The government has, over the past few years, effectively put into place a cap on the profits that can be repatriated as profits or as royalty payments to the home office of a transnational enterprise. There may be excellent tax or other reasons to worry about royalties. But the cap on transfers is another mechanism that has caused foreign investors to worry about the returns from anything they may have invested in India. If they cant get the returns out securely, why should they invest? Perhaps the most pernicious example of the governments recent crackdown on royalty payments came in the seeds sector. Here, the government didnt just stop money from being sent to a companys head office, but in fact decided how much royalty a partly foreign-owned enterprise, Monsanto India, could earn from its own private contracts with other Indian companies. Monsanto is an unsympathetic company, but that does not help. Foreign investors see instead a government unprecedentedly inserting itself into writing of contracts that should be decided purely on the basis of commercial good sense. Meanwhile, the government has also announced it is revisiting every major free trade agreement (FTA) we have signed or are in the process of deliberating on. Apparently we have not gained from the FTA that we signed with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or Asean. Their exports to India increased far more than Indian exports to Asean, which the producer lobby-focused Indian government sees as a failure. Of course, consumers have benefited from low and stable prices for such commodities as cooking oil, but that does not seem to matter when the gains from trade are being evaluated in New Delhi. Then there is the matter of other trade negotiations - such as with the RCEP or APEC. If you think about it, every major Indian trade negotiation has seen zero energy or push in the past year or so. It is worth noting that APEC membership did not even feature in the joint statement released on the occasion of the recently concluded strategic and commercial dialogue between India and the United States. Unsurprisingly, far from being excited about an India open for business, the mood among many foreign investors is sombre. There is hope, of course, that India will continue to make the ease of doing business a priority, but on the specific front of investor protection, it seems progress is too much to ask for. At the recent India Trilateral Forum organised by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, concerns on BITs and on Indias going-slow approach to trade freedom were expressed by participant after participant from the US and Europe. But surely the opening up of some sectors to greater FDI has made a difference? Perhaps, perhaps not. The most important sector where FDI has been increased is defence. But has that led to more investment at scale just yet? Not yet. This is partly because the government seems to have retained control in several ways. Many foreign companies are still waiting to hear from the government about whether their proposed tie-ups in the sector are acceptable. And, finally, data that appear to show a swift ramp-up in FDI may require another look. The sectoral FDI data are instructive. Far from reflecting across the board interest in programmes such as Make in India, it appears that the increase in FDI owes a great deal to the e-commerce and digital start-up bubble. Almost all of the increase comes from more FDI in the services, computer software, and trading sectors - up to 40 per cent of total FDI inflows in 2015-16 from 30 per cent in 2014-15. Meanwhile, FDI into sectors such as automobiles, pharma and construction is, in fact, down. The causes of the FDI increase and their sustainability are therefore in doubt. The government has now been in power for about half its term. Any government should be allowed a reasonable period to put its preferred policies in place. This government has been given that period, and the time has now surely come to start calling out some of its most egregiously false claims. And the idea that it has been welcoming of foreign investment should be on the top of the list. Photograph: PTI Photo Acknowledging a mistake when a brand does not live up to expectations and promptly finding a solution are critical to preventing a crisis from blowing up, says Ritwik Sharma. Samsungs latest marquee smartphone has literally blown up in the electronics giants face. After a number of cases emerged of Galaxy Note 7 phones catching fire and exploding, the South Korean major recalled 2.5 million units earlier this month. The high-end smartphone - Samsungs answer to its arch rival Apples iPhone 7 - now has to contend with halted sales, while in India its market rollout has been deferred. India has also banned its use by flight passengers, just like other countries that raised concerns of the phones battery bursting or catching fire. Kimberly A Whitler, assistant professor of business administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, says, The BP oil spill, Toyotas recall fiasco, Chipotles e-coli contamination, and the recent Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery explosions - how a company manages a crisis matters. A firms response to a crisis can impact consumer perceptions, consumer behaviour, the brand, how quickly the company recovers, and ultimately, the firms financial outcomes. In such a scenario how does a company, especially one that is a household name and thus faces greater scrutiny, recover from a blow to its brand image? Ambi Parameswaran, former CEO of FCB Ulka, says, All companies do get hit by unexpected problems, and what they have to do which I think Samsung is doing is acknowledge it, and quickly do whatever they can to fix the problem. Samsungs mobile president Koh Dong-jin admitted while announcing the product recall that an investigation showed a tiny error in the manufacturing of the batteries. The company in a statement also introduced a product exchange programme for Galaxy Note 7 users. Once the company has acknowledged the problem and communicated clearly to its customers, Parameswaran says, the third step is to spend money on fixing it. Give a free upgrade to your customers. If you do this, then the brand will not get affected in the long term. The case of the Galaxy Note 7 also begs the question whether companies are taking technology too far - in a constantly evolving market like that of mobile - in a bid to churn out sleeker models every time. Samit Sinha, founder and managing partner of Alchemist Brand Consulting, feels its a sign of taking technology too fast rather than too far. In a highly competitive environment, rolling out the latest product first in a hurry could mean the requisite field testing takes a backseat to speed to market. He adds marketers are however fortunate, because consumer memory and their attention span are getting shorter by the day. So, while one PR disaster does give a temporary setback, if they come up with a great product which is innovative and is a breakthrough, this will get swept under the market. Immediately after the recall of the Galaxy Note 7 phones, it was reported that Samsungs shares slid seven per cent, paring the companys market value by $14 billion. Launched last month before iPhone 7, Samsungs loss is clearly Apples gain. But since Samsungs presence across several product categories, Sinha points out, this episode would not significantly impact the companys brand equity. Siddharth S Singh, associate professor, marketing, Indian School of Business, argues that with electronics, consumers have come to expect that no product is perfect. He adds that problems per se have little impact. And a quality issue arises only if there are repeated problems. Samsung enjoys customer trust in the quality of its products. If there are consistent problems, its positioning can get dented. Even one problem can become big if the company does not deal with it well. Sinha says, The sign of a really strong brand is to say look, I made a mistake, I am recalling my products and I will come back to you with a problem-free product. I think thats the best strategy. Because if you try to wriggle your way out and indulge in doublespeak, it has impacts on brand equity. He makes an interesting point about the importance of the high-end segment from a branding standpoint, even though it is merely a sliver of the overall market. It is where the image of the brand is built. Its only the success at the top of the pyramid which leads the image of the brand. So, to that extent it will hurt them in the higher segment of smartphones where consumers even while buying Samsungs other mobiles would have a second thought. In another ongoing episode, textile firm Welspun India has come under the scanner after US-based retailers Target Corporation and Wal-Mart decided to end ties with the supplier and stop selling its Egyptian cotton sheets respectively after fears over being misled with supply of inauthentic material. Singh says, People will sympathise with Wal-Mart as it also enjoys their trust. The supplier would clearly seem unethical. If the supplier is exchanging a good material, which is on the contract, with something inferior it isnt the right step. For them it is far harder to recover. Sinha says there are two different scenarios - error of omission and lying. In the case of Volkswagen (the emissions scandal of 2015) the reason why they got such a lot of flak was because they were lying. If you lie to the customer and it becomes clear to her that the intent was to mislead and cheat then the customer is far less forgiving. While it might be a long haul, the most important thing for a company is to be able to convince its customers that it is honest and willing to clean up its mess. Tackling a problem head-on sends out the right message. Follow best practices: Kimberly A Whitler When a company tries to defend their actions, blame others, or dodge responsibility, they can not only exacerbate, but extend, the negative publicity. For example, Johnson and Johnsons Tylenol poisoning (1980s) was handled swiftly with all products being immediately recalled. This is in contrast with Toyota's lack of transparency and slow reaction to concerns that sticking pedals were to blame for car crashes. However - and here is one reason that firms dont manage crises well - without a plan in place to minimise a crisis, as soon as one occurs, lawyers tend to step in to help minimise liability. And here is the conflict. As against best management practices, lawyers may push for the opposite - say as little as possible and do not take responsibility and wherever possible, blame others. Brand managers would focus on minimising the brand damage while lawyers emphasise minimising the legal damage. Kimberly A Whitler Assistant professor of business administration, Darden School of Business The Uri brigade was given pinpoint intelligence warnings about an impending attack. Yet, the Uri camp was taken by surprise. Ajai Shukla reports. In a jarring challenge to the Army in Jammu & Kashmir, armed terrorists attacked an army camp near the border town of Uri on Sunday morning, killing 17 soldiers and wounding another 23. This was the heaviest blow the army has suffered in a single attack since armed insurgency broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990. Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, the army's Director General of Military Operations, described events in a media statement. He said a group of Pakistani terrorists attacked the camp at 5.30 am on Sunday and four were killed by 8.30 am. It remains unclear whether there were more. Explaining the heavy army casualties, the DGMO said: 'The terrorists fired incendiary ammunition, along with automatic fire of small arms that led to army tents (and) temporary shelters catching fire... There have been a total of 17 army fatal casualties. Of these, 13-14 casualties have been due to these tents/shelters having caught fire.' The administrative echelons of two infantry battalions -- 10 DOGRA and 6 BIHAR -- were in the camp. Their combat echelons had deployed in forward posts along the Line of Control, leaving the camp lightly guarded. Even so, the attack raises serious questions of operational culpability. An infantry battalion's administrative echelons should also consist of armed and trained soldiers who should not have been caught napping by a fidayeen (suicide) squad. Furthermore, Business Standard learns the Uri brigade was given pinpoint intelligence warnings about an impending attack. Last week, intelligence agencies sent a written warning that a Pakistani 'border action team,' including trained jihadi terrorists, was readying to launch an attack across the LoC in Uri. According to the army's standard operating procedures, such a warning should have triggered a heightened alert, and the deployment of extra sentries to guard all camps. Yet, the Uri camp was taken by surprise, with the fidayeen succeeding in setting tents alight with soldiers still asleep in them. In any case, the army has been on high alert across the valley, where 72 days of unremitting street protests have followed the killing on July 8 of Hizbul Mujahideen South Kashmir commander Burhan Wani. With almost 80 Kashmiris killed and thousands injured in public violence, the army knows well that Pakistan is looking to exploit the turmoil. The DGMO appeared to validate the intelligence warning inputs, stating: 'All four killed were foreign terrorists and had some items with them which had Pakistani markings. Initial reports indicate that the slain terrorists belong to Jaish-e-Mohammed tanzeem (group).' 'Since the terrorists had some items with Pakistani markings, I have spoken to (the) Pakistan DGMO and conveyed our serious concerns on the same,' he said. Insiders also highlight the operational laxity evident during the Poonch attack last week, which began on September 11 and continued for four days until four terrorists were killed. Reliable sources tell Business Standard that the terrorists came within a whisker of entering the lightly-protected brigade headquarters, where they could have caused mayhem, Uri-style. Fortunately, they decided to spend the night at an abandoned house adjoining the brigade headquarters boundary, and were -- through blind luck -- discovered while sheltering there for the night. Following the Uri attack on Sunday, New Delhi offered the same bluster that had accompanied the Pathankot air base strike on January 2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: 'We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished.' It remains unclear what form of punishment the PM visualises. A noticeably more restrained DGMO merely stated: 'The Indian Army remains prepared to thwart any nefarious designs and any evil designs of the adversary shall be given a befitting reply.' An equally restrained Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressed his 'deep disappointment with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups,' and declared that 'Pakistan is a terrorist State and it should be identified and isolated as such.' Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar flew from Goa, where he spends his weekends, to Srinagar, where the army chief briefed him. IMAGE: A soldier inside the army brigade camp during the terror attack in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, September 18, 2016. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo 'Forget about sending in troops or raining down missiles, but don't rule out occasional covert operations that target specific terrorist leaders.' South Asia expert Michael Kugelman on India's likely response after the Uri attack. Sunday's horrific terrorist attack in Uri, which killed 17 Indian soldiers, has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a very difficult position. The Indians are understandably outraged about the tragedy, and many are calling for immediate action to be taken against Pakistan. India's military has claimed that the Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed was behind the attack. It may be premature to point the finger at Pakistan. One can't rule out the possibility that Kashmiri militants, seeking revenge for the brutal tactics of the Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, pulled off the operation. Still, it beggars belief that local rebels could have executed such a well-coordinated and devastatingly lethal attack. There's good reason to assume the attack was planned across the border, or at the least featured some level of involvement from actors in Pakistan. Modi now faces tremendous pressure to launch some type of befitting response -- particularly because India has repeatedly declined to do so after many previous attacks that it traced back to Pakistan, including attacks much deadlier than Uri. Recall the attack on Parliament in 2001; the bombing of India's embassy in Kabul in 2008; the Mumbai massacre of 2008; the Pathankot siege earlier this year. New Delhi is also under great pressure to stage a muscular response this time around because the government's verbal response to the attack has been particularly sharp and threatening. Just hours after the assault, Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that 'Pakistan is a terrorist state and should be identified and isolated as such.' Even by the ugly standards of the war of words that constantly plays out between India and Pakistan, Singh's statement was exceedingly harsh. In effect, India has upped the ante with its exceptionally bellicose rhetoric. Failing to mount a robust response will make it look silly. But New Delhi is confronted by a conundrum: It's never been under more pressure to take action, yet at the end of the day its options are limited. War, despite full-throated pleas from some Indian hawks, is not an option, thanks to the nuclear weapons issue. Even punitive measures short of all-out war -- such as targeted airstrikes on terrorist facilities -- would be prohibitively risky for that same reason. Additionally, as George Perkovich and Toby Dalton argued cogently in a Washington Quarterly article last year, there would be capability concerns -- concerns that have not applied to the United States and Israel in their own efforts to use airstrikes as a counterterrorism tactic. Perhaps most dangerously, punitive Indian actions would play right in to the Pakistani security establishment's 'India-is-an-existential-threat-and-is-out-to-get-us' narrative, and they could conceivably prompt Pakistan to sponsor additional attacks in India. Any Indian gains from taking out some terrorists in Pakistan via airstrikes would be purely tactical, and ultimately quite ephemeral. Let's assume India opts for business as usual -- tough talk followed by an absence of action. Many -- including some of the BJP party base -- would be unhappy. Still, aside from some short-term deleterious political consequences, there could be considerable advantages that accrue from sticking with a policy of strategic restraint. New Delhi would be better able to focus on its economic reform plan and other domestic matters. India would be seen as a responsible and restrained rising power taking the high moral ground. And most importantly, it would not have to contend with the very real threat of an upsurge in attacks on its soil. All this said, there's still good reason to believe that India is entering a bold new era in its relations with Pakistan -- one in which New Delhi refuses to sit meekly in the face of Pakistani provocations. Its decision to express support for the people of Balochistan, and to call out the Pakistani military for its abuses there, are clearly meant to push back against Pakistani accusations of Indian destabilisation of that troubled province. Meanwhile, India's decision some months back to transfer several fighter helicopters to Afghanistan -- the first time India has sent lethal military hardware to Afghanistan -- telegraphs a new willingness to ramp up security cooperation with its close friend in Kabul, no matter how much this may anger Pakistan. In this vein, India may well decide to introduce some subtle means of punishing Pakistan into its policy toolkit. Forget about sending in troops or raining down missiles, but don't rule out certain types of furtive activities -- including occasional covert operations that target specific terrorist leaders or facilities (though to be sure, India's operational and intelligence capacities in this regard are questionable). India is reportedly trying to acquire armed drones from the United States. If it succeeds, its capacity for carrying out covert strikes would be significantly enhanced -- and particularly if Washington helps out with intelligence support. Ultimately, however, all this talk of to-retaliate-or-not-to-retaliate risks putting the cart before the horse. India should certainly weigh its options, but it should ideally hold off on embracing any course of action until a proper investigation of the Uri attack has been conducted. Decisions of great magnitude and consequence are best made after more information is known, and once the raw emotions that accompany national traumas and tragedies have had time to subside. Michael Kugelman is the Senior Associate for South Asia with the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington, DC. He can be reached at michael.kugelman@wilsoncenter.org or on Twitter @michaelkugelman Pakistan's main objective will be to shepherd India toward resumption of talks, preferably with American monitoring,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar. All three wings of India's ruling elite have spoken on the terrorist attack on the Uri army base on Sunday -- the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the government. Former RSS spokesman Ram Madhav, who is on a deputation to the BJP, spoke by far in the harshest tone. He remarked: 'The prime minister has promised that those behind the Uri terror attack will not go unpunished. That should be the way forward; for one tooth, the complete jaw.' Madhav added that the 'days of strategic restraint are over. If terrorism is the instrument of the weak and coward, restraint in the face of repeated terror attacks betrays inefficiency and incompetence. India should prove otherwise.' Madhav hoped to convey that the Hindu nationalist government is tough as nails. He probably intended to boost the sagging morale of the core constituency of the Sangh Parivar. BJP President Amit Shah said in a statement that the Modi government is moving in the right direction. 'Pakistan is trying to cause instability in India by constantly trying to lend support to terrorism and terrorist outfits. India has been constantly fighting against terrorism and this fight is now at a decisive stage,' he said. Shah's primary concern will be the political fallout for the BJP, since one main plank on which Modi sought the mandate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was national security. That is now in shambles. The situation in the Kashmir valley becomes the Modi government's albatross. Unless and until the valley calms down, Pakistan keeps the upper hand. Social network sites are awash with caustic remarks about the PM. Shah cannot but weigh the impact of it all on forthcoming state assembly elections, especially in Uttar Pradesh. On the government's part, Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made statements. Modi said the perpetrators of the attack will not go unpunished, which is his trademark remark whenever terrorist attacks take place. Rajnath said, 'There are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped.' Neither Modi nor Rajnath mentioned Pakistan or resorted to Madhav-style bombastic rhetoric. The government finds itself between the rock and a hard place. The point is the Pakistani military also has a plan of action ready to meet any Indian moves across the Line of Control. Which means that any Indian move will trigger a Pakistani counter-move, and it will be impossible to judge the likely balance sheet. On the other hand, despite the government's sustained public diplomacy to create an impression in domestic opinion that its foreign policies have burnished India's international standing and image and so on, in reality, India's actions -- especially any military moves -- will come under close scrutiny and be weighed in terms of international law and the United Nations Charter. The bottom line is that the present ruling elites dare not think of crossing any 'red line' that Washington demarcates. The US State Department, in a series of statements, has distanced Washington from the Indian positions with regard to the situation in the Kashmir valley, India-Pakistan tensions and Balochistan. Conceivably, the Americans have cautioned our leadership already against making any precipitate military moves. The kind of brazen military adventures that many self-styled Indian defence analysts are espousing will not get Washington's approval. As the Barack Obama administration tiptoes toward the lame-duck period, the last thing Washington wants as legacy is an India-Pakistan conflict. Things are moving in this direction already. Obama has scheduled a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday, September 20. American diplomacy has interjected at the highest level to mediate the tensions. What emerges out of the Obama-Sharif meeting will be decisive. Sharif can be expected to raise the Kashmir issue and Obama cannot but be sympathetic to the sufferings of the people in the valley. Second, Sharif will use the opportunity to re-calibrate the Pakistan-US engagement as such. The US too will be keen to lift the ties with Pakistan out of the present trough, given its regional strategies in Afghanistan, the New Cold War, re-balance in Asia, etc. Most important, Sharif will highlight Pakistan's willingness to settle disputes and differences, especially Kashmir, through talks. Suffice it to say, Indian ruling elites will be highly vulnerable to American pressure, despite their jingoistic posturing. If the Americans do not want a war between India and Pakistan or any precipitate Indian military moves that violated international law, Modi cannot act otherwise. The umbilical cord that ties the Sangh Parivar and our ruling elites to the US establishment may be invisible, but remains robust. All things considered, therefore, Pakistan's main objective will be to shepherd India toward resumption of talks, preferably with American monitoring. The Indian obduracy against talks is becoming unsustainable. The situation in the valley becomes Modi government's albatross, fundamentally speaking. Unless and until the valley calms down, Pakistan keeps the upper hand. Children of schools across in the country paid homage to the 18 soldiers who were martyred in a fidayeen attack on an army camp in Uri on Sunday. Students of Gurukul School in Mumbai made a rangoli as a tribute to the Uri martyrs. Photograph: Sahil Salvi A prayer meet of students at a school in Ahmedabad. Photograph: PTI Photo Students of a school in Gurgaon. Photograph: PTI Photo Students of Kamla Mehta Blind school in Mumbai. Photograph: Sahil Salvi Students hold prayer meet at a school in Amritsar. Photograph: PTI Photo A 28-year-old naturalised American citizen of Afghan descent was arrested on Monday by United States authorities following a shootout hours after the New York mayor conceded that the blast that injured 29 people here could be an act of terrorism with foreign links. Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man suspected in bombings in New York and New Jersey, is now in custody after a shootout with police, CNN reported. The shootout happened in Linden, New Jersey, a local and federal law enforcement official said. Rahami was taken to an ambulance in a stretcher with his right shoulder bloodied and bandaged. Two officers were hit in the shootout with Rahami in Linden, New Jersey, the mayor of the nearby city of Elizabeth said. One officers vest was struck, and the other was shot in the hand. Rahami, wanted for questioning in connection with bombings in New York and Seaside Park, New Jersey, is also believed to be connected to the pipe bombs found in a backpack on Sunday night in Elizabeth, New Jersey, sources said. Rahami is a US citizen of Afghan descent. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is about 56 tall, has brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said adding the suspect could be armed and dangerous. Rahami will be questioned in connection with the explosion that occurred on Sunday in Chelsea district of Manhattan, New York, and injured 29 people, it said. A second bomb that was discovered nearly four blocks away was defused successfully by the bomb disposal squad. Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said there were certain commonalities among the bombs, that went off in New York on Sunday and New Jersey on Monday, leading authorities to believe that there was a common group behind the bombs. The more we learn with each passing hour, it looks more like terrorism, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a TV interview on Monday. On Sunday, the city administration while conceding that the blast was intentional, was careful not to use the word terrorism. Todays information suggests it may be foreign-related but we'll see where it goes, Cuomo told another TV channel. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said that President Barack Obama has been informed about the developments. Earlier, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing. Security had already been tightened in the city for the ongoing United Nations General Assembly, but the presence of officers throughout New York City after the blast will be bigger than ever, de Blasio said. Earlier on Monday, the FBI found five explosive devices at a train station in New Jersey. One of the devices detonated while a police robot was trying to disarm it. Photograph: Reuters Delhis Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was attacked with ink outside the Lt Governors Office by a man who claimed that he was upset over the Aam Aadmi Party leader undertaking a tour of Finland at a time when the city was grappling with a health crisis. The man, who threw ink at Sisodia, has been arrested, police said. Copious amount of ink was thrown at Sisodia by Brijesh Shukla, 42, from North-east Delhis Karawal Nagar who was detained by the police and questioned for five hours before being arrested. Shukla said he was angry with the deputy chief minister for his Finland tour at a time when the city was grappling with a health crisis. The ink was splattered across Sisodias arms and a portion of his forehead when he was about to get into his car after talking to mediapersons. A case under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Shukla, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma, adding that Shukla has also been charged for manhandling the constable on duty. Shukla claimed that the ink attack wasn't pre-planned and it happened when he got to know that Sisodia was about to come to meet the LG. Shukla claimed that he had gone to meet the LG to discuss some problems being faced at the hospitals in his area. When he got to know that Manish Sisodia was due to arrive to meet LG, he decided to get a bottle of ink. He was angry at Sisodia for being away to Finland while the city was grappling with cases of dengue and chikungunya. We are investigating his claims, the officer said. The complaint against Shukla was filed by C Arvind, who is the secretary of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Shukla is the president of Swaraj Janata Party and has been actively engaged in protests against the Aam Aadmi Party government over various issues. He keeps filing RTIs seeking information from the government. He had also contested the assembly elections as an independent candidate in 2003. Sisodia said the ink attack on him is a reflection of politics by the Congress and Bharaiya Janata Party. Sisodia had returned to the capital on Sunday night from his Finland trip. Sisodia was asked by Jung to return to the capital on Saturday but he came back as per schedule on Sunday. When Sisodia was about to get into his car after talking to media persons, Brijesh Shukla threw ink at Sisodia which splattered across his arms and on a portion of his forehead. Reacting to the attack, Sisodia said, Delhi government is committed to working on health and education. But Congress and BJP are working on ink. They have nothing to do with Delhiites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is the dirty politics of BJP and Congress. He also challenged the BJP-ruled civic bodies to clear the filth across the city and hit out at Congress for ruining the citys education and health sector during its term. This is merely a diversionary tactic adopted by them since we are focusing on development, he said. IMAGE: Ink was thrown at Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia while he was speaking with the media outside the LG house in New Delhi on Monday. Photograph: PTI Photo New Delhi has reached out to neighbours like seldom before while singling Islamabad for criticism at international forums. Archis Mohan reports. The terrorist attack at an army administrative base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday has reduced the political space for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to travel to Islamabad in November to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit. But, in recent months, New Delhi has shown uncharacteristic efficiency to reach out to SAARC members, other than Pakistan. As part of the Modi government's "neighbourhood first" policy, India has hosted or will be hosting the heads of states or governments of the six Saarc members. Alongside its Saarc outreach, the PM has raised the issue of terror havens in Pakistan and its export of terror at international platforms, most recently at the G20 Summit in China and the East Asia Summit in Laos. The Indian side, led by Vice-President M Hamid Ansari, raised Pakistan's complicity in protecting outfits at the ongoing Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Venezuela. While the prime minister will skip this year's United Nations General Assembly, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is set to raise the involvement of terror outfits based in Pakistan in carrying out attacks on Indian soil -- Pathankot last year and Uri now. She is also likely to tell the world how Pakistani government bombs its own people in Balochistan. New Delhi has revived its strategy of isolating Islamabad within the SAARC. The prime minister had first given evidence of this during the previous Saarc Summit, in Kathmandu, in end-November 2014 when he brought Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal to sign, along with India, a motor vehicle pact despite protests from Pakistan. The actual agreement was signed in June 2015 and the first Bangladeshi goods vehicle, which had left Dhaka on August 27, reached the customs depot in New Delhi on September 5. India has also approved an ambitious $1.04-billion project for constructing and upgrading 558 km of roads to link it with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, with the objective of increasing inter-regional trade by 60 per cent. The project is to be partially funded by the Asian Development Bank. On October 15-16, India is to host the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit. For the retreat at the end of the Summit, New Delhi has invited leaders of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). These are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. That New Delhi has invited BIMSTEC leaders instead of Saarc has much to do with Pakistan being a member of the latter group. India's Pakistan-Out strategy: AFGHANISTAN Hosted President Ashraf Ghani on September 13-15 Promised $1-bn aid, medicines, 0.17 mn tonnes of wheat NEPAL Hosted new PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sep 15-18 Committed $750 bn; expediting road and hydropower projects Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to visit India shortly; President Pranab Mukherjee to visit Nepal in November BANGLADESH To host Bangladesh leaders as part of BIMSTEC in Goa India allows duty-free benefits to all Bangladeshi goods, minus 25 alcohol items Bangladeshi exports to India increased 30% in 2015-16 India has accepted the adverse verdict of an international court on its maritime dispute with Bangladesh BHUTAN Working on India-Bhutan-Bangladesh rail links Consent to Bangladesh investing in Bhutans hydropower sector and importing power SRI LANKA India to host Sri Lankan President at BIMSTEC Summit next month Signed agreement with Sri Lanka to provide equipment worth $2 bn to fishing and farming communities MALDIVES New Delhi hosted Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in April Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters Curfew was on Monday clamped in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Kashmir, while it remained in force in some other areas of the Valley including in parts of Srinagar, in view of the separatists call for a protest march to the three districts. Normal life also remained disrupted in the Valley for the 73rd straight day. A police official said that curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and Baramulla districts on Monday, while it remains in force in Shopian and five police station areas of downtown (interior city) along with Batamaloo in uptown Srinagar. He said the curbs have been imposed to maintain law and order in view of the separatists call for a march to the three districts of Baramulla, Pulwama and Srinagar. The official said restrictions on the assembly of people continued to remain in force in the rest of the Valley. The separatists, in the weekly protest programme, have called for a march to the three districts Baramulla (in north Kashmir), Srinagar (in central Kashmir) and Pulwama (in south Kashmir) on Monday. They have asked the people of north Kashmir districts of Bandipora and Kupwara to march towards Baramulla, people of south Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag to march to Pulwama and people of Central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam to march towards Srinagar. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain paralysed in Kashmir for the 73rd consecutive day due to restrictions and separatist sponsored strike. The separatists, who are spearheading the current agitation in the Valley, have extended the protest programme till September 22. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut, while public transport was off the roads. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain shut. Mobile telephony, except the post paid connections of BSNL, and the mobile internet services continued to remain snapped across the Valley. As many as 81 people, including two cops, have been killed in the unrest that broke out a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in South Kashmir on July 8. Image: Security personnel stand guard on a deserted street in Srinagar as curfew was clamped down on Monday, disrupting normal life. Photograph: Umar Ganie/Rediff.com 'I will get justice at last,' says the feared RJD leader. M I Khan reports from Patna. After the Supreme Court on Monday, September 19, sought a response from Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shahabuddin on a plea challenging the bail granted to him by the Patna high court, the former MP said he is ready to go back to jail if the apex court ordered it. "I am a law abiding citizen and respect the court order. Earlier, I was sent to jail by the court and ten days ago I was released from jail after the court granted me bail. It is all for the court to decide," Shahabuddin told the media in Siwan. "I have full faith in the judiciary as I will get justice at last," he said. He refused to comment on the apex court order which did not grant an interim stay on his bail. Rejecting the plea to cancel his bail, the Supreme Court said it wants to hear from Shahabuddin and scheduled the next hearing for Monday, September 26. Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy asked the Bihar government to serve notice on the RJD strongman. Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons were killed in two separate incidents, said Shahabuddin is a 'notorious criminal'. A high alert was sounded in Siwan district on Monday, hours ahead of the Supreme Court hearing. Security forces were deployed in Siwan after an intelligence report warned of possible trouble if Shahabuddin's bail was cancelled by the apex court. Security for Chandrakeshwar Prasad and his family and Asha Ranjan, slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan's wife, was tightened as a precautionary measure. In his petition, Prasad said Shahabuddin would misuse his liberty to derail the trial in the case. His life was in danger, Prasad added. The Bihar government also moved the apex court against Shahabuddin's bail and sought the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him. Shahabuddin was granted bail on September 7 by the Patna high court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, Prasad's son and the sole eyewitness to the horrific murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan. The RJD leader has been convicted in the twin murder case and the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence. The Patna high court, in its bail order, considered the fact that the trial in the Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was imprisoned in the Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail. Shahabuddin was released from jail on September 10 after spending 11 years behind bars. Congress on Monday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Uri terror attack, holding him singularly responsible for the complete disarray in the governments policy vis-a-vis Pakistan, and dared him to act against Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for a massive intelligence and operational failure. The Uri terrorist attack, which has been propagated, planned and executed by Pakistan, is the result of failure of the political leadership of the Modi government. Reports clearly point towards a massive intelligence and operational failure inside the government, Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters. He asked Modi to show courage of conviction by fixing responsibility and accountability for this complete failure. Indias borders and national security has been under siege for last two years. Defence minister should be held accountable (sic), he tweeted earlier in the day. Surjewala said Sundays terror strike on an army base in which 18 soldiers were killed is an attack on our national conscience and perpetrators of the attack should be brought to book at the earliest. He took a swipe at the governments policy vis-a-vis Pakistan and said it should approach the international community for imposing comprehensive sanctions on Pakistan which harbours global terror network and uses terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Narendra Modi consistently counselled the Congress government to stop writing love letters to Pakistan. Modiji used the oft-quoted rhetoric of 56-inch chest as also bringing 10 heads back in lieu of one, besides asking the government to answer Pakistan in the language they understand. Time has come for us to remind Narendra Modi of his jumlas and rhetoric once again. Since becoming the prime minister of the country, Modi has indulged in saree-shawl diplomacy to impromptu visits to Pakistan to attend wedding celebrations and birthday parties with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, he said. The truth is that the Modi governments Pakistan policy is based on wholesale confusion rather than pragmatic and decisive cohesion. Modi is singularly responsible for this complete disarray of foreign policy wherein a renegade, pariah nation like Pakistan, which is harbinger of global terror network and which stood isolated amongst international community on account of sustained policy of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, is trying to project itself on international arena as a player for regional stability in Southeast Asia, he said. Surjewala said Indias borders and national security have been under siege for last two years. There have been over 900 border ceasefire violations by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. India has borne the brunt of unchecked terrorist attacks coming from Pakistan in Udhampur, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Pampore leading to heavy casualties of army and police, including senior most officers, he told reporters. After the grave provocation of terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase, the Modi government invited a Pakistani investigation team to Pathankot headed by the dreaded ISI. Pakistan not only brashly refused to permit a bilateral visit of Indian investigating team, it shockingly accused India of engineering the Pathankot airbase attack and killing its own soldiers, he said. He said the Modi government appears to have learnt no lessons which finally resulted in the cowardly Uri attack. He also questioned why the government did not take preventive measures to pre-empt the Uri attack if there was information available from different agencies. Modi government needs to answer as to why no preventive measures were taken to pre-empt the Uri terror attack if there was credible information available from different agencies and security experts, more so considering the vulnerability of the Uri Brigade area and also its proximity to Line of Control, he said. Surjewala also sought to know why the soldiers were housed in tents when two military buildings were vacant. Why were soldiers housed in tents when two military buildings were vacant and available, which led to casualties? Who leaked information regarding troop movement and changeover, that is that the 10-Dorgra Regiment was in the process of making space for 6-Bihar Regiment? Isnt it not a clear cut failure of command and control structure in the Modi government, he asked. Taking a dig at Parrikar, he said the defence minister is busy threatening fellow Indians like Aamir Khan and asked whether the priorities have gone wrong for the government. He (Parrikar) is busy attacking fellow Indians and passing intemperate remarks against everybody rather than doing his own responsibility. The responsibility, if any, lies at the doorsteps of the Modi government and at doorsteps of Manohar Parrikar, the defence minister of the country, who has proved himself to be a utter and complete failure, Surjewala said. In one of the deadliest attacks on the army in recent years, 18 jawans were killed as heavily armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the force in North Kashmirs Uri town in the wee hours of Sunday. Four militants involved in the terror strike were killed by the army. Photograph: Reuters After giving an assurance of going after the perpetrators of the deadly Uri attack in which 18 army soldiers were killed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave the green signal to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at every international grouping. According to sources, India is to present all actionable evidence against Pakistan if required at international bodies. The Indian Permanent Mission is to issue a statement taking on Islamabad soon after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Evidence of Pakistan's hand in Uri attack i.e. GPS tracker movements that go back to starting point in Pakistan, Pashto literature, Pakistan Army marked arms will be given to Islamabad at the DGMO level, sources add. India is set to raise Uri attack at the 71st UNGA and highlight Pakistan's involvement into the deadly terror strike. Sources state that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will strongly emphasize on Pakistan's involvement in the attack in her UNGA speech on September 26. This development comes after the prime minister chaired a high-level meeting at his official residence at 7 Race Course Road in New Delhi. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other officials were present in the meeting. Pakistan has, however, flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in the Uri terror attack, stating that it has become India's traditional tendency to point fingers on them after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. Director General of Military operation Lt Ranbir Singh had on Sunday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. Photograph: Press Information Bureau Advocate Prashant Bhushan told the SC that Shahabuddin is a 'class-A history-sheeter who cannot be reformed'. The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Shahabuddin on a plea challenging the bail granted to him by the Patna high court in a murder case. The apex court, however, did not grant any interim stay on operation of Patna HCs bail order and said, We intend to give him (Shahabuddin) a hearing also. List it on Monday. The bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy asked the Bihar government to serve its notice on Shahabuddin and fixed the matter for hearing on September 26. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Siwan-based Chandrakeshwar Prasad whose three sons have been killed in two separate incidents, said Shahabuddin is a notorious criminal and his reign of terror is in Bihar in general and Siwan in particular. Also read "There are 58 criminal cases pending against Shahabuddin and out of them he has been convicted in eight cases," he said. Shahabuddin had been granted bail recently by the high court in the murder case of Rajiv Roshan, son of Prasad and the sole eye-witness to the cold-blooded murder of his two younger brothers in Siwan. The RJD leader had already been convicted in the twin murder case and the trial in the Roshan murder case is yet to commence. The Patna high court, in its bail order, considered the fact that the trial in Roshan murder case could not begin as Shahabuddin was jailed at Bhagalpur prison and enlarged him on bail. During the hearing, the apex court asked Bhushan as to whether he was seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shahabuddin or he was challenging the Patna high court order. "I am challenging the Patna high court order granting him bail," Bhushan replied and referred to various case laws to highlight the point that criminal antecedent of an offender should be considered while granting the bail. Terming Shahabuddin as a class-A history-sheeter who cannot be reformed, the lawyer said that high court should not have granted bail to the leader. The Bihar government also supported the submission of Bhushan and rather went a step ahead while seeking issuance of non-bailable warrant against Shahabuddin. The apex court had on September 16 agreed to hear the plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to gangster-turned-RJD leader Shahabuddin. Bihar government standing counsel Gopal Singh had earlier said the high court had failed to follow its own order of February asking the trial court to preferably complete the trial in the Roshan murder case within nine months. The state government had also said that HC ignored the crucial aspect brought by it earlier that key witnesses did not turn up to depose in these cases due to fear and the clout wielded by the dreaded gangster, who before pronouncement of judgment in the murder case of Prasads two sons, allegedly conspired from the jail to eliminate his third son, Rajiv Roshan, the prime witness in the case. It had contended that the high court overlooked the apex court judgment, which had held as correct its decision to conduct the trial of cases against Shahabuddin from jail itself considering the threat to witnesses. In his plea, Prasad has said the high courts September 7 order granting regular bail to Shahabuddin suffers from total non-application of mind as it had completely lost sight of the facts that Respondent No 2 (Shahabuddin) is a dreaded criminal, who has absolutely no regard for the law, and granting bail to him would let him come out of the jail as a free man even though he is still facing trial in many of the cases lodged against him. The plea further said that on May 13 this year, journalist Rajdeo Ranjan was killed in Siwan and it was alleged that Shahabuddin was behind his killing also. In August 2004, Girish, Satish and their eldest brother Rajiv Roshan, the three sons of the petitioner, were picked up by henchmen of the gangster and taken to his native village Pratappur, where they were drenched in acid. Both Girish and Satish died but Roshan, who witnessed the killings, managed to escape. However on June 16, 2014, Roshan was also allegedly murdered and Shahabuddin was arrested for this killing on November 17, 2014. Slain scribe Rajdeo Ranjans wife had also moved apex court seeking transfer of the probe and trial in the murder case to Delhi from Siwan, alleging that media reports have shown two absconding killers of her husband in the company of Shahabuddin and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav. She has sought relief including a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation, to which probe has been transferred, to take up the probe forthwith in view of the fact that the proclaimed offenders, Mohd Kaif and Mohd Javed, were spotted with Shahabuddin and the minister at a place where several cops were also present. IMAGE: Shahbuddin greets supporters after getting bail. Photograph: PTI Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday sought help from the United States to resolve tensions between India and Pakistan, as he raised the issue of alleged human rights violations and killings in Kashmir. Sharif met US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York during which he raised the Kashmir issue. "The prime minister said that more than 107 people have been assassinated in Kashmir, thousands injured and worst human rights violations are being committed at the state level," according to a readout of the meeting issued by Pakistan. Sharif told Kerry that he "still remember President (Bill) Clinton's promise that US will play its role to help out in resolving bilateral disputes and issues between Pakistan and India." "I expect US administration and Secretary Kerry to use his good offices to help in resolving bilateral issues between Pakistan and India," the statement quoted Sharif as saying. Sharif said Pakistan has always fought terrorism as a moral obligation and he has always reached out to neighboring countries for regional peace, stability and prosperity. Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan's envoy to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi and US Special Representative for Af-Pak Richard Olson were also present at the meeting. The meeting comes amidst a fresh war of words between Pakistan and India after terrorists killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. According to the statement, Sharif said that terrorists' infrastructure had been dismantled and they were on the run due to the indiscriminate action against all terrorist groups. "The national resolve against terrorism and extremism is unflinching," the statement said, citing Sharif. Discussing the situation in Afghanistan with Kerry, Sharif stressed the need for meaningful engagement with Afghanistan, the statement said. Sharif, who is here to attend the 71th Session of United Nations General Assembly, earlier called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council demanding that India should be forced to stop its alleged brutalities in Kashmir. He has said he will highlight the Kashmir issue in his address at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Heavily-armed militants stormed a battalion headquarters of the Indian Army in North Kashmir's Uri town in the wee hours on Sunday, killing 18 jawans and injuring 19 others in the attack in which all four terrorists were neutralised. It was the worst attack on the Indian Army in many years. India's Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-E-Mohammed terrorist group. IMAGE: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York. Photograph: PML-N/Twitter Sunday's terror attack has come as a huge setback for the families of the Uri bravehearts, but their spirit has not been deterred by the act of cowardice. IMAGE: Aarti Kumari, the daughter of Naik S K Vidarthi who died in the Uri terror attack. Photograph: ANI Aarti, Anshu and Anshika -- three minor daughters of Naik Sunil Kumar Vidharthi are one such example. For the three of them, their fathers martyrdom is a matter of pride despite their personal loss. Light a candle for the Uri attack martyrs Vidarthi was a resident of Boknari village in Bihar's Gaya district. "I am proud of my father because he did not die, but instead he sacrificed his life for the nation," Aarti told ANI. "The way the Pakistani terrorists are attacking the nation, we should also attack them in the same way. A befitting reply must be given to those who attack our security forces. Only then will Pakistan be able to understand our pain and suffering," she added. Mere papa ne desh ke liye jaan qurbaan kar diya hai, unki sahadat pe hum teeno bahno ko garv hai (My father laid down his life for the country. We all three are proud of him), Anshika said. Aarti and Anshu, along with Anshika, on Monday appeared in their school exams despite grief and sadness at their home. "We have to work hard and excel in studies as our father wanted. He could not go for higher studies due to poverty, but he wanted us to study well, Aarti said. They said that every one in the family have been crying and their mother, grandfather Mathura Yadav and grandmother Kunti Devi are inconsolable since Sunday. Anshu said they have a brother who is just two years old. My brother is unaware of what happened, but he is also upset and sad as our mother is repeatedly fainting and weeping continuously, she said. The three sisters are students of DAV public school in Gaya. The family stays in a rented house for the past few years. Vidharathi, 40, had joined the Indian Army in 1998 and got married in 2000. He was a resident of Boknari village in Bihars Gaya district. Vidharthi's father Mathura Prasad Yadav appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a befitting reply to those attacking the security forces. "We are sad that we have lost our son. But we want to ask the government for how long this will continue? How many soldiers will lose their lives?" he asked. Vidharthi, who joined the army in 1999, has left behind his wife and four children namely Aarti, Anshu, Anshika and Aryan. Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to Vidharthi's family. Another Sepoy Javra Munda, a resident of Meral village in Jharkhand's Khunti district, was also one of the bravehearts who sacrificed his life. One of Javra's friends said that the Sepoy's only ambition was to serve the nation. "He was very hard working. He used to mingle with everyone and that too very easily. His only ambition was to serve the nation," he said. IMAGE: Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son, said slain soldier G Dalai's father. Photograph: ANI The family members of another Uri martyr Sepoy G Dalai, who was a resident of Jamuna Balia village in West Bengal's Howrah district, also mourned the death of the brave soldier. "Why did they do so? God will teach them a lesson," said the sister-in law of Sepoy G Dalai with tears in her eyes. "He called me on Thursday and said I will go from here; bombs are being thrown, they will kill us. Strictest of punishment should be given to those who have killed my son," said his mother. "He was only 22 years old. He was a junior officer; normally seniors are sent there. Why was my son sent there? The government should condemn this and ensure that strict punishment is given to those who killed my son," said his father. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saluted the sacrifice of the Uri bravehearts. "No words can take away the pain of the 17 families who lost their loved ones in #Uri. India's brave soldiers, salutes. Mortal remains of one brave jawan is being brought to Howrah," she tweeted. With inputs from M I Khan in Patna Light a candle for the Uri attack martyrs India is weighing its options after the deadly attack on an army base in Uri in Kashmir blamed on a Pakistan-based terror outfit, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting amid strident calls for military action on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. As the worst ever attack on the Army in many years continued to spark outrage and triggered calls for Pakistans diplomatic isolation, Union Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu said India will have to respond and punish the perpetrators of the attack and can no more take it lying down. Key Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena, while needling Modi on the Uri attack, said if he does not have the courage to strike Pakistan like the United States did to eliminate Osama Bin Laden, there is no use of building an international image. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag besides other senior officials attended the meeting convened by Modi. The top security brass briefed the prime minister on the prevailing ground situation in KashmirValley in the wake of the terror attack, official sources said. The defence minister and the Army chief had visited Kashmir after the attack on Sunday. "We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said. The assertion by Modi triggered considerable speculation about the options that India could exercise in the current situation. A swift, surgical strike on terror camps in PoK was among the options that figured in the speculation but experts also cautioned against consequences and the damages that an escalation could pose if it goes out of hand. Separately, Rajnath, Parrikar and the top security brass met to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the border areas. Doval, Gen Suhag and top officials of the ministries of home and defence, paramilitary forces and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed the meeting on the latest situation in KashmirValley as well as along the Line of Control official sources said. Possible strategies to deal with the fresh challenges arising out of the terror attack at the Army Brigade Headquarters, located along the LoC, was also discussed at the meeting, the sources said. A team of National Investigation Agency is also expected to visit Uri to gather leads and other evidence from the attack site close to the Line of Control. Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on Sunday said all the four killed militants were foreign terrorists and had carried with them items which had Pakistani markings and that initial reports indicated that they belonged to Jaish-E-Mohammed tanzeem. Army institutes inquiry to probe lapses Army on Monday instituted an inquiry into one of the bloodiest attacks in years on its camp at Uri as preliminary investigations suggested the terrorists had entered the area at least a day before mounting the brazen assault. Official sources said the inquiry, to be completed in a time-bound manner, will suggest measures to prevent such attacks in future as Pakistani-based groups were indulging more in shallow infiltration. According to sources, shallow infiltration means when terrorists cross the Line of Control and target the first available army camp or security establishment. The suspicion about Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists having entered the LoC a day before arose from the fact that they had beards which were not a day old as fidayeen (suicide) squads are clean shaven generally, the source said. They said the inquiry will look into all possible lapses that could have led to the attack and ascertain whether it could have been prevented. It will also suggest preventive measures needed to be employed, including realignment of forces around army installations near the LoC. Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his ministers and senior officials at the meeting to discuss the Uri attack. Photograph: Press Information Bureau Pakistan on Monday accused India of misleading the world opinion to cover up its "reign of terror" in Kashmir by a spate of "vitriolic" and "unsubstantiated" statements following the terror attack in Uri that killed 17 soldiers. "Pakistan has noted with serious concern the recent spate of vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements emanating from Indian civil and military leadership in the aftermath of yesterday's attack" in Uri, Sartaj Aziz, the advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, said. He said Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and irresponsible accusations being levelled by senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government. "It is a blatant attempt on India's part to deflect attention from the fast deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation" in Kashmir since the death of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani. He said that the situation in Kashmir is not of Pakistan's making but a direct consequence of "illegal Indian occupation and a long history of atrocities that has resulted in over a 100 thousand deaths". "Nobody has been spared the brute state force including the elderly, wounded patients in hospitals as women and children. This should awaken international conscience," Aziz said. However, India on Monday asserted that it did not need Pakistan's clarifications, as their involvement in the terror strike was concrete. Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre stated that given the current tense situation across the nation following the attack, the Centre is gearing up to give a fitting response to Pakistan. "The entire nation is traumatised right now as we lost 17 brave soldiers. No condemnation is enough for this cowardly act. The whole nation is united in this hour of grief. The prime minister, home minister and defence minister have all come to the conclusion that a response needs to be given to Pakistan," he said. Pakistan has flatly refused New Delhi's claims of Islamabad's involvement in Uri terror attack, stating that said that pointing fingers on them has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack. "Pointing fingers at Pakistan has become a traditional tendency of India after each terrorist attack," the Dawn quoted Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria as saying. "In the past many Indians were involved in the terrorist acts for which India had blamed Pakistan," he asserted. Talking about Pakistan washing its hands off the charges of being involved in the attack, Bhamre asserted that it was Islamabad's habit to deflect, adding that India did not need their 'certificate' as everyone knows that it was behind the attack. Confirming the death toll of the tragedy to be at 17, he stated that most of the injured are suffering from severe burns and are being treated in the Valley itself, but three injured soldiers were brought to the RR Army Hospital in New Delhi Earlier in a statement, the Army said that a group of heavily armed terrorists targeted the rear administrative base of a unit at Uri on Sunday early morning, and in the counter action, four terrorists were eliminated. "The administrative base had large strength of troops of units turning over after their tour of duty who were stationed in tents/temporary shelters which caught fire, and resulted in heavy casualties. We salute the sacrifice of 17 soldiers who were martyred in the operation," the statement added. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said one must not give importance to the assertions made by Pakistan post the attack, adding that the neighbouring nation stands exposed before the world. "Not admitting it does not hold any importance now. Everything has been exposed. We should not bother much what Pakistan says. There should not be much commenting on the issue. We will take steps carefully. Commenting too much on it is not right. Fuel should not be given to what Pakistan says," Rijiju told the media. Condemning the terror attack in Uri Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the nation that those behind the 'despicable' attack will not go unpunished. "We salute all those martyred in Uri. Their service to the nation will always be remembered. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has hit out at Pakistan branding it as a 'terrorist state', adding that he was disappointed by Islamabad's continued support to terrorism and terrorist groups. Branding Pakistan as a 'terrorist state' and stating that it should be identified and isolated as such, the home minister added that there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped. "I am deeply disappointed with Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups," he said in a series of tweets. Image: The Army camp in Uri that came under terror attack on Sunday. Photograph: PTI Photo The Army on Monday said it reserves the right to respond to any cross-border terror attack 'at the time and place of our own choosing', a day after the Uri strike that was blamed on a Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed sparking calls for exercising military options. The Army also said it has the desired capability to respond to any blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us. The remarks by Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh came at a time when some security experts and political leaders have called for targeting terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the attack that left 18 soldiers dead and over two dozen injured. The Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint while handling the terrorist situation both along the Line of Control and in hinterland. However, we have the desired capability to respond to such blatant acts of aggression and violence as deemed appropriate by us, Lt Gen Singh said in a statement to the media at the South Block. We reserve the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing, he added. Lt Gen Singhs remark was identical to the statement given by then Army chief Gen Bikram Singh in 2013 after the January 8 violation of the LoC in which one jawan was beheaded and the other had his throat slit. Well give them a fitting reply...we will respond at a time and place of our choosing, he had said. Following the Pathankot attack earlier this year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also said the same. However, top Army sources told PTI that action will be taken but nature and timing of it will not be revealed at the moment. There should be an element of surprise which is not there at the moment as Pakistan will be prepared for retaliation. The Indian Army of course has its strategy in place and will do its job, the sources said. Parrikar had been briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt Gen D S Hooda and Lt Gen Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on Sunday about the incident and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. The briefing included discussions on the soft points and how the terrorists managed to get in. Defence sources had said possible action plan was also discussed about how the Army can respond to the attack. Sources said the decision will be taken at a higher level on the kind of action to be taken but this would be highly confidential. On Monday, Parrikar met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and later had a meeting at his office with Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Meanwhile, the Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said the total recoveries from the slain terrorists is four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, 39 Under Barrel Grenade Launcher grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two global positioning system devices, two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings. Lt Gen Singh said infiltration attempts by terrorists have shown a marked increase in comparison to the past 3-4 years. In 2016, there have been 17 infiltration bids eliminated by the Indian Army along the Line of Control. Of a total of 110 terrorists eliminated in J&K, 31 have been killed while they were attempting to cross the Line of Control, he said. It actually indicates a desperate attempt from across the LoC to infiltrate more terrorists into Kashmir with a view to create disturbance and foment unrest in our area, he added. The officer said the last two infiltration attempts -- September 11 in Poonch and September 18 at Uri -- were successfully thwarted by the Indian Army by killing of four terrorists in each of the operations. IMAGE: Soldiers guard outside the army base which was attacked by terrorists in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday. Photograph: PTI Photo Russia, France, Canada and Afghanistan on Monday joined several other countries in condemning the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 army personnel even as United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Expressing their solidarity with India in its hour of loss, the countries said they stand with the government of India in the fight against terrorism. Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said, "Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory. "We believe that this criminal act will be investigated properly, and that its organisers and perpetrators will be held accountable. We confirm our continued support for the Indian government's counter-terrorism efforts," the statement added. Condemning the attack, France said it "remains at India's side in the combat against terrorism. It calls on every state to fight effectively against terrorist groups operating on their territory or from their territory against other countries." France also recalls the importance it attaches to bringing calm and the peaceful settlement of disputes in the region of Kashmir, a French Foreign Ministry statement said. France called for decisive action to be taken, in accordance with international law, against the terrorist groups targeting India, particularly the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. The deputy spokesperson for the French ministry of foreign affairs and international development in Paris said, "After that of Pathankot earlier this year, this attack reminds us that India, like France, is a victim of terrorism. "More than ever before, we remain at the side of our strategic partner, India, for fighting this scourge. As underscored by the President of the French Republic during his India visit in January this year, all countries must effectively combat terrorism emanating from their territory or from territories under their control." He also asserted that nothing can justify terrorism, which must be combated everywhere with the same determination. Hoping that the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice, the UN Secretary General said re-establishing stability and preventing any further loss of life will be the priority of "all involved". Acting High Commissioner for Canada to India Jess Dutton said, "The government of Canada extends condolences to the victims and their families. We are appalled by these attacks and stand with the government of India in the fight against terrorism." Condemning the attack, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said the countries that use terrorism as instrument of foreign policy, should not only be isolated but also held accountable for taking away innocent lives. Noting that his country, which has been a victim of terrorism for a long time, can "share the pain", he said it was high time that international community chalks a new course of action to "effectively and actively" deal with the countries which use terrorism as state policy. The United States and the United Kingdom had also condemned the attack on Sunday. Image: School students holds placards during a protest against terror attack at Uri Army base, in Ranchi. Photograph: PTI Former CIA operative Bruce Riedel on the Uri attack and its aftermath. Exclusive to Rediff.com IMAGE: Soldiers on their way to neutralise the terrorists at the army camp in Uri, September 18, 2016. Photograph: Umar Ganie Bruce Riedel, who served the Central Intelligence Agency for 29 years, is one of America's leading experts on terrorism in South Asia. Chair of President Obama's committee to draft a new American policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2009, Riedel has consistently warned policy makers and law makers in Washington, DC about the dangers of Pakistan-inspired terrorism in the region. This is what Riedel told Rediff.com after the Uri attack on Sunday. First and most importantly, the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating with alarming casualties. Second the rhetoric on both sides is heating up. This is getting dangerous. India has no good military options to stop Pakistani supported cross border violence in Kashmir. Any military response in Pakistan risks escalation and will be condemned by the international community including Washington. A better approach would be to seek diplomatic support for labeling Pakistan a patron State sponsor of terrorism." "It has been clear for several months that the Pakistani army believes the situation in Kashmir is ripe for a reintensification of the conflict and that India has few credible options to respond.First and most importantly, the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating with alarming casualties.Second the rhetoric on both sides is heating up. This is getting dangerous. India has no good military options to stop Pakistani supported cross border violence in Kashmir.Any military response in Pakistan risks escalation and will be condemned by the international community including Washington.A better approach would be to seek diplomatic support for labeling Pakistan a patron State sponsor of terrorism." What Bruce Riedel told Rediff.com earlier: Tanzania: Procedures and requirements to obtain a passport, including issuing authority, documents, and fees required; appearance and security features, including fingerprinting and whether passport photographs are provided by the applicants themselves; procedures to replace a lost passport, including cases whereby a person has no identity documents (2004-October 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 19 November 2015 Citation / Document Symbol TZA105335.E Related Document(s) Tanzanie : information sur les exigences et la marche a suivre pour obtenir un passeport, y compris sur l'autorite de delivrance, les documents et les frais exiges; aspect et caracteristiques de securite, y compris les empreintes digitales; information indiquant si les photographies sont fournies par les demandeurs eux-memes; information sur la marche a suivre pour remplacer un passeport perdu, y compris lorsque la personne n'a aucune piece d'identite (2004-octobre 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Tanzania: Procedures and requirements to obtain a passport, including issuing authority, documents, and fees required; appearance and security features, including fingerprinting and whether passport photographs are provided by the applicants themselves; procedures to replace a lost passport, including cases whereby a person has no identity documents (2004-October 2015), 19 November 2015, TZA105335.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa00c4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview According to Keesing's Reference Systems, there are two Tanzanian national passports in circulation: one with a validity of 5 years and another with a validity of 10 years (Keesing's Reference Systems n.d.). The same source states that the passport with a validity of 10 years was first issued in 2005 and that this model requires children to be bearers of their own passport (ibid.). 2. Issuing Authority According to the website of the Immigration Services Department (ISD) of Tanzania, "[t]he competent authority to authorize the grant[ing] of passports is the Commissioner General of Immigration Services" (Tanzania n.d.). The same source states that passports are printed at the Immigration Headquarters in Dar es Salaam as well as at the Zanzibar Immigration Head Office (ibid.). 3. Required Documentation and Fee The website of the ISD states that when applying for a passport, the individual must present the following: A Birth Certificate or Birth affidavit or Certificate of Naturalization of the applicant (in case the applicant is a citizen by naturalization). A birth certificate or birth affidavit or Certificate of Naturalization of the applicant's parent or parents; Recent, clear and un-mounted passport size photographs as may be directed by the issuing authority. In case of the applicant who is below the age of 18 years, the parent's or legal guardian's written consent. (ibid.) The same source states that in the event that an individual cannot provide a certificate of birth, an affidavit shall be stated or sworn by the following: A parent or legal guardian; or a person who was present at the place of birth when the applicant was born and who is not less than five years above the age of the applicant; or the applicant's close relative who was informed of the applicant's birth by the parents. (ibid.) The website of the ISD indicates that a fee of 50,000 Tanzanian shillings (TZS) [approximately C$30] is required to apply for an ordinary passport (ibid.). 4. Applying for a Replacement Passport According to the website of the ISD, a passport may be replaced when it is full or damaged (ibid.). In such circumstances, the application for a replacement passport must be accompanied by the previous passport as well as four passport-sized photographs (ibid.). 5. Applying for the Replacement of a Lost or Stolen Passport The website of the ISD indicates the following regarding lost or stolen passports: [w]here a passport is lost, stolen, or severely damaged, an application for replacement shall be accompanied by sworn declaration of the circumstances surrounding the loss, theft or damage of the passport and authority to which the loss, theft or damage was reported. (ibid.) The same source states that when a passport is lost or stolen, the owner of the passport is required to report the loss or theft to the nearest police station as well as publish the loss or theft in a daily newspaper where the passport was lost (ibid.). 6. Physical Appearance According to Keesing's Reference Systems, the passport with a 10-year validity measures 125 millimetres by 88 millimetres (4.9 inches by 3.4 inches) and contains 48 pages (Keesing's Reference Systems n.d.). The passport number consists of six digits preceded by two letters and all pages are perforated (ibid.). The passport photograph is integrated into the document and is repeated as a hologram when exposed to UV light (ibid.). Edison's Document Checker indicates that the cover of the ten-year passport is green (Edison's Document Checker n.d.). Keesing's Reference Systems states that the passport with a 5-year validity measures 125 millimetres by 88 millimetres (4.9 inches by 2.5 inches), contains 36 pages, and all pages are perforated (ibid.). The first page contains information which is printed and the third page is composed of clear laminate with print, sewn in (ibid.). The same source indicates that the passport photograph on this model is glued in, sometimes with a dry embossing stamp; the signature of the passport bearer is placed below the photograph on a separate yellow, white, or green strip with red dots (ibid.). Keesing's also indicates that the passport number itself is seven digits preceded by a letter (ibid.). According to Edison's Document Checker, the cover of the five-year passport is green (Edison's Document Checker n.d.). Sample copies of both the five and ten-year passports as provided by Edison's Document Checker and Keesing's Reference Systems have been attached to this Response. Corroborating information on the physical appearance of Tanzanian passports could not be found within the time constraints of this Response. 7. Security Features Keesing's Reference Systems reports that security features of the 10-year passport include the bearers photograph repeated as a hologram under UV light as well as a hologram feature on the photograph (ibid.). Edison's Document Checker also indicates that there is a watermark depicting a coat of arms on all pages of the passport (Edison's Document Checker n.d.). Sample copies of these security features are attached to this Response. According to Keesing's Reference Systems, security features of the five-year passport include the binding of the booklet, which uses a particular type of binding wire and also a synthetic laminate material which is applied to protect the biographical data (Keesing's Reference Systems n.d.). The same source also indicates that the document reacts to UV light, producing a series of images when exposed (ibid.). Edison's Document Checker likewise states that the passport reacts to UV light, producing a yellow colour reaction (Edison's Document Checker n.d.). The same source notes that the passport has a watermark present on all pages which reads "passport" in three languages (ibid.). Sample copies of these security features are attached to this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Edison's Document Checker. N.d. "Tanzania National Passport." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015] Keesing's Reference Systems. N.d. "Tanzania National Passport." [Accessed 26 Oct. 2015] Tanzania. N.d. "Passports and Travel Documents." [Accessed 26 Oct. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Canada - High Commission to Tanzania; Tanzania - High Commission to Canada, High Commission to the United Kingdom, Ministry of Home Affairs Immigration Services Department; 10 Law Firms in Tanzania. Internet sites, including: African Confidential; The African Union; Africa Research Bulletin; Al Jazeera; AllAfrica; Amnesty International; BBC; Canada - High Commission to Tanzania; The East African; ecoi.net; European Union - Public Register of Authenic Travel and Identity Documents Online; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Tanzania - Embassy to the US, High Commission to Canada, High Commission to the UK; US - Department of State. Attachments 1. Edison's Document Checker. N.d. Tanzanian National Passport. 2. Keesing's Document Checker. N.d. Tanzania National Passport. Tanzania: Information on national identity cards, including eligibility, requirements and procedures for obtaining identity cards, issuing authority, when they are issued, documents required, content and appearance of cards; security features and reports of fraudulent identity cards; whether there is a separate Zanzibar identity card, including details (2010-October 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 19 November 2015 Citation / Document Symbol TZA105334.E Related Document(s) Tanzanie : information sur les cartes d'identite nationale, y compris sur l'admissibilite, les exigences et la marche a suivre pour obtenir une carte d'identite, l'autorite de delivrance, le moment de la delivrance, les documents exiges, le contenu et l'aspect de la carte; caracteristiques de securite et signalements de cartes d'identite frauduleuses; information indiquant s'il existe une carte d'identite distincte pour Zanzibar, y compris les details s'y rapportant (2010-octobre 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Tanzania: Information on national identity cards, including eligibility, requirements and procedures for obtaining identity cards, issuing authority, when they are issued, documents required, content and appearance of cards; security features and reports of fraudulent identity cards; whether there is a separate Zanzibar identity card, including details (2010-October 2015), 19 November 2015, TZA105334.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa0924.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa Information on Tanzanian national identity cards was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 1. Overview According to Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP, an international law firm focusing on corporate immigration services (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP n.d.), the Tanzanian government launched its national identity card program on 7 February 2013 (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013). The British newspaper The Guardian similarly reports that in February 2013, the first 46 Tanzanian national ID cards were distributed to senior government officials and "high profile personalities" (The Guardian 5 June 2014). According to The East African, a subsection of the newspaper Business Daily, an East African newspaper published by Nairobi-based Nation Media Group (The East African n.d.), the National Identification Authority (NIDA) of Tanzania began registering citizens' information for the purpose of national ID cards in 2012 (ibid. 14 Mar. 2015). The same source states that as of March 2015, over 6.1 million people had been registered and 1.7 million people had been issued IDs (ibid.). According to sources, the national ID card enables the Police, Migration Department, Revenue Authority, and other government agencies to share information, while also differentiating between Tanzanian citizens, foreign nationals and refugees (The East African 14 Mar. 2015; Reuters 27 Feb. 2013; Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013). The East African explains that the national ID cards link the database of the Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) with those of other government departments (The East African 14 Mar. 2015). According to a 2012 article by the Tanzania Daily News, government agencies that plan to use the national ID card for "day to day activities" include the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the Higher Learning Students Loans Board (HESLB), Social Security Funds, and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) (Tanzania Daily News 15 May 2012). The East African reports that the government made a decision that the national IDs "will soon be used as the only official documents for citizens and residents domestically" (The East African 14 Mar. 2015). However, the same source reports that the government suspended the issuance of the national IDs in March 2015 pending the further allocation of government funding in the budget (ibid.). The 2012 article by Tanzania Daily News quotes the director of NIDA as stating that the national ID card is to be issued free of charge to all Tanzanians as the government is fully funding the project (Tanzania Daily News 15 May 2012). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Issuing Authority Sources indicate that NIDA is the government agency responsible for the issuance of the national ID card (The East African 14 Mar. 2015; The Guardian 5 June 2014; Tanzania Daily News 9 Oct. 2014). 3. Eligibility, Requirements, and Procedures for Obtaining Identity Cards 3.1 Eligibility Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP indicates that there will be "three types of national identification: one for Tanzanian nationals, one for resident foreigners, and one for refugees seeking asylum" (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013). The Guardian similarly quotes a NIDA public relations officer as stating that IDs will be issued to "citizenry, foreigners holding residence permits and registered refugees" (The Guardian 22 April 2015). According to Tanzanian Daily News, this includes citizens in Zanzibar who are 18 years of age and over (Tanzania Daily News 23 Sept. 2014). 3.2 Requirements and Procedures According to The Guardian, following an "initial registration," individuals must go to a NIDA office to have their photograph and fingerprints taken (The Guardian 5 June 2014). The same source states that individuals who registered for the ID must present a "slip" to registration authorities when returning to NIDA to collect their cards (The Guardian 5 June 2014). An October 2014 article published by Tanzania Daily News indicates that the citizens of Zanzibar eligible for the national ID card "are those whose biometric details were captured during the first national mass registration" (Tanzania Daily News 9 Oct. 2014). Further and corroborating information on the process to obtain a National Identity Card could not be found amongst the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4. Documents Required to Obtain a National Identity Card Sources report that individuals must present registrar authorities with supporting documentation to apply for a national ID card, including: Passport (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013; 24Tanzania 8 Feb. 2013); Birth Certificate (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013; 24Tanzania 8 Feb. 2013; The Guardian 23 July 2012); Education Certificates (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013; 24Tanzania 8 Feb. 2013; The Guardian 23 July 2012); Voter IDs (Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 Feb. 2013; 24Tanzania 8 Feb. 2013); Clinic Card (The Guardian 23 July 2012); Certificate of Baptism (The Guardian 23 July 2012) 5. Appearance and Information Contained on National Identity Cards Information on the appearance and information contained on the national ID cards could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 6. Security Features and Prevalence of Fraudulent National Identity Cards Tanzania Daily News indicates that during the first phase of initial registration for the national ID card, officials noted several instances in which they were given false documentation as proof of identity; 700 police officers and 248 members of the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) were found to have forged "academic certificates" (Tanzania Daily News 15 May 2012). The Guardian similarly states that "challenges related to forged school certificates" delayed the issuance of national ID cards (23 July 2012). Further and corroborating information on the prevalence of fraudulent national ID cards, or other documents, and the security features of ID cards could not be found amongst the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 7. Zanzibar Identity Card According to Tanzania Daily News, since 2005, Zanzibaris have been issued an identity card called the ZanID, but they will be required to carry both the ZanID and national ID card (Tanzania Daily News 23 Sept. 2014). Further and corroborating information on the Zanzibar identity card could not be found by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References 24Tanzania. 8 February 2013. Shawn Mubiru. "Tanzania to Begin Issuing National Identity Cards." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. 12 February 2013. "Tanzania- Government Launches National ID Cards." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] _____. N.d. "Core Values." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] The East African. 14 March 2015. Hellen Nachilongo. "ID Hitches Mar Tanzania's Election Preparations." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] The Guardian. 22 April 2015. "IDs to be Made Mandatory for Job Seekers, says NIDA." [Accessed 18 Nov. 2015] _____. 5 June 2014. "NIDA to resume IDs Issuance this Month." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] _____. 23 July 2012. Devota Mwachang. "National IDs registration Marred by Hitches in Dar es Salaam." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] Reuters. 27 February 2013. Kizito Makoye. "Tanzania Launches New ID Cards to Combat Election Fraud." [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015] Tanzania Daily News. 9 October 2014. Issa Yusuf. "Tanzania: Zanzibaris Given ID Cards." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015] _____. 23 September 2014. Issa Yussuf. "Tanzania: NIDA Starts Issuing IDs in Zanzibar." [Accessed 29 Oct. 2015] _____. 15 May 2012. Christopher Majaliwa. "National IDs Ready in July." (Factiva) Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Canada - High Commission to Tanzania; Tanzania - Embassy to the US, High Commission to Canada, High Commission to the UK, Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration Services Department; Seven law firms in Tanzania. Internet sites, including: Africa Confidential; Africa Research Bulletin; Al Jazeera; Amnesty International; The African Union; BBC; Canada - High Commission to Tanzania; ecoi.net; Edison's Document Checker; European Union - Public Register of Authentic Travel and Identtity Documents Online (PRADO); Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; Keesing's Reference Systems; Tanzania - Immigration Services Department, National Identification Authority; United Nations - Development Programme, High Commission on Refugees ; United States - Department of State. Tanzania: Police orders, including issuing authority, reasons and circumstances for issuance, delivery methods, and consequences for failure to comply; appearance of these orders (2013-October 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 27 October 2015 Citation / Document Symbol TZA105333.E Related Document(s) Tanzanie : information sur les ordonnances de la police, y compris sur l'autorite responsable de leur delivrance, les motifs et les circonstances de leur delivrance, les methodes de transmission et les consequences associees au defaut de s'y conformer; l'apparence de ces ordonnances (2013-octobre 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Tanzania: Police orders, including issuing authority, reasons and circumstances for issuance, delivery methods, and consequences for failure to comply; appearance of these orders (2013-October 2015), 27 October 2015, TZA105333.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa1aa4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa Information on police orders, including issuing authority, reasons and circumstances for issuance, delivery methods, and consequences for failure to comply, as well as information on their appearance, was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Part II (A) of the Criminal Procedure Act of Tanzania outlines the procedures relating to criminal investigations (Tanzania 1985). Article 10 (2) provides information on written police orders, and (2A) indicates the penalties for failing to comply when summoned (ibid.). A copy of Part II of the act is attached to this Response. Information on the application of these articles as well as on the appearance of police orders could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Reference Tanzania. 1985 (amended 2008). The Criminal Procedure Act. [Accessed 17 Oct. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Interpol; National Organization for Legal Assistance; Tanzania - Embassy in Ottawa, Police Force; 13 criminal lawyers based in Tanzania. Internet sites, including: AllAfrica; Amnesty International; Canada - Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Daily News; ecoi.net; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; Southern African Legal Assistance Network; Southern African Legal Information Institute; Tanzania- Government Portal, Judiciary of Tanzania; United Nations - Refworld, ReliefWeb; United States - Department of State, Embassy in Dar es Salaam. Attachment Tanzania. 1985 (amended 2008). The Criminal Procedure Act. [Accessed 17 Oct. 2015] Trinidad and Tobago: Information on the Jamaat al muslimeen (JAM), including political and criminal activities, and violence perpetrated by members; state response (2010-February 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 14 March 2016 Citation / Document Symbol TTO105454.E Related Document(s) Trinite-et-Tobago : information sur le Jamaat al muslimeen (JAM), y compris sur ses activites politiques et criminelles, et la violence commise par ses membres; la reaction de l'Etat (2010-fevrier 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Trinidad and Tobago: Information on the Jamaat al muslimeen (JAM), including political and criminal activities, and violence perpetrated by members; state response (2010-February 2016), 14 March 2016, TTO105454.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa2364.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview Information on the JAM was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to the Jamestown Foundation, JAM is a "shell of its former self" (Jamestown 5 July 2010). Sources state that JAM has splintered (Oliveira and Aviles June 2012, 26) or fractured (VICE News 30 May 2014), and has become more of a criminal organization in recent years (ibid.; Jamestown Foundation 30 July 2009; Oliveira and Aviles June 2012, 20). According to a 2009 report by the Jamestown Foundation, JAM has been involved in the following activities: "Gangland-style" killings, narcotics and arms trafficking, money laundering, extortion and kidnapping (30 July 2009). Further and corroborating information, including recent activities of JAM, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For information on the history of JAM, including the 1990 coup attempt, see Response to Information Request TTO33947. 1.1 Political Involvement According to sources, JAM has been involved in "political thuggery" (The Daily Beast 15 Oct. 2014) or "political corruption" (Jamestown Foundation 30 July 2009). According to sources, Yasin Abu Bakr formed the National Vision Party (NVP) in 1994 (Oliveira and Aviles June 2012, 17; PHW 2015, 1476) and contested the 2010 elections as the New National Vision (NNV) party (ibid.). The NNV is often referred to as the "political arm" of the JAM (Oliveira and Aviles June 2012, 17). According to the Political Handbook of the World (PHW), the NNV received 0.27 percent of the vote in Trinidad and Tobago's 2010 elections (2015, 1476). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010 for Trinidad and Tobago similarly states that in the 2010 election, the NNV "garnered few votes and no seats" (US 8 Apr. 2011, 9). According to sources, the NNV is led by Fuad Abu Bakr (Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday 11 July 2015; Caribbean News Service 11 June 2015), son of Yasin Abu Bakr (Daily Express 4 May 2010). According to a 2010 report by the Jamestown Foundation, "JAM remains an active force in Trinidadian society and politics under Abu Bakr's leadership" (Jamestown Foundation 5 July 2010). A Master's thesis for the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, on the threat and capabilities of JAM, indicates that the organisation has a "weak political affiliation" and has been "unable to grow numerically" as well as "failed to expand its influence" (Oliveira and Aviles June 2012, 37). In an interview with Bakr, VICE News, an international news organisation that highlights "underreported stories from around the globe" (VICE News n.d.), reports that his "power has waned" and he is "content tosit back," predicting that Trinidad and Tobago's government will naturally fall into anarchy due to high levels of crime and corruption (VICE News 30 May 2014). A 2015 article in The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper similarly notes that Bakr has "tried his utmost to stay out of the limelight of politics for so long" (21 July 2015). 2. State Response Information on state responses to JAM was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources state that the leader of JAM was arrested on 21 July 2015 as part of an investigation into the May 2014 murder of Senator Dana Seetahal (Caribbean News Now 21 July 2015; The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper 21 July 2015). According to The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper, eight other JAM members were also arrested (ibid.). On 22 July 2015, The Daily Express, a Port of Spain-based newspaper, reported that Yasin Abu Bakr and Imam Hassan Ali were released from custody (22 July 2015). The same source indicates that they were among a total of eleven people that had been arrested the day before and questioned regarding the murder of Dana Seetahal (ibid.). Further information on the results of the investigation could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Further information on state responses to JAM could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For information on government efforts to fight crime, including organized crime, state protection and effectiveness in Trinidad and Tobago, see Response to Information Request TTO104750. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Caribbean News Now. 21 July 2015. "Leader of Attempted Coup in Trinidad Detained by Police in High-profile Murder Investigation." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Caribbean News Service. 11 June 2015. "Abu-Bakr's NNV to Contest All 41 Seats in Upcoming Election." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] The Daily Beast. 15 October 2014. Michael Daly. "ISIS Has a Bigger Coalition Than We Do." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] The Daily Express. 22 July 2015. Susan Mohammed. "Abu Bakr Released." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] _____. 4 May 2010. "12 Candidates for New National Vision." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] The Jamestown Foundation. 5 July 2010. "Trinidad's Troubling Islamist Yasin Abu Bakr." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] _____. 30 July 2009. Chris Zambelis. "Jamaat al-Muslimeen: The Growth and Decline of Islamist Militancy in Trinidad and Tobago." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Oliveria, Brandon and Darby Aviles. June 2012. Naval Postgraduate School. "Disrupting Emerging Networks: Analyzing and Evaluating Jamaat Al-Muslimeen (JAM) and the Development of an Extremist Threat in the Caribbean." [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016] Political Handbook of the World (PHW). 2015. "Trinidad and Tobago." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. 21 July 2015. Derek Achong. "Abu Bakr, Jamaat Members HeldFamilies in Dark." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 11 July 2015. Sean Douglas. "Fuad Abu Bakr Challenges Rowley." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] United States (US). 8 April 2011. Department of State. "Trinidad and Tobago." Country Reports on Human Rights Prcatices for 2010. [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] VICE News. 30 May 2014. Danny Gold. "The Islamic Leader Who Tried to Overthrow Trinidad Has Melloweda Little." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] _____. N.d. "About VICE News." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Human Rights Law Clinic, Hugh Wooding Law School; Professor of History and International Studies, Trinity College; Senior Academic Fellow, University of Trinidad and Tobago. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; British Broadcasting Corporation; ecoi.net; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; International Crisis Group; Jane's Intelligence Review; Jane's Terrorism Watch Report; Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute; United Nations - Human Rights Council, Refworld; United States - Department of State. Syria: Murshidis [Murshidiyya], including their treatment, particularly in the city of Latakia (2014-April 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 22 April 2016 Citation / Document Symbol SYR105502.FE Related Document(s) Syrie : information sur les murshidis [mourchidites ou Murshidiyya], y compris sur le traitement qui leur est reserve, notamment dans la ville de Lattaquie (2014-avril 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Syria: Murshidis [Murshidiyya], including their treatment, particularly in the city of Latakia (2014-April 2016), 22 April 2016, SYR105502.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa3654.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. The Murshidiyya Religious Community 1.1 Overview Sources report that the Murshidis are a religious community, a subgroup of the Alawite branch, from whom they split in the 20th Century (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016; Sevruk Jan. 2013, 80). An article in the daily newspaper Le Monde states that it is a [translation] "dissident Alawite sect, which itself is a minority branch of Shia" (Le Monde 16 Nov. 2012). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, Dmitry Sevruk, a doctoral student in Islamic studies at the University of Bamberg, whose doctoral thesis focuses on the Murshidiyya community (Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg n.d.), said that "the Murshidis do not consider themselves a part of the Alawis" (Sevruk 11 Apr. 2016). In an article on the Murshidiyya community published in 2013, the same source explains that "[t]he Murshidis consider themselves a branch within Islam, but their interpretation of the word 'Islam' is much wider than usual" (ibid. Jan. 2013, 90). Sources estimate that the Murshidiyya community has increased to approximately 100,000 members (Director, University of Oklahoma 12 Apr. 2016) or 300,000 members (Sevruk Jan. 2013, 80). According to some sources, the Murshidiyya now live in the areas of Latakia, Homs and Hama (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016; Director, University of Oklahoma 12 Apr. 2016; Sevruk 11 Apr. 2016). The doctoral student in Islamic studies noted that there are also a few Murshidiyya neighbourhoods in Damascus (ibid.). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor of modern Middle East history at the University of Toronto stated that the Murshidis are currently found in most major cities under the control of the Bashar al-Assad regime (Professor of modern Middle East history 11 Apr. 2016). According to Dmitry Sevruk, the current "unofficial leader of the Murshidiyya community," Nur al-Mudi al-Murshid, mentioned, in his book Lamahat hawla al-Murshidiyya published in 2007, the existence of two branches of Murshidiyya: "al-Qabala" in Homs, Masyaf the suburbs of Damascus, and "al-Shamala" in Latakia and al-Ghab (Sevruk Jan. 2013, 81, 93). 1.2 Brief History Sources indicate that the Murshidis are followers of Salman [Sulayman] al-Murshid, an Alawite who, in the 1920s, claimed to have received a message from God (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016; Sevruk Jan. 2013, 82). According to sources, in 1936, in addition to his religious activities, Salman al-Murshid became a deputy (Professor of history, Dickinson College 11 Apr. 2016; Sevruk Jan. 2013, 85) of the Representative Council of the Alawi State, and then in 1937, in the National Parliament in Damascus (ibid.). Sources note that Salman al-Murshid maintained relations with the French occupying power (ibid.; Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016). According to Dmitry Sevruk, Salman tried to manoeuvre between the French Mandate and the Syrian national government to secure his own position and that of his community generally but he was not successful: soon after the withdrawal of the French forces from Syria he was arrested ..., sentenced to death in December 1946 and executed in Damascus. (Sevruk Jan. 2013, 85) The Professor of modern Middle East history at the University of Toronto explained that "[a]fter experiencing some persecution in earlier decades, the Murshidiyya established good relations with the regime of Hafez al-Assad" (Professor of modern Middle East history 11 Apr. 2016). Similarly, Dmitry Sevruk notes that it was only after Hafez el-Assad became the leader of Syria [in 1970] that the Murshidis were allowed to openly practise their faith (Sevruk n.d.). In addition, according to Dmitry Sevruk, since the death of Saji al-Murshid (Salman's son) in 1998, the Murshidis have not officially had a leader (Sevruk Jan. 2013, 86, 90). 2. Treatment by Government and by Society 2.1 Treatment by the Bashar al-Assad Government In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) at the University of Oklahoma, who has a published a work on the Syrian crisis and several articles on Syria, stated that "the regime has an affinity for [Murshidis] and sees them as potential allies" (Director, University of Oklahoma 12 Apr. 2016). However, the same source also stated that there is "some distrust" between Bashar al-Assad and the Murshidis because a number of Murshidis supported Rifaat al-Assad when he tried to take power from his brother Hafez al-Assad in the 1980s (ibid.). Dmitry Sevruk explains that the Murshidis initially supported Rifaat al-Assad, before lending their support to Hafez al-Assad (Sevruk n.d.). Additional information on whether the Bashar al-Assad government considers the Murshidis to be allies could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Without providing more details, the director of the CMES at the University of Oklahoma stated that the current situation of the Murshidis in Syria is "not worse than anybody's [including in] Latakia" (Director, University of Oklahoma 12 Apr. 2016). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) at the University of Denver, who has published several articles on the Syrian crisis, said that he did not think that "the authorities would arrest someone on the ground that he is a part of the [Murshidi] community" (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016). Corroborating information, as well as information on Latakia in particular, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2.2 Treatment by Society The Director of the CMES at the University of Denver stated the following with respect to how Syrian society views the Murshidis: Anyone who claims to be a member of this subgroup is seen with deep suspicion not only by the Alawites but also by most Syrian Sunnis, who form about 70 percent of the Syrian population. (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016) Some oral sources explained that Sunnis generally consider the Murshidis to be heretics (ibid.); Director, University of Oklahoma 12 Apr. 2016). According to Dmitry Sevruk, "[u]ntil today al-Murshid is accused by opponents of the Murshidiyya to have claimed to be an incarnation of Divinity - a point which is flatly denied by the members of the community" (Sevruk Jan. 2013, 85). According to the Director of the CMES at the University of Denver, the Murshidis currently face "multiple forms of discrimination" (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016). He also stated that a person who publicly proclaims that they are Murshidi or who try to organize a Murshidi public event could face discrimination or violence (ibid.). The same source explained that the Murshidis "would probably not be allowed to publicly have their own religious institutions" (ibid.). Corroborating information, as well as information referring specifically to Latakia, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The February 2016 report from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arabic Republic, published by the UN Human Rights Council, states the following: [UN English version] In October [2015], the remains of 22 men belonging to the minority Murshidi Muslim sect were discovered in the Al-Ghab valley of Hamah, an area against which Jabhat al-Nusra and anti-government armed groups had launched a coordinated attack in August. All victims bore signs of severe torture, and many were found with their hands bound and teeth pulled. It is unclear whether the dead were civilians or captured fighters, and the extent to which their religious background motivated the attack (UN 11 Feb. 2016, para. 108). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2.3 Fear of Mistreatment Sources stated that if current Syrian president Bashar al-Assad were overthrown by armed opponents, the consequences for the Murshidis would be "very" negative (Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016; Director, University of Oklahoma 12 Apr. 2016). According to the same sources, the Murshidis would then have a "legitimate" fear of "persecution" (ibid.; Director, University of Denver 11 Apr. 2016). The Director of CMES of the University of Oklahoma stated that, in his opinion, if the Islamist factions were to come to power, they "would wipe [the Murshidis] out" and, as a result, the fear of "genocide" would be "legitimate" (12 Apr. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The Director of the CMES at the University of Denver explained that if there is a change of government in Syria, the Murshidis would be viewed with suspicion by the new government because they would be perceived both as a breakaway faction of the Alawite community and as having collaborated with the French (11 Apr. 2016). The doctoral student in Islamic studies indicated that he "suppose[d] that even a usual member of the community can be identified now by a part of the Syrian society with the Assad regime, in spite of his (this member's) real political views" (Sevruk 11 Apr. 2016). Similarly, according to Le Monde, [translation] "Sunnis in Syria consider the Murshidis to be Alawites" (Le Monde 16 Nov. 2012). The same Le Monde article also states that the Murshidis, [translation] "who are considered to be favoured by the Bashar Al-Assad regime are trying to remain neutral" (ibid.). The journalist, Lewis Roth, reports in the article that he noted that in the Murshidi village of Kdin, [translation] "which has fallen to the Free Syrian Army (FSA)," government officials "[were] still receiving their pay, even though they [could] not go to work," whereas "in general, the government has stopped paying all employees who remain in the FSA occupied area, in retaliation" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Director, Center for Middle East Studies (CMES), University of Denver. 11 April 2016. Telephone interview. Director, Center for Middle East Studies (CMES), University of Oklahoma. 12 April 2016. Telephone interview. Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg. N.d. "Dmitry Sevruk." [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016] Le Monde. 16 November 2012. Lewis Roth. "A Kdin, en Syrie, la cohabitation delicate d'une secte alaouite avec les rebelles." [Accessed 19 Apr. 2016] Professor of history, Dickinson College. 11 April 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Professor of modern Middle East history, University of Toronto. 11 April 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Sevruk, Dmitry, Doctoral student in Islamic studies, Universitat Bamberg. 11 April 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. _____. January 2013. "The Murshidis of Syria: a Short Overview of their History and Beliefs." The Muslim World. Vol. 103. _____. N.d. "Dmitry Sevruk." [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016] United Nations (UN). 11 February 2016. Human Rights Council. Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arabic Republic. [Accessed 20 Apr. 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California at Berkeley; Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago; Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Harvard; Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies; Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin; Free Syria's Silenced Voices; Gulf Centre for Human Rights; Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh; Liaison Office Syria; Middle East Studies Association of North America; Middle East Studies Program, George Mason University; Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University; Syria Relief Network; Syrian Forum; Syrian Network for Human Rights; Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; ecoi.net; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; UN - Refworld; US - Department of State. Niger: The Niger Democratic Movement for an African Federation (Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine, MODEN/FA Lumana AFRICA), including its structure, leaders and activities; the party's membership cards, including a description of the card and its issuance process; the treatment of party members by the authorities (2013-January 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 19 February 2015 Citation / Document Symbol NER105059.FE Related Document(s) Niger : information sur le Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine (MODEN/FA Lumana AFRICA), y compris sur sa structure, ses dirigeants et ses activites; information sur les cartes de membre du parti, y compris une description de la carte et son processus de delivrance; information sur le traitement qui est reserve aux membres du parti par les autorites (2013-janvier 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Niger: The Niger Democratic Movement for an African Federation (Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine, MODEN/FA Lumana AFRICA), including its structure, leaders and activities; the party's membership cards, including a description of the card and its issuance process; the treatment of party members by the authorities (2013-January 2015), 19 February 2015, NER105059.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa3d54.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview of the Party Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate by the President of the coordination in France of the Niger Democratic Movement for an African Federation indicates that the party acronym is MODEN/FA Lumana AFRICA (MODEN/FA Lumana 19 Jan. 2015a). The party's website, which describes the organization's objectives, posts other variations of this acronym, such as Moden/FA Lumana Africa and MODEN-FA LUMANA AFRICA (ibid. 23 Dec. 2013). On 11 February 2015, the most recent news posted on the [translation] "News" page of that same website was dated 6 February 2015 (ibid. n.d.a). A page on another website of the party that lists the party's [translation] "governing bodies" gives the acronym MODEN/FA-LUMANA-AFRICA (ibid. n.d.e), while the page on the same site that posts the party's organs writes it as: MODEN FA LUMANA - AFRICA (ibid. n.d.f). On 11 February 2015, the most recent news posted on the [translation] "Home" page of this site was dated 12 November 2014 (ibid. n.d.b). Information explaining the existence of two websites belonging to the MODEN/FA Lumana party could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 1.1 Party's Origin According to the Political Handbook of the World 2014 (PHW), MODEN/FA Lumana was founded in 2010 by Hama Amadou (PHW 2014, 1060). He had previously served as Prime Minister of Niger in 1995 (ibid.; MODEN/FA Lumana n.d.d) and in 2000 (ibid.). In an interview that he granted to the magazine Afrique nouvelle, posted by the Niger online news site Tamtaminfo, Hama Amadou stated the following: [translation] The party obtained its decree of recognition on 12 May 2009, but did not hold its constituent congress until 10 July 2010, more than one year later (Afrique nouvelle 15 May 2013). In addition, two Niger media sources reported on the party's anniversary celebrations: the Niamey daily Le Sahel published an article on the party's fourth anniversary, in May 2013 (Le Sahel [2013]), and Tamtaminfo reported on the fifth anniversary, in May 2014 (Tamtaminfo 13 May 2014). The PHW identified the following individuals as leaders of MODEN/FA Lumana: Hama Amadou (president), Salissou Mamadou Habi (vice-president), Noma Oumarou (second vice-president), Almoustapha Cisse (treasurer), Ali Gazagaza (deputy secretary general) and Omar Hamidou Tchiana [Ladan Tchiana] (secretary general) (PHW 2014, 1060). Other sources mention some of these leaders: Hama Amadou (president) (Afrique nouvelle 15 May 2013); Salissou Mamadou Habi (vice-president) (ActuNiger 11 Nov. 2014); Ali Gazagaza (secretary general) (RFI 26 May 2014); Omar Hamidou Tchiana (secretary general) (ibid. 24 Aug. 2013). 1.2 Party Objectives According to extracts of MODEN/FA Lumana's statutes, which are posted on one of the party's websites, Article 13 states: [translation] "The objective of the party is to govern and exercise state power through democratic means" (MODEN/FA Lumana 23 Dec. 2013). In addition, Article 14-b of the statutes indicates that one of the party's specific objectives is to [translation] "[p]articipate in building a free and democratic Africa in an African federation" (ibid.). Similarly, during the interview he granted to the Afrique nouvelle magazine, Hama Amadou stated that the party aspired to [translation] "create a federation, one single federal state," for Africa (Afrique nouvelle 15 May 2013). 1.3 Party Structure A list of MODEN/FA Lumana's "governing bodies" (attachment 1) and a list of its organs (attachment 2) are attached to this Response. 1.4 Party Members During a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the president of the coordination in France of MODEN/FA Lumana stated that, despite the existence of a system of member cards, the party does not have [translation] "a reliable and up-to-date registry" of its members (MODEN/FA Lumana 19 Jan. 2015b). He added that MODEN/FA Lumana estimates the number of party members by the number of people who attend the rallies and events that it organizes (ibid.). However, an article published by the Ivorian News Agency (Agence ivoirienne de presse, AIP) on 12 January 2015, refers to the census, by the MODEN/FA Lumana coordination, of all the party activists in Cote d'Ivoire (AIP 12 Jan. 2015). 1.5 Conditions for Issuing the Membership Card The [translation] "membership" section of one of the party's websites states that an email containing the individual's surname, first name, date and place of birth, and address and telephone number must be sent to the email address indicated on the same page (MODEN/FA Lumana n.d.c). According to the president of the coordination in France of MODEN/FA Lumana, party membership is open to everyone (ibid. 19 Jan. 2015b). Further information on the party's membership procedure could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The information in the following paragraph was provided by the president of the coordination in France of MODEN/FA Lumana during a telephone interview with the Research Directorate (ibid.). The organ responsible for issuing party membership cards in Niger is the National Political Office. An example of a card issued in 2009 is attached to this Response (attachment 3). It costs 1,000 francs CFA [about C$2] to obtain a member card in Niger. The coordination in France makes and distributes its own membership cards. An example of such a card, issued in November 2014, is also attached to this Response (attachment 4). It costs 5 euros [about C$7] to buy it. 2. Party's Political Activities Sources state that, during the legislative elections of 2011 [which were held in January (African Elections Database n.d.a; Freedom House 2014)], the MODEN/FA Lumana party won 23 seats (African Elections Database n.d.a; PHW 2014, 1060). The National Assembly of Niger has 113 seats (ibid.; Jeune Afrique and AFP 23 Aug. 2013; RFI 23 Aug. 2013). Sources state that the MODEN/FA Lumana party came third in the 2011 elections (PHW 2014, 1060; Xinhua Press Agency 19 Aug. 2013). The African Elections Database, which lists the electoral results of 49 sub-Saharan countries (African Elections Database n.d.b), states that the votes from the Agadez region were cancelled and that other elections were held on 15 May 2011 in that region, which brought the number of seats won by MODEN/FA Lumana to 25 (ibid. n.d.a). Freedom House also states that MODEN/FA Lumana won 25 seats (Freedom House 2014). Information on the number of elected locals who are members of MODEN/FA Lumana could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In April 2011, after the legislative elections, the president of MODEN/FA Lumana, Hama Amadou, was appointed president of the National Assembly (PHW 2014, 1060). Other sources also identify Hama Amadou as the president of the National Assembly (RFI 23 Aug. 2013; Xinhua Press Agency 19 Aug. 2013). In addition, the Niger News Agency (Agence nigerienne de presse, ANP) states that some MODEN/FA Lumana members were appointed ministers (ANP 27 Aug. 2013). Freedom House explains that the president of Niger, whose party won 37 seats, appointed some opposition members to key positions to "foster inclusivity" (Freedom House 2014). In August 2013, the president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, formed a new government of national unity [by decree (Jeune Afrique and AFP 14 Aug. 2013)], and he appointed some members of Niger's opposition parties to ministerial positions (Jeune Afrique and AFP 14 Aug. 2013; Freedom House 2014; Xinhua Press Agency 19 Aug. 2013). According to sources, six or eight ministers of MODEN/FA Lumana were appointed to this cabinet (RFI 23 Aug. 2013; Xinhua Press Agency 19 Aug. 2013). An article published by Jeune Afrique and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) states that the president [translation] "justified a 'government of unity' by the 'need' to reinforce internal 'political stability' and especially 'the security situation in Sahel'" (Jeune Afrique and AFP 14 Aug. 2013). According to Freedom House, the president of Niger stated that he took this step in response to the double terrorist attack in the northern part of the country on 23 May 2013 (Freedom House 2014). This attack targeted a military base in Agadez and a uranium mine [in Arlit (ibid.)] and about 20 individuals were killed (ibid.; Jeune Afrique et AFP 14 Aug. 2013). Sources state that MODEN/FA Lumana's National Political Office refused to participate in the new government (RFI 23 Aug. 2013; Xinhua Press Agency 19 Aug. 2013; Jeune Afrique and AFP 23 Aug. 2013). According to the article published by Jeune Afrique and AFP, it withdrew its ministers on 17 Aug. 2013 [translation] "to protest against [the party's] underrepresentation," arguing that MODEN/FA Lumana had not been consulted and that it had only received "phantom departments" (ibid.). An article from the Xinhua Press Agency also notes the lack of consultation as a ground advanced by the National Political Office (19 Aug. 2013). Media state that MODEN/FA Lumana decided in August 2013 to withdraw from the coalition in power (RFI 23 Aug. 2013; Jeune Afrique and AFP 29 Aug. 2014). According to ANP, the ministerial members of MODEN/FA Lumana who refused to participate in government were replaced by presidential decree (ANP 27 Aug. 2013). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to Radio France internationale (RFI), four of the members of MODEN/FA Lumana who had just been appointed ministers refused to obey their party's directive to leave their position (RFI 23 Aug. 2013). The Niger weekly La Griffe states that they were then excluded from the MODEN/FA Lumana party (La Griffe [12] Jan. 2015). According to sources, some ministers continued to subscribe to the party (MODEN/FA Lumana 19 Jan. 2015b; La Griffe [12] Jan. 2015; ActuNiger 11 Nov. 2014); one minister created his own political party (ibid.; La Griffe [12] Jan. 2015) and another minister joined the president of Niger's party (ibid.). The weekly La Griffe states that some members who were excluded from MODEN/FA Lumana submitted appeals to the Niger justice system to be able to continue to subscribe to the party (La Griffe [12] Jan. 2015). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. Treatment of Party Members by the Authorities 3.1 Situation of the Party President According to media, a [translation] "baby trafficking" or "stolen babies" scandal involving Hama Amadou [then leader of MODEN/FA Lumana (Jeune Afrique 15 Sept. 2014; Le Temps 27 Aug. 2014)], broke out in 2014 (Le Temps 27 Aug. 2014; Jeune Afrique 2 Jan. 2015; RFI 24 Dec. 2014). It involved the international trafficking of babies born in Nigeria and sent to Benin and Niger (ibid. 10 Sept. 2014; Jeune Afrique and AFP 29 Aug. 2014). Some people were charged with "supposition of a child" in this matter (Le Temps 27 Aug. 2014; Jeune Afrique and AFP 29 Aug. 2014), in June 2014 (ibid.). Supposition of a child involves passing a child off as one's own (Mondafrique.com 9 Oct. 2014; RFI 24 Dec. 2014). Included among those charged and detained was one of Hama Amadou's wives (ibid.; Le Temps 27 Aug. 2014; Jeune Afrique and AFP 29 Aug. 2014). According to Jeune Afrique, she was [translation] "suspected of 'buying' her twins in Nigeria" (Jeune Afrique 15 Sept. 2014). Hama Amadou was charged with conspiring in the matter (ibid.; RFI 10 Sept. 2014; Mondafrique.com 9 Oct. 2014). On 26 Aug. 2014, the government asked the National Assembly to allow the justice system to hear Hama Amadou (Jeune Afrique 15 Sept. 2014; Le Temps 27 Aug. 2014; UN 24 Dec. 2014) by removing his parliamentary immunity and issuing a warrant of arrest against him (ibid.). During an interview with Jeune Afrique, Hama Amadou claimed that he did not participate in trafficking children and stated that [translation] "everyone [had] seen [his wife] pregnant;" he added that this matter had served as a pretext to arrest him, that it was "a political file" and that the procedure to lift his immunity as a member of parliament had not been respected (Jeune Afrique 15 Sept. 2014). Some sources state that Hama Amadou went to Burkina Faso on 27 August 2014 (Jeune Afrique 15 Sept. 2014; Le Temps 27 Aug. 2014). Subsequently, [three days later (Jeune Afrique 15 Sept. 2014)], he went to France (Jeune Afrique 2 Jan. 2015; RFI 24 Dec. 2014; AIP 12 Jan. 2015). The president of the coordination in France of MODEN/FA Lumana stated that Hama Amadou was still in exile in France (MODEN/FA Lumana 19 Jan. 2015b). 3.2 Protests Organized by the Opposition Parties, Including MODEN/FA Lumana A news report from the Pan African News Agency (PANAPRESS) dated 6 December 2013, states that the government of Niger prohibited, through a radio message from the Minister of the Interior, opposition rallies and marches across the country (PANAPRESS 6 Dec. 2013). However, it states that [translation] "the opposition parties can meet at their head offices or in public rooms" (ibid.). The report refers to the statements of the minister, who took this measure "for reasons of public order" (ibid.). PANAPRESS adds that this prohibition appeared [translation] "a few days" prior to a country tour that the three opposition "political forces," including the MODEN/FA Lumana party, were planning to start (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources state that an opposition march scheduled for 25 May 2014 was prohibited (RFI 26 May 2014; APA 25 May 2014). According to the Agence de presse africaine (APA), the Minister of the Interior announced this measure during a press briefing on 24 May 2014 (ibid.). He stated that [translation] "the actions of the opposition are simply a campaign to destabilize the regime" (ibid.). RFI states instead that the [translation] "peaceful opposition march" was prohibited by the municipality of Niamey for "failing to respect the request submission deadline" (RFI 26 May 2014). According to the APA, the opposition had decided to organize [translation] "a peaceful protest march to require strict respect of the constitution" (APA 25 May 2014). The APA adds that the organization of the march followed [translation] "the wave of questioning" by the police of activists of MODEN/FA Lumana (ibid.). Similarly, RFI states that the opposition [translation] "wanted to respond to the ruling party, which, for a few days already had been multiplying the number of arrests of the opposition" (RFI 26 May 2014). That same source adds [translation] "that some 40 opposition activists, all from [MODEN/FA] Lumana, are in the hands of the police" (ibid.). In another news report, the APA states that the police used [translation] "force" to disperse a march of opposition activists that took place on 23 May 2014 in the city of Zinder (APA 27 June 2014). That same source points out that, that same day, a rally presided over by [translation] "the three big political opposition leaders," including Hama Amadou, for MODEN/FA Lumana, and in which some "thousands" of people participated, was held in an arena in the city (ibid.). This rally, contrary to the march before it, received approval from the authorities (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources state that, on 17 January 2015, as a result of the [translation] "violent" "anti-Charlie Hebdo" protests that occurred that day in Niamey, the authorities prohibited an opposition coalition march scheduled "a long ago" for the next day in the streets of the capital (AFP 18 Jan. 2015; RFI 19 Jan. 2015). The AFP points out that MODEN/FA Lumana was part of this opposition coalition (AFP 18 Jan. 2015). On 18 January 2015, despite the prohibition, protesters [300, according to AFP (ibid.)] gathered in the streets of the capital and were then dispersed by the police (ibid.; RFI 19 Jan. 2015). The AFP states that seven of them, according to a police source, were questioned (AFP 18 Jan. 2015). Some sources state that 90 of them were arrested (RFI 19 Jan. 2015; MODEN/FA Lumana 19 Jan. 2015b). This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References ActuNiger. 11 November 2014. "Exclusif ActuNiger - ADN : le nouveau parti de Salah Habi." [Accessed 25 Jan. 2015] African Elections Database. N.d.a. "Elections in Niger." [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "About the Database." [Accessed 18 Feb. 2015] Afrique nouvelle. 15 May 2013. "En quatre ans d'existence, le MODEN-FA/LUMANA." [Accessed 16 Jan. 2015] Agence de presse africaine (APA). 27 June 2014. "Niger : la police disperse une marche non autorisee de l'opposition a Zinder." (Factiva) _____ . 25 May 2014. "La marche de l'opposition de ce dimanche interdite (officiel)." (Factiva) Agence France-Presse (AFP). 18 January 2015. "Niger : la police disperse une manifestation interdite de l'opposition." [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015] Agence ivoirienne de presse (AIP). 12 January 2015. "Le parti nigerien Lumana Fa Africa installe une section de Yamoussoukro." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] Agence nigerienne de presse (ANP). 27 August 2013. "Les ministres du Moden FA Lumana qui refusent de sieger au gouvernement remplaces par decret presidentiel." [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015] Agence nigerienne de presse (ANP) and the Office national d'edition et de presse (ONEP). N.d. Ravic Mahamadou Mamoudou. "Tahoua politique : adhesion des jeunes de la ville de Tahoua a l'Alliance democratique pour le Niger (ADN FUSAHA)." [Accessed 28 Jan. 2015] Freedom House. 2014. "Niger." Freedom in the World 2014. [Accessed 10 Feb. 2015] La Griffe. [12] January 2015. "Le ministre Mano Agali rejoint le PNDS-TARAYYA." [Accessed 14 Jan. 2015] Jeune Afrique. 2 January 2015. Elise Colette. "Mahamadou Issoufou : 'Hama Amadou a des problemes avec la justice de son pays. Pas avec moi'." [Accessed 23 Jan. 2015] _____. 15 September 2014. Remi Carayol. "Hama Amadou : 'J'ai fui le Niger pour sauver ma peau'." [Accessed 18 Feb. 2015] Jeune Afrique and Agence France-Presse (AFP). 29 August 2014. "Trafic de bebes : la fuite de Hama Amadou au Burkina divise le Niger." [Accessed 18 Feb. 2015] _____. 23 August 2013. "Niger : la coalition au pouvoir divisee." [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015] _____. 14 August 2013. "A Niamey aussi, on remanie." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015] Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine (MODEN/FA Lumana). 19 January 2015a. Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate by the president of the coordination in France. _____. 19 January 2015b. Telephone interview with the president of the coordination in France. _____. 23 December 2013. "Objectifs du Moden FA / Lumana Africa." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.a. "Actualites." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.b. "Accueil." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.c. "Adhesion." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.d. "Bibliographie." [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.e. "Les instances du parti." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] _____. N.d.f. "Les organes." [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] Mondafrique.com. 9 October 2014. Thalia Bayle. "'Je suis l'homme a abattre,' Hama Amadou." [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015] Pan African News Agency (PANAPRESS). 6 December 2013. "Interdiction de meetings et marches de l'opposition au Niger." (Factiva) Political Handbook of the World 2014 (PHW). 2014. "Niger." Edited by Tom Lansford. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. Radio France internationale (RFI). 19 January 2015. "Niger : des arrestations apres la marche de l'opposition interdite." [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015] _____. 24 December 2014. "Trafic de bebes au Niger : la femme d'Hama Amadou en liberte provisoire." [Accessed 23 Jan. 2015] _____. 10 September 2014. "Hama Amadou : 'Mahamadou Issoufou a des intentions mortiferes a mon egard'." [Accessed 29 Jan. 2015] _____. 26 May 2014. "Niger : une marche de contestation de l'opposition reportee." [Accessed 16 Jan. 2015] _____. 23 Aug. 2013. "La formation d'un nouveau gouvernement au Niger seme la zizanie au sein de la majorite." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015] Le Sahel. [2013]. "Dosso : le MODEN-FA LUMANA-AFRICA a fete son 4eme anniversaire." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015] Tamtaminfo. 13 May 2014. A. Mounkaila. "Lumana souffle ses 5 bougies." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015] _____. 15 May 2013. "Le MODEN-FA LUMANA-AFRICA a fete son 4eme anniversaire." [Accessed 16 Jan. 2015] _____. 24 April 2013. "Rentree politique du MODEN FA/LUMANA de Tillaberi : une demonstration de force qui fait peur." [Accessed 16 Jan. 2015] Le Temps. 27 Aug. 2014. "Niger : l'opposant Hama Amadou s'exile au Burkina Faso." [Accessed 9 Feb. 2015] United Nations (UN). 24 December 2014. "Rapport du Secretaire general sur les activites du Bureau des Nations Unies pour l'Afrique de l'Ouest." (S/2014/945) [Accessed 11 Feb. 2015] Xinhua Press Agency. 19 August 2013. "Niger : le gouvernement d'union nationale seme la polemique." [Accessed 21 Jan. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Attempts to contact the following persons and organizations were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: Association des femmes juristes du Niger; Canada - Embassy of Canada in Bamako, Embassy of Canada in Dakar; Democratie vivante; International Association for Democracy in Africa; Maillon africain pour la paix et le developpement; Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine - Webmaster; Mouvement nigerien pour la promotion et la defense des droits de l'homme et des peuples; Reseau des journalistes pour les droits de l'homme. Internet sites, including: aNiamey.com; ecoi.net; Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; Herodote (geography and geopolitical journal); Mouvement nigerien pour la promotion et la defense des droits de l'homme et des peuples. Attachments 1. Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine (MODEN/FA Lumana). N.d. "Les instances du parti." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2015] 2. Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine (MODEN/FA Lumana). N.d. "Les organes." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2015] 3. Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine (MODEN/FA Lumana). 12 September 2009. National Political Office. Party membership card sent to the Research Directorate by the president of the national coordination of France. 4. Mouvement democratique nigerien pour une federation africaine (MODEN/FA Lumana). 8 November 2014. Coordination in France. Party membership card sent to the Research Directorate by the president of the national coordination of France. Iraq: Information on the treatment of atheists and apostates by society and authorities in Erbil; state protection available (2013-September 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 2 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol IRQ105624.E Related Document(s) Iraq : information sur le traitement reserve aux athees et aux apostats par la societe et les autorites a Erbil; protection offerte par l'Etat (2013-septembre 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iraq: Information on the treatment of atheists and apostates by society and authorities in Erbil; state protection available (2013-September 2016) , 2 September 2016, IRQ105624.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa5444.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Treatment by Society 1.1 Societal Attitudes A March 2014 article in the Guardian quotes Falah Mustafa, Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations, as stating that the Kurdistan region is "an open and secular [society]. There are people who go to mosque and there are people who do not" (The Guardian 25 March 2014, brackets in original). The same source indicates that Mustafa "cited the coexistence of Christians, Sunnis, Shias and secular Kurds in [E]rbil as an example of tolerance in Iraqi Kurdistan" (ibid.). A 2014 article by Mariwan Salihi, a freelance journalist and photographer based in Kuwait (Your Middle East n.d.a), and published by the news website Your Middle East [1], which includes interviews with young atheists in Iraq, indicates that the Kurdistan region of Iraq "portrays itself as a tolerant place, with a semi-secular system," and that young Kurds there "often feel they have more freedom to express their views" (ibid. 4 Feb. 2014). However, the same source quotes an Erbil-based Canadian-Kurdish "photographer and program assistant at a local NGO," as stating that it is "easier to say that one doesn't believe in God in Kurdistan than in the rest of Iraq, but adds that in the Middle East - like in the rest of the world - people [do not have the mindset] to accept others who have no religion" (ibid.). Al-Monitor, a media source that provides "reporting and analysis by prominent journalists and experts from the Middle East" (Al-Monitor n.d.), cites "a number of Iraqi nonbelievers" as indicating that there is a "prevailing social view that [atheists] are morally corrupt," "agents and operatives of foreign entities," and are looked upon with suspicion for being "non-believers" (ibid. 6 Mar. 2016). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor emeritus at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University, who has published extensively on Kurdish and Islamic studies, stated that, according to his research, [c]riticism of the ulama ["the learned of Islam" (Encyclopaedia Britannica n.d.)] and religious functionaries in general is quite widespread and is not looked upon as something scandalous. However, publicly proclaiming oneself to be an atheist could [cause] problems. The Kurdish government is secular, and privately many leading Kurds may not care much about what their fellows believe or don't believe. But society in general, especially in Erbil, is socially conservative and expects everyone to respect Islamic norms. (22 Aug. 2016) The city of Silemani (Sulaymaniya) has always been the most liberal and most open to non-Muslim lifestyles, but as a result of heavy urbanisation (i.e. the massive influx of more conservative villagers), the atmosphere has considerably changed there" (Emeritus Professor 22 Aug. 2016). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an assistant professor of politics and public policy at the American University of Kurdistan, whose research interests include "KRG social policies [and] [p]olitical diversity and underrepresented groups within the KRG," similarly indicated that, "in general, the Kurdistan region and particularly Erbil, is a relatively conservative society when it comes to discussion on religion" (Assistant Professor 24 Aug. 2016). The same source explained that Erbil is "more conservative" than Sulaymaniya, but added that the latter is also where "more extremist[s] are gathered" (ibid.). 1.2 Discrimination and Violence According to the Assistant Professor, "it is very hard for atheists and apostates to openly declare their opinion 'in public'" (Assistant Professor 24 Aug. 2016). The same source, who conducted interviews with atheists, social advocates, NGOs, social researchers and university professors, and Members of Parliament for the purpose of this Response, further reported that In a phone interview with two other atheists in Erbil , they admitted that they can only declare their positions as atheists among their very educated friends. Some atheists indirectly post in their social media websites (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) comments which imply atheism and implicitly indicate their position as apostate. (ibid.) In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a representative of the Kurdistan Secular Centre (KSC), an organization established in April 2015 in Suleymaniya, whose mission is to promote secularism and the separation of religion from the state in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (The Clarion Project 21 June 2016), also stated that "the general public opinion is that you do not speak against a religion" and that people with secular views "are generally very scared" to openly declare their views on religion (KSC 22 Aug. 2016). The KSC representative indicated that social media is the "only safe place" where atheists and agnostics can express their opinions (ibid.). According to Al-Monitor, there are "many" Iraqi websites for atheists but "they all keep their membership lists secret for fear of being persecuted or killed by extremist religious militias and groups, or even by ordinary citizens on the street" (Al-Monitor 6 Mar. 2014). The article also notes that "some of them wish to be able to express their beliefs and presence without fear of being intimidated or even murdered" (ibid.). Kurdish-Iraqi news website Shafaq News similarly states that atheists fear being killed for expressing their beliefs (16 May 2014). According to the KSC Representative "[d]eclaring to be an atheist in public can be fatal. Atheists and other free-thinkers can be attacked by groups of young people in the streets if anyone knows about their opinions" (ibid.). Furthermore, the Representative noted that atheists "suffer psychologically as they can be rejected by their families" (ibid.). According to the Assistant Professor, there have been cases in which atheists are physically threatened after declaring their beliefs, including one of his interviewees who had a gun pointed at him during a gathering in Erbil when the armed individual learned that he was an atheist (Assistant Professor 24 Aug. 2016). The same source further noted that, in the last two decades, he has "seen and heard direct threats of Fatwa expressed by some Islamic extremists and religious leaders against atheists and apostates, particularly writers who explicitly criticize Islamic principles and values" (ibid.). According to the KSC Representative, if imams know a person is secular, "they will harass them publicly during Friday sermons" (KSC 22 Aug. 2016). Shafaq News reports that there is a growing fear of being accused of blasphemy, especially in "troubled areas" where there are armed militants, making it difficult for a person to declare being an atheist (16 May 2014). A report of a fact finding mission to Erbil, conducted by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the Danish Immigration Service in September and October 2015, states, without providing further details, that according to sources interviewed during the mission, "there is harassment against religious and ethnic groups in KRI [the Kurdish Region of Iraq] and the Kurdish controlled areas, especially against atheists, Yazidis and Christians by radical Islamist groups" (DRC and Denmark Apr. 2016, 173). Further information on instances of discrimination, violence, and killings of atheists in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Further information on treatment of atheists by society in Erbil could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For further information on the security situation in Erbil, see Response to Information Request IRQ105417 of February 2016. 2. Treatment by Authorities and State Protection, Including in Erbil According to the 2016 US Commission on International Religious Freedom annual report for Iraq, since 2014, the Kurdish region and its government has "played a significant role in providing a safe haven for religious minority communities fleeing ISIL's [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Daesh] advancements and attacks" (US Apr. 2016, 100). The US Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 for Iraq states that members of religious minorities, civil society groups, and media reported that "some non-Muslims chose to reside in the IKR [Iraqi Kurdistan Region] areas under KRG control because they continued to consider these areas to offer greater security, tolerance, and protection for minority rights" (ibid. 10 Aug. 2016, 10-11). The US International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 indicates that the constitution "guarantees freedom of religious belief and practice" as well as "freedom from religious coercion" (ibid., 1). However, the Representative of KSC stated that there are existing laws in Iraqi Kurdistan that discriminate against atheists and apostates (KSC 22 Aug. 2016). According to sources, all persons are assigned a religious affiliation at birth, and there is no possibility of not having any religion assigned (ibid., Faculty Member 19 Aug. 2016). Sources indicate that that the national identity card denotes one's religion (KSC 22 Aug. 2016; US 10 Aug. 2016, 6), and can only be selected from Christian, Sabean-Mandean, Yezidi, and Muslim (ibid.). The US International Religious Freedom Report 2015 notes that, without an identity card, "non-Muslims and those who convert to faiths other than Islam may not register their marriages, enroll their children in public school, acquire passports, or obtain some government services" (ibid.). According to the DRC and the Danish Immigration Service report, "[t]he law discriminates with regard to conversion, as Muslims are not allowed to convert, whereas it is possible to convert from other religions to Islam" (DRC and Denmark Apr. 2016, 174). Similarly, the US International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 states that "[p]ersonal status laws and regulations prohibit the conversion of Muslims to other religions" (US 10 Aug. 2016, 4). According to the DRC and the Danish Immigration Service report, [t]here are cases of people being killed for converting. [T]he sources mentioned the case of Priest Abdullah, who was attempted killed three times by unknown people. Then the Asayish [KRG's General Security Directorate] arrested him. The last thing the sources heard about him, was that he had left for Europe to seek asylum. (DRC and Denmark Apr. 2016, 174) The KRC representative stated that provisions of the personal status law which regulates issues such as polygamy, divorce, child custody and inheritance, not only discriminate against women's rights but also affect the rights of atheists and apostates (KSC 22 Aug. 2016). According to the KSC Representative, article 382 of the Iraqi Penal Code criminalizes blasphemy (ibid.). The same source stated that the police are people from society and share the same beliefs, that judges are against atheism, and that there are laws forbidding insulting Islam (ibid.). The KSC Representative gave the opinion that because of this, "people who are being harassed would rather hide than ask police for protection" (ibid.). According to an appeal for support published on the website of the Richard Dawkins Foundation [2], in 2014 a student was arrested for criticizing Islam in school in Darbandikhan [Sulaymaniya Province] (Richard Dawkins Foundation 13 July 2016). The appeal by his lawyer indicates that after the student gave a presentation on the Big Bang theory at his school, "Islamists in his class instigated a fatwa against him" (ibid.). According to his lawyer, he was also receiving threats for criticizing Islam on Facebook (ibid.). The same source states that when the student filed a complaint with police against those who were sending him death threats, the judge ordered his arrest; he was jailed in Sulaymaniyeh and later released on bail (ibid.). Further information on the outcome of the case could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources report that in 2013, after being reported to the police by his father, a 15 year old boy was arrested by police in Erbil for criticizing Islam (AAI n.d.) and declaring himself to be an atheist (ibid.; Your Middle East 28 May 2014). Sources further indicate that the teenager was beaten by the police and tortured (AAI n.d.; Your Middle East 28 May 2014) with electric shocks, subjected to solitary confinement, threatened with death, and insulted by a judge and a social worker (ibid.). According to sources, he was later charged with "blasphemy" (AAI n.d.) or with "disbelieving God" (Your Middle East May 2014). Your Middle East reports that he spent 13 days in an Erbil prison before being released on bail and was to be put on trial in June 2014 (ibid.). Further information on developments in this case could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Further information on state protection available to atheists in Erbil could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] Your Middle East is a Swedish non-profit organization that provides a media platform where "bloggers, activists, [and] tweeters combin[e] their stories with those of established journalists, academics, and experts" (Your Middle East n.d.b). Your Middle East's advisory board includes journalists from Al Jazeera and the Washington Post, the Executive Director for Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, the Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt, and a professor at Lund University (ibid.). [2] The Richard Dawkins Foundation is an organization whose mission is to "remove the influence of religion in science education and public policy, and eliminate the stigma that surrounds atheism and non-belief" (Richard Dawkins Foundation n.d.). References Al-Monitor. 6 March 2014. Ali Mamouri. "Iraq Atheists Demand Recognition, Guarantee of Their Rights." [Accessed 30 Aug. 2016] _____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016] Assistant Professor of politics and public policy, American University of Kurdistan. 24 August 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Atheist Alliance International (AAI). N.d. "Trial of A 15 Years Old Teenager Charged with 'Blasphemy' in Erbil City, Iraqi Kurdistan." [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016] The Clarion Project. 21 June 2016. Gona Saed. "An Appeal to Support the Kurdistan Secular Centre." [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016] Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Danish Immigration Service (Denmark). April 2016. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI): Access, Possibility of Protection, Security and Humanitarian Situation. Report from Fact Finding Mission to Erbil, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and Beirut, Lebanon. 26 September to 6 October 2015. [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016] Encyclopaedia Britannica. N.d. "Ulama." [Accessed 25 Aug. 2016] Faculty Member, Department of Anthropology, Univeristy of Kentucky. 19 August 2016. Correspondance with the Research Directorate. The Guardian. 25 March 2014. Orlando Crowcroft. "Diaspora Returns to Build Iraqi Kurdistan into the 'Next Dubai'." [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016] Kurdistan Secular Centre (KSC). 22 August 2016. Telephone interview with a representative. Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht Univeristy. 22 August 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Richard Dawkins Foundation. 13 July 2015. Maryam Namazie. "Yousef Muhammad Ali Faces Trial Tomorrow for Criticising Islam." [Accessed 23 Aug. 2016] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 23 Aug. 2016] Shafaq News. 16 May 2014. "Atheism Increase in Troubled Areas Observers Determine the Reasons." [Accessed 29 Aug. 2016] United States (US). April 2016. Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF). "Iraq." 2016 Annual Report. [Accessed 29 Aug. 2016] _____. 10 August 2016. Department of State. "Iraq." International Religious Freedom Report for 2015. [Accessed 30 Aug. 2016] Your Middle East. 28 May 2014. Rozh Ahmad. "Interview with Persecuted Young Atheist in Erbil." [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016] _____. 4 February 2014. Mariwan Salihi. "Without God in Baghdad." [Accessed 18 Aug. 2016] _____. N.d.a. "Mariwan Salihi." [Accessed 29 Aug. 2016] _____. N.d.b. "About Us." [Accessed 17 Aug. 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Al Bawaba; Assistant Professor, Social Sciences Department, American University of Iraq, Sulaimani; Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam; Kurdish Human Rights Watch; Norwegian People's Aid; Public Aid Organization. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; Council of Ex-Muslims in Britain; ecoi.net; Ekurd Daily News; Erbil Governorate; Factiva; Freedom House; Hawler Times; Human Rights Watch; Institute for War and Peace Reporting; International Humanist and Ethical Union; IRIN; Kurdish Human Rights Project; The Kurdish Project; Kurdish Studies; Kurdish Studies Network; Kurdistan - Regional Government; Minority Rights Group International; Pew Research Center; Rudaw; United Nations - High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Refworld, ReliefWeb, United Nations Iraq. Hungary: treatment of Roma and state protection efforts (2013-August 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 19 August 2016 Citation / Document Symbol HUN105587.E Related Document(s) Hongrie : information sur le traitement reserve aux Roms et sur les mesures prises par l'Etat pour les proteger (2013-aout 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Hungary: treatment of Roma and state protection efforts (2013-August 2016), 19 August 2016, HUN105587.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa6294.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Treatment of Roma The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015 states that "[e]xtreme ethnic nationalist groups, including the Jobbik Party, continued to use derogatory rhetoric about 'gypsy crime' and incited hatred against the Roma community" (US 13 Apr. 2016, 44). According to a 2014 article by the Athena Institute, a Budapest-based research organization that analyzes issues concerning domestic extremism and terrorism in Europe (Athena Institute n.d.), since the electoral campaign preceding Hungary's 2014 general elections, Jobbik has "slowly but firmly" disassociated itself from extremist elements (ibid. 30 June 2014). In a report from his visit to Hungary in July 2014, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe similarly notes that there has been "a toning down of the most extremist rhetoric" in Hungary as of 2014 (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, para. 77). Nonetheless, the Commissioner's report adds that [the] discourse and activities by Jobbik's candidates at the last municipal elections in October 2014 indicate that this might not be an irreversible trend. As a result, the electoral success of Jobbik, which is the third largest political movement represented in the Hungarian Parliament with 20.54% of the vote in the 2014 general elections, can only be of concern to the Commissioner. (ibid.) According to Country Reports 2015, in May 2014 the Hungarian parliament elected Tamas Sneider as one of its deputy speakers; Sneider is reported to be a "former skinhead leader" who received a suspended prison sentence in 1992 for assault against a Roma (US 13 May 2016, 44). The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) states that this nomination "indicates a certain tolerance for racist attitudes and a flagrant disregard for the country's most vulnerable group" (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, para. 68). According to the information available on the website of the Hungarian parliament, Sneider is listed as a deputy speaker (Hungary n.d.). A 2014 article by the Athena Institute indicates that the extremist groups that caused massive problems for the Hungarian authorities, terrorised the Roma, Jewish and LGBT communities on countless occasions and played a huge role in Jobbik entering the Parliament in 2010 are on a path to insignificance. The scene is eroding organisationally, it is highly fragmented, its significance and influence is minimal and its member numbers are nowhere near the peak that they reached a couple of years ago. (30 June 2014) In its 2015 report on Hungary, ECRI states that racist violence against Roma, including activities carried out by extremist groups, "is one of the most important problems in Hungary," although it notes that the situation improved as of 2013 (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 9). According to the US Overseas Security Advisory Council's (OSAC) 2016 Crime and Safety Report for Hungary, although the disbanded Magyar Guarda (Hungarian Guard) extremist group, which is associated with Jobbik, continued to operate and to "intimidate and conduct anti-Roma activity" across the country, "it has lost much of its influence and ability to recruit new members in recent years" (US 15 Feb. 2016). For further information on the Jobbik party and the Hungarian Guard, including their relationship with Roma, see Response to Information Request HUN105196 of July 2015. For information on the situation of Roma, including access to housing, employment, education and health services, see Response to Information Request HUN105586 of August 2016. 1.1 Treatment by Authorities According to sources, anti-Roma prejudice is present among police officers in Hungary (NEKI et al. 2014, 14; HHC 2015, 7), and Roma are subject to ethnic profiling by the police (ibid.; CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 8). Sources report that, according to local NGOs, Roma were disproportionately penalised by the police for petty offences, such as those relating to the use of bicycles (ibid.; US 13 Apr. 2016, 44-45), or illegal collection of firewood (ibid., 44). According to an article published by Romea, a Czech news portal covering Roma-related topics (Romea n.d.), in fall of 2015 the Roma Press Center (RPC), a Hungarian news agency that reports on Roma issues (RPC n.d.), collected accounts of approximately 50 incidents in which "disproportionately high" fines were imposed on Roma for "absurd" misdemeanours (Romea 27 Apr. 2016). Sources indicate that those who fail to pay such misdemeanour fines on time can be sentenced to prison (ibid.; CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 8) or to community service (Romea 27 Apr. 2016). Country Reports 2015 cites information provided by Hungarian NGOs as stating that police "usually ignored" similar offences when they were committed by non-Roma (US 13 Apr. 2016, 44). In their report submitted in September 2015 to the UN Universal Periodic Review for Hungary, the Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI) [1] state that such behaviour by the police "indicates ethnic disproportionality that could not be reasonably justified and was based on ethnic profiling, a form of racial discrimination" (CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 8). Human Rights Watch notes that in September 2015, Hungary's Equal Treatment Authority (ETA) found this practice to be "discriminatory" (Human Rights Watch 2016, 259). According to the CFCF et al., the Hungarian police refused to review the fining practices of the concerned departments (Sept. 2015, 8). A report by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) [2] states that in August 2014, the chief of the Hungarian police rejected a proposal by six NGOs to establish a working group on ethnic profiling, claiming that "ethnic profiling is not present in the sanctioning practice of the police" (HHC 2015, 7-8). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources report that in September 2015, a court in Eger ruled that the police failed to protect Roma inhabitants of the village of Gyongyospata from extremist groups that organized marches in the village in 2011 [3] (US 13 Apr. 2016, 7; AI 2016, 181). Sources note that the court found that the police not only failed to protect Roma during the march, but later imposed misdemeanor charges against members of the minority community (US 13 Apr. 2016, 7; HCLU Jan. 2016, 20). The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) [4], which filed the lawsuit, states that the ruling represents "a very important achievement, as this is the first Hungarian court ruling that deems the practice of the police against the Roma to be discriminatory, and therefore unlawful" (ibid., 21). Sources note that the verdict on the case is not final (ibid.; US 13 Apr. 2016, 7), remaining open for an appeal (ibid.). Sources further report that in October 2015, the European Court of Human Rights found that Hungary discriminated against a Roma man when the police failed to investigate a 2012 racist attack against him in Szeged (AI 2016, 181; ERRC 27 Oct. 2015). For information on police treatment of Roma prior to July 2015, see Response to Information Request HUN105197 of July 2015. 2. State Protection According to a 2016 report on Hungary by Amnesty International (AI), "Roma continued to be inadequately protected against hate crimes" (AI 2016, 179). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Head of the HCLU's Roma Program, which provides legal assistance to Roma victims of hate crimes, stated that based on HCLU's experience in the Heves and Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen counties, the police response to hate crimes committed against Roma was "generally not adequate" (HCLU 18 July 2016). The same source noted that the racist motivation was only taken into account after HCLU's intervention in the cases. In consequence of ignorance of the racist motive, the cases are usually not dealt with by the county police office which would be competent to investigate hate crimes. Our clients did not get protection from police even when members of well-known right-wing paramilitary organizations were threatening and harassing them for weeks and they reported this on a daily basis to the police. (ibid.) Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to information provided by an official at the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa, who consulted with relevant ministries in Hungary, the Hungarian police, in partnership with the Fraternal Association of European Roma Law Enforcement Officers, initiated a project titled Initiative for the Improvement of the Police Prevention and Handling of Hate Incidents (Hungary 25 July 2016). According to the same source, three police officers from each county were trained on responding to hate crimes in the framework of the project in 2015 (ibid.). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For information on state protection mechanisms against hate crimes, and their effectiveness, see Response to Information Request HUN105197of July 2015. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] The Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF) is "a Budapest-based Roma NGO founded with the express purpose of fighting structural discrimination against Roma and impoverished children in education through collective legal action coupled with community organising and local action." The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is "an international public interest law organisation working to combat anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma through strategic litigation, research and policy development, advocacy and human rights education." The Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI) is "an NGO aiming to combat discrimination of Roma. Its main objectives are maintaining a free-of-charge legal aid service for disadvantaged Roma and conducting anti-discrimination strategic litigation" (CFCF et al. Sept 2015, 3). [2] The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) is "a non-profit organisation founded in 1989 in Hungary. The HHC monitors the enforcement in Hungary of human rights enshrined in international human rights instruments, provides legal defence to victims of human rights abuses by state authorities and informs the public about rights violations" (HHC 2015, 1). [3] According to the HCLU, in March of 2011, militant groups carried out patrols in the village of Gyongyospata for 16 days, aimed at intimidating local Roma population (HCLU 2012, 26). They followed Roma to grocery stores and to schools and "directed fear-inducing, life-threatening remarks at Roma people" (ibid.). HCLU states that the incident, which "questioned the exclusivity of the state's monopoly on law enforcement" and exposed police's inactivity, "became a symbol of the problems of Roma and non-Roma coexistance" in Hungary (ibid.). [4] The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) is a Budapest-based NGO that "monitors legislation, pursues strategic litigation, conducts public education and launches awareness raising media campaigns. It stands by citizens unable to defend themselves, assisting them in protecting their basic rights" (HCLU n.d.). References Amnesty International (AI). 2016. "Hungary." Amnesty International Report 2015/2016: The State of the World's Human Rights. [Accessed 22 July 2016] Athena Institute. 30 June 2014. "Marching into Futility." [Accessed 27 July 2016] _____. N.d. "About the Institute." [Accessed 28 July 2016] Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF), European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI). September 2015. Hungary. Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review. September 2015. [Accessed 25 July 2016] Council of Europe. 9 June 2015. European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). ECRI Report on Hungary (Fifth Monitoring Cycle). [Accessed 20 June 2016] _____. 16 December 2014. Nils Muiznieks, Commissionner for Human Rights. Report by Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner For Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Following His Visit to Hungary from 1 to 4 July 2014. [Accessed 25 July 2016] European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). 27 October 2015. Szelim Simandi. "Hungary Condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for Failing to Investigate Racist Attack against a Roma Man." [Accessed 20 June 2016] Human Rights Watch. 2016. "Hungary." World Report 2016: Events of 2015. [Accessed 22 July 2016] Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). 18 July 2016. Correspondance from the Head of the Roma Program to the Research Directorate. _____. January 2016. Annual Report 2015. [Accessed 26 July 2016] _____. 2012. Roma Program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union. Project Description 2012. [Accessed 25 July 2016] _____. N.d. "About Us." < http://tasz.hu/en/about-us> [Accessed 29 July 2016] Hungarian Helsinki Coommitee (HHC). 2015. Suggestions for Questions to be Included in the List of Issues Prior to Reporting on Hungary for Consideration by the Human Rights Committee at its 115th session in October 2015. [Accessed 25 July 2016] Hungary. 25 July 2016. Correspondance from an official at the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa to the Research Directorate _____. N.d. Hungarian National Assembly. "Sneider, Tamas (Jobbik)." [Accessed 27 July 2016] Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI), Hatter Society and Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC). 2014. Tamas Dombos and Marton Udvari. Hate Crimes in Hungary. Problems, Recommendations, Good Practices.Summary Report. [Accessed 22 July 2016] Romea. 27 April 2016. "Hungary: Roma Press Center Launches Ironic Campaign Against Police Abuse Featuring Leading Actors." [Accessed 26 July 2016] _____. N.d. "About Romea.cz." [Accessed 26 July 2016] Roma Press Center (RPC). N.d. "Roma Press Center - Roma Sajtokozpont." [Accessed 21 July 2016] United States (US). 13 April 2016. Department of State. "Hungary." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015. [Accessed 22 July 2016] _____. 15 February 2016. Department of State. Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). "Hungary." 2016 Crime and Safety Report. [Accessed 25 July 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Two researchers at the National University of Public Service. Internet sites, including: Budapest Beacon; COREPOL; ecoi.net; European Equality Law Network; European Roma Information Office; European Union - Agency for Fundamental Rights, Agency for Law Enforcement Training, Commission, Economic and Social Committee, Eurobarometer, Europol, Parliament; Factiva; Fraternal Association of European Roma Law Enforcement Officers; Freedom House; Hatter Society; Hope Not Hate; Human Rights First; Hungary - Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities; Minority Rights Group; National Institute of Criminology; Open Society Foundations; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - Hate Crime Reporting; Roma Decade; Working Group Against Hate Crimes; World Bank; United Nations - Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Refworld; UPR Info Hungary: Situation of Roma, including employment, housing, education, healthcare and political participation; whether Roma are required to pay a fee for health services (2013-July 2016). Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 18 August 2016 Citation / Document Symbol HUN105586.E Related Document(s) Hongrie : information sur la situation des Roms, y compris en matiere d'emploi, de logement, d'education, de soins de sante et de participation politique; information indiquant si les Roms doivent payer des frais pour les services de sante (2013-juillet 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Hungary: Situation of Roma, including employment, housing, education, healthcare and political participation; whether Roma are required to pay a fee for health services (2013-July 2016)., 18 August 2016, HUN105586.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa73e4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview Sources indicate that Roma account for approximately 7.5 percent of the population of Hungary (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 25; Hungary 12 Feb. 2016, para. 51). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015 cites the 2011 Hungarian census as stating there were 315,000 people who self-identified as Roma, accounting for 3 percent of the population, but that unofficial estimates range from 500,000 to 800,000 people (US 13 Apr. 2016, 44). Sources indicate that Roma in Hungary face discrimination "in all fields of life," including education, housing, employment, health care (Society for Threatened Peoples 24 May 2013, 2; Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 25) and political participation (ibid.). The Hungarian Ombudsman reports that the "[d]isadvantageous social situation of Roma is aggravated by discrimination especially in the field of education, health, employment, housing and access to services" (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 6). According to their 2016 annual report, the office of the Ombudsman notes that Roma complainants "most often talk about prejudices present in society, discriminative treatment as well as severe social and accommodation problems" (ibid. 2016, 45). 2. Employment Following a visit to Hungary in July 2014, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe stated that "concerning employment, direct and indirect discrimination prevents a great portion of the Roma population from breaking the vicious circle of poverty in which they are caught" (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 27). According to the Council of Europe's European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Roma "continue to occupy the most disadvantaged position in the labour market" (ibid. 9 June 2015, 26). The Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights also noted that Roma are overrepresented in informal work, which has an absence of legal protections (ibid. 16 Dec. 2014, 27). According to a report by a UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, which conducted research during a 10-day mission to Hungary in May 2016, "Roma young people who have completed tertiary education encounter discrimination in the job market and most of them fail to find employment at the academic or vocational level they have acquired" (UN 27 May 2016). The same source notes that Roma women, in particular, "are subject to intense multiple discrimination in their social and economic lives" (ibid.). Country Reports 2015 states that unemployment rates for Roma are 3-5 times higher than for non-Roma (US 13 Apr. 2016, 45). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an official of the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa provided statistics obtained originally from the Hungarian Central Statistics Office, which indicate that the employment rate for Roma was 25.9 percent in 2013, 33.4 percent in 2014 and 39.3 percent in 2015; in comparison, the employment rate for non-Roma was 60.1 percent in 2013, 62.8 percent in 2014 and 64.9 percent in 2015 (Hungary 25 July 2016). The same source indicated that the registered unemployment rate for Roma was 39.5 percent in 2013, 30.2 percent in 2014 and 28.2 percent in 2015; in comparison the rates for non-Roma was 9.1 percent, 6.7 percent and 6.2 percent respectively (ibid.). The official also indicated that 67.9 percent of Roma were at risk of poverty in 2014 and 63.1 percent in 2015, while 13.1 percent of non-Roma were at risk of poverty in 2014 and 13.7 percent in 2015 (ibid.). In addition, 78.1 percent of Roma experienced "severe material deprivation" in 2014 and 67.8 percent in 2015; in contrast, 22.1 percent of non-Roma in 2014 and 18.1 percent in 2015 lived in similar conditions (ibid.). 2.1 Participation in Public Employment Programs According to ECRI, Hungary has developed public employment programs, such as the "Start Work Programme," which provides public work opportunities at a rate lower than minimum wage but higher than social service benefits (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 26). More than 300,000 people have participated in these initiatives (ibid.; US 13 Apr. 2016, 45; Hungary 12 Feb. 2016, Para. 56) and approximately 20 percent are of Romani origin (ibid.; US 13 Apr. 2016, 45). According to statistics from the Hungarian Central Statistics Office, as provided by the Official at the Embassy in Ottawa, 23,800 Roma and 108,000 non-Roma participated in public works in 2013, 31,800 Roma and 143,400 non-Roma in 2014, and 40,500 Roma and 171,100 non-Roma in 2015 (Hungary 25 July 2016). A joint report by the Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI) [1] submitted to the UN universal periodic review (UPR), indicates that the Labour Code does not apply to public work programs, so participants do not benefit from all legal protections afforded to other Hungarian workers (CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 4). According to the Hungarian Ombudsman, the public work programs do not adequately meet the requirements of the labour code; minimum wage is not provided to workers, and the programs also "fail to improve the employment prospects of participants" (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 7). Hungarian authorities report that approximately 12.6 percent of participants in public work programs obtained a job in the primary labour market within 6 months of completing their program (ibid. 12 Feb. 2016, para. 56). The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights cites the Ombudsman as noting that recipients of social assistance are required to have a registered employment status for 30 days, leaving those who cannot enrol in public work programs without social benefits (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 27). The Ombudsman reports that the public work programs create "discriminatory settings" for Roma (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 7). The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights further reports that Roma face discrimination in some municipalities when applying for and taking part in public work programs (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 27). Similarly, NEKI expressed the opinion that the public work system "makes it possible for local councils, the most common public employers, to abuse their powers and take discriminatory actions in connection with Roma public workers" (CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 7). 3. Housing Hungarian authorities report that approximately 500,000 to 600,000 Roma live in "disadvantaged" regions of Hungary (Hungary 12 Feb. 2016, para. 51). ECRI reports that, according to the National Social Inclusion Strategy "Extreme Poverty, Child Poverty and the Roma" (NSIS), 60 percent of Roma live in rural areas, mostly in segregated residential zones in poor conditions (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 27). A copy of the NSIS is attached to this Response (Attachment 1). The same source indicates that there are 100 localities classified as "impoverished and overcrowded Roma ghettos, situated in areas significantly affected by social and economic problems" (ibid.). The Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights states that "around 130,000 Roma live in segregated settlements and several hundreds of these settlements lack basic infrastructure" (ibid. 16 Dec. 2014, 27). Country Reports 2015 states the following: According to the Ministry of Human Capacities, 41,000 Roma lived in approximately 112 settlements where at least half the population was Roma. NGOs reported that the actual number of Roma living in segregated conditions was significantly higher. Segregated settlements lacked basic infrastructure and were often located on the outskirts of cities. (US 13 Apr. 2016, 47) The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights reports that Roma living in extreme poverty face homelessness (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 27). Human Rights Watch also notes that Hungary passed a law in 2013 allowing municipalities to make it a criminal offense for homeless people to live in public spaces (Human Rights Watch 1 Oct. 2013). According to the Hungarian Ombudsman, there is an increasing rate of evictions against disadvantaged people and a decreasing amount of social housing (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 7). The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights states that Roma often face discrimination in accessing social housing (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 27). Citing Romani interest groups, Country Reports 2015 indicates that "municipalities used a variety of techniques to prevent Roma from living in more desirable urban neighborhoods" (US 13 Apr. 2016, 46). According to sources, municipal authorities in Ozd shut down public wells that were the only source of water for the Roma settlement (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 27; BBC 5 Aug. 2013). 3.1 Housing Situation in Miskolc According to Amnesty International (AI), authorities in Miskolc have forcibly evicted "hundreds" of Roma from the "Numbered Streets" neighbourhood of Miskolc between May 2014 and June 2015; the vast majority were not offered adequate alternative housing or compensation (AI 29 June 2015). ECRI similarly expressed concern "about planned evictions of hundreds of Roma families in the 'Numbered Streets' neighbourhoods of Miskolc" (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 27). Sources report that a decree was passed in Miskolc stating that when rental agreements for "'low comfort'" housing are terminated, the tenant can receive compensation, but only if they use the compensation for housing outside Miskolc (ibid.; US 13 Apr. 2016, 46; OSCE 1 July 2015). ECRI states that the provision may be a form of indirect discrimination against Roma, since most of the tenants of "low comfort housing" are Roma (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 27). In response to Miskolc's decree, neighbouring areas issued their own decrees which ban people using financial aid issued from another local government from receiving social services (US 13 Apr. 2016, 46). The Hungarian Supreme Court [Curia], however, struck down Miskolc's decree (OSCE 1 July 2015; US 13 Apr. 2016, 46). The Equal Treatment Authority (ETA) found that the decree discriminated against the residents of the segregated area due to "their social status, financial situation and Romani origin" and fined Miskolc municipality US$1,800; the ETA decision was pending judicial review as of December 2015 (ibid.). For further information about evictions of Roma from Miskolc, see Response to Information Request HUN105180. Country Reports 2015 indicates that, following the decisions by the Hungarian Supreme Court and the ETA concerning Miskolc's decree, "[t]he local Romani self-government body reported that authorities [in Miskolc] shifted to other discriminatory practices that included increasing evictions and doubling or tripling rents for social housing" (US 13 Apr. 2016, 46). Sources report that the law enforcement authorities of Miskolc have conducted patrols in segregated areas of the city, including entering into apartments and inspecting rooms, toilets and bathrooms (Hungary 2016, 46-47; CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 7), to ensure that residents were following local rules and maintaining order (ibid.). According to the joint report published by CFCF, ERRC and NEKI, the inspections, conducted by groups of 10-15 people, were "clearly targeting apartments rented or owned by Roma" and made inhabitants feel "harassed and intimidated" (ibid.). Hungary's Ombudsman states that the Miskolc authorities' "often raid-like, joint and mass official control activities conducted in segregated living areas are incompatible with the principle of the rule of law and the requirement of legal certainty" (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 7). In addition, the Ombudsman also submitted recommendations to the Miskolc self-government, including that "joint official controls be terminated and unlawful directions of local regulations to be annulled" (ibid. 2016, 47). However, after the Ombudsman's concerns were made public, the mayor of Miskolc stated that the raids will continue (CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 7). 4. Education 4.1 Segregation According to Hungary's Ombudsman, segregation of Roma in schools is "widespread" (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 7). Similarly, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) stated that there is "systemic discrimination and segregation of Romani pupils in Hungary's schools" (ERRC 26 May 2016). Some sources report that the problem of Romani segregation in Hungarian educational institutions has been increasing (ibid. [2016]; US 13 Apr. 2016, 37; Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 26). The Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights reports that there are problems with both Roma-only schools, reflecting housing segregation, as well as Roma being segregated into Roma-only classes within schools or in separate buildings within the same educational institution (ibid.). Sources note that Roma-only classes and schools have a lower standard than non-Roma places of learning (ibid.; US 13 Apr. 2016, 37; UN 27 May 2016). According to the ERRC, approximately 45 percent of Roma children attend schools or classes in which the majority of children are Roma (ERRC [2016]). The same source notes that, in 2014, 381 schools had student bodies with populations of more than 50 percent Roma students, but none of the schools were targeted for desegregation measures (ibid.). The ERRC also reports that between 2011 and 2016, the Hungarian Supreme Court ruled that Romani children were being unlawfully segregated in five cases, and the Equal Treatment Authority convicted two municipalities for segregation; however, the Hungarian courts did not order the desegregation of any schools (ibid.). The Ombudsman expressed concern that an amendment to the National Public Education Act "gives authorization for the government to set up criteria for exemption from the prohibition of segregation in case of minority and religious education in [the] form of a government decree" (Hungary 21 Sept. 2015, 7). According to the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, segregation of Roma in education also takes place "under the pretext of education in a minority language" (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 26). Sources indicate that Roma children are disproportionally placed in special schools or classes for children with disabilities or special needs (ibid. 9 June 2015, 30; UN 27 May 2016). According to ECRI, this "constitutes another form of segregated education because activities in these facilities are separated and different from those associated with regular education" (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 30). The same source cites the Roma Education Fund as reporting that the percentage of Roma students in special schools ranges from 20 percent to 90 percent (ibid.). Sources indicate that "culturally biased" testing contributes to the misplacement of Roma children in special schools (ERRC [2016]; CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 9). In 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on a case (Horvath and Kiss v. Hungary) involving two Roma students who were placed in a special school for children with mental disabilities and found that their rights were breeched under Article 2 of Protocol 1 (right to education) and Article 14 (prohibition against discrimination) of the ECHR (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 30-31). The judgement of the Court indicated that Hungary has "a long history of wrongful placement of Roma children in special schools" and expressed concern about "the more basic curriculum followed in these schools and, in particular, the segregation which the system causes" (ibid., 31).The ERRC states that, despite this ruling and other judicial rulings deeming school segregation in Hungary as unlawful, "no action has been taken by the authorities to promote inclusive education. On the contrary, the evidence makes it clear that the government intends to pursue policies that further entrench racial discrimination into Hungary's school system" (ERRC 26 May 2016). Sources indicate that in May 2016, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Hungary due to discrimination of Roma in Hungary's school system; if Hungary fails to rectify the situation, they could be referred to the European Court of Justice, which could impose financial penalties (ERRC 26 May 2016; EurActiv 26 May 2016). 4.2 School Participation and Education Rates ECRI's report states that of children aged 3 to 5 years old, 88 percent attend preschool nationally, while 42 percent of Roma children attend preschool (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 25-26). Sources indicate that in Hungary, it is mandatory for all children to start kindergarten from age 3 (ibid., 26; Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 26). However, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights notes that there are not enough kindergarten spaces for Roma children in segregated areas (ibid.). Concerning statistics related to Roma rates of education, the ECRI report indicates that 51 percent of Roma drop out of school while it is still compulsory (before 18), and 20 percent take secondary school final exams (ibid. 9 June 2015, 26). According to statistics from the Hungarian Central Statistics Office, as provided by the Hungarian embassy Official, the maximum level of education obtained by 78.4 percent of Roma between 15-74 years old in 2015 was "basic education" [non-secondary], compared to 21.8 percent for non-Roma, and the rate of "early school leaving" was 59.9 percent for Roma and 8.9 percent for non-Roma (Hungary 25 July 2016). According to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, there is a "significantly low" number of Roma who attend university (Council of Europe 16 Dec. 2014, 26).The statistics from the Hungarian Central Statistics Office indicate that the rate of 15-24 year olds attending post-secondary school for Roma was 0.7 percent in 2013, 0.4 percent in 2014, and 1.7 percent in 2015, while the rate for non-Roma citizens was 22.7 percent in 2013, 20.9 percent in 2014 and 21.8 percent in 2015 (Hungary 25 July 2016). According to the UN Working Group, Roma women have experienced "multiple [forms of] discrimination and hostility on university campus[es]" (27 May 2016). 5. Healthcare The Hungarian embassy Official states that "[t]he health status of the Roma population suffering from multiple disadvantages is particularly poor" (Hungary 25 July 2016). He further indicated the following: According to the assessment made by the National Social (Roma) Inclusion Strategy, 66.3% of the Roma population above 19 years of age is suffering from some kind of sickness, with 16.1% having more than one medical condition and 23% suffering from 3 or more chronic diseases. Among the most common groups of medical conditions the disease rate of Roma is at least double compared to the total population (e.g. malignant diseases), while in six groups it is more than fivefold (e.g. asthma, gastrointestinal diseases) and in three groups (vision loss, iron deficiency anaemia, infectious diseases of the lungs) it is more than tenfold. The higher prevalence of chronic diseases contributes to a great degree to the very high rate of disabled persons and ones receiving invalidity [disability] allowance (15.4 %) among the Roma. (Hungary 25 July 2016) Further health statistics for Roma could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), a Berlin-based international human rights organization that "advocates for threatened ethnic and religious minorities, nationalities and indigenous communities" (STP n.d.), Roma women "often lack access to medical services due to direct discrimination and degrading treatment at the hospital" (ibid. 24 May 2013, 2). During their mission to Hungary in 2016, the UN working group focusing on discrimination against women indicated that they received reports that some Roma women are being segregated in certain medical facilities (UN 27 May 2016). The same source reports that Roma girls who experience early pregnancies face "increased health risks of maternal mortality and obstetric fistula" (ibid.). 5.1 Whether Roma are Required to Pay a Fee for Health Services Information on whether Roma are required to pay a fee for health services was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to the Hungarian embassy official, [i]n Hungary every patient has the right to receive adequate and accessible (available in 24 hours a day) medical care with equal treatment, as considered necessary based on his/her health status, without regard to the ethnicity of the patient, in accordance with conditions laid down in the applicable legislation. Pursuant to the definition in Act CLIV of 1997 of Healthcare (Eutv.), a patient is a person using or receiving healthcare, and the scope of the law covers all natural persons living or staying in the territory of Hungary. No discrimination is made in the legislation on the basis of ethnicity when anyone is in need of medical care. In Hungary the costs of medical care are covered in a mandatory social security insurance system. The persons covered by social insurance get and retain eligibility for their own and their relatives' free medical care through the principle of individual responsibility, by fulfilling their obligations of paying social contributions. It is important to stress that eligibility in the Hungarian health insurance system is not only based on the obligation to pay social contributions, but also extends to the statuses set in the legislation (e.g. persons receiving sick pay, maternal aid, child support, unemployment benefit and old-age pension). Accordingly, in Hungary there may be different bases for eligibility for health insurance. Medical care is provided free-of-charge to anyone eligible for health insurance; however, there is a separate regulation containing the medical services that may be requested with partial, supplementary or full remuneration. (Hungary 25 July 2016) The UN working group reports that people who are unemployed and cannot afford to pay an insurance premium do not have insurance coverage for health care, including preventative screening for breast cancer and ovarian cancer (UN 27 May 2016). 6. Political Participation ECRI reports that Roma are one of 13 nationalities officially recognized by Hungary (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, para. 69). According to Country Reports 2015, the "law provides for the 13 national minorities, including the Roma, to vote for a national minority list in parliamentary elections; the Romani minority had a spokesperson in parliament" (13 Apr. 2016, 47). Freedom House states that national minorities can "register to vote for special minority lists-with a preferential vote threshold-in parliamentary elections, but they are then excluded from the general party-list voting" (Freedom House 2016). The same source noted that "none of the 13 minority lists won enough votes to secure a seat in 2014, meaning each is represented only by a nonvoting spokesperson" (ibid.). According to Freedom House, "Hungary's constitution guarantees the right of ethnic minorities to form self-governing bodies, and all 13 recognized minorities have done so" (ibid.). Country Reports 2015 explains: The law establishes cultural autonomy for nationalities (replacing the term "minorities") and recognizes the right to foster and enrich historic traditions, language, culture, and educational rights as well as to establish and operate institutions and maintain international contacts. The law stipulates that any municipality with 30 residents belonging to a registered ethnic group may form a "nationality self-government" to organize activities and manage cultural, educational, and linguistic affairs. The president of each nationality self-government body has the right to attend and speak at local council sessions. (US 13 Apr. 2016, 47-48) Sources indicate that Roma are underrepresented in political offices (Freedom House 2016; OSI 10 Sept. 2013). A 2013 report by the Open Society Institute (OSI) notes that "in northeastern Hungary, the Roma 'minority' in some towns accounts for up to 50 percent of the population, yet the Roma have no voting representatives on elected local councils" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 7. Government Efforts to Integrate Roma Hungary adopted a policy for Roma integration for 2011-2020, the NSIS, which includes chapters on education, employment, health care and housing, among others (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 23). The Hungarian embassy official provided a copy of a report entitled Measures of the National Social Inclusion Strategy, which is attached to this Response (Attachment 2). ECRI cites analysis of the NSIS, as conducted by the European Commission and with input from civil society representatives, as indicating that [i]n the area of education the strategy needed more focus on desegregation measures and integrated education. In employment and health care the strategy needed more concrete and measurable targets with a clear timeline for implementation. In housing, much more attention should be dedicated to tackling access to social housing. (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 24) The same source states that the NSIS omits information on any efforts to reduce discrimination in the labour market and expressed the opinion that the strategy "has had little impact so far" (ibid., 26, 28).The joint report by CFCF, ERRC and NEKI indicates that "no specific measure has been adopted to decrease segregation of Romani children based on these strategies; combatting racial segregation is neither a priority nor a long term goal for the Hungarian government" (CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 5). According to the STP, "[m]ajor policy documents adopted by the Hungarian government to improve the situation of Roma have not yet resulted in substantial improvements" (24 May 2013, 2). The Hungarian government indicated to ECRI that they have undertaken measures to address unwarranted placement into schools for mentally disabled children, including the "introduction of new tests to evaluate the learning abilities of Roma pupils; programmes promoting inclusive education of special-education needs pupils; the training of professionals engaged in their education; and legislative amendments on the diagnosis of mental handicap in children" (Council of Europe 9 June 2015, 31). Regarding government efforts to improve education for Roma, Country Reports 2015 states that [d]uring the 2014-15 school year, the government continued to operate Sure Start Children Centers that provided early intervention programs for disadvantaged, mostly Romani children below kindergarten age and parenting advice for their parents. There were 112 such centers that reached 12,000 children and their parents. The government provided scholarships for socially disadvantaged students, including 5,668 elementary and secondary school children and 858 vocational school students who declared themselves to be Roma. It also provided scholarships for socially disadvantaged higher education students, including 132 Roma. There were 178 "Tanoda" afterschool centers around the country providing tutoring and extracurricular activities for disadvantaged, mostly Romani children. During the year the Tanoda network assisted approximately 5,000 disadvantaged students. There were eight Romani special colleges across the country sponsored by the government using EU funds, five of which were operated by Christian denominations and three managed by universities. The special colleges provided housing and tutoring for approximately 235 Romani students enrolled in higher educational institutions. (US 13 Apr. 2016, 45) Concerning efforts to improve health care for Roma, the Hungarian embassy Official provided information about the Swiss-Hungarian Cooperation Programme (2012-2016), which, by 2015, provided health examinations to 19,000 people in northern Hungary, 40 percent of which were from the Roma community (Hungary 25 July 2016). The program also reportedly facilitated healthcare mediator training for 48 individuals to act as "Roma health guardians" within Roma communities (ibid.). In addition, the Swiss-Hungarian Cooperation Programme included a "Roma mother-child health programme," in which district nurses provided counselling to mothers and health examinations to children in 13 of the "most disadvantageous settlements" (ibid.). The Hungarian embassy Official also provided details about a number of programs targeting the general population and/or disadvantageous areas, from which Roma also benefitted, such as: the development of health programs in 288 primary educational institutions, of which 30 percent of the students were "disadvantaged" or "multiple disadvantaged" (ibid.) the development of 61 "health improvement offices," including 20 in the "most disadvantageous" areas and 18 in "disadvantageous" areas, which focus on health awareness and prevention of cardiovascular and diseases and cancer (ibid.). Health screenings for breast, cervical and rectal health problems (ibid.) Statistics or details on how these programs benefitted Roma specifically could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Note [1] The CFCF is a Budapest-based Roma NGO that fights "structural discrimination against Roma and impoverished children in education"; the ERRC is "an international public interest law organization working to combat anti-Roma racism and human rights abuses through strategic litigation, research and policy development, advocacy and human rights education"; and NEKI is an NGO that provides free legal aid service to disadvantaged Roma and conducts anti-discrimination litigation (CFCF et al. Sept. 2015, 3). References Amnesty International (AI). 29 June 2015. "Urgent Action: Roma Families Remain at Risk of Forced Eviction." [Accessed 14 July 2016] British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 5 August 2013. "Hungarian Roma Affected by Water Supply Cuts." [Accessed 2 Aug. 2016] Chance for the Children Foundation (CFCF), European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI). September 2015. Hungary: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review. [Accessed 14 July 2016] Council of Europe. 9 June 2015. European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). ECRI Report on Hungary (Fifth Monitoring Cycle). [Accessed 14 July 2016] _____. 16 December 2014. Commissioner for Human Rights. Nils Muiznieks. Report by Nils Muiznieks Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Following His Visit to Hungary from 1 to 4 July 2014. [Accessed 15 July 2016] EurActiv. 26 May 2016. "EU Warns Hungary Over Discrimination of Roma Schoolchildren." (Factiva) European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). 26 May 2016. "EU: Commissioner Probe Must Spell the End of Romani Segregation in Hungarian Schools." [Accessed 19 July 2016] _____. [2016]. Submission to the European Commission. [Accessed 19 July 2016] Freedom House. 2016. "Hungary. Freedom in the World Report 2016. [Accessed 18 July 2016] Human Rights Watch. 1 October 2013. Lydia Gall. "Dispatches: Criminalizing Hungary's Homeless." [Accessed 18 July 2016] Hungary. 25 July 2016. Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa. Correspondence from an official. _____. 12 February 2016. National Report Submitted in Accordance with Paragraph 5 of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 16/21. Hungary. [Accessed 18 July 2016] _____. 2016. Commissioner for Fundamental Rights. Report on the Activities of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and his Deputies 2015. [Accessed 15 July 2016] _____. 21 September 2015. Commissioner for Fundamental Rights.Universal Periodic Review on Human Rights in Hungary, NHRI Report, 2nd Cycle, April/May 2016. [Accessed 18 July 2016] Open Society Institute (OSI). 10 September 2013. Chuck Sudetic and Zeljko Jovanovic. "Roma in Political Life in Europe: Introduction." [Accessed 26 July 2016] Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). 1 July 2015. Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). "Authorities Need to Promote Sustainable, Non-Discriminatory Housing Solutions for Roma, ODIHR Director Link says During Visit to Hungary." [Accessed 15 July 2016] Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). 24 May 2013. Written Statement Submitted by the Society for Threatened Peoples, a Non-governmental Organization in Special Consultative Status. [Accessed 18 July 2016] _____. N.d. "That's What We Do." [Accessed 3 Aug. 2016] United Nations (UN). 27 May 2016. UN Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice Finalizes Country Mission to Hungary. [Accessed 14 July 2016] United States (US). 13 April 2016. Department of State. "Hungary." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015. [Accessed 18 July 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Internet sites, including: ecoi.net; Factiva; Hungarian Helsinki Committee; ProAsyl; Roma Education Fund; Romea.cz; Transitions Online; UN - OHCHR, Refworld. Attachments 1. Hungary. December 2011. Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, State Secretariat for Social Inclusion. National Social Inclusion Strategy--Extreme Poverty, Child Poverty and the Roma--(2011-2020). [Accessed 18 July 2016] 2. Hungary. N.d. Measures of the National Social Inclusion Stretegy. Provided to the Research Directorate by the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa. Ghana: Information on changes in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) leadership; treatment of members of the NPP members by authorities, National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters, and intra-party conflict (2014-May 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 27 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol GHA105550.E Related Document(s) Ghana : information sur les changements survenus au sein de la direction du Nouveau Parti patriotique (New Patriotic Party - NPP); le traitement reserve aux membres du NPP par les autorites et les partisans du Congres democratique national (National Democratic Congress - NDC), de meme que les conflits au sein du parti (2014-mai 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ghana: Information on changes in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) leadership; treatment of members of the NPP members by authorities, National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters, and intra-party conflict (2014-May 2016), 27 May 2016, GHA105550.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfa8904.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Changes in NPP Leadership In April 2014, Deutsche Welle (DW), "Germany's international broadcaster" (DW n.d.), reported that Paul Afoko was elected as the chairman of the NPP, replacing Jake Obetsebi Lamptey (ibid. 14 Apr. 2014). According to sources, Mr. Afoko was suspended from his position (Panapress 14 Nov. 2015; Citi FM 17 Feb. 2016) in 2015 for "'misconduct'" (ibid.). Further information, including information on an interim leader, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For further information on the NPP, including history, see Response to Information Request GHA104685. 2. Treatment of NPP Members by Authorities and NDC Supporters Information on the treatment of NPP members by authorities and NDC [the ruling party in Ghana (Reuters 8 July 2015)] supporters was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In September 2015, Reuters reported that "at least 30 people," including NPP members, who were involved in a protest to "demand a new electoral roll," were "detained briefly for violating a court injunction that barred the marchers from entering the offices of the EC [Electoral Commission]" (Reuters 17 Sept. 2015). According to the source, the NPP requested a new "voter's register" before the 2016 election, alleging that the current roll "was bloated with ineligible voters" (ibid.). Graphic Online, a Ghanaian news website, reported in March 2016 that there was a "scuffle between 'machomen'" of the NPP and NDC at a funeral, which the President, John Dramani Mahma, also attended (Graphic Online 11 Mar. 2016). The same source states that, "[a]ccording to our reporter, one could see that it was a turf war between the two groups" (ibid.). Ghana Breaking News, a print and digital news source (Ghana Breaking News n.d.), reported in April 2016 that there were "serious clashes" between NDC and NPP supporters in the Asunafo South district of the Brong Ahafo Region "over disagreements in the ongoing limited registration exercise" (ibid. 29 Apr. 2016). According to the article, NDC supporters "nearly chop[ped] off the wrist of the NPP agent at the [registration] center and beat up another NPP supporter and her sister"; in response, four "NPP macho men" assaulted an NDC activist "with a machete" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Further and corroborating information on the treatment of NPP members by authorities could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. NPP Intra-Party Conflict According to Bertelsmann Stiftung's Transformation Index (BTI) 2016 for Ghana, which "assesses the transformation toward democracy and a market economy as well as the quality of political management," party infighting is "clearly visible" in the NPP, which is "highly fragmented into different factions" and "[s]ometimes internal conflicts erupt into political violence" (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2016, 1, 8). In 2014 DW reported that the NPP has been "divided" since the 2012 presidential election when NPP presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo failed to win the election (DW 14 Apr. 2014). In November 2015, Panapress, a pan-African news agency (Panapress n.d.), reported that there is a "power struggle between the faction of Nana Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate, and former President John Kufuor" (ibid. 14 Nov. 2015). Without providing further details, the same source states that "two lives have been lost as a result of the struggle for turf within the party" (ibid. 14 Nov. 2015). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to sources, Adams Mahama [the Upper East Regional Chairman for the NPP (Ghana Chronicle 24 Feb. 2016; Pulse.com.gh 1 June 2015)] was murdered in 2015, allegedly by fellow NPP members (Encomium 9 Jan. 2016; Pulse.com.gh 1 June 2015; Ghana Chronicle 24 Feb. 2016). Sources further state that the suspects in his murder include Gregory Afoko, a NPP member and younger brother of Paul Afoko (ibid.; Pulse.com.gh 1 June 2015). According to the Ghana Chronicle, the case was adjourned to 23 March 2016 (24 Feb. 2016). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In October 2015, MyJoyOnline, an "online news portal" (MyJoyOnline n.d.), reported that there were "[v]iolent clashes" at the headquarters of the NPP between "the party's private security the Invincible Forces and [a] vigilante group" purported to be supporting the NPP chairman (ibid. 23 Oct. 2015). According to the article, the clash was in response to an emergency meeting called by the NPP vice chairman to recommend "disciplinary action" against suspended NPP chairman Paul Afoko, who issued a press statement describing the meeting as "illegal" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Bertelsmann Stiftung. 2016. "Ghana Country Report." Bertelsmann Stiftung's Transformation Index (BTI)2016. [Accessed 18 May 2016] Citi FM. 17 February 2016. "Afoko, NPP Clash in Court Today." [Accessed 19 May 2016] Deutsche Welle (DW). 14 April 2014. Isaac Kaledzi. "New Leadership for Ghana's NPP as It Eyes 2016 Poll." [Accessed 18 May 2016] _____. N.d. "Deutsche Welle at a Glance." [Accessed 20 May 2016] Encomium. 9 January 2016. "Major Headline News That Rocked Ghana in 2015." [Accessed 19 May 2016] Ghana Breaking News. 29 April 2016. "NDC, NPP Macho Men in Bloody Clash at Registration Centre." [Accessed 18 May 2016] _____. N.d. "Advertising." [Accessed 20 May 2016] Ghanian Chronicle. 24 February 2016. Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei and Ethel Mensah. "Ghana: Afoko to Face High CourtOver the Death of NPP Chairman." [Accessed 19 May 2016] Graphic Online. 11 March 2016. "NPP/NDC Machomen Clash at Late Bantamahene's Funeral." [Accessed 18 May 2016] MyJoyOnline. 23 October 2015. Isaac Essel. "NPP and 'Afoko' Forces in Violent Clash at Party Headquarters." [Accessed 18 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 20 May 2016] Pan African News Agency (Panapress). 14 November 2015. "Ghana: Media Report Clash of Anti-Corruption Crusaders, Crisis in Opposition Party." [Accessed 18 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 20 May 2016] Pulse.com.gh. 1 June 2015. Emmanuel Tornyi. "One More Suspect in Adams Mahama's Death Arrested." [Accessed 19 May 2016] Reuters. 17 September 2015. "Ghana Protesters Clash with Police." [Accessed 18 May 2016] _____. 8 July 2015. Kwasi Kpodo. "Ghana's Ruling Party Reclaims Parliamentary Seat in By-Election." [Accessed 26 May 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; BBC; ecoi.net; Factiva; La Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; IRIN; News Ghana; United Nations - Refworld; United States - Department of State. India: Activist Blocked from UN Meeting, Detained Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 16 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, India: Activist Blocked from UN Meeting, Detained, 16 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfad734.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Indian authorities have detained a Kashmiri human rights activist after stopping him from traveling to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said today. Khurram Parvez was arrested in his home on September 15, 2016, a day after being prevented from leaving the country with a group of rights activists who were traveling to Geneva to raise concerns about violations during the security force crackdown in Jammu and Kashmir to contain violent street protests. The Indian authorities should immediately release Parvez and allow him to attend the Human Rights Council session. "Indian authorities seem to have missed the irony of blocking a rights activist on his way to the Human Rights Council," said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director at the International Commission of Jurists. "Monitoring and engagement by civil society is necessary to prevent human rights violations and ensure accountability." Parvez, 39, is chair of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and program coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). He has documented cases of enforced disappearances and investigated unmarked graves in Kashmir. Parvez's lawyer said that he was detained by Kashmiri police under "preventive detention" provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, including section 151 (arrest to prevent the commission of a cognizable offense). An Indian official told Human Rights Watch that Parvez was stopped from traveling and detained for questioning because he is being investigated for inciting violence. The government's actions against Parvez violate his right to freedom of movement. Under international human rights law, any restrictions on freedom of movement for security reasons must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat. This is further supported by article 5 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which states that "for the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, at the national and international levels ... to communicate with nongovernmental or intergovernmental organizations." Violent protests broke out in Jammu and Kashmir state after the killing of a Hizb-ul-Mujahedin militant, Burhan Wani, in an armed encounter on July 8. Since then, the authorities have placed large parts of the state under curfew restrictions to try to stop protesters who hurl stones at security forces and attack police posts. Security forces have used unnecessary lethal force to contain the violence, which has resulted in the death of 80 protesters and 2 police officers, with thousands injured. Some protesters, including children, were blinded by pellets fired from riot control guns. While police have a duty to protect lives and property, under the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials they should use nonviolent means as far as possible, only use force when unavoidable and in a proportionate manner, and use lethal force only when absolutely necessary to save lives. The authorities have also attempted to censor news and restrict access to information. The government shut down local newspapers for three days, blocked mobile internet services temporarily, and ordered local cable operators to block the transmission of five news channels on television. India has failed to address longstanding grievances in Jammu and Kashmir. Numerous expert committees in India have recommended steps to address past human rights violations, including a repeal of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, but the Indian government has ignored these recommendations. "Khurram Parvez should be released if he hasn't been charged because preventing open discussion of these issues, whether in India or Geneva, sends a message to Kashmiris that the government has no interest in addressing their concerns," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of trying to silence human rights activists, India should be addressing the serious human rights problems in Jammu and Kashmir and holding abusers to account." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Vietnam: Drop Charges and Free Land Rights Activist Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 17 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Vietnam: Drop Charges and Free Land Rights Activist, 17 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfae704.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Vietnamese authorities should drop all charges and unconditionally release a prominent land rights activist facing trial for peacefully exercising her rights, Human Rights Watch said today. On September 20, 2016, a court in Hanoi will begin the trial of Can Thi Theu for "disrupting public order" under article 245 of the penal code after she and others staged peaceful protests against land confiscation. "Conflicts between farmers and the government over land confiscation have become a serious problem in Vietnam in the last few years," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government should reform its land law and compensation system instead of punishing people who protest the loss of their land." On June 10, Hanoi authorities arrested Can Thi Theu, 54, and charged her with "disrupting public order" after leading people from Hanoi's Duong Noi ward in carrying banners to various government offices to petition against land confiscation. She was also accused of urging people from Duong Noi ward to boycott the national election in May. After being arrested, Can Thi Theu carried out a hunger strike for more than 10 days. More than a decade ago, in June 2006, the local government decided to confiscate farmland in Duong Noi ward of Ha Dong district and transform the area into an urban zone. Hundreds of families protested the confiscation process and inadequate compensation for those who would lose their livelihoods. The authorities made little effort to engage the local residents or respond to their complaints. In April 2014, the authorities forcibly confiscated the land and brutally beat many protesters. Can Thi Theu was arrested at the scene for photographing and filming the forced eviction. She was charged with "resisting against those who are on public duties" under article 257 of the penal code. Her husband, Trinh Ba Khiem, was also arrested and charged with the same crime. In September 2014, both were convicted. Can Thi Theu was sentenced to 15 months in prison and Trinh Ba Khiem to 18 months (later reduced to 14 months). In June 2015, when Trinh Ba Khiem completed his prison sentence, dozens of land rights activists and bloggers went to Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province to welcome him. The group was attacked by men in civilian clothes. Can Thi Theu's youngest son, Trinh Ba Tu, was part of the group and suffered serious injuries. In July 2015, Can Thi Theu completed her prison sentence in Prison No. 5 in Thanh Hoa. Since her release, Can Thi Theu has continued to advocate on land and environmental issues. She participated in protests calling for the release of prominent rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai and his colleague Le Thu Ha, urging the government to repeal article 88 of the penal code, which criminalizes peaceful criticism. She joined protests against police violence and carried out a hunger strike in support of political prisoner Tran Huynh Duy Thuc. "When the Communist Party of Vietnam needed farmers' support, it advocated that 'farmers must have land' ('nguoi cay co ruong')," said Adams. "But now it puts those who make the same point in prison." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Democratic Republic of Congo at a Precipice: Ending Repression and Promoting Democratic Rule Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 18 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Democratic Republic of Congo at a Precipice: Ending Repression and Promoting Democratic Rule, 18 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfaedf0.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The Democratic Republic of Congo is at a critical juncture: In the coming months, President Joseph Kabila could agree to step down at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit on December 19, 2016, and allow for the organization of credible presidential elections. This could set the vast central African country on the path toward stronger democratic governance, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, marking a significant precedent for Congo and the entire region. However, should President Kabila seek to remain in power outside the clear limits of the constitution, the country risks violence, instability, and repression on a widespread scale. Three months before the December 19 deadline, the authorities have deliberately stalled plans for the organization of elections, Kabila has repeatedly refused to declare whether he plans to step down, and those loyal to him have systematically sought to silence, repress, and intimidate the growing coalition of voices calling for credible, timely elections, and a peaceful transition of power. The Crackdown Since January 2015, government officials and security forces have arbitrarily arrested scores of activists and opposition leaders, some of whom were held incommunicado for weeks or months while others were put on trial on trumped-up charges. Peaceful pro-democracy youth activists were accused of plotting terrorist acts and wrongfully detained for nearly a year-and-a-half in the face of widespread public indignation, and a Congolese parliamentary report that found no evidence of their supposed wrongdoing. Throughout the country, government officials and security forces repeatedly banned opposition demonstrations, prevented opposition leaders from moving freely, and fired teargas and live bullets on peaceful protesters. The deadliest crackdown occurred during nationwide demonstrations in January 2015 against proposed changes to the electoral law that would require a national census to be conducted before elections, potentially delaying the elections by several years. Police and the Republican Guard presidential security detail killed at least 38 people in Kinshasa and five people in the eastern city of Goma. At least five others were forcibly disappeared in Kinshasa, and dozens more wounded, including three who were shot and injured when Republican Guard soldiers fired upon Kinshasa's general hospital. In a demonstration in Kinshasa in, September 2015, senior security and ruling party officials hired thugs to assault peaceful protesters. Armed with clubs and wooden sticks, the assailants beat the demonstrators, spreading fear and chaos throughout the crowd of several thousand. Several recruits told Human Rights Watch that they had been called to a meeting with officials at a military camp in Kinshasa the night before, paid about US$65 each, and given instructions on how to conduct the attack. On May 26, 2016, security forces fired teargas and live bullets as they sought to prevent demonstrations from going forward in Goma, killing at least one person and injuring at least 11 others, including four children. Opposition leaders had called for nationwide demonstrations to protest the Constitutional Court's controversial ruling, on May 11, that the president could remain in office "until the installation of the new elected president." During some of the demonstrations over the past two years, protesters responded to the crackdown by hurling rocks at the security forces, injuring a number of police officers. In March 2015, security forces buried more than 400 bodies in a mass grave on the outskirts of Kinshasa. Some of the bodies are believed to be of those killed by security forces during political demonstrations, and whose families were never able to organize funerals. The government shut down media outlets close to the opposition, at least seven of which remain blocked. The signal for Radio France Internationale (RFI), the most important international news outlet in Congo, was repeatedly cut during sensitive political moments, and internet access, social media, and text message communications were blocked during and following nationwide protests in January 2015. In August 2016, the Congolese government blocked a Human Rights Watch senior researcher, who had been based in the country for more than eight-and-a-half years, from continuing to work in Congo. On May 4, 2016, Congo's justice minister opened what appeared to be a politically motivated investigation into one of the country's leading opposition figures, Moise Katumbi, for alleged recruitment of mercenaries. After police fired teargas and threw rocks at demonstrators who had gathered to support Katumbi when he was called in for questioning at the prosecutor's office in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi, Katumbi was authorized to leave the country for health reasons. He was later convicted in absentia by a local court in Lubumbashi for forgery regarding a real estate deal and sentenced to three years in prison and a US$1 million fine. One of the judges described in a public letter, and in an interview with Human Rights Watch, how she had been threatened by the director of the National Intelligence Agency (Agence Nationale de Renseignements, ANR), Kalev Mutond, and forced to hand down the conviction - a blatant example of the intelligence's agency interference in the justice sector. In what the justice minister announced was an effort to ease political tensions, nine human rights activists and pro-democracy youth activists were released from prison between August 27 and September 5. They had been arrested over the past 18 months after calling for respect of the constitution or participating in peaceful protests and other activities. Many were held for weeks or months by the ANR without charge and without access to their lawyers or families, before eventually being transferred to Kinshasa's central prison and put on trial on trumped-up charges. Their release ended their wrongful detention, but in itself did not signify a shift in government policy. The repression has not stopped, and much more needs to be done: charges against most of the released activists have not been dropped; many other political prisoners remain in detention, including about a dozen pro-democracy youth activists who were arrested in Kinshasa on September 15 and 16; protests and political meetings in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa, on August 29 and on September 1 and 16, turned violent when police fired teargas on the demonstrators and arrested dozens of protesters; and the officials who have led the brutal repression have not been held to account and remain in positions of command. Upcoming Demonstrations Growing numbers of Congolese appear to oppose an extension of Kabila's term beyond December 19, while the unemployed and marginalized youth in Kinshasa and other cities could become increasingly discontented in the coming months if the country's economic crisis deepens. Opposition leaders, pro-democracy youth movements, and others have called for nationwide protests starting on September 19 - three months before the end of Kabila's mandate and when, according to the constitution, the electoral commission is due to convoke presidential elections. Meanwhile, the security situation in eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups are still active, remains deeply volatile. In the Beni area, armed forces have killed more than 600 civilians in a series of massacres since October 2014. There are concerns that the many armed groups in eastern Congo and youth leagues in major cities might be manipulated for political ends in the coming months. How the situation will play out should Kabila decide not to step down is unclear. But the risk of increased violence, instability, brutal repression, and a further shrinking of political space in the coming months is very real. While the window of opportunity is closing, Human Rights Watch believes there is still time to influence the course of events and help to minimize further human rights violations. The Way Forward President Kabila himself has shown no indication that he will step down, and some members of his ruling coalition have spoken publicly in support of a referendum to amend the constitution. Most electoral experts agree that it would now be nearly impossible to update the voter roll (to include Congolese youth who came of age since the last elections in 2011) and to organize presidential elections before the December 19 deadline. Many opposition and civil society leaders have called for a transitional leader, who could not be a presidential candidate, to lead the country during a short period as elections are organized, and after Kabila would step down on December 19, to help prevent further indefinite delays to elections and an extension of Kabila's presidency. A "national dialogue" convoked by President Kabila, ostensibly to discuss the way forward, officially began on September 1, and the final agreement is due to be announced in the coming days. However, nearly all of the main opposition political parties did not participate, fearing that the dialogue was merely a ploy for Kabila to stay in power by dragging out the process. Over the past two years, senior United States, European, and United Nations officials have repeatedly called for the organization of timely and credible presidential elections in Congo and emphasized the importance of Kabila stepping down and allowing for a peaceful transition of power in the interests of promoting democracy, human rights, and stability in Congo and throughout the volatile region. UN Security Council Resolution 2277, adopted on March 30, 2016, to renew the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO), calls on the Congolese government and its national partners "to ensure a transparent and credible electoral processincluding prioritization of those conditions necessary for the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for November 2016 in accordance with the Constitution." With the end of Kabila's constitutional mandate approaching, it is more important than ever for Congo's international partners to remain firm regarding these key principles. The US and members of the "support group" to the African Union facilitator of the national dialogue - including the European Union and UN - should immediately withhold support or endorsement of any dialogue that is not inclusive of all major political parties in Congo or any outcome that does not respect Security Council Resolution 2277 and the Congolese constitution and that does not have broad acceptance from the Congolese public. Congo's citizens have the right under international human rights law, and Congo's own laws, to peacefully demonstrate and make their voices heard. With more demonstrations planned in the coming days and weeks, Congolese government officials should take urgent action to ensure that this right is respected, and that those responsible for past repression are held to account. Congo's international partners and MONUSCO also have a crucial role to play to help protect peaceful demonstrators and show that there are consequences for repressive actions. The EU and its member states, the US, and the UN should implement targeted sanctions, including travel bans and assets freezes, against those most responsible for the violent repression and serious human rights violations against dissident voices over the past two years. Senior Congolese officials took notice when the US announced its first targeted sanctions against Kinshasa police commissioner Gen. Celestin Kanyama on June 23. For the sanctions to have the greatest impact, the US should expand its list and the EU and UN should implement their own sanctions. Particular attention should be given to intelligence agency director, Kalev Mutond, who appears to have been behind much of the political repression documented by Human Rights Watch, as well as other senior government and security force officers who have ordered, commanded, supported, or executed repressive actions and other serious human rights violations. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should monitor the situation in Congo, visit the country, and publish a statement reminding Congolese officials that the court has jurisdiction over Congo and is watching developments closely. The continued crisis in Congo's small eastern neighbor, Burundi, should be a dire warning to those interested in a peaceful, stable and democratic future for Congo. Many would contend that strong international action came too late - after President Pierre Nkurunziza had already defied the Arusha Accords and run for a third term - and thus had little impact. The crisis has claimed several hundred lives since April 2015, and an estimated 290,000 Burundians have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Despite some efforts to move forward with a political dialogue and to deploy UN police forces, Burundi remains deeply unstable and embroiled in political turmoil, while many Burundians are living in fear, amidst continuing killings, abductions and torture. Taking strong action now to address the situation in Congo could help deter further abuses, rein in security forces during upcoming demonstrations, and put further pressure on President Kabila to abide by the constitution and agree to step down at the end of his mandate and help prevent a broader crisis. Recommendations To Congolese government officials and security forces: Allow all Congolese, including civil society groups and opposition parties, to organize peaceful demonstrations and other political activities without disruption; Release all political prisoners and end politically motivated prosecutions of individuals for exercising their basic rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly; Investigate and appropriately prosecute those responsible for serious human rights violations, regardless of position or rank; Open all media outlets that have been arbitrarily shut down, and ensure that access to information, including independent international media outlets, social media platforms, and text message communication, is not blocked; and Allow Congolese and international human rights defenders to work in Congo without interference. To the leaders of Congolese political parties: Do not engage in incitement to violence or hatred; condemn the use of violence by political party members and take appropriate action to end it. To the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO): Deploy peacekeepers to the areas near political demonstrations to deter potential violence, as part of the mission's mandate to protect "civilians under threat of physical violence in the context of elections"; Ensure rapid deployment of peacekeepers to areas where political violence might break out; Put detailed plans in place to protect activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and politicians at risk; and Continue strong public and private messages denouncing political repression and other serious human rights abuses; urge the government to immediately release all political prisoners, end politically motivated prosecutions, open arbitrarily closed media outlets, ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is respected, allow Congolese and international human rights defenders to work without interference, and ensure that those responsible for serious human rights violations are appropriately held to account. To Congo's international donors, including the EU and its member states, the US, and the UN: Publicly denounce ongoing political repression and serious human rights violations against those who have spoken out against or opposed attempts to extend President Kabila's presidency beyond the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit; Urge the Congolese government to immediately release all political prisoners, end politically motivated prosecutions, open arbitrarily closed media outlets, ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is respected, allow Congolese and international human rights defenders to work without interference, and ensure that those responsible for serious human rights violations are appropriately held to account; Implement targeted sanctions, including travel bans and assets freezes, against those most responsible for the violent repression and serious human rights violations against dissident voices committed in Congo since 2015. Particular attention should be given to senior government, intelligence, and security force officials implicated in serious human rights violations; Immediately withhold support or endorsement of any dialogue that is not inclusive of all major political parties in Congo, is inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2277 and the Congolese constitution, or any outcome that does not have broad acceptance from the Congolese public; Raise concerns about human rights abuses committed by the ANR, including prolonged, arbitrary detention of activists and political opponents; call for human rights observers, including members of the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), to have unfettered access to all intelligence agency detention centers; Raise concerns about the misuse of the justice system for politically motivated purposes, and suspend assistance to the Congolese justice sector until there are concrete improvements in the independence of the judiciary; Use your positions as shareholders of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and African Development Bank to urge the institutions to provide direct budget support to Congo only if the government adheres to the constitutional requirements on term limits and organizes timely presidential elections; Suspend support to security forces implicated in rights abuses in the context of political demonstrations, campaigns, or the electoral process; Communicate clearly to the Congolese government that the failure to abide by the Congolese Constitution in a timely manner on presidential mandates, elections, and the transfer of power will have serious consequences for bilateral and multilateral relations; and Work with other international partners to develop a clear and complete plan for assisting in the funding of Congolese elections, and communicate this widely, once there is a credible timetable and demonstrated political will to move forward with elections, so that lack of resources is not an obstacle to constitutionally mandated elections. To the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and China and other influential states: Encourage President Kabila to abide by the two-term limit in the constitution and allow for credible national elections and a peaceful transition of power; and Foster, with other international partners, a constructive dialogue in Congo that leads to a credible and fair electoral process in respect of the country's constitution and international human rights law. To the UN Human Rights Council: Establish an independent mechanism, such as an independent expert or an OHCHR team of independent experts, to regularly document and report on human rights abuses in the context of political demonstrations, campaigns, or the electoral process, and with capacity for rapid response; Mandate enhanced interactive dialogues on Congo at the sessions of the Human Rights Council in 2017, including with relevant UN bodies and stakeholders, to expand scrutiny of the human rights situation in Congo beyond the current discussions; Request thematic reports by the OHCHR, including on political repression and violence in the context of political demonstrations, campaigns, or the electoral process, which would focus on areas of particular concern; and Hold an urgent debate during the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council, or a special session, if the situation further deteriorates. To the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: Monitor the situation in Congo, visit the country, and publish a statement reminding officials that the court has jurisdiction over Congo and is watching developments closely. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Thailand: Impending Verdict for Labor Researcher Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 18 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Thailand: Impending Verdict for Labor Researcher, 18 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfafd44.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. A Bangkok criminal court is expected to hand down a verdict on September 20, 2016, in the case of a British researcher for his work on labor rights abuses in Thailand, Human Rights Watch said today. Andy Hall faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of criminal defamation and violating the Computer Crimes Act. "Andy Hall coordinated important research about abuses of workers' rights in Thailand and he should never have been prosecuted for his actions," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Whatever the verdict, the long and intensive court fight has had a distinctly chilling effect on other activists pressing for the protection of workers' rights in Thai companies, many of which export their products to foreign consumers." In February 2013, the Natural Fruit Company Limited sued Hall in response to an investigative report by the organization FinnWatch, which included information about alleged labor rights violations at the company's factory in Prachaub Kirikhan province. The company, whose workforce at that factory consists mostly of migrant workers from Burma, asserted that Hall defamed and damaged the company by "broadcasting false statements to public media." Government prosecutors joined the case, in which Hall was also accused under the Computer Crimes Act, and formally charged him in January 18, 2016. Criminal defamation laws should be abolished, as criminal penalties are always disproportionate punishments for reputational harm and infringe on free expression, Human Rights Watch said. Criminal defamation laws are open to easy abuse, resulting in very harsh consequences, including imprisonment. As repeal of criminal defamation laws in an increasing number of countries has shown, such laws are not necessary to protect reputations. The FinnWatch report, "Cheap has a high price: Responsibility problems relating to international private label products and food production in Thailand," examines the production of food sourced from Thailand and sold in Finland. Based on field research and interviews conducted in November 2012 with employees of the company's Prachaub Kirikhan factory, the report alleged that Natural Fruit Company Limited had committed serious labor rights abuses, including poor working conditions, confiscation of workers' official documents, use of child labor, unlawfully low wages, and excessive overtime. In line with its research protocols, FinnWatch said it contacted representatives of the Natural Fruit Company Limited several times during the research period to discuss its preliminary findings, but that the company did not respond to these requests. Human Rights Watch's own research has found the human rights and labor rights of migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos working in Thailand have been regularly violated with impunity over the years. Human Rights Watch found that migrant workers frequently receive little or no protection from Thai labor laws despite government assertions that all legally registered migrant workers will be protected under those laws. Migrant workers who raise complaints against Thai employers commonly face retaliation. "Migrant workers in Thailand face huge challenges in asserting their rights in Thailand," said Adams. "Prosecuting Andy Hall for his association with independent efforts to document rights abuses raises serious questions about Thailand's readiness to protect workers' rights." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Montenegro: Release Journalist Pending Trial Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 19 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Montenegro: Release Journalist Pending Trial, 19 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfb14f4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. A Montenegrin investigative journalist has been held in pretrial detention on dubious drug-trafficking charges for 11 months. A trial date for the journalist, Jovo Martinovic, has not been set. The lengthy pre-trial detention and the prosecution's failure to present credible evidence against him violate his rights to liberty and due process, and undermine Montenegro's claim to respect press freedom, Human Rights Watch said. "A respected journalist who investigates crime and corruption, Jovo Martinovic, has spent 11 months behind bars without seeing any real evidence against him," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "If the charges are credible, then the prosecution should show him and his lawyer what they consider proof." The relevant authorities should release Martinovic immediately and provide his lawyer with all evidence against him, Human Rights Watch wrote in a joint letter to Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo ukanovic, together with the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. If the prosecutor persists with the charges, the organizations said, the trial should meet international standards, including those set out in the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Montenegro is a party. Martinovic denies the charges, saying that any contact he had with alleged criminals was solely in the context of his work as a journalist. Over the past 15 years, Martinovic has done extensive reporting about corruption, crimes, and war crimes in the Balkans, developing sources among criminal organizations. He has worked with a wide array of international media and contributed to The Economist, Suddeutsche Zeitung, The Financial Times, and VICE media group, among others. The authorities detained Martinovic on October 22, 2015, on suspicion of participating in a drug trafficking ring, pending the completion of an investigation against him and 17 other suspects. On April 8, 2016, after Martinovic had been detained for nearly half a year, the Special Prosecutors Office filed an indictment against him and 13 others. Two requests by Martinovic's lawyer to have his client released on bail pending trial were rejected, most recently on September 9. The judicial authorities did not provide specific facts or circumstances to justify the rejection, as human rights law requires. As of September 19, the prosecutor had provided Martinovic only with allegedly incriminating statements from two of his co-accused, who are apparently cooperating with authorities in return for reduced sentences. The authorities have not produced any other evidence of his alleged criminal actions. International journalists who have worked with Martinovic attest to his integrity and professionalism. They highlight his skills at establishing sources in criminal organizations. The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders had both previously condemned Martinovic's detention. On September 2, the International Federation of Journalists, its European group, the European Federation of Journalists, and its Montenegrin affiliate, the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro, called for Martinovic's release pending trial. A July 2015 report by Human Rights Watch on the Western Balkans, "A Difficult Profession: Media Freedom Under Attack," documented restrictions on media freedom in Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Martinovic's unnecessary pretrial detention without credible evidence underscores the concerns that he's being held in response to his probing journalistic work," Williamson said. "Every day Martinovic spends in detention undermines Montenegro's claims to respect due process and freedom of the press." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Yemen: Evidence indicates US-made bomb was used in attack on MSF hospital Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 19 September 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Yemen: Evidence indicates US-made bomb was used in attack on MSF hospital, 19 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfd0a14.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. States - including the USA and UK - must immediately stop supplying weapons that could be used in the Yemen conflict, Amnesty International said, as it confirmed that a US-made bomb was used in the air strike on a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) hospital on 15 August which killed 11 people and injured 19 others. According to independent weapons experts consulted by the organization who assessed photographs of a bomb fin taken by a journalist at the site, a US-made precision-guided Paveway-series aerial bomb was used in the attack. "Any attack on a medical facility in a war zone is an affront to humanity, yet this bombing is sadly just the latest in a grim series of attacks on hospitals and clinics by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition," said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "It is outrageous that states have continued to supply the Saudi Arabia-led coalition with weapons, including guided and general purpose aerial bombs and combat aircraft, despite stark evidence that those arms are being used to attack hospitals and other civilian objects and in other serious violations of international humanitarian law. "This attack highlights, yet again, the desperate need for a comprehensive embargo on all weapons that could be used by any of the warring parties in Yemen and for an international investigation to bring those responsible for unlawful attacks to justice." The bombing of the Abs Rural Hospital was the fourth attack in 10 months on an MSF facility in Yemen. The attack prompted MSF to shut down its operations in northern Yemen. The hospital treated 4,611 patients since MSF began to support it in July 2015. The closest possible military target at the time of the attack was Abs Military Camp, approximately 1km east of the hospital. According to MSF, the GPS coordinates of the hospital have repeatedly been shared with all parties in the conflict, including the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. Sixteen-year-old ambulance driver Ayman Issa Bakri was among those killed. When his body was found, he was still holding the body of the woman he had been transferring from the ambulance. "Deliberate attacks on hospitals and medical facilities are serious violations of the laws of war and can never be justified. Hospitals, which have special protection under international humanitarian law, should be safe places of treatment and recovery," said Philip Luther. "States supplying weapons to the coalition, the USA and UK foremost among them, must use their influence to press coalition members to comply with their international obligations and to investigate suspected violations of international humanitarian law. They must also support the establishment of an independent, international inquiry." Background Since February 2016, Amnesty International has urged all states to ensure that no party to the conflict in Yemen is supplied - either directly or indirectly - with weapons, munitions, military equipment or technology that would be used in the conflict until they stop serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and support independent, impartial investigations into allegations of violations by all parties. In November 2015 the US State Department approved an arms transfer worth $1.29 billion to Saudi Arabia, which includes the transfer of general purpose bombs from the Mark / MK89 series, despite the fact that Amnesty International has documented their use in unlawful air strikes that have killed scores of civilians. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Music for the children of Yarmouk and all refugees Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 19 September 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Music for the children of Yarmouk and all refugees, 19 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfd2ac4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. "I took my piano and made it everything: my work, and my studies at university; to teach children music," begins Ayham al-Ahmad, in an interview with United Nations Radio, ahead of a UN summit on large movements of refugees and migrants on 19 September 2016. Born in 1988 in Yarmouk a Palestinian refugee camp near the Syrian capital, Damascus Mr. al-Ahmad never knew another home for 27 years. When war broke out in Syria in 2011, it did not take long before its violence reached the camp he and his family had come to call home. Rather than run away, Mr. al-Ahmad says he decided to stay and 'fight' with his piano. Thus 'armed,' Mr. al-Ahmad played in the rubble, bringing immense joy and laughter to the children of Yarmouk. "I teach them (children) in the streets, and sing with them, laugh with them, and fall in love with them," he says. But that is in the past. Mr. al-Ahmad no longer lives in Yarmouk he fled Syria, via Turkey, and ended up in Germany, where he now lives with his family. "I decided to leave, after Zeinab died," he says. Zeinab was a little girl who used to sing with him. She was killed when armed men from the so-called Islamic State or ISIL opened fire on the camp, and burned down his piano. That was in 2015. In the interview with the UN Radio, Mr. al-Ahmad, was asked why he chose to play the piano in the refugee camp. "I couldn't afford to provide food for people in Yarmouk," he says, "but I could feed their brains with music." With the distress that the war was inflicting on the inhabitants of Yarmouk, Mr. al-Ahmad decided to find a way to make the children smile and, perhaps, forget about the war and its accompanying horror. But not everyone appreciated his efforts, especially older people. "[People over 40] did not like the music. [They would say,] 'people are dying and you're playing music, why? You should stop and be quiet.'" But younger people and the children liked the music a lot. "When I put my piano in the middle of the road, I see them coming like bees to a rose flower," he says. In the interview, he talked about the "horrible" trip from Syria to Germany, and the extra difficulties faced by Palestinian Refugees. He made the trip alone, leaving his wife and children behind in Syria. "I decided to die alone," he says. His family would later join him in Germany, through legal means. Now settled in Germany, he is trying to use his music, to show the world the real face of refugees and Muslims, noting, "we're not terrorists." In Germany, Mr. al-Ahmad has a new life and new dreams to aspire to. But the story is different for other refugees, still caught up in the conflict in Syria, and in other conflicts around the world. Many, like him, are trying to find their way out of those conflicts, to seek safety in other countries. Besides refugees, there are thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who take perilous journeys as they try to find safety, or a new, better life. Ahead of the UN summit on refugees and migrants on 19 September 2016, the UN Radio caught up with al-Ahmad, and asked why he chose to play the piano in the refugee camp, Ahmad says he couldn't afford to provide food for people in Yarmouk, but he could "feed their brains with music". Credit: UN News Centre Refugees top the agenda at UN Summit This year, in addition to the General Debate a multilateral discussion of international issues covered by the UN Charter the UN Summit on refugees will, for the first time, convene countries at the Heads of State and Government level to discuss the massive shifting of people, with the aim of creating a better international response. The forum aspires to strengthen the governance of international migration and provide a unique opportunity to create a more humane and coordinated approach to their expansive movement. The UN Secretary- General, Ban Ki-moon, highlighted that it represents "a breakthrough at a breaking point," adding, "With so many shrill voices dominating the debate, governments from around the world are responding in measured tones that can yield real results if promises are kept." Karen AbuZayd, the Special Adviser on the Summit, underscored that it was time to meet the challenges associated with the large movements expected in the future. She expressed her firm belief that "a positive campaign can transcend political polarization and reinforce fundamental values of diversity and the benefits of migration." Sometimes, history is also made off the main stage. On the margins of the General Assembly, US President Barack Obama will be co-hosting a Leaders' Summit on Refugees alongside Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden asking governments to pledge significant new commitments. This meeting will not focus on migrants, but will complement the Assembly's high-level summit, which will address both. Mr. al-Ahmad's piano may not provide all refugees and migrants with the help they need, but solidarity with them could. Ahead of the summit on large movements of refugees and migrants, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, presented, on Friday 19 September, a new #WithRefugees petition to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the UN General Assembly. According to the UN refugee chief, the petition - which contains more than one million signatures collected from around the world - is an expression of the general public's solidarity and shared responsibility in addressing forced displacement and migration. Presenting the petition, Mr. Grandi noted, "We see that a lot of people want to help, want to share, and want to accept." Education for Syrian Refugee Children: What Donors and Host Countries Should Do Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 16 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Education for Syrian Refugee Children: What Donors and Host Countries Should Do, 16 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfd8494.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Education for Syrian children has become a casualty of war: school enrollment rates have fallen drastically, not only in Syria but among children who have fled. Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan have taken generous steps to provide Syrian children with access to education, yet more than half of the 1.5 million school-age refugee children in those three countries were not in formal education last year. Syrian refugee families told Human Rights Watch that they fled to protect their children's lives, but that their children's futures are now at risk. Rates of early marriage and child labor have risen dramatically among Syrian refugee children, and the longer children are out of school, the lower the likelihood they will return and get an education. The lack of educational opportunities is a key reason Syrian refugees want to flee to Europe.[i] Donor funding in response to the Syria conflict has been crucial to enable host countries to increase classroom spaces, build and renovate schools, hire and train teachers, and develop programs to reach out-of-school children. In February 2016, donors at a London conference pledged more than US$11 billion in multi-year support to meet goals including universal school enrollment in refugee-hosting countries by 2017.[ii] Yet the amount of money allocated to date is unclear; Theirworld, a nongovernmental organization focused on education, reported in August that "most donors have failed to meet even the most basic criteria for transparency."[iii] To enable adequate planning for the coming school year and beyond so that refugee children can go to school, donors should fulfill their pledges promptly. They should also support host countries to revise policies that Human Rights Watch has documented are keeping children out of school.[iv] Policies that require refugees to obtain government-issued documentation or legal status but in effect prevent many from doing so, and that leave many impoverished refugees unable to work lawfully, are undermining the right to education. Removing obstacles to education is critical for refugee children to recover from conflict, realize their rights, contribute to host countries, and ultimately rebuild Syria. Yet every year since the conflict began, the number of Syrian children out of school has increased. Globally, more than 6.7 million refugees are in exile due to crises that began more than 20 years agolonger than an entire childhood.[v] President Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees on September 20 will seek pledges to get a million refugee children in school, but around the world there are more than 3.5 million out-of-school refugee children.[vi] This document, based on extensive Human Rights Watch research in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, lays out steps that donors and host countries should take to ensure that Syria does not suffer a lost generation. Turkey Turkey allows Syrian children to enroll free in Turkish public schools, and in addition, the Ministry of National Education has accredited "temporary education centers," staffed with Syrian teachers, that use a modified Syrian Arabic curriculum. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that in 2015, seven new schools were built in Turkey, 200 were renovated, 8,700 Syrian "volunteer" teachers were hired, and more than 10,000 Syrian students received subsidized school transportation, leading to a 30 percent increase in the number of children in school over the previous year.[vii] Despite these steps, the education minister said in April that only 325,000 of more than 756,000 school-age Syrian refugees are attending formal schools and education centers.[viii] In fact, the number of out-of-school children may be even higher: Turkey's registration figures show more than 930,000 Syrian children ages 5-17, with a steep decline in enrollment as children grow older.[ix] Turkish officials intend to enroll all Syrian children in school by the end of 2017 and continue to work toward that goal.[x] It is ambitious, but feasible: the entire school-age Syrian population is only 5 percent of the 16.4 million children enrolled in Turkey's public schools (based on 2014-2015 figures).[xi] Donors should support Turkey to take the following steps: Ensure That Lack of Identification Documents is Not a Barrier to Education Turkey's generous enrollment policy does not require Syrian refugee children to prove their residency, but does require them to produce Turkish-issued identification (ID) cards. In 2015, nearly all Syrian refugee families Human Rights Watch interviewed had obtained these cards without undue difficulty or delay. However, after Turkish authorities introduced a new "pre-registration and screening" step in March 2016, Syrian families described a backlog with waiting times of up to six months for these cards.[xii] In some areas, Turkish public school administrators refused to allow Syrian children to enroll even if they had the identification cards, or the school officials demanded other documents. Turkish authorities should: Urgently clear the backlog of ID card applications, and in the interim, allow Syrians to provide other documentation in lieu of an ID card to enroll in school. Enforce Turkey's education policies at the local level. Address Disincentives to Education and Causes of Dropouts For most Syrian children who enroll in Turkish public schools, as 75,000 did last year, the language of instruction is foreign and new, and access to accelerated language learning programs is limited. Older children in higher grades, in particular, may be unable to understand lessons in Turkish, and drop out. Many children are unable to afford transportation to schools, while others face harassment and perceived discrimination. Turkey has begun to address some of these barriers, but much more is needed. Donors should support Turkey to: Substantially increase access to programs offering Turkish language support and accelerated language learning for Syrian children. Increase the number of Syrian "volunteer" teachers who receive stipends for teaching in "temporary education centers" in the short term, while also planning to reach Turkey's goal of integrating all Syrian students in the Turkish public school system. Increase subsidized transportation to schools. Reduce Child Labor and Dropouts by Increasing Adults' Access to Work Turkey is a leader among host countries for creating a pathway for Syrians to obtain work permits. In practice, however, the number of work permits made available would accommodate fewer than 1 percent of Syrian refugees, since employers must sponsor them and promise to pay a minimum wage.[xiii] Syrian children often need to supplement their family's income by dropping out of school to work, and are paid even less than Syrian adults.[xiv] Improving Syrian workers' access to labor protections could mitigate the high rate of child labor, including hazardous work, among Syrian refugee households. Turkey should amend regulations to allow refugees to apply for work permits directly, rather than requiring employer sponsorship. Donors, working with Turkish authorities, should consider expanding support for livelihoods and income-creation programs, to reduce pressure on Syrian children to drop out of school to work. Lebanon Lebanon, a country of approximately 4.5 million citizens, has 1 million registered Syrian asylum seekers, including almost 500,000 school-age childrenmore than the number of Lebanese children in public schools. With donor support, Lebanese authorities last year offered 200,000 places for Syrian children to enroll free in public schools, and opened afternoon "second shift" classes in 238 public schools to increase classroom spaces. But only 158,000 Syrian children enrolled in public schools, while another 87,000 attended private and semi-private schools. At least 250,000 Syrian children were not in formal education, including at least 95 percent of secondary school-age children.[xv] Lebanon has set a target of enrolling an additional 230,000 "non-Lebanese" children in formal education and 220,000 in an non-formal education programs during the 2016-17 school year. Donors should support Lebanon in taking these steps to ensure Syrian children's access to education: Waive Residency Requirements to Reduce Child Labor and Dropouts Lebanon imposed new residency requirements on Syrian refugees in January 2015, obliging all of those age 15 and older to pay annual residency renewal fees of $200 per person and for those not registered with the United Nations refugee agency sponsorship by a Lebanese sponsor to legally stay in the country. An estimated two-thirds of Syrian refugees have been unable to renew their legal status, with severe implications for access to education. Lebanon's generous, donor-supported refugee education policy does not require Syrian children to have residency to enroll. But some school directors have required them to provide it, as well as a variety of other documents that are not officially required and that many Syrians are unable to produce. The residency requirements are also exacerbating refugees' poverty, because refugees without valid residency are at risk of arrest, which limits their ability to travel in search of informal work. In 2015, 70 percent of Syrian households lived below the Lebanese poverty line of $3.84 per person per day and 89 percent were in debt. Impoverished refugees often cannot pay for transportation to school or depend on child labor to pay for basic needs, and working children often drop out of school and are at risk of exploitation, arrest, violence, and hazardous work. Parents without residency are also afraid to enroll their children if their school is located beyond a checkpoint. The Interior Ministry and General Security Organization should waive the residency fee and sponsorship requirements for refugees and urgently ensure their freedom of movement. In the interim, Lebanese ministries should ensure that children age 15 and older who are directly affected by lack of residency are able to travel to and enroll in schools. Donors should urgently increase funding to support Syrians' livelihoods, including income-generating work, and to help offset refugees' school-related transportation costs. The Ministry of Education should ensure that all school administrations implement the official enrollment policy and that refugees can report irregularities, and hold accountable those who violate the policy. Address Disincentives to Education and Causes of Dropouts Beginning in grade 7, Lebanese public schools teach most morning shift classes entirely in English or Frenchunfamiliar languages for many Syrian children. In afternoon shifts at primary schools, most classes are supposed to be taught in Arabic, but science and math classes are also taught in English or French, and in practice some teachers are teaching all classes in those languages. There are no Arabic language shifts at the secondary school level. Families also report inattentive teachers and a lack of textbooks in some schools. Syrian families also describe widespread corporal punishment of children, as young as 5, by teachers, school administrators, and bus drivers. Children face bullying, discrimination, and harassment on the way to school and in the classroom, without sufficient intervention from teachers and school administrators. In some cases, teachers have not allowed Syrian children to use bathroom facilities at school. As a result, students have dropped out or parents have withdrawn their children. The Education Ministry, with donor support, should provide language support programs, particularly for intermediate- and secondary-school-age children. The ministry should enforce its ban on corporal punishment in public schools, hold teachers accountable, and strengthen protection mechanisms to ensure that allegations of corporal punishment, harassment, or discrimination are promptly investigated and redressed. The ministry, with donor support, should improve teacher training, and increase the utilization of qualified Syrian teachers. Clarify the Role of Nongovernmental Groups in Non-Formal Education When Lebanese public schools are full or far away, Syrian children often depend on non-formal education. However, these programs are of widely varying quality, and many do not offer a pathway to formal education. In 2015, the Education Ministry withdrew support for programs operated by nongovernmental groups, including by requesting that certain non-formal schools shut down and asking public school directors to report on any such schools nearby. The ministry has now established a framework for non-formal education in 2016-17, but the role that nongovernmental groups will be allowed to play in reaching out of school children remains unclear. Until all children can enroll in formal education, the Lebanese government should urgently clarify the role of nongovernmental groups as partners in providing education and carry out the 2016 non-formal education framework. Jordan About 80,000 of the 225,000 school-aged Syrian children in Jordan were out of school last year. With the "Jordan Compact" between Jordan and donors in February, donors pledged $700 million per year over three years to support Jordan in hosting Syrian refugees, and in May, donors pledged an additional $81.5 million to improve access to education.[xvi] Under the compact, Jordan aims by fall 2016 to enroll an additional 50,000 Syrian children in formal education and up to 25,000 children ages 8 to 12 in an accredited, accelerated program that will enable them to attend public schools upon completion. Increased funding that enables Jordan to carry out these plans could substantially improve access to education. Donors should fulfil their funding pledges promptly, and work with Jordan to continue to expand reforms to address other barriers: Ensure that Lack of Documentation is Not a Barrier to Education Jordan requires the roughly 520,000 refugees who live outside refugee camps to register with the Interior Ministry and obtain "service cards." These cards are officially required for Syrian refugees to access subsidized healthcare and to enroll children in schools, and are only valid in the district where they are registered.[xvii] Thousands of Syrian refugees, including nearly all of those who left refugee camps after regulations changed in July 2014, as well as the estimated 30 to 40 percent of Syrian children in Jordan who lack birth certificates, are currently ineligible for service cards. In addition, since February 2015, Jordan has required all Syrians in host communities to obtain new service cards, but imposed difficult requirements; about 200,000 Syrians had not done so as of early April 2016. In a positive move, Jordan's Education Ministry has instructed public schools to allow Syrian children without service cards to enroll in the fall 2016 semester, during which they should obtain the cards.[xviii] If they cannot do so, it is not clear if they will be allowed to re-enroll in the spring semester. Jordan should continue to demonstrate flexibility and ensure that schools will not refuse to enroll Syrian children who are unable to obtain service cards or birth certificates and will allow them to present other forms of identification. Continue to Increase Access to Work Permits and End Disproportionate Penalties About 86 percent of Syrian refugees live below Jordan's poverty line of 68 Jordanian dinars ($95) per person per month. A UN assessment found in 2015 that 97 percent of school-age Syrian children are at risk of not going to school because of financial hardship. Until recently, it was virtually impossible for Syrian refugees to obtain work permits, but Jordan imposed penalties on those caught working without permits including arrest, fines, involuntary relocation to refugee camps, and in some reported cases, deportation.[xix] Syrian children are at risk of dropping out of school to work in cases where the breadwinner has been arrested. Jordan has taken a series of positive steps to improve access to work permits. In February 2016, Jordan pledged to issue permits to up to 200,000 Syrians, but these plans are contingent on factors including increased foreign private investment and exports to European markets.[xx] In April, Jordan granted a three-month grace period for Syrians to obtain work permits without paying fees, then extended it for an equal period, issuing more than 20,000 permits while limiting arrests and transfers to refugee camps of Syrians who worked informally.[xxi] However, most Syrians still lack permits because the requirements include the sponsorship of an employer, who may be unwilling to sign contracts and pay the minimum wage, while Syrians who lack service cards are ineligible to apply for work permits. Jordan should continue to expand Syrians' access to labor protections and the formal labor market. Donors should deliver promptly on pledges intended to improve Syrians' access to work and set clear targets for Syrian employment. Jordan should permanently waive policies that disproportionately punish Syrians caught working without permits and investigate alleged unlawful deportations. Address Causes of Dropouts and Improve Access to Non-Formal and Secondary Education Corporal punishment in schools and bullying by other children cause hundreds of Syrian children to drop out each year.[xxii] Human Rights Watch interviewed Syrian parents who said their children were not learning in school, and Jordanian teachers who had no training and faced classrooms of up to 50 students. Jordanian regulations that pre-existed the Syria conflict bar all children who have been out of school for three or more years from enrolling in public schools. With donor support, in the fall of 2016 Jordan plans to establish an accredited non-formal curriculum for up to 25,000 Syrian children ages 8 to 12 who would otherwise have been barred by the "three-year rule;" for children ages 13 and older, the Education Ministry has accredited a nongovernmental group to provide non-formal education. While donors are supporting the group to expand its program, access remains limited, and it has reached only a few thousand Syrian children since the Syria conflict began. Older children need much more support to get an education, as many face increased pressure to work or are vulnerable to early marriage, and have spent years out of school. Fewer than 5,400 out of at least 25,000 Syrian 16- and 17-year-olds in Jordan were in secondary school last year. Children and youth have had little access to technical and vocational education and training, and demand is low because nearly all available jobs are unskilled. The Education Ministry should enforce the prohibition against corporal punishment in schools. With donor support, Jordan should improve teacher training, and utilize the skills of qualified Syrian teachers. Jordan and foreign donors should expand the provision of non-formal education for children older than 13, and significantly increase Syrian children's access to secondary education and vocational training. [i] Melissa Fleming (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)), "Six reasons why Syrians are fleeing to Europe in increasing numbers," The Guardian, October 25, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/201... (accessed September 2, 2016). [ii] "Co-hosts declaration from the Supporting Syria & the Region Conference, London 2016," February 4, 2016, https://www.supportingsyria2016.com/news/co-hosts-declaration-of-the-supporting-syria-and-the-region-conference-london-2016/ (accessed September 2, 2016). [iii] Kevin Watkins (Theirworld), "No lost generation holding to the promise of education for all Syrian refugees," , August 2, 2016, http://youthstories.aworldatschool.org/the-promise#chapter-1296657 (accessed September 2, 2016). [iv] "Education for Syrian Refugee Children," Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/tag/education-syrian-refugee-children. [v] UNHCR, "Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2015," June 20, 2016, , http://www.unhcr.org/576408cd7.pdf (accessed September 2, 2016), p. 20. [vi] The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, "Statement by National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Co-Hosts for President Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees," June 3, 2016, White House press release, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/03/statement-national-security-advisor-susan-rice-co-hosts-president-obamas (accessed September 8, 2016); Save the Children, "Half of All Refugee Children Are Out of School Leaving Them Exposed to Exploitation and Abuse," May 16, 2016, http://www.savethechildren.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=9357115&ct=14850115oc=1 (accessed September 2, 2016). [vii] United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), "Turkey Monthly Update December," Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan 2015-2016 (]), http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=10191 (accessed September 2, 2016). [viii] "Syrian refugee children remain unschooled despite efforts," Daily Sabah, April 27, 2016, http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2016/04/28/syrian-refugee-children-remain-unschooled-despite-efforts (accessed September 2, 2016). [ix] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "Turkey," Syria Regional Refugee Response website, undated, , http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224 (accessed September 2, 2016). [x] "Only 30 percent of Turkey's Syrian children have access to education: Disaster agency head," Hurriyet Daily News, March 31, 2016, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/only-30-pct-of-turkeys-syrian-children-have-access-to-education-disaster-agency-head.aspx?PageID=238&NID=97133&NewsCatID=341 (accessed September 8, 2016); "New road map to boost education for Syrian refugees," Daily Sabah, August 23, 2016, http://www.dailysabah.com/education/2016/08/24/new-road-map-to-boost-for... (accessed September 2, 2016). [xi] "When I Picture My Future, I See Nothing" Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Turkey, Human Rights Watch, November 2015, https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/11/08/when-i-picture-my-future-i-see-not.... [xii] "EU: Don't Send Syrians Back to Turkey," Human Rights Watch news release, June 20, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/20/eu-dont-send-syrians-back-turkey. [xiii] Patrick Kingsley, "Fewer than 0.1% of Syrians in Turkey in line for work permits," The Guardian, April 11, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/11/fewer-than-01-of-syrians-in-turkey-in-line-for-work-permits (accessed September 2, 2016). [xiv] Stephanie K. Gee (Human Rights Watch), "When Refugees Work, Children More Likely to Attend School," August 8, 2016, commentary, Refugees Deeply, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/08/when-refugees-work-children-more-likely-attend-school. [xv] "Growing Up Without an Education" Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch, June 2016, https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/19/growing-without-education/barriers.... [xvi] UNICEF, "Five international donors grant JOD 57.7 million to GOJ commitment to reach education to all children in Jordan," May 26, 2016, http://www.unicef.org/jordan/media_11026.htm (accessed September 2, 2016). [xvii] "We're Afraid for Their Future" Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Jordan, Human Rights Watch report, August 16, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/08/16/were-afraid-their-future/barriers-.... [xviii] "Jordan: Positive Steps on Education for Syrian Children," Human Rights Watch news release, August 22, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/22/jordan-positive-steps-education-syri.... [xix] "We're Afraid for Their Future." [xx] "The Jordan Compact: A New Holistic Approach between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the International Community to deal with the Syrian Refugee Crisis," February 4, 2016, https://2c8kkt1ykog81j8k9p47oglb-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Supporting-Syria-the-Region-London-2016-Jordan-Statement.pdf (accessed September 2, 2016), p. 2. [xxi] UNHCR, "Frequently Asked Questions: Work Permits for Syrian Refugees in the Urban Environment in Jordan," April 14, 2016, http://reliefweb.int/report/jordan/frequently-asked-questions-work-permits-syrian-refugees-urban-environment-jordan-enar (accessed September 8, 2016); "Jordan extends waiver period for Syrian refugee work permits," Associated Press, July 11, 2016). [xxii] UNICEF estimates that bullying by children causes 1,600 Syrian children to drop out of school each year. Matteo Valenza and Shatha AlFayez (UNICEF), "Running on Empty: The situation of Syrian children in host communities in Jordan," May 2016, http://www.unicef.org/jordan/Running_on_Empty2.pdf (accessed August 2, 2016). Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Joint letter to Montenegro premier calling for reporter's release Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 19 September 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Joint letter to Montenegro premier calling for reporter's release, 19 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfd8ff4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and partner organizations wrote today to Milo Dukanovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, voicing concern about Jovo Martinovic, an investigative reporter who has been detained for nearly 11 months. A specialist in covering organized crime in the western Balkans, Martinovic is being held in a police investigation into drug trafficking but has not been formally charged by the Montenegrin public prosecutor's office. Martinovic works for many international media outlets including the Economist, the Financial Times, and the CAPA news agency. The joint letter calls on the authorities to take account of the fact that Martinovic's investigative reporting offers a logical explanation for why he was in contact with drug traffickers. RSF and the other organizations also urge the authorities to release him at once pending trial. Martinovic has been insisting on his innocence ever since his arrest in October 2015. Montenegro is ranked 106th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index. September 19, 2016 Milo ukanovic Prime Minister of Montenegro Karaoreva bb 81000 Podgorica Crna Gora / Montenegro Via facsimile: +382 (20) 242 329 Dear Prime Minister ukanovic: Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Project Journalists and Reporters Without Borders are jointly writing to protest the prolonged pre-trial detention and prosecution of Montenegrin freelance journalist Jovo Martinovic, which we believe violate his rights to liberty and due process, and disregard Montenegro's obligations to respect press freedom. We urge the relevant authorities to release Martinovic immediately and to provide his attorney with all evidence against him. As explained below, we are seriously concerned that the investigation and charges against Martinovic are motivated by his work as a journalist, rather than criminal behavior on his part, and as such should be dropped. If the prosecutor persists with the charges to trial, it is essential that the trial complies with international standards, including rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. Martinovic was detained on October 22, 2015, on suspicion of participating in a drug trafficking ring, pending the completion of an investigation against him and 17 other suspects. On April 8, 2016, after nearly half a year in detention, the Special Prosecutors Office filed an indictment against Martinovic and 13 others. As of today, no trial date had been set. Two special requests by Martinovic's lawyer to have his client released on bail pending trial have been rejected, most recently on September 9, though the authorities provided no detailed explanation for the rejection. The European Court of Human Rights, whose rulings are binding on Montenegro, has repeatedly clarified that judicial authorities should make decisions on pretrial detention based on evidence of specific facts and personal circumstances about the accused, and they cannot rely on "general and abstract" reasons. In Martinovic's case, we believe the authorities have not offered specific facts or circumstances to justify his continued detention, and he should therefore be released pending and during trial. With respect to the charges, the prosecutor alleges that Martinovic committed criminal acts by facilitating a meeting between the buyer and seller of narcotics and installing a communication application Viber (a popular and commonly used application) on the phone of the alleged gang leader, Dusko Martinovic (no relation to the journalist). Jovo Martinovic denies the charges and, with his lawyer, has explained to the prosecutor how his contact with Dusko Martinovic and the other alleged criminals was solely in the context of his work as a journalist. Over the past 15 years, Martinovic has done extensive investigative reporting about crimes and war crimes, developing sources among criminal organizations. He's worked with a wide array of international media and contributed reporting and research to The Economist, Newsday, Global Post, The Financial Times, and VICE media group, among others. In 2014, Martinovic worked with VICE on a documentary series about a gang of gem thieves called the Pink Panthers, of which Dusko Martinovic is a member. At the time of his arrest, he was conducting research for the French production company CAPA Presse for a documentary film (La route de la Kalashnikov) about the smuggling of weapons from the Balkans to Western Europe, which subsequently aired on the French television channel Canal+. International journalists who have worked with Martinovic attest to his integrity and professionalism. They point in particular to his skills at establishing direct sources in criminal organizations. On April 19, 2016, the Committee to Protect Journalists sent you a letter expressing deep concern about Martinovic's excessively long detention without charge prior to April 8, and the non-disclosure of evidence against him to his attorney. In this letter, international journalists vouched for Martinovic's character. On April 22, 2016, Reporters Without Borders issued a statement about Martinovic that condemned his prolonged detention. Today, after 11 months in detention, five months after the indictment, the only evidence that the prosecutor has provided to Martinovic are statements from two of his co-accused, who are apparently cooperating with the authorities in return for reduced sentences. In August, the daily Vijesti ran a series of articles alleging that Special Prosecutor Mira Samardzic has applied pressure on Dusko Martinovic to implicate Jovo Martinovic in crimes he had not committed. Mr. Prime Minister, we are concerned that Jovo Martinovic's lengthy detention and prosecution is motivated by his work as an investigative journalist rather than in response to an alleged criminal act. This would show a lack of respect for Montenegro's obligations to respect and safeguard media freedom. In addition, the Copenhagen criteria applicable to states negotiating European Union accession include respect for freedom of the press. If the prosecution has amassed probative evidence against Martinovic, we call on the relevant authorities to give full access to that evidence to Martinovic and his legal representatives so they can prepare his legal defense. We also call for Martinovic's release pending the outcome of his trial. Thank you for your attention to this important matter and we look forward to your reply. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and partner organizations wrote today to Milo Dukanovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, voicing concern about Jovo Martinovic, an investigative reporter who has been detained for nearly 11 months. A specialist in covering organized crime in the western Balkans, Martinovic is being held in a police investigation into drug trafficking but has not been formally charged by the Montenegrin public prosecutor's office. Martinovic works for many international media outlets including the Economist, the Financial Times, and the CAPA news agency. The joint letter calls on the authorities to take account of the fact that Martinovic's investigative reporting offers a logical explanation for why he was in contact with drug traffickers. RSF and the other organizations also urge the authorities to release him at once pending trial. Martinovic has been insisting on his innocence ever since his arrest in October 2015. Montenegro is ranked 106th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index. September 19, 2016 Milo ukanovic Prime Minister of Montenegro Karaoreva bb 81000 Podgorica Crna Gora / Montenegro Via facsimile: +382 (20) 242 329 Dear Prime Minister ukanovic: Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Project Journalists and Reporters Without Borders are jointly writing to protest the prolonged pre-trial detention and prosecution of Montenegrin freelance journalist Jovo Martinovic, which we believe violate his rights to liberty and due process, and disregard Montenegro's obligations to respect press freedom. We urge the relevant authorities to release Martinovic immediately and to provide his attorney with all evidence against him. As explained below, we are seriously concerned that the investigation and charges against Martinovic are motivated by his work as a journalist, rather than criminal behavior on his part, and as such should be dropped. If the prosecutor persists with the charges to trial, it is essential that the trial complies with international standards, including rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. Martinovic was detained on October 22, 2015, on suspicion of participating in a drug trafficking ring, pending the completion of an investigation against him and 17 other suspects. On April 8, 2016, after nearly half a year in detention, the Special Prosecutors Office filed an indictment against Martinovic and 13 others. As of today, no trial date had been set. Two special requests by Martinovic's lawyer to have his client released on bail pending trial have been rejected, most recently on September 9, though the authorities provided no detailed explanation for the rejection. The European Court of Human Rights, whose rulings are binding on Montenegro, has repeatedly clarified that judicial authorities should make decisions on pretrial detention based on evidence of specific facts and personal circumstances about the accused, and they cannot rely on "general and abstract" reasons. In Martinovic's case, we believe the authorities have not offered specific facts or circumstances to justify his continued detention, and he should therefore be released pending and during trial. With respect to the charges, the prosecutor alleges that Martinovic committed criminal acts by facilitating a meeting between the buyer and seller of narcotics and installing a communication application Viber (a popular and commonly used application) on the phone of the alleged gang leader, Dusko Martinovic (no relation to the journalist). Jovo Martinovic denies the charges and, with his lawyer, has explained to the prosecutor how his contact with Dusko Martinovic and the other alleged criminals was solely in the context of his work as a journalist. Over the past 15 years, Martinovic has done extensive investigative reporting about crimes and war crimes, developing sources among criminal organizations. He's worked with a wide array of international media and contributed reporting and research to The Economist, Newsday, Global Post, The Financial Times, and VICE media group, among others. In 2014, Martinovic worked with VICE on a documentary series about a gang of gem thieves called the Pink Panthers, of which Dusko Martinovic is a member. At the time of his arrest, he was conducting research for the French production company CAPA Presse for a documentary film (La route de la Kalashnikov) about the smuggling of weapons from the Balkans to Western Europe, which subsequently aired on the French television channel Canal+. International journalists who have worked with Martinovic attest to his integrity and professionalism. They point in particular to his skills at establishing direct sources in criminal organizations. On April 19, 2016, the Committee to Protect Journalists sent you a letter expressing deep concern about Martinovic's excessively long detention without charge prior to April 8, and the non-disclosure of evidence against him to his attorney. In this letter, international journalists vouched for Martinovic's character. On April 22, 2016, Reporters Without Borders issued a statement about Martinovic that condemned his prolonged detention. Today, after 11 months in detention, five months after the indictment, the only evidence that the prosecutor has provided to Martinovic are statements from two of his co-accused, who are apparently cooperating with the authorities in return for reduced sentences. In August, the daily Vijesti ran a series of articles alleging that Special Prosecutor Mira Samardzic has applied pressure on Dusko Martinovic to implicate Jovo Martinovic in crimes he had not committed. Mr. Prime Minister, we are concerned that Jovo Martinovic's lengthy detention and prosecution is motivated by his work as an investigative journalist rather than in response to an alleged criminal act. This would show a lack of respect for Montenegro's obligations to respect and safeguard media freedom. In addition, the Copenhagen criteria applicable to states negotiating European Union accession include respect for freedom of the press. If the prosecution has amassed probative evidence against Martinovic, we call on the relevant authorities to give full access to that evidence to Martinovic and his legal representatives so they can prepare his legal defense. We also call for Martinovic's release pending the outcome of his trial. Thank you for your attention to this important matter and we look forward to your reply. Attempts by Honduran authorities to silence outspoken journalists Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 16 September 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Attempts by Honduran authorities to silence outspoken journalists, 16 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfd9854.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the increasingly hostile climate for the media in Honduras and the recent series of direct or indirect attempts by the authorities to silence outspoken journalists. TV presenter Ariel Armando D'Vicente's three-year jail sentence in a defamation case last month is particularly worrying. Honduras is one of Latin America's most dangerous countries for the media. Both murders of journalists - there have been eight since the start of 2015 - and cases of censorship of various kinds are frequent. RSF has registered several grave media freedom violations in Honduras in the past six weeks alone. The producer and presenter of the programme "Prensa Libre" on the independent Libertad TV channel, Ariel Armando D'Vicente was sentenced on 24 August to three years in prison and a three-year ban on working as a journalist for allegedly defaming Oqueli Mejia Tinoco, the former police chief of the southern department of Choluteca. D'Vicente's lawyer has appealed. D'Vicente reported in 2014 that Mejia and police officers under his command were involved in the illegal trafficking of cattle between Central America and Mexico in association with criminal groups. In 2012, D'Vicente escaped a murder attempt after covering a case of embezzlement allegedly involving three members of the National Directorate for Criminal Investigation. Juan Carlos Morales, the mayor of the central city of Siguatepeque, has meanwhile been waging a smear campaign against three local journalists since the start of August for reporting negative stories that reflect badly on him, such the increase in poverty in the municipality, at time when he want to run for reelection next year. His main target has been Leonel Juarez, the host of "Juarez informa" on TV Centro, who says the mayor used every means possible to force him off the air, including media and social network campaigns to defame and discredit him, and pressure on advertisers and his family. In the end, Juarez had no choice but to close down his programme and he now plans to leave the country to escape the threats. Anselmo Rubio, a presenter on Libre Opinion TV, and Walter Ulloa Bueso, a programme host on Estereo Cielo, a local radio station, have also been persecuted by the mayor in a similar manner. Milthon Robles, a journalist based in the northwestern city of San Pedro Sula, was threatened on 3 September by an individual in a car who pointed a gun at him. Two weeks before that, someone in the same car tried to run him down deliberately. These attacks follow an investigative report by Robles on the "war tax" collected by local criminal groups known as "Maras" in which, according to Robles, local officials were implicated. A reporter for the Criterio.hn news website, Robles is also a human rights defender, a member of the alert and protection network for journalists operated by the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre) and heads an association of "social communicators." "The authorities and politicians are supposed to protect journalists but only too often they are their leading oppressors," said Emmanuel Colombie, the head of RSF's Latin America desk. "Ariel D'Vicente's trial at a time of almost total impunity for crimes of violence against media personnel in Honduras is particularly ironic and speaks to the climate of hostility towards the media. In a country prey to corruption and organized crime, respecting and protecting the work of journalists is more necessary than ever." If upheld on appeal, D'Vicente's sentence will be the second time in the past two years that a Honduran court has banned a journalist from working. Julio Ernesto Alvarado, the host of the Globo TV programme "Mi Nacion," was formerly notified by the court for sentence enforcement on 29 October 2015 that he is forbidden to work as a journalist, despite a formal request by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in November 2014 for the sentence to be suspended as "precautionary measure" while it examined the case. RSF reiterates its appeal to the Honduran authorities to take account of the recommendations it received from the UN Human Rights Council during its Universal Periodic Review in 2015 and to respect all of its obligations as a member of the Organization of American States. Honduras is ranked 137th out of 180 counties in the RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index. Bomber Strikes Chinese Embassy in Bishkek; China Announces New Defense Transportation Law Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Peter Wood Publication Date 19 September 2016 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Bomber Strikes Chinese Embassy in Bishkek; China Announces New Defense Transportation Law, 19 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfdf8f4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Bomber Strikes Chinese Embassy in Bishkek On August 30, a car bomb exploded outside the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Three people were injured in the explosion. Fortunately the car bomb was not able to directly ram the embassy, though the explosion was strong enough to destroy the facade of one side of the building. One report described finding glass 300 meters from the site of the blast (Global Times, August 30). The bombing demonstrates that despite crackdowns by Central Asian states and vigorous cooperation with their Chinese counterparts, Uygher militant groups with ties to Syria continue be able to successfully carry out operations and channel funds and people throughout the Eurasian space. Recently released videos indicate that top leaders within the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) have managed to elude U.S., Chinese, and Pakistani authorities and continue to urge Uyghers in China to carry out jihad-if necessary by traveling abroad (Militant Leadership Monitor, August 31). The bomber was identified the Kyrgyzani media as an ethnically Uygher citizen of Tajikistan (CCTV, September 7). Kyrgyz authorities have also arrested a militant named Shamo Mamedov who was involved in helping militants get to Syria (AKipress [Kyrgyzstan], September 7). The car used in the attack belonged to a woman who is part of a broader network with strong links to Syria-based groups (AKIpress, September 6). The attack follows a pattern of attacks shifting to "soft" targets outside of mainland China. The Kyrgyz Security Council confirmed the bomber and other suspects are members of the TIP (Guancha, September 9). Kyrgyzstan itself does not have a significant Uygher minority (Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, July 4). However, after the breakup of the Soviet Union the newly independent states in Central Asia had difficulty securing their borders. Many Uyghers took advantage of this to leave China and settle in the region, often bringing their radicalized ideology with them (China Brief, September 10, 2014). China's Xinjiang Province and Kyrgyzstan share an 850 kilometers border largely dominated by the Tianshan Mountains with only two official border crossings. China and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) regularly carry out anti-terror exercises, featuring long-range bombing and, more recently cyberwarfare components. China and the other SCO members will carry out this year's "Peacemission-2016" during the latter half of September (Observer, September 12). The attack in Bishkek demonstrates that the training and experience gained by Uyghur fighters in Syria will have repercussions for Central Asian states. While China's own vast state security apparatus may be capable of detecting and preventing such attacks, weaker Central Asian or Southeast Asian states will be prime targets. Furthermore the connections between the attackers and their supporters to Syrian based groups may further strengthen Chinese stated resolve to stabilize Syria and militarily support the Syrian government (China Brief, August 22). On the side-lines of the G-20 Summit held in Hangzhou at the beginning of September, China and Turkey vowed to further deepen their counter-terrorism cooperation (Xinhua, September 3), perhaps further indicating that China is hoping to place additional pressure on money and people transiting between Syria, Central Asia, and its own borders. Defense Transportation Law The National People's Congress (NPC) has issued a new Defense Transportation Law (NPC, September 6). Speaking before the NPC on a draft of the law General Zhao Keshi (), head of the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Committee () said that the new law would provide important guidance as China's economy develops and military reforms (PLA Daily, April 26). The law is an update to guidance first issued in 1995 and then revised in 2011. This law and its predecessors are part Chinese efforts to augment the PLA's warfighting capability through close integration with civilian infrastructure. The law has an extremely broad scope, and extends explicitly to every level of government from the county () up. It also embraces the full range of modes of transport: rail, highways, canals, waterways, air and even pipelines as well as all of their related infrastructure. Joint use of transportation is just one part of China's broader focus on Civil-Military Integration (CMI; ). CMI is a regular feature of editorials in official publications (China Brief, August 22). As stated in China's 2015 Defense White Paper: China encourages joint building and utilization of military and civilian infrastructure, joint exploration of the sea, outer space and air, and shared use of such resources as surveying and mapping, navigation, meteorology and frequency spectra. Accordingly, military and civilian resources can be more compatible, complementary and mutually accessible (China's Military Strategy, May 29, 2015). As part of its modernization efforts, the PLA is consistently improving its ability to deploy internally, practicing, for example, high altitude drops, long-distance amphibious operations and cross-country mobilization. It has also invested heavily in roads, rail and improved air and sea mobility. In the case of air mobility, long a major bottleneck for force projection, China is currently embarked on a building program for several new aircraft, the first of which the Y-20 (Y for, transport), officially became part of the Chinese military in July (81.cn, July 6). In the past the PLA has had to charter civilian aircraft abroad to accomplish deployment and evacuation operations (China Brief, February 13, 2013 Other similar projects, including plans to work with Ukrainian aircraft maker Antonov to build more An-225s-the world's largest transport aircraft-are in the works (China News, September 8). But even a greatly expanded PLA strategic air-lift capability is unlikely to meet the full needs of a wartime PLA. However, given the leeway the transport law gives the government to use civilian aircraft in wartime, one can imagine the 380-odd passenger and cargo aircraft Air China's fleet being transferred to direct PLA command. In the maritime domain China already makes extensive use of paramilitary forces (AMTI, September 11, 2015). The Chinese military recently carried out a drill in which a large number of civilian ships were suddenly ordered to join in a "multi-service joint drill" (PLA Daily, September 11). This is particularly important as China works to improve its long-distance maritime force projection, or closer to home in a Cross-Strait scenario in which vast numbers of civilian transports would be needed to bolster the PLA's own amphibious craft. The PLA views CMI as a shortcut to rapid improvement of the PLA's capabilities, as well as an ideologically convenient path to reinforce the ties between Party, Army and People. Economically China is pushing the creation of road, rail and air connections across broader Eurasia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, largely through state-owned enterprises. The Defense Transportation Law reinforces the fact that such infrastructure is explicitly dual-use Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation PLA Yijiangshan Joint Amphibious Operation: Past is Prologue Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Kevin McCauley Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 14 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, PLA Yijiangshan Joint Amphibious Operation: Past is Prologue, 13 September 2016, China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 14, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfdfdf4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website China and Russia are staging a Joint naval exercise in the South China Sea. The exercises are meant, in part, to practice joint island assaults and other amphibious operations (China News, September 11). The PLA's emphasis on improving joint training, amphibious modernization and landing exercises supports President Xi's current military reforms that are focused on accelerating joint operations capability (PLA Daily, July 26; People's Daily Online, August 19; China Military Online, July 14). As the PLA transitions from the current "coordinated capability" to an "integrated joint operations capability," the PLA's successful Yijiangshan joint island landing campaign in 19541955 provides some insight as well as a benchmark for how the PLA would currently conduct joint operations. Coordinated joint operations consist of the services operating towards the common objectives of the operational plan, but with little interaction except at higher echelons; integrated joint operations envisions the employment of joint task forces down to the tactical level supported by advanced communications. Currently the PLA is operationalizing components of integrated joint operations, including improving key areas of joint command, an advanced command information system, and formation of integrated modular joint task forces. Between 19541955, the PLA conducted a successful, small joint island landing campaign against Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist forces defending two Yijiangshan () islands off the Zhejiang coast. Involving units from the Air Force, Army and Navy, the PLA considers this campaign their first joint operation. The KMT's loss of the Yijiangshan Islands made the Dachen islands () defensive system untenable. The Dachen islands were considered a staging area for attacks on the mainland and the KMT loss of these islands reduced the Republic of China's capacity to threaten the coast in this area. [1] PLA planning, command, coordination, and intelligence preparation were critical to the successful operation. Establishing a Joint Command Structure Since the PLA did not have an established peacetime joint command structure at the time, the East China Military Region (MR), with Central Military Commission (CMC) approval, established an Eastern Zhejiang Frontline Headquarters in August 1954 to command the joint campaign. [2] The joint command structure included a Navy Command Post (CP), Air Force CP, Landing CP, a Political Work Group and a Joint Logistics headquarters. The East China MR Chief of Staff (CoS) Zhang Aiping () served as commander and political commissar for the joint operation. [3] Preparing Joint Coordination Coordination planning between the services was critical as the PLA acknowledged its general lack of modern operational knowledge, as well as a poor understanding between the services of the other service's tactics and weapons characteristics. Additionally, the services expressed doubts and concerns over the conduct of the operation. Therefore, the Eastern Zhejiang Front Command initiated exchange visits to promote understanding between the services and eliminate concerns. The joint command also held a commanders' conference to examine coordination issues and establish coordination methods. [4] As a result, the joint command developed a coordination planning table with the support from Soviet advisors. The joint command conducted a series of exercises to prepare the force. The services first conducted separate training, followed by joint and political training. Amphibious landing exercises were conducted at a peninsula resembling the actual Yijiangshan landing sites. The exercises helped develop a better understanding between the services, established coordination procedures, as well as resolving newly identified issues. [5] Key command and coordination issues were resolved between the ground forces and PLAN during the sea crossing and landing operations. During embarkation of the landing force, the Army and PLAN jointly commanded; the PLAN commanded during the sea crossing; the Army and PLAN jointly commanded during the amphibious assault phase; and the Army took command during combat on the island. [6] Additional coordination issues included dispatch of aviation and artillery liaison to infantry battalions to coordinate firepower support and relay the infantry units' location and fire support requirements. Aviation representatives were also assigned to various command posts for coordination. Artillery and aviation units coordinated their fires to avoid having artillery fire strike aircraft conducting close in ground strikes. Coordination between the PLAAF and PLAN was accomplished by dispatching PLAAF liaison to the command ship to relay PLAN requirements for aviation support. [7] The Joint Amphibious Operation Overall PLA forces totaled some 10,000 personnel, with 5920 personnel engaged in the landing operation. The joint force included the following: four infantry battalions from the 60th Infantry Division, the PLA had no Marines at that time; 5 artillery battalions plus 4 batteries with 295 artillery and anti-aircraft guns of various types; 184 PLAAF and PLAN aircraft; and 186 ships. The KMT defenders consisted of 1,100 troops, 51 artillery of various types, and 812 vessels. [8] The joint operation consisted of two main phases: seizing command of the air and sea in order to cover pre-war training, blockade and isolate the KMT defenders, and create the conditions for a successful landing operation. Ground force officers first took a coastal defense vessel to survey the island terrain in late August 1954. Intelligence collection in support of the campaign began in earnest in September 1954. Reconnaissance included ground forces establishing observation posts, formation of an amphibious reconnaissance unit, and the capture of prisoners; PLAAF photo reconnaissance of the islands; and the PLAN surveillance of the island and beach reconnaissance to determine water depth, current velocity and direction, and identification of obstacles. Operations to gain air and sea superiority for the Yijiangshan campaign began in November 1954 as a prerequisite for the landing operation. [9] The amphibious landing consisted of three phases. The first phase was the firepower preparation and sea crossing operations commencing at 0800 on January 18, 1955 and lasting until 1330. Aviation fire strikes by bombers and fighter-bombers were launched against artillery positions and communications facilities on the Yijiangshan and Dachen islands to destroy key targets endangering the amphibious force and achieve information superiority. Firepower strikes then began against KMT defensive positions. Under cover of the PLAN, PLAAF and artillery firepower, the landing forces sailed in three columns towards the Yijiangshan landing beaches. KMT artillery conducted barrage fire against the formations, with PLA coastal artillery and aviation countering with firepower suppression against the artillery positions. [10] The second phase was the amphibious assault at over twenty landing sites lasting from 1330 to 1500 on January 18, 1955. Naval forces screened the operation to the northeast and southwest, and aircraft screened to the south as well as providing cover over Yijiangshan. The 1st and 2nd Battalions, 178th Infantry Regiment, 60th Infantry Division landed on the larger northern island along the western and northern coast, with the 3rd Battalion in the second echelon. The 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment landed on the southwestern end of the smaller southern island. Bombers and fighter bombers conducted a second firepower preparation, with gunboats providing direct fire support destroying and suppressing KMT frontline fortified positions, and paralyzing command and control. Under covering fire, the three infantry battalions conducted the initial assaults on the two islands and secured beachheads. A landing command post was established on land at 1500. Five KMT warships counterattacked from the Dachen islands, but PLA aviation forced them back to their anchorage. [11] The third phase consisted of combat to seize the islands lasting until 0200 on January 19, 1955. Propaganda and psychological operations were conducted against the defenders during the offensive. The landing force quickly broke through the enemy forward positions, and executed small group assaults on enemy defensive points throughout the islands. The enemy troops were defeated by 1750, and the landing forces began establishing a defense of the islands. The strategic consequence of the seizure of the Yijiangshan islands was that KMT control of the Dachen islands was rendered untenable, and KMT forces were evacuated in February 1955 under cover of the U.S. Navy and Air Force. [12] The preparation and planning ensured the successful execution of the coordinated joint operation. Despite the lack of an established joint command structure, joint coordination procedures and limited knowledge between the services of each others capabilities, the joint commander's careful preparation of the forces, and in particular the attention to intelligence collection and resolving coordination issues between the services, and emphasis on seizing air, sea, and information dominance contributed to the victory. Problems included several instances of poor organization and execution of the operational plan, and unauthorized changes to the plan without consulting with superior headquarters. The PLA continues to resolve joint command and coordination procedures with the establishment of joint theater commands, and PLA publications such as Science of Joint Tactics and Joint Operations Research discuss these subjects in detail, and the latter book uses the Yijiangshan operation as a lesson learned for joint command and coordination. The Yijiangshan joint operation is an example of the PLA's ingenuity and flexibility successfully solving operational problems.[13] Recent Areas of Improvement Currently the PLA is transitioning from coordinated joint to integrated joint operations. While full implementation of an advanced integrated joint operations capability remains aspirational, the PLA has been incrementally improving their joint operations capabilities for more than a decade in the areas of joint command and coordination, fielding a more modern command information system, and conducting exercises with modular integrated joint task forces. While problems remain, the PLA's capability to conduct joint operations is continually improving while working to identify and eliminate deficiencies. The recent acceleration of military reforms by President Xi has jump started the effort to improve joint operations capabilities by establishing peacetime theater joint commands in place of the Army centric MRs, and emphasizing improvements to joint exercises and professional military education. The creation of the theater joint commands is an important step in removing impediments and moving towards a joint force. However, it will take time for the new headquarters to fully develop joint command and coordination procedures. The emphasis on training joint officers will support these efforts. The PLA is examining more flexible command and coordination measures to allow for greater initiative, realizing that the operational plan might not survive long in a modern, dynamic battlespace. While the PLA continues to prefer to follow the operational plan as long as possible, initiative and flexibility by commanders to respond to unforeseen situations or take advantage of fleeting opportunities are advocated as long as units achieve their assigned objectives. [14] An integrated C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) system, or command information system in PLA parlance, represents the necessary foundation for both system of systems and integrated joint operations. The PLA is fielding integrated communications systems to better support joint forces at the campaign and tactical levels as part of the regional integrated electronic information system (quyu zonghe dianzi xinxi xitong), a key program in C4ISR modernization efforts. A component of the system is the integrated command platform ( yiti hua zhihui pingtai) reportedly promoting integration of forces in part through the ability to share information, as well as promote improved real-time command and battlefield transparency. Importantly the command information system is intended to provide sensor-to-shooter integration with intelligence fusion and display of a common operating picture through an integrated battlefield situation map display. The new system is intended to solve interoperability problems prevalent in previous command and control systems. Problems continue including incompatibility between old and new systems, different technical standards and interface formats, as well as inadequate training of personnel. [15] Another key component of integrated joint operations is developing modular integrated joint force groupings. These operational system of systems ( zuozhan tixi) have been exercised for over a decade in the form of joint campaign formations (lianhe zhanyi juntuan) and joint tactical formations (lianhe zhanshu bingtuan). The PLA appeared to begin testing joint tactical formations in exercises as early as 2004. The focus transitioned to include increased joint campaign formation exercises by 2009. The ability to flexibly task organize joint forces at both the campaign and tactical levels will optimize the force mix for specific combat missions, and advanced command information systems will better integrate the joint forces. The integration of joint forces at lower echelonsthe campaign and tactical levelssignificantly improves the PLA's joint operations capability over the coordinated joint operations where the services conduct operations according to the operational plan working towards assigned objectives, but with little integration of the services. [16] While the PLA acknowledges problems and is working towards solutions, the PLA also identifies improvements in its joint capabilities. A recent authoritative publication by the Academy of Military Sciences, Science of Joint Tactics, concludes that the PLA has achieved significant improvements in long-range force projection and maneuver, reconnaissance and surveillance, long-range fire strikes, and information offensive and defensive capabilities. [17] These are important capabilities improving joint operations. Advancing Joint Operations Capabilities If the PLA were to conduct a joint operation currently, it would tend to be more coordinated than integrated. The PLA successfully conducted a coordinated joint operation, albeit small in scale, during the Yijiangshan island landing campaign, and the PLA is currently capable of conducting such a joint operation particularly against an adversary in the South China Sea. Careful preparation, planning, intelligence preparation, and attention to coordination between the joint forces are key elements to a successful coordinated joint campaign. A larger scale joint operation in a fast changing battlespace, particularly against an advanced military, could be problematic currently if the PLA were forced to deviate significantly from the operational plan. Under such circumstances command and control, and coordination between forces could be stressed greatly. However, the PLA does believe that a near-term conflict would be small-scale, short duration, with limited forces and objectives. Such a limited conflict would match current PLA joint capabilities, as long as the conflict did not escalate, which would always be a possibility. [18] Conclusion The PLA has advanced in key areas for more than a decade as it builds an integrated joint operations capability. These areas include joint command and coordination, an integrated C4ISR system, and employment of modular joint task forces at the campaign and tactical echelons during exercises. President Xi's acceleration of military reforms emphasizes the advancement of joint operations capabilities, including joint training and education. While full implementation of an integrated joint capability will require time, the PLA has progressively enhanced its joint capabilities for over a decade, is better prepared to conduct joint operations now, and with successful implementation of the current military reforms in 2020, should continue improving integrated joint capabilities. Kevin McCauley has served as senior intelligence officer for the Soviet Union, Russia, China and Taiwan during 31 years in the U.S. Government. He has written numerous intelligence products for decision makers, combatant commands, combat and force developers, as well as contributing to the annual Report to Congress on China's military power. Mr. McCauley has a forthcoming book, "Russian Influence Campaigns against the West. From the Cold War to Putin." Notes 1. Joint Operations Research, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2013), p. 200; Note that in December 1954 the U.S. and Republic of China signed a Mutual Defense Treaty after preparations for the joint landing operation had begun, coming into force in March 1955. However, the treaty only covered the main island of Taiwan and the Penghu archipelago, excluding Taiwan-held outer islands near the mainland coast including Kinmen, Matsu, and the Dachen island groups. Thus, China did not have to prepare for possible U.S. intervention. 2. China established six Military Regions in 1950, which were increased to 12 during 1955, 13 in 1956, reduced to 11 in 1968, seven in 1985, and finally reorganized into five Joint Theater Commands in 2016. 3. Joint Operations Research, pp. 2829. 4. Joint Operations Research, p. 204. 5. Joint Operations Research, pp. 205206; Armed Forces First Battle Yijiangshan, (Beijing: PLA Press, 2004), pp 7686. 6. Joint Operations Research, pp. 204205. 7. Joint Operations Research, p. 205. 8. Joint Operations Research, p. 28 and 204. 9. Armed Forces First Battle Yijiangshan, pp 7176; Joint Operations Research, pp. 29 and 200. 10. Joint Operations Research, p. 201. 11. Joint Operations Research, p. 201; Armed Forces First Battle Yijiangshan, pp. 282283. 12. Joint Operations Research, pp. 2930 and 201. 13. Joint Operations Research, pp. 206207. 14. Jiefangjun Bao Online, August 15, 2016; China Brief, April 9, 2014; Science of Joint Tactics, (Beijing: Military Science Press, 2014), pp. 169174. 15. Jiefangjun Bao Online, April 24, 2010, "Incorporating Joint Military Training Into Track of System of Systems Operations Capability Building;" Jiefangjun Bao, January 23, 2006; Jiefangjun Bao, March 1, 2016; Jiefangjun Bao, March 25, 2016 16. Jiefangjun Bao Online, October 28, 2004, "Joint Training forms Joint Operations Capability;" Jiefangjun Bao, March 15, 2005, "Integrated Training from Theory to Practice;" Jiefangjun Bao, October 13, 2009, "Jinan Theater Armed Forces Joint Training" 17. Science of Joint Tactics, pp. 185186. 18. Science of Joint Tactics, p. 185. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation China and India's Border Infrastructure Race Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Sudha Ramachandran Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 14 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, China and India's Border Infrastructure Race, 13 September 2016, China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 14, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe0534.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. In July, China reportedly crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between India and China, at Barahoti in India's northern state of Uttarakhand on at least two separate occasions. In addition to Chinese aircraft carrying out reconnaissance sorties in the area, 2025 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) reportedly crossed into the demilitarized zone at Barahoti (Cankaoxiaoxi, August 2; Times of India, July 31). These incidents again highlighted India's poor overland connectivity near the 3,488-km-long disputed border with China. The border post at Barahoti, for instance, is dependent on a single road that stops 20 km short of the LAC. Beyond that road, human porters and pack animals must carry supplies to the border post (India Strategic, September 2013). [1] While both countries are engaged in extensive road and rail building projects on their respective sides. Chinese progress, however, has significantly outpaced India's. Indian Roads have been allowed to deteriorate and rail connections are non-existent and there is mounting concern in India that poor overland links to the LAC could prove costly in the event of a military confrontation with China. In a bid to bridge this gap, India is strengthening force levels and military infrastructure along the LAC. The number of troops at border posts is growing; posts that were once manned by platoons now host companies (The Telegraph, July 18). India is raising a Special Mountain Strike Corps of 80,000 soldiers capable of launching offensive action in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) (Indian Express, February 8). Along the western portion of the LAC armored regiments of T-72 tanks are augmenting this capability. Four regiments of the BrahMos short-range supersonic missile in Arunachal Pradesh will add to India's conventional military deterrence in the eastern sector (The Hindu, July 19; Indian Express, August 3). India's air power and infrastructure has grown too. Sukhoi-30 MKI combat aircraft are flying from new bases in eastern and northeastern India and at least half-a-dozen squadrons of the indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile guard India's airspace in the eastern Himalayas. [2] Old Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) are being refurbished and new ALGs and air stations built closer to the LAC (Times of India, August 22, 2014; The Pioneer, August 20). India's Defensive Mindset India's humiliating defeat in the 1962 war with China left a deep impact on its national psyche that is reflected in its defense and nuclear policies. In the aftermath of the war, India adopted a defensive strategic mindset toward China, most visible in its decades-long hesitation to build roads near the LAC. Indian policy makers feared that new roads near the LAC would facilitate the rapid advance of Chinese troops into the Indian heartland in the event of another Sino-Indian war. Consequently, up to the mid-2000s, India consciously let existing roads near its border with China fall into disuse and refrained from constructing new ones. In 2006 India's Cabinet Committee on Security, its topmost policy-making body on national security, finally green-lit construction of 73 strategic roads near the LAC (The Hindu, June 30, 2006). While military considerations drove the decision to upgrade border infrastructure, improving facilities and economic opportunities for communities living in remote border areas also played a role in the policy (India Strategic, September 2013). However, plans to improve this infrastructure are significantly behind schedule. According to the 19th report of its Parliamentary Select Committee for Defence, of the 73 strategic India-China Border Roads that the government approved for construction in 200607 and planned to complete by 2012, just 21 roads have been built so far. Work on two roads is yet to begin (Indian Express, May 6). Plans for new railway lines are even further behind. In 2010, India identified 28 strategic railway lines in areas bordering China, Pakistan and Nepal, prioritizing 14 of them as strategically important for national security. Construction has not yet begun on any of them (Indian Express, July 6). Limited budget, bureaucratic red tape, corruption, difficult terrain, limited working seasons in high-altitude areas and difficulties in securing environmental clearances and acquiring land held by tribal communities are often blamed for the slow progress of India's border infrastructure projects. [3] In addition, the "old defensive mindset persists among powerful sections in the defense establishment," an Indian official said. Plans to construct a 1,800-km highway linking Tawang to Vijaynagarrunning the entire stretch of the McMahon Line, which India recognizes as the border in the eastern sectorwere strongly opposed by the military, which cited "security considerations" for a road so close to the disputed border. The Ministry of Defence finally approved the road after it was realigned (Mail Today, June 23 and The Tribune, August 5). [4] Chinese Roadbuilding While India began planning new roads near the LAC only a decade ago, Chinese road building in the Himalayan region began as early as 1950. From the start, Beijing's approach to overland infrastructure has been robust, even aggressive and formed an integral part of its Tibet strategy. Beijing needed roads and railway lines to assert and consolidate control over Tibet. So central was road building to Beijing's Tibet strategy that "road construction was treated as combat." Indeed, in the run up to China's annexation of Tibet, Chairman Mao ordered the PLA to "advance while building roads." Roads linking Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan with Tibet were built at great human cost and against all odds, and pursued with determination as they facilitated the transport of troops to Tibet to quell unrest. Economic development of Tibet was another priority, and railway lines and oil pipelines soon followed. [5] In recent decades, China's roads and railway lines in Tibet have expanded toward its borders with India, Nepal and Bhutan. The Golmud-Lhasa railway line, which was inaugurated in 2006 and linked to Xigaze in 2014, is being extended to Gyirong, a land port near the border with Nepal, and to Yadong, a trading center that is a few kilometers from Nathu La, a vital mountain pass linking Tibet with the Indian border state of Sikkim. There are also plans to extend this railway line to Nyingchi, a trading center and garrison town just north of Arunachal Pradesh, and onward to Dali in Yunnan province. Running parallel and close to the McMahon Line, the Lhasa-Nyingchi-Dali rail would enable the PLA's 14 Group Army headquartered in Kunming, with its divisions at Dali, Kaiyuan and Kunming to be deployed rapidly to along the McMahon Line (Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, NDTV, August 15, 2014 and China Daily, August 5). This extension of its Himalayan roads and railway lines up to its borders with South Asia would not only facilitate China's mobilization of troops in the event of military confrontation with India but also, this is enhancing Beijing's influence in these countries. Roads linking China with Nepal, for instance, are providing the latter with an alternative trade option to its current enormous dependence on trade with and through India (China Brief, November 16, 2015). It has prompted Nepal to turn to China to meet a part of its fuel requirements. Such trade would expand further if the plan to extend the Xigaze-Gyirong rail to the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, materializes (Global Times, May 24). China has even proposed extension of Xigaze-Gyirong-Kathmandu rail line up to Nepal's border with the Indian state of Bihar. Beijing can be expected to pursue this project, as it is trade with the large Indian market that would make trans-Himalayan trade economically profitable for China (Business Standard, May 24). The impact of train-loads of Chinese goods flooding its markets concerns India, especially in light of its own weak logistic network. As a Sikkim government official pointed out in 2008, "when Chinese goods by the train-load arrive at Nathu La India would be able to send back mere truck-loads." [6] Indian analysts admit that China's road and rail links near the LAC "have important significance for regional trade." But given the unresolved border dispute and tensions between the two neighbours, "India should be conscious of the security implications," points out security analyst Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan. [7] Advantage China China's improved infrastructure in the TAR and near the LAC has added immensely to its military capacity. China's ability to rapidly deploy forces has increased "tremendously with the infrastructure built up over the last decade." All-weather roads and rail infrastructure in addition to a number of airstrips that have come near the LAC give it an "edge in deploying forces." With the improved infrastructure, China can now deploy up to 32 divisions (previously only 22), and, importantly do so year-round. Additionally, China's creation of logistic and fuel depots near border regions suggest that China is attempting to improve its ability to not just rapidly deploy forces but also to sustain them for a significant period of time. [8] Clearly, China's infrastructure development gives it a huge advantage over India at the LAC. India's capacity for an effective counter-deployment has been undermined by its torpid approach to improving its overland travel infrastructure near the LAC. Chinese border roads run almost up to the LAC or even cross the LAC into the Indian side; a road in the Siri Jap area in Ladakh runs 5 km into Indian territory, for instance (Times of India, May 26, 2013). Indian border roads, in contrast, stop well ahead of the LAC, sometimes even 5070 km from the disputed border (Asian Age, July 21). [9] Daulat Beg Oldie, India's most significant outpost adjoining Aksai Chin, is yet to be linked by road. Tawang, an important bone of contention in the Sino-Indian border dispute, has just a single, narrow, pot-holed road linking the town to Bum La, the last border post on the Indian side of the McMahon Line. Conditions on the Tawang-Bum La Road are so poor that it takes three hours to cover the 30 km distance. Even trucks and other heavy vehicles cannot ply this road. While the condition of this road hasn't improved since 1962, the Chinese have constructed a four-lane highway running within 4 km of the McMahon Line. It takes the Chinese a mere 45 minutes to reach the Bum La Post from Sonajung town, which lies 37 km from the McMahon Line on the Chinese side (Arunachal Times, June 6, 2012 and Outlook, October 22, 2012). The absence of roads to the LAC means that supplies for outposts in forward positions have to be airlifted. This is the case with Daulat Beg Oldie, for instance, where supplies must be airlifted, leaving personnel and operations here extremely vulnerable to poor weather conditions and enemy action (India Strategic, September 2013). The absence of roads and rails would be felt especially in a time of crisis. India's mobilization of forces to forward posts would be severely hampered as it will have to depend on aircraft to augment force levels. Importantly, the full potential of augmenting troop levels, raising strike corps and improving air strike and defense capabilities are likely to be tapped only if these are supported by robust road and rail links. In the latter's absence, "the cruel Himalayan terrain reduces even the largest divisions to isolated groups of soldiers sitting on widely separated hilltops" (Business Standard, April 25, 2013). With a strong road and rail network, India could reduce force levels in the forward areas and station them instead at lower altitudes, with better weather conditions. It could rush troops to the borders when needed; trucks and trains would enable it to move large numbers of soldiers at short notice. This makes it imperative for India to focus its attention on improving overland links to the LAC. The plans for strategic roads and railways could make a positive difference. Construction of the Tawang-Vijaynagar highway and the Guwahati-Tawang Road via Tashigang in Bhutan could reduce India's current vulnerabilities along the McMahon Line. The latter, for instance, would not only reduce dependence on the current Tawang-Bum La route but also allow for bypassing the Se La pass that is prone to avalanches and landslides. It would also cut travel time between Guwahati and Tawang by six hours (Indian Express, October 16, 2014 and Arunachal Times, April 30). Besides, the Indian government plans to construct three strategic railway linesthe Missamari-Tawang railway line, Murkongselek-Pasighat-Tezu-Parasuramkund-Rupai line and the North Lakhimpur-Along-Silapathar linein the Northeast. Of these, the Missamari-Tawang railway line would strengthen logistic support to the strategic Bum La post. Missamari is home to an infantry division, air force station, oil depots etc. Troops stationed at the base here could be transported in large numbers via train to Tawang within hours (Economic Times, May 10, 2015). Conclusion The Himalayan region places tough logistic burdens on militaries operating there, making improvement of roads and rails a priority for China and India. While framing their infrastructure projects in economic terms, China's progress has real strategic implications. Though the Indian government has often promised to prioritize its own building programs, these have yet to pan out. Dr. Sudha Ramachandran is an independent researcher and journalist based in Bengaluru, India. She has written extensively on South Asian peace and conflict, political and security issues for The Diplomat, Asia Times and Geopolitics. Notes 1. The LAC is divided into three sectors: the "western sector" between Ladakh and the Aksai Chin, the "central sector" between Uttarakhand and Tibet, and the "eastern sector" that divides Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet. India lays claim to 38,000 sq km of territory in Aksai Chin that is under Chinese control and China claims 90,000 sq km of land that roughly approximates Arunachal Pradesh. The central sector in which Barahoti falls is the least contentious sector. 2. A Squadron consists of two batteries, each composed of four launchers. 3. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan and Rahul Prakash, "Sino-Indian Border Infrastructure: An Update," ORF Occasional Paper no. 42, New Delhi: Observer Research Foundation, May 2013, pp. 2021. 4. Author's Interview, Indian Ministry of Home Affairs official, New Delhi, August 24, 2016. 5. John W Garver, Protracted Contest: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Twentieth Century, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 8088. 6. Author's Interview, Government of Sikkim official, Gangtok, December 26, 2008. 7. Author's Interview, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, August 23, 2016. 8. Ibid. 9. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan and Rahul Prakash, "Sino-Indian Border Infrastructure: An Update," ORF Occasional Paper no. 42, New Delhi: Observer Research Foundation, May 2013, pp. 610. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation New Standoff Between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Cholpon Orozobekova Publication Date 12 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 146 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, New Standoff Between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, 12 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 146, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe0b54.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan became embroiled in a fresh standoff over the disputed mountain Ungar-Too, located on the border. The latest incident once more highlighted the need for rapid and radical efforts to improve bilateral relations and eliminate tensions between the two neighboring countries. On August 24, two helicopters from Uzbekistan landed on the contested mountain, on top of which Kyrgyzstan has a large TV and radio transmitter. Uzbekistani police officers detained four citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic who were working there (Kloop,kg, August 24, 2016). These workers were held in custody at Uzbekistan's Yangi Kurgan police station. The event sparked a new wave of escalation in bilateral relations. Already, in March of this year, the situation reached a particularly dangerous level, when both sides deployed heavily armed personnel to this contested border region (see EDM, March 31). Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov met with his counterpart from Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyaev, in Samarkand, immediately after the funeral of Islam Karimov (held on September 3). The two men discussed the border issue, and Jeenbekov reportedly returned to Bishkek in a positive mood, saying that Tashkent is ready for constructive dialogue and calling on both governments to coordinate and intensify their work (Kabar.kg, September 5). On September 8, after two weeks of negotiations, the detained Kyrgyzstani citizens were released. Nevertheless, 20 Uzbekistani police officers remain deployed to the disputed border area (Sputnik.kg, September 9). According to Kyrgyz media reports, Uzbekistan is demanding access to the Kasan-Say (Orto-Tokoy) water reservoir and to resume electricity shipments that were cut off by Kyrgyzstan's government in March 2016, during the previous standoff (Akipress.org, Azattyk, kg, September, 9). Just one week earlier, another incident happened at the Kasan-Say (Orto Tokoi) reservoir, when Kyrgyzstani border guards arrested a police officer from Uzbekistan for illegally crossing the border. Tashkent called this incident a kidnapping and demanded the police officer's release (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 25). The Kasan-Say water reservoir, built during the Soviet period, in 1954, in Kyrgyzstan's Ala-buka district, is today a major source of conflict between the two countries. Though located 13 kilometers inside Kyrgyzstan's territory, Kasan-Say has been operated and de facto controlled by Uzbekistan for over two decades. Central Asian's most populous republic, with around 27.6 million people, Uzbekistan is a down-stream country that suffers constant water shortages. As such, it has retained control over the reservoir since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, Kyrgyzstan only recently began raising this issue. Notably, Bishkek points to a 1992 agreement, signed just after the collapse of the Soviet Union by all five Central Asian states, which stipulates that all objects built during the Soviet era should pass directly under the control of the country on whose territory the object is located (24.kg, March 23). Kurbanbay Iskandarov, Kyrgyzstan's special representative on border issues, has noted that Uzbekistan swiftly implemented the 1992 agreement, and took control of all objects and facilities built on its territory-even those used by the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic in Soviet times. "But Kyrgyzstan did not do the same. We delayed this issue, careful not to damage relations with [our] neighbors. And now when we decided to return the objects that were previously in use in other countries, it has become the reason of Uzbekistan's discontent. We returned the Orto-Tokoy reservoir, which is called Kasansay in Uzbekistan. It was not even a border object. It is located within the country. There should not be any questions here. But the protection of the reservoir is still carried out by Uzbekistan. Previously, there were military personnel; recently they were replaced by the usual guards," Iskandarov admitted (BBC-Kyrgyz service, March 23). Meanwhile, tensions between local people in the border region is escalating as well. About 55 Uzbek families live near the Kasan-Say reservoir and work there, while Kyrgyz local people think that the Uzbeks occupy Kyrgyzstani territory and have not been paying compensation or taxes. According to the KyrTag news agency, an official document exists that proves the reservoir was built by the Soviet Union with Soviet funds. Uzbekistan occupies 750 hectares of Kyrgyzstani territory in order to exploit the reservoir, but Tashkent has never compensated the Kyrgyz government for use of this territory. Discontent has been growing among local residents as to why there is a shortage of freely available territory in this area for building homes while, at the same time, Uzbekistan pays nothing. Some locals have even urged Kyrgyzstan's officials to oust the Uzbek people from the reservoir's territory and allow Kyrgyz to occupy their places (KyrTag, October 25, 2013). In 2011, Kyrgyzstan's government and parliament adopted several resolutions on the appropriation of objects or infrastructure located on Kyrgyzstani territory that is being operated by other countries. As a result, in 2013, Bishkek took control of the Katta-Tuz oil field in Leylek district, which was being operated by Tajikistan. Following a series of localized clashes involving border guards, Tajikistan's authorities ultimately abandoned the area and recognized Kyrgyzstan's sovereignty over this territory. However, many experts argue that Uzbekistan will not be so quick to do the same, because it has declared its own rights to some of these objects (Ozodi.org, March 30). Karimov's death could revitalize the two countries' bilateral relations. Yet, although many politicians urged Kyrgyzstan's president to travel to Samarkand to attend Karimov's funeral and meet with his possible successors, Almazbek Atambaev decided to stay home and meet with American actor Steven Seagal, who arrived in Bishkek for the World Nomad Games. Kyrgyzstani parliamentarian Omurbek Tekebaev heavily criticized President Atambaev for not taking the opportunity to be a forward-looking leader. "This is a diplomatic mistake," Tekebaev asserted, "There will be a new president of Uzbekistan with whom we should resolve all conflicts. [Atambaev's] visit would be a good start for the future bilateral relationship" (Azattk.kg, September 2). On September 9, the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan's (SDPK, the party of President Atambaev) parliamentary faction discussed this issue behind closed doors (Kloop.kg, September 9). To date, however, there has been no clear progress in the negotiations. The confrontation between the two neighboring states and limited diplomatic exchanges routinely negatively affect the lives of ordinary people living in the border areas. The unmarked sections of the border, including around Kyrgyzstan's two enclaves and two exclaves, continue to be a source of violent incidents. And while the situation is tense, the two Central Asian governments have been slow to resolve their shared disputes. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Belarusians Elect Their House of Representatives Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Grigory Ioffe Publication Date 12 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 146 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Belarusians Elect Their House of Representatives, 12 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 146, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe1044.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Belarus held parliamentary elections on Sunday, September 11. Two opposition-minded candidates have been elected to the Belarusian legislature's lower chamber, the House of Representatives: Anna Konopatskaya from the United Civic Party (headed by Anatol Lebedko, a long-time opposition politician) and Elena Anisim, deputy chairperson of the Comradeship for the Belarusian Language (headed by Aleh Trusau, yet another ever-present face in post-Soviet Belarusian politics). Konopatskaya is a lawyer by training and an independent entrepreneur. Anisim is a linguist from the Belarusian Academy of Science. Interestingly enough, Konopatskaya, who ran for a precinct in Minsk, defeated four other candidates, including Tatyana Korotkevich from the "Speak the Truth" campaign, an opposition candidate with the highest level of recognition as she ran for president in 2015. Anisim also had presidential ambitions, but in 2015 she decided not to run. Almost 75 percent of the electorate cast their ballots, including 31 percent who voted early (Tut.by, September 12). The early vote was allowed from September 6. As it is now warm in Belarus, many people chose to spend Sunday, election day, at their country houses and resorted to early voting. The electoral outcome is contrary to some predictions made under the assumption that Belarusians "always" vote for the people connected with the executive branch, not for outsiders. But it remains to be seen whether the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union will endorse the Belarusian elections. After all, some but not all the recommendations of the OSCE's Office on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) regarding electoral procedures were implemented by Belarus's Electoral Commission (see EDM, May 6). On many occasions, EU representatives stated that they would pay close attention to these elections as a touchstone for their Belarus policy; on September 7, a similar statement was made by the Embassy of the United States to Belarus (Tut.by, September 8). For most observers, such statements reflect an unequivocal willingness of Western decision-makers to retain regular contacts and further develop smooth, if not outright friendly, relationships with Minsk. This impression is strong, largely unanimous and attributed to three factors: First, the EU's decisions to suspend its sanctions on Belarus (as was the case in October 2008 and October 2015) or to practically lift them altogether (as in February 2016) are routinely driven by geopolitical circumstances, like the Russian-Georgian war of 2008 and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, not fundamental political changes inside Belarus. The aforementioned geopolitical circumstances make Belarus's independence more important in the eyes of the West than achieving the goals pertaining to democracy promotion. Second, in the political system that took shape in Belarus in the wake of the 1996 constitutional crisis, the parliament is not influential to begin with. Suffice it to say, the previous convocation of the parliament only initiated adoption of three bills, whereas all the remaining bills (altogether about 400) were directed to the parliament by the presidential administration. Not a single bill was rejected and at least 95 percent of the members of parliament voted yes for each of the adopted bills (Carnegie.ru, September 6). Third, regardless of the fixation of some Western critics on Belarus's political order, this country is just one of many that imitate Western political forms. It is hardly surprising that Belarus ended up coloring these forms with its homegrown political culture. Rather, this should have been expected. After all, Russia, many post-Soviet states, and numerous other countries outside Western Europe and North America have done the same. The late Russian political scientist, Dmitry Furman even published a theoretical manifesto summarizing precisely such an experience, a text pointedly titled The Apology of Imitation (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 6, 2007). One should not, therefore, take the diplomatic ritual dances too seriously-particularly given the West's interest in Belarus being able to retain its statehood. In the meantime, Minsk has been taking steps to meet the West halfway. Some procedural electoral changes have already been implemented. Moreover, officials and pundits both close to the government and to the opposition have been making curious statements. For example, Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei went to Kyiv and thanked President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine for his facilitation of Minsk's rapprochement with the West (Naviny.by, August 26). Senator (a member of the parliament's upper chamber) Igor Marzalyuk, who was running to become a member of the lower chamber and was elected, stated during the electoral meeting in the city of Mogilev that by annexing Crimea "Russia did a horrible thing. What existed at the level of mass consciousness-a feeling of belonging to a common whole, East Slavic unity-was destroyed during one day." He subsequently launched into a diatribe against Ukrainian politicians like former premier Arseniy Yatseniuk and Olexander Turchynov, asserting they "should rot behind bars, not occupy high positions," because they did not defend Ukraine's territorial integrity in early 2014 (Naviny.by, August 30). In addition, two political commentators close to the government in Minsk, Arseniy Sivitski and Andrei Tsarik, coauthored a policy brief highly critical of Russia's attempts to involve Belarus in its confrontation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Csfps.by, August 19). Some Russian media outlets published angry rebukes in response (for example, EaDaily, August 31). Furthermore, during a talk show on the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty of all places, the opposition-minded analyst Siarhei Bahdan claimed that "actually, the authoritarian model of power [in Belarus] allowed, in a sense, to build and retain Belarusian statehood." Absent authoritarianism, Bahdan does not envision the possibility of popular mobilization in Belarus for the sake of independence. His interlocutor, a reputable scholar of Belarusian nationalism, Valer Bulgakau, opined that in the 1990s, Belarusian society was not ready for democracy and that the absence of a single blueprint of Belarusian nationalism would have led to bitter arguments that President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's rule put an end to. He concluded that the potential exit of Lukashenka from the helm of power may open the door to chaos (Svaboda.org, August 27). In summary, while there is an established, if somewhat snobbish, tradition to label Belarus's political life boring, Belarus-watchers are anything but bored at the moment. And even more excitement is expected. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Ukrainian Aircraft Manufacturer Antonov Diversifies Away from Russia Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Oleg Varfolomeyev Publication Date 15 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 149 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Ukrainian Aircraft Manufacturer Antonov Diversifies Away from Russia, 15 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 149, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe23d4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Antonov, Ukraine's only designer and manufacturer of aircraft, has severed all ties with Russia, which had been its main market and partner for decades (Ukrayinska Pravda, September 10). This was unavoidable, given the de facto war waged by Moscow, which prompted Kyiv to stop Ukrainian military-technical cooperation with Russia and join Western sanctions in 20142015 (see EDM, September 12, 2014). Antonov has been struggling to replace Russian components in its aircraft with parts made elsewhere. It has also not been easy for the company to find a replacement to the Russian market, although Antonov pins high hopes on Asia and China in particular. The state-owned Antonov is famous for having designed the world's largest transport aircraft, the An-225 Mria and the An-124 Ruslan. The problem with Antonov planes is that their designs have roots in the Soviet past. The An-225, the An-124 and smaller Antonov transport planes were originally conceived to fit the needs of the Soviet military. The An-225 in particular (only one aircraft was assembled) was derived from the An-124 to transport the only Soviet space shuttle, the Buran. As a result, Antonov was heavily dependent on Russia even after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Antonov cannot rely on Russia anymore, especially as the firm became part of the state defense corporation Ukroboronprom last spring. However, without Russia, and in particular Russian-made components, Antonov has not assembled a single aircraft in 2016 (Ukrayinska Pravda, September 10). The new management at Antonov has been eyeing Asian markets, while the West expresses little interest in Antonov planes. According to the company's Deputy President Oleksandr Kotsyuba, Antonov has been in talks with Turkey to produce sea patrol aircraft. Moreover, ten An-178 military transport planes are to be delivered to Azerbaijan starting from 2018. A contract was concluded with Iraq for the delivery of five aircraft. And Saudi Arabia is mulling over the option of building a factory to locally assemble An-132 light transport aircraft, Kotsyuba said in an interview last spring. At the same time, he admitted that it would be difficult to make the promising An-70 military transport aircraft without Russia, which contributed 50 percent of its components (Liga.net, May 27). Antonov aims to build the world's second An-225 in order to strengthen its positions on the market for super-large transport aircraft. Kotsyuba noted in the aforementioned interview that Ukraine lacks the funds to finance such a project, and he hopes for cooperation with Chinese companies instead. On August 30, Antonov signed a cooperation agreement with the Aerospace Industry Corporation of China, which provides for building the second An-225 and for possible serial production of the aircraft in China in the future (Interfax-Ukraine, August 31). However, the deputy head of Antonov's planning department, Andry Khaustov, said in a radio interview afterward that it would take time and more talks to eventually sign a contract with the Chinese (Vesti-ukr.com, September 9). As far as the replacement of Russian components is concerned, Antonov hopes for contracts with Western, as well as domestic suppliers. Khaustov mentioned that even tires for both the An-225 and An-124 were made in Russia, but he emphasized that a Western supplier would be found shortly (Vesti-ukr.com, September 9). Khaustov confirmed that Antonov stopped all cooperation with Russia. He said contracts were concluded with Canada's Esterline to supply electronic components for the An-148 and An-158 passenger planes. Contracts were also signed with Pratt & Whitney Canada to buy engines for the An-132 and with the British Dowty Propellers to supply parts for the same aircraft (UNIAN, July 12). It will take time to replace hundreds of Russian components in Antonov planes. Otherwise the firm may collapse. Dozens of companies involved in the engineering sector, many of which located in eastern Ukraine, face similar problems as a result of depending on the Soviet and then Russian military-industrial complex for decades. The severing of ties with Russia means an uncertain future for them and thousands of their employees. This partly explains the high popularity of pro-Russian politicians there. According to official statistics, engineering sector output plunged 21 percent in 2014 and another 15 percent last year. In the first seven months of this year, it shrank by another 0.7 percent, although Ukraine's total industrial output grew by 1.7 percent (Ukrstat.gov.ua, accessed September 15). Some local firms apparently continue to work with Moscow, risking sanctions from the Ukrainian government. Vyacheslav Boguslayev, the head of Motor Sich, the aircraft engine manufacturer from Zaporizhya, made it clear in a recent interview that he did not support diversifying away from Russia (Ukrinform.ru, July 7). Motor Sich reportedly continued to service old engines on Russian orders last year (Nv.ua, November 16), and new engine deliveries to Russia continued although halving compared to pre-war 2013 (Rian.com.ua, March 30). Meanwhile, local businessmen are ridding themselves of factories located in the areas controlled by Russia-backed militants in the Donbas region. Valentyn Landyk, the owner of Ukraine's biggest refrigerator producer, the Donetsk-based Nord, sold the firm to the Russian group Diorit, after cutting production at Nord by 52 percent in 2015 (Interfax.com.ua, September 13). Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov, who also hails from Donetsk but whose main assets are located in government-held areas, sold a coal dressing factory near Donetsk in August (Dsnews.ua, September 2). So if Russia's war against Ukraine was meant to bring the country back into its sphere of influence, it appears all Moscow has achieved was to progressively sever the major cross-border value chains with its southwestern neighbor. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Novel Developments in Russia's Latest Snap Exercise Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Jorgen Elfving Publication Date 14 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 148 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Novel Developments in Russia's Latest Snap Exercise, 14 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 148, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe2eb4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Since 2013, when no-notice "snap" exercises were first introduced, they have become a regular feature in the training of the Russian Armed Forces. These more-or-less comprehensive exercisesregardless of the number of troops and equipment involvedgenerally tend to follow the same pattern: participating units are alerted, redeployed and, thereafter, carry out some kind of combat activity, often involving live firing. However, over time, the snap exercises increasingly became linked to large-scale Russian exercises recurring on a yearly basis, like Zapad, Tsentr, Vostok and the like. Indeed, Vostok 2014 and Tsentr 2015 were each preceded by a snap exercise; and the same was true prior to Kavkaz 2016. In 2014, the snap exercise ended on September 18 and was immediately followed by Vostok 2014, which officially began on September 19 (RIA Novosti, September 18, 2014; Mil.ru, accessed September 14, 2016). In 2015, however, Tsentr 2015 began on September 14, after a pause following a snap exercise that ended on September 12. That pattern was repeated this year: a snap exercise took place on August 2531, and, after a brief five-day break, was followed by Kavkaz 2016 (September 510) (RIA Novosti, Mil.ru, accessed September 14; Mil.ru, September 7, 2015; August 25, 2016). It is also worth noting that over the last two years, the snap exercises were themselves preceded by command post and logistic exercises (Newsvl.ru, September 8, 2014; Arms-expo.ru, August 24, 2015; Mil.ru, August 11, 2016). Thus all the necessary preparations, rehearsals, and so on are accomplished prior to the main exercise, which can then be carried out without any major setbacks. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that the pattern established in 2015 and 2016 will become a standing procedure in connection with forthcoming yearly exercises. The snap exercises prior to the yearly exercises have also developed when it comes to their content. This year, the authorities clearly stated that the snap exercise was, in fact, part of the preparations for Kavkaz 2016, an admission that had not been made previously. Two other novel, never-before-observed features of the late-August snap exercise also stand out. First, the Russian Armed Forces "together with federal executive authorities [and the] executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation" were explicitly tasked to "work out questions concerning interdepartmental planning, organization of cooperation, and the practical fulfillment of the industrial enterprises' mobilization tasks." Second, Deputy Defense Minister Tatanja Sjevtsova was charged with "organizing the control of the transition from peace to wartime of the system of financial provision of staffs and units in the southwestern strategic direction" (Mil.ru, August 25). Not much has been mentioned about the domestic industry's role during the exercise. But it seems to have focused on the indigenous ability to equip the Armed Forces and to repair damaged or faulty military equipment (Mil.ru, Eurasian-defence.ru, August 30). Meanwhile, the reason why the financial provision of participating units was part of the exercise is most probably explained by the fact that Russian military personnel are provided with credit cards rather than cash. But this payment system would likely not function properly during wartime (Gazeta.ru, August 31; Kolokolrussia.ru, August 29). To handle the payment of salaries and unexpected expenses during the course of the exercise, Bank of Russia organized five offices in the field; in addition, paymaster units manned with reserve officers were set up. Interestingly this segment of the exercise was subjected to a "hybrid warfare" scenario, whereby "diversionary groups" disabled the defense ministry's financial functions. This simulated problem was reportedly solved by using the backup database in the national command center (Mil.ru, September 1). During the snap exercise, reservists were also mobilized. And for the first time, the mobilization system was tested with contracted reservists. This was a direct result of a presidential ukase (edict) from July 2015, ordering the formation of units manned by contracted reserviststhough experiments to carry this out began as early as 2013 (see EDM, June 27; Kremlin.ru, July 17, 2015; Rg.ru, October 30, 2013). The total number of reservists mobilized last August is unclear. Ukrainian sources mention 4,700 men called up in Stavropol krai alone (Joinfo.ua, August 26). However, the Russian Ministry of Defense mentions only 4,000 reservists and the mobilization of one mechanized battalion, two companies and one reconnaissance platoon in the Northern Fleet and the Central and Southern Military Districts, as well as an additional 700 reservists for territorial defense (Mil.ru, September 6). The units manned by contracted reservists are assumed to have augmented the standing units, among them the 205th Mechanized Brigade in Budyonnovsk. Although some sources claim that they were part of the territorial defense (Gubernator.stavkray.ru, News-front.info, August 29). Although the actual number of troops in the August snap exercise is not known with any certainty, according to Krasnaya Zvezda about 4,000 regular soldiers took part (Krasnaya Zvezda, September 1). This seems quite low, particularly considering that 120,000 individuals were involved in Kavkaz 2016 alone, according to Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. General Gerasimov further mentioned that they originated from all military districts and various federal agencies; of that total, nearly 12,500 came from the Southern Military District (Mil.ru, September 9). Considering the multitude of exercises that took place in late August and early September 2016, the high figure of 120,000 participants strongly suggests that both the August 2531 snap exercise and Kavkaz 2016 were only individual elements of a much broader common scenariolike Zapad 2013. The fact that several new elements surfaced during the August snap exercise signifies that Russia is progressively building up its military capability in terms of forces, force structure as well as equipment. Yet, the exercise also showed that Russia's Armed Forces are still working on developing an effective system for mobilization. Taken together, this implies that Russia does not yet have the ability to wage war beyond conflicts limited in space and time. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Lukashenka Seeks to 'Balance' Moscow's 'Spiritual Influence' in Belarus Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Paul Goble Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 147 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Lukashenka Seeks to 'Balance' Moscow's 'Spiritual Influence' in Belarus, 13 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 147, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe34e4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been carrying on a rapprochement with the Vatican and has even been pushing for Pope Francis to visit Minsk (Interfax, May 23, August 19). Such efforts, along with discussions in the Belarusian media about the possibility of having the Belarusian Orthodox Church become autocephalous, are intended to "balance" the enormous "spiritual influence" the Russian government has in his country. Indeed, according to Belarusian experts, Lukashenka fears that Moscow may use this kind of influence against Belarus in the same way it did against Ukraine. Religious issues in Belarus have rarely attracted much notice in the past. Denis Davnikevich, the Minsk correspondent for Moscow's Gazeta newspaper, attributes this to the fact that Belarusians are "absolutely tolerant" and consider it "completely normal" that within one family "the husband may be a Catholic, the wifeOrthodox, and the childrenmembers of Evangelical communities." This reality reflects the long history of the joint operation of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches in Belarus (Gazeta.ru, September 5). But in the last seven or eight years, religion has become more politically important, both domestically and internationally. Domestically, the 2030 percent of the Belarusian population who are Roman Catholic have attracted Lukashenka's attention because they are, on average, better off than the rest of the citizenry, are less enamored of Minsk's Eurasian orientation, and represent a possible bridge to Europe. This group is, therefore, becoming ever more important to Lukashenka as he seeks to balance Belarus's ties with Russia and Europe. In 2009, Lukashenka traveled to Vatican City to meet with Pope Benedict XVI and publicly invited the pontiff to visit Minsk. The Belarusian president continued to reiterate this invitation in his subsequent meetings with the Roman Catholic pope, including Benedict's successorFrancis I. However, during this period, Belarusian authorities carried out a series of crackdowns on local Catholic leaders. In particular, prosecutors brought espionage charges against a priest in 2013 (Gazeta.ru, September 14, 2013). Moreover, the Belarusian media would occasionally suggest that Catholic priests were "agents of influence" for Poland. Thus, nothing appeared likely to come out of Lukashenka's invitations. Yet, in recent months, the Belarusian leader seemed to adopt a more positive tone toward Roman Catholicism in general and the Vatican in particular. In May 2016, for example, he called the Vatican "one of Belarus's best friends in Europe." And in August, the Holy See delivered its official response: the newly arrived papal nuncio in Minsk said publicly that Pope Francis "will find the time and opportunity for a visit," although he could not say just when this might happen (Nasha Niva, August 19). One of the reasons that the Vatican has not yet moved on this issue, Maksim Gatasak, the head of the Belarusian Christian information portal Krynitsa.org, says, is that the pope will not come without the agreement of the dominant church in Belarusthat is, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The ROC "is under the control of Moscow," Gatsak pointed out, "and Moscow has not given its agreement." Until it does, no visit is likely (Gazeta.ru, September 5). Russia's resistance on this point has had an unwelcome consequence for the Moscow Patriarchate, which heads the ROC: it has revived calls in Belarus to make the local Belarusian Orthodox Church autocephalousthat is, in control of its own affairs rather than being subordinate to Moscow. The Lukashenka regime appears to have become more interested in this initiative for three other reasons as well: First, the Belarusian government would like to gain control over this social organization, just as it has achieved control over so many others. Second, Minsk was incredibly offended in December 2013, when Moscow imposed as a new head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church someone who was not even a Belarusian citizen and whose appointment was not cleared in advance with the Belarusian authorities or even Belarusian religious leaders. And third, in the wake of Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Lukashenka has become alarmed at the organization of special militarized camps for Belarusian young people both inside Belarus and in the Russian Federation. These camps promote not Belarusian values but the notion that those who pass through these camps should be prepared to fight for an expansion of "the Russian world." All these things, Gatsak says, infuriate and even spark fears among officials in Minsk (Gazeta.ru, September 5). Lukashenka himself raised the issue of autocephaly during a 2010 visit to Universal Patriarch Varfolomey (Bartholomew I of Constantinople). And Belarusian officials have stepped up their calls for moves in that direction especially following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, given the way Moscow used Orthodox congregations in Crimea and Donbas to aid the Russian advance. Indeed, these officials have taken some heart from the fact that two years ago, most Belarusian Orthodox hierarchs declared they favored making their church "autonomous" from the Moscow Patriarchate. And as Gatsak points out, "autocephaly is the next step," one perhaps likely because such an arrangement would give bishops in Belarus both more money and more power. Currently, they have to send most of their collections to Moscow and obey Moscow's orders (Gazeta.ru, September 5). But other specialists on religious affairs in Belarus dismiss any possibility of autocephaly as "a fantasy." Indeed, according to Natalya Vasilevich, such an outcome could occur only if the situation deteriorated to the point that other problems would be "much more immediate than the resolution of the canonical status of the Belarusian Orthodox Church" (Gazeta.ru, September 5). Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Moscow Makes Arrests of Dagestani Interior Ministry Officials Publisher Jamestown Foundation Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 147 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Moscow Makes Arrests of Dagestani Interior Ministry Officials, 13 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 147, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe39b4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website On September 5, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Rasul Saduev, the head of the Criminal Investigations Department (Ugolovny Rozysk) of the Ministry of Interior in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt. On the same day, the security services also arrested police colonel Gimbat Likhiyalov, who was a senior official in Dagestan's Criminal Investigations Department. The details of the arrests are not entirely clear at this moment. But some sources in the security services claim that they may have been linked to the earlier arrest of the head of the police department in Kizilyurt, Askhabali Zairbekov. Others say that the arrests are connected to internal fights in Dagestan's interior ministry. An alternative theory suggests that the attack on the police officials is meant to undermine the power of the city's former mayor, Saigidpasha Umakhanov, who is currently employed as a minister in the government of Dagestan. The Russian federal authorities accuse the arrested men of abuse of power, extortion and even cooperation with the Dagestani insurgency (Kavkazskaya Politika, September 6). Regardless of the reasons behind the apprehensions of top police officials in Dagestan, this case brings to light the inner world of the Dagestani police, as it has rarely been exposed before. Dagestan is one of the most volatile republics in the North Caucasus, and it has experienced the majority of the region's insurgency-related violence in the past several years. Rights activists have long reported on rampant human rights violations in the republic, due to the protracted and unchecked abuse of power by government forces there. However, this time, due to infighting, government officials are exposing their colleagues themselves. An anonymous source "close to law enforcement officials of Dagestan" told the Kavkazskaya Politika news agency that the FSB had followed Rasul Saduev for a long time. According to the source, Saduev started off his career as an ordinary police operative in the 1990s but had links to the criminal underworld from the onset of his employment. Saduev reportedly extorted money from cab drivers first, then from local casinos in Khasavyurt. Moreover, he allegedly maintained close ties with the Islamist insurgency in the republic, although it is unclear what exactly those ties entailed (Kavkazskaya Politika, September 6). It is quite interesting that an anonymous security official would reveal to journalists that the FSB knew for years about the criminal background of a police official. And yet, despite their knowledge, it apparently took the authorities two decades to bring Saduev to justice. In reality, it is rather unlikely that Saduev or Likhiyalov were necessarily more corrupt than any other officials in the Dagestani interior ministry. In the Russian Federation, such attacks on top corrupt police officials are normally driven by higher political motivations. Some local experts assert that the recent prosecution of several top Dagestani police officers was actually meant to increase the role of the Russian federal authorities in the region, which has traditionally been only weakly controlled by Moscow. One of the advocates for Moscow's greater engagement in Dagestani affairs is a well-known journalist, Maksim Shevchenko. Shevchenko is an unusual character among Russian journalists because he is overtly pro-Kremlin and anti-Western but at the same time fiercely critical of the regional authorities in the North Caucasus. In particular, he has spoken out against cases of abuse of power by the republican police and security services. Despite his public criticism, Shevchenko has never come under attack by violent mobs or angry local officials, which routinely happens to independent Russian journalists. The unique ability of Maksim Shevchenko to openly criticize regional authorities in the North Caucasus while eluding expulsion from those territories is evidently related to formidable support for him in Moscow. Shevchenko has a personal interest in Dagestan. During the current election campaign, he attempted to run for a seat in the Russian State Duma from Dagestan. But after his attempt failed, due to hostility from the regional authorities, he lashed out at the government in Makhachkala and the police in the republic. In particular, the journalist asserted that when republican governor Ramazan Abdulatipov told President Vladimir Putin that the Dagestani authorities had investigated the murders of several journalists in the republic, it was "a blatant, impudent and cynical lie." Instead, officials purportedly connected to the killings of local journalists were promoted to government positions in the republic, according to Shevchenko (Onkavkaz.com, September 10). The crackdown on the corrupt police officials in Dagestan may be part of a concerted effort by the Russian federal government to increase its influence in the remote republic, which has always been difficult to control for Moscow. By arresting top police officials, the Russian authorities may undercut the power of both the republican authorities and the chief of the republican police, Abdurashid Magomedov. Although relations between the interior ministry of Dagestan and the republican government have been quite rocky, they both united and prevented Maksim Shevchenko from running for a seat in the Russian parliament from the republic. Shevchenko's election to the Russian State Duma from Dagestan would have been a precedent that could have opened up the North Caucasian republic's political system to greater influence by Moscow. But since this did not work out as planned, a larger-scale crackdown may be expected in Dagestan soon. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Russia's Military Paper Tiger: Mobilization Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Roger McDermott Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 147 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Russia's Military Paper Tiger: Mobilization, 13 September 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 147, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dfe43f4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website The Russian Armed Forces are routinely subject to "snap inspection" exercises and various measures to boost their ability to fight and deploy to assorted theaters of operations. And combat readiness checks were also central to the Kavkaz 2016 military exercise, the highlight of this training year. Commanders' attention during the September 510 exercise focused on testing readiness, force interoperability and advances in command and control. Yet, the subtext to Kavkaz 2016, which is also consistent with themes explored in recent snap inspections, relates to the wider issue of "mobilization." The mobilization issue permeates defense discourse and echoes the nostalgia of a once genuinely real capability. However, the forms of Russian mobilization currently witnessed in military terms, aiming to generate follow-on forces, remain paltry in their size and scope, while state-level mobilization, which the Kremlin spins as the country's capacity to switch to a war footing, raises questions about the purpose in developing such capabilities for a conflict type that is highly unlikely (RIA Novosti, Vedomosti, Interfax, September 9). Beyond the Southern Military District (MD), which served as the focal point for Kavkaz 2016, there is plenty of evidence that units' advances in other MDs are also serving to further complicate the development of a nascent reserve system to support mobilization and breathe life into the concept of "territorial defense." Krasnaya Zvezda profiled the formation of the 1st Tank Army in the Western MD, which has received welcome publicity in Russia as well as the scrutiny of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its eastern flank members. The commentary stressed that new and advanced hardware and weapons systems are entering the 1st Tank Army, boosting the need for highly trained professionals. Among these assets are the upgraded T-72B-3, presumably a stop-gap ahead of procuring more T-90s and, in the future, the new T-14 Armata. However, the T-72B-3 is equipped with the latest multi-channel thermal imaging, ballistic computer, improved stabilizer arms, automatic target tracking and other innovations. There are unspecified numbers of T-80s and T-90s as well as new BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, along with advanced air defense and missile assets entering the 1st Tank Army. This is good news for the units involved. And while the total number of contract personnel rises throughout the Armed Forces, the demand created by introducing modern systems and hardware can feasibly be met. Yet, in turn, this impacts on the future training needs for reservists. Indeed, senior commanders in the 1st Tank Army confirmed that during recent exercises, units were issued with equipment to integrate all systems into the automated command-and-control system. This advance in network-enabled operational capability further underscores the need for highly trained personnel (Krasnaya Zvezda, September 8). The concept of territorial defensepresent in Russia's Military Doctrine and now being more fully worked out in the context of ongoing change in the Armed Forcesrepresents a complex series of measures by the state to protect the population and critical infrastructure in war and in the "special period" before it commences. Nonetheless, as commanders grapple with how this fits into their planning and operational requirements, much of the training concentrates on low-level skill sets and ignores issues concerning the speed of such personnel being used in combat in any given conflict (Krasnaya Zvezda, September 6). Moreover, six years after a failed attempt to mobilize a whole brigade of reservists during an operational-strategic exercise, Russia currently has the actual option of raising around two battalionshardly constituting a follow-on force. One such example of a "breakthrough" in modern Russian mobilization capability appeared recently in the raising of a motorized rifle battalion of territorial defense reservists based on the training provided by the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School (VVKU): its achievement was to call up around 400 personnel into the battalion. Reportedly, the training itself was fairly basic, resembling a refresher course for former demobilized conscripts. For example, the month-long training sessions involved classes lasting ten hours per day, and there were no drills conducted in military vehicles. Prior to this one-month training, there was also another refresher course, going through all stages of combat training, ranging from individual- to tactical-level drills throughout the various components of the battalion. Novosibirsk VVKU officers explain this is based on the likely use for these territorial defense units: acting to protect the most important military and government facilities, military and civil airports, rail and road bridges across water obstacles, or energy sources (Krasnaya Zvezda, September 6). Consequently, these reported advances in mobilization potential for territorial defense have little to do with actually deepening the limited capacity to generate follow-on combat forces. This complexity is inherent in the mobilization system and extends into multiple state structures, including the Central Bank, and their ability to support switching to a war footing. All this implies preparation for large-scale warfare. But the system itself remains cumbersome and riddled with weaknesses, suggesting that none of this is considered to be a matter of urgency (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, September 6). Indeed, the training system and range of incentives for reservists appears linked to freeing up other units that might be needed elsewhere in a time of national emergency, rather than simply protecting critical infrastructure. None of what the military is currently doing to train and raise units of reservists implies a greater capacity to handle the longer-term implications of replenishing combat units in a war zone. According to one commentary in the Russian military press, noting Berlin's recently announced encouragement of the German population to stock-up on food, water and supplies to prepare for any future national emergency, the system of civil defense in Russia also remains unclear (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, September 6). If the population has no clear guidance on such issues, this is equally reflected in the military and its experiments with "territorial defense." For all the apparent "planning," Russian citizens, including members of the Armed Forces, can only "muddle through" such extreme circumstances. The underlying reasons for this lowered capacity and confused policies stem from the collapse of the Soviet system of mobilization. They are also tied to ongoing discussion about Russia's future role, its ties to East and West, and its views on the challenge presented by NATO on its Western border. Nonetheless, despite evidence that its military exercises rehearse inter-state conflict, the existing reservist system and its modest advances suggest that the threat of wider war is not seen as a truly pressing issue (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, September 9; Kommersant, September 5). Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Beijing Contradicts "Rule of Law" Campaign in Crackdown Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Willy Lam Publication Date 13 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 14 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Beijing Contradicts "Rule of Law" Campaign in Crackdown, 13 September 2016, China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 14, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffb194.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website The recent trial of lawyers, legal assistants and NGO personnel who were detained during mass arrests more than a year ago has given the clearest indication to date of whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under President Xi Jinping is honoring his oft-repeated commitments to rule by law with Chinese characteristics. On July 9, 2015, more than 300 weiquan (; rights-protecting) lawyers, legal staff and rights advocates were detained on charges ranging from "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" to "inciting subversion of state power." International watchdogs considered the mass arrests, dubbed the "709 Incident," the largest-scale action against socially committed attorneys and NGO enthusiasts since the end of the Cultural Revolution (196676). In early August 2016, more than a year after their initial detention a handful of the 24 lawyers and their associates were finally put on trial in a Tianjin court. Moreover, 264 legal professionals and activists have remained under 24-hour police surveillance while 39 are not allowed to leave the country (VOA, July 23; Apple Daily [Hong Kong], July 6; Human Rights in China, June 10). The legal professionals detained by police include nationally and globally recognized rights lawyers such as Zhou Shifeng, Wang Yu, Wang Quanzhang, Li Heping, Xie Yang, Li Chunfu, and Liu Sixin. Zhou and both Wangs were attorneys at the Beijing-based Fengrui Law Firm. Zhou Shifeng first gained recognition for representing underground Christians as well as the parents of the victims of melamine-tainted milk produced by unscrupulous dairy manufacturers. Wang Yu, who won the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize earlier this year, achieved national acclaim for defending human rights activist Cao Shunlin, who later died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody in 2014. She also represented renowned Uighur scholar and dissident Ilham Tohti. Wang Quanzhang, who is not related to Wang Yu, is a veteran counsel for persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. Li Heping is a Christian lawyer who has represented house church members and political dissidents. In 2008 he was awarded the Democracy Award for Religious Freedom given by the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (Hong Kong Free Press, August 4; BBC Chinese, August 2). Due Process Suspended Twenty international legal and human-rights NGOs signed a petition to Beijing asking President Xi to "uphold the rule of law" in handling 709 cases. Signatories included the Amsterdam Bar Association, the Australian branch of the International Association of People's Lawyers and the International Commission of Jurists (AP, July 9). That these weiquan attorneys and activists were only put on trial 13 months after their arrest is only one among many violations of due process by the party-state apparatus. The spouses of the rights defenders were not told where they were held. The authorities also denied requests by relatives to hire lawyers for the accused. This was despite a petition signed by 60 attorneys nationwide asking the authorities to honor Chinese law by allowing the detained access to legal help. Moreover, several of the most prominent weiquan lawyers and advocates were forced to make so-called televised confession of guilt while they were subjected to interrogation by police. The confessions were then broadcast and publicized in Chinese and Hong Kong media. Yet the CCP leadership's most controversial tactic is to play the "patriotic card" by insinuating that the rights defenders were under the influence of "hostile anti-China forces in the West," usually a code name for the United States (VOAChinese.com, July 10; Ming Pao [Hong Kong], July 10; Chinadigitaltimes.com, January 7). Sentencing for suspects willing to go on record denouncing the West for "spreading chaos" in China have been relatively light. During trials in the week beginning August 1, Zhou Shifeng was given a seven-year term for "subversion of state power." While Zhou did make a televised confession shortly after his arrest in July last year, he did not accuse "hostile anti-China forces" of wreaking havoc in China. Zhou's Feng Rui lawfirm associate Wang Yu, however, was granted bail, a lenient dispensation in the Chinese judicial system. Two other rights activists who had worked with Feng Rui lawyers were given jail terms. Hu Shigen, the pastor of a house church and a veteran dissident, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for "subversion of state power." Zhai Yanmin, who was also accused of the same crime, was given a suspended three-year sentence (BBC Chinese, August 4). It turned out that the lenient treatment accorded Wang Yu and Chai Yanmin was due to their having made additional confessions in August that laid into "anti-China Western powers." In an interview with selected media in China and Hong Kong, Wang asserted that "foreign organizations have interfered in human rights cases in China with the purpose of wreaking havoc on the country." She claimed that lawyers at Feng Rui had received training in Britain, Sweden and Thailand on "ways and means to smear the Chinese government using human rights cases." Referring to the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize award, Wang said: "I do not recognize and approve of such an award. As a Chinese citizen, I will never accept such an award." Accusing other rights attorney of being the pawns of hostile forces in the West, Wang said: "I won't be used by them anymore" (Radio Free Asia, August 1; Theinitium.com [Hong Kong], August 1). As for Zhai, who was accused by police of orchestrating demonstrations to protest cases of miscarriage of justice, he said in recent interviews with Chinese and Hong Kong media that he was now convinced that "hostile forces outside China and some people in China with ulterior motives" were trying to break up the country. From now on, he said, "I will not go down the road of crime while being blinded by words such as 'democracy,' 'human rights' or 'the public good'" (Amnesty.org, August 4; South China Morning Post, August 2). At the same time, a dozen odd state-owned media, including the micro-blogging networks of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Communist Youth League, ran a video accusing the United States of provided support to human rights lawyers as well as separatist movements in Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Entitled "If you want to change China, you need to first step over our bodies," the five-minute feature showcased the conspiracy theory of the U.S. sowing dissension and internal unrest in a host of countries including Iraq, Libya and Egypt. While various Chinese media have accused the U.S. and other Western powers of providing aid to China's NGOs, it was the first time that a link was made between China's 400-odd rights attorneys and the U.S. government (Japan Times, August 7; Time (Asia), August 4; Chinachange.org, August 3). The Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group pointed out that the televised confessions made by the lawyers were most likely made under duress. In Wang Yu's case, the Group noted what while Wang was supposedly granted bail, neither her relatives nor colleagues could locate her. "Wang's husband was also arrested for 'inciting subversion of state power'," said CHRLCG. "Her son and parents are under round-the-clock surveillance by the police in their homes in Inner Mongolia" (CHRLCG Statement, August 3) Eva Pils, a specialist in Chinese law at King's College, London, said while the forced confessions of attorneys appeared concocted, Beijing hopes that ordinary citizens will buy the propaganda. "The fact that the statements they [rights attorneys] make are scripted and unconvincingespecially to those who knew them before they were 'disappeared'apparently doesn't matter much from the authorities' perspective," Pils said. "They are presumably aiming at a broader audience of casual viewers meant to associate weiquan lawyers with troublemakers; and vilifying human rights advocates as manipulated by foreign enemy forces is part of that effort." The legal expert said Beijing's message was clear: "Lawyers are expected to help the Party-state, not oppose it by insisting on defending their clients' human rights." [1] Beijing has also been using questionableand legally dubious methods to suppress another group of "trouble-makers": journalists and intellectuals who are committed to universal values and truthful reporting. A case in point is the closure of one of China's most influential political journal, Yanhuang Chunqiu (), which was run by the former associates of the Party's liberal icons, former general secretaries Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. Du Daozheng, former Director of the National Press and Publication Administration, was publisher of the monthly, while Hu Dehua, the son of late Party chief Hu, was Vice-Publisher. Perhaps due to its special background, the magazine, which had a circulation of 200,000, had been tolerated despite its advocacy of political reform and civil rights. And while it was "sponsored" by the Chinese National Academy of Arts (CNAA)a unit of the Ministry of Culturethe agreement between Yanhuang Chunqiu and CNAA spelt out clearly that the journal had full say over issues such as personnel and finance (South China Morning Post, July 18; Ming Pao, July 18). In mid-July, however, CNAA leaders told Yanhuang Chunqiu that it had sacked Du, Hu and other senior editors. Moreover, CNAA dispatched its own staff to occupy the magazine's premises and to take over the operations of its computers and website. Du, 92, who told foreign media that the CNAA had violated the law, instructed Mo Shaoping, one of the best-known rights lawyers in Beijing, to sue the Association. That it is unlikely that the reformers will have their way, however, was demonstrated by the fact the Beijing court refused to accept the case. Moreover, new staff installed by the CNAA put out the August edition of the magazine despite protests made by Du and Hu that the editorial and writing teams of the original Yanhuang Chunqiu had nothing to do with the new, heavily censored product (Apple Daily, August 5; Radio French International, July 22). In light of President Xi's on-going power struggle with factions in the Party such as the Shanghai Faction led by former president Jiang Zemin as well as the free-thinking associates of liberal icon Hu Yaobang, it is understood that the closure of Yanhuang Chunqiu was Xi's signal that a wider purge of officials and intellectuals might be in the offing. Historian Zhang Lifan said while Party elders close to the liberal wing of the CCP wanted to use the Yanhuang Chunqiu to help the Party and country, the regime did not want to heed their advice. "They want to save the Party, but the party doesn't want to be helped," he said. "When you're mighty and powerful, you don't need people to nag you" (The Diplomat, July 19). Zhang and other commentators, however, have deplored the illegal means by which Party censors had taken over the much-admired journal. Ousted publisher Du even compared the authorities' crackdown on Yanhuang Chunqiu to the "lawlessness of the Cultural Revolution" (New York Times Chinese Edition, July 20; Radio Free Asia, July 18). Conclusion At a CCP Central Committee plenary session held in Beijing two years ago, President Xi vowed that he would respect the Constitution and the law. The Party chief reiterated that "no organization or individual can act outside the parameters of the law." According to the "Decision on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing rule of law" passed at the plenum, judicial independence would be guaranteed. Officials would be given demerits or held accountable if they are found interfering in judicial cases. "Officials will be criticized in public notices if they influence judicial activities or meddle in a particular case," the document added. "Judicial injustice can inflict a lethal damage to social justice," it said (Xinhua, October 24, 2014; People's Daily, August 29, 2014). Beijing's handling of the human rights lawyers, NGO activists and liberal editors, however, has proven that the CCP is determined to use its quasi-police state apparatus and propaganda machinery to prop up the authority of the Partyand "core" leader Xi Jinpingat all costs. Dr. Willy Wo-Lap Lam is a Senior Fellow at The Jamestown Foundation. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Center for China Studies, the History Department and the Program of Master's in Global Political Economy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the author of five books on China, including "Chinese Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping: Renaissance, Reform, or Retrogression?," which is available for purchase. Notes: 1. Author's interview with Dr. Pils, August 10 Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Pakistan's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar: A Violent Domestic Threat Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Animesh Roul Publication Date 16 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 18 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Pakistan's Jamaat-ul-Ahrar: A Violent Domestic Threat, 16 September 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 18, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffc514.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), once a disgruntled breakaway faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been behind a series of deadly attacks across Pakistan since March 2016, apparently contradicting the Pakistani Army's claim to have eliminated terrorism from North Waziristan and the Khyber Agency through years of its counter-terrorism operation Zarb-e-Azb (Daily Times, September 01). Led by Omar Khalid Khorasani (a.k.a. Abdul Wali), a firebrand Taliban commander from Mohamand agency, JuA has been behind at least six major terrorist incidents this year, primarily targeting minorities, Christians in particular, and in August was named a specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) group by the United States. Khorasani has in the past called for the establishment of a global caliphate and expressed the intention of seizing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in order to defend Islam. While he has more recently disavowed some of his group's more international pretensions, JuA's many grisly strikes on Pakistani soil have brought immense notoriety to the group of late. Relationship with the Taliban The long suppressed leadership rift within the Pakistani Taliban's rank and file was brought into the open in late August 2014, when TTP leader Mullah Fazlullah banished Khorasani from the organization, accusing him of conspiracy against Mullah Omar, then the Taliban leader. He also exposed Khorasani's secret ties with other disgruntled sectarian Taliban leaders and groups such as Junud-al-Hafsa and Ahrar ul Hind, and that he had formed a group under the JuA's hybrid Jihadi banner (Dawn, September 7, 2014). Reports suggested that the discord began when Khorasani was overlooked for TTP's top post and sidelined following the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in November 2013, in favor of Mullah Fazalullah, who was eventually given the post of Taliban leader in Pakistan. Before the JuA was established, Omar Khalid Khorasani and other Taliban commanders led Ahrar-ul-Hind, a TTP splinter group that envisaged consolidating the entire Indian subcontinent under Taliban rule, and carried out suicide bombings in Quetta and Peshawar in March 2014 in which 19 people were killed (Express Tribune, March 15, 2014). However, in March 2015, less than a year after its split with the TTP, JuA realigned itself into the larger Taliban conglomerate and joined with TTP-Fazllulah and another Taliban splinter group, Lashkar-e-Islam, purportedly to put up a united front against the Pakistani military's Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Even in brief period after its split from the TTP, Khorasani retained the name of the TTP as prefix to the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (TTP-JuA). The leadership of JuA claimed in the Taliban magazine Ihyae Khilafat, that TTP-JuA had come into being as result of a "restructuring" of the Pakistani Mujahideen, though it failed to mention the falling out with Mullah Fazllulah in transparent terms. It also reiterated the existing ideological differences between JuA and other militant organizations in Pakistan. Recent JuA Operations The latest JuA attack took place on September 2, when a suicide strike targeted lawyers and security personnel at a court in Mardan District in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, killing 13 people and injuring over 40 others (Dawn [Karachi], September 2; Geo TV News, September 2). Earlier in the day, JuA militants had targeted a Christian dominated neighborhood in Peshawar, triggering a gun battle between the security forces that left one member of the minority Christian community and four attackers dead (Dawn, September 2). Similar attacks targeting lawyers took place in Quetta on August 8, killing 75 people, including 55 lawyers, when hundreds of lawyers and journalists had gathered at the Civil Hospital to mourn the killing of Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Anwar Kasi (Daily Pakistan, August 8; Express Tribune, August 8). Kasi had been assassinated earlier in the day near Manno Jan road, Quetta city. JuA spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the Quetta hospital attack and threatened further violence "until the imposition of an Islamic system in Pakistan." March 2016, however, remains JuA's most violent month, with three major attacks, starting with the March 7 Court Complex attack in Charsadda's Shabqadar area, which killed nearly 17 people (Dawn, March 7). The Charsadda attack was executed to avenge the death of Mumtaz Qadri, who was convicted of killing former Punjab governor Salman Taseer in January 2011. In late March, JuA targeted the Gulshan-e-Iqbal amusement park in Lahore during Easter day celebrations, killing more than 70 people including women and children. The attack was targeted at the minority Christian community celebrating Easter at the park. JuA spokesman Ehsan called the attack a message for the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In an Urdu-language statement he said: "We want to send this message to [the] Prime Minister that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won't be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks" (The Nation, March 27). Targeting Minorities The Gulshan-e-Iqbal attack was not the only time JuA targeted Christians in Lahore. In mid-March 2015, the group bombed a number of churches in the Youhanabad town of Lahore, killing about 14 people and injuring many more during Sunday service (Express Tribune, March 15, 2015). Beyond the vulnerable Christian minorities and the law practitioners in Lahore, JuA militants have also targeted education centers. The death and devastation at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore was reminiscent of December 2014 Peshawar School attack, also perpetrated by the JuA, in which over 150 people, largely school children, lost their lives. Khorasani claimed responsibility for the devastating attack on the army private school, describing it as revenge for Operation Zarb-e-Azb's activities in the tribal areas (Express Tribune, December 21, 2014). He said in a statement: "We targeted the school because the Army targets our families. We want them to feel our pain" (iTV News, December 16, 2014). Support for Transnational Groups When Khorasani started to organize JuA under his leadership, he had the support of other Taliban commanders, primarily from Pakistan's Orakzai agency, Bajour agency and his own Mohmand agency. Many senior Taliban commanders, including the founders of the TTP, such as Moulana Qasim Khorasani and Moulvi Omar, have joined the ranks of JuA. Other commanders who have joined the JuA are Qari Shakeel Haqqani (Charsadda), Maulana Yasin (Swat), Mufti Mishbah (Peshawar) and Qari Ismail (Khyber) (Pakistan Today, August 26, 2014). JuA's leaders have vowed to defeat the Pakistani army because it obstructs the implementation of sharia in Pakistan. JuA also, somewhat ambitiously, has designs on Kashmir and even beyond. In October 2014 Khorasani, along with his cohorts, even released a video urging al-Qaeda's Jabhat al Nusra in Syria and Islamic State (IS) to reconcile with each other and proposing that he could mediate between the warring jihadi groups in Syria. [1] This posturing of JuA's leadership was likely aimed at drawing the attention of IS or al-Qaeda and enhancing its stature within the domestic jihadi landscape. The designation by the United States in early August of JuA as a global terrorist group a move that allows for sanctions against the group and its members prompted Khorasani to openly criticize the United States and deny any ties with transnational jihadi groups. Irrespective of his denials, JuA leaders have openly supported the transnational jihadi ideals that both al-Qaeda and IS have espoused. The group also proved its resilience in the face of a number of military offensives in the past, and its recent actions indicate it has survived the ongoing operations of the Pakistani army, something that augers poorly for Pakistan. NOTES [1] Video available (in Arabic): https://archive.org/details/IhyaeMasalihat Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Syria's Conflict: Managing Turkey's Intervention Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author James Pothecary Publication Date 16 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 18 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Syria's Conflict: Managing Turkey's Intervention, 16 September 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 18, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffcb24.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website On August 24, Turkish armor, infantry, and air units crossed the Syrian border and, in conjunction with the Ankara-supported Free Syrian Army (FSA) Sunni-dominated rebel group, launched a full-scale assault on the Islamic State-controlled city of Jarabulus. Simultaneously, the Turkish-FSA force moved against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) rebel movement in northern Syria, which had recently captured a number of villages and towns west of the Euphrates River from Islamic State (IS) forces. The Turkish offensive, code-named "Euphrates Shield," is aimed at clearing Islamist and Kurdish forces from the Syrian side of the Syria-Turkey border. It addresses strategic concerns for Turkey, but is informed by domestic and international politics and has potentially grave implications for the Syrian conflict more widely, as well as for Washington's regional influence. Strategic Thinking Why has Turkey decided to strike now? Certainly, Ankara was provoked by IS. The Islamist group has launched a number of attacks using suicide improvised explosive devices (SIED) and small arms in Turkey over the past year, including one in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square on January 12, which killed 13 tourists, as well as the June 28 attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. In the latest incident, on August 22, an SIED was detonated at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, causing the Turkish foreign minister to declare that the IS presence across the border must be "cleansed" (Hurriyet Daily News, August 22). However, it was the YPG's capture of territory west of the Euphrates, bringing the PYD one step closer to uniting its disparate cantons of Afrin, Jazira and Kobani into one contiguous territory, which was the primary driver behind Turkish intervention. Ankara regards the PYD and its associated groups as a threat to its own security. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stated that the PYD is synonymous with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting a 32-year insurgency in Turkey's south-eastern provinces for Kurdish independence (Andalou Agency, August 3). A united Kurdish proto-state on Turkey's southern flank, bordering Gaziantep, Mardin and Sanlurfa sub-regions, areas where the PKK is combatting the Turkish military, is a situation Ankara will not countenance. Such a scenario could, through Turkey's eyes, see the PKK using PYD territory as a safe haven, and the PYD funneling arms across the border. Turkey's threat-assessment is reasonable. Although the United States - which designates the PKK as a terrorist group but supports the PYD as one of the more effective Syrian rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and IS - argues that the two groups are separate, there is evidence to contradict this (eKurd Daily, March 24). PYD weapon systems have been found by security forces in PKK safe-houses in northern Iraq, and on March 11 a PYD official was arrested in the border town of Cizre on suspicion of smuggling ammunition to the PKK (Daily Sabah, October 16, 2015; Yeni Safak, March 11). Even so, Ankara also overstates the situation when it says the PKK and PYD are synonymous. Each group has its own command-and-control structures and territorial objectives, though the two are partially connected - particularly in the facilitation of weapons across the border. Yet, Kurdish forces have crossed Turkish "red lines" before without suffering such penalties. In December 2015, Kurdish-led forces seized the Tishrin Dam, a strategic location around 66 km south of Jarabulus byroad, which allowed Kurdish forces to project power west of the Euphrates. The Kurdish forces ignored Turkish warnings such moves would spark a heavy military response (al-Monitor, October 26, 2015). Barring some limited air strikes, however, the promised retaliation never came. Unilateral Action To understand "why now" requires looking beyond the strategic and focusing on the political dimensions. Turkey's rapprochement with Russia in June 2016 has given it operational freedom in northern Syria. Anti-Kurdish and anti-IS operations alone would not have brought Ankara into direct opposition to Moscow. However, the previously poor relations between the two countries, following the Turkish downing of a Russian military aircraft in December 2015, meant that any inadvertent confrontation between the two sides would have entailed an unacceptable risk of war. As relations with Russia have improved, those with the United States, which has discouraged anti-PYD action, have become strained. Washington has refused to extradite cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara regards as responsible for July's failed coup by a military faction (AP, August 25). Furthermore, Ankara is infuriated by U.S. criticism of its post-coup purge of suspected Gulenists (International Business Times, July 18). Euphrates Shield is an opportunity for Turkey to demonstrate it can act unilaterally and to remind the United States that it cannot control Turkish foreign policy. Moreover, there is a strong domestic incentive for military action. The post-coup political environment in Turkey is unstable, marked by mass-arrests and the concentration of power in the hands of the presidency. The deployment of the military abroad gives the Turkish high command a chance to restore its battered reputation and occupies a fighting force that might, without distraction, launch a second coup attempt. Impact on Syria's Civil War The Turkish-FSA operation is the latest blow to Western hopes of removing President Assad, whose regime forces are conducting a resurgent campaign nationwide. Euphrates Shield further fragments the opposition, leaving Assad with strategic breathing space in northern Syria. Meanwhile, regime forces have effectively isolated the city of Aleppo, IS is losing ground on all fronts, and Russian airpower has provided the muscle Assad's military needed to turn the tide of the war. Furthermore, China has quietly escalated its support for the Assad regime, floating the possibility of military cooperation (see China Brief, August 22). Stronger Chinese support strengthens Assad's international position. By reinforcing the regime's diplomatic bulwarks, any potential Western-led intervention is further discouraged. Rivals and Allies The Turkish operation shifts the balance-of-power towards the regime. Despite Ankara's diplomatic rhetoric that Assad must go, its immediate strategic priorities actually align with the Syrian regime, reducing the likelihood of Assad's removal from office as part of any political settlement to end the civil war. For the United States, the response has so far been a balancing act between two allies. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Kurdish forces to retreat across the Euphrates, saying that the Kurds will lose U.S. support unless they withdraw (al-Monitor, August 24). Simultaneously, U.S. policymakers have put pressure on Turkey to limit military actions against YPG forces (Hurriyet Daily News, August 31). This involves treading a tight-rope between both factions, but more robust action risks alienating either Turkey or the PYD. Neither is a palatable option. The United States is constrained by its lack of coercive capability on the ground. In order to manage the situation it will be necessary to be crystal clear on the political conditions attached to aid, both to Turkey and the PYD, and consistent in applying censure when those conditions are disregarded. Anything less risks allowing two crucial allies to wage full-scale war in northern Syria, a confrontation that could easily spread into southern Turkey and further destabilize an already chaotic region. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Indonesia: Lone-Wolf Attacks Show Need for Greater Deradicalization Efforts Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Alexander Sehmer Publication Date 16 September 2016 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Indonesia: Lone-Wolf Attacks Show Need for Greater Deradicalization Efforts, 16 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffd174.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website On August 28, an 18-year-old Indonesian man attempted to stab a Roman Catholic priest during a church service in Medan, in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, an attack reminiscent of one carried out by Islamic State (IS) sympathizers in France in July in which an 84-year-old priest had his throat slit. In the failed Medan attack, however, the priest was only lightly injured. A homemade bomb, which the assailant reportedly carried in his backpack, failed to explode, and the man was detained by worshipers and later arrested (Jakarta Post, August 28). The suspect appears to have had no established links to IS, but was, authorities said, "obsessed" with international terrorism. Police reportedly found a note in his bag that read, "I love al-Baghdadi," a reference to the IS leader (Jakarta Post, August 29). As a result, Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency has probed a possible connection to Muhammad Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant thought to be in Raqqa, Syria (Jakarta Post, September 8). Naim, who was arrested in 2010 and spent time in jail for the illegal possession of ammunition, has been accused of masterminding a deadly attack in the capital Jakarta on January 14 (Al Jazeera, January 15). More recently he has also been implicated in a failed suicide bombing at a police station in Solo, in Central Java, carried out on July 5. Naim allegedly taught the attacker, the only casualty in the blast, how to build a bomb (Straits Times, July 5). Many of Naim's recruits have been drawn from Solo, from local mosques and an anti-vice campaign group known as Team Hisbah, which functioned as kind of vigilante militia attacking brothels and breaking up drinking parties. The Solo attacker, whose failed bombing efforts drew ridicule on social media, has been identified as Nur Rohman, an inexperienced Team Hisbah member. Like Rohman, the suspect in the Medan church attack seems to have been equally inexperienced and just as unsuccessful, but the connection with Naim, whose associates appear to come most frequently from his hometown of Solo, is unclear. Naim is active online, but he is far from the only Indonesian militant with a network in the country and as the existence of groups such as Team Hisbah make clear, there is a relatively large pool of potential recruits from which these various organizations can draw. While Indonesian counter-terrorism efforts have reduced the effectiveness of more established jihadi organizations such as Jemmah Islamiyah, lone-wolf attackers inspired by Naim and his ilk pose a different threat and underscore the importance of greater deradicalization efforts. Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Libya: More Politicking with the Country's Oil Ports Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Alexander Sehmer Publication Date 16 September 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 18 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Libya: More Politicking with the Country's Oil Ports, 16 September 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 18, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57dffd5a4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Link to original story on Jamestown website While forces allied with Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) have been battling Islamic State (IS) for control of the city of Sirte, the Libyan National Army (LNA) has seized control of oil facilities along the country's northern coast (Libya Herald, September 11). Operation Sudden Lightning (al-Barq al-Khatif), which was launched on September 11, has successfully put the forces of the anti-Islamist General Khalifa Haftar in control of four of Libya's oil terminals - Brega, Ras Lanuf, Es-Sidr and Zueitina (al-Jazeera, September 14). The operation appears to have encountered little resistance, although there were reports of fighting at the Zueitania terminal (Libya Herald, September 12). Since the collapse of Muammar Gadhafi's regime in 2011, control of Libya's once centralized oil assets has been a way for various groups to acquire political clout (See Terrorism Monitor, May 27). Of the four terminals, three - the exception being Brega - were controlled by the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), led by Ibrahim al-Jadhran, whose forces have aided the Sirte campaign. The LNA for its part has been sitting out the battle for Sirte. Haftar has little love for the UN-backed GNA, established in December 2015, instead backing the Tobruk-based House of Representatives. While the United States, Britain, France and others have condemned Haftar's oil port offensive, the general is not without international backing. He has varying levels of support from the likes of France, Egypt, the Gulf States and Russia, and there have been reports of UAE pilots flying sorties on behalf of the LNA (Middle East Eye, September 14). Haftar's actions are a setback for the UN's plans in Libya and could deal an economic blow to the country, which has already seen its oil exports slump to well below the 1.6 billion barrels per day it was producing prior to the 2011 uprising. However, the general has indicated the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) will be able to resume exports from the terminal (al-Arabiya, September 14). This is a pragmatic move on Haftar's part as it is unlikely the LNA would have been able to export the oil - al-Jadhran experienced a similar problem until he reached an agreement with the GNA earlier in the year. Control of the terminals is, then, likely more a bargaining chip for Haftar, to be deployed once the GNA and its allies have defeated IS in Sirte. That moment, despite rearguard action by IS fighters who have fled the city - there have been several attacks reported on supply lines between Misrata and Sirte in recent weeks- appears to be drawing increasingly close (Libya Herald, September 11). Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation Shania Twain coming to Indianapolis on first tour in nearly five years SAN ANGELO The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct their final two free Production and Financial Benchmarking Workshops in San Angelo on Sept. 21 and Granbury on Sept. 27, organizers said. Both workshops will have similar curriculums, running from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with lunch included. The Granbury workshop will also include a discussion and demonstration on parasite management. They are provided through the AgriLife Extension offices in Tom Green and Hood counties and the Let's Grow campaign of the American Sheep Industry Association. The San Angelo meeting site will be the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center, located north of San Angelo on U.S. Highway 87. The Granbury workshop will be at the AgriLife Extension office in Hood County, Annex 1, Room 22, 1410 W. Pearl St. 'These workshops are meant to help sheep and wool producers remain profitable,' said Dr. Reid Redden, AgriLife Extension state sheep and goat specialist at San Angelo. 'They are designed to help producers become better able to calculate and interpret key financial and production measures.' Redden and Bill Thompson, AgriLife Extension economist at San Angelo, will conduct the workshops. 'The core purpose for this project is to start and grow a 'Shepherds for Profit' database of successful practices sheep producers, no matter what the breed or size flock they have, can expand upon and profit from,' Thompson said. 'The workshops are a tool for increasing the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of U.S. wool and lamb producers, here and abroad. We all like to think our operations are the most efficient, when in reality, the only way to really accurately measure your efficiency is to compare it to something or someone else's operation.' Redden said determining that information is the basis for the program, which will include calculating production and financial measures, production and financial benchmarks, benefits of producer working groups or peer advisory groups and creation of the Shepherds for Profit database. Redden said participants will be invited to submit data for inclusion in the Shepherds for Profit database. Participation is voluntary and data provided will remain confidential. Full disclosure of the data to be collected and what information will be included in the database will be explained at each workshop. A statewide workshop will be set for a later date to summarize the collected and benchmarked data as well as illustrate practical applications of the resulting information to ranch/flock management plans. Participants are asked to preregister two days in advance of the workshop they choose to attend. For more information or to preregister, go to http://agrilife.org/sheepandgoat/shepherds-for-profit. Thompson and Redden can be reached at 325-653-4576. More information is also available through the AgriLife Extension offices in either of the participating counties. COLLEGE STATION As producers across the state are planting winter wheat, it is important they consider crediting soil nitrogen in their management plans, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist. Dr. Jake Mowrer, AgriLife Extension state soil fertility specialist in College Station, said producers can save money in fertilizer costs by taking advantage of existing soil nitrogen and still make expected yield goals. Each year producers must determine what and how much nitrogen they will use to fertilize their crop, Mowrer said. His study is determining how soil testing can help producers know how much nitrates their soil already contains so they can credit that to their overall needs. He said a study in the Hill Country on the effect of reducing nitrogen fertilizer applications to wheat based on soil test nitrates at depths as great as 3 feet was the first of its kind on a cool-season crop. Previous studies on warm-season crops such as corn, sorghum and cotton suggest nitrates may be credited to 24 inches without affecting yield, Mowrer said. 'We know that crediting nitrogen fertilizer could save an estimated $23 per acre for cotton and $31 per acre on corn and grain sorghum. But what about wheat how does it respond to this program?' Working with a producer in Itasca on a project funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Southern Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education, he said their goal was to produce 60-bushel per acre wheat. Soil samples were taken to 48 inches prior to planting in October 2015. The soil is Houston black clay. Nitrogen from the soil was credited in different plots down to 36 inches. The wheat was harvested June 10. The full application of nitrogen performed the same as a credit to 6 inches and 12 inches, Mowrer said. 'Our results indicate that yield in wheat was not affected by crediting nitrate-nitrogen in the soil profile to a depth of 12 inches,' Mowrer said. 'However, yields in this study were adversely affected when fertilizer was reduced by crediting nitrate deeper in the profile.' He said the reason for this may lie in the different efficiencies at which wheat takes up nitrogen already in the soil, as compared to nitrogen that is applied at the surface. 'At 24 and 36 inches, there was a range of 10-60 pounds of nitrogen,' Mowrer said. 'Surface application of a liquid fertilizer was less efficient than recovery of existing soil nitrate. This result will be explored more closely in the next growing season.' Mowrer said soil fertility is the most limiting factor in plant growth, right after water. 'We know the best you can do productionwise is determined by the amount of water. Nitrogen is the input needed for crops right behind water.' And, he said, the timing of any necessary fertilizer applications once the soil testing is done will affect the growth of wheat. 'We recommend putting out a third of the nitrogen upfront, and then right before jointing put out the other two-thirds,' Mowrer said. 'But remember, we can't manage the rate unless we know what is in the soil to begin with,' he said. 'Voluntary soil testing isn't as widespread as we would like to see it. Soil testing is a really, really important part of managing our nutrients, particularly for nitrogen.' Mowrer said his recommendation is to put about 1.5 pounds of nitrogen for grain production or 2 pounds per acre of nitrogen for grass. 'If there is some nitrogen in the soil, we can adjust that rate,' he said. 'But you don't know what is there unless you test it. We recommend you can credit what you find all the way down to 2 foot.' Another study he is working on is examining the different root systems to see if they make a difference in what nitrogen can be utilized, as well as determining if types of soils matter. Following up on the results in the previous year's wheat study will be a top priority in the coming season, Mowrer said. 'Although topdressing with surface applications is the recommended procedure for wheat at jointing, there are new technologies for fertilizer delivery that may hold the potential for increased nitrogen-use efficiency over what we see today with stream bars and tips.' Some things get easier with practice. But saying goodbye just keeps getting harder. I've been saying goodbye all my life. I'm pretty good at it. And fast, too. Sometimes I'm out the door and gone before anybody knows I'm leaving. But I've never liked doing it. Unless I couldn't wait to leave. If you're eager to leave, it's not a goodbye; it's a 'good riddance.' A real goodbye is one you say to someone you love, or a place you want to stay, or to a time in your life when you are happy. I've said my share of those kinds of goodbyes. I suspect you have said your share, too. Why do they keep getting harder? As a child, after my parents divorced, I hated having to say goodbye to my daddy. He hated it as much as I did. So he came up with a plan to make it easier. Instead of saying 'goodbye,' he said, we'd say, 'See you soon.' Grown-ups like to think they are clever. I didn't want to disappoint him, so I went along with it. It didn't make me miss him less. But it reminded me that we'd be together again. And that helped me feel less sad. We said those words countless times when I was growing up: At the end of every visit. When I went off to college. When he walked me down the aisle at my wedding. When I saw him in the hospital after he had a stroke. And when he called me the last time, before he took his life. The day he was buried, I stood by his grave and whispered, 'See you soon, Daddy.' It didn't make me miss him less. But it reminded me that we would be together again. And I sorely needed to be reminded. The hope of reunion is a small dose of comfort, but sometimes it's enough to help you get by. When my three children were babies, I tried my best to make goodbyes easier for them. I'd swear to them that I'd be back soon and that nothing no power in heaven or earth could ever separate them from my love. Then I'd say, with a big goofy grin, 'See you soon!' It never worked. They'd cling to me like drowning cats, sinking their claws into my skin and howling hysterically. Sometimes I miss those days. But the kids outgrew them and so, I guess, did I. By the time my oldest left home for college, we were taking goodbyes in stride. One long hug (when my boys hug you, you know you've been hugged) and a quick 'I love you' and finally, 'See you soon!' I waved, dry-eyed and smiling, as he drove away. Then I sat on the curb and bawled like a calf. That's my version of a refined goodbye. What's yours? These days, it's especially hard to say goodbye to my grandkids. They aren't old enough to understand that goodbye doesn't mean forever. Actually, I don't quite understand it myself, but I'm trying. To make our goodbyes a little easier, I ask them three questions: 'How much do I love you?' I say, and they shout, 'All!' Then, 'Where is your nana when you can't see her?' 'In my heart!' Finally, I ask, 'And where are you forever and always?' 'In your heart!' they say. They know grown-ups like to feel clever, so they go along with it. But this morning, Randy, who is 6, had another question. I'd just spent three days with him and his family in their new home in Montana of all places. We'd had a grand time, but it was ending, as usual, with my heading back to Las Vegas. 'Nana?' he said, his green eyes and copper lashes fighting back tears. 'How many days until I see you again?' I held his face in my hands and told him the truth. 'I don't know exactly how many days. But I promise it will be just as soon as possible.' He studied me for a moment, then nodded and smiled. One last hug, one last 'I love you,' and finally, 'See you soon.' If only soon were sooner. Sharon Randall can be reached at P.O. Box 77394, Henderson NV 89077, or at her website: www.sharonrandall.com. GORMAN There's gold in them hills! Well, maybe. My curiosity was piqued last week when I read a plea published in two different area newspapers about the condition of the Weaver Cemetery. No, up to that point I hadn't ever heard of it either. Why was I intrigued? Cemeteries are one of the most solid, tangible links to history available. It's hard to beat carved stone for preserving names and dates. Granted, even marble is susceptible to the elements. Acidic rain wears the stone down over time. Then there's the mold that grows on it, too. Often older tombstones can be blotchy with the stuff. The best way to read them is by laying a piece of paper over the marker's face and rubbing on it with a crayon. I met Brent Lasater in Gorman; he has family buried there. Together we rode down to the Weaver Cemetery. It's south of town about 4 miles, at the end of County Road 481. On our way he gave me a short tour of the area. We drove through the Oakland Cemetery, a well-kept plot fronted by a Texas Historical Association marker. The first burial at that cemetery was in 1891. It's about 12 miles from Weaver Cemetery, if you trust Google Maps, but only 3 miles if you were to sprout wings. As I had a certified local as my guide, we took some serious back roads in our traversal from one graveyard to the next. But it was near Oakland Cemetery that I heard a tale of lost gold. 'The story is that some soldiers came through with 40 jackloads of gold,' Lasater said. 'I presume the 'jacks' were male donkeys.' The soldiers were attacked by Comanches near what is known locally as Indian Mountain, which, according to the Texas State Historical Association, is about 5 miles southwest of Gorman in Comanche County. Only about 150 feet high, the peak got its name in the late 1800s due to it being the site of one of the last fights with the Comanche in the northwestern part of the county. But let's get back to the gold. 'The cavalry was attacked by Indians, and so the soldiers buried the gold,' Lasater said. 'It has never been found, so the legend goes.' Hmm. It sounded a little like a Hill Country legend of Spanish soldiers carting 40 jackloads of silver who supposedly had a similar encounter near Leander. Of course, who is to say somebody didn't borrow the Indian Mountain story for their own? However it goes, it makes you wonder: How many people over the years have gone searching for that gold? 'Oh, there used to be quite a few,' Lasater said. 'But a lot of them would look for arrowheads. I bet there has been a boatload of them carried out of there.' A little found gold would go a long way to helping out the Weaver Cemetery, though. There is no historical marker at its gate, and you really would have to be out exploring to find the cemetery in the first place. About 245 are believed buried there. The oldest marked gravestone dates from 1877, according to the National Genealogical Society's USGenWeb online archives. Whole families can be seen buried in rows over time. In other areas, only jagged chunks of stone mark a grave, the person buried there seemingly lost to time. Grass is the big problem out here right now; it's knee-high in some spots. Lasater said it was mowed in the spring he and believes it will be mowed again, provided enough money can be raised. 'We don't really have an association as such, it's more just volunteers,' he said. 'There are very few who have ancestors buried out here now. The older generation died away, and there's little interest in keeping these cemeteries up,'' It wasn't always such, of course. Lasater recalled coming out there as a young boy in the 1930s and '40s. A large tabernacle provided shade, and benches were put together to support tabletops. 'You never saw a lack of food there,' he said, and laughed. 'When I was a kid, I really looked forward to cemetery work.' Now the tabernacle is gone, replaced by a smaller structure. Dried leaves blow across the old church pews and benches beneath its roof. Nearby, a few of the tombstones are broken in half, grass growing up through their cracks as they lie on the ground. 'This is the result of vandals,' Lasater said. 'It's popular for teenagers to drive out to the gate there and have their beer parties.' We wandered through the tall grass at the back of the cemetery and down to a fence line where a neighboring stock tank had spread into it. I thought how mowing the cemetery would be a great Eagle Scout project, and Lasater said he had heard of Scouts doing that elsewhere. 'It's not as bad as I've seen it before,' Lasater said, looking across the graveyard. 'And we're not broke, we've got a little money.' But it would be nice to spend that money not on mowing but repairing markers. 'If I had Mr. Trump's money,' Lasater joked, trailing off. Yep. Forty jackloads would just about do it. Today in history: On Sept. 20, 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev is told that he cannot go to Disneyland, which greatly angers him. He had arrived in the United States on Sept. 15 to meet with President Eisenhower and wanted to see Hollywood while he was here. He and his wife did get to tour the Twentieth Century Fox Studios and lunched with Frank Sinatra. He got into heated words with studio president Spyros Skouras, then because crowds were expected and his safety feared, not allowed to go to the theme park. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at the opposition on Monday as he refused to negotiate with the Cambodia National Rescue Party as long as the CNRP is threatening mass demonstrations against the government. He told the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh on Monday that the CNRP needs to return to parliament and work with the Cambodian strongman and his supporters, instead of threatening to mob the streets with protestors. You can never threaten us with the demonstrations. Let me make it clear that it is not going to work that way, he said. Dont even think about it. If I ever enter into such negotiations I will be nothing short of a dog. CNRP leaders are threatening to organize mass protests as part of their efforts to pressure Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) in advance of the 2017 local and 2018 national elections, but CNRPs spokesperson Yim Sovann says the demonstrations are a last resort. I believe no one from the CNRP or the ruling party wants the demonstrations, he said. What we want is the peaceful and normal political atmosphere for the elections in 2017 and 2018. Since everyone has the same wish, isnt it a good idea to engage in a dialogue to find a common solution? Our right to retaliate? Hun Sen didnt appear to be in the mood for discussions as he threatened to retaliate against any demonstrations. Let me challenge all of you to come out and [demonstrate] now. The sooner the better, he said. I will issue orders for counter demonstrations everywhere you start them. You enjoy the right to demonstrate. Why shouldnt we reserve our right to retaliate? While Hun Sen and his Cambodian Peoples Party have ruled the country for more than 30 years, the CPP suffered a big electoral setback in the 2013 elections. The ruling CPP won 68 seats, while the CNRP won 55 seats. In losing 22 seats from the previous election, the CPP earned the fewest percentage of seats that it has held in the National Assembly since 1998. The 2013 elections were dogged by accusations of fraud, and a new system put in place at the start of this year is part of a 2014 election reform deal between the CPP and the CNRP that ended almost a year of deadlock. While politicians on both sides hailed a culture of dialog after the deal, that culture ended as Hun Sens government and the CPP began a long legal battle that has seen opposition lawmakers and government critics flee the country, get thrown in jail or go into hiding. Opposition party lawmakers are once again avoiding National Assembly sessions as they attempt to pressure the government to return to the negotiating table. Court action Earlier this month embattled opposition leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to five months in prison for his failure to appear in legal cases related to his alleged affair with a young woman. Kem Sokha has been holed up in the CNRP headquarters in Phnom Penh for months after his parliamentary immunity was lifted so that he could be charged. In addition four employees of the human rights group ADHOC and a member of the National Election Commission (NEC) have been arrested in connection with Kem Sokhas cases. Kem Sokha is not the only CNRP leader facing court action CNRP President Sam Rainsy was convicted in July of defaming National Assembly President Heng Samrin in a closed-door session that lasted less than an hour. Heng Samrin is also a senior leader in the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP). Sam Rainsy has been living abroad since he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in 2015 because of a warrant issued for his arrest in another defamation case in which he accused Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong of running a prison for the Khmer Rouge. After Sam Rainsy left the country, the CNRP named Kem Sokha its acting president. Opposition lawmakers Um Sam An and Hong Sok Hour have been imprisoned for critical comments about the governments deal setting the border with Vietnam. Kem Ley and the Boeung Kak Lake activists In addition, popular government critic Kem Ley was murdered in July. While the government says a former soldier claimed he killed Kem Ley over a debt, it is a story many do not believe. Kem Leys wife and family have since fled Cambodia On Monday, four prominent land activists were convicted and sentenced to six months each in prison for a protest they held five years ago. Tep Vanny, Heng Mom, Bou Chhovy and Kong Chantha are all well known for protesting the eviction of residents from Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak lake community. They were convicted of insulting and obstructing civil servants. Boeung Kak lake was filled so that it can be turned into a luxury commercial development. Investors in the venture reportedly have ties to Hun Sens family. Reported by Thai Tha for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. China is ratcheting up efforts to slash the size of the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy as authorities have ordered monks and nuns from Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan to leave the Buddhist center, RFAs Tibetan Service has learned. Chinese authorities are already razing the housing for many of the monks and nuns studying at the center located in Sichuan province. While the original targets for expulsion from the center appeared to be the monks and nuns from Lhasa (in Chinese, Lasa), Ngari (Ali), Nagchu (Naqu), and Chamdo (Chengdu) prefectures, sources in Tibet tell RFA the Chinese are now attempting to expel monks and nuns from Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan. Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan are western Chinese provinces that are home to Tibetan populations outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the formal name China applies to Tibet. In the midst of ongoing demolition of the Larung Gar Buddhist center, the Chinese authorities are now implementing another plan to force all the monks and nuns from Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan to leave Larung Gar, said a Tibetan who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the case of Qinghai, except for some monks and nuns who hold permission, all the rest all are being asked to leave the center, the Tibetan added."In the case of those monks and nuns from Gansu and Yunnan, all are ordered to leave the Buddhist center without any exceptions. Another Tibetan source told RFA that Chinese authorities are contacting the families of the monks and nuns studying at the center and urging them to convince their relatives to return home, or face more draconian consequences. If these official instructions are not complied with, the government will withdraw special monetary assistance and other assistance to the families, the source said. If necessary the Chinese officials will go to Larung Gar Institute and convene a meeting of all monks and nuns from Gansu and Yunnan and make arrangements to force them leave the center. Chinese authorities have already evicted many of the monks and nuns who hail from Lhasa, a Tibetan from the monastery told RFA. Except for 100 monks who have official permission to study in Larung Gar, all the monks and nuns from the Lhasa area have already been expelled from the center, that source said. In addition to the monks and nuns from other provinces, the source told RFA that 1,000 monks and nuns who work directly for the Buddhist center area also being instructed to leave. The local authorities had to file reports to the central government on the demolition completed and the monks and nuns removed from the center, according to the source. The members of Buddhist community in Larung Gar were also instructed not to start any new construction at the center. Many thousands of Tibetans and Han Chinese study at Larung Gar, which was founded in 1980 by the late religious teacher Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. It is one of the worlds largest and most important centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism. The order to reduce the number of Larung Gars residents by about half to a maximum level of 5,000 comes from higher authorities, sources told RFA. Chinas president Xi Jinping has taken a personal interest in the matter, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Monastic leaders at Larung Gar have urged the institutes monks and nuns not to resist the destruction of their homes, and the work is believed to have gone ahead so far without interference, though several suicides have been reported. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. At least 17 Uyghurs have been detained in connection with a Sept. 10 explosion in the Chinese region of Xinjiang that killed a deputy police chief and seriously injured other officers raiding the home of suspected radicals, RFA learned on Monday. The blast in a village in Guma (In Chinese, Pishan) County of Hotan (Hetian) Prefecture killed or wounded more than 10 people, including police and Uyghurs, World Uyghur Congress (WUC) spokesman Dilxat Raxit told RFA's Cantonese service on Monday. Police have detained 17 Uyghurs, including four women, since the incident, added the spokesman for the Sweden-based WUC, a Uyghur exile organization. A police officer from the county told RFA's Uyghur Service on Sunday that Gheyret Mamut, 45, was killed instantly. He was initially identified as the Guma County police chief, but was the deputy police chief, RFA learned on Monday. Police have imposed a tight news blockade on the incident, and Hotan and Guma authorities declined to comment on the case when reached by telephone by RFA on Monday, directing reporters to China's state media, which have remained silent on the blast. Accounts provided to RFA's Uyghur Service by several policemen and villagers on Sunday said Gheyret Mamut was killed when a bomb exploded in the basement of a house in No. 23 Village of Kokterek Township in Guma County. He and four policemen were searching the house of a 30-something couple who were on an official blacklist for suspected radical behavior, police from neighboring districts told RFA. But the sources differed on the fate of the other policemen, with one officer from a neighboring township saying the three policemen were badly injured and taken to hospital, but a farmer from a nearby village saying he had heard from other villagers that the three patrolmen were dead on arrival at the hospital. "When they entered the cellar at the center of the house, suddenly a bomb exploded, and Gheyret Mamut died on the spot. Three of the officers were heavily injured," Turup Abbas, deputy chief of Guma County Police Department, told RFA on Sunday. Accounts vary amid news blackout The farmer, from No. 21 Village of Kokterek Township, said the village Communist Party secretary discussed the explosion at a village meeting in general terms and warned villagers to "avoid spreading rumors" and to report strangers to police. "From the neighbors I heard that the police chief died in the cellar, and the three police officers were dead when they arrived at the hospital," the farmer added. The farmer also said that some villagers had heard nobody was home when the police raided the booby-trapped house, while others had heard that the Uyghurs the officers were looking for were hiding in the basement. Turup Abbas said he was told that nobody was in the house when the police conducted the raid. RFA reached a local hospital in Guma by telephone on Monday but was told by a hospital staffer: "I cannot reveal anything to you. This is a hospital. I do not have the authority to talk to you about this. Please find another way." Memet Eli, a police officer in Kokterek Township, told RFA on Sunday that he had interrogated a couple that lived in the house but did not remember their names. He said the couple owned a fast-food restaurant and had a four-year-old daughter. They were "blacklisted because of signs of extremism in their life," he added. Kokterek Township was the hometown of the perpetrators of a May 2014 bombing at a market in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi that killed 43 people, including the four attackers. China has vowed to crack down on what it calls religious extremism in Xinjiang, and regularly conducts "strike hard campaigns including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material. While China blames Uyghur extremists for terrorist attacks, experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2009. Reported by Goh Fung for RFA's Cantonese Service and Shohret Hoshur for the Uyghur Service. Translated by Paul Eckert and Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Mohammad Nayeb-Zehi was among the hundreds of worshippers who gathered on September 30 at the Great Mosalla, a religious site in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan, for Friday Prayers. Just hours later, the 16-year-old's family learned he was dead. Nayeb-Zehi was among the scores of people gunned down by security forces in a brutal crackdown following anti-government protests in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan Province, which is home to the country's Baluch minority. "He was a simple laborer and not political," Nayeb-Zehi's brother, Ahmad, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in a telephone interview from Zahedan, adding that his sibling had been shot in the heart. "We're in pain, and we cannot accept it." The crackdown in Zahedan came amid weeks-long nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died on September 16, days after she was detained by Iran's morality police. In Sistan-Baluchistan, public anger at the authorities escalated amid reports that a 15-year-old Baluch girl had been raped by a police official in the province's southern port city of Chabahar. The violence erupted soon after protesters gathered outside a police station near the central mosque in Zahedan. Members of the crowd chanted anti-government slogans, and some threw rocks. Security forces responded with deadly force by firing on the crowd from the station, according to witnesses. Security forces also raided the central mosque and the nearby Great Mosalla and opened fire on worshippers using live ammunition, rights groups said, adding that many were shot in the head, heart, neck, or torso, revealing a clear intent to kill or seriously wound. At least 94 people were killed and 350 wounded on that day, referred to as "Bloody Friday," according to the U.S.-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. At least 13 minors were among those killed, including Nayeb-Zehi. The victims were overwhelmingly Baluch -- a mostly Sunni ethnic group that has long faced disproportionate discrimination at the hands of the Iranian authorities. "He was martyred inside the Mosalla while holding his prayer mat," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. Nayeb-Zehi's family first visited Zahedan's Khatam al-Anbia hospital, hoping he was among the wounded. They later found his body in a seminary at the Great Mosalla. "We entered a room there and saw about 10 bodies," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. "[Mohammad] was among them." He said the authorities prevented the family from filming the scene. "I told them this has to be documented, it has to be published by international media," he said, adding that footage later emerged on social media showing the gruesome scene at the seminary. The family refused to send Nayeb-Zehi's body to the morgue. Instead, his body lay in the living room for around 24 hours before he was buried. "We said he was martyred and there was no need for an autopsy," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. The authorities accused Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group, of attacking the police station. The group is recognized as a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States and has previously claimed deadly attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan targeting Iranian security forces. But local and independent sources have rejected the authorities' claims. The authorities have also reported a much lower number of fatalities, announcing that only 19 people, including several members of the security forces, were killed. Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi said the authorities were "rubbing salt into the wounds of the people" by claiming "terrorists" were involved. He said he witnessed a military helicopter shooting at civilians near the Great Mosalla. "I haven't even seen such scenes in Hollywood movies," he said. "A helicopter was shooting at people. A lady was shot in front of my eyes." RFE/RL could not verify his account. But activists have accused security forces of shooting at protestors from helicopters. "I don't know what the intention of this crime was," he said. "Our only demand from the establishment is for the murderers of our [family members] to be punished." The killings have led to widespread anger in Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran's poorest provinces. Anti-establishment protests have been reported in Zahedan since the crackdown, including on October 14 and October 21, when protesters took to the streets after Friday Prayers and chanted "Death to the dictator." During his Friday Prayers sermon on October 21, influential Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said senior officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were "responsible" for the September 30 killings. "We are surprised by the silence of the high-ranking officials," he said in his sermon, which was posted on his website. "Scores were killed here without any reason. I don't have the exact number. Some have reported 90, some say less, some say more," Ismaeelzahi added. He also said people will not be satisfied until "those who killed the people" are brought to justice. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said the events of September 30 amounted to "a massacre of protesters by security forces." "The government's total denial of responsibility for the massacring of citizens by its security apparatus is consistent with similar past denials and is evidence that internal calls for investigation of such crimes are insufficient," said the rights group, which documents human rights violations in Iran. An Afghan official says at least eight police officers were killed by U.S. air strikes in the southern province of Uruzgan in an apparent "friendly fire" incident. Uruzgan highway police commander Rahimullah Khan said the officers were killed in two air strikes around the provincial capital of Tirin Kot on September 18. The U.S. military command in Kabul confirmed that U.S. forces carried out an air strike in the area, saying they sought to assist Afghan national security forces who were fired on by the Taliban. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said he doesn't "have any further information" on who the casualties may have been. Afghan officials said they are investigating the attack and are in contact with the U.S.-led coalition. Taliban fighters briefly entered Tarin Kot in early September, according to provincial officials, before being pushed back by security forces. Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and Pajhwok The president of the Republika Srpska has vowed to go ahead with a referendum on a regional holiday in the autonomous Serbian region of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a move that represents a challenge to the authority of the central government. Milorad Dodik told RFE/RL's Balkan Service that the planned September 25 referendum on a January 9 statehood day in the region will proceed despite a ruling by the highest court in Bosnia calling the holiday "discriminatory" and ordering a halt to the poll. "We will hold the referendum. It is not a secession referendum, it is not aimed against anything. It is a kind of poll to check with the people what they think about the January 9 holiday so that politicians can change the law in the parliament," Dodik said in the September 19 interview. Bosnia's Constitutional Court on September 17 upheld an earlier ruling calling the January 9 holiday unconstitutional, saying it discriminates against non-Serbian residents of the entity -- one of two that makes up Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnian Serbs proclaimed the "Republic of Serbian People" on January 9, 1992, when Bosnia was still part of what was then Yugoslavia. A Constitutional Court ruling in November 2015 ordered the region to select a date that Bosnia's ethnic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks deem acceptable as well. Republika Srpska's leadership has also faced pressure from the international community to scrap its plans for the referendum. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo said in a September 17 statement that the planned referendum "would directly violate the decision of the court" and undermine the authority of the court's authority granted under the Dayton peace accords that established Bosnia's constitutional ruling system following the bloody 1992-95 war there. Dodik, who said he planned to discuss the referendum with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a planned September 22 meeting in Moscow, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service that the referendum "is not aimed against European integration, nor is it anti-Dayton." He added that the poll was "not about the status [of Republika Srpska] or some kind of secession," though he left open the possibility of secession "in the coming years." "Whether my generation will do it or not, I don't know that," he said. With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service Partial results show that the leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is leading with more than 97 percent of the vote in the September 18 election of the regional head. With more than 15 percent of the ballots counted, Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) said on September 19 that the other candidates had secured less than 2 percent of the vote each. These candidates included Chechnyas business ombudsman Idris Usmanov, Gairsolt Batayev of the Communist Party, and Sultan Denilkhanov of A Just Russia. Kadyrov, 39, has led Chechnya since March 2007. In the last several months, he has run the region as the acting head after his term officially expired in April. Activists have blamed Kadyrov and his paramilitary forces for serious rights abuses, including widespread use of kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial murders. Based on reporting by Interfax and RIA Russians have made their choice and most of them have decided to opt out. For the first time in post-Soviet history, a majority of Russian voters decided to stay home rather than cast a ballot in a federal election. Roughly 48 percent of eligible voters turned out for yesterday's legislative elections, which is -- by far -- a record low. In the past six elections, the average turnout was over 60 percent. In Moscow, less than 30 percent voted, according to preliminary figures. In St. Petersburg, it was less than 20 percent. This will be a Duma of the minority. And this, I think, is the most important takeaway from yesterday's vote. If elections in Russia are legitimization rituals and political theater -- and this is pretty much what they have been reduced to -- a majority of Russians have decided they didn't want to be part of the show. A majority chose not to legitimize the sham. But here's the thing. This was largely by design. The Kremlin moved the election forward from December to September, when many Russians are still on holiday. The campaign season was shorter and received less attention than in the past. The Kremlin wanted a boring election that nobody cared about. And they got what they wanted. And what this means is that Vladimir Putin's regime appears to be moving away from elections -- even fixed elections -- as their primary means of legitimization. It looks like Putin is abandoning electoral authoritarianism and replacing it with good old-fashioned authoritarianism. Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev has canceled a trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly after suffering chest pains during the flight, his press service said. The press service said that the Kyrgyz leader began complaining of "chest pains" as his plane made a stopover in Istanbul on the way to New York. He was examined and attended to by doctors. His press service said that "according to the doctors' preliminary conclusion" Atambaev was found to have symptoms of heart problems. Atambaev, 60, is currently in Turkey. His press service said he would remain under medical supervision for "some time." The Kyrgyz delegation to New York will be led by Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev. With reporting by AFP BISHKEK -- A well-known Kyrgyz public figure, Edil Baisalov, has said members of the 2010 interim government, including then-interim President Roza Otunbaeva, are being persecuted. Baisalov, who used to be the chief of staff for Otunbaeva in the interim government, told journalists in Bishkek on September 19 that he believes he may be arrested soon. Baisalov cited unidentified sources as telling him that President Almazbek Atambaev had ordered law- enforcement agencies to arrest him and force him to testify against Otunbaeva and the leader of the opposition Ata Meken (Fatherland) party, Omurbek Tekebaev. Last week, the presidential office announced that Atambaev had requested the Prosecutor-General's Office to investigate the alleged involvement of members of the interim government in the escape of ethnic Uzbek businessman Kadyrjan Batyrov from Kyrgyzstan to Europe. In 2011, Batyrov, who is currently in Sweden, received a life sentence in absentia on charges of inciting interethnic hatred and organizing deadly clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the world faces the most dangerous decade since World War II and predicted that the historical period of the West's "undivided dominance over world affairs" is coming to an end. Speaking on October 27 at a conference of international policy experts in Moscow, Putin said the decade ahead is "probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, important...since the end of World War II." Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. Putin laid the blame for the situation at the feet of Western countries, which he said have cast aside the norms of international affairs in order to maintain dominance and hold down countries they see as "second-class civilizations." The Russian leader also said he had no regrets about sending troops into Ukraine and sought to explain the conflict as part of the efforts by Western countries to secure their global domination. Putin claimed in his speech to the Valdai Discussion Club, a think tank, that the West had helped incite the conflict and also seeks to stoke a crisis over Taiwan in an attempt to enforce global dominance. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, triggering the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II and driving relations with Western countries that back Ukraine and its drive to be part of the European Union and NATO to their lowest depths since the Cold War. Putin cast the conflict in Ukraine as a battle between the West and Russia for the fate of the second-largest Eastern Slav country. It is partly a "civil war," he said, as Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Kyiv has flatly rejected both of those ideas. The goal of what Russia refers to as a "special military operation" is to take the eastern Donbas region, Putin said, adding that in his view the region would "not have survived" on its own had Russia not intervened militarily in Ukraine. WATCH: A local official told Russian conscripts "You are not cannon fodder" in a video published online recently. The men responded by angrily shouting that, actually, that's exactly what they are. But the war has gone far beyond the Donbas region, with Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, and other nonmilitary structures, killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians across the country. Putin used the speech largely to rail against the West, saying it has nothing to offer to the world "except its own domination," and the goal of globalization "is neocolonialism to dominate the world." He said Russia is only trying to defend its right to exist in the face these Western efforts. Putin also asserted that more and more nations refuse to follow Washington's demands and Russia will never accept the West's attempts to dominate the world. Citing gay pride parades and the acceptance of transgender people in Western countries, Putin also defended "traditional values" and said "nobody can dictate to our people how to develop and what society we should build." He also said Russia has never considered the West an enemy and has many things in common with it but will continue to oppose the diktat of Western neoliberal elites. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Putin's speech presented no new ideas. "We don't believe that Mr. Putin's strategic goals have changed here. He doesn't want Ukraine to exist as a sovereign, independent nation state," Kirby said. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Putin's speech can be described as "for Freud," referring to psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud. "The person who invaded a foreign country, annexed its land, and committed genocide accuses others of violating international law and the sovereignty of other countries? One truth: The person who started a wind will get a storm. The storm is coming," he said on Twitter. Answering questions from journalists after his speech, Putin reiterated the Kremlin's assertion that Ukraine plans to use a so-called dirty bomb on its own territory. The claim has been dismissed as false by Ukraine and its allies, who say Russia may have raised the matter because it plans to use such a bomb in Ukraine as a pretext for escalation. "It was me who ordered [Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu to inform by phone all his colleagues about it," Putin said, adding that Russia does not need to use dirty bombs in Ukraine. Putin also said he supported plans by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit Ukraine's nuclear power plants for inspections. "It must be done as soon and as openly as possible because we know that Kyiv authorities are now working to cover up such [dirty-bomb attack] preparations," Putin said, without giving any exact information proving the claim. Ukraine invited IAEA inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities after the Kremlin made its unsubstantiated claim about the preparation of a dirty bomb -- which would use the explosion of a conventional warhead to spread radioactive material or chemicals over a wide area. Ukraine said it would welcome inspections because it had "nothing to hide." According to Putin, Russia has never talked about the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine despite his own promise to defend Russian territory with any means at our disposal" and saying his words were "not a bluff." "We see no need for [using nuclear weapons in Ukraine]," Putin told reporters. "There is no sense for that, neither political, nor military." Pakistan has hit back after India accused it of masterminding a deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on September 19 that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had written letters to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council regarding grave human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian security forces in the Himalayan region. Earlier, the ministry condemned Indias "vitriolic and unsubstantiated statements" and called the country's stance a "blatant attempt" to deflect attention from human rights abuses in Kashmir. At least 17 Indian soldiers and four attackers were killed in the September 18 predawn assault against an army base in the town of Uri. India's Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh called Pakistan a "terrorist state" soon after the attack. Indian military officials said the attackers were "foreign terrorists" and that initial investigations suggested that they belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group. The attack comes as Kashmir has seen its largest anti-India protests in recent years since the killing July 8 of a popular rebel commander by Indian troops. More than 80 people have been killed in clashes between residents and security forces. The Muslim-majority region is divided between India and Pakistan. With reporting by the BBC A court in Siberia has banned one of Russia's most popular lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) news sites without warning. The administrators of the BlueSystem.ru said on September 19 that instead of their site's content the text of the Parabel city court's ruling appears on the monitor, saying that the site was banned in May. The administrators said they had not been informed about the court's decision and their site was accessible all this time. The reason for the ban has not been published on the court's website either. Russia has been harshly criticized for its gay-rights record, including a vaguely worded law banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" to minors that many critics say has led to discrimination and attacks against LGBT people. Based on reporting by The Moscow Times, Novosib-room.ru, and Polit.ru The ruling United Russia party won the September 18 State Duma elections by a landslide, according to official results. United Russia is on track to win well over 300 seats in the lower house of parliament, far more than the 238 it holds now. The three other largely loyal parties in the current Duma will also remain, while liberal Kremlin opponents were kept out. Here are six key takeaways from the elections: Putin's Tightening Grip President Vladimir Putin said the dominant United Russia party got a "good result" -- and that may be an understatement. With well over 300 State Duma seats in the hands of his loyal party, according to projections, Putin heads into the 2018 presidential election with even tighter control over the legislature -- one of the chief tools of his rule. He can use the Duma at will to enact legislation designed to protect his hold on power, guarantee its extension, and thwart potential rivals. Putin at any rate would have no problem winning a new six-year Kremlin stint if he seeks reelection, as expected. But under the constitution he would be unable to run again until 2030, when he will be 78, making him something of a lame duck the moment his fourth term begins. A constitutional majority makes it easier for Putin to rewrite the rule book -- whether he wants to engineer a trouble-free succession, remain president for life, or choose some other path to maintain power. Turnout Trick Works... With Russia's economic problems denting the reputation of a party whose strong suit has always been Putin's support, the Kremlin uncorked several measures to keep United Russia from losing its hold on the Duma. Chief among them, observers say, were efforts to ensure a low overall turnout, including by moving the elections from December to September, shortening the campaign, and catching voters at the tail end of summer when they would be less likely to vote. This gave more weight to the ballots of voters vulnerable to manipulation, such as state workers, soldiers, and even psychiatric-hospital patients. This tactic appears to have worked: Official nationwide turnout was 47.81 percent, far short of the 60 percent recorded in 2011, when the state had to turn to what critics say was massive fraud to boost United Russia's result, sparking big protests that unnerved the Kremlin. Turnout was even lower in big cities where government opponents and Russians eager for change are concentrated: About 35 percent in Moscow, a record low, and even lower in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg. ...Or Does It? For United Russia, the low turnout comes at a potentially high price in terms of legitimacy. When putting down liberal opponents, Putin frequently touts the importance of majority rule, but the simple mathematics of this election mean that the Duma will be representing less than half of Russia's voters for the first time in its post-Soviet history. Low turnout means that while United Russia will have more seats in the new Duma, its popular mandate is weaker than it was before. That may not be much of a headache for Putin, who is enjoying approval ratings above 80 percent and can use that popularity gap to keep United Russia in line by reminding the party that it serves at his pleasure -- not the other way around. But the low turnout creates another problem for Putin. While the Kremlin cast these elections as a step forward for democracy, it has left millions of Russians without a voice, potentially reinforcing the feelings of powerlessness and disenfranchisement that fueled the protest movement of 2011-12. Opposition Blues For the first time since 2003, half the 450 Duma seats were filled by direct elections in individual "single-mandate" district races rather than by party list. This change was tantalizing for Kremlin opponents because it cracked the door to the Duma open, in theory enabling independent candidates -- and those whose parties had no chance of clearing the 5 percent threshold in the party-list voting -- to win seats. In practice, that didn't happen: Not a single liberal opposition candidate won a seat. Dmitry Gudkov, the last liberal opposition lawmaker left in the current Duma, lost a Moscow race to Gennady Onishchenko, a controversial and Kremlin-loyal former chief public-health official, and Maria Baronova, one of several candidates backed by exiled former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, also fell short. The elections leave both politicians and citizens who oppose Putin with no clear answer to a question that divided the opposition before the vote: Is it better to take part in the elections, hoping to force change against the odds, or to steer clear of what Kremlin foes like Garry Kasparov call a sham in which any participation only plays into Putin's hands. Meanwhile, the Kremlin is likely to claim that it took a step toward greater democracy and point at the result as evidence that its liberal opponents have little public backing. Hidden Threat? While no liberal opposition figures won a Duma seat from a "single-mandate" district, several candidates whose resumes suggest they will be staunch Putin loyalists did. Along with Onishchenko, they include anti-gay-rights St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov and pro-Kremlin TV journalist and executive Pyotr Tolstoi. But the revival of the "single-mandate" races could pose a threat to Putin's power, at least in the long run. Some Kremlin critics argue that because they had to win votes and outperform specific opponents, these Duma deputies will be more independent -- and less likely to toe the line -- than those who are beholden to United Russia after being granted seats based on their places on a party list. Foreign Factor After evidence of widespread violations in the December 2011 State Duma elections sparked street protests and criticism from the West, the 2016 vote -- the first since Putin's return to the presidency in 2012 after four years as prime minister -- was seen as a chance for the Kremlin to mend its reputation by holding a clean vote. It came at a crucial time, with Russia seeking to decrease its isolation and shed Western sanctions over its aggression in Ukraine by dismantling U.S. and EU unity over the measures. Longtime rights activist Ella Pamfilova replaced the previous Central Election Commission chief, Vladimir Churov, whose seeming ability to conjure up votes for the Kremlin earned him the nickname "the magician." But the elections appear unlikely to sway foreign governments that see Putin's Russia as deeply undemocratic. There are plenty of allegations of fraud, ranging from multiple voting and ballot-stuffing, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) findings were far from a vote of confidence: The head of the OSCE monitoring mission said the biased state media, the Kremlin's tightening grip on civil society, and restrictions on basic rights marred the election. In Western eyes, its legitimacy is also undermined by the fact that voting was held in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 after deploying troops and staging a referendum condemned by a majority of countries. The United States said on September 17 that it "does not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome, of the Duma elections planned for Russian-occupied Crimea." A resident of Russia's Chelyabinsk region in the Urals has been sentenced to four years in jail on terrorism charges. A court in the city of Magnitogorsk also sentenced the 43-year old man on September 19 to one year of "freedom limitation," which is similar to a suspended sentence with parole limitations. The man, whose name was not disclosed, was found guilty of fighting against Syrian government troops alongside Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria from April to June 2015. In recent months, several members of banned Islamic groups have been arrested or sentenced in the Chelyabinsk region, which borders Kazakhstan and Russia's mainly Muslim region of Bashkortostan. Russian officials have said at least 5,000 Russians and citizens of other ex-Soviet republics have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join IS extremists. Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax MOSCOW -- Russia plans to create a super security agency called the Ministry of State Security (MGB), the name once given to Josef Stalin's Soviet spy apparatus before it was renamed the KGB after his death, Kommersant newspaper reports. The business daily's September 19 story is based on anonymous sources and could not be independently verified. The report has been neither confirmed nor denied officially, and President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has declined to comment. Speaking to RFE/RL, two leading experts on Russia's security services and a former KGB lieutenant colonel now in the opposition said variously that the reform was "entirely possible," "certainly plausible," and "very likely." "I think this is one of the projects that appear to be on the president's table, because in principle the idea of some kind of enlargement of the power agencies has been coming up recently," said Andrei Soldatov, the editor and founder of the investigative website Agentura.ru. The Kommersant report suggested the changes could make the management of security and law enforcement agencies more "effective" and help stamp out corruption inside the agencies. In July, the paramount domestic security agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), carried out searches of the Russian Investigative Committee's Moscow headquarters and arrested senior employees over allegations they were shielding a crime boss from prosecution in return for bribes. Return Of The KGB? Kommersant claimed the reform would be carried out before the presidential election due in March 2018 that could also be brought forward following the ruling party's landslide victory in parliamentary polls on September 18. The report said the monolithic new ministry would be shaped around the FSB and would also comprise the Federal Protection Service (FSO) and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). It said the agency would effectively resemble the Soviet Union's Committee for State Security (KGB), where Putin served from 1975 to 1990, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The KGB was broken up into separate agencies in 1991 during the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Essentially, this is a case of bringing the band back together," said Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague and an expert on Russia's security services. "The suggestion is that a presidential security service will remain outside it. But basically speaking, this ministry would reconstitute the KGB in all its aspects." The MGB would be given sweeping new powers not only to provide investigative material for cases opened by law enforcement, but also to supervise the cases, the report said. Its investigative department would take charge of the most resonant criminal cases of the day, it continued -- and a Kommersant source specifically said that would include corruption investigations. The report follows a major law enforcement shakeup in April with the creation of the National Guard, a new body that oversees Interior Ministry troops, OMON riot police, and SOBR special forces. The Federal Migration Service (FMS) and Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) were also folded into the Interior Ministry at the time. "Earlier, Putin believed in a form of bureaucratic pluralism," Galeotti said. "Multiple agencies overlapping that could be played off against each other and that also could keep each other honest." "Now we're seeing a different model of governance with a handful of superagencies under people he feels he can trust. I think that's where this fits. It's really more about concerns over the elite," he said. 'Monopolization Of Power' The report also said that the Investigative Committee -- which styled itself as a Russian version of the FBI but whose star appears to be waning -- may be folded into the Prosecutor-General's Office. If true, that development would appear to chime with a Russian media report on September 14 predicting Aleksandr Bastrykin's imminent departure from his post as chief of the Investigative Committee. Gennady Gudkov, a former KGB colonel and liberal opposition politician who was expelled from the last convocation of the State Duma, told RFE/RL's Russian Service that he believed the Kommersant report. "I think this news is very likely, since last night the country made a decision -- to pursue the worst-case scenario. It is entirely clear that the country has gone from authoritarian to totalitarian. This happened on the night from September 18 to 19," Gudkov said in a reference to the ruling party's victory in weekend parliamentary elections. Putin's United Russia party secured a constitutional majority with 76 percent of seats in the State Duma, while not a single independent opposition voice was elected. "The monopolization of power today has evidently reached a peak," Gudkov said. The MGB was the abbreviation given to the security service under Stalin from 1946 to 1953. The Kommersant report noted that the reform would be costly and that simply paying compensation to employees unprepared to work in a new structure might cost tens of billions of rubles. There is speculation on social media that the possible creation of a powerful KGB-style agency indicates that Putin fears protests during the 2018 elections. Soldatov, however, said that serious reform might conversely spawn transitional chaos in security structures, with staff trying to hold onto their jobs rather than actually work. "To be honest, I don't understand why they would create this chaos ahead of an event like the 2018 election, which is crucial for the Kremlin. I have a feeling there is a desire to demonstrate the trend of strengthening the special services in order to calm the first man -- and that is all," Soldatov said in a reference to Putin. Galeotti also said the creation of a super security agency could pose dangers to Putin. He noted that in the Soviet period the Communist Party was careful to maintain control over the KGB. "You haven't got those institutions now. There will be nothing really significantly outside this ministry that Putin can use, short of the army, to actually control the ministry," Galeotti said. "Secondly, one of Putin's biggest problems at the moment is that essentially people tell him what he wants to hear. And I think the more you narrow the range of agencies providing information for Putin, the more the politicization of intelligence is going to be a problem." With reporting by Lyubov Chizhova of RFE/RL's Russian Service Members of a Russian dissident art collective have been detained in Prague. A founding member of the group Voina (War), Oleg Vorotnikov, his wife and fellow activist, Natalya Sokol, and their daughter were detained on September 18. Sokol, who along with her daughter was released on September 19, told RFE/RL that her husband remained in custody and could face extradition to Russia. There was no immediate comment from Czech authorities. The couple fled Russia in 2011 for Europe after Russian authorities launched investigations against them, defining one of their latest public actions as hooliganism. Both are wanted in Russia. They have lived in several European countries since then but failed to get political asylum in any of them. Voina became famous across Russia and beyond for stunts like painting a giant phallus on a drawbridge facing the St. Petersburg headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and overturning police cars. ON MY MIND Somehow, I don't think it is an accident that the day after United Russia won a record number of seats in the State Duma, amid a record low turnout, media reports surfaced that the Kremlin is planning to create a new super ministry called the Ministry of State Security -- or MGB. If that sounds ominous, it is because it is. According to a report in Kommersant (featured below), it would absorb most of Russia's intelligence and security services and look ominously like the old Soviet KGB. One-party rule and a new KGB. Hmmm. What does that look like? As Steve Gutterman and I discuss on this week's Power Vertical Briefing (featured below), I think the low turnout in the election, the supermajority that United Russia secured, and the specter of a revival of the KGB are related. And as I noted on The Daily Vertical (featured below), Vladimir Putin appears to be moving away from electoral authoritarianism and toward plain old authoritarianism. IN THE NEWS With 93 percent of the vote from Russias State Duma elections counted, official results show the governing United Russia party on track to win more than 300 of the 450 legislative seats -- enough to secure a two-thirds constitutional majority in the lower chamber of parliament. Partial results show that the leader of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is leading with more than 97 percent of the vote in the September 18 election of the regional head. Right-wing protesters scuffled with police in Kyiv as dozens rallied outside the Russian Embassy, where a polling station was set up for Russian citizens to vote in their country's parliamentary elections. Russia's Foreign Ministry has responded angrily to U.S.-led air strikes on Syrian Army forces, calling them "on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance" with Islamic State militants. Tensions between Russian and U.S. diplomats have spilled over at the United Nations Security Council after Russian officials demanded to know whether the United States intentionally supported Islamic State (IS) militants with air strikes that hit Syrian government troops. LATEST POWER VERTICAL PODCAST In case you missed it, on the most recent Power Vertical Podcast, I previewed the weekend elections with Mark Galeotti of the Institute of International Relations in Prague and Anna Arutunyan, author of the book The Putin Mystique. FACEBOOK LIVE After the vote on Sunday, I hosted a Facebook Live show with Galeotti and Andrey Cherkasov of RFE/RL's Russian-language television program Current Time in which we analyzed the results. NEW POWER VERTICAL BRIEFING And on today's Power Vertical Briefing, I discuss the results of the election with RFE/RL senior editor Steve Gutterman. Also on The Briefing, we discuss reports that the Kremlin is planning to create a new Ministry of State Security that looks suspiciously like the Soviet KGB. WHAT I'M READING The Return Of The KGB? Kommersant has a report on Kremlin plans to establish a new Ministry of State Security that would assume many of the functions of the Soviet KGB. According to the report, the new ministry -- the MGB -- would be established on the basis of the FSB and would absorb the SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service, as well as the Federal Protection Service. It would also have procedural oversight over the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry. Election Postmortems Slon.ru summarizes the results of the State Duma elections in a series of useful infographics. Dozhd TV also gives its main takeaways and compares turnout to previous State Duma elections. And Meduza also offers its key takeaways. The Legitimacy Question The European Values think tank is circulating a petition calling on democratic parliaments to cease all cooperation with the Russian State Duma because some of its members were elected from the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine's parliament, meanwhile, is considering a resolution calling on the United Nations and the OSCE not to recognize the Russian State Duma because some of its members were elected from the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Hiring The Hackers According to a report in Vedomosti, Roskomnadzor, Russia's main media regulator, is seeking to hire "programmers with the skills to bypass computer security systems" -- in other words, hackers. The Odesa Smoking Gun A new film produced by journalists in Odesa alleges that Russia was behind both recent disturbances in the city and the May 2014 clashes, in which 14 people died. The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group also has a write-up of the film, summarizing and contextualizing its main findings. Uzbekistan has withdrawn its police and border guards from a disputed part of the border with Kyrgyzstan after they were deployed to the area almost a month ago. Kyrgyz Border Guarding Services say the Uzbek security forces on September 18 left the Unkur-Too Mountain, which is located in disputed territory along the border between the two Central Asian nations. According to the Border Guarding Services, Uzbek forces were withdrawn following talks between Uzbek and Kyrgyz officials. On August 22, Uzbek police officers were deployed by helicopters to Unkur-Too, the site of a Kyrgyz radio and television transmitter, and detained four Kyrgyz nationals, claiming that they were illegally on Uzbek territory. The four Kyrgyz men were released and returned home on September 8. About 300 of the 1,000-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Uzbek border has remained in dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Chesterfield County school officials say their decision to outsource custodial services for most of the countys 62 schools has produced $7.1 million in savings thats being sent toward classroom instruction. The School Boards decision to outsource the work two years ago sparked controversy over complaints of insubordination, poor management, and a general unwillingness to clean school facilities on the part of the private contractor that took over for school janitors. But because of the significant savings, reversing the decision would be impractical, Superintendent James F. Lane said after a presentation by the divisions finance department at last weeks School Board meeting. With the money we saved, it would be very difficult for us to ever consider stepping back from that, Lane said. He added that the division will focus on making the process as effective as possible to make sure we are getting the best out of the vendor that we have hired. The school systems overall operating budget for 2016-17 is $597.4 million. Hoping to save $1.5 million in the 2014-15 school year by laying off school janitors and replacing them with a private contractor, the School Board hired Richmond-based GCA Service Group to begin the eight-school pilot program. But the divisions experiment generated nearly 200 complaints from teachers and principals that year alone. In one case, a woman who did not work for the company returned a full set of school keys to Lloyd C. Bird High School because she said the custodian who worked for GCA had been thrown in jail, according to a complaint. GCA was paid $1.64 million for the first 12 months that it handled the divisions custodial services. The Chesterfield Education Association, which represents 1,700 teachers in the county, has opposed the outsourcing and says it believes schools and students are served best when all staff members are employees of the school system. Schools spokesman Tim Bullis said in an interview that although the number of complaints appeared high, the division had not documented complaints before the change. Some people were quick to judge that we have a lot of problems, but we cannot say that this is the case because we did not have that kind of baseline data before, he said. For the second year, the division changed vendors and awarded the contract to Knoxville, Tenn.-based SSC Service Solutions, which has had an agreement with Virginia Commonwealth University since 1994. The new contract expanded the program from eight to 41 schools; the remaining 21 schools are included this year. The school system has not yet assessed the number of complaints about SSC to compare it with the number of complaints about GCA. Christopher A. Sorensen, assistant superintendent for business and finance, said the School Board is very involved in the process, making sure to keep the number of complaints to a minimum. Our facilities department is always working with the vendor, constantly exchanging data, Sorensen said. Its the second year of a huge contract. They come in and learn about our buildings; its not something that you learn overnight. But operations-wise, the same services are being provided to the schools. About 500 custodians employed by SSC currently work in the school system. Many of them are the countys former employees. Just nine are still employed by the school system until their retirements in 2020 and 2021. Halfway through the process, the School Board grandfathered in those close to retirement. We didnt want to leave people without jobs, Sorensen said. School officials initially projected that the division would save $7.5 million over three years. But keeping the nine workers employed by the school system will cost about $400,000 between now and 2021. The school system decided to account for the $400,000 cost now. Virginia lawmakers are concerned that Petersburgs fiscal crisis could create a precedent for ailing localities to seek bailouts from the state. Following a report by state Secretary of Finance Richard D. Ric Brown on the citys struggle to regain its financial footing, members of the House of Delegates Appropriations Committee on Monday were left wondering about what measures they should take to protect the state and how Petersburg slipped into its $19 million hole in the first place. I just hope we are not heading down this road where we are digging the state into a hole, said Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta, chairman of a newly formed task force studying the impact of fiscally stressed localities on the state and how to deal with such situations. Landes said that as far as he knows, Petersburg has not asked the state for financial help during the crisis. Brown briefed the panel on the work of his team of auditors after a 45-day review of the citys books. The auditors identified a projected $12 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year and found that by June 30, Petersburg had owed $18.8 million in bills, of which $14.7 million were mostly unpaid obligations to external entities such as contractors, vendors and a state agency. It is unlikely the citys debt has changed much since that assessment, Brown said, because there were checks in the drawer that were cut and not sent. He also alerted the committee to a looming Oct. 1 payment deadline for $1.4 million owed to the Virginia Resources Authority, a premier funding source for local government infrastructure financing through bond and loan programs. This is a principal-and-interest payment, Brown said in an interview after the meeting, adding that he would have to take certain steps to intercept aid from the state to Petersburg to make sure those payments are made. In many cases for the city, that would make matters a lot worse for them, Brown said. The state has never had to do that with our localities, so I think that this is a precedent that nobody really wants. That is why it is important for us to not even have to go there. Brown assured the committee that his department has provided only technical assistance to the city, but some lawmakers believe the states aid doesnt stop there. You mentioned that we are not providing any direct financial assistance, but indirectly we are, Landes told Brown. Your time, your staffs time and all these state agencies that are helping them move forward, it cost the commonwealth money. Other localities have gotten into difficulties, and I dont recall that we provided this kind of involvement, Landes said. We are trying to help Petersburg on the school end, providing additional resources for their school system, and if they cant pay their bills, how are they going to pay their superintendent? Petersburgs school system has received several state grants for some of its challenged schools, and the state has contributed about $200,000 to the hiring of Superintendent Marcus Newsome this year. Committee Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, said that although he agreed with Browns decision to intervene, he was concerned about Petersburgs outstanding obligations to the Virginia Resources Authority. We got to figure out what change we need to make from a states perspective; we need to protect ourselves, Jones said. VRA debt can be an issue that can affect our bottom line. We cannot allow that to occur. Its very distressing when you see what has occurred, and hopefully (the city) will continue to try to in a very straightforward way to deal with the issues. Brown responded that we wrestle with it, too, but ultimately the state is tied to the city in terms of some of the debt obligations. We can run, but we cant hide from that. From my standpoint, it is better to be involved and help them over that hump, he said. I have no intention to stay there long-term, but the consequences for the commonwealth by not being involved, at this stage in the game with this critical Oct. 1 time frame on debt, is probably much worse than being involved. Brown said that he cant recall, at least in his tenure as the secretary of finance, that we had a situation like this. Del. Riley E. Ingram, R-Hopewell, said that when he was mayor of Hopewell, City Council members there always knew where we were financially. I dont understand how Petersburg got in this position and no one has been able to tell me how they were able to spend money that they dont have, he said. I think it would set a bad precedent if the state helps the city financially. I dont know how they will get out of it. Ingram then referred to news reports about an email by Petersburg Mayor W. Howard Myers to other council members in which he claimed that attacks on him are politically motivated and come from racist and Republican supporters. Im not racist at all, (but) can you tell me how racism and Republicans are the reason for this? Ingram asked. Three people were treated for injuries after a fight broke out during lunch hour Monday at a Golden Corral restaurant in Henrico County. Police were called at about 12:20 p.m. for a reported assault at the eatery on Gaskins Road near West Broad Street. Henrico police Lt. Chris Garrett said the incident is under investigation and that charges are anticipated against one person. The Richmond City Planning Commission deadlocked Monday over a plan to improve water quality in Reedy Creek after vocal opposition from neighborhood residents. The commission was considering an ordinance that would allow the city to accept a $635,000 grant from the state to help fund the project, which the city says will reduce pollutants flowing to the Chesapeake Bay but result in the removal of more than 400 trees around the stream. The commission voted 4-4 on the measure, which means it will move to City Council for a final vote Monday without a recommendation for either approval or rejection. About 15 people spoke against the project, including two sitting City Council members, Jon Baliles and Parker Agelasto. We dont understand why removing 7.4 acres of trees around that creek is going to help the environment, said Emily Faye, who lives near the creek. Another neighbor, Craig Curwood, called the area a little natural oasis for our neighborhood and said it would be ruined if the city proceeds with the restoration plan. Listen to the community because were really vocally against it, he said. The project centers around a wooded area behind George Wythe High School and between Westover Hills Boulevard and Roanoke Street. Neighbors questioned why an upstream portion of the creek that runs through concrete banks wouldnt be targeted first which moves water into the natural area at a high speed and is the likely cause of the erosion problems the stream restoration aims to fix. City officials said the trees that are removed to facilitate construction will all be replaced and that the project is needed to meet new federal cleanup rules that require the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that eventually end up in the bay. The project is among five stream restorations planned in Richmond to meet the first cleanup goals. Robert Steidel, who directs the citys Department of Public Utilities, said the section of the creek being targeted was chosen because the city owns the land in question, making it one of the most economical places to address. He said the upstream portion would require easements from private landowners and cost significantly more money and that water speed would be addressed as part of the restoration. The project has already been approved by the state Water Control Board and funding is included in the citys Capital Improvement Plan. Steidel said not moving forward with the project would expose the city to fines from the Environmental Protection Agency because the city otherwise would not meet their sediment and pollution reduction targets. Planning Commission members asked if the city could pursue an alternative project, but Steidel said theres not enough time at this point. President Barack Obama will visit Fort Lee today to meet with service members and the post community to thank them for their outstanding service to the nation, a White House official said. While at the installation in Prince George County the president will tape a CNN Town Hall meeting with Jake Tapper and take questions from the military community. Topic areas for the one-hour, 9 p.m. event will include veterans, national security and foreign policy issues impacting the U.S. military, according to CNN. The invitation-only event will not be open to the public, said Amy Perry, a spokeswoman for Fort Lee. The visit will be Obamas first to the installation as president. Fort Lee, home of the Combined Arms Support Command, is situated along the Tri-Cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights and Hopewell. The installation has seen a large population increase in recent years as part of military base closure and realignment. Fort Lee calls itself The Home of Army Sustainment, and has a primary mission as a focused training base for military supply, subsistence, maintenance, munitions, transportation and more. It trains as many as 70,000 troops a year, which makes Fort Lee the Armys third-largest training site, according to the installations website. Its daily population averages more than 26,000. Next year Fort Lee marks the 100th anniversary of its founding as Camp Lee during World War I. Fort Lee has seen its share of celebrity visitors over the years. For instance, in June 1994, Academy Award-winning actor Paul Newman peddled his Newmans Own products to Defense Commissary Agency officials at Fort Lee. Gov. Terry McAuliffe is proud to talk about sealing business deals over craft beer. Over the weekend, McAuliffe huddled with an important visitor over a different type of recreational substance. While meeting with country music legend Willie Nelson at a concert in Bristow, McAuliffe was photographed with a can of Willies Reserve, Nelsons brand of marijuana thats sold in Colorado and Washington but is unmistakably illegal in Virginia. Willie Nelsons wife, Annie Nelson, posted the photo on Twitter on Saturday night with the message UH-OH Trouble! McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the governor stopped by Nelsons bus while thanking several performers at Farm Aid 2016, an annual festival meant to benefit family farmers. Coy said McAuliffe, who opposes marijuana legalization, visited Nelson for 10 minutes or less and had no idea what else was on the bus. He was not and still is not aware of whatever was on the table or anywhere around him and wouldnt know marijuana or related paraphernalia if it walked up and shook his hand, Coy said. Hes cool, but hes not that cool. Annie Nelson, who directed her original tweet at McAuliffe and CNN commentator Paul Begala, said in a follow-up message: One of them did not imbibe-guess which one!!! Coy said McAuliffe has never touched a drug in his life. Nelsons publicist, Elaine Schock, said she could not comment Monday because Nelson was traveling and unreachable. Virginia is in the process of adopting regulations to allow limited production of cannabis oils for medical use by people who suffer from seizure disorders, but the state has not embraced recreational or medical marijuana. Broader legalization or decriminalization bills routinely die in the General Assembly. In 2015, there were 20,881 marijuana-related arrests in Virginia, according to the Virginia State Police annual crime report, making up 59.6 percent of the states total drug arrests. A study released last year by the pro-decriminalization Drug Policy Alliance found significant racial disparities in marijuana arrests, with African-Americans arrested at three times the rate of whites despite similar rates of marijuana use. Though Virginia has seen no major legalization push, McAuliffe has indicated in the past that he does not see minor marijuana possession as a disqualifier from public service. Last year, McAuliffe stuck up for former Roanoke City Councilman Court Rosen, who was facing a possession charge, according to the Roanoke Times. McAuliffe had appointed Rosen to the states Commonwealth Transportation Board, and the governor said he would not remove him over the marijuana charge. Still, the high-energy governor is on record saying hes never gotten high. Tim Kaines national call this year to make a college education more affordable clashes with his record when he was governor of Virginia, according to the Republican National Committee. Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, wrote a Sept. 12 op-ed in Time magazine touting proposals by Hillary Clinton, his running mate, to cut college costs. He said the tickets goal is to make a college education debt-free for everyone and tuition-free for in-state students from families who earn less than $125,000 a year. Republican Ed Gillespie has an early edge in the 2017 contest for governor, but many voters know too little about the candidates to offer an opinion, according to a new University of Mary Washington survey. In the four-way battle for the GOP nomination, 40 percent do not have a preference, according to a University of Mary Washington survey. Among those with a preference, 19 percent favored Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman who nearly knocked off Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. in 2014. Eleven percent backed state Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Va. Beach; 8 percent supported Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-1st and 6 percent backed Corey Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors who is chairman of Donald Trumps Virginia campaign. Gillespie ran a statewide race two years ago, so right now he is somewhat better known around the state, said Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of political science at UMW and director of the University Center for Leadership and Media Studies, which sponsored the survey. The candidates for governor in both major parties remain largely unknown quantities to the electorate. For example, 16 percent had a favorable opinion of Gillespie, 10 percent had an unfavorable opinion and 71 percent did not know enough about him to offer an opinion. Six percent had a positive opinion of Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and 4 percent a negative opinion, but 86 percent did not know enough about Northam to state an opinion. Among likely voters, in a potential head-to-head match-up, Gillespie received 43 percent to 36 percent for Northam. The survey of 1,006 Virginia adults was conducted Sept. 6-12. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points for the full sample, and plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for results based on likely voters. The Times-Dispatch invited all eight Richmond mayoral candidates to the Library of Virginia Thursday evening for a debate that featured an overflow crowd, some unusual questions and more than a little insight into the state of the race. All eight were gracious enough to accept our invitation to the event which was our 66th Public Square and each responded with serious, civil performances under the bright lights. All in all, this is an impressive field of candidates. RTD journalists Andrew Cain and Michael Martz asked the first round of queries a different, specific question for each candidate. The contenders were next given an opportunity to pose a question to one fellow candidate. Jon Baliles and Joe Morrissey directed questions to Levar Stoney. Stoney queried Jack Berry. Michelle Mosby posed her question to Baliles, and Berry asked one of Mosby. The choices suggest who the leading contenders might see as their prime rivals for certain votes. Members of the audience also contributed solid questions, which were funneled to our panel of journalists. Publisher Tom Silvestri was the moderator. You can watch the debate on Richmond.com, and next Sundays Commentary section will include a transcript, largely unedited. The debate brought no great surprises from the candidates and provided no clear winner. But over the course of two hours, the prospective mayors gave clear indications of their philosophies, their concerns, their priorities and their personalities. Stoney is a gifted young man, who communicates clearly and with a purpose. Morrissey is a skilled politician, with a trial lawyers talent for making the strong point. Mosby understands the workings of City Hall and exudes a winning persona. Baliles is a thinking man, subtle and often original. Bruce Tyler, Lawrence Williams and Bobby BJ Junes are working hard to win support for their campaigns. While the debate crowned no champion, Jack Berry may have made the sharpest impression. Earlier this year, Gov. Terry McAuliffe admirably defended the rights of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and others by signing legislation that restored Virginias concealed carry reciprocity with 25 states. This allowed millions of law-abiding gun owners to travel safely in and out of the commonwealth while ensuring the rights of Virginians are recognized in states that have concealed carry reciprocity agreements. In doing so, McAuliffe reversed the executive actions of Attorney General Mark Herring that would have severely curtailed Virginians Second Amendment rights while also withstanding pressure from the anti-Second Amendment lobby, which is funded in large part by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The governors actions were commendable and rightly applauded by those who care deeply about protecting the Second Amendment. Thats why its been disappointing in recent months to see McAuliffe take steps backward by issuing an executive order immediately banning openly carried firearms in state office buildings and seeking to extend that ban to concealed firearms as well. It shouldnt surprise anyone that thousands of Virginians and Second Amendment supporters across the country have voiced their opposition to this edict and are seeking the restoration of their Second Amendment rights. Law-abiding Virginians have the right to self-defense particularly in high-profile buildings that could well be targets for terrorists. Study after study has shown that concealed carry permit-holders are among the most law-abiding citizens in our society. They have filed the proper paperwork, completed the required coursework and sought out the training necessary for effective self-defense. Criminals dont do any of that. Thats why its not a coincidence that cities like Chicago which have some of the most restrictive gun rights laws in the country also have some of the highest crime rates because the only armed individuals are the criminals. And that is what is especially troubling with McAuliffes effort to strip law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves in state office buildings. In doing so, hes advertising to evil-doers that these buildings are soft targets where citizens will not have the ability to fight back. Frankly, thats why many of us in the Second Amendment community encourage concealed carry rather than open carry: It offers a tactical advantage and gives gun owners peace of mind to know they can effectively defend themselves if necessary. Lastly, the governors executive order should particularly alarm women and minorities. A recent study by the Crime Prevention Research Center found that over the past four years the number of women with concealed carry permits has increased twice as quickly as the number of men with permits, while permit-holding is increasing about 75 percent more quickly among minorities than among whites. McAuliffe is essentially forcing these Americans to check their Second Amendment rights at the door when entering state office buildings, while ensuring the only ones armed are the criminals. The Virginia Department of General Services is currently receiving public comments until October 2 on extending the governors anti-Second Amendment executive order to include concealed carry firearms as well. For Virginians who believe deeply in the Second Amendment and the right to self-defense, now is the time to make your voices heard. We hope the governor will reconsider his effort to limit concealed carry rights. When Donald Trump unveiled his child-care proposal last week, he made a claim that seemed absurd on its face. He said Hillary Clinton has no child-care plan. He repeated the charge on his website, carping that Clinton claims she wants to cap a familys child care expense at 10 percent of income, but provides no details. Journalists and Clinton sympathizers called the statement crazy, noting that Clinton released a bold, detailed policy ages ago. The Clinton campaign likewise tweeted a snarky retort to the accusation that she had no plan, saying: Its literally right here, with a link to her website. But if you click that link, youll discover that Trump is ... not wrong. Hey, every once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut. Befuddlingly, Clinton hasnt ever explained how shed achieve her breathlessly praised promise to cap child-care expenses at 10 percent of family income. Shes merely declared she would, somehow. Precise plan TBD. Its like promising to cure cancer by curing cancer, or to reduce the deficit by reducing the deficit, or to ahem destroy the Islamic State by destroying the Islamic State. (Maybe she has a secret plan she doesnt want the enemy to know.) This should have been a slam-dunk for Clinton. She has fought on behalf of children her entire career, as she frequently reminds voters. Helping working mothers is one of her signature issues. And shes supposed to be the policy wonk in the race, the one who sweats the specifics because they matter, whose math adds up. Clinton first made this very-precise-sounding 10 percent pledge in May. At the time, she said only that the 10 percent cap would be realized by significantly increasing the federal governments investment in child care subsidies and providing tax relief for the cost of child care to working families. Details about what the mix of subsidies and tax cuts would look like would come later, her campaign said. For months, whenever I asked for those details, I was again told later. Wednesday, in my most recent conversation with campaign aides, I was informed that the 10 percent was not an explicit hard cap but rather a general goal that could be achieved through other policies Clinton has laid out. These include paid family leave, universal pre-K, and scholarships for student-parents (who, while a worthy population, hardly constitute all parents struggling with child care). Of course, Clinton proposed those ideas back in May. If they were sufficient to reach that 10 percent goal, why did the campaign say then that details of the 10 percent plan would arrive later, I asked? The campaign then referred me to some of Clintons more recent, still-vague comments about expanding the child-care tax credit and state block grants for child care. But again, it provided no details or numbers that would enable anyone to check whether the 10 percent goal was successfully achieved; how much the plan would cost; how it would be paid for; or whether it would be a big giveaway to rich people (often a risk with subsidies administered through the tax code, which Clintons plan may or may not be). Maybe it sounds persnickety to ask for details. But even the chronically policy-averse Trump has managed to release details of his child-care proposals, which rely exclusively on tax breaks. In fact, those details are how we know Trumps plan is bad. We can tell from what hes released, for example, that his policy will primarily help the rich, despite his claims to the contrary. And we can tell that his way of paying for the tax breaks additional economic growth is fantasy. Goals are easy. Figuring out how to achieve them is hard. But thats supposed to be the part Clinton really digs. Or, rather, sweats. For all the complaints that Trump is graded on a curve and Clinton held to a higher standard, its unclear why shes been able to get away with never substantiating her widely publicized promise, and why its enjoyed so much eager praise. Maybe weve let her skate because on so many other issues she has released detailed, thoughtful white papers. Maybe everyone reflexively assumes that on child care, a signature campaign issue, there must be a densely footnoted white paper hiding out somewhere, too. Here, shes been given benefit of the doubt that wouldnt be afforded Trump, because hes previously expressed disdain for policy specifics. Strange to see the candidates reading from each others scripts. CHECKED your lottery numbers every week? If not, you could be in line for a 50,000 windfall. The National Lottery has revealed there is an unclaimed prize of 50,000 due to someone who bought a ticket in the Rotherham borough. It relates to the extra Lotto Medal Draw on Saturday, August 27, which was linked to the Olympics. Players are being urged to double-check their unique Lotto Raffle code for the chance to bank the bumper prize. For every Lotto line played, players automatically received a Lotto raffle code printed on their ticket. The winning code on August 27 for this prize was GREY 1431 4050 and the ticket holder has until 23 February, 2017, to claim their winnings. If no-one comes forward with the winning ticket before the prize claim deadline, the prize money and any interest it has generated will go to help National Lottery-funded projects across the UK. Andy Carter, senior winners advisor at The National Lottery, said: This was a special draw to celebrate Team GBs success in Rio and to thank players for all the support they have given athletes by playing the Lottery. Were encouraging all players who bought a ticket for the Lotto Medal Draw in Rotherham to check their old tickets again or look anywhere a missing ticket could be hiding. We have the champagne and big cheque on standby - all we need is the lucky winner to come forward to claim their prize. Anyone who has any queries or who believes they have the winning ticket for any of the National Lottery draws within the 180-day deadline should call the National Lottery Line on 0844 338 7551 or email help@national-lottery.co.uk. RESIDENTS and businesses are being asked to have their say on the future of Supertram to help shape long-term plans for the system. South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) is holding a public consultation until October 30 to find out what people think about Supertram, how the network could be developed or improved, and how services could fit with other transport. Consultation feedback will help transport leaders draft an investment strategy that will seek Government funding to prepare Supertram for the future, and allow services to operate for another 30 years. SYPTE executive director, Stephen Edwards, said: Supertram supports Sheffield's modern identity and has connected people to jobs, education and leisure in the city centre and beyond for over 21 years. Whilst we continue to make significant investment in the network, parts of the system are coming to the end of their working life and the time is right for us to consider how Supertram can best support the evolving needs of the region. SYPTE's current concession agreement for Supertrams services is ready for renewal in March 2024. So it is time for us to start putting plans in place to make sure Supertram is fit for the future. The important views of residents and businesses across Sheffield City Region will help to shape our investment strategy to prepare the network for its next chapter. People can have their say on the future of Supertram by completing a short survey online at travelsouthyorkshire.com/tramfuture or by collecting a form from an Interchange Customer Service desk. Recently, the EPL Alliance and Diamond and Jewelry Manufacturers Guild of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) backed ALROSA in the press, welcoming its position in support of Russias diamond-cutting businesses in view of the abolition of the 6.5% export duty on diamonds. Tatiana Kyrbasova, Executive Director of the Diamond and Jewelry Manufacturers Guild of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and Member of the EPL Alliance, has agreed to comment on the position of the Guild and EPL Alliance and answered the questions from Rough & Polished. What is the abolition of export duty for diamond miners and for diamond manufacturers? First of all, it means that the diamond miner proper, ALROSA, will have higher competitiveness in the world market. Many do not understand that the global rough diamond market has changed dramatically becoming competitive. Starting from September 1, 2016, ALROSA has a chance to do business on a level playing field with other competitors: De Beers, Rio Tinto, Canada-based companies and a host of other smaller firms. It makes us happy. What was the attitude of Yakutias diamond manufacturers to the statement of ALROSA that it was ready to share with them some part of its revenue from zeroing export duties? From the very start, we viewed this position as "a step of good will" on the part of the company. We believe that ALROSA could use these funds for its own needs - for the development of underground mines and other geological workings. The Mirny City is located in Yakutia, and we, the population of this republic, were shocked by the news of the collapse of underground workings resulting in human victims one year ago. In this situation, it would be more logical and understandable to strengthen security measures for labor protection at the companys mining divisions or to improve the conditions of workers life in the Far North, to build kindergartens, schools and so on. Finally, it would be good to use these funds to implement the program aimed at resettling ALROSAs veterans to cities in the central part of Russia. After all, the miners have deserved it! Again, it is important to note the changing realities of ALROSAs operation in the rough diamond market, which, in the same way as the polished diamond and jewelry market, has become competitive. This means that any additional burden for the company operating in a competitive environment may lead to deterioration of its position on the market and even to eventual losing this position in the future. In this regard, the call to expropriate the "excess money" seems shortsighted and incompetent. We believe that if the company will feel itself well, sooner or later this will be projected onto the company's customer policy. However, not all Russian diamond manufacturers have accepted the proposal made by ALROSA unequivocally, havent they? Yes, recently the management of Smolensk-based Kristall voiced their position saying how ALROSA should help the diamond cutting industry. In the opinion of Maxim Shkadov, CEO of Kristall, one of the key measures of state support is "to ensure the priority right to purchase rough from ALROSA," as well as some others. It sounds strange, since all the fuss about another round of state support began in connection with Russias entry into the WTO, and the proposal on the "priority right for purchases" is a serious violation of the WTO rules and antitrust laws. Isnt Kristall a true diamond manufacturer interested in the same things? We believe that true diamond manufacturers are those who operate in a true market environment and who are self-sufficient in terms of liability, risks and so on, who do not hope for any aid from the state. As for Kristall, the essence of their proposals boils down to manufacturing polished diamonds from rough given by the state using federal budget funds and then deliver resulting goods to Gokhran. This is a complete anachronism, having nothing to do with the market. In fact, ALROSA has recently taken significant steps to support true diamond manufacturers. First of all, it is the transition to rough supplies based on the ordering procedure, which is improving from year to year. We regard this as assortment assistance. And now the company is ready to give partial payment installments for purchased goods! This is a real support for true diamond manufacturers. There are many who believe that the State should support Russian diamond cutters and jewelers. But in what way? The main thing we want from our dear State is to create normal working conditions for diamond and jewelry manufacturing industry - such that we can compete with foreign companies in the world markets. This is all the more important that the country's leadership has announced a priority to support non-oil exports. The package of rulemaking proposals initiated, among others, by our Diamond and Jewelry Manufacturers Guild is in the works at the Ministry of Finance. Vasily Vlasov, President of the Guild, is a member of the Working Group established by the Ministry of Finance under the leadership of Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev. I think that the most important part of the whole package is the proposal to zero the VAT on purchases of raw materials within the country and making customs procedures easier. As for direct cash infusions into the sector, the history of the diamond cutting industry in this republic and in the country as a whole proves that the effect is more often negative rather than positive. Lets call a spade a spade: unearned, "freebee" money has never brought good and never contributed to the development of any business, but, on the contrary, only slowed the whole thing down. The so-called "freebee" has always resulted only in dissolving the diamond manufacturing industry making it roll back in its development, as there was always a corruption-factor leading to total criminalization of the situation. This is proved by the story of the parastatal Tuymaada Diamond company, which was lavishly anointed with all sorts of benefits and preferences from the Republic of Sakha and ALROSA, as well as by the story of the municipal Nurba Jewelry and Diamond Manufacturing Factory, which left the entire population of the municipality without annual dividends, and by others. We must understand that not everyone can become a diamantaire, as well as not everyone is destined to become an Olympic champion. If you are not to be one, then no amount of money will help you! After all, not everyone can become another Usain Bolt! For example, even if you will invest billions of dollars into me, I am jolly-well sure to miss this opportunity! There is an opinion - at least I've heard it time and again - that there is impossible to survive in this industry without gray schemes and speculation on rough... Gray schemes and speculation undermine the stability of any market. I think that it is in fact the existence of this 6.5% customs duty was the reason for all sorts of abuse and the base for all kinds of gray schemes on the part of foreigners. This looks really surprising... From our point of view, the anxiety about the nearing death of the diamond and jewelry manufacturing industry in Russia is greatly exaggerated and far-fetched. Unfortunately, this anxiety is at times skillfully implanted in order to obtain state support in the form of irrevocable money, while simultaneously we see gray schemes being launched to 'split' this money between their participants, including government officials at various levels. All this we have already seen. At the same time, nothing of these amounts has ever reached true diamond and jewelry manufacturers. But something is surely changing for the better? Yes, Russia is developing as a legal state, where antitrust laws are being enforced, while all those crafty gray schemes and speculations in rough diamonds are left behind in yesterday. The cancellation of the export duty on diamonds is one more step leaving no ground for all sorts of "grey-scheme addicts." And finally, the time for subsidiaries of foreign companies operating under the guise of diamond-cutting factories is coming to an end, leaving in the market only those manufacturers, who are running real diamond-cutting business, having found their own niche and perfecting their skills. What are the specific consequences after the abolition of the 6.5% export duty? What are your predictions? During a quarter of a century, Yakutia witnessed the rise of businesses and entrepreneurs able to withstand competition from diamond manufacturers and jewelers in other countries. If the export duty of 6.5% will be abolished, then in Russia it will be profitable to cut rough diamonds 2-3 grainers in size and above. The manufacturing costs displayed by the members of the EPL Alliance suggest that there will be no decrease in diamond manufacturing in the new reality, while polished production is only projected to increase in the future. Of course, no one believed in the fairy tale that rough diamonds belonging to the +11 category and smaller may be profitable if cut on the territory of the CIS. It is $ 50 per carat in the CIS against $20-25 dollars per carat in India and China, which was due to the cheapness of life in these countries. Over the last year, the economic downturn led to the bankruptcy of such firms as ADAMAS, YASHMA and JAK. What kind of anti-crisis measure are taken by the EPL Alliance? Yes, a series of bankruptcies points to the market difficulties. Not everyone can survive in such conditions. The rough diamond market has become competitive like the polished diamond and jewelry markets. This downturn was expected and the consequences of joining the WTO have been long known. EPL took steps to counter the downturn before it started and due to this the EPL Alliance is now demonstrating growth, not stagnation. And it is primarily the merit of Peter Fedorov, CEO of EPL Group. Thanks to his entrepreneur expertise and experience and the ability to anticipate and respond to market fluctuations, EPL has always managed to overcome crisis situations. The Groups polished production is continuously going in line with the current market conditions. The Groups actions are aimed at strengthening the EPL's presence on the domestic market and abroad. Today, EPL is operating in 5 countries - Russia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Germany and Austria. The efforts of all members of the EPL Alliance are focused on import substitution on the one hand and on strengthening non-oil exports on the other hand, according to the strategy declared by the President of the Russian Federation. Please, tell us about the EPL Alliance, of which you are a member. The EPL Alliance is an association of independent entrepreneurs operating under a single brand of EPL. Currently, it involves 32 small and medium-size businesses and their strategic partner, which is the EPL Group of Companies. All the 32 members of the Alliance are small and medium-size businesses, which are based and pay taxes in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Last year, the EPL Alliance produced and sold more than RUB 4 billion worth of goods. In the near future, the Group plans to bring this figure to the level of RUB 10 billion and above. The most important thing is that with the creation of the Alliance the people, who dedicated their lives to the development of the diamond cutting and jewelry industry of Yakutia, got the chance to create their own businesses within the framework of EPL, the most successful jewelry brand. We know that you came to the diamond industry over 20 years ago and recently established your own business. How is it going? After 10 years of work at the National Diamond Center, I was the executive secretary of the Diamond Council at the President of Sakha (Yakutia) for over 10 years. It was only after 22 years that I got my own business at the intersection of jewelry and diamond manufacturing industries. Thanks to the EPL Alliance I have an opportunity to produce diamond jewelry of my own design. It turned out to be a very fascinating and exciting process! Now my goods are sold all over Russia at EPL boutiques and soon, I hope, they will be sold abroad. Galina Semyonova for Rough&Polished Diamcor more than doubles Q2 revenue Diamcor generated gross revenues of about $3 million from its operations in the interim period ended September 30, 2022, compared to $1,4 million for the same period in the previous year. The company is still conducting trial mining exercises at its... IBJA commits to Declaration of Responsibility & Sustainability Principles The Indian gold industry has signed a Declaration of Responsibility and Sustainability Principles, convened by the LBMA and the World Gold Council, which expresses a commitment to operate responsibly and sustainably, based on a clear set of shared goals... De Beers boosts Q3 output, maintains production guidance De Beers rough diamond production rose 4% to 9.6 million carats, mainly due to the treatment of higher grade ore at both Orapa in Botswana and South Africa as well as continued strong performance in Namibia, according to its parent company, Anglo... Hong Kongs major jewellery fairs are set to return in 2023 An announcement from Informa Markets Jewellery indicates that the industrys two biggest B2B sourcing events will be back in action in Hong Kong in 2023 following a three-year forced pandemic break. In an interview with the company's corporate magazine Yuri Okoemov, Vice-President of ALROSA said that the Russia-based diamond miner is currently developing a concept of marketing policy for the coming three-year sales period, which is being formulated taking into account the experience of the past three years and the changing external environment. "The main sales target for any major manufacturer is to sell its goods reaching maximum efficiency and top prices at the time of sale and in the medium term, Yuri Okoemov said. But speaking of our products, we must remember that ALROSA is one of the largest suppliers of rough diamonds in the world. The company's sales influence the global rough diamond market as a whole. Therefore, there are times when you have to adjust your goals in order to maintain stability in the global market sacrificing short-term profits for the sake of success in the long term." Noting that the glut of polished goods in 2015 led to lower prices for rough and polished diamonds, Yuri Okoemov said that decreased supplies of rough helped to overcome the stagnation in the market and last year retailers finally spent their excessive inventories. "This year, we have seen strong demand for most categories of diamonds. During the first half of this year the company sold goods worth $ 2.6 billion, and it is obvious that the year-end sales results will be significantly better than in 2015. This is a good example of how we can stabilize the situation on the market taking into account the market share we have," ALROSAs vice president said. Yuri Okoemov did not disclose any details of ALROSA's sales policy for the next three-year period, but noted that in the future the company expects "to maintain its share of sales under long-term contracts at a level of not less than 70%." Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow MTA Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) reopened two stationsthe Saratoga Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue 3 line stationsSept. 19 as the projects draw closer to completion. Both of the newly reopened stations had been shuttered for renewal work since early April in compliance with plans set forth in an $88 million capital project to renovate seven elevated 3 line stations on the New Lots Avenue Branch. Both stations saw structural enhancements including the installation of new columns, platform-rubbing boards and updated mezzanine floors. Remaining work entails the installation of new windows and a new exterior facade to the mezzanine, which will continue while passenger service moves forward, officials say. Governor [Andrew] Cuomos leadership has helped provide funding for the MTAs capital program, which helps fuel our station renewal program in Brooklyn and throughout our system, said NYCT President Veronique Ronnie Hakim. The completion of work at Saratoga Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue and planned work at other stations will provide a welcoming atmosphere for our customers, bringing seven stations that originally opened in the 1920s to a state of good repair. The stations also saw improvements such as the installation of new windscreens, platform lighting, benches, trash receptacles, guardrails and Americans with Disabilities Act-approved tactile warning strips on platforms. Both of the stations have been given a fresh coat of paint and the fare control areas were reorganized to allow for better accessibility and decreased congestion in the space. EE Cruz Company Inc.s construction contracts outline future station renewal work at Sutter Av-Rutland Rd, Saratoga Avenue, Rockaway Avenue, Junius Street, Pennsylvania Avenue and Van Siclen Avenue. Component repairs are set for completion at New Lots Avenue, and renewal work was completed in March at Rockaway Avenue and Van Siclen Avenue. Two upcoming station closures are set for renewal work along the New Lots Branch are Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road and Junius Street. Work is currently planned to begin at the stations on Oct. 3 with a five-month timeframe, finishing work in spring 2017. During this period, 3 trains and late night 4 trains will bypass Sutter Avenue-Rutland Road and Junius Street in both directions. House prices in majority of the Chinese cities increased in August, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. On a monthly basis, house prices climbed 64 cities out of 70 surveyed by the government. It fell in 4 cities and remained flat in 2 cities. The highest rise in house prices were noted in Zhengzhou, by 5.6 percent and the steepest declines were seen in Urumqi and Shaoguan, by 0.3 percent. Compared with the same month of last year, house prices grew in 62 cities out of the 70 cities in August, while it dropped in 6 cities. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. An explosion in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people on Saturday night. In another incident, a backpack that appeared to contain pipe bombs exploded early Monday in New Jersey as a police robot examined it. The blast was the second in New Jersey since Saturday morning. Near the boardwalk in Seaside Park, New Jersey, a garbage can exploded minutes before the Marine Corps charity run began. The officials are investigating the incidents. As per reports, five people were being questioned by the FBI early Monday, officials said. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly told that as per early indications, the explosion at 23rd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue in Manhattan was an intentional act. But, there's no specific and credible threat against New York City at this time from any terror organization, he added. Shortly after Saturday night's explosion, a second suspicious device was found a few blocks away on 27th Street. It was a pressure cooker, with dark-colored wiring sticking out, connected by silver duct tape to what appears to be a cellphone, the officials said. The device was sent to the NYPD Bomb Squad facility at Rodman's Neck Range in the Bronx. At both the sites, surveillance videos recorded the same suspicious person. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered for deployment of 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard members across the city. Security had already been tightened in the city for the U.N. General Assembly. Meanwhile, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the backpack with devices was found in a wastebasket outside a neighborhood pub, said the city's mayor Chris Bollwage. The FBI Newark tweeted that it was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices. Bomb technicians arrived on scene and a robot was sent to examine the devices. The device was detonated in a controlled setting, it is said. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Lannett Company, Inc. (LCI), a developer of generic pharmaceutical products, announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA recently completed a cGMP inspection of the company's manufacturing facility in Philadelphia. The FDA also completed inspections of two facilities located in Armenia: Darmantest Laboratory, the company's pharmacokinetic subsidiary, and Firmplace, a stability laboratory with which the company has a strategic relationship. The inspections concluded with two minor 483 observations at the company's facility in Philadelphia and zero observations at the laboratories in Armenia. Arthur Bedrosian, chief executive officer of Lannett, said, "At a time of particularly rigorous scrutiny by FDA, we achieved a trifecta of successful inspections at our facilities. Compliance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) provides confidence to our customers and, ultimately patients, that our products are manufactured under strict adherence to the highest level of quality standards." Bedrosian added that passing inspection at its overseas stability and bio-study laboratories is an important milestone. It paves the way to ramp up product development efforts at these locations and reduce certain R&D costs going forward. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Crude oil prices rose Monday morning amid signs the desperate Venezuela will compel its OPEC brothers and Iran to curb output in order to stabilize the market. "We had a long bilateral meeting with [Iran's president Hassan] Rouhani. We're close to a deal between OPEC producer countries and non-OPEC," Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told a news conference at the end of a a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. Crude oil for December was up 62 cents at $43.64 a barrel, rebounding from a monthly low. Fears of supply interruptions from Libya in the wake of violence near important oil fields also pushed prices higher. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Donald Trump, who was trailing Hillary Clinton in 13 battle ground States till last week in CBS News weekly tracking poll, has tied with his Democratic presidential rival in the latest poll results. CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker interviewed 4202 registered voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida,Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Both Clinton and Trump polled 42 percentage each. The Democratic presidential nominee was up one point against her Republican rival last week, and was up two points back on Labor Day weekend. Trump leads by a wide margin on being trusted to change Washington, the poll shows. Forty-seven percent trust Trump to do it, while only 20 percent trust that Clinton can do it. And among Democratic party supporters, only 47 percent trust Clinton to change Washington. Earlier in the year, Clinton had a clear lead in the opinion polls. As the election day approaches, polls have shown her lead waning, and the GOP nominee catching up with the former Secretary of State. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News At least 153 people have been killed and 133 others injured in a deadly stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district as huge crowds of partygoers, many in their 20s, converged in the enter... Army's heroes keep advances against Saudi aggression on various front lines SANAA, Sept. 19 (Saba) Heroes of the army and popular committees continued over the past 24 hours their advances against Saudi-paid mercenaries on various internal front lines and inside Saudi cities, a military official told Saba on Monday. On the internal front, the army and popular committees fighters broke an attempt advance by the mercenaries towards Serwah district of Mareb province, killing and injuring dozens, as well as destroying and burning an armored vehicle during the repulse operation. In southern Lahj province, the heroes fired Katyusha rockets against gatherings of mercenaries in Aleshash triangle, killing and injuring tens of them. In Jawf, the heroes attacked an armored and a pick-up vehicles, destroying them and killing a leading mercenary officer. The heroes fired artillery on a gathering of mercenaries in Sabreen area, killing scores. In Taiz, the troops fired missiles at a mercenary gathering in Dhubab, killing dozens and injuring others. The troops also failed an attempt of mercenaries to move forward towards western Mashraf of Wazi'eyah district, leaving a group of their died mercenaries behind them after they fled. Inside Saudi city of Jizan, the artillery force shelled Shabka sites, Kaim Zabid and Karis in Khuba region, also firing rockets targeting Saudi Rajla military camp in the region. Also inside Saudi city of Asir, the Rocket Battalion targeted gatherings of Saudi mercenary soldiers up to behind Alb crossing, killing dozens. MA SABA Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [19/September/2016] Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... By SA Commercial Prop News Commenting on the JSE listing event, Equites Property Fund CEO, Andrea Taverna-Turisan (right) said the fund was pleased to welcome its new institutional and private shareholders. Image gallery Western Cape-based property developer, Equites Property Fund listed on the local bourse on Wednesday, after completing the private placement of 65 million shares, raising about R650 million pool of capital investment. Equites listing, represents an expression of confidence in the ability of firms to raise capital via a JSE listing. It placed 65 million shares with a broad base of high quality investors at an issue price of R10 per share. The South African listed property sector has seen a number of listings in the last 3 years followed by a large degree of consolidation in the first five months of this year and recently more listings. Equites becomes the fifth property company to list this year and its listing came shortly after the JSE entry of Freedom Property Fund, Visual International Holdings, Safari Investments and Atlantic Leaf Properties. The Fund listed in the Industrial and Office REITs sector with symbol "EQU" and ISIN ZAE000188843. The Reit structure is replacing the sectors old property loan stock and property unit trust structures and creates a uniform tax dispensation for the sector. Equites Property Fund CEO, Andrea Tavern-Turisan said the company now has a significant pool of capital to unlock other opportunities that will invariably be presented to us as a result of our raised profile in the listed sector. "We have the opportunity to unlock 25 hectares of land and several other brownfield opportunities in the Western Cape market," he said. The listing, says Andrea Taverna-Turisan, means that the company can reduce its debt down to 3.5% and align its strategy of acquiring nine industrial properties valued at R442.3 million in the next two years. The group owns a portfolio of 17 industrial and office properties which has 124253m of rental space and is valued at R1.2 billion. The Johannesburg bourse is seeing healthy debut activity in its property sector. JSE is very happy to welcome another established property player on to the JSE, said Zeona Jacobs, Director Issuer and Investor Relations at the JSE. The company will announce its interim results in August 2014. Equites merger comprised of Johnny Cullum, Swish Property Group founded by Giancarlo Lanfranchi, Kevin Dreyer and Alex von Klopmans consortium and Chiluan Holdings founded by Taverna-Turisan. A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the Grocery delivery startup Instacart is doubling-down on its San Diego presence. Monday, the company is expanding its coverage area to include the citys coastal towns, ranging from Point Loma and Ocean Beach all the way up to Torrey Pines. Founded in San Francisco in 2012, Instacart lets people skip a trip to the store and outsource the errand to a stranger, with orders placed through a smartphone app and deliveries arriving in an hour or less. Here, the company is partnered with seven brand-name and local-only merchants, including Ralphs, Costco and Jimbos Naturally. The order-to-doorstep convenience costs users either $150 per year, or between $6 and $8 per delivery depending on order size. Advertisement Instacart first expanded to the San Diego area at the end of July with service limited to downtown and neighboring areas, initially targeting roughly 400,000 locals in dense, parking-challenged regions. Now, Instacart is branching out with an estimated reach of 800,000 people in the city. The expanded delivery zone now includes the following ZIP codes: 92111, 92122, 92092, 92093, 92123, 92124, 92109, 92117, 92120, 92107, 92037, and 92106. The companys increased availability could help it better compete with Amazon Fresh, the e-commerce giants same- and next-day grocery delivery product. Fresh, a perk that costs Prime members an extra $200 per year, is available to consumers across a larger portion of San Diego County. jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin Since the 1980s, Chile has been one of the worlds go-to sources of good-quality, value wines. And through September, Whole Foods is the go-to source in San Diego for bargain Chilean wines. Wait, Whole Foods and bargain in the same sentence? Yes, the high-end grocery chain seems an unlikely place to look for a good wine at a great price, but the shelves are often stocked with interesting, accessibly priced bottles. This month, nine wines from eight regions in Chile are being promoted, ranging from $7.99 to $19.99. Advertisement I tasted all nine at the Hillcrest store last week and came away impressed, yet again, with how varied the Chilean wine industry is and how uniformly drinkable its wines are at lower price points. Long (2,600-plus miles) and skinny (at its widest, only about 200 miles), Chile is blessed with many of the ideal conditions needed to grow good wine, including intense sun, especially in the higher-elevation Andes, cooling night-time air off the Pacific and plentiful snow-melt water for irrigation. The wines I tried, white and red, were loaded with fruit and nicely tempered by acidity. There wasnt much nuance there; complexity often comes at a price. I was skeptical of the $7.99 2014 Autoritas Valle Central pinot noir . You rarely come across a dirt-cheap for that varietal wine thats worth the glass its in. While it didnt have a ton of pinot character, there were nice cherry flavors, but then again, it was a $7.99 pinot. Better still was the 2014 Boya pinot from the Leyda Valley, which was earthy but had a fruity brightness and was just $14.99. To me, the two standouts of the tasting were, not surprisingly, both carmenere based. Chiles signature grape is akin to malbec in Argentina it works there in a way it doesnt practically anywhere else in the world. The 2013 Criterion from Colchagua Valley, in Chiles deep south, is rich, full-bodied and mesmerizing. At $13.99, it was a serious contender for my top pick. It got bested by the spicy berryliciousness of the 2014 Mayu Carmenere-Syrah, $12.99. With the supple tannins from the 55 percent carmenere and bold smokiness from the 45 percent syrah, the Mayu was 100 percent exciting, inky wine. Vicki Saldana, wine specialist at the Hillcrest store and one of Whole Foods many certified somms, rightfully suggested having this wine with anything youd throw on the grill. The grapes come from the dry desert of the northern Elqui Valley, a place where you can apparently see a zillion stars (Mayu is from the Incan word for the Milky Way). Id say this wine shines pretty bright. The bottles screwcap is an indicator that its meant to be enjoyed young. Is tonight too soon? Details: San Diego has four Whole Foods locations, Del Mar, Encinitas, Hillcrest and La Jolla. Prices shown are the sale price through September. The Encinitas store will hold a Chile tasting Sept. 17, from 4 to 7 p.m. RELATED An anonymous tip led Pomona police Monday to the driver who allegedly smashed into a man in a wheelchair and killed him before fleeing the scene. The crash occurred Sunday just after 11 p.m., when the man was crossing Holt Avenue. A 2004 Saab traveling east slammed into him, according to Sgt. Robert DeVee of the Pomona Police Department. Officers found the man, whose identity has not been released, suffering from injuries on a sidewalk in the 900 block of West Holt Avenue, police said. Paramedics pronounced him dead. Advertisement The four-door Saab with the California license plate 7SQJ485 left before officers arrived, police said. On Monday, an anonymous witness provided information that led to the alleged driver, Alejandro Ambriz, police said. Ambriz, who lacks a valid drivers license, obtained the Saab from the used car dealership where he works, police said. After the crash, Ambriz, 44, called a friend for help, and the car was taken to a nearby repair shop in Montclair, police said. A resident of Ontario, Ambriz was arrested about 2 p.m. and booked on felony counts of vehicular manslaughter and hit and run. Hes being held in a Pomona jail and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, according to jail records. An attorney for him could not be reached for comment. The collision was investigated by the Police Departments Major Accident Investigation Team. Anyone with details about the matter is urged to call the departments Traffic Services Bureau at (909) 620-2081. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter ALSO Police fatally shoot hatchet-wielding man near Burger King drive-through in Beaumont A mystery for police after 19-year-old Marine is shot in South L.A.: Hes fighting for his life More than 160 treated for mostly heat-related issues at L.A. Rams game UPDATES: 6:30 p.m.: This article has been updated with details on the arrest of the suspected driver. 9:45 a.m.: This article has been updated with details from police concerning the hit-and-run vehicle. This article was originally published at 6:30 a.m. The San Diego police officer who fatally shot to death an unarmed man in an alley in the Midway District last year was never asked about the shooting by the departments Internal Affairs division. Veteran Officer Neal Browder also said he wasnt tested for the presence of drugs or alcohol in his system after the shooting of Fridoon Nehad, 42. While that may be surprising, it is not unusual, according to experts in police practices. Homicide detectives interview officers involved in shootings, and those interviews are often relied on by Internal Affairs investigators for their reports. Advertisement And only two agencies in San Diego County routinely ask officers to provide a blood sample after a shooting an informal request officers dont have to comply with, according to a lawyer whose firm represents police labor unions around the county. Browders statements came in a July 12 deposition in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Nehads family against the city, the San Diego Police Department and Browder. It offers few new details about the controversial shooting of Nehad, whom Browder said he thought was armed with a knife, which turned out to be a shiny blue pen. Yet Browders answers do provide insight into how the Police Department internally handled the shooting, normally an area of policing that is hidden from public view. Nehad was shot to death when Browder encountered him around midnight on April 30, 2015. The officer was responding to a report of a man with a knife who had threatened people in the area. A video of the shooting recorded by a nearby security camera showed Nehad was shot about 45 seconds after Browder pulled into the alley in his marked patrol car without the light bar on. Lawyers for Nehads family estimate the officer was 25 feet away from the man when he shot him. SDPD Midway shooting video Browder said Nehad didnt obey commands to stop and he felt threatened. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis ruled Browder was justified in the shooting because he believed Nehad was an imminent threat to harm the officer and had not obeyed commands to stop. During the deposition, in answers to questions from John Miller, the Nehad familys lawyer, Browder said he was not disciplined over the shooting nor was he spoken to by any department official about his actions that night or by Internal Affairs investigators. In an officer shooting case, the main investigation is conducted by homicide detectives who interview witnesses, collect evidence and forward a report to prosecutors. Internal Affairs conducts a parallel investigation to determine if department policies were violated a different inquiry than the one by homicide investigators, who collect evidence to determine if any crime has been committed. In this case, five days after the shooting, Browder gave a lengthy interview to two homicide detectives, court records show. He told Miller that was it. Other than your interview by the homicide detectives, did you give any other interviews to the San Diego Police Department regarding the incident? Miller asked. Browder answered no. So Internal Affairs never interviewed you in connection with this incident? Miller asked. Again, Browder answered no. About a month after the shooting, and months before he was formally cleared by prosecutors, Browder said he was put back on patrol duty, told simply he was clear to to go back to patrol, according to court records. Jeffrey Noble, a former Irvine deputy police chief and an expert on police practices, said the fact that Internal Affairs investigators didnt interview Browder separately is troubling. Homicide investigators focus on whether the use of deadly force was criminal, while internal affairs investigators focus on training and policy issues and whether they were followed. These investigations are very different, Noble said. It tells me the department is turning a blind eye to training and policy issues. Rick Pinckard, a lawyer whose firm represents officers and police unions around San Diego County, said the actions by Internal Affairs revealed in the Browder deposition are not unusual and are seen in all law enforcement agencies in the county. Pinckard said internal affairs investigators can attend briefings by the homicide detectives, sit in on interviews, present their own questions and usually get a copy of the complete homicide investigation when it is done. Because of the depth of detail in the homicide investigation, it is typically unnecessary for IA to conduct a redundant interview, Pinckard said. But, if an administrative policy issue was not sufficiently addressed by the homicide investigators, IA can and will conduct a separate interview. He said San Diego police are in step with the prevailing practices of every other law enforcement agency in the county of not automatically conducting a separate Internal Affairs interview of an officer involved in a shooting. San Diego police spokesman Lt. Scott Wahl said the agency posts its officer-involved shooting review matrix on the departments website. Every OIS goes through a review/investigation by IA. Its a matter of timing in the sequence. IA reviews after Homicide and DA review, Wahl said in an email. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis guides the media through the surveillance video of the officer-involved shooting of Fridoon Nehad in the Midway District. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune ) A transcript of Browders interview with homicide detectives on May 5, 2015, shows that two homicide investigators, a lieutenant and a sergeant, attended, as did a lawyer for Browder. It doesnt indicate if Internal Affairs investigators sat in or asked any questions. The testimony about no one from Internal Affairs interviewing Browder relates to a key point in the lawsuit. Nehads family is alleging that the department has a long-standing practice of whitewashing officer-involved shootings and not disciplining officers or taking other actions. To prove that, the familys lawyers have asked for all records for fatal and non-fatal shootings by San Diego police for the past three years. That would include reports by the homicide investigators, as well as Internal Affairs reports. The city balked at turning over the records, contending it was irrelevant and would be time consuming. Lawyers for the city argued that the family should be required to pay the cost estimated at least at $12,000 for assembling the information and then redacting confidential private or legally privileged information from 15,000 documents, 403 compact discs and 217 DVDs. A judge rejected the citys arguments and ordered the information turned over. In the deposition, which the Voice of San Diego first reported about last month, Browder also was asked if he knew of any officers who San Diego police had been disciplined as a result of an officer-involved shooting in the past five years. He responded that he knew officers involved in five to 10 such shootings. None had been disciplined as far as he knew, he said. Browder also said he was not asked to give a blood or urine sample to test for drugs or alcohol. That also is not uncommon, said Pinckard, the lawyer who represents police unions and their members. He said that only the Escondido and Oceanside police departments ask for a blood draw from an officer involved in a shooting. Such testing ideally should be a routine part of any investigation when there is deadly use of force, said Noble, the former Irvine deputy police chief. Other public employees are subject to such testing. For example, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System follows federal guidelines for testing in the case of any accident involving a bus or trolley. Those guidelines call for testing in any fatal or non-fatal accident that causes disabling damage to a vehicle. After being placed back on duty, Browder was involved in another shooting incident on Feb. 20. During a probation check at an apartment, he discharged his firearm inside a bedroom, hitting a babys crib. No one was hurt, but after that he was assigned to administrative duties at the Field Training Office. Lawyers for the Nehad family wanted information on that shooting. The city opposed that request, saying it was unrelated to the lawsuit. But the Nehad familys lawyers, calling Browder a repeat offender, said it was needed to determine the extent to which SDPD has or has not improved its policies and practices as to the investigation of police shootings and the discipline of those involved. A judge ruled in favor of the city and said no records had to be turned over. CORRECTION: The initial story incorrectly reported the judge had not ruled on the request for documents related to the February 2016 shooting. It has been revised to reflect a ruling in favor of the city had been made. Twitter: @gregmoran greg.moran@sduniontribune.com San Diego officials are scrambling to close a loophole that jeopardizes the citys long-cherished 30-foot height limit for construction in coastal zones. The height limit prevents obstruction of views and many residents consider it an important tool to avoid intense development along the coast that can change community character. The Planning Commission is scheduled on Thursday to vote on municipal code amendments for the Point Loma area that would close the loophole there. Advertisement City officials say Ocean Beach and La Jolla already have regulations in place that make them invulnerable to the loophole. Pacific Beach and Mission Beach may still be vulnerable. But they have added height protection under the states Coastal Act, which covers only part of Point Loma. And city officials said they have prioritized updating regulations in Point Loma because of community outcry there over a recently approved project that would have been higher than 30 feet. We are trying to move as quickly as possible to get this to the Planning Commission and the City Council for adoption, Jack Straw, Mayor Kevin Faulconers director of land use and environmental policy, told Point Loma planners Thursday night. This will address the problem. We are confident this is the solution the community has asked for. The problem stems from unintentional leniency on how the heights of projects are measured in a 1972 citizens initiative that put the 30-foot maximum in place. The initiative, known as Proposition D, didnt prohibit developers from raising the ground level, or grade, before construction, and then using that higher grade to measure the height of the finished building. Opportunities for developers to take advantage of that leniency are relatively rare. Thats because the citys zoning code mirrors Proposition Ds 30-foot maximum in most neighborhoods, and the city code says height must be measured from whichever grade is lower, the one before construction or the one after. For example, no single-family residential areas within the coastal zone are vulnerable because they all have 30-foot height limits under the citys zoning code. And many areas zoned for condos and apartments also have 30-foot limits under the code. But some areas have 40-foot zoning limits for condos and apartments, allowing developers there to take advantage of the leniency in Proposition D to manipulate what defines ground level and build structures higher than 30 feet. Straw said amending Proposition D to eliminate its leniency would take a public vote, so the city decided the most efficient solution would be eliminating 40-foot height limit areas in the zoning code. Weve tried to do everything we can to put our heads together to see how we could address this problem as soon as possible, Straw told the Peninsula Community Planning Board. We are taking away that wiggle room. You cant use grade manipulation to increase your height. The Planning Board voted 11-1 on Thursday to endorse the change for the Point Loma area. Im convinced this is the exact fix that is needed, board member Jim Hare said. Point Loma residents became focused on the loophole this summer during construction of two duplexes at the corner of Emerson and Evergreen streets in the Roseville section of the community. The duplexes were approved with three stories above garages, or four total stories. Shortly after a community protest in late June that more than 200 people attended, the city halted construction of the project. Since then, the city and the developer have worked out a compromise where the top floor wont be built but the structure will include rooftop patios that exceed 30 feet. Don Sevrens, a member of the planning board, said on Friday that community residents are mostly satisfied with that outcome. Straw, the city official, said planners expect to make similar zoning code changes in other vulnerable neighborhoods in the future. He said Ocean Beach is essentially not vulnerable to the loophole because the floor-area ratios there are so strict that the only structure you could build above 30 feet would be a narrow tower. La Jolla is also in the clear, he said, because the community has a planned district ordinance that governs development. Parts of Mission Beach and Pacific Beach could be vulnerable. But not as vulnerable as the Roseville section of Point Loma, which isnt covered by the states Coastal Act. That act requires approval of projects by the Coastal Commission. If the zoning code changes for Point Loma are approved by the Planning Commission on Thursday, they will be submitted to the City Council for final approval, Straw said. The Defense Department will give Northrop Grumman San Diego at least $88 million to develop and test better computer systems for Navy warfighters, including the kind of software that detects and fights cyberattacks. The work will be performed over the next three years on behalf of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego, which covers everything from the control systems on warships to the intelligence and surveillance equipment on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Northrop has special expertise on intelligence and surveillance due to the work it does locally on Global Hawk, Triton and Fire Scout UAVs. The company also is well known in cybersecurity, an area of soaring concern to the Navy, which is regularly hit by hackers, including state sponsored adversaries in China, Russia and North Korea. Advertisement The Defense Department has said that warships are are broadly vulnerable to cyberattacks. The problem led the Navy to create the RHIMES system, a new effort to protect the electrical and mechanical systems of warships. San Diego is home to roughly 60 Navy warships, including two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and five nuclear-powered attack submarines. A bomb squad combed through a Metropolitan Transit System trailer parked near the Qualcomm Stadium trolley stop after a police dog zeroed in on the vehicle Sunday. Nothing dangerous was found. San Diego officers patrolling the stadium called for trailer to be searched after a police dog sniffed out a possible explosive inside about 1:45 p.m., authorities said. The Chargers were playing a home game at the time. Advertisement The bomb squad used keys provided by MTS workers to get inside and search the vehicle. Nothing dangerous was found and the area was deemed safe about 3:40 p.m. The surrounding area was cordoned off with caution tape while authorities investigated. karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com In February, the Legislature discussed putting a $9 billion school construction bond on the November ballot, saying many districts had major needs and that it was only appropriate for the state government to help out. Gov. Jerry Brown was quick to denounce the proposal, which eventually became Proposition 51. He said a first-come, first-serve approach helped wealthy districts with experienced staffs. Its a blunderbuss effort that promotes sprawl and squanders money that would be far better spent in low-income communities, Brown declared. Soon after, this editorial page agreed with Browns objections and added our own: The school bond process in California needs broad, fundamental reform. Rules against using 30-year borrowing for short-term needs have been eroded by school boards desperate to make ends meet. Theres also the emergence of what might be called the bond-industry complex companies which package and market bonds to districts and sometimes even handle financial details. This is a shady and dubious practice. It creates an internal culture that encourages school districts from Poway to the East Bay to be deceptive about the long-term costs of school bonds. Advertisement RELATED OP-EDS Yes on 51: San Diego County schools need state funds No on 51: State funding without reform Proposition 51 deserves a no vote for all these reasons and more. We need to fix our school bond problems, not accept a deeply flawed status quo. Editors note: A factual error was corrected at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 19. When this editorial board last commented on the California Public Utilities Commission, it was to lament the last-minute demise of the key CPUC reform bill embraced by Gov. Jerry Brown in June to slow the momentum that Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, had built for a radical plan to break up the states utilities regulator. AB 2903 would have required the agency to hire an ombudsman and an internal auditor and to disclose much more information about its decision-making, Though the bill passed the Assembly and a Senate committee without a single no vote, Senate Minority Leader Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, wouldnt grant the waiver it needed to get approval on the last night of the legislative session that ended last month. Fuller declined to explain her decision at the time. Since then, however, a tidier narrative has emerged from those close to the issue: Fuller and state Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, who kept AB 2903 on hold for months, had done favors for the governor, who never really liked the bill despite his protestations otherwise. Browns support for the CPUC status quo was already established through his October 2015 vetoes of six reform bills. Whatever our inscrutable governor thinks, the case for making the CPUC more transparent and accountable is as strong as ever. Its screw-ups have been immense. Consider these three debacles. The 2009 explosion in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno caused by poorly maintained gas lines that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes, which led to the conviction of Pacific Gas & Electric on six felony charges. The machinations in 2013-14 that led to a plan to saddle ratepayers with 70 percent of the $4.7 billion cost of closing the San Onofre nuclear plant, which prompted an ongoing criminal probe of former CPUC President Michael Peevey. The massive gas leak last fall and winter at the Porter Ranch gas storage area north of Los Angeles, which turned an affluent community into a ghost town. Advertisement Unfortunately, in a recent interview, Gatto didnt seem optimistic that the Legislature would take up his cause with particular enthusiasm after the termed-out legislator leaves office in coming months. But the good news is that he sees another way to force change on the CPUC. He said hes been approached by a wide variety of reform-minded groups and institutions about pursuing a 2018 ballot initiative to restructure the regulatory agency and to force it to stop being so chummy with the investor-owned utilities it regulates. His case would be strong, Gatto said, but there would be a lot of big money to fight it. We think the case for such a measure would be overwhelming at least if the extent of the CPUCs perfidy could be explained to enough voters. And Gatto may have a way to make that happen even without many deep-pockets donors: by enlisting the help of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the seeming early favorite in the 2018 governors race. Newsom hasnt had a high profile on CPUC matters so far. But as mayor of San Francisco in 2007-08, he forced changes on his citys Public Utilities Commission and it wasnt even wracked by scandals. If Proposition 63, the gun-control initiative championed by Newsom, passes in November, he may be looking for a 2018 ballot measure to add to his credibility as an agent of change. If any state government agency needs profound change, it is the California Public Utilities Commission. Heres hoping that Gatto and Newsom consider teaming to make that happen finally. RELATED TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Irans former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter on Monday to President Barack Obama, asking him to quickly fix a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing families of people killed in attacks linked to Iran to collect damages from some $2 billion in frozen assets. While writing that his letter is by no means of (a) political nature, Ahmadinejads message to Obama arrives amid swirling speculation that the hard-line politician may run as a candidate in Irans presidential election next year. It also comes as average Iranians largely have yet to see the benefits of Irans nuclear deal with world powers something a discontent Ahmadinejad and other hard-liners could mine in any potential campaign against moderates. Advertisement In the letter, posted on a website associated with the former presidents office, Ahmadinejad focuses on the Supreme Courts decision in April. The courts 6-2 ruling allows families of victims of the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and other attacks linked to Iran to collect monetary damages from Iran. At risk for Iran is $1.75 billion in bonds, plus accumulating interest, owned by Irans Bank Markazi and held by Citibank in New York. It is the clear expectation of the Iranian nation that the particular case of property seizure ... be quickly fixed by your excellency and that not only the Iranian nations rights be restored and the seized property released and returned, but also the damaged caused be fully compensated for, the letter said. I passionately advise you not to let the historical defamation and bitter incident be recorded under your name, Ahmadinejad added. Ahmadinejads letter was delivered to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which has overseen Americas interests in the country in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover. Embassy officials declined to comment. Its unclear what steps Ahmadinejad expects Obama to take. There was no immediate comment from the White House regarding the letter. The timing of the letter, however, is interesting as Ahmadinejads name continues to circulate as a possible challenger to moderate President Hassan Rouhani in Irans coming May 19 election. Rouhanis administration negotiated the nuclear accord, which put limits on Irans atomic program in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. While Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms, Iranian law calls only for a one-term cooling-off period before hes eligible to run again. How Iranians would react to another Ahmadinejad run, however, remains to be seen if and when it happens. Under his presidency, Iran found itself heavily sanctioned over the nuclear program as Ahmadinejad questioned the scale of the Holocaust and predicted the demise of Israel. His disputed 2009 re-election saw widespread protests and violence. Two of his former vice presidents have since been jailed for corruption. ___ Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. BERLIN (AP) Turkmenistan is discussing the possibility of giving foreign diplomats access to its prisons. Human rights groups say the authoritarian government is holding dozens of dissidents in its jails without contact to the outside world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting Turkmenistans leader in Berlin on Monday that it was desirable for diplomats to have access to prisons. Advertisement Merkel said she and President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov had agreed that foreign ministers would take up the issue. Berdymukhamedov said his country is working on a reform of its constitution, police and judicial system to ensure that everybodys dignity is preserved. He said the Central Asian nation is pursuing an open door policy. Your child is more than a score. Heres what one parent and researcher learned about the standardized assessments administered to students, teachers, and schools. Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join Our nations test obsession is making American schools into unhappy places. Benchmark, practice, field, and diagnostic exams are raising the total number of standardized tests up to an average of 133 by the 12th grade. Physical education, art, foreign languages, and other vital subjects are going on the block in favor of more drilling on core tested subjects. In one Florida high school, a student reported that her brand-new computer lab was in use 124 days out of the 180-day school year for testing and test prep. Like many other Gen X and Gen Y parents, Im committed to sending my daughter to a public school, both because private school would be a financial stretch for our family and because I have a strong personal belief in public schools as the building block of democracy. But I cant ignore what Ive been hearing. Parents are sending kids to public schools with high test scores and great reputations only to come up against an unyielding rigidity that I trace directly back to tests. In poorer districts, teaching to the test is even more likely to replace the other activities that students desperately need. The charter schools that are supposed to provide educational choice are captive to data-driven decision making that results in even more test score obsession to please lawmakers and private donors. Subscribe and get unlimited access to our online magazine archive. Subscribe Today The word of the day is anxiety. Here are some of the problems: 1) Were testing the wrong things. A flood of recent research has supported the idea that creative problem solving, oral and written communication skills, and critical thinking, plus social and emotional factors including grit, motivation, and the ability to collaborate, are just as important in determining success as traditional academics. All of these are largely outside the scope of most standardized tests, including the new Common Corealigned tests. Scores on state tests do not correlate with students ability to think. 2) Tests waste student time and taxpayer money. Not only do standardized tests address only a fraction of what students need to learn, were spending ages doing it. Time given to standardized tests includes practice tests, field tests, prep days, Saturday school, and workbooks for homework. Reports from across the country suggest that students spend about three days taking state tests in each of grades 3-10, but up to 25 percent of the school year engaged in testing and test prep. Thats the time factor. What about money? A 2012 report by the Brookings Institution found $669 million in direct annual spending on assessments in 45 states, or $27 per student. But thats just the beginning. The cost rises up to an estimated $1,100 per student when you add in the logistical and administrative overhead (e.g., the extra cost of paying teachers to administer the tests and offer help as students prepare for them). Many informed observers say that wed do better to have more expensive tests, and fewer of them. The reliance on multiple-choice tests is a very American obsession, says Dylan Wiliam, an expert on the use of assessments that improve classroom practice. We think nothing of spending $300-$400 on examining kids at the end of high school in England. Its a case of penny wise and pound foolish, critics like Wiliam say: You waste billions of dollars and untold hours by distorting the entire enterprise of school, preparing students to take crummy multiple-choice tests that cost only $25 to grade. 3) They are making students hate school. A little bit of stress can be healthy and motivational. Too much, or the wrong kind, can be damaging and toxic. When you put teachers and principals jobs on the line and turn up the heat on parents, students catch the anxiety like a bug. Its like burning thirsty plants under a magnifying glass in the hope that they will grow faster under scrutiny. Especially in the elementary grades, teachers and parents across the country report students throwing up, staying home with stomachaches, locking themselves in the bathroom, crying, having nightmares, and otherwise acting out on test days. 4) They are making teachers hate teaching. High-stakes standardized tests deprofessionalize teaching because they give outside authorities the final say on how teachers should do their jobs. The testing company determines the quality of teachers performance. In judging students progress, the law gives test scores more weight than the observations of people who spend time with the kids every day. How do you judge a teacher based on their students test scores? Not very well. Obviously, you cant take a teacher whose students are the children of Hispanic migrant workers and simply compare their test scores with those of the teacher teaching the rich kids up the hill to figure out who is a better teacher. In a 2011 paper, Getting Teacher Evaluation Right, Stanford researcher Linda Darling-Hammond and three other education researchers concluded that ratings for individual teachers are highly unstable, varying from year to year and from one test to another. 5) They penalize diversity. No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the major testing law, was intended to close the achievement gap. It sought to hold schools accountable, not just for results averaged over all students, but for the performance of each historically lower-performing group of students: the poor, African Americans, Hispanics, English-language learners, and those with a learning disability. The unintended consequence of that laudable intention is that schools that serve the poor and ethnic minorities are more likely to fail NCLB tests and to be punished or closed. Granted, school reorganizations sometimes mean real improvement, but in all cases, they disrupt neighborhoods and social networks, which is why they have sparked protests from Detroit to Newark to Chicago to Houston to Baltimore. 6) They cause teaching to the test. In an ideal world, better test scores should show that teaching and learning are getting better. But standardized tests have never delivered on that simple promise. A first-grade teacher described on a blog what teaching to the test had done to her and her students: Standardized tests actually make students stupid. Yes, stupid. In my zeal to get administrative scrutiny off me and my students, I mistakenly thought that if I give [administrators] the test results they want, then I could do what I know was best for my students. To that end, I trained my students to do well in these tests. I taught them to look for loopholes; to eliminate and guess; to find key words; to look for clues; in short, to exchange the process of thinking for the process of manipulation. Were seeing schools emphasize literacy skills and math to the detriment of civics, social studies, the arts, and anything creative, Wayne Au at the University of Washington Bothell, author of a study on the topic, told me. 7) High stakes tempt cheating. The simplest way to improve a schools test scores is a No. 2 pencil with an eraser. You take the test papers, erase the students incorrect answers, and bubble in the correct ones. According to a GAO report issued in May 2013, officials in 33 states confirmed at least one instance of cheating in the 2011 and 2012 school years, and in 32 of 33 cases, states canceled, invalidated, or nullified test scores as a result of cheating. 8) They are full of errors. Mistakes on tests are widespread. If your child starts taking math and reading tests in third grade, by the time she gets to seventh grade, odds are she will have taken at least one test on which her score was bogus. In a year-long investigation published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in September 2013, Heather Vogell studied more than 92,000 test questions given over two years to students in 42 states and Washington, D.C. The investigation revealed that almost one in ten tests nationwide contained significant blocks of flawed questions 10 percent or more of the questions on these tests had ambiguous or wrong answers. In other words, the percentage of flawed questions is high enough in one out of ten tests to place the fairness of the results in doubt. If anything, essay questions on standardized tests are even more questionable than multiple choice. They are supposed to be the place to demonstrate deeper learning and communication skills. A series of experiments by Les Perelman at MIT has shown that nonsensical essays could get high scores from graders if they contained the right vocabulary and were the proper length. Who is to blame for Americas high-stakes testing obsession, unique in history and in the world? Testing companies are collecting the cash, and politicians are passing the laws, but as parents, we are the ones who have allowed this to happen. So its time to ask some tough questions that get down to root causes. What if my kid doesnt score as high as she might on a test? What is it Im really afraid of? That shes not really all that special? That the world wont realize hes as wonderful as I know he is? That she wont be successful? That his life will be ruined if he doesnt get into this kindergarten or that college? That hell be missing out on his best chance at happiness? Or am I really afraid of how that score will reflect on me and the job Im doing? Im hoping that people will pay attention to these issues, says psychologist Suniya Luthar. This is about you and me, our kids, so we had better pay attention. Finding and forming connections with like-minded parents is essential. So is enlisting our kids teachers as allies. Im firmly convinced that a future of fewer tests, better tests, and happier, healthier, more successful kids is well within our grasp. But we all have to work together to create it. Adapted excerpt from The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing But You Dont Have to Be by Anya Kamenetz. Copyright 2015. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Preseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. More on education in America: Online Testing Doesnt Work When it comes to exams, this high schooler wants to stick with good old-fashioned pencil and paper. Read more >> American Schools in Crisis A leading educator argues that current reforms are short sighted, wrong headedand bound to fail. Read more >> Teaching to the Test Gets an F A conversation with Sir Ken Robinson, a leading thinker in the field of education and human potential. Read more >> Novi, MI -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/19/2016 -- Headquartered in Highland, Michigan, Hydrostatic Plumbing LLC is a veteran owned company that has now inaugurated a new location, in addition to their original Highland location. Due to success in the area and a large local clientele, the company is now opening doors to their second location in Novi, Michigan. Reportedly, the new location will be called Hydrostatic Plumbing of Novi and will offer all the services of the business. Hydrostatic Plumbing is owned by United States Army veteran James Taylor, who has been providing quality services in the area for over 16 years and boasts a large local clientele that trusts the company. Being a family owned and run business, their services are guaranteed and affordable. The most popular ones include faucet repair and installation, toiler repair and installation, kitchen/bathroom remodeling and much more. The full list of the company's services can be seen on their official website. A spokesperson for Hydrostatic Plumbing made an official press statement to speak about the company's work and their latest expansion endeavors "Here at Hydrostatic Plumbing, we work to give our local residents the best services with a personalized experience to every customer. Not only do we make sure that our work is high quality, we also provide a 5 year service warranty as a testament to our quality standards. Due to our success in the Highland locality with lots of clients who trust us, we are now able to expand and serve an even larger client base." He further added "We have now opened doors to our second business location in Novi, Michigan where people can obtain all the services we offer at our Highland location. We have upgraded lots of things and added more professionals to our team! This ensures that both locations run smoothly and maintain the quality standard we promise. We urge Novi residents to check out our array of high-quality yet extremely affordable plumbing services as an alternative to expensive regional companies." According to James, his business endeavor is his way of serving the local community. According to the company website, Taylor wanted to provide a friendly and reliable service to the locals after his discharge from the army. Thus he decided to start a local plumbing company and offer services to locals at affordable prices. Currently, the company is offering a service plan to all clients who wish to outsource Hydrostatic Plumbing's services on a regular basis. By joining the plan, customers can redeem a 15% discount on all services. Furthermore, the company also offers discounts to senior citizens and families whose members are serving in the military. Complete company info and contact details can be seen at http://hydrostaticplumbing.com/ The second company branch is now located at the following address: Hydrostatic Plumbing Service of Novi, 43422 W Oaks Dr Ste 121, Novi, MI 48377, Phone: 248-574-5370 About Hydrostatic Plumbing Services Hydrostatic Plumbing Services is a local family owned plumbing service with over 16 tears experience. From clogged sewers to leaky faucets, we provide professional plumbing services you can rely on at affordable prices. Contact: James Taylor Hydrostatic Plumbing Service of Novi Address: 43422 W Oaks Dr Ste 121, Novi, MI 48377 Phone: 248-574-5370 Email: hydrostaticplumbing@gmail.com Bangkok, Thailand -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/19/2016 -- Inspire Rehab Thailand is a professional rehab Center that has helped people from different parts of the world to live drug free lives. It is being managed by a team of highly experienced counselors and doctors who have dedicated their time and effort in helping such addicts so that they are able to lead a normal and healthy life after their treatment in the premises. There are many people who fall prey to drugs and alcohol at various ages and it is important for them to understand the repercussions of the same in their lives. Apart from their hurt, family members of such people also face a lot of difficulties. In order to help such people get over these life threatening habits, rehabs can prove to be very effective. With the help of counseling and other lifestyle changes for a stipulated time period many addicts are able to get back to normal lives. Inspire Rehab Thailand is one such Center that has carved a niche for itself with an experience spanning over 35 years. Their recovery and rehabilitation programs have been designed by experts and hence, have proven to be effective for any addicts. Along with this, the whole ambience of the Center and the personalized care is helpful for many people who have relied on their services. The website says, "Affordability and reliability are two things which we base our services on. Once an addict contacts us, we are able to formulate an effective treatment program that is tailor-made for him/her. There are many helpful blogs and articles that are aimed to help them in the journey." To obtain more information about the services, visit http://www.inspirerehabcenter.com/. About inspirerehabcenter.com The website claims that they offer a 30 minutes free consultation to all those who are interested in the same. This can be done over the telephone itself. Apart from the affordable treatment options, they are believed to take care of visa and travel arrangements as well. People who wish to enroll for a body detox can also consider the services at the Center. Media Contact Mr. Eric K. Mason, MA, MS, Co-director at Inspire Rehab Thailand Address: 120/456 Sukhumvit 101/1, Bangna, Bangkok, 10110 Thailand Contact Number: +66 (0) 80-609-9976 Email: info eric@inspirerehabcenter.com or jon@inspirerehabcenter.com URL: http://www.inspirerehabcenter.com When horseshoe crabs arrive on the shores of southern and western Japan to lay eggs every year, it is expected that some of them die in the process. However, this year's numbers are already as high as a few hundreds, leaving scientists mystified. Mass horseshoe crab die-off in Japan! Yet another human created devoid! https://t.co/xeIvH5q1X1 brazen introvert! (@Jassisglasses) September 18, 2016 According to The Independent UK, around 50 to 60 dead horseshoe crabs can be found on the tidal flats of Sonehigata, but so far, around 490 have already been found this year. Kyushu University Museum researcher Hiroko Koike said that the rises in the sea level, as well as the shortage of places to lay these eggs due to global warming resulted to these crabs' deaths. The dead crabs began appearing as early as January, a time when they were usually dormant, but the numbers started increasing in late June, and continued on rising since. Shungo Takahashi, head of a local branch of an organization that strives to protect these crabs said that there are around 2,400 horseshoe crabs estimated to be at the tidal flats this year-meaning that the 490 dead already accounted for 20 percent of the population, and eight times higher than normal number of deaths. Another factor is the temperature: the Fukuoka Fisheries and Marine Technology Research Centre said that the seawater temperature at Fukuoka Prefecture has been one degree higher than usual this summer. BBC reported that these species are classified as endangered in Japan, and their habitat is being destroyed. Despite being called crabs, these prized species, which are considered as one of the oldest creatures in the world and are prized for their blue blood, are not actually crabs - they are more related to spiders and scorpions. Their blue blood have been harvested by scientists since the 1970s to test sterility of medical equipment and intravenous drugs, as their blood coagulates around the smallest amounts of bacteria and immobilizing pathogens. One litre of it can sell up to $15,000. A new research conducted by cross-platform measurement company comScore suggested that there might be no significant number of smartphone app downloads in U.S.A. Findings show that nearly half of smartphone users do not download new apps; hence the indication that app developers may be fighting a losing battle. However, other firms report the opposite; and this leads to the confusion about whether or not the development of new apps indeed pays off. According to Tech Times, the data released by comScore covered a three-month period that ended in June. Their study revealed that 49 percent of Americans have an average of zero app downloads per month. On the other hand, the remaining 51 percent have an average of 3.5 new app downloads monthly per individual. In relation to this, a research conducted by comScore in 2014 suggested that no less than two-thirds of American smartphone users do not download apps in a month. While the findings do not seem favorable to app developers, the same current research by comScore reveals that over half of the total smartphone app downloads are accounted to 13 percent of U.S. users. Moreover, AH reported that the results of studies done by other firms show different numbers. To be specific, both the advertising company Tune and Pew Research Center said that the majority of smartphone users download apps in a month. In July, a study conducted by Tune revealed that 75 percent of users download at least one app per month. As of writing, analysts are still arguing about the number of smartphone app downloads per month, but nobody disputes the globally declining figures. Amidst the confusion, the fact remains that the importance of marketing is currently higher especially for developers. In the time being, the conflicting results indicate that it is best to not completely believe various reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a statement on Friday saying that brain cancer is now the most fatal childhood cancer in the United States. This type of cancer has surpassed leukemia, which used to be the leading cause of mortality in children and now already has a lot of advance treatment that allows doctors to cure a wide range of blood-related cancer. NBC News reported that the new federal data shows that brain cancer is now the leading cause of death in children compared to any other cancer type. However, the new stat also said that brain tumors are becoming less common in children, and leukemia, which was previously known as the number 1 child cancer killer, is now less fatal than before. In fact, the National Center for Health Statistics found that the total death rate from cancer dropped by 20 percent among children and teens between 1999 and 2014. In 1999, there are about 1 in 3 children who died of leukemia and brain cancer caused the death of at least 1 in 4 children. However, in 2014, the numbers had switched. According to Reuters, Sally Curtin, an author of the report, said in a telephone interview: "Forms of leukemia that generations ago were almost universally fatal are now almost universally curable." The report also said that other sites of cancer most children suffer from included the bone and articular cartilage, thyroid and other endocrine glands and mesothelial and soft tissue. Together with brain cancer and leukemia, all these totaled to 81.6 percent of all childhood cancer deaths in 2014. "The declines were broad, across all the age groups, males and females, for both white and black children," Curtin said. "That in and of itself is noteworthy because so many health outcomes have disparities." She has also observed that brain cancer deaths remained stable while deaths related to leukemia dropped. In 2014, there were 445 children who died from pediatric leukemia, down from 645 in 1999. However, the CDC found that deaths related to childhood brain cancer increased slightly from 516 in 1999 to 534 in 2014. "For pediatric brain tumors in particular, we have not made significant headway at all," said Katherine Warren, head of pediatric neuro-oncology at the National Cancer Institute, reported The Guardian. Warren also said that brain cancer in children is more difficult to treat partly because the blood-brain barrier protects the central nervous system from toxins making it more difficult for chemotherapy to administer. "With leukemia, you are giving the therapy directly into the blood and hence to the bone marrow which is exactly where the cancer is," she said, calling for more research into childhood brain cancers. She also added saying, "We have learned over the past decade or so that childhood tumors are significantly different from adult tumors." Researchers have observed through satellite images that the Arctic sea ice has melted to its second lowest level on record this month, exceeding the record low of 2012. Every year in spring, the Arctic sea freezes over the winter and starts to melt as temperatures rise. According to the data revealed by the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, the Arctic sea ice reached its summer low point on Sept. 10, Saturday, when it covered 1.6 million square miles (4.14 million square kilometers), the second lowest recorded in history. The lowest mark was set back in September 2012, when the sea ice reached 1.31 million square miles (3.39 million square kilometers), reported the Guardian. The Arctic sea will freeze into ice once again as winter approaches, but, it will not get restored to its former glory. It is to be noted that in the last 35 years the thickness of the ice has significantly reduced by around 40 percent. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration claims that man-made global warming is the reason that the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has been steadily decreasing over the past few decades. NSIDC senior scientist Julienne Stroeve said that "We are not going back to how it was," reported Nature World News. She added that the trend is going to continue in the coming years. Stroeve said that the climate systems are turning inherently chaotic due to which there will be some temporary recovery of the ice but the condition will not turn the same as it was before. Mark Serreze, Director at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, warned that if temperatures continue to rise at the same pace then the Arctic sea might become ice free by 2030. In fact, the shrinking ice cover is the signal that in the coming years, there will be some very dramatic losses with more typical warmer conditions. FLORENCE, S.C. Brown Memorials, a Florence monument business closely tied to the Florence Veterans Park, recently was honored by the Monument Builders of North America for four of its recent monuments. The monuments two cemetery memorials and two civic memorials vary greatly in size, scope and design, said Bran Oswalt, memorialist and lead designer for the 108-year-old business. A monument built to be displayed at Fort Bragg was recognized as Best Civic Memorial; a cemetery memorial of black stone and fused glass was recognized as Best Contemporary Mixed Media Memorial; a more traditional cemetery monument was recognized as Best Hand-Carved Memorial; and the U.S. Air Force monument at the Florence Veterans Park earned an Honorable Mention, Oswalt said. "Every year in their publication, they do a design notebook, and it is a call to everyone to submit designs for specific categories," Oswalt said. "These three that were recognized it couldn't have been more flattering because of how diverse each of the memorials is. That one being extremely classic, very detailed and sculpted. A very contemporary memorial and the largest memorial I've ever designed," Oswalt said of the hard-carved Maggie Hullett memorial, the multimedia Gonzalez memorial and the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade monument at Fort Bragg. On the Gonzalez monument, Oswalt said he used blue fused glass to bring color to the area, because cemeteries often are considered drab, and the decoration will last as long as the stone does. "When I design, I don't deisgn for myself, I design for the individual, and everybody's different, and I believe memorials should be different," Oswalt said. "For decades and decades (Brown Memorials has been) considered one of the best when it comes to design and things like that. It's a blessing from God that I have an ability like my grandfather did, because he was extremely talented." Brown Memorials' next local project will be unveiled at the Florence Veterans Park on Veterans Day in November. A work designed by artist Dan Garrison and Oswalt, the monument will depict various scenes of the U.S. Army in operation from World War II through the current Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. FLORENCE, S.C. Nearly three-fourths of the worlds purchasing power lies outside the United States. That was one of the facts Dorette Coetsee shared Monday with the Rotary Club of Florence as she spoke to members about her role as the South Carolina director of the U.S. Commercial Service, which is an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerces International Trade Administration. Another fact she shared with the audience: U.S. exports have increased to $2 trillion over the past 20 years. Even so, 68 percent of exporting companies sell to only one or two markets, she said. And thats really where we see the opportunity to make a real impact, she said. People who are interested in exporting need to take advantage of the U.S. Commercial Services robust network both domestically and abroad, she said, pointing out the service has offices in more than 70 countries. Harmonizing standards on a global scale often is part of trade negotiations, she said, using the example of a product getting approval in the United States from the Food and Drug Administration but facing hurdles for more testing in Europe. Matchmaking is a big part of what they do under the umbrella of business development, she said, in terms of finding trade partners where to go and what to sell. Connecting trade partners takes a lot of work, she said, explaining that if companies qualify under certain guidelines, the U.S. Department of Commerce makes available stipends for travel, as well as some website and language translation work. Last year we were not able to spend all those funds, she said. In explaining what she deemed the gold key service, company officials might travel to her home country of South Africa, for instance, for five meetings each day, or to represent themselves at trade shows, where the stipend covers part of the booth space cost. Thats the thing were most known for, she said, referring to the gold key service, which brings back 90 percent of the companies that take part for repeat business. Although its starting to catch on, the commercial service still struggles to find new companies that want to take part. In South Carolina, we work with 130 different companies every year, but were still really scratching the surface. India has been an increasingly popular destination for trade missions, she said, with China and Korea on tap for future trips. There probably will be a mission to Mexico focused on automotive parts, and a mid-Eastern nation also will be in the mix in the future. Mark Buyck III asked about hurdles in doing business overseas, and Coetsee said they want to prevent companies here from getting burned by illegitimate outfits. The U.S. Commercial Service, she said, can vet companies to determine if theyre on the up and up. Col. (Ret.) Barry Wingard asked about which companies are the big trading partners with South Carolina, and Coetsee said China, Canada, Mexico and Germany are at the top, as well as whoever were selling Boeing (aircraft) to, which is all of a sudden Liberia. From pet food to nuclear devices, South Carolina has an interesting economy, she said. Because its extremely diverse, she said. She was asked about fair trade on a level playing field and responded that answer is way above my pay grade, drawing laughs from the crowd in the back room of Victors. If were not engaging with trade partners, she said, someone else is. Coetsee also was asked about services being exported, and she said everybody gravitates toward manufacturing because it attracts trade, but there are certainly services rendered abroad on construction and engineering projects, for instance. Its almost a bigger opportunity (for export) than in manufacturing goods, she said. We use overseas networks to bring in a lot of leads. News Flash: Donald Trump now believes that President Barack Obama was born in the country of which he is president. That news might be a relief to the president, although I doubt that he was losing much sleep over it. After a night of oddly competing statements from Trump and his own campaign team, the Republican presidential nominee's announced three things at his new Washington, D.C., hotel. Two of those things were false. "Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy," he declared on Friday morning. "I finished it. I finished it." No, there's no evidence that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton or her campaign had anything to do with starting birtherism, as PolitiFact found in 2015. But the bizarre "birther" movement was fading in 2011 when Trump, the TV star and real estate developer, gave it new life through his well-developed capacity for self-promotion. And he hasn't finished it, either. Diehard birthers and other paranoids will believe what they want to believe, undeterred by anything so trivial as evidence or a lack of it. Some folks still can't wrap their minds around the possibility that Americans actually elected a black president, even after the president seemed to put it to rest with his roast of Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Obama hilariously flashed his long-form birth certificate that night on a giant screen as Hulk Hogan's theme song, "(I am a) Real American," rocked the room. Trump "can finally get back to the issues that matter," the president told the black-tie crowd that included an unsmiling Trump. "Like: did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?" Yet the one true thing Trump said about the issue on Friday was his concession that, "President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period." He left the podium without taking questions. The issue had served its purpose. Now after years of feeding hate and suspicion, Trump was eager to move on. In a private August email among others that hackers recently leaked, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told the uncensored truth: "Yup, the whole birther movement was racist," Powell, a Republican who endorsed Obama, wrote. "That's what the 99 percent believe. When Trump couldn't keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim. ... As I have said before, 'What if he was?' Muslims are born as Americans every day." Responsible leaders in our very diverse society know they face a choice with their appeals to communities undergoing economic and demographic change: They can try to calm public fears and anxieties or they can try to exploit them to win votes. Having benefitted from his divide-and-conquer strategy, Trump has been reluctant to leave it, even as he tries to broaden his appeal to skeptical Republicans and independent swing voters who don't want to be associated with such other questionable Trump fans as David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader and current Senate candidate in Louisiana. The night before Trump conceded that Obama really is a natural-born citizen, his campaign issued a statement through spokesman Jason Miller saying, "Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States." Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, has been saying the same in recent weeks. But why not Trump himself? A few hours before Miller's statement, Trump had awkwardly dodged the question of Obama's birth after it was put to him by The Washington Post's Robert Costa in Ohio. "I'll answer the question at the right time," Trump told Costa. "I just don't want to answer it yet." Maybe he had to sleep on it. Even after Trump surrogate Ben Carson had said Trump should apologize to black Americans for the birther business, The Donald was slow to let it go. Polls offer a big reason why. A mid-summer NBC News/Survey Monkey poll, for example, found that 80 percent of Democrats agreed with the statement that "Barack Obama was born in the United States," while 41 percent of Republicans disagreed with it. Are they in the "basket of deplorables" that Clinton recently and controversially identified as a major portion of Trump's voters? Of course, every Trump supporter is not a racist. But, if the shoe fits, wear it. Email Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com Over the past seven years President Obama has transformed the Democratic Party. During the past year Donald Trump has transformed the Republican Party. In both cases, various elements leading to change have been present for some time, but these two have led the fight for change. We now have a predominately Globalist Socialist Party (GSP) and a predominately Nationalist Conservative Party (NCP). The GSP accepts that all the countries, cultures and religions are equal. Socialist countries such as Venezuela and Cuba are to be admired for their progressive policies. Traditional values are to be suppressed while secular amoral values are promoted. The state is the new religion. Open borders, as is practiced in the EU, are promoted to allow the free flow of people. The Constitution is a living document, which can be reinterpreted to reflect current values. The GSP fosters a weak military and a large social welfare system. It is characterized by big government, big corporations, high taxes, more regulations, debt and slow economic growth. The elites rule, and they are above the law. The NCP promotes an America-first ideology and accepts the Constitution as it is written. It supports secure borders, which may allow immigrants who have been appropriately vetted via a process similar to that used at Ellis Island. Only those who can contribute to the country and have a desire to be assimilated into the American culture would be admitted. The NCP promotes the American worker, small government, a balanced budget, a safe and secure citizenry, a limited social welfare net (not a hammock) for those who are temporarily harmed in a dynamic capitalistic economy and the principle of subsidiarity whereby decisions are made at the lowest level possible. The political system we live under is essentially a binary system. The next president will likely be Clinton or Trump. If you do not vote for Trump then, at least in a passive sense, you will be supporting Clinton. The consequences of a Clinton presidency will be tragic. America as we have known it for over two centuries will disappear. U.S. laws will become subordinated to international treaties. The national debt and the welfare system will grow. The corrupt and greedy elite will continue to dominate the country. The Clintons left the White House 16 years ago and, according to Hillary, they were dead broke. Now they are worth hundreds of millions of dollars by selling out the country. Always follow the money. CHARLES BEVIS Florence The leaders of 27 EU member countries, leaving out the United Kingdom, met in Bratislava last Friday (16 September), to set a new course for the Union. Angela Merkela, German Chancellor, said that the EU was in a critical condition and urged Member States to show with our actions that we can get better. The bloc had to improve in the domain of security, internal and external security, the fight against terrorism, the cooperation in the field of defense, as well as defense and jobs, she said. The overall main topics on the agenda were the refugee crisis, the defense union and the state of the Union in general. The summit ended with a declaration and a roadmap, which both highlighted the goal of dealing with the uncontrolled influx of refugees to the EU and protection of its external borders. Moreover, the EU leaders promised to channel 160 million to Bulgaria, which is bearing the brunt of the crisis, to help secure its borders. However, despite the general focus on security, Council President Donald Tusk, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and Slovak Premier Robert Fico, who hosted the meeting, sent straightforward messages to the UK towards the end of the summit. They reminded that the EU treaties were clearly stipulating that the interests of the remaining Member States must be protected and not those of the leaving country. Its not against the UK, but its an important guideline, Donald Tusk said. The most recent information regarding Article 50 from the UK government is that it is very unlikely that London will trigger it this year. The process of leaving the EU might be started in January or February next year but the Council President said that the EU had no choice but wait for the UK to start the process.